AV 25th March 2023

DI A S P O R A O U T R A G E D

FULL STORY ON PAGE 16-17

in India

British Indians came out to express solidarity chanting ‘Jai Ho!’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai!’ outside India House on Tuesday following the recent attack on the Indian High Commission in London by a group of Khalistani extremists who attempted to grab the Indian tricolour has led to massive outrage in the Indian diaspora across the globe and in Britain While the c o m m u n i t y s t a n d s u n i t e d t o c o n d e m n t h i s i n c i d e n t , m o r e i m p o r t a n t l y , i t i s b e i n g contemplated whether this incident will hamper or in any way impact the UK-India bilateral ties, essentially the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations.

High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and Deputy High Commissioner Sujit Joy

interacted with concerned Indian community leaders at India House Appreciated their solidarity following the attack on the High Commission on Sunday Continued on page 06

According to the Bar Council of India (BCI), international law firms have received the g o - a h e a d t o p r a c t i c e f o r e i g n l a w i n t h e c o u n t r y T h e n e w r u l e s w i l l a l l o w B C I r e g i s t e r e d s o l i c i t o r s a n d o t h e r f o r e i g n l a w y e r s t o p r a c t i c e E n g l i s h , W e l s h a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l l a w i n n o n - c o n t e n t i o u s matters and represent clients outside of India in international arbitration matters within the country.

Continued on page 22

Amish Tripathi, Sonam Kapoor and friends celebrate the launch of War of Lanka book

Ghosh

L to R- Mamta Saha Moderator and Panellists Dr Swati Dhingra Sanam Arora Nina Patel Asma Khan

The attack on India House by a group of Khalistani extremists on 19 March has left the British Indian community outraged and worried about the sparse security at the premises, as well as the future of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement.

Foreign law firms and lawyers can now practice

with Keith Vaz

SH R I DU L A SR E E R A J

Shridula Sreeraj from Chennai, India S he completed her BA , LLB (Ho ns ) from CHRIST (Deemed to be Univ ersity) Bangalore, Ind ia in 2021, and her LLM in Criminal Justice from Queen Mary Univ ersity of Londo n in 20 22

Shridula is passionate about mental health law, human rights, and Public International Law She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, Carnatic singer and she plays Veena Shridula’s hobbies are reading books, cooking and photography She enjoys movie nights with friends and family

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

Though my ethnic roots are from Kerala, the place that feels at home is Chennai, the City I was born and raised in Home to Marina beach and diverse culture and community, Chennai is special and vibrant However, for the past year, London has been home with its own unique charm

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Adding LLM in Criminal Justice to my qualif ication list is my recent accomplishment I'm proud of Being the f irst lawyer in my family, this is a huge milestone in my career and I'm grateful to my parents and friends who supported me throughout this journey

3) What inspires you?

Its rather who and not what that inspires me My Mum is my biggest inspiration She is an ambitious and hardworking woman who has faced ever y challenge thrown at her like a champ Her passion and dedication to her work and vision inspires me to do more and better

4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

I'm just starting my career and so far, e v e r y t h i n g h a s w o r ke d o u t w e l l A s Molière said, "the greater the obstacle, the more glor y in overcoming it" This is my mindset which allows me to be hopeful of the future

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

For sure my parents and all other hardworking and high achieving women

Ex-Home Secretary threatens current Home Secretary?

Priti Patel is said to hav e th r eat ene d to s u e S u ell a Brav erman, her successor at the Hom e Off ice, in a dispute about overcro wding at th e M an sto n as ylu m p rocessing centre

t h e q u e s t i o n o f w h y t h e practice was paused when Ms Braverman took over in September

in the world are my biggest inspiration and motivation to do better at my job

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

I am yet to start my new role, but I'm looking for ward to meeting new people and learning more from the best in the f ield

7) And the worst?

I'm starting work with the mindset that nothing can be worse Challenges are inevitable I see them as a learning opportunity rather than a hurdle Looking forward to these opportunities

8) What are your long-term goals?

To come up with an effective policy that helps in an eff icient rehabilitation of criminals, especially those criminals with mental illness

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

I would make more opportunities for restorative justice and create better reformation and rehabilitation policies in the criminal justice system

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

I would like to spend my time with Adolf Hitler to know if he really committed suicide as we've been told, or if he orchestrated his death only to escape the consequences of his deeds I've read so many conspiracy theories surrounding this topic, I would rather talk it out with the person in question than speculate it any further

UK government deny admitting Sikh activist’s torture

T h e U K g o v ern m en t h as said it does no t accept that a S co tti sh S ik h ac tiv i st w as to rt u red af te r b ei ng detained in India on terror charges

Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, has been held i n I n d i a s i n c e No v e m b e r

2 0 1 7 He a l l e g e s t h e U K Intelligence Ser vices "tipped off " their Indian counterp a r t s d e s p i t e t h e r i s k h e could be tortured In papers lodged at the High Court of

Justice in response to Mr Johal's legal claim, the UK government said the torture allegations were not admitted It said they would be required to be heard in full in front of a judge I n S c o t l a n d , M r Jo h a l was an active blogger, highl i g h t i n g h i s t o r i c a l h u m a n rights abuses and atrocities against Sikhs in the Punjab region He was arrested in the Indian city of Jalandhar s o o n a f t e r h i s w e d d i n g ,

T h e r o w fo l l o w s t h e c o n t r o v e r s y o v e r “Dickensian” conditions at t h e Ke n t f a c i l i t y w h e r e thousands of asylum seekers were held for several weeks at the end of autumn After being informed she would b e b l a m e d fo r t h e o v e rcrowding problem, Ms Patel p h o n e d c a b i n e t s e c r e t a r y Si m o n C a s e a n d s a i d i f claims weren’t retracted she would start legal action for defamation

A s o u r c e t o l d : “P r i t i w o r ke d r o u n d t h e c l o c k when she was home secretar y to tackle this problem and erupted when she was t o l d t h a t h e r r e c o r d w a s being criticised Simon Case h a d t o c a l m h e r d o w n ” G o v e r n m e n t s o u r c e s h a d briefed negatively about Ms Patel’s time in charge at the

Ho m e O f f i c e w h e n t h e overcrowding furore flared up in October

Although there was no p u b l i c c r i t i c i s m f r o m M s B r a v e r m a n , i m m i g r a t i o n minister Robert Jenrick told MPs that he had inherited the problem after “insuff icient accommodation was procured over a sustained period” by the Home Off ice

Ms Patel is understood to deny this claim Her allies h a v e p r e v i o u s l y m a d e known that she did book h o t e l r o o m s fo r a s y l u m seekers while in charge of the Home Off ice – raising

A l l i e s o f t h e fo r m e r h o m e s e c r e t a r y h a v e defended her immigration r e fo r m s , a n d s a y R i s h i Su n a k ’ s g o v e r n m e n t h a s f a i l e d t o p r o p e r l y i m p l em e nt t h e Na t io n a l i t y a n d Borders Act It comes as Ms Braverman’s team said they w e r e o p t i m i s t i c i t c o u l d deport migrants to Rwanda “before the summer ” The Refugee Council said Rishi Sunak and Ms Braverman’s legislation would mean as m a n y a s 4 5 , 0 0 0 c h i l d r e n b e i n g e f fe c t i v e l y b a r r e d from obtaining refugee status in the UK in the f irst three years of the plan coming into effect

Some 59 per cent of voters are in favour of banning asylum claims and detaining and deporting those arriving o n s m a l l b o a t s v i a i l l e g a l routes, while only 20 per c e n t o p p o s e t h e g o v e r nment’s bill

Braverman criticised for joking during Rwanda visit

Ho m e S ec re tar y S u ell a Brav erman has trig gered a backlash after jo king about s ee ki ng i nte ri o r d es i g n ad v i ce w h il e v i s it i ng mig rant hom es in Rw anda

L a s t w e e k M s

more than f ive years ago

The 36-year-old was shopping with his wife when his family say he was snatched f r o m t h e s t r e e t b y p l a i nc l o t h e s o f f i c e r s o f t h e P u n j a b Po l i c e a n d fo r c e d into an unmarked car

He says he was beaten and tortured by off icers over t h e fo l l o w i n g d a y s , a n d given electric shocks to his genitals, before being made to sign a blank confession d o c u m e n t T h e s e a l l e g ations have been denied by the Indian authorities Mr Johal has remained in detention in a series of Indian prisons ever since, accused of funding the purchase of weapons used to assassinate a n u m b e r o f r i g h t - w i n g Hindu religious and political leaders in the Punjab He denies the charges against him and says his arrest and trial is political

T h e h u m a n r i g h t s

organisation Reprieve represents Mr Johal Its director of policy and advocacy Dan Dolan said the UK government's defence was "alarming" and used "artful phrases"

Braverman was jetting off to Kigali to drum up publicity for the controversial scheme to deport asylum seekers to the African countr y - taking only right-wing newspapers on the taxpayer-funded trip No m i g r a n t s h a v e b e e n deported to Rwanda yetnearly a year on from the d e a l b e i n g s i g n e d b y e xHome Secretar y Priti Patela s t h e s c h e m e h a s b e e n mired in legal challenges

T h e U K G o v e r n m e n t h a s a l r e a d y h a n d e d o v e r £140million to the Rwandan Government for the scheme to deport desperate people

who arrive in the UK illegally On a visit to an estate w i t h n e w l y c o n s t r u c t e d h o m e s fo r m i g r a n t s f r o m the UK and local Rwandans, Ms Braverman said: “These houses are really beautiful, high quality, welcoming and I q u i t e l i ke y o u r i n t e r i o r designer I need some advice myself ”

But her comments drew accusations she was "playing politics with people's lives a n d c h a s i n g c h e a p h e a dl i n e s " w i t h t h e p l a n L i b D e m Ho m e A f f a i r s s p o ke s p e r s o n A l i s t a i r Carmichael said: "This is a n e w l o w fo r Su e l l a Braverman She has already wasted taxpayers' money on this pointless PR trip

It c o m e s a s M s B r a v e r m a n e x p a n d e d t h e agreement with Rwanda to

incorporate all those illegall y e n t e r i n g t h e U K a s o p p o s e d t o s o l e l y a s y l u m seekers The new deal aims t o e n s u r e i l l e g a l e n t r a n t s w o u l d b e d e t a i n e d a n d swiftly removed under the G o v e r n m e n t 's h a r d l i n e I l l e g a l M i g r a t i o n B i l lwhether they are claiming a s y l u m , h u m a n r i g h t s o r modern slaver y

British Summer Time begins

On Sunday, 26 March 2023, in the UK, the clocks will go forward 1 hour at 1am. Don’t forget to change the time on your clocks and watches!

We wish the readers of Asian Voice and those celebrating a Happy Navroz!

Thought for the week

Why can’t women have safety, if not all?

Two women of Indian origin won Oscars for a purely Indian production of a documentary, featured on Netflix Asian Voice organised a Women in Conversation event in a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h t h e R A F t o c e l e b r a t e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Women’s Day on 13 March at The Taj Hotel in London (see p16-17) The diaspora globally celebrated the rise of women in power and many such success stories

But can women really have it all? Asma Khan, celebrity chef, restaurateur and a huge women ’ s supporter at a panel discussion organised by Asian Voice, told the audience, “The answer is no I think that all of us are very privileged in one way or another If you have enough, you need to share and help others I occasionally get to eat a meal with my children due to the nature of my business, but I do try to balance my work and personal life I am probably not succeeding as much as I would like to But I have forgiven myself Women cannot have it all Nor can men They just think they are having it all ”

P r i t i P a t e l , t h e f o r m e r H o m e S e c r e t a r y t o l d T h e Independent after a damning review said That predators had been ‘allowed to flourish’ in Met Police and found it was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic

Recent months have reportedly seen numerous officers from forces outside London too “sacked for domestic abuse and using their position to pursue exploitative relationships with female victims of crime” wrote a national daily

Following the murder of Sarah Everard by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, the Casey review was commissioned, while Ms Patel had also initiated a public

inquiry and national review of vetting, misconduct and misogyny

She had further added that while the Casey review only covered Scotland Yard, the issues around women and their safety were actually wider

She said, “We can’t overlook the fact that other police forces have similar issues in terms of predatory behaviour, and this is now a moment for everyone across policing to have a good hard look and get every single house in order ”

The Glamour magazine pointed out, according to the police figures, almost 250,000 street attacks took place in England and Wales in the 12 months since the murder of Sarah Everard 125 women had been at least murdered

As part of a response to outcry, the home office launched the StreetSafe tool, as well as backed various other safety apps The shared app is meant to let each other be notified about the safety of localities, warn women if there is a possible danger, but the question remains, why is the onus still on women to keep themselves safe? Of course sisterhood and solidarity are here to stay, but in a first world country such as Britain, why do women need to watch their back on a street?

The response of the tool hasn’t been particularly positive, but it is good to know that something is out there in the absence of other social forces such as the police More needs to be done, may how much we tick boxes or celebrate a utopia, no society will actually progress if its women are not really safe! It is time to ask, why can’t women at least have safety, if not all?

The Khalistani issue can turn dangerous

If the separatist movement of the Khalistani supporters are allowed, the results can turn dangerous for India On the weekend they vandalised India House in London, trying to grab the tricolour, enraging the diaspora (see p1) Many are questioning if India should go ahead and sign an FTA with the UK, as absence of proper security from the home office l e d t o o t h e r w i s e a v o i d a b l e d a m a g e s t o t h i s h i s t o r i c a l b u i l d i n g A n d t h i s i s n o t t h e f i r s t t i m e T h e d i a s p o r a including Sikhs came out to express solidarity with India on Tuesday, as we went to press Many also gathered outside the India House, chanting ‘Jai Ho!’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai!’

T h o u g h t h e K h a l i s t a n i s u p p o r t e r s a r e a m i n u s c u l e minority among Sikhs, they can still create havoc among Indians, especially in foreign countries Punjab is reeling The operation to catch Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh, who security agencies now reveal has “links” with both Pakistan’s ISI and the Islamic State, has also meant an internet ban for all of the state He has been supported by actors out to harm society’s fabric, India’s peace, finding a home in continuing grievances in some sections of Sikhs The Khalistan issue has cropped up for a while, yet our surveillance and intelligence were caught unawares by Amritpal’s show of strength The Sikh community has also long made public its vexation over slow progress on the 2015 sacrilege cases; trial of main accused Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim and followers is yet to start Punjab’s AAP government recently moved the high court saying Haryana’s frequent paroles to the Dera chief, a rape and murder convict, have renewed demands for

release of Sikh prisoners in Punjab’s jails Punjab and India can ill afford an episode of state vs farr i g h t m i l i t a n c y Y e t f a r - r i g h t o u t f i t s s e e m t o e n j o y indulgence in other states too In Maharashtra, openly Islamophobic rallies in various districts are on for months Police should know that everything can turn viral and virulent To ban the internet for simply a police chase, over fears of the spread of fake news, cannot help catch Amritpal but can cripple life A ban also stops real information, spreads anxiety and alienates the public – something the AAP government should think about To counter fake news on social media, the state must work with and if necessary come down on Big Tech

The crackdown on Amritpal started days after G20 events in Amritsar were held under paramilitary bandobast The message is clear Political parties and police allowing extremist religious outfits unfettered public outreach online and offline is plain dangerous – maintaining law and order should not be chasing a chimera The tricolour flying atop the Indian high commission in London was grabbed by s u p p o r t e r s w a v i n g K h a l i s t a n i f l a g s a n d c h a n t i n g p r oKhalistan slogans Khalistani supporters have also attacked and damaged the Indian consulate in San Francisco In C a n b e r r a K h a l i s t a n s u p p o r t e r s g a t h e r e d o u t s i d e t h e Australian parliament The government of India should seek s t r o n g a c t i o n b y t h e f o r e i g n g o v e r n m e n t s a g a i n s t t h e separatists The action by the separatists will harm the interests and Indians especially the peace loving Sikhs

Saudi-Iran rapprochement will reduce tensions

The restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran shows that tensions in the Middle East are easing Tensions will not completely disappear, however, and China’s role in brokering the agreement highlights again that Saudi appears to be turning towards Beijing and away from the West The move came more than seven years after relations were severed following the execution in Saudi Arabia of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr that prompted a storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran Relations between the Kingdom of Saudi

A r a b i a ( K S A ) a n d t h e U S h a v e d e t e r i o r a t e d s i n c e America’s shale revolution has made it an independent oil producer The Saudis collapsed the oil price in a bid to kill off US investment into shale and limit its production, but the bid failed as production costs for US shale oil tumbled and kept the producers in business Now that Russia has clashed with the US, Moscow has been moving closer to Riyadh and after resisting for decades, has joined the OPEC cartel to control prices, an alliance the US is not part of As the Saudi relationship with the US has deteriorated, the Kingdom has sought to build alliances with other powers When it comes to China, that has fuelled talk of Saudi accepting renminbi for its sales of oil to China

“Proxy wars have played out by the Saudis and Iran, most notably in Yemen, and tensions between the two sides have also surfaced in the likes of Syria and Lebanon Meanwhile, Saudi officials h

backed groups in Yemen for launching attacks on the Kingdom Riyadh appears to be keen to bring an end to the Yemen

conflict At the same time, the other powers in the region are also keen to improve relations with the Syrian regime, which is a key ally of Tehran The thawing of relations will also dampen expectations for a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel

“Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) has reportedly put forward demands to the US, including s e c u r i t y g u a r a n t e e s a n d h e l p w i t h i t s c i v i l n u c l e a r programme, in return for signing up to peace with Israel under the Abraham Accords ” But his father, King Salman, has allegedly refused to follow Gulf allies, including the UAE, in agreeing to peace with Israel Some have argued t h a t r e s t o r i n g r e l a t i o n s w i t h I r a n s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e Kingdom is unwilling to sign up to an effort by Israel’s P r i m e M i n i s t e r B e n j a m i n N e t a n y a h u t o e s t a b l i s h a regional alliance aimed at taking a more combative line on Iran, and derailing any efforts to revive the country’s nuclear deal ”

The remaking of relations in the Middle East is part of the wider fracturing of the world into regional blocks

The clash between Russia and the West has driven Western and Russian diplomats to travel the world recently, trying to shore up support Russia and China are looking to build on ties in the Global South, which in turn are seeking to tighten regional alliances to improve their clout in relations with the two camps and maintain some autonomy KSA has turned towards China to help resolve its diplomatic disputes The rapprochement between the two countries will reduce tensions among Muslims all over the world

Peace begins with a smile

Mother

Teresa

Political Sketchbook

Alpesh Patel

Unity, Liberty, Charity and India

My old school, Fulneck Boys’ School had a motto: i n important things , unity; i n unimportant things, liberty; in all things, charity

The American political system has a rule, you do not criticise the President when he is abroad For the record I am not a BJP supporter I am a British national and do not support foreign political parties I just call it the way I see it Same goes for American politics I am neither a Republican or Democrat supporter I am proud of my Indian heritage and my British nationality

So anyway I was disturbed to hear the leader of the Indian opposition trashing India and sounding as if he is fearful to return to India for his own safety and cannot speak freely there To trash a nation which is half yours, (he’s half Italian), whilst the Italian and Indian PMs meet seemed odd timing

India, as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, has set ambitious plans for 2023 The government of India aims to achieve a $5 trillion economy by 2025, and to achieve this goal, several initiatives have been taken to boost economic growth and development

O n e o f t h e k e y f o c u s a r e a s i s i n f r a s t r u c t u r e development The government has laid out a long-term p l a n t o i n v e s t h e a v i l y i n b u i l d i n g r o a d s , r a i l w a y s , airports, and ports It is expected that this investment will not only improve connectivity within the country but also create job opportunities and boost economic growth

The government is also taking steps to promote digitalization and modernization across various sectors The Digital India initiative aims to provide access to digital infrastructure, services, and applications to all citizens The focus is on building a digitally empowered s o c i e t y t h a t c a n l e v e r a g e t e c h n o l o g y f o r e c o n o m i c growth

In addition to these initiatives, the government is also taking measures to promote entrepreneurship and innovation The Start-up India initiative aims to create a f a v o r a b l e e n v i r o n m e n t f o r s t a r t - u p s a n d p r o m o t e entrepreneurship The objective is to foster innovation and create job opportunities

According to a report by the World Bank, India's GDP is expected to grow at 7 5% in 2023 This projection is based on the assumption that the country will continue to implement structural reforms, increase investment in infrastructure, and improve its business climate

The report states that India is one of the fastestgrowing major economies in the world and has the potential to become a high-middle-income country in the coming years However, there are some challenges that need to be addressed, such as improving the quality of education, reducing the gender gap in the labor force, and improving the ease of doing business

Another report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that India's GDP will grow at 8 5% in 2023 The report states that India's growth prospects are favorable due to its young and growing population, increasing urbanization, and rising middle class The IMF also highlights the need for India to continue with structural reforms, such as improving the ease of doing b u s i n e s s , s t r e n g t h e n i n g t h e b a n k i n g s e c t o r , a n d addressing corporate debt

I refuse to lie about the conditions of a country for political gain I was once on the BBC on a discussion a b o u t S c o t t i s h I n d e p e n d e n c e w h e r e a S c o t s w o m a n described the brutal conditions in Scotland being ruled by the English I responded, “I’ve been to Scotland, it’s not as bad as you are describing ” Nigel Lawson who was o n t h e p a n e l w i t h m e , l a t e r t o l d m e h e l i k e d m y comment You see in politics, don’t try to fool the people and overstate your case Otherwise you ’ re not ready

Email: aveditorial@abplgroup com

Website: www abplgroup com

Navin Shah receives CBE from HM King Charles at the investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace

Navin Shah was made the C o m m a n d e r o f t h e Order of the British Empire (CBE) by His Majesty the K i n g C h a r l e s d u r i n g a n i n v e s t i t u r e c e r e m o n y a t B u c k i n g h a m P a l a c e o n

Tuesday 14th March

Navin received the CBE award for his ‘Public and Political Service ’ spanning o v e r 4 5 y e a r s N a v i n w a s accompanied for this prestig i o u s c e r e m o n y a t t h e Palace by his wife Cllr Rekha S h a h , s o n N e i l S h a h a n d

granddaughter Amari ShahLevy The rest of the family m e m b e r s , d a u g h t e r C l l r

Aneka Shah-Levy and sonin-law Daniel Levy joined Navin after the ceremony to celebrate

C o m m e n t i n g o n t h i s h o n o u r N a v i n S h a h s a i d ,

“What an honour to receive to have received the beautiful badge of CBE from HM King Charles What an occasion too that I was in the company of Sir Brian May t h e ‘ Q u e e n R o c k e r ’ w h o r e c e i v e d h i s k n i g h t h o o d from the King I dedicate this recognition to our wond e r f u l c u l t u r a l l y a n d r e l igiously diverse community

I’ve also been fortunate to have received the support of my family during the ups and down for all these years

The most excited and animated member of my family w a s m y s e v e n - y e a r - o l d granddaughter Amari who

was beaming with happiness and pride – what an exceptional experience and educ a t i o n f o r h e r S h e w a s thrilled to see the King but a b i t d i s a p p o i n t e d t h a t s h e couldn’t shake his hand!’

“Starting from the mid' 7 0 s I h a v e i m m e n s e l y enjoyed my voluntary community work Community cohesion has always been close to my heart and has been my lifetime obsession! It’s been a true privilege to work with and on behalf of Londoners and in particular my residents and stakeholders in Brent and Harrow

Throughout my public service as an elected member of Harrow Council for 20 years a n d a s L o n d o n A s s e m b l y M e m b e r f o r B r e n t a n d Harrow, I’ve strived to make a positive and meaningful contribution to shape and support communities I see the award of CBE as a success of my endeavours over the last 45 years and a trib-

Woman with a full-time shop-lifting career convicted on 26 counts

A woman w ho made more than £ 50 0,0 00 by claiming r ef u nd s o n i te m s s h e sh oplifted on an industrial scale has been co nv icted o f m ultiple counts o f fraud

N a r i n d e r K a u r , a l s o known as Nina Tiara, trave l l e d a l l o v e r t h e U K , defrauding various retailers more than a thousand times b e t w e e n J u l y 2 0 1 5 a n d

February 2019 During two police searches of her home, about £150,000 in cash was found in addition to stolen goods

Kaur, 53, from Cleverton in Wiltshire, targeted multip l e b r a n c h e s o f c h a i n s including Boots, Monsoon, H o u s e o f F r a s e r a n d H o m e s e n s e F r o m D e b e n h a m s a l o n e , s h e

received £42,853 in refunds despite having spent only £3,681 over a four-year perio d S h e g o t £ 3 3 , 1 3 1 i n r e f u n d s f r o m J o h n L e w i s s t o r e s i n M i l t o n K e y n e s , Watford, Chester, Cardiff, C h i c h e s t e r , B a s i n g s t o k e , N o t t i n g h a m , N e w b u r y ,

British High Commission celebrates the King's birthday

which reflect a continuation of my passion to serve the community and make a difference My five key campaigns relate to accessibility; d i s a b l e d p e o p l e ; e q u a l i t y ; f i r e s a f e t y i n h o m e s a n d p l a n n i n g & t h e e n v i r o nment My campaign-related v o l u n t a r y w o r k i n c l u d e s p r o j e c t s s u c h a s s t e p - f r e e a c c e s s a t t r a i n s t a t i o n s ; e m e r g e n c y e v a c u a t i o n amenities for disabled peo-

T h e B ri ti s h Hi g h

Com mission New Delhi will h o st th e K i ng ’ s B i rth d ay

Party ( KBP ) today, the annual celebratio n to m ark the British M onarch ’ s birth day

The g ala ev ent pays tribute

to T h e K i ng as th e U K ’ s Head of S tate w ith th e best of British arts, cu lture and green innov ation on display

T h e l a s t t i m e t h e U K

c e l e b r a t e d a K B P w a s i n

1 9 5 1 H i s M a j e s t y K i n g Charles III was born in 1948 and became heir apparent on the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 In addition to his official and ceremonial duties in the UK and overseas, His Majesty has championed a wide range of causes relating to the envir o n m e n t a n d s u s t a i n a b l e d e v e l o p m e n t , t h e a r t s , h e a l t h c a r e a n d e d u c a t i o n for decades

ute to communities and volu n t a r y o r g a n i s a t i o n s I ’ v e worked with The award is also a mark of success in reaching out to communities and stakeholders, working in the spirit of partnership to promote social justice, combat racism and disc r i m i n a t i o n i n a l l f o r m s , support the deprived and to p r o t e c t a n d e n h a n c e t h e environment

“Currently I’m working on a number of campaigns

ple; mandatory sprinklers in homes; promoting equality / social justice through work w i t h c o m m u n i t y & f a i t h organisations and evaluating planning and environmental issues such as highrise development in outer London areas ’

“I’m very grateful for the honour today by the HM the King and will do my best to live up to the privilege and the recognition bestowed on me ”

Report reveals racism, sexism and homophobia in Met Police

E x e t e r , S o u t h a m p t o n , R e a d i n g , B i r m i n g h a m , T a m w o r t h , a n d L e i c e s t e r That was despite spending just £5,290 between August 2015 and December 2018 Kaur had " very many " b a n k a n d c r e d i t c a r d a c c o u n t s , t h e C r o w n P r o s e c u t i o n S e r v i c e ( C P S ) said and made shoplifting her "full-time career" She also attempted to defraud Wiltshire Council of £7,400 by overpaying using stolen credit cards and then contacting the local authority for a refund claiming she h a d a c c i d e n t a l l y m a d e a p a y m e n t w i t h t o o m a n y z e r o s A d d i t i o n a l l y , s h e worked with a male accomplice to use stolen bank card details to make payments to her heating oil supplier

Her trial at Gloucester

C r o w n C o u r t l a s t e d f o u r months She was convicted of all 26 counts on an indictment which included fraud, possessing and transferring criminal property, and perverting the course of justice

The Metro politan Police is plagued by raci sm, sexism and h omo p ho bi a and has fa i le d to c h an ge d es p i t e bei ng to ld to, a rep ort is expected to say

T h e r e p o r t b y f o r m e r W h i t e h a l l t r o u b l e s h o o t e r Louise Casey was commissioned after the murder of S a r a h E v e r a r d b y s e r v i n g Met officer Wayne Couzens in 2021 It will say the force has failed to resolve issues d e s p i t e d e c a d e s o f w a r nings, and reveal new case studies It has already been sent to the leadership of the Met and the Government, a c c o r d i n g t o t h e p a p e r , leading to crisis talks this w e e k b e t w e e n M e t C o m m i s s i o n e r S i r M a r k Rowley and the home secretary Suella Braverman this week

It is said to criticise curr e n t a n d p a s t l e a d e r s h i p , and argue that high-profile recent cases such as those of Couzens and rapist David Carrick were not isolated, but symptoms of pervasive s h o r t c o m i n g s D a m e Cressida Dick, who presided over the force from 2017

to 2022, is said to face some b l a m e , b u t p r o b l e m s a r e also highlighted before her leadership Lady Casey will also say that austerity had a damaging effect on the Met, w h i l e m a j o r c l u e s w e r e missed about the dangers p o s e d b y C o u z e n s a n d Carrick

Couzens was sentenced to a whole-life term for the murder of Sarah Everard in M a r c h 2 0 2 1 C o u z e n s admitted the kidnap, rape and murder of the 33-yearo l d m a r k e t i n g e x e c u t i v e , w h o h a d b e e n w a l k i n g home from a friend’s house i n s o u t h L o n d o n D a v i d C a r r i c k w a s j a i l e d f o r a t least 30 years last month a f t e r c o m m i t t i n g v i o l e n t s e x u a l o f f e n c e s a g a i n s t a d o z e n w o m e n o v e r t w o decades Suella Braverman previo u s l y c a l l e d h i s c r i m e s a “ scar on our police” A previous set of findings publ i s h e d b y L a d y C a s e y i n O c t o b e r 2 0 2 2 f o u n d t h a t some complaints from offic e r s a n d s t a f f a b o u t c o lleagues were not taken seriously

Today’s celebrations will feature food and drink from the four UK nations, performances by British popstar

RIKA (Chandrika Darbari) a n d N e w D e l h i - b a s e d f e m m e c o l l e c t i v e C o v e n C o d e E x h i b i t o r s a t t h e e v e n t i n c l u d e t h e B r i t i s h Asian Trust, which supports sustainable solutions across the subcontinent and was

founded by His Majesty in 2007 A wide range of dignitaries from the Government o f I n d i a , r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m C o m m o n w e a l t h n a t i o n s , b u s i n e s s l e a d e r s , and eminent personalities from the fields of diplomacy, arts, education, research, business, and sports are also expected to attend Alex Ellis, British Hig h C o m m i ss i o ne r t o I nd ia , said: “His Majesty the King has devoted his life to service; establishing more than 2 0 c h a r i t i e s o v e r f o u r d e c a d e s H e h a s w o r k e d t i r e l e s s l y f o r t h e U n i t e d Kingdom around the world, i n c l u d i n g h i s e n d u r i n g i n t e r e s t i n p r o m o t i n g a m o d e r n p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h India and its people It is a p r i v i l e g e t o c e l e b r a t e h i s birthday with friends here in New Delhi ” This year ’ s KBP has been organised with the gracious s u p p o r t o f H i n d u s t a n U n i l e v e r L i m i t e d , H S B C I n d i a , I n m a r s a t , H a l e o n , Tide, Virgin Atlantic, British C o u n c i l , U K I B C , R o l l s Royce India, Diageo India, W i l l i a m G r a n t a n d S o n s , B e a m S u n t o r y , B e V e g , Pladis Global, Bira 91, and London Essence

Older Brits living abroad will miss new pension benefits

Hundreds of thousand s o f old er Brits liv ing abroad are going to m iss out on the fi na nc i al b o o st fro m t h e return o f the State P ension Triple Lo ck, warns the C EO and founder of one of the world’ s larg est independ ent fi na nc i al a d v i s o ry , as s et m an ag em ent a nd f in tec h org anisations

The warning from Nigel G r e e n , o f d e V e r e G r o u p , w h i c h h a s m o r e t h a n 8 0 , 0 0 0 e x - p a t c l i e n t s , c o m e s a s t h e U K

G o v e r n m e n t p r e p a r e s t o reintroduce the Triple Lock in April, which will see the N e w a n d B a s i c S t a t e Pension increase by 10 1 per c e n t - t h e S e p t e m b e r

Consumer Price Index rate

(CPI) The Triple Lock polic y i s a U K G o v e r n m e n t commitment to uprate State P e n s i o n s a n n u a l l y b y t h e highest between inflation, average earnings, or 2 5 per cent It means those on the full New State Pension will see payments increase from £185 15 per week to £203 85 and those on the Basic State Pension will see weekly payments rise from £141 85 to £156 20 Retired ex-pats in the

E u r o p e a n E c o n o m i c A r e a (

E A ) w i l l c o n t i n u e t o receive annual increases to

their State Pensions under the triple lock scheme, as will those in a host of other c o u n t r i e s i n c l u d i n g t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , t h e Philippines and Turkey But t h e m a j o r i t y o f a f f e c t e d S t a t e P e n s i o n e r s l i v e i n s o m e o f t h e b i g g e s t Commonwealth countries, s u c h a s A u s t r a l i a a n d Canada, and, despite paying taxes all their working lives i n t h e U K , a n d N a t i o n a l Insurance Contributions in full, these Brits will miss out on the rise given to others

The deVere CEO said:

“Clearly, this is good news for many retirees as it could mean a financial boost of around £1,000 a year ” But he warned that not all State Pensioners will benefit from the double-digit uprating M r G r e e n e x p l a i n e d : “ A n e s t i m a t e d 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 retired Brits who live abroad will not receive any boost at all Outrageously, they will continue to have their pensions frozen in value at the point of retirement date or t h e d a t e o f e m i g r a t i o n

H a v i n g a f r o z e n p e n s i o n means that your retirement income falls in real terms year on year due to inflation - and never has this been more true than as the cost of living has soared ”

India’s progressive parties need to understand how to better engage the diaspora

Pratik Dattani

I nd ians choose to mi grate to countrie s li ke the UK because of be tter j ob opp ortuni ties and g reate r li vea bi lity than in urban I nd ia T he la tter i s an i mplicit e mbrace of a more ope n, prog ressive and d ive rse societ y i n the UK, w here your basic need s of schooling, health care and h ousing a re ta ken care of, i nstituti ons wor k w ell a nd y ou can be who you w ant to be

Prima facie that means the diaspora is exposed to more progressive values once they leave India The first and second generations in particular still retain a deep connection to India

But two incidents recently have made me think about how poor India’s progressive parties are at reaching out to the Indian diaspora

The first happened at the inaugural Ideas for India conference in London last May, celebrating India’s 75th anniversary and looking ahead to the next 25 years An Indian-origin academic

from a London university was aghast at a BJP Minister being invited to speaker at the event, started an aggressive line of questioning of the speaker during a Q&A She subsequently took to Twitter in a coordinated effort to call the organising team fascists

The second incident was during Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to Cambridge

tions failure

knowing what they stand for Only knowing what you are against, is a poor recipe for motivating others to see the world through your eyes The ‘ angry young man ’ image from Zanjeer made Amitabh Bachchan relatable to the masses then, but today’s audience wants a thinking man like Ayushman Khurana

told a colleague of mine that he views anyone identifying as Hindu as being Hindutva, using the term pejoratively for fascist That’s illiberal to the extreme

and London While much of the opprobrium back in India against his comments was manufactured outrage, I was struck at how softball the questions asked of him were at the public talks at Chatham House and with Indian journalists He made many

claims that could have been easily interrogated but weren’t

The target audience for his answers seemed to be his party’s workers in India, rather than the audience he was in front of – the Indian diaspora It was a basic communica-

Contrast this with how Modi made the audience feel during a bitterly cold winter’s evening when he took over Wembley stadium Part of Modi’s charm is he appears like a statesman, and he can command a room The basic ask from the diaspora, proud of their motherland, is that they will more positively interact with politicians from India if they make the diaspora feel proud of their Indianness

Therein lies the fundamental problem with how progressives like the academic and Rahul Gandhi interact with the diaspora Pride is a great sales strategy, shame is not

Part of this is not

In a more polarised world, progressives occasionally force themselves to be entrenched by dogma When you forget why you ’ ve erected walls, it’s diminishingly clear whether you ’ ve done so to keep ‘the other’ out, or simply, yourself caged in Large parts of the diaspora, in its interactions with India, has become more socially conservative That’s true in part because the media landscape in India that has deteriorated, and a torrent of misinformation is spread on closed networks like WhatsApp But still, to pretend otherwise is being on the wrong side of public opinion and history

A different Indian-origin academic at a topranked London university

As President Barack Obama said in 2019, progressives sometimes create “ a ‘circular firing squad', where you start shooting at your allies because one of them has strayed from purity on the issues "

This year, the Ideas for India conference is taking place on 11-12 May in London, now in its second year We have speakers, truly, from across India and across ideological persuasions The core idea of India is one based on plurality and diversity, and we hope to interrogate what that means to policymakers, business leaders (of which we have more than 80 from India attending) and the diaspora

Pratik Dattani is Managing Director of advisory firm EPG, and is part of the team organising the inaugural India Week on 7-12 May across Leicestershire, Oxford and London

The plant in your reception has been living its best life since you got an all-in-one card reader from Barclaycard Payments.

It handles customer payments and manages inventory as well as bookings. Less time on all of that means more time watering the Philodendron in your life.

What’s good for small business is good for everyone.

The payment part is just the start

Some of attendees at the formal dinner for Ideas for India in May 2022

Dr Aswath Narayan, Minister of Electronics, IT, Biotech, Science and Industry, as well as Higher Education and Skill Development, speaking at Ideas for India in May 2022 in London

DIASPORA OUTRAGED

Continued from page

Will th is d isrup t th e FTA ?

Param Sh ah, Director U K, Fed eration of Indian Ch am bers o f C o m m erc e a nd I nd u s tr y (FICC I) expressed his concern in a tweet, saying, “Unless the U K G o v e r n m e n t a c t s s w i f t l y and decisively, I fear that this disgraceful attack on the High Commission of London today w i l l d i s r u p t t h e o t h e r w i s e flourishing India-UK bilateral relationship, especially as we seek to conclude a Free Trade Agreement ”

Sadiq Khan

“ C o n s e r v a t i v e F r i e n d s I n d i a s t r o n g l y c o n d e m n s a n d i s appalled by the attacks on the H i g h C o m m i s s i o n o f I n d i a

P r o m i n e n t g e o st rat eg i s t Brah ma Ch ellaney said, “It is ironic that under an Indian-origin PM, UK's ties with India continue to take a hit, even as Modi has bent over backward to build closer ties with UK, i n c l u d i n g f a s t - t r a c k i n g F T A negotiations UK cannot escape culpability in Indian mission s storming ”

Soon after the news broke, the senior-most UK diplomat in New Delhi was summoned late evening on 19 March to convey I n d i a ’ s s t r o n g p r o t e s t a t t h e actions taken by separatist and extremist elements against the I n d i a n H i g h C o m m i s s i o n i n London earlier in the day “An explanation was demanded the c o m p l e t e a b s e n c e o f B r i t i s h security that allowed these elem e n t s t o e n t e r t h e H i g h Commission premises She was reminded in this regard of the b a s i c o b l i g a t i o n s o f t h e U K Government under the Vienna Convention India finds unacceptable the indifference of the UK Government to the security of Indian diplomatic premises and personnel in the UK It is e x p e c t e d t h a t t h e U K Government would take immediate steps to identify, arrest a n d p r o s e c u t e e a c h o n e o f those involved in today’s incident, and put in place the stringent measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents,” an official statement released b y t h e M i n is tr y of Ex te rna l Affairs, Ind ia read M inis ter o f S tate F oreig n C o m m o n w eal th & Development Affairs UK , Lord T ari q A h m ad of W im b le d o n said in a tweet, “Am appalled by today’s attack on the Indian High Commission in London This is a completely unacceptable action against the integrity of the Mission and its staff The U K G o v e r n m e n t w i l l a l w a y s take the security of the Indian High Commission seriously ” British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis said, “I condemn the disgraceful acts today against the people and premises o f t h e H i g h C o m m i s s i o n i n London - totally unacceptable ”

s a i d ,

T h i s a b u s e c o m p l e t e l y g o e s against the ethos of British law a n d o r d e r W e s u p p o r t t h e G o v e r n m e n t a n d t h e M e t Police’s efforts to protect the Indian High Commission and o t h e r M i s s i o n s f r o m s u c h vicious attacks ” Nat io na l I nd i an S tu d e nts A sso ciatio n U nio n U K (NISAU U K) in a statement said, “We a r e s h o c k e d a n d i m m e n s e l y concerned by the violent disord e r a n d v a n d a l i s m t h a t h a s t a k e n p l a c e a t o u r H i g h

C o m m i s s i o n o f I n d i a i n London, the home of Indians in the UK Salute to our brave d i p l o m a t s l e d b y V i k r a m

Doraiswami and staff for protecting our Indian flag Their safety and well-being and the dignity of India in the UK must be ensured We call for swift and firm action being taken to bring the perpetrators of this h o o l i g a n i s m t o j u s t i c e Measures should be urgently p u t i n p l a c e t o p r e v e n t t h e recurrence of such incidents

We stand in solidarity with our High Commission and Indians in the UK ” Sparse security raises eyebrows

A man was arrested after violent scenes which saw windows smashed at the Indian High Commission in London

M e t r o p o l i t a n P o l i c e o f f i c e r s were called to the building in Aldwych, Westminster, at 1 50 pm on Sunday, where two security guards also suffered minor injuries The Met has launched an investigation into the incident A spokesperson for the force said: "Windows were broken at the High Commission b u i l d i n g “ T w o m e m b e r s o f security staff sustained injuries These are believed to be minor; they did not require hospital t r e a t m e n t O f f i c e r s a t t e n d e d the location The majority of t h o s e p r e s e n t h a d d i s p e r s e d prior to the arrival of police," t h e s p o k e s p e r s o n c o n t i n u e d An investigation was launched, a n d o n e m a l e w a s a r r e s t e d nearby a short time later on suspicion of violent disorder

Inquiries continue " F ri en d s o f I n d i a S o c i ety International (FISI UK) strongly condemned the attack and said, “Members of FISI UK is deeply shocked to see the disgraceful and abominable desecration of the Indian flag by the separatist and Khalistani extremist forces at the Indian High Commission on 19th March 2023 We lodge o u r s t r o n g p r o t e s t a t s u c h d e p l o r a b l e a c t i o n s t h a t a r e clearly an attack on India’s honour and are a cause of concern for the diaspora in the UK ” The o r g a n i s a t i o n a l s o e x p r e s s e d shock at the ‘failure of the UK

government to take preventive m e a s u r e s t o p r o h i b i t s u c h shameful incidents that endanger the Indian diplomatic officials

The group also reiterated t h a t s u c h i n c i d e n t s h a v e occurred in the past - which p o s e s c o n c e r n s a b o u t s p a r s e security provided by the UK g o v e r n m e n t a t t h e I n d i a n diplomatic premises which are also against the basic obligat i o n s o f t h e V i e n n a Convention

T h e In d i an N ati o n al S tu d e nts ' A ss o c ia ti o n ( I NS A ) UK also said, “In addition to attacking our sovereignty and dignity, this act of violence puts our diplomats and staff in danger We strongly condemn this act of aggression and call on the UK authorities to take immediate and decisive action to bring the perpetrators to justice We s t a n d i n s o l i d a r i t y w i t h o u r country 's representatives and will not rest until those responsible are held accountable for their actions ”

M ay o r o f L o n d o n, S a d i q Khan said, “I condemn the viol e n t d i s o r d e r a n d v a n d a l i s m that took place at the Indian High Commission today There is no place in our city for this kind of behaviour An investigation has been launched by the Met into today’s events ”

Th e Sikh comm unity reacts

In a joint statement, C llr Ch aran S ing h Sekhon (Bed ford) F o u nd e r & C h a i rm a n S E V A T ru st U K, Raj in d erp al Si ng h ( M an ch e s ter ), S at w ant S i ng h (Manch ester), Jatinderpal Singh (Manch ester), Div gau tam Singh ( L o nd o n) , S i kh A c ti v i s ts & C o m m u n i ty W o rk ers s a i d , “ E v e r y o n e h a s t h e r i g h t f o r peaceful protest, but the use of v i o l e n c e o r t h r e a t s a g a i n s t Indian High Commission staff and forcefully trying to remove Tiranga (Tricolour), the national flag of India, is not acceptable and we condemn these actions S u c h a c t i o n s c a n n o t a c h i e v e anything apart from damaging UK & India ties and our community cohesion ”

Gu rm a i l S i n g h , t h e Vi c e P resid ent of Ram g arhi a S ikh Society Bedford added, “I feel e v e r y o n e h a s t h e r i g h t t o a peaceful protest but the use of v i o l e n c e o r t h r e a t s a g a i n s t Indian High Commission staff and forcefully removing Indian Flag is not acceptable and we condemn these actions ”

I n a s t a t e m e n t , th e

President of Siri Guru Rav idass Gu r d w ar a, J as w i nd e r K um ar said, “Everyone has the right to a peaceful protest but the use of v i o l e n c e o r t h r e a t s a g a i n s t Indian High Commission staff and forcefully removing Indian flag is not acceptable and we condemn these actions ”

Lord Rami Ranger CBE, Chairman, The British Sikh Association S ad ly, the dem and fo r Khalistan h as reared its ugly head in the West, wh ere som e Si khs c an make statem ents abo ut K halistan without realising the consequ ences of their ac ti o ns o n th e S i k h c o m m un i ty i n Punjab, Ind ia, and across the rest of the world

It is disturbing, to say the least when a handful of unelected Sikhs claim to s p e a k f o r t h e w i d e r d i a s p o r a a n d d e m a n d a k i n g d o m f o r t h e m s e l v e s which the Sikh Gurus never did These self-proclaimed leaders act as if they are greater visionaries than the Sikh Gurus and, in the process, damage the interests and respect of Sikhs worldwide They project us as anti-India separatists when most of us are not that at all and are proud to be Indians and Sikhs like the Hindus, Muslims and Christians of India are Sikhs have always been, and s t i l l a r e , i n t h e f o r e f r o n t o f I n d i a ' s defence and integrity

The Sikh Gurus were visionaries who led exemplary lives so the world would respect them and their followers Sadly, some of their followers are now behaving totally against the vision of our Gurus and bringing disrespect not only to themselves but also to us

They are diminishing the respect of the Sikh Gurus who dedicated their lives to upholding human rights, freedom and justice throughout India and not just in Punjab The Sikh Gurus were a l w a y s a b o v e t e r r i t o r i a l c l a i m s a n d taught principles that crossed borders and cultures

We are proud that it is due to the efforts of the Sikh Gurus that today India is a better place for everyone Due to their contribution, we, the Sikhs, receive unparalleled respect throughout India and abroad More importantly, more and more people are now beginning to realise the vision and sacrifices of the Sikh Gurus for humanity, and more and more are paying their respects to them and the Sikhs As a result, the Government of India has also started to celebrate the lives and teachings of our Gurus on a national and international scale Recently the Indian Govt declared on December 28th Veer Baal Din to c o m m e m o r a t e t h e m a r t y r d o m o f Sahibzadas (Sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji) for upholding their religion

Frankly, the Sikhs can never get Khalistan, just as the Kashmiris cannot get Kashmir even with Pakistan's support and aid from the USA in the past

P a k i s t a n f o u g h t f o u r f u l l y - f l e d g e d bloody wars to gain Kashmir but to no avail All Kashmiris have achieved to date is to turn a paradise into a no-go area for tourists and, in the process, ruin the economy If these handful of Sikhs are not careful, they will make Sikhs not only second class in India and beyond and destroy Punjab's economy and prosperity

Before the militant movement in Punjab, which lead to operation Blue Star, approx 20% of Sikhs were in the Indian Armed Forces, and now they have been reduced to a quota of just 2% due to the mutiny of some Sikhs soldiers after Operation Blue Star Sadly, now the Sikh farmers are committing suicide due to a lack of employment prospects in Punjab and not to mention a drug epidemic blighting the region These misguided Sikhs are scoring their own goals unwittingly and bring disrespect not only to their fellow Sikhs around the world but also to their Great Gurus by behaving in a manner which is incompatible with their teachings

In 1947 Sikhs could have got an independent State as the British wanted to divide India based on religion As an independent and sovereign country, India will never give an inch of its land to anyone, not even to mighty China

T h e S i k h s s h o u l d l e a r n f r o m t h e Kashmir experience and reflect upon how many innocent young Sikhs have already lost their lives before and after Operation Blue Star and massive setbacks to Punjab's economy Do we wish to repeat the same sad and bloody episode in the history of Punjab again?

O u r G u r u s e s t a b l i s h e d t h e B r o t h e r h o o d o f K h a l s a t o l i b e r a t e Indians from the religious oppression of the Mughal kings through immense sacrifices and not to break up India

They also gave us a modern and practical philosophy to serve humanity regardless and not divide humanity

The division of India in 1947 resulted in the death of over a million innocent people and over 15 million who became refugees in their own country of birth

Do we wish to insult our Gurus who never used religion to unite humanity?

The effects of an artificially manufactured division of India are still being felt today and, I dare say, will be felt forever Throughout their lives, our Gurus worked to unite humanity and also gave us a religion based on interfaith teachings by incorporating teachings of Hindu and Muslim holy men to bring people of different faiths closer to one another

These lacklustre Sikhs should think about the Sikh farmers who are settled in UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and also in the rest of India and business-people in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, along with many other Indian cities What about Sikhs serving in the Indian Government and Armed Forces? How will the people of different faiths who come to Sikhs Gurdwaras in every part of India to pay their respect to Sikh Gurus feel?

Sikhs will continue to enjoy respect in India and the world if they live as t h e i r G u r u s ' t e a c h i n g s w a n t W e should, as we have always done, rise on m e r i t , a n d c o n t i n u e t o s p r e a d t h e teachings and principles of our Gurus through our actions No country promotes its disloyal citizens similarly as no one supports disloyal staff in their companies For these handfuls of misguided Sikhs working to reduce the stature of our Gurus and their followers to just Punjab is reprehensible

Finally, Sikhs have roots in India, where Sikh Gurus were born The Five Beloved Sikhs (Panj Pyare) who helped establish the Brotherhood of Khalsa were Hindu Indians who came from every corner of India and who, with Guru Gobind Singh Ji helped transform the lives of every Indian Guru Gobind Singh Ji was born in Bihar and left for his heavenly abode in Maharashtra Banda Singh Bahadur, a renowned Sikh warrior, came from Maharashtra The 9th Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur Ji, paid the ultimate sacrifice, not for the Sikhs but for Hindu Kashmiri Pundits and in the capital of India, Delhi symbolising that Sikh Gurus were for every Indian and the universe

We should also remember that pres e n t S i k h s u r n a m e s l i k e M a l h o t r a , S e t h i , K o h l i , K h u r a n a , V o h r a , Sabharwal, Bedi, Sodhi and many more are originally Hindu surnames This signifies that it was the Hindu families who made their eldest son a Sikh To separate us from our roots will deny facts about our origins We should be proud to say we have so much in common with Hindus whilst having our distinct identity

We should continue to live together in a united India Jai Hind

We should continue to live together in a united India

Param Shah

Charan Singh Sekhon

IN ASSOCIATION WITH HM GOVERNMENT

START A FULFILLING CAREER IN ADULT SOCIAL CARE

Rupanjana Dutta

Working in adult social care is one of the most rewarding jobs. The sector is varied and there are many roles you can choose from. It may be supporting someone to be independent in their home or supporting someone in a care home with their daily tasks. You will significantly improve people’s everyday lives through interaction, support and understanding.

Even if you lack prior experience, all you need is to have a strong desire to support people and depending on where you’d like to work or what you want to do, there are many opportunities and on-the-job trainings available. It’s usually a simple and quick process to start work, and flexible working hours are often available.

Working in adult social care doesn’t require any specific qualification to get started. It is about people having the right values and good communication skills.

Search for a job near you today at adultsocialcare.co.uk.

including person-centred training for the people I support.”

Sidra grew up in Pakistan and moved to the UK. She got married and started living with her husband and in-laws.

“My mother-in-law had Parkinson’s, so I became her carer for 17 years, and after she passed

She supports individuals with a range of needs, through prompting, observation and direct assistance. “Some of the people I support have different communication methods, and I received training to be able to effectively communicate using

“I would encourage others from my culture to begin a career in the adult social care sector and make a difference to the lives of the people you support”.

Every day is different, and everyone has their own individualised needs

Rafiq was born in Kenya and moved to Mumbai, India, when he was 7. He moved to the UK in 1976 to be with the rest of his family. He started working in a factory during the day and attended evening classes to improve his English. He said, “At the age of 31, I decided to take up a career in care. I have always been passionate about making a difference to people’s lives and caring for them, and I wanted a career where I can support them in learning new

skills and improve their quality of life.”

He completed training that included safeguarding and food hygiene and completed ‘train the trainer’ courses so that he could teach others and progress into a senior support worker role within 7 months of starting.

“I support tenants who reside in supported living which enables individuals to live independently in their homes and help them develop skills such as cooking, household chores and personal care. I also encourage social participation with a variety of activities.

“While every day can be different and everyone, I support has unique needs, knowing that I have supported them and made them happy is always rewarding. I would certainly encourage others to take up a career in the care

sector, as working in care is very fulfilling.”

Giving back to the community

Rezbin is originally from Sylhet, Bangladesh, and has been a fulltime mum since 1997. After all her children had grown up, she decided that she would like to work.

She told Asian Voice, “I had not worked before and had no experience. But when I joined the adult social care sector, I had online training for a week. I participated in group discussions and I also shadowed my colleague for a week who taught me the tasks that needed to be completed for each person I support.”

away, I thought I could make a difference to others,” Sidra told Asian Voice. Knowing that you are supporting them is most important. Therefore, I decided to work in the care sector to support people lead a happy life.

“I began my career in the adult social care sector 4 years ago. I received support to complete all my training, such as the care certificate and NVQ, medication management, food hygiene and many others. The training was also adapted for me to complete it on paper as I am not very good with computers. I receive ongoing training to further develop my knowledge in the care sector,

Makaton. I support individuals with daily tasks, such as goal setting and budgeting.

When asked what the most rewarding part of her job was and if she would encourage others to follow in her footsteps, Sidra enthusiastically added, “The greatest reward is to support people by communicating with them so that they do not feel isolated. Keeping them company by just sitting with them and talking to them makes a difference to their day. As long as it makes them happy it is rewarding for me. When a person knows that they are not alone or isolated, they feel valued and important.

Currently, Rezbin’s client lives in Croydon. Her daily work includes preparing breakfast, taking her grocery shopping, handling household chores such as changing the bedding, cleaning, laundry, overseeing medication and prescription usage, appointment reminders and taking her to doctors’ appointments.

Rezbin added how working as a care worker allows her to give back to the community. “I can support my clients to maintain their independence and have a positive impact on their life. I am also able to contribute to making them and their families happy knowing that I am taking good care of them.”

Search for a role in adult social care near you today at adultsocialcare.co.uk

‘Knowing that you are supporting them is important’

Amish Tripathi, Sonam Kapoor, Gurinder Chadha, Anita Rani and friends celebrate the launch of War of Lanka book

On 16th March , a ho st of

U K stars & Bo llyw ood celebrities includ ing T V’s

A nita Rani, A ctress Sonam

K apo or, d irector Gu rinder

C hadha, Vue Cinem as ’ T im Richard s, presenter A nita

A nand, and CEO of Harp erCollins Publish ers

C harlie Red mayne g athered at the prestig ious fiv e-star

T aj ho tel in St James to celebrate the launch of

A mish’ s fourth boo k in the blockbuster Ram Ch andra series, War of L anka, p ublished by HarperC ollins

In a lively conversation, Sonam and Amish discussed writing about ancient texts, they talked about his journey into publishing, how he went from finance to fiction, self-publishing the first book in the bestselling Shiva Trilogy after it was rejected by over 20 publishers across India and how his books have mass audience appeal The Shiva Trilogy is now the fastest-selling book series in Indian publishing history, while the Ram Chandra is the second-

fastest selling Amish has gone on to be a phenomenon in Indian publishing selling over 6 5 million copies of his books in the Indian subcontinent Besides being India’s fastest-selling author, Amish is also a TV documentary host and a diplomat, working as Minister (Culture & Education) at the High Commission of India in the UK

The Chief Guest of the function was the Indian High Commissioner, His Excellency Vikram Doraiswami, who spoke of his love for Amish’s books

from before Amish joined the diplomatic service Speaking about his latest novel, author Amish said: "I am humbled to already receive the love of millions of Indian readers

for my books and I am very excited to be introducing these stories to UK readers for the first time with my fourth book War of Lanka, which is based on the Indian epic Ramayan; a tale of war, love, and betrayal

The war at the end of the Ramayan, which represents the victory of Good over Evil, is what gave rise to the festival of lights, Diwali, which is celebrated to this

Judgement

Rohit Vadhwana

There is an old story Two friends were studying in a Gurukul They spent their childhood together and acquired different knowledge from their Guru Both were bright and attentive in their study, so the Guru was confident they will grow as successful men in the future After leaving the Gurukul, both friends went on to their own ways to live with their families and implement the knowledge they had acquired from the Gurukul A few years later, one of them became an influential advisor to the King While on a tour with the King, he met a monk on the outskirt of a jungle He instantly recognised the monk as his friend from the Gurukul Out of curiosity, he inquired, why he became a monk and lived on rice and bread despite having the kind of education he had acquired from Gurukul He added that if the monk had the wisdom to use his knowledge properly, he would be able to serve the King as his Minister, rather than living a life of deprivation The monk responded by saying that if the advisor had learned to live on rice and bread, he would not need to serve the King and could live a free life

day! I can't wait for the discussions they encourage; offering new perspectives on old philosophies I am grateful to HarperCollins for making it happen "

Teacher banned from the profession for using racist and homophobic insults

A teac he r w h o d ru nkenl y u sed racist and ho moph obic insults tow ards police officers has been banned from the profession

James Wallace was out in Leicester city centre the d a y b e f o r e h i s w e d d i n g w h e n a p o l i c e o f f i c e r n o t i c e d h e w a s b u m p i n g into people and swearing at t h e m M r W a l l a c e , w h o taught at Overdale Junior S c h o o l , a l s o u n z i p p e d h i s trousers and attempted to urinate He started verbally abusing the officer when he

was asked to stop The abuse included using swear words, and a racial slur

The officer then called for backup, and Mr Wallace was then verbally abusive to two other police officers as t h e y d r o v e h i m h o m e t o s o b e r u p T h i s i n c l u d e d using a Hindi word, which was described as meaning "monkey" or "cheeky monkey , and also a homophobic term The 38-year-old was later convicted of four criminal offences and has now been banned from teaching

28-year-old stabbed ex-girlfriend 18 times

A m an lured his ex-girlf rie nd t o an ea st London high s treet b efore s tabbing her 18 tim es in a fr enzied attac k that l eft her fight ing for her life

Robin Ibrahim, 28, asked his ex to meet him outside a bank in Hornchurch High S t r e e t o n J u n e 2 8 , 2 0 2 1 , c l a i m i n g h e w a s g o i n g t o return a substantial sum of money he owed her After a c o n v e r s a t i o n o u t s i d e t h e bank, they walked to a nearby car park where the victim h a d p a r k e d h e r c a r , s o

Ibrahim could hand over the promised money But arriving at the car park, Ibrahim grabbed a knife from his bag and attacked the victim as she fell to the side of her car He stabbed her 18 times b e f o r e h e w a s s t o p p e d b y brave passers-by, including t h e w o m a n ’ s s i s t e r P o l i c e r u s h e d t o t h e s c e n e a n d

arrested Ibrahim on suspic i o n o f a t t e m p t e d m u r d e r and possession of an offensive weapon He was charged two days later The victim was rushed to hospital with p o s s i b l e l i f e - t h r e a t e n i n g injuries and had to undergo emergency surgery Around 21 months later, she is still recovering from h e r i n j u r i e s I b r a h i m , o f Brock Place in Bow, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place at Basildon Crown Court on September 22 On March 10, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the same court S c o t l a n d Y a r d D e t e c t i v e C o n s t a b l e O l l i e J o n e s , t h e investigating officer from the East Area’s Public Protection t e a m , d e s c r i b e d I b r a h i m ’ s attack on his ex-girlfriend as “brutal and sustained”

f o l l o w i n g a p r o f e s s i o n a l conduct meeting

The incident started in S t M a r t i n ' s S q u a r e i n Leicester, at about 14:30 BST on 14 July 2021

He resigned from his job on 11 October 2021 but then e n g a g e d i n t h e s c h o o l ' s investigation, and provided a n a c c o u n t o f w h a t h a ppened during an interview o n 2 N o v e m b e r H e w a s convicted of three offences on 10 November 2021, and c o n v i c t e d o f a f u r t h e r offence on 2 March 2022,

and sentenced to a community order

M r W a l l a c e h a s b e e n p r o h i b i t e d f r o m t e a c h i n g indefinitely at any school, s i x t h f o r m c o l l e g e , y o u t h a c c o m m o d a t i o n o r c h i ldren's home in England

H o w e v e r , a t w o - y e a r review period has been set, meaning he can ask for the prohibition order to be set aside after 13 March 2025 If he does apply, a panel will meet to consider whether the prohibition order should be set aside

Cab driver jailed for 13 years after raping a passenger

A ‘ pred atory ’ m ini cab driver who kept a pencil case o f co nd o m s and l ub e i n h i s g lo v e c o m p a rtm e nt h a s been jailed for raping a passenger H o m a y o n A h m a d i , 3 3 , attacked the woman, aged in her 40s, in Croydon after picking her up from a hospital earlier on the evening of April 19, 2021 Three months later, on July 25, a 21-yearold woman phoned police to say she and a friend had been molested after being c o l l e c t e d f r o m a c e n t r a l London nightclub Ahmadi, of Uxbridge, west London, was given a 13-year prison sentence, with a seven-year extended licence, after he a d m i t t e d r a p e a n d t w o counts of sexual assault at Croydon Crown Court In a statement, his first victim

s a i d s h e s u f f e r s c o n s t a n t f l a s h b a c k s a n d ‘ p a r a l y s i n g fear’ Police trawled through CCTV at the shop the driver s t o p p e d o f f a t a n d u s e d mobile phone data to pinpoint a suspect Ahmadi was l a t e r a r r e s t e d a f t e r b e i n g i d e n t i f i e d f r o m a m e d i a appeal using a still image f r o m t h e f o o t a g e I n h i s p o l i c e i n t e r v i e w , A h m a d i denied all of the offences A search of his car found a purple pencil case filled with condoms and baby oil in the glove compartment DC Alchin said: ‘There m a y b e o t h e r v i c t i m s o f Ahmadi who until now have not spoken to police If you believe this is you, please contact us on 101 We have specialist officers who will support you ’

How true it is We have to serve the King because we cannot disassociate from the desire to gain more than our needs and live a simpler life Whoever we are serving, it's because we don't know how to live on rice and bread How to distinguish between our needs and desire Rather than freedom over time and activity, it is position and possession which take priority It leads us to accept a life of bondage We become slaves of time and work tirelessly for no reason To prove to others that we are important in society, we keep toiling ourselves day and night Sagacity lies in identifying priorities and putting the knowledge to good use for larger purposes than shortsighted show-offs But we all fall prey to this tendency of looking at our life from the perspective of a neighbour

Unless we develop daring like the monk, we all aim to be an advisor to the king Not only aim to be, but toil to be, and take pride in being Unfortunate thing is that we ridicule the monk who has made his decision to be free, undervaluing the wise decision Victory will be decided when we stop being slaves to others' opinions and listen to the inner voice Although it's an individual choice whether one wants to be an advisor to the king or a free monk, making a judgement on the other s choice is also a poor decision

(Expressed opinions are personal)

Sid flying higher for brighter skies

Dhiren Katwa

Teenag er Sidd hant Patel is an aspiring Royal A ir Fo rce p il o t f ro m B i rm i ng h am Sharing his sto ry so far, the 1 8 - yea r- o ld a i m s t o g i v e back to his com munity and in s p ir e yo u ng av ia ti o n enth usiasts

He joined the 165 (Castle B r o m w i c h ) s q u a d r o n , A i r C a d e t s , i n A u g u s t 2 0 2 1 Already he has earned the rank of Sergeant in less than half the expected time He has also achieved 11 honours including the Pablo Mason Examinations Shield, Senior cadet and shooting badges as well as the DofE physical

a c c o l a d e A t a n a n n u a l awards evening last Friday, he received a certificate for successfully completing his Presentation Skills course Of the many activities on offer, shooting remains his firm favourite “The skill, a c c u r a c y , a n d t e c h n i q u e taught by experienced volunteers have enabled me to become one of the best in m y s q u a d r o n , ” e x p l a i n e d

Siddhant With over 25 flying hours, an average of 85% in his Pilot exams and many rough landings, Siddhant is currently working towards h i s L i g h t A i r c r a f t P i l o t s

License On drone flying, he smiled: “I have just under 2 flying hours and many collisions with trees ” He said he aims to become more confident and experienced in this s p e c i a l i s t i n d u s t r y Siddhant is currently in Year

13 studying Maths, Physics and Geography at Park Hall

A c a d e m y S i x t h f o r m H e lives at home with his mum, dad and sister, an accountant, electronics engineer, and patent attorney, respect i v e l y H e e n j o y s k e e p i n g himself grounded by using a gym, hiking and travelling H e t h a n k e d h i s 1 6 5 s q u a d r o n s , “ I a m h u g e l y impressed at the opportunities all the volunteers have created for me ” The team at ABPL wish Siddhant continued excellence and even greater success in helping him achieve his dream

Amish Tripathi and Sonam Kapoor

Amish Tripathi and Gurinder Chadha

Advice from Diabetes UK as people living with diabetes prepare for Ramadan

The charit y Diabete s UK is p r o v i d i n g su p p o r t a n d a d v ic e fo r p e o p le i n t h e M uslim commun ity who live wit h diabet es, to he lp t hem s t a y he a lt h y d u r i n g R ama dan

This year, Ramadan will run for 29 or 30 days from on or around 22 March, ending with Eid al-Fitr The Qur'an r e q u i r e s M u s l i m s t o f a s t d u r i n g t h e m o n t h o f R a m a d a n f r o m s u n r i s e t o sunset, but there are excep-

The Ramadan Cookbook

require emergency hospital treatment ”

Some people with diab e t e s c h o o s e t o f a s t a n d Diabetes UK offers the following advice for those who do:

- If you are unwell or have any symptoms of Covid-

19, do not fast and call 111 for further advice

- If you do choose to fast, before you start, include m o r e s l o w l y a b s o r b e d foods, such as basmati

Anisa Karolia is one of the UK's mo st po pular Muslim foo d blog gers, sh aring all o f h er fa v o u ri te au t h ent ic recip es since 2015 S he has a co mmunity of ov er 24 0,0 00 fo l lo w er s w o rld w id e a nd was a British M uslim A ward winner fo r digital activity in 20 20 Through her various platforms, Anisa's m issio n is to s h are qu i c k a nd e as y recip es, and she esp ecially lov es to share those all-tim e fam ily favo urites th at sh e enjoyed g row ing up eating

F o o d B l o g g e r A n i s a Karolia grew up in a family of foodies, and her earliest, f o n d e s t m e m o r i e s a r e o f w a l k i n g i n t o t h e k i t c h e n after school and asking her mum what she was cooking

Anisa started her blog and Y o u T u b e C h a n n e l , C o o k with Anisa, after the birth of her third child as a way of s h a r i n g h e r f a v o u r i t e a u t h e n t i c f a m i l y r e c i p e s , and inspiring a new genera-

tion to learn how to make d e l i c i o u s h o m e - c o o k e d f o o d , p a r t i c u l a r l y d u r i n g Ramadan

For Anisa, Ramadan is about self-reflection, charit y , s a c r i f i c e , f a m i l y a n d thinking of those less fortunate Food also plays a huge part of Ramadan as Muslims around the world abstain from eating between sunrise and sunset, starting the day with the pre-dawn meal o f s u h o o r , t h e n s p e n d i n g time in the kitchen, usually w i t h f a m i l y m e m b e r s , preparing something for the evening

In her first book, The Ramadan Cookbook, Anisa shares recipes that can be e n j o y e d t h r o u g h o u t

Ramadan, from filling early morning meals for Suhoor, t o h e a r t y a n d s a t i s f y i n g meals for Iftar, as well as dishes made for celebrating with friends and family during Eid al-Fitr With all the accompanying salads, chutn e y s , b r e a d s , d r i n k s a n d d e s s e r t s y o u ' l l n e e d , t h i s book has all the most popular Ramadan dishes covered T h e f a m i l y - f r i e n d l y , flavourful, fuss-free recipes in The Ramadan Cookbook can be enjoyed at any time of year, and Anisa includes p l e n t y o f b a t c h - c o o k i n g i d e a s y o u c a n m a k e i n a d v a n c e a n d f r e e z e u n t i l required, to help you prepare for Ramadan, Eid or your everyday cooking

tions and people who are unwell or have medical conditions are not expected to f a s t T h i s i n c l u d e s p e o p l e with diabetes Diabetes UK are encouraging anyone livi n g w i t h d i a b e t e s a n d preparing for Ramadan to speak to their diabetes team and their Imam to help them t o d e c i d e h o w b e s t t o observe the holy month and manage their diabetes safely D o u g l a s T w e n e f o u r , Head of Care at Diabetes U K , s a i d : “ C h o o s i n g whether to fast is a personal c h o i c e H o w e v e r , g e t t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n a n d a d v i c e ahead of Ramadan can help y o u d e c i d e w h e t h e r i t i s right and safe for you to do so

“That is because if you have diabetes, fasting can risk aggravating complicat i o n s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e c o n d i t i o n , s u c h a s p o o r vision, heart or kidney disease and hypoglycaemia as well as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) – a condition that can

rice and dhal, in your m e a l a l o n g w i t h f r u i t and vegetables - During your fast, if you a l r e a d y c h e c k y o u r b l o o d s u g a r l e v e l s , d o t h i s m o r e o f t e n t h a n usual -

W h e n y o u b r e a k t h e f a s t , h a v e o n l y s m a l l quantities of food, and avoid only eating sweet or fatty foods

M r T w e n e f o u r a d d e d :

“If you are fasting and you feel unwell or that you are having a hypo, check your blood sugars and, if you are, b r e a k y o u r f a s t a n d t a k e your usual hypo treatment followed by starchy food If you ’ re showing any symptoms of Covid-19 or feeling unwell, our advice would be to not fast

“It’s also important to know that taking diabetes m e d i c a t i o n , t e s t i n g y o u r blood glucose levels or getting a coronavirus vaccinat i o n w i l l n o t b r e a k y o u r fast ”

Charity receives high demand from people in need of help

A charity that sp ecialises i n h el p i n g Br i ti s h Mu s l i ms w i th f i na n ci a l p r o b le ms s a ys it h a s b ee n o ve rwhelmed by th e demand fo r h el p Re q u es t s fo r c r i si s g ra nt s ar e r u n ni n g a t u n p re ce den ted l eve ls , th e National Zakat F oundatio n says T h e c h a r i t y s a y s requests for help are running at up to 2,000 applications per month, approximately double what it was last year Due to the surge in

demand, it is currently taking them up to four months to process an applicationp r e v i o u s l y i t t o o k t w o w e e k s S u c c e s s f u l a p p l icants can get cash grants of around £600 for a single person and about £1,000 for a family with two children NZF, which raises most o f i t s m o n e y d u r i n g Ramadan, which starts on

2 2 M a r c h , s a i d B r i t i s h M u s l i m s t r a d i t i o n a l l y donate money to aid people suffering overseas

Trust China at your peril

The summit of three world leaders, namely our PM Rishi Sunak, US President Joe Biden and Australian PM Anthony Albanese held in sunny California has come at the right time to thwart Chinese mischief making foreign policy to dominate the world, replacing the West, especially America as the leading light of the world

But the question is; are we ready to isolate China! It seems not We are worried about trade, as China dominates and has cornered the world market in consumer goods, as well as arms manufacturing normally supplied to African countries, either free or at a nominal cost

Some may say we do not have the stomach to take on both Russia and China Then it is the West who has driven Russia into Chinese fold, worrying more about Ukraine than our own safety, peace and prosperity

Moreover West do not have men-power and arms manufacturing capacity, as possessed by China Their only alternative is to make India an equal partner and utilize India’s capacity to match China, as India has the ability to manufacture arms, build even nuclear powered submarines, as India already builds her own naval ships and even nuclear powered submarines India could build cheaper and faster submarines than Britain, especially if the West is willing to share the latest technology with India

Moreover India has a long and safe coastline The Andaman Sea with hundreds of scattered islands, mostly uninhabited, is the perfect place to build naval base, difficult for any foreign naval force to penetrate with shallow and narrow sea-lanes that can easily be mined and defended Moreover India is already in a defence pact with Japan and Australia and has cordial relations with them Australia is even considering manufacturing its armament needs in India

Indian PM Narendra Modi has already built close relations throughout the world with the sole exception being China! Moreover India is the only country both America and Russia trusts and have friendly relations! So it is time for the West to swallow its pride and make India an equal partner

Bhup endra M Gand hi

Announcements should be made in local languages too

In India, Hindi is the mother tongue of only 25 per cent of Indians Yet, domestic flights make announcements only in English and Hindi Domestic flights should have in-flight and safety announcements in local languages – both at the point of origin and destination of the flight to ensure that all passengers understand the instructions and not ignore them due to the language barrier

Jubel D Cruz

Mobile phones

Technology is a double edged sword No doubt Mobiles have made life easier but prolonged use of mobile/screen exposure causes sleep deprivation, dry eyes and develops high power in children and teens Self control is needed F r e e d o m w i t h o u t d i s c i p l i n e i s l i k e c o u n t r y w i t h o u t defence

T S Karthik

High Commissioner’s special meeting with CB Patel

Govindbhai Dholakia and delegation warmly welcomed at India House

Govindbhai Dholakia, founder and chairman of Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt Ltd , the world’s leading diamond manufacturing and exporting company from India was warmly welcomed at the India House

Govind bhai Dholakia on his London visit had a special invitation from the High Commission of India Deputy High Commissioner Mr Sujit Ghosh welcomed him and had a discussion about his autobiography- “Diamonds are Forever, So are Morals” Mr Ghosh praised the philanthropic work done by Govind bhai in India Shreyans Dholakia, Anil Sojitra, Dhruval, Arpit Narola, Dhyey, Hill and CEO Kamlesh Yagnik were in the delegation

Govindbhai Dholakia honoured at BAPS Neasden Temple

High Commissioner Mr Vikram Doraiswami had a special meeting with Mr CB Patel, Publisher and Editor in Chief of Gujarat Samachar-Asian Voice Both of them discussed strengthening the community CB said, preserving core values and cultural identity is important Culture serves as an invisible bond which ties people together Mr Doraiswami congratulated CB Patel as he was felicitated with The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest Indian award for Non-resident Indians and Overseas Citizens of India The award was conferred by the President of India Hon Draupadi Murmu

Govind bhai Dholakia and the delegation were honoured at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Neasden Temple for strengthening the community and philanthropic work Govindbhai and the delegation had a special Abhishek Mandir’s Head Sadhu Yogvivekdas Ji, Sadhu Prabuddhmunidas Ji honoured Govindbhai Govindbhai shared the memories of Pramukh Swami Ji Maharaj mentioned in his autobiography- “Diamonds are Forever, So are Morals” Shreyans Dholakia, Anil Sojitra, Dhruval, Arpit Narola, Dhyey, Hill and CEO Kamlesh Yagnik were in the delegation

LIBF 2023: Historic participation of 800 Lohanas from 23 countries across the world

Lohana Commun ity- lin ked inve stments an d bus in ess es ex hi b it in g at the Lo han a I n t e r n a t i o n a l Bu s i n e s s Forum (Afri ca C allin g) in Ka mp a l a , a tt r a c te d ov e r 800 Lohan as f rom 23 countr i e s a cr o s s t h e w o r l d Pr e s i d e n t Mu s e v e n i co nveyed his gra titude to the global Lohana Commun ity for choos ing Ugan da a s the ho s t o f t h e L o h a n a I n t e r n a t i o n a l Bu s i n e s s Forum

M i n i s t e r o f S t a t e P r i v a t i z a t i o n a n d I n v e s t m e n t E v e l y n A n i t e makes a strong case for 2 5 million Lohanas worldwide t o c o m e a n d i n v e s t i n Uganda and says in addition t o a b u n d a n t r e s o u r c e s & opportunities, the President M u s e v e n i - l e d g o v e r n m e n t p r o v i d e s g e n e r o u s i n c e ntives for investors

S h e u r g e s L o h a n a investors to snap up abund a n t o p p o r t u n i t i e s i n Uganda in areas like value a d d i t i o n i n a g r i c u l t u r e , mining, manufacturing, real estate and services

P r o m i n e n t U g a n d a n Lohanas gracing the Lohana I n t e r n a t i o n a l B u s i n e s s

Indian diaspora in UK comes out top in home ownership, education and professional occupations

p s , a n d j o i n t l y t h e highest proportion of working professionals in the UK

Hill Seliya, Dhruval Dholakia, Arpit Narola, Shreyans Dholakia, DHC Mr Sujit Ghosh, Govindbhai Dholakia Mahesh Liloriya Anil Sojitra Dhyey Sojitra Kamlesh Yagnik

Govindbhai Dholakia presented his autobiography to DHC Mr Ghosh

Govindbhai Dholakia performed Special Abhishek at BAPS Neasden Temple

L to R: Kamlesh Yagnik Dhyey Sojitra Dhruval Dholakia Sadhu Yogikirtandas Ji Prabuddhmunidas Swami, Sadhu Yogvivekdas Ji, Govindbhai Dholakia, Shreyans Dholakia, Arpit Narola, Anil Sojitra, Mahesh Liloriya, Hill Seliya, Dipam Bhachech

High Commissioner H E Doraiswami and CB Patel with Pravasi Bhartiya Samman

Plastic free Ramadan set to be launched nationwide

A p roject to r ed uce sing leu se p lastic at communit y e ve nt s dur ing Rama da n is se t to be rolle d-out acr oss t he country – with th e p ote nt ia l to save 500 t onne s of waste ea ch yea r

Projects Against Plastic (PAP) launched a pilot project with representatives from mosques in Bristol to find sustainable ways to serve food and drink while breaking fast

And following its success, which saved around a tonne of waste per mosque, organisers are campaigning for other cities to get on board Mosques in the South West, South East, North West and the Midlands have responded to the campaign and it is hoped more will get involved

PAP charity founder Naseem Talukdar said:

“Protecting the environment is an important aspect of Islam and together we can tackle plastic pollution nationwide ”

500 tonnes of waste reduction

There are an estimated 500 mosques in the UK and each one can use up to 3,000 water bottles and 2,000 plastic plates and cutlery sets during Ramadan

Naseem, who is also director for social respon-

sibility and sustainability at UK Curry Connect campaign group, which works for betterment of the catering industry, believes reducing waste in mosques would significantly benefit the environment

He said: “We’re working to get all mosques involved in the campaign and to say no to single-use plastic

“If everyone gets involved, we could save around a tonne of waste per mosque This would benefit those communities directly and the country in general ”

He is encouraging leaders to install water refill stations and said the team would help them to make the transition – with communication and education materials – to reduce waste

It could lead to saving

a tonne per mosque –the equivalent weight of nearly 70 elephants

Single-use plastic ban

Lord Dick Newby OBE, leader of the Lib Dems in the House of Lords, hosted the nationwide launch of #PlasticFreeRamadan at Parliament

He said: “If we are to clean up the environment, we ’ ve got to drastically reduce the use of plastic

Plastic Free Ramadan is showing how this can be done It deserves every success ”

Around 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year – harming wildlife and polluting the environment The chemicals released may also be harmful to humans ”

A ban on some singleuse plastics will come into force in England from

October this year, the government has announced

Takeaways, restaurants and cafes will have to stop using single-use plastic cutlery, plates and bowls to tackle the growing plastic problem

Pilot scheme

PAP, along with Bristol Muslim Strategic Leadership Group (BMSLG), set up to develop and strengthen Muslim communities in Bristol, have been working to tackle single-use plastic at mosques on a voluntary basis

Organisers have held events to raise awareness and encourage visitors to bring their own bottles –reducing single-use plastic by 75 per cent

Seven mosques in Bristol took part in a pilot scheme, which involved installing a water fountain

and dishwasher.

Sheila El Dieb, Environmental Task Group Chair of BMSLG, said: “By joining with this ground-breaking charity partnership, we believe we are giving the mosques their natural leadership roles at a critical period of the year “Ramadan is a time when Muslims are reconsidering their individual place in the world along with their responsibility to the planet, each other and our fellow global inhabitants

“No step is too small to seek to find ecological ways of making our living sustainable; no person is unimportant in this journey ”

PAP has been working with leaders within the food and hospitality to reduce plastic for five years

Launch at the Parliament Naseem Talukdar

Sheila el Dieb

Dick Newby

International Long Covid Awareness Day: For some, the pandemic is far from over

Paramita Purkayastha

M arch 15, 20 23, ma rked th e f ir st Inter na tional Long Covid Awar eness Da y Co ming on th e t hir d ye ar fro m th e onse t of th e p ande mic, its ma rking h ig hlight ed the incr ea sing impo rtance of a cond it ion and a d re ad ful re alisa tion- tha t th ings h av e not bee n all righ t f or ma ny p eop le disch arg ed fr om h ospit als, some time s af ter being a h air’s br ea dth awa y fro m d ea th, aft er being d eclar ed d ise ase-fr ee In a wor ld wh ere WHO estimat es ov er 6 8 millio n p eop le ha ve died f rom Co vid -19 t o d ate , some who co ntr acte d t he disease a ges a go ar e still ba ttling to re su me the ir preCov id live s- a ba ttle which ha s mo st ly be en silent and lonely

Be cause in the absence of prop er scie ntif ic a nd gove rnment inve stme nt in the ir suff er ing, t hey stru ggl e e ve n to be be lie ve d in a world th at is a gg ressiv ely t rying t o pe rsua de th em t ha t th e p ande mic is ov er , ev en whe n t heir bo dies say ot her wise

Wha t is Lo ng Covid?

The UK press release of ILCA (International Long Covid Awareness) and LCAP (Long Covid Action Project) defines Long Covid as ‘ a disabling illness with a growing list of over 200 possible symptoms, affecting more than 65 million people worldwide Sufferers of Long Covid are often significantly disabled by the condition and have a drastically reduced quality of life and are unable to do many everyday tasks that are taken for granted by able-bodied individuals ’

The beg innings o f L ong Co vid

Awar eness Da y

In January 2023, first-wave Long Covid patient Angela Laffin started a grassroots movement in the US to establish an awareness day to unite with support groups and Long Covid organisations internationally

Sherwood actor now plays NHS doctor in Allelujah

So wh at mad e pe ople come on board t o ma rk a special da y for Long Covid?

Long Covid has not only gone on to affect 65 million people, but it has also added to post-Covid fatalities According to the latest report from the Office for National Statistics, “Long Covid symptoms adversely affected the day-today activities of 1 5 million people (77% of those with selfreported long Covid), with 380,000 (19%) reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been ‘limited a lot’"

And those day-to-day activities involve jobs, finances, and relationships And yet, people with the condition struggle to be acknowledged Unique as each person ’ s Covid19 diagnosis and prognosis were, what unites those suffering from Long Covid across the world are their initial struggles to make sense of what was happening to them, and then their struggles to make others see what was happening to them

Sanjiv Patel, lecturer and academic supervisor at the University of Warwick and founder of Sanjiv Speaks, told Asian Voice, “I was one of the early victims of Covid-19 having ended up in ICU care back in April 2020 My recovery journey since then has largely been down to ‘self-management’, the NHS was stretched for obvious reasons It affects you both physically and mentally, things that people around you can’t see I’ve learned a lot in my journey and have tried to make sense of what I was experiencing through finding articles, research, and other global firsthand accounts for those in a similar situation to me That gave me hope and reassurance that I wasn’t ‘imagining it’ "

Not only have people been sacked indiscriminately after the

pandemic from their jobs in the absence of proper accountability mechanisms, but their physical and mental conditions have also forced many victims of Long Covid away from their loved ones in the most difficult of times Patel told us, “So much of what you experience with Long Covid is experienced ‘after' you ’ ve been public facing It’s the feeling of suddenly feeling drained, feelings of depression and anxiety and brain fog, which for me and many others I have spoken with, is compounded by insomnia Simple things my mum suggested started to make sense ‘Ashwagandha’, turmeric, ginger and fresh lemon juice with warm water have helped me and many others I know, immensely Vitamin D3 with Vitamin K2 and omega 3 have also become part of my daily routine I learned that ‘progressive exercise’, something to stretch you but not too intense, works really well For me, walking regularly, and listening to my body to build stamina without pushing my lungs over the edge works ”

What makes diagnosis even more difficult is that most Long Covid symptoms are difficult to measure, or even directly associate with Covid With most of the public resources in the past couple of years being focused on treating Covid-19 and containing transmission, it is only now that the effects of Long Covid are beginning to be considered in all their seriousness As Patel said, “The NHS has come a long way since then (his infection with Covid19 in April 2020) I’ve taken part in all phases of NHS-led ‘PHOSP-Covid’ clinical research to help develop greater understanding and rehabilitation pathways I was part of the trial for “Your Covid Recovery” which is now a great place to go to for anyone It is now available to the general public at ‘ www yourCovidrecovery nhs uk’ ”

Britain will now display Kohinoor as the symbol of conquest

T h e c o ntr o v er si al c o lo n ia l- er a K o h i n o o r d i a m o nd cl ai m ed b y India is to be cast as a “ symbol of conquest” as part of a new display o f Britain’s C row n Jew els at th e T ower of London set to open to the public in M ay

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the charity that manages Britain’s palaces, said this week that the new Jewel House exhibition will e x p l o r e t h e h i s t o r y o f t h e

Kohinoor – also known as Koh-iNoor – through a combination of objects and visual projections The infamous diamond, which is set within the Crown of the mother of t h e l a t e Q u e e n E l i z a b e t h I I , remains within the Tower after Camilla – in a diplomatic move –chose not to use this traditional c r o w n f o r h e r c o r o n a t i o n w i t h

King Charles II on May 6

“ T h e h i s t o r y o f t h e K o h - iN o o r , w h i c h i s s e t w i t h i n t h e C r o w n o f Q u e e n E l i z a b e t h t h e Queen Mother, will be explored,”

HRP said, with reference to the n e w p l a n n e d d i s p l a y A combination of objects and visual projections will explain the stone’s story as a symbol of conquest, with many previous owners, including Mughal Emperors, Shahs of Iran, Emirs of Afghanistan, and Sikh Maharajas,” it said

K o h i n o o r , w h i c h m e a n s

mountain of light in Persian, came

Bally Gill says h is parents wanted him to beco me a do cto r He chose acti ng, but no w h e's p laying an NHS medic in hi s first film role

People have seen Bally in the BBC drama Sherwood, or as Agent Singh in Apple TV's Slow Horses For his big screen debut, he's starring alongside some of Britain's biggest acting namesDame Judi Dench, Jennifer Saunders and Russell Tovey

Bally Gill

The film - Allelujah - has been called a love letter to the NHS Adapted from a play by Alan Bennett, it focuses on a community trying to save an old people's ward at a small Yorkshire hospital

After learning it is threatened with closure, the locals are galvanised into action Bally's character, Dr Valinder Singh Vashish, is pivotal in their efforts to save it The 30-year-old says he

felt "blessed" to be working with household-name actors Bally lost his grandmother to cancer earlier this year, and he says the "real-life experience with the NHS" echoed scenes he'd filmed He says Allelujah, filmed during the Covid pandemic with regular tests for cast and crew, has a clear message for its audience: "To appreciate the NHS"

It was released in the same week as a strike by junior doctors over their pay and working conditions We need to give staff a voice", Bally says, and appreciate what they do despite being "understaffed and underpaid" It's also no coincidence that the film hits screens as the NHS turns 75 "The NHS is unique, it's needed and it saves lives," says Bally Allelujah was released on Friday 17 March

Britain to pay £78m to other countries for transporting migrants

Britain h as tendered a 78 million p ound ( $94 75 million) co ntract for the transport of migrants to p a rt ne r c o u nt ri e s i n c lu di ng Rwanda as p art of its p lans to detain and dep ort p eople arriving in small bo ats across th e Ch annel Britain recently set out details of a new law barring the entry of asylum seekers arriving in small boats, a proposal some charities s a y c o u l d b e i m p r a c t i c a l a n d c r i m i n a l i s e t h e e f f o r t s o f thousands of genuine refugees T h e p l a n s a i m t o d e t a i n a n d deport arrivals, either to their h o m e l a n d o r t o s o - c a l l e d s a f e third countries Last year, Britain agreed on a deal to send tens of thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away (6,400 km) to Rwanda as part of a 120 millionpound deal, though no flights have taken off as opponents have

raised legal challenges against the policy

The tender, dated March 8 and reviewed by Reuters, is for the "contract for the provision of in-country and overseas escorting services in relation to Migration a n d E c o n o m i c D e v e l o p m e n t Partnerships (MEDP) and other i m m i g r a t i o n s e r v i c e s " A potential three-year contract has an estimated value of 78 million pounds over a potential threey e a r c o n t r a c t B r i t a i n ' s o n l y current MEDP is with Rwanda

A f t e r a r e c o r d 4 5 , 0 0 0 migrants arrived in Britain last y e a r o n s m a l l b o a t s , P r i m e M i n i s t e r R i s h i S u n a k h a s s a i d finding a solution is a top priority T h e g o v e r n m e n t s p e n d s m o r e t h a n 2 b i l l i o n p o u n d s ( $ 2 4 billion) a year to accommodate them

into Queen Victoria’s possession f r o m t h e t r e a s u r y o f M a h a r a j a Ranjit Singh a few years before she w a s t o b e c r o w n e d e m p r e s s o f India and has played a starring role in British coronations of the past It will now take centre stage at the new post-Coronation exhibition at the Tower of London

On display will be a series of objects from the Royal Ceremonial D r e s s C o l l e c t i o n , i n c l u d i n g a n exquisite court suit worn at the Coronation of George IV and a herald’s tabard which would have b e e n w o r n d u r i n g r o y a l p r o c e s s i o n s T h e d i s p l a y w i l l c u l m i n a t e i n t h e T r e a s u r y , t h e vault that protects most of the C r o w n J e w e l s c o l l e c t i o n , c o m p r i s i n g o v e r 1 0 0 o b j e c t s i n

total Among the spectacular items on display in the Treasury is St Edward’s Crown of 1661, which is used at the moment of crowning and is the most important and sacred crown within the collection

36 sites agree to live screen the King’s coronation

T h e K i ng ' s c o ro n ati o n w i l l be publicly screened at m ore than 3 0 sites across the U K C i t i e s i n c l u d i n g L o n d o n , Cardiff and Belfast will show the e v e n t l i v e o n b i g s c r e e n s o n

Saturday 6 May Public screenings

o f t h e c e r e m o n y , w h i c h w i l l include the coronation of Queen Consort Camilla, will also be held i n B i r m i n g h a m , M a n c h e s t e r , Leeds, Hull, Bristol and Brighton

A s c r e e n i n g w i l l t a k e p l a c e i n Scotland, though an exact location is yet to be confirmed

More than £1m has been made available by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) f o r t h e b i g s c r e e n s C u l t u r e Secretary Lucy Frazer said: "The c o r o n a t i o n w i l l b e a m a g i c a l m o m e n t t h a t b r i n g s p e o p l e together to celebrate the best of Britain over a special weekend in May These big screens, in major

locations in towns and cities in the four nations of the UK, will make it easier for everyone to take part and have a memorable experience to m a r k t h i s e x c i t i n g a n d h i s t o r i c event "

A c c o r d i n g t o D C M S , 2 9 l o c a t i o n s h a v e a l r e a d y b e e n confirmed Seven more areas have also been agreed upon, with exact l o c a t i o n s s t i l l t o b e c o n f i r m e d Local authorities will be able to choose between using the funding towards one larger big screen site or a number of smaller screening sites, with Sunderland one of the areas set to choose the latter F u r t h e r d e t a i l s o f a c t i v i t i e s taking place alongside screenings will be announced by each local authority Activities will include c u l t u r a l f e s t i v a l s , l i v e m u s i c , c o m m u n i t y w o r k s h o p s , a r t showcases and creative games and competitions

The Bhavan's Music Festival

Weekend One

F or th e past year, The Bhav an, L ond on h as been celebrating its go ld en jubilee with a wh ole year of specially curated perf o rm a nc es , w o r ks h o p s , an d events

As one of the finale events, T h e B h a v a n a r e h o s t i n g a grand two-weekend celebration of Indian classical music featuring the best of instrumentalists and vocalists, and this weekend saw a scintillating Sitar recital by Pt Kushal Das and a h e a r t - w a r m i n g v i o l i n r e c i t a l b y t h e renowned Mysore Brothers

On Saturday, 18th March, Pt Kushal Das gave a Sitar recital, accompanied on the Tabla by Pt Rajkumar Misra Known for his inimitable style, Kushal ji treated the audience to melodies like Raga Yaman through which he displayed his improvisation and the rare Raga Chandra Kaushiki The audience really enjoyed their presentation

O n S u n , 1 9 t h M a r c h , t h e M y s o r e Brothers gave a duet violin recital accompan i e d b y D o u b l e M r i d a n g a m b y S r i M B a l a c h a n d a r a n d S r i B a n g a l o r e P r a k a s h

B e g i n n i n g w i t h R a g a B o w l i , they took the audience on a journey through various ragas a n d m o o d s t o t h u n d e r o u s applause Their rendition of ‘ R a g a m T a n a m P a l l a v i ’ i n Shankarabharanam and other loved Krithis like ‘Krishna Nee Begane Baaro’ were received with rapture They concluded the evening with a composit i o n b y S r i G a n a p a t h i Sachidananda Swamiji

On the morning of Sunday, the Mysore brothers and Pt Kushal Das got together in a live conversation and interaction with the audience and threw light on the deeper insights and nuances of their respective instruments The audience had the chance to ask them questions and gain their perspectives about their art forms

The music festival concludes this coming weekend with a Hindustani vocal recital by Sri Sanjeev Abhyankar on Sat the 25th of March, and a Karnatic vocal recital by P Unnikrishnan on the 26th of March

Tickets are available on their website –www bhavan net

Indian student and youth organisation leader named one of 50 most influential voices in international higher education

In a first- of-its-ki nd list curated to reflect the most influent ial vo i ces i n th e E u ro p ean I n te rn a ti o n al H i g h er E du c a ti o n s ec to r, S an am A ro ra , F o u n de r a nd Ch airperson of th e Natio nal Indian S tu dents and Alumni Union UK (NISAU) has been featu red as one of th e “ key i nfluencers”

The list of the 50 “people b e h i n d t h e p o l i c y ” 1 f e a t u r e s e c t o r s t a l w a r t s i n c l u d i n g M e m b e r s o f t h e U K Parliament such as Lord Karan B i l i m o r i a C B E D L , C h a n c e l l o r o f t h e University of Birmingham and President of the UK Council of Student Affairs; Sir Steve Smith, the UK Government’s Interna-tional H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n C h a m p i o n ; P i e t V a n H o v e , P r e s i d e n t o f t h e E u r o p e a n Association for Higher Education; Stig Arne S k j e r v e n , N o r w a y ’ s S p e c i a l E n v o y a n d D e p u t y P e r m a n e n t R e p r e s e n t a t i v e t o U N E S C O ; V i v i e n n e S t e r n , C E O o f Universities UK which is the representative body for UK universities; Phil Baty, Chief G l o b a l A f f a i r s O f f i c e r o f T i m e s H i g h e r Education; Diana Beech, CEO of London Higher, which represents London’s univers i t i e s a n d S a n d r a R i n c o n , C h a i r o f t h e E u r o p e a n A s s o c i a t i o n f o r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Education

Indian students should be a key priority for the whole of the UK Higher Education system and developed our own set of tools and strategies over the years to effectuate real and on-ground impact at scale for Indian students abroad Today it just seems incredible and so humbling to be named as a key i n f l u e n c e r f o r o u r w o r k i n b r i n g i n g a b o u t p o s i t i v e change for Indian students We will keep working harder t o e n s u r e t h a t t h e s t u d e n t voice becomes the heart of international student policymaking in the UK and beyond ”

This recognition comes hot off the heels o f S a n a m r e c e n t l y b e i n g n a m e d a s t h e youngest Commissioner for the UK’s newly f o r m e d I n t e r n a t i o n a l H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n Commission2 which has been tasked with d e v e l o p i n g r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s f o r a n e w

‘International Education Strategy 2 0 ’ in partnership with the higher education community The Commission is chaired by the R t H o n C h r i s S k i d m o r e M P , f o r m e r Universities Minister of the UK

South Asians

look

forward to Swim England’s ‘Love Swimming’ campaign

Paramita Purkayastha

If yo u are a p erso n of So uth Asian o rigin reading this, th e fi rst th ing that might as well come to your mind when you h ear ‘ swi mming’ would be a svelte person in revealing clo th es havi ng the ti me of their life in the po ol, a p icture i n wh ich most middle-class S outh Asians with no t-so -perfect middle-regions of th eir bodies would struggle to fit

The Love Swimming initiative launched by Swim England, the national governing

South Asia has traditionally been in natural and open water bodies, those unwilling to shed their clothes in public, and women in particular, find it impossible to continue swimming once they reach puberty Of late swimming facilities for adults have come up in relatively urban areas, but even they remain either out of reach for large sections of the South Asian population or are not perceived to be safe and private

A n d t h e s e p e r c e p t i o n s h a v e g r o w n deeply rooted According to the survey by

body for swimming in England, along with ten of its partners, is targeted precisely at such people who are overwhelmed by the popular ideas of swimming in their own cultures, and in mass media A national campaign to raise awareness about the benefits of swimming, it aims to make people from all communities, regardless of their sex, age and abilities, ditch their gadgets and join each other at the swimming pool

That South Asians are a focus group has statistical underpinnings According to a recent survey conducted by Swim England, more than 3 in 5 (63%) people of South Asian origin felt it was intimidating to learn to swim as an adult, against the national average who shared this view (51%) This rested on several misconceptions within the focus group 48% of South Asians thought that swimming lessons were only for beginners against a national average of 33%, 67% of South Asians believed that swimming teachers preferred teaching children to adults against a national average of 42%, and significantly, 49% of South Asians thought that swimming lessons ‘ aren’t’ for people like me ’ Boosting self-es teem

M u n a t o l d t h e n e w s w e e k l y , “ I l o v e attending my swimming session It gives me time to focus on myself and stress relief and have a lovely conversation with my favourite mamas Swimming sessions give me 45 mins of my 24/7 to focus on myself and I come out relaxed ”

Neelam said, “I had a phobia of water,” She gives credit to her teacher, Sen and this opportunity where I can get over her phobia as well as learn how to swim “I had never swum before These classes have given me the chance to learn from scratch Each lesson has been raising my confidence in myself and boosted my self-esteem in doing things of which I had no knowledge of,” she added

Swim England, the lack of privacy was revealed as an overwhelming barrier to swimming lessons by South Asian respondents, with 75% believing that the pool isn’t a private space and they didn’t want to be watched through the windows, significantly greater than the national average of 56% But this does not make South Asians in England lag in enthusiasm If their fears and insecurities are addressed, they would be the most enthusiastic to pick up swimming as adults, as revealed by the nearly 7 in 10 (67%) of respondents from the South Asian community who felt encouraged to improve their swimming ability and 1 7 million from ethnically diverse communities who have not been swimming in the last 12 months, wanting to do so in the next year

Real therapy

Jamal Hussan, a swimmer who had his first ever lesson aged 45, had the following to say about his experience “I first brought my daughter to start her lessons and she actually inspired me to get into the water At first, I was really scared because it was something I’d never done before at all When you think about the barriers to why people might avoid lessons, if I’m honest I think body shape, and age, all play a role But that shouldn’t be getting in the way of anyone starting lessons I was always worried that if I was taking my daughter, then I wouldn’t be able to go in the water with her and I’d miss out on that time with her Thanks to lessons, I do feel more confident on a daily basis now That hour that I get in the water, it gives you real therapy and I would urge anyone to just go for it!”

Commenting on being featured as one of the most influential 50 voices, Sanam Arora said “I’m honoured to be named as one of the "50 voices of 2023" alongside such l e g e n d s o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l e d u c a t i o n T e n years ago, when we started NISAU we had no idea how we would go about influencing policy

we just knew that the welfare of

A few months prior to this, Sanam was awarded the ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Higher Education Industry’ award at the prestigious PIEoneer awards3, which celebrate the best of international higher education At the same event, the NISAU also won the ‘Best Student Support’ award and was runner up for the ‘Association of the Year’ These awards are in recognition of the NISAU’s work in the International Higher Education space, supporting thousands of Indians abroad through the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine

A n o t h e r s w i m m e r , I r u m t o l d u s , “ I think swimming has really given me a lot of confidence and boosted my self-esteem I never learned it as a child, so having the opportunity and experience through the community, especially with leading and organising these groups has been wonderful I feel like it's just such a privilege to be part of this group the swimming itself is so it's a different feeling to be around others who were in the same boat as you and just waiting to learn the happy feeling of being in the water really does feel very very good for your mental health ”

This cultural hangover persists in South

The potential for the opportunities to m a k e s w i m m i n g i n c l u s i v e b y S w i m England to have an impact on people who till now have been excluded not only from swimming spaces in their communities but also in England where their discomfort has often been overlooked, is evident from the words of Talat, from London She said, “I am now a group leader for sessions run by Hounslow Swim Club, where we provide a safe environment to connect with others from different ethnicities, cultures, and countries of origin Providing the opportunity for adults to learn to swim is essential, it gives them a vital lifesaving skill that many of the women did not ever believe t h e y w e r e c a p a b l e o f T h e l a t e s t L o v e S w i m m i n g c a m p a i g n i s a b o u t b u s t i n g those damaging myths about who swimming lessons are for, and we want adults to know it’s never too late to learn, and that lessons are there to support everyone into the water ”

Pt Kushal Das in concert with Pt Rajkumar Misra on Tabla

The Mysore brothers in concert with Sri Bangalore Prakash and Sri M Baalachandar on Mridangam

Sanam Arora

Celebrating Women, Embracing Equ

On 13th March Asian Voice in association with the Royal Air Force held the annual Women in Conversation to coincide with the International Women’s Day. The theme was ‘Embracing Equity’.

This year marks an important milestone in ABPL’s history as Gujarat Samachar celebrates 50 years of community service Women have played a significant role throughout the history of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar

The first editor of Gujarat Samachar was a woman, Kusum Shah In the last 50 years, most senior editors of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar have been women In fact, during the last 50 years, out of 14 editors in various roles, 9 have been women

Air Co mm odo re Jo Lincoln MBE of the Royal Air Force delivered the opening speech (see page 17) before the panel discussion commenced

The panel discussion was moderat-

ed by Mam ta Sa ha , who is a Business Psychologist, Trainer, Transformational Coach and TEDx Speaker The panellists were Nina Patel, Digital Transformation and Innovation Executive at reputed firms such as The Net-a-Porter Group, Harvey Nichols and Farfetch; Asm a Khan, Celebrity Chef, Restaurateur (Darjeeling Express) and award-winning cookbook author; D r Swati D hingra, External Monetary Policy Committee Member in the Bank of England and Associate Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, and Sanam Arora, Chair of National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU-UK) and Commissioner for UK's International Higher Education Commission

Panellist Nina P atel said, “I think equity is where everyone feels that opportunity and progression are possible based solely on merit ” She

added, “A woman who I greatly admire once said to me that equality is when we have just as many mediocre women in leadership positions as we have mediocre men It's quite a controversial way to put it, but it's true Opportunity needs to exist equally for all ”

When asked if women can have it all, Asma Khan said, “The answer is no. I think that all of us are very privileged in one way or another. If you have enough, you need to share and help others I occasionally get to eat a meal with my children due to the nature of my business, but I do try to

balance my work and personal life

I'm probably not succeeding as much as I would like to But I have forgiven myself Women cannot have it all Nor can men They just think they're having it all ” Sharing her understanding of equity, Khan added, “I think the most important thing is how it makes you feel Equity is about feeling respected and honoured, and not being side-lined and made to feel small.”

Dr Swati Dh ingra explained where women can go wrong She said, “I think typically what many of us end up doing is to start behaving like

CB Patel, Chairman ABPL, members of the RAF, Panellists and the Moderator

Members of the RAF

Audience and the RAF team with CB Patel Chairman (1st from left) and Air Commodore Jo Lincoln MBE (2nd from left)

Members of the RAF with guests

men. We often tell ourselves: “I'm going to shout even louder if I want to be heard, and I'm going to behave like a man ” She continued, “I feel that's counterproductive I really hope that women don't fall into that trap, because we can end up creating the same world that we don't want created We want female traits to be reflected in the workplace ”

Sanam Arora said that she feels comfortable in a male-dominated environment without feeling the need to fit in “There have been many occasions when I've walked into a room full of men and felt absolutely comfortable In order to

'Dream Big and Go for it'

Air Commodore Jo Lincoln, RAF

Ai r Commodore Jo Li ncoln led the RAF team at thi s year's W om en In Con ver sation A ddressin g the audience she said, "On behalf of the Royal Ai r Force, it 's our privilege to b e her e this even ing There's n ot a lot I can say when I know I'm goin g to b e followed by an incr edi ble panel

"When I joined the Royal Air Force in 1997 not every role was open to women It took me 25 years to be where I am today and I'm celebrating every moment When I was 17 or 21 I didn't imagine that I would be amongst such an auspicious group as an Air Commodore and have the privilege to stand in front of all of you to say 'thank you' To the ladies here tonight I say 'anything is possible Dream big And just go for it Don't let anyone tell you that you can't'.

Addressing her colleagues from the RAF she said, "Thank you for your support Because all of us as officers in the Royal Air Force, can't do it without a brilliant team behind us Wherever I have been, I've had a brilliant team "

An in spir ing journ ey

Air Commodore Jo Lincoln joined the RAF in 1997, having completed BA(Hons) Business Administration (with Spanish) at the University of the West of England, Bristol After completing logistics and air movements training at RAFC Cranwell and RAF Brize Norton, she was appointed as the Duty Air Movements Officer

Following this, she completed 4months in support of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, during which time she deployed to East Timor and South East Asia On return, she joined the United Kingdom Mobile Air Movements Squadron as a team leader, deploying in support of operations in Sierra Leone, Macedonia, Kosovo and Afghanistan She was then fortunate to be assigned as an exchange officer in the USA within Air Mobility Command during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM

Following this, she was assigned to US Transportation Command, charged with developing and assessing their Deployable Distribution Operations Centre for the Middle East

logistics workstrand of Programme

Future Brize, completed the Air Logistics Staff Course and attained a Post Graduate Diploma in Logistics Management For her contribution at RAF Brize Norton, she was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year’s Honours List 2012 She then attended Advanced Command and Staff Course, where she also attained a Masters’ Degree and was promoted to Wing Commander She was next posted to the Joint Force Logistics Headquarters in 2012 as lead planner Here, she deployed to Afghanistan to conduct redeployment planning. Subsequently, she deployed again to Mali, firstly in the role of Chief of Staff and latterly as the Operational Liaison Team Leader during the parliamentary elections

In response to Typhoon Haiyan (at 12 hours’ notice to move), she deployed to the Philippines as Chief of Staff of the UK’s Joint Task Force Following this busy tour, she was fortunate to gain experience in Financial Military Capability and led the introduction of an enhanced Programme Management Support Function at Air Command From 2015 she commanded the Supply and Movements

make your presence felt you need to put forward your authentic self.”

The panel discussion was followed by a short Q&A

CB Patel Chairman ABPL thanked the guests and the Royal Air Force for partnering with Asian Voice to host the event He also extended his gratitude to Mehrnavaz

Avari and Shalini Grover from Taj Hotels for their impeccable hospitality

The host for the evening was Rupanjana Dutta, Managing Editor

Asian Voice (photo credit: Raj D Bakrania, PrMediapix)

On return to the UK, she was selected as Staff Officer to the Chief of the Air Staff and on Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup’s appointment as Chief of the Defence Staff, she moved with her Principal On promotion to Squadron Leader, she was posted to the Joint Force Air Component Headquarters in the role of Logistics Adviser She deployed to the Combined Air Operations Centre in Al Udeid to set up the Coalition Air Movements Coordination Centre to optimise the airlift between Iraq and Afghanistan and was subsequently the first UK Detachment Commander to the Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates

In 2009, she was appointed as Officer Commander Logistics Squadron at RAF Brize Norton During this tour, she jointly led the

Training Wing and she was responsible for training approximately 5,500 logisticians per annum at 5 geographically dispersed training squadrons

On promotion to Group Captain, she was appointed Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Workforce Requirements at Air Command She has commanded RAF Wittering and the A4 (Logistics and Engineering) Force Elements since August 2019 and assumed additional responsibility as the Deputy Commander of the Support Force since its establishment In July 2021, she was selected for promotion to Air Commodore and assigned to Assistant Chief of Staff Workforce Requirements and Recruitment

Air Commodore Lincoln is married to Paul In their spare time, they both enjoy travelling and walking on the moors and running with their border collie, Kai

L to R- Mamta Saha, Moderator and Panellists Dr Swati Dhingra, Sanam Arora, Nina Patel, Asma Khan

Dear Financia Voice Reader Alpesh Patel OBE

You may have seen my comments on the BBC on the banking crisis

It is likely that the US regional bank crisis will spill over into homebuilders and real estate investment trusts (REITs) as they depend on regional banks for loans If regional banks tighten lending, it could hurt these industries Across the country, banks of various sizes are battling market turmoil as customers rush to withdraw their deposits and investors dump bank stocks due to fear of more bank runs

Homebuilders and commercial developers depend on regional banks for loans If regional banks tighten lending due to a crisis, it could hurt these industries This means that homebuilders and real estate investment trusts (REITs) may be affected by a regional bank crisis

If you are not invested in homebuilders or REITs and do not have a loan from a regional bank, then the regional bank crisis may not directly affect you However, it’s important to note that economic events can have farreaching effects and may indirectly impact you in ways that are difficult to predict

All stock market cases are bull, bear and base Some experts predict that the stock market is poised for a strong second half of the year as inflation shows signs of cooling down Others anticipate lower inflation and expect interest rate hikes to pause after quarter one of 2023 However, some experts believe that corporate fundamentals balanced against a less accommodative U S Federal Reserve could create modest equity returns I’ll go with the base case

I love some of the stocks unaffected by these recent f a l l s , e s p e c i a l l y M i c r o s o f t – t h a n k s t o A I D o n o t underestimate the AI craze It’s justified My productivity is up Some days I have nothing to do, and have saved costs massively This is the biggest things since the internet Use it, learn it, or be left behind Like learning to write W hat can in vest ors d o t o prote ct themse lve s from future ban king crises an d stock mar ke t cr ashes?

Investing is always associated with risks, and no one can guarantee that you won't face any future banking crises or stock market crashes However, there are a few ways you can protect yourself and minimize the impact of such events on your portfolio

1 Diversify your portfolio: One of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of investing is to diversify your portfolio For me that is cash and about 30 US stocks Not diversified you may say, where is the gold and the property (I don’t count residential home, or business investment or investments I have in a dozen private companies)

2 Choose quality investments: It's crucial to invest in quality stocks and bonds from reputable companies Focus on companies that have a proven track record of generating consistent profits and paying dividends Also, watch out for red flags such as high debt levels, declining earnings, or negative news surrounding the company I do this for you Just follow me on www alpeshpatel com/links

3 Keep a long-term perspective: Investing should be v i e w e d a s a l o n g - t e r m s t r a t e g y S h o r t - t e r m m a r k e t movements often do not indicate the long-term prospects of an investment Thus, avoid making hasty investment decisions based on short-term market fluctuations For me it’s 12 months and review

4 Keep an emergency fund: Always have an emergency fund that can cover your living expenses for at least six months This way, you won't have to sell your investments during a market downturn to pay your bills

5 M o n i t o r y o u r i n v e s t m e n t s r e g u l a r l y : R e g u l a r monitoring of your investments can help you detect any red flags and take corrective action before it s too late Keep t r a c k o f y o u r p o r t f o l i o ' s p e r f o r m a n c e , a n d r e v i e w i t periodically with your financial advisor to ensure it aligns with your investment goals and risk tolerance For me it’s weekly to fortnightly

Good luck –

Economic pressure holding back companies from hiring new staff

Job vacancies in the UK have fallen for th e eig hth time in a row as co mp ani es blam ed eco no mi c p ress ures for holding back o n hiring new staff The number of jobs on offer between Decem ber and February fell by 51, 00 0 co mpared w ith the th ree m onths before Desp ite th e d rop , the num ber o f job v acancies rem ains high at 1 1 m illion

There are also 328,000 more vacancies compared to the pre-pandemic period of between January and March 2020 The rate of economic inactivity - people aged between 16 to 64 who are not in work and not seeking a job - dipped to 21 3% between November and January This was driven by younger people aged between 16 to 24 either getting jobs or looking for work However, there are still nine million economically inactive Britons who are not part of the workforce either because they are students, have retired or are suffering from long-term illness

Spring Budget 2023

Kiran D Patel BA(Hons) ACIPP BFP FCA Director, Albury Associates

In tr oduct ion an d Summary

After presenting a Budget-in-all-but name with the Autumn Statement, the Spring Budget was delivered against the backdrop of a day of widespread industrial action The run-up to the event appeared deliberately downplayed, save for a late flurry of leaks highlighting a focus on childcare at one end of the scale and pensions at the other While acknowledging the Prime Minister’s two objectives of halving inflation and reducing debt, Mr Hunt focused his Spring Budget on the Prime Minister’s third objective – getting the economy going

In a wide-ranging speech, there were some key headline items:

u The inflation rate is forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility to fall from 10 1% (January 2023) to just 2 9% by the end of 2023

u The lifetime allowance for pensions will be abolished from April 2024, with the lifetime allowance charge withdrawn from April 2023

u A new monetary limit for the tax-free pension commencement lump sum will be introduced for 2023/24 of £268,275 (equivalent to 25% of the current standard lifetime allowance)

u The annual allowance for pensions will increase by 50% to £60,000 from 2023/24 and the money purchase annual allowance will rise from £4,000 to £10,000 from 2023/24

u Companies investing in new plant and machinery in the three years from 1 April 2023 can claim a first-year allowance of up to 100% of expenditure

u Small and medium-sized enterprises that spend 40% or more of their total expenditure on research and development can claim a tax credit worth £27 for every £100 they spend from April 2023

u The energy price guarantee is maintained at the current £2,500 level until the end of June 2023

u Up to 30 hours of free childcare per week will be available to working parents of children from the age of nine months by September 2025 Initially, from April 2024, working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare per week

u The scheduled 11p a litre duty increases in petrol and diesel will not go ahead

The Deta il s Personal Taxa tion Income Tax

For 2023/24 to 2027/28, the personal allowance will remain at £12,570 and the higher rate threshold at £50,270, as previously announced The additional rate threshold for 2023/24 will be reduced to £125,140

The effect of the reduction of the additional rate threshold from 6 April 2023 will result in those earning above £125,139 having to pay an additional 5p in every £1 of earnings beyond this amount Earnings of £150,000 will result in additional tax liability of £1,243 Savings Rate Band

The 0% band for the starting rate for savings income for 2023/24 will remain at £5,000 Divid end Tax

The dividend allowance will reduce to £1,000 for 2023/24 and to £500 for 2024/25 The rates of tax on dividends above the dividend allowance will remain unchanged

National insurance contributions (NICs)

The upper earnings limit, upper secondary thresholds and upper profits limit will remain aligned to the unchanged higher rate threshold at £50,270 for 2023/24 to 2027/28, as previously announced The Class 1 primary threshold of £12,570 and secondary threshold of £9,100 will remain frozen until April 2028 The NIC rates are unchanged Co mp any car tax

The company car tax rates for 2023/24 will remain frozen

for 2024/25 The rates for electric and ultra-low emission cars will increase by 1% in each of 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 These will be subject to a maximum percentage of 5% for electric cars and 21% for ultra-low emission cars The rates for all other bands of vehicles will be increased by 1% for 2025/26 up to a maximum percentage of 37%; they will then be fixed for 2026/27 and 2027/28

P ensio ns, Savings and Investments

Lifetime Allowance (LTA)

At an unspecified future date, the LTA will be abolished

Annual Allowance (AA)

From 6 April 2023 the AA for pension contributions will increase to £60,000

I ndividu al savings account (ISA) su bscrip tio n limits

The ISA annual subscription limit for 2023/24 will remain at £20,000 and the corresponding limit for junior ISAs (JISAs) and child trust funds (CTFs) will stay at £9,000

Cap ital Taxes

Capital gains tax (CGT) annual exemp t amount

The CGT annual exempt amount for individuals and personal representatives will be cut to £6,000 for 2023/24 The annual exempt amount for most trusts will likewise fall to £3,000 (minimum £600), as previously announced For 2024/25 onwards, the corresponding figures will be £3,000 and £1,500 (minimum £300) The allowance will no longer be index linked

I nh eritance tax (IH T)

The IHT nil rate band will remain at £325,000 from 2023/24 to 2027/28, as previously announced The residence nil rate band (RNRB) likewise stays at £175,000 and the RNRB taper continues to apply until April 2028 if the value of a deceased person ’ s estate is greater than £2 million S tamp duty land tax (SDLT)

There are no changes to SDLT rates

Ch ildcare

Welfare and Family Su ppo rt

From April 2024 working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare a week in England

From September 2024, this will be extended to working parents of children aged between nine months and two years, and from September 2025, further extended to working parents of children aged between nine months and three years with the hours of access increasing to 30 hours a week

Business Taxes

Co rp oration T ax Rates

Ma i n r a t e ( p r o f i t s o v er £ 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 ) o f c o rp o ra t i o n t a x increased to 25% with small profit rate (profits up to £50,000) remaining at 19%, with effect from 1 April 2023

This means that the effective rate of Corporation Tax for profits between £50,000 and £250,000 will be 26 5%

Capital Allo wances

Qualifying expenditure from 1 April 2023 will be able to claim 100% first-year allowance

Research & Develo pment Exp enditu re (R&D)

From 1 April 2023, a new credit rate (14 5%) will be available for loss-making companies whose R&D expenditure constitutes at least 40% of the total expenditure

V alu e Added T ax ( VAT)

No changes announced other than services directly supervised by pharmacists being exempt from VAT

I n co nc lu sion

This summary represents some of the announcements (that are relevant to readers) made by the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, in his Spring Budget on 15 March 2023

This summary is for general information only You are recommended to seek competent professional advice before taking or refraining from taking action on the basis of the contents of this article The guide represents our understanding of the law and HM Revenue & Customs practice as at 15 March 2023, which may be subject to change

Living standards won't recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2027

Peop le face their biggest fall in spending p ower fo r 7 0 years as the surging cos t o f living eats into wages The governm ent' s indep endent fo recaster s aid th at ho useh old incomes - once rising p rices w ere taken into ac cou nt - wo uld dro p by 6% this year and next Living standards won't recover to pre-p andemic level s until 2027, it warned

It came as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the economy would shrink this year but avoid recession Energy and food bills have shot up due to the war in Ukraine and pandemic, and are squeezing household budgets Inflation is currently in double digits It is set to more than halve to 2 9% by the end of this year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) But for now, the figure remains very high, and well ahead of average wages

The drop in real household disposable income would represent "the largest two-year fall in living standards since records began in the 1950s," Richard Hughes, chairman of the OBR, said "We think households are going to dip into some of

their savings to help manage the squeeze on living standards and that supports growth in the near term," he added

The OBR looks at the government's tax and spending plans in the Budget and then predicts how the country will perform over the next five years Previously it had expected the UK to fall into recession at the end of last year and continue to shrink all of this year A recession is usually defined as when an economy gets smaller for two three-month periods - or quarters - in a row The last time the UK's economy went into recession was in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the predictions from the OBR were "proving the doubters wrong But Labour criticised the announcements made during the Budget as "dressing up stagnation as stability"

IFS director Paul Johnson said the OBR "expects the economy to grow a bit faster in the short-term, and a bit slower in the medium-term" This would combine to create an economy that was "0 6% larger in real-terms in 2027-28 than under the autumn forecast," he said

The definition of a cult India Inc wants RBI to go slow on interest rate hikes

1 a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object

2 a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society

Both definitions can be applied to the object known as money

In the current climate, it is important to get away from the propaganda and get some insight into what money actually is Though this subject matter requires a far more lengthy study this article provides some food for thought

There is a religious like devotion to the pursuit of m o n e y a n d i t i s u n a r g u a b l y v e r y p o p u l a r a m o n g s t society Often it is used as a yard stick for judgement of one ’ s character

In the same way religious beliefs can cause one to act irrationally and even immorally, money has the same effect on the psyche

Symptomatic of a cult is also the phenomena that something has value because everyone in the cultish circle believes it has value

This is also the truth about currency

There is no intrinsic value to currency If we examine the ten, twenty or fifty pound note we find the words ‘I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of X pounds’

This is based on the old system of promissory notes which means they should be backed by something However, you will be disappointed if you try to cash your notes in at the Bank of England for a portion of gold

T r a d i t i o n a l l y a £ 5 n o t e w a s b a c k e d b y 5 g o l d sovereigns Now it is backed by nothing It exists and is accepted because we have been herded to accept this as valid currency

In the US, on the 23rd December 1913, the Federal Reserve Act was passed, under president Woodrow Wilson, which took away the ability to print money from the people to a group of private individuals

In his own words, he writes:

I am a most unhappy man I have unwittingly ruined my country A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit Our system of credit is concentrated The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men

This kind of currency is called a “Fiat” currency “Fiat” means an “authoritative decree”, hence the use of the word “Fiat” to describe the issuance of currency

T h e r e i s n o b a c k i n g f o r w h a t i s k n o w n a s F i a t currencies Fiat money is currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but it is not backed by a physical commodity It survives because of two reasons: firstly, that the powers that be tell us it’s real, and secondly, we all accept this fact If someone invests and accepts a currency to be real then it becomes so

President Wilson was not the first president to dabble in Fiat currency It had been adopted in 1862 and US currency was no longer backed by gold However, Congress did limit the amount of money in circulation to $347 million

I t w a s n o t j u s t t h e A c t o f 1 9 1 3 t h a t c h a n g e d everything In 1971, the US came off the gold standard entirely If you chart US inflation history, this is when currencies around the world, starting with the US currency, became increasingly worthless

In effect, what has been established is the world’s greatest Ponzi scheme Money needs to be continually printed in order for the game to carry on

My observation is that the best way to benefit from this Fiat currency driven system is to seek assets that are genuinely limited by supply This means that the investor positions himself in a place where inflation and debt drive demand up while supply is fixed In this scenario, in the long run, as long as the entire system does not collapse, prices will go up

These should include gold and property

S e e k , t h e r e f o r e , m a t u r e c i t i e s w h e r e p l a n n i n g regulations are tight and byzantine, land scarce and the political climate unable to deliver a revolution in housing s u p p l y A l s o p a y c l o s e a t t e n t i o n t o t h e l o n g t e r m demographics such as population and the number of persons per household

This is why London, in spite of periodic blips, has been a rich den of deals for five hundred years

Gold is a firm hedge against Fiat currencies, as it has been used for millennia, and its use as an instrument of trading as been around longer than any Fiat currency in existence Property is the other obvious real asset It has the added advantage of being able to generate a monthly income which gold does not

India Inc is pressing the RBI to hold of f o n rate i ncreases as bo rro wing prices rise According to info rmati on made pu blic by the trade gro up Ficci, th e average interest rate grew by one p e rc en ta ge p o i n t to r o u gh ly 9 4 % du ring the most recent quarter, with th e maximum rate of borro wing set at 15% R B I d a t a s h o w e d t h e w e i g h t e d average lending rate (WALR) for fresh rupee loans had increased by 135 basis

points (100bps = 1 percentage point) between May and November, while for outstanding loans it was 71bps

“Primacy must be given to growth and a case can be made out to consider decoupling from the Fed approach and look at what works for India,”

Ficci president Subhrakant Panda told the media

"

I n o t h e r i n d u s t r i e s , l i k e t h e h o u s i n g b u s i n e s s , c o n s u m e r s a r e obtaining loans with interest rates

t h a t a r e floating for a very long time; as a result, their EMIs have increased We have by and large come on interest rate at pre-Covid level

T h i s i s a c o n d u c i v e r a t e f o r investment, but if they start going up significantly, it will act as a damper,” S a n j i v B a j a j , t h e h e a d o f f i n a n c i a l services company Bajaj Finserv told the media

Adani freezes work on £3.49 bn petrochem project at Mundra

Gaut am Ada ni is suspen ding a ctivitie s at t he £ 3 4 9 billion pe t r oche m ica ls pr oj e c t in M u n d r a , G u j a r a t , a s t h e bi lli o n a i r e ’ s bu si n e ss e m p i r e s lo w s down spe ndin g following a shortse ller att ack, r eport s sa id

In 2019, Adani had announced plans to foray into India’s petrochemicals sector with a factory in his home state o f G u j a r a t T w o y e a r s l a t e r , h e incorporated Mundra Petrochem and A d a n i P e t r o c h e m i c a l s t o s e t u p f e e d s t o c k ( c o a l , p e t c o k e , l i m e s t o n e , LPG, LNG, LPG, green fuels, etc) -based r e f i n e r i e s a n d p e t r o c h e m i c a l s

complexes Both Mundra Petrochem and Adani Petrochemicals are 100% s u b s i d i a r i e s o f h i s e m p i r e ’ s f l a g s h i p Adani Enterprises

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e r e p o r t , t h e business tycoon has decided to freeze the proposed one-million-tonne green P V C p r o j e c t d u e t o u n f o r e s e e n c i r c u m s t a n c e s A d a n i , a c c o r d i n g t o r e p o r t s , h a s a s k e d v e n d o r s a n d suppliers to “suspend all activities and p e r f o r m a n c e o f a l l o b l i g a t i o n s ” f o r Mundra Petrochem’s green PVC project “till further notice” The report further s a i d t h a t t h e c o n g l o m e r a t e ’ s

The promoters of Vodafone Id ea plan to inv est roughly £20 0 million in the business, sources said The choice was made sh o r tly af ter th e g o v er nm e nt a g re ed t o co n v er t th e outstand ing interest o n fu tu re statu tory paym ents into stock, making it the telecom com pany's largest shareholder

A considerably larger debt-raise may come after the investment, in addition to another promoter funding round, according to the sources Given that Voda Idea has not yet started the rollout of the high-speed network while Reliance Jio and Airtel have begun providing customer services, it is l i k e l y t o b e u s e d f o r t h e p u r c h a s e o f 5 G t e l e c o m

Indian-origin Vimal Kapur to be CEO of US co Honeywell

Vima l Kapur, who ha s more t h a n t hr e e d e ca d e s o f e x p e r t i s e m a n a g i n g t he d iv e r se m a n u fa ct u r e r s n u me r o us o pe r a t i o n s, w i ll succee d Dar ius Ada mczy k as CEO, accordin g to Hon eywe ll In te rna tiona l

The 57-year-old Kapur will take over the top role on June 1, roughly 10 months after he w a s a p p o i n t e d H o n e y w e l l ’ s president and chief operating o f f i c e r K a p u r j o i n e d t h e company after completing his e d u c a t i o n i n I n d i a H e graduated from the Thapar I n s t i t u t e o f E n g i n e e r i n g i n P a t i a l a a s a n e l e c t r o n i c s engineer with a specialisation in instrumentation

He formerly served as the CEO of the business units for p e r f o r m a n c e m a t e r i a l s a n d t e c h n o l o g i e s a s w e l l a s b u i l d i n g t e c h n o l o g y I n addition, Kapur is in charge of t h e H o n e y w e l l A c c e l e r a t o r o p e r a t i n g s y s t e m , w h i c h employs a number of tools, procedures, and best practices t o b o o s t p r o d u c t i v i t y “Honeywell’s next operational e v o l u t i o n , u n d e r t h e incorporation of Accelerator and standardisation of global b u s i n e s s m o d e l s t o e n a b l e m a x i m u m p e r f o r m a n c e segment,” Adamczyk said in a statement

management was re-evaluating various projects based on its future cash flow and finance

This is the latest project that the Adani Group has re-evaluated since the shortseller’s attack Earlier, it halted a £701 7 million deal to acquire DB Power and withdrew a £2 billion further public offering of Adani Enterprises

I n J a n u a r y , N e w Y o r k - b a s e d shortseller Hindenburg Research had a c c u s e d t h e A d a n i g r o u p o f u s i n g offshore shell companies to inflate its listed companies’ stock prices as well as of accounting fraud in its report

equipment “We have been informed that the promoters plan to infuse £200 million into Vodafone Idea, and this will primarily be used for kick-starting 5G plans We are hoping that this decision will build up confidence of the broader investment community in the company so that it is able to garner more funds, including through debt,” a sources said Vodafone Idea did not answer a questionnaire on the issue The promoters of the company Aditya Birla group and UK’s Vodafone Plc - had previously invested £500 million in Vodafone Idea

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

Voda Idea’s promoters may infuse £200 mn into the company

Nepal PM Prachanda likely to visit India next month

K A T H M A ND U : Ne p al ’ s P M

P u sh p a K a m al D ah a l ‘Prachanda’ is likely to trav el to Ind ia o n an official visit next month - his first foreign trip since assum ing the office for the th ird time in December last year, a media rep ort said

Though the precise date of his travel to India has not yet b e e n r e v e a l e d , s t r e n g t h e n i n g bilateral connections and discussions with Indian officials over trade, energy, agriculture, culture, and air service will take centre stage

According to sources close to the 68-year-old prime minister, a trip to India is planned for

the near future, and the date will be set once he receives a v o t e o f c o n f i d e n c e f r o m t h e House of Representatives “The

visit will take place after the PM seeks a vote of confidence and expands his cabinet,” a source said Earlier, ‘Prachanda ’ had

PUNJABI ACTOR AMAN DHALIWAL STABBED AT GYM IN US

announced that he would visit India on his first foreign trip after assuming the post “The f o r e i g n m i n i s t r y h a s s t a r t e d p r e p a r a t i o n s f o r t h e v i s i t , ”

K a t h m a n d u P o s t n e w s p a p e r reported

T h e m i n i s t r y h a s s t a r t e d organising meetings with the line ministries to prepare the a g e n d a , t h e d a i l y r e p o r t e d , quoting an official at the ministry

The media reported that the PM will embark for the visit tentatively in mid-April In July l a s t y e a r , ‘ P r a c h a n d a ’ v i s i t e d India at the invitation of BJP chief J P

Nadda

Terrorism charges filed against Imran, his aides for vandalism

IS L A M A B A D: P aki stani poli ce o n S und ay reg istered a terrorism c ase ag ainst I m ran Kh an and o v er a d o zen P TI lead ers fo r indu lg ing in v andalism , attacking security personnel and creating unrest outside the judicial com plex here ahead of a court h earing in a g raft case involving the ousted prem ier

Clashes erupted outside the Islamabad Judicial Complex on Saturday when Khan arrived in I s l a m a b a d f r o m L a h o r e t o attend a much awaited hearing in the Toshakhana case During the confrontation between PTI workers and police, over 25 secur i t y p e r s o n n e l w e r e i n j u r e d , p r o m p t i n g a d d i t i o n a l d i s t r i c t

and sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal to d e f e r t h e c o u r t h e a r i n g t i l l March 30

T h e c a s e w a s r e g i s t e r e d a g a i n s t a r r e s t e d P T I w o r k e r s and wanted party leaders About 17 PTI leaders were named in the FIR lodged by Islamabad Police, Geo News reported The FIR states the workers damaged the police check post and the main

Ramsahay Yadav elected as Nepal Vice President

K A T H M A N D U : R a ms ah ay a Prasad Yadav, a senior lead er from the M ad hes regi on, was elected as Nepal’s Vi ce Presi dent, i n a further boost to the coalition governmen t headed by Prime Min ister Pushpa Kamal D ahal ‘Prachanda’ Yadav, a candidate from the J a n a t a S a m a j b a d i P a r t y ( J S P ) , comfortably defeated his nearest r i v a l A s h t a L a x m i S h a k y a o f

C P N - U M L t o b e c o m e t h e Himalayan nation’s third Vice President and the first from the Madhes region, bordering India

Y a d a v , 5 2 , s e c u r e d 3 0 , 3 2 8 votes against 16,328 secured by Shakya, according to the Election Commission

Yadav had the support of the N e p a l i C o n g r e s s , C P N - M a o i s t Centre, CPN-Unified Socialist, and other fringe parties Rastriya Prajatantra Party did not take part during the vice presidential voting held last week

Likewise, Mamata Jha from Janamat Party has secured 2,537 votes Parmila Yadav, from the J S P N e p a l i t s e l f , t h o u g h s h e announced her withdrawal in the middle-way, got 48 votes T h e r e a r e 3 3 3 f e d e r a l parliament members and 550 provincial assembly members, who were eligible voters during the vice-presidential election The weightage of the vote of a federal MP is 79 and that of the province assembly member is 48 The outcome of the election c o m e s a s a r e l i e f f o r t h e g o v e r n m e n t h e a d e d b y

“Prachanda” as the CPN-UML led by former prime minister K P Sharma Oli withdrew its support to his government following a rift over backing Poudel for the presidential poll Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress was elected as the new president of Nepal on March 9 Like the President, the Vice President is elected by an electoral college comprising the members of the F e d e r a l P a r l i a m e n t ( H o u s e o f Representatives and the National A s s e m b l y ) a n d t h e P r o v i n c i a l Assembly

gate of the judicial complex, it said

In all, 18 people were arrested for arson, pelting stones and damaging the complex, said the FIR “About two police vehicles a n d s e v e n m o t o r c y c l e s w e r e burned,” it added I m r a n , 7 0 , a r r i v e d i n I s l a m a b a d f r o m L a h o r e t o appear before the court Soon after he left for Islamabad, over 10,000 armed Punjab police personnel stormed his Zaman Park home in Lahore and arrested dozens of his party workers T h e p o l i c e p e r s o n n e l r e m o v e d t h e b a r r i c a d e s a n d tents at the entrance of Imran's residence and evicted hundreds

of his supporters They conducted a search at the house after demolishing its main gate and walls About 10 workers were injured in the police operation PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said the party will get cases regist e r e d a g a i n s t p o l i c e o f f i c e r s involved in the “illegal operations” and violence at Imran’s house “ T o d a y , a m e e t i n g o f t h e legal team has been called The way in which the police defied the Lahore HC’s decision entering Imran Khan’s residence has t r a m p l e d e v e r y r u l e o f t h e home’s sanctity Innocent people were subjected to torture,” he tweeted

IMF approves Sri Lanka’s $2.9 bn bailout

C O L O M BO : S r i L a n k a n pr e si d e n t h a s sa id t h a t t he In t e r n a t i o n a l M o n e t a r y F un d (IMF) has appr oved its re que st for a $2 9 bn bailout a nd the co u n t r y ’ s p r e s id e n cy sa id t he pr og r a m me w il l e n a ble it t o access up t o $7 bn in ove ra ll fund ing

The IMF’s board confirmed it has signed off on the loan, which clears the way for the release of funds and kicks off a four-year programme designed t o s h o r e u p t h e c o u n t r y ’ s economy

US senators’ resolution: Arunachal part of India

Washington: US lawmakers are doubling down on support for India in its ongoing troubles with what they say is an expansionist and predatory China, amid Washington's worsening ties with Beijing and Moscow - now being seen as allies Two US senators, Republican Bill Hagerty and Democrat Jeff Merkley, ramped up a month-old resolution reiterating the United States’ recognition of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India

Washington's recognition of the McMahon Line as the international border between China and India is reaffirmed in the resolution, which also rejects Beijing's assertions that Arunachal Pradesh is part of its territory as part of its increasingly aggressive and expansionist activities

"At a time when China continues to pose severe and increasing dangers to the free and open Indo-Pacific, it s important for the United States to stand shoulder to shoulder with our key partners in the region - notably India," stated senator Hagerty in a statement “This bipartisan resolution expresses the Senate’s support for unequivocally recognizing the state of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India, condemning China’s military aggression to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and further enhancing the US-India strategic partnership and the Quad in support of the free and open Indo-Pacific ”

Punjabi actor Aman Dhaliwal who has worked in the Bollywood film 'Jodhaa Akbar' starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, has been attacked at a gym in the US A video doing the rounds on social media, shows the accused asking for water from people around while Aman is at knife point A short while later the actor recognises the proper opportunity turns around and tackles the defendant to the ground Others chase after him and stop him from escaping Media reports state that the event happened while Aman was working out in the gym The accused threatened others while brandishing a knife Aman, who is currently hospitalised, has sustained injuries and scars on his torso, according to a report

WIPRO LAYS OFF 120 EMPLOYEES IN THE US

IT major Wipro has laid off at least 120 employees in the state of Florida, the US, due to a “realignment of business needs” The company detailed the layoffs in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice filed with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reports Channel Futures The job cuts by Wipro are at only one location in Tampa “More than 100 of the impacted employees are processing agents The rest are team leaders and a team manager,” the report mentioned In a statement, Wipro said this is an isolated incident Wipro remains deeply committed to the region ” the company said

19 KILLED IN BANGLADESH BUS ACCIDENT

The decision will allow an i m m e d i a t e d i s b u r s e m e n t o f about $333 mn, the IMF said, and will spur financial support from o t h e r p a r t n e r s , p o t e n t i a l l y helping Sri Lanka emerge from i t s w o r s t f i n a n c i a l c r i s i s i n d e c a d e s B u t I M F M a n a g i n g D i r e c t o r K r i s t a l i n a G e o r g i e v a w a r n e d t h a t C o l o m b o m u s t continue pursuing tax reform and greater social safety nets for t h e p o o r – a n d r e i n i n t h e corruption that has been partly blamed for the crisis

“I express my gratitude to the IMF and our international partners for their support as we look to get the economy back on track for the long term through prudent fiscal management and our ambitious reform agenda,” S r i L a n k a ’ s P r e s i d e n t R a n i l W i c k r e m e s i n g h e s a i d i n a statement on Monday

The country defaulted on its foreign debt in April 2022 as it plunged into its worst economic downturn since independence because of a major shortage of foreign currency reserves

The Indian Ocean nation of around 22 million people ran out of cash to finance even the most e s s e n t i a l i m p o r t s , l e a d i n g t o widespread social unrest Mass protests over economic

n t Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign in July

A speeding bus fell into a roadside ditch in central Bangladesh on Sunday apparently after the driver lost control, leaving at least 19 dead and more than 20 others injured, police said The bus was travelling to the capital, Dhaka, from the southwestern city of Khulna The accident took place when the bus reached Shibchar area in Madaripur district, a highway police official said He said 14 people including the driver died on the spot Other people died later The injured were shifted to Shibchar Upazila Health Complex and Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment It was not clear what caused the crash Road accidents are common in Bangladesh because of lax enforcement of traffic law and over speeding Some 8,000 people die each year from road accidents in Bangladesh

ELITE OFFICERS IN ISRAEL'S MILITARY PLAN WALKOUT

In protest against the government s plans to restructure the court system hundreds of elite soldiers in Israel's military reserves have announced they will skip work For the first time ever, a political protest within the security services has a scheduled firm date Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s controversial legal overhaul has sparked weeks of mass protests across Israel amidst a deteriorating security situation in the occupied West Bank and rising tensions with Palestinians Over 750 elite officers from the Air Force special forces, and Mossad threatened to discontinue volunteering for duty in two separate letters that were publicised The taboo topic highlights how the makeover plan has riven Israel and is now tearing through the military, which Israeli Jews view as their most revered institution

N KOREA FIRES 2 SHORTRANGE MISSILES

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast South Korea’s military said the latest of several weapons tests as the South and the United States conduct their largest joint military drills in years The missiles were launched from South Hwanghae Province, which is close to the nation s west coast Known as "Freedom Shield 23," the 11-day joint exercises between South Korean and American soldiers began last week and will be undertaken on a scale not seen since 2017

Imran Khan

Pushpa Kamal Dahal

110 HELD OVER SUSPECTED POISONING OF SCHOOLGIRLS

in brief Indian American confirmed as assistant secretary of US air force

According to Iranian police 110 people have been detained in relation to the alleged poisoning of thousands of girls at schools throughout the nation Students say they have been sickened by noxious fumes in incidents dating back to November that have mainly occurred in girls schools Officials claim to be looking into the instances, but no information regarding who might be responsible or what chemicals, if any may have been used has been released Iran, unlike Afghanistan, has never had religious fanatics target women's education, not even at the height of the country s 1979 Islamic Revolution No fatalities have occurred General Saeed Montazerolmehdi, the police spokesperson, announced the arrests in remarks carried by Iranian media He also said police had confiscated thousands of stink bomb toys, indicating that some of the alleged attacks might have been copycat pranks

S KOREA, JAPAN HAIL THAW IN TIES AMID SECURITY CONCERNS

The leaders of Japan and South Korea vowed to turn the page on years of animosity at a meeting putting aside their difficult shared history and pledging to work together to counter regional security challenges The summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, which marked Yoon Suk-first yeol's visit to Japan in 12 years, demonstrated how the two US allies have grown closer as a result of North Korea's frequent missile launches and growing anxiety over a belligerent China The North fired a long-range ballistic missile just before Yoon arrived, underscoring the seriousness of the security situation

MACRON SHUNS HOUSE VOTE TO RAISE RETIREMENT AGE

French President Emmanuel Macron imposed a highly unpopular bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by shunning parliament and invoking a special constitutional power As Macron announced the dangerous decision which is predicted to quickly lead to motions of no-confidence in his government, lawmakers shouted in protest Outside the National Assembly, riot police vans sped by with their sirens blaring Since January, numerous strikes and rallies have been held across the nation in response to the proposed pension changes

The reform, according to Macron, who made it the centre piece of his second term is necessary to prevent the pension system from going into deficit as France's population ages and life expectancy rises

STOP REGISTERING SAME-SEX COUPLES’ KIDS, ITALY TELLS MILAN

Italy’s right-wing government has told Milan’s city council to stop registering samesex parents’ children reigniting a debate around PM Giorgia Meloni’s conservative agenda Despite Catholic groups strong opposition Italy legalised same-sex civil partnerships in 2016 but it refrained from granting them the ability to adopt out of concern that it might encourage surrogate pregnancies, which are still prohibited In the absence of clear legislation on the issue some courts have ruled in favour of allowing same sex couples to adopt each other's children, and mayors of some cities, including Milan, have registered surrogate births to same-sex couples Giuseppe Sala, the center-left mayor of Milan, claimed to have received a letter from the interior ministry instructing him to stop registering children born to same-sex couples

W A S H I N GT O N : T h e U nited States S enate confirmed Ind ian orig in Rav i Chaudh ary as the Assistant S ecretary of A ir Force fo r energ y, ins tallati o ns, and th e e nv i ro nm e nt C h au d h ary won the mand ate by a v ote of 65-29 as h e became a part of one of the to p civ ilian lead ersh ip positio ns in the Pentago n He w i ll be th e f ir st I nd i anA m er i ca n to se rv e a s an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force

Following the election, US S e n a t o r A m y K l o b u c h a r ( DM N ) i s s u e d a s t a t e m e n t i n which she said, "Growing up in

Minnesota as the son of immig r a n t s , D r R a v i C h a u d h a r y dreamed of serving our nation a s a n A i r F o r c e p i l o t D r Chaudhary has devoted his professional life to serving the people, beginning with his more

Garcetti confirmed as US envoy to India

WAS HING TON: Eric Garc etti, a former m ayor of Los Ange les and Democra tic Party pol itician, has now been of ficiall y confirm ed by Was hington t o serve as the US amba ssa dor to India Sinc e the Senat e voted 5 2-42 t o c onfir m him , h e s houl d b e a rr iv ing a t Roosevel t Hous e, the Am erican envoy's house in New Delhi, in the c om ing days

It's also about time, as the US has been without an ambassador in New Delhi for more than two years, ever since Kenneth Juster left on January 20, 2021, when the White House changed guard It is the longest period without a US ambassador that New Delhi has experienced

I t t o o k t h e C l i n t o n W h i t e House 14 months to name Frank Wisner as the replacement envoy after Thomas Pickering, the US ambassador to New Delhi for just under a year, was transferred to Moscow in March 1993 Some others perceived the delay as a

lack of consideration for, if not a slight against, a nation that, at the time, was the US's relatively w e a k a n d d i s t a n t a l l y i n a unipolar world

G a r c e t t i w a s o r i g i n a l l y nominated by President Biden to be the US ambassador to India on July 9, 2021 It took the Senate 20 m o n t h s t o c o n f i r m h i m - a tortured process that was stalled over accusations that he ignored s e x u a l a s s a u l t a n d h a r a s s m e n t allegations against a former top a i d e I t b e c a m e s u c h a m u d s l i n g i n g t h a t t h e i n i t i a l nomination lapsed and Biden had to re-nominate him earlier this year, saying he has “confidence in mayor Garcetti and believes he’ll be an excellent representative in India at a critical moment and calls for the Senate to swiftly c o n f i r m h i m ” T h e S e n a t e eventually did in a bipartisan vote t h a t s a w t h r e e D e m o c r a t i c lawmakers vote against him and seven Republicans vote for him

Khalistan supporters force closure of Honorary

Consulate of India in Brisbane

M E L BO U R N E : F o llow ing th e org anisation o f an unauthorised assem bly and blocking of the office's entrance by suppo rters o f K h a li st an , t h e H o no ra ry Consulate of India in Brisbane was forced to close due to safety concerns The blockad e comes d ay s af te r A u s tra li an P M Antho ny Albanese, during a visit to Ind ia, assured P M Narend ra Mod i th at his g overnment will not tolerate “ extrem e actions” like attacks on religio us p laces

The incident is th e latest in a series of rad ical activities against th e I n d i an c o m m u n i ty i n Australia

Q u e e n s l a n d p o l i c e s a i d i t was an unauthorised gathering, however, they were allowed to e n t e r t h e c o n s u l a t e p r o p e r t y and block anyone from entering it, according to the media

Regional Queensland resident Parvinder Singh claimed that the blockade forced him to reschedule an appointment he had to make at the Brisbane embassy These bullies shouldn't be let to control how Australians

than 20 years of active duty service as an Air Force offic e r a n d c o n t i n u i n g t h r o u g h h i s t i m e a t t h e F e d e r a l A v i a t i o n

Administration

"I fought to advance his n o m i n a t i o n t h r o u g h t h e Senate because I am confident that Dr Chaudhary has the qualifications and experience needed for this critical role Now that he has been confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working with him to support the men and women of the Air Force," she added

According to the statement, Chaudhary served as an active duty Air Force pilot between 1 9 9 3 a n d 2 0 1 5 , c o n d u c t i n g numerous combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq After leaving the military, C h a u d h a r y w o r k e d f o r t h e F e d e r a l A v i a t i o n Administration for five years as a top official in the Regions and Center Operations and Office o f C o m m e r c i a l S p a c e A c c o r d i n g t o t h e s t a t e m e n t , President Obama also named him to the President's Advisory C o m m i s s i o n o n A s i a n Americans and Pacific Islanders

Sikh student assaulted in Canada, turban ripped off

T ORONT O: In an apparent hate crim e, a 21-year-old Sikh s tu d en t f ro m In d i a w as attacked in C anad a ’ s Briti sh Colum bia pro vince by a g rou p of unknown m en wh o rip ped off his turban and dragged him across the sidewalk by his hair, according to a media report G a g a n d e e p S i n g h w a s assaulted when he was heading home in Kelowna on Friday n i g h t , C T V n e w s r e p o r t e d Kelowna City councillor Mohini S i n g h s a i d s h e v i s i t e d

Gagandeep and was horrified when she saw him “He couldn’t open his mouth,” she said She said the man ’ s eyes were swollen shut and that he was o b v i o u s l y i n s i g n i f i c a n t p a i n S h e s a i d s h e w a s t o l d t h a t Gagandeep was heading home around 10 30 pm (local time) after grocery shopping when he encountered a group of between 12 and 15 other young people on the bus “They started harassing him and threw a wig at him,” she said Gagandeep then got off the

bus “They got off after him, waited for the bus to leave and then they swarmed him, beat him in his face, in his ribs, arms, and legs and then grabed his turban, pull his hair and dragged him,” Mohini said, adding the g r o u p t o o k t h e t u r b a n w i t h them when they left Mohini said the fact that Gangandeep is Sikh and from India was “undoubtedly” a factor in the assault “I believe this is racism It should be looked at through the lens of being a hate crime,” she said Police said they are investigating after someone was “assaulted” by a group of people But they did not provide nay details about the injuries

Sikh man says he was denied entry to basketball game over kirpan

C AL IFO RN IA : A Sikh man has claimed that he was denied e ntry to a ba ske tbal l match in the US because he wa s carry in g a 'k ir pan' Not abl y, 'kirpan' is a smal l sword, worn in a sheat h on a strap or bel t It is an art icle of faith that initiate d Sikhs a re supposed to wear at al l times

l i v e t h e i r l i v e s , a c c o r d i n g t o Singh The police and government of Queensland must step in, said Singh PM Anthony Albanese, while addressing a press conference in New Delhi on March 11, said,

“ A u s t r a l i a w o n ’ t t o l e r a t e a n y extreme actions and attacks that took place in religious buildings, and there is no place for such action against Hindu temples W e w i l l t a k e e v e r y a c t i o n through our police and also our security agencies to make sure that anyone responsible for this faces the full force of the law

We’re a tolerant multicultural nation, and there is no place in Australia for this activity ”

The incident happened in Sacramento, California during a basketball match involving the professional North American basketball league NBA team Sacramento Kings Taking to Twitter, the man named Mandeep Singh called the incident ''religious discrimination'', claiming that he was denied entry because of his 'kirpan' He also shared his photos from outside the stadium and inside a security room He added that he talked to multiple people regarding the issue but to no avail One user said, ''It will never be our land and their rules will always stand '' Another commented, ''The kings were the first NBA team with a Sikh player on their roster and have Sikh nights doubt they are discriminating The Kirpan has always not been a l l o w e d i n s i d e N B A s t a d i u m s w i t h o u t p r o p e r a c c o m m o d a t i o n planned ahead Every Kings Sikh night this comes up ''

A third cited public safety reasons and said, ''I would hope the Kings don't discriminate based on religion I've seen the Kings represent Sikhs with Sikh Heritage Night and I think it s great I think the Kings didn t allow your Kirpan in for public safety reasons, not because of religious discrimination ''

According to the website of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the five symbols of the Khalsa, all beginning with the letter K, are the kesh or long hair and beard, Kangha, a comb in the kesh to keep it tidy as against the recluses who kept it matted in token of their having renounced the world, Kara, a steel bracelet, Kachch, short breeches, and Kirpan, a sword

Ravi Chaudhary

Continued from page 1

I n t e r n a t i o n a l f i r m s t h a t register with the BCI will also be able to open offices to provide these services and access legal expertise r e l a t i n g t o I n d i a n l a w s f r o m a d v o c a t e s e n r o l l e d with any Indian State Bar C o u n c i l H o w e v e r , t h e r e are limits to the changes, which will not extend to litigation before courts and tribunals in India and only a l l o w i n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a n s a c t i o n a l w o r k o n a reciprocal basis

A s i a n V o i c e r e a c h e d out to British law firms to know their perspective on this announcement

Y a s h mi n M i s t r y, M anaging Partner JPC Law s a i d , “ T h i s m e a s u r e w i l l clearly allow international lawyers to practice foreign law and offer legal services in international arbitration cases within India This is n o t o n l y g r e a t n e w s f o r clients operating in both countries but more so for the legal profession This c h a n g e i s n o t o n l y a n e x c i t i n g o p p o r t u n i t y f o r dual-qualified lawyers who w i l l b e a b l e t o w o r k b e t w e e n t h e t w o j u r i s d i c t i o n s m o r e f r e e l y b u t p e r h a p s , a n opportunity for Indian law f i r m s t o g a i n m o r e e x p o s u r e t o g l o b a l b e s t practices The move is also l i k e l y t o a s s i s t w i t h e s t a b l i s h i n g I n d i a a s a m a j o r p l a y e r f o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m e r c i a l arbitration ” S u n d e e p O b e r o i , Soli ci tor SNV of Law said, “It's welcoming news that the Bar Council of India h a v e b e e n c h a n g e d t h e r u l e s t o a d m i t f o r e i g n l a w y e r s a n d f o r e i g n l a w firms in India However, in m y o p i n i o n , t h e r u l e c h a n g e i s l i m i t e d i n i t s s c o p e a s i t r e l a t e s t o t r a n s a c t i o n a l a n d corporate work Presently,

Foreign law firms and lawyers can now practice in India

it does not give registered foreign lawyers the right to a p p e a r i n c o u r t s o r tribunals in India or before r e g u l a t o r y a u t h o r i t i e s o r e n g a g e i n c o n v e y a n c i n g work relating to property transactions in India The hope of it benefiting the m a j o r i t y o f t h e I n d i a n d i a s p o r a i n t h e U K i s l i m i t e d A s a s o l i c i t o r a d m i t t e d i n E n g l a n d & W a l e s , m y p r a c t i c e o n cross-border related legal m a t t e r s i n v o l v e s d e a l i n g with lawyers in Delhi and M u m b a i o n d i s p u t e s i n v o l v i n g a q u e s t i o n o f Indian law and I still find it an invaluable resource to consult with my colleagues admitted in India ” A nu p V y as , D i re c to r V ym an S o l i c i to r s s a i d ,

c o m p a n i e s e n g a g e d i n i n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a n s a c t i o n s and arbitrations It will be interesting to see how the big US and UK law firms react There will be more c o m p e t i t i o n f r o m a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r f o r e i g n l a w f i r m s B u t i t i s a l s o intended to lead to a more v i b r a n t a n d c o m p e t i t i v e legal industry in India It s h o u l d i n c r e a s e o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r I n d i a n lawyers to learn from and c o l l a b o r a t e w i t h l a w y e r s from across the world It is s i g n i f i c a n t a l s o i n p r o m o t i n g t h e U K - I n d i a trade partnership I see it as a further example of India’s e c o n o m y d e v e l o p i n g , d e r e g u l a t i n g a n d e m b r a c i n g f r e e - m a r k e t principles ” N it en C h a u h an, I n ter nat io n al P a rtn er at H ar o ld B en j am i n s a i d ,

“India has long held out as one of the last major global economies to restrict legal practice to its own citizens However, on 15 March 2023, the Bar Council of India a n n o u n c e d a l a n d m a r k d e c r e e a l l o w i n g f o r e i g n lawyers to practice foreign law in India on a reciprocal basis The Bar Council was m i n d f u l o f t h e n e e d t o promote India as a hub of i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m e r c i a l a r b i t r a t i o n a n d p r e v e n t I n d i a f r o m b e i n g l e f t b e h i n d T h e B a r C o u n c i l r e c i t e d t h a t t h e l e g a l profession was noble and not treated as a commercial a c t i v i t y o r s e r v i c e N e v e r t h e l e s s , t h e I n d i a n legal profession had to rise t o t h e o c c a s i o n t o m e e t g l o b a l c h a l l e n g e s : “ T h e world is becoming a global village“ The Bar Council s t a t e d t h a t i n t e r n a t i o n a l trade and commerce were advancing at a great pace and demand from clients operating in international and cross-country business was becoming severe day by d a y W h i l s t t h i s d e c i s i o n will not impact litigation in I n d i a n c o u r t s o r l a w y e r s s e r v i n g I n d i a n d o m e s t i c c l i e n t s , i t w i l l e x p a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l l a w y e r s serving Indian and foreign

" W i t h a n i n c r e a s i n g l y challenging legal landscape, p r o a c t i v e l a w f i r m s n o w have a platform to be more competitive in the future F u r t h e r m o r e , t h e L a w Society remains committed t o e n s u r i n g E n g l a n d a n d W a l e s r e m a i n a n o p e n m a r k e t t o I n d i a n a n d F o r e i g n l a w y e r s s o t h e s e new provisions are as much about reciprocity between the two countries as they are about an opportunity for one of them ” He also added that UK law firms welcome the opportunity to b e a b l e t o r e g i s t e r t o p r a c t i c e i n I n d i a o n a permanent basis Not only w i l l t h i s a s s i s t l e g a l p r a c t i t i o n e r s i n b o t h countries but clients shall b e n e f i t f r o m f o r e i g n lawyers being able to advise them in India on English and Welsh law as well as I n t e r n a t i o n a l l a w ( i n s p e c i f i c c i r c u m s t a n c e s ) ; access offices in India to provide these services; and the ability to seek advice f r o m l a w y e r s i n t h a t jurisdiction on Indian law

Reena P op at, Managing P ar tn er Ca rt er Bo nd S o lici to rs said, “This is a h i s t o r i c d e v e l o p m e n t

which follows decades of c a m p a i g n i n g ! F o r m a n y y e a r s t h e l a w f i r m i n E n g l a n d a n d W a l e s h a s attempted to do business in India and ran ‘India Desks a n d o p e r a t e d v i a n e i g h b o u r i n g c o u n t r i e s s u c h a s D u b a i T h e B a r Council of India’s decision released in New Delhi on 13 M a r c h 2 0 2 3 w i l l a l l o w r e g i s t e r e d s o l i c i t o r s a n d foreign lawyers to provide legal advice and represent c l i e n t s b a s e d o u t s i d e o f I n d i a A l t h o u g h t h e y c a n n o t a p p e a r i n c o u r t , they can advise clients on foreign law and work on c o r p o r a t e t r a n s a c t i o n s Until the decision, foreign lawyers could only advise in India on a “fly in fly out” basis, but not permanently d u e t o t h e r e s t r i c t i o n s imposed on foreign lawyers a n d l a w f i r m s T h e n e w r u l e s w i l l a l s o i n c l u d e a l l o w i n g r e g i s t e r e d l a w f i r m s t o o p e n o f f i c e s i n I n d i a a s w e l l a s p r o v i d e l e g a l a d v i c e o n h o m e c o u n t r y l a w I t i s a n e x c i t i n g , l o n g - o v e r d u e move forward which will create huge opportunities f o r a d v o c a t e s i n b o t h c o u n t r i e s A c c e s s t o international lawyers and l a w f i r m s i s a h u g e l y positive step for India and w i l l n o d o u b t p r e s e n t excellent synergies between I n d i a n a n d n o n - I n d i a n lawyers ” S h al i ni B h a rga va o f A s h f o rd L aw s a i d , “ I n a h i s t o r i c m o v e , t h e B a r C o u n c i l o f I n d i a h a s d e c i d e d t o a l l o w f o r e i g n lawyers (including English and Welsh Solicitors and L a w f i r m s ) t o p r a c t i c e international law in India T h i s m e a n s E n g l i s h a n d

Welsh Solicitors and Law

f i r m s w i l l b e a l l o w e d t o

p r o v i d e l e g a l a d v i c e o n English and Welsh law and international law in nonc o n t e n t i o u s m a t t e r s i n India as well as represent

c l i e n t s i n i n t e r n a t i o n a l a r b i t r a t i o n m a t t e r s i n

India The change in law reflects the growing client

b a s e f o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l lawyers in India This legal d e v e l o p m e n t c o m e s a s a r e s u l t o f d e c a d e s o f c a m p a i g n i n g b y t h e L a w S o c i e t y o f E n g l a n d a n d W a l e s i n c l u d i n g L a w S o c i e t y P r e s i d e n t L u b n a Shuja’s visit to Delhi last week, where she met with the Bar Council of India and the Law Secretary of India ” S h an y Gu p ta , C E O Du nc a n L ewi s S o li c i to r s

m a t t e r s w h i c h a c t u a l l y makes sense since foreign

said, “The Bar Council of I n d i a ’ s d e c i s i o n t o a l l o w f o r e i g n l a w f i r m s t o p r a c t i c e i n I n d i a o n a reciprocal basis is historic However, the devil will be i n t h e d e t a i l , w h i c h w i l l n e e d t o b e e x a m i n e d carefully, and there is likely to be much wrangling over t h e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e rules in the coming years before they properly bed in So far, the scope looks fairly l i m i t e d , w i t h f o r e i g n lawyers barred from some a r e a s , s u c h a s f r o m a p p e a r i n g i n c o u r t s o r tribunals where evidence is taken under oath, and only a b l e t o a d v i s e c l i e n t s o n f o r e i g n a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l m a t t e r s ; s o m e t h i n g n o doubt designed to allay the fears of lawyers in India

T o o m a n y r e s t r i c t i o n s could put some firms off i n i t i a l l y p e r h a p s , b u t i f p r o p e r l y w o r k e d t h r o u g h and enacted sensibly this much-needed liberalisation of the Indian legal services market will provide huge opportunities for all ”

N ay n es h De s ai , Consultant Solicit or Chan

Neil l Solicit or s LLP said, “As I understand it, the opening up to foreign law firms is restricted so that you cannot act in litigious

firms may not be familiar w i t h p r a c t i c e a n d procedure in the Indian c o u r t s a s w e l l a s b e i n g f a m i l i a r w i t h I n d i a n statutes However, to be a b l e t o a d v i s e o n commercial matters is a very exciting opportunity, e s p e c i a l l y w i t h t h e predicted growth in trade b e t w e e n I n d i a a n d t h e UK, I think it will open up opportunities not just for English law firms but also f o r t h e U S A a n d o t h e r places The competition w i l l b e h e a l t h y a n d hopefully will produce a consistently high quality of legal services as well as more competitive pricing o f t h o s e s e r v i c e s I a m excited and will certainly be looking into this ” Rima Sengupta, Head of India desk and Part ner at Axiom DWF M said, “I

am pleased to announce t h a t A x i o m D W F M w e l c o m e s t h e r e c e n t announcement by the Bar C o u n c i l o f I n d i a w h i c h means that, for the first time, English and Welsh solicitors and law firms will be able to register to practice in India to advise o n t h e i r h o m e c o u n t r y law and international law i n n o n - c o n t e n t i o u s m a t t e r s O u r s t r o n g r e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h t h e local Indian community a n d t h r o u g h A x i o m D W F M ’ s I n d i a d e s k means that we welcome t h i s n e w s , a s i t w i l l p r o v i d e h u g e o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r s o l i c i t o r s a n d I n d i a n a d v o c a t e s i n b o t h countries Our India Desk team at Axiom DWFM are looking forward to seeing what the future holds and relishing this opportunity to widen our client base even further ”

CBI books Sisodia over Delhi govt’s ‘snoop unit’

T he CBI has filed an FIR against M a ni s h S is o di a an d f i ve o t h e r p eople, inclu ding fo rmer vigilance secretary S ukesh Jain, in relation t o th e D el h i go v er nm e nt 's feedback unit (FBU), which was a l le ge dly u s e d f o r s no o p i ng , s p yi n g, an d ga th er in g p o l i ti c a l i ntelligence Th is is new tro uble fo r the former dep uty CM

After receiving approval from the lieutenant governor and the ministry of home affairs to move forward against the accused, the agency filed the FIR on March 14 The agency will shortly urge other accused people to join the probe even though Sisodia is already in c u s t o d y a n d w i l l p r o b a b l y b e questioned there The preliminary

inquiry, on the basis of which the FIR has been lodged, revealed that t h e c r e a t i o n o f t h e F B U w a s approved vide a cabinet decision on September 29, 2015, which was taken on the basis of a“tabled item w i t h t h e a p p r o v a l o f t h e c h i e f minister of Delhi”, the FIR states The relevant public officials used the feedback unit (FBU) of

the Delhi government for reasons other than those for which it was obviously intended Without any pertinent work being completed, funds were improperly allocated to it and even increased, according to the agency Besides Sisodia and Jain, the F I R n a m e s r e t i r e d C I S F D I G Rakesh Sinha, who was working as

a special adviser to CM Arvind Kejriwal and joint director of FBU It also names former joint deputy d i r e c t o r o f I n t e l l i g e n c e B u r e a u and deputy director (FBU) Pradeep K u m a r P u n j , r e t i r e d a s s i s t a n t commandant of CISF and (FBU) officer Satish Khetrapal, and Gopal Mohan, adviser, anti-corruption, to Kejriwal

Yashmin Mistry

Sundeep Oberoi

Anup Vyas

Rima Sengupta

Reena Popat

Naynesh Desai

Shany Gupta

Niten Chauhan

Shalini Bhargava

Cops visit Rahul's house over sexual assault remark

C on g re ss lea d er Ra h u l G and h i re ce iv ed a n ew w arning from Delhi Police ab ou t h is sta tem ent th at " women are still being sexu al ly ab us ed " d u ri ng th e B h ar at J o d o Y atr a i n Srinagar

A team led by special c o m m i s s i o n e r o f p o l i c e (law and order) Sagar Preet H o o d a , v i s i t e d G a n d h i ’ s r e s i d e n c e a t 1 2 , T u g h l a q Lane and asked him to provide details of the sexual a b u s e s u r v i v o r s h e h a d claimed to have met during t h e y a t r a “ W e s e r v e d a notice,which was accepted by his office,” said Hooda

According to the police, t h e C o n g r e s s l e a d e r r e q u e s t e d 8 – 1 0 d a y s t o r e s p o n d i n d e t a i l t o t h e notification in a 10-point preliminary reply Gandhi claimed to have met lots of i n d i v i d u a l s w h i l e o n h i s yatra Hooda stated that it was "a very serious probl e m " a n d a d d e d t h a t h e needed time to create the

l i s t G a n d h i r e p o r t e d l y r e s p o n d e d b y c a l l i n g t h e a c t i o n " u n p r e c e d e n t e d " and questioning the sudden "urgency" of acting 45 days after making the comment Rahul Gandhi also asked if a n y o t h e r c a m p a i g n s b y o t h e r p a r t i e s , i n c l u d i n g BJP, have been subjected to such kind of scrutiny or questioning

The Congressman said in Srinagar on January 30 t h a t h e h a d m e t s e v e r a l

700 Indian students face deportation from Canada

T h e nu m b er o f d i st ri ct s w ith 10 % or m ore C ov idp ositiv ity has now go ne up to 14 The w eekly analysis of the trend du ring M arch 1 21 8 also sh ows that 34 d istri cts had C o v id -p o siti v ity rates between 5% and 10%till March 14 , th e num ber w as 15 In the March 8-14 w eek, nu mb er of d istri cts w ith 10 % or m ore C ov idp ositiv ity rate was nine In Delhi, the latest data s h o w t h a t t h r e e d i s t r i c t s have more than 5% positivity rates In Maharashtra, the c i t i e s o f A u r a n g a b a d , K o l h a p u r , P u n e , Ahmednagar, Sangli Nashik, Akola and Solapur have pos-

i t i v i t y r a t e s o f o v e r 5 % B e n g a l u r u U r b a n , M y s u r u a n d S h i v a m o g g a i n Karnataka also fall in this category

O t h e r s t a t e s i n w h i c h some of their districts have high positivity rates include G o a , G u j a r a t , H i m a c h a l P r a d e s h , H a r y a n a , K e r a l a , Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu

Last week, Union health s e c r e t a r y R a j e s h B h u s h a n had written to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana to implement measures for prompt and effective mana g e m e n t o f C o v i d - 1 9 I n M a h a r a s h t r a , t h e r i s e i n

l a d i e s d u r i n g t h e B h a r a t Jodo yatra who had told him they had been sexually raped and that their families had also harassed them R a h u l G a n d h i t e r m e d the action “unprecedented” and asked the cops if their n e w f o u n d u r g e n c y w a s related to the stand he has taken on Adani issue, even a s C o n g r e s s c o n d e m n e d t h e a c t i o n a s v e n d e t t a a i m e d a t t e r r o r i s i n g t h e leader

t u d y v i s a s t h r o u g h E d u c a t i o n Migration Services, which is based in Jalandhar and is run by Brijesh Mishra For a l l c o s t s , i n c l u d i n g a d m i s s i o n t o p r e s t i g i o u s institution Humber College but excluding air tickets and s e c u r i t y d e p o s i t s , t h e c o m p a n y c h a r g e d m o r e t h a n R s 1 6 , 0 0 , 0 0 0 p e r student

I n 2 0 1 8 – 1 9 , t h e s e students had been to Canada

for academic purposes The " a d m i s s i o n o f f e r l e t t e r s " came under scrutiny when t h e s e s t u d e n t s s o u g h t f o r permanent residency (PR) in Canada; that is, the CBSA

l o o k e d a t t h e p a p e r w o r k used to grant the students' v i s a s a n d d i s c o v e r e d t h e "admission offer letters" to be fraudulent

E x p e r t s s a i d m o s t o f these students had already completed their studies, got w o r k p e r m i t s a n d g a i n e d work experience as well It’s

only when they applied for PR, they landed in trouble

A J a l a n d h a r - b a s e d consultant, who has been sending students to Canada for the past 10 years, told media that in such frauds multiple factors are involved – from getting forged offer l e t t e r s o f c o l l e g e s t o p r o v i d i n g f o r g e d f e e p a y m e n t r e c e i p t s t o students for seeking visas as visas are issued only after d e p o s i t i n g t h e f e e t o t h e colleges

Covid cases has coincided w i t h g e n o m e - s e q u e n c i n g r e s u l t s t h a t c o n f i r m t h e presence of XBB 1 16, a new O m i c r o n s u b - v a r i a n t , h e said E p i d e m i o l o g i s t s s a y though cases are on the rise, preliminary reports suggest symptoms are mostly mild and manageable at home “We haven’t seen a significant rise in hospitalisation,” said N K Mehra, immunologist and emeritus scientist at Indian Council of Medical Research He, however, sugg e s t e d c o n t i n u e d s u r v e i llance to spot any potential cluster or emergence of a new variant of concern

U s i ng st ro ng w o rd s to express its “ serious concern ” ov er the active role being played by g overnors in state politics, the Sup reme Court last week said it is very disc o nc er ti ng t h at th ey ar e becom ing p art of p olitical processes to p recipitate the fall of elected g overnments

R e f e r r i n g t o t h e n Maharashtra governor B S Koshiyari’s decision to ask then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to face a floor test on June 30 last year, at a time when Shiv Sena was imploding with rebellion, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, H i m a K o h l i a n d P S Narasimha said the revolt was an internal matter of Shiv Sena and there was no m a t e r i a l t o s u g g e s t t h a t Sena as a political party had withdrawn support to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)

g o v e r n m e n t f o r m e d i n coalition with Congress and NCP - an observation that was refuted by the solicitor g e n e r a l , w h o r e p r e s e n t e d the former governor

After hearing the arguments, the Supreme Court said it could be difficult to r e i n s t a t e t h e U d d h a v T h a c k e r a y g o v e r n m e n t i n Maharashtra even if it finds Koshyari’s decision asking Uddhav Thackeray to face the trust vote in the assembly to be unconstitutional “ H o w c a n w e r e i n s t a t e a g o v e r n m e n t w h i c h i t s e l f a d m i t t e d ( t o ) h a v i n g l o s t majority in the House by resigning voluntarily without facing the trust vote?” asked the SC as the nine-day m a r a t h o n a r g u m e n t s o n petitions filed by both the T h a c k e r a y a n d E k n a t h Shinde camps on the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis c o n c l u d e d o n T h u r s d a y

The SC bench has reserved its verdict on the petitions

During the concluding submissions of senior advocate A M Singhvi, the SC bench asked, “If on analysis of the arguments from both sides and on scrutiny of documents, we conclude that the governor had no material to ask the CM to face a trust vote on June 30, what consequential relief should be granted?”

S i n g h v i , r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e T h a c k e r a y f a c t i o n , replied that the only relief w o u l d b e t o r e s t o r e t h e Maha Vikas Aghadi government To that, the CJI said, “If you had faced the trust vote, then on finding that the governor ’ s decision was unconstitutional, we could have set aside the trust vote But you did not want to face the trust vote If we restore you now, it would create a constitutional conundrum ”

W ith only R s 236 alle ged ly r ema ining in one of th e ba nk a cc ou n t s of f u g it i v e bu si n es sm a n Ni r a v M o di 's F i r e s t a r D ia mo n d I n t e r n a t i o n a l P v t L t d ( F I DP L ) a f t e r K o t a k M ahindr a Ba nk tr an sfer red £ 24 6,000 to Sta te Ba nk of I n d ia t o w a r ds in c om e t a x d ues, and t wo othe rs, Union Ban k of India a nd Ban k of M a ha r a sh t r a , t r a n sf e r r e d on ly part of t he tot al amount d u e , t h e l iq ui d a t or a ppointe d for t he compa ny o n c e a g a in m o v e d t h e spe cia l court see king r elea se of the m oney T h e a m o u n t s w e r e ordered to be released to the c l a i m a n t , P u n j a b N a t i o n a l Bank, through the liquidator

Nirav Modi

chosen with regard to FIDPL by the court in August 2021 as part of the proceedings u n d e r t h e F u g i t i v e Economic Offenders Act

T h e s p e c i a l c o u r t ordered Union Bank of India a n d B a n k o f M a h a r a s h t r a last week to comply with its earlier judgment "in strict m e a n i n g " w i t h i n t h r e e months and transferred the m o n e y i n t h e l i q u i d a t o r ' s account in response to the

liquidator s request

T h e c o u r t s a i d i t w a s c l e a r t h a t U n i o n B a n k o f I n d i a a n d B a n k o f Maharashtra acted arbitraril y a n d h a v e n o t f o l l o w e d court orders “ED has also p r a y e d f o r a l l o w i n g t h i s application In fact that order (from 2021) is and was binding on all the respondents and hence there was no need to file this application for issuing directions to respondent to comply with the same, ” the court said It did not issue directions to Kotak Mahindra Bank

T h e l i q u i d a t o r s a i d i t h a d i n f o r m e d t h e U n i o n Bank of India to transfer the amount lying in the company ’ s account

to sell BrahMos missiles to Indonesia

I nd o - Ru s si a n e n t e r p r i se Bra hMos Aer ospa ce is all ge are d to sell the Brah Mos su p er so ni c cr u i se mi ssi l e to Ind onesia, more than a y e a r a f t e r c l i n ch i ng i t s f irst-e ve r export dea l with th e Ph ili ppi ne s

T h e I n d i a - b a s e d BrahMos Aerospace hopes to close a deal this year to sell Indonesia supersonic cruise missiles for at least $ 2 0 0 m i l l i o n , t h e company's chief executive told the media This will help the company increase its presence in Southeast Asia

A s p a r t o f t h e ambitious drive by Indian

Prime Minister Narendra

M o d i t o t r i p l e d e f e n s e exports, BrahMos, a joint venture between India and Russia, sold $375 million worth of shore-based antis h i p m i s s i l e s t o t h e Philippines last year

Even though Modi has set a lofty goal of $5 billion for India's defence exports t o b e a c c o m p l i s h e d b y

2024–2025 from its current $1 5 billion, media sources earlier suggested that the B r a h M o s s u p e r s o n i c m i s s i l e a l o n e h a s t h e ability to reach $3 billion by 2026

B r a h M o s C o r p o r a t i o n is prepared to lead India’s

e x p o r t p u s h M a n y nations, particularly those in South East Asia and the M i d d l e E a s t , h a v e expressed a keen interest in purchasing the Madein-India missiles designed a n d d e v e l o p e d i n collaboration with Russia

I n d o n e s i a h a s t h u s become a potential client

T h e r e h a v e r e p o r t e d l y been lengthy negotiations between Indonesia and the Indo-Russian joint venture B r a h M o s A e r o s p a c e Unfortunately, no specifics about the parameters or schedule of a potential deal have been made available to the public

14 districts now have over 10% Covid positivity rate

Liquidator calls for release of Nirav’s funds as only Rs 236 found in company’s account India all set

SC to hear plea against anticipatory bail granted to Karnataka BJP MLA

NE W D EL H I: The Suprem e Co urt has agreed to hear the K ar nat ak a L o ka yu kt a p l ea ag ai ns t th e H i g h C o u rt d e ci s i o n to g ra nt anticip atory bail to BJP M LA

M ad al V iru p aksh ap p a i n a corruption case

T h e c o u n s e l a p p e a r i n g f o r K a r n a t a k a L o k a y u k t a m e n t i o n e d h i s plea and sought an urgent hearing of his appeal against anticipatory bail granted to BJP MLA

N o t a b l y , B J P M L A M a d a l Virupakshappa whose son was arrested w h i l e h e w a s t a k i n g a b r i b e o f R s 40,00,000, appeared before Lokayukta in Bengaluru Anti-corruption branch of L o k a y u k t a h a d a r r e s t e d h i s s o n Prashanth Madal in the bribery case

Initially, the lawyer mentioned the plea b e f o r e t h e b e n c h h e a d e d b y C h i e f Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who a s k e d t h e p e t i t i o n e r t o g o b e f o r e another bench headed by Justice SK

Kaul

C J I s a i d , “ H e i s t h e p a r t o f a constitution bench who is hearing a different matter so they will not be able t o t a k e u p K a r n a t a k a L o k a y u k t a matter ” When the lawyer mentioned his plea before a bench headed by SK Kaul, the judge said, “What was the urgency for listing of the plea?”

T h e l a w y e r r e p l i e d a n d s a i d , “ T h e a c c u s e d i s a s i t t i n g l e g i s l a t o r ” T h e r e a f t e r , J u s t i c e Kaul directed to list t h e m a t t e r a t t h e earliest

Recently, Madal Virupakshappa was granted anticipatory bail by Karnataka High Court in corruption case Earlier this month, the anti-corruption wing of L o k a y u k t a r a i d e d t h e r e s i d e n c e o f

V i r u p a k s h a p p a ’ s s o n P r a s h a n t M a d a l and recovered £600,000 in cash S p e a k i n g t o r e p o r t e r s , V i r u p a k s h a p p a s a i d t h a t t h e m o n e y f o u n d i n t h e r a i d w a s h i s ' e a r n e d money' “It was our earned money I have not done any illegal transactions as president of KSDL We kept the money f r o m o u r g r o u n d n u t p l a n t a t i o n a n d c r u s h e r a t h o m e T h i s m o n e y w a s discovered during the Lokayukta raid I have a document for that money and I will give it,” he said

He further said that he would not q u i t t h e p a r t y e v e n a f t e r t h e p a r t y e x p e l l e d h i m f r o m t h e p r i m a r y membership “However, I will not quit the BJP I will prove my innocence in the case and I will get a clean chit in a legal b a t t l e B J P i s m y m o t h e r p a r t y , ” h e added

EPS files nomination for AIADMK general secy, OPS bristles

C H E N N A I : A I A DM K i nte ri m c h ie f Ed ap p ad i K

Palaniswam i (EPS) filed nom inatio n for electio n to the p arty's p owerful General S ecretary p ost, setting the ball rolling for h is ultim ate elevation, as riv al l ead er O P ann ee rs elv an ( OP S ) s lam m ed th e p i ckp o c ket- li ke ap p ro ac h o f th e EP S cam p i n ho ld ing the p olls, alleging due party process was not follow ed

E P S , a s P a l a n i s w a m i i s a d d r e s s e d , f i l e d h i s n o m i n a t i o n a t t h e p a r t y h e a d q u a r t e r s , n e a r l y a month after the Supreme Court greenflagged his continuance as the AIADMK interim chief, dealing a blow to OPS in his running feud with his rival over the leadership issue

The OPS camp decried the election process and senior party leader Panruti S Ramachandran said they will move the court over the issue, even as Panneerselvam indicated he will meet the people on t h e m a t t e r A l a r g e c o n f e r e n c e w i l l b e h e l d i n Tiruchirappalli early April as part of the next course of action, he added W i t h i n h o u r s o f P a l a n i s w a m i f i l i n g t h e n o m i n a t i o n , P a n n e e r s e l v a m a d d r e s s e d a p r e s s conference, alleging the election process was not in conformity with party laws The organisational polls have to be held once in five years and the highest office is elected by primary members Only the e l e c t e d G e n e r a l S e c r e t a r y c a n l a t e r c o n d u c t o r g a n i s a t i o n a l p o l l s a n d a p p o i n t f u n c t i o n a r i e s Further, membership forms have to be given during this period to include new members and renew m e m b e r s h i p f o r e x i s t i n g o n e s , f o l l o w i n g w h i c h identity cards have to be given for both, he said

Amritpal eludes capture; NSA slapped on 5 aides

C HA ND IG A R H/ D I BR U G A RH : P u nj a b P o li c e o n M o nd a y invo ked the National Security Act ( NSA ) against fiv e arrested asso ciates o f fugitive Khalistan sympathiser and self-proclaimed preach er A mritpal Singh , w ho el u d ed c ap t ur e fo r th e t h ir d successiv e day even as his uncle H arj i t S i ng h - o ne o f th o s e booked under the string ent lawan d ai d e Ha rp re et S i n g h surrend ered in Jaland har The duo gave themselves up a f t e r t u r n i n g u p a t a p o l i c e

in brief

KCR'S DAUGHTER APPEARS FOR QUESTIONING IN DELHI LIQUOR CASE

BRS leader K Kavitha on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi for the second round of questioning in the Delhi excise policy linked money laundering case officials said The 44-year-old MLC daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was first questioned in the case on March 11 following which she was summoned again on March 16 Kavitha however skipped the deposition citing her pending plea for relief against the ED action in the case The federal probe agency rejected her claims and asked her to depose on March 20 During the nine hours she spent at the ED office on March 11, Kavitha is understood to have been confronted with the statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, an arrested accused in the case who allegedly shares close ties with her

RAHUL VOWS DOLES OF RS 3,000 TO KARNATAKA JOBLESS

Amritpal Singh

c h e c k p o i n t i n t h e M e h a t p u r S h a h k o t a r e a a l i t t l e a f t e r S u n d a y m i d n i g h t i n t h e M e r c e d e s t h a t h a d b e e n

Amritpal’s getaway vehicle after h e s u p p o s e d l y a b a n d o n e d a n Isuzu pickup truck at Salema v i l l a g e i n t h e s a m e d i s t r i c t Harjit was carrying a 32bore licensed weapon and around Rs 120,000 in cash

The decision to slap the NSA on the five men, four of whom h a d b e e n s h i f t e d t o a j a i l i n Assam's Dibrugarh on Sunday, was taken after leads emerged of f o r e i g n f u n d i n g o f A m r i t p a l ' s a l l e g e d l y s u b v e r s i v e a c t i v i t i e s , hawala transfers and a possible

Raj Bhavan should be no-conflict zone, says Bengal governor

KOL KA TA: West Be ngal Govern or C V

An anda Bose said improve d ties bet we en his office an d the el ect ed govern me nt in We st B engal is just pa rt of a n evolution pr ocess in cooperat iv e federa lism, and e mphasized that “ a Raj Bha van should b ecome a no-conflict zone ”

Bose, who took charge in November last year at a time when a long-drawn conflict was playing out between the Raj Bhavan and the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, said that as Governor he would follow the path of conciliation and cooperation “ I n m y o p i n i o n , i n p l a c e o f c o n f r o n t a t i o n t h e r e s h o u l d b e c o n c i l i a t i o n A n t i p a t h y s h o u l d b e replaced by empathy and passion should be tempered with compassion Always a m i d d l e p a t h s e e m s t o b e b e t t e r f o r society A Raj Bhavan should become a no-conflict zone, ” Bose said

Ties between the Raj Bhavan and the Trinamool Congress government were strained during the tenure of Bose ’ s i m m e d i a t e p r e d e c e s s o r J a g d e e p Dhankar, the current Vice-President of India, because of the latter’s prolonged and often public criticism of the state government’s functioning

The ties appeared to improve after Bose took charge on November 23 last y e a r , w i t h C h i e f M i n i s t e r M a m a t a Banerjee acknowledging in public the c o r d i a l r e l a t i o n s a s s h e c a l l e d t h e Governor a “perfect gentleman”

Bose’s attempts to learn Bengali was well appreciated as well in the state On t h e o c c a s i o n o f R e p u b l i c D a y , t h e G o v e r n o r e v e n o r g a n i s e d a “ H a a t h e Khori (initiation with a chalk)” ceremony

that marks the formal beginning of a child’s education – at Raj Bhavan, which was attended by the Chief Minister

The Governor said he was happy that his concept of walking the middle path has been accepted in the state “I am happy this concept has been accepted by a l l t h e s t a k e h o l d e r s i n W e s t B e n g a l , including the political strata, the media, the common man and the judiciary ”

Asked how he managed to turn the conflict with the state government into cordial ties, Bose said, “I was only a mute witness to the evolution that has been t a k i n g p l a c e i n t h e c o n c e p t o f cooperative federalism in the country For every problem, there is a solution, and there should be an honest attempt to find a solution to all problems ”

link with Pakistani spy agency ISI

Harjit was also flown to the Assam town, 440 km from state capital Guwahati, hours after his surrender Six more members of Amritpal's pro-Khalistan outfit Waris Punjab De are likely to be taken to Dibrugarh in the next 24 hours Besides Harjit, the four being kept in a jail there are

D a l j e e t K a l s i , B a s a n t S i n g h , G u r m e e t S i n g h B h u k h a n w a l a a n d B h a g w a n t S i n g h , a l i a s

Pradhan Mantri Bajeke

Centre seeks report from Bengal over BJP leader's 'false cases' claim

N EW D E LH I: T he Union ho me ministry has sought " i m me di at el y " a r ep o rt f ro m th e W e s t Be ng al go vernment on allegations that "false and fabricated" cases were registered against opp osition leaders and wo rkers in th e state

The move came after the Prime Minister's Office wrote a letter to the ministry and forwarded a letter written by Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari in which he alleged registration of "false and fabricated" cases a g a i n s t o p p o s i t i o n l e a d e r s a n d p a r t y w o r k e r s allegedly by the West Bengal government

"As the issue raised in the petition is concerned with the government of West Bengal, it is requested t h a t t h e m a t t e r m a y p l e a s e b e l o o k e d i n t o appropriately and the report in the matter may please be furnished to this ministry immediately," the home ministry letter said

The letter to the West Bengal chief secretary was sent on March 10 In July 2021, Suvendu Adhikari had alleged that he was being subjected to "political vendetta" since he was an opposition party leader and the cases were registered against him with "false claims" He had then approached the Calcutta High Court seeking an order directing quashing of the FIRs against him Adhikari had also pleaded in the writ petition transfer of the criminal cases against him to the CBI for an "impartial investigation"

If Congress wins this summer’s assembly elections in Karnataka, the government will pay monthly allowances of Rs 3 000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1 500 to diploma-holders for two years Rahul Gandhi said Monday at his first rally in the state since his Bharat Jodo Yatra We won’t stop there The Congress government will also provide jobs to 10 00 000 people in the state and 250,000 vacancies in government jobs will be filled, he said, while announcing the party s Yuva Nidhi programme for the youth which is its fourth election promise in Karnataka The Congress-led government in Chhattisgarh has a similar benefits scheme for the jobless, paying Rs 2,500 a month for a maximum of two years It was announced early this month in the state budget for 2023-24

PM'S SECURITY BREACH IN PUNJAB: 3 POLICE OFFICERS FACE PENALTY

For the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Punjab in January 2022, the Punjab Government has initiated disciplinary proceedings for major penalty against then Director General of Police Sidharth Chattopadhyaya and two other IPS officers The decision in this regard was taken by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Besides, an explanation has been sought from seven more IPS officers As per a communication sent by the Special Secretary (Home) to the Secretary (Personnel) the other two IPS officers besides Chattopadhyaya against whom proceedings for major penalty are to be initiated are Inderbir Singh, the then DIG, Ferozepur Range, and Harmandeep Singh Hans, the then SSP Ferozepur The seven IPS officers from whom explanations have been called from are Naresh Arora G Nageshwara Rao Mukhvinder Singh Chhina Rakesh Agrawal Surjeet Singh and Charanjit Singh

BENGAL REGISTERS PLOT IN AMARTYA’S NAME

The Bengal government updated its land records on Monday to name Nobel laureate Amartya Senas the lessee of the entire 1 38acre plot on which his Santiniketan home Pratichi stands The latest move in the battle of attrition between Visva Bharati and Sen over a portion of his family estate came three days after the university issued an eviction notice to the Harvard economist claiming he had been illegally occupying a 0 13-acre section of the plot A will has been probated in the Calcutta high court in Amartya Sen s name, which says he inherited the entire 1 38 acres from his parents Sen s name has been updated in the record of rights, Birbhum district magistrate Bidhan Ray said

Situation at LAC in eastern Ladakh very fragile, dangerous: Jaishankar

T h e s i tu a ti on a lo n g t h e L i n e of A c tu a l C o n tr o l ( LA C ) i n e a s te r n La d a k h rem ains “ very fragile” an d “quite da ngerous ” i n terms o f m i l i t ar y a s s e s s m e n t , External Affairs Mi nis ter S J a i s ha n k a r s a i d , i n a s ignif icant c hoic e of words that underlin es the curre nt s ta t e o f th e I n di a- C hi n a b order standoff that began n early three years ago

T h i s i s a l s o t h e f i r s t time Jaishankar has used s u c h s t r o n g l a n g u a g e t o d e s c r i b e t h e I n d i a - C h i n a situation at the LAC where the Chinese have matched a b u i l d - u p o f a r o u n d 6 0 , 0 0 0 I n d i a n t r o o p s a t c l o s e p r o x i m i t y H e h a s earlier called it “unstable” or “abnormal” S o u r c e s i n t h e g o v e r n m e n t s a i d J a i s h a n k a r ’ s u s e o f t h e w o r d “ d a n g e r o u s ” i s d e l i b e r a t e g i v e n t h e

aggressive posture adopted by the Chinese, as assessed by the Indian military, and a l s o t h e g e o - p o l i t i c a l circumstances arising out of Xi Jinping’s rare third t e r m a s t h e C h i n e s e President

“This is a very, I would s a y , c h a l l e n g i n g a n d abnormal phase in our ties with China Why I say that is because from 1988 when Rajiv Gandhi went there till 2 0 2 0 t h e u n d e r s t a n d i n g w a s t h a t p e a c e a n d

tranquility on the border w o u l d b e m a i n t a i n e d , ” Jaishankar said

H e s a i d t h e C h i n e s e violated the agreements in 2 0 2 0 a n d “ t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f i t w e r e seen in Galwan Valley and o t h e r a r e a s ” “ W e h a v e d e p l o y e d o u r t r o o p s , w e have stood our ground and the situation to my mind s t i l l r e m a i n s v e r y f r a g i l e b e c a u s e t h e r e a r e p l a c e s where our deployments are very close up and in military

PM Modi’s jibe at Rahul: Some cannot stomach

a s s e s s m e n t , a c t u a l l y t h e r e f o r e , q u i t e dangerous,” he said R e f e r r i n g t o t h e agreements between India a n d C h i n a t o n o t b r i n g large forces to the border, J a i s h a n k a r s a i d t h e t w o c o u n t r i e s h a d a “ v e r y s p e c i f i c ” s e t o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g s a n d h a d put in place protocols on t h e h a n d l i n g o f v a r i o u s situations He said he and f o r m e r C h i n e s e F o r e i g n Minister Wang Yi had also r e a c h e d a n “ i n - p r i n c i p l e a g r e e m e n t i n S e p t e m b e r 2020 ” on how to resolve the LAC issue

Jaishankar said the two c o u n t r i e s h a v e , o f l a t e , made “substantial progress ” on disengagement in many a r e a s w h i l e d i s c u s s i o n s were on over many other a r e a s a s w e l l “ I t i s a painstaking job and we will do that ” he said

Japan PM Fumio Kishida raises Ukraine war with PM Modi

J a p a n ’ s p r i m e m in is t e r

Fumio Kishida said he raised t he is s ue of R u ss i a ’ s a g g r e s si o n i n U k r a i n e d u r i n g h i s m e e t i n g w it h I n d i a n c o un t e r p a r t N a r e n d r a M o d i – w h o st opped short of men tioning t he war in his own r ema rks Kishida , who beg an a t wod a y v i si t t o In d i a o n M ond ay , h as a n e xp an sive n ew pla n se t out for an open a nd fr ee In do-Pacific re gion T h i s i n cl ud e s co o pe r a t i on b e t w e e n t he t w o Q u a d p a r t n e r s a s w it n e s se d in T o k y o ’ s e f fo r t s t o fo r g e st r on ge r p ar t ne r ships w it h s o u t h A si a n c o un t r i e s t o c o un t e r C h i n a ’ s g r o w in g a sse rtiv ene ss

The Japanese leader was expected to convince Delhi t o f o r g e a b r o a d e r a n d stronger coalition to call out R u s s i a f o r i t s i n v a s i o n o f Ukraine during his meeting with Modi and referred to

India’s success, so attacking it

Prime Minister Narendra M odi said that Ind ia h as been a success as a demo cracy because of its strong institutions, wh ich hav e earned it accolad es th ro ug hou t th e wo rld Nev ertheless, som e people are trying to discredit the nation because they can't hand le its success story

"Talk of pessimism, putting the country in a terrible light and harming the morale of the country also takes place," the PM added "The country is full of confidence and resolution, and intellectuals of the globe are positive about India" in what was seen by many as a riposte to Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks overseas where he spoke about the international community being oblivious about the erosion of democracy in India

The PM, who was speaking to the media, however, suggested that it should not be allowed to be a distraction amid the country’s achievements

“When something auspicious happens, there is a tradition to apply ‘kaala tika’, so when so many auspicious things are happening, some people have taken the responsibility to apply this ‘kaala tika’,” he said referring to the tradition where people put a black ‘tika’ on the forehead of children to protect them from evil spirits

Democratization can work, according to Modi, who said that India had demonstrated He stated, "Some people are offended by India's democracy and its institutions, which is why they are opposing it " He also seemed to poke fun at family groups, claiming that a select group of families were holding back the nation's development because they lacked the dynamism and imaginative vision necessary to ensure quick growth due to their limited outlook

h i s I n d i a n c o u n t e r p a r t ’ s earlier rebuke of Putin “ I r e i t e r a t e t h a t J a p a n strongly condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and will never recognise it,” Kishida said while delivering t h e 4 1 s t S a p r u H o u s e l e c t u r e “ P r i m e m i n i s t e r M o d i t o o e x p r e s s e d t o president Putin that today is not the era of war Japan o p p o s e s a n y u n i l a t e r a l changes to the status quo by

f o r c e a n y w h e r e i n t h e world ”

He delivered the lecture i n t h e p r e s e n c e o f a gathering of top diplomats, e n v o y s a n d e x p e r t s h o u r s after he held bilateral talks w i t h P M M o d i f o r t h e strengthening of India and Japan’s “Special Strategic and Global Partnership” $75b n boost for free , open Indo-Pacific

K i s h i d a r e a f f i r m e d

commitment to a peaceful, stable, and prosperous IndoPacific with the latter calling I n d i a a n i n d i s p e n s a b l e partner and announcing $75 billion to bolster Japan’s free a n d o p e n I n d o - P a c i f i c (FOIP) policy

While he did not name China anywhere in his IndoP a c i f i c s t a t e m e n t , K i s h i d a r e f e r r e d t o t h e U k r a i n e conflict seven times as he condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine saying Moscow’s aggression had “obliged’’ the w o r l d t o f a c e t h e m o s t f u n d a m e n t a l c h a l l e n g e o f defending peace

“The two leaders agreed t h e y h a d a s h a r e d responsibility of maintaining a n d s t r e n g t h e n i n g t h e international order, based of t h e r u l e o f l a w , ’ ’ s a i d N o r i y u k i S h i k a t a , J a p a n ’ s cabinet secretary for public a f f a i r s w h o a c c o m p a n i e d Kishida

Tremors in N India for nearly 2 minutes after strong quake in Afghanistan

g i o n in A f g h a n i st a n o n Tu e s d a y e ve ning This wa s t he seco n d e a r t h qu a k e t o h it

A fg hanista n on Tuesda y

The quake struck 133 km s o u t h e a s t o f F a y z a b a d i n A f g h a n i s t a n , a c c o r d i n g t o N a t i o n a l C e n t r e f o r Seismology Afghanistan is f r e q u e n t l y h i t b y e a r t hq u a k e s , e s p e c i a l l y i n t h e H i n d u K u s h m o u n t a i n range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates Tremors were also felt

a c r o s s v a r i o u s c i t i e s i n Pakistan Videos shared on s o c i a l m e d i a s h o w p e o p l e gathered on the streets and p e o p l e r e p o r t e d o b j e c t s falling inside their homes Many people came to open spaces in residential buildings as tremors were felt for a while N o d e a t h s o r i n j u r i e s were immediately reported T h e r e w a s d i s r u p t i o n i n m o b i l e s e r v i c e s i n s o m e parts of the Jammu region immediately after the earthquake, an official was quoted as saying A Noida resident said he first noticed the dini n g t a b l e s h a k i n g " S o o n after we saw that the fans w e r e a l s o s h a k i n g T h e

e a r t h q u a k e w a s s t r o n g i n terms of intensity and stayed for a longer period," the resident of Hyde Park society in Noida was quotes as saying Tremors were also felt in T u r k m e n i s t a n , T a j i k i s t a n , U z b e k i s t a n , C h i n a a n d K y r g y z s t a n “ T h e r e a s o n w h y p e o p l e i n n o r t h w e s t India and Delhi felt for relatively longer time is because of the depth The depth of the fault is over 150 km so first primary waves were felt and then secondary waves After shocks are likely now but they can't be forecast”, J L Gautam, head of office and Scientist at National Center for Seismology, said P e o p l e r u s h e d o u t o f

Interpol lifts alert against Mehul Choksi

I nterpol has li fted its R ed N ot i c e a g ai n s t w a n t e d b u s i n e s s m an M e hu l Choks i, putting an end to e f f o rt s b y I n d i a n l a w en forc ement to extra dite t h e e l ud e d d i a m a n ta i r e from Antigua

Choksi recently filed a case in the Antigua high court claiming the Indian government and two Indian agents of kidnapping him from Antigua and forcibly transporting him to the Dominican Republic in June 2021 Choksi is accused of cheating Punjab National Bank of more than £1 3 billion

Interpol's decision is claimed to have been influenced by this incident and Choksi's plea because its authorities believed that extradition to India based on the Red Notice could deny Choksi a fair trial given the likelihood that the 2021 incident was an attempt to extract him, according to sources

The issuance of the Red Notice, or an internal arrest warrant, against Choksi was a result of sustained efforts by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate as the Interpol h a d i n i t i a l l y e x p r e s s e d i t s r e s e r v a t i o n s a f t e r C h o k s i claimed he was being targeted for political reasons

t h e i r h o m e s i n U t t a r Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, J a m m u a n d K a s h m i r a n d Punjab

In his petition to the Antigua court, Choksi had claimed that on May 23, 2021, he was lured to meet a woman named Barbara for dinner and was taken hostage by a group “A hood was placed over his head after he was tied to a wheelchair and gagged He was tortured before being wheeled into a small boat and was later transferred to Calliope of Arne (a Vincentian registered sailing yacht),” a complaint filed by him said He claimed he was taken to Dominica

Man detained for impersonating as PMO official in Srinagar

Usin g the guise of a se nior official fr om t he Prime Ministe r's Office, a man from Gujarat mana ged to con the Jammu and Ka shmir administ ration an d it s secur it y apparat us out of Z-plus security cover age, a bull etpr oof Mahindra Scorpio SUV, officia l l od gin g at a fiv e-sta r hote l, and much more

The imposter, Kiranbhai Patel, also held a series of meetings with officials during his two visits to Srinagar earlier this year

Patel was detained at least 10 days ago, but the police failed to make the arrest public Patel was pretending to be an Additional

Director for strategy and campaigns in the Prime Minister's Office The details of his arrest emerged after a magistrate sent him to j u d i c i a l c u s t o d y I t ' s u n c l e a r i f a F i r s t

Information Report or FIR was registered on the same day of his arrest or there was some delay in filing it He is also verified on Twitter and has over a thousand followers, i n c l u d i n g B J P G u j a r a t g e n e r a l s e c r e t a r y

Pradipsinh Vaghela He shared several videos and pictures of his official visits in Kashmir surrounded by paramilitary guards, the last of which was on March 2

S Jaishankar

Fumio Kishida & Narendra Modi

Mehul Choksi

SCRUTATOR’S

Karnataka prof gets his PhD at the age of 79

The long-cherished dream of Bengaluru resident and a professor of four decades has finally fulfilled as Prabhakar Kuppahalli finally received his PhD at the age of 79. “ E v e n t h o u g h I h a d p l a n n e d i t w h i l e I w a s y o u n g e r a n d w o r k i n g i n t h e U S , unforeseen events prevented it from happening. When I turned 75, I decided to give it a go,” he said after the 41st annual convocation of Mangalore University In 2017, he joined the PhD programme in Bengaluru’s Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, where he’s a visiting teacher The college is affiliated to Mangalore University He finally accomplished his dream five years later. On his big day, he kept in mind his m e n t o r , m e c h a n i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g p r o f e s s o r R K e s h a v m u r t h y : " I t w a s h e w h o pushed me hard to follow my passion." For his part, Keshavmurthy said Prabhakar was a visiting faculty member without a PhD, but no one could beat him in research (Agency)

TTE urinates on woman in train, detained

N o r t h e r n R a i l w a y r e m o v e d a t r a i n t i c k e t e x a m i n e r ( T T E ) f r o m s e r v i c e f o r “ u r i n a t i n g o n t h e h e a d o f a w o m a n passenger ” Munna Kumar, the suspect, was detained at Lucknow's Charbagh station after the victim's husband filed an FIR The incident took place on board the AmritsarKolkata Akal Takht Express on March 12-13 midnight The accused, who belongs to Bihar’s Begusarai district, was not on duty and was travelling to Saharanpur, where he was posted The victim's spouse, a railroad deputy station supervisor, claimed that the a c c u s e d h a d b e e n i n t o x i c a t e d w h e n h e urinated on the victim's head He has been b o o k e d u n d e r I P C s e c t i o n s 3 5 2 ( u s e o f criminal force), 354A (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) and 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman) The ticket checker's behaviour was described as "unbecoming of a railway servant" and "construes a serious wrongdoing not just to yourself but the entire railways as an organisation" by the Northern Railway in its termination order (Agency)

Two SpiceJet pilots grounded for celebrating Holi inside cockpit

A 24-year-old lady is suspected of killing her mother, dismembering her body into five pieces, placing the pieces in plastic bags, and concealing the pieces in her oneroom home in Mumbai for more than three and a half months The police said she had bought a marble-cutter to dismember the body and kept the torso in a cupboard and t h e l i m b s i n t w o w a t e r d r u m s i n t h e kitchen Although the reason is still unclear, several locals claim that the mother and daughter used to fight frequently Rimple Jain was detained when her uncle and cousin reported her mother missing to the police and she continued to obstruct them, deny them entry to the house, and fill it with a foul odour The police recovered her highly decomposed body parts from the house Rimple’s mother Veena Prakash Jain, 55, was suffering from a terminal illness that had claimed her husband a decade ago (Agency)

This elephant owns property worth £500,000

g o i n g a b o u t t h e i r d a i l y a c t i v i t i e s b y shielding themselves with umbrellas The cause of this peculiar type of rainfall is still u n k n o w n , b u t a s c i e n t i f i c m a g a z i n e suggested that the animals may have been b l o w n a w a y b y s t r o n g w i n d s a n d t h e n d r o p p e d A c c o r d i n g t o s o m e a c c o u n t s , these kinds of incidents might occur during s t o r m s w h e n i n s e c t s g e t s w e p t u p i n w h i r l p o o l s A c c o r d i n g t o a d i f f e r e n t hypothesis, worms are really poplar flowers, a type of tulip tree whose blooms mimic the squirmy creatures In Florida, when it was t h o u g h t t h a t s o m e i g u a n a s m i g h t r a i n d o w n f r o m t r e e s d u e t o t h e c o l d temperatures, a similar strange occurrence w a s r e c o r d e d M e a n w h i l e , a C h i n e s e journalist Shen Shiwei has said that the video was fake and that the city of Beijing had witnessed no rainfall in recent times (Agency)

Canine Kattie solves murder in seconds

j u d g m e n t , U t p a l G o s w a m i h a s b e e n a c c u s e d o f c r i m i n a l c o n t e m p t u n d e r different sections of contempt of courts act “Several other allegations have been made to portray the concerned judicial officer in a demeaning manner and (he) has attacked h e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f l a w a s w e l l a s derogated her personality in many ways by even comparing her to a mythical character i n P u r a n a / M a h a b h a r a t , k n o w n a s Bhasmasur,” the court noted in its order (Agency)

Pune woman exploring the world on bike

T w o S p i c e J e t p i l o t s h a v e b e e n d erostered after they were found celebrating Holi while on duty, a spokesperson for the airline said Both pilots placed a glass of coffee on the center console of the flight d e c k i n t h e c o c k p i t " P e n d i n g a n investigation, both pilots have been off the roster SpiceJet has a stringent protocol about food eating in the cockpit, and all members of the flight crew abide by it U p o n c o n c l u s i o n o f t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n , appropriate disciplinary action would be t a k e n , a c c o r d i n g t o a S p i c e J e t representative A Twitter user commented, " A p p a l l i n g & e x t r e m e l y u n p r o f e s s i o n a l b e h a v i o u r b y @ f l y s p i c e j e t p i l o t s I f t h e liquid (resting on the fuel cutoff levers) spills, it can short circuit the electronics a f f e c t i n g a r a n g e o f s y s t e m s a n d c o m p r o m i s e t h e a i r c r a f t ’ s a b i l i t y t o f l y safely" (Agency)

A k h t a r I m a m , an elephant owner and conservationist i n U t t a r a k h a n d , willed his part of p r o p e r t y w o r t h £ 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 i n t h e names of two of his elephants, Rani and M o t i N o w , R a n i , who is around 28 y e a r s o l d , i s t h e s o l e ' h e i r ' t o A k h t a r ’ s property, as Moti died last month at the age of 35 In an old video, Akhtar had said that he didn't want his elephants to be orphaned if he died “We have seen so many elephants having no one to take care of them after their owners die They suffer from scarcity of food, medicine and medical treatment I don’t want this to happen to my elephants and, therefore, I have willed my property in t h e i r n a m e s T h e y a r e l i k e m y f a m i l y members,” he had said “Akhtar Imam was probably the first person in independent India to will his share of property in the n a m e o f j u m b o s , ” s a i d w i l d l i f e conservationist Imran Khan, who looked after the elephants in Ramnagar under

Akhtar's Asian Elephant Rehabilitation and W i l d l i f e A n i m a l T r u s t ( A E R W A T ) Foundation (Agency)

Rain

of worms in China

The viral clips showed that the Chinese province was apparently being showered with little worms The locals were observed

T h e p o l i c e i n U d h a m S i n g h N a g a r district of Uttarakhand have nominated a m e m b e r o f i t s c a n i n e s q u a d f o r t h e department s ‘best personnel of the month’ award for sniffing out a murder suspect “within 30 seconds” of being deployed in the case and assisting cops solve the crime Kattie, a German Shepherd, apprehended the suspect in the murder of Shakib Ahmad, 21, who was discovered dead with visible injuries on March 6 Shakib’s body was recovered from a field under the district’s J a s p u r p o l i c e l i m i t s K a t t i e w a s t h e n i n s t r u c t e d t o s m e l l a p i e c e o f S h a k i b ' s clothing that had been located a short distance from his dead body The suspects were later ordered to line up in front of her in a type of identification parade by the police, including Shakib's family members Terming her “pride of the district’s canine s q u a d " , S S P ( U d h a m S i n g h N a g a r ) M a n j u n a t h T C t o l d m e d i a , “ W i t h i n 3 0 seconds of sniffing the cloth, she started barking at Shakib's cousin Qasim, standing second in the line, suggesting that he is the culprit ” (The Times of India)

Lawyer convicted for calling woman judge ‘Bhasmasur’

The Gauhati high court found a lawyer guilty of contempt for disparaging a judge of a lower court by comparing her to a "mythical character" Bhasmasur and for making remarks about her jewellery Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Devashis Baruah in the suo motu case granted bail to the advocate on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and will conduct the sentencing hearing later According to the bench's

We have seen m a n y w o m e n riding bikes, but Ramila Latpate is the first one to embark on a solo e x p e d i t i o n t o e x p l o r e t h e w o r l d w i t h a nauvari saree draped around her The 27year-old entrepreneur from Pune will be t r a v e l l i n g t o 4 0 c o u n t r i e s o n h e r motorcycle Latpate started her journey from Gateway of India in Mumbai MLA S u r e s h B h o i r , S h a n t a n u N a i d u , P r a s a d N a g a r k a r , M L A A s h w i n i J a g t a p a n d Shrirang Barane attended her flag-hoisting ceremony a few days ago Maharashtra Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde was also among the attendees The woman would be f i n i s h i n g h e r j o u r n e y a n d e x p e c t e d t o return on March 8, 2024, almost a year later She opted to explore the world in the N a u v a r i d r a p e b e c a u s e s h e w a n t e d t o p r o m o t e t h e c u l t u r e o f t h e s t a t e T h e Nauvari saree (traditional drapes of India) is a nine-yard cloth piece that the women in Maharashtra drape on special occasions The speciality of the drape is that it does not need any other outfit to support it H e n c e , i t i s a l s o c a l l e d A k a n d a V a s t r a (Agency)

Unruly flyer refuses to pay bail amount, sent to jail

A 3 7 - y e a r - o l d U S c i t i z e n w h o w a s detained last week for allegedly smoking on t h e A i r I n d i a L o n d o n - M u m b a i f l i g h t , attempting to open the emergency exit midflight, and kicking other passengers refused to pay the bail amount of Rs 25,000, saying he would only pay Rs 250 because an online search revealed this was the fine required under Section 336 of the Indian P e n a l C o d e T h e a c c u s e d , R a t n a k a r D w i v e d i , w h o c l a i m e d t o b e a n entrepreneur, was sent to jail, despite the metropolitan magistrate granting him bail on the condition that he would not leave the country without prior permission of the court “The charge sheet is attached with the statements, a blue cigarette lighter and a n e c i g a r e t t e , w h i c h a r e p a r t o f t h e evidence in the case The chargesheet said the accused put the lives of several flyers onboard in danger by his act of smoking, creating a ruckus and trying to open the emergency exit mid-air,” said an officer from Sahar police station (Agency)

Woman kills mom, hides chopped body parts; arrested

Cultivate these morning habits to tackle depression

Ev en w ith the proper m ed ic at i o n a nd c o u ns ell i ng , fig hting depression can be toug h Experts believe peop le figh ting the condition can take small step s d aily to h e lp b ala nc e th e i l lne ss M o rni n g s a re g e ner al ly considered the m ost p ositive time of the d ay and the b es t to c u l ti v at e h e al th y r o u ti ne s th a t c an a ff ec t your moo d Multiple studies hav e show n the effect i v en es s o f r o u ti nes a nd h ealth stu dies

There are days when one is not able to muster enough strength to even get out of their bed However, taking that one step can prompt you to walk more and feel better Depression or major d e p r e s s i v e d i s o r d e r , i s a common and serious medic a l i l l n e s s t h a t n e g a t i v e l y impacts how you feel, think

a n d a c t P e o p l e s u f f e r i n g from it experience persistent sadness and lack of interest or pleasure in activities they used to enjoy earlier Brus h your teeth

For people with sound m e n t a l h e a l t h , b r u s h i n g your teeth seems to come instinctively However, for people with depression and other mental issues, it can be a tedious task considering they have very low levels of

energy in general To deal with it, the first thing to do is get up from bed and get into a habit of taking a step at a time

Get some sunlight

S u n l i g h t b o o s t s h a p p y h o r m o n e s a n d c a n w o r k w o n d e r s o n p e o p l e S t e p outside for some sunlight to decrease the level of melatonin, which will also help keep your mood elevated for the day

Regular wake-up time

S e t a r e g u l a r m o r n i n g routine to look forward to a s u c c e s s f u l d a y R e g u l a r w a k e - u p t i m e c a n h e l p improve the body’s biological clock and sleep quality

Bre athing exercises

Practice basic breathing exercises or mindfulness in the morning It can reduce anxiety and stress, two factors contributing to depression

E xerc is e Physical activities have been proven to be an effective treatment for depression as it releases endorphin hormones to improve your mood

Bal anced breakfas t

Eat a balanced breakfast e a c h m o r n i n g t o r e g u l a t e your blood sugar and give y o u r b o d y t h e e n e r g y i t needs

T cells therapy in solid tumours reveals promising results

Researchers at the P erelman S chool of Medicine at th e U niversity o f Pennsylvania h a v e b een w o rki n g o n a p r ec li ni c al st u d y th a t focuses on a nov el strateg y that uses a “one-two pu nch” to assist T cells in attacking solid tu mours The results d em onstrated that focusing o n tw o re g u la to rs th a t m ana g e g ene ac ti v i ti es l i nke d to i nf la m m a ti o n caused T cell expansion in m o d el s to b e a t l ea st 1 0 t i m es h ig h er, i nc re as in g a nt i- tu m ou r i m m u n e activ ity and d urability

The new study’s senior author, June, said, “We want t o u n l o c k C A R T c e l l t h e r a p y f o r p a t i e n t s w i t h s o l i d t u m o u r s , w h i c h include the most commonly diagnosed cancer types Our study shows that immune i n f l a m m a t o r y r e g u l a t o r targeting is worth additional

investigation to enhance T cell potency ”

CAR T cell therapy was pioneered at Penn Medicine by Carl H June, MD, the Richard W Vague Professor in Immunotherapy at Penn and director of the Center f o r C e l l u l a r Immunotherapies (CCI) at A b r a m s o n C a n c e r C e n t e r , whose work led to the first approved CAR T cell therapy f o r B - c e l l a c u t e lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2 0 1 7 S i n c e t h e n , p e r s o n a l i z e d c e l l u l a r

t h e r a p i e s h a v e r e v o l u t i o n i z e d b l o o d c a n c e r t r e a t m e n t b u t r e m a i n e d s t u b b o r n l y

ineffective against solid tumours, such as lung and breast cancer

O n e o f t h e c h a l l e n g e s f o r C A R T c e l l t h e r a p y i n s o l i d

t u m o u r s i s a

phenomenon known as T cell exhaustion, where the persistent antigen exposure f r o m t h e s o l i d m a s s o f tumour cells wears out the T cells to the point that they a r e n ' t a b l e t o m o u n t a n a n t i t u m o r r e s p o n s e E n g i n e e r i n g a l r e a d y e x h a u s t e d T c e l l s f r o m p a t i e n t s f o r C A R T c e l l t h e r a p y r e s u l t s i n a l e s s e f f e c t i v e p r o d u c t b e c a u s e the T cells don't multiply enough or remember their task

T h e r e s e a r c h t e a m ,

including lead author David M a i , a B i o e n g i n e e r i n g g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t i n t h e School of Engineering and A p p l i e d S c i e n c e , a n d c ocorresponding author Neil Sheppard, DPhil, head of the CCI T Cell Engineering Lab, hypothesized that targeting the related but independent R o q u i n - 1 r e g u l a t o r a t t h e s a m e t i m e c o u l d b o o s t responses further Mai said, “Each of these t w o r e g u l a t o r y g e n e s h a s b e e n i m p l i c a t e d i n r e s t r i c t i n g T c e l l inflammatory responses, but w e f o u n d t h a t d i s r u p t i n g t h e m t o g e t h e r p r o d u c e d m u c h g r e a t e r a n t i c a n c e r effects than disrupting them individually By building on p r e v i o u s r e s e a r c h , w e a r e s t a r t i n g t o g e t c l o s e r t o strategies that seem to be p r o m i s i n g i n t h e s o l i d tumour context ”

Eating almonds before meals may improve blood sugar control: Study

A cc o r d i n g t o t wo n e w t r i a l s, i n cl u d i ng p a r t i c i p a n t s f r o m In d i a , s na ck i ng o n a l m o n d s b e f o r e m e a ls i m p r o v e d b l o o d su g a r co n t r o l i n o v e r we i g h t a nd o be se p ersons wi th pre -d iabet es T he re sult s of the fi rst t ria l, w h i ch l a st e d t h r e e d a y s , w e r e p u b l i s h e d i n t h e E u r o p e a n Jo u r n a l o f C l i ni c a l Nu t r i t i o n, wh i l e t he results of the se cond stud y, wh ich la ste d thr ee mo nths, were publishe d i n Cli ni ca l Nut riti on ESPEN

The researchers found

that three-month almond intervention reversed pred i a b e t e s , o r g l u c o s e i n t o l e r a n c e , t o n o r m a l

blood sugar levels in nearly one quarter (23 3 per cent) of the people studied T h e y f o u n d b e t t e r

A ne w s tud y by Columbia

Un i v e rs i t y r e s e a r ch e r s b el i ev e s tha t cho le s te ro lloweri ng medicin es kn own a s s t a t i n s h a v e th e potenti al to min imis e hea rt d i s e a s e i n p e o p le w i t h ob s t r u ct i v e s l e e p a p n e a regardle ss of w hether they us e C P A P e q ui pm e n t a t nig ht C ontin uous pos itive a i r w a y p re s s u r e ( C P A P ) t he ra p y i m p r ov e s s le e p q u a l i t y a n d r e d u ce s dayti me fati gue i n people w i t h o b s t r u ct i v e s le e p apn ea H owev er, fi n din gs from recent cli ni cal trials , C P A P d oe s n o t i m p r ov e heart health as ph ysi cia ns origin ally hoped T h e n e e d t o f i n d a l t e r n a t i v e m e t h o d s t o r e d u c e h e a r t d i s e a s e i n sleep apnea may be urgent as the condition is known to triple the risk of having a h e a r t a t t a c k , s t r o k e , o r a n o t h e r s e r i o u s cardiovascular event The study, led by Sanja Jelic, MD, associate professor of m e d i c i n e a t C o l u m b i a University Vagelos College o f P h y s i c i a n s a n d S u r g e o n s , s h a r e s t h a t

statins may be one such method

The study included 87 p e o p l e w i t h r e c e n t l y d i a g n o s e d o b s t r u c t i v e s l e e p a p n e a w h o w e r e being treated with CPAP T h e p a t i e n t s w e r e r a n d o m i s e d t o r e c e i v e t r e a t m e n t w i t h e i t h e r statins or a placebo The r e s e a r c h e r s f o u n d t h a t s t a t i n s p r o t e c t e d b l o o d vessels against dangerous i n f l a m m a t o r y c h a n g e s i n people with the condition R e s e a r c h e r s l o o k e d s p e c i f i c a l l y a t t h e C D 5 9 p r o t e i n , w h i c h c h e c k s i n f l a m m a t i o n w h e n s t a b i l i s e d i n t h e b l o o d v e s s e l s J e l i c s a i d , “ T h e e f f e c t w e f o u n d w i t h s t a t i n s i s i m p o r t a n t Inflammation in the blood v e s s e l s i s a k e y s t e p i n p r o g r e s s i o n o f cardiovascular disease, so anything that we can do to s t a b i l i z e C D 5 9 i n t h e s e p a t i e n t s i s l i k e l y t o b e beneficial for heart health ” Currently, only 8% to 13% o f p a t i e n t s w i t h obstructive sleep apnea are prescribed statins

Improve your focus and increase productivity with these techniques

glucose control over time through dietary strategies l i k e i n c l u d i n g a l m o n d s c o u l d h e l p s t a v e o f f diabetes progression, the researchers said According to Anoop Misra, Professor a n d C h a i r m a n o f t h e

F o r t i s - C - D O C C e n t r e o f E x c e l l e n c e f o r D i a b e t e s , Metabolic Disorders, and E n d o c r i n o l o g y i n N e w Delhi and study's primary author, almonds may be a m a j o r d i f f e r e n t i a t o r i n h e l p i n g r e g u l a t e b l o o d glucose levels as part of a dietary approach

Stay ing focuse d dai ly can be cha llengi ng d ue to the many distra ct ions arou nd us In thi s art icle, we discuss som e te chni que s t o i mpr o ve y ou r conce nt rat i o n a n d h e lp y o u st a y focused Pomod oro technique Break down your work i n t o 2 5 - m i n u t e i n t e r v a l s , followed by a five-minute break Repeat the process four times, and then take a more extended break This h e l p s b r e a k d o w n y o u r workload into manageable c h u n k s a n d h e l p s y o u recharge

T ime blo cking

T h i s i s a s c h e d u l i n g method where you schedule specific times for each

task It allows you to prioritise your work and visua l l y r e p r e s e n t h o w l o n g each task will last It also helps you focus on the task w i t h o u t w o r r y i n g a b o u t what comes next Go al sett ing S e t g o a l s a n d k e e p t r a c k o f y o u r p r o g r e s s

This will not only give you a sense of accomplishment but also keep you focused on your end goal

E limina te d istracti ons Create an environment t h a t m i n i m i s e s d i s t r a ct i o n s l i k e s o c i a l m e d i a , e m a i l n o t i f i c a t i o n s , a n d people Turn off notifications, work in a quiet area, and prioritise your workload

Statins may lower heart disease in people with sleep apnea: Study

Twinkle recalls mom

Dimple teased her for having moustache as a c

Author Twinkle Khanna took to Instagram Reels over the weekend to share a glimpse of her new interview with well-known chef Sanjeev Kapoor They discussed recipes, his career as a cooking show host and more She also asked him about his rumoured upcoming biopic When the chef responded by asking in Hindi, “where is Akshay Kumar?” Twinkle showed a fake moustache and said Akshay could put it on and easily “pass off” as Sanjeev

Twinkle then put on the fake moustache as Sanjeev and said she looked “outstanding ” She then recalled how mother-actor Dimple Kapadia teased her for having a moustache in childhood She said, “Actually, when I was a kid, my mother used to tease me (since) I had a natural moustache She used to say ‘much ho to Nathulal jaisi ho, warna na ho (If you have a moustache, it should either be like Nathulal or not be there at all)’ ”

In the video posted on YouTube, Twinkle continued to wear the fake moustache as she plated a meal during a cooking competition with Sanjeev He declared her the winner and broke into laughter as Twinkle finally removed the moustache Sharing a clip from the interview on Instagram Stories, Twinkle wrote, "Mooch ho to Nathulal jaise' unless we're talking about the most popular mooch on television He's a household name, who feels just like a family member, welcoming the legendary Sanjeev Kapoor to The Icons Watch the full interview on Tweak India's YouTube channel Drop a (heart emoji) in the comments if you love him as much as we do ”

Anand Ahuja

praises Sonam’s commitment as a 'full time mom'

Sonam Kapoor’s husband and businessman, Anand Ahuja, took to his Instagram handle and penned an appreciation note for the actor On Mother’s Day, celebrated in March in the UK, Anand admitted his shortcomings and praised Sonam for her commitment towards their son

Twinkle, married to actor Akshay Kumar and shares two children with him

Aarav and Nitara

made her acting debut with ‘Barsaat’

Karan Johar pens a note for mom

Hiroo Johar on her birthday

in 1995 After her 2001 film ‘Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega,’ she quit acting In 2015, Twinkle debuted as an author with ‘Mrs Funnybones ’ She wrote two more books – ‘The Legend Of Lakshmi Prasad’ (2017), and ‘Pyjamas Are Forgiving’ (2018)

Kareena poses with women of the Masai tribe on Africa trip

Actor

Karan Johar has penned a note on his mom Hire Johar’s 80th birthday He dedicated some new and old pictures with his mom on Instagram and wrote how she is his fashion police and also the one who has played a significant role in raising his twins

Filmmaker

Roohi and Yash Johar

Kareena Kapoor is on holiday with her family, exploring parts of Africa. She is keeping her fans posted on her trip with regular posts. The actor shared a glimpse from her meeting with women of the Masai tribe of the region The photos feature a group of women dressed in colourful outfits in a rural area with huts in the background

Kareena clicked their pictures enthusiastically in the photo the actor shared on Instagram Storie Sharing the photo, she wrote, “With the wonderful ladies of the Masai community ” She also posted a picture of herself posing w i t h t h e w o m e n a s h e r s o n J e h a n g i r p h o t o b o m b e d t h e i r p i c t u r e S h a r i n g t h e image, she wrote, “Jeh baba, the ladies man ”

Earlier, she had posted a glimpse of Saif from a safari They were exploring Masai M a r a , t h e f a m o u s w i l d l i f e c o n s e r v a t i o n reserve in Africa Her post read, “It's too hot in the Mara ” Bebo’s previous photos from

the trip featured her sons Jeh and Taimur She also treated fans to a photograph of two l i o n e s s e s s t a n d i n g o n a massive tree trunk A picture followed this to show her look for the day

T h e p h o t o f e a t u r e d K a r e e n a s t a n d i n g b e s i d e a jeep, dressed in a printed beige s h i r t , p y j a m a s , a n d a s l e e v e l e s s winter jacket and sunglasses She called it ‘Safari Chic ’ Alongside t h i s , s h e p o s t e d a p h o t o o f lionesses standing on a trunk amid he vast desert, and wrote, “When time stood still ” On the work front, Kareena is slated to begin work on Rhea Kapoor's upcoming ‘The C r e w ’ I t a l s o s t a r s K r i t i S a n o n , D i l j i t Dosanjh and Tabu Last year, she wrapped up the shoot of Sujoy Ghosh's next thriller f i l m , w h i c h i s b a s e d o n t h e b o o k ‘ T h e

Devotion Of Suspect X,’ co-starring Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat This year, she h a s a l r e a d y f i n i s h e d f i l m i n g f o r H a n s a l Mehta's untitled next in London

Sharing a throwback photo of Sonam and their son Vayu from a ceremony in Mumbai, Anand wrote, “I have to admit, a n d S o n a m c a n v e r i f y , t h a t emotional/social awareness is not really a strength of mine As a result, it’s really taken me seeing what @sonamkapoor has done over the past 17 months (and actually e v e n l o n g e r ) i n e n s u r i n g t h e b e s t emotional and physical health of herself and our baby to really understand the levels of commitment and selflessness it takes to be a full time mom ”

Karan shared the pictures and wrote, “My brave and resilient mama turns 80 today She taught me how to love how to stand for what I believe in never apologise or justify myself if I was in the right never pretend to be anyone I wasn’t She is as much my conscience as she is my fashion police Also the only person who I am still scared of I love you mom to the planets and back I would never have been able to raise Roohi and Yash without you ”

Karan is the only son of the late Yash J o h a r a n d H i r o o J o h a r T h e f i l m m a k e r welcomed his twins via surrogacy in 2017, and since then, he has been co-parenting them along with his mom He also named his daughter Roohi after rearranging the name of his mom His son is named after his late father, Yash Johar

Karan is working on his film ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani ’ He was filming the last leg of the film in Kashmir It stars Alia B h a t t

Ranbir calls Uorfi Javed’s fashion sense 'bad taste'

He continued, “In an age when we all h a v e b e e n a c c u s t o m e d t o i m m e d i a t e r e w a r d s y s t e m s , c o m m i t t i n g t o m o t h e r h o o d r e a l l y d o e s m e a n g i v i n g endlessly over and above that system It has also re-emphasized her responsibilities a s a d a u g h t e r , s i s t e r a n d w i f e ( a n d girlfriend :P) as she navigates making sure our son gets all the love, learnings and blessings he can from our big family as he s l o w l y g r o w s i n t o t h e m o s t u n i q u e individual with the assets of our heritage a n d a l s o w i t h o u t t h e b u r d e n s o f a n y expectations ”

Actor

Ranbir Kapoor is not a “big fan” of Uorfi Javed’s sartorial choices As a part of the promotion for his latest outing, ‘Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar,’ the actor featured as a guest in Kareena Kapoor’s show ‘What Women Want ’

I n a s e g m e n t o f t h e s h o w , K a r e e n a showed Ranbir several actors dressed in different looks and asked for his opinion However, the catch was the faces of the actors were not shown Interestingly, Ranbir identified them correctly based on their outfits and commented on them as “good” or “bad taste ”

When Kareena placed a placard of Uorfi Javed in front of Ranbir, she said, “I think y o u k n o w w h o t h i s p e r s o n i s ” R a n b i r guessed it right and said, “I am not a big fan

of this kind of fashion

But I believe that we are l i v i n g i n a w o r l d t o d a y w h e r e i f y o u a r e comfortable in your skin

” Kareena cut him off and p r o b e d , “ G o o d t a s t e o r

b a d t a s t e , R a n b i r ” H e answered, “Bad taste ” R a n b i r w a s a l s o s h o w n a p l a c a r d o f

Priyanka Chopra Ranbir said, “PeeCee is awesome So, definitely good taste I think she has a lot of carriage and she pulls it off Because she has this self confidence And if you have self confidence, you can pull off anything ”

Uorfi, who is quite vocal on social media, is yet to react to Ranbir’s words She is k n o w n f o r h e r b o l d f a s h i o n s t a t e m e n t s

Celebrities such as Ranveer Singh, Masaba Gupta, and Kangana Ranaut have also talked about it

“I know all of this is cliché in a sense which is why I started by saying that it’s taken me seeing @sonamkapoor do all this t o r e a l l y a p p r e c i a t e t h e m a g i c o f motherhood To @sonamkapoor and to all the moms (and we all have some degree of motherhood in us even if not everyone is a ‘full time mom’) Happy Mothers Day!! You are the root all life & love,” he concluded R e a c t i n g t o t h e p o s t , S o n a m commented, “Oh wow I love you so m u c h d o n ’ t k n o w w h a t t o s a y ” Meanwhile, Anil Kapoor agreed with his s o n - i n - l a w a n d a d d e d , “ A b s o l u t e l y

A n a n d ” O t h e r s i n c l u d i n g B h u m i Pednekar and Maheep Kapoor dropped heart emojis for them

After dating for a few years, Sonam and Anand tied the knot on May 8, 2018 They became parents and welcomed their son Vayu Kapoor Ahuja in Mumbai on A u g u s t 2 0 , 2 0 2 2 T h e f a m i l y l i v e s i n London, and the actor keeps travelling to I n d i a S h e w i l l b e n e x t s e e n i n t h e upcoming film, ‘Blind ’

JANHVI KAPOOR 'prayed' to work with Jr NTR

Actor Janhvi Kapoor recently revealed that she manifested her South debut with Jr NTR Their film has been tentatively titled ‘NTR 30 ’ Janhvi called working with the actor a “dream” and asserted that he recently rewatched his film ‘RRR ’ Janhvi and Jr NTR’s film is touted to be an action film It will mark her debut film in the Telugu film industry and will be directed by Koratala Siva She shared the first poster of the upcoming Telugu film on her birthday.

At the India Today Conclave 2023, Janhvi said, “Literally counting down the days I message the director every day Working with Jr NTR has been a dream I recently rewatched RRR The magnitude of charisma that he has To be able to share screen space with him will be one of the biggest joys of my life ”

“I manifested it I prayed every day for it In every interview, I used to say that I want to work with NTR sir This film might be the first time this (approach) worked for me I do believe that what you put in the universe is what you attract I have learnt to be always positive and do your work That is the moral of the story,” she added

Janhvi is the daughter of the late actor Sridevi and filmmaker Boney Kapoor She announced the Telugu film earlier this month on Instagram Her post read, “It is finally happening (hugging face emoji) Can't wait to set sail with my favourite @jrntr (red heart emoji) #NTR30 ”

J a n h v i w a s l a s t s e e n i n t h e s u r v i v a l t h r i l l e r , ‘ M i l l i ’

Mathukutty Xavier helmed it ‘NTR 30 ’ marks Jr NTR's reunion with Koratala Siva after seven years

Allu Arjun unblocks co-star Bhanushree Mehra on Twitter

Actor Allu Arjun unblocked his ‘Varudu’ co-star Bhanushree Mehra on Twitter a few hours after blocking her Bhanushree shared a screenshot of the actor’s profile revealing he has blocked her, and wrote, “If you ever feel like you’re stuck in a rut, just remember that I acted in Vaurud with Allu Arjun and STILL couldn’t get nay work But I’ve learned to find humour in strugglesespecially now that Allu Arjun has blocked me on Twitter Go subscribe?”

ActorRam Charan is back in India after attending the Oscars and received a warm welcome upon his arrival at the airport He also got a sweet surprise from Prabhudeva and the team as he reached the sets of his film to resume the shoot the next day The huge team welcomed Ram by performing the ‘RRR’ song ‘Naatu Naatu’ on sets.

The song won an Oscar in the

‘ B e s t O r i g i n a l S o n g ’ c a t e g o r y P r a b h u d e v a a l s o p r e s e n t e d h i m with a massive garland Sharing the video on Instagram to thank him, Charan wrote, “Can’t thank you all enough for such a warm welcome

O u r G r a n d m a s t e r @prabhudevaofficial sir thank you for the sweet surprise Feels great to be back at shoot #RC15 ” Fans and celebrities loved the g e s t u r e C h a r a n ’ s w i f e U p a s a n a Konidela, who accompanied him to the Oscars, wrote, “Sweetest welcome ” Lauren Gottlieb, who performed the song on stage at Oscars, wrote, “Wow!! Epic ” A fan commented, “Seeing that step in Prabhudeva sir movies ” Another wrote, “You deserve this ”

‘RRR’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ was the first Telugu song to be nominated in the Original Song category at t h e O s c a r s I t w o n t h e a w a r d t r u m p i n g b i g n a m e s s u c h a s Rihanna and Lady Gaga Prabhudeva’s ‘RC15’ is billed as an action drama with current-day politics It also stars Kiara Adani, SJ S u r y a h , J a y a r a m , A n j a l i a n d Srikanth Dil Raj and Shirish Garu j o i n t l y p r o d u c e d t h e u p c o m i n g project under the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations for a panI n d i a r e l e a s e ‘ R C 1 5 ’ w i l l b e r e l e a s e d i n T e l u g u , T a m i l a n d Hindi

Bhanushree clarified after a few hours that she had never blamed Allu for her career setbacks and revealed that the actor had unblocked her She shared another screenshot and wrote, "Great news, Allu A r j u n h a s u n b l o c k e d m e ! T o c l a r i f y , I

N E V E R b l a m e d h i m f o r m y career setbacks I n s t e a d , I ' v e l e a r n e d t o f i n d h u m o r i n m y s t r u g g l e s a n d k e e p m o v i n g f o r w a r d S t a y tuned for more laughs and good v i b e s ! T h a n k s , A l l u A r j u n , f o r being a good sport ”

The actor also posted a video which she later deleted on the microblogging site and wrote, “Well, that was rollercoaster of a day! Goodnight, folks! Just to clear the airmy tweet wasn’t intended to hurt any Allu Arjun fans I’m a fan too! I was just poking fun at my own career struggles Let’s spread love & laughter, not hate Sweet dreams!”

Bhanushree and Allu worked together i n t h e T e l u g u r o m a n t i c a c t i o n d r a m a released in 2010 Helmed by Gunasekhar, the film failed to impress the audience at the box office

Rajnikanth pays a visit to Uddhav Thackeray and his family in Mumbai

Actor Rajinikanth met the former chief minister and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and his family at his residence Matoshree in Mumbai over the weekend.

Uddhav’s son Aditya Thackeray took to Instagram to post a picture with Rajinikanth. He captioned the frame, “An absolute delight

completely “apolitical ” The actor reportedly shares a cordial relationship with Uddhav and his family Rajinikanth is in Mumbai for some commitments, so he paid a courtesy visit to Matoshri, as per sources It is also said Rajinikanth was a great admirer of Bal Thackeray’s cartoons

to have Rajnikantji at Matoshri once again ” The frame features Uddhav, his wife Reshmi, his two sons Aditya and Tejas, along with Thalaiva In the frame, Rajnikanth is welcomed by a bouquet

According to sources, the meeting was

Fans commented on Aditya’s post One wrote, “Power of the matoshree ” Another wrote, “Super duper!” The superstar was spotted attending India and Australia’s ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai He was invited by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to attend the match

Prabhudeva surprises Ram Charan after his return to ‘RC15’ set

Jr NTR fans fly a banner for ‘NTR 30’ over LA’s Hollywood sign

Lilly Singh wishes for more South Asian representation on Oscars stage

Rihanna approached Rahul Sipligunj for pictures as he was too shy

Fans

Jr NTR is reuniting with Koratala Siva for ‘NTR 30,’ a project expected to be officially launched on March 23 The project m a r k s t h e T e l u g u d e b u t o f a c t o r J a n h v i

Actor

Kapoor The actor’s fans in the US surprised him by flying an aeroplane with a banner to convey their love for ‘RRR’ and wished him for his upcoming project

A video of the actor’s fans flying a banner with best wishes message in the US surfaced on Twitter The banner which read, “Thank you NTR Can't wait for #NTR30' was flown o v e r t h e i c o n i c H o l l y w o o d s i g n i n L o s Angeles The tweet was captioned, “Sky is the limit for @tarak9999 fans who expressed t h e i r h a p p i n e s s o v e r # R R R M o v i e a n d wished their best for #NTR30 by flying an a e r o p l a n e b a n n e r o v e r t h e p r e s t i g i o u s Hollywood sign ”

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that actor Saif Ali Khan has been approached with the offer to play the antagonist in ‘NTR 30 ’ The makers are expected to make an official announcement soon with regard to the casting

Tom Hiddleston calls Aditya Roy Kapur after watching ‘The Night Manager’

Influencer and TV host Lilly Singh gave her fans glimpses inside the 95th Academy Awards. She shared pictures featuring celebrities like Ram Charan, Guneet Monga, Chandrabose, and Malala Yousafzai. She posed with Stephanie Hsu, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Graham, and Sofia Carson, dressed in pink from top to bottom.

Sharing the photos, Lilly captioned the post, "What an honour it was to be amongst so many talented humans yesterday! Thank you to @theacademy and @abcnetwork for having me! Congrats to all of the nominees and winners!! On a personal note, it was so amazing to see my fellow South Asians thriving on the carpet, as presenters and in two instances, as wait for it OSCAR WINNERS!”

She also added, "Congrats to everyone who worked on both #NaatuNaatu and #TheElephantWhisperers! Here are your roses for continuing to pave a path for all of us (roses emojis) thank you!! This is hard, important work and I truly applaud you and am grateful Let’s make sure this progress continues with forward momentum ” Hopefully next year, we can see even more South Asian representation on that stage as presenters, nominees, winners and dancers (that Naatu Naatu performance was EPIC but I wish some bomb af South Asian dancers got the chance to be part of it) In conclusion, DESIS (pinched fingers emojis)," concluded Lilly

The foot-tapping Telugu chartbuster ‘Naatu Naatu,’ composed by MM Keeravaani and penned by Chandrabose, won the Original Song award The win made the movie the first Indian feature film production to bring home an Oscar Netflix's Tamil documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers,’ directed by debutante Kartiki Gonsalves and produced b y G

Documentary

Rajamouli, Ram Charan, Jr NTR reportedly bought tickets to attend the Oscars

continue to reel from ‘RRR’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ victory at the Oscars While composer MM Keeravaani and lyricist Chandrabose accepted the award at the 95th Academy Awards, singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava performed the Telugu song on the Academy’s stage, just like the other nominees, including singer-actor Rihanna

Rahul recently recalled their meetup with the Grammy award winner and fellow nominee and how she approached him Rahul shared a photo of the two of them on Instagram His caption read, “Wooow I have met the most amazing lady with a very beautiful heart (red heart emoji) Still in shock by seeing your humbleness #rihana @badgalriri and how down to earth you are! Thank you so much for calling and appreciating for the performance and #oscarwinning It’s an emotional moment for me!! Can’t keep calm #mydreamcometrue ”

Later speaking in an interview, Rahul

Actors

Aditya Roy Kapur received a wonderful call from Tom Hiddleston, who praised him for his recent show ‘The Night Manager.’ The hit Disney+ Hotter show stars Aditya in the lead and is an official adaptation of the English series, which starred Tom in the lead. Aditya shared his reaction after Tom called him up on FaceTime. He wrote, “The OG Night Manager watcher our show yesterday! He had some kind words to say

Bas aur kya chahiye ”

The post showed a closeup of Tom’s face as Aditya took a screenshot of their chat ‘The Night Manager’ also stars Anil Kapoor and Sobhita Dhulipala in the lead roles Produced by The Ink Factory and Banijay Series, the series is an official Hindi adaptation of John le Carre’s novel

Talking about the project, Aditya earlier said, “When there's revenge and betrayal in the mix, high voltage drama is inevitable The Night Manager pulls this off on the back of fascinatingly complex characters As they say, still waters run deep, and my chara c t e r S h a a n v e r y m u c h e m b o d i e s t h a t phrase One can never tell what's on his mind but you know the wheels are furiously turning, taking the plot from one unexpected turn to another It's been a great experience working with some of the finest talent of the Indian film industry, assembled by the dynamic team at Disney Hotstar ”

On the work front, Aditya will be soon seen sharing screen space with Sara Ali Khan in Anurag Basu’s ‘Metro In Dino ’

According to a report, only music composer MM Keeravaani and lyricist Chandra Bose were eligible for a free pass to attend the Oscars this year, as they were nominated for the awards ceremony. While the rest of the ‘RRR’ team, including filmmaker SS Rajamouli, actors Ram Charan and Jr NTR, and their families had to buy tickets to watch the event live

It is reported that Rajamouli purchased tickets for himself, the rest of the ‘RRR’ team and their family members ‘RRR’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ won the Oscar for Best Original Song A single ticket to O

which is around

report, according to the Academy Awards crew, only the awardees and their family members were eligible for a free pass, while everyone else had to pay for a ticket to watch the event live

While many were surprised to read that the crew were not given free entry to the Oscars, another section of fans was upset with the Academy Awards organisers for giving the ‘RRR’ team the last row in the hall

Rajamouli was accompanied by his wife Rama, son SS Kartikeya, and the other family members Ram Charan was a c c o m p a n i e d b y h i s w i f e , U p a s a n a Kamineni, while Jr NTR attended the event without his family

revealed how he and Kaala were initially too shy to ask her for a photo, but luckily she was the one who initiated the conversation after ‘Naatu Naatu’ won the Oscar

He said, “Our green rooms were next to each other and we were going back to our green room and she was coming out of hers When we were walking towards her, me and Kaala Bhairava were discussing that we want to take a picture She was observing that these two guys wanted to take a picture but were too shy to ask for it ”

He added, "Then she came forward and appreciated us and clicked pictures with us She was so humble and a beautiful lady with a beautiful heart She said, ‘Guys, you performed really well and congratulations for winning an Oscar for Naatu Naatu’ ”

in brief Delhi drub Mumbai to take top spot

TREESA-GAYATRI’S DREAM RUN ENDS IN SEMIFINAL

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out of the All England badminton championships with a 10-21, 10-21 defeat to Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea in Birmingham on Saturday The all out attack of the Indians, which helped them win the quarterfinals, boomeraged in the women’s doubles semifinals as the Koreans ended their 11-match winning streak Treesa-Gayatri won three matches in Dubai, five at the Nationals and three at the All England It was Treesa-Gayatri’s second successive elimination at this stage of All England The Koreans who ousted second seeds in the second round not only retrieved everything but also tossed the shuttle high and invited the Indians to hit hard The Indians took the bait but when all their power packed smashes were returned with ease they faltered

SOUTHEE & TICKNER HELP

NZ SWEEP LANKA SERIES

New Zealand completed an innings and 58-run victory over Sri Lanka in the second Test in blustery Wellington on Monday to sweep the series 2-0 as the South Asian side s resistance finally broke late on Day Four Having been asked to follow-on Sri Lanka needed 416 runs to make the hosts bat again but were bowled out for 358 in their second innings at the Basin Reserve to the relief of Tim Southee s side

The inaugural World Test Championship holders, New Zealand s title defence ended long before but they finished the cycle on a high with three straight wins, including a pair of absolute thrillers against England in Wellington and the series-opener in Christchurch It was no coincidence that Kane Williamson was key in all three wins New Zealand’s finest batter was named Man of the Series, having scored 215 in Wellington after steering the Black Caps home with an unbeaten century in the final-ball win in Christchurch Matt Henry was Man of the Match in Wellington for his unbeaten 200 as New Zealand piled on 580/4 in their declared first innings Sri Lanka s hopes of a first win in the country since 2006 all but ended when their batters managed only 164 in reply

WARNER NAMED DC CAPTAIN

Delhi Capitals named David Warner as their captain for the upcoming IPL season Warner comes in as regular captain Rishabh Pant is undergoing an extensive rehab post a surgery on his right knee, which was injured in a car accident in the last week of December Axar Patel will be Warner s deputy This is a shot in the arm for Warner, who has been struggling with his form of late

VETERAN PAK UMPIRE STEPS DOWN FROM ICC ELITE PANEL

Pakistan veteran Aleem Dar stepped down from the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires after officiating in a record number of international cricket matches during his distinguished career The 58-year-old stood in 144 Tests and 222 ODIs, both world records, in addition to 69 T20Is “The veteran umpire Dar has stepped down after 19 years on the Elite Panel, standing in a record 435 men s international matches, the ICC said Dar s first international match as an Elite Panel umpire was in 2002 and a year later he stood in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa Dar, who took up umpiring after playing first-class cricket in Pakistan, said he was honoured to have officiated international matches “It has been a long journey, but I have enjoyed every bit of it Dar was quoted in the ICC release I have had the pleasure and honour of umpiring the world over and what I have achieved is something I did not even dream of when I started ”

The race for th e playoffs m ay hav e been decided in th e WP L bu t t h e ba ttl e fo r to p sp o t , which guarantees a direct entry into the final, is g oing do wn the w i re T h e co n ten d er s are current table-top pers Mu mbai Ind ians and the Delhi Capitals Spearheaded by their classy trio of pacers M arizanne Kapp (2-1 3 in 4 ov ers), S hikha Pandey (2-21 in 4 ov ers) and left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (2-25 in 4 overs), a fi re d - u p D e lh i C ap i ta ls restricted a rather shodd y M I to j us t 1 0 9 /8 i n 20 o v er s af ter p u tti ng th em in o n M o n d ay nig ht at the DY Patil Stad ium N e e d i n g t o o v e r h a u l t h i s

lowly target in just 11 overs to overtake MI to occupy the No 1 position, the Capitals did the needful, as skipper Meg Lanning (32 not out), Shafali Verma (33) and Alice Capsey (38 not out) ensured that their team galloped home in 9 overs DC’s thumping nine-wicket win over MI - their fifth overall in the tournament -

India suffer humiliating defeat in second ODI

It was a d ay Roh it Sharm a ’ s men in blue w o uld w ant to erase f ro m m e m o ry as qu i c kl y as p os si ble Hav i ng fo u g h t bac k remarkably to w in the opening match against A ustralia 2 days ag o at M u m bai ’ s Wan kh e d e Stad ium, T eam India crashed to th eir most ignominious defeat in ODIs at Visakhap atnam on Sunday A u s t r a l i a , o p t i n g t o f i e l d first after Steve Smith won the toss, skittled out India for a paltry 117 in 26 overs Aussie o p e n e r s M i t c h e l l M a r s h a n d Travis Head then galloped to the target in a mere 11 overs

It was India’s heaviest ODI loss – with a whopping 39 overs, o r 2 3 4 d e l i v e r i e s , l e f t i n t h e second game of the series The previous worst defeat was at Hamilton in January 2019, when New Zealand whipped India by 8 wickets with 212 balls to spare

The 2 Mitchells - Starc and

Marsh - just rolled over India

L e f t - a r m p a c e r S t a r c b r o k e India ’ s back by sending back

Shubman Gill (0), Rohit Sharma (13), Suryakumar Yadav (0) and K L R a h u l ( 9 ) i n h i s o p e n i n g s p e l l S t a r c f i n i s h e d o f f t h e Indian innings to return figures of 5/53, and was well supported by fellow-pacers Sean Abbott (3/23) and Nathan Ellis (2/13)

C h a s i n g 1 1 8 , M a r s h w e n t hammer and tongs at the Indian attack, smashing an unbeaten 66 off 36 balls – including 6 fours and 6 sixes Travis Head a l s o m a d e m e r r y , m a k i n g a n unbeaten 51 off 30 balls as they sent the ball to all parts of the ground

Brief scores: India 117 all out in 26 overs (Virat Kohli 35, Axar Patel 29 not out; Mitchell Starc 5/53, Sean Abbott 3/23, Nathan Ellis 2/13) Australia 121/0 in 11 overs (Mitchell Marsh 66 not out, Travis Head 51 not out)

Sreejesh ensures India’s unbeaten run

T he las t tim e Ind ia w as i nv o lv e d i n a s h o o to u t, they faced off against New Zealand at th e World Cup crossover and lost

W h i l e P R S r e e j e s h persevered, India defeated Australia 4-3 in shootouts to defeat them and gain the bonus point in the FIH

P r o L e a g u e m i n i t o u r n a m e n t T h e r e w a s n o repetition At the end of the allotted time, the score was 2-2 T h e r e s u l t h e l p e d I n d i a s t a y u n b e a t e n i n t h e m i n i tournament after they had won the last three matches It also helped the Indian team stay on top of the league table with 19 points from 8 matches while Australia are sixth with eight from eight

P r a s a d , p l a y i n g h i s 1 0 0 t h game, and Sukhjeet scored for I n d i a d u r i n g r e g u l a t i o n t i m e w h i l e E p h r a u m s s c o r e d b o t h goals for the visitors

Although the hosts didn't h a v e i t e a s y , t h e y p l a y e d excellent defence and kept the A u s t r a l i a n s a t b a y f o r a considerable amount of time T h e o u t c o m e o f t h e m i n it o u r n a m e n t w i l l u n d o u b t e d l y increase their confidence and aid in their preparation for the

meant that Lanning & Co dislodged MI to be perched at the top spot

i n W P L f o r t h e f i r s t

t i m e T h e y n o w m u s t beat UP Warriorz, while hoping that MI go down

t o R C B i n t h e e a r l i e r match of the day Harris, McGrath take Warriorz into p layo ffs

At 39/3 it looked like UP Warriorz would hit the panic button and go into a tailspin

But Tahlia McGrath and Grace

H a r r i s s t e a d i e d t h e i r i n n i n g s a n d h i t w e l l - c r a f t e d h a l fcenturies to guide Warriorz to a three-wicket win over Gujarat

Giants and seal a WPL playoff spot on Monday The win for Warriorz, who moved to eight points from seven games, means G u j a r a t G i a n t s a n d R o y a l C h a l l e n g e r s B a n g a l o r e h a v e b e e n k n o c k e d o u t o f t h e c o m p e t i t i o n W a r r i o r z l o s t

Alyssa Healy, Kiran Navgire and Devika Vaidya inside five overs and suddenly the target of 179 looked steeper than it was But the pair of McGrath (57) and H a r r i s ( 7 2 ) s h a r e d a f o u r t hwicket stand of 78 from 53 balls to set-up Warriorz’s fourth win of the tournament In their last m a t c h , t h e y w i l l p l a y D e l h i Capitals

Bopanna, Matt Ebden become oldest ever ATP Masters winner

Roha n Bopanna is we ari ng age w i th the a p lo mb o f a n i n v i nc i b i li ty cl oa k At 4 3 , the c ha m pi on a t In d i a n W e l ls , Califor nia alongsi de Aussie Matt E bden, the Bangalorea n became t he o ld e st e v e r AT P M a ste r s w i n n e r B op a nn a a n d E b d e n , unseeded in the ev ent the y ca ll the fifth Slam, upset the top-see ds Weseley Koolhof and Ne al Skupski 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 to take the title Bopanna, who’ll move to No 11 in the rank ings, is the olde st player in the top-1 00 of the ATP indiv idual doub le s

The towering Kodava noted that the real victory was in the journey “That I was able to pursue my tennis, keep it going and believe that I could win big tournaments (at this age), that has been the biggest feeling for me, ” he said “Having a partner like Matt, we decided last year that the goal was to win these 500, 1000 events ”

Bopanna, who was ranked a career-best No 3 a decade ago, said, “I got a lot of messages this week, people are inspired that I was able to do this, show that it is still possible to do this at this age ” Bopanna, who travels with a physio Belgian Rebecca Van Orshaegen and coach American Scot Davidoff, had to put in the hard yards to make this partnership with the 35-year-old Ebden the force it had the potential to be “I put in a lot of effort, making sure that I recover (physically after every match) to be able to achieve this That is where my strengths are, constantly finding ways to improve ” Bopanna, the only Indian to qualify for the Masters Series event, has been at the receiving end of ‘doubles only’ jibes from former players Just as well that he has made an art of rolling with the punches “The only person representing India (here), I really feel proud of that,” Bopanna said “In tournaments, wherever an athlete is from, the (country’s) flag is out there It’s always nice to see the Indian flag ” The Indo-Aussie pair, who came together after their partners of last year decided to move on, lost their first two matches as a team in Australia in January Ebden, who had paired with Max Purcell last year, reaching the final of the Australian Open and winning Wimbledon, was perhaps weighed down by the weight of expectation when playing at home

remainder of the year

A s a n t i c i p a t e d , Harmanpreet fired, but it was obstructed Nonetheless, Prasad secured the rebound, evaided a defender, and from nearly the top of the D, he used a reverse h i t t o s e n d t h e b a l l i n t h e b o t t o m - r i g h t c o r n e r I n d i a would have preferred a better s t a r t , a n d w h e n t h e y e a r n e d four additional PCs but failed to convert each of them, they had the opportunity to raise it a few minutes later

Australia didn t lose spirit and kept up the intensity in the t h i r d q u a r t e r d e s p i t e t h e i r inability to breach the Indian d e f e n c e A n d t h e y w e r e rewarded for their efforts seven m i n u t e s i n t o t h e n e w g a m e w h e n P a w a n k n o c k e d d o w n Ephraums inside the D, earning them a penalty shot Ephraums easily converted as he ascended to take it

Won’t play in WTC final, it won’t be ethical: Hardik Pandya

On the e ve of l eading India for the first time in an ODI against Aust ralia, Har dik Pandy a was asked whet her he would consider play ing for India in the WTC championship final aga in st Austr alia at The Oval in June , his reply was an empha tic no

The all-arounder believes it would not be "ethical" for him to replace someone at this time in Tests The 29-year- old would have given India's bowling and batting some much-needed depth and muscle, but it's obvious that Pandya has set himself a long-term goal for his Test comeback

“No I am an ethically and very strong person I haven’t done 10% to reach there I am not even a part of 1% So, me coming there and taking someone ’ s place will ethically not go well If I want to play Test cricket, I’ll go through the grind and earn my spot Hence, for that reason I will not be available for the WTC final or future Test series until I don’t feel that I have earned my spot,” Pandya stressed

He admitted that middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer’s recurring back injury was a deep concern for India a few months ahead of the ODI World Cup, and spelled out that India would need to “find solutions if he isn’t around ”

"(Iyer's return) has no deadline We can only wish him a swift recovery and hope for the best I have experienced the possibility that my back might be an issue While his absence will be felt, we must find alternatives Naturally, he is welcome if he is There is plenty of time to consider how we can move forward, according to Pandya

Matthew Ebden & Rohan Bopanna