Asian Voice

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VOL 40. ISSUE 43

80p

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

First & Foremost Asian Weekly in Europe

Gunmen kill 18 in Pak bus ambush blamed the assault on Islamist militant groups, without naming a specific organisation.

The attackers flagged down buses, climbed on board asking passengers whether they were Shiite or Sunni Muslim, then dragged out the Shiites and shot them. Another eight people were wounded in the attack, including two women and three children.

"The motive was sec-

Gunmen disguised in military fatigues hauled 18 Shiite Muslim men off buses on Tuesday and shot them dead in cold blood in a usually quiet region of northern Pakistan.

It happened in Kohistan, a district of KhyberPakhtunkhwa province, when the bus was going from Gilgit to Rawalpindi. This was the first ever attack in the remote area. Authorities

Indian doctors win racial discrimination case in US The court ruled in favour of Ajay Gaalla, Harish Chandna and Dakshesh Parikh, the Victoria Advocate reported.

In February 2010, the medical center filed a resolution that would allow only cardiologists with contracts at the hospital to exercise clinical privileges in the cardiology department or part of the hospital's heart programme.

The cardiologists fought back with a lawsuit stating they were being barred from practicing not based on their merit and expertise, but because of economical and racial reasons.

This not only affected them, but their patients who were denied the right to see the physician of their choice, according to the court documents.

Continued on page 26

Continued on page 26

Doctors suspended for supporting female foeticide in the UK

Dr Raj Mohan

Dr Prabha Sivaraman

India despite of its recent progress, still suffers from gender discrimination and foeticide depending on its sex, remains to be an existing practice.

In India between 2001-2005, 692,000 cases of female foeticide were reported.

It has made India initiate a law to ensure the abortion is not meant for immoral purposes and India is still criticised severely for such social practices. However it has been shocking to learn that two Indian doctors may have been involved in granting women here illegal abortions based on the gender of their baby, after revelations by the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail.

An undercover investigation found consult-

ants apparently agreed to terminate a pregnancy based only on the baby’s sex, with ‘no questions asked’.

Some were recorded admitting they were prepared to falsify paperwork to arrange the abortions, it is claimed.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he was ‘extremely concerned’ about the allegations and that the abortion clinics have been referred to police to investigate whether an offence has been committed.

Daily Mail reported that one of the consultants, Prabha Sivaraman, who works for private clinics and NHS hospitals in Manchester, Continued on page 2

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Three Indian-American doctors, who were derogatorily called "the Indians" and treated as "second-class citizens" by the CEO of a medical center in the US, have won a racial discrimination case in a Texas court.

The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Citizens Medical Center in Victoria had violated the equal protection rights of the doctors.

tarian. The gunmen were wearing army uniform," Mohammad Ilyas, the police chief in Kohistan said after the attack near the town of Harban, 130 miles (210 km) north of the capital.

One bus and three minibuses were travelling from Rawalpindi, the city where the Pakistan army is headquartered, to the northern town of Gilgit.

"They checked the identity of the passengers, got the Shiites off the vehicles and shot them dead," Ilyas said. "The dead were all male."

Kohistan administration chief, Aqal Badshah, said 18 people were killed by eight attackers armed with Kalashnikovs and wearing military dress. It was the fourth militant attack in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since Thursday, raising fears that violence linked to a Taliban insurgency is again on the rise following a decline in recent months.

3rd Mar to 9th Mar 2012

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

one to one Keith Vaz MP with

Abhishek Sachdev, Founder of Vedanta Hedging Abhishek Sachdev, B.A Hons SCL, ACSI – Founder and Managing Director of Vedanta Hedging Ltd. Abhishek Sachdev founded Vedanta Hedging Ltd to help businesses better understand and negotiate their Interest Rate & Foreign Exchange Rate Hedging with their Banks. He spent eight years at Lloyds Banking Group Plc where he was head-hunted to join their Executive Leadership scheme.

Abhishek read Economics at Grey College, at the University of Durham, where he graduated with the Highest First Class Honours (Summa Cum Laude) out of his entire year group.

Abhishek set up Vedanta Hedging after realising that many businesses, even sophisticated large firms, did not really understand derivatives well, and were often at a disadvantage in their Banking relationship.

The company has since helped dozen’s of clients to negotiate with their Banks, and now has a team of over four consultants.

Vedanta Hedging is fully authorised by the Financial Services Authority and the Ministry of Justice.

1) Please tell us about your current position?

I run Vedanta Hedging which allows firms to understand the pricing behind the very untransparent derivatives and hedging products that they purchase from Banks. Unfortunately, some firms may have been mis-sold these products leaving them with crippling exit fees.

Through being able to uniquely understand

5) What is the best thing about your current role?

I genuinely get such a ‘buzz’ from helping businesses to choose a better hedging strategy / lower pricing from their Bank.

I love explaining technical Financial Markets concepts into relevant terms so the client can truly understand what they are doing. I also get to meet so many types of businesses, from small pub owners to national Hotel owners.

these products, we help clients negotiate with Banks on improving their Banking terms.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

I hope that my proudest days are yet to come!

Being the only Asian in my Year studying Economics (rare in itself) and graduating at the top of the class. I was also honoured to be the youngest ever Senior

6) And the worst?

Branch Manager at the Bank at the age of 24.

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

I feel privileged to have been given such great opportunities at such a young age. However, I have had a few business

ideas in the past but was unable to raise capital for them. Looking back on them, I wish I had taken the plunge to leave the Bank sooner, since obstacles need to be tackled head-on to reach success.

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

Doctors suspended for supporting female foeticide in the UK allegedly told a young woman w h o Continued from page 1 wanted to abort a female foetus: ‘I don’t ask questions.

If you want a termination, you want a termination.’

The woman claimed to have had a blood test in France which had left her ‘pretty certain’ she was having a girl.

She said: ‘That’s not really appropriate for us right now, we were hoping for a boy. It’s the wrong gender – that’s how it is. I’m positive that’s what I want.’

Miss Sivaraman, a registered obstetrician and gynaecologist who works at Pall Mall Medical in Manchester, allegedly told the woman that she could have the procedure as a private patient for 200 to 300 on top of the 500 she paid for the consultation.

The consultant later telephoned a colleague to book the procedure at an NHS hospital for the following week, explaining it was for ‘social reasons’ and the woman ‘doesn’t want questions asked’.

A spokesman for Pall Mall Medical said it had ‘suspended clinical contact’ with Miss Sivaraman.

‘The clinic does not condone in any way the referral for termination on the grounds of gender,’ he added.

The Pennine General Hospitals Trust, which runs North Manchester General Hospital, said that it was investigating the allegations but would not confirm if it had suspend-

I was fortunate enough to join the Bank at the same time as Truett Tate in 2003, who soon became a Board Director at the Bank (retiring this month). Truett offered to be my mentor after a chance meeting, and has given me great advice and guidance in every respect since then. He has started several businesses in the Bank, and I have never met a more genuine and passionate leader.

ed Miss Sivaraman.

Her husband, understood to be Manu Mathew, a consultant in ophthalmology at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Derbyshire, told a national newspaper: ‘We’ve both been advised not to comment.’

Women and men are equal in all aspects in every part of the world. Killing unborn babies depending on their gender is a crime. Do you know any case of foeticide depending on such gender biases? If yes, write to Asian Voice at aveditorial@abplgroup.com The Calthorpe Clinic has also been exposed for illicitly completing abortion forms amid concerns that doctors are not properly consulting patients before agreeing to terminations, a Daily Telegraph report suggests. A doctor at the clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham, was also secretly filmed offering to arrange an abortion for a woman who said she wanted to terminate her pregnancy because the baby was a girl.

“It’s like female infanticide isn’t it?” said Dr Raj Mohan before agreeing to conduct the procedure. Socalled “sex-selection” terminations are illegal.

It is understood that the NHS watchdog that monitors the clinics, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), had already alerted the Health Secretary to concerns over

the documentation being used by the Calthorpe Clinic. The head of CQC, which also oversees care homes and hospitals, resigned following a Department of Health report that criticised the quango.

A third doctor, Claudine Domoney, a private consultant for a clinic in west London, is also alleged to have agreed to let a woman who was 18 weeks pregnant abort a boy because her husband had a son from his first marriage.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital said Miss Domoney had been suspended pending an investigation. A spokesman added: ‘We take extremely seriously the allegations made against one of its consultants, Claudine Domoney.

‘The practice of “family balancing” through abortion is illegal. The Trust observes this law and does not offer termination of pregnancy on the basis of gender. We are investigating these very serious allegations as a matter of urgency.’ A man believed to be Miss Domoney’s partner refused to comment.

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘We will be speaking to the police. Criminal offences may have been committed and we will take urgent action.’

The General Medical Council and the Care Quality Commission, which monitors these clinics, has been asked to investigate. In 2010, 189,574 abortions were carried out in England and Wales, an 8 per cent increase in a decade.

The biggest challenge we face is having to explain to clients routinely that they cannot just trust their Bank all the time like they may have grown accustomed to.

Highlighting the sore fact that their Bank may be interested in making more profits rather than helping them, is difficult at times!

7) What are your long term goals?

I want Vedanta Hedging to be a Trusted Risk Advisor for small and medium sized firms across the UK regarding any aspect of Financial Hedging. Then, I want to help businesses in Europe and the USA who also need help negotiating with their Banks on these complex products.

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

It has been said before, but I really think that we need a much simpler tax system. It takes up so much management time and resource, and is one of the most complex regimes globally. I also think we need more tax incentives for microbusinesses, to encourage more young people to follow their ideas through and set up a business.

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

It may sound clichéd, but without a doubt it would be Ghandi Bapu.

Nobody has been as steadfast in the relentless goal of pure Truth and Non-Violence as Bapu, and I think we have so much to learn from him, more now than ever.

Bhavan celebrates India’s Republic day

Lord Hameed, Ms Sangeeta Bahadur, Mr Joginder Sangar

On the 23rd February, the Mountbatten Auditorium was filled with many who came to remember the republic’s inauguration and to hear speeches by distinguished guests – including the Chief Guest, Ms Sangeeta Bahadur, Minister of Culture and Director of the Nehru Centre in London.

After the Bhavan’s Prayer, given by the Bhavan’s Director Dr Nandakumara, those present were welcomed by the Chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan UK, Mr Joginder Sanger. In his opening remarks, Mr Sanger reminded those present that India was the Continued on page 30

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

COMMENT

Migration remains at record levels England surely is one of the crowded places on earth and the crowd mostly is the immigrants who keep on arriving day by day. England lies sixth among the most crowded countries in the world. Fewer people are emigrating while increasing numbers continue to settle here, in particular students from Africa and India. The government’s hopes of reducing net migration into Britain to below 100,000 have suffered a fresh blow, with the latest figures showing that it remained at the record level of 250,000 in the year to June 2011. But it takes time to takes effect. But you need the immigrants for the development of the country. Even the big businesses need the immigrants for some particular type of work which the locals are not willing to do. Some of the wealthy immigrants are setting up industries which give employment to locals also.

The figures showed long-term immigration remained steady, with 593,000 coming to live in Britain in the year to June 2011. Long-term emigration over the same period was also stable, with 343,000 people going to live abroad, giving a net migration figure of 250,000. The figures for the first year of the coalition government showed that net migration actually rose from 235,000 to 250,000 in its first 12 months in office.

This increase was driven by falls in the emigration side of the equation, with the number of people going to live abroad at its lowest level since 1998.

The latest quarterly migration statistics report confirms that studying remains the most common reason

to come to live in Britain, with an estimated 242,000 students arriving in the year to June 2011.

The figures also show that long-term immigration of new Commonwealth citizens, mainly from the Asian subcontinent, hit a record level of 170,000 – two-thirds of them students – over the same period.

A separate set of statistics shows that study, work or family visa applications to Britain fell by 6% last year. The latest visa data shows a fall in the number of overseas students since a peak in June 2010.

The immigration minister, Damian Green, said that there were signs of progress. “Our reforms are starting to take effect. Home Office figures from the second half of last year show a significant decrease in the number of student and work visas issued, an early indicator for the long-term direction of net migration.

The number of people granted settlement, which is to be the subject of fresh curbs fell by 32% last year to 163,477. But it is thought this drop represents a backlog of long-term asylum “legacy” cases moving out of the system. There were 177,000 new British citizens – 9% fewer than in 2010.

Reducing immigration is a legitimate goal – but politicians should be wary of promising what they can’t deliver. There is also a risk that ministers will be tempted to take more extreme measures in pursuit of their elusive target, including on those areas of immigration which are most important to our economy, and which surveys show the public are less bothered about, including skilled workers and overseas students.

India to allow foreign investments in aviation sector India took a major step to open up its hard-pressed aviation sector to investment by foreign airlines, with the aviation ministry saying it would recommend that the cabinet allow foreign carriers to take up to 49 per cent stake. India bars foreign carriers from buying into Indian airlines, but foreign investors are allowed to invest up to a cumulative 49 per cent stake. “The question was to allow other airlines to participate in FDI. I discussed it with the finance minister and he agreed,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said. A decision to open up the sector to foreign carriers would be a lifeline to domestic carriers, notably debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines. All but one of India’s six main airlines is lossmaking as they engage in aggressive price cutting activities.

Indian airlines are expected to lose up to $3 billion in the fiscal year that ends in March. State-owned Air India, operating on government life support, is expected to account for more than half of that, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation has said. Despite heavy losses, domestic air traffic increased 17.6 per cent to 55 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2011, government data shows. The authorities should ensure that the safety of the passengers should be given utmost importance. The passengers should also get direct flights from the UK to Gujarat (India’s one of the most advanced states) or connecting flights without much delay. At present many a times you have to wait five six hours to get connecting flights. Praful Patel was heading a private airlines before becoming the Aviation Minister. Air India direct flights probably suffered due to the paradigm shift in priorities. But Kingfisher or Jet with people’s support can do what Air India could not.

Though Ajit Singh’s statement that the government would offer no bailout to private airlines, despite pleas

by Kingfisher, is welcome, but using precious taxpayer’s money to plug the leaks in failing airlines is bad

policy, whether they belong to the private or public sector. What the government should do, rather, is to make the airline sector as a whole a viable business proposition, so that the civil aviation can take off. This is a dire scenario which can have major repercussions on the further growth of Indian civil aviation.

Ensuring a viable aviation industry requires that the government policy is radically reworked. While the recent dilution of the public sector monopoly on bilateral traffic rights is a major gain, other steps are also urgently needed. Aviation fuel prices should be sharply reduced and brought closer to global levels. States should cooperate in reducing taxation on aviation fuel.

It’s their economy that stands to benefit, which will eventually yield more revenue.

What does the denial of bailout mean for Kingfisher? Gradual, if not immediate, passing into oblivion because the airline has not only exhausted all possible sources of funding, with the exception of FDI by foreign airlines, but also owes huge sums of money to all associates. With over 50 per cent of its aircraft presently inoperative, matters have only been allowed to worsen, as revenues can’t be enhanced when fewer flights are operated and aircraft on the ground also impose a cost burden on the airline.

What will the absence of Kingfisher from the India skies mean if life support is not extended? To the country, loss of income arising from various taxes; to the travelling public, scarcity of flights and high fare on other airlines; to the airport, loss of income; to the employees, lose of jobs. If cancellation of a few flights recently could wreck havoc at airports in terms of inconvenience to passengers and result in skyrocketing airfares, one can visualize what the total shutdown of Kingfisher with 20 per cent capacity share can possibly cause.

Assembly elections in India India does not have an election-less year. With 28 States and seven Union Territories, the world’s largest democracy hurtles from one Assembly election to another. In 2012, over a period of three months beginning January, five States - Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Goa- go to the polls.

The Election Commission of India had more than one reason to announce all five together. A shortened period is administratively convenient, but more importantly, it allows for reasoned, practical application of the Model Code of Conduct for political parties. Though essential to ensure that ruling parties do not abuse power or misuse the official machinery, and to regulate the election campaign, the model code often holds up welfare schemes and development projects. Also, quite rightly, the code is binding not only on the governments in the States where an Assembly election is being held, but also on the Central government. To collapse the elections into a single time frame, wherever possible, is therefore desirable and may even be necessary. But the question is whether the people get the government they wanted after the elections. Mostly the powerful and corrupt people will always get elected to the assembly. They use the money and muscle power to either browbeat the opponents or terrorize the electorate. So ultimately the

people won’t get the government they wanted. Mostly criminals and other anti-social elements are chosen by the political parties as candidates, because they have the clout to win elections. All parties talk about cleaning up politics, but are not willing to do anything for that purpose. Power is what they all wanted and they won’t bother about the means to it.

So the same pattern is going on for a long time.

Common man hoped that Anna Hazare would be able to mobilize enough support to clean up politics though his movement. After the initial enthusiasm, his movement is also losing momentum. Some of the politicians are thinking of pocketing money for themselves or to the party at the cost of the exchequer and the development of the country. A good example is former union telecom minister A Raja. He had robed the country of billions by granting 2G licenses to some favoured companies. The case is going on in the court but it takes a long time to deliver the verdict. So the politicians know that whatever be their crime nothing is going to happen to them in the near future and also the party will also support you.

So for a responsible and people oriented government you must first clean up politics. Unless you get rid of criminals and anti-social elements from politics you are not going to get the government you wanted.

www.abplgroup.com

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Thought for the Week

Appreciation is a wonderful thing.

It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well - Voltaire (1694-1778)

Sarah Teather MP Liberal Democrat MP for Brent Central and Minister of State for Children and Families

Making taxes fairer At the last General Election, one of the Liberal Democrats’ main ambitions was to make the tax system fairer. We believe that when household budgets are under pressure, it is our responsibility to make sure that low and middle income families pay less to the taxman, so they can put more money towards the things that matter to them.

At the end of the Second World War, only around 12 million people in Britain paid income tax. Many working people were exempt as a result of a generous taxfree allowance. Over the next 50 years or so, more and more people were sucked into income tax as wage rises outpaced the increase in the threshold.

By 2010, the number of people paying income tax had more than doubled to almost 30 million.

This meant that the poorest fifth of the population were paying a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest fifth.

When we formed the Government, the Liberal Democrats won concessions from the Conservative Party that by 2015 nobody earning less than £10,000 will have to pay income tax.

The Coalition is well on its way to achieving this target. Since 2010, an additional 800,000 working people no longer pay income tax, and a further 23 million have seen their tax bills drop by £200.

This is a good start.

But the Liberal Democrats believe more can and should be done to help working families in these tough economic times. This is why Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has called on the Coalition to go further and faster in lifting people out of tax.

Raising the threshold to £10,000 would mean that 3.5 million people would not pay any income tax at all and many millions more could benefit from an extra £500 every year. At a time when working families up and down Britain are struggling, this extra money is vital.

Consider a mother who works three days a week and earns £10,000 a year. Under the last Labour government, she paid more than £1,000 in income tax and national insurance. This meant that every week she was bringing home about £170. However, under our plan for fairer taxes, she will take home an extra £60 each and every month.

When times are tight, the Government has to make sure that it acts responsibly with taxpayers’ money and this means making sure that we raise enough money to cover tax breaks like this. To make sure that the country can afford to make taxes fairer, we are cracking down on wealthy people who avoid tax, making sure the banks pay their fair share, and limiting tax relief on the pensions of the super-rich.

I believe this is a clear sign that the Liberal Democrats in Government are on your side. Over the last decade, rising food prices and higher energy bills often haven’t been matched by increasing wages. This has put a squeeze on the budgets of households that the Government has a responsibility to address.

Delivering on our pledge to make taxes fairer is one way that the Liberal Democrats can make a real difference for families across the country.

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

4

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Lord Dholakia supports the implementation of a justice board for women

Youth Conference 2012

In partnership with City Hindus Network and Akshayapatra 3 March 2012, 11:30am at Brunei Gallery (SOAS, University of London), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Asian Voice Youth Conference to pilot launch Young Asian Social Enterprise The youth are the future of a country and to have a secure and prosperous future, we must invest in them today. The global financial crisis has led to record youth unemployment in Britain, according to Government figures.

We at Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar believe that our youth need to be empowered to the right social and economic changes.

Educational achievements alone are not sufficient to get ahead in the ever more competitive employment market.

Young people now, more than ever, need to stand out with their skills, experience and personal accomplishments.

Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar are organising a Youth Conference in association with City Hindus Network (CHN) at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London on Saturday 3 March 2012 for 15-25 year olds.

The conference will feature leading professionals from different walks of life (including finance, law, medicine, politics, media and the arts) who will share their personal experiences and offer practical advice on how young people can fulfil their aspirations. The conference will also include interactive sessions and mentoring opportunities.

In this youth conference we will also be launching the pilot for a new social enterprise scheme, known as the

Young Asian Social Enterprise (in collaboration with the City Hindus Network). This innovative scheme is based on an annual national competition for students to fund raise for charities supporting free education for underprivileged children in India. In return, the participants that demonstrate real drive and entrepreneurship will be awarded with a career development package.

This includes a youth leadership placement at a range of top firms over summer (including Accenture, Shell, PWC amongst others). The funds raised at the competition launched in our Youth Conference will be given to the charity Akshaya Patra.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, is the world’s largest NGO-run school feeding programme, serves mid-day meals that are hot, nutritious and unlimited to disadvantaged children studying in government schools in India. Despite India’s stunning economic growth, a large chunk of India’s children do not have the access to schools because of poverty and malnutrition. These are India’s immediate challenges – hunger and education.Initiated in the year 2000, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, had started as a pilot programme by feeding only 1,500 children of 5 schools in 1 city and since then its efficacy, scalability and replicability has put it on the growth

Cllr Krupa Sheth

Misha Patel

Pratik Dattani

Menhaj Huda

Aekta Mahajan

Divya Talwar

Amit Sodha

Rajay Naik

Confirmed speakers include: Menhaj Huda (film director, producer and writer); Divya Talwar (BBC News Reporter); Misha Patel (Assistant General Counsel, KPMG); Councillor Krupa Sheth (the youngest Councillor in Brent at the age of 20); Aekta Mahajan (Cabinet Office); Pratik Dattani (economist and Chair of the City Hindus Network); Amit Sodha (lifestyle coach and stand up comedian); Dr Pranav Somaiya (vascular surgeon); and Rajay Naik (Director of Government and External Affairs, The Open University).

Date: Saturday 3 March 2012.

Timings: 11:30am- 4:30pm.

Location: Brunei Gallery (SOAS, University of London), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG (nearest tube stations: Russell Square, Euston, Tottenham Court Road).

Registration is now CLOSED Target age range: 15-25.

Other details: A vegetarian lunch will be served. trajectory and it is currently feeding almost 1.3 million children in 8,200 schools from its 18 locations in 8 states in India. The vision statement of The Akshaya Patra Foundation “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger” amplifies its noble sentiments and its mission is to feed 5 Million by

2020. Those that have shown a real entrepreneurial spirit and drive will be presented a YASE award and receive expert mentoring and bespoke coaching from some of the City’s top firms.

For More Info Call:

020 8900 2828

www.rimzim.co.uk

Lord Dholakia

proportion of women prisoners are the sole carers for young children,” as opposed to men in the same position. Included in this matrix the scarcity of women‘s prisons gives rise to logistical problems such as visiting; whilst women prisoner numbers have increased twice as fast as the male prison population in the last eighteen years.

Against this “fairly complex” background and “the use of non-custodial options [that] seem to bypass female offenders,” Lord Dholakia reasoned “the establishment of a women’s justice board could be the single most important step we could take towards improving the treatment of women offenders.”

Dementia care at Neem tree

(Please note this is a free but prior registration only event and the registration is closed now)

Man convicted for stealing A 24 year old man has been sentenced after stealing money from elderly victims.

Ketan Patel aged 24 (pictured), of Northwest London, was sentenced for four counts of Fraud by abuse of position on Monday 27th February at Blackfriars Crown Court.

He was given a 14 month custodial sentence, ordered to repay the victims 1200 and has been served with a deportation order. Age UK Camden at Great Croft Resource Centre organise a ‘pension run’ every week, where they take elderly people out to the post office, Marchmont Street WC1N, to collect their pensions in an escorted group.

On at least four separate occasions it was noticed, by both the elderly victims and members of Age UK, that

Lord Dholakia, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, spoke in support of an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill proposing a justice board specifically for women.

Whilst acknowledging the past arguments against such a move Lord Dholakia stated that a large proportion of female offenders often had more underlying problems and difficulties than men. Lord Dholakia cited “a much higher proportion of female prisoners have mental health problems than male prisoners.” He also noted that a high proportion had “a psychiatric history before entering prison;” and that “many more had histories of selfharm than male prisoners.” Lord Dholakia continued “more have personality disorders, neurotic disorders, learning disabilities and problems of substance abuse; and often more than one diagnosis.”

Lord Dholakia also emphasised how “Many more women have suffered past physical or sexual abuse at the hands of adults or partners;” additionally, “a much higher

the amounts of money withdrawn did not match the amount the victims received.

This was immediately reported to police in Camden by Age UK. Officers attended the post office and a member of staff was found to be carrying large amounts of cash and was arrested on 17th October 2011. The suspect was charged on 17th January for four counts of Fraud by abuse of position and pleaded guilty in court.

Dementia care at The term ‘dementia’ is used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions.

Symptoms of dementia include loss of memory, confusion and problems with speech and understanding. The Neem Tree Care Centre understands that there is no one size fits all solution to supporting people with dementia and that it should never prevent anyone from leading a full and active life.

Everyone in the care team receive training through their bespoke dementia care programmes. Families and friends and form an essential support network. In order to create activity programmes that mean something to the individual, they gather detailed information about the per-

son’s life -background, family and social networks, past interests and hobbies.

They have designed our building to create a therapeutic dementia care environment. This should enable residents to recognise their surroundings, take part in everyday activities and take control of their own environments.

Some of the features that the care centre has implemented are as following: l Each bedroom door is unique to the individual with a memory frame to aid orientation. l Specifically designed lighting levels. l Visual cues to aid orientation. l Un-patterned carpets and upholstery fabrics to reduce confusion. l All bedrooms with easy access en-suite facilities

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Rishi Kapoor opens India Week 2012 Romil Patel Last week (20 February) saw the London School of Economics (LSE) playing host to India Week 2012.

This event seeks to celebrate an assortment of India’s achievements in a variety of disciplines whilst providing a platform for students to engage in meaningful dialogue on a range of issues.

Rishi Kapoor, the veteran actor who enjoys legendary status among Bollywood fans was on hand to kick off proceedings.

Armed with his perennial charm and a quick wit, Kapoor and the LSE delegation spoke to the media before addressing a crowd of LSE students and adoring fans.

Before answering the

Rishi Kapoor with Professor Rachel Dwyer of SOAS

media’s questions, however, Dr. Ruth Kattumuri, the Co-Director of the Asia Research Centre and India Observatory contextualised the involvement of Bollywood at the event.

“Not only does Indian cinema contribute to the economy of the country but by creating stories and telling stories in a very interesting way, it also contributes to the social development of the country. It is right that LSE should be hosting some of the Bollywood stars” she said.

Sanam Arora, CEO of LSE’s India Week hastened to add that this event “brings an interesting and unique mix of cinema and economics. India Week this year is celebrating all factors of India - film, economics, culture and much more.”

The reins were handed over to Kapoor, who answered the media’s ques-

tions. The Kapoor family’s contribution to Bollywood cinema spans eighty years and the crowd were eager to hear his thoughts on this tremendous achievement.

“How do I feel?

Obviously the answer would be delighted” he beamed. “We have been a part of Indian cinema for just about 80 years now...I am very proud of the fact that in our own capacity, we are able to keep the legacy going in whatever way. We hope to continue and I am sure Ranbir would like his son to keep the tradition going.”

Having enjoyed unparalleled success in Bollywood, it was inevitable that someone should ask Rishi Kapoor for advice. This would be the point where one would expect any celebrity to extol their own virtues.

“Advice? I am no one to advise anyone” he said

humbly. “Whatever work you do, I feel that you must have passion. There has to be a sense of sincerity, dedication and some kind of love and passion for it. My kind of work [acting] is a very passionate profession.

You have to be very dedicated towards it. Success and failure are a part of this profession but you must be able to be absolutely involved in whatever creative field you have chosen.”

India is a country which epitomises diversity and Asian Voice asked Kapoor why he felt that people from all backgrounds could relate to Bollywood. “A simple answer is that we provide entertainment” he said.

“We do not preach, our films are a little over the top and they are exaggerated. They are the next best thing for birth control!”

The Press Conference was supposed to be followed by an Inauguration Ceremony. Unfortunately, the lamp lighting ceremony which officially declares India Week open was scrapped. The subsequent panel discussion on ‘The Changing Landscape of Bollywood’ dwindled into a discussion where the highlights of Mr. Kapoor’s glittering career were re-lived much to the delight of a star-struck audience.

Medical student likely to face jail A medical student has been convicted of luring a millionaire television executive to his death after she claimed he had tried to rape her.

Mundill Mahil, 20, admitted tricking Gagandip Singh into visiting the bedroom of her university digs in Brighton, claiming that she wanted him to receive a “religious lecture”. He was beaten unconscious by two “gangster friends” and bundled into the boot of his car, which was set on fire while he was still alive, the Old Bailey heard.

Harvinder Shoker, 20, who was said to be besotted with Mahil, was convicted of murder and Darren Peters, 20, of manslaughter.

Mahil, a Sikh, (pictured) shook her head and swayed in the dock as she was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm. Judge Paul Worsley allowed the student to remain on bail but warned her: “I regard a long custodial sentence as virtually inevitable.”

Shoker, a diabetic, claimed he was “confused” on the night of the killing because he

had not eaten or taken his insulin. He said the plan had been to take Mr Singh to London where he would be “lectured” by a mutual friend. He thought Mr Singh was dead when the car was set alight in Blackheath, southeast London, he told the court.

Peters claimed that Shoker had forced him to accompany him to Brighton to steal a car after threatening his terminally ill father and his girlfriend. He added that he did not realise Mr Singh was in the car when it was set alight.

Mahil, of Chatham, Kent, Peters, of Blackheath, and Shoker, of Greenwich, southeast London, will be sentenced this week.

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

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

By Spriha Srivastava

Junior B to attend Asian Film Festival Bollywood heartthrob Abhishek Bachchan will attend the Opening Night of the 14th London Asian Film Festival hosted by Tongues on Fire from 16 to 24 March across multiple venues in L o n d o n .

Abhishek is scheduled to attend the opening press conference, talking about the importance of this annual festival and will be present at the introduction of the opening film of the festival Michael, starring Naseeruddin Shah on 16 March at the British Film Institute (BFI), Southbank. Meera Syal has agreed to open the festival, as our patron.

The festival which closes with an Awards Dinner at BAFTA on 24 March honours a range of exciting films influenced by South Asian cultures that have made waves in the international film festival circuit.

Some of the other major highlights of the festival include a thrilling Pakistani film section which includes screening of the highly controversial film Bol on 18 March at BFI. The lead actress of the film Humaima Malik is

confirmed to attend the Q&A session after the screening In this year of the Paralympics, the film festival has invited the acclaimed Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, from 21

March until the closing night awards ceremony on 24 March at BAFTA. TOF will be honoring him with an award in recognition of his work on disability in Indian cinema. Sanjay will also be delivering the Nargis Dutt lecture at the University of Westminster (Regent Street campus) on 22 March and we will be screening critically acclaimed films Black and Guzaarish during the ten day event.

The AFF will also screen Meherjaan from Bangladesh, a film across Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, starring Jaya Bachchan.

The director of the film Rubaiyat Hossain will

be present for a Q&A after the screening. An annual short film competition showcasing the remarkable work of aspiring film-makers and future stars of cinema will take place on 17 March at Apollo, Piccadilly And finally the closing night awards ceremony will be at BAFTA on 24 March. The gala ceremony itself will be in the theatre upstairs, followed by a black tie sit down meal in the David Lean room. The AFF is collaborating with Macmillan Cancer Support on a series of Film Making workshops and “Time to Change” to provoke debate on mental health through their short film Wedding Reception.

Festival director Dr. Pushpinder Chowdhry says, “The 14th London Asian Film Festival has a global flavor celebrating diversity with films, special events and our annual short film competition. It’s an exciting time for London and we hope the stories we have selected will move, excite and inspire you.”

London Olympic and Paralympic ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY Whatever you think of the London Olympic Games, from 1st March there will be 149 days left to the opening ceremony.

I, personally, can hardly wait. This is truly once in a lifetime opportunity.

The time to absorb and celebrate one of the world’s greatest events right on our door step is approaching very fast.

Since the successful bid to host Olympic and Paralympics in London there have been expectations, speculation and a lot more. On the whole, the planning from the inception has worked well.

To date the infrastructure projects and buildings, including the stadium, Games venues and the Olympic village have been completed in time and within budget.

Equally important is the programmed testing of the venues for the Games to ensure that the buildings and services perform without fault for the athletes and spectators. This

impressed with the stadium which is pretty ordinary and undistinguished.

I have visited with other London Assembly Members the Olympic site at various stages of its development but this visit was more ‘real’ in that rather than being a conducted tour in a coach I went through the entire process as a visitor with other members of public. The first hurdle, which will be key for all visitors to the Games, was the security.

began a couple of week ago. All major sporting venues are being tested. I was lucky to be able to attend an event at the Velodrome, popularly dubbed the ‘Pringle’ because of its shape!

The Velodrome and the Aquatic Centre, the latter designed by the famous architect Zaha Hadid, are the two building within the Olympic complex of good architectural design and merit – personally I’m not

First I was confronted by the inspection regime at various stages of my ticket/pass which I found diligent. Then, of course, the security check including metal detection and searches was thorough and professional. This was followed by a 10 minute ride by coach to the Veldodrome.

Along the journey there were glimpses of the major buildings nearly completed and a lot of landscaping and infra-

HRWFF in March The 16th edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be presented in London from 21-30 March, 2012, Human Rights Watch said. The international feature programme includes 15 documentaries and 4 dramas, from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, the Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, the Maldives, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA. Many of the films will be followed by Q&A sessions with filmmakers, and some by panel discussions with experts and film subjects.

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival programme this year is organised around four themes: development, environment and the global economy;

migrants’ rights and racism; personal testimony and witnessing; and women’s rights.

The festival will launch on Wednesday, 21 March at the Curzon Mayfair with a fundraising benefit and reception for Human Rights Watch, featuring Emad Burnat and Guy David’s 5 Broken Cameras which documents one Palestinian village’s struggle against violence and oppression. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion including Burnat, Davidi and Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. It will be moderated by David Mepham, the Human Rights Watch UK director.

The festival will also screen “Saving Face,” a documentary by a British Asian doctor.

The documentary won an Oscar Award earlier this week. Saving Face will screen in an extended version at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival on Wednesday 28 March and Thursday 29 March. Both screenings will be introduced

by Katie Piper and followed by a discussion with Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Daniel Junge and plastic surgeon Dr Mohammed Jawad, moderated by Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch.

The closing night film and reception will be on Friday 30 March at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton. It will feature Nadine Labaki’s drama Where Do We Go Now? - the story of a group of women determined to protect their isolated, mine-encircled community.

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at spriha@abplgroup.com

structure work being completed.

Approaching the Velodrome and when one arrives at the foot of the building the strong and sweeping curved form is breathtaking.

Ethicallysourced timber cladding of the building all along the soffit of the roof is simple but stylish and when one enters the building the 4000 seat track cycling venue is compact and cosy. The brightly lit Velodrome was packed with fans and one could not escape the sense of excitement (this is true, even someone like me who hasn’t a clue about track racing).

What helped the sense of excitement and being ‘part of the actual races’ was the closeness of the spectators seating with the brightly lit sweeping (‘pringle’like!) racing tracks. The building works for the spectators and I understand for the participants as there were some major successes for our hopefuls during the few days of competitions held at this venue.

You’d ask what are the concerns and challenges leading up to the Games? There are a few, such as allocation of tickets, ability of our transport infrastructure to cope with the demand (both serving regular commuters plus visitors), security and policing of London (including those Outer London areas like Brent and Harrow) and ‘legacy’ issues (future use of the venues and ongoing – long term benefit to all Londoners).

However, this is once in a lifetime privilege for us and I’d be thoroughly enjoying it.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

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Political Sketchbook Alpesh Patel’s

How Bankers Will Be Loved The past couple of weeks you may have noticed the 15 billion in profits by HSBC and the 12 billion by Barclays…I’ve lost count after 10 billion…so forgive me if I am out by a billion between friends.

Yet these massive profit making machines are not loved by the British public? £3 billion in tax Barclays paid, yet the headlines speak of how they tried to avoid a couple of hundred million. Why are we not happy that British companies are so profitable? What on earth are their PR advisors advising them? As I mentioned on Sky News, Jeff Randall Live, they only need to do three things to be loved of the nation.

First, stop hoarding all those profits, and spend on the young. It’s easy, take £1 billion of your profits from last year and spend it on youth training programmes. You don’t have to turn the young people into trainee bankers – god forbid – just train them in keyboard skills, behaviour in an office, discipline, leadership skills. And pay them! Pay them minimum wage if you want.

And to the young layabouts, sorry, little darlings on street corners with immense potential, who moan about work experience – in my grandfather’s day, flipping burgers was called opportunity. My uncle swept floors at Morrisons at 16 – before becoming the General Manager of their flagship store by 24. You pays your dues and make sure you have the right attitude.

That’s the first thing that will make society love bankers. Second, stop hoarding all that profit, and pay a decent dividend, so that pensioners who are your shareholders through

their pension funds get a decent return.

Presently Barclays pays £2 in dividends for every £100 of shares. It pays less than most of the other 100 largest FTSE 100 companies in the UK. It can pay more. Just imagine how much the nation would love them for looking after the old.

So that is the young and the old – what about the rest of us? Bankers pay should be linked to the amount of tax their bank pays. If paying tax is a social good – then let’s talk real incentivisation. We’ll incentivise you as a society.

That’s the real problem with bankers pay and this notion of incentivisation – it has no link to what we understand as incentiviation. No wonder people ask, ‘why would you get a bonus if you made a loss?’

Barclays made £12 billion pounds in profit. I have no problem their CEO getting, say, 0.1% of that as his pay.

Just as long as he knows, if his bank pays less tax, he gets less pay.

Ultimately, you don’t work for the shareholders, who you don’t listen to, whilst you pay yourselves fat salaries – you work for the nation. The banks broke the nation, now they can help build it, through paying tax. All our interests are then aligned – bankers incentivised to make more profit, which is good as it means paying more corporation tax, which makes us more happy , and we then allow them to draw a bigger salary. Whereas at the moment, they are incentivised to earn more salary, which leads to less profits for the company which means less tax for the nation.

Government tries harder to cut down immigrants despite of initial failure Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will announce new rules this week stating that migrants working in the UK must earn at least £35,000 a year if they want to stay longer than five years. The Government’s immigration advisers have predicted the policy will see the number of foreign workers granted settlement each year drop from 60,000 to 20,000.

The Home Office is also planning to make it harder for nannies and other domestic workers from outside the EU to stay in the UK long term.

It is part of the Coalition’s wider drive to slash overall annual net migration to the “tens of thousands”.

Currently, migrants from outside the EU who work legitimately in the UK for five years are eligible to apply for settlement, meaning they can live here permanently and later apply for British citizenship. Ministers want to break the almost automatic link between people arriving on work permits and settlement.

Under the proposals, in future only those earning £35,000 or more will be eligible for settlement after

Theresa May

five years.

Mrs May hopes that will ensure only the “brightest and best” will remain here in the long term.

It echoes similar recommendations currently being considered by the Government to require those sponsoring partners or relatives arriving on family visas to earn more than £25,000.

However, the settlement proposals will meet opposition from business leaders who are concerned it will damage the UK’s ability to attract the best workers.

The Department of Health is also said to be concerned that the supply of foreign nurses will dry up.

There are also plans to

change the rules surrounding foreign domestic workers such as nannies, au pairs, cooks and servants.

Those from outside the EU will only be allowed to come to the UK with foreign visitors and must leave after six months, when the visitor also leaves.

Those working for foreign diplomats, however, will be allowed to remain with the diplomat until their tour of duty ends.

In 2010, almost 15,700 visas were handed to overseas domestic workers and 1,360 were allowed to settle here.

These changes are proposed after the figures from the Office for National Statistics show that net immigration in the

Is selfless giving a reasonable expectation for all Hindus?

Britain is facing unprecedented levels of unemployment, with almost one in five 16 to 24 years olds jobless1.

For young British Asians, the challenges are even greater.

According to a report published by Race for Opportunity, ethnic minorities are less likely to find employment after graduation. The report cites that “only 56.3% of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) graduates found full-time or part-time employment within a year of graduating compared with 66% of white students.”

Given the lack of employment opportunities for this group within society, is it fair to expect those that are Hindu and unemployed to follow the Hindu practice of selfless giving or dana? We believe not.

According to Hindu scriptures, Hindus should observe ten “niyamas” or “practices”. One of these ten niyamas is the act of giving selflessly or dana to charity; without the expectation of a reward.

The concept of dharma also incorporates the act of dana as an important act for human beings.

Some interpretations even go so far to say that Hindus should be “offering one-tenth of gross income (dasamamsa) as God's money, to temples, ashrams and spiritual organisations”.

But what if one has no gross income to begin with? Are they automatically precluded from being considered a good Hindu?

Surely not.

What if we reward and incentivise those specific groups in society to give back to charities - would that be a righteous way to encourage Hindus to give and in doing so meet the niyama? This may not be selfless giving in the true Hindu sense but it is still giving. The City Hindus Network is supporting the launch of a new social enterprise scheme which will do just that.

The scheme, known as the Young Asian Social Enterprise (YASE), is being launched to incentivise young people to fundraise. As a reward for their fundraising efforts, the participants that show real entrepreneurial drive and raise the most funds will be rewarded with a career development package, including a placement at Accenture (one of the largest global management consultancies), mentoring by industry professionals and bespoke coaching on application forms and interviews.

This scheme will not only help Hindus or indeed anyone participating to meet the niyama of giving, it will also help the youth to improve their employability prospects.

The funds raised through the scheme will go directly towards carefully selected grassroots projects in developing countries such as India. One of the social projects selected is Akshaya Patra, a foundation which runs a school meals programme, feeding over 1.3 million underprivileged children daily in more than 8,260 schools in 18 locations, across 8

year to June 2011 was 250,000, up 15,000 on the total 12 months earlier and only slightly below the alltime peak recorded in September. The total is way above the Government’s target of cutting the migrant inflow to below 100,000.

The report suggested that one of the main reasons for the continuing large numbers of arrivals is that immigration from the “New Commonwealth” rose to a new peak of 170,000.

Three-quarters of these came from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.

Others arrived from African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya. Two thirds came to study.

Statistics for migrants requiring visas show that 149,000 of those coming here last year - roughly one in four of the total inflow came for work-related reasons. This was down seven per cent.

Although student visas

remain the biggest cause of immigration, the numbers issued have fallen.

Meanwhile, other figures published today by the Home Office show that asylum applications rose 11 per cent last year to 19,804, compared with 17,916 in 2010.

Kamna Iyer (name changed on request) who is a banker in the City said that it is extremely unwise on the government to attack non EU immigrants all the time, where as ‘there is much to do to straighten up the people living on benefits and on tax payers money’.

Aman Tripathi (name changed on request), a reputed businessman told Asian Voice, “It is funny how the Home Office continues to harass people who add value to this economy. It is a pity that this country has no law to control the European immigrants who take advantage of the facilities without contributing to

Aekta Mahajan

states in India.

The first phase of the YASE scheme is being launched at the Asian Voice Youth Conference, taking place on Saturday 3rd March at SOAS University. If you would like to participate in the scheme or for further information, email info@yase-uk.com or visit www.yase-uk.com.

The City Hindus Network endorses and promotes the act of giving through its charity stream.

The Upanisads say “Give with faith. Do not give without faith. Give with sensitivity. Give with a feeling of abundance.

Give with the right understanding.” Even if a reward is attached to those that are giving, surely that shouldn’t automatically undermine the act of giving. Unless a person is fortunate enough to give back selflessly. We’ll leave you to work out whether you fit in the former or the latter category.

Aekta Mahajan is the ViceChair of the City Hindus Network and cofounder of YASE. the country, whereas we get sidelined or targeted without a reason.”

The Law society welcomed the changes proposed by the MAC to continue the existing cap on Tier 2 to cut down the number of Non EU immigrants, the Law Society Chief Executive Desmond Hudson commented: “In our evidence to the MAC we said that given the poor economic starting point, it would be unwise to base future visa allocations on present consumption. Like other sectors, law firms are facing significant challenges across all areas of their business as a result of the global economic recession. It must make sense to afford them the greatest flexibility to be able to recruit quickly when conditions improve and business increases. As the MAC report recognises, these are the very people who are most likely to contribute to the economic growth.”

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Dee Katwa

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

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

Cricket fans left disappointed The Indian cricket team meets fans every day, but not vice versa. No surprise then why so many fans were left angry and disappointed when they were miserably let down by their icons.

Excited cricket fans who had bought tickets for a “spectacular” star-studded show, and had travelled to London, were left disappointed after the stars failed to show up. Among the raft of complaints received by Birmingham Trading Standards is one from Birmingham mum Amandeep Surmay. Mrs Surmay, 32, had paid almost £150 for three tickets to the Titans of Cricket show, held at London’s 02 Arena last October, as a treat for her seven-year-old son Devjot, an avid supporter of India’s cricket team. Adverts in the media and on the show’s website, which promised

fans they would see some of the world’s top players, had encouraged Mrs Surmay to buy tickets. The adverts stated the show would include performances from top Indian players, including Virender Sehwag, Piyush Chawla and Robin Uthappa. “When we got there we were deeply disappointed,” said Mrs Surmay. “We waited for the India players to come out and it never happened.

Devjot was in tears and I was furious.” Mum-oftwo Mrs Surmay, pictured with Devjot, said she complained to Titans of Cricket and asked for a refund but had no response. On website

‘Sex offender’ ex-chaplain A former children’s hospital chaplain who posed as a teenage girl on the internet has avoided jail.

Stuart Charrington, 54, ex-chaplain at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Blakenhurst Prison, was handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence, ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years and banned from having unsupervised contact with under-16s for ten years.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that a psychiatric report suggested a head injury from a road smash 20 years ago had left Charrington, pictured, with a rare condition – Kluver-Bucy syndrome – which may in part explain his behaviour.

Dodgy lights on sale Birmingham Trading Standards have launched a crackdown on city traders after a six-year-old boy received an electric shock from dodgy lights being sold to mark religious festivals. Officers found shops in Alum Rock which have been importing potentially deadly lights from India and selling them, at around a fiver each, to unsuspecting customers.

The investigation is continuing, no arrests have yet been made. To report dangerous goods on sale call 0121 303 6031. Photo: Hannah Davies from Birmingham Trading Standards holding one of the dangerous lights seized.

Debate on human trafficking A film about the exploitation of textiles workers in India was screened at Costa Coffee in the Bullring, Birmingham last Sunday. Blood, Sweat and T-shirts, a BAFTA-nominated documentary, prompted a panel discussion on the rising menace of human trafficking and slave labour. The event was organised by antitrafficking charity Unfounded, The Adavu Project and the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership.

ticketmaster.co.uk, dozens of disappointed fans left scathing reviews, giving it an average of 1.8 out of five stars. One reviewer said: “Bought two VIP tickets for £330 – absolute waste of money!” Another wrote: “This was the worst organised event I’ve ever had the misfortune to

attend. The players looked less excited than the crowd.” At the time, Ingenious Media, the venturecapital company behind the events, said cancellations were not related to ticket sales but player availability.

Paul Bedford from Ingenious Media, which part-funded the show promotion, said: “I can only apologise on behalf of the Indian team who did not turn up because of injuries.” He explained: “We acknowledge communication wasn’t at its best and that the Indian players had to drop out at very short notice. But the frustration was shared by everybody.” Did you go to the show? What was your experience? Email me.

Unfairly sacked waiter gets £5k A Birmingham student sacked from his waiter role because he was white, has won a race discrimination battle.

David O’Neill, 19, successfully sued the Ocean Dragon, an upmarket Chinese restaurant in Birmingham’s Chinese Quarter, after his hours were drastically cut by a new Chinese manager who handed his shifts to workers from China. David, pictured, a firstyear law student at Staffordshire University, won his year-long fight after representing himself at a Birmingham employment tribunal. He was awarded total compensation of £5,322.89. But he is yet to receive a penny from the owners. A High Court appointed bailiff will now be sent in to recover compensation if the Ocean Dragon fails to comply. Nobody from the restaurant was available for comment in English.

News in Brief Call for breastfeed volunteers A Breastfeeding Peer Support volunteer programme has been introduced in Nottingham. Currently 82% of new mothers are putting their baby to the breast at birth. The programme encourages individuals in the local community who have breastfeeding experience to step forward to help new mums. Interested in becoming a Peer Supporter?

Contact Theresa.Drozdowska@nottshc-chp.nhs.uk

Disability Awards Nominations are being sought for inspirational people in Walsall who deserve to be recognised for their achievements. Winners will be announced at the Walsall Disability Awards event at Bank’s Stadium on May 2. Chief guest will be Dan Biddle, pictured, the most severely injured survivor of the July 7 bomb attacks. To nominate a person or organisation, or for more information visit www.walsalldisabilityforum.com

Technicolour India A live performance of traditional Indian music, titled Technicolour India, will take place at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham (B15 2TS) on Tuesday 6 March at 6pm. Artists will include table maestro Mohinder Singh, aka Mendi, Leighton Hargreaves on violin and Dan Wilkins on the kora.

Tickets, a fiver each. For more information visit www.sampad.org.uk

Cut in courses A third of university courses in the West Midlands have disappeared in six years, according to the University and College Union. The UCU poll found that there are now 2,200 fewer courses on offer at regional institutions, compared to nearly 6,80 0 in 2006.

Cash boost for Asian women

Lawyer, ‘mayor candidate’ Dr Mirza Ahmad, Birmingham City Council’s ex- highest-ranking legal officer, has announced he could stand as an independent candidate for Birmingham mayor if citizens vote to create one in May’s referendum.

Father-of-three Dr Ahmad, pictured, said he would “encourage people to vote for change from the current stale party political system that is totally out of touch with people.” Dr Ahmad, a self-glorifying and multi-award winning lawyer, knows exactly how to stay in touch with people, particularly through Facebook, an activity he spent considerable time on during working hours in his council role. For this, he even made headlines in the local press in 2009.

Speeding striker Birmingham City striker Marlon King, pictured, has been banned from driving after being caught speeding at 130mph in his Mercedes. King, 31, was also handed a £1,600 fine. The London-born forward has a string of other crimes against him name, dating from 1997, including theft from a vehicle, using cloned credit cards, drinkdriving and driving without insurance.

An Asian women’s group in Wolverhampton is celebrating after receiving a cheque for £300 from West Midland Police Authority’s Communities Initiatives fund. The money will help a group of women, pictured, who meet at the Sewa Centre in All Saints, to hold awareness raising sessions to educate Asian women about issues relating to community safety.

‘Self-repairing’ pavements A total of 42 pavements, all in Sparkhill, Birmingham, listed last year as needing repair by Amey, the council’s £2.7 billion highways contractor, have disappeared from the latest list. Flagging up this omission, Jerry Evans, pictured, chairman of the council’s transport watchdog committee, said he believes the situation has been repeated throughout 40 wards meaning missing repairs could top 1,000.

Amey claims the alterations were a result of better survey information and changing priorities and the pavements will eventually be repaired.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Leading Lights

by Rani Singh

Special Assignment Editor

Shashank Joshi, 26 Shashank Joshi, 26, is a doctoral student of international relations at Harvard University’s Department of Government and an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in Whitehall, London. RUSI has a military and defence focus. Shashank holds Masters degrees from Cambridge and Harvard.

He has worked at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Moscow, Citigroup New York, and in RUSI’s Asia Programme on India and global security issues.

During 2007-8, he was a Kennedy Scholar from Britain to the United States. He comments on international affairs on radio, television and in print.

Q; Shashank, compare your experience of Cambridge with Harvard.

A; Cambridge and Harvard are alike in many ways - both of them compact, cerebral universities.

But Harvard is, of course, richer and bigger than any of its British counterparts or indeed anyone else!

As a student of politics, I found the two places had a quite different approach. At Cambridge, politics was seen as an outgrowth of history - it was a subject infused with philosophy and ethics. At Harvard, politics is more of a science something where you tested theories. A lot of work there is based around statistics or complex mathematics.

Both approaches are valuable, and it’s been useful to be exposed to each of them.

Q; Why have you chosen to base yourself in London when you could be at Harvard?

A; Having grown up in London, I missed the rhythm of British life.

Small things, like Radio 4 and weekend football, tend to be missed greatly!

Being in London has allowed me to occasionally return to Cambridge to teach politics. It also means I can serve as a fellow at RUSI - means I get to write analysis that goes out to a wider audience, some of whom might even be powerful enough to make a difference. Last year, for

instance an article I wrote was quoted during the parliamentary debate on Libya. More recently, I co-authored an article on Syria with former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind.

Q; What is your opinion of India’s foreign relations?

A; I think we sometimes forget how drastic the transformation of India’s foreign policy has been - from a crusty,

socialist Soviet ally twenty-five years ago, to a rapidly rising power tying up the biggest defence deals on the planet.

That said, the traditional caution is still apparent - as with the recent coup in the Maldives, where India didn’t react. It’s also clear from India’s policies on places like Burma and Iran that it’s happy to defy Western pressure and preferences.

Q; Who will gain the stronger position in Afghanistan? India or Pakistan?

A;Pakistan has unassailable advantages in Afghanistan in terms of geography and ethnic links. It’s going to have a lot of sway over how negotiations with the Taliban play out. But I think India has adopted a more constructive approach that will pay off in the long-term, assuming that the country avoids civil war.

Q; What do you add to your world and to the world at large?

A; I think that the public debate on foreign policy issues can be poorly informed and simplistic. Yet, the stakes are huge British pilots’ lives were at risk flying over Libya last year, for example. It’s crucial that the public understands these decisions.

What I’m proud of doing is using my academic background, and the luxury of having time to read as a student, to make that debate slightly better and balanced.

Q; Where would you like to be in five years and 25 years’ time?

A; I don’t mind what I do - whether it’s teaching, journalism, or policymaking - as long as I can keep exercising the skills I use now. I am fascinated by foreign policy, and will always want to focus on that. I’m lucky enough to work on areas that don’t go out of fashion. As a student of Indian foreign policy as well as the Middle East, you can be pretty sure that your work will be in demand in five or twenty five years time!

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Alleged rapist exploited 13-15 years olds An alleged rapist and child pimp told a 15year-old girl that he was doing nothing wrong by delivering her to numerous Pakistani men for sex because “in his country you’re allowed to have sex with girls from the age of 11”, a court was told last week.

The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named, is one of 11 men accused of a series of sexual offences over a two-year period against young teenagers from Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Five vulnerable girls, aged from 13 to 15, are said to have been groomed with gifts of alcohol, food and money by men whose aim was to use them for sex before sharing them with their

friends and relatives.

On the second day of the trial, a jury at Liverpool Crown Court watched filmed police interviews from 2008 in which the 15-year-old described seven occasions when the 59-yearold forced her to have sex with him or other men.

The court was told that after they heard the girl’s child abuse allegations in August 2008, “police officers who looked into the matter didn’t take the investigation further”.

Despite speaking to detectives, the girl continued to be subjected to regular sexual abuse by a widening group of men.

Her exploitation is finally said to have ended when she became preg-

nant five months later.

The 11 men, aged from 21 to 59, deny numerous offences including 12 rapes, aiding and abetting rape, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault and six counts of trafficking a child within the UK for sexual exploitation.

Each defendant Mohammed Amin, 44, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyam, 43, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, Kabeer Hassan, 25, Hamid Safi, 21, and the 59-year-old who cannot be named is charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.

The case continues.

Asian head of state ‘funded Al Qaeda’ A Parliamentary committee published a document revealing the details of one of Britain’s last remaining super-injunctions, a daily newspaper has reported.

In the submission to the 26-member committee, Mark Burby, a businessman based in the Channel Islands, claimed that he had been gagged by the “ex-spouse of an Asian head of state” in 2009.

He said the “Asian head of state” who he does not identify was a “substantial” backer of alQaeda, and had advance warning of the suicide bombings on London’s transport system in 2005.

Mr Burby alleged the unnamed ex-spouse,

whom he described as one of the wealthiest women in the world, had a sexual relationship “with one of her two solicitors”, as well as two other men, one of which resulted in her having to have an abortion.

On last Friday night lawyers for the claimant had allegedly threatened The Daily Telegraph with an injunction, but failed to make any application.

The decision by the committee to post the claims on the parliamentary website, represents another challenge to the supremacy of the courts after injunctions involving Ryan Giggs, the footballer, and Sir Fred Goodwin, the banker, were also exposed

by MPs.

According to Mr Burby the super-injunction governed six general areas including “information/ allegations concerning any personal relationship of any kind between the claimant and a man who is not her ex-husband”.

Mr Burby said he felt compelled to provide the information to Parliament’s joint committee on privacy and injunctions after Kenneth Clarke, the Lord Chancellor, had told MPs and peers that superinjunctions “are now being granted only for very short periods” and “you cannot have just long-running secret litigation”.

Akram Khan promises solo in Olympics despite of injury The dancer chosen to choreograph part of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has revealed that he will perform a solo despite suffering a major injury last month.

Akram Khan, pictured, has provided a rare insight into the secret preparations for

the 27 million spectacular that will be watched by an estimated television audience of more than a billion people.

Khan, 37, said that he was still “not sure” how he would dance, but he revealed that there will be a team of performers on hand.

10

YOUR VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

India and its corruption

The power of prayer

Child Benefit

Is religion under threat?

India is marching ahead and at the same time the corruption is creating havoc. It is not confined within India but even the Indian government apparatus abroad. Allegations against nefarious activities of some individuals, directly or indirectly connected with India House London- whether true or false, tarnish the image of the hard working officers of Indian High Commission.

In CB’s column and in the “Comments” section (AV 11th Feb), he has correctly criticised Barry Gardiner MP and some others for inappropriate criticism of the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi. “Commets” Indian authorities here and in India ought to be warned that suspended officers or those on leave in India are allegedly involved in some ‘illegal’ activities connected with the projects aimed at the non resident Indians.

Maintenance work of the properties of the Indian government, transportation for the visiting dignitaries, ‘emergency problems’ of visa regime, tourism promotion are some of the situations giving scope for corrupt practices. India House supremo should take a very careful look at such misuse of power.

For the Christian judiciary, banning Christian prayers in a Christian country is incredible. Fortunately, the decision has been reversed rapidly. If reversal is challenged in higher courts, Hindu leaders must boldly support the prayer lobby instead of timid philosophy, indecisive both for godless atheist and pro-prayer group.

Earlier, Hindu spokesperson should have supported reversal campaign by Christians and should have emphatically denounced atheists who want to rob humanity of final refuge and haven.

Hindus must remember that pious Christians sheltered Hindu refugees from Uganda; have done humanitarian work in India, to merit outright support.

Continuation of aid in spite of India buying French fighters denotes Christian goodness. What good have the atheists done for any country? If secularists and indecisive philosophising supporters had dominated, humanity might have been deprived of heritage of magnificent places of worship.

Ban has potential to pervade places which conduct prayers, e.g. schools, parliament, gatherings of Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Jews, but not Muslim prayer gatherings, as has happened when Muslims boldly prayed on roads, in Spitlefields.

Prayer is involuntary and essential life sustainer a la breathing, heartbeat, digestion etc.; is like God steering humans in times of calamity, thus a matter of innate piety rather than courts.

Next year the Chancellor of the Exchequer is planning to stop payouts in child beenfits to parents if one or both was earning £42,475 or more – the threshold for the higher rate of tax.

The pressure groups say that the way in which the Government was targeting high earners was ill considered. They say that stripping child benefit from these families is unfair and could encourage them to work less.

At present, all families with young children are given the benefit and – for a couple with two children – it is worth £1,752 a year. A couple who both work and each earn £42,000 will continue to receive the benefit while having a family income of £84,000. But a couple where one parent earns £43,000 and the other earns nothing because they stay at home to look after the children will lose it all.

So how could the funds earmarked for child benefit be equitably distributed?

In India, a slogan used to be advertised on bill boards and hoardings which stated “we two, ours two”. If we adopt that policy and restrict child benefit for the first two children, it would be a great help to young couples who are struggling to make ends meet in the early years of their life. There were proposals to make the benefits means tested.

However, it could be unweildy to implement that and may not be worth the expenditure. The money that is given out in foreign aid to undeserving countries could easily pay for the cost of continuining child benefit in its present form. It could probably also pay for the costs of other services like the tuition fees for university students and pensions for the elderly.

Lord Popat’s excellent letter (AV 25 February 2012) about the decision to outlaw prayers at council meetings highlights once again how a tiny minority can succeed in adversely affecting the sentiments of the majority.

In the opinion of Clive Bone, a confirmed atheist and former councillor of Bideford town council in Devon who successfully launched the action against the council, the practice of saying of prayers at council meetings was ‘outdated, antiquated and a turnoff’.

What troubles me personally is why do atheists always have to interfere in the religious beliefs of the majority?

After all, the majority do not question their rejection of belief in God and indeed respect their independence to do so. Secondly, should the law impinge upon the moral rights of people to say scriptural prayers the aim of which is essentially to pray that the business of the meeting goes smoothly?

Britain is a Christian country with a long established church governed by the Queen. Are we now to say that National Anthems at football matches, for instance, should be banned? On the whole, the spectators, old and young alike, zealously participate in the Anthems and those not wishing to do so remain silent. So, how can the question of prayers being a ‘turnoff’ arise?

At council meetings that I have attended as a volunteer, I have yet to see anyone withdrawing when prayers are being said although they have a personal right to do so. Even if anyone has withdrawn, they do not make fuss.

I do sincerely hope that the Court’s decision to outlaw prayers is overturned in due course if the wider moral context of religious faith in public spheres is to be cherished and preserved in this country.

Name witheld

Prayer as a part of agenda in Parish council A test case brought against Bideford Council by the secular society wanted a ban on prayer from the official Parish council meeting agenda and Judge Ouseley decided to initiate a ban on such practices. In one way the judge has ensured every faith has equal importance in a Council meeting, but broadly speaking the judgement to some extent will go against the concept of ‘freedom to religion and expression.’

The Conservative party Chairperson Lady Warsi is the latest to raise the alarm and spoke of her fear that ‘a militant secularism is taking hold of our societies' claiming that ‘at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant’ and ‘demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes’. David Lemmy who is a devout Christian said ‘an aggressive secularism is drowning out the ability of people of faith to live with that Faith’.

Lady Warsi as a Muslim should know that Muslim Children in schools do not take part in Christmas nativity play or Christmas Carols or any other activity concerning other religions. Muslims withdraw their children from assembly since they do not want to take part in Christian prayer. Muslims consider ‘Allah’ is their only God. I consider both Lady Warsi and David Lammy are wrong to criticise the secular society as ‘aggressive secularist’ and on the other hand fundamental Islam and Christianity is increasing very rapidly in Britain which threatens the very fabric of the multi faith British society.

Arun Vaidyanathan By email

Ramesh Jhalla By email

Admiration for India

Dinesh Sheth By email

Much has been written and talked about on the subject of India's poverty, aid, military spending, corruption and other issues, however as a senior who witnessed where India was during it’s Independence struggle and where it is now the country has my admiration.

I can remember when a sub-Saharan type of famine was wide spread in India, but today the country is able to not only feed itself but is managing to be generous in its aids to other countries.

India never wanted to be a military power. The founding fathers deployed a non-aligned policy, but was forced to arms to protect its sovereignty. There are a lot of critics today asking why are they spending so much on Defense and Space? Are the rest of the developed world not doing the same? This hypocritical attitude must end.

I have traveled to many countries including developed ones and seen both poverty and hardship but in India proportionately it seems magnified due to its population.

India is going to look after its own interest like the rest of the world peacefully and won't be bullied and its educated youth are going to ensure that all the wrongs are put right. It will take time, I have faith.

Mohan Kara By email

Compensation Culture Compensation culture is a worrying development that is fast gaining ground in this country, an unsavoury import from US. Fuelled by lawyers, drastic drop in moral and ethical standard and negligence in NHS hospitals all play their part in driving up insurance premiums as well as consuming huge NHS resources that is badly needed for patient care.

Negligence, arrogance and severe drop in care, dedication and professional standard all play their part in encouraging such a culture.

Some time back, a friend was admitted to NHS hospital for a routine breathing problem. He was neither seen by a specialist nor received the right treatment accorded to him in the past for the same problem. Sadly he passed away the next day. The family received a dismissive reply full of inaccurate information and when they demanded a detailed, step by step reply, supported by photocopies of notes, log book and medication, etc we knew it was a failure on the part of NHS that led to this tragedy.

So far, after two years and several letters, including intervention by their MP, no reply has been received, although the file has been handed over to their legal

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‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar Boyle says Mumbai dwarfed the statuette

E-mail: support@abplgroup.com

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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department. This is not an isolated incident, as I have myself suffered through hospital negligence when my two hour stay in a day ward turned into a 22 night nightmare that has ruined my health. Yet I neither sought nor received any compensation.

Government should legislate to curb the activities of ambulance chasing lawyers but at the same time they should admit the mistake and make amends ASAP when it is obvious rather than drag it on that inflate the cost.

Bhupendra M Gandhi By email

Disclaimer Asian Business Publications Ltd (ABPL) is not in any way responsible for the goods and services rendered by its advertisers. The ABPL management accepts all advertisements in good faith and it is entirely up to readers to verify advertisers’ products and services, should they feel the need to do so.

Visit our website: www.abplgroup.com

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Health Watch

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EDUCATION / COUNCIL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

GCSEs in four key subjects to be made tougher Exams boards have been ordered to tighten up GCSEs in four key subjects amid fears they are becoming easier to pass.

Exams watchdog Ofqual wants changes to English literature, maths, history and geography GCSEs to ensure students cover the full breadth of the subjects.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has suggested some GCSEs can be passed with too narrow a grasp of the subject.

Ofqual said it wanted to ensure students covered the whole curriculum. Its chief executive Glenys Stacey said: "We are tightening GCSEs in these key subjects to make sure students cover the whole curriculum. We want our young people to have the best possible educational experience, with qualifications that prepare them for the future. The exam boards have welcomed this steer from the regulator and are to look again at these qualifications and how the rules are interpreted to make sure that young people taking them have to study an appropriate range and depth of the subject."

written before 1900.

Ofqual's move also comes after the Telegraph released video footage of a conversation between an undercover reporter and a chief examiner at Edexcel who claimed the company's GCSE geography tests were not as difficult as those from other exam boards later Edexcel announced that an internal review, analysing data from all five awarding bodies for GCSE geography, history and English had found that candidates were "no more or less likely" to achieve certain grades with its exams compared with other boards. It said that it had also assessed the "breadth and depth of the exam specifications" and was confident they were of the appropriate standard set

by Ofqual.

Clamp down in progress on dangerous Henna inks Newham Trading Standards officers are redoubling their efforts just months after they seized 6,700 of the cosmetics from one shop alone, in the Green Street area.

Officers are targeting black Henna which they believe is being imported from Pakistan. It is particularly popular among Indian and Pakistan communities and often used for weddings and religious celebra-

Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations ;;; )*:)&=& 46,

The move to toughen up exams comes after an investigation by the Daily Telegraph which uncovered evidence of exam boards giving secret advice to teachers on how to achieve better grades for their pupils. It is also follows long standing concerns that some teachers have been "teaching to the test".

Ofqual wants to see pupils encouraged to learn everything on the course rather than concentrating on a narrow range of areas.

The Department for Education has said that more than 90% of the answers in one of the most popular GCSE English literature exams are on the same three novels - Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies and to Kill a Mockingbird. Just one in 200 pupils studies a book

tions. It is dangerous because it contains high levels of benzene and lead.

Last year, Sallyha Din, 17, from Cambridge, was scarred for life after using buying black henna from a Newham store. She said: "It was just getting more and more intense burning to the point the pattern had raised and started to blister. My hand went red and I was in a lot of pain."

Cllr Unmesh Desai,

Newham Council's Executive Member for Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour, said: "Parents and young people must be very vigilant for this henna.

Newham is taking the lead in London by cracking down hard as we believe it is circulating across the capital. Anyone who comes across it should contact their local council's trading standards office immediately."

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Leicester City Council to develop plans for new indoor market Plans to replace Leicesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s indoor market with a modern new food hall will are set to be developed following public consultation on market improvements.

In October 2011, City Mayor Peter Soulsby invited people to give their views on the future direction of Leicester Market in a public consultation. The findings of that consultation have now been published online.

Over 800 people responded to the consultation questionnaire which was carried face-to-face with market traders and city centre shoppers and was also available online.

The consultation asked for people's opinions on a range of possible improvements including the option to demolish the indoor market hall and relocate the current fish, meat and

cheese traders to a new covered location.

A majority of respondents (44.2%) agreed with this option, with 32 per cent disagreeing and 23.8 per cent saying they didn't know. Of those who responded in favour of the option to demolish the existing indoor market, there was general support for the building of a new food hall.

Support for the option to demolish and relocate the indoor market was greater (49.8%) among online respondents, who generally shopped at the market less often, than among regular shoppers (41.1%) who were questioned in the city centre.

The consultation findings also show which other areas of improvement people thought were most important for the market.

These included a cleaner environment, better signage and promotion, better quality of produce and improved access.

Council officers will draw up a full options analysis for the demolition and relocation of the indoor market hall, and carry out a second round of public consultation, before any firm proposals are put forward.

Patrick Deevey, chair of the National Market Traders Federation Leicester branch, said: "This is positive news for customers and traders. The indoor market is poorly designed and clearly in need of regeneration. We need better access for shoppers, improved conditions for traders and a higher profile to attract new customers. We look forward to seeing what the council comes up with."

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12

Political & Public Life Awards 2012

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

13

Prominent contributors celebrate community success The Members’ Dining Room at the House of Commons throbbed with excitement on Thursday 23rd February, as Asian Voice celebrated its annual Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards for 2011. hese awards are given to people who have made a special impact in the preceding 12 months, ranging from international politicians to individuals who have made a big difference in their local communities. This year it lived up to expectations as a succession of major figures picked up awards for their efforts.

A select group of 250 high profile people joined to celebrate the achievements.

An expert panel of judges selected the winners from the various nominations made by the readers of Asian Voice.

The room was packed to the brim when the compere of the evening Ms Valerie Vaz, MP kicked off the show. While Rupanjana Dutta, Associate Editor of Asian Voice and Ragini Nayak were present to garland the recipients, Pooja Raval helped the Chief Guest Baroness Betty Boothroyd to hand over the awards to the worthy recipients.

Also on stage CB Patel, Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar.

Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP was the recipient of the award- Cabinet Minister of the year. Receiving the award he told the audience, “There are many young children who die a very painful and slow death due to starvation. It’s not fair.” He said he was dedicating prestigious award to that first generation of people who have the will and ability to do something extraordinary for the have nots.

The next award was for the Asian broadcaster of the year and the recipient was ATN Bangla. Chairman Mr Rahman, CEO Mr Hafeez and the Chairman of the British Bangladeshi Society received the award. Mr Rahman added, “It was the first private satellite channel in Bangladesh and first tv channel for the Bengali community.

We are also the voice of Asia.”

Mr Peter Hamilton received the School

T

of the year award on behalf of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School (HABS). He thanked Asian Voice and all the organisers for giving the school such a wide acknowledgement.

The next award was Business in the Community award. Chairman of Lyca Mobile Subhash Alirajah received the award on behalf of the company while he thanked his team for this great success.

After a short break the leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition Ed Miliband, MP was invited on to the stage to give the Local Government Award to Cllr Jagdish Sharma MBE. Speaking about this great councillor and his leadership qualities Ed Miliband told the audience, “It is a privilege to be invited by Asian Voice to present such prestigious awards that recognise talents across all British nationals. Cllr Sharma has been a Councillor at the Borough of Hounslow for 37 years. He became the leader of the party in the council as well. It is a very difficult time to be a leader. There are many important and difficult decisions to be made and he has done very well. He is an outstanding example of the work Councillors are doing.”

Cllr Sharma told the audience, “I am really humbled by this award and it is a real pleasure to be here. This community is very close and I enjoy working with the community.”

John Hannett, General Secretary of Usdaw received the Diversity in the Public Services Award, while he professed his delight to be a recipient and David Gauke MP won the award for Junior Minister of the year.

Gavin Barwell MP received the award for the Conservative Backbencher of the Year. Anushka Asthana was the next recip-

Stella Creasy MP receiving her award for Labour Backbencher of the Year from Shadow Home Secretary Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

Valerie Vaz MP and Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, giving Riz Lateef her award for Journalist of the Year

alone an award. I must thank Channel 4 for this opportunity.”

Stella Creasy MP won the Labour backbencher of the award and thanked Asian Voice for being chosen as the recipient.

Rajesh Agrawal, Chairman of Rational FX won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. As he thanked Asian Voice as the popular voice of the Asian community, he spoke of the role that Rational FX plays.

Paul Burstow was the next recipient and won award in the Liberal Democrat Minister of the year category and professed his pleasure and pride to win the award. He spoke about his responsibility as the Minister and presented the next set of awards to the recipients.

For Demonstrating sustained growth of the year, the award went to Deepak Nagla from Brightsun travel Ltd. He thanked the panel of judges, spoke about his family business and said that his family and other team members have worked very hard to

achieve this much of success and said he wishes to grow as a company further in the years to come.

The Parliamentary service award was given to the staff of the Parliament message bureau who spoke about their 24hrs service and thanked Asian Voice for giving them this award.

The broadcaster of the year award was given to Nick Ferrari, who cheered for Asian Voice & Baroness Boothroyd, Rt Hon Keith Vaz and his team. He said, “I knew I had some Asian listeners and callers and I am so grateful for that. You are the people who will provide jobs and businesses that will drive this country out of this economic situation. I admire you for what you do, your work ethics, family values and honesty.”

The lifetime achievement in health award was given to Dr K Anji Reddy and Dr Reddy’s laboratories. His son collected the award on his behalf. He said, “I accept

this award on behalf of my father. It’s a great honour for all the work he has done for 40 years. It is great to see the company to grow over the 20 years and the turn over is 1.7bn dollars and there is much more to achieve.”

Business Person of the year went to Bharat Shah from Sigma Pharmaceuticals. His brother received the award on his behalf.

Dr Merul Patel, Director of ABPL was present to give away the Restaurant of the year award to Chak 89. Frank Khalid, Managing Director of Chak 89 received the award on behalf of his team.

A raffle was organised to raise fund for Silver Star charity.

As the event drew to a close, Milind Kangle, CEO of Lycamobile spoke about their achievements, the ceremony was

formally ended by a thank you note from Chief Operational Manager of Asian Voice, L George after a presentation of a flower bouquet to the Chief Guest.

Photo courtesy: Raj Bakrania

Dr Merul Patel, Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP and CB Patel

Chief Guest Baroness Boothroyd receiving a bouquet of flower while Valerie Vaz, MP and CB Patel look on

ient and was awarded the Parliamentary Journalist of the Year award. She said, “I am much more comfortable in writing than speaking. But I would just like to thank the Asian Voice for this award.”

Shadow Cabinet Minister of the Year award was given to Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP. She told the audience “Thank you so much for this recognition from Asian Voice.

I am honoured to be awarded and acknowledged by such a pioneer of the Asian community that represents a diverse and wide section of this British society.”

Yvette Cooper joined the guests on the podium to award Riz Lateef for the Journalist of the Year award. Riz said,

Subhash Alirajah, Chairman of Lycamobile, receiving the Business in the Community award from Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, Secretary of State for International Development

Nick Ferrari receiving his award for Broadcaster of the Year from Baroness Boothroyd

“Thank you so much. I really am honoured.

This year we have lots going on. It’s an year of London Mayoral Election, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. I genuinely don’t feel worthy of this award though I am extremely proud of what I do, but in the light of the recent events, I feel we are just foot soldiers. Real journalists are those who pay ultimate price to shed light on some of the atrocities and injustices that happen to others. May this world become a better place to live.”

The next recipient for the award was Jameela Jamil, for the TV personality of the Year. Jameela in her usual humorous self added, “I have never even won a raffle let

Paul Burstow MP, Minister of State for Care Services, receiving his award from Baroness Boothroyd

Shadow Home Secretary Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP receiving her award for Shadow Cabinet Minister of the Year from Baroness Boothroyd

Rajesh Agrawal, Chairman of Rational FX, receiving his award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year from Baroness Boothroyd

Dr Peter Hamilton, Headmaster of Haberdasher’s Aske’s’ Boys School, receiving award for School of the Year from Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP

Staff of the House of Parliament Operator Bureau receiving their award for Parliamentary Service from CB Patel and Paul Burstow MP

Mr Satish Reddy collecting the award for Lifetime Achievement in Health, on behalf of Dr K. Anji Reddy from Paul Burstow MP and Baroness Boothroyd

Paul Burstow MP giving Mr Deepak Nangla of Brightsun Travel the award for Demonstrating Sustained Growth

Dr Merul Patel awarding Frank Khalid of CHAK 89 the Restaurant of the Year award with Baroness Boothroyd

Anushka Asthana, Chief Political Correspondent at The Time, receiving her award from Baroness Boothroyd

Jameela Jamil receiving her award for TV Personality of the Year from Rt Hon Yvette Cooper

Simrin Choudrie presenting the award for Business Person of the Year to Mr Manish Shah and nephew

14

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Political & Public Life Awards 2012

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Prominent contributors celebrate community success

Councillor Jagdish Sharma MBE receiving the Local Government Award from Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party and CB Patel

Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, receiving the award for Cabinet Minister of the Year from Baroness Boothroyd

David Gauke MP receiving the award for Junior Minister of the Year from Baroness Boothroyd

Chairman of ATN Bangla Dr Mahfuzur Rahman receiving the Asian Broadcaster of the Year award from Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi receiving the Special International Award from Baroness Boothroyd

Gavin Barwell MP receiving the Conservative Backbencher of the Year award from Baroness Boothroyd

Mr Vijay Vaidyanathan from Tilda, Dr Rohini Vijaygopal, Mr Hardev Jagdev, Mr Sadananda Nayak from Punjab National Bank, Harshad Kothari from SAS Consultancy, Dak Patel from London SAM, Sumant Bahl from World Media Connect

John Hannett and two members of the union Usdaw receiving their award for Diversity in the Public Services

CB Patel with Seema Malhotra MP, Feltham & Heston and Mansoor Popat from Eden Plaza

L George giving the vote of thanks

Assembled guests

Some of the award winners at the end

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

15

f ashionista

by Debasree Ghosh For more stories visit www.scribbledesk.com

Short Story by Neha Garg

The Magic Waterfall – part 2 The Story So Far: Brian, Issac and Robyn were holidaying in the mountains when they discovered a waterfall with stepping stones leading right into it. Excited, they decided to explore.

They got closer and closer until they were almost under the waterfall. They should have been soaking wet but were not. Curious, Brian stepped right into the waterfall leaving Issac and Robyn stunned. Without a moment's thought, the other two decided to follow him ..

They were standing in a huge cave.

It rose for miles and miles above their heads until the rooftop disappeared in the darkness. They could still hear the waterfall thundering behind them.

Ahead, the cave twisted and turned out of sight. Brian was nowhere to be seen.

'Brian! BRIAN!' shouted Robyn, looking this way and that, expecting Brian to walk out of a corner.

There was no answer.

'I say, do you feel that?' Issac asked Robyn. He was looking at his hands. His fingertips were tingling. It was a curious sensation.

'Yes,' said Robyn, looking around.

'It's almost as if this cave is full of some ancient, long forgotten magic.'

'Let's keep going, shall we?' said Issac, with a nervous look at Robyn.

She nodded. Her face set and eyes staring straight ahead.

Together they walked down the rocky path, trying to find a way out of the winding cave. Presently, they came upon a door set in the cave wall and stopped.

'Where do you think this leads?' asked Robyn, examining the door.

'Dunno,' answered Issac. 'Doesn't look locked. Shall we try it?'

Robyn slowly turned the door handle. A flood of light rushed into the cave, blinding them both for a minute.

Once their eyes adjusted, they looked through the doorway and were stunned to find themselves looking into a sunlit garden.

With a quick look at each other, they stepped out of the cave and onto the grass.

'Hey Issac! Robyn! Come look what I found.'

Robyn rubbed her eyes. It was Brian. She rushed over to where he stood talking to a little girl. She looked to be their age, yet only came up to about Brian's waist.

'Robyn, say hello to Silky,' said Brian with a grin.

Robyn extended her hand.

'Hel ….' began Robyn and stopped.

She had just noticed something.

'But … you … you have wings,' said Issac, who had come up behind Robyn.

'Yes,' said Silky with a smile. 'I am a faerie, after all.'

Robyn and Issac looked at each other and then at Brian, who stood

grinning behind Silky.

'Where is this?' asked Issac, still bewildered.

'This is FaerieRealm,' said Silky.

'The home of all the faieries, pixies, elves, witches and wizards of the world.'

Issac whistled.

'So that's why we didn't get wet when walking through the waterfall and why we felt tingly inside that cave?'

'Yes,' said Silky, looking grave.

'There is a problem, however.'

'What problem?' said Robyn, looking around, wishing she had 3 pairs of eyes. Now that she had had a chance to properly look, she noticed the trees nearby abuzz with faeries busily flying in and out, visiting friends and bringing shopping home. A few of them had noticed the 3 children and were now flying in their direction. They landed a few feet away and stood looking at them with curiosity.

Brian extended a hand towards the nearest faerie and smiled. She backed away with a frightened look on her face.

Silky pointed to the faeries around them.

'You see, they have never seen humans before. You are the first ones to set foot here.'

Issac was beginning to feel uneasy.

Unnoticed by Robyn or Brian, who were talking to Silky, the faeries had gathered to form a big circle around the 3 children and Silky.

'You see children,' said Silky with a grave look at them. 'We cannot afford to have the humans in the mortal world find out about us. They will never let us live in peace. They will come through the waterfall in crowds, wanting magical solutions to their problems. They might even put us in cages and display us in their zoos. I am sorry, but we cannot let you go.'

Robyn screamed and Issac and Brian stood aghast. What did this mean? Were they prisoners? Never able to go back home?

What Happens Next: Will the children ever be able to go home? If so, will the faeries ever be able to live in peace knowing their secret is out?

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

TrendLoving: Leather Trousers We are going to talk about a trend that I will never be caught dead in.

Ever. A serious trend verging on classic that I wouldn’t touch with a bargepole. Not because I’m not dying to; but because unfortunately I neither posses the genetic blessings to carry this trend off nor do I have the monstrous motiva-

tion to drag my arse to the gym everyday...or any day really.

Other than me though, everyone’s wearing ‘em! Sexy, skinny-fit leather pants/trousers (depending on what side of the pond you reside

in), are definitely HOT on the fashion scene, and have been for a few seasons now. nd this season, even the Gap has declared that leather is "becoming your new jean." The Rock ‘n’ Roll inspired trend is very popular with young Hollywood, with everyone from Kim Kardashian to Rihanna to The Olsen Twins rockin’ the trend!

The conventional way seems to be to go all out on the sex appeal front, and rock a pait of stretch leather leggings with sky high heels. But quite a few in the celeb-land , Alessandra Ambrosio, Anne Hathaway etc. have been spotted pairing trainers with their leather. These ladies make a pretty convincing case for ditching sky-high heels and opting for something a little more laid-back. Not that we need a whole lot of convincing to give our tootsies a break, but as these celebs prove, this particular combination results in some seriously enviable street style. Or you could just go crazy and double if not triple

your leather appeal, by wearing one or more leather items with your trousers.

As much as I love those who are fearless about fashion and take as what it really is, having fun essentially, be warned though, that when it comes to glossy, leathery, squeaky trousers, gorgeous gams are a must. If you, like me, had cornflakes and cake for dinner last night, do yourself a favour and ditch this trend. The annoyingly lucky ones, however, channel your inner rock goddess and shimmy your stuff.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

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Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Dear Financial Voice Reader: How the Rich Get Richer Ever wonder what the rich invest in? What it is their private bankers and wealth managers are selling them. Surely they are not getting 0.5% returns like the common man and woman?

When I used to sit on ICICI Bank’s Private Banking Division’s Advisory Board, I would with the Board oversee the various products being issued for the ultra high network Indian market. Today, I get them via all the major banks including Goldman Sachs and Kotak. So what are these products?

Well let me tell you what the banks have been issuing and their wealthy clients snapping up. As Bloomberg put it, ‘As the Federal Reserve holds interest rates at about zero for a fourth year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other banks are selling record numbers of structured certificates of deposit to savers. Banks sold a record 1,271 of them last year, according to Structured Retail

Products.com, with some offering potential annual returns of as much as 24 percent by tying rates to everything from gold to Brazil’s real.’

24%! No wonder the rich get richer.

As you would expect, such products tied to Gold also have done well as people chase performance e- but the rich don’t just buy gold. That is not good enough for them. They buy products which leverage the returns – after all if you think something is going up, why not get double the return?

Banks sold $139.1 million of the securities linked to gold in January, the most in 15 months, according to data compiled

by Bloomberg. Investors also added more than $86.5 million in market capitalization last month to three exchange-traded notes that gain when the precious metal does. The PowerShares DB Gold Double Long ETN, which uses two times leverage, added $83 million to reach $585.9 million.

What about India and India related products?

What is going on behind the scenes between rich

Indians and their private and wealth managing experts? It may sound complicated but I will explain, ‘Sales of creditlinked notes (ie bonds) tied to the Indian government surged to the highest in at least a year in January, as foreign investors bet that the country’s slowing inflation may help spur a bondmarket rally. (As inflation drops, you need less risk to make a return to beat inflation, so you buy safe bonds (those linked to Governments) and that pushes up their price.

Issuance of the notes rose to $119.3 million, more than five times the $22.4 million monthly average of 2011, according to global data compiled by Bloomberg that excludes U.S. sales. The securities were tied to Republic of India bonds and the debt of government-owned lenders including the State Bank of India, Bank of India and Export-Import Bank of India. Foreign investors have been attracted to the country’s debt, as the central bank predicts that inflation will slow.’ Because as inflation slows, so the price of bonds will go up, as people buy more bonds.

So now you just need to call up your wealth manager at Standard Chartered, UBS, Goldmans, Barclays, Kotak, Bank of Baroda!

Eden Financial Advisers Limited TIME TO ACT We are now two months into the New Year and very close to the end of the tax year. This is the most important time that individuals should ensure their finances are in order, that they take advantage of the available tax allowances and that they are on track to achieve financial independence. We have listed below some of the main considerations that should be taken into account.

ISAs – for tax-free income and growth It is possible to pay £10,680 into an ISA in the current tax year of which 50% can be cash.

This limit will increase to £11,280 from 6 April 2012. Therefore an individual can save nearly £22,000 over the course of the next year. For couples, that is nearly £44,000 shielded from the tax man.

Pensions – for upfront tax relief, tax efficient growth and potential inheritance tax savings The maximum pension contribution has been set at £50,000 gross per annum and it is possible to carry forward “unused” allowances to make a higher contribution. Tax relief is available at your highest marginal rate making it very cost effective to save into a pension plan. In addition, anyone can pay into a pension and still receive tax relief – and that includes setting up a pension for your children.

Investments – for long term capital growth or a rising income Those with existing investment portfolios or any investment-linked savings, including pension plans, should review these investments on a regular basis. It is often the case that investments used in the past may no longer be appropriate. The most common example is where certain investment funds are under performing and carry high charges. There is a considerable difference between the best and worst performing funds. In addition, it is important to ensure you have a spread of investments in order to diversify the risk and if they are tax efficient.

Cash – for emergency purposes, expenditure and security The most common mistake we all tend to make is not moving existing cash savings when an introductory rate expires. Most banks offer an introductory savings rate in order to entice new savers but they only pay the rate for 12 months and thereafter reduce it to the standard variable rate – which tends to be quite uncompetitive.

Protection – for you, your loved ones and your assets It is important to make sure that you have enough protection in place to cover life events such as repaying the mortgage on death, replacing your income through sickness or provide a lump sum in the event of a major illness. It is especially important to protect your hard earned wealth against inheritance tax.

The above areas of planning are some of the main factors that affect most individuals. There is now very limited time left to make pension and ISA contributions for the 2011/12 tax year.

Eden Financial Advisers can help to make sure your finances are in order and that you are making the most of your hard earned wealth. If you would like to discuss making the most of your finances then please call me on 020 7138 1871 or email me at nero.patel@edenfinancial.com or complete the attached form and return in the post.

Eden Financial Advisers Limited of Moorgate Hall, 155 Moorgate, London EC2M 6XB Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority

Kingfisher Airlines in rescue funding talks Kingfisher Airlines, the budget airline controlled by billionaire Vijay Mallya, is negotiating a rescue funding as it struggles with cancelled flights and an investigation by tax authorities in India.

The company cancelled more than 30 flights on Tuesday after tax authorities froze its bank accounts.

Reports in India suggested Kingfisher was being investigated over the non-payment of employee-related taxes. Since the flights' cancellations, India's directorgeneral of civil aviation has stepped in. On Tuesday the airline was given 24 hours to report to the regulator on its situation after breaking rules about informing the

body on flight cancellations.

Kingfisher's shares fell 20 pc on news of the tax investigation and flight cancellations.

However, reports later said that it was to receive a cash injection from its banks meant the shares closed slightly up.

The airline was reported to be close to finalising a 10 bn rupee (£128.3m) loan to tide it over. The Mumbai-listed airline has 70bn rupees of debt held with a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India.

In total 30 flights were cancelled on Monday, with a further 34 on Tuesday.

Mr Mallya apologised to those customers affected by the cancellations.

Pound dives on fears Bank of England will print more money Bank of England’s ratesetting meeting this month showed that two members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) believed the economy needed an even bigger stimulus than the £50 bn injection agreed. Adam Posen and David Miles, both external MPC members, voted for £75bn of quantitative easing (QE) – setting them against their seven colleagues who all

voted for an extra £50bn, taking the total QE since 2009 to £325bn.

The decision surprised analysts, who had expected some members to have voted for a smaller rise, and caused the pound to fall 1.52 cents to $1.5668 and by 1.02 cents to €1.1825. Miles said he had decided to vote for a larger sum because "the UK economy is still in a very precarious situation.

Indian economy to grow 7.5 to 8% in 2012-13 Indian Prime Minister's Economic Council last week said that the global economic and financial conditions were likely to remain under pressure during the year and as a result, the economy was estimated to grow in the range of 7.5 to 8 per cent in 2012-13.

The council said that the overall farm sector growth for 2011-12 would average 3 per cent.

Therefore, it was important to keep a vigil on food prices and focus on production as well as rolling out of adequate food logistics network.

Inflationary pressure would continue to ease through 2012-13 and remain around 5-6 per cent for the year, the council said. The country needed to make adjustments on sale of refined petroleum products to reduce the huge subsidy burden. The council reiterated that there was a greater need to invest in infrastructure in coal, power, roads and railways.

The current account deficit in 2012-13 is estimated at 3 per cent of GDP. The council said that efforts were required to keep the current account deficit between 2 to 2.5 per cent over the medium term.

Free Investment Review Offer Eden Financial Advisers Ltd are offering a free, independent, review to help readers of Asian Voice. The report will comment on the fund performance, competitiveness of the plan charges and the level of investment risk applying. The review would be suited to those with existing pension funds, stocks & shares ISAs or directly held investments. This offer is a limited offer which can be withdrawn at any stage. There is no obligation to act on the report. Please complete the form below and return it in the post to Eden Financial Advisers or alternatively contact us for more information.

Letter of authority to review your existing financial arrangements I herby authorise Eden Financial Advisers Ltd to request information, only, on the policies listed below: Plan holder(s) name

Provider

Type of Plan

Policy number

Approx value

e.g. John Smith

Scottish Widows

Personal Pension

K9085224

£

Your details Title:

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Contact no.

Signature Eden Financial Advisers Limited of Moorgate Hall, 155 Moorgate, London EC2M 6XB

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

19

Sweetening The Deal Suresh Vagjiani Managing Director Sow & Reap A Property Investment Company

This week we present a very lucrative deal which is sitting with us. The properties are two freehold blocks consisting of three and four flats.

One block is situated in Shepherds Bush and the other in Harlesden.

Both properties have been in the same ownership for over 30 years.

The reason for the sale is the partners who hold the blocks have split up and this is the last link they have with each other and they are desperate to break it.

The block in Harlesden consists for four flats, three on AST’s and the other on a regulated tenancy. It has been valued realistically at £1.05m. The second is a block in Shepherds Bush consisting of three flats valued at £750,000, again this is a realistic open market valuation.

Regulated tenancies though they may scare most people, can be sold on the market, the price of the property is typically 50-70% of the value of property. The main factor which determines the percentage applied is of course the age of the tenant. If the tenant is 90 years old the property is worth more, as the tenant is likely to pop off soon. The other big factor is whether someone else can inherit the tenancy, as this means the tenancy will not end on the death of the tenant, and of course the amount of the rent also comes into play though not much as they tend to be miniscule. There are many investors who only purchase these types of properties, usually with cash. Their money is made on the death of their tenants.

We have negotiated the price of both these blocks down to £1.5m on the condition of a quick exchange. There are two ways this deal can be done, one is plain vanilla and the second is a more creative way which will yield more funds.

Firstly the properties can be picked up for £1.5m and then the individual flats can then sold in the open market piece by piece. Both the blocks are generating £67,000 and are under rented. The stamp duty on both these properties will be £15,000, moderate given the purchase price. This is due to the change in the way stamp duty is calculated, covered in previous articles.

The second method is to exchange now for 10% equating to £150,000 and then make use of the extras we have agreed on this deal.

The first is we have agreed a six month completion period, so we do not have to pay the remainder of the funds until after this time is up. The purpose of this is to allow us to resell the flats on individually. We can do this because we have been granted leases on the individual flats and secondly we have arranged for the leases to be reassignable, meaning we can transfer them to someone else.

All of these conditions allow us to sell the leases on before completion. This means we do not potentially have to come up with further

funds for completion. The aim is to sell the flats on individually at their market value for a total of £1.8m, giving you a gross profit of £300k from a £150k investment. This would be the ideal scenario.

If you manage to sell only half, the others can be purchased with a regular mortgage as individual flats on a 75% LTV loan.

One option to resell these properties is simply to put them in an auction. This will give you a sure sale within a specified time period.

Generally people go to auctions to pick up bargains, so you may end up getting less but at least the sale is confirmed.

Most people when neg otiating property d eal s g et cau ght u p in one thin g, that’s t he price. If the selle r has the same narrow visio n yo u on ly have one variable to ag ree u po n to do the deal.

If the seller is very caught up in price you can play with other factors such as the time period, the amount of the exchange money - it doesn't have to be 10%. You can even allow the seller to keep the exchange funds, normally these funds would be held in the solicitors account until completion. This is a very strong factor in getting a deal agreed if the seller is desperate for the money. As mentioned above you can ask for the contracts to be reassignable. You can also ask for access into the property to start works if required prior to completion. This will save on your mortgage interest.

If the property is not mortgagable due to its condition, this time period can be used to bring the property up to scratch prior to the valuer coming in. Time to time when investors purchase properties they do not realise mortgages are given on a Buy to Let basis only. This means the loan has been granted not on the income of the purchaser but the letability of the property. The property has to be rented a short time after completion and this is what will service the mortgage. If you purchase property which requires work or is completely dilapidated to bring it to the standard of being lettable the property does not meet the criteria required for the mortgage company. In this scenario, two things may happen: one is the mortgage will be outright refused, the other is the lender will retain some of the funds until the works are done and a re inspection occurs by the valuer to ensure this.

So as you can see there are many variables which can be exploited for profit in a property transaction. Deals become all the more lucrative when other factors besides price are used to enhance the transaction.

This is a live deal and is on the table now, if you’re interested call the office for further details.

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now:

Specialists in Central London Property Sourcing

0207 313 4595 Westbourne House, 14-16 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5RH

Tips of the Week l Location location location - known as the 3 most important factors when buying a property, now that we have a 2 tier market in the UK, supply and demand in central London is widely different from the rest of the UK with London constantly seeing demand outstripping supply. l Your money in the bank is eroding & deteriorating in value, do something!

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financial VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

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

Old is Gold

maria@abplgroup.com

Maria Fernandes

The practical and the altruistic changes to immigration

Immigration law has always been an area of rapid change.

The changes that are being rolled out are not only confined to changes in law but are also operational and require a degree of computer literacy. It appears that the premium service, i.e a service that costs a great deal more is being rolled out in different counties thereby creating one queue for the rich and one for all others. With the introduction of online services there are likely to be problems.

Within the UK those applying to extend their Tier 2 or Tier 5 visa online could in theory do so from the 14th February 2012. However at present this facility is unavailable as the UKBA need to undertake essential “maintenance work”. The advice on the website is that once this service is resumed it will be posted on the website. So much for the new process. For those interested in this process once it is back up and running is as follows. The application is made online but only complete after the supporting documents are submitted. If the applicant is sending supporting documents by post

the time limits for submitting this is 15 days from the date of the online application. The applicant will then be invited to attend a biometric appointment. If submitting the application through the premium service the applicant has 45 days to submit the documents and go through the biometric process.

Applicants should be particularly careful when submitting evidence of the English test appropriate as the online application may not request the concise information required.

Abroad, as of the 5th March 2012 all applicants in India will need to make their applications online.

In Bangladesh, there are plans in hand to introduce a premium service for Tier 2 applicants and business visitors to enable them to obtain visas quickly.

These changes were announced by the British High Commissioner in Bangladesh in recognition of the trade relationship between the 2 countries but full details of this are not yet available. This service already exists for visitors in India (excluding student visitors) who have not in the past been refused. Extending this facility to Tier 2 appli-

cants in India would speed up the process.

As for the latest development on the numbers game, of the Government’s aim to bring the numbers down the latest figures showing a rise in the number of immigrants is up mainly as numbers leaving the UK has declined and it takes account of student numbers. Students are not migrants as they have no long term status and a rise in their numbers would be good for the educational institutions.

If the Government adopted a sensible approach of taking these numbers out of the equation the true numbers would be within their reach. The danger of trying to reach the numbers will be to stifle growth and play rough shod (even more) with families. Governments come and go but the of the changes they introduce can affect families for generations.

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.

Essar puts power station plans on back burner planned coal-fired power stations following the loss of a tax dispute with government.

The company, which last year bought Royal Dutch Shell’s Stanlow refinery in Cheshire for $350m, saw its shares fall

Shares of Essar Energy, the FTSE 100 Indian oil and power group which is majority-owned by its founder Ravi Ruia and brother Shashi Ruia, fell by nearly 15 per cent on Monday after it said it was delaying construction of

by 18.4p to 107.6p.

At its current market capitalisation of £1.4bn Essar Energy, which is three-quarters owned by Mr Ruia’s Essar Group, faces demotion from the FTSE 100 at its next quarterly reshuffle.

Essar Energy, which raised £1.2bn when it floated in May 2010 at 420p a share, said it welcomed signals made by the Indian government last month aimed at “clearing the logjam” in the country’s power industry which had led to severe domestic coal shortages. These could include the acceleration of forest and environment clearances required for more coal mines to be developed.

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I recently received an email from a 61 year old man who was struggling to find a job and wondered if his age was a barrier to finding employment.

Despite Government efforts to prevent age from being a factor in just about anything, the fact remains that no amount of legislation can stop employers considering a persons age. True, the law says you no longer need to put your date of birth on your CV, but you still have to list when you obtained your qualifications and detail your employment history. This is more than enough for someone to roughly figure out the applicants’ age.

And let’s face it, many employers (although they can never admit it) are reluctant to hire someone who is closer to their retirement than they are their graduation. But why?

Dale Carnegie once said, “Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a

mediocrity of success.”

Now I don’t know if he was expressing his view or just voicing the common perception that older people are harder to train, slower to adapt and generally more difficult to manage as they tend to be set in their ways.

Yet the reality can often be quite the opposite. For example one could also argue that older staff are considerably less likely to call in sick on a Monday morning. More often than not they appreciate the importance of being professional and not to cut corners in work.

They also have more experience which helps them deal with issues in a more considered manner.

In truth, age really has very little bearing on a person’s capabilities or reliability. But all too often we write people off due to their age. Why do some employers feel that older people are considered to be more of a ‘risk’ than younger people? Why do others think that young people cannot be trusted?

Is it true that the ideal employee is aged between 27 and 40?

By Amit Patel

The answer lies within each of us - how do we view age? Oscar Wilde once said, “The old believe everything; the middle aged suspect everything: the young know everything.” Oscar Wilde. Age should never be used to judge a person, but for those of us who encounter people who do think our age is an indictment of who we are and write us off, do not be disheartened. I find this quote reassuring, “Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.” Samuel Ullman Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field of Personal Development and Human Resource Management.

He has delivered speeches on People Management and Development throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. To contact Amit, email amitpatelmail@gmail.com

Vedanta founder’s dream a step closer to reality

Anil Agarwal, founder and executive chairman of Vedanta Resources, is not a man for small dreams.

Those who known the scrap dealer-turned-billionaire for many years say his ambition has always been the same: to build a global natural resources group, an Indian national champion to rival BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

After a decade of rocketing growth and a spate of acquisitions, culminating in last year’s $9.6 bn Cairn India deal, investors now take this dream seriously.

The latest step came this week with the consolidation of various subsidiaries into Sesa Sterlite, a new operating company with an implied market capitalisation of about $20bn.

“We are like a growing child, but we have done what our London investors wanted”, he says.

“They wanted Sterlite to be an operating company. They wanted a

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ONGC, GAIL eye UK's Cove Energy India’s government owned oil majors ONGC and GAIL plan to outbid Royal Dutch Shell and Thailand's PTTEP with a $2-billion offer for UK's Cove Energy, which has been put on the block.

Cove Energy has exploration and development assets in Africa. The combined bid of the Indian firms may value the London-listed firm at 245 pence, which is 11% more than the Thai rival's offer and at an almost 20% premium to the Shell bid.

OVL, ONGC's overseas arm, and GAIL may place the offer as early as this week after necessary approvals from the Indian government, said sources familiar with the matter.

Cove Energy's 8.5% stake in Rovuma gas fields in Mozambique with reserves of 30 trillion cubic feet and with an upside potential makes its one of the juiciest energy assets for the international oil majors.

simplified structure. They wanted consolidation. We have done everything.”

Having announced the move, Mr Agarwal seems to have a point to prove to investors in his Londonlisted holding company, who often complain that Vedanta’s legendarily impenetrable structure is matched only by its scant regard for corporate governance.

He strongly defends the much-criticised model of combining a Londonlisting holding company with operations in highgrowth markets, developed by Vedanta and copied by Nat Rothschild’s Bumi among others.

“Investors were hungry to put money into India, and this was the best vehicle,” he says. “This is a real model. In the first world why would you want to create an aluminum smelter or a power plant?

It has to be created in India, where there is need.”

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financial VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

21

Foreign Exchange Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

Boosting the European firewall is the next big mission ahead At a summit to be held on March 1st and 2nd, Eurozone officials will go over the different options being currently present on the table. Up until then, a warming up exercise was conducted as the world's largest economic powers - the G20 - met in Mexico, starting to touch the subject with yet many questions unanswered.

After enough reports emerged, it still looks as though the road will get bumpier as concerns remain on how Europe will go about it. Germany continues to resist strengthening the Euro zone firewall, and despite there is talk that they may soften its hardline stance to instead be willing to discuss the bolstering option, it’s all rumors up in the air so far.

The Head of the European Council Mr. Ollie Rehn was optimistic that an agreement on improving the firewall will come by the end of March. Other G20 superpowers such as China and Japan stated that negotiations aimed at increasing the contribution towards the IMF resources were underway, although with the conditionality that Europe makes a move first to beef up their internal firewall.

Brazil"s Finance Minister said

that "Europeans agreed it was necessary to strengthen the firewall, adding that a G20 deal on IMF financing could be reached in April.

U.K. house prices held their value for a second month in February, boosted by a seasonal increase in demand and a rush to beat the expiration of a property-tax exemption, Hometrack Ltd. said.

The average cost of a home in England and Wales was unchanged from January and 1.4 percent lower than a year earlier.

The number of potential buyers registering with estate agents rose 18 percent over the month, the largest gain for five years which is of course very positive for the UK Pound.

The figures partly reflect people looking to take advantage of a two-year stamp-duty exemption for first-time buyers purchasing a home for less than 250,000 pounds ($396,000) before it ends next month.

Hometrack said the supplydemand balance suggests property prices will resume their decline in the coming months as banks restrict lending and Britons are squeezed by government budget cuts and rising unemployment.

Chancellor George Osborne is under pressure to find ways to boost a stagnant economy.

Borrowing more money to lift spending or cut taxes was off the agenda for the budget statement he will deliver in March.

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition has made erasing the country's budget deficit - which was at a peak of 11 percent when they came to power in 2010 - a cornerstone of their economic policy.

But Osborne has been facing calls from business and across the political spectrum for tax cuts to stimulate growth after the sluggish recovery from a 2008-2009 economic slump.

The Liberal Democrats want him to raise the threshold at which people start paying taxes, while there are demands from within his own Conservative party to cut business taxes.

The Labour party has urged him to make a temporary cut in value-added tax, a levy on purchases.

The biggest business lobby group CBI has called on the government to consider changes to the tax system to encourage investment in infrastructure.

But a choppy growth out-

look for the rest of this year is likely to make it harder for Osborne to reduce borrowing further out, leaving little leeway for giveaways in the March budget.

Gathered in Washington for the National Governors Association winter meeting, Republicans and Democrats said yesterday they saw signs of improvement in the states mending from the 18-month recession that ended almost three years ago. Some Republicans said the recovery is negligible, or faulted Obama for restraining growth.

Democrats voiced confidence in the president’s prospects of winning another term in November.

“I just don’t see how you win an election by convincing the American people that things are terrible and we don’t have a future,” Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, said in an interview. “I keep saying to these guys, ‘Cheer up: Revenues are coming back. Jobs are returning. We’re making slow and steady progress.’”

The U.S. has gained more than 3 million jobs since February 2010. Still, there are still 5.6 million fewer than at the beginning of 2008, according to the Labor Department.

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 28th February 2012 @ 1pm GBP - INR = 77.77 USD - INR = 49.07 EUR - INR = 66.02 GBP - USD = 1.58 GBP - EUR = 1.18 EUR - USD = 1.35 GBP - AED = 5.82 GBP - CAD = 1.58 GBP - NZD = 1.89 GBP - AUD = 1.47 GBP - ZAR = 11.91 GBP - HUF = 341.18

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.

22

PaKIStan-BanGlaDESH-SrI lanKa

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

9 killed in Afghan airport bomb, NATO base attacked In Focus Kabul: A suicide car bomber killed at least nine people in an attack on a military airport in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, the latest incident of violence and protests since copies of the Koran were inadvertently burned at a NATO base last week.

There was no official indication the explosion at the gates of Jalalabad airport was linked to other deadly protests and riots, although the Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack as "revenge" for the Koran burning.

Anti-Western fury has deepened significantly since the desecration of the Muslim holy book at the main NATO base in Afghanistan.

Twelve people were wounded by the suicide bomb

at the airport and casualties appeared to be civilians and Afghan soldiers who were guarding the gate, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is capital, said the explosion did no damage inside the mil-

itary airport, which is used by ISAF troops.

Riots have raged across Afghanistan over the past week despite widespread apologies from US leaders, including President Barack Obama and military commanders. On Sunday, seven US military trainers were wounded when a grenade was thrown at their base in Afghanistan's north.

Chants of "Death to America" have been common at protests and some demonstrators have raised the white Taliban flag.

With few signs of the crisis abating, the US ambassador to Afghanistan said the United States should resist the urge to pull troops out of Afghanistan ahead of schedule.

The groundswell of anger over the burning of the Koran, which Muslims revere as the literal word of God, has highlighted the challenges ahead as Western forces try to quell violence and bring about some form of reconciliation with the Taliban.

The protests have killed more than 30 people and wounded at least 200, including two US troops who were shot dead by an Afghan soldier who joined rallies in the east.

Gilani seeks result-oriented Pakistan to tap Interpol for Pervez Musharraf's arrest talks with India Yousuf Raza Gilani

Islamabad: Seeking "sustainable and result- oriented" talks with India, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani said he had "great regard" for his counterpart Manmohan Singh who is a "sincere person" desirous of friendly and cooperative bilateral ties.

Gilani made the remarks at a reception he hosted for visiting Indian parliamentary delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

Pakistan is a peace loving country that wants good relations with all its neighbours, including India, he said.

The premier said it was his cherished desire to have a constructive? sustainable and result-oriented dialogue with

India, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on its website. Such a dialogue will usher in development and prosperity in the region, he added.

Gilani noted that the first round of the resumed dialogue between India and Pakistan was held last year and expressed the hope that the second round of talks this year would "bear fruits".

He said he had "great regard" for his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, who accepted his initiative for dialogue.

Kumar, who is the first Speaker of Indian Parliament to visit Pakistan, said India wished to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Pakistan.

"There was consensus in the Indian Parliament on building a relationship of trust and mutually beneficial co-operation between India and Pakistan in an atmosphere free of terror and violence," a statement issued by her office said.

Islamabad: Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been directed to write to global policing agency Interpol for issuing an arrest warrant against former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.

Malik said the FIA would approach the Interpol within a few days for a warrant to arrest the former military leader and bring him back to the country to face charges of involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"We have started the procedure and we will bring Musharraf back to the country soon," Malik was quoted as saying by the Daily Times.

A UN report in 2010 accused the Musharraf-led government of failing to protect Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan from exile to run for parliamentary elections and the prime minister's post.

On 21 February 2012, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar met with the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague “to continue the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue” between the two countries. Their talks encompassed a wide variety of issues such as trade, investment, education, regional and global security and cultural cooperation.

Hague highlighted that “this Dialogue is about strengthening the practical cooperation between our countries and unlocking the abundant potential in our relationship.” This is not surprising, given the substantial ties between Pakistan and the UK, which are based upon “shared history, culture, values and enormously rich people-to-people links.”

Indeed there are over one million people in the UK who are of Pakistani ancestry and this was not lost on Khar, who noted that above all, the

friendship of the two nations stems from “the repository of goodwill that exists between the peoples of Britain and the peoples of Pakistan.”

Referring to Pakistani-UK relations, Hague was frank in his address, stating that “we value its many distinctive characteristics such as the close personal ties between hundreds of thousands of our citizens, our crucial partnership against terrorism, our important trade ties and our commitment to Pakistan’s development and to its democratic future. For all these reasons Pakistan’s future matters greatly to us and so we will be an enduring friend to the government and people of Pakistan.”

Both Ministers underlined their commitment to uniting against terrorism, which has been particularly rife in Pakistan. Hague said that Britain understood the terrible losses which terrorism has inflicted upon Pakistan. “The people of Pakistan will always have our

sympathy, our understanding and our robust support in addressing these problems” he added.

Inevitably, the situation in Afghanistan was discussed and Khar said that “peace, security and stability” in Afghanistan is a key priority for the Pakistani people. “We want to make sure that we are well understood” she expounded, “our goal in Afghanistan is to be able to promote whatever the Afghans choose for themselves.”

Similarly, Hague accepted that “it is vital that further progress is made this year to consolidate the process of transition to Afghan security control, to agree a long term international commitment to Afghanistan beyond 2014, and to support Afghan-led efforts towards reconciliation and a lasting political settlement.”

A key objective of the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue is to increase bilateral trade to £2.5 billion by 2015. Trade

Islamabad: An 80-year-old man who is languishing in an Indian prison since 1971 should be released, pleaded the prisoner's son in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Gul Rehman of Batkhela town said that his now 80-year-old father, Abdul Jalil, and his uncle, Ghulam Sarwar, had gone to Bangladesh to earn a living before the fall of East Pakistan. They disappeared in 1971 and were later reported to be in an Indian prison. Rehman demanded that his father should be set free. He said his grandmother, Bibi Hawa, had been waiting for her son's homecoming for over four decades.

US ready to get back to business with Pak: Hillary Clinton London: The US is "ready to get back to business" with Pakistan after a diplomatic row following a cross-border Nato attack on Pakistani troops, secretary of state Hillary Clinton said. Khar, on an official visit to the UK, met Clinton on the sidelines of London Conference on Somalia to iron out differences between the two countries. "We respect parliament's right to ... take time to do this in a sensible way, but we had to get ready to get back into business with Pakistan" on bilateral counter terrorism issues including Afghanistan, a senior state department official said Clinton told Khar.

Hindu girl kidnapped, forced to convert in Pakistan

Pervez Musharraf

Musharraf, who has been living in exile in London and Dubai since resigning in 2008, has denied the allegations. He has also been charged with involvement in the killing of Baloch tribal leader Akbar Bugti, detaining judges of several courts as well as abducting a nuclear scientist.

Bugti was widely perceived to be creating a wave of terrorism in Balochistan in 2004. He went into hiding in 2005 and was killed in August 2006 in a cave in Kohlu, about 240 km from Quetta. The Balochistan High Court in November last year issued arrest warrants for Musharraf in the Bugti murder case.

Khar and Hague continue the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue

Romil Patel

Release my 80-year-old father, Pakistani to India

between Pakistan and the UK currently stands at £1.9 billion.

Hague welcomed the WTO s (Word Trade Organisation) decision to grant a waiver for an EU trade package for Pakistan and Khar applauded the UK for hearing Pakistani cries “for trade and not aid.”

The declaration of friendship between Britain and Pakistan, which Khar described as “unflinching, unbreakable and irreversible,” was routinely repeated.

Khar lauded the UK’s humanitarian response to natural disasters in Pakistan.

“Every time the resolve of the Pakistani people has been tested; we have found our British friends to be right behind us” she said.

Foreign Minister Khar and Foreign Secretary Hague have agreed to meet every six months to review progress and “to further cement our unbreakable bond of friendship and cooperation.”

Islamabad: A Hindu girl was kidnapped and allegedly forced to convert in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, prompting President Asif Ali Zardari to direct authorities to investigate the incident. The reports said that the Hindu girl was kidnapped from Mirpur Mathelo in Ghotki district. The President had called for a report on the incident from the Sindh government, officials said. Zardari also called for "transparent and expeditious investigations" in the matter and for action in accordance with the law, regardless of the influence and status of anyone involved in the criminal activity, the officials said.

In Pak, Meira Kumar talks peace in flawless Urdu Islamabad: India’s Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has floored an audience that included her Pakistani counterpart, senior ministers and parliamentarians by delivering a speech in flawless Urdu laced with couplets from Firaq Gorkhpuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Kumar praised the natural beauty of Pakistan and said: The parliaments of both countries, have an important role to play in fostering better relations between the people. Indian film stars are loved in Pakistan, while Pakistani musicians and singers have huge followings in India. More exchanges in all fields including cricket would help send a message of peace to the people’ she said before concluding her speech.

Pakistan gets upgraded F-16s from Turkey

Islamabad: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has received three F-16 fighter jets after the aircraft were upgraded in Turkey.The aircraft were sent to the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for "mid-life upgradation".In October 2010, the PAF signed a contract with the TAI to upgrade all its F-16 Block 15 aircraft. Under the programme, the TAI is performing structural modernisation of F-16 aircraft that have been on the inventory of the PAF since 1982-83. .The project is expected to be completed by September 2014.

Pak director wins Oscar for film on acid attack victims

Islamabad: Pakistani filmmaker and firsttime Oscar nominee Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won an Academy Award on Monday for her documentary about acid attack victims, a first for a Pakistani director. Her victory shines a spotlight on a subject which affects thousands of women in Pakistan and elsewhere, but is seldom discussed at home. Chinoy dedicated the award to the women of Pakistan. The women's "bravery and resilience in the face of adversity inspires me every single day," she said.

"They are the true heroes of Pakistan."

world

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

23

In Focus

The 30 plants that can help protect your home against burglary

Britain begins preparations for Afghanistan withdrawal

London: The Metropolitan Police has published a list of 30 plants that can help homeowners protect their gardens from thieves, including giant rhubarb and gooseberry bushes.

Blue Spruce - Picea pungens 'Globosa' with rigid branches, irregular dense blue, spiky needles. And the height is 1-1.25m x 75cm - 1 m. Britain regularly issue

Britain has signalled the start of the withdrawal of its vast military infrastructure from Britain is preparing to begin the immensely complex operation of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, signed a new defence cooperation agreement with Kazakhstan which the British Government hopes will enable an estimated £4 billion of equipment – including tanks and armoured personnel carriers – to be shipped out of northern Afghanistan.

Britain and its Nato allies have been desperately seeking alternative routes following Pakistan's decision to close the vital supply route from Karachi to Afghanistan.

Army Major given suspended jail term for secret documents An Army major who received the Military Cross after allegedly exaggerating his heroics was dismissed and given a suspended jail sentence recently. Major Robert Armstrong, who was awarded the MC for gallantry three years ago, faced a court martial for separate charges, including the possession of secret documents which the judge said could have undermined national security. He pleaded guilty to three other charges, including unlawful possession of an automatic pistol, ammunition and a morphine injector. Judge Advocate General of the Forces, Judge Jeff Blackett, told him: “In the wrong hands these documents threatened the internal security of the United Kingdom and could have led to widespread loss of life.

Britain tops European league table for fuel tax

British motorists pay more in tax on fuel than in any other European country. Taxes and duties account for 60 per cent of the price of unleaded petrol and 58 per cent for diesel – the highest percentages in the European Union. It means that Britain is the most expensive place in the EU to fill up with diesel and the eighth dearest for unleaded.

advice to residents deter buglars, but the Met has gone one step further by listing dozens of recommended plants to 'protect your home'.

The guidelines on "How to stop garden thieves" state that people can 'make their home more secure' by planting giant rhubarb - which has 'abrasive foliage' - and 'spiny' gooseberry

Costa cruise liner adrift into Indian Ocean

Seychelles: A cruise liner from the same fleet as the stricken Costa Concordia was adrift in the middle of the Indian Ocean after a fire broke out in its engine room. The Italian cruise ship from the same fleet as the tragedy-struck Costa Concordia is adrift off the Seychelles with more than 1,000 people on board. The tragedy stuck near Desroches Island. Passengers, including Britons, and crew were left stranded on board the Costa Allegra as it drifted, without engine power, 200 miles to the south-west of the main Seychelles archipelago.Two French fishing trawlers, each 295 ft long, were on their way to the 600ft-long liner last night with the aim of giving the vessel emergency power before tugs reach the ship and tow her to safety.The general region where the cruise ship was adrift - off the coast of Tanzania - has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates, but

they have never hijacked a cruise ship. Claudio Izzi, the Italian consul in the Seychelles, said a security detachment of nine Italian marines were on board and were “well trained and ready to protect civilians”.

Seychelles presidential spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic added: “If pirates attack, the armed guards onboard will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area.” The incident comes just six weeks after the Concordia ran aground and then capsized off the Italian island of Giglio, with the loss of at least 25 lives. Both ships are owned by the Genoa-based company, Costa Cruises.

bushes.The advice which even gives the Latin name for the plants and bushes states: "Your garden, as well as your house, has valued possessions that thieves would love to steal. "It also has equipment that could help them break into your house.

Most burglars are lazy.

They look for easy ways of getting into a house or gar-

den (and) by taking a few simple precautions you can reduce the risk of being burgled and make your house and garden more secure.It adds: "One of the best ways to keep thieves out is to use nature's own defence mechanisms to stop intruders.

A barrier of prickly hedge may be all the protection you need around your property."

It lists all 30 plants.

Laden was in touch with Pak military intelligence London: Osama bin Laden was in routine contact with several senior figures from Pakistan's military intelligence agency while in hiding in the country, according to a large cache of secret intelligence files.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange accused Stratfor of involvement in wide range of legally or morally questionable research activities for private corporations. The disclosure was contained in e-mails from the private US security firm, Stratfor, which were published

by WikiLeaks website after being obtained by the Anonymous hacking group.

Stratfor provides analysis of world affairs to major corporations, military officials and government agencies and was once likened by an American business magazine to a "shadow CIA".

According to one of the emails, the firm was shown the

information papers collected from bin Laden's Abbotabad compound after the US special forces attack last May that resulted in his death.The e-mail, from a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 officials in Pakistan's InterServices Intelligence (ISI) agency knew of the alQaedaleader's safe house.

The internal email did not name the Pakistani officials involved but said the US could use the information as a bargaining chip in post raid negotiations with Islamabad.

American officials have always believed it was impossible for the ISI not to have known that Bin Laden was sheltering in a garrison town so close to Islamabad.

Pakistan has repeatedly dismissed the charge.

The email said of the officers involved. "I get a very clear sense we (US intel) know names and ranks."

24

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Indian dowry deaths on the rise The number of Indian brides burned to death for not bringing adequate dowry payments is on the rise. Dowry was banned by law in 1961 but never seriously enforced. In 2010, 8391 dowry death cases were reported across India, meaning a bride was burned every 90 minutes, according to statistics recently released by the National Crime Records Bureau.

A decade earlier this number was 6995, but climbed to 8093 dowry deaths in 2007. Dowry, although banned by law in 1961 but never seriously enforced, is an ancient tradition prevalent amongst most Indian families.

With prosperity burgeoning after the early 1990s when India's statecontrolled economy

opened up to a free market system, this pernicious custom became more acute with greedy grooms backed by their families seeking to get rich through their hapless brides.

But if a bride refused to satisfy incessant demands by her husband and inlaws for money and goods, despite having brought with her the mandatory dowry at the time of marriage, she was subjected to inhuman treatment.

Thereafter, the luckless girl was either starved, administered frequent beatings or simply "jailed" inside her bridal home and denied all contact with her family.

If her family either declined to pay or were simply unable to do so, many in-laws in connivance with their sons forced the bride

into an flammable nylon sari, doused her with paraffin and set her alight, claiming she had caught fire whilst cooking.

In the early 1980s such dowry deaths became so commonplace – climbing up to even five a day in the federal capital New Delhi-that anti-dowry activists forced the government in 1986 to change prevailing laws stacked against the bride.

"On one hand people regard women as devi (goddess), on the other hand they burn them alive.

This is against the norms of civilised society. It's barbaric," former Justice Markandey Katju remarked in response to an appeal filed by a husband handed a life sentence by a Sessions court for burning his wife.

Going Miles, Spreading Smiles Bhavini Jani Purvi Apurva Shah Bhavini Jani believes in spreading the virus called ‘smile.’ ‘Humor is infectious,” she says. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any sniffle or sneeze.

When laughter is shared, it binds people together and creates happiness. It diminishes pain and protects you from stress.

Ahmedabadbased Bhavini, a distinguished stand-up comedian, believes in using her talent to make people laugh. She travels to London for her comic shows and whatever funds she collects, she uses it for the welfare of orphaned children, women and HIV patients in India. She gives laughter to get laughter for the needy and downtrodden. In order to experience smile on the face of orphaned and poor children who get a home, shelter and family- like atmosphere, for this purpose she opened 'Mavjat' that serves as home to many.

"Children at Mavjat may not be my biological children but they are children born out of my heart,” says Bhavini who gets immense satisfaction in giving motherly love and warmth to this children. She also works for uplift of women and HIV affected people. She is also a successful film and television actor. Till now she has acted in about 80 Gujarati films, 30 dramas and 30 TV serials. She has won best comedian actress award eight times. She also won awards for TV serials like 'Kaki bhare paki", Paranya atale pati gaya'. She has won best actress award for Gujarati drama 'Mane ek chance apau' and khandan ma kharcho chea.'

She received bravery award from Gujarat Government in 1997 for saving a girl from rowdy men who were misbehaving with her.

She has been a strong

Bhavini Jani

woman throughout her life as her parents died when she was young. She became the bread-winner for the family. Despite the burden of running the family, she did not forget to stand for the children and women in need. She felt that, “I should not allow other children to crave for a mother as I have craved.”

She lost her mother at a very young age, so she had always craved for that motherly warmth and care, pamper and bonding. She felt happy when someone affectionately put their hand on her head. “I want to give love, joy, happiness, home and family to orphaned children.”

That is the reason why she performs comedy so that she can collect funds which ultimately goes to the welfare of the needy. She travels miles, as far as London to perform standup comedy for the last few years. She has been doing shows at BAPS, Brahmakumaris, Lions Club East, City Pavillion, Care Education Sanstha, Harrowlaser Centre, Dharmaj Society, Meghani Mahotsav, Baldi Samaj, Swarnim Gujarat etc in UK. She actually wanted to be an actress since her childhood. She started showing the creative curve while studying in school in Ahmedabad. She was more inclined towards dancedrama than to academics.

Once there was ‘nrityanatika’ in school and she wanted to participate in it but did not get a chance. Such hope led her towards the-

atre activities. She was a fat girl who did not know how to act but her sheer desire and passion towards acting led her from one step to another. She took psychology as her main subject in an art college and concentrated on stage activities. Then there was no looking back, she won the best actress award for three years continuously.

"Acting is meditation and a way to connect motion and emotions", she says. Previously she was an amateur artist, but later in order to earn for the family she started to do commercial drama. Once she was at a wedding in London and entertained the audience with her mimic skills. Later she was also invited to perform in Swarnim Gujarat programme in London in 2010, where the audience really enjoyed her comic skills. The funds she collected were used for the welfare of children and women in need.

She is grateful to C B Patel, Editor/Publisher of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice for the immense support and inspiration. She is also thankful to other UKbased well wishers who has helped her in achieving her mission - Bhanu Pandya, Jilu Patel, BK Jaimini Patel (Brahmakumaris), Rehna Amin, Deepak Purohit and Mr Markan, Lions Club, Mr Nitin of Care Education and Sushila Madhusudan Patel & Harendra Patel. She calls Thakorsingh Bapu, Ma and Mayur Patel as her anchor. She also expresses her gratefulness to her best pal Parul Patel.

Bhavini will be in London in March for the shows and if anyone is interested in organizing her shows they may contact her on phone numbers: 02087631533 / 07425277672 or bhavini.jani12@yahoo.com

In divine light

By Rajen Vakil

The Story of Yavakrit (Part 2) In the previous article, we saw that Yavakrit started laughing at Indra when he saw Indra, disguised as a Brahmin, attempting to dam the river Ganga with handfuls of sand. He said, “O Brahmin what you are doing is an impossible task, you cannot dam this mighty flow in this stupid way.”

Indra replied, “Just as you are practicing these terrible austerities so you can get the knowledge of the Vedas directly?”

Yavakrit realized that the Brahmin was Indra, he said, “O lord of the gods, how can you compare my severe penance with your impossible effort. If you do not give my father and me the knowledge of the Vedas, and also the boon that we will be better than others, I will die practicing tapas.”

Indra relented and told Yavakrit that both his father and he would get knowledge of the Vedas and all his desires would be fulfilled. Then, Indra left for his heavenly abode.

Yavakrit was very happy and ran to his father to give him the good news. He told him that both of them would get the knowledge of the scriptures and they would excel all the other

Brahmins. His father, Bharadwaj, who was a mature rishi, became very sad. He spoke to Yavakrit, “You have acquired knowledge in a wrong way. This knowledge will only make you proud and haughty and one day will be the cause of your destruction.”

He added “As an example, let me tell you a small story which the devas repeat very often.

Once there was a learned muni called Baladhi. He was very attached to his only son and started practicing severe tapas with the aim of acquiring the boon of immortality for his son. The gods were pleased with his effort and granted him a boon. When the gods realized what he wanted, they told him that immortality could not be given to any soul born in human form but they would grant him a long life. While they were saying these words, the rishi saw that he was standing near a mountain so he said that his son should live as long as the mountain stood there. The gods granted his request.”

He continued,

“Baladhi’s son grew up to be a proud and angry young man. He knew that he was nearly immortal and this only increased his haughtiness. He started roaming the earth and troubling rishis who were deep in meditation and austerity. Once he came upon Rishi Dhanupakshya, who was not only learned but also had acquired power from his tapas. Baladhi’s son tormented the rishi, who, in turn, cursed him to be burnt to ashes. Even after being cursed nothing happened to the rishi’s son.

Dhanupakshya then divined as to why his curse had not touched the young rishi’s son. He then recited some mantras and created a herd of powerful buffaloes and he ordered them to break the mountain which was the cause of the boy’s long life. The minute this happened the boy was reduced to ashes.”

He added, “Rishi Baladhi, the boy’s father was thrown into deep sorrow and cried out so loud that the gods could hear him.”

Continued next week…

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

Drunken Potatoes

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes Servings: 4 Category: Veg Ingredients: Potatoes 4 large, onion 2 medium, button mushrooms 5-6, olive oil 5 tbsp, butter 1 tbsp, garlic 2-3 cloves, refined flour (maida) 2 teasp, red wine 1 cup, tomato puree 1 1/2 tbsp, black pepper powder 1/2 teasp.

Method: Peel potatoes and halve them. Trim the sharp edges to soften them. Cook them in 3 cups of water with salt.

Roughly chop onions and mushrooms. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and butter in a non stick pan, add onions and sauté. Finely chop garlic and add it with

mushrooms, and continue to sauté for 4-5 minutes.

Add refined flour and mix well and sauté for 2 minutes. Put some red wine and cook. When the potatoes are done, drain all the water and let them dry a bit. Add remaining oil and pan-roast the potatoes on high heat. Add tomato puree, salt and black pepper powder to the sauce and mix well. Add the sauce to the potatoes and cook on low heat till the sauce permeates the potato pieces and thickens. Adjust salt and pepper powder and serve hot.

Nutritional value: Potato ensures a good supply of water and ions to our body; it is also rich in potassium and contains calcium, iron, and phosphorus.

Typically, 100 gm of potato will contain about 17 mg of

Vitamin C. It also has vitamin A, B and P. Water content: Potato looks very big in size, but water accounts for about 70-80 per cent of the weight of a potato.

So the belief that you become fat by eating potatoes is a misconception. Of course if your potato servings contain large quantities of butter, or those high-in-fat-andcholesterol French fries, you are bound to become overweight.

Starch content: Potato contains about 17% starch and is one of the best natural sources of starch. Potato sprouting leads to conversion of starch into sugar and hence you should avoid eating sprouted potatoes.

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

In Focus 16 army men killed, 9 injured as avalanches strike Kashmir Sixteen army personnel, including five officers, were killed and nine others injured in two avalanches in Ganderbal and Bandipora districts of Kashmir Valley.

Massive avalanches hit two Army Posts in Central and North Kashmir, resulting in the death of 16 soldiers. Three jawans are still missing. The first avalanche hit the workshop area of the 109 Infantry Brigade, which guards the LoC in Gurez sector, in Dawar area in Bandipora. This particular area is not normally avalanche prone and is cut off from the rest of the Valley in winter months. Rescue operations are being hindered by heavy snow and bad weather conditions. A specialised team from High Altitude Warfare School along with two avalanche rescue dogs have reached the spot," the spokesman said.

WHO takes India off its polio list India’s name has been struck off a shame list that the country hopes will not include it in the future. The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken India, which in 2009 had more polio cases than any other nation in the world, off its polio endemic list after not a single case of the crippling disease was reported for over a year. Now, only Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan are on the list. For the next two years, if India does not report any polio cases, it will be officially called “polio free”. WHO has taken India’s name off the list of polio endemic countries in view of the progress that we have made during the past one year.

Sonia refuses to disclose details of her I-T returns UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has refused to disclose details of her income tax returns under the Right To Information Act. Sources say party leaders have also defended her stand. Congress leaders supported Sonia saying that all details were with the I-T department and there was no need to go public with them. Sources also say that the details could be misused if made public. Chennai-based RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan had sought details of her IT returns from 2000 to 2011.

Mumbai Cong chief quits after HC order Kripashankar Singh resigned as Mumbai Congress chief, an announcement that was made by the party hours after the Bombay high court ordered his prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act and attachment of his immovable properties.

The former minister of state for home in Maharashtra had sent in his resignation last week after the party’s poor showing in civic elections, senior leader in charge of party affairs in Maharashtra Mohan Prakash told reporters. The resignation has been accepted and the party is looking for a “new face” to succeed him. The AICC had already hinted that Singh could be on his way out in the wake of the defeat of the Congress-NCP alliance at the hands of the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI combine in the Mumbai municipal corporation polls.

Mirage 2000 fighter plane crashes, both pilots eject safely A Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF), flown by a senior Air Marshal-rank officer crashed near Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, five minutes after taking off from an air base in Gwalior but both the pilots managed to eject safely. The pilots, Air Marshal Chopra and Wing Commander Ram Kumar got airborne from Gwalior airbase for a routine flying sortie at 1201 hours and within five minutes, the plane developed a snag in the engine after which the two pilots ejected safely.The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry (CoI) under a senior officer to ascertain the reasons behind the crash. Since the plane crashed in a deserted place, no loss or injury to human life or property was reported.

25

Jet Airways denies wheelchair to disabled woman; inquiry ordered

Days after SpiceJet offloaded a differently-abled person from a flight, Jet Airways has been accused of showing apathetic behaviour towards a disabled woman, even as the airline and aviation regulator DGCA launched separate probes into the incident.

The incident occurred when Anjalee Agarwal, who suffers from Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy — a progressive neurological condition in which a person is unable to stand or move and is confined to a wheelchair, was allegedly denied a wheelchair to get off the plane and threatened to be bodily lifted by male loaders.

The incident on a Jet Konnect flight (9W 2211) from Delhi to Raipur

occurred a day after differently-abled woman Jeeja Ghosh was offloaded from a SpiceJet flight.

“Company headquarters is investigating the issue by approaching concerned airports and will revert with the findings on the matter,” the airline spokesperson said.

Ordeal from Delhi: Ms. Agarwal, a frequent flier and executive director of an NGO that works on creating accessibility awareness, said her “ordeal” began from Delhi airport when she was asked by the airline staff, “if ‘I am fit to fly’. When I asked ‘what do you mean’, he asked me to sign an indemnity bond.

“When I refused, he said ‘it’s our rule and you can’t fly

without signing this’ I had to sign it, as I could not afford to miss the flight.”

When she reached Raipur, Ms. Agarwal alleged that despite the crew assuring her of getting a wheelchair, flight supervisor Niranjan Sen pressurised her to be bodily lifted by four male loaders with the “excuse that while deboarding at Raipur they do not have aisle chairs in smaller cities.”

“Hence I was ordered to be bodily lifted till the gate of the aircraft, then transferred to the big wheelchair and then carried down the steps,” Ms. Agarwal, who has filed a complaint with the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disability, the Director General of Civil Aviation and

Civil Aviation Ministry, said.

When Ms. Agarwal protested at being bodily lifted by male loaders, “Sen threatened me that they will not deboard me instead take me back to Delhi as the flight was going back to Delhi,” she alleged, adding that in the midst of the commotion, the airline allowed boarding of passengers even before she got off.

Meanwhile, junior supervisor allegedly told her that she had not put a request for wheelchair while booking the tickets.

“When I said, I did make a wheelchair request at Delhi airport and also while booking tickets, he said, ‘wheelchairs users cannot book tickets through web booking’.

Fishermen killing: Kerala HC India objects to China's reaction to Antony’s Arunachal visit suggests out of court settlement Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the owner of Italian Merchant Vessel Enrica Lexie and the families of the two fishermen allegedly killed by the marines whether they were willing for an out of court settlement for determining the compensation.

A division bench comprising Justice Thothatil B Radhakrishanan and Justice CT Ravikumar posed the question on a petition filed by the fishermen's families complaining of inadequacy of the bank guarantee amount directed by a single bench.

While Doramma, wife of Valentine Jalastine had sought a compensation of Rs 10 million, the sisters of Ajeesh Binki, another fishermen had approached the high court for Rs 20 million relief.

The owner of the fishing boat, Freddy has also sought Rs 7500,000 compensation for the damage caused to his boat. The single judge had ordered the ship owner to submit a bank guarantee of

Rs 2500,000 each for the families of the two killed and Rs 1000,000 for the damage caused to the boat.

The court also wanted to know who had ordered the firing and who was in charge of the marines who were providing security to the vessel.

The bench also directed that the ship, now berthed in Kochi, shall not leave till a decision is taken on the issue of compensation.

The marines Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Gironi have been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly shooting the two fishermen dead on February 15 off Kollam coast, an incident that has led to a diplomatic row between India and Italy, which is making hectic efforts for their release.

Expressing surprise over China's objection to his visit to Arunachal Pradesh on February 20, India’s Defence Minister AK Antony made it clear that this strategicallylocated state is an integral part of India, and it is his duty to ensure that all borders of India are safe.

China had objected to Antony's recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh to take part in the state's silver jubilee celebrations, asking India to refrain from taking any action that could complicate the border issue.

"I was surprised to read the Chinese reaction. It is very sad and highly objectionable. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. As the Defence Minister of India, it is my duty to ensure that all the borders of India are safe," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Annual Maritime Power Conference 2012.

"Statements by China are objectionable.

Arunachal Pradesh is a part of India like J and K. Northeast and any

other state of India. As Defence Minister, I can visit anywhere within my country," Antony added. Antony also said that he has been associated with the state for the last 27 years since 1984.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said: "India will not tolerate external interference of China into the Indian territorial affairs," reminding Beijing that Arunachal Pradesh is a "part and parcel" of India.

Antony had visited Itanagar on February 20, and said that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.

India has been keeping close tabs on China's massive build-up of military infrastructure all along the 4,057km Line of Actual Control. A range of issues pertaining to the disputed 2,000 km long boundary have been discussed from time to time by Indian and Chinese officials at various levels.

In Arunachal Pradesh, India and China share a 1,080 kilometre-long border.

560 tons of human hair makes £25 million from Indian wig makers More than 560 tons of human hair offered by Hindu devotees over the past five months at India's richest temple in southern Andhra Pradesh state, has earned it over £25.6 million from wig makers around the world.

Over 40,000 pilgrims, including women get themselves tonsured daily at the Tirumala Temple, 370 miles south-east of the state capital Hyderabad in the centuries old practice of offering their hair to Venkateswara, the presiding deity credited with granting their wishes.

According to recently released data, the Temple trust e-auctioned 561 tons of hair collected since last September via global tenders, nearly quadrupling its earnings to Rs2 billion compared with the same period last year.

Temple officials said the hair, divided into five categories based on its length and

texture was sold to European, America and Chinese wigmakers in two lots, the last one being auctioned at the weekend.

Domestically, Turupati hair was popular with wigmakers in Mumbai who sold their product to Bollywood film stars for use either as props or as fashion accessories.

Tonsuring at the temple which is by far India's most visited Hindu shrine, is car-

ried out in 16 massive halls – two of which operate round the clock- by some 650 barbers including 60 women.

Each one shaves an average of 60 heads in a six-hour shift, harvesting around 1,760lbs of hair everyday. Other than hair the temple also faces another problem of plenty: masses of gold and jewels donated daily by devotees. The temples massive 'hundi's' or container for offerings that is emptied

several times a day receives around 220lbs of gold mostly in the form of bars, coins and ornaments and some 264lbs of silver each month.Additionally, thick wads of cash, including a basket of foreign currencies, were offered alongside as tens of thousands of devotees lined up for hours-up to even a day on holy days-for a few fleeting seconds in front of the temple deity.

To manage this cornucopia the temple trust regularly sends a portion of its gold collection to the mint in Mumbai to be melted down into 22 carat "Dollar coins" which are then sold off to Venkateshwara's devotees worldwide. With its vast wealth, the temple trust finances numerous charities, runs schools, hospitals and universities and feeds millions of poor and destitute people every day.

INDIA

26

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

In Focus Chennai police gun down five suspected bank robbers Five men suspected to be behind two bank robberies in Chennai in the last one month were killed in a gun battle with the city police at Velachery. Two days after the gang struck a branch of Indian Overseas Bank in Keelkattalai on city police commissioner J K Tripathy had held a press conference to release a video of a suspect allegedly doing a recce at a nationalised bank. "With people's cooperation, we will nab them soon," he had said. Police sources said the robbers stayed in the house since last December after paying an advance of Rs 20,000. Though the incident happened in a residential area, no one in the neighbourhood appeared to know what had happened. Reporters who reached the spot soon after the incident were kept at bay till 5.45am. Police commissioner J K Tripathy said the gun battle lasted for 15 minutes, the suspects were identified as Chandrika Rey from West Bengal, and Vinod Kumar, Vinay Prasad, Abhay Kumar and Harish Kumar from Bihar. Two of them are former students of an engineering college in the city suburbs. Police recovered five guns and bundles of cash from the suspects.

Judge booked for attempt to rape A junior civil judge from Khammam district was booked for allegedly trying to outrage the modesty of his domestic help of woman. A case under Section 354 ( attempt to rape) of IPC was registered against additional first class judicial magistrate Kuravath Balachander. Town deputy superintendent of police K Rangan Goud told that the complainant alleged that the magistrate attempted to outrage her modesty while she was working in his house. Balachander called her to his room and asked her to fulfill his carnal desire. When she refused, Balachander allegedly dragged her into his bedroom.The woman, however, managed to flee from the house. Mustering courage, the woman, a resident of Langapally village in Pinabelly mandal, approached the town police Meanwhile, Balachander has gone on leave.

Man kills daughter for refusing marriage A 55-year old man who killed his daughter and surrendered to the police on Monday will be produced in court again on Wednesday. Shishir Shinde admitted to killing his daughter for allegedly rejecting a marriage alliance. Shinde claims he hit his daughter Asha on the head with an iron rod on Sunday when she was asleep.

The incident happened in Satara's Aundh village. Though Asha's mother, elder brother and his wife were also present in the home, nobody went to her rescue as Shinde hit her head repeatedly, leaving her in a pool of blood. Asha was a science graduate and had a post-graduation degree in social work. She was working with a private organization in Pune.

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Norway custody row ends; uncle to get custody of Indian kids In a huge relief to the NRI couple, the Norwegian Child Welfare Service has decided to award custody of their two children to the brother of the kids' father, Anurup Bhattacharya. The kids will be able to return to India by end of March.

The child welfare service will make its submission to a local court in Norway which will on March 23 take a final decision.

The CWS in a press release said, "This week the Child Welfare Service in Stavanger completed its talks with the uncle in the child welfare case concerning two Indian children. It

has been concluded that care of the two children should be awarded to the brother of the children’s father enabling him to take the children back to India."

The press release also states: This arrangement requires, however, that the Child Welfare Service

ensures that the necessary legal framework and followup procedures are in place in order to safeguard the children’s best interests and enable the uncle to deal with the situation in the best possible way.

"It's the moment we've been waiting for," the children's father was quoted as saying in the media.

Three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya have been placed in the care of two different foster families in Norway. The authorities in Norway have said that the children were taken away, as their parents, Sagarika and Anurup, were not taking

proper care of them.

Earlier on Tuesday, the grandparents of the children met External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna who assured them that the brother and sister would be repatriated "at any cost".

The grandparents told reporters that the minister had assured them that the government would get the kids back to India "at any cost".

Monotosh Chakraborthy, the grandfather, said the special Indian envoy, M. Ganapathi, secretary (West), sent to Norway to resolve the case was returning to India soon.

Call centre debts scam lifts lid on India’s outsourcing business Investigators said the sophisticated scam was the first of its kind to involve call centre operators in another country. Call centre operators in India pretended to be debt collectors to extort millions of dollars from unwitting Americans in a phone scam that has raised new questions about the oversight of India’s growing outsourcing business.

David Vladeck, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), described the scam, which was overseen by American Credit Crunchers, a US company based in California, as a “brazen operation based

on pure fraud”.

Federal investigators say about 10,000 Americans were contacted by call centre staff in India over a period of two years. They were falsely told that they had unpaid debts which needed to be repaid immediately, and callers frequently resorted to intimidation and threats to force them into paying.

In a legal filing, the FTC said that consumers in the US had received as many as 20 million collection calls from India over the past two years.

The agency also claimed that since January 2010, victims had handed over more than $5 million (£3.2 mil-

Gunmen kill 18 in Pak bus ambush Continued from page 1 Human rights groups have heavily criticised the Pakistani government for failing to crack down on sectarian violence between the country's majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslim communities that has killed thousands. Local MP Abdul Sattar Khan linked the ambush to the murder of two Sunni Muslims a few days ago in Gilgit.

Some of Tuesday's victims were from Gilgit, where the government ordered offices and schools to close as a safety precaution, and advised residents to stay indoors, local administration chief Tariq Arqam said.

Residents said Gilgit was tense and roads deserted.

Shops in most areas were

closed and traffic very thin, they added.

Provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain blamed the attack on militants.

"The people behind this attack are terrorists. They wanted to trigger sectarian violence in the country. We don't want to go into the details because we don't want them to succeed in their nefarious designs," he said.

"We will give cash compensation to the families of the victims. The bodies of the dead have been sent to Gilgit for burial," he added.

Authorities had earlier insisted Islamist militants were not active in the area, although Kohistan borders Swat, where Pakistan in 2009 managed to put down a two-year Taliban insurgency.

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lion), with collectors demanding between $300 and $2,000 per call.

Varang Thaker, the alleged ringleader of the operation, had used address details, bank account and social security numbers submitted by consumers who had applied online for shortterm loans, to assist in the deception.

These were supplied to call centre staff in India, who then told their victims they risked losing their job or being jailed if they did not pay up.

One victim, JanLaree DeJulius, 57, of Las Vegas, said: “The gentleman who called knew everything about me ... I don’t think I’m stupid, but I fell

for it. I agreed to set up instalments because I didn’t want attorneys coming to my place of work. I didn’t want to be arrested.”

Investigators said the sophisticated scam was the first of its kind to involve call centre operators in another country. Steven Baker, the FTC’s Midwest director, said the scam had arisen partly because of the falling cost of international calls, which have made international phone scams like this possible.

A spokesman for Nasscom, the industry association in India for the IT and outsourcing industry, declined to comment on the case.

Indian doctors win racial discrimination case in US Continued from page 1 The hospital claimed the resolution was based on the doctors' disruptive behavior and issues with Dr Yusuke Yahagi, a cardiovascular surgeon at the hospital.

Court documents also showed that the three cardiologists were derogatorily referred to as "the Indians."

The cardiologists also cited a comment from David Brown, the hospital chief executive officer, as saying the hospital was working on a plan for "getting the Indians off the reservation."

The cardiologists said the resolution hospital placed violated their equal protection rights - and now the Fifth Circuit has voted in their favor.

Brown would not comment until he could become

familiar with the details, a hospital spokesperson said.

The three doctors said they were consistently treated like second-class citizens, removed from committees and pushed out of laboratory posts arbitrarily, or overlooked in favor of "less-qualified" cardiologists CMC hired.

For now, the case is in stay, or on hold, according to Monte James, the lead attorney for the cardiologists.

He expects the federal court will take it off hold, and it will proceed to trial.

International Women’s Day special

International Women’s Day is annually held on March 8 to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations. It is also known as the United Nations (UN) Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. The day celebrates Women’s equality and achievements. Asian Voice will carry articles and special stories regarding women in the next issue.

TRAVEL, Women & HISTORy

asian voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

27

Purvi’s travel bag

By Purvi Apurva Shah

Enjoy Kerala’s backwaters, wildlife and natural beauty history in the making - the role of the monarchy in modern Britain

By Dr Anil Mehta

If you ever get a chance to be a home guest in Kerala, then do not ever miss it.

Because staying with the locals and in home atmosphere, you will get the raw appeal of Kerala. Usually the homes are built in a very Keralian style and are surrounded by lot of green and wood. The people of Kerala are very hospitable and friendly and savouring their home cooked food is a must indulgence.

Next best option is living in a houseboat, it is plenty in backwaters.

They are fully equipped and it’s great fun sipping coconut wine while floating. The other option is Tree House Stay in Vythiri. Staying in these one-of-a-kind wood houses located on trees, one can enjoy lip smacking Kerala food besides the relaxing Ayurvedic spa.

Every corner of Kerala seems like being crafted by God’s own hands. It is this quietude and mesmerizing peace that makes you feel to come back again and again. There is not much of commercialization but one gets a chance to live life around backwaters and amidst

coconut trees.

Actually Kerala reminds much of Venice, Venice-like shady streets of Alappuzha are set around a grid of canals that spill into the watery highways of Kerala. Gliding through the waterways of Kerala is even better than rowing through the canals of Venice, as in Venice they are all man-made. It is nature itself with coconut trees, rice fields, birds, forests, small villages, sunshine that glitters through the leaves.

Some of the magnificent places of tourist interest and the picture perfect waterways of Kerala are Kumarakom, Alleppey, Kochi, Kollam, Kuttanad and Kasargod.

Munnar with rolling tea gardens produces the world famous Nilgiri tea.

Further on to Kumarakom, a small scenic village with cluster of little islands and visit the exotic Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary. A must-see event is the snake boat races or Vallamkali which is something of a cult, just as bull fighting is in Spain.

And, finally to the beach of Kovalam, the

beautiful beach paradise, which consists of three picture perfect crescent beaches adjacent to one another, considered to be one of the finest beach resorts in the world. It is perhaps the most famous one as it offers host of water sports. Another important beach is the Fort Kochi beach. Some other popular beaches in Kerala are Alappuzha beach known for its beautiful lagoons.

Best time to visit the state is between December and March.

What to buy: Kerala is a shopper’s delight, especially for its ivory carvings, gold and silver brocaded fabrics and pottery and ceramic products. Bring home souvenirs of carved rosewood, masks, and a wide range of attractive and unique handmade items.

Some of the most popular Ayurveda ashrams are in Kalari Kovilakam in Plakkad district and Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Shala in Malappuram district. Enjoy some of the most relaxing therapies that are given there with the use of organically grown herbs and oil.

women achievers

Gujarat’s Gaurav asha Parekh By av Correspondent Asha Parekh is a Bollywood actress, director and producer and a name that does not need an introduction. She was one of the top stars of Hindi films from 1959 to 1973. She was born into a middle-class Gujarati family on 2 October 1942 in Mahuva, Gujarat, to a Hindu father and a Muslim mother. Her mother enrolled her in classical dance classes at an early age.

Asha started her career as a child artist under the screen name Baby Asha Parekh in the film “Aasmaan” (1952).

Famed film director Bimal Roy saw her dance at a stage function and cast her at the age of 12 in “Baap Beti” (1954). The film's failure disappointed her and she quit acting to resume her studies. At 16, she decided to try acting again and made her debut as a heroine, but she was rejected from Vijay Bhatt's “Goonj Uthi Shehnai” (1959) in favour of actress Ameeta, because the film-

maker claimed she was not star material. The very next day, film producer Subodh Mukherjee and writer-director Nasir Hussain cast her as the heroine in “Dil Deke Dekho” (1959) opposite Shammi Kapoor which made her a huge star.

The film also led to a long and fruitful association with Hussain. He went on to cast her as the heroine in six more of his films. He also got her involved in distribution of films. She was primarily known as a glamour girl in most of her films, until director Raj Khosla gave her a serious image by casting her in tragedienne roles in his films. Director Shakti Samanta gave her more dramatic roles in his films. She also won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role in ‘Kati Patang.’ Many important directors such as Vijay Anand, Mohan Segal and J P Dutta repeated her several times in their films.

She acted in three Gujarati films, some Punjabi films and a Kannada film.

After the end of her hay days, she became a television director. She formed a production company Akruti and produced serials. She was the president of the Cine Artistes' Association from 1994 to 2000. Asha was the first female chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board) of India. Later, she became the treasurer of the Cine and Television Artists Association (CINTAA) and later elected to be one of its office-bearers.

She received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 and continued to receive other Lifetime Achievement Awards. She received the Living Legend Award from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Asha remained unmarried.

There were rumors that she was romantically involved with her married director Nasir Hussain.

Now she concentrates on her dance academy Kara Bhavan and the Asha Parekh Hospital in Santa Cruz, Mumbai.

Given that this year is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (ascended to the throne 62-1952), it seems like a good time to assess the role of the monarchy in Modern Britain.

For good or ill, monarchy has remained a constant thread throughout the long – well over a thousand-year history of Britain. It has survived by a process of adaptation to change. In the 20th century it survived when most others fell because it came to terms with parliamentary democracy. Early monarchs (Middle Ages) wielded supreme powers but with time they lost their direct power and became constitutional rulers with ceremonial duties.

In Britain, Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of State, is formally supreme head of Armed Forces, and head of the executive and judiciary branches of the government, but in practice her role is limited to the advisory and ceremonial.

Some of her duties are : Opening of the Parliament, appointing PM, signing the Acts of Parliament, weekly meetings with the PM at her residence (Buckingham Palace), making state visits overseas, and entertaining foreign Heads of State.

Mindful of Britain being multi-faith and multi-cultural society she also visits temples and mosques. In all these roles she is ably assisted by members of her immediate family.

The Queen is the longest reigning monarch (since 1952) after Queen Victoria, and is utterly professional and ever mindful of the seriousness of her role. She is an embodiment of national identity, stability, and continuity.

Being Head of State for nearly 60 years, she has worked with 12 PMs (starting with Winston Churchill) and paid official visits to well over 100 countries.

Also, she is Head of Church of England and of the Commonwealth.

During the Queen’s long reign, Britain has experienced a rapid change at political, economic, and social fronts not to mention the dismantling of the British

Empire. In 1969 she instigated a new era of openness when she allowed the BBC to film a documentary about the private lives of the Windsors. The prestige and the popularity of the royal family were seriously damaged during the 80s and the 90s by the scandalous events surrounding it (royal divorces and so on). Furthermore, the royal family was accused of being cold, uncaring, and out of touch with the mood of the nation when they failed to respond unreservedly to the untimely death of Princess Diana in 1997.

The Queen is aware of public perception, though.

To diffuse criticisms of her enormous wealth she has recently agreed to pay tax on her private income and some members of her family to be removed from the civil list (annual subsidy from the govern-

ment). Moreover, after a disastrous fire at Windsor Castle, she opened parts of Buckingham Palace to public to use money to pay for the repairs instead of taxpayer picking up the bill. Thus, she has tried to make up for some criticisms she received in the media, and now in her eighties she is widely admired for hard work, understanding, and devotion with which she is carrying out a difficult job.

What’s more, she does not reveal her own political views and does not attempt to influence her government in any unconstitutional way.

Like the Queen, Prince Charles (heir to the throne) has also shown willingness to change. He is sometimes criticised for being cool, distant, and controversial, and for expressing views on politi-

cal matters. However, his devotion to his two sons William and Harry especially after their mother’s tragic death, his concern for the environment and the disadvantaged young people, and his participation in charitable causes have earned him great respect.

Likewise, his sons (and now elder daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton) are also involved in the humanitarian projects initiated by their late mother and are popular with the public.

Recently it was announced that moves are to be made to allow the eldest child of the monarch to inherit the throne regardless of gender (until now the eldest son took precedence irrespective of whether he had an elder sister), and to allow the monarch to marry a Roman Catholic if he/she wishes. Thus centuries of old traditions will give way to contemporary thinking i.e. gender equality and religious tolerance.

Monarchy is Britain’s centuries-old institution. Within its constitutional constraints, it has served Britain well. It represents British history, culture, and heritage. It has also become a good source of income as tourists flock to see monarchy related ceremonial events and places.

Being above party politics by definition, majority of the people seem to regard it as a useful and desirable institution rather than having a republic with some dubious or unconvincing figurehead. It provides the country political stability and continuity and there is no reason why it should not continue as long as it shows willingness to adapt to life in 21st century such as to be more caring and friendly (the common touch) and less remote.

The public image of the monarchy will now be as important to its survival as its constitutional role.

The Queen in her 60year reign has attempted to modernise the monarchy without weakening its authority. Her Diamond Jubilee will be celebrated in a grand manner with street parties, a concert at Buckingham Palace, and a flotilla on the Thames.

28

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Vijay as encounter specialist For the first time Vijay donned the role of a police officer in the film “Pokkiri” but only in the climax scene we will come to know that he is a police officer. He has not acted as a police officer in a whole film till now. Vijay is donning the role of an encounter specialist in the film ‘Thuppakki” directed

by A R Murugadoss. The first schedule of shooting took place in Mumbai for 40 days. Major portion of the story happens in Mumbai. A sequence where Vijay in the police uniform comes to see his bride Kajal Agarwal was shot recently. The shooting of this film has been temporarily stalled because of the problems between the Producers Council and FEFSI.

Deepika clears the air on ‘Kochadaiyaan’

Deepika Padukone has been facing an allegation that, she abruptly walked out of Hindi film ‘Race 2′ to accommodate herself in Superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Kochadaiyaan’. The actress has denied this charge, saying she was forced to do so. “The makers of Race 2 delayed the shooting for more than one and half years. This put me under pressure as I had other commitments to honour. When the Kochadaiyaan offer came, I had no other option other than walking out of Race 2,” she says. Reiterating that she was forced to take a decision on ‘Race 2′, Deepika says she is aware that those behind the project have filed a complaint against her.

Marriage would have to wait: Tamanna “I still fee like a novice in the film industry; I have miles to go in achieving my goal of becoming an actress of substance. In this context, it’s not proper on the part of the press to report that I’m getting married when there is not even an iota of truth in it,” says Tamanna. Reports said that Tammu was in love with a costar and was getting ‘mentally’ prepared to enter into wedlock.

For the past six months, though, Tammu has been staying away from Kollywood and had only been concentrating on Telugu films. She has many projects in Telugu. She is even said to have refused a Bollywood offer. This led to the speculation that she was planning to settle into matrimony.

When queried about it, Tamanna says, “I have three films in various stages of production in Telugu.

That’s why I refused the Hindi film offer. I’m really thankful to the media for showing a lot of interest in my marriage which is not likely to be held in the next few years,” she said.

Hot Garam masala Isha Koppikar turns to business Actor Isha Koppikar who married hotelier Timmy Narang in 2009 is all set to launch her own chain of restaurants. The actor, who confesses to being health conscious all her life, decided to set up her own chain of health restaurants and promote a healthy lifestyle to everyone. The actor is currently away in the US for a two month professional hospitality course. "I don't understand anything about business.

To begin anything from scratch, I had to obviously learn everything about being an entrepreneur so I decided to take up the course in US to make sure I get my basics right,” she said.

Big B back home, upset with paparazzi’s insensitivity Amitabh Bachchan is relieved to be back home after a 12-day stay at the SevenHills Hospital in Mumbai.

However, the megastar says he had a tough time reaching his home thanks to "insensitive" paparazzi.

"The paparazzi, though kept away from the premises of the hospital, were there at the entrance and throughout the journey home, blocking the movement of the car by standing in front and on top of the vehicle, which was disturbing. I have yet to see them understand the sensitivity of a situation such as this," the 69-year-old posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com.

Rohit Shetty gets mad at Kareena, Asin & Deepika

The usually easy-going director Rohit Shetty is fuming at three top actresses creating speculation that they are acting in his film “Chennai Express,” starring Shah Rukh Khan. The ladies in the firing line are Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Asin Thottumkal. But Rohit says that he has not approached any of the actresses for the film. “I want to tell people to please stop this circus! I have a film to complete right now, so I want to focus on that. Till I return from Panchgani, I won't approach anyone. I don't know where these rumours are coming from. In all probability, none of these actresses will be signed for the role. But yes, this is a performance-oriented role and we need a beautiful face, so we will definitely sign an established name."

Shah Rukh's loss is Ranbir Kapoor's gain Looks like R a n b i r Kapoor is snatching much more than just best actor awards from SRK this y e a r !

Rockstar Ranbir has won most of the best actor awards this season, over King Khan who was also nominated in the same category for ‘Don 2.’ It was found that SRK has been replaced by the versatile Ranbir in the much-talked about project, “Two States,” produced by Sajid Nadiadwala.

The film, which is an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's bestseller of same title, will be co-produced

by Karan Johar. Earlier, it was supposed to be directed

by Vishal Bhardwaj who wanted Shah Rukh to take on the lead role, but due to some reason Vishal put the movie on hold and Karan stepped in, to complete the project with Nadiawala.

While Sajid Nadiadwala confirmed the news, Karan Johar still wants to keep it under wraps, could there be something more to it?

Ashmit Patel poses nude for magazine Ashmit Patel, whose alleged girlfriend Veena Malik recently made headlines for posing nude on the cover of FHM, seems to be following in her footsteps. The 34year-old actor has also posed nude for a men's health magazine. The black and white picture sees the bare 'Silsilay' star hiding his private part with an undergarment. Ashmit has posed in the buff which helps guys pick the right underwear.

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Kangna Ranaut to play Mandakini?

If the buzz around tinsel town is any indication, it seems Ekta Kapoor has finally found her heroine for the sequel of her runaway hit, “Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai” (OUATIM).

After Kareena Kapoor reportedly opted out of the film toplining Akshay Kumar as an underworld don, it is learnt that Kangna Ranaut has been finalised to play his actress moll. Interestingly, she played the actress-girlfriend of Ajay Devgn's Mafiosi Sultan Mirza in the first outing also.

It is believed that Kangna's character is inspired from Mandakini, who got involved with the Dubai based don after her career in Bollywood that started on a high with Raj Kapoor's ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ stagnated. A well-placed source said that producer Ekta and director Milan Luthria were looking for a suitable replacement after Kareena opted out of the sequel earlier this month.

A couple of names were considered, but somewhere they felt that a performing actress was more needed than a starry name. Initially they weren't considering Kangna.

Guess the talk of Kangna doing the OUATIM sequel is due to the fact that she's also playing the leading lady opposite John in “Shootout At Wadala,” which is also their production."

Besides, Akshay-Kangna is a novel combination.

Katrina opts for an arranged marriage Katrina Kaif might have got her share of success at the box office but the same cannot be said about her love life. After staying in Salman Khan's shadows for several years, problems had hit paradise. Following the big Khan fallout on Kat's birthday, the actress too had decided to give up on her romance with the Khan.

Following her first big breakup, the actress who was having a good time in Ranbir Kapoor's arms on screen was reportedly enjoying it off-screen as well.

Tired of her romantic failures, Katrina has now decided to stay away from industry wallahs in matters of the heart. In fact, sources have learnt, that the actress has asked her mother to 'arrange' a suitable boy for her. A close friend of the actress revealed, "Katrina has told her mother to find her a guy. She has decided to go with whatever 'momma says'."

This decision comes in the wake of rumours about Katrina and her ex-flame Ranbir Kapoor rekindling their romance. Katrina, currently in London, is not amused with the stories about her and Ranbir floating around. And though the actress was unavailable for comment, her friend explained, "Katrina is done with Ranbir. She didn't want to spend time with him and that's why decided to opt out of Ayaan Mukerji's film. In fact, Katrina will not consider offers to be cast opposite Ranbir in the near future."

AR Rahman performs at Oscars again Indian composer AR Rahman performed at the 84th Academy Awards as part of the Oscar band in his third performance at the prestigious award ceremony. "Oscar sangamam - if you are watching the Oscars live, catch our Oscar super band headed by Hans Zimmer perform," Rahman posted on his Facebook page for his fans. He even posted a picture with all members of the band, which performed throughout Sunday night's ceremony. Last year Rahman had sung his tracks from '127 Hours' at the Oscar ceremony. In 2009, the 46-year-old performed for the first time at the Oscar stage and in the same year he won two golden statuettes for best original score and best original song ("Jai ho") for the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

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Romancing at 42 feels amazing: R Madhavan R Madhavan, who is paired opposite Bipasha Basu in ‘Jodi Breakers’, says he feels lucky to play a romantic hero at the age of 42.

The ‘3 idiots’ star, who will be seen in a very stylish avatar in the film, insists that the movie is not an attempt for an image makeover.

"All my films have seen me as a nice guy but in this film I am a little naughty...But it is not an attempt for an image makeover.

It`s just that I always like to do something different and I think I have been very lucky to have done that without having to change my looks. I am doing romantic films at 42, a solo lead which I think is great," Madhavan said.

Madhavan, who started his Bollywood career with ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’ in 2001, has given hits like ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Guru’, ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ and ‘Tanu Weds Manu’.

The actor, however, says he still can`t believe he has achieved so much without having a strong filmy background. Despite being in the industry for more than a decade and having an equally well off career down South, Madhavan insists that he is still being criticised by people for his acting abilities.

"I am still proving to people that I can act. I am not the typical Hindi film hero with six pack abs but the public has endorsed me and I think as long as I am loyal to them nobody can say that I cannot act or my career is finished.

The industry dwells on predictions and t r e n d s , " Madhavan said.

A s k him what he likes to do apart from films, the actor said, "I love sports and travelling.”

I have no time to date: Bipasha Basu Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu, who ended her nine-year relationship with actor John Abraham last year, says she is currently single as she has no time to date. The 33-year-old model-turnedactress has been busy lately with backto-back releases. Beginning the year with 'Players', her next release was 'Jodi Breakers.' "Right now anyone who will date me, will be in trouble. Because I don't have a single minute for anybody," Bipasha said to a fan while chatting via Airtel Talk2Me. To another caller, Bipasha dished out some advice on how to become an actress. "Becoming an actress is not an easy job. It needs a lot of talent, hard work and luck... You must have a lot of patience. "Moreover its always beneficial if you know somebody in the business. You must not feel defeated ever in this field," she said.

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

CB Live is only a Gujarati programme in UK on MATV SKY 793 This week in CB Live, CB Patel will report on his recent 2 weeks visit to Sri Lanka.

Mr Anilbhai Bhagi from Skylink tour and travel will talk about Hindu Pilgrimage with Alka Shah Advertising Manager of Gujarat Samachar If you do not have a SKY, go to www.tvunetworks.com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

Bhavan celebrates India’s Republic day Continued from page 2 largest and most successful democracy in the world. He then welcomed the Chief Guest and said that Ms Bahadur had only recently taken up her post in London and had had a successful career as a diplomat with service in many parts of the world.

Greetings were then extended by Lord Hameed of Hampstead, The Hon. Sir Mota Singh QC and Padma Shri Dr John Marr. Dr Marr pointed out that 2012 was the year of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee. He noted that recently, Her Majesty had met with nine religious leaders. He then recalled that The Prince of Wales had said that the monarch

was the ‘Defender of Faiths’ – not just the ‘Defender of a Faith’.

Chief Guest Ms Sangeeta Bahadur said that she was happy to be at the celebration and she conveyed good wishes from the Acting High Commissioner of India.

She then paid tribute to the closeness of relations between Britain and India which had become even closer in recent years.

The Vote of Thanks was given by the Bhavan’s Joint Chairman, Mr Shantoo Ruparell MBE. It was followed a short programme of patriotic songs and dances performed by Bhavan students. The programme was compèred by Mrs Parvati Nair.

COMPETITION To celebrate the release of ‘London Paris New York’ in cinemas, we are giving away CDs for the film’s music soundtrack, which is already singing its way into the heart of listeners worldwide.

For your chance to win, simply answer the following question and send your replies to aveditorial@abplgroup.com by Monday 5th March.

Please note the winner will be chosen on first come first basis from list of correct answer

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500 There are subtle transformations taking shape in you life and a feeling of helpful influences in the background. There is much to suggest that you are in tune with your inner self and in touch with those hidden forces which often seem to take a guiding hand in one's life.

Focus on essentials and establish a solid foundation, so that you feel secure.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

7pm to 8pm Every Thursday

For more information e-mail:

cblive_matv@yahoo.co.uk

Coming Events l Medway Hindu Community Centre presents Holi Darshan, 7th March, 7:30pm onwards, Westmoor Farm, Kent. ME8 8QF l Holi (Holy) Walk to all the temples in Leicester on 10th of March 2012, 9-6pm. Contact: 0116 2680306 l International Siddhashram Centre and Sangat Centre celebrate Holi at Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow on Wednesday 07.03.2012 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. l Holi, for Naps South London Branch celebrates 700 to 9-30pm, Wednesday 07 March at Patidar Samaj Building, London SW17 0RG Kiranbhai Patel.

Contact: 07814 005096 l Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar & Sangam Association of Asian Women will be jointly celebrating International Women’s Day Event on 8th March 2012, 10.00am – 1.30pm. Venue: Meenal Mehta Banqueting Hall, Edgware, Middlesex HA8 0AP Contact: 020 8952 7062 l Charity dine and dance: A fundraising dinner and disco event by Kishorbhai Vadhia and his son Chetan in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance. Venue: Unity Club in Newtown (B19 3 RD) Birmingham on 31 March from 6.30pm onwards. Contact: Kishorbhai on 07941 373 822. l Holki Dhuleti, Thursday, 8th March 2012, from 8.00pm to 10.00pm. Seaview Building, Cardiff, CF24 5EB. Contact Vimlaben Patel on 07979155320. l Hindu Council (Brent) celebrates Holi, 7th March, Roe Green Park, Kingsbury, 6-9pm. Contact: Jayanti Popat 07967480467

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 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 Geminians will be more open to compromise to keep the peace. Plan your spending and set sensible budgets to reach your financial goals.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22 It seems that you will be in gregarious mood, intent on cultivating a wider circle of acquaintances. Mentally you will be in good form to make on-the-spot decisions and also get your ideas across to the right people. Ideas that you have been juggling with for quite some time will now be easily pulled into shape, allowing you to push ahead.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 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.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23 Your horizons have most certainly expanding. Jupiter in the area of your chart ruling long-distance travel and philosophical thoughts will make your mind run wild. 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 Long-term partnerships are reinvigorated by Jupiter's transit of your solar 8th house. Whether you’re single or attached you’ll have a busy time ahead of you. With Venus in your opposite sign of relationships, expect this to be a romantic period in your life with lots of opportunities arising for you to find someone special.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22 Social commitments are liable to increase considerably. At times this could lead to a conflict of loyalties and perhaps a degree of resentment that others are taking advantage of you.

Make a very conscious attempt to stick to main priorities.

Organise your time so that it is not taken up entirely by the demands of other people.

Q: Who has composed the music soundtrack for ‘London Paris New York’?

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TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 Co-operative ventures are likely to generate financial success. So, if hoping to drum up support or backing, it would certainly do no harm to adopt a more pushy and outgoing approach to life. As social life will tend to draw you into a wider circle, the chances of meeting someone attractive are greatly increased.

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SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21 With Venus transiting your 5th house,this promises to be very romantic week where some of you might even tie the knot with your loved one. This is a good time to buy or sell property or to renovate existing ones. The atmosphere at home will be calm and amiable with everyone at their best behaviour.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20 There will be increased scope for varying your activities, widening your network of contacts and getting out and about. It is an excellent time for exercising your mental energies, clarifying your and other people's ideas and getting involved in discussion. Exercise caution when it comes to making financial decisions as being hasty will cost you !

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 It is essential that you adopt a very open attitude now for this is a time of lucky opportunity and a chance to greatly enrich your life. New windows on the world are about to open and this is bound to have a maturing effect on you from now into the future. There is a rather secretive aura surrounding new romance, which could turn into something very special.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20 Either you or your partner have been going through a phase of inner doubts and uncertainties, and perhaps the main source of tension has simply been the need for breathing space in your relationship and a need to look at things more objectively. Wait before going full steam ahead with grand actions and gestures.

SPOrt wOrLd

Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Kohli ton keeps India alive in Tri-series

Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 133 as India chased down a mammoth 321-run target in under 37 overs against Sri Lanka in Hobart on Tuesday to stay alive in the one-day international Triseries. To retain any hope of qualifying for the best-ofthree finals against an already qualified Australia, India needed to reach their target in 40 of the 50 overs allocated to earn a bonus point victory.

India now require hosts Australia to beat Sri Lanka in the last group match in Melbourne on Friday to stay ahead of Sri Lanka on points.

"I will be rooting for Australia on Friday. This is a special feeling, and this is probably my best one-day innings so far," Kohli said during a pitch-side interview.

"To be able to execute everything I wanted in that situation is really very satisfying."

Kohli, 23, hit 16 boundaries and two sixes in his 86-ball knock as the 50-over world champions reached 321 for three wickets in 36.4 overs.

The right-hander added 115 runs for the third wicket with Gautam Gambhir (63) and then stitched together 120 runs with Suresh Raina (40 not out) for the unbroken fourth wicket to ensure India won with a bonus point.

Virat Kohli struck 133 off 86 balls to propel India to a thumping win in 36.4 overs against Sri Lanka in Hobart

Openers Virender Sehwag (30) and Sachin Tendulkar (39), who once again failed in his bid to score his 100th international ton, provided a brisk start for India but it was left to Kohli to guide the team to victory.

The Delhi batsman displayed some sublime strokeplay and was particularly severe on paceman Lasith Malinga (one for 96), whom he hit for 24 runs in an over, including a six and four boundaries in consecutive deliveries.

"I committed a few mistakes in the last games. I was hitting the ball pretty well until I was getting to 20. I was

India qualify for men's hockey in London Olympics

Eight-time champions India secured their place in the men's hockey event at this year's London Olympics after routing France 8-1 in the final of a qualifying tournament on Sunday.

Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh continued his goalscoring spree, slotting five more in the final as India, who won the last of their eight gold medals in 1980, returned to the Olympics after missing Beijing in 2008.

South Africa qualified for

the women's event, having beaten hosts India 3-1 in Saturday's final.

India went to the final with an unbeaten record, having scored 36 goals in the first five games, and they went on to better their 6-2 victory against the Frenchmen in a pool match earlier.

India opened their account with Birender Lakra's 17th minute strike but France did well to restrict them to 3-1 at half time.

Singh, having scored from two penalty corners in the first half, returned to convert three more to enhance his reputation as a leading dragflick expert and finish with 16 goals from six matches.

Simon Martin-Brisac scored the lone goal for the French side while S.V. Sunil and V.R.Raghunath were India's other goal-getters.

trying to middle every ball, which is not possible in international cricket," Kohli said. "I told myself to just play myself in, and stick in there no matter what... and it paid off.

"I have the self-belief that if you keep working hard and keep the mind in the game and stay positive and get in the face of the opposition, results are going to come."

Earlier, centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara powered Sri Lanka to 320 for four.

Dilshan (160 not out) equalled his highest score in one-day internationals and added 200 for the second wicket with Sangakkara

(105) after India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to field after winning the toss.

Sangakkara was the more attacking of the duo and his 13th one-day hundred was studded with eight boundaries and two sixes, coming off 87 balls.

Dilshan was watchful at the start but opened up after completing his 11th hundred.

He hit 11 boundaries and three sixes during his 165ball stay at the wicket.

Watson returns to lead Australia past India into final: Shane Watson made a triumphant return by captaining Australia to an emphatic 87-run victory over India on Sunday and ensuring the hosts a place in the final of the one-day international Tri-series.

SL beat Oz: Earlier, Sri Lanka threw India's prospects of a berth in the tri-series finals into jeopardy with a thrilling three-wicket victory over Australia. Chasing Australia's 280 for six built around Peter Forrest's maiden ODI century, the islanders overhauled the target with four balls to spare in a match which went down the wire.

After Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victory over India, Australia are in the No 1 spot.

Sachin must quit ODIs, say 57% respondents in a poll After former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, is it time for the world's greatest runmaker to bid adieu to one-day cricket? As many as 57% of respondents in an online poll have answered with a 'yes', indicating that the public anger over Team India's dismal performances Down Under also extends to Sachin Tendulkar's poor ODI form.

Almost 47,000 people had responded to the question, 'Should Sachin retire from ODIs?' While 19,127 voted 'no' (41%), as many as 26,813 votes were polled in favour of the question. Around 2% (817) people were undecided.

The surprising results came a day after Sachin's former opening partner Sourav Ganguly had hinted that the maestro should reconsider his ODI future and concentrate on Test cricket.

variations," said Pathan.

"Same in batting, I make sure that I finish my batting with regular bowlers. I try to do some extra bowling, thrown by coaches, and bat extra. In a match, when I bowl

I'm a bowler and when I am batting, I try to think as a batsman." Pathan admitted that when he is able to chip in with some wickets, his batting also improves and vice-versa.

"The best thing for me would be to take wickets.

When I keep taking wickets, it helps my batting and viceversa. When I look at myself, I feel its 60-40 - 60 bowler, 40 batsman."

The 27-year-old also claimed that he is ready to bat or ball wherever his team requires him to.

"I am ready to bat wherever the team demands. It is not an issue for me. In terms of bowling as well, I am willing to bowl wherever the team

Action at a Glance PCB to summon Kaneria over spot-fixing allegation

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has ordered leg- spinner Danish Kaneria to reappear before its integrity committee and respond to spot-fixing allegations.

"Danish Kaneria will again be called to appear before the integrity committee to explain his position," the Dawn quoted a PCB statement, as saying. Essex police had cleared Kaneria of charges of his alleged involvement in spot-fixing during a county match against Durham in 2009.

But the PCB's integrity committee has directed Kaneria to provide copies of tapes of his Essex police interview. The move comes after a judge in London sentenced Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield to four months in prison for on-field corruption and accused Kaneria of pressuring county players to indulge in the match-fixing. Kaneria has however, denied allegations and claimed that he had been cleared by British police, the England Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council. Both cricket organizations denied his claims and added that Kaneria has never been granted a clearance certificate.

Shoaib Akhtar escapes unhurt in car crash

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar rammed his car into one of the barricades placed in front of the PM's Secretariat in Islamabad on Saturday night. According to The Express News, Akhtar was heading towards his house from a five-star hotel when he lost control of his speeding car and slammed into a barricade of the PM Secretariat. The front portion of the car was badly damaged, but Akhtar was unhurt. The police did not register any case over the incident and allowed the former cricketer to return home.

Sania Mirza most searched tennis star

Ganguly said it was up to Tendulkar to decide if "he's still good enough to play in the ODIs". The former Indian skipper said, "I think Sachin deserves to decide on his own if and when to leave international cricket or one-day cricket... I don't think the selectors have got the right to ask him to go."

Irfan Pathan keen to fill all-rounder spot for India Irfan Pathan said he was keen to fill in the position of the medium-pace bowling allrounder in the Indian team that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni craves for all too often.

Dhoni has often rued the absence of a medium-pace bowling all-rounder who could lend balance to the side, and Pathan feels he is good enough to bowl 10 overs and hit some lusty blows.

"I think I am a bowler who can bat. If you look at me in the nets, I always make sure I give equal importance to both aspects. When I am bowling, I make sure I need to bowl length with the start, use variations and try to finish it off with death over bowling and

31

wants me to, with the new ball or old ball. As long as I am playing, I am happy."

In previous matches, Pathan was once sent in at number seven, while in the other game he batted at number nine.

"I want to be ready to bat at any position as I have batted at all positions. What is important is what the team management and captain think. I want to let things come to me than keep using my mind a lot. It is better to be relaxed and let things come. Sometimes you bowl good balls and don't get wickets and sometimes you bowl bad balls and get wickets," he said.

Sania Mirza was the most Googled female tennis player in 2011, leaving behind bigger names like Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic. Despite her lowly world ranking of 113, the 25-year-old tennis star can count on an army of fans in the subcontinent to cheer her on as she flies the flag for India on the women's tour. Mirza is married to Pakistan cricket star Shoaib Malik. Speaking to CNN's Open Court, India's No1 talks of the obstacles she has faced in her career, which include having a fatwa on her head for wearing a short skirt on court. "When I started playing tennis, I don't think many people believed playing tennis could be a profession for a girl from Hyderabad," she was quoted as telling the news network.

"When I used to say, 'One day, I want to play at Wimbledon', it was treated as a joke because it had never happened before.

Dhoni denies rift with Sehwag

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday asserted that there was neither any dissension nor any communication gap in the dressing room but conceded that such reports at times create a brief awkwardness among the players. "If you listen to the press conference on tape, you would get the answer yourself as to what actually I said and what I meant," said Dhoni on the eve of the India-Australia tri-series match. "You can't particularly see the same question, it might be a build up to the first question and often what we don't answer, because of the first part of the question we answer, it actually is the answer to the second or third question," added Dhoni in his typical longwinding manner. Dhoni, while denying the reports of rift between Sehwag and him and asserting that the dressing room atmosphere was perfect, admitted it still caused uneasiness between the players.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 3rd March 2012

Action at a Glance Pakistani held over spot-fixing

A Pakistani has been questioned by police over his suspected involvement in spot-fixing during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Twenty20 tournament, a Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official said on Sunday. Karachi resident Sajid Khan arrived in Dhaka on February 10 and BCB security chief Mesbahuddin Serniabat said they had been watching him since the BPL's Chittagong phase from February 1822. "His movement was very suspicious and we followed him from Chittagong," Serniabat said. "We immediately took him to the visiting ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit official before handing him over to police." Sajid made a call to Pakistan every time a six was struck while watching the game from a VIP area on top of a dressing room, Serniabat said. He also attempted to enter the players' zone on several occasions. Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza alleged three weeks ago that he was approached by a former cricketer over spot-fixing.

Clarke named Australia's Player of the Year

Australia captain Michael Clarke won the Allan Border Medal as his country's Player of the Year for the third time on Monday.

Clarke also won the award in 2005 after scoring 151 on his test debut against India in Bangalore and shared it with Ricky Ponting in 2009.

The 30-year-old assumed the captaincy from Ponting in March last year and led Australia to a 1-0 test series win in Sri Lanka, 1-1 draws with South Africa and New Zealand before the 4-0 sweep of India around the turn of the year. In addition to his leadership of a team apparently in crisis when he took over in the wake of a 3-1 home Ashes defeat, Clarke has performed brilliantly with the bat.

He has scored five centuries in 11 tests since becoming skipper, hitting 1,167 runs at an average of 68.65 with his high score of 329 not out coming against the Indians in the second test at the Sydney Cricket Ground last month.

Pietersen helps England whitewash Pakistan 4-0 Kevin Pietersen hit his second successive century to help a resurgent England beat Pakistan by four wickets in the fourth and final day-night international last week for a 4-0 whitewash.

The 31-year-old right-hander held the innings together during his 153-ball career-best 130 - his ninth one-day hundred - to help England chase down a 238-run target in 49.2 overs at Dubai Stadium.

Pietersen helped England recover from 68/4 with a 109-run stand for the fifth wicket with Craig Kieswetter (43) to maintain his team's domination in the series in which they won the first match by 130 runs, second by 20 and the third by nine wickets.

By virtue of this win England overtook Pakistan at number five and pushed their rivals to sixth in the ICC (International Cricket Council) one-day rankings and partially made up for their 3-0 loss in the preceding three-Test series.

Pietersen hit Junaid Khan for a six and took a single in the next over to reach his hundred off 136 balls and finished with 12 fours and two sixes. His previous best of 116 came against South Africa at Centurion in 2005.

Pietersen had lost his opening partner Alastair Cook - who hit back-to-back hundreds and 80 in the first three matches - off the second ball of the innings to paceman Khan for four.

Jonathan Trott (15), Eoin Morgan (15) and debutant Jos Butler fell in the space of 18 runs before the PietersenKieswetter stand lifted them from 68-4 to 177/5.

When Kieswetter was run out, England still needed 61 but Samit Patel (17 not out) in the company of Pietersen brought England within two runs of the

win when Pietersen fell to Saeed Ajmal.

Tim Bresnan hit the winning boundary.

Pakistan promised more than what they made after half- centuries by Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali but were pegged

England axe Eoin Morgan for Lanka tour

Eoin Morgan has been dropped by England for the tour to Sri Lanka and replaced by Samit Patel after the selectors announced two changes from the squad whitewashed in the Test series by Pakistan.

Morgan pays the price for a dreadful tour to the Middle East which yielded a top score of 31 in 17 innings in all forms of the game at an average of 14.21.

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Kevin Pietersen guided England to a matchwinning total against Pakistan in the 3rd Twenty20 at Abu Dhabi.

back in the final overs with paceman Jade Dernbach taking a career-best 4-45.

Shafiq made a 78-ball 65 for his sixth one-day fifty while Ali notched a 89-ball 58 for his first to help lift Pakistan from the early loss of opener Mohammad Hafeez (one) after they elected to bat.

Skipper Misbah-ul Haq chipped in with a 52-ball 46 which included one four and a six.

Shafiq, who hit six boundaries, repaired the early loss during his second wicket stand of 111 with Ali but England pegged back Pakistan when Bresnan dismissed Shafiq off an inside edge and debutant left-arm spinner Danny Briggs accounted for Umar Akmal, who made 12.

Dernbach had Ali caught off a miscued drive by Morgan to leave Pakistan at 144/4 in the 34th over.

T20I: England beat Pakistan to take series England bowlers kept their nerves in the final overs to pull off a sensational five-run win over Pakistan in the third and final Twenty20 on Monday to take the series 2-1.

Set 130 to win Pakistan were going along nicely at 107/4 with 23 needed off the last three overs and 17 off the remaining two but Stuart Broad and Jade Dernbach did not lose courage and pulled off the win in the final over.

Broad dismissed a well set Umar Akmal (22) off the third ball of the penultimate over and gave away just four runs, leaving Jade Dernbach to defend 13 in the last, which he successfully did, removing Misbah-ul Haq (28) off the final delivery.

Dernbach finished with 2-24 and most importantly gave World Twenty20 champions an unexpected win.

Pakistan won the first match by eight runs while England won the second by 38 runs - both played in Dubai.

2010, and replaced the injured Chris Tremlett.

England also announced this morning that seven members of the squad – Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Steven Davies, Monty Panesar, Patel, Matt Prior and Tredwell - will travel to Sri Lanka ahead of the main party as Andy Flower, the team head coach, attempts to avoid the mistakes made against Pakistan when the team appeared under-prepared.

Geoff Miller, the national selector, said: “We have selected a squad that we feel will be able to make best use of the conditions we are likely to encounter in Sri Lanka.

There is no doubt that this Test series will be a challenging one but it is exciting that players have an opportunity to demonstrate that they have learnt from the disappointment of the Pakistan Test series and can make further strides in developing the skills needed to succeed on the subcontinent.”

Morgan’s technique against spin was undermined

by the brilliance Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman in the Test series but unlike other England batsmen he failed to improve in the one-day format.

Even Twenty20 cricket provided little solace with a series average of 10 costing him his ranking as the world’s number one batsman in that form of the game, a title now owned by Kevin Pietersen. The omens were not good for Morgan at the weekend when Flower admitted he had a lot of work to do to adjust his game to the rigours of Test cricket.

Morgan has managed two Test centuries, one on his

debut against Pakistan in 2010, in 16 Tests for England at an average of 30.43. He was not the only England batsman to suffer at Ajmal’s hands but unlike others he did not have a recent back story of success in Test cricket to save him from being dropped.

The inclusion of Patel, 27, in the 16-man squad is final proof of acceptance for a player who has spent most of his international career on the fringes of the national side, outcast as a young man with a poor fitness record and attitude.

Patel has worked hard on improving his fitness by funding his way to Australia last winter for sessions with a kick boxing instructor. A recent diet has helped him lose a little weight but his selection for the Sri Lanka tour does not mean England are fully satisfied with his progress.

Patel’s fitness will be monitored on the pre-series training camp. Patel travels as a back up all rounder with Tredwell surprisingly recalled as cover for Panesar and Graeme Swann.