AV 2nd September 2017

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Vol 46 | Issue 18

RAPIST GODMAN IN FOR 20 YEARS

TM

2nd September to 8th September 2017 Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

M1 CARNAGE:

8 INDIANS SPOT DEAD l EXCLUSIVE: Community extends assistance and support to victims' families

Rupanjana Dutta Diaspora in the UK is mourning the death of 8 Indians- six men and two women, who died in the horrific M1 crash on

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan

In a case that took most of northern India by storm, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan's verdict last week came as yet another harsh reminder of just how bluntly blind faith can sting. This is not the first case of the kind, and won't certainly be the last. India has a certain reputation of savouring and fostering godmen. Most of them, if not all, are accused of crimes against women, criminal intimidation and even murder.

Gurmeet, despite the endless chaos his supporters created, has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Sentenced by CBI special court judge Jagdeep Singh, he is also served with a fine of over Rs 30,00,000. The judgment stated, “Both the prosecutrix/victims put the accused/convict on the pedestal of ‘god’ and revered him like that only.

However, convict commit-

ted breach of gravest nature by sexually assaulting such gullible and blind followers. Such criminal acts of a particular individual/convict, who is heading a religious organisation known as Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, are bound to shatter the images of pious and sacred spiritual, social, cultural and religious institutions existing in the country since time immemorial, which in turn reflects irreparable damages caused by the acts of the convict to the heritage of this ancient land.”

The judge also took into notice the activities of the rapist sect chief to decide on the degree of compensation for his two female victims. The court also took note of Gurmeet's new-found penchant for making movies.

“It is also a matter of record that during the course of trial, Continued on page 26

India, China pull back troops from Doklam

The long stand-off between India and China in Doklam has finally come to an end, with the Dragon agreeing to New Delhi's insistence on simultaneous withdrawal of troops for a resolution.

After 72 days of sustained negotiations between top-level officials from both sides, the foreign ministry announced that “expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off in Doklam has been agreed and is ongoing”.

The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that as Indian troops withdrew to their post at Doka La, Chinese

early hours of Saturday (26 August). Three others – including a 5-year-old girl – were critically injured and are receiving treatment in hospital.

Continued on page 16

SEE INSIDE

Country remembers Princess Dianna on 20th anniversary of her death See Page - 6

Home Office figures challenge May's theory of 'Indian overstayers' troops along with their road-building equipment, were removed from the site. “This process has almost been completed under verification,” the statement said.

Both the countries came face to face on June 16, when Indian troops had to physically stop the People's Liberation Army from building a road on

Doklam plateau heading towards the Jampheri ridge. While the Chinese will continue to patrol the region as it did earlier, there will now be no road construction activity. The withdrawal comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China for the

See Page - 7

Heavy rains wreck havoc in Mumbai

Continued on page 26 See Page 26

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

AsianVoiceNews

to

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with

Keith Vaz, MP

Freddy David Freddy David is Managing Director of HBFS, a leading FT100 Wealth Management Company.

He has been running the 40 year old Company for 17 years and is formerly a Corporate Manager at Barclays Bank, Knightsbridge. A frequent traveller to Uganda and Mumbai, he has done significant work with offshore wrappers and trusts helping UK and Indian based families plan for income and Inheritance Tax. Freddy is married to Hannah David who stood as the Conservative Candidate for MP for Harrow West in both the 2015 & 2017 General Elections. They have 3 children aged between 17 and 22. He is widely regarded as an expert in offshore wrappers and Inheritance Tax Trusts and deals with large family offices, companies and charities. He has a good relationship with the FCA and HMRC. 1) Which place or city or country do you most feel at home in?

I was born in Britain and love the country and its ability to allow immigrants and communities to thrive.

I feel most at home here and in London which is still and hopefully will be a major financial capital.

I do have a strong affinity to Israel, the home of my ancestors and feel a strong connection to the country.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

HBFS was a small company in 2000 when I joined with only £40,000 under management and 2 staff.

In 17 years we have grown to hundreds of millions under management and a staff of 15. I am really proud of a fantastic group of people who have worked hard to get us to where we are today.

3) What inspires you?

We have a large client

Brother of murdered businessman issues plea for help to catch his killers The family of a businessman who was gunned down in front of his teenage nephew have issued a heartfelt plea for help to catch his killers.

Father-ofthree Pragaret Singh, pictured, known as Charlie, was shot in the stomach outside Manchester Food Traders in Openshaw on October 31, 2014, by two men who then took £28,000 of his takings. His brother, Tiggy Singh, spoke out after an inquest into the death of the 35year-old from Swinton heard no one has been charged over his murder, but the police case wouldn’t be closed.

Mr Singh had left the business on Wood Street just five minutes before the attack and he raced back to find his brother dying.

The 42-year-old, who still runs the family business, said: “We want justice and we are not going to give up until we get it. I want people to search their consciences and do the right thing.

“The police have tried their very best but there is still a lump in my throat to

think that there is somebody in Manchester that knows who did this and somebody who thinks they have got away with murder.

“If there is anyone out there who has any sort of information they may be a mother, a daughter or a dad - then please, please come forward and give us the information that we need to help put these men behind bars. The police need that little bit of luck to shed light on this and the family want justice for Charlie.”

Mr Singh described his brother as a devoted family man and said they worked long hours together to build their business up.

The detective leading the case and coroner Nigel Meadows also appealed for help at the inquest, held at Manchester Coroners' Court, on Friday.

Det Chief Insp Richard Eales told the inquest that the case had been ‘difficult’ as there was only one witness. It happened on a dark, secluded rainy back street not covered by CCTV.

base of people who have built up their wealth from sheer hard work. Turning pennies into millions of pounds. To help these people protect their wealth is a privilege and something I don’t take lightly. People like Alan Sugar who are non-nonsense and upfront are to be admired.

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

Thankfully I have had very few. The constant changes and pressures from the Regulator in all its forms add time and administration to giving advice. A client still has to sign in 8 places just to do a basic ISA and innovation as Wealth Managers is a challenge.

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

The biggest influence on my career must go to my kids. They don't know they have been but they are and everything I do is for them in the end.

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

I think everyone should

get up fired up every morning to go to work, and I enjoy the job immensely.

We did 22% for a Cancer Charity in 2016 and there is great pleasure in that compared to the minimal interest they were getting in the bank.

To protect a family from millions of pounds of Inheritance Tax and be able to set up their children and grandchildren after they have gone is the real reward.

7) And the worst?

Some people are set in their ways and it’s always hard to try and convince them to take action Inertia is a disease! Doctors in sure despair at telling people to lose weight or stop smoking and I know how they feel. Long nights doing regulatory work which have little benefit to clients are draining.

8) What are your long term goals?

Overall to build up a leading bespoke Financial Services Company that cares for and looks after its clients where the direction of travel is oneto-one advice rather than

Labour councillor who spoke up in support of sacked MP is deselected A Labour councillor who spoke up in support of an MP effectively sacked by Jeremy Corbyn has been deselected.

Amina Lone went on TV to say that Sarah Champion was being treated as a 'scapegoat' after she was forced to resign for saying the UK had a 'problem' with British Pakistanis abusing white girls.

This week Miss Lone was told she would not be

Amina Lone

able to stand again as councillor for Hulme in Manchester amid claims she was too 'outspoken'.

where many Banks and W e a l t h Managers are going (roboadvice) - advice given by

computers. As with many business owners, to pass it on to the children and give them a great start in life.

Otherwise, I would encourage communities to pass on their values and retain faith schools and support communal institutions

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

Financially, Inheritance Tax I believe is inherently unfair as its taxed on money normally already taxed. It will do me out of a job (!) but its ‘doubledipping’ by the Government.

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

My Rabbi would tell me to say Moses and I would want to know all about his trip to the top of the mountain!

Terrorism probe after Palace 'sword' incident A man from west London has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after three police officers were injured in an incident involving a sword outside Buckingham Palace.

The 30-year-old from west London has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism, the Metropolitan Police said.

The arrest was carried out by officers from the

Met's Counter Terrorism Command who are investigating the terrorist incident in Constitution Hill which resulted in three officers receiving minor injuries last Friday night.

Police have been given permission to hold the 26year-old man from the Luton area until September 1. He was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and assault on police and was later further arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Airport security bashed for thinking pipe bomb wasn't viable

Security at the Manchester Airport came under heavy criticism for believing a pipe bomb in a passenger's luggage was not viable.

Found in Nadeem Muhammad's hand luggage, pictured, at Manchester Airport by security officers, the device was made of masking tape, batteries, the tube of a marker pen, pins and wires, and placed in the zip lining of his small green suitcase.

The 43 year old was sentenced for 18 years at Manchester Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty for possessing an explosive with intent to endanger life following a trial earlier this month.

The court heard that

Muhammad had planned to board a Ryanair flight to Italy, on January 30.

Muhammad claimed to have never seen the device before, and said it had nothing to do with him. Security initially believed the bomb was not viable, and released Muhammad after he was questioned by counter terrorism officers.

Judge Field stated he

had been “alarmed by some of the evidence in the case.”

“In these dangerous times it seems to me there's no room for complacency. I express hope that security at the airport and policing at the airport will be subject to a review at the highest level.” The court had heard that the airport staff swabbed the device, which was later found to contain nitroglycerin, but found no trace of explosive and security manager Deborah Jeffrey even put it into her pocket.

Judge Field said, “It occurred to me and I'm sure to others listening to that evidence that by acting that way she put herself, her fellow employees and members of the pub-

lic at risk.” He said the situation was “compounded” by the police who accepted the assurance that the device was not viable and missed an “early opportunity” to arrest Muhammad. Field sentenced the accused saying he would have “undoubtedly” have carried the bomb on to the plane or into the airport's departure lounge where he would have detonated it.

“If detonated in the confines of the cabin of a commercial aeroplane, this device could have caused not inconsiderable injury and damage to those close to the explosion and this then, on any view, is a particularly, serious and grave offence,” Field said.

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COMMENTS

Privacy a fundamental right, says Supreme Court It was a red letter day for Indian democracy as the Supreme Court of India in an unanimous judgment of 9 nil upheld the individual’s right to privacy as a fundamental right.

‘Privacy is the constitutional core of human dignity.

Privacy ensures the fulfillment of dignity.’ opined Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. The Centre had argued against recognition of privacy as a fundamental right. It assured the court that privacy would be protected through parliamentary statutes. To this the court replied that statutory laws ‘can be made and also unmade by simple Parliamentary majority. The ruling party can, at will, do away with any or all of the protections contained in the statutes. Fundamental rights are rights citizens may enjoy despite the government they elect,’ pronounced Justice Rohington F. Nariman.

The Court took issue with the government over its description of the right to privacy as an ‘elitist construct.’

‘The refrain that that the poor need no civil and political rights and are concerned only with economic well-being has been utilized through history to wreak the most egregious violations of human rights. It is privacy, as an intrinsic and core feature of life and personal liberty, which enables individuals to stand up against a programme of forced sterilization. It is the right to question, scrutinize, dissent which enables an informed citizenry to scrutinize the actions of government,’ said Justice Chandrachaud, countering Mr Venugopal’s argument, pressed his point with acuity. Privacy is the bedrock protection of ‘personal liberty and of liberties, it is guaranteed by the provisions of Part III of the Constitution, the submission that privacy is only a right at common law misses the wood for the trees. Privacy postulates the reservation of a private space for the individual, described as the right to be left alone. The concept is founded on the autonomy of the individual.

The ability of an individual to make choices lies at the core of the human personality…I do not think anybody would like to be told by the state as to what they should eat or how they should dress…’ Solomon in all his glory could not have spoken with such wisdom and common

sense.

A short summary of specific sections of the court’s judgment should buttress understanding of its broader framework. The court judged that one’s sexual orientation was an attribute of privacy.

Can the right to privacy be sustained in the age of internet and data searches? The Supreme Court recognized the challenge of sharing personal data and companies collating data for commercial gain. It has asked the government to provide a robust data protection regime. New legislation on this subject is work in progress.

A three-judge bench is to examine the question of the Aadhar Card Identification in all its aspects in pursuance of the broader context of individual privacy. The consensus is that Aadhar Card is here to stay, for the benefits to the ordinary citizen are self-evident, but clear guidelines are likely to be issued to Government for safeguards in usage.

However, the Court’s ruling permits the government to collate data if this is called for reasons of national security or for equitable, effective distribution of scarce resources such as food and other basic items for a fairer livelihood.

The Supreme Court judgment was widely welcomed across the political spectrum, with Law Minister Rudi Prasad issuing a statement of support, and by opposition party leaderships. The fly in the ointment was Rahul Gandhi’s intemperate words. ‘SC decision marks a major blow to fascist forces. A sound rejection of the BJP’s ideology of suppression through surveillance.’

Make of this what you will. The concluding sentence is a solecism, and hence baffling to rational discourse. More unelectable by the hour and day, India’s pocket Duce and his mother Sonia Gandhi, Duchess-President of the Congress party, have no serious political future. So the sooner the party faithful come to terms with reality the better for Indian pol itics. The 44 Congress MPs in Parliament, a rump of the 206 elected previously, is likely to be reduced further insignificance come the next general election. And then there’ll be none.

Triple Talaq struck down as unconstitutional Instant Talaq or instant, divorce was struck down last week by the Supreme Court of India as unconstitutional, that it violated Muslim women’s right to equality. The verdict affects one of three forms of talaq or divorce initiated by the husband. The Supreme Court verdict was delivered by a 3-2 majority, with three judges – Justices Joseph Kurien, R.F. Narriman and U.U. Lalit – belonging respectively, to the Christian, Parsi Zoroastrian and Hindu communities outlawing it, with Chief Justice J.S Khehar, a Sikh and Justice Abdul Nazeer a Muslim contended that, ‘Personal law has constitutional protection. This protection is extended to personal law through Article 25 of the Constitution. It needs to be kept in mind that the stature of personal law is that of a fundamental right.’ If Government passed a law banning Hindus performing Triple Talaq just as it banned Sati, equality would be restored and the way open to ban Triple Talaq – surely a pedantic observation lacking common sense, which is the basis of good law. However, Chief Justice Khehar, Justices Nazeer and Kurien pronounced the Government was competent to reform personal laws on grounds of public order, health and morality.

Prime Minister Modi reacted warmly to the Supreme Court verdict. ‘Judgment is historic. It grants equality to

Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women’s empowerment.’

Consider the following cases. Shyara Bano, mother of two, had filed the Supreme Court petition in 2016. A year earlier she was divorced via speed post. She exclaimed, ’My daughter will now not have to face such regressive practices when she grows up.

Atiya Sabri, a post-graduate in sociology, received a scribbled divorce note from husband Wazid Ali. Married at 15, Ishrat Jahan bore Mohammed Murtuza Ansari four children before her husband divorced her with a casual telephone call from Dubai in 2014, he then remarried. Once a docile Kolkata house wife, Ishrat Jahan’s eyes sparkle with a new determination: enough is enough. She described how she was molested by an in-law and sought to be driven from her home; they cut off her electricity, forcing her to live in darkness. The police, indifferent, ignored her complaints. Her lawyer Nazia Elahi Khan stood by her and registered an appeal to the Supreme Court. Ishrat Jahan says, ‘Only when society reforms itself can the lot of Muslim women improve. I hope this verdict leads to introspection. What it will surely do is give other women the courage to fight injustice.’ Well put. More power to her elbow.

Paleontologists make unique discovery A team of paleontologists at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, have discovered fossilized remains of a horned herbivorous reptile that roamed the SatpuraGondwana basin of central India more than 250 million years ago. Belonging to the Triassic period that lasted between 251 and 199 million years, preceding the Jurassic age of dinosaurs, the discovery could shed new light on the history of evolution and its life forms.

This is the oldest fossil of a horned reptile to be unearthed anywhere on earth, revealing that they existed a 100 million years prior to dinosaurs. The fossil has been named Shringasaurus Indica – a reference to its horns and site of discovery. The study was done by Saswati Bandopadhyay – paleontologist and a professor at ISI – and the team she heads. The researchers published recently their findings in the in Scientific Reports - a journal of the Nature group. Saradee Sengupta, a former ISI research fellow and presently a teacher at Durgapur

Government College, West Bengal, and Martin D. Ezcura of Argentine co-authored the paper along with Saswati Bandyopadhay.

The Shringasaurus shows that the species acquired an anatomical diversity earlier than that of dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period. According to Professor Bandyopadhay, ‘Shringasaurus is unique as this is the only Triassic archosaruromorph with a pair of horns on its skull and rare animal from the Middle Triassic age and has been found only in India.’

This group of animal included herbivorous, large quadrupled predators, their flying forms and marine longnecked species. Up to 95 per cent of the species became extinct after the Permo-Triassic extinction and a similar biodiversity loss occurred in the terrestrial realm.

Subsequent biotic recovery profoundly reshaped our ecosystems including the origin and early diversification of modern plants and animals.

Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

3

Life is like a sandwich; you have to fill it with the best ingredients.

- Post at "Incanto" Deli, Harrow-on-the-Hill

Alpesh Patel

5 Reasons You and Politicians Should Do Yoga and Meditation It is summer. A time to relax. A guru has been arrested. A mad man is flying rockets. Brexit.

Trump. Hurricanes. School starts soon.

One: As the Dalai Lama said, ‘when every 8 year old child is taught meditation, then there shall be peace in the world’. Interestingly, schools in the UK have added mindfulness to the curriculum to help children cope with stress.

Two: Over a year ago, I went to meditate with Buddhist monks in the jungles of Laos. The Hindus, Buddhists and Surrealists all know the world is an illusion. So they can be detached from its pains. Happiness comes from that realisation and that realisation comes as the ancient Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita, carrying the ‘Song of God’ Himself says, comes from meditation.

Western scientists recently discovered that Hindu-Buddhist style meditation stimulates areas of the brain which cause a feeling of happiness.

Three: When former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, took office he said he wanted a measure for happiness not just economic growth (GDP). Why? Because despite a relentless rise in British GDP since it’s ever been measured, our happiness has not had the same trajectory.

Indeed, some of the happiest people in the world live in countries which have the lowest GDP. The American Founding Father revolutionaries under their Constitution even sought to rid themselves of the British ‘in pursuit of happiness’. Happiness is therefore a legitimate political goal. Even though over 200 years since its founding, the country with the world’s largest GDP does not have the greatest happiness.

Four: Steve Jobs did it. As you take your MBA and try to emulate the greatest businessman of the century, don’t forget it was his meditation he referenced time and again to success.

When was I happiest here in Laos? When cycling down a remote jungle hill or a moonlit deserted street at midnight. Why? It was the meditation the monks here told me of. My mind was empty. Meditation with monks taught me something; as a Hindu, I already knew how to meditate.

Five: Want to make British people happier Mrs PM? Want the nation to be more productive? Want it to compete better? Teach meditation in schools. Your children are being whooped by those from Eastern meditative cultures – can’t get any worse, can it? The benefits to concentration and performance are well known. You can’t keep spending your GDP out of unhappiness.

And that leads me to one final important part of happiness. I helped raise funds for 150 scholarships for learning Hinduism through the Oxford Centre For Hindu Studies. Education is freedom, and freedom is a luxury; freedom from the illusion of attachment to comfort. Bringing happiness to others is a source of the greatest happiness of all.

Editor: CB Patel

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Solicitor jailed after attempting to defraud former employee A solicitor has been jailed after attempting to commit a fraud against a former employee. Diljit Bachada used falsified documents in an attempt to make a court claim against a former worker at Hollies Solicitors in Bromsgrove.

A dispute arose between the two parties over money owed to the victim after she resigned from the firm in August 2012. In May 2013, the victim received a County Court claim made against her by Bachada for the sum of £20,486.35, claiming she had breached her contract of employment. Attached to the claim were two contracts apparently signed by the victim and Bachada, who was the principal solicitor at the firm. But on closer inspection, the victim realised she had never signed the documents and

Diljit Bachada

reported the matter to police. After examining the contracts, handwriting experts confirmed the signatures were not hers, while police discovered further anomalies, including an incorrect Law Society copyright at the foot of each page. Furthermore, the documents appeared to have been signed in January 2010, but the clause stated in the contract had not even come into force until July that year. Police subsequently

arrested Bachada along with another solicitor, Tharanjit Biring, who had assisted Bachada by providing false information in a witness statement. Following a six week trial at Bristol Crown Court, Bachada, 45, was found guilty of two counts of fraud and two counts of perverting the course of justice.

She was jailed for four and a half years on Wednesday, August 23.

Biring, 41, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and sentenced to 19 months in prison.

Ian Crooks, Senior Crown Prosecutor with West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Diljit Bachada abused her position of trust and authority to try and manipulate a civil claim against her former employee.

“Tharanjit Biring assisted her by providing false information in a witness statement.

“Their fraud was uncovered when the victim became suspicious about a number of documents which were sent to her which appeared to bear her signature.

“Handwriting experts concluded that these were not her signatures and investigation also uncovered incorrect use of The Law Society copyright as well as inserting a law in the contract which had not even been introduced when the contracts were alleged to have been signed.

“Both of these two individuals have brought their profession into disrepute and they will now have to deal with the consequences of their actions.”

Face of killer who stabbed man and left him to die in city centre This is the man who stabbed a 30-year-old as he walked in the city centre - then went to a police station and confessed.

Rajesh Khunti attacked Dilovan Mohammed on March 8. Mr Mohammed was found in London Road with the emergency services believing he had been hurt in a hit-and-run. He was taken to hospital, where he died.

A post-mortem examination found he had suffered a stab wound which punctured his lung and trachea.

Last Wednesday Khunti, 30, of Kinley Road, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, admitted a charge of manslaughter after a murder charge was dropped.

He was sentenced to life in prison and will serve a minimum term of five years before

Rajesh Khunti

being considered for release by a parole board. Det Chief Insp Martin Smalley of East Midlands Special Operations Unit major crime team, said: “Khunti chose to carry a knife and he chose to use it that fateful day. There is no excuse for carrying a weapon. This case is another example of how a life can be lost, so quickly and suddenly."

Banned driver who crashed his £85,000 BMW through roundabout jailed for two years

A banned driver crashed his £85,000 BMW through a roundabout after trying to evade police in a 115mph chase. Dashcam and helicopter footage shows a BMW M3 driven by Kamar Farooq, 30, speed away at almost four times the legal limit after police tried to pull him over.

After driving erratically, at times on the wrong side of the road, he then ploughed over a roundabout before careering into a car at a petrol station in Castle Bromwich, West Midlands.

Farooq, who was already disqualified from driving, jumped into the back of the car after he crashed and claimed to be a passenger next to two other men in the backseat.

All three were arrested but officers managed to secure CCTV footage earlier that night showing the driver

Car viewed from helicopter ploughing over a roundabout

Kamar Farooq

wearing clothes matching that of Farooq's when he was arrested in September last year.

Farooq, of Aston, Birmingham, was convicted of dangerous driving and getting behind the wheel while disqualified, although he still denied being the driver. He was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Birmingham Crown

Court on Friday and was also given a ten-year driving ban.

PC Robert Lattimer, from the roads policing unit at West Midlands Police's Chelmsley Wood, said: 'This was reckless driving by someone who should not have been behind the wheel.

'Officers had suspicions around the vehicle and tried to pull it over, but Farooq

failed to stop and hit speeds of 115mph in 30mph zones.

'He tried to deny being the driver despite our investigations which secured such strong evidence against him.

'This was a high performance vehicle and the outcome could have been much worse. He now faces a long time behind bars rather than behind the wheel of a car.'

Wedding guests help haul wrecked £168,000 McLaren from a bush after a big day spin ended in disaster Footage has emerged of a wedding party hauling a wrecked supercar from a bush after a big day spin ended in disaster.

A video posted on Facebook shows smartlydressed guests gathering around the £168,000 white McLaren MP4-12C for the rescue operation.

A rope is attached to the back of the car as a Range Rover pulls it out.

As the car is being dragged out of the bushes cries of: 'Slow! Slow!' can be heard, as a man shouts: 'Lock the wheel!'

The video was posted on Asian Lad's Facebook page with the caption: 'I guess you won't be getting your deposit back guys'. However it is not known if the car was hired or if it belonged to any of the guests. Since

the video was posted last week it has racked up more than 290,000 views on the social network and over 1,000 shares.

'The damage on that cost more than the wedding itself,' speculated Khurshad M Khan.

While Zahid Ul-Hassan joked: 'Funny how they're all shouting slowly slowly slowly now. The irony...'

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Coroner criticises Al-Hijrah School over death of Mohammed Ismaeel Ashraf

A coroner has criticised a Birmingham school where a nine-year-old boy died from a severe allergic reaction to something he ate.

City Coroner Louise Hunt said there were many failings on the part of Al-Hijrah School in Bordesley Green, where Mohammed Ismaeel Ashraf fell ill after eating lunch.

Her comments came after an inquest jury returned a conclusion that neglect played a part in the schoolboy’s death.

The jury returned a narrative conclusion, stating the facts of his death, but added a rider that neglect was a contributory factor.

Birmingham Coroner’s Court heard how Mohammed – known as Ismaeel – from Sparkhill, collapsed less than two hours after eating fish fingers and chips in the school canteen.

Seconds before he suffered a cardiac arrest in reception, the youngster told school staff: “I’m going to die”.

Schoolboy who battled brain tumour gets FOURTEEN A*s in his GCSE exams

Schoolboy Hassan Akram is smiling after notching up an amazing fourteen A*s in his GCSE exams.

But Hassan, 16, has spent his young life battling a brain tumour that has left him deaf in one ear.

The Walsall wonderkid now hopes to be the first in his family ever to go to university.

Hassan’s exam passes, which include subjects such as Chinese, are inspirational.

Not least because he has endured a series of operations to remove a cholesteatoma, a rare and recurring non-cancerous tumour.

Those procedures have left him deaf in the right ear, and without an eardrum.

But against all the odds, he sailed through his exams and is now set to study A level maths, chemistry and biology at Queen Mary Grammar School. After that, he hopes to progress to university and pursue a career as a neurologist.

Fury after notorious Snapchat killer driver Addil Haroon is moved to an open prison

Notorious Snapchat killer driver Addil Haroon has been moved to an open prison - despite serving just a third of his six-year sentence.

The family of his victim Joseph BrownLartey have also heard Haroon will be allowed out for visits - a move they’ve described as a ‘massive kick in the teeth’.

Joseph, 25, died instantly when the an Audi A6 hire car driven by Haroon, 19, ran a red light at 80mph and smashed into his car at a crossroads in Rochdale in 2014.

The impact of the crash was so severe Joseph’s vehicle, also an Audi, split in two.

Manchester Crown Court at Minshull Street was told Haroon - who only had a provisional licence - tried to flee the scene in a taxi after the smash.

The court also heard Haroon, of Essex Street, Rochdale, had taken a picture on his mobile phone the previous night while racing on the M62 at 142mph.

He told friend in a Snapchat message attached to the picture: “Leeds to Rochdale in 11 minutes. Catch me.”

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UK

2nd September 2017

Famous Asian jewellery shop falls victim of 'audacious' burgalry in East London GRAB THE BEST TRAVE VEL DEALS

FLIG GHT OFFERS RS

Aftermath of the raid his face and is sprawled on T-shirt and shorts.

An Asian jewellery shop his front as he pulls jewIt follows a raid at the that is part of a famous ellery out of drawers Hatton Garden Safety global chain, has been a before stuffing it into a Deposit Box Company in victim of burglary of rucksack.

March 2016, in which an goods worth £1.8mn in Detective estimated £25million of Green Street, East London.

Chief items was stolen in what During the raid, burInspector Andy Pallett, of was described as the glars wore gloves and stole Newham CID said, "This largest burglary in English Asian gold and diamond was a meticulously legal history. necklaces, bracelets, penplanned and audacious The Metropolitan dants and earrings from raid on a jewellery shop Police said no arrests have the famous Joyalukkas with £1.8 million of items jewellery shop at Forest The hole in the wall used to raid the shop Gate, after smashing a hole in the wall of the shop and crawling inside in an audacious heist.

They allegedly used a sledgehammer and crowbar to break in.

Joyalukkas is part of an international chain which describes itself on its website as "the world's favourite jeweller". It has many Bollywood stars like Kangana Ranaut, Madhavan, Hrithik Roshan, singer Shreya Ghosha as brand ambassadors, and claims to have stolen. yet been made. Officers over 10 million customers.

"While we think it only would also like to hear took the suspects around from anyone who might Varghese Alukkas started 20 minutes to make the have been offered items of his first jewellery showhole, it must have been jewellery for sale in the room in 1956 and since noisy work and we would days or weeks following then son Joy Alukkas has this incident. made ‘Joyalukkas’ a appeal for anyone who No one from the comhousehold name in jewheard or saw anything pany was available to ellery. Joy took his first suspicious to contact us." comment. Anyone with step by setting up the jewThe thieves are ellery showroom in UAE in the year 1987, since then there has been no looking back.

The burglars are estimated to have spent around 20 minutes making the hole in the wall before the raid, which took place between 3am and 6.40am on Monday July 10. Three other men are said to have watched the CCTV images of three suspects Police wish to speak to after premises in Green the burglary Street from 5pm the information is asked to previous day, while police believed to have escaped contact Newham CID on believe another two men over a wall into a builders' 020 8217 5414 or call also acted as lookouts. yard behind the shop.

Crimestoppers anonyCCTV footage released Some of the men are mously on 0800 555 111. by the met Police shows described as in their midYou can also tweet infortwo men inside the shop, 30s, while one wore a dismation to police one of whom wears a tinctive pink hoodie, one a @MetCC. hoodie drawn up around black coat and another a

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Thousands of EU citizens leave in lead-up to Brexit As per new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, net migration to the UK faces a visible drop by a quarter to 246,000 in a year. Analysts said the impending Brexit is to blame for the dramatic slowdown from the EU. The figure shows net migration at the lowest for three years.

The ONS said the change was mostly caused by plummeting arrivals from the European Union, as the number of EU citizens leaving Britain rose by 33,000. EU net migration was estimated at 127,000 to March, down 51,000 on the previous year, while the figure for the rest of the world was down by 14,000 to 179,000. Head of international migration statistics, Nicola White said, “The net migration change was driven by an increase in emigration, mainly for EU citizens and in particular EU8 citizens, and a decrease in immigration across all groups.”

She added, “These results indicate that the EU referendum result may be

influencing people's decision to migrate into and out of the UK, particularly EU and EU8 citizens. It is too early to tell if this is an indication of a longtern trend.”

Commenting on the migration statistics, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said the government's migration policy was in “shambles”. “Against all advice, Theresa May continues to insist in maintaining an arbitrary net migration target of under 100,00, which has never once been met. Labour will offer fair rules and reasonable management

of migration; prioritising jobs, growth and prosperity, not bogus net migration targets.”

Political analyst Stephen Clarke said changes revealed by the statistics will have “significant implications for the UK's labour market”.

“The fall in net migration was driven by those from Eastern Europe, with the most significant fall coming from nationals of the EU8 countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic. Net migration by this group was just 7000 in the year to March, down from around 40,000 a year

ago.”

Given unemployment is currently at its lowest level ever, without the 3 million EU citizens living here the UK would have an acute labour shortage.

Signs that it is becoming a less attractive place to live and work are a concern,” said Seamus Nevin, head of employment and skills policy at the Institute of Directors. Of the 275,000 who arrived to work, majority had a definite job waiting and a smaller proportion, 87,000 came looking for a job.

Number of people moving abroad to work increased by 21,000 to 122,000. Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King's College London said separate statistics released by HMRC “show, once again, that benefit tourism is a myth”. He added, “Less than 2 per cent of tax credit expenditure is paid to recently arrived EEA nationals.”

Portes said Brexit had a “significant impact on migration flows even before we have left the EU” or changed policy.

Help trace man who breached restraining order In an appeal for help, police authorities in Tower Hamlets borough released an image of a man who has breached a restraining order. Described as a 5ft 7in tall Bengali man, with a heavy build, Dhonfor Ali from Gloucester is known to take up different aliases and has links in east

Dhonfor Ali

Sad passing of Saudarshan Bhatia

The Hindu Forum of Britain has expressed their deepest sympathy over the untimely departure of a great soul of ‘Shree Sudarshan Bhatia ji’, a true dharma rakshak and sewak of the Hindu Community for over four decades in the UK. Sudarshan ji will be missed by a large numbers of Hindus across the globe as he served various local, national and international organisations.

The Viswa Hindu Kendra in Southall was his second home where he served as a President for over 20 years.

He was born in 1949 in India and came to the UK in 1979 with Masters in Physics and Bachelor of Science (first class) to begin a career in teaching and became a successful businessmen. He

London and Birmingham.

Ali, 25, admitted to harassment and two driving offences in September last year, and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. A restraining order was imposed on him, however, since his release from prison earlier this year, he is known to

have contacted the victim and made threats. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the police in Tower Hamlets on 101, or via Twitter @MetCC. For anonymous tip off- call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.

Country remembers Princess Dianna on 20th anniversary of her death

n Palace braced for new deluge of floral tributes

utilized his professional skills to pave the way for Hindus in the UK, to be established, recognised and created an early base for the Hindu community in the heart of Southall. He believed in working together with all and being a part of the network of various faiths in Britain and as such he served as a president of two major Hindu organisations, the President of the Hindu Forum of Europe in partnership with the HFB and National Council of Hindu Temples.

Staff at Kensington Palace this week braced themselves for a new deluge of flowers and tributes, as well-wishers from around the world flocked to commemorate Diana, Princess of Wales.

The Golden Gates, to the south of the palace, have been allocated for banners, cards and flowers remembering the Princess on the 20th anniversary of her death, as the palace’s

“robust” security staff were briefed to direct people there.

The palace, home to the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, became the focal point for those wishing to actively pay tribute to their mother, mirroring the sea of flowers which spontaneously formed after her death on August 31, 1997.

Visitors have already travelled from Russia and

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Outstanding GCSE results for Habs Boys

Alex Curtis, Vivek Gudi and Obaydh Khan

The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School is delighted to celebrate another outstanding set of GCSE results across the academic spectrum for our 2017 Year 11s. With one-fifth of this year’s cohort achieving 10 A*s or more and 39% achieving 9 A* or more this year group is to be warmly congratulated.

STEM subjects continue to achieve the highest levels of excellence demonstrated in the A* successes. 133 out of 147 (91%) taking Physics achieved A*s. A record 88% taking Chemistry received A* and 85% in Biology. In Mathematics, 142 out of 163 (87%) achieved the A*.

Considerable strength continues to be demonstrated across the academic spectrum.

The School’s Classicists are to be applauded for their record success in 75% achieving A* grades in Greek and 70% in Latin. Habs Historians achieved an excellent 74.3% at A*.

Headmaster Peter Hamilton congratulated every pupil who sat his exams this year. He said: “Hard work, dedication and enjoyment of learning is clearly evident for both students and dedicated staff in these excellent results. We are particularly proud that we can offer exceptional choice. Boys have unrivalled opportunities to explore and excel, whatever their individual talents and interests.”

The breadth and success of our academic curriculum is clearly evident.

Special congratulations to students who achieved over 90% A-A* in: Computing & ICT (93%), Design Engineering (98%), English Literature (90%), French (91%), Geography (94%), Music (96%) and Sports Science (100%).

Obaydh Khan, who achieved 10 A*s, said: “I’m

thrilled with my results and relieved that the hard work has paid off this year.

I’d like to thank my teachers, who have helped me immensely. There’s a real sense of community spirit at Habs and this has undoubtedly been a positive influence on all of our results as a year group.”

Vivek Gudi, who received 9 A*s and 1 A, said: “Once I opened the envelope I felt extremely happy. The teachers have been so helpful and my parents have supported me a lot. I’m now looking forward to starting Sixth Form at Habs.”

Alex Curtis, who was awarded 10*s, said: “I’m delighted with my grades and I’m grateful to the teachers at Habs, as well as my parents for their continued encouragement. It’s nice to see my results after the effort I’ve put in.”

Justin Ooi, who also achieved 9 A*s and 1 A, said: “I’m very happy with my results and relieved to see the hard work is paid off. I’d like to thank my parents, teachers and also the pastoral support staff at Habs.”

It is important to remember that Habs students have achieved these superb results alongside their involvement in the extensive co-curricular programmes offered in Sport, Music, Drama and more.

Peter Hamilton added: “We are about an allround, holistic education.

The boys have relished every challenge that the School can offer them, both academic and co-curricular. They should be rightly proud of their achievements this year and I look forward to welcoming them back in September to start their Sixth Form studies.

Congratulations again, Habs Boys!”

America to lay personal tributes.

Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children attended a ceremony to rededicate the grave in June, on what would have been the “Granny Diana’s” birthday. They will seize control of their own public appearances to commemorate their mother.

Although they have not confirmed a walkabout at the makeshift

Kensington Palace gate memorial, they attended a reception on Wednesday to celebrate Diana’s charity work in the White Garden built for her.

The Prince of Wales is understood to be spending the anniversary privately in Scotland.

Last Friday, six days ahead of the anniversary, banners, framed photographs and flowers had already been mounted at the palace.

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Home Office figures challenge May's theory of 'Indian overstayers' With accusations of being 'overstayers', the current figures revealed by the Home Office has busted the myths against Indians. Official figures prove that 97% of Indians who visit the UK, including students, return before their visa expires. Applications by Indians living and working in India has also dropped by 4 percent this year.

The figures not only brought cheer in the Indian quarters but also put Prime Minister Theresa May in the spot, who, as the Home secretary since 2010 and now as the Prime Minister, used the ‘overstayers’ card to make it really tough for Indian and other non-EU students to come to Britain.

There is a drop of over 50% in Indian student numbers since 2010, which is also attributed to the closure of Post Study Work visa, that triggered many genuine international students avoiding Britain, as a student loan of £30,000£40,000 did not justify their one year programme in the UK. UK universities and other stake-holders lobbied intensely to remove international students

the Migration Advisory Committee to gather evidence”.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and several other MPs have lobbied for India and for taking students out of the net migration figures. Lord Karan Rt Hon Vince Cable Lord Karan Bilimoria PM Theresa May Lord Jitesh Gadhia Bilimoria has raised his June 2017 and applications “We spent five years trying from overall migration figconcerns in several of his for US nationals were 9 per to persuade the Home ures, but May consistently speeches. cent lower.”

Office that the figures they refused to do so. Some Lord Jitesh Gadhia welHowever, the data were using as evidence studies estimate that the comed the ONS report. He based on the UK's Office of were bogus, but they perhigh fee-paying non-EU also supported the parallel National Statistics (ONS) sisted nonetheless on the students generate more announcement by the analysis also disclosed that basis of these phoney than £25 billion for the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Indians continue to numbers”.

British economy every year Amber Rudd MP, that she is “The consequences and support over 200,000 account for the largest commissioning the indewere very serious. I would jobs. number of skilled work pendent Migration hope they would not just The UK Home Office visas granted by the UK Advisory Committee to found that Indians government - 53,366 of a apologise to the individual undertake a detailed accounted for 29,800 spontotal of 92,805 or 58 per students, many of whom assessment of the social sored visa application in cent of all work visas have paid large fees and and economic impact of the year ending June 2017. granted. even found themselves international students in The trend is being attributOf these, the Indian deported in some cases, the UK. ed to the UK government's information technology but simply acknowledge Lord Gadhia, who was tightening of visa regime sector sponsored 42% of all that the figures are grossly very close to former PM in an attempt to meet its skilled work visa applicadistorted and wrong.”

David Cameron and have goal of cutting migrant figtions made by Indians.

Shadow Home secrebeen part of PM's several ures in the country.

The new figures have tary Diane Abbott believes delegations to India, told The Home Office said, already enthused sections that May’s “long-running Asian Voice, "Indian visi"Indian nationals account of the Indian community campaign to malign intertors, students and workers for 29,800 (54%) of skilled to demand improvement of national students is based bring huge benefits to the work sponsored visa applithe visa offer, but it may on fantasy, with no eviUK economy through their not happen so soon. dence of a major issue with cations in year ending June purchasing power, acastudents overstaying”.

2017, with US nationals the Vince Cable, who was demic contributions and “Some in government next largest group (5,686 May’s cabinet colleague in skill sets - enriching our or 10% of the total). the David Cameron coaliappear to be waking up to country and supporting "The number of spontion government (2010the idea that overseas stuour position as one of the sored visa applications for 2015), called on May to dents make a valuable conmost open and welcoming Indian nationals was 4 per apologise for the cracktribution to our country countries in the world." cent lower in year ending down on foreign students: and have belatedly asked "The new data pub-

LEICESTER

Salutes

CB Patel

Legend of Asian Media on the occasion of his 80th Birthday

10th September 2017 from 4pm to 6pm onwards with a special performance by Maya Deepak.

What they say about CB “Many Happy Returns of the day to Shri C B Patel on his 80th Birthday”

“Through his Press Media and Publications, he has enlightened the social and cultural pride of being an Indian especially a Gujarati residing abroad.”

Hon Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi

“The position he has achieved as Editor and Journalist, and the leadership he has provided for public service is very much commendable. I have a warm and personal relationship with C B Patel. I pray to God that his eight decades life journey may still remain much active and lengthy."

“He is a legend of the media. We cannot thank him enough for his lifetime of service. Many people have done things for our community but CB's contribution has been enormous. He always has the community in his heart” Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP

To book your place contact mangospicegroup@gmail.com

lished today by the Home Office shows that 97% of Indians depart before the expiry of their visas and this compliance rate is above the average of the top 10 visitor countries to the UK. "Any historic issue of overstayers has now been substantially addressed particularly the "bogus colleges" - where the Home Office has now revoked over 920 licenses from Further Education Colleges and successfully clamped down on loopholes through a variety of measures.

"Going forward, the UK Government should now have much greater confidence in providing Indian visitors, students and skilled workers with favourable visa access terms which are not discriminatory in any way."

"The Home Secretary's announcement of an independent report into the impact of international students to the UK is very welcome news.

International students, including those from India, enrich Britain not just economically but also through their cultural and social contributions, underpinning the UK's soft power quotient throughout the world."

8

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

London witnesses more acid attacks over the bank holiday weekend Two young men were taken to an East London hospital after a thug hurled an alleged “noxious substance” at them in a busy East London high street on Monday at 10:24pm.

Police were called to Poplar High street on Monday night, where they found two victims – males aged 17 and 20 – having been sprayed with the liquid, feared to be acid. The 20-year-old was treated for minor injuries to his eyes, police, said. The 17year-old did not suffer any serious injuries.

Dramatic video has since emerged of paramedics dousing the eyes of one the victims at the scene as shocked passersby watch on.

Witnesses told officers that they saw the suspect, who has been described as a white man with short blonde hair and aged about 19 to 25, fleeing the scene in a red car in the direction of Cotton Street.

A police spokeswoman told the Evening Standard: “Police were called at 10:24pm on Monday, August 28 to reports of a noxious substance being sprayed in

Poplar acid attack

Poplar High Street.

“Officers, the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade attended and found two

eyes.”

Officers from Tower Hamlets have since launched an investigation. No arrests have been

Police at Nottingham carnival

victims, males aged 17 and 20. They were taken to an east London hospital.

“Victim one had no injuries and Victim two had minor injuries to his

made. A crowd of people were also caught up in an "acid attack" at the Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday.

The Met Police said a "mild acidic liquid" was

thrown over a number of people at St Charles Square, near to Ladbroke Grove, just before 8pm on Sunday. Three people reported "skin irritation" not thought to be serious, while two more were hurt in a subsequent stampede, when the liquid was thrown. No arrests have yet been made in connection with it.

As the Carnival finished, the police said there had been 313 arrests over the weekend, many relating to drugs and offensive weapons.

More than 100 of the arrests - 112 - were for drugs offences, while there were 58 arrests for possession of an offensive weapon or knife/blade, 37 public order arrests and 17 common assault arrests. Some 14 arrests for sexual offences were also carried out, and 17 arrests for assault of police officers. However the numbers are so far lower than in 2016, when more than 450 people were arrested across the two days of festivities. A total of 28 officers received injuries this year, while police seized a number of knives, batons, CS spray and a hammer.

NHS-approved online services – patients in jeopardy?

Cecil A Soans

While the government has pushed hard for cuts to community pharmacy it has strongly advocated online services as a panacea for NHS cash woes.

Now UK's largest online pharmacy Pharmacy2U is in the news again. This time it is for questionable marketing practices.

In 2015 the company was fined £130,000 by the Government’s data protection watchdog for selling the names and addresses of more than 21,000 patients without their consent. The beneficiary of the company's “inconceivable” breach of Data Protection Act, as described by the watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC), was an Australian lottery company.

In April 2017 the Telegraph revealed that Pharmacy2U was offering a product called Air Oxy containing sodium chlorite, which can cause excruciating pain, vomiting and breathing problems.

In July this year the

Care Quality Commission labeled the company as unsafe, not well led and ineffective.

It has now been reported that the company stands accused of 'bombarding' patients with unsolicited marketing information which patients, potentially, can confuse for information from the NHS. The Sunday Telegraph in its recent edition has reported that several patients have signed up to the online pharmacy's repeat prescription service mistaking it for a service offered by their local GP surgery or high street pharmacy. As a result, patients' longstanding prescription arrangements with their local surgeries are automatically cancelled. The aggressive marketing campaign by the pharmacy is reportedly a nationwide one, meaning the damage done is extensive and requires urgent intervention from government authorities.

Ian Strachan, Chairman of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and owner of Strachans Chemist, a small group of

pharmacies in North West England said: "Pharmacy2U are currently marketing to an unprecedented scale. The biggest concern is that such marketing is leading patients into believing it is in some way associated with their GP or local pharmacy.

Many patients are waking up to the realisation that this operation is not associated with their local pharmacy or local NHS. The confusion and panic that is left in its wake is alarming.

Online medicines suppliers are in no way equivalent to your local pharmacies, where you can get face to face advice without an appointment, plus access to a range of NHS services.”

Recently private online GP service Push Doctor was found to be delivering unsafe care in a damning report by the health and social care regulatory authority.

In March 2017 the Care Quality Commission warned people to act with caution when buying medicines on the internet.

CQC’s inspections of some companies that pro-

Ian Strachan Chairman National Pharmacy Association (NPA)

vide online primary care have found significant concerns about patient safety.

In March 2017 a CQC statement read: “Technological advances have brought opportunities to deliver healthcare in new ways, including online primary medical services.

Potentially, this innovation allows patients easier access to care and treatment when they need it.”

While this might sound like music to some, patients at the wrong end of the stick may finds this claim somewhat hollow or even bizarre.

It seems it might be quite some time before the negative impact of the pharmacy funding cuts die down and the benefits of the much touted click-andcollect services really kick in.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Labour's 'EU-turn' pushes Brexit politics to realism

Jeremy Corbyn

Labour party's announcement that it wants the UK to remain within EU's economic structures in the years to come, is the best news to come out of British politics in a long time. In fact architects of Labour's Brexit policy have said that they are ready to take a 'political hit' after it exposed divisions at the top of the party.

The party's decision, though puts leader Jeremy Corbyn in the eye of the storm, it has come as the first major party initiative that categorically renounces unrealistic hopes of a quick and easy exit.

Allies of Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer also accepted their proposal would mean the party is accused of wanting to keep the EU free movement many Labour voters oppose, but said it was the “least worst option” for the economy and critical to safeguarding jobs. But others at the top of the party branded the move “unwise” and warned it would be “incredibly damaging” in Labour voting areas that had backed Brexit in a bid to reduce immigration.

This announcement that has caught the attention of the mainstream news media, actually puts Labour much ahead of the Conservatives. Though referendum was a part of Tory manifesto, only this summer the Treasury has actually tiptoed towards a more rational approach.

Philip Hammond and the Treasury have won the argument that a transition

Tony Blair

period will be needed after the UK formally leaves in March 2019.

The Whitehall has also shifted its line on the role of European Court Justice, and have signalled that it wants to replicate the arrangements of the present customs union, especially after Boris Johnson said that Britain needs to leave the customns union with “speed and efficiency” after Brexit amid a new cabinet row.

Labour has simply taken a logical conclusion, free movements, ECJ jurisdiction and precludes separate trade agreements and exposed the sheer impracticality and lack of grasp by Theresa May's government, as pointed by former UK cabinet minister and EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson.

The former Labour leader Tony Blair is also meant to hold talks in Brussles with European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker, amid claims he could try to undermine UK's negotiations on a Brexit deal that took place last week.

David Davis, the Brexit secretary has become frustrated by the lack of progress of his talks and is considering pulling out of the joint press conference with Michael Barnier on Thursday.

Theresa May is therefore facing renewed pressure from her own party, after Labour party's announcement. Jeremy Corbyn had first supported the remain camp, but eventually promised to not stand in the way of May's Brexit plans.

Charity to host dinner at House of Commons Renewable World, a UK charity, is holding an intimate dinner at the House of Commons in mid September hosted

by Caroline Lucas MP. Now in its 10th year, the charity tackles poverty by bringing solar energy systems to Nepal, Bangladesh and Kenya and to date has helped lift 30,000 people out of poverty. In order to fur-

ther their mission to lift 100,000 people out of poverty through providing the poorest communities with clean, affordable and reliable energy the charity is looking for inspired and like minded people to join them and support them financially. Those interested may contact Marie Hounslow on 07986 313 970.

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Ashwin Raithatha, Providing Paan to London for a Long time Few of us ever appreciate those shops that sit at the heart of our lives.

Everyone has a neighbourhood store that they visit regularly.

Ashwin Raithatha owns and runs The Videoramapaan Centre, north-west London’s oldest paan shop. He’s a cherished community member and it’s time to acknowledge him.

It’s been 30 years since Ashwin Raithatha set up his aptly- named store, Videoramapaan, in Kenton, Harrow. He’s a loved local fixture. You’ll find him in his shop every day without fail from 10am onwards.

Background Ashwin Raithatha was born in Uganda in Africa where he lived with his parents and his five siblings. “My parents were selfmade entrepreneurs, they owned a furniture business in Uganda before we moved to India in 1972 where they also set up and ran a successful furniture shop,� he tells us after a hectic week attending Wembley with the visit of one of the community’s

most famous gurus.

Early Influences Indian Gujarati families tend to be God-fearing and often find that upbringings have an early influence on their offspring. Mostly these influences tend towards the good of the child.

Ashwin Raithatha recalls, “As a child I took a keen interest in the family business. I remember being interested generally in understanding how the business works and f u r t h e r , Ashwin Raithatha ment, and understand enjoyed the how to run a successful idea of buying and selling business.� products.

Moving to the UK At the age of 16, I Ashwin says, “after my remember missing school family moved to the UK in on numerous occasions to 1980, my father asked my help my friend make and brother, Rajni Raithatha, to sell paan in a small shop help me set up a business that he ran. I also helped in London so that I would my parents run their busibe able to start my career. ness and was able to learn This was a natural progresthe nuances of customer sion for me, as I had always service, employee manage-

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been interested in running a business and this also ran in the family.�

History behind the name The Videoramapaan Centre is a catchy name and has a special history behind it. Here’s the store owner’s explanation. “I moved to London and set up the business in 1987, 30 years ago, and I have never looked back. I decided to name the business ‘The Videoramapaan Centre’ after my father ‘Ramji’ I wanted the word ‘video’ to be included as we were predominately selling videos when we initially started, the ‘rama’ was added as an abbreviation of my father Ramji’s name.�

Moving forwards, growing big-time.

Any business has to grow and evolve if it is to stay successful.

This is what Ashwin has done with The Videoramapaan Centre, though the shop’s auspicious name remains the same.

He notes, “When I initially started the business I was selling paan and videos, this then evolved to DVDs and

now we sell paan, concert and event tickets, fireworks and decorative gift items.�

Quite a sea- change from the early days!

The Videoramapaan Centre is the biggest ticket seller of all the Indian concerts that prove so popular at the Wembley Arena, the O2 Arena, and other

I am hoping to continue my legacy through the name and brand I have created. venues. How did Ashwin’s store become the go-to venue to see these pageants?

Ashwin has a theory “The business does sell a vast amount of concert and event tickets, I think this is accredited to the name and how well known the business has become. It was my aim to develop the business into a known brand, this has been predominately achieved through the excellent customer service we provide at

The Videoramapaan Centre, the support and loyalty of our customers and the successful relationships we have built up with suppliers.�

Stars munching paan at The Videoramapaan Centre It is testimony to Ashwin Raithatha’s service that some of the biggest Indian movie stars on the planet make a beeline for their favourite paan store when they are in London. He proudly states, “In the past years celebrities such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt have visited The Videoramapaan Centre to purchase paan.

We have also become very successful suppliers to many restaurants around London and to weddings, parties and events all around the UK and in Europe.

The Future Ashwin says contentedly, “I am very happy with how the business has progressed and with what I have achieved to date; I am hoping to continue my legacy through the name and brand I have created.�

10

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Brexit

Britain outside the European Union is a non starter. A year after in a referendum based on a campaign from both sides which was based on false information and unrealistic expectations has created more confusion than clarified the future course for the United Kingdom.

It is over one year since the Theresa May government was supposed to have clarity on the govenment’s priorities and proceed with the separation of the UK from the EU. The British government’s stand is not consistent with the long term interests or image of the country.

I, like some of my friends, fear that although we may be classed as new Britons we have seen with our own eyes a suicidal approach to this very complicated and complex problem.

Now, this week, we have seen a complete u-turn almost complete - from the Labour party vis a vis their stance on the EU. It appears that the Labour leader is now trying to curry favour with the younger generation who are clearly keen to stay within the EU. The same Labour party, just a few months ago, took a different - and if I may say so - a devisivise stand without due consideration of the pros and cons of the separation of one country, a major one at that, from the EU which has never happened before.

Niranjan Patel By email

Supreme court decides on talak

The decision by India’s supreme court last week was correct albeit looks slightly half hearted. If most of the Islamic countries, including India’s neighbour Pakistan, do not allow triple talak then how come some Muslim male leadership in India are bent upon the retention of this most inhuman talak system.

During my last visit to India in December I have spoken to quite a few people mainly women including some Muslim neighbour from Jamnagar who abhor this system of instant divorce.

I genuinely feel that my sisters in India must be liberated with this supreme court decision.

Sulochana Arya By email

Political propaganda

This in reference to your article on 'UKIP candidates comment in your last issue 17 dated 26th August.2017. I am of Indian origin and this is what I wish to say.

I came to UK as a student when Anthony Eden was Prime Minister. I am a Labourite and am proud to say that it was Labour party when Clement Attley was prime minister our NHS and minimum wage were introduced.

Amongst other social reforms like the present social benifits were also introduced. These were the main attractions to the immigrants insurgence to UK mainly from the third world. First 'out siders' were the West Indians from West Indies. Then came the Asians mainly from the British colonies of Africa when they saw the emergance of Independence movements by the Africans.

Amongst these Asians majority were of Indian origin They were mostly holders of British Overseas Citizenship. This was the period of late sixties and early seventies. Most of these Asians managed to bring their assets to UK. Now they made this country their own country.

Taking advantage of the British Education system they encouraged their children to become professionals and ideal citizens to respect the British way of life. Even though they maintained their culture and religion.

May be their mother tongue is dying a slow death, but then it is quite natural. Their contributions in NHS , transport, education and even in politics have made us proud. Just during this the UK government joined with Europe against the strong opposition of General Charles de Gaul of France.

In your article UKIP candidate's suggestion to give each immigrant a compensation of £9,000 and send them back to their country of origin. I remember after Enoch Powell's fierce speech there was another tory MP whose suggestion was to give each 'outsider' £1,000 and give them a return ticket to go back.

Considering the value of £ now and in 1968 the offer made by this UKIP fellow is peanuts. But seriously this sort of talk in the name of political propaganda in public creates trouble amongst the people and encourages race hate.

Harikrishna Patel By email

Triple talaq and celebrating teachers

Most Muslim countries have discarded triple talaq and sections within the Indian Muslim community do not follow it.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon the All India Muslim Personal Law Board to reform the un-Islamic aspects of the Muslim personal law and bring it in conformity with the Holy Qu'ran and the authentic teachings of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

Why should the Constitution of India allow Muslim husbands to perform triple talaq to their wives and allow their wives to suffer the consequences with no alimony throughout their life?

By merely pronouncing triple talaq through social media or through any other form is sinful because the man violates the sanctity of marriage and dehumanizes the woman. What type of religious teaching is this for Muslim men?

Teacher’s Day in India is celebrated on September 5th and it is the day which is dedicated to commemorate the entire community of teachers across the nation.

For students, Teacher’s Day is the most auspicious occasion where they get the opportunity to pay tribute, gratitude and reverence to their teachers for the extraordinary support and unselfish effort in shaping their career and for enhancing the education system of the country with their unique learning processes.

On Teacher’s Day, students often dress up like their teachers and teach their juniors, in the way they have seen their teachers doing. Sometimes, teachers also sit in classrooms and act like students, reliving their time when they were students themselves.

Since children spend a lot of time in school in their formative and impressionable years, teachers wield a great influence on them.

Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai, India

Obsolete forms of etiquette

As usual, I find Rudy Otter’s letters interesting and thought provoking. He accommodates young, active mind in a matured body unlike most of us in similar age group! His letters are short, sharp and to the point, pleasure to read.

Although Hi, Bye, Hello is in common use amongst youngsters, it seems we are too old, set in our ways to change in our twilight years. Moreover my old fashioned letter writing, beginning with apology and ending with sincere thanks, has worked wonders, received immediate, positive replies whether dealing with NHS, Councils, Utilities, shops or MPs. But I admit it is dying art in the fast changing world. Then at one time “Esperanto” language was God send gift to humanity that would unite the world! Now dead and buried without trace!

Like Gujarati, Spanish language has two forms, Usted, a polite form when addressing elders and Tu for everyday use. While visiting Spain three decades ago, children would always use polite form when talking to elders. But now it is indeed rare to hear this erstwhile style, Tu is the common, dominant way of speaking and no one seems to mind.

But it seems some old ways and products are creeping back into our lives. More and more children are turning their backs on social media, preferring to talk rather than send text, sales of old style vinyl records is at record level, so is letter writing. I am sure GS/AV is receiving letters at record level as well!

Bhupendra M. Gandhi By email

Reaching for the stars

Your article "Reaching for the stars...." (19th Aug) was indeed heart warming, my family arrived in the UK in 1970 when "paki bashing" was rife and we were ashamed at the portrayal of India in England.

Much has changed since, I stay in India every winter for the last 15 years and have witnessed at first hand India's transformation.

What is still not acknowledged is the India Pakistan land area contains the oldest continuous civilization on Earth.

An example is the roots of the English language and its culture, in ancient India. The English term "name" na(not) mahmah(me)(sanskrit) is rooted in Aryan culture meaning, not me, but only God. Names are given after consulting the stars by the Aryans giving the term "Astronomy" from sanskrit (As=is tara= star Namaya=to name). India has reached stars in more than one way.

Jayesh A Patel Wimbledon

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Welcoming young readers to write in our Diwali issue Dear Readers, Diwali is now just over two months away. The New Year is knocking at the door waiting to bring in colours and light to our lives with fervour of joy and ever lasting happiness. Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar will once again be publishing the ‘Diwali Special’ Magazine for our fabulous and supportive readers like yourself. This year we are once again inviting our young readers to send in their articles for the English section.

1. If you are between 5-25 years of age, write an article in English on either of the following topics in no more than 350 words, along with a suitable photo: l how do you celebrate your Diwali every year OR l Your most memorable Diwali with friends and family OR l how do you celebrate Diwali in your school'.

2. If you are 2-25 years of age, you can also draw/paint a picture of what Diwali means to you or your memorable Diwali, with a suitable photo caption, your full name, age; scan and send the picture to the the below address, by the mentioned deadline.

3. If you are within 9-25 years of age, you can also write a short story within 350 words or a poem within 150 words for our Diwali special.

4. If you are a part of an organisation, which has a youth wing or support youth activities, please tell us how your young members or youth wing celebrates Diwali in 300 words with 2 pictures (in no less than 300dpi).

Send your articles/stories/poem with your photo and/or painting/picture to aveditorial@abplgroup.com.

Last date of entry: 30th September 2017.

- Asian Voice

Cause Ce’lebre

I am glad that a couple of contributors to this column who were initially opposed to my suggestion of a get together of letter writers and presentation ceremony – my cause celebre - and viewed it with contumely, have come round to my view of an award ceremony to celebrate the prolific letter writers.

Others will soon jump on the band wagon and also ask for a bite at the cherry.I have also received e-mails from other veteran writers asking me to resurrect the idea and persuade the publisher/editor to organnise the ceremony before the year is out.

As a number of people have intimated, most of us are getting old in the tooth and may want to put up our feet near the fire place and admire the certificate and or a trophy on the mantle piece which could bring back the fond memories of their long association with AV and GS – as subscribers and contributors. They could reminisce about the occasion when they met their fellow letter writers and think of their own magnum opus which may come up in conversation with others.

Such ceremony could be unique of its kind, and with all the expertise of ABPL in organising award cereminies, it should not take much effort on its part to organise the event. I was disappointed that due to unavoidable circumstances, the letter writers’ get together on Monday, 27 June last year at the House of Lords had to be cancelled.

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

MAKE YOURSELF HEARD

Write to our ‘your voice’ section about what you think regarding the various ongoing issues all around the world. Please send your letters to rupanjana@abplgroup.com. Make sure they are NOT more than 350 words. Any letter longer than the limit may not be published. Do not send letters for ‘your voice’ section via post or fax.

Note that all your letters are subject to being edited by our team for valid reasons.

- Asian Voice

EDUCATION

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Record proportion of women Winchester and Charterhouse are on university courses in UK dragged into exam cheating scandal A third more teenage women than men have secured degree places so far, the university admissions service says.

As of Friday morning, 133,280 18-year-old women from the UK had secured a university place in the UK, compared with 103,800 men of this age.

The difference is the largest recorded by Ucas at this stage of the admissions cycle.

The figures come as data shows about 6,600 fewer students have degree places compared with this point last year.

The gap of 36% between women and men is an increase from 35% the year before and 31% five years ago.

Across the UK, 27.3% of all young men are expected to go to university this year compared with 37.1% of women.

Ucas suggested one factor contributing to the gap is nursing - there is a 9% increase in UK 18-yearolds placed on nursing courses this year.

Women significantly outnumber men for these degrees, with around 28 women recruited for every man.

Previous figures have shown an overall drop in nursing applications and acceptances this year, but this has been driven by falls in older students rather than among 18year-olds.

As of Friday morning, 482,510 students have secured a university place - down about 1.4% on the same point last year, but higher than any other year at this point.

About 46,600 students

have found their places through clearing, the largest number ever placed through the annual process at this stage, Ucas said.

Earlier this month top A-level grades increased for the first time in six years.

Some 26.6% of boys gained A* and A grades compared with 26.1% of girls, reversing a 0.3% gap last year. * Jinesh Patel has received 3 A* in Computer Science, Further Mathematics and Mathematics and A in Physics. He will be pursuing a degree in Physics at a leading University in the UK. Asian Voice wishes him all the best.

If you have A’ l e v e l / G C S E r e s u l t s please email them to aveditorial@abplgroup. com along with any transcripts and Asian Voice will be happy to publish.

Tutor stole for girlfriend A Muslim I.T. tutor stole from his charity employer to pay for hotel stays with his secret Christian girlfriend. Inner London crown court heard that Qasim Saeed ordered

ted fraud and received an 18 month jail sentence suspended for two years, 150 hours of community service and an order to repay his employer in full.

£25,000 worth of computer equipment on behalf of the Second Chance jobseekers charity in Walworth and then sold it to fund the hotel liasons.

Saeed of Ilford admit-

Two more schools have been dragged into a cheating scandal amid allegations that students were leaked information about exam questions.

Winchester College suspended head of art history Laurence Wolff after it was alleged that he gave students tips on what would feature in two exam papers.

The school confirmed results from the exams sat by 13 students had since been nullified and based on coursework and previous grades, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Charterhouse School in Surrey has also been investigated by the exam board after it reported concerns that students were given advance warning about questions on the papers.

But exam board Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) said that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Charterhouse or its students.

Tim Hands, headmaster at £30,000-a-year Winchester College, said the school had treated the matter ‘very seriously’.

‘No boy was to blame for the exam irregularity, and the Board used stan-

dard procedures to award final grades,’ he said.

‘One teacher was suspended and has now retired from the school, and all those boys holding university offers dependent on a grade in Art History have now had those offers confirmed by their first or second choice university.’

A letter has been circulated to parents to inform them of the investigation and its findings.

The latest scandal comes just days after Eton College dismissed deputy head, Mo Tanweer, following allegations that he had shared confidential information about an upcoming economics paper.

Both Wolff, who is the son of scientist Professor Heinz Wolff, and Mr Tanweer were also working as examiners at the exam board. there were calls for ministers to prevent the dual role with concerns it presented a clear conflict of interest.

The Department for Education said that the exam regulator Ofqual, was now involved in the investigation.

‘Parents and students must be able to have faith in the exam system. Any

Former Eton College Deputy Head Mo Tanveer

suggestion of malpractice is concerning and should be looked into,’ a spokesman said.

He continued: ‘Cambridge International Examinations board are dealing with the incidents and have made the exam regulator Ofqual aware.’

Tory MP and chairman of the Education select committee, Robert Halfon, described the development as ‘worrying’.

‘To have one example is bad enough but to have two in some one Britain’s top private schools is more worrying,’ he told The Telegraph.

‘Questions need to be asked about whether this is more widespread and whether there is a conflict of interest over this practice.’

Number of primary school pupils in Birmingham who don’t speak English as first language rises

n Percentage

has risen from 43% in January 2016

Nearly half of all primary school pupils in Birmingham don’t speak English as their mother tongue. Official figures reveal that at the start of this year, 44% of pupils 39,112 out of a total of 90,919 - were from a home with a different primary language.

The percentage has risen from 43% in January 2016. It has also been going up - at a sharper rate - in other parts of the region. In Solihull primary schools, 9.9% did not speak English as a first language as of January 2017. That is up from 7.8% in January 2016 - the fastest increase in the country.

In Wolverhampton, 28.8% of primary-aged pupils don’t speak English as a first language, up from 27.2% last year.

Nationally, 20.6% of pupils - 771,083 out of 3.7m - don’t speak English as a first language.

That works is a rise of 0.5 percentage points compared to January 2016, when the number of

pupils speaking a foreign language at home was 734,355 out of 3.6m, or 20.1%.

A pupil is recorded as having English as an additional language if they are

exposed to a language at home that is known or believed to be other than English.

The Department for Education says this not necessarily a measure of English language proficiency - since people can sometimes speak fluent English even when it is not the main language used at home - or a good way of gauging recent immigration.

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MEDIA WATCH

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Panchkula, in Haryana, was the eye of the storm as mobs went on the rampage, burning cars, buses and property – anything that caught their attention. They gave vent to their rage at the CBI court judgment pronouncing local godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty of multiple rapes of female devotees in his ashram. Tens of thousands of Singh’s followers converged on Panchkula where the court announced its verdict. The violence that followed overwhelmed the police and administration. Eventually, Army had to be called in to stem the anarchy. Curfew was imposed. Some 30 people died in the police firing and 250 suffered injuries. Ram Rahim Singh was taken into police custody and is in jail awaiting sentencing (now sent in for 20 years)

provoked a firm response from the central government in Delhi, with armed police patrolling the streets, even as the GJM Assistant General Secretary Binay Tamang said, ‘ The GJM once again reiterates that that we do not have any tie-up with any insurgent organization either in northeast India, Nepal or anywhere else in the world.

Therefore, we reiterate our demand for setting up a highlevel committee to examine the blasts.’

Catch-22 GJM, caught in a Catch-22 bind, seeks a face saver on talks, with rival, Gorkhaland Liberation Front (GLF) calling for a solution as life becomes progressively harder for people with intensifying economic disruption. ‘People are growing restive. We are looking for a middle path. The two questions of identity and livelihood have to go together, ‘said GNLF leader Mahendra Singh (Times of India August 22).

Mob violence, arson in Panchkula, Haryana

Haryana Chief Minister Mohan Lal Khattar, a BJP stalwart, associated with Ram Rahim Singh, hoping thus to tap into his vote banks. He has questions to answer, as do BJP national leaders at the centre. The last word on this subject has not been said. Events in Panchkula are a face that invites civilized revulsion, but reality has to be confronted and not avoided if creative progress is to be assured its right to exist in India (Times of India, Hindu August 26).

Rail disasters in Uttar Pradesh The recent rail crashes in Uttar Pradesh included one in which 23 passengers were killed; were due to gross negligence. A coach of the mangled Puri-Haridwar

Prabhu pulls up officials Three top officials have been sent on leave, and four local officials were suspended. Of the first three, one is a secretarylevel officer and Railway Board Chairman Engineering A.K.Mittal, the second a General Manager Northern Railways R.N. Kulshrestha, and the third, Divisional Rail Manager Delhi R.N. Singh. All of whom were sent on leave. There was shock and awe within the moribund bureaucracy. Mittal resigned and was replaced by Ashwani Lohani, CMD of beleaguered Air India, as another railway derailment occurred in blighted Uttar Pradesh, with 78 injuries but mercifully no deaths.

Minister Prabhu said he ‘will

Rail accident, Utkal-Haridwar Express

Utkal Express had to be hauled off the track by a crane. Life in these parts (including Bihar) being dirt cheap, the standard procedure has been the predictable enquiry followed by prolonged silence, then a slow descent into closure.

The Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu altered the script., Serious about transforming India’s mostly geriatric network fit for 21st century purpose, he set about fixing responsibility.

not allow laxity in operations by the Board’ and ordered the new Railway Board Chairman to inject an appropriate work ethic.’

The minister offered his resignation to Prime Minister Modi but was advised to put it on hold (Times of India, Hindu, Telegraph August 20, 21, 24).

Bomb blasts put GJM in fix Bomb blasts in Darjeeling and Kalimpong by suspected Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has

Infosys in crisis Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka resigned following a running battle with company founder N.R .Narayana Murthy, whom he accused of making ‘malicious and increasingly personal attacks.’ Infosys is the biggest Indian IT company after Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and the early fallout of this conflict, in which the Infosys Board issued a statement in support of Sikka, sent company shares plummeting (Times of India, Hindu, Business Line August 19).

Nilekani to the rescue Out of the encircling gloom came a shaft of light. Investors and shareholders circulated the name of Nandan Nilekani, once a founding member of the Infosys team, headed by N.R. Narayana Murthy. Nilekani, an acclaimed techie responsible for the gamechanging Aadhar Identification Card for all Indian citizens, is the sort of skilled visionary who can pull Infosys out of its present morass. The stock markets in Mumbai and New York rallied at Nilekani’s return. He has taken over as non-executive Chairman, but the appointment of the next CEO is awaited with keen interest. There has also been a partial clear out of the Infosys Board, with a number of big names still in place (Times of India, Hindu, Business Line, Mint August 24, 25)

Essar-Rosneft deal done The debt-burdened Essar Group concluded the sale of its crown jewel Essar Oilding a captive port, power and retail assets – to Russian oil giant Rosneft and a consortium of investors for $12.9 billion, making it the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India. Signed originally in October 2016 on the sidelines of the Goa BRICS summit, the deal remained unconsummated by domestic lenders dissatisfied with some of its details. They

will get Rs 4,000 crore, paid back for over Rs 45,000 crore of loans, ‘as they have finally elected to stay with the new owner.’

‘Rosneft has entered the high potential and fast-growing Asia Pacific market,’ said Rosaneft’s CEO Igor Sechin. The deal has cut Essar’s debt by a hefty $11 billion. (Telegraph August 22).

Optimistic Prashant Ruia Looking relaxed after the largest deleveraging exercise in Indian corporate history, Prashant Ruia, Director, Essar Group, said the sale of its oil and retail assets would add value to shareholder. He explained: ‘I think the oil industry still has a very strong future, at least for the next 40 years, oil will be an important part of the future…

And we have not exited refining, we are very much into it in the UK. We still believe in the oil and gas cycle and the refining business,’ he vsaid. (Business Line August 23).

Chabahar on fast track Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has promised his counterparts in Tehran that the Chabahar project would be opened for business at the inauguration of Iranian President-elect Hasan Rouhani.

Heads must roll, if required, as the project has considerable economic and strategic ramifications for India. As rail hub, Chabahar will be integrated with the Afghan rail network and give the country access to Persian Gulf markets. Chabahar is also designed to facilitate communication with Russia’s North-South rail corridor, and hence give India market access in the Caspian region and beyond to Russia and Belarus (Mint August 22).

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

highly successful marketing initiatives – all of which affirmed IPL’s standing as the most valuable cricketing league in the world.’

The company’s ‘The Decade Edition: A Concise Report on Brand Values to the Indian Premier League,’ explained that the brand values of all the franchises increased on average by 34 per cent to the year before.

Satellite and digital broadcasting and sponsorship deals are up for renewal and will be closely monitored. Television audiences and TV sales have taken a giant leap forward in rural markets (Business Line August 24).

T-90 tank upgrade The Indian Army is to upgrade its Russian-designed T-90 main battle tank (an estimated 4000 currently in service) to enhance power and mobility. These formidable tanks are to be equipped with a new missile system and a more powerful modular engine.

‘As the design of the INVAR missile has been maximized, both in terms of range and depth of penetration, it is imperative to upgrade it into the nextgeneration missiles with enhanced capability,’ averred a PTI report. As per requirements, the depth of penetration should achieve 800-850mm penetration and ability to hit mobile and static targets up to a range of 8 km (Hindu August 21).

Apache helicopters for Army India is set to acquire six US Apache attack helicopters for the Army at a cost of Rs 4,168 crore.

These are required to complement critical ground operations.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is

Canadian market for Indian fruit, veggies Canada has opened its market to Indian fruits and vegetables such banana, mango, pomegranate, custard apple and okra. The Agricultural & Process Foods Exports Development Authority of Canada issued an advisory to Indian exporters to tap into the North American market. The products will be subject to food inspectors on arrival in Canada.

The Canadian decision could revive Indian sagging fruit and vegetable exports to the country (Business Line August 23).

IPL valuation $5.3 billion Assured of the fervent support of legions of advertisers and consumer interest groups, cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) coffers swelled to a $5.3 billion tsunami in 2017, a 34 per cent rise over the 2016 audit of $4.2 billion.

According to Duff & Phelps, a global valuation and corporate advisor’s country head Varun Gupta, ‘This IPL has garnered attention for all the right reasons. Namely, a relatively controversy-free tournament, increase in social media engagement, strategic and

Apache helicopter

to acquire 22 of these helicopters for its exclusive use (Hindu, Times of India August 21,22).

IAF readies Panagarh Without fanfare, the Indian Air Force has quietly commissioned its Arjan Singh station at Panagarh, some 150 kilometres northwest of Kolkata with the induction of six heavy-lift USmade Super Hercules C-130 and a mid-air refueling Ilyushin-78 to give India’s Eastern Air Command, with its lethal Sukhoir MKI30 aircraft, extra teeth to its operational capability. A similar base at Hindan, near Delhi, operates C130s (Times of India August 24).

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Family of Christian girl, 5, forced into Amir Khan's estranged wife Faryal foster care with Muslim parents begged to reignites feud with the boxer n Shock pregnancy announcement let her stay with her grandmother The parents of a Christian five-year-old forced to live with Muslim foster carers allegedly 'begged' a council to allow her to live with her grandmother.

The Government has been urged to examine the case, which has seen a scandal-hit council place the girl in two Muslim households in the past six months, against the wishes of her family - who repeatedly asked that she be placed with family friends or relatives.

The placements were arranged by Tower Hamlets council in east London, where children's services were criticised by Ofsted earlier this year.

The council has refused to allow the girl to be placed into the temporary care of her grandmother, according to The Times.

Social workers said the child sobbed and begged not to be returned to one foster mother – who wore a face veil in public – as the household spoke no English.

She also claimed her foster carer had said she should learn Arabic and had taken away her Christian cross necklace, The Times reported.

The child – who is white, was born in Britain and has a UK passport – was allegedly not allowed to eat a spaghetti carbonara prepared by her birth mother because it contained bacon.

She was said to have told her biological mother 'European women are stupid and alcoholic' and 'Christmas and Easter are stupid', prompting questions over cultural attitudes in her foster homes.

Her current foster mother wears a burka in public which completely hides her face.

Inspectors rated the council's children's services 'inadequate' and said there was an 'entrenched culture of non-compliance with basic social work standards'.

Former justice minister Shailesh Vara, Tory MP for North West

Award winning radio presenter Noreen Khan becomes new British Asian Trust Ambassador Acclaimed Radio and TV presenter Noreen Khan becomes the newest Ambassador for the British Asian Trust, one of the Prince of Wales’ charities.

She joins a host of high profile figures including superstar Zayn Malik, Meera Syal CBE, Sanjeev Bhaskar OBE and Konnie Huq, to be a champion of the organisation’s work in South Asia.

Noreen currently presents her show on BBC Asian Network weekdays from 1:30-5pm and listening figures regularly prove she has the most listened to Asian radio show in the UK. Her warm and natural presenting style has made her an instant hit with the audience and she is one of the most sought-after comperes, hosting high profile events up and down the country.

Noreen previously hosted the British Asian’s Trust’s Celebrating Iftar Together event at the Savoy Hotel in London, where the charity launched its annual appeal for Ramadan in June 2017.

In partnership with the British Pakistan Foundation, the event brought together influential leaders from diverse backgrounds including government, philanthropy, business, charity and the arts to celebrate the contributions that so many make to transform-

ing lives and strengthening relations across the UK, Pakistan and beyond.

Former justice minister Shailesh Vara, Tory MP

Cambridgeshire, said the decision was 'completely wrong', adding: 'The local authority should have ensured that in placing the child in a foster home her religion and cultural background would be totally respected.

'There should be clear and unambiguous undertakings from potential foster parents that they will honour the beliefs of the children who are entrusted to their care.'

The girl's biological mother was said to be horrified by her daughter's foster placements and their effect on the child.

Woman dragged into gardens and attacked A woman was dragged into gardens and raped after leaving a pub. The victim, in her 20s, was assaulted after leaving The Cotton Tree on Cross Lane, Manchester in the early hours of Monday, police said.

A man dragged her across the street into some gardens on Burtinshaw Street where he raped her.

The man, who fled the scene, is described as about 28 to 30 years old, Asian and 5ft 10in tall. He was wearing a dark baseball cap and a dark hooded top, police said.

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Amir Khan's estranged wife has reignited her feud with the boxer after she cut him out of a photograph she had posted to Instagram.

Faryal Makhdoom uploaded the picture, which clearly shows her holding onto the arm of Khan, on to her personal account along with a winking face emoji. It comes a couple of days after she praised MMA star Conor McGregor for his devotion to his long-term partner in a sly dig at her own husband.

Faryal posted a quote from McGregor explaining how he had been with his girlfriend Dee Devlin for eight years, including when they used to live on benefits.

Above the quote, Faryal wrote: 'Love this. I really respect men who respect their women despite how famous they get.'

Weeks before, Faryal and Khan had an incredible public spat online when the boxer announced his marriage split on Twitter and both accused the other of cheating.

Khan also accused his American wife of having an affair with heavyweight

rival Anthony Joshua.

The couple, who married in 2013, claim Khan was sent screenshots of 'fake' messages purportedly sent between Joshua and Faryal which he initially believed to be real.

Khan, who is worth £23million, apologised after receiving a letter from Joshua's legal team demanding an apology for the allegations.

After Joshua wrote 'apology accepted', Khan tweeted him directly saying: 'Glad all is cleared up and all lies. I got angry like any man would. No truth to it. Good to know. All the best.'

Meanwhile, according to reports, Ms Khan has announced that she is pregnant with her second child. Faryal Makhdoom Khan announced the news on Twittter.

The American model wrote: “Alhumdulilah, blessed with baby number 2 in my tummy excited eating away, can’t stop!”

Faryal announced the news while her husband was in Las Vegas to watch the Conor McGregor v Floyd Mayweather fight. It came just weeks after the couple announced the break-up of their marriage

Amir Khan with estranged wife Faryal and 3 year old daughter on the cover of Hello magazine

on Twitter.

But the Mail revealed on Saturday that they were trying for a reconcilation and were seeing Birmingham-based “holy man” Pir Shaami.

Friends of Khan told the Mail that he spoke to Pir Shaami repeatedly over recent months and expressed his desire to leave Faryal before taking her to Dubai on the Pir’s advice.

The boxer was said to have told him the relationship was unhealthy, but the spiritual leader asked him to be patient and work it out. Now Pir Shaami has told both that they should stop their public attacks and be patient.

14

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Community on high spirits as Bappa visits homes

Ganpati Bappa Morya! The auspicious festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated predominantly in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, and Tamil Nadu. Also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, the popular Hindu festival is celebrated in the honour of the elephant-headed God. It falls on the fourth day of the Hindu month of Bhadra.

Celebrations include the installation of an idol of the God for a period of 10 days after which it is immersed in the river.

While it is unclear when the festival began to be observed, earliest origins date back to the era of Shivaji of the Maratha empire. However, after the rise of the British Raj, the festivities began to diminish, only to become a public event later in 1892, when Bhausaheb Laxman Javale installed the first public Ganesh idol in Pune. Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak praised the celebation of Ganesh Utsav in his newspaper Kesari, in 1893.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, is the main hub, and a must visit during the days of the Chaturthi.

Pandals remain upbeat with devotional songs, dances, and drum beats. The famous Lalbaugcha Raja is a well-organised community spot, where huge crowds gather to visit the biggest idol of the Lord. It sometimes takes over 20 hours to reach the installation.

Ganesh Chaturthi is no longer limited to India, as Hindu populations living abroad celebrate the festival in the UK, US, Canada, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries they are based in. Several Indian communities, based in London celebrate the home-coming of the Lord.

If you are organising Ganapati festival or Visharjan this year in the UK, please feel free to send a photo and details of your celebration in Asian Voice, via email at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

The most famous sarvajanik (public) Ganpati in India, the Lalbaugcha Raja is kept at Lalbaug, a prominent locality in Mumbai, during the festival. The idol sees hundreds of devotees everyday, ranging from the common man to celebrities and politicians. It is kept for public display for eleven days and immersed on the auspicious day of Anant Chaturdashi

BOLLYWOOD CELEBRATES GANESHOTSAV

Sanjay Dutt with wife Manyata at Ganesh Celebration

Bappa knows no boundaries: Salman Khan and family celebrated Ganesha Chaturthi at sister Arpita's place this year. Also seen, was his Romanian girlfriend Iulia Vantur

The annual Ganpati Puja hosted by India's power couple Nita and Mukesh Ambani is definitely one of the biggest events that sees the who's who of Mumbai in attendance. Their 4,00,000 sq. ft residence Antilia was flanked by several celebrities decked in their best to welcome the beloved vigna harta

Shilpa Shetty soaks in the revelry as he brings Ganesha home

Maharashtra Mandal London hosts Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations Ranbir Kapoor makes it a point to attend RK Studio's Ganesh Visarjan and Ganesh aarti every year

Hrithik Roshan places Bappa in a beautifully set-up worship area decorated with flowers and silverware

Maharashtra Mandal London has hosted its 27th Ganeshotsav celebrations recently. More than 300 members of the community visited Mandal on the first day of installation. Sunday, 27th August saw Atharvaseersha chanting and children's talent showcase 'Bal Darbaar' being organised as part of the festivities.

About 20 children from as young as 22 months showcased their talent in singing, artistic yoga, dancing and shloka rendition.

They included Aditya Ravinder, Ananya Vichare, Anisha Ghag, Ananya Pawar, Aarya Tarhalkar,Atharva Juvekar, Ira Inamdar, Ishwar Sharma, Juhi Ranade, Kaavyajhari Rapatwar, Panshul Karri, Reyansh

Ganesha deity installed at the Maharashtra Mandal

Chimbalkar, Ridhaan and Rhythm Gala, Sanvika, Siya Panchkhede, Talluru Nitalaksh and Yash Bartakke.

Dr Vishwanath, who accompanied Ishwar Sharma on Artistic Yoga shared with audiences on how important it is to

Community participating in Arti

include yoga in the routine. The program was hosted by Shivangi Gokhale,, designed by Ragasudha Vinjamuri and supported by President Sushil Rapatwar and VicePresident Ajinkya Bhave.

The celebrations shall have a communal Antakshari competition on Friday, 1st September, a

Maharashrian Cultural showcase on 2nd September attended by DEputy Mayor of London Shri Rajesh Agrawal, Atharvaseersha Sahastravartan on and musical rendition on 3rd September, concluding on 5th September with the procession and Visarjan of the deity.

UK

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Excessive salt intake doubles heart failure risk

A brand new study shows that too much of salt more than double the risk of a heart failure. Scientists in Finland studied over 4000 adults, correlating their dietary habits with cardiac problems, finding that those who consumed the most salt were 110 per cent more prone to develop a heart failure. Heart issues is known as one of Britain's major killers. Average salt intake in the country is 8g a day, down from 8.8 g a decade earlier.

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation said, “We need to consume some salt in our diet but most Western diets have salt intakes much greater than the amount required to be healthy.”

Non-English speaking victims to be prioritised Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Craig Mackey said victims who do not speak English could be given priority by officials. Mackey said callers might be denied a personal visit from police unless they are deemed to be sufficiently “vulnerable”. He said it is “absolutely feasible” that “face-to-face” visits by officers could be reserved for the “vulnerable”.

Mackey said those for whom English is not a first language, the elderly, and people with learning difficulties, could be be helped by officers from the Met. The idea might help the Met deal with the dip in funds.

“Vulnerability can manifest itself in a number of ways: people with learning difficulties, a whole range of things, some people for whom English isn't a first language,” he said.

How to build a billion-pound business Co-founder of foreign exchange and international payments company RationalFX and Xendpay, Paresh Davdra is a wellknown name in the business world. RationalFX was founded by Davdra and partner Rajesh Agrawal, when the former was just 24 years old and a fresh university graduate with student loans to deal with. Setting up the Paresh Davdra company was nothing less than a gamble for the two.

“Neither of us had any money,” Davdra said to a media source. “Rajesh had only been in the country for about three years, he'd come from India, and I'd only graduated from university the year before, I had all this university debt. Rajesh went to the bank to get a loan to start the business. We'd done somewhat of a business plan, not having done one in our lives. The bank, unfortunately, rejected him.” However, 12 years later, RationalFX is now turning over £1.4 billion and processes $10 billion in payments.

“We've weathered more than one storm, to be honest, but you get them in different forms in different ways.

People for example. As the company gets bigger and you employ more and more people, you have to manage these people and ensure their interests and the company's interests are both aligned. Sometimes that's not necessarily easy,” he said.

In his tips to budding entrepreneurs, Davdra said to “Persevere”, “Get the right people”, “Watch your cash”, and “Plan your exit”. “As long as you're doing the right things and you keep doing them, it will pay its dividends,” he said.

15

Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

UK's largest-ever home acquisition sees HC-One buy out 122 care homes British healthcare management company, HC-One has completed a £3900 million acquisition of 122 care homes from Bupa, in a deal termed the biggest in the country. Run by chairman Dr Chai Patel, the company has been expanding and has already bought a total of 50 homes in the last three years.

“We are building an organisation that residents and families can rely on, one which can withstand future uncertainties,” Dr Patel said. He stated that the purchase of Bupa care homes boosted HC-One's leading investment programme on which huge amounts of time and resource on learning and development programmes, IT systems, and homes were spent. “The investment we have made gives us the confidence to reach out to serve even more local communities across Britain. We will be larger

Dr. Chai Patel

going forward but we will ensure that every single person we care for experiences the same culture and focus on kindness that have characterised HC-One since our first day of operation,” he said.

“The homes we have acquired from Bupa are dispersed across the UK, and demonstrate HC-One’s ongoing strategy to focus on strong regional growth.

HC-One’s growth is financially sustainable – our

debt levels are both prudent and manageable – and our ever strengthening and stable financial position means residents will continue to receive the kindest high-quality care through a range of specialist services and equally that we will continue to invest in our staff.

We also have taken huge steps to ensure we operate with tried and tested processes that put residents first and which will support our continued growth.”

Bupa holds around 150 care homes and six retirement villages, looking after over 9000 residents. It has several other schemes under construction. Chief Executive Officer at Bupa UK, David Hynam stated that the company would

EXCLUSIVE

remain “a major investor” in the sector.

Touted to be a gamechanger, the deal also suffers reports of debt. Sources said the Bupa deal could potentially end up with debts worth over £600 million for HC-One, triggering new concerns for the financial management of UK care homes groups. Patel's company seems to have debts worth £287 million, and the Bupa deal only pushes it over the edge.

Refraining to comment on its financial position, HC-One said it was investing £100 million into its operations and that its backers were “committed”.

“We are proud to have one of the strongest quality records within the elderly care sector, and work closely with the CQC, our local authority partners, and local healthcare professionals to make sure our homes are the best they can be,” it said.

Indian entrepreneurs to boost start ups in developing countries Expanding in the UK, with several contributors based in the country, the EFI Hub aims to build a network boosting innovation and entrepreneurship

Mitul Paniker A group of Indian entrepreneurs have joined hands to set up a global incubator that will help aid the growth of start ups in developing countries like Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Founder Anu Shah launched the venture earlier this year while she was studying at Harvard University. With her incubator ‘EFI Hub’, she now aims to connect leading investors, successful entrepreneurs, leading professionals and graduates from prestigious institutes such as Harvard, Oxford and INSEAD, leading politicians and government intermediaries with early stage entrepreneurs looking for mentors.

EFI Hub looks to emulate the Silicon Valley model across the world and has already raised funds through South African politician and Harvard Alumni Lavan Gopaul.

Advisors on the board include several young Indian entrepreneurs and investors such as LogiNext's Dhruvil Sanghvi, Innov8's Ritesh Mallik, Jetsetgo’s Kanika Tekriwal and Lucideus' Saket Modi. Anu said she came up with the idea in 2016 while working as a Private Equity Professional. During that time, she had travelled to East Africa, for deal sourcing and setting up a region-

Anu Shah

al office for their firm.

It was then that she came across a Kraft Brewery that employed only women.

The CEO was a hexagenerian woman committed to empower other women in the community by creating a livelihood for them. Shah was impressed by her determination and grit, for it reminded her of her own professional start. Shah began her career in 2005 when she walked out of her home in Gujarat with $40 in her pocket to fetch a job in a call center in Mumbai. To break through the state of destitute, where she survived on a salary of mere $100 a month and lived in a chawl (infested with rats and water leaking roof), she switched jobs and started working as a sales representative selling consumer products from shop to shop in Mumbai. Anu said, "I would walk in blazing heat

of Mumbai for 8 hours and cover 40 shops a day, to achieve sales target of $100 and a commission of mere $10. But I always exceeded my sales target and quickly rose through the ladder to become a manager in the company." She always worked relentlessly to break the stereotypes attached with women in male dominated segments of Sales & Marketing, Investment Banking and Consulting.

Since then Shah's decade long careerspanned across four continents (North America, Europe, Africa and Asia) and seven countries, has overseen her invest and mentor businesses, and promote innovation across sectors such as consumer goods, technology and health care. She has also worked as a M&A professional and strategy consul-

tant with leading companies like EY and AT Kearney, in emerging markets of Asia, Middle East and Africa.

After meeting the CEO, Anu Shah quickly jumped to support the Kraft Brewery and decided to consult for her business on a pro bono basis. She pulled on her connection internationally and found a Canadian Brewery who extended their support to train the employees at Kraft Brewery. Shah was instrumental in arranging a crowd funding initiative for brewery that helped the business raise $110,000.

Through ‘EFI Hub’ Anu Shah wants to empower businesses and communities at large and create a social change on a global scale. Since inception, EFI Hub has incubated start ups in the emerging markets of Asia and Africa, and plans to scale the model and expand into major economic power hubs including India, Singapore, Nigeria, South Africa, and Rwanda, in the next 2-3 years. It is currently exploring partnerships with the International Finance Corporation, World Bank, and the Rwanda Development Board.

Operational in Kenya, Kigali, and India, Shah and partners are working to raise funds from AfricanIndians in the UK in a bid to expand their idea.

16

UK

www.asian-voice.com

Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

M1 CARNAGE: 8 INDIANS SPOT DEAD

Continued from page 1

The death toll was the highest on a British motorway since November 1993, when 12 children and their teacher died after a crash on the M40.

The bank holiday crash involved a 16 seater minibus sandwiched between two trucks, driving towards the same direction at Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire.

The minibus had 11 Indian passengers from Nottingham to Star Tours' Wembley office, where they were due to start an Europe coach tour for 6 days including France (Paris), Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.

However the minibus that was carrying these passengers to Wembley, did not belong to Star Tours and was owned by the driver Cyriac Joseph, also of Indian origin, who had lived in the UK for 15 years. He was believed to be of Malayali descent, and was originally from Pala in Kottayam district, in Kerala, South India.

He is survived by his wife, who is a nurse and two children. The passengers, who were visiting from India with their families, workedfor the IT contracting company Wipro at the Nottingham office of the credit card provider Capital One. Three dead victims named by Wipro on Sunday were Karthikeyan Ramasubramaniyam Pugalur, Rishi Rajeev Kumar (originally from Chingavanam, in Kerala, India)and Vivek Bhaskaran. Another of their employee Mano Ranjan Panneerselvam from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu and Sangeetha remain in critical condition, though sources reveal they are out of danger now. But Panneerselvam’s father- A Panneerselvam, aunt Tamilmani and uncle Arachelvan Arunachalam also died in the crash.

A spokeswoman for Wipro said their colleagues were praying for Panneerselvam’s recovery.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those who lost their lives in this tragedy.”

A 5 year old girl also remains critical condition,

l EXCLUSIVE: Community extends assistance and support to victims' families

l This crash is believed to be the worst UK motorway accident in 24 years l Tributes paid to minibus driver of Indian origin, also among victims of crash but learnt to be now out of danger in Birmingham University Hospital. One of the three dead is believed to have been her father, whose mother was also killed. The mother has not yet been named.

Sources exclusive to Asian Voice reveal that, Wipro has organised for the victims' families from India to travel to the UK, including arranging for their visas.

Though they were meant to arrive on Tuesday, some were still awaiting visa clearance, as we went to press, and were due to arrive on Wednesday. The repatraition of 7 people will be done next week.

Jacob Ravibalan of World Tamil Organisation told Asian Voice in an exclusive interview, “I have been involved in 36 such cases, where we have helped the victims’ families in repatraition of the bodies. This time, we are not directly organising anything, as Wipro has proactively taken charge of everything.

However, I am working closely with Wipro UK, Mrs Beena Rao and Mr A S Rajan, from High Commission of India and I am also the point of contact for the families, if they need any help when in the UK. Over the last days I have received more than 25 calls, including from the victims’ extended families. If anyone needs to reach out to me, I

am available on 07903635438.”

A source from the High Commission of India told the newsweekly, “We are providing with all sorts of assistance, and are in touch with the victims' families.”

Hemang Shah, Director of the Star Tours company, told Asian Voice exclusively, “We are extremely saddened by this incident. Our heart goes out to the families who have lost On Saturday morning the trip was starting from outside our office in Wembley, and these 11 passengers were asked to report by 5:30am. When we were about start our tour, we realised some passengers were missing. We tried to contact them and eventually next to their kin, but couple of them were in India, so they had no idea.

Therefore we thought that they may join for our evening tour leaving for Europe, and may be held up somewhere else. In some time we heard about the M1 crash, but only realised it

involved these 11 passengers around Saturday noon.

We also provide pick up services from passengers joining our tour in London from Nottingham, but the minibus that suffered this fateful crash wasn't one of ours. It was hired privately.

“Our India office is in touch with the victims' family and we are also in contact with Wipro's Human

Cyriac Joseph

Resources team in the UK, and helping everyone in any possible way to transfer the bodies to India.”

Tributes paid to the deceased Minibus driver The driver of a minibus has been named as fatherof-two Cyriac Joseph. The bus was operated by ABC Travels – run by Joseph himself since 2008.

Joseph, 52, who moved to uk 15 years back. A devout Catholic and regular Church goer, was described by friends as a “lovely and generous”. Just two days before the incident, had been celebrating his daughter’s 12 A and A* grades in her GCSE exam.

Joseph’s relatives said

his family were completely shattered by the accident.

Wife Ancy, 52, is a cardiac unit nurse at Nottingham City Hospital. Indian-born Mr Joseph, more popularly known as Benny – and Ancy have two children, university student Benson, 20, and Benitea, 16, who just passed her GCSE with flying colours. ABC Travels was named after the initials of

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each of the family’s first names.

Soyimon, 49, described Benny as his best friend and said he last saw him at 10pm on Friday just five hours before the tragedy.

On Facebook, Soyimon Joseph paid tribute to his friend Cyriac, saying he had seen him the night before the crash. “Hearty condolences. I never thought yesterday [at] 10 pm you say thank you to me it was our last meeting. We will meet again in heaven,” he wrote, adding that his heart was broken by news of the death.

“It is devastating,” he told a newspaper. “He and Ancy celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last year. Benny is the perfect driver. He would only use the slow lane or the second lane and he had an alarm in his 16-seat minibus that would go off if he went over 60mph.”

There was a Mass held on Sunday at St. Paul's Catholic Church on Lenton Boulevard. Speaking outside the family home before the church service, Joseph's bereaved son Benson Joseph said his father had booked the job to take the family visiting from India down to London. Benson said he missed his father 'so much' already as he heartbreakingly revealed he and his mother and sister had only just returned from holiday, and did not get to meet Benny before he left for London with his clients.

Father Biju Joseph, who performed the mass said: “It’s so sad and we’re praying to God for his soul and his family. People are really shocked. He was such a good friend; he was like a brother to me.”

Benny's neighbour

: Venue don

l Lon Cenndtra tember p 22 Se017 2

Hana Adam reportedly told of her “utter shock” over the accident and described her friend as “just a generous guy”.

A close friend, Manu Zacharia, said he picked up the clients close to his home at 1am before setting of on the journey to London. Joseph who had studied Botany in India, had been running his taxi business for four years after working for supermarket chains Morrisons and Asda, and would regularly make long distance trips.

Zacharia told the Mail on Sunday, "He was my best friend and always there when you needed him. He was a good singer and a sports enthusiast. He loved volleyball.

'He encouraged everyone to write out own magazine and even start our own radio programme for a time.”

Police say they are in touch with families living abroad. Chief Inspector Henry Parsons from the Joint Operations Unit for Roads Policing, said: “Our thoughts are very much with the families of those involved in yesterday's collision, and we are currently working to locate and inform their next of kin.'

Who were the truck drivers?

The two trucks involved in the crash were one from FedEx and the other from AIM logistics. Thames Valley Police said the drivers of the two trucks, were arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. One of the men was also suspected of driving over the alcohol limit. The drivers are named as Ryszard Masierak and David Wagstaf.

Masierak, a Polish national of Barnards Close, Evesham, Worcestershire, is charged with eight counts of causing death by careless driving while allegedly over the prescribed alcohol limit.

The charge accuses him of giving a reading of 55mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

The legal limit for driving is

UK AsianVoiceNews 35mg. Masierak will next appear at Aylesbury Crown Court on 26 September. He believed to have broken down in court as he faced charges over the horror crash.

Wagstaff, 53, of Derwent Street, Stoke-on-Trent, has also been charged over the crash. He is accused of eight counts of causing death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and is due to appear at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court on 11 September.

What passerbys witnessed A passerby who stopped his taxi to help passengers in the stricken minibus on the M1 described the scene as a 'warzone', with a 16 seater minibus left totally flattened. The four injured and surviving were believed to have serious or life-threatening injuries. Fire crew and medics battled for an hour to free the youngster as the bodies of victims lay around .One motorist who passed the scene on the opposite carriageway described the crash on Twitter as “the most horrific I have ever seen”.

Brett Smith, who passed the scene in a taxi before the emergency services arrived and stopped to help the 5 year old girl, said: "A family has been destroyed. I held a little girl by her arms, trapped inside a vehicle, for a good hour or so with the emergency services and the fire service trying to help.

"I walked home with a blanket that the ambulance

AsianVoiceNewsweekly service provided me to stay warm because the little girl has got my jacket to keep herself safe. The fire and ambulances services did a really good job."

The southbound carriageway of the M1 was closed for 10 hours.

Thousands of motorists travelling for the Bank Holiday weekend – including rugby league fans from Wigan and Hull heading to the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Final at Wembley – were caught up in traffic gridlock. Some trippers even missed flight connections as backlogs of two hours built up.

Chief Inspector Henry added, “Officers are working to inform next of kin of the people who died and specially-trained family liaison officers will be offering them their support.

“This collision was deeply distressing for the members of the public who witnessed it, along with the emergency service workers who attended and displayed high levels of professionalism.”

A spokesman for Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said dozens of emergency workers attended the scene and added: “Firefighters used hydraulic rescue equipment to release three people, who were taken to hospital with a fourth person.”

Ismail Elmagdoub, director of AIM Logistics, said: “Road safety and compliance is of the utmost importance to AIM and we are continuing to assist the police as much as possible with their inquiries.”

Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Sigma sponsors transformation of Community Pharmacy 2025 vision

A donation from Sigma Pharmaceuticals plc is funding a three year PhD scholarship aimed at developing a coherent and transformative vision for English community pharmacy in 2025. The project has already begun in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology at the University of Bath. The donor, Sigma Pharmaceuticals plc through Dr Bharat Shah, is keen to draw together the various sectors of the profession to present a clear and cogent message to policy makers. This work will devise and present a vision for the development of the community pharmacy sector as it battles to respond to recent funding cuts and unpopular reforms.

Under the scholarship, opinions will be gathered from all relevant stakeholders, including patients, pharmacists, other health professionals, businesses and commissioners. There will also be a review of recent developments in community pharmacy policy and an examination of case studies of existing innovative pharmacy businesses.

The scholarship is being supervised by Dr Matthew Jones (Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice) from the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Dr Piotr Ozieranski, an expert in health policy and lecturer in the Department of Social & Policy Sciences and Professor Margaret Watson (Professor of Health Services Research), University of Bath.

The last 18 months have been a turbulent time for the community pharmacy sector in England, with unpopular reforms and £170m Government funding cuts widely expected to lead to closure of pharmacies. However, the wide array of

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Dr Bharat Shah

opinions within the pharmacy profession on how medicines should be supplied, and what work community pharmacists should do, means that policy makers have not received a consistent vision for the development of the sector.

Dr Shah said “Our involvement in this timely project resonates well with the general feelings and anxiety experienced throughout the pharmaceutical industry. It is my personal ambition to see the culmination of three years of solid, evidence-based research that will present an irrefutable case to our policy makers who seem at liberty to take decisions without consultation with the professionals. I am also hopeful that the findings will bolster the independent pharmacy sector and add a measure of security for the future”.

Dr Jones said “Through this work, we aim to identify areas where Government policy and stakeholder

views align with existing examples of innovative and successful community pharmacy businesses. For example, such areas of consensus might include the provision of minor ailments services, management of chronic conditions, or a diversification of business models. These can then be used to develop a vision for the future of the sector. As well as contributing to the evidence base for community pharmacy, this scholarship will also provide the scholar, Ms Evina Paloumpi (a pharmacist), with in-depth research training. She will thus be equipped to contribute further to the development of the profession throughout her future career”.

Ms Paloumpi said “It has long been recognised that community pharmacy is a highly valued but underutilised resource. At times of financial austerity, uncertainty and growing population demands, pharmacy has a lot to offer. NHS plans for integrating care are continuously developing and community pharmacy must ensure it is actively involved.

My research aims to facilitate responses to current challenges and identify some realistic next steps for the future”.

Ms Evina Paloumpi, a pharmacist herself, is the PhD scholar who will be delighted to hear views about this project. She can be reached on E.Paloumpi@bath.ac.uk.

The findings of the project will be made public when the research has been completed in 2020.

For further information about this project or the work undertaken at the University of Bath, please contact Chrys Quarmby at Sigma’s Marketing Department at chrys@sigmaplc.com

Deputy Mayor Tom Aditya meets Prime Minister Theresa May Bradley Stoke Deputy Mayor Tom Aditya, who is also a member of the UK Indian community, met the UK Prime Minister Theresa May and discussed few of the issues that concern the communities. Aditya is a Councillor at Bradley Stoke in South Gloucestershire, also serves as the vice-chairman of the Police panel, which oversees police operations in Greater Bristol metro region and West of England districts.

Councillor Tom Aditya brought Prime Minister‘s attention to the need to strengthen the NHS and requested to make provision to recruit more clinically

competent nurses. He called to reduce the IELTS score from 7 to 6 for NMC registration and stressed the need to attract more patient- caring nurses. He also elucidated the need to provide dependent parent's visas for professionals who are working in the UK. He said that professionals are ready to take care of their parents without any recourse to public funds and stated that such a provision will be a great emotional support to the elderly parents and will enable to retain the best proficient

experts in the country.

Cllr Tom furthermore urged the Prime Minister to bring more efficiency and effectiveness in public services and requested to formulate stipulations for appropriate scrutiny of the bureaucracy. He said that an independent civil service commission should be made responsible to recruit new entrants to all levels of public organisations in order to avert nepotism, discrimination and corruptive practices. He called to

Tom with PM Theresa May

strengthen the victim support scheme for persons who suffer from hate-crime and anti-social behaviour; and advocated making changes in the judicial system in order to generate corrective sentencing judgements against the culprits to avert future offending.

Prime Minister assured that she will take necessary actions after proper examination of the issues and after suitable consultation with the appropriate officials.

May also applauded Cllr Tom Aditya's community services and congratulated him for being elected the Deputy Mayor of Bradley Stoke.

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M1 CARNAGE: 8 INDIANS SPOT DEAD

Continued from page 1

The death toll was the highest on a British motorway since November 1993, when 12 children and their teacher died after a crash on the M40.

The bank holiday crash involved a 16 seater minibus sandwiched between two trucks, driving towards the same direction at Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire.

The minibus had 11 Indian passengers from Nottingham to Star Tours' Wembley office, where they were due to start an Europe coach tour for 6 days including France (Paris), Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.

However the minibus that was carrying these passengers to Wembley, did not belong to Star Tours and was owned by the driver Cyriac Joseph, also of Indian origin, who had lived in the UK for 15 years. He was believed to be of Malayali descent, and was originally from Pala in Kottayam district, in Kerala, South India.

He is survived by his wife, who is a nurse and two children. The passengers, who were visiting from India with their families, workedfor the IT contracting company Wipro at the Nottingham office of the credit card provider Capital One. Three dead victims named by Wipro on Sunday were Karthikeyan Ramasubramaniyam Pugalur, Rishi Rajeev Kumar (originally from Chingavanam, in Kerala, India)and Vivek Bhaskaran. Another of their employee Mano Ranjan Panneerselvam from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu and Sangeetha remain in critical condition, though sources reveal they are out of danger now. But Panneerselvam’s father- A Panneerselvam, aunt Tamilmani and uncle Arachelvan Arunachalam also died in the crash.

A spokeswoman for Wipro said their colleagues were praying for Panneerselvam’s recovery.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those who lost their lives in this tragedy.”

A 5 year old girl also remains critical condition,

l EXCLUSIVE: Community extends assistance and support to victims' families

l This crash is believed to be the worst UK motorway accident in 24 years l Tributes paid to minibus driver of Indian origin, also among victims of crash but learnt to be now out of danger in Birmingham University Hospital. One of the three dead is believed to have been her father, whose mother was also killed. The mother has not yet been named.

Sources exclusive to Asian Voice reveal that, Wipro has organised for the victims' families from India to travel to the UK, including arranging for their visas.

Though they were meant to arrive on Tuesday, some were still awaiting visa clearance, as we went to press, and were due to arrive on Wednesday. The repatraition of 7 people will be done next week.

Jacob Ravibalan of World Tamil Organisation told Asian Voice in an exclusive interview, “I have been involved in 36 such cases, where we have helped the victims’ families in repatraition of the bodies. This time, we are not directly organising anything, as Wipro has proactively taken charge of everything.

However, I am working closely with Wipro UK, Mrs Beena Rao and Mr A S Rajan, from High Commission of India and I am also the point of contact for the families, if they need any help when in the UK. Over the last days I have received more than 25 calls, including from the victims’ extended families. If anyone needs to reach out to me, I

am available on 07903635438.”

A source from the High Commission of India told the newsweekly, “We are providing with all sorts of assistance, and are in touch with the victims' families.”

Hemang Shah, Director of the Star Tours company, told Asian Voice exclusively, “We are extremely saddened by this incident. Our heart goes out to the families who have lost On Saturday morning the trip was starting from outside our office in Wembley, and these 11 passengers were asked to report by 5:30am. When we were about start our tour, we realised some passengers were missing. We tried to contact them and eventually next to their kin, but couple of them were in India, so they had no idea.

Therefore we thought that they may join for our evening tour leaving for Europe, and may be held up somewhere else. In some time we heard about the M1 crash, but only realised it

involved these 11 passengers around Saturday noon.

We also provide pick up services from passengers joining our tour in London from Nottingham, but the minibus that suffered this fateful crash wasn't one of ours. It was hired privately.

“Our India office is in touch with the victims' family and we are also in contact with Wipro's Human

Cyriac Joseph

Resources team in the UK, and helping everyone in any possible way to transfer the bodies to India.”

Tributes paid to the deceased Minibus driver The driver of a minibus has been named as fatherof-two Cyriac Joseph. The bus was operated by ABC Travels – run by Joseph himself since 2008.

Joseph, 52, who moved to uk 15 years back. A devout Catholic and regular Church goer, was described by friends as a “lovely and generous”. Just two days before the incident, had been celebrating his daughter’s 12 A and A* grades in her GCSE exam.

Joseph’s relatives said

his family were completely shattered by the accident.

Wife Ancy, 52, is a cardiac unit nurse at Nottingham City Hospital. Indian-born Mr Joseph, more popularly known as Benny – and Ancy have two children, university student Benson, 20, and Benitea, 16, who just passed her GCSE with flying colours. ABC Travels was named after the initials of

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each of the family’s first names.

Soyimon, 49, described Benny as his best friend and said he last saw him at 10pm on Friday just five hours before the tragedy.

On Facebook, Soyimon Joseph paid tribute to his friend Cyriac, saying he had seen him the night before the crash. “Hearty condolences. I never thought yesterday [at] 10 pm you say thank you to me it was our last meeting. We will meet again in heaven,” he wrote, adding that his heart was broken by news of the death.

“It is devastating,” he told a newspaper. “He and Ancy celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last year. Benny is the perfect driver. He would only use the slow lane or the second lane and he had an alarm in his 16-seat minibus that would go off if he went over 60mph.”

There was a Mass held on Sunday at St. Paul's Catholic Church on Lenton Boulevard. Speaking outside the family home before the church service, Joseph's bereaved son Benson Joseph said his father had booked the job to take the family visiting from India down to London. Benson said he missed his father 'so much' already as he heartbreakingly revealed he and his mother and sister had only just returned from holiday, and did not get to meet Benny before he left for London with his clients.

Father Biju Joseph, who performed the mass said: “It’s so sad and we’re praying to God for his soul and his family. People are really shocked. He was such a good friend; he was like a brother to me.”

Benny's neighbour

: Venue don

l Lon Cenndtra tember p 22 Se017 2

Hana Adam reportedly told of her “utter shock” over the accident and described her friend as “just a generous guy”.

A close friend, Manu Zacharia, said he picked up the clients close to his home at 1am before setting of on the journey to London. Joseph who had studied Botany in India, had been running his taxi business for four years after working for supermarket chains Morrisons and Asda, and would regularly make long distance trips.

Zacharia told the Mail on Sunday, "He was my best friend and always there when you needed him. He was a good singer and a sports enthusiast. He loved volleyball.

'He encouraged everyone to write out own magazine and even start our own radio programme for a time.”

Police say they are in touch with families living abroad. Chief Inspector Henry Parsons from the Joint Operations Unit for Roads Policing, said: “Our thoughts are very much with the families of those involved in yesterday's collision, and we are currently working to locate and inform their next of kin.'

Who were the truck drivers?

The two trucks involved in the crash were one from FedEx and the other from AIM logistics. Thames Valley Police said the drivers of the two trucks, were arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. One of the men was also suspected of driving over the alcohol limit. The drivers are named as Ryszard Masierak and David Wagstaf.

Masierak, a Polish national of Barnards Close, Evesham, Worcestershire, is charged with eight counts of causing death by careless driving while allegedly over the prescribed alcohol limit.

The charge accuses him of giving a reading of 55mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

The legal limit for driving is

UK AsianVoiceNews 35mg. Masierak will next appear at Aylesbury Crown Court on 26 September. He believed to have broken down in court as he faced charges over the horror crash.

Wagstaff, 53, of Derwent Street, Stoke-on-Trent, has also been charged over the crash. He is accused of eight counts of causing death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and is due to appear at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court on 11 September.

What passerbys witnessed A passerby who stopped his taxi to help passengers in the stricken minibus on the M1 described the scene as a 'warzone', with a 16 seater minibus left totally flattened. The four injured and surviving were believed to have serious or life-threatening injuries. Fire crew and medics battled for an hour to free the youngster as the bodies of victims lay around .One motorist who passed the scene on the opposite carriageway described the crash on Twitter as “the most horrific I have ever seen”.

Brett Smith, who passed the scene in a taxi before the emergency services arrived and stopped to help the 5 year old girl, said: "A family has been destroyed. I held a little girl by her arms, trapped inside a vehicle, for a good hour or so with the emergency services and the fire service trying to help.

"I walked home with a blanket that the ambulance

AsianVoiceNewsweekly service provided me to stay warm because the little girl has got my jacket to keep herself safe. The fire and ambulances services did a really good job."

The southbound carriageway of the M1 was closed for 10 hours.

Thousands of motorists travelling for the Bank Holiday weekend – including rugby league fans from Wigan and Hull heading to the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Final at Wembley – were caught up in traffic gridlock. Some trippers even missed flight connections as backlogs of two hours built up.

Chief Inspector Henry added, “Officers are working to inform next of kin of the people who died and specially-trained family liaison officers will be offering them their support.

“This collision was deeply distressing for the members of the public who witnessed it, along with the emergency service workers who attended and displayed high levels of professionalism.”

A spokesman for Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said dozens of emergency workers attended the scene and added: “Firefighters used hydraulic rescue equipment to release three people, who were taken to hospital with a fourth person.”

Ismail Elmagdoub, director of AIM Logistics, said: “Road safety and compliance is of the utmost importance to AIM and we are continuing to assist the police as much as possible with their inquiries.”

Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Sigma sponsors transformation of Community Pharmacy 2025 vision

A donation from Sigma Pharmaceuticals plc is funding a three year PhD scholarship aimed at developing a coherent and transformative vision for English community pharmacy in 2025. The project has already begun in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology at the University of Bath. The donor, Sigma Pharmaceuticals plc through Dr Bharat Shah, is keen to draw together the various sectors of the profession to present a clear and cogent message to policy makers. This work will devise and present a vision for the development of the community pharmacy sector as it battles to respond to recent funding cuts and unpopular reforms.

Under the scholarship, opinions will be gathered from all relevant stakeholders, including patients, pharmacists, other health professionals, businesses and commissioners. There will also be a review of recent developments in community pharmacy policy and an examination of case studies of existing innovative pharmacy businesses.

The scholarship is being supervised by Dr Matthew Jones (Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice) from the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Dr Piotr Ozieranski, an expert in health policy and lecturer in the Department of Social & Policy Sciences and Professor Margaret Watson (Professor of Health Services Research), University of Bath.

The last 18 months have been a turbulent time for the community pharmacy sector in England, with unpopular reforms and £170m Government funding cuts widely expected to lead to closure of pharmacies. However, the wide array of

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Dr Bharat Shah

opinions within the pharmacy profession on how medicines should be supplied, and what work community pharmacists should do, means that policy makers have not received a consistent vision for the development of the sector.

Dr Shah said “Our involvement in this timely project resonates well with the general feelings and anxiety experienced throughout the pharmaceutical industry. It is my personal ambition to see the culmination of three years of solid, evidence-based research that will present an irrefutable case to our policy makers who seem at liberty to take decisions without consultation with the professionals. I am also hopeful that the findings will bolster the independent pharmacy sector and add a measure of security for the future”.

Dr Jones said “Through this work, we aim to identify areas where Government policy and stakeholder

views align with existing examples of innovative and successful community pharmacy businesses. For example, such areas of consensus might include the provision of minor ailments services, management of chronic conditions, or a diversification of business models. These can then be used to develop a vision for the future of the sector. As well as contributing to the evidence base for community pharmacy, this scholarship will also provide the scholar, Ms Evina Paloumpi (a pharmacist), with in-depth research training. She will thus be equipped to contribute further to the development of the profession throughout her future career”.

Ms Paloumpi said “It has long been recognised that community pharmacy is a highly valued but underutilised resource. At times of financial austerity, uncertainty and growing population demands, pharmacy has a lot to offer. NHS plans for integrating care are continuously developing and community pharmacy must ensure it is actively involved.

My research aims to facilitate responses to current challenges and identify some realistic next steps for the future”.

Ms Evina Paloumpi, a pharmacist herself, is the PhD scholar who will be delighted to hear views about this project. She can be reached on E.Paloumpi@bath.ac.uk.

The findings of the project will be made public when the research has been completed in 2020.

For further information about this project or the work undertaken at the University of Bath, please contact Chrys Quarmby at Sigma’s Marketing Department at chrys@sigmaplc.com

Deputy Mayor Tom Aditya meets Prime Minister Theresa May Bradley Stoke Deputy Mayor Tom Aditya, who is also a member of the UK Indian community, met the UK Prime Minister Theresa May and discussed few of the issues that concern the communities. Aditya is a Councillor at Bradley Stoke in South Gloucestershire, also serves as the vice-chairman of the Police panel, which oversees police operations in Greater Bristol metro region and West of England districts.

Councillor Tom Aditya brought Prime Minister‘s attention to the need to strengthen the NHS and requested to make provision to recruit more clinically

competent nurses. He called to reduce the IELTS score from 7 to 6 for NMC registration and stressed the need to attract more patient- caring nurses. He also elucidated the need to provide dependent parent's visas for professionals who are working in the UK. He said that professionals are ready to take care of their parents without any recourse to public funds and stated that such a provision will be a great emotional support to the elderly parents and will enable to retain the best proficient

experts in the country.

Cllr Tom furthermore urged the Prime Minister to bring more efficiency and effectiveness in public services and requested to formulate stipulations for appropriate scrutiny of the bureaucracy. He said that an independent civil service commission should be made responsible to recruit new entrants to all levels of public organisations in order to avert nepotism, discrimination and corruptive practices. He called to

Tom with PM Theresa May

strengthen the victim support scheme for persons who suffer from hate-crime and anti-social behaviour; and advocated making changes in the judicial system in order to generate corrective sentencing judgements against the culprits to avert future offending.

Prime Minister assured that she will take necessary actions after proper examination of the issues and after suitable consultation with the appropriate officials.

May also applauded Cllr Tom Aditya's community services and congratulated him for being elected the Deputy Mayor of Bradley Stoke.

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Nandan Nilekani back at Infosys for a second stint

He said his strength lies in consensus building, which he said he demonstrated even in the building of Aadhaar Nandan Nilekani, who has been appointed as the non-executive chairman of Infosys, described his return to the company he co-founded as public service. “I was invited to become the chairman and this was the unanimous decision of the board. The founders and Murthy (Naryana Murthy) also had asked me to consider this position, along with a large number of institutional shareholders. I'm here representing 100 per cent of shareholders and the full board, employees and other stakeholders.”

He said since he assumed charge, he met with board members individually with the senior management, and had an investor call where some 600 investors participated,

Nandan Nilekani

and had recorded a message for employees. He said his strength lies in consensus building, which he said he demonstrated even in the building of Aadhaar, a complex national technology project that involved several governmental agencies and two very different governments.

“I have a record of doing things in different environments and doing it successfully. My goal is to build consensus, bring stability, and take this company forward on its rightful journey of achieving its goals and aspirations,” he said. Nilekani said his tenure wasn't defined and he would stay for as along as he deemed necessary.

While he addressed media questions on a light tone, when asked about charges against Murthy, and whether the new board would accept his demand for a full disclosure of investigation reports related to the Panaya acquisition, Nilekani began to appear testy. He concluded all questions with a simple answer- “Everything is hunky dory”.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw to lead Infy CEO search Nilekani said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw will lead the search of the new chief executive as head of the nominations and remunerations committee, whose responsibility will also include search for new board members.

Infosys board, which till a few days ago had 11 members, saw a dramatic churn when four of its members, including erstwhile non-executive chairman R Seshasayee and executive vice chairman Vishal Sikka resigned with immediate effect after Nilekani joined. Cochairman Ravi Venkatesan also stepped down though he remained as an independent director while others survived.

India looking into Alibaba's activities Internet giant Alibaba's UC Web has come under Indian government scrutiny as part of ongoing investigations against Chinese companies over alleged data theft. A top official in the Ministry of Electronics and IT, said, “Complaints have been received against UC Browser that it sends mobile data of Indian users to servers in China.

The matter is being looked into,” the official said.

As per a Stat-Counter

Jet Airways ties up with Airbnb India's Jet Airways has tied up with Airbnb, creating more global hospitality options for Indian tourists.

In a statement, the airline said, “The partnership will not only offer a strong and differentiated value to Jet Airways' guests, but also give momentum to the growth of Airbnb's footprint in the Indian market by establishing a deeper connect with the new-age Indian traveller, who is increasingly seeking unique and interesting experiences while travelling both in India as well as around the world.”

Jet's Chief Commercial Officer Jayaraj Shanmugam said, “An increasing number of Indian travellers are embracing the fresh and highly personalised experiences that a platform like Airbnb offers. Our focus on being innovative and offering differentiated travel experiences enables us to anticipate the changing needs of our guests and recognise trends much earlier than the market.”

report, UC Web is the second most used web browser in India after Google Chrome, and leads mobile phone segment with 48.7 per cent market share. A spokesperson for the browser said it takes security and privacy very seriously. They added, “It is a common practice for IT companies to place servers all around the globe to provide better services to users... We will not do anything to breach trust of our users. At UC Web, we work hard to

comply with local regulations of each region we operate in... We have strong measures in place to encrypt the data while we transmit it.”

The spokesperson defended the decision to collect user data. “It is also a standard industry practice to collect user information and data in necessary scenarios to provide users with localised services. We take necessary authorisation from users to collect this data. Our systems are pro-

tected by an end-user licensing agreement which protect the interest of our users.”

An IT ministry official said there were fears that data was being stolen even when the app has been uninstalled by a user.

“There are complaints that even if a user has cleaned browsing data, the browser retains control of DNS (domain name server) of user's device,” the official said. UC Browser is part of Alibaba's mobile business group.

The Indian government has approved a framework for consolidation among public sector banks, including a proposal to set up an Alternative Mechanism to create strong banks.

The framework states that merger decisions should originate from the banks and these should be based on commercial decisions. “The decision would facilitate consolidation among the Nationalised Banks to create strong and competitive banks,” the government said.

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the AM will oversee proposals coming from boards of public banks for consolidation and such a mechanism will enable quick facilitation. He said, “You have large number of banks in the public sector. The object is to create strong banks.

Our experience of consol-

idation has been positive so far.” Officials in the ministry had earlier said that the government sees a scope merging of another 3-4 banks, when the State Bank of India merged itself with five of its associate banks.

“The decision regarding creating strong and competitive banks would be solely based on commercial considerations.

The proposals received from banks for in-principle approval to formulate schemes of amalgamation shall be placed before the Alternative Mechanism. After inprinciple nod, the banks will take steps in accordance with law and Sebi's requirements,” the government said. It added that the final scheme will be notified by Central Government in consultation with the RBI. Jaitley said consolidation will improve capacity of the banking system

to absorb shocks. “The decision is expected to facilitate the creation of strong and competitive banks in public sector to meet the credit needs of a growing economy, absorb shocks and have the capacity to raise resources without depending unduly on the state exchequer,” the statement said. The government said the idea of consolidation was first suggested in 1991 but gained pace in 2016. “In 1991, it was suggested that India should have fewer but stronger public sector banks. However, it was only in May 2016 that effective action to consolidate public sector banks began to be taken by announcing amalgamation of six banks into the State Bank of India.

The merger was completed in record time, unlike earlier mergers of State Banks of Indore and Saurashtra.”

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

India becomes largest 2-wheeler market for Honda

India is now the largest two-wheeler market globally, by volume, for Japanese automobile major Honda. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India's (HMSI) volume contribution globally hit 32 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year. HMSI officials said the company's two-wheeler sales grew 20 per cent in the April-July period, as compared to 9 per cent growth clocked by the industry, with scooters growing 19 per cent and motorcycles growing 20 per cent including domestic sales and exports.

“India is also the biggest production hub now for Honda with a combined capacity of 6.4 million units compared to Indonesia which was earli-

er the largest at 5.8 million units,” said senior VP marketing and sales HMSI, YS Guleria. He added, “Overall rural markets contribute around 28-30 per cent of Honda's sales with 20 per cent of scooter sales coming from these markets.”

Other than rural markets, focus is also on the 5 southern markets which account for 28 per cent of two-wheeler sales, and 43 per cent scooter sales, countrywide.

President and CEO, M Kato said, “We have a strong intention to enter this segment in the near future. We have been considering how to enter it with the right product and compete from the cost and price point because competition enjoys high cost competitiveness.”

Air India puts key properties for sale

India to set up alternative mechanism for bank mergers

Air India has put as many as 27 flats up for sale as part of its asset monetisation plan. State-run auctioneer MSTC has been mandated to e-auction the properties, including several residential and commercial land plots, and office buildings across the country. Bid closing date is set for September 6.

The airline has sought bids for sale of properties in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa, Lucknow, Gwalior, Gurgaon, and Bhuj. AI needs to collect at least £50 million from the sale of the properties. The national carrier's Tu r n a r o u n d / F i n a n c i a l Restructuring Plan provides for equity infusion in the airline worth £3.02 billion up to 2021. The airline is required to monetise its

assets and generate £500 million by way of sale, leasing or developing an asset as a joint venture. It has so far, only been able to sell four of its flats in Mumbai to SBI for about £9 million.

The government recently told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture, that Air India' current business is “not sustainable” as it is neither able to generate enough cash flow nor start repaying even the principal amount on its debt. The airline’s total debt stood at £4.88 billion at the end of March 2017, of which £1.73 billion is aircraft loans and the rest £ 3.15 billion capital loans.

The state-run airline’s net loss after tax narrowed to £364.3 million, while operating profit rose to £30 million in the last financial year.

www.asian-voice.com

SEPARATING THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

We are in the fortunate position of selling a site which is attracting a number of very serious offers.

The site has never been put out on the market; yet, somehow it has managed to worm itself on to the market, indeed it has even been offered back to me at least twice.

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap London Property Investment

There are those in property who make it their business to operate on the principle that if they shovel enough ‘dung’, some of it may stick. They call themselves agents (and often make first contact in the guise of a buyer). They know next to nothing about the development they are selling.

Yet, they want to charge the buyers a couple of large percentage points to sell a site they know nothing about and have no mandate to even sell.

Unfortunately, this is the state of the market; literally anyone with a mobile phone can call themselves an agent. In one respect, this can be a good thing, it means the market is open for business for anyone, and therefore it attract a lot of entrants. On the other side, this means you have to deal with a lot of nonsense to get to the reality of the underlying situation.

After being in the trade for a while you tend to develop a nose for who is a serious buyer, and who is a chancer.

There are means and ways of confirming whether the buyer is the real deal.

Firstly, you can ask the lawyer to confirm proof of funds. Be very careful in how this is conveyed to you, as the letter can be

AGONY AGENT IS HERE TO HELP! Q: Could you share some tips on replacing my BTL bathroom please?

A: If you need to replace the bathroom in your property, you are probably already prepared to spend a bit of money doing so.

However, there are ways to save money whilst protecting your investment in the long term.

There’s a difference between a cheap bathroom and one that’s good value.

The saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is true to a point, as you might spend less on a cheap bath in the

short term but if the material is thin, it’ll crack more easily and you may end up paying out for another much sooner than you’d like. If your bathroom is small, a shower is preferable to a bath. However, there are lots of bathroom suites designed for small spaces, so see if you can fit a bath in with a shower over it, before writing the idea off completely. On the subject of showers, a powerful shower is something many prospective tenants will check for before agreeing to let the property, so opt for the best one your budget will allow.

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Without a doubt, one of the biggest threats to any bathroom is mould, the spread of which is something every landlord dreads. Simple steps, such as the effective application of sealant, mould-protect paint, tiled walls and floors and a good extractor fan should help prevent damp and mould – but your tenants will need to play their part too by wiping up any wet areas, regular cleaning and opening a window when using the bath and/or shower.

In terms of colours, neu-

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

worded in a clever way so that an impression is created that they have the funds, when actually they do not.

Secondly, look at the law firm they are using, a serious buyer will have a heavy weight law firm to back them. With one of our buyers I actually knew one of the partners in the firm acting for them, and was able to do a discrete check in the background to ensure our buyers were good for the money before sending contracts out.

Thirdly, any serious buyer should be able to operate within a tight but reasonable time frame. There is no need to have lawyers going back and forth for months. If you give enough string this is what tends to happen. Often lawyers aim is not to get the deal done, but to cover

trals are always best as they don’t date as quickly.

White is a must for a bathroom suite for the same reason. One part of a bathroom that’s almost guaranteed to look past its best quickly is the grout – which can be hard to get back to pristine white.

Consider a darker grout if you don’t want to have to tackle the white once your tenants leave. An alternative would be to have aqua panels, these are large sheets of PVC that look like tiles. Having these in place will remove the need of regrouting, they are a little more to buy, however, what you are spending on the cost of the panels you will be saving on the

themselves from any liability, and in doing so they may unnecessarily extend the time taken to get a deal done.

for the seller, and time frames are defined, assuming the reserve price is set at a reasonable level.

Potentially an exchange can happen in a day. After all it happens every time there is an auction, followed by a swift completion in four weeks. This is the beauty of an auction, there is certainty of sale

Finally, it’s a small world and it doesn't take long with online platforms such as LinkedIn, to check out whom the buyer is; and if you don't know them, you will find someone who does.

labour of having tiles fitted.

already), a nice blind at the window and a decent-sized mirror – if your budget allows. These little touches could make all the difference when marketing your property to prospective tenants.

Once the suite is fitted and the tiles/aqua panels and flooring are in place, consider adding some storage space (if there isn’t some

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Asian Voice | 2nd Septmeber 2017

Modi asks young CEOs to help in building modern India

Consultant Editor Financial Voice Alpesh Patel Dear Financial Voice Reader, What Women Can Teach Men About Trading I write to you before leaving for Singapore a financial centre made famous by the trader Nick Leeson – machismo trading personified. Have you noticed there are no trading or financial scandals involving women – no Fox of Wall Street?

Whenever I go to Singapore and give a speech, to a room full of entrepreneurs I am struck by how many are women entrepreneurs. Far more than I would have found in the UK. A room with about a thousand entrepreneurs and about forty percent were women.

So what about in trading – how come women do not rule the world? After all, they make great traders – the research proves it?

There can be little doubt about male dominance when only ever around one out of a hundred of the UK’s largest companies are headed by a woman. Even in the US, it’s a similar proportion of women who head Fortune 500 companies.

How ironic. Research shows 46 per cent of all US businesses are owned by women, and employment at women-owned businesses is growing at 18 per cent, compared with 8 per cent for all companies, according to business magazine Forbes. Actually, US women have an average net worth of £1.96 billion compared with the men, at £1.45 billion.

And when it comes to investment, research also shows women make better investors than men.

Luckily for men, there is much they can learn from women. What is it women do in stock picking, research, trading, that produces better results and how can men use the web to close the gender gap?

Women’s portfolio’s earned 1.4% annually more than men’s did in a study of over 35,000 investors by the University of California at Davis. Indeed single women earned 2.3% annually more than single men.

Poor male performance is due to over-trading according to the study. Men trade their accounts 45% more often than women. And single men shuffle their holdings 67% more than single women. Perhaps the adage about men’s fear of commitment is true after all.

A National Association of Investors Corporation ten-year study found all-female investment clubs outpaced all-male investment clubs by producing 23.8% average compounded lifetime annual returns compared to 19.2% for male clubs.

So what lessons are there for men? After all, as a sex, we men are always ready and willing to learn from women, aren’t we? Do not male drivers at the first opportunity admit they are lost and ask passersby for help?

First, save transaction costs by not churning your portfolio. Men like to fiddle. Actually they love to fiddle. It’s not a cliché. A UK Cabinet Minister, Gillian Shephard, once told me that her male colleagues always wanted to change laws. Always fiddling. In trading this means changing the portfolio, being premature in their actions, not waiting, watching, seeing.

Second, men should spend more time researching before investing. Fear of making a mistake was 50% to 60% higher among women than among males according to the US National Center for Women & Retirement Research. Consequently, women spend

the talks into actionable points. “I hope the effort of listening to you (CEOs) will bear fruit,” Modi said. He emphasised that “development has to be turned into a mass movement” similar to the way Gandhi converted freedom movement into a mass movement. He suggested that CEOs work on

areas that reduce India's dependence on import of various goods, minimise wastage of food and to turn waste into wealth.

There were six topics of discussions, including building a New India by 2022, doubling farmers' incomes, creating cities of tomorrow, taking Make in

India forward, reforming financial sector, and building world-class infrastructure. Garima Sahai, cofounder and CEO of Svadha Wash Pvt Ltd, said, “Our healthcare sub groups suggested a transformational idea of providing universal healthcare cover to citizens. Such a cover will be enabled through JAM- Jan Dhan accounts used for insurance coverage, Aadhaar as the medical passport and mobileenabled cluster based primary/secondary healthcare access.”

Modi said a multipronged approach is essential to achieve desired objectives such as doubling of agriculture incomes.

Emphasising the importance of food processing, he said lack of infrastructure is leading to huge losses in the agriculture sector.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India is becoming restless for a higher rate of growth, and if recommendations are implemented, then it has the “potential to trigger much more economic activity”.

Releasing the Three Year Action Agenda (2017-18 to 2019-20) prepared by the Niti Aayog, Jaitley said, “India and Indians are increasingly becoming restless... they expect higher rate of growth, more decisions to be taken and higher economic activity itself to take place.”

The agenda said, “Indeed, there are good prospects that we will

return to 8 per cent plus growth trajectory in another 2-3 years if not sooner.

Therefore, the chances of massive cut in the poverty rate in the upcoming decade are excellent.”

Former Niti Vice chairman Arvind Panagariya said the agenda was finalised after a series of consultations with various stakeholders. The document has suggested various reforms for doubling farmers' income, need for higher capital support for public banks, lowering of stamp duties to boost the real estate sector, and others.

The agenda proposes to link central expenditure to

future priorities, shifting additional allocations to high-priority sectors which are more likely to promote development. It read, “The proposals imply substantial expansion in expenditures by 2019-20 on education, health, agriculture, rural development, defence, railways, roads, and other categories of capital expenditure.” It also suggested ways to facilitate urbanisation and deal with key challenges like affordable housing, infrastructure, public transport, and promotion of Swachh Bharat. Jaitley said, “This document really has the potential for

becoming, for those in the government, a good textbook (of future reforms)”.

The Niti Aayog has also pitched for providing infrastructure sector status to the real estate development, which will help bring down interest costs in the sector. It suggested that the states may consider reducing the stamp duty rates, including the property registration fee to 3-3.5 per cent, from as high as 8 per cent in some of the states. “A high rate (stamp duty) creates the incentives for the buyer of property to declare a lower value and pay a part of the payment in black.”

40% more time than men researching and are also less likely to trade on a ‘hot tip’.

Maybe it’s because women have been shown in many studies to be less confident that they lack the overconfidence men have been shown to have. Men dive in based on scant evidence, more assured of their views.

Third men need to reign in their overconfidence. 52% of men express confidence in their ability to invest wisely, compared to just 38% of women according to the American Savings Economic Council. Men are overconfident in their abilities to pick market beating stocks. This leads them to enter quickly

but stay well past the point where evidence points to an exit. It is a fine balance between ‘over-fiddling’ and so getting out too soon, and being over-confident and so staying in too long.

This in turn often makes women better traders – more risk averse, awaiting clearer market signals for good

trading opportunities and more diversified.

So what do women need?

A little more confidence to start investing, but not so much as to make them bad investors. Sign up to free webinars on improving your trading whether a man or woman: www.alpeshpatel.com

In his address to over 200 young CEOS at the Champions of Change event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said development needs to be turned into a mass movement across the country and asked chief executive officers to become soldiers for building a modern India.

Corporate executives in the event were divided into a total of six groups of around 30-35 each and made suggestions on a range of issues, including providing a universal healthcare cover, using India's coastline as a hub for renewable energy generation, action points on boosting tourism and measures on promoting a lesscash society, among others.

The groups then interacted with senior bureaucrats and ministers over two days and crystallised

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing young CEOs during the Champions of Change initiative organised by the NITI Aayog in New Delhi

India restless for higher growth: Jaitley

670m reasons why independent hedging advice is needed...

Abhishek Sachdev

Royal Bank of Scotland has settled a legal case filed by our client, the owner of the largest student accommodation provider in Manchester. The value of the claim was c£670m; principally related to the consequential losses of los-

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ing their property portfolio.

Stuart Wall, founder of Opal Properties alleged that RBS had mis-sold an interest-rate swap. Which forced Opal Properties into the RBS GRG unit, and later into administration in 2013.

“It’s taken everything I’ve worked for, 30-old years building up a company. Mr Wall said, they took it away and we didn’t understand why. There are so many people who have given up because of the cost of justice”.

We cannot reveal the terms of the settlement as it is bound by legal confi-

dentiality (as with all such legal settlements).

However, every corporate client that we have thus far advised on their derivative dispute has been settled before reaching the High Court.

Why does this matter?

This is important because Banks let cases that are weak, poorly argued or do not have any credible professionals behind them, reach Court.

It is these cases that the Banks have so far all won, thus creating case law and precedent.

This shows that it is not just SMEs that need advice

on hedging; large ‘sophisticated’ corporates and investors also need independent hedging advice. It is for this reason that we advise some of the UK’s largest hoteliers, care home groups. PLCs, property developers, REITS, and more.

This particular case is also important because of the allegations surrounding the RBS GRG turnaround unit. RBS’ controversial and now-defunct GRG, a unit set up to turn around struggling businesses, has been under fire for many years. It has been claimed RBS routinely

forced distressed small businesses into the GRG unit enabling the lender to profit by imposing high fees.

RBS has previously admitted that it “could and should have done better” for SME’s assigned to the GRG scheme. However, RBS have denied claims that it deliberately caused viable businesses to fail.

The FCA have still not published their findings on its review of the GRG unit.

Many SMEs and property firms have suffered consequential losses as a result of being sold a derivative that was unsuit-

able for them. Although very few SMEs received recovery of such losses under the FCA IRHP Review scheme (which we instigated in 2011), through litigation, the Banks are forced to consider evidence of these losses carefully.

Please do contact us to discuss any existing interest rate or foreign exchange hedging you may have had, or any new hedging you are entering into.

Tel: 020 7183 2277 www.vedantahedging.com

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Indian couple in Australia develop application to teach Hindi to kids CANBERRA: An IndianAustralian couple has developed a mobile app to teach Hindi language to their kids.

Launched in early - August, RBhasha was made after months of research and development. Jayant Prasad and Puja Sahay, parents to two boys- a seven-year-old and a four-year-old, speak Hindi amongst themselves.

However, their children speak English.

“We speak in Hindi at home. We talk to them in Hindi, but their replies are always in English,” Jayant said. Like true migrant parents, the two wished for their kids to learn the language in Australia. “Kids are so good with gadgets these

Jayant Prasad and Puja Sahay

days and spend so much time on touch-screens. We saw that there were numerous apps to learn and write 'ABC' and basic English but there wasn't much for learning Hindi to kids. So we

thought of developing an app ourselves,” Jayant said.

He had arrived in the country as an international student to study Business Administration at Melbourne business school, over a decade ago. He married Sahay while in school, and later they moved to Canberra in 2006. Both of them belong to IT backgrounds and were aware about the basics of appmaking. However, their biggest challenge was to make an app that kids would enjoy.

“We needed to include animation to make it interesting for kids. We finally found someone who was not only good at animation, but

also was from the field of education. And that is how we set off to develop this app,” Puja said. Both the parents gave their weekends to creating the app, for seven months. They even got creative inputs from their sons Soham and Shubh. “My sons would tell us, 'Mumma, there needs to be a badge for this achievement'. So we have taken lots of inputs from our own kids while developing the app,” Puja said, After launching RBhasha on August 2, Puja said they received a positive response.

Our kids go to Canberra Hindi School and we also showed them a demo. We are happy the kids like it,” she said.

everything was finished. I called my father's mobile phone number and my son answered and said, 'They killed grandpa'. We were running everywhere in search of my son but the police were stopping us and didn't let us get too close,” he said. “I lost hope. I said to myself that everything was finished. I tried the number again but it was switched off,” Bashir said. Ali had saved himself, running around behind the mosque, disregarding security authorities who signalled him. He was rescued later.

Bashir said Ali is still traumatised and has difficulty cop-

ing with what happened.

“After the incident, my son has some problems. He's scared a lot at night,” he said.

The mosque attack is the latest in a series of activities targeting Shiite mosques.

The attack, the latest in a series targeting Shiite mosques, was claimed by Islamic State Khorasan, the local branch of Islamic State which takes the name of an old region that included what is now Afghanistan.

According to the United Nations, at least 62 civilians have been killed and 119 injured in six separate attacks on Shiite mosques this year.

Tale of a 4-year-old who survives mosque attack

KABUL: A harrowing picture of a four-year-old standing alone in the premises, with policemen taking cover behind a doorway, calling and waving to him has taken the internet by storm. Ali Ahmad was left traumatised after ISIS terrorists attacked a mosque in Kabul and he saw his grandfather murdered. He was in the Shiite Imam Zaman mosque when militants massacred 28 men last week.

At least four attackers in police uniforms stormed in the premises, with three of them firing indiscriminately at hundreds of worshippers

Ali Ahmad with his father

inside, and one exploding a suicide-bomb vest. Ali's father Sayed Bashir said he was nearby the mosque, and when the initial blast was heard, he immediately ran to check on his family. “Right after the explosion I though

Indian girl chosen as senior runner-up in Commonwealth essay competition

LONDON: Fifteen year old Hiya Chowdhury from India, has been chosen as the senior runner-up in the Commonwealth essay competition.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition was founded in 1883 and is the world’s oldest international schools’ writing contest.

For 2017 the competition was sponsored by Cambridge University Press and received approximately 12,300 entries from nearly

every Commonwealth country. The competition in the modern day gives creative young writers the opportunity to explore contemporary themes through the written word. The Junior category is open to entrants aged under 14, and the Senior category is open to entrants aged 14 – 18 years.

The overarching theme for 2017 was ‘A Commonwealth for Peace’, which is also the 2017 Commonwealth Year theme.

An Alleyns Junior School student Ry Galloway, 10, from South East London, has been selected as the Junior Runner-up of The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2017.

Her poem was chosen from thousands of Junior entries by a body of judges from over 30 countries, and eventually selected by a prestigious Final Panel in Cambridge in August.

Ry will be invited to attend an Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace

where HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will present the Senior and Junior Winners and Runners-up with their certificates. The ceremony will form part of a week of cultural and educational activities in London and Cambridge, UK. The Duchess of Cornwall will be presenting the prizes on behalf of HM The Queen, Patron of the competition.

The Duchess is a keen supporter of promoting literacy amongst young people and adults.

London based pharmaceutical in price controversy LONDON: London based drug manufacturer Hikma is in the US news for hiking the price of its liquid form of diarrhoea drug by 430 percent. While the drug is an old one and has no patent protection, it seems to be immune from possible competition.

This is because it is harder for a new entrant to get regulatory sign-off and set up production facilities for liquid drugs than it is for pills.

Added to this, monetary gains for a new entrant

would be relatively negligible.

In the US this sort of monopoly or oligopoly of non-patented drugs is seemingly widespread, limiting patient choice, especially the vulnerable. Swiss incorporated cancer drug manufacturer Turing with offices in the US raised the price of its cancer drug by 55-fold. American company Mylan raised the price of its drug for bee allergies by over 500 per cent in a span of six years.

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It seems like a win-win situation for non-patented drugs with a small captive audience and hard for new players due to high entry costs. The other dilemma is that US laws also make it hard for new businesses to import drugs which might bring down prices, thus making the monopoly stranglehold even stronger.

The drug industry in the US seemingly benefits from the largesse offered by rules and regulations. According to the drug industry, lower

drug prices will inhibit innovation which experts say need not be the case.

Calling it a false dilemma, a recent report in the Financial Times argued that patients in the US need not choose between fair prices and innovation. It said, “Competition can only thrive when those who ultimately pay can decide which products are interchangeable and negotiate with manufacturers on that basis. The law should allow that to happen.”

Pakistan inaugurates a luxury graveyard LAHORE: With an aim to lighten the burden of grieving families, Lahore has constructed a new graveyard, fully equipped with freezers imported from Germany, and over 22 video cameras that will allow relatives of the deceased to livestream footage of funerals. The $1.5 million facility also features dozens of fans hanging from the ceiling of an arches prayer zone which remains entirely open. The Shehr-e-Khamoshan model graveyard was conceptualised in 2015 to address the lack of proper burial facilities in Punjab province of Pakistan. Existing graveyards were under extremely poor conditions with low maintenance and little space for graves. Grieving people were further distressed by the burial and funeral process, due to high corruption and exploitation. Burial grounds have struggled to handle urban population that has risen from 28 per cent in 1981 to 41 per cent now.

Nepali woman thrown on metro rail track in New York

NEW YORK: Kamala Shrestha, a woman of Nepali origin, was attacked at a local underground metro station and thrown on to the rail track, but was saved when two people pulled her to safety before a train came along. She received a head injury and was taken to a hospital. Police described the attacker "as a black man in his 20s. He walked out of the subway station and escaped. Her husband, Nam Lal Srestha, said that they want to find the two men who rescued her. "They saved my wife's life," he said.

Boy detained for dancing on street

JEDDAH: The Saudi police said that they detained a 14-year-old teenager in Jeddah after he was filmed dancing to the famous 1990s song 'Macarena' at a crossing in the city. The video clip has gone viral with many people sharing it on social media. The teenager was questioned because he had displayed "improper public behaviour" and also disrupted traffic following a "confidential investigation", the police said. The name and identity of the teenage boy was not revealed. The video clip shows the teenager wearing a striped t-shirt, grey shorts and shoes dancing in the middle of a crossing on Riyadh's Prince Mohamed bin Abdulaziz Road with his headphones covering his ears while standing in front of five lanes of cars, which had stopped at a traffic signal.

71 killed as Rohingya clash with Myanmar army

YANGON: Muslim militants in Myanmar staged a coordinated attack on 30 police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, and at least 59 of the insurgents and 12 members of the security forces were killed, the army and government said. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a group previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, which instigated the October attacks, claimed responsibility for the early morning offensive, and warned of more. The Rohingya are denied citizenship and are seen by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries, with communities marginalized and occasionally subjected to communal violence.

500 bodies found in Iraq graves

BAGHDAD: Iraqi military investigators discovered two mass graves containing the remains of some 500 decapitated bodies near the city of Mosu. The two graves were found near Badoush prison site in the northwest of Mosul, where one contained 470 bodies and the other contained 30, the Joint Operations Command said. The bodies are believed to be prisoners executed by Islamic State (IS) militants. The Badoush prison is known as the site of an IS massacre of more than 600 inmates on June 10, 2014, when the terrorist group was sweeping the northern province of Nineveh.

57% surge in Pak population

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's population has surged to 207.8 million, a 57% spike since the last census in 1998, according to provisional census data. Pakistan has 106.45 million males, 101.31 million females and 10,418 transgenders, the provisional data shows.

Compared with the results of the fifth census, there was a 57% increase in the population at an annual rate of 2.4%. The 1998 census found that Pakistan had a population of over 132 million. Pakistan's population has risen to 207.8 million with an increase of 75.4 million people within 19 years.

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Indian-origin CEO racially abused NEW YORK: An Indian-origin CEO was asked to “go back to India” and take along with him the US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

US-born Ravin Gandhi, 44, founder and CEO of GMM Nonstick Coatings, was trolled and racially abused by readers after he wrote an op-ed for CNBC following President Donald Trump's Charlottesville remarks.

“I recently told the New York Times I was 'rooting' for certain aspects of Trump's economic agenda. After Charlottesville and its aftermath, I will not defend Trump even if the Dow hits 50,000, unemployment goes to 1 per cent, and GDP grows by 7 per cent. Some issues transcend economics, and I will not in good conscience support a president who seems to hate Americans

Ravin Gandhi

who don't look like him,” he wrote. Hundreds of white supremacists came to the street to clash with counter demonstrators at a rally in Charlottesville on August 12, in which a 32 year old woman was killed, and 19 injured.

Gandhi's op-ed clearly did not go down well, as he was soon bombarded by hate comments on his piece. He even received a voicemail

from a woman who said Gandhi should “get your (expletive) garbage and go back to India.” Using abusive and inappropriate language, the woman said he should also take “that other half (expletive) Bangladesh (expletive) with you, Nikki Haley.” “She's (Haley) the one that started all this when she took down the Confederate flag. So don't tell us that you gave him a chance. We don't give a (expletive) who you gave a chance, OK? We're going to start taking down Buddhist statues and see how you and Nikki Haley like that,” the woman said.

The woman also asked Gandhi to “go clean up your own (expletive) country, it's a filthy mess.” Gandhi posted the voicemail to his YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, also sharing some

of the nastier emails he received. “It was obvious that people thought my professional position somewhat protected me. I wanted to show people that racism is blind to socio-economics. It just is. Even though my race is a complete non-issue in my day-to-day life, the sad reality is there's a group of racists in the USA that views me as a second-class citizen.”

“I wanted my peers in the business community, the civic community, my friend community to see that this can happen to me. Because there's this delusion that racism is dead because Obama was elected.” Gandhi added that the fact that Trump “equated hate groups with those protesting hate lit me up” as he called Trump's moral leadership on the issue “reprehensible.”

Pak woman creates board game over arranged marriages ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani woman has invented a new board game in a bid to escape her own arranged marriage.

Nashra Balagamwala, 24, created 'Arranged!' based on her personal experiences “I've spoken up about a topic that Pakistanis are uncomfortable with, and now I'm no longer the perfect submissive bride they're looking for,” she said.

Nashra said she was under increasing pressure growing up, to submit to an arranged marriage. “I couldn't accept the fact that I'd have to spend the rest of my life with someone I've only known for a couple of weeks, and someone that was chosen for me based off his wealth, social status and other superficial factors,” she

Nashra Balagamwala

said. Nashra soon left for New York, to study at Rhode Island School of Design. With her experience working at Hasbro games, she began pulling together a board game that captured her own struggle to avoid an arranged marriage, and the experi-

ences of friends who had been forced into loveless unions with people they barely knew.

In the game, players must do everything they can to avoid the matchmaker, who is played by another player.

Cards drawn at random, help push the action forward for the runaway brides.

Commands include 'You want to pursue a career... move four steps”. If players land on the same tile as the 'Rishta Aunty', they face the threat of having to marry male suitors scattered around the board game. “I took examples from the numerous things I've done to get out of an arranged marriage myself, like talking about pursuing a career, wearing fake engage-

Indian women sailing around the world!

NEW DELHI: An allwomen team from the Indian navy has set off on a historic mission to sail around the world. The crew will begin their voyage in the 55-foot vessel, from Goa, and is expected to return in March next year. Called Navika Sagar Parikrama, the journey will be covered in five legs, and include stopover's at Fremantle (Australia), Littleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falklands), and Cape Town (South Africa).

The first-ever Indian circumnavigation by an all-women crew of INS Tarini, will be captained by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi.

Crew members include Lieutenant Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and P Swathi, and Lieutenants S Vijaya Devi, B Aishwarya and Payal Gupta. Prime Minister Narendra Modi commended all of them for their grit and valour.

Delivering his monthly radio address 'Mann Ki

Prime Minister Modi with the Indian Navy officers

Baat', Modi said, “I had the opportunity to meet some young daughters, some, who were born in the Himalayas, who had absolutely no connection with the sea. Six of these young daughters are in the Navy. Their grit and zeal is inspiring for all of us. These six young women will embark on a voyage across the seas, in a small boat, INS Tarini.

Each and every Indian would be proud of these daughters. I salute their valour and have asked them to share their experiences with the entire country.”

“Their expedition has

been named, Navika Sagar Parikrama. They will circumnavigate the globe and return home, after many months.

Sometimes, they spend 40 days on the seas in one go, at times, 30. Our six daughters riding the waves of the high seas, with courage, is the first instance of its kind in the world. I am making a separate arrangement for their experiences of heroism, a tale of personal experiences and I would be happy to bring you the stories of these daughters. My best wishes and blessings to these daughters,” he said.

ment rings, having male friends, or getting a tandarker skin, things considered to be less appealing in Pakistani culture- and turned it into a light-hearted game that is both fun to play and eye opening.”

Nashra said the response was overwhelming. “People from all over the world have reached out to help with my visa and living situation, as well as to provide moral support. I've had many Pakistani girls reach out to thank me for finally speaking up about something so important. I've also dealt with a lot of criticism. Many Pakistanis have had negative remarks and have said I'm a disgrace because I'm badmouthing the society.”

'Racist' Gandhi statue to be removed from Ghana university ACCRA: Ghana will remove a statue of Indian freedom fighter M a h a t m a Gandhi, from a university campus in the Capital after it sparked protests over the leader's alleged racist attitudes. Professors and students at the University of Ghana called it a “slap in the face” because of Gandhi's “racist identity”. They had begun an online petition asking for the statue's removal.

It gathered over 1700 supporters.

The petition cited letters written by Gandhi during his time in South Africa in which he advocated for the superiority of Indians over black Africans.

The petition also took issue with his use of the derogatory term 'kaffir' to refer to native Africans, and criticised the dearth of African heroes and heroines on campus.

Ghanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government now intends to relocate the statue “to ensure its safety and avoid the controversy”.

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Uranus 'Diamond Rain' created in lab DRESDEN: New scientific research has revealed that huge diamonds develop in the centre of Neptune and Uranus. The diamonds are created as extreme pressure pushes carbon atoms together before hydrocarbons sink through the planet's slushy interior and gather on the central core. German researchers used a high-powered laser to create shock waves in polystyrene- made from hydrogen and carbonto recreate the pressure found on the planets.

Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf laboratory found that almost every atom was incorporated into microscopic diamond structures measuring just a few nanometres wide. Eventhough the structures last mere seconds, the breakthrough is seen as proof of the diamond rain theory.

“This [condition] will generate diamond precipitation inside such celestial bodies,” Dominik Kraus, a researcher with HelmholtzZentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Dresden and author on the paper told Gizmodo in an email.

“This means that there is not necessarily a pure diamond core but certainly a large diamond envelope around the rocky cores that are supposed to exist inside Neptune and Uranus.”

“If the temperature is high enough close to the core (some calculations predict that) it could also be ‘oceans of liquid carbon’ with gigantic ‘diamond icebergs, swimming on top of it,” said Kraus. “But most theories suggest that diamond would remain solid, at least inside Neptune and Uranus, but this may be different for some exoplanets.”

Maldives jails opposition leader

COLOMBO: The Maldives' last remaining opposition leader in the country was handed a prison sentence as President Abdulla Yameen stepped up a crackdown on political dissent in South Asia's troubled tropical paradise. Qasim Ibrahim, who heads the Jumhooree Party (JP) and lost his bid for president in 2013, was accused of leading a failed bid in March to impeach Speaker Abdulla Maseeh, a close ally of Yameen. He was convicted of bribing lawmakers to impeach the Speaker and given 38 months in jail. The verdict also disqualifies Ibrahim, 65, from holding a seat in Parliament.

Hospital worker wins $759m in record US jackpot

NEW YORK: A 53-year-old Massachusetts mother of two who scooped the largest single jackpot in US history - $758.7 million - said it was a dream come true and immediately quit her hospital job of 32 years. Mavis Wanczyk said she had played the lottery as a "pipe dream," never believing that it would one day be possible for her to retire early from the Mercy Medical Center, where she worked in patient care. Wanczyk, who has a 31-year-old daughter and 26-year-old son, said she had been "OK" financially and had yet to work out how to spend her millions.

Sharif family files review plea

ISLAMABAD: The family of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has filed a review petition against the Supreme Court's July 28 verdict, which disqualified him from holding any office. On behalf of Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz, sons Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Safdar, lawyer Salman Akram Raja filed the review petition. The five-member bench of the top court had disqualified Sharif from holding any public office for failing to declare a salary which he had not withdrawn as an executive director of a Dubaibased company as an asset when filing his nomination papers in 2013.

Thailand's ex-PM Yingluck flees to Dubai

BANGKOK: Thailand's former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has fled to Dubai, senior members of her party said, a day after she failed to show up for a negligence ruling in which she faced up to 10 years in prison. Puea Thai Party sources said Yingluck left Thailand last week and flew via Singapore to Dubai where her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in selfimposed exile to avoid a 2008 jail sentence for corruption, has a home.

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Hurricane Harvey brings US to its knees

HOUSTON: The deadly Hurricane Harvey that lashed its way across south and southeast US brought with it disastrous flooding and emergency evacuations, as a reservoir west of downtown Houston spilled over for the first time in its history. Storm clouds continued to pour resulting in irreparable flood situaton.

Officials said the death toll in Texas reached at least 10 people, but the numbers are set to rise.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said officers in the city have rescued over 3500 people so amid Harvey's flooding and devastation. Rains continue to pound and the National Weather Service reported that over 42 inches of rain has already fallen in the region .

Several parts of Louisana have also seen over a foot of rain, and flash flood warnings and watched were in effect for the Lake Charles. One of he two massive stormwater reservoirs in Houston began to spill over despite US Army Corps of Engineers efforts to release water as water levels in the reservoirs

Interstate highway 45 is submerged from the effects of Hurricane Harvey

swelled to record levels.

Department of Labor has announced an initial $10 million grant to help with cleanup efforts in Texas. President Donald Trump declared “emergency conditions” in Louisiana, shortly after federal authorities warned that the hurricane could force over 30,000 people from their homes.

Thousands of people are currently housed in shelters. The George R. Brown Convention Center has taken in 9200 people, said regional disaster officer for the Red Cross, Charles Maltbie.

Indian External

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Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj informed that nearly 200 Indian students of Houston University are stranded and surrounded by “neckdeep” water in the region.

She said efforts were being made to supply these students with food and other basic amenities but the US Coast Guard declined permission as boats were required for services in rescue operations.

Swaraj also informed that operations for rescuing stranded Indian students were being conducted under Indian Consular General, Anupam Ray. She also

stated that Indian students Shalini and Nikhil Bhatia, are in the ICU and efforts were being made to ensure their relatives reach them.

Indian community members have also contributed in rescue efforts, with Indian restaurants distributing food, Indian businesses throwing open their premises to provide accommodation, and Indian doctors volunteering medical services. The community is also offering logistical and other help boost efforts along with the City of Houston's emergency operations centre.

Trump commits US to open-ended Afghan war WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has committed US troops to an open-ended war in Afghanistan, in a decision welcomed by the Afghan government. Taliban insurgents however, did not take the statement too well, and warned that they would make a “graveyard for the American empire”. The Prez who had in the past advocated a withdrawal, said he was going against his instincts in approving the campaign plan sought by his military advisers. He also added that he was convinced leaving posed more risk.

“The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable.

A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al-Qaida, would instantly fill,” Trump said. He promised an end to “nation-building” by US forces in what has become the US' longest war. Trump stressed that ultimately Afghanistan's struggling police and army must help defeat the Taliban. “The stronger the Afghan security forces become, the less we will have to do. Afghans will secure and build their own nation and define their own future. We want them

to succeed,” he said.

Two top US leaders have warned that Pakistan will face consequences like losing the major non-Nato ally status if it continues to provide safe havens to terror groups. They made the warning, a day after Trump put Islamabad on notice for harbouring militants.

Trump came down heavily on Pakistan for its support to terror groups, saying the country receives billions of dollars in US aid but continues to shelter extremists.

Defence secretary James Mattis said the Trump administration will surely take action against Pakistan in this regard this time.

Pakistan suspends talks with US Pakistan, meanwhile, suspended bilateral talks and visits with the US "as a mark of protest over the recent anti-Pakistan diatribe by US President Donald Trump", said top government sources.

Pakistani government officials said that the country would likely not engage in any open talks with Washington before prime minister Shahid Abbasi's visit to the US next month to attend the United Nations General Assembly session.

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19 rebel AIADMK lawmakers face disqualification The speaker has sent disqualification notices to 19 lawmakers for meeting the Governor

CHENNAI: Rebel lawmakers in Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK, who wanted Chief Minister E Palaniswami sacked, might lose their seats.

Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal sent disqualification notices to 19 lawmakers, for meeting the Governor and demanding to replace the CM. They have been given a week to respond to the notice under the antidefection law. Supporters of jailed party chief Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, the MLAs had asked Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao to seek a vote of confidence.

They have alleged that Palaniswami, by merging with the O Panneerselvam faction, had “forfeited the confidence

TTV Dhinakaran with his supporters

of the people”. The entire rebellion seems to have been orchestrated by Dhinakaran to get back at both, Palaniswami and OPS, for booting him and Sasikala out of the party last week. AIADMK's chief whip S Rajendran said the Speaker's notice followed his complaint.

HC upholds discharge of Kerala CM in corruption case THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala High Court has upheld the verdict of the Thiruvananthapuram CBI Special Court discharging Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and two former Kerala State Electricity Board officials from the SNCLavalin corruption case. The court, however, made it clear that three other former KSEB officials who were discharged by the Special Court have to face trial in the case.

The verdict was passed, partially allowing a revision petition filed by the CBI against the Thiruvananthapuram Special Court's verdict.

The chargesheet alleged that when Vijayan was electricity minister from 1996 to 1998, he hatched a conspiracy along with the other excused, to award a supply contract to SNC-Lavalin at a huge price.

The KSEB entered a memorandum of understanding without inviting tenders,

thereby violating all rules and regulations.

The chargesheet claimed that the KSEB signed the supply contract with the company in 1997 without the government’s approval and merely on the basis of a decision made by a high level delegation headed by the current Kerala Chief Minister.

The chargesheet also said that the important consideration for awarding the £37.45 million contract to SNCLavalin, without inviting global tenders, was an offer from the company to facilitate a grant of £9.83 million to establish a cancer hospital at Thalassery in Kannur. In its revision petition, CBI said the Special Judge had “entered into irrelevant arguments without going into the incrementing material and documents furnished by the prosecution to establish strong prima facie case against the respondent accused.”

HC orders attachment of Dera chief's properties CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered attachment of the Dera Sacha Sauda's properties to recover losses suffered during violence ensued by followers of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Bureaucrats in Haryana said the task could prove to be a challenge because it could potentially to trigger more violence and that the state needed more clarity on which properties to attach.

Along with its headquarters on the outskirts of Haryana's Sirsa town, the Dera has eight other ashrams in the town and at least 15 others across Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The HC bench consisting of Chief Justice S Singh Saron, and Justices Avneesh Jhingan and Surya Kant passed the order on a public interest plea from a resident from Panchkula.

The petitioner had demanded

security after thousands of Dera supporters arrived ahead of Gurmeet's rape verdict.

A senior official in the Haryana home department said, “We shall have to wait to see the order before deciding how to go about it. Any attempt to attach the properties could lead to further violence.” He also said that it remains unclear which properties of the Dera, or whether all of them, should be attached. “There are Dera prayer houses in most of the major towns of Haryana and Punjab. The organisation also runs charitable hospitals and educational institutions. We'll have to seek a clarification on which properties to attach.”

The high court had directed Punjab and Haryana authorities to maintain law and order at all costs, clarifying that no kind of political interference will be tolerated in the matter.

“The 19 MLAs did not inform me that they are meeting the Governor. They have acted against the interest of the party.” He said that under the Tamil Nadu assembly rules, a lawmaker can be disqualified for anti-party activities under the anti-defection law.

However, counsel for Dhinakaran camp, Sendoora Pandian said they would not let the Speaker's actions go unchallenged. Following the merger last week, the AIADMK now has 134 legislators in the 234-member assembly. If a confidence vote is to be conducted and the 19 lawmakers voted against the government, the AIADMK will be left with 115 MLAs, short of a 2 for a

simple majority of 117 seats.

27 more MLAs skip EPS-OPS meet A meeting called by the EPS-OPS camp to put on notice V K Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran turned out to be damp quip as 27 more legislators stayed away from the meetingbesides the 21 MLAs who are in a Puducherry resort. After the meeting, the united factions announced that the party general council and executive committee will meet on September 12 as part of the process to remove Sasikala from the post of general secretary and Dhinakaran as the deputy general secretary.

SC rejects Sasikala's petition against her conviction NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal against VK Sasikala's conviction, ruling that they did not find any error in the judgment that put her and two of her relatives in jail. Sasikala had filed a review petition in May, arguing that she could not have been convicted for disproportionate assets as she had never been a public servant.

A bench consisting of Justices SA Bobde and Amitava Roy said, “We do not find any error in the common judgment impugned, much less an apparent error on the face of the record, so as to call for its review. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed.”

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Sasikala and other convicts, handed over written submissions and propositions which were taken on record by the apex court.

The review petitions were perused by the bench which later dismissed the pleas. VN Sudhakaran, former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa's foster son, and Sasikala's elder brother Elavarasi are the other two

VK Sasikala

accused.

A trial court in Bengaluru had convicted Sasikala along with Jayalalithaa, Sudhakaran, and Elavarasi in the case for amassing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. The SC subsequently found her guilty of entering into a conspiracy with Jaya.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Deputy Inspector General of Police D Roopa, in a report claimed that she had reliable information of Sasikala visiting a house belonging to Hosur MLA, near the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison here.

Roopa added that, "This may be further ascertained by footages of CCTV cameras placed at the entrance of the jail.”

Chandigarh gets its first woman SSP CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh got its first female SSP, as the city finds itself surrounded by several incidents of crime against women. The 2008 batch IPS officer, Nilambri Vijay Jagdale, will become the first women to lead Chandigarh police as Senior Superintendent of Police. Jagdale urged women to come forward and raise their voice against any incident of crime. “It is a good sign that women are coming forward to lodge their complaints and this should continue. Women must raise their voice against and we will assure that prompt action is taken,” she said.

“The police will do its job as per law and facts in the the most transparent manner. But, we urge all women

to please come forward and report the crime. Do not remain silent,” Jagdale said.

The police are yet to find a 40 year old unidentified accused who allegedly abducted and raped a 12 year old school girl in a public park. The SSP said, “I will hold a meeting with the investigation team of all these cases of crime against women to ensure that there is no delay, and justice is meted out to victims. Law cannot be dealt with lightly, the implementation has to be stern.”

She said that instead of introducing new schemes of community policing, Jagdale plans to revisit the previous schemes of community policing, including pick and drop facility for women.

Parole for convict in Rajiv Gandhi murder case

VELLORE (TAMIL NADU): One of the convicts related to the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, AG Perarivalan, was released from Vellore jail last week. He has been granted parole for the first time in 25 years, after his mother Arputham Ammal requested the Central Prison to grant him 30 days leave for the treatment of his father Gnanasekaran. The request was initially rejected by the Deputy Inspector General of prison, Vellor Range, stating that he is not eligible for ordinary leave under Rule 22.

However, Additional Director General of police said that leave can be granted on the condition that life convict Perarivalan is provided with strong police escort during the period of leave.

Former model attempts suicide in Andhra jail

HYDERABAD: Former air hostess and model Sangeeta Chatterjee who faces trial in a red sanders smuggling case, attempted suicide in jail in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. She was reportedly disappointed over not getting bail, and consumed phenyl kept in a toilet. She was immediately rushed to Chittoor Government Hospital, and is not out of danger. Arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police in March this year, the 26 year old has three cases booked against her and a court had granted bail in two cases. Police sources said she came in contact with smuggler M Lakshman in Kolkata, where he frequently stayed. After his arrest, Sangeeta had taken over control of his network's illegal activities.

Jagan Reddy booked for comments against Naidu

AMARAVATI: YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy has been booked for allegedly making objectionable remarks against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu while campaigning for the by-election to the Nandyal Assembly constituency. Nandyal police have booked the Leader of Opposition, based on a letter by returning officer and district joint collector Prasanna Venkatesh.

During the campaign for his party candidate Silpa Chandra Mohan Reddy, earlier this month, Jaganmohan had allegedly said, “There is nothing wrong in shooting a person like Chandrababu Naidu who did not honour even one of the promises he made.”

Police bust ATM robbers' gang LUDHIANA: Ludhiana police arrested a fivemember ATM robbers' gang, and recovered 641 ATM cards of 18 nationalised and private banks. Authorities also recovered Rs 300,000 in cash, three cars, 300 passbooks and cheque-books, and press cards from two members of the gang. Commissioner of Police, RN Dhoke said, “they ask their friends to open accounts and took their ATM cards. They then used to credit the accounts and withdraw money from Mumbai and Bangalore. While the transactions were under process, they used to turn off the ATM machines to make the transaction invalid and then asked customer care to recuperate the money.”

SC orders release of Rs 100,000 to rape survivor's family

NEW DELHI: Chandigarh administration has been ordered to release Rs 100,000 to the family of a 10 year old rape survivor. The Supreme Court ordered to make a fixed deposit of Rs 900,000 for the survivor and asked the hospital to keep her medical records in a sealed cover. It also directed the Chandigarh administration to provide free medical service, counselling and other necessary help to the girl at her home in a bid to protect her identity. In an earlier hearing, the SC had sought responses from the Centre and the Chandigarh administration on a plea seeking Rs 1000,000 compensation for the victim who delivered a baby on August 17.

HERITAGE HISTORY

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Dr. Hari Desai

Lessons from Israel to deal with Terrorists At the time of the kidnapping Abdullah was away to London and was not keen to return so soon when he was conveyed by an IAS official, Ashok Jaitly, about the abduction.

Rubaiya Mufti’s kidnapping opened floodgates of terrorism in J & K V.P. Singh threatened to dismiss the Government headed by Farooq ollecting days of national agony.

Former Minister and a Supreme Court lawyer, Khan adds: “In 1980s, I remember some relations of the Israel Ministers were kidnapped.

The Ministers concerned resigned and did not influence or interfere the investigation and negotiations to get their relatives released nor the authorities bargained to exchange the militants with the relatives of the Ministers concerned.” He stressed that Indian authorities should follow such precedents. Khan was a point-man of Indira Gandhi for Kashmir affairs as a Minister in her Cabinet from 1982 till her death in

T

he kidnapping of 24year-old Dr. Rubaiya, the younger daughter of the then Union Minister of Home Affairs, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, on 8 December 1989 was a turning point in the modern history of Jammu and Kashmir. Mishandling of the abduction opened the floodgates of terrorist activity. Within a week of Vishwanath Pratap Singh ministry taking over with BJP and left support, the most unfortunate episode led to a release of five terrorists including Ghulam Nabi Butt, the younger brother of Maqbool Butt, one of the founders of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF), despite opposition from the then Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah. This led to a situation which boosted the moral of the separatists and terrorists in J & K. The last nail in the coffin was the release of five deadliest terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar following hijack-drama of Indian Airlines plane in 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM. “As was the practice in such cases world over, I told the Cabinet that the least Mufti should do was to resign his ministerial post for some days instead of handling the issue himself being the Home Minister.”, tells the then Union Minister for Energy, Arif Mohammad Khan, rec-

PM V.P.Singh, Dr.Farooq Abdullah and Mufti

napping issue with J and K government. At the time of the kidnapping Abdullah was away to London and was not keen to return so soon when he was conveyed by an IAS official, Ashok Jaitly, about the abduction. Jaitly insisted on his return via Delhi and after so much of persuasion, he returned, according to his biographer, Aditya Sinha.

Sinha records in “ F a r o o q Abdullah : A Biography” : “Farooq finally Mufti Mohammad Sayeed with his agreed. He took daughter Dr.Rubaiya the first flight out and upon reaching Delhi 1984. He created history by met Mufti Mohammad resigning as a Minister Sayeed at his residence. from Rajiv Gandhi governArun Nehru was also there, ment in 1986 following his and they took him to meet differences with PM on the Prime Minister, V. P. Shah Bano Case. Even from Singh. They asked the those days Arif was keen Chief Minister whether on making efforts for jusRubaiya’s freedom could tice to Muslim women. be secured by the release of Arif, though was not the five militants. Farooq the member of the Political told them that he could not Affairs Committee of VP take that decision there in Singh Cabinet, was deputDelhi; he would have to go ed to go to Srinagar along to Srinagar, talk to his cabwith I. K. Gujral, the then inet colleagues and offiExternal Affairs Minister, cers, and then decide what to resolve the Rubaiya kid-

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Arif Mohammad Khan

Arif supported Farooq’s contention not to release the prisoners.

But Gujral had a specific message from the PM for the Chief Minister: “To ensure the release of Rubaiya, the five prisoners are to be released or we are to dismiss Farooq Abdullah as the Chief Minister.”

Abdullah realized the seriousness of it. “He told Raza to make a note of the PM’s instructions : that the five militants were to be released, and Rubaiya

freed. He detailed to the ministers what he thought would follow.”, noted Aditya in the biography. A 14-page note was sent to the Governor, Krishna Rao, and copy to the President of India.

Arif was kept in dark even by his colleague who conveyed to the PM that Arif was sabotaging the entire game. At this juncture, Khan made up his mind to resign from the Cabinet but was pursued

by Arun Nehru not to embarrass newly formed V.P. government. The five militants were released at 3 p.m. and Rubaiya was released at 5.30 p.m. who reached her home at 7.30p.m.

While describing the situation in Srinagar after release of the five militants, Aditya adds: “At 3 p.m., the militants were released at Rajouri Kadal, in front of Mirwaiz Manzil, the headquarters of the Awami Action Committee.

The crowd went wild; the euphoria was unmistakable. Women garlanded the militants, and distributed shirni(sugar cubes) and sang traditional Kashmiri folk songs.

‘Diwali’ was celebrated although one could not tell if the blasts came from crackers or weaponry. JKLF flags were hoisted all over Srinagar. There was no doubt now as to who was politically leading the Kashmiri Muslims- the symbols and signs were there for all to see.”

This first experience of a militancy-related kidnapping was mishandled and it was to set an example for kidnapping all over India.

Farooq has proved right.

Next Column: Jinnah’s Contribution in making Hindu Bharat (The writer is a Sociopolitical Historian. E-mail: haridesai@gmail.com)

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the position was and what action should be taken.”

On reaching Srinagar and consulting his Cabinet colleagues and the negotiating team of the Chief Secretary, Moosa Raza, a Gujarat cadre IAS official, and IB officer in charge of the state, Abdullah felt that nobody should be released.

To convince the Chief Minister to get the five militants released, PM V.P. Singh personally kept on calling up the Chief Minister repeatedly. Even the Cabinet Secretary, T.N. Seshan, telephoned Raza and shoted at him. “Why isn’t the state government releasing the five prisoners?”, he wanted to know.

Farooq told Delhi that under no circumstances was he going to release those five, unless the Prime Minister of India issued specific instructions to that effect. Farooq came to know that Mufti had already roped in the “corrupt” judge of the Allahabad High Court, Moti Lal Bhat. Aditya notes: “He (Abdullah) would then have to pay the price for whatever went wrong afterwards because Farooq did not want to be the one who would take the rap.” Early morning, at 1

a.m., on 13 December, Prime Minister V.P. Singh telephoned Farooq.

He told about the decision of just concluded Cabinet to release the five prisoners, but Farooq was firm. He knew the consequences and wanted the PM to explain to the nation. He went to bed but was awakened around 4 a.m. : he was informed that two cabinet ministers, Arif Mohammad Khan and I.K. Gujral along with the IB Director, M.K. Narayanan, were on their way to meet him. They reached at 5.30 a.m. The Chief Minister called for Raza and the IB officer who explained the whole story.

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HEAVY RAINS WRECK HAVOC IN MUMBAI

26

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The financial capital of India, Mumbai currently faces its worst deluge similar to the one in 2005, as heavy rains leave parts of the city worse for wear.

Flights were delayed from the country's second-busiest airport, and severe water-logging led to congestion on roads. The MET department predicted heavy downpour for the next 48 hours. The worstaffected stretches were Eastern Freeway southbound, B Ambedkar Road, and Western Express Highway at Kherwadi.

The torrential rains that lashed on Tuesday, brought normal life to a halt as a concentrated cluster of clouds moved westwards from southern Madhya Pradesh. “Mumbai has already received 30 cm rainfall and there are 12 more hours still to go. The rainfall activity will con-

People stranded at railway station amid heavy showers in Mumbai.

tinue on Wednesday, with a tendency of lowering from afternoon,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy directorgeneral of meteorology at

the India Meteorological Department, Mumbai.

“Receiving more than 30 cm rainfall in 24 hours is not a regular phenomenon

India, China pull back troops from Doklam Continued from page 1 BRICS summit. The resolution also does good to President Xi Jinping, who intends to win yet another set of five years in the crucial 19th party congress.

An MEA spokesperson said that India successfully conveyed its “concerns and interests” in the numerous meetings held between Indian and Chinese officials in the past couple of months.

Negotiations were conducted at various levels, beginning

with NSA Ajit Doval's visit to China in July when he held discussions with counterpart Yang Jiechi. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar led diplomatic talks with the Chinese with the help of India's Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale.

Without divulging on details of the disengagement, New Delhi said both sides had diplomatic exchanges over the situation on Doklam plateau in the eastern Himalayas.

Following the disengagement,

Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “Chinese personnel on the ground have verified” that Indian forces withdrew to their side of the border. Spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “In the light of the changes of the situation on the ground, China will make necessary adjustment and deployment.” The agreement came days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to China to attend a summit of BRICS, a grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

for Mumbai,” he added.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the situation was well under control,

advising citizens to step out of their homes only if necessary. “Step out of homes only if it is too important because waterlogging has been reported from several parts of the city," Sudhir Naik, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, said. He added things were well under control and senior civic officials were keeping a close watch on the situation. According to an official from the BMC's Disaster Management Cell, “There have been reports of water-logging in Dadar, Andheri, Worli, Kurla and Sakinaka, among other areas. We have received 20 cases of tree falling and one of a wall collapse.

Despite heavy downpour, no untoward incident has been reported so far.”

In a precautionary step taken by the State Government, the Education Minister

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instructed colleges and schools to remain shut.

Train services were paralysed on all three suburban railway lines- Central, Western, and Harbour.

Commuters could be seen standing under knee-deep water on the steps of buses in low-lying areas like Parel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the situation arising due to incessant rains, promising all possible support from the Centre.

Modi tweeted, “Spoke to Maharashtra CM @Dev_Fadnavis on the situation arising due to incessant rain in Mumbai & surrounding areas.” He added, “Centre assures all possible support to the government of Maharashtra in mitigating the situation due to heavy rains in parts of the state.”

Privacy is a fundamental right: SC In yet another splendid ruling, the Supreme Court called privacy a fundamental right because it is vital to the right of life.

The SC's nine-judge bench unanimously ruled that the “Right to Privacy is an integral part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution.”

The move comes as a hit to Modi Government's Aadhaar card which is currently forcing citizens to give a sample of their fingerprints and iris scan. A five-judge bench will now test the validity of the identity card on the touchstone of privacy as a fundamental right. The nine-

judge bench overruled previous judgements on the issue- an eight-judge bench judgement in the MP Sharma case and a sixjudge bench judgement in Kharak Singh case- both which ruled that privacy is not a fundamental right.

Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, party to the case, said, “The judgement read out so far only says that the right to privacy is a fundamental right, protected by Article 21 (of the constitution on the right to life and personal liberty).” Constitutional status of right to privacy arose in a bunch of petitions, led by retired HC judge KS Puttaswamy in 2012, chal-

lenging the biometric data-enabled Aadhaar ID for citizens. Petitioners included first Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Magsaysay awardee Shanta Sinha, feminist researcher Kalyani Sen Menon and others.

“Privacy, even if assumed to be a fundamental right, consists of a large number of subspecies... It will be constitutionally impermissible to declare each and every instance of privacy a fundamental right. Privacy has varied connotations when examined from different aspects of liberties

Haryana and Punjab, while the Capital Delhi remained on alert. Rohtak jail saw utmost security, with roads lined with barbed-wire barricades. The sect's 1,000acre compound in Sirsa, Haryana, also saw heavy security. The state government resorted to the Army to bring the spiralling violence to a curb.

Godmen in India exist solely due to public sup-

port, and Gurmeet's case brings to light the country's unending fascination with self-styled saints who prey on the vulnerable. Ram Rahim capped his sexual assault as “pitaji ki maafi”.

Women at his ashram were kept away from one another. No one had access to mobile phones or newspapers. Hundreds of his devotees were forced castration under Singh's instructions.

He reportedly drank soup made of the testicles to increase his vigour. Women were emotionally blackmailed to buy their silence, and men were given drugs to make them lose all links with reality.

A Dera Sacha Sauda devotee, who did not wish to be identified for reasons of personal security, said that the “so-called fatherdaughter relationship” between Gurmeet Ram Rahim and Honeypreet Insan (who was seen with Gurmeet throughout the conviction) is “certainly

questionable”.

“Baba has two biological daughters and a son.

There is no clarity on why he adopted Honeypreet when he already had two daughters. Baba’s wife lived in a secluded and wellguarded housing unit within the Sirsa ashram,” former devotee Hansraj Chauhan said, claiming that “depending on the wealth possessed by devotees, they would have had to cough up money between Rs 5,000 and Rs 100,000”.

A victim himself, Chauhan was just 19 years old when he was drugged by a compounder with a glass of Pepsi, in 2000. He woke up two days later to find his testicles wrapped in a bundle of bandages.

This is the same plight suffered by hundreds of other men. The men were told castration would allow them to get closer to God. The CBI is currently looking into these complaints.

Rapist Godman gets 20-year jail

Continued from page 1 convict moved several applications seeking permission to visit abroad for the purpose of promotion of films directed and produced by him. While moving the aforesaid application, accused/convict himself pleaded that millions of rupees were spent/invested in producing such films, for the promotion of which he had sought permission to visit abroad and had visited many times and all these facts clearly establish that convict has no dearth of wealth and is a man possessing huge pelf and has enough financial resources to compensate the victims of his criminal acts.”

“This court is of the considered view that when the convict did not even spare his own pious disciples and had acted like a wild beast, he does not deserve any mercy. In other words, a man who has no

concern for humanity, nor has any mercy in his nature, do not deserve leniency from the court.”

It was a tough week for humanity; tougher for justice. The conviction verdict had led to large-scale violence in Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh, and Sirsa in Haryana by sect followers which left 38 people dead and 264 injured.

Police had issued orders to

shoot protesters on sight ahead of the conviction as deadly clashes took over Haryana, Punjab, and several parts of Rajasthan.

Police issued orders on Monday to shoot protesters on sight ahead of the sentencing of a self-styled guru whose conviction for rape triggered deadly clashes last week.

Authorities imposed curfews in several areas of

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Dark Chocolate

depression and anger. It contains the bacteria called ‘lactobacillus’ that helps in diminishing the level of a metabolite in the blood called kynurenine, that drives depression and anger.

Walnut

With a high percentage of cocoa and less sugar along with a chemical called serotonin, Dark Chocolate is considered as an effective mood enhancer. The presence of anti-oxidants and flavanoids helps in maintaining blood pressure and as a result you are able to deal with anger and stress.

Yogurt

A bowl of yogurt which is full of protein and calcium can help in curing

that helps in regulating happiness quotient.

Green Tea According to an American journal, Green Tea contains an amino acid called L-theanine that helps the nervous system to produce more serotonin and helps in fighting against depression and anger.

Vitamin has been linked to symptoms of depression in many studies. These are also a low-carb alternative to regular potatoes.

Orange

Turmeric

Walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids that help in secreting pleasure inducing chemicals in the human brain and thus elevating your mood and fight depression efficiently.

Banana Depression causes lowering of neurotransmitter serotonin. And banana as a rich source of serotonin helps in increasing the level of the biochemical primarily found in gastrointestinal tract, blood platelets and the nervous system of human body causing anger and depression. It also contains tryptophan, a brain chemical

Turmeric contains a phyto-chemical called ‘curcumin’ that acts against inflammatory responses associated with depression. Interestingly it also increases the growth and survival of nerve cells as well and that’s the reason we are asked to consume it on a daily basis.

Sweet Potato Sweet Potatoes are extremely high in Vitamin B6. A detriment of this

Oranges symbolize optimism and new life.

They contain essential oil that is found in the skin of the fruit and is primarily used to fight depression. It brings happiness with a sense of calmness; and also helps in soothing, relaxing and steadying the body nerves.

Mushroom Mushrooms regulate blood insulin that helps in lowering blood sugar and diminishes the chances of depression. They promote healthy bacteria in the digestive tract that result in growth of serotonin in the human body that regulates mood.

4 cups of coffees a day may cut early death risk The photographer was positioning a new husband and wife for their wedding photos when he asked, “Have you ever modeled?”

The bride's cheeks instantly turned red. “No, I haven’t,” she said. “But I always thought …”

The photographer interrupted: “I meant him.” ****************************** The average age of people living in our military retirement community is 85. Recently, a neighbor turned 100, and a big birthday party was thrown.

Even his son turned up.

“How old are you?” a tenant asked.

“I’m 81 years old,” he answered.

The tenant shook her head. “They sure grow up fast, don’t they?” ****************************** After trick-or-treating, a teen takes a shortcut home through the cemetery. Halfway across, he’s startled by a tapping noise coming from the misty shadows. Trembling with fear, he spots an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at a headstone.

“I thought you were a ghost,” says the relieved teen.

“What are you doing working so late?”

“Oh, those idiots,” grumbles the old man. “They misspelled my name!” ****************************** Seeing her friend Sally wearing a new locket, Meg asks if there is a memento of some sort inside.

“Yes,” says Sally, “a lock of my husband’s hair.”

“But Larry’s still alive.”

“I know, but his hair is gone.”

Spanish researchers claimed that those above 45 years who consumed at least four cups of coffee a day had a 64 per cent lower risk of death than those who never consumed coffee. In case of those who were at least 45 years old, drinking two additional cups of coffee per day was associated with a 30 per cent lower risk of mortality.

According to the researchers the impact on younger population is negligible.

Dr Adela Navarro, the study’s lead author, said: ‘Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages around the world.

Previous studies have suggested that drinking coffee might be inversely associated with allcause mortality but this has not been investigated in a Mediterranean country.’

‘In the study we found an inverse association between drinking coffee and the risk of all-cause mortality, particularly in people aged 45

27

To Our Readers

health lifestyle

Some food items that help you fight depression

The following items will help you in your fight against bad mood.

Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement any advice. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

Key health items you should carry every day Health emergencies can strike at any time, so the following essential items you should carry in your purse or wallet.

Insurance card: This card can be used for more than simply filling out health forms. It's also an easy way for medics to identify your name and call your insurance company for more information in an emergency. If you can't find space in your wallet, snap a picture of the front and back and keep them on your smartphone. Two others are your business card and your doctor's.

Emergency contacts: In an emergency, medics will want to know whom to contact. Along with the phone number of your family member, you can list your medications, allergies, health conditions, and doctor's name in the note section of the contact too.

Water: A study found that women with even mild dehydration experienced headaches, poor concentration, fatigue, and worse moods. So it's a good idea to have some water on you no matter the temperature.

Pain reliever: At the end of the day, taking an over-the-counter pain reliever can help you focus more on work projects or errands. The best time to pop a pill would be as soon as you start to feel pain. Just make sure you're taking the medication as prescribed, so

read the label.

Antacid: Chest pain after a meal is no fun, especially when you're dining out. If you're going to a restaurant where the food may flare up your heartburn, it's safe to have a chewable antacid on you in case.

The medication's main ingredient is calcium carbonate, also used as a dietary supplement for people low on the nutrient. Be wary of how much you take though.

Bandages: Having a couple bandages on you is useful because there's always someone looking for one. You never knew when you will get a paper cut or scrape. Not covering your wound up leaves it vulnerable to bacteria you come across throughout the day.

Aspirin: A travel pack of aspirin is great to have around if you or someone you know has heart troubles. During a heart attack, your blood vessels can't supply enough oxygen to the muscle because of a clot that forms and blocks an artery. Aspirin works to inhibit the function of the platelets that help people form clots. As long as you're not allergic, medics will give you aspirin to chew.

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

'Terrific' demand for Ajith's 'Vivegam'

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Nayanthara joins this superstar's film!

B usy with the handful of films in her kitty, ace actress Nayanthara has over four movies to her name, including female-centric thrillers 'Aramm' and 'Kolaiyuthir Kaalam', and big budget action films like 'Velaikkaran' alongside Sivakarthikeyan. Amidst this

busy schedule, Nayan has also signed up for two Telugu projects including 'Aaradugula Bullet' with Gopichand and Nandamuri Balakrishna's 102nd film.

The rest of 2017 and 2018 is going to be a fruitful year for the gorgeous superstar!

This popular heroine to go bald for 'Kodi Veeran'

P

oorna, who made the headlines for her alleged resemblance with Asin, is expected to bounce back with her upcoming rural action film 'Kodi Veeran'. Directed by Muthaiya and featuring Sasi Kumar in the lead, the actress has reportedly shaved her head for the film. After a lukewarm debut in 2008, the 'Manal Kayiru 2' actress will go to any length to promote her upcoming film.

T

hala Ajith's 'Vivegam' has found spectacular success as movie halls find themselves bound to add extra shows. Managing Director of GK Cinemas, Ruban Mathivanan tweeted, “The pressure is something like we have never seen before!!! One more show added on 2nd day #thalavarar #Vivegam”. Talking about the demand for tickets, he said, “To describe it in one word, it is terrific! The demand is just fantastic, and we have not received this kind of pressure ever since 'Kabali'.

Almost 95 per cent seats have been sold out for the entire weekend.”

Released on August 24, 'Vivegam' marks the Tamil debut of Akshara Haasan. It also features Kajal Aggarwal, and Vivek Oberoi in pivotal roles.

Defamation complaint against Kamal Haasan

Bachchan in megastar Chiranjeevi's 151st film

A

criminal defamation complaint has been filed against actor Kamal Haasan alleging he had degraded a particular community in the July 14 episode of TV show 'Bigg Boss'. President of the Isai Vellalar community, KR Kuhesh stated that musical instrument 'Nadaswaram' which is treated like God by them, was thrown from one hand to the other by actor Sakthi who appeared in one of the episodes.

Kuhesh also contended that the instrument was kept on the dining table as contestants of the show had their food. He said that Haasan had not sought an apology even though, the actor, Sakthi, and producers of the show knew that insulting the musical instrument would hurt sentiments of the community. He also alleged they had intentionally insulted the Nasaawaran with the motive of attracting viewers and thereby caused defamation.

‘Baadshaho ’

T

ollywood's biggest star, Chiranjeevi is occupied with his 151st film based on freedom fighter Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy. After an almost 10-year sabbatical from films, the actor-politician returned in style with his 150th film 'Khaidi No. 150' which found tremendous business at the box office.

His upcoming titled 'Sye Raa Narsimha Reddy', set to be produced by son Ram Charan, will chronicle the journey of India's first freedom fighter “the warrior monk who revolted against the despotism of the British Raj”. A recent announcement video released by makers have now confirmed the news of Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan joining the film. Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep, Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi, and Jagapathy Babu have also been confirmed for the film. Surender Reddy will direct, and ace composer AR Rahman will render music.

The movie takes us back to the emergency era of 1975, when India suffered severe political unrest. The story takes us through a thrilling journey between Jaipur and Delhi.

‘Shubh Mangal Saavdhan’

A comedy-drama. It is directed by R.S. Prasanna and produced by Aanand L Rai. It stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar.

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Rishi Kapoor has no plans to return to direction

V

eteran actor Rishi Kapoor said he was happy with acting and has no immediate plans of going back to directing any time soon. The 1999 movie 'Aa Ab Laut Chalen', Rishi's directorial debut, is the only film he directed. “I am an actor, and my time is devoted to my first passion of my life-acting. I did not get time and also I did not come across a good subject. I have been busy as a character actor since 17 years and I am enjoying working with so many lovely people. I am very happy acting,” he said.

Known for being vocal about his views, Kapoor has often often fallen prey to social media trolling. However, he said he has never taken the criticism to his heart. “I do it all for myself, I don't' do it for you. I have an opinion, and the way of looking at things and I express it. I don't make things I say whatever I want to from my heart. I take it (getting trolled) all with pinch of salt, you should not take it seriously. It (social media) is a platform to express your thoughts.”

Talking about his upcoming film 'Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi', Rishi said, “The movie is not about cultural clash. Today, things have changed and we do see inter-caste marriages happening around. We are not preaching anything through this film.”

SRK, Salman, Akshay amongst highest paid actors

T

he Forbes' list of highest-paid actors in the world includes Bollywood's three superstars - Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Akshay Kumar. The list, topped by Mark Wahlberg with $68 million this year, places Shah Rukh at number eight, followed by Salman at nine and Akshay at 10.

According to Forbes, Shah earned $38 million in 2017, Salman $37 million, and Akshay $35.5 million. The top 10 actors on the list banked a cumulative $488.5 million- almost three times the combined total of the 10 topearning women. Rapper-turned-actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson came second with $65 million, Vin Diesel third with $54.5 million, Adam Sandler fourth with $50.5 million, and Jackie Chan fifth with $49 million.

While these three Indian actors are expected inclusions to the list, Aamir Khan's absence was widely noticed considering his last film 'Dangal' that broke worldwide collection records for any Indian film.

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Matt Damon praises Akshay for bringing important issue to light

Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

organisation, Water.org, is dedicated to ending open defecation globally,” Damon said. “I have seen first-hand the devastating effects on health, the threat to women and children, and the contamination of safe drinking water from open defecation. It’s clear to me that a person cannot thrive and reach their full potential without first having access to safe water to drink, and the dignity of a sanitary toilet.”

Damon had last visited India in 2013, to monitor projects run by his organisation- and was fascinated by the massive influence of Indian actors on the people.

A

kshay Kumar's 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' fared quite well at the box office, as he garnered praise for bringing an important issue to light. The movie based on the topic of open defecation in India, was noticed by Hollywood star Matt Damon, who praised Akshay for spot-

ting the crisis.

“It's great to have stars like Akshay and films like 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' spotlighting the open defecation crisis, as it helps to drive more awareness of not only the issues but also what can be done to tackle this and create change. Our

Sid-Alia relationship on the rocks?

O

ne of Bollywood's favourite couples, Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt have reportedly separated. While they have never admitted their relationship, their chemistry remains unmistakeable. Following incessant reports, Sidharth finally opened up about his relationship status, choosing Neha Dhupia's talk show #NoFilterNeha to make the announcement.

“I am... very much single!” Sid said when asked about his status. Speaking about dating apps, the actor said, “If at all I had my bio, it would be sundar, susheel,

risky. All Desis would understand and the firangs would ask me for the meaning. But I wouldn't mind trying the app.” Even as they denied being in a relationship, Sidharth and Alia have often been spotted together. Sid had earlier said, “Alia looks into my eyes and I look into hers and we get completely lost. She is someone who I am very close to. She is one of the most important people in my life right now. We have known each other for a long time. We share a great rapport and I totally second what she says. I am happy that she is getting lost in my eyes.”

Katrina wants to star in Game of Thrones A late entrant in the social media game, Katrina Kaif is now using it to announce all kinds of revelation, the most recent being her love for a certain king. Showing off her toned legs and posing in front of a beach shack, Kat uploaded a photo of her dressed in a black cut-out dress over a bikini and her hair swept back. She captioned the pic, “Can I be in #gameofthrones pleeeeeasseee... #ilovejonsnow # p l e a s e t a ke m e i n t h e s h ow

#moodyandbroodingismything”. Fans of the actress were all for the idea of the actress featuring in popular HBO series 'Game of Thrones' with many commenting she would fit perfectly in the cast.

Styled by Anaita Shroff Adajania, the picture in reality is for an upcoming issue of Vogue India. The actress is currently busy shooting on 'Tiger Zinda Hai' with Salman Khan. The film is scheduled to release this December.

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UK

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

Prevent scheme 'built on Islamophobia and should be axed' The government's antiradicalisation strategy, Prevent, is "ineffective and counterproductive" and should be withdrawn, according to a new report.

Racial equality organisation JUST Yorkshire says it is "built on a foundation of Islamophobia and racism". The report was based on interviews with 36 people including students, faith leaders and academics.

The Home Office said it was one of a number of reports to "peddle falsehoods and create myths".

A Prevent coordinator also questioned its methodology, saying the document was "confusing" Created in 2003, Prevent is one of four strands of the government's counter-terrorism strategy, known as Contest.

According to the Home Office, its aim is "to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism". It aims for police and other organisations to build relations across the UK and requires faith leaders, teachers, doctors and others to refer any suspicions about people to a local Prevent body.

The scheme has been criticised by some MPs, the National Union of Teachers and Muslim Council of Britain, while JUST Yorkshire says it has a "disproportionate and and discriminatory" focus on Muslim communities.

Report author Dr Waqas Tufail, said: "Our independent report has engaged with grassroots perspectives and has highlighted the many harms of Prevent, particularly those impacting on Muslim minorities. "[Prevent] is broken, it's counterproductive and I think there is a lack of accountability. This strategy has been in place for over a decade and there's been no discernable impact."

However, Hifsa Haroon Iqbal, a Prevent coordinator, criticised the report's methodology. She said: "To base your judgment on an interview with 36 people, to state what actually is very much more opinions from newspaper reports and to claim that a strategy that has been working for a number of years is broken, I think, is misrepresenting it and is confusing people."

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Sneh Joshi

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 The Sun transits your solar

sixth house and highlights your health and also makes you take pride in your day to day work.

Hence, you should enhance your skills, get organized and take up a health regime for your well-being. This transit highlights the need for efficiency and as such you should bring in the new and get rid of the old ideas that do not work.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 The Sun illuminates your fifth house. This is the time of year when you are ready to perform and express yourself creatively. It's a good time for recreation, romance, connecting with children, and enjoying "performing arts". You are feeling inspired creatively and romantically and you express your loving feelings quite openly now. You instinctively know how to make a good impression on others.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 With the Sun transiting your

house of family and home, these areas are your instinctive focus during this period. This is a time when you put down roots and seek to belong. Besides, the focus can be on cultivating and nourishing your inner foundations that support you and your growth. Use this energy to find ways to improve your family relations and your home environment.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22 You are exploring and searching now, making connections, and paying attention to your immediate environment. Socially you are very popular and your communications strengthen your connections. You will be busy with errands, paperwork, phone calls, and light socializing.

Siblings, neighbours, close relatives and co-workers may play a more important role than usual in your life during this period.

Bollywood comes to Yorkshire - and helps the UK film industry strike Gold

The 2007 film Salaam-e-Ishq was partly shot in Oxford

Bradford, Doncaster and Rotherham are providing the backdrop for a major Bollywood film starring one of India's biggest names - just one of the foreign productions contributing to Britain's film-making boom.

Anyone who happened to peer through the railings of Doncaster Racecourse last week would have been met with a surreal sight.

India's 1936 Olympic hockey team were greeted by a cheering crowd as they climbed off a vintage coach, before Nazi officers viciously beat a couple of their overenthusiastic fans.

Behind them, giant swastika banners were draped from the racecourse's historic Clock Tower Stand. But this was just a film set, and Doncaster Racecourse was doubling as Berlin's 1936 Olympic Stadium. It will appear in Gold, an epic new Bollywood movie that tells the story of India's Olympic hockey players in 1936 and 1948.

One of the actors in Doncaster was Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar, who is above the likes of Tom Hanks, Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds on Forbes magazine's latest list of the world's bestpaid actors.

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The Sun highlights your second house of finance, and your focus is on material affairs and comfort issues. This is a good time to plan your future investments carefully to maximise your profits. Your communications are extremely high making it easy to close those lucrative deals. Also, a good time to pursue any romantic liaisons that might present themselves.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

The Sun transits your first house and this affects your personal identity, appearance, outward behaviour, and self-expression.

This marks the peak of your physical solar cycle, and you are in the position to make an impression on others, and to assert your personal influence. Increased energy and a renewed feeling of confidence is with you now, so take advantage of your charisma to achieve your goals.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

The Sun travels through your twelfth house now, marking a time of retreat and regeneration. This also heralds a time for research and unfinished behind-the-scene activities. Matters which have dragged on for a while should now be re-assessed and put to rest. Some of you will be looking to spiritual enlightenment and take up yoga and meditation.

The Sun illuminates your sector of friends, social gatherings and group activities. You will be in constant demand and will be in a position to network with new-found friends who will promote your cause. Personal relationships are also to the fore and some of you might even find true love. This is a time to follow your dreams and ideals.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

The Sun illuminates your career and reputation sector, more than any other time of the year. This is the time when you are more interested in, and focused on, accomplishing something important. More contact with authority figures is likely during this period. Recognition is likely to come your way whether you ask for it or not, and the responsibility that comes right along with it!

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20 You are feeling most adventurous and willing to achieve higher knowledge and spiritual growth. This is a good time to broaden your horizons through travel and higher learning. This may take you to far off lands in pursuit of your new-found goals. You must distance yourself from the mundane grind of life and take on something which is more meaningful for your inner growth.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 The Sun energizes your sector of change, transformation and regeneration. On a more practical level, you may be dealing with joint finances and shared resources now more than usual. You should also make sure that your tax affairs are in order. You are more willing than usual to explore and delve deeper into life's secrets and arrive at meaningful conclusions.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

As the Sun transits your seventh house, you have a greater need than usual to be in a relationship. The emphasis is on "us" rather than "me". Social interactions of a personal nature are highlighted. This is likely to be an extremely busy time for most of you. Use tact and diplomacy in your dealing, otherwise you are likely to come across as over confident and egotistical.

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ROHIT, BUMRAH GUIDE INDIA TO WIN SERIES AsianVoiceNews

Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah helped India to take a 3-0 lead in the fivematch ODI series against Sri Lanka. Rohit made an unbeaten 124, while pacer Bumrah played a key role in restricting Lanka to 217/9 with career-best figures of five for 27. Chasing the Lanka total, India initially lost four wickets for 61 runs, but Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni added 157 runs to steady India.

Lanka had their chances in the match but once gain they failed to grab them.

The home team's poor show in the Test and ODI series drew the spectators' ire and they hurled plastic bottles and missiles on the ground, forcing the umpires to stop play. Play resumed 35 minutes later after policemen drove spectators out from the western stand.

Dhoni and Sharma completed the formalities soon after. Much like he had done in the second ODI, Dhoni once again preferred to play second fiddle to Sharma.

Earlier, India got off to a poor start. Opener Shikhar Dhawan became Lasith Malinga's 299th ODI victim when the left-hander dragged one onto the stumps while trying to cut a ball that was too close to his body.

Dhoni, Bhuvi guide India to victory in second ODI Disciplined innings

Wayne Rooney retires from international football

Wayne Rooney

Former England captain Wayne Rooney has announced his retirement from international matches. In a 14-year-long international career, Rooney was capped 119 times, the second most for his country. But his 53 goals make him the man with the most number of strikes for England. There was a change of clubs for Rooney in the English Premier League recently.

He had rejoined Everton and looked in fine form having hit two goals in as many matches. But after the second match against Manchester City, he had hinted that he may consider his international future.

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31

Asian Voice | 2nd Septmeber 2017

Dhoni equals Sangakkara's record in ODIs stumpings

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

from Dhoni and pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar saw India in defeating Lanka by three wickets in the second ODI. Chasing a revised target of 231 due to rain, India were cruising at 108 for no loss in the 16th over. But the match made a dramatic turn in a space of six overs as the visitors lost seven wickets for just 22 runs.

All-rounder Akila Dananjaya created havoc in the India's batting line-up as he scalped six wickets in his 10 overs. But then Dhoni (45 not out) and Bhuvneshwar (53 not out) forged a match-winning partnership to seal the deal for India. Indian openers Dhawan and Rohit started the chase perfectly by forg-

Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma

ing a 109-run partnership.

The duo slammed Sri Lankan bowlers all around the park. In the process, Rohit completed his halfcentury. But after adding four more runs, the Mumbai batsman was adjudged leg before wicket off Dananjaya.

Trying to be aggressive, Dhawan mistimed a shot and fell prey to Milinda Siriwardana in the very next over. All eyes were on new batsmen Lokesh Rahul, Kedar Jadhav and Virat Kohli, but the trio failed to rise to the expectations and were dismissed by Dananjaya in the same over at scores of 1, 4 and 4 respectively.

With half of the side

back to the pavilion, it was now on Dhoni and allrounder Hardik Pandya but the the latter disappointed as he was also dismissed by Dananjaya after three overs with no runs to his credit.

With chances of winning looking sleek, Bhuvneshwar joined Dhoni in the middle and played sensibly. The duo forged a 100-run partnership and finished the proceeding with more than two overs to spare.

Earlier, sensible innings from Siriwardana (58) and Chamara Kapugedera (40) helped Lanka score 236/8.

But due to rain, the target was revised to 230. For India, pacer Bumrah scalped four wickets while leg-spinner Chahal took two.

BCCI planning to boost women's cricket The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to give a big boost to women's cricket in India.

It is planning to introduce more India A tours in near future. Besides the 'A' tour, there are plans to expand the U-16 domestic zonal tournament to the all-India level.

As of now, all-India junior tournaments cover only the U-19 and U-23 category.

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji is part of the women's committee, which will be meeting to decide the road ahead for women's cricket in the country. The other members are current ODI captain Mithali Raj, senior pacer Jhulan Goswami with the BCCI GM-Game Development, Ratnakar Shetty, being the convener.

Another issue which is likely to be discussed in the meeting is the lack of international assignments for the national team, which became overnight stars with their showing in the World

Diana Edulji, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami

Cup last month. "The team is not scheduled to play any international match this year. So we have already written to all the full members for bilateral limited overs series or even a triseries. As of now, we have got positive response from England and Australia.

"The next assignment for India will probably be the ICC ODI Championship next year and there we are keen that team plays a tri-series along with the bilateral series. Having more domestic events and A tours will also go a long way in creating big enough pool for the

Women's IPL," the official said.

Former India captain Shantha Rangaswamy said India A tours for women were due for a long time.

"I remember our A team travelling to Pakistan 15 years back but no tour has been organised since then.

Therefore, it will be ideal if it becomes a regular feature. It will give our girls much needed exposure," she said.

Contrary to popular belief that India is not yet ready for a Women's IPL, Rangaswamy said the league could only help the game in the country.

Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni equalled Kumara Sangakkara's record for most stumpings in one-day international matches.

Dhoni's stumping of Sri Lanka opener Gunathilaka was his 99th in limited-overs cricket. While Sangakkara played 404 ODIs, Dhoni has played only 298 ODIs in comparison.

Dhoni's form and future has been under scanner post his Test retirement but a string of limited overs matches in the next three months will enable the former skipper get some momentum and consistency going his way, skipper Virat Kohli said about the former captain.

Dhoni's form has been on the wane and Kohli is hoping that the next 24 limited overs matches will help Dhoni get his mojo back.

"This coming season gives us an opportunity to define roles for players and give them time to execute it so that for the World Cup, we know exactly what one player needs to do in certain situations," Kohli told mediapersons.

"And it helps someone like MS also because he doesn't play Test cricket any more. This long streak of matches will help him be in touch with the international games, find some momentum and stick to it," Kohli added. For the skipper, it's about growing good habits and sustaining them in the lead upto the World Cup.

De Villiers gives up ODI captaincy

AB de Villiers has resigned as captain of South African One-Day International team with immediate effect.

But he has made it clear that he will be available to play in all three formats of the game from late September when the home season begins.

He last led South Africa in ODIs during De Villiers the Champions Trophy in May-June, which ended in major disappointment as the side couldn't even make it past the Group Stages. Following the tournament, he had to fill in temporarily for Faf du Plessis as the T20I skipper for the series against England. Making the announcement, he said that it was time for someone else to take over the role. He also pulled his weight behind Faf du Plessis, who has done a good job leading the Test and T20I teams.

"A lot has been said and written over the past 12 months and I feel it is time to make my position absolutely clear," de Villiers stated. "Over the past year or so, I've tried to manage my commitments.

I've felt mentally and physically tired. Playing in all three formats ever since 2004 has taken its toll.

Together with Cricket South Africa, we've tried to develop a viable schedule which allows me to prolong my career for as long as possible. This strategy has prompted some people to say that I'm picking and choosing when to play for the Proteas and even to suggest I'm somehow putting myself before the team. This is simply not true. Playing for South Africa is and will always be the greatest privilege of my life.

"Following this recent break, I really do feel refreshed and revived. I want to get back on the field and I have assured the national selectors that I'll be available for selection in all three formats of the game during the coming season. There is plenty of hard work ahead in the nets and I must prepare properly. But I'll be ready to play, if required, from the middle of October onwards."

Sport 32

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Asian Voice | 2nd September 2017

BRAVEHEARTS WEST INDIES WIN AsianVoiceNews

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Gayle, Samuels return to Windies squad for England ODIs

Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels

West Indies completed a remarkable turnaround against England as Shai Hope led his team to a historic win at Headingley with a century. Chasing 322 for a win, Hope and Kraigg Brathwaite made sure West Indies do not lose an early wicket on day five and that laid the platform for the win. Hope remained unbeaten on 120 as West Indies clinched their first win in England since 2000. The series is level at 1-1 now as England had won the daynight Test at Edgbaston by an innings and 209 runs.

The 23-year-old Shai Hope became the first person in history to record centuries in both innings of a first-class match at Headingley, but more importantly his 118 not out in trying circumstances ushered the tourists to a serieslevelling five-wicket triumph.

Hope came to the crease at 53 for two but belied his tender years and relative inexperience in only his 12th Test to put on a match-altering 144-run

partnership with Kraigg Brathwaite, a stand that ultimately helped to secure the West Indies' first victory on these shores since June 2000.

While Brathwaite fell five runs short of pipping his partner to become the first person to record twin centuries at this ground, Hope was able to see the tourists home under gloomy skies with the floodlights on in a nerve-jangling finish, with all four results possible heading into the final session.

It is quite the turnaround from the West Indies following an innings-and209-run trouncing at Edgbaston - a defeat that left many former players bemoaning the current set-up - but they have silenced their critics in the most emphatic fashion, having bossed the majority of this Test.

The smiles on the West Indian faces are enormous. A fabulous innings from Shai Hope, who ends unbeaten on 118.

"Someone had to do it, so I just put my hand up and did it for the team," he

says. My word, that man is cool. He looks as though he's just rolled out of bed! "We fought really hard and really needed this win to keep alive in this series," he says. Told he's the first man in history to score two tons in a match at Headingley, he simply replies: "Really? Thanks for the news."

Earlier, England declared their second innings on 490 for eight after starting Monday's fourth day just two runs ahead, having already lost three wickets. Moeen Ali topscored with 84, with captain Joe Root making 72, Chris Woakes 61 not out, Dawid Malan 61 and Ben Stokes 58 to help England take control of the match.

West Indian openers Kieran Powell and Kraigg Brathwaite saw off the remaining six overs as the visitors had all 10 wickets in tact with five on the board at stumps.

Brief scores: England 258 & 4908 declared (Ali 84, Root 72; Chase 386) West Indies 427and 322.

Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels have been included in the 15-member Windies squad for the five-match One-Day International series in England. Jerome Taylor too returns to fold after more than a year. Sunil Ambris, the uncapped right-handed opener from Guyana, was also included in the side while other notable omissions from the squad were Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite.

Courtney Browne, the chairman of selection panel, though confirmed Dwayne was considered for selection but isn't fully fit yet. "With regards to the selection of the ODI squad, the panel welcomes back Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, who will both add value to our batting and help with the nurturing of the young batsmen in the team," he said. "Both Sunil Narine and Darren Bravo have declined to be considered for ODIs in England. Narine has, however, confirmed his desire to play 50-over cricket again but has asked to play in our Regional Super50 before he is considered and Darren said he was not available for selection. Dwayne Bravo said he was still not 100% fit, but was looking at a possible return to international cricket next year."

Squad: Sunil Ambris, Devendra Bishoo, Miguel Cummins, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder (captain), Kyle Hope, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed (Vice Captain), Ashley Nurse, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor and Kesrick Williams.

Robin Singh, Sridharan to coach in S Africa T20 Global League

Floyd Mayweather stops Conor McGregor to win superfight Former welterweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather outclassed Irish mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor to win their superfight by technical knockout, securing his place in boxing history to head into retirement with a record 50th straight victory.

Mayweather, who had come out of a two-year retirement to take on McGregor, bided his time before exerting his superiority from the middle rounds onwards at the T-Mobile Arena.

The end came in the 10th round with a tired McGregor doubled over on the ropes as Mayweather landed two hard left hooks, prompting referee Robert Byrd to intervene as a 14,623 crowd with A-list celebrities roared their approval. “He's a lot better than I thought he'd be,” a jubilant Mayweather said of McGregor. “He's a tough competitor, but I was the better man tonight.”

The American said he had deliberately taken his time early on in order to take advantage of a fatigued McGregor.

“Our game plan was to take our time, go to him, let him shoot his shots early

Sriram Sridharan and Robin Singh

Conor McGregor (L) had vowed to knock Floyd Mayweather (R)

and then take him out down the stretch,” he said.

McGregor, meanwhile, suggested the fight could have been allowed to go on, but praised Mayweather's clinical tactical display. “He's composed, he's not that fast, he's not that powerful, but boy is he composed,” McGregor said.

It was an explosive finale to their much-hyped contest which proved surprisingly competitive in the early rounds as McGregor managed to land a string of scoring punches. But once Mayweather began to find his range and McGregor wearied rapidly, there was only going to be one winner.

Former India cricketers Robin Singh and Sriram Sridharan will coach their respective franchises in the Twenty20 Global League, Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed. Robin Singh, who made 136 One-Day International (ODI) appearances for India scoring 2,336 runs at an average of 25.95, will be mentoring Bloem City Blazers. He earlier served as fielding coach of India and also worked as head coach of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Former batsman Sridharan - who has featured in eight ODIs for India - will coach the Johannesburg Giants. He has also worked as the head coach of the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL and joined the Australian national side as spin bowling consultant. Former South Africa player Graeme Smith will coach Benoni Zalmi, Jacques Kallis will mentor Cape Town Knight Riders and Mark Boucher will train Nelson Mandela Bay Stars. Former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming will head the Stellenbosch Monarchs.