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VOL 43. ISSUE 50

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Over 5,000 dead, but PM Sushil Koirala says it may touch 10,000

The death toll from Nepal's devastating earthquake could reach 10,000, the prime minister said on Tuesday, as residents frustrated by the government's slow response used their bare hands to dig for signs of their loved ones.

"The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing," Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said. "It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal."

International aid has finally begun arriving in the Himalayan nation of 28 million people, three days after Saturday's 7.9 magnitude quake, but disbursement is slow. According to the home (interior) ministry, the confirmed death toll stands at over 5,000, with more than 7,000 injured. Thirteen Indian were among the dead.

"The death toll could go up to 10,000 because information from remote villages hit by the earthquake is yet to come in," Koirala said. The United Nations said 8 million people were affected by the quake and that 1.4 million people were in need of food. Nepal's most deadly quake in 81 years also trig-

gered a huge avalanche on Mount Everest that killed at least 17 climbers and guides, including four foreigners, the worst single disaster on the world's highest peak. All the climbers who had been More Nepal stories on pages 24, 25 and 29

stranded at camps high up on Everest had been flown by helicopters to safety, mountaineers reported. A series of aftershocks, severe damage from the quake, creaking infrastructure and a lack of funds have slowed rescue

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efforts in the impoverished, mountainous country sandwiched between India and China. In the capital Kathmandu, youths and relatives of victims were digging into the ruins of destroyed buildings and landmarks.

"Waiting for help is more torturous than doing this ourselves," said Pradip Subba, searching for the bodies of his brother and sister-in-law in the debris of Kathmandu's historic Dharahara tower.

The 19th century minaret collapsed on Saturday as weekend sightseers clam-

bered up its spiral stairs.

"Our hands are the only machine right now," said the 27-year-old, part of a group of locals pulling out bricks and blocks of concrete with cloth masks over their faces to ward off the stench of rotting bodies. "There is just no one from the government or the army to help us."

Scores of people were killed in the collapse of the tower. Elsewhere in the capital's ancient Durbar Square, groups of young men cleared rubble from around an ancient temple, Continued on page 26

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2nd May to 8th May 2015

Citizens' victory against corrupt Tower Hamlets Mayor The ejection of the disgraced Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman, Britain's first elected Muslim Mayor is an inspiring example of the people's power in action.

Mr Erlam, a retired film-maker, Azmal Hussain, a Brick Lane restauranteur, Debbie Simone, a defeated Labour candidate and Angela Moffatt, a local resident decided to bring a High Court petition against Mr Rahman's reelection. Despite being expelled from the Labour party in 2010, with help of thousands

of pounds buying him fawning coverage- Mr Rahman ensured victory was his. But little was known in bravery of the petitioners- that led to the truth being unfolded.

Continued on page 15

UK gears up for the Election storm The upcoming general election on 7 May, is perhaps the most exciting and precarious one that Britain has witnessed in the last 30 years. As the country's economic recovery slows far more sharply than expected in the first quarter, the parties gear up to win the ethnic voters, launching

respective BAME manifestos. It goes without saying that this one week leading up to the general election remains to be the most crucial for many MPs, including David Cameron and Ed Miliband.

See our coverage on General Election 2015 from page 12-17

2

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

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COMMENT

China-Pakistan axis: India stays calm

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan has, on the whole, been received with measured calm in India. The government response was decidedly low key; media reactions were studied , apart from two hysterical editorials, one in the left-leaning Hindu newspaper, the other in the rightwing free market buccaneering Mint, of which more later. Ever since Marco Polo visited Xanadu and met Kublai Khan, China has held a fascination for the West, oscillating between fragrant Chinoiserie and malodorous Sinophobia and loose Yellow peril talk. India, once gushingly sentimental about China, from 1962 onwards has perceived China with something akin to shock and awe and deep suspicion. Much of Pakistan’s love for China springs from Indian discomfort. Hence the gaseous talk in Islamabad of China as Pakistan’s “all weather friend,” likening the relationship to the height of the Karakorum peaks. Oriental hyperbole is a well earned term. For the Pakistan political and military establishment the arrival of President Xi was a moment to savour: the country was the cynosure of the region and the world for the right reasons: it was making history as a serious player on the international chessboard, its travails of terrorism and sectarian strife temporarily put aside. However, the inebriation of those deep in their cups is usually a nightly experience of hallucinatory uplift, followed the morning after by the customary hangover and an anti-climactic reality check. The war of Sunni and Shia simmers and explodes from time to time. The fearful presence of the Taliban and al Qaeda, the former claiming to possessing a missile from an unnamed source, are alive and well and ready to do battle with the Pakistani state at any time of their choosing. The Baluchistan insurgents have pronounced ominously that they will oppose the gargantuan schemes to develop Gwadar on the coast abutting the Gulf as an outlet for Chinese commerce and military power into the Middle East and beyond. The other terminus of the 3,000 kilometre Silk route is to be Kashgar in Xinjiang, now in the throes of Islamic unrest against Han rule administered from Beijing.

Baiting and containing India might not be quite as clever on the incendiary ground as it appears on

paper. A Chinaman from the BBC Chinese Service, made smirking reference to India’s “alliance” with the United States as the source of the Sino-Pakistan trajectory, a malevolent, yet silly falsehood, the sort the informed minds have come to expect these days from the Corporation’s coverage of international affairs. True, India’s relationship with the US is much improved, it has a cordiality previously absent, but that doesn’t make this an “alliance.

Recall the Bangladesh liberation struggle and the ensuing Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and the subsequent decades of trilateral US, China, Pakistan cooperation in the containment of India. To Beijing’s present of $48 billion military and economic aid, the US has added $31billion for similar ends. Enough said.

The Hindu and Mint editorials mentioned above are notably incoherent: the first suggests that India be” pragmatic” and accept the Beijing’s prescribed Chinese order in Asia. Mint, for its part, refers to the talismanic strategic wisdom of the Fifth Century B.C. Chinese sage Sun Tzu, whose maxims, it was claimed, have transformed the Middle Kingdom into a 21st century giant to be feared and respected. Better, by far, to stay rooted in the present. The recent work of the American author Andrew Small, “The China-Pakistan Axis,” is riveting in its narrative and insights, it acknowledges China’s considerable political outreach based on its economic power. But it also points to China’s hobbled diplomacy being cabined, cribbed and confined by cultural autism. Here are samples.

“Pakistan is China’s Israel:”General Xiong Guangkai. A Pakistani Sinologist in Islamabad complimented Chinese understanding of most things Pakistani, “but there is one piece they just don’t get: Islam.” Mr Small underscores the essential fragility of China’s relations with its neighbours, from North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam, to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar et al, each shadowed by a specific brand of mistrust and suspicion.

Only with Pakistan, remarked a Chinese diplomat, could a fully fledged alliance be consummated.

India has little cause to lose sleep over the Chinese threat.

India’s infantile disorder is not restricted to leftwing communism but to the entire spectrum of the left, from the two communist parties, their noisy, parasitic allies and others such as the prodigal Rahul Gandhi and his slogan-mongering Congress clodhoppers. Indian Communism, illstarred birth, has never reached true adulthood.

It never grasped the strength of Indian nationalism from its organizational inception as the Indian National Congress in December 1885, nor its achievement in taking India to Independence in August 1947. The Communist party slogan at the time was that the paraded independence was counterfeit, that India and its government, oppressors of the Indian masses, were in thrall to AngloAmerican imperialism and awaited true liberation under Communist leadership. This absurdist message still resonates among the party faithful. The proceedings of the recent deliberations of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - popularly referred to as the CPM, as opposed to its equally ugly smaller sister, the Communist Party of India or the shorthand CPI - one would think the Indian masses were skin and bone, hovering on the brink of famine, that feudalism was alive and growing, that “liberal economics” had impoverished the country and that every Indian prime ministers took his/her orders from an American president.

While India has myriads of problems, many of a serious social nature, absolute poverty has decreased substantially over the past two and a half decades of economic reforms, that living standards broadly had improved appreciably, as had literacy levels across the board. The increases in food grain, fruit, vegetables and milk have increased exponentially. The country’s GDP in 1991 was $275 billion, in 2014 it was $2.1trillion. Do such facts count for nothing, comrades?

His meditation abroad complete, Rahul Gandhi returned refreshed, so we were told. Physically, maybe. Mentally he’s the same frayed article, the same gobbledegook Rahul, unable to cope with the complexities of the larger picture, climbing the populist bandwagon to garner votes on the cheap, ailing at the corporate houses because with his tiny mind, it is the easiest thing to do. Does Mr Gandhi truly believe that the House of Tata, and companies such as Cipla, Reliance & Larsen Toubro, to go no further, with their strong traditions of social service, have bled, are bleeding India white and need a short course in patriotism from politicians and demagogues like himself? He should consult a shrink without delay if he does.

Congress has some way to go before recovering its lost national esteem. Rahul Gandhi is not the man to lead the party out of the wilderness.

U.R. Rao, if you didn’t know, or have forgotten, is one of India’s and the world’s greatest space scientists. He has an honoured place in America’s Hall of Fame for space science. Still firm and active at a ripe 83, there is a bounce in his step and a note of pride in his voice as he traced the milestones in India’s quest into the then unknown, with a newspaper reporter. On 19 April, 1975, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched its first unmanned indigenous satellite, Aryabhata, into orbit on a Soviet rocket. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had to be convinced that the space programme and its costs would bring lasting benefits to the country. It helped, said Professor Rao, that “Russia gave us a free launch. For Bhaskara also, and IRS 1 and 2 were also given

cheap deals. During the learning process, we got it all free. So we can’t argue with that, can we?,” he said. Asked about the future of India’s space programme, he replied, “Satellites have done satisfactorily…..we had cameras going over [diseased] coconut trees in Kerala and crops in Punjab and Haryana and so on,” which were shown to Mrs Gandhi and confidence built up in ISRO’s work.

Remedial measures were put in place as part of the agency’s operations. Agriculture benefited hugely in subsequent decades, space science and technology grew apace. It was now time for the government to decide whether India would embark on manned space ventures, for which more powerful rockets would be needed, Professor Rao concluded. More power to his elbow.

India’s infantile disorder

U.R. Rao on India’s space journey

3 By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest - Confucius (551-479 BC)

Lord Dholakia

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords

Era of the single party is over

Earlier this month the Liberal Democrats launched its BAME Manifesto. It spells out how we will continue to protect the rights and opportunities of Britain’s ethnic minorities – the right to live in peace, to receive an education, to get a job, to raise a family free from fear, and, above all, the right to be treated fairly without reference to race, colour, national or ethnic origins.

There are many policies in the BAME Manifesto which promote equal opportunities in our society and commit us to tackling discrimination wherever we see it. The fact we are the only Party to stipulate our commitment to outlaw caste discrimination is an illustration of that.

With our policies, we will be taking a proactive approach towards combating racism and discrimination, tackling inequality in all aspects of our society and positively valuing the contribution of different cultures and perspectives, and treating them with respect. We have shown this in practice in government over the last five years. The Liberal Democrats have stopped many of the Conservatives’ policies that would not help the majority of people in the UK, from inheritance tax cuts for millionaires, to profit-making in schools and even firing workers at will. Yet, last week, the Conservatives announced their “Vision 2020 for BAME communities”.

In my opinion, this puts paper over the cracks of their plans for Britain’s ethnic minorities.

A Conservative government, led by

David Cameron and held hostage by UKIP partners and the right wing of his party, would be detrimental to Britain’s ethnic minorities and would be an ideological lurch to the right A Conservative Party acting in its callow selfinterest, promising a devastating level of cuts (£12 billion in welfare alone) and leaving themselves vulnerable to an angry mob of right wingers from UKIP, the DUP and their own backbenches is a real possibility.

A Government that will lurch away to the extremes of the right because David Cameron is held to ransom by hard right ideologues that will threaten Black, Asian or minority ethnic communities and our shared values of each other is a real possibility.

Liberal Democrats ended the broken twoparty system that saw power handed back and forth between the blue team and the red team in a depressing game of pass the parcel.

But I never imagined that what would follow would be the sort of threat that faces us today. Make no mistake, there is a clear and present danger that a coalition involving BLUKIP or the SNP– party’s that want to rip apart, will hold the balance of power after May 7. If you want a stable government that will stand up for equality and diversity and won't lurch to the extremes of left or right, you have to vote for it. The era of the single party government is over, and it is only the Liberal Democrats who will add a heart to a Conservative government and a brain to a Labour one.

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

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UK

The pressure increases to make Janner stand trial

4

The political pressure has escalated on the Director of Public Prosecution, Alison Saunders. Many ministers have questioned her decision of not prosecuting former Labour MP, Lord Greville Janner (86) on sex abuse charges, due to Janner suffering from Dementia.

Alison Saunders agreed that there is sufficient evidence to charge Janner with 22 offences of paedophilia, but ruled that it was not right to do so due to his mental health.

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt expressed how he found it unusual that Lord Janner was able to sign an official letter addressed to the House of Lords authorities, received on 9th April 2015; however, he was pronounced as too unwell

by Saunders to understand a criminal trial. Hunt Stated, “We all think that there is something very, very strange here where someone was signing official letters a matter of weeks ago and is somehow escaping prosecution for something so incredibly serious.”

The Care and Support

Minister, Norman Lamb stated that prosecutors have previously failed to charge Lord Janner. The failure to do so demands that the case be “resolved by the courts”, rather than by Alison Saunders alone. He said, “My concern is that because the DPP and CPS [Crown Prosecution Services] have made errors in this case, heinous errors by failing to prosecute earlier when there was evidence there to do so, this matter should not be concluded by the DPP and should be brought to court.”

It is said that the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling is also very disappointed with the way the Director of Public Prosecution has handled the case.

After the much publicised unveiling of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Parliament Square in March, a statue project

of the Mahatma was launched in Cardiff, on 17th April 2015.

The £100,000 statue will be situated at Lloyd

Care and Support Minister, Norman Lamb

Lord Greville Janner

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Teenaged Muslim girl groomed by 12 men

Director of Public Prosecution, Alison Saunders

Furthermore, several senior politicians, included Labour's Simon Danczuk have called for Saunders to take back her decision of not prosecuting Janner.

The investigations on the serious sex crime allegations on Lord Janner were carried out by the Leicestershire police. They are considering a legal challenge to Alison Saunders' verdict that it would not be in the public interest to put him on trial due to his deteriorating health.

Four medical experts had examined Janner and agreed that it was unthinkable that he was bluffing to be ill.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said that although he

had “some sympathy” with the Director of Public Prosecution, he found it “disgraceful” that Janner was not being tried when the authorities have ample evidence to bring serious charges. He further stated, “It may be that there is a way forward.

It may be that Alison Saunders can think of some approach that would allow the facts of the case to be tested in some legal way without, as it were, putting Lord Janner on trial.”

Although there are serious allegations and evidence against Lord Janner, his family have expressed in a statement that he “is entirely innocent of any wrongdoing”.

George Avenue in Cardiff. It will be used as a central point for an annual event which will mark the International Day of Non-Violence, which is on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary (2nd October).

Chairwoman of the Hindu Council of Wales, Vimla Patel expressed, “By establishing a statue in Cardiff, the Hindu Council of Wales aims to commemorate the life, works and messages of Gandhi, especially his contribution to the advancement of human rights, citizenship, the promotion of racial harmony, equality and diversity.”

She continued, “The statue will help us raise awareness in Wales about Gandhi's teachings for generations to come.”

The launch took place at the Sanatan Dharma Mandal and Hindu Community Centre, Cardiff.

Dr Palaniappan Rajmohan is to face a public hearing as he admitted that an abortion he was offering was identical to “female infanticide”. The hearing could result in him being removed from the medical register.

Photograph from the recording of when Dr Dr Rajmohan was Palaniappan Rajmohan was consulting for exposed of offering to an abortion Dr Prabha Sivaraman's arrange an abortion at case has been dropped the Calthorpe clinic in termination.”

Edgbaston, Birmingham, on the sex of the unborn The regulatory body for a woman who wanted child. begun inquiries into both to go through with the Dr Rajmohan and Dr doctors after an termination of her Sivaraman were banned investigation into sex pregnancy as the baby from authorising or selection abortion was was a girl. carrying out abortions for carried out by the However, the General the past three years while Telegraph. There were Medical Council (GMC) the GMC reviewed their undercover reporters who have cancelled further cases. The ban can only had accompanied investigation against Dr be lifted by the GMC's pregnant women to nine Prabha Sivaraman, who Interim Orders panel, clinics in different parts of was recorded telling a which was issued to them the UK. It was in these woman, “I don't ask in 2012, even though two cases that they found questions. If you want a Sivaraman's case has been the termination of the termination, you want a forgone. pregnancies were based

Gandhi statue project launched in Cardiff

The DrIvIng Force To your DIvorce!

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Twelve men have been put on trial after being accused of they were accused of multiple sex offences against a muslim girl, aged 13.

The accused are all from Leeds and are aged between 20 and 41.

They have been accused of rape and sexual activity with a child.

The prosecutor, Michelle Colbourne, QC, informed Leeds Crown Court that each of the accused were aware that the girl was under the age of consent. The court was told that after the victim met one of the accused abusers, Ali Zaman (24), she received many text messages, Facebook messages and phone

calls asking her to perform sexual acts on men.

Michelle Colbourne further told the court that the teenage girl “thought she was in control of the situation but she was clearly not”.

Ali Zaman was not present at the start of the trail. However, he will be appearing with Zafar Iqbal (41), Farahk Younis (23), Abid Younis (35), Arshid Younis (30), Asif Khan (20), Shazabe Hussain (20), Tariq Islam (31), Junaid Rashid (22), Nasir Sultan (24), Awais Butt (22), and Zehn Mahmood (20) as the trial continues.

Doctor to face hearing for "Female Infanticide"

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

5

6

Asians remarkably flourish in the Rich List 2015 THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2015

RICHEST ASIANS IN 2015

Reshma Trilochun

The Sunday Times recently released their Rich List 2015. The list comprises of outstanding and distinguished achievers from different fields.

The combined wealth of the 1,000 wealthiest people equals to £547bn.

This has significantly double from the 2009 figures of £258bn, at a time when substantial capital were affected by the financial crux.

Back in 2009, one who had the wealth of £55m would be included on the list, whereas from what we could interpret from the 2015 rich list is that you need to have the wealth of at least £100m to even be considered.

While some listed have inherited the wealth from their families, you cannot deny the fact that most of the named people reached to this stage through their hard work, talent, enterprising skills as well as risk-taking abilities.

It is remarkable, as well as astonishing that there are 54 Asians named in the rich list.

Plus, many of the names in the rich list are of immigrants who set base in the United Kingdom.

Many ministers have been pledging to control immigration and who can enter the country. This may become detrimental for Britain and its economic state. Many “foreigners” have invested in Britain by creating affluential businesses and with this form of hostility from the

Rank 2015

(2) (5) (7) (34) (41) (47) (52) (92) (93) (118) (122) (128) (180) (183) (206) (217) (217) (239) (239) (239) (252) (285) (287) (307) (340) (355) (357) (380) (391) (436) (450) (455) (466) (466) (579) (579) (637) (637) (637) (679) (688) (688) (707) (723) (729) (729) (729) (754) (831) (831) (901) (901) (935) (968)

government, such investors would choose to invest elsewhere, ultimately making Britain poorer, both economically and culturally.

Sri and Gopi Hinduja have again topped the list as the wealthiest Asians, with a fortune of £13bn.

They ranked second in the 1,000 wealthiest people in Britain.

Varsha Engineer is the wealthiest Asian woman, with worth of £1.1bn. She was also named as the richest Asian couple with her husband, Navin Engineer.

Meeta Patel, Baljinder Boparan, Meena Pathak and Tani Dhamija were also named in the wealthiest women category.

Ashish Thakkar along with Gautam Thapar and family were the newcomers in this year's rich list, both worth £500m.

In the field of music, Zayn Malik was the sole Asian name in the wealthiest young musicians. He was ranked second with the fortune of £25m, which is an increment by £11m.

Lord Verjee was ranked 12th as the top politician donor, having donated £564,150.

Dilip Shanghvi came in the top 50 and top 100 at number 34. His fortune is of £15.2bn.

THE RICHEST ASIAN HUSBANDS & WIVES Rank Name (9) (33) (36) (54)

Navin and Varsha Engineer Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan Kirit and Meena Pathak Dinesh and Tani Dhamija

Wealth

£1.1bn £160m £150m £100m

THE TOP POLITICAL ASIAN DONORS

Rank Name (12) (17)

Political Party

Donation

Lord Verjee Liberal Democrat £564,150 Subaskaran Allirajah Conservative £401,270

NEWCOMERS IN THIS YEAR'S RICH LIST Rank Name (16) (16)

Ashish Thakkar Gautam Thapar and Family

Rank 2015 (15)

Wealth

£500m £500m

WEALTHIEST ASIAN WOMEN

Name

Varsha Engineer

RankName

Worth

£1.1bn

Rise/Fall/Same ^£290m

(13)

Pharmaceuticals

50 RICHEST ASIANS IN THE WORLD

(34) Dilip Shanghvi

(38) Mukesh & Anil Ambani (49) Sri and Gopi Hinduja

Country

Wealth

Sector

India

£14.9bn

Petrochemicals

India UK

£15.2bn £13bn

Name

Worth

Sri and Gopi Hinduja David & Simon Reuben Lakshmi Mittal and Family Sri Prakash Lohia Sir Anwar Pervez and Family Lord Paul and Family Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora Anil Agarwal Navin and Varsha Engineer Zameer Choudrey and Family Jasminder Singh and Family Raj Matharu and Family The Jatania Brothers Bhikhu and Vijay Patel Tom Singh and Family Gautam Thapar and Family Ashish Thakkar Abdul Bhatti and Family Adalat and Arshad Chaudhary Younus Sheikh and Family Amit and Meeta Patel Kishore Lulla and Family Fakhruddin Suterwalla and Family Kuljinder Bahia and Family Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia Firoz Kassam Lord and Apurv Bagri Bhupendra Kansagra Vikrant Bhargava Lord Alli Moni Varma Mahmud Kamani and Family Iqbal Ahmed and Family Richie Nanda Nick Dhandsa and Family Rashid and Aziz Tayub Mohsin and Zuber Issa Kirit and Meena Pathak Raj Sehgal and Sanjeev Mehan Ajay Kalsi and Family Shiraz Tejani and Family Nandlal and Deep Valecha Anwar and Yakub Patel Nitin Passi Pradip and Manish Dhamecha Sir Anish Kapoor Koolesh Shah and Family Lord Verjee Tarsem Dhaliwal Mayank Patel Anil Aggarwal Kirit Patel and Family Satinder Gulhati Dinesh and Tani Dhamija

Subaskaran Allirajah

Source of Wealth

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

£13bn £9.7bn £9.2bn £2.84bn £2.245bn £2.2bn £1.175bn £1.106bn £1.1bn £975m £910m £850m £620m £610m £530m £500m £500m £460m £460m £460m £435m £356m £350m £336m £300m £285m £280m £260m £250m £220m £215m £211m £205m £205m £170m £170m £150m £150m £150m £145m £140m £140m £135m £133m £130m £130m £130m £125m £115m £115m £105m £105m £102m £100m

Vehicles/trading/investment

s£1.1bn s700m t£1.05bn s£730m s£1.13bn s£200m s£350m t£594m s£290m s450m s£70m s£282m s£20m s£85m s£100m

New entry s£210m s£210m s£210m s£75m s£196m s£38m s£35m s£30m s£40m

t£89m s£20m s£10m s£10m t£40m s£50m s£5m t£855m s£26m New entry s£12m New entry s£10m t£154m s£15m s£2m

Source of wealth

Industry and Finance Property, Internet Steel Textiles and Plastics Cash and Carry Industry Discount Stores Mining, Oil and Gas Pharmaceuticals Cash and Carry Hotels Property and Hotels Toiletries Pharmaceuticals Fashion and Retailing New entry Industry Investment Cash and Carry Cash and Carry Cash and Carry Pharmaceuticals Media Food Travel Car Parts Hotels and Property Metals Industry and Aviation Gambling Media Food Internet Retailing Food Security Care homes Property and Discount Stores Fuel Distribution Food Fashion Gas Paper Products Gas Services Pharmacies Internet Retailing, Fashion Property, Cash and Carry Arts Hotels Finance and Retailing Frozen Food Foreign Exchange Business Services Pharmacies Hotels Travel

The Sunday Times Giving List

£160m (worth)

RankName (7) Sri and Gopi Hinduja (11) Sri Prakash Lohia (22) Zameer Choudrey & Family

Pharmaceuticals

Rise(s)/Fall( ) /Same( )

£14.8m

(donations) Overseas, Humanitarian

The Biggest Risers Country £13bn £2.84bn £975m

Wealth ^£1.1bn ^£730m £450m

The Biggest Fallers

Sector 9% (%rise) -1 35% 11 86% 72

RankName Country Wealth Sector 3) Lakshmi Mittal and Family £9.2bn v£1.05bn 10% (%fall) (4) Ajay Kalsi and Family £145m v£855m 86% (7) Anil Agarwal £1.106bn £594m 35/5

-4 -581 -43

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2015

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Rank 2015

Dilip Shanghvi

(8)

Sri and Gopi Hinduja

Ashish Thakkar

(18)

Lakshmi Mittal

Lord Verjee

Subaskaran Allirajah

Gautam Thapar

Zayn Malik

(4) (15) (50) (72) (101)

(9) (25) (27) (43) (4) (28) (30) (36) (39) (39) (46) (49) (13) (20) (33) Rank 2015

Kirit and Meena Pathak

Rank 2015

(2) (7) (29) (35) (68) (82) (83) (88) (111) (131) (141) (141) (141) (151) (170) (172) (178) (196) (205) (218) (223) (235) (305) (315) (340) (343) (357) (357) (357) (367) (397) (412) (425) (431)

Name

Navin and Varsha Engineer

Richest in Greater London

Sri & Gopi Hinduja Lakshmi Mittal & Family Prakash Lohia Sir Anwar Parvez & Family Anil Agarwal Zameer Choudrey & Family Jasminder Singh & Family Raj Matharu & Family The Jatania Brothers Gautam Thapar & Family Abdul Bhatti & Family Adalat & Arshad Chaudhary Younus Sheikh Amit and Meeta Patel Kishore Lulla and Family Fakhruddin Suterwalla & Family Kuljinder Bahia & Family Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia Firoz Kassam Bhupendra Kansagra & Family Vikrant Bhargava Ratheesan Yoganathan Nick Dhandsa & Family Subaskaran Allirajah Ajay Kalsi & Family Nandlal & Deep Valecha Pradip Dhamecha Sir Anish Kapoor Koolesh Shah & Family Lord Verjee Mayank Patel Kirit Patel & Family Satinder Gulhati & Family Dinesh & Tani Dhamija

Worth

£13,000m £9,200m £2,840m £2,440m £1,106m £975m £910m £850m £620m £500m £460m £460m £460m £435m £356m £350m £336m £300m £285m £260m £250m £230m £170m £160m £145m £140m £130m £130m £130m £125m £115m £105m £102m £100m

Rise(s)/Fall(t) /Same( ) s£1,100m t£1,050m s£730m s£1,130m t£594m s£450m s£70m s£282m s£20m New entry s£210m s210m s£210m s£75m s£196m s£38m s£35m s£40m s£110m s£10m t£20m t£855m s£26m s£12m New entry s£10m s£15m s£2m

Source of wealth

Industry, Finance Steel Textiles, Plastics Cash and Carry Mining, Oil, Gas Cash and Carry Hotels Property, Hotels Toiletries Industry Cash and Carry Cash and Carry Cash and Carry Pharmaceuticals Media Food Travel Car Parts Hotels, Property Industry, Aviation Gambling Telecoms Care Homes Telecoms Gas Gas Services Property, Cash and Carry Art Hotels Finance, Retailing Foreign Exchange Pharmacies Hotels Travel

(16) (16) (27) (36) (38) (77) (34) (38) (49) (59) (68) (87) (89) Rank 2015 (15) (35) (75) (81) (112) (2) (12) (23) (28) (55) (56) (58) (62) (77) (161) (166) (183) (190) (16) (16)

Name

Worth

Rise(s)/Fall(t ) /Same( )

Source of wealth

7

Richest in Southeast Navin & Varsha Engineer £1,100m s£290m Pharmaceuticals Bhikhu & Vijay Patel £610m s£85m Pharmaceuticals Moni Varma £215m Food Vipul Thakrar & Family £180m Food Manish Dhamecha £130m Property, Cash and Carry Richest in Southwest Tom Singh & Family £530m s£100m Fashion, retailing Wealthiest in West Midlands Ranjit & Baljinder Boparan £160m New entry Food Wealthiest in East Midlands Ashish Thakkar £500m New entry Investment Rashid & Aziz Tayub & Family £170m v£40m Property, Discount Store Shiraz Tejani & Family £140m Paper Products Anil Aggarwal £105m v£154m Business Services Richest in Northwest Simon, Bobby & Robin Arora £1,750m s£350m Discount Stores Mahmud Kamani £211m v£89m Retailing, Internet Retailing Iqbal Ahmed £205m s£20m Food Sanjay Vadera & Family £175m s£51m Perfume Mohsin & Zuber Issa £150m s£50m Fuel Distribution Kirit & Meena Pathak £150m s£5m Food Anwar & Yakub Patel £135m Pharmacies Nitin Passi £133m New entry Internet Retailing, Fashion Richest in Northeast Raj Sehgal & Sanjeev Mehan £150m Fashion 100 Richest in Europe Sri & Gopi Hinduja UK Vehicles, Trading, Investment £13bn Lakshmi Mittal UK Steel £9.2bn Name

Worth

Source of wealth

Newcomers in Richest 1,000 Ashish Thakkar £500m Investment Gautam Thapar and Family £500m Industry Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan £160m Food Nitin Passi £133m Internet Retailing, Fashion Lord Verjee £125m Finance, Retailing Joe Hemani £102m Computers The 100 Richest in the World Dilip Shanghvi India Pharmaceuticals Mukesh and Anil Ambani India Petrochemicals Sri and Gopi Hinduja UK Vehicles, Trading, Investment Azim Premji India Software, Finance Pallonji Mistry India Construction Shiv Nadar India Information Technology Lakshmi Mittal UK Steel Name

Worth

Rise(s)/Fall(t ) /Same( )

£12.0bn £10.9bn £9.3bn £9.2bn

Source of wealth

Wealthiest Women £1.1bn s£290m £435m s£75m £160m New entry £150m s£5m £100m Wealthiest Young Musicians Zayn Malik £25m s£11m The Top Political Donors Lord Verjee Lib Dem £564,150 Lakshmi Mittal & Family Labour £1,000,000 Subaskaran Allirajah Conservative £827,562 Lord Alli Labour £365,001 Sir Anwar Pervez Conservative £361,450 Lord Noon Labour £349,500 Dinesh Dhamija Lib Dem/Conservative £312,495 Raminder Ranger Conservative £248, 576 Anish Kapoor Labour £35,000 Iqbal Ahmed Conservative/Labour £28,500 Mohsin and Zuber Issa Conservative £10,000 Firoz Kassam Conservative £8,000 Newcomers in This Year's Rich List Ashish Thakkar £500m Gautam Thapar & Family £500m Varsha Engineer Meeta Patel Baljinder Boparan Meena Pathak Tani Dhamija

£15.2bn £14.9 bn

Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceuticals Food Food Travel Music

8

YOUR VOICE

Direct UK-Gujarat flights must firmly come onto bi-lateral agenda

The campaign for directs flights between the UK and Gujarat has been a long one.

Many many thousands of people have petitioned and lobbied to make this legitimate demand a reality.

I too have been involved since the inception of the campaign in writing position papers, speaking with various Indian officials and politicians.

I was also entrusted to hand over a bulky petition (perhaps the largest since our campaign to save the Hare Krishna Temple in Watford) on behalf of the British Gujarati community to the then chief minister Narendra Modi. I did so along with my friend, actor and now MP for Ahmedabad, Paresh Raval.

This was the culmination of a huge campaign led by Gujarat Samachar/Asian Voice and the refreshingly invigorated National Congress of Gujarati Organisations.

This is and has always has been an apolitical campaign. With politicians from all parties pledging support and the government of the day in New Delhi maintaining either a studied silence or replying that the matter is “in consideration”.

The huge social arguments for direct flights are clear. The business case though anecdotally very plausible, is something that I have been told does not stack up. I am skeptical given the huge business interest in Gujarat. But in any case, as national (and nationalised) carrier, it is incumbent upon Air India to take factors beyond business into consideration, much in the same way that the Royal Mail has a responsibility to deliver to even the most remotest parts of the UK. However there is a wider political play within the aviation industry here, which I fear the Campaign is a victim of.

And that is the politics played between airlines (and also governments) on premium landing slots, especially at the world’s busiest airport, Heathrow.

Cannot governments step in and resolve such issues? Well this is where precisely in my view the campaign’s agenda needs to move. Immediately after the UK general election, I would urge the Campaign leaders to write jointly to the newly elected UK prime minister and prime minister Modi to put this issue on the bilateral agenda. This issue is not in my view an Indian issue, or a UK issue – it’s an issue for both governments. And both country ultimately stand to benefit.

Manoj Ladwa, CEO, India Inc

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Minister laughs off direct flights

Civil aviation Minister, Ashok Gajapati Raju’s mockery of question about Ahmedabad-London direct flight indicates that proposal is unworthy of consideration; can be swept away as rubbish.

Gujart Samachar/ Asian Voice’s humanitarian pleadings-e.g. inconvenience to sick/ aged peoples, pregnant ladies, infants etc have fallen on inhumanly deaf ears. Amazingly our Gujju in driving seat, Modi ji, has issued no statement to assure commuters, or to activate relevant ministry.

In incurably corrupt India, money is the only language that is heard. There are two ways to demonstrate adequate number of passengers therefore, guaranteed cash flow to the ministry and thus to government of India.

Prospective commuters to and from Ahmedabad-London must form a club with members’ solid commitment to fly to and fro; membership paid in advance in full. Ministry can be convinced about committed members and more importantly- cash flow. It should be asked to resume flight within a year or request by the club or the club may be dissolved with all contributions refunded.

Charter foreign airline’s planes with promise to continue for minimum number of years. This will open eyes of money hungry-greedy Ministry. Shamefully all our Gujju tycoons, lords, politicians, in India and U.K. are helpless about this issue.

Ramesh Jhalla By email

As I See It

Asian Voice in UK for only £28.50 for one year

Possible consequence of Tory election strategy

According to the British press the Tory Party election campaign has not been going as smoothly and effectively as is expected of this party. Initially the main thrust of the strategy was to make personal attack on Mr. Ed Miliband, the Labour Party leader. It seemed the UK population did not like such a negative campaign. The strategy then shifted to bribing voters with ‘right to buy’ and ‘discount on shares of Lloyds bank’ both at tax payers cost.

The latest Tory slogan is ‘English votes for English laws’. It is the most illjudged and dangerous policy. To most intellectuals it is a strategy that arouses ‘English nationalism’ against ‘Scottish nationalism’. It is obvious the Tories are going to win only a few seats, if any, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In desperation they have adopted this strategy. Even if it works it is most likely to be the direct cause of ultimate separation of Scotland from the rest of the UK. The campaign of Ms Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, is designed to make it difficult for the Labour Party to win overall majority in the Parliament by insisting that she will exert the maximum possible influence and exact as much concession as possible from Miliband. If the Tories come to power with such a strategy it is most likely Ms Sturgeon will try to get mandate for the next referendum through SNP Manifesto in the election of Scottish Parliament next year.

Jatindra Saha By email

Editorial comments, As I See It, Kapil’s Khichadi, Alpesh’s input and “Your Voice” column makes AV stand shoulder high among ethnic publications. It is not uncommon for us to disagree occasionally resulting in lively, intellectual exchanges befitting our rich cultural heritage.

Most Indians were staunch Labour supporters until a decade ago when the younger generation became politically active, questioning our blind loyalty to Labour who treated us as chattels. East African Asians are entrepreneurs, we had to be self-reliant, in education, health and retirement.

These qualities served us well when we were forced to abandon our carefree life. Some of us had to rush to Britain in 1968 when Labour government under patriarch Jim Callaghan restricted rights of British passport holders. It was conceived to be racist legislation aimed against British Asians who wanted to come here during decolonization uncertainty.

With arrival of reformist Tony Blair on political scene, we soon forgot the past, became loyal Blairites until his involvement in Iraq war. Nihilistic, fiduciary Ed with nexus vote bank, further alienated Indian community with his pseudo obsession with “Caste” legislation, with Labour’s construed anti BJP/Modi rheto-

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ASIAN VOICE

ric. Modi, who travelled the world since becoming PM, has yet to visit Britain. If Labour’s anti Modi/India wing gains upper-hand, this long awaited visit may never materialize, thus Britain missing out on trade deals to Germany. Vote for right candidate, irrespective of party affiliation.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi By email

EU referendum cake The Tories may not be able to have the EU referendum cake and eat it.

Referendum on fundamental matters are imperfect democratic instruments, because public opinion may swing, in a moment of volatility, and sometimes for unconnected reasons, toward irrevocable decisions that few will be glad were taken.

The probability is that the vote will be to stay in. If this gamble should fail, the damage to Britain, to Europe and to the wider Western alliance could be very great. British exit will be followed by a renewed push for independence by Scotland.

The Tories intervention in Libya has left that country devastated. Mr Cameron was also voted down on his proposals for

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New airport terminal

I wrote recently the following letter to Mr R K Srivastava, Chairman of the Airports Authority of India, copied to the Minister of Civil Aviation, and Chair of Celebi Nas Airport Services India Ltd, who operates the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

M D Master By email Dear Mr Srivastava I write to you as your Department have responsibilities of all commercial airports in India. I am writing on behalf of my mother, 81 years of age and disabled. She goes to India annually to get away from the cold winters of UK. Her recent trip was on 25th January 2015 and returning on 31st March.

Upon spending billions of Indian taxpayer’s money on its construction, she was very impressed with the new terminal. It looked very grandiose and clean, which she hopes you are fully committed to keep it as such.

However, she was very shocked to note the lack of, and inferior facilities catered for the disabled, especially the provision of wheelchairs. Those that were available were very uncomfortable to sit on and some uncontrollable, which in the UK would fail its Health and Safety inspection. Surely, after spending billions on the building you could have at least managed to find a few thousand on the provision of the decent wheelchairs.

Another point which really irked her and found it shocking was the behaviour of porters employed at the airport. Due to strict security and current climate, I presume they are all in legal employment with either yours or the airport’s, ‘Terms and Conditions’ and are presumably paid a decent living wage/salary. Then, why, do they try to fleece passengers once they have completed their task, and demand “Chai/Pani”. Surely, this demand is in breach of their contract, and causes distress, especially to the elderly and infirm. air strikes against Syria. The growth of extremism in the Middle East, worsening relations with Russia, difficulties with China show that the world has become intolerably complicated and costly.

US has repeatedly warned UK against leaving EU. France and UK are currently working on joint defence projects that could be put in jeopardy. UK would be pleading foreign firms to stay here.

Even though EU consists of 28 countries with 500 million population. 75% of this population is in only 7 countries. If we leave the EU, a tariff will introduced.

The remaining 6 rich countries could increase their import/export trade between themselves and leave UK in the cold.

Nagindas Khajuria By email

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

University diversity officer refused white people and men to attend anti-racism meet

Bahar Mustafa, the welfare and diversity officer at Goldsmiths Students' Union was employed to promote diversity at the university. However, it has been reported that she has asked white people and men not to come to an anti-racism protest meeting.

On Facebook, Bahar Mustafa had written, “If you've been invited and you're a man and/or white PLEASE DON'T COME just cos [because] I invited a bunch of people and hope you will be responsible enough to respect this is a BME

made it very difficult for white males on campus who feel like they can’t say anything for fear of retribution. The irony that she (or they) think that they are diversifying the student community in the name of feminism and multiculturalism is laughable.”

A spokeswoman for Goldsmith Bahar Mustafa University expressed, “The Students' Union is an independent comments, calling them body run by elected “patronising” and student officials and we “laughable”. have no involvement in A Student Union their decision making or Society President stated, their programme of events that they offer. We have no involvement in the appointment of the student representatives.

We are proud of our diverse community and do not tolerate any form of oppression, including racism, sexism or any form of bigotry.”

Facebook post: Bahar Mustafa told white people and men not to The attend the event spokeswoman further revealed that, Women and non-binary "For Bahar [Mustafa] to “We have written to the event only." have the nerve to write Students' Union... to Students have this is patronising express our concern.” slammed Mustafa's beyond belief. She has

EDUCATION/COUNCIL VOICE

9

Education Secretary wants minority languages to remain on the syllabus Following the coalition's overhaul of the exam system, the OCR exam board will be dropping GCSEs and A-levels in Turkish, Portuguese, Persian, Gujarati and Dutch, while AQA are to end A-levels in Polish, Punjabi, Modern Hebrew and Bengali.

There have been a campaign against examination boards withdrawing these languages as exam subjects in England.

Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan has also written a letter to the boards telling them to take back their decision. Moreover, a petition to keep Polish A-level has more than 14,000 signatures. In her letter, Morgan said that there have been many people from ethnic minority communities who have approached her, expressing their fears about these languages being axed from the syllabus. She also said that these students will not get the opportunity to study their “mother tongue” and “therefore calling on you to work with the regulator to secure the future of these qualifications and

Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan

reverse your decision to cancel them.”

Nicky Morgan also believes that a future Conservative government would "guarantee the future"of these languages at GCSE and A-Level stages. She also said that the future Conservative government would launch an “immediate consultation" on "how best to secure the future of these qualifications."

On the other hand, Labour's Shadow Education Secretary, Tristram Hunt believes that Nicky Morgan's comments regarding a future Conservative government saving foreign languages is a ploy by the

Labour's Shadow Education Secretary, Tristram Hunt

Conservatives. He states, "This is a desperate attempt by the flailing Tory campaign to undo the damage that has been caused by David Cameron's chaotic exam changes. The public will be right to be deeply sceptical of any attempt by the Tories - at this late stage - to ditch their own policy, when they have time and again refused to change course.”

Hunt further said, "The Tories will be judged on their damaging education record. Labour has been clear from day one: we will save these important language qualifications."

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10

MEDIA WATCH

There was much turbulence in Delhi, not one determined by Nature but by farmers exercised by the Government’s Land Acquisition Bill and political parties and opposition groups seeking traction in Parliament to turn the situation to their advantage. The Lok Sabha Speaker made as a forlorn appeal to MPs not to politicize the issue, but this fell on deaf ears as the ruckus continued and suspensions of business interrupted proceedings. Regrettable yet inevitable remembering the BJP’s conduct during the second Congress-led UPA government (2004-2009) which reduced the House to a bazaar, preventing the proper procedures of parliamentary business delaying the passing of bills, many of which the present government wants passed.

The Indo-US civilian nuclear accord was opposed to tooth and nail by the BJP and the Communist parties, with the present BJP dispensation now turned its fervent supporter.

Sadly, this has become playback time. As you sow, so shall you reap. Political opportunism will always remain part of the game, but carried to extremes it muddies public life, making reasoned discourse well nigh impossible.

Land acquisition is vital for the future growth of Indian industry, as the late sainted Lee Kwan Yew, prime minister and architect of Singapore’s remarkable rise, accepted and piloted through the necessary legislation to make it a ground reality.

India, Singapore

However, Singapore in an island nation, while India has a teeming population of a subcontinent. The pains of labour in industrialization in most large countries, and even relatively small ones, such as Britain, are often acute, with farming communities undermined and rural life turned on its head as displaced populations are forced to relocate and seek a rewarding livelihood. The suicide of a farmer at a public meeting in Delhi has sent shock waves across the country. The issue requires understanding and considerable patience. Which is where the Narendra Modi government is set to face its sternest test. The Prime Minister’s political skills will have to come into play if the problems of the farmers are to be properly addressed.

Opposition leaders have a role to play in the wider conversation.

Religious unrest

saying it expected the central government to reward it for doing so. It turned out that the guilty party was a Muslim youth, Haider Ali by name, whose action, as he confessed to the police, was driven by the unrequited love for a Christian girl.

Haider told the police that the girl lit a candle every evening at the St Mary’s Church, he had vandalized. He said he had done so in a fit of anger. Haider was arrested within 24 hours of the crime (Times of India, Hindu April 24, 25)

Fringe needs reining in

Hopefully the news will have a calming influence on a fraught situation. What the BJP leadership has to consider is why such fringe elements such as the Hindu Mahasabha and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are permitted free rein to make hate statements. The authors of hate literature in the UK, France and Germany, for example, are liable to be prosecuted under the law.

Why not in India? In the aftermath of an attack on a Christian school in the West Bengal town of Ranaghat, during which an elderly nun was raped, a statement put out by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad [front page Times of India report]said such acts were part of the Christian tradition but abhorrent to Hinduism, surely an odious and irresponsible thing to say. The perpetrators of the Ranaghat robbery and rape turned out to be illegal Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants, two of whom were arrested, one in Mumbai, the other in Punjab, where they had taken refuge.

India is Ericsson’s second market

The land agitation was compounded by a sudden spurt of religious unrest in Agra, where a Christian church was vandalized. Individual Christians and Christian groups in the city, strongly supported by the representetives of Sikh gurdwaras, held a peaceful demonstration, while Christian educational institutions and a hospital were closed for the day in protest (Hindu April 23)

India is Ericsson’s secondlargest global market, having posted a 108 per cent sales in

The widespread presumption of guilt for the outrage belonged to a fringe group calling itself Hindu Mahasabha was understandable since it had initially claimed responsibility for the act,and promised to undertake further acts of a similar nature,

Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

across Asia,” said Hans Vestberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson of the mobile telecom provider.

India has more than 950 million mobile subscribers, while the numbers of data subscribers are also rising substantially. The number of employees at Ericsson worldwide is increasing, but its largest share is in India, thanks to a large new country-wide managed services contract (Business Line April 23)

India’s growth spurs Scania

Swedish bus and commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania is playing it big in India, having opened a bus producing plant in Bangalore. Martin Lundstedt, Scania CEO, told reporters that the company was planning ahead for the production of 5,000 trucks and 2,500 buses for the Indian market by 2020. He explained: “Our facility in Bangaluru will be the hub of for a host of other countries and I would think that Africa, the Middle East and ASEAN would be critical to us from India.

“Nearly 97 per cent of our sales are already beyond Sweden and Bangaluru is our first major Asian investment as a full hub.”

(Business Line April 24)

Tata’s Nano makeover

In a bid to augment sales of Nano, the world’s smallest car, and billed initially, as its cheapest was a tag that didn’t go down well with would-be customers, Tata now proposes an exchange of old model for the new automatic version that is ready to debut. The deal will entail the best price Tata will offer the old model and then upgrade it with automatic manual transmission.

This, it is hoped, will increase sales from the current moderate figure 1,200 units per month to something more substantial (Business Line April 24)

gy. It is equipped with the Israeli Multi Function Surveillance Threat Alert Radar which will provide targeting information to 32 Barack 8 long-range surfaceto-air missiles – which has codeveloped with Israel - onboard the warships.

BrahMos anti-ship cruise missile

Celebrating new arrival

Jonty Rhodes, fielding coach to the IPL Mumbai Indians, took time off from his duties to be with his partner Melanie Jeanne at Mumbai hospital, where she

Visakhapatnam-class destroyers are to be equipped with the 2.8 mach supersonic anti-ship missile which has jointly developed with Russia. Central to these particular destroyers is network-centric layout which is equipped with a Ship Data Network, an Automatic Power Management ASystem and a Combat Management System.

Essentially all information critical for the operation of the warship during all operations warship during all operations is awaible to key Jonty Rhodes and wife Melanie Jeanne with their baby India officers through the entire network which the Navy describes as a data gave birth to a bay girl, who was information highway. Around named India Jeanne Jonty v$464 million is earmarked for Rhodes. “The couple are overthe Project 15B. The Indian whelmed and thrilled about the Navy has little to fear in the new addition to the family,” said neighbourhood and its surDr Bhupendra Avasthi of Surya rounds The (National Interest.

Mother and Child Care hospital.

Washington, Hindu April 17, 21) (Times of India April 24)

Security pact with South Africa

India and South Africa are gearing up to sign an important defence and security agreement on the strategic Indian Ocean during the forthcoming visit to the Republic by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Swaraj is due to hold talks with

State-of-the-art destroyer

India launched its latest state-ofthe-art naval destroyer in Mumbai on April 19. It belongs to the Indian Navy’s first of a new class of Visakhapatnam “super advanced stealth destroyers the country is building as part of Project 15B, a follow-up to the Kolkata-class guided missile destroyers. At 7,300 tonnes, INS Visakhapatnam is India’s largest destroyer containing over 70 per cent indigenous technolo-

That will be a key part of the talks.” Trade and investment issues will also be discussed.

(Telegraph April 24)

Two notable figures depart

Richie Benaud, one of Australia’s greatest cricketers and Test captains, and a peerless television broadcaster, died at his home in Sydney, aged 84.

Richie Benaud

Sushma Swaraj

her South African counterpart Maite-Nkoana Mashabane, said South Africa’s Ambassador to India, F.K. Morule. “The Indian Ocean is strategically very important,” he said. “And we expect to strengthen our defence and security cooperation with …

Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri paid fulsome tributes to his skills behind the camera and how much they owed to his presence. In the different field of Modern Indian History, the name of Sir Chris Bayley, the luminous Cambridge academic, who died, aged 70, at Chicago, will surely resonate with future generations, as did with ours, for his outstanding intellect and path breaking research in areas hidden from public view.

Guilty man held

the last quarter ending March 31. “India has become the number two, an astonishing development for the [Swedish] company, while there was growth all

INS Visakhapatnam, See comment page 3 for China-Pakistan Axis

Space scientist U.R. Rao with launch of Aryabhata satellite, April 1975.

See comment page 3

11

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

A better plan, a better future for all the communities of Britain

Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party

A PLAN FOR THE ECONOMY :H ZLOO EDODQFH WKH ERRNV DQG FXW WKH GHȴFLW HYHU\ year whilst securing the future of the NHS. None of our manifesto commitments require extra borrowing. We will give 24 million working people a tax cut. We will cut and then freeze business rates for small business properties.

A PLAN FOR THE NHS We will build an NHS with the time to care: 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more GPs. We will join up services from home to hospital, and guarantee GP appointments within 48 hours and cancer tests within one week.

A PLAN FOR THE NEXT GENERATION We will reduce tuition fees to £6,000, guarantee an apprenticeship for every school leaver who gets the basic grades, and ensure smaller class sizes for 5,6 and 7-year olds. We will deliver the biggest housebuilding programme IRU D JHQHUDWLRQ ZLWK SULRULW\ IRU ȴUVW WLPH EX\HUV DQG WKHLU stamp duty cut to zero. We will deliver secure, three-year UHQWV FDSSHG E\ LQȵDWLRQ

Thursday 7 May Promoted by Iain McNicol, General Secretary, the Labour Party, on behalf of the Labour Party, both at One Brewer’s Green, London SW1H 0RH.

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GE 2015

Certainty amidst uncertainties

Democracy can not exist without free and fare elections. The General Election on Thursday 7th May are going to bring historic results and perhaps unprecedented realignment of political parties and their philosophies.

It is natural that there can not be a political party or community that is totally homogenous. With all the commonalities there are certain individual attitudes and expectations.

In the 2015 General Election the main seven parties Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green, SNP, UKIP and Clwyd Cymru have their own separate agendas and, at the same time, they all claim to be in the service of the Nation.

Politicians run their campaigns but behind them are the strategists, academics and so many other specialists with their own theories and priorities. When, say an Australian becomes the main strategist for a main political party, it is inevitable that his recipe may not tune in with the common sense and wisdom of a British common person. No wonder David Cameron was criticised by his own supporters that their campaign lacked a resolve and gusto. He was asked to bring back the box, the soap box. On Monday David Cameron stood up on a soap box and was ‘pumped up’ in his own words to make a clariant call for his supporters to win the war.

His deputy for five years Nick Clegg laughed off Cameron's act as ‘futile dramatics’.

As I write this on Tuesday, all the polls and expert opinions are going their different ways. The Daily Telegraph, a well known Conservative supporter, declared on Monday that the Labour Party was ahead of the Conservatives by 3%. On Tuesday the same paper gave a lead of some 4 or 5 % to the Conservative party. Surprising? Soap box effect? ‘Pumped up’ brought such a quick result? One wonders.

The Times gives both main parties almost identical percentage in their polls. In the Financial Times on Tuesday Labour was ahead by 3%. You take your pick. Either such pollsters follow the voting intentions or are encouraging voters to follow a pattern.

Democracy has one very prominent definition: “Government of the

As I See It

people, by the people and for the people”.

Most attribute this statement to former American President Abraham Lincoln. There is another very relevant quote by another US President James Madison: “A free people requires a safeguard against the destructive power of factions”. The electoral fraud and intimidation in the London Borough of

Tower Hamlets is a classic example but for the four courageous individuals a dictatorial gerrymandering could have prevailed in the most powerful position.

In the present election campaign certain issues are in the forefront: the EU, the SNP, housing, immigration and the NHS are the subjects which have generated so much hot air. A small faction of Euro sceptics managed to pressurise Prime Minister David Cameron to pledge an EU referendum. Immi gration, a much maligned word, has cost the Conservatives dearly in the past.

One lesson to learn is not to surrender to the dictates of any one faction which then becomes the power broker. In any eventuality, if the future government on Friday 8th May needs the involvement of the SNP, the sky is not going to fall on the UK. The Scottish people have for centuries played a pivotal role in the British power, influence and even ethos.

Scaremongering and appeal to one's own fears or emotions cannot be justified to alienate an entire electorate of Scotland.

In any election the party in power and the opponents make various pledges primarily to eliminate the hardship of the people on some logical bases. In the present campaign the lead party in the Coalition government has made the largest number of “offers” or sales pitches.

Recently Which?

Magazine produced a report that the giant supermarkets made £1 billion additional profit under the guise of socalled sales promotions and special discounts – maybe one day the promises and “bribes” of the parties will also be assessed correctly. What is not yet recognised is that a British commonman has a unique blend of common-sense.

Neither propaganda nor mass hysteria can produce the result as per the whim or the desire of some strategist.

Emotional appeal beyond a certain limit is an anathema to the experienced British voter.

The ethnic minorities, especially Asians, have an enormous responsibility and important role in this general election. Some parties claim to have a large number of Asian candidates. We welcome all the candidates and their entry into the election whether they win or loose but whether the particular constituency was winnable or not is also off special significance.

As it appears now there may be a slightly larger number of Asian and other ethnic minority MPs in the House of Commons. So be it! We are part of the country and we have to contribute as much as we can.

Tactical voting is being promoted in marginal constituencies.

Sometimes it may be not totally wrong or ignoble but as I said clearly last week the cast, creed or colour, cannot and shall not become the predominant factor. As a matter of fact democracy depends upon the inclusiveness rather than the factionalism or a parochial approach.

Great Britain has been a beacon for democracy all over the world and I have every confidence that in spite of the contradictory pressures and promises the electorate will crystallise in such a way that the results will make us more confident and creditworthy.

I appeal to all our readers to make every effort not only to caste their own vote of Thursday 7th May but inspire, energise and assist all other voters to vote for the party and the candidate of their choice.

Such opportunities come very seldom. Let's make our mark with both head and heart.

-

CB

Ed Miliband visits Shree Swaminarayan temple, thanks the Hindu Community

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Samiksha Pattnaik

Labour Leader Ed Miliband thanked the Hindu Community for their “incredible work” across all walks of life when he visited Shree Swaminarayan temple in Willesden on Sunday.

“Whether it is in business for the profits you create, the wealth you generate, the jobs you provide or in the charitable sector or in politics, the Hindu community plays a great role in our country and I thank you for that,” he said. He was there with his wife Justine Miliband to attend a ceremonial celebration, where he received a traditional welcome with garland and tilak.

Justine, flaunted a lovely red and blue salwar kameez, and her dress was styled by 24 year old Dhwani Thakrar from Ladlee, whose family shop is based on the famous Belgrave Road, Leicester.

Ed Miliband later joined some senior labour party members, including MP for Leicester East Keith Vaz and MP for Ealing Southall Virendra Sharma, to perform the aarti. Other Labour members present were MP for Tooting Sadiq Khan, MP for Harrow West Gareth Thomas, parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Siddiq, parliamentary candidate for Feltham and Heston Seema Malhotra, parliamentary candidate for Brent South Dawn Butler and Labour candidate for the Harrow East Uma Kumaran.

Addressing the devotees, Mr Miliband expressed his appreciation of the Hindu values of family, faith and community, adding that the strength of this religion comes from its values. He also underlined his plan of one-nation that aims to use the talent of every person in the country and “break the barriers” of discrimination.

Ed Miliband and wife Justine

"I know there is a huge challenge of making sure we have got equal representation in our country, that we look like the country we seek to serve,” he said.

"For me and the Labour Party this is a battle that is not yet won because until we look like the country we seek to serve, not simply a number of representatives but a truly representative set of representatives, then I know my work won't be completed," he added. He pledged that his labour government would be "outward looking" and

he cherishes a strong relationship with the Hindu community and on becoming the Prime Minister he would work towards further strengthening the links both at home and abroad.

Labour party’s support for the controversial Lord Harries Caste Amendment was condemned by some from the Hindu and Jain communities. Justifying it as a “cross-bench amendment”, Miliband assured that there will be proper consultation with the concerned communities before the amendment is

Virendra Sharma, Keith Vaz, Sadiq Khan, Ed Miliband with others

would be committed to work with international allies, including India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an one-to-one interview Asian Voice asked about the concern in some sections of the community who are alleging that Labour party under Miliband is “Anti-Hindu”.

To that Mr Miliband said

implemented.

“I have built up the relationship with the Hindu community over four and a half years as the leader and that is something I have valued on a number of occasions. I would be somebody who continues with this relation when I become the Prime Minister,” he told Asian Voice.

Ed Miliband and Justine with other guests

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Priti Patel MP

A promise to strengthen UK-India relations Since 2010, the Conservative Party has been working through our long-term economic plan to secure a better future for you, your family and Britain. And it's working: jobs are up, unemployment's down, the economy's growing and people are starting to see their wages go further. So the choice in May couldn't be clearer: between the party with a plan - or the economic chaos of Labour, propped up by the Scottish Nationalists, meaning more spending, more borrowing and higher taxes.

More of the same that landed us with the deepest recession in peacetime history.

So in these final days of the election campaign, as manifestos, pledges and promises come thick and fast, here's my advice: judge us by our record.

Five years ago our economy was on the brink.

Today, after five years of a Conservative-led government, things are looking up. We had the fastest growing major economy in Europe last year, BME employment has increased by over 20% and more than 200,000 good-quality apprenticeships have been started by BME people.

Under Labour, ethnic minority unemployment doubled from 2001 and 2010 - so whom you do trust to create more jobs in the next Parliament?

It's also clear that Conservatives are the true champions of SMEs: a quarter of our start-up loans have gone to entrepreneurs from ethnic minority backgrounds; we've cut corporation tax and the jobs tax to help businesses take on more staff; and we've made it easier for small businesses to get finance to grow. Our goal is to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business because that means more jobs and more people enjoying the security of a

regular pay packet.

And no-one should take any lectures from the other parties about low pay!

Especially Labour - by crashing the economy, they made everyone poorer.

Meanwhile, Conservatives have cut tax for over 26 million people and taken over 3 million out of income tax altogether. A future Conservative Government will cut tax for millions more, and scrap income tax altogether for everyone on the minimum wage working 30 hours a week.

On education, on policing, and on much more, the Conservatives have a strong track record. Under us, a million more children are being taught in good or outstanding schools, and record numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds accessing university, gaining the skills they need to get on in today's increasingly competitive world. It was a Labour government that saw Britain plummet in the international league tables.

And, if elected in May, Labour will scrap our Free Schools programme that has given communities the opportunity to open schools serving Hindu, Sikh and other faiths.

Under a Conservative Home Secretary, the use of stop and search powers under has fallen by a third from its peak under Labour in 2008/9. If the stats don't improve, we'll legislate to mandate changes in police practice so no community is unfairly targeted. And in our manifesto the Conservatives alone have committed to strengthening the UK-India relationship, by pushing for an EUIndia trade deal and supporting India's permanent representation on the UN Security Council.

Only the Conservatives have a plan, and it's a plan of action, not words. A vote for anyone else in May will just risk all the progress we've made.

GE 2015

Cameron tries to win community trust, speaks to Asian Voice

13

Rupanjana Dutta

With a week to go to world's most anticipated elections, David Cameron has promised to work the hardest he ever has, to secure a Conservative victory on May 7. But with the BAME community, his struggle is perhaps harder.

With a week to go to world's most anticipated elections, David Cameron has promised to work the hardest he ever has, to secure a Conservative victory on May 7. But with the BAME community, his struggle is perhaps harder.

In a recent research it has been predicted that the party's problem in attracting voters from ethnic minorities could cost them nine seats at this election. Analysis by the Runnymede Trust thinktank reportedly suggests Conservative party must intensify its efforts to engage this growing group of voters, particularly in London. The Tories reportedly attracted just 16% minority support in 2010.

Another poll revealed that the older generation of Asian voters, who are more politically active than the second generation, still have greater allegiance to the Labour party. Also growing amongst these communities is a panic about a possible Conservative-Ukip Coalition.

Besides that, the immigrants who from South Asian countries, and settled in Britain, they strongly feel that the scrapping of the post study work visa (PSW) has been a major set back to the Indo-British relations. In a Global Wealth Conclave organised prior to the general elections by India Inc and BDO LLP- immigration was indeed one of the hot topics discussed. Moreover with France opening up its border to the PSW visa, Britain faces greater challenges to attract (already decreasing) foreign students.

Speaking on this subject, in a one to one interview with Asian Voice, Mr Cameron emphasised that there are many British Asians in the community who want proper control over the immigrants, and want a fair system.

Elaborating on the PSW visa scheme, he said: “France does not have much of post study work to go around. We create more jobs in Yorkshire than they create in France.

There is no limit to the number of Asian students coming to British universities, but after university you have to take up a graduate job. I do not believe opening up the post study work for non graduate jobs.

“The idea we have to have a long

Asian Voice Associate Editor, Rupanjana Dutta with Mr David Cameron

period that we do non graduate job after university is a wrong approach.

Some employers like this idea, it makes life easier for them. This route became a route for economic migration but we want bright people to come Britain and do graduate jobs.”

On 25th April, while launching the BAME Manifesto in Croydon, the Prime Minister tried to further extend his hand of friendship to the community. He promised several measures that aims to create what he called an “opportunity country” where everyone can “make the most of their talents” irrespective of their ethnic background. The promises included the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and ensuring that 19,000 BAME students are in university. Mr Cameron also pledged that the first Asian Prime Minister will be from his party.

Pitching to the older generation of the British Asian community and denying a possibility of alliance with the UKIP, during our interview, Mr Cameron said, “I do not think the Ukip is going to win any seats. They are lucky if they get one. But we are not going to form any coalition, because we are going to win.”

Commenting on the first generation of Asian voters, he added, “We have a long way to go, but there is an increase of ethnic minority on those green benches and on those red benches, in all parts of the party. Look at our councillors, look at the young Conservatives- we are much more open to talents, and I hope the older generation will think, while I like the values- family enterprise and community, while I like their economic records of jobs and businesses, I see the start up loans going towards the black and minority ethnic groups more, because they have got the spirit of enterprise. While the banks have not been supportive always, I can

now see a Conservative party genuinely open to talent.

“We are the first to have a British Asian woman, now we have have Sajid Javid. We also have- Priti Patel, Shailesh Vara, Lord Dolar Popat. If you look at the retirement seats, the replacement candidates are mostly Asian.”

But he agreed that it's one thing to actually point to lots of Asian candidates, but its another thing when it comes to who really is going to get elected. Elaborating on that subject an enthusiastic Cameron added, “Though 18% is good, I have set that target to 20% next election.”

With a spotless memory and highest regards for the hardworking community stalwarts such as our Publisher/Editor CB Patel, it seems David Cameron is 'pumped up' to win the Asian trust. Perhaps he is on the right track, but this election there is no scope for being complacent- it is a tough struggle and no opportunity to take anyone for granted.

Besides there are many questions hanging loose. According to a BBC survey, it was revealed that nearly a quarter of Asian voters do not know which party they will support at the general election.

Politicians from all parties are out selling their ideas and making promises they don’t know if they can keep.

Who to believe or what to believe?

Will Britain's two-party politics be finished for good? Will Ukip prove to be a shooting star? Will three-party politics become four-party politics?

Will Britain remain in the EU? Will Scotland initiate another referendum? Will SNP change Labour party's fate?

The answers to all these questions actually lie with the public- the voters. The choice is yours. And this is your chance to use it. Make sure you use it.

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GE 2015

“Our London”

Navin Shah

GLA Member for Brent and Harrow

Vote Wisely

Do Not be Fooled by Divisive Politics On May the 7th the country faces a clear choice. Labour protecting services and delivering quality of life for ALL in our community against the Conservatives who are for Bankers, millionaires and NOT for millions of people who have suffered during the Conservative LibDem coalition. This is why it is important that you vote, and vote wisely. And that is why I will be voting Labour and urge you to vote Labour too.

Understandably, during run up to the election, every opportunity is taken for strong lobbying of political parties and I respect that. The emergence of ‘British Indian Manifesto’ is one such example of this. However, Indians / Hindu community members do not live in vacuum. Like all other people - the state of economy, NHS, housing, economy, employment, immigration, equality and welfare reforms etc. are of huge priority and matter to us too. Bear this in mind when you decide whom you wish to vote for – not just the bogus and dangerous propaganda orchestrated falsely under the banner of Hindu community – in my and your name! I have known, worked with and respected for many years some members who now seem to support this campaign but with respect I believe they are misguided and wrong. My submission today is not aimed at anyone personally but enough is enough. It is time to speak up against forces which are divisive and dangerous. I urge a note of caution, don’t be fooled by self-appointed leaders / spokes people.

It saddens and angers me in equal measures to see gutter politics promoted in the guise of ‘Hindu’ agenda and protection of ‘Dharma’. If anything this cheapens Hindu values and what we Indians stand for. As a Hindu - Jain I’m disgusted by the propaganda based on myths, distortions and innuendos aimed at blatant Labour bashing.

Some of the filth thrown at Labour under the banner of Hinduism baggers belief. Ed Miliband became leader of the party based on a legitimate election process of Labour Party. Given this, I find it disgusting that Ed is accused of stabbing his brother in his back. If you want to attack a politician do so on policies she/he is offering but do not indulge in character assassination.

Linking Labour and actually accusing it with pro-Pakistani ‘atrocities’ and alleging Labour of negligence to protect its vote banks is ludicrous and crosses all

boundaries of ethics and basic decency.

Tories remain ‘nasty party’ as described by their own Theresa May MP and now it seems they’ve found likeminded ‘friends’ from our community who would stop at nothing in their efforts to malign the Labour Party.

Looking around the political spectrum, Labour Party is the only one with a true and demonstrable record of standing up for equality, justice and fairness. For those who think Tories are friends of Hindus or diverse communities - how wrong they are. How can we forget who made the ‘rivers of blood’ comments – accused immigrant communities of ‘swamping’ the country – demonising immigrants and using immigration as a race card? I see Tories as fair-weather friends. In their hearts they have no real commitment or belief in multicultural communities. Labour is accused, wrongly and maliciously in my view, of creating ‘Muslim Vote Bank’.

Could it not be that Tories have this new found affinity with Indians for their own ‘Hindu vote bank’? I’m convinced that Tory interest in Indian community is all about electoral gain and very little else. It does not help when our community is called ‘ignorant’, not being ‘bright enough to learn’ for following the Labour Party and accuse the Indians/Hindus affiliated with Labour of having sold their soul and turning a blind eye.

Interesting to see those claiming to be ‘Dharmik’ and allegedly promoting Hindus & Hinduism are actually asking Indians to vote against Uma Kumaran – Harrow East’s Labour candidate who’s a young promising Hindu. What hypocrites! Also interesting to note that no credit is given to Labour for helping to establish the first ever voluntary aided Hindu School in Harrow and providing continuing support for further expansion of this Hindu School.

CB’s hard hitting piece in Asian Voice of 25 April is spot on where it says ‘let’s not mix politics and religion’.

I would respectfully urge the readers of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar to analyse objectively what different political parties have to offer to help improve your quality of life and decide whom you want to vote for in an informed manner. Make sure you are not fooled by those who are playing very dangerous divisive game which can only divide and harm richness of cultures and values that diversity brings.

Conservative Friends of India launch campaign song for British Indians

Conservative Friends of India launched a Hindi song especially composed for GE2015 - a first for any British General Election. It encourages 1.6 million British Indians to support David Cameron and let him finish the job of turning around the British economy.

The party is the first to launch a Hindi Navin Kundra campaign song, ‘Neela sung, taking inspiration hai Aasma (Blue Sky)’ from the blue specially composed and Conservative Party

colours, encouraging the British Indian community to back David Cameron.

The song has been written, composed and produced by musical maestro Pandit Dinesh and the lead singer is the well-known British Indian artist Navin Kundra.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Indian Students Union sprints ahead with Election Campaign The National Indian Students Union UK has launched an election campaign #myvotematters, encouraging young people of Commonwealth origin to vote in the upcoming UK parliamentary elections. The campaign has been divided into two parts. The former has been centred on the registration to vote, particularly for the international student community belonging to the commonwealth.

“Most commonwealth students do not realise that they have the legal right to vote in the UK parliamentary elections.

Many of our members and the wider community we represent belong to this section and given the recent negative immigration policies it is more important than ever before for these students to come out and vote. Stage one of our campaign has therefore been centred on awareness of voting rights and the process of voter registration”, commented Sanam Arora, President, National Indian Students Union UK.

In the latter part of the campaign emphasis is around empowering youngsters with the right information to enable them to make the most suitable choices. To this end the union has launched an ‘International Students Manifesto’ which is in line with the key recommendations proposed by the UK Council of International Student Affairs (UKCISA). The six manifesto asks of National Indian Students Union UK are listed below. “Our aim is to empower people with the right knowledge that helps them make the best choice on May the 7th. It is sad that neither the Tories nor Labour have thus far come out explicitly and said anything about international students in particular; one of the biggest topic of concern to us. Such sadly has been the terror of UKIP. There is no clear answer for majority of our members and there is still time for either of Ed Miliband or David Cameron to come out in favour of international students’,

Sanam remarked.  The whole of government needs to recognize and celebrate the financial, cultural and intellectual value of international students to the UK  All students at graduate or postgraduate level should be entitled to a period of post study work in the UK  No student who has not been found to be at fault should have their visa curtailed merely because their sponsor has lost their licence  All students should have access to some form of student protection scheme and independent arbitration when disputes cannot be resolved internally  International students should be excluded from all further policy and debate on reducing net migration  Further measures being introduced by the Immigration Act need to be carefully reviewed and urgently withdrawn if found to be counter-productive

Why it is important for BME students to vote in the Election

BME Students' Committee, University of Sheffield. Tanya Datta, Chairman, third from left

Tanya Datta, Chair, BME Students’ Committee, University of Sheffield

In this election it seems that the only topics that keep getting thrown around is immigration, NHS and austerity cuts.

As the newly elected Chair of the Black Minority ethnic students committee at the University of Sheffield I think one issue that is usually shoved under the rug is the welfare of students and in particular BME students. That is why I think it is important that BME students vote on the 7th of May as they have an equally important voice to express the many issues that affect BME students. This is because it was seen that 66.4% of White students studying first degrees received a first class or second class honours qualification, compared to 48.1% of BME students overall.

BME committees across Universities are

here to represents students of African, Asian, Afro-Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Mixed Race Descent and although they help to raise awareness around campus it is not always reflected on a national scale. This is because there aren’t enough BME politicians running for MP positions and this is a problem in itself. The BME community need a voice and platform to be heard as currently we only have 27 MPs that are representing the whole BME community in Parliament which needs to change. In an environment where Islamaphobia, racism and Xenophobia on the rise this means that BME home and international students are victims to such behaviour and find it much harder to fit into new student communities away from their families.

This is seen in the rise of race related hate crimes and this evident in the student communities as

Black British students and Asian British students are significantly more likely to drop out of higher education. This is a major issue and such issues are not highlighted or dealt with to a satisfactory standard

by Universities.

Not only that but it was seen that in January 2014, the joblessness rate for young black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people was 45%, compared to 19% for young white people. BME students need to be more active and vote so that they can be heard and that government gets the representation from such groups that it desperately needs. In the last general election 7% of white British people did not register for a vote however, almost a third of black people weren’t registered.

BME communities nationwide must go out on Election Day and vote to get the representation in Parliament that it desperately needs.

Photo credit: Mufaddal Zohair

My Vote Matters

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Lakshmi Kaul, Community Activist & Chair of Public Relations – HFB And we are almost there....nearly a week to go for the General Elections 2015.

Hopefully all will be quiet after that. All our lives seem to be revolving around the Election Day - 7th May 2015. My 7 year old has a spelling test on Friday, 8th May. A play date perhaps after school as promised.

Groceries, bills to sort out over the weekend, classes, laundry, ironing etc . Life as usual?

While we have seen a nastiness, mud-slinging and debates during the election campaign what I personally have noticed is an increasing interest among our community members especially the ladies, in politics and its effect on our daily lives. From an outright dismissive, "I don't care about poiltics" I am beginning to receive messages like "I don't actually understand what politics is".

Willingness to find out - certainly better than not bothering at all.

On the ground, we have seen many volunteers tirelessly giving of their time to campaign for candidates. For a number of

these volunteers, it was their first ever time participating in an election campaign. "When we watch the election debates on television and news reports on elections, the impression one gets is that elections are just about showing each other down and fighting for the vote bank.

However once you actually knock on doors, help at the campaign offices you realise how much hard work, data analysis and careful planning goes into an Election," said a first time election volunteer to me.

Not long ago, I had privilege of hearing Baroness Verma speak at a community meeting with aspiring women entrepreneurs where she spoke of her journey into politics and said, "I got into politics because I was fed up of others telling me what my problems were. As women, we can change anything we want to - we just have to get involved." So true, we all thought! Why is it that a handful of people decide to tell us what our issues were and why are we not taking an active interest in politics? What stops us?

Yes the manifestos are useful and it is important to bring into sharp focus certain issues but each one of us face often different issues and have varying experiences with either the politicians being receptive or non receptive. Elections are the times when we make an assessment of how my issues have been addressed and what it means in the broader National spectrum.

A number of people confuse

the role of the local Council with that of the MP. We don't know who our local candidates are.

The literature that is pushed throw our letter box, most of us will admit to straight away binning it. When people come knocking on the door, we choose not to open doors. When it is Election Day, eventhough we have registered our vote, we choose not to Vote.

At a Hustings in Harrow recently, Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrats) said, "irrespective of party, it is important to participate in politics" The British Indian community's positive contribution has been widely acknowledged widely. While we are proud of our legacy and how we have demonstrated our strength as individuals, businesses and as a community, there is lots more to do. I have heard Lord Popat say this repeatedly, "we need our young British Indians to take more interest in politics if we want to see a difference in politics". One of the key things that we fall short on is to make our voice heard politically!

There are increasing number of retirement seats and with all the good will on part of each party's veterans, there is a lack of British Indian political aspirants.

We need more women politicians, activists, leaders but what we really need is all of us, each one of us to Vote on May 7th 2015. For each one of us to know what matters to us and why, we need to take the first step in the democratic process. My Vote Matters. It is my voice and I will make it count. How about you?

GE 2015

15

Citizens' victory against corrupt Tower Hamlet Mayor

Continued from page 1 The risk of these Tower Hamlets four was not only financial, but they were also termed as racists and Islamophobes, encouraging the English Defence League (EDL) in the area.

Disturbingly the police, that should have protected the common and acted for their goodwent to take Rahman's side.

Through out re-election they made reassuring statement that all was well. They also concluded on reviewing submissions from government auditors that there was no credible evidence requiring a police inquiry. When a criminal investigation was finally opened, the former 'investigating officers' in the court during the election trial were found laughing and joking with Mr Rahman's head of Public Relations.

Scotland Yard has been accused of ignoring more than 20 complaints about suspected corruption.

Judge Richard Mawrey found Mr Rahman and his supporters had committed a litany of abuses.

They were guilty of vote-rigging, seeking to influence the result through imams, wrongly branding rivals as “racists” and allocating local grants in order to buy votes.

The judge said the evidence indicated that Hafiz Moulana Shamsul Hoque, the Chairman of the Council of Mosques of Tower Hamlets led a lists of 101 imams and scholars, who wote a letter in Bengali in the Bangladeshi press, six day's before last year's election claiming that the Muslim religion was under attack and it was the duty of faithful Muslims to vote for Mr Rahman. Bangladesh born Mr Rahman is the first person since

the 19th century to be found guilty of the Victorian-era misdeed of unlawful religious influence.

Last November, Ken Livingstone, the former London Mayor spoke in support of Mr Rahman and urged Labour party to adopt him as a candidate.

At the same event, George Galloway, declared action against Rahman as “a racist, Islam-hating witch-hunt against the most popular and best Mayor in the country'. It is of new believe that if Mr Galloway fails to keep his seat in Parliament, he will be the selected replacement for Mr Rahman, and be nominated for the Mayoral post. Mr Galloway was given an enthusiastic welcome by local voters, when he had spoken out in praise for Mr Rahman, last year.

Mr Rahman's corruption is an example of peculiar factional politics. Voters could have any religion, ethnicity, language or faith- but the only identity that actually matters for civic purposes is common citizenship under the Rule of Law. This episode of corrupt campaign has been an eye opener and should not be allowed to flourish again under any pretension- even at local level. Lutfur Rahman has now been asked to leave his post, pay £250,000 in costs. He is barred from standing as a candidate and as a lawyer, may be struck off by the SRA. Tower Hamlets First has been reported to have said that judgement against Mr Rahman comes as a shock. The Mayor denies any wrong doing, and said to have full confidence in the justice system. He is seeking further legal advice on the matter in relation to a judicial review.

16

GE 2015

BRITISH ELECTION AND INDIANS

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

BACKGROUND OF ANGLO-INDIAN RELATIONS

Ashis Ray, RAYMEDIA It is a little over 400 years since the first Briton set foot in India.

Britain went for trade, but stayed for territory.

In 1757, the East India Company, created by a royal charter issued by Elizabeth I, annexed Bengal. By 1857, it had conquered most of the Indian subcontinent.

The East India Company, though, collapsed in 1858 after a rebellion by its Indian soldiers.

The British government then stepped in to directly assume charge of the country, with Queen Victoria proclaiming herself as the Empress of India.

In 1947, India and Britain parted in a comparatively civil manner. In fact, India did not quite sever its links with the British crown until it became a republic in 1950. The Indian government of Jawahar Lal Nehru that took oath in 1947 swore allegiance to the British king (George VI), with a governor-general continuing to represent the United Kingdom’s monarch in India.

(British contribution to the modernisation of India is undisputed. Yet, it is also true that in the early 18th century India, as a major manufacturing country, enjoyed a 22% share of the world’s GDP. By the end of the Raj this had declined to 4%.)

Even after 1950, India remained a member of the Commonwealth, which is headed by the British crown. At the same time, free from colonial rule, India charted an independent diplomatic course.

India launched the NonAligned Movement, which notably chose not to take sides in the Cold War between the West and the East, primarily the United States and the Soviet Union. Britain, deeply indebted to the US for its assistance during World War II, forged a post-war special relationship with it and the two collaborated to found the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) – essentially a military alliance against the Soviet Union and its allies.

However, following India’s emergence as a potential future power after the economic reforms and a relook of foreign policy undertaken in the first half of the 1990s by Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, the balance of the Indo-British relationship has shifted remarkably.

India is the third largest foreign investor in Britain. In 2014, Indian companies in the UK are estimated to have had a turnover of £19 billion. The Tata Group alone – which owns Jaguar Land Rover, Corus Steel and Tetley’s Tea, among other assets - employs nearly 60,000 people.

At the same time, British banks lend more to India than to any other country; 28% of their

global exposure is in India, according to the Economist magazine, quoting the Bank of International Settlements.

British investment in India is close to £60 billion.

In February 2013, though, the Economist said: “Britain increasingly looks like a supplicant to a more powerful India.” Clearly, the UK needs to increase its exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) and, consequently, temptingly eyes India’s impressive economic growth of the past 24 years.

Both exports to and FDI from India have occurred, but without the desired breakthrough.

(Notwithstanding Britain’s 258 year trading ties with India, it is today no better than being India’s fourth biggest trading partner in Europe.)

Arguably, better understanding between London and Delhi on political and security matters could be the key to a most favoured nation equation.

Labour foreign secretary, David Miliband, did not render any favours to build on the strategic partnership formalised

Alok Sharma

Shailesh Vara

after lobbying by the Gujarati community in the UK with the ruling Conservative party and when there were signs he could be heading a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India after the 2014 elections.

Clearly, this was a pragmatic decision – for there have been indications of Gujarati Hindus being amenable to supporting the Conservatives - rather than it being based on any incontrovertible evidence of Modi’s innocence. So far, though, the move is yet to yield dividends. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with veto powers, Britain is valuable

Seema Malhotra

between the two countries in 2004. Indeed, he was viewed as an interfering upstart in diplomatic circles in India following a lecture he delivered in Delhi on resolving the Kashmir issue in 2009.

India is sensitive to discussing Kashmir with a third party, let alone being accepting of any instructions about it.

Besides, as an expression of friendship, it expects cooperation on intelligence intercepts relating to nations inimical to India.

Over and above, New Delhi is contemptuous of any comparison with Pakistan – which the current opposition Labour party leader Ed Miliband (David’s younger brother) listed among “failed states” in a speech at Chatham House on 24 April last - and considers silence on Islamabad’s export of terrorism as tantamount to a lack of goodwill towards India.

In contrast, when the present Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable was asked about Kashmir, he intelligently replied: “That is a dispute within the subcontinent that we are not expressing a view on.”

Suspecting Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots, Britain banned him from entering Britain for 10 years. The boycott was lifted

Valerie Vaz

Sajid Javid

to India. In this respect, while the 2015 Labour election manifesto makes no mention of India, the Conservative manifesto reiterates its advocacy of a permanent seat for India at the UNSC. This certainly pleases South Block.

In the Conservative Party’s 2010 election manifesto it set out an ambition to establish a “special relationship” with India. After it was elected, Queen Elizabeth II’s address to parliament officially defined her government’s policy being an “enhanced partnership” with India. To pursue the goal, David Cameron paid three visits to India as prime minister. But the target of doubling trade between the two countries from £10 billion to £20 billion by 2015 has been missed. In 2013, the BAE Systems’ Eurofighter Typhoon also failed to secure a multi-billion order from the Indian Air Force for combat aircraft.

Regardless of the state of relations, a BBC World Service opinion survey carried out in 2014 said 43% of Indians view the UK’s influence positively, 30% are neutral, while 27% expressed a negative view.

Correspondingly, 45% of Britons view India’s influence positively, 9% are neutral and 46% expressed a negative view.

While official figures underplay this, there are well over two million Indians or people of Indian origin settled in

Marsha Singh

the UK. INDIAN MPs IN BRITAIN The first Indian to enter Britain’s directly elected wing of parliament, the House of was Dadabhai Commons, Naoroji, a Liberal Party candidate who was elected from London’s then Finsbury Central constituency in 1892 and remained an MP until 1895.

The next was a Conservative, Sir Mancherjee Bhownagree, who won from Bethnal Green North East also in London in 1895 and served up to 1906.

Then came Shapurji Saklatvala. He stood for

Piara Singh Khabra

election in the 1922 general election on behalf of the Communist Party of Great Britain and triumphed from Battersea North in the British capital. He, however, lost the next year, only to be returned to the Commons in 1924 for a full five year term.

Shapurji’s cousin Nowroji Saklatvala was the third chairman of the Tata Group.

The former, too, worked with the Tatas before migrating to England.

58 years elapsed before another politician of Indian origin entered the Commons.

Keith Vaz, of Goan descent, was successful for Labour from Leicester East in 1987 and has continuously represented it till date, making him by far the longest serving British MP of Indian extraction.

In the modern era, those who have followed in his footsteps are: l the late Ashok Kumar (Labour, Langbaurgh & Middlesborough South and East Cleveland) l the late Piara Singh Khabra (Labour, Ealing Southall) l the late Marsha Singh (Labour, Bradford West) l Parmjit Dhanda (Labour, Gloucester), now defeated l Parmjit Gill (Liberal Democrat, Leicester South), now defeated l Shailesh Vara (Conservative,

Lisa Nandy

North West Cambridgeshire) l Virendra Sharma (Labour, Ealing Southall) l Sajid Javid – who claims his father was Indian and his mother Pakistani – (Conservative, Bromsgrove) l Lisa Nandy – whose father was Indian – (Labour, Wigan) l Priti Patel (Conservative, Witham) l Alok Sharma (Conservative, Reading West) l Paul Uppal (Conservative, Wolverhampton South West) l Valerie Vaz – sister of Keith – (Labour, Walsall South) and l Seema Malhotra (Labour, Feltham and Heston).

In the outgoing House of Commons, the number of Pakistani-origin MPs increased from two to seven, a first Bangladeshi-origin MP (Rushanara Ali) was elected and the figure for Indian-origin MPs moved up to 10.

MINISTERS The first Indian to be appointed a minister in the British government was Lord Satyendra Prasanno Sinha of Raipur.

He was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India, a junior ministerial position, in 1919.

Subsequently, a handful of India-origin MPs or peers have been elevated to non-cabinet level, among them Keith Vaz and Shriti Vadera, Shailesh Vara, Baroness Sandip Verma and Priti Patel.

The only person to hold cabinet rank is Sajid Javid, currently Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

(The famous middle distance runner, twice a gold medallist at the Olympics, Lord Sebastian Coe’s maternal grand-father was Indian. Coe was elected to the House of Commons in 1992, but lost his seat in 1997. He was, thereafter, made a life peer. He headed and realised London’s dream of hosting the 2012 Olympic Games and then did a splendid job as chairman of its organising committee.)

WHICH WAY WILL INDIANORIGIN VOTERS CAST THEIR BALLOT? The UK’s Economic and Social Research Council has carried out a survey of ethnic minorities on which way they voted in 2010 and how their inclinations had shifted in 2014.

The team that carried out the research comprised of academics from Oxford (Anthony Heath and Stephen Fosher), Manchester Maria Sobolewska) and Essex (David

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

GE 2015

17

are likely to make the house.

African groups for represent Labour, Conservatives Sanders) and a Below is a near complete list Labour remains more and Liberal Democrats. representative of the of Indian-origin candidates in or less unchanged, the In the outgoing House of Commission Electoral the fray. Depending on their sentiment among Commons, only Labour and (Gemma Rosenblatt). chances of victory, their Indians may have Conservatives had Indian-origin The hypotheses reached prospects are categorised shifted significantly. members in it. They were: Sajid in the study were: upward as: “Remote”, “Outside Javid, Keith Vaz, Shailesh Vara, Political participation in An estimated 60% Chance”, “Even”, “Fair” or Virendra Sharma, Lisa Nandy, Britain is stronger among of Indian or Indian“Excellent”.

Valerie Vaz, Alok Sharma, Paul Sikhs and Muslims and origin voters cast their The Indian-origin candidates Uppal, Priti Patel and Seema weaker among Hindus and ballot in favour of are followed by a list of other Malhotra.

Christians.

Labour in 2010. By South Asian-origin candidates In the incoming Commons, this had 2014, The politicisation of whose prospects range from an it remains to be seen if all the reportedly dropped to Pakistanis “springs from a Parmjit Dhanda Parmjit Gill “Outside Chance” to mentioned MPs are re-elected.

45%. variety of international “Excellent”.

At the same time, new names Interestingly, while conflicts, in which Muslims resulted in a lack of shared a large chunk of Indian are thought to be victims, and political identity and support for Labour may OTHER their perceived victimisation as CANDIDATES ASIAN SOUTH organisation and hence low have shifted allegiance, the a religious group in the UK. The PROSPECTS CONSTITUENCY PARTY levels of politicisation”.

Conservatives have not NAME primary such conflict imported Excellent Birmingham “Regular attendance at a benefited from this Shabana Mahmood Labour into British Muslim politics is place of worship increases erosion. Therefore, there (Pakistani origin) over the Kashmir region, which Ladywood minority political could be a sizeable is contested between Pakistan Excellent Glasgow Central Labour Anas Sarwar participation”. proportion of floating and India…”

(Pakistani origin) Historically, ethnic voters among Indians.

Sikhs are the second most minorities have largely voted politicised among immigrant Birmingham Perry Barr Excellent Labour Khalid Mahmood 2015 GENERAL for Labour. This was the case communities because a section Bethnal Green & Bow Excellent Labour Ali Rushanara ELECTION even in 2010. of them are frustration over the Excellent Bolton S E Labour Qureshi Yasmin But as compared to 2010, By far, more Indianfailure of the Khalistan the British Election Study origin candidates have (Pakistani origin) movement.

(BES) findings in 2014 were taken the plunge in the Rupa Huq Hindus because of “their Ealing Central & Acton Outside Chance Labour that, while support among upcoming general election social diversity, as well as lack origin) (Bangladeshi Pakistanis, Caribbean and than ever before. They of major grievances, has Outside Chance Harrow East Labour Uma Kumaran (Sri Lankan Tamil origin) PROSPECTS CONSTITUENCY PARTY NAME Morecombe & Lunesdale Even Labour Amina Lone Remote Devon S W Labour Chaz Singh (Pakistani origin) Remote Cotswolds Manjinder Singh Kang Labour Hampstead & Kilburn Even Labour Tulip Siddiq Remote Kenilworth & Southam Labour Bally Singh (Bangladeshi origin) Remote Henley Labour Sam Juthani Even Bradford East Labour Imran Hussain Remote Harborough Labour Sundip Meghani (Pakistani origin) Fair Walsall South Labour Valerie Vaz Outside Chance Conservative Bradford East Iftikhar Ahmed Excellent Feltham & Heston Labour Seema Malhotra (Pakistani origin) Excellent Leicester East Labour Keith Vaz Conservative Gillingham & Rainham Excellent Rehman Chishti Excellent Ealing Southall Labour Virendra Sharma (Pakistani origin) Outside Chance Brighton Pavilion Labour Purna Sen Excellent Conservative Wealden Nusrat Ghani Remote Richmond Park Labour Sachin Patel (Pakistani origin) Outside Chance Dunbartonshire East Labour Amanjit Jhund Ranil Jayawardena Conservative Hampshire North East Excellent Excellent Wigan Labour Lisa Nandy (Sri Lankan origin) Remote Newport East Conservative Natasha Ashgar Excellent Conservative Wealden Nusrat Ghani Excellent Bromsgrove Conservative Sajid Javid (Pakistani origin) Remote Upper Bann Conservative Amanjit Singh Bhogal Hampstead & Kilburn Outside Chance Lib Dem Maajid Nawaz Remote Leicester East Conservative Kishan Devani (Pakistani origin) Washington & Sunderland West Remote Conservative Bob Dhillon Outside Chance Streatham Lib Dem Amna Ahmad Remote Birmingham Perry Barr Conservative Charlotte Hodivala (Pakistani origin) Remote Swansea East Conservative Altaf Hussain Ochil & South Perthshire Outside Chance Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh SNP Remote Workington Conservative Rozila Kana Remote Dulwich & West Norwood Conservative Resham Kotecha Finally, the following constituencies have 40% or more ethnic minority Remote Croydon North Conservative Vidhi Mohan voters. The ones with significant Indian origin voters Remote Feltham & Heston Conservative Simon Nayyar (approximately 10%-50%) are highlighted in bold.

Excellent Witham Conservative Priti Patel Lewisham, Deptford East Ham Remote Birmingham Yardley Conservative Arun Photay Tottenham Ilford South Remote Wolverhampton S E Conservative Suria Photay Hackney South and Shoreditch Brent North Remote Hornsey & Wood Green Conservative Suhail Rahuja Manchester, Gorton Birmingham, Ladywood Remote Aberdeen North Conservative Sanjoy Sen Ilford North Ealing, Southall Even Reading West Conservative Alok Sharma Bradford East Leicester East Remote Slough Conservative Gurcharan Singh Mitcham and Morden West Ham Excellent Richmond Conservative Rishi Sunak Luton North Croydon North Outside Chance Wolverhampton S W Conservative Paul Uppal Hendon Birmingham, Hall Green Excellent Cambridgeshire N W Conservative Shailesh Vara Barking Birmingham, Hodge Hill Outside Chance Walsall North Douglas Hansen-Luke Conservative Remote East Ham Lewisham East Bradford West Conservative Samir Jassal Westminster North Brent Central Remote Derby South Liberal Democrat Joe Naitta Luton South Harrow East Remote Grantham & Stamford Liberal Democrat Harrish Bisnauthsing Warley Birmingham, Perry Barr Remote Leicester South Liberal Democrat Anita Prabhakar Hackney North and Stoke Harrow West Remote Beckenham Liberal Democrat Anuja Prashar Newington Hayes and Harlington Remote Ealing Southall Liberal Democrat Kavya Kaushik Brentford and Isleworth Poplar and Limehouse Remote Hayes & Harlington Liberal Democrat Satnam Khalsa Erith and Thamesmead Camberwell and Peckham Remote South Shields Liberal Democrat Gita Gordon Streatham Feltham and Heston Even Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat Pramod Subbaraman Vauxhall Slough Remote Angus Liberal Democrat Sanjay Samani Bermondsey and Old Southwark Walthamstow Remote Arundel & South Downs Liberal Democrat Shweta Kapadia Greenwich and Woolwich Bethnal Green and Bow Remote Salisbury Reetendra Nath Banerji Liberal Democrat Blackburn Edmonton Remote Aberconwy Liberal Democrat Victor Babu Dulwich and West Norwood Leyton and Wanstead Remote Harborough Liberal Democrat Zuffar Haq Walsall South Leicester South Remote Leicester East Liberal Democrat Dave Raval Ealing North Remote Birmingham Perry Barr Liberal Democrat Parmjit Singh

16

GE 2015

BRITISH ELECTION AND INDIANS

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

BACKGROUND OF ANGLO-INDIAN RELATIONS

Ashis Ray, RAYMEDIA It is a little over 400 years since the first Briton set foot in India.

Britain went for trade, but stayed for territory.

In 1757, the East India Company, created by a royal charter issued by Elizabeth I, annexed Bengal. By 1857, it had conquered most of the Indian subcontinent.

The East India Company, though, collapsed in 1858 after a rebellion by its Indian soldiers.

The British government then stepped in to directly assume charge of the country, with Queen Victoria proclaiming herself as the Empress of India.

In 1947, India and Britain parted in a comparatively civil manner. In fact, India did not quite sever its links with the British crown until it became a republic in 1950. The Indian government of Jawahar Lal Nehru that took oath in 1947 swore allegiance to the British king (George VI), with a governor-general continuing to represent the United Kingdom’s monarch in India.

(British contribution to the modernisation of India is undisputed. Yet, it is also true that in the early 18th century India, as a major manufacturing country, enjoyed a 22% share of the world’s GDP. By the end of the Raj this had declined to 4%.)

Even after 1950, India remained a member of the Commonwealth, which is headed by the British crown. At the same time, free from colonial rule, India charted an independent diplomatic course.

India launched the NonAligned Movement, which notably chose not to take sides in the Cold War between the West and the East, primarily the United States and the Soviet Union. Britain, deeply indebted to the US for its assistance during World War II, forged a post-war special relationship with it and the two collaborated to found the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) – essentially a military alliance against the Soviet Union and its allies.

However, following India’s emergence as a potential future power after the economic reforms and a relook of foreign policy undertaken in the first half of the 1990s by Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, the balance of the Indo-British relationship has shifted remarkably.

India is the third largest foreign investor in Britain. In 2014, Indian companies in the UK are estimated to have had a turnover of £19 billion. The Tata Group alone – which owns Jaguar Land Rover, Corus Steel and Tetley’s Tea, among other assets - employs nearly 60,000 people.

At the same time, British banks lend more to India than to any other country; 28% of their

global exposure is in India, according to the Economist magazine, quoting the Bank of International Settlements.

British investment in India is close to £60 billion.

In February 2013, though, the Economist said: “Britain increasingly looks like a supplicant to a more powerful India.” Clearly, the UK needs to increase its exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) and, consequently, temptingly eyes India’s impressive economic growth of the past 24 years.

Both exports to and FDI from India have occurred, but without the desired breakthrough.

(Notwithstanding Britain’s 258 year trading ties with India, it is today no better than being India’s fourth biggest trading partner in Europe.)

Arguably, better understanding between London and Delhi on political and security matters could be the key to a most favoured nation equation.

Labour foreign secretary, David Miliband, did not render any favours to build on the strategic partnership formalised

Alok Sharma

Shailesh Vara

after lobbying by the Gujarati community in the UK with the ruling Conservative party and when there were signs he could be heading a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India after the 2014 elections.

Clearly, this was a pragmatic decision – for there have been indications of Gujarati Hindus being amenable to supporting the Conservatives - rather than it being based on any incontrovertible evidence of Modi’s innocence. So far, though, the move is yet to yield dividends. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with veto powers, Britain is valuable

Seema Malhotra

between the two countries in 2004. Indeed, he was viewed as an interfering upstart in diplomatic circles in India following a lecture he delivered in Delhi on resolving the Kashmir issue in 2009.

India is sensitive to discussing Kashmir with a third party, let alone being accepting of any instructions about it.

Besides, as an expression of friendship, it expects cooperation on intelligence intercepts relating to nations inimical to India.

Over and above, New Delhi is contemptuous of any comparison with Pakistan – which the current opposition Labour party leader Ed Miliband (David’s younger brother) listed among “failed states” in a speech at Chatham House on 24 April last - and considers silence on Islamabad’s export of terrorism as tantamount to a lack of goodwill towards India.

In contrast, when the present Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable was asked about Kashmir, he intelligently replied: “That is a dispute within the subcontinent that we are not expressing a view on.”

Suspecting Narendra Modi of complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots, Britain banned him from entering Britain for 10 years. The boycott was lifted

Valerie Vaz

Sajid Javid

to India. In this respect, while the 2015 Labour election manifesto makes no mention of India, the Conservative manifesto reiterates its advocacy of a permanent seat for India at the UNSC. This certainly pleases South Block.

In the Conservative Party’s 2010 election manifesto it set out an ambition to establish a “special relationship” with India. After it was elected, Queen Elizabeth II’s address to parliament officially defined her government’s policy being an “enhanced partnership” with India. To pursue the goal, David Cameron paid three visits to India as prime minister. But the target of doubling trade between the two countries from £10 billion to £20 billion by 2015 has been missed. In 2013, the BAE Systems’ Eurofighter Typhoon also failed to secure a multi-billion order from the Indian Air Force for combat aircraft.

Regardless of the state of relations, a BBC World Service opinion survey carried out in 2014 said 43% of Indians view the UK’s influence positively, 30% are neutral, while 27% expressed a negative view.

Correspondingly, 45% of Britons view India’s influence positively, 9% are neutral and 46% expressed a negative view.

While official figures underplay this, there are well over two million Indians or people of Indian origin settled in

Marsha Singh

the UK. INDIAN MPs IN BRITAIN The first Indian to enter Britain’s directly elected wing of parliament, the House of was Dadabhai Commons, Naoroji, a Liberal Party candidate who was elected from London’s then Finsbury Central constituency in 1892 and remained an MP until 1895.

The next was a Conservative, Sir Mancherjee Bhownagree, who won from Bethnal Green North East also in London in 1895 and served up to 1906.

Then came Shapurji Saklatvala. He stood for

Piara Singh Khabra

election in the 1922 general election on behalf of the Communist Party of Great Britain and triumphed from Battersea North in the British capital. He, however, lost the next year, only to be returned to the Commons in 1924 for a full five year term.

Shapurji’s cousin Nowroji Saklatvala was the third chairman of the Tata Group.

The former, too, worked with the Tatas before migrating to England.

58 years elapsed before another politician of Indian origin entered the Commons.

Keith Vaz, of Goan descent, was successful for Labour from Leicester East in 1987 and has continuously represented it till date, making him by far the longest serving British MP of Indian extraction.

In the modern era, those who have followed in his footsteps are: l the late Ashok Kumar (Labour, Langbaurgh & Middlesborough South and East Cleveland) l the late Piara Singh Khabra (Labour, Ealing Southall) l the late Marsha Singh (Labour, Bradford West) l Parmjit Dhanda (Labour, Gloucester), now defeated l Parmjit Gill (Liberal Democrat, Leicester South), now defeated l Shailesh Vara (Conservative,

Lisa Nandy

North West Cambridgeshire) l Virendra Sharma (Labour, Ealing Southall) l Sajid Javid – who claims his father was Indian and his mother Pakistani – (Conservative, Bromsgrove) l Lisa Nandy – whose father was Indian – (Labour, Wigan) l Priti Patel (Conservative, Witham) l Alok Sharma (Conservative, Reading West) l Paul Uppal (Conservative, Wolverhampton South West) l Valerie Vaz – sister of Keith – (Labour, Walsall South) and l Seema Malhotra (Labour, Feltham and Heston).

In the outgoing House of Commons, the number of Pakistani-origin MPs increased from two to seven, a first Bangladeshi-origin MP (Rushanara Ali) was elected and the figure for Indian-origin MPs moved up to 10.

MINISTERS The first Indian to be appointed a minister in the British government was Lord Satyendra Prasanno Sinha of Raipur.

He was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India, a junior ministerial position, in 1919.

Subsequently, a handful of India-origin MPs or peers have been elevated to non-cabinet level, among them Keith Vaz and Shriti Vadera, Shailesh Vara, Baroness Sandip Verma and Priti Patel.

The only person to hold cabinet rank is Sajid Javid, currently Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

(The famous middle distance runner, twice a gold medallist at the Olympics, Lord Sebastian Coe’s maternal grand-father was Indian. Coe was elected to the House of Commons in 1992, but lost his seat in 1997. He was, thereafter, made a life peer. He headed and realised London’s dream of hosting the 2012 Olympic Games and then did a splendid job as chairman of its organising committee.)

WHICH WAY WILL INDIANORIGIN VOTERS CAST THEIR BALLOT? The UK’s Economic and Social Research Council has carried out a survey of ethnic minorities on which way they voted in 2010 and how their inclinations had shifted in 2014.

The team that carried out the research comprised of academics from Oxford (Anthony Heath and Stephen Fosher), Manchester Maria Sobolewska) and Essex (David

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

GE 2015

17

are likely to make the house.

African groups for represent Labour, Conservatives Sanders) and a Below is a near complete list Labour remains more and Liberal Democrats. representative of the of Indian-origin candidates in or less unchanged, the In the outgoing House of Commission Electoral the fray. Depending on their sentiment among Commons, only Labour and (Gemma Rosenblatt). chances of victory, their Indians may have Conservatives had Indian-origin The hypotheses reached prospects are categorised shifted significantly. members in it. They were: Sajid in the study were: upward as: “Remote”, “Outside Javid, Keith Vaz, Shailesh Vara, Political participation in An estimated 60% Chance”, “Even”, “Fair” or Virendra Sharma, Lisa Nandy, Britain is stronger among of Indian or Indian“Excellent”.

Valerie Vaz, Alok Sharma, Paul Sikhs and Muslims and origin voters cast their The Indian-origin candidates Uppal, Priti Patel and Seema weaker among Hindus and ballot in favour of are followed by a list of other Malhotra.

Christians.

Labour in 2010. By South Asian-origin candidates In the incoming Commons, this had 2014, The politicisation of whose prospects range from an it remains to be seen if all the reportedly dropped to Pakistanis “springs from a Parmjit Dhanda Parmjit Gill “Outside Chance” to mentioned MPs are re-elected.

45%. variety of international “Excellent”.

At the same time, new names Interestingly, while conflicts, in which Muslims resulted in a lack of shared a large chunk of Indian are thought to be victims, and political identity and support for Labour may OTHER their perceived victimisation as CANDIDATES ASIAN SOUTH organisation and hence low have shifted allegiance, the a religious group in the UK. The PROSPECTS CONSTITUENCY PARTY levels of politicisation”.

Conservatives have not NAME primary such conflict imported Excellent Birmingham “Regular attendance at a benefited from this Shabana Mahmood Labour into British Muslim politics is place of worship increases erosion. Therefore, there (Pakistani origin) over the Kashmir region, which Ladywood minority political could be a sizeable is contested between Pakistan Excellent Glasgow Central Labour Anas Sarwar participation”. proportion of floating and India…”

(Pakistani origin) Historically, ethnic voters among Indians.

Sikhs are the second most minorities have largely voted politicised among immigrant Birmingham Perry Barr Excellent Labour Khalid Mahmood 2015 GENERAL for Labour. This was the case communities because a section Bethnal Green & Bow Excellent Labour Ali Rushanara ELECTION even in 2010. of them are frustration over the Excellent Bolton S E Labour Qureshi Yasmin But as compared to 2010, By far, more Indianfailure of the Khalistan the British Election Study origin candidates have (Pakistani origin) movement.

(BES) findings in 2014 were taken the plunge in the Rupa Huq Hindus because of “their Ealing Central & Acton Outside Chance Labour that, while support among upcoming general election social diversity, as well as lack origin) (Bangladeshi Pakistanis, Caribbean and than ever before. They of major grievances, has Outside Chance Harrow East Labour Uma Kumaran (Sri Lankan Tamil origin) PROSPECTS CONSTITUENCY PARTY NAME Morecombe & Lunesdale Even Labour Amina Lone Remote Devon S W Labour Chaz Singh (Pakistani origin) Remote Cotswolds Manjinder Singh Kang Labour Hampstead & Kilburn Even Labour Tulip Siddiq Remote Kenilworth & Southam Labour Bally Singh (Bangladeshi origin) Remote Henley Labour Sam Juthani Even Bradford East Labour Imran Hussain Remote Harborough Labour Sundip Meghani (Pakistani origin) Fair Walsall South Labour Valerie Vaz Outside Chance Conservative Bradford East Iftikhar Ahmed Excellent Feltham & Heston Labour Seema Malhotra (Pakistani origin) Excellent Leicester East Labour Keith Vaz Conservative Gillingham & Rainham Excellent Rehman Chishti Excellent Ealing Southall Labour Virendra Sharma (Pakistani origin) Outside Chance Brighton Pavilion Labour Purna Sen Excellent Conservative Wealden Nusrat Ghani Remote Richmond Park Labour Sachin Patel (Pakistani origin) Outside Chance Dunbartonshire East Labour Amanjit Jhund Ranil Jayawardena Conservative Hampshire North East Excellent Excellent Wigan Labour Lisa Nandy (Sri Lankan origin) Remote Newport East Conservative Natasha Ashgar Excellent Conservative Wealden Nusrat Ghani Excellent Bromsgrove Conservative Sajid Javid (Pakistani origin) Remote Upper Bann Conservative Amanjit Singh Bhogal Hampstead & Kilburn Outside Chance Lib Dem Maajid Nawaz Remote Leicester East Conservative Kishan Devani (Pakistani origin) Washington & Sunderland West Remote Conservative Bob Dhillon Outside Chance Streatham Lib Dem Amna Ahmad Remote Birmingham Perry Barr Conservative Charlotte Hodivala (Pakistani origin) Remote Swansea East Conservative Altaf Hussain Ochil & South Perthshire Outside Chance Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh SNP Remote Workington Conservative Rozila Kana Remote Dulwich & West Norwood Conservative Resham Kotecha Finally, the following constituencies have 40% or more ethnic minority Remote Croydon North Conservative Vidhi Mohan voters. The ones with significant Indian origin voters Remote Feltham & Heston Conservative Simon Nayyar (approximately 10%-50%) are highlighted in bold.

Excellent Witham Conservative Priti Patel Lewisham, Deptford East Ham Remote Birmingham Yardley Conservative Arun Photay Tottenham Ilford South Remote Wolverhampton S E Conservative Suria Photay Hackney South and Shoreditch Brent North Remote Hornsey & Wood Green Conservative Suhail Rahuja Manchester, Gorton Birmingham, Ladywood Remote Aberdeen North Conservative Sanjoy Sen Ilford North Ealing, Southall Even Reading West Conservative Alok Sharma Bradford East Leicester East Remote Slough Conservative Gurcharan Singh Mitcham and Morden West Ham Excellent Richmond Conservative Rishi Sunak Luton North Croydon North Outside Chance Wolverhampton S W Conservative Paul Uppal Hendon Birmingham, Hall Green Excellent Cambridgeshire N W Conservative Shailesh Vara Barking Birmingham, Hodge Hill Outside Chance Walsall North Douglas Hansen-Luke Conservative Remote East Ham Lewisham East Bradford West Conservative Samir Jassal Westminster North Brent Central Remote Derby South Liberal Democrat Joe Naitta Luton South Harrow East Remote Grantham & Stamford Liberal Democrat Harrish Bisnauthsing Warley Birmingham, Perry Barr Remote Leicester South Liberal Democrat Anita Prabhakar Hackney North and Stoke Harrow West Remote Beckenham Liberal Democrat Anuja Prashar Newington Hayes and Harlington Remote Ealing Southall Liberal Democrat Kavya Kaushik Brentford and Isleworth Poplar and Limehouse Remote Hayes & Harlington Liberal Democrat Satnam Khalsa Erith and Thamesmead Camberwell and Peckham Remote South Shields Liberal Democrat Gita Gordon Streatham Feltham and Heston Even Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat Pramod Subbaraman Vauxhall Slough Remote Angus Liberal Democrat Sanjay Samani Bermondsey and Old Southwark Walthamstow Remote Arundel & South Downs Liberal Democrat Shweta Kapadia Greenwich and Woolwich Bethnal Green and Bow Remote Salisbury Reetendra Nath Banerji Liberal Democrat Blackburn Edmonton Remote Aberconwy Liberal Democrat Victor Babu Dulwich and West Norwood Leyton and Wanstead Remote Harborough Liberal Democrat Zuffar Haq Walsall South Leicester South Remote Leicester East Liberal Democrat Dave Raval Ealing North Remote Birmingham Perry Barr Liberal Democrat Parmjit Singh

18

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

One Week

(With thanks to Mr Obama): In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the caretaker; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.

In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Scot against English; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.

In one week, at this defining moment in British history, you can give this country the continuity we need.

Five years ago, we were in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the second World War. Hundreds of thousands of workers had lost their jobs this year.

Businesses and families couldn’t get credit. Home values were falling. Pensions were disappearing. Wages were lower than they'd been in a decade, at a time when the cost of groceries, fuel and University had never been higher.

At a moment like that, the last thing we could have afforded was four or five more years of the tired, old theory that says when we are in a hole we should keep digging, when there is no more money, we should go to the IMF and beg for more money, in the hope more debt means economic growth by some miracle.

The job is not yet finished. You don’t turn out the lights just as you see the dawn. It’s not change you need when the alternative is more debts payments to overseas lenders. It’s not change you need when the alternative is borrow, borrow, borrow to spend, spend, spend.

It's not change when the alternative does not give tax breaks to the poorest.

It’s not change when you had the chance a decade ago you didn’t clamp down on the banks, and all those with their hands in the cookie-jar. That's not change.

Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake. Some are worried about losing an election, but your leaders should be worried about Britons who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and

Spriha Srivastava

their life savings.

The question in this election is not "Are you better off than you were five years ago?" We know the answer to that – yes.

The real question is, "Will this country be even more better off five years from now?"

Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We're still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world.

Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there's no reason we should throw all of that away.

What we have lost in the great recession cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this story of this Island. That each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That's what's been lost – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that's what we need to restore right now.

And to all those campaigning in this final week, I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can't think of uttering another word to the people, think of those who need you. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.

Don't believe for a second this election is over. Don't think for a minute that opposition to continuity concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.

In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottomup.

In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.

In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of continued growth over reversal.

In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.

Miliband Pledges to Abolish Stamp Duty

Labour leader, Ed Miliband is to announce plans to get rid of stamp duty for firsttime home buyers, as he attempts to form political propulsion during the last week of the general election campaign.

Miliband has also insisted that there would be “no deal” whatsoever with the Scottish National party in a hung parliament.

The Labour Party have tried to tempt working class families by pledging to axe stamp duty on

starter homes, worth up to £300,000, which saves the buyer up to £5,000. Labour is confident that this will surely work in their favour as the campaign is gearing up for its final leg.

On the other hand, David Cameron plans to launch a small business manifesto as an attempt to escalate the economy campaign on Monday.

London Mayor, Boris Johnson

that the UK's IT industry is calling out for computer coders, while crane operators are required for building sites in major towns and cities.

He expressed that colleges needed to work more closely with business in order to train teenagers in the skills they need to get well-paid jobs. This would also help to reduce the

Christie’s to auction Amrita Sher Gil's self portrait

Christie’s, the world’s leading art business will offer a 1931 self-portrait

by Amrita Sher-Gil, on 10th June in London. The portrait depicts one of India's famous and important modern artists at the age of 18, recognised today as pioneer of Indian modernism.

This painting is the first ever to be offered in London and is part of eight canvases by SherGil that will be auctioned globally. The government of India has defined SherGil's works as 'National Art Treasures' and are deemed of such national importance to Indian culture that they are nonexportable if sourced in India, and when sold in India, must remain in the country.

Amrita Sher-Gil was a pioneer in the history of modern Indian art, and in the 28 years of her brief life was a revolution personified. Born in Budapest in 1913 to a Hungarian mother and Indian father, Sher-Gil was a tour de force in the landscape of Modernism in British India. Living between India, Hungary and France, Sher-Gil painted the life of people and her surroundings with an intensity that remains unparalleled in modern Indian art. Her talent for the arts was discovered very early on, and in 1929 at the age of 16 she moved to Paris to study with Lucien Simon at the prestigious École Nationale des BeauxArts.

Celebrating her achievements and contribution to modern Indian art of 172 documented works, the Indian Government recognised her as a National Treasure artist in 1972. The majority of her works are in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. It is truly a

privilege to discover a painting by Sher-Gil, which was previously unknown to her collectors and admirers, and to offer it the world stage it deserves.

The self-portrait from 1931 will be offered in the annual South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Sale at Christie's King Street on 10th June with a pre-sale estimated at £1.0-1.8 million.

This is one of SherGil’s undiscovered paintings, never before seen or exhibited publicly.

It has remained in France from the time it was painted, and is making its maiden voyage across the Atlantic this summer, first to New York, where it will be on view at Christie’s, and then to London for its sale preview and auction.

The timing of the portrait has a very interesting story behind it. In 1931, Sher-Gil was briefly engaged to Yusuf Ali Khan, while rumour had it that she was also having an affair with her first cousin Victor Egan.

Sher-Gil painted portraits of these two men in 1931, both gazing introspectively into the distance, contemplating perhaps their own fate in the hands of this femme fatale. Sher-Gil’s own portrait is also painted in the same year. Together, these paintings form a triangle between three

lovers, placing them in conversation — each avoiding the gaze of the viewer, withholding a secret only the three seem to be privy to.

Among Sher-Gil's 19 other portraits, this selfportrait is the only one known in profile. Here, the artist is in complete profile and avoiding any direct interaction with the viewer. However, the composition diagonally cuts through the canvas with the torso almost leaping out of the canvas onto the viewer. The golden bowl sitting empty between her and the viewer reflects the emotional emptiness that she may have experienced as an 18-year-old, torn between the various loves of her life.

The exhibition is extremely well-timed, especially as Christie's celebrates its global auction and private sales for 2014, which hit a total of £5.1 billion, making it the highest annual total in Christie's history.

Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful.

Christie’s offers around 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & C o n t e m p o r a r y, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Private sales totalled £916.1 million ($1.5 billion) in 2014, an increase of 20% on the previous year.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

Boris Johnson urges the youth to take up high-skilled jobs

The London Mayor, Boris Johnson has warned that there are not many young people training for jobs that can help the economy.

He also believes that there are way too many hairdressers or people training to become one, which isn't doing anything beneficial for the country, not the economic state.

Instead, he believes

reliance on foreign workers and cut immigration.

He stated, “One of the great difficulties about the recovery is it has been slow in driving incomes up. You are now seeing incomes increase for skilled jobs of all kinds.

Basically, if you have got a skill you will see your income going up now.

People who don't have

skills, of one kind or another are finding it tougher. We have got to up skill the UK labour force.”

Boris Johnson clarified that he was not shooing away foreigners, but believes that young people have the potential to take up high-skilled jobs, which would eventually lead to a rise in income. “That doesn't mean you have to

tell talented foreigners to bog off. I don't think that's necessary. But you'll find that the labour market will start to reach a better equilibrium.”

Although he agrees with the immigration restraint, he stresses that if his great-grandfather had not left Turkey, Boris Johnson would not be here.

REAL ESTATE VOICE

The Boomerang Effect

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap A Property Investment Company

19

Back in December I was browsing through an industry magazine, and was surprised to read that a large and well known developer in London had dropped their deposit. Meaning they had exchanged on a property and failed to complete on a deal.

They are in dispute over the deposit as the seller is claiming they had forfeited it as they had breached the pre completion conditions.

The reason this caught my eye was it was a property we were aiming for. The location is the most prestigious in London, a few years ago we had agreed the deal and even had the contract. The deal was done very discreetly. The owner was of prominent royal lineage and had passed away, the sale was both off market and confidential.

We had the contract and were about to exchange, only to be told the deal had been done by another party. At the time I had heard who had purchased the deal.

A few years later the magazine article confirmed the rumour but surprisingly the deal was not done.

So we g ot in t ouch with someon e who was able t o g et in touch wit h the law firm acting f or the seller and are n ow in touc h with t hem. Thoug h th e d eposit is u nder c onten tion the prope rty presumably is not and therefo re u p for g rabs. Give n t hey may be ke epin g t he 10% exchang e mon ies the y may do a d eal fo r less – possibl y.

Espe cially if it’s disc re et.

This is the second time this has occurred. It’s not a common occurrence where another party gets the contract and exchanges on the deal yet we end up proceeding with the transaction.

The last time this occurred was on a site in London Mews, W2, where we were looking to purchase a site which had planning for four mews houses. We didn’t particularly want to deal with the receiver as we had a sneaky suspicion he was preparing to sell this site to one of his friends and family probably for a good fee.

The lawyer we were using had a good idea considering we were in touch with the person who owned the site. He had been made bankrupt and so the bank had appointed a trustee to sell the asset.

The trustee apparently works on the behalf of the client but is appointed by the bank. You wouldn’t think so judging from the experience many clients have with the receivers who act on their behalf.

The fact the bank had appointed a receiver did not preclude him from remortgaging, therefore we could simply come in and remortgage the property instead of purchasing it.

the money to complete the deal and so they lost their deposit. The property was back on the market. With the 10% applied the price we could get it for now would be even cheaper.

Given the two failed transactions the bank or receiver decided it was time to sell for sure, by hook or crook. The surest way to do this is via an auction sale, at the drop of a hammer the deal is exchanged leaving the purchaser 28 days to complete the deal or lose their 10%.

This wou ld achieve two things. It would bypass the receiver and second ly it wou ld mean we d o n ot pay stamp d uty as we are not the purchase rs merel y loan g ive rs.

We woul d be free to dict ate th e t erms o f t he l oan which woul d be heavily we ig hted in ou r favou r.

It was purchase d o n the 10th J une 2010 for a sum of £1.65m, it was my hand which went up in t he auc tion ro om and closed t he d eal. The purchaser was cont inually prod ding me in t he kidne ys t o bid highe r an d h ig her. We were expecting to clo se this deal somewhere between £1.2m an d max £1.4m but the purchase r’s part ner was going to purchase it at any cost – it seemed . There was ano ther Indian in the ro om who was persistent in get ting this sit e and was re spon sible for pushing the price up to what see me d at the time an o ve rpriced d evelopment site.

Just as we were preparing to exchange, which wasn’t as quickly as we had hoped for, the receiver had done the deal with another party; leaving us with an expensive lawyer’s bill. At the time the firm we were dealing with was one of the top law firms in London who charge heavily by the hour.

The deal after much time had been spent was gone, this is sometimes the nature of property, some you win and some you lose, as long as you win more than you lose you’re doing something right.

However like the first example it seemed the party who had exchanged on London Mews had been too hasty, they hadn’t secured

The site was seconds away from Paddington Station, and was a virtual freehold. It had a few complications, one being it ran over some rail tracks and the other the opening to the site was constricted affecting deliveries and getting any machinery in.

Looking back it was a good deal for the client. The property had been around, the property was previously in an auction in 2007 but then was withdrawn, everyone knew about the site. Furthermore the funding environment was less conducive compared to now for developments. Those who purchased in 2009 made the most money in property especially in London, this was an environment where most were sitting on the fence not deciding one way or another. When a property stays on the market for a while it loses its appeal and its shine. People think there must be something wrong with it as no one is buying it. No one knows what but everyone thinks there must be a problem therefore no one buys it.

The Real Deal

St John’s Wood, London, NW8 Purchase Price: £3.3m l l l l l l

A large property in a nice residential area Freehold Garden Can be converted into three flats Rare development opportunity in this location We expect the value of this property after conversion to be around £4.8m

The deal has bee n a good o ne, the price of each f re ehold house mu st be tou ching £2m a piece meaning th e cu rren t value of the site must be aro und £8m. This from a purchase price o f £1. 65m and approx. £500k fo r the development .

Call us now if you would like to have a piece of the pie!

I guess some properties are just supposed to fall in some peoples’ laps no matter what. Even when the deal looks like it has gone for sure, it rebounds back, like it was meant to be.

0207 993 0103

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now:

Specialists in

Central London Property Sourcing

info@sowandreap.co.uk

www.sowandreap.co.uk

55 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch Tower, London, W1H 7AA

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SowandReapProperties

Tips of the Week l Always focus on the capital growth of an investment property - never sacrifice this for yield as the bulk of your money will be made in the rise in property value, rental income is secondary. l Always have two exit strategies when doing a property deal, as things may not always go as per your plan.

20

Current Highest Earning Global Indian Politicians

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Reshma Trilochun

In the past few weeks, we have been presenting to you an array of global rich lists encompassing influential people from different professional fields. In this final edition of the Global rich list, we present to you the ten current highest earning global Indian politicians.

1. Mangal Lodha - $3.6 billion

Mangal (Prabhat) Lodha is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Malabar Hill, Maharashtra. He is the vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Maharashtra and is also an active social worker.

He was born in Jodhpur in 1955. He also completed his B. Com and his LLB from the University of Jodhpur, as well as practiced law at the Jodhpur High court.

In 1981, Lodha

moved to Mumbai where he set up the Lodha Group, a real estate company. Lodha Group has become one of the leading real estate companies in India.

His Lodha Foundation implements initiatives, such as education, healthcare, sports and culture. The foundation also provides medical treatment, education, vocational training, sports training and many more to the underprivileged.

2. Lord Swraj Paul - $2.9 billion

3. Nandan Nilekani - $1.75 billion

Nandan Nilekani joined the Congress party and unsuccessfully fought as a Lok Sabha candidate in 2014.

Nandan Nilekani is the former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). He is also a member of the Indian Congress party.

Nilekani was born in Bangalore. He received his Bachelors' degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

He is also one of the founders of Infosys, where he worked for 28 years before joining UIDAI. Nandan Nilekani and his wife are philanthropists who have given away a part of their wealth to several causes.

They have also invested in education and healthcare, as well as funded nonprofit efforts in water infrastructure, micro-credit, and social research.

4. Mohammed Dewji - $1.25 billion

Lord Swraj Paul was born in 1931 in Jalandhar, India. He has a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and in 1996, he was elevated to the British Peerage.

Swraj Paul worked in a small foundry, Apeejay Surrendra Group, which was started by his father.

Apeejay Surrendra Group became one of India's largest family owned industrial groups in a wide range of indus-

tries, such as steel, engineering, pharmaceuticals, hotels, shipping and tea.

Swraj Paul is a member of the UK's House of Lords. Previously a Labour party peer, he is now a crossbencher or independent lawmaker.

He is the chairman of Caparo Group.

Lord Paul came to England in 1966 for the medical treatement of his daughter, Ambika. After the tragic death of his daughter, Paul remained in England and set up Caparo Group in 1968 as a dedication to her.

A member of parliament in Tanzania since 2005, Mohammed Dewji is also head of MeTL Group, the country's largest privately held conglomerate.

Mohammed Dewji is a member of parliament in Tanzania. He is also the head of MeTL Group, Tanzania's largest homegrown company.

MeTL Group is worth more than $1 billion with a presence in 11 countries in Africa, such as Uganda, Ethiopia Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, DR Congo, as well as Tanzania. They provide logistic services, manufacturing products and brands that people love.

5. Vijay Mallya - $750 million

Vijay Mallya is a shareholder in United Spirits and United Breweries (UB). He is the owner of Force India in F1 racing and the owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Vijay Mallya is an independent MP in the Rajya Sabha.

Vijay Mallya is the son of a famous industrialist, Vittal Mallya.

Vijay Mallya became the chairman of United Breweries in 1983 and took the company to great heights.

The UB Group has several business interests, such as alcoholic beverages to life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology and leisure. In 2000, Mallya entered politics. He became the president of the Janata Party.

Vijay Mallya is also the founder of the Kingfisher airline and beer brand.

6. Ravindra Kishore Sinha$138.23 million

Ravindra Kishore Sinha is the founder of Security and Intelligence Services (India) Ltd. He is also a BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha. He is also a graduate in Political Science and Law. Sinha set up the Delhi-based security services company in 1973. The company is said to have over 78,000 employees.

In the 60s, Sinha worked as a journalist; as a war correspondent, he spent an extensive amount of time with the Bihar regiment in forward areas covering the Bangladesh war action, as well as developing a close bond with several officers of the regiment.

He also received many accolades for his work as a war correspondent during the Indo-Pak war in 1971. It was Sinha's inclination to help ex-servicemen after the Indo-Pak war, which led him to start the Security and Intelligence Services (SIS) company.

7. Mahendra Prasad - $110. million

Dr Mahendra Prasad is an MP of the Rajyasabha, elected from Bihar state as a member of Janata Dal (United) Party. He is a former Congress Party member. He is also the owner of Aristo Pharmaceuticals.

Prasad has graduated with honours in Economics from the Patna University, Bihar.

He has received his Doctorate from State Medical & Pharmaceutical University, Moldova.

By profession, he has

been an Environmentalist, Horticulturist, Economist, Agriculturist, Political and Social Worker.

8. Jayadev Galla - $110. million

Jayadev Galla is the Managing Director of the Amara Raja Batteries Limited (ARBL). He is also an MP for Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the Lok Sabha for Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

He holds a Bachelors' degree in Politics and Economics with a Business Cognate from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA. ARBL is a widely held public limited company listed on the

National Stock Exchange of India Limited and the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited.

9. Konda Vishweshwar Reddy $85.16. million

Konda Vishweshwar Reddy is a Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP in the Chevella Lok Sabha.

He is also a shareholder in the Apollo Hospitals.

His wife, Sangeeta Reddy is the Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals.

Reddy’s father, K. Madhava Reddy was Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court. His grandfather was noted freedom fighter and Telangana leader, K.V.

Ranga Reddy, on whose name 'Ranga Reddy' district was named.

Jagan Mohan Reddy (Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy) is the MLA for YSR Congress Party and is the leader of opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. He also has a degree in Business Administration.

Reddy's parents are noted politicians as well.

His father was the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and his mother is Y.S. Vijayamma, MLA for Pulivendula.

Reddy was arrested under suspicion of accumulating disproportionate assets when

this father was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

10. Jagan Mohan Reddy - $71.95 million

CURRENCY VOICE

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

21

Foreign Exchange

Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX,

Mixed session for pound Currency Specialists.

The monetary policy committee announced a unanimous decision to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.5%. The key announcement was all of the members deciding that the next interest rate adjustment would be to the upside, eliminating concerns over interest rate cuts due to low inflation. These comments caused a sharp rally of the Pound, gaining over 1% against both the Euro and the Dollar. Elsewhere in the news, the latest election polls showed the Conservatives leading at 35% with Labour marginally behind at 34%.

The Pound had a mixed session after disappointing retail sales figures were offset by a positive government borrowing figure, providing a varied set of data as parties spar over the economy in the run-up to the general election. The poor retail sales figure is believed to be a backlash of consumers being maxed out after taking advantage of the discount-fuelled frenzies we saw over the festive period. Despite the disappointing retail figures, the Pound was boosted by separate figures showing the budget deficit narrowed more

than officials estimated after Britain posted the smallest shortfall for 11 years.

Government borrowing fell to £7.4bn in March, taking the total for the financial year to £87.3bn, well below the £90.2bn figure estimated by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and £11.1bn lower than last year's total. The timely figure was perceived by analysts as demonstrating the good the current government has done for the economy.

There was market talk last week Thursday 23rd April that despite continued setbacks in negotiations between Greece

and their European counterparts, some progress is being made. Creditors have reduced demands for Greece and say there could be scope for a potential short term Greek default in order to allow more time for negotiations.

The Euro fought back after French and German manufacturing came in significantly below forecast first thing. Both figures signalled an easing in the rate of expansion of private sector output to near stagnation in April. Analysts believe this weaker Euro-zone expansion is a sign that bond purchases by the European

Central Bank will take time to revive a fragile recovery. While ECB President Mario Draghi has already pointed to some positive effects created by the 1.1 trillion euro plan, he has also cautioned that the region’s recovery won’t be sustainable without government reforms.

Investors have begun to lose some of their confidence in the performance of Germany, Europe’s largest economy, as global weakness damped export prospects.

The Dollar weakened after unemployment claims came out above forecast, despite holding below 300,000 for the seventh straight week, pointing to a rebound in payrolls after hiring eased last month. Muted firings are helping boost prospects of a healthy labour market even as employers slowed hiring in March amid weaker foreign demand, chillier temperatures and fallout from the West Coast port workers’ dispute.

Projections for more robust employment growth ahead may keep Federal Reserve officials on course to raise the benchmark interest rate this year for the first time since 2006.

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 28th April 2015 @ 5.30pm

GBP - INR = 96.48

USD - INR = 63.03 EUR - INR = 69.11 GBP - USD = 1.53 GBP - EUR = 1.40

EUR - USD = 1.10 GBP - AED = 5.62

GBP - CAD = 1.84

GBP - NZD = 1.98

GBP - AUD = 1.91

GBP - ZAR = 18.10

GBP - HUF = 419.76

www.rationalfx.com

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

27th April 2015

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Dear Financial Voice Reader, I’m asked by so many people how to invest in shares online – the basics – so I’ve created at long last a special online education course for them, and for Asian Voice readers an exclusive discount – just go to www.udemy.com/tradingonline and use code ‘asianvoice’ for 50% off.

During my many talks over trading events, conferences and training sessions I have always encountered the same question from people that are interested in dipping their toes into the markets or have just a couple of years of experience: what are the most basic and fundamental rules that one should follow when starting to get into trading and investing? Are there any very simple guidelines that will ensure that everyone and anyone has at least a fighting chance in this game or is it just for professionals?

And that’s exactly what I will do in this twoseries guide, give everyone a shortcut to the lessons that I have learned through sweat and tears. So hopefully you won’t have to go through the same experiences to learn these rules the hard way. And trust me, this saves time and equally importantly money, lots of money.

Win more and win bigger A trader should always focus on winning more times than he loses and that his winners make him more money than his losers cost him. This sounds too simple and stupid to focus on, right?

But at the end of the day that's what trading is all about and that's why it is called trading. You will make choices, effectively that’s what trades are, and some of them will go well and some of them will go wrong. The key here is to try to make more good decisions than bad ones and also make sure that when a trade goes your way you will get paid more than what you'd lose if it went badly.

And then repeat this simple plan again and again. After all, if you could achieve a small edge on both these factors do you really need anything else?

Suppose that you win 55% of the time on your trades and you make 1% on your winners and lose 0.5% on your losers. Doesn't sound too exciting, right? However a sustainable performance like that will make you infinite profits if repeated forever.

Just think how casinos – yes, casinos, stay with me here - make their money: they have the odds stacked in their favor far less than 55% - most times only about 0.5% or 1% - and they just pay winners an equal amount to what they get from losers.

However they simply repeat this process for an infinite amount of times because they know that this way they will make an infinite amount of money. That’s an easy rule to follow and it keeps the focus on the bigger picture, that every single trade is just another choice, another step along the way.

India likely to get VP chair in China-led bank

India is likely to get the vice president's post in Chinabacked Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in which India and 56 countries have been admitted as founding members. Chief negotiators of the countries would hold a key meeting to begin consultations to finalise the format of the AIIB's functioning, including the voting share.

The MoU of the bank headquarted in Beijing specifies that the authorised capital of AIIB will be $ 100 billion with an initial subscribed capital of $ 50 billion. Chances of India getting the vice

president's post are high as the vote share expected to be based on 50 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) and 50 per cent purchasing power parity (PPP) with primacy to be given to the Asian countries as the bank primarily aims to fund infrastructure projects mainly in the Asian region, officials said.

India figured next to China and is expected to take the lead role, they said.

Retrospective tax will not be imposed: Jaitley

Promising a business friendly environment to woo foreign investments, India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made it clear that retrospective tax will not be imposed and that taxation policy has to be “non-adversarial.” “Our Taxation process has to be simpler to increase tax buoyancy. Our taxation policy has to be nonadversarial. The government does not intend to tax people retrospectively,” Jaitley said.

He said that the corporate tax structure has to be globally competitive

Arun Jaitley

and that was why the government has proposed to reduce it from 30 to 25 per cent in this year’s Budget. “Decision-making has to be much quicker.

The process of political

consensus has to be statesman-like and mature,” he said addressing D P Kohli Memorial Lecture.

Jaitley said that agriculture as well as infrastructure sectors face serious challenges due to lack of investment. “Highways programme has slowed down and investment has not come in railways. We have to invest Rs 700 billion in infrastructure sector and that was why we have to little delay the fiscal road map,” Jaitley said.

Meanwhile, he said

Junk old services sector rules: Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called to revamp archaic rules to enable the services sector to expand globally, while urging local players not to fear competition.

Recognizing the need to go beyond information technology (IT) as a key foreign exchange earner, Modi flagged financial services, tourism, arbitration and entertainment as sectors that hold enormous potential. Citing the experience in IT and yoga, the Prime Minister recognized that the role of the government should be minimal and that of a facilitator. He pitched India as a potential hub for international arbitration with changes in law and said the country had chartered accountants and lawyers and should not fear competition. But, a key theme of his speech at the Global Exhibition

Narendra Modi

on Services was to move away from the fear of “brain drain” to an era of “brain gain,” where India could be a major player.

“There is immense scope in the services sector...India's human resource is our biggest strength,” the Prime Minister said as he suggested a detailed exercise to map sectors where India could emerge as a leading global player and also identify gaps across the world, which Indian services providers could

fill in the coming years.

As a country, there was a need to think of “multiple layers of services” which can be exported to the world, he said.

Modi also suggested that India had the potential to emerge as an international financial centre on the lines of Mauritius and Singapore and said the government is working towards that. Modi pointed to the need for a strong intellectual property rights (IPR) regime to help India emerge as a base for the global entertainment industry. India's services exports are estimated at a little over $150 billion, which account for around 50% of the annual merchandise exports. IT and IT-enabled services contribute to a large part of exports. But, services account for over half the share of the Indian economy .

India sends notices to 68 FIIs for Rs 6.02 bn tax dues

The income tax department in India has shot off notices in 68 FIIs for payment of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) dues worth Rs 6.02 billion, minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha said.

“The applicability of MAT provisions is a legal issue and wherever the cases require application of MAT provisions, the same is being done,” Sinha told Lok Sabha.

He was asked whether the income tax department had issued notices to 100 FIIs for tax dues totalling $5-6 billion.

Sinha said notices were issued only in 68 cases, raising a tax demand of Rs 6.02 billion.

Several FII were facing tax demand that adds up to nearly Rs 400 billion after the government

decided to levy MAT on capital gains. “FIIs went to a tribunal, which is called Authority for Advance Rulings (against levy of 20% Minimum Alternate Tax on capital gains). They got a judgment against themselves...

So, the tribunal has decided against them. The amount involved is Rs 400 billion. I can change the face of India's irrigation with that Rs 400 billion,” finance minister Jaitley had told a television channel.

The issue has led to a bitter tussle between the government and the overseas investors. The government sought to calm jittery FIIs and clarified that MAT on capital gains made by overseas funds in Indian stock markets will not be applicable, if

the money is routed through countries such as Mauritius, Singapore and others, with which India has signed double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAA). But, the finance ministry has refused to climb down from its stand on withdrawing MAT notices retrospectively and has suggested that FIIs affected by the recent notices should approach the Supreme Court, where a case already been filed.

The government has decided to withdraw MAT on capital gains from the current financial year and unveiled the measure in the February budget. The foreign funds have said the notices should be withdrawn and have argued that they are not liable to pay the levy.

there was a need to revisit certain provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. “We need to revisit provisions of Prevention of Corruption,” he said, while noting that the concerned departments and civil servants were reluctant to take decisions.

Phrases like “corrupt means”, “public interest” and “pecuniary advantages” have to be redefined in the present context to differentiate between the act of corruption and honest error, Jaitley said.

Ratan Tata buys stake in Chinese smartphone Xiaomi

Ratan Tata

Chinese smartphone major Xiaomi said that Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata group, has acquired a stake in Xiaomi Technology in a deal expected to bolster the company's presence in India. "This is the first investment by any Indian into Xiaomi," the company said in a release. "Mr. Tata is one of the most well-respected business leaders in the world. An investment by him is an affirmation of the strategy we have undertaken in India so far," said Lei Jun, founder and chief executive of Xiaomi. "This is just the start of an exciting journey, and we are looking forward to bringing more products into India," he added. Without specifying financial details of the stake bought by Tata, the statement said that "in December last year, Xiaomi raised $1.1 billion at a valuation of $45 billion". Last week, Xiaomi hosted its first global launch outside China, unveiling its high-end flagship smartphone Mi 4i model, that supports six Indian languages, at Rs.12,999.

Kutch, Saurashtra to get Narmada water

Claiming it to be the biggest project of its kind, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel recently dedicated to the public the Swarnim Gujarat Bulk Pipeline project for supplying drinking water to 17.5 million people of Saurashtra and Kutch regions.

The CM inaugurated the project which will pump Narmada water from Dhanki in Surendranagar districts to Saurashtra and Kutch regions by three bulk pipelines of 2,400 mm diameters. The government has built three huge pumping stations at Dhanki.

The three bulk pipelines will carry 1.65 billion litres of Narmada water daily from Dhanki to Hadala near Rajkot, Khirai near MaliyaMiyana in Morbi district and Navda in Botad district. From these points, water will be supplied to 4,710 villages of 102 towns of Saurashtra and 877 villages and 14 towns of Kutch. The project will make drinking water available to 17.5 million people of the twin parched regions, the CM said.

“These pipelines will take care of seepage, illegal taping and evaporation faced by open canals.

Now, water will be available in homes of people.

This will also be a huge relief to girls in Kutch who could not go to schools as they would have to walk long distances to fetch water.

Now parents should ensure that these girls attend schools,” CM said after inaugurating the project. The state government has spent Rs 24.56 billion on the project which took about 2.5 years for completion.

While Dhanki-Hadala bulk pipeline is 146 km long, Dhanki-Khirai line, which will also supply water to Kutch region, is 120 km long. The DhankiNavda line, which runs parallel to Vallabhipur branch canal of Narmada is 94 km long.

The CM said this was the largest drinking water supply project of India and among the largest in the world. Water supply minister Vijay Rupani said the project would prove to be boon for the twin parched regions.

“Almost 70 per cent of dams in Saurashtra and Kutch regions have gone dry. Had there been no supply of Narmada water, people would have been forced to migrate. But thanks to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the scarcity of drinking water will become a history in Saurashtra and Kutch,” said Rupani.

Expats are proud of Modi: Lord Swraj Paul

Leading UK industrialist Lord Swraj Paul praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his initiatives to connect expats across the world. He said the BJP government at the Centre is moving in the right direction and doing everything to uplift the poor.

"PM is moving in the right direction. He has raised the profile of India and Indians all over the world. From an NRI's point of view, he is the first PM after 35 years who has recognised the strength and ability of NRIs. For that, NRIs are proud of Modi," Lord Paul said. "He has lots of ideas, dynamism and desire to take this country ahead.

We wish him luck," he added. "I believe that this government does more for the poor than the rich.

After a long time, people at least heard that something should be done for the poor. I think Modi is talking about the poor and paying due attention to their problems," Lord Paul said.

"It is a general tendency to measure the performance of government after one month or one year. Let me tell you that no miracle happens in one year. But, there is buzz all around that something positive is happening, which is a good sign," said Lord Paul.

Lord Paul has also offered support to boost the education sector in Gujarat. Paul, the Chairman of UK-based Caparo Group, visited his company's manufacturing facility at Sanand after his meeting Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.

23

Gujarat govt comes to the rescue of 3 morbidly obese kids The Gujarat government has come to the rescue of three morbidly obese kids of a daily wage labourer from Vanjdi village of Una taluka in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district. "Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has directed the district administration to provide medical help to Ramesh Nanwan's three obese kids. Accordingly, the district administration provided Below Poverty Line and Mamta card to the family so that the kids can be treated for obesity," Gir Somnath district Resident Additional Collector Kalpana Trivedi said. The three children were taken to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and the medical expenses would be borne by the state government, Trivedi said. Earlier, Nanwan offered to sell his kidney to feed his children.

Five-year-old Yogita (33kg), three-year-old Amisha (47 kg) and oneyear-old Harsh (17 kg) were treated for obesity,

but the cost of medicines were beyond their reach, due to which they were discharged from Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, said Nanwan, who works as a daily wage labourer.

"They were earlier admitted into the Civil Hospital, but I had to get them discharged since I could not bear their medical expenses. I am a daily wager, who earns livelihood by working in farms.

We hardly earn three to four thousand rupees a month and a huge part of our income was spent feeding my three children," Nanwan said.

"I have four kids and my elder daughter Bhavika (eight years) does not suf-

"Evil Twin" found in woman's brain

Yamini Karanam (26), PhD student from Indiana University

If one was to hear that they had an embryonic twin in their brain, they would not only be petrified but they would also act hysterically after receiving the news.

However, that was not the case for Yamini Karanam, who reacted quite calmly after receiving this news.

Yamini Karanam (26), a PhD student from Indiana University seemed relieved that it was teratoma and not a brain tumour. The fact that it had teeth and hair didn't make her squirm.

Karanam had been having trouble with her speech and reading, but with the removal of the teratoma, her condition may improve.

Teratoma is a type of germ cell tumour that contain many different types of tissues. Sometimes, it can also contain mature elements such as hair, muscle and bone.

Teratomas most often occur in the ovary, testis and the sacrococcygeal region (at the base of the tailbone) in children.

In an interview with NBC Los Angeles, she referred to the embryonic twin as the “evil twin sister who's been torturing me for the past 26 years.”

fer from obesity. The weight of three of my other kids started increasing, three to four months after their birth, which resulted in extreme obesity," Nanwan said.

Such is their state that the children face difficulty in sitting, eating and moving around. Their mother Pragna often spends the entire day in the kitchen cooking to satiate the hunger of her overweight kids while Rameshbhai works hard to earn the daily bread. “My day starts with making 30 chapatis and a kilo of vegetable curry in the morning. After that I am again in the kitchen preparing more food,” their mother said.

She added, “Their hunger never stops. They demand food all the time and cry and scream if they’re not fed. I am always in the kitchen cooking for them.

Little Harsh is breastfeeding and guzzles over two litres extra milk.”

Dr Charul Purani, Assistant professor of paediatrics department in the Civil Hospital, said the children were being evaluated along with paediatric endocrinologist Dr Ruchi Shah. “We have ordered complete check-up of the children including liver, kidney, heart, brain tests along with hormonal tests to know the exact cause of the problem. Interestingly, the eldest sister of the children is normal.

Primary clinical evaluation has not thrown up any single cause responsible for such morbid obesity in these kids. It could be hormonal, syndromic or a mix. We will be able to make a diagnosis once all test reports arrive,” said Dr Purani.

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24

NEPAL QUAKE SPECIAL

India will try to wipe tears of all Nepalese: Modi Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reached out to the victims of the disastrous earthquake in Nepal and said India would make all possible efforts to help the Nepalese and wipe their tears in this hour of crisis.

He said India's efforts gelled with its age-old ethos of `Seva Parmo Dharma' (service is our principle duty), manifested in India's intervention in various crises across the world including the recent one in Yemen.

“I can feel what Nepal and its people must be going through since I have seen closely the devastation caused by the earthquake in Kutch (Gujarat) on January 26, 2001,” Modi said in his monthly `Mann Ki Baat' radio programme on AIR. “My dear brothers and sisters of Nepal, India is with you in this hour of grief. For 1.25 billion Indians, Nepal is their own country and India will make all efforts to wipe the tears of every person in Nepal, hold their hands and stand with them,” he said.

Modi said a number of rescue teams along with sniffer dogs were sent to Nepal to save as many lives as they could after the earthquake caused widespread damage.

Observing that help had already started and teams of experts had been sent, he said the priority was to rescue those who might still be alive under the debris, adding that relief and rehabilitation work after the rescue operations

will go on for a long time.

India Inc has pledged support in relief and rehabilitation work in Nepal.

Chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group Sanjiv Goenka is chairing a national task force to oversee industry mobilization and participation in the operations.

India comes to rescue in record time India jumped to Nepal's rescue in record time, after the earthquake on Saturday flattened large parts of Kathmandu valley and Pokhara.

Within the first few minutes, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav and PM Sushil Koirala. In an early tweet, PM said, “Spoke to PM Sushil Koirala, who is in transit in Bangkok on his way to Kathmandu.

Assured all support & assistance during this tough time.”

Modi led from the front, monitoring and directing India's response directly. “As directed by

the PM, we have mobilised all resources to support Nepal,” said defence minister Manohar Parrikar. He added all Army units spread across north India have also been asked to help in the rescue and relief operations in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other affected regions.

“We are offering full assistance to Nepal,” foreign secretary S Jaishankar said. The Indian government, he said, responded to a request from the Nepal government for rescue teams, medical teams and damage assessment teams.

India has dispatched 700 rescue personnel and 8,200 kg of relief material to Nepal. The IAF responded swiftly, dispatching 13 aircraft and two helicopters with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) personnel, medical teams, relief supplies and sniffer dogs to the landlocked country as part of “Operation Maitri.”

Jaishankar said by

Sunday, India would have five helicopters in Kathmandu and five in Pokhara for rescue and airlift operations as well as food distribution. India has also sent a team of senior officials from the ministries of home, defence, external affairs and NDMA to co-ordinate the rescue and relief operations.

Major-General J S Sandhu, from the Army headquarters, was also deputed to Nepal to oversee and coordinate the relief operations. “My primary task is to be the pointperson between the Indian armed forces and the Nepalese Army, check out what is required and how the resources and relief material being sent from India are deployed there,” he said.

The first C-130J Super Hercules, with 40 NDRF personnel and 3.5 tonnes of relief material, took off from Hindon airbase for Kathmandu. It was followed by two C-17 Globemaster and one IL-

76 aircraft, with over 250 NDRF personnel, 43 tonnes of relief material, five sniffer dogs and a RAMT (rapid aeromedical team) with medical equipment and 24 doctors and paramedics. Two Mi-17s also left for Nepal from Gorakhpur, but had to return due to bad weather.

Jaishankar said India hopes to do a damage assessment of the area, following which New Delhi would dispatch more targeted rescue and rehabilitation assistance.

The Army, too, was keeping two field hospitals and two engineer task-forces on standby for rushing to Nepal, with Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag in touch with his Nepalese counterpart to extend any help.

Jaishankar said, “As soon as the earthquake happened, our embassy got in touch with the government of Nepal and the ministry of external affairs was in touch with the embassy of Nepal.”

The government asked citizens to respond with details of family or friends who may be in Nepal. “We have set up a helpline in the ministry; the numbers have been put out. We would also request that if there are people who know that their relatives are in Nepal to send us their details,“ Jaishankar said.

Indian Airlines chip in with extra flights, sorties Indian airlines, led by Air India, operated extra flights to Kathmandu for evacuating stranded

those concerned about friends or family.

UK government is providing consular assistance to British nationals caught in the disaster. For assistance call FCO on +44 (0) 207 008 0000.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, “Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff are continuing to work round the clock to identify and assist British nationals in Nepal.

“We’ve got a British Army Gurkha team which was on Everest and is trekking down the mountain and identifying and reporting British Nationals on the way as they go. We’ve also got Gurkhas from the Gurkha Training Base in Nepal who are assisting the local authorities.”

The Indian Army has reached the epicentre of the earthquake at Barpak village, near Lamjung in Gorkha district of Nepal, to set up a base there as part of the massive rescue and relief work being conducted under 'Operation Maitri'.

The Army engineering taskforce with earthmovers has also opened up a road from Kathmandu to Pokhara to ensure relief material and equipment can now be moved to the interiors by road instead of just the air route earlier.

"Barpak is the actual epicentre of the earthquake that rocked Nepal on Saturday, where we initially saw 150 bodies from helicopters. Our teams are gradually reaching inaccessible areas to open roads, clear bridges and rescue people, apart from setting up field hospitals, engineering taskforces and communication hubs," said a senior officer.

Working in close conjunction with its Nepalese counterpart as well as

IAF and NDRF, the Indian Army is prepared for the long haul in the Himalayan country with which it shares a two-century-old connection through recruitment of the doughty Gorkha soldiers.

"We have around 28,000 Nepalese Gorkhas serving in the Indian Army, with another 125,000 retired ones in Nepal. They will be our eyes and ears in directing the relief operations," the officer said. Incidentally, Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, who is in regular touch with his Nepalese counterpart,

UK sending relief to Nepal

The British government is sending relief material to Nepal. The RAF flight is carrying vital aid stocks to Nepal. Department for International Development Secretary Justine Greening said relief material included more than 1,100 shelter kits and over 1,700 solar lanterns, along with a team of Gurkha engineers. The shelter kits consist of plastic sheeting, rope and rope tensioners which will each keep a family of five sheltered from increasingly wet weather in Nepal. The solar lanterns provide lighting and a means of charging phones, radios and torches. Greening also said that the UK Government would match the first £5 million of public donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Earthquake Appeal.

Greening said, “A swift and effective UK response to the Nepal earthquake means help is already reaching all those affected by this terrible disaster. But as the devastating scale of the crisis becomes clearer, we are stepping up our efforts. In

Nepal, vulnerable people are sleeping out in the open, their homes destroyed. An RAF C-17 loaded with humanitarian supplies, vital shelter kits, and Gurkha engineers is being deployed, to help thousands of people affected by the disaster.

UK’s response to the earthquake in Nepal includes a £5 million package, including £3 million released under the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) and £2 million for the British Red Cross; the deployment of eight disaster response specialists from the UK, as well as a team of search and rescue responders and medical experts; and consular assistance to British nationals who have been caught up in this disaster and a crisis hotline for

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Indian tourists. They will also carry relief material to Nepal free of cost and have waived all cancellation, date change or refund charges for Kathmandu flights up to a week. “AI and IndiGo have also come forward to do whatever is required for Nepal in terms of evacuating Indians and carrying relief material there,” said a senior aviation ministry official.

UAVs being sent to map destruction With communication lines down and the sheer scale of the disaster in Nepal making things unmanageable, India is sending UAVs to Kathmandu to map the destruction and help rescue efforts.

Sources said the UAVs, under the operational command of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), will reach Kathmandu and begin operations immediately as time is running out.

"The sheer scale of disaster is so huge that Nepalese authorities, despite their best efforts, are overwhelmed and their infrastructure is under severe stress. We don't even know exactly where and what building has collapsed. Since communication lines are down, there is little information coming from the public either. UAVs will help us map the destruction in the city and channelize resources accordingly," said an NDRF officer.

is a Gorkha Rifles officer.

While the main taskforce HQ has been established in Kathmandu under Major-General J S Sandhu, the sub-HQ is now fully operational at Barpak under Brigadier J Gamlin. Both officers are also from Gorkha Rifles.

"Four Army Dhruv advanced light helicopters and two Cheetah choppers are also being inducted into Pokhara for rescue and relief operations. We are ready to assist Nepal in whatever it wants. Hotlines have been set up between the two armies," said another officer.

Indian Army sets up base at quake epicentre

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

48 Gujarati tourists return safely

At least 48 Gujarati tourists who got stranded in Nepal following the quake have returned safely and efforts are on by the state government to bring back the rest of the tourists from Nepal. The offices of Relief Commissioner in Gandhinagar and Resident Commissioner in New Delhi are working in close coordination to bring back the stranded tourists, Relief Commissioner D N Pandey said. Pandey said that as per estimates, around 600 Gujarati tourists were in Nepal when the quake hit, but no casualty was reported from among them.

So far 48 of them have come back, Pandey said.

He added that since it was not possible to track all the tourists who come back, as many would not intimate the authorities about their return, it would not be possible to give an exact figure of how many had returned.

“Forty eight have surely come back and a group of 40 students from Rajkot have also left for Gujarat.

The road from Gorakhpur has also opened and tourists have started coming back.”

The Gujarat government is coordinating with the Centre and airport authorities to facilitate the return of Gujarati tourists stuck in Nepal and has made arrangements for their stay in Delhi. Its Resident Commissioner's office is coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian embassy in Kathmandu and also working with airport authorities for inbound passengers, official sources said.

Officials are at the airport are working round

the clock. At Gujarat Bhavan, facilities are made for the halt of tourists.

Chairing a high-level meeting on providing relief material to the quake-hit Nepal, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel instructed state authorities to send 25,000 food packets for the quake victims in Nepal, said an official release. The release added that the Chief Minister had directed the concerned officials to send the food packets, consisting of dry food, glucose, dry sugar, puri etc to the office of the Relief Commissioner in Delhi immediately by air so that it could to sent and distributed in Nepal.

311 Tamil Nadu and nearly 1,000 Maharshtra tourists stranded A total of 311 pilgrims and tourists from Tamil Nadu and nearly 1,000 from Maharshtra were stranded in Nepal, officials said. "After the quake, Tamil Nadu government immediately took steps to bring back the stranded people,” an official release in Chennai said. "Those belonging to Tamil Nadu are safe. The state government has taken all efforts for their safe return.

Relatives of those stranded need not be worried," it said.

Government said officials of Tamil Nadu House in Delhi have been

instructed to take appropriate steps to rescue those stranded and added that an official has been posted to liaison with the External Affairs Ministry on the issue. Two officials have also been posted at Delhi Airport to bring stranded people to Tamil Nadu House and to arrange for their return to their respective towns in the State.

A Maharashtra government official said nearly 800-1,000 tourists and mountaineers from different parts of Maharashtra were in Nepal and all were safe. Additional Resident Commissioner Samir Sahai of Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi is coordinating the relief efforts on behalf of the state government. He said that nearly 200 stranded people have got in touch with the Control Room.

"In turn, they informed us that they have established contact with all persons known to them, or their families, groups or tourist charters. Though we cannot provide the exact figures, roughly 8001,000 people from Maharashtra could be present there and all are safe," Sahai said.

A Mumbai team of 15 mountaineers, who had gone for an expedition to Mt Annapurna are reported to be safe and have reached Kathmandu.

uation there,” he said.

“We don’t have the exact number of the Indians trapped there but we have been trying our best to bring back everyone,” he added. Jaishankar also said that aged people, women and children were being given priority to get onto the planes so they could reach home earlier.

Meanwhile, at least 250 Keralites were said to be stranded in Nepal and efforts were on to bring them back safely, Kerala

Minister K C Joseph said. The minister presently in New Delhi to monitor the evacuation of Keralites, said though they do not have the exact number of Keralites stranded in Nepal, as per information with the Government, 250 people from the state have to be evacuated. For the families of three young doctors from Kerala, it was a nightmarish experience as they are awaiting news about their wards.

While one of the doctors Dr Abin Suri has been rescued with serious injuries and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kathmandu, his two friends Dr Irshad and Dr Deepak Thomas are said to be safe.

5,400 Indians evacuated from Nepal

A total of 5,400 Indians have so far been evacuated from quakehit Nepal, officials said on Monday. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told a press conference that of these, 2,100 people were brought in

by Indian Air Force planes and the rest by civilian aircraft and vehicles. The foreign secretary said the Indian government was in constant touch with the Nepal government and was coordinating with authorities there to save the trapped and affected people.

“We at times have lots of planes to take off for Kathmandu but we have to hold back and release them according to the sit-

NEPAL QUAKE SPECIAL

72 killed in India, most are from Bihar

72 killed in India, most are from Bihar The quake and aftershocks, which were experienced in some parts of North and East India, have also left 288 others injured, a senior Home Ministry official said. Bihar accounted for 51 deaths while 173 were injured, the official said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had directed government officials to carry out relief work for the affected on a war footing and all the ministers and secretaries have been asked to camp in the districts under their charge.

The state government has decided to distribute one quintal of foodgrain and Rs 5,800 assistance to each of the affected family as immediate relief, Kumar said.

The Home Ministry official said that 13 people died and 70 others were injured in Uttar Pradesh, two lost their lives and 35 injured in West Bengal.

One person was killed

N Bengal quake triggers fears

An earthquake with its epicentre 5 km southwest of Mirik in Darjeeling district rattled West Bengal on Monday, triggering panic in the hills and plains of North Bengal where terrified people saw it as a sign that the Nepal tragedy was getting closer home. Hundreds of people in multi-storey buildings in Darjeeling decided to sleep in the open. In Siliguri, highrise residents have pitched tents in open ground to spend the night.

Measuring 5.1, the quake was moderate, but people panicked because there have never been three earthquakes on three consecutive days in living memory.

"This has never happened before. Since this is an earthquake-prone region, people fear the worst," said Girish Pradhan, a former professor of geology at Darjeeling's Loreto College. Darjeeling district magistrate Puneet Yadav said there were no casualties or damage to property, but residents said that cracks had formed in many buildings.

A multi-storied shopping complex is said to have tilted a few degrees.

Hundreds of residents have been spending their nights at Chowrasta and Mall since the Nepal quake and hundreds more joined them on Monday.

Most people living in multi-storied apartments have moved in with friends in one-storey houses with open courtyards to rush to safety in case of another quake.

and seven others were injured in Rajasthan.

Five teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Bihar and one in UP for rescue and relief operations. So far, 180 people have been evacuated to safer places by the NDRF in Darbhanga in Bihar.

Fresh tremors hit many states Fresh tremors were felt on Sunday in northern and eastern parts of India

sparking panic. The tremors triggered by a 6.7magnitude were experienced in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, UP, Chattisgarh and Delhi for over 30 seconds.

The Central government announced Rs 600,000 compensation to the relatives of those killed as PM Narendra Modi took stock of rescue and relief operations at a review meeting.

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26

INDIA - WORLD

Continued from page 1 using pickaxes, shovels and their bare hands.

Heavy rain slowed down the rescue work.

The head of neighbouring India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), one of the first foreign organisations to arrive in Nepal to help in the search and rescue effort, said finding survivors and the bodies of the dead would take time.

NDRF Director General O P Singh said heavy equipment could not pass through many of the narrow streets of Kathmandu.

Massive quake devastates Nepal our bare hands."

Officials acknowledged they were overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.

"The big challenge is relief," said Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudel, Nepal's top bureaucrat. "We urge foreign countries to give us special relief materials and medical teams. We are really desperate for more foreign expertise to pull through this crisis."

The situation is worse in remote rural areas.

Highways have been blocked by landslides, and many villages and commu-

A quake victim being rescued

"You have to remove all this rubble, so that will take a lot of time ... I think it's going to take weeks," he said on Monday.

Aftershocks force people to sleep in the open Many people across Nepal slept in the open for a third night, their homes either flattened or threatened by tremors that spread more fear among a traumatised population. In Kathmandu, as elsewhere, thousands are sleeping on pavements, roads and in parks, many under makeshift tents.

Hospitals are full to overflowing, while water, food and power are scarce, raising fears of waterborne diseases.

There were some signs of normality on Tuesday, however, with fruit vendors setting up stalls on major roads and public buses back in operation.

But with aid slow to reach many of the most vulnerable, some Nepalis were critical of the government.

"The government has not done anything for us," said Anil Giri, who was with about 20 volunteers looking for two of his friends presumed buried under rubble. "We are clearing the debris ourselves with

nities are without water and electricity, villagers surviving on salvaged food and with no outside help.

While aid has begun arriving in the capital, including food, medical supplies, tents and dogs trained for rescue efforts, the authorities are struggling to deliver relief further afield. A crush at the main international airport, where relief material and rescue teams are flying in while thousands of residents are trying to leave, has slowed the flow of aid. India and China were among the first contributors to an international effort to support Nepal's stretched resources. On Monday, the United States announced an additional $9 million in aid for Nepal, bringing total US disaster funding to $10 million.

US and Australian military transport planes carrying search-and-rescue personnel and supplies were headed to Nepal.

The situation has been exacerbated by power cuts and breakdown of communication networks.

Hospitals have been overwhelmed by the disaster, with morgues overflowing

People survey a site damaged by the earthquake

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

List of British and Irish-born people believed to be missing in Nepal, compiled by the International Committee of the Red Cross

Abdulla Dahab, 20, London, Adam Powell, 45, Great Britain, Alex Murphy, 25, Dublin, Andrew Robertson, 56, England, Ann McNeil, 66, Sussex, Arron Conran, 22, Ireland, Ashrafe Sultana, 31, London, Brian Allen, 41, Edinburgh, Brian Monteith, 22, Glasgow, Callumn Shally, 21, England, Chloe Pincho, 27, England, Ciaran Sands, 55, Ireland, Cliodhna Cork, 21, Dublin, Daniel Thomas Hughes, 36, Wrexham, Darine Flanagan, 22, Galway, Darren Alexander Smith, 27, Edinburgh, Darren Russell, 26, Wrexham, Deniz Csern Oklavek, 48, Luton, Derek Waters, 56, Dartford, Emma Louise Waterton, 37, UK, Emmet Gallagher, 33, Dublin, Evan Mark Williams, 51, Wolverhampton, Fiona Lamont, 26, Staffordshire, Gary Williams, 52, Plymouth, George Richard Wilson, 69, Manchester,Hayley Saul, 32, Northampton, Heather Chan, 34, Dundee, Heather Stretton, 47, Louth, Lincolnshire, Helen Pounder, 21, Bishop Auckland, Huw Alexander Lashmar, 57,

and medics having to work through the night to cope with an endless stream of victims suffering trauma or multiple fractures.

Some surgeons have been operating from makeshift theatres set up in parking lots with the aftershocks making patients too scared to stay inside.

At the city's oldest Bir Hospital, around a dozen bodies had to be placed on the floor, while stricken relatives stood vigil, trying to swat away the flies.

The Nepalese government said it was stepping up efforts to help remote areas closer to the epicentre of the quake. "Our focus is on rescue," home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal said.

An official said emergency crews would also step up their efforts to rescue those trapped in high-rise buildings which collapsed in Kathmandu.

India has deployed 13 military transport planes loaded with tonnes of food, blankets and other aid for rescue work in Nepal.

"Rescue operations are our first priority," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat.

Nepal witnessed 26 aftershocks on Saturday and nine on Sunday.

Besides capital Kathmandu and Besisahar in Lamjung, the cities which were affected by the quake include Bharatpur, Pokhara and Kirtipur.

Wales, Ian Wainman, 42, Merseyside, Jack Kilpatrick, 24, England, Jack Young, 21, England, Jacqueline Bushe, 54, Donegal, Jacqueline Toal, 34, Glasgow, Janet Brownlie, 59, UK,, Jason Russell, 28 Wrexham, Jonathan Hikmet, 25, UK, Jonathan William Blott, 24, UK, Joseph Ire Sieder, 45, London, Karl Townsend, 43, Liverpool, Kathleen R Fellows, 70, England, Keith Diplock, 71, East Sussex, Laurence Benjamin Gerhardt, 24, UK, Lloyd Davies, 22, UK, Lynda Davis, 50, Scotland, Madelana Ryan, 48, Dublin, Marilyn Ann Harnett, 65, Saffron Walden, Mark Ian Skenerton, 50, Chelmsford, Martin James Edmonds Gattuso, 38, Harborough Magna, Warwickshire, Martin Oppenheim, 65, England, Martin Thomas Donnelly, 34, Stockport, Mary Magdelina Claus, 64, Nuneaton, Matthew Caraport, 23, UK, Matthew David Spruell, 38, London, Matthew Thorne, 36, Stirling, Maurice Hanley, 54, England, Maxwell John Hynes Giusti, 45, London, Mike Russell, 42, Lancashire, Mitchell

Carpenter, 23, Aberdeen, Monica Redenham, 63, London, Naomi Everett, 24, Manchester, Niall Kavanagh, 54, Dublin, Nicholas Cooney, 71, Drogheda, Norah Arscott, 77, Somerset, Oliver McKevitt, 24, Northern Ireland, Pat Loughran, 66, Dublin, Philip James Green, 30, London, Rachel McDonald, 26, Kent, Richard Jones, 59, Glasgow, Richard Bannister, 64, England, Ross Cameron Smith, 22, Dumfries, Ruth Millington, 25, UK, Samuel Beckett, 23, Portsmouth, Samuel Luke Bond, 28, Bath, Seobhan McGuigan, 41, Edinburgh, Shaun Bailey, 27, Stoke-on-Trent, Simon Charlesworth, 49, UK, Sinead Nic Cionna, 31, Monaghan, Sonia Downie, 50, London, Sophie Proffitt, 23, Oxford, Stephen Burke, 26, Ruislip, Su Browning, 62, Lambeth, Susan McDonald, 41, Dundee, Susannah Ross, 20, Bath, Terry Tremble, 56, England, Thomas Drumm, 55, Monaghan, Thomas William Southgate, 23, England, Tracy Ruth Powell, 45, UK, Victoria Barkas, 34, United Kingdom

New fruit plango on sale in UK

London: Now Londoners can enjoy a new fruit called Plango. It lets the mango lovers enjoy the flavour without the dribbles. It is a cross between a plum and a mango. It has taken years for scientists to develop this the Thai planago. Grown on the Bouea Macrophylla tree, the exotic fruit has bright orange skin said to be slightly firmer than a plum with a sweet taste similar to the popular Asian Alphonso mango. Plango follows the introduction of the papple – an apple that tastes like a pear. M&S fruit expert Shazad Rehman said: “It has a soft texture and all the delicious flavour of a mango without any of the hassle to prepare as you can eat the skin.” The fruit is much smaller than a traditional mango and grows to two inches in diameter and four inches in length. The fruit, native to China, was discovered growing by Frank Meyer, an employee of the US Department of Agriculture who was exploring the country at the turn of the last century.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

University student hacks into system to up his grades

Final year Bio-Science student from the University of Birmingham, Imran Uddin (25) has been jailed for 4 months. He hacked into exam systems to change his grades from 57% to 73%. He admitted to six breaches to the Computer Misuse Act. Uddin used a keyboard spying device to steal staff passwords and then changed five of his exam marks to better grades.

Birmingham Crown Court was told how Uddin attached a 'shadowing' keyboard device at the back of several university computers in order to steal staff passwords. The device recorded the keystrokes staff members entered and transmitted them back to Uddin, who could then work out their log-in credentials.

Judge James Burbidge QC told Uddin, “For reasons not entirely clear to me, whether it was monetary, or pride or a desire

Imran Uddin (25)

to out-perform others, you decided to cheat and you formed a settled intention to do that. I consider your actions were planned and persistent.

This kind of conduct undermines or has the potential to undermine public confidence in the degree system, set up by this university. I have decided I cannot pass a suspended sentence because there needs to be an element of deterrence.”

The High Commission of India hosts Reception in Honour of Indian Ministers

Minister Rajkumar Badole

On Monday 27th April 2015, the High Commission of India, Mr Ranjan Mathai hosted a reception in honour ofMinister, Mr Rajkumar Badole; State Minister, Mr Dilip Kamble; and Mr Ujjwal Uke, Principal Secretary from the Ministry of Social Justice

Guests interacting with each other at the reception in India House

and Special Assistance, Government of Maharashtra. They were on tour in the United Kingdom.

The reception was held at India House, in Aldwych. There were distinguished guests from different fields who were invited to attend the event.

UK

JustGiving appeal set up in memory of Jay Kantaria

Jay kantaria (38), from Harrow passed away from severe traumatic brain injuries on 20th October 2014. He had jumped in front of a speeding train at Sudbury Hill station.

His death has not only shocked his family, but has come as a shock to the British Asian community as well.

Kantaria was born in Nairobi and studied at the London School of Economics. He was previously employed at Wellington Management and Halbis Capital Management. He held a senior position at Baring Asset Management, Bishopsgate, before deciding to leave the job to become a property developer.

It is said that he also decided to leave his job because he wanted to spend more time with his family. However, he jumped in front of a train which was travelling at 85mph, just shortly after quitting his job. He was identified from his fingerprints.

Coroner Andrew Walker, from the North London Coroner's Court in Barnet conveyed his heartfelt condolences to Kantaria's 37-year-old wife, Monica and his family.

Walker also revealed that Jay Kantaria had no traces of alcohol or drugs in his system and was not suffering from any known

psychotic problems.

Michael Hughes was the train driver and he recounted the shocking event. He spoke about how Kantaria “seemed to have a good look at my train.”

Hughes further testified, “I then lost sight of him. When I passed the bridge I saw who I believe to be the same male run to the edge of the platform and jump feet-first.”

Hughes also added how he felt no impact, though he immediately activated the emergency brake and called for help.

He added that he felt no impact but immediate-

Jay Kantaria's wife, Monica, who works as a senior auditor at JP Morgan Chase expressed in court, “He had everything to live for. He was looking forward to his daughter’s birthday party the following week. There is no reason I have to believe that he Jay Kantaria leaped in front of a intended his life train at Sudbury Hill Station to come to an end.”

The Coroner ly activated the emerreplied, “In the circumgency brake and called stances, I think there is a for help. doubt in my mind about Detective Constable what his intention was, Terry Hancocks, from so I am going to leave the British Transport Police conclusion open. Jay said, “The line speed was Kantaria jumped in front 100mph. He [Hughes] of a train at Sudbury Hill was travelling at about station and died.”

85mph.”

To conclude, the coroHancocks further statner stated, “The conclued that Kantaria “appears sion, for the reason I to move from the plathave said, is an open conform... and then he is clusion. There is no evicaught by the camera just dence to suggest he was in the air, before being at risk of bringing his life struck by the train.” to an end. He had everyJay Kantaria's family thing to live for and it were strongly advised by just doesn’t seem to make the coroner not to view sense.” the stills from the CCTV A JustGiving appeal footage. was set up in memory of The detective went on Mr Kantaria. They have to say, “The gentleman raised more than £3,000 had just given up his job for the St Luke’s Hospice to spend more time with for Harrow and Brent. If his wife and children and you would like to conit was completely out of tribute for this noble character. As far as the cause, please visitjustgivfamily are concerned, it ing.com/Jay-Kantaria. was out of the blue.”

when £570 billion ($850 billion) was erased from the value of the world's biggest companies. It was the biggest one-day catastrophe in Wall Street history and sent New York traders into a turmoil.

He was arrested by Scotland Yard's extradition at the request of the FBI. They claimed that Sarao had set up an offshore company, “Nav Sarao Milking Markets” in the Carribean. It is also alleged that Sarao arrogantly told financial officials to “kiss my a***”.

Sarao appeared at Westminister Magistrates' court to fight an attempt to extradite him to the

US. He informed the court that he did not consent with the extradition order.

The court was also informed that Sarao was born and raised in the UK. He is a graduate of Brunel University, West London and he worked in the banking sector before becoming a day trader, a business which was based in the semi-detached home of his parents, in Hounslow.

From the allegations and charges, Sarao could face a maximum sentence of 380 years at a prison in America.

He was granted bail in the sum of £5.05 million.

However, the Aaron Watkins, who was prosecuting on behalf of the Justice Authority of the United States of America had asked the court to refuse Sarao to be bailed, stating that the graveness of the charges against him may consequently make him resist arrest.

What seems to astound many is the humble lifestyle that Sarao has. One would find it difficult to compre-

Jay Kantaria (38)

Hounslow Lad Caused Wall Street "Flash Clash"

Navinder Singh Sarao (36), Hounslow has been accused of using a computerised share-trading program to manipulate the market for S&P 500 futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He has been accused of reaping profits of $40 Million (£26 million). It is alleged that Sarao created several fake instructions to buy and sell investments, using a customised computer programme.

The US Department of Justice is seeking to extradite this day-trader to stand trial on charges that he brought the US stock market briefly to its knees on 6 May 2010.

Sarao has also been termed as the mastermind behind the 2010 Wall Street “Flash Clash”, in which almost a trillion dollars was wiped from global share prices.

However, the whereabouts of his supposed £26 million profit remains unknown.

It is also alleged that he had made £550,000 in five minutes on the day of the crash in May 2010,

27

hend that someone who has made profits worth of millions would still be living at modest home of their parents, living a very ordinary life (or so it seems). It is at his parents' home where he registered his company, Nav Sarao Futures. It is believed that he operated from his bedroom.

Defending Sarao, Joel Smith said, “This matter has come as something of a bolt from the blue for Mr Sarao.”

The US government were against Sarao being released on bailed, fearing that he would fled.

However, Smith described him as a man of “impeccable” character with no past criminal convictions, who lived with his parents.

Out of the £5.05 million bail, £30,000 was offered by Sarao's retired father, while £10,000 each from his two brothers. The remaining £5 million came from one of the trading accounts belonging to Sarao.

However, the court heard that £4.7 million of this was a loan.

28

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

'My view is that it’s more important to be forward thinking and look at people’s habits in the 21st century'

lective. We are all great friends. There are many dancers, dance fitness instructors who all feel this form of fitness is a great concept.

Sunetra Senior

Ravi is a maverick of sorts. Armed with a YMCA fitness qualification and some strategic digital savvy, he has made his mark with Bhangra on the UK’s fitness scene. His business Pungra Fit combines dance and exercise to motivate people to move: “Nothing keeps your attention in the same way”, he beamed. “It’s the most fun.”

Adapting to the demands of a fast-changing technological age, he not only preserves the fundamental of physical health, but adds culture to the mix; difference has never been so harmonious. Entrepreneurial yet easygoing, his character reflects his exploits. Thinking outside the box is as much a stretch for the body...

Were you always interested in dance?

Actually I’ve been a dreadful dancer for most of my life, partly because I was overweight. At 18 I began my journey into fitness. Once I’d toned up – primarily through dietary changes – I had a lot of excess energy to spend. I tried a whole range of sports, from swimming to martial arts, but nothing was working until the dance came along. In this way I’m an exercise instructor who uses Bhangra as a core method of engagement; I also use plyometrics, high intensity interval training, circuits, and occasionally floor work with mats and light weights. When music is playing at a party, I don’t feel like I want to dance. That comes across as a surprise because I seem like a dance teacher. One or two even think I can pull it off quite well ;)

What inspired you to start a business that combined fitness and Bhangra?

It’s what most people seemed to want! I was teaching dance in the 2000s and noticed that roughly 90% of my students weren’t in it for performing; rather it was about exercise and social interaction with others. I had also been pondering the growth and popularity of Zumba Fitness – a phenomenon at the time - and thought why not introduce Bhangra into the market? That fusion of focuses gave birth to Pungra Fit.

You use digital platforms alongside the fitness; please elaborate on this?

It’s the other way around! Social media is my core platform and the classes are what come ‘alongside.’ I believe in going digital first. The city classes allow us to practice and consolidate the skill, but the primary focus is on the ‘studio’ of the living room- what our customers have at hand. Exercisers find it inconvenient to travel to a physical location that is out of the way, especially for a 1 hour class. In addition, training someone to become an

independent dance fitness instructor can take years. Compare that to the Pungra Fit online videos which are watched with ease by thousands of people a month. As more people hear about such training they tell others, and the growth is exponential.

Look at the trends for fitness at home: DVDs and games consoles, mostly the product of American companies at the moment, have become sensations for working out. I want Pungra Fit to follow along those lines.

the younger ‘expect’ online first. There’s a value to both approaches.

What do you feel Pungra Fit brings to the table (or studio floor) that other forms of work-out do not?

When you’re next at a party when Bhangra music starts to play just watch carefully what happens. Tell me that people don’t suddenly go from mellow to crazy lunatics in a few seconds. The energy of the music is phenomenal; it’s not about gentle grooving. You have to bounce around all over the place. In comparison other dance fitness is more about ‘being sexy’- lots of hips and hair! Looks good in the moment but is it really the best way to transform your body?

Pungra Fit is about engaging your largest muscle groups and sweating bucket loads on the dance floor so you’ll be sexy in the real world.

People are becoming increasingly online-driven. Can good old fashioned classes work in tandem with YouTube tutorials?

The beauty of online is it gives people choice and convenience. What we’ve seen so far is just the beginning. I am a huge advocate of it, and a lot of 'Bhangra my work is based around this. But aerobics classtakes some es aren’t so old-fashtime to master, ioned, especially when you compare it to what are you something like Yoga.

There are also benefits waiting for?' of meeting in a physical location, such as seeing people and developing a common bond. Also older generations may not have the skills to maximise opportunities on the internet while

What has been the most rewarding part of the journey?

The people I’ve met and who’ve become part of the Pungra col-

‘Pungra’ is an original name. How did it come about?

Well my wife actually encouraged me: “You’re amazing at Bhangra, why don’t you focus on that?” She was spot on.

That’s where my true interests lie with respect to music and movement. I then asked myself a simple question: “If I was to mirror a model such as Zumba, what name will suit the brand of dance fitness that is punchy, catchy, and different?” I also wanted to encourage people to stop mispronouncing the word ‘Bhangra’. Many say ‘Bang-rah’ when it should be ‘p-hunghara’ (the Punjabi way). This together with the fact that six letters are friendlier in the search engine was what sealed the deal...

What do you like to do outside of work?

Pungra Fit is actually what I do as a ‘serious hobby’. Professionally I facilitate the learning of digital technology.

Recreationally I like to read a lot and watch documentaries. I also practice Yoga, meditation and self-hypnosis.

Have you faced many obstacles on your journey?

Yes, the primary one being communication with fitness companies. When I’ve sought to incorporate Pungra Fit into their programs their objections have been ‘we already have Bollywood’. There have also been problems with ‘support from the Asian community’. Perhaps they view dance fitness as ‘vulgar.’ Similarly when I’ve tried to talk to Bhangra teachers, many think I’m being ‘untraditional’ or untrue to the art form. This is a shame as the Asian community is prone to life-style diseases such as diabetes and could really benefit from the exercise. My view is that it’s more important to be forward thinking and look at people’s habits in the 21st century.

What do you envision for the future?

Creating a foundation that helps instructors around the world to incorporate dynamic Bhangra into their class. The aim is to make London the centre of that global effort.

Do you have a personal mantra to share with the readers?

Never settle for good enough.

‘Ravi Recommends’

A 20 minute workout that is popular, including warm up, low and high intensity build-up, and a cool down to finish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V GOXwUQz7Yo Or, if you need something quick try a typical moderate intensity Pungra Fit workout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D okDGfCLFq0 www.pungra.net

twitter.com/ravisandhu8

UK

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Dolma Trio Rushing to Rescue Nepal’s Villagers

The humanitarian disaster in Nepal affects the region and many of us abroad. So this week’s Leading Lights column is highlighting the earthquake-devastated country.

Three people giving their all to help Nepalese children in rural communities are the leaders of the Dolma Development Fund, two of them founding members. They are; Tsering Lama, CEO of Dolma Ecotours and Dolma Development Fund Board Member, Tim Gocher, Dolma Chairman, and Carla Carla Teixeira Alvares Kaspar, Dolma’s Chief Financial Officer.

Dolma Development Fund is one of the few non-governmental organisations that supports ethnic Nepalese villagers high in the mountains north of Kathmandu near the Tibetan Chinese border.

Many of the villages sit directly in the path of the earthquake and contain ethnic tribals who don’t even have citizenship, let

Children of the Dhunche school that Carla Teixeira Alvares Kaspar, CFO of Dolma Development Fund, is now trying to reach and rescue. Carla is seated at right of picture

alone basic necessities.

Tsering, Tim and Carla are working to help the remote villages where there is no communication, as they have been hit hardest.

Bridim, at around 3,000 metres, has been flattened. Bridim is home to many of Tsering’s relatives. Tsering, his wife and children live in Kathmandu but frequently

visit Bridim. He is responsible for building the farming village up to a sustainable level but now everything has gone.

The Dolma Development Fund set up a school in Dhunche, at around 2,000 metres, to educate 500 ethnic Tibetan children and orphans of the area.

Dolma’s Chief Finance Officer, Carla Teixeira

each other.”

The Mandir in London is urging communities to lend support to the rescue and relief mission by donating via the BAPS Charities website at www.bapscharities.org/uk /nepalearthquake .

Yogesh Patel, volunteer for BAPS Charities, added: “The people of Nepal have suffered unimaginable trauma due to this disaster. At times like this, it’s more important than ever for people to come together and help those less fortunate – which is why we are urging those who can to donate funds via this trusted source to support rescue missions, and help the area and those affected to rebuild their lives.”

For further details, please contact Yogesh Patel on 07836 592 131 or media@uk.baps.org

Saraswati Vidyalaya (SV), a service project of The Three R's Education Trust UK in conjunction with Jankalyan Pratishan Nepal, has been serving people of remote and mountainous regions of Nepal for over 15 years.

Its unique approach to education to provide basic literacy through One Teacher School, known as Ekal Schools, has received accolade and recognition from all over the world.

SV has established schools in 1,394 remote villages out of 3,900 known ones which require schools and there are many more that make up rural Nepal. SV's unique system of empowering children and the people of villages through education is helping to remove illiteracy and poverty and stopping their exploitation. SV also helps in developing village economy and basic health care and hygiene.

SV required infrastructure in rural Nepal to rebuild the schools that are devastated and instil hope and courage in the villages and to distribute medicines, drinking water and food packets, which is the urgent need of the hour. SV can also assist technicians to re-connect rural areas with roads, electricity and telephone

BAPS Charities seeking donations for Nepal quake victims

BAPS Charities is collecting funds to support the victims of Nepal earthquake victims. Prayers were held at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden on Saturday evening in the presence of senior sadhus, including Pujya Ishwarcharan Swami who is currently visiting the UK from India.

His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj has also offered his prayers and condolences on behalf of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha to the families of all those who have been killed or injured in the earthquake.

He has prayed for those displaced or affected, including the thousands rendered homeless by this disaster. He said: “May we all remain strong and united in the face of this calamity and overcome it by helping

Alvares Kaspar, told us, “Bridim is practically razed to the ground. We have no idea how many people have survived.

There are no rescue missions operating in such isolated areas.”

She spoke of “horrendous landslides” hitting Dhunche and adjacent villages. “There is little communication and power. It was impossible before.

With the monsoon coming in a month or two I don’t anticipate they are going to restore electricity or even communication or minimal roads to the mountains before December. Everything is going to stop in the monsoons.”

Carla, a homeopathic doctor, knows the task for authorities is too hard, so is taking action herself and flying to Nepal.

“Tim and I are going to get a helicopter and do the rescue of our children ourselves.”

Tim Gocher lives in Kathmandu with his Nepalese wife, Pooja.

Phones are jammed so all communication is via social media. Earlier, he sent us this message.

“7.30am Nepal time.

Pooja , the boys and I are all still fine, however, things are much worse than we thought yesterday as information comes through. The Dolma charity has lost children we

29

sponsor, the school in Dhunche is largely destroyed along with most of the small houses in the town. Information on casualties and damage is patchy.

Tsering Lama asked me to tell everyone that he and family are OK, although he lost Ibi, his adorable old aunt in the quake. His internet is down. We slept in the car last night and most people are too scared to go back to their homes. There are still aftershocks and I think we're not going back in today. Sorry for the bad news. There's nothing good about this situation.

I have literally just launched a campaign to help the survivors in these communities.

Please donate and share the campaign. The communities need to get assistance quickly.”

An hour before I wrote this column, Tim posted an update.

“Relief operations are in full swing. In Dhunche, 150 homeless people at most risk are being sheltered and fed, and emergency food rations are being distributed to hundreds of others. We have a team there of five and growing led by Prashun Raj Gurung with the help of local government and army. In Kathmandu, we are completing a needs assessment and registering

with the central government crisis centre at the Home Ministry. We are initially focussed on the villages surrounding Dhunche and the remote villages of Bridim, Lingling and others, with towns and villages in between.

Data from local government states that over 8,000 have lost their homes in Rasuwa district and are at high risk. We are arranging an air lift of essential supplies of tents, blankets, dry food and medical supplies as soon as we can get a military helicopter arranged. No photos from the field as yet as internet is down.

That will take time. Today we have moved from emergency response to a more thorough plan to save lives.

Please keep the donations coming. We have a long way to go before we can secure the safety of those at risk, even in the immediate target region.

We are ALL volunteers, as with all things Dolma, to ensure that every penny you donate goes directly to those that need it.”

“Please keep the donations coming. We have a long way to go before we can secure the safety of those at risk, even in the immediate target region.” http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/n epalquake

SV to alleviate the pain and tragedy of the victims of this earthquake.

Please visit SV website and give generously by clicking on to Mydonate and follow the process of donating. If you are a tax payer you can qualify for Gift Aid, this will further enhance the fund rising efforts of SV to provide succour to the most needy.

Please click www.saraswatividyalaya.org.uk (Mydonate) now to donate. Your urgent support at this needy time is most welcome from our hearts.

Subhash Thakrar Joginder Sangar Anil Puri

Saraswati Vidyalaya’s appeal for donations for Nepal victims

lines. But it needs your support to be able to do all this. We are appealing to you to help SV to rebuild rural Nepal by donating generously and enabling its selfless dedcated team of teachers, voluntees and village who are ready on the ground to serve with rapid action. Please help

Trustees: Nathuram Puri (Chairman)

Advisors: Rameshbhai Jain (Germany) Maheshwari Bitthal (Italy) Mahesh Devji (UAE) Vinod Poddar (Nepal) Virendra Budhakoti (Nepal) Sunil Agrawal (Nepal) Please reply to: National coordinator Hasmukh Velji Shah T:+447771 765200 E.akhandhind@gmail.com

Media advisors: CB Patel (Asian Voice), Usha Parmar (Sunrise Radio Yorks)

30

UK

In loving memory Shantaben Kantilal Mehta

Shantaben Kantilal Mehta passed away on Monday 27th April after a short illness at the age of 87. She was born in Jamjodhpur, Saurashtra, Gujarat. She had been married to Kantilal Mehta for seventy years. She had an unflinching faith in Jain Dharma and was well known amongst the Jain community all over the UK. She also prayed to Suranarayan Bhagvan every morning for decades. She had three children: Kirit Mehta who passed away in 2008; Nalini Kothari and Nitin Mehta. Shantaben was famous for her hospitality both in Kisumu, Kenya and in London. She was a great cook and a specialist in making pickles.

One incident in her life encapsulates her personality. In the 1960's on a very hot day in Kisumu the bell rang at lunch time at her home. There stood a very drunk man who said he was very hungry.

Shantaben sat him down and served a hot lunch to this person we had never seen before. He ate and left and we never saw him again. She brought to the

Nalini Pattni to Perform in aid of St Luke’s at Anand Mela

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

There will be ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 increased scope for vary-

ing your activities, widening your network of contacts and getting out and about. It is an excellent time for exercising your mental energies, claryfying your and other people's ideas and getting involved in discussion. Exercise caution when it comes to making financial decisions as being hasty will cost you !

four thousands of years of our ancient wonderful heritage in this one act.

She leaves behind her husband Kantibhai Mehta who is 93 years old and daughter Nalini Kothari and Nitin Mehta. Grand children Rajan, Rakesh, Jyoti, Janaki, Paras, Krupa and Nishma. She also leaves behind two great grand children Nevan and Bela.

Prathna Sabha: Thursday 30th April Venue: Archbishop Lanfranc Academy, Mitcham Rd. Croydon.

Time: 7.30 to 9.30pm.

Funeral: Friday 1st. May. Time: 12.45pmCroydon Crematorium, Mitcham Rd. Croydon.

Contact: Nitin Mehta, 07910 875 908.

Coming Events

l 3 May 2015, Bhajans, 3pm by Jai Sitaram Seva Mandal, Adhya Shakti Mataji Temple, Middlesex UB8 2DZ. Contact: 07882253540

l Shree Mahavir Bhagwan Chalit Pratistha Mahotsav, Saturday 16 May 2015, 10am-7pm, Apple Tree Centre, GHU, Sanatan Mandir, Crawley RH11 0AF. Contact: 01293530105 l Navnat Vanik Bhagini Samaj, AGM, Saturday 9 May, 2-5pm. Navnat Centre, Hayes UB3 1AR. Contact: Bina Holden 07817 404 163

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 You will continue to be in a restless mood for some time to come. This makes you impatient with restrictions and even more determined to cut your own path. Do not get overanxious if everything seems to be in slow motion - it is time to pull a few strings. You are likely to experience some tension in close relationships.

Alan Watts

Nalini Pattni will be performing at Anand Mela in aid of St Luke's Hospice. The Anand Mela will be held at Harrow Leisure Centre on 6th and 7th June 2015.

Rinku, Nalini Pattni's daughter was cared for

by St Luke’s and since then, Nalini and her family have been tireless supporters of the Hospice.

Over the years, Nalini Pattni has released three definitive albums; Raas Garba with Nalini, Inspiration and Mera Dil Deewaana which was championed by the late great Jagjit Singh. She also co-presented London's first ever Asian radio show on LBC 'Geetmala' and has recorded with the Grammy nominated band 1Giant Leap and world music pioneers T r a n s g l o b a l Underground.

Alan Watts, music therapist at St Luke’s will also be performing on stage at the Mela and

Nalini Pattni

offering the chance for visitors to try some relaxation therapy.

St Luke’s Hospice provides care to enable people with an incurable illness to access the care they need to live well, to know that their family and carers are supported, and to die with dignity in the place of their choice.

The hospice rely on the generosity of our communities for over 70% of their funding.

St Luke’s is the sponsored charity for the Anand Mela on the 6th and 7th June 2015 and will receive all of the money collected through entry tickets to the mela.

Please visit the St Luke’s stall at the Mela and wear something purple at the event to show your support for the hospice.

To find out more visit www.stlukes-hospice.org

l Gujarati Arts and Drama proudly presents Surili Sunehri Yaadein with Pankaj Kakkad and Mridula Desai. 10 May 2015, Masefield Suite, Harrow Leisure Centre, HA3 5BD. Contact: 020 8428 4832

Leicester Distributors: Europe Enterprise, Raj Surani Tel: 01530 481600 (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad.

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CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

As social life is likely to gather a pleasant momentum throughout this week, this is bound to present a better prospect, not only for striking up new friendships but more especially for romantic encounters. This is going to be one of those times when insignificant events give rise to unexpected developments especially regarding work and health.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

You should enjoy a very popular phase in your life where everyone wants to invite you to parties. This will give you a chance to meet people and pursue any romantic liaisons that might present themselves.

Your communications are extremely high making it easy to close those lucrative deals.

Much enthusiasm goes into professional ambitions right now, but you need to be your own boss in many ways. Circumstances will make you more determined to place your lifestyle on a foundation of greater security. Taking a broad perspective on the prevailing cosmic pattern, far-reaching change begins to gather momentum.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

An exchange of opinions ought to prove very enlivening at this time. An influence that should help to enjoy the 'nicer' side of others as bring out the best in friends, colleagues and partners alike. A wind of change may be in the air; attention should turn to the wider world and benefits come from broadening of horizons and mental stimuli.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

Legal or official matters are likely to occupy your attention this week. A long-standing problem or disagreement will need to be sorted out before allowing you to restructure both personal and joint financial interests more efficiently. Luck and love form a pleasing combination as Venus and Mercury have both moved into your solar 8th house.

l Pappa Avaj Hoi Che, Friday 15 May 2015, 8pm.

Winston Churchill Hall, HA4 7QL. Contact: P R Patel 020 8922 5466 Editor: CB Patel Associate Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Tel: 020 7749 4098 - Email: rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com Senior News Editor: Dhiren Katwa Freelance Correspondent: Rudy Otter Chief Operating Officer: Liji George Tel: 020 7749 4013 Email: george@abplgroup.com Chief Accountant: Akshay Desai Tel: 020 7749 4087 Email:accounts@abplgroup.com Advertising Manager: Kishor Parmar Tel: 020 7749 4095 - Mobile: 07875 229 088 Email: kishor.parmar@abplgroup.com Business Development Managers: Rovin J George - Email: rovin.george@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4097 - Mobile: 07875 229 219 Urja Patel - Email: urja.patel@abplgroup.com Sales Executive: Daxa Gami - Email: daxa.gami@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4089 - Mobile: 07875 229 111 Graphic Designers: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Tel: 020 7749 4086 Email: graphics@abplgroup.com Customer Service: Ragini Nayak Tel: 020 7749 4080 - Email: support@abplgroup.com

Relationships are complex in the best of times, but Saturn's motion can make things even more complicated now. Misunderstandings can plague partnerships or potential romances - be more careful and forgiving. A good time for completing unfinished business and reassessing your future projects.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

Email: nilesh.parmar@abplgroup.com Consulting Editor: Bhupatbhai Parekh, Ahmedabad, Gujarat Tel: +91 79 2630 4142 Urvashi Jagadeesan (India) Mumbai: Kanti Bhatt, Hemraj Shah (Jumbo Advertiser) Horizon Advertising & Marketing: 2012, Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad. Tel +91 79 2646 5960 Email: horizon.marketing@abplgroup.com Business Manager: Hardik Shah (M) +91 99250 42936 Email: hardik.shah@abplgroup.com Advertising Manager: Neeta Patel (Vadodara) M: +91 98255 11702 Email: neeta_abplgroup@yahoo.co.in Business Co-ordinator: Shrijit Rajan M: +91 98798 82312 Email: shrijit.rajan@abplgroup.com International Advertisement Representative: Jain Group (South India) Tel: +91 44 42041122/3/4 Fax: +91 44 25362973 Mumbai: +91 022 2471 4122 Email: jain@jaingroup.net Delhi Office: Tel: +91 9311581597

Asian Voice Head Office

Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080, Fax: 020 7749 4081 www.abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

Asian Voice switchboard: 020 7749 4000 Gujarat Samachar switchboard: 020 7749 4080 Advertising Sales: 020 7749 4085 AsianVoiceNews AsianVoiceNewsweekly

asianVoiceNews

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21 You need to pay more attention than usual to your everyday work dairy. Meetings, work hours and organised breaks could play havoc, unless you're prepared to re-group on the spur of the moment. Try to be meticulous but flexible about your schedule. Play your cards right and you can pull strings in you favour.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20 The fiery planet Mars is the moving force in regard to amorous experience, giving more than just a hint that links between lovers will be rather intense and passionate. Your attitude to material interests is likely to undergo some deep change. On a material level the trend greatly favours anything geared towards establishing greater financial stability.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 At home, be at your diplomatic best and try not to tread on anyone's toes. Passions will run from hot to cold, and relationships may suffer. Even the most strong-willed Aquarians will be more open to compromise to keep the peace. All things considered, your health should be robust.

It's a time of slow and steady progress that can set the stage for a long time to come. Of course, there are still challenging issues on both a personal and practical level. To get here you may have overcome obstacles by making important decision and choices. You will achieve a lot more, by motivating your own desires.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Punjab-born Gurpreet Singh Sandhu makes football history

Mohali (Punjab) born Gurpreet Singh Sandhu became the first Indian ever to play a competitive football match for the senior side of a first division European side. The 23year-old goalkeeper turned out for Stabaek FC in a Norwegian Cup game in Sandefjord against Runar.

To his credit, he kept a clean sheet in his side's 60 romp.

"It feels great, and I feel very lucky to be at this point, doing this," an elated Gurpreet said. "I couldn't ask for more. I am happy that my coach (Bob Bradley) and goalkeeping coach (Espen Granli) trusted me. The fact I kept a clean sheet adds to the joy," he added.

Gurpreet moved to Stabaek from East Bengal in August last year. By starting for the first team, he surpassed big names like Mohammad Salim,

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu Baichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri and Subrata Pal who plied their trade in Europe but never managed an appearance in the top tier. While Bhutia played competitive matches for Bury FC in the third division, Salim featured in friendlies for Celtic.

Chhetri and Paul could never make the cut for Sporting Lisbon 'B' and FC Vestsjaelland during their brief stays in Portugal and Denmark respectively.

By his own admission, Sandhu was largely untested with his side taking the game by the scruff of the neck from the first whistle. Still, his feat "was not an easy task," as former India captain Sunil Chhetri pointed out.

"I didn't have much to do to be honest. But the sheer fact that I was between the team winning or getting knocked out from the Cup was a great feeling. I was talking to the defenders all the time and staying focused. It's not easy to be in the game when the team is attacking," said Gurpreet.

Narrating how the DDay in his life unfolded, Gurpreet said it was on the match day itself that the goalkeeping coach walked up to him in the team bus and broke the news. "I was pretty surprised. It took me some time before I could give

him a high-five. I played in the first reserve game on Monday and I was pretty good in that match.

It's very difficult for a goalkeeper to stave off completion and make the first team. I had to work my socks off to see the light of the day. I am living my dream now."

Since joining the former Norwegian champions on a three-year contract last year, Gurpreet has been playing second fiddle to Ivory Coast international Sayouba Mande.

Currently, Stabaek are ninth in the 16-team table after three matches, and Gurpreet wants to feature regularly for the first team now. "I miss India and the fans there. Here, there is not much frenzy but the standard of football is very high. I have to work so much harder to keep my spot and I know it won't be easy."

great help to get some expertise in coaches and infrastructure," Danish said. "We would like to play our home matches against other teams in India. We don't want to play all the time in either the United Arab Emirates

or Pakistan, we want to play in India."

Afghanistan, who have been taking part in major tournaments since 2010, recorded their first World Cup win in February when they defeated Scotland by one wicket in Dunedin.

Afghanistan have faced India thrice so far, twice during the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in 2010 and Sri Lanka in 2012, and once at the Asia Cup one-day tournament in Bangladesh last year.

India are due to host the World Twenty20 next year and Afghanistan are expected to qualify.

Afghanistan seek cricket ground in India

War-ravaged Afghanistan is seeking a home ground for its fledgling national cricket team in neighbouring India, a top official said. President Ashraf Ghani has been asked to push for assistance for his side during an official visit to India, said Afghanistan Cricket Board president Nasimullah Danish.

"Unfortunately, we have not got as much assistance from India as we should have," Danish said. "I don't know why, but maybe the BCCI has got other things on its mind," he said, referring to the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in

BCCI keeping eye on Kohli

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly been keeping an eye on India's new Test captain Virat Kohli over his behaviour. BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said that Kohli would be on notice over his behaviour. "Kohli's outbursts has to be examined and whatever corrective measures are needed will have to be taken," the BCCI boss said. Known for his aggression both on and off the field, 26-yearold Kohli recently hit the headlines in all the wrong ways with his unprovoked outburst against a journalist during the World Cup 2015. It earned him a warning from BCCI.Earlier in the month he also lashed out at the critics who were critical of his performance in the World Cup semifinal that India lost to Australia, saying they "should be ashamed of themselves" and that "no one has won more matches" than him in the last five years.

India. "That is why we have requested our president to discuss how we can cooperate with the Indian cricket establishment both on and off the field. "I hope our national team can play in India soon. It will also be a

Bangladesh whitewash Pak in ODI series

Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan in the one-day international series for the first time after winning the third match by an emphatic eight wickets. Soumya Sarkar blasted a maiden ODI hundred and put on 145 with Tamim Iqbal as Bangladesh wrapped the third match with more than 10 overs to spare.

Azhar Ali's 101, the first ODI century by a Pakistan captain in nearly five years, and his stands of 91 and 98 with Sami Aslam and Haris Sohail had taken Pakistan to 203 for 2 in the 39th over. They looked all set for a dash to a 300-plus total, but they lost their last eight wickets for 47 runs and set a distinctly belowpar target of 251.

If it was going to test Bangladesh, they would need to lose early wickets, and Tamim seemed

determined not to let that happen. Even as Sarkar picked up four fours in the first four overs, Tamim played watchfully, defending Mohammad Hafeez who took the new ball upon his return from a bowling suspension with a resolutely straight bat and shouldering arms to the first three balls he received from Umar Gul. He put away the bad balls, but had only played six scoring shots in scoring 12 off

his first 25 balls. By that time Sarkar had raced to 33 off 35, and Bangladesh were a solid 48 for 0 in 10 overs. By the end of the 17th over, the score had swelled to 86. Hafeez returned to the attack, and spun one sharply away from Sarkar to find the edge of his defensively thrust bat, only for Mohammad Rizwan - who had taken the gloves after Pakistan left out Sarfraz Ahmed to put down the chance behind the stumps.

SPORT WORLD

31

Ganguly donates his BCCI pension to Ankit Keshri’s family

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has decided to give away his Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pension to the former Under-19 Bengal cricketer Ankit Keshri’s family. Apart from giving away his pension for this year, he has decided to use the pension that he will get in future years to fund the treatment of injured players registered under the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). “It's my personal decision to fund the treatment of injured players, the ones that are CAB-registered. I will use the amount that I get as pension from the Board,” Ganguly, who is the current joint-secretary of the CAB, said while speaking to reporters after CAB’s finance committee meeting. "I have also decided to give away my pension amount to Ankit's family," he added. As per the pension scheme of the BCCI, former Test cricketers are given an amount of Rs 4,20,000 annually. CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey informed that the board will also be donating Rs 1000,000 Keshri’s family. "We have proposed to give this amount to Ankit's family. The matter has to be passed through the working committee, though," he said.

IPL Results from April 21 to 27 Match 01.

Date

21 April

Teams

02.

22 April

03.

22 April

SRH v/s KKR at Visakhapatnam SRH won by 16 runs Brief Scores: SRH 176/4(20) KKR 101/4(12)

04.

23 April

05.

24 April

06.

25 April

07.

25 April

08.

26 April

09.

26 April

10.

27 April

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

RR v/s KXIP at Ahmedabad Tied Brief Scores: RR 191/6(20) KXIP 191/6(20)

CSK v/s RCB at Bangalore CSK won by 27 runs Brief Scores: CSK 181/8(20) RCB 154/8(20) DD v/s MI at Delhi DD won by 37 runs Brief Scores: DD 190/4(20) MI 153/9(20)

RR v/s RCB at Ahmedabad RCB won by 9 wickets Brief Scores: RCB 134/1(16.1) RR 130/9(20) MI v/s SRH at Mumbai MI won by 20 runs Brief Scores: MI 157/8(20) SRH 137/8(20)

CSK v/s KXIP at Chennai CSK won by 97 runs Brief Scores: CSK 192/3(20) KXIP 95/9(20) KKR v/s RR at Kolkata Cancelled

DD v/s RCB at Delhi RCB won by 10 wickets Brief Scores: RCB 99/0(10.3) DD 95/10(18.2) SRH v/s KXIP at Mohali SRH won by 20 runs Brief Scores: SRH 150/6(20) KXIP 130/9(20)

IPL 2015 point table

IPL RR CSK KKR RCB SRH DD MI KXIP

M 8 6 6 6 7 7 7 7

W 5 5 3 3 3 3 2 2

L 2 1 2 3 4 4 5 5

T 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

NRR 0.14 1.609 0.31 0.519 -0.074 -0.395 -0.553 -1.093

Pts 11 10 7 6 6 6 4 4

32

SPORT

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd May 2015

Sunrisers beat Kings XI Punjab by 20 runs

Trent Boult took three wickets for 19 runs to help Sunrisers Hyderabad to defend a modest 150run total and register a 20-run victory against Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali on Monday.

Chasing a 151-run target, Punjab managed 130/9 in their 20 overs with wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha playing a lone hand of a 33-ball 42 that went in vain.

Boult dismissed Axar Patel (17) and Saha in his last over that proved to be crucial breakthroughs.

Boult was ably aided

by Bhuvneshwar Kumar who took 2/23 as Hyderabad bowlers showed resolve and determination to enable the visitors win a key encounter.

Boult and Bhuvneshwar took a wicket apiece with the new ball to put Punjab in a spot of bother as Karn Sharma and Moises Henriques backed them up by bowling with good

control.

Earlier, captain and opener David Warner topscored with a 41-ball 58 as Sunrisers Hyderabad managed a modest 150/6.

Ashish Reddy smashed 22 off eight balls towards the end with the help of two last-over sixes, helping Sunrisers reach the 150mark. Sent into bat, Hyderabad were off to a

poor start with Shikhar Dhawan falling to pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson with just 10 runs on the board after Sandeep Sharma bowled a maiden opening over.

Punjab skipper George Bailey opted to bowl first as the pitch had a good amount of grass on it, and his bowlers responded by producing a disciplined

show. Punjab, who dropped veteran Virender Sehwag after a run of poor scores in their first home game of the season, ensured that the Sunrisers batsmen didn't get easy runs in this crucial encounter between the two bottom-placed teams. Glenn Maxwell, too, missed out yet again on finding a place in the

playing XI. Young left-arm spinner Axar Patel was the best bowler for Punjab, returning impressive figures of 2/25, while Johnson picked up two wickets for 39 runs. Apart from Warner, Moises Henriques (30) and Naman Ojha (28) were the other contributors for the visiting side, which struggled to cut loose.

Warner found the fence 10 times and cleared it once during his stay in the middle.

Though Warner added 46 runs for the second wicket with Hanuma Vihari and Henriques had a 45run fourth-wicket stand with, they were not big enough to trouble the home team that had the crowd behind them.

Part-time bowler Murali Vijay bowled a tidy three-over spell, conceding just 16 runs, and that made things worse for Sunrisers. Anureet Singh, too, was economical as he gave away 27 runs in his full spell, including five runs in the innings' penultimate over.

Big three to help find new coach

Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are likely to be part of the advisory committee which will help find Team India's new coach in the coming days. The advisory committee, including the Big Three of Indian cricket, will provide inputs to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Jagmohan Dalmiya and Secretary Anurag Thakur – who were entrusted with the job of finding the coach at the working committee meeting in Kolkata on Sunday.

Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev's names are also being considered for inclusion in the advisory committee.

The BCCI is expected to finalise the coach by the end of next month. “The working committee of the BCCI authorised the president Jagmohan Dalmiya to constitute a cricket advisory committee comprising prominent cricketers who will share their recommendations on the overall conduct and development of the game.