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VOL 39. ISSUE 25

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

VOICE

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

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23rd October to 29th October 2010

Rohinton Mistry Three peers face suspension blasts Sena, VC for over abuse of expenses rules Book Ban

Three peers face lengthy suspensions from Parliament after a formal inquiry found that they had wrongly claimed tens of thousands of pounds in expenses.

In damning judgments, the House of Lords Privileges and Conduct Committee said that Baroness Uddin, Lord Bhatia and Lord Paul should repay Lord Paul Lord Bhatia nearly ￡200,000 between them. committee rejected this finding on Lady Uddin, a Labour peer, and appeal, accepting that although Lord Bhatia, a crossbencher, were utterly unreasonable and negligent, said to have acted “not in good he had not been dishonest, and had faith” by incorrectly declaring their already returned ￡41,982 last year. main homes in order to claim It recommended that he be suspendovernight allowances. ed for four months.

The committee recommended The House of Lords will debate that Lady Uddin be suspended from whether to accept the committee’s the upper chamber until the end of findings on this Thursday. But the the parliamentary session in Easter leader of the upper chamber, Lord 2012, as well as returning ￡ Strathclyde, said that he was 125,349. shocked and appalled by the cases.

Lord Bhatia faces being sidelined “There was a clear and serious abuse for eight months. He has already of taxpayers’ money. The penalties repaid more than ￡27,000. recommended would be the toughest An initial investigation decided handed out by the House of Lords,” that Lord Paul, another Labour peer, he said. had also acted not in good faith in A Labour Party spokesman conhis home designations. However, the firmed that Lord Paul had resigned

NGO meet in Mumbai signal freedom even under Sena threat shadow

Baroness Uddin

his membership, while Lady Uddin had been suspended amid moves to expel her. “The Labour Party expects the highest standards of its representatives and fully supports the committee’s report,” the spokesman added.

Until last weekend, Baroness Uddin appeared untouchable. In the 18 months since a painstaking investigation by The Sunday Times found she had wrongly claimed more than ￡100,000, she shrugged off a police investigation and continued to attend the House of Lords.

For years she had claimed her main home was an empty flat in Kent when in fact she lived within four miles of the House of Lords.

Continued on page 2

Rohinton Mistry, Canadian Indian author lashed out at Shiv Sena and University Vice Chancellor for ban on his book which was just recently introduced as a text book for history students. Aggrieved by the Shiv Sena protests and Mumbai University allegedly succumbing to the strong arm tactics of Sena leaders, Mistry broke his silence after almost a month of the ban.

After days of heated discussion and public debate over the withdrawal of the book, Mistry issued a forceful statement from Canada.

He slammed Shiv Sena scion Aditya Thackeray, grandson of Balasaheb Thackeray and Mumbai University VC Rajan Welukar.

It would be interesting to note that even as opponents of Shiv Sena

Rohinton Mistry

may label the party of hooliganism, but one hand Congress leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan himself has said he has found language in the book as offensive. On the other hand, in Mumbai, just under the shadow of Shiv Sena’s threatening posturing, a meeting of NGOs took place this week and they could once again freely criticise Shiv Sena. This is possible in India and Mumbai purely because of the democracy in the country.

Continued on page 24

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Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

one to one Keith Vaz MP with

Jassi Khanagra Jassi Khanagra was born in Punjab, India but moved to the UK aged 2. He studied medicine at Oxford University and then became a businessman involved in real estate and software. He moved back to Punjab to become the first Non Resident Indian (NRI) who had surrendered his overseas citizenship to be elected to the Legislature. Jassi is a Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly for Qila Raipur, Punjab. He has used his knowledge of Punjab and his business skills to set up the charity, LifeBuilder, which works with the poorest most marginalised communities in Punjab to empower them to help themselves. You can read more about LifeBuilder at www.lifebuilder.orga What inspired you to set up LifeBuilder?

socially acceptable vocational opportunities.

The realisation that resource mobilisation from the UK, where I lived for 40 years, would be essential for the community support activities that I wish to promote.

Who has been an inspiration to you?

What do you hope to achieve with LifeBuilder?

Poverty reduction by skills up gradation and by the provision of

My parents who have worked incessantly in the area for many years What made you to move back to Punjab and become a politician?

A desire to help the more marginalised communities who, for many reasons, need assistance and leadership to effect

Despite the gravity of the allegations, the police investigation foundered because of the laxity of the Lords’ expenses system.

When the Crown Prosecution Service was weighing up whether to prosecute, the House of Lords destroyed any case by changing the rules to allow peers to justify calling a property their “main home” if they visited it just once a month.

The decision was taken last year by Michael Pownall, a 60-year-old career civil servant who has been working at the House of Lords since he left university.

The investigation collapsed, and Uddin and about 20 other peers emerged unscathed. They did not, however, reckon with the forensic scrutiny of a powerful Lords committee chaired by Baroness ManninghamBuller, the former head of MI5.

The committee also includes Derry Irvine, the former lord chancellor, who was cast aside by Tony Blair. Irvine has proved a tenacious reformer of the House of Lords and used his bril-

liant legal mind to play a key role in the lords-forhire parliamentary inquiry last year, which found two peers guilty of misconduct.

Eight months ago the committee began picking apart the expense claims of Uddin, Lord Paul and Lord Bhatia. The results of their efforts could have devastating consequences for the peers involved.

Based on the committee’s findings, this week the House of Lords standards and privileges committee will recommend that the three peers are suspended for a combined total of 30 months and made to repay £190,000.

The sanctions, the toughest recommended by the committee, will be put to a vote in the House of Lords, which is expected to be a formality.

Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: “Our privileges committee is quite right to bare its teeth to protect parliament. In the real world, people who fiddle hundreds of thousands of pounds in expenses get sacked and go to prison.”

According to an authoritative source, its

I was never a doctor. I did 3 years at Oxford and then left Guys’ Medical School 6 months before I would have qualified so, to be completely honest, being a Gooner! The trials and tribulations of being a football fan involve the most extreme human emotions. But overall, I thrive on work, and enjoy every single thing that I am involved in.

What has been your greatest achievement?

Balancing politics, business and social upliftment.

People ■ Rushanara Ali, Britain's first British Bangladeshi MP was honoured at the 50th Anniversary of the

Rushanara Ali

Bangladeshi Caterers Association. Also honoured was Conservative MP for St Alban's Anne Main.

■ New Shadow Minister for Health, Diane Abbott made her maiden front bench appearance last

If you were Prime Minister what one thing would you change?

An extremely unlikely scenario, but if I could I would wish to maximise governance. change in order to reach their potential. And a belief that I could be an effective, transparent legislator who could work for the good of the constituency.

What is the best part about your life now?

Effecting change. Seeing

Three peers face suspension over abuse of expenses rules Continued from page 1

ness man, hotelier, politician, social entrepreneur – which one have you enjoyed the most?

members conducted their investigation to the highest possible standard, with a view to a further police investigation.

Sir Alistair Graham, the former head of the Commons standards committee, this weekend led calls for a criminal investigation against Uddin.

“Uddin’s case seemed an extreme abuse of the system,” he said. “It was really very surprising that the CPS did not bring criminal charges.”

Bhatia, a businessman and philanthropist, claimed more than £20,000 in allowances by saying that a small rented flat occupied by his brother was his main home.

When approached by The Sunday Times, he could not even remember its address.

Future abuses will be even more difficult to detect. From next month, accommodation allowance will be scrapped and replaced with a flat rate attendance fee.

Peers will be able to claim £300 for a full day’s work in parliament and ￡ 150 for a half day. They will be paid even if they spend just enough time in the chamber to “clock on”.

the positive impact of change starting to show in people’s lives and the community.

And the worst?

Lack of time with the family.

You have had many different roles –doctor, busi-

If you were marooned on a desert island who would you like to spend your time with and why?

Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein and William Shakespeare! Surely the debates would be excellent!

Diane Abbott

Thursday. The vote after the debate proved tricky, most of her left wing colleagues voted the other way.

■ Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora flew in and out of London last week.

I hear that India's oil reserves are getting larger.

Gurkha children might face deportation after Ashford mum dies Three Gurkha children are Hospital tives here and we think we waiting to find out if they Last year Gurkha solwill have a brighter future will be forced to leave diers won a major victory in this country."

Britain after their mother when the Government Actress Ms Lumley, died. allowed those who retired now a high profile Gurkha The boys, now backed before 1997, and served at campaigner, has written

by Joanna Lumley, came least four years, the right directly to Immigration from Nepal to see her in to apply to settle in the Minister and Ashford MP Ashford when she was terUK. Damian Green pleading minally ill but their sixTheir wives have the for them to stay. month visas ran out same right but not last Thursday. to their adult chilThey have dren. bought more time by The Gurungs applying to stay on have now had to but expect to learn apply to the Home their fate within six Office's UK Border weeks Agency for indefiEldest son nite leave to remain Sudhan Gurung, 23, here. said: "Now that we M i k z o n g , have applied we are although still a still legal here but juvenile, is in the Joanna Lumley with the Gurkhas after last we don't yet know if same situation as his year's victory we can stay permaelder brothers as he nently. has to apply through them.

She said: "This is caus"We want to stay in Mrs Gurung had ing much distress to a very Britain. arrived in the UK by 2007. worthy family.

"We have no family in In her last months had "I hope that you might Nepal but we have relabeen given another year's be able to exercise discretemporary stay, until tion. I hope this may touch Peers have also been March 2011, but no deciyou as it has me." told that if they claim ￡ sion had yet been made on Sudhan and his broth300 for a full day just a permanent stay by the ers Sanim, 21, and once, they will have to time she died.

Mikzong, 15, came over claim the higher rate for This meant no applicafrom Nepal in March to be the rest of the month. tion could be made by, or with their widowed moth“Basically we are being on behalf of, her sons, er Anuka, when she was told to claim the full until a decision was made sticken with cancer. amount. We can’t claim on her stay, which is why She died on September the £150 even if we want they were not able to come 19, aged just 46, at to,” one peer said. “It’s a over until now.

Ashford's William Harvey joke.”

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

COMMENT

Multiculturalism under the cosh Anti-immigration rhetoric during election time in the UK and on the Continent may be likened to a gale force wind. It uproots a few poles of received wisdom and subjects others to a battering. The moment passes, until the next time.

But this is too sound a trifle complacent.

Bastions of liberalism in Holland, Sweden and Denmark are a sign of the times. Anti-immigrant sentiment is never from the surface in France, while in Britain the immigration cap and its consequences have enlivened the national debate.

This time, it is Germany that is the focus of attention. Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the Bundesbank, published a book in August, claiming that excessive immigration by diluting Germany's cultural identity was destroying Germany itself. His observations gave rise to a furious debate, which ended in his resignation.

But the subject has come to dominate the public space. Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped into the breach, arguing that Germany's experiment with multiculturalism had failed, and that immigrants must make a greater effort to integrate into German society, to learn to

speak German for a start. She is right to raise the subject and discuss it without fear or favour, for 20 per cent of the German electorate, says an opinion poll, would vote for anti-immigrant party, as was the case in Holland, Sweden and Denmark. It is good that the Chancellor has been responsive to growing public concern on the issue.

While Germany has not experienced the problems faced by France, for example, Chancellor has issued a wake-up call. Germany has relaxed its citizenship laws and absorbed a large numbers of its non-German population into the body politic. But it takes two to tango and many of the country's Turkish inhabitants – Muslim as it happens – have been reluctant to accept German culture or learn the German language. This situation needs be addressed and redressed in the interests of the immigrants themselves. Careless and incendiary talk reflecting a sense of victimhood should be avoided.

An interaction of cultures and ethnicities can be an enriching experience. Let there be room for this to happen.

Tower Hamlets extremists muddy the waters The investigative reporter Andrew Gilligan exposed the covert activities of Islamist extremists in Tower Hamlets, deep in London's East End, prior to last May's general election. His latest report in The Sunday Telegraph reveals that one Lufur Rahman, with links to Islamist fundamentalist groups, could be elected as the executive mayor of Tower Hamlets Council with near total control of over its £1 billion budget. Mr Rahman was sacked as the candidate of the Labour Party for mayor of the council. There are growing fears about Mr Rahman's links with a Muslim supremacist organisation, the Islamic Forum of Europe, whose support, together with that of certain influential local businessmen of Bangladeshi origin, he receives. Mr Gilligan has accused Mr Rahman of signing up entire families

of 'sham' Labour members - “some of whom do not even support the party” - to win nomination as Labour's candidate. He appears to have given this up and is now standing as an independent, with some of his supporters claiming that he is hopeful of victory, a view endorsed by his millionnaire backer, restaurant-owner Shiraj Haque.

Local government is supposed to be conducted under the rule of law. Due process is as inviolate there as it is in the higher rungs of the administration. There is enough in what Mr Gilligan writes to warrant an inquiry. There is something rotten in Tower Hamlets and this state of affairs must not be allowed to continue.

Extremism, if it exists, should be nipped in the bud.

Currency stress strains nerves in US, China The US, as the world's largest economy, its most powerful political and military force has also supplied us with its dollar, which for decades has been currency of choice for international trade, investment and financial security. Nations preferred to keep their foreign exchange reserves mainly in US dollars. While these preferences have not altered, they are no longer cast in stone. The US economy is still the largest, but its power is significantly diminished; more so with global economic meltdown in North America and the European Union following the Wall Street crash initiated by the collapse of the iconic Lehman Brothers. It required an almost trillion dollar bailout of American banks and many billions to rescue banks in Britain and the rest of the EU. But such is the economic malaise, that even such huge injections of cash have as yet not had the desired effect. What little recovery has been registered in these parts have been tepid at best, with the spectre of a double dip recession looming menacingly in the background. The crippled G7 present an unenviable sight to the emerging economies of China, India, Brazil and Russia, each of whom has weathered the crisis with varying degrees of success. China and India have come through the tunnel into the sunlight uplands with notable success.

China, with the fastest growth, has overtaken Japan as the world's second largest economy, it has overtaken Germany as the world's largest exporter. As the US dollar has weakened in global currency markets, cheaper American exports have reduced the profit margins of Chinese goods in overseas markets.

Americans argue that the under-valued yuan gives China an unfair competitive advantage globally. The Chinese yuan has kept with this movement, giving rise to American resentment as what Washington perceives as the artificially low value of the yuan. The problem is that the yuan is pegged to the US dollar. The Indian

rupee on the other hand floats freely, hence this difficulty doesn't exist between the US and India. The latter's economic growth is the second fastest, among major countries, in the world. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration and the US Congress have told China that the low yuan is harmful to US interests. They demand that China revalue the yuan for a more equitable playing field.

China has rejected the US charge that it is keeping the yuan artificially low. In a conciliatory gesture it has made a modest re-evaluation of its currency. This has brought Beijing breathing space, but this is unlikely to last, as the revalued yuan is still pegged too low, say US officials and bankers. The recent meetings in Washington DC of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were congenial affairs; these were leavened by seminars and informal cafe discussions, but despite such efforts to walk the extra mile or two, the desired consensus proved elusive and darkened corridors resonate with talk of currency wars. This would entail countries reducing the value of their national currencies in a bid to undercut rivals. Such exercises would signal a general defeat. International trade would suffer and their would be no winners, only losers.

Figures released a week ago showed that global imbalances are set to widen and the pace of currency accumulation is accelerating. China's reserves have reached $2.6 trillion at the end of September. Buy the end of 2011 this figure is expected to climb to $3 trillion, and that of emerging countries as a whole to almost $6.8 trillion, more than 50 per cent higher than before the financial crisis. Yet for all the hard and gloomy talk, there is no sign of any currency war. There is too much to lose for all concerned if such a conflit did break out. Talks will proceed and a consensus, eventually, achieved. So why not sooner rather than later?

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Thought for the Week There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.

- Oscar Wilde (1890)

“Our London” CIIr Navin Shah AM London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT BETRAYAL Before lecturing Labour Party on its commitment to change and fairness LibDems ought to look at their own record of betrayal of voters. In the coalition government it hasn’t taken much long for LibDems to ditch their flagship pledges and policies. Ed Miliband has been absolutely right in calling Nick Clegg a “crypto Tory” for selling out to Tories.

Since the election we have seen U-turns after U-turns from Liberal Democrats. A select list of their brain-melting volte-face include : Supporting deep and fast cuts in public services when they claimed they supported Labour’s commitment to spending in the first year after the election to boost economic growth rather than axing public services; Scrapping longstanding

commitment to tuition fees – a pledge which they claimed had been ‘fully costed’; increase in VAT to 20% which they claimed they had no plans for;; Supporting non-workable controversial Tory plan to cap nonEU immigration when they claimed they opposed this and supported Labour’s Australian style points based system and Dropping their opposition to Trident Nuclear missiles.

In the post-election period I expressed my fear that the core values held by the LibDems would be ‘watered down or even totally lost’ to enable them to hang on to power.

LibDems should be concerned about how they’ve totally wrecked public trust rather than lecturing Ed Miliband and the Labour Party.

FIRE BRIGADE STRIKE LACK OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP Nearly 6000 fire-fighters of the London Fire Brigade were balloted by the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) for a strike action.

On Thursday 14th October 76% firefighters returned the ballot papers and of these 76% fire-fighters have voted for a strike. At the time of dispatching this column FBU have not announced date of the strike but it can commence towards the end of this week.

The impending strike action has resulted from the controversy about shift patterns changes of fire-fighters. I have consistently argued that the London Fire Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) must look at a range of options for shift changes in conjunction with the FBU and both make genuine attempts to negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement.

However, the biggest obstacle and the cause for rapidly deteriorating industrial relations since the start of the consultation has been the atti-

tude and approach of the LFEPA’s Chairman and his group on the Authority. To date the Chairman has dismissed my appeal to engage with FBU. The Mayor of London too has failed to show leadership on this by failing to intervene to avert the strike. I lay blame for strike ballot on a lack of political leadership at the top. Strike action by fire-fighters is extremely bad news for Londoners and could have been averted with better leadership. No one wants this strike, least of all Londoners. It is because of the aggressive, confrontational way the Conservatives have gone about trying to force through these changes that we find ourselves in a situation that could have been avoided.

Mayor Johnson and his Chairman of the Fire Authority have been spoiling for a fight with the union, rather than showing the leadership and fostering the good relations that would have best served Londoners.

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

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YOUR VOICE

4

Victorian Britain and Common Wealth games Congratulations India in hosting a near-perfect games! Indians do care what outsiders think about their country, & yes, India has recently achieved success in space exploration, enterprises & its companies acquiring prestigious foreign businesses, & have now run a pretty good 'Commonwealth Games' et al. But do you think outsiders now view India as a firstworld world nation? I doubt it. For as long as the awful slums, the awful squalor, the inadequate infrastructure (roads, sanitation, electricity etc provision) continue to exist, sadly India will always be viewed as a third-world.

Indians are self-reliant, hence the idea of aid/charity is perhaps an alien concept.

But every religion expounds the need for compassion, expounds the need for the rich to help those less fortunate than themselves. And I'm not advocating the need for governmental help either.

Think of the Victorian Britain. In Victorian times, (& despite of its empire), poverty ridden, with near slumlike conditions for many many! Think of the great Victorian philanthropists, like the Cadbury's the Boots, the Colmans, the Saltaires (& many others). Now think of the Tatas! The way the Tatas built Jamshedpur, can other billionaire Indians not re build these slums, with proper accommodation, proper sanitation, proper infrastructure?

Harish Dave Via Email

Treatment of Illegal immigrants by different Countries of the World I was reading an article that how the illegal immigrants are treated by different counties. I would like to share these views with your learned readers. If you cross border illegally, you get: l In North Korea: You get 12 years hard labour in an isolated prison. l In Iran: You are imprisoned indefinitely. l In Afghanistan: You get shot. l In Saudi Arabia: You get jailed for unspecified period. l In China: You are never heard again. l In Venezeuela: You are branded as spy and your fate is sealed. l In Cuba: You are thrown into a prison to rot. l In Britain: You are arrested, prosecuted, imprisoned and deported after serving your sentence.

Now if your cross Indian bonier illegally, you get: A ration card; A Pass port (even more than one); A driving licence; A voter identity card; Credits cards; A haj subsidy; Job reservation; Special privileges being a person of inority; Loan to buy house; Free education; Free health care; Human rights activists to light for you; The right to talk about secularism never heard in one's country; Voting rights to elect pseudo-secular politicians who will fight to get a permanent stay.

The lenient courts.

A. L. Sharma Via Email

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

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Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Quantitative Easing

Heroes to remember

Federal Reserve Bank in USA and Bank of England continue to support their economies partly by “quantative easing”. Effectively it means near zero central bank interest rates and printing money to bolster money supply and supply side growth.

The US Dollar is not only the most widely used currency, it is also the one used for gold, oil and all major commodity market prices as “an industry bench mark price”. I believe the next collapse in the world financial system will see the dollar crash to one half of its current value. Money itself 'must' have a correct 'price'.

Growing economies like the BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China] need to be wary of the US dollar. Current inflation rate in the UK is about 4% pa. Real cost of borrowing is interest rate less inflation rate. IMF, World Bank, USA and UK continue to confuse and destabilize the entire world financial system by using QE in normal trading cycles.

The quantity theory of money MV = PT [money supply x velocity of circulation = price level x number of real economic activity transactions] gets muddled up by all the hedging that is done in future interest, exchange, inflation rate and commodity derivative forward contracts from country to country and currency to currency.

Diwali or Depawali we have been celebrating since centuries and is the main part of Hindu Civilisation but do we ever remember that there was a time in India when Hinduism was under full threat of elimination. Do we bother to remember those people who kept our civilisation by giving their blood and every pleasure of life.

Mahatma Gandhi had planned for peaceful methods to get Independence from British Government. His methods have been successful but at the cost of losing very important parts of India to Pakistan, and Bangladesh. It is very important to make yourself strong enough to defend your country. India which preached peaceful Buddhism all over the Asia only to find itself to be ruled by Muslim and Christian invaders.

The Mogul Kings converted thousands of Hindus every day.

During this period of Mogul torture if we did not have Guru Gobind SinghJi, Bandha Bahadur in Punjab, Shivaji in Mahasrashtra, Rana Sanga and Rana Pratap in Rajasthan, today we may not have been celebrating Diwali. So let us be independent and brave to recognise these Heroes every year and make it an integral part of the Diwali Celebrations.

I wish every one very happy Diwali.

Dharam Sahdev Ilford IG2 6JF

Nagindas Khajuria Via Email

Odd remark by Vatican chief

The secular UPA govt The state election in Bihar is going to take place next week in five phase. Since the Muslim population in Bihar is more than 20 percent ( official!), major political parties including the Congress and RJD-LJP start talking about secularism and condemn JD(U) for alliance with BJP. These political parties are trying JD(U) to leave BJP and in Congress meetings Rahul Gandhi questions Nitish Kumar of JD(U) credentials.

It has become a fashion by the UPA government to bash Hindus and the BJP and other allied organisations to appease religious minorities especially Muslims and Christians, even though Hindus are in majority.

On the other hand the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams has gone to India to preside over 40th anniversary of the unification of the churches of the North India and to study how Christians are treated in India. Dr. Williams is going to investigate the issue of attacks on Christians in Orissa and he also met the Prime Minister of India.

I do not know how many Hindu leaders are welcomed by the governments in the West and talk to Hindus living in those countries.

Arun Vaidyanathan

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Cardinal Walter Kasper, a senior Vatican adviser, expressed an appalling view when he told a German magazine that arriving at London's Heathrow airport was like stepping into "a Third World Country". Apparently he was not referring to the airport's architecture or facilities, both of which are well up to European standards, No, it was the familiar sight of ethnic minorities there that sparked his silly remark. He added fuel to the fire by declaring that the UK was bristling with "a new and aggressive atheism".

No wonder he was dropped from the Pope's UK visiting team and a statement rushed out that Kasper's comment had nothing to do with official Vatican thinking. Vatican adviser Kasper should himself be advised that brown, black or yellow folk are infinitely more religious than most whites, in the UK or elsewhere. Yet Kasper branded ethnics as "atheists" because many happen not to be Catholic like himself. What a myopic view. He ought to get out more and see how other religions work. Regarding the Pope's UK visit, Kasper may be interested to learn that Hindus, for example, respect holy men whatever their religion. How's that for broad-mindedness and universal brotherhood, Cardinal?

Finally, if Kasper thinks India is a "Third World country" he is way behind the times. India is not only a "developing country" but a rapidly developing one, rejoicing in its reputation as a "tiger economy" alongside equally booming China.

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

Rudy Otter Via Email

Was the negativity any good?

Congratulations to Spriha Srivastava for analysing negativity surrounding Commonwealth Games 2010 as irresponsible, western arrogance, exaggeration but showed good effects. It exposed lack of coordination between various departments.

Speedy correction of all faults was amazing. Brilliant opening ceremony, favourable comments by foreign athletes and 101 medals won by Indians countered media negativity.

Builders did not comply with laws about planning, supervision and ultimate certificate of fitness. This gave chance to media-persons to dramatise incomplete work as shoddy and final. Security personnel who allowed snoopers must be punished.

Stray dogs, cattle and snake is a not unusual in India. But to use it to bash India is unfair. Dramatisation of such practice is exploiting world’s ignorance.

India must issue code of conduct to foreign media persons regarding respect to Indians at all levels. Rude, racist journalist and vandals must be held in custody till its government apologises and pays for repairing damage caused by practices incompatible to sport and athletic activities for which guest had come to India.

Generous hospitality must be underlined with threat of punishment for indecorous behaviour or damage by any player of spectator.

Ramesh Jhalla Via Email

The shortfall of British people Liverpool fans expect the new American owner John W. Henry to invest millions in their team to recapture the past glory under legendary Bill Shankly.

It cost the new owner £300 million to buy the club, not a king’s ransom even in these economically troubled times.

Liverpool has fan clubs, followers not only in England but throughout the world, especially in the Far East which may number millions. If only half a million fans invest just £1000 each, they could own the club with a hefty cash balance to invest in new players and infrastructure.

It is also worth noticing that in the past Liverpool achieved success with mainly British players. The influx of foreign players has not only harm clubs like Liverpool but the English national team as well. Our performance at the last World Cup was a disgrace.

In Britain, fans, trade union members, billionaires and politicians are shallow, thoughtless, money minded and unpatriotic. No wonder foreigners are buying up our clubs, utility companies and major businesses while the politicians hibernate.

Wake up Britain before it is too late.

Bhupendra M Gandhi Via Email

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

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

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

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Leicester Voice Property scam mum jailed for defrauding bank out of £600,000 A failed businesswoman turned to crime to dupe a bank out of £600,000 in a series of sophisticated frauds.

Sukhvinder Kaur Gill, who was jailed for two years and eight months last Thursday, also impersonated a friend to get a further £25,000.

The 38-year-old mother of two embarked on the bank scam in 2007, using forged documents falsely showing she had financial interests in properties she was only renting out on behalf of the owners. She used forged solicitors' letters to get the Habib Bank of Zurich to give her tens of thousands of pounds in overdraft facilities and hundreds of thousands in business loans against the properties. In 2003, she was jailed for nine months for stealing £28,000 from her then employer, Warwick District Council, in a false invoice scam.

Sentencing Gill at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Michael Pert QC said: "You're a thoroughly dishonest woman. You were convicted in 2003 for a dozen offences of theft from your employer and went to prison. Most people would

have learnt their lesson. You started up these businesses but when things went wrong you turned again to crime and, for over three years, you conducted numerous dishonest, professional and sophisticated transactions, resulting in a loss (to a bank) of £600,000."

Gill, of Attenborough Close, Wigston, pleaded guilty to nine forgery offences, three frauds and three thefts, involving £253,027, £183,739 and £162,876 from the Habib Bank of Zurich, between 2007 and 2009. She also admitted obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, by assuming a friend's identity to obtain a credit card in her name and a £25,000 loan, in 2005.

A proceeds of crime investigation is under way to establish where the £600,000 went and what assets a court could confiscate.

Victoria Rose, prosecuting, said Gill set up Exclusive Lettings Agency, in Briton Street, off Narborough Road, and opened a business bank account with the Zurich bank.

Property owners gave her their details so she could

rent out their houses.

Using the information in relation to properties in Western Road and Grasmere Street, in the West End, she forged documents purporting to show she could borrow money against the homes. She used the bogus paperwork to obtain an £80,000 overdraft and £137,000 business loan.

In 2008, she used a similar scam, falsely claiming to have a financial interest in another Grasmere Street property.

When the owner of both Grasmere Street houses confronted her, she admitted borrowing £239,000 against them. She also fraudulently obtained money through two other companies she was involved with – Kitchens and Bathrooms Direct and A to Z Development and Construction.

Andrew Easteal, in mitigation, said that on release from her last sentence she wanted to prove herself as a businesswoman to her family. She set up companies with her husband, but lost £80,000, and when her husband became ill she fell into the clutches of money lenders before turning to crime in desperation.

Do you have any comments, news or photographs about Leicester? If you do, please send them to Leicester Voice at

leicester@abplgroup.com

Brother of Loughborough stab victim dies in car crash A Leicestershire family is mourning the death of their 20-year-old son in a car crash, less than three months his older brother died in a stabbing. Rajdeep Das from Loughborough died when his car left the road on the way to Oldham in the early hours of Sunday.

A family tribute said he was "a wonderful loving son" and that he would be sadly missed. His older brother Nitu Babu Das, 23, died on 26 July. Two people have been charged with his murder.

Rajdeep Das died when his car left the road near Knutsford services in Cheshire, coming to rest by

Nitu Babu Das died from stab wounds in July

the side of the motorway.

Leicestershire county councillor Jewel Miah said the family had been left devastated by Rajdeep's death.

"The father is a taxi driver and a strong man but he was totally devastated when I talked to him yesterday.

His mother is in a very distressed state and family are

trying to comfort her. To lose two sons in a matter of months is really hard for them to bear."

The family statement said: "Rajdeep leaves grieving parents, two younger brothers and an older sister, who love him dearly.

Rajdeep will be sadly missed by all who knew him."

Loughborough couple ordered to pay back crime profits A couple have been ordered to pay back crime profits of more than £330,000.

Jiva and Rekha Parmar, formerly of Spruce Avenue, Loughborough, were jailed in May after being on the run for nearly 10 years.

They were involved in a £3.9 million VAT "missing trader" fraud.

The scam involved

mobile telephones imported into the UK VAT-free, although it is suspected the phones did not exist.

Companies were set up which sold the goods in the UK with VAT added, but they disappeared.

Jiva Parmar (43) was ordered to pay £316,000 by March 15 next year, or serve a further four years in

prison. He was jailed for three years and four months in May. Rekha Parmar (43) was ordered to pay back £17,807 within 28 days, or serve a further year. She was sentenced to three years and nine months.

They both admitted conspiracy to cheat the public revenue.

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Kapil’s

Office staff learn how to do a better job and earn more money

By Rudy Otter Asians were among the many hundreds of office managers, secretaries and executive assistants who headed for London's Earls Court exhibition centre to find out how they could better their career prospects in these intensely competitive times.

They attended Office, a new trade show which highlighted a host of training and development opportunities staged by 130 exhibitors at this slick two-day event which ended on 22nd September.

It included 50 seminars with titles like "Look good, feel good" as well as masterclasses in various skills delivered by top trainers.

Also on display were environmentally friendly office products and news on technological developments, all aimed at helping office workers to be more effective. Ali Mead, Office's event manager, said: "This show recognises the increasingly demanding, multi-tasking role personal assistants and office managers play in the modern office and provides an incredible opportunity to stay up-todate, learn new skills,

meet leading business suppliers and network with like-minded professionals."

Sejal Parekh and her friend Emma Morley, who worked previously in a marketing innovations agency, decided five years ago to set up Trifle Creative, based near Shoreditch in east london.

Sejal told Asian voice: "We design workspaces to help companies improve their office environments, enhance people's working lives and motivate them to do a better job." She added: "We provide a bespoke refurbishment service, talking to management and staff to pinpoint their needs and suggesting ways to streamline their processes, along with decluttering valuable space and supplying purpose-bult furniture which we design ourselves."

Her colleague Emma added: "For example, if it's a noisy,open-plan office we are called in to improve, we would suggest installing our special booths in various corners where private meetings can be held in peace.

Getting the best out of people through the spaces they work in, that's our

goal, and we work for firms of any size."

Tanzania-born Sam Bharmal runs the Virtual Assistant Company at London's Mill Hill, providing firms with specially trained secretaries and personal assistants who work online from home.

She told Asian Voice: "This is a very popular service for firms who don't wish to employ full-time staff and be responsible for their welfare, holidays and so on. Hiring virtual staff is not only hassle-free and costeffective, it is extremely efficient, and all staff are required to sign confidentiality agreements before they are assigned to work."

She was previously an information technology project manager, fluent in Gujarati, Swahali, French and English, and was herself trained as a virtual coach.Sam networks widely, offering her services as well as adding more qualified virtual staff to her expanding pool of homeworkers.

The show included advice for events organisers, foreign-language courses, corporate gift-giving schemes and information for business travellers.

Trio found guilty for attack on mosque leader after child abuse arrest Three men have been warned they face jail after attacking a Mosque leader on the same day he was arrested on suspicion of child sex offences.

Mohammed Jameel, Mohammed Nadeem and Mohammed Safir, who all live in Tunstall, have been convicted of assault by beating after attacking former imam Mohammed Hanif Khan.

The court heard Jameel had knocked Mr Khan to the floor with a head-butt.

Jameel, aged 31, and Nadeem then held Mr Khan down, while Safir shaved some of his beard and hair off with scissors and electric clippers.

Now the three men will be sentenced at North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court on November 4.

District Judge David Taylor convicted the three men after ruling Mr Khan's evidence was "credible and truthful".

Referring to the evidence given by Mr Khan and Jameel, Mr Taylor said: "Rarely have I seen such a stark difference in the way two witnesses give evidence.

"Mr Khan was calm, thoughtful and measured.

Mr Jameel was volumable, forthright and at times downright rude.

"Mr Jameel, I find myself unable to accept your evidence. I found it

Mohammed Nadeem, Mohammed Safir and Mohammed Jameel

self-serving and untruthful.

"Mr Nadeem, you were holding down Mr Khan knowing exactly what you were doing. I am quite sure clippers were there and scissors were used.

"However I am not satisfied that this was a preplanned set up."

The court heard Jameel had been sentenced for a violent disorder in 2001 after becoming involved in a dispute between two families.

Jameel, of Furlong Road, told the court that he was not present during the attack on Mr Khan and his only role was to later remove Mr Khan's head wear.

He said: "I have nothing to lie about. If I had done it, I would say I had done it. I would be proud."

Safir, aged 32, of Plex Street, accepted slapping Mr Khan – who had been teaching at Tunstall's Capper Street Mosque– to

protect another person.

But he denied shaving his victim's head with electric clippers.

Nadeem, aged 28, of High Street, did not give evidence, but had told police he had limited involvement in the assault at a property in Tunstall in October last year.

The court heard that shaving a Muslim's beard is regarded as a sin.

Following their conviction, Mr Taylor warned the defendants: "The starting point for all three of you is immediate custody."

KHICHADI

by Kapil Dudakia - email: kapil@abplgroup.com Double Dip on the Way?

However their track record of getting it right is far from exemplary.

The jury is out on whether we will face a double dip recession or not. The so called economic ‘gurus’ have elected to sit on the fence (nothing new there then). The city herd is full of intellectual buffoons who live in a world that is a million miles from reality. They missed the last recession so do we honestly believe they have the collective brains to figure out if we will get another one or not?

Let us take stock of a few simple things given that the basics of economics tend to remain relatively simple. We face serious spending cuts and with that, significant loss in employment. Wages for the vast majority of people have been frozen (in almost all sectors) or in some cases, even reduced. The slack that the private sector was meant to take up (that is the Government’s theory) has not happened and is unlikely to happen to the extent required. The amount of money you and I spend has gone down, yet the Chancellor would like us all to spend to get the economy going – interesting, he cuts whilst he expects everyone else to spend. There is a currency war that is about to be unleashed to reconcile the variance that we see across many of the leading currency pairs. The housing market is now ready for its second dip – sounds familiar? It should do, this was the early sign last time. Add to this mixture the news on the stealth grapevine that the percentage of non-performing debt held by Chinese banks might be much higher than hitherto declared or known. And if that should prove to be the case, get ready for another financial Tsunami.

Interestingly some thirty plus business leaders came out in support for Chancellor Osborne. Obviously an open declaration of their affection for the chancellor and his plans for the economy. What I would ask each of these leaders to do is put their money where their mouth is. For example, let them now write another letter stating that if we do get into another recession then their companies promise to put into the public purse, £5 Billion each.

If they are really that confident about their position – let’s get them to put their necks on the line for once, as opposed to having ours. Will they do that? Of course not, they are great at playing with other people’s money and lives, but short on their own moral compass.

In the letter to the Daily Express they state, "The private sector should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector," – the last time somebody said that was in the 80’s, and we saw unemployment rise totally out of control.

For all our sakes I hope they are right and that my pessimism is wrong.

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Lib-Dems, Unfit as London Mayor Did you know that the Lib-Dems have failed to find even one candidate from their entire membership who they felt was good enough to stand in the London Mayoral Election in 2012? A Party of power and governance, yet they could not find even one person who could be trusted from within their own family – what an incredible state of affairs.

The front runner was of course the ladies man of Westminster, none other than MP Lembit Öpik. A charismatic fellow who has dated amongst many, cheeky girl Gabriela Irimia, model Katie Green and of course that ray of sunshine, weathergirl Sian Lloyd.

One wonders why this maestro of his own publicity was not selected! After all, who better to challenge dear old Boris?

There are sound reasons as to why the Lib-Dems should avoid taking such a step at the present time. The last thing they want is a public falling out with Mayor Johnson; who after all does have a solid following from Tory MP’s. This marriage of convenience is beginning to cost the Lib-dems hugely.

Speaking to some University students, it became clear that they have lost the vote which was traditionally theirs for the taking. Oh dear Mr Clegg, what have you done?

FIFA World Cup 2018 It was easy for many to talk about the corruption that appears to have taken place during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. However, corruption is never too far away from such events and this week we hear that representatives of the FIFA Executive Committee deciding on who gets this lucrative opportunity might be involved in some underhanded deals. The truth of the matter is that I would be very surprised if all of the votes are not suspected of some form of inappropriate practice. In my view it seems that every member who votes will have a price for that vote. The price might be money, influence or support for a pet project for their country. In every case no one votes just because they think the bid is great. They vote knowing they will get something back by casting the vote in a certain way. This has been going on for years and frankly, I cannot see how it can ever be stopped.

In the good old days they used to call it ‘horse-trading’ for votes. Then it became lobbying for votes. Call it what you want, somebody somewhere is getting what they want before they cast their vote – and that my friends is the name of the game.

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Mother hacked to death for £5,000 bounty A young mother was hacked to death with a machete on the orders of her estranged husband because she wanted a divorce, a court heard on Monday.

Geeta Aulakh, 28, was killed by three men who lay in wait for her. Her hand was severed as she tried to shield herself from the blows.

Her attackers fled, leaving her dying in the street, the court was told.

Her husband Harpreet Aulakh, 32, had allegedly offered £5,000 in a room of Punjabi men for ‘someone to be murdered’, the Old Bailey heard.

On September 29 last year, just over a month before her death, she had written a Facebook message to her husband in which she said: ‘I have never hated anyone in my life, but you.’

She had finished her day working as a receptionist at Sunrise Radio in Southall, West London, on November 16 last year and was on her way to a childminder in nearby Greenford, where her children were waiting for her, the jury heard.

‘She never got to collect them,’ said Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC. ‘Yards from that address her killers lay in wait. One would and did hack her to death.

'So savage and determined was this mission, as she sought to protect her head her right hand was completely severed from her arm.

‘The man who organ-

UK police investigate death of a pregnant woman A pregnant Pakistani woman living in the UK has died after reportedly being burned to death in the street. The 23-year-old unnamed woman, who neighbours said was five months pregnant, was found with severe injuries in the garden behind her home in Bradford, northern England, late on Thursday. She was pronounced dead a short time later.

An autopsy was being carried out by a Home Office pathologist to try to determine the exact cause of death.

Aziza Khan, who lives nearby, said she believed the woman was pregnant and lived at the property with her husband, mother-in-law and two sistersin-law.

Local lawmaker Ian Greenwood said: “It appears to be that she died in a horrific way and you can only be horrified by the apparent cause of death and feel desperately sorry for her and her family and friends."All I can say is that our thoughts should be with them at this, what must be an absolutely terrible time.”

Geeta with husband Harpreet during happy times

ised this murder was none other than her own husband. No one else could possibly wish this utterly innocent, hard-working woman and mother any harm.’

Mr Jafferjee went on to describe Aulakh’s ‘breathtaking indifference to the need for secrecy’, including the alleged offer of £5,000. He created an alibi for himself by visiting

a pub equipped with CCTV at the time of the killing, the jury heard.

The couple started their relationship when Geeta was a teenager. She tried to separate twice but was persuaded not to by his relatives, the jury heard. The court heard Aulakh warned his wife’s sister Anita Shinh he would kill her because he thought she was having an affair.

A few months before her death Geeta told a col-

7

league her husband had allegedly told her ‘if he could not have her then no one else would’, the court heard.

Aulakh, of Greenford, admitted his marriage was in difficulties but denies any involvement in the killing. He and Harpreet Singh, 20, of Slough, Berkshire, Sher Singh, 19, of Southall and Jaswant Singh Dhillon, 30, of Seven Kings, East London, all deny murder.

The trial continues.

8

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Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Dee Katwa

Midland Voice Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or dhiren.katwa@abplgroup.com

Aaron Porter – the Voice of Students in Britain

News in Brief

translator.

Aaron’s external interests include reading, particularly plays, current affairs and politics. Also a keen sportsman, particularly cricket, football and rugby, Aaron is a supporter of his local sporting teams, Crystal Palace Football Club and Surrey County Cricket Club. He is also a member of the Labour Party, “they are the party that most closely represent my views.”

Probed on the potential conflict of interest issue, “I am always clear that I separate my personal membership of any political party from my role as president – it hasn’t, and it won’t stop me criticising the government or the opposition if they take decisions which are not in the interests of students.”

During his year as president, Aaron’s top priority is to secure a fairer deal for all students.

He explained how this means that students are getting access to education on merit and ability and not on financial affordability. “That they are given sufficient pastoral and academic support wherever they are studying, and that every classroom or lecture theatre should be striving to offer a word-class learning environment.” On future plans, “beyond NUS, I’m not certain what I’d like to do,” said Aaron, “but I am clear that I’d like to be part of an organisation which tries to promote the importance of community and cooperation or one which opens educational opportunity to as many people as we can.

Something which incorporates the two would be ideal.” Best of luck, Aaron! To find out more about the NUS visit www.nus.org.uk

Diabetes on rise

Scores of learners from across the land will unite in their mission to secure a fairer economic outcome for Britain’s student community as part of a national demonstration set to take place in London next month.

I caught up with Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, to find out more.

Education is the key to social mobility, says Aaron. “It is a way in which we can ensure the economy has the range of high-level skills to deliver growth for the future, and is vital for the future prosperity of this country.”.

But, whilst successive governments have been quick to talk about education, he added, they have failed miserably in achieving their goals.

Thus, “it is right that students stand up to protect this, not just for ourselves but for the generations of young people that will follow us.” The national demonstration will take place in central London on November 10.

This event is a reaction to the Lord Browne Review, announced last week, which has prompted a fierce campaign by students, nationally. In the UK there are an estimated seven million students of which 10 per cent are from overseas and 15 per cent are from ethnic minority communities. The review by Lord Browne, the former head of BP, proposes that universities should be allowed to decide what they charge students.

But, under Browne’s plans, any university raising fees above £6,000 has to surrender a proportion of the cash to the Treasury. This “levy” would mean the government taking more than £3,000 from a fee of £12,000. Aaron describes the review as “foolish, risky, lazy, complacent and dangerous”. He explained: “A market in course prices between universities would

increasingly put pressure on students to make decisions based on cost rather than academic ability or ambition. Those already feeling the pinch will clearly be unwilling to take such a gamble and face being priced out of the universities that would opt to charge skyhigh fees.” He added: “At a time when graduate employment is so bleak, what does this mean for the generation currently in school and perhaps starting to think about going to university?” He has urged Lord Browne to recall his own student days for the answer. He’s also challenged David Willetts, the universities minister, “to practice what he preaches in government.”

Separately, I asked Aaron for his thoughts on this claim: Overseas students are being given priority at UK universities over home students, regardless of academic results, suggesting that British universities are ultimately becoming businesses. “The fault lies squarely with the government,” said Aaron. “If funding per head was at an appropriate level for home students, universities wouldn’t need to resort to these tactics.”

Commenting on the simmering issue of religious conversion and other types of fundamentalism on campus, “NUS takes the suggestion that Islamic or any other kind of fundamentalism very seriously, and wants to play a constructive role in helping to eradicate this.”

The NUS is currently working with Universities

Islam and debt A presentation entitled ‘A M u s l i m Perspective on Debt in Developing Countries, will be delivered by Salma Yaqoob, councillor for Birmingham Sparkbrook. The free event, which will take place on Nov 2 from 7pm to 9pm at The Bordesley Centre, Stratford Road, Birmingham B11 1AR, has been organised by the Jubilee Debt Campaign as part of Islam Awareness Week. To reserve your place telephone Audrey Miller on 0121 471 4175.

Aaron Porter, NUS President

UK, an association of university heads, to explore more finely the impact of illegal or proscribed activity on UK campuses.

Aaron, aged 25, was voted president of the NUS in June this year after winning 444 votes out of 678. He is the second black president of the NUS, since its inception in 1922. The first was equalities tsar Trevor Phillips, who was elected in 1978. Previous presidents have included Jack Straw and Charles Clarke, both former home secretaries, and Stephen Twigg MP. Born in Tooting, South London, Aaron attended Downsview Primary School in Croydon, and then moved onto Wilson’s School in Surrey. He then went onto Leicester University, graduating from here in 2006 with a BA in English. On family background, he explained how his maternal grandmother was taken from India to Trinidad in the Caribbean as a young girl who was separated from her own mother. Aaron’s mother, Zohrida, a native of Trinidad, works as a primary school teacher and his father, Stephen, is a policeman. He has a younger brother Ryan, 24, who studied French and German at university, and currently lives and works in Brussels as a

Bogus visa forms, couple arrested A husband and wife from Wolverhampton have been arrested on suspicion of fraudulently completing more than 250 forms to allow Indian nationals to settle in Britain. The alleged scam is believed to have involved large numbers of forged documents pretending applicants were entitled to remain indefinitely. UK Border Agency officials are looking into claims the couple charged £250 per application. Immigration minister Damian Green said: “We have undertaken 33 operations in the West Midlands and arrested 103 people.” The couple have been bailed while inquiries continue.

New Appointment Eleanor Brazil has been brought in to restore the reputation of Birmingham City Council’s tarnished children’s services department. Armed with a maximum 18month contract, she has been told to do whatever it takes to turn around the council’s services for children at risk of physical and sexual abuse, recently lambasted as “inadequate” by Ofsted. Eleanor, pictured, who started in her new £1000-per-day role this week, has a track record of transforming social services in some of the country’s toughest inner city areas.

One in every 17 adults in Coventry and Warwickshire could be living with diabetes, a study by Coventry Telegraph has found. Last year 110 people in the region were killed by diabetes. And national charity Diabetes UK estimates more than 15,000 people in the region have diabetes but are not aware of it.

Abandoned children Asylum seekers have left 478 children to be cared for by West Midland councils over the past five years, a Freedom of Information enquiry has revealed.

Children aged between 10 and 18 were found at motorway stations, in the back of lorries or living with friends who could no longer care for them. The youngsters have ended up in foster homes costing taxpayers around £7 million.

Meet Sharmila Tagore Sharmila Tagore, legendary Indian film actress of the Sixties, pictured, is visiting Birmingham next month. Mum-of-three Tagore, 64, will meet her fans on November 14 as part of a ‘This is Your Life’-style event. Her visit coincides with the UK release of her latest film ‘Life Goes On’. To find out more visit www.kritiuk.org or telephone Titikssha on 07977 144038.

Black Lawyers Directory 2010 The latest edition of the Black Lawyers Directory 2010 is now out. Edited by Debo Nwauzu, the 310page A5 publication is a must-read for all those working in the legal sector. To get your copy or to find out more visit www.onlineBLD.com or telephone 0845 601 8339.

Bus drivers too fat Two Blackpool bus drivers have been suspended from work on full pay because it is claimed they are too fat for their seats. The drivers are 20 stone each and Blackpool Transport fears their seats might break underneath them. The men have been ordered to lose half a stone each.

Youth demand pre-nuptials New research shows almost half of young people may demand pre-nuptial agreements before getting married. Researchers for law firm Dawsons found that 44 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds would consider “pre-nups”.

End of an era Vinnie Doyle, editor of the Irish Independent for almost 25 years, has died. He was 72. Dad-of-three Mr Doyle, pictured, began his journalistic career in the traditional way, as a copy boy. Irish prime minister Brian Cowen described him a ‘legendary figure in Irish journalism’.

Journalist freed British journalist Asad Qureshi has been released by the Taliban in Pakistan after five months in captivity. Mr Qureshi, who has dual UK-Pakistan citizenship, was working for a production company making a documentary for Channel Four when he was kidnapped.

Check your child car seat

Officers from Walsall Council’s Trading Standards have this week been offering free child car seat safety checks. Last year, the team checked 194 car seats of which just 14 per cent were found to be fitted correctly. In 2007, 5,929 child passengers were hurt on Britain’s roads, 24 of those were killed and 247 seriously injured.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 16th October 2010

9

Met spends thousands to buy The Bill’s kit to foil criminals The West is trying to save every penny when the market is fearing a double dip recession. The immigrants are being cut to save jobs and money, child benefits are being axed only to save that last penny. In that situation, the Met police is spending thousands of pounds to acquire the entire wardrobe of The Bill and prevent officer impersonations.

When last month it was reported that the force was facing up to financially challenging times by asking trainee recruits to work unpaid for up to 18 months before being given a job, the last weekend the Met declined to confirm the cost of obtaining the clothes from The Bill. But previously published figures by some national dailies put the standard price of each police uniform in 2004 at ￡765 plus Vat. The Bill series, which ran for 27 years, had permission to cast actors in real uniforms (ITV) The Metropolitan police force has quietly snapped up almost the entire wardrobe of The Bill to prevent criminals acquiring the uniforms and impersonating officers.

The London force will be paying thousands of pounds to the makers of Britain’s longest running television crime series for many items that the ITV show later discarded. Other clothes from the production including 72 police caps and hats, 97 shirts and 28 high-visibility jackets have been kept by the Met to distribute to its frontline staff.

The uniforms were acquired

after the show was suspended in August. It had been running for 27 years.

The series, which helped launch the careers of stars such as Keira Knightley and Robert Carlyle, prided itself on its realism and, uniquely, had permission from the Met to cast actors in real uniforms and even stabproof vests bearing the force’s insignia.

However, when ITV announced in March that The Bill was to be dropped, senior officers at the Met feared that the show’s clothing could fall into the wrong hands.

Criminal gangs are willing to pay hundreds of pounds for an authentic police uniform. Such clothing can be purchased from specialist suppliers that operate without restriction on the internet, some as far afield as Australia.

According to documents obtained under freedom of information laws, the Met decided that securing every police-related item from Talkback Thames,

the company behind The Bill, was the only way to avoid a mishap and guarantee public safety, reports a national daily.

To prevent anything being put up for sale on the open market, a substantial part of the show’s costume department which was updated over the lifetime of The Bill to reflect changes in uniform and communications equipment was earmarked to be sold to the Met. On August 25, two months after the programme’s final scenes were filmed, Met employees collected a consignment of clothes from the production offices in Merton, south London, where the fictional Sun Hill police station was based.

One batch of items which weighed more than 880lb had been worn by actors and was therefore sent to be recycled.

However, the Met claims that a second batch of clothing including the caps, shirts, 93 pairs of trousers, 29 body armour jackets and 84 “Nato unlined pullovers” remained

unused and will be issued to serving officers in due course.

Criminals posing as police officers are considered an increasing problem among Britain’s forces.

Under section 90 of the Police Act 1996, anyone impersonating an officer or wearing a police uniform “calculated to deceive” can be prosecuted and fined up to ￡1,000.

In one incident last year more than 100 stolen police uniforms were seized by officers in Stretford, Greater Manchester.

All the uniforms had Metropolitan police badges sewn onto them. They were used by two men claiming to be drug

enforcement officers who targeted dealers and confiscated their supplies.

Some police forces have also reported a rise in “distraction” burglaries, which target the elderly by people pretending to be police officers. In 2008 Stephen Downing, of Milford, Derbyshire, was ordered to pay the maximum fine, plus costs, after being found guilty of wearing a former police issue jacket and giving the impression of being an officer.

He was also wearing a Derbyshire constabulary armed response vehicle badge bought on the internet and given to him as a present.

Sights and sounds of Diwali in Brent Asda has got into the Diwali spirit early by hosting an Indian dance workshop for customers at its Wembley store on Saturday 16 October, 10 am-12 noon. British Asian Dance organisation Honey’s Dance Academy performed Bollywood dance and inviting customers to join in for free and learn some moves themselves! Passers by were treated to a sneak preview of the kind of entertainment happening as part of Brent Diwali 2010 on October 30, where over 13 dance groups will be performing traditional Indian dance styles such as Kathak, Bharatyam Odissi and Kuchioudi at the Shri Sanatan Hindi Mandir on Ealing Road, creating a stunning spectacle for audiences to enjoy.

Brent Council will be working with Asda and principal sponsor

Lebara Mobile this year to put on the biggest Diwali celebration in the UK which will include a majestic parade, fireworks and a laser show.

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

SPMS (UK) celebrates Sardar Vallabhai's birth anniversary Sardar Patel Memorial Society, UK, is celebrating birth of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on 31st October 2010 at the Kingsbury High School, London NW9.

Sardar Patel played a very important role during the formative years and he united 550 principalities and kingdoms for the formation of the modern India. He was also the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India.

Various politicians in India and the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shree Narendra Modi readily gives recognition to Sardar’s achievements.

Sardar Patel Memorial Society (UK) has been active in perpetuating memory of his

Sardar Patel

work through meetings, lectures, distribution of books and holding exhibitions. Two bronze busts, one in India House (unveiled by Shree L K Advani) and the other at Brent Library (unveiled by the Deputy High

Commissioner for India) have been installed by Sardar Patel Memorial Society (UK).

This annually held event is highly regarded

by Indians in the UK and the High Commissioner for India, various members of the House of Commons, House of Lords, Mayors of London Borough of Brent and London Borough of Harrow, and prominent members of the Indian Community and leaders of the Indian community attend.

The programme will commence with dinner at 5.30 pm and will also include tributes to Sardar Patel, Rastriya songs and appropriate cultural items to celebrate Diwali which falls so near this event.

City set to dazzle with worldfamous Diwali lights Leicester is once again set to dazzle the rest of the country with the switch-on of its world-famous Diwali lights. The switchon ceremony will take place on a stage on Leicester’s Belgrave Road from 6pm on Sunday (24th October).

Performing the honours this year is Leicester City Council Leader, and chair of the Diwali working party, Cllr Veejay Patel. He will be joined for the ceremony by the Lord Mayor of Leicester, Cllr Colin Hall, Mr Navinbhai Rana, president of the Leicester Hindu Festival Council, and a representative of Santander, the sponsor.

Cllr Patel said: “We are incredibly proud of Leicester’s Diwali celebrations, which are the biggest outside India and are enjoyed by many thousands of people.

“We are very lucky that Alliance and Leicester have helped us

The Diwali light last year in Leicester

to make them so spectacular by sponsoring us for the past seven years, and we are delighted that Santander have been able to continue that support this year.

“I hope that people will come along to see the lights and enjoy the festive atmosphere of the Belgrave Road and all that it has to offer.”

The switch-on ceremony will be launched by local dancers with a pro-

Nita Ambani speaks at a LSE lecture On Friday 15th October Mrs. Nita M. A m b a n i , Chairperson, Reliance Foundation; Chairperson, Dhirubhai Ambani International School; Chairperson, IMGReliance joint venture, shared her experiences in building institutions of excellence as well as her vision and values as Nita Ambani the nation charts its course towards global leadership in the LSE Inaugural C+J Modi/Narayanan PhD Fellowship Lecture“Towards an Indian Renaissance: Building Institutions of Excellence.”

gramme of dance, ranging from classical to Bollywood, before the lights are turned on at 7.30pm.

After the light switchon, the celebrations will move from Belgrave Road to Cossington Street recreation ground, which will host a spectacular firework and laser display from 8pm.

Leicester’s Diwali celebrations are organised

by Leicester City Council and the Leicester Hindu Festival Council. The display, which is created and put up by the city council, features more than 1000 metres of light displays, made up of 6,500 lamps.

Belgrave Flyover will be closed to traffic from 11am on Sunday, with Belgrave Road shutting at 5.30pm. It will re-open at 9.30pm. Road closures will also be in place for the Diwali Day celebrations, which take place on Friday 5th November.

The city council has also produced a Diwali guide which is available free of charge from shops and businesses in the Belgrave Road area of the city.

‘Diwali Special’ Contributors Welcome Diwali is less than a month away. The New Year is knocking at the door waiting to bring in colours and light to our lives with fervour of joy and ever lasting happiness. Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, as every year, will be publishing the ‘Diwali Special’ Magazine for our fabulous and supportive readers like yourself.

If you think you would like to contribute to our unique Diwali issue, why don’t you write on either of the following topics: 1. One of your favourite childhood Diwali memories or 2. A particular charity you made in cash or kind to the needy or 3. Your first Diwali in the UK and how you spent it Please note that your articles MUST NOT be more than 650 words and should be emailed to AVEditorial along with your full name and contact details to aveditorial@abplgroup.com Please do not send your article via fax or post. The last day of entry is Sunday 24th October 2010.

If you have a relevant picture for your story, you can email us the scanned copy/post (only the picture). But please make sure you keep a copy of the picture and the article with yourself, as we may not be able to return the original.

- Asian Voice

Tories' favourite teacher looking for a new job A deputy head teacher of an inner-city secondary school who made a speech at the Tory party conference attacking the failings of state education has resigned.

Katharine Birbalsingh, pictured, 37, was given a standing ovation at the Conservative conference on October 5, after saying schools had been “blinded by leftist ideology”, leading to a lack of discipline and bad behaviour.

On her return from Birmingham to St Michael and All Angels Church of England Academy in Camberwell, south London, Birbalsingh was sent home.

The governors of the school claimed she had insulted her colleagues and were concerned that she had used photographs of pupils as a prop during the speech.

She was invited to return to school last Monday but never did.

After discussions with the school she stepped down from her position on Friday, and is now looking for a new job.

A friend of Birbalsingh said her position was untenable: “They effectively accused her of hav-

ing used children in an improper way, her reputation was at stake.

“She had both the parents’ and the school’s permission to use the photos.

For them to come out and say something like this was a kick in the teeth.”

Birbalsingh’s position was made more difficult when it emerged that she had written an anonymous blog about her experiences in the classroom, called To Miss With Love. The blog, which she took down last week, as reaction to her speech snowballed, described her academy as the “Alcatraz of the world of education”.

She also said that one of the pupils used the pseudonym Gangster and allegedly stabbed another boy with a knife. She added that three boys

were excluded for allegedly stabbing a boy from another school but were allowed to return as the paperwork was not correctly filled in.

She wrote: “The consequence is that the powers-that-be can now force us to take these three criminals back. Three gruesome, terrifying, influential boys who terrorise everyone around them are coming back and there is nothing we can do.”

This weekend Canon Peter Clark, chairman of governors, confirmed that Birbalsingh had resigned.

He said: “Following discussions between St Michael and All Angels Academy and Katharine Birbalsingh, Ms Birbalsingh is leaving the academy’s employment.”

He declined to comment on any specific allegations of violence but said: “This is not a violent school.”

Birbalsingh said she wants to return to teaching. She said: “I will be looking for a new job in the classroom, I love the challenge that it brings me. I was not talking about my school in particular, I was criticising the system in general.”

Hundreds of foreign GPs work in Britain unchecked Health trusts are ignoring pleas to test whether foreign doctors providing out-of-hours care can speak English. As many as three quarters of those flying in for lucrative shifts may not have faced language or competency tests, figures show. Ministers and health regulators have been urging trusts to carry out proper checks after the tragic death of a pensioner at the hands of an incom-

petent German doctor in 2008. David Gray, 70, died after Dr Daniel Ubani, who could barely speak English, gave him ten times the recommended dose of painkiller after flying in for his first NHS shift. Mr Gray’s son Stuart, who is a GP himself, said he was horrified at the figures.

Figures obtained through a freedom of information request show

that as many as 1,500 foreign doctors working in surgeries across Britain have never been tested.

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘Employers and those contracting with health workers can, and indeed should, verify the language knowledge of any person they appoint to ensure they can undertake the duties being asked of them.’

EDUCATION/COUNCIL

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Teachers fear for future of citizenship lessons Pupils will no longer be required to study citizenship at secondary school when England's national curriculum is slimmed down, it is claimed.

The Association for Citizenship Teaching says it understands the subject will be made non-statutory in the coming curriculum shake-up. It fears this will mean the end for a subject which, it says, chimes with the Tories' Big Society idea.

The government said it had not decided the future status of any subject. It is due to set up a panel of experts later in the autumn to review the curriculum and has pledged to give schools more freedom over what they teach.

But Education Secretary Michael Gove has made no secret of his desire for a much-reduced national curriculum and his preference for a return to more traditional subjects such as history. It is thought that removing the requirement for secondary schools to teach citizenship might allow for that.

Jamie Kelsey Fry, a board member of the

Association for Citizenship Teaching, said the subject was all about creating an informed, enabled and politically engaged generation of young people.

Encouraging people to

want a Big Society then surely giving people the tools they need to engage with society is essential."

In the citizenship classes, young people learn about democracy and jus-

All secondary school pupils currently have to study citizenship

become active citizens in the so-called Big Society was one of the Conservatives' key themes, he said, and citizenship teaching was the ideal subject to aid this.

The subject has won the support of singer Jarvis Cocker, who said it encouraged children to use the knowledge they picked up at school rather than just "passively accumulating it in the hope of passing some exams. If you truly

tice, the structure of political systems and how to function in that structure.

Mr Kelsey Fry added: "They learn to use their own critical thinking skills and to understand the issues that mean the most to them and then they learn to take action upon these issues themselves through authentic projects.

This isn't simply encouraging young people to go out and protest - it is more about getting them work-

ing within the traditional political process so they can address the issues that they care about. They do projects where they are writing to MPs and working with local councillors.

They do research about the issues that matter to them."

He added that it was a very good way to engage young people with their education.

National Union of Teachers head Christine Blower said it would be a very regressive step to make citizenship nonstatutory. She said citizenship was about getting young poeple engaged in society and was good for very academic pupils and for those who were not so academic.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas Caroline Lucas MP said: "The coalition talks about a "Big Society" of active citizens.

But true democracy relies on people being politically literate, being able to evaluate key issues, and then to take informed and responsible action to make their voices heard."

Improvements prove a hit at East Ham local service centre The local service centre (LSC) in Barking Road has reopened following refurbishments that have made the venue more user-friendly for residents.

Newer, more comfortable chairs have been installed along with upgraded telephones and the centre is now far

brighter, more up-to-date and more accessible for disabled people.

Councillor Andrew Baikie, Newhamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s executive member for Housing and Customer Service, said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want people to receive the best and most welcoming standard of service possible and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

why these changes have taken place. We do our best to ensure that visitors to our local service centres and libraries have the most comfortable, friendly and convenient surroundings we can provide.â&#x20AC;?

East Ham resident Maria Rachan said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I like the colour and the place is

definitely more comfortable. I come here twice a week and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always very busy but I think the changes will make people feel more welcome.â&#x20AC;?

Improvements are also taking place at Stratford LSC, in The Grove, which are due to be completed by 4 November.

Ealing Council gives green light to remove more traffic lights After a groundbreaking trial to beat congestion, Ealing Council is looking at the potential of removing more traffic lights across the borough.

The council has identified five busy junctions where traffic lights appear to add to congestion and work will be undertaken to improve traffic flow at each site. In addition, two sets of lights are to be permanently removed after a successful pilot.

The work should have a significant impact on congestion and smooth the flow of traffic on Ealingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roads, without effecting safety of road users or pedestrians.

In 2009 traffic lights were covered up at two junctions in an experimental trial. The two junctions at Gunnersbury Lane junction with Bollo Lane in Acton and Wester Road junction with Featherstone Road in

Southall were well-known congestion hot-spots.

Eight months later the results were positive â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the volume of traffic through both the junctions had increased but the average queue length had decreased by two-thirds.

Pedestrian waiting times reduced by half and although traffic speeds had increased it was only by 2% and no accidents were recorded.

The vast majority of

residents and businesses located close to the junctions supported the trials â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 70% at Gunnersbury Lane and 95% at Featherstone Road. Safety was a crucial consideration throughout.

Because of the positive outcome of the pilot the council has decided to permanently remove the lights at both these spots.

The decision was made by the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cabinet on Tuesday, 12 October 2010.

Universities 'to face ÂŁ4.2bn cut' Universities in England face funding cuts of ÂŁ4.2bn in the coming Spending Review, an e-mail leaked to the BBC News website suggests.

Universities UK head Professor Steve Smith wrote to vice-chancellors saying this week's Browne Review set out figures that "confirm our worst fears".

He says they signal a ÂŁ3.2bn or 79% cut from teaching and ÂŁ1bn from research in next week's Spending Review.

The government said it

could not comment. This is because the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said it could not speculate about the Chancellor's spending review plans.

Currently universities are given around ÂŁ11bn in government grants a year this covers undergraduate and post-graduate teaching, research funding and infrastructure.

The UCU lecturers' union said cuts of the order being discussed would lead to university closures while

the National Union of Students warned the government was stripping away the public funding of universities. In his letter to fellow vice-chancellors, the UUK president suggests the impact of the Spending Review will be more important than Lord Browne's review of fees published this week. This is "because potential cuts have been getting worse and worse", he says.

He continues: "Browne explicitly says that Hefce (England's university fund-

ing body) will have teaching funding of ÂŁ700m; the current sum is ÂŁ3.9bn. This implies a cut of around ÂŁ3.2bn in state funding."

This would represent a 79% cut in the teaching grant.

He adds: "Browne's figures confirm our worst fears. Cuts in the order of ÂŁ1bn for research also appear to be proposed."

A ÂŁ4.2bn cut in funding would be almost four times that which universities had been expected to make by the previous government.

11

Sights and sounds of India visit Asda in Brent Asda got into the Diwali spirit early by hosting an Indian dance workshop for customers at its Wembley store last Saturday 16 October.

Brent based Honey's Dance academy performed Bollywood dance and invited customers to join in for free and learn some moves themselves.

Passers were treated to a sneak preview of the kind of entertainment happening as part of Brent Diwali 2010 on October 30, where over 13 dance groups will be performing traditional Indian dance styles such as Kathak, Bharatyam Odissi and Kuchioudi at the Shri Sanatan Hindi Mandir on Ealing Road, creating a stunning spectacle for audiences to enjoy.

Brent Council worked in partnership with Asda, principal sponsor Lebara

Mobile and media sponsor ZEE TV this year to put on the biggest Diwali celebration in the UK which will include a majestic parade, fireworks and a laser show.

Nathen Newark, Asda Wembley store manager said: "We invited Honey's dance academy in to store to help get our customers and colleagues in the Diwali spirit as excitement builds towards the festival. Asda Wembley and Park Royal are delighted to support this year's Brent Diwali celebrations and I look forward to seeing our customers join in with the workshops on Saturday - I may even try a few moves myself!"

For more information or to download a program v i s i t www.brent.gov.uk/diwali or call 020 8937 3144.

Immigrants 'putting strain on UK school places' More than half a million extra school places will be needed in the UK over the next five years as a result of immigration, a pressure group has said.

MigrationWatch says the number of children born in the UK to parents from abroad has more than doubled in 10 years and is expected to keep rising.

But the Institute for Public Policy Research disputed the research, saying it made "questionable assumptions".

The government says it is committed to reducing the level of net migration.

The group, which advocates immigration controls, says the number of schoolage migrants entering the UK is also up.

After studying immigration and population growth using government data and forecasts, MigrationWatch estimates

550,000 extra school places will be needed by 2015 at a cost of ÂŁ40bn.

That figure would rise to ÂŁ100bn by 2020, and ÂŁ195bn by 2035, raising questions as to whether enough places can be provided, it adds.

MigrationWatch chairman, Sir Andrew Green, says the figures are a consequence of some of the most "reckless and unpopular" government policies in generations.

"The public are waking up to the speed and scale at which fundamental changes are being forced upon them, thanks to the policies of the previous administration, and our schools are but just one example," he says.

Half of the children referred to in the figures are also those whose mother was born abroad, but whose father was UK-born.

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12

MEDIA WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Scrutator’s The Commonwealth Games came to a close amid a riot of colour, song and dance. In an Indian context, the authorities need to be warmly congratulated for the rendering of Vande Mataram by a troupe of Delhi school children. The shade of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the 19th century giant of Bengali letters, author and composer of this stirring song will rest content.

cised by athletics as never before. Public interest in athletics could well rival cricket in the not too distant future.

Furthermore, the significant women's presence and those of both sexes from the bottom of the social pyramid said much for India's political and economic evolution.

Holmes accolade

Closing extravaganza of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi

As for Games itself, the iconic Michael Johnson athlete, now a commentator, produced a balanced and civilised assessment of the event in The Times (October 15). He writes: “As I reflect on the Commonwealth Games, it seems that they did get better as they went on. Fortunately, there were no big security issues or any further construction problems with the recently completed venues.” Mr Johnson rightly took Suresh Kalmadi, the Chairman of the Indian Games Committee, to task for boasting that the event would surpass the Beijing Olympiad.This was uncalled for, and the boos in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium that accompanied his speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies were evidence of the low esteem in which he is held by the Indian public.

The media headlines, mostly British, “were enough to present India as a very primitive country,” said Michael Johnson.

That can be attributed to an element of imperial schadenfreude towards a former British colony, which the Herrenvolk believe, has become too uppity and needs to be brought down a peg or two.

“Maybe out of all this, lessons will be learnt at an administrative level and that will make India a more progressive country and allow it reach the tremendous potential it has as a country,” said this legend, who won two Olympic gold medals at Atlanta in 1996.

Crowd response Moving on to the performances, Michael Johnson remarked: “On the athletics track, there were moments that truly summed up what the Commonwealth Games are all about... All you had to do to understand their significance was hear the noise in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

those four Indian women in achieving memories that will last a lifetime and could very well be the highlight of their lives were the three competitors from the host nation in the women's discus, who completed a clean sweep.”

India, with 38 gold medals, came second in the medals table to Australia's 74 golds.

England's tally of 37 golds

Four Indian Woman who won the 4x400 meteres relay

from 45,000 fans on the final day of the athletics when the women's 4x400 metres relay was won by India. Joining

earned it third position. India's good showing is evidence that athletics has come of age in the country. Indians are now exer-

Dame Kelly Holmes, the great British women's runner, judged that given another week the Games would have been the best ever. Not bad considering that at one point there was even talk of cancellation. She was fulsome in her praise of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, who, Dame Kelly believes, was most responsible for turing things around. She said: “Everybody was harping on about security and they put everything into that, because I've never seen anywhere so secure in my life. Then it was all about infrastructure and they were right on the brink of not being ready....They've learnt on the job. In the first part of the first week there was a hint of chaos and, as we've gone through, people fitted their roles.The venues started to get full, because the technical issues involving tickets were sorted out. In another week, it would probably have been the best Games there have ever been.”

While Sheila Dixit may have deserved the plaudits, she must also accept her share of responsibility for the Games' organising deficiencies, just as Suresh Kalmadi, who took all the brickbats deserves some praise for its numerous successes. Both were part of the administrative structure, after all.

The summing up is best left to The Daily Telegraph's Jacqueline Magnay: “The stadium did not collapse, the city was not blown up, athletes did not miss their competition, because of traffic jams and the feared outbreak of dengue fever was largely controlled.

These Commonwealth Games were to a large extent about what did not happen, rather than what did.”

gically important oilfields....”

Sir Bill Gammell, the Cairns CEO and his Vedanta counterpart Anil Agarwal were confident that government sanction would come and the Cairn-Vedanta deal sealed. Sir Bill's mantra is “winning isn't everything, but waiting to win is”. Brilliant!

It's something David Pilling, the FT's columnist might mull over. The Indian government doesn't use the private sector country's enough, he complained. He appeared miffed, apropos of the awaited government approval for the Cairn-Vedanta transaction; he snarled that without free enterprise India would remain mired in poverty and chaos. But regulation is necessary for good governance, is it not? Think of the crooked American and British bankers who've milked the system. The FT once rebuked the Indian authorities for being tardy with US energy giant Enron; months later Enron had collapsed, even as its owner awaited a jail sentence for fraud. He died of a heart attack before sentence was pronounced.

UID cards scheme One recalls the unhealthy scepticism of the FT gurus when Nandan Nilekani, the former Infosys supremo, was given charge of the government's seminal Unique Identification Number (UID), scheme that will give every Indian citizen an identification card and number to take advantage of the numerous schemes to empower the poor and disadvantaged. Too difficult, they said. Too grandiloquent, beyond India's capacity.

The good news is that the scheme has taken a significant step forward, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Dr Singh said the scheme would spread banking facilities to the remotest of remote Indian villages. “The scheme will lay the foundation for facilitating you to avail all other government welfare schemes. I congratulate UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani and his team for launching this successful venture.”

After a person has been allotted an UID his/her identity linked to biometrics will be authenticated for claims with wide-ranging applications.

Indo-Israel relations India Defence online (October 11) told of a 4-day visit to Israel by India's naval chief Admiral Nirmal Verma at the head of a high level delegation.

Admiral Verma, invited by his Israeli counterpart Eliezer Marom, called on Israeli Defence Minister Erhud Barsak, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkernazi and other senior defence officials.

India and Israel are discussing the further expansion of their defence relationship.

Israel is India's second biggest arms supplier, having done $10 billion worth of business with India in the past decade. India takes 50 per cent of all Israel's defence exports, 30 per cent of India's overall defence imports.

Israel has supplied Barak missiles to the Indian Navy, third generation night fighting devices to the Army and the Air Force and improved the IAF's radar network, supplying high-tech electronic warfare systems and information technology.

Three Phalcon airborne early warning radar systems (AWACS) supplied by Israel as part of a $1.1 billion deal, has given a significant boost to Indias's reconnaissance capabilities.

India and Israel are

Indian challenges Amy Kazmin and James Lamont produced Financial Times news analysis (October 14) on the Indian government's awaited sanction “for UK-based Cairn's sale of a $9.6 billion controlling stake in its Indian subsidiary to Vedanta, the Indias-focused mining company.

Anil Agarwal, Vedanta's billionaire founder, certainly does not lack drive.

Over the past 15 years, he has transformed a small family metal fabrication business into a global mining group....But Vedanta's recent regulatory setbacks have raised questions about the UK-listed company's prospects for extending its control over India's mineral wealth. They have cast a shadow over its planned acquisition of Cairn India, with its strate-

India's naval chief Admiral Nirmal Verma who is on a visit to Israel

handing over the first set of UID cards to the rural folk of Tembhli village in Maharashtra on September 29. Addressing the gathering, he said: “It is one of our ambitious projects to give a unique identity to every citizen of India. This scheme will help the poor, backward classes and women to take advantage of our other schemes.”

engaged in joint research & development in defence projects, from high endurance Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs), submarine-launched cruise missiles, anti-ballistic systems, advanced precision guided munitions etc.

The parties will decide the countries to which these weapon systems are to be exported. Watch this space.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Alpesh Patel’s Political Sketchbook:

13

Etihad Airways fly to Bangalore from January 2011

Unemployed wanted for new jobs As the UK government makes drastic public sector cuts slashes spending many people will be on the job market. But hey, this is a great opportunity to retrain. Focus on what you’ve learnt and move across. (By the way, thank Matthew Lynn for the idea for this column!). For instance: Civil Servant to Motorway Repair Man: In your original job as civil servant you were used to making it look like you were working hard whilst doing relatively little paid by the public purse. So use those skills as a motorway repair man. Same skills needed, appear like you are doing something, but actually you are doing very little. And just like a civil servant you can fool us into thinking you are doing something of public good.

Retail Banker to Lawyer: your original skills were the ability to put up with the rest of society disliking you, taking lots of money from people and offering not much in return and feeling all superior about it. Ideal as a retrained lawyer.

Investment Banker to Somali Pirate: As an investment banker your skills were in charging extortionate, some would

say hostage-level, fees to your clients whilst promising them freedom that money brings. Again you have a thick skin and are already used to being disliked. Your skills of extortion are ideal for becoming a Somali Pirate.

Party Organiser to Sports Event Organiser: If you;ve been fired from your job as a party organiser as the market contracts and companies spend less on organising such things, then don’t down-size – go Olympic!

Even better if you have experience with the Commonwealth Games.

You will already be skilled at leaving everything to the last minute and praying it all works out.

MP to Accountant: Recently redundant as a result of the election.

Don’t worry. You were great as at managing your own finances, especially your expenses. So scale up and do it for clients not just yourself.

Accountants to property companies will be especially suited to you, since you are already used to creative accounting for second homes.

Ex-trader wife to personal shopper: As ex-traders are increasingly made redundant in the wake of the credit crunch, their

money-hungry wives will soon be divorcing them.

(And before the feminists get all high and mighty and send me their boxing gloves – read the statistics – most traders are men and if married, they are married to women!

Apologies to all women traders married to other women) So when you discover your husband is no longer any use as his money and he are parting – why don’t you as the wife become a personal shopper and party yourself? You’ve been used to spending his money on yourself, now that he hasn’t got any, spend other people’s money on themselves. At least you know your way around Harrods already.

There you have it, the society our politicians have left us with. Fewer bankers, traders and civil servants – all good you say – until you realise we get more lawyers and accountants. Is this the kind of society you want?

If not, write to your MP and tell them to keep spending spending spending on the country’s credit card. Soon we’ll say the bankers weren’t so bad after all!

It’s that bad.

Alpesh Patel Alpesh.patel@tradermind.com

The Edgware Satsang Mandal has a Big ‘Heart’ Last week the Edgware Satsang Mandal donated £1001 to the Heart and Stroke Research Campaign at Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research (NPIMR).

The cheque was received by Jayshree Shah, Fundraising Manager at NPIMR who said ‘I am so pleased to have the support of the Edgware Satsang Mandal. Heart disease and stroke is such a huge problem and it is great to see our communities getting behind this campaign’. Dr Jagdish Patel, who was also present, said ‘our proteomics research at NPMR will help find out why Asians in particular have such a high incidence of heart and stroke diseases.

I am very fortunate to working at NPIMR where we have just installed state-ofthe-art equipment which will expand the boundaries of our research. We would

encourage more groups like the Edgware Satsang Mandal to support this research’. Dr Patel has been seconded for a year from Charotar University in Gujarat to undertake the research at NPIMR. Dhirubhai Shah, who is part of the Satsang committee said, ‘we donate to many charities, generally supporting causes in India, but this time we felt it was important to support a charity here which is local, especially as heart and stroke prob-

lems are widespread and we feel the research here will benefit everyone’.

Ramnikbhai Shah, also a committee member, added ‘I am really glad we are able to help NPIMR, I think they are doing wonderful work.’

To support the Heart and Stroke Research Campaign at Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research please contact Jayshree on 0208 869 3284 or visit their website www.npimr.org

Sunder Kripalani (Benz travel), Kishore Parmar (advertising manager, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar), Clive Wratten ( UK Country Manager, Ethiad Airways), Dipak Nagla (Brightsun Travel), P S Kang ( Sam and Crystal Travel), Lord Dholakia, Directors of Skylord Travel Plc, Rajan, Kartick and Ujjwal Sehgal and R S Nagla (Brightonsun Travel) with the air hostesses from Etihad airways

The VIP Networking Event was held to celebrate the close relationship between the UK, India, and Etihad Airways on 14th October in London and was attended by high profile Asian business people, large Nos of Asian travel agents and Lord Dholakia. Etihad Guest partner Taj Hotels worked closely with Etihad to deliver the event, and will be a part-

ner in the IndiaConnect initiative.

In September 2004 Etihad launched its first flight to India, to Mumbai.

It will have routes to six further destinations within India followed over the next five years and this January, Bangalore will become Etihad’s eighth destination within India.

Clive Wratten, General Manager UK, said: “Etihad is committed to

serving the Indian market and people, whether it is Indian nationals who are residing in India or in countries across the world. Abu Dhabi and the cities to which we operate in India are all growing cities, emerging as major economic hubs and the new service will further enable commercial and cultural ties to develop between India and the UAE.”

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ART & CULTURE

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

By Spriha Srivastava

A garba night-out in London The thought of navratri brings garba and dandiya to my mind.

Dancing in circles with friends, the colours everywhere, that spirit of love and warmth and the smiles on faces is something which I look forward to every year. But ever since I came to UK, I would miss the garba action, until this year.

One day before Dussera, I decided to attend the Navratri celebrations at Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre in Chiswick. As part of a big group, we ensured to follow the dress code that said “Complete Indian Attire.” After all what is garba without a lehnga choli? And just as I entered the beautiful hall I was amazed by the beautiful idol of Goddess Durga kept in the centre which was still being given finishing touches by ladies clad in

beautiful saris.

The action was yet to begin but the entire atmosphere still had an electrifying effect. One would be absolutely attracted to an event like this. The event started with prayers when everyone stood around the idol, while it revolved blessing everyone. The singers did a fabulous job of keeping the mood and enthusiasm alive.

Just as the prayers finished, the singers announced everyone to form a circle around the idol and then began the garba magic. It is amazing how Gujarati men and women dance to the tunes of garba music in such a coordinated fashion. It was a wonderful

display of colours and talents, with many elderly men and women joining the circle as it became bigger. Those who did not know garba did not dampen their spirits but still joined the action.

A very positive aspect about this event was the fact that it was organised in the most systematic fashion. I spoke to many people who attended the event and not a single person faced any hassle of any kind. There was also a strong participation from the young British Asians who seemed to completely blend in the Gujarati culture. Anisha Patel, an 18 year old from Surrey said she felt really happy attending the Navaratri celebrations at Chiswick.

“It feels so nice. I have been to Gujarat couple of times and this

feels like I am back in Gujarat. There is so much of action, so many people. I feel really happy about being here,” she said.

Such was the opinion many had at the celebration. As more and more people joined, one could feel more at home.

Far away from India, there was this mini India that I was in and it felt as if the missing piece in this festival time was complete. Being the last day of Navratri, there was much more action and excitement among the crowd. With more and more people joining, the circle became really big and later on a bit tough to dance since invariably you would end up stepping on

someone’s feet. But then the more the better.

The event ended with a marathon of dandiya and garba mix.

People danced to the tunes of traditional Gujarati music with colourful sticks in their hands in small groups.

Another very good thing about the event was its focus on Gujarati folk music.

There was no Bollywood and thus one actually felt like this was felt either in Baroda or Rajkot and not a college jam session. Many of the dandiya nights that I have attended in the past end up as a letdown because of the music they play. One needs to understand that garba and dandiya are not part of Bollywood and they represent the true colour of India. And this event showcased the true

Gujarati spirit.

It is indeed amazing when sitting here so far away from India; we still get to experience the same warmth and spirit as we do in a festival back home. In this case, I would like to congratulate the organisers of the event, especially Mr. Janubhai Kotecha who has been extremely instrumental in bringing together another year of Navratri spirit to London.

For those of us who missed it this year, do keep a watch out for next year. It is a wonderful experience and one that refreshes your mind and makes you feel at home. In many ways it reminds you of your true identity.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at spriha@abplgroup.com

Motherhood...

Setting expectations!

“Motherhood” - by definition, the most special time in your life, yet it can be stressful! I reflect on why most special times in Asian lives turn into sources of stress! It is bad enough that our birth starts in the birth canal, but then our birthday celebrations turn into stress, the birthday cake, the invitations, the entertainment and beta what will you wear? Then, come the special times when we get our exam results, the feeling of achievement, but beta why did you only get 3 A stars, why are the others just As? Then comes graduation, 2:1 is great beta but why didn’t you get a 1st? Of course, then there’s the person we choose to marry, of course he/she

is fine but oh beta couldn’t you have picked a doctor or a lawyer?

Then we get married and again the stresses accumulate, who shall we invite, where shall we host the functions and beta who will pay for what? Then, finally 2 years post-marriage, the stress of whether there is something wrong and beta why aren’t you pregnant?

My husband and I had a baby girl in September 2009! Now, I ponder why that five letter word, “stress”, is starting to creep into yet another special time in our lives. I think it’s the way we are programmed; to find stress at special times! I am grateful for my own mothers advice on this matter - ‘We did-

Radhika Madlani n’t stress like you when we were parents and you grew up just fine!’ So, I quietly smile and write this column as I know she is absolutely right!

Motherhood needs to be enjoyed thoroughly and whether I am doing everything perfectly or not, I hope to recall this point in life with gratitude as however I feel I am coping at times, Ria is smiling and that speaks volumes!

“My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune.”

-Graycie Harmon

Stars are 'shining upon' Chak 89 The stars are gathering at Chak 89 and we mean it. If you like to dine with the stars, then CHAK89 Restaurant at South London is the place to go.

Within a space of two weeks, the restaurant guests were treated to a surprise they would never have imagined. Catching a glimpse of their favourite Bollywood stars and whats more even dining in the same room.

On the 25th of September 2010, the Restaurant guests were joined by none other than Vivek Oberoi and that too in his new avatar, for his next film, Rakta Charitra, in which he plays a politician. But what really caught the eye was Vivek’s friendly demeanour. He not only let the guests at the CHAK89 Restaurant have their pictures taken with him but also went to wish a little girl who was celebrating her birthday at the restaurant.

This was followed by the appearance of none other than the Jhoota Hi Sahi star, John Abraham on Thursday the 8th of October 2010. He was at Chak 89 to meet the press with regards to his soon to be released film. He insisted on being taken to the restaurant and was obliging enough for the restaurant guests to join him on the photo session and took as many pictures as possible. He was there on a private function but when he realised that there were guests at the Chak 89 restaurant as well he had no qualms in accommodating them with pictures and thrilled everyone to bits.

Says, Mr.Khalid, the

John Abraham mingling with guests at the Chak89 Restaurant

Vivek Oberoi wishing Guests at the Chak89 Restaurant

Chak 89 director – “We always endeavour to make the experience of dining at CHAK89, an unique, enjoyable and happy experience. These star appearances go some way to do

that”. So if you are into Star Spotting or not do go over to Chak 89 for an amazing eating out experience. Also, look out for their Diwali Dinner and Dance happening soon.

Sad Demise Our deepest condolence to our Senior News Editor Dhiren Katwa and his family for the sad demise of his grandmother Sankot baa.

Santokben Ravji Bhoja Katwa passed away on Monday 18 October. She was 90.

She is survived by four sons, three daughters.

Born in Zanzibar, she lived in Mombasa, Mwanza and had lived in the UK (Birmingham) for 35 years.

- Asian Voice

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

15

Bollywood

16 Asian Voice Saturday 23rd October 2010

Anil Kapoor to play villain in MI4

Sneha celebrates her 29th birthday at Balvihar Actress Sneha celebrated her 29th birthday on Tuesday (12 October). Along with her parents, she visited Balavihar, an orphanage in Kilpauk, Chennai. The actress started her day with her customary visit to the temple. Later, she spent her time with underprivileged children and celebrated by cutting a huge cake.

Sneha says that it was nice on her part to spend time with the underprivileged children on her birthday and pep them up.

She has got handful of films, which are in various stages of production- Murattu Kaalai, Bhavani IPS, Vidiyal and Ponnar Shankar.

Rajini getting serious on ‘Baasha-2’ The news has been in the rounds for sometime. While speaking at a RM Veerappan family function Rajini said that, to produce another movie like ‘Baasha’ is possible only by RMV and Sathya Movies. That was perceived as a message and Sathya Movies began scripting for a sequel to ‘Baasha’ starring the one and only super star.

As nobody, neither Rajini nor RM Veerappan, denied the developments everyone believed in the making of ‘Baasha-2’. Now with another buzz coming in, it is almost certain that Rajini’s next film will be ‘Baasha-2’ produced by Sathya Movies.

Sources say that Rajini before embarking on his spiritual journey to the Himalayas went and met RM Veerappan and discussed the project. Rajini is said to have told Sathya Movies to get the script ready and if the script is ready by the time he returns he will immediately take up the project.

These very positive signs have put Sathya Movies in top gear after almost 20 years. ‘Baasha’ was the last film produced by Sathya Movies after which it was lying low. Now with Rajini backing up the revival of the legendary banner is imminent.

Trisha replaced by Amy Jackson It seems that Trisha’s Bollywood dreams are getting busted sooner than expected. Her debut film with Akshay Kumar ‘Khatta Meetha’ did not create even a ripple and Trisha was hoping for a miracle. Even her daring glamourous photo shoots for only the Bollywood market seemed to have not helped.

Her only hope to make it in Bollywood was resting on Gautham Menon who offered her the role of ‘Jessie’ in the Hindi remake of ‘Vinnathandi Varuvaya’. Things were moving smooth and suddenly there is a bombshell dropped.

The latest buzz says that Trisha has been unexpectedly dropped and ‘Madrasapattinam’ beauty Amy Jackson has been chosen to play the Goa girl ‘Jessie’ in Hindi.

The offer is a big one for the beauty from Liverpool. Amy Jackson has everything to become a top heroine in Indian film industry. After seeing her prowess in Kollywood, we think Amy Jackson will find it more than easy in Bollywood.

With his role as chief villain in “Mission Impossible 4,” the schedules of “Tez” and “Power” have gone for a toss. But Anil's producers aren't complaining India's biggest export to Hollywood (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “24 “and now “Mission Impossible 4”), Anil Kapoor is becoming quite the jetsetter in tinsel town.

His role in the Tom Cruise starrer has been fleshed out, thus requiring more time.

This has slowed down the schedule of Ratan Jain's “Tez” (earlier titled “Bullet Train”) and left producer Firoz Nadiadwala of “Power” quite powerless, as Anil Kapoor has had to prioritise his dates. But neither Jain nor Nadiadwala is complaining.

Says a source, "After Slumdog Millionaire, Hollywood offers have been pouring in for Anil Kapoor. Mission Impossible 4's makers contacted Anil's agent.

Anil loved his role and said 'yes'. Though the details of Anil's role are yet unclear, buzz is that he will play the chief villain in the film."

“Mission Impossible 4” stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Anil Kapoor, Paula Patton, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg. The film is

Katrina made a hush-hush visit to Haridwar Katrina Kaif made a quick trip to Haridwar recently. The actress travelled with her personal entourage for a dip in the holy waters of the Ganges.

Her visit was kept under wraps, as she didn't want any security hassles.

She chose to visit the banks of the river late in the evening to avoid attracting any attention.

A source reveals, "Kat was planning to visit Haridwar for a long time.

But she couldn't take time off from shooting. Since she was shooting for Yash Raj Films' ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ in North India, she decided it would be the best time to visit the holy place."

Apart from the dip she also stood in queue for darshan at a temple on the banks of the river. "Since it was late evening, the place wasn't that crowded. Also, making an unannounced trip paid off as people didn't even know

scheduled to hit the screens on December 16, 2011. Ratan Jain claimed that Anil's winter schedule had not perturbed him; Nadiadwala did confirm that he has agreed to Anil's request to readjust his dates.

Nadiadwala is trying to work around Anil's combo scenes with other actors to minimise inconvenience.

Said Nadiadwala, "Anil being in Mission Impossible 4 is a proud moment not just for Anil but all of India." We tend to agree. Here is a thespian with remarkable talent.

Tom might be the lead in IM4, but we know who our hero is. Jai ho!

Don SRK gets 3 million euros bill waiver

Shah Rukh Khan's “Don 2” is set to get a heavy concession from the German government. The film being shot in Berlin is scheduled to get a rebate of around 3 million euros.

Sources reveal that this is the first time that such a heavy rebate is being offered to any film shot in the country. The filming of the “Don” sequel has already begun with a majority of the action sequences and stunts being filmed in the commercial districts of the city.

The schedule is supposed to last for over two months in and outside various locations in Berlin.

A source says, "The German government has announced on their website that they will offer their full support and co-operation to the filming of the movie.

There is already local

support in the form of funds of 550,000 euros from a local film promotion company named Medienboard.

This is the first time an Indian film has received such a big investment from a local media company."

Tourism boost “Don 2” is also expected to boost tourism in Berlin.

The source adds that the

decision to shoot in Berlin was made after Shah Rukh attended the Berlinale Film Festival last year for the screening of his film “My Name is Khan.”

"While the unit will also be filming in other European cities, the majority of the action and drama will take place in the German capital."

Saif Ali Khan goes shirtless!

Saif Ali Khan joins the vest brigade and goes shirtless.

Saif was recently spotted at a studio, shirtless.

And needless to say, the ladies were going ga-ga over his chiselled body.

On checking, it as learnt that Saif too has joined the bandwagon of actors endorsing vests.

H o w e v e r, the shirtless act is something unique to t h e

actor as he has never ever taken his shirt off for a commercial. By the looks of it, Saif has worked out pretty heavily for “Agent Vinod.” We could see his perfect abs, shoulders and back muscles and his arms too looked toned and heavily worked out.

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Producer Ritesh Sidhwani refused to speculate on the rebate being offered.

"We have to finish filming and depending on us getting through the minimum points required to meet their culture test a certain portion of the budget spent in Germany will be given as subsidy."

Anushka Sharma breaks up with boyfriend Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma, who debuted in the industry with the film 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' in 2008 opposite superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has always maintained a low profile about her personal life.

However, the news about her special bonding with co-star Ranveer Singh, got leaked and now, it is heard that the couple has parted ways.

Ranveer is acting opposite Anushka in Yash Raj's upcoming film 'Band Baaja Baarat'. They were reportedly dating each other since April, this year.

A source was quoted saying that both the actors realized that they should focus on their career at this point of time. Their distraction to any other thing at this point of time can

Hisss

Katrina was in the city. She was dressed in a simple salwar kameez with a dupatta covering her head. It was a quick affair and she rejoined her crew as soon she finished her darshan."

The source adds that Kat plans to visit other places of worship during schedules of her forthcoming shoots.

"She's a spiritual person and keeps that side of her private.

The local pujari suggested she come back to Haridwar in the near future and also participate in a maha aarti to which she readily agreed."

In the past, the actress has visited other places of worship like Shirdi, the Golden Temple and the Ajmer Sharif dargah.

A story of vengeance of a snakewoman from India, Naagin has remained in limelight more due to the heroine – Mallika Sherawat than anything else.

Produced by Govind Menon, Vikram Singh and William Keenan under the joint banner of Split Image Pictures as well as Venus Records & Tapes, the film is a fantasy thriller.

As the story goes, the legend of the Naagin has been spreading for over 4000 years ago. Finally in 2009 George States (Jeff Douchette), a ruthless American travels to the jungles of India and captures her mate. She transforms into a stunningly attractive woman (Mallika Sherawat) with absolutely no clue about contemporary civilization or the ways of mankind, and ventures into the city in desperate search for her lover with vengeance on her mind and venom in her fangs.

What follows is a chase at breakneck speed, with horrifying deaths, narrow escapes and special effects never seen before in India, as Vikram Gupta’s Clarice Starling chases down a beautiful sexy killer more dangerous, powerful and terrifying than Hannibal Lecter.

This is India's Werewolf, Vampire, and Hannibal the Cannibal, who has an axe to grind with the villainous human race who has dared to desecrate her environment and capture her mate.

Jennifer Lynch has directed the film and she has also penned the story and the screenplay.

Anu Malik has scored the music. The lead cast of the film consists of Mallika Sherawat, Irrfan Khan, Jeff Douchette, Divya Dutta, Raman Trikha and Javed Rizvi.

Aishwarya, Hrithik to do intense love scene for ‘Guzaarish’ Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan are soon going to be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Guzaarish', where the two are linked up under very unusual circumstances, as Hrithik plays a magician, who gets infected with a disease and becomes paraplegic, with some parts of his lower half stop functioning, due to lack of coordination with the brain.

Aishwarya, who plays a nurse, is made to take charge of Hrithik's character, and as Ash's character slowly gets emotionally attached to the patient, played by Hrithik, reports are that the film tends to get very emotionally charged up!

Sanjay Leela Bhansali who has worked with Ash in his great projects like 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and “Devdas,” has managed to convince Ash to do something quite different in this film.

Amazingly, he has man-

prove harmful for their career. So, they decided to part ways with mutual understanding. There is no ill feeling between them.

The source added that the couple was seen together at many private dinners and outings, even when Ranveer was strictly instructed by Yash Raj to keep a low profile and not to make any public appearances. However, their close bonding has become a history of the past now.

Anushka did not comment on this topic yet. “The Badmaash Company” actress has never accepted having this kind of relationship with Ranveer at any point of time. When she was asked about her closeness with Ranveer by the media, Anushka rather asked that, can't people hang out with their colleagues?

17

New Hindi movies releasing this week aged to make her do a highly romance smitten scene with Hrithik in this flick, which is something unique as far as Ash is concerned!

Aishwarya has never been seen doing such a romantic scene on screen and this certainly will be one of the highest USP's of

'Guzaarish'.

However, reports suggest that the intense romantic scene has been shot with very few people on the sets.

It was a very personal scene and required a lot of real emotions from both the actors and to come out of their inhibitions in front of

the camera, and if reports are anything to go by, the scene has surpassed all expectations!

So, if you are a Hrithik or an Aishwarya fan, and want to enjoy the charm of their romantic scene, just wait for the flick to release, and rush to the theaters!

1. Dus Tola 3. Jhootha Hi Sahi

2. Hisss 4. Rakht Charitra – I

Top 5 Bollywood movies for the week No. 1 2 3 4 5

Film Last Week Total Weeks Crook New 1 Anjaana Anjaani 1 2 Do Dooni Chaar New 1 Robot [Hindi version] 2 2 Dabangg 3 5

John Abraham gets 15-day jail for rash driving

Irrfan gets a brand new look

and his lawyer sought bail and a stay of the order to be able to appeal against it. The court stayed its order for a month and granted him bail. When contacted later, Abraham refused to comment.

The offence of rash driving on a public road attracts a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment. The court showed leniency towards Abraham observing that the actor had not sped away after crashing into the cyclist but had dis-

Irrfan Khan's reputation for versatility is well know in the film industry. He is one of the few actors who has essayed a wide range of characters, both dark and romantic, with equal panache.

And in " Knock Out", where he plays the role of a street-smart investment banker, the target of a nameless foe ( Sanjay Dutt) who turns his world upside down, Irrfan has gone a step further by getting himself a brand new look. It's suave, sexy and "very metrosexual" as the actor chooses to describe it.

"My role is that of a flamboyant guy and it needed me to sport a metrosexual look. Hence, I got myself a different hairstyle and consequently, a new look.

I must say I'm really looking different and I feel it's made a huge difference to my role. Had I stuck to my regular look, I think it wouldn't have made the same impact on my character," says the actor. He adds that though the producers initially weren't keen on him changing his look, they eventually ended up loving what they saw.

A Mumbai court has held Bollywood actor John Abraham guilty of an offence of rash driving and sentenced him to 15 days simple imprisonment. The Bandra additional chief metropolitan magistrate S V Kulkarni also fined the actor, known for his love for bikes, Rs 1,500 for causing an accident and injuring two men when his motorcycle hit a cyclist four years ago. Of the fine amount, the magistrate said, Rs 1,000 must be paid as compensation to one of the victims.

Abraham who was present in court when the sentence was pronounced paid the fine immediately

played kindness by rushing them to a hospital even as he himself sustained some injuries.

18

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Alpesh Patel Consultant Editor Financial Voice Dear Financial Voice Reader, Most people don’t leave ‘Wall Street 2’ the movie very happy. They probably go in expecting to see a film about greed. In fact it’s a morality tail about things more important than money. What’s more important than money? More money is what Gekko might say! So let’s keep Gordon happy and see what’s caught my eye in the past week.

First, new companies from emerging markets that are floating in the global stock markets are doing well because the rest of the world wants access to these stocks and their economies. Indeed 25% of global stock market value is from emerging markets. That is more than double what it was five years ago. When a lot of money chases anything, prices rise rapidly.

On the theme I am a shareholder in MakeMyTrip.com – the Indian online travel company which listed on the US market. How do you buy their shares? The same way you would with any US stock – speak to your bank or broker.

That company by the way has returned 165% in the past 3 months. Why should that be so? Well companies raising capital when they float on the stock market usually do so because they need money for growth – ie they are growing. They usually only come to the market if there will be demand.

They usually sell the their shares initially at a low price to get buyers. And if they are from India or China then they are much in demand after they float.

In fact, if you ever wished you were a shareholder in Google or Apple when they were two man companies then this is a good alternative. You see when they float they usually have a very long way up to go. Not all rise, some may go bust! But on the whole an investment bank will not take a company to the stock market if it does not think it can raise money and therefore do well. Otherwise that investment bank’s clients will not trust the bank again.

So let’s say you bought 10 stocks which had within the past 3months listed/floated on the stock market – how might they perform. Well over a 3 year period I reckon 2 will be up 10 fold. 1 will have doubled. 2 will be around the same price and 2 will have gone bust and 3 will be below what you paid.

So overall you will be up.

And in fact when a venture capitalist invests in young companies these are the kinds of figures they expect. Except because they are getting in when the company is even younger, they would expect even better returns.

In fact this is a way for you to become a miniventure capitalist without all the hassle and trouble of employing people. It is your way of being a Dragon on Dragon’s Den. But better and easier than that you don’t have to put in 100k to get started.

You also have more information about the company that has floated than a Dragon or Angel investor would. A lot of upside all in all.

Incidentally I will be speaking on my markets perspective at the Oxford and Cambridge Club on Pall Mall, London; Monday 25th October 6.308.30pm; Wednesday 27th October 2-4pm; To reserve a place drop me an email: Alpesh.patel@tradermind.com

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JLR reverses plant closure decision Workers to get wage rise, more to be employed Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced last weekend that the company has now decided not to close any of the 3 plants in UK. The company has invested about £1 billion in the current year, will invest more during the next year.

After completing an investment of about £1 billion over the last one year in new technologies and product development, Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) last week said that it would continue to invest an equal amount every year over the next five years.

Improving sales and a return to profitability have also enabled the company to reconsider its plans to close one of its plants in UK’s Midlands. JLR has signed a new deal with its unions that will see pay rise for existing workers by around 5 per cent and also add another 1,500

workers over the next year, taking its total workforce to 17,500 by the end of next year.

“This is a triumph for all concerned,” said JLR Chief Executive Ralf Speth. “The agreement is a great deal for our workers and the company, and we can now really get on with working together to achieve an even more exciting future for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. This is truly the beginning of a new era for Jaguar Land Rover.”

Nearly a year ago, the company had announced plans to shut one of its plants in the UK and streamline operations without any additional job losses.

Dave Osborne, union Unite’s lead negotiator for the car industry, said: “This agreement secures the future of all JLR workers in the UK for the next 10 years and beyond. Just 18 months ago, our members agreed to changes to their terms and conditions, which ultimately

helped the company navigate its way through an unprecedented recession.

There can be no bigger sign of loyalty to JLR than that.”

Commenting on the new deal, David Bailey of Coventry University Business School and an expert on UK's automotive sector, said: "JLR gets to cut costs, a plant stays open and new workers will get new jobs in the future, albeit on lower starting rates of pay.

The latter is especially important as, with an ageing population and workforce, people leaving the firm will be replaced by younger, cheaper workers, giving the firm a competitive boost. But the overwhelmingly good news is that the threat of closure has been lifted from the historic Castle Bromwich plant here in Birmingham."

Financial Technology Group launches a bourse in Mauritius

The Indian sponsor has SBI (M), Barclays Bank as members, partners Financial Technologies India, an Indian corporate specialising in exchange solutions has launched Global Board Of Trade (GBOT), an international multi-asset exchange in Mauritius. Currency and commodity derivative products like metals and energy will be traded at the bourse.

Financial Technologies

Group chairman and Vicepresident of GBOT, Jignesh Shah said “The new exchange will be instrumental in unifying the fragmented African financial markets and in bringing the world to Africa and its potential to the world.” Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius said, “GBOT has the advantage

of having Financial Technologies India as the parent company...GBOT adds depth to our domestic financial markets.”

State Bank of India (Mauritius), Barclays Bank of the UK are among a host of members and partners of GBOT. Others include Bank One, Arab Global, One Financial, Afrasia Bank,

Mauritius Commercial Bank, Banque des Mascareignes and Bramer Banking Corporation as well as media giants Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters.

Financial Technologies Group is a global company based in India and is engaged in setting up, operating exchanges in emerging markets.

Cameron faces flak over tax band fall, child benefit cuts As David Cameron led coalition government embarks on lowering the tax band for the high rate tax payers from next year, hundreds of thousands of more families will be hit hard as they stand to lose even the child benefit with expected rise in their wages.

Most of the teachers and policemen, currently basic-rate taxpayers would become higher rate taxpayers as the top rate band is set to fall. This means that hundreds of thousands more than estimated now would lose the weekly payments. As per the Treasury estimates given recently, only 1.2 million families would be affected.

The starting level for higher-rate tax will fall to £42,375 from April next year, down by £1,500. This would drag an estimated 700,000 extra people into the higher-rate band just before child benefit is withdrawn for top earners.

The 40 per cent threshold

David Cameron

will then be frozen for the following three years, taking a further 1.1 million into the top-rate bracket as their wages rise.

The decision to cut and then freeze the higherrate threshold was made

by George Osborne in his emergency Budget this summer.

Using the Government’s own predictions for wage growth of 16 per cent over the next five years, a total of 1.8 million extra people will become higher-rate tax-

payers by 2015, according to accountants. There are already three million higher-rate taxpayers in the UK, according to HM Revenue & Customs.

Anyone currently earning between £36,500 and £42,000 is likely to become a higher-rate taxpayer before the end of this parliament if their wages increase in line with expectations. At present, only 10 per cent of teachers are in the top band.

The withdrawal of child benefit will cost a higher-rate taxpayer family with three children £2,449.20 a year, the equivalent of a £4,082 drop in their gross income.

Some experts predict that the number of people who become higher-rate taxpayers could be even greater than five million.

The revelation that millions more people could be affected will heap further pressure on David Cameron, who already faces growing disquiet

from backbench MPs and traditional Tory supporters over the plans.

In an attempt to quell unrest, the Prime Minister hinted that he may extend tax breaks to better-off married couples to help to compensate them for the loss of child benefit.

Labour was quick to oppose the cut in child benefit, pronouncing it another attack on families with children after cuts already announced in tax credits and the scrapping of the Child Trust Fund.

Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “Whatever people’s income, it is families with children who are paying the most — through cuts in child tax credit, maternity allowance, child benefit and housing benefit.

“So much for David Cameron’s promise of the most family-friendly government ever. Instead, they are hitting families who want to get on.”

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

19

Property Focus Suresh Vagjiani Managing Director of Sow & Reap, a Property Investment & Financing company.

It’s not what you have, it’s how quickly you can move it!

We exchanged on a deal on Friday the 15th October 2010 in the afternoon. This was a freehold house located in Turton Rd minutes away from both Ealing Road and Wembley Central station.

The property is a four bedroom mid terraced house newly refurbished and ready to rent out. It is worth noting two bedroom flats in Wembley central sell for around the £300,000 mark, these are of course leasehold and therefore have an attached service charge to them of about £1500 per annum.

This property being a house is free-

hold and has no associated service charges. The property is easily rentable due to its close proximity to the station and to Ealing road. One of the main currents driving the rentals in this area is the Ahmadabadies. They rent the property for say £1400pm higher than the market rental of £1300. They then sublease it to others, by loading 4 people to a room and turning the reception room into a bedroom. In this scenario they will be able to place 20 people in the property. By providing an all in fee inclusive of Tiffin service and all bills including council tax they charge a rate of £55 per person. This generates a turnover of £1100 per week on full occupancy. From an economic point of view its good all round. There is an issue of the property coming back in a state. You are likely to have green patches of mould caused by lack of circulation

and problems caused by damp.

Anyhow back to the topic, this property was under offer by another buyer who was waiting for a mortgage offer, he had done all the searches and now the only thing which was holding up the exchange was the mortgage offer.

Initially the seller was loath to do any more viewings on the property simply because the property was under offer and he did not want to be messed around. He was irate with the current buyer because he had advertised himself to be a cash purchaser in order to get the deal through, and now was holding up the purchase.

I took on board what the seller said and then contacted one of our investors. The objective was to find someone who would be comfortable to purchase blind and exchange the next day. The property price was £250,000 you cannot get a freehold property in this location for this price. So the deal was good. It required someone who was savvy and comfortable with the scenario.

I managed to confirm a purchaser whose solicitor was happy to do the deal the next day. I was pushing for an attended exchange, which means the purchaser’s solicitor would go around to the seller’s solicitor and check all the paper work and then if happy strike the deal.

As it happens this was not required, all the paper work was transferred over to the buyer’s solicitor and checked, a couple of issues reared up. One was an enforcement notice which had been served on the property for an illegal conversion and the second the searches which had been sent where out of date. For the searches I suggested the solicitor simply take out what’s know as no search insurance, and as far as the enforcement notice I spoke to the seller provided evidence that the council had given him, in writing, the enforcement notice has been complied with.

So in the eleventh hour the exchange happened on the Friday afternoon. In this kind of situation the seller’s solicitor needs to inform the other buyer another contract has gone out, they then have to wait one hour before they exchange with the new buyer.

It is not just a question of price when it comes to doing deals but also one of speed, especially in the coming times, as the interest rates increase more and more people will be strapped for cash and will

not only be looking for offer but evidence of speed of execution.

The buyer has had to take risk and rely on our judgement as well, this takes faith. We have exchanged without a mortgage offer and if we do not get one he

loses 10% of the deposit. But without some form of risk you cannot have an upside. Call us now for further information on how we can find deals for you 0207 706 0187 or email info@sowandreap.co.uk.

Sow & Reap Showing you which wave to ride, Before it rises We have written about the direction in which Ahmadabad is heading for many years now. It is destined to become a world class investment opportunity. Much of the investment has come from overseas, the common man simply does not see where Ahmadabad is heading and therefore will not reap the benefits of this growth.

However this level of growth cannot remain on a local NRI/Gujarati level for too long. The city has attracted the attention of Forbes magazine, it has now attracted global attention.

The Forbes magazine has said in a report that Ahmadabad is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and it has put Gujarat’s largest city in third rank after two Chinese cities.

Ahmadabad is India’s seventh largest city, and Forbes has placed it ahead of Chennai and Bangalore in terms of growth.  T h e magazine describes Ahmedabad as “the largest metropolitan region in Gujarat, perhaps the most market oriented and businessfriendly of Indian states.” The report also states that “Gujarat’s policies helped lure away the new Tata Nano plant from West Bengal to Sanand, one of Gurajat’s exurbs.’’

Ahmadabad leads the list of Indian cities ahead of Bangalore which is home to Infosys and Wipro and Chennai which has created 100,000 jobs this year, says the magazine.

Ahmadabad municipal commissioner IP Gautam, when reached for comments on the Forbes report, said that Ahmadabad has been growing at a fast

pace with ambitious infrastructure projects like the BRTS, Sabarmati Riverfront Development and Kankaria Lakefront. “It is also because of positive development by the state government and local governments like AMC and AUDA that Ahmadabad is seeing development at such a fast pace.

Also, the government’s proactive policies have spruced up development in the city,” This report lays good foundation for our new launch by a company which has a solid track record of building for 45 years in Ahmadabad.

We brought Sanand to the attention of our readers before the Tato Nano project was announced, citing it was an exciting area which will become a centre of gravity in attracting investment away from main Ahmadabad. The prices in Ahmadabad are heating up to a point where they are sold off plan as soon as they are announced. We are launching an integrated township in Sanand.

As Ahmadabad develops, the trend will be to live slightly outside of the city and commute in. As the infrastructure develops this will reinforce this tendency. Much in the same way Asians have driven up prices in areas like patches of north London.

These are very moderately priced apartments. Please call the India Sales offices now to book your apartment.

For those of you who haven’t dipped your toe into the India Market, this would be a great place to start. Call 0208 369 6055 or email us at info@sowandreapdesi.com

n Mortgages n Commercial Finance n Property Sourcing n Gujarat Properties - Sale & Resale T: 0207 706 0187 F: 0203 014 8484

E: info@sowandreap.co.uk W: www.sowandreap.co.uk

31 Southwick Street, Paddington, W2 1JQ Registered in England No. 05083823

20

fInanCIal voice

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Leadership Matters Maria Fernandes maria@abplgroup.com

The fraud trail The UKBA have reported the fact that In the first 9 months of 2010, almost 1,000 visa applicants have had their visa applications refused by the UK Border Agency in Chennai and now face a 10-year ban because they submitted forged documentation or false information.

Practitioners have seen a huge rise in applications refused on general grounds where deception in one form or another is raised. There are a number of options available to the authorities some of which provide exemption for family members such as spouses, civil partners or children.

Providing false documents, false information or false representations will result in a ban for 10 years regardless of whether the applicant knew that the document was false or even if it is not a document that was essential for the application.

A false document includes a: • genuine document which has been altered or tampered with • counterfeit document (one that is completely false) • genuine document that is being used by an imposter • genuine document which has been fraudulently obtained or issued, and/or • genuine document which contains a falsified or counterfeit visa/ endorsement.

Asserting that the document is false is not good enough. Applicant who are refused on this ground abroad are entitled if they wish to see a Document Examination Report (DER) or Document Verification Report (DVR) irrespective of how the forgery / deception has been practised. This can enable a person to see the basis of the refusal and to challenge it if appropriate.

Many of these deci-

sions cannot be appealed, or appealed only on race discrimination or human rights grounds. The only way to challenge them is by lodging an application for judical review at the High Court.

Experience has shown that a number of refusals cannot be properly justified. It is always worth looking at the decision and considering the information available particularly as the consequences are a 10 year ban.

Entry ot other countries can also be restricted because of cooperation agreements between countries.

Maria Fernandes has been in practice exclusively in immigration for the past 25 years and is accredited in Immigration Law by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Fernandes Vaz is based at 87 Wembley Hill Road Wembley in Wembley and can be contacted by telephone on 020 8733 0123.

Harvard Business School to have a Tata Hall Ratan Tata to receive Yale Legend in Leadership award It has been an October of windfall for the Harvard Business School, particularly from two of their prominent Indian alumni.

Now, the Tata Group last week announced a $50 mn gift, the biggest from a foreign donor in the history of this more than a century old institution.

Harvard said the gift will be utilised to build a new academica and residential building at the Boston campus.

Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons Ltd. and a graduate of the school's advanced management program, made the announcement last week with business school Dean Nitin Nohria and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

The project for the new

Tata Hall is expected to start next year, with a ground breaking in spring Yale Legend in Leadership award for Ratan Tata In another development, the Yale School of Management has announced to honour Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Tata Group with the prestigious ‘Legend in Leadership’ award.

The award will be presented to Tata at a conference of renowned business leaders from all over the world, scheduled to meet in Mumbai Oct 25.

Organized by the Yale School of Management, the conference will see the world business leaders discussing 'Leading Global Enterprises across Global Cities: Aspirations,

Realities and Alternatives.'

'No company and no living leader better embody the themes of this CEO Summit than the Tata Group in general and CEO Ratan Tata in particular. For roughly 20 years, he has brilliantly led one of India's most venerated family enterprises and India's largest conglomerate,' said Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for executive programmes and Lester Crown Professor in management.

Those with loved ones abroad now have a cheaper, easier way to stay in touch, thanks to a new service called PennyTalk. Already a global success, PennyTalk offers a simple way to call overseas at incredibly low rates and with many more benefits than a pre-paid calling card.

Users set up a PennyTalk account with a quick phone call or by securely registering online.

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With PennyTalk you can call from any phone; landline, mobile or smartphone – there’s even a free iPhone app you can download. PennyTalk works with your existing mobile or landline phone service, and with mobiles you don’t have to do any fiddly SIM card changing.

PennyTalk offers fantastic low rates. You can call India for just 1.5p a minute, Bangladesh for 1.9p a minute and Pakistan for 4.9p a minute. At these rates, plus a 35p connection fee

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With PennyTalk you’re not locked into any contract and you don’t get any annoying bills. You just top up your PennyTalk account with as much or as little as you like, as often as you like. Once

LABA survey on Asian businesses facing problems will be carried here next week

Keeping it in the Family, Part 3 – ‘To the Strongest’ After building one of the largest empires in history, Alexander the Great lay upon his deathbed surrounded by his advisors and generals. He was only 30 years old. Upon being asked who his throne should be given to (as he had no heir), it is said that he uttered two words, "tôi kratistôi" – ‘To the Strongest’.

For Alexander this was an easy decision, as realistically only the strongest would be capable of ruling over such an empire. In fact, applying this principle is the most logical step to take whenever there is any transfer of power. Leadership should be given to the strongest, most capable person. We see examples of this when new leaders are selected in large companies, in sports and on the odd occasion, even in politics; but it is not so easy to apply in family businesses.

Last week I wrote about why ones children may not wish to run the

Coal India IPO attracts investors The biggest initial public offer (IPO) of Coal India Ltd., a government of India unit opened on Monday.

After the listing of the shares, expected in early November, Coal India Ltd. is likely to become the 7th most valued company.

Shares in CIL are offered to investors in the price band of Rs. 225 – 245 and market watchers expect the listing at a good premium.

Coal India IPO received very enthusiastic response to the opening on Monday, with more than 30% of the issue being subscribed on the opening day itself.

The coal mining major is offering 631,636,440 shares, constituting 10% of the total capital of the company.

family business. But what happens when they do but they are not fit to take over? Or what if there are more than one and they all want the big office at the end of the corridor? Rightly or wrongly, traditionally it has always been that the eldest son is the natural successor and in the past this was accepted by all and there were rarely any problems, at least not in public. However, times have changed and suddenly deciding who takes over the business can be a sensitive and potentially destructive issue.

Sibling rivalry can be difficult to manage and no parent wants to favour one child over the other.

However, trying to appease all the siblings’ only results in the needs of the business being superseded by family politics. This can lead to the wrong person being appointed as leader for the wrong reasons.

Hence, for the sake of everyone who has a vest-

By Amit Patel

ed interest in the company, it is important to ‘do what is right, not what is easy’ (Rowling).

Here are three simple questions to help determine who should be the rightful successor. 1. Are they the most capable? 2.

Do they have the right qualities and principles?

3. Will they work for the benefit of the business not just themselves? The one who meets these criteria is not only the most appropriate but also the most deserving. The right decision is always the best decision. Do as Alexander said, give it ‘To the Strongest’.

(Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field of Leadership and Human Resource Management).

Indian groceries delivered @ your doorstep all over UK Getting authentic Indian foods, health and beauty products in UK, particularly for those settled outside main cities is normally a big struggle. Mrs. Mauli Shah, an entrepreneur and founder of IndianMart too faced the same troubles. “The Problem of getting fresh Indian groceries has always troubled my family and friends.”

Getting regular supplies favourite products is very difficult especially in many sub-urban and rural areas.

Seeing these difficulties, and after lot of hard work, and many positive comments and suggestions, IndianMart opened its online shopping website earlier this year, to offer a new and convenient way to buy Indian Groceries, delivered to everyone’s doorstep.

This has helped people to address their shopping needs, rather than the expense of travelling hundreds of miles, and avoiding one or two trips a year to bulk buy from distant cities.

“Thank you very much, this certainly saved my time and fuel, driving to Leicester for my groceries” a customer’s comment from Shropshire.

“I will be able to enjoy a Traditional Diwali for the first time in years”- said a lady from Scotland.

IndianMart has become a popular and fast growing online shopping store to such an extent that from July 2010 they now supply Amazon customers.

The concept has now become a reality for many people. Customers can visit the site at www.indianmart.co.uk

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FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

21

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

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

WILL Q.E. EASE THE GLOBAL DEBT CRISIS? During last week’s International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington we were supposed to get firm resolutions to help solve the World’s monetary crisis. What has become apparent is that some of the worlds’ leading economies are debasing their currencies to make exports more attractive and lower the real value of the massive debts that are owed around the world. Governments are talking about ‘tariff barriers’ and ‘trade protectionism’ in a way, which hasn’t been discussed since the ‘Great Depression’ of the 1930’s.

The IMF, instead of those firm resolutions needed to avoid a full-blown currency war, have instead promised to ‘study the issues’ and play a stronger role in how the monetary policies of one member state would affect another. This shows that the IMF has deliberately avoided the tough issues, putting them off until the Seoul G20 summit in November at the earliest.While the lack of global fiscal policy is apparent, the US and some other advanced economies including the UK are conducting radical currency experiments that still have room to get even more extreme. For most of last week

the value of the US Dollar fell, hitting record lows against the Chinese Yuan, Swiss Franc, Australian Dollar and Japanese Yen, just what the United States wants to ease trade balance indifferences.This dollar dive was driven by the speculation that the Federal Reserve Bank will soon exercise more quantative easing to go alongside the $1,700 billion of newly created money that was used to buy US Government debt in

the in the last round of QE. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Mr. Ben Bernanke, fuelled speculation that the United States were about to indulge in another round of quantitative easing unleashing several hundreds of billions of dollars in to the US economy. QE on this scale has never been tried before and remains in the realms of economic theory. If banks in western economies in general and

the US in particular, remain reluctant to lend money, it could lead to a double dip recession. However there is a school of thought that says that quantitative easing can force up commodity prices affecting import costs for the countries using this form of stimulus. Crude Oil is above $80 a barrel and tin and copper reached a two-year high and rising. International investors turn towards these commodities as they are increasingly achieving the safe haven status largely reserved, until now, for the dollar. Silver and gold are both at historical highs and are represent investments that Governments can’t print more of.The results of continued quantitative easing are impossible to forecast with any certainty. The dollar for now is weak and commodity prices strong, if commodities reach a perceived top of their market value then the dollar could turn around and gain strength.

That said the markets see the long-term direction of the dollar as down. This all leaves the Federal Reserve Bank with a tough decision to go ahead with a QE policy that may not help the US Dollar but may just throw the rest of the world into Chaos.

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 19th October 2010 @ 11.45am GBP - INR = 69.90 USD - INR = 44.26 EUR - INR = 61.58 GBP - USD = 1.5783 GBP - EUR = 1.135 EUR - USD = 1.3916 GBP - AED = 5.8049 GBP - CAD = 1.6105 GBP - NZD = 2.0959 GBP - AUD = 1.59 GBP - ZAR = 10.91 GBP - HUF = 313.37

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

22

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Muslim girl leads Navratra celebrations at Vaishno Devi This year, the Navratri festival was special at Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir. A 12 year old Muslim girl, Mahapara Mogul led the festive celebrations. The festival at Katra, the bae camp of the shrine is celebrated every year. The sixth standard student, Mahapara became the first Muslim to lead the festival.

Her father Mohammad Yousuf owns an eatery at Katra. He was surprised at his daughter wish, but fully supported her.

Mahapara went to the extent of fasting for all the nine days.

Muslim participation

BJP president says PMO, ministers involved in CWG scam Nitin Gadkari claims the party has evidence, demands JPC probe

Mahapara Mogul

in this festival has become vital here.

Make-up artists, cultural troupes and even Pakistani wrestlers take part every year. Muslim musicians accompany the devotional song recitals every evening.

Katra town has more than 6000 Muslims and there are several others who come from outside during Navratras.

Just as the Commonwealth Games are over and the Manmohan Singh government has ordered the probe to resume in the alleged cases of corruption, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has claimed that the Prime Minister’s office, minister and others in the government are also involved in the multi billion CWG scam. He demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe and said BJP has documentary evidence to back the allegations and that will be presented to the JPC. Gadkari said the

total cost of the Games were more than Rs. 700 billion, while the amount spent after Indian sportspersons were a poor Rs. 3.5 billion.

Terming the alleged bunglings as a "very big scam", BJP president Nitin Gadkari said a detailed probe should be held by a JPC to "uncover the

involvement of the political leadership". He said the Central Bureau of Investigation should also investigate corruption charges and submit its report within three months.

Gadkari claimed that BJP has substantial documents to prove the involvement of political leaders and the party would submit them to a JPC. "All types of increase in estimates were approved by the Cabinet sub committee and the PMO. Before approving (the inflated cost), why they did not verify," Gadkari asked.

The Karnataka High Court was last week split on the disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs by the Speaker and left the issue to be heard by a third judge on Oct 20, prolonging the suspense over the fate of the first BJP government in the south.

Significantly, on the issue of disqualification of 5 Independent MLAs, the two-member bench of the court referred the matter to a new division bench which will hear it on Nov 2.

"My upholding the (Speaker’s) and brother judge (Justice N Kumar)

setting aside the order, the common view is that it should go to some other bench," Chief Justice J S Khehar, heading the bench, said in the muchawaited verdict.

The bench, which differed on the question whether the rebel 11 MLAs have incurred disqualification under the anti-defection law by giving a memorandum to the Governor against their party Chief Minister, posted the matter for further hearing before a third judge on Oct 20. The fate

of the BJP government, which won a trust vote last week, depends on the final ruling of the court on the two petitions filed the 11 rebel BJP MLAs and 5 Independent MLAs. Late on the night of Oct 10, the Speaker had disqualified 11 BJP MLAs and 5 Independent MLAs under the anti-defection law ahead of the trust vote

by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Oct 11.

Amidst pandemonium, the Speaker had declared the chief minister’s confidence motion carried by a

voice vote which the Opposition had contested.

Governor H R Bhardwaj called the proceedings unconstitutional and recommended President’s rule in the state.

However, the next day he gave the chief minister another opportunity to prove his majority in the House on Oct 14, while the High Court reserved orders for Oct 18 in the case of 11 BJP MLAs. The court also ruled that the fate of vote in the House on Oct 14 will depend on its final verdict in the case.

BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, second right, holds a copy of a report by his party on alleged corruption in the CWG

Bihar likely to re-elect Nitish-BJP back to power Karnataka HC split on disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs

As first phase of polls in Bihar are slated this week, an opinion poll by Star News – A C Nielsen has predicted that the JD (U) BJP combine led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to be voted back to power, with more seats than the 2005 elections.

The opinion poll gives 170 seats to the ruling combine as against 143 they won last time, while the RJD-LJP tally will come down to 34 from the current 64. For Congress, the prediction is better at 22, but it will still be a poor third.

35% Bihar candidates face criminal cases A total of 299 candidates (67%) have not declared their PAN card details, according to a National Election Watch (NEW) survey report.

NEW analysed 446 affidavits of candidates out of 622 candidates contesting in 47 seats in the first phase of the polls on October 21. These candidates represent 53 parties in 47 constituencies, a

Nitish Kumar

NEW survey said.

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have been working on electoral reforms.

There are 154 candidates out of 446 (35%) who have pending criminal cases against them as per their self-attested declaration. Out of these 97 (22%) candidates have serious cases, including murder, attempt to murder, kidnap, extortion, causing hurt with dangerous weapons and dacoity, against them.

Three candidates (one from BJP and two independents) have declared that they have pending cases related to rape, the NEW survey said.

China, Pakistan better than India in global hunger index India dropped two ranks to 67th of 84 developing countries in the International Food Policy Research Institutes annual Global Hunger Index for 2010. Even Sudan, North Korea and Pakistan rank higher than India.

While the report shows that the proportion of undernourished in India is decreasing, the worsening ranking indicates that other developing countries have done better in tackling hunger.

The strife-torn Democratic Republic of Congo ranks at the bottom of the list of 84 countries with significant levels of hunger. The data has been compiled for 122 countries in all; the remaining 38 countries have a GHI of less than 5 and are not included in the rankings.

South Asia has the highest GHI of any region in the world, at 22.9. The region has, however, made greater progress since 1990 than sub-Saharan Africa, the report adds.

India is ranked below all other major South Asian countries: Sri Lanka is ranked 39th, Pakistan 52nd and Nepal 56th.

Indias hunger is not purely a product of its middle-income status. While economic progress and hunger levels tend to be inversely correlated (countries with higher gross national income typically have lower GHI scores), some countries are exceptions to the norm. China has lower hunger levels than its GNI per capita would suggest, while India has higher hunger levels than would be expected from its income per capita.

100-year-old Indian freedom fighter pursues PhD Gauhati: Indian freedom fighter Bholaram Das marked his 100th birthday this weekend by announcing he was going back to school.

Das has enrolled in a PhD program at Gauhati University in Assam making him perhaps the oldest university student in this country of 1 billion.

"In my 100 years, I have done many things in the sphere of society, politics, governance and religion," said Das, dressed in a suit, tie and white Gandhi cap at his birthday celebration Saturday.

"I thought I must work towards a PhD that could satisfy my hunger for learning."

Das was 19 when he was jailed for participating in a 1930 protest against British rule. He spent two months doing hard labor and went on to study commerce and law.

In 1945, he joined the Congress Party that led India's drive for independence, achieved in 1947. Das worked as a teacher, a lawyer, a magistrate and a district court judge before retiring in 1971. With his wife Mandakini, he had five

Bholaram Das

sons and a daughter.

For his doctorate, Das plans to study a subject close to his heart how his native Bohori village helped in the spread of neoVaishnavism, a liberal and monotheistic stream of the Hindu religion credited with breaking down social divisions in Assam, one of India's easternmost states.

The centenarian said he wanted to pursue his interest and belief in the religion's philosophies of one God and humanism.

"It is indeed rare to find a student who is 100 year old," said the university's vice chancellor, O. K. Medhi.

"We are thrilled

because Das can be an inspiration for the youth with his formidable spirit and dedication to public service."

Das, who now has 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild, is being advised in his studies by one of his granddaughters, a university professor, and other family members.

His wife died in 1988."It amazes me that, 40 years after retiring from service, my grandfather is still mentally strong and wants to do new things," said grandson Abhinab Das, an engineer.

"This is indeed inspiring for all of us in the family."

Now, Sena demands ban on burqa

The Shiv Sena, which is facing flak over pushing Mumbai University to withdraw Rohinton Mistry's Booker prizenominated book, on Tuesday opened a new front by calling for a ban on burqa (veil) worn by Muslim women. "If the burqa is used to steal children, then we demand that it be banned as per law," an editorial in the party mouthpiece ''Saamana'' said. A two-month-old baby boy was kidnapped on October 15 allegedly by an unidentified burqaclad woman from a civicrun hospital in suburban Santacruz. Lauding the French government on its decision to ban ''burqas'' and other full-body robes worn by some Muslim women, the editorial said the French President had taken a ''revolutionary step'' to ban the burqa.

"When burqa was banned in Turkey by Kemal Pasha, Islam did not come in between.

Why only is it so in India?" it said.

Sena is under fire for forcing the University of Mumbai to drop the Booker nominated novel

by Rohinton Mistry, ''Such a Long Journey'', from its BA syllabus, alleging that the book ''poorly represented'' the saffron party.

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

INDIA

23

Obama’s Amritsar visit in doubt over headgear, security issues must cover his or her head with a cloth, normally a headscarf for non Sikhs.

But SGPC chief said a cap for Obama is not an issue with them.

Another report said security was a greater concern, as there is a vast open area in the temple premises. Tight schedule is also one of the problems.

The White House team which visited India last month ruled out Obama wearing the traditional scarf on his head. Indian

officials were informally told that Obama wearing a headscarf to visit the Golden Temple may convey an image of him appearing to be a Muslim.

This is one misinterpretation Obama’s advisors did not want at any cost, given the political sensitivities over this issue in the US. Obama arrives in Mumbai on November 6.

First, he plans to visit a 26/11 memorial and Mani Bhawan, where Mahatma Gandhi used to stay.

Manpreet sacked as Punjab finance minister

Punjab CM, family not guilty in corruption case

After Sikhs in USA went euphoric over President Barack Obama visiting Amritsar and paying obeisance at the Golden Temple, reports earlier last week and this week suggest there are certain issues dodging the visit and as of now, US president’s visit to Amritsar seems to be uncertain.

One report suggested the issue was of what headgear Obama should wear. Sikh traditions make it necessary that every visitor to the Golden Temple

Public criticism of the populist policies of the Prakash Singh Badal led SAD government by none other than finance minister Manpreet Badal has led to a bit of controversy in Punjab. Last week, Manpreet was suspended from the party and a day later, was sacked from the ministry.

Manpreet described the party as ‘Sukhbir Akali Dal’ openly criticising deputy chief minister and son of chief minister.

He also claimed that he had resigned, while the government said he was dropped from the ministry.

A statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office here announced that

Manpreet was being dropped from the Punjab Cabinet following his suspension from the party’s primary membership for “persistent acts of indiscipline and (for) opposing the publicly endorsed propeople policies of the party and the government”.

This made his continuance as a member of the Council of Ministers “constitutionally, morally and politically untenable”, the statement said.

Attacking Sukhbir, Manpreet accused the Deputy Chief Minister of “misleading” the people of the state on the debt-waiver issue. “So I demand his resignation.”

A local court in Mohali recently acquitted Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, CM’s wife and eight others in a case of corruption and disproportionate assets that was filed seven years ago.

A total of 15 people were facing trial and 11 of them were announced not guilty as the court found no incriminating evidence against them. The case was filed against them during the captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress regime.

The court ordered perjury proceedings be initiated against two IPS officers, who were the Investigating and the Supervisory Officer of the case.

Beant Singh murder mastermind death sentenced reduced to lifer Punjab and Haryana High Court last week commuted death sentence of Jagtar Singh Hawara, mastermind of Beant Singh’s assassination into a life sentence. Former chief minister of Punjab and Congress leader Beant Singh was killed in a human bomb attack on the chief minister at the state secretariat premises in August 1995. Death sentence of another accused, Balwant Singh was however upheld by a division bench of the high court.

The bench comprising

Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Arvind Kumar passed the order after hearing the appeals filed by the accused against their sentences.

In its 180-page judgment, the Bench observed, “The case of Hawara is a borderline case for death sentence.”

Balwant Singh had confessed before the trial court how he had strapped a bomb around the waist of another accused, Dilawar, to kill Beant Singh on August 31, 1995.

He claimed that all his coaccused are innocent and

had no role in the assassination. Balwant had reiterated the statement before the Bench.

Hawara had reportedly arranged finances and explosives for the human bomb Dilawar Singh, who also died in the blast.

Balwant, a policeman, had smuggled the human bomb into the secretariat building. Hawara also masterminded his escape, along with three other accused, from the Burail jail in 2004. Three of them, including Hawara, were rearrested on June 8, 2005.

Special environment court in India to start soon National Green Tribunal, (NGT), a special court for dealing in cases related to environmental issues was formally launched by Jairam Ramesh, the Environment minister of India on Tuesday. It will take some time before the NGT becomes functional.

It will also have four circuit benches in the four regions of India.

'It is an important initiative and India is only the third country, after Australia and New Zealand, to have a dedicated court. Anybody and everybody can approach

the NGT for civil damages arising out of nonimplementation of various laws of environment,' said Ramesh. There were about 5,000 environmental cases pending in various courts of the country, he said.

'Since the NGT is proposed to have judicial as well as expert members, it is likely to result in effective disposal of such cases which involve multi-disciplinary issues,' he added.

Former Supreme Court judge L.K. Panta was appointed as the

chairman of the NGT Monday.

'We are yet to finalise the regions and the appointments of legal and environmental experts,' said Panta.

'These benches will be mobile and they won't wait for people to come, but will have sittings in different parts of the country,' Ramesh explained.

According to Ramesh, the best part of the tribunal is that there is no limit to the compensation which they can award to aggrieved parties.

In divine light

By Rajen Vakil

The five sons of Draupadi In the Mahabharata, Draupadi has five sons – one from each of the five Pandavas. They are Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Srutakarma, Sataneek, and Srutasen. They were the sons of Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahdeva, respectively. They were all great warriors and fought in the Mahabharata war.

Ashwathama had killed them in their sleep, believing them to be the sleeping Pandavas. All students who work towards awakening their consciousness follow and practice certain techniques or methods.

These methods result in the awakening of certain powers or ‘siddhis’ within the student. Truth has nothing to do with these siddhis and at the time of experiencing the truth, these siddhis, (like everything else) have to be renounced. Thus, the children born out of Draupadi’s marriage to the five Pandavas had to die at the end of the war.

We have previously seen that the five Pandavas symbolise the five lower chakras and Draupadi the sex energy within us. This sex energy can follow either of two paths - (1) that of excitement, where we lose and waste this energy or (2) that of sensitivity, where the energy starts rising up the backbone and on its journey moves through the five chakras, marrying them. When this energy invigorates a chakra, the student experiences new energies and powers rising – these powers are the sons of Draupadi.

Each son, born out of Draupadi’s marriage to the Pandavas, is thus the fruit of the rising energy.

Let us see what each one represents and how in this beautiful analogy the great rishi Vyasa has hidden the secrets of kundalini yoga.

Let us begin with Srutasen. He is the son of Sahdeva (represents Muladhara) and Draupadi.

‘Sruta’ means to hear and understand.

‘Senah’ means to bind, or fasten, and use in the right way.

We walk through the events of life doing either of two things, evolving or involving (falling) in consciousness. For instance, we have an appointment and the person we are due to meet does not turn up in time. Some of us start getting irritated, some fidget, some start walking, and some call out names, while others keep reaching for their phone.

Here, we have reacted, become hypnotised by the

event, and instead of extracting consciousness from the event have lost it and involved. If only within us a power of discrimination is born, then we can be calm and use the same event to elevate the level of awakening. As the kundalini energy rises, it gives us a feeling of tremendous power and instead of dissolving our ego, it may lead to a newer and more powerful one. At this time we must have the discriminating capacity or the viveka to see that the very energy we attained to increase our levels of consciousness does not lead to deeper hypnosis of life.

Srutasen, Sahadeva’s son, is that power of discrimination which guides us in our actions towards evolution in consciousness.

Through Nakula, Draupadi has the son Sataneek. ‘Sat’ means a hundred or a large number and ‘aneek’ means to array them, or put in the right sequence. Every moment millions of bits of data flow into the brain.

They follow certain fixed pathways which have been formed through our upbringing and ways of life. We can call the deepest pathways as attitudes and the other pathways as habits. Say, someone throws a stone at an image (of many) that I have of myself. This data flows through a set pathway in the brain which interprets it as an insult.

As a result, I feel hurt, get angry, react, lose my energy, and fall deeper into the sleep of life.

Sataneek means to change the order or allow the data to flow on a different pathway in the brain. Now, this new pathway will interpret the data in a completely different manner. A voice might now say ‘The insult is to the ego and my path is to dissolve the ego, so, I will not be angry but rather be happy that I got a chance to observe the workings of my ego and be free from it’ – the birth of Sataneek.

The next son of Draupadi is from Arjuna and is called Srutakarma.

Srutakarma represents the right action that comes from right hearing and right arrangement.

Our actions are generally reactive and lead to more sleep and misery. In doing so, we also hurt others all the time. When Srutakarma is born within us we are free from the pattern, that if, someone

hurts us, we must hurt them back. This brings conscious and right action. Right action leads to harmony and love in all our relationships.

From Bhima and Draupadi was born Sutasoma. ‘Suta’ means pouring out and ‘somah’, combination of ‘su’ and ‘mana’ means in the right mind. When we are free of reaction and experience a rise in consciousness, a new energy of creativity starts pouring out of us. Then we are able to give an artistic and aesthetic touch to every situation in life. This brings great joy and life becomes a dance of creative energies. ‘Somah’ also means sublimation – that is the creative sex energy has sublimated into art. Quite often during conversations, we immediately oppose what the other person has said leading to an argument and reactions. If during every conversation we can move along with what the other has said, we start creating a work of art as if on canvas, and experience the joy of creating a fine painting through conversation.

Prativindhya was born of Draupadi’s marriage to Yudhisthira. ‘Prati’ means towards, ‘vi’ means extraordinary and ‘dha’ means to distribute.

Prativindhya is the one whose life energies flow towards the divine or the one who helps distribute extraordinarily, that is the qualities that help us to channelise our energies in the direction of the divine (or towards our own personal evolution).

When the inner creative energy starts pouring out, the disciple learns to live it in every relationship.

Even when he shakes hands with someone he allows this divine energy to flow from him to the other person, which is extraordinary sharing.

Now all his actions are aimed at sharing this energy which is pouring out through him.

These are the five siddhis or powers that come from the rising of the kundalini. It is important for the student to live each of these stages in his normal life, a concept that most students fail to understand. Many students of yoga work to awaken the kundalini but do not live it in their daily life. Then, the very energy which was to lead to awakening becomes a disease and a cause for a fall.

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

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Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Ahmedabad in global list Delhi was the next target after Mumbai: Headley of fastest growing cities The US terror suspect told Indian interrogators PM’s house, Raksha Bhavan were on the hit list

Forbes list also includes Chennai, Bangalore Ahmedabad and Gujarat have a lot to cheer about a recent Forbes report. The premier business magazine has ranked the virtual capital of Gujarat, Ahmedabad among the fastest growing cities in the world, alongwith two other Indian cities of Chennai and Bangalore. The Forbes report also has acknowledged Gujarat as the “Most market oriented and business friendly” state in India.

“The urban powerhouses of the next decade aren't behemoths like New York or Mumbai, but smaller cities like Chongqing, China; Santiago, Chile; and Austin, Texas," it says shifting its focus from established global centres like New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong or Tokyo.

While "China's bold urban diversification strategy hinges both on forging new transportation links and nurturing businesses in interior cities," Forbes says "India, although not by plan, also is experiencing a boom in once relatively obscure cities."

"Its rising urban centers include Bangalore, Ahmedabad (whose per-

capita incomes are twice that of the rest of India) and Chennai. Many of India's key industries auto manufacturing, software and entertainment are establishing themselves in these cities."

"The growth of India and China also creates opportunity for other emerging players, particularly in Southeast Asia by creating markets for goods and services as well as investment capital."

Forbes describes Ahmedabad as "the largest metropolitan region in Gujarat, perhaps the most marketoriented and businessfriendly of Indian states."

Noting that Gujarat's policies helped lure away the new Tata Nano plant from West Bengal to Sanand, one of Gurajat's exurbs, it cites one Indian academic, Sedha Menon, as comparing the state - which has developed infrastructure more quickly than its domestic rivals - with Singapore and parts of Malaysia.

Rohinton Mistry blasts Sena, VC for book ban Continued from page 1 Mistry was equally scathing in his attack on Mumbai University VC Rajan Welukar. Copies of ‘Such A Long Journey’ were burnt by Sena activists, who declared on TV that they would have burned Rohinton if he were in India. “The mob demands the book’s removal within 24 hours from the syllabus,” says Mistry. “The good vicechancellor obliges the mob. All this happened in September. Subsequently, the Shiv Sena sent fulsome congratulations to the vice-chancellor on his prompt and wise decision.

According to Mistry, Thackeray’s actions are in keeping with the Sena’s history of curbing freedom of speech. “In this sorry spectacle of book-burning, Sena has followed its depressingly familiar, tediously predictable script of threats and intimidation that Mumbai has endured since the organisation’s founding in 1966.”

However Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said he too felt that the language of the book was offensive.

Mr Chavan - like a lot

of other politicians pontificating on this issue - said that he had not read the book in its entirety but had seen some passages.

NGO meet criticises Aditya protests, University action A day after Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray made grandson Aditya the head of the newly-formed youth wing of the party, resistance to the 21-year-old's opposition to Rohinton Mistry's book Such a Long Journey gathered momentum.

At an event organised by the Citizen initiative for Peace, a group of NGOs and independent activists, Committee for Release of Dr Binayak Sen, and the Mumbai Initiative of Human Rights Education, people debated the promptness with which the Mumbai University procedures were subverted by its vicechancellor to accommodate the "fears" of a party that has inflicted a "depressingly familiar, tediously predictable script of threats" Theatre personalities Dolly Thakore and novelist Meher Pestonji were among the prominent personalities present at the NGO meet.

The Pakistan based terrorist outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba had planned to strike in New Delhi, the Indian capital too and among the spots on the hit list were Prime Minister’s official residence, Raksha Bhavan, the defence ministry among others.

David Colman Headley, the Pakistan born American suspect in the US custody has even said ISI had a major role in the attack. In another startling revelation, investigations While details of his questioning by the Indian officials in the USA are trickling down, more surprising revelations have come up, saying that even though US officials were warned of Headley’s sinister plots to attack India by none other than his two

wives, the US has said they did not give any specific details.

Pakistani American terror suspect David Headley has told Indian investigators that he had scouted Delhi for another strike at potential targets, including the prime minister's residence and key defence complexes.

Headley, who has confessed his role in plotting the 2008 Mumbai attack with Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders and was arrested last year in the US, told a team of Indian interrogators in a US prison that he was in the Indian capital in March 2009, said sources who refused to be identified.

During his Delhi trip -four months after 10 terrorists sneaked into Mumbai from the sea and

killed 166 people over three days -- Headley videographed 7 Race Course Road, the prime minister's official residence, Raksha Bhavan and the National Defence College (NDC) in the heart of the capital, the sources disclosed.

The security cover at the prime minister's residence appeared too tough to break through and his Pakistani handlers were not interested in striking at the Raksha Bhavan, an o f f i c e - c u m - re s i d e n t i a l complex for defence personnel, Headley is believed to have told the investigators.

He later spoke to his co-conspirator, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, another Pakistani terrorist who is also in a US prison.

He said his Pakistani

handlers were more interested in attacking the NDC and had even started working on the idea with a help from an unknown person in Nepal, sources said.

Headley reveals Pak's role in 26/11 attacks Pakistan Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Geelani visited Headley’s home in 2008 reveals Lashkar agents’ interrogation report, says CNNIBN (an Indian television channel).

The report reveals how the ISI helped plan the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai.

Was it just the ISI and the Pakistani defence forces that David Headley was in touch with or did his reach extend to the topmost echelons of the Pakistani government?

Big gun jail birds make Sabarmati prison an entertaining place

Huge donations bring in latest music systems, LCD TVs to make life a bit easier In the last couple of months, Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad has turned into a more entertaining place, thanks to high profile officials, businessmen and even leaders who were sent behind the bars.

Ordinary prisoners are thus thrilled when some big guns are sent to prison as accused or convicts.

Over the past three months alone, the jail has seen Rs 700,000 being donated by various highprofile jail inmates.

Waking up to strains of music and going to sleep after enjoying their favourite serials on LCD TVs. That sums up the

upgradation of life behind bars on Sabarmati Central Jail campus which is fast turning green too. Again, this gave all these donators a vantage position inside the jail society.

The music in the inmates’ life was sponsored by builder Sanjay Patel. Patel was arrested in August in connection with the dummy writers scam that had rocked Gujarat Secondary Education Board in 2008.

Patel, a music-lover himself, purchased a sophisticated audio system soon after being lodged in the jail.

In order to spice up life

behind the bars, Patel proposed to jail authorities that he wanted to set up an audio system. Jail authorities gave the green signal and today all barracks in the new section of the jail has been fitted with speakers with the player fixed in the control room. This section was inaugurated by former MoS home Amit Shah.

Ironically, he in the same jail now. Amit Shah was arrested in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.

“Every morning music is played on the system for the inmates. This is also used as a public address

Daughter injects HIV to mom for property Looking to grab the parental property early, a nurse and her sister plotted to kill their mother and injected her with HIV virus when she was sick. Now, as the parents have discovered the heinous act, the sisters were on a run after a case was registered against them. Later, daughters and son-in-law were arrested. The police said they will be charged with attempt to murder.

The shocking incident happened in Guntur town of Andhra Pradesh recently. Kameswari, the younger of the two daughters was a nurse at a local government hospital. She has been suspended As per the details of the case, Kameswari, 32, and Durga, 35, had been harassing their parents to hand over the property — two houses, 25 acres of land and some gold to them, the police said. But the parents said the daughters would have to

wait till one of them was dead. When their mother had cough and fever last month, Kameswari took her to see a doctor and later gave her an injection telling her it was the “latest antibiotic” for high fever, the police added. The fever subsided, but the older woman started suffering from severe joint pain and weakness.

On Gandhi Jayanti, she got her blood tested at a free medical camp in her locality and was stunned to find she was HIV positive. She and her 62-year-old husband rushed to doctors with reports of tests done a few months ago and last year, which did not show any infection, and came to the conclusion that she must have contracted the virus recently.

The treatment for the fever last month and the injection given — the mother recalled that it was a red fluid, which the police now suspect was

infected blood — was discussed and the couple tried to ask Kameswari about it. But neither Kameswari nor Durga would speak to their parents, the police said. The couple later approached district collector Ramanjaneyulu and rural superintendent of police Ravichandra for help.

The district collector ordered an inquiry and suspended Kameswari from duty immediately.

The superintendent directed Broadipet police station to register a case under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

The mother said “both the daughters were sweet to me. I never suspected such foul play even though I was aware their heart burns for the property and my gold.”

This is the second such incident in Guntur this year. In a dowry related case a few months ago, a housewife was injected with HIV-infected blood by her husband, a doctor.

system,” said jail sources.

The entertainment quotient too recently got a fillip when builder Chitrak Shah, arrested for a land scam, and Sohrabuddin fake encounter accused and owner of Arham Farm Raju Jirawala joined hands to generously donate for LCD TVs to be fitted in all barracks.

The latest addition to the jail campus is green cover. Several gardens are being developed and trees too are being planted with donations made by Shiva Solanki, accused in Amit Jethava murder case and nephew of BJP MP Dinu Solanki.

Rehabilitation of Tamils discussed at Manmohan – Rajapaksa meeting As Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president visited India last week to grace the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games as the chief guest, rehabilitation of Sri Lankan Tamils figured in talks he had with Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Friday.

Official sources said that while Mr. Rajapaksa detailed the steps being taken for rehabilitation, India wanted Sri Lanka to act “decisively” on arriving at a political settlement to bridge the ethnic divide.

“It was a very cordial meeting. No issue was discussed at length, but India wanted to know our plans. We indicated that we want to talk to a broader spectrum of stakeholders. That is the only way to do this, to get their ideas and to build a consensus,” Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris told journalists.

World

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

25

IN focus Number of Indian students in Australia to go down by 80 per cent

Nepalese teenager becomes world's smallest man

Melbourne: The number of Indian students enrolling at Australian universities for the 2011 academic year is set to plunge by 80 per cent, an academic said.

Melbourne University Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis said that higher education across Australia, including Victoria, is taking a big hit after reports of attacks against students from the Indian sub-continent.

Davis told reporters here: 'According to our best sources ... the fall in

Canada gets its first multimedia Sikh museum Mississauga: Canada became the first country after India to open a unique Multimedia Sikh Museum in the Indiandominated city of Mississauga on the outskirts of Toronto last week.

The museum was opened at Ontario Khalsa Darbar, North America’s biggest Sikh shrine, amid much fanfare by city mayor Hazel McCallion and museum creator Raghbir Bains.

Cutting the ribbon 90year-old McCallion, the longest serving mayor in the world, said, “I am told it is the second such museum outside of India, and I am proud to have it here in this beautiful city of Mississauga.”

Bains has spent about 25 years in creating the unique museum. The touch-screen museum is a 400-hour-long journey through 60,000 pages of text and tonnes of audio, video, animation, graphics and about 1,500 paintings.

applications from India into Australian tertiary education ... are predicting at around 80 per cent, some institutions are reporting up to 90.'

'We did have a system where everything was growing. It's no longer true, so we are going to have to go back and look again,' Australian news agency AAP quoted Davis as saying.

There had been a string of attacks on Indian students in Australia, causing outrage in India.

The assaults took place

here as well in Sydney.

One of the attacks proved fatal when a student, Nitin Garg, was knifed in January.

Davis said: 'We are the only country in the world that is having this sharp fall, which tells you that whatever the factors are that are driving it, they're about what we do in Australia.' The academic said Australia had never been the first destination of choice for Indian students.

'There's no doubt that the climate in India was

deeply critical of the way Australians had handled it, and there was also no doubt it was going to affect people's willingness to come here.'

He went on to say that 'it takes a long time to rebuild a reputation...You only do it through patient diplomacy, you do it through endless delegations, you do it through scholarships, and you have to work very hard with the community at home to make it clear that there are ... really disturbing consequences.'

NZ Indian beauty contestant booed at pageant Jacinta Lal emerged first runner up despite questions on her Indianness Auckland: Jacinta Lal, a 21 year young Indian lady in New Zealand was booed and questioned about her Indianness due to her ‘White’ looks at the Miss India New Zealand contest recently. Jacinta’s father is a Fijian of Indian origin while her mother is a New Zealander. The shocking incident happened as she won the Wellington leg of the pageant. Finally, she emerged first runner up as Latisha Patel won the title.

President of Auckland Indian Association, Harshad Patel told a New Zealand daily he was disappointed to learn of the booing incident.

“They shouldn't be doing that by looking at her hair or whatever she's Indian. She's got Indian blood, so she qualifies. They should find

Jacinta Lal (left) with Latisha Patel, the winner

out the facts. They should be more open-minded,” he said.

The health sciences student told the New Zealand Herald she had heard people say that she was not "Indian-looking enough to win the pageant". "But despite those small-minded people who made those comments, there were many Indians who encouraged me to enter," she said.

Pageant organiser

Dharmesh Parikh said he had also received complaints when Lal took part in the finals in Auckland.

"People said, 'Oh, my God, look at this blonde girl coming to Miss India NZ. What is she doing here?' Whoever these people are, they are a very small part of it. This event is called Miss India NZ, with an NZ, and I strongly emphasise that this event is not an Indian event. It is a Kiwi-Indian event, so you must have New Zealand residency, New Zealand citizenship, and you must have some sort of Indian background," he said.

"It is a little sad, but it is unfortunate for Jacinta as well because she should be accepted into this Indian world as well because she is a beautiful Indian girl."

Fiji marks 40 years of independence, vital document lost Suva: Fiji, the Pacific island nation that was once under the British rule is celebrating 40th year of independence. In a revelation that is a bit shocking and surprising, the nation declared that it has lost a vital original document of acknowledgement of its independence.

Silesia Ikaniwai, a government archivist, has

announced that the original copy of the historic legal document has disappeared.

The revelation comes after five years of efforts to trace the document.

The set of papers, on which the Pacific nation's first constitution was based, were presented to the Fiji government by the Prince of Wales on Oct 10, 1970. These included the

Fiji Independence Order, which marked the country's release from British rule.

Ms Ikaniwai said several government departments had been contacted during the long search.

Several offices that could have held the documents had been checked, but to no avail.

The government has

since accepted that the papers have been lost and contacted the British government, which provided a photocopy of Fiji’s Independence Order.

The announcement that the historic papers have gone missing comes during a week of celebrations in Fiji to mark 40 years of independence from Britain.

33 Chilean miners rescued after 69 days underground Santiago: In a meticulously planned rescue operation that ended their two-month ordeal deep underground, all the 33 trapped miners in Chile were rescued on Thursday last.

One by one, the miners climbed into a specially designed steel capsule barely wider than a man's shoulders and took a 15minute journey through 2,050 feet (625 metres) of rock to the surface.

Scenes of jubilation erupted each time a miner arrived to a hero's welcome above the San Jose gold

professional soccer player. He received autographed jerseys from teams around the world during his two months underground.

He was passed a soccer ball as soon as he left the rescue capsule and Chilean miner Luis Urzua (C) juggled it briefly with gestures alongside President his feet. "This was the Sebastian Pinera (R) after toughest match of my reaching the surface from the life," he said.

San Jose mine.

Church bells rang out in Chile when the and copper mine in Chile's first miner was extricated northern Atacama desert. and Chileans were glued to One of the latest miners their televisions through to reach the surface was the night, proud of their Franklin Lobos, a former

nation's ability to save the men. "It's dangerous to say but things are going extraordinarily well," Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

Large video screens were set up in public places across Chile to let people watch and cheer as each miner was hauled to the surface and freed. The miners were whisked away for medical checkups and found to be in "more than satisfactory" health, except for one who has pneumonia and is being treated with antibiotics, the minister said.

Pokhara (Nepal): A Nepalese teenager whose tiny stature has made him a celebrity in his homeland entered the record books as the world's shortest man last week as he celebrated his 18th birthday. Khagendra Thapa Magar, who stands just 25.8 inches (65.5 cm) tall and weighs 5.5 kg, takes over from 24-year-old Edward "Nino" Hernandez from Colombia, who is almost two inches taller. A team of adjudicators from the Guinness Book of World Records met Magar this week and conducted exhaustive checks on his claim to the record in the picturesque Himalayan town of Pokhara in central Nepal, near the village where he grew up. "An 18-year-old from Nepal has today been named the new world's shortest man by Guinness adjudicators who flew to the country to measure him," the London-based organisation said in a statement. "At two feet 1.8 inches, Khagendra Thapa Magar has been officially recognised as the shortest man in the world, snatching the title from 24-year-old Edward 'Nino' Hernandez from Colombia who has held the title for just five weeks."

Indian pilot dies of heart attack in mid-air Kuala Lumpur: A Qatar Airways aircraft enroute from Manila to Doha made an emergency landing at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) last week, after one of its pilots died of a heart attack mid-air. A spokesman for the airways said the pilot, a 43-year-old Indian national, complained of chest pain and the copilot requested to land at KLIA. "The plane, an A330 Airbus with about 250 passengers on board, landed here while a medical team was on standby. "The pilot was pronounced dead and the airlines took immediate steps and changed the entire crew before the aircraft took," he said.

Dhaka court asks former premier to vacate her residence Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court last week ordered former prime minister Khaleda Zia to vacate her lease-hold residence in Dhaka, court officials said. The High Court rejected a petition by the opposition leader to reject a government notice to vacate her residence in a military cantonment and gave her one month to do so. In April, the government citing 'anomalies in the allotment', said Zia violated the lease agreement by carrying out political activities from her residence, which is located in a military area. Widow of slain Bangladesh's military ruler Ziaur Rahman, Zia was allotted the home after her husband was killed in a coup in 1981. She has resided in the home, as well as in another house in an upmarket enclave. One of Zia's lawyers said that she planned to appeal the decision, media reports said. The eviction notice is one of the issues over which the opposition has been boycotting parliament.

Beat your wife but don't leave marks, rules UAE court Abu Dhabi: The UAE's highest judicial body says a man can beat his wife and young children as long as the beating leaves no physical marks. The decision by the Federal Supreme Court shows the strong influence of Islamic law in the Emirates, where foreign residents greatly outnumber the local population. The court made the ruling earlier this month in the case of a man who left cuts and bruises on his wife and adult daughter after a beating. It says the man was guilty of harming the women but noted that Islamic codes allow for "discipline" if no marks are left. It also says children who have reached "adulthood" -- approximately puberty -- cannot be struck.

Obama appoints Indian-American as top science official Washington: IIT Madras alumnus, Subra Suresh, has been sworn in as the director of America's National Science Foundation (NSF), the top US science body with a 4 billion budget to support scientific institutions.

"We are very grateful to have Subra taking this new task," said President Barack Obama at the White House Science Fair on Monday after Suresh was sworn in as the 13th NSF director by John Holdren, Obama's science advisor. "He has been at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and has been leading one of the top engineering programmes in the country, and for him now to be able to apply that to the National Science Foundation is just going to be outstanding," he said. "So we're very grateful for your service." Suresh, 54, was confirmed by the US Senate on Sept 30, for a six-year term. He has served as dean of the engineering school and as Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering at MIT.

26

Pakistan

In focus 7 militants arrested, plot to kill PM foiled Multan(Pakistan): Pakistani police arrested a group of Islamist militants who were plotting to kill the Prime Minister and other top government officials, a top officer said Thursday last. The conspiracy against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was "almost complete," said Abid Qadri, a regional police chief. He said the militants were planning to attack Gilani when he travelled to his hometown of Multan, but gave no more details.

Pak Taliban planning to use poisonous gases

Lahore: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is planning to carry out terrorist attacks using poisonous gases, Pakistani intelligence agencies have warned.

According to intelligence reports, terrorists may target sensitive installations, important buildings, busy shopping malls, markets, public places, mosques and other places of worship. Sources said that the warnings came after the intelligence agencies collected information from intercepts of conversations among the TTP militants.

Canada seeks Pakistani bases Toronto: With the United Arab Emirates (UAE) shutting the Canadian secret military base near Dubai next month, Ottawa has requested Pakistan to let it use its military bases before its scheduled pullout from Afghanistan next year. Canada, which has been using Camp Mirage near Dubai for the past seven years as a forward base for its troops in Afghanistan, is being kicked out next month for refusing to accommodate the UAE demand for more flights by its airlines into Canada.

UAE airlines Emirates and Etihad, which fly six times a week to Toronto, have been seeking to incr ease the frequency and inclusion of Vancouver and Calgary as their other destinations in Canada. But Ottawa turned down the demand after protests by Air Canada.

Pakistan to bid for non-permanent UNSC seat United Nations: Pakistan will try for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council next year and hopes to get India's support for its bid, the country's top diplomat to the world body has said. "Next year we're trying for a Security Council seat (from the Asian region) and I believe that the Indians have said that they will support us there," Abdullah Hussain Haroon said. He also wished India well for its two-year tenure as a non-permanent UNSC member, beginning January 2011. Pakistan had supported India in the recent election for non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council. Haroon pointed out that Pakistan's support for India was rooted in the Asian Group's efforts to keep a united front. "A year ago a couple of us met and said let's get the Asian Group working... all other groups had unanimous candidates...Asia always have a fight," the Pakistani envoy said.

Pak man marrying twice in one day Islamabad: A Pakistani man has found a solution to the age-old dilemma of whether to embark on an arranged or a love marriage. Azhar Haidri has decided to marry both women over a 24-hour period. At first he refused to marry the woman selected by his family as he was in love with someone else since childhood.

Pakistani law allows polygamy because it interprets Islam to allow a man to have up to four wives. Men who go for polygamy usually do so after a period of several years - and must get approval from their first wife prior to a second marriage. While it is not unusual for men in Pakistan to have several wives, it is rare for two weddings to take place almost simultaneously.

Several Pakistani television stations have carried the nuptials live - on Sunday and Monday - because of the unique circumstances. Celebrations ran late into the night during Mr Haidri's first wedding to Humaira Qasim. Later on Monday Mr Haidri married his sweetheart, 21-year-old Rumana Aslam.

Plea to make Urdu official language dismissed Islamabad: A petition seeking to direct the government to make Urdu the official language of Pakistan has been dismissed by the Lahore High Court. Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif dismissed the writ petition after the petitioner and his counsel failed to appear before the court, the News International reported lasat week. Sana Ullah, a local resident, had moved the petition. He stated that the father of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, during his address to students in Dhaka in 1948 had announced making Urdu the official language of Pakistan. He said that this wasn't done even after over 62 years and English was made official language of the country.

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Chief Justice seeks Gilaniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s explanation on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;plansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to remove top judges Islamabad: Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Friday sought a signed explanation from Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani in the wake of reports that the government was planning to remove key members of the superior judiciary, deepening the rift between the two sides. The drama began after several TV news channels reported that the PPP-led government was contemplating the withdrawal of a notification issued in March last year to restore the chief justice and dozens of members of the superior judiciary, who were sacked by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf during the 2007 emergency.

The chief justice and

all judges of the apex court, who were in their homes when the channels beamed the news, returned to the court and held a meeting that continued well past midnight.

A statement issued to the media at about 1 am local time said the chief justice had constituted a 17-member full bench to take up the government's alleged intentions to de-

Islamabad: Pakistan's Sindh High Court on Thursday last dismissed a Constitutional petition seeking the trial of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on treason charges for imposing emergency in 2007 and asked the petitioner to approach the apex court which is looking into the same case.

The petition filed by Maulvi Iqbal Haider in the Sindh High Court had

sought the trail of Musharraf along with his two aides - noted lawyer Sharifuddin Pirzada and former Attorney General Malik Muhammed Qayyum. The court had earlier reserved its ruling two weeks ago after it completed the hearing of the case. While dismissing the plea, the court said the same matter has come up for hearing in the Supreme Court and hence any high court ruling in this regard

Iftikhar Chaudhry

notify the restoration of judges. When the full bench convened in the morning, Chaudhry told Attorney General Anwarul-Haq to submit a statement signed by Prime Minister Gilani giving the government's viewpoint.

The bench told Haq that the court wanted to fully understand the government's stand on the matter.

The apex court issued the order despite a statement issued by Gilani in which he said that the media reports about withdrawing the notification for the restoration of the judges were "baseless."

Gilani said "certain elements" were trying to create a "bad taste among the institutions but these conspiracies will fail."

"We respect judiciary.

The government will take every possible step for strengthening of institutions.

The Pakistan People's Party's leadership has scarified their lives for the independence of judiciary," he said. During the day's proceedings, Chief Justice Chaudhry observed that reports about the removal of key judges were seen in the media whenever the apex court took up any important case against the government. He said the apex court had been showing tolerance despite abusive language being used against the judiciary.

"Why is the government getting into a confrontation with the judiciary?" the chief justice asked the attorney general.

Court rejects plea for Mush trial on treason charge

Pervez Musharraf

is uncalled for.

Haider's

petition

claimed that Musharraf had imposed martial law in the name of emergency in 2007 by resorting to extra-constitutional measures and illegally put over 60 members of the superior judiciary under house arrest.

Pirzada and Qayyum abetted him in the act, the petition alleged.

All three should be charged with high treason under Article 6 of the Constitution, it said.

Security pact, more aid offer from Obama expected US administration is trying to win over Pakistan with largesee Washington: To repair ties damaged by the American military's tough new stance in the region, the Obama administration will offer Pakistan a multiyear security pact complete with more reliable military aid, according to the New York Times.

The offer will be made to the Pakistani civilian and military leaders who arrive here this week for a strategic dialogue, the influential US daily said on Tuesday.

Pakistan's delegation will be led by its Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, but much of the attention will be on army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is viewed by

many as the most powerful man in Pakistan.

"Among the sweeteners on the table will be a multi-year security pact with Pakistan, complete with more reliable military aid - something the Pakistani military has long sought to complement the five-year, $7.5 billion package of nonmilitary aid approved by Congress last year," it said.

The administration will also discuss how to channel money to help Pakistan rebuild after its ruinous flood, it said.

But the American gestures come at a time of fraying patience on the part of the Obama admin-

istration, and they will carry a familiar warning, a senior American official was quoted as saying.

"If Pakistan does not intensify its efforts to crack down on militants hiding out in the tribal areas of North Waziristan, or if another terrorist plot against the United States were to emanate from Pakistani soil, the administration would find it hard to persuade Congress or the American public to keep supporting the country."

The Pakistanis will come with a similarly mixed message. While Pakistan is grateful for the strong American support after the flood,

Pakistani officials were quoted as saying, it remains frustrated by what it perceives as the slow pace of economic aid, the lack of access to American markets for Pakistani goods and the administration's continued lack of sympathy for the country's confrontation with India.

Another potential bone of contention is one of President Obama's nuclear objectives: a global accord to end the production of new nuclear fuel. Pakistan has led the opposition to the accord.

And without its agreement, the treaty would be basically useless, the Times said.

Kashmir issue part of Pak's national agenda: Gilani Islamabad: Pakistan prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said Kashmir issue is part of the national agenda of the country which "can never forget it."

Gilani also claimed that the world community has strated recognising Kashmir as a disputed territory due to the efforts by his government.

"Kashmir is part of our national agenda and we can never forget it. The Kashmiri people live in our hearts. We inherited

this love from our late leader (President Zulfiqar

Yousuf Raza Gilani

Ali) Bhutto," Gilani said in an address to the nation that focussed largely on domestic political issues.

"Today, the world community has for the first time begun recognising Kashmir as a disputed territory due to our efforts. It is a big success for us that the European parliament has agreed to a tripartite dialogue on the Kashmir issue. Kashmir was represented in this by the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

The European parliament accepted Pakistan's view that the UN and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference should

be made part of efforts to find a solution to the Kashmir issue, he said.

The "prime minister" of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, recently participated in a series of meetings on the Kashmir issue in Brussels. Reports suggested that some European parliamentarians had accepted Khan's proposal that the European Union should coordinate efforts to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.

Africa

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

In focus Indian principal kidnapped in Nigeria

Lagos: Gunmen have kidnapped an Indian woman who works for a school sponsored by ExxonMobil in Nigeria, while also killing her driver and a police officer who was with her, authorities said last week. "The person who was kidnapped was ... a female Indian national," said police spokesman in Akwa Ibom state Onyeka Orji. "The driver was shot dead and the policeman who was with her was equally killed." The incident occurred lasat week in Eket, a city in the oil-producing Niger Delta region. It was unclear whether a ransom had been demanded. Orji said the woman was the head teacher at the oil firm's Pegasus primary school in Eket. Scores of kidnappings have occurred in the Niger Delta in recent years, often by criminal gangs seeking ransom payments, but also by militants demanding a fairer distribution of oil revenue. Last month, gunmen hijacked a school bus and kidnapped a group of some 15 students. They were freed in a police and military operation five days later.

‘Phone thieves’ stoned to death in South Africa

Pretoria: Six people face murder charges after they allegedly stoned to death two young men suspected of stealing a mobile phone in South Africa. The group, including three women, allegedly killed the pair last week, Limpopo Province police say. They have urged people not to take the law into their own hands.

Correspondents say mobs often beat up and kill suspected thieves in South Africa, where many have lost faith in the justice system. "The taking of the law by the community into their own hands is strongly condemned," Limpopo police spokesperson Lt-Col Mohale Ramatseba said in a statement. "Any person suspected to have been involved in criminal activities should be reported to the police so that they can be prosecuted in the courts of law." He said the alleged theft of the phone had not been reported to the police. Vigilante justice is common in South Africa, where tensions are high in townships over poor housing, services and crime. Two years ago, there was a wave of deadly mob attacks against foreigners, who were blamed for stealing jobs and rising crime.

Somali militia bans mobile phone money transfers

Mogadishu: Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has ordered mobile phone companies to stop their popular money transfer services, saying they are "un-Islamic".

Mobile phone banking was introduced in the northern Somaliland region in 2009 and has now spread across the country. Al-Shabab and its allies control much of southern Somalia and one mobile phone company official said he had "no option but to obey" the order.

Despite years of conflict, Somalia's telecommunications sector is thriving. Mobile phones are a common sight in the capital, Mogadishu, and three companies currently offer mobile phone banking. But the alQaeda linked group has given them three months to stop. Al-Shabab says mobile phone banking could expose Somalia to interference by Western countries, through the international partners of the Somali telecommunications firms. Some observers believe the ban may be intended to block a rival to the traditional money transfer systems, known as hawala, which alShabab can influence, or tax, more easily.

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27

Row over Indian funding in Ghana presidential palace Accra (Ghana): The Indian government's funding for the construction of a presidential palace in the Ghanaian capital has caused a row with a former Ghana president commending New Delhi and the present incumbent refusing to move into the $135 million home. There are even suggestions that it be converted into a poultry farm.

The presidential palace, called Jubilee House, was funded by the Indian government under the regime of former president John Agyekum

Kufuor and it has generated a lot of controversy over the past 22 months.

Kufuor has commended the Indian government for its decision to fund the building of Jubilee House which was to serve as the official seat of government away from the present Osu Castle that used to be a slave post.

But President John Atta Mills has refused to move into the building in line with his 2008 campaign promise that he would not live there as the money spent on the building could have been used

on other things to benefit the poor.

Tony Aidoo, head of policy monitoring and evaluation at the presidency, had even suggested that the entire building be used as a poultry farm.

The initial controversy was over the cost of the project. Originally estimated at $36.9 million dollars, this was said to have shot up to $135 million with the provision of additional facilities to enhance external and internal security.

The amount was part of a $60m facility that has a 50 per cent grant element, at

an interest rate of 1.75 per cent, repayable in 25 years, including a five-year moratorium.

Shapoorji Pallonji of India was named as contractor of the project, which started in 2006 and was completed in 2008.

Officials of the new government under President John Atta Mills now claim that official correspondence from the Indian consultants to the project, STUP Consultants Limited, put the cost of the Golden Jubilee Presidential Palace complex at $135 million.

expressed frustration with constant wrangling within the coalition government, saying the lifespan of the political accord had reached its end.

"February next year, which is about four months to go, then it will have lived its full life and I do not know what is going to happen if we are not ready with a constitution," Mr Mugabe said.

Though the powersharing pact does not specify how long the coalition government should last, it gives a 24-month timetable for the crafting of a new constitution seen as crucial for free and fair elections.

The process of reform-

ing the existing constitution is already almost a year behind schedule, delayed by a lack of funds and disagreement over the composition of committees.

With Mr Mugabe's patience in coalition government clearly running thin, his statement has raised the possibility that Zimbabwe might vote without a new constitution in place. Mr Tsvangirai, who leads the Movement for Democratic Change, has accused the president of violating their agreement by unilaterally appointing ambassadors. Now mediators from SA have arrived in Harare to try to resolve the disagreement.

Mugabe not in favour of extending unity deal

Harare: Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe said a power-sharing deal which expires in four months' time should not be extended. He said the country should hold a referendum on a new constitution early in 2011 and then elections. He said he was reluctant to renegotiate the unity deal as some events happening in the coalition were "foolish".

Mr Mugabe has been sharing power with rival Morgan Tsvangirai since last year, under a deal worked out after disputed 2008 elections. "Some will say let us negotiate and give it another life. I am reluctant because part of

Robert Mugabe

the things that are happening [in the coalition] are foolish," Mr Mugabe said in comments broadcast on state television.

Wrangling Under their accord, the two politicians agreed to draw up a new constitution followed by a referendum and then fresh elections. But Mr Mugabe

Sudan objects to UN plans for new border troops Khartoum: The Sudanese government has said the UN cannot move new troops to its tense NorthSouth border without its consent. It comes after the UN's peacekeeping chief said troops would be sent to "hotspots" at the request of the semi-autonomous South's president.

There is growing tension in the country in the run-up to a referendum on Southern independence due to be held in January,

correspondents say.

The referendum was part of a 2005 peace deal that ended the civil war.

On Friday, UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said the UN force would increase its presence along the 2,000 km (1,250 mile) border. He said the increase would be limited to "hotspots" and that the UN could not create a full "buffer zone" between the regions. Officials at the UN said the decision had been

made following an appeal from South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, who was concerned the North was preparing for war.But President Omar Hassan alBashir's security adviser, Salah Gosh, rejected the plan, saying troops could not be deployed without the consent of the govt.

Ibrahim Ghandour, another leading politician in Mr Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP), said any tension in the

region could be sorted out between the two sides, so a buffer zone between North and South was not necessary. Reports say there has been a surge in inflammatory statements in recent weeks in Sudan, as the referendum approaches.

There is also argument about who can vote in a second referendum, in which the oil-producing region of Abyei will decide on whether to join the North or the South.

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

This week in CB Live CB will talk about International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the Head of Communication, Mr Marek Effendowicz and Dharati Trivedi-Salter, Outreach Consultant-India

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500 to restructure ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 andEfforts transform your lifestyle

are more likely to meet with success. Experience you have built up in the past will now stand you in good stead. If you are thinking of investments, then this is an opportune time to go ahead with your plans. Co-operative ventures are likely to generate financial success.

If you do not have a tv, go to www.tvunetworks.com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

To ask questions please call on: 020 8963 1001

For more information e-mail: cblive_matv@yahoo.co.uk

Don't miss !!!

Only on CB Live - MATV Sky 793 - Thursday 7:00pm to 8:00pm The 10th Asian Achievers Awards will be televised on 24th October from 6.30pm to 7.30pm at B4U.

Indian racially assaulted in UK for trying to save woman A 21 year-old Indian shop assistant was physically and racially attacked by a group of five men leaving him with a broken jaw after he tried to stop them from misbehaving with a young woman in Edinburgh in the UK, in what police described as "an appalling assault."

Pankaj Rawat, who was working with a city clothes shop, was beaten up on Waverley Bridge by the thugs calling him an 'Indian b******', as reported by the Edinburgh Evening News.

He was walking home on Saturday after a night out when he intervened to protect the woman, aged around 20, it said, adding the Indian faced a volley of racial abuse before being

punched to the ground and hit repeatedly by the attackers. Rawat, who moved from India to Edinburgh 18 months ago, was rushed to hospital, where he had a metal plate fitted to his fractured jaw, the report said. Police have sought help in tracing the five men, who fled after the assault at around 3.40 am local time. A police spokesman said this was "an appalling assault" against the victim for no reason other than his race and his efforts to come to a young woman's assistance.

"We are keen to speak to anyone who was on or around Waverley Bridge at about 3.40am and may have witnessed the assault."

Coming Events l Karamsad Samaj, presents Sharad Purnima on 23rd Oct at Barnhill Community High School, UB4 9LE. 7.30 to 11.30 pm.

Contact: Mahendra Patel 020 8777 4881. l Shri Jalaram Temple at 39-45, Oldfield lane South, Greenford, UB6 9LB. 22/10 (Sharad Purnima) 8.00 to 10.00 pm. Contact: 020 8578 8088. l Prajapati Youth group, Hounslow presents Sharad Purnima at The Heathland High School, TW4 5JD on 22/10 from 8.00 to 10.30 pm.

Contact: Sharad Mistry 07976 738 671. l Sanatan Dharma Temple, Cardiff presents Sharad Purnima at Fitzalan High School, CF11 8XB on 23/10, 8.00 to 11.00 pm.

Contact: Vimlaben Patel 07979 155 320. l Shruti Arts and People Centre, Orchardson Avenue, Leicester LE4 6DP. Sharad Purnima 22/10 and 23/10.

Contact: 0116 261 6000 and 0116 261 2264. l Brambandhu UK Trust celebrates Sharad Poonam 22nd October 2010 – Jasmins Club – Tooting.

Contact Paresh Mehta on 07411585662 l Surrey Gujarati Hindu Society celebrating Sharad Punam on Saturday 23rd October from 7.30pm to 11.00pm at Kingsley Junior School, Chapman Road, Croydon, CR0 3JT. Contact Bhavnaben on 0208 684 4645. l Meet Pujya Vrajrajbawa from 25th Oct-28th October Contact Sudhir Karia 07979504504. lKatha UK and Asian Community Arts present Meet the Editor/Author – Padma Shri Alok Mehta on Friday the 22nd October 2010 at 17.00 hours at The Nehru Centre, 8 – South Audley Street, London W1K 1HF lLingering Immortal Music by Maya Deepak, Saturday 23rd October, Highland school, Enfield N21 1QQ. Contact- Vinoo vagdama 0208-368-1018

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Pankkaj Sodha proudly presents Diwali Festival 2010 on Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st October 2010 from 10am to 8pm at Harrow Leisure Centre Harrow Middlesex HA3 5BD. If you want to win ticket to this wonderful Diwali shopping festival, answer to this simple question: Which channel tv stars can you meet in this Diwali Festival? a. Sony TV b. NDTV Imagine TV c. Star Plus Please send your correct answer by Monday 25th October 9am to Alka Shah at alka.shah@abplgroup.com

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 You may feel at times that the results of your efforts are not coming up to expectation. Progress will be slow and may incline you to a negative view of your current work situation.

However, this seems like a temporary blip in what is otherwise a highly constructive state of affairs. Knuckle down to the tasks in hand.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

The fiery planet Mars is the moving force in regard to amorous experience, giving more than just a hint that links between lovers will be rather intense and passionate. Your attitude and interests are likely to undergo some deep change. On a material level you will establish greater financial stability.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

Don't be afraid to act forcefully if your instinct tells you it's time for change. This week the focus is your house of family and home. Besides spending more time tending to domestic affairs, the focus can be on cultivating and nourishing your inner foundations, so to speak.

Your inborn drive to be always pushing ahead receives added impetus during this week. Your energy levels will be high and you will find much scope for taking fresh initiatives and getting fast results. Your communications are well lit up but you have to ensure that you do not upset people around you.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 The need to push ahead with personal interests and to assert yourself with added force will take precedence over everything else for some time to come. Mentally you will be in top form, feeling quite passionate about expressing your ideas and views. A goal you have been striving towards will at last be reached.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

Either you or your partner have been going through a phase of inner doubts and uncertainties, and perhaps the main source of tension has simply been the need for breathing space in your relationship and a need to look at things more objectively. Wait before going full steam ahead with grand actions and gestures.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

(Please note tickets will be sent to the first three winners. Winners will be chosen on a first cum first served basis).

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TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 Although there are very intense amorous energies indicated in your chart, the trouble is that these are likely to be marred by feelings of jealousy. Do not therefore dabble in anything that could harbour such negative potential, as it is bound to end in heartache. Existing emotional differences can be sorted out now.

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Decision making will prove to be a bit of a bind because of your wavering mind - seek professional advice and then steam ahead. Be careful with your expenditure as you have a tendency to be extravagant.

Relationships need to be scrutinised carefully. Try to stand back and get a more objective view of the pattern of your life.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20 You will be pleased to see that your social life livens up. It is as if a lucky twist of events and something unexpected that will provide you with a key to your heart's desire. There is a definite expansive trend where money is concerned, so do not be surprised if this turns out be a time of fortunate opportunities and lucky breaks.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 You have everything to gain by following creative inclinations. If you have new ideas, now is the time to put them into practice.

Whatever your present interests you are likely to find that new doors open and the way ahead offers increased scope for expressing your real self. A great time to meet and interact with people.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20 An influence that should help to enjoy the 'nicer' side of others as bring out the best in friends, colleagues and partners alike. A wind of change may be in the air; attention should turn to the wider world and benefits come from broadening of horizons and mental stimuli.

time

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

C R O S S W O R D - 110 1

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Across Gifts to the needy Forgage crop Major hit Quantum event?

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Home of the Buccaneers Vijay Singh’s homeland Warmonger Along a rotation line Aviation pioneer PC inserts Impressive!

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Alt. spelling Aware of Dramatic exit direction Appellations Outer: pref.

Pitch woo Do uncredited work Choir voice Mai __ cocktail O’Neal of basketball

SCRAMBLE - 66 Rearrange the letters in the four word jumbles, one letter to each square/circle, to make four ordinary words ACRES

How to play

Now arrange the letters in the circles to form the answer to the riddle or to fill in the missing word as indicated

EULRR BOUNTT IMNTUY

N.Y.P.D. rank Chapel Hill sch.

Sports division, est. 1969 Frilled strip Bar mitzvah, e.g.

Castle that danced 1201 Out of round Stop order, asea Custard dessert McEntire sitcom Frequency unit Yin’s partner Sketched

Today the ___ __ not by club or fist, but disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort. (6,5)

Solution of Scramble - 65 Words: Peeve, appal, grimly, weekly.

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TV Alien Floral loop Head steward Richard’s agnew Rifts Fiery gem Ketch’s sister Out of kilter George Lucas blockbuster 10 Full-length skirt 11 Pamplona pal 12 Hall-of-fame pticher

philosophy which does not laugh and the greathess which does not bow before children. - Khalil Gibran.

WHATZIT? - 110 Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this arrangement of letters.

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Warren Terminates Sch. in Lexington Interlaced Stick Singer shore Roamn way Station lineup philbin’s cohost Cardinal’s home Early invader of Rome Cause of a rush Monoploy buy Govt. security “The Girl fromIpanema” guy Hotspot service Loop or stud On the __vive Fictional Heep Boldness Unobstructed Cozy Old Calif. training base MIT word Coll.Bruins Use an MRI Justice fortas Perry Mason’s field

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Solution of 109 :

SPELLATHON -110 Today’s Ratings: 04-average | 06-good | 07-outstanding How many words of four or more letters can you make from the letters shown in N today’s puzzle? In making a word, each R T letter may be used once only. Each word must contain the central letter. There K should be at least one seven-letter word.

E I Plurals, foreign words and proper T names are not allowed. British English Dictionary is used as reference.

Our Solution : 4!*4! +4! -4 = 596

Sudoku-110 9 5 7

Solution of KAKURO - 109

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Solution of Spellathon - 109:

The numbers in the pink squares refer to the sums of the digits that you must fill into the empty spaces directly below or to the right of the pink square containing the number. For instance, in the given example, the 2 boxes below 12 must contain 2 digits that add upto 12, whereas for 20, the 3 boxes places horizontally next to it must add upto 20.

No zeroes are used here, only the digits one through nine.

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glue, gruel, gurgle, juggle, JUGGLER, lure, rule, urge

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Rules Connect adjacent dots with vertical or horizontal lines, creating a single loop.

(Fig A).

Crossovers or branches are not allowed 3 3 3 (As shown by dotted lines in Fig B).

2 2 0 2 1 Numbers in the puzzle indicate the 2 2 number of lines that should 2 1 2 2 2 surround it, while empty cells may 3 2 3 1 1 2 3 be surrounded by any number of 1 2 lines.

You can’t draw lines arround 3 2 2 zeroes.

Each puzzle has just one unique solution.

How to begin: Example (Fig A) - Begin with the zero next to 3. Since no lines can be drawn around zero, mark crosses around it, as shown. Now there is a cross in one space around 3. So we know the three lines of 3 can only be drawn in the remaining three spaces. Next these lines can only be extended in one direction each. Continue, using the same Solution of LTL No. 65 logic. x Hints: Keep elim2 x x 2 x x 1 x 2 x inating possibilix x ties by marking x x 2 x crosses 2 x 2 in x x x spaces between x dots where a line 3 2 3 x 0 x 2 x 3 x x x isn’t possible, x 1 x x 1 x 2 3 x 2 x i.e., if you have x x already completx 2 x 2 x 2 x ed required lines 2 x x x x or where a line x 2 x extension may 3 x x x x create a branch x x 1 x x 2 or cause a dead2 x end (Fig B)

Solution of Crossword-109

Answer: Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the

Sollution-109: Blackmail

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A digit cannot appear more than once in any particular digit combination. For instance in the example, we cannot have the combination of 8+4+8 for 20.

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HEALTH WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

Compound in celery, peppers reduces age-related memory deficits A diet rich in the plant compound luteolin reduces age-related inflammation in the brain and related memory deficits by directly inhibiting the release of inflammatory molecules in the brain, researchers report.

Luteolin (LOOT-eeoh-lin) is found in many plants, including carrots, peppers, celery, olive oil, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile.

The new study, which examined the effects of dietary luteolin in a mouse model of aging, appears in the Journal of Nutrition.

T h e researchers focused on microglial cells, specialized immune cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord.

Infections stimulate microglia to produce signaling molecules, called cytokines, which spur a cascade of chemical changes in the brain.

Some of these signaling molecules, the inflammatory cytokines, induce "sickness behavior": the sleepiness, loss of appetite, memory deficits and depressive behaviors that often accompany illness.

Inflammation in the brain also appears to be a key contributor to agerelated memory problems, said University of Illinois animal sciences professor Rodney Johnson, who led the new study. Johnson directs the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Illinois.

"We found previously that during normal aging,

microglial cells become dysregulated and begin producing excessive levels of inflammatory cytokines. We think this contributes to cognitive aging and is a predisposing factor for the development of neurodegenerative diseases," he said.

Johnson has spent

nearly a decade studying the anti-inflammatory properties of nutrients and various bioactive plant compounds, including luteolin. Previous studies - by Johnson's lab and others -- have shown that luteolin has anti-inflammatory effects in the body.

This is the first study to suggest, however, that luteolin improves cognitive health by acting directly on the microglial cells to reduce their production of inflamm a t o r y cytokines in the brain.

T h e researchers showed that microglial cells that were exposed to a bacterial toxin produced inflammatory cytokines that could kill neurons.

When the microglia were exposed to luteolin before they encountered the toxin, however, the neurons lived.

"The neurons survived because the luteolin inhibited the production of neurotoxic inflammatory mediators," Johnson said.

Exposing only the neurons to luteolin before the

experiment had no effect on their survival, the researchers found.

"This demonstrated that luteolin isn't protecting the neurons directly," he said. "It's doing it by affecting the microglial cells."

The researchers next turned their attention to the effects of luteolin on the brains and behavior of adult (3- to 6-month-old) and aged (2-year-old) mice. The mice were fed a control diet or a luteolinsupplemented diet for four weeks. The researchers assessed their spatial memory and measured levels of inflammatory markers in the hippocampus, a brain region that is important to memory and spatial awareness.

Studies have shown that plant compounds such as luteolin can get into the brain, Johnson said. "We believe dietary luteolin accesses the brain and inhibits or reduces activation of microglial cells and the inflammatory cytokines they produce.

This anti-inflammatory effect is likely the mechanism which allows their working memory to be restored to what it was at an earlier age. These data suggest that consuming a healthy diet has the potential to reduce age-associated inflammation in the brain, which can result in better cognitive health."

Watermelon lowers blood pressure, study finds No matter how you slice it, watermelon has a lot going for it - sweet, low calorie, high fiber, nutrient rich -- and now, there's more. Evidence from a pilot study led by food scientists at The Florida State University suggests that watermelon can be an effective natural weapon against prehypertension, a precursor to cardiovascular disease.

It is the first investigation of its kind in humans.

FSU Assistant Professor Arturo Figueroa and Professor Bahram H. Arjmandi found that when six grams of the amino acid L-citrulline/L-arginine from watermelon extract was administered daily for six weeks, there was improved arterial function and consequently lowered aortic blood pressure in all nine of their prehypertensive subjects (four men and five postmenopausal women, ages 51-57).

"We are the first to document improved aortic hemodynamics in prehypertensive but otherwise healthy middle-aged men and women receiving therapeutic doses of watermelon. These findings suggest that this 'functional food'

has a vasodilatory effect, and one that may prevent prehypertension from progressing to full-blown hypertension, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. Given the encouraging evidence generated by this preliminary study, we hope to continue

the research and include a much larger group of participants in the next round," Figueroa said.

"Watermelon is the richest edible natural source of L-citrulline, which is closely related to L-arginine, the amino acid required for the formation of nitric oxide essential to the regulation of vascular

tone and healthy blood pressure," Figueroa said.

Once in the body, the L-citrulline is converted into L-arginine. Simply consuming L-arginine as a dietary supplement isn't an option for many hypertensive adults, said Figueroa, because it can

cause nausea, gastrointestinal tract discomfort, and diarrhea.

In contrast, watermelon is well tolerated.

Participants in the Florida State pilot study reported no adverse effects. And, in addition to the vascular benefits of citrulline, watermelon provides abundant vitamin A, B6,

C, fiber, potassium and lycopene, a powerful antioxidant.

Watermelon may even help to reduce serum glucose levels, according to Arjmandi.

"Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States," Arjmandi said.

"Generally, Americans have been more concerned about their blood cholesterol levels and dietary cholesterol intakes rather than their overall cardiovascular health risk factors leading to CVD, such as obesity and vascular dysfunction characterized by arterial stiffening and thickness -- issues that functional foods such as watermelon can help to mitigate.

"By functional foods," said Arjmandi, "we mean those foods scientifically shown to have health-promoting or disease-preventing properties, above and beyond the other intrinsically healthy nutrients they also supply."

Figueroa said oral Lcitrulline supplementation might allow a reduced dosage of antihypertensive drugs necessary to control blood pressure.

Yoga relieves body ache People who suffer body ache can get rid of it by doing yoga, a study has found.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disorder causing widespread muscular skeletal pain and fatigue that is thought to affect nearly two million adults in Britain, reports express.co.uk . A team from Oregon Health and Science University studied whether patients taking a "yoga awareness" programme alongside their standard treatment showed more improvement compared to a control group of sufferers.

"Although yoga has been practiced for millennia, only recently have researchers begun to demonstrate yoga's effects on people suffering from persistent pain," said research head James Carson.

The experts conducted an all-woman study because 80 per cent of FM patients are women. The

yoga was tailored to address pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and emotional distress in FM. Each class included gentle stretching poses, mindfulness meditation and breathing techniques.

Following treatment, women assigned to the yoga programme showed far greater improvements in their symptoms and general mood. "The findings of this pilot study provide promising preliminary support for the beneficial effects of yoga in patients with FM," said Carson.

Vitamin A pill could protect the sight of millions A drug based on vitamin A could prevent millions from going blind as they get older, say researchers.

The treatment was able to stop the most common cause of blindness in old age during trials.

Researchers behind the drug, fenretinide, found it halted the advance of agerelated macular degeneration, for which there is currently no cure.

They targeted the most prevalent form of the condition, known as 'dry' AMD, which is caused by the deterioration and death of cells in the macula - the part of the retina used to see straight ahead.

The disease robs sufferers of their sight by creating a blackspot in the centre of their vision, reports the Daily Mail.

It can make it impossible to carry out everyday tasks such as reading,

driving and watching television.

While the less common 'wet' form can be treated, nothing can be done to help the bulk of patients.

The US research studied fenretinide, which is derived from vitamin A, the vitamin found in carrots, and which was originally designed to tackle arthritis.

Almost 250 men and women with dry AMD took a fenretinide pill a day or a placebo.

In the highest dose, the drug halted visual deterioration after a year.

This suggests that while it was unable to do anything to stop cells that were already damaged from dying, it protected healthy cells.

Although the research is still preliminary, it offers promise of a treatment for the disease.

'Olive oil increases life expectancy' Olive oil helps prevent cancer and increases life expectancy, an official of the Indian Olive Association (IOA) said Saturday, predicting that olive oil consumption in India would go up by 125 percent this year.

'India has the highest number of patients suffering from cardiac disease.

It is high time that a switch to more healthy oils like olive oil is made,' IOA president V.N. Dalmia said here.

Speaking at the IOA annual session, he said that in 2009 India had imported 2,600 tonnes of olive oil and from January to June this year, India has already imported 2,950 tonnes.

'Even the consumption of table olives, which is a favourite snack and a popular pizza topping is growing rapidly... It has a projected growth rate 174 percent. Olive oil is considered the world's healthiest oil... It has the highest number of antioxidants, amongst all oils, which help prevent cancer, especially breast cancer and increase life expectancy,' Dalmia added.

SPort worLd

Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

31

Cheteshwar’s fine debut celebrated by Asian Voice in Ahmedabad He was born with cricket in his DNA. He has already earned the nickname of “The Wall in waiting”. The expectations were high, yet he was able to live up to them on his debut against a formidable opposition speaks a lot about his talent and temperament.

Yes, Cheteshwar Pujara is the new face of the Indian cricket team to have finally got his due. The 22 year old Rajkotian though said he does not like the comparison with Rahul Dravid. Veterans like Sunil Gavaskar have already lauded his technique and approach.

Pujara has been playing for Saurashtra in the Ranji trophy, the Indian domestic tournament considered the gateway to Indian team. Cheteshwar has the distinction of scoring three triple centuries in a period of just one month, though they were all in different tournaments.

At home, he is fondly called Chintu.

It is after a long time that a young player from Saurashtra was able to play for India in test matches. To celebrate the new star on the horizon, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar organised a small function at their Ahmedabad office on Friday last week. As Cheteshwar or his father Arvind Pujara were unable to attend the celebration, they were represented by Hasmukh Ruparalia, his uncle (maternal cousin of his dad) and Harsh, another cousin of Cheteshwar. Dhruv Ruparalia, Chintu’s another cousin also came along. Dhruv cut the cake as Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar BPO team shared the happy moments. Later in a telephonic chat, Arvind Pujara said his son has though fulfilled the family dream of playing for India, their goal for Cheteshwar is to ensure that he has a long inning in team India, they would not

Dhruv Ruparalia cuts the cake at AV-GS office in Ahmedabad last week. (L to R) Kamlesh Amin (CED, AB Publications (India) Ltd), Harsh Ruparalia, Dr. Suresh Samani, Ms. Namrata Pandya and Hasmukh Ruparalia are also in the picture, celebrating the successful debut.

rest with just a match or two. With this goal in mind, Cheteshwar has been groomed in such a way that he gets his desired permanent slot in the middle order, even if would mean to wait some more years. Veterans like Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman are not going to play on for long now, while age is on Cheteshwar’s side.

The new star’s uncle when asked about the cricket background of the family said Shivlal Pujara, his maternal uncle and Cheteshwar’s grandfather too was a cricketer. But he was known more as a coach and umpire. He used to groom a lot of youngsters. Hasmukhbhai him-

British scribes laud Sachin Tendulkar

By Premen Addy Ed Smith, a former England cricketer and Times leader writer, composed a paean to India's “Little Master” Sachin Tendulkar. A few years ago, watching an off-form Tendulkar struggling uncharacteristically for runs in a Test match in Mumbai, Smith wondered what he had left to prove as a batsman, that he might well call it a day as the will seem to weaken.

Our scribe is now wiser.

“Tendulkar's hunger and resilience matches his brilliance and the combination, quite simply, makes him the best since

Bradman....Above all his career has been played under the shadow of phenomenal expectation....

Tendulkar has come to the conclusion that there is one place where he is free from the hassles of fame.

There is one realm where he cannot be pestered. It is called the crease.

“With the bat in his hands, Tendulkar is the conductor of his own life, not just a participant in a soap opera. There, out in the middle, no one can stop him being himself – not a restless media, not overly demanding fans, not interfering coaches, not greedy agents. It is the ultimate irony that the

greatest actors are never freer than when they're on stage.”

Rage at critics writing him off has inspired Tendulkar to serve his revenge cold. Nothing is as potent or as effective.

He bestrides the world of cricket like a colossus.

Whence comes another?

Simon Wilde, The Sunday Times cricket correspondent, was as effusive as Ed Smith. Wilde looks at Kevin Pietersen and wonders why, at 30, he appears to have lost some of his self-belief, when, at 37, Tendulkar is reaching for the stars.

“Tendulkar may possess super-normal ability and appetite for his craft, but he sets an example from which others may learn,” Wilde writes. But the sheer scale of what is to be learned may, for lesser mortals, may bring on the gripe. Still, there's no harm in taking a risk and trying. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Hashim Amla scored his second consecutive century on Sunday at Potchefstroom, as Zimbabwe were thrashed by 8 wickets to seal the 3 ODI series 2 – 0 for hosts South Africa. In the first match at Kimberley on October 10, the hosts won a thriller, beating the visitors by 8 runs.

After Amla ton as also a century by A B de Villiers, Rusty Theron captured picked up his first 5

wicket haul to almost seal the fate of the visitors.

Tatenda Taibu was the only Zimbabwe batsman to take advantage of batting-friendly conditions, making 78 out of a total of 268 as the visitors were bowled out in the 49th over. Zimbabwe's bowlers, though, once again had no answer to the range and grace of Amla's strokeplay, and South Africa cantered to victory with 11 overs to spare.

Amla raced to a 42-ball fifty, even as his partnership with de Villiers flourished. Zimbabwe began to struggle noticeably in the field. In no time de Villiers reached his own fifty, and without the firepower to break through on a flat track Zimbabwe raised the white flag. Amla eased to another hundred after his Bloemfontein effort.

By then, the job was almost complete with just 46 needed to win. There

was just enough time for de Villiers to reach his own landmark as he rushed through the 80s with a four and a six off Utseya and then, with an enlivened home crowd behind him, sealed his hundred and the game with a fifth six off Brendan Taylor's gentle offspin. {Brief scores: SA 273 for 2 (Amla 110, de Villiers 101*) beat Zim 268 (Taibu 78, Theron 544) by 8 wickets.}

Sachin Tendulkar

South Africa thrash Zimbabwe 2 – 0 in ODI series

CWG – Final Medals Tally Country Australia India England Canada South Africa Kenya Nigeria Malaysia Scotland Singapore New Zealand Northern Ireland Cyprus Samoa Wales Jamaica Pakistan Uganda Botswana

Gold 74 38 37 26 12 12 11 10 9 9 5 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1

Silver Bronze 55 48 27 36 57 45 17 32 11 10 11 9 10 14 8 13 10 7 9 9 22 7 3 4 3 3 0 1 7 10 4 1 1 2 0 0 3 4

Total 177 101 139 75 33 32 35 31 26 27 34 10 9 4 19 7 5 2 8

Bahamas Sri Lanka Nauru Cayman Island St. Vincent & The Grenadines Trinidad & Tobago Cameroon Ghana Namibia Seychelles Papua New Guinea Mauritius Tonga Isle of Man St. Lucia Guyana Bangladesh Mozambique Montserrat

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self was trained by his uncle and had played in the Cooch behar trophy. Later, Arvind Pujara and Bipin Pujara, two sons of Shivlal Pujara went a few notches ahead and played Ranji trophy for Saurashtra. Arvind Pujara also has turned a coach these days and has himself trained his prodigal son, Cheteshwar. Apart from his father and uncle Bipin, it was more of a dream of the young star’s mother, Rina Pujara to see Cheteshwar play for India. However, she was not lucky to see her dream come true, as she passed away a few years ago. But Cheteshwar, through his hard work and concentration has finally realised his parents’ dreams, and even made them as well as the entire cricket loving community of India proud to play a pivotal role in India beating Australia in the Mohali test.

According to Tushar Trivedi, a veteran sports journalist in Ahmedabad, while Arvind Pujara has played just 6 matches for Saurashtra, his younger brother Bipin Pujara has played 36 matches from 1983-84 to 1996-97.

Cheteshwar himself has an enviable record in first class cricket. He started in 2005-06 and had scored a century in the debut season. Since then, in 51 matches and 82 innings, he has scored 4062 runs with 14 centuries and 15 half centuries. These figures include two double and one triple ton, with more than 1000 runs in 2008-09.

Like all classical batsmen, Cheteshwar hates losing his wicket. It would be interesting to note that Cheteshwar Pujara is 266th test cricketer to play for India. Of the remaining 265, there are 35 who have played just one test match. Further, there are around 66 whose careers have been limited to less than 10 test matches.

SA champs in ICC Women’s ODI tourney West Indies at 2nd, Sri Lanka 3rd spot Hosts South Africa emerged champions in the ODI leg of ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge at Potchefstroom last week, as they remained unbeaten throughout the tourney, beating Netherlands by 10 wickets in the last game. The home team won all the four matches.

West Indies emerged at the 2nd spot, as they beat Pakistan by a huge margin of 93 runs in the last match. The Caribbean women team lost just one of their 5 games. Sri

Lanka beat Ireland in the their last encounter by 2 wickets to take the third spot. {Brief scores: SA 113 for 0 (Fritz 61*, Chetty 46*) beat Netherlands 109 (Rambaldo 21, Loubser 3-27) by 10 wickets. SL 212 for 8 (Dolawatte 74, Seneviratne 50) beat Ireland 211 for 8 (Shillington 78, Whelan 38) by 2 wickets. WI 256 for 8 (Taylor 83, Aguilleira 50) beat Pakistan 163 by 93 runs.}

West Indies are ICC Women’s T20 champs Sri Lanka beaten in the finals in South Africa

At the recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 tournament, West Indies crushed Sri Lanka by 9 wickets to take the title. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat. They could only muster 83, while West Indies overhauled the target losing just one wicket, using just a bit more than half of their 20 overs.

Deandra Dottin top scored for the champs with 39.

Sri Lanka had a poor start, losing opened Inoka Galagedara for a duck in the very first over. Her partner Chamari Polgampola however held

the fort for a while. Later, Dilani Manodara made a patient 19 but others contributed little in a total of 89 for 9. West Indies had little to worry about.

For Sri Lanka, the only chance was to bowl out West Indies but the openers, Stafanie Taylor and Juliana Nero, belted 27 runs in the first three overs.

Then Dottin smashed five fours and two sixes the only ones of the match - to ensure the game ended in a hurry. {Brief scores: WI 85 for 2 (Dottin 39) beat SL 83 for 9 by 8 wickets}.

EPL games this week

Saturday, 23 October Tottenham v/s Everton White Hart Lane 2:45 Birmingham v/s Blackpool St. Andrews Ground 15:00 Chelsea v/s Wolverhampton Stamford Bridge 15:00 Sunderland v/s Aston Villa Stadium of Ligh 15:00 West Brom v/s Fulham The Hawthorns 15:00 Wigan v/s Bolton DW Stadium 15:00 West Ham v/s Newcastle Boleyn Ground 17:30 Sunday, 24 October Stoke v/s Man Utd Britannia Stadium 13:30 Liverpool v/s Blackburn Anfield 15:00 Man City v/s Arsenal City of Mcr Stadium 16:00

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Asian Voice - Saturday 23rd October 2010

B’desh whitewash Kiwis 4 – 0 at home

Rajiv is badminton silver medalist for UK at CWG In mixed doubles too, Brits won a silver, losing to Malaysian pair

ODI series ended with a thrilling 3 run loss for New Zealand

Bangladesh completed their first ever whitewash of the Kiwis at a home ODI series on Sunday, at Mirpur. The outclassed visitors did well to restrict the home team to 174. But the poor batting at the top failed to even make a match of this, as they lost by a narrow margin of 3 runs. Bangladesh took the 5 ODI series 4 – 0.

The fiery bowling by the New Zealand attack in the first half of the game was nullified by the catastrophic top-order collapse. Failure at the top ensured that not even a trademark fightback from the lower-order could restore some pride to New Zealand.

The visitors seemed heading for their worst show, as they were reeling at 20 for 5 at one stage.

Bangladesh were on the attack, and nothing short of a gutsy lower-order fightback could prevent the hosts from inflicting an embarrassing defeat.

Grant Elliott and Daniel Vettori set about quietly repairing the damage with a partnership worth 86 runs. The pair battled through the initial tough period, taking few risks and picking up the

Bangladesh’s cricket team celebrate with the winning trophy at Dhaka on October 17

singles on offer to keep the score moving along, albeit at a snail's pace. The batsmen rode their luck early on too.

The pair became more adventurous as they spent time at the crease, picking up the occasional boundary and hitting the gaps with ease as the field began to spread.

New Zealand still required 69 to win with four wickets remaining when Vettori perished and Nathan McCullum's dismissal soon after made things even tougher. Kyle Mills provided support for Elliott in a 26-run stand, but when Elliott departed for a determined 59 with 30 runs still to get, the game swung once again in Bangladesh's favour.

Mills wasn't about to give up without a fight

however, as he set about shepherding the sole remaining tailender, Hamish Bennett, while slamming the Bangladesh bowlers to all parts during the batting Powerplay.

With eight runs required from the last over and Mills on strike, the match looked poised for a thoroughly gripping finale.

Rubel's first delivery of the final over was a full toss on the pads and Mills swung it around to the fine-leg boundary to make it four needed off five.

Rubel made sure he had the last word however, following up the errant first ball with two terrific yorkers, the second of which took out Mills' leg stump, sparking a thunderous ovation from the crowd.

The match had been set up by an excellent

bowling performance from the New Zealand attack, who dismissed the hosts for 174 in 44.2 overs. New Zealand made early breakthroughs and later choked the runs in the middle period to trigger a lowerorder collapse that left Bangladesh defending a meagre total.

Daniel Vettori was at his miserly best through the middle overs, giving away just 32 runs and claiming three wickets.

All-round Shakib inspires a historic win Earlier, in the fourth match, a dominant allround performance from Shakib Al Hasan helped Bangladesh secure a historic series win in Mirpur, their first against a topflight opposition. Shakib's fifth ODI century rescued the home team from the depths of 44 for 3 and lifted them to a formidable 241, a target that proved nine runs too many for New Zealand. {Brief scores: 5th ODI – B’desh 174 (Vettori 332, Mills 3-36) beat NZ 171 (Elliott 59, Rubel 425) by 3 runs. 4th ODI B’desh 241 (Shakib 106, Bennett 3-44) beat NZ 232 (Williamson 108, Shakib 3-54) by 9 runs}

Rajiv Ouseph with the silver medal he won in the men’s singles in badminton at the Commonwealth Games

Rajiv Ouseph, a British Indian with his roots in Thrissur, Kerala won the badminton singles silver medal for England at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

His final contest was with world No1 Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia. The result was never in doubt once the gold winner had found his rhythm and the 21-10 21-8 scoreline was wrapped up in 26 minutes.

Ouseph, 24, has been English champion for three years and recently

also won the US Open.

Rajiv has also been coached a bit by Indian badminton legend Prakash Padukone.

Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork had to be content with silver medals in the mixed doubles after they were comprehensively beaten by the Malaysian pair Koo Kien Kiet and Chin Eei Hui in just 36 minutes. The English pair were the top seeds but could not maintain their good start as the Malaysians enjoyed a deserved victory in a fastpaced match.

Sri Lanka wins CWG gold in boxing after 72 years Coach Dian Gomes thanks India for training facilities

Scent of corruption in FIFA and other high places

By Premen Addy

Soccer is one of the bigger money-spinning sports.

The cost of paying astronomical transfer fees for star players coupled with their astronomical wages have bankrupted many a top club in the UK and on the Continent. Liverpool, whose invincibility under legendary managers Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley netted them more English League titles than any of their glamorous rivals, were within a whisker of going into receivership, but for two American sugar daddies who bailed out the club with a $300 million-plus takeover. The club's previous two owners, also American, promised Liverpool fans the world and delivered instead a swamp of further debt through backstairs borrowing.

Eventually, this cash-flow dried up as Wall Street banks refused to indulgence their clients beyond

the understood tipping point. There were headline-grabbing shenanigans in the courts as the old owners sought desperately to put off the evil day, but to no avail. They were out and their successors enthroned amid much popular acclaim.

Liverpool's long and arduous journey to a full recovery has but taken a solitary step. The club languishes perilously close to the foot of the English Premier League, where the going is toughest since there few easy pickings in the scrimmage for survival.

However, it is the scent of corruption in FIFA, soccer's world governing body that is driving the British media to land a scoop. The bidding process for the 2018 World Cup has been thrown into confusion after two Fifa officials had accusing fingers pointing in their direction for allegedly offering to sell

their votes in the contest for cash.

The allegations centre on Reynold Temarii, the president of the Oceania Football Confederation who hails from Tahiti, and Nigerian Amos Adamu, a Fifa executive committee member, who will both have a vote when the secret ballot to decide the destination of the 2018 World Cup – for which England are one of the contenders – at Fifa headquarters on December 2.

Undercover English journalists claim that Temarii demanded £1million to vote as required, while Adamu's asking price for a similar favour was £500,000. Both men have denied the charges, but Fifa will make its own inquiry into the allegations. England are one of four bids left in the running for the competition in eight years' time, along with Russia, and joint offers from Spain and Portugal and Holland and

Belgium. The US has decided to bid for the 2022 World Cup. Meanwhile, former IPL chief Lalit Modi is holed up in London far from the reach of the Indian police investigating charges of tax fraud against him and other such misdemeanours infringing the law. Mr Modi has refused to return to Mumbai for questioning, claiming he feared for his life if he did so.

The end of the Commonwealth Games has moved the Indian Government to set up an inquiry, to be headed by a retired audit commissioner, into allegations of bribery and corruption in the award of contracts for venues and the Games infrastructure.

There were shaming cost and time-overruns which left the event close to cancellation. Justice must be done and seen to be done.

Manju Wanniarachchi poses with his mother Shyama (L) and father Daya (R) on arrival at Katunayaka, near Colombo on October 16

Manju Wanniarachchi, the 31 year old Sri Lankan boxer won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games last week. His emotions overtook him and the boxer was in tears, perhaps his way of expressing gratitude towards India for training facilities there.

Wanniarachchi beat Welshman Sean McGoldrick in the 56kg bantamweight on Tuesday.

It was wayback in 1950 that Sri Lanka won a boxing medal in the CWG, at Auckland games. The pre-

vious gold came for Sri Lanka at Sydney in 1938.

His coach, Dian Gomes had to do the talk, said a lot of credit for Wanniarachchi’s triumph goes to NIS Patiala and Indian coaches. Gurbax Singh Sandhu has helped him immensely. Gomes said every time Sri Lanka prepares for bigger events like the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games, Indian help is sought for training and they always support. He thanked the Indian boxing Federation also.