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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

India reiterates its stands on Ukraine war, urges US to boost ties

PM Modi arrives in Gujarat, lays foundation for multiple projects

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Bringing Asian food culture alive

PM Johnson to visit India to strengthen trade and defence ties

As we near the end of pandemic travel, enthusiastic families do not cower down to sky-high airfares and less value for money vacations.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at COP26 in Glasgow on 1 November 2021

Shefali Saxena

As the world reopens in the new normal, air travel and holidays only seem to be getting more costly.

According to ETC, around 77 per cent of Europeans have already made travel plans for the period between April and September. Such data suggest that the ongoing war in Ukraine has not affected travellers’ desire to visit another country during

the summer.

Suhas Jadhav, Regional Manager – UK & Europe, Air India Ltd. exclusively told Asian Voice, “I would like to inform that after bubble agreement from summer schedule we have started operating 33 flights per week from Heathrow from 28 flights per week and one per week from Birmingham to Amritsar and Delhi.

Continued on page 08

UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to visit India for two days, from 21 April 2022 in an effort to strengthen security ties with the country. He will land in Ahmedabad, to visit the state of Gujarat followed by a trip to India’s capital New Delhi on 22 April, where a ceremonial reception will be held among other official engagements.

After having to cancel his trip twice due to the surge in Covid-19 cases, PM Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to focus on an in-depth discussion about the ‘strategic defence, diplomatic and economic partnership’ between UK-India, the Roadmap 2030 intensifying bilateral relationships, especially post-Brexit in areas such as healthcare, life sciences, technology etc. and the on-going Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. The FTA is projected to boost Britain's total trade by up to £28 billion annually by 2035.

Continued on page 08

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Factory worker couldn’t get his fingers reattached as bosses disposed them

with Keith Vaz

NAZMUL AHSAN Clinical Research Consultant Nazmul was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, he graduated and trained as a medical doctor before pursuing a career in Clinical Research which he found fascinating.

He moved to the UK 15 years ago, completed his postgraduation and continued working in the field of Clinical Research. Nazmul has worked for the NHS, NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) and various Pharmaceutical Companies. He is currently working as a Clinical Research Consultant for Lei Pharma providing support for new drug discovery. Nazmul is married to Parvin Akhter and they have two daughters Raida Ahsan (12 years) and Raina Ahsan (8 years).

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

I have my roots in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh – where I was born, grew up and where my parents once lived. So, Dhaka will always be in my heart. For last 15 years, I have been living in Leicester – where my daughters were born, I have my own house and made lots of friends and connections. Leicester is now my home city and I feel most at home here.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

I work in clinical research, every second matters and there’s a constant rush for finding new treatments for the patients. We continued our work during the COVID19 lockdowns in 2020-21 and had to travel despite all restrictions. I was involved in the clinical research of a ground-breaking treatment for Alzheimer’s disease – which gave hope to millions of patients worldwide.

3) What inspires you?

I get inspired thinking about how my work is making a difference in the lives of the patients. The harder and faster we work, the earlier there will be a treatment for the patients.

4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

I had to balance between my family life and work. I chose to be homebased in 2014, when my younger daughter was born with some health needs, with regular travel to the clinical research hospital sites. This arrangement has given me more family time and flexibility at the expense of opportunities for career progression. Many of our jobs are office based - in and around greater London or M25 belt.

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

One of my former line managers – who highlighted all my strengths and helped me to overcome the discrimination I had experienced earlier.

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

Working in clinical research is very rewarding. One successful drug discovery can bring smiles to the faces of millions of patients.

7) And the worst?

There may be unexpected challenges, drug reactions or lack of desired effect – leading to the discontinuation of a project which has been running for a few years.

8) What are your long term goals?

I hope to use my expertise to support the development of clinical research infrastructure in Bangladesh. The more clinical research they conduct locally, the more they will understand the health needs of the local people.

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

I would spend more money on education – starting from primary schools to the universities. The British education system was one of the best in the world – which is now lagging far behind many other countries.

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

Alexander Fleming – who discovered penicillin.

I’d like to give him the formulae of all newer medicines so that he could take his research 100 years forward and save the world from COVID19.

Nurse’s petition demanding resignation of Boris and Rishi hits 390,000 signatures Prime minister Boris Johnson has become the first-ever leader of the country to break the law followed by the chancellor as both were asked to resign when the news first broke about the politicians’ fines.

They were not only asked

to resign by some of their party members, but 390,163 people have signed a petition for the men to resign.

NHS nurse Matthew Tovey has started a petition who shared a distressing account of what he and his colleagues were going

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through during the pandemic when politicians were busy partying at Downing Street’s illegal gatherings.

Matthew said: ‘While members of this Government were partying and drinking, we were at the coalface, saving people’s lives.

‘It was a horrible time.

We weren’t thinking about partying. We were just missing our families.

Though Matthew’s petition has surpassed the threshold for the number of signatures that are needed for a petition to be debated in Parliament – 100,000, Parliament only looks at appeals signed on the official UK Government and Parliament website – and Matthew’s is listed on Change.org.

Both Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak have paid their fixed penalty notices and have apologised for breaking the rules.

Viraj Kakadia who works at the Taiko Foods factory in Acton (Ealing) could not get the tips of his two fingers reattached, which he lost in an industrial accident while making sushi, because his bosses threw them in the bin.

The incident took place in January when he was using the machine to cut peppers for sushi wearing one of the two steel gloves and while trying to restart the machine, his fingers got trapped, leading to two of his fingers being severed.

Instead of calling an

ambulance, his bosses sent him in a Bolt Taxi which took Viraj to Mary’s hospital in Paddington. When the medical team asked for the lost fingers, the company informed him that they disposed of the fingers.

The GMB will be filing for the compensation over negligence which could be

worth upwards of £20,000 if successful.

Meanwhile, a Taiko spokesperson said that they will reimburse his annual leave entitlement and he would be paid in full for his time off.

Viraj who has joined back at the work said, “There is no amount of money for that injury that would solve it. I lost my finger. It’s not a question of money. I expect the GMB union to help and ensure this negligence doesn’t happen to anybody else in future.”

NHS turns Carrick Glen clinic into a national treatment centre A private healthcare hospital Carrick Glen clinic has been taken over by NHS Ayrshire & Arran for £1.8m and will become part of the network of 10 national treatment centres (NTCs). Carrick Glen clinic will be the NTC that will specialise in orthopaedics.

The network has been designed to help the NHS recover from the Covid pandemic which has caused

treatment backlogs in large numbers. It was found that in February, the number of people on a hospital waiting list in Scotland reached 538,000.

Once it is fully operational, each year, the NTC programme will be able to deliver capacity for more than 40,000 additional surgeries and procedures.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "These centres will mark the largest expan-

sion in elective care capacity in NHS Scotland with an overall investment of over £400m. We know that the pandemic has taken its toll on services like orthopaedics, but the network of NTCs will help address this and will be central to NHS recovery."

The NTCs in Highland, Forth Valley and Fife will begin operating in the next 12 months, he further added.

Student with stomach cramps delivers

healthy baby in hospital toilet Lalene Malik (23), had no idea that she was pregnant until she gave birth in a hospital toilet. She has described her son as a “miracle” baby but has accused her family doctor, Elm Trees surgery in Greenford, of negligence.

On March 26, she was rushed to A&E at Northwick Park Hospital in northwest London after suffering an excruciating stomach ache at

home in Greenford.

She believed that she must be constipated as she was taking a contraceptive pill and took two negative pregnancy tests in February as well.

Ms Malik was about to flush when baby Mohammed Ibrahim’s tiny arm was spotted in the bowl.

“I was gone. My mind was blank. I was put in another

room because obviously I was crying and my mum was crying. It was a complete shock and a trauma for both of us and I felt that my life was in danger,” she said.

Dr Ewa Grocholski, who saved the baby by giving him chest compressions after getting him out of the bowl, said it was “the most amazing experience of (her) medical career”.

Campaigner receives

London’s highest honour Renowned author and thought leader Arif Anis who launched and spearheaded the One Million Meals campaign in March 2020 to feed NHS workers during the pandemic was honoured with Freeman of the City of London, at a ceremony at the Chamberlain Court of the Guild Hall.

This makes him the first

Pakistani author to receive the highest honours from the city of London.

Anis, one of the

Prince Harry and Meghan visit Queen Elizabeth On Thursday, Britain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, visit Queen Elizabeth. The spokesperson said the couple stopped by the United Kingdom on their way to The Hague to attend The Invictus Games. During their visit to Windsor Castle, Harry and Meghan also saw Prince Charles, making it

their first joint trip to Britain since they quit royal duties in March 2020.

Harry, who moved to the United States with Meghan, was not present at last month's memorial service that was held for his grandfather, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April last year.

founders of the volunteerrun initiative, was backed by sports stars David Beckham and boxing champion Amir Khan. The Prime Minister also applauded the work of One Million Meals in May 2021 through the Points of Light Award.

This initiative could help deliver hundreds of thousands of warm meals to frontline workers across the UK from April to July 2020.

Upon receiving the honour Anis said, “It’s unbelievable for someone who started around 20 years back as a shepherd in a remote part of Pakistan. Now I have got shepherding rights to drive the flock on Tower Bridge as a part of my privileges as a Freeman.”

A Freeman of the City of London is one of the oldest awards, believed to have been first presented in 1237.

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Thought for the week

UK’s relationship with India should be a goal for the US Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s trip to India to strengthen the economic and defence partnership is a lesson for the US-India relationship. Mr Johnson’s visit, that has been reportedly called a “vanity trip” to divert attention from the Partygate scandal and the demand for him to resign, in fact, has much potential to change around the post-Brexit doom and gloom, stopping the economy from heading towards recession, fixing staffing and energy crisis.

The delayed trip, which was first meant to happen in January and then in April 2021, comes at a very crucial time.

With the Ukraine-Russia conflict dividing the world into two poles, unlike US, UK has been seen to put in significant efforts to strengthen the relationship with India, which reaches 75 years since the country’s independence as a British colony in 1947.

The partnership is reinvigorated further through postBrexit deals, while a major focus is on defence and trade, since growing unrest in Afghanistan and looming threats from China.

Though the trip to India, is being treated as a ‘distraction’ from Mr Johnson’s current political setback, it goes without saying that the 26 chapters of the Free Trade Agreement, which will definitely feature in Mr Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s discussions in New Delhi, will open new scopes of growth, including job opportunities and cutting edge technologies for both countries.

While the UK is converting interests into actions and tangible goals, beyond words and strategic positions, the US trying hard to focus on their own expectations, hoping India to see their perspective without return is set for a new kind of failure in international politics.

Kenneth C Brill, a retired US Foreign Service Officer who served as an ambassador in the Clinton and Bush

administrations and also served as Consul General in Kolkata and Charge’ d’affaires, A.I. at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, in an article in The Hill wrote: “The collapse of the Soviet Union signalled an opportunity for a new chapter in the bilateral relationship between US and India. The respective governments in the 1990s in Washington and New Delhi began to develop cooperative approaches in several areas, including trade, foreign policy, and even militaryto-military engagement. India’s nuclear tests in 1998 strained relations and produced US sanctions, but President Clinton’s visit to India in 2000 marked a turning point, which President Bush cemented when he lifted the sanctions in 2001.”

But what grew to become a generally positive relationship is now entering choppy waters again. The UkraineRussia crisis is one of the reasons the US failed to convince India to back the Security Council vote against Russia.

Second, with the increasing power of China, India is believed to be losing power over the Indian ocean. The US also sees the Indian Democracy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a failure, making much of the relationship between the US and India like its relationship with Pakistan - which does not garner much interest from the American public, but where the US government and foreign policy analysts see the country and the bilateral relationship as important.

As Ambassador Brill correctly warned, the US needs to recognise India’s military, budgets, location, public attitudes, development objectives, and threat perceptions are not like other US partners. So, the US needs to carefully tailor its actions and expectations to build a meaningful strategic relationship with India and build the bridge it should have built years ago.

Is Britain really full?

In the light of wars and its aftermath, Britain has never been a stranger to refugees. In fact, as an ex-colonial power, it welcomed and ushered people from the Indian subcontinent to join them in rebuilding Britain. Many arrived to work in factories, shops and medical fields. MV Empire Windrush ship was one of them, who carried people from the Carribean to work in the UK. With Idi Amin’s expulsion, the Ugandan Asians arrived in the UK penniless. This August it will be 50 years. Over the years, they contributed to every fabric of the nation and today, the second and third generation British Asians are doing incredibly well, many running the country from top to bottom.

Home Secretary Priti Patel’s family was also one of those expelled, so was Lord Dolar Popat’s. While Theresa May, an icon of hostility towards immigrants is suddenly calling the Rwanda plan of the UK government “unacceptable”, Lord Popat, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Uganda in his opinion piece in The Times has thrown light to a different perspective. He wrote, “Not only will the partnership help to reduce illegal migration and the unsustainable pressures on public services that it entails, but it will also help break the

business model of those inhumane criminal gangs who are risking lives every day by facilitating perilous journeys across the Channel. At the same time, it will support economic development in Rwanda and provide refugees protection and a chance to rebuild their lives in one of Africa’s most dynamic countries...”

But most Asians feel what Fiyaz Mughal, an immigrant who lost home to Amin’s cruelty feels. Writing in The Guardian, Mr Mughal said, “I can only imagine what would have happened to me if Amin was to eject Asians from Uganda today and if I had arrived on to the shores of Dover, simply because I had a link to the colonial legacy of Britain’s involvement in east Africa. It is true that one difference between then and now is that most Ugandan Asians had British passports; but if the Windrush scandal has taught us anything, it’s that such distinctions mean little to the modern-day Home Office.”

If Britain could open its doors to 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, why are refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran treated any differently? It is time Britons, must stop and ask if the country is really full or are we losing the compassion we once were famous for?

Cricket, cinema and nationalism unify Indians Cricket, cinema and nationalism are some factors that unify people in India. Unity is a way to develop one’s skills, lift from poverty, achieve name, fame and wealth, give additional status to one’s caste, region etc are other attractions, benefits. Hindi cinema or movies in any other language broke the barriers of caste and class and brought people from diverse backgrounds together in the cinema halls. Cinematic themes in Bollywood have ranged from contemporary issues, mythology, family drama and more recently, sports where films based on cricket or cricket players have caught the attention of the audience.

Cricket is nothing short of a religion in India. It brings people together better than their love for playing or watching their favourite players in action – a passion which resonates on social media, whether in the form of praise, criticism or arguments with fellow fanatics. Being more than just a game, cricket assumed the mantle of a national obsession. Victory in cricket became an everyday fixation for the people of the nation.

The madness was at a level that affected the daily routine of urban middle-class households.

During the 2003 World Cup, the Dalal Street in Mumbai was empty on the day of India’s clash against Sri Lanka. The tournament gave a new meaning to Indian nationalism. It came to stand for a sporting arena where the words ‘war’ and ‘entertainment’ complimented each other. It cemented a cultural platform where common Indians expressed their nationalist sentiments. There was a marriage between sport and nationalism as well as entertainment and patriotism. In India, cricket is one of the major sources of national solidarity. For a cricket fan, this sport is nothing less than a religious ritual and cricketers are their demi-gods. Every cricket series is a summon to national honour and glory. A good day in the field for the Indian cricket team effortlessly produces national euphoria in the streets and cockiness in the television studios; a bad day generates gloom and name-calling. Thus, there is a deep sense

of nationalism associated with this sport which makes it interesting to understand how recent films have captured the essence of cricket nationalism. Right after the success of the film Lagaan (2001), cricket became avidly depicted in various movies time and again.

In India, cricket is part of the meta-narrative of heroes, who have fascinating, fairytale stories that inspire millions. It is quite similar to any movement, which would bring people together for a common cause. Cinema becomes the space where their fantastic journey gets played out on screen. Victory in cricket binds the nation together both on and off screen.

Visuals of cricketers hitting sixes and running between the wickets, crowd swaying the national flag when the national team gets an edge over the opponents, fans dressed in clothes resembling the national flag, the screaming and the adulation are all symbols used in the cinematic visual narrative, which instills a feeling of nationalism amongst the audiences.

Nationalism is another factor that brings oneness among the people. It is through national identity that one can relate to any belief or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with or becoming attached to one’s nation based on the social conditioning and personal behaviours that support a state’s decisions and actions. It is a strong like-mindedness of the people towards factors like race, religion, language, culture, etc., which lets them relate to each other and associate with the nation. A nationalist always strives for independence and the domination of one’s nation and expresses his love and concern for it in an active political way. It takes the form of political ideology when it gets mixed with notions like justice, pride, and humiliation of the people. Nationalism finds expression through political aspirations. In India, colonization caused the feeling of nationalism to emerge amongst the people against the oppressors. The suffering of the people and the need to overthrow the colonial yoke united the people as one.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.

- Helen Keller

Political Sketchbook Alpesh Patel

Things the UK PM would do well to remember on his visit to India Western democracy has its origins in Christianity, Indian Democracy in its major religion.

PM Johnson said to my wife, a fortnight ago, at Number 10, “Narendra is my friend”. I believe both PMs genuinely have a fondness for each other and see each other as friends.

This week sees the passing of Easter. The UK PM visits India. He will urge India to take a stronger stand against Russia. He will point out the common values of Democracy and responsibilities of being the world’s largest democracy too.

The West doesn’t understand Indian democracy. To the West universal human rights, elections, equality all go hand in hand with democracy. They’re right. They do in India and the West.

But Western democracy, as Easter reminds us, is based on Christian traditions. Those traditions include proselytizing. The belief that if you are right, your values should be shared, first by persuasion and failing that by force.

They should go beyond the individual to other countries. Democracy is their creed. Their religion. It is why they were accused of a crusade in the Iraq war. It’s why the West will talk to other countries, when it suits their needs, or at least does not harm them, about human rights and gender equality.

The majority religion in India is Hinduism. It has been so for millennia. Hinduism does not proselytize. If you are right, you do not share your righteousness through holy wars, there is no equivalent of onward Christian soldiers.

Of course some extremists believe Hinduism should ape Christianity and evangelise, proselytize and convert.

There is no goal to civilise and bring the word of God or Democracy as a creed to other countries. So Indian democracy by tradition, culture, heritage – abstains. It does by words criticise but rarely by actions of force.

Yes, India abstains at the UN because it wants Russia’s reliable veto in future and has 70%+ of defence hardware from Russia (cheaper than the west, better than Indian).

But it does not soul search in doing so. It verbally condemns.

There is no single valid definition of democracy. The word simply means the rule of the people. There are many different forms of government and some people might argue that there are many different forms of ‘democracy’.

The form we live under in the West has its origins in ancient Greek ideals and then evolved into various political systems including Athenian democracy, direct democracy and representative democracy.

It also developed through various experiments with constitutionalism. In general terms, when you look at the history of Western civilization, a key belief is that individual sovereignty is paramount—that individuals play a vital role in determining their own fate within society—that each individual owns his or her personhood and can make their own decisions about their future without consulting others for permission or approval.

There are many differences between Indian Democracy and Western Democracy Political cultures are the product of their economic structures, socio-cultural policies, historical experiences, historical traditions, beliefs, social structures, cultures, languages and political philosophies.

Whilst the two nations are friends seeking ever closer union, their differences when understood by their backgrounds allow for a closer not more distant friendship.

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Woman's 40-year-old 'time capsule' letter found hidden behind the cupboard During a house renovation, Carl Skivington was clearing out his box room in his Burton-upon-Trent house when he found a 40-yearold letter behind a cupboard addressed "To the finder of this letter" which was signed

by Deborah Stokes, aged 14

back in 1982.

Leicestershire woman witnesses massive girder crash into Big Ben Just days after the completion of a major £80 million makeover, Big Ben got ‘thumped’ by a massive scaffolding girder in broad daylight which was witnessed

by Sarah Haynes, from Ashby.

Sarah was in London on a weekend away with her family and had just taken in a tour of the Houses of the Parliament when they heard the commotion outside.

"As we were leaving out of the [Houses of Parliament] entrance, we could see all of the builders looking up and the odd workman running around looking frantic,” Sarah said.

"It hit the tower and we didn’t see anything fall but it

made quite a thump. There was a man in a cherry picker which was as high as they could get it and he was leaning over the edge pushing it away from the building.”

In 2017, renovations started on Big Ben - formally known as the Elizabeth Tower.

Couple lose £1,000 after being denied boarding on British Airways flight A couple from Oldham say they’ve been left more than £1,040 out of pocket after they were not allowed to board their booked flight from Heathrow Airport to Los Angeles. Derrick and Sheila Gordon are desperate for a refund so they can fly out to their son’s wedding.

A couple, Derrick and Sheila Gordon from Oldham who were not allowed to board their booked flight from

Heathrow Airport to Los Angeles said they have been left more than £1,040 out of pocket.

The duo were due to depart from Heathrow Airport on December 23, 2021, but they arrived late for their connecting flight after being delayed travelling from Manchester Airport earlier the same day, due to additional immigration and customs checks.

People pay tributes to young men by leaving flowers, football shirts at the crash scene At the scene of a horror crash, where Harry Atkinson, 20, and Lewis Meeson, 21, died when the off-road motorbike they were riding crashed with a Ford Kuga on High Barn Street in Royton, Oldham, their loved ones and others paid tributes by leaving flowers, football shirts and photos at the scene.

Paying tribute to Harry, who worked as a plumber, his family said: "We want to thank all the first responders who tried their best to save both Harry and

his friend's lives and supported the other people involved in the terrible incident. Thanks to the police who showed such kindness and compassion, and thanks for everyone's kind words and support.

The family of 21-yearold Lewis said: "The family has been completely devastated by the loss of our beloved Lewis. We are truly humbled by the outpouring of love and support from the community and from Lewis’s friends and family.

The letter says that milk was just 20p a pint, bread was 30p a loaf, and beer was 60p per pint.

In the letter, Deborah also mentioned how the President of the then-Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, had just died. After discover-

ing the letter he posted it on and found Facebook Deborah, now Deborah Dishman and in her 50s.

Deborah replied to his post saying she had written the letter all those years ago in the hope that it would eventually be discovered.

New Post Office site found for village Following the closure of the previous Anstey branch earlier this year, a new Post Office branch could be set to open in a Leicestershire village.

If the new location for the branch is approved, residents will have access to an extra 20 hours of services.

In January, the previous Anstey branch closed after the premises were "withdrawn for Post Office use", leaving residents without immediate access to services after the March 7 closure.

However, a new operator has now been appointed and an alternative location has been found.

The new site will be

offering 64 hours of Post Office services to the community giving customers access for an extra 20 hours a week as well as a lowscreened serving point at the retail counter.

Consultation on the proposed move will close on May 26. Customers can share their views during the consultation online at postofficeviews.co.uk with the branch code 152217.

Metro Cafe, opposite Chorlton tram that offers Persian food 10 years ago when Majid Novin bought the Metro Cafe, opposite the Chorlton tram stop on Wilbraham Road, he’d planned to serve just homemade Persian food, the food that he and his wife Zahra had grown up with.

When the UK economy tanked in 2008, his company in Oldham went down with it. So, when his friend offered him the chance to take on the Metro, he and Zahra, a Farsi interpreter who also studied at the University in Tehran, decided to take up the chance.

The place that was already known for its cafe food, the couple felt it was a risk to introduce an entirely Persian menu. So instead, Majid and Zahra introduced Persian dishes among the sausages, the bacon and the fried bread.

“Persian food was our main goal when we started,” Majid says.

“There were many more dishes, but there was no interest. We had no choice.

We could have invested in making only Persian food, and then wait for people to come.”

Oldham wedding singer raises £3 million for charity Naseeb Abbas, who was born and raised in Glodwick, otherwise known as Prince Naseeb, became a bus driver at the age of 17 and he did this for 13 years while pursuing his passion as a nasheed singer.

Nasheeds are songs that carry beliefs and lessons about Islam.

Prince Naseeb, 32, said, "A friend called me and invited me on a trip to Jordan to help Syrian refugees there. I remember thinking, no one is going to donate to me. It’s not easy handing over money to a random person. But I went to Jordan and raised £45,000

Manchester residents trapped in flats for four days When one of the lifts inside Humphries Court on Whitley Road in Collyhurst,

How to get involved in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Manchester City Council wants to invite local communities to dust off the bunting and host street parties to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee from Thursday 2 June to Sunday 5 June.

The Platinum Jubilee celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s seventy years of service to the British people and there will be a wide range of activities taking place during the extended bank holiday weekend.

To ensure that the fun doesn’t stop there, funding is available for local groups who want to host street parties and Manchester City Council will waive the road closures fee for the Jubilee weekend.

The deadline to submit an application to

to deliver aid there. It shocked me.

"From then, I started going abroad every single year to do charity work. I estimate it's about £3 million which I have raised over the last couple of years.

He also raised £250,000 to deliver food packs in Bangladesh and £300,000 for families affected by famine in Yemen.

close a road is Friday 22 April.

Manchester City Council will be hosting a Platinum Jubilee jamboree on the bank holiday weekend, more details will be revealed in the coming weeks.

north Manchester, broke down, elderly tenants and some with ‘serious mobility issues’ were trapped in their homes for four days until it was fixed. Despite a string of complaints, residents were left stranded.

Anthony Ross, 58, who is looking after his mother Mary Ross, 84, following her stint in hospital, said: "It’s unacceptable. Anyone that lives on the affected floors can’t get out, no fresh air. It got to Sunday afternoon, and my mum said she’d have to negotiate the stairs."

When Mr Ross contacted Northwards Housing Manchester City Council's housing operations in the North of the city, he said it took days to resolve the breakdown. Mr Ross said it wasn’t until Monday morning, at around noon, that the lift was finally fixed.

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"It was fantastic to see Vaisakhi celebrated again in Trafalgar Square after a two-year break. London’s diversity is its greatest strength—it’s incredibly inspiring to see Londoners from all backgrounds coming together to celebrate this holy festival. #LetsDoLondon," the Mayor of London, Mr Sadiq Khan said.

Get ready for a nine-course tasting menu of dishes, carefully paired with curated art Shefali Saxena

In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Mr Choudhary explained the method behind this artistic and delicious madness.

H

ow did you come up with this exquisite idea?

I am passionate about food, art and India so I wanted to create an event that combines all three and brings them to life, in a multi-sensory experience, which will take you across the vast continent and its diverse and beautiful sights, tastes and fragrances, showing the powerful roles food and art play in India.

To create a feast for the eyes and stomach, we made a nine-course tasting menu of dishes and carefully paired and curated art collected by me and my

On the occasion of the 131st Birth Anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, HC Gaitri Issar Kumar led the Indian community in paying homage at the Ambedkar Museum in London, emphasizing the enduring value of his legacy reflected in the Constitution of India.

insight about the carefully paired art and artefacts, from a stunning, carved temple door from South India, to handwoven Persian carpets and precious decanters and crockery from the palace of the Maharaja of Faridkot.

C

olonel Saab's founder, Roop Partap Choudhary will personally take diners on a culinary journey across India, with a nine-course tasting menu of dishes and carefully paired and curated art collected by the awardwinning entrepreneur and his family across the continent and lovingly brought to London.

And for this event, Roop and his team pair extraordinary art including 17th and 19th Century Tanjore paintings, the Maharaja of Patiala’s Asprey drinks bar, pure silver Gujarat temple doors and a canopy of ornate chandeliers from Firozabad with dishes that tell the stories of those regions and people.

family across the continent and lovingly brought to London.

W

here do you derive your penchant for food and

Roop Partap Choudhary

I have paired extraordinary art including 17th and 19th Century Tanjore paintings, the Maharaja of Patiala’s Asprey drinks bar, pure silver Gujarat temple doors and a canopy of ornate chandeliers from Firozabad with dishes that tell the stories of those regions and people.

Colonel Saab was meticulously crafted as a love letter to my family and India, with a treasure trove of eclectic and museumworthy Indian art and artefacts and this food and art pairing event captures the essence of it as well as India.

W

hat did it take and how much reading and researching led to the creation of this menu?

My father, Colonel Manbeer was given the honorific name Colonel Saab - shared by my restaurant - and the menu is inspired by places he was stationed in the army, from local lunches in the tents of Rajasthan to stunning banquets hosted by Indian nobility and Maharajas. The eclectic art for the event was also collected on this journey and brought back to London under very challenging conditions.

And I spent a year

retracing my father’s footsteps across India by train, bus and car with Indian food royalty, Karen Anand to curate contemporary twists on dishes passed down through the generations of people we met, which led to the menu for this event.

The multi-sensory experience of India will also incorporate drinks. So we have a Masala Dabba - or spice box - of artisanal gins, whiskies and rums based on Indian botanicals created with the Diageo mixology team, along with innovative cocktails by celebrated mixologist Antony Bertin, designed to complement the food.

P

lease help us with more details about the menu The nine-course menu

will cost £150 per person and includes progressive dishes, from Pulled Charcoal Lamb with Jeera Aloo and Biryani to Chicken Chettinad with Malabar Paratha and Chocolate Silk Cake, Thandai Crumble, Candy Floss and fresh berries. The vegetarian menu includes Gutti Vankaya, Andhra-style Eggplant Curry and Cauliflower 65, and South Indian curd rice with fruit sorbet.

Each mouthful will bring the continent and its rich history to life, with fascinating stories and

art?

My parents were avid art collectors all their lives. I would see my mother picking up exquisite pieces of art from auctions and local markets throughout my childhood. That helped me develop a unique taste in art and aesthetics.

Because of my father’s work in the Indian Army, we travelled across the continent collecting art and recipes wherever we went.

My parents went on to channel their unique experiences into serving the community, starting with a modest hotel and continuing their journey with boutique and palace hotels, which are now managed by me. I began my work life in their hotel kitchens as a young man and continue the proud legacy of hospitality that spans more than three decades, with Colonel Saab.

H

ow can our readers avail this opportunity?

You can book this experience by calling us on 020 8016 6800, emailing us on reservations@colonelsaab.c o.uk or visiting www.colonelsaab.co.uk

AsianVoiceNews

07

FESTIVAL SPECIAL

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AsianVoiceNewsweekly

23 - 29 April 2022

Sadiq Khan at Iftar with MPS Association of Muslim Police Mayor Sadiq Khan attended Iftar with the MPS Association of Muslim Police last week. In his address, he said, “What for me is really special about Ramadan is being able to break bread with Londoners from all walks of life, professions and backgrounds.

During this holy month, it’s always great to see the sense of togetherness and unity that characterises our great city.

“Ramadan is a time, of course, to remember those who are less fortunate and to take time to count our blessings. This year, I know the thoughts of many will be with the people of Ukraine.

With refugees who’ve been forced to flee Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. And with everyone at home and around the world who’s suffering hardship.”

London’s Muslim community makes an incredible contribution

Khan further said, “London’s Muslim community makes an incredible contribution to the spirit, success and prosperity of our city. And also, thanks to your efforts, the safety of our city too.

As ever, I’ve been inspired by the charitable efforts of our communities – raising money for those in need. Charity has always been a huge part of Ramadan, and this year will be no exception. For me, this month is also a great chance to break down barriers and bring

Celebrating Iftar with innovative FeastBox on this Ramadan Red Rickshaw’s FeastBox is an innovative idea to make meals enjoyable yet effortless to cook. With offices reopening, school holidays coming to an end, FeastBox could be ideal to whip up a quick meal during this Ramadan. The menu that changes every week has a selection of hard-toJyoti Patel forget recipes. It always features a vibrant array of vegetables, spices, herbs and proteins which makes for deliciousness but also a diverse range of nutrients.

The FeastBox is about breaking down the boundaries of cooking different cuisines with unique ingredients. You’ll relive the delicious memories of the meals from travels and experience the tastes of places you’ve not yet visited.

Everything is very clearly labelled including time required in certain process and the exact quantity of ingredients is provided so that we do not waste time in measurements.

Not only you’ll impress yourself but also improve your cooking confidence as you try new flavours and deepen your understanding and appreciation of ingredients and cultural culinary treasures. In the process, you will also reduce the boredom of the same old weeknight meals.

No matter how exotic a dish might sound or how unfamiliar an ingredient may be, the recipes in FeastBox guide you clearly so that you can make it taste as good as it should.

It provides with a lot of flexibility where you can purchase the boxes as and when required, or you can have them on a commitment-free subscription service where customers are free to pause or cancel their subscription at any time.

Additionally, their sharing boxes are for bigger families which are not subscription based but can also provide 2 or 3 course menus, perfect for Iftar.

Speaking to Asian Voice exclusively, Red Rickshaw and FeastBox Founder and CEO Jyoti Patel said, “All 16 recipes on the menu are replaced with 16 different ones each week to offer our customers a variety of options to choose from week on week. We have hundreds of recipes to choose from, and we’re continually developing more. Each week of recipes is carefully curated to ensure that there is always a mix of comforting and familiar recipes, as well as those that are daringly different and more exotic.

“We inform our weekly recipe choices based on ingredient seasonality, particular calendar moments and recipe popularity. We are very passionate about being a force for good and care very much about sustainability and so we optimise our processes from the front-end to the supply-chain to reduce food waste whilst ensuring we deliver the best quality ingredients in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way. We work with suppliers on overstock issues to help them reduce wastage and by continually changing our recipe offerings, we’re able to create demand for products that would have otherwise gone to waste.

“We select our suppliers carefully and only work with ethical suppliers who also share the same values. Better quality and more sustainably sourced ingredients tend to cost more, so we try to absorb as much of that cost to provide our customers with great value for money.”

[Please ensure to check with the provider for halal items/ingredients before ordering].

people together; To demystify our religion; And to raise awareness about the true values of our deen – love, peace, compassion and kindness.

“Promoting equality and inclusion not only makes our police force morally stronger, but it also helps to make our streets safer…… which is, after all, what policing is all about, and why you took the admirable step of joining the force in the first place.”

Problems in Met Police The Mayor also said, “I understand how hard it must be for you to hear about – and I know from speaking to Association of Muslim Police members - also experience the sort of problems in the Met that have been making headlines recently. It’s essential that we do everything we can to tackle all

forms of prejudice, whether it’s racism or misogyny, Islamophobia or antisemitism. Because these attitudes have no place in the police or in wider society.”

A duty I will never shirk He ended by saying, “My job is not only to support the police, which I’m proud to do but also to hold the force to account on behalf of the communities it serves – a duty I will never shirk.

Together though, I’m hopeful that we can rebuild public trust in

our police service, including the trust of our Muslim and minority communities. Progress has been made. I’m pleased that the Met has made significant headway in reaching its recruitment target for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic officers. But we must do more. Because only by having an inclusive police force, that is truly representative of all of London’s communities will we ensure that we’re effectively serving our city? As we confront that task, the work of the Association of Muslim Police – and your voice – is going to be crucial. I know you won’t give up until your calls for action are answered. And I want you to know that I won’t give up either.

Ramadan Kareem to you all!”

r fo d e e n u o y g in h t y r e Ev f o o ro r e n o r e d n u n a d a m a R Ramadan Mubarak

£

350 each

£

1

per bunch

£

275 1.5kg

£

1

175g

£ 85

1

500g

£

2

5 pack

Selected ASDA stores. Subject to availability. May exclude small stores: asda.com/smallstores Asda mixed peppers 1.5kg (18.3p per 100g), Asda thin chillies 175g (57.1p per 100g), Asda ginger 500g (37p per 100g).

Delivery, collection and minimum basket charges may apply. Carrier bag charges may apply. Delivery/collection slots subject to availability.

08

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Travellers Stand Invincible Continued from page 1 We are having direct flights apart from Mumbai 7 flights per week and Delhi eleven flights per week adding to the favourite destinations like Goa, Cochin, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad thrice a week.

We are quite upbeat about the lifting of Covid restrictions in the UK.” But at the same time, in the post-Brexit drama, tens of Indian nationals attempting to board flights to the UK with a transiting stop in either the Czech Republic, France, Germany or Spain have been prevented from doing so in recent days. As the UK is no longer a part of the European Union, citizens of both territories are subject to different rules.

New post-Brexit rules that have been introduced by EU authorities come as a punishment to UK authorities by insisting that non-EU citizens including Indians are now required to hold a Transit Schengen visa in order to fly to the UK on transit flights of its airlines, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported.

It is important that customers must hold a standard British citizen passport with at least 6 months validity in the same personal

Lord Rami Ranger CBE

details before we issue them a Diplomatic or Official passport. Long queues were formed at the Eurostar terminal and at Manchester airport as 14 million cars take to the roads again to rush home before the working week began this Tuesday. While British Airways, EasyJet cancellations stretch into a second week recently, this hasn’t deterred the spirit of travellers from planning their journeys.

On the brighter side, the fact that the media reported about ‘Bank holiday travel hell’ explains that the tourism industry is all set to witness a much-needed boom.

Hospitality and tourism suffered the most Girish Sanger of Courthouse Hotel told the newsweekly, “The last two years have been very hard on us all and in terms of business. No business has suffered more than hospitality and tourism. We are glad to see Governments reopening their borders and travel restrictions lifted allowing tourism and corporate travel to resume. Hotels have always had a high standard of cleanliness, and this is being maintained. We are seeing the longer lengths of stays from travellers at all our hotels (especially the Courthouse Hotel and The Bentley Hotel) and from those flying in from Asia and the Middle East (presumably since they are travelling after nearly 2 years).

“Corporate bookings are still not at prepandemic levels but are steadily growing Fortunately we have not seen an impact in business as this has been replaced by an increase in demand from leisure bookings at the Washington Hotel Mayfair. During the pandemic, we saw an increased pick up from staycations, especially from within the UK and this seems to have remained mainly due to increased flight costs.

“The Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch continues to thrive on staycations owing to its additional facilities such as a swimming pool, spa, bowling alley and outdoor alfresco dining options. All the Hotels and all businesses however are faced with rising costs, especially from utilities which have increased threefold - whilst we are trying to

limit the impact of passing the additional costs onto our consumers it won’t be before long that we will have to increase our room rates unless the situation changes, and suppliers too are able to absorb the costs without passing them on to us.”

Lord Rami Ranger CBE told Asian Voice, “The past two years have been very challenging for the hotel industry. The travel restrictions also played a part in the financial difficulties. Most of the staff in the industry comes from Europe. Due to the lockdown, many went back to their countries and never returned. The staff shortage is yet another challenge facing the industry. We cannot get staff due to Brexit as workers cannot travel to the United Kingdom as freely as they used to before Brexit.

“The Government tried to soften the blow with a furlough scheme, but it was not enough. The industry is struggling to get back to the pre-Covid level and it will take two to three years. The war in Ukraine has brought yet another challenge as Russia is facing travel and business sanctions. Both our hotels acted as Covid quarantines and now we are housing refugees from Ukraine.

The room rate is below the normal rates. We have no choice but to accept whatever we can get to weather the storms brought by Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Despite high price, people want to travel Lata Agrawal (name changed on request) is travelling to Crete Island in Greece in August. She and her husband are travelling with four other families for a group vacation. Each family has booked a hotel for about a week. One of the four families is travelling from Singapore to Crete Island with a stopover journey. Speaking to us, Lata said, “ Hotel prices are higher than usual.

The air ticket prices are also crazy high.

Hotels are asking for a 50% upfront payment and if you have Covid or if you're unable to go, you can’t cancel nearer to time without losing the deposit.

“Half board room options have additional charges for food of your choice, while the menu offered is restrictive. Something unseen before. A lot of families won't be able to bear that extra cost after paying through their nose for rooms. Yet, everything is getting filled up very fast. That means despite the challenges of high prices and spending capacity, people are still booking holidays because they're able to travel after so long.”

Personal Trainer & Wellness Coach, Lavina Mehta MBE has just returned from a family holiday to Portugal. Speaking to us, Lavina said, “Travelling in the new normal was so exhilarating, especially after the last 2 years of the pandemic and having so many travel plans cancelled or postponed. I was blessed to be able to take my parents in their 70s with us and this trip was extra special as the pandemic has affected the elderly so much in terms of loneliness and isolation.

The travel process was extremely easy, in fact, I had to return to London to attend a work meeting at No 10 Downing Street and fly back within 24 hours!

“My father used to be a travel agent, so I have always had a love for travel and visiting new places. This year we have a few trips planned which I’m really looking forward to.

In Summer we hope to travel to Mexico with extended family to celebrate my mum-inlaw’s 75th, my middle son’s 21st and my husband’s 50th and then join friends for a road

trip around the West Coast of USA. Certainly, making up for lost time with quality time!”

It’s not just the cost of tickets Charusmita is flying to London from Delhi to receive her PhD award in her convocation. She had to book tickets at very short notice and paid a hefty £1500 per ticket for a round trip which usually never crossed over £600£700 at max for a round trip pre-pandemic.

She aims to spend about 15 nights in London during her stay and complained that even the nicer hotels are “shabby”. A 3-star hotel is costing £100 per night. She and her husband do plan to visit Cornwall and some nearby places during their visit which is “too expensive” in their assessment. They’ll be paying £200 per person just by train to reach Cornwall. So that’ll cost her another £1500 over and above the air ticket. This is when Charusmita doesn’t wish to plan a Europe trip. During her search for hotel bookings, she also felt that Zones 3 and 4 had “terrible hotels”.

A new study commissioned by Trifibre (a company that specialises in protective suitcases) has revealed that Ryanair is the airline where your suitcase is most likely to be damaged. Media reports suggest that the lowcost airline has come out as the worst for luggage damage. Data taken from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) showed that out of 823 claims for damaged luggage submitted to airlines between 2015 and 2020, over one in ten were made to Ryanair. The study also revealed that if you're unfortunate enough to have to make a claim for damaged luggage, your chances of a successful result

are less than half. For those who did eventually get a successful result from a damaged luggage claim, it would take an average of 154 days to reach a settlement.

Heena Bhudia, Business Development Manager, Travelpack said, "Over the last few months Travelpack has seen significant demand for international travel. Client confidence is returning and previously cautious clients are starting to travel again, as the world begins to open and governments reduce or totally remove travel restrictions.

Currently, our popular destinations are Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

The Middle East and European beach holidays have always been a popular favourite among families due to the safe nature of the destinations, the sunny weather, a range of activities for children and child-friendly hotels. As more countries remove restrictions this leads to a knock-on effect and

Lavina Mehta MBE

demand for airlines that service those routes. We are also seeing more clients that previously booked short-haul now opting for long haul destinations, we see this trend continuing beyond this year."

If you are planning a holiday, do attend our Travel & Tourism seminar on 23rd April 2022. Turn to P4 for more details.

PM Johnson to visit India to strengthen trade and defence ties Continued from page 1

munity living in the UK. It is believed Mr Johnson during his trip will also announce collaboration in

In the proposed FTA, there are 26 chapters out of which four have already been agreed upon. This does not include eliminating tariff from Scotch whisky imports.

However, it is believed that there has been significant progress in the remaining 22 chapters, to be finalised by the end of the year.

Mr Johnson and Mr Modi are also expected to talk about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with UK Prime Minister Boris the current Russia-Ukraine Johnson at COP26 in Glasgow on 1 November 2021 war. The two countries have had conflicting views on the crisis, while areas such as science, health and technolothe UK has imposed economic sanctions gy and propose investments in key induson Moscow, the Indian government has tries, opening opportunities for jobs. continued with its neutral diplomatic On Friday, the British Prime Minister stance, refusing the UN’s call to back will visit New Delhi for talks with his Security Council’s vote against Russia’s Indian counterpart on defence and trade. “aggression” towards Ukraine.

It is believed that India is actively seeking a UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was new defence partnership with Britain in India last month, as part of a wider including technology transfer, especially diplomatic push following Russia’s invaunder the much celebrated ‘Make in India’ sion of Ukraine. programme. The defence ties between UKItinerary and agenda India have grown since Brexit as well as Sources have revealed on his maiden UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt in 2021. But Britain trip to India as the Prime Minister, Mr hopes that India will be able to increase its Johnson will first visit Ahmedabad on defence orders from the UK, without movThursday 21 April, where he will meet ing away or creating any animosity with leading businesses and discuss UK and old ties such as Russia.

India’s booming trade, commercial partThough it is not clear if Mr Johnson is nership and people ties. This will be the accompanied by a business delegation, he first time for Mr Johnson visiting a westis also expected to raise the topic of ern state in India, though as UK’s Foreign Khalistani activism on Britain’s soil and Secretary in 2017, he had visited Kolkata, in discuss regional issues such as Afghanistan. the state West Bengal, located in the eastThis trip that comes after the two PMs last ern part of India. met at COP26 in Glasgow in November Gujarat is India’s fifth-largest state and 2021, also marks the 75 years of the UKthe ancestral home for British Gujaratis, India relationship post-India's indepenwho form around half of the Indian comdence in 1947.

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09 23 - 29 April 2022

Knowing Kashmir Part II

Ruchi Ghanashyam Mrs. Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in Indian Foreign Service for over 38 years, she has been posted in many countries including South Africa, Ghana, before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations. @RuchiGhanashyam October 1947 was a bloody month for Kashmir. Commentators and journalists have written about the movement of raiders (kabailis or tribal lashkars) from Pakistan on 22 October 1947, assisted by Pakistani soldiers in civilian clothes, along the R awal pin di-M urree -M uza ffa rab adBaramulla Road. They reached Baramulla on 25 October, which was captured the same day.

Baramulla to Srinagar is about 54 km.

Srinagar was, thus, within reach of the lashkars. What happened after 25 October?

Why couldn’t the lashkars reach Srinagar before the arrival of the Indian troops on 27 October?

Why did the Pakistani attempt to forcibly take Kashmir fail in October 1947?

Once the lashkars reached Baramulla, they lost control and indulged in an orgy of killing and looting. Several writers and journalists, including western journalists, have written about killings in Baramulla including at St. Joseph’s College, where “nuns, priests and congregation, including patients in the hospital, were slaughtered” while “a small number of Europeans”, were amongst those that met their deaths at the hands of the lashkars. Charles Chevenix Trench wrote in The Frontier Scouts (1985) (taken from the internet), “In October 1947... tribal lashkars hastened in lorries – undoubtedly with official logistic support – into Kashmir... It seemed that nothing could stop these hordes of tribesmen from taking Srinagar with its vital airfield. Indeed nothing did, but their own greed. The Mahsuds,

in particular, stopped to loot, rape and murder”.

On the morning of 27 October, following the accession of Jammu & Kashmir, when Indian troops reached Srinagar airfield, tribal forces were still at Baramulla, harassing, looting and killing people.

Wars, conflicts and the Simla Agreement The Karachi Agreement of 1949 was signed by the military representatives of India and Pakistan, supervised by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, establishing a cease-fire line in Kashmir.

This, however, did not stop Pakistan.

Another war began in 1965 following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule. The 1965 war is also called the Second Kashmir War. Following the Indo-Pak war of 1971, the Simla Agreement was signed by India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan on 2 July 1972. It formally established the Line of Control between the two nations; both countries resolved to maintain its sanctity

Shankaracharya temple, Srinagar-Hari Mahidhar

and settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations.

Even though both countries agreed that “neither side shall unilaterally alter the situation”, in 1999, an armed conflict between India and Pakistan broke out again in Kargil, when Pakistani troops, disguised as Kashmiri militants, infiltrated into positions on the Indian side of the LoC. Pakistan repeated the fiction of blaming “independent Kashmiri insurgents” for the fighting, but was unsuccessful in changing the status quo. The people of Jammu & Kashmir have been facing the brunt of terrorism and extremism sponsored from across the border for over three decades.

1989–1990 exodus of Kashmiri Pandits In Hindu mythology, Kashyapa, son of Marichi, son of Brahma, cut a gap in the hills at Baramulla (Varaha-mula) and asked Brahmins to settle there once the lake had been drained. Kashmir is home to Buddhist stupas dating 5th century; King Lalitaditya built Martand Sun Temple, and the Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar. Poets and scholars flourished here, and following

Conservative former justice minister retracts statement over MP’s sex case row A Conservative former justice minister Crispin Blunt, 61, who said the conviction of a fellow MP for sexually assaulting a 15-yearold boy was a “dreadful miscarriage of justice”, has retracted his claim, following calls that he should be expelled from the party.

He retracted his comments saying that he was “sorry” and that his defence of Khan had been a “cause of significant upset and concern, not least to victims of sexual offences”.

Blunt added: “To be clear I do not condone any form of abuse and I strongly believe in the independence and integrity of the justice system.”

James Heappey, the defence minister, said: “Absolutely nobody in Her Majesty’s government is seeking to be critical of the decision of the court.”

Labour described Blunt’s defence as “completely inappropriate”. Five members of the all-parliamentary group on Global LGBT+ Rights, which Blunt chairs, said they would resign in protest.

In five hours, a jury at Southwark crown court decided that Khan, 48, was guilty of sexually assaulting the boy, who is now 29, at a house in Staffordshire in 2008.

Khan was elected as MP for Wakefield in 2019.

3,000 applications for separation lodged after change in the law According to the Ministry of Justice, the government’s decision to scrap Britain’s faultbased divorce system has attracted a flurry of break-ups, with 3,000 applications for separation lodged in just a week.

Last week on Wednesday, when the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act, became law it heralded the introduction of no-fault divorce, meaning that couples no longer need to blame each other for the col-

lapse of a relationship.

Under the old law, divorces were granted only if the petitioning applicant proved one of five “permitted facts”, which included accusing the spouse of adultery. The latest family court statistics, published at the end of March, in the last quarter of 2021 say that there were about 1,890 petitions per week.

That was a fall from the third quarter, where that number was about 2,132 per week.

Lord Shiva temple, Gulmarg, Jammu & Kashmir

the conquest of Kashmir by Emperor Akbar in 1586 AD, Srinagar became known for its famed gardens built by his son, Emperor Jahangir.

In 1990, between 300,000-600,000 Kashmiri Pandits lived in the Kashmir valley.

A culture of communal harmony and religious syncretism, Kashmiriyat, had kept the Hindu and Muslim communities bound together through joint celebrations of festivals, language, cuisine and a common love for Kashmir.

This atmosphere was destroyed by rising insurgency and Islamic militancy in the Kashmir Valley, forcing the Kashmiri Pandits to flee the valley. Militant groups such as the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Al Farhan, Harkatul Mujahideen and Hizbul Mujahideen, targeted the Kashmiri Pandits, even as a local newspaper and Mosque released frightening messages.

Faced with atrocities, killing and crimes against women, Kashmiri Pandits fled their homes in January 1990. Their mass exodus began on 1 March 1990, when thousands of Kashmiri Pandits left the state. In 2016, only 2000-3000 Kashmiri Pandits were reportedly left in the valley.

Situation in Pak Occupied Kashmir In 1970, Gilgit Agency and Baltistan, were merged into a single administrative unit, and given the name "Northern Areas”: though Pakistan questioned the separation of Ladakh from J&K in 2019, it had already separated NA from POK in 1970. A part, the Shaksgam tract, was ceded by Pakistan to China following the signing of the Sino-

Pakistan Agreement in 1963, by which "Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq. kms. of Indian territory in POK to China”. In 1994, a Legal Framework Order (LFO) was created

by KANA Ministry of Pakistan to serve as the de facto constitution for the region.

In 1974, the former State Subject law was abolished in Gilgit Baltistan, and Pakistanis from other areas could buy land and settle there. In 1984 the territory changed further with the opening of the Karakoram Highway, built with Chinese help and linking China with Pakistan through illegally occupied Indian territory.

The 1988 Gilgit Massacre Shia Muslims in Gilgit District were attacked and killed by a thousand-strong force of Sunni sectarian militants, most of whom had been supported by the military/ ISI for the Afghan intervention and for a proxy war in J&K. Shia women living in Gilgit District were victims of crimes by local Sunni tribesmen and militants. Analysts point to powerful Generals of the Pakistan army for the killing of hundreds of local Shias.

Shalimar garden, Srinagar - Sreeyash Lohiya

Political activists have accused Pakistan of changing the demography of Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in disregard to its own commitments.

Islamabad has gradually diluted its constitution in order to facilitate outsiders to grab land and resources of illegally occupied areas. Pakistan’s vociferous reaction to the Indian constitutional changes to article 370 pertaining to J&K, therefore, did not hold any water.

10

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Sacrificial scapegoat

Celebrating Earth Day

While our beloved country is going through one of the worse economic downturns with inflation out of control, people struggling to make the ends meet, required to choose between heating or putting food on the dining table, our PM is playing with fire, seeking attention on the international stage when they should be concentrating on our NHS going through the worst crisis since its incorporation by Labour government after the end of WW2.

No wonder Russia has barred our PM and other prominent politicians holding high office from entering Russia, a tit for tat policy first introduced by Britain. Do anyone wonder why other European leaders, such as President Macron of France and the Chancellor of Germany were not included in this ban, solely aimed at us!

While US and UK do all the dirty work, these EU nations pay lip service and go on trading with Russia without a care in the world, taking us as fools! Our outdated, out of touch politicians still think that we are super-power and an empire to run. In reality, we are an island nation of no consequence with just 1% of the world trade. The visit to Ukraine to meet their president was a photo opportunity no other Western nation finds it necessary to follow in PM’s footsteps.

If our politicians believe that the Ukraine crisis will put an end to “Partygate”, they are badly mistaken. It is time for our politicians to put our people first and concentrate on home front to help our long-suffering people who are struggling to survive.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi

The earth is our home. It provides us with everything necessary for life, but its resources are limited. Human activities have put Mother Earth and its resources in danger.

That’s why every year on April 22, World Earth Day is celebrated. Nature has given us air, water, trees, plants, rivers, mountains, and minerals present below the earth for our help. We can earn money through our hard work, but neither we can make natural things nor increase it. All these things given by nature are limited. So on Earth Day people are made aware of the environment.

Jubel D'Cruz, Mumbai, India

Akhand Bharat The Biggest Threat to the State of Hindu majority India is the talk of Akhand Bharat(seeking Pakistan and Bangladesh to become part of undivided Indian again).

Those talking of Akhand Bharat with the best of intentions could go down in History as destroyers of the modern-day Hindu majority in India. Events after events in India are showing that Hindus are already facing significant challenges from minority religions, secularists, the media and left-wing political ideologies. With a combination of the Muslim populations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh the total would be 600 million as opposed to 205 million at present. In an Akhand Bharat, there would be a free movement of people and that means the demographics of present-day India would change significantly.

The voting patterns would change, and there would be a huge number of demands from people arriving into present India from Akhand Bharat. India would see nothing but chaos and a return to anarchy.

The Sangh Parivar emphasizes nationalism over religious or other leanings. Pakistan has not had a stable government ever since independence and there are deep ethnic and religious divides in the country. These problems would fall in the laps of Akhand Bharat. Even after the liberation of Bangladesh, the message was sent very quickly to the Indian army to go back home. There was no interest in Akhand Bharat amongst the Bangladeshis. The current struggles going on in Balochistan should not be interpreted as a pro-India nationalistic arising. If Balochistan does attain independence it will soon declare itself as a separate nation not part of Akhand Bharat.

Akhand Bharat would drag India into civil strife, and economic collapse and potentially break up India as we know it today. The Kashmiri Hindus were brutally ethnically cleansed from Kashmir even though Kashmir is under Indian rule. Could you imagine the Indian Jawans having to protect the borders of Akhand Bharat from the Khyber Pass? The population of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh has been decimated and they continue to face extreme persecution. Can the Sangh Parivar imagine Hindus going to settle in Lahore? It really is a fantastical claim to make that there will be an Akhand Bharat in 15 years. The concept of Akhand Bharat assumes that people will switch alliances from a religious-based identity to a nationalistic based identity. Nations rise and fall over the course of time. India fell and was enslaved for Centuries but it started with what was present in India and it has done tremendously well against extreme odds. It has to continue in its journey of progress without thinking of Akhand Bharat. We have a huge country as it is and a wrong move could destroy all our gains and endanger the Hindu majority of India.

The Sangh Parivar further alienates Hindus by insisting Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists are Hindus At a meeting in London with the Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagvatji. I had argued that we should all be referred to as Bharatiya with a common heritage. The Sangh Parivar has done yeomans service to Mother India but it would be a great disservice to the future of our Motherland to keep quiet on this occasion.

Nitin Mehta

Partygate: Final Sue Gray report could be released next week Sue Gray’s report about illegal Downing Street gatherings could be released as early as next week when MPs will return to Parliament.

A source said: “The delay in publishing the Sue Gray report has been a cause of much frustration. But now that the bulk of the police investigation is complete, it is important the findings are made public as soon as possible so that everything can be as transparent as possible.

“The details contained in the report will make very uncomfortable reading for Boris Johnson and for a

number of other key figures in Whitehall. The issuing of fixed penalty notices by the police is certainly not the end of the matter.”

The full findings of the Gray inquiry were expected to be released in January but were put on hold after Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into 12 lockdown parties. As a result, only a heavily redacted summary of the report has ever been made public.

However, Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, have received fixed penalty notices, which have paved the way for the full report to be released.

Police officer jailed for committing child sex offences Detective Constable Francois Olwage, 52, of the Met’s specialist operations unit, has been jailed after arranging a sexual liaison with someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl while he was working from home. He has been found guilty of three child sex offences.

The police officer was caught in an undercover sting after spending two weeks carrying out sexually explicit conversations with the individual on a social media net-

work, where in fact he was talking to a police officer who was using the alias Smile Bear.

Later, he began a conversation with Olwage on WhatsApp under the name Caitlin.

Winchester crown court was informed that Olwage, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was planning to meet the fictional girl in October last year.

The case was adjourned for sentencing and Olwage was remanded in custody until April 27.

Man charged with attempted grievous bodily harm A man is set to appear in court after being charged with attempted grievous bodily harm and possession of a knife after allegedly confronting police at Horse Guards Parade.

According to Sky News, Prashanth Kandaiah, 29, of Thamesmead, southeast London, allegedly approached two Ministry of Defence police officers in Westminster at around 8.50 am on Monday.

It was reported that the incident, which police said was not being treated as terror-related, saw him restrained by officers and

the use of a Taser. The events took place at the Horse Guards Parade, not far from 10 Downing Street and Whitehall.

Kandaiah is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. He has been charged with attempted section 18 grievous bodily harm and possession of a pointed or bladed article.

•

Kapil Dudakia

Kapil’s KHICHADI

Pakistan, a Slave Nation?

P

akistan gained its independence on 14th August 1947 by exercising the corrupt enterprise of Jinnah. A man who was more interested in himself and power, than the lives of Muslims. He engineered the separation of an Islamic state, Pakistan, which had never existed in the history of the Indian sub-continent. Bharat Varsh was Hindu with the collective history of people with a Vedic heritage. In fact, the bloodline of Jinnah himself, and that of almost every Pakistani, is in fact Hindu.

14th of August for Pakistan was not a day of independence; it was a day of enslavement to their elite. A day when the ordinary Pakistani would be subjugated by not only their own elite families, but by their armed forces, by the Americans and by European nations.

Every Prime Minister of Pakistan has been proven to be corrupt. Morally and ethically bankrupt with only one aim, to maintain power and make money. In their quest they prostituted their nation to the west.

Within days of gaining independence Pakistan showed the world the depth of its treachery when it invaded the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The west quickly came to their aid by making allowances and excuses to belittle India. India a new nation was put in a difficult situation given the huge task it had of bringing a nation together and ensuring that governance was secured for the wellbeing of all citizens.

India was also let down by the then leaders who had vested interests in allowing Jammu and Kashmir to go to the Islamists. I am told Nehru needed to look after his ever-expanding family!

The Pakistani elite soon caved to their army and to the extremists. An unholy truce was declared whereby the public face of Pakistan, the elite families, were allowed to enjoy their day in the sun, as long as the true power resided with the Army. Did you know that there is not one sphere of operation in Pakistan in which the army and its generals don’t have a financial interest? For them, keeping the Kashmir issue alive is a must since it keeps the attention of the masses towards India. For decades they have fostered antiIndia hatred from the grassroots. It's a nation that is defined more by its hatred towards India then anything it has accomplished for itself.

So was I surprised when on 10th April 2022 Imran Khan was booted out after he failed to win the no confidence vote? Of course not. That is how Pakistan works. Any Pakistani Prime Minister who dares to defy the USA will be taken out. Khan created the mess for himself. Since getting into power, he continued to antagonise India. He fell for the same lie of trying to use Kashmir as an issue to keep the army happy. What he failed to realise was that India is now too big, too powerful and well able to take on the might of the USA and Europe together. The west needs India more than it needs Pakistan and its terrorists.

We now have Shehbaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister. He himself is facing a PKR 14 billion money laundering case in the United Kingdom. In Pakistan he faces even more cases against him. His brother, Nawaz Sharif (Prime Minster 2013-2017) has multiple cases of corruption against him.

The people of Pakistan are mere slaves. They have remained on their knees to the USA, to the west, to their own elite families and to their own army. Who will free this nation from the madness it has contracted?

We are grateful to all letter writers for more and more versatile letters well within word limit. Please keep contributing as always. If you are new, then write to Shefali at shefali.saxena@abplgroup.com

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Lord Popat meets President Museveni to strengthen ties with Uganda In the year that marks the 60th year of Uganda’s independence, as well as the 50th anniversary of the expulsion of Ugandan Asians, Lord Dolar Popat – the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Uganda travelled to Kampala to meet with President Museveni to help champion the government’s global Britain agenda and strengthen bilateral relations with the region.

During the visit, Lord Popat met with President Yoweri Museveni to discuss a number of bilateral interests between Uganda and the United Kingdom, including in health, investment, energy, transport and agriculture. This follows a record £2.5bn coverage made available by UK Export Finance to help industrialise Uganda.

Joined by the British High Commissioner for Uganda, Her Excellency Kate Airey OBE, one of the main issues raised during the meeting was the delayed introduction of the new Uganda Airlines service between Heathrow and Entebbe.

This was a deal Lord Popat first spearheaded in 2018, after he helped negotiate the deal with the Ugandan government and Airbus to purchase two new aircrafts, which has Rolls Royce engines made in the UK. Sadly, the service has still not commenced with the new Uganda Airlines airbuses sitting on the tarmac in Entebbe.

The new service would be invaluable to boosting tourism in Uganda – already an attractive destination for Brits. In response to the frustration, President Museveni promised to push both Uganda Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to work together to ensure all legal requirements were met. Lord Popat assured President Museveni by saying, “if Uganda is willing, we are ready to send our aviation people here to help CAA so that we can have direct flights to the UK”.

The meeting was also invaluable to coordinating greater collaboration between the UK and Uganda’s healthcare systems. This includes a coordinated plan to recruit Ugandan nurses to work in the UK to address current labour shortages.

Speaking at the meeting, Lord Popat added the Uganda was an attractive source for the recruitment of nurses as they are English speaking, with an ideal opportunity to upskill and train nurses here in the UK. By 2020, Uganda had over 70,000 nurses and midwives registered with the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council, although only 48,000 were in employment. Nurses and midwives make upover 75% of the health workforce in the country. At present, data from major job boards estimates the average annual salary for a nurse in the UK to’ be between 33,000 (shl54m) and 35,000 (shl64m), depending on one’s experience.

The campaign of recruiting Ugandan nurses comes ahead of the UK Ugandan Health Forum in London next week, in the

A Vision Realised: Educating girls, transforming communities

T

he walls of Virendra “Sam” Singh’s family compound in the remote village of Bichola, Uttar Pradesh, are painted with the names of eight generations of male ancestors. The only woman to feature is Shrimati (Mrs) of whom nothing is known.

Sam explains matter-of-factly that people simply didn’t bother recording women’s names. His daughter Renu has now insisted that the female ancestral line is added, starting with Sam’s generation.

It was perhaps this – along with his steadfast commitment to social mobility and an iron will – which inspired Sam to realise his vision of empowering girls from the poorest sections of rural India, providing free education and vocational training. Sam started the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES) in 2000: 45 girls came to the first school and three-quarters of those dropped out in the first week in the face of an entrenched patriarchal culture.

After a stellar executive career with DuPont in the US, finishing as CEO for DuPont South Asia, Sam invested $850,000 of his savings to start PPES, spending months travelling to remote rural communities to persuade parents and village elders of the vital importance of educating girls.

PPES has now built four schools educating over 2,000 girls from Nursey to 18 years old. Their academic performance ranks amongst the best in Uttar Pradesh and the dropout rate is now under 7%. PPES has also created a unique scholarship model to improve attendance at school.

Every pupil receives 10 rupees (15 rupees from Class 9) for each day of attendance.

PPES students graduate with between $1500 - and $1800. They are free to invest this money as they see fit, but it is perhaps gratifying for Sam that 92% of graduates seek to progress to higher education, using their scholarship to fund their costs.

Today PPES’ success is reaping real rewards. Graduates are returning to villages and contributing positively to the financial independence of families. Parents are proactively coming forward to enrol their daughters. Influential word of mouth has increased PPES’ reach to over 120 villages.

PPES needs £360 to fund the cost of a girl’s education for one year, and plans are in place to increase the size of the schools to over 5,000.

On leaving PPES each graduate gets to plant a tree and, in front of each tree, is a plaque that simply shows her name in full.

Tell that to Sam’s ancestors.

Pardada Pardadi is delighted to be Charity Partner for the upcoming Asian Achievers Awards on Friday 23 September.

Pardada Pardadi Educational Society UK is a registered UK charity (Charity no. 1166879) and can be contacted through email atinfo@pardadapardadi-uk.org; phone at079 03329311; postal address 25 Sweetcroft Lane, Uxbridge, UB10 9LE.

presence of the Vice President of Uganda, Hon Jessica Alupo and the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine.

Other issues included investing in improving Uganda’s standards and processing of agricultural products that are acceptable to the international market. Speaking at the meeting President Museveni said “standards and processing of agricultural products is crucial, like poultry products, milk, sugar, etc. They are very cheap because of low cost of pro-

duction," he said. Lord Popat said “Uganda’s culture is agriculture. We want to support this particular area of agriculture because the demand for agricultural products is high in the UK." Lord Popat also used the meeting to extend the sincere condolences from Prime Minister Boris Johnson to President Museveni following the recent passing of the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, Jacob Oulanyah.

The meeting was symbolic in highlighting the shared values between Uganda and the UK. Concluding the meeting, President Museveni acknowledged that the role Lord Popat played was critical in furthering business and trading links. Lord Popat has subsequently gone full circle and has served as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Uganda since 2016 to the country of his birth.

Lord Popat’s business background meant he felt particularly at home meeting with a range of both Ugandan and British business and discussing the further growth of UK trade and investment. They discussed how the private sector can work alongside the UK government to bring mutual prosperity to both the UK and Uganda. Greater private and public sector collaboration is in the interests of all parties, with all Ugandans standing to benefit from creating jobs, breeding innovation, and transferring technology.

Speaking after the visit, Trade Envoy Lord Popat said: “I recognise the immense potential of Uganda, but now is the time to turn that potential into tangible commercial outcomes. The aim of my visit this week is to turn opportunities into deals, but I need the support of the Government of Uganda, business, and most importantly, the people of Uganda if we are to strengthen trade relations to grow our mutual prosperity”

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23 - 29 April 2022

SCRUTATOR’S Thieves steal old iron bridge in Bihar Crafty thieves have stolen a 60-feet-long abandoned iron bridge in the Bikramganj subdivision area in Bihar's Rohtas district. Police said the thieves arrived with pickup vans, gas cutters, JCBs, and vehicles, and took three days to cut off the entire bridge. The villagers said that some people “posing as the officials” of the irrigation department had come to the dilapidated and abandoned canal bridge and uprooted it completely with the help of equipment. Police said that the thieves even took the help of the personnel from the local department on the pretext of being government officers and carried out the crime in broad daylight. Realising they have been tricked, an irrigation department official said that an FIR has been lodged with the Nasriganj police station. The sudden vanishing of the 60-feet long and 12-feet high bridge has shocked everyone in the area. It was built over the Ara canal in Amiyavar village around 1972. (Agency) Compensation for cattle-induced accident

more than 5.2 million views so far.

(Agency)

Woman calmly talks on phone as train passes over her

A civil court has ordered the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), state government and police department to pay a compensation of over Rs 34,00,000 to a woman, whose husband died in a road accident which was induced by a stray cattle in 2014. The court accepted Anjana Shah’s argument that her husband died due to negligence of the authorities. The court also asked the three parties to bear legal expenses borne by Anjana. Anjana had filed a suit in the court in May 2014 and sought compensation for the death of her husband. Ketan, who worked in a private firm, was returning home on the on July 24, 2013 on his motorbike when his vehicle slipped as the cattle came on his way. Ketan was rushed to hospital but he died during the treatment. Anjana filed a complaint wherein she said that her husband slipped due the stray cow that came on his way and he couldn’t spot it as the streetlights were off. She said that due to her husband’s demise their financial condition worsened and she was not able to send her children to good school/college. Anjana sought a compensation of Rs 56,66,000. The VMC rejected the claim that the streetlights were off and blamed Ketan for the accident. After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the court gave orders to give Rs 34,20,000 to Anjana with nine per cent interest from May 15, 2014 till the money is paid. (The Times of India)

Man teaches baby monkey how to eat dragon fruit There are several videos that put a smile on your face and spread positive vibes. The video of a cute little monkey eating dragon fruit has gone viral ever since it has been posted. The video opens to show a baby monkey sitting on the ground in an outdoor setting. The cute creature keeps sucking its thumb and keeps looking intently at the dragon fruit that the man who was offering it. The man cuts the fruit into a slice that the baby monkey can hold but it still doesn't really understand what to do with it. The man then proceeds to take a bite out of this slice of dragon fruit so that the baby monkey can copy this action and eat it as well. The cute monkey, of course, understands that and picks up the fruit and proceeds to eat it. The cute video has been posted on Instagram around four days ago and since then it has received

A video of a woman calmly talking on her cellphone right after a train has passed over her has shocked the internet. The video was posted on Twitter by IPS officer Dipanshu Kabra and has received more than 100,000 views in three days.

“Gossiping on the phone is more important,” Kabra said in his Twitter post accompanying the video. The hair raising video begins with a goods train crossing a railway station. As soon as the train crosses the camera frame, a woman is seen lying on the train track with her head covered in dupatta. After the train leaves, the woman gets up and takes a call on her cellphone while still sitting on the railway track. She then casually gets off the track and onto the station as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. The woman was seen walking away and talking to the man who shot the video. The clip has stunned Twitter users. “Lucky there are no hanging parts on this goods train, otherwise only pieces can be seen not whole,” a user commented. “Give her a gallantry award, in the form of a tight slap,” added another.

Some users even tagged Prime Minister's Office demanding the arrest of the woman. Recently, an alert constable of the RPF saved the life of a passenger who slipped and fell while boarding a moving local train at Mumbai's Wadala railway station. (Agency)

Cats know names of their owners, claims study

A team of researchers from Japan claims to have solved the mystery if cats remember the names of their owners and those around them. They carried out a study on 48 cats, which lived with at least two other pets, either in a family home or a cat café. According to a report, they conducted two experiments to understand about the cognitive abilities of cats. In the

first one, the 48 cats were shown the photo of a feline they lived with. While 29 of these cats life in a café, 19 were domestic pets. Their responses were tracked whenever a name was called - either of a cat or completely unrelated. If the cat stared at a photo longer, scientists said it was a clear sign that the feline does know the pictured animal's real name. The 19 cats from family homes spent longer staring at the picture when it did not show the cat whose name had been called.

“Household cats paid attention to the monitor for longer when the wrong name was called, indicating an ‘expectancy violation effect',” the researchers said. A separate experiment was carried out with 26 cats who were shown a picture of their owners or their own. The researchers found that the strength of connection was stronger for fellow felines than it was for humans, but they did show the ability to learn their owners' names. “This study provides evidence that cats link a companion's name and corresponding face without explicit training,” the scientists said. The bigger the family and the longer they have been with the group, the more likely they are to remember a name, they added. (Agency)

Fitness freak bride doing push-ups in Lehenga

Woman killed over 'salty' breakfast A man allegedly killed his 40-year-old wife at their residence in Maharashtra's Thane district after breakfast made and served by her had "too much salt", the police said. The accused has been arrested after the incident. "The man, identified as Nilesh Ghagh, 46, strangled his wife, Nirmala, to death after eating his breakfast. He was angry as the 'khichadi' (a food item made of rice and lentils) cooked by her and which she served to him for breakfast contained too much of salt," a police official said. "He killed her using a long piece of cloth," he said. After being alerted, the police reached the spot and sent the woman's body for a forensic test to the local government hospital, the official said, adding that the police were investigating the incident. A case under section 302 (murder) was registered against the man. A similar incident had occurred on the next day in which a woman was shot in the abdomen by her father-in-law apparently after he got annoyed when the woman did not serve him breakfast along with his morning tea. The 42-year-old woman, a resident of Thane's Rabodi locality, suffered bullet injuries in her abdomen and died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital, police said.

(Agency)

Agra mob set Muslim man's home on fire An angry mob in Uttar Pradesh's Agra set ablaze two houses belonging to the

When most of the brides don't try to have many movements as the heavy lehnga along jewelry is tiresome attire, this bride is totally opposite to usual brides. This bride is doing push-ups while wearing a lehnga. Yes! you read it right 'push-ups in lehnga.' In a video posted on Instagram, the bride is seen doing push-ups wearing a heavily embellished lehenga. Not only that, she is also wearing jewelry, with her hair and make-up done. It seems like the video has just been taken just before the wedding. The video was shared by Aana Arora on Instagram, who is a model and dietician and often shares her fitness and exercise regimen with her followers. The video has now garnered over 500,000 likes and hundreds of comments. Many users were bowled over by the woman's fitness break on her wedding day. This isn't the only wedding clip that has gone viral in the past few weeks. Another viral video showed a bride helping her groom get ready for their special day. The caption read: "Find yourself a bride that dresses you up with so much love and aplomb!

Here's to this stunning couple." (Agency)

family of a man who went untraceable along with a 22-year-old woman in an interfaith relationship. Police said members of a fringe group torched the house belonging to Sajid, a gym owner in Agra's Runakta locality. An adjoining house, belonging to the family, was also set on fire. The mob was demanding the arrest of the man they accused of kidnapping the woman. Shops in the local market also made to shut. There were no reports of any injuries in the attack. The police post in-charge was suspended after the incident for negligence and a probe has been ordered against the Sikandra station house officer. The woman went missing last week. She was traced two days later by the police, but Sajid's whereabouts are still not known. Her family members had filed a missing person's report, prompting a police search for the couple. "Both are adults," Senior Superintendent of Police Sudheer Singh confirmed to reporters. He said the police will bring the woman to court.

(Agency)

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23 - 29 April 2022

Supermarkets rationing cooking oil due to Russian invasion Due to the logical disruptions from the Black Sea following Vladimir Putin’s invasion, stocks of sunflower oil are running low. As Ukraine is the largest exporter of sunflower oil in the world and serves a huge portion of the British market, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have started rationing the amount of cooking oil customers can buy.

The supermarkets are permitted to buy only two bottles at a time, which is applicable for online

orders as well. Shoppers too are resorting to the alternatives.

“Rapeseed oil is the most likely replacement, but other oils may be used,” the supermarket told shoppers.

Tom Holder, a spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said, “Where sunflower oil exists as an ingredient in products, retailers will be substituting it with other safe oils, such as rapeseed oil.

Retailers are also working with suppliers to ramp up production of alternative cooking oils, to minimise the impact on consumers.”

Several countries have also replaced sunflower oil with rapeseed oil, soybean oil, palm oil and olive oil.

Home Office’s visa service apologies for data breach On 7th April, more than 170 email addresses were accidentally copied into a message about the change of location for a visa appointment with the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service. The UKVCAS that runs on behalf of the Home Office apologised after 5 pm on 8 April for breaching the data via an email. It referred to a “data breach error” and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

It stated: “This email included the email addresses of other customers, which is not our

usual practice. It did not include any other personal information.

At UKVCAS we take data protection very seriously. We are reviewing our internal processes to prevent this error from occurring in the future.”

Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors, one of the recipients of the email, condemned the data breach and said: “If the Home Office wishes to outsource biometric appointments to a third-party company they have to ensure that their partner is providing a service

which is both legally compliant and good value for money.

Earlier, the Home Office had apologised to hundreds of EU citizens for accidentally sharing their email addresses in April 2019.

British Airways apologised for refusing Ukrainian family to board flight British Airways refused a Ukrainian family, including an eight-year-old girl to board a flight to the UK, despite all the correct travel documents, has apologised.

The family of three fled their home in Kharkiv after waiting more than two weeks to be granted UK visas.

Vira Rybalchenko, 68, lost her passport in the evacuation but the British embassy assured her that she will be able to travel because she possessed a paper copy of the

document as well as a newly issued UK visa and a Ukrainian identity

Voters oppose PM’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda Voters are not happy and are opposing Boris Johnson’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, as per the snap poll findings. Within hours of the prime minister’s confirmation of the £120m scheme, the YouGov conducted the survey and found that 42 per cent of those questioned opposed it against just 35 per cent who were supportive.

However, Conservative voters

backed the plan, with 39 per cent giving it “strong” backing and 20 per cent saying that they “tend to support” it, for a total of 59 per cent, against just 22 per cent who were opposed.

The plan was rejected by Labour voters, by a margin of 68 to15 per cent, by Remain supporters (59 to 18 per cent) and Liberal Democrats (65 to 21 per cent).

Teachers relying on food banks in need of pay raise NASUWT, the teachers’ union conducted a survey of 10,000 teachers which revealed that one in ten teachers take up secondary jobs and some of them rely on food banks due to their low pay. More than half of teachers said that they cut down their spending on food.

The teachers union said without a significant pay rise for teachers, the profession’s recruitment and retention crisis would worsen.

Nearly seven in ten teachers were planning to leave their job in the past year and almost half said their pay had an impact on their inten-

tion to leave.

In London, salaries for qualified teachers start at about £25,000 and can rise to £50,000. If the government shows disinterest in talks over pay, the union will debate a motion calling for possible industrial action.

card. However, minutes before BA staff said that she could not leave without her original passport.

BA in their statement said: “We’re very sorry for the genuine error made by our team when trying to follow Home Office guidance and we’ve put measures in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We’re making contact with the family to apologise and will be providing a full refund of their tickets.”

Pharmacist saves the life of elderly man Pharmacist Manpreet Athwal’s quick thinking saved a man, believed to be in his 80s when he suddenly collapsed and suffered a heart attack after entering Tudorken Pharmacy in St Albans Road. The man was there to receive his Covid booster jab when the incident happened.

Immediately Mr Athwal started doing CPR and mouth-tomouth for nearly four minutes in an attempt to resuscitate him. Mr Athwal said the moment was “surreal” and he feels grateful and incredible that he was able to save life.

He said: “No matter how much you train, you’re never really ready for something like that.

We don’t normally have it happening in a community pharmacy.”

The patient was then rushed to the hospital and is now doing much better.

Ringing the changes Maria Fernandes, Fernandes Vaz Solicitors Immigration concessions for Ukraine nationals It is important to remember that any concessions that exist are connected to Ukrainian nationality alone and do not cover other nationals caught by these events.

There is already a well-publicised Family Scheme and the Home for Ukraine Scheme. There continue to be significant delays in the operation of these schemes.

Starting on 3 May 2022, there will be a new scheme, called the Ukraine Extension Scheme for Ukrainian nationals in the UK who are in the UK and had permission to stay in the UK on or before 18 March 2022. It also covers those who had left which has expired since 1 January 2022. A partner and children also qualify if currently in the UK as dependants. There will be a grant of 3 years with the ability to work and claim public funds.

There are many employers who wish to bring in skilled staff under Tier 2 who have fled from Ukraine and are in Poland. One of the conditions for employing a skilled worker includes meeting an English test. The Home Office was asked whether they would consider exercising their discretion to waive, suspend or impose conditions on this requirement but have refused to consider any of the options. However, the requirement for producing TB certificates or criminal records has been waived.

Scale-up route (from 22/08/2022) A new immigration route aimed at start-ups and fast-growing firms to recruit highly skilled migrants without the need for sponsorship or third-party endorsement.

The route in brief requires an employer to prove annual growth of 20% for the previous 3-year period in terms of turnover or staffing and have had a minimum of 10 employees at the start of the 3-year period. There is likely to be a process of registration by the employer although this is not yet clear.

The job offer above must be for a graduate-level position level at a minimum salary, at least £33,000 per year or the going rate for the particular occupation, whichever is higher.

Extensions will be granted for 3 years.

A person employed under this scheme must work for the same employer for at least 6 months and thereafter can work at any skill level for any employer for the rest of the period.

This route leads to settlement.

The High Potential Individual route (from 30/05/2022) Applicants with a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree qualification from one of the top global universities outside the UK awarded during the last 5 years from the date of application will qualify for entry for 2 years if they hold a qualification equivalent to a UK Bachelor’s or Master’s level degree, or 3 years with a PhD. They will be permitted to work full time at any skill level.

Double murder suspect charged with murders of two men Now Yousef Palani, 22, of Markievicz Heights, has been charged with the murders of two men, Michael Snee, 58, and Aidan Moffitt, 42, who were found mutilated in their own homes in Sligo within 24 hours of each other. Mr Moffitt was murdered at Cartron Heights on April 10 while Mr Snee at City View on April 12. Both murder victims were single men who lived alone.

He appeared before District Judge Sandra Murphy during a

brief hearing which was attended by the families of the dead men.

Chief Superintendent Aidan Glacken said: ‘Michael had been subject to a serious physical assault and had suffered significant injuries. Michael and Aidan were well known and respected in this community. They were assaulted and murdered in their own homes.’

Palani will appear before the same court by video link on April 21.

Teenager jailed for sexually assaulting vulnerable man 19-year-old Mohammed Iqbal of St Catherine Street has been jailed for imprisoning and physically and sexually assaulting a vulnerable man in his own home. Iqbal met his victim when he sold him a car in April 2020.

Soon after, he repeatedly called his victim and demanded that he drive him around. After the victim agreed, Iqbal kept on assaulting him verbally, physically and sexually for over a month. He

didn’t stop here, but took away the victim’s bank cards and restricted him from buying food or entering rooms in his own home.

In May 2021 police were alerted after the victim was beaten "black and blue".

Iqbal was found guilty of modern slavery, two counts of assault and three counts of sexual assault at Leeds Crown Court and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

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Living PCOS Free

to these lesser-known symptoms in our book through reallife case studies (all names and details changed) to highlight the diversity of experiences in PCOS and the way it manifests. ow much time did it take for you to finish the book?

We decided to focus on PCOS last March and secured a book deal with our publisher Hammersmith Health Books.

It took around six weeks to write the first drafts and then

PCOS is far more than a fertility issue Shefali Saxena

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olycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder worldwide, affecting at least 1 in 10 women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB).

It is the number one cause of infertility.

Alarmingly, 3 in 4 of those with PCOS remain undiagnosed because of the complex nature of the condition.

This practical guide will show you how to successfully manage your condition using proven lifestyle approaches alongside western medicine. With over 35 years' of clinical experience, Dr Nitu Bajekal, AKA 'the 'Plant-Based Gynae,' breaks through misinformation, providing clarity and support to help you tackle your symptoms - from irregular periods to acne and anxiety. The book features an easy-to-follow 21-day plan for hormonal health by Nutritionist Rohini Bajekal along with plant-based recipes and illuminating case histories.

In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Dr Nitu and her daughter Rohini spoke about their book. hen you conceived the idea of your book, how many more books were already there on the market, especially those written by South Asian medical experts?

We had a very clear vision for the book and did not spend too much time doing a literature review. However, when we did investigate this, we could not find a single book on PCOS written by qualified health professionals that highlighted proven lifestyle approaches alongside western medicine. We also were not able to find any books with this approach written by South

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Asian medical experts, especially female South Asian experts. Nitu had wished to write a book for years but it took a pandemic and several lockdowns to be able to carve out the time to sit down and write.

Dr Nitu and Rohini Bajekal The initial idea was to write a general women's health book but Rohini felt that since Nitu is an ObGyn, a general book would not do justice to the complex nature of these conditions as we would only be able to dedicate a few pages to conditions such as fibroids, endometriosis etc. and that would not achieve our desired aim of helping people. hat do you wish your book to do in terms of changing the mindset about PCOS? Firstly, we hope to raise awareness of what a normal menstrual cycle is. So many women struggle with irregular, painful, or heavy periods, not realising that these are not normal because of societal conditioning. Their concerns may have been dismissed by healthcare professionals too for a variety of reasons. We wish to empower people with the knowledge around this as well as PCOS, the most common endocrine condition to affect women worldwide (at least 1 in 10). Furthermore, we want to raise awareness that PCOS is far more than a fertility issue as it is often presented in the media. For many reasons, PCOS is stigmatised and people struggle with symptoms such as irregular periods, acne, anxiety, sleep disturbances, excess weight gain and insulin resistance, which have a negative many discussions with our wonderful pubimpact on quality of life. We draw attention lisher Georgina to refine it. We spend

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Health experts share priorities for Women's Health Strategy Health experts have called for a greater focus on care for older women and improved support services for people experiencing pregnancy loss to help shape the government’s first-ever Women’s Health Strategy for England.

A total of 436 organisations and experts in women’s health – including from the charity sector, academia, professional bodies, clinicians and royal colleges – responded to a call for evidence to inform the government’s approach to tackling gender health inequality.

In their submissions, published on 13th April, they called for a greater focus on the health needs of older women who can experience the same conditions as men in different ways, suggested improvements in training on menopause for healthcare professionals and highlighted the disparity in the provision of pregnancy loss support services. The insight is in addition to nearly 100,000 responses from individuals, which together will inform the upcoming Women’s Health Strategy to

create a healthcare system that prioritises care on the basis of clinical need, not gender.

Topics highlighted were: u menstrual health and gynaecological conditions, including the impact of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) on someone’s quality of life u fertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and maternal health, including women not feeling listened to during and after pregnancy and the provision of bereavement support services u menopause, including suggestions for improvements in training and guidelines for healthcare professionals u gynaecological and other

Teachers have raised concerns about the influence of “incel” A survey has revealed that teachers have raised concerns about the influence of “incel” subculture on teenage boys and have been victims of misogyny at school. The poll by the NASUWT teachers’ union confirmed a significant culture of sexual harassment and misogyny in classrooms, with almost 60% of those who participated saying they had experienced misogyny from pupils.

The union, which has 300,000 UK members, says it is “deeply concerned” about the level of misogyny that is faced by women, trans and non-binary members,

and students, on a regular basis.

It is also worried about a lack of government initiatives to tackle the subculture of “involuntary celibates” (“incels”), warning that teenage boys are finding themselves drawn into their views because of a lack of support from other, more appropriate, sources.

According to the NASUWT poll, misogyny emanated from across the school community – 58% experienced misogyny from pupils, 45% from the senior leadership team, 42% from other teachers, 30% from their headteacher and 27% from parents.

cancers, including barriers to accessing high-quality, up-to-date information on risk factors for female cancers u mental health, including its interaction with other health conditions across women’s life course u healthy ageing, including the need to increase focus on the health needs of older women and emphasise women may experience the same conditions as men in different ways u violence against women and girls, including the complications associated with hymenoplasty and barriers to accessing healthcare support for those who’ve been subject to years of violence and abuse The call to evidence ran from March to June 2021 and generated 110,123 responses. The Women’s Health Strategy will be published later this year.

countless hours editing and re-editing the chapters, painstakingly ensuring the scientific references were accurate and linked to the correct studies. We took care to use inclusive and compassionate language, especially when discussing sensitive topics such as eating disorders or fertility. We hugely enjoyed the process and loved working together. However, as first-time authors without any knowledge of the publishing industry, it was a steep learning curve to understand the editing process, legal aspects, distribution and timelines. It has definitely been the most exciting project we have ever worked on. ho is your target audience for the book? Will it help more parents and families to learn about PCOS? First and foremost, we hope to reach anyone living with PCOS, a complex condition that does not receive the attention it deserves. We especially want to reach anyone from marginalised communities, including people of colour who are not always able to access the best care and support. Within this, we have tried to use inclusive language so that trans men and nonbinary people (or anyone assigned female at birth) pick up the book. We also hope that family members, partners and friends of those living with PCOS read this book to better understand it and to support the person they care about. Since a staggering 75% of people with PCOS remain undiagnosed, we also hope to reach those struggling with the symptoms of PCOS such as fertility issues, irregular periods or excess hair growth, but for whom the dots have not yet been joined. Advocating for PCOS is political and we hope this book is a stepping stone for greater change and awareness around reproductive health and lifestyle medicine.

The pre-order link, either Amazon or Bookshop org. It is being released here on 28th April 2022.

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UN tells UK to stop matching single Ukrainian women to single men The UN's refugee agency says the UK must stop placing single Ukrainian women fleeing the invasion in the homes of single British men, the Guardian reported.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK government launched the "Homes for Ukraine" scheme, which saw more than 150,000 people offer up rooms in their homes to those fleeing the invasion.

However, several UK media reports have detailed how British men are targeting vulnerable single Ukrainian women arriving in the country, in some

cases asking for sexual contact in return for accommodation.

A spokesperson for the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees told the Guardian that "a more appropriate matching process" was needed so that single women could be paired with women or families.

"Matching done without the appropriate oversight may lead to increasing the risks women may face, in addition to the trauma of displacement, family separation and violence already experienced," the spokesperson said.

Childcare prevented one in five women from working

Nearly half of working-age women are providing an average of 45 hours of unpaid care every week, while 25% of men provide 17 hours, according to a study highlighting the gulf in unpaid care work.

A survey carried out for the What Women Want research found that women do most unpaid care work for adults, with one in five women reducing their hours and 830,000 unable to work entirely because they cared for an adult. A quarter of women had reduced their hours at work to care for a child, while childcare prevented one in five women from working more hours despite wanting to, the Yonder survey of 2,002

people found. One in five women caring for an adult had also reduced their paid hours. according to research from the thinktank Centre for Progressive Policy, every year women in the UK are providing 23.2bn hours of unpaid childcare care worth an estimated £382bn, while men provide 9.7bn worth £160bn.

The thinktank recommends increasing the amount of “free childcare” for three- to four-yearolds from 570 hours a year to 720 hours and expanding to the 15 hours a week allowance for disadvantaged two-year-olds to cover 48 weeks and funding for afterschool and holiday clubs.

It also calls for a national target of 70% of job adverts highlighting flexibility by 2025 and a reform of parental leave that offers takeit-or-lose it paid leave for fathers and co-parents. Campaigners have long argued that current shared parental leave (SPL) policy is a “deeply flawed and chronically failing policy” and should be replaced.

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The Great Grand Merchant Prince

Abhiroop Sengupta Abhiroop Sengupta is a Kolkata based entrepreneur, fencer, amateur historian and writer. Also a devoted Freemason and Rotarian, he spends most of his free time researching about varied subjects, especially those which he feels did not get their deserved due in the course of history.

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t is often said that one should dream big as one's dreams may also double up as one's projected goal in life. But there exists a thin line which may be termed as the 'border of rationaility', crossing which one's dreams or goals may be considered as the figment of an unrealistic mind. Way back at the end of the nineteenth century if a young commoner individual from the Chettinad region had prophesied that he would one day die as a hereditary king, few would have probably taken him seriously. But the truth is such a person really did exist and he did die a hereditary 'Rajah' and his name was Rajah Sir (Dr) Annamalai Chettiar, LLD, the 1st Rajah of Chettinad.

The Family Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar was born at Kanadukathan on the 30th of September, 1881 as the third son of Muthiah Chettiar.

"Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar Commemoration Volume" published in 1941 and edited

by Dr B.V. Narayanaswamy Naidu mentions that Muthiah Chettiar was a rich banker who was known for his pious pedigree and his inclination toward philanthropy which included providing funds for the reconstruction of temples and other religious monuments.

The other elder brothers of Annamalai Chettiar were Chidambram and Ramaswamy.

The eldest of the three brothers, Chidambram had an inclination towards infrastructural development and he played an important role in the construction of roads in Chettinad. His son in turn was knighted by the British empire. The second son Dewan Bahadur Ramaswamy Chettiar served as a member of the Legislative Council. He endorsed the Ramaswamy Chettiar High School and for a good duration headed the Chidambram Municipality and also served as the President of its Taluk Board.

The Beginning and Important Years Annamalai Chettiar was the favourite of his father and from an early age he started picking up the tricks of the trade of the banking industry on which the wealth of his privileged family greatly depended.

After his father's death aged nineteen years, the brothers divided the business among themselves and Annamalai Chettiar spent the next decade in preparing as an entrepreneur. This was the turn of the twentieth century and the presence of old-school titled snobs existed in every field. Amidst them the young Annamalai slowly started his rise, both as a businessman and as a noble. He travelled extensively across South Asia, Europe and even the United States of America and thus

picked up a hobby that remained with him till the end of time. This was his hobby of 'building' where he personally paid attention to the design and erection of every monument, building or palace belonging to his estate. In the 1910s he held important positions like chairman of the municipality, member of the Legislative Council of Madras, one of the Governors of the Imperial Bank and as member of the district board and even assisted in his personal capacity to maintain law and order in the region whenever required. All this led to the initial title of Rao Bahadur which soon progressed to that of a Dewan Bahadur in 1922 and then a Knighthood in 1923.

House of Chettinad His greatest feat alongside his entrepreneurial achievements was the foundation of the Sri Minakshi College, whose work had started in 1918 was finally completed in 1923. This progressed in 1929 to the passing of the Annamalai University Bill which led to the foundation of the now famous university. This same year the high and unique title of 'Rajah of Chettinad' was conferred upon him, which though being an honorary title was supplemented by the landholdings, public positions held by him and his sons and thus created the overall impression of a hereditary prince of princely India. The family held land holdings across India and Burma in excess of a hundred thousand acres which at roughly 400 square km was as big as a small princely state and also maintained their own airport and fleet of aircraft.

Alongside the wonderfully designed and constructed region of Annamalainagar which housed the university complex and which somewhat became the capital city of his honorary Kingdom, wherein the hereditary capacity of Founder & ProChancellor, both he and his descendants maintained considerable administrative control.

In those days just how many suburban princes maintained city properties and palaces, similarly he built himself a palace in Chennai on the banks of the Adyar River on a plot of land which was so huge that the area became known as Raja Annamalai Puram. Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar had three sons. The eldest Kumararajah Sir M.A. Muthiar Chettiar, served as the Mayor of Madras, as a State Minister and as the leader of the Justice Party and later succeeded his father as the 2nd Rajah of Chettinad while also being a member of the Constituent Assembly of India. The second son Ramanathan served for some time as the UnderSheriff of Madras, while the third son M.A. Chidambram, who became a well-known industrialist and cricket administrator later headed the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Raja Sir Annamalai also had a daughter by the name of Lakshmi.

Rajah Sir Annamalai breathed his last on the 15th of June, 1948 at a time when the history of the subcontinent was passing through a phase of change. Over seventy years have passed since then and in India princely titles have been long abolished, with many historic Rajahs and Maharajahs alongside their royal houses being forgotten except among some others, the House of Chettinad whose founder's name still stands tall as the name of a university where thousands of students have started the journeys of their lives.

Boris Johnson tells Rishi Sunak his job as Chancellor is safe Amid the speculations of Boris Johnson firing the Chancellor amid growing rancour between the pair over partygate, Boris Johnson has informed Rishi Sunak that his job as Chancellor is safe.

The PM has also confirmed that next Tuesday, he would use a statement to the Commons to ‘set the record straight’ on what he had previously told parliament what he knew about parties in Downing Street.

The PM told reporters in Kent: “You are

going to have to wait until I come to Parliament when of course I will set the record straight in any way that I can.”

It is believed that relations between the Prime Minister and Chancellor have strained since Mr Sunak failed to immediately back Mr Johnson over the party gate scandal back in January.

Since the Met Police issued fines, one minister, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, has resigned and four Tory MPs have called on the PM to step down.

Epilepsy pills are still being given to pregnant women without proper warnings For years in the UK, the epilepsy medication sodium valproate, which should be taken during pregnancy only unless there is no other treatment available, has still been given to pregnant women without proper warnings. Nearly 20,000 babies in the UK are believed to have been born with physical deformities and neurological problems as a result of the failure to warn women of the risks over four decades.

Despite clear warnings of the dangers of sodium valproate, the drugs are still

being given to patients in plain packets without information leaflets, or in boxes with the warnings obscured by pharmacy labels, an investigation has found.

The UK’s medicines regulator has admitted that six babies a month are still being born having been exposed to sodium valproate in the womb. As per the latest data published in March, between April 2018 and September 2021, sodium valproate was prescribed to 247 pregnant women.

British Asian Trust appoints Pakistani actress Mahira Khan as newest Ambassador World-renowned and muchloved Pakistani actor Mahira Khan has been appointed as the British Asian Trust’s latest Ambassador to support their work across South Asia.

With almost 90% of people in need of mental health treatment having no access to any kind of support, Mahira is supporting the British Asian Trust’s current Peace of Mind campaign which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues and needs in both Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Mahira is providing the keynote address at the Trust’s Iftar event on 14 April 2022 at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London with guests including celebrities, business leaders and philanthropists.

The Trust plans to scale up its already successful work to build even more awareness, reach more people and provide more access to community-based healthcare, referrals and support. Marginalised children who have suffered severe trauma will be a priority.

Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of the British Asian Trust, said: “We are delighted to have Mahira Khan, one of Pakistan’s greatest superstars, join us as an Ambassador. Mahira’s voice will be incredibly powerful in helping us to lift the silence on mental health and improve access to ser-

vices in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The need in both countries is great and we’re already having an impact on changing lives, we can’t do this work alone.”

Mahira Khan said: “I am proud to be an Ambassador for the British Asian Trust and support their work in South Asia. Their mental health work in Pakistan has been groundbreaking, reaching millions of people but there is more to do.

“Untreated mental health

issues can have a devastating impact on individuals, families, lives and relationships.

Talking more about mental health, breaking the stigma around it and helping more people access to support so they can have peace of mind is critical. No one should ever have to suffer in silence.”

Over one million half price rail tickets in first ever Great British Rail Sale Over one million rail tickets will be slashed by up to 50% as the government and rail industry launch the first-of-its-kind Great British Rail Sale. Tickets went on sale on 19 April with discounted tickets available on journeys from 25 April to 27 May. The public is encouraged to take advantage of this unprecedented sale, which sees for the first time multiple operators come together to offer nationwide savings.

Savings on offer for off-peak tickets include: u York to Leeds: was £5.60, now £2.80 u London to Edinburgh: was £44, now

£22 u London to Cardiff: was £47, now £25 u Wolverhampton to Liverpool: was £10.50, now £5.25 u Manchester to Newcastle: was £20.60, now £10.30 u Birmingham New Street to Bristol Temple Meads: was £25.30, now £12.60 u Portsmouth Harbour to Penzance was £45.70, now £22.00 Cutting the cost of rail travel will help ease some of the pressure on family finances at a time when inflation is rising around the world.

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Slough MP Tan Dhesi wants Boris and Sunak to resign over party-gate Slough’s MP Tan Dhesi wants Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to resign after they were officially issued fines for breaking lockdown rules. Along with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, PM’s wife Carrie Johnson were fined as part of a Metropolitan Police investigation into illegal parties at Downing Street and across Whitehall during Covid lockdowns in 2020

and 2021.

In his defence, Mr Johnson claimed that he was

fined for ‘briefly’ attending a gathering in the cabinet room to mark his birthday where he was there for “less than 10 minutes.” The force is now looking into 12 parties and has already issued more than 50 fines.

Mr Dhesi said: “This Conservative Government has continually lied to the public and now it’s been proven they broke the law.

The positions of some of the

One in eight privately rented homes pose threat to health According to a report from a committee of MPs, more than one in eight privately rented homes in England pose a serious threat to people’s health and safety, costing the NHS about £340m a year. Along with this, it has also unearthed evidence of unlawful discrimination with an estimated one in four landlords not willing to give homes to non-British passport holders.

The public accounts

committee’s findings are based on tenants’ finances that are facing a record squeeze, with higher rents and energy bills.

In January, the property website Rightmove said private rents in Britain were rising with the average advertised rent outside London almost 10 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The committee’s report said an estimated 13 per cent (589,000) of privately rented

homes in England had at least one “category one” hazard- ranging from dampness and mould or risk of accidents- posing a serious threat to health and safety that landlords are legally obliged to address.

Active social worker Basheshar Nath Bhanot passes away at 89 On 7th April 2022 (Thursday), the large Hindu community of East London was in deep shock and grief when it learned that one of its most popular and active social workers Shri Basheshar Nath Bhanot was no more. It was shocking news because he was seen active only a few days before. Around 500 people came to pay heartfelt homage at his ‘antyesthi sanskaar’ (cremation). He was given a royal farewell with a horse-driven cortege led by a band and followed on foot by family, relatives and friends.

Bhanotji was born in Punjab, Bharat in 1932 and after marrying Krishna in 1958, the couple moved to Kenya where they both taught in secondary schools.

In 1965 he obtained a Diploma in Education from Sheffield University and then went on to write 2 history books which were used in the history curriculum in secondary schools in Kenya.

He came to the UK in 1972 and continued his teaching profession and also established various businesses.

He was a committed Swayamsevak of HSS UK and an active social worker.

He was an inspiration to many, had a very youthful personality and was truly a man of action even at his age. He was admired for his kindness, generosity, integrity and ‘sewa bhaav’ for communities locally and nationally. His beaming face, hefty laughter and jovial personality was such

that he instantly connected with people of all ages, strangers as well as known people.

He shared positivity everywhere. He nurtured his family so well that every member became socially active and contributed their mite to the community.

He was one of the cofounders and ex-secretary of VHP Ilford Hindu Centre which he helped build and develop physically, financially and mentally. He was

also co-chair of OFBJP East London chapter.

He co-founded a charity – www.makeitbeat.org.uk – to save lives through CPR training.

He leaves behind his wife Krishna and a large bereaved family of children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. We pray for eternal peace and sadgati to the departed puniya aatmaa.

Aum Shantih Shantih Shantih

most senior Government figures is completely untenable, how they can believe they can legislate from a position of authority when they themselves are unwilling to follow those same laws is utterly astounding.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said he has paid the fine and felt “an even greater sense of obligation to deliver”. Carrie Johnson has also apologised.

Third of unhappy GPs in England want to quit Clinical doctors are unhappy in England as a third of GPs said they want to quit within five years, according to a regular survey. The survey of 2,195 GPs that was undertaken in 2021 stated that 33 per cent were unhappy and planned to leave “direct patient care” by 2026.

GPs expressed that they struggled to keep up with increasing workloads, long hours, greater demand from patients, insufficient time to feel as if they could do their jobs properly, paperwork and dealing with difficult patients.

Prof Kath Checkland, who led the 11th biannual GP Worklife survey at the University of Manchester, said: “It is not really surprising that job satisfaction has dropped amongst GPs during the pandemic.”

“The fact that 16 per cent of GPs under the age of 50 are thinking about leaving their jobs is worrying, and suggests that work is still needed to ensure that general practice is sustainable for the long term.”

74 children under 10 fall sick with hepatitis The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has announced that more than 70 children under ten have recently become sick with hepatitis, and have been admitted to hospital, followed by an urgent investigation to understand the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the UKHSA said they are examining 74 cases – 49 in England, 13 in Scotland and 12 across both Wales and Northern Ireland – all of which have occurred since January.

Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UKHSA, has

urged parents to be alert to the signs of hepatitis amid the rise in cases.

‘We are working swiftly with the NHS and public health colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to investigate a wide range of possible factors which may be causing children to be admitted to hospital with liver inflammation known as hepatitis.

One of the possible causes that we are investigating is that this is linked to adenovirus infection. However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes, she said in a statement.

Hospitals urged to take on more private treatments NHS England chiefs have sent out a document urging hospitals to increase their income by carrying out private treatment.

Trusts have been advised to continue “to explore and develop opportunities to recover and grow their external income” outside NHS care.

The document said trusts should focus on “core” services along with encouragement for developing “income opportunities”. The advice has come amid criticism

that hospitals continued to perform elective surgery on paying patients during the pandemic while much care was cancelled.

As per the figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network, the NHS performed about 42,000 private procedures between October 1, 2020, and September 30 last year. Most common treatments included chemotherapy, cataracts, cesareans and hip replacements.

Keeping in touch Rohit Vadhwana You may meet some new people at an event, exchange cards, promise to get in touch soon, and then forget. Or at least they forget you by the time you engage with them again. This is very common for those who are in public life and happen to attend multiple events, meetings or parties. How to make the first meeting convert into a professional or personal contact is a skill that not many people could master.

Therefore, in marketing and sales, only those who succeed know how to cultivate, maintain and strengthen their contacts. Everyone, at the senior level in an organisation, needs to develop this expertise for professional success.

The best way to make connections is by following up. Yes, it means consistency, perseverance and all those words that we have been reading in motivational books. Although here we are talking of professional success, making new associations and keeping them strong.

It can be done through a follow-up email or message.

There are some smart people who promptly send an introductory email the very next day after their first acquaintance has been established. Some of them also offer to meet for a coffee or lunch or request a formal meeting. It is a very effective way to pursue, we would agree. However, we also come across people who are so cheesy. They overdo it by making unscheduled calls, and taking a long time in chitchatting without asking the other person's convenience or willingness. This is a sure way to burn that contact.

Enthusiasts who do not want to leave any stone unturned in making their way up, often make this mistake of exaggeration. Understanding that no one would like to get close to you immediately after the first meeting is also important.

So that your efforts are reasonable and moderate.

In professional relations, it is a mutual benefit that matters most, not only one party's willingness to remain in touch. Yet, even the highest-ranking executives tend to like a person who persists in appointments and shows diligence. More often than not, it is probable that the other person does not have time to initiate such an email or message. It becomes the duty of the new contact, especially the junior ones, to initiate and proceed with that relationship.

Of course, you don't want to, because of the limitation of time and resources, follow up on every individual you meet, but wherever you would like to - don't forget to send an email the very next working day.

(Expressed opinions are personal)

Amir Khan and his wife robbed at gunpoint Former world boxing champion Amir Khan and his wife Faryal Makhdoom were robbed at gunpoint in London.

The incident took place in East London where two assailants pointed the gun at his face threatening and demanding him to hand over his watch. He tweeted the incident adding that they both are safe.

Farah and Khan have been together since 2013 and

have three children together.

This is not the first time the Bolton-born fighter had to fight off an armed gang who was trying to steal his £100k Range Rover six years earlier.

Before turning professional, Khan was a silver medallist at lightweight at the 2004 Olympics.

Eventually, he moved up to middleweight.

Partygate row: Minister resigns In protest over the No 10 lockdown parties, the first government minister resigned and Boris Johnson braced himself for the imposition of more police fines.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, a QC who has been a justice minister since 2020, said that “repeated rule-breaking” by Johnson and other officials in lockdown was “inconsistent with the rule of law”.

Wolfson wrote to Johnson: “I regret that recent disclosures lead to the inevitable conclusion that there was repeated rule-breaking and breaches of the criminal law in

Downing Street.”

Upon receiving the resignation, Johnson said that he was “sorry to receive” Wolfson’s resignation, and wrote to him, “You can be proud of the contribution you have made to the government”.

Nigel Mills, who represents Amber Valley, became the first Tory MP asking Johnson to quit. He was followed by Craig Whittaker, the Tory MP for Calder Valley, who believes Rishi Sunak should also go.

Meanwhile, other Tories expressed that a series of fines will make it difficult to defend the prime minister.

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in brief BOY KILLED BY CAR WHEN HE RAN INTO THE ROAD Four-year-old Agarwin Sasikaran was hit and killed by a car after running into the road at a pelican crossing, an inquest has been heard.

Agarwin was standing with his six-year-old brother when his mother, in order to press the button at the crossing, released his hand, prompting him to rush into the road where he was hit by a car doing 40mph. The inquest heard, when the incident took place, the driver, Stacy Woolmore, was within the speed limit and reacted within one second of Agarwin darting into the road by immediately swerving left in a bid to avoid the crash. In this unfortunate accident, the kid suffered “catastrophic injuries” around his head and torso and never regained consciousness. The boy was then taken to St Mary’s Hospital, however, he passed away in the early hours of the following morning. West London Coroner’s Court was told that Agarwin’s death happened due to the “unpredictability of children”.

COVID CASES DECLINING IN UK, SAYS ONS The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have said that covid levels have started to fall in the UK. In the week up to 9 April, about 4.4 million people had the virus in their body, down from nearly 4.9 million the week before, meaning one in 15 people had tested positive for the virus.

Despite the 10 per cent drop recorded by the ONS, the infected number still remains very high. Also, the BA.2 form of the Omicron variant has started to decline. Sarah Crofts, from the ONS, said: "Across most parts of the UK, infections have thankfully begun to decrease. It is too early to say if we have passed the peak of infections, and infections overall remain high."

ONLY ONE IN 10 BRITONS KNOW HOW TO HELP DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIM The Early Intervention Foundation did a study where it was found out that nearly two-thirds of Britons are unaware that children who witness domestic abuse involving their parents or endure its repercussions are now acknowledged in law as also being victims. Of the 1,700 adults surveyed, around seven in 10 said they believe domestic abuse victims need more support. Dr Jo Casebourne, the Early Intervention Foundation’s chief executive, said: “It is well established that domestic abuse – whether coercive or physical or both – can have a devastating long-term impact on a child’s life chances and quality of life.” “We welcome the fact that through its new domestic abuse plan, the government has committed to increasing the amount of support available to victims of domestic abuse, including children, but it’s crucial this is done in a way that allows us to build knowledge about which types of support work best.”

TEENAGE BOXER ALI TAZEEM DIES IN CAR CRASH Ali Tazeem, a teenage Black Country boxer, who was dubbed as ‘the next Amir Khan’ died following a car crash on 17th April. Ali hailed from Wolverhampton and was part of Walsall's Pound 4 Pound Boxing Academy. Sam Jones, Head Of Talent Relations at Probellum, which signed Ali Tazeem, tweeted: "This morning I woke up to the news that Ali Tazeem has passed away at the age of 18. I can’t believe it, I can't even process it properly. Tazeem had met Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan, who said: "He will be the next me and make history".

Tributes flooded in for the young boxer.

Meanwhile, West Midlands Police has declined to release further information about the crash and are appealing to the public to help with the investigation if anyone saw the car crash.

Jeevan Bhachu receives 300 responses from £2,000 matrimonial billboard ad

Jeevan Bhachu, an Indianorigin man, has spent over £2,000 and has rented out two huge billboards at Oxford Circus Station in search of a wife.

After putting up billboards for the whole two weeks, Jeevan said that he received 300 responses. Now, as the ad is down, he will be going on dates with his potential matches.

“I’ve been single for three years and have been looking to meet someone for a year. I

knew exactly the type of person I wanted to respond to the ad: Someone who is fun, can match my energy, and has a positive outlook on life — always making the most of things.

However, I’m trying to keep an open mind because when it comes to love, personality triumphs over everything else.”

He added that he got the idea for the billboard in January this year, after seeing 29-yearold Mohammad Malik’s billboard adverts.

40,000 jobs at risk in UK as foreign students opting other countries A report by the Tourism Alliance said though the government called off Covid travel measures, unnecessary restrictions imposed by the ministers on children from France, Germany and other EU nations has affected school group bookings. It also observed an 80 per cent drop in revenue across the industry, threatening 40,000 jobs and the future of a £3.2bn industry.

More than 1.5 billion children were coming to the UK to study English or on organised school

trips until 2021, accounting for about 11 per cent of total annual tourism earnings. Also, before Brexit, under the List of Travellers scheme, groups of children could travel using identity cards. Now, every child must have a passport, and children with non-EU passports – including refugees – also need a £95 visa.

Due to this, schools are opting to go to Ireland or Malta for English language trips, or not travelling at all.

India-born doctor in UK guilty of sex offences against 48 women patients 72-year-old Krishna Singh, a general practitioner has been found guilty by a jury at Glasgow high court of kissing, groping, conducting inappropriate examinations and making sleazy comments against 48 female patients including minors over the period of 35 years between February 1983 and May 2018.

The offences mainly occurred at medical practices in North Lanarkshire, but also at a hospital accident and emergency department, a police station as well as during visits to patients' homes.

The GP in his defence blamed the patients and said that some of the examinations were taught to him during medical training in India.

Prosecutor Angela Gray informed the court that Dr Singh was in a routine of offending against women, sometimes subtle or camouflaged, other times obvious and flagrant.

He also has been even awarded the royal Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) honour for his contribution to medical services.

In 2018, an investigation into his conduct was launched after one woman reported him.

Nearly one in four rape victims are girls under 16, figures reveal According to Home Office data, 60,000 of the 271,000 rapes that were recorded by police in the five years up to last spring, it was found out that girls under 16 were the victims in most of the cases.

And approximately 26,200 of these girls were under 13 years old.

Charities said the true toll might be higher due to the under-reporting of this crime adding the figures were unacceptable .

Jayne Butler, the chief

executive of Rape Crisis, said: “It is unacceptable that so many young women and girls are having to cope with the trauma of sexual violence.

“That a high percentage of reported rapes are committed against females under the age of 16 demonstrates the urgent need to address the misogyny that underpins sexual violence, as well as the need for proper sex education that covers consent and healthy relationships.”

Thousands of workers in the public sector 'allowed to work from home indefinitely' Amnesty International UK

allegedly “exhibits institutional racism” An independent inquiry has suggested that the Amnesty International UK “exhibits institutional racism” and previously “failed to properly embed equality, inclusion and anti-racism” throughout the organisation.

“Global HPO was appointed to conduct an independent inquiry after reports last year after former staff and board members raised concerns about systemic racism. Amnesty UK apologised. Four senior leaders left Amnesty UK, but did not link their resignations to the allegations,” Civil Society reported.

The said inquiry has now finished its first stage, which included reviewing policies, analysing employment data from 2017 – to 2021 and one-toone interviews and focus groups with a former and current staff of the charity.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty UK’s interim chief executive,

said: “It is important that we recognise and clearly acknowledge that Amnesty UK did exhibit institutional racism, and over many years failed to properly embed equality, inclusion and anti-racism in its culture and practices. Staff and supporters have rightly expected, and deserved, better.

“Our values and mission must be at the heart of the working environment we offer to all our colleagues.

“We will be working closely with Global HPO during the final co-creation phase of their inquiry, to feed into their thinking on the actions that we need to take.”

Tens of thousands of workers in the public sector have been allowed to work from home for an indefinite period, despite calls from the government for them to return for the good of the economy, it is reported. Also, many publicly-funded organisations had fewer than 10 per cent of staff in offices, while some had none at all. In Whitehall though ministers have been told to get people back into offices, some departments have fewer than half their staff present.

Downing Street's Chief of

Staff, Steve Barclay, stated : “Now we are learning to live with Covid and have lifted Plan B measures, we need to move away from a reliance on video meetings and get back to the benefits of face-to-face, collaborative working.

"I’m grateful to the Civil Service for managing the challenges of the last two years.

It is important that we now see the maximum use of our office space being made from next week, as we build a strong recovery after the disruption of the pandemic."

Ex-asylum seeker doctor shocked about Johnson’s Rwanda plan Dr Waheed Arian who fled Afghanistan said he is shocked to hear that some asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda under new plans.

"I was a child, a single male, so... if this current policy was in place [then], I would have been sent to Rwanda," Dr Arian said.

In 1999, he arrived in the UK and said he succeeded thanks to

the "compassion of the British people".

He now works as a surgeon at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, and runs a charity that helps doctors in warzones to consult with expert clinicians. He believes that many asylum seekers who arrive with mental health, like himself, will re-traumatise them if they are sent to Rwanda.

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Dear Financial Voice Reader,

Alpesh Patel OBE

Which Stocks Should Be in Your Portfolio During Inflation and Cost of Living Crisis?

With the new tax year I am starting to fill up my ISA and SIPP and those of my wife’s and son. I want to carefully hand pick stocks which will keep my pension and portfolio on track for my long term goals and make sure my hard earned money works hard for me.

Inflation has been a top concern for investors in recent months as the cost of living has risen sharply. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, the biggest annual jump since August 2018. And while the government's main measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures deflator (PCE), is still relatively low, it's been steadily climbing since last summer.

With inflation on the rise, many investors are wondering which stocks will be most impacted and how they can protect their portfolios. While there's no one-size-fits-all answer, certain stocks, particularly those in the consumer staples and healthcare sectors tend to do relatively well during periods of inflation.

Here's a closer look at examples of why these stocks are worth considering during an inflationary environment. á Consumer Staples Stocks Stocks that are most likely to do well during inflation is the consumer staples sector. This is because consumer staples are items that people need to buy regardless of economic conditions. Food and beverage companies, for example, are often regarded as defensive stocks since consumers continue to buy their products even during inflation. So, when inflation is on the rise, these stocks tend to outperform the market.

PepsiCo (PEP) has a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Pepsi, Lay's, and Quaker Oats. It also has a diversified business model with operations in both developed and emerging markets. And PepsiCo has a strong track record of increasing its dividend, which is an important consideration for income investors. I own Costco. á Healthcare Stocks Another sector to consider during periods of inflation is healthcare. This is because healthcare costs tend to rise faster than the rate of inflation, which means that healthcare companies will continue to see strong demand for their products and services. For example, inflation in the U.S. healthcare sector was 3.9% in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a diversified healthcare giant with operations in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer health. It also has a strong track record of dividend growth and is currently one of the Dow Jones Industrial Average's top dividend stocks. Amgen is a player in this area I own. I also own UnitedHealth and Vertex Pharma. á Infrastructure Stocks Another sector to consider during periods of inflation is infrastructure. This is because infrastructure stocks tend to own assets that are essential for the economy to function, such as roads, bridges, and power plants. In addition, these stocks often have long-term contracts that are less affected by short-term changes in the economy.

The Bottom Line Inflation can be a top concern for investors, but there are certain sectors and stocks that tend to do relatively well during periods of inflation.

Jobs boom in UK may be short lived The business advisory firm BDO said UK companies reported the fastest growth in the labour market since February 2020.

BDO said its index, which measures business sentiment among senior managers, rose for a fifth consecutive month to a reading of 112.74 last month – a two-point increase compared with February.

Anything above 95 is considered to be growth.

Though employment growth in the UK returned to pre-pandemic levels in March, the jobs boom looks set to be short-lived amid rising living costs and the impact of the war in Ukraine.

The Resolution

Foundation, an independent think tank that monitors living standards, said wage growth had been driven up by a competitive labour market as firms increased pay to attract and retain workers. However, its economists fear wage growth will soon be offset by rising inflation and soaring energy prices, meaning workers will not feel the effects of a buoyant labour market.

Nye Cominetti, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “With inflation set to reach 8% in the coming months, most workers’ earnings will fall in real terms, further squeezing living standards in the months ahead.”

Govt helps UK manufacturer to secure £2 mn Thailand order UK Export Finance (UKEF) has been working with Global Attractions to help them expand to the far corners of the earth and boost British business.

A Wrexham-based manufacturer secures a £2 million export contract with UK government help, which means children in Thailand will soon be crawling over Welsh-made soft play centres.

The company’s largest

ever contract is expected to help create local jobs as they build back stronger from the pandemic.

Global Attractions is the latest UK company to benefit from UKEF support. Last year, UKEF provided £12.3 billion for over 550 companies, which is estimated to have supported over 100,000 UK jobs directly and in the supply chain – showing how effective UKEF is in delivering for the country.

Oil firms secure injunctions to stop protests by climate change activists Environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have been staging daily protests in London and across the country which have mainly been focused on oil facilities.

Now three firms, Navigator Thames, ExxonMobil and that are Valero, involved in Britain's oil sector have secured injunctions to stop protests by climate change activists which have caused widespread disruption this month. The civil injunctions are to allow them to minimise disruption and prevent further problems.

The opposition Labour Party has been calling for nationwide injunctions to stop the activists, who want the government to commit to ending all new fossil fuel infrastructure immediately, saying their protests were leading to shortages at fuel

stations.

As well as targeting oil refineries and depots, demonstrations have been

staged at the London base of oil firm Shell and at the Lloyd’s of London headquarters. In their latest action, activists said they had blocked off four bridges in central London.

Police have arrested 600 people since the protests began this month. The government had also secured injunctions last year to stop protesters blocking motorways and major roads in London and the southeast.

UK March inflation at 70-year high The annual inflation rate in UK climbed to 7% in March from 6.2% in February, its highest since March 1992 and by more than expected by most economists, official data showed, intensifying the pressure on embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his finance minister Rishi Sunak to ease the cost-of-living squeeze.

The month-on-month rise was the highest for the time of year since the Office for National Statistics' records began in 1988.

Broad-based price rises, ranging from vehicle fuel to food and furniture, were behind the increase.

Households are facing the biggest cost-of-living squeeze since records began in the 1950s, according to Britain's budget forecasters, and the inflation overshoot is further bad news for the government too.

Sunak - previously seen as a leading candidate to succeed Johnson as prime

minister - has seen his popularity slide after a budget statement in March, which the public judged did too little to ease cost-of- living pressures, and recent revelations of his wife's tax avoidance. Sunak had said after the data was revealed, "I know this is a worrying time for many families which is why we are taking action to ease the burdens by providing support worth around 22 billion pounds in this financial year."

British inflation has seen an unprecedented rise over the past year, following a similar pattern to most other advanced economies as energy prices surged and pandemic supply-chain difficulties persisted. Retail price inflation rose to 9%, its highest since 1991.

Global Attractions, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of family entertainment units, secured the international contracts to build and export soft play centres to shopping malls in Pattaya City and Bangkok.

The company won the contracts internationally due to its high-quality British designs and expertise coupled with a competitive financing package backed by the UK govern-

ment. This builds on projects delivered for global businesses for over 25 years including McDonald’s, IKEA, KFC and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi – all from its base in Wrexham.

Its soft play centre will feature in one of Pattaya City’s largest malls, with 4 floors dedicated to family friendly activities that attract 1 million residents in the city just south of Bangkok.

Leicester Metro Bank donates to Guru Ravidass Temple In celebration of the Sikh New Year festival, Vaisakhi, Leicester Metro Bank has donated over 100 food items to the Guru Ravidass temple.

One of the fundamental traditions of Sikhism, is for the temple community kitchen (Langar) to serve meals free of charge to anyone - irrespective of religion, gender, race or economic status.

“A huge thank you to all our customers and colleagues who donated so generously for the Guru Ravidass temple”, said Leicester Metro Bank Store

Manager, Stuart Williams.

“Over 30 of our stores collected thousands of items for local foodbanks for Vaisakhi which will benefit many local residents and families in need.”

The need for local foodbanks has never been greater with more than 14 million people in the UK living in poverty – including nearly 5 million children.

Ofgem plans strict supervision of energy firms over its deals The energy regulator has said it has seen "troubling signs" that suppliers may have been increasing direct debit payments by "more than is necessary". Ofgem said it was concerned that firms may be directing customers to energy deals that aren't in their "best interest".

It comes as households face significant increases in their energy bills. On 1 April, yearly bills increased by an average of £693 for about 18 million households on standard tariffs.

And some 4.5 million prepayment customers saw an average increase of £708 from £1,309 to £2,017.

Energy experts have encouraged customers to take and submit meter readings as the changes take effect, in an attempt to save cash.

Ofgem Chief Executive Brearly said Ofgem planned a series of reviews and "stricter supervision" of energy firms over its concerns that the suppliers may have been increasing direct debit payments by "more than is necessary", or directing customers to tariffs that "may not be in their best interest". The

regulator said it would issue "substantial fines" to firms found failing to comply with the measures.

Energy bills have increased because the energy price cap - the maximum price suppliers in England, Wales and Scotland can charge households - is being raised. Energy firms have been able to increase bills by 54% following the introduction of the new cap on 1 April.

People struggling to afford energy bills can seek advice from charities such as Citizens Advice, Turn2Us or the StepChange debt charity.

All the big energy firms also have hardship funds that can offer assistance if someone is struggling to pay.

The government has said it will offer extra help worth a total of £350 via the council tax system in England too. The warm house discount scheme will also be expanded to cover three million households.

It offers low income households a one-off annual discount on their electricity bill, and was worth £140 in 2021-22.

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India wooing sovereign and pension funds for LIC IPO India has sounded out Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Singapore-based GIC, three Canadian pension funds and Qatar Investment Authority among other sovereign wealth funds and pension funds on being anchor investors in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India’s initial public offer (IPO).

According to officials, the funds had shown interest and the government wants to confirm their participation.

Many leading sovereign funds have expressed interest in the LIC IPO. Merchant bankers are in advanced discussions with

them for being anchor investors in the issue. The government is keen on their participation as these funds are stable investors with a long-term horizon.

The government has reached out to about 180 potential anchor investors during roadshows. Officials

India’s asset monetisation goal for the year achieved The Indian government has surpassed the target set for asset monetisation for the financial year 2021- 22, raising over £9.7 billion with roads, power, coal, mining and minerals accounting for a large chunk of the transactions.

Officials said they hope to cross £10 billion for 202122 when the final numbers are announced.

The government is also confident of achieving the £16.7 billion target set for the current fiscal year, which began in April, as substantial progress has been achieved by various ministries and departments.

They said that proposals worth £16.3 billion of accruals or investments of various central ministries are in the pipeline and at various stages of processing.

The target for 2021-22 was set at £8.8 billion from asset monetisation.

Officials said the cumulative potential over the years on account of monetisation transactions completed during FY22 is estimated at £90 billion.

The surpassing of the target comes against the backdrop of the government’s inability to meet the privatisation target last year as the IPO of LIC was deferred due to the choppy market conditions, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The ministry of coal topped the chart raising £4 billion from various transactions including auction of 22 blocks, followed by the ministry of road transport and highways with a monetisation value of projects estimated £2.3 billion, the minerals sector notched up £1.87 billion and the power ministry raised £950 million.

The Centre is now planning to partner with states to monetise

significant infrastructure assets to boost investment in infrastructure. The government had unveiled the £60 billion asset monetisation plan in August last year over the next four years. Assets which have been identified include roads, power transmission & generation, gas pipelines, warehousing, railways, telecom, 25 airports, 31 projects in 9 major ports, coal and mineral mining, sports stadia and redevelopment of colonies.

feel at least 8-10 big-ticket foreign investors will be required as anchor investors for the IPO, set to be the biggest ever Indian public offer.

In December last year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had extended the lock-in period for anchor investors to 90 days from 30 days earlier. The market regulator also removed restrictions on the number of maximum anchor investors for public issues in excess of £25

million. At an estimated embedded value of £54 billion, the Centre may raise £6-7 billion through the 5% stake sale in LIC. The anchor investment portion is expected to be around £1.8 billion.

According to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with Sebi, the insurer will allocate 60% of the qualified institutional buyers’ (QIBs) portion to anchor investors on a discretionary basis. Strong anchor investments give confidence to retail and other institutional investors, helping generate demand for IPO when it opens to the general public.

Ambani weighing options to buy Walgreens Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is now weighing a possible bid for Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc’s international drugstore unit, according to people familiar with the issue. It is an Anglo-Swiss-American holding company headquartered in Deerfield, IL, that owns the retail pharmacy chains Walgreens and Boots, as well as several pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies.

According information, Reliance is in the early stages of exploring the feasibility of an offer for the Boots chain. Boots could be

valued at as much as $9.1 billion. Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty Reliance will decide to pursue an approach for Boots, according to sources. A representative for Walgreens declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Reliance couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Indian conglomerate Motherson bids in Marelli restructuring Samvardhana Motherson, an Indian conglomerate and major auto parts group, has partnered with US investment fund KKR to negotiate with Marelli on the terms and conditions of support ahead of the second round of bidding, set for mid-April. In fact, KKR is also Marelli's parent company.

Motherson Sumi Systems, established in 1986 as a joint venture with Sumitomo Wiring Systems, belongs to the Motherson group. It is India's largest auto parts maker and is involved in the production of wiring harnesses and other electrical components.

According to research company MarkLines, Motherson Sumi had sales of $8.112 billion in fiscal 2020, the 28th among global car parts makers.

It has offices around the world, including in Europe and the US. Marelli, formerly Calsonic Kansei, has long had a close relationship with the parts makers under the Motherson umbrella, including a tie-up to develop sensor and lighting technologies.

While Motherson teamed up with KKR in the first round of bidding, several other players, including funds from Japan and elsewhere, also appear to have made bids.

By the second round, each bidder will have conducted its due diligence on Marelli and will be ready to negotiate the terms of its

Double Dipping

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

We have managed to secure another deal in an area of South East London that we are targeting. This is an area which we believe will have long term sustained growth, primarily due to a couple of reasons. One being the Crossrail, which, though delayed and over budget, is moving towards the finishing line. Given the scale and the cost of the project, and the fact this is a completely unprecedented project, the delays and costs are reasonable.

The other reason is that this is the only borough out of 33 boroughs in London where one can purchase a property for less than £300K, though the ‘average’ runs higher than this closer to £350K. This is the benchmark, used by many commentators; as below this level puts the property in the realms of affordability for the new aspiring buyer. This is based on a couple who earn £25K each.

Over the years we have shepherded many investors into this location, with good reason. And we have got to know the area, the blocks and agents well. This is how we got our latest deal, which is currently sitting with our lawyers, waiting for an exchange.

The property is worth £300K - conservatively. It is in a block which is only a stone’s throw away from a newly developing station. It is a gated development and comes with a parking space and outdoor space. A lot for a mere £250K (which is the price we negotiated). We have bought several properties in this development, on behalf of investors, and so have got to know the managing agents reasonably well. In short, this is a well managed block, where the service charge is put to good use, and is very reasonable.

The investment comes with the benefit of a tenant, so income from day one. Although, we believe the property is under rented, and at the end of the contract the rent will increase substantially. It’s very rare to obtain a property in this location, at this price range with a £50K discount.

The other part of the equation is the financing. All the attention is fixed usually on the purchase price, yet a 1% shift in rates will cost nearly £10K extra, based on a 5 year fixed and a 75% LTV. And rates have been creeping up and will continue to do so for the near future. Currently, a 5 year fixed can still be obtained for just over 2%, but not for long.

The quicker the application is submitted, the more chance there is of locking the rate in. Once the offer letter is out you have 3-6 months depending on the lender to draw the funds down. Bearing in mind current trends money will be a lot more expensive by then.

Though one is on a fixed rate, there is the option to dig into the property’s equity without disrupting the cheap rate.

This can be done by way of a further advance, the main mortgage stays as it is, and a further advance is taken, which sits on top of the original loan. You are restricted to the same lender when drawing this down. However, as long as they are a competitive and well known lender in the market you should be able to secure a competitive rate. This allows one to reinvest again and replicate the model.

If, for example, the property value goes to £350K (which isn’t a huge stretch given one is actually coming in at £300K) you should be able to extract £75K, which allows one to do the same thing again. This is without any kind of tax payable. Call the office now if you would like to know more.

Tatas reshuffle Air India board

support, including restructuring measures.

In 2017, KKR acquired Calsonic Kansei, the Marelli predecessor, which was under Nissan at the time. In 2019, Calsonic Kansei merged with Magneti Marelli, which was the auto parts division of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (now Stellantis) in Europe and the US, and changed its name to Marelli.

But the merged company failed to move forward with the restructuring of its excessive production plants, and its cash flow dried up. In addition, the pandemic hit in 2020, and Nissan, a major client, had to repeatedly cut back its automobile production.

Last month, Marelli applied for Turnaround ADR (alternative dispute resolution), a type of out-of-court debt restructuring and settlement system. Its total liabilities at the time amounted to 1 trillion yen ($8.2 billion).

Tata Sons reshuffled Air India’s board and made new appointments to top management roles. Senior airline officials, who held board positions, have stepped down and will be handling management roles. These include Air India’s Director-Finance Vinod Hejmadi who has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer, DirectorCommercial Meenakshi Malik who will now be Advisor to CEO for Commercial and Technology, Director- HR Amrita Sharan who is now Adviser to CEO for HR and Capt RS Sandhu who was Director-Operations will now assume the role of Chief of Operations.

New appointments to management positions saw Tata Sons Nipun Aggarwal being appointed as Chief

Commercial Officer and Accountable Manager, Suresh Dutt Tripathy as Chief Human Resources Officer, Satya Ramaswamy as Chief Digital and Technology Officer and Rajesh Dogra as Head of Customer Experience and Ground Handling.

The message from Tata Sons and Air India Chairman, N Chandrasekaran, also informed the airline employees that until a new CEO is appointed, the management team will report to him. Former Turkish Airlines Chairman Ilker Ayci last month declined Tata Sons’ offer to head Air India as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) after questions over his political links leaving the top post at the airline vacant.

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Jambo, Samji Kala - an undertone of the sociopolitical history of East Africa In the 1890s, some 32,000 workers were brought from British India to East Africa for manual labour to build a railway line.

Despite it being a foreign land filled with uncertainty Indians were attracted to migrate to find jobs or to trade. One such migrant was Mohanlal Kala Savani. The author covers the history of a vital, hardworking, and successful Indian migrant and his family in Africa through a series of vividly written personal and family vignettes, enhanced by a gallery of photographs.

Jambo, Samji Kala! brings with it an undertone of the sociopolitical history of East Africa from 1918 onwards. The late Mohanlal Kala Savani landed at the port of Mombasa with rudimentary elementary school education and empty pockets. He was an aspiring young immigrant who worked with focus, resolves and a dauntless spirit to succeed in the world of business.

The growth of the Indian film business in East Africa and overseas is also a chapter in the history of the Savani family. With struggles, in 1922 he imported an Indian silent movie. In his efforts to showcase his films he also imported a portable handcranked projector.

This is a biography of a visionary who went through a turbulent road to become a

movie mogul, textile and cotton mega trader, industrialist, real estate developer and philanthropist.

Manu M. Savani is the youngest of the six sons of the late Mohanlal Kala Savani.

Manu was born in Kenya and now resides in Southern California with his wife, Varsha (Vipula) Savani. Manu has three grown children and five grandchildren.

Lanka prez says ready to review executive powers Colombo: After weeks of defiance Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he’s open to changes in the nation’s constitution to appease protesters calling for his ouster, likely setting the stage for curbing the executive’s sweeping powers as the nation’s deepening economic crisis has boiled over into political turmoil.

Rajapaksa’s latest comments mark a softening in his defiant stand. Last week, he had called for “unity and better understanding” from citizens. The opposition and protesters want the country’s constitution changed to limit the president’s wide-ranging powers, which include calling for elections mid-way through a five-year parliament term and appointing and firing government officials and judges.

The main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party plans to introduce motions for a no-confidence vote and impeachment proceedings against the president in parliament. Gotabaya’s opponents, and coalition partners that have distanced themselves from him, have also called for the abolition of the sweeping executive powers of the presidency through constitutional amendments.

Trims ‘cabinet of relatives’ The President, meanwhile, dropped two of his brothers and a nephew from his cabinet, following public anger over the ruling family’s mismanagement of a crippling economic crisis and calls for his resignation.

The new cabinet retains Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya’s older brother and the head of Sri Lanka’s ruling clan, while leaving out eldest sibling Chamal and younger brother Basil.

Bailout package from IMF A government delegation is headed to the US to engage with the IMF to secure a $4 billion package as it desperately tries to salvage the country’s beleaguered economy reeling under a forex crisis.

The delegation led by newly-appointed finance minister Ali Sabry will hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between April 19 and April 24. Sabry has said that Sri Lanka is seeking a bail out package of $4 billion from IMF, having earlier resisted calls to seek a facility from the global lender. The visit is taking place after the finance ministry said it is suspending repayments of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowing, pending the completion of a loan restructur-

Gotabaya Rajapaksa

ing programme with IMF. Rations fuel as crisis worsens Lanka, meanwhile, imposed fuel rationing in another worsening of the economic crisis that has sparked widespread demonstrations calling for President’s resignation. The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), which accounts for twothirds of the retail fuel market, said it would limit the quantities drivers can buy, and banned pumping into cans altogether to prevent motorists stocking up on petrol or diesel in fear of further rationing. The maximum for motorcycles was set at four litres of petrol, with three-wheelers allowed five litres, the CPC said.

Brazilian army’s Viagra order draws scrutiny The Brazilian military came in for stiff scrutiny after a lawmaker revealed it had purchased Viagra pills for the troops, drawing a flurry of jokes on social media.

Congressman Elias Vaz said he had been informed through a freedom of information request that President Bolsonaro’s government had approved an order of 35,000 of the erectile-dysfunction pills for the armed forces.

“Our hospitals don’t have enough medication, and Bolsonaro and his crew are using public money to buy ‘the little blue pill’,” said the opposition lawmaker. The documents he received do not mention Viagra by name, but say the order was for sildenafil, the active ingredient in the drug.

The defence ministry said the pills were in fact “to treat patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension”, or high blood pressure in the lungs, another use for sildenafil.

That did little to stem social media users’ mirth.

He has been a pioneer in the Indian film distribution business for over five decades, since 1968 when he moved to the United States.

The Savani family has been involved in the film business for over a hundred years.

Manu's father, the late Mohanlal Kala Savani, was a renowned Indian businessman. The book Jambo, Samji Kala! follows his father’s story and legacy of being an Indian immigrant in East Africa. Besides being a real estate developer and leader in the textile trade and industry, he started the distribution of Indian films to East Africa in 1922 with silent Indian films.

Manu’s elder brother the late Dhirubhai Savani (of De Luxe Films Ltd.,, London) was a pioneer of Indian film distribution in the United Kingdom and Europe since 1954.

Jambo, Samji Kala! is Manu’s first as an author. His only previous experience as a writer was in 1966 when as a final year student at the Brookes University at Oxford, he wrote a thesis titled “Indian Film Industry and The World Market”.

India offers additional $2 bn aid for Sri Lanka NEW DELHI: India is willing to commit up to another $2 billion in financial assistance to Sri Lanka while also supporting the island nation with food and fuel, sources said, as New Delhi tries to regain ground lost to China in recent years.

Sri Lanka, hit by its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 and on the brink of its first debt default, has been asking friendly nations including India and China for credit lines, food and energy. The Asian giants have already committed billions of dollars in financial support.

"We are definitely looking to help them out and are willing to offer more swap lines and loans," said an Indian source aware of various discussions with Sri Lanka. A senior government source in New Delhi said Sri Lanka's warning of defaulting on debt payments was a worry, but that "we can still give them up to $2 billion in swaps and support".

Another source familiar with Sri Lanka's thinking said it was seeking India's help to roll over some $2 billion in dues, such as those owed to the South Asia-focussed Asian Clearing Union. The source said the response had been positive from India.

India's government and its central bank, as well as Sri Lanka's foreign and finance ministries, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. India has so far committed $1.9 billion to Sri Lanka in loans, credit lines and currency swaps. Sri Lanka has also sought another $500 million credit line for fuel.

China has extended a $1.3 billion syndicated loan and a $1.5 billion-yuan denominated swap, while negotiations are ongoing for more loans and credit lines. One of the sources said New Delhi was keen for its southern neighbour to cut its reliance on China. Sri Lanka has an outstanding debt of about $3.5 billion with China - or 10.8% of the island's total - and Beijing has also built ports and roads in the country.

"We want them to reduce their debt levels from China and we want to become stronger partners," said the source.

in brief TEEN HELD IN NY FOR ATTACKS ON SIKHS A 19-year-old youth has been arrested in New York City and faces hate crime charges for his alleged involvement in attacks on three Sikh men in Queens, including the brutal assault of an elderly Sikh tourist early this month, that was condemned as “deeply disturbing” by the Consulate General of India. Vernon Douglas of Brownsville was arrested in Brooklyn and charged with multiple counts of robbery, assault, aggravated harassment and hate crimes, the Queens Chronicle reported. Another suspect was arrested earlier for attacking two Sikh men, removing their religious headwear, robbing them and striking them with closed fists and a wooden stick. Community-based civil and human rights organisation The Sikh Coalition video footage shared on social media showed the two individuals being attended to by locals and police personnel.

BIDEN GREETS JAINS ON MAHAVIR JAYANTI US President Joe Biden on April 15 extended wishes to the Jain community across the world on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti and encouraged people to follow Lord Mahavir’s path of non-violence, truthfulness, and compassion. Taking to Twitter, Biden sends his regards writing “Jill and I send warm greetings on Mahavir Jayanti to people of the Jain faith.

This is a day to strive for peace, happiness, and the success of all. May we each pursue the values Mahavir Swami embodied: to seek truth, turn from violence, and live in harmony with each other.” Mahavir Jayanti is an important religious festival in Jainism that celebrates the birth of Lord Mahavir. The festival is marked with prayers and fasting. The occasion marks the birth of the 24th and last Tirthankara, Lord Mahavir. This year, Mahavir Jayanti was celebrated on April 14.

INDIAN STUDENT SHOT DEAD IN TORONTO A 21-year-old Indian student was shot dead at the entrance of a subway station in Toronto.

Kartik Vasudev was shot several times on April 8 at the entrance to the Sherbourne subway station, which is not far from the Indian Consulate in Toronto. According to Toronto Police, its officers responded to a radio call at Sherbourne TTC Subway station for a shooting. The victim, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was initially attended to by an off-duty paramedic. He was taken to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Police are looking for a black male who was seen walking with a handgun from the crime scene. The motive of the attack is not known.

Vasudev, who is from Ghaziabad in India, was a student of marketing management program at Seneca College, had arrived in Canada in January. Expressing shock at the killing, the Indian Consulate tweeted: “We are shocked and distressed at the unfortunate killing of Indian student.We are in touch with the family and will provide all possible assistance in early repatriation of mortal remains.”

6 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN PAK FOR LYNCHING A court in Pakistan has sentenced six people to death after convicting them for their roles in last year’s vigilante killing of a Sri Lankan factory manager accused by workers of committing blasphemy. The six men sentenced to death were convicted of murder of Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana in a case that outraged many Pakistanis. The Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore, set up inside a high-security prison, also gave life sentences to nine people, five years’ jail to one, and two-year sentences to 72, according to a statement from the public prosecutor. Eight of those sentenced were juveniles. Diyawadana was killed in December by workers at a sports equipment factory in Pakistan’s eastern Sialkot district where he was a manager.

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in brief DEATH FOR 4 IN THE MURDER OF BANGLADESH WRITER A Bangladesh court sentenced four extremists to hang for their fatal attack on a celebrated writer, in a case that took nearly two decades to reach a verdict. The men brutally maimed award-winning author and language professor Humayun Azad outside a book fair in 2004 the first in a wave of violent attacks on free speech advocates in the Muslim-majority country. Images of a blood-soaked Azad after the attack shocked the country, and a legion of fans mourned when the 56-year-old died several months later while seeking treatment in Germany. Two of the attackers are still at large, and a fifth member was shot dead by police in 2014 after reportedly attempting to flee a prison van. “Four were handed down the death penalty over the murder including two who were sentenced to death in absentia,” Abdullah Abu, chief prosecutor said.

SA FLOOD TOLL RISES TO 443 At least 443 people have died in floods that have devastated South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, according to an official, as rescuers searched for dozens of people still missing in the southeastern coastal region. Sihle Zikalala, the province’s premier, said that the dead included two emergency workers and added that a further 63 people remain unaccounted for. The deluge engulfed the region, smashing into the port city of Durban and surrounding areas, pulling with it buildings and people.

Most of the casualties were in Durban, and parts of the city have been without water for days. Scores of hospitals and more than 500 schools in the region have also been destroyed. “The loss of life, destruction of homes, the damage to the physical infrastructure … make this natural disaster one of the worst ever in recorded history of our province,” said Zikalala.

US COPS BAFFLED AFTER STOPPING ‘DRIVERLESS CAR’ San Francisco police faced an unprecedented problem recently when an officer stopped a car that was driving at night with no headlights on, only to discover there was no one inside. The vehicle, it turned out, was a self-driving car, and the police officer’s encounter was captured on film by a passerby, who posted the footage on social media. The clip, showing bemused officers circling the vehicle and peering through its window for several minutes, has been shared so widely that Cruise, the company that owns the vehicle, reacted on Twitter to explain what had happened. It said the self-driving car “yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued.”

HUNT ON FOR MAN WHO WOUNDED 10 AT NY STATION Police continued to hunt for the gunman who opened fire on a subway train in Brooklyn, an attack that left 10 people shot and once again interrupted New York City’s long journey to post pandemic normalcy. The search focused partly on a man who police say rented a van possibly connected to the violence.

Investigators stressed they weren’t sure whether the man, Frank R James was responsible for the shooting. But authorities were examining social media videos in which the 62-year-old decried the United States as a racist place awash in violence. “This nation was born in violence, it’s kept alive by violence or the threat thereof and it’s going to die a violent death. There’s nothing going to stop that,” James said in one video.

Sikh marine officer, 3 recruits Sikhs in NY shaken move court for religious freedom by string of hate WASHINGTON: Sikh Marines filed a lawsuit against the Corps saying they were being forced to choose between staying in the service or following their faith. The suit was filed on behalf of USMC Captain Sukhbir Singh Toor and pre-accession Marine recruits Milaap Singh Chahal and Aekash Singh; BakerHostetler joined in representing pre-accession Marine recruit Jaskirat Singh.

The Sikh Coalition in a press release said, it was joined by pro bono co-counsel at Winston & Strawn LLP, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and BakerHostetler, along with the support of Sikh American Veterans Alliance in filing the lawsuit.

“Despite more than a year of efforts to engage in good faith, the USMC continues to sideline our clients due to their articles of faith,” Giselle Klapper, Sikh Coalition senior staff attorney, said in the press release.

“Treating a Sikh’s beard, a core tenet of the faith, as merely optional is unacceptable.”

Chahal and J. Singh intend to join the USMC as enlisted Marines, and A. Singh intends to join the Marine Corps Reserve.

According to the press release, each of them applied for a religious accommodation last year, and so far, the accommodations don’t go far enough. They are still barred from maintaining their beard and unshorn hair on deployments where they would receive Hostile Fire or Imminent Danger pay, even though deployment to the front lines is essential to service in the USMC. In addition, all three have been told that they must forsake their articles of faith for the duration

crimes

of their time at boot camp, the Sikh Coalition said.

The three men issued a joint statement: “We remain ready to meet the high mental and physical standards of the Marine Corps because we want to serve our country alongside the best. We cannot, however, give up our right to our religious faith while doing so–not least of all because that is one of the core American values that we will fight to protect at all costs as proud US Marines.”

Capt Toor was granted a historic, “but incomplete and inadequate,” accommodation by the USMC in June of 2021 after first applying for an accommodation in March of that year, the Sikh Coalition said. It argues that like the pre-accession recruits, Toor’s accommodation prohibits him from maintaining his beard when he is serving in a significant portion of the world, for a person of Toor’s experience.

“The alleged safety concerns that the USMC is using to justify this restriction have long since been mitigated by other branches of the US Armed Forces and militaries around the world,” it adds.

Indians continue their hold on H-1B visas WASHINGTON: Indians cornered nearly three-fourths of H-1B visas issued by the US to specialty foreign workers in 2021, continuing their stranglehold on this highly sought after professional ticket to work, live and, finally, settle down in America.

The US approved 407,071 H-1B petitions in 2021 and 301,616 of them – 74.1 per cent were for Indian workers, according to the latest report on this topic released recently by the Department of Homeland Security, the government agency that oversees immigration. Indians accounted for 74.9 per cent of the approved petitions in 2020.

The US allows American employers to hire specialty foreign workers on H-1B for positions they are unable to fill with local

Americans. Top American companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook are among leading users of this visa program as are US subsidiaries of Indian IT companies such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro.

These foreign workers are hired either from their countries of birth or residence or from US colleges and universities. Indians have had a tight grip on the H-B visa programme for years, at that three-fourths mark. People from China have been a distant second with 12.1 per cent. The next three were Canada with 0.9 per cent, South Korea also with 0.9 per cent and Philippines with 0.7 per cent. The line-up was the same in 2020, with almost the same numbers.

Elon Musk faces off with Saudi Prince over Twitter sale Washington: Elon Musk has questioned Saudi Arabia’s role in Twitter Inc after Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal tweeted his opposition to the billionaire entrepreneur’s offer to buy the social media company.

The prince tweeted from his verified account that Musk’s offer of a $43 bn cash takeover of the company does not come close to the “intrinsic value” of Twitter. “Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer,” the prince said, referring to the Saudi Arabiabased Kingdom Holding Company, which he owns. The prince also shared a 2015 tweet, in which he wrote that his company’s ownership stake in Twitter had risen to 5.2 per cent.

Musk, who owns 9.2 per cent of Twitter, responded to the tweet, asking how much of Twitter, directly and indirectly, was owned by Saudi Arabia. “What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?” Musk added. The tech billionaire has said he wants to take Twitter private to help it grow and to make it a platform for free speech.

Twitter users and human rights activists were quick to latch on to the billionaire’s questions, with the United States-based

Freedom Initiative highlighting the story of Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Saudi court over his tweets.

“Freedom of speech in the Kingdom? Here’s what happens to young aid workers in Saudi Arabia when they make satirical Twitter accounts,” the group wrote. As of January, Saudi Arabia, with a population of 34.8 million, had the eighth most Twitter users of any country in the world, with more than 12 million users.

However, Saudi Arabia does not permit independent media, is regularly accused of crackdowns on dissent, and allegedly closely monitors Saudi journalists who live abroad, with US intelligence directly linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman to the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

In 2019, the US Justice Department charged two former Twitter employees with using their roles at the company to obtain information on US citizens and Saudi dissidents who were critical of the kingdom’s policies. Musk responded to a tweet with a link to a New York Times report on those arrests, tweeting a monocle emoji.

NEW YORK: The South Asian community in New York has been shaken in recent weeks by a string of hate crimes against Sikh men in Richmond Hill, a neighborhood sometimes called Little Punjab that is home to a large Sikh community and a prominent Sikh temple.

Within 10 days, three Sikhs were attacked in the New York City block.

Residents are fearful in a quiet Queens neighborhood, where younger Sikhs have begun to escort their elders to the temple.

Gulzar Singh was walking to work on April 12 morning, chatting with his wife on a video call, when he was attacked. Two men beat him across the back of the head, ripped off his turban and left him bleeding on the sidewalk in a quiet Queens neighborhood.

Ten minutes later, on the same block, another Sikh man, Sajan Singh, was attacked from behind by two men who beat him, robbed him and ripped off his turban. Nine days earlier, Nirmal Singh, 70, yet another Sikh man, had been assaulted on the same tree-lined street.

“I thought the first attack was isolated and did not think anything beyond that,” said Gulzar Singh, a construction worker who came to the United States from India in 2015. The second round of attacks that happened on the same morning as the mass shooting that injured at least 23 people on the subway in Brooklyn, has left many Sikhs deeply afraid..

“Incidents like this make you think again,” said Sukhjinder Singh Nijjar, a representative of the Sikh Cultural Society, after a rally in Richmond Hill on April 14. Two men have been arrested in connection with the attacks. But Sikhism remains widely misunderstood in the United States. Many Sikh victims of hate crimes were mistaken for Muslims, a religious community that has faced widespread discrimination in the United States in recent decades.

US fashion brand places repeat order for Khadi Denim Washington: US fashion brand Patagonia has placed an order to purchase 17,050 metres of Khadi Denim fabric worth nearly Rs 80,00,000, returning once again to buy the India-made fabric for the American market.

Reports said Patagonia placing a repeat order “comes as a global appreciation of Khadi’s world class product quality and punctuality in fulfilling the supply order”. Patagonia placed the purchase order from Rajkot-based Khadi institution Udyog Bharti through textile giant Arvind Mills.

The order comes following the completion of a previous order for 30,000 metres of Khadi Denim fabric worth £108,000. The latest order takes Patagonia’s total Khadi Denim purchase to 47,000 metres worth £188,000.

The order is for four types of Denim fabric, made of 100% cotton. Patagonia uses the handcrafted fabric to make Denim apparel.

A Patagonia team visited Udyog Bharti last year to see the Khadi Denim manufacturing process. After assessing the manufacturing process and quality, Patagonia placed the purchase orders through Arvind Mills. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission signed an agreement with Arvind Mills in July 2017 to trade Khadi Denim products around the world. Since then, the textile giant has purchased a large quantity of the fabric every year from commission-certified Khadi institutions in Gujarat. Commission Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the repeat order was a result of the Denim’s outstanding quality that matched international standards. Special attention was paid to maintain the highest quality, product uniformity, and timely supply while supplying the order, he said. The previous order was executed in 12 months.

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Russia reaches out to India for food, grocery supplies With its departmental stores running out of groceries, sanctions-hit Russia has reached out to Indian retailers and agro exporters for urgent supplies, more so as the EU has stopped supplies for the second month in a row.

The list includes orange marmalade, mango jam, pasta, oats flakes, pancake mix, spaghetti, basmati rice, coffee, tea, cornflakes, rum, ketchup and prawns. India and Russia are working out an alternative payments mechanism using the rupee and ruble after the West led by the US banned some Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (Swift) system.

Russia has also urged Indian agro and processed food manufacturers and retail associations to set up a joint India-Russia agro industrial park in “Lotos", the special economic zone in the Astrakhan, southern

Russia, for producing groceries, spices and other foods to minimize the country’s dependence on food and agro imports.

The Russian embassy in New Delhi shared a list of supply requirements with the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO). The apex export promotion body is organizing a buyer-seller meet to connect Russian firms with Indian sellers.

As there are no sanctions on food and pharma products, an arrangement for

BJP draws a blank in by-elections across 4 states BJP fails to win a single seat in by-elections across four states, ceding Asansol LS constituency to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in Bengal, finishing third behind CPM in the battle for the Ballygunge assembly segment and losing by big margins in Chhattisgarh’s Khairagarh, Bihar’s Bochaha and Maharashtra’s Kolhapur North.

Trinamool won the Asansol test for the first time through its new celebrity recruit Shatrughan Sinha, whose victory by a margin of more than 300,000 votes harked back to his cult status in the coal belt after his turn as Mangal Singh in the 1979 blockbuster ‘Kaala Patthar.’ BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul lost even on her home turf Asansol (South), which had elected her to the assembly less than a year ago. BJP won in six of the seven assembly segments. TMC’s seat count in the Lok Sabha now stands at 23.

Ex-BJP MP and Union minister of state Babul Supriyo, who joined Mamata after quitting the saffron party last September and the Asansol seat a month later, made a

successful assembly debut, defeating CPM’s Saira Shah Halim in Ballygunge by alittle over 20,000 votes. BJP’s Keya Ghosh was a distant third, getting less than half the votes the runner-up got in keeping with the trend seen in the urban local body polls earlier this year.

In Bihar, RJD’s Amar Kumar Paswan defeated BJP nominee Baby Kumari by 36,000-odd votes in the Bochaha assembly bypoll. While Paswan secured 48.5% of the votes polled, Baby got 26.9. Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) candidate Geeta Kumari, daughter of former minister and nine-time MLA Ramai Ram, finished third.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of VIP MLA Musafir Paswan, father of winning candidate Amar. The Mukesh Sahani-led VIP was part of NDA in Bihar until the party chief spoke out against the saffron party and fielded candidates on his own in the UP assembly polls. BJP got all 3VIP MLAs to merge with it and then ensured Sahani’s ouster from the Nitish Kumar government.

This Surat restaurant serves food on a toy train This Surat restaurant has hit upon an innovative way to serve food to its customers. Here the food is served not by waiters but by a toy train. As soon as the food is ready, it is transferred to the train, which is delivered straight to the diners without the need for any human intervention. This unique idea has attracted a large number of customers. In the video, the toy train is seen approaching the seating area from the kitchen of the restaurant. The various compartments of the train are seen loaded with bread, gravies and other food item like papad. Interestingly, each table also has a designated name given as per the areas of Surat city.

The multi-cuisine restaurant, Trainian Express, is located in Vesu, Surat. Customers

have applauded the unique and innovative concept of the restaurant.

“Order placed by you is delivered to you by train is the best part of the restaurant,” said one customer. “Awesome place...great ambience..yummmyyy food ..unique service,” wrote another.

“Nice theme based restaurant, very nice place for toddlers and young kid to enjoy train coming with food. Taste is ok. price is as same as other restaurants,” added another happy customer.

A few customers said that this mode of dining made sense in the post-Covid era.

Meanwhile, it is to mention that this toy train concept is not unique to Surat. In fact, such toy train eateries could also be found in many Indian cities including, Hyderabad and Indore.

trading in grocery and agri items may not be a problem, said a government official, seeking anonymity.

According to news reports, Russian departmental stores have run out of basics, including sugar, pasta and rice. “Several large Russian companies have reached out to the Russian embassy in New Delhi to look for suppliers in India for a variety of products.

We will hold a one-day sensitization programme for importers from Russia and exporters from India. There are a lot of products that Russia is interested in, and a lot of enquiries are flowing in," Ajay Sahai, director general and chief executive, FIEO, said.

A trade association in Russia has also reached out to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), seeking supplies of food items followed by footwear, artificial jewellery and ready-made garments.

India questions WHO’s methodology to estimate Covid toll India has questioned the methodology adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to estimate Covid-19 deaths. India said that the organisation is applying different yardsticks to estimate the mortality.

“India’s basic objection has not been with the result (whatever they might have been) but rather the methodology adopted for the same,” the health ministry said, underlining that India has been in regular and in-depth technical exchange with WHO on the issue. If the model adopted is accurate and reliable, “it should be authenticated by running it for all Tier I countries and if result of such exercise may be shared with all member states”.

The comment followed an NYT report that said India is trying to stall a WHO report on the global Covid toll by disputing the calculation of how many of its citizens died.

The article states that the yet to-be-released report has concluded that around 15 million people died worldwide by end-2021 - more than double the official total of six million reported by countries individually. More than a third of the additional 9 million deaths, the report said, are estimated to have occurred in India, which would then put the number of Covid deaths in the country at four million at least. However, NYT said, it was unable to learn the estimates for other countries.

According to the health ministry, the WHO analysis uses mortality figures directly obtained from Tier-1 set of countries, while for Tier II countries (including India), it uses a mathematical modelling process.

In fact, it is not just India, specific queries have been raised by other WHO member states like China, Iran, Bangladesh, Syria, Ethiopia and Egypt regarding the methodology, and use of “unofficial sets of data”, the Union health ministry said.

“It is very surprising that while New York Times purportedly could obtain the alleged figures of excess Covid-19 mortality in respect to India, it was ‘unable to learn the estimates for other countries,” health ministry said.

IMD predicts normal monsoon in India The India Meteorological Department has predicted normal and fairly welldistributed monsoon rains for most parts of the country in June-September even as it revised downward the new “rainfall normal” for the four-month season from 88 cm to 87 cm.

IMD said monsoon rainfall over the country is likely to be 99% of the new normal. If the forecast holds true, it’ll be the fourth consecutive year of “normal” to “above normal” southwest (summer) monsoon rains in India. There is a 60% forecast probability of good rainfall, signalling a relief to rain-fed areas which substantially contribute to the production of foodgrain.

However, northeast India, some parts of northwest and southern parts of the south peninsula may receive “below normal” rainfall, IMD said.

But it’ll not affect agricultural

operations as the entire rain-fed areas of the country and the monsoon core zone is likely to get normal to above rainfall during June-September.

Quantitatively, the monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall is likely to be 99% of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of +/5%,” said IMD chief M Mohapatra while releasing the first long range monsoon forecast for 2022.

The Met department has, for the first time, used an LPA of 87 cm as the new normal for seasonal rainfall for the country as a whole, based on 1971-2020 data, showing a decline in average annual rainfall in India over the long period.

in brief LT GEN PANDE TO BE NEXT ARMY CHIEF Lt Gen Manoj Pande will take over as the next Army chief from General M M Naravane on April 30, becoming the first ever officer commissioned in the Corps of Engineers to head the 12,0,000 strong force. The government has gone by the seniority principle in announcing the next Army chief, with Lt-Gen Pande being the senior most LtGen in the force. India's next chief of defence staff (CDS), however, is yet to be announced well over four months after Gen Bipin Rawat’s untimely death in a helicopter crash, though Gen Naravane is considered to be the front runner. A CDS can serve till the age of 65, while the Army, Navy and IAF chiefs serve till 62 or for three years, whichever is earlier. Lt Gen Pande, who turns 60 on May 6, will take over as the Army chief at a time when there are still no signs of any deescalation in the almost two-year long military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh.

SC CANCELS BAIL OF UNION MINISTER'S SON The Supreme Court has cancelled bail granted to main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra and ordered him to surrender in a week, and asked the Allahabad HC to take a fresh call on his bail plea while scrupulously adhering to cardinal principles governing grant of bail. In a pithy judgment on a petition filed by complainant Jagjeet Singh, a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli recorded their serious disagreement with the manner in which the HC had granted bail to Ashish on February 10 and asked it to reconsider the accused person's bail plea afresh within three months. Till that time Ashish will remain in custody. Justice Kant slammed the HC's ‘insouciant myopic’ approach in hastily granting bail without giving an opportunity to the complainant to oppose the bail plea in a heinous crime.

SMART CITY AWARD FOR SURAT Surat city bagged the highest award in the ‘Smart Cities Smart Urbanization’ conference. At the two-day conference, Indore won awards in six categories while Surat received five awards. Both cities shared the ‘Best City’ award while Uttar Pradesh bagged the Best State recognition.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister of housing and urban affairs, was the chief guest at the event while Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel addressed the gathering through a video link.

NCB SUSPENDS 2 FOR 'DERELICTION OF DUTY' The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has suspended two of its Mumbai zone officers, superintendent V V Singh and intelligence officer Ashish Ranjan Prasad, for alleged “dereliction of duty” in investigations conducted by them, officials said. The two officers also investigated the cruise drugs case in which at least 20 people, including actor Shah Rukh Khan’ s son Aryan Khan, were arrested in October in Mumbai. Singh was the investigating officer of the case and Prasad his deputy. However, officials said, their suspension was not linked to drugs case which led to a controversy after allegations of procedural lapses and extortion were made against the sleuths by independent witness Prabhakar Sail who recently died from heart attack.

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in brief PAK GIVES INDIA MORE TIME FOR WHEAT SUPPLY The Pakistan government has extended the time period for transportation of 50,000 metric tonnes (MTs) of Indian wheat and life-saving medicines to Afghanistan through the Attari-Wagah border. Pakistan had in November 2021 approved the transportation of 50,000 MTs of Indian wheat and life saving medicines to Afghanistan. “It has been decided to grant two months’ extension to facilitate completion of the transportation,” said Pakistan in its announcement.

BTECH STUDENT STABBED TO DEATH IN UP COLLEGE A 19-year-old BTech student was repeatedly stabbed and left to die inside the premises of a top engineering college in Meerut following violent clashes between two groups of students last week. Nikhil Tomar, who was bleeding profusely, was later taken to a hospital where doctors pronounced him "brought dead”. Media coordinator of Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology Ajay Chaudhary said, “The incident took place in the morning when two groups of students, all from BTech section, started attacking each other.”

BJP MLA TO RETIRE Senior BJP leader and Vadodara and Sayajigunj MLA Jitendra Sukhadia has announced his decision to retire from electoral battles. The 76-year -old announced his decision at an event at the GMERS Gotri Hospital and later to media persons formally. Sukhadia has been with the party since its Jan Sangh days. He was elected as an MLA for the first time in 2002 from Sayajigunj. He went on to become a minister of state and the chief whip of the party in the assembly. During the programme to hand over equipment to the hospital procured from his MLA grant, Sukhadia mentioned that this was his last term..

AAP INVITES HARDIK PATEL TO JOIN PARTY

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has invited Hardik Patel to join the party after he expressed displeasure over the manner in which Congress was treating him. State AAP president Gopal Italia said Hardik, a state Congress working president, should join a “like-minded party” like his. Instead of complaining to the Congress and wasting his time, he should join AAP. A party like Congress would not have a place for dedicated people like him,” Italia said. Both Italia and Hardik Patel were leaders of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), which spearheaded the Patidar reservation agitation in 2015. However, Patel has refuted the rumours about him leaving the party, stating that he will give his 100 per cent to the Congress. “I have given my 100 per cent to Congress till now and will do so in the future also. We will work for Gujarat. There will be small fights and blame games within the party, but we have to work together to make Gujarat a better place,” Patel said.

India reiterates its stands on Ukraine war, urges US to boost ties During the 2+2 dialogue with US, India reiterated its stand and somehow remained uncritical of Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, while persuading the US to accept its position and continue elevating bilateral ties. A press conference at the conclusion of the 2+2 dialogue between the two countries, top foreign and defence officials of the two sides revealed that they agreeing not to let differences over the Russia-Ukraine issue affect a more expansive relationship.

“We watch what’s happening in the world, like any country does, and we draw our conclusions and make our assessments.

And believe me, we have a decent sense of what is in our interest and know how to protect it and advance it,” India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar asserted in response to mild criticism from the US and searching questions from reporters about why India had not condemned Moscow's aggression and whittled down energy purchases from Russia.

Jaishankar suggested that India's position was outlined at the UN and other forums and that it is "against the conflict... for dialogue and diplomacy...and for an urgent cessation of violence" was critical of Moscow. “India has made very strong statements... condemning the killing of civilians in Ukraine, calling for an independent investigation of these atrocities. And I would also note that India is providing significant humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine,” the minister said.

The Indian pushback included at least one crafty putdown on the issue of India's energy purchases from Russia.

“We do buy some energy which is necessary for our energy security. Looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon. So you might want to think about that,” Jaishankar said, thanking a

India to get record number of doctors in next 10 years: PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India will get a record number of doctors in the next 10 years due to the central government's policy of establishing at least one medical college in every district. Speaking after dedicating to the nation a 200-bed K K Patel Mutli-speciality Hospital in Bhuj via videoconferencing, he said coronavirus is still lurking and people should not take it easy and be watchful.

The health facility is the first charitable multi-speciality hospital in the Kutch region and built by the Leuva Patel community of Bhuj with help from donors based in India and abroad.

“The goal of having at least one medical college in every district and ensuring that medical education was in reach of everyone will result in the country getting a record numbers of doctors after 10 years,” the PM said. He said two decades ago, Gujarat had just nine medical colleges with around 1,100 MBBS seats, but the medical education scenario has improved vastly in the last 20 years. “Now, the state has one AIIMS and over three dozen medical colleges. Earlier, only 1,000 students used to get admission in medical colleges of Gujarat, now around 6,000 students get admission in these colleges. AIIMS in Rajkot has started admitting 50 students from 2021,” Modi said.

Stressing that coronavirus has still not gone away and people should not take it easy, the PM said Yoga and Ayurveda, which have their origins in India, caught the world's attention during the pandemic.

He said export of turmeric from India has increased after the advent of the pandemic as people across the globe learnt about its health benefits.

Antony Blinken

S. Jaishankar

reporter who posed the query "for the advice and suggestions in your question".

The Indian position was largely accepted by the US side, with secretary of state Antony Blinken acknowledging that “India has to make its own decisions about how it approaches this challenge”, while suggesting that "it is important that all countries, especially those with leverage, press Putin to end the war... And it’s also important that democracies stand together and speak with one voice to defend the values that we share.”

Blinken also acknowledged that "every country is differently situated, has different needs and requirements", but the US is looking to allies and partners not to increase their purchases of Russian energy. Washington also continues to urge all countries to avoid major new transactions for Russian weapons systems, Blinken said, adding that it has not yet made a determination regarding potential sanctions or potential waivers under the CAATSA law with regards to India's purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia.

The American intent to wean New Delhi away from Moscow and supplant it as a defence and energy partner was an underlying theme in the exchanges. Both Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin noted that India’s relationship with Russia has developed over decades at a time when the US was not able to be a partner to India While differences persist, India and the US focused at their dialogue of diplomatic and defense leaders on meeting what could turn out to be its catastrophic fallout: Food shortages affecting the poorest countries.

“An equally big worry which is emerging is of food security,” Jaishankar said on April 11at a news conference after the 2+2 meeting.

“There are concerns across geographies of societies who are importing wheat or sugar or other foodstuff out of the conflict region”, he said. “Our countries are working together to try to bring more food to world markets, as well as to the World Food Program”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Jaishankar said, “A number of countries are discussing with us the possibility of greater food supplies, including the World Food Program,” he said.

“So we have discussed today – not just us, but I think the subject also came up in the virtual summit between Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President (Joe) Biden – about what could India do to stabilize the global economic situation,” Jaishankar said.

India has already started responding to the need for greater supplies of wheat and also to some extent sugar, he said.

Austin assures support – Defense Secretary assured India that the US will continue to stand by it in the face of threats from China. Austin said: “Beijing is eroding the security of the Indo-Pacific region from its construction of dual-use infrastructure along your border to its unlawful claims in the South China Sea, and we will continue to stand alongside you as you defend your sovereign interest.”

He said that they were meeting “at a critical moment in the US-India defense partnership”. Austin said: “Our partnership is based on a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, one grounded in principles such as the rule of law and national sovereignty. We’re facing urgent and mounting challenges to this shared vision.”

“China is attempting to challenge and undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors,” he said. India's defence minister Rajnath Singh did not mention China or Russia in his response, which was in Hindi with English language interpretation. He said that “our visit here shall take India-US comprehensive strategic partnership to the next level”.

Egypt agrees to buy wheat from India The war in Ukraine and disruption in global wheat supply have resulted in Egypt agreeing to source the grain from India to meet its domestic requirement. Egyptian authorities have put India as one of the origins for the commodity after officials from its Agriculture Quarantine and Pest Risk Analysis wing visited various processing units, port facilities and farms in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, an official statement said.

“We want to supply good quality wheat so that we can be a permanent supplier,” food, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said. Indian wheat demand has picked up in recent years and the government is seeking to step up exports further with a 50% jump targeted during the current financial year. Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Algeria and Lebanon are other countries on the radar with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA) sending delegations to explore the possibility of boosting wheat

exports.

“We are aiming to export 3 million tonnes of wheat to Egypt this year,” APEDA chairman M Angamuthu said. In 2021, Egypt imported 6.1 million tonnes (of wheat) with 80% coming from Russia and Ukraine, while India did not figure on the list of accredited countries. The deal with Egypt follows a recent meeting between Goyal with the African nation’s minister for planning and economic development Hala El-Said in Dubai, where India’s readiness to step in to meet the shortfall was discussed.

India’s wheat exports, which went up 3.5 times last year, was driven mostly by the demand from countries such as Bangladesh, UAE, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Oman and Malaysia.

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in brief

SOUTH INDIA

Karnataka minister quits over contractor suicide row Bengaluru: Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister K S Eshwarappa, against whom police have booked a case for allegedly abetting the suicide of contractor Santosh Patil, submitted his resignation to CM Basavaraj Bommai.

As a political furore erupted, Eshwarappa had announced his resignation as minister. Eshwarappa’s supporters, who had gathered near the chief minister’s official K S Eshwarappa residence, shouted slogans asking him not to resign, and against Congress leaders.

Santosh Patil, a Belagavi-based contractor, was found dead at a hotel in Udupi last week, weeks after accusing Eshwarappa, who is also a senior BJP leader, of corruption.

In a purported suicide note, Patil had blamed Eshwarappa for his death. Patil last month had complained to BJP central leaders stating that he was yet to be paid £400,000 for road works undertaken in Hindalga village and had accused Eshwarappa's aides of demanding 40 per cent commission for the release of the payment.

Mob attacks police in Karnataka over WhatsApp post Hubballi/Hospete: At least 40 people were arrested and prohibitory orders clamped for four days in Hubballi, about 400 km from Bengaluru, after a mob attacked police and their cars at a police station with stones over a youth’s provocative WhatsApp post that offended the minority community. The youth was arrested.

A police inspector and 11 cops suffered minor injuries and seven of their vehicles were damaged in the attack that happened in the night. As the situation threatened to spiral out of control, police lathicharged, teargassed and fired rubber bullets at the violent crowd.

“We’ve imposed prohibitory orders in Hubballi town,” said Labhu Ram, the Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner.

CM Basavaraj Bommai said the government will

not spare anyone instigating or taking part in violence. “Let’s look at the incident as a law-and-order issue, without giving it any political colour,” he said. Police said trouble started after several members of the minority community objected to a viral image posted by a youth as his WhatsApp status. They lodged a complaint, leading to the youth’s arrest. Later, some “miscreants” in the crowd started throwing stones at policemen and their vehicles. Nearby buildings, including a Hanuman temple, was targeted too.

PUNJAB

Punjab to give 300 units of

Punjab govt to probe reasons electricity free from July 1 behind £30 bn debt: Mann Chandigarh: Public debt in Punjab is burgeoning and landed the state in a soup. Realising this, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has now ordered an inquiry into how and where the monies have been spent.

Mann said successive governments have left the state with a debt of £30 billion. “We will inquire as to where the money was spent and will order recovery into where this money was spent. This was the public money,” he said.

Inquiries revealed that between April 2021 and February 2022, the previous government had already borrowed £1.94 billion. If added to the previous years’ debt of £24.8 billion, the debt would be £26.7 billion.

The government is also learnt to have borrowed from the market and raised state development loans in

Bhagwant Mann

March, which would lead to the state’s debt zooming to over £27.3 billion, excluding the loans received in lieu of GST compensation. Over 21 per cent of the state’s annual revenue receipts in 2021-22 have gone in just repayment of the outstanding loan and another 36.9 per cent into payment of salaries and pensions. A look at the past fiscal reveals that the state is borrowing double of what it uses as money to repay interests on loan.

Chandigarh: Domestic consumers in Punjab will get 300 units of free electricity each month from July 1, CM Bhagwant Mann said as he announced the “good news” he had been hinting at since he took office a month ago. He said Punjab will be the second state after Delhi to provide free power to the people.

Free electricity was one of the key pre-poll promises of AAP, with party chief Arvind Kejriwal assuring 300 units during his campaign. “We will fulfil all our promises in the next five years,” Mann said.

However, if a household exceeds more than 600 units in two months, it will have to pay the full bill. Punjab has a two-month billing cycle. The move will put an estimated additional burden of £500 million on the state exchequer, according to AAP MLA Aman

Arora.

“But the AAP governance model will ensure that the burden is not transferred to the people,” he said. The CM said Punjab could not provide free or cheaper electricity because of flawed agreements by previous governments.

He said his government is committed to providing the cheapest electricity to commercial and industrial sectors. Mann clarified that members of Scheduled Castes, backward classes below the poverty line, and freedom fighters currently getting 200 free units each month, will get 300 units and charged just for the usage over and above the free 600 units in two months.

Mann said rates of industrial and commercial units will not be hiked and free electricity for the agriculture sector will continue.

WEST BENGAL

CAG finds irregularities in relief distribution by Mamata govt New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found large number of irregularities in distribution of £200 million in house building grants by the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal between May 2020 and January 2021 for the cyclone Amphan affected Mamata Banerjee poor people in the state.

While seeking an investigation into the frauds, the federal auditor has informed the Union home ministry that it faced ‘constraints’ in auditing due to noncooperation from the state government despite a Calcutta HC order to audit the relief distribution. “In Amphan relief by the West Bengal government there were a very large number of irregularities which show that not only the selection of beneficiaries was non-transparent but the relief was also distributed in unfair method and there was high risk of frauds in the payment of relief,”

a senior officer said.

The auditor has dispatched its report to the Union home ministry recommending an investigation of the ‘process of disbursement’ of relief and ‘necessary inquiry’ against the government officials for fixing responsibility. The CAG carried out a financial and performance audit of the postAmphan relief distribution on the instructions of the Calcutta high court. The study was conducted between February/September 2021 for the period starting May 2020, when Amphan hit the state, till January 2021 when housing grants were disbursed.

In over 1,500 cases, the audit found Rs 94,00,000 was paid to people for house building despite their claims being rejected on the ground of no damage found.

Assam Cong leader joins TMC Congress in Assam suffered a setback when its former PCC president, minister and Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora joined Trinamool Congress in Kolkata, hours after sending a two-page resignation to party chief Sonia Gandhi. Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee now has three key politicians in the Northeast Bora, former Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma and Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev - to steer the party through the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and state polls in the region.

Severing his three-decade association with Congress, 66-year-old Bora argued in his letter to Sonia that instead of fighting unitedly and aggressively against BJP’s “communal and divisive” forces, Congress members were “fighting each other for their vested interests.”

CENTRE SLAMS KERALA FOR NOT UPDATING COVID DATA The Centre slammed Kerala for not regularly updating Covid data for five days which, in turn, has impacted and skewed India’s key Covid monitoring indicators like cases, deaths and positivity. Underlining the importance of daily and diligent reporting of data for management of pandemic, the health ministry said the data is critical for not only tracking and monitoring but is also helpful in defining strategies and plans at the Centre, state and district levels. “It has been observed that Kerala has reported its state-level Covid-19 data after a gap of five days (since April 13). This has impacted and skewed the status of India’s key monitoring indicators like cases, deaths and positivity,” health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said in a letter to Kerala’s principal health secretary.

TAMIL NADU GOVT SNUBS GOVERNOR In a major embarrassment to Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, the MK Stalin government officially boycotted his "At Home Reception" over what they called his delay in forwarding the NEET Exemption bill to the Union Government even after the Tamil Nadu assembly passed it unanimously twice. The government's stand was officially communicated to the Governor by Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Health Minister Ma Subramanian. Tamil Nadu opposes the medical entrance exam NEET, arguing it favours the rich who can afford private coaching and denies opportunity to the rural and economically compromised students who can't afford it.

ED GRILLS CHANNI IN CONNECTION WITH SAND MINING Former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi was questioned by the ED in a money laundering investigation linked to sand mining in the state, officials said. The federal agency recorded the statement of the 59-year-old Congress leader under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Channi tweeted to say he was “summoned by the ED regarding the mining case. I attended and replied to the queries put by them to the best of my knowledge. A challan in this case has already been presented by ED in the Hon’ble court. The authorities have not asked me to come again,” he posted on the social media platform. Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey was arrested in this case by the agency days before the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls.

A charge sheet was filed against him and others before a special PMLA court in Jalandhar on March 31. Honey, currently lodged in judicial custody, has recently applied for bail. According to sources, the agency questioned Channi, who had earlier skipped a few summons, about his links with Honey and others and about certain visits his nephew made to the chief minister’s office. He was also questioned about the allegations of certain transfer and posting of officials in the state as part of the illegal sand mining operations, the sources said. Without naming anyone, former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted, “My fight was for Punjab and not for sand. Those who ran the land, sand and liquor mafia let down Punjab for selfish vested interests by looting the exchequer. It is either Punjab or the mafia in the present financial scenario! The fight continues. ”

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Museum to commemorate PM Modi arrives in Gujarat, lays foundation for multiple projects contributions of former PMs opened Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Ahmedabad for a three-day visit to Gujarat on Monday.

He was received by Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat and State Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at the airport. The Prime Minister later visited the Command and Control Centre for Schools in Gandhinagar. He also dedicated to the nation and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects at Banas Dairy Sankul in Diyodar, Banaskantha.

Spread over 151 acres, the newly built campus has been set up at a cost of nearly £60 million, Banas Dairy’s chairman Shankar Chaudhary said. Modi has also dedicated Banas community radio station to the nation. The community radio station has been established to provide farmers key scientific information related to agriculture and animal husbandry. It is expected that the radio station will connect with over 500,000 farmers of about 1,700 villages.

Simultaneously, e-inauguration of renovated cheese and whey powder plant in Palanpur, Banas gobar gas plant and bio-CNG station at Dama (Deesa) was also conducted while the PM digitally laid foundation of four new gobar gas plants at Khimana, Ratanpura (Bhildi), Radhanpur and Thavar (Dhanera). The new dairy plant will have processing capacity of 30,00,000 litres per day (LLPD) milk, pro-

duce 80 tonnes of butter, 1 LLPD icecream, 20 tonnes of condensed milk (khoya) and six tonnes of chocolate a day.

The potato plant having capacity to process 48,00,000 tonnes of potatoes per day will produce different types of processed potato products like french fries, potato chips, aloo tikki, patties, many of which are exported in other countries.

Later in the evening he laid the foundation stone of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar.

Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus were present on the occasion.

On April 20, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Global AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit at Gandhinagar. Thereafter, at around 3:30 PM, he will attend the Adijati Maha Sammelan in Dahod and inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development projects.

Indians urged to buy only locally- made products India cannot afford to remain stagnant at this juncture and it has to become self-reliant, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while urging people to buy locally-made products only. He said if people use local goods for the next 25 years, then the country will not have to face the issue of unemployment. Modi was speaking after unveiling a 108-feet tall statue of Lord Hanuman in Morbi via video link on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. “India cannot afford to remain stagnant today. Whether we are awake or asleep, we cannot continue to remain where we are. The global situation is such that the entire world is thinking on how to become ‘aatmanirbhar’ (self-reliant),” Modi said.

“I would request the saints of the country to teach people to buy local products only. ‘Vocal for local’ is the in thing. At our homes, we should only use things made by our people. Imagine the high number of people who will get employment due to this,” he s aid. “We may like foreign-made goods, but these things do not have the feel of the hard work of our people, the scent of our Mother Earth,” Modi said, adding, “In the next 25 years, if we just use local products, there won’t be unemployment among our people.”

The PM inaugurated the statue of Lord Hanuman at the Ashram of ‘Param Pujya Keshvanand ji’ at Morbi. This is the second of the four statues being set up in the four directions across the country, as part of Hanumanji Char Dham project. The first statue in the series was set up in the north in Shimla in 2010, and work on the statue in the south at Rameswaram has also started.

Calling Lord Hanuman an inspiration for all and the one who ensured the right to respect of all the forest-dwelling species and tribals, Modi said it is an important thread of ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat’.

Modi said the same spirit connected people from different sections in preIndependent era India and helped the country take resolve for achieving independence.

India’s faith and culture emerges from harmony, equanimity and inclusivity, he said,

adding that Lord Ram set an example of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vishwas’ (together, with everyone’s trust) by taking all together to accomplish a job, despite himself being competent to do everything on his own. Modi also recalled his past connection to Khokhra Hanuman Dham, where the statue has come up, and said it was a source of inspiration for him. Recalling the Machhu Dam disaster of 1979 in the region, he said that lessons learnt from that calamity helped him tackle the 2001 Bhuj earthquake.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a museum commemorating the contributions of all his predecessors and the highlights of their terms, saying the complex will help raise national consciousness by showing the challenges they overcame to lay the foundation of a ‘New India’.

“It is my honour to dedicate this museum to the nation as we celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence. . . this is our attempt to raise national consciousness,” the PM said while addressing a gathering comprising families of some of the former PMs among others.

The museum has come up on the Teen Murti Estate in the national capital, where the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, dedicated to the first PM, is located.

Artefacts related to Nehru have been retained in the original Nehru Memorial Museum building, redesignated as Block I, and contain interactive screens about India’s journey to becoming a republic and features a gallery on the writing of the Indian Constitution, apart from books and memorabilia related to Nehru.

Interestingly, ‘Pandit’ honorific nearly synonymous with Nehru is missing from the reference to him in the gallery containing pictures of all PMs. Equipped with state-of the-art interactive technologies, Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya has separate galleries dedicated to the 14 PMs where artefacts, speeches, hand-written notes and rare pictures drawn from their families’ personal

India registers rise in fresh Covid cases After 11 successive weeks of decline, Covid-19 cases in India surged again this week, rising by 35% over the previous seven days' numbers, on the back of a spike in infections in the contiguous states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

However, overall case numbers remain low and, so far, the surge seems restricted to the three states. India recorded around 6,610 fresh cases in the week ending Sunday (April 1117), up from a count of 4,900 in the previous seven days.

Although around 7,010 cases were

Illegal assets of Khambhat riots accused razed Bulldozers were used to demolish encroachments of properties owned by those accused in the communal riots in Khambhat which left one person dead on the day of Ram Navami. Based on directives of Anand district collectorate, local administration in the coastal town started removing bushes, thick vegetation and tin and wooden cabins in Sakarpur area, the locality where stone pelting had started during the recent Ram Navami procession.

The riots had also left six policemen injured. Police had said that the violence was a 'pre-planned conspiracy' hatched by a 'sleeper module' to achieve dominance of the minority community in the town. Police have arrested 11 persons for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy, which it said was planned to attack the procession and spread violence to "teach a lesson" to members of the majority community so that they do not take out any procession in the future.

"We have issued orders to remove all illegal encroachments. Miscreants had used the bushes and thick vegetation to attack

collections and from various government repositories are displayed.

A separate section has also been set aside for displaying the gifts all PMs received from across the globe while in office.

Modi, who toured the old and the new blocks for over one hour as the museum’s first ticket-bearing visitor, said the Sangrahalaya reflects the shared legacy of every state and each prime minister. He also said it is the nation’s collective responsibility to strengthen democracy which India has sustained with a solitary aberration. Though he did not elaborate, the PM’s comment was an oblique reference to the Emergency period, when the Indira Gandhi government suspended civil rights and political process.

Members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, which gave the country three PMs, skipped the opening, while Manmohan Singh conveyed his inability to attend due to illhealth. The space dedicated to Indira Gandhi also comprises a section on the Emergency period.

the procession. The encroachments are being removed from government land based on government records. These are those encroachments which had come up on government land and against which notices were already issued in the past," said Anand collector M Y Daxini. He said carts and stalls are also being removed to free government land.

While the drive started from Sakarpura area, the district administration said that it will continue for the next couple of days.

"We are assisting the district administration in the drive," said Anand district superintendent of police Ajit Rajian, who is camping in Khambhat since Sunday's violence which the communally-sensitive town witnessed after a gap of two-and-a-half years.

Interestingly, as the news of the razing drive at the minority-dominated area in Khambhat spread, memes were also being circulated on social media platforms. One of them showed photos of MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel - labelled as 'Trimurti'.

reported in the previous week, Kerala's cases have been deducted from the total for the purpose of comparison since the state has stopped issuing Covid data from the current week.

Kerala had reported 2,185 cases last week (April 4-10), nearly a third of the national total. Deaths from the virus continue to decline in the country with only 27 new fatalities recorded during the week, the lowest in over two years since March 23-29, 2020. Last week, 54 deaths were reported, 13 in Kerala.

All three states witnessing a surge in infections saw fresh cases more than double in the space of a week. Delhi logged by far the highest count of new cases at 2,307, a rise of 145% over last week's tally of 943. The capital accounted for more than a third of all cases reported in the country.

Weekly cases remained more or less unchanged in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan. In Gujarat, the spike in cases seen last week appears to have cooled off, with the state recording 110 cases as opposed to 115 in the previous week.

Rajasthan logged a marginal rise in cases -90 as compared to 67 - although the numbers were too low to be of concern yet.

Weekly cases in the country had steadily declined since the peak of the third wave in January 17-23. Despite the increase in infections this week, the overall Covid numbers in India remain comparable to those nearly two years ago, during the initial weeks of the national lockdown. Active cases of the virus in the country stood at around 12,000, up nearly 1,000 during the week due to the spike in the three northern states.

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Bringing Asian food W culture alive

bhaji. It takes me back to my childhood memories and reminds me of home.

by Shefali Saxena

M

asterChef UK contestant 36-year-old Sonu (Sanskruti) was born and grew up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. After getting married, she migrated to the UK at the age of 25. She’s married with two children - her son Maanav is nine and Shanaya is four. Gujarati food is a huge part of her cooking but she also loves to cook European dishes too. She’s a vegetarian but cooks meat dishes for her friends and family.

Speaking exclusively to Asian Voice, Sonu said, “Being deaf has been a struggle at points and cooking has always been there as my way of relaxing. I now feel ready to show that being deaf doesn’t mean I have limited options or I can’t have a go at the competition and I feel ready to give it my best shot.”

W

hat is it like being a part of such a popular show?

Overwhelming and surreal. Feeding John and Greg have been my dream ever since I started watching MasterChef. It's come true now.

W

hat kind of food do you like? Especially the food that belongs to your culture?

I love eating comfort food. My favourites include khichdi, kadhi and pav

hat kind of cooperation do you have from the show producers to meet your special needs?

Everyone on the set was very accommodating and met my requests to make me feel comfortable and be at ease, such as wearing a clear mask and speaking while facing me and not from behind. I recently had my cochlear implant surgery and was adjusting to the new mode of hearing. I had voice inflammation that

Sonu

resulted in my voice getting croaky. They gave me enough time and breaks in between.

W

hat is your message to more South Asian women who perhaps don't have the know-how or courage to participate?

I'd encourage them to go for it and not let their disability be the blocker and to believe in themselves. You are way better than you think and will get all the support needed.

W

hat do you wish to do once the show is over?

I hope to introduce a South Asian inspired dessert range and plan to open a cosy cafe in the future.

Thousands of new community volunteering opportunities Thousands of young people, people with disabilities and those experiencing loneliness will get the opportunity to volunteer and help others thanks to £4.6 million in government investment.

More than 160 community organisations will be able to support 7,800 new volunteering opportunities over the next two years as the government confirms the beneficiaries of the Volunteering Futures Fund.

The fund was launched last year and will be distributed by Arts Council England (ACE). It will break down barriers to volunteering and enable organisations across the arts, culture, sport, civil society, youth and heritage sectors to continue their valuable work within local communities while volunteers enjoy the personal benefits of making a difference.

ACE has awarded funding to

organisations including colleges, local councils, schools, and health and wellbeing organisations in response to demand from a wide range of beneficiaries such as people experiencing loneliness or social isolation, young people in the LGBTQ community, and people with learning difficulties and complex needs.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “Volunteering offers a wealth of benefits to those involved and the organisations which rely on the help.

Our new support will deliver a stepchange for those who may be isolated, lonely or experiencing any number of potential barriers to getting involved in volunteering.

More than 160 organisations across the country will benefit and we will see better collaboration between local councils, the public sector and civil society.”

Culture and Community groups receive £58,500 Three well-known Fylde institutions have received a total of £58,500 through Fylde Council’s Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) Exceptions 2022 Scheme to help fund vital restoration and development, the Council are pleased to announce.

The Lowther Gardens Trust, the Ansdell Institute, and the St Annes Enterprise Partnership each successfully applied for funding through the Government-backed programme to help those businesses and organisations adversely affected by COVID19 but which were not eligible for assistance through other support schemes. The monies received are to be invested in better facilities and infrastructure and will in turn help them

provide greater value to the community.

Cllr Karen Buckley, Leader of Fylde Council, said: “It has been our great pleasure and privilege to be able to support our local businesses and organisations through the trying times of the past two years. Many of our local establishments would not have been able to survive without assistance, and we have worked hard to ensure crucial financial support was delivered where it was most needed. As we move towards a brighter future, these investments will help strengthen our economy and secure our heritage, and we are excited to watch our Borough thrive once again.”

Essex Indians celebrate 'Bappi Sandhya' to commemorate Bappi Lahiri's legacy Essex Indians recently paid global homage to two Indian legends - Bappi Lahiri and Sandhya Mukhopadhyay who mesmerised the Indian and global audiences with their immortal creations in their 51st virtual peripandemic concert.

Sandhya’s evergreen songs were once again rejuvenated by talented artists from UK, USA, Thailand and India - Sutapa Mukherjee ( E sudhu Gaan er Din), Basabdutta ( E gaan e projapoti), Sutapa ( Aaamader Chuti Chuti), Sahana ( Mayabati Meghe elo tandra), Chandrali ( Ghum ghum chand), Chandrajit ( Champa Chameli) and Anirban ( Ke tumi amare daako and Ei poth jjodi na sesh hoi).

Dance tributes were conducted by UK sensations - Ahana ( Esho ma Lakkhi) and Anashmita ( Madhu Malati daak e aai).

Bappida’s immortal song ‘ Manzil e aapni jaiga hai’ from film sharabi was sung in golden voice of ujjwal and also in instrumental flute by child prodigy Mayukhjit, while classically trained Chandrajit perfomed ‘ Yeh naina yejh kajal’

meticulously. Ujjwal also performed evergreen Suraksha song.

Song tributes of Bappida’s songs were by renowned artists like Ashis (Aitbaar song), Moumita ( Raat baki baat baki), molly ( pyar manga hai tumhi se and Mana ho tum medley) and Queen ( a medley of Hari om Hari, Tamma Tamma and Zooby Zooby). ‘ Oo la la ‘ - peppy dance number was performed by Queen and Anirban, ‘ Tamma Tamma’ by Ahana, ‘ Yaar bina chain’ by Anashmita and a medley of ‘ Jimmy Jimmy’, ‘ Disco Dancer’ and ‘ Tune Maari Entriyaan’

by Ahana’s students - Rina, Sutapa and Anirban.

Renowned classical dancer Monidipa and qualified Zumba instructor Sourav did the finale with ‘koi aha aha nache nache’.

Mr Gora Aditya and Mrs Phyllis Aditya joined from Toronto, Canada and shared their intimate experiences with Bappida.

The event was anchored by Anirban.

Essex Indians Trustees thanked everyone for joining and making the event a success.

Hampstead Theatre announces the full cast & creative team for the world premiere of Satinder Chohan's Lotus Beauty Hampstead Theatre has announced the full cast and creative team for the world premiere of Satinder Chohan’s new play, Lotus Beauty. Directed by Pooja Ghai, Lotus Beauty will run at Hampstead Downstairs, in association with Tamasha Theatre Company, from 13 May until 18 June 2022.

Lotus Beauty follows the intertwined lives of five multigenerational women. The cast features Anshula Bain (Tartuffe, Birmingham Rep; (This Isn't) A True Story, Almeida Theatre); Souad Faress (The Archers, BBC; Game of Thrones, HBO), Zainab Hasan (The Welkin, National Theatre; Shakespeare Trilogy, Donmar Warehouse), Ulrika Krishnamurti (Pink Sari Revolution, Curve Theatre/Belgrade Theatre/West Yorkshire Playhouse; Made in India, Tamasha Theatre Company), Kiran Landa (Line of Duty, BBC; Extinct, Theatre Royal Stratford East).

Ghai will be joined by designer, Rosa Maggiora; lighting director, Matt Haskins; sound designers, The Ringham Brothers; dialect coach Gurkiran Kaur and assistant director, Cassia Thakkar.

Satinder Chohan, the playwright of Lotus Beauty, said: "I am so excited to be sharing Lotus Beauty with audiences soon. It

is a play inspired by the resilient women and vibrant beauty salons of my hometown in Southall."

Pooja Ghai, director of Lotus Beauty, said: "Lotus Beauty is both funny and poignant. Satinder’s play shines a lens on the beauty and complexity of being a migrant and a South Asian woman in modern-day Britain. I am so excited to work with our wonderful cast, and creative and technical teams to bring the story to life."

Lotus Beauty invites us into Reita’s salon where clients can wax lyrical about their day’s tiny successes or have their struggles massaged, plucked or tweezed away. But with honest truths and sharp-witted barbs high among the treatments on offer, will the power of community be enough to raise the spirits of everyone who passes through the salon doors?

City of York Council unveils plans to create new Multi Use Games Area in Westfield Plans to seek planning permission for a new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) in the Westfield area of the city will be considered on Tuesday 19 April by the City of York Council.

The proposals seek to meet the increasing demand for artificial grass pitches and accessible sports facilities in the area following the removal of the Kingsway MUGA, as a result of refurbishing and extending the neighbouring Lincoln Court older person’s independent living community.

As part of that development, the council made a commitment to provide alternative recreational facilities following community consultation including Sport England within Westfield Ward in mitigation for the loss of the MUGA. A suitable site for the new MUGA has been identified at the site of York Acorn Amateur Rugby League Sports and Social Club, which is less than half a mile away from the original MUGA. The site is council-owned and is currently leased to York Acorn until 26 January 2109.

The York Acorn site has an area of grass and spoils from previous groundworks which is underutilised by the club on the south-eastern corner of their site, which would be the ideal location for the MUGA. The potential area could be in the region of 30m x 45m, providing the community with a significantly larger multi-use space than the one that has been removed.

If the proposals are approved by the council’s Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Communities at the meeting on 19 April, a planning application will be submitted for an artificial grass pitch, with floodlighting and fencing to support playing rugby league and football. The site will also be able to be used for other active leisure opportunities and informal play.

The size of the pitch will be determined by the tenders received for the project.

Under the proposals, the pitch will have free-to-access sessions for young people outside school hours and in holiday periods to maximise use, as well as paid-for sessions to generate revenue for maintenance.

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Long reproductive span, older Boost calcium levels naturally age at menopause linked to with these tips lower dementia risk C According to a study, long reproductive span, pregnancy, and older age at menopause are associated with a lower risk of dementia in women. The results of the study were published in the journal ‘PLOS Medicine’. The research suggested that reproductive and hormonal factors may be invoked in dementia risk, but observed factors may be involved in dementia risk,. It also observed a similar association between the number of children and dementia risk in women, suggesting that the physical experience of childbearing may not account for risk variation.

Dementia rates are increasing around the world, with some studies reporting a higher incidence in women than men, yet there is limited evidence based on reproductive factors and the risk of dementia. Jessica Gong and colleagues used the data to examine the risk of all-cause dementia and reproductive factors in 273,240 women as well as the number of children in those women and in 228,965 men.

Certain elements came to light after controlling for age, socioeconomic status, smoking, body mass index (BMI), and other elements. They were related to shorter cumulative exposure to internally produced estrogen, such as older than the average age at first period, younger than the average age at

menopause, and having a hysterectomy.

Pregnancy, even aborted pregnancy, longer reproductive span, older age at menopause, and use of contraceptive pills were associated with a lower risk of all-cause dementia.

For both men and women, compared with having two children, having no children or four or more were apparently associated with a greater risk of dementia.

Gong said, “Reproductive events related to shorter exposure to endogenous estrogen in women were associated with higher dementia risk, and these findings highlight the vulnerability in dementia risk pertaining to women. However, the similar association between the number of children and dementia risk observed for women and men indicates that the risk variation in women may be more related to social and behavioural factors in parenthood, rather than biological factors involved in childbearing.”

Try these yoga asanas to reduce cholesterol Cholesterol helps in the formation of healthy cells in our body.

However, it should be kept in check as high cholesterol can lead to cardiovascular diseases. High cholesterol also leads to fatty deposits in the blood vessels, further affecting the health of the heart. A nutritious diet and adequate sleep are recommended by health experts to maintain the cholesterol level in the body.

Practising certain yoga asanas on a daily basis also helps in maintaining the level of cholesterol in the body and keeping the arteries unclogged.

Kapalabhati: An effective Pranayam technique, Kapalabhati helps in increasing the metabolic rate of the body, thereby reducing the bad cholesterol. It also helps in stimulating the abdominal muscles and the

alcium plays a key role in our body functions. Apart from maintaining bone and teeth health, it also contributes to blood clotting, regulating heart rhythm, and healthy nerve functioning. Not having enough calcium can cause a number of health issues in children and adults. Some of the signs of calcium deficiency are fatigue, dental troubles, dry skin, muscle cramps, etc.

Ayurvedic expert Dr. Dixa Bhavsar wrote in her latest Instagram post, “Generally, people suffering from thyroid, hair fall, joint pain, metabolic disorders, hormonal issues, undergoing HRT, women during/post menopause suffer from calcium deficiency.” Dr. Bhavsar says Vitamin D facilitates intestinal absorption of calcium along with phosphate and magnesium ions and in its absence dietary calcium is not absorbed efficiently.

She wrote, “Vitamin D allows your body to absorb calcium. Calcium is necessary for building strong bones, teeth and even hair. According to Ayurveda, hair and nails are bi-product (mala) of asthi (bones).

So even hair health depends on calcium.

Calcium regulates muscle contractions, nerve functions and heartbeats and even helps in blood clotting.”

According to the expert, these are the top four natural sources of calcium: Amla - Amla is extremely rich in

Vitamin C, iron and calcium. You can have it in any form you like- raw fruit, juice, powder, sharbat, etc. The expert, however, says since amla is sour in taste, it is not recommended for people with joint pain.

Moringa - Moringa leaves are imbued with ample amounts of calcium, iron, vitamins A, C and magnesium. Just have 1 tsp moringa leaf powder every day in the morning on empty stomach. Since it is hot in nature, pitta people should have it with caution.

Sesame seeds - Take about 1 tablespoon of black/white sesame seeds, dry roast, blend with a teaspoon of jaggery and ghee and roll into a ball. Have this nutritious ladoo regularly to boost your calcium levels.

Milk - Milk is the best and easily available source of calcium that is easily absorbed by the body. A glass of milk every day keeps your calcium issues at bay.

Normal calcium level ranges from 8.5 to 10.2 mg/dl.

Hidden signs of stress in your body digestive system.

Surya Namaskar: Eleven rounds of Sun salutation can be performed in the early morning every day to keep the cholesterol level in check. Surya Namaskar involves 8 yogic asanas and 24 yogic counts. These eight asanas involve a good deal of stretching of abdominal muscles. Workout of the abdominal muscles ensures a better functioning digestive system, thereby keeping bad, unwanted cholesterol in check.

Experts believe stress is our body’s way to survive, stay alert and respond to a situation at a moment’s notice. In fact, they tell us that stress, when in small doses, is quite healthy for your brain. However, as is with everything, excessive or persistent stress can do the opposite. Staying in constant stress can do a lot of harm. It could numb your senses, affect your productivity, problem-solving skills, and make decision-making hell.

Modern-day life has prompted stress to manifest itself in physical symptoms like headaches, dizziness, muscular tension, high blood pressure, and insomnia among other health issues. Identifying and managing

Private education doesn’t lead to better mental health A new study has found that those who went to a private school in England were no happier in their lives in their early 20s than their state-educated peers. The results of the study were published in the journal ‘Cambridge Journal of Education’.

Researchers from the University College London (UCL) analysed data from the Next Steps study, run by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, which follows the lives of a representative sample of 15,770 people born in England between 1989 and 1990.

The participants have been regularly surveyed since 2004 when they were 13 and 14-year-old secondary school pupils. Life satisfaction was measured at ages 20 and 25 by asking the participants how satisfied or dissatisfied they were with the way their life had turned out so far.

While the participants who had gone to private school were happier with their lot, after factors such as socioeconomic background and ethnicity were factored in, the difference vanished.

Mental health was measured at 14, 16, and 25 by asking questions such as ‘Have you been able to concentrate on what you are doing?’ And ‘Have you lost sleep over worry?’. The results suggest-

ed that there was no private school advantage for boys’ mental health at any age. Girls in private schools at the age of 16, had slightly better mental health than their state school counterparts.

The researchers concluded that overall, there was no convincing evidence of a difference in mental health or life satisfaction between the private and school pupils, either in their teenage years or in their early 20s.

Sociologist Dr. Morag Henderson said, “I think it is possible that the increased pastoral support was just starting to make a difference for this cohort. But it is also likely that although school resource is greater in private schools, the academic stress students face might be too and so we see each force cancelling the other out.”

Dr. Henderson added that the results might be different for today's schoolchildren, due to private schools being better able to support pupils who are struggling with their mental health since the start of the pandemic.

these symptoms is quite important.

If these headaches and unexplained pains continue for a long time, you may need to try some relaxation techniques like meditation, deep breathing, and therapy. Our body gives off all sorts of subtle signals that may be difficult for us to read at times. By recognising the signs of stress early on, one can take steps to address the problem before it becomes an issue.

Following are some hidden signs of stress to watch out for.

Unexplained aches: Stress leads to muscle tension, which leads to pain in the neck, shoulders, and back. If you find yourself experiencing more pains than usual, it may be your body’s way of saying you are stressed.

Sleep Troubles: Sleep deprivation can be caused by stress and lead to bigger troubles.

Frequent Headaches/Migraines: If you find yourself reaching for the painkiller more often than you can count it could be a sign that your stress levels are too high.

Stomach Issues: Your stomach is one of the first organs to be affected by stress. It can cause indigestion, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea.

Fatigue: With your body staying in a constant “fight or flight” mode, it can lead to fatigue and exhaustion. Stress can make you feel tired and drained of energy.

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Alia-Ranbir’s simple yet stylish wedding wins nation’s heart B ollywood’s biggest stars, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor tied the knot in Mumbai on April 14, in an intimate ceremony. In what was India’s mostanticipated celebrity wedding of recent years, the power couple cut the cake and raised a toast to their marriage surrounded by friends and family. Pre-wedding festivities began with a traditional Ganesh Puja at Kapoor’s Pali Hill house.

The house and other properties owned by the Kapoors, including RK Studios, were decked with warm lights for the wedding celebrations.

A mehndi ceremony also took place, photos of which are doing the rounds on the internet these days. couple wore The Sabyasachi for their wedding, with Alia’s nomake-up bridal look garnering positive attention. She ditched the traditional lehenga and opted for a beautiful ivory saree, matched with a matha patti, gold jewellery by Sabyasachi Heritage Jewellery including a choker, jhumkas and bangles.

Alia and Ranbir are both among Bollywood’s best-paid actors. Both of them come from prominent film backgrounds. While Alia is the daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt

Abhishek calls his wife Aishwarya 'world’s best teacher' A

ctor Abhishek Bachchan was recently seen in Netflix’s ‘Dasvi’, playing the role of Ganga Ram Chaudhary, an uneducated politician who gains his high-school diploma while in prison. Abhishek opened up about studying abroad and spoke about whether he has ever helped his daughter with schoolwork.

He said, “I think she already has the world’s best teacher, which is her mother (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). I don’t want to downgrade her or her expectations of what a teacher should be like by teaching her. That department is handled by her mother.”

He also recalled how his father, Amitabh Bachchan, used to teach him mathematics. He said, “I remember my father spent a lot of time with me on mathematics. He was brilliant at that. He was a science student. He was a great teacher. But as and when we grow up, sometimes parents are not the best teacher to teach you because darr lagta hai na ki dad kya bolenge ya maa kya bolegi (you are scared of what your parents will say).”

Abhishek said he has been blessed with wonderful teachers in his life. In fact, he described his directors as his teachers. “At present, I think all our filmmakers are like teachers to us actors. The director holds our hand through the whole process. So, to have teachers in every part of your life is a blessing,” he replied.

‘Dasvi’ is currently streaming on Netflix and JioCinema. It also stars Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur.

Janhvi goes tea leaves-plucking during Ooty getaway

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ctor Janhvi Kapoor recently jetted off to Ooty in Tamil Nadu with her friend Orhan Awatramani for a short getaway. According to reports, Janhvi joined her sister Khushi Kapoor there. Khushi is shooting for her debut project - Zoya Akhtar's adaptation of 'The Archie' comics. The star enjoyed several recreational activities with her friend and even took to Instagram to share snippets from there. They will make you want to escape city life for a relaxing vacation in scenic landscapes.

Janhvi posted pictures from her visit to a tea plantation in Ooty. The actor posted the photos with

a bunch of tea, leaves and sun emoticons. The star even went zip lining, and her friend posted snippets on his Instagram page.

Janhvi's post shows her striking a dreamy pose while standing on a tea plantation with the lush greenery, majestic hills and a stunning blue sky adorned with white clouds serving as a backdrop.

The second photo in the post showed a stunning view of the sky clicked by Janhvi. The star's friend also posted snippets from their tea leaves plucking session and captioned it, "Tea leaf picking kind of a day." It showed the star captured in a candid moment while clicking pictures from her phone.

and actor Soni Razdan, Ranbir is the grandson of Hindi cinema legend Raj Kapoor and the son of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh.

A post-wedding party was held for the newly-married couple and saw the who’s who of Bollywood in attendance. Mostly dressed in

black, the guest list included family members such as Soni Razdan, Shaheen Bhatt, Neetu Kapoor, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, Bharat Sahni, Karisma Kapoor, Aadar Jain, and Armaan Jain. Also part of the festivities were Shah Rukh Khan, Shweta Bachchan, Gauri Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Ayan Mukerji, and Karan Johar. The bash was held at Ranbir's Vastu apartment in Bandra.

On the work front, the couple recently finished working on their first joint acting appearance in the long-awaited Indian superhero movie ‘Brahmastra’, which is set to release later this year.

Akshay draws flak for promoting pan masala brand

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fter Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood’s Akshay Kumar has now joined Ajay Devgn in promoting a pan masala brand. While the brand achieved a major feat by bringing together the three stars of Bollywood together, fans of the ‘Khiladi’ have taken offence at the decision. Akshay’s followers pointed out how the actor promotes the idea of quitting cigarettes for the family and had earlier said he will never promote ‘guthka’.

The endorsement features Devgn driving a car with Shah Rukh sitting next to him. Shah Rukh then says, “Dekhein, kaun naya khiladi aaya hai (Let’s see who is this new player). Then we are introduced to Kumar in the video, who holds a packet of ‘vimal elaichi’ which is cut open with a sword.

Many eagle-eyed fans even dug out an old video of Akshay where he is heard saying that he will never promote products that pose any kind of threat to one’s health.

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Sanjay Dutt cried for hours after learning he has cancer

KJo, Ajay Devgn bury the hatchet after six years F

ilmmaker Karan Johar and actor Ajay Devgn had a wholesome conversation on Twitter, six years after their tiff. Taking to the micro-blogging website, KJo shared the trailer for Devgn’s ‘Runway 34’ and also showered love on the cast of the film. In his tweet, Karan tagged Ajay, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet Singh, and Boman Irani.

Karan wrote, "Breathtaking and thrilling - simply cannot wait for the exceptional ride #Runway34 will take everyone on! An intriguing edge of the seat story & the perfect summer film. All my love and luck to @SrBachchan, @ajaydevgn, @Rakulpreet and @bomanirani!! (red heart emojis).”

Replying to him, Ajay wrote, "Hey @karanjohar, that’s a really cool compliment. Thank you. I would like for you to see the film when the first copy is out.”

The duo’s relationship hit a rough patch in 2016 when there was a box office clash between Karan’s film ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, and Ajay’s ‘Shivaay’.

The same year, in an interview, when asked what he would do if he woke up as Karan, Ajay replied, “I won’t want to wake up as him.” Ajay and his wife Kajol had also made an appearance on Karan’s show ‘Koffee With Karan’ in 2018 as a sign that everything was okay between them.

Ajay’s upcoming feature ‘Runway 34’ is billed as an edge-of-the-seat drama. The movie is produced and directed by Ajay, who also plays the lead role of Captain Vikrant Khanna. Releasing under the banner Ajay Devgn Films, the movie also stars Angira Dear.

Written by Sandeep Kewlani and Aamil Keeyan Khan, ‘Runway 34' is inspired by a true incident of the Jet Airways Doha to Kochi flight that had a narrow escape in August 2015 after facing difficulties landing at the Cochin International Airport due to bad weather and low visibility.

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ctor Sanjay Dutt recently recalled his reaction when he was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. In an interview, Sanjay said his sister Priya broke the news to him and he cried for hours as he was thinking about his family and life. The actor also revealed how he fought the disease to regain his strength back. He recalled his doctor warning him of several side effects of chemotherapy but he assured her that nothing will happen to him.

Priyanka reveals plans to raise her daughter

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Sanjay was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in August 2020. A few months later he had shared a note, “The last few weeks were very difficult time for my family and me. But like they say, God gives the hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. And today, on the occasion of my kids’ birthday, I am happy to come out victorious from this battle and be able to give them the best gift I can - the health and well-being of our family.”

Speaking with YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, Sanjay recalled, “It was a normal day in the lockdown. As I walked up the steps, I was totally out of breath. I had a bath, I couldn’t breathe, I didn’t know what was happening, I called up my doctor. In the X-ray, my lungs were more than half covered in water. They had to tap the water out.

They all were hoping it was TB (tuberculosis) but it turned out to be cancer.”

“How to break it to me, that was a big issue. I could have broken somebody’s face.

So, my sister came and told me. I said, ‘Okay, I got cancer, now what?’ Then you start planning things, will do this and that… But I did cry for over two-three hours because I was thinking about my kids and my life and my wife and everything. These flashes come and I said, 'I am going to stop getting weak’.”

Sanjay said that at first he didn’t get the visa and asked the treatment to be done in India. Later, actor Hrithik Roshan's father, actor-producer Rakesh Roshan recommended a doctor. Sanjay revealed that when the doctor warned him of losing hair and vomiting, he said ‘mereko kuch nahi hoga (nothing will happen to me).’ He also said that after his chemotherapy session, he would sit and cycle for an hour every day.

The actor is cancer-free now.

On the work front, Sanjay currently features in the latest release ‘KGF Chapter 2’.

The movie, which had released on April 14, earned £13.45 million on its opening day.

With Yash in the lead, the sequel also stars Raveena Tandon, Prakash Raj, Malavika Avinash, John Kokken and Saran.

ctress Priyanka Chopra recently opened up about being a new parent. Speaking to social media star Lilly Singh, Chopra talked about what kind of a parent she had, and what kind of a parent she wants to be. Priyanka and her husband Nick Jonas welcomed a baby girl in January this year via surrogacy.

During a conversation with Lilly about her book ‘Be a Triangle: How I Went from Being Lost to Getting My Life Into Shape’, Priyanka mentioned her thought process as a new parent. Priyanka said, “As a new parent right now, I keep thinking about that. I will never be imposing my desires, fears, my upbringing on to my child. I have always believed that children come through you not from you. There is no belief like this is my child and I will shape everything. They come through you to find and build their own life.

Recognising that really helped me, my parents were very non-judgemental in a certain way.”

Earlier, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, when asked about starting a family with Nick, Priyanka had said, “You know, you want to make God laugh and tell her your plans and I am not the one who makes those plans, but yes absolutely, whenever it’s the right time, it’s something that we definitely want.”

On the work front, Priyanka has several projects lined up for release, including the Amazon Prime Video series ‘Citadel’, the romantic drama ‘Text For You’, and the Bollywood film ‘Jee Le Zaraa’.

Sonam says she can see her 'young colleagues' get 'highly sexualised'

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ctor Sonam Kapoor Ahuja spoke about the “highly sexualised” nature of the internet, and how it portrays women, especially in India. Speaking in an interview with Vogue India, Sonam spoke about how “weird” she finds paparazzi videos that focus on female bodies in a fetishistic manner. She said that whenever she posts a “sexy” picture of herself on social media, it always gets more likes than a regular photo.

Sonam said, “There are these paparazzi videos of actresses, where they’re using these phone cameras and they’re zooming in on their butt or on their tits. Or, if they’re walking up the stairs, they’re showing their jeans. It’s a bit weird, and you can see that the views on that are way higher. Like, if I put a sexy photo of myself on Instagram, it’s got like 10 times more likes than a picture of me in a pretty dress. I promise you.”

She added, “In this world of clicks and likes… Especially in the West, where you have reality TV celebrities with their photoshopped, touched-up, plastic surgery-ed out view. That’s very highly sexualised imagery that’s trending right now. And I see a lot of my young colleagues who are catering to that audience, like clumped up lips… And it’s not their fault.”

Sonam is expecting her first child with her husband Anand Ahuja. She is currently in New Delhi, after spending the better part of the last year in London. She will be seen next in the thriller ‘Blind’.

Sonu Sood recalls the endless struggle to be successful in films

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unjab-born actor Sonu Sood says survival in the Indian film industry comes with the awareness that one would go through a series of rejections and a “crushing wait” to finally taste success. Speaking in an interview, he said, “When you choose to become an actor and come to an alien city like Mumbai, you have to be ready for a lot of rejections, for people not giving you your due, for you not getting what you want to do. The wait is endless, it is crushing and extremely demanding. That’s when you need to survive and face those challenges. You just have to be there, patiently, waiting for your turn to shine.”

He said he has gone through his fair share of rejections and challenges. “I have waited. I have held myself together. Success in this industry is how long you can

hold your breath underwater. I have been trying to hold my breath all these years. Maybe now it’s time to come up and say, ‘Hey I exist’,” he added.

Sonu currently hosts the popular show ‘MTV Roadies’.

The stunt-reality series marks his TV debut. The show is his first big outing ever since he shot to n a t i o n a l prominence with his philanthropic work, arranging transport for migrant workers, medicines, and hospital beds for those in need.

“You are living in a real-world, where people are connecting with you, giving you blessings, where you are struggling to make their life easy. I thoroughly enjoy connecting and helping people.

There can’t be anything more magical than this,” he said. On the work front, Sood will next be seen in Yash Raj Films’ historical drama ‘Prithviraj’, headlined by Akshay Kumar.

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‘KGF’ star Yash calls director Prashanth a 'blessing to Kannada industry'

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he crew of ‘KGF: Chapter 2’ marked the release of the movie on April 14, with a press meeting in Hyderabad. The event saw the film team including actors Yash, Srinidhi Shetty, director Prashanth Neel, and cinematographer Bhuvan Gowda, in attendance. Distributors Dil Raju and Sai Korrapati were special guests.

Speaking at the event, Yash said, “‘KGF’ has been a big and important journey in our lives. Cinema has so much power in it, and I always believed that the audience gives a space in their heart if we can make a (cinematic) world that can relate to everybody.

That is the only reason we could dream of coming here and trying to present our work in front of the Telugu audience. Telugu cinema is all about larger-than-life fantasy, and I love them. The kind of reception they give to every cinema and actors is fantastic. I have huge respect for that.”

Revealing that he and the movie team wanted to do something big for the Kannada film industry, he said, “This journey started with a small dream of making a mark. That was the sole purpose. In our industry (Kannada), all the technicians were working hard and doing fantastic work. Our industry had reached the potential of collecting more than £5 million. But yet, a lot of people were

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not aware of it. I don’t know why and what was the reason? KGF is Prashanth Neel’s dream. His world, his thought process, and his conviction made KGF possible. We have seen his work, and he came as a blessing to our industry.”

“Today, you all know him very well. But I would love to say that because of this man, our industry is very happy. Without his world and the kind of work he has done, we wouldn’t have been standing here. Thank you, Prashanth, for all the sufferings or pain you have gone through to understand cinema, to bring a cinema-like KGF. My producer Vijay Kiragandur and I also wanted to do something for the industry,” he added.

With Sanjay Dutt, Raveena Tandon and Prakash Raj in important roles, ‘KGF 2’ has music by Ravi Basrur. The movie was released in Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Never get a tattoo, Samantha's advice to fans

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elugu star Samantha Ruth Prabhu held an Ask Me Anything session on Instagram with her fans and one of the topics revolved around her tattoos. A fan asked her, “Some tattoo ideas you'd love to try some day.”

Samantha posted a video in reply on her Instagram Stories and said with clear, strong words, “You know the one thing I'd tell my younger self is never ever get a tattoo. Never.

Never ever. Ever, get a tattoo.”

Samantha has three tattoos. One is the YMC tattoo on her back - the initials of her first movie, ‘Ye Maaya Chesave’. The film was released in 2010 and also starred her ex-husband Naga Chaitanya. The second tattoo is on the right side of her ribs, the word Chay written in cursive. Chay is the nickname of Naga Chaitanya. The third tattoo is on her right wrist. It is a symbol of two upward arrows.

Chay has a similar tattoo on his right wrist as well.

Both the actors split up last year after almost four years of marriage. Samantha

wrote in her divorce announcement, “To all our well-wishers.

After much deliberation and thought Chay and I have decided to part ways as husband and wife to pursue our own paths. We are fortunate to have a friendship of over a decade that was the very core of our relationship which we believe will always hold a special bond between us. We request our fans, well-wishers and the media to support us during this difficult time and give us the privacy we need to move on. Thanking you for your support.”

On the work front, Samantha will be seen next in ‘Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaadhal’ alongside Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara.

She also has an international project in the lineup. Naga Chaitanya, meanwhile, will have a special role in Aamir Khan’s ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’. He also has an untitled movie with Venkat Prabhu in the works.

Rajamouli explains the role of Ram Charam and Jr NTR in ‘RRR’

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S Rajamouli has finally responded to claims that out of the two lead actors of his magnum opus ‘RRR’, Ram Charan got more screen time than Jr NTR in the movie. The response comes after Charan refuted such reports saying he believes both the actors have excelled beautifully in the film.

Rajamouli, saying that he can understand the audience’s perception, said the movie would never have been such a huge box office success if the two lead actors weren’t treated equally. The filmmaker then explained in detail why it may appear that Ram Charan has a bigger role in the film.

He said, “It wasn’t a right way of putting it that Charan earned all the accolades. As a director, I can’t be more happy with the kind of output that both of them gave. But saying that one actor is better than the other is the way you look at it. For example, I can say that Charan has been given more space in the climax because it is the last thing that you walk away with, it feels like Charan is getting more attention than Tarak (Jr NTR). But if I had

Kajal Aggarwal and Gautam Kitchlu blessed with a baby boy

stopped the film after Komuram Bheemudo, it would look like Charan is just a bystander and Tarak is taking away the entire screen space. As a storyteller, you shouldn’t do that kind of judgment. Always look at how much empathy, as an audience, you are feeling for the characters.”

Rajamouli explained that Ram Charan and Jr NTR can both appear as the bigger star in the film depending on the perception of the audience. He said, “If you look at the story, Tarak saves Charan twice. Charan saves Tarak once. There is one point where Charan says, ‘For 15 years, I was not clear what my goal was.

Tarak showed me the way with one song. I thought a weapon was a physical thing, but Tarak showed me that weapon is an emotion.

He has shown me the way.’ If you look at this perspective then you will feel that Tarak is the hero and Charan is just following him. But if you look at it in another way, when Charan asks, ‘What can I give you?’ and Tarak says ‘Give me shiksha’, then Charan is the teacher and Tarak is the disciple.”

ajal Aggarwal and her husband Gautam Kitchlu welcomed their first child, a baby boy on the 19th April.

While the couple is yet to make an official statement, Kajal's sister Nisha Aggarwal confirmed the news. In an interview with The Indian Express, Nisha Aggarwal said, "The two welcomed an adorable boy on Tuesday morning." Kajal Aggarwal and Gautam Kitchlu had announced the pregnancy news in January.

Kajal added that over the last eight months she has watched her husband become “the most loving dad” and she is well aware that her baby will be looked after well by him and will have an “extraordinary role model” to look up to. The couple had announced that they were expecting earlier this year.

Kajal and Gautam got married in 2020.

“There will be sleepless nights, times we feel sick, times we aren’t feeling ourselves, but this will also be the best time of our life. Things will change but one thing will stay the same and that is how much I love you! I’m blessed to have you by my side for our greatest adventure yet. You are going to be the most terrific father and I love the life

we live.” added Kajal.

On the work front, Kajal will next be seen in Chiranjeevi's starrer Acharya’.

Directed by Koratala Siva, the actioner also stars Ram Charan and Pooja Hegde. It will hit screens on April 29. Kajal also has movies like ‘Karungaapiyam’, ‘Paris Paris’ and ‘Ghosty’ in her kitty.

TV Listing

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 25 APR - FRI 29 APR 2022 6:00 Dalda Lidha Chori Raaj 9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9:30 SUR PRABHAT 15:00 RASOI SHOW 17:30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18:00 DESHI BEATS 18:30 SURI 19:00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21:00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21:30 GEETA

SATURDAY 23 APR 2022 6:00 Dharti No Chhedo Ghar 9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9:30 SUR PRABHAT 15:00 RASOI SHOW 17:30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18:00 DESHI BEATS 18:30 SURI 19:00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21:00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21:30 GEETA SUNDAY 24 APR 2022 9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9:30 SUR PRABHAT 12:00 Aa Chhe Aapni Dosti Unlimited Yaar 15:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 16:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 18:00 DESHI BEATS 18:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21:00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21:30 GEETA 21:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 25 APR - FRI 29 APR 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00

SASURAL SIMAR KA TU AASHIQUI BHAGYA KA LIKHA SWARAN GHAR KAWACH MAMTA KA THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN (SEASON 2)

SATURDAY 23 APR 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 19:00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20:00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21:00 THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN (SEASON 2) 21:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 SUNDAY 24 APR 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 SWARAN GHAR 19:00 THE ANUPAM KHER SHOW SEASON 1 20:00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21:00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL

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Digital premiere of 'The Kashmir Gal Gadot congratulates Alia on her wedding Files' on ZEE5 Global '

The Kashmir Files' will soon make its digital premiere on ZEE5 Global. The film recently became the first Hindi film to cross the £25 million mark at the box office in the postpandemic era. Now with its world digital premiere set on ZEE5, the movie will soon be accessible across 190+ countries in multiple languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada and with English subtitles.

The film is written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and features talented cast of actors including Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi and Chinmay Mandlekar.

The film is said to be a true story, based on video interviews of the first-generation

victims of Kashmiri Pandit community. It’s a heartwrenching narrative of the pain, suffering, struggle and trauma of Pandits and questions eye-opening facts about democracy, religion, politics and humanity. The movie garnered positive responses from critics and fans alike.

On the premiere of the film, Archana Anand of ZEE5 Global said, “we look to bring our viewers handpicked stories from South Asia that are real and relatable and brought to life by the best of content creators and artistes.

The Kashmir Files has received a massive response from audiences and we are happy to now bring this movie exclusively on ZEE5 Global for viewers across the world.”

Mira Nair’s ‘Mississippi Masala’ re-releases in the US F

ilmmaker Mira Nair’s ‘Mississippi Masala’ was rereleased in a remastered format in the US on April 15, 31 years after it first premiered in France. The movie starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury revolves around Indians being subjected to racism and xenophobia in Uganda.

The screenplay writer of the movie, Sooni Taraporevala believes the film will have a strong impact on the new generation of the Indian diaspora in the USA. She says, “When the film first came out, I was in India and there were so many comments like, ‘We aren’t like that, we aren’t racists’ but it’s just not true. We like pointing fingers at others and calling them racist, but deny it when it comes to us.

It’s going to be very relevant for the next generation because sadly, not much has changed.”

Taraporevala, who bagged the Golden Osella Best Original Screenplay for it at the Venice International Film Festival in 1991, says, “In a climate where new films aren’t getting released theatrically, we find it absolutely amazing and thrilling that a film that’s 30-year-old is being rereleased.” She feels it’s imperative to introduce the younger NRI audience to cult classics that offer them a glimpse into their culture. She says, “It’s always important to expose them to what came before, provided it’s relevant, especially in today’s times where attention spans are zero. Nobody reads and so, there’s no concept of history today.”

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ewly-married couple Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor tied the knot last week, receiving a tsunami of good wishes from almost the entire Indian film industry. Fans and colleagues alike sent in their prayers, and along with them, Hollywood star Gal Gadot too congratulated the duo.

As Alia shared the first photos from her mehendi ceremony, Gal took to the comments section and wrote, “Congratulations” along with a heart emoji. The comment garnered a lot of attention. A fan wrote, “Wow so

sweet you are wishing her”, while another wrote, “Wonder women with 100% whole hearted”.

Gal and Alia are set to work together on multistarrer spy thriller ‘Heart of Stone’. Netflix India announced Alia's casting on its official Twitter handle last month. “Starting our day by announcing (and SCREAMING!!!) that @aliaabhatt is going to be starring in Heart of Stone, an International spy thriller along with @gal_gadot and @jamiedornan,” the post read.

Tom Harper will be directing the movie from a script penned by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder. According to the official logline, the film revolves around Rachel Stone (Gal) an intelligence operative, the only woman who stands between her powerful, global, peace-keeping organization and the loss of its most valuable - and dangerous - asset.

The film is produced by Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, along with Mockingbird’s Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn, and Pilot Wave’s Gadot and Jaron Varsano. Harper, Rucka and Patty Whitcher serve as executive producers. Details about Alia's character are currently under wraps.

Two-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej meets PM Modi P

rime Minister Narendra Modi last week met Bengaluru-based artist Ricky Kej and congratulated him on his second Grammy win. “Your passion and enthusiasm towards music keep getting even stronger,” NaMo said in a tweet.

Miss my family a little too much during Baisakhi: Jassie Gill P

unjabi actor-singer Jassie Gill, who grew up in a village remembers Baisakhi as a time of unparalleled joy. Speaking in an interview, the ‘Panga’ actor said, “As a family, we’d look forward to the festival as it meant that we could finally harvest our crops.

It was a period of intense hard work. But excitement kaafi rehti thi yeh soch ke ki paise aayenge aur parents se jo chahiye woh maang sakenge.”

However, he says a lot has changed as he moved on to create a place for himself in the film and music industries. He said, “(Now) my family lives in Canada, and I live in India. And on Baisakhi, I miss them a little too much.” Gill has a four-year-old daughter, Roojas Kaur Gill, who lives with her mum in Canada.“The Punjabi community there hosts shows and dance performances, which are accompanied by stories about what they stand for. Mere family ke liye

yeh important hai ki apne bachchon ko apne tradition ke saath jod ke rakha jaaye,” Gill said.

When asked about his favourite dishes on the occasion, Gill said, “I would insist my mother make the dishes that I like. Our lunch would comprise of either rajma, which I love, or kaale chane. And in the evenings, we would have kada as dessert. I come from a very desi village.

We hadn’t even heard of custards. For us, dessert meant moong daal ka kada.”

As Baisakhi marks the onset of a new year, he makes a resolution to do quality work in Bollywood. “Rather than doing eight back-to-back movies in a year, I want to be selective about my work,” says Gill, who has wrapped up two Hindi films - 'Noorani Chehra’, with actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and an untitled project.

Ricky won his second Grammy on April 4 for Best New Age Album for his album Divine Tides. He won his first Grammy in 2015 for his album Winds of Samsara in the Best New Age Album category.

Kej also expressed his gratitude towards PM as he wrote on Twitter, "Hon'ble Prime Minister @Narendramodi ji, I will never forget our meeting 7yrs ago, when I won 1st Grammy. You put me on a path of positive social impact through music. Today was blessed again by you on winning a 2nd Grammy for India. I dedicate to #AzadikaAmritMahotsav #IndiaAt75.”

Ricky Kej had earlier credited Modi with setting him on the path of environmental consciousness. “You set me on the path of environmental consciousness 7 years ago when I won my 1st Grammy Award,” said Kej in a tweet. He was responding to a congratulatory tweet from PM Modi.

According to its official website, Divine Tides is a nine-song album, which aims to give out the message that “each individual life plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance that serves all equally.”

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Miller, Rashid lead Gujarat to incredible win The big-hitting David Miller blazed away to a 51-ball 94 as Gujarat Titans pulled off an incredible win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL on Sunday. Leading the side in the absence of an injured Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan supported Miller with a 21-ball 40 as GT recovered from 16 for three, and then 48 for four, to seal one the greatest comebacks in the history of IPL. GT were set a target of 170. Needing 48 in 18 balls after an excellent 17th over by Dwayne Bravo, Rashid hit Chris Jordan for three of his own maximums. GT collected 25 runs from the over to reduce the equation to 23 from 12 balls. More drama awaited as Bravo dismissed Rashid and Alzarri Joseph off successive balls in the penultimate over.

CSK skipper Ravindra Jadeja handed the ball to Jordan for the final over, hoping that his experience and ability would do the job for the yellow brigade. However, Miller had other ideas as he completed the job with a ball to spare. In all, Miller smashed eight boundaries and 6 sixes, while Rashid had three maximums and two fours to his name during a match-turning partnership of 70 runs.

Rajasthan Royals win a thriller Rajasthan Royals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs at an IPL match in Mumbai on Monday. Put into bat, RR rode on Jos Buttler’s 61-ball 103 innings, which was studded with nine boundaries and five maximums, to post a challenging 217 for five. Sanju Samson (38 off 19 balls), Shimron Hetmyer (26 not out off 13 balls), and Devdutt Padikkal (24 off 18 balls) also chipped in with useful contributions. In reply, Shreyas Iyer blasted 85 off 51 balls and Aaron Finch scored 58 off 28 balls but KKR were eventually bowled out for 210 in 19. 4 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the most successful bowler for RR, claiming five wickets for 40 in his quota of four overs, while Obed McCoy (2/41) snapped two wickets in the decisive final over.

Malik’s heroics seal fourth victory for SRH Young pace sensation Umran Malik's scorching final over proved to be the difference as Sunrisers Hyderabad slayed Punjab Kings by seven wickets for their fourth successive win in the IPL on Sunday.

In top gear with Liam Livingstone's counterattacking 60 off 30 balls, PBKS lost five wickets in seven balls with Malik (4/28) producing a perfect final over - a rare fourwicket maiden - to skittle out the opposition for a below-par 151. After Bhuvneshwar

Kumar (3/22) provided the key breakthrough of Livingstone, the 22-year-old uncapped pacer picked three wickets while the fourth came via run out to derail PBKS. In reply, Sunrisers Hyderabad did not have a perfect start and lost skipper Kane Williamson early in the fourth over with Kagiso Rabada drawing the first blood. The win took SRH to eight points, moving up from the middletable rush to climb to fourth spot, while PBKS remained on seventh with six points from as many matches Karthik leads Bangalore to victory Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis gave credit to Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed and his bowlers for their 16 runs win against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2022 on Saturday. Karthik hammered 66 not out while Shahbaz contributed an unbeaten 32 and shared a 97-run partnership for the sixth wicket after Glenn Maxwell had set the platform with an attacking 55 as RCB posted 189/5 in 20 overs. Hazlewood (3/28) and Mohammed Siraj (2/31) then restricted Delhi Capitals to 173/7 in 20 overs to seal their fourth win in six matches. The Bangalore skipper was especially happy with his bowlers’ performance in conditions that were not at all conducive for bowling.

Mumbai sink to 6th defeat Mumbai Indians (MI) sank to a record low by suffering their sixth defeat in as many matches with an 18-run defeat against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). A century by skipper KL Rahul inspired the Lucknowbased franchise to a phenomenal victory at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium and ensured MI find themselves on the brink of elimination from the tournament. Rohit won the toss and chose to bowl first. MI made a change to their playing XI once again with West Indian all-rounder Fabian Allen No. 1 2 3 4

Teams Gujarat Titans Rajasthan Royals Lucknow Super Giants Royal Challengers Bangalore 5 Sunrisers Hyderabad 6 Kolkata Knight Riders 7 Punjab Kings 8 Delhi Capitals 9 Chennai Super Kings 10 Mumbai Indians

Match 6 6 6 6

PUJARA HITS DOUBLE TON IN SECOND INNINGS FOR SUSSEX

making his debut for the franchise. After playing two games in a row without having four overseas players, MI played with their full quota of foreign players on Saturday.

Rohit's decision to bowl first and put pressure on the LSG batting unit initially.

Rahul blitz singes KKR After Delhi Capitals’ Kuldeep Yadav wrecked them in the last match picking up four wickets, it was Rahul Tripathi who led the foundation for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s seven-wicket victory against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. The KKR top-order looked all at sea trying to negotiate the SRH pacers after being asked to bat first by skipper Kane Williamson on a greenish wicket. However, some judicious batting by Nitish Rana (54 off 36) and some big hits from Andre Russell (49 off 25) in the end saw KKR put up a fighting 175 for eight. Their bowlers made the right start picking up both the in-form SRH openers – Williamson and Abhishek Sharma inside the Powerplay. But then Tripathi stepped in and started playing his shots all over the park. The Maharashtra batter collected 18 runs, including two consecutive sixes off Varun Chakravarthy’s first over. It was a night to forget for Chakrvarthy, who ended up giving away 45 runs in his three overs.

IPL points table Won Lost 5 1 4 2 4 2 4 2

Tied 0 0 0 0

NR 0 0 0 0

Pts 10 8 8 8

NRR 0.395 0.38 0.296 0.142

6 7

4 3

2 4

0 0

0 0

8 6

-0.077 0.16

6 5 6

3 2 1

3 3 5

0 0 0

0 0 0

6 4 2

0.109 0.219 -0.638

6

0

0

0

0

0

-1.048

Former captains back Ben Govt has to decide on Stokes to replace Joe Root India-Pak cricket: Kapil Ben stokes has a “smart cricket brain” and is the “obvious” choice to take over as England Test captain following the exit of Joe Root, according to former captains Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain. Root last week stepped down from captaincy, ending his five-year tenure after facing criticism following England’s 0-4 Ashes defeat against Australia and 0-1 series loss to West Indies. “I don’t see anyone else who could take the position and be guaranteed of their place in the side,” Vaughan said.

“In Ben Stokes, you have clearly got someone who has got a smart cricket brain, he’s going to give it everything, he is certainly going to have the respect of the players around him.” Hussain, who led England from 1999-2003, also backed Stokes to take over as Test captain.

“For me the obvious candidate is Ben Stokes. (He) Stokes has done

some phenomenal things as a cricketer and has a very smart cricket brain. He showed that in World Cup final, he showed that at Headingley…He showed that when he’s taken over occasionally from Joe Root,” Hussain was quoted as saying.

“People say, ‘Oh, Ben Stokes’, do you know what happened to Flintoff and Botham? Ben Stokes is not Flintoff and he’s not Botham, don’t judge him by how other people have done.” Stokes had taken a break from cricket last year to focus on mental well-being and Hussain feels it is important that he is in the right place mentally as captaincy can take a toll.

“The difficult thing for Stokes is the point I made about the toll it takes on you as a captain. You have to be in the right place mentally and physically,” he said. Hussain, however, said Stuart Broad could also be an option in case Stokes is not up for it.

in brief

Legendary cricketer Kapil Dev said national interest is of foremost importance when it comes to restarting bilateral cricketing relations with Pakistan. He was speaking to reporters after Karnavati University, a private university in Gandhinagar, announced Kapil as its brand ambassador. Kapil said, “Mera opinion important nahi hai.

(My opinion is not important). Government’s thought-process is the most important. Only they can decide. What is important is the country’s policy. Players will be ready to play anytime.

Certain policies, I think, we should leave it to the government. I think, as a sportsman and everyone, we should stand with the policy of our government.”

Asked about the decline of traditionally stronger

teams and the emergence of new uncapped players in the current season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the former World Cup winning captain initially tried to sidestep the question before saying that the infrastructure set up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India has gone a long way in producing young Indian cricketers.

“The Indian cricket board has placed a lot of importance on the infrastructure. This has been hugely beneficial to the young cricketers. The board has given facilities to players,” he stated.The IPL, he added, has increased the talent pool of Indian players.

India once only had 12-15 top players but now there is a pool of 40 to 50 players who can play for the country in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, he said.

Senior India batter Cheteshwar Pujara redeemed himself with an unbeaten double hundred in the second innings as Sussex snatched a draw against Derbyshire at the 2022 County Championship. Making his debut for Sussex, Pujara was dismissed for six off 15 balls in his first innings on the second day as his team folded for 174 in 56.3 overs in reply to Derbyshire’s 505. However, the Indian produced a superb show in his second essay, hitting an unconquered 201 off 387 balls. His innings was studded with 23 hits to the fence. He shared a 351-run partnership with skipper Tom Haines (243) for the third wicket to bail out Sussex, who were 513 for three in 176.1 overs when the match ended in a draw. The veteran batter was dropped from the Indian Test team following the series in South Africa.

KARTHIK WORKING HARD FOR INDIA RETURN India's seasoned wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik said that he has been “trying everything” to stage a comeback into the Indian team. Karthik, 36, who began his journey in international cricket way back in 2004, has not put a foot wrong in the ongoing IPL, playing some of the finest knocks for his franchise. He stretched his excellent run of form with a blistering 34-ball 66, paving the way for RCB’s 16-run win over Delhi Capitals. “I must admit that I have a bigger goal. I have been working really hard. My aim is to do something special for the country. This is part of my journey. I have been trying everything to be a part of the Indian team,” Player of the Match Karthik said at the presentation ceremony.

INJURED CHAHAR LIKELY TO LOSE PAY CHEQUE Chennai Super Kings pace bowler Deepak Chahar could lose a major chunk of his IPL money - perhaps all of the £1.4 million he got in the IPL mega auction - if the latest injury setback keeps him out of IPL for the entire season. As per the IPL rules, the auction amount of the player is called his salary and the tax is also deducted accordingly. This entire amount goes into the player’s account, according to a report. The auction amount is for one year.

RONALDO ANNOUNCES DEATH OF HIS BABY BOY The Manchester United star was expecting twins with partner Georgina Rodriguez, but revealed that while she had given birth to a girl, their son had died. ‘It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our baby boy has passed away,’ Ronaldo began his statement. ‘It is the greatest pain that any parent can feel.’ The footballer continued: ‘Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness. We would like to thank the doctors and nurses for all their expert care and support. We are all devastated at this loss and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time.’ He added: ‘Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you.’ Tributes have poured in for the newborn, with Piers Morgan, Usain Bolt and the Manchester United club sharing messages of support for the family.