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VOL 39. ISSUE 41

Teacher sprays at Asian children for 'smelling of curry'

80p

19th February to 25th February 2011

Karmapa mystery getting deeper Land ownership of the Tibetan refugees’ monastery attached by Himachal Pradesh government

Hafod Primary School, Swansea

allegedly accused of spraying other children who broke wind, washing their hands with pine disinfectant and making them stand on newspaper for accidentally wetting themselves.

Mrs Davies, a nursery schoolteacher for 20 years, taught at a innercity school where more than half of her pupils were Bangladeshi.

A disciplinary hearing of the General Teaching Council for Wales heard she was later sacked from her ￡ 34,000-a-year job at Hafod Primary School in Swansea over "child protection concerns."

Learning support assistant Jan Islam told the hearing: "Mrs Davies would wash the children's hands in a bowl containing pine disinfectant.

"She would spray air freshener almost daily.

"Children would sit on the carpet. If they had broken wind she would stand above them and spray air freshener at them.

Continued on page 30

Ugyen Thinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa

of having links with China, though most of the Tibetan refugees in India, Dalai Lama and even China categorically said Karmapa has nothing to do with China.

Further, in a flip-flop last week, initially state police declared that Karmapa Lama is absolved of any wrong

doing, giving him a virtual clean chit. It was contradicted the next day by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. He said so long as an inquiry by central agencies is pending, the state cannot give clean chit.

Reports in various sections of India media also

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Continued on page 26

Hindu organisations gearing up to help the mega event Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012 Olympics released the schedule of the greatest sporting event globally on Tuesday. The extravaganza will be inaugurated on 27 July and the closing ceremony will be held on 12 August next year. Though, a couple of women’s football matches will be held prior to the opening ceremony, from 25 July in Coventry, Glasgow and Cardiff.

For the sports lovers, a total of 8.8 million tickets

will be available for the 26 sports to be contested between July 27 and August 12 next year.

Meanwhile, the Hindu community of the city as well as other parts of UK too is gearing up to contribute to the success of the mega sporting event.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK, Ethnic Minority Business

Group and the Hindu Council are the bodies whose members are already working as volunteers with the organising committee.

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suggested that people close to the monastery were also having illegal ownership of real estate in the state as well as in other places in India.

Police on January 28 recovered foreign and Indian currency from the Karmapa Lama's monastery, Gyuto Tantric University and a monastery near Dharamsala. Following that, Karmapa faced an intense interrogation by the police. He has maintained that he knows nothing about the cash or the Chinese currency; it is all offerings by devotees who come there from China and all parts of the world.

London 2012 Olympics: from 27 July to 12 August

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While David Cameron is preaching about the Big Society and integration, looks like Britain is heading backwards to the 1970s and 80s, when racial discrimination was not a big deal!

Asian Voice learnt that a teacher sprayed air freshener on Asian children for smelling of curry in the mornings, a disciplinary hearing was told on Monday, 14th February 2011.

Elizabeth Davies, 48, has been accused of allegedly "humiliating" children aged between three and six by using the aerosol spray on them on nursery class.

Miss Davies faces being struck for using the air freshener on pupils at her inner-city school with a large Asian catchment.

The hearing was told she allegedly accused Bangladeshi children of smelling of onions or curry – and would say "there is a waft coming in from paradise" before blasting the air freshener.

Mrs Davies is also

The mystery of raids and seizure of huge amount of cash – Chinese currency from the Gyuto monastery of Karmapa Lama, Ugyen Trinley Dorje at Sidhbari in Himachal Pradesh, India is getting deeper everyday.

After days of protests and demonstrations aimed at show of support to the Karmapa, finally the state government has on Tuesday moved to attach the property, the land ownership of the monastery. Accordingly, though the monastery stays, the ownership of the land will now vest in the Himachal Pradesh government.

The 17th Karmapa Lama, Ugyen Trinley Dorje had raised suspicion

Each will include free travel in the city on the day of the event, to encourage spectators to use public transport.

There will also be a host of festivities to coincide with the Games.

Final of men’s football will be staged at Wembley on Saturday, August 11.

Athletics fans will be glued to the 100metre men’s final, which should see Usain “Lightning” Bolt Continued on page 26

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Let ethnic minorities flourish, avoid cuts

By Rupanjana Dutta The Coalition Government proposed spending cuts in areas such as health, legal aid, immigration, asylum, housing, pensions, and child benefit, charities etc has set the cut among the pigeons. The national dailies and digital media are making a hullaballoo about these measures, as are trade union leaders, local councils and NGOs. But no one as yet has highlighted their effects on ethnic organisations, who are doing their best to serve their respective communities in a period of economic crisis.

Ethnic organisations, especially those that are Indian, had a hard time trying to reach the point they have achieved today.

It took considerable organisational effort and money to celebrate Diwalis and Navratris in boroughs like Brent and Harrow, but the cuts have now purt such events under threats.

Lord Bhikhu Parekh in a debate on marriage (full report on page 11), told the House of Lords on 10th Fe b r u a r y, "Indiscriminate cuts are leading to the closure of all kinds of support networks, especially Sure Start and other mechanisms. Sure Start has played an important role in looking after children and relieving stress that happens to families passing through a difficult crisis. These cuts are going to impact very badly on ethnic minorities as well as on society at large. I

very much hope that the Government will rethink the likely consequences of small economies in the long run."

Kanti Nagda, from the Sangat Community Centre, Harrow, told Asian Voice, "We have seen a sharp increase in the number of clients coming to see us with debt problems, ruthless way, the immigration officers rejecting immigration applications, refusal or cuts in disability benefits, homeless etc.

We are unable to cope, with limited resources, with the increasing demand. We are surviving on the good will and generosity of our clients and fund raising activities carried out by our Board.

Prime Minister, David Cameron’s, big society idea is nothing new for majority of Indians.

We have been providing services, without even claiming mileage, in temples, community centres, charity shops since we arrived in this country. This is also an established practise within the Asian community in East Africa and the century old tradition in India.

The local authorities have to recognise organisations like ours as a valued service provider to the rate payers and the central government has to put the resources along with the ideas they are floating.

Without adequate resources our services would suffer which would have the conse-

quences on clients’ well being. The clients in the end, if unable to find the required services, will have to decide on the course of action."

Asian Voice approached the Brent Indian Association (BIA) to investigate further on the effects of organisational cuts on charities like them. BIA is a registered Charity based in Brent.

Last year over 4000 people used the information, advice and support service provided through their Advice Centre.

The Advice Centre has faced difficulties since the funding cut in July 2010.

The funding was reduced to ￡21k from ￡78k.

Krishna Pujara, Secretary General of BIA told the Asian Voice, "The cuts mean reduced services and redundancies and in some cases, closure. To avoid the impact of the cut on the service users and disruption to the service, all BIA employees have been deployed to half-time posts.

We have applied for transition funding and hope to get additional funding to maintain ongoing services; otherwise we would face closure. In the interim, we have started charging for services and increase hall hire to generate further income.

We recognise that these are difficult times and tough decisions are being made about public spending. However, it is important to understand the impact that these cuts are likely to have on voluntary organisations like Brent Indian Association

(BIA).

Cutting legal advice services will hit the most vulnerable and won't save money in the longer term as it provides value for money People won't stop needing help – so who will provide it? People's legal problems are not going to go away. In fact, without expert assistance to sort things out at an early stage, it is likely that their problems will become compacted and more difficult to resolve.

Undoubtedly demands for help from GP's, MP's, Councillors and other services will increase."

Mahendra Pattni, Treasurer of Hindu Council (Brent) talked with Asian Voice about their 'Save Navratri campaign'. He said, "Navratri has been celebrated in Brent since the 1970s.

For quite some time now the annual Grant from the Council was £67,000 per year. This helped to pay for the hire costs of around 30 school halls and a small amount to meet Hindu Council Brent's costs of administration.

Due to the current economic situation and the funding costs from the Central Government Brent council is cutting various budgets. Part of the proposal is to scrap the Navratri Grant completely.

Because school halls have become more expensive over the years this will have a devastating impact on many Hindu communities who do not have access to their own Halls and cannot afford to hire halls without the help of the grant.

The Labour Council is cutting £25,000 off the spend on the annual Diwali Procession through Ealing Road - but this will still cost around £72,000 for a single event. We understand that in addition to the cash funding there are also additional costs such as staffing printing postage and promotion.

These would make the total budget for Diwali at over £100,000 Our proposal is to reduce the funding on Diwali and maintain the Navratri grant of £67,000.

We have already made representation to the Council and we are told they there will be a consultation process which would be concluded in June this year.

Obviously it would be very late to make arrangements for this years Navratri festival.”

Brent Council is due to hold a meeting at the town hall on Tuesday 15th February 2011 at 7pm.

They have sent emails to different umbrella bodies seeking 2 representatives from each organisation.

They will require 5000 signatures from Brent residents only to show the council that they mean business.

(If you have any such stories or campaigns, write to us at aveditorial@abplgroup.com)

Lord Gulam Noon: From Mumbai to the Lords Kartik.S.Raval In order to celebrate the appointment of Sir Gulam Noon as the freshly minted and newly ennobled Lord Noon of St. John's Wood, a reception in his honor was held at The Bombay Brasserie, London.

His daughters Zeenat and Zarmin along with their husbands Arun Harnal and Manraj Sekhon organised and hosted the fabulous event which reflected the love and admiration he holds from within the family. However, the respect that Lord Noon holds in the industry and the House of Lords that he just recently joined was visible from the presentees like the High Commissioner of the Republic of India, at least six peers from the House of Lords, about half a score of MPs, editor and publisher of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice CB Patel and many business leaders.

But his grand daughter Natania Harnal stole the show with an involving speech. She says, “Your integrity and strength of character has helped you

business leaders and politicians.

Your compassion for the weak and poor is also well documented, in particular around your hometown in Rajasthan. I can't forget the tears of joy in the eyes of one of the villagers greeting you when he finally got some water to grow crops and feed his family, or the joy of the young girls who no longer have to sit in 45 degrees of the hot sun to study after you built their school some rooms.

This is truly a legacy that will be hard to follow but with the example you have Lord Gulam Noon with wife Lady Mohini Noon set, I am confident that my mother, aunt achieve unsurpassed affection and I will do our best.” and honour all over the world It has been a long journey for from not only your family and the Lord Noon from Mumbai to the community, but also your peers, red leather benches of the House

of Lords. Though the event should have been organised six years back, but Lord Noon has finally achieved what he duly deserve. Honoured by the fantastic reception, Lorn Gulam Noon reveals, “I always repeat in my speeches that this is a great country; a great country to do business in and a great country to educate your children in. You must take advantage of the resources of this country but do not forget your obligation to this country. It is integrity and honesty, the most important values that has given me strength to reach where I am today from the confectionary shop in Mumbai, where I was.”

Keith Vaz MP spoke for the guests, “Lord Noon is a man with three priorities, community, family and country. These priorities make him one of the most respected and admired man in the industry. He is a bridge between Britain and India and also a role model for young ethnic minor community.”

(For Steve Pound MP's comment on the above, see page 3).

Keith Vaz MP and

People ■ Sad news. The father of Southall MP Virendra Sharma has died.

Dr Lekh Raj Sharma

Virendra Sharma, MP

Sharma Senior was a well known political activist in the Punjab.

He lived long enough to see his son get elected to the Mother of Parliaments.

■ Birmingham has a referendum to elected a Mayor in May. Strong rumours that East End Foods owner Tony Deep may emerge as an Independent Candidate.

That will give the major parties a run for their money!

■ Lord Dolar Popat has just returned from his first visit to Pakistan. Local papers referred to him as “Lord Tophat” which indeed he is. Not sure whether he was spotted wearing

Lord Dolar Popat

one at the Tories Black and White Ball. But brother Ken is also making a mark politically.

He is favourite to win the Businessman of the Year Award this week.

Too many Popats or not enough?

We are not able to publish ‘A Peep through the Curtain’ column this week due to u n a v o i d a b l e circumstances. Please see next week for a double bonanza.

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

COMMENT

Egypt at critical turning point Hosni Mubarak has left what had been his official Cairo residence these past three decades for the sylvan setting of the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, once his holiday home. The Presidential Palace will remain empty until the next incumbent is elected by the Egyptian people in September or sooner, if possible. Mr Mubarak held onto office for two beleaguered weeks and more, resisting stubbornly the ever growing calls to leave by a disaffected population. His seemingly impregnable fortress of power and privilege started to crumble, eventually coming down with a crash at the weekend. Egypt's Western friends and mentors, none more so than the United States, were taken aback at the sudden turn of events. First, came the popular uprising in neighbouring Tunisia and the flight of the despot Ben Ali and the fall of his tyrannical regime. It left the West in a state of shock. Worse was to come. Egypt, the heart of the Arab world, with its 80 million souls, to Tunisia's paltry 10, was convulsed by the pent up rage of its long suffering inhabitants. Denied the civil liberties that were their due, humiliated by routinely rigged elections, trapped in a fraught existence of poor housing, low wages and salaries, high unemployment and under-employment, inadequate education and medicare, Egyptians as a whole lacked power and a collective voice to redress their multiplying grievances. The country's crony capitalism meant perks and perquisites for the privileged few at the expense of the disadvantaged many. This was the dry rot of the Egyptian upheaval, which now show signs of spreading to Algeria and beyond into Bahrein,Yemen, and now Iran, and possibly encompassing Saudi Arabia as well down the line.

America's (and the West's) regional alliances appear to be collapsing like a house of cards.

These cynical arrangements, built on pliant dictatorships with “moderate” signboards, are headed for the scrapheap. Regional populations well understood the purpose of the exercise – which in plain language implied their permanent subjugation to an external authority working through the internal mechanism of a crony state. Enough was

enough, begone, embittered Tunisians and Egyptians cried out. The tyrants have departed, but what next? Especially in Egypt. The country has seen military rule since 1952, when Abdel Gamel Nasser and his fellow officers seized power and overthrew King Farouk.

Nasser electrified the Arab people with his inebriating pan-Arab brew of nationalism which turned sour through endless sloganeering. The sixday war with Israel in June1967 ended the fantasy.

Egypt was broken; Nasser died in September 1970.

His successor Anwar Sadat changed horses, the US for the USSR, before he was assassinated in October 1981. It was a long grind after that - a stagnating society held in place by a toxic police state until its time was up.

The fall of Hosni Mubarak marks the end of the road. Egypt's governing military council has promised a fair and free election and a return to civilian rule. However, Mubarak's emergency law remains in place. It could be that the military men will keep their promise to the people, but we shall have to wait upon events to be sure. Already industrial strikes are bringing the economy to a standstill.

Losses are mounting as the crisis deepens. This has a pan-Islamic dimension. Christian minorities in Iraq, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan are suffering grievously, so also are the Ahmediyas, a minority Muslim sect, who suffer death and persecution in Islamic lands as apostates. Yet the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which all members of the UN subscribe, require that all signatories accord full freedom of belief and worship to religious minorities.

This is surely an issue that needs to be addressed by a full meeting of the United Nations.

This is an essential first step that cannot be fudged. Stepping over problems in the hope that they will simply disappear is unwise; they guarantee that these will fester and turn malignant. We end where we began – with Egypt. Some of its problems are Egypt-specific, others affect the entire Islamic world in lesser or greater degree.

They need urgent resolution. This, too, is part of globalisation.

Where is the ethnic voice in the Big Society?

Public discussion about Prime Minister David Cameron's 'Big Society' occupies centre-stage in British politics. Supporters and critics are in good voice as they face each other in TV studios, radio chat rooms and the pages of the broadsheets and tabloids. Is the Prime Minister's alternative vision of an decentralised and re-energised society a workable counter to an all powerful state in an era of government spending cuts? How will charities and NGOs fund their welfare projects with diminishing finances? These issues are very much in the public domain, but what is conspicuously lacking is the ethnic voice. Are ethnic leaders, especially those representing Hindu, Sikh and kindred Indian organisa-

tions, deep in their slumbers? Do they believe that their public face is restricted to photo-call opportunities with the good and great? We expect to hear them in informed and reasoned mode on a host of issues, from single sex marriages to more opportunities for ethnic youth in athletics and sports and much else that is relevant to the community wellbeing.

Building and running temples, for example, is not enough. In any case, these are not always done efficiently, as frequent cost-overruns demonstrate only too well. The 'Big Society' debate is a time for introspection, an opportunity to put our own house in order.

Telecom scam has abiding lesson for India India's telecom scam has shaken the country for its brazenness and scale. The former Telecom minister A Raja is behind bars awaiting trial, but it is amazing that he should have got away for as long as he did. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must surely take his share of the blame. He has a deserved reputation for probity, but this is not matched by the firmness expected of a prime minister. The scam occurred on his watch and Dr Singh was clearly slow to act, as the intervention of the Supreme Court and the release of the relevant documents from the Prime Minister's Office have made evident. The long arms of the law in the shape of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is still to complete its inquiries, but these and those of the Enforcement Directorate are sufficiently advanced for the public to gauge their direction.

When the prosecution has all the evidence charges will be laid against Mr Raja for high crimes and misdemeanours. These will be discussed in the fullness of time. Before we come to that, let us consider the statement, published in the Indian Express, of a former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie (a member of the BJP government and a longstanding friend of the present Indian prime minister), in which Mr Shourie claimed that he had not only informed Dr Singh of Mr Raja's activities, but had also introduced the CBI to a key informant who knew every detail of the erring minister's

scheme for self-enrichment through the unfolding scam.

“A person very close to the deals started giving out a detailed account of all the companies that received undue favour,” said Mr Shourie, who declined to name the individual. “Armed with those details (of front companies), I met the PM in the Rajya Sabha around August-September 2009....I told the PM, showing him ....the papers in the Rajya Sabha corridor. Please have a look at these details.

There is a loot going on in your name and all the evidence is here,” Mr Shourie said. He heard nothing from the PMO, and when he enquired of the CBI as to its investigation, he was told it was awaiting the “ PMO's nod”.

When Jove's thunderbolt, the CAG report, struck the government, it had no option but to act and Mr Raja's resignation and fall from grace ensued. When asked if the CBI's present investigation was on the right track, Mr Shourie said it was because of the information he had given in 2009 and as a result of the Supreme Court monitoring the case. The companies being raided now were the very same on the list he had shown the prime minister.

Mr Shourie promised to reveal more after he had met with CBI officials in a fortnight's time. The sorry saga validates the saying that justice delayed is justice denied.

www.abplgroup.com

Thought for the Week Opportunities are like sunrises....

If you wait too long you can miss them.

- William Arthur

Steve Pound, MP Ealing North (Labour)

At last - Lord Noon!

Sometimes the good guys win and it was with a real sense of joy that I headed to the Bombay Brasserie earlier this month to celebrate the appointment of Sir Gulam Noon as the freshly minted and newly en-nobled Lord Noon of St.John’s Wood.

It’s been a long, long journey from Mumbai to the red leather benches of Their Lordships’ House but Noon has managed it – and achieved a minor miracle along the way.

You won’t meet anyone with a bad word to say about Noon and, like many people, I consider him to be absolutely the pre-eminent voice for a decent and civilised society.

Maybe he brings the skills and sensibilities of the Mumbaiker to the issues of culture and community in this country, perhaps he concentrates on a rising tide of commercial success lifting all the boats in the harbour but certainly his has been the voice of moderation and a shared future while many have sought to look only backwards and to divide and subdivide society into atomised sects.

Family matters to Noon and our hosts at the Bombay Brasserie were daughters Zeenat and Zarmin with their husbands Arun Harnal and Manraj Sekhon.

Unsurprisingly the show was stolen by grand-daughter Natania Hannal!

Keith Vaz spoke for the guests – of whom there were many. Not just the Sainsbury and Waitrose/John Lewis empires were represented but at least six Peers, about half a score MPs and the High Commissioner of the Republic of India and the rest of the upper echelon of India House. C.B.Patel glided through the concourse and the Bohra community were spoken for by Dr.Idris Zainuddin.

Nat Puri was in typically rumbustious form and, in all honesty, we could have had a speech from every person present and it wouldn’t

have even begun to paint the full picture of Noon’s life and achievements.

In my part of the world we revere him as the founder of Noon Products and someone who gives us employment and pride.

I’ll never forget that when his production facility burned down Noon kept paying the staff their full wages despite there being no guarantee that the company could ever rise again.

That showed commitment, courage and caring in equal measures.

I of ten wonder how the every delightful Lady Mohini, a famed film-maker, author and journalist herself, sees her extraordinary husband.

If I had to try to nail the man down I would describe him as one of those elegant, willowy batsmen who come in after the openers have taken the shine off and proceed to build an innings with such grace and charm that “e’en the hordes of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer”.

Sometimes life will send down a fizzing doosra, spitting like a serpent, but Noon will pat it back down the wicket as if silently chiding the bowler for his presumption.

Life will often hurl a bouncer that snaps off the pitch on full seam and climbs to the level of the eyebrows. Noon will sway back inside the line and hook it to the boundary before you’ve even noticed what’s happening.

Whatever the vicissitudes of life, be they beamers, Yorkers, reverse swing or googlies Noon stands undefeated. I doubt that he will thank me for trying to express so wide a career in a simply cricketing metaphor but Noon is for me that Indian artist who flourished on the damp pitches of England and carries his bat as a citizen of the world.

Loved, respected and admired by friends, family and all who have the privilege to meet and to know The Lord Noon of St.John’s Wood.

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 www: abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

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EDUCATION/COUNCIL

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

UK visa cap target India's aspiring MBAs Kartik.S.Raval As the UK government seek various ways to control the inflow of non-EU students aiming not only education but also international exposure, large number of Indian students aspiring a MBA degree from Britain are most likely to suffer under the new visa cap.

UK is undoubtedly one of the leading hubs for management courses in the world and enjoys a huge popularity amongst the students from countries like India and China.

In 2010 alone, the UK issued over 56,000 visas to Indian students, out of which about 45 per cent were MBA aspirants.

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) in its 2010 European Geographic Trend Report states that the UK drew more GMAT score reports from around the world than any other country in Europe. India and China together accounted for more than a third of all GMAT score reports sent to European institutions in 2010.

Moreover, current rules allow non-EU students to work for two years after completion of their academic tenure, but this rule is also under fire and students might find themselves spending tens of thousands of pounds for just nine months or even less of academics with no option of gaining international experience.

There is no doubt that if the visa cap is introduced, UK universities that have enjoyed a status of presti-

gious academies for courses in Management and several others for decades will see a major dip in the enrollment figure. Indian students are most likely to be drawn to competing neighboring countries of the UK. In Fact, this week countries like Spain, France and Italy are all holding education seminars in various states in India to attract more students by highlighting nominal visa rules and favourable employment scenario.

However, business schools in the UK haven't given up as they are constantly trying to persuade the government to review the rules that are likely to come in place by April. At the same time many universities are settling for other ways to deliver their courses to thousands of students aspiring an UK MBA degree.

Many are partnering with institutions elsewhere in the world where visa restrictions are not as stringent, while some are considering setting up campuses in India after the Foreign Bill is introduced.

God's children taught extremism in the name of religion Secret filming revealed by Channel 4 current affairs programme Dispatches, show pupils being beaten ruthlessly, taught that Hindus lack intellect as they drink cow p*** and teachers delivering deeply disturbing speeches about Christians, Jews and Atheists.

The footages also reveal that the extent of extremism taught at some of these Muslim schools and mosques, pupils being told that they will be tortured in afterlife if they adapt to western ways and unprovoked beatings practiced by the so-called religious teachers. This is a serious concern as such practice of extremism and preaching of hatred towards other religions can deeply affect children's mind and the outcomes can be severe.

Also, school pupils are being told that Muslims who adopt supposedly non-Muslim ways, such as shaving, dancing, drinking, listening to music and – in the case of women – removing their headscarves, would be tortured with a forked iron rod in the afterlife.

Moreover, the irony is that some of these footages are of Darul Uloom Islamic High School in Birmingham which apparently is Britain's one of the most influential faith schools.

Darul Uloom have various schools around the globe and is considered as world-renowned institu-

Bullying meets extremism as older puppy aims a bench on the young one

tion and in 2009 it was praised by Governmentapproved inspection teams for its interfaith teachings.

Clearly, the government inspectors did not gain enough knowledge before making a statement.The school aims to produce next generation of Muslim leaders, however after the revelation their definition of leaders is unclear. An over-subscribed independent secondary school, Daril Uloom have since long been of a stand that it represents a growing, parallel education system while simultaneously teaching the pupils tolerance and respect for others faith.

But the footages collected and revealed by Dispatches pulled off the curtains over these false claims by exposing the real practice that goes on behind the closed doors of these classrooms.

Harsh hatred preaching is reflected in these footages as the pupils are told that all non-muslims out there on the streets are

evil and they should hate walking down on the street with them. Cow’s urine which has Vitamin A,B,C,D,E, minerals, sulphur, iron, calcium and a lot more is used to cure many diseases and is a traditional practice in many Hindus. However, these kids unaware of these benefits are repeatedly told that people who engage in such practice lack intellect.

Muslim schools are not the only place where children are taught religious apartheid and social segregation. Secret filmed footages from the Markazi Jamia mosque in Keyleigh, West Yorkshire reveal the practices that go on in some Madrassas.

Madrassas are part-time after school or weekend classes where kids are taught to read Koran, often conducted in mosques.

The video reveals children being taught a hardline, intolerant and highly anti-social version of Islam.

The footage show a

routine of these self acclaimed preachers of religion hitting, slapping and kicking boys aged as young as six. The blow of this hitting is so hard that it is often echoed in the video recording. Hours of footage show that the kids have been made accustomed to such brutal beating while they were supposed to be receiving education.

In yet another incident, an older boy kept incharge of the class in absence of the teacher, threatens one of the pupils of beating him with a bench. This is very unfortunate as it reflects how the minds of these kids are altered towards violence

220 town hall bosses on a higher pay roll than PM Chief executives of almost half of the councils received an annual income of more than £142,500, the salary of David Cameron in 2010 reveals a report by Incomes Data Services (IDS). Moreover, at least 26 chief executives earned more than £200,000 in 2009-10, while 1,000 council officials were paid more than £100,000.

These figures are even more intriguing when compared with number of job-cuts that most of these councils brought in place.

Local councils are preparing for even more cuts to front-line services as the government funding is set to see a major dip. While the council heads are paid extravagantly, they have proposed cuts including the closure of libraries, a squeeze on social care and a reduction in road maintenance budget.

According to the analysis, a total of 138 chief executives and 86 senior officials earned more than the Prime Minister. Moreover, it was

ironical as some of the biggest pay packages were given to town hall chief executives of some of the poorest parts of England.

The highest-paid town hall executive was Gerald Jones, the head of Wandsworth council in south London, who received a basic salary of £242,617. His total pay package added up to £299,925 when bonuses were included. Mr Jones retired in October.

Pay for senior council officials has risen significantly over the past decade. In 2003, Bradford become the first to pay an official more than £200,000. Last year there were at least 26 across all councils.

Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, urged council executives to set an example by accepting a reduction in their pay. Even a minimal of five to 10 percent reduction of the massive pay received by council heads will help the councils in saving many frontline jobs and avoid cutting down the services.

my kids Koran and all the necessary lessons of our culture at home and I think all parents need to do that as we witness a wake of extremism, wrongly in the name of Islam” says Shaima Akbari, Physiotherapist in London.

However, these incidents should not generalize the perspective towards all Islamic schools because there are some faith schools who actually preach what they say they

faiths and are asked questions about their religion while reciting Koran in both Arabic and English.

Darul Uloom Islamic School said that the teacher who made those comments about Jews and others was visiting and his views did not represent schools's policy.

The school tried to maintain its statement that it does not tolerate hatred towards any faith or group. While, Markazi Jami mosque released a statement that it was totally unaware of such practice and will cooperate in doing the needful and take disciplinary measures.

But, it is more than clear that a lot more needs to be done than meer disciplinary measures. If nourishing of hatred, extremism and intolerance towards each other's religion is not addressed now then Britain might witness a whirlwind of extremism in the coming years which will be out of anyone's control. Last week David Cameron addressed the need to tackle extremism that is being practiced and taught within the UK and these disturbing revelations should ignite the necessary fire to get necessary reforms in place.

Secretly fined footage show teacher striking a pupil at Markazi Kamia mosque

from an unbelievably young age.

“Religion, unlike other areas of education is a very delicate subject. Failure of teaching and learning it correctly can directly affect a child's mind and life time behaviour. Hence, I teach

do. The pupils at Islamic school in Oxford ran by Academician and Theologian Dr Taj Hargey, witness a modern and refreshing method of teaching. Students are told to respect each other

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Population of Gurkhas increase in Aldershot One in ten of the population of a small Hampshire town is Nepalese after an influx of Gurkhas following the successful campaign waged by Joanna Lumley.

Miss Lumley, 64, helped force the Government into abandoning rules that prevented Gurkhas who retired before 1997 settling freely in Britain In 2009 she memorably ambushed Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, in a Westminster television studio which ended with the minister reassuring her on air that rejected veterans' cases would be considered.

Since the rules change some community leaders have expressed concerns that insufficient money has been made available to support the influx of former Gurkhas.

Gerald Howarth, MP for Aldershot which is known as the home of the

Soaring World Cup ticket prices putting off fans Kartik.S.Raval

Ms Lumley with the Gurkhas

British Army, has met David Cameron to discuss the issue after he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister to request further funding.

However, a Government spokesman insisted it was doing "a great deal" to prepare Gurkhas and their families for life in the UK. Miss Lumley, won an "unreserved apology" from Gordon Brown after the veterans minister Kevan Jones claimed that the actress who spearheaded a campaign for Gurkhas' rights had stayed silent as veterans suffered. Miss Lumley's father was a Gurkha officer who served in Burma in the Second World War.

Muslims are good for Britain The sister-in-law of former Prime Minister Tony Blair said that a rise in the number of Muslims would be ‘good’ for Britain. Lauren Booth, who converted to Islam last year, told the University of Essex’s annual Islamic Conference in Colchester that since becoming a Muslim she was a ‘better worker’ and a ‘better mother’ to her two daughters. Ms Booth was asked how her sister Cherie Blair and the former Prime Minister had reacted to her conversion.

She replied: ‘My sister...recognises that it is a great faith that people follow. Tony Blair is Tony Blair.’

5

Cricket lovers around the world, wanting to be a part of the World Cup extravaganza in the subcontinent where the sport is taken as seriously as one's own religion are witnessing a massive setback due to the sky scrapping ticket prices.

These agents cannot be blamed either as ICC has laid down conditions that match tickets cannot be sold alone and one needs to buy an entire package that includes match ticket, airport transfer and two night accommodation making a single match ticket cost in the range of £300 to £400 per person.

The travel houses are sitting with a quarter of total number of tickets but have failed so far to attract cricket fans to spend on their packages. Rachna Kukadia, Tour Consultant at Thomas Cook told Asian Voice, “The response would have been significantly larger if the tickets were sold without the package as hundreds of families are going to India for the summer break and already have booked their flights and accommodation. Most of them are willing to see at least one match but obviously they wouldn't want to spend twice over their accommodation.”

A limited number of solo match tickets for the World Cup starting from 19 February and to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

were sold about six to eight months in advance. While the current packages are clearly designed keeping corporate group bookings and bulk sales in mind, which seems unfair for thousands of cricket fans wanting to support their national team and get a feel of the passion for cricket in the host countries.

Even people in India need to buy

the entire package regardless of the fact they have their own house and do not require hotel accommodation. The prices vary massively in India depending on the match. A low profile game would still cost in the range of INR 14,000 while a hotly anticipated game is quoted up to INR 50,000. “I do not need accommodation as I will be living with my cousin in Mumbai when I visit in one weeks time, then why would I pay such a bizzarre price.

This is totally ridiculous on the part of ICC”, exclaims Rohit Mehra, Sports Assistant at City University.

Sport tourism is very popular in

the UK as about 15,000 people travelled to South Africa for 2010 FIFA World Cup and especially amongst the British Indians as more than 30,000 fans went for the last season of IPL. Asian Voice spoke to many travel agents selling these World Cup packages from the UK, Australia, Canada and the Caribbean and found that none of them have seen any substantial bookings for the World Cup. With sports tourism flourishing in India in the last five years, due to the presence of IPL and recently played Commonwealth games, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 can further boost its Rs 51,334 crore of on an average Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE). However, at the moment the scope of India receiving this boost from the international arena seems dicey.

However, travel companies are not giving up as they are aware of Indian habit of leaving it late. They are also hoping that a better response will be seen once tickets for the post-group matches are made available as not too many people will spend £300 and more on a group stage match. But whatever that may be, the travel agents are clearly suggesting that international tourism during the World Cup will not be anywhere close to what they witnessed in the football World Cup or even in the IPL.

6

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Bhanu Choudhrie: From global to local When the world is talking global - global crisis, global market, global freeze - Bhanu Choudhrie, Chairman of the Business Advisory Board for the Commonwealth Games England team, and a high-profile businessman sees service to the local community as an important part of the solution to some of the the problems posed by the current economic recession.

Bhanu, whose interests span the American banking sector, and include healthcare and hospitality in Britain and India, believes that the local community angle is essential to economic recovery.

He is of the firm belief that the community needs to come closer together to tackle common problems and that contribution to society should include participation in the planning and financial backing of.education and philanthropy which are also of paramount importance.

“I sit in the boards of two banks in America. One is called Customers Bank (in Pennsylvania), the other Atlantic Coast in (Florida and Georgia).

They are community banks and are making net profits, even in this difficult economic climate. These are small banks, but the management expertise and social skills, including networking, are exceptional. They are closely tied to the local community, which explains the goodwill and high standing they enjoy among the customers they serve.

These small banks serve the community. They are open 7 days a week and if you want an account, they will come to your house. And their popularity is spread by word of mouth. 15-20 years back we saw the same thing in the UK, but no more!

These banks have one standard, whether you have a million dollars or a thousand dollars, they adopt the same customer-focused approach with every customer. When I’ve visited bank premises it is amazing to see that cashiers will often know the first name of the customer that walks into the branch. After office hours, these banks offer their premises for use as community centres. The banks provide free coffee and tea and provide a place for the community to meet. Small truly is beautiful.

You need to have smaller institutions, which can cater to the individual, and which are in the heart of the community they serve. We will be looking to replicate this model in the UK”, Bhanu told Asian Voice.

Moving on to India and the importance of its market, Bhanu added, “This downturn has cleared out a lot of speculators in the Indian marketplace.

Alpha Gcorp recently opened the largest international-standard mall in Amritsar, Punjab ‘Alpha One Amritsar’. 50,000 people joined us to celebrate the opening. The mall had 100% occupancy from its opening which is impressive for this type of business. By incorporating an Amritsari bazaar we helped to integrate local flavor into the mall.

In June 2011 we are opening a mall in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

It will be the largest in Ahmedabad. As in Amritsar, in

Ahmedabad-we have created an Ahmedabadi bazaar where local retailers can set up shop.

They don’t have to pay rent but instead pay some percentage of their profit.

Tourists get a chance to buy local products in an international mall and smaller retailers benefit from co-location with larger stores.

The more you work with the community, the more you get back. We work with the local school for children with visual impairment and the local school for children with disabilities - to plan trips to the market. These sorts of activities are hugely important for children to obtain the life-skills they need to become independent.”

Growing up, Bhanu moved all over the world. He explained to us his belief that every day and in every place, you learn something new about the world and about yourself. In India, Bhanu spent much of his childhood with his grandparents. He went to Modern school in Delhi and was a keen athlete. He learned to ride horses from the age of 4 and played polo across India, Ireland and America. Talking about growing up he said, “We loved reading, going out, playing outside. We loved sports of all kinds. Not like children today whose favourite sport appears to be video gaming.”

Bhanu went to university in the US and thinks his international exposure gave him a valuable and enriching life-experience growing up as well as giving him a global network of friends.

Talking about the importance of education and rising tuition fees, Bhanu added, “The increase in fees may well discourage students; but it shouldn’t be this way. He said, “in the US, the amount of donations universities receive from philanthropists is remarkable. The amounts of money involved are far greater than we see being donated in the UK . Why British universities not able to attract such donations, I do not know.

It would have helped during these hard and difficult times.

Universities here need to adapt themselves to the changing situation and make sure students get the financial support they need to complete their studies.”

As a philanthropist, Bhanu and his team at C&C Alpha Group work very closely with Oxford University. They created the Green Templeton College, Oxford University, Emerging Market Symposium. This was launched two years back and CCAG have agreed to fund the Symposium for a further 3 years.

Green Templeton College host a programme of talks and seminars examining salient topics affecting emerging market countries. Leading academics from the relevant fields are joined by politicians and NGO and business leaders from around the

world to exchange ideas and form recommendations concerning the challenges and opportunities of the world’s emerging market countries.

It helps leaders in the relevent fields to voice their opinions on some of the most important issues affecting emerging market countries. It is a simple way of connecting the global with the local. He said, “We have tried to help education in our way. People need to step up, contribute to the system.

of charities and schools outside Delhi, for over 50 years. My wife is very active in her charity work and recently participated in filming an episode of Channel 4’s ‘Secret Millionaire’ in the hope that it would help to promote charitable giving and give her a chance to help community projects in a really hands-on way. She found filming to be an extremely moving and rewarding experience.”

Bhanu believes living in London has also been a great

Bhanu with wife Simrin and their newly born baby boy Kabir

Even in business, some people seem to be built to be successful in business; regardless of their educational background.

But I think university education can have a great influence on people’s business acumen and achievement.

Moreover, everyone should do charitable work or donate money to charities when they can. People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have contributed huge amounts from their private wealth to their charities. So has Narayan Murthy in India.

I sit on the board of a charity called Path to Success and we contribute to the welfare and education of children with disabilities. Helping people to make sure they finish their schooling is one way to help ensure their future.

I am also involved with a foundation for the Arts – The Stella International Art Foundation – which aims to to promote Asian art. The impressive collection includes works

by MF Hussain, Jaishree Burma and Paresh Maity. One of our activities brings internationally recognized artists together with the local community, in order to impact upon young people skills and generate inspiration and excitement about Asian art and artists. We also have a wider mandate to promote these great artists and share in the cultural richness of the art movements from which these artists come.

We have also run a number

experience. Being a British citizen he is proud to support the Liberal Democratic party. He said, “It is a not a secret that I support the Lib Dems. They have made the toughest choices in this coalition. However PM David Cameron is doing a very difficult job. He has formed a coalition in the most difficult of economic circumstances. It is fascinating to see how much he has done in so short a time. I also noticed that he was the first UK PM to visit India within 3 months of taking office. It shows he understands the importance of the UK’s relationship with India and other emerging market countries.”

Talking about the Commonwealth and business opportunities, Bhanu added, that as the Chairman of the CWE Business Advisory Board, he belives India pulled off a brilliant opening and closing ceremony in the Commonwealth Games.

Bhanu emphasised that the 2012 Olympics in London will open up great opportunities for UK businesses.

Asked about his development plans in India, Bhanu spoke about the hospitality sector; particularly in the budget sector of the market. He also spoke of the Diabetes centres he plans to build across the country.

“In India today you do not see companies concentrating on the budget traveller. The offer seems to be dodgy motels or five star hotels and there is very little in between. We have established

our company – Nidra- as a fullservice budget hotel. A guest will pay Rs 2000-3000 for a night.

For that he/she will get everything from wi-fi to fantastic bathrooms, clean comfortable beds and a swimming pool. The first one will be opened in Vadodara, Gujarat, the second will be opening in Delhi followed by a 25 hotel roll-out all over India.”

He went on: "There are also leisure travellers, who don't want to spend a lot yet want to have an exclusive experience.

They prefer to avoid the usual chain hotels and prefer to stay in boutique accomodation.

We have acquired a company called Amritara. They are a small chain of boutique hotels each comprising of 7-30 rooms.

Run by a husband wife team with supporting staff, they provide amazing, unique experiences and include one resort where the rooms are up in the trees of the rain forests.

In Indian healthcare we have launched the first of a chain of Diabetic centres called‘Just Diabetes’. We are creating a number of centres where people who have Diabetes can enroll into a program of 360 degree Diabetes management, which includes general checkups and assessments and even high-tech diagnosis of Diabetic complications. If further treatments are required in a tertiary hospital setting, the consultants at Just Diabetes will refer patients quickly and in a way which ensures continuity of treatment.

People with the risk of Diabetes (those with a family history of the disease) or who have been told that they have pre-Diabetes can also come and take advice at these centres to help ensure that they hold-off the development of full-blown Diabetes. We opened the first Just Diabetes in Mumbai at the end of January 2011. There is a huge need for these sorts of services in India where incidence of Diabetes is very high. We are working with community organisations to encourage people to come out and check out their health as the implications of untreated Diabetes can be very serious. This model is very easily for us to replicate and roll out as the strength of the business lies in our senior management team and the protocols we have developed. we plan to have around 15 centres set up in India within the next two years.”

Asked where he would prefer to settle if he returned to live in India, Bhanu smiled, “I would love to settle back at home in Delhi.”

Explaining further, he said: “India is such a vast country.

There are so many places I have never been to; like some parts of Kerala or the Himalayas. India is such a beautiful and vast country, where you holiday depends on what you want you do and in India, there is every type of scenery and experience to enjoy. There is no one single destination for me; I love the whole of India.

However, if I had to pick one destination- I think it would have to be Rajasthan.”

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Obituary

Anilbhai Pota

Hanumanji of the Hindu Community Anil Pota, general secretary of overseas friends of BJP in the UK died last week, following a rare ailment-sporadic cjd. Anilbhai, a retired businessman, was 72 and is survived by his wife and three sons.

He has contributed immensely in strengthening overseas friends of BJP's network not only in the UK but all over the world.

He was born in Kenya. He lived

Anil bhai Pota sadly passed away last Thursday after a short illness.

His loss will be felt by people across the world from all walks of life.

He was a Hunumanji of the Hindu community in the UK. Ever present and ever ready to help at every Hindu occasion. Anilbhai’s charming persuasiveness meant that few could ever refuse his request to support some worthy cause or other.

Anilbhai was a life-long active member of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh. The training he received as a swayamsevak of the Sangh meant that he would never shudder to take on even the most trivial of responsibilities for the cause of the Hindu community. He did so with humility and integrity.

Anilbhai’s final responsibility was that of General Secretary of the Overseas Friends of BJP (UK). He performed his role as bridge-builder, mediator, and facilitator for the BJP in the UK with the passion and determination of someone who sincerely believed in the cause of promoting a strong and vibrant mother India in the modern world. He was close to many stalwarts like LK Advani, and Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, who he knew for many years, but was equally comfortable with people from all backgrounds and generations. He had a charm which was infectious.

Anilbhai will be sorely missed by his dear family, his friends, colleagues, and the community as a whole.

He will remembered as a man whose selfless service should be an example to us all.

Manoj Ladwa, Solicitor Shri Anilbhai Pota was one of the most important leaders of the Overseas Friends of BJP (UK) besides being the General Secretary.

His total dedication to the party and the bond of friendship that furnished between the two countries, his honesty, his humble and noble approach, his love for his fellowmen and presentation of VIP's coming to the UK from India brought him to public attention.

Anilbhai was like a military genera- a peace time warrior. His strategy and the inherent wisdom, refusal to tolerate injustice, corruption, oppression was noteworthy.

He always told me that the weaknesses and evils in India are due to poor governance. He also said unjust government is equivalent to organised crime.

Anilbhai always hoped Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat would serve us a role model for integrity in public life and effective administration.

Anilbhai believed in one-ness of society and he strived for such strength in his political career.He also had wide ranging cultural interests like Indian dialects, classical music and Indian history. When you know Anilji well, one is bound to say- he was an extra-ordinary man.. I salute him!

Ramesh Patel Secretary, NW Branch Overseas Friends of BJP

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and worked there for many years. He also lived in India and Hongkong for many years, travelled worldwide on business and finally settled in Britain with his family.

The funeral was held at the Golders Green Crematorium on Tuesday 15th February and a Prarthana sabha was held at the Swaminarayan Mandir, Stanmore on Saturday 12th February.

Anil Pota will be terribly missed.

He was a devout Hindu and a great British Asian. He loved both Britain and India in equal measures. He was always so well informed about the great issues of the day. He had so much more to give to all of us. Anil, life just will not be the same without you.

Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP Chairman, Home Affairs Committee Think of Anil Pota and you think of "SEWA". His life was one driven

by SEWA, a word for which English can only offer a pale translation: "Service and Duty combined with Caring". He was a mentor and friend to so many in the NRI community and beyond it.

Hindu through and through, he was strong in his religious beliefs, but stronger still in carrying them through to create a better society.

A strategic thinker he could marshall people into action. Last November I joined him on National SEWA Day to plant bulbs along Fryent Way in Wembley. This year and every year as I see the crocuses, bluebells and daffodils burst with hope through the winter ground, I will be reminded of Anil: his humour, his kindness and his SEWA. Barry Gardiner, MP Brent North Besides being a very active General Secretary of BJP UK, his contribution from within to all other activities of Sangh Parivar was virtually limitless and invaluable.

His relationship with all those who came in touch with him was positive and selfless. He was always ready to serve a good cause. He received scores of guests from India and overseas all around the year, accommodated them entertianed them and took them to meetings wherever necessary. He cared for the families of departed friends and never failed to visit an unwell colleague or friend.

He was a very meticulous organiser of events and a very good judge of protocols. His devotion to his immediate and wider family was endless. He brought his children up with good care and guided them to respect their respective careers and settle in good social lives.

Our heartfelt condolences to Sushri Neelaben and the whole family. We pray to paramatmanam to grant eternal peace to the departed sacred soul.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (UK)

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7

Will same sex marriages get God's blessings?

The Church of England will come under pressure as new law reforms are soon to give homosexual couples the same right to marry as heterosexuals.

This historic change will end the legal definition of marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. A gay man would be entitled to call his spouse his husband, while married lesbians would be able to describe themselves as wives.

Giles Fraser on 15th February wrote in the Guardian newspaper, "...As a priest under the authority of the church I am not free to conduct gay marriage. At present our rules do not allow for this.

Other churches and synagogues are changing their minds and changing their liturgy. And for those that have changed, the legal authority to have gay marriage within places of worship is extremely welcome.

But just as the government ought not to impose gay marriage on churches that are still not ready for it, so too the church must not impose its own institutional homophobia on gay Christians who want to use the Bible in a civil marriage ceremony. Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, is currently preparing plans for marriage equality. She must not be distracted by a nervous church protecting its con-

trol of biblical hermeneutics. People ought to be free to use the Bible as they feel the spirit leads.

The word of God exceeds the limited imagination of the church. It always has."

Though Muslims, Jews and Christians have made their stands known nationally, Hindus, Jains and Sikhs have seldom spoken about their own choices in public. Kanti Nagda, Sangat Centre, Harrow a renowned community activist said, "The civil partnership ceremonies between gay couples started in 2005 and over 26,000 have taken place in non religious venues.

I would support the ceremonies in non-religious venues and advocate that churches and Temples carry the traditional marriages between a male and a female Ministers and civil servants could be spending their time and tax payers’ money on getting the country back to its feet."

Dr Natubhai Shah, a renowned scholar from the Jain community, who represents different multi faith organisations in Britain told Asian Voice, "We are concerned about the same sex marriages.

Though we do not oppose the idea but we will not open the doors of Jain temples for such marriages. It has never been there in our Jain and Indian traditions."

Ashok J Rabheru appointed as the Deputy Lieutenant of Buckingamshire Charity supporter and IT chief, Ashok J Rabheru, who has recently been awarded a CVO (Commander of the Victorian Order) in the New Year Honours List, is now thrilled to accept the appointment as Deputy Lieutenant of Buckingamshire.

Mr Rabheru was born in Morogoro, Tanzania in 1952 and emigrated to the UK at the age of 15. He gained a B Sc at the University College London followed by an M Phil in Applied Mathematics at The Royal Holloway College and a

Post Graduate Diploma in Computing at London University.

Ashok is married to Harshida and they are parents to triplets: Rishi, Shayan and Nikita.

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8

www.abplgroup.com

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Midland Voice

Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or dhiren.katwa@abplgroup.com Dee Katwa News in Brief Mother India confers award on ‘daughter’ Sandip Last month, India’s president, Pratibha Patil, bestowed a world-class award on Tory peer Baroness Sandip Verma. To celebrate this, a prestigious party was organised by well-wishers in Leicester a fortnight ago.

Septuagenarian Maheshchandra Prasher, founder of, now secretary of Leicester’s Geeta Bhawan Temple, spoke waiting, entrepreneur Dr Tears of joy rolled with pride and passion in Rami Ranger and busidown Sandip’s cheeks, a Punjabi. “May she long nessman Sukhdev Singh rare sight, as her huscontinue on her political Bansal. band, Ashok, garlanded pilgrimage,” he said.

Father-of-three Mr her with the gold medal Another guest, Mr Bansal given to her by Mrs told the sweet Patil, as part of the story of when he Bharat Pravasi introduced Award.

This Sandip to Ashok moment reminded and when he her, she said, of her asked her what wedding day in she thought of 1977 when Ashok him, “uncle, he’s had tied around her not bad lookneck the mangal ing,” she replied. sutra, the most Today, over revered necklace three decades and symbol of marlater, said Mr riage, according to Bansal, the Indian tradition.

Verma’s are a From left: Mr and Mrs Kalra, Mr CG Rao, The award was in “glowing examMr Swain, Baroness Verma, recognition of ple” of a perfect Dr Rami Ranger, Ashok Verma Sandip’s efforts to couple, who promote and further have a son and daughter.

Kalra, 78, welcomed strengthen the relationFollowing a series of guests and invited speakship between India and brief speeches from wellers, each in turn, to share Britain. wishers, guests were their memories and expeThe event brought served food. Then Sandip, riences of Sandip. “She together around 50 sat on the top table, along has the ability to make guests and was hosted by with ten VIPs, said: “I am friends and win the Nottingham-based couso proud and privileged to hearts of everyone she ple Ram and Anjana have this award.” She meets,” said Mr Rao. Kalra at their described the moment she “One day we want to see Stoneycroft Hotel, where went on stage to collect her in the highest posiSandip’s political career her award: “I felt like we was launched. tion in this land.” He were like little children Distinguished guests said all guests were part lining up for something included Midlands’ highof “rebel” Sandip’s very, very special.” She est-ranking Indian diploextended family. Dr mat C Gururaj Rao and his senior colleagues, Resham Singh Sandhu, Leicestershire’s first Sikh High Sheriff-in-

Ranger described Sandip “a rare breed of politician”, adding, “you continue to inspire us, we are proud of you”.

Chinese celebrate New Year Two “pillars” of the Chinese community in Birmingham won a standing ovation for their efforts in promoting unity and respect for all. Irene Chu and Ken Tong were honoured during a prestigious celebration to mark the start of the Chinese New Year, year of the Rabbit. The vibrant and colourful event, which featured dragon dances, karaoke, a raffle, speeches and dances, at a city restaurant last Tu e s d a y b r o u g h t together over 300 people. A charity auction was led by 35-year-old architect Simon Tong. Distinguished guests included Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr Michael Wilkes and his consort, editor of Sing Tao Daily, Siu Mui Poon and Cabinet member for equalities and human resources Councillor Alan Rudge.

Region to get new Tory MEP Foreign Office ministers are pushing through a law that will create a new seat for an MEP in the West Midlands, at a cost of more than £1 million a year. The move follows a reconfiguring of seats in the European parliament that has given Britain the right to an additional Tory MEP. The commission chose the West Midlands because it has the highest number of voters per MEP of anywhere in Britain.

also paid tribute to each of the speakers. In addition, she saluted husband Ashok for his extraordinary support describing him “somebody I will love forever, he’s my greatest friend, my mentor”.

Sandip attributed the award to her well-wishers, those who have stood by her at all times without whom, she said, her position and success in British politics would not have been possible.

Sandip is currently a government Whip and a spokesperson for the Cabinet Office.

She moved from her native Amritsar in Punjab, India, as a child with her parents to England in 1960.

The Bharat Pravasi Samman Awards is an expression of honour by the Indian government to the Indian diaspora. The awards are bestowed annually on non-resident Indians, or NRIs, and Persons of Indian Origin, or PIOs, who have done exceptional work in their chosen profession. Past award recipients include Nimisha Madhwani, High Commissioner of Uganda to India, Lord Swaraj Paul, Baron Karan Bilimoria.

Loan shark victim speaks out A loan shark victim who had a heart attack aged just 33 due to the stress of being conned out of tens of thousands of pounds has told how Birmingham trading standards helped to save his life. “I’ve suffered and know how hard it can be to speak out, “ said Manish, “but I want to tell others that there is no need to be frightened”. Anyone borrowing from an unlicensed lender should contact, in confidence, the Trading Standards Illegal Money Lending Team in Birmingham on 0300 555 2222.

IAB chief to step down Rumours continue to circulate about Dr Arun Bajaj, President of the Institute of Asian Businesses, or IAB, who has decided to step down after four years in the role. Described by a colleague as “a hard act to follow”, Dr Bajaj, pictured, founder of Radio XL, will officially handover to his interim successor, Shantose Kaur, at the IAB’s annual dinner this Saturday (Feb 19). The IAB is part of Birmingham Chamber.

Mr and Miss Birmingham The search for this year’s Mr and Miss Birmingham has begun. The triumphant pair will represent the city at the national finals of Mr and Miss England. Women aged 17 to 24 and men aged 17 to 27 can enter. To find out more visit www.modelzed.co.uk

Cop’s corrupt partner caged Gym owner Mark Thomas who admitted helping former disgrace West Midlands Police sergeant Hemantsinh Vasia con the Red Mango restaurant in Tividale has been jailed for 14 months. Thomas also pleaded guilty to possessing a stun gun, cocaine and almost £3,000 in counterfeit £20 notes, which were discovered when cops searched his home and car. Vasia, 39, pictured, was jailed last month for 15 months.

Goodnight, sleep well More than 60 per cent of Britons suffer from insomnia or other sleeping disorders, according to a new report from the Mental Health Foundation. Over 5,300 people took part in the Great British Sleep Survey. The charity described lack of sleep in the UK as ‘a seriously neglected public health concern’.

Crook tax inspector in Walsall A bogus tax inspector is doing the rounds in Walsall, the borough’s trading standards has warned.

The caller says he’s from the ‘British Council tax office’ and offers a rebate in return for bank details.

Beware. To report any incidents call 01922 650000.

Midwife jobs face the axe Numbers of midwives being trained in the West Midlands is dropping more than any other area in the UK, latest figures show. NHS West Midlands is planning to reduce training posts by almost 17 per cent – despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s pledge to this year recruit 3,000 more midwives nationally.

Acid squirter sentenced The ex-boss of Mr Egg, a Birmingham takeaway, who sprayed customers with undiluted vinegar has been jailed for two-anda-half years. Mahbubur Rahman, 40, pictured, of Hall Green, squirted the strong acid after fighting broke out in the eaterie at 2am on November 29, 2009.

Cash boost for charities The £7,000 raised at the inaugural Midlands Family Business Awards has been evenly distributed between three nominated charities – The Children’s Society, the Willow Foundation and the Venture Foundation. To enter, or to find out more about this year’s awards visit www.familybusinessawards.co.uk

Rent a girlfriend

Taste of marriage

A website that offered to rent girlfriends – on a strictly non-sexual basis – to lonely French men has been revealed as a marketing stunt. But not before Loueunepetiteamie.com attracted 180,000 hits, had 550 enquiries from potential girlfriends-for-hire, and 5,000 enquiries from men who wanted to rent.

A Mumbai-based website is offering bachelors a ‘virtual wife’ to give them a taste of married life before they wed for real. Men who sign up to the site choose from four types of partner: devoted homemaker, control freak, shopping obsessive or ambitious banker.

Youth victims of violence conference A major international conference for professionals working with young victims of violence took place in Walsall on Monday this week. Attended by over 70 delegates, the keynote speaker was Professor Jan Horwath from Sheffield University’s Centre for Study of Childhood and Youth.

New Appointment Sir Christopher Benson has become interim chairman of Eredene Capital, an investor in Indian infrastructure, while a replacement is found for David Coltman, who has retired due to ill health. Benson, 77, has been chairman of MEPC and a non-executive at Costain and Boots.

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

9

YOUR VOICE

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Lord Popat and the House of Lords Lord Popat talks about 'not to fall victim to sensationalised inclinations' about the recent financial scandals (AV Feb 12th), trying to convince himself and the public that all is judicial and trustworthy.

It is not the tax payer's money that is being misappropriated? Public feeling of distrust of the members of parliament is justified and well founded. What with the financial cheats, ex-prisoners and one who bankrupted many a business, the House of Lords is looking like a rogue gallery.

What right do they have to make laws that we, the public have to abide by? Why are some financial cheats taken to court and possible imprisonments, while others only suspended from the House for a limited period?

Lord Popat even talks about having the privilege of not one but two houses.

He may have just discovered it but in fact he is talking about a 900 years old institution, the mother of all parliaments.

To restore the prestige and dignity of the Houses of Lords, the undesirable members should be stripped off titles under Titles Deprivation Act of 1917.

Until then the public will continue being governed by a less than a honest governing body.

Kusoom Vagdama London

The concept of being Asian I am a regular reader of the Asian Voice over a number of years. It is indeed of a quality English Daily and assortment of periodicals. The sentiments as contained in Mr B.S. Grewal's contribution that appeared in the Asian Voice issue of last week are without a shadow of a doubt a waft of fresh air.

It is a matter of great elation and indeed of much pride to note that a gentleman of his particular faith persuasion describes himself as a proud British Indian emphasising on the term Indian.

As far the issue of all and sundry being labelled "Asians" is concerned it is heartening to note that Mr. Grewal has pointed out the inherent anomaly of the term since Asia being a continent comprising China, Japan,Vietnam, part of the Russian Federation Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

We Indians ought not only insist upon but also vehemently demand to be characterised as such and be addressed as being Indians.

M L Sharma Via Emails

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

The case of Arti Kumar

Devil’s Advocate

I read the story of Arti Kumar and her two sons in Asian Voice (pg 14, 12th Feb) that their application for asylum has failed and will be deported back to Afghanistan and will have to leave her accommodation. The family escaped religious persecution in Kabul in 2007 including the abduction of her daughter Rekha, 16 and brutal assault of son Ravi, who was left for dead.

Every one in the world knows that some of the fanatic Muslims had blown up the Great statues of Bhuda which reflect clearly that Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists are not very safe in that country.

I will not blame the present Government of Afghanistan as it is very hard for the President of Afghanistan to protect people of ethnic minorities in present situation.

Immigration officers therefore have to be realistic in understanding the situation of Arti Kumar. She appeared to be a genuine asylum seeker. I would therefore request to the Chief Immigration Officer to reconsider the application of this family and make an appropriate decision to let her remain in this country.

Mrs Arti need to contact her local MP immediately to get help.

Your reader, in last week’s Asian voice, has taken the words out of my mouth when he vents his anger at, although we are Indians, we are being put in the same category as other people from Asia by the politicians and the media. We are Indians and would wish to be referred to as Indians or British Indians and not by the global term of Asians. I am glad that Asian Voice has initiated a discussion on this proposition which attempts to provoke a debate on the short comings and ignorance not just of the lay people, but of the media and the politicians.

We hail from the land of Lord Mahavira, that of Gautam Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi who preached non-violence and kindness to all living beings.

Most of us are vegetarians and God fearing people who would not cause harm to even a even a fly. Because of our non-violent nature, we are considered easy meat by others. It is time to stand up and speak up for ourselves.

Dharam Sahdev Ilford

Full compliment of Neighbourhood Champions It is fantastic news that Wealdstone has become the first ward in Harrow to achieve a full compliment of Neighbourhood Champions, and many congratulations are due to the committed residents who have made this possible.

I'm sure the new Champions will enjoy working with Sgt. Paul Mills and his excellent Safer Neighbourhood Team in looking after Wealdstone.

The Neighbourhood Champions scheme has really taken off since it was launched by our administration just over a year ago.

I'm therefore very pleased indeed to see that Labour have put the continuation and maximisation of the scheme at the top of their list of priorities for the year ahead - with the goal of reaching 2,000 Champions by March 2012. It's extremely good news that they have recognised the value of Neighbourhood Champions, both in terms of their potential to improve the services the Council provides, as well as their inherent value to their own communities and neighbours.

Cllr. Susan Hall Leader, Conservative Group Harrow Council

State pensions and benefits The reforms in state pension and the biggest shake up to increase for a single person is great relief. Single person benefit needs to be ￡1000 minimum for a comfortable life. It helps mothers who took time off from work to bring up their children and are unable to contribute for National Insurance. State pension

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should be extended to employment. The more is the earning less should be such a benefit. Also this should only be given to the residents in the UK. It is really agonising to wait until this government term ends in 2015.

K R N Moorthy Handsworth

Please detach the form and send it with your payment or credit card instructions to address below

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Alpesh's column and spellings I am a big fan of Alpesh's political sketchbook. His take on the politics of multiculturalism has been astounding.

The vigour with which he raised issues about Sadiq Khan's approach towards David Cameron's speech is quite impressive.

I think Multiculturalism in Britain has not failed. I agree what has failed is the liberty involved with the policies in Britain and the leniency of the government. What has failed is our trusts!

Asian Voice is becoming a very interesting read with time. But I think the Editorial team must become a little more careful about the proof reading. Through out Alpesh's column- Sadiq's surname has been spelt as Kahn and not Khan. I believe it is important for them to look into such intricate things especially matters that involve public figure's names.

Rasiq Acharya East London

Unity through diversity It was a pleasure reading Balwant Grewal’s letter “Pride of one nation” in last week’s AV. While his aspiration, idealism would make perfect sense in a secular, classless and civilised society, I am afraid we live in a world that is more divided on religious ground than on any other issue.

In East Africa where I come from, especially pre and post Second World War era, we had such a society and religion and beliefs were confined to homes and places of worships. It took a back seat to friendship and family commitment. But in Britain, in the name of multiculturalism and human rights, religion plays a dominant part in our every day life, to the detriment of communal harmony.

We have our own faith schools, may it be a Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish or

UK EUROPE WORLD 1 Year £25 £55 £70 2 Years £45 £100 £125 £225 £300 *5 Years £110 £450 £550 *10 Years £200

Representing a bigger society Just to let the readers know, I do not represent the Punjabi and Sikh community alone.

I feel, I represent the British Indians, no matter what their religion is or where they came from.

I am not a frog of the pond. I belong to this wide ocean. Whenever some one asks me, what part of India I come from then only I say Punjab and in the same manner, I say I am a Sikh by my religion. But otherwise, I am Indian or British Indian first.

Please do let this know to your readers. And once again many thanks.

BS Grewal/Bobby (BSG) Via Email

Facts about Gujaratis and Hindus With reference to Mr Grewal's letter (AV 12th Feb), I went through Asian voice thoroughly. The only articles about Gujaratis or Hinduism were: 1 A small section on page 4- Mayoral fight: Patel vs Patel 2. Page 5--Racist attack on Tory MP, Priti Patel 3. Half of page 24- Burning of the Khandava Forest 4. page 25- VGS honours torchbearers of Social Justice and Narendra Modi inducts 6 more ministers.

The total of above comes to less than 2 pages in a newspaper of 32 pages. I have not included the Dewani case as this is now national news. One can hardly deduce from this that writers in Asian Voice are concentrating on Gujaratis.

Having said that, I think stories on private lives of actors and actresses can usefully be replaced by success stories from the Sikh community and the South Indian community. Even if Asian Voice were to devote more space to Gujaratis or to Hinduism, I do not think it would affect the unity of Indians. They are sufficiently matured not to let such small things come in the way of their unity.

Also where the writing is about Gujaratis, it is never critical of other Indians or other Indian religions.

Gujarati pride is legitimate as is Sikh pride and the two are not exclusive.

When Gujaratis read about the sacrifices of the Sikh Gurus, they feel as angry as any Sikh and as sad.

Suryakant Shah Via Email Roman Catholic. Restaurants are there serving food particular to different communities and religions. Even school meals are categorised on religious needs.

India is an exception rather than the norm. Many would like to call themselves British Hindus, British Sikhs, British Muslims and so on. I would respect their wishes as long as we have unity through diversity that leads to peace, harmony, tolerance and above all prosperity.

Bhupendra M Gandhi Via Email

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‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar Boyle says Mumbai dwarfed the statuette

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(Off Coronet Street)

Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seen so euphoric on Monday morning, as they expected a couple of Oscars. British Indians in the UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township of Mumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almost the entire Bollywood waited in expectation, glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebrations as one by one, their heroes, the actors of the British Indian film and the music maestro, A R Rahman bagged the top awards in the world of entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won the Oscar after having missed it almost five times earlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on a cleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directed

by American director Megan Mylan, won the Oscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

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Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

The problems of 'I Do' Marriages may be made in heaven but the problems involved with or in the institution of a marriage including prenups, families, children or even divorces are definitely very worldly and much more complicated than just a romantic phrase.

There was a debate held in the House of Lords on 10th February about the role of marriage and marriage support in British society 12 years after the report 'The Funding of Marriage Support' by Sir Graham Hart.

There were a number of speakers that included Lord Prof Bhikhu Parekh, The Lord Bishop of Chester, Lord Patten, Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames, Lord Sacks, The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, Baroness Tyler of Enfield, Baroness Murphy, Baroness Deech and Lord Ahmed.

Lord Bhikhu Parekh spoke about the Hart report that had nothing about the ethnic minorities and their patterns of marriages and matrimonial breakdowns. He insisted that one level the ethnic minority face the same problems as the rest of the

Lord Bhikhu Parekh

society, but there obviously are areas that are very distinctive and require a great deal of cultural sensibility.

However he pointed out, as ethnic minorities are integrating into the Britain, they are beginning to share some of its weaknesses and mistakes of the larger society.

Lord Parekh added, "If we are to address those problems, we will have to show a great deal of cultural sensibility. That is what I thought multiculturalism was about, and I am sorry that the Prime Minister chose to attack it in his recent rather uneven speech because, ultimately, multiculturalism is an attempt to understand how different communities, historically

located in different places and embedded in different conditions, face the same problems and deal with them in their own peculiar ways."

He highlighted six important problems that ethnic minority commonly face: First is forced marriages. To tackle such forced marriages, according Lord Parekh, the government cannot rely on bureaucracy alone! It obviously requires support of the ethnic community.

Second, he spoke of the sensitive marriage counselling, which is

where and how.

Third ethnic communities conventionally have lived in joint families.

During marriage crisis in nuclear families, experience and suggestions made by elders may not be accessible as securing a visa to travel to Britain by elders from South Asian subcontinent is difficult.

Fourth, within ethnic minority communities there is a strong network of support. It is important to find some way in which the network of support that ethnic minorities have built up is encouraged and not replaced by

important. Again, since ethnic communities are in minority, it is important to pay some attention to who does the counselling,

bureaucratic methods.

Fifth in relation to marriage in ethnic minorities, indiscriminate cuts are leading to the closure

11

Shrien Dewani Asian Voice has established that despite allegations reportedly made

by Vinod Hindocha last week to the contrary, Shrien Dewani has not been to any restaurants whilst he has been on bail and has been diagnosed with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has an electronic tag which accounts for his movements. The Dewani family would not be drawn on criticising Mr Hindocha and a spokesperson said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are all grieving the loss of of all kinds of support networks. These cuts are going to impact very badly on ethnic minorities as well as on society at large.

Also Asian communities do not always face crisis in early days of marriages. It can happen at ages like 60s and 70s because of lack of closeness amongst the couples due to various reasons.

When we talk about marriage counselling, let us also bear in mind the problems of elderly couples.

Whatever research the Government undertake, they must set aside resources for consultation with ethnic minorities, due to the peculiarity of the community itself.

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Anni and suffering from this tragedy, we would respectfully ask people to exercise caution and restraint in their idle, hurtful and unfounded speculation.â&#x20AC;?

Finally, he added, on the nature of marriage, marriage differs from cohabitation in four important respects: it implies mutual commitment; it implies ritualisation of a relationship; it is public, in so far as a public announcement is made; and, finally, it creates a collective unit, which is not simply two individuals together but a single unit encompassing two people.

In so far as marriage has these four features, it is better than cohabitation, but one should not make the mistake of thinking that cohabitation is not a viable alternative.

It is vital to recognise the difference between marriage and cohabitation, and not turn this into a qualitative, categorical difference, which it is not.

!

www.incredibleindia.org

12

MEDIA WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Scrutator’s It's a case of better late than never or, better still, if you can't beat them join them. The august New York Times (February 8) joined The Economist in an about turn on the formerly untouchable maligned Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Money talks. Suddenly, the US daily awoke to the significance of the Vibrant Gujarat mega-show. There was a touch of deja vu in the paper's report which, like the curate's egg, was good in parts. Reporter Heather Timmons told how stellar corporates had showered Mr Modi with praise. For example, Michael Kadourie, the Hong Kong-based billionaire “enveloped him in a hug.” After which he exclaimed breezily to his fellow billionaires and the lesser millionaires: “I would encourage you to invest here because it has been a level playing field for me.” Mr Kadourie is Chairman of the Asian power company CLP Group.

Chief Minister Modi “receives – some would say claims – much of the credit”, sneered Ms Timmons. However, she conceded, “The year before he took office in 2001, Gujarat's economy shrank by 5 per cent.” now “it has become an investment magnet. The state's gross domestic product is growing by 11 per cent annual rate – even faster than the overall growth rate for India. which despite its problems is slipping along at 9 per cent clip.” Our scribe veered into the Hindu-Muslim communal violence of March 2002, in which more Muslims than Hindus had died, for which Mr Modi was allegedly responsible. The US, she said, had long denied him a visa, which is no big deal. After all, the US never withheld one from the fallen Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, whose wealth through bribes and kickbacks is reliably estimated at $70 billion, who ran a police state for 30 tortuous years without a free or fair election. Mr Modi, in contrast has won two back-to-back corruption-free elections with enhanced majorities.

So when Ms Tiimmons asked the chief minister for an interview to discuss the Gujarat riots of yesteryear, she received a curt refusal. Consider this, the US has reduced Iraq to a desolation. Over a million Iraqi civilians have been killed in US bombing and other military operations in the country, with some 2 million Iraqis refugees in neighbouring states. Iraqis are overwhelmingly Muslim. Got the message, lady.

Aero India Bangalore The news of the week is clearly Aero India Bangalore, now the biggest military-related air show in all Asia. Bangalore hosted its first such event way back in 1996, a fairly modest affair by contemporary standards. Aero

69 MiG 29 aircraft with India 2011, hosted by the IAF would be upgradIndia's Ministry of ed with the installation of Defence and the Fazatron Zhuk-M radar Confederation of Indian to give the aircraft beyond Industry (CII), opened visual range combat capaon February 9 and bility. The first six airclosed February 13. craft are undergoing There was lavish local upgrade in Russia, the media coverage of the rest of the 63 will be inauguration by Defence upgraded by Hindustan Minister A.K. Antony, Aeronautics corporation and of various war(HAL) in India. planes displaying their capabilities in awesome India's aerobatics.

Privileged partner indigenous Tejas aircraft which had recently German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg According to domainreceived its Initial (second left) visiting the Eurofighter Typhoon pavilion b.com (February 1) dated Operational Clearance Moscow, Russian vice two-front war scenario, had (IOC) from the Indian Air Force premier Sergei Ivanov, addressdrafted a proposal to the (IAF) dazzled as they flew in ing a India-Russia business Ministry of Defence to sanction formation, putting the machines meet, said Russia's relations an increase in IAF numbers from through arduous drills. with India were based on 'trust', the previously sanctioned 39.5 The Press Trust of India hence Moscow would continue squadrons to a fighting strength (PTI) wrote at the opening: to share 'sensitive' technology of 45 squadrons – a squadron “With participation from over with its Indian partner. varying from 18 to 20 aircraft.

670 exhibitors from across the Mr Ivanov explained: “India Air bases along India's western world including 80 overseas is the only country in the world, front were being rapidly modcountries..... the event is set to and most probably, will remain ernised with the latest airfield attract 100,000 visitors in the the only foreign country to infrastructure in place. next five days.” It just did that.

Opportunities and scale Minister Antony said the aero show provided the right opportunity for domestic and foreign companies to network, besides scouting for possibilities for production-cooperation deals and technology transfers.

The process would strengthen the Indian aviation industry and make it self-reliant, he said. Other Indian dignitaries present included Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju, Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S Yedyurappa, Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and Secretary Defence Production Raj Kumar Singh.

Over 5000 delegates from India and abroad including 40 air chiefs, ministers and diplomats from 40 nations witnessed at the gala inaugural and the aerobatics that followed. The size of the show exceeded those of the past. In 2009, for example, companies were allotted 40,000 square metres as space, in 2011, it had shot up to 75,000 metres.

Inviting foreign aviation giants to look towards India for closer cooperation and collaboration. Mr Antony said the Indian economy was on a fast track, which had led to an expanding market. He also highlighted India's offset policy which, he claimed, encouraged indigenisation and provided opportunities for globally competitive companies to join hands with Indian firms in joint ventures and the like. He stressed that India's offset clause had led to transparency in dealings with foreign entities..

More aircraft for IAF

Surya Kiran squadron perform loops at the Aero inauguration

A subsequent PTI report (February 11) said the Indian Air Force (IAF), preparing for a

Defence Minister AK Antony

Continuing, the report said India had plans to induct more than 350 new warplanes by the end of the decade including the multirole 126 aircraft, presently under consideration for contract from US, Russiab, Swedish and French vendors and a consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies offering the Eurofighter (Financial Times February 11).

Over and above these aircraft, the IAF has drawn up plans to augment its fleet of Russian Sukhoi 30 MKIs and India's own Tejas aircraft.

Mirage, MiG upgrades According to an agency report (February 11), the IAF hoped to sign a $2.1 billion deal for the upgrade of 50 Mirage 2000 sometime in March this year. Air Chief Marshal Naik told reporters: “The negotiations have been concluded and the report has been submitted to the Defence Ministry. All the offset related concerns regarding the multirole medium combat aircraft are (also) sorted. The commercial negotiations should start within two to four weeks.....the contract for the multirole aircraft should be signed by September,” he said.

Meanwhile, Business Line (February 6) reported that a test flight of upgraded MiG 29 fighter aircraft of the IAF had been successfully carried out at Zhukovski airfield, near Moscow, by manufacturer Russia's RAC Mig Corporation.

Under the $900 million deal, all

which we have agreed to provide access to high-precision GLONASS signals for defence and security requirements. Our cooperation in GLONASS navigation is one such example,” he said.

GLONASS is Russia's answer to America's Global Positioning System (GPS). Both have military and civil applications.

The Indian delegation, consisting major IT and pharmaceutical representatives, at these talks was led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary T.K.A Nair. Mr Ivanov applealed to Indian businesses to invest in Russia.

Paddy yield doubled The Hindu reports (February 6): “Cultivation of paddy using Rajarajan (RR 1000) has doubled the yield in the Madurai district (of Tamil Nadu). As against the average yield of 4 or 5 tonnes a hectare in the conventional method of cultivation, the average yield under the RR 1000 technique is around 7 to 9 tonnes a hectare. The Collector, C. Kamraj, participated in the harvest festival at Porusupati where mechanisation was widely used for planting, weeding and harvesting of paddy through the RR 1000 technique.”

This is good news. Advances in agriculture strengthen India's economic platform and guarantee integrated industrial and technological progress down the line. A country marches on its stomach.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Alpesh Patel’s Political Sketchbook:

The Politics of Aid The British Government, your Government, at a time of budget cuts will be providing £1bln of aid to India.

Not all in one go, but spread over 4-5 years. That’s okay then.

Don’t you just hate it when people talk about Indian investment’s into the UK with words like ‘The Empire Strike Back’. It’s a little like the story of the man who was raving on and on about how good the iPod is until his neighbour, tired of listening to him drone on, quizzed him, ‘did you invent it then?’

I don’t have a problem with pride in the country of one’s origin. Especially as I recall in the 80s whenever India was covered it would be pictures of poverty and my father would scream at the TV that ‘India is not all about poverty but the home of a great and rich heritage without which the world would not be where it is.’ And of course he was right.

But today, it seems the balance has changed so much that we only focus on Mansion Ambani and not the poverty at all. The number of poor people is larger than the entire population of Europe – and indeed in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa.

And yes India has an ancient heritage. So too does China. In China the the average income is three times that as in India. Three times. Are they three times cleverer? Three times more resourceful? Three times bigger? Maybe they care three times more for each other?

When I worked in the US Congress,

the Indian Embassy staff told me how much they hated getting aid from the US. Not because of pride, but because the debate on the floor of the House of Representatives associated with it led to a flurry of anti-Indian spewing of hatred.

And so it is with the announcement of aid to India from the UK. Put to one side that if India has enough money to provide aid to the Maldives then why does it need Britain to look after it’s poor. Credit to the British that even after ejection, they maintain their international moral obligations.

Or the cynic may say, as with American legislators, it was ‘soft power’ and influence that comes with being a donor. Well, either way – the politics of it all means India should not be accepting the money.

Or is it that it means £1bln more can be siphoned elsewhere by the Indian political elite. Oh, forgive me if I offend anyone to suggest corruption in politics (British or Indian).

What was interesting was the comments on Guardian blog, as one person wrote, ‘This is why I engage in tax avoidance. I never vote for any of the three main parties who believe in wasting as much of our public money as possible, but apparently about 86% of the population does, so I figured that it would be fairer if you lot pay my share and I'll keep as much of my own money as possible to spend on things other than India's space program.’

13

India Realty Corner Vikram Goyal, Managing Director

Buying a Property in India, what next?

Buying a property is easier than taking care of all the details that come after When you decide to buy a house, there are several decisions to make – where to buy, what your budget is, who to buy from among others. Once you sign on the dotted line and write all your cheques, you think the work is done. But completing the paperwork is not the end of the story, it is the beginning. Have you considered the following?

1. Utilities: Electricity, water and gas bills have to be registered in your name and must be paid. Keep all records and let the utility companies know if your property is vacant.

2. Property taxes: Check the local taxes and ensure that arrangements are made to be paid on time. Remember the Government can go back several years to check compliance.

3. Identification: When you buy a flat always ensure that the society correctly identifies you as the owner of the property. If you have an allotted parking space make sure that this is properly identified both in the records as well as on the spot.

4. Fittings: If you are buying from a builder, ask for a checklist of items included. Once the property has been handed over, check that these are present and properly installed.

You will also have to buy and install things like fans, light fittings, air conditioners, etc.

5. To let or not to let: Leaving your property vacant can lead to deterioration in the property over a period of time. It is always better to let your property out to a reliable tenant so that it is well looked after and you earn additional returns on your investment.

6. Furnishings: Whether you are letting your property or using it as a holiday home, you need furnishing. Choose the fittings carefully depending on the purpose of your property.

7. Neighbours: Introduce yourself to your neighbours. Even if you don’t plan to live there, your neighbours can be very helpful in keeping an eye on your property.

Follow these useful tips or you can let Unesta do the needful. Unesta’s full management service can take care of all the details. Register your property or receive a free no obligation valuation for your property in Mumbai please feel free to call us.

Unesta Property Services Evans House, 107 Marsh Road, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 5PA Ph: 0207 125 0425 Fax: +44 207 125 0426 Email: marketing@unesta.com Website: www.unesta.com

14

COMMUNITY

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Preaching religion, teaching football

Arsenal for Everyone: Celebrating the wealth of Britain's religious diversity at Emirates Stadium

North London based European Football giants, Arsenal celebrated the finale to its annual 'Arsenal for Everyone' initiative where children from 30 local primary schools between the age of eight and 11 received variety of religious lessons along with football coaching session. Local religious leaders or representatives of world's six major religions – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism educated these kids about their respective religions and the need to honour other's at the same time.

The program is in line with the objectives of Key stage 2 National curriculum which states developing pupils’ knowledge and understanding as well as exploring faiths to help them understand and respect different values and traditions. Each repre-

sentative brought along various items relating to their faith which they used to explain various practices and traditions. As part of the day, children were also invited to partic-

Faith Forum and funded by the Premier League draws parallel between the diversity of the Arsenal squad and the Club's local community. Over the years Arsenal's work in

A Sikh preacher shows the kids their place of worship - Gurdwara

ipate in a session of music and meditation followed by a trip to the magnificent Emirates Stadium.

The scheme which is delivered by the Club in partnership with Islington

the community has been accredited to have induced higher level of tolerance and respect towards each other's religion in the younger generation.

MATV team visits ABPL

Back L-R: Kuldeep Singh Shekhawat (President, MATV), Pradeep Unni, Kamal Rao (News Editor, Gujarat Samachar), Kishor Parmar (Advertising Manager, Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice), Rovin George (Media Consultant AV and GS), Kishore Mohata (MATV), CB Patel (Publisher/Editor AV and GS), Front: Pooja Raval and Rupanjana Dutta (Associate Editor, Asian Voice)

Kishore Mohata, Director of MATV visited the office of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar with his colleagues Pradeep Unni and Kuldeep Singh Shekhawat. In an exclusive interview he told Asian Voice, "I have been working in the field of

digital media since past 18 years. I was associated with Sanskar tv and then ATN. We started with providing logistics in digital media first.

I must say MATV has a great future ahead.

With commitments of the viewers and community supporters, we have

done very well so far. We are a free channel and have commercial viability. We have programmes for all age groups and all communities. We will soon start more programmes and channels like Maa, Vivah, Tirtha for our committed viewers."

Old employment of young people at work regulation challenged

By Mahendra Jadeja Independent retailers in country facing declining of Newspaper Delivery by young person who can start daily news paper delivery at the age 13 onward but have to follow government regulations. This guideline on employment of young people the EU directive on protection of young people at worked was introduced in 1963.

Before you employ any young person, retailers has to go through some guide line for age 13 to 15 1) Minimum age 13+ (check minimum age within local borough) 2) Employer has to apply for work permit 3) Risk assessment forms for young person 4) Most importantly young person can only work between 7.00am to 7.00pm and maximum of 2 hours a day.

5) Always to go thorough local authority A news paper delivery boy who is now 15 been challenged by local authority that he can not start his newspaper delivery work before 7.00 am.

Boy, parents and his MP are asking local authority and government to change timing (introduce in 1963) to make it flexible as in this particular case boy would like to start at 6.45 (just 15 mins early) for genuine reasons that he comes to shop at 6.45 but cant start till 7.00 that’s make him late to go to school. If he can’t start few mins early then he can’t finish his round on time to reach school on time. If he give up then he loses £25 income for himself. This job made him more streetwise then ever. He is been doing newspaper round for more than year and had so many confrontations from local authority to his parents and Newsagent with taking retailer to the court.

This legation need to make it flexible as so many boys and girls would like to do newspaper round if they can start little early because they have to travel to school

they choose are away from their home or parents may have chosen better school or they moved to area and do not wish to change school but continue with old school plus recently timing of school become a earlier than before in 1963.

Interesting facts that £1 in every £7 spent on goods in the UK is on delivered products plus 28 % of people who buys newspapers are interested in having newspaper during week, rising 35 % at the weekend.

Combating against opening Big super markets to Independent Newsagents USP is that service with smile and a professional home news delivery with many individual specialties of independents Highest numbers of employments for under 16 are given by newsagents in this country. Many families would want their children to do home news delivery but cant because of little flexibilities isn’t in place by the local authorities and EU Government. I hope this boy and his parents win this arguments and request to other parents, Newsagents and their MPs to join and support this boy.

(Mahendra Jadeja runs a successful news agency with his wife Manharba Jadeja at Winchmore Hill since 1985. He is originally from Gujarat and graduated from Bhavnagar, as an Engineer. He started this by getting elected at his local North London National Federation of Retail Newsagent branch as a President.

Mahendra is also involved in working with Government and trade bodies and as of present he is: Director on PASS Board-Proof of Age Standard Scheme affiliated with Home office, Vice Chairman and Director of NFRN MutualLeading Insurance Service providers, Director NFRN Credit Union, London North and Central London Branch Secretary, National Councillor for London District, Spokes person for Tobacco Retailers to London and Home counties, Advisory Panel Member to Camelot Board and Retail Panel Member, Advisory Panel Member to News International Media Distribution Service, Advisory Panel Member to Loomba Trust).

New branch of PNBIL opens in Wembley The 6th branch of PNBIL in UK was inaugurated on last Monday by H.E Mr Nalin Surie, High Commissioner of India in UK at Ealing Road, Wembley. The Guests of Honour were Cllr.

Harbhajan Singh, Mayor, London borough of Brent and Mr Barry Gardiner, MP, Brent North. The event was also attended by around 150 prominent British Indians and other local residents of London, heads of other Indian banks and financial institutions, representatives of local social and religious organisations and British Indian press.

The ribbon cutting and lamp lighting ceremonies were performed by the Mayor and the MP in the branch premises while the main function was held at Clay Oven banqueting hall. While welcoming the guests, Mr S R Sharma, Managing Director of PNBIL, dwelt upon the 115 years history of Punjab National Bank and its journey from Lahore (the capital of undivided Punjab, where the Bank was established on

Baisakhi day in 1895) to Wembley. He mentioned about the pan-India presence of the Bank through more than 5000 branches and 4400 ATMs. The Bank has a customer base of around 60 million and a business of INR 500,000 crores in India. The Bank also has a presence in nine countries abroad including the UK subsidiary.

PNBIL which started operations in UK in may 2007 has rapidly expanded during last four years and has opened its sixth branch today. The Bank has more than 22,000 customers and total business (customer deposits and advances) of nearly $1.20 billion. Mr Sharma also explained the rationale of expansion by PNBIL, despite the impact of slowdown on the British economy and mentioned that the Bank is expecting a growth of 30-35% in its customer business during current financial year ending March 2011. He also mentioned about the plans of the Bank to open another branch at Wolverhampton in near future.

The High Commissioner, who had also inaugurated the fifth branch of PNBIL at Ilford during April 2010, spoke about the Indo British business partnership and how the Indian Banks are contributing towards growth of British economy and enhancement of bilateral trade. He wanted the Indian banks to help the businesses in UK and also to promote investment from UK to India. He also lauded the contribution of British Indians to the economy.

The Mayor, Cllr Harbhajan Singh welcomed the Bank to the borough of Brent and hoped that the Bank will work closely with the local community. He assured all the support and cooperation to the Bank in its operations.

Mr Barry Gardiner, MP, appreciated the role of Indian community and Indian banks and how they are contributing to the development of Brent.

Mr K L Luhana, Branch Manager of Wembley branch, proposed the vote of thanks.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Asian physiotherapist tells patient 'I'm not a terrorist' Rajesh Mallick allegedly made an "inappropriate" comment to a shocked woman while working as a locum at Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust, the Health Professions Council heard, as reported by The Daily Telegraph.

When challenged, Mallick allegedly admitted making the joke, claiming he had suffered racial slurs in the past and wanted to "pre-empt" them.

He was sacked after only six days work in May and June 2008 after numerous complaints were made about him, the hearing was told.

Julia Copping, who was then the head of the physiotherapy department, told the national daily she returned from holiday on June 2 to find multiple complaints about the physiotherapist.

Among them were a woman who 'expressed a concern about hearing some of the comments he had made throughout the physiotherapy session,' she said.

The hearing was also told that an elderly patient had also complained, saying that Mallik had suggested exercises which made his

painful sciatia worse.

When Ms Coppin quizzed Mallik about the condition, which is caused by a major nerve becoming injured or trapped, he was allegedly unable identify which nerve roots were involved, reports the daily media further.

After checking through his note keeping, she found that basic details such as records of medical histories, examinations and treatment plans had not been recorded in many cases.

Another physiotherapist who took over from Mallik said it was sometimes difficult to tell even what part of the body had been examined.

The hearing was told that Mallik qualified as a physiotherapist in 2000, and he had been hired through a locum agency to fill gaps in staffing after several people retired at the trust.

The physio attended his central London hearing last week. He has denied that he made inappropriate comments to patients, and demonstrated poor clinical reasoning skills and a lack of basic knowledge.

The hearing continues.

15

Misconceptions restricting investment in Pakistan claims Adam Thomson Kartik.S. Raval In a briefing hosted by British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Adam Thomson said that it is the image of violence and unfriendly environment wrongly portrayed by the media that has led to a very limited investment in Pakistan.

Mr. Thomson also highlighted that Pakistan is ranked 83 out of 183 in the Doing Business Index released by the World Bank in January 2011, while its neighbors India and Bangladesh lag behind at 134 and 107 respectively. This index reflects the ease at which an entrepreneur can establish a business and make it flourish in the given market, however FDI witnessed by Pakistan is far behind that

by India.

The briefing followed the event 'Doing Business in Pakistan' organised by UK Trade and Investment at Lancaster House in London, where more than 80 business representative from UK and Pakistan as well as policy makers were present.

Minister for Trade and Investment, Lord Green who was also present at

tarang

Adam Thomson at Doing Business in Pakistan

the event opined “Pakistan will be one of the world’s driver of growth in years to come, notwithstanding some of the challenges of the present. For UK companies deciding on which export markets to target, it is important that they look to those markets that are experiencing growth.

There are significant opportunities for partnership between UK and Pakistan firms and I would encourage business groups to explore these with the help of UK Trade & Investment.”

Pakistan’s Minister of State and Chairman of

Milapfest on the web

www.milapfest.com The National South Asian Music Youth Orchestra

the Board of Investment Saleem Mandviwalla also spoke at the event, alongside British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson and Pakistan High Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan.

“Factors like terrorism threats, fallacious image painted by the world media and the fear of failure in the mind of investors due to those factors have affected foreign investment into Pakistan”, Adam Thomson tells Asian Voice.

He adds, “However these factors have not stopped various

British companies to explore the market, which has now made Britain the second largest investor and fourth largest exporter to Pakistan.”

Bilateral trade is already worth more than £1 billion annually and over 100 British companies are operating successfully in Pakistan.

Major British players include Unilever, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Barclays. Karachi also has the largest purposebuilt Toni & Guy hair salon in the world.

Bollywood

16 Asian Voice Saturday 19th February 2011

Salman, Katrina to come together It was a fake interview: Nayantara A noted Telugu magazine recently published an “exclusive interview” of actress Nayantara saying she has stopped giving dates and is planning to quit films after completing her ongoing Telugu project ‘Sri Rama Rajyam.”

It also said that Prabhu Deva asked her to quit films, since they are getting married by the year end.

However, actress Nayantara has now stated that the said interview is fake. Speaking to the media from the sets of “Sri Rama Rajyam” at Hyderabad, Nayantara said, “I’m shell-shocked reading a fabricated interview of mine published in a Telugu magazine. I swear that I have not spoken to the publication.

They are trying to sensa-

tionalise things and blow it out of proportion by publishing an interview that never took place!”

“I will definitely take it up with the authorities concerned and ask them for proof of the interview.

Just because I don’t react to many media-made stories about me does not mean I will take things lying down,” she added.

Oviya sulks over ‘Manmadhan Ambu’

Though there were reports that Oviya was unhappy with the way her character was portrayed in ‘Manmadhan Ambu’, the Kamal Haasan starrer directed by K S Ravikumar, she maintained silence so far.

But now, the actress has broken her silence for the first time, in an interview to a Tamil weekly. “I agreed to do the film since the cast and crew had big names like Kamal and Ravikumar,” she said.

Oviya added: “I attended the shooting of ‘Manmadhan Ambu’ with great expectations. Now, I am clueless how to reply to questions from those who are grilling me after watching the film.”

“Only the director should have an answer,” the ‘Kalavani’ girl said on her ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss’ appearance in the film, adding: “Other than this, I don’t want to talk anything about Manmadhan Ambu.”

Shankar finally posts on ‘Nanban’

After keeping the audience on their toes about “3 Idiots” remake for over two months, director Shankar has finally posted on the latest happenings of “Nanban” on his website. The director has said that the first schedule of the film has been completed in Ooty.

Shankar posted, “Just finished the first schedule of Nanban in Ooty… It was really a good start and I am able to feel things started working. I enjoyed… it was full of fun and laughter, there was a lot of energy flowing as it was a young team… I will keep you posted. ” The scenes involving Actress Illean D Cruz, Jeeva and Srikanth have been shot in Ooty and sources have claimed that the team is heading for its second schedule in Dehradun. Actor Vijay is playing the main lead in film, which was played by Aamir Khan in the original.

After much-drama, he signed the film and he will be joining the second schedule of ‘Nanban.’

Salman and Katrina Kaif will come together for a Yash Raj film, to be directed by Kabir Khan, highly placed sources say.

Sources say that Katrina has been signed for another film under the banner in which she stars with Shah Rukh Khan to be directed by Yash Chopra.

Says a source, "The film with Shah Rukh will be a romantic one and will go on floor by the end of this year. The Sal-Kat starrer is an action-thriller-romance."

While the SRK-Kat pair is interesting because they've never been paired together in a film, the Sal-Kat jodi is exciting, given their personal history, and their hit films together.

The estranged lovers were last seen together in “Tees Maar Khan,” in the Walla Walla song. Salman has stayed away from the YRF banner after the Chak De! controversy.

The film was first offered to him, but

the Chopras refused him the price he demanded because they've always paid actors less than their market price,

because they are a "prestigious banner."

But that has changed in the last few years, and they have started paying top dollar to the A-List actors.

The banners strategy to work with newcomers didn't really pay off (Lafangey Parindey, Badmaash Company, Rocket Singh Salesman Of The Year), so they are back to wooing big stars.

Aamir Khan being signed for “Dhoom 3” is yet another indication of that. He has been paid megabucks. Even Salman is getting his asking price this time.

A source close to Katrina confirms, "She's in talks with Kabir for the project. It's a performance oriented role in the league of New York." A spokesperson from YRF says, "No cast has been locked for either Yashji or Kabir's film. We would request you to wait for our announcement."

Esha Deol comeback film delayed again

Esha Deol's comeback film, “Tell Me Oh Khuda,” has been further delayed. The project will not see light of day till at least in May or even later.

Says a source, "Something or the other keeps happening to delay the project even further. Esha has a lot of hopes pinned on the movie. She hopes it will get her back on track.

The film's shoot wrapped u p around mid2010."

Adds the source, "Initially, the film was slated to released last year itself. Then it got delayed in post-production.

Later, the Yamla Pagla Deewana promotions began and they did not want their film to clash with Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol's outing in January this year. The project was to resurrect the Deol juniors and Hema thought of

releasing it in February." The film has Esha with Arjan

“Slumdog Millionaire” star Frieda Pinto has outrun Hollywood stars like Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts in a new `Most Beautiful Women in Film` list.

Compiled by the Los Angeles Times magazine, the list has Indian star at number 38, followed by Oscarnominated Portman and Hollywood`s own `Pretty Woman` Roberts.

Pinto even pipped Sharon Stone and Elizabeth Taylor, who were at 43 and 44 respectively. French actress Isabelle Adjani, 55, known for her roles in `Queen Margot` and `Possession`, topped the list comprising 50 names.

Adjani is followed by Brigitte Bardot, Kim Basinger, Monica Bellucci and Halle Berry. Jennifer Connelly ranked ninth, while Spanish beauty Penelope Cruz took the 11th place.

Yesteryears` screen beau-

Bajwa (Fashion) and Chandan Roy Sanyal (Kaminey) as her co-stars.

Says Bajwa, "There are lots of plans lined up for the film's promotions. It is felt that with the cricket World Cup starting soon, it is better to release the movie after it."

Esha has been missing from the marquee for the last few years. Unhappy with how her career was shaping up, mother Hema Malini decided to produce a movie for her.

After creative differences with director Mayur Puri, Hema even took over the film herself.

Esha remained unavailable for comment.

Kangna refuses kissing scene with Mika Kangna Raut and Madhavan recently shot for a promotional song for their upcoming film “Tanu Weds Manu” recently. The song also features bhangra king Mika Singh who has sung the high energy Punjabi baraat song.

A source reveals, "Since the song has a crazy, wild and energetic vibe, the director Aanand L Rai decided to shoot it in wacky style too. He came up with an idea for Kangna to dance with Mika in the Baraat with the video culminating with him kissing her in his infamous Rakhi Sawant style." The source added, "Though Kangna shot for the video with the required zeal, she freaked out at director's idea of Mika kissing her at the end just for fun. She shot down the proposal with thinly concealed disgust, saying, "I am not Rakhi Sawant to do some thing like this."

Kangna simply says, "I was not comfortable kissing for a music video." Mika remained unavailable for comment.

Another star kid ready to make debut Another star kid is all ready to make his entry into the tinseltown. After Akshaye Khanna and Rahul Khanna, veteran actor Vinod Khanna is all set to launch his youngest son Sakshi in Bollywood.

The young hunk turned many heads and set many a heart aflutter as he made his first social appearance at Aamir Khan's bash for nephew Imran Khan and Avantika.

The 19-year-old Sakshi, who is Akshaye and Rahul's stepbrother, is already making the right choices. After a stint at Anupam Kher's acting school, he also enrolled for filmmaker Rahul Rawail's course.

Impressed by the young lad, Anupam Kher revealed, "Sakshi is a bright boy. I remember him as being a bit plump. But when I met him at Imran Khan's reception, he looked slim and shone with star potential."

A proud Khanna says, "Sakshi is only 19 and there is a lot of time before we launch him. But he is training hard to get into what we'd call our family profession."

With the Kapoors, Deols, and Sinhas making waves in Bollywood, Khannas too, are ready for a roll.

17

I make films instinctively: Aamir Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan wondered why Berlinale chose him as a jury member of the prestigious film festival.

He says that he has no formal education in filmmaking and makes films instinctively. Berlinale might have fell in love with him after watching his production venture ‘Peepli Live,’ which was screened at the festival last year.

He says freedom of expression is a continuous struggle for artistes around the world.

"American artistes fought McCarthyism in the 1950s. Indian artistes braved the emergency imposed by the state on artistic expression," said Aamir at a press conference held in the German capital Berlin to introduce members of the international jury of the 61st Berlinale which was held recently.

"And today Jafar Panahi (an Iranian director who is also on the judges panel) is imprisoned by the government in Iran and unable to be with us at the Berlinale," he added. Aamir also said that artistes have to be very patient when faced with censorship by the state without giving up their struggle against the throttling of artistic

expression.

The Berlinale fell in love with Aamir after having watched his production venture Peepli Live, which was screened at the fest last year.

The seven-member jury, headed by ItalianAmerican actress Isabella Rossellini, includes Australian film producer Jan Chapman, German actress Nina Hoss, Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin, British costume designer Sandy Powell, Aamir and Jafar Panahi.

However Panahi is unable to travel to Berlin as he is in prison since last December serving a six year term and is banned from making films or leaving Iran for 20 years.

Aamir says, "for me, filmmaking is very subjective. It is about the art of story telling. I make films because I like the thought of touching people's emotions with a good story. I like my films to make the audience laugh and to cry. I will look out for films that touch my core and make me enlightened about myself," Aamir replied to a question as to the kind of cinema he looked forward to seeing at the Berlinale.

Asked why the Indian film industry that makes more films than any other in the world is so poorly represented at international film festivals, Aamir said: "I think it is because Indian film makers know that there is a large and healthy audience at home for their films and they are not looking for audiences outside of India."

"But this attitude is now changing. Many talented filmmakers in India want to reach out to a more diverse audience. Since Indian film makers themselves want to communicate with a more international audience now, there will be a larger presence of Indian films at international platforms such as the Berlinale in the future."

Frieda outruns Portman, Roberts

ties Farrah Fawcett, Greta Garbo and Ava Gardner came 15th, 16th and 17th. Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe were voted in at number 22 and 32 respectively.

Superstar Angelina Jolie could only manage the 23rd place, while R&B star Beyonce Knowles was at 25 and Australian beauty Nicole Kidman at 26. `Gossip Girl` actress Blake Lively, who took the 30th place, was the youngest star on the list at the age of 23.

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

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7 Khoon Maaf 7 Khoon Maaf is a Vishal Bhardwaj flick. A drama, thriller and black comedy based on a short story of Ruskin Bond, the film is a joint venture between Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures and UTV Motion Pictures.

The film features Priyanka Chopra in a negative role just for the second time in her long career after AITRAAZ. The film has seven heroes, including a rare combo of father-son duo of Naseeruddin Shah and his youngest son Vivaan Shah.

The romantic misadventures of Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes, a beautiful lass who over the course of thirtyfive odd years, gets married seven times due to the untimely and mysterious deaths of half a dozen of her hapless husbands. The strange circumstances of their deaths make Susanna a prime accused. Vishal Bhardwaj also shares the credits as producer, story writer and music director.

New Hindi movies releasing this week 1. 7 Khoon Maaf 2. Kaccha Limboo

The lead cast of the film includes the writer of the original short story, Ruskin Bond apart from Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Naseruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan, Anu Kapoor, Usha Uthup and Aleksandr Dyachenko.

Gulzar and Ajinkya Iyer have penned the lyrics, while Usha Uthup, Rekha Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj, K K, Clinton Cerejo, Master Saleem, Suresh Wadkar, Suraj Jagan and Francois have lent the playback.

Top 5 Bollywood movies for the week No. Film Last Week Total Weeks 1 Yeh Saali Zindagi New 1 2 Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji 1 2 3 Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 3 4 Dhobi Ghat 3 3 5 Utt Pataang New 1

18

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

JLR to get more R&D push from Tata Alpesh Patel Consultant Editor Financial Voice Dear Financial Voice Reader, The job of a financial journalist is to explain what is going on in the financial world in simple terms and draw attention to investment opportunities for readers. When I wrote for the Financial Times between 2000 and 2005 in a weekly column I would try also to add some degree of original thought.

So let me do the same here, now. Interest rates in the UK are going to rise sooner than expected.

Originally we expected it to be end of December. Now it may be as soon as next month. The reason is because inflation has shot up. Your bhaji is causing you to shout about your moora. The Bank of England will raise interest rates, not because this will help control inflation - it wont - because inflation is not up because we are all with too much money - but will raise interest rates to keep its credibility.

The Bank of England is after all meant to monitor inflation. And since inflation is double what it is supposed to be. If the Bank of England does not do something - then it loses credibility. Even the wrong thing is better than nothing.

So what does that mean to you and me. Well rising interest rates means the Pound moves up. So expect foreign products to be cheaper, such as when you visit the Eurozone or US. But also expect exports to be more expensive - so good for consumption, poor for exports.

This is not what is wanted. We actually want few consumer imports and more exports. So rising interest rates in reducing how much spending power consumers have, will be countered by rising Sterling rates.

It will neutralise and only cause pain.

What does it mean for your stocks. Well normally stocks fall when interest rates rise because it makes money in bank accounts more attractive and also because it makes cost of borrowing by companies and hence their profits fall. So again not good.

However, I do not expect stocks to fall too far.

Instead, companies which are relatively undervalued, tracking the US markets will issue greater dividends to compete with interest rates. Consequently expect stocks to wobble but not topple.

What about India? Yes this past week it had a big jump up. That was a relief rally. This will not be a year where India looks more attractive than the US. That is because people will pause for profits and wont want the extra risk an emerging market offers compared to a developed market.

Inside India, food inflation is imminent. I worry that combinations of food inflation with 300m poor Indians, and clear political corruption, and how long before a couple of million people march on Delhi?

India is after all the home of Karma. I say this not to make mischief but because political corruption is at such levels that it really is beyond the pale!

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Indian owners to up the spending by 10% this year Tata Motors, the Indian owners of UK’s premium car marques JLR have not only effected a huge turnaround for the beleaguered auto company, but now are drawing plans to invest heavily in R&D starting this year.

Reports indicate that Tatas are all set to spend about £1 billion, equal to approximately 10% of the annual revenue of JLR for research and product development Ford Motor Company, the US-based erstwhile owners of JLR, were pumping in only a third of that or £400 million into the two brands towards

R&D, before they were sold to Tata Motors in early 2008.

Chief Financial Officer, Tata Motors, C Ramakrishnan said in India: “It’s possible that expenditure towards research and product development may trend upwards in a few years as new programmes and new

projects start off.”

At least four new products under the Jaguar brand are under development, including a small sports car, station wagon, entry level sedan and a crossover. In addition, engineers are working on a concept called C-X75, an electric sedan to return 900 km to a charge, with a top speed of 320 km/hr.

Land Rover, a sports utility vehicle brand, is developing models that would hit the market this year and in 2012-13.

These include improvement in the current lineup, as well as addition of the hybrid alternative.

Jaguar will also make extensive use of the hybrid technology being developed in-house by the two brands.

Besides, Land Rover is trying to develop armoured vehicles catering to armed forces across the globe, with India also being on the radar.

Further, with even stricter emission norms for Western countries from 2012, automotive companies have to incur added expenses on R&D to adhere to the norms.

Employees need to know their workplace postcode for 2011 Census Indian business owners throughout England and Wales are being asked by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Minority Supplier Development UK (MSDUK) to make sure that their employees know the postcode of their place of work so that they can record it on their 2011 Census questionnaires in March.

Knowing their workplace postcode is a key piece of information that feeds into the overall picture of life in England and Wales. Details of where people live, where they work and how they travel to their place of employment provide important data for transport planning and other strategic decisions.

The address and postcode of the employer is one of a number of questions contained in the cen-

sus questionnaire about jobs, place of work, hours of employment and methods of travel to work.

Answers to these questions help to build a profile of the economy of England and Wales and provide the foundation for other labour market and economic statistics published by ONS. In the 2001 Census, nearly 8% of questionnaires did not include a workplace postcode. In some parts of the country, the figure was as high as 18% and large number of calls were taken by the census contact centre from people who were unsure about their work address.

Sushil Sharma, a 2011 Census community adviser for the Indian community, said, “While everyone is likely to know their own postcode at home, many won’t know the postcode

of their workplace.

“As well as asking for an employer’s name, the questionnaire also asks for an address and postcode.

While the internet makes it easier to look it up, not everyone has access to the web so we are asking all employers to make sure that their staff have the right information to enable them to complete this section of the questionnaire.”

As well as underpinning the planning of public services, census data is also used extensively by the private sector.

Information on such things as the skill and age profile of the workforce and where people live can help businesses to decide where to place new offices, factories and other places of work and what training they need provide for their employees.

Mayank Shah,

Director at MSDUK, said, “Indian businesses need good quality information on which to base investment decisions and the data that flows from the census is a vital resource.

“Information on qualifications, current employment and the geographical location of potential employees can all contribute to decisions on where to site new industry, the potential to expand existing businesses, training needs and workforce planning in general. Having the right transport infrastructure in place is part of this overall picture and something as simple as making sure that your employees know their workplace postcode can really help this process.”

The Census Day is on 27 March 2011. See www.census.gov.uk for more information.

Fonterra, Iffco dairy jv in Andhra Pradesh to come up soon Dairy jv to bring in New Zealand cows to India, will be reared in a controlled ambience Global Dairy Health Ltd. is setting up a huge dairy project in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh in partnership with Fonterra Cooperative group of New Zealand and India’s public sector fertilizer giant Iffco

that would turn out to be a game changer in the milk business in the country.

Under the project, thousands of New Zealand cows will be brought in and reared in a controlled ambience at the proposed

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160 acres site, a part of the planned Iffco SEZ in the southern state.

Decks are expected to be cleared in about next 2 months for one of the largest private investments in dairy development and milk production in India.

Fonterra is the market leader with its own consumer dairy brands in Australia and New Zealand as well as other countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. It is also the biggest milk cooperative in the world.

The three partners signed a memorandum of understanding in November, 2010 to jointly conduct a feasibility study for pilot dairy as the first step towards establishing large-scale, world-class dairy farms in India.

To ensure that none of India’s rules are violated,

Global Dairy has proposed a quarantine facility for all the cows at Nellore itself, where they will be kept under observation, and then housed in world-class cow-sheds where temperatures would be controlled and proper feed given to them.

The cattle would be of the same variety and kept ‘insulated’ from other local animals to ensure the strains don’t mix.

Once the economics and the production facilities are put into place, and the ‘pilot’ project is found acceptable, the Global Dairy-Fonterra-Iffco consortium plans setting up at least 10 other such dairy farms in other states in India.

The figure may look small compared with the 108 million tonne being produced in the country, making it the largest milk producer in the world.

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

19

Beggars Can’t Be Choosers

Suresh Vagjiani Managing Director Sow & Reap A Property Investment & Financing company.

Last week we completed on a two bedroom property in an Estate on the border of Notting Hill and close to Whitley’s in Bayswater. The property completed at 5.30pm and we had already arranged viewings for 6pm.

We expected the property to go the same day, it had been recommended on this basis. We promptly received an offer for the property for £550pw. The property had been purchased for £320,000 this gives a yield of nearly 10%.

On speaking to the landlord he decided he wanted his son to live in there so he can save paying rent in Kensington.

From the outset we had advised to keep the investment strictly as an investment and not to try and do a live in /investment. I get this proposal every so often, where people want to invest but they want the insurance of living in the property at a future date as well if required. For that reason they want the property close to their home etc.

We advise there should be a strict line between the two.

Firstly properties are very liquid in the UK, this means they can be sold within a short period of time. In an auction at the bang of the hammer your property can be exchanged, 28 days later you will complete and get all your money, this period can even be reduced.

F urthermo re the pro pe rty can be remortgaged , d espite the cu rrent cl imate you can st ill extract 75% of the prope rty value re latively e asily.

When considering an investment property it should be bought with what the market wants in mind, not what you would want. The market consists of two components, one is the tenant and the other is the end user/investor.

The tenant will be renting the property from completion. The end user/investor will purchase the property at a later stage if/ when you wish to sell. You may never wish to sell but taking this aspect into account will ensure long term future capital growth.

The tenant also needs to be defined. Will they be a DSS tenant, student sharers, or a city worker?

Each of these cases are distinct and will have differing requirement.

Knowing who your likely customer is is key to ensuring your investment works for you.

When for example renting to DSS frills are not required. The property needs to be hard wearing and safe, as there are more of these ten-

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ants then properties on the market . In short beggars cannot be choosers hence the amount for refurbishment should be minimal.

In order to attract students you may require free Wifi, a communal room, separate locks etc.

What will govern this is normally the agent who should know who the tenant will be before they come in, a thorough understanding of the market will reveal who the likely tenant will be. So the bait will match the fish.

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20

finanCiaL voICe

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Quality for Community

Leadership Matters

The Causes of Blindness It is written that one of the causes of the Mahabharat war was when Draupadi taunted Duryodhan as he stumbled into a pool of water.

She remarked ‘the son of a blind man is bound to be blind’. Although she may have revelled in her small verbal victory, she too was guilty of being just as blind – for she could not foresee the implications her cruel joke would have.

While the ability to look into the future is fascinating, we sometimes fail to see even obvious things in our lives. What causes such blindness?

Last Thursday, when Hosni Mubarak did not stand down as President, everyone wondered how he could not see the scale of the protests? The intoxication of power (‘aka’ – arrogance) can lead to a man becoming blind to reality.

Apathy can cause blindness. ‘Failed to look properly’ was the most frequently reported contributory factor in road accidents and was reported in 38 per cent of all accidents reported to the police in 2009.

Mayank S. Rawal, FCQI CQP

Customer Satisfaction Following on from our last session on this subject, Customer Satisfaction in our case Member Satisfaction is used as a way to grow and improve the C o m m u n i t y Organization. By having Member Satisfaction as one of the organization’s objectives, it allows C o n t i n u o u s Improvement to be achieved.

During the measurement of Member Satisfaction, the key element being measured is the member’s perception of actual experience /service received compared to what was expected.

The member’s perception may not be what the community organization wants to see, but the perception will normally be viewed as the reality of the matter.

The Member’s perception should be used as a measure of the performance of the community organization’s internal processes towards meeting, and exceeding Member’s requirements.

Member’s perceptions are normally controlled by their individual relationships with their organizations, their level of dedication, loyalty and mutual understanding.

The following guidelines can prove useful when carrying out various forms of measurement; ● Measures must be of meaningful value, and

lead to improvement. ● The correct activity / task should be measured. ● Questions of the right content, and quantity should be asked. ● Measures should result in actions being assigned to the management committee.

The measures you set in place should measure the Quality of relationship with members, you should be able to analyse this information to adjust, and improve internal working processes. Measurement will assist your community organization in detecting early warnings of any possible decline in membership, and attendance figures at events.

Some key drivers of member satisfaction for your community organization to consider, for measurement purposes could include; ● Handling of member’s enquiries. ● Service Quality of events and services (catering, priest, venue, external speaker) ● On time delivery of scheduled events / services. ● Management committee’s responsiveness to member’s queries. ● Competence and helpfulness of community organization’s committee. ● Price / cost of membership and events. ● Handling of complaints. ● Continuity of commit-

Part II

tee members. ● Feedback interviews with outgoing committee members. ● Accuracy, and completeness of Information given to members.

Some of the techniques which you could use for measurement include; ● Face to face interviews to seek positive and negative feedback. ● Surveys (hard copy/online) after the Community event by mail and telephone. ● Feedback questionnaires handed out during/after the event. ● Using Independent market research companies to capture feedback. ● Under facilitation, to arrange for the establishment of member focus groups for collective brainstorming of events. ● In-house data analysis of attendance by age group and figures, ticket sales, content of event.

The Quality of the member’s overall experience is what counts, the community event may be of great calibre, and delivered on time, but if the price does not match then action needs to be taken. At the same time you should bear in mind, that if you are able to measure the event, you will be able to judge the true outcome, buy judging the outcome, you can command it, by commanding it, you can improve the event, and make it the best in class.

and the products manufactured will form a key aircraft structure that Lockheed Martin will integrate and complete for its global C-130 aircraft customers.

Tata Advanced Systems is a whollyowned subsidiary of Tata Sons focused on providing integrated solutions for aerospace, defence, homeland security and disaster management.

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Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field of Leadership and Human Resource Management tracting economy and the protests around the country. Although I wonder, isn’t this what the government want people to be blind to? After all, we are constantly being told that we must be so steadfast in our determination to reduce this ‘calamitous’ deficit that we cannot focus on anything else. In other words we should adopt a ‘selective’ blindness - a bit like a cricket coach telling a young batsmen, ‘keep your eye on the ball’.

So could it be argued that the ‘deficit’ is a new cause of blindness? It certainly appears so. The only remaining question is who has been blinded by this – the public, or the coalition?

Defence, agriculture, infrastructure among the sectors to be under strict vigilance

Joint venture formation in India announced for C-130 transport planes the group announced setting up of a joint venture between Tata Advance Systems and US giant Lockheed Martin Corporation for manufacturing aerostructures for the C-130 transport aircrafts being produced by Lockheed Martin. The jv will be known as Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures.

It will be a completely export-oriented facility

Populist hype can lead to blindness. At least that is what many of those who were accomplice to the atrocities of the holocaust claim, that they were so swept up in the delirium surrounding Hitler that they lost all sense of perspective (although some claimed that they were blinded by fear – another notable cause).

And let us not forget Love causes blindness.

While there are many ‘causes of blindness’ in life, most of us (but not all) will have the invaluable opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Of course, in order to do that we must have the inclination to look back at our actions (and the actions of others before us) and to learn from these. This does not just apply to seeking improvement; it is also to avoid repeating mistakes.

When the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke said that the middle classes had not yet fully grasped the extent of the cuts being made.

He seemed to suggest that people were somehow blind to the rising unemployment, the con-

China makes acquisition rules for foreign firms more stringent

Tata to manufacture aerostructures for Lockheed Martin The Indian global industrial conglomerate of the Tata has now announced its venture for manufacturing aircraft components, to be set up in India.

Tatas already have considerable presence in the UK also, through JLR, Corus Steel and TCS as also some other British ventures that the group has acquired.

On Monday in India,

By Amit Patel

The Asian giant has made rules for acquisition of or merger with Chinese entities by foreign companies more stern, particularly those engaged in defence equipment.

China is attracting huge volumes of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Beijing will establish a ministerial panel to review attempts by foreign firms to buy or merge with domestic companies, laying the ground for the country's first formal process for scrutinising national security questions that arise from international deals, according to reports in official media.

“A panel would be established to examine proposed foreign acquisitions of local companies dealing in military or national security work,” Chinese Cabinet

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announced.

It said the committee will review foreign companies' attempts at buying or merging with domestic companies whose business pertains to defence, agriculture, energy, resources, infrastructure, transportation, technology or equipment manufacturing.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning organisation, and the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) will lead the review panel, according to the new rules.

The arrangement forms a part of China's long-term plan to build a formal process to judge the merits of foreign takeovers.

China brought about an anti-monopoly law in 2008 that requires foreign

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firms to pass tests meant to prove that they pose no threat to China's national security.

The law also calls for the protection of important Chinese industries.

Such provisions led to the cancelling in 2009 of Coca-Cola's $2.4 billion bid to take over the Chinese fruit juice maker Huiyuan Juice Group.

Before that, multinational firms that wanted to buy or merge with Chinese companies faced little scrutiny and had to meet few requirements.

Despite global down turn, China last year attracted $105.74 billion last year, an increase of over 17% compared to last year. It is to be seen what impact the new regulations would have on FDI. China recorded 1,798 mergers and acquisitions in 2010.

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FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

21

Foreign Exchange Rajesh Agrawal is the Chairman & CEO of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

For any further information call 020 7220 8181 or e-mail info@rationalfx.com

Stocks Soar As Middle East Settles The recent rise in stock markets prices look set to continue after the problems in the Middle East seemed to have settled down after Mubarak stepped down after around 30 years in charge of Egypt. The recent unrest in Egypt and the vicious scenes that we had been experiencing from recent uprising appear to have calmed. Any unrest in any major Middle Eastern country as we know sends out alarm bells worldwide and a quick and amicable solution is being sought by all parties. Mubarak’s reign of Egypt has seen many changes in

its span but it looked well overdue to come to an end. With the world coming out of recession and interest rates being held at historical lows across the globe many investors would have looked to equity markets as the best vehicle to place their invest-

ments. The returns in the last year or so have been very fruitful for the bold investor with the stock market reaching 29 month highs at the time of writing this article.

All the major economies are resisting raising their interest rates at the moment with the fears of the dreaded double dip recession.

With inflation though still edging up here, Europe and in the US it is surely just a question of time before interest rates have to come off the recent low levels that have existed for almost 2 years without change. Although the stock markets worldwide have seen big rises it is expected to still perform well for the rest of the year. There will obviously be the technical corrections at various stages on the way up as we all know markets never move in a straight line. However the trend looks almost certain to continue and staying long of the equity markets looks to be sure

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 15th Februay 2011 @ 11am GBP - INR = 72.88 USD - INR = 45.46 EUR - INR = 61.53 GBP - USD = 1.6001 GBP - EUR = 1.181 EUR - USD = 1.3526 GBP - AED = 5.8774 GBP - CAD = 1.5971 GBP - NZD = 2.1046 GBP - AUD = 1.597

to give a positive return. What stocks to remain long of is the key to know how good your return will be but with the major shares performing well staying long on the index’s should bring a safe return.

If interest rates do start to rise aggressively and the housing market improves from it’s recent slump this is a key indicator in the UK to how economy is performing then the stock market may struggle to remain bullish but with the signs not indicating this in the near term profits from

investment in stocks should remain healthy. However with more members of the MPC slowly coming round now to raising interest rates it is likely that we will see a less aggressive and slow hike starting in the second quarter of the year with perhaps only a raise of 25bp initially.

This will receive an immediate reaction from the market and stocks may well be affected at first however with only a small increase in interest rates it may provide more stability in the market after the initial reaction.

GBP - ZAR = 11.720 GBP - HUF = 321.76

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

22

Pakistan-Bangladesh-sri Lanka

In focus US-Pak row continues over jailed diplomat

Lahore: The tussle between the US and Pakistan over the fate of jailed diplomat intensified as Raymond Davis was formally charged with murder in the chargesheet submitted to the trial court here and Washington said it would place before the jury a statement that the official had diplomatic immunity.

Rejecting Davis' claim that he shot two men in selfdefence, the prosecution filed a challan or chargesheet in the court of a district and sessions judge, formally charging him with murder. Officials told the media that the chargesheet was based on forensic reports, the statement of Davis and the investigation conducted by police. They said the charges were based on witnesses who had stated that the American pursued the two men and fired at them. The next hearing in Davis' case is scheduled for February 25.

Pak foreign minister dropped in cabinet reshuffle

Islamabad: Pakistan prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has dropped foreign minister S M Qureshi in a cabinet reshuffle which was undertaken to reduce the size of his ministry last week. President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath of office to new ministers in the.

Struggling from unprecedented flooding last year that caused damages of $9.7 billion, the government is under huge international pressure to introduce economic reforms and meet International Monetary Fund targets agreed in a 2008 bailout package. Each minister swore to undertake their duties "honestly" and "faithfully in accordance with the constitution" and "always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of Pakistan". Most of the ne ministers who took the oath on Friday were members of Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Government officials said ministers from other parties would take office later.

6 Pakistanis get life terms for killing Indian guard

Dubai: A Dubai court has convicted six Pakistanis for murdering an Indian guard and sentenced them for life term in prison. The convicts were found to be stuffing cloth in the mouth of the guard before battering him with concrete blocks. According to Gulf News, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced each of the defendants to life imprisonment to be followed by deportation. Prosecutors had asked the court to hand death sentence to the defendants, alleging that they had murdered the guard, while stealing electric cables from a warehouse in Nad Al Sheba. The presiding judge also jailed two other Pakistani men to three years, followed by deportation. They were convicted for possessing the stolen cables. According to reports, one of the suspects had admitted that after the death of the guard, they went to Sharjah to sell the cables.

Teenage bomber kills 31 at Pak army centre

Mardan (Pakistan): A 12-year-old boy in a school uniform blew himself up at a Pakistani army recruitment centre last week, killing 31 cadets, officials said, in an attack that challenges government assertions that it has weakened militants. The army has carried out a series of offensives against the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban movement, which claimed responsibility for the attack. Operations in lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border have failed to break the resolve of Taliban fighters determined to destabilise the US-backed government. The brazen bombing in the northwestern town of Mardan suggested militants are regrouping after a lull in major attacks. In a sign of how nervous the government is about security, soldiers at the gates of the military compound searched drivers before allowing them to transport coffins inside.

Clinton picks new Afghan-Pak envoy

Washington: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has chosen retired diplomat Marc Grossman to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a senior administration official said on Monday. The appointment will be announced later this week, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Clinton is due to make a speech on Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Asia Society in New York on Friday. The position has been vacant since Holbrooke, a veteran diplomatic trouble shooter, died suddenly in December.

Pak children selling parents to buy meals

Islamabad: Poverty has forced five children to put up their parents for auction in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The children itself are suffering from a degenerative disease and are not in a position to support the family. The auction of the parents was organised outside the district coordination officer (DCO) office in Khanewal town, Express Tribune reported on Friday. The disabled brothers and sisters invited bids to sell their parents, saying that their family was starving and that their parents had volunteered to be sold if the money could pay for their treatment.

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Pak builds new reactor to add more bombs Washington: Despite living on borrowed money, Pakistan is bent upon adding more bombs to its kitty.

Days after it was revealed that Islamabad has doubled its nuclear weapons' inventory in the past decade, American experts have discovered that it has begun building a fourth plutonium-producing reactor to produce even more nuclear bombs to add to the 100-plus it already has.

The Washington-based Institute for Science and

International Security announced last week that it has obtained commercial satellite imagery from January 15, 2011 that shows what appears to be a fourth reactor under construction at Khushab nuclear site. The reactor construction was not visible during a previous satellite pictures taken last November.

"Pakistan is determined to produce considerably more plutonium for nuclear weapons," ISIS said in an outline of the progression of the coun-

try's plutonium reactors.

While Pakistan's initial nuclear weapons were enriched uranium-based, it expanded to plutoniumbased weapons (which are more compact) with the commissioning in 1998 of the first reactor at the Khushab site. Sometime between 2000 and 2002, Pakistan began constructing a second reactor at the site, and in 2006, it began building a third reactor, adjacent to the second Khushab reactor.

ISIS, a think-tank with expertise in nuclear prolif-

eration, said that in commercial satellite imagery from December 2009, vapor could be seen rising from some of the second reactor's cooling tower fan blades, indicating that the second reactor was at least at some stage of initial operation.

Vapor can again be seen rising from some of the second reactor's cooling towers in the January 15, 2011 imagery , though none can be seen yet over the third reactor's cooling towers, while construction of the fourth has just begun.

Warrant against Musharraf in Bhutto murder case Islamabad: A non-bailable warrant for the arrest of former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has been issued by a Rawalpindi court, media reports said on Saturday.

He has also been directed to appear before the court on Feb 19 on the charge that, though he knew of it, he did not inform security authorities of the plot to assassinate former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of the former president said in London that Mr Musharraf would not be return to Pakistan to comply with the court notice. The court declared Musharraf as a suspect in the case and also slapped 11 other charges against him, the Dawn reported.

Pervez Musharraf

Musharraf was aware that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was plotting to kill Bhutto but he did not pass on the information to the security authorities, said a team that probed the 2007 assassination of Bhutto.

Musharraf, who for years was bitterly opposed to Bhutto's return to Pakistan, has in recent

times indicated that he would want to come back to the country from selfexile in Britain and join active politics.

Informed sources said JIT head Khalid Qureshi told interior ministry officials that a challan submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency had 12 charges against Musharraf.

Bhutto was assassinated as she was leaving Liaquat Bagh in a motorcade after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi.

A teenaged shooter was seen aiming for her head in the CCTV footage before a powerful suicide blast killed at least 24 people, including Bhutto.

Musharraf's name was

added to the list of suspects following a statement of former Rawalpindi city police chief Saud Aziz.

Aziz claimed that Musharraf had given the order to change Benazir's security in-charge. He also claimed that the murder scene was immediately washed on Musharraf's orders.

Musharraf ruled Pakistan for nine years after taking power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

He stepped down in 2008 and left Pakistan. He now lives in London.

Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesman for Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League party, said mthat the warrant was “totally ridiculous.”

India, Pak agree to resume peace talks New Delhi/Islamabad: India and Pakistan have finally agreed to resume peace talks which was suspended following 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Unveiling the roadmap for resumption of a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan, India last week announced that the home secretaries of the two countries would hold talks on counter-terrorism, including the progress on 26/11 trial in Rawalpindi court, ahead of Pakistan foreign minister’s visit to India in July.

In a statement, ‘Agreed Outcome of IndiaPakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks in Thimphu’, India’s min-

istry of external affairs said secretary-level talks on the issues of counterterrorism (including progress on Mumbai trial); humanitarian issues; peace and security, including confidence building measures (CBMs); Jammu and Kashmir; promotion of friendly exchanges; Siachen and economic issues will be held in the next few months.

Discussions on issues such as Wullar barrage or Tulbul navigation project and Sir Creek will be at the level of additional secretaries or surveyors general.

List of issues mentioned in the statement are same as in the composite dialogue, which was halt-

ed by India after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The ministry said, “the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan met in Thimphu on February 6, 2011 to carry forward this process. They briefed their respective Governments.”

The agreed statement was issued simultaneously both in New Delhi and Islamabad on Thursday last. About the schedule of the meetings, the ministry said dates would be fixed through diplomatic channels. But given the fact that the two sides have just few months left before Pak foreign minister’s visit to India, the series of interactions are expected to start shortly.

The foreign minister of Pakistan will visit India by July 2011 to review progress in the dialogue process with his counterpart. This will be preceded by a meeting of the two foreign secretaries,” the MEA said.

“They have agreed that prior to the visit of the foreign minister of Pakistan, meetings at the level of respective secretaries will be convened on counterterrorism; humanitarian issues; peace and security, including CBMs; Jammu and Kashmir; promotion of friendly exchanges; Siachen; economic issues; Wullar Barrage/ Tulbul Navigation Project; and Sir Creek,” it said.

Prabhakaran's sick mother longs to see her children Colombo: Tourist from Sri Lnka are thronging to Jaffna’s Valvettithurai government hospital to get a glimpse of the ailing mother of slain Tamil Tiger chief V Prabhakaran.

Doctors and politicians said that a steady stream of tourists stops-by the hospital to see the ailing 81-year-old V Parvathi Pillai and even take photographs. "It's a government hospital.

There's no restriction. Anybody can take photographs," Dr KM Perumal, her doctor, said.

Lakhs of southern tourists have visited Jaffna since a vital road-link was

reopened after years in January last year.

"Thousands come to see her (Parvathi) and the underground operation theatre built by the LTTE in the hospital premises.

Many offer fresh fruits and milk powder to her. The hospital distributes most of it among other patients and the poor," former Jaffna MP, MK Sivajilingam, said.

The patient herself is not doing too well. She was deported from India last April when she landed in Chennai for treatment.

Subsequently, when she was admitted to the

Valvettithurai hospital a month later, Parvathi was already partially paralysed, diabetic and had a heart problem.

Lately, she has sunk into severe depression and has stopped eating.

Reason: though helping financially, her three remaining children - in Denmark, Canada and India -- are not ready to visit Sri Lanka.

"They fear harassment.

They are frightened. For example, her daughter (Jagdishwari) calls almost everyday and sends money but is not ready to come," Sivajilingam, once consid-

ered close to the LTTE, said. The government, however, has never said Prabhakaran's family living abroad would not be allowed to enter Sri Lanka.

"Money for treatment is not an issue. It's free in a government hospital.

But drugs alone can't treat her. She wants her children to be around her," Perumal said.

Parvathi's husband passed away in January, 2010. Sadly, for most of the time since then, doctors and camera-wielding tourists, not family, have been her only visitors.

world

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

23

Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s military rulers dissolve parliament In focus Cairo: The Egyptian military, complying with most of the principal demands of the opposition, said on Sunday that it had dissolved the country's parliament, suspended its constitution and called for elections in six months, according to a statement by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces read on state television. It also said it would honor all of Egypt's international agreements, including the peace treaty with Israel.

The military did not address a third demand to lift emergency rule. In previous statements, the council had promised to take that step once the security situation

improved.

The announcement, the first indication of the direction the military intends to take the country, was welcomed by opposition leaders, who distrusted both houses of parliament after elections in the fall that were widely considered rigged. One of them, Ayman Nour, said that the military's actions should be enough to satisfy the protesters, some of whom nevertheless refused to leave Tahrir Square and resisted soldiers' attempts to evict them.

The military said it would form a committee to amend the constitution, which includes the emer-

Hosni Mubarak

gency law despised by many protesters, and that the amendments would be approved by popular referendum. Confirming earlier statements, the council said that the civilian cabinet would remain in place over the next six months.

The announcement came only minutes after prime minister Ahmed Shafiq made his own appearance on state television and said the country's economy was "stable" and that the primary focus of the new caretaker government would be "to bring security back to the Egyptian citizen."

Mubarak steps down Earlier on Friday last, president Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power after 30 years. His resignation came following days of popular uprising against his rule. He has given charge to the High Council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country.

Quebec assembly bans kirpan; Sikhs angry Toronto: Sikhs in Canada's French-speaking Quebec are angry following the unanimous passage of a resolution banning kirpan from the assembly premises.

All 113 members of the assembly, including Premier (chief minister) Jean Charest, voted in favour of the ban on the Sikh symbol.

The motion was introduced by the opposition Parti Quebecois (PQ) after last month's incident in which the assembly security staff denied entry to four Sikhs of the World Sikh Organisation (WSO)

who came to testify before a House committee debating Bill 94 which aims to ban Islamic face coverings.

Reacting to the ban, Prem Singh Vinning, president of the World Sikh Organisation, said the Sikh community rejects it, adding that the kirpan is accommodated in the country's Parliament and the Supreme Court of Canada.

"It's unfortunate that the PQ believes multiculturalism is a value in Canada but not in Quebec. We feel multiculturalism is not just a

Canadian value, but a liberal democratic one that allows us all to live together harmoniously," said Vinning.

The French-speaking province, which has so far held two referendums to separate from Canada, is trying to assert its secular, Francophone character after an Egyptian woman refused to remove her niqab in her French class in a Montreal college in 2009.

The niqab snowballed into a major issue, resulting in the introduction of Bill 94 to curtail religious symbols in the province.

The four Sikhs' refusal last month to remove their kirpans while going to appear the House committee discussing this bill led to the motion banning the Sikh symbol from the assembly premises.

Louise Beaudoin, of the opposition Parti Quebecois who introduced the motion, described it as a choice between freedom of religion and security.

"We need to choose one of these rights and, when you're in a secular state, you choose that freedom of religion has its limits," she said.

Nepal PM on shaky wicket after Maoists refuse to join cabinet

Kathmandu: Just a week after they had helped the communist leader Jhala Nath Khanal to become the prime minister, the Maoists demanded their pound of fresh from the new government and refused to join the new cabinet. 'The prime minister's party failed to clarify whether it will follow the spirit and intent of the pact he signed with us,' Maoist deputy chief Narayan Kaji Shrestha Prakash told journalists after powersharing talks between Khanal and Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda broke down yet again. 'They also refused to follow the agreement on the allocation of ministries, making us deeply apprehensive. In this situation, the party has decided not to join the new government,' Shrestha said.

South Sudan rebels clash with army; over 100 killed

Juba: More than 100 people are said to have died following clashes between fighters loyal to rebel leader George Athor and the army. Some 39 of those killed were civilians, an army spokesman said. The clashes come as the region prepares for independence from the north following last month's referendum. Some 99% of people voted to secede from the north, according to official results announced last week. The UN refugee agency says it expects some 800,000 people to move from north to south Sudan this year. The UNHCR said this would put pressure on the already fragile situation in the south, which is insecure and lacks basic services. Mr Athor took up arms last year, alleging fraud in state elections, but signed a ceasefire last month just before the historic vote.

China puts rights activist 'under house arrest'

Beijing: Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crackdown against human rights activists continued unabated. According to a video released recently by a US-based campaign group, one of Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most high-profile activists says he is being held under house arrest. "I've come out of a small jail and entered a bigger one," Chen Guangcheng says in the secretly shot video. These are the first comments from Mr Chen since his release from prison last September. He accused the authorities of carrying out forced abortions.

Outrage in Malaysia over disrespect to Hindu religion Kuala Lumpur: Several ethnic Indian religious organisations, including the Malaysia Hindu Sangam, have expressed outrage over the sale of slippers bearing the impressions of a Hindu deity and called for action against the importer of the footwear, media reports said.

MHS president R S Mohan Shan said this was tantamount to disrespecting the Hindu religion.

A Tamil newspaper reported that slippers with the impression of the deity had been on sale in the Chow Kit area in Kuala Lumpur.

Mohan said MHS had appealed to the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry to take action against the importers and distributors of the slippers.

The slippers must be immediately withdrawn from the market, Sri Maha Mariamman temple president R Nadarajah said.

In the past, there have been numerous such complaints after a deity's picture was printed on Tshirts, compact discs and playing cards.

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24

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in a soup over huge cash in India His detention at Delhi airport caused a diplomatic furore between the two countries Even as Pakistani mountFans from both ed intensive diplomatic efforts to seek freedom for the countries singer Rahat Fateh Ali cry foul over Khan, the Indian authorities just relented a bit, action against releasing the singer after the ‘Sufi’ singer he was arrested by custom officials at the New Delhi airport after undisclosed, huge cash found in his hand baggage. Rahat and his troupe were flying back to Pakistan via Dubai after a short stay in India during which they held various shows.

The singer said nothing about the source of cash. According to Indian rules, any traveler is allowed to carry only $5,000 in cash and travelers cheques or other instruments worth the same amount. Rahat was carrying $24,000 while two of his troupe members were carrying another $50,000.

Though the singer was allowed to go, his passport has been impounded by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials and he has

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

been asked to appear before the authorities after three days.

Pakistan even sought consular access to their citizen, but that was not allowed.

Three High Commission officials came to the zonal headquarters of the DRI where questioning of the singer was underway but left after about 30 minutes, sources said.

Mr. Khan (37) along with his manager Maaroof and event manager Chitresh Shrivastava were detained on Sunday from

Indira Gandhi International Airport while they were on their way to Lahore via Dubai after an alleged undeclared $1.24 lakh were recovered from the three men who were part of a 16-member troupe.

The officials subjected the singer to the questioning throughout the day while searches were conducted simultaneously on the premises of “Eyeline Telefilm and Events” in Mumbai, owned by Chitresh, elder brother of Bollywood singer Aadesh Shrivastava.

The sources said questioning of Mr. Chitresh Shrivastava, who was also been detained on Sunday, was being carried out on the alleged cash seizure made from his Mumbai premises.

Cine star Chiranjeevi led PRP to merge with Congress The Andhra Pradesh politics witnessed a historic development last week, as cine star K Chiranjeevi led Praja Rajyam Party announced the unconditional merger of the 30month-old party with the Congress.

Addressing media outside the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi after a 55-minute discussion with her, Chiranjeevi said he wanted to do more for backward classes and was convinced that Congress party alone could help him to take forward his plank of social justice.

Chiranjeevi said, “I wanted to do more to the people of the state. Our meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been cordial. We have

come to an understanding with the Congress party for a merger. Both parties have decided to come together to renew our commitment to BCs. In my discussion, I have raised many state issues.

We have demanded adequate social justice measures for OBCs and minorities, women’s reservation, national status for Polavaram and PranahitaChevella projects, better financial package to farmers, incentives to artisans and more funds for SCs and STs. Together we will serve the society in a better way.

Chiranjeevi said he did not put forth any conditions to Sonia Gandhi for the merger, but sought greater help in several issues concerning the state.

K Chiranjeevi

In reply to a query on what drove him into the Congress fold, Chiranjeevi said he needed a larger platform to realise his party’s cause for social justice. “I have tried my best to work for the uplift of weaker sections. I feel the Congress party with its large establishment can help me achieve it better,” he said.

Disqualification of Karnataka independent MLAs upheld HC verdict a big relief for beleaguered CM Yeddyurappa Giving a boost to the confidence of chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, the Karnataka High Court on Monday upheld the Speaker’s order disqualifying five independent MLAs, who had withdrawn support to the ruling BJP, from the Assembly membership on the eve of the October 11 trust vote.

Dismissing petitions filed by the five MLAs challenging their disqualification by Speaker K G

Bopaiah, a full bench of the court pronounced the verdict which held that the October 10 order is not in violation of Constitutional mandate nor is there any infirmity based on mala fides or perversity.

The Speaker had disqualified 16 MLAs - 11 from BJP and five Independents - under the anti-defection law before Mr Yeddyurappa won a vote a confidence on the floor of the Assembly, passing a concurrent order

on separate petitions seeking their disqualification.

The petitions had been filed by BJP MLAs C T Ravi and D N Jevaraj and a voter each from five constituencies from where the five were elected.

The bench held that the petitions filed by the five voters are “maintainable.” The five MLAs prayed for quashing the Speaker’s order as “illegal, void and not enforceable” on the ground that they were not BJP members.

In divine light

By Rajen Vakil

Burning of the Khandava Forest Part 4: Arjuna confronts Indra

As Agni started burning the Khandava forest, the two great warriors, Sri Krishna and Arjuna in their chariots, circled the forest killing animals that tried to escape.

Whenever they would see an animal trying to flee the flames, they would pursue it and kill it. As the forest burnt, thousands of animals started giving out an eerie scream which filled the forest as they fled in all directions. Many were burnt together; the air was filled with the smell of burnt skin. Many stayed behind to save their young ones and were burnt along with them.

Even the water reservoirs in the forest started boiling with the heat and were full of dead fish and tortoises.

The birds of the forest tried to save their lives by flying high in the sky, but they could not escape Arjuna’s arrows, which cut them into pieces and let them fall into the burning flames. As the arrows pierced the bodies of the birds they screamed loudly, and even though trying to fly high they were pulled back into the forest fire. The whole forest was filled with the cries of animals in pain.

Let us interpret this part of the story. We have seen that the Khandava forest represents our deep unconscious mind.

In yoga, this area is called as Manipura or the solar plexus. Here lie our deep desires and passions. We have a multitude of animal cells and they have very powerful animalistic tendencies; all such tendencies and our desires are concentrated in this area.

This area has to be purified and this is a painful process as each desire manifests from the unconscious to the conscious and we, with our sword of awareness, cut it from its roots. As these roots lie very deep in us and are soaked with the emotions of attachment, this process becomes very painful, represented by the animals woefully trying to escape the fire. To sustain this process, the student must work as if he is on fire and that is what is meant by Agni burning the forest.

As the flames of the fire started rising high, the gods in the heavens started feeling the heat. They got together and went to their lord, Indra, and

asked him why the god Agni was burning all beings, and asked if it was the end of the world. After hearing them, Indra himself mounted his chariot and went to save the forest. He filled the skies with dark clouds which started raining down heavily on the forest. But the power of the flames was such that not a drop of water reached the earth but dried up mid-sky. This made Indra very angry and he started raining down water, along with lightning, as if it was the great deluge. As the flames and the water met, steam and fumes filled the sky which was dancing in lightning and thunder.

As Indra kept on increasing his rain shower, Arjuna started using his bow with great dexterity. He covered the whole forest with a canopy of arrows, not allowing a single raindrop in and also not allowing a single animal to escape. The forest was the home of Indra’s friend, the king of the snakes Thakshak. At that time, Thakshak was not in the forest as he had gone to Kurukshetra. His son, Ashwasen, a powerful warrior himself, was trying his best to escape from the forest, but the speed and power of Arjuna’s arrows would not allow him to do so.

To save her sons life, Ashwasen’s mother, a female serpent swallowed her son, starting head first. She then flew into the sky to escape the fire, but Arjuna’s arrows stopped her by cutting off her head. At that moment Indra who was battling Arjuna saw his friend’s wife. To save Ashwasen, Indra made Arjuna lose his consciousness for a moment by striking him with a bolt of lightning, and exactly at that moment Ashwasen escaped onto Indra’s chariot.

This momentary loss of consciousness made Arjuna very angry and now instead of just trying to surround the forest and preventing the animals from escaping he started firing his arrows directly upon Indra. When the king of the gods saw Arjuna’s anger, he covered the sky completely

with clouds. He then attacked Arjuna with his divine weapons of whirlwinds, thunder, and lightning. The sound and the terror of the attack made even the mighty oceans tremble in fear. But Arjuna was not the one to shy away. He took out his divine astra called ‘Vayavya’, recited the mantras to invoke its power and let it loose in the sky. The power of the astra was such that all the winds calmed down, the clouds ran dry, it stopped raining, and the lightning and thunder vanished as if they had run away in fear.

Indra means the lord of the senses. At present, our senses are ruled by external attractions. Like thunder and lightning, different objects of excitement hypnotise us to the external world. Instead of burning our Khandava forest of unfulfilled desires and appetites, we keep creating new ones. Rarely a moment goes by when we do not desire. This adds new and intensive desires and lusts to the ones already there in our deep unconscious. Arjuna used the ‘Vayavya’ astra.

It means pertaining to vayu or the wind or the prana in the body. If our prana is calm, in rhythm, and balance, then we can easily ward off the attacks of the five senses or Indra.

That is why one should do the three step rhythmic breathing all twenty four hours of the day. If our breath is in rhythm, then the prana or vayu of the body comes into rhythm and cannot be excited and it becomes easy to fight the attractions of the senses and be free of their hypnotism.

Thakshak is our inner ego, the active part of it, the doer. His son is saved in the burning of the forest. Here the rishi Vyasa is giving us a message that even after the burning of the desires in the unconscious mind, certain weaknesses will remain and have to be worked upon later.

In our next article, we will see how all the gods came to help Indra fight Arjuna and Krishna.

(Edited by Chintu Gandhi)

All past articles on the Mahabharata can be accessed from http://epaper.asianvoice.com or from http://www.3stepbreath.com/mahabharata.html

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

London pays a glowing tribute to Gandhiji on his death anniversary A huge gathering of about 300 of his followers paid glowing tributes to Mahatma Gandhi last week, on Wednesday at the Kadava Patidar Centre in London. The function, organised by Mahatma Gandhi Foundation was a huge success in the face of harsh weather conditions in the city. Prof. Jagdish Dave, chairman of the foundation recalled how valuable are the ideals of Gandhiji, Gita (a hindu religious scripture) and Gujarat.

Leading lights from London who attended the function included Harrow East MP Bob Blackman, Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas, Brent North MP Barry Gardiner, Harrow Mayor Asad Omar, Brent Mayor Harbhajan Singh and representative from

the Indian High C o m m i s s i o n Jitendrakumar. They all remembered the achievements of the leader of Indian freedom struggle.

Brent and Harrow council member Navin Shah was also among those who paid tributes and promised full support to activities

Two Jain munis – Chintan Muni and Niranjan Muni – are being guided by Intaj Malek, a Muslim assistant commissioner of commercial tax, in their PhD thesis. Mr Malek is helping them understand Jainism in a new perspective.

Unlike other doctoral guides who keep their students on their toes, Malek follows his on-the-move students around the coun-

try, meeting them at upashrayas to follow up on the progress. He also carries reference books and laptops for his students.

Chintan Muni, 52, is writing his thesis on ‘Austerities in Jainism and other religions - a comparative study.’ Niranjan Muni, 45, on the other hand, is studying ‘Bhavna Shata Treatise on 12 reflections of Jainism by Shatavdhani

(L to R) Ms. Ilaben Pandya, Navin Shah, Mayor Asad Omar, Jagdish Dave, Bob Blackman, Gareth Thomas, C B Patel (second row – standing) Ms. Aruna Patel, Manjibhai Kara, Mayor Harbhajan Singh, Jitendra Kumar, Ms. Niti Gheewala and Bhanu Pandya.

aimed at making the memory of Gandhiji live and helping the younger generation to realise the values that he stood for.

Grand patron of the Foundation and Asian Voice, Gujarat Samachar Editor and Publisher C B Patel was among those who sought to see the

achievements of Mahatma Gandhi in a new light. A recitation of the famous bhajan ‘Vaishnav jan to tene re kahiya….’ was done by Arpan, Rikhil Raithaththa, Rekha Manali and other members of their group.

(Photo credit: Sharad Raval)

Munis learn Jainism from Muslim teacher Ratnachandraji Maharaj’.

The student-guide relationship happened by accident. The Jain munis of Sthanakvasi Jain Ajramar Sampraday were finding it difficult to register themselves as PhD students with Gujarat University and finding a guide. The two munis have not cleared the standard XII exam, but have bachelor’s and master’s

degrees from Jain Vishva Bharati University in Ladnun, Rajasthan.

Malek helped them register as students. Once they came in touch, Malek was requested to become their guide since he was eligible, having done indepth study in Jainism as well as other religions. He also holds a doctorate in ‘Upanishads and Islamic mysticism’.

25

Gujarat CM Modi likely to get Canadian, US visa soon Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to get Canadian and US visas soon, diplomatic sources revealed. This comes in the wake of a billion dollar partnership US companies signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit recently.

Zee news, one of the prominent Hindi news channels had reported this development last week.

Responding to queries by media persons, officials at

the CM’s office offered no comments on the matter.

Overseas Indians and several business groups in the USA and Canada have been lobbying with the US State Department that it makes no sense to deny visa to Modi. Another group, The Overseas Friends of the BJP, have also been making efforts to secure the visa for Modi. It seems that their efforts have borne fruit.

NRIs can now vote and contest elections

Indian rules amended for the purpose With notification of rules last week, the government of India has fulfilled a promise made to NRIs – voting rights as well as a chance to contest elections in India. The notification allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) who fulfill certain criteria to vote in elections in India. The Registration of Electors (Amendment) Rules, 2011 also allow NRIs to, by extension, stand for elections in India.

Currently, no person can be on the voters’ list if he or she remains outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.

The rules, read with the Representation of the People Act, also give NRIs the right to contest elections. Under the provisions of the Act, a person eligible

to vote in a constituency is also eligible to contest from that constituency. “Since the new rules are silent on this count, it means that NRIs would also be allowed to contest elections,” said an Election Commission official. “It was an assurance given to NRIs by the Prime Minister. By issuing the revised rules, we are only fulfilling that commitment,” Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told The Indian Express.

Under the revised rules, NRIs holding Indian passports, who have not acquired or applied for citizenship of another country, and who satisfy the electoral officer of the area/locality cited as address in his passport, will be allowed to vote in elections in India.

ESTABLISHED SINCE 1970

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26

INDIA

This week the subscribers of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar will receive the Asian Voice Political & Public Life Awards Souvenir Magazine with their paper.

Correction in the souvenir Under the profile of Mr Kantesh Popat winner of “Business in Community Award” it has been wrongly printed as the director of FIBA. It should have been Director of Finance House Ltd. We regret any inconvenience caused.

Asian Voice Summer Special British Asian WomenThe Pinnacle of Success

British Asian Women make a vital contribution to the family, wealth, health and intellectual well being of Britain. With a huge number of honours for their endeavours, Asian Voice will be producing a special issue this May saluting these achievements and focussing on their successes The special issue - 'British Asian Women-The Pinnacle of Success' will profile some influential Asian Women who have accomplished their aspirations, despite various obstacles. The profiles will include women from various professions such as Banking, Law, IT, Politics, Medicine, Education, Recruitment, Retail, arts, culture, community service and other areas. If you are aware of any young and aspiring asian woman who deserves to be recognised for their achievement in their profession or contribution towards the community please contact us on 020 7749 4097 or email Rupanjana Dutta: rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com Jyotsna Shah: jyotsna.shah@abplgroup.com Kokila Patel: kokila.patel@abplgroup.com Alka Shah: Alka.shah@abplgroup.com Rovin George: rovin.george@abplgroup.com

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Sex toys: another instance of societal hypocrisy Though banned, these toys enjoy a market worth ‘ 5 bn a year in India

By Dr. Suresh Samani India is the land of legendary poet Kalidas and sage Vatsyana and likes, all symbolic of artistic, grand description of love, love making and even sex.

Yet, the present day scenario in the country is that though the younger generation is gradually getting as much open as possible about the vital manwoman relationship, discussing it publicly is not only considering embarrassing but also is legally an offence.

A recent incident in Rajkot, one of the key cities of Gujarat has again pushed the subject on the centre stage of public discussion a bit.

While India boasts a lot about the attractions of Khajuraho for global tourism and many more such ancient temples and architectural structures with explicit sexual positions, there is a larger section of elderly population in the country and a few “stubborn” elements who claim themselves to be the moral police of the society that is adamant not to allow open expression of heterosexual feelings of the younger generation.

This contradiction is all the more glaring when the official machinery – the government and the judi-

ciary are inclined to decriminalise gay relations and even redefining the ‘word’ consent for sex between teenagers who are otherwise considered underage for getting engaged in any sexual activity.

In the Rajkot incident, the city police raided a shop in a crowded locality and seized obscene material. While the shop was officially dealing with hardware (things used in construction and maintenance of homes, offices and other buildings), the owner of the shop was clandestinely selling sex toys and objects that are banned.

The banned things included vibrators, vibrating condoms, porn CDs. The owner of the shop was arrested.

He was though released on bail, people of the surrounding area, enraged at his clandestine business, razed down his shop with a bull dozer while the man was in police custody.

Kama Sutra, a guide for the life in bed is all about ways to enhance sexual pleasure. In that very country, sex toys are banned. Here, sex sells but when it comes to a condom with a vibrating ring, the morality police wants to decide your bedroom buys.

Labelled a sex toy, the condom Crezendo has been described by some as ‘anti-Indian’ and 'anti-culture'. But not many know that much before Crezendo came into the market, a leading condom manufacturer was already selling these vibrating rings. These are still readily available in the market at Rs 300 a piece.

That isn't the only sex toy available in the grey market even though their sale is prohibited under law. A repertoire of sex toys - everything from dildos to inflatable latex dolls are available in major cities of the country, a fact that indicates of the demand for these products. China, incidentally, manufactures 70% of the world's sex products and many of these find their way into India where the market is estimated at Rs 5 billion.

Legally, though, the sale of sex toys is covered

by Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code which defines the term 'obscene' and provides for punishment for distributing any such object. Section 292 (1) defines 'obscene' as follows: "a book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation, figure or any other object, shall be deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest".

Offences are punishable by a maximum of two years for the first conviction and five years in the event of a second or subsequent conviction.

The bedroom police may frown on sex toys but the medical fraternity recommends them to patients. Says Dr Rajiv Sood, “Sexual dissatisfac-

tion is the greatest stress a person can carry. Sex toys are not only used by perverts but also to correct sexual dysfunction. In fact, perversion is one word that has been taken off from the medical dictionary about two decades ago. It is any day safer for young men to use dolls than going to prostitutes.”

In the light of the fact that India has the second largest number of HIV patients in the world, doctors say promoting the use of contraceptives is essential. Sood also dismisses the resistance against use of vibrating condoms.

"When Viagra was to be launched in India, the general perception was that it would increase sexual crimes. It took doctors a while to convince the government that it can have therapeutic effects."

Sexual mores have changed for GenX but they haven't for the older generation. That is the problem, says a psychiatrist Dr Avdhesh Sharma.

"It takes time before a society actually changes its sexual mores. Things that were taboo will remain so for the older generation and those are the people protesting.”

Surprisingly, not many are aware that sex toys are banned in India. Foreign post offices still receive parcels containing sex toys and pornographic material which have been ordered on the Internet.

Once the explicit material is found, it is confiscated and the owner is informed. Most people never turn up to claim ownership because of embarrassment.

Karmapa mystery getting deeper Continued from page 1 Karmapa and three of his aides also faced grilling from Enforcement Directorate, a central government agency over the

cash seizure.

Sources say 114 thousand Chinese Yuan recovered from his office was in serial number. The total seized amount is Rs 70

million including foreign exchange from 24 countries including China, Taiwan, japan, South Korea, the UK, the US, Australia, Germany.

London 2012 Olympics: from 27 July to 12 August Continued from page 1 defending his title on the evening of Sunday, August 5. There will also be free-to-view events through the streets, including road cycling, the triathlon and marathon.

Big screens at several sites across the UK will relay all the live action.

The race for tickets begins on March 15, – 500 days before the opening ceremony. There will be a six-week window for applications, lasting until April 26.

Around 2.5 million of the tickets available will be priced at £20, mostly for preliminary events.

Hindu organisations joining the efforts With the platform about to get hot and ready

for one of the biggest sporting event in the city that is flourishing with diversity in culture, participation of these variety of vibrant communities will surely add to the glittering golds of the Olympics.

The Hindu community has already taken a serious note of the possible contribution it can make to the success of 2012 olympics.

Organisations like Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK, Ethnic Minority Business Group and the Hindu Council already have volunteers working with the official authorities in the pre-planning of the Olympics. The interests are different as some organisations eye a slice of the massive £9.3bn olympic game's budget for the business

groups that work with them while some wants to simply highlight the presence and importance of their community in the present British society.

Lakshmi Mittal, the London-based steel baron, has already committed funds to support the Indian contingent for the London Olympics through his Mittal Champions Trust. The six-member trust is headed by Lakshmi Mittal and includes his son Aditya, son-in-law Ashish Bhatia, tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi, cricketer Rahul Dravid and designer Manisha Malhotra. The Trust funds specialised training and provides an overall support system to athletes.

HISTORY & YOUTH

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

27

History Matters Maria Fernandes maria@abplgroup.com

By Dr Anil Mehta

Queen Elizabeth I : The Golden Age

The last ruler of the Tudor dynasty, Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603, queen 1558-1603) was born at Greenwich, the only daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn. She succeeded to the throne at the age of 25 following the death of her half sister Mary I (Mary Tudor). Nicknamed ‘Gloriana’ or the ‘Virgin Queen’, she overcame many obstacles at home and abroad to preside over what is known as the ‘Golden Age’ in English history.

Elizabeth had a difficult childhood having been declared illegitimate after the execution of her mother. She spent her childhood at Hatfield House (pictured) in Hertfordshire virtually under house arrest during Mary’s reign, but was rigorously educated. As a Protestant she was the focus of Catholic Mary’s suspicion. At one stage she was imprisoned in the Tower of London for eight weeks.

At her succession in 1558, Elizabeth inherited a troubled nation; poor, weak, and deeply divided by religious strife, and powerful Catholic neighbours such as France and Spain were threatening invasion.

Elizabeth was ill-prepared for the enormity of the task, however, she endured against all odds to become one of England’s greatest monarchs.

On her succession, the settlement of religious question was urgent for Elizabeth. Being pragmatic in religious matters, she introduced a modest form of Protestantism as the state religion and made herself head of Church of England. However, this provoked widespread resentment among Catholics and she became the subject of plots by those who wished to replace her with a Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots (Elizabeth’s cousin). When the latter faced rebellion in Scotland, she sought exile in England only to be imprisoned and finally executed by Elizabeth (1587). This and the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English navy in 1588 put an end to Catholic conspiracies. The Victory over Spain also confirmed England’s position as a major sea power.

Elizabeth was a skilful, courageous

and a hardworking monarch with a genius for public relations. She showed robust leadership and undying love for her country. Her greatest strength was her survival instinct which she had drawn from her earlier experiences.

Compared to her predecessors, she summoned parliament far less often, but it was still regarded as a necessary and useful, if sometimes irritating component in the running of the country.

Throughout her 45 year reign she adhered to a small group of able advisers such as Lord Burghley (Chief Secretary) and Francis Walsingham (Secretary of State) to govern her kingdom. Although frequently courted and despite the pressure to marry to settle the succession, she never married and became known as the ‘Virgin Queen’.

Elizabeth was the last great monarch to rule as well as reign England. After initial struggle she ruled the country experiencing growing prosperity, relative stability, and cultural flowering particularly in literature and drama ( W i l l i a m Shakespeare and C h r i s t o p h e r Marlow). It was also the age of global exploration (Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh), and trade expansion.

The country flourished and a distinctively English identity emerged in her reign.

After the miseries of the previous reign of a fanatically Catholic Mary I, it indeed seemed a Golden Age. Elizabeth was a clever and talented woman with diplomatic, political, and oratorical skills. At the same time she was renowned as headstrong, tough, and ruthless. But on the whole she was very popular throughout her long reign.

Her death in 1603, marked the end of the glorious Elizabethan era and the Tudor dynasty. Having no heir she was succeeded by her Protestant cousin James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, who became James I of England initiating a Stuart dynasty.

Several fine TV programmes and films have been made on Elizabeth I. For history fans Shekhar Kapoor’s Elizabeth I (1998) and its visually stunning sequel The Golden Age (2007) are hugely enjoyable.

The scandal of the Certificate of Sponsorship system

We are weeks away from a new regime of certificates of sponsorship. The courts have already declared the interim cap to be unlawful yet the Government have continued to press on with their so called reforms determined to get their policies through legally or illegally.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) which are non governmental and independent of Government were appointed in 2008 to look into migration trends. They came up with the minimum salaries of various occupations. This was based on hard core evidence taken and corroborated several times over. The salary range for Chefs was £16900£20000 and for Senior Care Workers was £7.02 per hour.

The UKBA then introduced, under the unlawful interim arrangements, another set of regulations in which shortage occupations (which include Chefs and Senior Care Workers) were the only category considered for salaries under £20000. The scale provided for a tiered system as follows: A. Salary is at or above £40,000.

B. Salary is between £36,000 and £39,999.99 C. Salary is between £32,000 and £35,999.99 D. Salary is between £28,000 and £31,999.99 E. Salary is between £24,000 and £27,999.99.

F. Salary is between £20,000 and £23,999.99.

G. Salary is under £20,000 (shortage occupations only) The latest blow is that the goal posts have this month shifted to only granting certificates to those with a minimum salary of £32000. Next month this figure could go up to £40000. Is this a realistic or even reasonable figure for employers to pay senior care workers or chefs? The

worst aspect of the new system is that there is no appeal or review and frankly borders on the model of a dictator regime .

Employers of restaurants and care homes need to understand what is happening. Multinational companies are already allowed to bring their staff without any caps in place. The bankers, and other commercial staff are well covered.

Where they cannot they can sweep up the rest of the remaining Certificates by using the muscle of their salary offers.

The small businesses who cannot compete might as well roll over and die. The Government are not interested in you despite what they say. Whilst the big picture is of a modest cut the real picture is that the Government need to meet their election promise to cut to tens of thousands and they are using operational and surreptitious means to achieve this.

Occupations that will qualify for Certificates of Sponsorship under Tier 2 Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) have issued their report which lists occupations skilled to NQF Level 4 and above.

Equivalence of qualifications of Chefs and Skilled Senior Care Workers is still under review.

Fernandes Vaz gave evidence on the issue of shortage occupations and are listed in this report. http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ sitecontent/documents/aboutus/ workingwithus/mac/analysis-of-the-pbs Maria Fernandes has been in practice exclusively in immigration for the past 25 years and is accredited in Immigration Law by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Fernandes Vaz is based at 87 Wembley Hill Road Wembley in Wembley and can be contacted by telephone on 02087330123, by email on info@fernandesvaz.com

Reincarnation of Multiculturalism

Ravi Ladwa

On the 5th of February 2011, the Prime minister of the United Kingdom announced at a Security conference in Munich that state propelled multiculturalism was dead. A powerful statement after years of the United Kingdom being an example of people living harmoniously together without much fuss.

The prime minister spoke “Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream. We’ve failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong” So what went wrong, why does the prime minister believe multiculturalism failed?

In his speech he rolled of a list of problems that the UK, Europe and the World faced. Ranging from Economics, Religious to the Psychological Islamaphobia. Evidently, the coalition government feels that these and other problems can’t be solved

by multiculturalism.

Therefore, rather than persist with a broken system which is causing society to crack due to various pressures, it is better to find an alternative system to deal with said issues.

Youth

What is clear post speech is that there is a rift forming, on many issues not simply on what should be done next but also who we are and what defines us? Committing the United Kingdom to either one or multiple ideologies has its draw backs, especially in the current climate when it is so easy to perpetuate a one sided argument with distorted facts. I believe the same understanding can be applied to the way we think about multiculturalism. That going in the opposite direction by having too many causes problems.

Western values are based around Democracy and Moral relativism, the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore sub-

ject to a person's individual choice which is then protected by the law of the land. However finding the balance between capturing the true essence of Britishness and dealing with those elements which would look to cause and sow more divisions is the next hurdle. From the coalition governments’ actions and rhetoric, education is a means by which they look to find a solution.

The way we gather and digest information is not the way it used to be. The expansion of twenty-four hour news media and other avenues of expression like Youtube has without a doubt changed the way we think simply because of the unprocessed and controlled information we are bombarded with on a daily basis.

It’s interesting to say the least what will happen next with the death of state propelled multiculturalism and the arrival of Big Society and the Education bill. A locally sourced multiculturalism looks to be on the horizon with a generation to lead and maintain it.

28

Fashion

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

By Swati Bhan

By Spriha Srivastava

Patiala House caught behind Patiala House is one film I had been looking forward for quite sometime given the storyline and its setting in the British Indian culture. The film is about a staunch Punjabi family settled in London and a conflict between two generations. Does it remind you of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge?

Well no, it isn’t anything compared to that.

The film revolves around the character of a strong and staunch Rishi Kapoor, the self-appointed sarpanch of Southall who thinks British culture is evil and it is in the best interest of the young Indian kids to stay away from it.

Akshay Kumar plays the character of a young Parghat Singh Kahlon who gave up his dream of playing for England because of his father’s wish.

His mother Dimple Kapadia is a silent and subdued lady who doesn’t speak in front of her husband even as her son’s dream of playing for the England cricket team is cruelly quashed.

Then comes in Anushka Sharma who ran away from home to become a Bollywood heroine and now cuts hair in a saloon and lives with a 12-year old cricket fan. As the usual Bollywood movie goes, she makes Akshay believe that one should follow their dreams and nothing is impossible.

And then starts the action. However from then on is a usual Bollywood story, a story of ego clashes and a story of conflict.

However the film is far away from reality. In the present day world, it is almost impossible to

believe that a family settled in London for generations and generations would be so narrow minded and so against the British set up. I am not propagating the British culture here but just to say that today Indians in London have made a very important place for themselves and

in the light of this reality it is absolutely impossible to believe that many Indians families settled here would be apprehensive to mingle closely in the society.

If we talk of the box office, the film has failed miserably. Newspaper reports suggest that “the film started on the opening day with less than Rs. 40 million at the box office. It failed to exceed the Rs. 40 million mark the next day despite it being a Saturday; it peaked on Sunday with a collection of over Rs. 60 million. Patiala House fetched Rs. 135.8 million in its opening weekend.”

The film has too many clichés in it. The usual large family with loads of chachajis and chachijis are surely seen in the film. It also has big cricketing names like the West Indian Kieron Pollard to Australian Andrew Symonds and Dirk Nannes. Former players Nasser Hussain, David Gower and Graham Gooch play the English selectors. But none of this seems to have helped the film.

Thank god for Akshay Kumar’s acting skills and Rishi Kapoor’s versatility, the movie was still bearable. Akshay Kumar seems to have worked really hard for this film and it did impact his personal life too in many ways. In an interview last week he said, “I had to engage in a lot of emotional and cultural preparation for this film which in itself has been a challenge. The film offered me the opportunity as an artist to explore a persona that was deeply guided by a spectrum of conflicting sentiments and emotions. The unique thing about Gattu’s character is that it was so alien to me because it is the exact opposite to what I experienced while I was growing up, my own father supported my every move, I grew up with love & hugs, not tears & fear. Which is why I’m hoping audiences will see a totally different side of me in this film, I have cried like never before making this.”

Anushka Sharma is the usual chirpy type in this film and brings humour into the film every now and then. But director Nikhil Advani has injected way too much drama into this film which takes it far away from the sphere of reality.

I accept all the singing and dancing at the big fat Punjabi wedding because we all look forward to that when going to watch a Bollywood film but somehow it is tough to take so much of emotional drama especially when the reality is nowhere closer to it.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at spriha@abplgroup.com

Batik patterns in Sarees Batik is an artistic technique of dyeing a cloth by using a wax-resist method.

Wax-resist method is the most traditional way to dye or colour a cloth. This method prevents the dye from spreading on the entire cloth and so as to give a beautiful pattern or design on the cloth.

Batik is regarded as the cultural and traditional art in Indonesia. The traditional colours used for Batik are deep shades of indigo, dark brown and white which symbolize the three main Hindu Gods.

Javanese Batik, from Jog Jakarta with some particular meaning is found in countries of West Africa like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda and Mali with the true Javanese idea, and in Asia like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma.

Long ago, in the ancient period around 1500 years ago, the dye resist designs on the cloth were found in Egypt and the Middle East along with the two major countries, samples are also found in Turkey, India, China, Japan and West Africa around hundreds of years ago. In the present date, Batik is highly developed form of art found on the island of Java, Indonesia.

In the 17th century, the fabrics were highly decorated with Dutch transcripts, by it is often believed that complicated designs in Java were possible when the finely woven imported cloth that was from India to Indonesia in 1800s and then from Europe in 1815. The similar Batik designs that were done on textiles earlier are noticed on stone statues that are beautifully sculptured on the walls

of Javanese temples like Prambanan AD 800, but then it is not yet confirmed that the cloth was Batik. These designs could be produced by weaving techniques too.

However, by the 19th century became greatly developed form of art in the cultural life of the Javanese.

There were some specific Batik designs worn by the Javanese royalty and thus it was felt that Batik was originally

meant to be worn by the monarchs of the royal Sultan's palace. The Princesses and royal women might have encouraged the finest designs of Batik that reflect the traditional patters. Well, the untidy dyeing work with consequent waxing was done by the court artisans who worked under their direction.

Known as the great fans of art, Javanese royalty supported the development of traditional art form like silver embellishment, leather puppets known as wayang kulit in java and gamelan orchestra. The Javanese

dalang (puppeteer) was a major source for the Batik patterns too.

Wayang puppets are made from goat skin which was treated and coloured to build false impression on the puppet, were usually sold to women who could get the necessary idea of batik designs from these puppets. They used charcoal and blew it through the holes that describe the design of puppet clothing, so that they could copy complicated patterns onto the cloth.

However, some scholars deny the fact that Batik was originally meant for royalty as they feel that it is meant for the rakyat, the people too. It was considered as a significant job for young women of the Central Java, revealing the fact that they are capable enough to handle a canting, an instrument shaped like pen to apply wax to the cloth with enough tact and skill just like skills used in cookery or other household arts.

Realising the growing importance of design variety and the dearth of designs amongst textile designers batik has started gaining ground amongst designers as well.

A batik saree in silk ranges from Rs 2,500 and above. So while traditional batik prints have fixed colours of brown and black, designers have started experimenting with indigos, greens and yellows.

Batiks are not just restricted to sarees but the use of batik print has spread to even western wear where the print is being done on short tops and kurtis and have extended upto men’s shirt as well. Batik as a print is also being experimented with a variety of materials ranging from cotton to silk.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Avoid late nights to keep your heart healthy Sleep deprivation, disturted sleep patterns lead to greater risk of strokes, heart attack and CVDs, may cause early death Less sleep, disrupted sleep patterns, keeping awake till late night are some of the causes for long term, serious health problems, including strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular disorders. One or more of these problems often lead to early death.

A recent research carried by a team from Warwick Medical School has discovered that even prolonged sleep deprivation is a huge risk.

Professor Francesco Cappuccio of the school said, “If you sleep less than six hours per night and have disturbed sleep you stand a 48% greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease and a 15% greater chance of developing or dying of a stroke.

The trend for late nights and early mornings is actually a ticking time bomb for our health so you need to act now to

reduce your risk of developing these life-threatening conditions.”

Cappuccio and coauthor Dr Michelle Miller, from the University of Warwick, conducted the research programme, which followed up evidence from seven to 25 years from more than 470,000 participants from eight countries including Japan, USA, Sweden and UK. Cappuccio said: “There is an expectation in today’s society to fit more into our lives. The whole work/life balance struggle is causing too many of us to trade in precious sleeping time to ensure we complete all the jobs we believe are expected of us. But in doing so, we are significantly increasing the risk of suffering a stroke or developing cardiovascular disease resulting in, for example, heart attacks.”

Miller explained further: “Chronic short sleep produces hormones and chemicals in the body which increase the risk of developing heart disease and strokes, and other conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.”

Cappuccio also did warn of the implications of going too far the other way, as sleeping overly long - more than nine hours at a stretch - may be an indicator of illness, including cardiovascular disease.

"By ensuring you have about seven hours sleep a night, you are protecting your future health, and reducing the risk of developing chronic illnesses.

The link is clear from our research: get the sleep you need to stay healthy and live longer."

The study has been published in the European Heart Journal.

Berry flavanoids help cut risk of Parkinson’s disease A particular sub-class of flavanoids, known as ‘anthocyanins’ that is found in berries, help reducing the risk of Parkinson’s disease. A new study by Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, the USA suggests that normally there is no effect of flavanoids on women, but in this particular sub-type, man and woman are equally benefited by way of lower risks of developing the dreaded disease of Parkinson’s.

Flavanoids contained in other fruits like citrus fruits like oranges and even chocolates also apparently do help reduce the risk of this old age ailment.

The study involved 49,281 men and 80,336 women. Researchers analyzed the association between flavonoid intakes and risk of developing Parkinson's disease. They also analyzed consump-

tion of five major sources of foods rich in flavonoids: tea, berries, apples, red wine and oranges or orange juice. The participants were followed for 20 to 22 years.

Results showed that in men, the top 20 percent who consumed the most flavonoids were about 40 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than the bottom 20 percent of male participants who consumed the least amount of flavonoids.

In women, there was no relationship between overall flavonoid consumption and developing

Parkinson's disease.

However, when sub-classes of flavonoids were examined, regular consumption of anthocyanins, which are mainly obtained from berries, were found to be associated with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease in both men and women.

Xiang Gao of the Harvard school said, “Our findings suggest that flavonoids, specifically a group called anthocyanins, may have neuroprotective effects. If confirmed, flavonoids may be a natural and healthy way to reduce your risk of developing Parkinson's disease.”

The study was released early this week and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 63rd Annual Meeting in Honolulu, in April.

Take honey for energy, better immunity Natural, unprocessed honey has many benefits, including anti bacterial properties that help heal the body, according to a study carried by Pennsylvania State College of Medicine study.

Honey being an anti-viral, it also cures common colds caused by viruses, the study says. Honey is better than available overthe-counter cold remedies.

Ancient Greek athletes consumed honey to boost their energy and performance levels during Olympics events as it con-

tains glucose and fructose, known to produce tremendous reserves of glycogen in the liver.

Having a spoonful of unprocessed honey before bed can support your brain function. The fructose is stored as energy reserves in the liver, ready to fuel the brain overnight.

Indeed, honey boosts the immune system and

has an antibacterial effect internally and externally, helping the body to heal.

Research in 2007 by Shone Blair at Sydney University concluded that honey dressings for superbug wound infections should be used as a 'first choice'. Honey supports friendly gut bacteria, aiding digestion, and is good for those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and thrush. According to previous studies, one should take two teaspoons three times a day to heal gastric ulcers.

29

By Radhika Madlani

Isn’t Mother Nature wonderful?

Have you ever tried asking a man in the middle of a story to pass you the salt, or the napkin or the water at a dinner table? If you have, you would have noticed how his story grinds to a sudden halt in order to accommodate your sudden request.

Alternatively, if he is really excited about the story, his arm will comically go up whilst guessing what he has just ‘heard’ you request and then he will stop his story and ask you again what you wanted.

This comical behavior occurred this weekend and the man concerned openly admitted that he cannot multitask. I can only do one thing at once, he mused.

He also joked that the only true multi-tasking he can claim to do is taking a phone call whilst

dealing with ‘nature calls’.

His wife supported his claim and suggested this would explain why she has the children ready for school in an hour but on the rare occasion that dad was in charge, the same activity could often take up to two hours and the children would almost always be late into school. We got talking about the differences in expectations between men and women, despite them both managing full time employment. Are women overworked as they stretch themselves to do it all or are they just twice as productive as they are able to multitask?

What do you think? Can you multitask or do you think multi-tasking actually reduces productivity?

Whatever your view,

I do admire the differences that Mother Nature invested in men and women to prepare them for the joy of parenting! How else would an everyday mum manage to dress herself and the children, prepare breakfast for the family whilst getting her own stuff ready, pack everyone lunches whilst providing a detailed handover to the other half on the day ahead? You might call it multi-tasking, I call it ‘needs must’.

I guess that’s why nature is given the beautiful title of a ‘mother’.

She knows what her children need before they probably know it themselves.

Isn’t Mother Nature wonderful?

Quote: “Time is our most precious asset, we should invest it wisely!

– Michael Levy

Should you have any comments or want to get in touch with me you can email on avmamaria@gmail.com

Raw garlic is a wonder remedy for many health problems Known as Allium Sativum in botanical terms, garlic has been nicknamed as a ‘wonder drug’ because it enjoys a good reputation for treating illness. It has been traditionally used for medicinal as well as culinary purposes since olden times. And this continues even today, as doctors and medical experts in today’s age support this claim.

Read on to find out about the health benefits of garlic: To seek relief from dental problems like toothache, garlic is a natural remedy. Apply a piece of crushed garlic or better still, dab a tiny piece of cotton in garlic oil and apply it on the affected area to seek quick relief.

Garlic possesses antiviral properties that help the body fight against allergies.

To get rid of the cold and flu, eating a small amount of raw garlic is helpful. Eat two to three cloves of garlic a day for a few days.

Raw garlic is good for people who wish to loose

weight. Drink a glass of warm water mixed with the juice of half a lime along with two to three chopped cloves of raw garlic. Doing this regularly on an empty stomach in the morning will help fat loss.

Skin problems like acne, pimples, blackheads and blemishes too, can be dealt with garlic. Applying crushed clove on your acne and pimples may cause a burning sensation, however, since garlic contains anti-septic properties it will help in fighting the infection from spreading further.

Making garlic a regular part of your diet is good because garlic acts as a natural blood purifier. Also, problems like blood pressure and bad cholesterol

can be controlled by consuming raw garlic regularly.

Garlic has anti-carcinogenic properties, which help in the prevention of life threatening diseases like cancer by preventing the cancerous cells to develop into tumours and also prevents the further growth of tumours.

If you wish to use some natural product instead of the numerous anti-ageing creams, garlic too, can help you here.

That’s because garlic contains anti-oxidant properties that help in preventing the formation of free radicals in the body, thereby reducing wrinkles.

Garlic is also beneficial for pregnant women as it helps prevent the baby from being under weight.

By regularly consuming garlic, the baby will be born heavier.

30

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

News editor Kamal Rao will be accompanied by a renowned artist of Indian classical music and religious poems, Padmashree Gokulotsav Maharaj who will speak about religion, arts and culture along with former Dean of North Gujarat University who will discuss prevailing education system in Gujarat and the relationship of NRG's with the state.

If you do not have a tv, go to www.tvunetworks.com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

To ask questions please call on: 020 8963 1001

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Teacher sprays at Asian children for 'smelling of curry' Continued from page 1 "I've also done this myself on her direction. She would get me to spray it over them.

Mother-of-two Mrs Islam said the spray was "usually" for children who had English as an additional language.

A national daily reported that Mrs Islam narrated the case of a three-year-old boy who broke wind – and was sprayed with the aerosol freshener.

She said: "He told his mother at the school gates that he had farted and that Mrs Davies had sprayed air freshener over him. He thought it was funny and he was happy and cheerful about it."

But the disciplinary hearing was told other parents were unhappy about it and reported it to the school authorities.

The hearing was told the 260-pupil school had children aged two to eleven with a large Asian community – with more than 50 per cent from a Bangladeshi background in the nursery.

Presenting officer Martyn Jones said Mrs Davies was a "very experienced teacher who should be expected to understand acceptable behaviour."

Mrs Davies denies five allegations of spraying aerosol at pupils, washing pupils hands in disinfectant and making children stand on newspaper.

Head teacher Rachel Webb was asked what damage air freshener could cause to young children.

She replied: "It is demeaning, dangerous and embarrassing for a child. It could cause serious damage to a child's health."

Police launched an investigation after a parent of one of the children made a formal complaint that it was an assault. South Wales Police said that Mrs Davies would not be facing an charges in connection with the complaints.

Mrs Davies, of Cilfrew, Neath, was suspended on full pay for 18 months while an investigation was carried out. She was later dismissed.

She did not attend Monday's hearing in Cardiff but is represented by the National Union of Teachers.

The hearing continues.

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Coming Events l Sunday 20th February, 18:30 onwards and Monday 21-Wednesday 23 February 16:00-20:00 : Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar in concert @ AMC Museum, Bradford Road, W3 7SP. Contact: 020 8742 9911 l Sunday 20th February, 10:30- 16:30 : Hanuman Chalisa Maha Yagya @ Social Club Hall, Northwick Hospital, HA1 3UJ. Contact: 020 8459 5758 l Saturday 26th February 18:00-21:00 and Sunday 27 February 14:30-17:30: Maha-Shivratri celebrations @ Gleneagles Avenue, Leicester LE4 7GY. Contact: 0116 266 2023 l All Thursdays 19:00 - 20:00 : Jalaram Jyot @ Rapton Avenue, Sudbury HA0 3DW l Sunday 27th February 13:30 onwards : Variety Show @ Fulham Town Hall, Fulham Broadway, SW61ET. Contact: 07956 368 339 l Deadline 25th February: Lottery to 10 course dinner @ The Cinnamon Club, Westminster, SW1P 3BU. Contact :020 7222 2555

Swaminarayan Senior School sweeps the North-West London Rotary Youth Speaks Finals

Editor: CB Patel Associate Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Tel: 020 7749 4098 - Email: rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com Senior News Editor: Dhiren Katwa Editorial Executive: Kartik Raval Freelance Correspondent: Rudy Otter Chief Financial Officer: Surendra Patel Tel: 020 7749 4093 - Mobile: 07875 229 220 Email: surendra.patel@abplgroup.com Accounts Executive: Akshay Desai Tel: 020 7749 4087 Email:accounts@abplgroup.com Advertising Managers: Alka Shah Tel: 020 7749 4002 - Mobile: 07944 151 893 Email: alka.shah@abplgroup.com Kishor Parmar Tel: 020 7749 4095 - Mobile: 07875 229 088 Email: kishor.parmar@abplgroup.com Media Consultant: Rovin John Goerge - Email: rovin.george@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4097 - Mobile: 07875 229 219 Business Development Managers: Urja Patel - Email: urja.patel@abplgroup.com Liji George Tel: 020 7749 4013 - Email: george@abplgroup.com Nikhil Gor - Email: nikhil.gor@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4009 - Mobile: 07875 229 200 Design and Layout: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Tel: 020 7749 4086 Email: graphics@abplgroup.com Customer Service: Saroj Patel Tel: 020 7749 4080 - Email: support@abplgroup.com (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 Responsibility is your key word, especially at work. Set your own goals, rather than trying to meet those set by someone else.

Your ability to manage what you have on your plate earns respect from others around you. You will benefit in every way if you learn to self-discipline and pace yourself wisely.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 The pattern of significant relationships in your life will continue to favour you. It seems that a great deal of mutual benefit will accrue because of various interactions. The underlying trend indicates that deep creative energies are stirring within you and that seemingly insignificant events will play a vital role in the future enrichment of life.

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. Facets of your life that have been a source of restriciton and dissatisfaction will begin to loosen their hold.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23 The planetary activity in your chart signals a time of mixed emotions as well as personal issues to be dealt with. The accent’s very much on relationships. The outlook remains optimistic, so don't be afraid to act if your instinct tells you it's time for change. Professional and financial pressures will begin to ease.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23 You need to pay more attention than usual to your everyday work dairy.

Meetings, work hours and organised breaks could play havoc, unless you're prepared to re-group on the spur of the moment. Try to be meticulous but flexible about your schedule. Play your cards right and you can pull strings in you favour.

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Relationships are complex in the best of times, but Saturn's motion can make things even more complicated now. Misunderstandings can plague partnerships or potential romances - be more careful and forgiving. A good time for completing unfinished business and reassessing your future projects.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

Winners: Nikita Patel, Asha Patel, Karishma Patel, Roshni Shah, Bhavik Shah, Araddhna Patel

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 You have been going through major changes in your relationships.

Your ideas about love and partnership are changing daily. As with most things, your health waxes and wanes. You might even find the energy to keep up with your projected gym schedule. Try to make time for relaxation.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22 Anything or anyone that drains your time and energy should be re-evaluated. It’s time to use that creative imagination of yours to create grandeur in your life. Don't get too carried away and lose sight of little things that mean a lot to you. There are a lot of opportunities around you.

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SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21 An inspiring boost to matters of communication but make sure your curiosity on a range of topics does not lead to a scattering of mental energy. With a surge of enery and enthusiasm, this is a favourable time to make fresh starts. Personal relationships may be more intense.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

You will feel energetic and confident as the week begins. Your thinking is inspired, so listen to your thoughts. This may be a time of expansion and improved opportunity and it would be unwise to let yourself become complacent. A good time for restructuring and rethinking your aims and interests. Affairs of the heart are likely to flourish.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 You will find added scope and greater incentive to push full steam ahead with your cherished aims. You must be careful not to tread on other people's toes. This is the right time to talk things over with your loved one - especially anything that has been worrrying you or making you feel insecure.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20 Your energy and attention will be very much devoted to financial matters.

The tide of fortune continues to run strongly in your favour for some time to come. You will be working harder than usual, intent on getting things done.

Close personal relationships may come under some stress and strain.

Sport WorLD

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka in 1975 WC As the ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 kicks off this week in the Indian sub continent, for cricket lovers, we hope it would be interesting to have a glimpse of how their respective national teams fared in the very first World Cup tournament, played in England in 1975.

For a brief summary, England won the three preliminary games and reached the semi finals, where it lost to their Ashes arch rivals Australia. India won one of the three preliminary games against East Africa, while Pakistan also won a solitary game against New Zealand. Sri Lanka lost all the three league matches.

The entire tournament just lasted 15 days, from 7th June to 21st June and a mere 15 games of 60 overs each were played.

The four other teams that played

the tournament included ultimate champions West Indies, runners up Australia, New Zealand and East Africa.

Here is a brief summary of the performance of all teams in the first ever Cricket World Cup Cricket.

Sri Lanka v/s West Indies (WI won by 9 wickets. SL 86 runs, WI 87/1) Australia v/s Pakistan (OZ won by 73 runs. OZ 278, Pak 205) England v/s India (Eng won by 202 runs. Eng 334/4, India 132/3) New Zealand v/s East Africa (NZ won by 181 runs. NZ 309/5, E Af 128/8) Pakistan v/s West Indies (WI won by 1 wicket. Pak 266/7, WI 267/9) Australia v/s Sri Lanka (OZ won by 52 runs. OZ 328/5, SL 276/4) England v/s New Zealand (Eng

won by 80 runs. Eng 266/6, NZ 186) East Africa v/s India (India won by 10 wickets. EAf 120, Ind 123) Australia v/s West Indies (WI won by 7 wickets. OZ 192, WI 195/3) Pakistan v/s Sri Lanka (Pak won by 192 runs. Pak 330/6, SL 138) India v/s New Zealand (NZ won by 4 wickets. Ind 230, NZ 233/6) England v/s East Africa (Eng won by 196 runs. Eng 290/5, EAf 94) Semi Final: England v/s Australia (OZ won by 4 wickets. Eng 93, OZ 94/6) Semi Final: New Zealand v/s West Indies (WI won by 5 wickets. NZ 158, WI 159/5) Final: West Indies v/s A u s t r a l i a (WI won by 17 runs. WI 291/8, OZ 274)

Lankans beat West Indies in home ODI series After the first ODI of the series on having been washed out on 31st January at Colombo’s Sinhala Sports Club grounds, Sri Lanka beat the West Indies and in the second and the third matches to take the series 2 – 0 in the first week of this month. The third game win victory was specially significant, as the home team had rested three of their key bowlers and yet were able to contain the visitors to 251 runs.

Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara were missing from their line-up but their back-up bowling unit comprising Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis and Thisara Perera did extremely well to defend a total of 277 for 9 by bowling West Indies out for 251 in 49 overs.

Tharanga ton helps Lanka sail home In the second match at the same venue, opener Upul Tharanga displayed ominus form for all competitors in the ensuing World Cup, as he carried his bat and registered his ninth ODI

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Jayawardene to lead Kochi in IPL Franchisees want Ganguly in team management Mahela Jayawardene, former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team has been named as the skipper of the new entrant Kochi, to play for the first time this season. The Kochi team owners are trying to persuade Sourav Ganguly to come on board in a think tank role.

Kochi chairman Mukesh Patel said Jayawardene will lead the team in its debut season. The franchise bought the former Sri Lankan skipper for $1.5 million in January.

"We are happy to have Mahela. He is a great leader and getting him was on top of our priority list. I am sure we will have a great team under him," Patel said, adding that the franchise would soon finalise the name for the team and its logo. "As for Ganguly, he is an experienced player and he will be an asset to the team in any capacity. We are still open to have him in a role that would help us in building the team for future. Ideally, we would like to see him mentoring the young players," said Patel.

Asked why the franchise wanted to buy Ganguly out of auction, Patel said the team's strategy was not formulated by the time of auction and when the team management thought of getting Ganguly as player, the IPL Governing Council (GC) put its foot down citing rules.

The 45-year-old businessman from Gujarat also dismissed allegations that the government is probing illegal funding of the franchise.

Sehwag to lead Delhi Daredevils again for IPL Dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag is again in the saddle to lead Delhi Daredevils in the IPL this year, as Gautam Gambhir will be playing for Kolkata Knight Riders this season.

Gambhir led the team last year as Sehwag wanted to concentrate just on his batting after having captained the team in the first and second season. He led Delhi to two semi-finals (2008 and 2009), with the team qualifying for the T20 Champions League 2009. Gambhir took over as captain for the Champions League and IPL 3.

With the team losing many big performers Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Dirk Nannes and Daniel Vettori have all moved to Bangalore Royal Challengers - it will be interesting to see how Sehwag goes about moulding the side from scratch for the second time.

EPL Matches this week Sri Lankans are all smiles after winning the series

century to help Sri Lanka win the rain interrupted match on Thursday, 3rd February.

He paced his innings in a superb manner to score 101 off 143 balls. Sri Lanka

chased down a rain-revised total of 197 off 47 overs in just 42.3, after West Indies had been dismissed for 203. {Brief scores: 3rd ODI SL 277 for 9 (Sangakkara 75, Benn 4-38) beat WI 251

(Darren Bravo 79, Mendis 4-46) by 26 runs. 2nd ODI SL 199 for 2 (Tharanga 101*, Jayawardene 48*) beat WI 203 (Dwayne Bravo 39, Malinga 3-30) by 8 wickets.

Sunday, 20 February West Brom v/s Wolverhampton The Hawthorns Tuesday, 22 February Blackpool v/s Tottenham Bloomfield Road Wednesday, 23 February Arsenal v/s Stoke Emirates Stadium

12:00 20:00 19:45

World Cup Cricket, 2011 schedule Day & Date Match No. Sat Feb 19 01 Sun Feb 20 02 Sun Feb 20 03 Mon Feb 21 04 Tue Feb 22 05 Wed Feb 23 06 Thu Feb 24 07 Fri Feb 25 08 Fri Feb 25 09 Sat Feb 26 10 Sun Feb 27 11 Mon Feb 28 12 Mon Feb 28 13 Tue Mar 1 14 Wed Mar 2 15 Thu Mar 3 16 Thu Mar 3 17 Fri Mar 4 18 Fri Mar 4 19 Sat Mar 5 20 Sun Mar 6 21 Sun Mar 6 22 Mon Mar 7 23 Tue Mar 8 24

Teams Venue Gr. B - Bangladesh v/s India Mirpur – B’desh Gr. A - Kenya v/s New Zealand Chennai - India Gr. A - Sri Lanka v/s Canada Hambantota – SL Gr. A - Australia v/s Zimbabwe Ahmedabad - India Gr. B - England v/s Netherlands Nagpur - India Gr. A - Kenya v/s Pakistan Hambantota – SL Gr. B – S. Africa v/s West Indies Delhi - India Gr. A - Australia v/s New Zealand Nagpur - India Gr. B - Bangladesh v/s Ireland Mirpur – B’desh Gr. A - Sri Lanka v/s Pakistan Colombo – Sri Lanka Gr. B - India v/s England Bangalore - India Gr. A - Canada v/s Zimbabwe Nagpur - India Gr. B - Netherlands v/s West Indies Delhi - India Gr. A - Sri Lanka v/s Kenya Colombo – Sri Lanka Gr. B - England v/s Ireland Bangalore - India Gr. B - Netherlands v/s S. Africa Chandigarh - India Gr. A - Canada v/s Pakistan Colombo – Sri Lanka Gr. A - New Zealand v/s Zimbabwe Ahmedabad - India Gr. B - Bangladesh v/s West Indies Mirpur – B’desh Gr. A - Sri Lanka v/s Australia Colombo – Sri Lanka Gr. B - England v/s S. Africa Chennai - India Gr. B - India v/s Ireland Bangalore - India Gr. A - Canada v/s Kenya Delhi - India Gr A - New Zealand v/s Pakistan Kandy – Sri Lanka

Wed Mar 9 25 Gr. B - India v/s Netherlands Thu Mar 10 26 Gr. A - Sri Lanka v/s Zimbabwe Fri Mar 11 27 Gr. B - Ireland v/s West Indies Fri Mar 11 28 Gr B - Bangladesh v/s England Sat Mar 12 29 Gr. B - India v/s S. Africa Sun Mar 13 30 Gr. A - Canada v/s New Zealand Sun Mar 13 31 Gr. A - Australia v/s Kenya Mon Mar 14 32 Gr. B – B’desh v/s Netherlands Mon Mar 14 33 Gr. A - Pakistan v/s Zimbabwe Tue Mar 15 34 Gr. B - Ireland v/s S. Africa Wed Mar 16 35 Gr. A - Australia v/s Canada Thu Mar 17 36 Gr. B - England v/s West Indies Fri Mar 18 37 Gr. B - Ireland v/s Netherlands Fri Mar 18 38 Gr. A - New Zealand v/s Sri Lanka Sat Mar 19 39 Gr. B – B’desh v/s S. Africa Sat Mar 19 40 Gr. A - Australia v/s Pakistan Sun Mar 20 41 Gr. A - Kenya v/s Zimbabwe Sun Mar 20 42 Gr. B - India v/s West Indies Wed Mar 23 Quarter Final (A1 v B4) Thu Mar 24 Quarter Final (A2 v B3) Fri Mar 25 Quarter Final (A3 v B2) Sat Mar 26 Quarter Final (A4 v B1) Tue Mar 29 Semi Final Colombo – Sri Lanka Wed Mar 30 Semi Final Chandigarh - India Sat Apr 2 Final Mumbai – India

Delhi - India Kandy – Sri Lanka Chandigarh - India Chittagong – B’desh Nagpur - India Mumbai - India Bangalore - India Chittagong – B’desh Kandy – Sri Lanka Kolkata - India Bangalore - India Chennai - India Kolkata - India Mumbai - India Mirpur – B’desh Colombo – Sri Lanka Kolkata - India Chennai - India Mirpur - Bangladesh Ahmedabad – India Mirpur - Bangladesh Colombo – Sri Lanka

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Indian cricketers covered with accident insurance

Asian Voice - Saturday 19th February 2011

Mumbai, Kolkata stadia get ICC nod

Each player, support staff insured for Rs. 23 million, risk includes terror attack All members of the Indian cricket team, including the support staff have been covered with accident insurance during the period of the World Cup tournament. The personal accident policy provides a cover worth $500,000 or Rs. 23 million for each member of the squad.

Oriental Insurance Company, one of the state owned general insurance companies is providing this cover. The group insurance policy will be in force for two months between February 10 and April 9.

It covers death or total disability, permanent partial disability and temporary total disability to a player or a support staff member. The policy holders will be paid the monetary compensation for injuries that are sustained on and off the field during this 2-month period.

The policy can also be invoked if a player or support staff member becomes a victim or sustains injury due a terror attack also. An overseas mediclaim policy has also been bought for the team. The policy is as per the International Cricket Council's guidelines.

The BCCI has also taken another insurance policy to the tune of Rs 1.30 billion to cover the board from likely losses in the event of a match being affected by bad weather.

The board has also purchased another special contingency policy for event cancellation at a cost of Rs 10 mn. This policy will protect the board against any financial losses owing to the cancellation of matches due to bad weather.

ESPN, the official broadcaster for the tournament, has already bought a Rs 6 bn insurance cover.

The BCCI first took out an insurance policy for the team in 1993. For the 1996 World Cup, the board had taken a policy worth Rs 1 mn per player.

Kolkata’s Eden Garden Stadium

After initial concerns and already loss of one match, Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium have finally completed all the works and got the nod from ICC to host the World Cup matches allotted to them. Wankhede Stadium is to host the final of the World Cup, while Kolkata will be the venue for three league matches.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, in a statement to the media on Tuesday said, “Those venues have all been squared off, they are ready. Now, there is no issue

Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium

regarding the readiness of the stadiums.”

On January 25, the ICC ruled out Kolkata as a host venue after its inspection team deemed the stadium unprepared for the February 27 India v/s England match. That game was later shifted to Bangalore’s M Chinnaswamy stadium.

The ICC had also given the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) time till 31 January to complete the work with an inspection to be carried out on February 1.

CAB officials did a great job by finishing the renovation work before the deadline and avoided further embarrassment of losing the remaining three matches.

The historic Eden Gardens will now host the South Africa v/s Ireland, Ireland v/s Netherlands and Zimbabwe v/s Kenya on March 15, 18 and 20 respectively.

The Wankhede stadium apart from Canada v/s New Zealand on March 13 and New Zealand v/s Sri Lanka on March 18, will host the final on April 2.

‘De Ghumake’ music album for ICC World Cup launched Official song is in three languages – Hindi, Bangla and Sinhalese

As ICC Cricket World Cup fever grips the sub-continent, Universal Music India prepares to release the official tournament album aptly named ‘De Ghumake’.

The album is led by the foot-tapping and infectious official World Cup song of the same name by the prolific Bollywood music directors, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The rest of the album boasts of a highenergy mix of international hits from the likes of Enrique Iglesias, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Lady Gaga as well as artists providing a local flavour, such as AR Rahman and other big Bollywood hits.

The official song is performed in three different languages, Hindi (sung by Shankar Mahadevan), Bangla

this album and it was released on 10 February 2011.

The album will be available in retail stores a c r o s s Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka as well as being downloadable from UK. ‘De Ghumake’ – In ‘De Ghumake, Shankar, ICC Chief Ehsaan and Loy trio have scored a hit with the E x ecutive official World Cup song Haroon Lorgat (sung by Raghab Chatterjee) said: “Music really helps to and Sinhalese (sung by create a buzz around an event Ranidu Lankage), reflecting and I am delighted we have languages of the three host such an energetic and diverse countries. selection of great songs that Universal Music India will surely become the soundenjoys worldwide rights for track of the ICC Cricket World

Cup 2011.”

Rajat Kakar, Managing Director of Universal Music India said: “The ICC Cricket World Cup is going to be the biggest sporting extravaganza in the world this year and ‘De Ghumake’ is the perfect anthem to celebrate this occasion.

“The album is packed with hits, both international and Hindi, which set the mood for celebrations. The accompanying DVD makes ‘De Ghumake’, the album, a true collector’s pack for all cricket lovers across cricket-playing nations. Universal Music will release the physical album and the online version of the title track on all leading portals across the globe,” said Mr Kakar.