AV 23rd May 2020

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

inside:

inside:

British Muslims get ready for Eid-al Fitr celebration amidst lockdown

Vijay Mallya could be extradited after losing SC appeal

SEE PAGE 15

SEE PAGE 8

Britain's super-rich lose £54bn amid pandemic; Hindujas slip to second spot SEE PAGE 16-17

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side 23 MAY - 29 MAY 2020 - VOL 49 ISSUE 4

Nirav Modi's extradition case adjourned as video of him threatening ‘dummies’ plays in court

SEE PAGE 15

2 23 May - 29 May 2020

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FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

inside: Vijay Mallya could be extradited after losing SC appeal SEE PAGE 15

Nirav Modi's extradition case adjourned as video of him threatening ‘dummies’ plays in court SEE PAGE 15

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side 23 MAY - 29 MAY 2020 - VOL 49 ISSUE 4

‘NOT READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL’

British Muslims get ready for Eid-al Fitr celebration amidst lockdown

Local Government Association demands schools in areas with large BAME population should be allowed to open later

SEE PAGE 8

Britain's super-rich lose £54bn amid pandemic; Hindujas slip to second spot Rupanjana Dutta Schools in areas where there is a large population of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) residents should be allowed to open later, the Local Government Association (LGA) has urged. They have asked more power to decide on matters of importance such as school or nursery closures if testing indicates cluster of Covid-19 cases. The LGA has also asked for greater flexibility to allow some schools to take their own decisions about reopening - in consultation with their councils.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

found that ethnic minority groups are particularly vulnerable, especially when all socio-demographic factors-, age and health are taken into account. If just considering age, black women were 4.3 times more likely to die from a Covid-19 related death, and black men 4.2 times more likely, than their white counterparts. People of Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and mixed ethnicity also have a raised risk of death, in comparison to he white population.

A Government Spokesperson told Asian Voice exclusively, “We’re now past the peak of the virus, and so it is right that we plan for the first phase of a controlled and careful return of some year groups from 1 June, at the earliest.

Continued on page 4

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4 UK

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London Mayor joins calls on the PM to launch an independent public inquiry into COVID-19 BAME disproportionality

with Keith Vaz

Mihaela Padure Mihaela Padure, was born in Romania which she left in 2008 to move to London. It has been a challenging journey to move somewhere where your language is not your native - in her case one which she never studied in school (at the time Romania driven by communist parties and other languages were in the agenda, such as Russian), starting all over which meant leaving her legal career in Romania behind and retraining as a lawyer.

It is in London where Mihaela became the proud mother of her 3-year-old son Anthony, qualified as a solicitor, and even set up her own law practice, Forest & Co. Solicitors . At present, she has plans to open three further offices, in Birmingham, Liverpool and Leicester.

Mihaela have strong links with both the Romanian and Asian communities who form an important part of her client base.

Her favorite quote is: “I am easily satisfied with the very best” - Winston Churchill

1

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

I consider myself privileged as I have two homes. It is difficult to say whether England is my home or Romania. I love London, I have made the decision to move here on my first visit, back in 2008. I remember my sister and I travelling from the airport to the hotel and, as I was fascinated by the greatness of this historic city, I told her: “that is the city I would like to live in”…I guess, in a way London felt like home since that very moment.

2

What are your proudest achievements?

My son along with my balanced private and professional life. Also, the fact that my mom, my sister and my brother followed suit in moving to London and they have all been working with me during the years.

My siblings, younger than me, are also Solicitors, which makes me ever prouder as I understand I have set a model for them.

I am also involved in various charitable projects; helping people in need is a priority to me, however, I feel that we all need to do much more than we are doing at present as we are living in an increasingly inequal world.

3

What inspires you?

Resilient people and those with values, a sincere smile, life, the natural.

What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

When I moved to London, as just mentioned, I had to start all over again in a way. I had no professional experience in my field in the UK and that was the biggest challenge for me, since I was excelling in my field back in Romania. It involved hard work and much patience to catch up and reach the current status. I have always believed in my capabilities and that helped very much me to face any challenge which came my way.

4

5

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

My mum has been a true inspiration to me throughout the years, ever since I was little. She has always encouraged me to persevere and fulfill my dreams, reminding me that everything is possible. My father had also played an important role into guiding me to pick a legal career. As a child, I was seeing myself as a theatre actress; it was my father who advised me to manifest that desire into advocacy in the court room instead. Looking back, I now understand what he meant and am very grateful for his advice.

6 What is the best aspect about your current role?

I like building long lasting professional relationships, particularly as a lawyer since I always feel like I am making a difference - and always the right one. Forest and Co. Solicitors is not only a business to me, it is personal.

7

And the worst?

Some cases are highly sensitive. Family and Criminal law cases are sometimes stressful as the lives of those clients whom I am assisting in these areas are subject to the legal system and we, as solicitors, are not only part of that system but also the people into whom our clients put their a great deal of trust and hope. Although we are not personally involved, I must say that at times the more sensitive cases can indeed take a toll on us.

8

What are your long term goals?

Having a fulfilled and healthy family life, not compromising on the other things I care about for my professional career and vice versa, have more children, run a charity, and grow my business into a successful international boutique law firm.

9

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

I would request the Leaders of the Houses for the government’s legislative programme to conduct a detailed review over the Immigration and Family laws. That would be a priority on my agenda.

10

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

Queen Marie of Romania was the last Queen of Romania; she was the wife of King Ferdinand I. Princess Marie of Edinburgh was a descendant of a family with dynastic traditions, as the second child of Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, the son of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, and Maria Alexandrovna, the daughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. She married the heir to the Romanian throne.

Through her intelligence, beauty, diplomacy and generosity, she immediately attracted the sympathy of Romanians all over, and later became, through her contribution to the war effort and by supporting many social and cultural causes, one of the most beloved and revered personalities of the realm. I believe such time on an island with her not only would be devoid of boredom, but also of any risk to run out of practical ideas for our survival.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, called on the Prime Minister to commission an independent public inquiry into the disproportionate impact of COVID19 on the capital’s black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.

The impact on these communities has become increasingly clear in recent weeks with statistics from the Institute of Fiscal Studies and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing clear disproportionality. ONS figures earlier this month showed that black men and women are nearly twice as likely to die from coronavirus than white men and women, after taking into account age and socio-demographic factors.

The Mayor has joined with hundreds of community leaders, academics and activists in signing the Ubele Initiative’s call for an independent public inquiry to investigate the level of exposure to COVID-19 across all BAME key workers; the way BAME communities were factored into the preparedness and emergency planning; an examination of funding levels across communities; and the impact of the COVID-19 emergency powers and social distancing policy on BAME communities.

Sadiq has consistently raised serious concerns about the impact of the virus on BAME communities, successfully lobbying Ministers to routinely collect and publish demographics of those dying in hospital, calling for ethnicity data to be added to death certificates and urging the Equality and Human Rights Commission to undertake a full inquiry.

This week the Mayor convened a meeting of experts from transport, business, health, academia and the voluntary and community sector, as well as trade union representatives

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan

to discuss this further. City Hall is also analysing available data to improve the understanding of this disproportionate impact, looking into the social and economic factors behind infections and deaths, and its impact in other ways, including education, employment and welfare.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “It is shocking that Londoners of different ethnicities are being impacted by COVID19 in such disproportionate ways. It has exposed the major inequalities in our society and simply cannot be ignored.

“This pandemic must be a wake-up call for our country and the Government’s current review is not enough. We need a wideranging independent public inquiry that will get to the root of these problems. A public inquiry is crucial to ensure that communities are properly involved and to help build trust and confidence in its findings.

“Every Londoner, regardless of background or ethnicity, deserves the opportunity to live and work in safety, and only by asking the difficult questions can we move towards fundamental and lasting change.”

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Yvonne Field, CEO of The Ubele Initiative, said: “The devastating impact of COVID-19 on London’s BAME communities is deeply disturbing but not in the least surprising. The government’s handling of its’ biggest disaster since the World War II has left communities reeling throughout the country. We welcome the Mayor of London’s decision to support the growing call for an independent public inquiry. It is important that community-led action continues to be supported, and that BAME communities are at the heart of solutions moving forward. We have to bring the government to account for this catastrophic systemic failure.”

POLICE ARREST 3 MEN AFTER TEENAGER AYA HACHEM SHOT DEAD

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 19-yearold woman, who died after she was shot in Blackburn on Sunday.

Aya Hachem, a second year law student at Salford University, was gunned down from a car on Sunday afternoon on her way to Lidl supermarket in the town’s centre.

A statement from Lancashire police on Monday evening said three men from Blackburn, aged 39, 33 and 36, had been detained on suspicion of murder and were in police custody.

It added: “The arrests come following an appeal by detectives today, who urged anyone with information to search their consciences and come forward. Their appeal continues.”

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UK

5

23 May - 29 May 2020

Investigate BAME Covid-19 death risk Demand for an independent inquiry into the noted disappropriate impact of Covid-19 on the people of black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) is growing, and rightly so.

The mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called on the equality watchdog to urgently investigate whether the inequality could have been prevented or mitigated.

In a letter to the prime minister, Khan has joined hundreds of signatories, including Doreen Lawrence and author Malorie Blackman, calling for a comprehensive investigation into race and health inequalities in Britain. This has mounted pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to order an inquiry. The ethenic groups expect a positive response from the PM. Mayor's intervention comes after figures showed that black people in the UK are more than four times more likely to die from coronavirus than the white people. After taking into account age, measures of self-reported health and disability and other socio-demographic characteristics, black people were still almost twice as likely as white people to die a Covid-19-related death. Bangladeshi and Pakistani men and women were more than 1.5 times likely to die than their white counterparts, when other factors were accounted for, according to the figures published recently.

The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre

reported that 33% of critically ill Covid-19 patients were from a minority background, despite accounting for 19% of the UK’s overall population. This figure has remained consistent since 1 March.

In a letter to David Isaac, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) chair, Khan says the commission has a “moral responsibility” to carry out a wide-ranging investigation into the worse outcomes for BAME people that is not limited to the higher rates of deaths and critical illness.

The letter also called for the inquiry to be broadened to include the levels of exposure BAME staff are facing, whether employers are fulfilling their duty of care, and examining funding levels in areas where there is a significant BAME population.

As Mayor said, we need a wide-ranging independent public inquiry that will get to the root of these problems. A public inquiry is crucial to ensure that communities are properly involved and build trust and confidence in its findings.

City Hall is also analysing available data to improve the understanding of the impact Covid-19 is having on BAME Londoners, looking into the social and economic factors behind infections and deaths, and its other effects, including education, employment and welfare.

Reforms, stimulus essential and welcome India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined the stimulus and reform measures following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of a £200 billion package.

The stimulus aims to tide over the immediate challenges caused by the lockdown, while the structural reforms are to make India more competitive. Both are essential and the overall aim of the government is welcome. But with the lockdown extended until May 31, several questions remain about whether the government's diagnosis and the current economic situation is exacting enough and whether the measures outlined can actualise long delayed reforms.

As things stand, the actual and immediate fiscal outgo works out to just around 1 per cent of the GDP to alleviate the distress unfolding across the country. A crisis of this magnitude needs to be tackled at multiple levels - relief for the most vulnerable, support to specific sectors, short-to-medium term measures to boost demand, and structural reforms. But, so far, the government’s response has centered around only providing some relief measures, extending liquidity to select sectors, and stating its intent to push through contentious pieces of reform. Direct demand-side support has been minimal.

This signals a disappointing under-appreciation of the risks to the economy.

The measures to alleviate the suffering of the vulnerable are too little, and in many cases, too late. Expanding the provision of foodgrain through the public distribution system is welcome. But the delay in pushing through the portability of benefits is not. By the government’s own admission, this process will take months. Perhaps a better alternative would be to universalise the PDS temporarily. Cash transfers of Rs 500 are

simply inadequate to tide over this period of crisis. The JAM trinity could have also been utilised more effectively, and more imaginatively, to provide short-term income support.

And while increasing allocation to MGNREGA is the right step, the number of days of work provided should also have been increased. Announcements aimed at alleviating the pain in other parts of the economy have been too few, comprise largely of contingent liabilities, entail very little actual fiscal outgo. While government finances are constrained, adherence to fiscal conservatism at a time when governments across the world, even those ideologically committed to conservatism, are loosening their purse strings, is a let-down.

Considering that, of the four engines of growth, only government spending can drive economic activity at this stage, this was the time to ramp up spending. On the question of reforms, the announcements so far mostly spell out the government’s intent. Surely, for issues that have been on the policy agenda for years, the details of what is being done, and how, should have been worked out by now. All this only suggests that the 50-day lockdown period has not been effectively used by the government to firm up its plans.

As this health crisis is likely to play out over the coming months, there is an argument for the government to keep the power dry - for the unknowns that may yet to come. But, on the other hand, the longer the delays in dealing with the problems, the more severe the consequences, and greater the intervention needed. This pandemic has led to both demand and supply side shocks. Given the scale of disruption, far greater policy support is required than has been visible over the last five days.

Plight of migrant workers The mass migration of people due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown is the biggest in the Indian history since partition of 1947. Women, children, old and young are walking to their home state on foot as they were rendered jobless following the declaration of lockdown. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked the political parties to refrain from politicising the plight of migrant workers and behave responsibly on the issue. After announcing the £200 billion economic package, she sought the cooperation from all parties, including the Congress to resolve the issue. The Centre has already informed states about the special trains made available to carry migrant workers to their destination based on the request from the respective states, she said when asked to comment on the Congress' criticism about the economic package and the handling of migrant workers. She wondered as to why the Congress or their alliance-ruled states are not requesting for more trains and help their own migrant workers to reach their home.

Migrant laborers are among the most vulnerable parts of the “informal sector,” which make up 80 per cent of India’s workforce. The country’s infrastructure is built on the backs of these workers. They construct malls, multiplexes, hospitals, apartment blocks, hotels. They work as factory hands, delivery boys, loaders, cooks, painters, rickshaw pullers. They stand the whole day by the side of the road selling fruits and vegetables and tea and flowers. They often come to cities to look for work,

because they cannot make a living in their village. They are rarely part of a trade union and typically work without any contract or benefits. Most earn cash, and do not leave a paper trail.

The night the Central government announced the lockdown, migrant workers started leaving Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and just about every other city to which the economic opportunities had drawn them in the first place. They knew they could not afford to stay in the city if they had no income. In their village, they had family, wouldn’t have to pay rent, and were more likely to get something to eat. All buses, trains, and taxis had been stopped, so they had no transportation. News reports said workers were stranded in railway stations. Some tried to surreptitiously flee in container trucks carrying essential commodities, but they were intercepted.

So the people started walking, first in a trickle and then in a flood. A shocked nation saw images of thousands walking down highways. More than half a million people have left India’s cities. Many people have died while trying to make it home.

This mass movement surprised authorities. They hurriedly announced the running of special trains to carry them to their destination. But not enough to transport them and many of them were ignorant about the special trains or they didn't have enough cash to buy the railway ticket. After a hue and cry, the state governments have started bearing the expenses of tickets now. Whatever be the situation now, these migrants deserve a better deal definitely.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

- Maya Angelou

Alpesh Patel

Help the Pensioners Politicians I’ve been speaking to a lot of people in their 40s to 60s and over this week concerned about their pensions. What worries me is what they are investing in. It’s not that they have put their money into esoteric ostrich farms or such like.

Rather many have entrusted it to fund managers. Now speaking as a hedge fund manager (no we do not manage retail client monies only institutional funds), we do consider ourselves the SAS of the fund management business and more than happy to look down upon our ‘long only’ retail fund manager colleagues.

Don’t get me wrong, I like some of them, my secretary I trained up and she now manages a billion pounds at Newton Asset Management – so I know I can make people billion pound fund managers.

What worries me, and I’ve written about this in the Financial Times and my books is that the long only fund managers advertise like crazy, pull in your money, shove it into the handful of companies so much money can buy shares in without owning the business outright, eg BP, Aviva, United Utilities, and then tell you to hold for 5 years and charge on £10k, 10% fees over that time.

Most private investors don’t know they can see what the top holdings of such a fund are. And if they saw it, they would know they can go to Halifax or Barclays online and buy it the stock themselves.

But that’s not all. This is impacting pensions.

It means you will have thousands less in your pension.

The problem is made worse with titles like UK Equity Growth Fund. Hmmm…so much growth – negative over 3 years – thanks! UK only funds should be banned.

By excluding UK investors from overseas companies they are forcing poor growth on them.

So if someone put a gun to my head (my greying hair as someone pointed out in one of my investment webinars) and said what one stock should I buy for my child for 20 years – I would say, in an ISA so it’s tax free gains – buy – wait, I’ll tell you in a second. Why? Because names I’ve been giving for 20 years and the ‘obvious’ ones people ignore and then keep coming back to me saying ‘but it’s too late now, gone up too much’ whilst they go into a lesser known one to blow up their monies.

The one – the single one? It’s in the ps to this article under my name. Too obvious? Pensions need safety and growth. Fund managers are getting away with delivering neither.

I can make anyone a billion pound managing fund manager, as I proved with Naomi – PA, English Language student, opera singer. But they just need to listen. She did.

Editor: CB Patel Asian Voice is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 • Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Website: www.abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

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Continued from page 1

‘NOT READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL’ “We’ve set out guidance so schools can put in place appropriate measures to reduce transmission substantially, including: ● reduced class sizes and keeping children in small groups ● staggered break and lunch times, as well as drop offs and pick ups ● increased cleaning, reduced use of shared items and using outdoor space ● avoiding contact with anyone with symptoms ● frequent hand cleaning and good respiratory hygiene practices

he said.

“Now, we have started discussions to ease our coronavirus lockdown, by re-opening schools in a bid to restart our economy.

However concerns this might become a breeding ground for a second wave of Covid-19 cases may convince parents to keep their children at home.

“The role of local government is the key to unlocking, as it knows its people, communities and children. Daily local government delivers services to their local residents. Therefore, it only stands to reason that local government are a vital ingredient to a community solution.

Proportion of BAME to White: WLA Boroughs and London Averages, 2021

“On Friday, the government and scientific experts met with union leaders to hear directly on the advice underpinning our approach.”

But LGA said there are many concerns about how schools will be able to impose strict social distancing measures. They are therefore asking the Government to urgently publish the scientific evidence that underpins advice to reopen schools to reassure parents, pupils and teachers that it is safe to return from June 1.

The LGA believes that without any scientific evidence about the health risks facing staff and other children’s families if a pupil contracts and takes the coronavirus home with them, parents will not have the reassurance needed to send their children back to school or early year settings. This may mean a child or young person will miss out on key development opportunities.

Emphasis on collective mechanisms Cllr Judith Blake, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said, “We know parents are anxious about sending their children back to school or nursery.

“Plans to re-open schools and early years settings must focus on reassuring parents that it will be safe for children to return to school.

Publication of the scientific advice is vital to help provide that reassurance.The safety of staff, parents and families is absolutely paramount.

“Councils need to be able to close provision where testing indicates clusters of new Covid-19 cases and it is vital that schools have the resources to provide staff with necessary protective equipment, as well as soap and hand sanitiser for cleaning.”

In Brent, according to the 2011 Census, the BAME population is as high as 63.73%, with 18.64% Indians and 34.06% Asians. Cllr Ketan Sheth, Brent Council’s Chair of Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee highlighted that effective management mechanisms between national and local government are critical, “The role of education in daily life as well as society is very important and leaves a great impact on our progress as a community,”

“As Covid-19 shows, pandemics are complex social and behavioural challenges and not just technocratic issues. Parents, teachers, children are grappling with the threat of contracting the infection or dealing with personal loss. Effective management mechanisms between national and local government are critical.

“Anxiety will linger over infection rates, but if we work together, at a local level, in the communities where we live, we can be agile, and creative, in our services: together we can do it locally.”

But Cllr Ameet Jogia from Harrow Council emphasised that parents will be given a discretion to make the final decision, “It is understandably a very anxious time for many parents.

However, the Government is keen to put a plan in place to help bring back children to schools as soon as possible to restore routine and normality which is essential for their education and wellbeing.

"Nonetheless, the welfare of children and staff has been at the heart of all decision making. Schools will return on 1stJune, only if the science suggests it is safe to do so. Parents will also be given discretion to make the final decision, based on individual circumstances.

"In the meantime, the Government remains in constant contact with heads and teachers’ unions, and will carry on doing so, working on any issues they may have.”

According to 2011 Census, Harrow has 57.93% BAME population, with 42.2% Asians and 26.3% Indians.

Parents sceptical of school reopening Chandrani lives in Ealing with her husband and two children, one 8 and the other just 2 years old. According to the round of ethnic group population projections (EGPP) by the Greater London Authority in 2016, Ealing’s BAME population was 53.1% in 2016, projected to be 54.4% by 2021 and by 2050 it is expected to grow by 14.1%. Their largest ethnic group is Indian which is 13.8% of the population. Speaking to Asian Voice, she said, “My older child is not in the grades which will be

Representational recruitment of contact tracers important for BAME community

Asian Voice appeared on 10 Downing Street daily Covid-19 press briefing on Sunday. With Zoom crashing worldwide on 17 May, this Q&A was done through slides.

At the press conference, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said how UK’s top researchers rapidly working to find a coronavirus vaccine will benefit from £84 million of new government funding.

The funding comes as Oxford University agreed a global licensing agreement with AstraZeneca, the UK-based pharmaceutical company, for the commercialisation and manufacturing of their potential vaccine.

While contact tracing and vaccination go hand in hand, children in England may return to school before the government’s coronavirus contact tracing app is rolled out across the country, the work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has confirmed. When Rupanjana Dutta from Asian Voice asked about what the UK government is doing to recruit contact tracers from the BAME community, to beat cultural and language barriers, Alok Sharma said, “We have got over 17,000 contact tracers, we are very much on target.

This is also a matter of making sure, people across all communities, are able to come forward this vital task. One of the big concerns in

reopening this June. However, until there is substantial proof that children can maintain physical distance of 2 metres from each other in the school and they will in no way carry back the virus to home, I will not send them to school.

“To me my child should be healthy first and living with a healthy family. Then comes the need of completing syllabus or sitting for exam etc.

“We can work from home, so we do not have an issue of childcare. For now, school spaces should only be kept for the limited number of children, whose parents have to go out for their livelihood. Others should be continuing home learning thus lowering the chance of bringing in infection from school.

We seriously doubt that any social distancing can be maintained amongst children at school.”

More than 560,000 people signed a petition on change.org started by Lucy Browne, calling for parents to be given the choice to send their children back to school next month.

Teaching Unions also raised serious concerns about the government’s plan to start reopening schools from 1 June, describing it as ‘reckless’ and unsafe.

Though many parents have highlighted mental health of their children is getting affected due to the lockdown, they fear ensuring social distancing in below 10-year olds is never possible. Moreover, they also feel that trying to keep children at a safe distance from one another will pose tremendous challenge for the teachers, leaving them with very little time to actually dedicate towards teaching.

Atrayee lives in Beckenham, Bromley with her almost 8year-old son and husband. Only 15.68% of Bromley’s population is BAME with around 2.01% Indians. Speaking to Asian Voice, she said, “Although my locality doesn’t have a high Asian population, I was happy to know that the government thought of reopening schools in June. However, being in touch with teachers, I’ve come to know that schools are not equipped to maintain social distancing as per government rules and the new regulations are almost unrealistic. I am concerned about the mental health of our children, not being allowed to hug and touch their friends. It won’t be easy for them at all. I look forward to sending my son to school but since he’s in Year 2, we are unsure when he can join!”

Gopal from Newham thinks ‘contact tracing’ is the solution for sending back to children to school at the earliest. He and his wife have

the BAME community has been disproportionately impacted by the virus, there is work and studies that are ongoing.”

Dr Steve Powis, Medical Director for NHS England said, “It is important that contact tracing is available to all and we pay particular emphasis to those communities that not particularly and always engage in track and trace and we have representational recruitment so that we can effectively work with all those communities.”

He also spoke about the risk factors in the BAME community and how NHS is ensuring to keep them safe. “With NHS where we have a large proportion of BAME staff, it is really important that we are able to look after that staff, we reassure them and risk assess them individually and we ensure we put measures required to keep them safe,” Dr Powis added. decided against sending their 11-year-old daughter to school at the moment. According to the 2011 Census, 71.03% of Newham’s population is BAME, out of which 46.1% is Asian and 15% is Indian. Speaking to Asian Voice, he said, “Look at Germany. They could control the virus and the transmission rate because of the possibility of contact tracing. Unless we can put that in place- and one that is culturally sensitive and particularly equipped to deal with our community, there is no point in sending my daughter back to school. I know she misses her friends, and it is hard, as much as it is hard for parents. But I cannot let her go back to school, unless I am sure.”

Chandni lives with 6-year-old daughter and husband near Lee. The borough of Lewisham and Greenwich has 46.4% BAME population, according to the 2011 Census, with 1.7% Indians. Speaking to Asian Voice, she reiterated the same thing. “While the decision to reopen schools from 1st June is based on some scientific evidence that children are least affected by the virus, there is still a risk that they could get infected, as it is almost impossible to enforce social distancing in small children in my opinion,” she said.

“Therefore, inspite of how well schools follow guidelines, the school environment will still be risky for the little ones. My daughter has adjusted to the virtual lessons by the school. I believe schools will take at least a couple of weeks to train children to follow new safety and hygiene rules. By the time, she will get used to all that, it will be time for summer holidays.

Moreover, I feel that ensuring social distancing among the little ones will pose tremendous challenge for the teachers leaving them with little time to dedicate towards teaching.”

But Moona, a secondary school teacher, is keen to go back to school for the sake of her students. She told the newspaper, “Many of our children are from disadvantaged background.

They don’t have the equipment to study online, or their interactions could be minimal. The GCSE and A-Levels students next year will really suffer if this continues. The best resource in that classroom is me (a teacher). From scientific point of view, until they find a vaccine, going back to school will be risky. But I can see why we need to go back to school. I am worried about children’s and parents’ mental health.

The communication skills that we develop at school, we cannot develop those through online classes. I want to go back but I understand why my colleagues may not want to.”

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23 May - 29 May 2020

British Muslims get ready for Eid-al Fitr celebration amidst lockdown Rupanjana Dutta

patients has been exhausting but I was proud to be able to see my faith in action: Islam is a religion that preaches the importance of helping others before yourself - I was honoured that I was able to do that in this holy month.

“By the Grace of God my parents are still able to cook and look after themselves, and I am lucky to live near to them so I’ve been able to help with picking up groceries and collecting their medicines. Easily the hardest part of this has been the separation though.

During these holy months we would normally have a chance to spend more is the first time I’m having a party like time together, to eat, to laugh, to reflect this, so I’m hoping she’ll remember it.” and to pray together. Because of my When asked what she is cooking on frontline role during this crisis, we've this Eid, she added, “With a newborn, it lost that quality time together. won’t be crazy ambitious! But there’ll “Eid this year is going to be strange. be samosas or spring rolls, as she loves Without seeing my parents, kissing them. Moreover, as Hannah has a dairy their hands and hugging them, without allergy, I’ll be getting dairy free cakes sitting to eat and reflect with them, and I’m planning to make a pulao and without their company. It just won't be the traditional aloo bora/dal bora,” she the same. It will be the first one away added. from my parents, so we're still going to “The big difference is that we’ll be try to do some of the fun things we decorating the house the night before always do, like buying the ladies roses fo r her and she’ll have presents in a or a secret family Eidy, and we're still sack, which is something we hadn’t going to enjoy some good food God done before. Usually Eid is just lots of willin g. This year it'll just have to be in food, wear a nice outfit and not much separate locations, and this year I’m not else. I want Hannah to realise that Eid going to take the day off. There's too is as magic as Christmas, maybe even much important work to be done in more so!” hospital so I’ll be back there for the afternoon.”

47 year old Chanel 4’s ‘Ramadan in Lockdown’ Moona Green is a teacher of 34 year old mixed backDr Mohammed ground, from Abbas Khaki is South East appearing in London, who is ‘Ramadan in Eid as magical as Christmas also featuring Lockdown’, a in Chanel 4’s 5-part series on In her early 30s, Halima Khatun, ‘Ramadan in Channel 4, one of the seven siblings, lives in Lockdown’. starting from Manchester. She is an author and a Her Ramadan Monday 18 blogger at Halimabobs.com. Halima is ordinarily full May at 11:05pm told Asian Voice, how she is planning to of dividing her Moona Green and culminatcelebrate this Eid with her daughter time between ing in an Eid Hannah, newborn son Ishaaq and husspecial to air at Dr Mohammed Abbas Khaki her students and her family, particularband Mushfiqur. “This Eid will be bitter 11.20pm on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook ly her elderly mum, who has strong sweet as I’ve just had a new baby (6 Kolkata, India connections, and lives Saturday 23rd : @drmokhaki weeks) and I have a 2-year-old. We are alone here. However with Covid-19 rife May (all self-shielding. So, to make up for the in Britain she has had to make the diffiepisodes can be streamed on All 4). lack of visitors on Eid, I’m making the cult decision to socially distance from Channel 4 has talked to a range of day extra special for my daughter. her mother this Ramadan. That means British Muslims from across the coun“I’m going to have an Eid party for not being able to invite her over to stay try and followed them throughout the four of us with Eid-specific decoraor break fast, or be able to tend to her in Ramadan showing how the Muslim tions, a tepee and lots of video calls. her own home or comfort her. Though community coped with this unique and Weather dep ending, we’ll also do a Moona’s mother has been quite i ndepoignant moment in history, whilst socially distant gathering at my mum’s, pendent and resilient, the distance has observing their holiest month. as it’s safer to be in open air than in an been hard for both and Moona is findChannel 4 Head of Specialist ing that Ramadan without her mother Factual, Fatima Salaria said, “This is by her side, where she can take care of an exceptional time for us all, bringher is really testing her resolve. ing a range of challenges to every Speaking to Asian Voice, Moona aspect of society.” along with her daughter Sophia, who Dr Khaki doesn’t believe in makwas meant to take her A-levels this year ing life easy for himself. Having said, “Ramadan has been amazing this spent past Ramadans in places like year. We have not been distracted with Bangladesh helping the Rohingya. anything that is unimportant. We This Ramadan he was meant to be could focus on basic and simple things in South Africa volunteering at an and were grateful for that. But Eid this AIDS clinic - but Covid-19 changed year is going to be strange. everything. Now, alongside his usual “My brother has a big garden with a GP work, he has felt compelled to side entrance. And we are planning to voluntee r as a doctor in A&E at his do a social distance picnic there, keeplocal Hospital to battle the coroning 2 metres away from everyone. We avirus pandemic. are going to take a dish along, sit on our Speaking to Asian Voice, he said, Halima Khatun with her daughter Hannah, newborn “Ramadan was a much harder chalpicnic mats. We will pray and have son Ishaaq some tea and food together, and see lenge this year with Covid19. Instead each other’s faces, keeping safe disof taking time off for self-reflection enclosed space. My parents may join tance. We are going to take my mum to and to enjoy the benefits of this month, the social distancing party as we have to my brother’s in the back of a limousine I was working harder than I ever have. be careful. (which has a glass partition to isolate My shifts were longer, and I had to “From a Bengali perspective it her). Usually we have cousins and chilwork extra days to cover colleagues makes a change as Eid is usually about dren joining us, but this year it will be who were sick, self-isolating or s hieldadults making lots of samosas and so strange to not have any of them ing due to chronic conditions. Wearing there isn’t much for the kids to do. This around.”

PPE for so long whilst seeing so many For the first time ever, Britain’s 2.6 million Muslims will observe Eid alFitr in lockdown, under strict conditions imposed in response to Covid19.

Eid al- Fitr is a time for ultimate jubilation among the Muslims across the world. After a month of observing Ramadan, of praying and self-restrain, the British Muslims look forward to it, with communal prayers in mosques, visits to friends and family and celebrating together with food, presents and laughter.

But 2020 is not a normal year. This country’s Muslim community has spent the whole of Ramadan in isolation to maintain social distance, without congregating at mosques- that have now been closed for 9 weeks. Many have also not met their elderly family members for at least a month, if not more. Frontline staff who have spent days treati ng coronavirus patients without food and water during the day, broke their fast much later than usual, due to their unusual work pressure. But they have all been looking forward to this Eid celebration virtually or otherwise with immediate family.

The Muslim Council of Britain has reportedly urged people to celebrate Eid virtually this year, due to the existing social-distancing measures.

Guidelines for those celebrating have been also drawn up by the council. The community is disappointed, but they are all ready to celebrate it in a unique way, many are even planning zoom parties.

A RISING STAR IN GLOBAL CONSTRUCTION Dhiren Katwa Sabina Tayub lives in Leicester and works as an assistant quantity surveyor with Balfour Beatty, the leading international infrastructure group. Prior to this role, she was a graduate civil engineer with the same company. I caught up with Sabina, a face of the firm, to find out more about her successes so far.

Sabina’s one claim to fame is being named a rising star in the Guardian UK 300, a comprehensive survey of top graduate employers in the UK as well as that of top emerging talent. In 2018, she was a finalist in the ‘best young women in construction’ category at the European Women in Construction & Engineering Awards.

Originally from Malawi, which has an under-developed transport system, “I’ve always been interested in how highways and infrastructure can boost an economy,” said Sabina. “I thought that if I had a career in civil engineering I might be able to give something back to Malawi. At university I made up my mind to do as much as I could; my parents had done a lot to get me there. I held down five jobs and voluntary posts and went to China for three weeks on a study programme.”

Sabina’s current role entails mainly keeping up with subcontractors’ accounts such as valuing completed work and arranging for payments as well as conducting feasibility studies to estimate materials, time and labour costs, preparing, negotiating and analysing costs for tenders and contracts and advising on a range of legal and contractual issues.

Sabina, 26, hails from a Muslim ethnic group, Memons, originating from the Indian subcontinent. Traditionally, the Memons have been a mercantile community. But, as the years have passed, they have increasingly diversified into various other professions and are also known for their involvement in philanthropy.

Sabina’s father, Mohammed Tayub, was owner of a construction company and her mother, Nasim Tayub ran a builder merchant store in Malawi. Both are now retired. She has three brothers, Karim, Aziz and Furkan and two sisters, Maryam and Shaziya. Her mother-tongue is Kutchi and she speaks a bit of Gujarati, language of her ancestors.

Asked about her best ever experience, “Visiting 17 different countries in the last three years whilst holding down a fulltime job,” she said. “And I intend to travel more and see more countries. It’s my new favourite hobby. I learnt so much from these experiences and got insight into different cultures which I have always been interested in.”

I put to Sabina if she’d consider entering British Politics, “Actually I would,” she smiled. “I’d be good in politics as I love communicating, meeting new people and putting across my opinions. I’ve always tried to improve my surroundings and environment be that at school, university or now, at work.”

She aspires to work on a project in Malawi. Balfour Beatty has, she said, worked in Rwanda, “so maybe the company will be able to help me achieve this ambition too.”

NEW TASKFORCE DEVELOPING PLAN TO REOPEN PLACES OF WORSHIP Faith leaders and Government have agreed to develop a plan

to enable the phased and safe reopening of places of worship when the evidence shows it is the right time to do so.

This followed the first virtual meeting of the new Places of Worship Taskforce which included leaders and representatives from the major faiths.

Government set out its ambition to reopen places of worship in step three of its plan to lift restrictions, which is expected to be no earlier than 4 July subject to further scientific advice.

In recognition of how difficult it has been for people of faith to not be able to practice their religion with their community, members agreed to work together to consider whether some forms of worship, such as individual prayer, might be permitted in places of worship before they fully reopen in step three,where appropriate and safe to do so in line with social distancing guidelines.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said, “During this pandemic, significant spiritual moments such as Easter, Passover, Ramadan and Vaisakhi when families, f riends and congregations traditionally gather together, have been celebrated at home.

“I realise how challenging being separated from their communities has been for people of faith. That’s why I have convened the Places of Worship Taskforce to establish how religious practices can safely resume outside the home as soon as possible...”

Members of the Taskforce include: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, Imam Asim Yusef, Board of British Scholars and Imams, Rajnish Kashyap, Hindu Council UK, Jasvir Singh, City Sikhs and Daniel Singleton, Faith Action.

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Indian students with OCI and tourists from Kolkata still stranded in Britain With repatriation flights successfully starting between UK and India, Indians stuck in the UK are breathing a sigh of relief. The High Commission of India is working round the clock to help them reach home. But people from Bengal are upset, as there is still no direct flight to Kolkata. Some have lost their jobs, eagerly waiting to get home while others have ailing parents, in their deathbed, counting hours.

Ramesh Das from Kolkata, was visiting their son with his wife. He arrived in the UK on 17 January and was meant to return on 26 April. “Both me and my wife are over 60. I have my health issues, that need regular attending and require medications, that I brought along with me when I came here.

But the medicines were enough till the end of April, and they ran out. My son Joydeep had to finally find a GP who gave me a prescription for a month’s medicine, but what if he can’t return by the end of the month? This medicine will also run out,” he told the paper.

“We have a house in Kolkata where my wife and I stay. It is lying locked, with no one to clean, no one to even pay our electricity and other bills. I do not know what will happen to that.”

Visa for many people stranded here expired, and had to get an extension through the Home Office till 31 May. Dr Arpita Ray’s father came for a few months to spend time with his daughter’s family here. He has a visa till 30 June.

Speaking to Asian Voice, Arpita said, “I am not in a rush to send back my father. He was supposed to go back on 6 May, but the flights

are grounded. I am hoping they will start in June. I am really surprised there are no Kolkata flights yet, but I am hoping they will be announced in the future.”

Indian students with OCI card face hardships The Indian students living abroad who are Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders are facing tremendous hardship.

They are currently stranded, largely in the UK, where their universities and dormitories have closed for the remainder of the academic year in light of the current pandemic.

Some have even announced that classes and assignments for the remainder of the calendar year will be conducted online. This has made things very difficult for these OCI students, particularly those with no relatives or close family friends abroad and those who rely on incomes from jobs they can no longer report for. They are primarily residents of India, many whose families are still India, and although they may have been born

abroad, India is the only home they have ever known. It is the first time away from home for many of them, some as young as 18, and their families are understandably very worried and anxious.

A third-year undergraduate student at Bangor University, Wales, UK (20 years old) told Asian Voice, "My classes have been suspended for almost two months now. I was born and brought up in India. I have no family in UK, I’m completely alone here without any support. I must return home at the soonest as my father is alone in India. My mother passed away two years ago due to cancer and since then it has been just me and my dad. I am his only child and I miss him very much, along with the rest of family. Bangalore is the only home I have ever known and I cannot describe the mental anguish that I have been in since March, when OCI holders were first banned.

“Now they are saying OCIs will have to wait for commercial flights. It has already been 2 months since I’ve been trying to get home. I watched all of my university friends leave to go home to their families, now all the Indians waiting for evacuation flights are getting to go home, and once again I have been left behind.

“Along with all of the mental stress, financially the UK is too expensive. In the coming weeks my rental agreement will expire, after which I will have no where to go. I cannot continue funding myself here in

the UK as I only planned to be here till May marking the end of my course. Please help us get home. The colour of my passport does not define where my home is."

Foundation diploma student at University of the Arts London, UK (18 years old) told the newsweekly “I am a student from India and am stranded in London because I have an OCI card. When travel restrictions were announced, I did not even get a chance to pack my bags and go back to Bangalore, the city I grew up in since the age of 1, and where I live with my family. I don't have any other home to go to. All my life, I was told that I am just like any other Indian, but now, I feel abandoned. I am not allowed to go home and be with my family.”

First-year undergraduate at SOAS, University of London currently stranded in California, USA (18 years old) added, "I was born in the US but have lived in India since I was a young child. I took the opportunity to pursue my undergraduate studies abroad as I had been awarded a scholarship by my university, I would otherwise be studying in India like many of my friends are. My course started in September 2019, and I had been abroad for less than 6 months when news of the novel coronavirus first broke.

“By the time it became clear how serious the situation was and my university closed in March, OCI holders had already been suspended from entering India - with a mere 24 hours notice.

“I am currently staying with an old acquaintance of my parents in US, who was kind enough to welcome me; I am fortunate enough to have a secure place to stay which some of us do not have.”

10 READERS VOICE

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Reopening schools There is an interesting discussion going on in the mainstream electronic media about reopening schools in the UK from the 1st of June. Wales and the Scottish Government have their own agenda for reopening of the schools. There is no consensus amongst different government departments. Parents are worried about the spike in the number of cases once the schools reopen. They are right because it is extremely difficult to maintain social distance in the school, especially outside the classroom.

To expect school authorities to ensure that students maintained 100% discipline throughout, when they are in the premises is a bit too much.

Ministers are interested in reopening the schools but I think, headteachers and other supporting staff have ground-level in-depth information about realities, so their opinions should be given more weightage. In theoretical terms, reopening is easy but whether parents are confident to send their children to schools need to be assessed. The most important asset of any country is its youth hence to put their life at risk should not be tolerated at any cost. Hence the decision-makers should be the apex body of headteachers, union / senior members of teaching staff and parents. Any hasty decision may prove counter-productive because still the death rate is high.

Parents may rather prefer on-line learning than sending their loved ones to schools.

Keeping in mind the present situation, it is better not to open schools but impart knowledge by alternative methods and wait to the see the impact on the situation once the lockdown is lifted partially or completely Hitesh Hingu London

Team Canada We are seniors in our mid seventies and live in a townhouse in Markham, Canada. Since Covid-19 pandemic hit worldwide and lockdown in Markham, our neighbours by text messages, phone calls, emails and in person though keeping safe distancing ask us about our well-being and offer any help we need. Couple of days ago one of our CanadianChinese neighbour in a small plastic bag containing 10 masks which was rarity at that time with personal hand written note left in our front porch- to use or pass to anyone who needs. Next day on front glass door I put up a poster from The Globe and Mail English newspapers saying ‘We all are team Canada’.

The other day another neighbour left one bottle of disinfectant spray and bottle of sanitiser on porch table and when I saw tears of joy came from our eyes.

My wife’s younger brother Dr Praful Patel, retired surgeon, a few days back died in Baltimore due to coronavirus and due to the lockdown none of his blood relative could go and visit, while his wife, son and daughter much needed the morale support. Our neighbourhood is like a mini United Nation. Many people live here from Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, East Africa, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and from their act of kindness towards us has eased out our pain in true ‘Team Canada’ spirit.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel

By Email

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Real Marigold Hotel Our main TV channels, namely BBC and ITV puts on some wonderful dramas and real life stories filmed in India and Sri Lanka, namely “Real Marigold Hotel” on BBC and “Good Karma Hospital” on ITV. Perhaps viewers may have noticed that unlike old programmes, old tradition when it was inevitable, even predictable to show India in bad-light, in sharp contract these programs have nothing but praise for India, Indian culture, Indian tradition, Indian people and even Indian food and culinary, avoiding slums and poverty that still exist in overcrowded country with 1:2 billion people!

Last week’s episode was particularly enjoyable, with eight new faces in the latest series, every one’s favourite Cricket commentator super-star Henry Blofeld, Bond Girl Britt Ekland, with Roger Moore in “The Man with Golden Gun” and John Altman, the notorious Nick Cotton of EastEnders, son of most liked character Dot Cotton, played June Brown.

This latest serial is filmed in former French colony of Puducherry, with French influence on architect, Design and even Indian cuisine, especially sea food. Hill Station of Madurai, a favourite retreat of British to escape scorching heat of Indian summer in the Southernmost State of Tamil Nadu is an added attraction.

I hope the next series may include British Asian, someone like popular politician Navin Shah AM, who will be retiring and few more to choose from. I hope BBC will make next series as multicultural as possible, considering pros and cons of the situation.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi

By Email

Our Export to USA! Watching news, I was indeed extremely surprised to hear that we are sending 50K corona-virus samples to be tested in America. Testing is so simple that even under-developed and poorest countries in Africa and throughout the world do their own testing. First it was PPE from Turkey, which turned out to be faulty and now this fiasco! Are we able to meet our own needs in any field or we would always be dependent on the rest of the world to meet our most basic needs, thus open to blackmail!

How come we lack such basic facilities that would make us laughing stock in medical circle when we have world class universities with most up to date science facilities in their modern laboratories, capable of developing corona-virus vaccines?

Have we learnt nothing from the fiasco of importing contaminated blood from America in late seventies, blood sold by American addicts, including prisoners, suffering from hepatitis, TB and other such serious diseases, tested HIV positive, blood donors attracted by the money offered to anyone who may be willing to sell their blood.

As a result, thousands of our patients, including haemophiliac were given infected blood and as a result many lost their lives. Would you trust flippant American tested blood result where money and profit overrides all other considerations!

It is time to put our self-inflated ideology on one side and invite world’s top scientists, industrialists, IT experts and entrepreneurs to put Great back in Great Britain! After all London is the favourite city of world’s wealthiest people most of whom have second homes in London!

Kumudini Valambia

By Email

There is a movement that has started against facebook’s avatars. Avatar is a concept in Hinduism that means "descent", is the material appearance or incarnation of a deity on earth. Theologically, the term is most often associated with the Hindu god Vishnu, though the idea has been applied to other deities. The term is coined from Hinduism.

Generally speaking, an avatar could be the embodiment of a person or idea. However, in the computer world, an avatar specifically refers to a character that represents an online user. Players can interact with other avatars and talk to them using text or voice chat. Facebook avatar emojis are the social media platform's answer to Bitmoji, which now look likely to rival the Snapchat feature. Thousands of people are now flocking to post their personalised emoticons. There is an emoji of a girl in hijab. But there is no option for a girl in a saree, sindoor or bindi (Hindus) or a man in a turban (Sikh).

Hindus in Britain have taken on the social media twitter to protest against this omission. Personally I feel there is so much potential in this idea. We are talking about diversity all the time. And it remains key for social media giants like facebook to give an opportunity to all Indic faiths to have an equal representation. It is unfortunate that we Hindus have been left out. I urge them to create an avatar with saree and turban for Hindus and Sikhs.

Last week we saw your centre spread on educating people about fake news in association with the Government. I think it was a fantastic story. My friends were waiting to go back to India. Then they started getting the fake news.

Someone told them if you pay £5000, you can get on a charter flight to back to India. And they were actually looking to do that, as they were so desperate.

I had to tell them that it is not possible and your story proves that I was correct. Also talking about tips to keep your throat clear etc, yes turmeric may have medicinal values in its pure form, but I am sure that cannot help in coronavirus. I also saw Asian Voice asking a question at Downing Street. It is good that you can take our voice to the ministers. Look at the number of deaths that have happened from our community. They are still talking about a review. They should have taken us vulnerable in account first. Moreover, they expect us to send back our children to school without any preparation for contact tracing that could keep our children safe. This is not acceptable. We would love you to give us a voice and ask pressing questions, making the government accountable to us.

Amit Anand

By Email

Kavita Bhattacharya

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Hold them accountable

Kapil’s Khichadi Red or Blue Pill?

Kapil Dudakia Connoisseurs of classic movies would be aware of that ultimate question that the rebel leader Morpheus asked of Neo in the movie the Matrix – you have a choice, take the red pill and you will see the truth, or you take the blue pill and live in ignorance.

Neo of course took the red pill, had he not it would have been a quick ending.

The Labour Leader Keir Starmer I believe faces the same question today. Does he take the red pill and face up to the grotesque nature of Labour as it has become today? Or does he opt for the blue pill and put his head in the sand?

Currently it seems he is caught in a dilemma of his own making and seems to be considering taking half of the red pill and half of the blue pill.

That my friends is a disaster waiting to happen.

Adopting a position of multiple personalities to please or appease various vote banks might seem great, but we all know how it ends, anarchy.

My advice to Keir, take the red pill to save the red party. You might not survive long enough to reap the benefit of your sacrifice, but like Kinnock and Smith you could go down as a hero that saved Labour. Of course taking the red pill does mean facing up to some home truths, in taking action that is uncomfortable and ultimately taking on the fact that the Labour party might well have to split from its extremist elements.

My confidence in Keir is low, and I don’t trust him based on his rhetoric thus far. When he spoke to Hindu organisations he said one thing and then did the very opposite.

Politicians often feel they can get away with such trickery, but alas times have changed and today the Indian community is

powerful enough to call out such dirty politics.

Last week we saw 100 Muslim organisations write to Keir demanding that he takes a proPakistan stance on Kashmir, or they would not support Labour in any elections. And typical of a Labour leader, Keir buckled and gave in.

Interestingly more than 50% of these 100 Muslim groups are charities. And charities are not allowed to engage in politics. I wonder if the Charity Commission or the Electoral Commission will do their duty and investigate this matter?

If it had been Hindu charities you can bet they would have jumped on them with their full might.

So Keir, take the red pill. Face the facts. Tell the Pakistani community that Labour will not interfere in the internal affairs of India. That Pakistan Occupied Kashmir must be freed.

Tell the far-left Marxists that their aspirations of a Labour party to be in a continuous state of anarchy is not wanted. Tell the PC brigade with their fake outrage, that common sense will prevail.

Yes you will make enemies, yes you will see civil war erupt in Labour, yes you will even see massive splits, but ultimately you will give sane Labour voters the opportunity to gather around to celebrate the party of the workers. Take the red pill Keir, it’s time to face the truth and take on the challenge to cleanse the Labour party of the madness it has indulged.

Will Keir listen? I doubt it. It takes a very special leader with a strong spine, with moral and ethical grounding, and a steely determination to get this job done properly. The country needs at least two strong parties, I fear Labour is letting the nation down.

(Expressed opinions are personal.)

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 Rupanjana at rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com - AV

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Family of PIO driver died of COVID19 sets up fundraising page Coronavirus has claimed the life of a much-loved taxi driver and member of the Sikh community.

The development has left his family, friends and work colleagues devastated.

Satnam Singh Dhesi, 63, of Gervaise Close, Cippenham, had lived in Slough all his life.

The family has set up a JustGiving page to raise money for the intensive care unit at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough.

His niece Pavindeep said: "We decided to set up a justgiving page in his honour to raise as much money as possible to donate to the intensive care unit at Wexham Park Hospital, to show our appreciation and thank-you for all their hard work looking after him.

"The help and support we received from them was unbelievable and gave us some sort of reassurance that he was in good hands. The compassion and understanding we received from doctors, nurses and feedback team was more than we could have hoped for during these difficult straining times."

The fund has already reached £5,000. Visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/satnamdhesi to donate.

A busy taxi driver popular with his colleagues was also a keen footballer A regular helper

and supporter at the Singh Sabha Football Academy in Slough, which had been co-founded by his son Harpreet.

His niece Pavindeep in a media report said: "Everyone knew him as Sam. He was a popular person among his taxi coworkers. He was a generous, smiling full of life soul who did not let anything bad hurt him.

"He would not take anything bad to heart. He would just say 'don't worry, just get on with enjoying life'."

The virus struck suddenly. Mr Dhesi was taken to Wexham Park Hospital by his family after developing a cough and breathing difficulties - he died two weeks later.

He leaves a large family including his mother Amar Kaur Dhesi, his widow Harjeet, sons Harpreet, Gurpreet and Jaspreet and five grandchildren.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak weighs calls for tax brakes for people working from home Rishi Sunak urged to introduce tax breaks for people working from home Household bills increase by £32 a month, but taxfree allowance stands at £26.

The Chancellor is weighing up calls to double a little-used monthly allowance to offset higher utility bills when working from home as a result of the lockdown, The Times reported.

Proposals made include increasing the tax-free allowance from £26 per month to £50 per month and/or providing for full reimbursement of expenses incurred through a "gross-up" mechanism, where a worker receives more of their salary with fewer tax deductions.

HM Treasury has said all tax policy is under review and is understood to be considering a wider overhaul of duties, including increasing the rates of income tax, VAT and scrapping the pensions "triple lock" needed to cover the cost of Covid-19.

With lockdown measures meaning working from home will continue for many workers for the foreseeable future, Rishi Sunak is being urged to change the rules now.

Nimesh Shah of accountants Blick Rothenburg said: "As the Government aims to cautiously restart the economy Boris Johnson has asked that individuals should continue to work from home should where it is possible to do so, but he needs to look at the extra

expenses they are incurring by being there. This may include higher electricity and heating bills, internet and phone costs and new computer equipment."

Average energy bills will rise as much as £400 this year, according to forecasts from comparison site comparethemarket.com. It found 20 million households were using significantly more power than they were before the coronavirus crisis confined them to their homes, adding more than £30 to monthly costs.

Firms can offer employees a tax-free allowance of £26 a month to cover the increased cost of working from home. If an employer does not pay the allowance an employee can still claim back the proportion that is exempt from tax – £6.20 a month for a basic-rate taxpayer.

Further claims can be made if the true cost of working from home

is higher, although claimants must provide detailed receipts as proof. Employees can only claim for work-related expenses, for example, business telephone calls or the extra cost of gas and electricity in a designated work space.

Claims for things used for both private and business use, for example, rent or broadband access, cannot be made.

Self-employed workers benefit from more generous tax treatment. For example, if a tenth of their home is used solely for their work they can deduct 10pc of their household running costs from their tax bill.

Rishi Sunak has used the unprecedented widening of state support for employees, selfemployed and business as an opportunity to point at inconsistencies of how different people pay into and benefit from the tax system, saying everyone who wanted to benefit would have to pay equally in future.

The comment was understood to be a reference to the fact that self-employed people pay lower rates of National Insurance and experts have said the Chancellor is likely to be plotting a tax rise.

But Mr Shah said any changes should work both ways. He said greater harmony in the rules should not just mean more taxes for groups underpaying now, but greater relief for those who currently receive less from the state, too.

12 MEDIA WATCH

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SCRUTATOR’S SC stays HC order setting aside Gujarat minister’s election

The Supreme Court stayed the Gujarat High Court order setting aside the election of state minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama to the assembly in 2017. The high court had set aside his election on grounds of “corrupt practice” and “manipulation of record.” A Supreme Court bench issued a notice on Chudasama’s plea and also sought a response from Congress candidate Ashwin Rathod, who had challenged the minister’s election. Chudasama, who holds charge of multiple departments including education, law and justice, legislative and parliamentary affairs in the BJP government led by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, was elected from Dholka constituency after defeating the Congress by a margin of 327 votes in the 2017 Assembly polls. While challenging Chudasama’s election, Rathod had alleged that the returning officer, Dhaval Jani, had illegally rejected 429 votes received via postal ballot in his favour. The HC had set aside Chudasama’s election on grounds of “corrupt practice” and “manipulation of record”. Justice Paresh Upadhyay noted in his judgment that during Jani’s deposition, it was learnt that a total of 1,356 votes were received via postal ballot, of which 429 were rejected by him at the time of counting of votes. However, the court said, while seeking authorisation from the poll observer to declare the results, Jani showed the total votes received via postal ballot and taken into consideration at the time of counting as 927. (The Indian Express)

Postal dept in Gujarat starts delivering mangoes The postal department, which has been supplying medicines during lockdown, started delivering mangoes in Gujarat. A farmer from Valsad approached the postal department after he faced difficulties in getting the mangoes delivered to his

customers amid lockdown.

Dashrat Desai, who owns 5,000 mango trees, was ready with his consignment. A few days back he sent the mangoes ordered by a client in Surat in a private vehicle.

But the officials did not allow the delivery. Dashrath shared his concern with his neighbour Bharat Desai who works at the Valsad post office. Desai introduced him to Assistant Superintendent Anil Kumar. The logistics for transporting the mangoes and the charges were then chalked out and the first consignment left from Dashrath's farm in the India Post mail van.

Desai also shared his experience with other mango farmers. As word spread, the postal department received five orders from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Mumbai. Giving details about the services, Anil Kumar said, “We were already supplying medicines from pharmaceutical companies in Vapi, Valsad to Jaipur, Hyderabad and Mumbai. As the mango season is here, we grabbed the opportunity to transport the fruits to customers. We have received a lot of calls from many more farmers expressing interest to use our services. We are working out the rates to deliver mangoes in other states. Once it is finalised, we will start delivery to other states as well,” he added.

(The Indian Express)

Doorstep deliveries of cash The lockdown has marked a new milestone in the history of Indian banking: more than £100 million in cash has been delivered by postmen to account holders of different banks at their doorsteps across the country. This is up and above the £6.6 billion of post office savings bank (POSB) transactions, just during the lockdown period. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the top two postal circles with cash deliveries of £27.4 million and £10.1 million respectively. Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra are also among the five best performers. During the lockdown between March 23 and May 11, more than £105.1 million has been delivered in as many as 59,00,000 transactions, significantly in containment areas, migrant camps and hotspots, serving the sick, elderly and disabled. Of these, 20,00,000 were AePS (Aadhaar enabled Payment Services) transactions, with UP alone contributing one-third of them. These doorstep deliveries of cash are possible through AePS, a wi-fi enabled hand held device.

The AePS, launched in September last year, is today the single largest platform for providing “interoperable banking services” to customers of any bank having

their accounts linked to Aadhaar.

More than 200,000 postmen are engaged in providing doorstep banking services to people through a network of 136,000 post offices and 186,000 lakh AePS devices. (The Times of India)

Pregnant woman walks 196 km to reach home

It was a tough trail for a ninemonth pregnant woman who walked 196 km on foot, from Ahmedabad with her husband, son (one-year-old) and daughter (twoyear-old) for six days to reach her native place in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam. Surprisingly, no one took pity on her condition on the way as she crossed district after district, checkpost after checkpost with an aim to reach her native place at the earliest. However, it was her luck to get a few good samaritans at Dungarpur checkpost, who seeing her plight, stopped her and offered her food and transportation to help her reach her hometown. Dungarpur SDM Rajeev Dwivedi said, “This woman, with her family, including husband and two kids, reached Dungapur checkpost. The staff at the location was stunned to see her feeble condition. When asked if she had food, she simply refused. It also seemed as if she was in pain.” The officials at the checkpoint hence informed the SDM and other officials. Soon a team of doctors from a nearby medical check post arrived at the location to review her medical condition. It was evident that she was not in a condition to walk but had walked all along from Ahmedabad and hence they asked the family to rest overnight and offered them food and shelter.

Next day they arranged an e-pass and an ambulance for her. A nearby hospital came forward for help and offered their ambulance free of charge. (Agency)

Balloons fitted with cameras keep watch over red zones Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha said that surveillance has been increased in the containment areas of the state with the help of technology. While drones were being used from the beginning of lockdown, now hydrogen gas balloons equipped with cameras are being flown over such areas.

He said that ‘pan, tilt and zoom’ (PTZ) cameras are fitted to the balloons and one such balloon can watch an entire locality. The PTZ cameras are IP based and police officers can view the footage on their mobile phones. “With this facility, police officers can inspect entire containment zones and the

bandobast in each area,” Jha said.

Jha said that to keep up the vigilance against the spread of Covid-19, persons coming from other states, moving inter-district or arriving from foreign countries, even with valid passes, will be kept under quarantine for a prescribed period. (The Times of India)

Migrants in container truck rescued Police in Anand, Gujarat, stopped a container truck fitted with a poster ‘Emergency duty for medical supply under Essential Commodity Act’ after they became suspicious after seeing its movements. The cops were surprised to discover more than 100 migrant workers crammed perilously inside the container.

“All the 105 migrant labourers are natives of Uttar Pradesh and were travelling from Rajkot,” police said. “Cops intercepted the truck near Lingda village in Umreth taluka, to check permission, after it was spotted trying to bypass checking. They found it did not carry any valid permit and was also misusing the permit given to vehicles carrying essential commodities only,” said Anand district superintendent of police Ajit Rajian. “Our team had doubts on the movement of this container when they saw it trying to enter from Samarkha crossroads, but reversed the vehicle when the driver spotted police checking there and tried to enter from Umreth. Our officials immediately guessed something wrong with the container and finally stopped it at Lingda where a team was already keeping vigil,” Rajian added. The police said that the passengers were crammed in the truck so tightly that they could not even move. “Three children had already fainted. All 105 passengers who were travelling to their hometown in the mini truck from Rajkot were medically checked and sent to a shelter home while the driver of the truck was also sent for Covid-19 test before being arrested,” he said.

Maruti begins production at Manesar After a gap of a month and a half due to the lockdown, India's largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, started production at its Manesar plant last week with around 2,500 workers.

Preparations are also afoot to restart its Gurgaon plant. Last week, Hero Motocorp had begun

production at its Gurgaon and Dharuhera plants and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India is also expected to begin manufacturing soon. With the three auto majors resuming production, some of their ancillary units in the Gurgaon-Manesar industrial region are also humming back to life, albeit with fewer hands. Across sectors, around 1,330 ancillary units have received permission to operate in Gurgaon and around 100,000 of their workers have got permission to join work. At a time when thousands of migrant workers whose earnings came to a halt continue to leave in desperation, the resumption of jobs could help stem the tide. And also bring back some confidence among workers about the resumption of their pay cycles. Manesar alone has at least 700 ancillary units that work only for the three automobile manufacturers, according to Automotive Components Manufacturers Association.

(Agency)

Trains to Delhi full, return empty While people from Gujarat are making a beeline for Delhi, it seems that Gujaratis settled outside the state, especially in Delhi, are not returning to their home state. The only train from Ahmedabad to Delhi is booked till May 19, but for the train coming from Delhi to Ahmedabad, bookings are full only till May 13.

However, first-class 1AC tickets on both Delhi and Ahmedabad legs - have been booked till May 19. A scan of the booking charts reveals that 80% of the 1AC tickets have been booked in several groups of four. Only a few 1AC tickets are available and they are usually the last to get booked, because their prices are nearly 70% higher than those of 2AC tickets and 140% higher than those of 3AC tickets. “But it seems that in the times Covid-19, 1AC is becoming the first choice of many passengers,” said a senior officer.

The officer said that if a person has four tickets, he or she gets the entire coupe and has no interaction with any outsider once the door is shut. In 2AC, there are six passengers including two in the side berths. The number in 3AC is eight.

The officer said that looking at the bookings, it was clear that entire families or groups of friends/associates were travelling together. The rush to leave Gujarat, according to railway officials, can be explained by the fact that many engineers and other senior officers employed in Gujarat are uncertain about their companies resuming full-fledged operations. Hence they are heading back home to Delhi or nearby areas.

(The Times of India)

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Kavin Wadhar: KidCoachApp

ership, problem-solving and critical appraisal, and confidence and resilience.”

Here, the founder also stressed the role of cultivating a sensitive awareness in terms of future prospects: “The Institute of the Future predicts that Kavin Wadhar 85% of jobs in 2030 have not yet been invented. Indeed, jobs such as drone Sunetra Senior manufacturing, being a YouTuber and quantum mechanics could never have idCoachApp is a friendly educabeen imagined 20 years ago today. tional app that offers 5-minute Society is drastically changing and it is conversation starters to pivotalimportant to keep up: you must have ly develop your child’s “talking, thinkan evolving transferable approach.” ing and feeling skills,” as Kavin Wadhar, Developing with the technological the founder, father of two and former progress of society then, Kavin helps to UK division director in education pubfoster a well-rounded modern model lishing, summarised. Leaving a leading of human smarts. One in which indiposition in the corporate world, Kavin vidual instinct is interlocked with is now dedicating his time to growing learned skills.

Indeed, the this quick and fun instructional service KidCoachApp naturally combines both to introduce underrepresented “human creative and analytical thinking which skills” to a new generation. “The interare ultimately interconnected, also personal aspect of the professional presenting philosophical queries in an world is becoming increasingly imporaccessible way. “There are great questant,” he explained. “As well as getting tions around the Harry Potter books good grades, it is important to be able to which engages kids well too: what demonstrate sharp cognitive, emotionhouse do you think the sorting hat al and social aptitude to differentiate would allocate you into based on your yourself to the employer. Many children strengths: Gryffindor, Slytherin…? Do are achieving top marks and so the you think Professor Snape interview stage becomes espeis ethically good or cially important - at “The bad? This prompts school, university and Institute of the children to think for future jobs. You Future predicts that on both sides of need to be able to an argument have 2030 in jobs of 85% demonstrate a before arriving not yet been invented. strong personality at a series balas well as academic Indeed, jobs such as drone anced concluprowess.” manufacturing, being a sion.”

As a result, his YouTuber and quantum Finally, use KidCoachApp of the app is have never could mechanics offers a lot of chalitself an emobeen imagined 20 years lenging questions to tionally intelliencourage critical, ago today" gent action where lateral and developmenparents can directly tal thinking from an early build supportive relationage, such as ‘how would you ships with their children which will describe a computer to Julius Caesar; carry them through life. Indeed, a funhow many I-pads are there in the UK; damental part of modern psychology is what are you able to do better today understanding the relationship an that you were struggling with a year individual has experienced with their ago?” These and many more prompts parents by way of explaining how well for parents of 7-11 year olds can be they can function within a construcfound on the official website: tive society. Inner confidence is often www.kidcoach.app . “What really disdetermined by the healthy involvetinguishes us in the EdTech world is ment a parent has had with their child. the fact that this app is a catalyst for “Actually, the eureka moment for the meaningful interaction,” Kavin clariapp came when I was reading through fied. “You can pick up the cards to one of the famous Aesop’s Fables with start an intimate back and forth and my daughter,” Kavin told us. “It was then put them away – and it need the story of the wind and the sun: the only take 5 minutes. You can work story describes a bet between the two with your children on a range of where the winner must get the man to skills from communication and lead-

K

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Help the needy Rohit Vadhwana

take off the coat! The wind tries to do this forcefully while the sun gently warms the man until he takes the garment off himself – the moral is that motivation must come from within.”

Kavin had a meaningful coaching moment with his daughter discussing this moral and he realised it arose since he had the right stimulus to hand. So he got working on creating lots more stimulus questions for parents to use with their own children, in just 5 minutes day.[KE1] “The app makes it easier to build an integral bond with your children in an otherwise busy life.

Those great parenting moments are so important: children will remember good guidance for years to come.” And so, an assured sense of self is central to success.

Tell us more about the Kid Coach App and how it works?

The app is in development but when you register interest on the site, you will immediately be sent new questions and there are printable flash cards if you want a physical copy.

Another significant point to remember is that only 15% of a child’s waking hours is spent at school. With school hours and holidays considered, children spend a lot of time at home so parents have massive potential to shape their child’s future. The cards facilitate this.

What has been the biggest challenge in developing this app?

The marketing. The goal is to reach as many parents as possible. Thus far we have had several hundreds sign up without a penny spent on advertising so this is looking promising!

What advice might you give to others who want to start an enterprise?

Try to establish it as a side hustle in your spare time to first validate the idea. You have to have enough informed confidence to leave a current job. The project needs to be worth quitting for. Ask yourself what you would do if you needed to pitch to investors. What would you need to demonstrate, from the market size to the customer in mind to setting yourself a conversion goal e.g. how many people are showing interest as a percentage over a few months? How will that grow over time?

W: https://www.kidcoach.app/

Mr X has a company dealing in real estate. The company owns a number of residential and commercial properties across the country. These properties are rented to individuals and corporates. During the Covid-19, some of the tenants wrote to Mr X seeking relaxation in rent, expressing their inability to pay on time. Mr X had to relax the rent payment as per Government directives. However, he calculated the loss of interest on the income if he would have received the rent on time. Aware of legal complications, he didn't object to the tenants. Rather he consulted a lawyer if he could charge interest on delayed rental payment or increase the rent after the situation normalises. Right or Wrong?

The same Mr X has ten employees in his office to manage the properties of his company. When the Government announced support of 80% payment for the furloughed employees, Mr X applied to furlough six of his employees. The government paid money in company's account but Mr X did not actually furlough any of his staff members. He just availed 80% salary for his six employees from Government, declaring they are furloughed while taking full work from all of them. Effectively, he paid only 20% of the salary for the six employees.

Right or Wrong?

This is one example of a fictional character Mr X who intends to take advantage of the situation. In his mind, making money and availing benefits from the government, without passing on to actual beneficiary is acceptable. For him, business means making more profit. Even in the Covid-19 situation, when we all are concerned about the lives of thousands of people dying daily, Mr X is least bothered about it.

There are many such Mr Xs who are not moved by the current situation. Millions of people suffering from virus and thousands of people losing their jobs is of no relevance to them. They are concerned with own benefits, profit and growth. Hardly they have realised life is so uncertain and money is not everything. Their race in money-making continues.

These people and companies have ripped the system and humanity in all possible ways. Without having any remorse, they take advantage of wherever the situation comes in front of them. Even sometimes in the name of charity, some Mr Xs are collecting money, without using them appropriately.

Some people are doing their own publicity and making a position in society, business and politics.

So sad and disappointing to even know of and read about such incidents and people around us. I wish more and more people realise their duty and do not fall into such greed. Therefore, it is also time to express our heartfelt gratitude to those selfless souls who are doing true service to the humanity by providing food, clothes, money, accommodation, medical service or any other type of assistance to the needy people.

Man denies racially abusing BBC reporter Sima Kotecha A Leicester man, accused of racially abusing Indian-origin BBC reporter Sima Kotecha, has denied the charges. The 50year-old, Russell Rawlingson pleaded not guilty at Leicester Magistrates’ Court to charges of causing racially aggravated alarm or distress.

Rawlingson was bailed and will have to appear before Leicester Crown Court on June 15. It means that if he is found guilty, the higher court may jail him.

Last week, the broadcaster had to pull down a live broadcast from Leicester after Sima Kotecha, one of its reporters, was allegedly subjected to a volley of racist abuse.

Kotecha was about to interview people on the issue of planned lockdown easing by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson but she had to send them away.

Sima took to Twitter to explain her ordeal: “Apologies — but a man shouting terrible things at me has ruined it for everyone. I’m afraid not going to make it on the special programme.”

She continued: “Apologies to our guests who we had to send home without putting on air after myself and team were subjected to racist and abusive behaviour —sad obstruction of reporting of a national crisis. Yes I’m furious.”

Subsequently, the broadcast-

er issue a statement explaining the event. It said, “While preparing to broadcast, our reporter, her production team and guests were subjected to racist and abusive behaviour. “We are appalled by what happened and will be reporting the incident to the police. We will not tolerate racism or abuse of our staff.”

Large number of people expressed their support for the journalist after hearing her ordeal. One of the support message read: “I cannot tell you how ashamed I am that it happened in Leicester. But then it only takes one idiot to spoil it for the majority. I hope Leicester Police investigate and find those who abused your guests and you.”

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After the incident quickly escalated into a national issue, police in Leicester moved with remarkable alacrity to arrest the alleged culprit on Monday night following the incident on Sunday.

That the incident took place in Leicester is shocking as it is the first city in the country where non-whites are more than 50% of the population. One of the most known faces, PIO Keith Vaz represented the Leicester East area as Labour MP for 32 years.

Sima began her career in local BBC radio 2003 and has since worked on some of the BBC’s biggest shows, including Panorama, Radio 4’s Today Programme and BBC News.

(Expressed opinion is personal)

BJP slams Cong after ex-judge &Cong member defends Modi India’s ruling party has condemned the opposition Congress after one of its members and a former high court judge, Abhay Thipsay defended Nirav Modi in UK court recently. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Thipsay had given “questionable, legally unsound opinion to influence the court and save Nirav Modi at the behest of the Congress party. We condemn this attempt by the Congress to save Nirav.

This shows the real face of the party and its leaders. A retired judge is giving a judicial certificate. Is he some big professional (lawyer) or an arbitrator? It is an attempt to give questionable legal validity to influence the court at a time the country is trying to bring Nirav back,” Prasad said.

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The District Judge Samuel Goozee in London has adjourned hearing in the extradition case of fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi to September 7 even as it heard a video where a group of six men can be seen accusing Modi of threatening them with life.

Modi is wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an estimated $2 billion.

In the video, each of six persons is seen making allegations of being forced to leave Dubai and come to Cairo, where their passports were seized and were allegedly forced to sign documents against their will by Nirav's brother, Nehal Modi.

One of the witness named Ashish Kumar Mohanbhai Lad said that Nirav Modi called me and said that he would implicate me for theft. He also used the worst expletives and told me that he would get me killed.

These witnesses were part of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) discovery that dummies were appointed in several overseas companies in Hong Kong and Dubai, though the companies remained under the direct control of Nirav Modi.

The list of other witnesses in the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI) include Rushabh Jethwa, who says he is the namesake owner of Empire Gems FZE in Sharjah; Sonu Mehta, the namesake director of Auragem Company Limited, Hong Kong; Shreedhar Mayekar, the namesake owner of Unique Diamond and Jewellery, Azman; and Nileshkumar Balwantrai Mistry, the namesake owner of Hamilton Precious Traders Limited in Dubai.

The witnesses, speaking in Hindi as well as Gujarati, can be heard saying that they are making the recording as they fear for their life and just want to go back to India but are being held against their will.

The charges against the 49-year-old diamond merchant centre around his firms Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar

Diamonds making fraudulent use of a credit facility offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB), known as "letters of undertaking" (LoUs).

According to the case filed by Indian government, a number of PNB staff conspired with Modi to ensure LoUs were issued to these companies without ensuring they were subject to the required credit check. This resulted in a fraud amounting to nearly $2 billion.

Upon request by the Indian government, the extradition request for Nirav Modi was cleared by the UK Home Office in February, 2019 and subsequently, he was arrested by police on March 19 last year. Modi continues to be in prison at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since then, failing to get bail despite repeated attempts.

The UK Home Office cleared second extradition request, relating to "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or "criminal intimidation to cause death", this year.

Modi’s extradition trial will conclude only in September now after the conclusion of second part of the case.

Navin Shah becomes first British Indian to be elected chair of the London Assembly Navin Shah, AM for Brent & Harrow, has become the first British Indian to be elected chair of the London Assembly.

His election happened on May 15. Shah,71, was going to retire at the forthcoming GLA election scheduled in early May, which was postponed to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead he became the first British Indian to be elected chair of the London Assembly. The ZTFE congratulated Shah on his recent achievement Navin, his wife Councillor Rekha Shah, his daughter and other family members are a role model to

many in the BAME community, inspiring others that they politically serve their community and make a difference, said ZEFT in a press release.

“Life can be a bit topsy turvy,” said the grandfather

of one. “I feel very proud and privileged to be chair.

It’s not only personal, it’s a credit to Brent and the constituents who have given me this opportunity. Members will hold me to account for the good of Brent and London as a whole.”

An architect by profession, Indian-born Shah moved to the UK as a student in 1973 and joined the Labour Party four years later.

He was elected as a Harrow councillor for Kenton East in 1994 and in 2004, became leader of Harrow Council for two years, the first Indian in the UK to hold this position.

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Vijay Mallya could be extradited after losing SC appeal One of the most sought after fugitive in India and the embattled liquor baron, Vijay Mallya has received a body blow with country’s top court rejecting his application seeking leave to appeal his extradition to India.

The 64-year-old businessman, who is facing charges of fraud and money laundering related to loans for his n o w - d e f u n c t Kingfisher Airlines, had lost his appeal against extradition in the High Court last month.

The verdict paves way for UK Home Office to clear his return to India inside 28 days as per the terms of the India-UK Extradition Treaty.

Mallya’s appeal has been set aside on counts – hearing oral submissions, grant a certificate on the questions as drafted, and grant permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The ball is in Home Secretary Priti Patel’s court as she is the one who will be certifying the extradition order, expected within the 28 days time limit.

Mallya has been, of late, Courtesy: Twitter

Nirav Modi's extradition case adjourned as video of him threatening ‘dummies’ plays in court

repeatedly asking Indian government to allow him to replay his dues to PSU banks. He tweeted, “Please take my money unconditionally and close."

Theoretically, the flamboyant businessman can approach the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France. He can approach the court claiming that he will not get a fair trial in India.

However, what may come as a temporary relief for Mallya is the severe outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic as UK is obliged to protect human rights

under the European Convention that deals with inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

However, the chances of his case getting the ECHR attention is extremely low as Mallya would need to convince them on the same grounds only which have been already rejected both by the High Court and Supreme Court.

This eventually leaves very little elbow room for Mallya and the rejection of his plea marks a major shift in his trial. The judicial victory also validates the arguments by the Indian investigating agencies like the CBI and the ED who have been pursuing him since his arrest in UK in April 2017.

During the High Court hearing, Justice Irwin and Laing while rejecting Mallya’s plea had said, “We have held that there is a prima facie case, both of misrepresentation and of conspiracy, and thus there is also a prima facie case of money laundering.”

Mallya, since running away from India in 2016, has been based in the UK.

16 RICH LIST

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Britain's super-rich lose £54bn amid pandemic; Hindujas slip to second spot The Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, have lost the top spot in the Sunday Times' UK Rich List to inventor Sir James Dyson. The Hindujas, however, remain the wealthiest Asians in the UK.

Surinder Arora

Sir Anwar Pervez

Lakshmi N Mittal

Tony Matharu

Lord Rumi Verjee

Sunil Vaswani

Jasminder Singh

Lord Swraj Paul

Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja

H

owever, the coronavirus pandemic has wiped £54bn from the wealth of Britain's super-rich in the past two months, said the list compiler Robert Watts.

He added, "Ever since the financial crisis of 2008-9, Britain's wealthiest people have become richer and richer.

Among the top three tycoon to see the fall in fortunes, two are Asians. The biggest fallers include the steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, the Hindujas and Ratcliffe. They have seen their valuations sink by between £3.9bn and £6bn since last year.

Around £15bn has evaporated from the pockets of Britain's 10 richest since March. Their plummeting fortunes, allied with sustained growth and strong profits in his own business, have propelled Sir James Dyson to top spot in the Rich List for the first time.

More than half of the country's billionaires, including Asians, are nursing losses as high as £6bn, with the combined wealth of the 1,000 wealthiest individuals and families plunging for the first time since 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis.

As with last year, the 2020 compilation of Britain's 1,000 wealthiest people comprises 85 entrants from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Despite their differing portfolios, there is one key similarity among several Asians who have amassed and preserved their fortunes - a willingness to keep their business empires in the family, often relying on their siblings and children to help them expand and upscale.

One such example is Mahmud Kamani, who set up the fast-fashion giant Boohoo in 2006 and four years later bought PrettyLittleThing, another online fashion retailer which was founded by his sons Umar, 32, Adam, 30, and Samir, 24 in 2012. As well as attracting the attention of various celebrities including Rita Ora, Miley Cyrus and Jessie J, the Boohoo group now employs nearly 2,200 staff and has a stock market value of £2.38bn, more than Marks & Spencer.

Meanwhile, Dragons' Den star Tej Lalvani started at his father Karter's Vitabiotics business in his late teens, driving forklifts and labelling boxes before ascending to his current role as a chief executive.

Muzahid Khan, founder of the Asian Business Leaders network, says this is an oft-used template.

"The Asians millionaires and billionaires have realised that without their families, they cannot do it on their own," he said. "You could write a whole book about the contribution of the wives to these businesses, helping to manage all the family affairs. Then you get the kids coming into the business once they've graduated, coming in with their British education, expertise and knowledge, helping to create exponential growth in avenues their father has not been able to exploit."

Perhaps the most striking thing about the Asian contingent on the Rich List is how many refugees who arrived here with next to nothing are. Several fled conflict and despotic regimes to start a new life in Britain, including the billionaire financier Nadhmi Auchi, 82, who arrived in 1979 after two spells in Iraqi prisons where he was beaten and tortured, and the Bangladeshi seafood tycoon Iqbal Ahmed, who as a 14-year-old witnessed the massacre of nearly 100 Hindus during his nation's war of independence.

There are also many Indians who left Uganda on the list, fleeing the brutality of Idi Amin's rule in the 1970s. According to Khan, many arrived in Britain with an entrepreneurial spirit. "There were already several generations of immigrants taken to work in various industries away from their homeland," he said.

"Indians in East Africa," for example. "After they finished mining in the diamond shafts, they would get home and think, 'We need to have something for us and our families'. When these groups got expelled from places like Uganda and Kenya and came to the UK, they had already been entrepreneurs in a hostile and alien environment."

Lord Dolar Popat

David and Simon

Zameer Choudrey

Mike Jatania

Varsha and Navin Engineer

Riches opt for forlough Research shows that at least 63 Rich Listers — including 20 billionaires — have sought to furlough some of their staff under the taxpayer-backed scheme.

They include the Hinduja brothers, who have furloughed around 360 employees at Optare, their North Yorkshire-based busmaking firm. The Indian-born brothers topped last year's Rich List.

They include the Hinduja brothers, who have furloughed around 360 employees at Optare, their North Yorkshire-based busmaking firm. The Indian-born brothers topped last year's Rich List.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who topped the rankings in 2018, co-owns The Pig hotel chain which has furloughed most of its staff. Ratcliffe, worth £12.15bn this year, is also seeking an emergency loan from the government for Petroineos, a joint venture between his oil company Ineos and the Chinese state-owned PetroChina.

Three other entries in this year's Rich List top 10 have also used the furlough scheme, which allows workers to receive 80% of their salaries of up to £2,500 a month from the taxpayer. They are the Reuben brothers, Sir Leonard Blavatnik, and the Weston family, which owns Primark.

Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora

Zuber and Mohsin Issa

Bhikhu and Vijay Patel

Glaring imbalance within ethenic groups

The first Rich List, published in 1989, had just five men from ethnic minorities among its ranks, so much has changed in the past three decades. The likes of Cornerstone and Impact X offer hope that there is further change to come.

The list argued that beneath this headline figure, there is a glaring imbalance - 81 of the non-white Rich Listers are Asian, while just four are black . Although the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) acronym is often used as a sweeping, catch-all term, it is clear there are two distinct stories here; one of more established Asian wealth that has seen the likes of the Hinduja, Reuben and Mittal families dominate the top spots in the Rich List in recent years, and another involving emerging black entrepreneurs grappling with several systemic issues while trying to reach the elusive £120m threshold needed to make the cut.

In stark contrast to their Asian counterparts, black people make up less than 1% of this year's Rich List. The four entrants are Zimbabwe-born tech entrepreneur Valerie Moran, who with her Irish husband Noel is worth £200m; telecoms giant Mo Ibrahim, (£859m); five-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton (£224m) and the former fund manager Sir Damon Buffini (£127m.)

While the Asian community can now draw on dozens of examples, representations of black British wealth are limited, a point further solidified by the fact that every black entry on this year's Young Rich List is a film star, athlete or musician.

Continued on page 18

Many lose, some buck trend The Issa brothers-Mohsin and Zuber- are among the Asians who have bucked the trend and added to their net worth.In March EG Group, the Blackburn forecourt operation co-founded by the Issa brothers, acquired the largest KFC franchise in the UK and Ireland.

EG now has more than 5,200 petrol stations across eight countries.

Mohsin, 48, and Zuber, 47, bought their first outlet in Bury in 2001, holding the position of group co-chief executive. Their Euro Garages business merged with European Forecourt Retail Group in 2016 to create EG. Few people lost more money in the Indian stock market during the coronavirus-induced crash than the Hinduja brothers. One analysis suggested their listed businesses shed at least 67% of their value in March before rallying last month. The Hinduja Group is controlled by the sons of the late Parmanand, who set up in business in Mumbai in 1914, moving to Iran to trade carpets, tea and spices and later adding a merchant bank. Today the group has operations in oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare, but this year has been tough for London-based Gopi, 80, and Sri, 84, whose £300m home in Carlton House Terrace is a gemstone's throw from Buckingham Palace.

Also on the number two are the Reuben brothers were poised to take a 10% stake in Premier League football club Newcastle United as The Sunday Times Rich List went to press. The investment marks the first foray into football for the pair — but there has long been something of the magpie about their good eye for a shiny bauble in property and the metals trade. Born in Mumbai, the brothers grew up in north London and attended state schools. Simon, 78, left early and went into the carpet business, making enough money from a company he bought from the receivers to start investing in property. He made savvy choices, buying several shops in Walton Street and the King' Road in Chelsea.

At number 15 in the overall list and third in Asian, Anil Agarwal said earlier this year that he was determined to continue with plans to more than double his Indian oil production despite tumbling prices, as the country strives for energy self-sufficiency. In 2003 his Vedanta Resources was the first Indian company to float on the London stock exchange but he took it private two years ago, buying the rest of its shares for $1bn. Operating in India, Australia, Zambia and Ireland, mining copper, aluminium, lead and other metals, the business owns half of the separate and larger Vedanta Limited mining giant, valued at £3.44bn on the Mumbai stock market. Agarwal, 67, has a stake worth £1.72bn, down £2.18bn on a year ago.

The fourth richest Indian Laxmi Mittal is at number 19 in the UK Rich Lisht. Mittal described the deal for his first acquisition of a steel plant in India as a "homecoming". ArcelorMittal completed the takeover of Essar Steel's facility in Hazira in November. Mittal, 69, said: "I was born in India and my roots are in India. I have spent the past three decades building a steel business in multiple markets around the world." Already battered by the China-US trade war, lower steel prices and the higher cost of raw materials have set the share price sliding over the past year and the Luxembourg-based business is worth £7.974bn on the stock market. The Mittals' stake is valued at about £2.981bn, down £3.419bn in a year.

Prakash Lohia is at number 26. Lohia, brother-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal (qv), owns the Singapore-based Indorama Corp, one of the world's largest manufacturers of synthetic gloves. In 2017 it made just over $1bn profit on more than $8.4bn sales. In London, where he lives, Lohia is best known for his restoration of Sheridan House – a task that led to his nickname "the Maharajah of Mayfair". Lohia, 66, also has a huge collection of lithographs and rare books, which are being digitised and can be viewed at splrarebooks.com.

Tak Lee, at number 49, is approaching a 30% holding in Shaftesbury – at which point he could have another go at taking over the quoted property business, which owns London's Chinatown and Carnaby Street. His 26% stake is worth £709.8m, down £40.2m, and he has tried to block the re-election of the board over the past year.

Tak Lee, 80, has seven children and owns homes in London and Hong Kong. We trim his worth to reflect Shaftesbury's share fall, but his dividends should have topped £13m in 2017-18. He has vast property assets in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Switzerland.

AT number 50 are SIR Anwar Pervaz and Family Pervez's London-based Bestway Group, which trades under the Bestway and Batleys brands, It is the UK's second largest independent wholesaler and third-largest retail pharmacy. It is also the biggest cement maker and second-largest private bank in his native Pakistan. However, political uncertainty in both his homeland and Britain hit the operation in 2017-18 and it is now worth £5bn, down £750m in a year, with the family's stake valued at £2.9bn. Pervez, 85, still chairs the business, where his sons Dawood, 45, and Rizwan, 52, are directors and his nephew Lord Choudrey (qv) is chief executive. He gave £263,000 to the Tories ahead of last December's general election and £5,000 to Labour, making him the only one of the top 50 political donors to favour the party.

ASIANS IN THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2020 Rank 2019 (2018) 1= (1) 1= (2) 3 (4) 4 (3) 5 (5) 6 (17) 7 (6) 8 (7) 9 (8) 10 (10) 11 (15) 12 (14) 13 (13) 14 (12) 15 (16) 16 (20) 17 (11) 18 (18) 19 (19) 20 (21) 21 (22) 22 (23) 23 (25) 24 (31) 25 (26) 26 (24) 27= (29=) 27= (29=) 29 (27) 30 (41) 31= (32=) 31= (32=) 33 (38) 34 (34) 35 (35) 36 (42) 37 (37) 38 (49) 39 (40) 40 (44) 41 (39) 42 (43) 43 (28) 44 (47) 45 (52) 46 (54) 47 (46) 48 (51) 49 (63=) 50 (68) 51 (58) 52 (57) 53 (55) 54= (53) 54= (56) 56 (59) 57 (61) 58 (60) 59 (50) 60 (66) 61 (62) 62 (63=) 63 (65) 64 (71) 65= (69) 65= (48) 67= (72=) 67= (36) 69= (72=) 69= (70) 71 (75) 72 (78=) 73= (76=) 73= (76=) 73= (New) 76 (New) 77= (78=) 77= (New) 79 (81) 80= (74) 80= (New)

Name

Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family David and Simon Reuben Anil Agarwal Lakshmi Mittal and family Sri Prakash Lohia Mohsin and Zuber Issa Sir Anwar Pervez and family Samuel Tak Lee and family Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora Lord Paul and family Farhad Moshiri Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Navin and Varsha Engineer Lord Choudrey and family Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu and family Surinder Arora and family Sunil Vaswani and family Nadhmi Auchi Mahmud Kamani and family Jasminder Singh and family Christina Ong and family Bhikhu and Vijay Patel The Jatania brothers Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia and family Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan Vladimir Kim Abdul Bhatti and family Adalat and Arshad Chaudhary Younus Sheikh and family Bhupendra Kansagra and family Felix Grovit Meeta and Amit Patel Apurv Bagri and family Kuljinder Bahia and family Kartar and Tej Lalvani Kelly Choi Fakhruddin Suterwalla and family Masao Asai Fitri Hay Sharan Pasricha Tom Singh and family Firoz Kassam Tony Fernandes Bakir Cola and family Vipul Thakrar and family Lord Alli Sanjay Vadera and family Moni Varma Kirti Patel and family Chai Patel Koolesh Shah and family Anwar and Yakub Patel Mayank Patel Iqbal Ahmed and family Ratheesan Yoganathan Nik and Monisha Kotecha and family Amin Tejani and family Tarsem Dhaliwal Kishore Lulla and family The Dhamecha family Nick Dhandsa and family Lord Verjee Raj Sehgal and Sanjeev Mehan and family Raj Manak Kirit and Meena Pathak Rashid and Aziz Tayub and family Sir Anish Kapoor Peter Simon and family Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and family Aran and Arvan Handa and family Surinder Kandola Nandlal and Deep Valecha Kaveh Alamouti Nemir Kirdar Tony Deep Wouhra and family Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh Hitesh and Dilesh Mehta Firoz Tejani and family Lord and Lady Popat and family Nitin Sodha and family Woon Wing Yip and family

Worth £16,000m £16,000m £8,500m £6,781m £3,605m £3,560m £3,102m £2,850m £2,111m £1,900m £1,875m £1,808m £1,800m £1,531m £1,300m £1,265m £1,250m £1,182m £1,031m £1,015m £878m £800m £643m £600m £593m £579m £540m £540m £532m £486m £450m £450m £418m £410m £401m £389m £373m £340m £325m £321m £310m £300m £262m £259m £225m £220m £219m £218m £215m £212m £210m £208m £205m £200m £200m £197m £188m £178m £177m £171m £170m £165m £163m £159m £150m £150m £137m £137m £135m £135m £134m £133m £130m £130m £130m £127m £125m £125m £121m £120m £120m

(▲)Rise/Fall(▼) ▼ £6bn ▼ £2.664bn ▼ £2.07bn ▼ £3.888bn ▼ £1.797bn ▲ £2.36bn ▼ £432m ▼ £155m ▼ £149m ▼ £100m ▲ £300m ▲ £119m ▲ £100m ▼ £224m ▼ £21m ▲ £136m ▼ £719m ▲ £6m ▼ £132m ▼ £85m ▼ £172m No change No change ▲ £100m ▼ £47m ▼ £219m No change No change ▼ £77m ▲ £166m No change No change ▲ £69m ▼ £17m ▲ £11m ▲ £82m ▲ £6m ▲ £110m No change ▲ £23m ▼ £30m ▼ £5m ▼ £325m ▲ £9m ▲ £11m ▲ £8m ▼ £38m No change ▲ £50m ▲ £58m ▲ £18m ▲ £10m No change ▼ £13m No change ▲ £7m ▲ £15m No change ▼ £43m ▲ £11m No change No change No change ▲ £22m No change ▼ £86m ▲ £2m ▼ £250m No change ▼ £5m ▲ £1m ▲ £7m No change No change New entry New entry ▼ £1m New entry No change ▼ £14m New entry

Source of wealth Industry and finance Property and internet Mining Steel Textiles and plastics Fuel distribution Cash and carry Property Discount stores Industry Investment and football Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceuticals Cash and carry and pharmacies Property and hotels Hotels Transport and food Finance Internet retailing Hotels Retailing and hotels Pharmaceuticals Toiletries and property Car parts and hotels Food Mining Cash and carry Cash and carry Cash and carry Foreign exchange Pharmaceuticals Metals Travel Health supplements Food Food Hedge fund Oil and horseracing Fashion Hotels and property Aviation Hotels Food Media and Fashion Perfume Food Pharmaceuticals Hotels Pharmacies Foreign exchange Food Telecoms Pharmaceuticals Paper products Frozen food Media Care homes Finance and retailing Fashion and property Construction Food Discount stores and property Art Fashion Football and hotels Food Gas services Hedge fund Finance Food Spirits Perfume Foreign exchange Care homes and hotels Pharmaceuticals Cash and carry

16 RICH LIST

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RICH LIST

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

23 May - 29 May 2020

17

23 May - 29 May 2020

Britain's super-rich lose £54bn amid pandemic; Hindujas slip to second spot The Hinduja brothers, Sri and Gopi, have lost the top spot in the Sunday Times' UK Rich List to inventor Sir James Dyson. The Hindujas, however, remain the wealthiest Asians in the UK.

Surinder Arora

Sir Anwar Pervez

Lakshmi N Mittal

Tony Matharu

Lord Rumi Verjee

Sunil Vaswani

Jasminder Singh

Lord Swraj Paul

Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja

H

owever, the coronavirus pandemic has wiped £54bn from the wealth of Britain's super-rich in the past two months, said the list compiler Robert Watts.

He added, "Ever since the financial crisis of 2008-9, Britain's wealthiest people have become richer and richer.

Among the top three tycoon to see the fall in fortunes, two are Asians. The biggest fallers include the steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, the Hindujas and Ratcliffe. They have seen their valuations sink by between £3.9bn and £6bn since last year.

Around £15bn has evaporated from the pockets of Britain's 10 richest since March. Their plummeting fortunes, allied with sustained growth and strong profits in his own business, have propelled Sir James Dyson to top spot in the Rich List for the first time.

More than half of the country's billionaires, including Asians, are nursing losses as high as £6bn, with the combined wealth of the 1,000 wealthiest individuals and families plunging for the first time since 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis.

As with last year, the 2020 compilation of Britain's 1,000 wealthiest people comprises 85 entrants from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Despite their differing portfolios, there is one key similarity among several Asians who have amassed and preserved their fortunes - a willingness to keep their business empires in the family, often relying on their siblings and children to help them expand and upscale.

One such example is Mahmud Kamani, who set up the fast-fashion giant Boohoo in 2006 and four years later bought PrettyLittleThing, another online fashion retailer which was founded by his sons Umar, 32, Adam, 30, and Samir, 24 in 2012. As well as attracting the attention of various celebrities including Rita Ora, Miley Cyrus and Jessie J, the Boohoo group now employs nearly 2,200 staff and has a stock market value of £2.38bn, more than Marks & Spencer.

Meanwhile, Dragons' Den star Tej Lalvani started at his father Karter's Vitabiotics business in his late teens, driving forklifts and labelling boxes before ascending to his current role as a chief executive.

Muzahid Khan, founder of the Asian Business Leaders network, says this is an oft-used template.

"The Asians millionaires and billionaires have realised that without their families, they cannot do it on their own," he said. "You could write a whole book about the contribution of the wives to these businesses, helping to manage all the family affairs. Then you get the kids coming into the business once they've graduated, coming in with their British education, expertise and knowledge, helping to create exponential growth in avenues their father has not been able to exploit."

Perhaps the most striking thing about the Asian contingent on the Rich List is how many refugees who arrived here with next to nothing are. Several fled conflict and despotic regimes to start a new life in Britain, including the billionaire financier Nadhmi Auchi, 82, who arrived in 1979 after two spells in Iraqi prisons where he was beaten and tortured, and the Bangladeshi seafood tycoon Iqbal Ahmed, who as a 14-year-old witnessed the massacre of nearly 100 Hindus during his nation's war of independence.

There are also many Indians who left Uganda on the list, fleeing the brutality of Idi Amin's rule in the 1970s. According to Khan, many arrived in Britain with an entrepreneurial spirit. "There were already several generations of immigrants taken to work in various industries away from their homeland," he said.

"Indians in East Africa," for example. "After they finished mining in the diamond shafts, they would get home and think, 'We need to have something for us and our families'. When these groups got expelled from places like Uganda and Kenya and came to the UK, they had already been entrepreneurs in a hostile and alien environment."

Lord Dolar Popat

David and Simon

Zameer Choudrey

Mike Jatania

Varsha and Navin Engineer

Riches opt for forlough Research shows that at least 63 Rich Listers — including 20 billionaires — have sought to furlough some of their staff under the taxpayer-backed scheme.

They include the Hinduja brothers, who have furloughed around 360 employees at Optare, their North Yorkshire-based busmaking firm. The Indian-born brothers topped last year's Rich List.

They include the Hinduja brothers, who have furloughed around 360 employees at Optare, their North Yorkshire-based busmaking firm. The Indian-born brothers topped last year's Rich List.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who topped the rankings in 2018, co-owns The Pig hotel chain which has furloughed most of its staff. Ratcliffe, worth £12.15bn this year, is also seeking an emergency loan from the government for Petroineos, a joint venture between his oil company Ineos and the Chinese state-owned PetroChina.

Three other entries in this year's Rich List top 10 have also used the furlough scheme, which allows workers to receive 80% of their salaries of up to £2,500 a month from the taxpayer. They are the Reuben brothers, Sir Leonard Blavatnik, and the Weston family, which owns Primark.

Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora

Zuber and Mohsin Issa

Bhikhu and Vijay Patel

Glaring imbalance within ethenic groups

The first Rich List, published in 1989, had just five men from ethnic minorities among its ranks, so much has changed in the past three decades. The likes of Cornerstone and Impact X offer hope that there is further change to come.

The list argued that beneath this headline figure, there is a glaring imbalance - 81 of the non-white Rich Listers are Asian, while just four are black . Although the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) acronym is often used as a sweeping, catch-all term, it is clear there are two distinct stories here; one of more established Asian wealth that has seen the likes of the Hinduja, Reuben and Mittal families dominate the top spots in the Rich List in recent years, and another involving emerging black entrepreneurs grappling with several systemic issues while trying to reach the elusive £120m threshold needed to make the cut.

In stark contrast to their Asian counterparts, black people make up less than 1% of this year's Rich List. The four entrants are Zimbabwe-born tech entrepreneur Valerie Moran, who with her Irish husband Noel is worth £200m; telecoms giant Mo Ibrahim, (£859m); five-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton (£224m) and the former fund manager Sir Damon Buffini (£127m.)

While the Asian community can now draw on dozens of examples, representations of black British wealth are limited, a point further solidified by the fact that every black entry on this year's Young Rich List is a film star, athlete or musician.

Continued on page 18

Many lose, some buck trend The Issa brothers-Mohsin and Zuber- are among the Asians who have bucked the trend and added to their net worth.In March EG Group, the Blackburn forecourt operation co-founded by the Issa brothers, acquired the largest KFC franchise in the UK and Ireland.

EG now has more than 5,200 petrol stations across eight countries.

Mohsin, 48, and Zuber, 47, bought their first outlet in Bury in 2001, holding the position of group co-chief executive. Their Euro Garages business merged with European Forecourt Retail Group in 2016 to create EG. Few people lost more money in the Indian stock market during the coronavirus-induced crash than the Hinduja brothers. One analysis suggested their listed businesses shed at least 67% of their value in March before rallying last month. The Hinduja Group is controlled by the sons of the late Parmanand, who set up in business in Mumbai in 1914, moving to Iran to trade carpets, tea and spices and later adding a merchant bank. Today the group has operations in oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare, but this year has been tough for London-based Gopi, 80, and Sri, 84, whose £300m home in Carlton House Terrace is a gemstone's throw from Buckingham Palace.

Also on the number two are the Reuben brothers were poised to take a 10% stake in Premier League football club Newcastle United as The Sunday Times Rich List went to press. The investment marks the first foray into football for the pair — but there has long been something of the magpie about their good eye for a shiny bauble in property and the metals trade. Born in Mumbai, the brothers grew up in north London and attended state schools. Simon, 78, left early and went into the carpet business, making enough money from a company he bought from the receivers to start investing in property. He made savvy choices, buying several shops in Walton Street and the King' Road in Chelsea.

At number 15 in the overall list and third in Asian, Anil Agarwal said earlier this year that he was determined to continue with plans to more than double his Indian oil production despite tumbling prices, as the country strives for energy self-sufficiency. In 2003 his Vedanta Resources was the first Indian company to float on the London stock exchange but he took it private two years ago, buying the rest of its shares for $1bn. Operating in India, Australia, Zambia and Ireland, mining copper, aluminium, lead and other metals, the business owns half of the separate and larger Vedanta Limited mining giant, valued at £3.44bn on the Mumbai stock market. Agarwal, 67, has a stake worth £1.72bn, down £2.18bn on a year ago.

The fourth richest Indian Laxmi Mittal is at number 19 in the UK Rich Lisht. Mittal described the deal for his first acquisition of a steel plant in India as a "homecoming". ArcelorMittal completed the takeover of Essar Steel's facility in Hazira in November. Mittal, 69, said: "I was born in India and my roots are in India. I have spent the past three decades building a steel business in multiple markets around the world." Already battered by the China-US trade war, lower steel prices and the higher cost of raw materials have set the share price sliding over the past year and the Luxembourg-based business is worth £7.974bn on the stock market. The Mittals' stake is valued at about £2.981bn, down £3.419bn in a year.

Prakash Lohia is at number 26. Lohia, brother-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal (qv), owns the Singapore-based Indorama Corp, one of the world's largest manufacturers of synthetic gloves. In 2017 it made just over $1bn profit on more than $8.4bn sales. In London, where he lives, Lohia is best known for his restoration of Sheridan House – a task that led to his nickname "the Maharajah of Mayfair". Lohia, 66, also has a huge collection of lithographs and rare books, which are being digitised and can be viewed at splrarebooks.com.

Tak Lee, at number 49, is approaching a 30% holding in Shaftesbury – at which point he could have another go at taking over the quoted property business, which owns London's Chinatown and Carnaby Street. His 26% stake is worth £709.8m, down £40.2m, and he has tried to block the re-election of the board over the past year.

Tak Lee, 80, has seven children and owns homes in London and Hong Kong. We trim his worth to reflect Shaftesbury's share fall, but his dividends should have topped £13m in 2017-18. He has vast property assets in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Switzerland.

AT number 50 are SIR Anwar Pervaz and Family Pervez's London-based Bestway Group, which trades under the Bestway and Batleys brands, It is the UK's second largest independent wholesaler and third-largest retail pharmacy. It is also the biggest cement maker and second-largest private bank in his native Pakistan. However, political uncertainty in both his homeland and Britain hit the operation in 2017-18 and it is now worth £5bn, down £750m in a year, with the family's stake valued at £2.9bn. Pervez, 85, still chairs the business, where his sons Dawood, 45, and Rizwan, 52, are directors and his nephew Lord Choudrey (qv) is chief executive. He gave £263,000 to the Tories ahead of last December's general election and £5,000 to Labour, making him the only one of the top 50 political donors to favour the party.

ASIANS IN THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2020 Rank 2019 (2018) 1= (1) 1= (2) 3 (4) 4 (3) 5 (5) 6 (17) 7 (6) 8 (7) 9 (8) 10 (10) 11 (15) 12 (14) 13 (13) 14 (12) 15 (16) 16 (20) 17 (11) 18 (18) 19 (19) 20 (21) 21 (22) 22 (23) 23 (25) 24 (31) 25 (26) 26 (24) 27= (29=) 27= (29=) 29 (27) 30 (41) 31= (32=) 31= (32=) 33 (38) 34 (34) 35 (35) 36 (42) 37 (37) 38 (49) 39 (40) 40 (44) 41 (39) 42 (43) 43 (28) 44 (47) 45 (52) 46 (54) 47 (46) 48 (51) 49 (63=) 50 (68) 51 (58) 52 (57) 53 (55) 54= (53) 54= (56) 56 (59) 57 (61) 58 (60) 59 (50) 60 (66) 61 (62) 62 (63=) 63 (65) 64 (71) 65= (69) 65= (48) 67= (72=) 67= (36) 69= (72=) 69= (70) 71 (75) 72 (78=) 73= (76=) 73= (76=) 73= (New) 76 (New) 77= (78=) 77= (New) 79 (81) 80= (74) 80= (New)

Name

Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family David and Simon Reuben Anil Agarwal Lakshmi Mittal and family Sri Prakash Lohia Mohsin and Zuber Issa Sir Anwar Pervez and family Samuel Tak Lee and family Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora Lord Paul and family Farhad Moshiri Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Navin and Varsha Engineer Lord Choudrey and family Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu and family Surinder Arora and family Sunil Vaswani and family Nadhmi Auchi Mahmud Kamani and family Jasminder Singh and family Christina Ong and family Bhikhu and Vijay Patel The Jatania brothers Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia and family Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan Vladimir Kim Abdul Bhatti and family Adalat and Arshad Chaudhary Younus Sheikh and family Bhupendra Kansagra and family Felix Grovit Meeta and Amit Patel Apurv Bagri and family Kuljinder Bahia and family Kartar and Tej Lalvani Kelly Choi Fakhruddin Suterwalla and family Masao Asai Fitri Hay Sharan Pasricha Tom Singh and family Firoz Kassam Tony Fernandes Bakir Cola and family Vipul Thakrar and family Lord Alli Sanjay Vadera and family Moni Varma Kirti Patel and family Chai Patel Koolesh Shah and family Anwar and Yakub Patel Mayank Patel Iqbal Ahmed and family Ratheesan Yoganathan Nik and Monisha Kotecha and family Amin Tejani and family Tarsem Dhaliwal Kishore Lulla and family The Dhamecha family Nick Dhandsa and family Lord Verjee Raj Sehgal and Sanjeev Mehan and family Raj Manak Kirit and Meena Pathak Rashid and Aziz Tayub and family Sir Anish Kapoor Peter Simon and family Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and family Aran and Arvan Handa and family Surinder Kandola Nandlal and Deep Valecha Kaveh Alamouti Nemir Kirdar Tony Deep Wouhra and family Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh Hitesh and Dilesh Mehta Firoz Tejani and family Lord and Lady Popat and family Nitin Sodha and family Woon Wing Yip and family

Worth £16,000m £16,000m £8,500m £6,781m £3,605m £3,560m £3,102m £2,850m £2,111m £1,900m £1,875m £1,808m £1,800m £1,531m £1,300m £1,265m £1,250m £1,182m £1,031m £1,015m £878m £800m £643m £600m £593m £579m £540m £540m £532m £486m £450m £450m £418m £410m £401m £389m £373m £340m £325m £321m £310m £300m £262m £259m £225m £220m £219m £218m £215m £212m £210m £208m £205m £200m £200m £197m £188m £178m £177m £171m £170m £165m £163m £159m £150m £150m £137m £137m £135m £135m £134m £133m £130m £130m £130m £127m £125m £125m £121m £120m £120m

(▲)Rise/Fall(▼) ▼ £6bn ▼ £2.664bn ▼ £2.07bn ▼ £3.888bn ▼ £1.797bn ▲ £2.36bn ▼ £432m ▼ £155m ▼ £149m ▼ £100m ▲ £300m ▲ £119m ▲ £100m ▼ £224m ▼ £21m ▲ £136m ▼ £719m ▲ £6m ▼ £132m ▼ £85m ▼ £172m No change No change ▲ £100m ▼ £47m ▼ £219m No change No change ▼ £77m ▲ £166m No change No change ▲ £69m ▼ £17m ▲ £11m ▲ £82m ▲ £6m ▲ £110m No change ▲ £23m ▼ £30m ▼ £5m ▼ £325m ▲ £9m ▲ £11m ▲ £8m ▼ £38m No change ▲ £50m ▲ £58m ▲ £18m ▲ £10m No change ▼ £13m No change ▲ £7m ▲ £15m No change ▼ £43m ▲ £11m No change No change No change ▲ £22m No change ▼ £86m ▲ £2m ▼ £250m No change ▼ £5m ▲ £1m ▲ £7m No change No change New entry New entry ▼ £1m New entry No change ▼ £14m New entry

Source of wealth Industry and finance Property and internet Mining Steel Textiles and plastics Fuel distribution Cash and carry Property Discount stores Industry Investment and football Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceuticals Cash and carry and pharmacies Property and hotels Hotels Transport and food Finance Internet retailing Hotels Retailing and hotels Pharmaceuticals Toiletries and property Car parts and hotels Food Mining Cash and carry Cash and carry Cash and carry Foreign exchange Pharmaceuticals Metals Travel Health supplements Food Food Hedge fund Oil and horseracing Fashion Hotels and property Aviation Hotels Food Media and Fashion Perfume Food Pharmaceuticals Hotels Pharmacies Foreign exchange Food Telecoms Pharmaceuticals Paper products Frozen food Media Care homes Finance and retailing Fashion and property Construction Food Discount stores and property Art Fashion Football and hotels Food Gas services Hedge fund Finance Food Spirits Perfume Foreign exchange Care homes and hotels Pharmaceuticals Cash and carry

18 UK

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23 - 29 May 2020

"Cracking the whip" is Two Asian origin doctors who lost lives to not racist term: Tribunal COVID19 served society till their last moments Rejecting a claim by NHS manager, a tribunal ruled that `Cracking the whip' is not a racist term that refers to punishing slaves Vivienne Okoh, 45, who is of African origin, alleged that she had been discriminated. She leveled the accusation when her boss used the expression during a meeting at an NHS trust in London.

But an employment tribunal this week ruled that the phrase referred to driving horses, not slavery, The Times reported.

Ms Okoh, a psychiatric nurse who ran the mental health service for the North East London Foundation Trust, also claimed that when her manager accused her of being "aggressive" she had been victimised in a similar manner to the US tennis player Serena Williams.

The tribunal was told that in a team meeting in 2017 the manager, Caroline Ward, used the expression "cracking the whip" regarding performance targets. She accompanied the phrase with a hand gesture.

The tribunal was told that Ms Okoh "understood the expression to have connotations of slavery". Ms Ward gave evidence that

she thought the expression related to horses and was unaware of any connection with race or slavery and the tribunal agreed that she was not being deliberately offensive.

Ms Okoh had based her assertion on an internet slang dictionary, which, the tribunal noted, could be amended directly by users.

It defines the phrase as "to be demanding of work.

Originally used in slavery and horse-trading."

The tribunal was told that the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms defines the expression as to "behave in a domineering and demanding way towards one's subordinates".

That dictionary cited the expression as first being recorded in 1647, and that it alludes to drivers of horse-drawn wagons who snapped their whips hard.

The month after Ms Ward used the expression the pair had a fraught meeting, the tribunal was told.

Ms Okoh claimed that as well as being called a liar she was told she was being "challenging, defensive and aggressive". Okoh's lawyer said this treatment was similar to what Willams faced.

The Asian community lost two medical practitioners with Dr Karamat Ullah Mirza and Dr Poornima Nair died of COVID19 in the line of duty.

Both professionals provided their services to society till their last moments.

Dr Karamat Ullah Mirza(84) worked at Old Road Medical Practice at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Whereas Dr Poornima Nair, a GP at the Station View Medical Centre in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, had been on life support since 27 March having been taken ill two weeks earlier. The 56-year-old was not thought to have had any underlying health issues.

Her collages described her as an "extraordinary, exceptional and astonishing" GP. Dr Mirza's widow Estelle told the Press Association and Clacton Gazette: "He was no ordinary man, he was an extraordinary, exceptional and astonishing man, who was absolutely fearless and daring and had enormous knowledge.

"He worked endlessly for the NHS and non-stop for this country, and he was known and loved by everyone in Clacton and he loved all his staff and patients and this town."

According to her, he only stopped seeing patients two weeks ago.

"A small number of people who had contact with Dr Mirza are self-isolating at home as appropriate.

"The Old Road Surgery in Clacton and its branch practice in St Osyth will be closed until Wednesday of this week at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Practice manager

Dr Karamat Ullah Mirza

Sarah Westgarth described Dr Nair as "positive, encouraging and so caring".

"It's quite unbelievable that seven weeks down the line, as a practice we are having to mourn the death of someone who is so important to us and a real focal point of the surgery.

"I really feel for her family - her mum, husband and son. Her heart was with the NHS and what she could do to help her patients and the staff. She'll be so missed.", her collague was quoted by media.

After showing symptoms of Covid19, Dr Nair was admitted to the University Hospital of North Tees Hospital, in Stockton, on 20 March.

Dr Ed Garratt - chief executive of the NHS North East Essex clinical commissioning group - said: "We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Dr Mirza, a respected and muchloved GP who had served the patients in his local community for more than four decades.

Dr Poornima Nair

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and practice colleagues, and all our efforts will be focused on supporting them at this difficult time.

A doctor who died after contracting coronavirus had her heart "with the NHS and her patients", a colleague said.

Practice manager Sarah Westgarth described her as "positive, encouraging and so caring".

"It's quite unbelievable that seven weeks down the line, as a practice we are having to mourn the death of someone who is so important to us and a real focal point of the surgery.

"I really feel for her family - her mum, husband and son.

"Her heart was with the NHS and what she could do to help her patients and the staff. She'll be so missed."

After showing symptoms of Covid19, Dr Nair was admitted to the University Hospital of North Tees Hospital, in Stockton, on 20 March.

Gujarati pilot safely brings home Glasgow’s Pakora joint is back 50 stranded expectant mothers on the plate Pratyush Vyas, a Gujarati captain with Air India Express, has flown many flights, but none like the one from Dubai to Mangalore bringing stranded Indians home on May 12.

In this special repatriation flight under the Vande Bharat evacuation mission of India, there were 177 passengers on board.

But the actual number of 'lives' was much more as some flyers were expectant mothers.

"We had to keep in mind a lot many new factors. One, we were flying for the first time with hazmat suits that are not very comfortable to be in. Secondly, after calming nerves of passengers anxious over coronavirus situation, we had to take care that all the carrying mothers land home healthy," Vyas said in a social media interview to a radio jockey.

For the crew, food, water, or lo o breaks were impossible for eight hours once they put on the personal protective gear.

Sharing his unique experience, Vyas told RJ Dhvanit: "We were sweating inside the PPE, though the cabin temperature was at the coldest. Especially for the expectant mothers, we took the extra care of monitoring speed, cruising through turbulence, and descend from around 35,000 feet.

"Many get ear pain in case the desce nd is not smooth. Besides, there were chances of pregnant women getting affected by shock if the landing was not smooth."

The captain and the crew members had volunteered to be part of the Vande Bharat mission.

Vyas compared the PPE restriction experience to religious fastings. "The eight hours without food, water, and toilet breaks were like observing Roza (fasting during Muslims holy month of Ramadan) o r attham (Jain fasting)," Vyas said.

For the local population addicted to the munching of the Pakora Explorer, the outlet has reopened after it downed shutter due to the pandemic outbreak.

The popular food joint near Glasgow is selling only drive-thru in the wake of pandemic as it looks to bounce back.

The news of reopening in Old Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire sent the customers into a frenzy.

But those looking to enjoy their food at the joint are in for a disappointment as the outlet is exercising maximum caution. Foodies will be able to get items from a limited menu right now and that too only by pre-ordering in advance on Facebook. Due to the ongoing lockdown, the joint wants to follows all norms in place while operating the business.

Th e outlet has also given the customers option to slot their pick up time so a to avoid

large gathering at the outlet.

The outlet has also warned the customers that only those travelling in a vehicle will be served and no pedestrian will be allowed for the time being.

The Pakora Explorer, in a Facebook post, said: “This is our first weekend in operation since lockdown happened and we appreciate all the positive comments we’ve already had leading up to this. We will continue to review our ordering system to make it as efficient and easy as possible but Alongside Cornerstone is Impact we appreciate your patience X Capital Partners, another blackfor this first weekend.” owned and black-run venture capital Talking to Glasgow Live, firm putting money behind start-ups Sheetal Revis aka ‘the Pakora led by, or serving, women and people Explorer’ said: "I started up of colour. doing street food last year and As well as boasting support from the comedian Lenny Henry and Uber when this came about it was board member Ursula Burns, Impact the perfect chance for me to X's 20-strong executive board features keep the business going and a group of highly successful black do what I love - which is just business people from the UK and US to make some great food. who offer expertise and advice.

"Glasgow loves pakora According to co-founder and and I think it's only second to CEO Eric Collins, the group has chips so when you put the already vetted more than 500 compatwo together you are dancnies in the UK and Europe, investing ing." in about 15 of them. "When we say 4 The outlet is also explorout of 1,000 people on the Rich List ing the possibility of home are black, that's only 0.4% of the total, delivery as orders expand in so obviously, something's not hapthe coming weeks. pening," said Collins.

Glaring imbalance within ethenic groups

Continued from page 16 Although the likes of Anthony Joshua, Raheem Sterling and Stormzy are cultural icons in their own right, the absence of young up-and-coming entrepreneurs to match their enormous strides points to some deeprooted issues.

These days, the well-trodden route to creating a multimillionpound business, is through venture capital investment. The problem is, most of the people signing off these sizable cheques are part of an elite club, dominated by white men.

ProjectDiane, a biennial demographic report on black female business founders in America, showed that in 2018, start-ups led by black women had attracted just 0.0006% of the $424.7bn tech venture capital raised in the country since 2009. In the UK, according to a report last year

by JP Morgan, just 3% of the venture capitalists in London are black, while 86% are white. Check Warner, the CEO and co-founder of Diversity VC, a non-profit partnership, feels the investment world is "nepotistic and network-driven".

"We all know the old adage that it takes money to make money, and at the moment the set of people who have access to capital and investment is incredibly narrow and limited," she said.

Historically pitching to venture capitalists who do not look and sound like them, black businesses have largely struggled to secure the backing they need to take their ideas to the next level. However, the landscape is slowly changing, with a number of new investment funds looking to support them by providing monetary

backing and mentorship and guidance. These include Cornerstone, founded by six friends who first met in a Levi Roots Caribbean restaurant in 2016.

In addition to investment, Cornerstone runs a nine-week "accelerator" programme once a year, inviting successful entrepreneurs to give its partners "open and honest" advice on how to grow their businesses.

Chenelle Ansah, the head of Cornerstone's Angel investment network, said: "What we're trying to do is break down barriers. The venture capital world and the investment space have historically been led by a particular group. Ultimately, our goal is to write cheques that help black businesses scale, so they can turn around and do what we are doing for others."

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23 - 29 May 2020

Tributes paid to Birmingham’s leading bizman Don Wouhra One of the leading businessman of Birmingham and one of the founder of East End Foods, Don Wouhra was paid rich tributes after he died recently. Wouhra was suffering from illness. Wouhra was remembered for his hard work, caring nature and strong family values.

One of the most known face in the wholesale trade in the city and the father of two, Wouhra was the youngest of the five brothers. The brothers established East Ends Foods Spice Manufacturing in West Bromwich together as well as the cash and carry wing in Birmingham.

As a trading director, he was looking after the cash & carry side of the firm and was also a long-serving board member of the buying group Landmark.

Hailing from Indian capital New Delhi, the Wouhra brothers started off in Wolverhampton in 1972. Before the company became one of the largest ethnic food businesses in the country, they moved their business to Birmingham and eventually opened premium cash & carry in Aston in 2007.

In a statement, the Wouhra family said they were in “shock and mourning” after the demise of their elder.

A family spokesperson said, “Don loved and lived for his work at East End Foods and was well-known and respected by many people in the business. Holding strong family values, Darshan was immensely proud of his children, Rohit and Simran and his wife Ravinder. He will forever be in their hearts and memory,” he added.

Birmingham Live reported that money is now being raised by the family in Wouhra’s memory for the staff at Good Hope Hospital where he received care.

Paying tribute to the businessman, associate director at the Federation of Wholesale Distributors and ex-Landmark MD Martin Williams said that Wouhra was one of the most popular figures across the UK wholesale business.

Donning multiple hats, he was the only person to be a member of Landmark’s grocery trading committee, the licensed trading committee, and the main board of directors for a number of years.

Steve Parfett, former Landmark chairman also paid tribute to Wouhra. He said that Don was a big presence in every way.

The demise follows sale of East End Foods to private equity Exponent, eight months back. In February, Jason and Jas Wouhra had bought back the cash & carry side of the business and started operating as Lioncroft Wholesale and trading.

Amid protests, British MPs clear new immigration bill at Commons Amid chorus from Labour Party of risking alienation of health workers who have been at the forefront of battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, the House of Commons has voted in favour of new immigration bill.

The controversial bill sailed through Commons by 351 votes to 252 since Tory’s enjoy majority of 80. Now, the bill will go for the scrutiny of Parliament. As and when it gets the royal nod, it will be a promise fulfilled by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the referendum of 2016.

The bill proposes to end the free movement of workers with the European Union and would also do away with the special immigration status the citizen of EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland enjoyed, by December 31, when the postBrexit transition period expires.

The bill doesn’t give clarity on how the new border controls will come into effect but Johnson has already made known his plans for a points-based immigration system that prioritises migrants with high-skilled jobs.

One of the key points during the 2016 referendum was the urge to regulate country's borders, ending the

credit: Midlands media agency

A father of Indian-origin has been charged with assisting in the dismembering of a body after part of it was recovered by cops in central England.

A resident of Wolverhampton, Mahesh Sorathiya, aged 38, has been arrested by the cops after the remains of the body were found in the Forest of Dean.

Sorathiya appeared before Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court along with a 27-year-old woman, who has been charged with the murder.

The tradesman, father of two children, only spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and his British nationality. He was remanded to custody by the district judge Joti Bopa Rai. After some neighbours reported suspicious activity, cops came and found the remains of a body near a quarry in a park.

Sorathiya’s neighbours have been shocked to lea rn about his involvement in the crime and subsequent arrest by the police. Neighbours described Sorathiya as a quiet family man. One of the neighbours, Tesman Raju said that it was shocking as his family was a lovely family and we never had a bad word to say about them.

The Sun reported that a Mercedes remained parked in the drive of the Sorathiya’s house but there was no sign of the family’s white Range Rover, bought as a Valentine’s Day present for Redha.

Another neighbour, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “They are a well off family. It’s a nice house to live in and there’s usually a white Range Rover outside. There have been

25,600 pounds a year which is more than many health and social care jobs are paid.

He was quoted as saying

by The Guardian: “It is rank hypocrisy towards our National Health Service (NHS) and care workers... to stand and clap for them on a Thursday night, and then tell them that they are not welcome in the UK on a Monday.”

Statistics reveal that around 13 percent staff at the NHS are of non-British origin and 5.5 percent of them belong to EU countries.

Patel told the House that the government has already brought in a fast-track visa for doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

Also to ensure the availability of healthcare workers, the government has proposed an automatic oneyear visa extension of those frontline health and care workers whose visas are due to expire before October.

The UK finally left the EU on January 31 after years of political brinkmanship over how to go about the exit plan resulting out of the Brexit vote result.

Would love to visit India again, says veteran who raised 33 million for NHS At 100, the man has seen it all!

From serving as an engineer in India during World War II to the Burma campaign and Sumatra scouting enemy lines on his motorbike, 100-year-old Captain Tom Moore is not worried about the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

The veteran is philosophical about life at this stage. Sounding like the words of a famous Rajesh Khanna song, ‘Maut ani hai aayegi ekdin, jaan jaani hai jaayegi edk din’, Moore says there are limitless ways of dying and it has to come one day, so why should he be worried at this age.

The man who struck a century recently is now basking in the media limelight after raising almost 33 million pounds for NHS Charities Together.

And among one of his wishes after the lockown is lifted is travelling to India, a country he has been while serving. When asked about his plans post-lockdown, Tom was quoted as saying by The Times: “I would like to go back to India again and Barbados I think, and maybe the Continent.

Being realistic I don’t think I will get to all the places. But I would love to travel on Route 66 in America.”

At the age of 20, the boy was asked to join the 8th Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. He told The Times, “I didn’t worry about the future at that age.

I always knew we were on the winning side.

I just enjoyed the army because of the comradeship.”

The man who served in India during World War II says British people are no less tough after the imposition of lockdown. He said that people do realise that they are not going to stay in this phase forever. He said that an effort has to be made to get back to the life we used to have before the pandemic outbreak.

The veteran lost his wife 14 years back and right now stays with his grandchildren.

The Bedfordshire man soon took over the credit: Twitter

PIO charged with assisting murder accused

free movement of labour with the other 27 EU nations.

Allaying fears of some of the members, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “The bill before us today will play a vital role in our recovery plans for the future.

It will end free movement and pave the way for our new points-based immigration system.

“A firmer, fairer and simpler system that will attract the people we need to drive our country forward through the recovery stage of coronavirus laying the foundation for a high wage, high skill, productive economy.”

Notwithstanding Patel’s assertions, Nick ThomasSymonds of Labour party attacked the government for what he called the move to alienate the people Britain relied on during the outbreak.

He said that as per new bill, the migrants will be expected to earn at least

detectives going in and out all day.”

The Gloucestershire Police, in a statement said, “A woman has been charged with murder in connection with the discovery of human remains in the Forest of Dean on the evening of Tuesday 12 May. Gareeca Conita Gordon, 27, and of Salisbury Road, Birmingham has been charged with the murder of a woman on or before May 12, 2020. Mahesh Sorathiya, 38, and of Denmore Gardens, Wolverhampton has been charged with assisting an offender on or before May 12, 2020,” the statement added.

According to a report in The Sun, the cops said the crime took place at a property in Birmingham that they said looked “like an abattoir.” A source close to the investigation said, “It was like a bloodbath.”

The pair were refused bail by the court even as cops have said that DNA test’s results are awaited to establish the identity of the victim. A post-mortem was found to be inconclusive and further examinations are ongoing to establish the cause of death, the police said.

job of helping his daughter with her kids as his daughter and her husband would go about their jobs daily.

Captain Moore was recongnised for his service and awarded the Freedom of the City of London by special nomination in recognition of his outstanding charitable work.

Moore’s initiative, ‘Tom’s 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS’ was launched on 6 April to raise 1,000 pounds for NHS Charities Together.

The fundraiser reached the target in just four days and after it attracted media attention, the donation rose dramatically every day, closing at 32,796,405 pounds on his 100th birthday on 30 April.

Thanking everyone for the recognition of his work, Captain Tom Moore said that he was deeply honoured to be granted the Freedom of the City of London. He said that he remains humbled by the love and gratitude that he have received from the British public, and this honour is something that he will truly value for the rest of my life.

The man has already plans ready for a post-lockdown life. He said that he would be walking around the streets and greeting people. He said Britain is a kinder and more tolerant and easier place to live now than before.

20 FINANCE - UK

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Dear Financial Voice Reader, Alpesh Patel Did you know if you have £10,000, and it compounds through investments at 20% (the rolling best 20 years in the US markets product 17% pa) and you add £500 per month, then in 15 years (time flies), you will have over half a million pounds?

Why isn’t everybody rich then?

1. Lazy – people have the money but don’t get around to it 2. Spenders - £10k – let’s blow it on a holiday than invest is the attitude of many 3. Ignorant – no one told them how to buy a stock 4. Buy British – they buy UK companies – whereas, as I wrote in my first ever FT column – US ones have rarely underperformed the UK markets 5. Excuses – catch all excuses I can’t even begin to imagine 6. £10k is a lot – true. Fair enough 7. Trust experts – they pay someone to buy Microsoft, Amazon, PayPal, Netflix for them – who charges them 10% over 5 years in fees typically. And that’s the cheap end 8. Confidence – they’re afraid to go online and buy £100 of a stock – fair enough I sympathize with some of the above more than others.

I also get that saving is boring. At times like the crisis now of course we wish we started a long time ago. As the old saying goes, you are sitting in the shade today because a long time ago someone planted a tree.

I have written in my books on getting children interested. There are few greater satisfactions than a nest egg from someone else working for you – which is what happens when you own shares. Of course on Facebook there are the Marxists who say if you have money to invest you should give it to the poor. And they are right – if you’re a Marxist.

The most patriotic thing you can do in the UK in investments is to have foreigners paying you rent. Helps the UK balance of payments too. So buy some shares in say Apple and those clever people will work night and day to earn you a living. That’s what Marx hated – that capital gets rent and the poor millionaire tech entrepreneur gets a mere salary. Well, if you can’t beat them – join them. The US S&P 500 of the major 500 US companies rose 75% of the last 100 years. So it doesn’t take a genius to work out you’re onto a winning thing. One third of the time ie 35 years it rose more than 20% in a year.

We Indians like our money working for us. I think of investments as a second business. Get your kids investing with just £500. It at least gets them thinking about the world, how hard money is to earn in a salary and in business!

UK jobless claims soar by nearly 70% in April According to official figures, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits following the coronavirus-induced lockdown has increased by the most since records began in April to reach almost 2.1 million.

The Office for National Statistics said about 856,500 people signed up for universal credit and jobseeker’s allowance benefits in April, driving up the overall UK claimant count by 69% in a single month.

Economists said the surge marked the biggest monthly increase since comparable records began in the early 1970s, while the overall number of people claiming for benefits due to unemployment had risen above 2 million for the first time since 1996.

The first official attempts to gauge the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis also revealed the number of employees on company payrolls plunged by 450,000 at the start of April, in a reflection of staff being let go and reduced hiring. The number of vacancies posted by companies looking for new staff also halved.

The ONS said much of its official measurements of the jobs market were yet to catch up with the economy effectively grinding to a halt after the government imposed its nationwide lockdown on 23 March.

However, early estimates suggested the number of hours worked in Britain collapsed in the last two weeks of the month after restrictions came in, with the amount of time spent working falling to about 25% below normal levels.

Jonathan Athow, the deputy national statistician at the ONS, said: “This is a huge fall, and evidence of employers either putting staff on furlough and/or cutting the hours of those still working.” He said the sectors with the biggest fall in hours worked were hotels, restaurants and construction, which had seen the biggest declines in economic activity.

Healthcare hours were broadly unchanged. Providing a snapshot of the jobs market before Covid-19 struck, the ONS said its headline measurement of unemployment fell to 3.9% in the three months to March, while the percentage of people in work hit a joint-record high.

Lowest-paid workers suffer biggest job hit in UK A survey showed that Britain’s lowest-paid workers have suffered the biggest jobs hit since the coronavirus crisis engulfed the country.

Of the lowest-paid employees, 25% had been temporarily laid off and 5% had lost their jobs altogether, the survey by the Resolution Foundation think-tank showed. But fewer than one in ten of the top fifth of earners had been affected, with only 6% furloughed and 3% losing their jobs.

Under the government’s emergency coronavirus wage subsidy scheme, workers who are temporarily laid

off continue to receive 80% of their pay, up to 2,500 pounds a month. The survey showed 21% of private sector workers had been furloughed from their main job in early May. “The majority are having their earnings protected by

the government’s retention scheme. Nonetheless, their job prospects over the coming months are highly uncertain,” Hannah Slaughter, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said.

One in eight workers

thought they would lose their jobs in the coming three months while nearly a quarter believed their hours would be reduced, according to the survey. The government should increase its wider labour market support - such as training provision as it dials down its job retention scheme over the coming months, the Resolution Foundation said.

The survey showed low take-up of the government’s income support scheme for self-employed people: 45% of self-employed workers did not plan take up the grants scheme believing they were ineligible or because their work was not hit by the crisis.

Fashion retailers in UK gear up for massive post-lockdown discounts After the lockdown wiped out the entire season for fashion retailers, the high street is now planning massive post-lockdown discounts. Retail analysts believe there could be around £15bn worth of stock up for grabs and there will be “wall-to-wall” sales for the rest of this year after clothing stores were forced to shut just after stocking up with spring and summer fashions.

One industry insider said that warehouse storage space is more than 90% full and some retailers have been storing container-loads of summer fashion in locations such as railway sidings and on former Ministry of Defence land due to the lack of space and the exploding cost of storage in ports.

M&S has dressed up its price cuts, which start at 50%, as a “rainbow sale” – and is handing 10% of takings to NHS charities. But the retail group said that its clothing and homewares business had been “severely

constrained during lockdown”. Next, one of the high street’s strongest performers, which banked profits of £600m last year, has warned that it could suffer losses of £150m on the back of the shutdown.

Already, Topshop, Miss Selfridge and French Connection are offering discounts of up to 50% online, Debenhams up to 30% while New Look and Moss Bros have discounts of at least 25%.

Sofie Willmott, a retail analyst at GlobalData, said: “All the stock has been sitting in stores since the end of March gathering dust and some of it won’t have been brand-new then. Retailers are going to want to shift that. They are going to have

to reduce the amount of stock in stores.”

“The level of discounts is going to be massive [when stores open]. There were lots of discounts going on before the lockdown and there are discounts going online now.” She suggested that brands such as Ted Baker and Moss Bros might face a particular challenge because they were focused on smart clothing for events and office wear which are now far less in demand as many people work from home and weddings are cancelled.

John Lewis is poised to launch another round of fashion discounts in the coming days even though the department store chain has only just finished a 30% -

off deal. Heavy discounts on fashion brands such as Joules, Hobbs and Reiss are already available on its website.

Industry insiders believe Primark is planning to mark its return to the high street with massive discounts, which could include buyone-get-one-free bonanzas.

One senior fashion insider said some retailers would suffer more than others: “It depends how much stock you bought and we still have June, July and August. But we have missed the best two months of the season and there will be no high season or holiday shop – because there will be no holidays.”

Independent retail analyst Richard Hyman said: “I think there will be wall-towall promotions for the rest of the year.” He estimated that £10 to 15 bn worth of spring and summer clothes were sitting in shops and warehouses and said the tough economic backdrop meant “persuading people to part with their money would be really hard”.

Virgin won't resume flight soon if UK introduces quarantine Virgin Atlantic will not be able to resume passenger flights until August at the earliest if Britain introduces a 14-day quarantine for travellers, according to a source.

The carrier is battling to stay afloat after grounding passenger flights amid the coronavirus pandemic and the source said it is trying for a private-only deal to secure its future, with around a dozen private equity and other firms expressing serious interest.

The introduction of a quarantine on travel into the UK would add further pressure on its finances. “If the quarantine is in place, the earliest is August. If there’s

no quarantine, you could see, maybe, July,” the source said. British government ministers have said they plan a quarantine for most international travellers in the coming weeks, though they have provided few details.

Many airlines have warned that the quarantine policy will further hurt a sector which is already facing its biggest ever challenge, and there is increasing exasperation that as the government outlines its plan

for lifting Britain’s lockdown, there is no clear plan for aviation.

Willie Walsh, the boss of British Airways owner IAG, said this week that the quarantine plans and comments from the government were hindering the prospect of any travel recovery. The quarantine policy would leave Virgin Atlantic unable to fill planes, the source said, meaning that a resumption of flights would burn cash at a point when the airline is trying to preserve it.

The British-based airline said last week that it would lay off almost a third of its workforce due to the

slump in air travel caused by the pandemic. The source said the airline also planned to defer delivery of aircraft on order. Virgin Atlantic is seeking hundreds of millions of pounds in support from shareholders through working capital facilities and deferment or alleviation of payments that are due. It is also in discussion with creditors and the British government. The source said that a dozen institutions had expressed serious private sector interest in a deal and they included investment firms Cerberus Capital Management, Centerbridge, Greybull, Apollo and Davidson Kempner.

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REAL ESTATE VOICE & INDIA FINANCE

21

23 - 29 May 2020

Resident Indians remit record $18.75 bn in FY20 Resident Indians remitted a record $18.75 billion under the liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) in the financial year ended March 31, 2020. The remittance in FY20 takes the total over the past six years to $58 billion.

According to data released by the RBI, the remittance in FY20 jumped 36 per cent over the previous high of $13.78 billion remitted in FY19.

Sources in the banking industry say while studyrelated remittance has been growing, over the years, a lot of remittance is also on account various factors including weak investment sentiment in India.

“Outflows have been growing on account of weak investment and business climate in India. Reports of raids by investigating agencies over the last couple of year and instances of harassment by tax officials across the country has only weakened confidence of businessmen,” said the MD of a leading financial services firm.

It is important to note that as domestic consump-

tion, private investment continued to witness slowdown in FY19 and FY20 after the IL&FS crisis in September 2018, which resulted in a liquidity crisis for NBFCs and credit availability in the economy, the outward remittance by resident Indians continued to rise at a fast pace.

Remittance under the LRS scheme has been rising exponentially over the last six year and the outflow in FY20 was 17 times of what it was in FY14. While it amounted to $1.3 billion in FY15, it jumped to $4.6 billion in FY16. In FY19 resident Indians sent $13.78 billion under the scheme.

A look into the LRS data for the FY20 shows that while travel accounted for

$6.94 billion worth of remittance, those for the purpose of study amounted to $4.99 billion. The other two major heads were maintenance of close relatives ($3.4 billion) and gift ($1.9 billion).

A closer look at the data released for the month of March 2020 shows that month saw the lowest overall monthly remittance under the LRS scheme in at least 12-months as it amounted to $1.35 billion.

The previous low was in April 2019 when Indians remitted a total of $1.28 billion. In February 2020, resident Indian remitted $1.68 billion. Despite a dip in March, the financial year 2019-20 ended with record outflows of $18.75 billion, taking the aggregate over

the last six-years at $58 billion. By comparison, over the last six financial years, the foreign portfolio investors accounted for net inflow of $64.8 billion - 12 per cent higher than the LRS outflows.

Even as the pace of outflows continues, an immigration advisor said that after the Finance Minister announced a cut in the corporate tax rate from 30 per cent (exclusive of surcharge and cess) to 22 per cent in September 2019, there has been some positivity among businessmen. “There is a sense that doing business in India may improve their return on investment as the tax rate has now been cut to 15 per cent for new business set-up,” said the advisor.

Under the RBI’s liberalised remittance scheme, resident individuals are allowed to remit up to $250,000 in a financial year under various heads, including current account transactions such as going overseas on employment, studies overseas, emigration, maintenance of close relatives, medical treatment among others.

Goldman pushes ahead with 1,460 India hires, internships Goldman Sachs Group Inc will honor job and internship offers to 1,460 Indian graduates and students this summer, the equivalent of a quarter of its workforce in the country, forging ahead with expansion plans despite uncertainties due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gunjan Samtani, who heads the bank in India, said that about half of those were offers for full-time jobs at the bank's technology centre in Bengaluru, now its second-biggest office globally.

The rest are internships.

He also said the bank was putting in place contingency plans that could allow it to move 40 to 50 per cent of its workforce in India back to its offices when the

country's stringent lockdown ends. His pledge on hiring runs contrary to signs that both domestic and international companies in the country's massive tech and banking outsourcing industry are withdrawing offers as they tighten their belts for a slide into recession.

"We are honoring each and every commitment that we make to our incoming interns and our college grads," Samtani said. US and European banks have post-

poned decisions about staff cuts for now, saying they are unsure how long the coronavirus outbreak will hurt the economy and are worried about being unprepared if business suddenly snaps back. Banks have also shown little appetite for hiring after a first quarter when Goldman's US peers put aside billions of dollars against a wave of potential loan defaults. A spokesman for Goldman stressed that the Indian graduates were existing offers the bank was honoring and not new hires.

He said the bank was still recruiting globally, but proceeding more cautiously in light of the crisis.

Over the past decade,

large US banks and financial institutions, including JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, have established a large presence in low-cost destinations like India, hiring thousands of graduates and experienced executives across technology, finance, accounting and human resources.

Goldman last year launched a $250-million office campus in Bengaluru that can seat up to 9,000 employees. The facility currently houses roughly 5,500 workers. Staff work across a variety of functions including technology, finance and human resources, while also providing support for business lines such as trading and the consumer banking business, Marcus.

India's exports fall more than 60% in April India’s exports contracted by a record 60.28 per cent in April to $10.36 billion, shrinking for a second straight month as the Covid-19-induced lockdown took its toll on trade with other countries.

The rate of fall in outbound trade was the most since at least April 1, 1995 as manufacturing units remained shut for the first 20 days owing to the nationwide curbs, and faced major logistics and supplyside hurdles later on. The

country’s exports had declined by 34.57 per cent in March.

Imports crashed 58.65 per cent to just $17.12 billion in April, according to the data released by the commerce and industry ministry, as crude oil imports were drastically cut and gold inflows almost wiped out. As a result, the monthly trade deficit reduced to just $6.76 billion, the lowest since May 2016, when it stood at $6.27 billion.

“Twenty-eight of the 30 major product groups saw

the highest-ever doubledigit negative growth of up to 99 per cent during April 2020. Even large quantities of petroleum exports could not push value-wise exports as international prices were at rock bottom,” said Sharad Kumar Saraf, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.

Policymakers, however, worry that the knock-on effects of April's historically low exports may cut short outbound trade in FY21 as the March-June period is

crucial in the export cycle for many sectors such as apparels and engineering goods. Engineering goods saw a 64 per cent contraction, following a 42.3 per cent fall in the previous month. The sector accounts for nearly one-fourth of the foreign exchange earned through exports, and exporters have maintained that a lack of liquidity has crippled the sector.

"Exporting units, especially in the engineering sectors, are largely MSMEs and face an existential crisis.

Right time, right place Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

Yesterday we completed on a deal for a client; a small BTL deal, but the second in a row, with hopefully more to follow. Both in the same location, and both purchased blind - by the client, not by us! The area that both these properties were purchased in was South East London. We have zoned in on a particular location here for many reasons, backed up by an in depth in-house report.

There was a last minute run around on getting this completed on the day. It transpired that the original signed mortgage deed and the TR1 form did not reach the solicitor’s office. Therefore, on Sunday evening we had to arrange a courier from the client’s house to the lawyer’s office.

The monies, both the deposit and the lender’s funds, were sitting in the lawyer’s client account awaiting completion. There is a risk if the money is not used the lender could recall the funds back. In the current environment, we could not risk any delays.

The client is a professional, and works in the financial sector, yet had amassed a couple of hundred thousand pounds in their bank account not doing very much.

Once the first property had been purchased, financed and rented they were keen to deploy the rest of the capital and replicate the process. The low finance rate of 1.65% on a 2 year fixed, and current rental yield, means there is a healthy return on a month to month basis of £510; on a deposit of £68,000 all in, nearly a 10% return on the funds deployed. This is the net monthly income after service charge, ground rent, management fees and interest.

This is far in excess of what they were getting in the bank. In addition, the property was chosen very carefully in a spot which is expected to rise naturally over the next 5 years and mature nicely.

If you’re purchasing property, an initial discount will of course give you a good feeling; but where will the property price go after this initial euphoria has subsided? If you hold a property for 5/7 or 10 years how will the asset perform over this period? And why?

What you are trying to do when choosing a location is look at the development and infrastructure improvements in the area, specifically connectivity. Then by purchasing in the location you will be riding a wave, without running around. Remember the first mantra of property investment: Location, Location, Location.

Ideally, property has the unique attribute to actually make money for you passively, this can be achieved if bought in the perfect location, and if it is managed very carefully.

I strongly believe the future is bright for this location, also the current environment has been dampened for obvious reasons. A third component which makes this a timely investment is the mortgage rates, for example, 5 year fixed rates are exceptionally low at the moment. There is an alignment of stars for this investment currently.

Centre lets states borrow more, asks for reforms States would be able to borrow more money, the Centre said, increasing their borrowing limit from 3 per cent to 5 per cent.

This would give them an additional £42.8 billion, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiling the fifth and the last tranche of the £200 billion fiscal stimulus. The states have been facing sharp decline in revenues following the countrywide lockdown imposed to counter coronavirus. "We have consistently provided the necessary support because they are at the front end of fighting the pandemic," Sitharaman said.

The states have a net borrowing ceiling, the minister said. They can borrow up to 3 per cent of state's GSDP. "The government is increasing the borrowing limit to 5 per cent from 3 per cent. This will give an additional £42.8

billion to states," the minister said. The government, she said, has also asked the Reserve Bank to increase the advance limits for states by 60%. The number of days a state can stay in continuous overdraft has been increased from 14 days to 21 days and from 32 to 51 days in a quarter, Sitharaman said.

Last week, during their video conference with Prime Minister Narenra Modi, all Chief Ministers underscored the point. The Centre must release their share of the Goods and Services Act, they said, and provide further assistance in the battle against coronavirus.

For the State Disaster Response Fund or SDRF -the primary fund available with States for disaster response - £1.11 billion was released in advance in the first week of April, the minister said.

22 PAKISTAN

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Afghan president, rival strike power-sharing deal KABUL: Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing deal to end a months-long political stalemate, Ghani's spokesman said, a step that could smooth efforts to end the country's long-running war.

Abdullah had disputed the results of an election in September and announced the formation of a parallel government earlier this year, undermining Ghani's administration at a time when the United States was trying to advance a peace process with the Taliban to end the 19-year Afghan war.

"Today is a historic day for our dear Afghanistan. Afghans have proven that they are committed to their national interests with common thinking," Ghani said during the signing ceremony. "In the coming days, we hope that with unity and cooperation, we will be able to provide the ground for a ceasefire and lasting peace," he added.

Discussions over the final sticking points including the allocation of some key posts had been underway throughout the

Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani signed the deal after months of haggling

day, sources said. Abdullah had wanted to control a major portfolio such as finance or foreign affairs, while Ghani has not agreed to this, he could offer control of the interior ministry, sources said shortly before the deal was signed. It was not immediately clear which ministries each camp controlled after the agreement was struck.

Washington has been frustrated by the growing impasse between the two men, even after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Kabul in March to mediate. It had announced a plan to cut $1 billion (£830 million) in aid because the men could not agree. Pompeo welcomed the

agreement but chided Ghani and Abdullah for taking so long. He said the United States looked forward to prompt intra-Afghan talks and a political settlement.

"Secretary Pompeo noted that he regretted the time lost during the political impasse," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. It was not clear whether the agreement would result in the aid commitment being reinstated. Afghanistan is facing growing fiscal pressures, with tax revenues falling and foreign aid pledges due this year expected to shrink.

"Please reconsider your potential $1 billion aid cut. In fact, since we have the Covid-19

pandemic, add more to it.

Thank you," Shamroz Khan Masjidi, a spokesman for the ministry of finance said on Twitter, tagging the Secretary of State. The State Department did not immediately comment on the aid cut.

Officials say a deal between Ghani and Abdullah is crucial to launching peace talks, as Abdullah's camp represents much of the country's northwest. But the talks face a number of stark challenges, as violence in the country increases. An attack on a Kabul maternity ward this week prompted Ghani to switch the military to an "offensive" stance against insurgent groups.

The Taliban has denied involvement in the attack, but the government has remained sceptical and angry at ongoing Taliban attacks against the Afghan military, fraying the momentum for peace talks, which were due to start in March. US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said that a new date for intra-Afghan peace talks was under discussion, and that he would soon travel to the region and try to encourage a reduction in violence.

Pak could not enforce indefinite lockdown: minister ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's close aide said that the government could not enforce an indefinite lockdown due to the absence of any timeline about the end of novel coronavirus crisis, as the number of Covid-19 patients in the country crossed 40,000 with the death toll at 873.

Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Khan, Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that the government resources were not enough to sustain the pressure of an indefinite lockdown.

"Given the situation, if we can do both - protect our lives and keep businesses running - that would be the best; we don't have any other options," the minister said.

Faraz also expressed concern at the large number of people coming out after lockdown was relaxed but warned that the

people should follow guidelines and maintain social distancing.

"If people continue getting ill, then it will have a bad effect on our hospital capacity and limitations," he said.

He said that Planning Minister Asad Umar briefed the Cabinet meeting about the Covid-19 crisis and the efforts of the government to deal with the situation after easing of the lockdown. Earlier, Umar chaired the meeting of National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) which discussed

the safety of the health workers and the situation after easing of lockdown.

Prime Minister Khan tweeted that the NCOC was also apprised by officials of the health ministry about a plan to launch the campaign 'WE CARE' for the protection of the healthcare workers. The move comes after at least 440 healthcare workers across Pakistan, including 70 nurses, tested Covid-19 positive and eight health workers died.

The Ministry of National Health Services said that out of the total 40,151 cases, Sindh has recorded 15,590, Punjab 14,584, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 5,847, Balochistan 2,544, Islamabad 947, Gilgit-Baltistan 527 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 112.

A total of 39 people have died during the last 24 hours, taking the number of fatalities to 873, while another 11,341 people have fully recovered, it said.

Following a spike in coronavirus cases and deaths in the Sindh province and disregard of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by the people, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah issued a stark warning to traders, shopkeepers and public that they could face a more stringent lockdown in the coming days.

The Sindh government has eased lockdown restrictions last week, allowing some private sector offices, businesses, traders and shopkeepers to resume their work. However, a blatant disregard for the prescribed SOPs by all stakeholders has given rise to concern about increase in Covid-19 cases in the province.

PoK PM asks Imran Khan to attack India with forces MUZAFFARABAD (POK): The Prime Minister of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Raja Farooq Haider, who is known for his controversial statements on Kashmir, has asked Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to attack India with forces. He reacted while speaking to media after visiting villages near the Line of Control (LoC) amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Pakistani forces have made bunkers inside these villages near the LoC and engage in constant ceasefire violations with Indian forces.

Raza Farooq said, "PM Imran Khan must react now and take some strong steps. Only verbal

Raja Farooq Haider (left) and Imran Khan

statements will not work. You must move forward and order your forces to attack India." He added, "It is your duty to protect your brothers and sisters. India is giving weather reports on PoK,

we should start updating on Delhi". A few months ago, Raja Farooq also said that the armed struggle (terrorist activities) in Jammu and Kashmir must continue. While speaking at an

inaugural ceremony of the "Kashmir Centre" at National Press Club in Mirpur, he said with the current strategy of the Pakistan government, Kashmir won't get independence even in the next 700 years. Since May 5, the Indian Meteorological Department's regional weather centre has started including areas in PoK and Gilgit Baltistan in its weather forecasts, a departure from its earliest forecast. The development assumes significance as New Delhi has always maintained the position that all of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, including Gilgit Baltistan, which is an integral and inseparable part of India.

in brief TWO INDIAN AMERICANS NAMED TRUMAN SCHOLARS

Two Indian American students and a Nepalese American were among the 62 named for the 2020 Truman Scholars by the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation. The Indian American Scholars selected are Nik Marda and Ashni Bhojwani, while Abrita Kuthuni is originally from Nepal. They, as well as the other scholars, were chosen from nearly 200 students as finalists – including 10 Indian Americans – named earlier in the year.

The more than five dozen 2020 Truman Scholars – the premier graduate scholarship for aspiring public service leaders in the United States – were selected from 55 institutions, according to a news release.

INDIAN AMERICAN ENGINEER CHARGED

An Indian American engineer has been charged by prosecutors with making fraudulent applications for over $10 million loans under the US Covid-19 relief program.

Shashank Rai "fraudulently pursued millions of dollars in loans intended for legitimate small businesses suffering the economic hardships of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said after announcing the filing of charges. He faces several charges including bank fraud and making false statements to a federal agency. Rai, 30, applied for a $10 million loan from a bank under the Paycheck Protection Program claiming to have 250 employees with a monthly payroll of $4 million when there were no records of paying workers, according to documents filed in the federal court in Beaumont, Texas.

BOLLYWOOD ACTOR SAI GUNDEWAR DIES IN LOS ANGELES

Bollywood actor Sai Gundewar died at 42 in Los Angeles after suffering from brain cancer. He had worked in Bollywood films such as 'Rock On!!' and 'PK'. He is survived by his wife Sapana Amin. Maharashtra's Home Minister Anil Deshmukh took to social media to express his grief on the demise of the actor. He wrote in Marathi, "Actor Saiprasad Gundewar, who won the hearts of audience through popular films like PK, was defeated in his battle with cancer.

With his demise, the Indian film industry has lost a talented actor. A heartfelt tribute!" As per a report, apart from doing films, Gundewar was also a participant in MTV's popular reality show 'Splitsvilla' in 2010. He had also appeared in another reality show 'Survivor'. Gundewar had worked in Salman Khan's 'Yuvvraaj' as well. The actor's last film was Saif Ali Khan's 'Bazaar'. He was also the founder of Foodizm, a health food delivery service in Mumbai. The actor was undergoing treatment for cancer in Los Angeles for the last one year.

SECOND SEASON FOR 'A LITTLE LATE WITH LILLY SINGH’

NBC announced that it has renewed its latenight show, “A Little Late with Lilly Singh,” for a second season. Hosted by Indo-Canadian YouTube star Lilly Singh, the show debuted its first season in September 2019, making Singh the first Indian and South Asian to front a broadcast network late-night show. The trailblazing first season included notable guests such as Indian American actor/producer Mindy Kaling, Charlize Theron, Malala Yousafzai, Jessica Alba, Tracee Ellis Ross, Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Ashley Graham, Justin Hartley, Meghan Trainor, Tony Shalhoub, Snoop Dogg, Terry Crews, Daisy Ridley, Awkwafina, John Legend, RuPaul, Adam Devine, Tyra Banks and many more. NBC said the show leads all freshman programs in social engagements and is the most-viewed new broadcast series on YouTube since its premiere.

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in brief

AUSTRIAN PRINCESS MARRIED TO INDIANORIGIN CHEF DIES

Princess Maria Galitzine of Austria, who was married to Indian-origin chef Rishi Roop Singh, passed away in Houston after suffering a "sudden cardiac aneurysm" at the age of 31, Fox News reported. Princess Maria Galitzine who lived in Houston, with husband Singh whom she had married in April 2017, leaves behind their two-year-old son, Maxim. Maria worked as an interior designer in Houston where Singh is a renowned executive chef.

Maria, the daughter of Princess Maria-Anna and Prince Piotr Galitzine, who passed away on May 4 was laid to rest at the Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery in Houston four days after her death.

54 KILLED IN AFGHAN ATTACKS

Two suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan last week have claimed the lives at least 54 people. In the first incident, militants stormed a maternity hospital in Kabul, killing 24 people, including mothers, nurses and two babies. The attack set off an hours-long shootout with police; the attack also left 16 wounded in the hospital, which is supported by international aid group Doctors Without Borders. In the other incident, a suicide bomber targeted the funeral of a progovernment militia commander and former warlord in the eastern province of Nangarhar, killing 32 people and wounding 133 others.

That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

FACEBOOK APOLOGISES FOR ROLE IN 2018 LANKA UNREST

Facebook has apologised for its role in the deadly communal unrest that shook Sri Lanka two years ago after an investigation found that hate speech and rumours spread on the platform may have led to violence against Muslims. The riots in early 2018 erupted as anti-Muslim anger was whipped up on social media, forcing the Sri Lankan government to impose a state of emergency and block access to Facebook. The tech giant commissioned a probe into the part it may have played, and investigators said incendiary content on Facebook may have led to violence against Muslims. “We deplore the misuse of our platform,” Facebook said in a statement.

Gujaratis in US raise $130,000 for people affected by Covid-19 CALIFORNIA: All the major Indian American Gujarati associations came together under the umbrella of the ‘Gujarat Community of North America’ to help raise funds for the people in need in the US and India during these difficult times of Covid-19. On May 3, 2020, a two-hour long program titled “Karo-Na Daan,” organized by Pramod Mistry of Los Angeles and Amit Pathak from Connecticut, was telecast on TV-Asia and various other platforms.

During the program approximately $130,000 was donated by various organizations and personal donors across the US. A total of ten leading Gujarati artists participated in this program without charging any fees. The organizers thank Sairam Dave, who

Pramod Mistry

Amit Pathak

hosted the show and presented artists like Kirtidan Gadhvi, Atul Purohit, Osman Mir, Manan Desai, Kaajal Oza Vaidhya, Kairavi Buch, Geeta Rabari, Maya Deepak and Bhoomi Trivedi, who rendered famous Gujarati songs, bhajans and Jain Stavans.

The program served a twofold purpose, said the organizers: providing free entertainment for the people from the world-famous Gujarati artists and fundraising for those in need. During the event, the chief minister of Gujarat con-

Bhikhu Patel

gratulated the Gujarati Community of North America and acknowledged the efforts of Amit Pathak and Pramod Mistry for the success of the program, and many other Indian American community leaders like Dr. Dhaduk, Mahesh Wadher of JAINA, Jayesh Patel from AAHOA and others appealed to the viewers to donate generously.

Other major donors to the cause included: Bhikhu U Patel, GSSC president, $25,000; Mahesh Wadher, JAINA president, $25,000; Saurashtra Patel

Cultural Samaj, $30,000; Dr. Ninna and Bharat Patel, $10,000; Deepak and Meena Patel, $11,000; Online donors $25,000; and Dr Jagdish and Harsha Patel $5,000.

The funds collected will be equally distributed amongst various charities to help needy people in Gujarat, as well as here in the US, namely: The Gujarat Chief Minister Relief Fund; Srimad Rajchandra Love and Care Foundation of Dharampur, Gujarat; the nonprofit Joy of Sharing in the US. The program was supported by various organizations across the US, including, Saurashtra Patel Culture Samaj, Shree Jalaram Mandir Chicago, JAINA and Gujarati Samaj of New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Washington, Los Angeles, Connecticut; and many more.

Nepal approves new political map amidst border row with India KATHMANDU: Nepal's Cabinet has endorsed a new political map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory, amidst a border dispute with India.

The move announced by Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali came weeks after he said that efforts were on to resolve the border issue with India through diplomatic initiatives.

Nepal's ruling Nepal Communist Party lawmakers have also tabled a special resolution in Parliament demanding return of Nepal's territory in Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh.

The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between

Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district.

Gyawali said that the official map of Nepal will soon be made public by the Ministry of Land Management.

“Decision of the Council of Ministers to publish the map of Nepal in 7 provinces, 77 districts and 753 local level administrative divisions including Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. Gyawali last week summoned the Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra and handed over a diplomatic note to him to protest

against the construction of a key road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand. India has said that the recently-inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand lies completely within its territory. Nepal’s Finance minister and government spokesperson Yuvaraj Khatiwada said that the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has approved the new political map of the country.

It was presented by Minister for Land Management Padma Aryal at a Cabinet meeting for endorsement at the official residence of Prime Minister Oli at Baluwatar on Monday. The government said it will soon publicise the new political map that

incorporates the territories unilaterally kept by India on its side of the border.

India and Nepal are at a row after the Indian side issued a new political map incorporating Kalapani and Lipulekh on its side of the border in October last year. The tension further escalated after India inaugurated a road link connecting Kailash Mansarovar, a holy pilgrimage site situated at Tibet, China, that passes through the territory belonging to Nepal. The 80-Km new road inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this month is expected to help pilgrims visiting KailashMansarovar in Tibet in China as it is around 90 km from the Lipulekh pass.

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24 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

23 - 29 May 2020

SOUTH INDIA

Don't go home on foot: Palaniswami appeals to migrants CHENNAI: Chief Minister K Palaniswami has appealed to migrant workers stranded in Tamil Nadu not to undertake journey on foot to their home states and assured them that plans are afoot to facilitate the return of 10,000 migrant labourers every day. He pointed out that as many as 55,473 migrant workers have been sent to their home states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and north eastern states in the last 10 days.

Against the backdrop of distressing reports of several migrant workers undertaking risky journeys on foot and the killing of 24 labourers in a road accident in Uttar Pradesh, Palaniswami said the 55,000 plus people were sent by 43 trains with the concurrence of the respective state governments.

K Palaniswami

"It has been planned to send about 10,000 migrant workers daily with the approval of the state governments concerned," he said. The Tamil Nadu government has been taking all steps to coordinate and facilitate their staggered journey based on the workers' choice and the permission of the respective state governments, he said.

Since the state government

has been making all arrangements and bearing the transportation cost, including the train fare,"I appeal to migrant labourers to not undertake journey on their own either on foot or through other modes of transport." Palaniswami urged workers to stay put in their respective places in Tamil Nadu till such time they were sent by trains. At least 100,000 migrant workers are stuck in several regions of Tamil Nadu, including Tirupur, Coimbatore, Chennai and Vellore and most of them want to be sent back home to their home states.

Liquor shops to reopen Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has come up with a set of rules after the Supreme Court allowed liquor shops to reopen in the state. A token system will be implemented and only 500 tokens will be given at

each liquor shop everyday. The shops will be open from 10 am to 5 pm and masks are mandatory for customers. There will be no sale of liquor in hotspots Chennai and Thiruvallur besides malls and containment zones, the state said. Earlier, the Supreme court stayed an order by the Madras High Court that allowed only online sales of liquor amid the coronavirus pandemic. Other conditions for buying liquor such as showing Aadhaar card and limiting the number of bottles have been eased.

The Supreme Court also issued notice to the petitioners on whose plea the the high court had banned sale of liquor at shops. Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, representing Tamil Nadu, said the state has already put into place guidelines on social distancing and other safety measures.

PUNJAB

Haryana resumes bus services within the state NEW DELHI: Haryana has become the first state to get back public transport within the state after it resumed inter-district bus services on Friday to facilitate the movement of people who are stuck in different parts of state due to the coronavirus lockdown. “We were sending a lot of people to other states. Then we realised that many of our people were stuck in various districts with no means to travel. That's when we decided to start interdistrict bus services," Haryana police chief Manoj Yadav said.

The inter-district buses will stop only at its destination, with no other stops on its way and the tickets will need to be booked online, he said. "In the last one week, we have managed to send over 100,000 migrant workers back to their respective states," the top police officer said.

Initially, the Haryana government had designated 29

routes for the resumption of bus services. But nine of routes were suspended in due to no bookings. Bus services were closed since Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a lockdown in the state on March 23. On Day 1, buses from eight depots did round trips on several routes with 196 passengers, bringing in revenue of Rs 42,580 to the roadways.

"Only non-air conditioned buses are running and to ensure social distancing in a bus with a capacity of 52 people, we are

only allowing 30 passengers to travel," a senior functionary said.

Haryana has also given permission to many of its industries to start their production.

There are more than 35,000 industries based in Haryana and many of them are already functional. Delhi, Haryana's neighbouring state, in its suggestions to the centre, has sought permission to start local transport to facilitate movement of people in lockdown 4.0. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking reopening of malls with 33 per cent of their shops open. He also suggested that metro services be permitted for public sector employees, and for those delivering essentials and have epasses.

Punjab allows movement of people Punjab has also allowed the movement of vehicles, including public transport within the state, while it has allowed interstate buses with mutual consent of other states. For taxis, four wheelers and cab aggregator it shall be limited to one driver and two passengers. For rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, one driver/puller and two passengers. For two wheelers and bicycles, it shall be limited to one rider or wife and husband or with one minor child.

OPDs in government and private hospitals have been allowed. Sports complex and stadia without spectators has also been allowed. While shops in rural and urban areas have been allowed, restaurants have only been allowed to operate for home delivery & take-away in staggered manner. Barber shops and haircut salons (both in rural and urban areas) have been allowed with condition of no over-crowding.

WEST BENGAL

Bihar, Bengal not giving required clearance to run special trains: Maharashtra MUMBAI: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh alleged that West Bengal and Bihar are not issuing required clearances to run special trains at a number desired by the state government, saying they are "very slow" in responding.

He also said a total of 20,00,000 migrants, most of them from Bihar and West Bengal, have registered themselves with the Maharashtra government so far for travelling back to their native states in special trains. Deshmukh's statement came close on the heels of Railway Minister Piyush

Goyal accusing some Opposition-ruled states, including West Bengal, of reluctance to requisition trains for migrants settled in other states.

"The state Home department has received an enrolment of some 20,00,000 people, most of them to Bihar and West Bengal, who have expressed their wish to return to their home states," Deshmukh told reporters.

"However, the problem is that states like West Bengal and Bihar are not issuing required clearance for running the trains," he said. Deshmukh further said that Chief Minister Uddhav

Thackeray and NCP president Sharad Pawar had already spoken to CMs of Bihar and West Bengal, "but they are very slow in responding".

The senior NCP leader said the minimum requirement of trains for Maharashtra alone is around 800. "If all the migrant labourers to be sent back, we would need more than 1,000 trains," the home minister said.

"Going by the current speed at which migrants are enrolling themselves (to travel back), daily 50 trains will have to be run from all the major stations. At least ten trains have to be run daily to Bihar and West Bengal," he said.

However, the governments of West Bengal and Bihar are not giving permissions to run trains at a number desired by the Maharashra government. "When we informed the governments of West Bengal and Bihar that the registered number of migrant labourers in Maharashtra can fill up to 25 trains each, we got the permission to run one or two trains only. It is sad to see the plight of the migrant labourers," he said. Deshmukh said the state Home department has been in touch with various governments seeking their approvals for repatriation of migrants in special trains.

in brief KARNATAKA NOT TO ALLOW ENTRY OF PEOPLE FROM THREE STATES

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that people from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu will not be allowed in the state till May 31. State road transport corporation buses in Karnataka and private buses will run.

Strict lockdown measures in containment zones and economic activities will be permitted in other areas. Sundays will be total lockdown across the state. Home quarantine will be strengthened, he added. The Chief Minister said that all shops will be allowed to open and all trains running within the state will be permitted.

TN GOVT GETS HC NOTICE ON PLEA BY NALINI'S MOTHER

The Madras High Court issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a petition from the mother of Nalini Sriharan, a life convict in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to permit her daughter and husband to talk with his mother and sister through WhatsApp for 10 minutes daily. The division bench, gave the direction when the Habeas Corpus Petition filed by Nalini's mother came up before it and posted the matter for further hearing to May 22. The petitioner, while referring to the demise of the father of Murugan in Sri Lanka on April 27, 2020, said his request to watch the last rites of his father over WhatsApp video was not granted by the Tamil Nadu government.

CONG MLAS SEEK PROBE AGAINST PUNJAB CHIEF SECRETARY

Eleven Congress legislators demanded a probe against Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, a day after he was stripped of his additional charge of Financial Commissioner-Taxation. A Punjab minister, nine other ruling party MLAs and a Rajya Sabha MP are blaming the state's most senior bureaucrat for alleged excise revenue losses.

Some of them also alleged that his family has a 'personal interest' in the department. The crisis was triggered by a showdown between two ministers and the CS at a meeting where the state's post-lockdown excise policy was being discussed. The chief secretary was earlier relieved of his charge as financial commissioner, a day after the ministers declared that they would not attend any meeting in which the CS participated. The showdown is said to have taken place after Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi opposed any relief for liquor vend owners in the excise policy.

BENGAL REPLACES HEALTH SECY OVER COVID ROW

Amid raging controversy over alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has transferred health secretary Vivek Kumar from his post, prompting the opposition to claim the removal only proves "something was seriously wrong". Narayan Swaroop Nigam, who was the transport secretary, has replaced Kumar, according to the government notification.

Kumar's transfer to the environment department as secretary comes days after a war of words broke out between the state and the central governments over the "dismal performance" of West Bengal in tackling the Covid-19 crisis. The Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) which had visited Bengal for on-the-spot assessment of the Covid-19 situation had expressed their disappointment with the functioning of the health department headed by Kumar, who was appointed last December, replacing Sanghamitra Ghosh.

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AsianVoiceNews

INDIA

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

25

23 - 29 May 2020

Sitharaman outlines stimulus package and structural reforms India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced the fifth and final tranche of £200 billion economic package given under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan initiative.

Sitharaman said that in the last four days of announcements, the government has had several reforms addressing the land, labour, liquidity, and laws.

The package also includes additional liquidity injected into the system by the Reserve Bank of India through various measures in February, March and April and the £17 billion fiscal package announced on March 27.

Break-up of all the five tranches of the package: The focus of the first tranche was to alleviate the sweeping distress in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector that lies at the heart of the industrial ecosystem that employs an estimated 110 million people, including much of the country’s

migrant workforce. While the 16 specific announcements announced in the first tranche cut across sectors that range from MSME and Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) to real estate and power distribution and the salaried, the overarching theme was that of infusing liquidity. It will ultimately puts more disposable funds in the hands of both entrepreneurs and employees.

Total amount– £59.45 billion.

Second tranche Unveiling the second tranche of the economic stimulus package as part of ‘Self-reliant India Mission’ to cushion the impact of Covid-19, Sitharaman announced three measures for the distressed migrant workers. Firstly, migrant workers, who are neither National Food Security Act (NFSA) or State Card beneficiaries in the state they are stationed, will be provided 5 kg of grains per person and 1 kg Chana per family per month free for two months, the Finance

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur brief the media on Economic package.

Minister said.

Sitharaman also announced the ‘One Nation One Ration card’ scheme under which migrants will be enabled to access Public Distribution System from any Fair Price Shop in the country by March 2021. This is part of the PM’s Technology-Driven System Reforms.

Total amount – £31 billion.

Third tranche Sitharaman announced 11 measures for the agriculture sector as part of the third trench of the relief package. However, most of these measures are either in place already or the government has been discussing these for several

years. Out of the 11 announcements, three concern governance and administrative reforms, including amendment of the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955, and agriculture marketing reforms through a Central law. These have been part of successive Union Budgets under the Modi government.

Sitharaman also announced the setting up of a £10 billion Agri Infrastructure Fund; the formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises, with an outlay of £1 billion; a vaccination drive against food and mouth disease among cattle; extension of the Operation Greens from tomatoes,

onion and potatoes to all fruits and vegetables; help for fishermen through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana; a £1.5 billion Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund; £400 million for promotion of herbal cultivation; and a £50 million scheme to promote beekeeping.

Total amount – £15 billion Fourth tranche Most of the measures for eight sectors announced under the fourth tranche were either a new push to old reforms proposals or an aggregation of earlier decisions.

The latter includes: commercial coal mining; coal gasification projects; building a hub for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO); privatisation of airports, and optimisation of Indian air space.

The renewed push for commercial mining is a proposal over two years old.

A way to auction coal mines/blocks for sale of coal under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special

Provisions) Act, 2015, and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, it was approved by the government in early 2018 and an order was issued on February 27, 2018. Subsequently, the Coal Ministry said it had identified “15 large coal blocks” for the pilot round of bidding in December that year.

Fifth tranche Addressing her fifth press conference in as many days, the minister began her speech by quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the reporters. She said, “In order to prove the resolve of the self-reliant India, land, labour, liquidity and laws, all have been emphasised in this package,” and added that, “We have announced several reforms in this regard and shall continue with the same today.”

Earlier measures including Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) – £19.28 billion RBI measures (actual) – £80.16 billion

£310 mn from PM CARES Fund Over 134 migrants killed in accidents for migrants, vaccine research en route to their home states As distressed migrant workers continue to walk to their native places from other parts of India amid the coronavirus lockdown, there are regular reports of them meeting with fatal accidents.

In the latest incident, at least 24 migrants were killed and 37 injured in an accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district on Saturday.

The Central government said it will release £310 million from the PM CARES Fund towards care of migrants workers, purchase of ventilators and support vaccine development for the Covid19 virus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thanked all donors for generous contributions to support India’s fight against the pandemic.

The opposition has been alleging lack of transparency in the Fund which was set up in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Trust is headed by the PM with ministers of home, defence, and finance as members.

A government statement said of the total amount to be released, £200 million will be used to

purchase 50,000 ‘Made in India’ ventilators to augment India’s healthcare infrastructure; £100 million will be handed over to state governments to provide accommodation, food, medical treatment and transport arrangements for migrant labourers, the worst sufferers of the lockdown; and the rest £10 million to catalyse vaccine development for Covid-19 and will be utilised under the supervision of the

Principal Scientific Advisor to the PM. The government also said states will receive funds in proportion to their population as per 2011 census, and the incidence of corona cases. An equal share of 10% will also be given to all states and UTs to ensure basic minimum sum for all states. The funds will be released to the district collectors through the state’s disaster relief commissioners, the statement said.

The United States this week will deport 161 Indian nationals, most of whom had entered the country from its southern border with Mexico and have exhausted all legal options. A special chartered flight will take them to Punjab's Amritsar.

Among those on the list to be deported, the maximum 76 are from Haryana, followed by 56 from Punjab; 12 from Gujarat; five from Uttar Pradesh; four from Maharashtra ; two each from

Kerala, Telengana and Tamil Nadu; and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Goa. According to Satnam Singh Chahal, executive director, North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), they are from among the 1,739 Indians languishing in 95 jails across the US. They were arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE while trying to enter the United States illegally.

According to an ICE report, the US deported 611

Indian nationals in 2018, which rose over two-and-ahalf times to 1,616 in 2019.

NAPA said among the 161 to be deported to India, three are women. The youngest of them are two 19-year-old youths from Haryana. “The fate of the remaining Indians languishing in the US jails is still unknown,” Chahal said.

Though there is no data to show from which Indian states those languishing in the US jails came, most of them are believed to be from North India.

US to deport 161 Indians this week

Auraiya Additional Superintendent of Police Kamlesh Kumar Dixit said, “The accident happened between 2 am and 3 am on Saturday under the Kotwali police station at a place called Mihauli. A trolley truck, loaded with white putti, was coming from Rajasthan. It had people who were headed to Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The truck was stationed at Mihauli at a dhaba where people were getting tea. A truck, which was coming from Delhi and had around 20 migrant workers, hit the trolley after the driver possibly fell asleep on the wheel.

Both vehicles overturned. police reached the spot as soon as they got information.

With the deaths in Auraiya, the number of migrant workers killed on the roads in the last 54 days has reached 134. The majority of these deaths have occurred in the third phase of the lockdown that began on May 4. Even as the government started trains and buses to ferry the

migrant workers to their home states, their numbers remain inadequate. The Centre, meanwhile, said it was the responsibility of the states to persuade migrant workers to not walk, and facilitate their travel by Shramik special trains.

Fourteen migrant labourers were killed and at least 61 were injured in two separate road accidents, on May 13 and May 14, while they were on way to their homes in UP and Bihar, police said.

In the second case in Guna, around 180 km from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, eight Uttar Pradeshbound migrant workers were killed and nearly 55 injured when the truck they were travelling in collided with a bus.

A two-year-old girl was among three persons who were killed when a minitruck carrying around 60 migrant workers from Ahmedabad in Gujarat to UP’s Balrampur met with an accident in Kanpur Dehat.

The vehicle had started from

Ahmedabad and was on its way to Balrampur district, police said. Six workers returning to their home in Uttar Pradesh were killed and 12 others injured when a mango-laden truck overturned near Patha village in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh on May 9. In Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district, 16 migrant workers were mowed down by an empty freight train on May 8. While 14 of them died on the spot, two of them later succumbed to injuries. The workers, who were walking to Bhusawal from Jalna to board a “Shramik Special” train to return to Madhya Pradesh, were sleeping on the railway track when the mishap occurred between Badnapur and Karmad stations in Nanded Division.

Millions of workers were left without work across cities and towns in India when the lockdown was announced on March 24, resulting in the first wave of workers going back to their villages.

26 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

23 - 29 May 2020

Lockdown extended till May 31, but most curbs lifted As the third phase of lockdown in India ended on Sunday, the Centre announced an extension till May 31, but listed considerable relaxations in non-containment zones that are set to further open up the economy. While all markets, offices, industries and businesses will be allowed to open, inter-state and intra-state movement of “passenger vehicles and buses” will be permitted with the consent of the states involved.

Significantly, in its guidelines for Phase IV of the lockdown which began on Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the “delineation of red, green and orange zones will be decided by the state and UT governments after taking into consideration the parameters shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.”

The district authorities have been told to demarcate “containment” and “buffer” areas within red and orange zones as per the Health Ministry’s guidelines.

While the Centre was taking these decisions till now, many state governments had objected to an entire district being listed as a red or orange zone or an entire municipal area being demarcated as a hotspot. They had said this restricted their elbow room to kickstart the economy, especially in entirely urban areas like Delhi.

Under the new guidelines, “the zones can be a district, or a municipal corporation/municipality or even smaller administrative units such as sub-divisions, etc, as decided by states and UTs,” an MHA statement said.

The decision to allow interstate travel – including buses – will greatly ease public transportation, providing relief to migrant labourers on the roads.

The restrictions on air travel (domestic and international) and Metro rail services will continue, and schools, colleges and other educational institutes will remain closed. All social, political and religious functions and gatherings will still be barred, and places of worship will remain shut.

While hotels, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools, gyms will continue to be closed, restaurants will be “permitted to operate kitchens for home delivery” and “takeaway” only.

“Sports complexes and stadia will be permitted to open; however, spectators will not be allowed,” the MHA said.

“All other activities will be permitted, except those which are specifically prohibited,” it said. So all services, including those of barber shops, salons and spas, are likely to open. Ecommerce delivery of nonessential items, which were earlier prohibited in red zones, have now been permitted. Cycle-rickshaws, auto- rickshaws and taxis will also be allowed.

The restrictions on the number of passengers in a car or on a bike in red and orange zones have also been lifted. Even for buses, while social distancing has been advised, the seating capacity cap of 50% has been removed. However,

movement of people will remain “strictly prohibited” across the country from 7 pm to 7 am, except for essential activities.

On the industrial side, all restrictions on factories and units across the country irrespective of zones (barring containment zones) have been removed.

With public transport being allowed, construction companies are no longer required to use in-situ labour.

The clause on limiting attendance in private offices to 33% has also been removed. While offices can operate with 100% attendance if they want, the government has advised them to allow “work from home” as much as possible.

In the containment zones, only essential activities will be allowed.

“There shall be strict perimeter control to ensure that there is no movement of people in or out of these zones, except for medical emergencies and for maintaining supply of essential goods and services,” the MHA said.

There shall be intensive contact tracing, house-tohouse surveillance, and other clinical interventions, as required in these areas, it added. The government reiterated that those above 65 years of age, pregnant women, people with comorbidities, and children

below 10 years should stay at home.

In the last lockdown guidelines, there were considerable restrictions in red zones, including a ban on plying of buses even within the zone as well as opening of market complexes and services which involve close contact with customers.

Now, with markets opening in red zones, liquor shops in these areas are also allowed to open, giving the much needed revenue fillip to states. Earlier, such shops in red zones were allowed to open only if they were standalone outlets.

However, the government specified that “states and UTs, based on their assessment of the situation, may prohibit certain other activities in the various zones, or impose such restrictions as deemed necessary.” But they “shall not dilute these guidelines”.

While in its last guidelines, the Centre had

made use of Aarogya Setu app mandatory for employees in an office and put the onus of implementation on employers, the new guidelines have asked them to make “best efforts” in that direction. Taking cognizance of restrictions on movement of doctors and paramedics in some states like Haryana and UP, it specified that “all states/ UTs shall allow inter-state and intra-state movement of medical professionals, nurses and paramedical staff, sanitation persons and ambulances, without any restriction.”

The MHA said that all its previous standard operating procedures issued in the context of migrant workers and movement of trains will remain in force.

“In order to facilitate the movement of persons, various modes of transport have already been opened up.

Movement of individuals by trains has been permitted earlier by

MHA through an order dated 11.5.2020. Further, evacuation of foreign nationals from India, return of stranded Indian nationals from abroad, sign-on and sign-off of Indian seafarers, and intrastate and inter-state movement of stranded persons by bus and train, will continue to be allowed,” it said.

It underlined that the protocol on social distancing and hygiene must be followed. “Local authorities should ensure that shops and markets open with staggered timings, so as to ensure social distancing. All shops shall also have to ensure sixfeet distance among customers and not allow more than five persons at one time,” it said.

Wearing of masks shall remain compulsory while spitting will be punishable.

Workplaces must be sanitised regularly and have provisions for thermal scanning and sanitisers.

India's Covid-19 cases cross 100,000 mark The Covid-19 cases in India crossed 100,000 mark on Tuesday with more people testing positive for the deadly virus in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and other states, even as a muchrelaxed fourth phase of the lockdown began with several relaxations.

The total

number of cases now stood at 110,139 and death toll touches 3,310 figure.

transport services and even of barbershops and salons in some states, barring in containment zones.

However, schools, colleges, With an aim to reboot theatres, malls and religious numerous locked down gatherings are among those economic activities, that would remain shut authorities across the down, at least till May 31. country ordered reopening India has been under of markets, intra-state lockdown since March 25, which was first supposed to be for 21 days or till April We regret the sudden passing 14, but was later of our beloved husband, father extended till May 3, then further till May and grandfather Janardan 17 and now for Babubhai Patel on Sunday 17th another two weeks till May 2020. We will provide a May 31. heartfelt obituary about this Maharashtra: Number of positive infections extraordinary man next week. increased to 37,136 He is survived by his dearly with 2,127 new cases. loved wife Induben Patel 76 new deaths took (Fulham). the toll to 1,325.

Uttar Pradesh: 323 new Contact details for Swati Kreamer on 07951480543 positive cases were

Obituary

reported on Tuesday, taking the total number of positive cases to 4,926. The death toll stands at 135.

Rajasthan: The total number of Covid cases in the state has increased to 5,845. There were record 338 confirmed cases on Tuesday in the state. Five new deaths took the death count to 143.

Tamil Nadu: The state reported 601 more infections and 3 deaths on Tuesday.

The total number of cases in the state is now at 12,448,

including 7,466 active cases and 84 deaths.

Gujarat: With 395 new positive cases reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of cases in the state stand at 12,141, including 5,043 cured/discharged and 719 deaths.

Jammu and Kashmir: With 28 fresh positive cases reported on Tuesday; 22 from Kashmir division and 6 from Jammu division, the total number of positive cases stand at 1,317 including

653 active cases.

West Bengal: The total number of Covid cases in the state reached 2,825with 244 deaths.

Assam: With 13 new COVID19 confirmed cases detected from Sarusajai Quarantine Centre, the total number of cases jumped to 154.

Haryana: With 36 confirmed cases reported on Tuesday, total number of positive cases in the state rise to 964, including 627 discharges and 14 deaths.

Punjab: With 22 new positive cases reported on Tuesday, the total number of positive cases rise to 2,002 cases, including 322 active cases, 1,642 cured, and 38 deaths.Karnataka: Record 149 cases were reported on Tuesday. Total active cases 811. Total discharges 543.

Total deaths - 41. Total positive cases - 1,395.

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AsianVoiceNews

HEALTH

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

27

23 May - 29 May 2020

BAME WOMEN MARK 55% PREGNANCY HOSPITALISATIONS DURING COVID-19

Over half of pregnant women admitted to hospital with Coronavirus in the UK, have been studied to be from a black and minority ethnic background. A study found that 55 per cent of pregnant women admitted for testing positive from March 1 to April 14, were from a BAME background.

It suggests that for pregnant women, being from a BAME background is a stronger predictor of the likelihood of being hospitalised with coronavirus than age and obesity. The data had prompted the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) to develop new guidance for midwives and maternity support workers to ensure they are aware of the increased risks for BAME women, and that there is a lower threshold for looking into symptoms.

Lead researcher of the study at Oxford University, Prof Marian Knight acknowledged in a report that the glaring disparities in maternal health according to ethnicity wasn't really a secret. However, they added, the surprising part is the extent of the imbalance.

TESTING, ISOLATION, UNIVERSAL MASKING: KEYS TO GET OUT OF LOCKDOWN

Three essentials for a better immunity Your immunity is the ability of your body to fight or resist a particular toxin in the body and protect it against various diseases.

Maintaining a strong immune system is the key to staying healthy.

The increasing modern-day life, balancing household and office work, makes it easy for one to forget their personal health and well-being.

You can strengthen your immunity naturally by avoiding stress, getting adequate sleep, or engaging in regular physical activity. Also important is to consume a wholesome, nourishing diet full of essential nutrients. South Asian food generally comprises foods filled with most of the crucial vitamins and minerals.

There are three key nutrients one must not ignore:

Zinc

Vital for the proper functioning of your immune system, it plays an important role in the inflammatory response. Science demonstrates that the consumption of zinc plays a significant role against viral infections. It is very easy to include zinc in your diet through foods or as a dietary supplement. Those who consume a vegetarian diet, may have more requirement than those who have non-vegetarian diet.

Certain zinc-rich foods include legumes such as lentils; chickpeas and beans; seeds including sesame, squash and pumpkin; meat; nuts such as almonds, cashew and pine nuts; dairy products like milk and cheese, eggs; whole grains; and shellfish.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C has major health benefits, even if you can't store it in the body. It is not only a powerful antioxidant, and can boost the immunity, it also helps reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease by keeping blood pressure in control. It also helps maintain the uric acid levels in the body.

Vitamin C-rich foods include citrus foods (such as oranges), pineapple, kiwi, grapes, lemon, berries, red and yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, and sprouts.

Pets can help parents of kids with autism to cope with stress

In a recent interview, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee, shared his take on conquering the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.

Discussing the sudden surge of cases in India, Mukherjee believes the only way to get out of the lockdown is to keep testing, contact tracing, isolating the suspects and implement universal masking.

The report quoted him as saying that the only way to get out of the lockdown is a combination of solutions, without which, the virus could spread easily. Calling lockdown a way to decrease the spread, he said it helps a nation smoothen or lower the curve. Revealing the combination, Dr Mukherjee said the strategies should include testing, quarantine or isolation of the patients, and universal masking.

However, it does not stop there. Mukherjee believes these steps will have to be followed even once the lockdown is lifted.

Now, a recent research has found that having a pet at home can lead to stronger bonds between parents and children with autism, and reduced stress. According to the study conducted in the University of Missouri, US, parents of children with autism experience more stress on average, than those parents who have typically developing kids.

“Some kids with autism have specific sensitivities, so a big, loud dog that is highly active might cause sensory overload for a particular child, while a quiet cat may be a better fit,” study researcher Gretchen Carlisle was quoted as saying.

For the study, more than 700 families from the ‘Interactive Autism Network’ were surveyed, to find the benefits or burdens of having a dog or a cat at home. It was found in the research that despite the full-time responsibility of having to care for a pet, children with autism and their parents bonded very well with them. In fact the parents that had more pets at their house reported more benefits.

It is said that among other things, children with autism experience anxiety and communication problems. The research highlights that pets can provide comfort to both children and their parents, increase social interaction and decrease anxiety and stress.

Trying to get your parents hooked to exercise? Here's how Worried your parents aren't getting enough exercise? You aren't alone.

Global trends reveal millennials are more worried about their parents activities than their own. A recent research reveals that strong relationships can help adults stay active in old age. Published in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, the study suggests that older adults were significantly more likely to engage in regular physical activity with a life partner or a network of close friends.

Conducted by scientists at the University of Hawaii, the study originally intended to look into how individual, interpersonal, organisational, and community factors encourage older adults to meet physical activity guidelines. After examining 1,193 adults between the ages 65-74 in Albania, Brazil, and Colombia, the researchers said, “Older adults who experience social isolation are at greater risk of depression, cognitive

decline, and other poor health outcomes.”

It was found that the female participants, as well as all participants with

depression, were less likely to engage in regular physical activity. Since the constraints of social distancing has reduced their physical activity, it is important for a little nudge, and protect their physical and mental health.

The ongoing pandemic has posed some real mental health challenges and while you can't escape the situation, some light exercise such as walking is generally considered safe and acceptable among the elderly. The research revealed that relationships are key to influencing positive health behaviours, including physical activity.

It stated, “We must find innovative ways to maintain connectedness and physical activity, while also following public health guidelines.”

Check-in with your folks regularly and find out creative ways to make exercise feel like a family or community event. Also important, is to make sure the fitness journey expands beyond the pandemic.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is an essential daily nutrient and can protect against diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer. While the primary source of vitamin D is sunlight, it can also be consumed through diet and supplements. A deficiency in Vitamin D can not only affect immunity but also cause osteoporosis, brittle bones, and increase your risk of fractures.

Vitamin D-rich foods include Cod liver oil in fish (like salmon, tuna and sardines), egg yolks, mushroom, fortified foods, cow’s milk and soya milk, oatmeal, cereals, and cheese.

Coffee can help women reduce belly fat: Study

A new research has brought some good news for all coffee-loving women. The American Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently conducted the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, where they examined the impact of drinking coffee on both, total body fat percentage and abdominal or 'trunk' fat.

Upon closely examining the impact of caffeine on body fat in both men and women, it was found that coffee reacted to their body's ability to burn fat differently. The study revealed that women of all ages, who drank two to three cups of coffee per day reported a drop in total body fat percentage by 2.8 per cent. The findings were even consistent if the coffee consumed was caffeinated or decaf-

feinated, was consumed by smokers and non-smokers, and even those suffering from chronic diseases when compared to those in good health.

However, the impact of drinking coffee on body fat percentage was significantly less in men. The survey stated men aged 20-44 who drank two or three cups per day had only 1.3 per cent less total fat and 1.8 per cent less trunk fat than those who did not consume coffee at all.

Senior study author from Anglia Ruskin University, Dr Lee Smith stated, “Our research suggests that there may be bioactive compounds in coffee other than caffeine that regulate weight and which could potentially be used as anti-obesity compounds.”

To Our Readers

We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement any advice. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

28 LIFESTYLE & FOOD

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Small kitchen appliances to keep yourself healthy

Healthy eating habits keep your energy up all day, and your metabolism pumping. To keep a track on a better diet, there are some perfect kitchen essentials that you must not miss.

it also gets excess water out after a rinse and is a great prepping tool.

Food processor

a hot stove all day. Being able to prepare multiple lunches in one go is a sweet sweet thing!

Spiralizer

Digital food scale

Whether you believe it or not, food scales are a hidden gem for those especially, who meal prep. This is an option that can save a lot of time and stress.

Weighing food may seem unnecessary at first, but once you meal prep efficiently within minutes, you will come back to thank us.

Vegetable Spinner

Nobody wants to eat a salad every day, and this is where the mighty food processor steps in. It helps diversity meals to save you from burnout. Use this tool to rice cauliflower, or make fresh soups. The options are limitless.

Slow Cooker A pasta/noodle fan? Invest in a really good spiralizer and turn your favourite vegetable into a rich noodle meal. Use the likes of zucchini and carrots to get healthy noodles approved by dietitians, and eat a tasty meal packed with nutrients and essential energizers.

Not only does this ensure the food you're about to eat is cleaned properly,

Got a large family to feed? Allow the slow cooker to batch cook health foods without you having to hover over

Nine tricks to getting smooth, dewy skin Yes, we know! There is not enough time in the world for any of us to maintain or try a proper beauty regimen. If you in fact, do... Let us know how you do it! However, for those like us who rely on certain hacks and quick tricks, follow us as we take you through a beautiful journey, one that promises healthier, smoother skin.

Below are some quick ways people we know swear by for soft skin: • Apply moisturizer right after towel-drying from a shower, when the

body is still damp. This locks in moisture.

• Substitute your shaving cream with coconut oil.

• Feeling a little fancy? Mix your foundation with some body lotion, and you have your personalised body makeup on hand.

• That face cream in the back of your dresser, yeah, you know the one.

Use that on your body instead. Zero waste!

• For date night, use body oil, and

finish with a drop of liquid highlighter.

• Sunscreen! Seriously, it is not just for your face!

• Exfoliate.

Wash your body after you condition your hair to drain off lingering product

Take a break from Netflix, let these books whisk you away

The global pandemic has swept many of us with the privilege of staying home. While it is truly a blessing in disguise, aren't you really tired of scrolling through the ever-growing number of streaming services?

Here's a tip! Start a Zoom book club, and let us do most of the work for you.

Below are five of the best fiction books to read during self-isolation.

1) Red White and Royal Blue

Casey McQuiston’s debut novel tells the tale of Alex ClaremontDiaz, first son of the United States, and his rivalry turned romance with Prince Henry of England. This book has it all, love, drama, political intrigue, and the best of all – a badass female President! With

a complex set of beautifully written characters, you will never want to leave their world.

2) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Protagonist Monique is a magazine writer looking for her big break, and when she gets the opportunity to interview the famous actress Evelyn Hugo, she thinks this is it!

However, there are several unanswered questions that lie beneath all the glamour, expensive dresses and jewels.

3) Darling Rose Gold

Not really a light read, this is a gripping thriller that follows the story of Rose, who was seriously ill ... or, was she? A story similar to Gypsy Rose

Blanchard's real life saga, this one is a must read.

4) Heartburn

A semi-biographical account of Nora Ephron, this classic accounts her marriage to journalist Carl Bernstein, and tells the story of cookbook writer Rachel, who at seven months pregnant discovers her husband is in love with another woman. A touching, yet humourous book, this is your quarantine partner for sure.

5) Girl, Woman, Other

A beautiful ode to the complexities of the Black British experience by Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other is a winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2019. It is a poignant telling of families, friends, and lovers.

Recipe QUICK GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH 2 thick slices of whole grain bread 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese 2 teaspoons chopped green onion Unsalted butter Mix the green onion into the grated cheese, and set aside Melt a spoon of butter in a medium non-stick skillet over medium heat. Once melted, place a slice of bread into the skillet Top the slice with the oniony cheese, and cover with the other slice of bread. Cover the skillet with a lid, and cook for a couple of minutes, or until the underside of the bread is golden.

Remove the sandwich from the skillet and add another spoon of butter to the skillet.

Once melted, carefully flip the other side of the sandwich against the buttered pan. Cover and cook until the underside of the bread is nice and golden, and the cheese is all melted. If the bread is browning before the cheese has melted, dial down the heat as necessary.

Remove the almost-finished sandwich with a spatula.

Sprinkle a bit more grated cheese into the pan in a toastsized shape, and flip the sandwich back over onto the cheese. Let it cook until you no longer hear any sizzle.

Take the sandwich out, cut into two pieces, and voila!

VEGETARIAN BREAKFAST BURRITO Whole grain tortillas 2 hash browns 1 cup cooked black beans ¼ teaspoon salt Hot sauce 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese ½ cup chopped cilantro, ½ cup chopped green onion 6 tablespoons Salsa, 1 large Avocado Mix in the beans, cilantro, green onions, and cheese and season with salt and hot sauce in a bowl.

Take a tortilla and top it with some hash browns, add one or two spoons of the prepared beans mix, some chopped avocados, and drissle some salsa. Eyeball the amount of stuffing to your preference.

Roll up the burrito by first folding the tortilla over from the bottom to partially cover the contents, then fold in the two sides.

Heat up a skillet on medium-high, and toast the burrito (carefully, don't break) until slightly crispy. Enjoy!

MAKE GARLIC BREAD AT HOME Ingredients Bread slices (as required) 5-6 – Garlic cloves 3 tbsp – Butter 1 tsp – Chilli flakes Parsley (for garnishing) Shredded cheese 1 tsp – Oregano Steps Begin by shredding garlic cloves. You can take more if you want the flavour to be strong.

In a bowl, take chilli flakes, oregano, shredded garlic and butter. Mix until it is well-combined.

Now take a bread slice and put some shredded cheese on it. Place another slice on it to make a sandwich. Coat both sides with the butter and seasoning paste.

Place the sandwich on a pan placed on medium heat.

Heat until one side turns brown and flip over to the other side.

Turn off the heat and garnish it with parsley and a bit of oregano. Cut into a desired shape and serve.

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Khushi Kapoor opens up about her insecurities In her own 'Quarantine Tape', one of Bollywood's newest faces, Khushi Kapoor offered an insight into her insecurities, over the weekend. Sharing a montage of pictures and videos featuring childhood memories with parents Sridevi, and Boney Kapoor, the actress talks about herself and the insecurities she faced growing up.

“I don’t think I’m the person I want to be yet but I definitely think I’m growing. It’s so rewarding to see people show so much appreciation towards me when I have not even done anything to deserve it yet. I have the power to make someone else happy, it just makes this all the more worth it,” Janhvi Kapoor's younger sister said.

Khushi goes on to say that she has been at the receiving end of criticism from a very young age, which led to her developing ‘self-esteem issues and insecurities’. She says, “People still s**t on me. I’m kind of shy and awkward. Obviously, sometimes, the hate gets to you, especially being so young. I just want people to know I am a real person. I didn’t really know how to handle it, so my self-esteem issues and insecurities stem from that. As a child, it affected the way I saw my parents. I didn’t look like my mom and I didn’t look like my sister, so sometimes, people would point that out and make fun of me. I wasn’t the healthiest about it at some point and it affected the way I would eat and the way I would dress.”

She said that she has since learnt to love herself. “You just have to learn to be okay with yourself and in your own skin. I think that the way to deal with it is to say f**k it and put yourself out there and do whatever you feel like doing. I feel like people will appreciate you for it,” she concludes.

Genre: Crime Thriller Duration: 106 minutes

Here is a wife that would do anything to save her husband

This crime thriller is a Netflix Original and is all about a wife who would do anything to prove her husband’s innocence, but the question is, would he do the same?

Amitabh Bachchan hits the home gym in quarantine

Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan shared a brand new selfie on his social media over the weekend, announcing how he was on his way to the gym.

Sharing a shot with half his face, and his head covered, Bachchan wrote in Hindi, “Chale bhaiya gym .. baad mein milte hain .. gym yahin hai ghar ke bahar nahin ( Let's go to the gym, will catch up with you later... gym is inside, not outside the house).”

Bachchan has been one of several celebrities advising fans to stay home and follow the government lockdown. The actor has also been actively sharing multiple throwbacks over the months. He recently shared a picture of himself from his firstever photo shoot in 1969. He captioned the post, “My very first photo shoot for a film magazine after joining the Industry in 1969 .. it was for the 'Star & Style' the only other prominent film mag., along with Filmfare at the time .. I was pushed and goaded into – a most reticent reluctant and very self conscious shy me – by the most famed and feared

by Vallisa Chauhan

journalist of the times – Devayani Chaubal .. obviously there was no 'star' or 'style' in the project .. but Devyani

Mrs Serial Killer starts with Sona (Jacqueline Fernandez) torturing a woman in what looks like a hospital room. It then moves onto Sona talking to her husband Joy (Manoj Bajpayee) where she tells him she is pregnant. Imran (Mohit Raina) a cop turns up and starts collecting evidence against her husband as 6 girls have gone missing and their bodies are found in a house owned by Joy. All the girls were unmarried and pregnant with their pregnancies aborted and with Joy being a doctor the police believe he could be responsible. Sona believes her husband is innocent and calls in a top lawyer Mr Rastogi but Joy’s bail is rejected due to evidence they have against him. Mr Rastogi gives Sona the idea that if she commits a murder similar to the others then Joy would have to be let out, obviously Sona does not agree at first but then she finally caves in.

Sona’s neighbour, Anushka happens to be unmarried and pregnant and this is a prime candidate for Sona. When the news of Anushka’s death comes out, Joy is released. When Joy gets home Sona shows him Anushka who she has held in the basement of Joy’s clinic. Sona had staged a body that she found to look like it was Anushka. The only problem they face now is that Anushka’s boyfriend Sid has found out the truth and goes to save Anushka but the two of them get trapped in the basement.

thought so .. a strong minded lady, ever dressed in a shining white sari .. always !!!”

Vicky Kaushal celebrates 32nd birthday; rumoured GF Katrina flocks in with wishes Actor Vicky Kaushal just ringed in his 32nd year, and while celebs from all across Bollywood flocked in with wishes on Twitter, it was actress Katrina Kaif's wishes that caught our eye. Both the actors are rumoured to be dating for several months, but are yet to verify the relationship.

In a sweet message on Instagram, Kat quoted a popular dialogue from Vicky's movie 'Uri: The Surgical Strike', and wrote, “May the josh always be high. Happy Birthday.” Other celebs to wish the actor included Alia Bhatt, who tweeted, “Happy birthday my extremely talented friend.

Hope you have the most lovely day.” His 'Manmarziyaan' co-star Taapsee Pannu wished him with a gorgeous photo from the movie. She posted, “Happy Birthday mere neele kukkad! Stay the boring black n white you are. Always.”

In the middle of the night Sona wakes to find Joy is missing and instantly knows he must have gone to his clinic, as she gets there she finds out that Joy really is the serial killer and is about to kill Anushka. Although Joy has taken Sid down, Sid has managed to call Imran who turns up immediately but is also taken down by Joy. Will Joy kill them all or will he be beaten?

Jacqueline’s acting let’s this film down as she does not fit the serious role as she does the comic role in films like 'Housefull' or 'Judwaa 2' but the interesting storyline makes the film watchable as the suspense of who the killer is keeps you going.

You can get in touch with Vallisa: djvallisa@gmail.com

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Indian cricketers now working from home It’s been two months now, since the cancellation of the One-day series between India and South Africa on March 14, that the Indian team has not stepped out on the field. In fact, like everyone else across the country, Virat Kohli & Co have found themselves quarantined over the last 60-odd days, making do with whatever resources at their disposal to work on their cricket and aspects of physical and mental fitness.

However, there’s been a lot at play behind the scenes for the senior Team India cricketers, coaches, the support staff and the men in charge of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), led

by Rahul Dravid. The BCCI, a few weeks ago, put in place an initiative and an app - charting out a fourstage programme - that is under implementation right now and will continue until the lockdown is over and normal life resumes.

“It’s a step-wise process that’s been put in place and the secretary (Jay Shah) is reviewing the progress on a daily basis. What we’ve tried to do is divide this process into different phases.

Aspects pertaining to physical and mental health of our cricketers, professional assistance online, monitoring of diets, fitness sessions etc are being conducted on a daily basis,” BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal said.

Like other profession-

als, it’s been ‘work from home’ for the Indian team too. The BCCI had, some time ago, put in place a video-based application that was available to all players, coaches and support staff of the senior Indian team. It included clips of individual performances, team efforts, bowler or batsman specific

duels, a database on what caused frequent injuries and other material to work on the possible do's and dont's.

Last month, the entire data available on the videobased platform was uploaded on a mobile application that is now exclusively reserved for the Indian team and those who work

with it. Every individual with access to the application can now log-in and be part of a work process that involves online training sessions, fitness, yoga, chat rooms, questionnaires (prepared for the purpose of maintaining records) and more. A fourstage program has been drafted to allow players to get through the different phases of the ongoing lockdown.

“When the situation permits, we will begin with skill-based training in local stadiums. We will keep reviewing the program

BCCI likely to recommend Shikha & Deepti's name for Arjuna Awards Team India's journey to the final of the Women's World T20 in March in Australia was on the back of some quality performances by the whole team. But a few players who stood out were Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma. And Shikha and Deepti's names have been suggested by BCCIs Cricket Operations team for this years Arjuna Awards.

Surces in the know of developments said that Shikha and Deepti's performance in the World T20 as well as in the last year saw their names being forwarded to the office-bearers for recommendation for the prestigious awards. "Yes, the officebearers were given the names of Shikha and Deepti by the cricket operations team for not just their brilliant show in the World T20 in Australia where we finished as runners-up, but also for

round role in the tournament and was instrumental in India beating ultimate champions Australia in the opening game of the competition with her knock of unbeaten 49 in the lower half of the innings. She finished with 116 runs in the tournament.

Shikha interestingly is also a part of the Indian Air Force. "I've done engineering, and I'm an officer in the Indian Air Force. I joined the Air Force in 2012, and I took my training as well, and

now I happen to be a flying officer, ATC officer. Then in 2014, I debuted for the Indian cricket team," Shikha had revealed during the World T20.

The Sports Ministry on May 5 invited nominations for the 2020 National Sports Awards including the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and the Arjuna Award. The ministry asked for nominations to be sent via email in view of the coronavirus outbreak. The process, which usually starts in April, has been delayed due to the pandemic.

"Due to lockdown on account of the outbreak of Covid-19, hard copies of nominations are not required to be sent. Scanned copies of the nominations duly signed by the applicant/recommending authority may be sent at above mentioned e-mail IDs, before last date of submission," said the ministry in its circular.

The ministry gave a deadline of June 3 to file the nominations.

the district of Khunti in Jharkhand, Nikki recalls she wasn't always that confident, and had to take the hard road during her journey to the Indian team, but says it was worth it.

“I come from a place which is actually the hotbed of women's hockey, and it was definitely a very tough journey because back then you would have limited resources. At times it was difficult for me to imagine being a professional hockey player, but I think the hard work that I put in, and the support that I received from everyone around me, really proved to be a boost. I started representing the state, which eventually led me to a national team call-up,” said Nikki.

“I think another factor was

that I had some big names from my state that I looked up to, especially in women's hockey. I decided I would do everything possible to give my best and represent India one day, and here I am,” said Nikki, who has over 110 international caps for her country.

Having witnessed a lean phase, Nikki feels hockey is on the rise again in Jharkhand.

“With Salima (Tete) in the squad, you can see how talented the players in Jharkhand are. She has developed really well in the past couple of years, and it's good to see someone from my region in the team. It also proves that the sport is again developing constantly, and that players are taking it seriously.”

Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma

their consistent showing in the last season. These two names have been forwarded to the office-bearers and are likely to be forwarded to the ministry for the Arjuna Awards once they approve," the source said.

If Shafali showed the way with the bat in the showpiece event, scoring 163 runs in 5 games at a strike-rate of 158.25, Shikha picked seven wickets from five games with best figures of 3/14. Deepti played an all-

Indian women's hockey team aspiring for podium finish in Tokyo: midfielder Nikki Members of the Indian women's hockey team will do everything for a podium finish at the Tokyo Games as they aspire to become Olympic medalists and not just Olympians, midfielder Nikki Pradhan said. The 2016 Rio Games saw the Indian women's team qualify for the Olympics after 36 years.

'It was a huge moment for all of us in 2016, I think we were overwhelmed that we had made it there after 36 years. But I believe that was just the start,' Nikki said. The Indian team sealed a second consecutive berth in the now postponed Tokyo Olympics after beating USA 6-5 on aggregate in November.

Nikki Pradhan

'I have always dreamt of an Olympic medal, and I know the rest of the girls also want to be known as Olympic medalists, and not just Olympians. So whenever we step foot in Tokyo, we will do everything to make the podium,' she added.

The dynamic midfielder opened up about her journey from a small village of Hesal in Jharkhand to playing in the Olympics. Having grown up in

dynamics subject to relaxation in lockdown norms so that when cricket resumes, they can return to the field,” Dhumal added. Head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Vikram Rathour and fielding coach R Sridhar said that the BCCI has done an excellent job in putting all of this together. “The lockdown has not been easy on anyone, and the same goes for the cricketers. But when cricket resumes, these boys will have to be at their best immediately. Secondly, it’s rare for anybody associated with the Indian team to get this kind of time to selfintrospect, think about your own game and body, identify elements that have worked and that haven’t and go about accordingly,” says Shastri.

Babar Azam is new Pak ODI captain

Babar Azam

Babar Azam has been confirmed as Pakistan's new one-day captain, while Azhar Ali will remain in charge of the Test team.

Batsman Babar is to lead his country in white-ball cricket for the 2020-21 season, the Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed when announcing the new list of central contracts for the upcoming campaign, which begins on July 1.

The 25-year-old averages 54.17 in his 50over career for Pakistan and sits third in the International Cricket Council's batsmen rankings, behind India duo Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He had already replaced Sarfraz Ahmed in charge of the Twenty20 side but will now be skipper in the ODI format too, though it is unclear when Pakistan will next be in action.

A one-day tour to the Netherlands was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, meaning they may not play a 50-over fixture until they take on South Africa in October.

Ali, meanwhile, is to continue in the Test job, with Pakistan scheduled to play a three-match series against England during a tour that also includes a trio of T20 games.

"I want to congratulate Azhar Ali and Babar Azam for getting captaincy extensions," Misbah-ul-Haq, chief selector and head coach, said. "This is absolutely the right decision as they also require certainty and clarity on their future roles. I am sure they will now start looking to the future and start planning so that they can build sides that can perform at the expected levels."

Meanwhile, Naseem Shah and Iftikhar Ahmad were the two new additions to receive central contracts - but Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz were all absent from the 18-man list. Amir and Wahab "remain in contention", however, as Misbah is hopeful the experienced duo can help aid the development of Pakistan's upand-coming fast bowlers.

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