AV 26th November 2022

Christmas celebrations for some British Asians are as important as the Diwali festivities, including exchanging gifts, hosting dinners a n d p a r t i e s . B u t f o r m a n y f a m i l i e s t h i s y e a r , t h e s p i r i t i s m a r r e d w i t h t h e c o s t o f l i v i n g crisis, as they contemplate giving t h e u s u a l f e s t i v i t i e s a m i s s , i n order to save for what they need versus what they want Adding f u e l t o t h e f i r e , i s t h e r e c e n t Autumn Statement released by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

India launches Vikram S, first privately made rocket

How the last disciple of Pt Ravi Shankar has taken over Instagram with his Sitar

Shefali Saxena

siding in the UK Born in Kenya , Bali is a Guja rati music directo r and playback sing er who ha s s ung s eve ral Bolly woo d s ongs a nd relea se d multi ple inde pendent hits

Having worked with Indian musical stalwarts like Bappi Lehri, Nadeem Shravan, Anand Milan and Anu Malik, Bali’s f irst song in Bollywood was “Lena Hai Lena Hai”, composed by Bappi Lehri for the 1993 f ilm Bomb Blast Best known for his hit songs "Kem Che", “Amma Dekh” and the "Gabbar Mix", Bali specializes in rap, reggae and funk music and is believed to have introduced rap to Bollywood and India through his “Patel Rap”

Currently, Bali continues to entertain his fans through his radio show ever y afternoon on Lyca Gold

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

It is the UK because I get to be with my family & friends and work at Lyca Gold Radio and stage shows

After leaving Kenya in 1976 to come to the UK, I went to India in 1992 to work in Bollywood for 20 years Only when I got back in 2012, did I realise how much I missed my family Hence, UK is always a special home

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Looking after my parents in the last 5 years of their lives

AND going to Bollywood, singing a few songs that reached the TOP 10 charts!

3)

What inspires you?

My f irst inspiration was my moth er, who was a teacher She taught me Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi and English, telling me that these would be useful if I ever went to India and how right she was It all came to use when I started singing in different languages for Bollywood My mother also bought me my f irst guitar and got me interested in music So, its my mother and now music that continue to inspire me This is what made Bali Along with music, being a Lyca Gold Radio presen ter also inspires me

4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?

There are always ups and downs in life but I consider that as challenges and not obstacles

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

My wife Sheila A partner, a manag er, a secretar y, a provider and my psy chiatrist who listens to all my scruples

and stands by me!

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

Personally, I play the roles of a hus band, father, grandfather and brother The best aspect is the respect given by each relation which in turn gives immense joy The pleasure of playing each of these roles simultaneously can not be put into words!!

Professionally, my current role as a Radio Presenter has brought me into touch with all UK ites that I had left behind for 20 years when I went to India to work in Bollywood 7) And the worst?

The worst aspect is the effect of ageing It slows down performance 8) What are your long term goals?

My Long term goals are to hit the charts again in Bollywood and be part of a winning team at Lyca Gold Radio as a presenter!!

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

If I was PM, I would provide a handsome reward for all those people that work and pay taxes all their lives and stop allowances for all those that have zero contributions.

10) If you were marooned on a deserted island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why Man Friday to do all the work for me and ser ve me!!!

But jokes aside, If I was marooned on a deserted island, I would like to spend my time with Thor Heyerdahl (an adventurer and ethnographer with deep knowledge of zoology, botany and geography) Together, we would build a boat and sail away towards our homes!!

Rishi paves way for FTA by agreeing to 3000 more visas for Indian graduates

R is h i S un ak h as th r o w n o p en Britain’s bord ers to 3,00 0 m ore Indian g r ad u a tes to h el p pave the way fo r a major trad e deal

A deal has been signed off allowing d e g r e e e d u c a t e d young professionals to spend two years here before return i n g h o m e B u t t h e m o v e r i s k s a b a t t le w i t h Ho m e Secretar y Suella Braverman after giving the green light a f t e r s h e b l a s t e d m i g r a n t over stayers It comes as the P r i m e M i n i s t e r “ w o u l d n' t sacrif ice quality for speed” as he appeared to dampen speculation about a trade deal being on the horizon

He w i l l a n n o u n c e t h e v i s a d e a l t o d a y w h e n h e meets Indian PM Narendra

Modi where 3,000 people a year will be able to come and stay here for two years The reciprocal deal is part of the U K I n d i a M i g r a t i o n a n d Mobility Partnership which was agreed upon last year The new deal comes after the Home Secretar y blasted the immigration system in this countr y She said: “Look at migration in this countr y the largest group of people w h o o v e r s t a y a r e I n d i a n

Tr

r e

“F I C C I w e l c o m e s the announcement of t h e U K I n d i a Yo u n g P r o fe s s i o n s S c h e m e T h i s will give the brightest young minds from both the coun tries to live and work in the other countr y This will be an opportunity of a lifetime for these young profession als The announcement also highlights the strength of the UK India Migration and Mobility Partnership agreed l a s t y e a r, ” A r u n C h a w l a , D i r e c t o r G e n e r a l , F I C C I said

BBC getting calls to abandon the axing of Black and Asian shows

Th e BBC is facing mounting calls to abando n rep orted plans to axe its Black and A sian local radio show s w i th w ar ni ng s th at t h e mo ve will alienate minority audiences

The corporation plans to reduce the number of week day shows on each BBC local radio station to two break f a s t a n d l u n c h t i m e p r o grammes placing all shows that air after 2 pm at risk of being cancelled altogether or folded into regional and n a t i o n a l p r o g r a m m i n g There are currently 39 local radio stations, 12 of which

are fronted by Black presen t e r s a n d t h e o t h e r 1 2 b y Asian broadcasters; any cuts will likely result in job losses

BBC sources said that the move would have a “dev astating impact” on Black and Asian employees within a n o r g a n i s a t i o n t h a t i s already failing on diversity from top to bottom, accord i n g t o i t s o w n s t a t i s t i c s C a m p a i g n e r Z i t a Ho l b o u r n e , t h e n a t i o n a l c h a i r a n d c o fo u n d e r o f BARAC UK has launched a petition against the BBC’s p l a n s , w a r n i n g t h a t t h i s move risks the corporation

b e i n g i n b r e a c h o f i t s mandator y commitments to r a c e e q u a l i t y u n d e r t h e Public Sector Equality Duty In 2019, the BBC was forced to U turn on its plans to axe the Dotun on Sunday programme the only Black political talk show on radio or television in the UK fol l o w i n g a p u b l i c b a c k l a s h This recent saga follows a report from The Sir Lenny He n r y C e n t r e fo r Me d i a D i v e r s i t y l a s t y e a r w h i c h found a “shocking” lack of racial diversity in local and regional newsrooms across the BBC

GP accused for intimate examinations

A GP accus ed o f carrying o u t i nt im a te e x am s o n wo me n ’ s va gi n as an d breasts when they weren’t needed h as claimed he only d id i t b ec au se t h ey w er e anxio us

M a n i s h S h a h , 5 3 , t o l d p o l i c e t h a t p a t i e n t s w e r e more anxious following the high prof ile death of Jade Goody, claiming they asked for the exams The reality T V star died from cer vical

cancer aged 27 in 2009 ‘It is well documented that these cases helped raise general a w a r e n e s s o f w o m e n ’ s health issues,’ Shah claimed It is better to examine the patients rather than sticking to the educated guidelines a n d f a i l i n g t o c h e c k a patient ’

Shah is accused of abus ing eight women, some of them teenagers, at a medical centre in Romford, Essex,

NHS racism is affecting care of patients

Ra ci sm r em ai ns a h u g e problem within t he h ealth ser v i ce ac c o r din g t o a n NHS leader who said dis cr iminatio n o f staf f is hav ing a kno ck on ef fect o n patients

Saffron Corder y, chief e xe c u t i v e o f N H S Providers, told delegates at its annual conference in Liverpool, that the experi ences of minority groups “ are so much worse than those of their white col leagues” The NHS work

force is one of the most diverse in the countr y ethnic minorities make up 22 per cent of staff overall, with 25 per cent of nurses and 45 per cent of doctors y e t d i s c r i m i n a t i o n i s rife. Racism is wrecking the lives of doctors, affect ing patient care, and jeop ardising ser vices, a land mark report into racism within the NHS, a report fo u n d e a r l i e r t h i s y e a r T h e B r i t i s h Me d i c a l Association received testi

monies from more than 2,000 NHS doctors with 84 per cent saying they h a d s u f fe r e d r a c i s m a t work

Ms Corder y went on t o s a y t h a t C o v i d 19 “shone the brightest possi ble light” on the connec tion between race, health i n e q u a l i t i e s a n d h e a l t h o u t c o m e s , p o i n t i n g o u t that almost two thirds (63 per cent) of health work ers who died were from an ethnic minority

between October 2009 and July 2013 The Old Bailey heard today that during a police inter view Shah said h e ‘ o b s e r v e d t h e m o r e proactive rather than reac t i v e a p p r o a c h t a ke n i n America ’ He did accept that ‘in comparison to other GPs I may have a relatively low threshold for asking for a review My decision to con duct an intimate examina tion is sometimes made to address a patient’s anxieties

‘My practice may not be typical of all GPs, but as far as I am aware I have never m i s s e d c a n c e r i n a l l m y y e a r s a s a d o c t o r ’ S h a h , from Romford, h is said to have persuaded women to have invasive vaginal exami nations and breast examina tions when there was no medical need for them to be c o n d u c t e d a n d t o h a v e breached the guidelines on the use of chaperones He denies 23 counts of assault b y p e n e t r a t i o n a n d 1 8 c o u n t s o f s e x u a l a s s a u l t T h e t r i a l c o n t i n u e s w i t h Shah due to give evidence tomorrow

Playback Singer and Radio Show Presenter

migrants

a d e n e g o t i a t o r s

a r e c u r

n t l y i n t a l k s with India over a trade deal and is set to be the f irst with a European countr y The trade rela t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t h e two countries is worth £24 billion

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is back with a bang

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed usually on 9 January by India to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community towards the development of India The day traditionally commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai, India on 9 January 1915 This year the PBD event is being hosted in Madhya Pradesh (see page 11) from 8 10 January, and the community is rejoicing the Deputy Mayor of London Rajesh Agrawal’s link to the city

Narendra Modi had a huge fan following in the UK post his success as a Chief Minister in Gujarat But the Labour party government did not want NaMo to visit the UK, referring to his connection to the Godhra riot However, as India elected Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of the UK, he was wel comed by the Tory party to visit the UK David Cameron, who once claimed he was Britain’s first Asian Prime Minister, dur ing an interview with Asian Voice, was absolutely delighted to “Welcome Modi” in Wembley Stadium 40,000 members of the Indian community were delighted to see their ‘favourite’ Indian Prime Minister, addressing them This is the moment when the Prime Minister of India coined the term ‘Living Bridge’ for the diaspora, NRIs and Indian community mem bers across the globe

This Living Bridge has made India proud, including recently being appointed as Britain’s first ever Indian Prime Minister According to a Ministry of External Affairs report, there are 32 million NRIs and OCIs residing outside India and overseas Indians comprise the world's largest overseas diaspo ra Every year 2 5 million Indians migrate overseas, which is the highest annual number of migrants in the world

As India prepares for the gala event in 2023, after two years of lull due to Covid, the community across the globe has wel

comed the news of the suspension of the Air Suvidha form, making travel slightly easier without the extra documentation Though the success of this suspension depends on the status of the Covid situation in India, it is a giant step for a world that has come to cope with coronavirus after three years of strug gle, life and business losses

The idea of Living Bridge is not just about community spirit, or solidarity with the idea of new India It also makes a huge financial contribution towards India’s growth One of the most reliable sources of foreign exchange inflows for India, reportedly, is the remittances from the Living Bridge According to reports, every dollar transferred by NRIs adds to India's credit worthiness and foreign reserves They make up nearly 25% of India's total foreign reserves As per the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), remittance is received from the approximately 35 million members of the Indian diaspora and has contributed to $87bn in 2020 21, making it 2 75% of the GDP

After much fiasco, UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has opened up the doors to Indian talents under the age of 30 to migrate to the UK under a special visa, after meeting PM Modi at COP27 There is a strong hope among the community that, as a reciprocity, India will restore the e visa for travellers from Britain and possibly before PBD There is a huge opportunity for Indians who want to come to the UK to fill up staff short age The community is generally peace loving, hardworking, enterprising and prosperous Whether it is the care industry, hospitals, retails or hospitality the demand for skilled migrants is very high and who better to fill these gaps with their already existing language and skill proficiency than Indians?

Can Britain’s rich Asians bail out the poorest?

The world has been gripped by the Football World Cup fever and eyes are set on Gareth Southgate’s The Three Lions to win the trophy for the country, to bring in some Christmas cheer as Britain formally enters a period of long gloom and recession

The Autumn Statement delivered by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, promises more than eight million households on means tested benefits They will receive a cost of living payment of £900 in installments The plan set out is reportedly designed to fight inflation in the face of unprecedented global pressures brought about by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine (see more on p1)

Larry Elliot in a piece in The Guardian talked about how in this whole budget, the most squeezed would be the middle class In today’s world, when it is difficult to admit that Britain is still divided into classes, as many other societies, the Autumn Statement has made it sure that life is not going to be easy for anyone going forward

Larry said: “Britain has already had one lost decade of flatlining living standards since the global financial crisis and is now heading for another one The IFS calculates that by the middle of the 2020s, real household disposable income would have been a third higher had the steadily rising pre GFC trend continued

“But the IFS director, Paul Johnson, said it would be those on ‘middling’ sorts of incomes who would feel the biggest hit from Jeremy Hunt’s measures, because their taxes were rising, their wages were falling, and they wouldn’t gain from the tar geted support for those on mean tested benefits ”

T h e G u a r d i a n f u r t h e r e x p l a i n e d h o w t h e R e s o l u t i o n

Foundation, a think tank believed: “The decision to use ‘stealthy’ freezes in tax thresholds to raise money rather than increasing tax rates meant the overall impact was to squeeze those on middle incomes as well as higher income house

holds ”

So, according to the thinktank a typical household report edly faces a permanent 3 7% income hit from the mentioned measures which is the same as the top fifth of households, and bigger than the 3% income hit that the very top 20th of households face This is reflected in the fact that threshold freezes raise the same amount of tax in cash terms on almost anyone earning above that threshold

“For example, someone on £62,000 loses as much from threshold freezes as someone on £124,000 in cash terms (£1,600) but twice as much as a share of income (2 6% vs 1 3%),” the Guardian said

At the same time, the city’s rough sleepers and homeless ness are on the rise Charities are coming forward to provide aid, when the government sits cash strapped, unable to gauge the level of austerity in the poorest section of the soci ety or among the disabled Asian community already suffers harder due to lack of resources and awareness, but a commu nity that has the richest of the UK businesses, perhaps needs to try harder

In the US, most billionaires contribute generously to phi lanthropy as well as the education sector, though in the UK, especially in the Asian community, we still hesitate to do enough There is so much to learn from an Indian philan throper like Azim Premji The give away list every year pub lished in The Sunday Times Rich, barely has an Asian name It is not that philanthropy or ‘ seva ’ is an alien idea to the British Asian leaders, but they haven’t really done enough to make a huge difference and that needs to change immediately It’s an opportunity and a legacy to be proud of In this season of kindness, it is perhaps a wakeup call for most of them, to pro vide an extra hand of support to those who need it the most

Unity remains the best defence against terrorism

We mark the 14th anniversary of the 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai, this Saturday, when 166 people were killed and over 300 wounded including many Britons Lord Gulam Noon, a beloved community leader, was one of those under siege in The Taj Hotel in Mumbai

The attacks became a watershed moment in India’s his t o r y i n c l u d i n g i t s r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h P a k i s t a n T o d a y , Pakistan is in denial of the event and claims that it had nothing to do with it But initially, Pakistan’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) did a good job at unravelling the details of the 26/11 attacks However, global pressure on Pakistan slackened and they suddenly realised that they could get away by doing nothing This eventually placed Pakistan at the epicentre of international terrorism

W h i l e I n d i a ’ s c o u n t e r t e r r o r i s m c a p a b i l i t i e s h a v e improved considerably since 2008, especially with the pas sage of time and other developments in Indian security, India Pakistan relations, and the global environment have threatened to overshadow the events of November 2008, though it has hardened the country’s attitude towards ter rorists and militants of all stripes

India has also learnt some incredibly valuable lessons from 26/11 For one, the terrorist groups operating on the other side of the border have also changed their modus operandi Following Mumbai, the government of India came up with a slew of measures to deal with the new threat The National Investigation Agency was created to investigate terrorism issues, four National Security Guard

(NSG) hubs were set up for a rapid response to attacks An amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was created to provide for the arrest and interrogation of terrorism sus pects One of the first outcomes of 26/11 was to get the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), an intelligence agency clearing house, in motion

One of the other major decisions of the government was to place the Indian Coast Guard under the Indian Navy, and make the latter the overall in charge of maritime security, in coordination with the state government agencies and the marine police

The Government of India has also taken important mea sures to improve the state’s intelligence gathering mecha nism and enhance inter agency coordination amongst the various security agencies These measures have resulted in a m a r k e d r e d u c t i o n o f t e r r o r a t t a c k s i n u r b a n c e n t r e s

Although these steps have led to a qualitative improvement in combating terrorism, there is limited coordination among intelligence agencies, security forces, and the bureaucracy

Though India still suffers from inadequate inter agency coordination which, in turn, leads to lack of effective intelli gence monitoring and security response, to improve the level of coordination, interoperability among the agencies must be enhanced and military officers must be periodically sent on deputation to cooperating agencies This will ensure that the country’s entire intelligence apparatus precisely under stands the specific requirements of the consumers of their intelligence

Thought for the week

Letter from India

Some highlights and insights fro m my India trip wh ich to ok in meetings in Delh i and Bangalo re

A confident India I have been coming to India up to 8 times a year since 1999 (and less frequently before then) From roles as a member of the UK India Roundtable advising both PMs on policy, to the Board of UK India Business Council to UK Government’s Dealmaker for India So you can say some experience in the bilateral rela tionship

A Mo re Assertive Confident India

I’ve noticed, as has the world a more self assured con fident, less defensive India Previously what might be put down to ‘the Indians are upset’ now leads to a rapid firm statement if they are ‘upset’ The comments on India pur c h a s i n g R u s s i a n o i l o r r e s p o n s e t o t h e U K H o m e Secretary’s visa comments are cases on point They make the point and move on V isas

This remains as it has for two decades an issue (longer of course) I suspect the Indians move more on visas from seeing British Indian anger on Twitter than anything else

Look if you ’ re British Indian, you should have an OCI Get on with it My aunt had to cancel her flight the visa did not come in time

A delegation of British investors from the Midlands did not get their visas in time and so did not come to India on the trip I was on The damage is clear The solutions are clear but also convoluted and intertwined

The British Deputy High Commissioner to Bangalore had not arrived in time either for similar reasons I under stand

Entrepreneu rsh ip

Indian companies are getting more and more globally ambitious India as a whole is more like Silicon Valley than at any time I have observed The number of entrepreneurs wishing to solve the world’s biggest problems is astound ing More want to be entrepreneurs and innovators Given Indian numbers and talent, they will eclipse all other nationalities in the decade

Cap ital

India is a larger economy than the UK by GDP, but also by population and geography and the latter two mean it needs more capital It’s impressively stable as an econo my but the world does not lend to India in the volume and interest rates it does to the UK and US Trust

T r u s t k e e p s c o m i n g u p a s a w o r d N o t a t t h e entrepreneur level At the Governmental level 1971, 1965, colonial mindset keeps coming up India is closer to the US than in a long time UK is compared to the French “the French did this for us ” comes up

Th ey Love Rish i

That really helped who the Prime Minister of the UK is Lots of friendly banter and fun And yes, the Kohi Noor came up too But if that is the height of our differences, then fantastic Using ethnic minority population in bilat eral relations has long been a UK Government way of working but no one expected the PM to be the one at the top! They’ve also moved on from the Truss fiasco

Wants and Needs

India wants to substitute Russian junk but Western hardware is expensive It wants the intellectual property It wants to make domestically The EU and French are doing that It’s Make in India initiative is as strong as ever

The UK needs to boost exports It wants more market access

Brexit Did Not Come Up

For the first time in a long time, Brexit did not come up The UK was for the entrepreneurs I spoke to a staging post into EU and US

So how do we build closer relations? That was the questions posed to me by Prime Minister Blair when I was appointed to the UK India Roundtable

Defence collaboration is one key place What India wants is clear What the UK is willing and able to deliver is more complicated

Visas as I said, reset the relationship on this Unravel it UK companies want to invest, want to get out there, but if their visas don’t come through, it’s lose lose

Am I optimistic Well I am optimistic that India has close Western relations UK is in the mix Yes, I’d prefer it was in the lead In many areas it is And many of us are working to make those relations closer

Money won't create success, the freedom to make it will. Nelso n Mandela

Alpesh Patel

Sunak says 'Mazboot Dosti' after meeting Modi

U K Prim e Minister Rishi Sunak o n Nov em ber 16 hig hlig hted th e strong bonds between India and Britain d uring his m eeting with P rim e Minister Narendra M odi w ith the two lead ers discussing areas wh ere the U K and Ind ia are working increasing ly closely inclu ding defence and security

" U n i t e d b y f r i e n d s h i p e k mazboot dosti," Rishi Sunak said in a tweet after his meeting with P M M o d i I t w a s t h e i r f i r s t meeting after Sunak, the first I n d i a n o r i g i n B r i t i s h P r i m e M i n i s t e r , a s s u m e d o f f i c e l a s t month Speaking on the side lines of the G20 Summit, Sunak said the UK is committed to a F r e e T r a d e A g r e e m e n t w i t h

India S

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a s annually to come to the UK Under the new UK India Young Professionals Scheme, the coun try will offer 3,000 places annu ally to 18 30 year old degree e d u c a t e d I n d i a n n a t i o n a l s t o come to the UK to live and work here for up to two years

Sadiq-Winsor controversy continues

T he M ayor of L ondon and a fo r m er police watch dog remain at l o g g e rh ea d s o v er cl ai m s th a t Britain’s m ost senior p olice o ffi cer w as forced out of her job S i r T h o m a s W i n s o r a n d Sadiq Khan went head to head in front of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, to be questioned about the depar ture of Dame Cressida Dick ear lier this year A report by Sir T h o m a s f o u n d s h e h a d b e e n intimidated into leaving but Mr Khan began by telling the com m i t t e e t h a t t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n was biased a claim dismissed by the former inspectorate of constabulary as “absurd”

Dame Cressida quit in the early evening of February 10 this y e a r d e s p i t e g i v i n g a m e d i a interview that morning that she

had no intention of resigning Sir Thomas said that Mr Khan had suggested Dame Cressida take the same action that Ed Balls did in the wake of the Baby P case, after which he sacked Haringey Council’s head of chil d r e n ’ s s e r v i c e s S h a r o n S h o e s m i t h , d e s p i t e h e r l a t e r receiving a payout for unfair dis missal

He said the Mayor’s actions “ c o u l d a n d i n m y v i e w d o amount to unlawful conduct”

The commissioner did not have the power to sack the officers M r K h a n m a i n t a i n s t h a t h e advised the commissioner to get independent legal advice to see what options were available to d e a l w i t h t h e o f f i c e r s a n d whether the correct decisions about discipline had been made

Headteacher says London schools are sinking

Richard Slade, 57, is head teacher of Plumcroft Primary Sch ool in Greenw ich, tells wh y he’ s will ing to walk out for th e first tim e in his 20 year career A ccording to Slade, “I’ve been a head teach er for 20 years and, for the first time in my career, I’ve reached the p oint wh ere I’m prepared to go on strike I d o not say these words lig htly, but it’ s got to th e stage in which hope, p ossibility, joy, and opportunity are being w ip e d o u t o f ed u c ati o n, a nd sch ools like m ine are g etting to th e p o in t w h ere w e c an no longer afford to keep ch ild ren safe

“Let me try to paint a picture for you I became headteacher of Plumcroft Community Primary School in Greenwich in 2010 and, while the money has never been plentiful in education, at least back then we had sufficient funding to deliver our curricu

lum and enhance it with things like visits from musicians, resi dential school trips, and health a n d w e l l b e i n g p r o j e c t s , l i k e using activity trackers to help t a c k l e c h i l d h o o d o b e s i t y Plumcroft used to be at the cut ting edge of those things; we can’t afford to do them now because the numbers simply do not work

“Not only can we not afford t h o s e s o c a l l e d “ e x t r a s ” l i k e tackling obesity; we ’ ve reached the point where there simply isn’t enough money to be able to do even the day to day basics of education properly We teachers have been paddling away under the surface for years, putting on a brave face, staying cheerful and optimistic for the sake of the children in our care and their families, but it’s reached the point where we can’t paddle any more We’re sinking ”

Sunak holds one-to-one with Xi and Biden

T he PM will raise hu man righ ts issues, including China’s d eci sion to sanction sev eral U K MPs but will also propose co llabo ratio n o n g lobal p oli cy p rob lems, includ ing climate chang e Rishi Sunak is to meet the world’s two most powerful peo ple for the first time as he pre pares to extend an olive branch t o C h i n a , d e s p i t e c a l l i n g t h e country a “threat” to Britain’s economy The Prime Minister will hold one on one talks with both Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, the Presidents of the US and China, at the G20 summit in China He will ask Mr Xi for h e l p o n c l i m a t e c h a n g e a n d e n e r g y s e c u r i t y r i s k i n g t h e anger of Conservative MPs who fear he may be “weak” on the autocratic superpower Mr Sunak’s bilateral meeting

with Mr Xi will be the first time a British prime minister has met the Chinese President for nearly five years The two countries’ leaders have not talked for more than 18 months Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said: “I am worried that t h e p r e s e n t P r i m e M i n i s t e r , when he meets Xi Jinping, will be perceived as weak because it now looks like we ’ re drifting into appeasement with China, which is a disaster as it was in the 30s and so it will be now ”

Disadvantaged students have fallen further behind

Po or e r s t ud e n t s a re l a gg i n g behind their peers at the same rate as they were a decade ago, a re port on the long s tanding attai nment gap has foun d Disadvantaged pupils have fallen further behind in prima r y s c h o o l a n d a t G C S E a s progress towards more equal outcomes has slid backwards, t h e a n n u a l r e s e a r c h f o u n d T h e y w e r e a t t h e i r f u r t h e s t point behind better off peers at these stages since 2012, accord i n g t o t h e F a i r E d u c a t i o n

A l l i a n c e , a c o a l i t i o n o f 2 5 0 g r o u p s t h a t a i m t o t a c k l e inequality within education It said the Covid pandemic served as a barrier to progress being made to narrow the attainment gap, with the cost of living cri sis now risking making the sit uation even worse

T h e a t t a i n m e n t g a p h a s long been an issue in the UK,

with wealthier pupils generally tending to do better in school than their more disadvantaged p e e r s T h e F a i r E d u c a t i o n Alliance published its annual report on educational inequali ty on Wednesday, offering an assessment on how the attain ment gap stands in 2022 It found the divide between dis a d v a n t a g e d p u p i l s a n d t h e i r peers has widened in maths, writing and reading at primary s c h o o l d u e t o d i s r u p t i o n caused by the Covid pandemic, which sent students home for months at a time, and was now at its widest point since 2012 S i m i l a r l y , t h e a t t a i n m e n t gap at GCSE was at its highest point in the past decade The F a i r E d u c a t i o n A l l i a n c e s a i d this could be down to major p o l i c y c h a n g e s t o p e r p u p i l f u n d i n g a n d t h e l i m i t i n g o f subject choice at GCSE

MP Naz Shah says Adil Khan murdered

Brad ford M P Naz Shah is seeking info rm ation fo l low ing the alleg ed m urd er o f a 1 4 y ear ol d Br i ti sh boy in P akistan

A d i l K h a n , o f C r o m w e l l T e r r a c e , B r a d f o r d , p r e s u m a b l y died while on holiday with his family

B r a d f o r d W e s t M P N a z S h a h s a i d s h e w a s "deeply saddened to hear of the murder of young Adil K h a n w h i l s t o n h o l i d a y i n Pakistan "

She said her "thoughts and prayers were with his family "I have reached out to the B r i t i s h H i g h C o m m i s s i o n t o

in Pakistan

in brief

CAR WASH WORKER JAILED TO GET LICENCE FOR LEARNER DRIVERS

Ali Ahmad who used to charge £1,000 to sit people’s driving and theory tests in Leicester has been jailed The 46 year old of Griffiths Close in Ipswich used to work as a car wash worker and used to earn extra money by moonlighting as a fraudster He pleaded guilty to multiple offences of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud as part of a scam that lasted more than a year For a total of 14 offences, Ahmad was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court However, he still managed to keep his own driving licence, which was not taken away by the court Sentencing

Ahmad, Judge Mark Watson told him: "As a result, both of those individuals became full UK driver licence holders that they became holders of driving licences without themselves having proved their ability "

PRITI PATEL LEADS GROUP OF TORIES CALLING FOR FUEL DUTY CUT

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel is leading a group of Tories calling for a fuel duty cut after the Chancellor left the door open to a potential hike Priti Patel and 22 fellow backbench MPs have written to Jeremy Hunt asking him to cut down fuel duty or at least commit to freezing it until the end of this parliament Meanwhile, the Chancellor has reassured critics that the Government has not made any decision yet on the contentious issue after he failed to mention it in his Autumn Statement

Following a warning it would add 12p to the price of a litre of petrol or diesel Tory MPs are demanding an assurance that he will not go ahead with a planned rise in fuel duty The letter has been signed by Brandon Lewis the former Cabinet minister and Sir Graham Brady the 1922 committee chair, as well as senior backbenchers Sir John Redwood and Sir William Cash

POLICE 'FAILED AND LET DOWN' WOMEN SAYS EX WATCHDOG

Police errors contributed to the deaths of Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem in Solihull in 2018 an inquest jury has found West Midlands Police has apologised to the family Zoe Billingham, who served as Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, said they were "failed" by officers "In all steps, the victims in this particularly tragic and shocking case were failed and let down by the police " she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme

seek further information," she added

"Of course, it goes without s a y i n g t h a t t h e B r i t i s h H i g h C o m m i s s i o n a n d m y s e l f a r e here to offer any assistance to the family and I would ask that we respect the family's privacy "

Barclay defends government’s handling of NHS

H e a l t h Se c r et ar y S te v e B arc lay has admitted the NHS is under “huge pressure ” but that the Covid pandemic has b een a major factor in th e issues w hich have pushed the h e a l th s e rv ic e to b re a k i n g point

D e s p i t e r e c o g n i s i n g t h e

difficulties of the health ser vice, such as rising waiting l i s t s , a n u r s i n g s t r i k e , a n d A & E w a i t i n g t i m e s , M r Barclay said the Government i s w o r k i n g t o r e s o l v e t h e issues across the health ser vice “I recognise as a conse quence of the pandemic that

G P a p p o i n t m e n t s h a v e become under pressure, ” he said Speaking later to Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Barclay said it w a s a d i f f i c u l t d e c i s i o n t o delay reforms to the NHS, but insisted that elements of the Chancellor’s statement would go some way to addressing

social and A&E departments

Commenting on the strike action, Mr Barclay said it is " i m p o r t a n t t o l o o k a t t h e p a c k a g e " b e i n g o f f e r e d t o nurses as a whole, rather than just pay I am very keen to engage with the trade unions My door is open," he added

Ms Oudeh's estranged husband Janbaz Tarin admitted to murdering the two women and was jailed for a minimum of 32 years in December 2018 After the inquest Mrs Saleem s sister, Naur Norris said, West Midlands Police had so many opportunities to save their lives, right up until the end"

In their final hours, Ms Oudeh made six 999 calls After Tarin hit her at a restaurant and followed them home, in their final hours, Ms Oudeh made six 999 calls but officers failed to reach them in time In the final call, which the inquest heard, Ms Oudeh's screams could be heard as she was attacked Since the murders, the force had made changes including increasing the number of officers investigating domestic abuse offences, Assistant Chief Constable Andy Hill said But he accepted "none of this will undo the devastation that the murders of Raneem and Khaola caused to their family"

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Rishi Sunak speaks for his daughter’s safety

M entio ning the case of nine year old Olivia Pratt Korbel wh o was sho t in h er hom e in Liverpool, the PM said " events of th e last year sh owed us that so m any wom en and girls have not felt as safe as they should "

I want to make sure that my kids and everyone else can walk around safely," the PM said

He said in the past he and "many of us men" had taken safety "for granted"

"So tackling that and making it safer for people is something that's just personally quite important to me "

T h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r s a i d h i s eldest child wanted to walk to her primary school on her own, hence they decided to move out of their Downing Street flat and settle near h e r s c h o o l b e f o r e h e r e s i g n e d a s

chancellor

He said: "It brings it home to you as a parent and again over the sum mer the awful things that we read about with the young girl Olivia [ P r a t t K o r b e l ] , w h i c h w e ' l l a l l remember "I want to make sure that my kids and everyone else can walk around safely

"That's what any parent wants for their children "

One of NI's biggest GP practices at risk of closure

M ap le H eal th c are i n L is na sk ea , w hich is one of North ern Ireland's largest GP practices, is at risk o f clo su re after its op erato r hand ed its contract back to the Department of Health

The department has confirmed the news and has reassured patients that services would continue at the practice for the next six months

"Patients at the practice do not need to take any action They should continue to contact their practice as normal," a spokesperson said "We will be writing out to all

p r a c t i c e p a t i e n t s t o k e e p t h e m informed as this process begins "

Over the past 18 months, the n u m b e r o f p a r t n e r s a t M a p l e Healthcare has reduced while anoth er is due to retire in early 2023

Some of the reasons for handing b a c k t h e c o n t r a c t w a s " e x c e s s i v e stresses and intolerable pressures" at work, said the practice’s operators

"The remaining partners find it inconceivable that they could con tinue to carry the burden of respon sibility of running the practice," they added

Rishi Sunak meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy

In his first visit to the county since taking office, Rish i Sunak m ad e a surprise visit to Kyiv on S aturd ay to m eet Ukr ai ne ’ s p re s id ent , Vo lod ym yr Zelenskiy

On Saturday, Zelenskiy posted a video showing him meeting Sunak in the capital “During today’s meeting, we discussed the most important issues both for our countries and for global security,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app

F o l l o w i n g i n t h e f o o t s t e p s o f Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Sunak has vowed that the UK will support Ukraine in the fight against Russia and will remain steadfast

“In years to come, we’ll tell our grandchildren of your story, how proud and sovereign people stood up in the face of an appalling onslaught, how you fought, how you sacrificed,

In response, Zelenskiy praised a “meaningful and useful visit for both our countries”, during which the two leaders had discussed how to protect “ E u r o p e a n a n d U k r a i n i a n e n e r g y security” and defence cooperation

“With friends like you by our side, we are confident in our victory,” he added on Twitter

Independent review ordered by Birmingham Labour after racism claims

A n in depe nden t revie w has bee n ord ered by the Labour lea der of B i r mi n g h a m C i t y C o u n ci l I a n Wa rd to in vestigate clai ms by some of his ow n coun ci llors of 'tox ici ty' a nd 'ra ci sm' towards them an d eth n ic minori ty are as of the city

In an internal survey, ‘ concern i n g c o m m e n t s ’ o f s o m e o f B i r m i n g h a m L a b o u r ' s b l a c k a n d Asian councillors, triggered nega t i v e h e a d l i n e s w h e n l e a k e d t o media including BirminghamLive Backed by the national party, Cllr Ian Ward has ordered an external

r e v i e w , w h i c h w i l l l o o k a t t h e g r o u p ' s c u l t u r e , t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p between leaders and backbenchers a n d w i t h t h e p r e s s a n d t r a d e unions In the survey, some coun cillors made damaging claims of 'racist bias', which was carried out by Cllr Saima Suleman after she was appointed as BAME lead for the group

Cllr Ward made it clear that the review would be led by a panel of ' i n d e p e n d e n t f i g u r e s ' f r o m t h e Labour movement, not named in the statement

Restaurant will have to pay £8,000 for serving lamb curry with beef

A restaurant director in A ppleby has been left with a court bill of alm ost £8 ,00 0 after a lamb curry m eal served at the premises was found to contain beef

Abul Kashem, 48, was prosecuted following a test purchase by a Cumbria County Council Trading Standards Officer on 4 August 2021 This was car ried out at Ashiana Exquisite Asian Cuisine, Bridge Street, Appleby Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard that a lamb curry meal was ordered

However, subsequent analysis of the meat showed it comprised 50% beef as well as the lamb This, said a prosecutor, had the poten tial to offend somebody with religious beliefs that the cow was a sacred ani mal The meat was bought from a supplier in Yorkshire

in packaging with no labels Kashem, of Bridge Street, Appleby, admitted two charges: selling food not of the nature demanded by the purchaser; and failing to comply with EU provision concerning food safety and hygiene by failing to have in place a system and proce dure which allowed food traceability information to be made available Both offences were breaches of food safety legislation

Kashem was fined £775, and ordered to pay a manda tory £78 surcharge and pros ecution costs of £7,107 15 a total bill of £7,960 15

Speaking after the hearing, his legal representative Hammad Fahim said there was no suggestion that the two meats had been deliber ately mixed Traces of beef DNA had been found during scientific testing

Map of Britain will change in next 80 years

T o w n s an d ci ti e s w i ll b e vanishing into the sea h as been pred icted in new m aps of the UK by 210 0

C l i m a t e C e n t r a l ’ s n e w maps have predicted that by 2100 towns and cities will vanish into the sea Within 80 years, much of London could be gone as a harrow ing result of rising water lev e l s , w h i l e c l i m a t e c h a n g e continues to grip the globe, it has been predicted

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e experts, a rise of even 2C could see central parts of the capital turned into a water w o r l d A s p e r C l i m a t e Central's maps, the devasta tion will not stop there with other areas left totally unin habitable

E n g l a n d ' s S o u t h E a s t will also be on red alert with coastal towns in Hampshire, Essex, Sussex and Kent all at serious risk

By 2100, Europe doesn't e s c a p e w i t h B e l g i u m , Germany, Northern France and half of the Netherlands expected to be underwater

C l i m a t e C e n t r a l p r o v i d e s authoritative information to help the public and policy makers to make sound deci s i o n s a b o u t c l i m a t e a n d e n e r g y , e s t i m a t e d t h a t around 275 million people live in the areas highlighted in the current state

According to the organi s a t i o n , o v e r t h e n e x t 3 0 y e a r s , c o a s t a l a r e a s a r e e x p e c t e d t o r e g u l a r l y f a l l below sea level

in brief

KILLER SENT TEXTS TO HIS VICTIM'S CHILDREN OFF HER PHONE AFTER HE MURDERED AND BURIED HER

A man who murdered his ex girlfriend and buried her body in a forest messaged her children in a cruel charade to make it seem their mum was still alive Andrew Burfield, 51, murdered Katie Kenyon, 33, buried her body in a shallow grave, and then sent messages from her phone to her daughter 12 and son, 14, which he drafted weeks earlier in his iPhone Notes app A court heard that the messages he sent claimed to be from Katie and gave instructions for her children when she did not return home on April 22 this year

Since July 2016, Katie, a mum of two, had been in an on off relationship with Burfield

After changing his not guilty plea to one of guilty part way through a crown court trial he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 32 years by a judge Burfield repeatedly misspelt words which eventually led to his arrest In a victim impact statement, Katie s family said: We went out looking for her almost straight away and we sensed then that Burfield was behind it We were in disbelief that Andrew Burfield was capable of such a thing, we knew that he was not good for Katie but we never thought he would be able to do something so horrific to her and then keep her hidden from those who loved her "

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS INVADE GORDON RAMSAY'S THREE STAR MICHELIN RESTAURANT

Members of Animal Rebellion wearing smart casual clothing entered Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Hospital Road, Chelsea, at around 6 pm on Saturday and sat at tables reserved for guests of the high end restaurant They had mock menus mentioning the environmental costs of items served on the restaurant s menu including steak and veal The group said in a statement that it was campaigning for a plant based food system and the creation of a mass rewilding programme 39 year old Lucia Alexander the auxiliary nurse from the east of England said the restaurant was a perfect example of inequality in the UK Whilst Gordon Ramsay serves food costing a minimum of £155 per person, more than two million people are relying on food banks in this cost of living crisis," she said in a statement provided by the group "Instead of restaurants making colossal profits at the expense of animals, workers, and our climate we need to feed everyone by supporting farmers and fishing communities in a transition to a plant based food system "A plant based food system requires 75% less farmland to grow food, allowing us to feed millions of additional people without the reliance on exploitative and inefficient animal farming industries

"This is the answer to the cost of living and climate crises " A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said no arrests were made

wards' run via smartphone app could

more patients treated at home

Due to a lack of social care provi sion , as ma ny as one in three p at ie n ts at so me h ospi tal s are un able to b e di scharged de spite b ein g medi cally fit

As part of the NHS s plan to tackle the problem, so called "vir t u a l w a r d s " h a v e b e e n i n t r o duced, which is exacerbated by the usual winter pressures on the

service

S k y ' s h e a l t h c o r r e s p o n d e n t

Ashish Joshi spoke to one man who is on one of the first virtual wards and is using the new app Brian Fairfax is one of the first virtual wards who is using the new app Brian who is a retired electri cian is a patient on a virtual ward

His readings, taken three times a day, are analysed remotely

If they generate any warn ings, he will be called or even vis ited by a health worker

With virtual wards making part of its plan to tackle winter pressures, NHS wants to make 25,000 beds available by the end of next year

how you prevailed,” Sunak said at a joint press conference

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made this month to the his t o r i c o r d e r b y t h e l a t e Queen Elizabeth II before her death in September and f i r s t t o b e a p p o i n t e d b y Charles Buckingham Palace s a i d i n a s t a t e m e n t announcing the Order: “His Majesty The King has been p l e a s e d t o m a k e s i x n e w appointments to the Order of Merit Appointments to t h e O r d e r a r e m a d e i n recognition of distinguished service to the Armed Forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture

Swaminarayan Sanstha takes message of Hinduism to G20

Mahamah opadhyay Bh ad reshdas Swami, one of the w o rl d ’ s l ead i n g I n d i an philosophers, was invited to re p re se nt B A P S S w am i n ara ya n S an s th a ( BA P S ) a s a tr ad i ti o n al sc h o la r o f H in d u i sm at th e i nau g u ral G2 0 Relig io n Fo rum , d ubbed th e R2 0 , in B ali , Ind onesia

global religious harmony Bhadreshdas Swami had b e e n i n v i t e d b y t h e organisers as one of the key speakers to address the audience of over 400 esteemed delegates from a r o u n d t h e w o r l d D u r i n g h i s a d d r e s s recently, he paid tribute t o P r a m u k h S w a m i M a h a r a j ’ s m e s s a g e o f

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r

c h o s e n b y H e r M a j e s t y Q u e e n E l i z a b e t h i n e a r l y September ” Professor Venki was born in Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu and studied b i o l o g y i n t h e U S b e f o r e moving to the UK where he is the Group Leader of the leading research hub MRC L a b o r a t o r y o f M o l e c u l a r B i o l o g y a t C a m b r i d g e University He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for his work on riboso m a l s t r u c t u r e a n d w a s knighted by the Queen in 2012 He was President of the UK's Royal Society from N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5 u n t i l November 2020

Is Braverman not working satisfactorily?

H alf of the B ri tis h public thinks Suella Braverman is doing a b ad j ob as home secretary, a new poll sug gests

T h e s u r v e y b y I p s o s found that 11 per cent of p e o p l e t h o u g h t M s

B r a v e r m a n w a s d o i n g a good job while 50 per cent disapproved of her perfor mance Even among those who voted Conservative in 2019, support for the home secretary was limited Just 20 per cent of 2019 Tory

voters said she was doing a good job while 33 per cent said she was doing a bad one

The poll also found a lack of trust in both main p a r t i e s ’ a b i l i t y t o h a n d l e immigration issues

NHS Scotland discusses two-tier health service

NH S l ea d ers i n S co t lan d have discussed aband oning the fou nd ing principles o f th e servi ce b y h avi ng th e wealthy p ay fo r treatment

T h e d i s c u s s i o n o f a two tier health service is mentioned in draft minutes of a meeting of Scotland's

NHS leaders in September They also raise the possibili ty of curtailing some free p r e s c r i p t i o n s S c o t l a n d ' s F i r s t M i n i s t e r N i c o l a Sturgeon said the principles of the NHS were not up for debate"

S h e a c k n o w l e d g e d t h e

" v e r y s i g n i f i c a n t p r e s s u r e " facing health services world wide but added that the pro c e s s t o " r e d e s i g n a n d reform" would "take place for as long as I have got any thing to do with it within the confines of these found ing principles"

T h e i n v i t a t i o n w a s testament to the world w i d e c o m m i t m e n t o f BAPS, known in London f o r t h e w o r l d f a m o u s Neasden Temple, to fos tering genuine dialogue, m u t u a l u n d e r s t a n d i n g and wider collaboration a m o n g s t d i v e r s e f a i t h communities, and coin cided with the centennial anniversary year of His H o l i n e s s P r a m u k h Swami Maharaj, who was a l i f e l o n g a d v o c a t e o f

interfaith harmony from t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s Millennium World Peace S u m m i t i n N e w Y o r k City in 2000

Two other speakers f r o m I n d i a a l s o s p o k e e l o q u e n t l y a b o u t r e l i gious harmony Swami G o v i n d a D e v G i r i Maharaj, Treasurer of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi T r u s t , a n d S w a m i M i t r a n a n d S a r a s w a t i , Director of the All India Chinmaya Yuva Kendra

GPs coping with three times consultations

GP s are struggling to cop e with as many as 9 0 appo int ments and co nsu ltatio ns a day more than three times a re c o mm en d ed s a f ety limit

G e n e r a l p r a c t i c e s i n E n g l a n d a r e c a r r y i n g o u t m o r e a p p o i n t m e n t s t h a n b e f o r e t h e p a n d e m i c b u t f a c e s e v e r e w o r k f o r c e shortages More than 1 45 million patients waited at least 28 days to see a GP in September, according to the most recent NHS figures GPs have said that almost every day they breach the

British Medical Association ( B M A ) g u i d e l i n e o f “ n o t more than 25 contacts per d a y ” t o d e l i v e r s a f e c a r e O n e d o c t o r s a i d h e h a d more than 90 consultations in one day

A D e p a r t m e n t o f H e a l t h a n d S o c i a l C a r e s p o k e s p e r s o n s a i d : “ W e r e m a i n c o m m i t t e d t o increasing the number of doctors in general practice We are making 4,000 train ing places available for GPs each year to help create an extra 50m appointments a year ”

Shakespeare’s presumed one and only painting for sale

A p ortrait said to be the only si gned and dated image o f William Sh akespeare creat ed du ring his lifetime h as gone on sale fo r mo re than £10m and is being displayed i n London

The owner, who wishes t o r e m a i n a n o n y m o u s , i s offering the piece for sale by p r i v a t e t r e a t y w i t h o u t a n auction It is the work of Robert Peake, court painter t o K i n g J a m e s I , a n d i s signed and dated 1608 The artwork went on display on W e d n e s d a y a t G r o s v e n o r H o u s e h o t e l i n w e s t London Prior to 1975, the picture hung in the library o f a s t a t e l y h o m e i n t h e

n o r t h o f E n g l a n d , o n c e home to the Danby family Since then it has been in p r i v a t e o w n e r s h i p T h o s e b e h i n d i t s s a l e c l a i m t h e c o n n e c t i o n s b e t w e e n Shakespeare and Peake are “ e x t e n s i v e ” a n d t h a t t h e artist was regularly commis sioned to paint the portraits of high ranking members of the court and Jacobean soci ety They also noted he was commissioned by the Office of the Revels, which over s a w t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f plays, and worked in the p r e m i s e s i n C l e r k e n w e l l , L o n d o n , w h e r e s o m e o f S h a k e s p e a r e ’ s p l a y s w e r e rehearsed

H o w e v e r , o n l y t w o p a i n t i n g s o f S h a k e s p e a r e , both posthumous, are gen erally recognised as validly p o r t r a y i n g h i m t h e engraving that appears on the title page of the First Folio, published in 1623, and the sculpture at his funeral m o n u m e n t i n S t r a t f o r d u p o n A v o n S h a k e s p e a r e died in 1616, at the age of 52 H o w e v e r , S h a k e s p e a r e expert Michael Dobson said t h a t t h e p a i n t i n g s o f t h e Bard are “wishful thinking”

There have been numerous claims and counter claims over the legitimacy of paint ings of the playwright in previous years

Indian immigrant video causes uproar

A man is in hi ding af te r a video went v i r a l of h i s e x e m p l oy e r b a r g i n g i n to h i s W a ls a l l h om e an d a s sa ult i ng him , which was c aught on cam era c ausing an uproar i n the Indian c om mu n i ty an d e x po s i n g wi despread conc ern a b o u t m a l p ra c ti c e b y em ployers towards vulner ab le mi gran ts The shock i n g vi de o h a s p r om p t e d s tr e e t p ro t e s ts w h i l e t h e vi ctim s ays he i s ‘too fri ght en ed to go out’ in c ase he is a s s a ul t ed a ga i n , o r f e a rs they ‘kill’ him

B u t t h e i n c i d e n t h a s been called out as just one g r a p h i c e x a m p l e o f

entrenched exploitation of Indian nationals working in the West Midlands building t r a d e , e x p o s i n g w h a t lawyers say are large scale violations in the industry, including excessive hours, paying below the going rate and failure to pay wages And in this extreme case it involves the physical beat ing of a worker an Indian

n a t i o n a l w h o h a s been in the UK for two years and work i n g a s a c o n c r e t e l a y e r w i t h t h e video being posted on social media

C r i t i c i s m h a s also been aimed at police for their lack of action since the video emerged But as the result of our press enquiries officers have now arranged to meet with the v i c t i m f o r a n i n t e r v i e w T h e v i c t i m o f t h e v i d e o s p o k e t o t h e L o c a l D e m o c r a c y R e p o r t i n g S e r v i c e a b o u t h i s o r d e a l and we have chosen not to i d e n t i f y h i m , t o p r o t e c t him and to allow police to continue their inquiries

How do we learn things in life?

o w do we learn t h in g s i n li fe ? W h at ar e t h e be st w ay s to a cq u ir e kno w led g e? Wh a t ki nd of learner are you? Do yo u like studying with the help of a teacher or through books or o nly w ith experience?

There is a saying in our ancient scrip tures that knowledge comes from three sources: Teachers, Books, and Experience It may or may not be sequential in this order But initially all of us gain knowledge with the help of teachers Then, once at a certain level, we get to reach a stage where it is possible to ascertain things through b o o k s W e c a n s e l f t a u g h t o u r s e l v e s Experience and investigation are not very common in everyone s life But if resorted to successfully, it can prove an exceptional ly high level of wisdom

Let's not forget that in the modern age, there is also technological aid for learning But here also we can divide the method of learning in three ways Using YouTube video coaching or reading through some blogs is akin to getting the help of a teacher or textbook respectively Sometimes we also apply trial and error methods to gain certain knowledge

We cannot deny the significance of our educators who have imparted the much valuable essential education to us in child hood That tradition continues till we finish our formal education At higher grades learning through books is also common Many scholars rely more on self learning than on coaching or college In fact, many

Heducation systems, especially in western society, focus more on bringing out the best in the students through assignments The role of a teacher remains exclusively to supervise them

I t i s u n d e r s t a n d a b l e t h a t l e a r n i n g through experience is not only rare but also occasionally very expensive and bitter way The analysis is rather much easier and more useful but it certainly requires a very sharp a n d r e c e p t i v e m i n d s e t T h e a b s e n c e o f curiosity and readiness to discover from incidents and anecdotes may result in a massive loss Therefore, if one gets into trouble, it is imperative to analyse it and implement the lessons quickly before they cause damage

Normally people are receptive to all three methods but still, there is a preference between the first and the second Some of us need the help of instructors who can take us through lessons Others like to cruise through the texts in their own time and in their own style to achieve the desired result A few people also experiment to find out the truth While every time you cannot experience what you strive for, if it hap pens, it might be an eye opener and a long lasting lesson

We have seen friends who can read books for hours and hours while others fall asleep if they read even two pages! Also, there are people who lose interest when someone is lecturing them on some topic It is because e v e r y o n e h a s a t y p i c a l w a y o f g r a b b i n g knowledge Discover the best way for your learning style and use it for a quick and effec tive way to accomplish more wisdom in life

(Expressed opinions are personal)

Rail strikes may continue for 6 months

Rail un ion le aders have r e ce i v e d a ma n d a t e to contin ue a campaign of strike a ction for another six months as talks over p a y r i s e s a n d w o r k i n g condi tions drag on

T h e R a i l , M a r i t i m e and Transport workers’ u n i o n ( R M T ) s a i d t h a t more than nine in 10 mem bers backed further walk outs across Network Rail, the owner of tracks and stations, as well as 14 train o p e r a t i n g c o m p a n i e s H o s t i l i t i e s b e t w e e n t h e RMT and rail chiefs have eased in recent weeks after u n i o n s c a l l e d o f f s t r i k e a c t i o n a t t h e s t a r t o f N o v e m b e r S o c a l l e d “ i n t e n s i v e n e g o t i a t i o n s ” h a v e b e e n l a u n c h e d t o b r e a k a l o n g r u n n i n g

i m p a s s e A v e r a g e v o t i n g turnout was 70 2pc across Network Rail and the train operators, above the legal minimum of 50pc Mick Lynch, RMT gen e r a l s e c r e t a r y , s a i d t h e results of Wednesday’s bal lot endorsed the union’s plans to go on strike again if necessary He said: “The N a t i o n a l E x e c u t i v e Committee will now look at these fantastic results and negotiations will con tinue with Network Rail

and the train operating c o m p a n i e s T h e R M T has led the fight against changes to working con d i t i o n s a n d d e m a n d e d i n f l a t i o n l i n k e d p a y rises Hopes have been raised of a breakthrough after the RMT call off s t r i k e s i n e a r l y N o v e m b e r j u s t h o u r s before they were due to go ahead

T h e u n i o n t o o k t h e decision after Network Rail agreed not to ram through changes to working prac t i c e s f o r m a i n t e n a n c e workers without consent RMT called off the strikes on the afternoon of Friday, N o v e m b e r 4 T h e T S S A a n d U n i t e u n i o n s h a d e l e c t e d t o c a l l o f f t h e i r industrial action

Television spending to be cut by majority advertisers

M ore than two thirds of the UK ’ s bi g g e st a d ve rti s ers intend to cut back spending on trad itional TV next year, as th e recession fuels a shift to d ig ital m ed ia and las t minute bu rsts of prom otion

A survey of 59 UK adver tisers has found that 67% will make the deepest bud get cuts to ads on broadcast T V , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e I n c o r p o r a t e d S o c i e t y o f B r i t i s h A d v e r t i s e r s ( I S B A ) and the media investment analysts Ebiquity Overall, n e a r l y 4 0 % o f t h o s e s u r veyed said they intended to c u t s p e n d i n g i n “ o f f l i n e ”

media including traditional TV, radio, print and outdoor sites such as billboards, on buses and posters sites

T h e s t u d y s u r v e y e d three of the top 10 and 11 of the top 50 spenders with a combined budget of £1 5bn While it did not name spe cific advertisers, the UK’s 10 biggest spenders include the M a r m i t e t o D o v e m a k e r U n i l e v e r , S k y , B T , T e s c o , Asda, Virgin Media, L’Oréal, and the Fairy to Pampers m a k e r P r o c t e r & G a m b l e W h i l e t r a d i t i o n a l T V a d spend is poised to be the b i g g e s t l o s e r n e x t y e a r ,

b r o a d c a s t e r s w i l l r e t a i n much of the budget cut by a t t r a c t i n g m o n e y t o t h e i r d i g i t a l s t r e a m i n g s e r v i c e s More than half of compa nies involved in the survey said that they expected to increase spend on services such as ITV’s new streaming service, ITVX, Channel 4 ’ s All 4 and on connect TVs such as Samsung A hallmark of marketing strategy will be a shift to short termism, where cam paigns are booked on tight timelines based on immedi a t e n e e d , w i t h b u r s t s o f brand marketing

Rohit Vadhwana

T h e B h a r a t i y a V i d y a Bhavan London is a dynam ic cultural centre and has b e e n a t t h e f o r e f r o n t o f Indian art education in the UK since its establishment in 1972 as a flagship Centre outside India For the last 5 0 y e a r s , T h e B h a v a n London has been delivering classical training in Indian dance, music, art history, yoga, and languages for stu dents both young and old, Indian and non Indian

Vyman Solicitors host a festive drinks networking event

V ym an Solicitors h osted a festive d rinks net w orking event at the Blue Room in Hatch End o n Th ursday, 17th No vember 20 22 Over 1 0 0 d el eg a tes fr om v ari o u s w ell kno

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Construction and renovation of 40 hospitals face delay

Plan s b y the gove rnment to constr uct an d ren ovate 40 hospi tals i n Eng land could b e de layed because of new an alysis suggestin g the health an d socia l ca re depa rtmen t’s capital spe ndi ng b udget faces a real te rms cut of £700m ne xt y ear, a ccor ding to the Li bera l Democrats

With some hospitals said to be in dire need of repair, the health secretary twice refused to say on Sunday that the NHS was functioning properly and instead admitted it was under “ severe pressure ” Figures released in the autumn statement show t h a t £ 1 2 b n h a s b e e n a l l o c a t e d t o t h e Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for its capital budget in 2022 23, which is used for research and develop

ment as well as long term investment in building and maintaining NHS buildings, facilities and equipment However, £11 7bn has been promised for the following year

Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB union, said he was “incandes cent” at the health secretary’s reassur ances He said Barclay was “deluded and pretty dishonest” about there having been any productive meetings that could curtail strike action He called for the govern ment to axe the non domicile status for about 70,000 super rich people who live in the UK but pay no tax on their offshore income, and reinstate the cap on bankers’ bonuses to help give more money to the NHS

Jenrick says businesses should hire local people instead of calling for more overseas workers

Th e imm igration minister, Robert Jenrick, has clashed with business bosses over access to o ve rs ea s w o r ker s, s ay i ng c o m p an ie s should train UK staff to fill vacancies rath er than relying on peop le from other countries

But the head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which starts its annu al conference on Monday, when it will hear from Rishi Sunak, said the current immigra tion system meant there was no “ momen tum for growth” Jenrick, who also dismissed weekend reports that the government was considering a move to a more liberal, Swiss style post Brexit relationship with the EU, told Sky News the aim was still to reduce overall net migration Ending freedom of

movement of people was one of the “funda mental principles” of Brexit and could not be adapted, he said

Asked about the CBI’s call for more tar geted immigration to plug some workforce gaps, Jenrick said: “I don’t agree with that We listen to the business community, obvi ously, and we ’ re aware of certain skills short ages, and we want a pragmatic, sensible rela tionship with business ” Some areas had been addressed, such as visas for health workers, Jenrick said: “But overall our ambi tion is to reduce net migration We think that’s what the British public want That was one of the driving forces in the vote to leave the European Union back in 2016

es

Vyman Solicitors are based in Harrow and was founded in 1998 by Anup Vyas and Gurnam Mander

Vyman solicitors staff and Anup Vyas

Manubhai Ramji

New face but same old foreign policy

When Rishi Sunak was elected leader of the Conservative party and PM, we all thought he is the right person to lead u s o u t o f t h e e c o n o m i c r o t e h i s p r e v i o u s P M a n d

Chancellor brought upon us No wonder the financial sec tor gave it a thumbs down signal, plunging the pound into free fall and inflation breaking the 10% barrier in more than 40 years!

Our new PM, who is a brilliant economist, did bring back trust and stability, gaining some of the lost ground Unfortunately, he carried on with the British policy of interfering and involving in any conflict that may be preva lent at the time, whether it is in our interest or not It has been the base and foundation of our foreign policy since the end of WW2

Most of our short sighted politicians still live in the past; believing that we are a superpower, and it is our duty to police the world, no matter how it may affect our econ omy and the living standard We were involved in the Korean and Vietnam wars, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Serbia and Libya, a few amongst many such c o n f l i c t s b e i n g p e r p e t r a t e d t h r o u g h o u t t h e w o r l d

Although Germany and Japan lost both wars, they are eco nomic super power with a much better living standard than ours Then they mind their own business

Now it is Ukraine that attracts our politicians, like bees to nectar bearing flowers! Why should Ukraine be our responsibility when super rich Germany is a next door neighbour who has to lose most if the situation gets out of hand?

I wonder if any of these politicians have experienced hunger, going to bed on a glass of water, children going to school on an empty stomach, so often kind and caring teachers feeding them, and spending their own money, which is the norm here in our UK, especially amongst eth nic minorities!

If we have billions to spend on overseas aid, supplying arms and ammunition to Ukraine, and building schools and hospitals in developing countries, then we should be able to take care of our chronically sick, disabled, rough sleepers and elderly pensioners by providing either free or subsidized meals, as most elderly people find it difficult to go out shopping, needs home delivery like “Meals On Wheels!”

Let us stop behaving like Shylock at home and Robin Hood overseas, and concentrate on the home front Then it is not politicians’ money they are spending like confetti, most are able to live in lap of luxury, even spend £450 on a pair of shoes and wear a top of the range Armani suit!

Bhup endra M Gandhi

I have gone through the news covered by you regarding the Hinduja family I read it many times and shared it with my family and friends The team Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar performed their duty as real journal ists and highlighted all the essential parts of the story I could read the latest development, observation of Justice and a quote from GP HInduja’s spokesperson and SP Hinduja’s daughters Not only this, but on b e h a l f o f r e a d e r s y o u a p p r o a c h e d M r G o p i c h a n d Hinduja and asked questions While the other publica tions highlighted the whole story keeping Truce in the focus

Readers have the utmost trust in you as a represen tative of the community and you all have performed your duty very well without diverting the issue or your self We are very proud that Mr CB Patel is maintaining a very clear line between personal relations and profes sional responsibilities You also have proved that free media functions as a watchdog that can investigate and report on the wrongdoing of any organisation or any individual Congratulations on that Keep the momen tum going Readers have raised many questions and now we are eagerly waiting for the answers from the Hinduja family

De epa k P ate l

Shamima Begum was sexually exploited according to lawyers

L aw y ers f o r S h am im a Begum , who was 15 when sh e left London fo r Syria, said there was ‘ o verwh elm in g evi d e nc e ’ s h e w as gro omed by recruiters and sh i p p e d o ff fo r ‘ se xu a l exploitation’ and ‘ marriage’ to an adult m ale

T h e y a r e s e e k i n g t o overturn the government’s decision, claiming it wrong ly assumed she acted ‘volun tarily’ Ms Begum travelled

i n 2 0 1 5 w i t h t w o s c h o o l f r i e n d s t o I s i s t e r r i t o r y , w h e r e s h e m a r r i e d a 2 3 y e a r o l d D u t c h j i h a d i s t within days and gave birth to three children who died as infants

H e r c i t i z e n s h i p w a s revoked on national security g r o u n d s s h o r t l y a f t e r s h e w a s f o u n d , n i n e m o n t h s p r e g n a n t , i n a S y r i a n refugee camp in February 2019

King will host a banquet for South African president

King Ch arles and Camilla, th e Q ue en C o ns o rt, w i l l host a banqu et fo r Presid ent C yr il R am a p h o sa a t Bucking ham Palace as p art of the two d ay trip

Mr Ramaphosa is also set to address politicians in a j o i n t s i t t i n g o f b o t h Houses of Parliament It is the first state visit to the UK

in more than three years after they were stopped dur ing the Covid pandemic

The Prince and Princess of Wales will first greet the South African president at h i s L o n d o n h o t e l o n T u e s d a y m o r n i n g a n d escort him to Horse Guards Parade for the ceremonial welcome with the King

PM registered with private GP

Rishi S unak is reg istered with a pr iv ate GP p ractice that gu ar antees same day ap p o in t m en t s f o r al l pat ients with ur gent con ce r n s, ac c o r di n g t o rep ort s

T h e p r i m e m i n i s t e r last week refused to say w h e t h e r h e h a d p r i v a t e healthcare, as he thought it was “not appropriate” to talk “about one ’ s family’s healthcare” It is, however,

found that he is registered with a west London clinic which charges £250 for a h a l f h o u r c o n s u l t a t i o n and offers appointments i n t h e e v e n i n g s a n d a t weekends

The clinic also allows patients to request home v i s i t s f r o m d o c t o r s a t a cost of between £400 and £500, while prescriptions cost up to £80, the paper reported

Sunak promises to tackle NHS problems

P r i m e Mi n i st e r R i sh i Sun ak said ex tra fundi ng w ould help the NHS “get on w ith the job ” of ta ckli ng a mb ulance queues outside h ospital A&E depar tmen ts

The PM, who promised a “ b o l d a n d r a d i c a l ” a p p r o a c h t o t h e N H S , a c k n o w l e d g e d t h e p r o b lems of bed blocking, with patients unable to be dis charged into the commu nity He said the £8 billion p a c k a g e s e t o u t i n Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement for the

NHS and social care would “tackle some of these prob lems”

Speaking during a visit t o t h e E r a s m u s D a r w i n A c a d e m y i n Burntwood, Staffordshire, Mr Sunak said: “One of the most important things we need to do is support peo ple to move out of hospi tals back into their homes, back into their communi t i e s , a n d t h a t ’ s w h y t h e money that we have put in is going to go and support social care

Having a laugh

Two Asian Voice readers, RN Patel and Ash Gupta appear to have disagreed on the performance of a former British prime minister Writing here recently, RN Patel said that Boris Johnson was "one of our best PMs" while Ash Gupta replied that Johnson qualified as the country's "most entertaining PM" I think Boris Johnson could have proved to be a great prime minister if he took the job seriously, but he didn't, and that was the problem Every time Johnson spoke one could sense a light hearted comment forming in his mind and just waiting to escape from his lips and amuse everybody He is one of life's jokers who unfortu nately did not have the opportunity to use more of his formidable talents honed at Eton and elsewhere

Several schools downgraded

H u n dr e ds o f s c h o o l s in E ng land have been do wn g r ad ed b y O fs t ed aft e r being reinspect ed fo r th e fir st time in years

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e watchdog, only 17% of 370 “outstanding” schools kept their grade when they had a full reinspection in 2021 2 2 O f s t e d s a i d i t h a d reviewed more than 500 i n s t i t u t i o n s i n t h e l a s t school year that had previ ously been exempt from

r e g u l a r i n s p e c t i o n s , b e c a u s e t h e y h a d b e e n rated as “outstanding”, the highest grading available It meant the primary and secondary schools would not have a full inspection u n l e s s s p e c i f i c c o n c e r n s had been raised

The average amount of time that the reinspect ed schools had gone since t h e i r l a s t f u l l r e v i e w b y Ofsted officials was more than 13 years, it said

Justice Delayed 26/11

26th Novemb er 2008, a date we should n ot forget This was the day when state sponsored Pakistani terrorists attacked the innocent people of Mumbai Lashkar e Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan c arried out coordin ated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, l eaving behind more than 165 dead, and 300 injured

The attacks took place at multiple locations i n c l u d i n g C h h a t r a p a t i S h i v a j i r a i l w a y s t a t i o n , Leopold Café and even at hospitals While most of the attacks ended within a few hours, the terror continued at three other locations Nariman House ( J e w i s h C h a b a d ) a n d t h e l u x u r y h o t e l s O b e r o i Trident, Taj Mahal Palace, and Tower Taj hotel

More than a decade later, I am left with one question, ‘did Mumbai ever get justice’?

Sometimes we must accept some hard to digest facts India in 2008 was incompetent, spineless, and lacking in any self worth It disgraced itself in the eyes of the world, and with its own citizens There are many people who run shy of this truth, lest they be labelled anti national, or suddenly get left out in the cold by the power brokers

In 2014 for the first time in modern day Indian history we had hope that the government led by PM Modi would right the wrongs of past misadventures It has been a slower journey than anticipated, but at least its in the right direction that we can all sup port

However, in 2022 I still ask the same question again, ‘did Mumbai ever get justice’? And the only answer I can come to is, NO

You see, I am from the school of thought that says, give your enemy ten times more pain than what they inflict upon you India has not done this, yet! Justice continues to be delayed, and that as we know means justice is denied to the victims

Should Pakistan ever make a similar mistake again, I remain hopeful that under the stewardship of PM Modi, India’s response will be such substance that it shakes the very foundations of all its foes

I do not apologise for my rather blunt response to the barbarism exported by Pakistan One must not forget, 2008 was not the first time India experi enced the madness of its neighbour This started way back in 1947 when Pakistan reneged on the terms of the partition agreement and attacked India in their bid to steal Jammu and Kashmir This state spon sored butchery continued with multiple attacks from Pakistani occupied Kashmir, into India Some of you might even remember the genocide of Hindus in 1990 when mosques declared, Ralive, Tsalive, or Galive (convert to Islam, leave the place, or perish) Astonishingly, only last week Labour Lords were excusing this madness in the House of Lords

It's time to put an end to this recuring nightmare A nightmare of our own making because India, time and again, has stepped back and allowed the evil orchestrated by Pakistan to get away with it To stop this madness, India must now be ready to act with such ferocity, that the enemy can never ever imagine attacking again India has gone through a period, as did Arjun, of self reflection and in understanding the meaning of dharma and in being a dharma Rakshak The lesson he learned was a simple one, when all peaceful efforts to seek justice fails, then you are left with only one option, to wipe out the adharmic forces that are a threat to humanity

“India can’t forget the wounds of the Mumbai attacks Now, today’s India is combating terrorism with a new policy and new ways, ” PM Modi

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

We are eagerly waiting for the answers from the Hinduja family

Rudy Otter

Kapil D udakia

Indian diaspora is truly a living bridge between India and the rest of the world

Rajesh Agrawal,

Ahead of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2023 (Indian Diaspora Day) Rajesh Agrawal attends the host state Madhya Pradesh’s showcase event at The Nehru Centre last week along with the Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and Amish Tripathi

tribute hugely toward s th e d ev elopm ent of India in so m any d ifferent w ays and Pravasi Bharitya Divas is a great tribute to them

This year Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is even special for me as it is being held in Indore the city where I was born and grew up in Indore is known as India’s cleanest city and has done exemplary work i n c l e a n l i n e s s , w a s t e m a n a g e m e n t a n d recycling

I f y o u a r e p l a n n i n g t o a t t e n d t h e Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2023, I recommend visiting Mahakal Lok the 920 metre long mega corridor near the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple in Ujjain, which was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Madhya Pradesh also has the largest forest area in India with 25 sanc tuaries, 10 national parks and six tiger reserves so that is another amazing thing to experience in Madhya Pradesh

Gurukul UK kids celebrate Children’s Day

T o celebrate Ch ild ren ’ s day a kid 's talent sh ow was organised in w hich Gu rukul U K kids participated Brij K umar Guhare ( ICCR

rog ram director) was the ch ief guest He w ished all th e p articipants goo d luck and m o ti v at ed a ll Gu ru k u l U K m

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aarti which created a very spiritual atmo sphere

S a m a r t h a n d s a m i r a d h r e c i t e d ‘Hanuman chalisa’ Rudra sang the famous H i n d i s o n g ‘ H u m h i n g e k a a m i y a a b ’ Shorbaani sang another famous Hindi song ‘Unse mili nazar ’

As the saying goes ‘We Pravasi are not far away from Bharat because Bharat is in our hearts Bharat is always with us ’

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O v e r s e a s I n d i a n s s e n d m o n e y b a c k home to their families in India last year alone this amount was a whopping $89 bil lion about 3% of India’s GDP! In addition, they contribute through tourism, invest ments, and expanding their businesses in India They are also a significant consumer of many Indian products including movies and entertainment

Indian diaspora’s contribution around the world is remarkable No aspect of our lives and no part of this earth is untouched

by the talent, hard work and achievements of the overseas Indians In the UK, they are p o w e r i n g o u r N a t i o n a l H e a l t h S e r v i c e (NHS) as doctors and nurses, keeping our high street buzzing as restaurateurs and r e t a i l e r s , c r e a t i n g j o b s a n d w e a l t h a s entrepreneurs and business leaders, inno vating as engineers and scientists, enrich ing our culture in arts & entertainment and contributing in politics at national, region al and local levels

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Pranav and Jasroop played Piano and Guitar beautifully Eesha and Stuthi recit ed shlokas

Aditi asked riddles from 'ichak dana b i c h a k d a a n ' i n a t r a d i t i o n a l m a n n e r which showed her creativity At the end of the program our guests were surprised to see confident Gurukul UK students sing t r a d i t i o n a l I n d i a n m a n t r a s , S h l o k a s , s o n g s , a n d m u s i c a l i n s t r u m e n t s e v e n though they live in a non Indian atmo sphere

Nidhin Valsan, an IPS officer, was unable to walk even for 15 minutes without “gasping for breath” His heart beat used to shoot to an abnormal 180 beats per minute when for most men 80 to 100 is normal A year later, he fought the dreaded cancer and finished the gruelling Ironman 70 3 Goa race and proved that if you have the will, determination and discipline, nothing is impossible For almost a year, till the doctors gave an all clear signal in February, Valsan fought non Hodgkin’s lymphoma, one of the most dangerous cancer types to attack the lymphatic system, damaging the immune system It was stage four “Getting diagnosed with cancer is painful and the treatment is also very difficult,” Valsan said Valsan said, “I thought if I am able to do this, I will be able to show the world that cancer is not an impossible disease to fight It’s difficult, but you can fight, defeat it, and then do better and challenging things ” The Ironman 70 3 race is among the tougher challenges It includes 1 9 km of swimming, 90 km cycling and 21km running, back to back, to be completed within a stipulated time of eight and a half hours Valsan completed his 70 3 miles in eight hours, three minutes and 53 seconds, well before the cut off time “It was actually tough to just think of participating in the Ironman race ” , said the 37 year old police officer (Agency)

Antibiotic, which is under trial, saves woman’s life

An antibiotic drug WCK5222, which was developed by Aurangabad based Wockhardt Laboratory came to the rescue of Nepali woman A Phase 1 trial of the drug was conducted in the US that revealed that the drug is safe for use in humans The woman flew to Lucknow to have a tummy tuck operation A couple of days after the operation, the 50 year old woman developed fever that soon worsened into a lung infection A few days later her liver and kidneys too were affected Sepsis rapidly set in and she was put on ventilator support, with the culprit identified as a gram negative bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa Gram negative bacteria are resistant to multiple drugs and in her case, was resistant to all antibiotics, except colistin Three weeks later, it became resistant to colistin too,

Cut-out war of football stars in Kerala

Football fever has gripped Kerala ahead of the World Cup in Qatar The FIFA shared a photo of the giant cut outs of football superstars put up by the fans of a village in Kozhikode district of Kerala in a river. Giant cut outs of Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi popped up on a local river CM Pinarayi Vijayan responded with a tweet thanking FIFA by saying "Kerala and Keralites have always loved football and it is on full display w i t h # Q a t a r 2 0 2 2 a r o u n d t h e c o r n e r T h a n k y o u @ F I F A c o m f o r acknowledging our unmatched passion for the sport". The cut out war had broken out in Pullavoor with Argentina fans first erecting a 30 ft cut out of Lionel Messi in the middle of Cherupuzha River Then Brazil fans at the village gave a befitting reply by installing a 40 ft cut out of Neymar in the river. Not to be left behind, the Portuguese fans installed an even bigger cut out of Cristiano Ronaldo (Agency)

meaning there was no drug available to treat the patient who had by then been transferred from a local hospital to Medanta Lucknow Fortunately for the Nepali national, critical care specialist at Medanta Lucknow Dr Dilip Dubey remembered reading about WCK5222 in research papers and called up Wockhardt He was told that only families could request for the drug on compassionate grounds and that too after seeking permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) The family immediately wrote to the DCGI and got an approval within the next 48 hours, the doctor said A 10 day course of WCK5222 was given free of cost to the patient “Although we gave the medicine for 10 days, she was free of the bacteria by Day 5, ” said Dr Dubey The patient was discharged and returned to Nepal (Agency)

Farooq to step down as NC chief in December

Veteran politician and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said that he would step down as president of the National Conference next month, saying it is time to hand over the mantle to the new generation Holding the post for nearly four decades except for seven years beginning 2002, the 85 year old Abdullah is expected to continue as patron of the party and guide it especially during the first assembly elections after the state was downgraded to a union territory No dates for the polls have been announced so far There is widespread speculation that his son Omar Abdullah, currently the party's vice president, is likely to succeed him as the new chief Omar was elected as party president in 2002 and he continued to remain at the helm of affairs till 2009 after which he resigned because he was elected the chief minister of the erstwhile state “I will not be contesting for the post of president any longer The elections for the post will be held on December 5, ” Farooq said (Agency)

India’s first pediatric liver transplantee now a doctor

year old from Kanchipuram, became India’s first successful pediatric liver transplantee Exactly 24 years on, Sanjay himself is a pediatrician in Bengaluru “I always wanted to be in the field of medical science since childhood,” Dr Kandaswamy said He was born in 1997 with biliary atresia, a rare liver disorder that resulted in post natal jaundice This caused liver failure, leading to the need for a transplant The transplant was conducted by Dr MR Rajashekar, Dr AV Soin and Dr Anupam Sibal at Apollo Hospitals, Delhi Sanjay’s father was the donor The baby had been named Shakthy by his parents but after the surgery, the team of doctors gave him a new first name: ‘Sanjay’ In biliary atresia, which he was suffering from, there is no link between the liver and intestine Bile accumulates in the liver and eventually results in liver failure Sanjay says he was the only one to wear a mask to school "Other children were naturally curious I was in Class 6 when I understood what had happened to me While growing up, I started searching for details about liver transplant," he said Sanjay studied medicine and became a doctor in 2021 (Agency)

Ayodhya mosque likely by December 2023

TV actor collapses in gym, dies of cardiac arrest

In yet another instance of sudden cardiac death among young Mumbaikars, 46 year old television actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi collapsed while working out in a suburban gym He was taken to a hospital in Andheri where doctors tried to revive him for 40 minutes, but they failed in their bid This is the second such incident in recent months On September 21, popular stand up comedian and actor Raju Srivastava (58) died at AIIMS in New Delhi after suffering cardiac arrest while working out in a gym In November 2021, southern film actor Puneeth Rajkumar died suddenly after a workout Cardiologist Dr Ganesh Kumar said even regular gymmers need to be careful to not do physical exercises with only a few hours of sleep The problem is that small plaque deposits in blood vessels that are usually considered benign (in comparison to well defined blockages) can rupture with sudden activity be it gymming, running, lifting weights or undertaking a high stress assignment “It is not advisable for people to undertake intense activity while eating next to nothing or sleeping only for three hours,” said Dr Kumar Surryavanshi made his television debut with 'Kkusum' and then he was part of 'Krishna Arjun', 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' (Agency)

SC junks PIL to make two child norm

binding

The construction of a mosque in Ayodhya, being built pursuant to the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid case, is expected to be completed by December 2023, the trust entrusted with the task has said “We hope to get approval to the map of the proposed mosque, hospital, community kitchen, library and research centre from the Ayodhya Development Authority by the end of this month Soon after, we will start the construction of the mosque, ” Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust secretary Athar Hussain said The construction of the Mosque is likely to be completed by the end of December 2023, while the remaining structures on the five acre Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Complex will come up subsequently, he said The Supreme Court, in its verdict in the Ayodhya dispute, ordered the construction of a Ram temple on the 2 77 acre plot where the Babri Masjid once stood, and directed that five acres be allotted for building a mosque in the same district (Agency)

The Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the Centre to enforce ‘two child’ norm in the country to control the rising population, saying the population is reaching a stable level and it is for the government to look at the issue A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka said the judiciary cannot get into all the issues and these social issues should be examined and decided by the government “Population is not something which will stop in one day We are approaching the stabilising level BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, one of the petitioners in the case, pleaded that the court at least direct the Law Commission to prepare a report on population explosion in the country and he be allowed to file representation before the authority concerned But the court turned down his plea “This is for the government to do Is this an issue on which we should interfere? We have better things to do,” the bench said Upadhyay moved the apex court after Delhi high court earlier refused his plea on two child norm (Agency)

If you have the will, nothing is impossible

On November 15, 1998, Sanjay Shakthy Kandaswamy, a one and a half

Jain All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) celebrates annual Ahimsa Day at the House of Commons

Jain community comes together in parliament for first in person event for three years

T h e J a in A ll P a rty P a rl ia m en tar y G ro u p ( APPG) and the Institu te of J ainology (IOJ) tod ay cele brated A himsa Day in the H o u s e o f C o m m o n s ‘ Ahim sa ’ is the p rincip al Jain t en ant o f n o n violence/comp assion and is s tr i ct ly p ra ct ic e d b y bo t h Jains and Jain mend icants

The event marked the r e t u r n o f t h e e v e n t t o P a r l i a m e n t a f t e r a t h r e e y e a r b r e a k d u e t o t h e C O V I D 1 9 p a n d e m i c I n t h a t t i m e , t h e e v e n t h a d been held virtually on Zoom

The evening started with a recitation of the sacred N a v k a r M a n t r a , a J a i n prayer, by the two Samani jis Jain nuns who reside in London This was followed b y a w e l c o m e f r o m D r M e h o o l H S a n g h r a j k a , M a n a g i n g T r u s t e e o f t h e I O J H e r e f l e c t e d o n t h e passing of HM The Queen,

the appointment of the first British PM of Indian origin and Kyle Kothari, the first Jain to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games in B i r m i n g h a m a n d t h e European Championships B a r o n e s s S c o t t o f Bybrook, Minister of Faith a t t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f Communities gave her wel come to the audience and remembered the Jain debate in the House of Commons

in 2019 The annual Ahimsa Award, given each year to somebody who personifies compassion, was awarded by Baroness Scott in 2022 to Padma Shri Dr Kumarpal Desai, for his work in Jain and Gujarati literature, his educational work in teach ing at numerous universities and his publication of ency clopaedias in both subjects

I n h i s a c c e p t a n c e speech, Dr Desai thanked

Ealing Southall MP backs ‘No Time to Wait’ campaign to save lives from pancreatic cancer

Virend

e nt a cti o n

extrem e w i nter p res

res on the NHS from costing p eo p le w i th t h e d i s ea se their o nly ch ance of sur vival Through its ‘No Time to W ai t’ c am p ai g n, th e ch a ri ty i s c al li ng o n th e Governm ent and d evolved adm inistrations to supp ort th e h e alt h s ervi c e w i t h ad d i ti o n al f u nd i n g th i s winter and prod uce a long term plan in respo nse to the pancreatic cancer em er gency

A t a n e v e n t i n t h e Palace of Westminster on W e d n e s d a y 1 6 N o v e m b e r Virendra Sharma MP heard how almost 60 per cent of people with pancreatic can cer are being diagnosed in A&E or other emergency c a r e T h i s i s t h e h i g h e s t proportion of any common cancer and far more than breast (3 per cent), prostate (8 per cent) or lung (36 per cent) cancers (1) Tragically, for most people this means it is too late for them to have lifesaving treatment More than half of people die within three months of t h e i r d i a g n o s i s , m a k i n g p a n c r e a t i c c a n c e r t h e quickest killing cancer

Pancreatic Cancer UK f e a r t h a t u n l e s s u r g e n t action is taken this situa t i o n w i l l b e c o m e e v e n worse The charity is call ing on governments across the UK to publish funded c a n c e r p l a n s t o d e l i v e r faster diagnosis and treat ment for people with pan creatic cancer who have no

time to wait It is calling for governments to take action so that everyone with the disease is: diagnosed with in 21 days of their referral; offered fast access to treat ment and care; and imme diately given access to sup port from a specialist can cer nurse

V i r e n d r a S h a r m a M P said: “For people affected by pancreatic cancer the impact of the tremendous pressures on the NHS can b e h e a r t b r e a k i n g I t ’ s i m p e r a t i v e t h a t t h e Government act to stabilise the situation and protect v i t a l c a n c e r s e r v i c e s t h i s winter

“Time is truly of the essence with this devastat ing disease Yet, while we h a v e s e e n s i g n i f i c a n t improvements in the diag n o s i s , t r e a t m e n t a n d a w a r e n e s s o f m a n y c a n cers, progress on pancreat ic cancer has been unac ceptably slow

“I want to see an ambi tious long term plan put in place to transform survival for this devastating disease a n d h o p e e v e r y o n e i n E a l i n g S o u t h a l l w i l l j o i n me in backing this cam

paign ”

Polling commissioned by the charity to coincide with the campaign launch highlights widespread con cerns among GPs about the impact of winter pressures on people with pancreatic cancer Of the 1,000 family doctors polled by Savanta ComRes on behalf of the charity more than 8 in 10 fear that extreme pressures on the NHS this winter will prevent people with p a n c r e a t i c c a n c e r a n d other less survivable can cers from having lifesaving treatment A further 85 per cent believe pressures on t h e N H S i n t h e c o m i n g months will exceed those seen during the COVID 19 pandemic

Pancreatic Cancer UK i s c a l l i n g o n t h e U K Government and devolved administrations to publish a n d i m p l e m e n t f u n d e d cancer plans to deliver the earlier diagnosis and faster t r e a t m e n t t h a t w i l l s a v e lives To find out more a b o u t t h e ‘ N o T i m e t o Wait’ campaign and sign t h e p e t i t i o n , v i s i t : h t t p s : / / w w w p a n c r e a t i c cancer org uk/ntw

the organisers for the award Nemubhai Chandaria OBE, I O J C h a i r s a i d , “ D r Kumarpal Desai is a worthy and deserving winner whose life has been dedicated to Jain and Gujarati teaching and literature His knowl e d g e h a s b e n e f i t e d m a n y , including Jain monks and nuns We wish him good health and much success in the coming years ”

H o n G a r e t h T h o m a s MP, Chair of the Jain APPG gave his welcome and spoke passionately about UK India trade and how the learning of Gujarati at school was essential to building rela tionships

E m i l y S t i d s t o n , C o m m u n i t y O u t r e a c h & Engagement Manager at the Office of National Statistics

(ONS) gave an update on the Census and confirmed that data on religion and ethnici ty will start to become avail able in a few weeks The IOJ c o n f i r m e d t h a t i t w o u l d w o r k w i t h t h e O N S t o release a publication in 2023 on ‘Jains in the UK’, featur ing analysis of the Census data

Jain APPG Deputy Chair, Padma Shri Bob Blackman M P , a d d e d h i s w e l c o m e reflected on Jain needs and how data from the Census would ensure that dietary, chaplaincy, educational and community needs would be better addressed once the data was available

Finally, the University of Birmingham announced the e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f t h e Dharmanath Swami Chair

in Jain Studies thanks to the generous support of US Jain donors, notably represented b y t h e V a r d h a m a n a Charitable Foundation and t h e S h a h F o u n d a t i o n , a s well as UK donors, notably represented by the Institute of Jainology The celebra tions started with a series of a d d r e s s e s o n t h e U n i v e r s i t y ’ s a m b i t i o n a n d v i s i o n b y P r o f C h a r l o t t e Hempel, Head of the School of Philosophy, Theology and R e l i g i o n P r o f Y u j i n Nagasawa, Professor of the P h i l o s o p h y o f R e l i g i o n talked about the study of philosophy and religion at B i r m i n g h a m F i n a l l y , D r M a r i e H é l è n e G o r i s s e , a Post Doctoral Researcher on J a i n i s m a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o u t l i n e d t h e c o u r s e s t h a t will be available

The programme in Jain Studies will be launched at the university at the start of next academic year with the c r e a t i o n o f a n A s s i s t a n t P r o f e s s o r s h i p i n J a i n S t u d i e s , a n A s s i s t a n t Professorship in the Ethics o f N o n V i o l e n c e , a n d a P o s t d o c t o r a l R e s e a r c h Fellowship in Jain Studies

The event ended with a vote of thanks by Jaysukh Mehta, Trustee of the IOJ

Namokar Mantra

PadmaShree Receiving Ahimsa Award from the Minister of Faith

Virendra Sharma MP with volunteers Claire Scott (living beyond PC) and Victoria Poole

Anyone raising a child designs their own sort of rule book or ‘right way’ of parenting

In an

A s h l e y i s a m o m , founder of the Bizzimumzi podcast, and Define London fitness studio She is a for m e r B r o a d w a y p e r f o r m e r a n d c e l e b r i t y t r a i n e r

Through Bizzimumzi Ashley h a s c r e a t e d a w e l c o m i n g c o m m u n i t y t o s h a r e t h e highs and lows of parenting, and inspire others to feel empowered in their journey A s h l e y b e l i e v e s t h e m o s t perfect picture of parenting is simply when you are try ing your best Bizzimumzi is a safe space that helps par ents to inspire, educate and support each other to be the best parent they can be What is Bizzimumzi all about?

B i z z i m u m z i i s a n e w website, resource and com munity for parents who sim ply want to do their best for their children, even if ‘best’ isn’t ‘perfect’

B i z z i m u m z i i s a w e l coming community to share the highs and lows of par

c u l t u r e I h a v e b e e n v e r y blessed to join in marriage and be welcomed into a b e a u t i f u l S o u t h A s i a n family My father in law is from Delhi, India My m o t h e r i n l a w i s o r i g i n a l l y f r o m A m r i t s a r , India (Rajasthan)

We were wed at a big South Asian wedding in U d a i p u r , I n d i a W e selected certain wedding t r a d i t i o n s f r o m b o t h s i d e s a n d i n t e g r a t e d those into our celebra tion It was pure magic W e a r e a b l e n d e d f a m i l y o f c u l t u r e s a n d very different upbringings

We have a nearly 3 year old that will learn in years to c o m e w h y w e r e a r e different skin colours, w h y w e c h o s e e a c h other, and how it is important to live in a world of gratitude and acceptance

that for me and my partner, we are trying to be our best each day for each other as a couple and the best present parent for our child I feel a n y o n e r a i s i n g a c h i l d designs their own sort of rule book or ‘right way ’ of parenting

Women's economic inclusion is valuable for maintaining peace

D ep ut y A m ba s s a do r

D eirdre Brown highlighted the i mportance of women's ec onomic empowerment at O S C E' s Ec o n om i c a n d Envi ron mental Di mens ion I m p le m e nt a ti o n M ee t i ng She said, “ It cannot be over s tated how vital women ’ s ec onomic partici pation is to c ountries’ economic devel opment, and how valuable w omen ’ s ec onom ic in clu s i o n i s f or ma i n ta i n i n g peace in post conflict set tings Today’s meeting is a c lear signal of the impor tance of the topic

“Women and girls are at

t h e h e a r t o f t h e U K ’ s a p p r o a c h t o e c o n o m i c

development We integrate gender provisions into our F r e e T r a d e A g r e e m e n t s ; p a r t n e r w i t h G 7 F i n a n c e I n s t i t u t i o n s t o m o b i l i s e investments for women in d e v e l o p i n g m a r k e t s , a n d o u r W o r k a n d Opportunities for Women programme has helped over a h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d women access better jobs and improved working con d i t i o n s i n g l o b a l v a l u e chains

“Over the years OSCE p a r t i c i p a t i n g S t a t e s h a v e

c o l l e c t i v e l y c o m m i t t e d t o several important decisions on women ’ s economic par ticipation; notably in 2011 w h e n w e e x p r e s s e d o u r c o n c e r n a b o u t w o m e n ’ s c o n t i n u e d i n e q u a l i t y i n labour markets; and in 2017 w h e n w e r e c o g n i s e d t h e significant contribution of w o m e n ’ s e c o n o m i c empowerment to economic development and cohesive societies

“ B u t t h e s e c o m m i t ments cannot be fulfilled w h e n t h o s e w e s e e k t o empower are forced to flee bullets and bombs ”

enting and inspire others to f e e l e m p o w e r e d i n t h e i r journey

With advice based arti cles, podcast interviews with o t h e r m o m s , d a d s a n d e s s e n t i a l l y a n y o n e w h o cares for a child (from a vari e t y o f d i f f e r e n t b a c k g r o u n d s , c o u n t r i e s a n d experiences), an online com munity to ask questions and s h a r e s t o r i e s a n d s u g g e s tions, and a fledgling shop

I c a n o n l y h o p e t o inspire, educate and support new and existing parents to be the best they can be

What’s your story? How

can more South Asian women relate to you and learn from you?

I am not actually South Asian myself I was born and raised in a small town called M o u n d s v i l l e i n W e s t V i r g i n i a , U S A M y b a c k ground is a melting pot of polish, a splash of German, a sprinkle of Irish, and a small dash of Cherokee Indian

Later in life, when I met m y n o w h u s b a n d , I w a s introduced to South Asian

Anyone joining the B i z z i m u m z i c o m m u nity will essentially be j o i n i n g a v e r y v a s t community of differ ent races, creeds and religions Loving and nurturing a child takes an army and the true b e a u t y o f r a i s i n g a child is not a one size fits all rule book You will learn and grow from hearing and reading about d i f f e r e n t p e r s p e c t i v e s o f p a r e n t i n g a s w e l l a s g a i n great insight and advice

Do

you think parenting should be taught from an early age in life?

As I said just now, there is no one size fits all book for parenting When your c h i l d i s b r o u g h t i n t o t h e world and integrated into y o u r h o m e l i f e i s t r u l y flipped upside down You cannot predict really any of it until you are in the thick of it It is truly wild! I love it I relish in the big wins, and by wins that could be nailing bedtime and lights out at 7:30 pm 3 days in a row I also take in and learn from t h e b i g f a i l u r e s I h a v e always loved being around kids growing up, but I can’t i m a g i n e h a v i n g r a i s e d a child as a child I believe in instinct and I believe in true kindness for others

What’s

the right way of parenting?

I don’t know the right way of parenting I know

Like navigating parent ing, navigating your emo tions postpartum and find ing ‘ you ’ again takes time and a huge amount of grace This hits every woman dif ferently through their preg n a n c y j o u r n e y I f o r o n e took a very long time as I suffered postpartum depres sion and then I miscarried baby number 2 I felt for two years that I was in a bit of an emotional spiral and I strug gled with finding the energy to strengthen my body con f i d e n c e I t w a s n ’ t u n t i l recently that I structured a fitness routine for myself; m y t i m e t o i n v e s t i n m y mental and physical health I feel better, sleep better and definitely feel I am a better wife and mother because I am taking 30 60 minutes 3 times a week for me Not e v e r y o n e h a s t h a t l u x u r y and there are ways to fit in little workouts throughout your day without even going to the gym We touch a lot on this on the Bizzimumzi website and I also share fab ways to work out at home and with the kids on my Bizzimumzi YouTube chan nel

What role can men/partners play in helping here?

B e i n g t h e r e B e i n g there for each other That is how you can help each other and navigate the wild world o f p a r e n t i n g Communication truly is key My husband and I have had b u m p y r o a d s a t t i m e s because our communication w a s o f f D a i l y c h e c k i n s , planning special times and making each other a priority are huge to your relation ship too and also create a less stressful environment for your family

of The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2022 at Buckingham Palace

Award Ceremony for winners

H er M aj es ty T h e Qu ee n C onsort held a reception for w i nn ers o f T h e Q u een 's C o m m o nw e alt h E s sa y C o m p eti ti o n 2 0 22 a t B u ck in g h am P al ac e, Lo nd on The reception was attended by 20 22 competi tion winners and their fami lies, th ree p revious competi tion winners fro m 20 20 and 2021 who were not able to attend an award s ceremony p re vi o u sl y d u e to C o vi d re st ri c ti o ns , f i na l p ane l jud ges and notable literary f ig u res fr o m ac ro s s t h e C ommo nwealth

D u r i n g t h e A w a r d C e r e m o n y , t h e w i n n e r s , who are aged between 13 17 years old and travelled from N e w Z e a l a n d , A u s t r a l i a , I n d i a a n d t h e U K , w e r e awarded their certificates by T h e Q u e e n C o n s o r t Extracts from their winning p i e c e s w e r e r e a d b y R C S Ambassadors Geri Horner, Alexandra Burke and Ayesha Dharker, as well as Booker Prize winner Ben Okri RCS A m b a s s a d o r G y l e s Brandreth acted as compère f o r t h e c e r e m o n y , d u r i n g

which

The Queen Consort and the RCS Executive Chair, Dr Linda Yueh, spoke about the importance of the competi tion to elevate the voices of y o u n g p e o p l e a r o u n d t h e Commonwealth

Her Majesty The Queen Consort said: “All of us are bound together by a pro found appreciation of the w r i t t e n w o r d a n d o f o u r Commonwealth This won derful, extraordinary, richly diverse association of inde pendent and equal nations and friends is, truly, “ ours ” , belonging to each one of us, a n d t h e c o n n e c t i o n s between us run deep ”

T h e Q u e e n ’ s C o m m o n w e a l t h E s s a y Competition is the world’s

oldest international school writing competition It was founded in 1883 by the Royal C o m m o n w e a l t h S o c i e t y , who has proudly delivered the competition for nearly 140 years, to promote litera cy, expression, and creativity a m o n g y o u n g p e o p l e t h r o u g h o u t t h e C o m m o n w e a l t h a n d h e l p nations achieve UN SDG 4 (Quality Education)

For this year ’ s competi tion, 150 volunteer judges, d r a w n f r o m a c r o s s t h e C o m m o n w e a l t h , a s s e s s e d the entries on the theme, O u r C o m m o n w e a l t h , a n d the final judging decision w a s t a k e n b y a n e x p e r t panel, which included best selling author Dame Susan Hill DBE; 2022 Booker Prize w i n n e r , S h e h a n Karunatilaka; Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2014 win ner, Imtiaz Dharker; Head o f R e s e a r c h f o r t h e S h a k e s p e a r e B i r t h p l a c e T r u s t , t h e R e v D r P a u l E d m o n d s o n ; a n d 2 0 2 2

Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner from eSwatini, Ntsika Kota

Plan to make violence against women a thing of the past

An actio n plan to tackle male violence agains t wo men will b e o u t l in ed t o c o u n c il l o r s next week in the run u p to Wh ite Ribbon Day

White Ribbon UK is the l e a d i n g c h a r i t y w o r k i n g t o e n d m a l e v i o l e n c e a g a i n s t women with a programme of awareness raising and cam paigning and with a particu l a r f o c u s o n t h e n e e d t o engage with men and boys

E a r l i e r t h i s y e a r t h e C o u n c i l r e c e i v e d W h i t e Ribbon accreditation when it pledged to deliver a compre hensive action plan to change t h e c u l t u r e s t h a t l e a d t o abuse and violence and pro mote gender equality

A r e p o r t t o B o r o u g h Council highlights that the action plan focuses on three main criteria: strategic lead e r s h i p , e n g a g i n g m e n a n d

boys and changing culture

A number of men within t h e C o u n c i l h a v e a l r e a d y agreed to be White Ribbon Ambassadors while a number of women have taken on the role of White Ribbon champi ons, playing an essential role in encouraging men to get involved by finding opportu nities to inspire and inform t h r o u g h p r e s e n t a t i o n s a n d conversations

C o u n c i l l o r A n n e Hetherington, Lead Member f o r A d u l t s , H e a l t h a n d I n d e p e n d e n c e , s a i d : " O u r Domestic Abuse Partnership r e c o g n i s e s t h a t d o m e s t i c abuse is a societal issue, it effects both men and women

"However, male violence against women in our society is shockingly prevalent, and we can only change those cultures that give rise to it by

p r o m o t i n g a m e s s a g e o f r e s p e c t a n d t o l e r a n c e a n d leading by example

" I t i s o n l y b y w o r k i n g t o g e t h e r i n p a r t n e r s h i p a s c o m m u n i t i e s , s e r v i c e s a n d agencies that we can seek to prevent domestic abuse and c r e a t e a z e r o t o l e r a n c e o f domestic abuse in society "

Members will be told that this year's White Ribbon Day falls on the same week as the start of the FIFA men's World Cup This year's campaign for White Ribbon Day will focus on the good that can come from unifying and sup porting one common cause

#TheGoal

This will seek to bring men and boys together to think about how they can make a positive difference to achieve equality and safety for women and girls

exclusive interview with Ashley Verma, founder of Bizzimumzi, we spoke about postpartum symptoms and high and lows of parenting Shefali Saxena

Do you think the yoke of regaining body confidence post pregnancy will lessen sometime soon?

The Bhavan's Diwali Gala 2022

On Saturday, the 19 th of N ov e m b er 2 0 2 2 , TH e B h av a n h el d i t s a n n ua l D iwali Gala to a very warm and receptive audience of pa tro ns , sup porte rs , an d a rt i s t s T he ev e n t t oo k plac e at the Biltmore hotel in Central London

The Bhavan was hon o u r e d t o h a v e h a d H i s E x c e l l e n c y M r V i k r a m D o r a i s w a m i , t h e H i g h C o m m i s s i o n e r o f I n d i a L o n d o n a s o u r C h i e f Guest

M r R a m a G h e e r a w o w a s t h e M a s t e r o f Ceremonies and created a lively atmosphere with his introductions and interac

Arts

The Chief Guest H E

was very well received and appreci ated

about how t h e a r t s a r e a n i n t e g r a l part of the Indian way of

S h i v a m , a n d S u n d a r a m make up the concept of D h a r m a , e c h o i n g t h e words of the poet Keats when he says, ‘Truth is beauty, beauty is truth ’

The Bhavan is a syn o n y m f o r a l l t h e a b o v e q u a l i t i e s a n d h a s p r e served the unique spirit of o u r h e r i t a g e w h i l e a l s o innovating in the Arts, he said

B e f o r e d i n n e r , T h e Bhavan’s dance students put on a wonderful per formance showcasing the c l a s s i c a l d a n c e s o f B h a r a t a n a t y a m , K a t h a k , and Odissi

Vice Chairman of The B h a v a n D r S u r e k h a

Chef bids to feed 5,000 NHS Staff and raise £13,800 for NHS charities

Award winning Brick Lane Chef launches campaign to provide some welcome relief this Christmas Shefali Saxena

With reports of underfund ing, an NHS in crisis and the cost of living forcing nurses to visit fo od banks and take s tri k e ac ti o n, o ne y o u ng ch ef f rom L ond o n ’ s Bric k Lane is taking it upon him self to bring a sm ile and a nutritiou s meal to exhaust ed hospital staff this winter

health care staff w ith foo d supplies

tions

T h e e v e n t b e g a n with a vibrant percus sion ensemble perfor mance, followed by a short film documenting the Bhavan’s events and activities

T h e B h a v a n ’ s Chairman Mr Subhanu S a x e n a g a v e t h e w e l c o m e a d d r e s s a n d s p o k e a b o u t t h e responsibility of carry ing forward the legacy H e t h a n k e d o u r Chairman Emeritus Sri Joginder Sanger for his c o n t r i b u t i o n s H e a l s o t h a n k e d D r S u r e k h a Mehta for all the arrange ments

life, and the preservation of life and culture are not dichotomous The univer s a l q u a l i t i e s o f S a t y a m ,

Mehta, who was also over all in charge of the entire e v e n t g a v e t h e V o t e o f T h a n k s , e x p r e s s i n g h e r g r a t i t u d e t o t h e C h i e f G u e s t H E V i k r a m Doraiswami, Mr Krishnan Gurumurthy, and all who m a d e t h e e v e n t a g r e a t success

T h e e v e n t s a w t h e p r e s e n c e o f A m i s h Tripathi, Director of The N e h r u C e n t r e , L o r d Dholakia, Baroness Usha P r a s h a r , L o r d L o o m b a , Mrs Seema Malhotra MP, and Mr Virendra Sharma MP among others

T h e d i n n e r , c u l t u r a l p e r f o r m a n c e s , a n d t h e entire event were warmly received by our support ers, and we are proud and enthusiastic to continue our work in the Classical Arts

N i a z C a a n , 2 2 , i s t h e executive chef of City Spice which was voted Best Indian R e s t a u r a n t i n L o n d o n i n 2 0 2 1 O n M o n d a y 2 1 N o v e m b e r , f o l l o w i n g t h e dinner service and in the early hours of the morning during the night shift, Niaz will launch his campaign by preparing and packaging up t o 5 0 0 b o x e s o f b i r i y a n i , packing them into his hatch back and delivering them to the nurses and health work ers at Whittington Hospital in North London, he hopes the first of many hospitals Niaz will then deliver to as m a n y h o s p i t a l s i n t h e Southeast across a period of four weeks with the final d e l i v e r y t a k i n g p l a c e o n Christmas Eve Aiming to feed over 5000 nurses, he will wear a Santa outfit for the deliveries to help bring a smile during what is expect ed to be an extremely stress ful, tiring, and busy period for the NHS

The chef will be taking profits from his anticipated b u s y C h r i s t m a s p e r i o d t o c o v e r t h e c o s t s o f u p t o 5,000 free meals and he is also launching a Go Fund M e p a g e f o r p e o p l e t o donate to hospitals and food banks

You've been involved in helping the needy since a very young age What led you to doing that at a tender age?

B e t w e e n n o w a n d C h r i s t m a s e v e , I w i l l b e b a t c h c o o k i n g o v e r 5 0 0 0 b o x e s o f B i r i y a n i ( b o t h v e g a n a n d c h i c k e n ) a n d delivering it to hospitals all a c r o s s L o n d o n a n d t h e South East I will be cooking the Biriyani from my restau rant, City Spice, based in Brick Lane, London I will dress up as Santa to try and bring some Christmas spirit t o t h e s t a f f w o r k i n g l a t e night shifts at a time when they should be celebrating with their loved ones! I will be delivering the nutritious meal in the hours between 11pm 2:00am for the late night NHS staff and hope to make them smile!

How d o you fund yourself to be able to help them?

The cost of Biryani will be funded through the prof its the award winning City S p i c e m a k e s d u r i n g Christmas, after a turbulent y e a r i n h o s p i t a l i t y 5 0 0 0 boxes is quite significant in cost, but I believe the NHS d e s e r v e i t ! I a m a l s o fundraising £13,800 through a GoFundMe, so people can show their support for the N H S a n d t h i s c a m p a i g n ! (Details here: https://www gofundme c o m / f / t h e w o n d e r f u l n h s working tirelessly this win ter?qid=2bd0d4a59e5ed10e3 1ed6d3f030d2f2a)

eral times throughout the day!

How can m ore businesses do this to jo in h ands in solv ing the cost of living crisis and rising rates of hom eless ness and po verty?

I will admit, a lot of busi n e s s e s a r e h a v i n g a v e r y tough time, especially hospi tality due to the cost of food items, energy and wages all shooting up since the re o p e n i n g o f t h e e c o n o m y H o w e v e r , a c r o s s t h e U K , both businesses and individ uals are having considerable issues and given the cost of living crisis is having a detri m e n t a l e f f e c t o n m a n y homes across the UK, busi nesses should help where possible!

M r K r i s h n a n G u r u m u r t h y , t h e l e a d a n c h o r o f C h a n n e l 4 N e w s , s p o k e a b o u t h i s family’s association with The Bhavan for decades; a n d h o w T h e B h a v a n ’ s work not just propagated culture, but also brought generations of the Indian d i a s p o r a t o g e t h e r t o immerse in our Classical

W i t h m a n y o f m y friends and family working in healthcare, I hear first hand of the turbulent and emotional conditions they f a c e o n a d a i l y b a s i s Hospitals are falling apart, with the NHS not having an adequate budget for repairs, and staff will go whole shifts just sustaining on biscuits or crackers, as they don't have time to eat properly After all the amazing work the NHS staff have done for us since COVID 19, operating a t a n i n c r e d i b l e c a p a c i t y , g i v e n h o w s t r e s s e d a n d overloaded the NHS is, it is admirable Yet, the pay rise a n d a n y m a t e r i a l b e n e f i t given to the staff was not enough Seeing this made me want to bring a smile to the NHS nurses after such an unprecedented period of stress and work, and being t h e c h e f a t C i t y S p i c e , I wanted to do it through the only way I know how to Food!

P lease tell us m o re abou t your initiative to help the

T h e p r o c e e d s o f t h e GoFundMe will be going to the NHS to help their work ing conditions and equip ment, and also to food banks across London The reason I a m p l a n n i n g f o r t h e GoFundMe to also allocate some funds to foodbanks, is because we are now hearing stories of nurses who, due to the cost of living crisis, are visiting food banks to try and get by In my opinion, this should not be happen ing in a developed economy like Britain!

Ho w ch alleng i ng is i t fo r you to do this on a larger scale?

5000 boxes I hope, will f e e d t h e m a j o r i t y o f t h e N H S s t a f f a c r o s s L o n d o n d u r i n g t h e i r n i g h t s h i f t s However, to do this on a larger scale would just mean cooking more batches and maybe doing deliveries sev

It would be amazing if w e c o u l d g e t a n a t i o n a l effort going from the UK i n d e p e n d e n t h o s p i t a l i t y industry to come together to e n s u r e a l l h o s p i t a l s t a f f across the UK have a meal d u r i n g t h e m o n t h o f D e c e m b e r ! I f w e c a n encourage more restaurants t o g e t i n v o l v e d t o c o o k nutritious meals, and deliv e r i n g t h e m t o t h e i r l o c a l hospitals, nurses in the mid lands, north and many other areas could also benefit! Wh y i s ch ari ty im p o rtan t within the so uth A sian com munity?

I think charity is impor tant as it fulfils a need by helping those who are often overlooked in the communi ty In our South Asian com m u n i t y , r e c e n t l y w e h a v e been achieving great feats in m e d i a , m u s i c , h o s p i t a l i t y and so many other areas We should take our success and as always, give to the less f o r t u n a t e H o p e f u l l y , t h e good wishes of our commu nity and those who we can h e l p p r o p e l t h e S o u t h Asian community to more success so we can help more p e o p l e ! C h a r i t y i s a l w a y s good, and we should always strive to help where we can

Mr Vikram Doraiswami’s eloquent speech

He spoke

Chief Guest H E Vikram Doraiswami with the Bhavan Committee

Mr Mehta Mr Krishnan Gurumurthy Vice Chair Mrs Surekha Mehta Mr Subhanu Saxena and guest

Director Dr Nandakumara and Chairman Subhanu Saxena welcoming the chief guest H E Vikram Doraiswami

Cultural performance percussion ensemble

Speeches (L R) H E Vikram Doraiswami, Mr Krishnan Gurumurthy, Sri Subhanu Saxena, Smt Surekha Mehta

Community fights to save Christmas

What a small family might spend on one dinner, is now the currency of the monthly allowance of a disabled per son, in a heart rending situation As the UK enters recession, it does not make it easy for most Britons, especially those who are exceptionally underprivileged, for example, the rough sleepers and homeless

A recent study by academics at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh found that ethnic minority people are m o r e a t r i s k o f h o m e l e s s n e s s T h e study comes days after the parents of two year old Awaab Ishak blamed a social landlord’s racism for his death from black mould in a rented flat in Rochdale that was not treated despite complaints

The British Asian community has since time immemorial come forward to help the needy Many continue to do their bit via charity and offerings, but the data still looks grim Asian Voice h a s l e a r n t t h a t w h i l e c o m m u n i t y e f f o r t s c o n t i n u e t o s u p p o r t r o u g h sleepers and feed the hungry during the ongoing winter, there is still much to be done by the government and this c a l l s f o r m o r e c o n t r i b u t i o n s f r o m Britons

Fatemah (36), a S am aritans volu n teer at th e Blackbu rn branch, said, “I will volunteer again this Christmas S o m e c a l l e r s r a n g o v e r C h r i s t m a s because they were lonely and felt they had no one to turn to, including those c a l l i n g f r o m p r i s o n A l t h o u g h c a l l s ended well, they did have an impact on me and made me think about how I’ve struggled in the past

“Losing our Queen will also have an impact on our calls this year, as many look forward to the Queen’s speech every Christmas During the festive period some people find it’s a time when they remember loved ones and those dearest to them With all the changes we have all been through in the past year, I feel Christmas will be s o m e w h a t o v e r w h e l m i n g f o r m a n y , including myself!

“I’m a Muslim and although my religion is Islam, my children and I still mark Christmas Islam teaches us to be accepting, respect others and to create peace not divisions! I cover my head but it doesn’t make me who I am this is just one element For me, Christmas is a time to spend with my children I respect this special time of year, I think everyone should do this no matter what their background is I have two children and my youngest is born on Christmas Day so we will celebrate C h r i s t m a s a n d h i s b i r t h d a y T h i s Christmas will be a tough one for me personally as my brother passed away recently I was very close to him and this will be the first Christmas without him

“ B e i n g t h e r e f o r p e o p l e t h i s Christmas is really rewarding I want to do my bit to help others, that’s why I am volunteering with Samaritans at Christmas ”

P e o p l e t h i s y e a r a r e t h e r e f o r e resorting to e Christmas cards in order to save money to buy tents for rough sleepers, socks, and food donations

A city night shelter has opened its doors early because of a rise in the n u m b e r o f p e o p l e s l e e p i n g o n t h e streets The annual headcount of rough sleepers has not been published, but t h e G l o u c e s t e r c h u r c h r u n n i n g t h e shelter expects it to be higher than in 2021

BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Temple London led its community food drive recently in which Mandir and other B A P S M a n d i r s a r o u n d t h e c o u n t r y donated food items to local food banks and shelters supporting those adversely

affected by the cost of living crisis The Mandir also partnered with The Felix Project to support the provision of free fresh fruit and vegetables to the local community in London

In a previous interview with Asian V o i c e , A b d u ll ah R eh m an M BE , C o m m u n i ty E ng a g em e nt M a nag er Ba h u T ru s t t o l d u s t h a t F o o d b a n k D r i v e h a s d e v e l o p e d a C o m m u n i t y Support Surgery which is based next to t h e M o s q u e o f f e r i n g s u p p o r t a n d advice to people who are struggling with issues that impact their lives often causing extreme poverty According to them, many young married Asian cou ples are now leaving home So, the Trust is witnessing many more vulner able elderly Asians living alone who in the past would have had family support around them Now a small but worry ing percentage are unable to make ends meet with their pensions as food, and energy bills become unaffordable The team is finding more and more people staying longer in the mosque just so they can stay warm and the pressure on pensioners is really showing

Rough sleepers in Brent up by more than a third

T h e n u m b e r o f p e o p l e s l e e p i n g rough in Brent has increased by 37%, a new Greater London Authority (GLA) analysis shows Local London Assembly Member, Cllr Krupesh Hirani AM, has warned of “real hardship” spreading across the capital as the cost of living crisis continues to push people into homelessness Hirani is urging the gov ernment to “act now ” to tackle increas es in rents, food prices and energy bills before more Londoners are forced to spend winter on the streets

London’s services are working at capacity, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has revealed The Mayor com mitted £36 6 million from this year ’ s b u d g e t t o t a c k l i n g h o m e l e s s n e s s Around 13,500 people have been sup ported by City Hall's rough sleeping services since 2016 During the pan demic, more than 10,000 people were helped off the streets and into hotels by City Hall and London boroughs

Brent is home to many communi ties and is one of the most diverse bor oughs in London Almost two thirds of the population (64%) are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, the third highest in London According to data from 2018, 26 4% of Harrow’s resi dents are of Indian origin the largest minority ethnic group in the borough

S p eak i ng to A s i an V o i ce , C l lr Kru pesh Hirani AM , said, “Spiralling i n f l a t i o n , b i l l s , r e n t s a n d m o r t g a g e

costs are pushing more people towards poverty and homelessness Real time wages are falling, and unemployment is rising, but Londoners face higher taxes, cuts to public services and a delay to the social care cap During winter it is very likely that without further sup port, many people who are only just managing to scrape by will no longer be able to City Hall, outreach workers, charities and councils are doing their bit, it is time the government did theirs Ministers must act now to prevent more people from ending up homeless this winter ”

L o nd o n A s se m bl y L abo u r ’ s

Hou sing sp okesperso n, S em M o em a AM , told us, “Despite sustained efforts by City Hall, councils and charities across the capital, there are still far too

many people sleeping on our streets The cost of living crisis is causing a spike in evictions, as well as acting as a barrier to long term homeless people accessing housing Extreme financial pressures and public service cuts are p u t t i n g m o r e L o n d o n e r s a t r i s k o f homelessness with the number of peo ple sleeping rough in London up by a quarter, year on year The Government must properly fund rough sleeper sup port services, reform the private rented sector and invest in more genuinely affordable homes and new social and council homes for rent ” Ch aran Sekhon is the Fou nd er & C h ai rm an of S EV A Trust UK a Bedford based charity working on edu cation, health, environment & social welfare Speaking to Asian Voice, he said, “Huge rise in the cost of living is causing major issues for all but the low earning individuals and families, elder ly and retired, homeless and rough sleepers are hardest hit Our charity is receiving a lot of calls for help After t h e C o v i d c r i s i s , t h i n g s s t a r t e d t o i m p r o v e b u t w e a r e n o w h e a d i n g towards a similar crisis faced during Covid In recent months SEVA Trust UK team has been supporting over 50 homeless under the care of a local char ity SMART CJS that supports homeless and rough sleepers in Bedford We have been providing staple food and other daily use essentials Our volunteers are also delivering regular hot meals to elderly and vulnerable people who got no family support or are unable to cook Raising costs are pushing more people to approach food banks and charities for help and we will continue to support our local communities and individuals to ensure they do not sleep hungry ”

M e a n w h i l e , B r i t o n s t o s u p p o r t rough sleepers are participating in The Big Sleepout on Friday 25 November, in p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h S t B a s i l s ( h t t p s : / / s t b a s i l s o r g u k / ) , a Birmingham based homelessness pre vention charity St Basils works with y o u n g p e o p l e a g e d 1 6 2 5 w h o a r e homeless, or at risk of homelessness, to enable them to find and keep a home, d e v e l o p t h e i r e m p l o y a b i l i t y s k i l l s , i n c r e a s e o p p o r t u n i t i e s , a n d p r e v e n t homelessness

Cost of living WA RM BA NK

Sangat Centre, a registered charity based at Sancroft Road, Harrow, pri m a r i l y s e r v e s t h e A s i a n s a n d o t h e r m i n o r i t y c o m m u n i t i e s l i v i n g i n Harrow and neighbouring Boroughs They work closely with statutory ser vices, Housing Associations, Benefits Agencies, and a number of other volun tary organisations

In order to overcome the immedi ate impact of the cost of living crisis Sangat Centre has opened its doors and provided safe and warm space to the most vulnerable people in our neigh bourhood They are also giving the advice to support people so that they do not miss out on income support m e a s u r e s T h e c e n t r e a l s o p r o v i d e s warm drinks and hot lunches to help the needy

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the B r i t i s h A s i a n c o m m u n i t y , t h e r e ’ s always been an attempt to have enough resources, solutions and help in every f o r m f o r t h e n e e d y a n d h o m e l e s s However, it is high time that the gov ernment devices a plan of action that just doesn’t rest on the morals of a community that has been taken for granted for years History has it, that H o m e l e s s p e o p l e ' s b e l o n g i n g s h a v e been whisked off the streets for cele brations at the national level, but what has the government done to give them s h e l t e r a n d r e h a b i l i t a t i o n ? N o o n e knows

Autumn Statement brings back UK’s ‘squeezed middle’

Disability EdUK De velopmen t Group told Asian Voice, “We are a network of disabled teachers The main concern for all disabled people is whether their financial support is cut It costs more in travel, people may need the less populated car riages in first class, they could need more leg room, additional wheelchair access, access to toilet and washing facilities, adapted clothing or comfortable clothing, special diets etc and this all costs money The community of disabled teach ers is no different Disabled teachers can be prone to more ill ness and time off work and at a time with less money in the education system and talk of disability benefits being cut again that increases worry about whether or not their schools will still support them and want to keep them long term ”

Asian Voice reached out to experts in the community for their observations and impact of the Autumn Statement

For instance, the National Living Wage will increase to £10 42 per hour with effect from 6 April 2023 (Turn to P17 to read a detailed analysis of the Autumn Statement by Kiran D Patel BA (Hons) ACIPP BFP FCA, Director, Albury Associates)

Sur esh Va gjian i, Sow & Rea p Pr oper ties Ltd told the newsweekly, “The number of deals that are collapsing after a sale price has been agreed, upon has started to increase dra matically Things will probably get tougher over the next year; we believe this will start this coming January Also, some of the measures outlined in the Autumn Statement like the reduced income tax threshold and reduction in the annual threshold for capital gains tax disincentivise landlords from investing in the Private Rental Sector (PRS) This could lead to a reduction in the number of properties available for rent, and therefore, their affordability for tenants But even after all these issues it looks like many investors are in a position to weather the storm, and come out stronger on the other side; and also are ready to grab opportunities that will come across over the next 6 12 months ”

Mohsin R ashid, Co founde r of ZIPZERO, (which uses marketing to generate cash support towards consumer utility bills) said: “The failed Truss experiment left a burning hole in the UK economy, the size of £30 billion From irresponsible to unforgiving government, the bitter return to austerity will no doubt double down on hardship across the whole country

“Has the government forgotten its own mantra? There’s no magic money tree Asking the country to play Sophie's Choice over which essential item to sacrifice this week will only promote personal and national decline, in a new age of Victorian misery While there are no fruitful horticultural solutions out there, consumers should take advantage of all money saving opportunities at their disposal In particular, the ongoing fight for the right of consumer data is revolu tionising the marketing sector and providing consumers with generous cash rewards through direct to consumer market ing platforms”

Hospitality : Con tinue d dama ge t o busin ess con fide nce

A sma Khan , Found er of Dar jeeling Ex pre ss told Asian Voice, “The mini budget of the previous conservative admin istration has continued to damage business confidence I requested money from the bank to renovate my new restau rant, but they wouldn't give it to me Due to the rising costs of food ingredients and electricity expenses, it is less likely that households would spend on luxuries this Christmas F i n a n c i a l u n c e r t a i n t y h a s a d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y n e g a t i v e impact on small businesses and independent store owners ”

For NHS workforce plan t o work it can not ign ore pa y an d condit ions

Dr Emma R unswick , BMA coun cil de puty cha ir, said, “Staff have had enough Real terms pay is continuing to fall, made worse by sky high inflation, so many are being left with no choice but to consider industrial action There is a glim mer of hope in that the Chancellor clearly recognises the severe staffing shortages we have in the NHS, announcing the much needed workforce plan, importantly including independently verified modelling covering the next 15 years, to be published next year ”

According to GMC data almost 10,000 doctors left the UK medical workforce last year, with around half going over seas Britain will continue to see this haemorrhage of expert clinicians if no action is taken to reverse more than a decade of real terms pay cuts and fix pension tax rules that punish doctors for going to work

The BMA deputy chair also mentioned that until the Government puts in place a long term solution, we will con tinue to see our most highly skilled clinicians retiring in their prime or reducing hours right when patients need them most We urge him to work with the BMA’s pensions com mittee to resolve this

“This failure to match spending with the cost of providing care means services will inevitably be impacted and patients will suffer further,” she added

Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive, said: “While I am under no illusions that NHS staff face very testing times ahead, particularly over winter, this settlement should pro vide sufficient funding for the NHS to fulfil its key priorities As ever, we will act with determination to ensure every penny of investment delivers for patients ”

Fatemah Cll Krupesh Hirani

Autumn Statement 2022

Hunt In For Stability, Growth & Public Services

T axation of Company Cars

Although the Government still wish to encourage the use of electric vehicles rather than traditional fueled cars, the i n c r e a s e i n e l e c t r i c v e h i c l e s b e i n g provided as company cars has resulted in the Chancellor revisiting this area

KIRAN D PATEL

BA (Hons) ACIPP BFP FCA, Director, Albury Associates

E l e c t r i c v e h i c l e s p r o v i d e d b y employers are taxed as a benefit in kind at a r a t e o f 2 % o f t h e l i s t p r i c e , t h e Government have committed to retaining this rate until 5 April 2025 Beyond this time, the taxation of electric cars will increase as follows:

F 2025/2026 3%

F 2026/2027 4%

F 2027/2028 5%

Non electric vehicles will also see the same 1% increase over the same timescale Fu el Du ties

A l t h o u g h t h e C h a n c e l l o r d i d n o t make any comment on fuel duties, it is understood that the temporary 5p per litre reduction for 2022/2023 will end on 5 April 2023 Furthermore, automatic fuel indexation will be allowed to take effect, resulting in a total duty rise of around 12p per litre

Natio nal Insurance Contributions ( “NIC” )

F N I C n i l b a n d h a s i n c r e a s e d f r o m £9,880 to £12,570 What do es it all mean?

Emp lo yers National Insu rance Co ntributions

F the level at which employers start to pay national insurance contributions f o r e m p l o y e e s w i l l r e m a i n a t t h e current £9,100 level until April 2028

F T h e E m p l o y m e n t A l l o w a n c e w i l l remain at £5,000 V alue Added T ax (“ VAT”)

F VAT registration threshold to remain at £85,000 until 1 April 2026

F V A T d e r e g i s t r a t i o n t h r e s h o l d t o remain at £83,000 until 1 April 2026

Business Rates

F Business rates bills in England to be updated from April 2023 to reflect property values on 1 April 2021

F T r a n s i t i o n a l r e l i e f t o s u p p o r t businesses as they move to their new bills will be provided for five years

F Support for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses to be extended a n d i n c r e a s e d f r o m 5 0 % t o 7 5 % business rates relief up to £110,000 per business from 6 April 2023

F Increases in bills to be capped at £600 a year from 1 April 2023 for small businesses

Global survey on web3 targeting Asian origin 16 24 year olds and their parents launches

Fac ebook’s owner Meta announc ed large j ob los ses rec ently, and the world’s second la rge st c r y pt o c ur r e n c y ex c ha n ge F T X w e n t i n t o ba n kr upt cy j us t a f e w d ay s ag o, ow in g i ts depositors billi ons of dollars The world of web3 has take n a hit as a result, even as it is es tim at ed j us t un der 10% of th e U K ad ult population has inve sted in cryptocurren cy at some poin t in thei r lives

F The Personal Allowance will remain at £12,570 until 5 April 2028

F The higher rate threshold will stay at £50,270 until 5 April 2028

F From 6 April 2023, the threshold for the highest rate of tax will fall from £150,000 £125,140

F Individuals with income of more than £100,000 will continue to have their P e r s o n a l A l l o w a n c e t a p e r e d w i t h t h o s e o n i n c o m e s o f m o r e t h a n £ 1 2 5 , 1 4 0 n o t b e e n e n t i t l e d t o a n y

Personal Allowance

F From 6 April 2023, the Blind Persons Allowance will increase to £2,870 Wh at does it all mean?

F Individuals earning up to £125,140 will not pay any more income tax on their earnings, than they currently do

F Individuals earning over £125,140 will pay an additional 5p of income tax on every £1 earned above £125,140 This amounts to additional income tax of £1,243 per annum

Dividend Tax

F F r o m 6 A p r i l 2 0 2 3 t h e D i v i d e n d

Allowance will reduce to £1,000

F F r o m 6 A p r i l 2 0 2 4 t h e D i v i d e n d Allowance will reduce to £500

F There were no changes to the rates of tax applicable to Dividend Income, the rates are:

Basic Rate Taxpayers 8 75%

Higher Rate Taxpayers 33 75%

Additional Rate Taxpayers 39 35%

Cap ital Gains Tax

F From 6 April 2023, the tax free Capital Gains Annual Exemption will reduce to £6,000

F From April 2024, the tax free Capital

Gains Annual Exemption will reduce to £3,000

F Rates of Capital Gains Tax payable g a i n s a b o v e A n n u a l E x e m p t i o n remain unchanged at between 10% to 28%, depending on the individual’s level of income and type of assets sold

Inheritance Tax

The deceased’s estate valued at below £325,000 is not subject to Inheritance Tax Any estate valued at above £325,000 is taxed at 40% (the rate is applicable to the amount above £325,000) There is also t h e r e s i d e n c e n i l r a t e b a n d w h i c h i n c r e a s e s t h e t a x f r e e a l l o w a n c e b y £175,000 the family home is passed to c h i l d r e n / g r a n d c h i l d r e n A l l t h r e s h o l d s and rates remain unchanged until 5 April 2028

F Individuals earning up to £12,570 will n o t p a y e m p l o y e e s N a t i o n a l I n s u r a n c e C o n t r i b u t i o n s o n t h e i r income

F T h i s p r o v i d e s a s a v i n g s o f approximately £480 per annum, on average National Living Wage Increase

F T h e N a t i o n a l L i v i n g W a g e w i l l increase to £10 42 per hour with effect from 6 April 2023 S tate Pens ions and So cial S ecu rity Benefits

F S t a t e P e n s i o n s a n d t h e s t a n d a r d m i n i m u m i n c o m e g u a r a n t e e i n pension credit will increase by 10 1% from 6 April 2023

F Plans to create a housing element of pension credit to replace pensioner housing benefit is intended to take effect from 6 April 2028

F The Benefit Cap will rise to £22,020, nationally and to £25,323 in Greater London, for families

F The single adults the Cap will rise to 14,007 and £53, nationally and £16,967 in Greater London

F Households on means tested benefits will receive an additional £900 in 2023/2024

F Pensioner households will receive an extra £300 cost of living payment and individuals on disability benefits will get an extra £150 disability cost of living payment

E nergy Pri ce Support

F T h e D o m e s t i c E n e r g y P r i c e Guarantee will increase to £3,000 for one year from 1 April 2023

Council Tax in England

F Local Authorities in England will be able to increase Council Tax by up to 3% per annum from April 2023

F Any increases beyond 3% will require the Council to hold a referendum Stamp D uty Land Tax (“ SD LT” )

For purchasers of residential property in England and Northern Ireland, the f o l l o w i n g m e a s u r e s o n S D L T w i l l b e made temporary and end on 31 March 2025:

F the increase in the SDLT Nil rate threshold from £125,000 to £250,000

F the increase in the SDLT Nil rate threshold from £300,000 to £425,000 for first time buyers

F t h e i n c r e a s e i n t h e m a x i m u m purchase price for relief for first time buyers from £500,000 to £625,000

F A n I m p r o v e m e n t R e l i e f t o b e introduced from 6 April 2024 This will ensure that ratepayers do not see a n i n c r e a s e i n t h e i r r a t e s f o r 1 2 m o n t h s a s a r e s u l t o f m a k i n g q u a l i f y i n g i m p r o v e m e n t s t o t h e properties that they occupy Online S ales Tax T h e G o v e r n m e n t d e c i d e d n o t t o introduce an Online Sales Tax Research & Development T ax Reli ef (“R&D” )

For R&D expenditure after 31 March 2023:

F R & D e x p e n d i t u r e c r e d i t r a t e w i l l increase from 13% to 20%

F T h e s m a l l a n d m e d i u m s i z e d enterprises additional deduction will decrease from 130% to 86%; and

F T h e s m a l l a n d m e d i u m s i z e d enterprise credit rate will decrease from 14 5% to 10%

HMRC & T ax Avoidance

The Chancellor announced a package o f m e a s u r e s t o t a c k l e t a x a v o i d a n c e , evasion and wider non compliance The package includes:

F A £17 9 million fund for additional staff to tackle more cases of serious tax fraud as well as wealthy taxpayers non compliance

F H M R C ’ s c h a l l e n g e o f t a x p a y e r s l i a b i l i t i e s t h r o u g h a s e r i e s o f campaigns and nudge letters

F HMRC devoting resources to tackle fraudulent and erroneous R&D tax claims

Nu dge Letters

Nudge letters are designed to prompt t a x p a y e r s t o r e c o n s i d e r w h e t h e r t h e y need to pay more tax to HMRC They are u s u a l l y i s s u e d w h e n H M R C h a s information that suggests that tax returns are incomplete HMRC receives its data f r o m o v e r s e a s t a x a u t h o r i t i e s a b o u t p e o p l e ’ s n o n U K b a n k i n t e r e s t , discrepancies between Companies House data and tax returns

In conclusio n

This summary represents some of the a n n o u n c e m e n t s ( t h a t a r e r e l e v a n t t o readers) made by the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, in his Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022

T h i s s u m m a r y i s f o r g e n e r a l information only You are recommended to seek competent professional advice before taking or refraining from taking action on the basis of the contents of this a r t i c l e T h e g u i d e r e p r e s e n t s o u r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e l a w a n d H M Revenue & Customs practice as at 17 November 2022, which may be subject to change

Market research firm EPG is conducting a global survey aimed at 16 24 years old young people and their parents, seeking to understand current knowledge gaps, concerns (e g safety, privacy and financial) and future opportunities in web3

T h e y a r e p a r t i c u l a r l y a i m e d a t y o u n g women from an Asian background The survey is the first of its kind globally and results will feed into creating educational resources for p a r e n t s a n d y o u n g w o m e n , t o h e l p t h e m understand the benefits of web3 better and more safely

EPG is calling on Asian Voice readers to t a k e f i v e m i n u t e s t o f i l l i n t h e s u r v e y a t https://web3survey typeform com/survey

If you are not aware of web3 is, you are not the only one web3 can be a whole range of a r e a s , i n c l u d i n g d e c e n t r a l i s e d f i n a n c e ( l i k e c r y p t o c u r r e n c y ) , N F T s ( o n l i n e a r t ) , o n l i n e gaming, virtual communities and more But if you ’ ve heard of the metaverse or Bitcoin, then you ’ ve been exposed to web3 in some way

The survey is running until 14 December, with the intention to launch the results early n e x t y e a r E n t r a n t s t o t h e s u r v e y a r e automatically entered into a prize draw for one of three $100 Amazon vouchers or an Amazon Echo

If respondents or education institutions would like to be involved as a partner in the survey, they are welcome to reach out to Smita Patel at spatel@economicpolicygroup com

EPG’s earlier research has appeared in The Economist, BBC, The Guardian and elsewhere E a r l i e r t h i s y e a r t h e y p u b l i s h e d a d e t a i l e d market research report assessing the potential n e g a t i v e i m p a c t o n e d t e c h c o m p a n i e s a n d students of the government’s Skills and Post 16 Education Act that came out in May this year

Ind ia Free Trade Agre eme nt

I write to you from India In fact from Asia’s largest tech summit I’ve seen companies in AI, quantum comput ing, cancer detection, rocketry (India launches UK satel lites btw), and today India had its first private rocket launch Then there were companies in advanced manufac turing, advanced materials and of course cyber security (they do have two hostile neighbours) Malaysia and Turkey have shown themselves unfriendly too The former is irrelevant, but the latter supplies offensive capabilities to India’s neighbour And of course Turkey is a NATO mem ber At some point, Nato will ask India for a closer relation ship and the activities of Turkey will be on the table Hopefully Erdagon will be long gone before then

As India overtook the UK by GDP, the trajectory of the Indian economy is the same as it’s rockets to the moon We want some of that action in the UK So would the FTA make a dent on FTSE 100 company valuations? Not in the immediate term of course

A few months ago the FTSE 100 was pretty much at year 2000 levels It’s rangebound for a couple of decades and not an index I would buy into I’ve seen ‘Asia’ investment trusts be mainly China and destroyed in their valuation then you look at the ethnicity of the fund managers and you see why ‘Asia’ to them meant ‘China’ and why they kept getting it wrong No thanks

I think it would be a brave or foolish person who would bet on individual companies on the FTA alone A Diageo? But not on FTA alone

Back to FTA

Negotiations for the UK India bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) started in January 2022 with an end of year timeline The two nations failed to agree on terms, and the FTA’s progress seemingly stalled for a while But the ambi tious trade pact received a much needed impetus with Rishi Sunak’s recent ascension to power in the UK

Greg Hands, the trade minister for Britain, stated last month that the UK has completed all major sections of the FTA, which he deemed essential to the UK’s economic revival “A strong FTA can strengthen the economic links between the UK and India, boosting the UK economy by more than 3 billion pounds by 2035 and helping families and communities,” Business Standard quoted him as saying

But is it all cut and dry, as some in business and political circles believe? As it turns out, that’s not the case

Concer ns reg ard in g the FTA st ill a bound

Alex Ellis, the British High Commissioner to India, is cautiously optimistic about the two nations reaching a consensus on the trade pact in the upcoming months after 18 months of back and forth Businessmen and lobbyists strike a similarly optimistic note In his conversation with ET Prime last month, Lord Karan Bilimoria, my former Chairman on the UK India Business Council, was extremely hopeful about the trade pact coming to successful closure IP (Inte llectua l Prope rty ) provisions

Humanitarian organizations have attacked a leaked chapter of the FTA that concerns IP provisions Doctors Without Borders has explicitly demanded the complete scrapping of the IP provisions, citing that the leaked chapter contains several harmful sections This includes a contentious provision that mandates disclosure of all patents, which they claim, and DIT denies, would mean harder to acquire generic drugs and so higher NHS costs

Seems like scare mongering by the Medicins sans Frontier as DIT has said they would not accept anything which would lead to higher NHS costs UK l a w s f o r U K i m p o r t s m e a n s U K p a t e n t r e g u l a t i o n s I ’ m w i t h t h e U K Government on this

Actually a more difficult hurdle on IP will be defence and security, make in India and IP transfer to India I suspect the defence and medicine IP provisions are being interconnected India wants IP, defence manufacturing in country and visas to the UK

India is not happy with defence reliance on Russia, especially given Russian hardware is proven junk, even if made in India and IP shared But Western companies are private public partnerships and IP is more an issue with UK, than say France The French need India The UK defence industry less so It may come down to trust between UK and Indian defence counterparts and avoidance of misinterpretation I suspect the danger is a lot can be lost in trans lation on such sensitive issues to use diplomatic language Seeing Indian Defence Research and Development it’s a question of when not if India will develop indigenously Buying than building accelerates innovation

The UK wants cheaper NHS costs, access to the UK market for exports Tariff r eduction on goods

Andy Street, Mayor of West Midlands which is the UK’s second largest des tination for Indian FDI in the country, considers tariff reduction on goods “the single most important factor” of the UK India FTA But he also expects stiff resistance from Indian carmakers to lower import tariffs But there is some proverbial silver lining as India has accepted the UK’s major demands for a reduction in tariffs on the import of Scotch whisky and provisions for higher quotas

Given that average Indian tariffs are higher than those in the United Kingdom, the latter stands to gain considerably more from the former Scotch whisky accounts for 90% of all the UK's alcohol exports to India, despite the country's steep tariffs on the beverage (150%)

Can Prime Minister Modi Sunak deliver?

The UK India FTA was discussed at length between India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly during their meeting last month It is in the interests of both countries to increase trade and labour mobility between them, so the United Kingdom is pushing for greater access to the Indian market for high quality British goods And the Indians want more movement of people

Speaking at the Global Trade Conference 2022, a week later, Trade Minister Greg Hands remarked, “ our governments are making good progress in nego tiating an ambitious FTA which could boost trade between us by as much as £28 billion ”

Even if the two nations ink the FTA in 2023 as expected, it could be radically different from the leaked draft

Only 32% Britons say their bank is doing enough to support them

A new survey of 2,000 UK adults b y Ch e tw ood F i n an c i a l ha s revealed how the cos t of living is shifti ng the bank c ustomer rela ti ons hi p It f ound : O ver ha lf (54%) are finding it difficult to s av e mo ne y du e to th e hi gh cos t of living; J ust 32 % believe their bank is provi ding adequate s up por t to m an a g e th ei r finances; Only 44% have visi ted th ei r b an k b ra n c h i n pe r s on within the last 12 months; 56% of fintech users have opened a new b ank acc ount or product enti rely onli ne this year, with out c o n s ul ti n g a b a n k or provid er; 7 0% s ai d th ey have b ee n c he c k i n g t he i r o n li n e

banking apps more often over the last 12 months as a result of the current economy

The survey found that over half (54%) find it challenging to save money due to the high cost of living An additional 31% feel overwhelmed when budgeting a n d a s s e s s i n g t h e i r p e r s o n a l finances, although this figure rises sharply to 52% among those aged 18 34 Overall, 41% have dipped into their savings to help make ends meet However, just 32% believe their bank is provid i n g e n o u g h s u p p o r t t o h e l p them manage their finances

When asked about how they choose their banking providers,

55% said they base their decision on rates and incentives com pared to other providers, while 43% choose their banks based on the quality and variety of their technology

Andy Mielczarek, CEO and Founder, Chetwood Financial, said: “With inflation still sitting close to 40 year highs and ener gy costs rising sharply in the UK, Britons are facing some of the most difficult financial circum stances in years In response to t h e s e c h a l l e n g e s , m a n y a r e embracing the digital revolu tion, seeking new methods to bolster their financial manage ment and spending power

Retirees will have to pay tax on state pension by 2030

Eve ry r etire d person claiming the full new st ate pension is at risk of payin g inc ome t ax for the f irst time as the t riple l oc k drives up p ay m en t s i n l i n e w it h s ur g in g infla tion

T h e p e n s i o n w i l l r i s e t o £12,544 a year in 2028, according to analysis of figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) by Canada Life just £26 below the threshold for paying the basic rate of income tax It means that if inflation slightly overshoots the OBR estimate, hundreds of thou sands of pensioners will become taxpayers for the first time since retirement

Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that he will keep the triple lock, a promise to increase the state pen sion by whichever is the largest of inflation, wage growth and 2 5 pc This means that the new state pension currently £9,628 will rise by around 30 pc in the next six y e a r s a c c o r d i n g t o t h e O B R M e a n w h i l e , t h e C h a n c e l l o r i s f r e e z i n g t h e t a x f r e e p e r s o n a l allowance at £12,570 until 2028 If t h e s t a t e p e n s i o n e v e n t u a l l y exceeds the personal allowance, t h e 2 0 p e r c e n t b a s i c r a t e o f income tax will be due on earnings above the threshold More than 12 million retirees paid the state pen

sion will get a record 10 1 per cent increase in their income next year alone The new state pension will rise to as much as £10,600 a year, and the older basic state pension f o r t h o s e w h o q u a l i f i e d b e f o r e 2016 will increase to as much as £ 8 , 1 2 2 T h e s t a t e p e n s i o n increased by only 3 1 pc in 2022 after the triple lock was temporar ily scrapped when the pandemic exaggerated wage growth figures Steven Cameron, of the pensions specialist Aegon, said that for most retirees had both a private pension and a state pension, and the pri vate schemes were tasked with deducting tax

Rishi maintains his promise to publish tax returns

Ri shi Sunak has promis ed that he will within the comi ng year bec om e the first pri me mini ster s in c e 2 016 to pub li sh his ta x return s in full

S u n a k m a d e t h e p l e d g e d u r i n g h i s u n s u c c e s s f u l C o n s e r v a t i v e l e a d e r s h i p campaign against Liz Truss in the summer But he has not yet m a d e t h e f i g u r e s p u b l i c , sparking a warning from Liberal D e m o c r a t c h i e f w h i p W e n d y C h a m b e r l a i n t h a t f a i l u r e t o m a k e g o o d o n t h e p r o m i s e w o u l d r i s k d o i n g e v e n m o r e damage to public trust in the Conservative Party

S u n a k ’ s p e r s o n a l f i n a n c i a l

affairs have come under intense scrutiny after it was revealed that his wife Akshata held non dom tax status and it emerged that he held a Green Card and filed tax returns in the US while being Chancellor Details of the couple’s fortune, believed to be around £730mn, are potentially p o l i t i c a l l y s e n s i t i v e a t a t i m e when the government’s autumn

CBI asks government to focus on growth

statement is expected to deliver a painful austerity package of tax rises and public spending cuts A s k e d d u r i n g h i s v i s i t t o Indonesia for the G20 summit w h e t h e r h e s t i l l i n t e n d e d t o m a k e h i s t a x r e t u r n s p u b l i c , Sunak replied: “Yes, of course ” However, there is no legal requirement for them to make the information public, though s o m e h a v e d o n e D a v i d Cameron published his returns a f t e r c o m i n g u n d e r g r e a t pressure as PM, Boris Johnson m a d e h i s p u b l i c s t a t e m e n t s w h i l e L o n d o n m a y o r a n d George Osborne did the same as chancellor

UK’s plan to benefit from Brexit

Advocates of Britain’s exit fro m the Euro pean Union pre sented it as an o pportunity to sweep aside unnecessary rules and reg ulatio ns that were holding back eco nom ic growth Key to th is is a plan to replicate the “Big Bang,” the wave of deregulation in 1986 th at turned th e City of London into a global finance hub The id ea is to relax rules originally drawn up for 28 EU nations to make the country’s exchanges, banks, brokers and insurance firms m ore co mpetitive, allow ing them to grab a bigg er sh are of global markets M ounting evidence that Brexit is d oing UK businesses more harm than good has add ed pressure on the government to m ake th e financial reforms a success

The business lobby group's director general, Tony Danker, told its annual con ference that the government and compa nies need to focus on three areas to make t h e c o

opened the conference by arguing that "while fiscal credibility looks to have been restored, there are three imperatives to get the economy growing," according to a CBI press release published ahead of his speech

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's govern ment must work to unlock private invest ment and change rules "to overcome politi cal barriers", with more migration needed to fill job vacancies, Danker said

London’s failure this year to secure a primary listing for its biggest technology firm, chip designer ARM Ltd , was seen by the Conservative government as a wake up call It wants to change rules for stock offerings, private trading venues and other areas to give London an edge over rival financial cen ters It’s also easing capital requirements for insurers, freeing up tens of billions of pounds that could be invested in nation al infrastructure Some of the rules imposed on banks in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis could also be dis mantled In preparation for Brexit, EU statutes were grafted into British law with the aim of amending them at a later date That process kicked off in July, when former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration introduced a parlia mentary bill laying out a new legal framework for banks, insurers and asset managers The bill is expected to become law in April or May 2023 Meanwhile, financial firms and their lobbyists are seeking to influence the shape of the reforms

UK

Rishi Sunak

Tatas, SIA finalise merger deal of Air India and Vistara

up to six months

c ei v in g a l l n ec e ss a ry ap p ro v al s , a nd i t wi ll p ro ba b ly b e a n no u n c ed soo n B y c o m b i n i n g V i s t a r a and the Maharaja to create a f u l l s e r v i c e a r m a n d AirAsia India (AAIPL) and

AI Express to create a low cost arm, the Tata Group hopes to create AI, which w i l l a c t a s t h e u m b r e l l a carriers

According to people in know, like AI Express and

T he USA o rdered A ir India to pay u p to $121 5 million in refunds to p asseng ers who had their flights cancelled or ch anged, mo stly due to the Covid 19 pand em ic In ad ditio n, the airline has been asked to pay another $1 4 m illion in fines for the delays in disbursing refunds

The development comes following a crackdown by the US Department of Transportation on airlines that refuse to reimburse passengers for cancelled flights The DOT has ordered six airlines to pay $600 million in refunds to hundreds of thousands of passengers in addition to fines worth $7 5 million in total, according to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg

The other airlines subjected to the action are: TAP Air Portugal, Aeromexico, ElAl, Avianca

“When a flight gets cancelled, passengers seeking refunds should be paid back promptly,” Buttigieg said “When that d o e s n ' t o c c u r , w e w i l l t a k e a c t i o n t o m a k e a i r l i n e s answerable on behalf of American tourists and recover passengers' money ”

“A flight cancellation is frustrating enough and you shouldn’t also have to haggle or wait months to get your refund,” he said Airlines are obligated to give passengers refunds when a flight is cancelled for any reason, but frequently, in an effort to keep the money, many airlines provide vouchers or credit for future travel instead of a refund Airlines’ refusal to give passengers their money back h a s b e c o m e a h u g e s o u r c e o f c o n s u m e r c o m p l a i n t s , especially during the early days of the pandemic when almost no one was flying

A bout “ on e thi rd” of the stalled Je t A irw ays 2 0 ’ s 230 e mploye es (ab

Strategy Vs Discount

T h e o n e y e a r t a r g e t factors in hiccups on the w a y F o r i n s t a n c e , t h e C o m p e t i t i o n a n d Consumer Commission of S i n g a p o r e ( C C C S ) e x p r e s s e d c o n c e r n a b o u t t h e a c q u i s i t i o n o f A I b y Tata in June due to the fact that three related entities (AI, SIA, and Vistara) now have a significant presence on "overlapping passenger routes" between India and t h e c i t y s t a t e , i n c l u d i n g Mumbai and Delhi SIA had last month confirmed being in talks with Tata Group for a “potential integration” of Vistara with AI

Reliance to expand shopping empire by 7 stores a day

Reliance Ind ustries wants to establish itself in Ind ia's towns and cities by contro lling the $80 0 billion retail market as well This includes forming alliances w ith high end fashion brands like Balenciag a and buying a C oca C ola knockoff Reliance’s 16 year old shopping unit has often been o v e r l o o k e d , a s A m b a n i ’ s J i o m o b i l e n e t w o r k s t o l e t h e limelight in transforming India’s data landscape However, it has come into focus as Ambani plots his succession, saying he wants to spin out Retail and Jio and allot their leadership to his eldest children, twins Isha and Akash

Reliance is growing its retail empire at a rate of seven stores per day, using acquisitions to accelerate growth and investing about $3 6 billion in the previous fiscal year This is taking advantage of restrictions that make it difficult for foreign companies to compete in India's fragmented retail sector, which is still largely made up of family owned shops It has 16,000 stores across India, while online purchases contribute 17 per cent of revenues, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter

In its latest potential acquisition, Retail has reportedly bid $500mn for German wholesaler Metro’s Indian business Indian law permits foreign firms to own 100% of a cash and carry operation, but only if they don't engage in direct consumer sales Reliance, by contrast, could unlock value by extending the business to sell direct to shoppers through Metro’s 31 distribution centres, said a person familiar with the company ’ s thinking Additionally, Reliance has declared that by the end of the year, it will establish its own fast moving consumer goods division

liabilities to different stakeholders including Jet 1 0 employees And now the consortium’s ability or intention to raise and infuse funds required for the airline’s revival is increasingly b e i n g q u e s t i o n e d b y t h e a f f e c t e d staffers

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had revalidated Jet’s licence exactly six months back on May 20, 2022 But so far there is no sign of

w h e n t h e a i r l i n e t h a t h a d g o t grounded in April 2019 will fly again The consortium spoke of taking “difficult decisions” in a statement a n d y e t a g a i n c l a i m e d t o b e committed to revive Jet Except itself, the consortium pinned the blame for t h e d e l a y o n o t h e r s t a k e h o l d e r s without naming anyone JKC said it “ h a s b e e n , a n d r e m a i n s , f u l l y committed to reviving Jet Airways

India's exports shrink for first time since Feb ’21

T he official data sh owed the exports contracted for the f i rs t ti m e si nc e F e br u ary 20 21 and imp orts g rew at t h ei r s lo w e st p ac e i n 2 1 m onths, wid ening the trade d eficit in October

Exports fell 16 5% to $29 8 billion, while imports grew 5 8 % t o $ 5 6 7 b i l l i o n , resulting in a trade deficit of $ 2 6 9 b i l l i o n i n O c t o b e r 2 0 2 2 , c o m p a r e d t o $ 1 7 9 billion a year ago

C o m m e r c e s e c r e t a r y S u n i l B a r t h w a l b l a m e d global headwinds and fewer working days in October for fall in exports but refused to

give any forward guidance, arguing that the numbers need to be watched for some more time Besides, he said, some of the sectors were also affected by checks on exports

W h i l e p o i n t i n g t o l o w e r i n g o f g r o w t h p r o j e c t i o n s b y W T O , Barthwal said in order for

I n d i a n e x p o r t e r s t o take advantage of the o p p o r t u n i t y , h e h a d asked his staff to look at the "hot places," such a s N o r t h a n d L a t i n A m e r i c a , W e s t A s i a , a n d N o r t h A f r i c a Official data showed that d u r i n g O c t o b e r , N e t h e r l a n d s , B r a z i l a n d S i n g a p o r e w e r e t h e o n l y countries among the top 10 destinations where India’s exports had increased

E l e c t r o n i c p r o d u c t s were the only industry to defy the general downward t r e n d a m o n g t h e k e y

sectors, which also included g e m s a n d j e w e l l e r y , e n g i n e e r i n g g o o d s , c h e m i c a l s , r e a d y t o w e a r a p p a r e l a n d m e d i c i n e s B a r t h w a l s a i d i n c r e a s e i n case of electronics was the r e s u l t o f t h e t h r u s t o n domestic manufacturing

O n t h e i m p o r t f r o n t , f e r t i l i s e r , p e t r o l e u m , n o n ferrous metals and machinery were among the prominent sectors to grow Shipments f r o m C h i n a , t h e U S a n d Australia declined among the top 10 import sources, with Russia seeing a massive surge during October

We just clo sed a sm all d eal in W2 The pro perty is a stu dio in Baysw ater, with a short lease

The price agreed is £225,000; probably the cheapest property one can buy in this location There is obviously an anomaly at this price; that is the lease is short about 46 years Surprisingly, there are lenders who will lend even on this ‘short’ length of lease Lenders have become more comfortable with the concept than say a decade ago

This will be extended; and the process started during the conveyancing This is done by the current vendor serving a S42 notice which enforces their right to extend the lease further for an additional 90 years

The property will be purchased in cash and then refinanced on the revised long lease The aim is to leave very little money in the deal, should be about 10 12%; that’s the calculation

There will be a minor refurb programme undertaken in the property It’s a studio, so how much can one do The aim is to keep this very tight and I’m estimating £7,500, but maybe even less

The refinance will be done on a 5 year fixed rate at circa 5% level This is the prevailing rate for 5 year products currently

We are in dangerous times; cash in the bank is not a good idea Inflation will be eroding any cash which is left stagnant Therefore it needs to be in real assets Any debt taken is a good thing during these times It will shrink with time, in real terms; assuming inflation stays about the rate which is being paid which seems almost a certainty

There is a very strategic reason for buying in this location

Traditionally, it has always been seen as the poor side of the park, compared to its neighbours Locations such as Kensington and Belgravia actually experienced growth during the last financial crisis This means investors were using properties in this location primarily as a safety deposit box and as a protection for wealth Something to bear in mind for the coming times, which will be much worse

The premium which the north side of the park commands is only a fraction of what the south side commands

It has been identified in a 2014 report by Knight Frank to be an area for growth Though this report is 8 years old, the wheels of an area ’ s regeneration move very s l o w l y , a n d t o t h e u n i n f o r m e d a c u r s o r y g l a n c e a t Whiteleys shopping centre it looks like it will still take a couple of years to complete

Retail prices too are only a fraction of what they achieve in Oxford Street which is only a mile away

The supply side had been identified as only 239 new units, of which about half were under construction This lack of supply will serve to ensure prices stay strong

This purchase was a strategic purchase, no doubt there is some discount there, but the main reason is to ride off the economic wave, which will be rising in the coming years

Meta appoints Sandhya as new India head

Soc i al m ed i a gi an t M et a, whi ch runs apps s uch as Fa c e bo ok , I n s ta g ra m a n d Wha tsA pp, has a ppoint ed Sandhya Devanathan as the vi c e p re s i d en t fo r I n d i a n operations

She comes in place of Ajit Mohan who resigned f r o m t h e c o m p a n y e a r l y t h i s m o n t h t o j o i n r i v a l

Snap

" W h i l e c o n t i n u i n g t o s u p p o r t t h e l o n g t e r m e x p a n s i o n o f M e t a ' s business and commitment t o I n d i a , S a n d h y a w i l l c o n c e n t r a t e o n b r i n g i n g b u s i n e s s a n d r e v e n u e priorities together to serve i t s p a r t n e r s a n d c l i e n t s S h e ' l l s t a r t i n h e r n e w position on January 1, 2023, report to Vice President of

Sandhya

experience

over 20

a variety of fields, i n c l u d i n g t e c h n o l o g y , banking,

Meta

2016 and has s i n c e c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e c o m p a n i e s a n d t e a m s i n Singapore and Vietnam as well as Meta's e commerce initiatives throughout the region She moved to lead gaming for APAC in 2020 She travels to India at a time when the company is under fire internationally for carrying out large scale layoffs in several nations, including India

Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

AAIPL, the merger of

Meta APAC Dan Neary She will move back to India to lead the India organisation and strategy,” Meta said

has

years of

and has worked in

and payments She joined

in

Sporadic violence, low turnout mar Nepal polls

Nepa l’s par lia ment ar y elections, which many hope d would bring po li t i c a l st a bi li t y in t h e Hi ma la y a n n a t i o n t ha t ha s cha nge d 13 gov ern men ts in the last 16 yea rs One per son wa s killed , t wo we re wounde d a nd vo t in g s t op pe d i n a t le a st 1 5 pl a ce s, sa i d N e p a l’ s C h i e f Election Commission er Dine sh Kuma r Tha paliy a He said t hat ele ctions would be r epea te d in those locat ion s in the ne xt two day s while coun ting of vot es in most pla ces, in clu din g ca pi ta l Kat hma ndu, will st ar t S unda y night

A r m y h e l i c o p t e r s w i l l f l y b a l l o t b o x e s f r o m r e m o t e m o u n t a i n v i l l a g e s t o d i s t r i c t

capitals on Monday, he said Turnout was estimated at 61%, which he said was lower than anticipated It was significantly lower as compared to the past two elections 77% in 2013, and 78% in 2017 More than 17 9 million voters were eligible to cast their votes

The main contestants were the ruling alliance of PM Sher B a h a d u r D e u b a ’ s N e p a l i

C o n g r e s s p a r t y a n d t h e Maoist communist party, w h i c h w e r e r u n n i n g a g a i n s t t h e N e p a l Communist Party (United Marxist Leninist), headed b y f o r m e r P M K h a d g a Prasad Oli S e c u r i t y w a s s t e p p e d up across the country as a separate communist group, known for violence in the past, called for boycotting the polls and threatened to disrupt the election Sunday was declared a n a t i o n a l h o l i d a y a n d v e h i c l e s were barred from the streets “The new government should be f o c u s e d o n d e v e l o p m e n t , i t should be able to work, deter mined to develop the country, and be in touch with the peo ple,” said Ravi Shrestha, a retired

Imran's life under threat, says Pak judge quoting intelligence report

I S LA M AB A D : Acc ordi ng to a top Pakistani j udge who cited an i n te ll i ge nc e re p o r t, I mr an K han's life is in danger becau se o f wo rries abo ut another assas si nation attemp t o n the po li ti ci an

The comments were made by Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq during a hearing on a petition brought f o r t h b y a g r o u p o f t r a d e r s regarding road closures in the capital during political protests

Earlier this month, Khan, 70, was shot in the leg by an attacker in the city of Wazirabad

while holding a “long march” to Islamabad to demand immedi ate elections

A s u p p o r t e r o f K h a n ’ s Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) w a s k i l l e d a n d m o r e t h a n a dozen others wounded in the attack, forcing the party to sus p e n d i t s m a r c h I m r a n h a s a c c u s e d P r i m e M i n i s t e r S h e h b a z S h a r i f , I n t e r i o r M i n i s t e r R a n a S a n a u l l a h a n d military officer General Faisal Naseer of plotting the attack Khan did not offer any proof t o s u p p o r t h i s c l a i m s , w h i c h were denied by the army and the

g o v e r n m e n t T h e p o l i c e have detained the suspect and are questioning him

W h e n K h a n r e j o i n s the march to Islamabad, there may be a chance for another attack, according to an intelligence report the police presented to the court during the hearing Judge Farooq also asked the PTI to submit a new application to seek permission to hold its rally in Islamabad He urged the police to ensure the security of the marchers when they reach the city

g o v e r n m e n t w o r k e r w h o w a s among the first ones to vote in Kathmandu “We need young leaders,” Shrestha said P o l i t i c a l o b s e r v e r s c l o s e l y watching the elections have pre dicted a hung parliament and a government that is unlikely to provide the required political stability in Nepal Political insta bility has been a recurrent fea ture of Nepal’s parliament since t h e e n d o f t h e d e c a d e l o n g M a o i s t i n s u r g e n c y , a n d n o prime minister has served a full term after the civil war ended in 2006 Election results are likely to take days, if not weeks Once all votes are counted, the 275 elected members of parliament will chose a prime minister who will have to get the support of half the chamber

in brief

INDIAN AMERICAN IS NEXT PRESIDENT OF TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Eminent Indian American academician Sunil Kumar has been appointed the next president of Massachusetts based Tufts University, the first person of colour to occupy the position Kumar provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University was named the next president of Tufts University by the Board of Trustees and will succeed president Anthony Monaco as Tufts 14th president on July 1 2023 a statement from the university said Kumar was previously dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

PAK PM TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID AGAIN

For the third time Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tested positive for Covid 19 a day after returning from his trip to the UK Shehbaz, 71, returned to Pakistan last week after taking a detour to London from the COP27 climate conference in Egypt to visit his elder brother Nawaz Sharif In a tweet, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the premier was feeling unwell for the past two days and took a Covid 19 test which turned positive She appealed to the nation and PML N workers to pray for the prime minister's speedy recovery

19 LASHED FOR ADULTERY, THEFT IN AFGHANISTAN

Large-scale protests in Pak aver China's Gwadar project

IS L A M A BA D: Despite growing worries in C hina abou t th e secu ri ty o f h u nd r ed s o f C h in es e w o rke rs in th e n ei g h b o ur i ng co u n try , C h in a att em p t ed to downplay reports of large scale protests against the C PEC p ro je ct s at P a ki s tan 's p o r t c it y Gwadar, claiming they are not di rec ted ag ai nst th e m u ltib il lion dollar initiative

According to a report in the Pakistan based newspaper, hun d r e d s o f c h i l d r e n j o i n e d t h e o n g o i n g p r o t e s t s i n G w a d a r which entered its 18th day The

p r o t e s t e r s a r e t h r e a t e n i n g t o b l o c k t h e C h i n a P a k i s t a n Economic Corridor (CPEC) pro jects if their demands, which included banning illegal trawl ing in Gwadar, are not met with in a week

C h i n e s e f o r e i g n m i n i s t r y s p o k e s p e r s o n M a o N i n g s a i d , “These reports are untrue” She further added that “The organis ers have said in public that the protests are not targeting the Chinese side or the CPEC ”

The media reported that the protesters reached Gwadar city

from other cities of the district

T h e y m a r c h e d t h r o u g h t h e streets chanting slogans against the government for not imple menting a deal signed to ban illegal trawling in Gwadar and e l i m i n a t e u n n e c e s s a r y c h e c k points, it said

Last year, an editorial said “Gwadar city has become the very embodiment of a security s t a t e ” w i t h g o v e r n m e n t focussing on securing the port and its ancillary interests while neglecting the welfare of the local people “Existing privations

Malaysia king calls main PM contenders for the audience

KU A LA LU M P UR : Malays ia's Ki ng Al S ulta n A bd ull ah c al led the t wo m ai n c on t e n d e rs to b e p r i m e m i n i s t e r oppos iti on lea der An war I bra him and f orme r premi er Muhyiddin Yass in f or a n a ud i e n c e , t h e p a la c e s a i d i n a s tatement

Earlier, as the political crisis caused by an inconclusive election dragged on for a third day, the king had stated that he would choose the next prime minister soon but had not given a timeframe for his choice

T h e e l e c t i o n r e s u l t e d i n a n unprecedented hung parliament, with neither of the two main prime minister contenders winning the simple majority needed to form a government

T h e e l e c t i o n p r o l o n g s p o l i t i c a l instability in the Southeast Asian nation, which has had three prime ministers in as many years, and risks delays to policy d e c i s i o n s n e e d e d t o g a l v a n i z e a n economic recovery

T h e i n c u m b e n t B a r i s a n N a s i o n a l coalition said it would not support either candidate, a move that would prevent b o t h A n w a r a n d M u h y i d d i n f r o m reaching a majority

It is now up to the constitutional monarch, who plays a largely ceremonial role but can appoint whoever he believes will command a majority “Let me make a decision soon, ” the king told reporters o u t s i d e t h e n a t i o n a l p a l a c e H e a l s o asked Malaysians to accept any decision about the government formation

Fears have also been sparked by its political victories in Malaysia, a multi r e l i g i o u s c o u n t r y w i t h s i z a b l e e t h n i c C h i n e s e a n d I n d i a n m i n o r i t i e s w h o practise other religions Sharia law has been promoted by the PAS Islamist party

M a l a y s i a n p o l i c e c a u t i o n e d t h e country’s social media users to refrain from posting “provocative” content on r a c e a n d r e l i g i o n a f t e r t h e d i v i s i v e election

have deepened; people’s mobili ty is restricted by security forces and there is unwarranted ques t i o n i n g o f t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s , ” i t said

S e v e r a l l o c a l f i s h e r m e n claim that the Pakistani govern m e n t h a s a l l o w e d C h i n e s e trawlers to fish in the waters off the Balochistan coast, further "squeezing" their means of sub sistence Defending the Chinese projects in Pakistan, Mao said the “Gwadar port is a flagship port of CPEC” “It has focused on people’s livelihood,” she said

Shah discusses attacks on minorities, temples with Bangla counterpart

Shah also had productive exchanges with Khan on border management and common security related issues on the sidelines of the No Money for Terror conference which was hosted by India's home ministry in New Delhi, official sources said

There were 450 delegates from more than 75 c o u n t r i e s a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l o r g a n i s a t i o n s attending the two day conference The most s e r i o u s t h r e a t t o i n t e r n a t i o n a l p e a c e a n d security, according to Shah, is terrorism, but funding terrorism is "more dangerous "

Terrorists are constantly finding new ways to carry out violence, radicalise youth and raise financial resources, he said The dark net is b e i n g u s e d b y t e r r o r i s t s t o s p r e a d r a d i c a l content and conceal their identities, Shah said

Nineteen people in northeastern Afghanistan were lashed for adultery theft and running away from home a Supreme Court official said The announcement underscored the Taliban’s intention of sticking to their interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia It appeared to be the first official confirmation that lashings and floggings are being meted out in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power last year A Taliban spokesman said they are committed to implementing all Sharia laws The official Abdul Rahim Rashid, said 10 men and nine women were lashed 39 times each in a city in Takhar province, on November 11 He said the punishment took place in the presence of elders scholars and residents

5 KILLED

IN SHOOTING

AT GAY NIGHTCLUB

Five people were killed and 18 injured in a shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, police said A suspect was in custody and was being treated for injuries after the attack at Club Q, Colorado Springs police lieutenant Pamela Castro said Police got the initial phone call just before midnight about the shooting, Castro said, adding that upon arrival, officers located one person who was believed to be the suspect inside the club She did not give any information on the motive for the attack and declined to say what kind of firearm was used in theshooting Club Q describes itself as an “adult oriented gay and lesbian nightclub hosting theme nights such as karaoke drag shows & Djs ”

ISRAELI

AIR RAIDS KILL

4 SYRIAN SOLDIERS

Israeli airstrikes hit central and coastal regions of Syria killing four soldiers and wounding one the Syrian military said State media quoted an unidentified Syrian military official as saying that Israeli warplanes flying over the Mediterranean fired missiles toward military positions in coastal and central Syria The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported that load explosions were heard in the coastal province of Latakia as well as Hama and Homs regions in central Syria Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges such operations

Khan, who is recuperating from his bullet wound at his res i d e n c e i n L a h o r e , h a s b e e n a d d r e s s i n g t h e m a r c h e r s through a video link after the “ l o n g m a r c h ” r e s u m e d o n November 10

Imran Khan

N E W D E L H I : Uni o n H o me Mi

in brief Permanent Indian residents can now join Canadian military

WHITE HOUSE WEDDING FOR BIDEN’S GRANDDAUGHTER

Naomi Biden, the granddaughter of US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, was set to be married on Saturday in what will be the 19th time in history the White House has been used for a wedding The bride, 28, is a lawyer who has been living at the White House with the groom, Peter Neal, 25, a recent law school graduate who hails from Jackson Hole, Wyoming and is currently working at the Georgetown University Law Center on National Security They met in 2018 The wedding and its celebration will be the first part of a festive weekend for Biden who marked his 80th birthday on Sunday surrounded by family

N KOREA TEST FIRES ICBM WITH RANGE TO STRIKE US

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese waters in its second major weapons test this month that showed a potential ability to launch nuclear strikes on all of the US mainland While it’s unclear whether North Korea possesses functioning nuclear armed missiles, some experts say the launch involved its longest range missile, which is still under development and is designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to overcome US missile defence systems North Korea s recent torrid run of weapons tests aims to advance its nuclear arsenal and win greater concessions in future diplomacy It comes as China and Russia have opposed US moves to toughen UN sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea s nuclear program

TURKEY JAILS 17 SUSPECTS OVER ISTANBUL ATTACK

A Turkish court Friday ordered the detention of 17 suspects, including a Syrian woman, for alleged links to a bombing that killed six people in central Istanbul, local media said The government has accused the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies, for last Sunday’s attack The victims included two girls aged nine and 15 The PKK and its Syrian offshoot YPG have denied involvement No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack Turkish police captured the chief suspect Alham Albashir a Syrian woman who is said to have been working for Kurdish militants in an Istanbul suburb Albashir has reportedly confessed to planting the bomb during her interrogation

VILLAGE BANS BOOZE, MUSIC TO HALT SUICIDE WAVE

Shocked by a recent spate of teen suicides, shamans in the Colombian Amazon placed their remote Indigenous village under a three week “quarantine” without alcohol, football or music The move was meant to cleanse the settlement of “evil spirits” blamed on Western vices intruding and tempting Indigenous youth away from their ancestral values “I lost my son my only son ” shaman Ivan Angarita 40 said in the town of Arara home to 1 200 inhabitants who are members of the Tikuna indigenous group or Water People’ as they call themselves One Sunday he encountered the evil spirits the next day he was found hanging from a branch, he said of his son s suicide at age 18

O

A rm e d Fo r ce s ( C A F ) h a

e annou nced that perm anent res id ents, which includes a larg e num ber o f Indians, will now be allow ed to enlist, as the m ilitary stru ggles with low recruitm ent lev e ls , ac c o rd i ng to a m ed i a report

The move also comes five years after the Royal Canadian M o u n t e d P o l i c e ( R C M P ) announced that they're chang ing their "outdated recruitment process" which will allow per m a n e n t r e s i d e n t s w h o h a v e lived in Canada for 10 years to apply as per the report A c c o r d i n g t o t h e R o y a l

d active CAF members, perma nent residents were previously only qualified under the Skilled M

l i t a r y F o r e i g n A p p l i c a n t (SMFA) entry program, which was "open for individuals that would reduce training costs or fill a special need such as a trained pilot or a doctor "

Right now, candidates must be citizens of Canada, over 18 years old (or 16, providing they h a v e p a r e n t a l c o n s e n t ) , a n d have a grade 10 or grade 12 edu c a t i o n d e p e n d i n g o n i f t h e y plan to enlist as an officer

The CAF sounded an alarm over a severe shortage of recruits to f i l l t h o u s a n d s o f vacant positions, meeting about half the number of applicants it needs per month to meet the goal of adding 5,900 members this year

W h i l e t h e a r m e d f o r c e s haven't said whether the recent m o v e w a s m a d e t o b o o s t r e c r u i t m e n t , C h r i s t i a n Leuprecht, a professor at the R o y a l M i l i t a r y C o l l e g e o f Canada, says that it makes good sense

"In the past, the CAF has had the luxury of being able to

162 killed as severe quake hits Indonesia

J A KA RT A : At least 162 peo ple were killed and 3 26 oth ers w ere inju red fo llowing an earth quake in Indonesia, with the "majority" of them being children, according to We st J av a' s g o v e rno r A t le as t 2 , 3 4 5 h o u se s w er e heav ily d am ag ed and 13 ,40 0 w ere d i s pl aced in th e 5 6 magnitud e quake, gov erno r Rid wan Kamil said H e r m a n S u h e r m a n , a d i s t r i c t o f f i c i a l f r o m Cianjur, said that evacua tion efforts were being ham pered by landslides in some places Many people were

hurt because they were hit b y c o l l a p s e d b u i l d i n g s , according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, with some residents trapped in the rubble

Many casualties includ ed children, some of whom were resuscitated while oth e r s w e r e g i v e n o x y g e n m a s k s " T h e m a j o r i t y o f those who died were chil d r e n , " t h e g o v e r n o r s a i d , adding that many were pub lic school students who had finished their regular classes a n d w e r e t a k i n g e x t r a lessons at Islamic schools

Several landslides were r e p o r t e d a r o u n d C i a n j u r a n d d o z e n s o f b u i l d i n g s were damaged, including an Islamic boarding school, a h o s p i t a l a n d o t h e r p u b l i c facilities Twenty five after shocks were recorded in two h o u r s a f t e r t h e q u a k e , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e w e a t h e r a n d g e o p h y s i c s a g e n c y BMKG

Earthquakes occur fre quently across the sprawling archipelago nation of more than 270 million people, but it is uncommon for them to be felt in Jakarta

NE W YOR K: A p rom inent U S u ni v er si t y h as an no u nc ed th a t it w o u l d allow S ikh stud ents to wear a kirp an on campu s, a reli gious article in Sikhism The ch a ng e co m es a bo u t t w o mo nth s after a vi deo was p o st ed o n li ne s h o w i ng a stud ent at th e University of North Caro lina at Ch arlotte was hand cu ffed for carrying the kirpan

The university said that the school’s policy will allow students to wear kirpans on campus as long as the blade length is under 3 inches and is “ worn close to the body in a sheath at all times” The s t a t e m e n t s a i d t h e r u l i n g was effective immediately

“The office of diversity and inclusion also conduct e d a d d i t i o n a l a w a r e n e s s

training this week with our police department and will continue its work to expand our cultural education and t r a i n i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r all of campus, ” the state ment said The university a l s o s a i d o t h e r r e l i g i o u s accommodations, including a request to wear a larger kirpan, can be made to the

office of civil rights and evaluated on a case by case basis, it said

“Over the past several weeks, we h a v e e n g a g e d i n dialogue with rep r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m the local and global Sikh communities a b o u t h o w w e could modify uni versity policies to honour the tenets of reli g i o u s f r e e d o m w h i l e p r o t e c t i n g t h e s a f e t y o f o u r campus, ” the statement said The university thanked Sikh leaders, including non prof i t o r g a n i s a t i o n s T h e S i k h C o a l i t i o n a n d t h e G l o b a l Sikh Council, who provided perspective to help with the policy change

limit itself to citizens because it has had enough applicants This i s n o l o n g e r t h e c a s e , Leuprecht told in an email " T h e C A F h a d r e s i s t e d opening up the ranks to perma nent residents because it does create additional burdens and risks, in terms of security clear a n c e s , f o r i n s t a n c e " B u t recruiting non citizens isn't by any means something new, he points out, arguing many other countries have done this for years

Republicans get thin majority in House of Representatives

Washington: Donald Trump's Republican Party has wrested control of the 435 mem ber US House of Representatives from the ruling Democratic Party with a razor thin majority, setting the stage for a showdown with Joe Biden in the next two years of his presidency

The victory gives Republicans the power to rein in Biden’s agenda, as well as to launch politically damaging probes against his administration and family, though it falls far short of the “red wave ” the party had hoped for

The final call came after more than a w e e k o f b a l l o t c o u n t i n g , w h e n E d i s o n Research projected Republicans had won the 218 seats they needed to control the House Republican victory in California’s 27th Congressional district took the party over the line

The party’s current House leader, Kevin McCarthy, may have a challenging road ahead as he will need his restive caucus to hold together on critical votes, including funding the government and military at a time when former US President Donald Trump has launched another run for the White House

“Americans are ready for a new direc tion, and House Republicans are ready to deliver,” Kevin McCarthy said on Twitter The loss takes away some of Biden’s power i n W a s h i n g t o n b u t h e c o n g r a t u l a t e d McCarthy and said he would work across the aisle to deliver results

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold that powerful post, said she will step down as the chamber’s Democratic leader as her allies p r e p a r e d a p a s s i n g o f t h e t o r c h t o

Trump to run for US presidency again

F LOR ID A: Do nald T rump, who tried to overthrow th e results o f th e 2020 presidential electio n and insp ired a deadly rio t at th e Cap ito l in a desperate attempt to ke ep h i m se l f in p o we r, annou nced he is ru nning again for presi dent in 2024

"I am announcing my candi dacy for president of the United States, Trump, 76, said flanked by massive American flags, at his Mar a Lago club and home in Palm Beach, Florida

The announcement and official filing comes just a week after the 2022 midterm elec tions, which saw a lackluster p e r f o r m a n c e f r o m T r u m p

backed Republican candidates in key Senate races and compet i t i v e H o u s e e l e c t i o n s A s a result, Democrats were able to retain control of the Senate "America's comeback starts right now, Trump said, claim i n g , " Y o u r c o u n t r y i s b e i n g d e s t r o y e d b e f o r e y o u r e y e s "

The dark vision hearkened back to Trump's inaugura tion speech of a country s u f f e r i n g " A m e r i c a n c a r nage" and in need of him to fix it

Trump running sets up a p o t e n t i a l r e m a t c h a g a i n s t P r e s i d e n t J o e Biden, who turned 80 last week and says he intends to run for re election in 2024 Republicans have taken con trol of House by a far smaller majority than they were hoping for, likely hampering their abili ty to pass legislation next year And yet, Trump is launching another run for president and

falsely claiming his candidates did well, despite the evidence that his brand and his style of politics have proven radioactive in competitive states and dis t r i c t s f o r m u l t i p l e e l e c t i o n cycles in a row now

A poll taken before the elec tion showed 53% of Americans a n d a l m o s t o n e i n f o u r R e p u b l i c a n s v i e w T r u m p unfavourably It showed a simi lar number of Americans view ing Biden unfavourably Trump plans to launch his campaign two years before the November 5, 2024, election despite these c o n c e r n s , s a i d t w o s o u r c e s familiar with his plans

Sikh students allowed to wear kirpan at US university

Representative Hakeem Jeffries

Donald Trump

Impose cost on nations that support terrorism, says PM Modi India launches Vikram-S, first privately made rocket

P ri m e M i n i s te r N a re n dr a M odi called for a full sc ale wa r again st terrorism , not j us t agai nst terrori sts, an d u rge d na ti ons to "pur su e t e r r or i s t s , b re a k t h e i r s upport network s, an d hi t t h e i r f i n an c e s He a l s o a r g ue d fo r l e v y i n g s anctions agains t terrorist s up po r ti n g n a ti on s a n d i solating organi sations that work to inc ite anti terroris t s entimen t

“ T h e w o r l d n e e d s t o unite against all kinds of overt and covert backing of terror,” Modi said at the third ‘No Money for Terror’ ( N M F T ) m i n i s t e r i a l c o n f e r e n c e o n t e r r o r financing In a veiled attack on China and Pakistan, he said indirect arguments are sometimes made in support of terrorism to block action against terrorists

“ C e r t a i n c o u n t r i e s support terrorism as part of their foreign policy They offer political, ideological a n d f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t t o t h e m I n t e r n a t i o n a l o r g a n i s a t i o n s m u s t n o t think that the absence of

w a r m e a n s p e a c e P r o x y w a r s a r e a l s o d a n g e r o u s and violent There must be c o s t s i m p o s e d u p o n c o u n t r i e s t h a t s u p p o r t terrorism,” he said in an o b l i q u e r e f e r e n c e t o Pakistan for its support to t e r r o r i s m i n K a s h m i r Pakistan and Afghanistan are not participating in the c o n f e r e n c e w h i l e C h i n a w a s i n v i t e d b u t d i d n o t come, officials said

"The intensity of the r e a c t i o n t o d i f f e r e n t attacks cannot vary based on where it happens All t e r r o r i s t a t t a c k s d e s e r v e equal outrage and action Further, sometimes, there a r e i n d i r e c t a r g u m e n t s

m a d e i n s u p p o r t o f terrorism to block action against terrorists There is no place for an ambiguous a p p r o a c h w h i l e d e a l i n g with a global threat It is an a t t a c k o n h u m a n i t y , freedom and civilisation It k n o w s n o b o u n d a r i e s Only a uniform, unified a n d z e r o t o l e r a n c e a p p r o a c h c a n d e f e a t terrorism," he said

I n d i a h a s f r e q u e n t l y requested that a number of LeT and JeM leaders who are located in Pakistan be i n c l u d e d o n t h e U N S C s 1267 Committee List over the past 20 years, but China h a s c o n s i s t e n t l y o p p o s e d the requests

I n di a h as ac h ie ve d a significant milestone in its e ff o r ts to e st ab l i sh a commercial space industry and co mpete o n p ric e by s u c c es s f u ll y la u nc h i n g i ts f i rs t i nd ep en de nt ly develo ped ro cket

Vikram S lifted off on last week from the Satish D h a w a n S p a c e C e n t r e i n S r i h a r i k o t a a s p a r t o f a m i s s i o n n a m e d P r a r a m b h (the beginning)

“ I a m h a p p y t o a n n o u n c e t h e s u c c e s s f u l c o m p l e t i o n o f M i s s i o n Prarambh, the beginning,” Pawan Goenka, who chairs t h e I n d i a n g o v e r n m e n t a g e n c y t h a t c o o r d i n a t e s p r i v a t e s e c t o r s p a c e activities, said

T h e 5 4 5 k g r o c k e t , developed by space start up Skyroot, hit a peak altitude of 89 5km According to the c o m p a n y , t h e r o c k e t c a n reach Mach 5, or five times t h e s p e e d o f s o u n d , a n d carry a payload of 83 kg to an altitude of 100 km For i t s i n i t i a l l a u n c h , t h e Skyroot team had set a goal o f 8 0 k m , w h i c h s o m e

organisations consider to be the outer limits of space

The Karman line set by an i n t e r n a t i o n a l a e r o n a u t i c s b o d y a s d e f i n i n g t h e b o u n d a r y b e t w e e n t h e E a r t h ’ s a t m o s p h e r e a n d s p a c e i s a t 1 0 0 k m altitude

The rocket was seen in v i d e o f o o t a g e l a u n c h i n g from the space centre and leaving a plume of smoke a n d f i r e i n i t s w a k e A c c o r d i n g t o o f f i c i a l s , i t landed in the Bay of Bengal a b o u t f i v e m i n u t e s a f t e r

launch

S k y r o o t , w h i c h w a s started by Pawan Chandana and Bharath Daka, has set a t a r g e t o f c u t t i n g development costs by up to 90 per cent versus existing platforms to launch small satellites

I t e x p e c t s t o a c h i e v e that cost saving by using a rocket architecture that can be assembled in less than 72 h o u r s w i t h c o m p o s i t e materials It plans launches c a p a b l e o f d e l i v e r i n g satellites starting next year

Pankaj Patel takes over as Chairperson of IIMA Board of Governors

C hairm an of Ahmed abad b ased p ha r m ac e ut i c a l m aj o r Z y d us Lifesc iences Limi ted (ZLL) Pankaj Patel has taken charge as the 14th C h ai r pe r s on of t he I n d i an I nstitute of Management ( IIMA) B oard of Governors last week

P a t e l s u c c e e d s K u m a r Mangalam Birla, the chairman of t h e A d i t y a B i r l a G r o u p , w h o s e f o u r y e a r t e r m e n d e d o n November 15, 2022 Patel spent eight years on the IIMA Board of Governors prior to being named C h a i r p e r s o n o f t h e e s t e e m e d institute “My appointment as a c h a i r p e r s o n c o m e s a t a n i m p o r t a n t j u n c t u r e f o r t h e institute when it is at the cusp of the next phase of its growth I am

e x c i t e d t o b e a p a r t o f t h i s e s t e e m e d i n s t i t u t e a n d l o o k f o r w a r d t o w o r k i n g w i t h t h e B o a r d o f G o v e r n o r s , f a c u l t y m e m b e r s , s t u d e n t s , s t a f f members, the alumni group, and

a l l o t h e r r e l e v a n t s t a k e h o l d e r s T h e B o a r d envisages a robust growth f o r t h e I I M A a n d h a s outlined plans to lead the Institute in this direction,” s a i d P a t e l a f t e r h e w a s named as chairman of IIMA B o a r d o f G o v e r n o r s a s s u r i n g t o s u p p o r t a n d share his expertise to the six decades old institution Patel is also a part time non official director on the Reserve Bank of India's Central Board He is on the IIM Udaipur G o v e r n i n g B o a r d , I n v e s t I n d i a , and the Union Health Ministry’s I n d i a P h a r m a c o p o e i a C o m m i s s i o n ( I P C ) a p a r t f r o m

After almost 500 years, Taj is still India’s biggest tourist attraction

Nischal Sanghavi

Popular ly kn own t o be amon g the 7 won der s of th e world, Ta j M ahal s i t u a t e d i n I n d i a ’ s A g r a is a be aut iful iv ory white ma usole um st and in g ma jestically on t he ban ks of t he riv er Ya muna Accor ding to h isto ry , it w as com missio ne d i n 1 6 3 1 by M u g h a l e m p e r o r S h a h Ja han t o house the t omb of his fav ourite w ife Mumt az Mahal

UP Tourism Joint Director A C Mishra while talking to Asian Voice s a y s , i f w e c o n s i d e r t h e p e r i o d before Covid to 800,000 foreign tourists visited Taj Mahal in the year 2019 This is in addition to 10 million domestic tourists visiting the iconic tomb from within India Out of these 800,000 tourists, the highest number of those were from t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d U n i t e d K i n g d o m T h e t h i r d l a r g e s t number of visitors were of Spanish nationality The Taj Mahal visit ticket costs Rs 750 which is a little over GBP8 for a foreign tourist While for a tourist with Indian

identity the entry ticket is Rs 50, which is about half a pound

A c c o r d i n g t o t r a v e l p o r t a l

T r i p a d v i s o r , t h e m o s t p o p u l a r period of the year to visit the Taj M a h a l h a s t r a d i t i o n a l l y b e e n October to December This year so far, the highest traffic was observed d u r i n g t h e q u a r t e r J u l y t o S e p t e m b e r W h e t h e r t h e r e i s a pattern change in the number of visitors after the pandemic, would be visible once a post pandemic year is over The scientific data f r o m t h e p o r t a l ’ s s e a r c h t r a f f i c indicates that 89% travellers were based in India, while the rest 11% were non Indian APAC travellers

T h e t r a v e l p o r t a l h a s registered a drastic increase in the search traffic for Taj Mahal in the y e a r 2 0 2 2 ( y e a r t o d a t e ) a s compared to that in 2021 The s e a r c h t r a f f i c i n 2 0 2 2 f o r T a j M a h a l h a s i n c r e a s e d b y a w h o o p i n g 1 9 3 % v i s à v i s 2 0 2 1 , while that for all India attractions in general has risen by 58% The website confirms that Taj Mahal is the second most viewed attraction in India According to Mishra, it is to be noted that the majority of t o u r i s t s v i s i t i n g T a j M a h a l a r e higher end tourists Only a small proportion of those include the backpackers, who are usually on a t r i p w i t h a s h o e s t r i n g budget According to travel agent Ketan Mehta, believe it or not, even after centuries this magnum opus of Mughal architecture is still synonymous to love and romance T h i s w o r l d h e r i t a g e s i t e i s undoubtedly the biggest attraction t o u r i s t s c o m e t o I n d i a f o r Especially, the first time tourists

b e i n g a m e m b e r o f t h e C E O A d v i s o r y C o m m i t t e e o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l G e n e r i c s a n d B i o s i m i l a r s A s s o c i a t i o n ( I G B A )

He is also a former president of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)

P a t e l i s a d i s t i n c t a n d innovative kind of businessperson His father Ramanbhai Patel was o n e o f t h e f o u n d e r s o f C a d i l a h e a l t h c a r e ( p r e s e n t l y Z y d u s Lifesciences) which is the largest pharmaceutical company of India Patel and his son Sharvil Patel took the company into greater heights Today, Zydus Cadila Healthcare h a v e c h a i n s o f h o s p i t a l g r o u p s , research institutes and education centers He is also believed to be

the richest among Patel's in Gujarat with net worth of over $4 1 billion

The company manufactures a s u g a r s u b s t i t u t e n a m e d “ S u g a r Free”, Covid 19 vaccine, ZyCoV D I t m a n u f a c t u r e s d r u g s t o t r e a t Covid 19 such as Remdesivir from Gilead IIMA was established in 1961 as a creative endeavour by the g o v e r n m e n t , b u s i n e s s , a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l a c a d e m i a I t n o w has a presence in Dubai and a n e t w o r k o f m o r e t h a n 8 0 t o p i n t e r n a t i o n a l u n i v e r s i t i e s I t s distinguished faculty and nearly 4 0 , 0 0 0 a l u m n i , w h o h o l d leadership roles in a variety of f i e l d s , a l s o c o n t r i b u t e t o i t s international renown

India, US conducting military drills close to China border

I n d i a n a n d U S fo r c e s a r e u n d e r t a k i n g t h e ba t t a li o n l e v e l " Y ud h A bh y a s " e x e r ci s e f r o m Nov ember 15 t o December 2 in Auli in Utt ar akha nd, just 100 km fr om the Line of A ct ual C on tr ol (LAC) T h e " Q u a d " m e m be r n a t i o n s und ert ook t he Ma la bar ex er cise off the Japa nese island of Yokosuka be t w e e n N ov e m be r 8 a n d Nov ember 1 8 The 'Qua d' in clude d the US, Japa n, Austr alia an d In dia

Earlier in 2022, the Quad had declared that it would "deter" any "coercion" in the Indo Pacific with a n e y e o n C h i n a ' s e x p a n s i o n i s t p o l i c i e s " Y u d h A b h y a s " w i l l i n c l u d e " h i g h a l t i t u d e w a r f a r e drills", the report added

T h e m i l i t a r y e x e r c i s e i s expected to involve 350 soldiers from each nation Yudh Abhyas involves employment of integrated battle groups in mountains and extreme cold climate, along with h e l i b o r n e e l e m e n t s a n d a n integrated surveillance grid," an official quoted A t B a k l o h i n H i m a c h a l

P r a d e s h , t h e " V a j r a P r a h a r " exercise between US and Indian military was completed in August The two nations' Special Forces were involved These units carry o u t c l a n d e s t i n e , s p e c i a l i s e d a c t i v i t i e s , s u c h a s c o u n t e r terrorism

China was described as the US's only competitor with both intent a n d c a p a b i l i t y t o r e s h a p e t h e international order" in the National Security Strategy (NSS) of the US p u b l i s h e d i n e a r l y O c t o b e r I t added that US and India will work together to "support our shared vision of a free and open Indo Pacific" India will also conduct t h e " A u s t r a H i n d " i n f a n t r y combat exercise at the Mahajan r a n g e i n R a j a s t h a n b e t w e e n November 28 and December 11 R e c e n t l y , t h e t w o c o u n t r i e s concluded the "Pitch Black" air combat exercise at Darwin The "Agni Warrior" exercise will also be held in India and Singapore at D e o l a l i i n M a h a r a s h t r a f r o m November 13 to 30

Narendra Modi

Pankaj Patel

India's population growth declines as world reaches 8 billion

India, formerly a s ignificant con tr i bu tor t o th e gr owt h of the wo rl d 's po pul a ti o n a s i t approaches 8 billion, is now see ing a noti ceable slowdown The South As i an n ati on 's d ec li ni ng fertility rates have compelled at least one s tate to rethink laws en c o ur ag i n g f a m i li e s t o h a ve more than two chi ldren

On November 15, the United N a t i o n s e s t i m a t e d t h a t t h e r e were 8 billion people on the plan et, with China and India making up more than a third of that num ber India estimates its popula tion at 1 38 billion, slightly lower

India's

than the 1 4 billion that the World Bank estimates for China

Nations, India will surpass China as the most populous nation in 2023 However, according to gov

food subsidy bill may cross £30 billion

D u ri n g t h e cu r ren t fi s ca l year, the governm ent's food subsidy bill is predicted to exceed £30 billion, o r nearly 50 % mo re than the bud get estim ate of £ 20 billion This i s p ri m a ri ly d u e to t h e extension o f free food g rain s cheme, P M Garib Kalyan A nn Yo jn a (P M GK A Y) ti ll Decem ber For the roug hly 8 00 m illion identified recip i e nts w h o w o u l d re ce iv e h ighly subsidised and free food grains, this is expected to be th e second g reatest subsidy outgo

E a r l i e r t h e m a x i m u m a m o u n t p r o v i d e d i n t h e

budget was in 2020 21 of £52 bn But £34 billion of this fund was utilised towards settling loans availed by the Food Corporation of India f r o m t h e N a t i o n a l S m a l l S a v i n g s F u n d T h i s h a d reduced the interest burden of government owned FCI, which has helped reduce the e c o n o m i c c o s t o f f o o d grains

T h e g o v e r n m e n t h a s extended the PMGKAY for t h e s e v e n t h t i m e t i l l December and officials said this is likely to push the sub sidy up by another £12 bil lion

Each beneficiary of the P M G K A Y p r o g r a m m e receives 5 kg of free food g r a i n e a c h m o n t h A d d i t i o n a l l y , t h e C e n t e r gives each of these benefi ciaries 5 kg of highly subsid e d w h e a t a n d r i c e e a c h month

In April 2020, the gov e r n m e n t i n t r o d u c e d t h e P M G K A Y t o p r o t e c t t h e u n d e r p r i v i l e g e d f r o m t h e Covid 19 pandemic Prior to this, the food ministry had estimated that the overall costs for all seven stages of PMGKAY would be close to £39 billion

Aaftab says he killed girlfriend 'at the heat of the moment'

A aftab Poonaw ala, accused in the h orrifying m urd er o f girlfriend Shradd ha Walker, told a Delh i court that he had killed her in the " heat of the mom ent" Th e court h as agreed to keep him in police custod y for questio n ing for anoth er fo ur days

Aaftab, 28, told the court that he has been cooperating with the police, giving maps of locations where he dumped the body parts He, however, said he could not remember all the details as it "has been very long"

Aaftab's lawyer, Avinash, said the police had sought extended custody, citing that he has given the Investigating Officer a sketch of a pond where he has dumped more body parts

A a f t a b h a s c l a i m e d t h a t h e c h o p p e d Shraddha's body into 35 pieces, of which less than 20 have been recovered He will be taken to two ponds both in south Delhi

The tools used for chopping up the body a saw and a blade were thrown away, he has told the police The meat cleaver was thrown in a dustbin in south Delhi, sources said

The forensics team broke the bathroom tiles at Aaftab's Chhattarpur flat and found blood stains under them Samples have been sent for DNA tests

So far, the police have sent 18 bones, including the base of a skull, and fragments of a jaw, for forensic tests The police are looking for a DNA match with Shraddha's father or brother

Though Aaftab confessed to the murder and disposal of the body, it will not count as evidence His initial confession was not made before a magistrate, which is needed to m a k e i t a d m i s s i b l e e v i d e n c e W h i l e h e repeated the statement in court, that won't count either, as it was a remand hearing and not the actual trial

Though the police plan to hold a poly graph or narco analysis test on Aaftab, the reports would not be admissible in court either The preliminary processes for the lie detector test conducted on Tuesday

Delhi police told the court that 80 per cent of the investigation has been complet ed The next few days are crucial for the investigation

PM Modi calls for breaking language barriers at Kashi meet

P rim e M inister Narend ra Mo di urged India s 1 30 billio n p eople to overcom e langu ag e barri ers, saying it w as everyone's d uty to preserve and advance T amil, one of th e oldest living lan g uag es The Prime Minister said K ashi and Tamil Nadu were th e two cultu res closely asso ci ated with L ord S hiva and that their confluence is as sacred as the Ganga Yam una " sangam" w hile speaking at the m onth long Kash i T amil Sang am am 's opening ceremony He ap peared at the event wearing a traditional vesti

“Thousands of years of cultural history should have been protected and strengthened, but after Independence, no attempts were made in this direction,” he said, pointing out that Tamil hasn’t received the honour it deserves “If we ignore Tamil, we do a great disservice to the nation If we keep Tamil confined in restrictions, we will do great harm to it We have to remove linguistic differences and establish emotional unity,” he said His remarks were seen as a reply to certain southern outfits’ allega tions of “Hindi chauvinism” against BJP and Sangh Parivar The PM welcomed the president of China, Xi Jinping to Mamallapuram in October 2019 to promote the ancient coastal town Recently, Union home minister Amit Shah described the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to start medical and engineering education in Tamil as a great contribution to the language

ernment statistics, India's popula tion has grown by 1 2% annually on average since 2011 as opposed to 1 7% over the previous 10 years Further slowing can be expected According to a government r e p o r t r e l e a s e d t h i s m o n t h , India's total fertility rate (TFR), or t h e n u m b e r o f c h i l d r e n p e r w o m a n , d r o p p e d f r o m 3 4 i n 1992 1993 to 2 in the most recent assessment period, for 2019 2021 According to its calculations, the average must be 2 1 in order for the population to self reproduce According to the government, declining fertility rates may have

been influenced by rising contra ceptive use and increased educa tional attainment among girls The use of family planning m e t h o d s j u m p e d t o 6 6 7 % i n 2019 21 from 53 5% in 2015 16 U n i t e d N a t i o n s P o p u l a t i o n F u n d ( U N F P A ) i n d i c a t e d t h a t

India's national population poli c i e s a n d h e a l t h s y s t e m s w e r e working "As India invests in its younger people, it needs to make plans for a demographic transi t i o n t o t a k e b e t t e r c a r e o f a greater proportion of older peo ple in the future," the UNFPA said

Pro-Khalistan terrorist linked to Punjab RPG attack dies in Pakistan

Ac c or din g t o s eni o r s tat e p olice and intelligence offi c i als , gan gs te r tu rn ed te r r o ri s t H ar vi n de r S i n gh S an dh u, ali as Ri nda , wh o h as been imp licated in at least ten terror related cases in Punjab, passed away in a h o sp i ta l i n Lah o re , P akistan

A senior Punjab Police officer claimed that Rinda, a terrorist affiliated with the p r o K h a l i s t a n B a b b a r Khalsa International (BKI), was instrumental in aiding P a k i s t a n ' s I n t e r S e r v i c e s I n t e l l i g e n c e ( I S I ) s m u g g l e d r u g s a n d w e a p o n s i n t o Punjab from the other side of the border He was also named as the mastermind

in the RPG attack on Punjab Police’s intelligence head quarters in Mohali in May

“Though the exact rea son behind his death is not known yet, the information we are getting from the cen tral agencies is that Rinda, a heroin addict, was undergo i n g t r e a t m e n t f o r d r u g overdose at a hospital,” the top state police official said on condition of anonymity, terming Rinda’s death as a “huge relief” for Punjab

A s e n i o r i n t e l l i g e n c e official said ISI’s hand in Rinda’s death could not be ruled out He and BKI chief Wadawa Singh Babbar had r e c e n t l y d e v e l o p e d a strained relationship, rais

ing the possibility that ISI was possibly responsible for his assassination,” the offi cial said speaking on condi tion of anonymity

A resident of Amritsar’s Tarn Taran district, Rinda’s was first arrested in 2008 after a scuffle during a fam ily feud, officials said After getting in touch with crimi n a l s d u r i n g h i s t i m e i n p r i s o n , R i n d a s h i f t e d h i s b a s e t o M a h a r a s h t r a ’ s N a n d e d H e m o v e d t o Pakistan in 2020 using fake p a s s p o r t s a f t e r g e t t i n g i n t o u c h w i t h p r o K h a l i s t a n terror groups where he was provided security cover, a second intelligence official said

HIMATLAL RANCHHODDAS RADIA

(19th May 1934 – 17th November 2022)

Of Harrowdene Road, Wembley (formerly of Nairobi, Kenya and Bhayavadar, India)

He passed away on 17th NOVEMBER 2022 at the age of 88 years.He was the guiding light of our family. He was inspirational and a leader throughout his life. He led by example, with the strength and courage of a lion and leaves behind a strong legacy. He will be sorely missed.

• Beloved husband of Taraben Himatlal Radia

• S on o of : Late Ranchhoddas Radia and Late Labhkuvarben Radia

• S on I n Law o of : Late Gordhandas Kataria and Late Godavriben Kataria

• W With l lo ve f fro m : Preeti & Paresh Sodha, Deepti and Mark Ethell, Sheetal and Nish Patel, and Avni Radia.

• G randf athe r t to : Anmoli Sodha, Ashay Sodha, Shreya Patel and Niam Patel.

• B Bro th er t to : Rasikbhai & Indiraben Radia, Late Pravinbhai & Pramillaben Radia, Chandubhai & Veenaben Radia, Rajnibhai & Kamuben Radia, Rajenbhai & Shobnaben Radia, Late Kiritbhai Radia, Bhavnaben & Dilipbhai Sodha.

The Radia family would like to announce the peaceful passing of OM Namah Shivay

Jay Shree Krishna

Mangaluru blast accused inspired by ISIS: Cops

M A N G A L U R U ( K A R N A T A K A )

The acc used in the autorickshaw b l a s t i n c o as t a l K a rn a ta k a 's M angaluru was "inspired by ISIS terror group" and used dark web to contact his handlers, the polic e s aid, claiming a big breakthrough T he Ka rna ta ka po li ce a ls o sa i d t ha t S ha re e q w or ke d un d e r m ulti ple handlers, one of them f r om A l H i n d , a te r ro r out f i t i nfluenced by ISIS

A r e s i d e n t o f S h i v a m o g g a district, Shareeq was carrying the improvised explosive device (IED) i n a p r e s s u r e c o o k e r i n a n autorickshaw when it exploded, l e a v i n g h i m w i t h s e v e r e b u r n i n j u r i e s H e i s c u r r e n t l y u n d e r g o i n g t r e a t m e n t i n a c i t y hospital

" Our priority is to see that he survives, we have to take him to a stage where we can question him," Alok Kumar, a senior cop in state police, said T h e p o l i c e h a d t e r m e d t h e b l a s t " a n a c t o f t e r r o r w i t h i n t e n t i o n t o c a u s e s e r i o u s damage "

The accused made bombs at

PUNJAB

:

home and even conducted a "trial blast" on the banks of a river, the p o l i c e o f f i c e r a d d e d " S h a r e e q ' s immediate handler was Arafat Ali, an accused in two cases He was in touch with Mussavir Hussain who is an accused in Al Hind module case Abdul Matin Taha was one of t h e m a i n h a n d l e r o f S h a r e e q Another 2 3 handlers also worked with Shareeq but they are yet to be identified," Kumar said S o f a r , t h e p o l i c e h a v e conducted searches at five locations a c r o s s K a r n a t a k a , i n c l u d i n g h i s h o m e i n M y s u r u f r o m w h e r e materials used to make bombs were seized, he said "Shareeq was driven by ISIS ideology and made bomb at h i s h o m e O n S e p t e m b e r 1 9 , S h a r e e q a l o n g w i t h t w o o t h e r accomplices carried out a trial blast in a forest on the banks of a river in S h i v a m o g g a , " t h e p o l i c e o f f i c e r said The police arrested two his a c c o m p l i c e s t h e n e x t d a y b u t Shareeq managed to escape and took a house on rent with stolen A a d h a a r c a r d i n M y s u r u a n d c o n t i n u e d t o m a k e b o m b , t h e police added

Govt seeks recall of SC order releasing convicts in Rajiv killing

The Union gove rnme nt filed a petit ion wit h the Supre me Court askin g it to r evie w an d over turn its Nove mbe r 11 or der orde ring the r ele ase of six Ra jiv G an dhi a ssa ssina tion case defen dan ts by gra ntin g sen te nce r eduction on t he ground s that the court err ed by ex pan ding t he list of for eign t err orists foun d guilt y of the forme r PM's a ssa ssina tion without con sulting t he Ce nte r

Seeking open court hearing of its review petition, generally considered in chamber by judges, the Centre said the order releasing six convicts Nalini Sriharan, Santhan alias Raviraj, Murugan, Robert Payas, Jayakumar and Ravichandran alias Ravi wrongly drew parity with earlier released convict AG Perarivalan The latter is an Indian whereas four of the six released on November 11 were foreign nationals It said, “Out of the six convicts who have been granted remission, four are Sri Lankan nationals Granting remission to terrorist of foreign nation, who had been duly convicted in accordance with the law of land for gruesome offence of assassinating the former PM of the country, is a matter which has international ramification and therefore falls squarely within the sovereign powers of the Union of India ” The Centre complained that in such an important matter, the court did not hear the Union government and thus crucial material facts against the release could not be placed before the court

The SC confirmed the death sentences given to Nalini, Santhan, Murugan, and Arivu on May 11, 1999, and remitted t h e d e a t h s e n t e n c e s o f R o b e r t P a y a s , J a y a k u m a r , a n d Ravichandran to life in prison

According to the Centre, the SC released the six convicts on November 11 "without providing an adequate opportunity for hearing to Union of India, which was a necessary party to the present case, or being formally impleaded as a party to the p e t i t i o n , t h e o n u s o f w h i c h r e s t e d w i t h t h e appellants/convicts "

Punjab to implement old pension scheme

CHANDIGARH: Ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat w h e r e A A P i s t r y i n g t o w o o voters, Punjab cabinet approved i s s u a n c e o f n o t i f i c a t i o n f o r implementing the Old Pension S c h e m e ( O P S ) i n t h e s t a t e , claiming it will directly benefit m o r e t h a n 1 7 5 , 0 0 0 s t a t e government employees

The cabinet assured that the s c h e m e w i l l b e m a d e “ s e l f sustainable from the resources available with the exchequer and under no circumstance, will the f u t u r e o f e m p l o y e e s b e jeopardized”

The decision was taken in the meeting of the council of

WEST BENGAL

m i n i s t e r s c h a i r e d b y c h i e f minister Bhagwant Mann He t o l d m e d i a p e r s o n s a f t e r t h e meeting that the proposal for O P S w a s a p p r o v e d i n t h e

Ananda Bose appointed governor of West Bengal

NEW D EL H I:

h a s b een a p p o i nte d a s re g u la r G o ver no r o f Wes t Be ng a l T h e appo intment w ill take effect from the date he assum es charg e of his o f f ic e, P r es s S e cr eta ry t o t h e P resident A jay Ku mar S ing h said in a statement

A former bureaucrat, Bose has w o r k e d a s U n i v e r s i t y V i c e Chancellor, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Chairman of central public sector undertaking Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and District Collector He is t h e C h a i r m a n o f t h e H a b i t a t Alliance, in consultative status with the UN

He has also worked as secretary to Chief Minister of Kerala, and P r i n c i p a l S e c r e t a r y i n v a r i o u s m i n i s t r i e s s u c h a s E d u c a t i o n , Forest and Environment, Labour, G e n e r a l A d m i n i s t r a t i o n a n d Revenue Board A prolific writer a n d c o l u m n i s t , D r B o s e h a s p u b l i s h e d 4 0 b o o k s i n E n g l i s h , M a l a y a l a m a n d H i n d i i n c l u d i n g novels, short stories, poems and

essays

m e e t i n g A n o f f i c i a l spokesperson later said that in order to ensure that the scheme is financially sustainable for the e x c h e q u e r i n t h e f u t u r e , t h e

s t a t e g o v e r n m e n t w i l l b e c o n t r i b u t i n g p r o a c t i v e l y towards creation of a pension corpus which will service the p e n s i o n i n f u t u r e t o t h e beneficiaries of the scheme T h e c o n t r i b u t i o n t o w a r d s the pension corpus will be £100 million per annum initially and will gradually increase in future In addition to this, the current accumulated corpus with NPS is £1 67 billion for which the state g o v e r n m e n t w i l l r e q u e s t Pension Fund Regulatory and D e v e l o p m e n t A u t h o r i t y (PFRDA), Government of India, t o r e f u n d t h i s a m o u n t f o r effective utilisation at its end

Mamata to attend meet called by PM Modi on Dec 5

Since his superannuation from I A S i n 2 0 1 1 , D r B o s e h a s b e e n devoting his time and efforts in u p h o l d i n g I n d i a ' s h e r i t a g e , nationalism in his writings, lectures and media interviews

Earlier It is to be noted that W e s t B e n g a l B J P c h i e f S u k a n t a Majumdar on Wednesday had said that the state would soon get a new g o v e r n o r w h o w o u l d f o l l o w t h e f o o t s t e p s o f f o r m e r R a j B h a v a n occupant Jagdeep Dhankhar, who had frequent run ins with the TMC government

Before his election as the Vice P r e s i d e n t o f I n d i a , J a g d e e p D h a n k h a r w a s t h e g o v e r n o r o f West Bengal for nearly three years a n d o n s e v e r a l o c c a s i o n s , h a d engaged in tussles with the Mamata Banerjee government over the law and order situation and other issues in the state After his appointment as governor, Bose in an interview said that he will as a rainbow bridge between the Centre and the Bengal government

KOL K A T A : West Bengal C h ie f M i ni s ter M a m at a B an erj e e w i ll att end a m eet in g co n ven ed b y P rime M inister Narendra M odi on December 5 with chief ministers of all

According

Few months back, Mamata went to New Delhi, had a separate meeting with her counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and requested him to clear the pending central dues under two heads namely state' share in goods & services tax and pending funds under Mahatma Gand hi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

Although in the meantime, the Centre has released funds u n d e r c e n t r a l l y s p o n s o r e d s c h e m e s , t h e s t a t e ' s d u e s o n account of MGNREGA are still pending Recently, at a public meeting, the chief minister also aired his grievance in this matter and questioned whether she will now have to touch the feet of the Prime Minister for the pending central funds

POLICE EXCESSES A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY: HC

Excesses by men in uniform is a grave threat to democracy, the Madras high court has said initiating a suo motu contempt proceedings against at least 11 police personnel including the director general of police Any growing trend of indiscipline in the uniformed services at no circumstances be tolerated by the state Indiscipline among the uniformed services is a greater threat to democracy, Justice S M Subramaniam said The issue relates to a November 2015 incident when a human rights advocate, S Rajarethinam (since deceased) was arrested at midnight in violation of all norms

KERALA WITHDRAWS SABARI HANDBOOK

The Kerala government has withdrawn a controversial directive in a handbook distributed by the home department among police personnel on duty at Sabarimala, which said that “all pilgrims” were permitted to enter the temple as per the September 2018 Supreme Court verdict The state government withdrew the directive after BJP took up the issue alleging that it had a ‘malicious motive’

Despite the SC ruling that all pilgrims including women of all ages can enter the shrine, the temple continues with its tradition of restricting the entry of women belonging to the 10 50 age group since Lord Ayyappa is considered an eternal celibate The LDF government had initially tried to facilitate the entry of women following the SC s order but it did a U turn following a strong backlash The state government has since been treading cautiously on the issue

SC PULLS UP PUNJAB GOVT OVER LIQUOR PROBE

The Supreme Court on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the progress in investigation into some cases of illicit liquor trade in Punjab and said the state is treating the issue with “kid gloves” The apex court which observed that poor and downtrodden people are the “sufferers” of hooch tragedies, directed the Punjab excise department to apprise it about the particulars concerning certain FIRs that have been lodged in this regard The SC bench said it appears that no serious efforts seem to have been made to reach the real culprits who are in the business of manufacturing and transporting illegal liquor You are treating it with kids glove the bench observed

YOUNG BENGALI TV ACTRESS PASSES AWAY

TV actor Aindrila Sharma passed away at a private hospital in Howrah on Sunday noon The 24 year old had battled a Primitive Neuro Ectodermal Tumor (PNET) in the spine in 2015 and had a relapse in 2021 Her demise came as a big blow to people across the country who had sought inspiration in her war against cancer On November 1 Aindrila was brought to the emergency section of Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in a comatose condition and was immediately put on a ventilator Her CT scan of the brain showed a massive haemorrhage in the left half of the brain While a combined team of specialists worked tirelessly on Aindrila she lost the final battle Over the years Aindrila’s documentation of her war against cancer had resonated with many

Dr C V Ananda Bose

Bhagwant Mann

Mamata Banerjee & Narendra Modi

Top US official praises PM Modi's role at G20

Prim e Mi ni s ter N aren dra Modi was “i nstrumental” in forging a consensus at the recent G20 summit i n Bali which fin ally led all coun tr i es to a gr ee to a jo i nt statement, a senior US offi cial said in Washington

At an event organised by the Indian embassy in W a s h i n g t o n , p r i n c i p a l deputy NSA Jon Finer also said 2022 had been a huge year in the history of India US relations and that the next year will be even big ger, while asserting that the Biden administration sees this alliance as among the m o s t c o n s e q u e n t i a l r e l a tionships for America any where in the world “ L o o k i n g a r o u n d t h e

a a n d P r i m e M i n i s t e r M o d i a r e v e r y high on that list,” Finer told t h e g a t h e r i n g o f s e v e r a l

h u n d r e d I n d i a n Americans “We just saw this in real time at the G20 w h e r e P M M o d i w a s instrumental in forging a consensus around a joint s t a t e m e n t a m o n g a f a r flung group of countries and in the comments and work that the prime minis

ter has done and others in t h e I n d i a n g o v e r n m e n t have done to highlight the increasing risk related to nuclear issues ”

Reflecting on his views on the India US relation ship, Finer reiterated the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ’ s c o m m i t ment to it and said 2022 and 2023 are two critical years for this

“ T h e y e a r 2 0 2 2 w a s huge in US India relations We think we have an even bigger year ahead in 2023 We have the Quad summit on the agenda coming up We have India’s G20 presi dency, which I know we ’ re a l l l o o k i n g f o r w a r d t o , i n c l u d i n g P M M o d i , ” h e said in his address

G20 with India at helm will be actionoriented, says PM Modi

I n d i a n P r i m e M i n i s t e r N a r e n d r a M o d i p r o m i s e d that the G20 meet under India's presidency will be inclusive, ambitious, deci s i v e , a n d a c t i o n o r i e n t e d , a n d t h a t i t w i l l w o r k t o make the summit a catalyst f o r g l o b a l c h a n g e a s Indonesia handed the presi dency over to India He said it’s important for G20 to convey a strong message of peace and security as with out that the world will not be able to take advantage of economic development

At the 17th G20 confer ence in Bali, where he took o v e r t h e p r e s i d e n c y f r o m Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Modi noted that

the world is currently deal ing with geopolitical unrest, an economic downturn, ris ing food and energy prices, a n d t h e p a n d e m i c ' s l o n g term impacts

“ A t s u c h a t i m e , t h e world is looking at the G20 with hope Today, I want to

assure that India’s G20 pres i d e n c y w i l l b e i n c l u s i v e , a m b i t i o u s , d e c i s i v e , a n d a c t i o n o r i e n t e d , ” h e s a i d “India will strive to take for ward Indonesia’s commend a b l e i n i t i a t i v e s d u r i n g i t s presidency It is a very auspi cious coincidence for India

BJP suspends 12 rebels for defying party diktat

Paatil said that it is customary to suspend leaders who run against party candidates as independents if they fail to withdraw their nominations by the deadline for doing so AAP fields more Con g turn coa ts tha n BJP

While the BJP has fielded 19 Congress turncoats who jumped ship over the past five years, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has gone further by naming over 25 former state level Congress leaders as candidates for the assem bly election

that we are assuming the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y o f G 2 0 P r e s i d e n c y i n t h i s h o l y island of Bali India and Bali h a v e a n a g e o l d r e l a t i o n ship,” said Modi, as he con gratulated Indonesia for its leadership in difficult times and the G20 community for a d o p t i n g t h e B a l i Declaration

When speaking at the c l o s i n g c e r e m o n y , M o d i emphasised the need for the benefits of development to be extended to all people with compassion and soli d a r i t y H e a s s e r t e d t h a t w o m e n s p a r t i c i p a t i o n i s e s s e n t i a l t o t h e a d v a n c e ment of humanity

Parties intensify online battles in Gujarat

In a week, posts just fro m th e B J P G u j ara t’ s o ff i ci al T w it ter h a nd l e sp ik ed by 72%, with 1 12 po sts at the rate o f one post p er 1 2 min u tes c o m i ng o n S u n d ay alo n e T h at d ay, th e B J P upload ed 3 6 videos including th e sp eec h es of P M Nar end ra M o d i o n i ts Facebo ok page

O t h e r p o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s are also upping their social media game The Congress’ weekly posts went up by 40% and the AAP’s by 50% com p a r e d t o l a s t w e e k C a m p a i g n i n g h a s e n t e r e d the last stage with barely few days to go before the first p h a s e o f e l e c t i o n o n December 1 The parties are u s i n g a l l t h e t h r e e m a j o r s o c i a l m e d i a p l a t f o r m s T w i t t e r , F a c e b o o k , a n d I n s t a g r a m t o w o o t h e young and tech savvy voters

A n a n a l y s i s i n d i c a t e s that a majority of local polit i c a l l e a d e r s r e t w e e t e d t h e posts of national leaders or of their parties’ official han d l e s O n T w i t t e r , t h e B J P concentrated on providing statistics of the works done over the years, the Congress made allegations of corrup tion and focused on infla tion, while the AAP spoke of the necessity for change

Both the Congress and

the BJP slammed the AAP when a video of Satyendar Jain surfaced recently The video shows Jain purportedly getting special treatment in Delhi’s Tihar jail But the Congress and the AAP have attacked the BJP with allega tions of corruption

T h e p a r t i e s a l s o u s e d e x a m p l e s o f o t h e r s t a t e s s u c h a s P u n j a b a n d Rajasthan to either deride o t h e r g o v e r n m e n t s o r t o promise similar schemes if elected to power

“The social media con tent has matured consider ably compared to the 2017 election Parties’ IT cells vig ilantly monitor rivals’ cam paigns and are quick to issue counter arguments or rebut tals,” said an Ahmedabad based social media analyst

“The BJP has a star cam p a i g n e r i n P M N a r e n d r a Modi and most of the posts over the past few days have f e a t u r e d h i m T h e C o n g r e s s ’ s R a h u l G a n d h i f o r a y e d i n t o c a m p a i g n i n g f o r t h e s t a t e e l e c t i o n o n Monday ”

T h e a n a l y s t a d d e d : “Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has been consistent in tweet ing about his campaigns in Gujarat and appealing to the locals to give a chance to the party ”

Chandru Iyer appointed British Deputy High Commissioner

C h a nd r u I yer h as b een ap p oi n ted as t h e U ni ted K ing do m ’ s new Dep uty H ig h C o m m is s i o ner f o r K arn at aka an d K er ala an d be b as ed i n Bengaluru He wo uld also serve as Deputy Trade Co mmissioner (investm ent), South Asia

r 5

Notably, the deadline for withdrawing nominations for the 93 seats for election in the second round was November 21 None of the BJP rebels chose to withdraw from the election, inviting punishment from the party These leaders, who will now fight against BJP candidates on 11 seats of north and central Gujarat, include sitting MLA of Vaghodia ( V a d o d a r a d i s t r i c t ) M a d h u S h r i v a s t a v Former MLA of Padra, Dinu Patel and ex MLA of Bayad, Dhavalsinh Zala, were also among the 12 who were punished by the party

Others include Kuldipsinh Raul (Savli), K h a t u b h a i P a g i ( S h e h r a ) , S M K h a n t (Lunawada), JP Patel (Lunawada), Ramesh Zala (Umreth), Amarshi Zala (Khambhat), R a m s i n h T h a k o r ( K h e r a l u ) , M a v j i D e s a i (Dhanera) and Lebji Thakor (Deesa con stituency) According to C R Paatil they are being suspended

T h e s e l e a d e r s s w i t c h e d o v e r t o t h e Arvind Kejrwalled party over the past few months

A number of other lower rung district a n d t a l u k a l e v e l o f f i c e b e a r e r s o f t h e Congress party have also been accommodat ed by AAP in ticket distribution, as the party looks to expand its base in the state Cong t oo fields BJP re bels

While the trend of Congress turncoats b e i n g f i e l d e d b y t h e B J P i s n o t n e w t o Gujarat’s politics, several BJP leaders are con testing this election either as Congress candi dates or independents after being denied tickets by the BJP

After getting the cold shoulder for the BJP ticket for the Mandvi seat in Kutch, Rajendrasinh Jadeja switched the Congress and was named as its candidate from the seat In Panchmahal district, strongman and former BJP MP Prabhatsinh Chauhan, who recently quit the BJP, is contesting from the Kalol seat as a Congress candidate

His mandate is to bolster the UK’s relations with the two states, deepening government, business and people links, said a statement from the British Deputy High Commission

In addition to his trade responsibilities, he would promote the UK as a preferred destination for foreign direct investment

from India and the wider region, it said

“ C h a n d r u ’ s c r o s s b o r d e r i n t e r n a t i o n a l b u s i n e s s development experience will help f u r t h e r s t r e n g t h e n t h e s t r o n g relationship between the UK and S o u t h A s i a , ” t h e D e p u t y H i g h Commission said

C o m m e n c i n g h i s r o l e i n

November 2022, Chandru would focus on s t r e n g t h e n i n g p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h t h e government, promotion of business and trade links and bolster people to people relationships among Karnataka, Kerala, and the UK, the statement said

Transfer of Gujarat, Telangana HC judges spark lawyer protests

The Supreme Court collegium's decision to transfer two high court judges one from Gujarat and one from Telangana upset lawyers in both states

After Justice Nikhil Kariel was trans ferred to the Patna High Court, lawyers in Gujarat's High Court went on an indefinite strike, and lawyers in Hyderabad staged a protest and decided to skip hearings in o p p o s i t i o n t o t h e t r a n s f e r o f J u s t i c e A Abhishek Reddy to the Bihar capital

The Gujarat HC bar said the transfer of “the finest, honest, upright and unbiased judge” Justice Kariel “strikes at the rule of

law and independence of judiciary, the two prime edifices on which our Constitution rests” The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHAA) said that the "indefinite strike" would be reviewed while also agree ing to send a delegation to the Chief Justice of India and other members of the col legium, as well as four SC judges promoted from the Gujarat HC

The protesting lawyers of Telangana HC said they saw no reason why a righteous judge was moved out, if not its part of a con demnable “design” They didn’t explain what could be the “design”

Narendra Modi

The Bha rat iya Ja nta Part y (BJP) suspen ded 12 pa rt y lea der s, including 6 te rm MLA M adhu Sh rivast av a nd two forme r legisla tors, for fil in g nomin ation s a s in depe nde nt ca ndida tes for the sta te assembly e lect ion a ft er the y we re denie d ticke ts The sea ts up for e le ction in the first round of vot in g on December 1 a re being cont ested by 7 can didat es The G ujara t BJP preside nt, C R Paa til, has now suspen ded 1 2 a ddition al lea der s w ho a re run n ing as unofficial can didat es in A sse mbly se ats wher e votin g will ta ke place in the se c on d round on De ce mbe

Chandru Iyer

How the last disciple of Pt Ravi Shankar has taken over Instagram with his Sitar

actual track and release it right now on all streaming platforms and everything So it was a good experience

What does making music mean to you in a time of instant gratification where views and likes are almost a report card of someone’s work, especially when it comes to digital music? Do you care about social media and digital conventions related to music?

I like to believe like, if your music is good, it is going to do good on any platform, be it by word of mouth, or social media I also think, social media is very fake, people need to, have thirst traps, or just make something more out of the music So that s purely marketing of like how they want to

by: Shefali Saxena

Tell us about your London experience.

I was in London just to check out some venues because I'm planning to set up for mental health show very soon So I just wanted to meet a few people and form a team before, I do the show, obviously The London trip was more like planning than actual performance But I am performing sometime in March, we will put together the show in March, and I'm performing at the party with Deb oven on May 6, I believe Your version of Tum Hi Dekho Na (a popular song from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) is at 18mn plus views on Instagram Did you ever think this would blow up so soon?

It was very funny that I just woke up humming that tune that day that I recorded it And I just was experimenting with like different lighting And, it just worked out w i t h t h e l o w l i t v i d e o a l o n g w i t h t h i s nostalgic tune, which a lot of people could relate to And I was so happy It didn't blow up initially But it took I think a week or so for people to appreciate it and share it with their friends So I'm really glad it blew up though because that is the reason that I got contacted by Sony Music and they wanted to officially release this and make it into an

represent their brand I m very mindful about how I'm presenting the sitar and especially when it comes to the traditional classical setup

I would be lying if I say that I do not care at all But I care to a point where it doesn't affect my mental health As people just go crazy for likes and engagement of any sort So it feels nice that I enjoy the attention and appreciate people's belief in me But I think I stopped getting what follows after I hit 10k and I was like, it was a big deal Now, it's just like, it's all constellations, it's all love And, it's really nice to see when these followers actually come to my shows and, show up in great numbers So, that means a lot

What makes a Sitar unique as an instrument when pop culture mostly rallies around guitars and drums?

Sitar is a very, I like to have studied the s o u n d o f t h e g u i t a r , g i v e n m y f a m i l y ' s background in musical instrument making a n d , a c t u a l l y m a n u f a c t u r i n g t h e s e instruments So that is a very harmonically rich sound And that's why it is so successful as a solo instrument that you can just listen to sitar and tabla for hours So it s so stimulating and so fulfilling than any other i n s t r u m e n t , t h a t i t s a p p l i c a t i o n a n d meditation are very apt, and it just works I've done so many studies, I've collected forms from people like giving their feedback on how they react to the sound of this

guitar And it's just been it's just proof that the sitar is the sound of this Athar is so rich, and it's it just like stimulates your mind and in a different way, versus the guitar or any other instrument that you would consider What is your favourite genre of music? Do you think today’s music (film and independent) has a longer shelf life?

I listen to everything It's mostly hip hop and classical Indian classical music I l o v e g a z a l s a n d B o l l y w o o d m u s i c Bollywood is not a genre because it's like an umbrella where so many subgenres exist I really enjoy, AR Rahman, and Amit Trivedi, these are my favourite artists So, I'm more o r l e s s l i s t e n e d t o e v e r y t h i n g W e s t e r n , classical, jazz, blues, rock and roll Country music even I believe that today's music does not have a longer shelf life, people are still driven by nostalgia That's why you see, like this big wave of Bollywood remixes, and just bringing back the old melodies and trying to do something different with it And I also blame the audience because they're not having an open mind to listen to good music

You are the last disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar What makes it special?

G r o w i n g u p , w h e n I f i r s t s t a r t e d learning from Guruji, I did not realise the weight and the gravity of the situation I was very whimsical, and I just took it very casually I'm the youngest one So what, now I realised that I'm the only one, of my generation to represent that style of playing A n d , r e p r e s e n t i n g j u s t m o r e t h a n t h e G h a r a n a , a l s o t h e c u l t u r e a n d t h e community, the sitar playing community I realize, the kind of responsibility I hold Guruji always said, you're the ambassador of our Gharana and you're going to be the only one of your age that he was going to take this forward I realise the sort of legacy that I'm carrying, I have my family's legacy of instrument making, which is, which has been going on for four generations On the other shoulder, have my gurus legacy that I have to take forward There's a weight on my shoulders, but I'm trying my best to carry it I'll do this till the day I die

Royal Fleet Auxiliary to get three state of the art, adaptable ships

T he contract intend s to create 1,20 0 U K s h i p yar d j o b s, h u nd r ed s o f g raduate and apprentice op portunities, a nd an e xp e ct ed 8 0 0 fu r th er j o bs acro ss the UK supply ch ain

B r i t i s h l e d T e a m R e s o l u t e , comprising BMT, Harland & Wolff and Navantia UK, has been appointed as the preferred bidder to deliver three crucial support ships to the Royal Fleet A u x i l i a r y ( R F A ) T h e £ 1 6 b i l l i o n c o n t r a c t ( b e f o r e i n f l a t i o n ) t o m a n u f a c t u r e t h e v e s s e l s p r o v i d i n g munitions, stores and provisions to the R o y a l N a v y ’ s a i r c r a f t c a r r i e r s , destroyers and frigates deployed at sea, is subject to HM Treasury and Ministerial approval

P l e d g i n g t o i n v e s t £ 7 7 m i l l i o n i n s h i p y a r d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e t o s u p p o r t t h e B r i t i s h s h i p b u i l d i n g s e c t o r , t h e y a i m t o create one of the most advanced yards in the

U

Shakespeare’s Globe and Tamasha

announce casting for Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights

S h a ke sp e are ’ s Glo b e a nd T am a sh a h av e announced the cast and co mpany fo r th e p remiere of th eir coproduction Hakawatis: Wom en of the A rabian Nigh ts by Globe w riter in resid ence Hannah K halil (Th e F ir T ree, Henry V III, Globe)

opportunities

The proposal pledges that the entire final assembly for all three ships will be completed at Harland & Wolff’s shipyard in Belfast, with the three 216 metre long vessels each

t h e l e n g t h o f t w o P r e m i e r L e a g u e football pitches to be built to Bath based BMT’s entirely British design

On behalf of Team Resolute, Group CEO of Harland & Wolff, John Wood, said: “Team Resolute is proud to have been selected as preferred bidder to provide the Royal Fleet Auxiliary with three state of the art, adaptable ships which will fulfil the Royal Navy’s needs w h i l e s t r e n g t h e n i n g U K s o v e r e i g n design and shipbuilding capability, as well as generating around £1 4 billion in national social and economic value

Team Resolute will be making a significant investment into the UK and help to level up UK Government defence spend across the whole Union We will create high quality UK jobs, apprenticeships and four facilities across the UK which will have shipbuilding capabilities fit for the 21st century ”

The Arabic terms hekaye meaning story and haki meaning to talk A tyrant revenges his wife’s infidelity by wedding, bedding, and beheading a new bride every day Years later, only five brides in waiting remain Hannah Khalil’s re telling of this classic story includes writing contributions from Hanan alShaykh, Suhayla El Bushra and Sara Shaarawi, and translations by Hassan Abdulrazzak

W r i t e r H a n n a h K h a l i l s a y s : “ I t h a s always baffled me that the 1001 nights story cycle has been presented as a work for children in the West when the original tales and framing device are so dark and sexual and full of moral ambiguity So to have the opportunity to reclaim them and reimagine them afresh, working with writing heroines of mine is a great privilege And to get to do it at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse one of the most beautiful theatres in the world under the direction of Pooja Ghai well it’s the stuff of playwrighting dreams!”

Director Pooja Ghai says: “I am thrilled to be returning to the Sam Wanamaker P l a y h o u s e t o d i r e c t H a n n a h K h a l i l ’ s Hakawatis a bold and passionate new play that celebrates the power of storytelling by reclaiming the original tales of 1001 nights S i n c e t h e d a w n o f h i s t o r y s t o r i e s h a v e c r e a t e d e m p a t h y , u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d community Here they become the weapon against a King who seeks vengeance, they become tools to subvert the establishment and the patriarchy, and they are the rallying cry for united action amongst the women who remain in captivity They release the hope, nourishment, vulnerability, strength, love and conviction that these women have to change themselves and the world around them through the power of their collective imagination ”

The cast of Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights comprises Houda Echouafni as Wadiha the Dancer, Alaa Habib as Fatah t h e Y o u n g , L a u r a H a n n a a s Z u y a t h e W a r r i o r , N a d i K e m p S a y f i a s A k i l a t h e Writer, and Roann Hassani McCloskey as Naha the Wise Full cast biographies are as follows: Houda Echouafni will play Wadiha the Dancer

Final call for submissions to £1m Arts and Cultural Fund

Essex artists and cu ltural organisations h ave u ntil Wed nesday 30 Novem ber to su bm it their app lications to o ur Arts and Cultural F und

The Arts and Cultural Fund provides f u n d i n g b e t w e e n £ 2 , 5 0 0 t o £ 3 0 , 0 0 0 t o successful applicants This can be used to h e l p d e l i v e r e x h i b i t i o n s , e v e n t s a n d activities in 2023

P r o j e c t s w i t h i n t h e m u s i c , t h e a t r e , dance, visual arts, literature, combined arts, including festivals and carnivals, museums and creative sectors can apply Individual a r t i s t s a n d c o o p e r a t i v e s a s w e l l a s community groups, charities and trusts, c o m m u n i t y i n t e r e s t c o m p a n i e s , s o c i a l e n t e r p r i s e s a n d p r i v a t e a n d p u b l i c organisations are also eligible

Sitar Player, Music Producer & CEO talks to Asian Voice about his viral Instagram cover from Shah Rukh Khan’s film and on shouldering the responsibility of being the last disciple of Pt Ravi Shankar.

Rishab Rikhiram Sharma

Tamasha Artistic Director Pooja Ghai returns to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to direct Hakawatis following her acclaimed production of Lions and Tigers in 2017 Hakawatis opens on 1 December and runs until 14 January

Symptoms of a heart attack that can strike before deadly attack

A h eart attack i s a serio us m ed ic al emerg ency and the symptoms usually com e on fast The main sig ns are m ost ly chest pains and feeling lig hth eaded o r dizzy, guid ance fro m th e NHS says Experts have found that there are some unusual signs of a heart attack that come on close to a month before an attack Medics found that less than a third of women report chest discom fort before the attack

E x p e r t s a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Arkansas for Medical Sciences found that 95 per cent of participants had u n u s u a l s y m p t o m s m o r e t h a n o n e month before their heart attacks and that these resolved after the event

The most common seven symp toms were: Sleep disturbance (48 per cent); Shortness of breath (42 per cent); Indigestion (39 per cent); Anxiety (35 5 per cent); Heavy/weak arms or legs (24 9 per cent); Changes in thinking (23 9 per cent); Loss of appetite (21 9 per cent)

One expert said there are a whole host of other symptoms that people might suffer Dr Anushka Patchava, deputy chief medical officer for Vitality explained that usual symptoms include chest pain, chest tightness, chest heavi ness which could suggest your heart muscle is not receiving enough oxy genated blood

There may also be pain or weakness in our legs and arms again, due to reduced circulation, the expert said She added: "Other symptoms of cardio vascular disease might be breathless ness, heart palpitations (when someone can feel their heartbeat)

T h i s c a n l e a d t o a n x i e t y , h o t sweats and dizziness and feeling faint, as well as tiredness All signs that the body is not getting enough oxygen

"With moderate and severe vascu lar conditions, it is also possible that an individual might experience swollen limbs Extremities, such as toes or fin gers, can go blue which could be a potential sign that you are at risk of a heart attack

"While chest pain is the most com mon symptom, other symptoms such as shortness of breath, feeling or being

sick and back or jaw pain can also occur "

How can a heart attack be prev ented?

Dr Patchava explained that there are things you can do now to prevent you from having a heart attack The medics said that managing our weight is the most important thing, which can be supported by physical activity and getting enough steps

The second, she added is vascular, which refers to conditions that affect the blood vessels such as arteries or veins

"Narrowing or blockage of blood v e s s e l s , f o r e x a m p l e d u e t o p l a q u e build up, a condition called atheroscle rosis, can contribute to high blood pressure (hypertension)

What are the main factors?

H e a r t a n d c i r c u l a t o r y d i s e a s e s cause a quarter of all deaths in the UK, data from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) states That equates to more than 160,000 deaths a year with close to eight million Brits also living with the illness

She added that it’s also important to remember the links between mental h e a l t h p r o b l e m s , l i k e d e p r e s s i o n , which can contribute to increased risk of heart and circulatory disease “If you have a close relative with heart disease you may be likely to suffer from it ”

Exercise can reduce side effects of breast cancer

T he findings o f a stu dy have revealed th at exerci se may make radiotherap y m o r e t o le ra bl e fo r br e as t c a nc e r p atients Breast cancer is one of th e mos t prevalent typ es o f disease and affects o ne in eigh t Australian wo men R a di o t h er ap y h as em er ge d a s a n i mp ortant compo nent o f breast cancer treatment but can lead to cancer relat e d fa ti g u e a n d n eg at iv el y i mp a c t p atients’ health related quality o f life

T h e s t u d y c o n d u c t e d b y E d i t h Cowan University (ECU) included 89 women, with 43 completing a home based 12 week program consisting of a weekly exercise regime of one to two r e s i s t a n c e t r a i n i n g s e s s i o n s a n d a n accumulated 30 40 minutes of aerobic exercise The remaining patients were a control group who did not partici p a t e i n t h e e x e r c i s e p r o g r a m Researchers found patients who exer

cised recovered from cancer related fatigue quicker during and after radio therapy than the control group and saw a significant increase in health related quality of life post radiothera py

S t u d y s u p e r v i s o r P r o f e s s o r R o b Newton said this showed home based resistance and aerobic exercise during radiotherapy is safe, feasible and effec tive in accelerating recovery from can c e r r e l a t e d f a t i g u e a n d i m p r o v i n g health related quality of life He said, “ A h o m e b a s e d p r o t o c o l m i g h t b e preferable for patients, as it is low cost, does not require travel or in person supervision and can be performed at a t i m e a n d l o c a t i o n o f t h e p a t i e n t ’ s choosing These benefits may provide substantial comfort to patients ”

S t u d y l e a d D r G e o r g i o s Mavropalias said benefits were also

o b s e r v e d w i t h l e s s e x e r c i s e “ T h e a m o u n t o f e x e r c i s e w a s a i m e d t o increase progressively, with the ulti mate target of participants meeting the national guideline for recommended exercise levels However, the exercise programs were relative to the partici pants’ fitness capacity, and we found even much smaller dosages of exercise t h a n t h o s e r e c o m m e n d e d i n t h e national guidelines can have signifi cant effects on cancer related fatigue and health related quality of living during and after radiotherapy ”

The researchers also found that once participants began an exercise program, most stuck with it The exer c i s e g r o u p r e p o r t e d s i g n i f i c a n t improvements in mild, moderate, and v i g o r o u s p h y s i c a l a c t i v i t y u p t o 1 2 months after the supervised exercise program finished

Morning foods to help ease constipation in winters

C on s t i p a ti on i s a c om m on c o n d i t i on duri ng wi nter Many believe the chan ges in on e ’ s habi ts could be the reason Wi th the di p i n t e m pe r a t ur e , we ten d to drink less wate r, s ki p exe rc is e, a n d l e an m o re to w a rd s te a an d c of f e e t h a n us ua l O u r r a w f oo d s li k e salads als o ten d to de crease as we prefer warme r foods Thi s is why i t i s important to m odi fy our diet in winter and include more fibre, herbs and spic es, good fat an d s easonal frui ts an d vegetables in it to avoid gut health related i ssues

" C o n s t i p a t i o n i s m a i n l y c a u s e d d u e t o i m b a l a n c e (aggravation) of Vata dosha (specifically apana vayu) There can be so many reasons for that including not eating mindfully, excessive intake of dry, cold, spicy, fried and fast food, not drinking enough water, less fibre in food, poor metabolism, disturbed sleep pattern, eating late dinner, sedentary lifestyle," says Ayurveda expert Dr Dixa Bhavsar in her recent Instagram post

Dr Bhavsar says just consuming laxatives is not a permanent solution to constipation, and one needs to include certain foods in the diet that can help fight it

1 DATES

They are sweet and cold in nature They also help balance Vata and Pitta making the best choice for people s u f f e r i n g f r o m c o n s t i p a t i o n , h y p e r a c i d i t y , j o i n t p a i n , anxiety, hair fall and low energy

Have 2 3 soaked dates with warm water on an empty stomach in the morning

2 M ETHI SEEDS

One tsp methi seeds (fenugreek seeds) can be soaked overnight and had first thing in the morning You can also powder the seeds and have 1 tsp methi powder with warm water at bedtime Best for people with excess Vata and Kapha People with high pitta (heat issues) should avoid it

3 COW G HEE

Cow ghee improves your metabolism It helps you maintain healthy body fat, which is needed to absorb fat soluble vitamins like Vit A, D, E and K 1 tsp cow ghee with a glass of warm cow milk works best for people with chronic constipation

4 AM LA

Amla is an amazing laxative and helps with other health issues like hair fall, grey hair, weight loss and more when regularly on an empty stomach in the morning You can have 1 tsp amla powder or juice of 3 fresh amlas (during winter), whatever is convenient for you

5 SOAKED RAISI NS

Black raisins are rich in fibre Soaking the raisins is essential as dried food items aggravate your Vata dosha and may cause gastric issues Soaking makes them easy to digest

Exposure to artificial light at night associated with diabetes risk

A new study finds th at outdo or artificial ligh t at nig ht ( LA N) is a ss o c i ate d w i th im p ai red bl o o d g lu co se contro l and an increased risk of diabetes Th e research w as p ublished in Diabetolog ia by Dr Y u X u and c ol le ag u e s a t t h e S hang hai Institute o f End oc ri ne and M etabolic Diseases, Sh anghai, C hina

Exposure to artificial LAN at night is a ubiquitous environmen tal risk factor in modern societies The intensity of urban light pollu tion has increased to the point that it affects not only residents of big cities but also those in distant areas such as suburbs and forest parks that may be hundreds of km from the light source The authors note, "Despite over 80% of the world's population being exposed to light pollution at night, this problem has gained limited attention from

scientists until recent years ” Earth's 24 hour day night cycle has resulted in most organisms, i n c l u d i n g m a m m a l s , h a v i n g a n inbuilt circadian (roughly 24 hour) timing system which is adapted to the natural sequence of light and dark periods Light pollution has been found to alter the circadian rhythm of insects, birds and other a n i m a l s , r e s u l t i n g i n p r e m a t u r e death and loss of biodiversity

Artificial LAN has also been implicated as a potential cause of metabolic dysregulation by alter ing the timing of food intake Rats exposed to artificial LAN devel oped glucose intolerance, exhibit i n g e l e v a t e d b l o o d s u g a r a n d insulin Another study found that mice exposed to the nocturnal dim white light of minimal brightness for 4 weeks had increased body mass and reduced glucose toler

ance compared to animals whose environment was completely dark at night, despite having roughly e q u i v a l e n t e n e r g y c o n s u m p t i o n and expenditure

A s s o c i a t i o n s h a v e a l s o b e e n found between artificial LAN and h e a l t h p r o b l e m s i n h u m a n s A study of night shift workers found that those exposed to brighter LAN were more likely to have disrupted circadian rhythms and a greater r i s k o f c o r o n a r y h e a r t d i s e a s e Other research found that higher LAN exposure was associated with a 13% and 22% increase in the like lihood of being overweight and obese, respectively, while exposure to LAN in the bedroom was report ed to be positively associated with t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f d i a b e t e s i n elderly people

The potential impact of out door artificial LAN was revealed by

a study in South India which used satellite images to map light pollu tion and compared this with data on general health markers among a d u l t s a c r o s s t h e r e g i o n W i t h i n c r e a s i n g L A N i n t e n s i t y , t h e e x p o s e d p o p u l a t i o n h a d c o r r e s p o n d i n g r i s e s i n a v e r a g e b o d y mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure and 'bad' (LDL) choles terol levels

Participants' body weight and height were measured to calculate B M I , a n d b l o o d s a m p l e s w e r e taken to obtain levels of both fast ing and postprandial (after meal) serum glucose, as well as glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) This is a f o r m o f g l u c o s e b o u n d t o h a e m o g l o b i n i n r e d b l o o d c e l l s which acts as a moving average of blood sugar over the previous 8 to 12 weeks

The study found that the high

est quintile of LAN exposure was associated with a relative increase of 28% in the prevalence of dia betes than in the lowest quintile areas Chronic exposure to resi dential outdoor LAN was positively associated with blood glucose lev els, insulin resistance and diabetes prevalence and inversely associat ed with beta cell function, even after adjusting for many important diabetes risk factors On average, for every 42 people living in regions i n t h e h i g h e s t q u i n t i l e o f L A N exposure, one more case of dia betes would not have occurred if those individuals had been living in areas in the lowest quintile While t h e a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n L A N exposure and diabetes might not be as strong as with better known r i s k f a c t o r s , o u t d o o r a r t i f i c i a l l i g h t ' s u b i q u i t y m e a n s t h a t t h e population exposure scale is vast

Hrithik denies rumours of moving in with girlfriend Saba Azad

Kriti Sanon calls

‘Adipurush’ part of our history

“history

their time in making it perfect

While promoting another movie in Indore, Kriti was asked about the VFX of ‘Adipurush’ and the actor said that since it is a “part of our history” and “extremely important ” She said, “As our director Om Raut mentioned in the note that was brought out It is a film that we all are extremely proud of It is a film which is of a grand canvas It is a part of our history It’s extremely important and it needs to be put out in the right way and in the best possible way because that’s what he also had envisioned ”

The actor, who is playing Sita in the film, added, “A one minute, 35 second teaser came out and I guess there is a lot more to the film that he needs to be work upon, which needs that time and we all want to give it the best shot because this is an opportunity to get our history, to get our religion globally out there And it’s a story we are all proud of, so it needs to be done in the best possible way I think he is going to give it all the time it needs and all the efforts it needs because the heart and soul is in the right place ”

Hrithik

Roshan posted a rare update about his personal life on social media as the actor took to Twitter to deny the speculation that he and his girlfriend Saba Azad are planning to move in together and have zeroed in on the house The duo has been dating for almost a year now Sharing a media report that said, “love birds Hrithik Roshan and Saba Azad to move in together soon,” Hrithik wrote, “There is no truth to this. As a public figure, I understand I’ll be under the lens of curiosity, but it’s best if we keep misinformation away, especially in our reportage, which is a responsible job.”

The media report in question was published last week and had a source close to the actor quoted as saying, “They w i l l b e m o v i n g i n t o g e t h e r i n t o a n apartment in a building called Mannat in M u m b a i T h e t o p t w o f l o o r s o f t h e building are being renovated And the couple will shift there very soon ” The r e p o r t a l s o a d d e d t h a t H r i t h i k h a d already spent £10 million on the two apartments spread over two floors

On the work front, Hrithik was last seen in the action film ‘Vikram Vedha’ alongside Saif Ali Khan He is currently s h o o t i n g f o r ‘ F i g h t e r ’ i n A s s a m Meanwhile, Saba is also busy with work as she is gearing up for the release of the second season of her popular web series ‘Rocket Boys’

Om Raut had previously released a statement announcing that the film’s release will be delayed His statement read, “Adipurush is not a film, but a representation of our devotion to Prabhu Shri Ram and commitment towards our sanskriti and history In order to give a complete visual experience to the viewers, we need to give more time to the teams working on the film Adipurush will now release on June 16, 2023 We are committed to make a film that India is proud of Your support, love and blessings is what keeps us going ”

‘Adipurush’ also stars Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Sunny Singh in pivotal roles

Katrina gets upset with paps, asks them to keep their cameras down

Katrina

Kaif is known in the industry for guarding her privacy, and her secretive wedding with Vicky Kaushal in December 2021 was proof enough Now, a new video clip is doing the rounds on the internet where the actress is seen schooling photographers trying to click her pictures outside a gym late at night

In a video circulated on Instagram, a few photographers ask Katrina to pose for them as she gets into her car Usually calm and composed, Kat seems visibly upset and asks them to put their cameras down She says, “Aap log camera neeche karo, hum log yahan exercise karne aaye

h a i A g a r a a p l o g a i s a karenge na neeche rakho (Keep your cameras down We are here to exercise If you keep doing this keep it down) ”

O n t h e w o r k f r o n t , Katrina’s last release ‘Phone B h o o t ’ w i t h S i d d h a n t h Chaturvedi and Ishaan Khatter failed to perform at the box office; the actress will n o w b e s e e n i n S h r i r a m R a g h a v a n ’ s ‘ M e r r y C h r i s t m a s ’ r e l e a s i n g t h i s December She’ll then be seen in her much anticipated film ‘Tiger 3 ’ along with Salman Khan that’s releasing in Eid next year Katrina also has ‘Jee Le Zara’ with Priyanka Chopra and Alia Bhatt in her kitty

Ranveer wins Superstar of the Decade at FFME 2022

ActorRanveer

He looked at his parents, Jagjit Singh Bhavnani and Anju Bhavnani and spoke about his struggle to make his portfolio

he joined the industry In his award acceptance speech, Ranveer said, “Aapko yaad hai papa, barah saal pehle, mein koshish kar raha tha aur mein portfolio banane ja raha tha s o c h a a p n a c a l l i n g c a r d l e k e j a y e n g e a u r dikhayenge ki bhaiya mein hoon naya actor, please mujhe kaam do (remember papa, 12 years ago I was trying to get my portfolio made to take to people and ask them for work) ”

He continued, “Portfolio ka quotation aaya Rs 5 0 , 0 0 0 b o l a k e a c h a w a l a b a n a y e n g e , b a d e photographer se banayenge Meine bola papa Rs 50,000 bohut expensive hai toh papa ne bola ‘fikar

mat kar beta tera papa betha hai yahan pe ’ (The portfolio would cost Rs 50,000, which I thought was a lot, but my father asked me not to worry and said he will help me) ”

Ranveer then spoke to his mother, who sat teary eyed, “Aapko yaad hai mummy chote wale ghar mein mera audition bohut kharab gaya tha phir mein wapas aya from the airport, I was bawling, I was crying and said ‘ mumma mere ko pata nahi mera jo ye sapna hai kabhi pura hoga ke nahi’ (remember mom, when we used to live in the smaller house, I gave a bad audition and came to you crying, asking if I will ever realise my dream of becoming an actor) ”

Ranveer further said it was a ‘miracle’ that he was standing on the stage and receiving an award The actor also dedicated the award to filmmaker A d i t y a C h o p r a i n h i s w i n n i n g s p e e c h a s h e dedicated his award to him "He took a chance on me, when no one did and said, 'I found my next Shah Rukh Khan," Ranveer said He had made his a c t i n g d e b u t w i t h Y a s h R a j F i l m s ' r o m a n t i c comedy, ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’

Om Raut’s ‘Adipurush’ drew much criticism from the audience recently after the film’s teaser shocked the audience with its poor VFX quality Actress Kriti Sanon, who plays the character Janaki in the movie, defended it recently, saying it presents Indian

and religion” to the world and therefore, it is important for the makers to take

Singh won Superstar of the Decade at the Filmfare Middle East Achievers Night 2022 which took place over the weekend in Dubai The event saw several Bollywood celebrities in attendance, including Janhvi Kapoor, Govinda, Sunny Leone, and others While accepting the award, Ranveer teared up as he recounted his rise in the Hindi film industry.

before

Jaya Bachchan blames pay disparity to 'insecurity of a man'

thing

Kangana says Tabu 'single-handedly saving Bollywood'

gana Ranaut was all praise for actress Tabu lately and c perstar for “single handedly saving the Hindi film indus king to Instagram, Kangana said Tabu was a part of the ollywood films “that worked this year” at the box office Bhulaiyaa 2’ and ‘Drishyam 2’ Kangana also said it was commendable that Tabu “reached the peak of her stard her fifties

“Her talent and consistency have never been ques ook her best and reach the peak of her stardom in h e ” called her an inspiration and further wrote, “I thi h more credit for their unwavering dedication to their n ” She also added a bunch of clapping emojis to her n last seen in ‘Drishyam 2 ’ , which was released on Nove ring Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna saw the se Bollywood film in 2022 ‘Drishyam 2 ’ earned £1 54 m office on its day 1 and did a business of £2 16 million remake of the Malayalam film by the same name that hyam 2 ’ is a sequel to the 2015 crime thriller ‘Drishy Saran and Ishita Dutta Tabu’s other release this also saw an impressive opening day collection of £1 4 more than £26 6 million at the worldwide box office, m st grossing Hindi films of 2022 The horror comedy e and produced by Bhushan Kumar was a standalo s 2007 film ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ Alongside Tabu, 'Bhoo ed Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani

Saif says actors are being paid 'astronomically'

be

solve the problem Jaya replied, “The insecurity of a man, who’s s i t t i n g a t t h e h e a d o f i t A c t u a l l y , h e ’ s insecure and that’s why he finds it easier to put a woman down in every field and in every way and this is the outcome of that kind of a mindset ”

She added, "For centuries women have never stood up for themselves There are e x c e p t i o n s , b u t n o w i t s c h a n g i n g t h e younger generation it s changing and it s also because mothers are realising that my daughter and my son are as good as each other ” Jaya further said, "Educated women also have double standards, which is so sad Sometimes I want to say it but do not feel good about saying it, but sometimes women are their own enemies Of course, it's also the father's responsibility ”

On the work front, Jaya will be seen next in Karan Johar’s ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’ The movie also stars Dharmendra, S h a b a n a A z m i , A l i a B h a t t , a n d R a n v e e r Singh It is set to release in theatres on April 2023

Actor Saif Ali Khan said it was “extremely disappointing” for him to witness the poor box office performance of his much anticipated film ‘Vikram Vedha’. He denied having any idea about why it didn’t work in theatres. However, he hinted at the “astronomical” amounts being paid to those who star in these films Directed by Pushkar Gayathri, ‘Vikram Vedha’ is the Hindi remake of their own 2017 Tamil film of the same name

In an interview, Saif said the movie was appreciated by many, and with him and Hrithik Roshan in the lead, it was expected to do well but didn’t He said, “The reason we should be very polite to each other is because nobody has any clue of what works and doesn’t work ” When asked why most Bollywood films are not performing at the box office, Saif said, “I have no idea but s o m e t h i n g i s h a p p e n i n g P e o p l e w i l l continue to make movie Prices will keep fluctuating because our pricing, some of it, is insane We pay people astronomically and the returns have been not good ”

S a i f s a i d t h a t o n l y t w o p e r c e n t population actually pays to watch movies but if the number is increased to 20 per cent,

Sonu Sood comes to the aid of Bihar’s ‘Graduate Chaiwali’

Sonu Sood

and around Patna, but hers is the only tea cart to be targeted

A f t e r t h e v i d e o s u r f a c e d ,

Bhojpuri actress Akshara Singh raised her voice in support, and now Sonu has helped the tea s t a l l o w n e r H e t w e e t e d ,

“Arranged a place for Priyanka’s t e a s h o p N o w n o o n e w i l l remove Priyanka from there I will come to Bihar and will have the tea from your hand soon ”

A n e c o n o m i c s g r a d u a t e , Priyanka started a tea stall near t h e P a t n a W o m e n ’ s C o l l e g e earlier this year after she failed to secure any job over the past two years In a new video she shared earlier this week, she alleged that she was a victim of misogyny as several other illegal businesses continue to run in

M e a n w h i l e , P r i y a n k a h a s shared on Instagram that her f i r s t f r a n c h i s e t e a s h o p w i l l soon open in Gopalganj, Bihar

She also shared an ad seeking interest in a franchise shop in Vaishali The post saw many people requesting to be part of the franchise in various parts of Bihar

Legendary actress Tabassum passes away at 78

actor and the first TV talk show on Indian television ‘Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan’, Tabassum passed away last week at age 78 Her son Hoshang Gohil shared the news with the media He said, “Few days ago, she was admitted to a hospital She had gastro problem and we went there for check up She suffered two cardiac attacks She passed away peacefully on Friday night ” He was also quoted as saying, “She was absolutely healthy We shot for our show 10 days ago and were about to shoot again next week. It happened all of a sudden.”

Veteran

B o l l y w o o d c e l e b r i t i e s s h a r e d t h e i r c o n d o l e n c e s o n l i n e F i l m m a k e r M a d h u r B h a n d a r k a r t w e e t e d , “ S a d t o h e a r t h e d e m i s e o f v e t e r a n a c t r e s s & a n c h o r Tabassum ji As a kid we used to watch her famous show on @DDNational Phool Khile H a i n G u l s h a n G u l s h a n M y h e a r t f e l t c o n d o l e n c e s t o h e r F a m i l y M e m b e r s & Admirers #OmShanti ”

Tabassum started working in films as a child artist in 1947 and was known as Baby Tabassum She started in the industry with f i l m s l i k e ‘ N a r g i s ’ , ‘ M e r a S u h a a g ' , ‘Manjhdhar’ and ‘Bari Behen' in the late 1 9 4 0 s S h e p l a y e d M e e n a K u m a r i ' s childhood avatar in 1952 film ‘Baiju Bawra’ and also had a role in ‘Mughal e Azam’ She l a t e r f e a t u r e d a s a n a d u l t i n f i l m s l i k e ‘Chameli Ki Shaadi’ (1986), ‘Naache Mayuri’ (1986), 'Sur Sangam' (1985), ‘Gambler’ (1971)

She also went on to host the celebrity t a l k s h o w ‘ P h o o l K h i l e H a i n G u l s h a n Gulshan’ from 1972 to 1993 on Doordarshan She made her television comeback in 2006 with Rajshri Productions' show ‘Pyaar Ke Do Naam: Ek Raadha, Ek Shyaam’ She was also t h e e d i t o r o f t h e H i n d i m a g a z i n e , Grihalaxmi

Veteranactor Jaya Bachchan is a regular in her granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda’s weekly podcast, ‘What The Hell Navya’ Speaking on the latest episode, ‘One Crown’, this week, Jaya addressed the topic of wage disparity between men and women Navya said women are not being paid equally and cited examples in tennis and basketball, where women are paid less than their male counterparts.

Shweta Bachchan, why such a

happens and what can

done to

i t c o u l d m a k e i t a w e a l t h y i n d u s t r y However, he did note that people will have to make money to pay for movies

On the work front, Saif will now be seen playing the antagonized Lankesh in Om R a u t ’ s ‘ A d i p u r u s h ’ , a l o n g s i d e P r a b h a s ’

Raghava and Kriti Sanon’s Janaki A teaser for the movie was released recently and wasn’t well received by the viewers

Actor

has extended his help to Bihar’s tea stall owner Priyanka Gupta, popular as Graduate Chaiwali Months after her stall was seized by the Patna Municipal Corporation in an anti encroachment campaign, the businesswoman was seen pleading for help in a social media video that went viral.

MON 28 NOV FRI 2 DEC 2022

6:00 FODI LAISHU YAAR

9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT

9:30 SUR PRABHAT

10:00 DESHI BEATS

17:00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR (O)

17:30 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:00 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:30 SURI (O)

19:00 JODE REJO RAAJ (O)

19:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU (O)

20:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI (O)

20:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU (O)

21:00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM (O)

21:30 GEETA (O)

22:00 MARI LADKI RE (O)

SATURDAY 3 DEC 2022

6:00 I'M GUJJU

9:00 SHUBH PRABHAT

9:30 SUR PRABHAT

10:00 DESHI BEATS

*

MON 28 NOV FRI 2 DEC 2022

16:30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS

17:30 SWARAN GHAR

18:00 BALIKA VADHU SEASON 1

Anusha Shetty, Naga Shaurya tie the knot

Naga Shaurya m arried long time g ir lf ri en d A nu s h a S h e tty i n Beng aluru The first p ictures of th e new lyw ed s w ere sh ared o n p aparazzi and fan pag es on so cial m ed ia A v ideo of the actor p utting s indo or ( vermi lli on) o n A nush a, w ho was d ecked up in a red bridal s a ree w it h h ea v y g old jewellery, was also shared online

I n o t h er p i c tu re s and vid eos, the cou p le performed w ed d ing rituals in the p resence of family and friend s A v i d e o f r o m

Naga Shaurya’s wedding celebra tion also showed guests seated inside a lavish hall in rows and f e a s t i n g o n t r a d i t i o n a l s o u t h Indian meals Some pictures also gave a glimpse of the wedding decor with garlands of fresh white and pink flowers

S h a u r y a a n d A n u s h a ' s p r e

17:00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR (O)

17:30 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:00 RASOI SHOW (O)

18:30 SURI (O)

19:00 JODE REJO RAAJ (O)

19:30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU (O)

20:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI (O)

20:30 MOTI BAA NI NANI VAHU (O) 21:00 SORATHNI MRS SINGHAM (O)

21:30 GEETA (O)

22:00 MARI LADKI RE (O)

SUNDAY 4 DEC 2022

66:00 RASOI SHOW ®

7:00 GEETA ®

8:30 MARI LADKI RE ®

10:00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR ® 12:00 LOVE NI BHAVAI

15:00 MARI LADKI RE ® 17:00 RASOI SHOW ® 18:00 RASOI SHOW ® 19:00 SPECIAL PROGRAM 19:30 SPECIAL PROGRAM 20:00 SPECIAL PROGRAM 20:30 SPECIAL PROGRAM

21:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI ® 21:30 RASHI RIKSHAWALI ® 22:00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI ®

22:00 NAAGIN SEASON 1 SATURDAY 3 DEC 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 BALIKA VADHU 19:00 DESI BEAT 19:30 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 20:00 COMEDY NIGHTS WITH KAPIL 21:30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 22:00 VISH YA AMRIT SITAARA SUNDAY 4 DEC 2022 16:30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17:30 BALIKA VADHU 19:00 THE KHATRA KHATRA SHOW 22:00 COMEDY NIGHT WITH KAPIL 22:00 VISH YA AMRIT SITAARA

w e d d i n g c e l e b r a t i o n s o c c u r r e d earlier at a Bengaluru hotel Inside pictures and videos from the cele b r a t i o n m a d e t h e i r w a y t o f a n pages on social media along with t h e c o u p l e ’ s w e d d i n g h a s h t a g ‘Let’s Go Shaan’ At the pre wed ding bash, Shaurya wore a blue kurta outfit, while Anusha wore a flo r a l , e m b r o i d e r e d lehenga

S h a u r y a a n d Anusha are expect ed to host a grand r e c e p t i o n f o r h i s colleagues from the Telugu film indus try in Hyderabad On the work f r o n t , S h a u r y a i s s h o o t i n g f o r ‘Rangabali’, an action entertainer and an untitled Telugu film that was launched recently Both his upcoming movies are expected to be released next year He was last s e e n i n ‘ K r i s h n a V r i n d a V i h a r i ’ with Shirley Setia

Chiranjeevi named Indian Film Personality of the Year at IFFI 2022

Veteran actor Chiranjeevi was named the Indian Film Personality of the Year at the opening ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa The announcement was made by the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur at the film festival However, the actor was not present to receive the award himself

The 53rd edition of IFFI began in Goa on Sunday The minister was joined by actors Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, and several other f i l m p e r s o n a l i t i e s T h a k u r h o n o u r e d C h i r a n j e e v i o n T w i t t e r H e w r o t e , “ S h Chiranjeevi Ji has had an illustrious career spanning almost four decades, w/ over 150 films as an actor, dancer & producer He is immensely popular in Telugu Cinema w/ incredible performances touching hearts! Congratulations @KChiruTweets ”

Other honourees of the night included v e t e r a n w r i t e r K V i j a y e n d r a P r a s a d a n d actors Paresh Rawal, Ajay Devgn, Suneil Shetty, and Manoj Bajpayee All of them were felicitated with special honours at the open ing ceremony of the IFFI 2022 While being honoured, Ajay said, “I love making films Be it acting or producing or directing, I love each and every aspect of films Thank you all

for all the love ”

Ahead of the ceremony, Anurag Thakur shared, "This year lots of premiers are hap p e n i n g h e r e S e v e r a l n e w i n i t i a t i v e s a r e

taken This time, 1,000 entries came for the 75 creative minds 75 creative minds were chosen from 10 fields People from remote areas also participated 75 creative minds is for those who used to feel scared of coming t o M u m b a i , n o w t h e i r r e q u i r e m e n t s a r e being bridged, and opportunities are being provided for all to be able to participate in the mainstream film industry This IFFI plat form is not just for Mumbai film industry but for people from across the nation to come together and work together The season pre mier of OTT platform show will also be hap pening ”

This year's edition also features retro spectives on Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Asha Parekh and Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura

Puri Jagannadh, Charmme questioned by ED

Filmmaker Puri Jagannadh and producer Charmme Kaur were questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week over the funding of their last release ‘Liger’ The Vijay Deverakonda Ananya Pandayy starrer was directed by Jagannadh and had Bollywood’s Karan Johar on board to present the film in Hindi Despite being aggressively promoted as a pan India film, ‘Liger’ failed at the box office

The ED summoned Puri and Charmme following reports that money used to fund the film came from a foreign source, which is a clear violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) of 1999 A media report quoted a source as saying, “The ED officials wanted to know the name of the company or individuals who funded the m o v i e T h e y s t r o n g l y b e l i e v e t h a t t h e money used to fund the movie came from

abroad They’re investigating to check if any of this funding was in violation of FEMA ”

‘Liger’ had opened to lately middling response from the audiences with most calling the film “formulaic” and a “wasted opportunity” for Vijay who spent three years on the project

On the work front, Puri was set to work again with Vijay on another project titled ‘Jana Gana Mana’ It was also announced that the film will be released in August 2 0 2 3 H o w e v e r , t h e p r o j e c t w a s l a t

e r

Anoushka Shankar, Berklee Indian Ensemble and Ricky Kej nominated for the Grammys

Actors are being given 'too much credit', says Priyanka

Actor Priyanka Chopra was recently in India to launch her hair care brand in the country Since then, she has returned to Los Angeles and was recently spotted attending singer husband Nick Jonas’ concerts in the US During her time in the country, the actress had opened up about what she thinks is the role of an actor in a film and how it was an amalgam of the writers, directors, choreographers, makeup artists, stylists and others were doing

Nominations

for the 65th edition of the Grammy Awards have been revealed, and as has been the norm in the past few years, Indian artists have also maintained a presence this year This year, composer Anoushka Shankar, multi Grammy award winning Composer and producer Ricky Kej, and multicultural, genre hopping group Berklee Indian Ensemble have made it to the list

DJ Snake performs to ‘Patakha Guddi’ in his Gurugram concert

After winning a Grammy in 2022 for Best New Age Album for his collaborative album with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland, ‘Divine Tides’, Ken has yet again picked up a nomination for Best Immersive Audio Album in the coming year, with credits going to “immersive m i x e n g i n e e r ” E r i c S c h i l l i n g a n d “ i m m e r s i v e p r o d u c e r s ” l i s t e d a s Copeland, Kej and Herbert Waltl Kej took to Instagram to discuss the nomination: “Overjoyed and humbled I j u s t g o t n o m i n a t e d f o r m y t h i r d Grammy® Award! This time for ‘Best I m m e r s i v e A u d i o A l b u m ’ f o r D i v i n e T i d e s S t e w a r t C o p e l a n d a n d I a r e immensely grateful to the entire team of Divine Tides, especially immersive mix engineer Eric Schilling and mix producer H e r b e r t W a l t l T h i s f e e l s a b s o l u t e l y surreal ”

A noush ka Shankar

The London born sitarist, vocalist, and composer has two nominations this year, both in the same broader category of Global Music Pakistan origin singer composer Arooj Aftab’s song ‘Usher Na’ w i t h S h a n k a r i s n o m i n a t e d f o r B e s t Global Music Performance, while the sitarist’s live album ‘Between Us’ with the M e t r o p o l e O r k e s t , c o n d u c t o r J u l e s Buckley and hang player/percussionist Manu Delago has earned a nod for Best Global Music Album

Shankar posted a video talking about t h e n e w s a n d s a i d , “ I j u s t g o t t w o Grammy nominations! For Between Us, my album and my dear friend Arooj Aftab’s song ‘Udhero Na’ These are my eighth and ninth nominations Thank you so much!”

Berklee Ind ian Ensemble

T h e g r o u p e a r n e d t h e i r f i r s t e v e r G r a m m y n o m i n a t i o n f o r B e s t G l o b a l

Music Album this year for their collar h e a v y , s t a r s t u d d e d 2 0 2 2 a l b u m ‘Shuruaat’

Besides dropping his crowd pleasing headbangers such as ‘Propaganda’, ‘Magenta Riddim’, ‘Taki Taki’, and ‘Turn Down For What’, he mellowed down the mood with songs such as ‘Let Me Love You’, and ‘Never Let You Go’ However, it was ‘Patakha Guddi’ from the Bollywood movie ‘Highway’, which got the crowd vibing as the whole venue started singing it altogether

DJ Snake’s set began with fireworks lighting up the sky and confetti adding colour to the night, which continued throughout the show Ending the set with potentially his biggest hit ‘Let Me Love You’ with pop star Justin Bieber, he bid goodbye while kissing the flag and saying “Shukriya”

Speaking in an interview with Janice Sequeira, Priyanka said that she was able to take chances after working with the biggest names in the world “This doesn't have to do with just working with the best in the business in the States (US) Even when I was working in Bollywood, working with the best filmmakers taught me how to be the best actor We give too much credit to actors; actors do nothing by the way We really don't I've always said this Actors do nothing Those 30 seconds of a scene is where I come in And then when I talk about the movie etc So I have a very limited role,” the actor said

Priyanka continued, “We say out somebody else's words, we are working on a script that is written by someone else, we are lip syncing and singing songs that are in someone else's voice We're dancing steps that are choreographed by somebody else We are doing marketing, where questions are asked by somebody else We are dressed by somebody, and hair and makeup are done by somebody So what am I doing?”

On the work front, Priyanka was last seen in The Matrix Resurrections’ with Keanu Reeves She will next be seen in her first ever web series, ‘Citadel’, produced by the Russo Brothers She also has a Bollywood film, ‘Jee Le Zaraa’, with Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt

Pak actor Fahad Mustafa rushes to touch Govinda’s feet at FFME 2022

actor Fahad Mustafa was all praise for Bollywood legend Govinda, attributing him as the reason he started “acting in the first place ” The Filmfare Middle East Achievers Night in Dubai witnessed a one in a million moment when Fahad rushed from the stage to touch Govinda’s feet to take his blessings The actor was welcomed by Govinda with a hug, followed by a handshake Fahad also shook hands with actor Ranveer Singh and they hugged each other

Pakistani

Fahad said, "I started acting in the first place because of Govinda sir Sir, hum aapke fan hai Aur hume Pakistan mein aesa lagta tha ki jo bhi acting karni hai woh aapke jaese karni hai Phir Ranveer agaye, phir (Sir, we are your fans We think in Pakistan that whatever acting has to be done, should be done like yours) Then Ranveer (Singh) came, and then (laughing) "

He also added, "But I think sir hum aapke bohut bade fan hai aur aap ke fan rahenge Bohut khush kismati hai ki aaj is stage par khade hai jaha par aap khade the Ek baar phir Govinda sir k liye bohut saari taaliya honi chahiye because this is unreal I really hope ki Pakistan aur India dobara ikattha ho aur acha acha kaam kare (But sir we are your big fans and will always be so It's a stroke of good luck that I am standing on the same stage where you were Once again a huge round of applause for Govinda sir, because this is unreal I hope Pakistan and India once again come together to do good work) ”

The guest list at the event included celebrities such as Hema Malini, Arjun Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana, Janhvi Kapoor, Shehnaaz Gill, B h u m i P e d n e k a r , S u n n y L e o n e , M a n u s h i C h h i l l a r , V a a n i K a p o o r ,

Maniesh Paul, Rakhi Sawant, Tamannaah Bhatia, Bharti Singh, Kanika Kapoor, Sharvari Wagh, Tejasswi Prakash and Karan Kundrra, among many others

Ricky K ej

After three years, French electronic artist DJ Snake returned to the grounds of Delhi NCR and surprised his fans by adding a desi twist to his set The anticipation for the artist to get up on stage and plug in the party music was high among the crowd at Backyard Sports Club over the weekend

in brief India win series as 3rd T20 ends in tie

h o w e v e r , u n f o r t u n a t e l y t h i s t i m e o n e straight to Glenn Phillips of Ish

h a u l O n t h e o t h e r h a n d opener, Devon Conway 59 (49) and Glenn Phillips 54 (33) built

an 86 run partnership f o r t h e t h i r d w i c k e t taking New Zealand to a dominating position of 130 2 in the 16th over However, the Blackcaps lost nine wickets for 30 runs from there on to e n d u p 1 6 0 a l l o u t without finishing their quota of 20 overs India win second ODI S u r y a k u m a r Y a d a v smashed a blistering hundred t o h e l p s e c u r e I n d i a ’ s comprehensive 65 run victory in the second T20I at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday

Yadav clobbered seven sixes and 11 fours in his unbeaten 111 o f f 5 1 b a l l s a t a n i n c r e d i b l e strike rate of 217 64 to power India to a commanding 191 6 after being put into bat New Zealand were bundled out for 1 2 6 w i t h s k i p p e r K a n e Williamson (61) supplying half of the runs before they were bundled out in 18 5 overs

After Friday’s series opener i n W e l l i n g t o n h a d b e e n w a s h e d o u t , W i l l i a m s o n elected to field in the second match which was also rain affected India were 50 1 in the seventh over when the players were forced off the field

Vice President Dhankhar joins Emir of Qatar to open FIFA World Cup

V ic e P re si d en t J ag de ep D hankh ar o n Su nday joined the E mir of Qatar Sheikh T amim bin Hamad Al Th ani and other digni taries in th e inau gu rati on o f FIFA World Cup in Qatar

V i c e P r e s i d e n t D h a n k h a r was in Doha for a two day visit t o r e p r e s e n t I n d i a a t t h e i n a u g u r a t i o n o f F I F A ' s s h o w p i e c e e v e n t H e w a s visiting Doha at the invitation of Qatar Emir

B e s i d e s a t t e n d i n g t h e i n a u g u r a l c e r e m o n y o f t h e Football World Cup, the Vice

Q a t a r a s i t h o s t s a m a j o r s p o r t i n g e v e n t and also acknowledge t h e r o l e p l a y e d a n d s u p p o r t e x t e n d e d b y Indians in this World C u p , t h e M E A statement said

I n d i a a n d Q a t a r e n j o y c l o s e a n d friendly relations with multi faceted partnership extending t o a r e a s o f t r a d e , e n e r g y , s e c u r i t y , d e f e n c e , h e a l t h , c u l t u r e , e d u c a t i o n , a m o n g others, the MEA statement said

Manika creates history by winning bronze

“I am happy to win the bronze medal This win is huge for me, defeating top players I enjoyed playing and fighting against them I will continue to put in the extra yard in all my future tournaments,” said an emotional Manika

Earlier in the day, Manika lost 2 4 (8 11, 11 7, 7 11, 6 11, 11 8,7 11) to second seed Mima Ito of Japan in the semifinals Ito managed to subdue the Indian with percentage play

In the bronze playoff, Manika’s fighting qualities came to the fore in the fourth game when she was down in the dumps with fourth seed Hayata holding the upper hand at 10 6 That was when Manika upped the ante, attacking the flanks with crisp forehands Her counter attacking play took Hayata by surprise Manika used her backhand punches to good effect At 10 10, the serve was with the Japanese But an unforeseen fault by Hayata wherein her service hit the net and the ball dropped on her side itself helped Manikago up with a lucky point Manika then held on to her serve to win the game

The Japanese, however, raced to a handy lead in the next game and went on to win it to r educe the margin Manika then changed her strategy in the sixth game, attacking from the word go With frustration setting in, the Japanese became error prone, unable to keep the ball on the table, as Manika went from strength to strength to win the game and match at 11 2

According

I n t h e l a s t f i n a n c i a l y e a r , bilateral trade between the two countries crossed $15 billion Q a t a r p l a y s a n i m p o r t a n t p a r t n e r i n I n d i a ' s e n e r g y security and India participates i n t h e g G l f n a t i o n s f o o d security India and Qatar would be c e l e b r a t i n g 5 0 y e a r s o f establishment of full diplomatic relations next year The MEA statement said people to people ties form an important element o f b i l a t e r a l r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h over 840,000 Indians in Qatar

POLLARD TURNS BATTING COACH FOR MUMBAI INDIANS

After straddling in the Blue and Gold for 13 long years Mumbai Indians great’ Kieron Pollard has finally called time on his memorable IPL career The former West Indies captain will continue with MI as their batting coach, which can only benefit a team that badly needs a makeover after failing to make the playoffs in the last two years The 35 year old will play for MI Emirates owned by the franchise in the ILT20 in the UAE The move has also helped MI gain a big purse when they sit at the IPL auction table in Kochi on December 23, as they launch their quest to find life without their match winner Pollard, who owned the No 6 spot in the side for more than a decade, made it clear that the thought of playing for another franchise in the lucrative IPL didn’t even appear to him

POONAM, DEEPTI, SNEH, POOJA NAMED CAPTAINS

India players Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana were named captains of the four respective teams that will feature in Senior Women's Challenger T20 Trophy to be played in Raipur from Nov 20 For fringe India and domestic players the event will be a good platform to display their talent ahead of the home series against Australia next month The inaugural Women s IPL takes place in March and that will be at the back of the players mind

RANATUNGA ORDERED TO PAY OVER CRICKET FEUD

Sri Lanka s World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga has been ordered to pay $70 000 in a defamation case arising from a long running feud over control of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Ranatunga has been locked in a bitter battle with Thilanga Sumathipala, a four time president of SLC and the pair have regularly traded accusations of graft and match fixing

The civil court judgment dates back to an incident in 2003, when Ranatunga said that his arch rival was corrupt and unfit to helm the sport s national body A court official said that Ranatunga had been ordered to pay $70,000 for the remarks Ranatunga's spokesman said the decision would be appealed in a higher court

DHONI LIKELY TO WORK WITH INDIA

After Indian team's disappointing performance at T20 World Cup, the BCCI is reportedly considering to use the experience of MS Dhoni, in some capacity to prepare and plan for the 2024 T20 World Cup According to a report, Dhoni could be in for a stint with the Indian T20 side and might get to work with a specialised set of players for the format

The job description for the incoming selectors clearly states: “Appoint captain for the team in each format ” While it is most likely that Rohit

selectors groom to lead in the other two formats

Chetan and his team have been under severe scrutiny right through their term When this committee was in charge, India lost the World Test Championship final, got knocked out of the 2021 T20 World Cup in the group stage, comfortably lost a Test series and ODI series in South Africa and failed to make the final of Asia Cup before being outplayed by England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semis

The way the selection committee carried out a change in captaincy after Virat Kohli has also been criticised besides failing to pick a settled team in a year Team leaders and s e l e c t o r s d i d n ’ t g e l A c c o r d i n g t o s o u r c e s , t h e t e a m management was not happy with the way

MARADONA'S ‘HAND OF GOD’ BALL SOLD FOR $2 4 MN

The ball punched in by Diego Maradona for his Hand of God goal at the 1986 World Cup has been sold at auction for nearly $2 4 million by the referee who missed soccer s most famous handball Ali Bin Nasser, the Tunisian former match official who refereed the quarterfinal game between Argentina and England in Mexico, owned the 36 year old Adidas ball that was sold at Graham Budd Auctions in London for 2 million pounds Bin Nasser said before the auction he felt it was the right time to share the item with the world and expressed hope the buyer would put it on public display

Sodhi and perishes for 13(10)

Indian cricket may go for a different captain for each format

President also interacted with m e m b e r s o f t h e I n d i a n community during the visit T h e V i c e P r e s i d e n t ' s v i s i t would be an opportunity to join a c l o s e a n d f r i e n d l y c o u n t r y

The Indian cricket board (BC CI) decid ed to sack all four senior men ’ s national selecto rs following anoth er d isapp ointing T 20 World Cup cam paig n In a press release, BCCI secretary Jay Shah invited applications for fiv e positions with November 28 being the deadline T he Chetan Sharm a led panel, includ ing Debasis Moh anty, Harvinder S ing h and Su nil Josh i, w as o ne mo nth shy o f com pleting two years as selectors

to the new BCCI constitution, a person can serve in a cricket committee for up to five years BCCI had not appointed anyone when Abey Kuruvilla’s tenure ended earlier this year This move is the first step towards bringing about an impending overhaul in Indian cricket

Sharma would continue as the ODI captain till the ODI World Cup at home next year, it will be interesting to see who the new set of

selectors operated

S tar pad dler M anika Batra created history by becoming the first Ind ian w oman table tennis player to finish th e A sian C up T T tournament with a bronze medal at th e Hua Mak Ind oor Stadium in Bangkok o n S aturd ay In the bronze playoff, the u nseed ed M anika ed ged past world No 6 Hina Hayata of Japan 4 2 (11 6, 6 11, 11 7, 12 10, 4 11 , 11 2) to achieve the feat The w orld No 44 Ind ian w ill also carry home a prize m oney of $1 0,0 00 for her efforts