AV 26th February 2022

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

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26 FEBRUARY - 4 MARCH 2022

12 13-year-old British Indian boy is the star of Netflix’s Christmas 2022 movie

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

14 Sustainability and conscious living are on the rise

16 “The science convinced me”

MISLEADING THE ECONOMY? The cancelling of the ‘Golden Visa route’ is being heavily critiqued by experts who believe that this misleads people into believing that ‘foreign money is dirty money’ which in turn also acts as a threat to potential overseas investment in the UK, the cost of which runs into billions. Reports suggest that this visa has facilitated nearly 254 Indian millionaires to settle in the UK since 2008.

Shefali Saxena Abolishing the Tier 1 investor visa route that enabled overseas investment into the UK could be “enormously damaging”, lawyers in London who have helped global investors in applying for the ‘golden visas’ have warned.

Calculations suggest that the ‘golden visa’ route has so far brought over £17bn to the UK. This move will jeopardize foreign investments within the UK economy, misleading people into believing that ‘foreign money is dirty money’.

Continued on page 06

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VOL 50 - ISSUE 42

25 38 convicted to death in 2008 Ahmedabad blasts

Community comes to rescue during Storm Eunice Serving hot, nutritious meals to thousands of people last weekend as London & neighbouring regions grappled with Storm Eunice

Storm Eunice is an intense extratropical cyclone that is part of the 2021–2022 European windstorm season. Storm Eunice was named by the UK Met Office on 14 February 2022. On 16 February, an amber weather warning was issued for the whole of Southern England, Wales and the Midlands.

Eunice is the fifth named storm of the season, which began with Arwen in November last year.

More than 200,000 British homes lost electric power and emergency services battled to restore it.

Reports suggest that over 1mn households were knocked off the grid. Eunice was one of the most powerful tempests since the "Great Storm" hit Britain and northern France in 1987, sparking the first-ever "red" weather warning for London. As videos of smooth landings despite chaotic air routes received applause from passengers and netizens, many trees fell across the UK. Continued on page 06

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AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

26 February - 4 March 2022

with Keith Vaz

Burglars targeting pensioners in Walsall

RAHUL DUA Comedian Rahul is a standup comedian living in Gurgaon, near Delhi, India.

He was born and raised in Aberystwyth, Wales, he qualified as an Engineer and then worked in financial services in Mumbai. Rahul finds it very empowering to be able to stand in front of an audience and make them laugh.

When he is not working, he enjoys being outdoors playing sports, walking his dog and cycling. He is married. He is about to start a tour of the UK and Ireland performing for audiences in Harrow, Central London, Warwick and Dublin.

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

Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) campus in the heart of Ludhiana where I grew up.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Being on stage every night and make hundreds of people laugh. It is very liberating and empowering, gives me a sense of freedom.

3) What inspires you?

The feeling of accomplishment of getting the days list of jobs done in time and at the same time remaining grounded.

4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

Myself, it has always been and always will be. There is a constant fight between what needs to be done and what could have been postponed. Its part of human personality trait, whilst I am ambitious, the other part of me wants to take breaks, watch Netflix or go out.

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

A lot of people have played their part in different parts of my life, my paternal uncle was a great influencer during my school years, Warren Buffett during my time as a Banker at City Bank and high-profile comedians both in India and abroad. My father was/is the consistent influencer, for keeping me grounded and being the kind of person I am today.

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

To be able to make hundreds of people laugh every single day and spreading happiness. I go to bed a happy man.

7) And the worst?

The fact that we are social media toys – people tap away on keyboard twisting what you have said without realising or caring how this is going to affect other people.

8) What are your long term goals?

Long Term goals are divided into two.

I am exploring other avenues such as writing a sitcom, film directing and acting.

The work portion is to be the best at what I do. The personal long-term goal is to be very content, satisfied and happy and give adequate amount of time to my family and myself both physically and mentally. To take less stress on a day-to-day basis.

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

The one aspect I would change in India would be to make primary education free and accessible to everyone. If people are educated to a primary level, they will be able to make a better life for themselves. I would make very good friends with the Prime Minister of UK and President of USA to ensure that citizens of India can have a hassle-free permanent residency in both countries.

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

I am not much into history while I know a lot of names of historical figures, I am unable to choose.

I would happily like to be marooned on a desert island with my father because he left us way sooner than I would have liked.

There was still a lot to learn from him about the world.

The Queen to pay Prince Andrew’s settlement fees The Duke of York Prince Andrew has settled claims of raping and abusing Ms Giuffre when she was 17 out of court. It is believed that the Queen will fund the settlement. The money has not been disclosed but there are speculations that the amount can go up to £12million.

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Royal expert Adam Helliker told the Sun: "No one has that kind of money but his mother. Andrew is not close enough to the Prince of Wales for him to fund that kind of money. He doesn't have any income."

Ms Giuffre will get personal compensation and there is no non-disclosure agreement that would stop her from telling her side of the story.

The details of the settlement came to light when it was filed to the US district court in New York.

Pensioners are being targeted by distraction burglars in Walsall which has to lead to the set up of police patrols.

On February 17, a man arrived at the home of an 89-year-old woman in Darlaston wearing some kind of work jacket and said he was from the council. He told her he has arrived for some fence work and her son had agreed to pay. He accompanied her to get money and took more

money distracting her before leaving.

Inspector Detective Mandy Thompson from Force CID, said: “We are determined to find who is behind these burglaries that have understandably left

these elderly people shaken.

We’ve carried out forensic examinations, taken statements and are examining CCTV. If you see anything suspicious dial 999 and if you believe you know who may be involved in these offences call 101 or call the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Quote crime reference numbers 20/229681/22 and 20/223436/22.

Met Police boss admits, officers are racist Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bas Javid who is the brother of Health Secretary Sajid Javid admitted that some officers "have racist views and are racist” but insisted that the force was not a 'racist organisation'.

His comments came after BBC Newsnight presented him with allegations from two black officers.

“What I’d like to see is an organisation where people feel comfortable to come forward and report it so we can deal with it effectively,” he told the programme.

During the interview, he refuted the claims of him

Met's replacing Commissioner Cressida Dick.

He said that there was "absolutely no room for racism in policing” and he would do everything to see to it that whoever is racist or discriminatory, will be removed from the police.

Met Chief quit after Khan's ultimatum Met Chief Dame Cressida Dick quit following the ultimatum given by Mayor Sadiq Khan to sack rogue officers at a toxic police station or face suspension. The resignation has caused turmoil in Britain’s biggest police force. However, Khan denied of threatening Dick with suspension, a power he does not have.

He said he withdrew his support because he was

unhappy with Dick's proposals on restoring public confidence and a series of scandals that threw light on Met's toxic culture.

It is believed that during

a video call, Dick spoke of the threat she received when she was explaining her departure to more than 100 senior Met officers.

She also mentioned how Khan was angry about the Charing Cross case, in which officers joked about rape, domestic violence and killing black children.

Many officers believe that Dick was a victim of political manoeuvring.

Around 80% of police officers suffering from low morale According to a survey, almost 60 per cent of rank and file police officers suffer from low morale, while 78 per cent feel the public doesn't respect them.

More than one in ten officers said they are on the brink of resignation, said citing the financial implications of the long-term wage freeze and their treatment

during the pandemic. More than 90 per cent do not feel respected by the government.

Due to ebbing public confidence, record numbers of assaults against officers and low detection rates for crimes across the board, policing across the country is under crisis.

A constable with four

years’ service said: “The public seems to hate us and have no respect for us most of the time, which makes dealing with jobs much harder.”

Meanwhile, the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents more than 130,000 constables, sergeants and inspectors, warned that police were at “breaking point”.

Cash for honours inquiry proving troublesome for royals Prince Charles is likely to be interviewed as a witness with regards to the cash-for-honours scandal at the Prince's Foundation. Prince Charles is willing to assist Scotland Yard, which is investigating allegations of the scandal.

At the same time, Buckingham Palace is under immense pressure to disclose the details of the out-of-court settlement which is said to be worth millions.

Meanwhile, Prince Andrew was ridiculed for showing his support to help victims of sex trafficking considering his association with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Angela Levin, an author who five justices dismissed an appeal brought has written about the royal

by Bloomberg, the financial news agency, family, said: “It’s a terrible over the publication of information about week for the monarchy, and a person who was being investigated by a when they should be so thrilled that it’s the beginning legal enforcement body before any charge.

Pia Sarma, editorial legal director at of the Platinum Jubilee. It is a Times Newspapers, said she was “con- wonderful thing to have a cerned” about the ruling". Nigel Tait, from monarch who is 95 years old Carter-Ruck, a firm that brings privacy and has been on the throne for 70 years. It is a great sadness to claims against the media, welcomed it. spoil that in any way.”

Media cannot name arrested suspects Henceforth, the media will not be able to name the arrested suspects, as it will breach their privacy, the Supreme Court ruled out.

However, lawyers for media organisations warned Supreme Court's ruling will affect police investigations and arrests and will benefit only “wealthy individuals” who aim to protect their reputations.

In the landmark judgment, a panel of

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Thought for the week

No time for war It’s a new dawn for England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the end of Covid rules, with the country opening up for business as usual as the pre-pandemic era.

The travel industry is geared up to make the most of it, alluring travellers with new deals, shops readying for Mother’s Day, followed by Easter sales.

As the country reopens for business, bracing all the odds that have come our way, Britons are in a good mood, hoping for the hurricane season to end, spring to bring colours and hopes.

The diaspora is awaiting many celebrations. Holi, Vaisakhi, Ramadan, Eid, Rathayatra, Queen’s platinum jubilee, 75th year of India’s Independence Day, Navratri, Diwali, Halloween, Christmas - many of those in the last few years have been spent by families in isolation, under lockdown or away from loved ones.

But as the country reels in excitement with new opportunities, BBC reported about Boris Johnson's sanctions against five Russian banks and three billionaires, after Russia ordered troops into two rebel-held regions in eastern Ukraine. The PM said Russia's actions amounted to a "renewed invasion” and warned MPs of "a protracted crisis".

He added that the "first barrage" of sanctions would be extended if the situation escalated further. The EU and US have also imposed sanctions. While President Putin said the troops would be "peacekeeping" in the breakaway regions - a claim dismissed by the United States as "nonsense".

Mr Johnson accused the Russian President of denying Ukraine's statehood and "establishing the pretext for a full-scale offensive".

The international community hit out at the decision, with the United Nations Security Council expressing “great concern”. But Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian Ambassador to the UN, insisted there would be no “new bloodbath” in eastern Ukraine but warned the West to “think twice” before making matters worse.

The crisis started 8 years ago, with Russia allegedly helping separatist movements in East Ukraine, which eventually saw the pro-Russian rebels declaring two independent states, although they previously went entirely unacknowledged by the international community.

More than 14,000 people have reportedly died in the fighting that has been ongoing throughout the intervening years and which has devastated Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, reported The Independent.

The world does not need a war now. It needs healing from all the losses and the colossal damages by covid.

Sometimes it is not just about participation in an international arena of power display but about paying attention to all the healings that need to happen within the country.

UK certainly has a cue to take from India.

A few weeks back a one-sided anti-India debate was

hosted in the Westminster Hall. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater talked about the plight of minorities in India in the light of Godhra riot, that happened 20 years ago on 27 February. The question isn’t just why such a debate was allowed in the British Parliament, something that has no purpose in our democracy, but also the fact that till now no Asian politician has stood up to it, against the very practice of talking about past horrors, shaming a nation publicly (see page 8 for report).

It is useless to debate who started and finished a tragedy. The pain that Muslims felt was no less than that of the Hindus. And India, world’s largest democracy, with a myriad of faiths and languages, learnt a horrible lesson.

But since then, in the last 20 years, there have been no riots of Godhra scale, despite continuous provocations.

People have buried their hatchet, learnt to move on, but that does not mean they have forgotten the past. The British Parliament does not need to remind that to anyone or still aim to divide and rule a perfectly harmonious community.

Second, the NHS needs support, money and attention.

600,000 eye care patients are still waiting for treatment.

40 million patients waiting to see dentists. NHS care backlog grows to 6.1 million as A&E wait time hit record high.

Long Covid patients are attacking the Prime Minister as he tells people to “live with Covid”. The health care system without immediate intervention will fail people miserably - a major disaster waiting to happen.

Third, with energy crises, as three storms battered Britain, people’s houses are flooded, they are living without heating, food and hot water, in absolute utter shambles.

And there is the ugliest of all- racism. London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Priti Patel are seen clashing about Met Police’s future. The Daily Mail reported, Britain's biggest police force has been plunged into a new racism row after at least three Muslim officers made a formal complaint against their bosses. The Met Police officers complained they were subjected to Islamophobic abuse at their station canteen as they went to a mosque.

When a Muslim police officer at the same station failed to take part in a voluntary team-building exercise on religious grounds, he claims he was ordered to wash police cars as an act of humiliation. When he refused, his sergeant posted a complaint note on his employment file.

This is not normal. This is not what Britain should be about. The upcoming council election will perhaps fix Boris’ fate, but it is about time we put our house in order.

Rash decisions, jeopardising international relationships with real friends like India will not help us in the long run.

It is time not to fight others’ battles but realise the order of priority here. We must not miss the boat because we cannot afford to.

Trade pacts may benefit India immensely India and UAE last week signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with a view to boost bilateral trade in goods to $100 billion over a 5 year period and creation of millions of jobs.

The free trade agreement is likely to benefit about $ 26 billion worth of domestic products like gems and jewellery that are currently subjected to 5 per cent import duty by the Gulf nation. Labour intensive industries such as textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural and wood products, engineering, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and automobiles would gain substantially from the pact. The services sector segments which would get significant boost from the pact include computer-related services, audio-visual, education, health, tourism, travel, nursing, engineering, and accountancy. .

UAE is India's second largest export destination with exports valued at approximately $29 billion in 2019-20. As per estimates, exports of plain gold and gold-studded jewellery would increase to $10 billion in 2023 and tariff concessions offered to the UAE by India in products like gold will reduce the import cost of inputs. Additional increase in textiles exports is projected at $2 billion over the next five years. With duty free tariffs, India can cater to the hospital segment of the UAE through institutional selling of home textiles like bed and bath linen as well as contract textiles - beach towels, salon and spa linen etc. Under the agreement, the UAE is offering overall duty elimination on over 97 per cent of its tariff lines (or products) corresponding to 99 per cent of India's exports in value terms. A salient feature of this agreement is a permanent safeguard mechanism which has been agreed upon and can be resorted to in a situation of sudden surge in imports.

Besides, there is a separate exclusion list for some products to protect the domestic industry.

India and the UK have also launched formal FTA negotiations for an early trade agreement. India's commerce minister Piyush Goyal said that they have agreed to avoid sensitive issues in the negotiations while commerce secre-

tary BVR Subrahmanyam said that by the time the final agreement is inked, the coverage for goods is expected to go up to 90 plus percentage of goods. India is also negotiating similar early harvest agreement with Australia, which is supposed to set the stage for a long-pending Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement that both countries have been pursuing for nearly a decade.

Early harvest agreements are used to open up bilateral trade between two countries on a restricted list of goods and services, primarily as a front runner to clinching a more comprehensive FTA. The problem, though, is that these early harvest schemes potentially target the lowhanging fruits, leaving the tougher goods and services for later. This strategy can lead to significant delays in wrapping up the broad-based FTAs, which could potentially lead to impediments. India had concluded an early harvest agreement with Thailand in 2004 but has not been able to conclude a comprehensive FTA with the country. India also has a trade agreement with Sri Lanka but was not able to conclude an agreement on services and investments.

Experts noted that it is often beneficial to negotiate the entire deal together, as an early harvest deal may reduce the incentive for one side to work towards a full FTA. India now has in place 10 FTAs and six PTAs (preferential trade agreements). In addition, India is negotiating 16 new and expanding seven existing agreements, including with trading partners such as Canada, the EU, the US alongside Australia. Government officials maintain that a majority of FTAs under negotiations are comprehensive and cover goods, services, investment, IPR, etc. Non-Tariff Measures, regulatory procedures and trade facilitation are part of such negotiations. Unlike with the UK and Australia, there are indications that the proposed trade deal with the EU restarted after a gap of six years - is not aiming at an early harvest and is instead looking at a full-scale comprehensive FTA. India is also simultaneously carrying out a review of the existing FTAs with South Korea, Japan and ASEAN on the ground of India’s rising trade deficit with these trading partners.

When things go wrong, don’t go with them.

– Elvis Presley

Political Sketchbook Alpesh Patel

China, Russia Actions Means India Is True Ally As the world pivots from Russia and China even more so (well the biggest Western economies) we see India again being the only major game in Asia. Indeed the Middle East too see India a fair trading partner. Similarly the UK continues to rise (indeed too much for Russian and Chinese investors who are de facto persona non grata though not officially after dirty money of the former and spies of the latter).

Despite worries about Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK has defied analysts and continues to cement its place as a premier investment destination. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is increasing despite challenging global conditions, with British infrastructure and companies reaping the rewards.

Shelter From The Storm With productivity, GDP and unemployment levels on the decline worldwide due to the pandemic, politically stable regions with robust judicial frameworks become increasingly attractive.

KPMG have reported that VC investment into scale-ups doubled at the start of 2020, while foreign investment in London real estate performed strongly in 2020, according to estate agency Knight Frank. London outshined Paris and Manhattan for inward property investment, boosted by a series of eye-catching deals like the $380 purchase of The Cabot in Canary Wharf by Hong Kong-based firm Link.

The Benefits of the UK for Inward Investment The UK has a long tradition of providing a stable base for domestic and international companies. When there is some level of uncertainty in the broader markets, investors look to mitigate risk by dealing in known and proven quantities. The UK’s educated and multi-cultural workforce, strong property market, reputation for innovation and opportunity, and a diverse set of well-positioned assets has ensured the attention of foreign direct investment.

Regulatory Commitments Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has committed to improving the UK’s already strong position as an equities listing destination through public market reform. He believes that by reducing free float requirements and modernising listing rules, the UK can attract more inward equities investment when combined with its strong corporate governance standards.

Urban Regeneration Government decentralisation programs over the past few decades have focused on regenerating the UKs urban centres outside London. Investment in infrastructure and housing in areas like Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield have seen property and business grown. Additionally, transport projects like the HS2 and the Crossrail stand to significantly benefit the commercial growth of Birmingham and Slough, respectively.

Resilience During the Pandemic Ernst & Young's recent UK Attractiveness Survey continued to paint a rosy picture for UK financial services — which has been the most attractive European destination for decades. The recent report has allayed fears that Brexit and the pandemic will change this position by reporting that the country has attracted double the amount of financial services investment projects as Germany in recent years.

Modernising, Repositioning and Future Opportunities The E&Y report provides more exciting news about investor sentiment about the UK as it modernises its economy and repositions itself globally. Indeed, the UK is regarded as more resilient by global investors, with only 3% suggesting that COVID has derailed investment plans.

While the economy offers plenty for the here and now, there is a strong worldwide sentiment about the UK’s ability to exploit future opportunities with cleantech, digital and health seen as areas that the country is well-positioned to embrace.

Another huge growth area is digital tech, with the UK attracting over 30% of the entire European investment market. As fears about Brexit fade and the vaccine rollout brings some semblance of normalcy to the economy, the UK is in an excellent position as a global investment destination.

Asian Voice is published by

Asian Business Publications Ltd Units 207-208, Harrow Business Centre, 429-433 Pinner Road, North Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 4HN Tel: 020 7749 4080 • Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Website: www.abplgroup.com Editor: CB Patel

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TikTok star Mahek Bukhari charged with murder 22-year-old Mahek Bukhari, of George Eardley Close, Stoke, who is also a social media influencer is now one of the five people who have been charged with murder after a fatal crash. Alongside Mahek, her 45-year-old mother Ansreen Bukhari and friend Natasha Akhtar, 21, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham appeared in Leicester Crown Court.

The five are charged with murdering two men, Mohamed Hashim Ijazuddin, known as Hashim, and Saqib Hussain from Banbury, Oxfordshire.

After the collision took place near the junction for Six Hills in the early hours of Friday, Leicestershire Police launched a murder inquiry.

Mahek Bukhari, of Stoke, is known to her social media followers as 'May B Vlogs' and has 126,800 followers that include videos of Bukhari with her mother and friends.

She also has her own

YouTube channel called May B Vlogs which has more than 3,700 subscribers.

Following the court hearings, all five defendants in the murder cases have been remanded into custody.

The hearing is scheduled to take place on March 18, where all five defendants are expected to attend a crown court plea and case management hearing. At this hearing, they will be invited to enter their pleas.

In case defendants file 'not guilty' pleas, a trial will be held. A provisional six-week trial date has been earmarked for Monday, September 26.

Birmingham walk named as one of the UK's most romantic Birmingham walk has been named as one of the UK's most romantic spots for a walk with a recommended pub lunch included by the Times.

Amongst the top 20 romantic walks 2022, Joy's Wood in Moseley which influenced author J.R.R Tolkien to write The Hobbit and later Lord of The Rings is listed in the Times newspaper.

The Times said: "This enchanting wood was the childhood playground of JRR Tolkien who was it was the inspiration for the old forest in his beloved books.

You may not even spot elves or dragons but take a walk

through the gnarled old trees and admire the lichens and mosses glistening in the frost. Very soon the bluebells will be appearing. " As per the guide, the Covered Wagon pub on Yardley Wood Road is the best lunch option for walkers describing it as the place for "gourmet Indian food".

Sexual assault victim shuts down underpass Following the repeated sexual assault incidents that were taking place in a pedestrian underpass in Birmingham, Beth Farrington, 20, was able to close the subway with a successful campaign.

Post the attack that took place in August 2020, she campaigned for the subway near Lily Road and Preston Road, Yardley, to be closed to the public.

She was sexually assaulted by a stranger in an underpass under-

neath the A45 Coventry Road.

Ms Farrington has bravely waived her legal right to anonymity to tell her story.

Yardley MP Jess Philips, shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding - and Birmingham City Council, supported her campaign and said the underpass will be closed as part of its new £1m Local Improvement Budget fund.

LGBT charity at loggerheads with local pastors A Birmingham LGBT charity is now at deadlocks with church ministers who aim to outlaw conversion therapy.

Eight church leaders in Birmingham have signed a letter asking the government to reconsider criminalising the controversial practice. Birmingham LGBT the city's leading charity advocating for LGBT rights in Birmingham - said that any kind of conversion therapy was “fun-

damentally wrong.”

Steph Keeble, director at Birmingham LGBT, said: " Birmingham LGBT believes any kind of “conversion therapy“ that attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity is fundamentally wrong and unethical.

"It can lead to considerable damage to LGBTQ+ people who already experience poor mental health often as a result of prejudice and discrimination.

Revolutionary recycling bins trial begins in Leicestershire A new way to reduce the need for multiple recycling bins is being trialled on Leicestershire where 250 residents were given a new customisable bin trolley that aims to make recycling more personal.

These residents are the first in the UK to do so. It is also believed that it will be a perfect replacement for current bins that are light in weight and it blows away in

winter conditions. The new customisable bin trolley comprises five drawers of different sizes. The bins are manufactured by IPL Haydock formally Coral Products (mouldings) Ltd and have been created following feedback to North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC).

The trial is set to run for six months and until now more than 4,500 residents have applied for the same.

Covid hub at Leicester to be dismantled To manage the anticipated tidal wave of infections from the Omicron variant, the Nightingale surge hubs were created. However, Leicester's General Hospital's hub will be dismantled citing a lack of staff.

In total, eight centres were set up around the country at an estimated cost of more than £10.6 million. This move has enraged one of the staff members who expressed her anger and frustration over the wasted

money. She also added that no patient was ever admitted.

“They’ve just about put all of this together and they’ve been told to dismantle it now,” she told LeicestershireLive. “This isn’t an attack on the NHS, this is an attack on overspending at a time when we’ve already gone through 10 years of austerity, then the pandemic and the cost of living crisis which is going to hit so many people - and yet we can spend millions on these hubs," she further added.

A46 murder inquiry: Accused appear at Leicester Crown Court Raees Jamal, 21 of Lingdale Close, Loughborough, and 28-year-old Rekan Karwan who have been charged with murdering Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin appeared before a judge at Leicester Crown Court. Along with these two men, three women including TikTok star, Mahek Bukhari are accused in this case.

The accident took place on

February 11, when the silver Skoda Fabia they were travelling in crashed into the central reservation of the A46, near the Six Hills junction, in Leicestershire. The victims Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin were described as 'best friends'.

According to the reports from Leicestershire Police, the 21year-olds were pronounced dead at the scene.

Birmingham hit by 3.2 magnitude earthquake On Monday, Birmingham was hit by a 3.2 magnitude earthquake. According to the US Geological Survey, the quake was at a shallow depth of 10km with a tremor size of 3.2.

Scared and startled residents in Birmingham and the Black Country reported the incident on social media around 11 pm on Monday. The epicentre was suggested as being near Walsall, close to the M6 motorway.

Residents in Wolver-hampton, Dudley and Wednesbury

too felt the tremor and reported it on social media.

One said: "Earthquake in the West Midlands. Felt in Walsall, Birmingham, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

It has been a crazy week with this as well as 3 storms very strong winds on Friday and rain like I have never seen before yesterday.”

Another added: "The West Midlands was shaking - literally - just before 11 pm. Yep. EARTHQUAKE.”

BBC MasterChef production to move to this city The BBC has made a six-year commitment to the MasterChef brand, which is considered as the "landmark deal", between the UK pubcaster and show producer Shine TV, part of Banijay UK. As a result of the deal, the production of MasterChef titles will move out of London to Birmingham’s Digbeth Loc Studios from 2024.

According to the BBC, MasterChef has consistently been the BBC’s highest-rating

cookery format over the past five years, and the latest season had the show’s strongest launch since 2017.

Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, said: “We said we would create jobs and investment, bringing decision-making and productions to the West Midlands as part of our Across the UK plans. Moving one of our biggest programme brands shows we are making that a reality. This is great news for Birmingham and the BBC.”

in brief VICTIM WAS SHOT DEAD IN CAR 25-year-old Muhammed Sohail was found dead at the scene on Wright Road in Saltley, Birmingham, at about 00:45 GMT on Saturday. A postmortem examination revealed he was shot dead.

In a statement issued through West Midlands Police, Mr Sohail's family said they felt "great sadness and despair" and has urged people to come forward if they have any information. A dedicated online portal has also been set up for anyone with information to upload directly.

"This is a shocking incident and our thoughts are with Muhammed's family and friends," Det Insp Adam Jobson said. He has appealed to people with CCTV, dashcam or doorbell camera footage to share it with police.

THE WEST MIDLANDS HAS HIGH COVID INFECTION RATES Areas in West Midlands continue to struggle with high infection rates despite vaccination drive. On February 20, The Queen tested positive for Covid and was experiencing mild symptoms.

Prince Charles too recently tested positive. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is set to scrap Covid restrictions despite high infection rates in certain parts of the UK. He is expected to outline a 'living with Covid' plan. Covid rates throughout Birmingham, Worcestershire, the Black Country and Shropshire remain high in selected areas. According to the key on a government powered interactive Covid map, Battenhall and Diglis in Worcestershire have over 900 positive Covid cases per 100,000 people - classed in the second-highest range.

FLOOD AND TRAVEL WARNINGS IN THE WEST MIDLANDS Flood and travel warnings are in place across the West Midlands region as a yellow weather warning for wind remains.

Flood warnings apply on rivers across the region with the River Clun breaking its banks. Rail companies are advising people to delay their journeys as trees have also fallen blocking some of the lines. Flooding because of heavy rain has prompted evacuations in parts of the UK as Storm Franklin hits. Police said, there were many roads flooded in and around Shrewsbury and there were closures and diversions in place.

LEICESTER'S HIGH STREET TO GET NEW POP-UP ARTS HUB Efforts are being made to make Leicester's high streets more attractive.

As part of the project, a new pop-up art project has opened in a recently renovated building in Leicester's historic Church Gate. In September 2020, Leicester City Council was awarded a £1.5million from Historic England which is being spent over four years on a number of initiatives including restoring shopfronts in Church Gate and Granby Street and pedestrianisation of Church Gate. As part of the High Street Heritage Action Zone programme, a new pop up art project called BETAX has now been opened, under which activities will be hosted for people of all ages.

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MISLEADING THE ECONOMY? Continued from page 1 The UK Home Office has scrapped the Golden Visa route, as they believe it failed to deliver for the UK people, instead of giving opportunities for corrupt elites to access the UK. The route It had been under constant review and some cases had given rise to security concerns, including people acquiring their wealth illegitimately and being associated with wider corruption.

It is paradoxical to blame the visa route as one of the primary causes for rising corruption in the UK when the Prime Minister himself is under scrutiny to reveal the source of money for his flat renovation and questions over the distribution of public sector contracts during Covid-19 remain unanswered. It has been reported that UK exported thousands of tonnes of banned pesticides in 2020, with shipments including a wider range of toxic substances than ever previously revealed, a new Unearthed and Public Eye investigation has found.

A hasty decision amid conflict?

The decision by the Home Office comes amid the ongoing tensions between UK and Russia relations, citing which the route for investors has been closed.

On Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision of recognising the independence of rebel Ukrainian territories as "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine". He further called it a "very robust package of sanctions" that would be triggered "with the first toecap of a Russian incursion or Russian invasion".

In response to this development, the UK ordered sanctions on five Russian banks and three billionaires, under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s so-called "first barrage" of measures in response to Putin’s take on the crisis.

Hours after Russia ordered troops into two Moscow-backed Ukrainian rebel regions, the British prime minister described this move as "a renewed invasion" of its western neighbour and "pretext for a full-scale offensive".

"The UK and our allies will begin to impose the sanctions on Russia that we have already prepared to sanction Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin," Boris Johnson said.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said, “I have zero tolerance for abuse of our immigration system. Under my New Plan for Immigration, I want to ensure the British people have confidence in the system, including stopping corrupt elites who threaten our national security and push dirty money around our cities.

Closing this route is just the start of our renewed crackdown on fraud and illicit finance. We will be publishing a fraud action plan, while the forthcoming Economic Crime Bill will crack down on people abusing our financial institutions and better protect the taxpayer.”

It is important to note that it was because of the UK investor visa that Nirav Modi, an Indian businessman and fugitive who was charged by Interpol and the government of India for criminal conspiracy, was able to seek refuge in England by tricking Indian agencies.

However, this completely neglects the fact that this visa route allowed foreign nationals to invest more than £2million ($2.7 million) and the cancellation of the route is being deciphered as the government’s attempt to curb the influence of Russian money.

For instance, the owners of some of the largest football clubs in the UK are not British. Chelsea Football Club is co-owned by Russia, Israel and Portugal, and Manchester City Football Club is owned by UAE. This visa has facilitated nearly 254 Indian millionaires to settle in the UK since 2008.

Closing it as a response to one country’s wrongdoings may end up being a costly affair for UK’s own investor economy.

However, Asian Voice reached out to members of the FinTech industry, who may have benefitted from this visa route from within the ethnic minority community in the UK to understand the impact and consequences of the cancellation of the route.

Expert opinions vary Indians ranked as the 7th nationality of the super-rich to have availed this visa between 2008 to 2020, UK-based anti-corruption charity Transparency International UK revealed in a report. China (4,106), Russia (2,526), Hong Kong (692), the United States (685), Pakistan (283) and Kazakhstan (278) were ahead of India.

In an October 2015 report, Transparency International UK said, “it is highly likely that substantial amounts of corrupt wealth stolen from China and Russia have been laundered into the UK through the UK’s golden visa programme”.

A report in Indian Express said that between June 2009 to April 2015 about 3000 successful applicants got to stay in the UK under this visa and out of these 700 were Russian millionaires.

Statistics suggest that the UK granted more than 12,000 golden visas since the launch of the investor visa scheme in 2008,

which also included more than 2,500 Russians. Chetal Patel, a partner at law firm Bates Wells told The Guardian, “A blanket ban would be cutting off one’s nose to spite their face. Since the introduction of golden visas in 2008, the UK has benefited from billions of pounds of investment. It would be enormously damaging to the UK economy if this was to be cut off.”

On the contrary, Immigration Lawyer Shoaib M Khan told Asian Voice, “While this sudden announcement by the government is concerning in many ways, Shoaib Khan it should not be particularly worrying for many people who want to invest or work in the UK. The government has done what it often does - impose a blanket ban on any activity as soon as it sees a problem arises, but there are other avenues that people wishing to work or invest in the UK can explore.” According to Khan, the most common, and perhaps easiest, is a Tier 2 visa, essentially a 'work permit' which allows the individual to work for a particular employer who sponsors them.

“The 'Golden Visa' or Investor category that has closed down required investment of millions of pounds so was rarely used anyway. Other categories for people wishing to work in the UK, such as the Skilled Worker visa, Health and Care Worker visa, Innovator Visa, Start-up visa, and Entrepreneur visa are all still open. These all have their own requirements, and applications can still be made from overseas and from within the UK, whether someone already has an employer in place or not. So people should not be put off by this announcement, as the routes used by most workers are all still in place,” the immigration lawyer added.

Fin-Tech founders think UK Government has something better planned In a joint statement, Nayan Gala and Gaurav Singh, Co-Founders of JPIN Venture Catalysts Ltd. (a firm that offers to blend

Nayan Gala

Gaurav Singh

financial capital and strategic consulting) told us, “The UK’s attractiveness as a great stable ecosystem and investment destination has proved resilient amid the pandemic and

post-Brexit phase with the FDI reportedly increasing by $24.8Bn in September 2021.

“The Tier 1 Investor visa ‘golden route’ was a popular investment option for highnet-worth individuals looking to migrate, but we are certain that the UK Government has something better planned along with the Innovator Visa, Global Talent Visa, and ScaleUp Visa schemes for the UK to retain its attractiveness.”

It has to be reformed to protect the economy Speaking to the newsweekly about the cancellation of the Golden Visa route, Aaditya Rathod, CoFounder, The Canny Co. Canny (a B2B global payments marAaditya Rathod ketplace that helps any Bank or Fintech, to launch cross border payments in any part of the world and monetise their user base with just a few lines of code) said, “Golden Visa has attracted many investors since the scheme was launched in 2008, and it was very much in favour for start-ups/businesses to attract potential investors. It definitely has to be reformed to protect the economy from fraud and illicit money, but a blanket ban will completely cut off the interest from the true potential investors who can contribute substantially to both the start-up ecosystem and to the economy per se. Instead of a blanket ban, reform needed with more tightened is measures/checks, like imposing conditions with investment strategy and its execution.

Also holding firms, taking investment, responsible for doing proper checks on both investors and the source of funds."

Reviving it later may have some benefits Sid Chakravarthy, Founder & CEO, StaTwig [a blockchain start-up that uses the Internet of Things (IoT) to record the journey of the products across the supply Sid Chakravarthy chain from manufacturer to customer to create an extra layer of visibility, transparency and authenticity] supports the ban on the golden route. He told us, "Misuse of Investor Visa or any other immigration policy is a genuine concern and as a member of start-up community I support its current ban. However, reviving it later with more controls in place to prevent any fraud can help more investors to support start-ups and businesses in the future."

Storm Eunice: Community to the rescue Continued from page 1 While Dr Amir Khan GPs mother, popularly known to the community as Mama Khan packed samosas and pakoras for neighbours to stay stocked amid bad weather, social media groups on Facebook buzzed with support sites for the helpless.

“With this weather, it's becoming increasingly important to look out for people who may be sleeping rough. Please

use the Street Link website or app if you do come across someone needing your help at this time: https://www.streetlink.org.uk The details you provide are sent to the local authority or outreach service for the area and help get them to emergency shelters that

have been opened up during this time,” a British Asian user on Facebook posted in a community group.

Go Dharmic charity went out to help the

weekend to the homeless and vulnerable in Kenton, Bexley, Northampton and Luton.

With hundreds of volunteers stepping up to help people with one of the basic life necessities - food, the volunteers ensured that the services continued even during the

extreme weather conditions. The motto of the organisation is, ‘Love All, Feed All, Serve All.’ Go Dharmic has served over 6 million meals since the Covid-19 pandemic and continues to serve people across the world.

Storm Eunice causes chaos at Heathrow airport community members with essential items and hot food. A spokesperson told Asian Voice, “The community of people filled with love and compassion ensures to be there for people in the hour of need. One such was seen when the country faced one of the major climate challenges over the weekend.”

A lot of disruption was caused by Storm Eunice and Dudley hitting several parts of South England. The strong winds and heavy rains affected a lot of households in the region. Go Dharmic volunteers continued to distribute hot, nutritious meals over the

At Heathrow airport, travellers had to wait as long as four hours to collect their bags, as Storm Eunice continued to cause chaos.

Some were asked to go home without luggage after landing.

Customers who went home for the night received their luggage the next day.

However, some had to wait, including one who has critical medication for his mother-in-law in his bag.

Heathrow Airport apologised for the disruption but said that travellers’ luggage is the responsibility of airlines from the moment it’s checked in.

The trainee financial adviser told Metro.co.uk: ‘All they said initially was that

it would be a minimum two-hour wait which was caused by disruption from the storms.

'However, this didn’t make much sense since they knew that all these flights were arriving and they were simply understaffed.’

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Labour Party’s stoic silence The British Indian community was left in despair when a one-sided debate held on 9 February 2022, hosted by a Labour MP at the Westminster Hall on the “20th anniversary of the 2002 Gujarat riots” saw. Neither the groups representing the British Indian community nor the Indian High Commission. Invited or informed.

We learned that the topic

of religion was raised, and no Hindu organisations were informed or invited. Neither were Hindu survivors invited from what we understand. In his weekly column for Asian Voice, Political Sketchbook titled ‘The Anti-India Lobby’, Alpesh Patel OBE wrote, “So the truth is that I sense there is a rise in the anti-India voices.” He further wrote, “Why does a British Indian care?

Because British values are

embodied as Indian values in the Indian constitution – read it. The best of values I should say.”

Asian Voice had written to members of the Labour Party, seeking clarification on the debate, asking if the party doing anything to ensure that is not seen as anti-India, which is increasingly becoming a perception due to the actions of a minority in the UK representing the party.

We did not hear back from any of the Labour MPs we wrote to last week, and despite following up again before this issue went to print, we did not hear back from them.

27 February marks 20 years of the Gujarat riots of 2002 which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, which is cited as having instigated the violence.

Tributes flood in for music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards Prince Charles and rappers Dave and AJ Tracey are among the many voices that paid tribute to entrepreneur and YouTube star Jamal Edwards who has died at the age of 31.

He is the son of singer and presenter Brenda Edwards, who said she was "completely devastated".

The Prince of Wales paid tribute to his work for The Prince's Trust.

Dave simply wrote: "Thank you for everything.

Words can't explain" while Tracey said he was a "legend".

Edwards was the

founder of SBTV, an online urban music platform that kickstarted the careers of artists like Dave, Ed Sheeran and Skepta.

His mother said he "passed away after a sudden illness".

The Prince's Trust described him in a tweet as "an incredible innovator and entrepreneur."

Mitie's immigrant staff joke about Syrian refugees, probed Mitie workers who escort migrants and run detention centres have come under investigation for posting vile WhatsApp messages that include 'jokes' about Syrian refugees, a lewd reference to Diane Abbott and a xenophobic jibe at Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is now under pressure to act despite being a target for abuse.

A source said: “The racism is disgusting.”

According to a whistleblower, vile messages were exchanged on a WhatsApp group set up for 80 employees of Mitie.

The Home Office has ordered a probe and Mitie – on a 10-year, £525million government contract – confirmed some staff had been

suspended.

The whistleblower told Mirror: “There is no care.

It’s utterly toxic. Casual racism amongst workers towards those they are supposed to look after is disgusting.

Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock labelled the WhatsApp group “sickening”.

He said: “The Home Office is fast becoming a national embarrassment.”

Nine million workers will be forced to pay higher income tax The Centre for Economics and Business Research did exclusive research and it found out that five million lower-paid workers who currently pay no income tax will be pulled into the net in the coming 4 years if inflation remains high.

They will be left with no option but to pay tax at 20 per cent on a slice of their earnings. And around four million more Britons will be dragged into the 40 per cent higher rate tax band as a

result.

This is due to a freeze on personal allowances that was quietly pushed through by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Last year in March, the Chancellor imposed the draconian measure before the recent rise in inflation, which has soared to 5.5 per cent – its highest for 30 years.

However, the CEBR believes due to the current inflationary surge, the situation will worsen.

Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad met the communities from British society during his tour to the UK. "Today I met with senior business leaders of the British Indian community along with @BridgeIndiaorg and discussed the shared values between Israel, UK and India," he tweeted.

Angela Rayner says 'shoot terrorists', sparks row Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner sparked a row after making a controversial statement while discussing law and order on a podcast.

She said, "on things like law and order I am, like, quite hardline. I am like, you know, shoot your terrorists and ask questions second if I’m honest".

She told The Political Party, by comedian Matt Forde: “Most people recognise ‘soft left’ so I would describe myself as soft left.

“But you know what, on certain things, I’m not though. Because on things like law and order I am, like,

quite hardline.

“I am like, you know, shoot your terrorists and ask questions second if I’m honest.”

She further said: “Sorry is that the most controversial thing I’ve ever said?”

Allies supported her saying that her statement was misconstrued.

The Queen tests positive for coronavirus The monarch, 95, has tested positive for coronavirus and is experiencing mild cold-like symptoms and expects to continue light duties at Windsor this week, the palace said.

It is believed that she is triple vaccinated.

In recent weeks, Prince Charles also tested positive for Covid for a second time, and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, was diagnosed with the virus.

A statement by Buckingham Palace said: "Buckingham Palace confirm that The Queen has today tested positive for Covid.

"So clearly, those around her have had Covid, she's now contracted it.

"Her Majesty is experiencing mild cold-like symptoms but expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week.

"She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all the appropriate guidelines."

Professor Sir Huw Thomas, head of the medical household and physician to the Queen, is expected to be in charge.

On taking criticism

Rohit Vadhwana Intelligent people are not averse to receiving criticism.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted." But some people do, and they take contradiction negatively.

Have you also come across people who cannot take disapproval and disagreement? Such people often first form their opinion and then discuss it with others, seeking comments from friends and the opinions of experts on that subject. But in this process, if someone contradicts what they have already decided, they feel offended. They go to another lot of people asking for their views. This exercise continues, till someone agrees and corroborates their own pre-formed opinion. In such cases, what the person is actually seeking is not truth but corroboration, an agreement to his/her own judgement. This is because not everyone dares to accept real suggestions or criticism. Most of the people are searching for support. W Somerset Maugham rightly said, "People ask for criticism, but they only want praise."

This happens many times in professional life and family setup. Remember a boss first deciding on a plan and then placing it on an agenda item for discussion in a meeting? Not admitting any counter recommendation to the plan and then announcing that the plan was agreed upon after an open discussion and deliberation! An elder member of a family imposing own thoughts on the younger generation, not willing to listen to their counterpoints, demanding respect on the grounds of his/her age and seniority, is a very common scenario. This kind of situation becomes unproductive especially when the person is not willing to take any counsel, even the constructive ones.

Sticking to your own evaluation and ideas even when they are defective is dangerous. They are detrimental to the growth and progress of individuals, families and organisations.

How constructive criticism can be was wisely described

by Winston Churchill in an interview, "Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop." Let's be clear, criticism does not always mean an argument, it might be a simple corrective suggestion, a constructive comment or a mild nudge. No harm in listening to someone's assessment and then thinking about it with a cool mind. It doesn't compel us to necessarily agree with anyone in its entirety but at least being open to ideas is useful.

So, next time when you ask someone's suggestion, be clear if you really want their opinion or only seek an agreement to what you have in your mind.

(Expressed opinions are personal)

High Commission of India joined devotees at Guru Ravi Dass Gurudwara, Southall in celebrating Guru Ravi Das Jayanti. Deputy High Commissioner, Shri Sujit Ghosh offered prayers and interacted with the Community on the occasion.

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British Asian Trust – pioneering new approaches to philanthropy Lord Jitesh Gadhia

tence. This work has been greatly enhanced through our merger with

I

t is a huge honour to be appointed as the next Chair of the British Asian Trust, a charitable foundation established, in 2007, by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. The charity is one of the pre-eminent organisations in its field, using innovative approaches such as social finance to tackle development challenges.

The outgoing chair, Manoj Badale, has done an incredible job over the past 14 years. I would like to thank him for his service; he has expertly navigated the charity from inception. Manoj’s shoes will be large ones to fill, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

BAT works across all the major countries of South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to make the greatest possible impact on those less fortunate. The region is home to almost 2 billion people – a quarter of the world’s population – but accounts for less than 5% of global GDP. Although significant progress has been made in improving economic prospects and life chances, we know that significant inequalities persist, with extremes of wealth and poverty existing side-byside.

At BAT, we want to see South Asia free from poverty, where everyone can meet their full potential.

Our work aims to maximise the support and impact of the diaspora communities living in the UK, who have always been incredibly generous in supporting worthwhile causes ‘back home’. However, the scale of the requirement and governance concerns have made many donors cautious in directing their charitable contributions. We therefore focus on some of the greatest challenges in the region and adopt international best practices and use pioneering approaches to maximise the impact of every pound, rupee or taka donated.

The programmes supported by BAT are focussed on five primary areas: education, livelihoods, antitrafficking, mental health and conservation.

Education: we ensure poorer children have the opportunity of a successful and bright future by working to transform the quality of school education, improving standards of learning and introducing key life skills.

Livelihoods: we ensure vulnerable groups are economically empowered. By developing people’s skills, ensuring access to markets and investing in entrepreneurship, we increase their access to financial services and jobs.

Anti-trafficking: we ensure children are safe from trafficking by reducing their vulnerability to exploitation. We do this by strengthening civic support systems and providing survivors with good rehabilitation and care.

Mental health and Disability: we ensure that people with mental health issues can live a fulfilling life with dignity, by increasing access to appropriate services and by reducing stigma in the community.

Conservation: we help protect endangered species and their habitats by reducing human-wildlife conflict and promoting co-exis-

Lord Jitesh Gadhia with Prince Charles

the leading conservation charity, The Elephant Family.

The work of BAT is driven by a powerful belief that traditional approaches to philanthropy and development, alone, will not solve the challenges of the region. We work in partnership with others to design and deliver programmes, raise funds and convene partnerships that combine new social finance tools, philanthropy and technology to deliver impact at scale. In particular, we focus on outcomes-driven programmes, so that we are delivering and measuring real change. An example of this groundbreaking approach is the $11 million Quality Education Development Impact Bond for India, which BAT helped to create and launch in 2018.

It aims to improve the literacy and numeracy attainment of 200,000 disadvantaged children in primary schools. The bond is structured so that it pays for performance and the initial results are showing an outperformance on the educational metrics defined at the outset, which have been independently measured and evaluated. We have extended this approach to the provision of skills, especially for girls and young people, working with the National Skill Development Corporation of India on a $14.4 million Skills India Bond.

Aside from these longer-term programmes, we have launched emergency appeals during the pandemic to ensure that families across South Asia receive the food, medicine and critical essentials they urgently need to help them survive.

For example, BAT’s Oxygen Appeal received tremendous support raising over £8 million from over 30,000 supporters and has subsequently converted into an India Recovery Fund to accelerate vaccinations, rebuild livelihoods and protect mental health, especially of children. Through the guidance of our in-country teams, local Advisory Councils and Board of Trustees, we do everything we can to remain cost-effective, accountable and make the greatest possible impact with the money entrusted to us.

As someone who has been fortunate to benefit from many positive life chances – whether educational or professional – I feel it is important to open doors of opportunity for others, especially to those most in need. I would therefore like BAT to continue to be bold and ambitious in delivering positive impact in the most creative ways, especially through using social finance to advance development across South Asia.

If you would like to find out more, or support British Asian Trust, then please visit: www.britishasiantrust.org

TfL could declare bankruptcy London Transport authority could declare bankruptcy if it doesn’t receive the required monetary support from the UK government soon.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been vocal about his worry about the insufficient budget allocation for TfL. Media reports suggest that the Mayor was busy last Saturday negotiating a new deal to help TfL which incurred a heavy loss of income during the pandemic.

“It’s vital that the government provides TfL with the long-term funding deal it needs to properly maintain vital transport services in the capital,” a spokesperson for the mayor said.

“Some 43,000 jobs outside London depend on TfL’s invest-

ment. If the government refuses to deliver the funding TfL needs, it could impact TfL’s UK-wide supply chain, hitting jobs and growth and holding back the economic recovery in London and across the UK.” On Saturday, a TfL spokesperson said: “There is no UK recovery from the pandemic without a London recovery and there is no London recovery without a properly funded transport network in the capital.

We hope these discussions can be concluded successfully soon.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “We have repeatedly shown our commitment to supporting London’s transport network throughout the pandemic, pro-

viding over £4.5bn in emergency funding to Transport for London and pledging a further billion pounds of capital investment every year up until at least 2024/25 – all at a time of significant pressure on the national finances.

“We’re aware that TfL are still feeling the aftereffects of the pandemic, but it is the mayor’s responsibility to accelerate overdue reforms that will ensure TfL becomes financially sustainable in a way that is fair to taxpayers.”

The number of people using TfL services remains far below pre-pandemic levels. New figures show Tube passenger levels are at 59%, while bus usage is about 75%.

Brother of Manchester Arena bombers and two others charged guilty Hashem Abedi, Manchester Arena bomber's brother and two other terror attackers have been charged guilty of assaulting a prison officer in Belmarsh's high-security unit. According to Sky, the custodian manager at Belmarsh prison told jurors he was hit with a chair and repeatedly punched and kicked by the trio before colleagues came to his aid.

Paul Edwards, 57, has report-

edly said that he thought he would be killed when Hashem Abedi, Parsons Green Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan and Muhammed Saeed, told him

about carrying out a knife attack in London. Abedi and his brother, suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people and injured hundreds more at the Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017. Abedi told the judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb: "I don't think the sentence is going to make any difference. He has been sentenced to another three years and 10 months consecutive to his current sentence.

Clean green machine: First electric street sweeper for Harrow The first fully-electric street sweeper has joined Harrow Council’s fleet in another step forward for the authority’s carbon-neutral pledge.

The eSwingo 200+ sweeper - the first of its kind in a London borough – took to the streets of Harrow this month.

Cllr Varsha Parmar, Cabinet Member for Environment, said, “I’m so proud that Harrow is leading the way with this electric sweeper. It looks fantastic and brings so many benefits to Harrow. It will reduce our car-

bon footprint, save on running costs and it’s quieter too.”

Going electric is expected to save more than 3,000 litres of diesel a year, resulting in a reduction of more than 8,000kg indirect carbon emissions and saving £4,500 in overall fuel

costs. It’s capable of completing a seven-hour shift on one charge. Investing in this new technology is part of the Council’s drive to address the climate and nature emergency and work towards being a carbon-neutral organisation by 2030.

The sweeper complements the council’s existing fleet of modern and efficient Euro 6compliant vehicles, which also includes 15 electric vans delivering a range of services including all our Meals on Wheels.

Solar power: Saving the planet – and your pocket Harrow home owners, or those with landlord permission, can register to install solar panels through a council and GLA approved group-buying scheme - which saves money.

Residents are connected with trusted suppliers, helping them to buy high-quality solar panels at lower prices than they could on their own. . The Solar Together scheme saves money on both installation and

future energy bills. Battery storage is available, too – this stores unused energy generated by solar panels so that the energy can be used whenever you want, rather than just during the daytime. Small and medium sized businesses can also apply.

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Disco King Bappi Lahiri's death is a loss to Bollywood Popular Bollywood singer and composer, Bappi Lahiri who popularised disco music in India during the 70s to the 90s, died due to multiple health issues at a Mumbai hospital on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.

He is credited as a pioneer of synthesised disco music in Indian cinema during the 1970s to the 1990s with songs like 'I am a disco dancer', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Intehaan ho gayi', 'Tamma Tamma Loge', 'Yaar bina chain kahan re', 'Bambai se aaya mera dost' 'Zubi Zubi', 'Koi Yahan Nache Nache’, and 'Aaj rapat jaaye to'.

Born in the city of Jalpaiguri in West Bengal in 1952, Bappi Lahiri was known as the ‘Disco King of India’. He composed songs for several hit movies such as ‘Disco Dancer’, 'Chalte Chalte', 'Aap Ki Khatir', ‘Sharaabi’ and ‘Dance Dance’, among others. While he was primarily known for his disco output, he could also tune melodious numbers as was evident from his music for films such as 'Chalte Chalte’, Aap Ki Khatir' and ‘Zakhmee’.

He was only 19 years old when he came to Mumbai and started his career. The first Hindi film for which he composed music was 'Nanha Shikari' in 1973, and his first Hindi composition was 'Tu Hi Mera Chanda' sung

by Mukesh.

In his long career, Bappi Lahiri was awarded the Filmfare Award for the best music director in 1985 for the Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Sharaabi', despite being nominated on six occasions between 1982 to 2018. He briefly dabbled in politics joining the BJP in 2014. He contested the Lok Sabha elections on the party ticket in Serampore (West Bengal).

In the year 2017, he quit politics altogether to focus on his music. His persona also made him iconic.

Those layers of gold chains, pendants around his neck and fingers full of clunky rings, all in pure gold, were a matter of ridicule, even as western rappers were regarded as 'cool' when they did the same. But Bappi Da never cared. For him, his music was his life.

Bappi Da's real name was Alokesh Lahiri and he was India's rockstar. His last Bollywood song was 'Bhankas' for the 2020 film "Baaghi 3". He was laid to rest in the presence of his family members and relatives at the Pawan Hans crematorium in Juhu, Mumbai on Thursday, February 17. RIP Bappi Da. You will never be forgotten as we all loved your music and your voice.

Jubel D'Cruz, Mumbai, India

Family Day In Canada winter is long and many times harsh with heavy falling snow, bone chilled cold with gusting wind and weather with wind chilled factors drop down to minus 40 to 50 centigrade. Many people suffer from winter blue due to the long winter. And since the January 1 statutory holiday of New Year, only Easter holiday used to come in April month. So many provinces decided to give break to their working residents in the middle of the winter month of February by declaring the third Monday as a statutory holiday named Family Day. Family Day is supposed to reflect the values of family and home that were important to the pioneers who founded Alberta, to give workers the opportunity to spend more time with their families. A provincial statutory holiday is observed on the third Monday in February in most provinces. A modern holiday that is growing in popularity across Canada. Its timing has been selected to coincide with the American holiday of Presidents Day. In Ontario province where we live Liberal government under Premier Dalton McGuinty introduced Family Day shortly after his govt. re-election in 2008.

McGuinty was quoted as saying in a press release. “ There is nothing more valuable to families than time together.

And yet it seems tougher than ever to find, with so many of us living such busy lives”. What a beautiful and meaningful concept of family values.

Lately, many families are falling apart due to ego, the dispute in family’s joint properties, farming lands, businesses and some of them have a tendency to grab which is lawful doesn’t belong to them by hooks and crooks making fake documents- with the help of corrupted Gram Panchayat, municipal, land transfer officials.

Many NRIs have gone through this experience as they live abroad and have no clue what is happening in their home country.

Because of said problems irreparable cracks develop in blood relatives - not in talking terms with each other no contact at all - families values are shattered to no point of return. God bless all. Stay safe and healthy. And spend as much as you can quality and memorable time with your families.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel, Markham, Ontario Canada

The cost of living crisis The cost of living crisis is really hitting home with energy, rent and food prices soaring and people struggling to pay for essentials. Most Londoners are feeling the squeeze, but some are being pushed into poverty and debt.

Inflation hit 5.5% in January, its highest rate in nearly 30 years and could top 7% in April. In simple terms, wages aren't going up at the same rate as inflation and were actually falling in December.

Council tax bills are going up because Ministers are still refusing to properly invest in our councils and vital public services. While it's bonanza time for bankers receiving record bonuses, the Government are failing to provide enough help to those who are struggling.

People can't afford to heat their homes. Soaring energy bills are expected to drag millions of UK households into fuel poverty for the first-time causing health problems including childhood asthma and excess winter deaths.

43,240 people in Brent and 21,947 people in Harrow were claiming Universal Credit in the lead-up to Christmas and the £20 weekly top-up must be urgently restored to help them stay afloat in the coming months.

On top of this, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) should be raised to cover the average rent in an area. We also need a windfall tax on the huge profits of the oil and gas companies to help the lowest-income families and most vulnerable in our communities afford their bills.

Cllr Krupesh Hirani AM London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

Could Modi be an intermediary between Putin and Zelenskyy It seems the world is in turmoil recently, especially since Boris became PM of Britain and Joe Bidden President of the USA. It is regrettable that the West, particularly UK and USA constantly seeking the limelight on the international stage, targeting Russian President Putin as the scapegoat!

With the demise of the Soviet Union and dismantling of the Warsaw Pact, a counterweight to NATO, the world was expecting smooth relations between East and West in Europe, as super-rich China is on the march, flexing its muscles on the Indo-China border, the border with Nepal, Vietnam and nationalizing the South China Sea as if it is their inland sea!

China is also drilling for oil in the Vietnamese territorial waters and claiming some of the uninhabited islands belonging to Vietnam. No wonder Vietnam has developed close relations with India supplies Vietnam with sophisticated armaments, including missiles and helps in exploring oil in Vietnam’s territorial waters.

India has close relations with Ukraine where some 30k well educated Indian nationals work, as doctors, IT Consultants, professors and researchers in their universities. The Soviet Union, now Russia always had close relations since India’s independence and India’s poor relations with bully China, a close friend of Russia has no adverse effect on Indo-Russia friendship, with pragmatic Modi popular in both countries, Ukraine and Russia, Modi is the perfect candidate to act as an independent mediator.

Unfortunately, India’s relations with the US since Joe Bidden became president are not the same as under the previous president Donald Trump, who was India’s real friend. If India succeeds in bringing two warring nations together in peace and harmony, it will be a feather in humble and hospitable PM Modi’s cap who has already gained a reputation as a shrewd politician on the international stage and a thump’s up to the US! Bhupendra M. Gandhi

12-year-old racially abused The family of a 12-year-old footballer of Asian heritage who was racially abused during a match has criticised his local Football Association for a lack of support and said he has received no apology from the opposition team involved.

Sathi Balaguru, a 12year-old footballer of South Asian (Sri Lankan) heritage, was racially abused in a nine-a-side game for Pitshanger FC in west London. Sathi tripped and was called an “Indian boy” during a penalty incident.

Balaguru was the only play-

er from an Asian background on the pitch and said he now felt as though “having an Asian background will already bring my chances down by about 50% of being a professional footballer”, The Guardian reported. Another player on the opposing side directed a racist Indian accent towards him. 16 months after the incident, Sathi has spoken up and said: “everyone to have an equal chance” and has expressed concerns that the handling of his case suggested his ethnicity may limit his progress in the game.

•

Kapil Dudakia

Kapil’s KHICHADI

The Far Right and Europe I have written on similar topics now for the past decade and more. Each time I have shown that the threat of the far-right is significantly greater in Europe, than it is in the UK. Of course, if you read the news stories, or watch it on of TV you could mistakenly believe that the UK is the very epicentre for the far-right. Below I have extracted results of the most recent general elections from across Europe and mapped what the far-right parties have secured in terms of vote share.

Name % Last Election Golden Dawn (Hungary) 2.9 ChA DF Danish People’s Party 8.7 FN National Front (France Le Pen) >21 FPÖ Austrian Freedom Party 16.2 FrP Progress Party (Norway) 11.7 JMM Movement for a Better Hungary 6.34 LN Northern League (Italy) 17.6 Finns Party (Finland) 17.48 PS PVV Party for Freedom (Netherlands) 10.81 SD Sweden Democrats 17.5 SVP Swiss People’s Party 25.6 VB Flemish Interest (Belgium) 11.9 UKIP United Kingdom Independence Party 0.1 BNP British National Party 0.0 (too low to register!)

Look at the vote share percentages. Nations such as Switzerland and France consistently show that some 20+% of votes go to their far-right parties. Just imagine, in the case of France with a population of 65 million, that means some 13 million French citizens are proudly voting for far-right parties. In the case of Switzerland with a population of 8.7 million, some 2.2 million Swiss citizens routinely vote for far-right parties.

Now compare that with the UK. I have included UKIP (and I am sure they will say that it is not technically a far-right party) and the BNP. The most successful is UKIP with ONLY 0.1% of the votes. The BNP vote share is so low that it fails to register as a percentage.

The UK, whilst not perfect and still having some issues to sort out, is relatively speaking the best European nation when it comes to rejecting far-right ideology. World War One and Two both started in Europe. I will let you determine the root cause of each.

In Europe the threat from the far-right remains and increases because they are rejecting what they see as the wide-spread appeasement of Islamists. You don’t have to agree with them. You don’t even have to do any data analysis. You see, the far-right thrive on raw hatred. An emotion that can be galvanised to such a degree that people become willing partners to mass murder.

It is therefore imperative that the UK updates it crime and immigration legislation. Illegal immigration is illegal. It is almost impossible for any illegal migrant to get to our shores unless they have first travelled through several safe countries. As soon as people reject safe countries and aim for the UK, it tells me that they are not refugees, that they are nothing more than economic opportunists attempting to get into the country via illegal means. Our laws must now be strengthened so our border forces can eject these illegals immediately.

The extreme left and right seek to undermine democracy and the rule of law, whether using violence or other means. They have differing political objectives, but today both would result in the destruction of the liberties we value and cherish.

Priti Patel can see the bigger picture. She is currently taking a piece of legislation through Parliament that will enhance our capacity to protect our borders not just from illegals, but also from terrorists and extremists. If the UK does not look after the fundamentals, don’t be too surprised if in ten years’ time the vote share for the far-right increases dramatically. Lest we fail to grasp reality, there was a reason why the red wall collapsed.

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

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11 26 February - 4 March 2022

Winning hearts in Bengaluru: One breakfast at a time

Ruchi Ghanashyam Mrs. Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in Indian Foreign Service for over 38 years, she has been posted in many countries including South Africa, Ghana, before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations. @RuchiGhanashyam

nities. North Karnataka, South Karnataka, Kodagu (Coorg), Udupi, Mangalorean, North Canara and Navayath are amongst the distinctive cuisines of Karnataka.

According to some, even the capital Bengaluru, is named after a modest bowl of boiled beans. Legend has it that the Hoysala king Veera Ballala II once got separated from his companions in the forest, while on a hunt. At a small hut in the forest, an old woman fed him a bowl of boiled beans, based on which he named the village Benda-kaal-uru, or ‘Village of Boiled Beans’, that became Bengaluru.

It is the cuisine of the small temple town of Udupi, between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, that has really put Karnataka on the food map. Legend says that in Dwapara Yuga, during the Kurukshetra war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, all the kings were aligned to one or the other side, but the King of Udupi chose to remain neutral. Instead, he offered to Lord Krishna to be the caterer.

Legend aside, Udupi cuisine has its own distinctive taste. It strictly adheres to the tradition of satvik vegetarian cuisine as prescribed by the Ashtamutts founded by Madhvacharya. Udupi cuisine does not use onions or garlic but is liberal in using coconuts, though onions are now a part of Udupi food. Jaggery and hing (asafoetida) add a unique taste and flavour to dishes like sambar or rasam.

Udupi cuisine is said to have begun in

Several years ago, I saw the famous Hollywood film starring Audrey Hepburn, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’. I was reminded of the film recently after enjoying a delicious breakfast at home in Bengaluru. Out of curiosity, I casually checked and found that breakfast at the Blue Box Cafe located inside Tiffany’s landmark store in Manhattan, New York, costs over $30 (or over £ 22). I smirked with satisfaction as I finished my thatte idli the next morning, thinking of how little we had paid for our breakfast in Bengaluru. With the many home delivery options, we had been enjoying the most sumptu- UDUPI TOWN ous breakfasts for around £1 per head! the 13th century, when Shivalli Brahmins, For those unfamiliar with Indian geogfollowers of Madhavacharya, made elaboraphy, Bengaluru is the capital city of the rate food in the kitchens of the Lord South Indian state of Karnataka. Known as Krishna temple. As the followers of the Silicon Valley of India after the pioneerMadhavacharya went out to spread his ing Indian software giants like Infosys and message, they imbibed the local food Wipro, Bengaluru has always been known offered by the people, thus bringing new as the garden city of India as also the air tastes and flavours to the cuisine. conditioned city. Being at a height of over In 1923, Udupi was struck with a mas900 metres above sea level, Bengaluru has sive flood. Many cooks moved to cities like lovely weather throughout the year with Mumbai and Chennai and set up restaumoderate summers and winters. This, with rants that offered delicious wholesome generous rainfall and bright sunshine, food cooked hygienically and served at reaaccounts for its abundant greenery. The sonable prices. low level of dust and pollution, and the The next year, in 1924, three brothers moderate temperatures, attracted the IT from the Maiya family left Udupi for and technology companies to this city, Bangalore and set up a quiet restaurant which is also known for its good educationcalled Brahmin Coffee House that served al facilities. idlis and filter coffee. From this humble origin came the famed Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR), which has branches even outside India along with its own line of packaged food, both spices and ready to cook packs.

Dosas originated in Udupi, especially the crispy ones that are loved by most lovers of South Indian food. When rice was in short supply during World War II, MTR experimented with semolina instead of rice and invented the breakTo most outsiders, South Indian cuifast Rava Idli. sine is defined by ‘Idli-Dosa’. This can’t be Other leading brands were created by further from reality. Each of the South two men who adapted the cuisine to suit Indian states have very distinctive cuisines, the taste buds of the colonial powers: K. different in both taste and flavours.

Krishna Rao, an uneducated, matt trainedKarnataka’s cuisine is said to be one of the cook, started the first Udupi cuisine-based oldest surviving in the country dating back Sri Krishna Vilas Hotel in 1927, and built it to the Iron Age. It combines flavours, ingreinto the iconic Woodland brand, while K dients and cooking techniques derived Seetharama Rao, an educated, cateringfrom indigenous gastronomic tradition and trained cook, started Dasaprakash in 1954. influences from neighbouring states of Given limitations of space, an account Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to of other cuisines of Karnataka will have to the south/east and Maharashtra to the await another day. Abundant varieties of north. Each region has its own specialty dosas, idlis, uppitus, baths and other deliand flavours change from region to region. cacies comprising Karnataka’s breakfasts There are also cuisines specific to commuhave been winning hearts for years.

UK’s diplomatic network steps up efforts on LGBT+ Rights Ahead of this summer’s Safe To Be grammes Making the business and u Me Conference, all UK diplomatic economic case for equality by missions have stepped-up efforts to identifying best practices, advance LGBT+ rights. Working strengthening advocacy and with friends and allies across the supporting businesses to take globe, the UK is seeking to accelerate progress and help create the Lord Herbert of South up the mantle of change, Downs including ensuring internationconditions for greater equality and al standards on LGBT+ inclusive practices freedoms for LGBT+ people. are upheld The UK already delivers a range of global UK Prime Minister's Special Envoy on projects to defend the human rights of LGBT+ Rights and Chair of the Conference, LGBT+ people, with programmes that tackle Nick Herbert (Lord Herbert of South discrimination and hate crime running Downs), said: “As co-chairs of the Equal across Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin Rights Coalition and the Council of Europe’s America. Most recently, this included work European Governmental LGBTI Focal to evacuate LGBT+ people from Afghanistan Points Network, and a member of the UN under threat from the Taliban.

LGBTI Core Group, the UK stands as a This year, diplomats have ramped up strong advocate for equality. their close engagement with governments “Every person should have a fair opporand stakeholders across the world, including tunity in life, no matter who they are or with groups such as the Equal Rights where they come from. I believe the Coalition, the European LGBTI Focal Points Conference represents a powerful opportuNetwork, and the UN LGBTI Core Group. nity for countries to work together to tackle This work has the potential to help deliver discrimination and violence around the the next chapter in LGBT+ history. world.”

The Safe To Be Me Conference – taking In 71 jurisdictions around the world, place in London this summer – will focus on consensual same-sex acts are still illegal. 35 delivering positive international action on of these are in the Commonwealth. In 11 four key aims: countries homosexuality is punishable by u Tackling violence and discrimination by death. bringing communities and leaders together The Safe To Be Me Conference will proto agree on new plans and how to target vide an opportunity for governments, grassfunding to apply these globally roots activists, and civil society from around · Advancing decriminalisation and legal prothe globe to work together to make the case tections by accelerating progress on legislafor equality and agree to new actions. tive reform and creating the conditions for Asian Voice was told during a virtual greater equality interaction with the press by the Envoy that u Ensuring inclusive access to public services ambassadors of different countries and by enabling delegates to share lessons and regions will be present to tackle any kind of linguistic barriers to further educate and make commitments on key issues, such as sensitise communities about LGBT+ rights. access to healthcare and HIV/AIDS pro-

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in brief

13-year-old British Indian boy is the star of Netflix’s Christmas 2022 movie Shefali Saxena Thirteen-year-old Shaun was born in India.

He likes cartoons and comics and movies.

Since age 4 he started writing stories. At the age of 6, his first storybook was published and he was interviewed by Mumbai Mirror.

After coming to London few of his books were published here in London as well.

Shaun did his first drama from National Theatre in school in Year 6, since then he got inclined towards theatres and movies.

Speaking exclusively to Asian Voice, Shaun’s mother Rupa Sharma said, “We always encouraged him whatever he wanted to do, We started searching school if there is any such kind of education system from secondary school. We found 3-4 private theatre schools in London where they teach academics and vocational. Since year 7 Shaun started his theatre school.”

For Netflix’s movie ‘Matilda’ Shaun’s

mother told us that he got an audition call from a school casting agency. Netflix auditioned worldwide for Matilda casting.

Shaun got through audition in December 2020 and rehearsal and shooting started in January 2021. Shooting finished in August 2021. It will be released on Christmas 2022.

When asked what it takes as a parent to nurture both his craft and his education, Sharma said, “We both parents are from an engineering background and never thought about this field. But Shaun was always inclined towards the creative field and as he proposed his wish to go to this field, we encouraged him, as we believe that if you want to follow your passion success is always yours. As he is studying in theatre school but they also do academics so the study was not at all a problem.”

Addressing how safe and child-friendly film sets are, the mother said, “They are pretty friendly and being on set for him was

Living with Covid-19 strategy neglects the most vulnerable, says BMA As the British government sweeps away Covid rules in England by ending selfisolation and free Covid tests/community PCR testing – a move that could hit low-paid workers hard. The Current Covid restrictions were due to expire in England on 24 March but the government announced it will be ending Covid rules a month early on 24th February.

In a speech given to the House of Commons, prime minister Boris Johnson scrapped the remaining Covid legal restrictions in England and said he wanted to shift the onus from state mandates to personal responsibility. Under the Living with Covid plan, from Thursday, the legal requirement to self-isolate after testing positive for Covid will end, as well as free tests.

Responding to the statement from the Prime Minister on the Government’s ‘Living with Covid’ strategy, which includes the removal of free Covid-19 tests for the public from 1 April in England, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said, “Today’s announcement fails to protect those at highest risk of harm from Covid-19 and neglects some of the most vulnerable people in society. We recognise the need, after two years of the pandemic, to begin thinking about how we adjust our lives to manage living alongside Covid-19, but as the BMA has persistently said the decision to bring forward the removal of all protective measures while cases, deaths and the number of people seriously ill remain so high is premature.

“Far from giving people more freedom, today’s announcement is likely to cause more uncertainty and anxiety.

“Crucially, it will create a two-tier system, where those who can afford to pay for testing – and indeed to self-isolate – will do so, while others will be forced to gamble on the health of themselves and others.”

The BMA chief further said that Covid-19 has already disproportionately impacted those on lower incomes, in insecure employment and from ethnic minorities. This move threatens to exacerbate these health inequalities.

“Providing free tests to clinically vulnerable people – and only once they develop symptoms and are potentially very unwell - but not providing any free tests to friends or family who come into contact with them is completely illogical, as the priority should be protecting them from infection in the first place. The same goes for care home staff, who will only be tested if they have symptoms, by which time they could have passed on the virus to vulnerable residents,” Dr Nagpaul said.

really cool. The level of detail on set was extraordinary.

Netflix is very Shaun professional and absolutely wonderful.”

We wondered how Shaun feel while being exposed to such early success in life.

His mother said, “It feels really cool for him and it isn’t everything that he expected but it’s still really amazing and he feels really thankful to be in this line of work. This was his first biggest brand movie he exposes to.”

At a tender age, Shaun understands the difference between reel and the real-world and his parents want him to pursue this career. “Yes, of course, he is already entered into his career. He writes stories, scripts, comic writing, he has multiple sub choices in this field,” Rupa told Asian Voice.

Sea-change in UK boardrooms as women make up nearly 40% of FTSE 100 top table roles The UK has climbed to second in the international rankings for women’s representation on boards at FTSE 100 level, with new data released on 22 February showing nearly 40% of UK FTSE 100 board positions are now held by women, compared with 12.5% just ten years ago.

The data has been published in a new report by the Government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review, which monitors women’s representation in 24,000 positions on FTSE 350 Boards and in Leadership teams of the UK’s biggest companies, building on the success of the previous Hampton-Alexander and Davies Reviews.

The findings demonstrate a major sea change in attitudes to getting women leaders to the top table of business in the UK, with women’s board representation increasing in 2021 across the FTSE 100 (39.1%), FTSE 250 (36.8%) and FTSE 350 (37.6%).

The report highlights the success of the UK government’s voluntary, businessled approach to setting targets for getting more women on boards, as the UK progressed from fifth to second in the international rankings at FTSE 100 level, leapfrogging countries such as Norway, which enforces a mandatory quota system on businesses.

The number of women in Chair roles across the FTSE 350 rose to 48, up from 39 in 2020 and there has been a significant decrease in the number of ‘One & Done’ boards to just 6 this year, as British businesses take action to diversify their boardrooms.

There are over 700 more women in Leadership roles in the FTSE 350 companies this year, increasing women’s representation to 31.5%, an increase of two percentage points year-on-year.

While there has been remarkable progress at the boardroom level, the report also shines a light on areas where there is still more to do. For example, only one in three Leadership roles and around 25% of all Executive Committee roles are held by women and there are very few women in the CEO role. Equally, there are still many companies yet to hit the former 33% target set by the Hampton Alexander Review.

Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, said, "It is excellent to see the progress being made, but we know there is more to be done. "This Government is committed to levelling up all parts of our country, working to tackle inequality and promoting equality of opportunity,

including at senior level, so everyone can thrive.

"We will shortly put forward a range of measures to advance equality for women at work, increasing opportunity, and tackling the issues that are holding women back as we look to ensure that everyone can reach their full potential."

Bina Mehta, Chair of KPMG in the UK, said, “While the representation of women in leadership roles has continued to improve, the need to maintain momentum and continually challenge remains. Forty is the new thirty when it comes to women’s representation targets on boards and in senior leadership roles.

But beyond the numbers, it’s just as important to ensure that the overflowing pipeline of well-qualified and capable women translates into more women Chairs, SIDs, CEOs and CFOs. I’m delighted KPMG UK is co-sponsoring the FTSE Women Leaders Review, helping to make truly inclusive leadership cultures a reality for all businesses.”

NICK CLEGG TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS AT META The former deputy prime minister, previously vice‑president for global affairs and communications, Sir Nick Clegg has been promoted to the post of president of global affairs where he will report to Mr Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. Mr Zuckerberg said: "We need a senior leader at the level of myself (for our products) and Sheryl (for our business) who can lead and represent us for all of our policy issues globally. “As Nick takes on this new leadership role, it will enable me to focus more of my energy on leading the company as we build new products for the future, and it will support Sheryl as she continues to focus on the success of our business."The move comes amid a growing focus on content moderation decisions at Facebook, ahead of the 2022 midterm elections in the US this November. Last summer, Meta made it clear that MPs and high-profile politicians have to abide same rules or else they would face a ban if they spread misinformation.

NO-FAULT DIVORCE LAW TO BE IMPLEMENTED Tini Owens, 68, from Worcestershire wanted a divorce from her mushroom farmer husband Hugh, in 2015 on the grounds of being unhappy. However, her husband refused to end the marriage and the supreme court rejected her appeal in 2018. The judge said that Ms Owens would be able to divorce in 2020 without consent or evidence of fault when the couple will complete their five years of separation.

As per the current law in England and Wales, unless people prove their marriage has broken down due to adultery, unreasonable behaviour or desertion, the only way to obtain a divorce without a spouse’s consent is to live apart for five years. On 6 April, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act will come into action, where the fault will be removed, and instead, an individual or couple will simply have to show the marriage has completely broken down.

Charity employee jailed British Society of Echocardiography former finance officer, Manjinder Virdi has been jailed for sending over £200,000 of the charity's money to his personal bank accounts. Virdi was responsible for the funds of the charity between 2015-2019.

It has been reported that he spent thousands on gambling online.

The jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday heard that Virdi suffered from gambling and depressive disorder which in turn instigated him to commit this crime.

The former finance officer pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position under the Fraud Act 2006 and was sentenced to three years in prison.

When his charity forward him a suspicious email, Virdi’s employers sensed that something was wrong and contacted the police, especially when he termed this as some scam, by hiding his own wrongdoing.

Detective constable Gavin Markey, of the Central East Command Unit CID, said: “Virdi was entrusted to manage and protect the company's finances and he completely abused his position and the confidence placed in him, almost as if he expected to get away with it.

“In one series of transactions from

October to November 2018, he took just over £85,000.

From February to May 2019 he stole just over £53,000.

These staggering sums of money were then frittered away via online gambling websites.

“Virdi tried to play his colleagues for fools when they were initially contacted by the bank but they knew something was not adding up and their suspicions were confirmed. Their efforts and support during our investigation has been invaluable in ensuring Virdi’s conviction and sentencing.”

A spokesperson from the charity was quoted by Civil Society saying, “This has been a very difficult time for all concerned. The individual involved was a trusted member of a small team.

“We have worked closely with the police since May 2019 to ensure they had all of the evidence required. We have also reviewed and strengthened all internal systems. This has been a long process and a huge amount of work for all involved. We know it was very upsetting for our members, but we have emerged as a stronger organisation. We would like to thank DC Gavin Markey for his help in bringing the case to a close.”

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The spectacular successes of the vaccination and booster rollouts Kemi Badenoch MP Minister of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities The spectacular successes of the vaccination and booster rollouts have gone a very long way in pushing Omicron into retreat, allowing us to relax the ‘Plan B’ Covid restrictions imposed before Christmas.

Yet, there are five million or so people in this country – many from our ethnic minority communities – who are yet to receive even a first dose of lifesaving vaccine.

Of course, there are always going to be those who simply won’t be persuaded, no matter how emphatic the science is, or how convincing the public health need. But it’s also the case that among those unvaccinated individuals, there are people who have legitimate concerns, or who are part of communities or groups with long-held suspicions of public health institutions and/or the Government.

It’s not our job to dismiss those people. It’s our job to understand the many factors that may be holding them back, and to try to persuade them that vaccines are safe and our first line of protection against the virus. And it must go beyond flooding communities with public service announcements or hectoring people to simply “believe in the science”.

For the vast majority of us, this global pandemic has been the greatest threat to our health - and to the health of those around us - in our lifetimes. But for some communities the calculus is different: Covid-19 is only one of the multiple grave threats.

When confronted with that harsh reality, it’s no wonder there are many people and many communities who see Covid through the light of their own experience, viewing it as something that is not uniquely scary and arriving at the conclusion that getting jabbed should be a personal choice.

History tells us that introducing anything other than food into your body or blood is always likely to be an emotionally fraught experience. When the British doctor Edward Jenner began vaccinating people with cowpox to defend them against smallpox in the late 1790s there was immediate disquiet. Critics said the idea of vaccination was repulsive and ungodly; cartoonists showed people who had been vaccinated sprouting cows’ heads.

The complex set of fears behind people holding back is why we’ve worked with faith leaders and a 14,000-strong army of Community Champions throughout the rollout to sit down with people and hear their concerns.

Fear and uncertainty are easier to foster than trust and confidence, and inaction is easier to encourage than action. But these credible voices have showed time and again they are capable of helping people see the common good and establishing the trust people need to break out of the hesitancy straight jacket.

So, to help opportunity trump hesitancy in the weeks ahead, we’re investing £23 million in new funding to empower faith leaders and Community Vaccine Champions so they have the tools they need to take the message to communities where stubborn pockets of vaccine scepticism still exist.

Covid has taught us again and again that cookiecutter policies don’t work, so instead of taking a onesize-fits-all approach, the funding is precision-targeted to the 60 Local Authorities with the lowest rates of Covid-19 vaccine uptake.

In a major crisis, people often pull together rather than apart and this can be said of how ethnic groups in this country have got through this turbulent period. These Community Champions are helping us bring people through the most crucial stage of our battle with the pandemic by showing people the countless benefits of vaccination not just for the country, but for them, personally.

This is the third year that Covid is part of our lives in the UK, but the first year that we’ve witnessed a pandemic within a pandemic of the unvaccinated. As many as 90% of individuals in our intensive care units have not had their booster. The pressures this has put on our embattled hospitals and NHS staff in recent weeks is a testament to the painful truth that Covid does not care whether we believe the science or not, it only cares whether we have got the jab.

So, if you haven’t, I want to urge you to take that small but vital step. Book your vaccine now and get a jab.

For more on this, see P16-17.

British Indian diaspora writes an open letter to prime ministers of UK and India A group of community organisations and concerned individuals from the British Indian diaspora have collectively written an open letter regarding religious freedom in India to the prime ministers of both countries (UK and India).

In the letter addressed to Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi, the coauthors said: “We write to you today as members and representatives of Indian diaspora civil society organisations and, most importantly as British Indians, to express our deep concern at the recent tensions in India over the rights of Muslim girls to wear a hijab within educational establishments.

“A few days ago, Karnataka’s Chief Minister made the decision to close schools and colleges following an escalation of the issue with reports of violence on some college campuses. This was followed by an Indian court ordering students in Karnataka to stop wearing religious garments in class until it makes a final ruling on whether schools can ban

Muslim headscarves. This issue does not relate simply to one religion or one part of India.”

The letter further mentions the importance of Article 25 and Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

The letter has been signed by Bridge India, British South Indians, City Sikhs Foundation, Indian Workers’ Association GB, Cllr Rehana Ameer, Entrepreneur; Councillor, City of London Corporation, Yousuf Bhailok, Entrepreneur, community activist and philanthropist; Founder member and Former Secretary-General, Muslim Council of Britain, Priyajit Debsakar, Author and geopolitical analyst, Umar Farooqui, Lawyer; Spokesperson, Maharashtra State Nationalist Congress Party, Ram Gidoomal CBE, Chairman, South Asian Development Partnership, Gopal D. Patel, Co-Founder and Director, Bhumi Global; Co-chair, UN Multi-faith Advisory Council and Mandy Sanghera, an International human rights activist.

Dr Sarfraz Ashraf, Board Advisor of Bridge India, said “It is sad that in a democratic and secular country, girls are being harassed based on what they are wearing. This will have an adverse effect on women’s education, empowerment and overall development of the country.

Institutions across India should seek at all times to be consistent with India’s constitutional values, which assure its citizens' justice, equality and liberty.”

Param Singh MBE, Vice Chair of City Sikhs, said “When Indian Punjabis started moving to the UK in large numbers in the 1960s and 70s many of the men wearing turbans were unable to get jobs within the public and private sector due to dress code policies which did not recognise religious head covering or keeping a beard. Following a number of legal interventions in 1982 Britain’s highest court, the House of Lords ruled that Sikhs were entitled to protection under the Race Relations Act which effectively gave them the right to wear beards and turbans in all walks of life.”

Go Dharmic recruits 300 champions to build ‘community of the future’ International & UK registered charity Go Dharmic has recruited 300 champions, across the globe from the UK to the USA to India, united to raise £1M in 36 hours. From March 6-7, they will further their 19 ‘UN sustainable development’ social & environmental campaigns.

Re-shaping children futures, the charity has ‘tech for good’ programs in alliance with a digital learning provider, Klik2learn, in Scotland. Children, in rural areas of India, were greatly impacted by the aftermath of the Covid

pandemic lockdowns and had fallen behind in their studies. Utilising mobile phones, Journey 2 Basic Skills, gives basic literacy and numeracy skills and gives new meaning to refreshing the curriculum.

Go Dharmic has helped Afghan Refugees in their hour of need, in Bushey, UK, Jewish Community, to provide all those newly arrived in the UK who were scared, traumatised with only the clothes on their backs, and provided emergency housing through local com-

munity & volunteers.

Along with the Jinja Educational Trust, the charity distributed food kits equivalent to 24,800 meals to teachers who were unable to feed their families due to the lockdown in Jinja, Uganda Go Dharmic and Sparkle Foundation distributed food kits to families from the Odo Ayandelu community in Lagos and Abatiwa community in Ogun State, Nigeria. Distribution of ration kits equivalent to 48,000 meals.

Most victims of post-office scandal will die before seeing justice, claims report The Post Office has yet to allocate more than £850 million in compensation to victims of the Horizon IT scandal despite warnings that many will die before seeing justice, The Times reported.

The Times Analysis has revealed that the majority of victims of the biggest miscarriage in the history of Britain are yet to receive a penny of the £1 billion compensation. This includes more than 700 postmasters who were wrongly punished for a crime they did not commit because of accounting discrepancies caused by faulty software made by Fujitsu.

Paul Scully, the postal affairs minister said: “We want to act to right the wrongs of up to two decades.” The publication also reported that out of 736 postmasters, 72 people who had their convictions overturned, 62 have received the £100,000 interim payments offered as a “measure of comfort” while their final payoff is negotiated.

A letter by the post office stated: “If the applicant is unable to establish a claim for the amount offered, the difference will be repayable to the Post Office.” It has been reported that the government has set aside £780 million for potential claims.

Helen Pitcher, chairwoman of the CCRC, said: “I would be amazed if the executives at the top didn’t know about something as big as this.”

However, the compensation deal does not apply to the 555 who exposed the Horizon scandal during a long legal battle with the Post Office. This group was awarded £57.75 million after a settlement was agreed with the Post Office in

2019 but only received £20,000 each after having to pay a sizeable legal bill. The Post Office said: “We have, in good faith, been making interim payments to those whose Horizon-related convictions have been overturned. They are intended to provide a swift and meaningful payment while full claims for compensation are made.”

Ambulance crews urge drivers to respect the Red X National Highways and ambulance crews ask drivers to respect the Red X and give them the space they need to reach incidents and treat casualties.

Ambulances on a blue light run need to get to their patients as quickly as possible without the fear of encountering motorists who obstruct their route, delaying crucial time to lifethreatening incidents. Using Red X signals, National Highways can close lanes to allow ambulance crews and other emergency services to have a clear route. Traffic officers can also close lanes to provide ambulance crews with a safe working environment while they are on scene dealing with casualties and saving lives. National Highways has joined forces with ambulance chiefs to raise awareness of why it is so important to comply with a Red X. It has been an offence for more than two decades to drive in a lane closed by a Red X and can result in a fixed penalty of up to

£100 and three points or, in some cases, more severe penalties or a court appearance.

In April 2021 National Highways committed to accelerating the completion of its camera upgrade programme regarding the automatic detection of Red X offences. This means by the end of September this year it will have upgraded all cameras that automatically detect vehicles passing illegally under a Red X or entering the lane beyond a Red X.

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Sustainability and conscious living are on the rise Shefali Saxena

going to affect how long you live and how well you live.

3. Never say never! Never give up! You would be surprised Wellness Curated is a collective community, founded how much knowledge, healing and therapy you can

by Anshu Bahanda, to help to empower people with find if you look for it - no matter what your ailment. health, wellness and joy. The team seeks out 4. The world is changing so fast - change is our only conextraordinary health, wellness and beauty experts all stant. over the world and gives you access to them via 5. Dis-ease is strongly linked to cellular memory and past podcasts, Instagram Lives and direct traumas - you can heal yourself if you manage to appointments. cleanse from the above. I think of disease as a dis-ease, not being well in ourselves and also Since the podcast was launched in March not being at ease with some aspect of our2020, it has featured topics varying from selves or our situations Brain Optimisation to Anxiety to Living 6.

You can do anything you want with Long Covid and spoken to more than if you do it with love.

50 practitioners, experts and therapists I started Wellness Curated to 7. from both western and alternative medical empower people with health, wellness, traditions. Nutritionists, fitness profesjoy and beauty; and create a collective sionals, psychologists, therapists, business community. What’s happening now is people, yogis and more have joined Anshu to magical - people are reaching out to me and share and discuss their knowledge, expertise introducing me to incredible experts ( that I Bahanda Anshu and research. can interview on the podcast ) - they are taking We spoke to Anshu about her work and Wellness ownership of this community and making sure we all Curated. collectively empower each other! Sheer Magic!

Please tell us about yourself, background, family and education

How much do you think Asians specifically understand about health and wellness?

I grew up in Delhi, India in a family which was very involved in Art, Culture, Healing and Heritage. I did a Bachelors in Economics from a college called St Stephens College in Delhi University and then went to Boston University for Masters in Computer Science.

I now live in London with my husband and 2 daughters.

I have gone from working at Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank to the African Art Business and the Health and Wellness Space.

I have weekly podcasts on Health and Wellness called Wellness Curated, and I also run an art platform called Aabru Art.

I think Asians have a tremendous understanding of health and wellness.

I grew up in India - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellness are beautifully interwoven into our everyday lives right from the Yoga we did as children, to the chanting which is a part of our lives, to the respect we were taught to have for our elders.

I have friends who grew up in other countries in Asia - the sense of community, the social interactions, the importance of food and exercise all contribute hugely to health and wellness.

What is the demographic that you cater to? Can you share some insights from the digital interactions you’ve had under this programme?

Do you think the pandemic will change the lifestyle and life choices of people in terms of health and wellness?

For Wellness Curated, I have to say I struggle to define a demographic - the only thing I can say is that we cater to anyone who is interested in health, wellness, joy and beauty. The pandemic made us all realise that health is the singular most important thing in our lives, and is very important for everyone, everywhere - no matter which country you’re from, what your age group is, what your gender is, what your sexual orientation is or what your profession is.

I have interviewed about 64 people on health, wellness and beauty from different parts of the world, right from Canada to Thailand; different age groups, 29 to 72; and different professions. Here are some of my favourite insights 1. The first step to helping yourself is recognising that you need help – whether it’s your mental, physical or emotional health.

2. No matter what your age group is, what you do today is

Yes, I do think the pandemic will change peoples lifestyles and life choices in terms of health and wellness. People are beginning to recognise that no matter how healthy you are, things can change any minute- life, health and wellness are precious gifts that we cannot take for granted but have to nurture with great care.

People are working in a hybrid office/home-office now. They have realised they can be a lot more mobile and live in different places.

Not being able to see friends and family for extended periods of time during lockdown has made a lot of people reassess their priorities and people are conducting their lives differently.

When people stopped ‘running’ during the pandemic they began to really value things like outdoor space and nature - things that a lot of people had taken for granted!

Sustainability and conscious living are on the rise!

UK supports indigenous Maya Girls to create transformational change in Guatemala The British Embassy supported the MAIA Impact School by maximising the potential of young women through education. The project reached over 230 adolescent Maya girls aged 11 to 18 residing in more than 40 rural villages in Sololá where the MAIA school is located. The project also had a holistic approach, which included the families of each student. The total of indirect beneficiaries was approximately 2,000 people.

The project had three main aims in order to deliver quality education to these young indigenous girls. First, a series of courses, which included women’s empowerment, critical thinking and civic participation.The second aim of the project was around media freedom in which more than 30 girls participated in 14 journalism workshops to gain skills and public speaking tools that they will be able to use in the future as active members of their communities.

Lastly, the girls designed, produced, and led 9 virtual and 2 in-person interviews using the tools they gained to discuss critical issues facing girls and the Maya community with international and local public figures.

In addition, around 236 girls received quality education on sexual reproductive health, physical and emotional wellbeing, leadership, body positivity and self-esteem.

FCDO's Work and Opportunities for Women Programme The Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme is a new flagship programme funded by UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The objective of WOW is that women have access to improved economic opportunities through business interventions in supply chains and economic development programmes. The 5-year programme aims to enhance the economic empowerment of 300,000 women working in global value chains and work with 35 economic development programmes to increase the numbers of women beneficiaries by September 2022. It will achieve this goal by supporting businesses, organisations and programmes that are ready and willing to act on women’s economic empowerment (WEE); enabling players across the supply chain ecosystem to drive change, and influencing the UK and global agenda on women’s economic empowerment. It is being delivered by an alliance of global experts at the cutting edge of women’s economic empowerment research, program design, and delivery. PwC leads this alliance that includes BSR, CARE International, the University of Manchester, and Social Development Direct.

Global Disability Summit 2022 The 18 new commitments will help deliver the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO’s) new Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy which aims to embed disability inclusion considerations across our key priority areas such including global health, inclusive education, and humanitarian action. Some of them aim at empowering women.

The UK’s Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) programme will be extended to continue strengthening ground-breaking work with Organisations of People with Disabilities in 2022/23. The programme assesses and addresses barriers that prevent people living with disabilities from realising their full Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

The UK’s ‘What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale’ programme will contribute to more effective, concerted global efforts to tackle violence against women and girls with disabilities. This means in practice: F testing and building the evidence on new approaches to address violence against women with disabilities including at least two targeted innovation grants alongside wider project mainstreaming F all data will be disaggregated by disability F women with disabilities will be consulted through design and implementation F women with disabilities will be represented on the programme’s advisory board The forthcoming FCDO 2022 Women and Girls Strategy will ensure that women and girls with disabilities are meaningfully embedded across key priorities and mutually reinforce the 2022 FCDO Disability Inclusion Strategy.

British High Commission launches mentoring programme for budding journalists The British High Commission on Tuesday announced the launch of the Chevening Mentoring Scheme for budding journalists.

The three-month mentorship programme has been designed to target women and minorities working for media outlets or as freelance journalists across Pakistan. Fellows from the flagship Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme will act as mentors for those picked to join the scheme and will share their knowledge and experience with young journalists on one-on-one coaching sessions, as well as group discussions.

The British High Commission inaugurated a successful, similar mentorship programme targeted at lawyers and entrepreneurs in 2020. Its second phase was launched last year during which Chevening alumni mentored a

group of eight women and two men.

The participants benefitted in a wide range of areas, enabling them to become thought leaders and to drive positive change in their chosen field.

2022 marks 75 years of UK-Pakistan relations with a programme of joint activities planned throughout the year.

Fouzia Younis, Head of Communications and Public Diplomacy at the British High Commission Islamabad, said: “To mark

75 years of Pakistan’s independence this year, I am pleased to launch a new mentoring programme aimed at backing and bringing up talented women and minority journalists. They will get to learn from some of the best journalists in their profession, and bring their stories to readers in Pakistan, the UK and around the world. We are ek saath.”

Mentor and PTV journalist Rasheed Safi said: “Despite the challenges, Pakistan has a vibrant and growing media with more women joining the profession now. Addressing these challenges and equipping women journalists with proper training and mentoring will be a solid step towards a more diverse and inclusive media landscape.”

BBC correspondent Sahar Baloch will also be a mentor.

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The Honourable Bengali

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

Some individuals are indeed different from the rest of the population. These are individuals who because of their intellectual gift end up opening avenues for a generation of men and women. A rare breed of them are also humble and down to earth who do not flaunt any arrogance because of their very foundation of multi-dimensional capabilities.

You may call them gifted or you may even call them a legend if their impact was worthy enough towards society. But time is cruel and so is the society which often ends up forgetting some of such masters over the course of time. One such legend was The Honourable Justice Dwarkanath Mitter.

An erudite individual This is not a figment of the imagination and neither a movie plot, though the course of events in his life might convince a reader to think of it as one. Justice Dwarkanath Mitter had the most humble of origins as he was born in the village of Augunshi in Bengal to Baboo Hurro Chunder Mitter and his wife. His father was a small-time law agent who practised as a 'Mukhtear' in the Hooghly courts. Having received his initial education in the village pathshala or local school, he was soon accepted as a student of the Hooghly Branch School which still exists. After a successful stint in the institution, he made his way to the Hooghly College, which is now known as the Hooghly Mohsin College. Throughout his student years, he was known as an erudite individual who had won a number of scholarships and medals and one who impressed immensely with his exceptional command over History, English and Mathematics. It has been stated in his biography, 'Life of the Honb'le Justice Dwarkanath Mitter' by his childhood friend Dinabandhu Sanyal that he could read an entire volume of Alison's 'History of Europe' in a day and could recollect complete sentences from the book thereafter. Another such incident is mentioned with Gibbon's 'Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.'

His essays written in his student years were often regarded by experts and scholars as being comparable to that of a student of Oxford. It is also mentioned that as a student he greatly admired Shakespeare, Shelly, Robert Burns and Alexander Pope, alongside being a learned reader of the published speeches of the great minds of that time. He was also gifted in Chess and could play the Tabla.

One individual whom he admired greatly was none but Emperor Napolean, whose print hung in his house in Dwarkanath's later years while he made a name as a successful jurist.

Support from Raja Ram Mohan Roy's son A big turning point in his early life was a boat accident in which he lost his siblings and the resulting grief soon led to an early demise of his beloved father whom he would often silently observe. This incident followed by a later incident where he was turned away after waiting an entire day for a job interview changed his perspective towards life. To an extent, the following hardships and insults brought out the fighter in him and the shortstatured and dark-complexioned Dwarkanath was

never the same. After a brief stint in Presidency College from where he dropped out and after a phase of clerkship, the young Dwarkanath Mitter ended up acquiring his law diploma with flying colours. This was also some years before the establishment of the Calcutta High Court. The combination of events led him to a career that made him financially pretty strong and also respectable in society. Among his early admirers, he had the support of the eminent pleader and jurist Ramaprasad Roy, the younger son of the legendary Raja Ram Mohan Roy. 'Life of the Honb'le Justice Dwarkanath Mitter' by Dinabandhu Sanyal mentions in the bottom of page number fifty-four of the book that Ramaprasad Roy was the first Indian to be proposed as a Judge of the newly founded Calcutta High Court but he died before things could materialize. The young Dwarkanath also found the encouragement of The Honourable Shambhu Nath Pundit, the first Indian to take the position and oath of a High Court Judge and it was him whom Dwarkanath would eventually succeed in 1867. He was also appreciated by Sir Barnes Peacock, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. Around that time he was earning about Rupees 50,000 per annum as a lawyer and was living a comfortable life in Bhowanipore in an old and sprawling estate, which he had procured for a princely sum and had spent another considerable amount to put together a library of English and French books along with various astronomical instruments. This library with over one thousand volumes of French work, Waverley novels, also boasted of works of poets like Longfellow and other greats. Among them 'Queen Mab' by Shelly was one of his favourites. He was a Comtist and he also kept the paper cutting of this piece printed sometime in the 'Blackwood's Magazine' mentioning this forgotten fourteen-year-old hunting tracker named Kedar who while accompanying an AngloIndian hunter, had himself hunted a big cat with nothing but a hunting knife while himself perishing in the adventure.

Considering the age of Kedar, he was probably one of the youngest big cat hunters ever in the history of mankind, being far younger than even Sher Shah Suri or the later example of Bagha Jatin in Bengal. This incident of Kedar greatly influenced Justice Dwarkanath.

The Lawyer There is enough testimonial that as a lawyer on many occasions he stood up for the poor and vehemently represented their cases while not charging a penny in return. He also donated graciously for various charitable endeavours where his contributions would often outmatch even that of some Maharajas. He even helped the founding of schools, dispensaries and even instituted prizes for students.

The erudite jurist was well versed as a Historian and his literary knowledge was vast. A gifted mathematician, this polymath also wrote quite a few articles on Analytical Geometry for the 'Mookerjee's Magazine' and also published some translation works. He was also involved with the social upliftment of the changing society of Bengal but all this took a drastic turn when he was suddenly diagnosed with throat cancer at a rather young age, probably caused as a consequence of long hours spent while smoking the hookah which he often enjoyed while spending time in his library.

This disease finally brought an end to a small but highly accomplished life. Survived by his mother, second wife, son(Surendronath), daughter(Bhoovun) and son in law(Upendra Dutt), the great polymath breathed his last in his native village at 4 PM, on the 25th of February, 1874. He had already paved the path for a generation of jurists who would go on to succeed him in his honourable position. His friends like Justice Unoocool Mookerjea and Justice Sir Romesh Chunder Mitter among others kept his legacy alive but nothing could compensate for the loss of such a soul as his, whose death was mourned by many and sent ripples all across the legal and intellectual corridors in India and abroad. In all of his obituaries, he was rightly indicated by various magazines and journals including the ‘Hindoo Patriot’ as one of the brightest minds of Bengal of his time.

Bhasha Divash: Essex Indians celebrate International Mother Tongue Day Essex Indians registered charity 1186579 celebrated International Mother Tongue Day last weekend with heartfelt respect to the students of Dhaka University who lost their lives in the language revolution.

Reverend David Ibioyo from

ed the culture of ‘Jharkhand’.

Meera presented the contribution of ‘Russian’ language. Piyal exchanged a linguistic debate with his son Moho. Arya, Samyak and Rijula presented the advantage of ‘ being multilingual’ and its effect

Basildon Side by Side was our chief guest. The program was conceptualised by Arpita and anchored by Ballari and Sulagna. The concert featured the significance of ‘Bhasha Divash’, the importance of learning own mother tongue ( matribhasha) and its values in generation next and the cultural unity in diversity of several international languages.

While Arena, Ballari, Suman and Arpita recited immortal

on ‘ family bonding’.

Lavanya presented a classical

poetries, Annika, Subham, Shivam, Sumana, Paramita, Arya, Basabdutta presented relevant songs related to Bhasha Divash. Aric talked about Bhasha divash , Sreyoshi presented ‘ moder garab moder asha ‘ while Anirban with Ujjwal, Arya and Samyak presented the traditional song ‘ Ekushe February’ and a self composed song ‘ Bangla akash bangla batash’ Sujata unfolded the culture and language of the state ‘Tripura’, Chitra vividly presented the paithani art of ‘Maharashtra’ and Ujjwal described and present-

traditional dance and star musician Mayukhjit presented his flute performance with kirtan ‘ rai jago’ The evening ended with a mouthwatering dinner prepared by Arpita, Anirban and Sujata and a heartfelt tribute to Bengali pride Bappida with ‘ Chalte Chalte’, the life philosophy song by Arya, Ujjwal

and Anirban.

Trustees thanked all guests for their sincere homage on bhasha divash.

Hackney ‘sanctuary’ for stranded South and East Asian nannies and nursemaids to receive a blue plaque Legend has it that many women who came to Britain as nannies along with the families who left India during the British Raj were eventually abandoned by the British families.

English Heritage has announced that a blue plaque will be placed at Ayahs’ Home for stranded South and East Asian nannies in Hackney.

According to English Heritage Charity, The Ayahs’ Home (19001921): The term ‘ayah’ was applied to the South and East Asian women who served the British as nannies and nursemaids in India and other colonies. The Ayahs’ Home in

Hackney provided safety and shelter to the many women who arrived in London with British families only to find that their employers did not honour the promise of a return journey, or offer the means to survive in the interim. The Ayahs, thus abandoned, were often forced into common lodging houses or the workhouse.

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PRO RODUCED IN ASSOCIA ATI TION

“THE SCIEN NCE CONVINCE ED ME” Reasons wh why people peo are choosin ng g to ge get the Co ovi vid-19 v va accine and boost ster dose Tw wo doses d of the Covid-19 va vaccin ne e with wi a booster jab is to be th he e best bes way to t pro rotect yo yourself against the virulence of the virus and its recen ntt varian varian nt Omicrro on.

But despite increasing uptak ke e of o the va vaccine and boosters acr across the UK among most eligible le ag ge e grro oups, some people understandably ly remain ap apprehensive ve about abo getting jabbed.

Asian V Voi oice spoke to people, w wh ho despit p e the initial hesi hesitan nc ce, wer ere later convin nvinced by the merits of the Co ovi vid-19 v va accine and go got themsellv ves jabbed. jabbed Rupanjana Dutta Nothing lik ke ev va accine protection In his early 30s, Jomon is a chef from London. Now double jabbed and topped up with the booster, he recalled how he wasn’t initially sure if he wanted to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Speaking to Asian V Voi oice, Jomon said, “I had heard and read stories about how this vaccine could impact the human body, leading to unnecessary complications and permanent damages. Constantly fed fed with conflicting news, there was no wayy to understand what was true and what wasn’t.”

As Jomon’s wiffee works as a key worker in the NHS, both Jomon and her caught coronavvirus. “We were seriously ill, and it was impossible to do house chores like cooking and cleaning. With no family around, we did not know how to cope or isolate especially with three young children at home. Our friends used to leavve food food outside the door and that was helpful to feed our daughters. daugh “Suff ffering ering from fr Covid was an eye y opener p and we were immensely grateful for for all the help our friends extended to us, especially in the absence of family in the UK. As my wiffee and I recovered, we decided to take the vaccine the moment we became eligible.

“I travvel by local transport and as a chef come across many

Jomon with wife and children

people eveery day. When we visit our elderlly or vulnerable family members in India the vaccine protection n will also help us to keep them saffe.” e.”

Like many others, Jomon had some mild side eff ffects ects after taking the vaccine. Emphasising that there is absolutely nothing to worry about, he added, “It was a case of mild aches and pains and a mild ffever ever. But I recovered quickly. Compared to

the severity of Covid and its liffee-threatening symptoms, the vaccine side eff ffects ects are ar far milder.

“II would urge those still hesitating to get vaccinated to come ffor orward and take their vaccines. There is nothing like the protection off ffer ered by the vaccines and the booster against the seriousness of this illness.”

Imp portan ntt for f travellin ng g Manish is a proffessi essional in

London and in his early 40s. He was initially hesitant to take the vaccine because of the seeming lack of clear infformati ormation available on it as well as due to the ffear ear of severe side eff ffects ects since he suff ffers ers from a health condition.

Speaking to this newsweekly Manish explained what changed his mind. “This vaccine being new, nobody was certain how eff ffective it was, and whether w it was actually going to do what it claimed to do. Moreover, I suff ffered er from serious hay fever fever throughout summer and was afraid if the vaccine was going to adversely aggravate v my symptoms.

“But I soon realised that if I needed to visit my parents who live abroad, I would need to take the vaccine at some point. Otherwise, I might not be allowed abroad or treated diff ffer erently under stricter rules.

I also understand how the vaccine maayy reduce r the impact of Coronavvirus. virus So So, I waited till the hay fever fever season was over and took my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.”

Best way to keep keep y your baby safe In her early 30s, Pournima, an ENT Registrar from Manchester was 32 weeks pregnant, when

Pournima

she was first off ffer ered the Covid vid-19 vaccine but under a clinical trial of AstraZeneca. She told us,, “There was no clear guidance ce or evidence availab available then. So, I was a little concerned ffor or the safffety ety of my baby, as I did not know ow how the vaccine would aff ffect ecct us, especially as my pregnancy ncy was quite advanced. Had I been off ffer ered the vaccine earlier with clear guidance, as it is now, I would have v perhaps gone ahead and taken it.

“There were initial concerns about blood clots as a serious side eff ffect ect and as you maayy know, know pregnant women are generally more prone to having v blood clots.

So, I was more worried whether

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WITH UK K GOVERNMENT

Ho ow w does the booster prro otect you?

If you’re pregnant: • Please book your Covi v d-19 vaccine as soon as you can and do not delay due to pregnancy y.

• Pregnant women e who do ge et symptomatic Covi v d-19 infecti e on are 2 to 3 times more likely to give birth to their baby prematurely y.

• Sever e e illness due to Covi v d-19 is more likely in later pregnancy. Around one in fiv ve women who are hospitalised with the virus need to be deliver e ed preterm to help them m rec cover over ve , and one in fiv ve of theirr bab bies need care in the neona n tal t un nit.

Visit nhs.uk/ covid v vaccinati t on to get bo oosted now.

the vaccine would aggravate v the condition, and although it has been now clearly proven to be saffe, e,, during the time of my pregnancy we didn’t have sufficient proven evidence, making me a sceptic.”

But as a doctor, she went ahead and discussed her concerns with her other colleagues. “I was aw ware of the short-term eff ffects ects and also of the unlikely chances of any problems in a baby due to this vaccine,” she said. “But since there were no clear guidelines avvailable, it made me unsure. But the moment my baby was born, and the vaccine was made availablee to me, I quickly went ahead and took my first jab. I havve also taken my booster, though right beffor ore taking it I had caught Covid. So that delaayyed my booster jab by 28 daays.”

With more and more clear data and evidence available now, Pournima acknowledges that the vaccine is the best waayy to protect pr you and your baby.

Being pregnant can put you at a greater risk of getting seriously ill with Covid, which increases the chances of your baby being born prematurely, or even being stillborn. If you’re pregnant, get vaccinated or boosted now. Go to nhs.uk//covid covidvaccination.

Covid-19 vaccines are saffee for pr pregnant women and are

recommended during pregnancy.

There is no evidence to suggest that the vaccine brings any harm to unborn b b b babies, and d it remains the best protection against coronaavirus. virus. Ther There is also no evidence that Covid-19 vaccines fertility in males mal or in aff ffeect fertility femal emales.

Data from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System shows 96.3% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with Covid-19 symptoms between May and October 2021 were unvaccinated, a third of which (33%) requiring rrespiratory espiratory support. Around 1 in 5 women who are hospitalised with ith the virus need to be deliverred preterm to help them recover an nd 1 in 5 of their babies need carre in the neonatal unit.”

g le adult now needs Every eligib a Covid-19 booster oster vaccine, because the pro otection given by the first two o doses wane over time. Covid vid-19 remains highly inffecti ectious and is spreading fast.

A booster will not only strengthen your ur protection lness or from serious illness complication due to Covid-19 but also give yo ou the best possible deffence encce ffor or you and your family. Y You ou can get a Covid-19 booster 3 months

after your second dose.

If you haven v ’t had your booster, then go to the NHS website at nhs.uk/ covidvaccination to book an appointment or find your local walk-in vaccination centre.

If you have v already had your booster, then please encourage v ’t friends and family who haven to book theirs now or visit a walk-in centre.

Get your booster now. Visit nhs. hs.uk k// covid dvvaccination. ation.

Those w wh ho had Co ovi v d in vi December musstt get bo oosted wiith thout dela ay y

Your positiv tive step s towar ard ds imm muni unitty he help ps yo your comm muni u ty unit In her early 20s, Christine from Sheffield, was afraid to tak kee the jab because she suff ffers ers from fr extreme trypanophobia, which is a strong fear fear needles needl or blood.

Anxious about side eff ffects ects and being pricked by a needle, she was hesitant to take the vaccine.

Christine said, “Each time I encounter myself in this type of situation, I start to feel feel faint, fain and my heart rate increases along with my blood pressure. Then, it drops rapidly which sometimes causes fainting or severe headaches.

“I was alread dyy hearing about severe side eff ffects ects of the vaccine from friends such as dizziness, shaking and irregular heartbeats.

This completely removed the idea of getting jabbed from my mind- I was not interested. Then I thought about the sharpness of the needle, seeing blood and the i j tion. This injecti Thi caused d ffear ear, panic i and anxiety which prevented me from getting jabbed.”

But Christine’s mother, who is a key worker in the NHS, walk ked ed her through the risks of being unvaccinated and explained why it is important ffor or her to protect pr herself as well as her near and

Christine Emelonne

dear ones. “My motherr works for the NHS as a secret secr tary. She interacts with many diff ffer ff erent people each daayy and un understands nderstands the value of vaccines an nd being proactive when it comees to health.”

So, Christine decid ded to fight back her fear fear, weigh in what’s w important for for herself, her friends fri and family and commu unity and got the vaccine. “As “As som someone meone who w i extremel is t ly fearful fearful f l off needles needl dl and d blood, I would ask you to consider to why hy you y are doing th his. It’s not just to keep yourself saffe, e, but also your loved ones around d you. Also, keep in mind that is a positive step towards immunityy and helping your communiity you live in,” she said.

One of England’s top doctors has also reminded people who had Covid-19 over Christmas to get boosted now if they haaven ven’t already done so, as the biggest and fastest NHS vaccination programme continues at pace.

The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows shortly after fter getting a booster, you are at least 85% less likely to end up in hospital than if you are unvaccinated. Jabs havve been given at football football stadiums, music ffestivals, estivals, places of worship, mobile buses, and even a curry house, as the NHS

aims to reach h as many people as possible.

NHS Nattional Medical Director, Pro offessor essor Stephen Powis, said: “Everyone would like to see thee back of Covid and as thingss begin to return to normal it is important, we don’t lose sigh ght of what will protect you fr f om the virus. The evidence id iis cllear, vaccinati i tion provides the best protection ffor or you and your loved ones against coronavvirus, so I urge anyone to come for forward ffor or their booster - or their first or second dose, to check online where their nearest site is and get protected now.”

18

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AsianVoiceNewsweekly

26 February- 4 March 2022

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

Alpesh Patel

With worries about Russia’s invasion – are market worries overblown? I not Putin doesn’t believe Ukraine to be a real country but borne of the imagination of Lenin and created artificially. On that basis I think PM Khan of Pakistan is visiting Russia to plea his country created of the imagination of Jinnah is not invaded by Russia (😊) So far, 2022 has been a turbulent year for equities. With fears of inflation and Fed intervention, the S&P 500 has shed about 6%. But not everyone is worried. Analysts at Goldman Sachs believe the market will end the year up. Which begs the question: If stock market fears are overblown, should we buy the dip?

The stock market has taken a few tumbles already this year. It's sure to take a few more. Inflation in January was at a startling 7.5%, and things will probably continue that way for a few more months. However, by summer, inflation should slow down.

Comparisons to the Fed's late 70s and early 80s inflationfighting rate hikes are faulty for several reasons. Demand shock is falling, and supply chain problems are fixable. In addition, productivity is high, and the impact of stimulus money is easing off. In short, the situations are distinct.

Fed Rate Hikes in March Minutes from the last Fed meeting suggest they'll hike interest rates in March. An official announcement could see investors rotate out of riskier assets and herald a market correction. But even if it leads to a crash, investors with the right approach shouldn't worry. As long as you don't invest with money you need tomorrow, you can ride out the storm.

If the market does crash, there are a few dangers out there. Most notably, the amount of leverage hidden in investment funds and shadow banks is unclear. Hedge funds, money market funds, and property trust borrowings and liabilities have increased by 11% (to 43%) over the last decade. If assets drop, other markets could collapse.

Should We Buy The Dip? Not everyone is confident that the market will rally in 2022. A quick look at P/E ratios suggests that equities are expensive. Furthermore, the Fed's accommodative monetary policies have played a part in this growth. If they tighten monetary policy, these same conditions won't exist, making a similar rally less likely.

Opinions on Wall Street are mixed. Since the pandemic, buying the dip has been a winning strategy; however, with more interest rate hikes throughout the year, investors are finding it challenging to stay optimistic. Other investors see this situation as an opportunity. Bill Ackman's Pershing Square snapped up Netflix stock after it had dropped almost 50% from November's highs. Ackman has suggested that many of his best investments come when investors with short-term horizons drop equities with significant future potential. Similarly, Ark Capitals Cathy Woods — whose Ark Innovation ETF is down around 25% YTD — has declared that "innovation is on sale".

The fact remains that stocks haven't looked this cheap since the start of the pandemic. But future earnings don't look as attractive in a market with high inflation and rising interest rates.

Tech stocks have suffered considerably this year, most notably Meta Platforms Inc. (nee Facebook), which is down about 35%. However, some value stocks are up. For example, Exxon Mobil (+31%) and Bank of America (7.7%) have performed strongly.

Much of the market's potential to rally relies on whether investors stay optimistic in the face of corrections. Some experts suggest that newer investors who've only ever known a bull market won't have the tenacity to stay in the market or buy the dips. However, data from Bank of America suggest that retail and institutional investors are speculating heavily.

One factor worth considering is the amount of liquidity in the market. Liquidity is at its highest level in 30 years. Lisa Shalett, CIO of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, warned that these levels could mask rising risks. She stated that currently, equities aren't reflecting the new reality of tightening monetary policy.

Conclusion With all the uncertainty in the air, blindly buying the dip is a risky strategy. High valuation and stubborn inflation levels are making growth stocks seem unattractive. However, companies with strong fundamentals are still a good bet.

It seems that 2022 is going to be a stock-pickers market.

There are still some interesting bargains to be found.

Some stocks to consider are: Meta, Facebook's parent company, is down 36% YTD. However, they are still posting solid profit and revenue growth. If investors have overreacted to Facebook’s pivot into the Metaverse, this could be an excellent long-term option.

As semiconductor supply chain issues ease, companies like Applied Materials and Analog Devices could rally. They're definitely two to watch.

And finally, Goldman Sachs dropped by about 8% when they released company earnings figures. However, their current price could look cheap with more mergers and IPOs expected during 2022.

Gupta’s business used a bank account at BRCI for carbon credits transaction Steel baron Sanjeev Gupta, who had plans to set up a financial services empire from banking to insurance, has turned to a bank he owns in Romania to process transactions as criminal probes focus on his metals empire after the collapse of Greensill Capital, his main lender. Gupta, whose British bank Wyelands said last week it had “no viable future” and faces potentially crippling fines from regulators, owns Banca Romana de Credite si Investitii (BRCI) in Bucharest.

BRCI has processed a number of payments for businesses in Gupta’s GFG

Alliance in the past year, according to people familiar with the transactions and documents. The documents show that Gupta’s business last year used a bank account at BRCI for a carbon credits transaction struck the month after Greensill’s collapse sparked a liquidity crisis at GFG. While Gupta is known for borrowing billions from Greensill to buy up steelworks, he also sought to establish a financial services empire from banking to insurance. Wyelands gathered £700mn from savers at its peak but had to return deposits last year amid ris-

ing concerns over its financial position. The steel baron took over Romania’s BRCI in February 2020, days after it was revealed that Wyelands had channeled money into Gupta’s wider empire through entities his employees often referred to as “Friends of Sanjeev”.

BRCI said it “provides limited factoring to a very small number of Liberty Galati’s Romanian customers”. The bank was “well-capitalised” and the majority of its €65mn in assets consisted of “high-

Sanjeev Gupta

quality, liquid assets”. GFG has said that, BRCI provides no financing to any GFG Alliance company and has no outstanding loans or credit arrangements with any GFG Alliance company.

UK regulator warns banks on use of AI in loans An investigation by The Markup found that lenders using AI technology in their loan applications were more likely to deny home and short term loans to people of colour than other members of the applications.

Banks in the UK were cleared of racism in loan decisions by a government

review almost a decade ago but were still found to be lending less to ethnic minorities.

High street banks are exploring ways to automate more of their lending, including the use of AI and more advanced algorithms, to decide who to lend to based on historical data held on different

New research shows angel investors make an average of 14.7% return when investing in startups Envestors, the marketplace for early-stage investing, has today announced the results of its research into the Real Returns of Angel Investing.

An analysis of the portfolios of nearly 50 experienced angel investors found a weighted average Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 14.7%.

Of the £75.4m invested by study participants, the value of exited and existing portfolio companies totalled £208.5m*, resulting in a gain of £133.1m. Figures exclude the tax benefits offered by the Seed and Enterprise Investment Schemes, which when tallied would increase the results.

The portfolio across participants included over

£75m in investments in over 1,660 early-stage businesses, where 89% of respondents showed a net gain, 11% of respondents showed a net loss and 173 of the businesses had exited while 368 had failed and 1,119 were still in play.

Participants were required to have invested a minimum of £250k in at least five companies over a ten-year period. Results, therefore, reflect the average returns of private investors who have built a portfolio of early-stage investments over time.

Investing in early-stage businesses does carry risk and some study participants (11%) made a negative return.

HSBC hikes staff bonus by nearly a third Banking giant HSBC has hiked its staff bonus pool by nearly a third, up from 2.7 billion US dollars (£2 billion) in 2020, while chief executive Noel Quinn picked up a total pay package of £9 million for 2021. The group has handed out a mammoth 3.5 billion US dollars (£2.6 billion) in bonuses as it revealed annual profits more than doubled.

The bumper payouts came as HSBC reported pre-tax profits of 18.9 billion US dollars (£13.9 billion) for 2021, up from 8.8 billion US dollars (£6.5 billion) in 2020, when pre-tax profits fell 34% due to hefty provisions for pandemic loan losses.

HSBC results have been buoyed as it joined fellow banks in releasing bad debt cash set aside in the early days of the pandemic after defaults have proved lower than feared across the sector. There was also cheer for investors as the group approved a second interim dividend of 0.18 dollars (£0.13) per share, making a total for 2021 of 0.25 dollars (£0.18) per share as all regions reported a profit.

types of borrowers, who can be grouped by categories such as postcodes and employment profiles.

Country’s financial regulators have now warned banks looking to use AI to approve loan applications that they can only deploy the technology if they can prove it will not discrimination worsen

against minorities, who already struggle to borrow.

In their submission on regulating digital finance, the EU’s financial regulators have called on lawmakers to consider analysing the use of data in AI/Machine Learning models and potential bias leading to discrimination and exclusion.

Inflation in UK at 30-year high The Consumer Price Index inflation in UK hit 5.4 per cent in December and remains at a near 30-year high after rising to 5.5 per cent in January.

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said clothing and footwear were among the factors behind the rise. However, inflation is soaring across the economy, driving CPI up to more than double the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. As the new inflation figures were released, chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government understands

the “pressures people are facing with the cost of living.

These are global challenges but we have listened to people's concerns and recently stepped in to provide millions of households with up to £350 to help with rising energy bills.”

It comes as figures revealed that UK workers took a pay cut in the final three months of last year as the soaring cost of living outstripped wage increases.

Latest data from ONS made grim reading for British households, who face the biggest squeeze on living standards in decades.

Strike threat over Rathi’s plan to transform the regulator Nikhil Rathi, the incoming boss of the Financial Conduct Authority, was talking to MPs about the unpopularity that comes with overseeing more than 60,000 finance companies in the UK, ranging from Wall Street heavyweights to vets offering credit plans.

Less than 18 months into the job, the anger provoked by Rathi’s plan to transform the regulator has left the FCA facing the prospect of strike action for the first time. Earlier this month, the trade union Unite announced that an undisclosed but “significant” number of staff had backed industrial action in an indicative ballot. Four of the FCA’s top seven executives have left, or have signalled that they will leave, since Rathi joined, along with hundreds more beneath them, leaving the regulator with a staffing crisis as it tries to fill hundreds of newly created roles in areas such as technology and authorisations. The soaring cost of living has increased anger, while the red hot market for professional services staff has made employees more likely to quit in protest. As the return to office working gains momentum, the prospect of spending more time in Stratford, an unfinished residential area away from the comforts of their old home in the business district of Canary Wharf, has also influenced staff thinking. A report published last week by the FCA’s Staff Consultative Committee (SCC), said 56 per cent of the 1,852 respondents claimed they were considering leaving because of the changes.

Almost half of the respondents said the proposals “would not support the FCA in meeting its regulatory objectives.”

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FINANCE & REAL ESTATE

19

26 February - 4 March 2022

Finance ministry sees fastest growth for Indian economy The finance ministry's monthly economic review said that the Indian economy is poised to grow at the quickest pace among large nations on the back of various initiatives taken by the government in Budget 2022-23.

“The current year may as well end with an economic reset manifest of a post-Covid world. . .

Manufacturing and construction will be the ‘growth drivers’, triggered by the PLI schemes and public

Nirmala Sitharaman

capex in infrastructure,” the review report said.

Agriculture, which

continues to see a constant increase in net sown area and crop diversification, will

strengthen food buffers while benefiting farmers through generous volumes of procurement at remunerative minimum support prices and income transfers through PM KISAN scheme, it added.

Observing that the IMF in its January 2022 update has lowered its global growth estimate for 2022, it said India is yet the only large and major country listed by the IMF whose growth projection has been revised upwards in 2022-23.

RBI rules out interest rate cut in near future The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) indicated that interest rates have bottomed out and yields are inching up in debt instruments as well as deposits, in clear indications that there may not be any rate cuts in the near future.

“Scheduled commercial banks have effected complete pass-through of the policy rate cuts of 115bps (100 basis points = 1 percentage point) to weighted average lending rate (WALR) on fresh rupee

loans as well as outstanding loans since March 2020,” the central bank said in the monthly state of the economy report said. WALR is the average rate for loans.

While central banks

Ahmedabad firm acquires 100% stake in UK's Standard Air Ahmedabad-based MR Organisation (MRO)acquired 100% equity stake in UK-based air compressor component maker Standard Air. MRO supplies air compressor components to dealers, wholesalers, service companies and OEMs to 72 countries globally in addition to various companies across India. Standard Air, on the other hand, caters to major air compressor brands across US, Europe and the Middle East.

Mayur Kamdar, founder and managing director, MRO, said, “Post Brexit, several avenues have opened up in the European market. An acquisition of a quality player such as Standard Air, provides a stronger and deeper presence of MRO in Europe, one of the key markets for the company.

The transaction will provide the necessary growth and global footprint signifying continued strong performance of MRO. ” The deal will also enable MRO to grow its direct presence in several overseas markets, sources said.

IT department launches search ops at premises of ex-NSE CEO India's income tax (IT) department has began search operations at the premises of former National Stock Exchange (NSE) MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and former group COO Anand Subramanian as part of a wider probe on tax evasion after a final order by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) alleging “a glaring conspiracy of a money-making scheme”.

A team of officials from the I-T investigation wing in Mumbai and Chennai carried out the searches and further probe is on with questioning of several people under way.

The searches came close on the heels of the action by SEBI, with its final order pointing to “grave irregularities and misconduct” by Chitra in the appointment of Subramanian and his redesignation as “group chief operating officer” at the country’s largest exchange and also sharing of internal and confidential information.

While Ramkrishna was a long-time employee, Chitra was MD & CEO from April 2013 to December 2016, when she resigned. SEBI's observation around a conspiracy of a “money-making scheme” has also raised an alert. While a pecuniary benefit has not been established so far, the observation is being examined in detail.

SEBI in its final order last week had fined Chitra of £300,000 and Subramanian of £200,000 and banned them from the market for three years. The case has triggered an uproar over failure of corporate governance in the country’s largest bourse.

across the world had slashed interest rates after the Covid-19 outbreak two years ago, those in the developed countries are now beginning to raise rates to tame inflation, which is at the highest levels in several decades. In India, the RBI has kept policy rates steady, arguing that it needs to support higher economic activity.

The monthly report also

highlighted that the cost of deposits for banks was gradually moving up. It added that banks have reached an inflection point regarding deposit rates.

“With an increase in credit demand and lower accretion in aggregate deposits, banks have started pricing in their deposits at higher rates in recent months. As a result, the median-term deposit rates (MTDR) rose marginally by 5 bps since October 2021. ”

Bhatia to take full control of IndiGo IndiGo co-founder and promoter Rahul Bhatia will now have complete control over India’s largest domestic airline.

Rakesh Gangwal, who along with Bhatia had launched IndiGo at the start of this millennium, resigned with immediate effect as director from the board of the airline’s holding company InterGlobe Aviation.

Gangwal will reduce his stake gradually over the next five years “to benefit from some of the upside”. Groups led by Gangwal and Bhatia, who was appointed MD earlier this month, collectively hold 74. 4% stake in the airline, almost equally. Gangwal is credited with the mega aircraft orders IndiGo had placed in its early years. The two promoters who were engaged in a bitter legal battle for the past few years - no longer need each other’s nod to sell their stakes, following a recent amendment to the AoA. In a letter to board members, Gangwal said, “I continue to be a big believer in the long-term prospects of IndiGo and more so now with the industry consolidation under way. . . . only natural to someday think about diversifying one’s holdings.

Accordingly, my current intention is to slowly reduce my equity stake in the company over the next five-plus years.”

The US-based Gangwal said the resignation was to ensure he does not get any “unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI)” at a time when he will be reducing his holdings. However, he left the room for rethink open, saying, “…Like any plan, future events may impact my current thinking…. Sometime in the future, I shall consider participating again as a board member.”

SpiceJet posts £2.3 mn profit SpiceJet has posted a profit of £2.3 milliom in OctoberDecember, 2021, period against a loss of £5.7million in same period last year.

The low-cost carrier says its total income this Q3 grew to £267.9 6 million up by 42. 8% from £187.57 million in same period last fiscal.

The Q3 profit of the only other listed (operational) airline, IndiGo, was £13 million.

SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh said, “SpiceJet reported a profit in Q3 driven by excellent logistics

operations, rebound in passenger traffic and various accommodations from aircraft manufacturer and lessors….

Our performance would have been much better but was impacted by the unexpected delay in the return to service of the 737 MAX, rising fuel costs and certain exceptional adjustments… there are renewed signs of recovery in the passenger segment and the logistics segment continues to remain strong. ”

Delegate, don’t abdicate

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

There are a couple of things you should not outsource in life: Number one is your health, and the other is your wealth.

This does not mean I’m advocating you do everything yourself; rather you control the reins, but let someone else do the running. In other words, you delegate but not abdicate. The purpose of this article is to focus on the latter, wealth in a particular class of tangible asset, namely property.

This is a real tangible asset, therefore it will never just disappear overnight. Often a ‘crash’ is when it drops for example to 20%. But actually, a property by definition cannot crash. Furthermore, the London property market is very mature. What keeps it buoyant over medium to long term is supply is constrained but the demand comes from over 63 countries from around the world.

London is a 500 year old market, which has various segments of demand, both from purchasing and renting.

Therefore, if one goes down in demand another segment will fill the space.Property in essence is quite simple. There are only two ways to make money from it, one is from the income it generates and the other is from capital gains.

There is no third way. This is a useful place to start your investment. From this basis.

If you wish to substitute your income, your focus should be developing layers of income. If you don’t, then capital growth is the only other option. The larger returns from property always tend to come from capital gains.

The other point to concentrate on is what the net return will be. An example may drive home this point more strongly. If you’re a high income earner, and do not necessarily need further income, you may not wish to focus on an investment which produces a high yield such as an HMO if the asset is in your personal name. You would probably be better off purchasing an investment in a limited company, with the aim of selling the shares of this investment at a later date to an incoming buyer, rather than the underlying investment.

The point of looking at one’s net return is of paramount importance. It is the net return which gives you your spending money not the gross.

Sow & Reap act as a buyer’s agent. We have been acting for investors for nearly two decades. Traditionally we have concentrated on central London, but as returns have increased elsewhere we have adapted accordingly. In our experience the first step is to define what type of investment suits you. Then we go and pursue, and try and find the deal which fits. We can act for you in one of two ways. We either find the deal and charge a fee, or we handle the deal from beginning to end and take a piece of the cake. You get to keep the cherry.

Chandra outlines Tatas' vision on Air India Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran (popularly known as Chandra) outlined the group’s vision on Air India in his address to employees. Terming AI the “flagship”, he spoke about bringing back the Maharaja hospitality both in flight, in the lounges and at every customer touch point.

However, Chandra kept strict financial discipline foremost, while speaking of all these objectives.

He has declared that Tatas want to make AI the world’s most advanced technological airline in every aspect. Chandra urged everyone to work with the passion of J R D Tata. “We want to ensure that every Indian is able to fly directly to as many destinations as possible. If you go back in history, AI is one of the original symbols of Indian

excellence on the global stage. At a time when the world was full of many similar airlines with similar services, AI stood out with its peerless model of customer experience… AI defined Indian hospitality to the world,” Chandra said.

Consumer-facing “iconic” Tata brands like Taj Hotels, Tanishq, Tata Salt and Jaguar Land Rover touch the lives of 600 million Indians. Chandra said. “Now with AI, we have an opportunity to become the brand that represents the aspirations of 1.30 billion Indians. ” He outlined the vision for the airline. “We are totally committed to making AI the world class airline it deserves to be… areas where we want to be absolutely best in class: Customer service, technology, fleet, network and hospitality.”

20

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26 February - 4 March 2022

in brief

Pak imposes new curbs to contain Omicron variant ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported more than 7,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day, its highest daily number of infections since the pandemic began, as the South Asian nation imposes new restrictions to curb the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

At least 7,678 cases in 24 hours pushed the positivity ratio to 12.93 percent – the highest ever in the last two years – while 23 deaths were also reported in the same period, according to data from the National Command Operation

Centre (NCOC), which is overseeing the pandemic response., on Friday.

Karachi, the country’s largest city, recorded its highest ever positivity ratio of 46.58 per cent in 24 hours. “Amid rising trend of disease across the country a ban on indoor dinning in cities/districts with positivity above 10 per cent has been imposed with effect from January 21,” said a notification issued by NCOC. The government authorised booster vaccination shots for citizens over the age of 30.

Vaccination of children over the age of 12 has been made mandatory to attend schools and children under 12 will go to schools at 50 per cent attendance.

“We might see a peak after two weeks followed by a gradual decline,” Faisal Mahmood, associate professor of infections diseases at Aga Khan University Hospital, said. He said the number of hospitalisations are rising, citing the ongoing wedding season for the rapid spread of the virus.

PAK STRUGGLING TO QUELL VIOLENCE AT ITS BORDER About 70 million people in Pakistan, or 32 per cent of the population, have had two vaccine doses.

The infection numbers are lower compared with other countries, but Pakistan tests 50 to 60 thousand people a day with a population of 220 million compared with India where about 1.9 million tests are being done per day.

Pak may reach out to TTP to hold peace talks ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s backdoor contacts with the Tehreeke-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of several Pakistani terrorist groups, could possibly pave the way for a ceasefire and direct talks between the two sides in coming weeks.

Despite Kabul’s complete silence over the TTP issue, wellplaced sources revealed that the Taliban government has been playing a role to bring Islamabad and TTP back on table.

“Pakistani authorities have been engaged with the TTP through backdoor contacts. If these contacts culminate into broader talks, then Kabul and Islamabad would involve political and tribal elders from both sides of the border to address the issue,” said a Pakistani official familiar with the backdoor exchanges.

The previous talks between Islamabad and the TTP had collapsed due to the conflicting positions of the two sides. Lack of political ownership in

Imran Khan seeks TV debate with PM Modi to resolve issues ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday he would like to have a TV debate with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, to resolve differences between the two neighbours.

The nuclear-powered rivals have shared antagonistic relations since gaining independence 75 years ago, fighting three wars, with ties strained recently over Kashmir, which both claim in full. "I would love to debate with Narendra Modi on TV," Khan told Russia Today in an interview, adding that it would be beneficial for the billions people in the subcontinent if differences could be resolved through debate.

Khan's remarks follow similar comments recently by Pakistan's top commercial official, Razzak Dawood, who, according to media, told journalists he supported trade ties with India, which would benefit both sides.

Khan said Pakistan's region-

Imran Khan

al trading options were already limited, with Iran, its southwestern neighbour, under US sanctions and Afghanistan, to the west, involved in decades of war. Pakistan shares strong economic ties with its northern neighbour, China, which has committed billions of dollars for infrastructure and other projects under its Belt and Road Initiative. Khan's interview came on the eve of a visit to Moscow, where he will meet President Vladimir Putin - the first visit by a Pakistani leader to Russia in two decades.

Pakistan of the move to initiate talks with the terrorists has also been described as one of the reasons for the deadlock. “The previous talks were announced by PM Imran Khan in an interview with foreign media. The issue was neither brought into parliament nor taken up by his government at any level, indicating that only security and intelligence officials were involved in it,” said Ali Akbar Khan, a Peshawar-based journalist. He said that no issue can be

resolved without the involvement of tribal elders in regions along the Pak-Afghan border.

“The tribal elders along the Durand Line have been addressing issues and disputes through a tribal system for decades.

Without their involvement, talks cannot succeed between the TTP and Pakistan,” Khan said, adding, the support of the local tribal people to the Taliban was one of the reasons for the collapse of the previous Afghan regime.

Pak eyes people’s gold to increase forex reserves ISLAMABAD: The government is considering a proposal to borrow gold biscuits and bars from the people to increase foreign exchange reserves that remain on a sliding path despite taking over $5 billion loans in the past three months from bilateral and multilateral creditors.

The proposal has been discussed in the Economic Executive Council (EEC) – the body comprising all economic ministers and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor, according to the sources in the Ministry of Finance.

According to the proposal, the commercial banks will issue a negotiable discounted instrument to the gold owners and pay an interest rate on the precious metal. The commercial bank will deposit the gold with the SBP that can monetise it to increase the foreign exchange reserves –already largely built by taking expensive foreign loans.

The central bank already has 2.01 million fine troy ounces of gold reserves valued at $3.8 billion, according to the SBP’s reserves position statement of December 31, 2021.

The central bank’s reserves have constantly been on a declining path and further slid to $17 billion as of February 11, according to the SBP statement. In the past three months, the government took a $3 billion loan from Saudi Arabia, raised the most expensive debt of $1 billion in Pakistan’s history by pledging motorway and received another $1 billion from the International Monetary Fund. But still the reserves could not be stabilised due to lower exports and higher imports along with growing foreign loans repayments.

Indonesia teacher jailed for raping 13 students, impregnating 8 BANDUNG (INDONESIA): An Indonesian court sentenced a teacher to life in prison for the rape of 13 minor students in a boarding school and impregnating at least 8. Bandung district court in West Java found Herry Wirawan guilty of the crime. During the trial, it was revealed he had raped the children - many from poor families - over five years.

The pattern of abuse came to light when the family of a female student reported

Wirawan to the police for raping and impregnating their

teenage daughter last year. The revelations have sparked national outrage, with a senior government official saying President Joko Widodo has paid special attention to the case.

Prosecutors had asked for chemical castration and the death penalty for the accused.

Wirawan, 36, arrived in court in handcuffs and kept his head down as judge Yohannes Purnomo Suryo Adi sentenced him to life in prison. The court

also said restitution for victims will be paid by the government.

More than 25,000 Islamic boarding schools - known as "pesantren" - are dotted across Indonesia, with nearly five million students living and studying in the dorms. The Bandung rape case has shone a spotlight on the problem of sexual abuse in some of the schools, with 14 out of the 18 cases reported to the National Child Protection Commission last year taking place in pesantren.

Pakistan’s military has stepped up operations along the Afghan border in recent weeks after a spate of militant attacks that has dashed any hope the frontier might see more peace and stability after the end of the war in Afghanistan.

Islamist and separatist factions have killed at least 14 Pakistani soldiers in attacks over the past month, three of them carried out by fighters entering from Afghanistan, the Pakistani military said. Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers have denied that Afghan territory was used in any of the attacks. But despite such assurances, disputes linked to the border, which has been a bone of contention between the neighbours for decades, could undermine their relations.

The Pakistani military said six insurgents were killed in the latest clash in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

“Operations to eliminate such perpetrators of terrorist acts in Pakistan will continue,” the military said.

PAK ISSUES CITIZENSHIP TO WOMAN HELD IN INDIAN JAIL Pakistan has issued citizenship certificate to a woman held in a jail in India, paving the way for her return to the country with her four-year-old daughter. Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the ministry had issued the papers for Sumaira, who is at a detention centre in Bengaluru, after verification of her family tree, Dawn reported. As per reports, Sumaira, who was living in Qatar, married an Indian man who brought her to India without a visa. Later, Sumaira was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. Two months later, she gave birth to a daughter. Prison authorities in Bengaluru said they haven’t received any communication from the Indian government or from Pakistani authorities.

IRANIAN FIGHTER JET CRASHES INTO SCHOOL, 3 KILLED An Iranian F-5 fighter jet crashed into a school compound in the northwestern city of Tabriz killing two crew and a passerby, authorities said. Luckily the school was closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, local official Mohammad-Bagher Honarvar said. The aircraft was on a training mission when it went down in the city's central district of Monajem, said Honavar, who heads a crisis management unit in East Azerbaijan province. The head of the local Red Crescent organisation said the plane crashed into an external wall, and that one of the dead was a nearby resident.

EU WATCHDOG CALLS FOR BAN ON PEGASUS The European Union’s data protection watchdog called for a ban on the controversial spyware tool Pegasus, developed by Israeli-based NSO Group. The EDPS said use of Pegasus might lead to an “unprecedented level of intrusiveness, able to interfere with the most intimate aspects of our daily lives. ” Israel has come under global pressure over allegations that Pegasus has been abused by some foreign client governments to spy on rights activists, journalists and politicians. . “A ban on the development and the deployment of spyware with the capability of Pegasus in the EU would be the most effective option to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms,” the EDPS said.

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in brief WOMAN CURED OF HIV AFTER STEM-CELL TRANSPLANT A US patient with leukemia has become the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor who was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, researchers said. The case of a middle-aged woman of mixed race, presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunisitic Infections in Denver, is also the first involving umbilical cord blood, a newer approach that may make the treatment available to more people.

Since receiving the cord blood to treat her acute myeloid leukemia, the woman has been in remission and free of the virus for 14 months, without the need for potent HIV treatments known as antiretroviral therapy.

MALAWI FINDS FIRST WILD POLIO CASE IN FIVE YEARS Malawi has declared a wild polio outbreak after a case was identified in a three-yearold girl - the first of its kind in Africa for more than five years. The continent was declared free of all forms of wild polio in 2020. The Malawian authorities are now working to contain any possible spread, including by boosting immunisation. Wild polio remains endemic in only two countries in the world - Afghanistan and Pakistan. The strain that was identified in Malawi was linked to one found in Pakistan, but it is not clear how or when it arrived in the southern African country. The case was confirmed after tests were carried out on samples from the infected child who was suffering from paralysis, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

BELGIUM OKAYS 4DAY WORK WEEK Belgian employees will be able to work a four-day week after the government agreed to a new labour accord aimed at bringing flexibility to an otherwise rigid labour market. Speaking after his seven-party coalition federal government reached a deal, PM Alexander De Croo said the coronavirus pandemic had forced people to work more flexibly and combine their private and working lives. “This has led to new ways of working,” he said. Employees who request it will be able to work up to 10 hours per day if trade unions agree, instead of the maximum 8 now, in order to work one day less per week for the same pay.

Belgians will also be able to choose to work more during one week and less the following one, allowing people to better manage their work-private life

BELGIAN POLICE DETAIN 30 IN DRUG BUST Police in Belgium detained 30 people during an investigation of a major drug trafficking operation in at least seven countries, prosecutors said. The federal prosecutor’s office said at least 10 other arrests were made abroad. Police carried out 49 searches in Belgium, most of them in and around Brussels and the port city of Antwerp.

Prosecutors did not say what was seized during the operation.

“Liaison officers from Europol, Italy and Spain were able to follow the operation live and share information about simultaneous operations in other countries,” the prosecutor’s office said, adding that about 60 searches took place in Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia and the Netherlands.

Belgium has become a major hub trafficking drugs into Europe.

India flags concerns over Canada bill banning swastika OTTAWA: India has flagged to Ottawa the Indo-Canadian community’s concerns over a bill before Canada’s Parliament to ban the sale and display of hateful symbols, including the swastika for its association with Nazism.

A private members bill, tabled by National Democratic Party MP Peter Julian, which has the support of party leader Jagmeet Singh, has infuriated the Indo-Canadians over “demonization” of a sacred symbol of the community.

The bill seeks to “prevent the display or sale of symbols or emblems such as the Nazi swastika and the Ku Klux Klan’s insignia, flags such as the standards of Germany between the years 1933 to 1945 and those of the Confederate States of America between the years 1861 to 1865 and uniforms, including the German and Confederate States of America military dress of those periods, as well as the hoods and robes of the Ku Klux Klan”.

It was brought after such

symbols were seen at the first weekend of the truckers protest against cross-border vaccine mandates, during which protesters laid siege to the Canadian capital of Ottawa.

“Swastikas and confederate flags have no place in Canada. We have a responsibility to make our communities safe for everyone - it’s time to ban hate symbols in Canada,” Singh said earlier this month, promoting a petition in this regard.

India’s Consul General Apoorva Srivastava said India has “formally flagged this issue to Government of Canada and shared with them the petitions received from Canadian groups in this regard”.

In a letter to all MPs and Senators, National Association of Indo-Canadians president Azad Kaushik said the umbrella body “strongly opposes” the bill as “it would infringe upon the rights of Hindus, Jains and Buddhists to freely and publicly practice their religion”.

Canada aims to British diplomat finds the welcome 13,20,000 new ‘love of her life’ in India residents in 3 years OTTAWA: Canada has unveiled a three-year Immigration Levels Plan (2022-24) aimed at welcoming immigrants at a rate of about 1 per cent of the country's population. They now recognise the important role played by immigrants in filling critical labour market gaps and contributing towards its economy.

The plan includes a target of 430,000 permanent residents in 2022, 440,000 in 2023 and 450,000 in 2024, totalling to 13,20,000 in three years. The earlier targets of 410,000 for 2022 and 420,000 for 2023 have been revised upwards.

“This plan builds on the previous levels plan with an increased focus on supporting

our economic resurgence and post-pandemic growth,” the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the government’s immigration unit, said.

Canada in 2021 had hit a historic high by welcoming over 400,000 new permanent residents, thus meeting its targets.

However, this target was met largely by conversion of status of those already in Canada such as temporary foreign workers and students, bypassing the challenge of Covid travel curbs.

The new plan has come amid criticism from those caught in processing delays. According to Canadian media, a backlog of nearly 18,00,000 exists as of December 2021.

Foreign investors sue USCIS for refusal to process EB-5 visas Washington: A number of foreign investors, including several Indian citizens, who have sunk in at least $500,000 under the EB-5 investor visa programme have filed a lawsuit with a US district court challenging the lapse of the EB-5 ‘Regional Center Program’ and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’(USCIS) refusal to process their visas.

Under the EB-5 programme, individuals can apply for lawful permanent residence (green card) in the US if they make the necessary investments and create at least 10 permanent full-time jobs for American workers. Investors need to invest $500,000 in a project in a rural area or an area of low employment, or $1 million otherwise.

While the direct investment route (where the investor sets up his/her own business) continues to operate under the EB-5 programme, the more popular route of investing via recognised regional centres, which in turn sponsor business entities, lapsed on June 30, 2021.

Since then, investors have been caught in a limbo. Historically, 90% or more of the investments were made under the lapsed EB-5 ‘Regional Center Program’. The fear of possibly losing their investment coupled with their immigration plans going awry is giving these investors sleepless nights.

Over 100 held in Canada as truckers pushed back OTTAWA: Police resumed pushing back protesters after arresting more than 100 and towing away vehicles in Canada’s besieged capital, and scores of trucks left under the pressure, raising authorities’ hopes for an end to the three-week protest against the country’s Covid restrictions.

Police in tactical gear quickly gained ground Saturday on the second full day of one of the biggest police enforcement actions in Canada’s history, with officers drawn from around the country.

Authorities advanced to the front of the PM’s office and almost in front of Parliament Hill which has been occupied by trucks and protesters since late last month. Some used pepper spray. Ottawa police addressed the protesters in a tweet: “We told you to leave. We gave you time to leave. You were assaultive and aggressive with officers. Based on your behaviour, we are responding by including batons for our safety. ”By Friday evening, at least 100 people had been arrested, mostly on mischief charges, and nearly two dozen vehicles had been towed, including all of those blocking one of the city’s major streets, authorities said.

NEW DELHI: Love knows no boundaries. When work brought Rhiannon Harries to India four years ago, she hoped for many enriching experiences. Little did she expect to fall in love. Harries recently tied a knot with an Indian man, and their wedding picture has left netizens gushing online.

Harries is Britain’s Deputy Trade Commissioner (South Asia) and works in New Delhi. She shared a beautiful picture from their wedding ceremony. Donning a bright red lehenga, with heavy jewellery and mehendi, she looked like a quintessential north-Indian bride.

Holding hands with her husband, who is seen in a sherwani and turban, the couple’s happy moment has delighted many online.

“When I arrived in India nearly 4 years ago, I had many hopes and dreams for my time here. But never did I imagine I would be meeting and marrying the love of my life,” the young bride wrote. “I found such happiness in #IncredibleIndia & so glad it will always be a home,” she continued, adding the hashtags ‘shaadi’ (wedding) and ‘pariwar’ (family).

Harries found her soulmate in Himanshu Pandey, an independent filmmaker and founder of Godrockfilms. As the picture created a buzz online, many wished the couple a happy married life. Several people couldn’t stop commenting how beautiful she looked in Indian attire.

Andrew Fleming, Britain’s deputy high commissioner in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, led with congratulatory messages on their wedding. He even had an interesting remark when someone welcomed Harries to a family of 1.3 billion people. “Knowing @RhiannonUKGov am sure she will be inviting all the family round for dinner as soon as it is safe,” he quipped.

Hollywood actor jailed for $650 mn ponzi scheme LOS ANGELES: An American actor who swindled $650 million in a huge Hollywood ponzi scheme, using it to finance a lavish lifestyle of yachts, jets and fast cars, was jailed for 20 years. Zachary Horwitz created fake contracts that he told investors were with HBO and Netflix to trick them into handing over vast sums of money, which he splurged on private flights, top-of-the-range autos and a luxury Los Angeles mansion, complete with a wine cellar.

"Horwitz portrayed himself as a Hollywood success story," prosecutors said, according to the Department of Justice. "He branded himself as an industry player, who... leveraged his relationships with online streaming platforms like HBO and Netflix to sell them foreign film distribution rights at a steady premium.

"But, as his victims came to learn, (Horwitz) was not a successful businessman or

Zach Avery

Hollywood insider. He just played one." Horwitz, who acted in small-time horror films under the name Zach Avery, told investors he was buying foreign distribution rights for US movies, and then selling them to streaming platforms.

The 35-year-old gave each victim a note promising a handsome profit six or 12 months later. By the time it all fell apart, more than $230 million had vanished. He admitted security fraud in October, and acknowledged that he had never bought any film rights, or secured any distribution contracts.

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SCRUTATOR’S Monkeys damage CCTVs near UP election control room A troop of monkeys damaged 34 CCTV cameras installed in and around an election control room in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit. First the election officials thought that it was the handiwork of workers belonging to rival party and reported the incident to Election Commission. But their shock soon turned into disbelief - some of them even heaved a sigh of relief - as there was no “human mischief” involved but were damaged by monkeys. We had installed 52 new cameras, costing Rs 2,500 each, at the complex where a strongroom holds EVMs and VVPAT machines. Now the social forestry division has deployed three teams of nine members each to keep the simians at bay. Seven monkeys have been caught so far. Around 25 security personnel are also on guard round the clock. The EVMs & VVPATs are locked in a separate room and are safe,” said additional district magistrate RS Gautam. “We have replaced the damaged cameras. Petroleum grease is being applied on the camera covers to deter monkeys from touching the gadgets,” the ADM added. (Agency) Billionaire Anil Agarwal remembers his days in Mumbai Billionaire Anil Agarwal, the executive chairman and founder of Vedanta Resources Limited, has opened up about leaving his home as a teenager and arriving in Mumbai with only a tiffin box, bedding and his dreams to keep him motivated. Agarwal is among the millions who arrive in the city of dreams every year with hopes of making it big. Today worth an estimated $3.6 billion (according to Forbes), he is one of the few who succeed. In a tweet, Agarwal, 67, remembered the day he left Bihar and arrived in Mumbai. "Millions of people come to Mumbai to try their luck," he wrote. "I was one of them. I remember the day I left Bihar with only a tiffin box, bedding, and dreams in my eyes." He added that he arrived at Mumbai's iconic Victoria Terminus station and saw sights that he had only seen in movies till then. "I saw a kaali peeli taxi, a double-decker bus and the City of Dreams - all of which I had only seen in the movies," Agarwal wrote.

He concluded his post with a note encouraging the youth to "work hard and shoot for the stars". (Agency) Official suspended over Godse elocution A youth development officer of Valsad district in Gujarat was suspended for organising an elocution competition on Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse. It was one of the topics for the school students to talk. The state government suspended Meeta Gavli, a class 2 officer of the Valsad district, with immediate effect after reports of the incident appeared in local media. Further necessary action has also been ordered.

Gavli’s suspension order stated that the officer should have taken extra care in selecting the topics for the elocution competition which was organised by the Sports youth and culture department's Valsad office on February 14 at a private school. According to sources, about 350 students in two categories (7-8 years and 11-13 years) participated in the competition. (The Times of India) The magnanimity of a Swedish hospital

The Rajkot resident who suffered a brain stroke on board an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago last November and

had to spend nearly two months in Stockholm where the pilots diverted the flight is doing well now and has even started walking. The couple had been on their way to attend their son’s wedding in the US when the midair emergency happened. Instead, they wound up at the Karolinska hospital in Stockholm. In a gesture of gratitude, Usha and her husband Dr Jaysukh Makwana shared a video of the recovery made by Usha, 63, with Indian families in the Swedish capital. It was the magnanimity of the desi diaspora, Indian embassy officials and the hospital staff that had kept the couple afloat. “After the stroke in November, she couldn’t move, have food or water. Now she can do all of that and even walk 50100 steps,” Dr Makwana said. “My wife’s two-month hospital stay would have overshot our medical insurance coverage limit. But the hospital didn’t charge a penny,” said Dr Makwana. Incidentally, the hospital is linked to the Karolinska Institute, the medical university which awards the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine every year. Stockholm-based Indranil Sinha, one of the first to help the Makwanas, said Indian families had rallied around to meet the needs of the family.

The family hopes to return to India soon.

(Agency) Daily wage worker turns model at the age of 60

A 60-year-old daily wage worker from Kerala's Kozhikode district is creating a buzz on social media after his recent makeover and photoshoot. Mammikka, wearing a blazer and trousers with an iPad in hand, has impressed netizens greatly with the comfort he displayed in front of the camera.

The man was spotted by photographer Shareek Vayalil, who took his photo and posted it on his Facebook page. In a report, Vayalil was quoted as saying that he got a great response when he posted Mammikka’s photos on Facebook. People said he resembled actor Vinayakan, who works predominantly in the Malayalam film industry. Following this, the photographer asked Mammikka to pose for a wedding suit company that he owns.

For this purpose, the daily wage worker went through a complete makeover, which was also captured and turned into a short video story. In another video doing rounds on the internet, Mammikka is seen walking towards the camera dressed in a faded pink shirt and brown lungi with a smile on his face. (Agency)

Ex-SAC director gets patent for SAR tech Former director of Space Applications Centre (SAC) Tapan Misra was granted a patent for his work during his service at ISRO for developing a technology called the Spotlight Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system configuration. The patent office of India had awarded the patent certification to the Indian Space Research Organisation as the patentee and Misra as the inventor. Explaining the technology Misra said, “Typically, a spotlight SAR gives imaging on 5 km x 5 km spot with better than 1 m resolution. In RISAT-1, the spot size was increased with innovation of sliding spotlight in C band, to 10 km, across flight direction, and 100 km along the flight direction; the resolution was 0.

6m. Now with this patented technology, the swath can be as high as 30 km with a resolution of 0. 6m but imaging extent along flight direction will remain theoretically unlimited. ” (Agency) Leopard with head stuck in plastic container rescued Over 30 people in Maharashtra's Thane district joined hands to rescue a leopard cub which was spotted with its head stuck inside a plastic container.

The search and rescue operation took about 48 hours to complete. According to reports, the leopard cub, which is around a year old, had put its head inside the container to drink water and was unable to remove it.

The cub was spotted running around in Goregaon area of Badlapur in distress.

Local animal welfare charities had appealed for more information on the cub after footage went viral. The video was taken by tourists who spotted the cub desperately trying to free itself while passing near Badlapur. As the footage went viral, officials from the forest department, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, as well as representatives of the NGO Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare, launched a search operation to track down the animal. The cub was found near Badlapur village. Rescuers transquilised the cub with a dart. When the dart hit the cub, it shuddered with such force that the plastic container came loose, officials said. After two days spent without food or water, the cub was in a dehydrated state. It was moved to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park rescue centre for treatment and will be released in the wild once it is better. (Agency) Man jumps under moving train to rescue woman In an act of tremendous courage a 37-year-old man jumped in front of a moving goods train to save a woman who had fallen on the railway track in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal. While the incident took place on February 5, a

video of the occurrence went viral on social media garnering praise from all quarters. The incident took place in Barkhedi on February 5, when Mohammed Mehboob, a carpenter, was walking near the scene after offering namaz. A woman in her 20s carrying a backpack was crossing the railway track at the time, when a goods train started approaching, said Shoaib Hashmi, friend of Mehboob. The woman got scared and tripped on the tracks and could not get up and move away from the train’s path.

When onlookers started shouting in panic, Mehboob acted on impulse and jumped on the track and ran up to the woman, dragged her to the middle of the track bed and kept her from lifting her head as the train passed over them.

People kept cautioning the duo to stay down till at last 28 wagons on the train passed over them, he added. After the near-death experience, the woman broke down in tears, Hashmi said. In the video, Mehboob can be seen holding the woman’s head down to prevent it from hitting anything protruding from the undercarriage. Ever since the video went viral on social media, people have been flocking Mehboob’s home to congratulate him. (Agency) An outpouring of support for 'Gehraiyaan' writer's dad

A proud father had to deal with the ugly side of social media when his post celebrating his son's work was inundated with distasteful comments. Chandan Roy shared a tweet urging people to watch 'Gehraiyaan' as his son was among the film's writers - but a section of the Internet used his post to inform him of how little they thought of the Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Gehraiyaan' directed

by Shakun Batra. While many viewers said they enjoyed the movie, others were more critical and slammed it for poor screenwriting, underdeveloped characters and a convoluted plot, among other things. Chandan Roy, whose son Sumit Roy co-wrote the film, shared a graphic highlighting some of the more positive reviews 'Gehraiyaan' received.

"See the movie. My son Sumit is among the writers," he wrote. The backlash was swift and unforgiving. A number of Twitter users used the comments section of Roy's post to share their opinion of the film. However, the tide soon turned in Roy's favour as more and more people began to point out that a father's post celebrating his son's achievements should not become a cesspool of negative reviews. (Agency)

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in brief TWO SOLDIERS, MILITANT KILLED IN KASHMIR GUNFIGHT Two soldiers and a militant were killed in a gunfight that broke out in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. According to a defence ministry spokesperson the gunfight that broke out in Chermarg village of Zainapora area of Shopian. He identified the slain soldiers as Santosh Yadav and Sepoy Chavan Romit Tanaji, both from 1 RR. The encounter broke out after the police and security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the area. As the joint team of forces approached the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them, triggering off a gunfight.

GUJARAT PAYS £6.95MN TO HEALTH CARE WORKERS' KIN The Gujarat government paid £6.95 million to the kin of 139 healthcare workers who died during the pandemic under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package insurance scheme, according to a data tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently. The claims were the third highest in India, behind 201 in Maharashtra and 160 in Andhra Pradesh.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya also added that Gujarat was among the few states from where the response on mortality was received. According to the data, the state recorded deaths of 20 doctors and nurses each, six ambulance drivers and 128 paramedics. The state-based organizations of doctors and nurses said that the number could be higher. The earlier collation by the Indian Medical Association had indicated deaths of 62 doctors in Gujarat till April 2021 ahead of the second wave that claimed many more.

FORMER MINISTER CUTS 46-YEAR-OLD TIES WITH CONG Former law minister Ashwani Kumar resigned from Congress, bringing an end to his 46-year association with the party. He sent his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi, in which he said, “Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter, I have concluded that in the present circumstances and consistent with my dignity, I can best subserve larger national causes outside the party fold.” Kumar said that his decision to quit Congress followed “agonising reflections” on the fact that the party he was accustomed to “is no longer there”. While he refused to identify an individual or groups of people responsible for the party’s steady decline over the years, Kumar said Congress no longer has a “transformative and inspiring leadership to lead the party, nor ideological battles.”

CBI QUIZZES ABG EXCHIEF AGARWAL A week after registering an FIR in the ABG shipyard bank fraud case, the CBI is learnt to have questioned Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, the former CMD of the company. The development has put to rest the rumours regarding the accused directors having fled the country. Agarwal was questioned for over eight hours in connection with the alleged scam pegged at a staggering £2.88 billion.

The questioning revolved around allegations of laundering, diversion and misappropriation of the loan amount, sources said. The other accused named in the FIR have also been located at different places in India. Though sources said that the CBI had served a notice to another accused named in the FIR, the agency did not confirm it citing ongoing investigation. The CBI had earlier filed an FIR naming ABG Shipyard directors Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, Santhanam Muthaswamy, Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Agarwal, Ravi Vimal Nevetia, and ABG International Pvt Ltd.

47 kg tumour removed from 56-year-old woman A team of doctors in Ahmedabad gave a new lease of life to a 56year-old woman by surgically removing a 47 kg tumour, which she had been carrying for the past 18 years. It is claimed to be the biggest non-ovarian tumour successfully removed in India so far. The patient, a resident of Devgadh Baria, was bedridden for the past few months. The surgery was conducted by a team of eight doctors at Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad, led by chief surgical gastroenterologist Dr Chirag Desai.

Apart from the tumour, the doctors also removed abdominal wall tissues and excess skin

weighing around 7 kg during the surgery. Following the surgery, the body weight of the woman dropped to 49 kg, the hospital said in a statement.

According to Dr Desai, it was a high-risk surgery as the woman's internal organs such as liver, heart, lungs, kidneys and uterus were displaced due to the pressure created by the tumour in the stomach wall. Moreover, getting a CT scan done was also difficult as the size of the tumour obstructed the gantry of the CT scan machine, he stated. This happens rarely, said Dr Desai.

Onco-surgeon Dr Nitin Singhal, who was part of the

team, noted that while fibroids are common in many women in the reproductive age group, they rarely grow this big.

“We could not weigh the patient before surgery as she could not stand. But after the operation, she weighed 49 kg,” said Dr Desai. Her son said that initially the tumour it was not big and she took some ayurvedic and allopathic medicines. A sonography in 2004 revealed it to be a benign tumour. The same year, the family went for surgery.

However, when the doctor saw that the tumour was attached to

Govt asks Indians to leave Ukraine With the Ukraine situation still uncertain, the government asked the family members of all Indian diplomats in the country to return to India. The government had so far maintained that there was no reason to panic and that the Indian mission would continue to function normally. In another advisory, the government asked all Indian students, as also other Indian nationals whose stay is not essential, to leave Ukraine while advising them to make use of available commercial flights.

“Indian students are advised to also get in touch with respective student contractors for updates on charter flights, and also continue to follow the embassy Facebook, website and Twitter for any update,” the embassy said. While looking to ensure the safety and security of close to 20,000 Indian nationals in Ukraine, India has continued to walk the diplomatic tightrope on the issue, with foreign minister S Jaishankar say-

ing on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that diplomacy was the answer to the crisis. He said the situation called for a very different kind of approach and that, at the end of the day, diplomacy was the answer. “One has to look at ways of reconciling,” he said.

India’s decision to recall family members of diplomats came in the middle of Jaishankar’s visit to Europe for the conference in Germany and also an Indo-Pacific event organised by France.

India has been under pressure from the US and its European partners to speak up on Russian aggression.

Russia has positioned around 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, besides sending warships into the Black Sea for naval exercises, triggering concerns among the Nato countries of an invasion. The West has been severely critical of Russia over the buildup, with the US sending extra troops to Europe to support its allies.

Over 63% voting in 59 UP seats, Punjab records 72%

almost all internal organs, he considered the surgery too risky and sewed her up. Over the years, they consulted several doctors, with no relief. During the last two years the tumour ballooned to almost double in size and she was in constant pain.

Bappi Lahiri, India's disco king, passes away Music director Bappi Lahiri, who popularised “disco sound passed away in a Mumbai hospital last week. He was 69.

The composer-singer had been under treatment for several weeks. “He was suffering from OSA (obstructive sleep Bappi Lahiri apnea) and recurrent chest infection…He succumbed to his illness at about 11. 45 pm,” Dr Deepak Namjoshi of Mumbai's CritiCare Asia Hospitals said in a statement.

In the 1980s, a disco track became mandatory in Hindi films after the tsunami-like success of Qurbani’s ‘Aap jaisa koi’ (singer: Nazia Hasan, composer: Biddu). For the young and the restless, beat acquired more prominence. And the electronic synthesizer became the busiest instrument. No Bollywood composer understood, captured and expressed the new musical ecosystem like Bappi.

His dalliance with disco started with ‘Hari Om Hari’ (Pyara Dushman, inspired by Neil Sedaka/Eruption’s 'One Way Ticket') and ‘Rambha ho ho ho’ ('Armaan'). Director B Subhash’s 'Disco Dancer' became his high noon. From the title track to ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, every track in 'Disco Dancer' was dancey and delicious. If ‘Awara hoon’ was Hindi cinema’s major cultural export in the 1950s, ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ remains a musical ambassador even in Vladimir Putin’s Russia today.

Punjab recorded a dip in voter turnout from 76.8% in 2017 to 72% for the single phase state assembly polls on Sunday, while the third round of UP elections saw 63% polling as opposed to 62% five years ago. Held under the shadow of Covid restrictions on canvassing as well as a year-long farmers’ agitation, the Punjab polls saw a multi-cornered fight as new political combinations sprang up ahead of the elections.

In UP, the third round includes the ‘Yadav belt’ where 59 constituencies of 16 districts across three regions - parts of west UP, Awadh and Bundelkhand - voted on Sunday.

Voting was peaceful, barring a few minor infractions. Three out of four constituencies in Mainpuri district - the stronghold of Former High Commissioner to Uganda, Ambassador to Samajwadi Party - recorded a jump in polling Rwanda and Burundi and a senior diplomat, K H Patel, has percentage. Such as the Yadav bastion of passed away at 85 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He is remembered Karhal recorded a turnout of 62.32%, up 3.04% for his generous efforts during Idi Amin’s expulsion in Uganda, from the previous polls. SP chief Akhilesh helping Indians to return home. He was India’s Consul General in France and a Diplomatic Officer at India’s Permanent Yadav is contesting the assembly elections for Mission to United Nations in New York, USA. He had also the first time from Karhal, while BJP has fieldserved as a Member of the Indian Delegation to United Nations ed union state minister SP Singh Baghel. In Tribunal on the Rann of Kutch Dispute between India and 2017, it recorded 59.28% turnout. The seat Pakistan in Geneva, Switzerland. made history with the second highest turnout As a Director of the Ministry of External Affairs, since 1951.

In Punjab, the trend as per the updated 12th October 1936 Government of India, in New Delhi, he dealt with a variety of foreign policy matters, including involving Pakistan. He visited figures released by the Election Commission to on Monday has worried the poll pundits as 15th February 2022 about 40 countries around world on official duty.

Even after retirement he remained active in public life and according to them there is a fall of 5.45% in served for a long time as the Chairman of the Gujarat the voter turnout if compared to the last state Chambers of Commerce and Industries (GCCI), NRG Centre and played an instrumental polls held in 2017. The turnout then was role in strengthening the ties of NRIs and NRGs with their homeland. recorded at 77.4%. This is the lowest voting Shri Patel was a native of North Gujarat. He was polite, soft spoken and simple. He percentage when compared to that observed held a master's degree in International Relations from The City University of New York in the three previous assembly elections. and a postgraduate diploma in International Relations from the Netherlands based Also, the turnout in the state assembly Institute of Social Studies. He had also written a book “An Envoy Looks Back: A Memoir”, polls of 2012 (78.3%) and 2007 (75.4%) was which reflects his career related experiences. recorded more than the number of total votes He had close ties with ABPL Group and Editor-in-Chief CB Patel and on a special polled this time. An officer in the Punjab ECI invitation from Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, he visited Britain to attend the office attributed the low turnout to the ongoSwarnim Gujarat ceremony which was held in London in 2010. ing pandemic, as according to him, voters ABPL team expresses their heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and loved ones seemingly were reluctant to come out and of the parted. were not properly made aware that there are Om shanti, shanti, shanti no restrictions even if one has tested positive.

OBITUARY

Former High Commissioner to Uganda and Senior Diplomat KH Patel passes away

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SOUTH INDIA

in brief

FIR against 20 students in Karnataka over hijab row Bengaluru/Mysuru: In the first punitive action against students seeking entry into colleges despite the interim order of Karnataka high court banning hijabs, saffron shawls or any religious clothing inside classrooms in institutes that prescribe a uniform, police lodged an FIR against about 20 students of a Tumakuru college on charges of violating prohibitory orders.

A private college in Mysuru city cancelled its uniform rule to allow Muslim students to attend classes with the hijab. It is the first college in the state to take such a decision. “Four students refused to attend classes without the hijab and were protesting,” said DK Srinivasa Murthy, DDPU,

Mysuru. “Some organisations extended support to them. I visited the college today and held discussions with all.

Meanwhile, the college announced that it is cancelling its uniform rule to allow the students to attend classes.”

The first FIR follows a warning by Karnataka home minister Araga Jnanendra, who has said there would be “no soft approach” anymore and directed cops to take action against those who flout the interim order. The principal of Empress College in Tumakuru, about 70 km from Bengaluru, lodged a complaint with Tumakuru City police against the students for violating prohibitory orders in the past two days.

The students, demanding their right to attend classes wearing hijabs, created a ruckus in the college while staging a protest. In Kodagu Muslim male students at Field Marshal KM Cariappa College in Madikeri said they won’t enter the campus until girls wearing hijabs are allowed inside.

More than 1,000 students boycotted schools and colleges in Udupi, Mysuru, Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Mangaluru, Kodagu, Dharwad, Vijayapura and a few other districts of the state. There were no untoward incidents, with schools and colleges covered by extensive police security. In

‘MINORITY LIST’ IN TN MBBS ADMISSIONS

some districts, prohibitory orders were clamped around educational institutions. In several places, students were stopped at the entrances to colleges and asked to remove their hijabs. That led to heated arguments between students and school and college staff.

Efforts of college managements and teaching staff to convince the students about the Karnataka high court’s interim order did not yield any result. In many places, police intervened to bring the situation under control.

PUNJAB

SC sets aside HC stay on Haryana job quota

FIR filed against Sonu Sood for 'influencing voters'

MOGA: After seeking opinion from the Election Commission, the Moga Police have registered an FIR against actor Sonu Sood under section 188 of the IPC for violation of prohibitory orders issued by the district magistrate with regard to the model code of conduct for the assembly elections.

In the FIR, Sonu has been accused of campaigning to influence the voters for his sister Malvika Sood. She is contesting election on Congress ticket from Moga. It has been alleged that Sonu was not a voter in the constituency, therefore, he was not authorised to move out and “influence” the voters or campaign for any political party or candidate.

It may be mentioned that the Election Commission on Sunday restrained Sonu Sood from visiting polling stations in Moga over complaints that he was influencing the voters. The car in which he was travelling was impounded by the police and he was asked to go back to his residence and stay there.

The local officials claimed that Sonu Sood was going from one polling booth to another, which some political parties found objectionable, due to which, he was asked to go back and stay at his residence.

However, in the FIR, there was no mention of any complaint against him. A police official, Harpreet Singh, deputed on election duty claimed that he got secret information from an informer that Sonu was campaigning for his sister. When he (police officer) reached the spot Sonu was found sitting in a car outside a polling station at Landeke village. Before leaving for Mumbai, Sonu Sood, however, denied the allegations.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court last week set aside the Punjab and Haryana high court's interim order staying the Haryana law to grant 75% reservation for residents of the state in private sector jobs but also restrained the state government from taking coercive steps against any employer for not complying with the law.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and P S Narasimha also set a deadline of four weeks for the high court to decide the constitutional validity of the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 and deliver the final verdict.

The bench also said that it was not proper for the HC to stay the operation of the law by passing a one-line order and without giving any reasoning.

Pressing for quashing of the HC order, solicitor general Tushar Mehta pleaded that staying a piece of legislation without giving a proper hearing and reasoning was "very harsh" as there is always presumption of the constitutional validity of a legislation. He said more than 38,000 workers and 900 establishments had registered under the law and clarified that the reservation was applicable to Class III and IV jobs and with salary up to Rs 30,000 per month.

The bench, however, observed that 75% reservation is "a major chunk" and the law has to be examined. Senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Shyam Divan, appearing for various associations of companies and industrial units operating in Haryana, contended that the law framed by the state was a very drastic legislation and affected the very idea of the Indian economy as a unit. They said that such a policy would not only affect their functioning and operations but it is also against the integrity of the country as other states will also bring similar laws to grant reservation on the basis of domicile.

WEST BENGAL

Mamata rejigs TMC working committee NEW DELHI: Amid the municipal elections 2022 held at 4 places in West Bengal last week, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has dissolved all the posts which means Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee is no longer general secretary.

There was a detailed discussion on the internal battle going on inside the TMC. Mamta had called an emergency meeting. During the meeting, a committee of 20 members has been formed on behalf of the party.

According to reports, senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee told reporters, “Mamata Banerjee was re-elected as the Chairperson of the party

Mamata Banerjee

recently where she announced a small committee to look after party affairs. Today a meeting of that committee was held where she announced our new national working committee”.

The National Working Committee is considered to be the biggest committee of the party where every decision is

taken. This time a total of 20 people have been included in the committee. The party has made it clear that no new post has been given to any of these members.

According to the list that has come out, Amit Mitra, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Bakshi, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Bulichik Bariko, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Ashima Patra, Moloy Patra, Anubrata Mandal, Rajiv Tripathi, Gautam Deb were part of this committee.

Apart from these, Yashwant Sinha, who joined TMC some time back, has also been made a part of this committee. Notably, the veteran leaders like Derek O'Brien and Sougata Ray have not been included. “Till our Chairperson does not announce

the new list of office-bearers, all the other posts of the last committee cease to exist,” a senior Trinamool leader pointed out.

“The Chief Minister wants to control the party herself. A lot of versions were put forward by different leaders which were creating confusion among the people and the common workers of the party. In this situation, strong control over the party was essential,” a senior party leader said.

When asked whether this is an effort to clip Abhishek Banerjee’s wings, the leader said, “The Chief Minister wants to establish direct control because people only give votes in her name.”

Tamil Nadu has released a “religious minority rank list” for MBBS admissions to three Christian minority medical colleges the first time any state has done so. The state selection committee has told the minority institutions that admissions to 35%50% of seats they surrender will be made based on NEET scores and 69% reservation.

For the remaining seats, students from the respective minority rank list will be first admitted. Then, before accommodating students from the common merit pool,” selection committee secretary Dr P Vasanthamani said. The committee took this step after it found some colleges have never admitted students from the minority pool for several years, while some others predetermine the number of minority students they can take.

OVER 60% VOTING IN TN URBAN LOCAL BODY POLLS Tamil Nadu registered a poll percentage of 60.70 per cent in the February 19 urban local bodies election that witnessed an interesting multi-cornered contest with the constituents of the opposition AIADMK alliance contesting on their own strength rather than remaining together, against the DMK combine. Among the 21 corporations, which went to polls, the Greater Chennai Corporation registered the lowest turnout of 43.59 per cent while Karur polled the maximum of 75.84 per cent on Saturday, according to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC). The single-phase election was held to fill up 12,838 posts in 21 corporations, 138 municipalities, 490 town panchayats and 649 urban local bodies in the state. A total of 74,416 candidates including many independents entered the fray.

NITISH KUMAR HITS OUT AT CHANNI OVER 'BHAIYAS' REMARK Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last week lambasted Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi over his remarks that he “won’t let UP, Bihari bhaiyas" enter his state. Calling it “appalling”, Nitish Kumar sought to know if Channi was unaware how much people of Bihar have served Punjab. "This is nonsense.

I am appalled at how people can say such things. Does he (Channi) not know how many people from Bihar live there (in Punjab) and how much they have served that land," he said. Kumar, however, ducked queries about criticisms aimed at Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra whom the BJP, his ally, has accused of having egged on Channi. Channi courted controversy during a rally in poll-bound Punjab by asking people not to let the "bhaiyas" of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi "rule" the state.

BENGAL MINISTER SADHAN PANDE PASSES AWAY Senior Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Minister Sadhan Pande passed away on Sunday. He was 71 and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mumbai.

Pande was a nine-time MLA from north Kolkata. For the first six terms, he represented Burtola Assembly segment as a Congress representative. Since 2011, he represented Manicktala Assembly segment as a Trinamool Congress MLA. Pande was Minister of Consumer Affairs in the West Bengal government. Pande has been ailing for past few months and was on ventilator support.

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38 convicted to death in 2008 Ahmedabad blasts

in brief MANEKA, SON NOT AMONG BJP CAMPAIGNERS With BJP leaders Maneka Gandhi and son Varun not campaigning in their stronghold Pilibhit parliamentary constituency - which has five assembly segments - there is a perceptible confusion regarding strategy within party ranks. Maneka and Varun still have a significant support base and have been elected, whether as independents or on symbols of other parties. In the last two general elections, they (Maneka in 2014 and Varun in 2019) got over 500,000 votes each.

However, they are not on the BJP list of star campaigners. Varun said that he was afflicted with the Delta variant of Covid. I have still not recovered. I will reach my constituency once my health permits. A close aide of the MP said that a large number of supporters in Pilibhit do heed Varun’s call at the time of assembly polls.

PAKISTAN ARRESTS 31 INDIAN FISHERMEN Pakistan's maritime authorities have arrested 31 Indian fishermen and seized five of their vessels for allegedly fishing in the country's territorial waters, officials said. The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) said that it apprehended the intruding vessels during patrolling in the Pakistan Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The PMSA said that one of its "ship apprehended five Indian fishing boats along with 31 crew." The boats were towed to Karachi for further legal proceedings as per Pakistani Law and UN Convention on Law of the Sea, it said. Pakistan and India regularly arrest fishermen from either side for violating the maritime boundary which is poorly marked at some points.

EMPLOYEE CHEATS AMUL OF £400,000 A man working with AmulFed Dairy in Bhat village of Gandhinagar siphoned off £400,000 from the cooperative giant by clearing bills of a dummy firm he had created in his wife’s name, according to a complaint filed with the police.

Anil Bayati, a general manager with AmulFed Dairy, alleged in his FIR that Ujjawal Vyas and his wife Miti Vyas took the money between July 21, 2010 and February 2, 2022. Bayati said the irregularity came to their notice after an accountant found that a transporter of the company, Miti, had the same address as Ujjawal, who worked as an assistant manager in the accounts section. The FIR said that Rameshchandra Jain, an accountant, met Bayati on February 10 and said that the owner of MU Carting Transport Company, Miti, and an AmulFed employee, Ujjawal, shared the same address. When Bayati inquired, he found that Miti was Ujjawal’s wife. “Ujjawal had created the fake firm in his wife’s name and even cleared bills for the fake transport company since he was in the accounts department,” said Bayati in the FIR.

A special court hearing the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case last week sentenced 38 convicts to death and 11 to life imprisonment. While delivering the capital punishment, which will be subject to confirmation of the Gujarat High Court, the court deemed the offence of the convicts as “rarest of the rare”.

This is for the first time that such a large number of convicts have been handed death sentences by any court at one go. In January 1998, a TADA court in Tamil Nadu had awarded capital punishment to all the 26 convicts in the case of assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

On February 8, the special court of A R Patel had convicted

The court imposed a fine of Rs 285,000 on 48 convicts and Rs 288,000on another one. It also awarded compensation of Rs 100,000 to the kin of those who died in the blasts, Rs 50,000 to those who were seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those who received minor injuries.

Those awarded death sentences include key conspirators in the case - Madhya Pradesh natives Safdar Nagori and Qumaruddin Nagori, Qayumuddin Kapadiya, Zahid Shaikh and Shamsuddin Sheikh. Both Safdar Nagori and Zahid Shaikh were accused of collecting funds for acquiring explosives and for other illegal activities of banned outfit

Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

Kapadiya had acquired mobile SIM cards using fake identity documents and stayed in hotels using fake identity. All the convicts were present for the hearing via video-conference from eight different jails Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad, Tihar in Delhi, Bhopal, Gaya, Bengaluru, Kerala and Mumbai. The court had concluded the trial against 77 accused in the case in September last year. Out of 78 accused on trial, one had turned approver. 20 cases registered in Ahmedabad’s different police stations and 15 at Surat police stations were clubbed together for the trial.

India, UAE sign Delhi objects to Singapore PM's remark on Indian MPs comprehensive trade pact India lodged a protest with the Singapore high commission over PM Lee Hsien Loong’s comments on criminal charges against Indian lawmakers.

During a debate in Parliament, the PM also invoked Jawaharlal Nehru while driving home his point about how democracies should work and how many political systems today would be unrecognisable to their founding fathers.

It is learnt the Indian foreign ministry raised the issue with the Singaporean high commissioner in a meeting. Official sources said the remarks were “uncalled for.” Congress quickly latched on to Lee’s remarks saying while the first Indian PM continues to inspire world leaders even today, PM Modi “denigrates” him inside and outside the Parliament.

Lee had said, “Many political systems today would be quite unrecognisable to their founding leaders. Ben-Gurion’s Israel has morphed into one which can barely form a government,

Lee Hsien Loong

despite four general elections in two years. Meanwhile, a stream of senior politicians and officials in Israel face a litany of criminal charges, some have gone to jail.

While Nehru’s India has become one where, according to media reports, almost half the MPs in the Lok Sabha have criminal charges pending against them, including charges of rape and murder. Though it is also said that many of these allegations are politically motivated," Lee said.

The 70-year-old PM said each succeeding generation must protect and build upon the system that Singapore has inherited.

India and the UAE last week signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) that will allow duty-free export of food products, textiles, gems and jewellery and pharma, while giving easier access to the Emirates for Indian professionals in highskill sectors. The deal with the UAE signals the government returning to signing free trade agreements (FTAs) as it seeks to push exports and movement of Indian professionals.

Given the growing bilateral ties, the agreement also signalled the strategic intent and also tap a possible gateway for exports to other countries in the region. While the last deal was signed with Mauritius a few months ago, no major trade pact has been signed for close to a decade. Next up are free trade treaties with Australia and the UK, with negotiations under way with the European Union, Israel and Canada.

“It provides a wide array of gains for both economies and

provides opportunities for businesses in both economies…This is an agreement which brings the economic dimension to a deep and enduring strategic partnership between the UAE and India,” commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal told reporters as he pitched it as a win-win deal.

The government expects the CEPA to push bilateral trade from $60 billion to $100 billion in five years apart from expediting work on a dedicated investment zone for UAE companies and joint ventures with a focus on setting up a food corridor and establishment of a dedicated India Mart in Jebel Ali Free Zone.

Besides, it is expected to create opportunities for Indian investors in establishing specialised industrial advanced technology zones in Abu Dhabi, with specific focus in areas of logistics and services, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, agriculture, agritech, steel and aluminium.

Lalu Prasad sentenced to five years PM Modi launches 'kisan drones' jail in Doranda treasury case to help farm sector A CBI special court sentenced million from the Doranda treaRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad to five years jail term and imposed Rs 60,00,000 fine in fifth case of the Animal Husbandry Department scam, which is commonly known as the fodder scam, related with fraudulent withdrawal of £13.93

Steep fall in Omicron cases, deaths in India Omicron-driven third wave of Covid19 continued to fall sharply in India for the fourth week running and deaths from the virus reduced in the week ending Sunday to nearly half the number reported in the previous seven days. Cases were down 56% from last week’s tally of just over 173,000 new cases in the current week, down 56% from the preceding week’s tally of 394,000. That week (February 7-13) had witnessed a 59% dip in cases, the sharpest weekly decrease since the beginning of the pandemic.

Weekly cases are now the lowest since the first week of the current wave - December 27-January 2, when nearly 130,000 infections were logged in the country. So far, this appears to be the shortest wave of the pandemic in the country by a long margin. In

49 persons and acquitted 28 others. As many as 21 explosions had ripped through Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, within a span of 70 minutes and claimed 56 lives and left over 200 injured.

The court decreed the sentence after the prosecution lawyers HM Dhruv, Amit Patel and Sudhir Brahmbhatt proved the case based upon the circumstantial evidence.

“These 38 persons were convicted under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Eleven others were held guilty for criminal conspiracy and under various sections of the UAPA,” said prosecutors.

just four weeks, recorded infections have declined to just 8% of the third wave peak of 21,70,000, recorded in January 17-23. A corresponding decline from the peak took around 15 weeks during the deadly second wave in India.

Weekly deaths from the virus have reduced by 57% since the peak of 4,355 recorded in January 31-February 6. If fatalities from earlier months added to the toll during this period are included, there were 3,277 fatalities reported in the current week, down 47% from the previous week’s toll of 6,149.

Meanwhile, 16,820 fresh were reported on Sunday, the lowest daily tally since December 30, when 16,717 infections are logged. There were 155 fresh deaths recorded on the day, the fewest since January 10.

sury in Jharkhand.” We’ll now appeal to the upper court for relief in the case”, Lalu’s advocate, Prabhat Kumar, said.

Along with 37 others, Lalu Prasad was convicted in the case earlier on February 15, 2022 and the court reserved its order on the quantum of sentence. It pronounced three years jail term to other 35 convicts in the case on February 15.

Prasad has been convicted in four other fodder scam cases and served more than half of the jail terms in most of them.

Suffering from multiple diseases, he is currently on bail and admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, from where he was virtually present in the court on Monday while the sentence was pronounced by judge S.K. Sashi. Apart from Prasad, former Bihar MP Jagdish Sharma, then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat, AHD secretary Beck Julius and AHD director K M Prasad and others were the other accused in the case.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged off 100 'kisan drones' in different parts of India for spraying pesticides and other farm materials and expressed confidence that the country's rising capability in the drone sector will give the world a new leadership. Officials describing it as a "very novel and exciting initiative" for farmers.

Narendra Modi In his speech, the prime minister said a new culture of drone start-ups is getting ready in India. Their numbers will soon be in thousands from over 200 now, leading to the generation of employment opportunities on a massive scale.

He said his government will ensure that there is no impediment in the sector's development and has already undertaken several reforms and policy measures to facilitate its rise. This is an example of how high the country can fly if policies are right, Modi said, noting that drones were mostly associated with the defence sector until a few years back.

This is a new chapter in providing modern farming facilities in the 21st century, and not only will it prove to be a milestone in the development of the drone sector but also open infinite possibilities, he said. The prime minister said his government did not waste time on apprehensions about opening up the drone sector but trusted India's young talent and moved ahead with a new mindset. He said his government has given priority to technology and innovations in the Budget and policy measures.

Noting that drones have diverse usages, Modi said, they have been used in the 'Swamitva Yojana' aimed at creating a record of land ownership in villages and transporting medicines and vaccines.

He said 'kisan drones' are the beginning of a new revolution.

Farmers can use high-capacity drones in the coming times to transport their produce like fruits, vegetables and flowers to markets in a minimal time, boosting their income.

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Wonderful to see things getting back on their feet by: Shefali Saxena Anya Jaya-Murphy has been cast in the premiere of the UK Tour of Rice presented

by ACTORS TOURING COMPANY (ATC) and directed by Artistic Director, Matthew Xia. She will be starring in the lead role of Nisha, a young hotshot Indian executive respectively, and will also be playing a multitude of characters in a brand new touring version of this powerful, multirolling and fast-paced drama.

character with our dialect coach, Catherine Weate. She was really helpful when it came to picking up on the specificities of each sound. Other than my main character, I play a Russian woman in her sixties, a young Indian widow, an Australian son of a billionaire CEO, amongst others. It’s a real joy. o you think enough female characters are being written during the pandemic, which does justice to female actors and their craft?

I don’t know. From my experience as an actor, I’ve been lucky enough to work on female characters that have been written with such depth, truth and nuance, where writers have delved into the human experience for all of its light and shade.

What I love about this work is that it is never Anya Jaya-Murphy finished - you are Pic credit - Steve Tanner constantly learning new things, whether it’s to do Anya Jaya Murphy was born in Kingston with your character, the world that they are upon Thames, Surrey. At school, she was in, your craft as an actor or who you are as a always interested in theatre, and she was human being. lucky enough to perform in some brilliant hy should our readers watch the play? plays and musicals from a young age - from Shakespeare to Caryl Churchill to Grease, This play explores the formation of a the musical. “I started to explore my options friendship and bond between two women and decided to apply for a one year course at from completely different upbringings and RADA as a starting step, to see if training as backgrounds. It’s a story that, at its core, an actor would be something that I would reminds us that we are more alike than we want to do, rather than go to university. I got might think. The play touches on universal in and went to RADA from 2016-17. I caught themes including love, to be understood, the bug and wanted to train full time for forming meaningful relationships with three years, so I applied for a BA and got into others and what it means to find our The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, purpose in life. where I studied from 2017-2020. I learned so o you think the arts sector has enough much and the training was incredibly help to sustain itself in the postvaluable,” she told Asian Voice. pandemic world?

Asian Voice further spoke to Anya about There were times during the height of her project. the pandemic when I, as I’m sure many of us ow did you prepare for an interesting did, questioned whether the arts sector in concept like Rice? the UK would be able to bounce back. I know When I first read Rice, I remember the that live arts, such as theatre for example, first word that came into my head was really took a hit over the past two years and ‘athletic’. It’s a play that involves a number of it’s still upsetting to read about shows being character changes, transitions, accents, cancelled when you know how much work physicalities and complex language. would have gone into making them, and the Therefore, I made sure that I kept myself fit jobs lost as a result. That being said, it’s and agile- physically, mentally and vocally. wonderful to see things getting back on their feet and there is no denying that people still The movement was important to me in this have a longing to be amongst one another process; being able to differentiate between when watching a play, musical or film in the characters and work from a practical, cinema. Let’s hope that never wanes. tangible place to tell their stories. Working Rice is on tour until April 14. For further with Laban efforts, for example, really information please visit helped me as a way to explore each character https://www.atctheatre.com/production/ric I play. As well as the movement, I worked on e-tour/ establishing the voice and accent of each

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Global Indian Series Prepare to Host an Evening of Asian Talent at The Phoenix Arts Club At the end of February, Global Indian Series is teaming up with The Phoenix Arts Club in London to host RepresentAsian, a musical evening celebrating diversity and Asian talent that’s returning after previous sellout shows in October 2021.

The celebratory evening will feature 10 artists that include West End performers, musicians and 2021 graduates to shine a light on some of the most underrepresented voices in the entertainment industry. The event, that Global Indian Series is co-hosting, will bring to light some of the key issues that face minority groups in entertainment and share a passion for the arts inspired by identity, heritage, and culture of people of Asian origin.

Producer of RepresentAsian, Benjamin Armstrong says, “I am delighted to be producing the second instalment of “RepresentAsian” on 22nd February 2022 at the Phoenix Arts Club, as part of the Global Indian Series Festivals.

The original concept was to create a platform for under-represented voices within the Asian community to share their talents and gifts. The first concert in October 2021, was a complete sell-out! The second instalment will feature a new set of graduates, working professionals and West End performers under the musical

Tickets for RepresentAsian are available at:

https://www.phoenixartsclub.com/shows/representasian

British South Asian actors, writers and producers call for radical shake-up in screen and stage representation Screen and stage representation of British South Asians are still lagging behind the times and need a radical shake-up, according to a poll commissioned by Rifco Theatre Company to coincide with its 21st anniversary.

Despite an increase in representation, 77 per cent of leading British South Asian actors, writers and producers polled felt that too little had changed over the past 20 years to evolve with the times and accurately reflect modern-day experiences on stage and screen.

Only 20 per cent felt there had been real progress in portraying familiar characters they could relate to, while recurring plots, tired clichés and stereotypes remained one of the biggest challenges to overcome. The poll revealed a desire for more storylines that accurately reflect modern-day experiences of British South Asians, with dating, mental health and mixed-race families being at the top of the agenda.

In response to this challenge, Rifco

Year 2 of The Earthshot Prize: HM Ambassador meets Greek Official Nominators In its second year, The Earthshot Prize continues its ambitious search for the world’s greatest eco-innovators and their breakthrough solutions, expanding its network of Nominators with over 300 organisations from more than 80 countries - including 5 organisations from Greece representing not-for-profit, foundation, investment, corporate, academic, governmental and community-led organisations.

Each of these organisations is searching for their expert networks and communities to find truly ground-breaking eco-solutions that can repair and regenerate the planet and will submit their nominations by 4

March 2022. Throughout the year, these nominations will be assessed and evaluated to discover the 5 Winners for 2022, who will each receive a £1 million grant to scale the impact of their work.

Last year, the 5 Winners provided solutions that included coral reef farming, pioneering green hydrogen, entrepreneurial technology to access to electricity in energypoor countries, a city-wide food programme to eliminate waste, and a country-wide policy to halt deforestation

direction of Ben McQuigg.”

Working with the event organisers at Phoenix Arts Club, Global Indian Series and Global Indian Ambassador Pia Sutaria, are continuing their work of connecting the global community and spearheading conversation and stories of minority communities across the world.

Despite the theatre industry seeing a shake-up over recent years that has seen forward movement in diversity and authentic casting choices that celebrate Black, Asian, Latino etc. performers, Global Indian Series believes that there is still a long way to go. People from minority backgrounds should be seen as equals on the theatrical stage and taken as seriously as White performers.

Rajan Nazran from Global Indian Series says, “Global Indian Series is delighted to be co-hosting such an inspiring and entertaining event like RepresentAsian. We work hard to share stories of people of Asian heritage and championing the voices of those who are often underrepresented in many parts of society – especially the music and entertainment industry. We can’t wait to see everyone at the event and look forward to hearing some of the best performances the Asian community has to offer.”

and protect the rainforest.

HRH The Duke of Cambridge said: The 2021 Winners and Finalists have set the bar incredibly high. I can’t wait to see what solutions the Prize helps to champion this coming year. In 2022, we are determined to go further by seeking even more nominations from every corner of the world, ensuring that we spotlight and scale the very best ideas and innovations that will put our planet on a sustainable path and protect our world for generations to come.

Theatre Company is launching 21 Artists for 21 Years, an initiative that will give voice to a new wave of British South Asian artists across the UK, who are encouraged to boldly tackle these modern themes within their play, spoken word piece, film, photography or textile design.

Pravesh Kumar, Artistic Director of Rifco Theatre Company, who was this year awarded an MBE for his services to British theatre, said: “When I founded Rifco Theatre Company 21 years ago, my vision was simple - if no one else is willing to represent the stories and experiences of the British South Asian community, I will. 21 years later, the way representation looks on our stages has progressed, but there is still work to be done and we must continually evolve to accurately reflect society. Rifco has been a major part of this journey, and will continue to provide opportunities to draw underrepresented artists and audiences together to create and enjoy relevant and accessible stories.”

The ambitious programme kicks off in March with New Voices, New Stories, which will see eight British Asian writers showcase their creative writing, exploring themes of mental health, identity and belonging, at The Bush Theatre. Other commissions include Celebrating Eid, a photography exhibition curated by Hafsah Aneela Bashir on the evolution of Eid celebrations at Oldham Coliseum Theatre in May, Glitterball by Yasmin Wilde opening at Watford Palace Theatre in September exploring mixed heritage identity, GenerAsians, nine films to commemorate 50 years since Idi Amin expelled Ugandan Asians in 1972.

Rifco Theatre Company’s anniversary campaign ‘21 Artists for 21 years’ showcases new works from British South Asian artists and creatives. For more information or to take part, visit https://www.rifcotheatre.com/21Years

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Children with insomnia likely Covid vax may boost mental health, says new study to suffer as adults New research led by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine states children with insomnia symptoms are likely to persist with them as young adults and are significantly more likely to develop an insomnia disorder in early adulthood compared to children who do not have difficulty sleeping. in the Published journal ‘Paediatrics’, the study is the first long-term cohort study to describe the developmental trajectories of childhood insomnia symptoms through adolescence and into young adulthood.

Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health, said, “Young adulthood is a stage in life where there is a documented increase in the severity and prevalence of physical and mental health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and suicide rates.”

He added, “Sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea and insomnia, are linked with poorer cardiovascular and mental health. Given that up to 25 per cent of children, 35 per cent of adolescents and 45 per cent of young adults suffer from insomnia we were symptoms, interested in learning how these symptoms evolve over time as the child grows into adulthood.”

The teams designed a random, population-based study of children, ages 5 to 12 years which started in 2000. Children and their parents provided reports of the children’s insomnia symptoms, defined as moderate-to-severe

difficulties initiating and/or maintaining sleep. The team found that 43 per cent of with children insomnia symptoms continued to suffer through adolescence into adulthood.

Although about 27 per cent of children with insomnia symptoms experienced remission of symptoms by adolescence, close to 19 per cent experienced a waxing and waning pattern into adulthood.

Among children without insomnia symptoms, about 15 per cent of them developed insomnia symptoms in the transition to adolescence and persisted with them into adulthood, and another 21 per cent newly developed them in young adulthood. In addition, about 16 per cent of these children without insomnia symptoms experienced a waxing-and-waning pattern.

Apart from keeping you safe from the lethal disease, Covid-19 vaccination may also improve the psychological well-being as a new study has found that those who received at least one vaccine dose were associated with statistically significant declines in multiple psychological distress factors. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, indicated that vaccination, among study participants, was associated with declines in distress and perceived risks of infection, hospitalisation and death.

“Our study documents important psychological benefits of vaccination beyond reducing the risk of severe illness and death associated with Covid-19,” said lead investigator Jonathan Koltai, PhD, Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, US. For the study, data from a nationally representative study of 8,090 adults who

were interviewed regularly between March 2020 and June 2021, revealed declines in Covid-related risk perceptions and psychological distress following vaccination.

Specifically, adults who received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine between December 2020 and June 2021 reported a seven per cent relative in mental reduction distress, as measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ-4) distress scores, from average levels in the survey

period immediately before vaccination. Reductions in distress were partially explained by declining risk perceptions following vaccination.

Becoming vaccinated was associated with a 7.77 percentage point decline in perceived risk of infection, a 6.91 percentage point decline in perceived risk of hospitalisation, and a 4.68 percentage point decline in perceived risk of death.

Adjusting for risk perceptions decreased the vaccination-distress association by 25 per cent.

Age of natural menopause linked to violence exposure Research on women’s violence exposure is essential and necessary as the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a surge in the rates of intimate partner violence and child abuse.

A new study reveals that a woman’s collective violence exposure speeds up reproductive ageing to result in an earlier age of menopause. Findings of the search were published in the article ‘Association between intergenerational violence exposure

and maternal age of menopause’ in ‘Menopause’, the journal of The

North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Newer research additionally revealed its connection with the pace of reproductive ageing.

Early menopause, particularly before age 45, is associated with increased risks of heart disease, osteoporosis, and premature death. Additionally,

inflammatory properties which can reduce inflammation and also calm the skin.

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Combining organic shea butter with olive oil or coconut oil can create a smoother texture for application.

• Almond Oil - Made from pressed raw almonds, this oil is

of exposure to violence that is known to affect subsequent generations. The health-related burden of intergenerational violence is substantial and includes the possibility of early-onset menopause and the associated potential long-term adverse health outcomes. Addressing this issue will require the involvement of multiple sectors and necessitate social change, as well as updated policies and education.”

Greenery around hospitals can reduce patient stress: Study

Foods to build an iron-clad immunity, fight Covid-19 Face oils are the ultimate gamechanger in the world of skincare.

They can nourish, heal, and repair your skin. In fact, even people with oily or combination skin can use facial oils or natural oil to help get rid of acne issues.

Face oils are one of many skincare solutions that help complement our natural oils.

Face oils are often plantbased and are typically derived from the various parts of plants such as flowers, leaves, roots, etc.

They have many potential benefits. Some of them are packed with antioxidants, which prevent further aging, sun damage, and dryness. Facial oils are the ultimate antidote to dry and flaky skin and can be much more effective at moisturising than over-the-counter lotions.

Oils pull out grime and fats from pores, fight harmful bacteria and fungus, and contain

studies have shown that childhood sexual and physical abuse is associated with earlier menarche.

Associations between violence and accelerated reproductive ageing in the early and later life course of women are believed to work through the disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the body’s response to stress.

Dr Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director, said, “This study underscores the devastating effect

full of health benefits such as vitamin E, zinc, proteins, and potassium. It has a lighter texture than olive oil and shea butter.

• Rosehip Seed Oil Extracted from the seeds of wild rose bushes, the rosehip seed oil is found in facial skin care products that promise moisturising and anti-aging benefits. This oil includes provitamin A, provides relatively high protection against inflammation and oxidative skin damage.

• Jojoba Oil - This oil is extracted from its seeds and used medicinally. It has antiinflammatory and woundhealing effects among other skin benefits.

Research suggests introducing nature into large hospitals can humanise the institutional environment and reduce the stress of patients, visitors and healthcare providers. Landscape architecture researcher at West Virginia University, Shan Jiang’s findings were published in the ‘Health Environments Research and Design Journal’.

He utilised immersive virtual environments, digitally-created “worlds” that users are engrossed in, for a controlled experiment that asked participants to complete various way-finding tasks.

Participants in the study saw the same hospital layout and room arrangements. However, while one group encountered large windows and nature views among the corridor walls, the control group saw solid walls without any daylight or nature views. Participants in the green space group used shorter time and walked less distance to complete wayfinding tasks. Jiang said, “In terms of spatial orientation and wayfinding, window views of nature and small gardens can effectively break down the tedious interiors of large hospital blocks and

serve as landmarks to aid people’s wayfinding and improve their spatial experience.” The study also revealed that participants’ mood states, particularly anger and confusion, were “significantly relieved” in the green space group.

She added, “Large hospitals can be visually welcoming but the functionality and internal circulation are indeed complex and confusing.”

The study also found that green spaces situated at key decision points, such as the main corridor or junction of departmental units can serve as landmarks that positively attract attention, aid wayfinding and improve the navigational experience.

Jiang said, “You may explain such therapeutic effects from multiple perspectives: people's colour/hue preferences tend to range from blue to green, nature and plants are positive distractions that could restore people's attentional fatigue, and human beings could have developed genetic preference of greenery from an evolutionary perspective. All mechanisms together contribute to the positive experience when looking at gardens and nature views.”

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Farhan AkhtarShibani Dandekar tie the knot

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ctor Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar tied the knot in what appears to be a fun-filled ceremony over the weekend. Videos and photos have been taken to the internet. In a video shared by a fan account on Instagram, the newly-wed can be seen dancing to the song ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. For the wedding, the bride wore a red gown with a matching veil, while the groom opted for an all-black look.

The couple, who have been dating for almost three years, exchanged their vows at Farhan’s father Javed Akhtar’s Khandala farmhouse.

Deepika working on her father’s biopic C

urrently basking in the success of her film ‘Gehraiyaan’, actor Deepika Padukone has now opened up about a possible film on her father Prakash Padukone. Speaking in an interview, Deepika opened up about the challenges that her father Prakash Padukone, a former Badminton star, faced when he was training in his younger days.

Appearing on Cyrus YouTube Broacha’s channel ‘Cyrus Says’, “I am working on it.

Actually, even before ’83’ happened, he (Prakash) was one of the first Indian athletes to put India on the global map as far as Indian sports is concerned. He won the World Championship in 1981, which was obviously before 1983.”

A former world No.1, Prakash

Padukone had much success in badminton. His two most famous achievements were winning the bronze medal at the 1983 World Championships, and becoming the first Indian to win the All England Open in 1980.

On the work front, Deepika will be seen next in Rohit Shetty’s ‘Cirkus’, and has a line-up of films including ‘Fighter’ Hrithik with Roshan, and ‘Pathan’ with Shah Rukh Khan.

Anil Kapoor to work with son Harshvarrdhan for 'Thar'

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The wedding was attended by several celebrities from the movie industry, including Hrithik Roshan, Farah Khan, Rhea Chakraborty, Shankar Mahadevan, Ritesh Sidhwani, Anusha Dandekar, Amrita Arora, and others.

Reportedly, the guest list also included, Meiyang Chang, Gaurav Kapur, Samir Kochhar, and Monica Dogra.

The couple wanted a basic and intimate vow ceremony. The guests were reportedly asked to wear easy colours like pastels and whites.

etflix has shared the first look of Anil Kapoor and his son Harshvarrdhan Kapoor's first project together, titled 'Thar'. Fatima Sana Shaikh is seen as a village belle in the stills from the film.

Anil Kapoor plays a policeman and is seen in khaki uniform, standing with fellow a policeman (played by Satish Kaushik) in Thar desert.

Harshvarrdhan is seen in a rugged look and seems to be on the run from the police. Fatima is seen as a rural woman from Rajasthan. A still also shows Anil talking to Harshvarrdhan, who is seen driving a jeep.

Netflix shared several stills from the film and captioned them, "Yeh Kapoor and Son ki rivalry aapko gumrah kar ke rahegi (Anil and Harshvarrdhan's rivalry will leave you confused)! Enter the desert of deception in ‘Thar’(cactus icon) Coming soon."

Anil Kapoor shared his stills on his Instagram page and wrote in Hindi, "Registaan ke ret me dabey raaz bhi ab kanoon ke inn lambe haatho se nahi bach payenge (The secrets buried in the desert of Thar won't stay hidden from the clutches of law)."

Reacting to Anil's look, filmmaker Farah Khan commented on his post, “What u looking ya papaji.” Thar director Raj Singh Chaudhary commented, “Sirrrr (fire icons) immensely grateful and thank you for this one.” A fan reacted to Anil uniting with his Mr India co-star Satish Kaushik and wrote, “Arun bhaiya and calendar.” Another fan wrote, “Nice to see you once again with calendar.” A fan commented on Anil's grey hair, “@anilskapoor sir janbhujkr old dekhne ki kosis kr rhe h taki hero ko bhi koe dekhe (Anil sir, you are intentionally trying to look old so that people pay attention to the hero).”

Thar is set in 1980s and follows the story of a man who moves to a big town to seek a job and avenge his past. Dropping more hints about his character, Harshvarrdhan shared his still on his Instagram page and wrote, “You either brave the storm or fall for the mirage. Watch as @anilskapoor and I clash in Thar.” Fatima Sana Shaikh wrote along with her still, “Out in the desert, who can you really trust?”

Hrithik Roshan donates blood, father Rakesh is proud

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ollywood actor Hrithik Roshan took fans by surprise last week as he shared a picture of him donating blood.

The ‘War’ actor informed his social media followers that his blood group is of a rare type, and hospitals often fall short of it which is why he decided to donate.

He captioned the post, “I was told that my blood group B-negative is a rare type. Hospitals often fall short of it. Pledging to be an insignificant part of the very significant blood banks. Thank you @kokilabenhospital for allowing me to contribute.” The actor also shared a postscript about how donating blood is good for the health. The post garnered a lot of attention and praise for the gesture. His father, Rakesh Roshan also commented, “Proud of you” along with the applause emoji.

Hrithik has been in the news lately as he went for dinner with his rumoured girlfriend Saba Azad at a

Mumbai cafe. On the work front, he has several projects in the pipeline, including the Hindi remake of ‘Vikram Vedha’, and Siddharth Anand’s ‘Fighter’ alongside Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor.

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India’s reality TV star, Ashutosh Kaushik seeks ‘Right to be forgotten’ by: Shefali Saxena

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ctor and reality TV show star, the winner of Roadies (2007) and Bigg Boss Season 2 (2008) Ashutosh Kaushik is seeking the ‘Right to be forgotten’ at the Delhi High Court. Right to be forgotten means the right to have your publicly available personal information removed from the internet.

Kaushik was arrested in the summer of 2009 for riding a motorbike under the influence of alcohol. He was found guilty, fined, sentenced to one day in jail, and his license was suspended.

In 2020, he approached the court asking for the incident to be expunged from the internet under the right to be forgotten.

‘I have to consistently remind my mother to read the date of publication in a news article every time my relatives or a friend forwards them to her, explaining that I was arrested years ago for a crime I served punishment for,’ Ashutosh told Asian Voice over a telephone interview.

‘I was very young when I saw success, and I accept that I made a mistake back then, but I have served the punishment, and now, I even go to schools and organisations to explain the repercussions of drinking and driving. I’m not that man anymore,” he added.

Ashutosh seeks the ‘Right to be forgotten’ such that all the coverage around his drink and drive case can be taken off the internet, in order for him and his family, especially his future kids to have a respectable public life. Like any other respected and law-abiding citizen, he too wants to be able to move forward in life without constantly being subjected to humiliation for a mistake he made as a young man.

A Google spokesperson told the BBC that their search "generally reflects what's on the web, so if people want content removed from the web, we ask that they start by contacting the independent sites hosting the content".

"Our goal has always been to support the greatest access to information possible... We work hard to provide systems that enable users to flag content that violates our policies, this includes removing unlawful content under applicable domestic laws," he added.

Adding to his misery, the reports of his case made Ashutosh’s life so difficult that he struggled to find a suitable life partner, until he went to a bank to take a loan, and ended up marrying the woman who was a banker.

Ashutosh told the newsweekly that he in fact had serious resistance from his wife’s family while they were getting married because everyone read old reports about him and didn’t think he was a half-decent man, good enough to be married.

However, his wife stood by him and they’re happily married. Ashutosh married his wife Arpita during the lockdown of 2020.

Since that incident, Ashutosh has not only tried to advocate sober behaviour but also contributed to the education of his siblings, including his sister who is a nutritionist in London.

He runs two Dhabas in his hometown Saharanpur, and a cloth showroom in Uttarakhand. From time to time he does some videos and content with newsrooms in Noida, and Ashutosh now also runs his own YouTube channel.

Speaking to us, Ashutosh also added that due to this information on the internet, he has had trouble finding work, but he continues to seek roles in TV and films. While this doesn’t affect his livelihood and is not his bread and butter, he also believes that one doesn’t need to live in Mumbai to be able to survive in the industry. ‘I will go if they call me for work, and finish it and come back to my hometown,’ he said.

Alia-Ranbir discuss 'new home', fights in new ad

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n a brand new endorsement, celebrity couple Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor are seen discussing “new home”, arguments and kids calling them “uncle”. The video was shared on Instagram by a paparazzo account and featured both the actors on side-by-side treadmills at the gym.

In the advertisement, Alia tells him that she has finalised the brand of TMT bars for their “naya ghar (new home)”. As Ranbir wonders whether they should opt for a different brand, she launches into a monologue. She responds by saying, “Kya ho jayega? 4-5 saal mein ceiling weak ho jayegi, hume kahin aur shift karna padega. Meri tumse ladai ho jayegi, phir tum tension mein aa jaoge. Tension mein gym aana bandh kar doge, bachche tumhe ‘uncle, uncle’ bulayenge. Mujhe kya bulayenge? Aunty! (What will happen? The ceiling of our home will become weak in 4-5 years, we will have to shift somewhere else. I will end up fighting with you, you will get stressed out and stop coming to the gym. Kids will start calling you ‘uncle’ and me ‘aunty’). Oh no, no, no, no!” Ranbir comforts her by saying that they will stick with her choice.

Friends and fans showered love on the new ad.

One user wrote, “My cuties, they are looking like babies”. Another wrote, “Best thing I watched today on my feed”. Both, Alia and Ranbir have been in a relationship since 2017. They fell in love during the making of Ayan Mukerji’s ‘Brahmastra’, which will mark their first big-screen outing. The film is set for a theatrical release on September 9.

Karan Johar screams at Farah Khan’s choice of outfit F

ilmmaker Karan Johar is quite active on social media and often gives fans glimpses of his life and work. In a new behind-the-scenes video from the sets of ‘Hunarbaaz’, Karan is seen exclaiming in horror as the camera panned to filmmaker and choreographer Farah Khan who was appearing on the show as a special guest.

Karan says, “Oh My God! I have never seen a blob of pink like this in my life.” To which Farah replies, “Call me Pinky.” He then says, “Well, I will, unfortunately, have to.

Why? What inspired you to wear this?”

Farah then took a dig at Karan’s outfit, and said, “I just like to be bright. You know, in Covid, people are wearing black and dull colours and D’Decor fabric.”

Continuing the playful exchange, Karan asks if she wanted to “scare” her children, Diva, Anya, and Czar with her choice of outfit. To which Farah quipped,

“My children have seen me without makeup and they are still not scared.” Karan ends the video with his signature sign-off, “On that note, shall we just say it? Toodles!”

Karan shared the video on Instagram, and captioned it, “Touchwood! In the pink of health!” He added the hashtag ‘Karah’. Both the filmmakers have been friends for more than 25 years and are often seen poking fun at each other’s taste in fashion.

On the work front, Karan is currently one of the judges of ‘Hunarbaaz’, along with Mithun Chakraborty and Parineeti Chopra. He is also set to return to feature film direction with ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’. The movie stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in the lead, along with Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, and Jaya Bachchan in supporting roles.

Sunny Leone falls victim to a loan fraud Actress Sunny Leone has fallen victim to loan fraud recently.

Last week, the actor tweeted how her CIBIL score had been affected after someone fraudulently used her PAN Card to take out a loan. In a now-deleted tweet posted from her account, Sunny Leone wrote, “This just happened to me. Insane. Some idiot used my PAN to take a Rs2000 loan and f****d my CIBIL score and @IVLSecurities did nothing to help sort. How does India Bulls allow this?”

The CIBIL score is the history of a person’s credit rating and report. It tracks one’s rate of repayment of loans and a lower CIBIL score can often leave a person ineligible for loans. The actress implied that the fraudulent loan had affected her score.

The tweet was picked up on the internet fairly quickly, with fans pointing out not even celebrities are spared from financial fraud these days. Sunny later deleted the tweet and added another post saying, “Thank you @IVLSecurities, @ibhomeloans, @CIBIL_Official for swiftly fixing this & making sure it will NEVER happen again. I know you will take care of all the others who have issues to avoid this in the future. NO ONE WANTS TO DEAL WITH A BAD CIBIL !!! In ref. to my previous post”.

Sunny and her husband Daniel Weber recently celebrated the birthday of their twins Noah and Asher recently. They are also parents to daughter Nisha.

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Samantha dances to Vijay’s ‘Halamathi Habibo’ at the airport A

ctor Samantha Ruth Prabhu grooved to hit song ‘Halamathi Habibo’ from Vijay’s upcoming ‘Beast’ at the airport recently.

The song is the first single from Vijay’s upcoming Tamil film and features the actor alongside Pooja Hegde. After its release on Valentine’s Day, the song has become an instant chartbuster with fans doing the hook step from the song in Instagram reels.

Sharing the video on her Instagram, Samantha wrote, “Just another late night flight … NOT! Rhythm for tonight be #HalamithiHabibo. This song is beyond lit.” The video garnered a lot of attention, with the song’s composer Anirudh Ravichander

posting fire icons underneath the video. A fan commented to her dance act, “This will remain as the best version of #halamathihabibo after #thalapathyvijay.”

On the work front, Samantha was last seen in the Telugu film ‘Pushpa’ in which she danced to the widely popular song ‘Oa Antava’. She was seen playing a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel in ‘Family Man’ season 2 last year. The actress also awaits the release of the Tamil romantic comedy ‘Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaadhal’. The film which has been directed by Vignesh Shivn also stars Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara.

Dhanush spends quality time with his son Yathra on film sets D hanush, who is currently shooting for his brother-filmmaker Selvaraghavan’s upcoming Tamil film ‘Naane Varuven’, took some time off to bond with his son Yathra on the sets. The actor took to Instagram to share his first post since his separation from ex-wife Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth. The photo is also the first time that Dhanush has been seen publicly with his son.

In the picture, Dhanush can be seen spending time outdoors with Yathra at sunset against the mountain backdrop. He captioned the photo, “Now, where have I seen this before? #yathradhanush.. #naanevaruven.” Shooting for the film is currently underway in Ooty in Tamil Nadu.

Both, Dhanush and his brother Selvaraghavan have joined hands for the fourth time. They have previously

worked in Tamil films such as ‘Kadha; Kondein’, ‘Pudhupettai’, and ‘Mayakkam Enna’.

Dhanush and his ex-wife Aishwaryaa announced the news of separation earlier this year.

On the work front, Dhanush is currently busy shooting for the upcoming Tamil-Telugu bilingual film ‘Sir’. His action-thriller ‘Maaran’ is also set to release on Disney+Hotstar.

TV Listing

Dhoni to star in a famous Tamil filmmaker’s direction Mahendra Singh Dhoni is considered as one of the greatest captains of all time in the history of cricket.

The 40-year-old player is currently leading the Chennai Super Kings franchise in the IPL tournament and also acting in numerous advertisements. Now, a famous Tamil director has shared that he is going to direct MS Dhoni.

Vignesh Shivan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and lyricist, who works in Tamil cinema. Vignesh, who made his directorial debut with Simbu starrer 'Poda Podi', has since made a few notable films including 'Naanum Rowdy Thaan' and 'Thaana Serndha Kootam'. Now, he is working on his next 'Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaadhal' starring Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara and Samantha, which is set to

release on April 28.

Vignesh now posted a photo of himself with Thala Dhoni and announced that he is going to direct him soon. Sharing the picture, he penned, "A caption can’t explain how I felt when I met my role model ! My icon ! My Hero ! :) A nice story of me meeting him , getting to say “action “ and directing him coming up soon :) This moment ! Made me feel … #lifeisbeautiful Thanking the universe for making this happen :) (sic)" Vignesh's latest post has gone viral and crossed 200,000 likes in just a few hours.

The talented director is expected to direct an advertisement video starring Thala Dhoni.

Fans are showering wishes on Vignesh for getting a chance to direct MSD as he himself is an ardent Dhoni fan.

Nayanthara wraps up Chiranjeevi’s Telugu political drama

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ctress Nayanthara has wrapped up her portion for Chiranjeevi’s upcoming Telugu political drama ‘Godfather’. Director of the film Mohan Raja took to Twitter to express his joy over working with Nayan.

‘Godfather’ is a remake of the Malayalam blockbuster ‘Lucifer’ and Nayan will reprise Manju Warrier’s role from the original.

Mohan Raj tweeted, “Finished a major schedule today with the lady superstar #Nayanthara for our #Godfather. It’s nothing less than sheer joy and satisfaction

working with her for the consecutive third time.” He also shared a picture with the actress from the sets.

‘Godfather’ marks Mohan’s return to Telugu cinema after a decade. Salman Khan is rumoured to feature in a cameo appearance.

On the work front, Nayan is looking forward to the release of her upcoming Tamil romantic comedy, ‘Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kadhal’ which is directed by her boyfriend Vignesh Shivn. It is a light-hearted comedy about a love triangle featuring Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara and Samantha.

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 28 FEB - FRI 4 MAR 2022 6.00 Patli Parmar 9.00 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 9.30 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 15.00 RASOI SHOW 17.30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 SURI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20.30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21.00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21.30 GEETA SATURDAY 26 FEB 2022 6.00 Hal Ne Chori Hal Tane Mele Lai Javu 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 28 FEB - FRI 4 MAR 2022 16.30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 CHHUTA CHHEDA 18.00 SASURAL SIMAR KA 18.30 TU AASHIQUI 19.00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20.00 SWARNA GHAR 20.30 DIL SE DIL TAK 21.00 THAPKI PYAR KI 2

10.00 MOTU PATLU 11.00 GATTU BATTU 15.00 RASOI SHOW 17.30 SHRIMAD BHAGWAT MAHAPURAN 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 SURI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20.30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU 21.00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 21.30 GEETA SUNDAY 27 FEB 2022 9.00 SHUBH PRABHAT 9.30 SUR PRABHAT 10.00 MOTU PATLU 11.00 GATTU BATTU 12.00 Dalda Lidha Chori Raaj 15.00 Aa Chhe Aapni Dosti Unlimited Yaar 18.00 DESHI BEATS 18.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 19.00 SHU CHALE CHE 19.30 GEETA 20.30 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM 22.00 SHU CHALE CHE 21.30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 SATURDAY 26 FEB 2022 15.00 SHU CHALE CHE 16.30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 DESI BEAT 3 18.00 SASURAL SIMAR KA 18.30 TU AASHIQUI 20.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21.00 THAPKI PYAR KI 2 21.30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 SUNDAY 27 FEB 2022 16.30 RASOI SHOW - DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 DESI BEAT 3 18.00 BFFs with Vogue - Season 1 19.00 KHATRA KHATRA KHATRA 20.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21.00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL

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26 February - 4 March 2022

Madhuri Dixit to star in Netflix thriller ‘The Fame Game’ T

he 90s raring actress Madhuri Dixit is all set to be seen on the streaming space for the first time. The actor stars in the upcoming Netflix thriller ‘The Fame Game’ in which she plays the character of Bollywood superstar Anamika Anand.

Speaking in an interview about her “OTT debut”, the actor said “It’s strange and yet it’s true because there are so many different avenues and when you are doing it for the first time, you are debuting. And it’s great that even after 35 years, I am debuting with something. It’s wonderful because I’m like a child, like a student of cinema. I love learning. For me, it’s a different language of making films, a different system.”

When asked what attracted her to the

Ali Fazal celebrates the success of ‘Death on the Nile’ A

ctor Ali Fazal took to Twitter to share the mind-blowing box office results of his recentmost film ‘Death on the Nile’. The star-studded Kenneth Branagh directorial grossed over USD100 million at the world box office within a week of its release.

Sharing a screenshot of a report, the ‘Mirzapur’ actor wrote on Twitter, “Never really made it to the 100 cr club.

But i think we just crossed 100 MILLION dollars on the world box office in one week so, Chalet.

Sahi hai. Phew.

Aaj rajma chawal khayenge. With achaar.”

His post garnered a lot of attention, with people showering him with blessings and love.

However, it was Ali’s partner and actor Richa Chadha’s comment that caught our attention. “No, rajma was soaked yesterday. Please

have regular daalchawal. Thanks.”

Based on crime writer Agatha Christie’s book of the same name, ‘Death on the Nile’ stars Kenneth Branagh, Dame Judi Dench, Gal Gadot, Emma Mackey, and Letitia Wright. It is currently in theatres.

There, I was playing myself. Here, it is a character I’m playing.

Yes, the character has some experiences that I have like fame and being a big star.

What she is actually going through is very different from me.”

‘The Fame Game’ reunites Madhuri with Sanjay Kapoor, her costar in ‘Raja’ and ‘Mohabbat’ over 25 years ago.

Created by Sri Rao, the show also stars Manav Kaul, Suhasini Mulay, Muskkan Jaferi, Rajshri Deshpande and Gagan Arora. It will start streaming on Netflix on February 25.

Amazon Prime announces Indian adaptations of anthology series

‘Modern Love’ S

treaming giant Amazon Prime Video has announced multiple Indian adaptations of its international anthology series ‘Modern Love’. Launched in three Indian languages, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, the series will be titled ‘Modern Love: Mumbai, ‘Modern Love: Chennai’, and ‘Modern Love: Hyderabad’. The series will feature adaptations of stories, with each episode detailing the different shades of love, friendship, and family.

Head of local originals, Amazon Studios, James Farrell said in a statement, “‘Modern Love’ is an ode to love in its varied forms. We have seen audiences across the world relate to the stories from our US

show, and we feel India’s diverse culture organically lends itself to the series. We’re confident that the Indian adaptations will

similarly touch a chord with our customers.”

Head of India Originals, Amazon Prime Video, Apart Purohit said, “India is the land of love and with our Indian adaptions we are aiming at taking stories of love that are rooted in Indian soil to

audiences across India and the world.”

She added, “The series which will be made across multiple languages, will explore the countless shades of love. While these heartwarming stories are adapted from the famous New York Times column, they’re quintessentially Indian at heart, with the metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad serving as the perfect canvas. We’re truly excited to bring these incredible stories to our customers across India and the world.”

The series is slated to release in 2022 across more than 240 countries and territories. The original featured a stellar cast, including Anne Hathaway, Kit Harington, Anna Paquin, Tina Fey and Dev Patel.

Web series on Meena Kumari-Kamal Amrohi in the works

Paresh Rawal’s A Gujarati film promises a rollercoaster ride T

he trailer for actor Paresh Rawal’s upcoming Gujarati film ‘Dear Father’ is finally out and it is an emotional rollercoaster.

The trailer tells the tale of an elderly man, played by Rawal, whose son and daughter-in-law are irritated with him. One day, he falls off his balcony. An investigative officer (also played by Rawal), arrives at the scene and instantly suspects the son and daughter-in-law.

Starting off as a family drama, the film transforms into a crime thriller. ‘Dear Father’ is based on the Marathi film ‘Katkon Trikon’.

Directed by Umang Vyas and produced by Ratan Jain and Ganesh Jain of Venus Movies, ‘Dear Father’ will be released in theatres on March 4.

online space, she said, “I liked the idea and the whole script in general and also liked the idea of someone so famous suddenly disappearing.

There were great directors in Bejoy and Karishma Kohli. I felt it was a great fit, so I said yes.” One of the main reasons for the show was that even though she is playing an A-list Bollywood star, the character is nothing like her.

Madhuri clarifies, “I’m not playing myself. I did that in a film called ‘Dharavi’, where I am Madhuri Dixit, who comes in Om Puri’s dreams.

web series based on the lives and relationship of actress Meena Kumari and her husband and filmmaker Kamal Amrohi is in the pipeline. The announcement was made

by Amrohi’s grandson Bilal Amrohi. According to the makers, the story will be set against the backdrop of the Bollywood film ‘Pakeezah’, directed by Kamal Amrohi starring Meena Kumari.

The series will feature details from the couple’s lives and incidents surrounding the making of the landmark film that took 16 years to be made and went on to become a cult classic. Bilal said doing justice to his grandfather’s vision “will

be a tall order”. He shared that the series will encapsulate not just the lives of its main characters, but also the detailing in ‘Pakeezah’.

He said the movie was made at a cost of £150,000 and originally commenced in 1958. Bilal said, “It is daunting to narrate the story of the making of the classic for today’s audience, but Yoodlee Films is as passionate about the project as we are. Together, we will hopefully pay the perfect tribute to the filmmaker whose obsession for perfection produced one of the landmark films of India.”

More details are yet to be revealed. The web series will go on floors in 2023.

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India to host IOC session in 2023 after 40 years

Voting to select BBC Indian sportswoman of the year begins Public voting to select the nominees for the third edition of the BBC Indian sportswoman (ISWOTY) of the year has begun. The five shortlisted by a distinguished jury of sports journalists, experts and sportswriters are: Aditi Ashok, golfer; Avani Lekhara, para-shooter; Lovlina Borgohain, boxer; P V Sindhu, shuttler and Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, weightlifter. Online voting will remain open until 28th February and the winner will be announced on 28th March 2022, at an awards ceremony in Delhi.

Liliane Landor, Senior Controller of BBC News International services and Director of BBC World Service say: “We’re proud that the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year award continues to highlight the extraordinary achievements of sportswomen in year’s India. This nominees are inspirational women and leaders in their

respective sports.

All deserve to be victorious, but it’s up to our audiences to vote across our platforms and crown the winner.” Rupa Jha, Head of India, BBC News, says: “I am so delighted to reveal the names of the nominees.

Each edition of the BBC ISWOTY nomination has sprung up some new names. The five nominees this year represent a wide range of sports from a golfer to a Paralympian, the shining stars of Indian sports are here to be celebrated.”

The awards ceremony will also honour a legendary

sportswoman with the BBC Lifetime Achievement Award, and a young female player will be named as the BBC Emerging Player of the Year.

Last year’s BBC Lifetime Achievement award winner, Anju Bobby George, expressed hope at the current situation of Indian sports and said: “India is doing enough to promote talented sportswomen, now things are changing. Infrastructur is being built, however, we need well-qualified coaches.

Parents also want to send their children to pursue sports, but sometimes there are safety issues.”

Mumbai will host the 2023 International Olympic Committee's (IOC) session after successfully bidding for it in the 139th IOC session being held in Beijing alongside the ongoing Winter Olympics. This will be the second time India will host an IOC session after hosting it in New Delhi, 1983.

Leading the Indian presentation in Beijing were Abhinav Bindra, the country's first individual Olympics gold medallist in 2008, IOC Member Nita Ambani, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra and Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.

Mumbai received 99 per

cent of the votes from the delegates participating in the process, with 75 members endorsing its candidature to host the IOC session in 2023. "I thank Nita Ambani for her vision and leadership and also thank all my IOC Member colleagues for their support,

Complete sweep by India in T20 series India beat West Indies by 17 runs in third and final T20 to complete a 3-0 series whitewash at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 65 off 31 balls to fire India to 184 for five in 20 overs.

In response, West Indies ended at 167 for nine after another sublime knock from

Rohit named captain across all formats Rohit Sharma has been named India’s captain across all three formats. India’s chief selector Chetan Sharma named Rohit as India’s new Test captain weeks after Kohli resigned following the series defeat in South Africa while announcing the squads for the three T20Is against Sri Lanka and the two-Test series, against the same team, at home next month. The star opener was given the white-ball captaincy just a couple of months back.

Chetan Sharma said that he considered Rohit Sharma the “No. 1 cricketer” in the country.

Meanwhile, Pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be Rohit’s deputy in both the T20I and Test series. KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Bumrah will be groomed as future captains under the 34year-old’s leadership, according to Chetan Sharma.

The selectors have finally

run out of patience with the struggling Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, whose poor form played a big part in India losing the Test series in South Africa. Both the senior batsmen have been dropped, along with two other veteran players in wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and pacer Ishant Sharma.

While the chief selector revealed that all four have been asked to play in the Ranji Trophy to regain their form, it’s understood that this could be the end of the road for at least three of them. “They could’ve been out of the South Africa series as well, but the team management wanted them to continue that time,” a source revealed.

Tests: Rohit Sharma (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman

I cannot wait to see you here in Mumbai next year. This is the start of a new era for India sport - an era that features the long-term goal of hosting the Olympic Games in India. We are ambitious and recognise our objectives are bold," said Batra.

Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin (subject to fitness), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-capt), Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Saurabh Kumar. T20Is: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (vicecapt), Bhuveshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan.

Rohit Sharma

T20I series Rohit Sharma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar, Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan

Nicholas Pooran (61 off 47) went in vain.

Sent into bat, India did not get off to an ideal start as the hosts lost opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad (4) in the third over off the bowling of Jason Holder.

Shreyas Iyer joined Ishan Kishan in the middle and after the end of powerplay overs, India’s score read 43/1.

The 53-run stand for the second wicket between Iyer and Ishan came to an end in the 9th over as Hayden Walsh Jr sent Shreyas (25) back to the pavilion and this brought skipper Rohit Sharma to the middle.

Kishan (34) was then bowled by Roston Chase in the next over and India was reduced to 66/3 in the 10th over. Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav put on 27 runs for the fourth wicket, however, this partnership was broken by Dominic Drakes as he bowled Rohit (7) in the 14th over.

After Deepak Chahar limped off the field after failing to complete the third over due to a hamstring injury, Harshal Patel (3/22), Venkatesh Iyer (2/23 from 2.1 overs) and Shardul Thakur (2/33) performed their tasks impressively to defend India’s 184/5.

Bihar cricketer hits record 341 in Ranji tie Series of interactions to mark India- UK week of sport Shakibul Gani (22) of Bihar's First Class cricket if the Bihar Motihari scripted cricketing Cricket Association had not lost history by hitting a triple recognition,” Khatoon said. century on first-class debut Shakibul is the youngest of six the first in the world to do so. In siblings in the family which lives the Ranji Plate tie against in the Agarwa locality in Motihari.

Mizoram in Kolkata, he blazed The Gani home is decorated with 341 runs off 405 balls, eclipsing trophies and medallions. the previous record of MP’s Ajay Shakibul’s father Mohammad Rohera (unbeaten 267 against Mannan Gani, who runs a sports Shakibul Gani Hyderabad in 2018). Shakibul is goods shop, echoed his wife’s the youngest of six children in sentiments: “Faisal has been the family. His mother, Asma Khatoon said Shakib’s mentor.” that she had gifted him three new bats “Shakib is an all rounder - he bowls pace before he left home for Kolkata.

- while my third brother Afan is a spin Motihari is now abuzz with the laurels of bowler who is handy with the bat,” Faisal, 27, Gani who has emerged as a hero despite a said. Bihar, having opted to bat first, declared largely non-existent cricketing at 686/5 after Sakibul brought up a 538-run infrastructure in Bihar. “Shakibul’s elder partnership for the fourth wicket with Babul brother Faisal too would have also played Kumar, who also scored a double century.

The UK government kicked off the ‘India-UK Week of Sport’ to celebrate the incredible living bridge between both nations in India’s 75th year of Independence. From 21-27 February, a series of on- and off-the-field interactions will highlight the shared love of sport and the opportunities it can create for people across both nations.

The Week of Sport will showcase the best of sport with events involving Indian and British personalities reflecting on their own journeys. It will include Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, cricketer Dinesh Karthik, para-badminton World Champion Manasi Joshi, tennis legend Vijay Amritraj and India rugby captain Vahbiz Bharucha among others.

Alex Ellis, British High

Commissioner to India, said: “The UK and India share a love for sports. Cricket, football, tennis, badminton, and hockey bring us together. The Week of Sport is a celebration of this bond and our living bridge. I look forward to more activities this year as India celebrates 75 years of Independence and the UK hosts the Commonwealth Games and the final match of the Test series.”

The joint initiative, led by the British Council and the Indian Council for Cultural relations, will launch later this year. It will celebrate the unique connections that can help shape the future of both nations through a diverse programme of activities – highlighting the strong cultural links between Britons and Indians – across sport, education, the arts, and much more.