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93 killed Norway’s twin attacks

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FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

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Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

VOL 40. ISSUE 13

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Raja blames Manmohan, Chidambaram for 2G mess A Raja

Manmohan Singh

P Chidambaram

minister,” Raja’s counsel Sushil Kumar told special CBI judge O P Saini, creating a flutter in court and providing main opposition

BJP a fresh opportunity to attack the government.

Later Raja took a Uturn denying implicating Manmohan and

Chidambaram and told the court that he did not seek to implicate them in the 2G case.

Continued on page 26

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LAW

Story on page 7

30th July to 5th August 2011

Anshu Jain, Fitschen to take reins of Deutsche Bank Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen are set to take over the control of Deutsche Bank as co-chief executives in next May, succeeding Josef Ackermann after his decade in charge of Germany’s biggest bank.

Deutsche hopes the dual management structure will balance its powerful international investment banking operations with its need to continue to expand its domestic base after the global financial crisis.

Anshu Jain will be another Indian to lead a multi-national company.

He will join the list of successful Indian CEO’s like Indra Nooyi of Pepsico, former CEO of Vodafone Arun Sarin, Vikram Pandit of City Bank and

Anshu Jain

Jürgen Fitschen

many other. The succession plan, which is expected to take effect after Deutsche’s annual meeting expected next May, Continued on page 26

SOC IE

Contact Mr. Mitesh Patel, Solicitor No Win No Fee

Osborne-Mukherjee talks unveil billion pounds investment in India

0800 118899 Email: mpatel@levenes.co.uk Website: www.levenes.co.uk Ashley House, 235-239 High Road, Wood Green, London N22 8HF

TY

TH

Arrested former telecom minister A Raja, on first day of his defence, has directly embarrassed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then finance minister P Chidambaram in the 2G scam. Saying they were game to the decision to allow telecom firms that got 2G licences to sell equity for large profits.

“Telenor buying a stake in Unitech Wireless and Etisalat buying a stake in Swan Telecom - then finance minister (Chidambaram) approved it in the presence of the prime

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Personal Injury

SOLICITORS

UK

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Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

one to one

likely to one of their Asian businesses.

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

Keith Vaz MP with

Rajesh Garg has over 20 years experience working across 4 key regions of the world – Europe, South America, North America and Asia. He joined Tesco as a Finance Director in May 2011.

In his previous role Rajesh was CFO for Kraft Foods, South Asia and Indo China and prior to that Regional CFO and CIO for Cadbury for Asia.

Prior to Cadbury Rajesh spent almost 10 years with Proctor and Gamble in the UK, Venezuela and the US. Prior to business school Rajesh was an entrepreneur running his own business which he sold to finance his MBA from Manchester Business School and the University of Chicago. Rajesh and his family are British nationals and based out of South Bucks.

My degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA in finance was a useful combination for my career. It has given me an ability to go deep and deal with numbers, as well as strategic skills.

What are your long term goals?

Creating value is the most important thing in life. I want to create value for shareholders, the team and customers. I would like to become the Corporate Finance Director or the CEO of a large company and I haven’t given up on creating my own company one day!

If you were Prime Minister, what one thing would you change?

Finance cuts across all aspects of business and allows you to look like a general manager.

What is your proudest achievement?

In Cadbury India we took the business to become the best performing consumer business product in India.

We now have 70% of the market share. I created a finance team which was motivated and passionate, and crucial to that success.

■

Labour has a new General Secretary, Iain McNicol, a former senior trade union official.

My dad who came from very humble beginnings and self-financed his education, and rose to become the CEO of an Indian Public Sector Company.

Rajesh Garg, Finance Director, Tesco

What inspired you to begin your career in finance?

People

Please tell us about your current position?

I am about to be posted as a country Finance Director for Tesco, most

I would try and leverage the entrepreneurial culture of the UK, it seems to have atrophied over the years. Another industrial revolution is possible; I have lived across 4 continents and Britain is the most globally minded.

Iain McNico

Ian started out life as an organiser for Alan Keen the MP for Feltham and Heston.

He is the youngest General Secretary ever elected.

■ Veteran Goan politician Eduardo Faleiro was in London for the annual Goan festival which was held in the UK for the first time in many years. 10,000 turned up in Hounslow for this great event.

■ Lord Dolar Popat is turning out to be one of the hardest working of the ethnic minority peers. He has left his

Artificial Pancreas Could Revolutionise Diabetes Treatment Diabetes research expert, Prof.

Joan Taylor of De Montfort University, has developed an artificial pancreas, which is surgically inserted into the patient between the hip and lowest rib. It has a metal container, which holds the insulin, and this needs to be refilled every few weeks. Prof.

Taylor has designed a gel barrier, which is sensitive to the glucose level; she says "I realised that I could use a certain protein to make a gel that would react with glucose. When exposed to the body fluid around the internal organs, the gel reacts according to the amount of glucose present".

When the amount of glucose in the body fluid is high, the gel softens, allowing insulin out of the container into the body, and as the blood sugar decreases the gel

solidifies again, automatically controlling the blood sugar.

This could change the lives of many type 1 and type 2 diabetics for the better – Prof.

Taylors work was voted as one of the top five health projects with the potential to make the biggest difference to mankind. Many diabetics have trouble controlling their blood sugar as your metabolic rate varies according to so many factors, for instance the amount of physical activity you do, and the types of foods you eat.

The artificial pancreas is in clinical trials at the moment, and it’s estimated Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University that it could be available to the public in the next 10 years.

Prof Dominic Shellard and Prof Joan If successful, the use of this Taylor with the artificial pancreas

device could remove the need for insulin injections, and prevent the complications associated with diabetes such as heart disease, blindness and kidney damage.

This could affect the 2.8 million Brits currently diagnosed with diabetes, and with up to 1

Artificial Pancreas

million people in the UK unaware that they have diabetes it’s important that everyone gets regular checks to see if they have a high

Lord Dolar Popat

“shop” to be run by his young and talented son Paavan. risk of developing diabetes. Silver Star is a local charity which promotes diabetes awareness and tests for diabetes. They run a Mobile Diabetes Unit (MDU), which can visit your organisation or place of work. Contact Silver Star on 0845 094 9933 or email health@silverstaruk.org.

Sikhs, Muslims and Hindu teenagers more likely to go to university than Christians or Atheists Tanveer Mann Students who describe themselves as Sikh, Muslim or Hindu are more likely to attend university, than students who are either Christian or atheist, a significant Government research programme has announced.

From a study of more than 13,000 young people by the UK National Statistics for the Department for Education, it was found that 63 per cent of Sikh teenagers and 53 per cent of Muslims went on to study at university, but only 32 per cent of those who were Atheist went on to higher education. Hindu students topped the list by far, with over 77 per cent going on to higher education, compared with just 45 per cent of Christians.

The results add to an alreadydetailed body of research which

shows that British white workingclass students perform worse than their Asian peers at school and therefore are less likely to go to university. But Steve Strand, a Professor at Warwick University told the Times Educational Supplement that religion was just an excuse for ethnicity.

"The fact that white workingclass pupils are the least likely to go to university and those from Asian groups are more likely has nothing to do with whether they are Christian or Hindu.

"It's to do with a number of factors, but [generally speaking] white working-class children and their parents often do not see the relevance of the curriculum or of attending university. Asian families, even if they are from difficult socio-economic backgrounds, see education as a way out."

The Muslim Council of Britain

responded to this by saying that it was pleased that the survey recognised a "continuing trend" within the Muslim community, but added that it was not happy that they were not at the top of the list.

The Catholic Education Service agree with Steve Strand and strongly believe that religion was not a factor in why Christians were the worst-performing religion in the survey. A spokeswoman stated: “"Catholic Schools regularly outperform other schools in terms of levels of attainment at key stage two, GCSEs and A-levels. We also seek to encourage our kids to choose whatever line they would like, be it university, apprenticeships or work."

However, Prajip Gajjar, a parent and key figure at the free Krishna-Avanti Primary School, said he was not surprised by the

figures.

He said: "It's an aspiration.

Hindu parents all spend that additional time with their children in terms of engaging them with education, so it doesn't come as a surprise."

This survey comes at a significant time, when the Home Secretary Theresa May is being accused of using flawed evidence to create a policy to reduce the number of non-EU students coming to Britain. She announced her policy in April, to toughen up rules on University requirements and English language requirements so as to limit the number of non-EU students by around 230,000 over five years, but she was recently criticised for it. Mrs May was also criticised for a three-month delay in producing a Home Office assessment of the impact of the policy, which sug-

gested that the cost to the economy could be £3.6 billion. After this was released, Mrs May described the process of preparing impact assessments as unsatisfactory.

In a report published on Tuesday, the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee will say: “The Home Secretary’s dismissal of the validity of the impact assessment seems to confirm our deep concerns that inadequate migration data sources, both historical and current, are thwarting both the Migration Advisory Committee and the Home Office from developing genuine evidence-based immigration policy.”

With this new evidence emerging, it is hard to imagine that this new policy will be enforced, now that the sheer presence of non-EU students attending University has been acknowledged.

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

COMMENT

Norwegian horror awakens world to grim reality Anders Behring Breivik,32, has traumatised Norway.

His shooting and bombing spree has left 76 innocent Norwegians dead, while the list of injured also makes horrific reading. Their only crime was that they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Having bombed an area of Oslo, not far from the seat of government, he then went to the nearby island of Utoya where young people belonging to the ruling Labour Party were attending a party camp. The assassin opened fire on them causing many to jump into the sea in a desperate bid to escape an unforeseen death. It could have been a page from Hell itself.

Norway, being a small country with a population of a mere 6 million, is rich in North Sea oil, has a high standard of living allied to a welfare system broadly in tune with those of its Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden and Denmark and underpinned, like them, by democratic governance and the rule of law. The quality of life in Norway, according to a U.N assessment, is about the finest on earth. Situated atop northern Europe on the fringes of the Arctic, Scandinavia has escaped the political hurly-burly that is part of the history of regions further south.

Cocooned by geography and history, Norwegians looked on as diverse areas of the world were wracked by violence and civil strife and all manner of related ills. Terrorism was a scourge that happened elsewhere, leaving Norway and its immediate neighbourhood unscathed, to live out their lives in peace and tranquillity. The influx of large numbers of immigrants seeking to escape the turmoil of the Muslim world has disturbed the equilibrium of Norwegian society as it has other parts of Europe, giving rise to a growing scepticism about the value of multiculturalism, at least in its present indulgent form. It would be self-destructive to sweep this problem under the carpet for reasons of political correctness. Truth will out, so why not recognise it, unwholesome though it currently is, while there is time to do something about it?

The weekend tragedy is awakening Norwegians to the spectre of untrammelled, irrational violence, nihilistic in content, murderous in scale. The nightmare is made more surreal by the statement of its per-

petrator, Anders Behring Berveik, that he had committed no crime, even as he admitted that the deaths of so many innocent people at his hands was an atrocious act but necessary, nonetheless.

His defence in court was bizarre, it was sickening, reflecting the inner demons that have consumed conscience and pity and has beached in our midst a monster who rails in a 1,518-page document online prior to the attack, in which he claimed membership of a secret society set up in London in 2002 to fight an anti-Muslim crusade (A member of the Metropolitan Police has gone to Norway to interview Breivik in this regard).

The Breivik manifesto contains the following inflammatory outburst,”We the free indigenous peoples of Europe, hereby declare a pre-emptive war on all cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites of Western Europe ….We know who you are, where you live and we are coming for you. We are in the process of flagging every single multiculturalist traitor in Western Europe. You will be punished for treasonous acts against Europe and Europeans.”

Shades of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Third Reich.

The far Right in Europe is on the march and Europeans would do well to heed the message of hate that is being peddled across the region. Its deepening economic crisis adds fuel to the flames. Pro-Nazi marches are a familiar sight in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, while the authorities in Finland display disturbing latitude towards an Islamist promoter of Chechen terrorism in Russia's North Caucasus. Adopting double standards on terror invites catastrophe.

A pan-European neo-Nazi movement and parallel Islamist alignments – let us not forget the Madrid train bombing that led to 191 deaths and the London bombings which claimed 52 lives - are extremist crusades that threaten the common weal. News that Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered police and security chiefs to conduct an urgent review into far Right activities in Britain after the massacre in Norway is to be welcomed. The men and women of violence shall not pass.

UK-India chart road to deeper economicengagement India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was in London for talks with his British counterpart George Osborne, the Coalition's Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In July last year Mr Osborne was part of Prime Minister David Cameron's high powered delegation that visited India to reset the button to a close economic relationship in a world where many economies were cast adrift by the US banking crisis. Mr Cameron's team, which included senior cabinet ministers and notable figures from business, industry, science,technology, education and the arts, was a signal of intent. The British Prime Minister well understood the significance of the Indian growth story, of the country's emergence as a significant regional and global player in a range of fields, from IT, manufacturing, banking, investment and scientific and technological development. It was in Britain's national interest that she crest the tide of new opportunities available in India and to enhance the British presence in the country in every field of human endeavour.

This was the broad undertaking last year, so the present UK-India talks involved measuring the progress achieved since then. As Messrs Osborne and Mukherjee made abundantly clear in their joint briefing to the press, progress has been impressive, they said, creating a stable platform for further advances in bilateral trade, investment, co-operation in the financial and technological sectors and much else. IndiaBritish trade has increased by 20 per cent in the past

year and is set to expand as the internet interface reduces red tape and bureaucratic regulation. To move a vast and complex administration takes time and thought and careful planning if the Titanic experience is to be to avoided, but new avenues for British investment in India are opening all the while, from infrastructure, where India was committed to spending $1 trillion in the 12th Five Year Plan, to commence next year, and a host of other profitable areas, Mr Mukherjee explained. He said India was the presently third-largest investor in Britain and Britain ranked fourth in the list of foreign investors in India.

The British position could rise to the top if BP's recent £1 billion investment in Reliance Oil and fields realised its full potential, rising to £4.4, and then to £12.2, said Mr Osborne.

The London talks were a manifestation of the Economic and Financial Dialogue between the UK and India, which is designed to reach the traction of the projected “Enhanced Partnership for the Future”.

As milestones come and go the momentum in economic relations between Britain and India quickens perceptibly.

The next milestone, Mr Osborne opined, would be the long awaited EU-India free trade deal, which it is believed, will come at the end of the year. New vistas will be opened for the UK and India. Watch this space.

Fai extends his tentacles to the European Union Ghulam Nabi Fai, who is in hot water with US authorities for running his Kashmir American Council in the country as an arm of the Pakistan government and its Inter Service Intelligence Directorate (ISI), has apparently been stalking a British member of the European Parliament. This is hardly surprising since US investigators claim that Mr Fai's net includes an operational centre in Brussels.

According to Euro MP Baroness Emma Nicholson, her experience “concur almost exactly” with the findings of a US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe into the activities of the US-based Kashmir American Council. Baroness Nicholson said: “My evidence-based experience is that the fronts (in Belgium and Britain) were funded by the Pakistani government through the ISI. The head of that front in Brussels openly boasted that the

government had granted the centre an amount of 3 million euros. The ISI decided that I shouldn't be the person to write the Kashmir report and that I should be pushed out. A highly funded campaign was launched against me and Islamabad was obsessively preoccupied with my report.They tried to get me thrown out of the European Parliament, the British Parliament and to rubbish me globally.”

Pakistan's millions proved fruitless as Ms Nicholson's in-depth report on Kashmir (published in 2007) was voted through 522-6. The report ruled out any plebiscite in the territory in the light of the vast changes that had occurred in the past 60 years. The message to Islamabad was to accept reality and move on.

The West has, and Pakistan, advisedly, should do the same in its own interest.

www.abplgroup.com

Thought for the Week

The discipline of writing something down is the first step towards making it happen Lee Iacocca, CEO, Chrysler Corporation

“Our London” CIIr Navin Shah AM London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

My Mumbai – Mighty Mumbai After well over 3 year’s continuous interaction and dialogue with the readers of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, through this column, I’ve had an early summer break this year and am back refreshed to continue my conversation with you which I thoroughly relish and value.

The issue I must cover briefly is about my ‘second home’ called Mumbai where I grew up, got my education and lived for splendid 20 years. Like London, Mumbai is another great cosmopolitan, very diverse world city and financial hub of India. It’s unfortunate that this great metropolis has become a target of terrorism. Yet again on 13th July Mumbai had carefully planned bomb blasts attacking the heart of the city, aimed at creating maximum damage. This time the targets were Dadar (Kabutarkhana), Zaveri Bazaar (wholesale gold and diamond market) and Opera House - the latter site only few hundred yards from my former home and where my family members continue to live.

Whilst the city witnessed untold amount of damage and loss of lives, the most worrying issue is the government’s admission of intelligence failure and the fact that the authorities were not any better prepared for this latest wave of terror. Given the history of systematic, planned terrorist attacks for about 18 years or so there still is a problem of failure of governance, intelligence and strategy to tackle barbaric terrorism and avoid loss of lives and carnage. I pay tribute to the spirit of people of Mumbai, their resilience and hope that the authorities will come to grips.

Cut Crime NOT Police The Metropolitan Police’s latest crime figures indicate a trend of rise in crime reflected in the patches of Brent and Harrow I represent on the London Assembly. In Brent there is substantial increase in burglaries, robbery, rape, homicide and racist crime with an overall increase of 3.18% since last year.

Harrow too has witnessed spike in burglaries even in the so-called ‘quieter / safe’ areas like Kenton East.

Since the introduction of ‘Safer Neighbourhood Teams’ (SNTs) by Mayor Ken Livingstone crime has fallen steadily and resident satisfaction with policing has increased.

But, Conservative Mayor’s cuts to frontline policing mean serious reduction of police numbers, tinkering with the local SNTs and break up of the ward based neighbourhood policing model. The Tory Mayor is cutting 300 sergeants from London’s 630 safer neighbourhood teams.

Metropolitan Police Authority figures also reveal that the number of police officers in London is being cut by 1,800 between 2011 to 2013/4.

As a result of the reduced police numbers Brent will lose 6 and Harrow 5 sergeants this year, with further similar or higher reduction of sergeants next year. Hundreds of sergeants in London are being forced to reapply for their jobs due to cuts by the Mayor of London. Ken Livingstone is spot on in saying that ‘Police officers should be spending their time on the streets catching criminals and making our streets safer, not filling in application forms for their own jobs. These are some of the most experienced officers and rather than backing them, they are being threatened with the sack’.

I’m worried that the halving of sergeant numbers, whichever way you look at it, will have a dramatic effect on the level of crime and be a regressive step in tackling crime as well as the fear of crime.

I’m not fundamentally opposed to flexible approach to policing promoted for SNTs but am concerned that wards like Kenton in Harrow, currently considered by police to be ‘quiet and safe,’ could become crime hotspots in the future with flexible policing and much reduced level of Sergeants.

I fear for the safety and wellbeing of our community. Reducing police numbers is a false economy and I will continue to fight it.

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LEICESTER VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Search for Britain's Curry Capital –

Nominate your best Leicester restaurant now The search for Britain's curry capital has officially begun, with curry lovers nominating their favourite restaurants in the area.

Leicester has already won the title once in 2007 and emerged fourth in 2010, so restaurant owners do not see why they can't win again.

Numerous cuisines have been nominated already, including Leeja Palace, in Oadby, Dine India, in Countesthorpe, Taj Mahal, in Highfields Street, Cuisine of India, in Wigston, Little India, in Arnesby, and Chutney Ivy, in the city centre.

Yet the public are still being invited to nominate their favourite restaurants up until August 26th.

Foyzur Chowdhury (pictured), owner of Leeja Palace, said: "It's very good news to hear we are doing well in the nominations. Leicestershire has lots of restaurants that could be put forward and I think we have a very good chance of winning."

Cuisine of India is also a high contender. Owner Syed Rahman said: "I am really humbled by the nominations. We pride ourselves on giving the best cuisine with a very healthy menu and customers always come back to us."

Ultimately it is left in the hands of the public, and some gave reasons why they nominated particular restaurants.

Ben Goodman, from Glen Parva, nominated Dine India and said: "The

food is of a consistently high standard and the service is always friendly and very efficient. I have eaten at many Indian restaurants but Dine India is by far the best."

Wendy Green, from Wigston, said Cuisine of India was the county's top curry house. She said: "The welcome and service is unparalleled. The food is always lovely and they do so much for charity."

The four curry restaurants with the most votes will be visited by the national competition's undercover judges.

Included in the competition this year are Glasgow, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Bradford, Newcastle, Leeds, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham, Northampton, Luton, Ealing and Tower Hamlets. The winner will be announced on November-1.

Rubicon donated £5 per participant for record-breaking Bollywood Dance On Saturday 23rd July, the well-established company, Rubicon, which is famous for its deliciously exotic juice drink, invited all residents of Greater Manchester to participate in breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest Bollywood dance at the Manchester Mega Mela Festival in Platt Fields Park, Fallowfields.

A troupe of 1,404 smashed the record on their first attempt.

The former record, set in Mumbai, India, was 1,336 dancers.

The Mega Mela, billed as the biggest Asian arts and culture festival in the north of England, was organised by representatives of communities from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

The event began at 2pm on the main stage, where the record breakers gathered to learn the fun and exciting Bollywood routine, performed in front of an official Guinness World Records judge.

Not only fun and games the event had a

serious undertone as well.

For each person that participated in the Bollywood dance, Rubicon have stated that they will donate five pounds to its nominated charity, the British Asian Fund. This will ensure that there is something to gain for everyone!

Providing the music is British Asian music idol and British Asian Trust Ambassador was Navin Kundra. His number one single, 'Mehooba' was the track used for the Bollywood dance that has been specifically created

by Manchester-based cho-

reographer Ria Meera Munshi. Headliners were Pakistani urban musician Hunterz, and Bhangra performers H-Dhami and Jassi Sidhu.

The varied programme also included a funfair, clothes stalls, street theatre and a kabbadi tournament – a southern Asian team game where opponents tackle each other.

Sajjad Hussain, an organiser for eight years, said: "It has been wonderful. The weather was good and we even broke the record.

"I want to thank the

public, especially the youngsters who cooperated with us so well."

The record breaking dancers raised £10,000 for the British Asian Trust which provides education and healthcare in South Asia - donated by the Rubicon drinks company.

Navin Kundra said: "It’s awesome how music and dance can contribute towards creating change in some of the poorest communities in South Asia.

"It was amazing to see and feel the energy of everyone out there dancing Bollywood-style to raise money for the essential work of the British Asian Trust.

Adrian Troy from Rubicon said, “Rubicon wants to continue our tradition of bringing colour and vibrancy to the UK, by putting on the biggest Bollywood dance the World has ever seen. The current record was set in Mumbai and we called on Manchester’s Rubicon fans to rise to the challenge and help us break it.”

Local Traders' concern at opening of new Tesco in Leicester Traders have argued against a decision to allow Tesco to open up another branch in Leicester.

The supermarket chain has received the goahead to build a new store as part of their £12 million redevelopment scheme.

With more than 20 already-established Tesco stores around the city, the group have decided to persist with their plans to build another store in the Belgrave area, despite calls to reject them.

The store will be built

at St George's Retail Park, in St George's Way. The plot will cover 73,500sq ft and will create up to 250 new jobs and 266 extra car parking spaces, increasing the retail park's capacity up to 700 cars.

Development will take place in an area surrounded by smaller, local shops, so there is no wonder that there are concerns from these shop owners, fearing that the new store will hit their trade.

Sayed Kadiri, who is owner of Kadiri News, in

Keythorpe Road, Highfields, said: "It's always going to be the case that you're going to lose trade to a big chain like Tesco. The city council seem to be ignoring the impact this will have on local traders. Boardedup shops are not good for a local area."

Peravin Patel, owner of CK News, in Cecil Road, Highfields, agreed and suggested in an interview with a local paper: "I think they should look to limit the number of Tescos because it's unfair on local traders."

However, a Tesco spokesman arguably said: "Tesco stores are busy and popular and bring more people to the areas where they are based, which can only be good for other stores nearby."

The project will be managed by Ignis Real Estate and developer Kirkstone on behalf of UK Commercial Property Trust, which bought the park for £49.9 million earlier this year. The new Tesco is expected to open early next year and work is set to begin next month.

In brief

Leicester domestic violence service seeks feedback

Leicester's domestic violence service is asking people who have used it for ways to improve what it does.

The Safer Leicester Partnership is asking those who have experience of domestic violence to comment on the help received from the city council.

Officials said a review of the way such services worked aimed to get better results and improve value for money.

A drop-in event is being held at Leicester Adult Education College in Wellington Street on Tuesday.

People will be able to complete questionnaires and take part in focus groups and there will be a men-only session.

Leicester's assistant city mayor, councillor Sarah Russell, said: "No one should have to put up with domestic violence, and the services we offer play a key role in helping people break the cycle of abuse.

"So it's very important for us to hear how useful and accessible people found these services, and what improvements they'd like to see."

Festival takes place in hope of forming stronger bonds in community

Hundreds of people gathered together to enjoy the first Highlands Festival on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th July. The festival was designed to offer a fun and enjoyable day, pack-filled with music and games for all ages, but with the intention to form and strengthen existing bonds in the community.

P r i y a Thamotheram, the manager of the Highfields Centre, oversaw the whole event and said: “It was a fun-filled programme with a community fair and music on both evenings. But we also had a lot of local agencies – carer organizations, mental health, social enterprises and others – promoting their wares. The centre has been on a long journey to become an independently-run hub and now it's all about creating opportunities”.

The Highfields Centre, in Melbourne Road, where the event took place, sees dozens of people attending drop-in sessions every week, which help people to find jobs, fill out forms or applications for citizenship and things alike.

Safina Khalifa, 31, who attended the event on Saturday with her two young children said: "I live nearby and it's great to have something like this to raise awareness about everything going on in the community and it's just nice to come and mingle."

The festival was introduced by assistant city mayor Ted Cassidy and on Saturday evening, Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth was present to give out certificates to young people.

Women's Seminar at

Leicester

The first ever women's conference, predominantly for people of Gujarati origin, will be held in Leicester on Saturday 30th July at Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, Rothley Street, Leicester, LE4 6LF, between 2.30 and 6.00pm. It will be chaired by Baroness Sandip Verma.

Kokila Patel, the Managing Editor of Gujarat Samachar and Nina Patel, the event coordinator, have assembled a galaxy of speakers on various aspects such as health and allied subjects to address the gathering. To counsel people regarding issues like domestic violence, physical abuse, children's mental abuse, Smita Patel, Sobha Joshi, Meera Trivedi, Nina Patel, Rita Saujani and Cllr Manjoola Sood, the former Mayor will be present.

Karma Yogi Sanmaan will be presented to approximately ten people from the East Midlands area who were nominated by our readers and selected by our panels of judges.

The event will be attended by Baroness Sandip Verma, who will be later joined by Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MP to give away the awards.

The seminar is free of charge so if you wish to attend, please inform one of the following: Kokila Patel, Kamal Rao, Ninaben Patel or Jivabhai Odederra on 07800 548 111 by Friday 29th July 2011.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Kapil’s

KHICHADI

By Spriha Srivastava

by Kapil Dudakia - email: kapil@abplgroup.com

Nalin Surie bids goodbye India’s High Commissioner to UK, Nalin Surie’s term will come to an end later this week and he will be going back to India in the first week of August.

Mr. Surie who turns 60 next week will retire from the prestigious Indian Foreign Service (IFS) after having served for nearly 38 years of his life.

Described as one of the finest diplomats, Mr. Surie came to London in September 2009 with a wide experience as Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs. He has also served as India’s ambassador to China and Poland and in Indian Missions at Hong Kong, Brussels, Dar –esSalaam, Thimpu and New York. While in New

Nalin Surie

York, he was posted as the Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN. During his posting, Mr. Surie took care of many VIP visits made by Indian politicians, the most important being the state visit by Indian President Dr. Pratibha

Patil.

With Britain getting a coalition government in the latest general elections, Prime Minister David Cameron pointed the need to further strengthen UK’s relationship with India. Mr. Surie contributed in every way possible in representing the Indian government in UK and has succeeded in bringing both the countries closer.

Mr. Surie has been an extremely friendly and communicative diplomat who made it easier for people to approach him with their queries. In his one year stint in London, Mr. Surie contributed in every way possible in showing India’s commitment to a strategic relationship with the UK.

Singham does it morals. Story moves Here is one more addiahead with Jaykant trytion to the list of masala ing all possible means to entertainers like Wanted make Singham's life a and Dabangg. This nightmare. Singham's Rohit Shetty direction girlfriend Kavya (Kajal also has a larger than life Aggarwal) and his expehero Bajirao Singham rience with late Rakesh (Ajay Devgn), who Kadam's family makes knocks off 50 villains with just one punch. him realize the imporGoing back to where tance to bring a change they started (Phool Aur in the system.

Kaante and Zameen) Rohit and Ajay have successfully got back to the action genre after a series of successful comedy flicks.

The film is a remake of the Tamil hit Singham starring Suriya.

H o w e v e r , Singham is in no way Ajay Devgn an adaptation or similar to Dabangg. While He plans on to eradiDabangg had a comic cate the root cause of all angle and a somewhat the problems, Jaykant corrupt police officer, Shikre. He fights against Singham is more about the villain without an honest police officer breaking any of the law caught up in a corrupt and by being a powerful system. part of it.

The backdrop is The movie gives you Shivgad, a small village a sense of achievement on the border of in the end when the Maharashtra and Goa. entire police department Singham narrates the unites against a corrupt story of an honest, dilipolitician who is getting gent cop Bajirao ready to become the new Singham, who has his Chief Minister of Goa. At every stage in the own ethics and princimovie, there is an inspipals. He fights against ration to go back to injustice and prejudice India and launch a in the society. In the protest against the corcourse of time Singham rupt practices. It showlands up standing cases the need for honagainst the powerful est and determined cops criminal/politician like Bajirao Singham in Jaykant Shikre (Prakash order to bring about a Raj), challenging his

change in the country’s corrupt system.

The film can be said as Rohit Shetty's best work till date. The director has made sure to strike the correct cord of the audience by showing a spotless hero and an evil villain. The drama and execution of the plot keep you tied up to the film. A special mention about the mind blowing desi action moves in Singham (designed

by Rohit Shetty and executed by Jai Singh). The actions scenes holds the power to spine-chill the audience.

Without doubt the thought of actions wouldn't have come through so clearly if Ajay wouldn't have done it so proficiently.

The dialogues and screenplay in the film are par excellence and the performance of each actor is simply outstanding. The electrifying moments and eye-popping action between Ajay and Prakash, the terrific confrontations, raw stunts, energetic drama, mesmerizing songs and fiery dialogues makes it a must watch. On the whole it is a complete entertainer. And after a long time, here is a movie that gives you a sense of achievement as you get up to walk out of the movie hall.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at spriha@abplgroup.com

In a Right Khichadi!

I knew that sooner or later there had to be an event that would be perfect for a headline with ‘Khichadi’ in it – and folks, that time has arrived with the utter disgraceful sham emerging from the News of the World (NoTW) phone hacking scandal.

Someone once said, ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.’

In this case it seems some of the most senior people from NoTW, Politics and the Police are all left embarrassed with continuous revelations of the most sordid abuse of power and privilege that has ever come to light in modern times.

I was speaking to some Tory Party insiders and let me tell you, they are seriously behind the curve and very much in ostrich mode. Everything is being done to protect David Cameron since it has become quite obvious that not only was his judgement fatally flawed, but one suspects – there is more to this story than meets the eye.

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said, ‘In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State’ before the downfall of the communist state. The dripping tap of systematic wholesale lying is beginning to expose those who have hitherto escaped justice by the position they hold, and the powerful people who protect them. These pillars of bankrupt morality now crumble and one hopes that what replaces might merit a mix of truth, justice and sound values.

Lest we forget, Labour, under Tony Blair (and since) got this wrong also by going too far with their media ventures.

He sold his soul and that of the Party to Murdoch.

Unfortunately David Cameron followed suit and employed Coulson who at best was an incompetent ignorant editor who knew nothing, or at worst, knee deep in the sewer of tabloid practices. The truth would never have come out had it not been for one mistake – that of hacking the phone of Milly Dowler. This allowed the flood gates to open, and we now witness the tsunami of corrupt practices coming to light on an hourly basis.

As I wrote this I listened to the press conference from South Africa. I could hear in the background, at exactly the same time David Cameron begins to speak, the bells of the clock tower ringing loudly. Is this providence? For whom do the bells toll I wonder? Can the Prime Minister remain in power given that he is at the centre of the most profound and searching allegations on his conduct, behaviour and judgement? I should not be too surprised if the 1922 committee springs into action shortly.

Today we witness the true nature of British society at the top that is laid bare for all to see. It is corrupt, incestuous and thrives on nepotism, privilege and that ‘old school tie’ you wear, it really does matter. Never in the history of humanity have so many senior people resigned claiming that they are all innocent, and did not know what was happening under their very noses.

This begs the question, if they are all innocent, then surely it also follows that those left at the top must then be guilty of something?

The death that broke many hearts Hospital staff do not believe that the British businessman Shrien Dewani is manipulating assessment of his mental health to avoid extradition to South Africa for allegedly plotting the murder of his wife, a court has heard.

Dewani is suffering from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder following the murder of his wife, Anni.

But the extradition hearing in London has been told that Dewani has ignored some medical advice, such as taking part in group therapy sessions and going outside to help combat a vitamin D deficiency.

It has also been suggested by the South African authorities that Dewani, who is being treated at a medium-security hospital, may have been exercising vigorously to exacerbate a physical condition that means he has not been able to take anti-depressant drugs.

Representing the South Africans at the hearing, Hugo Keith QC asked an expert in neuropsychiatry, Michael Kopelman, whether there was any evidence of "a deliberate decision to

Anni with mum Nilam

avoid getting better by refusing treatment".

Kopelman said he believed that Dewani's refusals were symptoms of his conditions and that those caring for him did not suspect deliberate manipulation. The hearing continues.

However the mother of murdered bride Anni Dewani says she is desperate to know her daughter’s final words. Devastated Nilam Hindocha has filled a room at her home with photographs of 28-yearold Anni, where she prays she will see her daughter again and tells her: ‘I love you.’

Mrs Hindocha, 59, spoke to The Mail on Sunday revealing that Swedish-born Anni did not like Dewani initially – they were introduced by friends in 2009 and first met at a branch of

Starbucks in London. She added her instinct told her something was wrong with her daughter during the couple’s honeymoon.

I just kept telling myself, “Ring Anni.” It was an uneasy feeling. I called her and she said she had so much to say but that it could wait. That was the last time we spoke.

‘When Shrien called us in the early hours of the morning, after we’d learned Anni had been attacked, he was crying and kept saying, “I couldn’t take care of her, I’m sorry.” ’ Mrs Hindocha said the family were ‘broken’ after learning that Anni had been killed. ‘Your body starts experiencing pain in the same way as your mind does,’ she said.

‘I want to ask Shrien some questions, but I can’t. It’s hard to face him.

It’s difficult to say how I feel when I look at him.’

At the extradition hearing at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, Mr Dewani’s lawyers argued that if he is sent to South Africa and placed in custody, he is at risk of being raped by inmates who are HIV-positive. A ruling is expected on August 10.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

7

Osborne-Mukherjee talks unveil billion pounds investment in India Tanveer Mann Rupanjana Dutta On the first day of trade talks between India and Britain, Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne has unveiled 1 billion pounds worth of commercial deals with India. The talks followed the visit of a trade delegation to India last year, which was led by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The deals include approval for BP to invest a billion pounds in India's Reliance Industries, which will be the biggest single foreign investment in the sub-continent.

According to a report, BP's investment, which is being made in Reliance's oil and gas blocks, could grow to be worth as much as 12.2 billion pounds (USD 20 billion), according to the Treasury.

The Treasury says trade between the two countries has grown by 20 per cent since Cameron's trip to India.

UK's Coalition government has said it is determined to boost trade with India, China and Brazil as a means of pulling the country out of a recession.

In a statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, "Today's dialogue confirmed billions of pounds of trade deals between British and Indian companies. I particularly welcome the Indian government's approval of the deal between BP and Reliance in the Indian oil and gas sector. I am pleased to say that SR will be investing in the UK energy sector.

Overall Britain is now largest source of foreign investment in India, our trade relationship will not only become broad-

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Britain's Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne

er but deeper too. We're also confirming another smaller scale of significant deals between other British and Indian firms...

On managing risks for the global economy, we agreed we would work together in forms like G20 to take action to manage the risks that the global economy currently faces...In Britain we are committed to our fiscal consolidation plans, so are India. These steps will strengthen the resilience of our economies, and create room for stronger private sector growth...We also agreed that the IMF should strengthen its surveillance towards identifying risks to the global economy. We also talked abut the growth opportunities. A free trade agreement between European Union and India should be expected, we hope, by

the end of the year. We should not let negotiations flounder as we work towards ambitious agreements which will unlock significant trade opportunities as well as wider european agreements on trade.

We also focused on a number of bilateral issues. In infrastructure, we welcome the launch of the Indian government, of its fund to support infrastructure and India's target of 1 trillion dollars of investment. On education and skills, we would work together to see how we can meet India's growing demand for world class education as UK University skills providers have much to offer. We discussed the steps to increase private sector involvement as well..."

India's Finance Minister Pranab

Mukherjee said, "India and UK continue to be major partners in many areas, particularly in area of trade and investment.

More than 600 companies have located here, and India have become the third largest investor in the UK in 2010. In fact from 2008 onwards, we are ranking between 2nd to 4th, 2008 2nd, 2009 4th, 2010 3rd. The UK is the forth largest investor in India, with significant investments in sectors like services, oil and gas, electronics, and the latest one which has been approved, the single largest FDI with the BP and Reliance...India's economy has shown resilience in the wake of the global financial crisis, in the financial year, with a GDP growth of 8.5%. We have been the fastest to recover, and among the economies with the highest growth rates in the world...

A number of steps have already been taken to simplify the administrative procedures concerned in taxation, trade and tally, social transports and placing them on electronic interfaces, so they are free from the discretion, and bureaucratic delays. We intend to develop exports in the next 3 years, to reach a level of $500.

The government has announced a manufacturing policy which will increase the share of manufacturing from the present level of 16% to the level of 25% in the next decade. There are significant opportunities in the infrastructure sector...

There are also opportunities for the british investments in engaging in the areas of science and technology, food processing, agriculture, energy security including collaboration in the renewable energy sources and higher education and culture..."

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Dee Katwa

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Midland Voice Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or dhiren.katwa@abplgroup.com

Further job cuts loom at Council More than 11,000 staff at Birmingham City Council will be forced to accept controversial new contracts – involving wage cuts of up to £6,000 a year – or face losing their jobs.

This news comes as the local authority, Europe’s largest, battles on with its saga to offshore 55 IT contract jobs to India, a proposal which has turned sour. The council’s Labour opposition group has tabled a council motion calling for the India jobs to be stopped.

The new changes have been dubbed the Martini Contract by angry unions because they will allow managers to require staff to work “any place, any time, anywhere”. In addition, the proposed contracts will see bonuses for weekend working and

unsocial hours scrapped.

If plans do get the green light, the hardest hit will be shift workers including carers.

Cabinet member for human resources and equalities tsar Councillor Alan Rudge has decided, according to the Birmingham Mail, to use the law to enforce the changes.

But, Cllr Rudge (Con Sutton Vesey) stressed the changes were necessary for the council to comply with the Equal Pay Act. “Payments are being made where there is no justifiable business need,” said Cllr Rudge,

Honour for Dr Patel A tireless pharmacist who for years has gone the extra mile to help people from diverse communities, particularly in the north of England, has been recognised, again, this time by British Premier David Cameron. Dr Mahendra G Patel, pictured, a senior lecturer in Pharmacy at Huddersfield University, was invited to a special reception at Number 10 last week where he, and his fellow volunteers and selected staff from the British Heart Foundation were praised by Mr Cameron for their long-term and “significant contribution” to the heart charity. Father-of-two Dr Patel said: “It was truly a humbling experience.” According to the charity, people of south Asian origin are 50% more likely to die from heart disease than the general population.

Cancer study Oncologist Dr Srinivasan Madhusudan from Nottingham University is to carry out a study to find out why breast cancer treatments may stop working in some patients. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy normally destroys cancer cells but APE1, a protein, can repair the damaged DNA increasing the risk of returning. The year-long study is being funded by the Breast Cancer Campaign. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women. In the UK, around 48,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year.

Boost for charity coffers An annual fundraiser BBQ event has raised £4,278 for good causes.

The event, which featured world cuisine and music, kids activities, a raffle and tombola, raised money for Birmingham Rathbone, a local charity which cares for people with learning difficulties. Photo: Birmingham Rathbone Council of Management member Abdul Rashid with two young revellers.

sacked and then immediately re-engaged – but only if they accept the new conditions and the wage cuts.

Unison, the public services union, is considering industrial action if the council refuses to compromise.

Regional spokesman Rob Johnston said: “There is an extraordinary amount of anger over this. Our members Under pressure: cannot understand how HR boss Councillor Alan Rudge the council can get away with clobbering people adding, “these inconsiswho are already poorly tencies and practices outpaid. Carers stand to lose side of the core contract £6,000 a year and will end are exposing the council up below the poverty line to significant litigation as a result.” The lowest risks.” paid staff will be given a Of a total workforce of 12-month ‘breathing perialmost 20,000, just over od’ during which their pay 11,000 have refused to cannot be reduced by accept the new contract more than ten per cent. voluntarily. They will be

PO boss in £83k theft Neelam Hussain, a crooked Post Office manager who siphoned off £83,000 into a bogus account is facing jail.

Hussain, 23, who ran West Bromwich Post Office in the Farley Centre, told Wolverhampton Crown Court the cash was to pay the medical bills of her injured motherin-law in Pakistan. Mohammed Latif, for Hussain, who admitted theft, said: “She has brought shame, embarrassment and disgrace on herself and her family none of whom have ever been in trouble before.”

Fraud cases rise Reported fraud in the Midlands has rocketed to £139 million in the first six months of the year compared to £22 million for the same period last year, according to new figures. The region has the highest fraud figures outside London, with 41 reported cases ranging in value from £50,000 to £45 million, according to accountants BDO’s half year Fraud Track figures. Tax and cash fraud are the main offenders.

Man, 93, dies after two burglaries A “wicked” burglar who twice broke into the Birmingham home of a 93year-old “good Samaritan” has been jailed indeterminately. Victim Leslie Ashton, pictured left, died a week after Mohammed Nawaz, pictured right, raided his home of nearly 70 years on Percy Road, in Sparkhill. Nawaz, 43, first threatened Mr Ashton with a hammer after he smashed through his front window while the widower watched TV. Charnjit Jutla, defending, said Nawaz, who had previous convictions for robbery and burglary had become desperate for money because of his drug addiction.

Cricket stadium opens Edgbaston’s gleaming new £32 million cricket stadium has officially opened. The plaque was unveiled on Monday this week by His Royal Highness Prince Philip.

The private VIP lunch and lavish ceremony was attended by around 100 guests. The stadium in Birmingham includes a new conference and banqueting suite, new spectator facilities and a ground capacity of 25,000.

England’s Third Test Match will be the first to be played at this new stadium and is expected to generate a £5.5 million economic boom for Birmingham.

News in Brief Extremists to strike back Far right group, the English Defence League, is planning a new demonstration in Telford, Shropshire next month. An events page on Facebook says a national meeting by the anti-Muslim group is planned for August 13, with 390 people claiming they will attend.

West Mercia Police said it was aware a march could take place.

‘Rude’ driver in dock An ex-teaching assistant who drove through Mount Pleasant Primary School in Brierley Hill four times while balancing a book on the steering wheel, missing a lollipop lady by inches, has been disqualified from driving for six months. Meena Dhanda, 28, pictured, from Birmingham, who even stopped to make an obscene gesture to a lollipop lady, was also fined £240 plus £60 costs and a £15 victim surcharge at Dudley Magistrates Court.

Clueless and ignorant Two in three Brummies know nothing about their family life story, according to new research. Many are unaware of their grandparents’ full names, what their parents’ job titles are, and what their brothers and sisters do. The study was carried out by Grants Whisky.

Opportunist nabbed A Birmingham teenager who raided a home in Wolverhampton after spotting the owner leaving the property has been given a 26-week custodial sentence suspended for 18 months. Abdul Sohail, 19, an aspiring nurse, was found in possession of stolen jewellery when arrested.

Nalin Surie turns 60 Hip hip hooray to Nalin Surie, pictured, The outgoing High Commissioner of India to the UK, who has just celebrated his 60th birthday. Greetings to the father-oftwo from his colleague C Gururaj Rao and his team in Birmingham, as well as from everyone at Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar.

TV licence dodgers nabbed More than 5,000 Birmingham citizens have been caught watching television without a licence in just six months. Between January and June, 5,300 evaders were nabbed, amounting to £771,150 in lost revenue, according to new figures released by TV Licensing.

Another 1,600 evaders were caught in Sandwell along with 870 in Walsall, 410 in Dudley and 270 in Tamworth.

Cab drivers in eco contest Two Birmingham taxi drivers have entered a contest which is looking for the most fuel efficient cabbies in the country.

Ansar Mahmood and Arshad Ali, both aged 41, pictured, will represent the city in the Smarter Cab Drivers competition, which has been organised

by Shell and is aimed at helping British taxi drivers become more fuel efficient and save money by making simple changes to the way they drive. To find out more visit www.smartercabdrivers.com

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Amitabh Bachchan meets Academia in Oxford Indian film actor and producer Amitabh Bachchan visited Oxford University on Tuesday 17 May 2011 for a lecture and dinner hosted by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS).

Mr Bachchan was received by Oxford's ViceChancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton. In their meeting Mr Bachchan, the Vice Chancellor, and the Director of the OCHS, Mr Shaunaka Rishi Das, discussed the historic links between India and Oxford, which continue to this day with initiatives in the sciences, development studies, medical research, and the emerging field of Hindu Studies.

Mr Bachchan responded to the OCHS Distinguished Ford Lecture at the Examination Schools, given this year by Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS, University of London.

Prof. Dwyer expanded

A man has died after an apparently unprovoked attack by a brick-wielding attacker as he popped out to buy some milk.

Umess Chaudhari, 41, was attacked in his street in Croydon, South London, in broad daylight as he walked to his local

shop at 7am on Wednesday.

He was pronounced dead in hospital the following afternoon and a murder investigation has now been launched.

An 18-year-old man was arrested at the scene and has since been sec-

tioned under the Mental Health Act. Members of the public called the police after they spotted Mr Chaudhari with serious head injuries lying in Dennett Road, Broad Green. A postmortem was due to take place on Monday.

Be on 'Top of the world' Amitabh Bachchan with Prof. Andrew Hamilton (R), ViceChancellor of Oxford University, and Shaunaka Rishi Das (L)

upon Mr Bachchan's career focussing on the use of emotion, particularly anger, and how that may be changing in modern Indian cinema. It was the first time in Oxford that an academic discussion of Hindi cinema was met with a response by one of its most successful actors.

After the lecture Mr Bachchan was the guest of honour at a formal dinner at Trinity College.

Amitabh Bachchan

said of his first official visit to Oxford: 'It is a great honour to be received so warmly by this ancient and renowned University. I am particularly struck by the longstanding and profound links between India and Oxford, and how, through the OCHS, the field of Hindu Studies is flourishing here. I hope that my visit may serve to nurture this important relationship.'

Meena Patel in 1st London Backward Running Championships 2011

The first ever William Hill London Backward Run took place in Crystal Palace Park on Sunday July 17th 2011. Around 100 people turned up to the event, to fundraise for their favourite charity; to take part in the fun run (1km); or to compete in the championships (3km, 1km).

Meena Patel (pictured), 61, from Croydon, finished the William Hill 1Km London Backward race in a record 10:58 mins with Sally Raynes, event director from organiser Wacky Nation, declaring that as a senior citizen Meena was the first and only one to have ever entered in the UK championships. Ross Lidbetter from Croydon Advertiser interviewed Meena at the event reporting her inspi-

9 UK Man battered to death with a brick

rational results and comments in their Friday publication.

Reverse Running, the sport of running backwards is a fun but very effective way of getting people back into sport.

It is a new 'Super Exercise' with innumerable benefits to the body and mind. Reverse Running offers an intense cardiovas-

cular workout, reduces the risk of leg and back injuries, helps create a stronger more balanced lower body and is a speedy aid to losing weight.

Amazingly, 1Km backward running uses up energy equal to 6km forward running; so you are able to do more of a workout in less time and distance. If anyone is looking for a new sport without the usual injuries, backward running which is becoming more and more popular is it. In a few years time, it may be one of the big sports in the Olympics.

For further details please see the website at http://reverserunning.com /default.aspx. For those who are interested, there is a 1 mile UK Backward Race in Manchester on the 14th August 2011.

We British Indians often take mountain excursions to the Himalayas or Mt Kilimanjaro or even Snowdon in Wales.

As beautiful as the journey is, it is often very dangerous too. But what if you can enjoy the same beauty, climb similar mountain tops without fear of breaking into sweats, falling or bruising, rather comfortable in an A class train?

Remember the train Raj and Simran took as they climbed the Alps? Yes you can enjoy the same exciting nature, romance and simultaneously have a feel of the whole of Switzerland (41,285 sq km) from a mountain top!

Switzerland breaks the record of being the most mountainous nation in Europe and has a railway network that is the envy of the world.

No holiday to Switzerland would be complete without at least one mountain excursion and you don’t even need to be a mountaineer!

Conquer mountain tops, have a bird’s eye view into the valley below, play in snow and ice even in the summer time. The Swiss have perfected the art of transporting visitors to their beloved mountain peaks.

Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe The Jungfrau Railway celebrates its centenary in 2012. Europe’s highest altitude mountain railway is today still hailed as an international masterpiece of railway technology and every year attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. The cogwheel railway takes passengers from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe- at 3,454m Europe’s highest altitude railway station in a world of rock, ice and snow.

Mount Titlis Visit the glacier paradise at 3,020 m with an excursion to the highest point in Central Switzerland: Mount Titlis.

Experience a ride in the Rotair, the first revolving aerial cable car in the world, and enjoy a breathtaking 360° panoramic view. Take the IceFlyer across the crevices of the glacier to indulge in some fun sledging and snow adventure. Alternatively you might just want to enjoy the stunning view across Central Switzerland.

Mount Pilatus – Dragon Mountain Enjoy the Pilatus experience, one of the highlights of Central Switzerland at 2,132 m. In the summer months enjoy a leisurely cruise across Lake Lucerne before boarding the steepest cogwheel railway in the world. At the top enjoy absolutely stunning views across the curiously shaped Lake Lucerne. On the way down take a set of aerial and panorama gondola cableways to get back down to the valley. On the way you can stop for some hiking, or try the longest summer toboggan run.

Gornergrat The highest cogwheel train in Switzerland will take you from Zermatt to an altitude of 3,089m.

During the ride to the summit you will experience excellent vantage points for some 29 four-thousand-meter peaks including the mighty Matterhorn and the impressive glaciers of the Monte Rosa massif.

Schilthorn – Piz Gloria There is no better place to fully appreciate the breathtaking beauty of the Swiss Alps than from the summit of 2,970m high Schilthorn. Imagine being able to see more than 200 mountain peaks ! Taking a set of gondolas from the green valley floor, past gushing waterfalls to the very top is indeed a unique experience. At the top a revolving restaurant, sun terrace and souvenir shop let you relax and enjoy the 360 degree view to your heart’s content.

Mount Rigi Queen of Mountains The Rigi is the most popular excursion mountain in Switzerland. From the summit, you can enjoy a breathtaking 360 degree panorama of the Alps and the whole of the Swiss Mitteland. The two rack railways from Vitznau (Europe’s first mountain railway) and Goldau as well as the panoramic cable car from Weggis mean there is a wide choice of round trips. The top of the Rigi can be easily reached in 1-2 hours by public transport from Lucerne, Zurich, Bern and Basel.

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10

YOUR VOICE

Youth Conference Idea I saw the advert for the upcoming Youth conference on 6th August in last weeks paper and I just had to express my thoughts. I am a sixth form student, currently in the midst of making important life-changing decisions, so when I came across the Youth conference advert, I sprung up at the opportunity. I think it is a very good idea and I am glad that the newspaper is concerned about its younger readership as well as holding the 'normal' events. I am particularly looking forward to listening to the journey's of the speaker themselves and learning more about how to cope with stress and pressure from parents. Not foreign to me is the constant pestering, that you mentioned, by parents wanting their children to go down particular routes. I would love to learn more about alternative career options from qualified professionals that I would usually be unable to ask my parents. Also, I am especially excited to meet people who are in the same boat as me and just as anxious! This is definitely a good idea and I hope it will be an annual event so that younger people also have the opportunity to benefit and succeed.

Bipasha Basu Via Email

The Metropolitan Police In response to Mr. Nagindas Khujaria’s letter regarding his opinions on the Metropolitan Police, I would like to state that reverting back to single man patrols is ridiculous. The police must work in pairs for various safety reasons.

For instance, if a police officer is attacked, the second officer can call in for backup and then intervene. Also, a twoman unit provides more authority than single patrols. Secondly, it is absurd to complain about noise pollution with respect to police sirens as they are stopping crimes. I think 10 seconds of noise is a price worth paying for knowing the streets are safer. Regarding the idea of congestion, the police cars rushing may inconvenience you very briefly, however, they are rushing for a reason – namely crime prevention. Hence, to complain about the noise and congestion caused, is simply astounding as it a small externality to allow the police to reach crime scenes rapidly. Thus, perhaps you should look at the bigger picture and compare crime levels to when single patrols and zero police vehicles were used.

Ricky Vachhani Essex

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

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Support our aspiring youths We always complain that Indian community in general and our youngsters in particular keep their distance, refuse to get involved in politics. So the involvement of Niraj Dattani who is standing as a Labour candidate for the Council byelection in Stanmore Park Ward (SPW) to be held on 28th July is welcome news, a change from the norm.

Niraj, a young and ambitious person whom I have met several times, has served his apprenticeship under one of the most dynamic, well admired local Labour MP, Stephen Pound, a founder member of Labour Friends of India and a great friend, a servant to the Indian community. Niraj also has the support of leading Asian councillors like Cllr. Navin Shah, AM and our local MPs. Asian Voice, to their credit, has already published Niraj’s short biography in their edition dated 2nd July, describing Niraj as a local boy, through and through Harrovian who is dedicated to politics from childhood and would like to serve the community in any capacity.

I would like to urge the Asian community in SPW to go out and vote for their favourite candidate, choosing the right person, irrespective of their political affiliation.

Bhupendra M Gandhi Via Email

Dalai Lama visit Dalai Lama secretly paid a visit to Australia, but was unfortunately disappointed by not gaining any support.

Australian PM Julia Gillard almost shunned him. I would say it is a double standard of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister perhaps had to act as she did because of the Chinese pressure on the Australian government. America, Western Europe and Russia have whole heartedly supported the Tibetan cause with bravery. Recently Australia threatened to stop nuclear fuel to india for not signing N.P.T, probably also a proChinese stand.

Dr K R N Moorthy Handworth

Now closure and community I read the story about the Newsagent suffering due to NoW closure (23rd July page 4). NoW has its own history. It's been around for 138 years and today due to various issues it has been closed down. There are couple of things we need to learn from such an incident. First we must respect for people's privacy. Hacking into one's space to get exclusive stories is wrong.

Second every newspaper- whether a community or ethnic or national paperhas a broader responsibility towards the community. People actually have a bonding towards a long run institution. Sudden closure of such an organisation due to a few people's deliberate crime cannot be pardonable. Also it has SMEs especially the newsagents and smaller businesses depending on them, who are now facing closure for no fault of theirs! The concept of sustainable existence is long forgotten by the British and its such a shame!

Anand Singh London

Why can’t India be more like Britain By comparing India and Britain, Alpesh (AV 23rd July page 13) is rightly concerned about leaderless India and corruption.

Traditional customs by poor folk eg religious pledge, marriage expense, involving small amounts of money are wrongly branded as corruption.

Real corruption is transactions by high ranking politicians and affluent persons, depriving government of tax, millionaires hoarding illegal lucre, money used for antisocial and immoral activities etc. Corruption hurts India more, as the cash that can remove poverty is useful to foreign country hoarding loot.

Indians have become voluntary victims of loot, abusing and insulting martyrs who fought to liberate India from looter colonials.

Leaderless India needs leaders like Netaji Bose, Dr. Hedgevar and Sardar Patel who can create pan India unity and collective angst.

Lack of collective angst causes Lokpal bill to limp, Ramdev’s followers beaten and whistle blowers jailed, tortured or character assassinated on false charges.

Indians are passive because majority are rural, folk, interested in agriculture, are apathetic about insidious corrosion of motherland.

C.B.Patel rightly asserts that Bharat unlike Britain- lacks values of national pride, patriotism, humanism, ethics.

Indians are puppet of politicians, vainglorious gurus and sadhus, who paralyse masses by mis-interpretation of ahimsa, respect to all religions and tolerance.

Ramesh Jhalla Via Email

100th Anniversary The inclusion of my letter in last week’s Asian Voice (AV) marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of my letters/ articles/ poems in both AV and GS. No mean feat this! I am grateful to AV and GS for giving people like me a platform to express their views or vent their frustations. Not many weeklies provide such space to their readers.There are half a dozen other regular writers who should be commended for providing an insight into the current political, social and other subjects from the readers’ perspective.

“Your Voice” and “Tamari Vaat” columns are unique not matched by other news papers or weeklies. They not only give the readers a sense of belonging but also provide a forum for discussions on current topics.

And talking about value for money, if you subscribe to both AV and GS for two years like I do, you get a copy of each for less than the price of a second class postage stamp, and as bonus, you also get two copies of the Diwali magazine and many other special supplements over two years. How can ABPL do this without increasing the subscription fees? There!

Am I tempting providence by saying this?

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Please detach the form and send it with your payment or credit card instructions to address below FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

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Health Watch

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Youth Conference Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar is organising a Youth seminar (for 16 to 25 years only) on Saturday 6th August in the City. Our invited speakers will discuss the problems of today's youth and offer solutions on how to choose an appropriate career, how to cope with generation gaps and family expectations etc followed by a workshop at the end of the seminar. If you are interested to take part in our ‘Youth Conference 2011’, please email your details (with 50 words on yourselfincluding age) to Rupanjana at rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com.

Please note entry only on prior registration.

Closing date: 31st July 2011.

Corruption and nationality Rahul Gandhi who has been designated as the future Prime Minster of India is crying foul of corruption in India and he is attacking Mayawati the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for running a corrupt government. The renegade congress politicians do not know how corrupt Sonia Gandhi’s family is. Rahul Gandhi’s family was involved in Boforce scandal costing Indian Tax Payers’ cores of rupees and they were let off because of the corrupt Indian judges and CBI controlled by Congress politicians. Rahul Gandhi tried to smuggle thousands of dollars to USA and was detained at the airport in America. Sadly the Prime Minister at that time Vajpayee came to his rescue.

Indian media backed by congress money bags and foreign Christian churches portray Rahul Gandhi as clean of all clean and honest.

The famous Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif who is of mixed race said that Rahul Gandhi is half Indian and half Italian which is true . There was a big demonstration against her by congress goondas and she had to apologise for her statement. Rahul Gandhi may hold Indian passport but he is technically Indian of half Italian origin (mixed race).

When Hare Krishna followers and westerners who follow Hinduism are not allowed to enter Hindu temples in the South since they are not born Hindus, how come Sonia Gandhi is allowed to worship in Hindu temples?

Due to recent scandals Manmohan Singh's tenure as the Prime Minister of India may come to an end soon and there is a possibility that Rahul Gandhi will be made as the Prime Minister who is half Italian, Christian, anti-Hindu, antiIndian.

Hindus all over the world should unite and try to get rid of Sonia Gandhi’s family from Politics.

Arun Vaidyanathan Via Email

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Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seen so euphoric on Monday morning, as they expected a couple of Oscars. British Indians in the UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township of Mumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almost the entire Bollywood waited in expectation, glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebrations as one by one, their heroes, the actors of the British Indian film and the music maestro, A R Rahman bagged the top awards in the world of entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won the Oscar after having missed it almost five times earlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on a cleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directed

by American director Megan Mylan, won the Oscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

11

Lycamobile celebrates its 5th birthday with pomp and gaiety Lycamobile, the largest global provider of low cost international mobile calls to immigrant communities, on Thursday 21st July celebrated its 5th birthday with Boris Johnson, Mayor of London. To which Mr Johnson said, “I am delighted to be here today to help celebrate Lycamobile’s fifth anniversary. This young company, with its headquarters in the heart of Docklands, is just like the capital's economy – international, dynamic, successful and growing. I wish it every success in the years to come.’

With much wit and humour he added, "This is the first good news story about mobile phone after a long time. Lyca appoints 600 people in London

Subaskaran Allirajah (chairman), Boris Johnson, Milind Kangle, Premananthan Sivasamy, Chris Tooley, Mohammed Malique, Michael Landau

Chairman of Lycamobile, and himself an immigrant to the UK in 2000 commented, “The UK, and particularly London, with its many diverse communities and global vision, is

have been part of Lycamobile’s very exciting journey over the last 5 years..."

He spoke about their vision since 2006- to be the world’s biggest MVNO serving the needs of ethnic and global immigrant customers who want the convenience of staying in touch with their near and dear ones from their mobile phones.

He further added, "I am delighted to confirm that we have achieved some spectacular milestones:Lycamobile oper-

Premananthan Sivasamy, Milind Kangle, Boris Johnson, Subaskaran ates in 14 countries, Allirajah

alone. Has half a million new subscribers. This is incredible. This is a fantastic service.

Next year we have an opportunity to do a great thing. We are getting ready for the Olympics. When the world comes to London there will be athletes who will have a home crowd of supporters of more than 10,000 people from 50 countries already here waiting to cheer for

the natural location for Lycamobile’s head office. I am very proud of the spectacular growth that Lycamobile has achieved in its first 5 years and honoured that Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, is here today to help us celebrate this important milestone.”

Lycamobile has sustained its growth by continually investing in people, process, technology

employs over 4000 staff members, completes over 10 million calls per day and has acquired over 14 million subscribers in the past five years.

We have relationships with over 250 global telecommunication companies, Lycamobile product are available in over half a million retail points of sale and Every 5 seconds a new customer joins the

LtoR: Milind Kangle, Sharula Milind, Premananthan Sivasamy, Globeman, Prema Subas, Subaskaran Allirajah, Gnanam Allirajah

their respective countries.

Lyca is and will be helping those people to connect with their home, send funny photographs as they enjoy the Olympics park and much more."

Subaskaran Allirajah,

and brand to deliver superior quality services to its customers.

Milind Kangle, CEO, Lycamobile said, "This is a very special day for our staff, our customers and our business partners who

Lycamobile family."

Mr Kangle also mentioned that the achievement of Lycamobile is a testament to the remarkable talents that they have within the organisation. It was an honour to see the

ice center serves over 20,000 customer calls per day.

In today’s competitive world and tough financial environment now is not the time to rest on our laurels – and at Lycamobile we will never rest. The Chairman and I have already set the next challenge for Lycamobile and the Lycatel Group – to be the global leader in providing Telecommunications, Financial Services, Travel and Entertainment products and services to the international ethnic community.”

Talking about the target Lycamobile has set for

utes to Subas's mother , who has set up the Gnaman foundation to support charitable causes.

He also thanked Boris Johnson for attending Lyca's 5th birthday and explained how happy and rewarding it was to have achieved so much in 5 years and he was hopeful that the next 5 years will be more exciting, more rewarding and take Lyca to greater and unimaginable heights.

Lycamobile launched in July 2006 and has expanded its service to 14 countries by the summer of 2011. Lycamobile is headquartered in London

CEO attributing so much of their success to the team members.

It was indeed very humble of him also to remember the past and the root of their business as he added, "..We should not forget where the Lycamobile success came from. I am referring to the Lycatel Calling Card business.

Again the vision, ambition and drive of our Chairman since 2003 propelled the Lycatel brand to global brand leadership by revenue in 2008. The success of Premananthan Sivasamy,Milind Kangle, Boris Johnson, the Lycatel business Subaskaran Allirajah provided the secure Docklands from where a the future, Milind said, business foundation on staff of 600 supports the "Lycamobile will continue which to build the global operations. to expand into more counLycamobile business.

L y c a m o b i l e tries and extend its market I would also like to (www.lycamobile.co.uk) is leadership; Lycafly, our emphasise that we see travel business, is growing a prepaid mobile SIM card London, with its many rapidly and already conthat provides low-cost, diverse communities and nected to over 20 airlines. high-quality international global vision as the natural 2011 has already witand national calls to over location for Lycamobile’s nessed Lycamoney, our 6.5 million customers head office. We have over prepaid credit card, is inteacross 14 countries (UK, 600 staff in this office and grated with our Netherlands, Belgium, other offices in London Lycamobile service to give Switzerland, Denmark, supporting our global our customers extra Norway, Sweden, Italy, operations – and today I topup credits when they Spain, Australia, France, am delighted to announce top-up with the Germany, Poland and that we will be supporting Lycamoney card; sends Ireland). Lycamobile is the Mayor’s apprenticeinstant balance updates – already distributed ship initiative by recruita unique product in the through a European neting a number of apprentices into Lycamobile.

Our sustained growth is driven by the unique strength of the Lycamobile business model – some serious key capabilities in people, process, smart technology, a benchmark full MVNO model giving us complete control of the cus- Mayor of London- Boris Johnson, greeting the Lycamobile staff in tomer experience, the their office have been develfinancial services sector work of more than oped with a sustained and we will welcome more 500,000 retail outlets. The investment program of brand was initially introhard working professionwell over 150 million duced in The Netherlands als into the Lycamobile pounds. family. Our operations in in 2006 and is already Our investments in our Docklands will expand – Europe’s largest pre-pay brand, including Lycamobile will be helping MVNO. Lycamobile con'Globeman', are helping us to drive growth in 2012 tinues to grow rapidly add over half a million London economy." with further market subscribers per month and Mr Kangle in his conlaunches planned throughour 24 by 7 customer servcluding speech paid tribout 2011 and 2012.

12

MEDIA WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Scrutator’s Truth will out. America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested Syed Ghulam Fai, US citizen of Pakistani origin as a Pakistani spy. Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph (July 21) set the scene. “Pakistani spies have been operating a front organisation in London to exert political pressure on the Government, it was claimed yesterday [July 20]......Details of the organisation emerged after two alleged spies were charged in the United States with failing to disclose affiliation with Pakistan's government.

“Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, a US citizen of Fairfax, Virginia, and Zaheer Ahmed, 63, a US citizen who was living in Pakistan, were charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign power in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. According to an affidavit filed in the US. Mr Fai served as the director of the Kashmiri American Council.....the affidavit alleged that the council was one of three 'Kashmir Centres' formed by elements of the Pakistani government, including Pakistan's military intelligence, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).' The other two centres were in London and Brussels, it said. Mr Fai was accused of a 'decades-long scheme with one purpose – to hide Pakistan's involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government's position on Kashmir'.”

A witness informed US Department of Justice investigators that he had participated in a scheme to obscure the origin of the money transferred by the ISI to Mr Fai to use as lobbyist.

The Times of India's Correspondent in the US, Chidanand Rajghatta (July 21), reporting from Washington, told how Republican Congressman Dan Burton, of Indiana, a veteran India-baiter known for his diatribes against India on Kashmir and the Khalistan insurgency in Punjab, was rewarded for his services by Mr Fai's Kashmir American Council (KAC) with generous donations to his election campaigns.

KAC conferences, it is believed, were attended by a number of high-profile Indian human rights activists.

Questions to ask

cause of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Pakistan note said.

The information related above must have been known to the Clinton in India relevant US authorities years ago, yet they have moved in the US Secretary of State Hillary matter only now. Better late Clinton was in India for the secthan never, some would say. And ond US-India Strategic they would be right after a fashDialogue. While she pushed for ion. But questions do remain, greater investment and trading nevertheless. These US moves opportunities, her Indian counare undoubtedly a barometer of terpart, External Affairs the poor state of US-Pakistan Minister S.M.Krishna, sought a relations for self-evident reasons better operating environment for pertaining to the contrary goals India's IT sector in the United of the two countries in the war States. Continuing their discuson terror. During an Asia-Pacific sion over lunch, they covered security conference organised by the fraught situation in the Arab M.J. Gohel's Asia Pacific world and Central Asia.

Foundationn in Whitehall, in March 2001, Selig Harrison, a noted American journalist, author and academic with specialized knowledge of South Asian politics made the candid admission that his country would be reluctant to act against Pakistan-incubated terror in Kashmir or anywhere else in India unless specific US interests were under attack.

The events of 9/11 in US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with New York and External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna Washington were the wake-up call Secretary Clinton condoled Meanwhile, the Pakistan the recent deaths in the Mumbai Foreign Ministry has lodged a bomb blasts, saying that the US strong protest with Washington had made it clear to Pakistan at Ghulam Nabi Fai's arrest and that “we cannot tolerate a safe the “slander campaign” against haven for terrorists anywhere” Pakistan. “We appreciate the because if left unchecked the contributions made by the consequences could be very difKashmiri American Council and ficult to control. But she Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai for the described Pakistan as an ally of

the US and welcomed the forthcoming India-Pakistan talks in New Delhi that were to be led, on Islamabad's side, by its newly appointed 34-year-old woman Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khan, the aim being to give Pakistan, in President Asif Ali Zardari's words, “a soft image”.

In a meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Ms Clinton was informed that India was about to draw up guidelines of an Infrastructure Debt Fund to accelerate investment by US companies (The Hindu July 20).

In an address to students in Chenai, Secretary Clinton called on India to play a more active role in international affairs and develop closer economic ties with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

India already is one of the aid donors to biggest Afghanistan, but Pakistan has balked at closer economic ties with India unless the Kashmir dispute was settled first, presumably to Islamabad's satisfaction. There is scope for Ms Clinton to apply her persuasive arts on President Zardari and Foreign Minister Hina Khan, which would enable them to see the world as it is and not as they would like it to be.

Ms Clinton should heed the warning of Gulab Mangal, the Governor of Afghanistan's Helmand province, who said apropos of the Nato withdrawal from Lashkar Gah, the capital, and its handover to the Afghan police and security forces, “We want Nato to secure the border.

The home of terrorism is not Afghanistan, it's Pakistan.” (The Daily Telegraph July 20)

Indira Gandhi honoured Bangladesh honoured the late Indira Gandhi, India's prime minister (1966-77,1980-84) for her outstanding contribution to the country's “Liberation War” in December 1971 against Pakistani occupation, Pakistan being backed by the Nixon administration in Washigton and Chairman Mao's regime in Beijing.

The Government in Dhaka issued the following statement: “The cabinet has decided to confer Mrs Indire Gandhi with our highest honour, 'Bangladesh Swadhinata Sanmanona'. She would be the lone recipient of the honour,” said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad.

The prize was collected by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Indira Gandhi's daughterr-in-law, from Bangladesh Presidentnt Zillu Rahman at a ceremony in the Bangladesh capital (Indian Express July 19).

Indira Gandhi travelled the world seeking support for the Bangladesh cause, but was notably rebuffed by President Richard Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, who were busy cooking a deal with Maoist China.

These tragic events still cast a shadow over the India-US relationship.

Uranium discovery India's nuclear aspirations have received a boost with the major

discovery of uranium reserves in Andhra Pradesh.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has made an extremely significant find, an estimated 49,000 tonnes of the ore in the Tumalapalli district of this southern state. There are indications that the deposits of uranium may be as high as 150,000 tonnes, three times the current estimate, opined Dr Srikumar Banerjee, Secretary DAE and

sternly against any form of public disorder which threatened West Bengal's economic development.

'Praahar' test-fired

India's quick reaction, 150 kilometre-range surface-to-surface missile was successfully testfired last week from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Orissa.

Scientific Adviser to the

Praahar missile in majestic take-off

Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. If this turns out to be true, it would place this mine among the richest in the world.

However, the quantity of uranium already available could support a nuclear power plant of 8,000MW capacity for 40 years.

Production from the mine will commence in six months.

At present India has two functioning uranium mines – both in Jharkand.

The Tumalapalli discovery is a bonanza that promises to reduce India's imports of this relatively scarce global resource.

Defence Minister and Defence Research & Developmentisation (DRDO) Director General Dr V.K.Saraswat said 'Prahaar' (Sanskrit for to strike) was developed to cover a gap the 40-kilometre between Pinaka rocket system and variants of the Prithivi missile (250350 kilometres).

He described 'Prahaar' as a unique missile because of its “high manoeuvrability, very high acceleration and impact accuracy......Basically it will be a battlefield support system for the Army,” he explained (The Hindu July 22).

Pitroda in Bengal

Zubin Mehta honoured

Hailing conductor Zubin Mehta The West Bengal government for his “indispensable contribuhas appointed Sam Pitroda techtion” to classical western music nocrat and geek as adviser to its in the State of Israel, President “Resurgent Bengal” initiative, Shimon Peres said that under with a view to pushing the state his baton “music became more forward in health, innovation effective than diplomacy.” He and educational excellence. went on: “I commend you on Chief Minister Mamata your indispensable contribution Banerjee, appearing with Mr to the State of Israel, its people, Pitroda at a joint press conferits search for peace and its love ence in Kolkata, said her governfor music. You have shown that ment had decided to draw on his music can express feeling more expertise and experience (he is than words.”

Prime Minister Manmohan In a signal honour to IndianSingh's adviser on telecoms and born Mr Mehta, President Peres communications) to propel West Bengal forward after decades of stagnation and maladministration during the 34-year rule of the erstwhile Communist-led Left Front regime.

For a start, five innovation clusters would be set up as part of a pilot project. A total of 15 innovation clusters would eventually come up as part of the work of Zubin Mehta with Israel President Shimon Peres the National Innovation invited him to perform at the Council, Mr Pitroda said.

Beit HaNassi (the official resiIn a separate event, Ms dence of the President of Israel) Banerjee's victorious Trinamool to celebrate the conductor's 50Congress held a mammoth pubyear association with the Israel lic meeting in Kolkata, with the Philarmonic Orchestra. The conChief Minister calling upon her cert conducted by Mr Mehta supporters to uphold the rule of performed works by Strauss, law, maintain discipline and Beethoven and Puccini before a avoid confrontation with the large invited audience (The party's opponents. She warned Times of India July 19).

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Political Sketchbook Alpesh Patel’s

Losing the best because it’s political So the Duke of York has resigned. You probably missed it because the Chief Constable of the Metropolitan Police also resigned…and his deputy. Apparently all for conflicts of interest and a media witch-hunt. Maybe we should all resign based on the friends we keep?

The problem is we often discover our friends and one-time political allies have interests of their own and are very good at keeping secrets, being twofaced and conniving. What to do? It’s very easy for the journalist to be selfrighteous, but our confidence in them is at rock bottom, alongside in politicians.

In fact it makes you wonder who you can trust. We had our distrust of professionals – whether in finance – Maddoff – or accountants – Arthur Anderson.

Of course it’s only the 99% that make the other 1% look bad. So if we can’t trust anyone to self-police what do we do? More regulators to oversee?

More education and training on ethics?

More transparency and reporting? It’s getting to the stage where the presumption will be of guilt on anyone who has achieved anything – must have done something wrong. And when that presumption is prevalent, even if false, you can bet someone at the bottom of the ladder will use it as an excuse for wrongdoing, for cutting a corner.

When I wrote my first book, one of the people I interviewed was the former Global Head of Currency Trading at Salomon Brothers. He was as big a big a trader as you can find. He told me he had a simple moral code: if you don’t want your mother reading about it in the

press, then don’t do it.

Now the problem in the people we’re losing is not the black and white case of wrong-doing, but the grey area of them falling on their swords for the wrong-doing of others of which they were unaware but for which they still take the blame.

And make no mistake there are many people out there who like to see the morally upstanding fall even for the misdeeds of their acquaintances. You see the trick is look at who is calling for the hanging, not the one being hung.

Invariably, those calling for the hanging are the ones with the most to hide. It is human nature. They’re the ones with shady little secrets.

So as we lose the access the Duke of York provided for inward investment into the UK, and the Head of the UK Counter-terrorism task force – just 12 months before the Olympics – ask yourself who is asking for the hangings.

Actually not just in this, but in life generally. The chief prosecutors tend to be not just morally indignant but immorally undignified I’d wager. You know how?

Because they’re after the person, not the problem.

That’s how you know with Baba Ramdev he’s doing good work on anticorruption. He’s after the problem, less concerned about the people. If more of us did that in the political sphere, we’d lose fewer good men and women.

Alpesh Patel Facebook: alpeshp1 Blog: www.alpeshblog.com

Sun Mark Ltd receives third consecutive Queens Award for Enterprise in International Trade Her Majesty's special representative The Lord Lieutenant of Greater London Sir David Brewer CMG, JP, presented a third consecutive Queens Award for Enterprise in International Trade to Sun Mark Ltd on 22nd July 2011 at the company's headquarters in Greenford.

The presentation ceremony was attended by Sun Mark staff, members from the local community and from both the Houses of Parliament including Lord Mohammad Sheikh, Lord Dolar Popat, Mr. Steven Pound MP, The Rt. Hon. Keith Vaz MP, Mr. Barry Gardiner MP, and Mr. Richard Harrington MP. Other prominent members present included the Worshipful Mayor of Ealing, Cllr. Gallaher, the former Mayor of Ealing, Cllr. Rajinder Mann and the first member of Parliament from New Zealand of Indian origin, Mr. Kanwaljit S. Bakshi.

The Head of Operations, Mr. Harmeet Ahuja welcomed the guests and introduced Dr Ranger as a visionary who had built a world class company from humble beginnings.

He was impressed by his work ethics and above all,

enshrined.

He also thanked his adopted country, Britain, for its sense of tolerance and fair play. He thanked his wife, Renu, for supporting him when he had nothing. He also Sir David Brewer CMG, JP presenting thanked his custhe award to Rami Ranger tomers and suppliers for supportempathy for others. ing him.

Dr. Rami Ranger The Worshipful Mayor MBE, FRSA, in welcomof Ealing, Cllr. Gallaher, ing the Lord Lieutenant, praised the vision and said this was a very proud hard work of the and happy day of his life Chairman and staff of Sun and paid tribute to his late Mark Ltd. He was proud mother who single handof the fact that Sun Mark edly brought him and his was adding great value to siblings up after the tragic the British & local econoassassination of his father my despite the country during the partition of going through difficult India. He paid tribute to times. the founders of India for The event was folgiving Indians a democratlowed by refreshments ic and secular constitution and lunch. where equality for all was

RECRUITING NOW A company based in East London (Essex area) is looking to recruit the following roles for their company:

A Tribute Concert for Noor Inayat Khan, GC American dancer, Felicia Sharifa Norton and Indian Sufi singer Madan Gopal Singh will be appearing in London in August for a unique celebratory tribute concert for World War II heroine Noor Inayat Khan, signifying the confluence of cultures that Noor represented.

The concert will raise funds for her memorial which is to be built in Gordon Square.

Straight from a tour of the US and Canada and her appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Felicia Norton will perform in a powerful piece of musical theatre -- "Noor" - inspired by the life of Noor Inayat Khan. The piece is choreographed by Sasha Spielgovel and Felicia Norton, with music

by David Majzlin.

Complementing her in the second half of the concert will be Punjabi Sufi singer Madan Gopal Singh, one of India's foremost Sufi singers.

Noor Inayat Khan was born to an Indian father, Hazrat Inayat Khan and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker. She was a descendant of Tipu Sultan. She became a secret agent in the Second World War and was infiltrated into occupied Paris under the code name of Madeleine. She was eventually shot in Dachau Concentration camp and posthumously awarded

voices of her family, her letters and the music of the era to embody Noor’s spirit and time in which she lived.

Felicia Norton studied at the Felicia Sharifa Norton Madan Gopal Singh Metropolitan the George Cross for Opera Ballet School and her bravery. the American Ballet Noor’s paternal grandTheatre and has perfather was from the formed in the US, Punjab. Her father, Hazrat Brussels, Germany, Paris, Inayat Khan, was a Sufi Avignon, London, preacher who took Sufism Edinburgh, Guatemala, to the west.

Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Using the simplest of She currently teaches props -- a blue sari, a dance at the United lamp, a book, a suitcase Nations International and two chairs – Norton School in New York. recreates Noor’s world She has been from the innocent days of described by the New York her childhood in Suresnes Times as “an extraordiin Paris and her days as a nary dancer…one of those writer of children’s stories magical dancers who does to her work as a secret everything with an appealagent and her final death ing blend of quiet dignity in a concentration camp in and eagerness.”

The Dachau.

Times, London has called The thirty-minute her “compellingly sensupiece weaves in Noor’s al”. original poems and songs, Madan Gopal Singh and her translation of The has travelled to the Sufi Elephant Tale, a story heartlands of West Asia to from the Jataka Tales immerse himself in the about sacrifice, which music. He is one of the ironically foreshadowed foremost Punjabi Sufi her own destiny. singers from India. He has The magical score crecomposed the music for ated by award-winning several feature films composer David Majzlin including the award-winincludes sound effects like ning Khamosh Pani. the clicking of Noor’s Tickets can be booked radio, the Morse code, on www.noormemorial.org sirens, political speeches,

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14

UK

India Connect

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Goa comes to London

Q & A: Visa to India

By Cllr Rabi Martins

I travel to India frequently for business meetings/to explore opportunities for partnerships with Indian companies. Which visa should I apply for?

You may apply for a business visa valid for multiple entries for either six months or one year along with the requisite documents as per the checklist.

Note that a business visa does Jiten Vyas, VFS Global not permit you to work in India.

If you want to work in India, you should apply for an employment visa.We also currently offer the service of an Urgent Business Visa for those applicants who are required to receive their business visa the same day. Conditions apply; please visit us at www.in.vfsglobal.co.uk for more details I have to go for internship/training in a university/institute/company in India for a short period.

Which visa should I apply for?

You should apply for an entry visa along with a copy of the offer letter stating the terms of internship. You may also be required to submit a copy of the inter-university student exchange agreement if the proposed internship is a component of such an agreement. If you receive any monetary compensation/salary from the Indian organisation, you will have to apply for an employment visa. For more details please visit us at www.in.vfsglobal.co.uk I will be going to India for work/employment along with my family. Which visa should I apply for? Would my children be able to study in India?

You must apply for an employment visa along with the requisite documents. Once your visa application is approved, your wife and children may apply for entry visas. Your children will be able to get admission in schools/colleges in India once they have been granted an entry visas. Note that you have to undergo mandatory registration formalities at the nearest office of the FRRO/FRO within 14 days of your arrival in India if you are planning to stay in the country for more than 180 days.

I will be studying in India for one semester/trimester in an IIT/IIM/IISc/Indian university. Which visa should I apply for?

You should apply for a student visa along with a copy of the letter from the institute/university confirming your acceptance as a student. For more details please visit us at www.in.vfsglobal.co.uk I had applied for a visa for India but I have changed my mind about visiting the country. Can I claim a refund of the visa fee?

Visa Fees are non-refundable once the visa application is accepted and visa fee cannot be refunded even if the visa is refused.

It's been a while since I submitted my application and passport. How can I find out the status of my application?

You can track your application online by visiting our website. Alternatively, you call our helpline on 0905 757 0045 between 0830 hrs to 1730 hrs from Monday to Friday (Calls to the premium rate number cost 95 pence per minute) A response of ‘No Record Found’ is a result of incorrect information being entered into the required fields on the website required to directly associate your specific status. If you continue to face such a message, please email info.inuk@vfshelpline.com Can I collect my passport from the High Commission of India, London or the Consulate General in Edinburgh and Birmingham?

Please note you have to collect your passport from the India Visa Application Centre where you submitted the application.

The Commissioner for NRI (Non Resident Indian) Affairs Mr. Eduardo declared the first ever Global Goans Convention in London a tremendous success and showered glowing praise on President of the Goan Association UK, Mr Flavio Gracias and his fellow directors. He also had special words of praise for Ravi Vaz and the convention committee The two day convention which as held at the Indian Gymkhana in Osterley, Middlesex began with a special composed invocation song and the traditional lighting of the lamp by led by Mr. Faleiro and followed by the other dignitaries which included Minister for Consular Affairs at the Indian High Commission Mr. Amitabh Mathur and Ms Valerie Vaz, Goan Member of Parliament for Walsall North.

Day was devoted to marking the 50th anniversary of Goa’s annexation to India.

Flavio Gracias opened the debate recalling the roll the Goan Association has played in keeping the Goan spirit alive in the UK. He paid tribute to the founders of the association and those who had served it in the past.

Convention Chairman Councillor Rabi Martins, himself a former President of the Association said “Flavio is as ever being particularly modest about his personal contribution to Goa and to Goans in the UK. Keeping Goans united is always a challenge. The attendance at this convention and the anticipated 5000 crowd that will attend the festival says it all” Indeed the subject of Goan Identity and Goan Unity across the Diaspora dominated the discussions during this session with contributions from eminent scholars who came from far and wide. Dr. Dormodar SarDesai, Professor Emeritus at the University of Calfifornia and Dr. Teotino R de Souza, professor of History at Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Technologias in Lisbon spoke eloquently about Goan ancestry and the

For more information regarding any quires about Indian Visa please contact by email or post: Email: info.inuk@vfshelpline.com Customer Relations Department.

India Visa Application Center, 60-62 Wilton Road, London SW1V 1DE

India Connect - your questions answered on India visas” a service offered by

various influences.

They illustrated how the identity of the Goan has been shaped by influences over the centuries. Both agreed that the modern Goan has had his identity mainly shaped by the Portuguese. They both also agreed that the Portuguese could have put the natural resources that this little jewel in India’s crown had on offer to betL To R: Flavio Gracias - President G.O.A, Arjan Vakeria - Vascroft, ter use but failed to Valarie Vaz MP, Hon Commissioner of NRI Affairs - Eduardo Falerio, do so. They conAmithab Mathur - HCI, Cllr Rabi Martin inagurating the Goan Convention by lighting the deep tended that there had been more ecoDirector Mr. U.D. Kamat. etor C.B.Patel speak about nomic growth, more The range of questions his love for Goa and access to education and further confirmed that Goans. He reminded the greater infrastructure Goans in UK continue to audience that the best way (Roads, utilities etc) have interests pertaining to protect identity and culimprovements in the last 50 years than in the previous 450.

Dr. Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes, scholar of Goan Migration patterns, highlighted how and why Goans who migrated to the western countries were able to find jobs and assimilate into the local culture with comparative ease She also spoke about how food played and continues to be such a huge element of the Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, addressing the Goan Audience at the Goan identity.

Cranford Community College ground She did also bemoan the fact that our mother to visiting Goa and investture was by retaining the tongue Konkani was not ing in Goa. mother tongue and said the retained down the generaThey one issue that Gujarati community were tions and welcome the was of interest to most a good example of how this movement to revive it. can be done successful. people pertained to the Opening day two, conCB also spoke about securing of OCI status. It vention Chairman the special public on transpires Goans have a Councillor Rabi Martins Goans in the UK and elseparticular difficulty said it was evident Goans had made their mark in all walks of life where-ever they went. Day 2 was devoted to proving this point as representatives of Goan Organisations from America, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Pakistan, and Portugal and elsewhere gave account of how they kept the spirit of Goa alive.

There was also an illustration how a significant Goan E-Village was beginCB Patel addressing the audience at the Goan Convention ning to emerge, thanks in no small measure to the where that Asian Voice will because of its history and efforts of Eddie be publishing in the course the fact that there are no Fernandes, the man who of the next two or three birth certificates available pioneered and continues weeks. for births in Goa prior to to run the very popular The Global Goans 1955 and that much of the online news paper Goan Convention ended with a documentation prior to Voice. festival attended by nearly 1961 is in Portuguese.

Day two was also a day 6000 people.

Delegates were satisfor delegates to raise quesThey were treated to fied with assurances that tions with Commissioner cultural shows, songs form the NRI office is drawing Faleiro and NRI Office International Indian (and up procedures to address these problems.

In between Carmen Miranda gave a very educative presentation on the Mining Industry in Goa and its threat to Goa’s ecology, leaving delegates with much to ponder on.

One of the highlights of the second day was to hear Asian Voice propri-

Goan) star Lorna as well as an up and coming young singer Agnelo Fernandes from the United States.

Agnelo is renowned for recreating the songs of Goan legendary singer Alfred Rose The Convention and Festival concluded with the Flavio Gracias receiving the Global Goans Award Trophy on behalf of the Goan Association UK from Eduardo Faleiro.

Photo Courtesy: Francisco De’Souza, Raymond Carvallo

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

by Shree

f ashionista

For more stories visit www.scribbledesk.com

Short Story by Neha Garg

Be a Fashionista, Be You! If you have any questions or a story or a new style to share with us, please write to Shree at aveditorial@abplgroup.com You know that girl you see every day on the tube, in the office, around the corner…that girl in a black shift dress, neutral cardigan and ballet pumps.

That girl is me. I love my LBD. My many LBDs. It’s my wardrobe hero, my sartorial holy grail, my desert island item. But fashion has a way of taking your most treasured choices, your most ardently help opinions, and turning it on it’s head. And so this summer, white is the new black.

The classic little black dress is still very much the eternal classic but this spring it’s all about the Little White Dress. Nearly all catwalks had a splash of white on

them especially at Versace, Calvin Klein, Narciso Rodriguez, Nicole Farhi, Yves Saint Laurent and Stella McCartney. We are not talking about your garden-variety pretty flowery white summer dress here.

For spring/summer 2011 the look is crisp, sleek, tailored and all virginal white.

The all-white trend is one of the hardest to emu-

Sudoku

with

White Out late in real life. Pure unadulterated white is pretty easy to do in isolation – a white t-shirt here, a pair of white jeans there, maybe even white eyeliner as beauty editors would have us do – but all over white is another matter altogether. Head to toe white, aside from being almost impossible to maintain, especially if you have to use public transport for any length of time, white tends to make us feel a little naked and naïve. But why should we feel so vulnerable in white? This colour, or in fact, lack of colour goes with everything, it’s flattering to all skin-tones, especially the rich caramel of South Asia and symbolises high summer like nothing else.

So, how do you achieve this ubermodern white look? It comes down to details and accessorizing.

All white can look very flat; they need some kind of contrast or shadow. An easy way to achieve this is with ruffles.

Many of the summer’s dresses have ruffle detailing either on the shoulders and bodice, or around the waist and hips. Be strategic with this if you are curvy girl as this can add unnecessary bulk.

Another clever way to add interest and more definition is with lace. Lace is incredibly feminine and adds some extra oomph. Make sure you go for more fitted shapes when it comes to dresses. A cinched waist is your best choice, Remember to accessorise accordingly. You have a wide choice of white shoes to choose from this summer, from

wedges to platforms as well as brogues and trainers. Tan accessories, too work very well with white.

Tie a rope belt around your waist or update your old belt by tying it into a knot. If you absolutely

can’t digest the thought of total colourlessness, by all means add a bright pair of pumps or some gold jewellery to add extra glamour.

And don’t forget the Little White Dress.

Definitely set to become one of the biggest trends, from crepe, gauze and silk styles to more bohemian cotton and lace versions there’s something for every woman’s taste and budget. Make sure your skin is flawless to flash your sun-kissed tan and be prepared to be the very picture of cool at every barbeque, race or poolparty of the season.

15

The Magical Gateway The magical gateway to FaerieRealm stood open! Everyone was aghast. The spell that kept the gate closed had worn off for the first time in 500 years.

'Any minute now a mortal will walk in and discover FaerieRealm.' said TangleFoot the Pixie, pacing around restlessly. 'They will have us put in cages and displayed in their zoos.'

'Shush TangleFoot,' said Queen Mother. 'You are scaring the faery children.'

The Queen Mother sat on her throne. She looked beautiful in her long dress and golden crown but her brow was furrowed with worry. What were the faery folk to do? They had to close that gateway. They simply could not risk mortals discovering FaerieRealm.

'We will have go and buy a new spell from the Colourful Pirate,' she said, looking at all the magical folk gathered around her. 'There is no other way.'

Someone shrieked, Tanglefoot gasped. 'But your majesty, his ship is 7 seas away. How are we tiny folk to make that long a journey?'

'I'll go,' said Winky the faery. 'I am the fastest flier.'

'Very well,' said Queen Mother, smiling at Winky. 'Go pack what you need.'

That very night, Winky set off on her long journey. She flew for 2 days and 2 nights and at last, spotted the Colourful Pirate's ship sailing in the middle of the 7th sea.

The Colourful Pirate was very upset to hear that FaerieRealm was in danger.

He had lots of friends in FaerieRealm and he definitely did not want them cap-

tured.

He took Winky into a cabin deep in the belly of his ship.

'This is where I keep all my spells,' he said, pointing to hundreds of colourful jars hanging from the ceiling.

Winky looked up. The jars all had a strange mist swirling inside them.

The Pirate climbed a stepladder and selected a bright orange jar. He unscrewed the top of this jar and tipped the orange swirly spell into his hand. He then rubbed the spell on the oars of his ship. With a whoosh that threw Winky off her feet, the ship sped up.

'Now we will reach FaerieRealm much quicker,' said the Colourful Pirate.

Queen Mother had been pacing on the beach, anxiously awaiting Winky's return. When she saw the Colourful Pirate himself arrive in his magnificent ship, she was overjoyed.

The Pirate bowed low to the Queen and presented her with a bright blue jar.

The spell to keep the gateway to FaerieRealm closed for another 500 years.

The faery folk were overjoyed.

'Thank you for saving us Pirate and Winky,' they said. 'Thank you.'

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Asian Voice Saturday 30th July 2011

Kareena to become Madhur’s ‘Heroine’

Isha Sharwani bags role in Kamal’s next Isha Sharvani who made her debut in Subhash Ghai's “Kisna, “will be in Kamal Haasan's next film “Vishwaroopam,” which is also his most ambitious project till date. She was selected because of her amazing dance style. She has formal training in Kalaripayattu, Kathak, and other classical dance forms. The film is going to be a spy-thriller and Kamal

plays the lead, a spy who steals the nation's secret.

It will be a trilingual film shot in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. Kamal Haasan will not only direct and act in the film but he will also handle screenplay, lyrics, and the dialogues.

Shooting will begin in August and filming will take place in Europe. The film will be shot for 75 days non-stop.

Kareena Kapoor has agreed to step into the shoes left empty by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Madhur Bhandarkar’s and UTV's “Heroine.” UTV's CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur and the writer of “Heroine” Niranjan Iyengar flew down to Hyderabad to meet Kareena who had been spending some time with her boyfriend Saif Ali Khan.

The meeting between the producer, the writer and the actress proved to be quite fruitful. So much so that the actress has now agreed to be a part of the project, with a few conditions of her own.

"Kareena has consented to the snorting, drinking and smoking scenes. Earlier, she had strong reservations against them. Now, she just doesn't want to do the explicit lovemaking scenes with Arjun Rampal and Sudhir Mishra's discovery Arunoday Singh. Those scenes are extremely sexy and Kareena is just not comfortable doing them," a source said. And while UTV doesn't want to let go of this opportunity to revive their dream project with Kareena Kapoor, convincing the director Madhur to make changes in his script yet again, proves to be a challenge.

Kareena, interestingly, happened to be Madhur's choice for the film previously. However, the actress had refused to do it since she felt that the content of the film was too heavy and bold for her.

Sonakshi’s false talk upsets Shahid

No more films for Nayantara On the last day’s shoot of Nayantara’s Telugu film, ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’, she wept inconsolably. Word spread like wildfire that this would be her last film as she will soon tie the knot with Prabhu Deva.

The actress has finally opened up. She said that, she can’t confirm if this is her last film but can only say that she hasn’t signed

Shahid Kapoor is cross with Sonakshi Sinha and the actor reportedly feels that the “Dabangg” girl is floating false stories about him to avenge her “Mausam” ouster. Though Sonakshi has already sent messages to Shahid feigning ignorance about the reports, Shahid is livid.

The actor was shocked to hear about the rumours that he's keen to work with Sinha.

A source says, “First there were rumours linking him to Bipasha Basu and now talks that he’s keen to work with Sinha. He is upset and feels that because he doesn’t retaliate, he’s becoming an easy target."

Rumour mills claim that Sonakshi Sinha wanted to be cast opposite Shahid in “Mausam,” but couldn't make it. “Yes, she was considered for ‘Mausam,’ but then so were other actors. Too bad she’s taken it personally," says the source.

"But the fact is that not once has Kapoor expressed any wish to want to work with her specifically. Spreading talks that suggest otherwise clearly benefit only Sonakshi here. So it’s anyone’s guess where the stories are coming from,” adds the source.

any further films. She said that her priorities have now changed. “I don’t know if I will or won’t act again. I didn’t sign any other film till now. I don’t want to talk to media about Prabhu Deva. If there is something to be told, I will inform the media about it. Now my priorities have changed,” Nayantara said.

‘Nanban’ set to hit theaters for Christmas Shiv Sena accuses SRK of being insensitive

It has been heard since long that a remake of “3 Idiots” in form of “Nanban” is making entry in Kollywood soon .

Director Shankar is already busy with his upcoming comedy entertainer “Nanban.” Vijay, Srikanth and Jiiva will play the lead roles in Tamil, S.J. Suryah will play the role of Chatur (Omi Vaidya), Ileana D’Cruz will appear in the role

played by Kareena Kapoor, and Sathyaraj will appear as the insensitive professor Virus, which was played by Boman Irani.

The movie will be released in Telugu as “3 Rascals.”

Harris Jayaraj has already started composing music for the film. The film will reportedly have its grand music launch in August!

The latest buzz is that the film will grace theatres for Christmas this year.

Akshay Kumar’s film ready for Hollywood

When King Khan celebrated the release of “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” on July 15 with close friends from Bollywood, little did he think that he would be accused of being insensitive towards the Mumbai bomb blast victims. The Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Samna’ referred to him as a 'villain' saying, "Even a popular star like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan declined to receive an honour bestowed upon her by the French government.

But Shah Rukh Khan did not have the heart to cancel the party." However, for people from the within industry, it is a baseless accusation against the star.

Anushka, Ranvir breakup It seems all is not well between the “Band Baaja Baraat” leads Anuskha Sharma and Ranvir Singh. Recently at the IIFA Awards 2011 the two were seen showing cold shoulders to each other.

This is mainly because success and jealously has come in the middle of the "love birds". Ranvir who did an act with Sonakshi Sinha at the function was definitely not taken well by the ‘ayivayi ayivayi’ girl. In fact, Anuskha even fired Ranvir for being so sweet to the “Dabbang” girl. Their fight was an open affair for the guests at the IIFA. Once the fight was out of their rooms the two refused to talk to each other and forget about exchanging any pleasantries. More over it seems that Anuskha's signing movies with big stars of the B-industry like Shah Rukh, Ajay and big banners have given her another reason to move away from the relationship.

With the completion of his first Indo-Canadian production “Breakaway,” starring Rob Lowe, Russell Peters, Camilla Belle and Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar has become the first B-Towner to well and truly go the Hollywood way.

He has spared no effort to ensure that the film has mass appeal. It features music videos with hip-hop stars Ludacris, Drake and Akshay himself. The film is ready for a Hollywood release come September 30. Alliance Atlantis, one of the world's largest distributors, will pick up the film - their first film by an Indian producer. Akshay says “We are treating it like a Hollywood release, with more than 3,500 prints.

It's a giant step for us, as an Indian film is trying to break into Hollywood. It will also be the curtain raiser at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10 this year." Breakaway is a touching story about a young Indian ice hockey player who wants to get into the big league." He adds, "I am introducing Vinay Virmani, who is a very good ice hockey player in real life as well.

The film is about an Indian family wanting to break the stranglehold the Whites have abroad in sports."

Sameera Reddy cooks a hot sizzler It’s not a eatable sizzler. But a sizzling item number in which Sameera sizzles hot and spicy. She too has joined the bandwagon of doing item numbers. And surprisingly, she was the chosen one for the item number of thriller “Tezz.” Priyadarshan wanted only Sameera for this, Priyan just back from a longish holiday abroad, is quick to defend the number as belonging to Sameera.

“How can anyone else dance to that number? Sameera plays a club dancer in “Tezz” and the number rightly belongs her.”

Sameera, no stranger to Priyan’s cinema, is a close family friend. She and Priyan’s wife Lizzie are best friends and whenever Sameera shoots a Tamil film in Chennai she stays with Priyan and his wife.

With such proximity is it any wonder that the “Tezz” sizzler has finally gone to Sameera when apparently a lot of the screen queens were keen to perform to the peppy Sajid-Wajid number.

The song in “Tezz” will be shot in Mumbai later this month. Currently Priyan is in Kerala, as he has just been appointed the chairperson of the Kerala Chalchitra Academy.

Middlesex university honours Shiamak Davar with doctorate India’s dance Guru, Shiamak Davar has been presented with an honorary doctorate by the Middlesex University London for his contribution to performing arts, entertainment and dance education in India and across the world.

Shiamak, who started his journey in performing arts over two and a half decades ago, reaches out to over 60,000 students across the globe through his dance academies.

Recognizing this feat, Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University, Michael Driscoll said, “It’s so inspiring for our students to meet and graduate alongside Shiamak as his work has become an international success. His story is an example of what can be achieved with determination.”

“I am truly honored to receive the honorary doctorate from Middlesex University. I come from a family of educationists. My parents wanted me to follow the family tradition and be an educationist too. But I was more interested in the performing arts… And eventually I did become an educationist, although in performing arts. I started my journey in London and today I feel I have come full circle with this great honour. This acknowledgement reinforces my belief - Have Feet. Will Dance.!!

Have Spirit. Will Triumph,” said Shiamak.

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

17

Mahi Gill goes bold Mahi Gill stunned everyone with her bold portrayal of Paro in “Dev D.” But in Tigmanshu Dhulia's “Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster,” she goes a step further. Not only has she shed her clothes but also has a lengthy kissing scene as well. The film has erotic scenes between Randeep Hooda and Mahi Gill. There is a love-making scene where she is seduces Randeep's character. Initially she had a few reservations, but once Tigmanshu assured her that it will be shot aesthetically, she was game for it.

Ajay Devgn gets Marathi lessons from wife Kajol “After every successful man there is a woman,” it proves right when it was reported that Kajol is giving Marathi lessons to her hubby Ajay Devgn. He was required to deliver dialogues fluently in Marathi for his role in Reliance Entertainment’s “Singham,” where he plays a tough senior inspector. Since Kajol, whose mother Tanuja is a Maharashtrian, has a good hold on the language, she was more than excited to help her husband. She taught Ajay how to pronounce a few words authentically, and he picked up the accent within minutes.

Genelia says no to Rohit Shetty's film Genelia D'souza has decided to opt out of the Abhishek Bachchan and Ajay Devgn starrer “Bol Bachchan,” despite being asked to stay on board. The reason for Genelia's sudden exit was her presumably 'insignificant role'. When she read the script, she felt that she didn’t have a very significant role in the film. But that is with most of Shetty’s films - either they are too crowded or they are male-centric, Shetty spoke to Prachi, who instantly agreed to step into Genelia’s shoes.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Indian govt okays BP-Reliance deal British energy major to invest $7 bn in Mukesh Ambani’s Andhra gas fields Dear Financial Voice Reader, You don’t have to worry if the markets are confusing.

Apparently the atom smashing Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland will have evidence of the ‘God Particle’ next year. Now let me put this in context. Next year is 2012. The Mayans said 2012 would be the end of the world. Big nuclear bombs are made when neutrons are smashed into Uranium atoms. What the LHC is doing is smashing subatomic particles together to replicate the Big Bang. Hmmmm….is no one joing up the dots??

Anyway, back to the markets and end of the world.

I’ve been saying for a while the US dollar weakness is inevitable. It cannot trundle under the weight of debt and deficit – no matter how warm and cozy owning it makes you feel. Propping it up by daily purchases is like trying to hold up a lead balloon being pulled down by the leaden weight of debt in this case.

So how do you know it is the end of the world?

When the US is about to default, when the dollar plunges, when gold hits a new high. I have no problem being short the Dollar, and long gold (same trade essentially).

I still don’t see any sense looking at consumer sector for any investments. The consumer is being squeezed. Of course everyone expects the Republicans and Democrats to come to some sort of agreement and not see a US default. When they do, then the Dollar will fall further – because we’ll realise how much debt is being piled on and we only saved the problem for later.

We’ve been here before. In 1841 nine US states including Louisiana and Pennsylvania ceased payments on their debt to British bond holders. It became a stain on all Americans that they could not be trusted to pay their debts. Americans in the US were chided. The US was ridiculed for having claimed to have improved on ‘old Europe’ only to behave like a bad European monarch – running up debts and then not honouring them. Some Americans would recognise it was the American democratic experiment that was being called into question when they did not pay their debts.

My positions at the moment – I am long the Norwegian Krona against the US Dollar – that is I expect the Krona to appreciate – against the Dollar.

I am also betting on my Sterlingmarkets.com that the Deutsche Bank Agriculture contract will go higher – based on demand for agricultural products. As for the FTSE and the Dow, as I’ve said before they are both undervalued and I expect both to rise further by the end of this year. In total for the whole of the calendar year I said a 15% rise. For the US we’re half way there. The FTSE is so far flat for the year so has a long way to go - but I think will get there.

I do not see a collapse of the US equity markets – despite the death wish of the US Congress.

Tatas reviewing alliance with Virgin Mobile Tata Teleservices is “reviewing” the brand alliance with Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile as it embarks on a brand restructuring exercise. The $72-billion Tata Group’s telecom flagship bought out Virgin Mobile’s 50% stake in the marketing joint venture recently. And now, the branding tieup, which was expected to continue, is also being reviewed, said a source in India’s largest private sector conglomerate.

Virgin Mobile’s business model - mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) - does not set up physical mobile networks but buys airtime in bulk from existing operators and sells it under own label. In India, it had

entered into a five-year branding arrangement with the Tatas earning a royalty fee.

The Virgin Mobile brand initially created a buzz with its catchy advertisements targeted at the youth and has also managed to get a small slice of the hyper-competitive telecom sector.

However, its market share started slipping in recent t i m e s .

Sources said the brand hasn’t done well on the expected lines. Virgin plays in both the GSM and CDMA space.

Tata Teleservices is rejigging its brand architecture and wants to line-up resources behind the main brand with Japan’s DoCoMo, which mainly operates on the GSM platform.

The government of India on Friday last gave its consent to UK energy major BP Plc taking 30% interest in 21 out of 23 acreages, including India's gas bowl off the Andhra coast, being operated or explored

by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd for over $7 billion.

This will be the singlelargest foreign investment in India’s history, oil minister S Jaipal Reddy said while announcing the decision taken by the Cabinet's panel on economic affairs.

The consent for the remaining two acreages has been held back over technical issues and the government will approve stake transfer in these once the issues are sorted out, Reddy said. BP will have to give performance and bank guarantees as per the contract, he said.

The approval to the farm-out deal will bring some cheer to RIL share-

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., is seeking BP’s technology and expertise to increase production from the field.

holders who have seen their holdings battered since government auditors last month said oil ministry and its regulatory arm granted favours to the company in its showcase Andhra offshore gas field.

As a business strategy, the farm-out deal with BP is Ambani's master stroke.

In one go, it will reduce RIL's exploration risk burden and balance the company's funds outflow to US

shale gas ventures.

A partnership with BP will give RIL access to the UK's major's expertise in finding and pumping oil and gas from deep below seabed. RIL needs such frontier technology to arrest the sharp fall in volumes from the Andhra offshore field, which has left the exploration regulator fuming and the government in a quandary over long queue of industries

Cairn India may accept govt terms The board of Cairn India, a subsidiary of Scottish explorer Cairn Energy, appears to be buckling under pressure from its parent. In a first sign of a U-turn on government's conditions for transfer of control to NRI metals tycoon Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Resources, the company's annual report has skipped the contentious issue completely.

The Cairn India board had in February passed resolutions opposing the condition that would make the company liable to pay royalty and cess on oil produced from its Rajasthan fields, which contribute 90% to its valuation.

The board had argued that if parent Cairn Energy accepts such a condition for selling control to Vedanta, it would adversely affect stock value.

Analysts also point out that such a move could

Canara Bank plans to set up offices in five countries In a bid to expand its overseas footprint, Canara Bank of India plans to open offices in five countries, including Germany and Japan, during the current fiscal. “We plan to set up offices in Japan, Germany, South Africa, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia,” said Canara Bank Executive Director Archana S Bhargava.

A wholesale banking branch should come up next month in Bahrain, she said, adding that the bank has already got approval from regulators from both India and Bahrain.

also invite legal action against Cairn India board by other minority shareholders.

Since Cairn Energy announced sale of 40% interest in the company to Vedanta in August last year, Cairn India had also written letters opposing the move to make it pay Rs 2,500 per tonne

cess and including royalty as cost.

But now that the government has officially put these conditions for allowing the $9 billion deal, Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir in the annual report for 2010-11 did not mention a word on it. "What ought to have been a straightforward transac-

tion subject to shareholder approval has now been drawn into the goverment's decision-making ambit," he said, adding that Cairn India has not been informed of the government's decision till now. Analysts tracking the deal said it was strange for a company, which was so vocal, to have suddenly gone silent. The company has so far maintained that state-run ONGC, which has 30% stake in the Rajasthan oil fields, is contractually bound to pay royalty and cess on the entire production."

Acceptance of the preconditions were for the current owner (Cairn Energy) and the new owner (Vedanta) to decide. Yet Cairn India out-of-turn passed board resolution opposing it saying they were not in the interest of the company and its shareholders," an analyst said.

clamouring for gas.

For BP, the deal marks an easy entry into India's exploration sector. With a strong domestic player such as RIL, BP will not be exposed fully to the risks of going solo in a geography not seen as highly prospective. But the long-term upside lies in India's growing market for gas, particularly the variety imported in ships (LNG, or liquefied natural gas).

It is not clear whether RIL will have to pay capital gains tax on the transaction since under the acreage auction policy, the company is a contractor for an asset owned by the government.

One option for tax authorities would be to treat the $7.2 billion that BP will pay to RIL as the latter's business income.

But even here, RIL can claim a set-off for the expenditure incurred on the acreages.

HUL, BHEL in Forbes 10 most innovative firms Two Indian companies, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), have featured in the 10 most innovative companies in the world by the US magazine Forbes' latest edition.

While the fast moving consumer goods giant is placed at the sixth position ahead of Google, BHEL is ranked ninth in the list, which is topped by US-based IT service provider. The magazine said the list is based on a study by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M Christensen, Jeff Dyer, professor at Brigham Young University, and Hal B Gregersen, professor of leadership at INSEAD. Online retail firm Amazon has been placed at the second position with Intuitive Surgical in third, while Apple and Google ranked fifth and seventh respectively in the list.

Bharti Airtel inks deal with Ericsson for Africa operations Bharti Airtel signed a five-year service management agreement with Ericsson for its Africa operations for an undisclosed amount. As per the agreement, Ericsson will manage and optimise Airtel's mobile networks in Africa in order to provide a superior customer experience, Bharti said in a statement. However, the company did not disclose the financial details of the five-year deal.

"Ericsson has been our managed services and network technology partner in the Asian

operations. Given its expertise and strong track record, we are confident that this partnership will be able to efficiently deliver the best networks and services to our customers in Africa," Bharti Airtel CEO (International) & JMD Manoj Kohli said.

Under a separate two-

year agreement, Ericsson will modernise and upgrade Airtel's mobile networks in Africa with the latest technology.

"This deal will allow us to assist Airtel with the complex task of managing operations in multiple countries. It also provides an opportunity for us to extend our managed services into new, untapped African markets. We will use our global expertise in this field to provide Airtel’s customers with excellent service," Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg said.

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

19

Buying A Dud Property Is Like Having A Bad Haircut, If You Wait Long Enough It Will Grow Back!

Suresh Vagjiani Managing Director Sow & Reap A Property Investment & Financing company.

We have closed a number of deals this month, both a combination of long term Buy to Let investments and buy and flip deals.

In this article I just wanted to share the actual figures involved so you may get a realistic idea of what can be achieved from investing in property.

Firstly we look at three completions which took place in the last few weeks.

1) A two bedroom ex local authority property in Edgware Rd, long lease, low service charge, came with tenants in the property.

Required absolutely no work. A duplex and has a rental income coming in from day one, it was purchased with an existing tenancy.

This client opted for a 75% mortgage and the interest rate was only 3.69% on a 2 year fixed meaning the annual mortgage payment is £8302 pa.

Purchased for Rental income Lease Service charge

£300,000 £28,600 100+ £1,000 pa

2) Again a duplex flat in a purpose built block. This one came with a share of freehold and it is self managed by the residents.

Always a good thing, as no one will take care of the block better than those who actually reside there.

This property also came with a tenant so the mortgage was being paid from day one. The mortgage on this was a 5.39% 3 yr Fixed at 70% Loan to Value this comes to £10,753 pa.

Purchased for Rental income Lease Service charge

£285,000 £24,700 Share of Freehold £500 pa

3) This was a conversion opportunity. The property is a ground floor duplex which had the potential to convert from a two bedroom to a three bedroom.

Being accessed from the ground floor is very attractive to families, which is an important point if the flat is to be converted to a three bedroom, as now you are aiming for this sector.

Here the rental is not as high as the above two properties.

Actually the above two are inflated meaning the contracts were agreed prior to April this year, which is before the government placed caps. On the positive side is this property has added value because of the conversion. In this scenario the mortgage was at 4.95% on a 2 Yr Tracker at 75% LTV this comes to £10,951 pa.

Purchased for Rental income Lease Service charge

£295,000 £23,400 100+ £1,000 pa

The other properties we are due to complete shortly on are a headlease on three studio flats on Haverstock Hill for £291,000. The aim here to break up the portfolio and resell on. The properties come rented and are earning £25,000pa. The clients here had a pre approved overdraft arranged to purchase the whole deal in cash at very modest rates of interest. Our advice was to resell these properties on. Two of the properties are on a normal tenancy the other is a registered tenancy. The last one may have to be sold via another auction. The other two can be sold conventionally. We anticipate a resell value of £140,000 for the 2 AST properties so in effect whatever the last property sells for will be virtually all profit.

Last Friday we exchanged on a two bedroom property in a block called Davenport on the famous or infamous street known as Sussex Gdns, infamous because going a few years back it was known as a red light district, since then it has been cleaned up as part of the overall Paddington regeneration.

The property was a repossession we bought from a bank. This is your typical pad in central London: a lovely kept communal area and nice portered entrance. The flat is on the first floor over looking communal gardens.

High service charges of £5,000 as expected for these types of flats. From a yield perspective this severely dents your income.

Whatever rental you get will be reduced by £100 pw due to service charges. This type of flat is bought for sheer capital growth, little

consideration is given to the yield apart from it will cover itself. Due to the chronic lack of property in this location and demand from overseas, Hamptons have already given us an indication of £650,000 - we exchanged at £499,950. What made us see the potential here was it was a plain vanilla beautiful flat what one would expect in this location. The price was very reasonable.

However, our agents were complaining of the continuing lack of stock which we knew would drive the price high even in the few months between acceptance of the offer to the completion.

Completion is due on the 19th August 2011. We do not envisage a problem in getting close to this figure. The only issue will be a buyer requiring a mortgage will not be able to purchase as we the owners have not held the property for more than 6 months. This will mean a cash buyer will need to purchase. But there are no shortage of these.

The other property was for a long standing client who originally came to us years ago when we only dealt in mortgages. I remember the famous words he used as to why he chose Sow & Reap as he also had another mortgage broker.

He chose us because we were Indians! He wanted either Indian or Jewish advisers around him! There’s no smoke without fire, a general look at who dominates the property auctions will validate his theory.

Indeed most of the residents on the famous Bishsops Avenue are of Jewish or Indian backgrounds. As we have expanded in other fields so our original clients have grown with us. He has purchased two properties through us previously and has made good money. He purchases blind on our say so. One of the properties we picked up a couple of years ago for him at £214,000 has been valued at £325,000 in W2, he spent £22,000 on refurbishment. Anyhow this time around not only did he purchase blind but we purchased blind too!

Normally we would inspect the property in every way as well as do on the ground research.

The property was a two bedroom a few minutes from Brockley station. The property was picked up for £131,000 in auction and research tells us we can resell for around £180,000-£190,000. It will be rented easily for £900pm. The property is occupied by the current owners. This would imply it is of a certain standard and not too much work is required. Unless of course it featured in the programme How Clean Is Your Home!

This was a chance purchase and due to the deposit of about £32,000 our client was happy to have a punt, which from initial research looks like it will pay off handsomely. We would not recommend someone to spend their life savings in this manner. But property on the whole is a forgiving business. There’s a saying: buying a dud property is like having a bad haircut, if you wait long enough it will grow back again.

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now: Specialists in: l Property Sourcing l Mortgages l Commercial Finance l India Properties

UK Sales 0207 313 4595 India Sales 0203 384 5323 Westbourne House, 14-16 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5RH

Tips of the Week l Before decorating a property decide whether it's for reselling or long term tenancy and do the work accordingly. l When purchasing at auction ensure the current owner has held the property for more than 6 months. Otherwise you may have difficulty obtaining finance.

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fInanCIal voIce

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field of Leadership and Human Resource Management

Maria Fernandes

maria@abplgroup.com

The Highly Trusted Categories?

The UKBA, having introduced Sponsorship registration 2 years ago which added a thick layer of bureaucracy to businesses already burdened with regulations, the situation has steadily got worse, with new “operational changes” taking place by email.

Sponsors (Employers and educational Institutions) have been complaining about the fact that their inboxes are littered with emails and that it is often difficult for them to distinguish the important ones from the standard fare.

Well if you thought this was bad things are already on their way to becoming worse for most.

Of course the ones who will always win, whatever happens, are the big guns, the big businesses that bring huge numbers of staff. If there is one thing we should be able to take

away from the hacking debacle is that big businesses are not necessarily the most trustworthy.

Now there is to be a layer over the Sponsorship registration Scheme called the Highly Trusted category. For institutions this process has already begun in earnest and all institutions under Tier 4 will need to have Highly Trusted status to operate after April 2012.

A new Highly Trusted category is now being introduced for employers under Tier 2. It will only apply to those who have issued a large number of certificates (around 40) and will involve an application process (at no extra charge for now), and if successful will result in a lowering of monitoring of Sponsors. Gradually the process will extend I feel sure to all employers and

the small ones will find themselves unable to bring staff, that privilege only being reserved to the chosen few.

Just like the relationship between the police and the News of the World was a unnaturally close one, so too is the relationship between some of the big (private and profit making) companies and the UKBA staff. Privileges are available to them which would be unthinkable to the smaller business. This new process will only exacerbate this problem.

Maria Fernandes has been in practice exclusively in immigration for the past 25 years.

Fernandes Vaz is based at 87 Wembley Hill Road Wembley in Wembley and can be contacted by telephone on 02087330123, by email on info@fernandesvaz.com.

Foreign investors in Indian retail get secretaries' nod A panel of secretaries set the stage for allowing overseas retailers such as WalMart, Tesco and Carrefour to open stores in India through majority-owned joint ventures. The proposal will now have to be cleared by the Union Cabinet before the rules are notified.

Sources present in the meeting said the committee of secretaries headed by cabinet secretary A K Seth approved the proposal to permit multi-brand retailers to hold up to 51% in Indian companies that would set up retail outlets.

The riders that would be put in place would be worked out by the government. "The details will be finalized," said a secretary present in the meeting.

The committee of secretaries would approve the long-pending proposal this month, paving the way for

a Cabinet decision over the next few weeks.

Allowing foreign investment in retail has been on the drawing board for six-seven years but the government has dithered

on opening up the sector to foreign competition fearing adverse impact on local kirana stores. As a result, the government chose to first allow foreign players to set up what is known as wholesale cashand-carry, where 100% FDI is now permitted.

Keys Hotel forays into Gujarat market Keys Hotel, the mid-market brand of Bergguren Hotels funded by New York-based Bergguren Holdings forayed into Gujarat market through strategic alliance with Ahmedabad - based Cama Hotels Ltd. “We will manage the 50 room running hotel of Cama Group situated in Khanpur area on management contract basis,” said Sanjay Sethi, managing director & CEO of Keys Hotels.

As part of ongoing expansion plans of the

company, Keys Hotel is constructing a 100-room hotel near RC Dutt road in Alkapuri area of Vadodara.

The company is also planning to spread its wing in Surat and looking forward to acquire property on management contract model.

The Mumbai-based hospitality brand operates 10 properties including hotels, resorts and service apartments in Mumbai, Chennai, Trivandrum, Ludhiana, Banglore, Lonavala, Mahableshwar and now in Ahmedabad.

Under this segment, the stores can only sell to institutional buyers such as restaurant owners, hotels and even retailers.

This was followed by allowing foreign companies to set up stores where only one brand was allowed to be sold. Since 2006, foreign investors can hold up to 51% stake in what is called singlebrand retailing.

The latest move is to throw open the multi-brand retail business to foreign players, several of whom are already present in India in the wholesale cash-andcarry format through local joint ventures.

Government sources said the proposal has gained momentum with both prime minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee backing it.

The Right Decision?

should take responsibility for the actions of those working for her. Now if this premise was to be applied with any degree of consistency, then it would imply that the Prime Minister may also resign over the hiring of Andy Coulson. When questioned about this appointment, Cameron repeatedly stated that he was given assurances and decided to give Mr Coulson a second chance.

Very magnanimous of him too. While it remains to be determined if Coulson is guilty of any wrongdoing, should he be charged and convicted, who should take responsibility for his appointment?

Some may wonder why the Prime Minister would be under such pressure about his decision to hire Coulson? We are after all talking about a Communications director. This is to some extent true and I for one do not totally subscribe to the view propagated by some political commentators that Cameron may face

pressure to resign over this, however it does highlight the inconsistency (and even hypocrisy) inherent every time people use the term ‘the right decision’.

In the case of Brooks it was clearly the right decision – but was it for the right reasons? Was it right for the sake of being the moral and ethical thing to do? It seems not. Brooks still maintains that she knew nothing and so should not be held responsible. She even went as far as claiming that she was only stepping down as she was becoming a distraction to the investigation seeking to find the true perpetrators. I wonder what Cameron would say? He has already said that he would be ‘angry’ if he has been misled, but is being angry enough?

More to the point if we are to use the same yardstick he used for Brooks, will he make the right decision?

Indian govt sees growth slowing to 8.6%

Vodafone India revenue up 9% in Q1

When it was announced that Rebecca Brooks had tendered her resignation (for the second time) and that, it had been accepted, Prime Minister David Cameron described it as the ‘right decision’.

Considering the events of the past few weeks and the fact that she had, perhaps unwittingly, become the object of public scorn, it is easy to see why he would say that. Her position had become untenable. She was the Editor of the News of the World at the time of the phone hacking and despite claiming that she knew nothing of what was going on in her office, she was the person charged with ensuring such things did not happen.

That is all very well and has been discussed exhaustively in the media.

However Cameron’s statement does open up another interesting debate.

Cameron’s assertion that her resignation was the right decision was based on the premise that as the person in charge, she

India’s finance ministry admitted that there is a need to revisit the growth outlook for the current financial year and said it would be around 8.6%, lower than the earlier projection of 9% plus expansion.

A ministry note also said that inflation would remain persistently high between August and December and then start easing, but the impact of high global commodity prices would still keep it in the 6%- 7% range by March 2012.

The finance ministry has launched an image makeover exercise to dispel doubts about the strength of the economic expansion in Asia's thirdlargest economy after a

slew of data pointed to moderation in growth.

In the Economic Survey, a report card of the economy released ahead of the budget in February, the ministry had said the economy was expected to grow 9% (plus/minus 0.25) in 2011-12 based on the performance over the last five years and analysis of the trends of critical variables.

But the impact of stubbornly high inflation on growth as a result of the consistent interest rate tightening by the central bank seemed to have prompted the ministry to revisit its estimate. The RBI has said it is ready to sacrifice some short term growth to calm price pressures.

India's central bank hikes rates to tame inflation India's central bank on Tuesday sharply hiked key rates by 50 basis points in the 11th such exercise since January 2010 to tame inflation, setting the stage for commercial banks to raise their interest charged on personal and corporate loans.

The repurchase rate, the interest the central bank levies on short-term borrowing by commercial banks, has been hiked to 8 per cent from 7.5 per cent and reverse repurchase rate, or interest paid on short-

term lending, raised to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent.

The rate hikes were effected by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao during the first quarterly review of the apex bank's monetary policy for this fiscal.

While the rate hike was expected, the quantum of increase shocked the markets, which saw the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay

Stock Exchange (BSE) dip to 18,588.64 points, to log a loss of 282.65 points, or 1.5 per cent over the previous close.

The situation was no different at the National Stock Exchange, where the broader S&P CNX Nifty was ruling at 5,591.25 points, with a fall of 89.05 points, or 1.57 per cent. All sectorspecific indices at the two bourses were also down.

By Amit Patel

British telecom major, Vodafone Group, said that its Indian arm has posted a 9% growth in revenue at 1.03 billion pounds during the first quarter ended June 30, 2011. The growth was largely due to a 30% increase in customer base, stabilizing mobile voice pricing in the market and a 70% growth in data revenue.

The Vodafone group as a whole reported a growth of 3.5% in revenue at 11.65 billion pounds for the same period.

For the financial year ended March 2011, the Indian unit had posted an adjusted operating profit of 15 million pounds, the first time in its four years of operations. In a statement, Vodafone said, as of June 30, 2011, its Indian arm had 26 million data customers, a year-on-year increase of almost 200%.

"The growth was driven by an increase in sales of data-enabled handsets and the continued impact of successful marketing campaigns run in conjunction with the sponsorship of key sporting events," the company said. The UK based telco said its performance was still hit by the sluggish southern Europe market.

Europe service revenue declined 1.3%.

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

21

Foreign Exchange Rajesh Agrawal is the Chairman & CEO of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

For any further information call 020 7220 8181 or e-mail info@rationalfx.com

US Debt Spiralling Out of Control UK has had little data released and therefore saw little movement on the back of this against its other counterparts. The BoE minutes were released, with a 72 vote on interest rates along with a 8-1 vote on QE. Talk of any QE remains muted however if our inflation begins to fall sharply after the July number to 4.2% from 4.5% the MPC would possible look further into QE, which I’m sure Sterling wouldn’t take too kindly. Positive figures in the form of Retail sales and Public Sector Net Borrowing,

saw sterling trade higher against both the Euro and US dollar even before the EU aid package for a second bail out of Greece was released, this saw sterling trade as high as 1.6392 in late New York trade. Sterling in fairness has only really found some real support over the last two days due to a positive outcome

from the EU summit meeting.

Where EU officials have agreed to extend the maturities on loans and reduce the interest rates on those loans of Spain, Portugal and Ireland and also extend Greece’s debt from 5 years to over 15 years.

Early last week looking back at the Banks Stress Tests, we saw 8 banks fail which is more than the expected. Whilst this did not include any of the major players we saw the Euro weaken dramatically as it fell over 100 points against the USD. Although the problems surrounding Greece have still not been resolved, it has been side lined as Italy took centre stage.

Figures also squashed speculation over the ECB purchasing Italian yields with data confirming that they made zero purchases. During the middle of the week, Merkel and Sarkozy arrived at some sort of agreement to help Greece and avoid the debt contagion from spreading. This caused the Euro strengthened 0.4% early morning, gaining against 80% of its major counterparts. Nearing the end of the week Euro managed to gain back lost ground from some negative data releases as the EMU draft document was released. This document stated

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 26th July 2011 @ 2.30pm GBP - INR = 72.48 USD - INR = 44.17 EUR - INR = 63.98 GBP - USD = 1.64 GBP - EUR = 1.13 EUR - USD = 1.45 GBP - AED = 6.03 GBP - CAD = 1.54 GBP - NZD = 1.88

that EFSF will extend loans to Greece for 7.5 to 15 years and lending rates will also be reduced to 3.5%. As well as this the European Central Bank signaled that for the first time Private Investors would also be offering aid to Greece.

The US started the week with US Net Long-Term TIC Flows for May, which dropped from 48.4B to 23.6B. The US debt has now become a real problem and investors are not paying as much importance to data being released. There was no real major data out from the

US on Tuesday; however all the talk focussed on the US debt issue. The US has until 2nd August to make a decision on the way forward. President Obama would like to increase Tax while the Republicans want to reduce the deficit, which has currently exceeded their $14.1 trillion threshold. They therefore have 3 choices, either increase taxes, makes major cuts to reduce deficit or increase the deficit threshold. All the focus will therefore be on the US and the decision made on 2nd August.

GBP - AUD = 1.49 GBP - ZAR = 10.95 GBP - HUF = 302.81

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

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PakIStan-BagladeSh-SrI lanka

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

US embassy staff barred from entering Peshawar

Washington: In an action that would further strain US-Pakistan relations after the killing of Osama bin Laden on its soil by American special forces in May, Pakistani authorities have repeatedly denied permission to US embassy employees to enter Peshawar to attend meetings or replace workers at the US Consulate in the city over the past 10 days.

Most Pakistanis view the US consulate in Peshawar as a front for CIA operations.

'The widely publicized episodes in Peshawar threaten to become another flash point in a

frayed bilateral relationship that US officials had hoped was improving, after fatal shootings by a CIA contractor and the US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden,'' the report said.

After the killing of the al-Qaeda leader by US forces and the killing of two Pakistanis by CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Lahore in January, Pakistan expelled more than 100 US army trainers. In retaliation, the Obama administration stopped $800 million in aid to the Pakistani military earlier this month.

Their embassy notified

Pakistani police that their employees were driving from Islamabad to Peshawar and should be escorted from the highway into the city.

'On those (four) occasions, the employees were turned away at the (highway) tollbooth for lacking permits known as 'No Objection Certificates,' or NOCs, which are issued by the federal Interior Ministry but can also involve approvals from the military or intelligence agencies,'' the report said.

According to US officials, their embassy staff never needed permits as they have an agreement

Pro- LTTE party sweeps Tiger land in council poll Colombo: The pro-LTTE political group TNA emerged as a major force in Sri Lanka's war-ravaged north with an overwhelming vote in its favour handing it two-thirds of the local council seats, even as President Mahinda Rajapaksa's coalition swept polls in other parts of the country.

In the first post-LTTE provincial elections in the north that came in more than 25 years, the TNA once a political arm of the Tamil Tigers - came out with a thumping majority but Rajapaksa's ruling alliance UPFA did not impress.

While TNA won 18 of

the 26 councils, another Tamil opposition party TULF won two seats and the ruling UPFA could muster only two even as it won 45 of the 65 total seats that went to polls all over the country.

The UPFA's victory on two council seats is largely being credited to Douglas Devananda, the Tamil minister and leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), whose party dominates the Jaffna islets of Delft and Velanai, the only councils the ruling coalition could win in the north.

"The people have for the first time in electoral history recognised the Sri

Lanka Freedom Party as a major force in northern politics," Rajitha Senaratne, the minister of fisheries, said.

The local council elections were conducted across Sri Lanka but the focus was on Kilinochchi and Jaffna in the north, where Tamils voted two years after a three-decade war came to an end with the killing of Tiger supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

The main opposition Sinhala parties suffered a drubbing as the United National Party (UNP) and the Marxist JVP could not win any council. The UNP in fact lost three councils which they were controlling.

Pak to add 24 missiles capable of hitting India Islamabad: Pakistan plans to add 24 nuclear-capable, short-range missiles capable of hitting all major Indian cities to its arsenal this year, reflecting an urge in the security establishment to seek “strategic parity in the region”, according to a media report on Monday.

This will be the highest number of missiles Pakistan has ever produced in a year, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted its sources as saying. The air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles will be able to hit targets at a distance between 700 km and 1,000 km, thus put-

ting nearly all major Indian cities within their range, the report claimed.

The plan is in line with Pakistan's official policy of having what is rhetorically called “maintaining a minimum deterrence”, especially against India, the daily quoted sources as saying. The Strategic Plans Division (SPD) - the body that oversees Pakistan's nuclear arsenal

Washington: A US court deferred a scheduled detention hearing of alleged ISI agent Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai to next week after his lead attorney pleaded a scheduling conflict, even as Islamabad, while appreciating Fai's work on Kashmir, accused Washington of a 'slander campaign' against Pakistan.

Fai, 62, is charged with failing to disclose his ties to the Pakistani government and ISI, which illegally funneled millions of

dollars into US to influence American policymakers. If convicted, Fai and his co-accused, Zaheer Ahmed, who is said to be in Pakistan, face up to five years in prison. The US has not said if it will seek his extradition, nor has it made the Pakistani government and ISI officials named in the affidavit a party to the case.

The brief courtroom episode last week was eclipsed by Islamabad's rage over L'affaire Fai that

- is supervising the production of the new missiles. The SPD works under the National Command Authority, which is nominally headed by the Prime Minister and has the three service chiefs as its members.

At a recent meeting of the NCA, the SPD briefed authorities about its plan envisaging the production of the highest number of missiles in a year. The move comes on the heels of reports earlier in the year that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal and the number of its atomic warheads might have surpassed that of France.

that diplomats can travel between embassy and consular posts without permits as NOCs can take more than a week.

But Pakistani officials have been quoted as saying the requirement for permits was never waived and applies to all foreigners. The refusal four times to the US embassy employees to enter Peshawar became a sort of media spectacle.

Cut up with the Pakistani action, a US official has been quoted as saying that 'to us, this is not a constructive way to rebuild the relationship.''

Bangladeshi has brick tied to penis as punishment Dhaka: A village council near Dhaka has forced a 30-year-old man to parade naked through the streets with a brick tied to his penis as a punishment for kidnapping and marrying a minor. The police said that the man first kidnapped and then forcibly married a 12-year-old girl, who later managed to escape.

"The council chief and some village elders beat him and made him parade with a brick tied to his penis at a river ghat (steps) under the full gaze of at least 200 people," police sub-inspector Binoy Krishna Kar said.

Village courts are legal in Bangladesh but only empowered to settle disputes related to land ownership, inheritance and other minor issues. They are proscribed from handing down physical punishment.

The latest incident came a week after the global rights monitor Human Rights Watch released a statement highlighting abuses committed by local councils which are often the result of religious edicts or fatwas. The group urged Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 142 million people, to take urgent measures to prevent such cases, which have been blamed for the deaths of dozens of women in recent years.

Fai hearing delayed, Pak rages against US

Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai

squarely implicates Pakistan and its intelligence agency in illegal acts in the US. After initially disowning association with Fai through its embassy in Washington,

the Pakistani foreign office lashed out at the US while acknowledging the contributions made by Fai's Kashmiri-American Council (KAC) 'for the cause of J&K'.

"A demarche was made to the US embassy in Islamabad to register our concerns, in particular the slander campaign against Pakistan. Our embassy in Washington has also been asked to ascertain details," the foreign office statement said.

In focUS 44 killed in fresh Karachi violence

Karachi: Fresh political and ethnic violence gripped Pakistan's commercial capital over the past three days, leaving up to 44 people dead and taking the death toll for July to 339, city police said on Monday. Most of the weekend's casualties were reported in the city's eastern Malir, Landhi and adjoining areas - a multi-ethnic, lower middle class neighbourhood. "We have identified the people and at least 200 police commandos will be dispatched to search and arrest these people," said Naeem Boroka, a senior police official in Karachi's eastern area. Police said there was no clear reason for the latest bout of fighting.

JuD chief Hafiz Saeed vows to enter India Lahore: Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has vowed to enter India through Jammu and Kashmir. Saeed, the founder of the banned Lashkar-eTaiba and blamed by India for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, said: "From the door of Kashmir we will launch Gazwah-e-Hind (battle for Hindustan)".

Addressing a meeting during a tour of several cities in Pakistan's Punjab province last week, he claimed that there was a secret agreement between India and Israel to "destroy Pakistan's nuclear assets." New Delhi has been pressing for action against Saeed who continues to roam freely in Pakistan making anti-India tirades.

Rapist father gets death in Pakistan Lahore: A Pakistani court has awarded the death sentence to a man for raping his 15-year-old daughter.

Additional sessions judge Tahir Khan Niazi handed down the capital punishment last week after the charge against Khalid Amin was proved. Khan's ex-wife Parveen Bibi filed a first information report at Kahna police station in Lahore, accusing her former husband of raping their daughter for a month in 2009. Amin divorced Parveen in 2008 and the couple's two daughters and four sons were living with the father. The girl testified in court that her father raped her for at least a month.

NATO kills 50 Haqqani fighters in Afghanistan Kabul: The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan special forces killed over 50 Haqqani fighters during an operation in the east of Afghanistan. The 48-hour air and ground operation on Friday was conducted in Paktika province, known to be a hub of activity for the Talibanlinked Haqqani network. The encampment site was a staging area for Haqqani and foreign fighters. These fighters were moved into the country by Haqqani insurgents who planned to use them for attacks throughout Afghanistan.

Pakistan renovates 10 temples Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have completed the rehabilitation and repair of 10 temples in cities across the country, including the famed Katas Raj temple in Chakwal, at a cost of millions of rupees. The repair of the temples was part of a welfare programme for the minority communities of the country. The temples which were repaired or renovated by the government include the Krishna Mandir in Lahore, the Sadhu Bela shrine at Sukkur, Jholay Lal Mandir in Karachi, Gurpat Mandir Siro Ghat in Hyderabad, Bhagat Ram Mandir and Sant Thawar Das Mandir in Dadu and Krishna Mandir in Rawalpindi.

19 die during urs celebration in Pakistan Islamabad: At least 19 people have died in separate incidents of drowning and suffocation in the intense heat during an annual urs celebrations in Pakistan's Sindh province. Six people drowned while bathing in a canal while 13 others were suffocated during the threeday urs celebration of Hazrat Usman Marvendi Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan town of Sindh's Jamshoro district. Tens of thousands of devotees converged from different parts of the country to pay homage to Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar on his 759th annual urs celebrations this year.

Hina Rabbani’s appointment flayed Islamabad: Barring few who believe that appointment of the 34-year-old first woman foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar will portray a softer image of Pakistan abroad, majority of Pakistanis believe that Khar was inexperienced and misfit for the job of a top diplomat at a time when the country is confronted with the multitude of problems inside and abroad. Her critics say that she holds a degree in hotel management and has only five months of experience in foreign affairs.

Another big hurdle for her or any other Pakistani foreign policy maker in taking crucial, bold and independent decisions is the country's powerful security establishment. How she deals with military power centre which has kept Pakistan's foreign policy hostage to military adventurism since inception will test her real mettle in the realm of diplomacy. Hina Rabbani entered into politics by default.

world

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

IN focus 43 killed in China’s first bullet train accident

Beijing: At least 43 passengers were killed and 211 injured in China's first bullet train crash. The shocked government on Sunday sacked three top rail officials holding them responsible for the accident. The accident took place when a train that lost power after being struck by lightning and was hit by another train, sending four compartments plunging from a viaduct and derailing another two. The first train was travelling south from Hangzhou, the capital of southern Zhejiang Province, when it lost power and stalled, before being hit by another train in Wenzhou city, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Luckily, a toddler was rescued about 21 hours after the deadly crash, Xinhua added.

Hindus sue American eatery for serving them meat

New Delhi: An American eatery has landed in trouble as it served meat filled samosas to a group of vegetarian Hindus. They have sued the restaurant and asked for a trip to India. It was reported that a group of vegetarian Hindus had gone to a restaurant, Moghul Express, to celebrate India Day. After being assured by the restaurant that the dish was vegetarian, the group tasted the samosas and complained about its filling.

Following this, the angry Hindus sued the restaurant asking them to pay for their trip to India for a 'cleansing ritual', reports Newser.

Heat wave claims 24 lives in US New York: At least 24 people have been killed in a heat wave that is gripping parts of US, bringing temperatures around 40 degree Celsius along with high humidity. The temperatures could go up even higher in the central and eastern parts of the country. New York City experienced a record high this week as the temperature soared to 40 degree Celsius - just a degree short of its all time high. The heat also called power outages impacting at least 24,000 people in NYC alone. The temperature in Newark, New Jersey soared to 42 degrees - the highest ever in the city. Hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed with heat-inflicted patients.

Fifty-five cities have experienced record temperatures.

Landing of Atlantis ends NASA’s shuttle era Cape Canaveral: The space shuttle Atlantis glided home through a clear moonlit sky last week to complete a 13-day cargo run to the International Space Station and a 30-year odyssey for NASA's shuttle program. Commander Chris Ferguson gently steered the 100-tonne spaceship high overhead, then nose-dived toward the swamp-surrounded landing strip at the Kennedy Space Center, a few miles (km) from where Atlantis will go on display as a museum piece. Double sonic booms shattered the predawn silence around the space center, the last time residents will hear the sound of a shuttle coming home.

93 killed Norway’s twin attacks Anders Behring Breivik has confessed to the bombing in Oslo and the mass shooting Oslo: In twin attacks in Norway, the deadliest since World War II, left at least 93 people dead after a gunman fatally shot at a political youth camp near Oslo and a bomb in the capital’s government quarter killed seven.

A 32-year-old Norwegian man, Anders Behring Breivik, has confessed to the bombing in Oslo and the mass shooting at a youth camp on Utøya island, but denied criminal responsibility. He said he wanted to start a revolution in Norwegian society to defeat liberal immigration policies and the spread of Islam.

“He has been charged in both” incidents, Deputy Oslo Police Chief Roger Andresen told reporters.

The two counts of “dangerous crimes to society” mean the perpetrator could receive 21 years in prison, Norway’s toughest punishment, Andresen said.

"He thought it was gruesome having to commit these acts, but in his head they were necessary," Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told the Norwegian broadcaster NRK. After detonating the bomb that killed seven in downtown Oslo, Breivik embarked on a shooting spree at a summer youth camp on Utøya island, killing at least 86 which rose to 93 now is the

Anders Behring Breivik A man lights a candle to pay tribute to victims of the twin attacks near the Domkirke church in central Oslo, Norway

biggest massacre by a single gunman in modern times.

Police say he still had a "significant amount" of ammunition when arrested.

Although Breivik told officers he had acted alone, Norwegian police are investigating whether he received help during the attacks. Surgeons, meanwhile, confirmed he used "dum-dum" bullets designed to disintegrate inside the body and cause maximum internal damage.

A self-confessed Muslim-hating fundamentalist Christian, the 32year-old Norwegian chose an Indian art firm to produce badges for his crusader organisation. As details from his manifesto become known, it has come to light that the “badge of the Justiciar Knight” was sourced from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh,

India. The name of the firm is “Indian Art Company,” situated in one of the narrow lanes of Varanasi, home to the ancient city's traditional weavers who are struggling to eke out a living in a rapidly changing economic environment.

“Yes, I had made two samples for somebody from Norway but that was about a year ago,” Mohammad Aslam Ansari of the ‘Indian Art Company' confirmed when the source spoke to him on the phone. Meanwhile, the killer wanted to tell Norway and the world why he killed 93 people, but a judge ruled that Monday's custody hearing would be closed to the public.

Prosecutors want Breivik detained for an initial eight weeks - normally this is in solitary confine-

Suu Kyi holds talks with new govt Yangon: Just days after the US called for "concrete" progress towards democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi met with a minister of Myanmar's new government for the first time on Monday, raising tentative hopes of sustained dialogue. "They are meeting now," a government official said, without offering further details, as reporters waited outside a state guesthouse in Myanmar's main city. Suu Kyi has frequently urged dialogue with the government since her release in November last year, but the authorities' decision to hold talks met with a mixed reaction from observers, with some seeing it as aimed at gaining concessions from the global community.

Egypt says no to international election monitors Cairo: Egypt's council of military rulers will not allow international monitors to observe upcoming parliamentary elections designed to move the country back toward civilian rule, a council member said last week.

The decision, which is part of a new election law approved by the country's ruling generals, was swiftly criticized by activists who said it raises questions about the transparency of the first elections after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak and urged the military to reconsider.

ment with no access to news, letters or visitors, except a lawyer. His custody can be extended before his trial on terrorism charges.

Police have said a trial could be a year away. The maximum jail term in Norway is 21 years, although that can be extended if there is a risk of repeat offences.

"In theory he can be in jail for the rest of his life," said Staale Eskeland, professor of criminal law at the University of Oslo.

Craving for publicity Breivik, a self-confessed mass killer, has said through his lawyer that he wants to explain his motives at the hearing.

The 32-year-old, who portrays himself as crusader against a tide of Islam in a rambling 1,500-page online manifesto, says he wants to explain acts he deemed 'atrocious' but 'necessary'.

Kenyans to sue Britain over Mau Mau abuse

Sikh rally at UN for Bhullar's clemency New York: Hundreds of Sikhs held a rally at the UN headquarters here to seek the world body's pressure on India to stop execution of Devenderpal Singh Bhullar, who has been sentenced to death for masterminding a terror attack in New Delhi. In a memorandum submitted to the UN Secretary General, the Sikhs, representing various gurdwaras and associations across the US, demanded intervention by the world body 'pursuant to Resolution 62-149 of 2008' to pressure India to grant clemency to Bhullar. 'The use of the death penalty undermines human dignity and any miscarriage or failure of justice in the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable,' the memorandum said.

23

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Nairobi: "For a very long time we have remained steadfast in our pursuit for justice, for the torture we suffered under the British government," said Gitu Kahengeri, the secretary general of the Mau Mau War Veterans Association.

"With court ruling we are happy that there is light at the end of the tunnel," Kahengeri said.

Kenyan veterans of the 1950s Mau Mau uprising celebrated recently after four colleagues won court approval in Britain to sue the British government over brutality they claim they suffered in the struggle.

The claimants - Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambugu Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara, who are in their 70s and 80s - are calling for an apology and a victims' welfare fund. The test case could open the door for claims from around 1,000 others still alive who survived the detention camps during the bloody rebellion against British colonial rule."

As we move forward

we hope that we will have an opportunity to discuss the ways of settling our case as soon as possible," Kahengeri added.

"We are afraid that if the British government continues to deny us justice based on mere technicalities then most of us will not be able to be there to witness justice, if and when it finally comes.

The Foreign Office contends Britain is not legally liable for the alleged abuses, which include castration and torture, saying responsibility was transferred to the Kenyan government upon independence in 1963.

More than 10,000 people were killed during the 1952-1960 Mau Mau uprising, with some figures going much higher.

The case will proceed to a further hearing, due before April 2012, at which the court will consider the government's argument that the claims should not proceed to trial as they have been brought outside the legal time limit.

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INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

BJP may ask Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa to resign The BJP may ask Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa to quit if he is indicted in the Lokayukta report on the illegal mining scam, says sources. Party insiders saying that this move will help the BJP to step up their offensive against the UPA over the corruption charges.

However, Yeddyurappa said he would not resign and said he had left the decision to BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

'The party will take a decision based on the charges in the report. Till we officially get the report, we will not get to any decision,' the BJP president said.

"Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, so far officially has not submitted the report to the Government. As soon as I receive the report from Lokayukta, then I will be able to reply to all the queries," Yeddyurappa said.

B S Yeddyurappa

Gadkari in turn said he would take a final call based on the findings of Karnataka Lokayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde, who will submit his voluminous report to the state government.

With contents of the report already leaked to the media, all eyes are now on the action that Hegde will recommend against Yeddyurappa as he has found there was 'an element of criminality' on the chief minister's part.

"There is an element of

criminality on the part of the chief minister as he heads the mining department and is responsible for all acts of omission and commission in it," the Lokayukta said.

Besides illegal mining, Yeddyurappa is also under attack over tapping Hegde's phone. Hegde suspects that tapping of phone is the source for the leak of contents of the report.

Yeddyurappa had also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up a panel to probe telephone tapping of Lokayukta.

Besides Yeddyurappa, the others named in the Lokayukta report are mining barons the Reddy brothers G. Janardhana (tourism) and G. Karunakara (revenue), their associate B. Sriramulu (health) and Yeddyurappa loyalist V. Somanna (civil supplies).

US wants India to play more of leadership role in Asia

Hillary Clinton

Indo-US ties and that the bilateral relationship would be a defining partnership of the 21st century.

"We have a common commitment to combating terrorism and achieving economic prosperity," she told students and opinion makers at the Anna Centenary Library hall here.

"It is true we are different countries with different

Cartoon: Jami

Betting on India's future, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the country should play a "more assertive" role across AsiaPacific, noting that this is a "time to lead" by seizing emerging opportunities.

In comments against the backdrop of growing Chinese assertiveness in Asia, Clinton said India's leadership has the potential to positively shape the future of the Asia-Pacific and that the US encourages the country to not just to look east, but continue to engage and "act east" as well.

Clinton, who is the first American top diplomat to visit Chennai during a India trip, also asserted that the bondage outweighed differences in

Fish in proh g is ibite d

Catching fish is not allowed...

backgrounds. We will from time to time disagree. But we believe our differences are far outweighed by the bondage," Clinton said, addressing students and opinion makers at Anna Centenary Library here.

Clinton began her address saying "Vanakkam," a vernacular greeting, triggering a round of applause.

Noting that the role she was asking India to play is ambitious, Clinton said, "Yes, it is an ambitious agenda, but we can afford to be ambitious."

"It's time(for India) to lead. It has to do more to integrate economically with neighbors Afghanistan and Pakistan and take a more assertive role across the Asia-Pacific," Clinton said a day after attending the second Indo-US joint strategic dialogue in New Delhi.

"This is not a time when any of us can afford to look inward at the expense of looking outward. This is a time to seize the emerging opportunities of the 21st century. This is a time to lead." she said "We are betting on India's future...That the opening of India's markets to world will produce a more prosperous India and South Asia. We are betting that India's vibrant pluralistic society will inspire others to follow a similar path of tolerance. We are making this bet not out of blind faith but because we have watched your progress with great admiration," she added.

In Clinton's view, the US was not making this bet not out of some blind faith but because it has watched the progress of India with "great admiration".

In divine light

By Rajen Vakil

The preparation for the descent of Ganga There was a king of the Ikshvaku race called Saagar who did not have any children. Along with his two wives Vaidharbhi and Shaibya, Saagar went to Mt Kailas and worshipped Lord Shiva. After many years of austerity, Lord Shiva was pleased and told him that both his queens would get pregnant. To the elder, 60,000 brave boys would be born who would be great warriors but would die because of the wrath of a rishi. The younger queen would give birth to only one child who would be special, very courageous and who would continue his race.

The king returned to his kingdom and soon after, his younger queen gave birth to a beautiful son named Asamanja.

The elder queen delivered a pumpkin. The king thought of throwing away the pumpkin but was stopped by a divine voice, which guided him to remove the seeds of the pumpkin, mix them with ghee and to plant them in pots. Saagar removed 60,000 seeds from the pumpkin, and soon after, 60,000 fully grown brave sons arose from the pots.

The king was very happy and decided to perform the Ashwamedha yagna or the horse sacrifice.

The sacrificial horse roamed all over the earth and was protected by his warrior sons. One day the horse neared a waterless ocean, and thereafter vanished from sight. The sons searched for the horse in every possible place but could not find the horse. They went to their father who angrily told them to find it and not come back till they had. So, the sons decided to dig deep into the waterless ocean. At the bottom of the ocean they found the great rishi Kapila in deep meditation.

Standing next to him was their horse. Immediately they seized the horse. The Rishi opened his eyes and saw them taking away the horse. In an instant, he opened his inner eye and reduced all 60,000 warriors to ashes.

The king had previously banished his son from his younger queen, Asamanja, from the kingdom. Now the distraught King approached the son of Asamanja called Anshuman, and pleaded with him to go and search for his uncles who had gone to find the horse.

Anshuman followed the hole in the ocean and

reached the spot where the rishi was meditating.

All around he saw the burnt bones of his uncles.

He paid his respects to the Rishi who was very pleased with him and told him to ask for a boon.

Anshuman asked for the sacrificial horse. The rishi did so and told him that he would become a great king known far and wide for his tremendous courage, exemplary generosity and forgiveness.

Anshuman asked what would happen to the spirits of his dead 60,000 uncles. The rishi replied that Anshumanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grandson would be a great king and would please the river Ganga in the heavens who would descend to the earth. When her waters fill the oceans once again his dead uncles would be free. Anshuman went back to his grandfather who completed his sacrifice. He then crowned Anshuman as king and retired to the forest.

Next week we will interpret this story in the light of our psychic nature.

The author can be reached by emailing 3srb@live.com.

(Edited by Chintu Gandhi)

All past articles on the Mahabharata can be accessed from http://epaper.asianvoice.com or from http://www.3stepbreath.com/mahabharata.html

Surat fourth fastest growing city in world The diamond city's glitter has been noticed by the world. Surat ranks fourth in a global study of fastest developing cities conducted

by The City Mayors Foundation, an international think tank on urban affairs.

Ghaziabad stands at number two after Beihai in Southern China, which has the stupendous average annual growth rate of 10.58 per cent for 2006 to 2020. Ghaziabad's growth rate is given as 5.20 per cent. The City Mayors Foundation went by assumed annual growth rates for cities and urban areas between 2006 and 2020 based on past growth/decline and forecasts by international and national statistics organizations.

Three other Gujarat cities also figure in the top 100; Rajkot placed at 22 , Ahmedabad at 73 and Vadodara at 86. While the average annual growth rate for Surat is 4.99 per cent, that for Rajkot is 3.63 per cent, Ahmedabad (2.73 per cent) and

Vadodara (2.55 per cent).

The third fastest developing city in the list is Sana'a in Yemen (5.00 per cent) while the fifth spot went to Kabul (4.47 per cent). New Delhi figures at spot no 22 (3.48), Faridabad at no 8 (4.44 per cent) and Agra at 53 (2.93 per cent). Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai do not figure in the top 100.

However, smaller cities around Mumbai have made the grade; Nashik is no 16 (3.90 per cent) and Pune is no 29 (3.46 per cent). In its analysis, The City Mayors Foundation has said, "Many of the world's fastest growing cities are among the best managed.

They have created opportunities for improving quality of life without increasing resource use and environmental problems. How they are governed and planned further will become increasingly important in coming years." Only cities with more than a million or 10 lakh population were

taken in to account.

Surat's population, according to the 2011 census, stands at 44.82 lakh.

All the other top five cities have much smaller populations. In fact, smaller cities have made it to the list of top 100 because their growth rates are higher.

Mayor Raju Desai attributes it to upgradation in the main sectors of textile, diamond and embroidery. "This has resulted in these industries becoming more attractive to many and rapid development is taking place," he said.

Dr Kiran Pandya of the human resource development department of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University attributes this success mainly to forward and backward effects of investments worth crores in the city. "This type of investment in sectors like diamonds, textiles and others leads to development. Other factors like very little law and order problems and minimum labour troubles help the rate of growth.

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

25

Brutality of Educationists in Gujarat Gujarat!! A state known for its rapid development in the field of business as well as politics does not portray the same scenario in higher level education.

Some loopholes are explored this time The main suffering is borne by the H.S.C board students. Many cases are seen in both the streams year over year. Even this year Pooja, a general stream student suffered a lot. She scored almost 60% marks in all the subjects except accountancy in which she tripped. She was promised that justice will favour her and she was very confident that her re-assessment will improve her accountancy score but her expectations

went for a song. At the end, she was informed that she has to reappear for the examination which she came to know a few days before the examination date, not even a week.

This proves the careless & insensible behavior of the educationists. Neither the re-checking results are proved to be fruitful nor are the re-examination dates declared on time.

General stream students are not allowed to get their paper re-assessed, they can only get their final score recalculated, and that's all.

Mostly student don’t get any change in their scores. While general stream students can just get their scores re-calculat-

Govt drafts fresh Lokpal Bill, excludes PM and CJI from its ambit

The government completed drafting the new Lokpal Bill, ignoring the Anna Hazare group`s demand for inclusion of the prime minister, chief justice of India and judges of the higher judiciary as well as conduct of MPs in Parliament in the ambit of the anti-corruption watchdog.

"Drafting of the Lokpal Bill has been completed. The department of personnel and training and legislative department have been instructed to draft a note for placing the draft before the Cabinet," said a source involved in the drafting process. This may happen next week.

While the five ministers on the joint drafting committee have ruled out inclusion of the PM — one of the key issues on which the dialogue with Hazare broke down — the matter may be finally settled after the bill is discussed by a standing committee of Parliament. The drafting panel had included Hazare representatives.

The Cabinet is unlikely to reconsider the decision not to include the prime minister in the Lokpal`s ambit. But with the bill expected to be referred to a standing committee, and both BJP and Left strongly backing the PM`s inclusion with safeguards, the issue is yet to be sealed.

Having tried to outflank Congress on corruption, both BJP and Left will find it difficult to retract their positions.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal made it clear that the political process would determine the bill`s content, saying, "There is no provision for an individual to bring a bill in Parliament." He added that Hazare could approach the standing committee.

PM Manmohan Singh has been in favour of

bringing his office within the Lokpal`s jurisidiction, but senior ministers are overwhelmingly against it, apprehending that the PMO might become a target of frivolous and motivated complaints, making the government vulnerable to political instability.

Anna Hazare has threatened to sit on fast from August 16 if an omnibus anti-corruption watchdog in accordance to his prescription is not created.

The draft Bill also does not bring MPs within the ambit of the Lokpal for their conduct in Parliament that might be influenced by graft. The Hazare group had demanded their inclusion, citing the JMM MPs` bribery case and the recent cash-for-vote scam.

The main reason for exclusion of the CJI and judges of the higher judiciary from the draft Lokpal Bill was that the field was already covered

by Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, which is pending consideration of Parliament.

The MPs` conduct on the floor of Parliament was kept out of the Lokpal Bill because Article 105(2) of the Constitution provided that "no MP shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or any committee thereof...", the sources said.

Though the draft incorporates the agreed points between the government's ministerial nominees and members of the Hazare group, it reflects the UPA government`s insistence that the "civil society" representatives could not hijack the legislation drafting process as they did not have the people's mandate.

ed, science stream students can get their whole paper rechecked and reassessed. No one knows the reason behind this discrimination and nobody even questions it. Even the time and money spent on this process is mostly worthless. Science stream students too are misguided in the same manner. This

issue is common each year.

The examination papers are not even re-checked properly A similar incident took place three years ago wherein a science stream girl of 12th Grade tripped in physics .She applied for re-assessment and was very confident that her score will improve , which

obviously didn’t happen .As a consequence ,she repeated the whole academic year which even affected her mental state.

All these cases presented above don't seem to be serious, but its impacts are brutal and can jeopardize a student’s future. It badly affects their morale and confidence. And if this

things go on like this, than this can affect and adversely slow down Gujarat’s future development, which is known for its strong economic and colloquial prosperity.

Steps are needed to be taken as soon as possible to curb such slow-down.

After all, students are the future of the country.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Raja blames Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram for 2G mess Continued from page 1 "Main kisi ko phasana nahi chahta tha (I had no intention of framing anyone)," Raja's lawyer said on his behalf when the names of Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram were taken in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court presided over by Judge O P Saini. He squarely blamed the media for his alleged accusations against the Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister, saying "they (media) cannot put words in my mouth".

Raja's lawyer Sushil Kumar had said the 2G spectrum transactions were approved by Chidambaram, who was then finance minister, in the presence of the Prime Minister.

The counsel for Mr Raja started his arguments seeking to record his reservation on the media reports. “I am defending myself and not accusing anything against anybody.

I am not after anybody,”

he said.

Defending himself against corruption charges in 2G scam, had submitted before the court that there was nothing wrong in his decision of not auctioning 2G spectrum and he was merely following the policies pursued by his predecessors and the NDA government. Counsel for Mr. Raja had said that when Mr Chidambaram was the finance minister he had told the Prime Minister that dilution of shares by the accused licensees to attract FDI did not amount to sale of licensee.

Arguing that dilution of shares was not sale of licensee, Mr Kumar said Mr Raja cannot be accused of corruption in the controversial 2G spectrum allocation.

“The matter (about sale of equity by spectrum licensees) was discussed between the prime minister and the then finance minister.

“The then finance minister, who is now home minister, had said in front of the prime minister that dilution of

shares does not amount to sale of 2G license as per the corporate law,” Sushil had asserted, adding, “Let the prime minister deny this.

Arguing for Raja’s release on bail, Kumar said if he were to be held guilty so should all his predecessors in the telecom ministry. He also accused CBI of being selective in prosecuting telecom companies in connection with the scam, saying that while Unitech and Swan were targeted for selling their equity, Tata Teleservices and STel, which also did the same, had been spared.

The telecom companies’ success in mopping up billions by offering fresh equity for licensees and spectrum they got from Raja for around Rs 16 billion , forms the basis of the charge that the scam caused a huge loss of revenue to the government. It is also the main ground on which the CAG and the CBI had based their estimates of actual value of spectrum.

Swan and

In focus

With 520,000 pilgrims, Amarnath will go ahead to set a record

Unitech between them raised Rs 71 billion for Uninor and Etisalat respectively in exchange for fresh equity. The burden of Raja’s argument in the court on Monday was that he was merely implementing a policy that was found to be kosher by both the prime minister and Chidambaram.

The reference to the role of the Manmohan and Chidambaram had been anticipated, with clear indications that Raja will ramp up his defence. BJP, again predictably, jumped on the opportunity, with party president Nitin Gadkari alleging that the entire government was involved in the scam. Raja maintained he “only inherited and didn’t create policy”, pointing out that his predecessors, including those from the NDA government, didn’t auction spectrum. “If policy pursued by me was wrong, then all former telecom ministers since 1993 should also be in jail with me,” he said, opposing the framing of charges.

Anshu Jain, Fitschen to take reins of Deutsche Bank Continued from page 1 is likely to be seen as an interim measure since Mr Fitschen, 62, will be given only a three-year contract until 2015. Mr Jain’s contract will run to 2017.

Mr Jain, 48, has headed the bank’s powerful global markets operations since 2001. He is likely to be entrusted with guiding Deutsche’s most profitgenerating operations in a move that is set to be welcomed by investors. The decision marks a remarkable ascent by Mr Jain, an Indian-born UK citizen and the top investment banker at Deutsche, who will become the first nonnative German-speaker to head the flagship bank in Europe’s largest economy.

Mr Ackermann, one of the global banking indus-

try’s elder statesmen and a survivor of the financial crisis, is likely also to continue to play a key diplomatic role on the international stage at the bank he has led since 2002.

Deutsche said it wanted Mr Ackermann to move to the supervisory board so the bank could “profit from his knowledge, experience and professional network”. His acceptance of a supervisory board role is a reversal of his previous denial that he would stay on.

Mr Ackermann’s direct move from management to the supervisory board, where he would be voted in as chairman, first needs backing from holders of at least 25 per cent of the bank’s shares, a measure intended to maintain corporate governance stan-

dards.

Clemens Börsig, the current chairman of Deutsche’s supervisory board who had appeared to be locked in an increasingly bitter argument with Mr Ackermann over the succession, said he would step aside in 2012, a year early.

Mr Jain, head of the corporate and investment bank, has been a close lieutenant of Mr Ackermann for almost a decade. He is already responsible for the operations that make up most of Deutsche’s profits and revenues.

Mr Fitschen, 62, has a lower profile internationally but is well-known in Germany where he is chief executive of the bank’s domestic operations.

The new leadership

Right to Appeal Petition We, the undersigned believe that the government's plan to scrap the Right to Appeal is absolutely unfair and cannot be justified on any ground. Our relatives residing in different corners of the world visit us for important family events like weddings, funerals etc.

Due to the incompetency reflected in the Home Office's decision-making process, the Right to Appeal is a necessity. The right helps ensure that no one is wrongly rejected from visiting their family in the UK. This measure would simply lead to unnecessary tension, discontent and drift in the Asian community.

Hence we request you to take into account the significant importance of retaining the Right to Appeal whilst considering the damaging outcomes if the proposed government plan is passed.

Readers of Asian Voice are asked to add their names to this petition by emailing aveditorial@abplgroup.com with their details.

No. 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Name

Address with postal code & phone number

Sign

structure for one of Europe’s biggest investment banks comes after Deutsche failed in its last attempt to replace Mr Ackermann, who had originally wanted to leave in 2010, and after divisions mounted at the bank this year over the succession issue.

Analysts at JPMorgan said the changes were positive in the short-term but questioned the viability of the structure put in place.

In a world that is focused on macro issues and where bank managements are stretched with regulatory and macro issues, we feel the trio would be powerful in managing this difficult environment,” said analysts at JPMorgan.

“The risk we see is that Mr Jain could be constrained in executing his strategy and making his own mark with Dr Ackermann as chairman of the group,” they said.

Just three weeks into the annual Amarnath yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, the number of pilgrims visiting the cave shrine is heading for a record after crossing the half-a-million mark. The previous record of 537,0000 pilgrims of 2008 can be broken any time now as nearly 520,0000 pilgrims have already had a glimpse of the ice stalagmite that is considered a symbol of Lord Shiva, says an official of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board that manages the yatra. The number of pilgrims who had paid obeisance at the shrine now was about 520,000. 'This is a record in itself,' he said.The earlier record was set in 2008, when the pilgrimage was allowed for two months. At that time 537,000 had visited the shrine, but this time the number has crossed the half-million mark in just 23 days.

Air India to pay `75,00,000 to crash victims The Kerala High Court directed Air India to pay interim compensation of `75,00,000 each to the kin of 158 passengers who died in an air crash in Mangalore last year. The direction was made by Justice P.R. Ramachandran Menon following a petition by the family of Mohammed Rafi, who died in the May 18 crash.

The court directed Air India to pay the interim compensation in a month's time.An Air India Express flight 812 Dubai-Mangalore overshot the runway while landing at the Bajpe airport, about 20 km from Mangalore, and caught fire after plunging about 300 metres off a cliff.Of the 158 victims, 53 were Keralites, most of them from the northern districts of Kasargode and Kannur.

Bareilly baby boy with 34 fingers and toes sets new Guinness record

Akshat, a baby boy over the age of one, registered his name in the Guinness world records for having a total of 34 fingers and toes. He has set the record for having the highest number of fingers and toes and hails from the Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh. Amrita Saxena, the mother of the child, said it was difficult for her to believe that her son broke the world record, until a family friend convinced her. He (family friend) read on the internet about the baby born in China with 31 fingers. Then he said that my boy has broken the record of having 34 fingers.

IAF may buy 189 jets for $20bn IAF is likely to add 63 fighters after delivery of 126 in first lot. The "mother" could well become the "granny" of all defence deals in the years ahead. India is likely to go in for another 63 fighters after delivery of the first 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) if the "timelines" for its other fighter development projects are not met, say top defence officials. When the MMRCA selection process was initiated by the defence ministry in mid-2007, the overall project cost was pegged at Rs 42,000 crore, or $10.4 billion for 126 fighters. But it will zoom well beyond $20 billion, if India eventually decides to opt for 189 jets since inflation is also being factored in. Even with 126 jets, this is the biggest such fighter contract going around the world as of now.

N D Tiwari refuses to give blood sample for paternity test The Delhi High Court informed that veteran Congress leader N.D. Tiwari has refused to give his blood sample for a DNA test in a paternity suit filed by a 31-year-old man claiming to be his biological son. Tiwari's personal affidavit was placed before Justice Gita Mittal, stating that he will not be able to give his blood sample for the DNA test as he is not well. Last week, the leader was slammed by the court for his affidavit which contended that no person could be compelled to give a blood sample for DNA test. The next date of hearing in the case is July 28.

Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar are renowned for organising community events and seminars. Please note our forthcoming events till September 2011.

Date 30th July 2011 6th August 2011 28th August 2011

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August 2011 August 2011 August 2011 4th September 2011 16th September 2011 September 2011

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Women & Travel

asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

27

PurVi’S TraVEl Bag

By Purvi apurva Shah

any quest ions writ e to m amta @thinkspalon

By Mamta Saha

Psychologist

Ask yourself ‘who you are’ and when you find the answer be sure to highlight your strengths. Knowing your strengths will get you to go from ‘good to great’.

Things become ‘difficult’ and ‘hard’ when you create a ‘mantra’ called ‘life is unfair, like is hard, life is difficult’. Nothing gets better when you moan, complain and focus on ‘what is wrong’ as opposed to ‘what is right’ and ‘what is good’.

It is a massive mistake to inhale and absorb other people’s anxieties and stress. You need to live your life in a way that is true to you and also authentic to your personal values and dreams.

I understand that this is sometimes very difficult however there is always a way when you learn to compromise and respect yourself and others. Don’t loose your cool and think about how you can be elegant as opposed to aggressive. Nobody likes a bully so if you are one realise that this behaviour is weak and insecure, and if you are being bullied seek help and direction to get as far away from this negative individual as you can. Ultimately, the only person you can control and change is yourself.

Stay focused on your goals and know that the longest journey begins with the smallest steps. If your goals and dreams appear too overwhelming

just visualise the first 3 steps that you need to take to achieve them. Then you may want to break the first step down into baby steps, this will make things a lot more manageable for you.

Remember, nothing is impossible, do not create barriers that are simply assumptions. When you do this you set yourself up to fail. I think you deserve better. You have potential and your role in this world is to fulfil it. When in doubt seek inspiration from leaders that have faced adversity and have still managed to get through despite the adversity. Do not accept bad behaviour. When one door closes -another one opens.

Learn how to respect yourself and you will learn that others start to respect you too. When you change, the world changes around you.

Our mind is not intelligent enough decipher between negative and positive thoughts. Therefore it takes on whatever we give most of our energy to.

Question: are you typically feeling negative or positive?

Your world will reflect wherever you are in your thoughts.

Understand and be very aware of this now. It is essential for your own emotional and mental well being that you encourage seeing the ‘good’ and the ‘positive’ as opposed to the negative. Discourage and eliminate negative emotions, as they do not serve

you well. Let what you are grateful for overwhelm what is ‘wrong’. Be thankful for the basic things in life that is a good place to start. Remember, life could be a lot worse.

If you respect and value developing yourself further you will be interested in the fact that I am running a Creative Visualisation course on September 17 in London that will focus on your goals, actively create the vision for your future and help you get attuned to yourself - being the best you can regardless of what life throws at you. This session will absolutely work on elements of this and previous articles. The intense one-day event will definitely help you get closer to the happiness and fulfilment you deserve. An early bird discount applies to those who book before the end of July and places are filling u; so get in touch by emailing mamta@thinkspalndon.co m. Lastly, I also provide training and development for small, medium and large sized businesses, email me for further information.

If you like my articles and want to stay connected ‘like’ my facebook page: think spa London and follow me on twitter (under the same name). Sending you positive energy, light and peace always, Mamta, Director, Think Spa London.

Tarla Dalal wants to see veggie world

“The way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach. Nowadays this applies to all, as everyone is a foodie with more and more options to relish. But what goes into the stomach may not be what you fancy. You will have to settle for healthier options.

But nowadays with lot of variations, we can also turn our fancy food into healthy one. Gone are the days when western, continental or traditional food was dripping with cheese and oil. Now any item can be cooked in more nutritive and low-calorie form,” says renowned cooking expert Tarla Dalal who was in Ahmedabad to show some healthy recipes.

In a candid interview with Asian Voice, she says, “I would like to see the whole world turning vegetarian, and that too healthy vegetarian.”

She has been conducting cooking shows in London and many other countries. Today, she is one of the top 5 best-sell-

Tarla Dalal

ing cookery authors in the world. She has written a total of 170 titles, several of which have been translated into other foreign languages. She was awarded the Padmashree by the Indian government for her contribution in the field of cooking. She is the first Indian to be awarded in this category. She is now more into charity cooking.

Recently she was invited to Ahmedabad by the FICCI FLO women’s wing to run a cookery show in order to collect funds for

Land of midnight sun

don.com

life is now – live it in accordance to what is best for you!

the jail inmates.

She has given some tips on healthy cooking.

She gave an example of how to make “Anjeer Basuni” low calorie sweet.

She says that instead of dry anjeer, fresh anjir (figs) should be used with skimmed milk and for thickening instead of cream, corn flour is used.

Any sugar substitute can be used. Latest on diet recipes are “stuffed Bhindis with Paneer,” Rajasthani style kaddu ki sabji, Tendli matki ki sabji, Doodhi Kofta curry that is baked. The popular round of advice that nutritionists dish out is to have snacks that are around 100 calories with the right balance of nutrients. But 100 calories itself is a dicey number. One can get 100 calories by having either two fat-laden sweet cookies or one portion of low calorie mix sprouts bhel. The key to right snacking lies in the right selection of food and the right amount.

– Purvi Apurva Shah

Alaska:

You know you’re in alaska when: You wake up at midnight and find that it is still sunny and bright outside; in the small town of Barrow, the sun does not rise at all for 67 days in winter; the weather is winter, still winter and almost winter; you own a snowmobile and a snowsuit to fit under a Halloween costume; for food you can have smoked salmon, silver salmon, king salmon and red salmon; where it is legal to shoot bears but waking a sleeping bear for taking a photograph is prohibited; where vegetables and fruit grow to two times their normal size and moose interrupt golf games when they feel like it.

When I said a big ‘Yes’ to my friends who proposed a trip to alaska, I never thought it was such a trip full of adventure and fun. The trip offered me to tread many a path which I never dreamt of doing in my life, like fishing, glacier ride, hiking, whale-watching, dog-sledging, bike adventure, rainforest bicycle tour, rafting, kayaking, extreme zip lines and whatnot!!! and the biggest surprise is when the sun does not set till the midnight. The word, “It’s dark” remains unused here.

May-July is the season where visitors can cruise here. In summer the sun sets very late and likewise in winter the sun rises very late. Dec 21and 22 are the days when the sun does not rise at all making the longest night and June 21 and 22 are the days when the sun sets very late making it the longest day on the globe. In summer the temperature can go up to 160 C and in winter the temp falls below -540 C. alaska is a land full of surprises, unspoiled and full of natural beauty. The most scenic view was when our ship sailed around the massive ice fields, and we were completely lost in those towering ice chunks, and look at the colour of ice, its unbelievable green. vow! That too, when we can enjoy it from the high deck of our ship. right in middle of the ocean, breezing, freezing and having the time of a life. Sipping hot chocolate with no mobile ringing, I

Enjoying the rugged dog-sledgging trail

could enjoy the scenic view at Tracy arm Fjord where the icebergs literally block further journey of the ship. and the ship turns to get back from where it started.

During the seven - day cruise, we started from Seattle, then to Inside Passage, Juneau, Skagway, Tracy arm Fjord, victoria, British Columbia and to anchorage. alaska has nearly 34,000 miles of tidal shoreline, more than three million lakes and half of the world's glaciers here. It is the largest state in the United States by area, and is 49th state, considered as ‘america’s last Frontier.” US purchased alaska from the russian empire in 1867 for $7.2 million at about two cents per acre. alaska is 7,000 years old and even today, one can hear the sounds of ballroom piano, boomtown crowds and train

released the anchor and away we sped across the ice. The pace was break neck. Some 10 minutes later, we stopped to admire the vista. Then it was my turn to have a go at driving the team, and with the help of my musher we were off again, with the dogs hardly realizing that they now had a novice in command. I felt at one with nature, I’ve ridden in many forms of transportation in my journeys, but never had I travelled with such a sense of place.

During the seven-day cruise, half of the time we are sailing but the other half is when the ship is docked, when we can wander on the islands. We have to choose the excursion tour with mild, moderate or strenuous options.

Mild one was a whalewatching option, where we were given the guarantee to see whales or else they

With team mates at British Columbia, Victoria

whistles echo. It is a blend of russian imperialism, British style and american expansion. We could feel its flavor during our excursions in the island towns. an experience of dogsledging was one of its kind, when after a brief orientation, we met our mushers and were introduced to each member of our team of 10 alaskan huskies. The dogs practically danced with excitement to meet us. They didn’t look as I had expected: a uniform collection of well-groomed steeds like I had seen in a movie. These were different than the dogs I’d had as pets – they were working dogs, bred to race.

Once acquainted, I sat in the sled, which triggered the dogs to pull on their harnesses. The musher jumped on the back,

would refund $100 to each of us. and we ended seeing lot many whales and no refund. at Skagway, we had Glacier ride, where we are loaded in the helicopter and fly over cascading waterfall, majestic valleys and glaciers all around.

You get chance to walk on “river of ice, when we were on high heights, freezing to no end, and with nobody around. at that time our helicopter just broke down. Now what to do? Our pilot will off course call another helicopter from his agency but will take time and we had to reach our ship back soon or else our ship won’t wait even for a minute for us to board. It is thumb rule that ship will not wait what may, and if we miss the ship we will not be able to continue the cruise for which we have spend a lot.

Neither would we be able to follow ship in any way.

With God’s mantra on our lips, we were doing the final countdown, when suddenly we heard the whistling sound of helicopter in the sky. It soon came and rescued us. later we went rushing to climb the ship. ( Next week: The life in the cruise).

The writer is part of the editorial team of Asian Voice, Ahmedabad.

28

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

CB Live is only a Gujarati programme in UK on MATV SKY 793 This week in CB live Mr Vijay Goyal, Head of Marketing of Tilda, will talk about 40th anniversary of Tilda, its future and the Journey of Tilda Rice till today.

Also Sukeshi Thakkar will join CB Live, who will speak about Thalidomide disability If you do not have a SKY, go to www.tvunetworks.com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

For more information e-mail: cblive_matv@yahoo.co.uk

Gujarat Assembly Speaker in London Gujarat state Assembly speaker Ganpatbhai Vasava and wife Nilamben are in London to participate in the Commonwealth Parliament Conference. He would be honoured by Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar at Karma Yoga House which will be attended by members of House of Lords, Commons and other community leaders.

Health Seminar In 1998 Dr Nilesh Patel had operated on Pujya Pramukh Swami in Lenox Hill, NY. He is an expert in using Robotic Heart Surgery technology for triple bypass enabling patients to go home in a day.

He is in London from Aug 6th-8th. On 6th August, he would be addressing a in Neasden BAPS Dr Nilesh Patel gathering Swaminarayan temple between 8:159:30pm. On Sunday 7th August, Gujarat Samachar, Asian Voice and Federation of Patidar Association have organised a health seminar between 4:30-7pm at Patidar House, 22 London Road, Wembley.

Royal wedding guest avoids jail after admitting fraud A man who went to the royal wedding as a guest of the Middleton family has avoided jail after admitting fraud.

Hasmukh Shingadia (pictured), who runs a convenience store in Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire, was given an eight-month sentence, suspended for a year, after claiming that the amount of cash-inhand money held at a post office branch inside his shop was greater than the true figure.

The 51-year-old pleaded guilty to one charge of false accounting between

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500 At the moment, relationships are experiencing major transformations - those with shaky foundations should be extra careful. Financially, you have everything going for you.

This is a good time to put lucrative plans into action and reap the benefits of sound investments. However, be prudent and do not fritter away your good fortune.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

7pm to 8pm

Coming Events l Every Thursday- Bhajan & Bhojan Saturday 30th July 21 Hanuman Chalisa followed by Prasad from 11am-1:30pm.

Contact: Sailesh PoojaraAdministration: 0208 578 8088 www.jalarammandir.co.uk l Shree Sorathia Prajapatui Community celebrates Silver Jubilee f Shri Ram Mandir-Birmingham, 30th July-7th August. Contact: 0121 773 5735 l 30th July at 7.30pm the Bolly-Flex expedition begins at Hackney Empire Birmingham’s Drum Theatre on the 20th-21st August. Call the box office on 0208 985 2424 and quote ‘Asian Voice’ for a 20% discount on the best available tickets.

Or visit hackneyempire.co.uk to book online. l Shree Jalaram Mandir, 39-45 Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, Middlesex, UB6 9LB, Tel: 0208 578 8088 / 9285 Friday 5th August to Saturday 13th August 2011 Daily Katha from 2.30pm to 6pm followed by Prasad upto 8pm l Shravan Maas Satsang at Shree Aden, 67A Church Lane, London N2 8DR at 7:30-10:30pm from 1st-29th August.

Contact: 020 8346 6686 l Pankaj Soda presents Comedy Trio, Sat 30th JulyNorthamptopn, Sureshbhai 07884166657, Sunday 31st July- Ruislip W Churchill Hall, Deepa 07947 561 947 l Grand4- day cultural event, BAPS South East London Satsang Mandal Monday 1st AugustThursday 4th August, Shaheed Udham Singh Asian Community Centre, Plumstead SE18 1DG. Contact: se.parayan@gmail.com l Champions Live at Indigo 02 on 6:30pm.

Contact: Anand Pan Centre, Ilford-020 8 514 3800

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 The fiery planet Mars, continues to occupy your sign for some time to come. Its influence will help you to maintain a high energy level and achieve positive results in anything that requires drive and initiative. If you are involved in a fairly competitive field of activity, you will be the one who comes out on top.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22 Opportunities abound, so make the right choices. You should enjoy a popular phase in your life where everyone wants to invite you to parties. This will give you a chance to meet people and pursue any romantic liaisons. There will be excesses associated with splashing out on luxury items which sometimes we do not really require.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

Your communication sector is all-abuzz. Make sure that you are sleeping properly. Give yourself plenty of physical outlets to drain off some of the excess mental stimulation. The Sun in your sign will make you feel like you can finally settle into a more grounded and steady routine instead of letting your schedule run you.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23 Your horizons are most certainly expanding. Jupiter in the area of your chart ruling long-distance travel and philosophical thoughts will make your mind run wild. With Venus transiting the sign of Leo, there will be many romantic opportunities. Your financial affairs are looking up. Do not miss out on opportunities coming your way.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 The focus is on finances this week, but that doesn’t mean you should worry yourself sick. Rather, it is about finding new and improved ways to boost your earnings potential. Don’t let nebulous tendencies interfere with your plans. It’s fine to consider several options but don’t get caught up in indecision. Schedule networking opportunities later this week.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22 Long-term partnerships are reinvigorated by Jupiter's transit of your solar 7th house. Whether you’re single or attached you’ll have a busy time ahead of you. Business partnerships are tested too.

Some of them could challenge your authority. The more you live up to your own set of principles the more cash you’ll pull in.

December 2008 and March 2010 at a previous hearing at Oxford Crown Court.

As well as the suspended prison sentence, he was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service and pay prosecution costs of £2,669.69

Editor: CB Patel Associate Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Tel: 020 7749 4098 - Email: rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com Senior News Editor: Dhiren Katwa Freelance Correspondent: Rudy Otter Chief of Operations ABPL: Liji George Tel: 020 7749 4013 Email: george@abplgroup.com Chief Financial Officer: Surendra Patel Tel: 020 7749 4093 - Mobile: 07875 229 220 Email: surendra.patel@abplgroup.com Accounts Executive: Akshay Desai Tel: 020 7749 4087 Email:accounts@abplgroup.com Advertising Managers: Alka Shah Tel: 020 7749 4002 - Mobile: 07944 151 893 Email: alka.shah@abplgroup.com Kishor Parmar Tel: 020 7749 4095 - Mobile: 07875 229 088 Email: kishor.parmar@abplgroup.com Media Consultant: Rovin John George - Email: rovin.george@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4097 - Mobile: 07875 229 219 Business Development Managers: Urja Patel - Email: urja.patel@abplgroup.com Nikhil Gor - Email: nikhil.gor@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4009 - Mobile: 07875 229 200 Design and Layout: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Tel: 020 7749 4086 Email: graphics@abplgroup.com Customer Service: Ragini Nayak Tel: 020 7749 4080 - Email: support@abplgroup.com (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 The domestic scene may prove to be active and harmonious as long as you use tact and diplomacy. Intense focus is what is needed now so do not let yourself be distracted by non-essentials. The gentle influence of Venus ensures that most things run smoothly and that your cash-flow remains viable.

207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad Tel/Fax: +91 79 2646 6061 Chief Executive Director: Kamlesh Amin Tel: +91 922 710 4308 Email: kamleshamin123@yahoo.co.in Editorial Co-Ordinator (BPO): Nilesh Parmar (M) +919426636912 Consulting Editor (BPO): Bhupatbhai Parekh, Ahmedabad, Gujarat Tel: +91 79 2630 4142 Mumbai: Kanti Bhatt, Hemraj Shah (Jumbo Advertiser) Horizon Advertising & Marketing: 205 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad Tel / Fax: +91 79 2646 5960 (M) +91 9913346487 Email: horizonadvt2009@yahoo.in Neeta Patel, (Advertising Manager) (M) +91 98255 11702 International Advertisement Representative: Jain Group(South India) Tel: +91 44 42041122/3/4 Fax: +91 44 25362973 Mumbai: +91 222471 4122 Email: jainmedia@eth.net

Asian Voice Main Office Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080, Fax: 020 7749 4081 www.abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

Asian Voice switchboard: 020 7749 4000 Gujarat Samachar switchboard: 020 7749 4080 Sales: 020 7749 4085

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21 Jupiter's transit in your solar 6th house, you will find it easy to do well at work and rise to great heights. During this transit you will enjoy robust health and find physical activities very enjoyable.

With Venus and Mars in your sign of relationships, expect this to be a romantic period in your life with lots of opportunities arising for you to find someone special.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

With Jupiter riding high in your 5th house of romance and creativity, you should enjoy a very popular phase in your life where everyone wants to invite you to parties. This will give you a chance to meet people of your own calibre and pursue any romantic liaisons that might present themselves. Your communications are extremely high making it easy to close those lucrative deals.

Resist making any hasty moves when it come to finances - this is a time to focus on consolidation of current assets rather than attempting to make any new investments. Guard against being too impatient and restless. Any obstacles that have stood in the way of your heart's desires should melt into the background soon.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

At home, be at your diplomatic best and try not to tread on anyone's toes.

Passions will run from hot to cold, and relationships may suffer. Even the most strong-willed Pisceans will be more open to compromise to keep the peace. Plan your spending and set sensible budgets to reach your financial goals. All things considered, your health should be robust.

HealtH

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

29

Onions better than artificial preservatives

According to a new study, some components of the onion have antioxidant and anti-microbial properties, thus you can use it as a food preservative.

"The antioxidant and anti-microbial properties of the raw onion make it a good candidate for use in food preservation," says researcher Jonathan Santas from the department of nutrition and bromatology at the University of Barcelona (UB).

The study shows that the flavonoids of onion, in addition to having beneficial properties for health, increase the life of foods, and so "they are a natural alternative to artificial additives used in food industry".

The results confirm that the yellow variety in particular is a good source of these types of substances and there is a positive cor-

relation between the presence of flavonoids and their antioxidant capacity.

"The onion can be effective for delaying lipid oxidation in emulsions of oil and water - a model system of foods like margarines and mayonnaises and it inhibits the growth

of micro-organisms that alter foods," Santas says.

The scientific team analysed onions of the white and yellow varieties.

The researchers demonstrated that pheno-

lic compounds in the onion prevent the development of bacteria, micro-organisms typically associated with the deterioration of foods, said an UB release.

Previous studies indicate that flavonoids have beneficial effects for health due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, vasodilatory and anti-carcinogenic properties.

It can also control obesity, diabetes and BP: A study by biomedical scientists at the University of Southern Queensland revealed that onions can combat obesity, diabetes and increased blood pressure.

They highlights that rutin extracted from onions reversed fat stores in laboratory rats, lowered blood pressure, reversed glucose problems and repaired liver damage.

Respiratory mechanics and exercise Breathing and exercise are very much connected, the amount of air you need to breathe in depends on how active you are. During exercise your breathing and heart rate increases. A top-class athlete can expect to increase his/her breathing rate to around 40 to 60 breaths a minute.

This means they take in an incredible 100 to 150 litres of air, extracting around five litres of oxygen every single minute. We need to strengthen our lung capacity with exercise to meet body’s increased need of oxygen.

Obesity raises risk of depression by 25 per cent

Being obese could increase the risk of depression by 25 per cent, a study has found. According to professor Alberto Hernandez: “The word 'fat' has become a social stigma, and takes a psychological toll on the individual.”

“Depression manifests itself in negative thoughts, personal disability, poor state of mind and lack of initiative and lack of physical activity. Such a person may not be able to fully develop his or her personality, desires and interpersonal relationships.”

The problem is more acute in women. Obesityrelated depression is affecting more women, in a two-to-one ratio, compared to men, the study said. An obese person's efforts to lose weight using incorrect, non-scientific methods can lead to failure, thus worsening depression, the study says.

“A vicious cycle develops in which depression, accompanied by a lack of interest and physical activity, leads to more obesity, and can cause physiological problems in the endocrine and immune systems,” says Hernandez, professor at Dr Salvador Allende Teaching Hospital in Cuba.

As you start to move about, the muscles in your body send messages to your brain that they need more oxygen. More oxygen will be absorbed from your lungs and carried to the muscles you are using to exercise. Muscles produce more energy by breaking down glucose from your food, but to do this they need oxygen. If there is too little oxygen they will try to produce energy in a different way.

But this can lead to a build-up of a chemical called lactic acid, which causes cramp - something

that many athletes are all too familiar with. If the lungs do not work properly, one will suffer from breathlessness. Through exercise you can train your body so that more oxygen is delivered to your muscles. Start with light exercise and then to moderate and strenuous ones that will build up the capacity of lungs. The ‘breathing control’ techniques are not suitable for everyone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Please check with your health professional whether you should use them.

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By Radhika Madlani

You have no right British television has never been the best on the world platform but since having Ria, my favourites selection on Sky has gradually moved from BBC world news, Discovery and Movie channels to Baby TV and Disney Junior! So, it is rare that I have the opportunity to sit down and unwind to a TV programme that does not involve bouncy characters in bright spotty coloured clothes singing songs that linger in your head for days to come.

Most of you reading this will agree, on the rare occasion you do find the time to watch TV, there never seems to be anything good to watch.

This will explain what I am about to say next.

So, I gave in to the temptation of watching Supernanny. For those that have never watched it, Supernanny is a programme hosted by Jo Frost, who works with struggling parents in raising their ‘out of control’ children by implementing a structure, a routine with disciplinary methods to improve their relationship with their children.

I watched this particular episode where an 8 year old American child yelled ‘You have no right’ to her parent for going into ‘her’ room and taking ‘her’ TV away (punishment for misbehaving).

As shocking as it was to watch, I wonder how many children speak to their parents about their ‘so-called rights’.

Perhaps it’s my Eastern upbringing, but I have always felt that rights have to be earnt.

This country like many

in the European Union is obsessed with employee rights, childrens rights, minority rights.

Don’t get me wrong, I applaud diversity and equal opportunities but not at the cost of common sense.

Coming back to the child in this programme, the parents of the child quite happily gave in to their childs ‘want’ for a TV in her room. Surely rights weren’t questioned then? After all, what right DOES the child have demanding a TV at the age of 8? But as soon as the rights are being revoked to push discipline, suddenly, even an 8 year old is aware that she has rights and was aggressively questioning the right her parents had in ‘invading her personal space’ and removing ‘her’ TV. I have to say we confuse rights with privileges. Parental rights are also another hypocritical area of debate.

If parents want rights, they have to work to earn them. Giving birth does not make you a parent. Being there for your children does. The same applies if children want rights. Being born to a family does not earn a child their rights, earning them by observing house rules, conducting oneself well and respecting parents is essential to keep these ‘rights’.

Children as young as 8 certainly shouldn’t feel like their parents have no right to discipline them.

More parents should spend time with their children to explain that having rights means earning them.

Of course, children have the right to be safe and

voice their opinions on matters affecting the family life but equally, they should recognise that the privileges they have like being able to go out, enjoying extracurricular activities and expensive treats that they indulge in are not their rights.

If children don’t learn this from an early age, they are in for a massive surprise when they grow up and live in the ‘real world’. If they don’t conduct themselves in a manner that is acceptable to others, I am sure they will find to their horror that people around them do have the ‘right’ to change their life. Afterall, an employer would not think twice about managing someone out of the business if they are not ‘conducting’ themselves properly.

Similarly, schools would not tolerate a child misbehaving.

Why then should a childs ‘rights’ be any different at home?

Lets put rights in context.

Millions of children growing up in the third world should speak of ‘rights’. A right to have access to clean water and three meals a day, the right to an education, to appropriate healthcare and the right to live a life of dignity.

Those of us in the western world need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Having a TV or an iPod or the right to a private education is not a right!

It’s a privilege.

Quote: “It is the greatest poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

– Mother Theresa

Should you have any comments or want to get in touch with me you can email on avmamaria@gmail.com

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30

Community

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Spectacular Mela organised by the Oshwal Association On Sunday 24th July 2011, the Oshwal Association of the UK held a Mela at their renowned Svetambara Temple site in Potters Bar. It had almost 7000 people attending the it with car

queues running for miles. In fact it was such a large gathering that the local authority failed to control it.

It was an extremely fun-filled day with a lively atmosphere continuing

right into the midst of the evening. The event consisted of a large outdoor stage event and numerous stalls of food and activities for all. Stalls present included delicious Vegetarian Food,

Kids Games & Fun Fair Rides, Face Painting, a Kite flying Zone, Clothes & jewellery, Beauty & Health Products, Books and Gift items, a Health Zone Area, Wedding &

Photography Stalls, Holiday Companies, Banks, AA, other Clubs and Charities.

Most eagerly anticipated however was the entertainment on the large out-

door stage, hosting several diverse musical performances and dances.

Thousands gathered to watch the performances and participate in the festivities of the day.

Mayor as the Chief Guest with the leaders of the Oshwal association, especially the main people behind this mela

Purpose built Jain temple in Potters Bar

An experience of uniqueness

Learnt different things

I visited the Oshwal Mela to support friends who had a stall, and also to have a day out with my father at our local community event. I thought it may be one another mela with kids games and an opportunity to ‘meet and greet’ familiar faces. Instead what I experienced was a huge, exciting mela that far exceeded by expectations.

As we drove in, my first thought was how professional the volunteers were and how efficiently they guided us to the parking area. Walking up to the mela, there was a great sense of excitement as the sun shone down and lively music floated through the air. A wonderful festival atmosphere and brightly coloured fairground rides, balloon sellers and candy floss stalls all beckoned visitors. There was an incredible selection of stalls to visit and something for all ages to do, see, taste and experience. It was especially interesting to see how popular the healthy food stands and medical check-up areas were and we enjoyed seeing the items showcased including coconut milk. Indian inspired chocolates and ready masalas and healthy snacks.

The assortment of clothes and jewellery stalls gave a great fashion fix for those wanting to liven up their wardrobes and there were some fascinating charities including Mind, RSPCA and Enfield Asian Welfare Association (EAWA) all doing wonderful work in our community.

Being in the natural skincare industry, I was very pleased to see a good selection of natural and organic cosmetics and toiletries on offer and visitors willing to try new products.

Looking around I could see there was something for the whole family: Mums browsed shawls and trinklets and attended yoga workshops, dads loved the financial services stands and golf games whilst kids had their faces painted, played on the rides and ate home-made pizzas.

All these festivities were in the beautiful, lush setting of the Oshwal Centre grounds adjacent to the intricate carvings of the stunning Derasar and manicured gardens. Much better than any stuffy exhibition hall!

The whole event was very well organised and professionally run. I was told 400 volunteers were involved in the planning and co-ordination on the day and all that meticulous planning definitely paid off. It was really great to see the whole community coming together and especially so many young Oshwals taking the time out of their busy lives to give back to the community.

The atmosphere was so vibrant and the queue of people entering was non-stop as everyone wanted to experience the mela, with many traveling from hours away.

I felt proud to be a member of the Oshwal community and have a new wave of enthusiasm for these events which I now see can be enriching, informative and fun social occasions which are well worth taking part in.

We were all looking forward to the Oshwal Mela because of the great publicity and the wonderful experiences from the previous years and all the friends that we knew were attending. I knew it would be a great opportunity to bring all the different members of the community together and learn more about the Oshwal community. The Mela started on a lovely sunny day and from that I could feel the success already. As soon as I arrived there was lots of music that could be heard and there was a great atmosphere. I was surprised the car park was already full by 1pm and the Mela had such a huge turnout. I went to look around at all the commercial stalls at first ranging from many different aspects of Asian culture such as food and religion. The open air theatre showcased some great talent and many wonderful acts such as live dance performances and singing.

The queue for the delicious food was very long but definitely worth the wait. The whole experience was great; I met lots of friends and relations and learnt many different things. Will I come again to the next Oshwal Mela? Definitely yes!

– Sajni Shah

– Meghna Patel Director – Mahi Naturals Limited www.mahinaturals.com

Generating positivity

More to share, more to learn

I was a volunteer at the Mela.. It was a wonderful experience where I was able to enjoy a vast range of activities or just simply enjoy the positive atmosphere the mela had created. I participated in the Bollywood Dance workshop where it was wonderful to see some 70year old massi having fun as well as lots of kids enjoying; then later on I was able to watch some of the numerous acts from our very own entertaining talent show.

There were a wide variety of stalls, which catered for everyone. We were able to enjoy delicious food tasters and browse through the clothing stalls. There were also lots of charities present, informing the wider community about their aims and objectives.

The food was absolutely delicious. It ranged from jikko pizza’s to scrumptious crispy bhajia to mouthwatering pani-puri’s. The eggless cupcakes were beautifully decorated and went down a treat with the different flavoured milkshakes.

In the heathzone there were many activities available, ranging from aerobics to meditation. The women hovered around the colourful health food display and I am sure they will be using the easy-to-follow recipes for many weeks to come. There were many funfair rides available which provided much excitement for everyone regardless of their age. The weather was absolutely glorious and over 9000 people attended, nearly doubling expectations. All the volunteers and organisers coped with the increased numbers brilliantly leading to the event becoming a huge success.

– Rani Shah

I had gone to visit the mela with my parents Dhimant and Mila, my sister Rani also accompanied us. I was a volunteer at the Mela for the whole day which turned out to be a fantastic chance to explore and learn. .Nearly 10,000 people must have visitied during the day..As a volunteer, I looked after 20 VIP guests which included the mayor and the deputy mayor of Welwyn and other prestigious guests, I felt truly priviledged for this. Even helping out at the game zone was indeed a pleasant experience, it was fun playing dodgems and the penalty shoot-out.

Their were almost hundred stalls with full-fledged range of clothes and number of food varieties..All the food was vegetarian and with mouth-watering all the food was offcourse vegetarian and the variety catered were for all tastes and ages. The way it was produced and delivered to cater for such a huge crowd was tremendous.

Even the stage was active with 40 different acts, some of them were simply brilliant, like. “Britons Got Talent”; that was huge favourite.Their were even bollywood, Pilates, meditation workshops running there, which helped me to learn about nutrition and first aid.

Many people also had the opportunity to visit the beautiful Derasar and participate in aarti there. Long hours of preparation must have gone by volunteers to make this event a huge success and as for myself, I will say that I feel proud to be a part of this mela and would definitely go again next year and urge everyone young or old to volunteer in the future.

– Chanak Shah

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

Forlan scores two as Uruguay win Copa America

Diego Forlan scored twice after Luis Suarez's opening goal as Uruguay beat Paraguay 3-0 to win the Copa America and be crowned South American champions for a record 15th time.

Suarez, voted player of the tournament, put Uruguay ahead in the 12th minute of the final at the Monumental when his low, left-footed shot from the right beat the diving Justo Villar and went in off the far post.

Forlan, the 2010 World Cup's best player, made it 2-0 three minutes before halftime when he ran onto a ball from midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios and blasted left-footed past Villar from just inside the box penalty box.

In the last minute, Forlan made sure of the title with his second goal at the end of a fine counter-attacking move, steering the ball past Villar and in off the post.

"This squad were very united, they showed that what they did at the World Cup was no fluke and we showed we're the best in (the) Americas," Suarez said." I think Uruguay have achieved many things and needed not to forget how to win titles."

Uruguay now have one more title than hosts Argentina, whom they upset

on penalties in the quarter-finals, to crown a fine 12 months after their fourth place at the World Cup. Twice champions Paraguay finished the tournament without a victory having reached the final with five draws and two penalty shootout wins.

Suarez scored four goals in the tournament, one less than top scorer Paolo Guerrero whose hat-trick helped Peru beat Venezuela 4-1 for third place in La Plata on Saturday.

Forlan records: Forlan, who won a Uruguayan record 82nd cap, ended a year without scoring for his country with his two goals and equalled the

Ambition drives me: Amir Khan

Amir Khan looks at all the possibilities.

He had faced the toughest challenge of his career and won with ease. Zab Judah had held six world titles over two weights, but was brushed aside at the Mandalay Bay Events Centre last week

by Amir. Judah may have gone down complaining as he was counted out after being knocked down by a body punch in the fifth round, but he did not put up much of an argument while the action took place.

It was an impressive performance as Khan added Judah’s IBF light welterweight title to his WBA crown, becoming the first British boxer to unify world titles since David Haye beat Enzo Maccarinelli at cruiserweight in 2008.

Richard Schaefer, the chief executive of Golden Boy, Khan’s promoter, believes that Khan can win. “I keep saying that Amir will be pound-for-pound the No 1 in the world,” Schaefer said. ”Khan was impressive, even if Judah’s defensive approach meant that

he was often out of range. Khan was positive, not allowing Judah space to work. So the American went backwards, feinting and ducking low. He limited Khan’s successes but had next to none himself. Khan stayed clear of the southpaw’s left and came in at constantly changing angles.

Judah looked banged up by the fifth and there was no let-up in Khan’s work - quite the opposite as he doubled up rights and found Judah an increasingly easy target. It was no surprise when Judah looked for a way out.

“I hit him fairly on the belt and the referee certainly didn’t have any problem with it,” Khan said. “I threw an uppercut into his body and he went down. Ricky Hatton was a terrific body puncher. I think he would have been proud if he threw that shot himself.”

Among those in the audience at a chaotic post-bout press conference that was overrun by fans was Leonard Ellerbe, the manager of Mayweather.

He might report back that Khan is becoming a threat, or he might just say that Khan will be lucrative.

“I want to be the pound-for-pound best in the world,” Khan said. “There is still room for improvement. I know I made a lot of mistakes in that fight. I will be taking one step at a time. There is no need for me to rush into a fight with Mayweather.”

Roach was impressed. “I thought Zab might fold and that is exactly what happened,” he said. “We have been working on that body shot for some time.

He must have knocked the wind out of me 100 times in training. He set Zab up with a left and then dug that shot in.

national record of 31 held by Hector Scarone.

Uruguay laid siege to the Paraguay goal from the start, winning four corners in the opening eight minutes with the defence clearing one chance following a header from Diego Lugano which was parried by Villar.

Paraguay created their first chance on the quarter hour when midfielder Enrique Vera's right cross to the far post was a bit too long and striker Nelson Haedo Valdez's effort went wide.

Past the half hour, Forlan had his first chance but Villar saved and minutes later Suarez hit the side-netting from a tight angle on the right.

Haedo Valdez volleyed Paraguay's best chance onto the bar from midfielder Nestor Ortigoza's chip forward early in the second half.

Ten minutes later, Paraguay right back Ivan Piris took a ball out wide and crossed low with keeper Fernando Muslera diving at centre back Paulo da Silva's feet to save.

Then Villar made a good save from midfielder Sebastian Eguren after taking a pass from fellow substitute Edinson Cavani.

After Arjuna snub, lifter returns CWG gold Disappointed at being overlooked for an Arjuna Award, weightlifter Renubala Chanu Monday returned her 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medal to the sports ministry saying she will quit the sport if her achievements are not recognised in future.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) had recommended the names of Renubala and Ravi Kumar for the Arjuna Award but only the latter was shortlisted for the honour. Renubala, who won a CWG gold in the 58 kg category, said she was forced to take the step. “This (not getting the award) is a big letdown for me after being at the top level for 11 years. It has hurt me and I have no motivation left to continue in the sport. Hence I am returning my medal,” she said. Renubala claimed that she was more deserving for the award than Ravi Kumar.

“He deserves to win the award but I am more deserving than him,” said the 24-year-old from Manipur.

Renubala, who had also won the gold in the 2006 CWG edition in Melbourne, is now seeking an assurance from sports minister Ajay Maken on getting the coveted award next year.

“How long can I wait? There is always a possibility of getting injured in an athlete's career. I want an assurance from the sports minister that I would get the Arjuna Award next year. If I don't get the assurance I will quit,” she said.

Fletcher first cricket coach to complete century of matches Duncan Fletcher last etched his name into the record books by becoming the first cricket coach to complete a century of matches at the helm of affairs of a national team during the first Test between India and England at Lord's. The Zimbabwean, who took the reins of Indian cricket team after Gary Kirsten, rose to fame following English side's 2005 Ashes victory at home after a gap of 18 years.

In his eight year association with England, Fletcher saw the team beat Sri Lanka in their own den and also

Duncan Fletcher

helped them clinch victories against the West Indies and New Zealand, apart from their Ashes heroics.

In 2004, England won record eight consecutive Tests, beating New Zealand 3-0 and West Indies 4-0 at home, before winning the first Test in South Africa.

The 62-year-old, who became England's first foreign coach in 1999, led English team in 96 matches before guiding Team India to a successful Caribbean tour.

Believed to be hard task master, Fletcher comes as a rare breed. "We are still getting used to his well disguised humour," quips Rahul Dravid.

"He is a good, calm presence in the dressing room. He

is technically very knowledgeable and you can make out that he's worked with many batsmen in many situations," Dravid reveals.

"We are very lucky to have someone like Duncan with us because he is a very experienced and very mature person. There is always scope for improving and having discussions with someone like Duncan can only make you a better cricketer," said Laxman.

"The Lord's Test was his 100th as a coach, which was a great achievement in itself, and he was the first coach to achieve it," he added.

Sport WoRld 31 Ahmedabad shooter wins silver in Singapore Krushnakumar Baz, 36, won a silver medal in the 50 metre firearm shooting competition held in Singapore on July 17. The event was the Singapore Open Shooting Competition, 2011, a world cup qualifying event organized by members of the International Shooting Sports Federation ( ISSF). This was Baz's first international event in which he became the first Gujarati to win at the Singapore meet. The competition saw shooters from 70 countries.

Typically an air-rifle shooter Baz had no inclination to participate in the firearm category in which he ultimately won silver for the country. It was only after ace India shooter Jaspal Rana suggested Baz's name to complete the firearm team of three that led Baz to join the team. Baz is a conservation assistant in the Ahmedabad circle of Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

"I had to hire a 0.22 peep sight Anschutz rifle from the venue to take part in the firearm section as I was carrying an air-gun. Firearm was never my expertise. It was in January 2010 that I had last fired 500 rounds from a 0.22 rifle at Ahmedabad rifle club for a regional competition. In fact in the air gun section which is my forte, I could not even win a bronze in this open competition. Jaspal Rana had suggested that I take part in the firearm event", says Baz. Baz with his team members, Sanjay Kumar Tomar of the Indian army and Anant Yogi had scored 3,113 points. The shooting competition allows 120 cartridges for every shooter. "One has to shoot 40 cartridges each in the prone, standing and kneeling positions. The highest one can score is the bullseye which is 10 points. I scored 363 points in the kneeling position which was the highest among my scores," says Baz. Buddy partner Kumar scored 1,050 points while Yogi scored 1,045 points in the competition.

Gagan Narang gets Khel Ratna award, Zaheer Khan gets Arjuna Ace shooter Gagan Narang will be awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest sporting honour of India.

Indian pacer Zaheer Khan and long-distance runner Preeja Sreedharan along with archer Rahul Banerjee and gymnast Ashish Kumar are also going to be awarded with the respected Arjuna Award.

Earlier, the BCCI had recommended Zaheer Khan for the award.

The recommendation had come after ace pacer's excellent performance during 2011 World Cup campaign.

Gagan Narang added 4 gold medals to the Indian tally at the recently concluded 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi.

In the Men's 10 m air rifle singles event, he shot a perfect 600 which was a new record.

Gagan also clinched a silver medal in his pet event at the Asian Games 2010.

Narang combined with Abhinav Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput to provide the country with another silver, in the team event behind champions China. Both of his silvers were won on the opening day of Asian Games.

Former international wrestler, Satpal Singh, headed the panel that to finalise the names of sportspersons for the Dronacharya, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards.

Last year, badminton ace Saina Nehwal was conferred the Khel Ratna Award, the highest award for sportspersons in India.

32

Asian Voice - Saturday 30th July 2011

England selectors retain the same team for second Test England selectors have named an unchanged 12-man squad for the second Test match against India to be played at Trent Bridge from July 29. Yorkshire fast bowler Tim Bresnan has once again been added to the squad that defeated India by 196 runs in the first Test at Lord's.

The chairman of the England selection committee, Geoff Miller, said: "There was a lot to be pleased about from the opening Test at Lord's. We saw some excellent performances with both bat and ball, which resulted in an outstanding win on the final day of what was a memorable match.

"While the squad from the first Test all came through unscathed, we have included Tim Bresnan in the squad for this next Test and he'll once again be pushing for selection following a short turnaround in between Test matches," he added.

The squad is as follows: Andrew Strauss (Captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Kevin Pietersen (Surrey), Matt Prior (Sussex),Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire),Chris Tremlett (Surrey) and Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire). By Praful Kumar Singh.

London court dismisses banned Pak cricket trio's appeal The Crown Court in London has dismissed the appeal of banned Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir to dismiss their corruption case in a preliminary hearing.

The trio, who were found guilty of spot-fixing by the International Cricket Council and are serving a minimum fiveyear ban, had filed an appeal asking the court to dismiss criminal charges that the Crown Prosecution had levelled against them. Amir and Asif attended the hearing, while his lawyer represented Butt.

The trio were caught in a sting operation carried out by the British tabloid News of The World during Pakistan's tour of England last year.

Shambolic India given exemplary thrashing

By Premen Addy

The bookies were right, after all, to make England favourites for the First Test at Lord's. As much as the dismal performance of the team as a whole, the rotten state of India's cricket administration, including inept and myopic selection, should be the subject of close critical scrutiny. Cricket is a sport that commands a mass following in India, thanks to which the Indian cricket board is the richest in the world. Money ought to be a means to an end – the latter being cricket's well-being and progress. The moneychangers infesting the corridors of cricketing power in India should fear the prospect of the goose refusing to lay its golden eggs, as public enthusiasm wanes for losers without the stomach for a fight.

India were hung out to dry at Lord's by an England mean machine driven by inbred professionalism and the will to succeed. They are passionate about dethroning India as the world's number one Test playing nation and occupying that exalted position, which they are likely to do by the time the series ends. England's preparation was as faultless as the immaculate line and length of their bowlers – the surgical strike force, rather than the batting, that disembowelled their opponents. One feared the worst when paceman Zaheer Khan hobbled off with a hamstring injury in mid-afternoon on the opening day, having struck early with the wickets of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. His figures looked good: 2 for 18 from seven testing overs, but that was the end of Zaheer's further participation in the proceedings and it signalled the end of any meaningful Indian challenge in the match.

Three frontline bowlers meant India were hobbled, with the unedifying spectacle of captain/wicketkeeper Mahindra Singh Dhoni taking off his gloves and pads for an ineffectual bowl himself, something usually seen on the village green or in a minor club encounter in city suburbs. It is scarcely a state secret that Zaheer Khan is injury prone and has been so for quite awhile. The selectors, clearly, were

England celebrate their 196-run win

unaware of his condition. So he creeks uncertainly on, a doubtful starter for the Second Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, which begins this weekend.

Of the three other regular bowlers, Praveen Kumar performed splendidly in the England first innings with figures of 5 for 103 in a total of 474 for 8 declared; Ishant Sharma had a magnificent spell in the England second innings, dismissing Kevin Pietersen (a double centurion in the first innings) for a single and Ian Bell for a duck.

He also captured the wickets of the dangerous Jonathan Trott and the swashbuckling Eoin Morgan to bring his final tally to 4 wickets for 59 runs. England were 107 for 6 and reeling, but there was no gas left in the Indian engine room, with Harbhajan Singh utterly innocuous. Matt Prior (103 not out) and Stuart Broad (74 not out) took England at a gallop to 269 for 6 declared.

The rest is history. India underwent slow strangulation to be all out for 261 after tea on the final day, leaving England worthy and emphatic winners by 196 runs. Rahul Dravid (103 not out) in the first innings, with VVS Laxman (56) and Suresh Raina (78) in the second bore India's burden. The others were anonymous.

Returning to Indian selection, Harbhajan Singh looked what he is – a busted flush. He has lost the art of flight

and the kindred subtleties of an off-spinner's craft. He is now a defensive journeyman with scant penetration at the highest level. The left-arm Abdullah and the leg-spinner Rohit Sharma showed themselves to be excellent prospects in the IPL: too good apparently for Indian selection where mediocrity rules. So it is also with paceman Varun Aron, a product of the Dennis Lillee academy of excellence: overlooked for the wayward carthorse Sree Sreesanth, who needs satellite instrumentation to get his bowling line and length within reasonable range.

Virender Sehwag is twiddling his fingers in India with a shoulder in postoperation recovery mode. Shouldn't he have had his surgery in March or April instead of in early June? He should, indeed, on every rational count except the one that animates the good and great of Indian cricket – which is money. He was ordered to play through the IPL, despite his discomfort, because the takings at the gate would fall. Only money talks, it would appear.

Desperate situations call for desperate remedies. Get Yuvraj Singh to open the batting and draft in Munaf Patel to bolster the bowling. Otherwise woebegone India will repeat the shambles of Lord's. Enough said.

India bats its way up the new world order

With the euro in peril and the US on the brink of bankruptcy, the west seems to have enough to worry about without fretting about cricket. Yet a private dinner, in London on Monday night, was just the latest indication of how global power is shifting from west to east – and how India’s newly rich and powerful elite is throwing its weight around far from home.

The dinner launched the foundation of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s cricket captain. The event, backed by highprofile business names such as Citibank and Asprey, saw a room full of rich Indians, quaffing champagne and spending vast sums on cricket memorabilia.

An Indian cricket painting went for £260,000. The cricket bat with which Dhoni hit the runs that won the World Cup in March went for £60,000. The winner was so overwhelmed that, when he took possession from Dhoni himself, he upped his own bid, and paid £100,000.

That Dhoni, who hails from Ranchi, an Indian town once famous for its mental asylums, should have used London to

launch his foundation was significant.

Equally poignant, however, was that the location, the Park Lane Hilton, is a stone’s throw from the home of the Duke of Wellington, the man who helped conquer India for the British.

The event broadcast the power of India’s diaspora: the Indians wanted the English to know that England’s old colony now controlled this newly globalised game. India tops the world’s cricket rankings, but they are the game’s new moneybags too – providing more than 80 per cent of the game’s global income. A series with India now makes more money for England than even the contest against their old rivals Australia, because of the sale of televised rights to the hungry Indian market.

India’s rise as a global sporting superpower is by now a relatively familiar story, but until recently the British could at least console themselves that they still ruled the roost in their own backyard.

That is now no longer true. There is a further ironic twist too, because this rise is

in truth the collateral effect of the west urging India to open up its economy to global competition.

Twenty years this would have been unimaginable. Not only was India wedded to Soviet-style economic management but television had barely arrived.

Then, in 1991, with India running out of foreign exchange, the World Bank forced it to abandon its controlled economy.

Television arrived in a major way too, and the Indian cricket board realised it could sell cricket rights for big money, in particular to Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV. Soon Mr Murdoch, in alliance with Disney’s ESPN, began to offer wall-to-wall televised cricket to a rising middle class, with a mushrooming of channels all keen to show cricket, the national obsession.

Yet India is no longer content to dominate just in India alone, but around the world too. Here, the takeover has been helped by the curious way the English ran the game. Cricket is an odd team sport, in that the domestic game makes no money, and would collapse without subsidy from

international competitions. This is not true of football or rugby, let alone American sports. Until recently it did not matter either. England and Australia ran the game – and indeed all meaningful cricket in the rest of the world stopped once the English cricket season started.

But then three years ago Indians took advantage of another English invention – a shorter, more exciting form of the game known as Twenty20 cricket – to launch the Indian Premier League. This married cricket to Bollywood and saw television rights sold for more than $1bn. Nothing like it had ever been seen in a major sport, let alone this once sleepy game.

Sociologists know the type of influence now wielded abroad by India’s elite as soft power. It is the flip side of India’s economic rise. We are seeing the governance of a global sport passing from west to east for the first time. The shift is unique, and irreversible. The east can now take something western, and make the west a supplicant.

We had better get used to it.

– Mihir Bose