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5th March to 11th March 2016

Thane man kills 14 family members, himself

Hasnain Warekar

In a horrific incident, a 35 year old man killed 14 members of his family before hanging himself, in Thane, Mumbai.

Hasnain Warekar, employee at a financial services firm in Navi Mumbai, allegedly slit the throats of his family members including his wife, parents, sisters, and seven children.

One sister who survived the murder spree gave her account to investigators of what happened in the house between 2 and 2.30 am on Sunday. The Police suspect that Hasnain sedated his family members he had invited over for dinner. The officials were alerted by the neighbours who around 3:15 rescued Hasnain's 21 year old sister Subia Bharmar, who reportedly woke up just before Continued on page 26

P16-17 www.asian-voice.com

JAITLEY’S AAM AADMI BUDGET Kapadia bags Oscar Nominees discuss diversity; GOES ON RURAL OVERDRIVE proud moments for Indians Vol 44 | Issue 42

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

With its focus primarily on the farmers and the agricultural sector, the BJP government’s ‘Vikas ka Budget’ reaches out to the rural as it shifts its focus from the rich to the poor. The ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ focuses on irrigation in its 2016-17 Union Budget as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed creation of a dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund for implementing 89 major/medium irrigation projects covering a command area of over 8 million hectares.

The Budget has increased allocation to the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, which focuses mainly on microirrigation and boosting water-use efficiency at farm level, from £530 million to £584 million. It also stresses on rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), a programme that was introduced during the tenure of the NDA government to provide all-weather road connectivity to all rural habitations with a minimum population of 500 in the plains and 250-plus in hill states, tribal districts and desert areas. A total of £1.90 billion is provided for PMGSY. The third prorural initiative that found

Rupanjana Dutta

Daisy Ridley, James Gay-Rees, Asif Kapadia and Dev Patel

Arun Jaitley

place in the Budget is the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for which £550 million has been allocated. Modi made the PMFBY one of the government’s flagship schemes. It enables farmers to insure

their crops at low premiums of 1.5 to 5 per cent, with policy claims covering the full value of produce linked to minimum support prices and average threshold yields.

Continued on page 26

JET AIRWAYS FARE

TRAVEL FROM - Dep: 04-APR-16 - Ret:30-MAY-16 MUMBAI £409 DELHI £440 AHMEDABAD - £415 VADODARA - £423 CHENNAI £399 RAJKOT £499 KOLKATA £412 BANGKOK £433

BANGALORE HYDERABAD COLOMBO DHAKA DEHRA DUN -

£400 £404 £439 £443 £497

Diamonds are a girl's best friend: Priyanka flaunts $8 million worth jewels, while greeting everyone with a 'Namaste'

British Indian filmmaker Asif Kapadia has won the best documentary Oscar for “Amy”, a poignant reflection of singer Amy Winehouse’s life and her tragic death at the age of 27.

Amy, which is the UK’s highest grossing non-fiction film, marks Kapadia’s first Oscar win, from his first nomination. Hackney born Kapadia, has already won the Golden Globe and Bafta awards for the documentary.

Continued on page 29

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ONE ONE with Keith Vaz, MP

Asian Voice 5th March 2016

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to

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Melanie Davies CBE, MB, ChB MD, FRCP, FRCGP

Melanie Davies is Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Leicester and an Honorary Consultant Diabetologist at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester, UK. She is based in the Diabetes Research Centre which is affiliated with the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Leicester. She is also the CoDirector of the Leicester Diabetes Centre, which has over 150 research staff, at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

She trained at Sheffield and then completed her training at Cambridge, Ipswich and Leicester.

Professor Davies’ research interests include the causes, screening, prevention, self-management and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. She is a National Institute for Health Research Senior Investigator and Director of the NIHR Leicester-Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit. Professor Davies is the Principal Investigator on a number of large global studies in the field of diabetes, obesity, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and cardiovascular disease and has served as an expert for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on a number of guideline groups.

Melanie has published over 400 original articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals, such as the Lancet, NEJM and the BMJ and has over £60M of peer review grant funding. She has over 490 published abstracts and 10 book chapters, and is Co-editor of the diabetes section in the 2011 Oxford Textbook of Endocrinology and Diabetes. She was awarded the CBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honour’s List for services to diabetes research.

1. What is your current position?

I am a doctor who specialises in Diabetes (Consultant Diabetologist) based at one of the largest NHS Trust in the Country which is the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

Since 2007 I’ve also been appointed as a Professor of

Diabetes Medicine at University of Leicester.

the

2. What are your proudest achievements?

My proudest achievement is receiving a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) award in the Queens New Year’s Honours list in 2016.

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

The biggest influence on my career as actually my grandmother, she died last summer two weeks before her 100th birthday, she was widowed in her early 20’s and had to bring up two young children and juggle a number of jobs. She

Police hunt man in connection with 15 alleged domestic violence incidents Police are hunting an alleged wife beater from Birmingham who is being investigated for 15 domestic violence incidents.

Officers said Derlip Kumar has breached a restraining order banning him from contacting the victim on multiple occasions.

Kumar, aged 36, was staying at an address in Nicholls Street, West

Bromwich , but has not been seen since February 2.

He has links to Sandwell, Dudley, Birmingham and Solihull. Officers have

An Islamic studies tutor who raped a pupil has been jailed for 19 years after she delayed her abortion to prove he was the father.

Mohammed Islam, 31, started molesting the girl while teaching the Koran to children in the East End. The sex attacks escalated in seriousness and continued until she moved to an address in Hayes, West London.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard she ‘felt powerless to stop him’ when he eventually raped and impregnated her in July last year. The 14-yearold delayed having an abortion so she could prove Islam was the father.

Islam initially claimed his victim had initiated sex but admitted rape and sexual activity with a child on the first day of trial when she turned up to give evidence against him.

A victim impact statement provided by the girl’s father highlighted the ‘pain and distress’ the abuse has put his family through.

Islam admitted rape, four counts of sexually assaulting a child and two of sexual activity with a child.

He was jailed for 19 years for rape and handed concurrent sentences of five years and two and a half years for four counts of

the increasing bureaucracy and administration that comes with running a large team.

8. What are your long term goals?

My long term goal is to create a world leading institute for diabetes in Leicester in collaboration with the NHS Trust and University of Leicester and to really make Leicester known for world leading excellence in both Research Education Training and clinical care for people with diabetes.

3. What inspires you?

As a clinical doctor I’m always looking at ways of trying to make a difference for my patients and in recent years the opportunities to undertake research and then implement that in practice to try and improve the lives of people with diabetes is my greatest inspiration.

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

The biggest obstacle to my career has been those people that you come across in important positions within organisations who lack vision and constantly look for problems rather than solutions and can be very demoralising.

made numerous enquiries and at addresses where Kumar has lived and places we know he frequents, but so far have been unable to locate him.

Kumar is described as Asian, 6ft 3ins tall, athletic build with short dark hair.

Anyone who knows of Kumar’s whereabouts should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Islamic studies tutor jailed for raping 14-year-old girl pupil

sexually assaulting a child and two of sexual activity with a child respectively.

Islam was also made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and notification on the sex offender’s register.

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inspired me that you can always achieve great things if you work really hard and are very determined despite major adversity.

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

The opportunity to work with fantastic colleagues. Myself and Professor Kamlesh Khunti head up a research and education and training team of around 140 individuals based in Leicester in the Leicester Diabetes Centre.

We work with a whole a range of individuals and am very fortunate to work with some of the most talented researchers and clinicians in their fields.

7. And the worst?

The worst aspect of my role is

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

If I was Prime Minister I would implement a sugar tax and use the revenue to invest in improving services for people with both diabetes and also prevention of diabetes.

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

The historical figure would actually probably be my grandfather because he was killed in his late twenties as a Merchant Naval Officer in the Second World War and I have no knowledge of him or his part of the family and it would be really nice to find out more about that side of our family.

Ranjit Singh Power murder: Mystery body now with social services A mystery man whose body was brought to the UK when he was mistaken for murdered Wolverhampton businessman Ranjit Singh Power has now been passed to the city's social services department for a funeral to be arranged.

The authorities in India repatriated the body thinking it was that of Mr Power, but DNA and dental records carried out in the UK did not match.

Det Con Zahid Ahmed, of West Midlands Police, said that although Mr Power had been officially identified by a close friend from Wolverhampton who flew out to India, DNA from Mr Power's toothbrush and dental records show he had a missing tooth didn't match those on the

The inquest heard body. Mr Power, 55, that the body was owned Ramada Park among five pulled Hotel in Goldthorn from a river on the P a r k , same day. Det Con Wolverhampton. He Ahmed said: "The had travelled to family and West India on Midlands business P o l i c e on May 7 requested last year and was Ranjit Power was last seen at DNA testing last seen an airport in Amritsar on 8 May on the body identifying it at the airas Mr Power." But the port in Amritsar the folbody was repatriated lowing day. without the tests.

Det Con Ahmed said Black Country coroner that, unusually, there had Zafar Siddique reached an been no contact with his open verdict, saying he family on arrival, promptcannot be sure how the ing them to call the man came to his death.

Punjab police The body can't be repatriOfficers arrested a ated back to India and suspect, Subdev Singh, would be referred to social who is said to have conservices for a funeral, fessed to Mr Power's muralthough the DNA would der and told police where be retained in case of furhe has disposed of the ther inquiries. body.

Norasab Hussain's body was discovered at Bromley Court, Cobridge, on May 30. Sophie Butler, aged 20, of Bromley Court, Cobridge, was jailed for

more than six years after she admitted manslaughter last month. Now a preinquest review into Mr Hussain's death will take place on Friday at North

Inquest date set for man killed by his girlfriend Norasab Hussain

A coroner will be updated on the death of a man who was killed by his girlfriend.

Staffordshire Coroner's Court.

The police's response to the incident is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

C MMENTS

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Parliament meant for debate, not disruption With the opening of the Budget session of Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee, once again reminded MPs, that Parliament embodied the sovereign will of the Indian people and was entrusted to debate issues of national concern, legislate accordingly and uphold the writ and spirit of the Constitution. These have been, and still are, the basics of a functioning democracy, hence scarcely new. However, over the past few years, disruption appears to have become the norm and parliamentary hours for debate and discussion have been severely curtailed. This occurred during the tenure of the previous UPA Congress-led government, when the principal opposition party was the BJP, now the government in power. Similar disruptions are being led this time by the Congress party in a tit-fortat struggle. Such unruly behaviour has brought politicians and politics into disrepute – which is neither good for the country nor for the democracy of which Indians were once so justifiably proud.

Before his elevation to the office of President, Mr Mukherjee was the longest serving Member of Parliament, where he had sat for around 45 years, mostly as a senior minister with portfolios of finance, defence and foreign affairs at different times. As a much respected national figure, Mr Mukherjee’s appeal deserves the utmost consideration from all corners of the House. India is more polarized politically than it has been in living memory. Despite innumerable days lost, MPs are demanding a hike in their salaries – which growing numbers of a long suffering public view as an outrage. Higher pay for diminishing returns is surely a violation of natural justice and

would be condemned in every worthwhile profession.

Party leaders must rein in the more undisciplined of their supporters, must impose rules of conduct worthy of their calling. Long pending legislation, such as the General Services and Tax bill, so vital for India’s economic future is in stasis. Defend the bill or argue against, if you so wish, for that is right of every MP, but do not bring proceedings to a halt repeatedly. A malfunctioning parliament infringes democratic best practice, and has led to a visible public default in respect for what was once a hallowed institution..

A party with a parliamentary majority has every right to introduce legislation which it perceives necessary in the national interest. Consensual arrangements are permissible and preferable to get bills through, but if no consensus can be reached a majority ruling is all that any government requires to place legislation on the statute book. Why else are elections held? If good sense and behavior prove elusive, the next step must surely be effective punishment for those guilty of disruptive conduct. Temporary suspensions of varying durations should empower the Speaker to bring order amid chaos. These measures are weapons of last resort.

Another deterrent could be telecasting the disorderly behavior of erring MPs, including their names and that of the party to which they belong. President Mukherjee has been raising this critical issue on important national anniversaries, such as Independence Day and Republic Day. Bringing written rules into play may yield the salutary results which all good citizens seek.

Partnering Sweden, Finland, Poland The world today is crisis-ridden and insecure. The eye of the coming storm could be Syria or North Korea, perhaps even Europe, as the biblical exodus into the continent from far-flung lands shows no sign of abating anytime soon. Amid the flux nations seek stable relationships going forward. Of late, little noticed, are the developing ties between India and a raft of northern European countries: Sweden, Finland and, at a lower latitude, Poland. India’s interactions with these powers appear to be bearing fruit. As the fastest growing of the world’s large economies, India is both a promising market for goods and services in which Sweden and Finland, in particular, excel. Swedish engineering, automotive and aviation industries have a global reach in terms of excellence, so do Finnish companies in their special fields. Poland is now one of the most dynamic economies in the European Union. It has a significant heavy industry base in steel, coal and armaments, all legacies of the period when Poland was an integral member of the Warsaw Pact formation in the Cold War. In a U-turn Poland is now a member of the US-led Nato Alliance, but it seeks wisely to spread its wings in Asia.

Curiously, Swedish companies first made their bow in India well before Independence, when two young engineering graduates arrived in Bombay and set up a small outfit with their names, Larsen & Toubro, which today is a giant construction and engineering conglomerate with an extensive footprint in India and well beyond India’s shores. In mid-

February, Maharashtra hosted a ‘Make in India Week’ in Mumbai, where the present Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was the chief guest. A monograph brought out by the Indian Embassy in Stockholm quickly caught the eye with its title ‘Sweden Makes in India.’ The publication was the brainchild of Indian Ambassador Banashri Bose Harrison. It tells how Swedish companies making their way to India in the early 1950s were cordially welcomed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who facilitated their land acquisition in Pune and its surrounds. Swedish companies such as Volvo, Saab, Ericsson, , IKEA are global brands. Today, 33 per cent of all Swedish investments in India are concentrated in the country’s western region. Prime Minister Stephan Lofven went up to Pune to take a look at the Swedish economic presence there. The future looks good.

Moving on to Poland, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski and his 60-strong business delegation were also a significant presences at the Mumbai event. China is currently Poland’s foremost trading prtner in Asia, but the best in Indo-Polish relations is yet to come.

Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila was also much in evidence. This sparsely populated country is home to some of the best high tech companies around. India will soon have a Finnish refinery in Assam producing fuel grade ethanol from bamboo, acetic acid, and bio-coal. These relationships are integral to India’s foreign policy goals.

UK’s EU game-changing referendum Prime Minister David Cameron’s promised referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union on June 23 promises to be a fierce struggle and a close result. The stakes are clearly high. Mr Cameron has negotiated hard won concessions from the UK’s EU partners for certain mandatory exceptions for his country on EU immigration, benefits for migrants, investment norms and the like.. The British Prime Minister in return will campaign vigorously for retention of EU membership. His government and the ruling Conservative party are deeply divided on the issue, with Ministers Michael Gove and Ian Duncan Smith opting to join the No campaign, where they have been joined by the charismatic Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. In Scotland, however, the ruling SNP is fully committed to the EU, so an anti-EU result could well lead to a second referendum on Scottish independence.

The die has been cast and it will be for the British people to decide the future direction of their country.

That said, the European Union today has provoked considerable disenchantment across the continent. There is economic and social turmoil in Greece and Spain, where a separatist movement gained significant traction in the

last general election. France is also in ferment with the rejuvenated National Front led by Marine Le Penn a force to be reckoned with. Truth is that the EU has lost much of its former shine. In its previous incarnation as the European Common Market it had done well, but its makeover as the European Union with a Euro zone currency, it is plagued with deepening discord, made worse by the massive influx of refugees from the Islamic world which has led to policy paralysis in Brussels.

The European project, as it stands, simply doesn’t fit the bill, being essentially a German construct. The concept of a common European home has given way to an imposing and exclusive European financial duchy administered by a Berlin-Brussels nexus of bankers and over paid toffee-nosed bureaucrats. Life outside the EU may not be the bleak habitat as some suggest. Britain’s trade and investment ties with India, for example, will take a great leap forward, thence a further leap into South East Asia, all of whose economies are growing faster than their global competitors. There will be life after the EU. And it may to greener, more rewarding pastures. But everything is not rosey though. The die is cast. The choice is not easy.

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The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

- Vince Lombardi

Modi government 0/10 – bloody Indians to blame for immigration problems I write to you after my speech in Parliament about the Modi Government. Here are some excerpts: “What marks would you give the Modi Government out of 10? 10? 9? Maybe 8 or 7? Me? I would give the Modi Government 0/10. And here is why.

As I walked into Wembley stadium to see him, wearing my swastika and my favourite saffron robes, all I found was people smiling, laughing having fun.

Where was the beatings I was promised? There were even Muslims in the crowd. All the sick secularists were doing Bollywood dances in skimpy numbers with their chests on display – and that’s just the men.

I was expecting at least a day of bhajans and Gita readings. But no.

After Modi took office I thought, at last, a war with Pakistan. Instead, he invited the Pakistani PM to the inauguration and goes to his Birthday party in Lahore.

And the name of India still hasn’t been changed to Hindustan. There’s not even a blockage of Muslims into India. So you see why I and millions like me give Modi 0/10.

I think Modi’s a fake; apparently it was thanks to him when Chief Minister of Gujarat yet another Muslim became President of India – Abdul Kalam.

That’s 4 since Independence. That’s disproportionately more per capita than the Hindus. You know that’s discrimination – positive discrimination by Hindus in favour of Muslims.

As for economics, I was told no one will invest in India, instead he’ sucking in capital into India – it will only lead to the poor getting rich and turning upside down the caste structure we all love. Terrible.

And you know what’s worse of all? Before he was PM, Indians would set up their businesses in Britain because of the ease of doing business. Now, after he is PM, they set up their businesses in Britain because they’ve all got it into their heads they are going to be global companies.

He went to Silicon Valley, visited Microsoft – Indian, Google – Indian, Mastercard – Indian. Then he comes to Britain and gets driven around in a Jaguar – Indian, sips Tetley tea – Indian. So no wonder all these Indian companies are coming to Britain to go global.

He’s given Indians ideas above their station by pandering to them in these big events making them think they are great people and something to be proud of.

Uh, I prefer it when Indians are constantly shamed by the media, like the Guardian, it makes inadequate ones like me feel better. But oh, no, they come to Britain, building their companies, creating jobs and sucking in immigrants from Europe to fill them because Britain’s at full employment (what do you expect, the bloody British Employment Minister is Indian!) – It’s a mess I tell you.

So, here I am on a flight to the United States.

They’ve got a blonde haired loud mouth who wants to be their leader and promises to be totally intolerant of Muslims, and offers a lot slower growth than India – to keep the social status the same – just as I like it. Now that’s my kinda place.

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'Allergic' taxi driver fined after refusing to pick up blind passenger and guide dog A taxi driver refused to take a blind passenger with her guide dog to hospital because he said he was severely allergic to dogs.

Ashish Madhubhai Mistry (41) pleaded guilty in Leicester Magistrates' Court to failing to accept a booking by a disabled passenger accompanied by an assistance dog on August 11, 2015.

He was fined £350 with £215 costs and £35 victim surcharge, which he agreed to pay at £150 per month.

Andrew Burton for Leicester City Council said that the Swift Fox Cabs taxi company was called by a support worker at the Dawn Centre, Conduit Street, Leicester city centre, to take two passengers, one with a guide dog, to Leicester Royal Infirmary.

When Mistry arrived he refused to carry them because one had a dog with

her.

Mr Burton said: "He said he had a phobia and was allergic to dogs, then drove away leaving the two ladies on the pavement. The law allows refusal (to carry a passenger) on medical grounds but evidence of this and a medical exemption certificate is needed to prove it."

Mr Burton said Mistry had agreed he did not have a certificate, claiming he was in the process of applying for

one, but then admitted he did not know he needed one.

Dav Mahet, for Mistry, told the court how he had driven taxis for six years and, in 2013, had developed a severe allergy.

"At first the cause was unknown to him - he thought it was down to some types of milk - but in May 2015 he was taken to hospital where it was discovered it was because of pets. He had taken his son to a pet shop when

the reactions took place."

He said when he accepted the fare from the Dawn Centre no mention had been made that there was a guide dog involved.

Mr Mahet said Mistry had now applied to the council for the necessary paperwork to show how his allergy and phobia prevented him from coming into contact with dogs, whether assistant or not.

Tracey Whitehead, director of Swift Fox Cabs, said: "Any driver who has an allergy to dogs must prove this to LCC in order to obtain this exemption certificate. I am sure Mr Mistry regrets his actions and is very sorry for this mistake. However Mr Mistry failed to follow proper procedures and did not do this. Therefore he has paid the price and has quite rightly been punished by the courts.”

Bhajans to mark 40th Death Anniversary of Hirji Bapa

By Dhiren Katwa

Fans of Gujarati folk song and dance will gather in Leicester this month for a major round-the-clock event to celebrate the life of, and 40 years since the death of the revered Hindu saint Hirji Bapa.

Born in Gujarat in 1889, Hirji Ghela Gokani, passed away in 1976. The father-ofsix earned his “saint” title and ardent followers across mainly East Africa, India and the UK for his unique ways in which he promoted, mainly through bhajans, the foundations of Hinduism, or Sanatan Dharma.

His legacy continues to shine brightly, thanks to his family and followers. Many of his closest friends such as Masribhai Pankhania,

Damjibhai Devji Pattni, Rancchodbhai “Ekalmal” Makwana – to name just a handful – are no longer with us, but they too will be remembered on the night.

Those with vivid memories of irreplaceable times with Hirjibapa, who are still among us include nonageMaganbhai narian Bhimjiyani, known affectionately as Ram Bapa and the iconic Pragjibhai Ladva, whose portfolio and archive of traditional bhajans is an invaluable library in itself.

Leading the memorial programme on the night will be Madhavbhai Soni, the backbone of the celebration, and members of Leicester’s Bajrang Bhajan Mandal.

Departed members of the Mandal, including Rambhaben Arya,

Hirji Bapa in 1974 when he visited our home in Sparkhill, Birmingham during his UK tour.

Tribhovanbhai Parmar, Bhagwanjibhai Chauhan, Natubhai Nensi, will also be remembered on the night.

As a staunch fan of bhajans myself - an inheritance of my grandfather Ravjibhai Bhoja Katwa, who passed away in 1977 - it gives me

particular pleasure to see passionate younger Hindus actively participating in such events and flying the flag for bhajans, the seeds of which were sown by our ancestors.

Talented and naturally-gifted singers and musicians, those under 40, include Kabir Ladva, Vikesh Champaneri, Kishan Wadhia, Hiten Jethwa, Madhav Gohil, Kalpesh Ghedia, Ravi Vegad, Pratik Soni, Amritaben, Meeta Dipesh Soni, Dr Trupti Patel, Gautam Aryato name just a handful.

The free event, at Shree Hindu Mandir and Community Centre on Barnabas Road (LE5 4BD) will begin at 3pm on Saturday 26th March and finish around 6am the following day (27th March).

All welcome.

Restaurant raises £7K for cancer charity A popular Indian restaurant, B26 Food of India, in Birmingham has raised £3,550 for a cancer charity.

The award-winning restaurant organised the fundraiser to mark its 10th anniversary. To help boost even further the coffers of Macmillan Cancer Support, the sum raised has been matched by a local branch of Barclays Bank PLC, bringing the grand total to an amazing £7,100.

B26 Food of India’s Manager Mr Mit Balli said: “I am genuinely thrilled at the generosity of our wellwishers, our customers. It was a memorable evening and it gives us pleasure in giving back to the local community whose loyalty and sincerity continues to motivate us.”

The family-friendly event last Sunday was graced by the Leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr John Clancy.

L to R: Restaurant Manager Mr Mit Balli, Lord Mayor, Cllr John Clancy and head chef cutting the 10th anniversary cake

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B26 Food of India staff team

Clad in a three-piece suit, Cllr Clancy described how finding out that one is affected by cancer can be “a very frightening and a very lonely time” and paid tribute to Brummies for being a community known for supporting each other during what can be a difficult period.

Opened in 2006, B26 Food of India is one of the new breed of Indian restaurants that aims to dispense with trying to evoke an atmosphere of the Indian subcontinent in favour of a

more modern feel.

VIP guests included the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Ray Hassall, Labour councillors Habib Rahman, Majid Mahmood and Nawaz Ali. The evening, split into two seatings of around 100 guests each time, featured a five-course meal, Bollywood dances, a raffle draw, a henna artist, speeches and more.

The flag of India as a backdrop added to the decor.

(Photo courtesy: Joe Watkins Photography)

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Man jailed for sex assault on girl

A man with serious mental health problems who sexually assaulted a vulnerable young girl, was jailed for six years last week. Hafiz Mahmood (28) abused the six-year-old youngster over two weeks, Manchester Crown Court was told.

The court was told that Mahmood had been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had behavioural problems, including difficulties in communicating and coherent thinking. He is said to have a particularly low IQ. Mahmood pleaded guilty to four offences against the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons. He was sentenced to six years for the most serious offence of assault by penetration, three years concurrent on each of two offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and 12 months concurrent for sexual activity with a child under 13. He will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Man loses life sentence appeal

A man who forced women to become his sex slaves during a decade-long campaign of torture and abuse has lost an appeal against his life sentence.

Iqbal Ali (34) of Oldham, singled out four vulnerable women for a series of degrading and horrific crimes involving sexual violence.

They were tortured physically and psychologically and forced to satisfy his sexual demands.

Last June he was jailed for life at Manchester Crown Court after being convicted of 25 offences, including multiple rapes and assaults. His case was back in court last week when his lawyers appealed the life term, arguing the sentence was not necessary for public protection. The appeal was rejected.

With his life sentence upheld, Ali will serve a minimum of 16.5 years.

The Earles: Bridging the gaps

Vows to promote love and peace were renewed by a gathering of people, young and old, and from all major faith and religious groups at a historic celebration in Birmingham last Saturday.

The afternoon event, themed ‘Renewing our families and nations’, was organised by David and Patricia Earle, pictured, a modest couple who for many years have been promoting, selflessly and tirelessly, equality unity, peace, harmony among all.

The Interfaith Peace Blessing featured inspirational speeches, presentations, entertainment, awards and refreshments. Guests were sprinkled with holy water and each was given blessed nectar. The same ‘water ceremony’ was performed simultaneously in many parts of the world, an idea of the Universal Peace Federation, a global network of individuals dedicated to achieving world peace, of which the Earles are active members.

Speakers included Ugandan-born Sheikh Arif Abdul Hussain, one of the most eloquent, authoritative and powerful speakers I’ve ever met, West Midlands’ Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Cllr Yvonne Mosquito and life coach and teacher Kathleen Roche-Nagi. The event was held at the Unitarian New Meeting House in Five Ways.

David and Patricia’s hearts are like oceans, their generosity immeasurable and if there is one couple who can make mountains move and facilitate the connection of all people, everywhere and anywhere, it has to be the Earles whom I feel humbled to be acquainted to for over 15 years.

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Indian High Commissioner addresses MPs and Peers in Parliament

Bob Blackman MP, Ranjit Baxi, HE Navtej Sarna, the Indian High Commissioner, Alok Sharma MP, Dr Virander Paul, Deputy Indian High Commissioner

The Indian High Commissioner HE Navtej Sarna briefed the MPs, Peers and other members of the Conservative Party in an event organised by the Conservative Friends of India (CFIN) at Portcullis House. This was the High Commissioner’s first formal address to CFIN in Parliament since assuming charge in January 2016.

Describing the IndiaUK relationship as a “modern partnership reflective of contemporary realities”, the High Commissioner briefed the audience on the recent developments in the bilateral relationship between the two countries, particularly against the backdrop of the successful visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UK in November 2015. While outlining the traditionally close links between India and the UK, the High Commissioner highlighted the impetus given to the

relationship by Prime Minister Cameron and his cabinet colleagues’ visits to India and reciprocal visits

by Indian leadership to the UK. Alok Sharma MP, CoChair of Conservative Friends of India, who had recently returned from India after his official visit as PM Cameron’s Infrastructure Envoy, remarked that India’s growth story is remarkable and India and UK are cooperating in new areas of cooperation, including financing of India’s infrastructure expansion plans.

The address by the High Commissioner was followed by an interactive discussion on varied range of topics, including the Indian Budget, promotion of India’s spirituality, climate change, consular issues and participation of the Indian diaspora in India’s development.

The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, has announced a new network for senior civil servants from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds to help the Civil Service become more representative of modern Britain.

The network is being established to bring together BAME leaders together from across the Civil Service. The first meeting of the new network will take place on 16 March, where BAME members of staff will be encouraged to stand as visible role models and aim for higher roles and promotions.

Although the latest ONS figures show that

Britain has the most diverse civil service ever, with representation of women, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities at an historic high, the department recognises there is much more work to be done on this issue. In October they announced that they have appointed four external diversity advisors to provide advice to ministers to help them become more diverse and better represent modern Britain. The network's Talent Action Plan also sets out how they will ensure that the most talented individuals progress, whatever their background and whoever they are.

New initiative to make Civil Service represent modern Britain

5

Concerns over 20% drop in GCSE Gujarati numbers EXCLUSIVE

l Financial Times on Wednesday has reported the Indian Budget with a banner headline “India's prudent budget fails to excite investors”. This is contradiction in itself.

Investors are most likely to be inspired by a prudent budget. l EU referendum is becoming more crystallised.

Inevitably there are various internal stress coming from the governing party. l Mohammad Ali is recommended for an honorary knighthood by several names from sports and business.

Mr Ali is due to open a London exhibition about his life soon. l Indian start-ups are looking to Chinese investment for funding. Could be win-win for both.

UK Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Rupanjana Dutta

Figures revealed by Schools Minister Nick Gibb's in an answer to Parliamentary Question tabled by Gareth Thomas MP has shown a shocking 20% drop in the number of students being entered for Gujarati between 2011 and 2015.

On 22 July 2015, Nick Gibb announced that the government has stepped in to secure the future of GCSEs and A levels in community languages. The Minister said, "There are considerable benefits to learning a second language and the government is keen to preserve a wide range of languages being taught at GCSE and A level including Polish, Gujarati, Panjabi, Bengali and Turkish."

Exam boards have said that there are a number of community languages which may not be continued at GCSE or A level but the government took action to work with the boards and Ofqual to make sure as wide a range of language subjects as possible continue to be taught in the classroom.

However in 2011, 553 were entered across England for GCSE Gujarati, including 280 in London. By 2015, the number of entries had declined to just 442 across the whole of England, including just 224 in London.

Many supplementary Saturday schools teach Gujarati but have faced significant funding cuts as local authorities have had their funding cut back by central government which may explain the sharp decline.

Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West, is calling for the government to set up a Commission to explore what more can be done to help raise the numbers taking Gujarati at GCSE and A Level.

He told Asian Voice: “These figures will be profoundly worrying for all in England’s strong Gujarati community. The Government needs to sit down with representatives of the community and educational experts to explore what more can be done to help increase the numbers’ studying Gujarati at GCSE level.

“These figures indicate that the Government are quietly ignoring the educational needs of Britain’s excellent, hardworing Indian communities.”

Daxa Parmar, Chairperson, Spinney Hill Gujarati Parents’ Association Leicester told Asian Voice, “I don’t think there is one specific reason for the drop in numbers taking the A Level Gujarati exams: it could be that not all maintained schools offer Gujarati or promote take up of it. Majority learn Gujarati at supplementary schools in community setting and as a result the emphasis may be on learning the language and culture only. Also for supplementary school candidates it is extremely expensive to afford the exams; the prices I was quoted this year is £50.00 per paper and there are four papers. Many have acquired their GCSE qualification as young as 11-13 year olds and there is that dip in numbers until the next co-hort who are currently of primary school or

younger age to come through the learning process so it will take a few years before the numbers start rising again for exams.

“I have met with the Department of Education (DfE) representatives and I understand the DfE and OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) Examining Board are awaiting some results of a consultation. In this case OCR has the final say not the DfE whether the Gujarati exam paper continues or not. At this moment in time, all main political parties appear to be in support of keeping the Gujarati exam paper; however, it is the OCR Examining Board who will have to make the business decision on whether they continue writing the Gujarati GCSE and A Level papers beyond 2018

“Gujarati community is positive and supportive and many schools have come together in their localities with this regard and we hope to form a National Forum which will speak with one voice for keeping the Gujarati Language GCSE and A Level exams.”

Jayantilal Tanna, Chair & Vijya Bhanderi, Secretary, Consortium of Gujarati Schools SE England told Asian Voice, “It is not just in Gujarati that the numbers have dropped.

Modern Foreign Language entries have dropped by nearly 20% over the years which shows a declining interest in learning languages in our schools in the UK overall.

“Many of our modern Gujarati parents are themselves less equipped to help their children at home whereas previously it was not the case. The Saturday/Sunday schools offer only an hour’s Gujarati a week which needs support from home that is not available.

“There is a bigger difference in the quality of teaching, learning, resources and expertise between mainstream and supplementary schools than in the past. This has an impact on children’s interest and motivation to study Gujarati in supplementary schools.

“The officers of the Consortium of Gujarati Schools (SE England) met with Andrew Fisher and John Hopper at the DfE on 3rd February 2016, highlighting our concerns and seeking their support with teacher development and the rising rents and accommodation costs incurred by Gujarati supplementary schools. Both had a negative impact on intake numbers.

“They heard us in silence. They were tight-lipped and did not wish to give any information except to say that the DfE was still in consultation

with the examination boards. They, however, did agree to brief Nick Gibb MP with responsibility in this area about our concerns. They also agreed to express our concern to the exam boards and to Ofqual. But kept emphasising that exam boards are independent bodies - as are schools.

We then had to remind them about the government's duties to address minority concerns in a democracy because schools and exam boards are also a part of the community, not independent of it.

“We are meeting the two Harrow MPs Gareth Thomas and Bob Blackman on Friday 4th March 2016 to brief them and to plan the next course of action. We have formed the Consortium of Gujarati Schools to help supplementary schools increase numbers, to improve the quality of teaching, learning and leadership and to make the Gujarati community more aware of the benefits of being bilingual by learning another language - Gujarati. We have formulated an Action Plan to support our schools. We plan to mount our first course for Gujarati teachers on 2nd April 2016. There is a lot more on our agenda and we are working on these issues with passion and zeal.”

Amrish Patel, who advises those within the policy team at the Conservative party on issues related to Gujarati and wider Indian community told Asian Voice, "My own view is that Gujarati parents do not want GCSE Gujarati as a core subject in their children's education, unlike other ethnic minorities. OCR is a private business and if there are not enough children taking the exam, not enough revenue will be earned to setup exam papers and hire examiners.

"Unfortunately private Hindu schools unlike Sikh, Jewish & Islamic foundation schools do not have GCSE Gujarati as a core compulsory. Also the Sikh, Jewish & Muslim faith organisations ensure that they set a side fund to support and ensure parents are also advised to support there faith languages with compulsory reading of prayers and religious dialogues in the particular language. This unfortunately is not the case at our Mandirs.

"Gujarati parents push for French over Gujarati. Again changing such a mindset and the battle moving forward is not going to be easy without a National Coordinated Gujarati Community taking this as its number one priority. But if parents have little or no faith in its own language there is very little one can do.”

GHU Gujarati School, which is open to all children aged six and above, teach Gujarati all levels (including for GCSE) and help students prepare for exams. Speaking to Asian Voice, school head Kokila Patel told Asian Voice, “Earlier every year, we had at least 6-7 children learning Gujarati to take GCSE exams. This year we have only 4. And we have no enrollment for next year so far. The number of pupils learning GCSE Gujarati is going down and it worries us.”

6

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Asian Voice |5th March 2016

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Muslim convert and trainee teacher convicted of terror offence Spriha Srivastava

Varanasi – India’s Religious Capital "Varanasi is one of the most ancient cities of learning. This was a place where hundreds of enlightened beings lived at a time. In every street, you had an enlightened being to meet." - Sadhguru The city of Varanasi is full of colours. Religious spirits run high and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pictures are everywhere.

Well it is his own constituency.

The city is famous for its colourful Ganga ghats, chaotic but fascinating streets where people from all over the world visit for tourism, religious and personal reasons.

Varanasi, also known as Kashi and Benaras continues to be one of Hinduism's holy cities. ly I managed to speak to a the mythology, Tulsidas Pilgrims come from all few British-Indian voluncame to Varanasi and over the world to the teers who help with varirecited the ghats hoping to wash ous NGOs involved in the Ramcharitmanas to Shiva away the sins of their lifeGanga cleaning projects.

(Vishwanath) and Parvati time. The city also offers While their motivation to at the Kashi Vishwanath moksha to those who die go to India and get Temple. here and hence Varanasi involved varies, their aims The city has been getis considered an auspiare all the same. ting a lot of attention ever cious place to die.

“I have grown up hearsince India's current The two ghats ing about Varanasi from Prime Minister Narendra Harishchandra and my grandfather. I wanted Modi became a Member Manikarnika are the creto come and see it for of Parliament (MP) from mation ghats. According myself,” said a 22-year old Varanasi. A big improveto Hindu mythology, Lord UK-resident of Indian ment can be seen in genShiva along with Parvati origin. He further told me eral cleanliness of the came to Kashi before that he was surprised ghats and the Ganga Vishnu to grant him his when he first came to River. However, the wish. Vishnu dug a kund Varanasi because the city streets are still very dirty (well) on the bank of was very dirty. He then and the pollution levels Ganga for the bath of the decided to get involved in are definitely quite high. couple. When Lord Shiva the cleaning project.

You see people spitting was bathing a Mani Similarly a number of tobacco on the road, (Jewel) from his earring both young and retired throwing litter out of their fell into the kund, hence individuals are getting car and so on. There is not the name Manikarnika involved in this project. I much the government can (Mani:Beads Karnam:Ear asked a few Britishdo on this, except for Angad: Ornament).

Indians based in the UK if stringent fines on those While the city has they would consider volwho do this. many colourful views, unteering, should an But the City’s Ganga these two ghats are not for opportunity arise. cleaning project has been the faint-hearted.

“I will be very happy to receiving a lot of support Cremations taken place in help,” says 17-year old from not just those in public throughout the day. Constant attention from the touts as you approach these ghats can be overwhelming. A number of bloggers and foreign tourists have written about the commercialisation of these ghats. Touts pose as volunteers and offer to explain the whole cremation process to you, they then ask you to pay Ankita based in India but from the Indian for some wood to burn the Nottingham. “I don’t community worldwide. body of someone who know if my efforts are The government recently can't afford it. By doing enough for such a big reached out to its NRI this, they get a small comproject but I would surely community to donate to missions from the wood like to be involved at some Clean Ganga Fund (CGF). seller. But don't get put off point.”

More than 66 crore by this, this is just one The city has someIndian rupees have been part of what the city thing to offer to everyone. donated to help the govoffers.

For me, it was rediscoverernment carry out its Varanasi is full of hising my country’s religious Ganga cleaning project. tory and stories from the capital.

NRIs from UK, USA, Hindu mythology. And In Mark Twains Australia and Singapore these are very patiently words, Benares is older have contributed the most narrated to you by the than history, older than amount of money. A num"majhi" or the boatman tradition, older even than ber of NRIs also volunteer during your ride on the legend, and looks twice as in the actual cleaning proGanga River.It is the city old as all of them put gram at the ghats. of Tulsi Das. According to together.

During my trip recent-

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

A Muslim convert accused of planning to take her three young children to join their father in Syria has been found guilty of a terror offence.

Trainee maths teacher Lorna Moore, 33, was one of a number of British Muslims from Walsall, West Midlands, accused of being intent on travelling to the war zone.

Two pregnant women were among their group while a third is believed to have had a baby since she went to the so-called Caliphate.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Moore was convicted of failing to tell authorities her supply teacher husband Sajid Aslam, 34, was poised to join Islamic State.

The jury deliberated for

Lorna Moore

17 hours and 25 minutes.

Her co-defendant, Ayman Shaukat, 27, who was referred to in court as the Karma Chameleon, was found guilty of helping Aslam and Muslim convert Alex Nash, 22, on their way to fight.

But giving evidence, Moore said she would "never" put her children's lives in danger, adding:

Sajid Aslam

"They mean the world to me." She insisted she had been planning to take them back to her family's farm in Omagh, Northern Ireland, after finishing her teacher training - a claim backed up by her mother.

Jurors were told about other members of the West Midlands group who allegedly set off for Syria between July and December 2014.

Ten jailed for major bank fraud across UK targeting affluent apartments People from Leytonstone and Waltham Abbey are among ten jailed following a national £290,000 bank fraud which targeted 200 victims.

On February 23, ten people were sentenced after they previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation at Ipswich Crown Court.

These included Hamza Ahmed, 36, who was jailed for 12 months.

Officers from the Suffolk and Norfolk Cyber and Serious Crime Department launched ‘Operation Duston’ into the organised crime group which targeted affluent apartment blocks across

the UK, from Liverpool in Tunbridge Wells.

Access to the blocks was obtained by members of the group who rented apartments by using stolen identities and by producing false employment references.

At least two bogus companies were set up to provide these references and landline numbers were also purchased via the internet to give these companies the appearance of legitimacy.

They then targeted the other tenants' post within communal areas of the apartment blocks.

Bank and credit card statements were stolen and bank staff working for the crime group then provided

confidential information about the victims’ bank accounts which enabled replacement bank cards and PINS to be ordered.

These replacement cards and PINs were intercepted and used to withdraw cash, purchase foreign currency or purchase expensive goods.

The victims were totally unaware of this activity on their bank accounts and it is only when they were unable to access funds that the fraud was discovered.

Police identified 200 victims in 21 separate apartment blocks who had private post stolen from their mailboxes and the fraud added up to over £290,000.

Prithvi Sridhar found not guilty A Cambridge University student accused of rape has been found not guilty after a jury took more than nine hours to reach a verdict.

Prithvi Sridhar, 21, a student at Queens' College, stood accused of raping a fellow student in her halls of residence at a different Cambridge college.

After a total of nine hours and 10 minutes deliberating, the jury reached a majority verdict of not guilty last

Wednesday.

Speaking after the verdict, his father Mr Sridhar

said: "We are all extremely relieved and we are very happy. His life could have been ruined by this allegation but we're glad he can now get back on track."

The family said Sridhar now looks forward to moving on with his life and completing his degree and studies at Queens' College.

Sridhar took a gap year from Queens' College, where he was on course to achieve a first in engineering, to prove his innocence.

Man charged with murder of imam Jalal Uddin in Rochdale A man has been charged with the murder of an imam in Rochdale.

Jalal Uddin, 64, was found in a children's play area on South Street, Wardleworth, Rochdale, shortly before 9pm on February 18. He was taken to hospital but died a short time later. A post-mortem concluded that the cause of

death was a head injury.

Mohammed Hussain Syeedy has now been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He is due to appear at Bury Magistrates Court on Monday 29 February 2016.

Mr Uddin was a qari (Koran reader) at the Jalalia Jaamé Mosque in Rochdale. A 17-year-old

Jalal Uddin

boy previously arrested on suspicion of murder is on bail until 20 April.

UK Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

www.asian-voice.com

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Sikh group urges people to stop using term 'Asian' to describe Rotherham grooming gang AsianVoiceNews

A Sikh group is urging the media and politicians not to describe Rotherham grooming gang as Asian, since the term is very vague and tarnish the community's name.

Four of the six people convicted offences including rape and assault as part of years of sexual abuse in the Yorkshire town of Rotherham, were of Pakistani heritage, while two others were British women.

The case has been prominently discussed as an example of 'Asian grooming gangs' but the term was previously criticised in December 2013, when Sikh and Hindu groups started a petition, saying its slanderous to use the term Asian to describe Pakistani offenders.

In a joint statement, the Hindu Council UK, the Network of Sikh Organisations, Sikh Media Monitoring Group and the Sikh Awareness Society, said: “Communities who themselves fall victim of this emerging pattern of criminality, should not be besmirched by the vague terminology ‘Asian’…in order to help find a solution to the problem, we need to be clear on the identity of those involved.”

The petition closed with 1,859 signatures calling for the word 'Asian' not to be used in grooming and sex abuse cases.

Bhai Amrik Singh, chairman of the Sikh Federation UK told the Independent, he hoped their combined prison sentences of more than 100 years would give a measure of justice to “victims that have endured more than a decade of violence and horrific sexual abuse”.

“We have learnt the perpetrators of these crimes regarded them-

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

in the area, driving distinctive cars and having a reputation for violence.

Muslim community backlashes at social commentator’s tweet On 26th of Feb, controversial social commentator, Katie Hopkins, allegedly published the following tweet in relation to Rotherham grooming scandal, saying "Muslim men raping white women is consistent with the teaching of Islam. Revoke their citizenship and Brothers Arshid Hussain, 40, Basharat Hussain, 39, and deport the bastards. Asian Bannaras Hussain, 36, and (left to right bottom) Karen MacGregor, 58, (left), Shelley Davies, 40, and Qurban Ali, 53, my arse."

Tell MAMA, a national were sentenced to a combined 103 years in prison project which records and selves as above the law as years while siblings measures anti-Muslim Basharat, the authorities were sup39, and incidents in the UK, Bannaras, 36, were jailed posedly worried about race received numerous public relations and turned a for 25 and 19 years respecreferrals in relation to this blind eye despite repeated tively for sex grooming. publication. They have warnings,” he added.

Their uncle, Qurban Ali, reportedly lodged a formal “One of the demands 53, who was found guilty complaint to the in the Sikh Manifesto that of conspiracy to rape, was Metropolitan Police we published a year ago jailed for 10 years.

Service urging them to Karen before the General Associate investigate the complaint MacGregor, 59, was jailed Election was that the govunder the Racial and ernment should encourage for 13 years and Shelley Religious Hatred Act Davies, 40, given an 18 public bodies and the (2006) and the Public media to abandon the use month suspended term.

Order Act (1986). Specific of the term ‘Asian’ when Arshid and Basharat reasoning has been outdescribing perpetrators for Hussain were found guilty lined in the letter to the reasons of political corat Sheffield Crown Court MET. rectness. of 38 offences, including Commenting on the “If the four men that rape, indecent assault, complaint, the Founder have been found guilty and abduction, false imprisonand Director of Tell carried out the abuse were ment and making threats MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal Pakistani Muslims, this is to kill.

OBE stated: "This is the how they should be Bannaras Hussain modus operandi of described and not called pleaded guilty to 10 Hopkins. She is playing to Asian.” charges before the trial. a specific audience and South Yorkshire Police MacGregor and Davies trying to elicit responses and Rotherham Borough were found guilty of false from it, by being far more Council having been critiimprisonment and constereotypical of Muslims. cised for “blatant” failures spiracy to procure a “So, suggesting that and the “suppression” of woman under 21 to people should be afraid of documents, that highlightbecome a common prostiMuslims, (she lumps the ed the issue from as early tute. MacGregor was also sheer diversity of Muslims as 2002. convicted of two counts of together), she links the folconspiracy to rape. lowers of Islam to paeHussain brothers Sentencing the gang, dophilic tendencies at a Judge Sarah White said were locally time when the Rotherham the harm they had caused infamous grooming scandal has just was of "unimaginable proreturned verdicts. She is in portions".

Arshid Three brothers: effect, playing dog whistle The judge also said the Hussain, 40, who led the politics and suggesting brothers were well-known gang, was jailed for 35

Councillor accused of rape

A victim in the Rotherham grooming trial has claimed that she was allegedly raped by a town councillor.

The victim gave the surname of the man as 'Akhtar' during an interview conducted by police for the purpose of the case but she later did not want to make any further statement to police Jahangir Akhtar about the alleged rape until the trial was over. It is not clear whether the councillor accused of rape was Jahangir Akhtar, a former deputy leader of Rotherham council and a distant relative of the three brothers who ran the grooming ring.

Akhtar strenuously denied rape. Speaking to the Guardian on Friday, he said he had “never in my whole life” raped anyone.

The complainant in Rotherham had alleged that a deal was made when she went missing from home with Arshid Hussain when she was a teenager, and there was a handover at a petrol station. The woman said Akhtar rang Hussain and told her he had to take her home, and then they drove to a petrol station to meet police. But the prosecution confirmed on Friday that there was no reason to believe there were active police investigations into Jahangir Akhtar.

Akhtar added the crimes committed by the Hussains were “absolutely horrific”.

However he was forced to step aside from his role as deputy leader of the council following allegations that was involved in a deal to help a relative accused of grooming an underage girl. He later lost his seat.

that nearly 3 million of our fellow citizens are a threat.

Lock up your white daughters is her chant.

“This is repulsive and bigoted and has no place in social comments in 2016...”

Strip citizenship and deportation for abusers Home Secretary Theresa May plans to strip grooming gangs of their British citizenship.

In a major crack down on child exploitation groups, the Tory MP wants to deport offenders at the end of their prison sentences.

The announcement follows the uncovering of a series of Asian sex abuse gangs across the country in recent years.

An estimated 37 peo-

ple have had their British citizenship taken away since 2000. Their nationalities include Russian, Somalia, Yemeni, Australian, Pakistani, Afghan, Albanian, Egyptian, Lebanese, Sudanese, Vietnamese, Iranian, Iraqi and Nigerian.

Stripping UK citizenship from foreigners who are not recognised as a citizen of another country is much more challenging, as they would be rendered stateless.

Human rights campaigners have criticised the extended deportation powers as a form of 'medieval exile'. Critics in terrorism-related cases are also arguing that those facing the loss of their British citizenship will not be shown the evidence against them.

Christian leaders come forward to support local shopkeepers Christian leaders have warned the government that if large shops remian open for longer on Sundays, it will damage family life of shop keepers, affect local stores and will do nothing to boost the economy.

For the first time, senior Roman Catholic, Church of England, Church in Wales, Methodist, United Reform Church and Salvation Army figures have issued a joint statement to The Daily Telegraph, opposing the government’s plan to relax Sunday trading laws.

They explained that such laws would not only lead to shop workers and

customers spending less time with their families, it will affect small local stores, resulting into loss of business. It is also a known fact that many of such local shops are owned

by Asians, especially Gujaratis, Sri Lankans, Tamils, Punjabis,

Malayalees, Andhrites, Nepalese, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, to name a few.

A study from Oxford University has backed this claimed stating that this law change will damage the businesses of small shops, who will lose cus-

tomers to larger chain stores.

According to the current rules, small shops can open whenever they want, but on Sundays, larger stores are restricted to a maximum of six hours in the period between 10am and 6pm. The warning comes after Ministers announced they would give local councils in England and Wales the power to allow large retailers in their area to open for longer, in measures contained in the Enterprise Bill, which is passing through Parliament.

Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, said

What do Temples, Gurdwaras, Mosques and Derasars have to say on the change of Sunday trading hours?

Are other faith leaders backing their local shopkeepers? Or rooting for big stores and longer hours on Sundays? Let us have your thought at aveditorial@abplgroup.com in 100 words. relaxing the restrictions would enable local authorities to “help struggling High Streets”.

He has faced opposition from traditionalist Tory MPs and faith leaders have spoken out indi-

vidually. Fears have also been raised that shop workers will come under pressure to work for longer on Sundays. But two weeks ago, ministers announced a package of concessions designed to allay these fears, promising new protections to ensure shop staff can say “no thanks” to their bosses. The measures included a new legal right for workers to refuse requests to work for longer on Sundays.

The faith leaders have added that they welcome the initiative but “remain unconvinced” that these protections will be “effective in practice”.

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Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

BAPS Charities UK donates £65,000 to Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund On Saturday 25 April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck an area of central Nepal, while a 6.7-magnitude tremor was felt less than 50 miles from the capital, Kathmandu, causing widespread devastation.

Strong aftershocks continued to hit the region days afterwards.

In response to this tragedy, BAPS Charities launched an international appeal to raise funds to support those affected by the natural disaster.

Following a fundraising drive in the UK, BAPS Charities presented a cheque for £25,000 to His Excellency Tej Bahadur Chhetri, the Ambassador of Nepal to the UK, on Saturday 29 August 2015 at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London.

In his address to the gathering, Mr Chhetri voiced his appreciation by saying, “On behalf of the government and people of Nepal, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to BAPS Charities for their support in Nepal’s rehabilitation, reconstruc-

Mr Nitin Palan, Trustee of BAPS Charities presenting a cheque of £40000 to UNICEF's representative Mr Sharma

tion and rebuilding.” He also encouraged those present to show their own support of Nepal by visiting the many places unaffected by the earthquake.

At the Mandir on Saturday 27 February 2016, BAPS Charities UK presented a further cheque for £40,000 to UNICEF. On hand to receive the donation was Mr Surinder Sharma, UK trustee of the United Nations’ fund dedicated to children’s welfare.

In his address, Mr Sharma drew upon the “impact of everyone in collecting the funds”, before

Brent Council leader calls for Crossrail in Wembley The leader of Brent Council has called for a Crossrail link between Old Oak Common and Wembley to better connect the borough’s growing population to the rest of the capital.

Speaking alongside council chiefs at a conference in central London last Friday, Cllr Muhammed Butt, said he wants to see the £14.8billion Crossrail train line extended to Brent, connecting commuters to Reading in the West and Abbey Wood in the East.

There have been no detailed proposals yet, but it is thought Cllr Butt could enter into discussions with bosses of the major infrastructure plan or its successor project, Crossrail 2, which has a provisional £27bn price tag, about the idea.

The calls came after research by property group

Cllr Muhammed Butt

Bilfinger GVA showed London’s economic growth is increasingly spreading from the city centre to outer London, bringing with it growing populations and investment.

Cllr Butt said: “With the central London economy expanding outwards, we think that a Crossrail link between Old Oak Common and Wembley would make perfect sense and should be brought forward in the future to unlock further opportunities.”

Resident Priest require Hindu Centre, (East London) Radha KrishnaTemple 5/7 Cedars Road, Stratford, London E15 4NE (Tel: 02085348879)

Hindu Centre, (East London) Radha Krishna Temple require Resident Priest to perform all the ceremonies, give pervachans, participate in festivals and cultural activities. Fluency in Hindi and English. Ability to get on with devotees, colleagues and committee members. Salary £1500pm includes accommodation, food, other amenities and benefits Please send your application to Mrs Saroj Mittal (General Secretary) Email: sarojmittal2@yahoo.co.uk Mob: 07859057598 at the above address by 5th April 2016.

explaining how the funds would be used in directly helping the earthquake victims. The money would go towards building educational facilities, including 40 tents for more than 4,000 children in 13 of the most affected areas, and providing a further 295 ‘mobile schools in a box’ equipped with learning materials to help 11,800 children in rural areas.

Sanjay Kara, lead volunteer at BAPS Charities, added: “Everyone at BAPS Charities was deeply saddened as news broke of the destruction and loss of life in Nepal. Almost a year on, we have not for-

gotten that the need to help rebuild and rehabilitate lives is as vital as ever.

And so we are heartened to be able to work with these agencies to make a real impact on the lives of so many. We also thank everyone from around the world who has helped us in this cause.”

As part of the international appeal, BAPS Charities in America donated a total of US$135,000 to the Nepal Earthquake relief fund, while BAPS Charities Canada donated C$30,000 and BAPS Charities South Africa gave R20,000.

Missing Reading woman found safe and well A woman from Reading who went missing on Saturday has been found safe and well.

Nikita 19-year-old Bhatoa was reported missing on the evening of last Saturday from Prospect Park Hospital.

Officers leading the search were concerned for Nikita, known as Nikki, who went missing around 8.30pm and asked the public for help finding her.

On Monday evening at 7.51pm Thames Valley Police thanked the public for their help tracing her and confirmed Nikki had

Nikita Bhatoa

been found safe and well.

When she went missing investigating officer detective inspector Penny Mackenzie said: "We are concerned for Nikita’s welfare, as she requires regular medication and we do not know if she has some with her."

Leicester's Rakhee Thakrar rumoured to be new Doctor Who companion Former Eastenders actress Rakhee Thakrar, pictured, is rumoured to be taking up the role of The Doctor's new companion in the BBC's Sci-Fi show Doctor Who. Ms Thakrar, who grew up in St Matthew's, is on a list of actresses to replace Jenna Coleman, according to the Radio Times.

Earlier this month, she retweeted a story by the Radio Times which listed a range of actors and actresses who should consider auditioning for the role. She was included on that list.

In 2006, Rakhee made her first TV appear-

ance in BBC drama Banglatown Banquet.

The 32-year-old went on to feature in a number of TV series including Doctors, Holby City, Peep Show and, notably, played a lead character in British-Asian drama Cloud 9. More recently, she played Shabnam Masood on EastEnders.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Police probe Birmingham visit of woman found dead on golf course

Saima Ahmed caught on CCTV at Wembley Central station before she came to Birmingham

Police are trying to piece together the movements of a woman who passed through Birmingham before being found dead on a golf course.

Officers have confirmed the body found in the grounds of a mansion has been identified as that of a missing London woman.

The discovery on January 9 in the Gogar area of the Edinburgh prompted a major police investigation involving a detailed forensic examination of the area including parts of a golf course.

Police in Scotland confirmed on Thursday the body has been identified as Saima Ahmed, who had been reported missing by her family in August last year.

The 36-year-old’s death is being treated as unexplained, the force said.

A UK-wide appeal for information was launched as officers attempt to

establish the exact journey she took from London to Edinburgh and what took her to the area where her body was found off Gogarstone Road. She is understood to have passed through Birmingham - and officers are keen to find out exactly what she did and where she went in the city.

Police said they believe she most likely left her home in Wembley on the morning of August 30.

They issued a timeline of her movements that day in which she had been captured on CCTV at various points. Her exact route is unknown but police believe she may have travelled to Hemel Hempstead, Birmingham and then on to Edinburgh.

She was described as Asian, about 5ft 5ins, of medium build, with shoulder-length straight dark hair. She was last seen wearing a dark long v-neck top, black trousers, black shoes and a black jacket.

Islamic broadcaster scrutinized for hate speech An Islamic television channel has been reprimanded in the UK for broadcasting anti-Semitic statements.

Peace TV, which is run by Dr Zakir Naik, a man banned from the UK for his extremist views, broadcasts from Dubai but receives funding from the Islamic Research Foundation International (IRFI) in Birmingham, England.

Ofcom, the British communications regulator, reviewed Peace TV’s Urdu service and raised concerns over the broadcasting of lectures by Israr Ahmad, a scholar known for his antiSemitic views. In one of the lectures, he suggests that the Jewish people—who he described as a “cursed race”—were in a way responsible for the Holocaust.

“That is the mark of this cursed race, that despite God’s divine grace they do not take advantage of the opportunity to repent, which is why they are afflicted by great calamities and the example is what happened to them

Dr Zakir Naik

at the hands of the Germans,” he reportedly said in one of the lectures.

Peace TV, which boasts 100 million viewers, may be fined up to $350,000 for broadcasting the statements. According to The Times, a spokesperson for the channel said that airing the anti-Semitic material was a “horrendous mistake” and that “we profusely apologize.”

Dr Naik is banned from entering the UK, however he remains a trustee of the IRFI. In 2015, the IRFI gave over one million dollars to support Peace TV. The charity received over $100,000 last year in tax relief on donations.

UK Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

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Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Chevening Fellow Noreen Shams, honouring Indo-Pak relations It is a tough challenge to become a Chevening South Asia Journalism Fellow, the winner of an international scholarship th at enables mid-career journalists from South Asia with leadership qualities to undertake courses in universities in the UK. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office funds the scheme.

28-year old Noreen Shams has done this, and is living her dream to study in London.

She is in the Foreign Office South Asia Journalism program at the University of Westminster, a course exclusively designed for Indian and Pakistani Journalists.. She says that the best part of these two months “Is to know our fellow Indian journalists. Their culture, their languages, their concerns over Pak-India ties were the integral part of this program.”

Noreen’s own background is solidly media.

Currently working for APNA Karachi as a radio

through my entire life which helped and will help in all endeavours.”

Noreen started her career with the Business Recorder and AAJ TV then switched to online media.

She was selected as an Exchange Pakistani Journalist and won training at CNN Headquarters, Atlanta USA. “I reported on Malala when she was shot

by Taliban in October 2012.”

In Pakistan, Noreen worked with Reuters TV Singapore on video stories from Pakistan. She now trains upcoming mass media professionals on Digital Media.

Childhood challenges

Noreen Shams

host, she achieved a BS in Mass Communication from the University of Karachi and a second, Masters Degree in International Relations.

Family Support?

Though Noreen hails from an urban Middle Class Family from Karachi, Pakistan, her ancestors

migrated from UP, India.

“My father works on mechanical engineering, mainly air-conditioning stuff. My mom is a housewife with a BA in Economics. My elder sister is a Chartered Accountant and I am a Journalist, which is so unusual, being daughters in Pakistani society. I adore their support

PRESENTS

YOUTH CONFERENCE 2016

“As the second child, I always thought that I am somehow a neglected child as you develop such assumptions, being a middle child. The assumption that I will do everything on my own actually worked for me as my parents believed in me, that I will do it on my own, and since then I have been living an independent life, taking my own decisions.

I have a big circle of Sindhi friends as I live in Karachi. We mingle easily with Sindhis so I understand, speak and easily read Sindhi. I speak English as my schooling was in English medium. Karachi’s huge population migrated from India, we brought Urdu

along with my studies, I used to work 12 hours, taking classes in the evening. I faced downsizing yet at the same time I got that US Career challenges?

Exchange fellowship. That fellowship urged me to Noreen says that her biggest move more into digital challenge has been to forge media. Meeting people from a path as a female journalist all over the world changed who will not work only on my pre-conceived notions.” the fashion, health or eduShe dreamt of seeing cation beat. “I don’t say they herself in the UK on a are not worthy beats to Chevening a fellowship carry. But female journalists Program. “In hard times I can and do report in politibelieve your job is only to cal, security and other ask, believe you’ll mainstream beats like get it and work any male journalists. I want to be My elder sister is a hard towards your goals. So a multimedia Chartered dream with journalist who Accountant and I am open eyes can carry a because camera, make a Journalist, which only such footage, write is so unusual, being dreamers on political daughters in have the issues, who is ability to Pakistani society.” tech savvy. achieve Which could Noreen Shams, t h e i r be a challenge dreams.” living in Chevening Scholar Noreen is Pakistani society learning fast here but things are proin the UK, absorbing gressing and I am optithe British view on global mistic that females won’t be politics, British culture and just a face on TV; they are British history. “It will defiand will keep doing serious nitely enhance my career. I journalism.” have a long way to go. I am Noreen has always kept thinking critically on the her dreams alive and that is media issues of Pakistan how she achieves her misand the hardship journalists sions. face there on a day to day “Call it desire, dream, basis. I might end up doing goals, targets. It a wish that something with digital keeps your soul alive, keeps media to promote freedom you restless to chase your of expression or the develdreams. So there were good opment of media in and hard times in my life. I Pakistan.” started working early and

with us and so they call us Urdu Speaking People. I speak, love and cherish Urdu.”

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READERS’ VOICE

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Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Climate change or capitalistic colonisation

Last December the world leaders concluded the climate change conference in Paris with a great fanfare and euphoria. They all apparently agreed to promote the clean energy production sources to halt the climate change which occurs due to the use of dirty energy sources (mainly coal).

Bharat is trying hard to provide clean electricity, by installation of solar panels, to a quarter of its population who has never switched on an electrical light bulb in their lives. It has also planned and have high hopes to install 100 Gigawatts of solar power capacity by 2022.

On 25th February, a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel has ruled that Bharat’s efforts to provide clean electricity to its poor citizens breaches the WTO trade rules.

The ruling was the result of a complaint lodged by the USA. The complaint was on the basis that Bharat is favouring local suppliers against the suppliers from their country!! It seems that this is an excuse to hide some unknown real motive. The panel ruling reduces the Paris euphoria and poor nations’ hopes to a smouldering heap of ashes.

The West (especially the USA) have control over organisations like the WTO, the Security Council, the World Bank and the IMF as well as near monopoly over the Public Financial Institutions (Huge Global Banks) and the Information Technology Companies (Google, YouTube, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) which has created a soft (virtual) global capitalistic colonisation which is much more debilitating and viciously over powering to the poor nations than the physical presence colonisation of the past centuries.

Would they ever relax their soft colonial grip on the poor nations and are they serious about climate change? Irony of all these is that the West has enriched themselves through industrial development by rampant coal burning in the past two centuries which has poisoned our Mother Earth. Of course, they have also plundered the poor nations during the period of physical presence colonisation.

Under the present circumstances there will be never a chance for the poor nations to have the industrial development and a decent standard of living which they rightly aspire and urgently need for upward mobility for more than half of the humanity on the Mother Earth.

Narsibhai Patel New Malden

Failures are a stepping stone for success

Views expressed reflects biased and low thinking level. I never denied Modi to be an exceptionally good leader.But big wins are not index qualities of leadership - visiting Western nations make India slogan turned out to be made India begging bowl?

Spending millions of dollars on international yoga and Hindus Day when 80% of the population do not speak Hindi, even in Modi’s own state, is a political gimmick to escape corruption, scandal, cheap publcity. It happens in the midst of farmers tragedy.

I have great respect for Modi as a humble servant, and believe failures are stepping stones for success.

Dr Moorthy Birmingham

Annual Youth Conference

I send good wishes for the success of the above event and at the same time I commend you and your colleagues for helping to prepare leaders of tomorrow.

Sir Andy Chande Via Email

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Grunwick State The 40th anniversary of famous “Grunwick Strike” at Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories brought back memories of long and bitter dispute that lasted two years, from 1976 to 1978.

It was over dismissal of a worker allegedly being too slow but workers had many other grievances.

The strike was led by an unassuming housewife, late Jayaben Desai, always clad in sari, thus it was dubbed as “Strikers in saris.”

At its height 20,000 people came out to support their fight, mainly docile Asian ladies.

When Postal Union refused to handle Grunwick mail, their main business outlet, it became national event involving “Arthur Scargill” who descended on the site with placard waving, noisy NUM members, giving strike saturated publicity.

Local papers revived this unique event by giving it publicity which would have gone unnoticed without their coverage.

A huge mural will be erected near factory site in Dollis Hill, fitting tribute for the sacrifice by workers that caught the imagination of the nation.

Everyone, especially local residents are encouraged to participate in choosing design which will become permanent monument for this unique dispute that has now become historical event.

Kumudini Valambia By email We are very privileged that our letter writers contribute to our newspaper every week. We value your contributions immensely.

Asian Voice is planning a proper ceremony to honour our letter writers at a suitable venue on a suitable date. In the meantime it will be great if you could write to aveditorial@abplgroup.com, with your name and contact details, number of letters you have written, for appropriate citation and certification.

Christians of India

Christians consist of 2% of the 1.2 billion population of India. These 20 million Christians in India have Hindu ancestry. During 200 years of colonial rule, Christian missionaries wooed the downtrodden, lower class Hindus to embrace Christianity. The caste system has its evil. Higher class Hindus arrogance on the perception that the birth is the deciding factor that distinguishes superiority of one human-being from another.

This folly notion has done a tremendous damage to Hinduism.

Complacency of Hindu priests enabled Christian missionaries to take advantage of the situation. Their kindness and humanitarian approach to this unprivileged class came as a boon. In return for embracing Christianity, they were offered food, clothing, housing, jobs and most importantly equal status. Today, Christians have made their mark in India. This enlightened community’s contributions economically, politically and socially are enormous. The elite Hindus take pride in educating their children in convent schools. It’s believed that convent educated children are more successful in life.

Indian Christians are the strength of India. They have enriched Indian culture and heritage. They are not outsiders and mustn't be seen with suspicious eyes.

Niranjan Vasant By email

To be or not to be

As Shakespeare would have said “To be or not to be – to remain in the European Union or to come out of it - that’s the question”. As is now widely publicised, our Prime Minister, David Cameron, has announced that a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union (EU) or to come out of it will be held on Thursday, 23 June 2016.

To the uninitiated, the European Union is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries, and a referendum is a vote in which everyone of voting age will be able to participate by casting their votes. The votes to be cast will be the ticking of either a "yes" or "no" answer to a question. This question could be "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?" How should we vote? Many of us Asians, specially the Gujaratis, with their business acumen, are employed in the financial industry. Financial market, UK’s main hub for economy, is dependent on the business within the EU and consequntly in the world. To my mind, if we pull out, not only the UK’s financial business will suffer, but many of our people will be out of a job. However, it will be for the individual to decide.

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Junior doctors

Mr Bhupendra M Gandhi's letter (AV 27 Feb) makes further comments in response to my letter (AV 13) that corrected the incorrect information that he gave to AV readers in his original letter (AV Feb 6). Instead of being grateful to me, he has chosen to describe me as narrow minded. I should be grateful if AV readers could revisit these letters.

Corruption and dishonesty are part of human nature and are present in developing and developed countries to some extent but no profession is “riddled with them” as Mr Gandhi states.

Mr Gandhi misinforms readers why I left Sudan. From 1960 to 1967 I was Assistant Chief Accountant at United States Agency for International Development. War broke out in June 1967 between Arabs and Israel. Diplomatic relations with USA were cut off overnight. I was offered the Chief Fiscal Officer position by United Nations. My appointment went to ILO Switzerland for approval. Meanwhile, I came to London in September 1967 for ACCA final exam and asked ILO to post reply to London. They did reply after six months advising me that quota for Indian nationals was already full. Gulf Oil Corporation employed me in London.

Nagin Khajuria By email

EU & Cameron - an historic deal

On 19th Feb. after 30 hours of heated discussion in Brussels British PM sealed a deal which offered Britain 'Special Status' in the EU! Special Status Entitles: 1. Economic Independence: without adopting Euro, not bound by EU Financial Regulations, access to Trade and Business to EU of 500 millions creating jobs, also to America, Asia, Africa, etc. City of London free from any restrictions! 2. Sovereignty: British Parliament, justice, law etc. independent and will not be a part of the EU SuperState! 3. Security and Defense : In such time of IS and waring world, it's better for Britain to be an important part of the EU which even USA, G20 Support! This will give Britain better status and bigger influence in the world. 4.

Benefits: East EU states want children benefits paid in their countries which Mr Cameron has agreed. Yet he made them accept that In-work Benefits in Britain will be postponed to 7 years instead of 4, this will result in less migrants coming here!

Labour Party and Unions, Wales, Scotland, Uk's 200 BIG Firms, Obama and world Leaders support this historic deal. I live here and I too like it as Bharat is my DevakiMata and Britain is my Jashoda-Maiya!

Upendra Kapadia By email

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Former Trojan Horselinked school teacher vows to fight classroom ban A teacher who imposed too much Islam on pupils’ education at a Birmingham school linked to the Trojan Horse scandal has revealed he is to fight his classroom ban in the High Court.

Park View School teacher Inamulhaq Anwar

Inamulhaq Anwar was last week banned from teaching for life after he was found guilty of professional misconduct following a National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) hearing.

Mr Anwar, aged 35, of Bordesley Green taught at the former Park View Academy in Alum Rock and was previously governor at neighbouring Nansen Primary.

The two schools were among five in Birmingham

placed in special measures in 2014 following snap inspections by Ofsted, sparked by allegations of a plot to Islamise non-faith schools. Mr Anwar, who was told he could apply to have the ban lifted in six years, said he was “extremely disappointed and upset” by the prohibition order and “level of injustice that has taken place”.

During the hearing, the NCTL panel heard Mr Anwar contributed to a group called the Park View Brotherhood, on the phone messaging service WhatsApp - reportedly sending messages describing homosexuality as a “filthy crime”.

Mr Anwar was found guilty of reforming the curriculum to exclude proper sex education. And the panel ruled his behaviour left pupils at risk of “being isolated” in an Islamic bubble “and not properly integrated” into British society.

The panel said that while his push to Islamise pupils’ education was “in no way extremist”, the children were “not being prepared for life in modern Britain”.

Mr Anwar denied all of the allegations.

Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

11

West Bengal girl to join Oxford University for top NASA programme Sataparna Mukherjee becomes the youngest Indian ever selected for a research project

Sataparna 18-year-old Mukherjee, an A-levels student (class XII in India) at St Judes School, has made her country

proud in the field of Space Science, selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its prestigious Goddard Internship Programme under the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). She is also the youngest Indian ever selected for a research project.

Mukherjee, who is from a village in Madhyamgram, Kumduni (30kms from Kolkata), after her final exams will be going to Oxford

University, where she will pursue her graduation, post-graduation and PhD (as NASA faculty) in aerospace engineering at its London Astrobiology Centre.

A Times of India reported, Mukherjee bagged the top NASA scholarship with her amazing work on 'Black Hole Theory', in which she has written a paper on the subject proposing on how this could be used to create a 'Time Machine'.

Stating reason for her

selection in NASA, Satarpana said that when she shared her paper on Black Hole Theory with the US space agency, it was greatly appreciated.

Under Internship Programme, she will work as a NASA employee and a researcher. Besides bearing all her expenses, NASA is also paying her a generous sum as honorarium. Sataparna is among five scholars chosen from across the world for NASA's prestigious programme.

London pupils 'behind global competition' London's schools are falling behind many global competitors, according to an analysis of international tests. The capital's schools have been held up as a showcase of rising standards. But the University College London (UCL) Institute of Education study, using OECD Pisa test results, suggests they are weaker than those in many Asian cities and the rest of the UK. Academics at the UCL Institute of Education say

they have produced a robust sample of 42 schools by combining the results of two year groups taking the tests in London in 2009 and 2012.

The analysis compares these London results, in reading, maths and science, with the performance of 15-year-olds in cities, regions and countries around the world. It suggests if London entered the Pisa tests as a separate education system, pupils taking maths would be three

years behind their counterparts in Shanghai, which has the world's top-ranking results.

As well as being behind high-flyers in maths such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland and Poland, teenagers in London were below the level of counterparts in countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Slovenia and Latvia.

For reading, London was behind Madrid in Spain, Riga in Latvia and Massachusetts, the high-

est-achieving state in the United States. In science tests, London would be above the US state of Florida and Buenos Aires in Argentina, but behind Moscow in Russia and Quebec in Canada.

The report also suggests London schools were below the UK national average, with girls and disadvantaged and ethnic minority pupils in London performing less well at Pisa tests compared with their GCSE results.

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MEDIA WATCH

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Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

While the misbegotten standoff between the authorities and striking students at Jawaharlal Nehru University splutter along, the graver confrontation between Haryana’s Jat community and the central and State governments on reservation quotas for Jats in government jobs and educational institutions flared up, with demonstrators attacking government buildings, blocking roads into the capital and interfering with its water supplies, leaving 10 million of its denizens without water for 48 hours. Eventually the Army had to be called in to quell the violence. Nineteen people were killed and many were more injured and over 100 protesters arrested. Ministers did finally intervene, and assured the leaders of the unrest that their grievances would be carefully considered and possible remedies introduced.

mach 1,6 speed at a 50,000 feet and a U-turn capability in 350 metres at the Bahrain International Air Show.

Receiving a late invitation, the Indian Defence Ministry put two planes with accessories at relatively short notice to turn up for the event.

Showcased potential

‘It was a special product demonstration to showcase to potential customers the full range of the aircraft’s versatility,’ said an Indian official. The Tejas, Indian designed, is a replacement for the Soviet-era MiG 21, which have been the mainstay of the Indian Air Force over many decades.

(Business Standard February 23)

Arihant ready for action

Chandigarh: The death toll in the nine-day long violent Jat reservation agitation in Haryana has touched 30

Working overtime, engineers got water supplies into much of Delhi back on track within 24 hours as life in the city limped back to normal. It will take awhile for water supplies to return to full capacity. A local chamber of commerce estimates that disruption and violence of the Jat agitation will cost the northern states Rs 34,000 crore.

The Harryana government and the Centre in Delhi allowed things to drift; they were behind the game – and it showed.

side, preventing Indian trucks from delivering goods and commodities to the country’s interior including its capital, Kathmandu.

The Madhesis were protesting that the new

India’s nuclear powered, missile submarine, INS Arihant, has completed its rigorous routine of sea trials, including weapons’ tests and now awaits formal approval to join the fleet as a fully operational unit. The Arihant, the first of five similar vessels planned for induction into the Indian Navy, performed with deep sea drills off Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal.

Russian escort

Arihant was escorted in these drills by a Russian submarine rescue vessel (which India presently lacks), Epron, a

Kashmir’s jihadi insurency

Meanwhile, in Kashmir, a posse of jihadis occupied a spacious government building, from where they opened fire. It ended in their deaths, and the deaths of 3 brave young officers of the rank of captain. A paramilitary CRPF jawan from Himachal Pradesh was also killed in the encounter. Mosques nearby blared out passionate words of encouragement to the jihadis.

Except the fallen Indian soldiers who gave their lives for the defence of their country, no one has emerged with a scintilla of credit from the sorry situation.

Neither the government, nor the opposition Communist and Congress party leaders, least of all, the unelectable Rahul Gandhi (Times of India, Hindu, February 21-23)

Mending fraught India-Nepal ties

The visit to New Delhi of Nepal Prime Minister KPS Oli and the warm welcome accorded him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, signalled the start of a serious peace process and the mending of ties between two neighbours. New vistas opened up with the raising of the Madhesi blockade on the Nepal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart KP Sharma Oli at Hyderabad House in New Delhi

Nepalese constitution fell short of addressing their legitimate rights. Talks on these contentious issues have got underway, the blockade was lifted and tensions in the India-Nepal relationship eased. India promised Nepal new transit routes to Bangladesh and Bhutan and deeper economic cooperation with India (Telegraph, Times of India, Hindu, February 21, 22)

Tejas excels at Bahrain Air Show

mandatory requirement during weapon tests to guard against all contingencies. Epron participated in India’s recent Fleet Review, from which Arihant was absent in order to preclude participating foreign warships gathering the submarine’s electronic intelligence capabilities..

Missile tests

Arihant’s missile tests, conducted over the past five months in secrecy has ‘passed all tests and in many things have passed expectaIndia’s Light Combat Aircraft, tions,’ said a senior naval officer.

Tejas, put on an impressively Arihant is equipped with short display of aerobatics and kinrange missiles with a 700 kilomedred drills to demonstrate the tre range, and others with a full range of its capabilities: it is greater range of 1,500 kilometres. cockpit friendly, and agile, with a Work in progress includes two more similar submarines at the Ship Building Centre at Visakhapatnam, which will be larger and more advanced than INS Tejas demonstrating Arihant. The Indian Navy aerobtics at Bahrain is also accelerating work International Air Show on INS Varsha – a new

strategic naval base with underground pens on the eastern coast near Kakinada. At present the only nuclear powered submarine in service is INS Chakra, an Akula-class submarine on a 10year lease from Russia.

Future submarines

The Navy’s Design Bureau is currently working on a new class of nuclear powered attack submarine that it hopes to induct in the next 15 years. Government has sanctioned the project and passed the necessary financial outlay estimated at Rs 90,000 crore (Economic Times February 23)

Mahindra to make BAE howitzers

Mahindra & Mahindra has teamed up with US company BAE Systems to manufacture the M777- Ultra Light Howitzers, costing around $700 million, for the Indian Army. It gives India’s armed forces a much-needed operational advantage and access to state-of-the-art technology.

The Mahindra M-777 facility will also ensure that life cycle support is available locally, thereby enhancing the operational availability of the guns. Forty Indian firms will be involved in the supply chain. (Business Line February 18)

Andhra Pradesh in GDP surge

Andhra Pradesh has registered 10. 5 per cent GDP growth during the first nine months of the current fiscal ending December 2015. At the two-day collectors’ conference at Vijayawada, Chief Secretary S.P. Tucker said the State would be aiming for 15 per cent growth for the next fiscal April 2016-March 2017). Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu spoke of the goal to make the State drought secure by next year through the Pattiseema lift irrigation project which was already making a difference to the lives of farmers by linking the Godavri with the Krishna river. (Business Line February 23)

Seven railway projects cleared

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved seven new rail projects, including seven new railway lines and a railway bridge at a cost of Rs 10,700 crore The new rail lines are expected to benefit industry and passengers,

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which include double and triplelaning of lines ‘I think we have a very competent government and minister. He [Suresh Prabhu] knows how to raise extra budgetary resources,’ said IT and Telecoms Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad (Mint February 18)

US IT firm to hire 500 Indians

Infor, a US IT firm, involved in business applications, plans to hire 500 engineers this year for its Indian operations, taking its total workforce at Hyderabad to 2000. ‘We are going to hire 300400 engineers to support our services activity alone,’ said Ranga Pothula, Vice President and Centre Head for India. ‘Apart from this, the company is planning to hire 100 engineers each for its research and development and engagement platform,’ said Soma Somasunderam, Executive Vice President (Global Product Development, Inforl). He said the company would be employing 100 more engineers for the next five years. The New York-based firm has a global workforce of 14,000 (Business Line February 23)

Silicon Valley CEO for more H-IB visas

Bill Coleman, CEO of US IT company Veritas told reporters in Washington, ‘We can’t hire enough good people. They are just not available here.. The salaries here are going through the roof because everyone is competing to hire from everyone else.,’ he said. Veritas has set up base in Pune and its workforce numbers 1,700. Colman plans to transfer some his company’s work from Florida to Pune.. ‘This is a priority,’ he says. ‘We are targeting growth in excess of 40 per cent in our sales in India.’ Things are ‘improving and Narendra Modi government had brought in a breath of fresh air.’ (Business Line February 20)

SIMI module busted

A Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) has been busted in Rourkela, Odisha, recently, representing a vital intelligence breakthrough that may shed light on the conspirators behind the Bangalore bombing of December 28 2014, which had appeared to have reached a dead end. Four SIMI operatives who had escaped from a jail in the Kandwa district of Madhya Pradesh in 2013, were recaptured after a three-hour operation mounted by a special unit of the Odisha’s Special Operations Group.

The arrested men were involved in jihadi activity in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Army concern

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presenting rail budget to Parliament

The Indian Army has expressed concern at the rising casualties in Kashmir arising from from increased jihadi groups, and faulty intelligence (Hindu February 23).

UK Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

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Met officer pleads guilty to voyeurism after filming sex workers A Wimbledon police officer wept as he was sentenced Monday after admitting secretly filming hundreds of sexual encounters with prostitutes.

PC Irshad Kamal, who pleaded guilty to voyeurism weeks after being cleared of sexually assaulting prostitutes, was found to have a staggering 202 videos of himself with prostitutes on his iPhone, hard drive and computer.

Of these videos, it is believed that about 70 were made without the knowledge of the sex worker.

Barrister for the defence, Simon Pentol QC, told Southwark Crown Court that PC Kamal, 47, would make an excuse for the sex worker to leave the room before setting his iPhone to record and hiding underneath a pile of his clothes.

In unusual scenes, Judge Nicholas LoraineSmith watched two of the videos on a private laptop before the court, in order to see the setting up of the camera. He declined to retire to his chambers to watch the videos, describing himself as “distinctly uneasy” about such a possibility.

PC Irshad Kamal

PC Kamal will have to sign the sex offenders register for five years, and his iPhone, hard drive and computer will all be destroyed.

Sentencing, Judge Loraine-Smith said: “I expect the fact it was being recorded was part of your enjoyment of the process, and you would watch it later. There’s no suggestion these films were seen by anyone other than you.”

PC Kamal, whose family were in court to hear his sentence, wept in the dock as his impending dismissal from the Metropolitan police was discussed.

A psychological report read out by the defence also suggested that his

offending was linked to the “enormous stress” and “bullying” he suffered at the Metropolitan Police, as well as the result of post traumatic stress he suffered from following a car crash while on duty in 2009.

PC Kamal was originally arrested in November 2014 and charged with sexually assaulting and stalking a prostitute after she posted his details on an ‘Ugly Mugs’ website to warn other sex workers about his behaviour. A jury found him not guilty of sexual assault on September 29 2015. They were unable to agree on whether he had stalked the woman, but he was given a restraining order.

PC Kamal was charged with six counts of voyeurism by recording a person doing a private act just two weeks later on October 16.

He pleaded guilty to three of the voyeurism charges, alleged to have occurred between October 2009 and April 2014, at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, January 29.

The other three charges of voyeurism were left to lie on file.

Man attacked three women in 15 minutes in city centre rampage A man went on a 15minute rampage in Birmingham city centre, attacking or sexually assaulting three women, including a police worker.

During a fifteen minute spree Rehaan Akhtar acted aggressively towards a community support officer, shoulder barged another woman and sexually assaulted a third victim.

The court was told the woman walked into a car park where the defendant began shouting at her and demanding money. It was only when she pointed to a nearby police station that Akhtar walked away.

Miss Rai said the sup-

port officer had felt intimidated by Akhtar’s behaviour.

The second victim had just gone past TK Maxx when she saw the defendant running towards her.

She tried to get out of the way but he deliberately barged into her.

Shortly afterwards he then walked towards a woman in Hill Street, stood next to her and then grabbed her between her legs as well as trying to grab one of her breasts.

Miss Rai said Akhtar was arrested on May 26 when another police community support officer recognised him on a bus.

Rehaan Akhtar who attacked women in Birmingham city centre

Akhtar, 39 had previously admitted affray, assault and sexual assault, was sentenced to a three year community order and ordered to register as a sex offender for five years.

Are you 16-24 years of age? Are you looking for a full time job?

Do you want to improve your qualifications?

The Adult Training Network is here to help you do both

If you live in the Boroughs of Hounslow, Hillingdon or Ealing we have apprenticeship opportunities, with a wide range of local employers, just waiting for you.

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Do you want more information and advice?

Please call or email to make an appointment or to find out more: 020 8570 1311, 020 8574 9588 OR apprenticeship@adult-training.org.uk

13

Worldwide donor search to save Cardiff University student Anthony Nolan Charity are carrying out a worldwide search to find a stem cell donor for a Cardiff University student diagnosed with leukaemia, who needs to find a match urgently.

Vithiya Alphons, 24, has acute myeloid leukaemia and has been told she needs a donation in the next two months.

But because of her Sri Lankan background, the search is more complex as not many South Asian people are on donor registers. Miss Alphons was diagnosed with the aggressive form of blood cancer after falling ill just days after returning for her final year as an optometry student at Cardiff University.

She had secured a

Vithiya Alphons

graduate job at Specsavers and said she was feeling positive about the future.

But she started feeling unwell with severe sickness and a fever, while she had a pain in her leg, so she went to the doctor for tests. She underwent chemotherapy in Cardiff before being well enough to be transferred to a hospital in London, where she is from. After her third course of chemotherapy, she felt better and thought she had beaten her illness.

Doctors told Miss Alphons her best option was now a stem cell transplant from a donor, which is needed in the next two months.

Her brother Clime is only a 50% match and doctors have said her best chance of survival is a closer match from an unrelated donor.

Anthony Nolan is now searching the world's donor registers for someone whose tissue type matches Miss Alphons's.

But the search is complicated by the fact not many people from South Asia are on the registers.

Miss Alphons and her family and friends are also using social media to campaign to raise awareness of the issue and urge people to help.

Man jailed for life for murdering brother in family home A man has been jailed for killing his older brother by strangling him and leaving his body undiscovered for a week at the family home in London’s East End. Juhel Ahmed, 30, was found guilty of murdering 36-year-old Ruhel Ahmed at their flat in Stepney’s Timor House in Duckett Street. He was jailed for life

and ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years after being found guilty at his trial on Friday.

Ruhel’s body was discovered in the bedroom when police and paramedics were called Juhel Ahmed to the flat on yesterday at the Old Bailey September 3.

14 COMMUNITY

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Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Shishukunj London raises £92,000 for victims of Nepal earthquake On Saturday 27 February, almost 600 people gathered at the Swaminarayan Temple in Stanmore to attend Shishukunj London’s fundraiser Hope for Nepal. The purpose of the event was to raise much needed funds for those affected by the deadly earthquake in Nepal in 2015.

The event itself was quite simple, a traditional meal, followed by bhajans from the young and older members of Shishukunj and a presentation to describe the project.

The event was so well received that Shishukunj successfully managed to raise £52,000 on the night, which was then augmented by the Swaminarayan temple who committed £35,000 and £5,500 raised at the Danceathon in November 2015.

Cumulatively it means that Shishukunj London has raised £92,000 to

many inspirational souls helping to make the event an awesome success wholeheartedly giving 110% for an incredibly worthy cause. I feel honoured to be associated with this event, Shishukunj, and so many incredible people.”

If you are interested in supporing this worthwhile cause please visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/hopefornepal or visit www.shishukunj.org.uk for more information.

Bob Blackman returns from maiden trip to India British Parliamentarian Bob Blackman, Member of Parliament for Harrow East returned on Monday from his 10 days long maiden visit to India. He was joined by his wife and former councillor Nicola Blackman and his aide and founder of Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society UK, Lakshmi Kaul.

He first travelled to Srinagar where he was hosted and accompanied

by BJP MLC, Surinder Ambardar. Bob offered his prayers at the revered Hindu temple of Goddess Kheerbhawani that is constructed over a sacred spring and is managed and run by the Dharmarth Trust.

A series of meetings were arranged in Srinagar by the host and BJP MLC Surinder Ambardar for Bob wherein he met members across regions and religions, representing the civil society, young lawyers, non-displaced Kashmiri Pandits, recently re-settled Kashmiri Pandits who returned to the valley on the Prime Minister’s reset-

EXCLUSIVE

London based academic transcribes ancient palm leaf folios in Telegu Rupanjana Dutta

restore hope to young children in remote communities that continue to be impacted by the aftermath of the Earthquake.

The money will be used towards the rebuilding of 22 schools (99 Classrooms) in rural and mountainous regions damaged by the Nepal Earthquake giving Nepali Children a chance of a real future through education.

Neil Shah, who organised the event said “Wow! It was humbling to see so

Bob and Nicola Blackman at Akshardham, Delhi

tlement package, young politicians, traders and members of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce.

In Jammu Bob received a grand welcome by local communities. He visited the Raghunath temple and the archives run by the Trust in the temple premises.

In a traditional programme organised by the J&K Ex services league and Dogra Sadar Sabha, Bob was welcomed along with Lakshmi Kaul, founder of

Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society UK and Manu Khajuria, Founder of Voice of Dogras as the ‘Daughters of the Soil’ for their contribution to raising the voice of the region in the UK. In a programme organised by the Department of History at University of Jammu, Bob had the opportunity to address the students. During his stay in Jammu, Bob met the founder of PDP, Muzaffar Hussain Baigh to gain an insight into the party’s

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Ragasudha Vinjamuri is not an unknown face in the British Asian circle. Multitalented academic tutor at the Sunderland university, she is also a writer, poet, journalist, a professional Bharatnatyam dancer and a mother to a lovely young girl. Associated with several community and cultural organisations, Ms Vinjamuri has a double post-graduate degreeMasters in Literature and Tourism Management.

She recently completed transcribing ancient palm leaf folios in Telugu held in the British Library since 1942 after a three-year effort, providing new insight into the life and work of the twelfth century theologian and philosopher, Acharya Ramanuja.

Born in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, Acharya Ramanuja was the leading expounder of Vishishtadvaita, one of the sub-schools of the Vendanta school of philosphy. The sub-school has a large number of followers in parts of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Vinjamuri's work is scheduled to be released in the print form at an event in the British Parliament in May to mark the beginning of Ramanuja Sahasrabdi (1000th birthday) celebrations. On 10th May, Rt. Hon. Bob Blackman, MP for Harrow East will be hosting this event at the House of Commons along with Sanskruti Centre for Cultural Excellence.

Leading organisations in the UK will come together to support and attend the event, which will also feature interesting speakers sharing their inputs on the day.

Describing how her work started and what prompted her to take this task on, an enthusiastic Vinjamuri said, “The cura-

perhaps came to me naturally and I am humbled for this historic opportunity.”

Exciting as it sound, transcribing the content from the folios on to the paper was not a cakework.

Some folios were badly damaged and needed Vinjamuri to extensively research and identify the missing content from those broken folios. Most importantly, she could ascertain the author of the work, with Ragasudha Vinjamuri the help of scholars tor of South Indian lanin India. guages at British Library, But Vinjamuri does not Nalini Persad came across want to just stop here. the palm leaf folios in “Being a woman, I have felt Telugu one day and had that some mythological invited me to look through. characters received little “As two of my pubattention though they were lished works are already associated with deities with catalogued in the British phenomenal significance,” Library, she was aware of she added. “I refer to charmy engagement with acters such as Lord Telugu language for few Krishna's daughter, Lord years now. After an initial Shiva's daughter, and King discussion on the content, I Dasharatha's daughter. gladly agreed to volunteer Many people are not even to work further on the aware of Krishna and folios. It took more than Rukmini's only daughter, three years for the entire or Lord Ganesha's elder transcription. sister or Lord Rama's elder “Since Telugu is my sister. mother tongue, I have writ“After researching and ten and published poems, referring to some texts and short stories, and articles puranas, I am immensely on Indian migrations to glad to be bringing their Mauritius, Burma and story out in the dance form, Britain. These works have titled "Unknown been published in different Daughters". I am very publications in India, UK, excited to share this with Mauritius and USA. wider audience very soon.

“The article on how “Another work on the Indian languages, especialjourney of a popular Indian ly Telugu and Marathi, origin MP in the British have been taught in Britain Parliament is in the way back in 1840s, got pipeline. I hope to compublished in prestigious plete the work tentatively publications during World by the end of the year.

Telugu Congress (inauguAdditionally, we are also rated by hon. President of bringing out one brief work India Pranab Mukherjee) of woman poetess and European Marathi Tarigonda Vengamamba, Sammelan. With this backwhich is currently unavailground, the chance to tranable in India.” scribe something in Telugu

founding and history. He called on the former Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Nirmal Singh at his residence too and met with the Indian diplomat and author, G Parthasarthy and retired Vice Air Marshal Kapil Kak. Bob met and interacted with a number of other intellectuals from the state.

He also met displaced Sikh community reps from the PoJK region as well as representatives of the Kashmiri Pandit community who are in the process of resettling in Srinagar.

In Delhi Bob met with

some key ministers and politicians including the National Security Adviser of India, Mr. Ajit Doval, Minister for External Affairs, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen V K Singh, Minister for Science and Technology, Dr Harshvardhan, Minister of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, Mr. Piyush Goyal among others. He also called on the Acting British High Commissioner, Dr. Alexander Evans OBE, shared his impressions of the state and discussed

concerns over security and travel advisory in the state of J&K for British Nationals.

He visited S w a m i n a r a y a n Akshardham in New Delhi to experience India’s ageless beauty, borderless culture and timeless values.

Both Bob and Nicola Blackman are regular visitors to the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in London, which they have been supporting for more than the last 20 years.

For full report see: www.asian-voice.com

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Pamper your mum on this Mother's Day! Sunday 6th March, we celebrate Mother' Day in the UK. Dedicated to all mums, it is a day to honour the bond you have with your mum, and show her how much she means to you. It's also a good way to show gratitude and be thankful to all the incredible women in your life.

Traditionally known as the Mothering Sunday, it is the traditional name for the fourth Sunday in Lent – three weeks before Easter – celebrated by Christians mainly in Europe, and is treated as a day to shower mums with gifts. Mother’s Day is its modern name – and now most common term used for the event, but the premise remains the same.

Top 5 last minute mother's day gifts or experiences, you may like to consider: • M o n o g r a m Personalised Initial Watch Heritage by Elle Elle £129

You can add a personal touch to these watches with your chosen initial.

Beautiful, quality watch with a gold or rose gold plating and genuine leather strap in your chosen colour. You can also get it engraved with a special date, message or set of initials. http://www.notonthehighstreet.com • Mother's Day Special Treat Hamper by Lottie Shaw's £40

It contains Award Winning Yorkshire Parkin, award winning ginger Parkin biscuits, Seriously Good caramel sauce, a rich fruit cake soaked in Stoodley Stout, our All butter shortbread biscuit box, a tiffin and millionaire shortbread slice. The hamper is presented in a burgundy corrugated tray with a clear acetate lid and finished with a burgundy bow. The hamper is then posted in a bespoke outer box for the h a m p e r . http://www.notonthehighstreet.com

• Mothers Day Spa Package for 2 from £35

Includes Back, Neck and Shoulder Massage, A File and Polish on Hands or Toes, Afternoon Tea, robes, towels, slippers and full use of leisure facilities. http://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/mothersday-gifts • Afternoon tea at Harrods for 2 from £88

Jaya Gajparia: talking sociology

SP

TLIGHT

Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

15

Racism needs to be called out at every level from the streets to the workplace

Sunetra Senior

To enjoy afternoon tea at Harrods is to experience a truly memorable level of luxury and attention to detail. Served in the recently refurbished Georgian Restaurant on the fourth floor of London’s most iconic department store, this is a treat that channels the glamour of 1920’s and 1930’s high society to spectacular effect.

Once seated, you’ll enjoy a selection of freshlyprepared finger sandwiches, tea pastries and desserts from the Harrods’ patisserie, and warmed scones served with clotted cream and a choice of rose petal jelly, strawberry preserve and homemade lemon curd. http://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/mothers-day-gifts Mother's Day MAC makeover £12.50 Your mum has always been there for you- your bestfriend and confidant, your teacher and your biggest

fan. Now show your mum how much she’s appreciated with a Mother and Daughter MAC Makeover and Photoshoot that celebrates your special bond.

At the end of the shoot you’ll have time to view all the images at your leisure, and as part of the treat you’ll receive one complimentary digital image to take home and keep. http://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/mothersday-gifts We at Asian Voice would like to wish you Happy Mother's day.

Jaya Gajparia is a lecturer of sociology and environmental sustainability at Ithaca College, London Centre and London South Bank University. She has spoken out as part of the Social Sciences Campaign and works with several front line women’s organisations in Mumbai, as well as being a mentor with the Aspire foundation. Hers is a discipline that interrogates the way we interact and perceive each other, and Gajparia dares to venture into the very depths of her territory: “Intersectionality is an important concept that allows me to articulate my experiences of prejudice” she told us. “I, like many women, am multiply marginalised and discriminated because of the colour of my skin and my gender.” Bringing together the overlapping narratives of sexual politics, class and race – for example in her excellent PhD thesis, which involved grass-roots interviews with ‘women and adolescent girls living in the slum communities of Mumbai’ as well as ‘upper and middle class women’ to show their relationship ‘with the lower socio-economic classes’ - she has contributed to contemporary research which could help us grow closer as a community. This includes an incredible sensitivity to nuance: “I coined the term capitalising on rapport comes from my experiences in conducting feminist social science research in the Indian city of Mumbai” she continued. “The concept tries to describe the guilt that I experienced when utilising rapport with participants many who were multiply marginalised, and consequently the problem area of defining ethical conduct when conducting primary research.” Infusing precision and rigour into emotionally charged matter, Gajparia shows how sociology continues to be a valuable empirical science. ent cultures, this can and should be From your research, studies and led by community groups in form of community work, what have you workshops or / and educational profelt could help to combat racism? grammes. I also think that racism There is structural, systemic and whether overt or nuanced needs to be everyday racism that operates and/or called out at every level from the is experienced simultaneously. For streets to the workplace. Political example, in recent history we saw this engagement is also key for instance with the Grunswick Strikes led couraknowing who you are voting for and geously by the late Mrs. Jayaben the policies the stand for, and of Desai’s where migrant women were course, reading widely, attending exploited in the workplace. An examprotests and volunteering for local ple of institutional racism that we can and national human rights organisasee today is within the police force tions can help combat racism. and racist immigration policies (Southall Black Sisters do a lot of In your Social Sciences ‘Raising work in this area). I personally am very Awareness’ video, you mentioned taken aback when I hear the ‘daily encountering ‘everyday’ prejudice mail’ hateful rhetoric confused with as an ethnic minority and a the reality within the Asian community. woman. Could you please elaboThere is lack of understanding and rate? compassion which is especially frusMy experiences have been varied, trating as not so long ago we, the but simply put: patriarchy is everyIndians were the migrants arriving in where. Most, if not all of our systhe UK and were being told to tems in society, are designed leave the country because we to benefit men. One examwere taking employment ple is the expectation put opportunities away from simply on Asian women to subthe locals. We could do put: scribe to the dominant a number of things: better listening to generate patriarchy is social construction of gender i.e. good wife a more comprehensive everywhere and mother. In particular, I understanding of differ-

have come up with the term ‘stop policing my womb’ to describe the pressures that the community, family and some friends put on women to have children and reduce their existence and ‘womanhood’ to becoming a mother (this is not to say that motherhood is not fulfilling or a wonderful thing to experience). So much so, that I have even been told that I am not to be considered a woman yet because I have not had children and therefore have no idea what it means to be a woman. When I began my phd research – for which I had received a full scholarship - I was also told on a few occasions that I had made the wrong decision and instead should be having a family. If the roles were reversed, no one would have questioned my husband.

You mention encountering a sort of ‘rough racism’ in the small town of ‘Oldham’ where you grew up. What do you think drives this?

Insecurity, lack of knowledge and understanding and hateful rhetoric in the press

You do a lot of work with the elderly; please tell us a bit more?

I am naturally drawn to older people and one of my favourite things to do is having a cuppa with someone in their 80s talking about their life history or just having a good natter about anything. There is a lot of research that evidences the need for people in the third age to keep active physically but also socially which has a positive impact on mental health.

Finally, what would be the single most powerful action people could do to help the environment?

Consume less of everything from fashion, energy to packaged and processed foods. www.theaspirefoundation.org

CASTE QUOTA CAST A DAR

16

SPECIAL

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Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Anand Pillai

India is growing and changing fast. But some traditional views are still in place.

Institutions like the caste systems have been outlawed, yet caste discrimination and segregation is still prevalent.

Economic data indicates in urban areas a wealth gap of 60% exists between people traditionally from the highest and the lowest caste.

So what is the Indian caste system and how is it affecting modern India?

Well, the caste system is a hereditary social hierarchy, also called the “Jati System” that has existed in India for nearly 2,000 years.

Historians think these social distinctions may be based in ancient Hinduism which delineates four major classes or Varnas.

On top are the Brahmins usually described as priests and scholars, then comes the Kshatriyas described as nobles and warriors, Vaishyas below them operate commercial businesses and then the Shudras below them are referred to as labourers or servants. And then there’s a fifth group completely ostracised from traditional Indian society “The Untouchables” now called the “Dalits”. This is the lowest caste and is relegated to undesirable jobs like cleaning sewers, toilets, etc. As they are considered impure, the Dalits have been regularly segregated from schools and religious temples. There are reports that some have even been punished for letting their shadow fall on those of the higher caste.

Experts think this hierarchy was not strictly adhered to in the region until the British claimed India as a colony and wrote the caste system into their laws. From there the system became more rigid and when India gained Independence from Britain in 1947, it was ingrained into the culture. Obviously, the Dalits got the short end of the stick in this historical arrangement, but in 1950s discrimination based on caste was outlawed and to help reintegrate the lower castes into the modern soci-

ety, the government later implemented affirmative action like quotas for certain jobs and university admissions.

Designated castes and tribes were guaranteed as per Constitution not only equality of opportunity but also positive outcomes, aided by quotas for educational institutions, government jobs and even seats in legislatures.

The quotas were a small step to make good the millions of victims who had suffered daily the injustices of

untouchability. Quotas were originally intended to expire after 10 years.

However, remnants of the caste hierarchy undoubtedly remained. A politician’s caste continues to be an important deciding factor for many voters, and marrying or acting outside of one’s caste continues to be taboo in many rural areas.

For India to become completely caste-free more education, government policies and social programmes may be needed.

The word “Dalit” comes from the Sanskrit root ‘dal’ which means “broken, downtrodden, or oppressed”. Those previously called Untouchables, Depressed Classes, and Harijans are today increasingly adopting the term “Dalit” as a name for themselves.

“Dalit” refers to one’s caste rather than class; it applies to members of those menial castes which have borne the stigma of “untouchability” because of the extreme impurity and pollution connected with their traditional occupations. Dalits are considered impure and polluting and are therefore physically and socially excluded and isolated from the rest of society.

How did caste come about?

Though many Hindus subscribe to the belief that one is born into a certain caste, this belief is not supported by their scriptures. The caste system in India has degenerated into a system falsely recognizing men born in Brahmin families as Brahmins, even though they don’t exhibit the qualities of Brahmins. This has caused

many problems.

In Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 4, Shloka 13), Lord Krishna speaks to Arjuna as he clarifies the origin and purpose of the caste system in sanaatana dharma (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Shloka 13). cāturvarṇyaṃ mayā sṛṣṭaṃ guṇakarmavibhāgaśaḥ. tasya kartāramapi māṃ viddhyakartāramavyayam.

“The four-fold order was created by Me according to the divisions of quality and work. Though I am its creator, know Me to be incapable of action or change.”

The four varnas are named – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. They constitute the four-fold order. The three gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas – and the law of karma – these four elements were divided by Me to create the four varnas.

The emphasis is on guna (aptitude) and karma (function) and not on jaati (birth). The varna or the order to which we belong is independent of sex, birth or breeding. A varna is determined by temperament and vocation – not by birth or heredity.

According to the Mahabharata, the whole world was originally of one class but later it became divided into four divisions on account of the specific duties. ekavarṇama idama pūrvaṃ viśvama āsida yudhiśthira. karmakriyāviśesena c a t u r v a r ṇ y a m a pratiśthitama.

Even the distinction between caste and outcast is artificial and unspiritual. An ancient verse points out that the Brahmins and the outcast are blood brothers. antyajo viprajātiśa ca eka eva sahodarah. ekayoniprasūtas ca ekasākhena jāyate.

In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira says that it is difficult to find out the caste of persons on account of the mixture of castes. Men beget offspring in all sorts of women. So conduct is the only determining feature of caste according to the sages.

“Untouchability” and caste-based discrimination are purely social evils not accepted or recognised anywhere in the Hindu scriptures.

The word “caste” is derived from the Portuguese word “casta” which means lineage, race or breed.

Many people still fail to see that the caste system was never an integral part of Hinduism, it was just created for structural purposes.

The classification (varna) embodied the mindset of a person. The Brahmins are supposed to be wise and well-read who understood the scriptures, who had the

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mindset of a seer. The Kshatriya varna had the mindset of a master, a Vaishya had a mindset of a trader and someone from the Shudra varna had the mindset of a follower.

It is crucial to note that in the Vedic times the classification was also transferable, a Brahmin could become a warrior and a Shudra could become a sage and vice versa. Sage Valmiki, was a robber who wrote Ramayana, sage Vishwamitra was once a king, sages Dronacharya & Kripacharya taught archery to the Pandavas.

The caste system neither enhances the Hindu philosophy nor is it essential to it.

It is fundamental to understand that all of us have a choice in choosing our varna based on our inclinations.

The rituals in the Vedas ask the noble or the king to eat with the commoner from the same vessel. Hindu philosophy emphasises equality of all mankind. ajyeṣṭhāso akaniṣṭhāsa ete sam bhrātaro vāvṛdhuḥ saubhagāyaa No one is superior, none inferior. We are all brothers, marching forward to prosperity.

Rg Veda (5.60.5) Historically, many of the revered rishis were Dalits.

The authors of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Maharishis Valmiki and Vyas respectively, were Dalits.

The following example illustrate that the Varna System of the Vedas was based upon one’s aptitude and natural capabilities. *Sage Vyasa, a Brahmin

sage and the most revered author of major Hindu scriptures, was the son of Satyavati, a low caste woman. Vyasa’s father, Sage Parasara, had fallen in love with Satyavati, a fisherwoman, and had married her. Vyasa’s deep knowledge of the Vedas later determined the caste of Vyasa as Brahmin sage, and not his birth to a low caste woman. *Sage Valmiki, the celebrated author of of the epic, the Ramayana, was a low caste hunter. He came to be known as a Brahmin sage on the basis of his profound knowledge of the scriptures and his authorship of the Ramayana. *Rishi Vasishta was the son of a prostitute, but honoured as a sage. *The Kauravas and Pandavas were the descendants of Satyavati, a low caste fisherwoman, and the sons of Sage Vyasa. Vyasa’s father was the Brahmin Sage Parasara, the grandson of Sage Vasishtha. In spite of this mixed heredity, the Kauravas and Pandavas were known as Kshatriyas on the basis of their occupation. *Chandragupta Maurya was from the Muria tribe, which used to collect peacock (mor) feathers. *Samrat Ashok was the son of a daasi.

In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira defines a Brahmin as one who is truthful, forgiving, and kind.

“A Shudra is not a Shudra by birth alone, nor a Brahmin is Brahmin by birth alone. He, it is said by the wise, in whom are seen those virtues is a Brahmin.

And people term him a

Shudra in whom those qualities do not exist, even though he may be a Brahmin by birth.”

He clearly points out that a Brahmin is not a Brahmin just because he is born in a Brahmin family, nor is a Shudra a Shudra because his parents are Shudras.

“It is asserted by the wise, in whom are seen truth, charity, forgiveness, good conduct, benevolence, observance of rites of his order and mercy is a Brahmin.”

Therefore, those that are wise have asserted that character is the chief essential requisite.

Adi Shankara had stated that by birth every human being is a Shudra. It is by education and upbringing that he or she becomes ‘twice born’, that is, a Dwija.

The Upanishads clearly states that the soul, whether of a Brahmin or a Chandal, is divine.

(Source: http://www.thehinduhub.org/blog/caste-system-thebane-of-hinduism; http://www.eaglespace.com/spirit/g ita_castesystem.php; http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Cast e_System6.htm; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldasia-india-35650616)

Quota in jobs and education: India’s Constitution has banned discrimination on the basis of caste, and in a bid to correct historical injustices and provide a level playing field to the disadvantaged, the authorities announced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in 1950.

How does caste work?

The upper and lower castes

RK SHADOW OVER INDIA SPECIAL Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

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Madhavsinh Solanki had stitched the KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim) alliance before the 1980 election that completely shifted the balance of power from PatelBrahmins-Baniyas to OBCs, Dalits and tribals in the caste constellation of the prosperous Gujarat state.

Madhavsinh, a four-time Chief Minister who rode to power on the KHAM coalition, managed to alienate upper castes in the state.

It was under Madhavsinh’s rule in 1985, when as a result of the KHAM effect, the Congress got a landslide in the state assembly with 149 seats out of 182.

In Gujarat the parties recognise the electoral importance of this section.

Mandal Commssion Report: On January 1, 1979, the Morarji Desai government chose B P Mandal, a former Chief Minister of Bihar, to head the Second Backward Class Commission. Mandal submitted his report on December 31, 1980. By then, the Morarji Desai government had fallen. It remained

almost always lived in separated colonies, the wells were not shared for water, the Brahmins would not take food or drink from the Shudras, and one could marry only within one’s caste.

Traditionally, the system granted many privileges on the upper castes while sanctioning repression of the lower castes by the elite.

Despite the obstacles, Dalits and other low caste Indians such as B R Ambedkar who authored the Indian Constitution, and K R Narayanan who became India’s President, have risen to hold important positions in India.

During V P Singh’s government in 1989, quotas were extended to include a grouping called the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) which fall between the traditional upper castes and the lowest.

Jat community members are upset at the caste quota system, as they say it puts them at a disadvantage in government jobs and at state-run educational institutions.

Last year the Patel community led agitations in

Gandhiji at the Roundtable conference in London in 1931.

colony. Ambedkar was really Gandhi’s nemesis. He challenged him intellectually, politically and morally.

Dr B R Ambedkar was a beloved figure, particularly among the Dalits or people who are formally known as Untouchables i.e. people right at the bottom of the caste ladder.

Ambedkar left a complicated legacy. He was a revolutionary leader, newpaper editor, politician and eventually helped in the drafting of the Indian Constitution.

He was the chairman of the drafting committee. He was very unhappy with the Constitution when it came out. In some way it left out the passion, the anger and the rage that drove Ambedkar and this was a fight against the caste.

The Annihilation of Caste: The Annihilation of Caste was a text of a speech Ambedkar never delivered.

It was written in 1936. He was invited by a Hindu reformist privileged caste organisation called the Jat-

Rajiv Goswami immolating himself in protest against the Mandal Commission Report implementation, in Delhi in 1990.

Gujarat demanding access to caste quotas. Both Jats and Patels are prosperous and politically dominant communities, but they support their demand for quotas by saying a huge number of people in their communities are poor and suffering.

Quota was meant to be a temporary affirmative action plan to improve the lot of the downtrodden.

However, it has now become a vote-grabbing exercise for many a politician.

KHAM votes Veteran Gujarat Congress leader and ex-Chief Minister

Jat agitation causes mayhem at Rohtak in Haryana (India).

in deep freeze during Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure.

On August 7, 1990, then Prime Minister V P Singh announced in Parliament that his government had accepted the Mandal Commission report, which recommended 27% reservation for OBC candidates at all levels of its services. With the implementation of the report, Other Backward Classes made its way into the lexicon of India’s social justice movement.

Soon protests against the OBC quota began in Delhi.

In September, Rajiv Goswami, a Delhi University student, immolated himself, sustaining 50 per cent burns. He survived the immolation bid, but soon a number of youths followed suit.

Doctor and the Mahatma: The conflict between Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B R Ambedkar began a long time ago but it came headto-head in the 1930s when India was still a British

Pat Todak Mandal. He gave the text in advance when they asked him to and when they read it they realised Ambedkar was going to use their platform to denounce the sacred texts of Hinduism and to call upon the Untouchables to renounce Hinduism and embrace any other religion that does not discriminate against human beings in this way. As a result, the invitation to him was cancelled. Then he published the Annihilation of Caste as a text. Gandhiji responded to that text. And Ambedkar responded to that response.

Today 100 million peo-

ple are counted as Untouchables.

Untouchables were not allowed to use public roads used by the privileged class, not allowed to drink from the common well, not allowed into Hindu temples, not allowed to privileged caste schools, were not allowed to cover their upper bodies, were only allowed to wear certain kinds of clothes and jewellery.

Some castes like the Mahars, the caste to which Ambedkar belonged, had to tie brooms to their waist that would sweep away their ‘polluting’ footprints, while others had to hang spittoons around their necks to collect polluted saliava.

Men of privileged caste had undisputed rights over the bodies of Untouchable women. In many parts of India all this continues to this day.

Ambedkar called Hinduism a chamber of horrors – for the Untouchables it’s a chamber of horrors. He says: “There cannot be a more degrading system of social organisation than the caste system. It is a system that deadens, paralyses and cripples people from helpful activity.”

Gandhiji disagreed. He believed caste represented the genius of Indian society.

In his Gujarati journal Navjeevan in 1921, he wrote: “I believe that if Hindu society has been able to stand it is because it is founded on the caste system. To destroy caste and adopt the Western European social system means Hindus must give up the principle of hereditary occupation which is the soul of caste. The hereditary principle is an eternal principle. To change it is to create disorder. I have no use for a Brahmin if I cannot call him Brahmin for my life.

It will be chaos if everyday a Brahmin is changed into a Shudra and a Shudra is changed into a Brahmin.”

Gandhi campaigned against untouchability. But caste is about entitlement, access to resources, right to study, access to water and land. These things Gandhiji never questioned.

Unlike racism and apartheid, caste is not colour-coded. It is not easy

17

to see. Caste is not the same as race but casteism and racism are both forms of discrimination that target people because of their descent.

To support caste is very much like supporting racism or apartheid.

When Ambedkar called upon Untoucables to give up Hinduism, Untouchables were about 44 million at that time.

During the Mughal reign, hundreds of Untouchables had converted to Islam, later to Chritianity and Sikhism to escape the scourge of caste.

Who will represent Untouchables?

The question was who will represent the 44 million Untouchables?

Hindu reformists Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Ram Krishna Mission all spoke out against untouchability but not against caste. The whole idea was to bring these 44 million into Hindu fold but to keep them in servants quarters.

Ambedkar was against caste. He lobbied for Untouchables to represent themselves or form their own political constituency.

This is what Gandhiji and other privileged caste reformers did not want. It is this battle of political representation that was at the core of conflict between Gandhiji and Ambedkar.

Ambedkar led Mahad Satyagraha on 20 March 1927 to allow Untouchables to use water in a public tank in Mahad (currently in Raigad district), Maharashtra.

Dalits marched through the town to insist that Dalits should be allowed to drink water from a public tank. They drank water from the public tank. The Brahmins purified the tank by pouring cowdung. Gandhiji did not support the Mahad Satyagraha.

Speaking in the same year in Lahore, Gandhiji said Untouchables should try to get their way by sweet persuasion because when they do Satyagraha it actually amounts to ‘Duragraha’.

In 1930 the first rountable conference was held in London. The British government called this conference in order to devise a constitution for home rule. There were representatives from Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and for the first time the Untouchables represented

by Ambedkar. The Congress party run by privileged caste Hindus, Brahmins, Baniyas were boycotting it because of the salt Satyagraha (Dandi). That was when Ambedkar developed this brilliant proposal for double vote. He said Untouchable people should be allowed to vote for their own representative Continued on page 18

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Caste quota cast a dark shadow over India Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Continued from page 17 and then they should be given another vote to vote for a general representative for a period of 10 years until they can develop themselves into a constituency. The British and every one there accepted that.

Then there was a second rountable conference in 1931 when Gandhiji was nominated by the Congress to represent them. It was at this conference that Gandhiji and Ambedkar had their first confrontation. But before the official confrontation the two met.

Ambedkar was a vociferous critic of the Congress party which according to Gandhiji amounted to being critic of the home land.

Ambedkar told Gandhiji that “I have no home land.

No Untouchable worth his name would think of this as his home land.”

And then at the conference where Gandhiji said: “I in myself in my own person represent India’s 44 million Untouchables.” He refused to acknowledge that Ambedkar could have a voice or could ask for this separate constituency. He agreed about Muslims, Sikh, Christians but Untouchables will not have a separate constituency.

Ambedkar believed Brahminism and capitalism were the real enemies of people. Caste is not a division of labour but division of labourers.

Who are the Jats, and what are they demanding?

Jats are an agricultural caste group in Haryana, and seven other states in North India, notably Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. In Haryana, they are the predominant caste, and therefore politically influential. The Jats across Haryana are demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions under the OBC category.

Patidars in Gujarat: On July 6, 2015, Hardik Patel, 22, started an agitation under the banner of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti to demand the inclusion of Patidars in the OBC list. A huge rally in Ahmedabad on August 25

Hardik Patel leading the Patidar agitation in Gujarat.

led to caste riots. At least 9 Patidar youths and one cop was killed.

Patidars, who are farmers, are counted among Gujarat’s wealthiest communities. They have nearly 14% of the vote share. They have applied to the Gujarat OBC commission seeking OBC status.

Kapus in Andhra On January 31, sidelined former TDP leader M u d r a g a d d a Padmanabham called a meeting of Kapus to demand the TDP government fulfil its poll promise to include Kapus in the BCs

list. The crowd turned violent, set a train and vehicles on fire. The government has been dragging its feet in giving guidelines to the K L Manjunath Commission constituted to recommend the inclusion of Kapus in the BC list without disturbing the existing quotas. Kapus constitute 23.4% of the population of AP. Legal issues involved in granting reservation to Jats: On March 17, 2015, the Supreme Court quashed the UPA government’s decision to extend the OBC

How did a Portuguese word Caste become so inextricably linked with Hindus of India?

It turns out that it is a British invention. The idea of Hindu Castes is based on third hand information contained in a manuscript titled Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies bought by Lord William Bentinck (Governor General of India 1828 to 1835) from a Frenchman JeanAntoine (Abbe) Dubois.

The Hindu Caste System was invented by colonial bureaucracy of the British Raj in order to deal with the Hindu majority who they defined as 'having no religion – heathen' because Hindus did not identify themselves as Christian, Muslim or Jewish. Because Hindus were the majority, this introduced the concept of 'minority religions' in India that had to be protected. For Hindus, Caste meant occupation because you had to have an occupation so that the British Raj could collect revenue (taxes). In cases where a relevant occupa-

tion could not be allocated, an ancestral occupation was invented. Those who did not fit in or comply with this system were allocated the designation of Criminal Caste. Thus this bureaucratic system became the prism through which everything to do with Hindus (as indigenous people of India), was dissected, examined and then reconstructed to fit in with the European idea of not who, but what a Hindu was i.e. a Caste designation. The Caste designation was then used as a yardstick to decide whether or not a particular Caste group (not individual) 'measured up' to the European Caste mindset.

For Hindus what this meant was that without a Caste designation you could not work and if you did not work you were designated Criminal Caste.

(Source: The European Caste Mindset – Anjana N Patel)

quota in central government jobs to Jats, refusing to accept that Jats were a backward community. As a result, the reservation introduced for Jats in Haryana and in Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand was set aside.

In April 2015, the NDA government filed a review petition in the Apex Court against the March 17 verdict. A decision on it is pending.

Jat Reservation Background While the Jat community wants their much-awaited reservation quota, the Haryana government has said that the Jats will be granted reservation in the coming assembly under special category. Many think the Jat reservation is not justified as they are not low caste.

When the Mandal commission was implemented in August 1990, the Jat community was not included in the Other Backward Classes list. Surprisingly, the Jat leader Devi Lal was the Deputy PM in the V P Singh government that had implemented the Mandal Commission recommendations, still the Jats were left out.

Seven years later, Jats in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh demanded that the Jat community should be included in the central list of Other Backward Classes.

However, the demand was turned down by National Commission for Backward Classes.

A year later after the protest, National Commission for Backward Classes recommended the Jat quota reservation under the OBC category.

However, the I K Gujral government in the late 1990s didn’t pay any heed to it.

In 1999, during the Rajasthan elections, Atal Bihari Vajpayee promised OBC status to the Jat community in Rajasthan. The promise paid rich dividends and the party won 16 seats out of 25.

The BJP government under A B Vajpayee delivered its promise and grant-

Prabhu woos women with new schemes Indian Minister Suresh Prabhu's second railway budget presented on 26th February, saw an optimistic set of announcements that leaned mostly in favour of women.

Prabhu announced a 33 per cent sub-quota for women in all reserved categories on trains, and announced middle bay of all coaches to be reserved for them, to enhance security. A 24x7 helpline will be set up specifically for women, and for those with kids. The minister said that

a children's menu as well as baby food and hot milk at railway stations would be introduced. 'Baby boards' will be put up in trains where new mothers can change diaper with ease.

Several new passenger amenities were announced, like automatic doors and a new pan-India Clean My Coach Service, which will enable passengers to SMS request for their toilets to be cleaned. The passengerfriendly initiatives announced in the budget got women across the

country rooting for Prabhu.

Presenting the budget, Prabhu said the government would launch 44 new projects, valued at £9.21 billion, with enhanced efforts to monitor all the projects, in some cases even using drones. “The railways will generate 90 million man-days of employment in 2017-18 and 140 million man-days in 2018-19. Rail budget 2016 is a story of transformation, Prabhu announced. To make the sector an “engine of employment and economic

growth” the minister said two locomotive factories would be set up at a cost of £4 billion each. “On the subject of 'Make in India', we have bid for two locomotive companies with and order book of £4 billion.”

To improve quality for the consumer, the government will also spend £85 billion on modernisation of the railways over the next 5 years. The minister said he wants to increase e-ticketing speed from 2,000 tickets a minute to 7,200 a minute, and announced

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews ed the Jats the OBC status in Rajasthan except Bharatpur and Dholpur.

This encouraged the Jats of other states to demand the OBC quota.

The political parties knew the weak point of Jats in Haryana by now and so nearly all the parties promised them reservations under the OBC category. Congress’s Bhupinder Singh Hooda too had promised Jat reservation, but the Congress government after winning the elections didn’t keep its word. This led to protests and Jat agitation, but at a lesser scale.

Four years later, the Jats finally formed a committee to fight for their demand. Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti was born whose main work was to organize protests and rallies. This is when the violence started when they started destroying public property.

Almost all the states in India with a substantial Jat presence started demonstrations in their states.

However, when the demands were not met, they organized bandhs, halted trains and burnt public property.

In 2014, just before the assembly elections, the Hooda government in Haryana okayed the Jat reservation a day before the national election along with other 4 castes under Specially Backward Class quota. However, the Apex Court and National Commission for Backward Classes refused the Haryana government’s quota recommendations.

After the 2014 elections and prior to Haryana elections, even the ruling BJP government supported Hooda’s decision.

However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court turned down the Hooda government’s plea to give the Jats a 10% reservation.

After the violent Jat agitation in Haryana this year with death toll rising to 19 and 200 people being injured, the Manohar Lal Khattar government has agreed to give Jats a reservation under special provision.

Ideally the Jats cannot demand reservation on the basis of their caste.

that as many as 1,780 automatic ticket vending machines will be installed.

Announcing partnership with Google, Prabhu notified the commission of WiFi in 100 stations this year and 400 others next year.

Also announced was the laying of 2,500 km of broad gauge lines to be completed in the running year, 30 per cent higher than that of the previous year. To take the projects forward, the Cabinet has approved joint ventures with 17 state governments. “Bankable railway projects are now assured of funding and should be completed in the

AsianVoiceNewsweekly So why do Jats still want what they want?

A simple answer to this would be unemployment.

They need quota not because they feel their caste is backward but because India's economy has not been able to provide sufficient job opportunities to the youth. Hence, their caste has become a reason for them to wreak havoc for quota.

Who is responsible for the current impasse?

The accountability for the current impasse squarely rests with some of the past and the present political leadership. The problem is India has a good political tradition of first giving a cause to people, making tall and false pre-poll promises, and then failing to keep the word once the elections are over.

Rohith Vemula suicide: “The value of a man was reduced to his immediate

Rohith Vemula

identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind.”

These were the departing words of Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula. Vemula’s suicide on January 17, 2016, has revived the caste debate across the country.

If India wants to change – then both caste discrimination and reservation system based on caste have to be taken off from Indian schools and the mindset of people in India. The biggest faultline in the provisions of the Indian Constitution, however, well intentioned, it may have been, which gives politicians both advantage and disadvantage by prohibiting a correct stand on the question of quota and reservation which has proved to be counter-productive and divisive – a serious threat for the wellbeing of a nation.

(Guided by CB Patel) next 3-4 years. To ensure no projects are ignored or lagging, we intend to use drones and GPS for monitoring physically remote projects.”

Other announcements included, overnight 'Uday' double-decker trains, Antodaya Express long-distance superfast train for unreserved passengers, Aastha circuit trains to connect important pilgrim centres, ticket cancellation through phone calls, separate toilets for “divyaang” people, GPS-based displays inside coaches, “rail speed network” to provide real time info to passengers, etc.

REAL ESTATEVOICE Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap A Property Investment Company

Quick! Grab them before they go!

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19

In this article we will examine the demand for London property from two points of view, one from recent statics from PWC and the other a more local source, feedback from the seminar we held last week. Both show the thirst for property ownership is strong, and likely to grow even further into the future. Therefore, if you’re still sitting on the fence you might want to get off before it really is too late and London property as an investment becomes completely unattainable.

The Sow & Reap seminar last Thursday in Wembley was well attended with attendees from as far as Preston. The question and answer session which lasted for well over an hour showed the appetite amongst the crowd was serious. This was not a docile crowd, questions ranged from the impact of the Chinese demand dampening for London property to several questions surrounding the tax implications due to come in from 2017. The crowd ranged from your very novice investors to those who are very savvy and have been in the game for over 30 years.

One very enthusiastic lady entered the venue nice and early. I happened to be passing by the entrance and she asked me where the seminar was and I pointed the way, and told her there would be a charge of £50 for attending, which she was even happy to pay! Although this was just in jest, as there was no fee to attend the seminar.

One poor client who although had been reading our articles for five years, had prior to this event decided to take the plunge and invest in Spain, presumably after having been marketed to very cleverly. Over time his investment declined, to 25% of its original value. He had a chance to offload prior to it dropping to this level, however he didn’t as he couldn’t bear to face the loss and so held on until the loss became even larger.

He no doubt has seen the errors many people have made first hand. London properties did not drop 75% even during the worst crisis in recent history, in 2007-2008 the property prices reverted to what they were a couple of years before this time and that too for a very short period. Before they resumed their march onwards and upwards.

He is now committed to looking to invest in London property through ourselves, and has now become reformed. Through our regular missionary and preaching effort we work tirelessly so people avoid these traps of thinking the grass is greener elsewhere, it is not. The gold is here at your fingertips, you’re lucky to live in London and have direct access to invest in such a strong, fluid and vibrant property market. The rest of the world wants a piece of this pie and yet there are those who think there is a better option to be had elsewhere. It’s simply a myth.

The seminar was basically in two parts, one explaining why London is the place to invest and the other showing how we can help to add value. Both in terms of our ability to get deal flow and through our network to enhance planning and ability to reduce risk in a transaction.

A recent report from PWC show patterns of home ownership in London are changing fundamentally. In 2000, almost 60% of Londoners owned the home they lived in (either outright or with a mortgage), with around 40% renting from either private landlords or the social sector. New analysis from them shows that by 2025 this could be reversed, with only around 40% owning their home, and around 60% renting, mostly from private landlords.

Previous research highlighted the rise of private renting across the

Real Deal The

UK, particularly amongst 20-39 year olds (‘generation rent’), and predicted its continuation throughout the next decade.

There is a fundamental lack of supply which is not likely to be satiated. And will actually increase over time. It is expected the number of households will increase by 525,790 by 2021 yet the supply for new homes is expected to be at only 277,240. This is compounded in Central London boroughs where due to supply constraints the supply will be less than half of the demand.

The reasons why this is occurring is the city’s population is rising and fast. In February 2015 it surpassed its previous peak of 8.6 million, which it last reached in 1939.

Affordable homes are dropping, inevitably the result is spiralling home prices. After a rise of 5.4 percent in January 2016 alone, the average home price for the city is now £643,843. The current median annual salary in London now stands at roughly £34,000. This mismatch makes buying a home impossible for most people, since a mortgage will only give you five times your salary which equates to £170,000.

It’s no wonder that renters are now surpassing homeowners. Many of the latter group would themselves never have been able to purchase their homes if they’d started as first-time buyers at today’s prices.

The above paints a picture of the London market which is fast becoming an unattainable investment. Properties in other parts of London rise but not to the level the West End does.

We currently have secured three studios in prime parts of London in the region of £500,000. The deposits for these can be put in the deal either by way of cash or by way of refinance of an existing property.

These are studios in prime locations, one in High Street Kensington and the other in Lancaster Gate, the third deal is on the verge of being finalised.

The rental that can be achieved for the above is strong, the actual occupancy rate of a studio in Central London is 98.6%, the 1.4% time its empty is when there is work being carried out. They rent fast - usually in hours. I met the man who had commissioned this research, he owns over 1000 studios, that’s all he focuses on and with good reason.

The increase in rental demand means the demand for occupancy will grow from strength to strength. This means the amount of rent charged will increase.

These deals have been sourced due to our presence in the local area for nearly 15 years. These are deals which could be sold many times over if they were to touch the open market. They are safe, I can’t imagine a studio in London can drop much in price and the rental is the most robust for any property in the UK. If you are interested in these studios, then call our office now and grab them before they go!

Kensington, London, W8 Purchase Price: £492,500 l A charming ground floor studio flat in a highly sought after block l Long lease l Portered block l High ceilings l Close to Kensington High Street and Notting Hill Gate with many excellent shops, restaurants and transport facilities l Properties in this location are being sold for £1,350 per sq. ft. and above while this is coming in at around £1,240 per sq. ft.

Call us now to secure this deal!

0207 993 0103

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now:

Specialists in

Central London Property Sourcing

info@sowandreap.co.uk

www.sowandreap.co.uk

27 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8HU

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Tips of the Week

l The mantra for property is always Location, Location, Location! Property in a good location will attract quality tenants and strong capital growth. l Ex Local Flats in London are excellent for income, with low service charges and long leases they generally won't eat into your rent unlike many other flats.

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ASIANVOICE

Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Consultant Editor Financial Voice Alpesh Patel

Dear Financial Voice Reader, I write to you from San Francisco; the home of venture capital in America. I’ve just judged a competition by the British Government of Indian companies looking to raise venture capital and establish a base from the UK. Are you thinking of getting into business? Or launching your own venture? Or raising money?

Here are some critical factors to bear in mind: 1. Momentum It’s important to have gained and show some momentum, where it is in customers or partnerships.

You cannot appear to be moving slowly – else why would anyone be interested?

2. Money It’s ironic, but money attracts money. The more your company is earning or has already, the easier it is to get more. The reason is that it is proof that it works and people like to follow success. You are probably thinking, ‘how am I supposed to do that, without the money behind me?’ I know, life sucks. Beg, borrow, friends, family, fools, credit cards.

3. Remove pain, or give pleasure Every successful business ever invented did one of these two things. Ulitmately it is humans who decide to pay for something and these are human emotions.

Even Facebook –gives pleasure. Google, removes pain.

Apple, does both, but mainly gives pleasure.

4. Be polished There are great websites out there which will help you craft the business plan and pitch slides. This is important because otherwise a good idea is lost in a rubbish presention.

5. Future proof (for a while at least) What is different to the competition you are doing, and why can it simply not be copied, yet can be scaled larger and larger.

I’ll give you an example of all of the above from my own experiences, not as a private equity fund manager that invests in other companies, but one of my own.

I realised, belatedly, accidentally, that I’ve spent my life trying to remove people’s problem of knowing what to buy and when to sell it at a profit. So I listed every single obstacle they have, everyone, from knowing these things, to trusting the person, to being able to do it with small sums of money, and having someone hand hold them for life.

So I created a piece of Financial Technology to support them, but with human mentoring – for life – from me. As it was from me personally, others could not replicate the brand, trust, expertise, but it also meant I had to be expensive – so profitable, very profitable.

The product flies off the electronic shelf. I’m even amazed. But removing peoples problems is the road to billions when those problems are global and relate to the trading the markets.

So, as I said, here I am in San Francisco to meet venture capitalists.

Honda opens world's largest scooter plant in Gujarat Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India has inaugurated its fourth manufacturing plant in Vithalapur, Gujarat, expanding its total manufacturing capacity to 5.8 million units per annum.

The inauguration was graced by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, Noriake Abe, Chief Operating Officer- Asia and Oceania Regional Operations, Shinji Aoyama, Operating Officer and Director and COO, Motorcycle Operations, Honda Motor Co, Keita Muramatsu, President & CEO, HMSI, and Toshinobu Motai, Chief Production Officer, HMSI, among others.

The £110 million 'Scooters Only' plant would manufacture the company's largest selling Activa and Dio models, and is a “green” manufacturing facility that

would effectively use natural light, cutting down power bills by an about 21 per cent.

V Sridhar, senior vice-president and director, Corporate Office Production, said, “Apart from one-third of the total plant area of 250 acre being a dedicated green zone, this scooters-only plant of Honda will be using a lot of natural light and LED lighting which will help cut the power bills by as much as 21 per cent.” The facility is located around 80 km from Ahmedabad. It will consume about seven mega watt of power to run operations and also have an integrated zero liquid discharge facility like the one that exists in Karnataka. “In Gujarat, about 40 per cent of the two-wheelers sold are scooters. Even after 15 years, the demand for Activa models has not gone down,” Sridhar said.

www.asian-voice.com

India's growth estimated at 7 to 7.5% AsianVoiceNews

The Economic Survey ahead of India's budget has called external environment challenging, although projecting a 7-7.5 per cent growth rate in the next fiscal which could accelerate to 8 per cent in a couple of years. The ES also made a case to carry forward the reform process to achieve macroeconomic stability.

After a 7.2 per cent economic growth in 2014-15, the expansion in economy will be 7.6 per cent in the current fiscal, making it the fastest in the world.

However, the ES cautioned that if the world economy remained weak, India's growth will face considerable headwinds. On the domestic front, two factors can boost consumption, increased spending from higher wages and allowances of government workers if the 7th Pay Commission is implemented.

The Survey enumerated three downside risks - turmoil in global economy could worsen the outlook of exports, contrary to

expectations oil price rise would increase the drag from consumption and the most serious risk is the combination of these two factors. “One of the most critical short term challenges confronting the Indian economy is the twin balance sheet problem - the impaired financial positions of the public sector banks and some corporate houses. The twin balance sheet challenge is the major impediment to private investment and a full fledged economic recov-

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

ery,” the Survey said.

Indian stocks are relatively resilient despite volatility in the worldwide financial markets and the country can become a leading investment destination going ahead, said the Survey. “The (Indian) market has rebounded time and time again, and it is hoped that as the global financial markets settle down, India can become the leading investment destination owing to its robust macroeconomic fundamentals.”

Jaitley gives opportunity to Cairn and Vodafone India's finance minister Arun Jaitley offered a onetime chance to foreign investors to settle long pending tax disputes, that will help companies like Vodafone and Cairn Energy to settle contentious tax issues arising out of retrospective amendments that have been pending for over three years.

“I propose a one-time scheme of dispute resolution for them. They can settle the case by paying only the tax arrears in which case liability of the interest and penalty shall be waived,” he said while presenting the budget. Media reports suggested that later, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the comments were directed towards Vodafone and Cairn which owe £2.1 billion and £2.05 billion respectively, in taxes.

Arun Jaitley

However, if both the companies settle the case under the latest government scheme, they will have to pay only the original tax demand of about £800 million and £1.02 billion respectively. The one time settlement requires the company to “withdraw any pending case lying in any court or tribunal or any proceeding for arbitration, mediation, etc. under BIPA”.

Partner of Ashok Maheshwary & Associates,

Ashok Maheshwari said, “It's a good move considering that they (government) have not recovered a penny till now in such cases. Some companies may pay up and buy peace to avoid long term litigation costs. The move is in line with the P Shome committee recommendations.” Vodafone has initiated international arbitration proceedings under BIPA against the government claim under the bilateral investment treaty taxes as capital gains levy for its purchase of Hutchison assets in February 2007.

Government claims that Vodafone should have deducted capital gains tax when it made the USD 11 billion payment to Hutchison while purchasing its India assets. While the argument was invalidated by the Supreme Court in Feb 2011, the then

government introduced retrospective tax in that year's budget, prompting Vodafone to challenge the validity of the claim. A company spokesperson said, “We will of course study the detail of what the Finance Minister has proposed today, while continuing to seek resolution of this matter through international arbitration.

Vodafone has always maintained that there was no tax to pay at the time it completed its acquisition of Hutchison's business in 2007. This view was upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court of India in January 2012. Furthemore, Vodafone was the acquirer in this transaction. The company made no capital gain whatsoever. Given the clarity of the India law in force in 20017, there was no legal basis to withhold tax.”

Residency status for overseas investors The government has decided to open up the food retail business to overseas investors and also to grant residence status to foreign players, which will go beyond five-year visas.

“This will be like permits you get in Dubai. We are trying to address this concern that was expressed by many people,” said industrial policy and promotion secretary Amitabh Kant.

The details would be thrashed out in consultation with the home ministry and MEA, but

investors with investment beyond a specified limit would get residence per-

mits.

In the Budget, the government eased FDI rules for several sectors, including allowing overseas players to enter the food retail arena.

The steps are seen to have gone beyond the policy on multi-brand retail pursued by the UPA, but sources in the Modi

government defended it arguing that the move was meant to benefit farmers.

In addition, it permitted 49% foreign investment in insurance and pension sectors via the automatic route. There were also sops for stock exchanges, some of which are planning to list, such as BSE. The investment limit for overseas investors in Indian stock exchanges has been enhanced from 5% to 15%, bringing them on a par with domestic institutions.

FICCI hails proposal to support rural economy FICCI president Harshvardhan Neotia commended the government for focussing its priorities on farmers and agricultural sector while formulating the budget. “Overall the budget proposal are in line with the development priorities of the nation. The Finance Minister has made a strong attempt to pump funds in the rural economy and the infrastructure sector. This would yield dividends and we foresee a multiplier effect in the form of demand generation and employment creation over time. The state of the

Harshvardhan Neotia

agriculture sector on account of two consecutive years of monsoon failure was precarious and it deserved the attention that was needed.”

He added, “Additionally, we see a lot of emphasis on affordable housing segment which will also result in forward and backward linkages and thus propel growth.

Sticking to the fiscal framework is another major plus and should offer comfort to the international community. Attempts towards tax simplification and improving the tax litigation framework are also noteworthy.”

“By committing itself to doubling farmer's income in five years, the government has ensured that all steps will be taken that

would fortify the viability of the agriculture sector in the coming years. Creation of a Long Term Irrigation Fund, a further push to the Soil Health Card Scheme, incentivising production of pulses, implementation of a Unified Agriculture Marketing Scheme and bringing on board more states to reform the APMC Act are encouraging initiatives. FICCI has been highlighting the importance of these moves for long and is happy to note that these will now be taken up in right earnest by the government.”

CURRENCYVOICE

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX,

Brexit driving sterling down Currency Specialists.

The fragile pound lost nearly 1% against the USD last Tuesday with further uncertainty over Britons EU membership. Furthermore, the UK Inflation Report released yesterday made clear that the Bank of England could cut interest rates to zero if the UK was put in a “position where the economy needed additional stimulus”. However, in Carney’s words, there was “no intention and no interest” towards setting negative interest rates such as the likes of Japan and Switzerland to boost growth and inflation. This is because of the damaging effects that negative interest rates would bring to building societies. Overall, the wording and tone of the report indicates that Carney will and can, if necessary, drop interest rates to zero and offer additional asset purchases.

Later on in the week, increasing anxiety of the Brexit has driven sterling down to a new seven year low. We saw the pound fall to its lowest levels since February 2009 against the USD . We also saw GBPEUR drop by 0.58% .The pound tumbled as cabinet ministers clashed over the legal strength of Britain’s new deal with Europe.

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde state that “she fears uncertainty will hurt growth, at a time when the world economy is already fragile.

She also expressed her fears that

21

Foreign Exchange

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

both Britain and Europe would suffer if the UK quits the EU. Analysts warned that a rise in the cost of imports following the collapse of GBP would lead to inflation increasing. This would result in the bank of England having to raise interest rates.

The analysts also warned that the ensuing turmoil would knock 1.5 percentage points off GDP growth in 2017, losing almost all the 2.3% growth rate estimated by the Bank of England expects should the status quo be maintained. “Our central case in the event of a vote for Brexit is that uncertainty grips the economy. This could take around 1.0-1.5 percentage points off the GDP growth rate by the second half of 2017. This would push our 2017 growth forecast, currently 2.3%, into the 0.8-1.3% range,” the analysts said.

British voters will be casting their vote on the 23rd of June to decide if Britain should stay in the EU or not. However concerns over the systemic consequences are growing as a Brexit would massively threaten the huge foreign investment flows and the UKs current account deficit – one of the biggest in the developed world.

On Monday, we saw the GBP strengthen against all major currencies. British mortgage approvals hit a two-year high in January and

consumer credit expanded at the fastest pace in a decade. Consumer credit also grew by 9.1 percent yearon-year in January, picking up speed from December to hit its fastest pace since January 2006. Britain's economic recovery is still heavily reliant on spending by households many of which have been buoyed by strong growth in the value of their homes.

European stocks declined for as sliding oil prices stoked investor concern about global growth.

Miners led the losses, taking their two-day decline to 9.5 percent, the most since August. BP and Royal Dutch Shell fell more than 2.8 percent as oil spent more of the day down after Iran dismissed a proposal by Saudi Arabia and Russia for producers to freeze output.

European automakers and banks, the weakest groups this year, were also among the worst performers on Wednesday. Furthermore, German consumer confidence survey came out stronger than expected at 9.5 versus 9.3, while Euro Area CPI data came out in line with expectations. In terms of price action, the euro underperformed this week, on fears a British EU exit could mean more uncertainty for Europe. There was some attention on Thursday on a fall in inflation expectations, which bodes ill for the ECB's battle to refloat the econ-

omy. The euro zone central bank's favoured measure of longer-term market inflation expectations fell to a record low below 1.4 percent on Thursday. It has fallen about 0.3% this year due largely to lower oil prices. People have started to price in the risk that the ECB will do more than previously assumed, but so far impact on the euro has been rather muted. German preliminary CPI MoM decreased to 0.4% against a forecast of 0.6%.

Nevertheless we saw EUR strengthen against GBP due to the Brexit situation but down 0.8 percent against the dollar, given the strong USD figures from Friday.

Also, inflation eurozone turned negative in February boosting expectations that the European Central Bank will unveil another stimulus package at its next policy meeting on March 10. Statistics agency Eurostat said consumer prices across the region were down 0.2 percent in February from the year before, against a 0.3 percent rise the previous month. The decline was way more than anticipated the consensus in the markets was for a drop to zero.

The decline is largely due to a big decrease in energy costs, which were 8 percent lower in the year to February against the previous month's 5.4 percent drop.

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 1st March 2016 @ 2.45pm

GBP - INR = 94.50

USD - INR = 67.81

EUR - INR = 73.63 GBP - USD = 1.39 GBP - EUR = 1.28

EUR - USD = 1.08 GBP - AED = 5.11

GBP - CAD = 1.88

GBP - NZD = 2.11

GBP - AUD = 1.94

GBP - ZAR = 21.92

GBP - HUF = 397.20

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

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22

WORLD

In Brief

Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

25 killed as two planes crash in Nepal

KATHMANDU: Twenty five people were killed when two planes crashed in Nepal recently. In the first incident, a Tara Air plane that took off from Pokhara crashed on a forested mountainside killing all 23 people on board. In the second incident two pilots were killed when an aircraft belonging to the private sector Kasthamandap Air crashed in far western Nepal's Kalikot district, an official said. Pilots Captain Dinesh Neupane and co-pilot Santosh Ranaa were killed when the 9N-AJB chartered flight that took off from Nepalgunj city crashed while landing in a farmer's field near the top of a mountain.

Trump's wins causing concern

WASHINGTON: The continuing triumphs of Republican hopeful Donald Trump is raising serious questions about the long term future, especially on the international arena. The question being asked is should Trump triumph?

Trans-Atlantic match making

LONDON: More and more rich singles are falling in love with Trans-Atlantic match making – George and Amal Clooney, Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell, Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes.

Pravin Gordhan launches attack

PRETORIA: Pravin Gordhan, South Africa's Finance Minister, launched an extraordinary attack against political enemies who he believes are trying to intimidate him prior to the budget this week.

Pakistan hangs ex-governor's killer, sparking tensions

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hanged the convicted killer of a former governor who was shot in 2011 by his bodyguard who accused him of blasphemy. Former police officer Mumtaz Qadri was on guard duty for secular Governor Salman Taseer who was campaigning in support of a Christian woman jailed for years on allegations of desecrating Islam's holy book, the Quran. Qadri repeatedly shot at Tasser at a marketplace, and later told the authorities that he killed the governor because he spoke out against the blasphemy laws. The execution has triggered protests in several cities who denounced the hanging after religious and political leaders, as well as militant groups publicly defended the killer. Schools were closed down in the capital and Rawalpindi in fear of violence by the executed persons' supporters.

7,000 Hindus listed as Muslims

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has wrongly documented almost 7,000 Hindus as Muslims on their national identity cards, as per a group of NGOs. Malaysia Hindu Sangam presiden Mohan Shan said the problem was widespread throughout Peninsular Malaysia and involved mostly practising Hindus from the lower income group. Eight Hindu NGOs together said they were assisting 500 Hindus, while some 7,000 others throughout the country were affected by the “system failure” in which anybody who wishes to change their official religious status from Islam, must first receive permission from the Shariah Court.

Sikh forced to remove turban

SAN FRANCISCO: An Indo-Canadian Sikh comedian was asked to take his turban off during a security check, just weeks after a SikhAmerican actor was barred from boarding a flight in Mexico for refusing to take off his turban. Popularly known on the internet as 'JusReign', Jasmeet Singh posted about the incident on Twitter saying, “So the (agents) made me take off my turban in extra screening or they said I wouldn't be able to let through to catch my flight.” He further tweeted, “After finding absolutely nothing wrong because a turban is just cloth and the whole thing is stupid I ask for a mirror to tie it back again. The agent tells me there are no mirrors and that I can just walk down to the terminal to the nearest rest room without my turban on.”

www.asian-voice.com

2 US senators oppose F-16 sale to Pak AsianVoiceNews

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration's decision to sell eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan has faced severe opposition in Washington. At least two US senators have announced that they intend to try and stop the sale despite the fact that the administration has vetted the deal with backdoor approvals.

Senator Rand Paul along with colleague Bob Corker, the senate foreign relations committee chairman, opposed the sale saying he has introduced a resolution of disapproval seeking to halt all arms sales to Pakistan. If passed, the measure would also stop the F-16 sale, which needs to be approved by the Senate before March 12. They seem to be backed by veteran senator John McCain, who said, “I would rather have seen it kicked over into the next administration,” adding that he was “conflicted” on the timing of the announcement. “This is really a tough one for me and for a lot of people. I think the timing was really bad on this issue,” he told the Defence Writers Group, asking for a hearing

by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where the administration will have to explain and defend the deal to a country many lawmakers believe uses terrorism as a policy tool.

California Congressman Ami Bera said, “Pakistan must prove it is taking substantive steps to go after all terrorist groups in the country before we move forward with the sale of F-16s. So far, Pakistan has not shown willingness to go after groups like the Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is why I cannot support a sale at this time.” He also added that if the sale was proceeded, US taxpayers should not subsidise the cost of the F-16s. “If Pakistan wants to buy the planes they should pay for them.” Talking about the

administrations' timing to press for the supply of the lethal fighter jet, a congressional insider said it was possibly a legacy issue, leftover from the Bush administration when Washington contracted to sell 36 F-16s to Pakistan.

Under the original contract, Lockheed Martin was to manufacture 12 F-16C plus 6 F16D for Pakistan, as part of the larger deal. However, no timeline was given for the induction of the full complement of jets.

“No one likes to deal with Pakistan. This is just to kick the relationship over the next few months,” the source said.

“This is really a tough one for me and for a lot of people. I think the timing was really bad on this issue,” McCain said. “It is not that far away.

You know that F-16 issue has

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

been hanging out there for four-five years.

I think we could have waited a little longer.”

Most of the Congress thinks that long-term strategic ties with India are far more important than with troubled Pakistan. “I think that the future of Asia, if we want to have the kind of influence that we always had and deterrence to the Chinese behaviour is a very close relationship between the US and India. Which by the the F-16 issue complicates that,” McCain said.

On this side, India has decided to oppose the latest sale to Pakistan, although eight F-16s does not materially alter the balance of power.

Indian sources conjecture that US may eventually get the deal through given its exigencies in Afghanistan, “but that's no reason for us to make it easy. This is a matter of our security and the overall perception of our ties with US.”

Islamic State bomb supply chain includes 7 Indian firms ANKARA: A study found that companies from 20 companies are involved in the supply chain of components that end up in Islamic State explosives, indicating that governments and firms need to do more to track the flow of cables, chemicals and other equipment.

The European Union-mandated study showed that 51 companies from countries including Turkey, Brazil and the United States produced, sold or received more than 700 components used by Islamic State to build improvised explosive devices.

Conflict Armament Research, which conducted the 20month study said that IEDs are now being produced on a “quasi-industrial scale” by the militant group which uses both industrial components that are regulated and widely available equipment such as fertiliser chemicals and mobile phones. NATO member, Turkey shares borders with Iraq and Syria; both controlled by the Islamic State,

and has boosted security to prevent the flow of weapons and insurgents to the terrorist group. A total of 13 Turkish firms were found to be involved in the supply chain, the most in any one country, followed by India with seven.

CAR executive director, James Bevan said, “These findings support growing international awareness that IS forces in Iraq and Syria are very much self-sustainingacquiring weapons and strategic goods, such as IED components, locally and with ease.”

The study also found that

the IS is able to acquire some components in as a little as a month after their lawful supply to firms in the region. The sale of the cheap and easily available parts is far less scrutinised and regulated than the transfer of weapons.

“Companies having effective accounting systems to establish where the goods went after them would act as a deterrent,” Bevan said. He also stated that the Turkish government refused to cooperate with CAR's investigation so the groups was not able to determine the efficacy of Ankara's regulations regard-

ing the tracking of components. CAR gained access to the components through partners including the Washington-backed Kurdish YPG in Syria, the Iraqi Federal Police, the Kurdistan Region Security Council and forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Companies linked to the components were contacted, however, they either did not respond or were not able to account for where the goods went after they left their custody.

Seven Indian companies manufactured most of the detonators, detonating cord, and safety fuses documented

by CAR. Those were all legally exported under governmentissued licences from India to entities in Lebanon and Turkey, CAR found.

Companies from Brazil, Romania, Russia, the Netherlands, China, Switzerland, Austria and Czech Republic were also involved, the report found.

Pakistan sets up JIT to probe Pathankot attack ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has set up a five-member Joint Investigation Team to probe the Pathankot airbase terror attack, a week after it lodged and FIR into the incident.

The team would visit the airbase next month to gather evidence subject to permission by the Indian government to conduct its own investigation.

The team comprises Punjab Counter Terrorism Department Additional Inspector General of Police Muhammad Tahir Rai, Lahore Deputy Director General Intelligence Bureau Mohammad Azim Arshad, Inter-Services Intelligence Lt

Col Tanvir Ahmed, Military Intelligence Lt Col Irfan Mirza and Gujjaranwala Investigating Officer Shahid Tanveer.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani daily has reported that the country is doing just enough for neighbouring country India to resume the dialogue process. In an editorial 'All For Show', The Nation stating that the anti-terrorism court sentenced two Jaish-eMohammad members to 10 years in prison for raising funds for the banned outfit, said, “With relations between India and Pakistan balanced on a knife's edge, one wonders if this crackdown is a

strategy to improve relations between both as a form of appeasement to India, or a genuine effort to limit terrorism in Pakistan.”

Conviction of Kashif Siddique and Rashid Iqbal is possibly the first time members of terrorist outfit JEM have been convicted under the Anti-terrorism Act. The paper said that the state wants to convey that dialogue resumption between both the nations is a priority for the government. “The past few days has seen the government pick up its pace with regards to the Pathankot investigation. While the two convicted seemingly had nothing to do

with the attacks themselves, Pakistan is looking to do just about enough for India to resume the dialogue process.

It remains to be seen whether India will take this bait, however. This action is not likely to soften the Indian government's expectations of Pakistan.”

The editorial also said that it must be remembered that bringing JeM down “may help in the talks process, but benefits Pakistan more in the way of eliminating a prominent terrorist outfit. It is axiomatic that Pakistan cannot hope to eliminate terrorism from its soil and leave such groups unscathed.”

WORLD Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

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Musharraf to face treason trial alone, rules Pakistan SC ISLAMABAD: The apex court of Pakistan has accepted former Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar's appeal to exclude him from the probe into the case launched against Gen Musharraf for imposing emergency in 2007. In further trouble for the former military ruler, the Supreme Court ruled that only he should be tried on charge of treason. The three-member special court trying Gen Musharraf on November 27, 2015 directed Federal Investigation Agency to reinvestigate the case by including ex-Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, former

Minister Zahid Hamid and ex-Chief Justice Dogar.

However, names of the three others were removed from the list. Justice Dogar had challenged his inclusion in Islamabad High Court which was rejected on December 12, 2015.

However, he again challenged it in the Supreme Court which annulled a special court's decision to include the new names in the trial. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said, “A fresh investigation into the said offence by associating any person with the same lies within the prerogative of the Federal Government.” The court also

asked the three-member panel to complete the trial as early as possible. Accused Gen Musharraf was indicted in April 2014, but there has been no progress in the case for various reasons. He had come into power in 1999 by deposing then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and ruled till 2008, when he was forced to resign. Musharraf lives in Karachi with his daughter. He is not allowed to leave the country under an order by the court.

Musharraf, who was recently admitted to a hospital, moved an application in the Supreme Court to let him go abroad for treatment.

23

Nawaz Sharif took money from Osama, claims book ISLAMABAD: A book titled 'Khalid Khawaja: Shaheed-i-Aman', written

by Shamama Khalid, wife of former ISI operative Khalid Khawaja claims that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif received money from al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden to contest elections against Benazir Bhutto in 1990.

The book says that Sharif's pledge to introduce an Islamic system attracted Osama. “Chief of PML-N Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif received funding from Osama bin Laden, founder of alQaida, to contest against

Nawaz Sharif

Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party after the end of Zia regime,” the book claims.

However, even after receiving massive funds, Sharif backtracked from all promises after coming into

power, said a report. The book also carries a note from former Inter-Services Intelligence director general, retired Lt-Gen Hamid Gul that says that Khawaja was very close to Sharif for some time.

The book also said that Palestinian Sunni Abdullah Azzam, also known as the 'Father of Global Jihad', introduced Khawaja to the al-Qaida head honcho. It further reads that Khawaja was killed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban while he was on a peace mission in the restive tribal areas.

Nomination deadline

British High CommissionerDesigate listens to young people on Pakistan's future

All entries and nominations must be received before midnight on 29 March 2016.

Finalists will be announced in May 2016.

NOMINATIONS OPEN NOW!

Are you a UK Based Charity who seeks to solve the most pressing social issues of our time, both in Britain and globally?

Nominate yourself for the Asian Voice Charity Awards 2016 by visiting our website www.asianvoicecharityawards.com

The British High Commissioner-Designate, Mr Thomas Drew CMG, hosted a group of young, inspiring students from leading universities from across Pakistan at the British High Commission, Islamabad.

All the students were part of the British High Commission’s Youth Advisory Board, which was launched from the Great Debate competition. The members of the Board consist of the finalists of the competition that ran from September 2015 to December 2015 by the British High Commission in leading Pakistani Universities across four provinces and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The Board gives a unique platform to generate debate among young people around issues concerning them and to give advice on the UK’s work on education and engagement with young people in Pakistan.

The British High Commissioner-Designate also presented scholarship awards to Gadhaun Aslam of the Forman Christian College Lahore who won the Great Debate competition and to Iza Afridi from the COMSATS University Abbotabad, the first runner up of the competition.

Speaking at the meeting with Youth Advisory Board, the British High Commissioner-Designate to Pakistan, Thomas Drew CMG said: “I am delighted to meet the British High Commission’s first ever Youth Advisory Board today

and very impressed to hear their views about various issues concerning to them.

“Young people of Pakistan make up twothirds of its population.

They have a vital role to play in ensuring economic, political and social progress.

Listening to this group of unique and gifted students, harnessing their ideas, enthusiasm and expertise will help us better engage with young people in Pakistan and promote a culture of debate among this country’s future leaders.

“I believe that Pakistan has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape itself to be the kind of country its people want. I hope the young people of Pakistan will continue to generate a wider conversation about the kind of Pakistan they want in 2047.

That is 100 years from the birth of Pakistan. It is also when the young people of today will be leading Pakistan.”

Thomas Drew began work as the British High Commissioner-Designate on Monday, and this event was one of his first engagements since arriving in Islamabad. The British High CommissionerDesignate has previously served as Political Counsellor in the British High Commission, Islamabad. Since then he has been the National Security Director in the Foreign Office and the Principal Private Secretary (Chief of Staff) to Foreign Secretaries William Hague and Philip Hammond.

The Awards ceremony will be held on Friday 20th May 2016 at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London

Award Categories

For Charities and Not-for Profit Institutions

I Charity of the Year

This award recognises a UK-registered charity for their outstanding work and contribution to society, as well as demonstrated excellence service and achievement in its work over the last five years.

There is are no criteria on the annual income, but the charity must demonstrate consistently delivered outstanding service for their size and yearon-year-growth I Start-Up of the Year This award is similar to Charity of the Year, but specifically for charities that have been operational for three years or less.

I Outstanding Achievement

This award recognises an individual who has demonstrated dedication, professionalism and integrity throughout their career, and who has produced an identifiably profound effect on the sector in the UK or otherwise through their work and management over at least a 15-year period.

I Most Enterprising

This award recognises a social enterprise or the trading arm of a charity that has made a significant difference to beneficiaries through its ability to generate income to meet its social goals over the last two years.

I Fundraising Campaign This award awards an overall campaign that used a variety of innovative fundraising approaches to display real quantifiable results to achieve or exceed its targets in the last 12 months.

I Outstanding PR Team

This award recognises excellence in charity PR, either in-house at a charity, or an agency undertaking a PR campaign on behalf of a charity.

Benefits of the specific PR campaign must be proven to show extensive press and media coverage in the last 12 months.

For Charity/Corporate Partnerships:

I Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility

This award recognises the best corporate partnership and corporate responsibility programmes. It honours a company which goes beyond simply CSR projects to engage in partnerships in the last two years with either UK-registered or international charities, social enterprises or unincorporated charitable projects, to demonstrate quantifiably positive impact to the community.

The partnership should demonstrate significant positive outcomes and impact, as well as innovation in its approach

I Consultancy of the Year

This award recognises a consultancy firm that has demonstrated a real commitment to the sector and sector organisations in its work, showing a real worth

in sharing its expertise during the last 12 months.

The work could take a range of forms: such as on the overall strategic direction of a charities, advisory services for philanthropy, social impact assessments, M&A activity, change management, leadership and development, business planning for charities and social enterprises. It could also relate to work not for one organisation, but more widely, such as thought leadership that has driven positive change in the sector.

I Investment Management Award

This award recognises excellence in the professional services offered to the sector, showing evidence of real quantifiable investment returns, especially within the last 12 months, but also within a wider timeframe context, and show a real understanding of the investment needs of charities, with which they work.

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Over 1,000 tattoo Amma's image on their arms Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

CHENNAI: To mark the occasion of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's 68th birthday, over 1,000 party cadres tattooed her image on their arms.

Organiser Velachery MLA M K Ashok had planned the event for around 668 people, however, the numbers rose to 1050. “I have a tattoo of Amma that I got made two years ago.

Many youngsters saw that and wanted something similar. I thought why not celebrate Amma's birthday with her tattoos, so that we can show our undying love by

permanently having her image and name. Today, I tattooed the word Amma too,” he said. K Premalatha of Tharamani said that even though she had been a party member since 1989, she could not get the opportunity

Cops, crew lock Bengaluru girl in bus BENGALURU: In a shocking incident a design school student was allegedly locked inside a municipal corporation bus by the crew along with a few policemen and a mob. The crew allegedly told the woman that they would only release her if her friend, who had fled after a clash with the conductor, returned.

Yelahanka police inspector NR Nagaraj also allegedly told the girl not to file a police complaint when she approached the station later.

The woman was returning home from college, sitting in the ladies section with her male friend standing next to her on the bus. The conductor raised objection to the boy standing there. In a Facebook status, the student described her ordeal saying, “I was detained alone in a local bus by the conductor, driver and a few police inspectors just outside the NES, Yelahanka police station. I was coming home from college, like I usually do, when the conductor started to pick a fight with my

north-eastern friend and began to abuse him for standing by my side in the middle section.” She said, “The conductor began to poke and push my friend who pushed back and made the conductor fall on the floor. That's when a mob of people started forming around my friend... and so he began to get worried and ran away.”

She elaborated on the incident and was finally released after she called some other friends. DCP PS Harsha said, “Conductor Uma Shankar was arrested and a case registered against him.

Police asked her to file an FIR but she chose not to pursue the complaint.”

Police book Hooda's aide for instigating jats CHANDIGARH: In a significant development, the police have booked Prof Virender Singh, a close aide of former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda, and a Khap leader Capt Man Singh for instigating people to resort to violence during the Jat agitation for reservation. Meanwhile, the death toll, during the violence has reached 30 and the number of injured has risen to 200, said Director General of Police YP Singhal. The violence has affected at least 10 districts in Haryana. A police spokesman said 13 of the deceased were killed in Jhajjar district, 8 in Sonipat, 5 in Rohtak, 2 in Jind and 1 person each in Kaithal and Hisar.

Singhal said the army requisitioned by the state government to control the protests would slowly start withdrawing from the affected areas.

“Normalcy is fast returning to the state. All railway tracks and highways are functional.

Anyone found to have indulged in arson, hatching a conspiracy, or vandalism won't be spared,” he said. The DGP said

Bhupinder Hooda

that 713 FIRs were registered and around 133 people were arrested. The Jat community protests for quota swiftly went out of control as several government buildings, private shops, malls, educational institutions, hospitals and showrooms were set on fire by mobs.

Hundreds of shops were looted and lit. A trade and industry body has pegged the losses in Haryana at around £2 billion.

The event has put ruling Bharatiya Janta Party in a soup as not only the Opposition, but even the netizens slammed BJP for their failure in curbing the situation. The Haryana police have been accused of not reacting to the situation in time and ensuring safety of people and property as the violent protesters had a field day in arson and looting.

to get the tattoo. “I wanted something permanent to show my love to Amma and what better way than a tattoo. Several of my neighbours, who are not party cadres too came as they love Amma.”

Diamond Rajini, a gypsy from Vellore, said the organisers gave fresh needles for each of the participants and good imported red, green and purple colours. “We are all Amma’s and Thalaivar’s fans.

I have tattoos of the ship that was featured in the Tamil movie 'Aayirathil Oruvan'

and MGR and the two-leaves symbol of the party,” he said.

Senior party leaders and Ministers, including O Panneerselvam, Natham R Viswanathan, R Vaithilingam, Edappadi K Palaniswami, P Palaniappan and B Valarmathi, participated in the event organised on the eve of Jayalalithaa’s birthday.

The tattoos read 'Amma everything for us'. If reports are to be believed, birthday celebrations for the CM already began a month earlier.

Had lost mental balance, says Madras HC judge NEW DELHI: Justice C S Karnan of the Madras High Court has admitted that he had issued an “erroneous” order due to his “mental frustration resulting in the loss of his mental balance”, after courting controversy by staying the CJI's order asking for his transfer to Calcutta High Court.

In a letter to the Chief Justice of India and two Supreme Court judges, Justice Karnan stated that he was “disturbed” due to various incidents where he was “ridiculed” by some judges. He also said that “hereafter, I will continue to foster a harmonious attitude to one and all, and will appreciate your kind reciprocation and oblige.” Karnan gave two instances of “harassment and ridicule” against him to make his point and said he had sent a complaint to the chairman of National Commission of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other high dignitaries, three years ago. He stated that the media had reported the

C S Karnan

incident and “urged me to reveal the names of the judges who indulged in such ugly pranks but I refused to do so only to uphold the sanctity of the judiciary and also maintain communal harmony.”

Justice Karnan had stayed his transfer order on February 15, which made the apex court ask the Chief Justice of Madras High Court to not assign any judicial work to him. It also suspended Justice Karnan's order and made it clear that all administrative and judicial orders passed by him after the issuance of proposal of his transfer from Madras high court to Calcutta high court shall remain stayed till further orders.

7 booked for rape of women in Haryana NEW DELHI: Seven men were booked for rape after a woman based in north Delhi lodged a complaint in wake of allegations that several women were sexually assaulted on NH 1 at Murthal in the Sonipat district of Haryana during the Jat quota agitation last week.

The woman alleged that she was dragged out of a van near Murthal, stripped and raped by the men inside a building. Her 15-year-old daughter, too, was pulled out and her clothes torn but the men did not sexually assault her, the survivor told Haryana Police DIG Rajshree Singh, who is heading the panel probing the alleged attacks.

Haryana police were reluctant to link the FIR with the alleged Murthal rapes, believed to have taken place in the early hours of February 22. The Delhi woman alleged she was raped the following day, in the early hours of February 23, police said.

Officers also said there seemed to be a family dispute as the woman claimed she knew all her rapists, one of whom was her brother-inlaw.

Earlier, the Haryana police have formed a threemember all women committee to inquire into the alleged sexual assault of women. The development occurred a day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the victims to come forward and file complaints directly with chief judicial magistrates.

The incident came to light after reports appeared in a newspaper that said protesters dragged women passengers out of their vehicles and allegedly raped them in fields near the National Highway in Murthal.

In Brief

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Nadella's life story to be taught in AP schools

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh has added the story of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, as a part of the high school curriculum from the next academic year. The state council of educational research and training has included Nadella's life story in the new nondetailed textbooks for Standard VIII. Satya Nadella originally hails from the state's drought-prone Anantapur district. The 48 year old is probably the first living personality to be included in the textbooks in the state. With a humble and down-to-earth personality, Nadella has always stayed rooted, even after he was made CEO of the company by Bill Gates in 2014. He was an average student of a public school, and has not trained with any of the prominent B-schools or IITs.

Siddaramaiah in soup over £ 70,000 watch

BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pushed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah into a corner over the £ 70,000 worth watch he received as a gift, calling for a probe into the matter. The state's BJP leader S Prakash said, “When you break a law, making amends and then saying that I am clean is not acceptable. He should have declared the moment the watch was gifted to him. Source of the gift and why it was gifted, he should have declared in much earlier. Now, he is doing it as an afterthought. This means that he has accepted the crime committed.” He asked, “he should be punished. Inquiry must be held for the source of this watch. Does the government have the account of all the expensive gifts he has received?” After he faced flak for the expensive piece, he had reportedly decided to declare it as an asset before the Income Tax Department and the Lokayukta.

Army helps girl tie knot in violence-torn Rohtak

ROHTAK: Giving us more reasons to love and respect them, the Indian Army helped a 23 year old take her wedding vows, amidst major violence in the epicentre of the Jat stir, Rohtak, Haryana. As both the girl and her fiancé's family were too scared to step out of their houses due to brutal vandalism and protests, even the police found themselves helpless. However, the Army took matters into their hands after a soldier from the 3/5 Gorkha Rifles battalion got to know about the woman's situation. Not only did an entire column of soldiers escort the bride and her family to the Gurdwara, they also stood guard outside, while the couple tied the knot. Neha Makkad's mother and her husband have expressed gratitude to the soldiers saying that the family was indebted to the army. The wedding could not have been postponed due to religious reasons.

Kejriwal visits Punjab to boost his party’s chance

CHANDIGARH: Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has started his five-day visit to Punjab to boost the political prospects of the party. Received by top AAP leaders in Sangrur town, he addressed the media saying, “I am starting my five-day trip of Punjab today. I will be visiting villages and meeting with common people.”

He added, “We will meet families affected by the drug problem. We will try to understand their problems. We will meet families of farmers who committed suicide and understand their problems too. The AAP philosophy is that we meet people, listen to their problems and find solutions.” Kejriwal visited Ferozepur and Faridkot districts on February 26, Khadoor Sahib, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts on February 27, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts on February 28 and finally went to Ludhiana, Fategarh Sahib and Patiala districts on February 29.

INDIA Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

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THE SPIRIT OF MAHATMA

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Dr Rizwan Kadri

Dr Rizwan Kadri is a young historian known for his research on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Dr Kadri is currently working as an Associate Professor in Shree Swaminarayan Arts College, Ahmedabad. He is also a Ph.D. (History) guide in Gujarat University and Raksha Shakti University. During his academic career Dr Kadri has won many awards such as the ‘Gujarat University Gold Medal’, ‘Sanskar Award’, Jawaharlal Memorial Fund, New Delhi, Meritorious Prize. He is also known for his inspiring lectures, particularly on the Indian Freedom Struggle and Sardar Patel which made him very popular among the scholars as well as common people. In his English translation “The Spirit of Mahatma” Dr Kadri has added a new perspective to the relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his personal secretary Mahadev Desai, who was like a son to him. Dr Kadri chanced upon this very valuable source of information while going through the file preserved in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

Asian Voice has been publishing Dr Kadri's translation in a series from 20th to 26th February issue.

T

hat day Colonel Bhandari and Colonel Shah had also come.

Colonel Bhandari had also summoned the Civil Surgeon.

But what can a doctor do when Yama, the God of Death, had taken over? (411-1943) Sushila used all that was at her disposal. Colonel Bhandari ran around a great deal, many medicines were administered, but to no avail. Mahadev breathed his last.

When all the doctors said, “There is no life left in

this body”, I said, “Let us take Mahadev to the adjoining room.” That room was cleared of other things.

Colonel Bhandari telephoned to find out where the cremation should take place. I had already expressed my wish, “Mahadev was like my own son. His last rites must take place like my own son. If the Government wants the cremation to take place out of the jail, I want it to be before my own eyes. I do not want to take any political mileage of his death. For me, it is a religious rite. I

can say that I want to be with the body alone and I want to light his funeral pyre.” What transpired in bits and pieces over a time, I have written here in short and in essence. The final decision did not come about with ease. The Government said that they will take over the body and get Brahmans to perform the last rites, but I cannot be released out of the jail to attend the ritual.

But I remained firm

Part - III

that the body will not be taken out of my sight and that I will lit the pyre.

Finally it was decided that the last rites will take place just opposite the Aga Khan Palace, where the Brahmans will be summoned. The death had

Saraswati Samman to honour bright students with cash/citation awards Who wants to date mediocrity in an era of academic excellence? However, there are only a few islands of academic brilliance floating in a sea of mediocrity. The reason is – very few chase excellence. The secret of joy in academics is contained in one word – excellence. And achievers of excellence go the extra mile and stand out from the crowd.

In the past, with a good report card you received a parental pat on the back, but now it could also be cash in your pocket. Motivation is the key to educational success. And surely one of the best ways to generate motivation is by offering rewards. The Rt Hon Lord Dholakia PC OBE DL and Karma Yoga Foundation will honour the Indian subcontinent students – who have excelled in 2015 A level examinations – with Saraswati Samman at a function in House of Lords on March 14, 2016. The award ceremony will begin at 4 pm.

UK-settled high grade achieving students (for A levels) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – irrespective of religion, caste or creed – were invited to furnish their results.

The winners will be

felicitated with awards on the occasion.

The following cash rewards would be given on the occasion: £2,500 to the Best (Platinum) Achiever (Total £2,500). £1,001 each to 3 (Gold) Achievers (Total £3,003) £501 each to 5 (Silver) Achievers (Total £2,505) Why Saraswati Samman?

In the Indian culture Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge and arts, represents the free flow of wisdom and consciousness.

Saraswati is the daughter of Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. It is believed that Goddess Saraswati endows human beings with the power of speech, wisdom and learning. She has four hands symbolically representing four aspects of human personality in learning – mind, intellect, alertness and ego.

Saraswati Samman is the first such initiation to encourage excellence in education within Asian community irrespective of caste or creed. We got representations from substantial number of students in the first year itself.

Lord Dholakia and other jury members have reviewed the shortlisted nominations and finalised the names of the winners.

Mr Kanti Nagda, Trustee/Secretary of Karma Yoga Foundation, said: “I am glad that Karma Yoga Foundation has started a process of encouraging A level students by not only honouring them but giving a cash prize which they can use to enhance their further studies. The fact that this is going to be an annual event will enable more A level students to participate in 2016 round.”

Karma Yoga Foundation is a modest effort by a private business which allocates sizeable sums for various human service activities, including promoting education.

Lord Dholakia said: “I am delighted to sponsor the Saraswati Samman programme at the House of Lords. Unlike other awards, this event is to recognise the remarkable educational achievement of our students in the United Kingdom.

Education of children is at the heart of all parents. I know of families who have sacrificed their income so that their children can build a promising career for themselves. We now know that they feature on a par with all other high achieving students. The award is one way of saying thank you to them.

Well done. Saraswati has been on your side. Let us hope that Laxmi will follow.”

taken place between 8.30 and 9 a.m. The above dispute took some time.

Everyone skipped food. The body was taken for a bath and Sushila and myself gave him the bath. His clothes were washed and kept aside for Narayan.

The body was wrapped in a jail sheet and taken to the cleaned room. We applied sandalwood paste on his forehead and a thin layer on the whole body.

Miraben arranged flowers on and around the body. A lamp of ghee and dhoop (incense) was also lighted up.

The Superintendent, Khan Bahdur Kateli brought lots of flowers which were arranged around the body.

Sushila and myself began reciting the Gita near the body.

We sang “Vaishnavajan” hymn before reciting Gita. At about 4 pm the body was given the last rites in the open ground on the eastern side of the Palace.

I had carried the funeral clay – pot, leading the procession. The Brahmans who came now, picked up the body and carried it to the site, chanting the name of Ram. Sarojini Devi, Kasturba, Miraben, Sushila, Colonel Bhandari, Colonel Shah, Major Advani and Khan Bahadur Kateli were present on the occasion.

The working prisoners and soldiers were also present.

Everyone had lent a helping hand with much love and care. Pain, sorrow and serenity was writ large on everyone’s face. Everyone appeared to have realized the real value of Mahadev.

Within a short period Mahadev had won the hearts of everyone, young and old, including the soldiers who had begun to consider him a part of their family, such was his nature.

The four officers already knew Mahadev whom they had come across in his earlier jail sojourns.

Ba, who had displayed extraordinary courage so far, broke down when I ignited the funeral pyre.

Sushila had to get hold of her. Although Sarojini and others tried to console her, Ba could not stop crying her heart out. Ba always considered Mahadev as her son.

Recounting the numerous services that Mahadev had provided, Ba’s main worry was what she would tell Durga, his better half, what would become of young Narayan; how could Mahadev leave this world while she still lives on. And so on. (5-11-1943) Such anguish was difficult to pacify. It had now begun to rain. The main part of the body had already turned into ashes, so we left the area and returned to the Palace. We thanked the officers and they took their leave. Everyone was very

25

sad and grieved, I too wept that night. Our mourning continued throughout the night.

Next day when we visited the funeral area, we found that although the pyre was wet, there was still some ember burning. We collected the ashes and while we kept a bagful, we sent the rest to the Brahmans who were to arrange for them. The bagful was for Durga. I kept a bit of the ashes in a bottle and used to smear my forehead with some ashes everyday, but afterwards I left this habit deliberately, although I continued to visit the funeral site every morning and evening and offer flowers there. We now read the 10th Chapter of the Bhagvad Gita daily in the mornings. A platform of 7’ x 3’ x 3’ has been constructed where Mahadev was cremated. It has a decoration of the figure of OM in small conch-shells, and we offer flowers. Most of the time Sushila does the decoration.

The gardener usually provides flowers.

Thus Mahadev’s memory continues to remain fresh. The reason behind this is to remind everyone about the excellent qualities of Mahadev and that they should also be part of their own lives; May everyone be greeted as naturally by Death while doing his work as he did.

Amitabh to lend his voice for light and sound show of Somnath temple A new version of the popular light and sound show of the Somnath temple will feature the voice of veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan. The temple trust's general manager Vijay Chawda said that the show would be upgraded.

“The current version has voices of Bollywood actors Amrish Puri and Paresh Raval. The next show will be in a three dimensional version and have Amitabh

Bachchan's voice. The Tourism Corporation of Gujarat has already talked to Bachchan in this regard and he has given his nod,” said Chawda.

The entire upgrade will take nearly six to eight months to take shape.

While the script is currently being prepared, the dubbing will take place in two to three months, as per Chawda.

Amitabh Bachchan is the brand

ambassador of Gujarat Tourism and his 'Khusbu Gujarat Ki' advertisement has been commended by all.

The laser based light and sound show, which throws light on the historic and mythological background of the temple also famous for its grandeur, is organised after evening aarti behind the temple and is very popular among visitors.

Vadodara artist's works on display at World Bank An Indian, specifically a Gujarati woman, has three of her works displayed at World Bank. Jignasha Ojha, an alumni of Vadodara's MS University, has made quite a name for herself with her fusion of Indian miniature paintings and western art.

The artist's works are on display in six museums in the United States.

“Experimenting with traditional miniature art was not a conscious decision.

Temple murals and calendars featuring various gods and mythical episodes fascinated me as kid. While studying for my master's degree, I experimented with the idea of fusing both

miniature art with western art,” she said.

A recipient of the Commonwealth Arts and Craft Award, Jignasha captures characters from ancient miniature and shows them in a present day milieu. Her works also portray the current socio-political scenario through the blend of two different forms of art. “At present two works, War and Peace and Dream II are at display in the gallery of the World Bank. The works were exhibited as a part of the 'Imagining Our Future Together- South Asia Artist' that was held between 2012 and 2013,” she said. While 'War and Peace' is based on

her reflections of the 2002 Gujarat riots, Dream II is a depiction of man's longing for conventional life amidst the chaotic modern times.

"There are no consistent themes, but issues like urbanization, displacement and border tensions can be seen in most of her works.

The artworks are mostly satire on modern-day issues without taking any sides," said her husband Jeetu Ojha, a sculptor.

Jignasha's work has been displayed at US museums like Art Institute of Chicago, Dallas Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art.

INDIA

26

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Maha Shivratri marks marriage of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati

Hindus across the world will celebrate Maha Shivratri on March 8. The festival marks the day Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati and Shiva and Shakti finally became one.

Also known as Shivratri, it comes on Krishna Pakshs Chaturdashi of the month Maagha, as per the Hindu calendar.

The Maha Shivratri is the holiest of all the 12 Shivratris.

Believers begin the day by offering bael (woodapple) leaves to Shiva, fast all day, and pull an all-nighter, chanting Om Namah Shivaya. Maha Shivaratri also celebrates the night when Lord Shiva performed the Tandava, the cosmic dance. Shivratri, meaning Night of Shiva, is the night every true disciple of the Lord spends meditating, and observing a fast.

Worshippers perform puja, offer flowers and other gifts on the Lingam, a symbol.

They also bathe it with milk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar, coconut water, butter and rose water.

Hindu Puranas offer many stories to the origin of the Shivratri and its traditions. One of them says that during the samudra manthan, a pot of poison emerged from the ocean which terrified the Gods and the Demons. They ran

was a great devotee of Shiva. One day he went deep into the forest to collect firewood, but lost his way and couldn't r e t u r n home before nightfall.

Terrified, he climbed on the nearest tree for shelter and afraid of dozing off, he started to pluck one leaf at a time and drop it while chanting Shiva's name.

At dawn, the m a n realised he had been dropping leaves onto a Linga below, and the tree happened to be a bael tree. This worship pleased Shiva who rewarded the man with divine bliss.

Mahashivaratri is considered more than a ritual as it dispels ignorance, and makes one aware of the universe. It also indicates the onset of the Spring after cold and harsh winter.

to Shiva for help, who drank the deathly poison but held it in his throat instead of swallowing it.

This was how the Lord got the name Neelakantha; the blue throated one.

Shivaratri is a celebration of the event where he saves the world from ending.

Explaining the all-night worship, legend tells a story of a poor tribal man who

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Budget meets expectations of industry: CII Welcoming the Indian budget, Confederation of Indian Industry president, Sumit Mazumder said, “Budget 2016-17 is well-balanced and comprehensively addresses all aspects that industry was looking for, including revitalising the rural economy, infrastructure build-up, relief for stressed assets, and simplification of taxes.”

“CII is happy that the fiscal deficit as announced by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in 2015-16 budget has been maintained given current compulsions of the Seventh Pay Commission and the challenging global situation.”

Commending the macroeconomic priorities and structural reforms laid out in the budget, Mazumder said, “We believe that the focus on macroeconomic stability, boosting domestic

demand and continued economic reforms would further cement India's position as a haven of growth in a fragile global economy.”

As the new Budget undertakes several key initiatives for job creation in the formal sector, which was taken up consistently

by CII, the contribution of

EPF for new employees for three years, entrepreneurship development courses, changes in the transport sector, and so on would encourage job generation, stated Mazumder. “We particularly welcome the different ways adopted by Jaitley to drive employment generation.”

Continued from page1 Hasnain attacked her, and managed to push him away as he swung the knife at her throat. Bleeding from the wound made on her chin, she locked herself in a bedroom where another sister lay dead, and was taken out by neighbours through a window.

When police broke into the house at 4 am, they found Hasnain hanging from the ceiling with a meat cleaver still in his hand.

While the motive behind the murder is still

unknown, Subia reportedly told investigators that her brother would often say he would kill everyone, when irritated. Authorities have sought records from the Thane Municipal Corporation on property the family owned and has lived for generations.

Relatives and neighbours reportedly told officials that nearly four years ago, Hasnain had tried something similar, with a local ‘baba’ giving him medication that he administered to family members, who then

remained unconscious for nearly 15 hours. Suspecting something amiss when the family missed morning prayers, the neighbours had reportedly rushed them to hospital. Close relatives said he had a dark side, known only to them. “They told us Hasnain (an MCom from NKT College, Thane) was some kind of a psycho. He would tell his parents he felt sick of them. They feared he would kill them all some day,” said a police officer.

Cops have ruled out property dispute as a motive.

Continued from page1 The Budget has also enhanced the provision for interest subsidy on shortterm crop credit to farmers to £1.50 billion, from the £1.30 billion in 2015-16 and £600 million the year before. The Budget support for MGNREGA has been increased to £3.85 billion, from £3.57 billion in the revised estimates for 201516. Even the latter figure is, in fact, higher than the £3.37 billion that was originally provided. Jaitley stressed on wooing the poor class as his speech revolved around what he himself called a “transformative agenda” with the farm and non-farm rural sectors getting pride of place, followed by job creation, infrastructure and the social sector.

While financial sector reforms, ease of doing business, fiscal discipline and tax reforms were on the list, they ranked low.

“We have a shared responsibility to spend prudently and wisely for the people, especially for the poor and downtrodden,” Jaitley said. He elaborated that the government wanted to spread the benefits of growth more widely among India’s 1.3 billion people, but gave an assurance that it could do so without

increasing borrowing. He described his three priorities as: strengthening India’s firewalls by ensuring macroeconomic stability and prudent fiscal management; driving growth through domestic demand; and reforms to boost economic opportunity.

Applauding the Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Substantial resources have been allocated to create infrastructure across India. The common man’s life will change. I want to congratulate the finance minister on the Budget, which is focused on development of agriculture, farmers, women and rural areas... The Budget is about the dreams of the people.”

He said that the Budget will give a new direction and life to the rural economy, bringing big change to the life of the common man.

“By 2018, every village will have electrification, rural economy will get a boost, common man’s life will change. For us, primary education is very important.

A qualitative transformation of the education sector is our focus. We want to stand shoulder to shoulder with people in times of illness.” He stated that the Budget will help strengthen the housing sector and

boost the government’s dream of ‘Housing for All’.

A key measure in the Budget relates to providing a legal framework for the Aadhaar platform, which will help to ensure that subsidies are directed to the needy. More than £4 billion of subsidies are provided for fertilisers. Similarly, another £4 billion subsidies are provided in the electricity sector.

Fertiliser and electricity subsidies together amount to 1.6 per cent of the GDP, much of which leaks abroad or to non-agricultural uses, or goes to inefficient producers, or to firms given the exclusive privilege to import.

But precisely for these reasons it has proved politically impossible to close the inefficient firms or eliminate the canalisation of imports. By providing a legal framework for the Aadhaar platform, the “JAM trinity” of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile would be strengthened considerably. This will help to rationalise the regime of subsidies and lead to better targeting. Again, better targeting of subsidies to deserving beneficiaries would help to foster domestic demand, particularly in the rural sector.

Sumit Mazumder

Thane man kills 14 family members, himself

Jaitley’s Aam Aadmi Budget goes on rural overdrive

AsianVoiceNews

HEALTH&WELLNESS

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

A healthy diet can help to control your diabetes FOOD

or diabetics, a healthy diabetes diet is the essence to healthy living along with exercise, of course.

But what makes up a diabetes diet for Indians?

There are several diabetes diets, which include exotic ingredients and food items.

But what about ingredients that are locally available to Indians with diabetes?

Let's get a diabetes diet for Indians from the experts in nutrition and diabetology.

According to one diabetologist "A diabetes diet should be high on fiber, must contain milk without cream, buttermilk, fresh seasonal fruits, green vegetables, etc." But remember to consume these components in moderation.

Diabetes diet for Indians should have the ratio of 60:20:20 for carbs, fats and proteins, the doctor explains, "Per day calorie intake should be between 1,500-1,800 calories with a proportion of 60:20:20 between carbohydrates, fats and proteins, respectively." He adds that a diabetes diet should "have at least two seasonal fruits and three vegetables in a diet plan." As for dry fruits, the fructose can spike up

FITNESS

LIFESTYLE

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| Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

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Some foods that can help you heal a sore throat

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Pills to adjust night-shift workers' body clock hat if a pill could help adjust your internal body clock to night shifts or jet lag the way it works during the day to eliminate various health risks, including cancer? This may be possible, says a team of Australian researchers, with the administration of glucocorticoid tablets, a class of hormones used as powerful anti-inflammatory compounds to treat various diseases. "This new scientific discovery opens the door to innovative therapies that could act on the different parts of the circadian system so that these rhythms can be adjusted to inverted sleep schedules," said Diane B Boivin, director of the centre for study and treatment of circadian rhythms at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. For this, the team studied the rhythmic expression of clock genes in white blood cells to see how they adjusted in response to glucocorticoids.

your sugar level.

The doctor shares his recipe for diabetes diet for Indians: One teaspoon of methi seeds soaked overnight in 100 ml of water is very effective in controlling diabetes. Drink tomato juice with salt and pepper every morning on an empty stomach. Intake of 6 almonds (soaked overnight) is also helpful in keeping a check on diabetes.

Another expert suggests that whole grains, oats, channa atta, millets and other high fiber foods should be included in the meals. If one feels like consuming pasta or noodles, it should always be accompanied with

vegetable/sprouts.

Milk is the right combination of carbohydrates and proteins and helps control blood sugar levels. Two servings of milk in a daily diet is a good option. High fiber vegetables such as peas, beans, broccoli and spinach /leafy vegetables should be included in one's diet. Also, pulses with husk and sprouts are a healthy option and should form a part of the diet.

Pulses are important in the diet as their effect on blood glucose is less than that of most other carbohydrate containing foods.

Vegetables rich in fiber help lowering down the blood sugar levels and thus are healthy. Good fats such as Omega 3 and MUFA

should be consumed as they are good for the body.

Natural sources for these are canola oil, flax seed oil and nuts. These are also low in cholesterol and are trans fat free.

Fruits high in fiber such as papaya, apple, orange, pear and guava should be consumed.

Mangoes, bananas, and grapes contain high sugar; therefore these fruits should be consumed lesser than the others. The diabetes diet for Indians includes carbohydrates, proteins and fats. As always, a balanced and planned diet can build and improve personal health. A controlled diabetes diet may seem like a drag and bore, but a good cook can add life to a diet.

spices. It also helps you fight cholesterol levels. A report published in Annals of Family Medicine, a reputed medical journal, stated cinnamon consumption resulted in reduced cholesterol levels.

Saffron Tea: You've heard of saffron scented milk, desserts and dishes but how about a kesar chai ! Not only is the taste sinfully addictive but The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods lists saffron as a herb with potential health benefits.

Apart from imparting unmatched taste to the tea, saffron also has anti-cancer properties, antioxidants that can reduce cardiovascular diseases and ability to protect vision cells. Evening snacks will taste a lot better when you gulped down with saffron tea!

Cumin Tea: If summers

mean sleeplessness then look no further than cumin tea. These humble seeds known for their sedative properties have a soothing effect on the body. Cumin also helps in absorption of iron from food. Cumin powder mixed with a mashed banana and had at night is actually one of the most popular home remedies to beat insomnia.

Chamomile Tea: There's no better digestive and soothing ale than chamomile tea. Round off your dinner with cup of this tea known to relieve anxiety and stress. While benefits of green tea are well documented, chamomile tea is fast emerging as the best solution for skin related problems. Cooled chamomile tea bags can be used to reduce dark circle and soothe puffy eyes.

Healthy Indian teas that are beneficial

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ollowing are five Indian teas that are beneficial to you: Cardamom Tea: It could the best way to start your day with. It not only boosts digestion, relieves headache and stomach cramps but also has a cooling effect on body. Diuretic properties of cardamom also make it a great detoxifying agent cleansing the body.

Cinnamon Tea: Very few know that humble dalchini actually has one of the highest antioxidant content among herbs and

To Our Readers

We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement it. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

oping with a sore throat is not an easy task. A store throat can be caused by a bacterial infection, which stems from flu-like symptoms - fever chills and aches. And when you are down with a sore throat, eating is the last thing that attracts you. But eating nutritious foods can fuel your body by giving you enough energy to recover quickly. Following are top 10 foods, which will give you enough nutrients to fight off illnesses and fight that annoying sore throat.

Bananas: A non-acidic fruit, banana is a soft fruit that is gentle on your throat. It is quite easy to swallow, especially when you have a sore throat.

Along with this, this low glycemic index food is also rich in vitamins, B6, potassium, and of course, vitamin C. Lemon juice and honey mixture: Lime and honey mixture makes for an excellent throat relieving alternative. A great remedy for inflamed throats, your sore throat will soon feel better as the inflammation reduces. This mixture will also cool down your aggravated throat apart from thinning any congestion Ginger, or honey tea: A superb way to calm an irritated and itchy throat, a hot cup of ginger or honey tea is a great way of aiding your throat to feel better.

Sip tea when inhaling the steam from the cup, and it will aid in loosening congestion and tightness of the chest.

Honey will coat the throat and will help in preventing irritation, which is the main reason behind

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coughing fits.

Oatmeal: High in soluble fiber, oatmeal helps in lowering ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels and is high in protein content too, which keep you content and satisfied for a longer period of time. Make a hot bowl of oatmeal by adding banana or honey and you will surely get enough soothing qualities for your sore throat. Another star quality of oatmeal resides in the fact that it is a lowglycemix index food, thus an ideal pre-snack meal before hitting your daily workout routine.

Sage: Known to have healing properties, sage has been used as a medicinal herb since earlier times for sore throat remedies. It contains oxygen-handling enzymes, flavonoids, and phenolic acid. Added to tea or soups, sage has an excellent taste and makes great flavoured food items when added.

Whole wheat pasta: Eating soft wheat pasta is a great way to treat a sore throat. Especially, if the pasta is hot and is made in a low-fat sauce. Other than this, whole wheat pasta is also full of many nutrients, including fiber, iron, zinc, and vitamins B1, B2, B3, and E. Boiled carrots: Carrots are superb as remedy food when you're sick, but they should be boiled or steamed before eating.

This is because eating raw carrots can be risky for your sore throat and can further aggravate the pain.

Other than this, carrots are also full of nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, fiber and potassium.

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Jayam Ravi to join hands with Hansika, Arvind Swamy Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

AsianVoiceNews

Nayanthara gets Kamal Haasan to even with Nivin Pauly shoot for two films

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A

s Jayam Ravi's 'Miruthan' runs to packed houses, the actor will soon be teaming up with director Lakshman again after the two delivered 2015's superhit romcom 'Romeo Juliet'. The

new project has been tentatively titled 'Bogan' and will star actress Hansika in the lead, again. Another addition to the cast is none other than Arvind Swamy, who delivered a performance of a lifetime in last year's super

hit 'Thani Oruvan'. While Ravi will play a cop for the third time in a row, Swamy has been cast in another lead role. The film is touted to be an action entertainer and will go on floors from the last week of March.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

alayalam f i l m 'Premam', starring Nivin Pauly, Madonna Sebastian, Sai Pallavi and A n u p a m a Parameshwaran, has found quite the audience in neighbouring Tamil Nadu as the film crossed 250 days in a few cities. The movie found competition by Nayanthara's 'Maya', without being dubbed into Malayalam, as it completed 100 days in Kerala due to the actress' stunning performance and a critically acclaimed screenplay.

Directed by A s h w i n

Saravanan and released by Sri Thenandal Films, 'Maya' enjoys a great run in Kollywood and one of the highest grossing movies of 2015.

simultaneously

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orkaholic Kamal Haasan is set to start two Tamil projects simultaneously, from May onwards. The actor-filmmaker will be joined by daughter Shruti Haasan in one of them.

A source close to Haasan said, “Kamal will first start work on Rajeev's project which also features Shruti. After he wraps up the first schedule of this film, he will start simultaneously shooting for filmmaker Moulee's film, which will have dialogues by Crazy Mohan.�

While Rajeev's project is yet to be untitled, Moulee's movie will be titled 'Paramapatham', and is said to be an out-andout comedy project.

Sridivya joins Vishal for a noble cause

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ishal is known lot more than just his acting abilities. In the past years, the actor has been seen donating a lot of money and commodities to the underprivileged people. And if you lacked reasons to love him, it is known that he has now undertaken the job of building five public toilets in Rajapalam, where the shooting of his upcoming 'Marudhu' has been advancing. As the foundation work of the project has started, Vishal found support from costar Sridivya. Both the actors have donated Rs 80,000 each, to build

toilet in houses. Vishal said that other cast and crew members would also donate soon for the same cause.

'Marudhu' is directed

by Mutiah and has been shot in and a r o u n d Rajapalayam.

'Do Lafzon Ki Kahani'

'Jai Gangaajal'

Watch Priyanka Chopra in a smashing, power-packed performance as SP Abha Mathur.

Based on Korean movie 'Always,' DLKK features actors Randeep Hooda and Kajal Aggarwal in the lead.

Aishwarya and Abhishek to star together in 'Housefull 3'

B

ollywood's favourite couple, Aishwarya and Abhishek will soon share screen space with Bachchan Jr's 'Housefull 3'.

Well, more clearly, the actress' wax statue will share screen space with Abhishek. Director Sajid Nadiadwala wanted to shoot in London's famous Madame Tussauds but as he wasn't granted permission, he decided to bring the museum to himself. The director built a similar looking set with wax statues of various celebrities. In a scene, Abhishek will be seen hiding behind Aishwarya's statue, and that, is how our two best-loved people fulfil their fans' wish.

Braveheart Malala is now a fan of 'Neerja'

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onam Kapoor h a s paid the most befitting tribute to flight stewardess N e e r j a Bhanot who gave her life to save 359 lives on a hijacked flight. While the entire industry has praised Sonam, the movie found an unexpected admirer, Malala Yousafzai. The catchphrase of the biopic is 'Fear gave her courage', while Malala's famous quote has always been 'I am stronger than fear'. Sonam posted a picture of Malala at the special screening of the film in London, where she is seen posing between the film posters.

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www.asian-voice.com

OSCAR FOR KAPADIA: AMY WINS BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM AsianVoiceNews

Continued from page 1

The film has been critics' favourite since making its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

Paying tribute to Winehouse, who died in 2011 following a battle with drug and alcohol, Kapadia

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Art where he first gained recognition with his short film The Sheep Thief (1997) shot in Rajasthan, India. The film won many international awards. He also attended Newport Film School (formerly part of the University of Wales, Newport, now the

• Former Miss World, Bollywood star and Quantico actor Priyanka Chopra dazzled in the Red carpet wearing a Zuhair Murad gown and flaunting jewels worth $8 million. She gave away the Best Editing award to Margaret Sixel, for the film 'Mad Max Fury Road'.

Chopra is now busy with shooting her first Hollywood film Baywatch.

• Mark Rylance wins Best Supporting Actor for war drama "Bridge of Spies", backed by Indian businessman Anil Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment.

• Presenting an award at the event was British actor of Indian origin Dev Patel.

• Indian-born British actor Saeed Jaffrey was remembered in the annual "In Memoriam” montage.

• A Kerala native was gleaming with pride when Inside Out won the Oscar for the best animated feature film on Monday. Sajan Scaria, who is a character supervisor at Disney Pixar studio, has worked for seven Hollywood films, including Inside out. said, “Thank you the Academy for showing love to the film. We wanted to show who Amy really was, a funny intelligent, witty and a special girl.

Kapadia’s film examines how Winehouse’s addictions to alcohol and drugs intensified in fame’s glare, culminating in her death from alcohol poisoning in 2011. His previous film, Senna, about the Brazilian Formula One racing driver, controversially didn’t make the 2012 shortlist.

However it is believed that the singer’s father Mitch distanced himself from the documentary, allegedly calling Kapadia’s film “a one dimensional, miserable and misleading portrayal of Amy”. He even took on twitter to voice his disappointment to 63.3k followers, espcially after Kapadia bagged Oscar for the film. Kapadia and his team have reportedly said the film is a fair representation that they got of Amy from conducting more than 100 interviews with friends and family.

Born in 1972 to a Muslim British Indian family in North London, Kapadia studied filmmaking at the Royal College of

University of South Wales) and achieved a first-class degree (BA Hons) in Film, TV and Photographic Arts

Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

from the University of Westminster.

Kapadia, 44, is also well-known for directing “Senna” in 2012 and Irrfan Khan-starrer “The Warrior” in 2003.

#OscarsSoWhite scandal hits Hollywood The annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, addressed a lack of diversity in the movie industry, touching on the issue through humor and impassioned pleas. The Oscar presentation followed weeks of criticism that this year's nominees were overwhelmingly white. When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 2016 Oscar nominees, only white actors and actresses were among the chosen few in the top four categoriesfor the second year in a row- resulting in the resurgence of the social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and a bevy of concerns about diversity in Hollywood.

The host of the ceremony at the

D o l b y Theater, comic Chris Rock, tackled the controversy in his opening monologue, and Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, later said the industry should reflect the diversity of its

University of Westminster congratulates alumni for winning Oscars Two alumni from the University of Westminster achieved the highest film industry accolade by being announced winners at this year’s Oscars ceremony which took place in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, 28 February 2016.

University of Westminster’s graduate, Asif Kapadia, won best Documentary Feature for the film Amy, about the late singer Amy Winehouse. The short film, Stutterer, produced by film graduate Shan Christopher Ogilvie, won the best Live Action Short Film category. The film was produced by the University of Westminster graduate and founder of Bare Golly Films, Shan Christopher Ogilvie, which focuses on a young man with a severe stutter and his difficulties dating.

Professor Geoffrey Petts, Vice-Chancellor at

While other races made up the 47 presenters of the night, the majority (30 people) were white. Other ethnicity included two Latin Americans, Benicio del Toro and Sofia Vergara and and also two people of Indian descent, Dev Patel (Brit-Indian) and Priyanka Chopra.

Lee Byung-hun, who is South Korean, and Olivia Munn, who is half Japanese also presented awards.

the University of Westminster, said: “We are extremely proud of Asif Kapadia and Shan Christopher Ogilvie for winning two awards at this years’ Oscars. They are both a great inspiration and role models for our students and future film talents. At the University of Westminster, we have a tradition of producing some of the world’s most recognised producers, directors and writers, and last night’s awards are a testament to the fantastic works that our former student and staff have produced. I would like to extend my congratulation to both Asif and Shan for such a remarkable Oscar accolade.”

Indians dazzle in Oscar 2016

HOLLYWOOD DIVERSITY NUMBER The ethnic make-up of all actors in last year’s Hollywood films: • White : 73% • Black : 5% • Hispanic : 13% • Asian : 5% • Other : 4% audiences.

The Oscars however had 12 black presenters amidst the #OscarsSoWhite controversy on Sunday night.

Among the presenters were Common, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Kevin Hart.

The excitement reached its climax, as Leonardo DiCaprio bagged his first Oscar as the best actor, the Supporting Actor category saw English actor Mark Rylance winning the Academy Award for Steven Spielberg's cold war drama "Bridge of Spies", backed by Indian businessman Anil Ambaniled Reliance Entertainment.

While India's entry in the Best Foreign language category did not make it to the final nomination this year, proud moments for the country was in abundance.

Former Miss World, Bollywood star and Quantico actor Priyanka Chopra looked ravishing on the red carpet in a Zuhair Murad gown and flaunted dazzling jewels worth $8 million. She also gave away the Best Editing award to Margaret Sixel, for the film 'Mad Max Fury Road'.

Chopra is now busy with shooting her first Hollywood film Baywatch.

Presenting an award at the event was also British actor of Indian origin Dev Patel. Indian-born British actor Saeed Jaffrey was remembered in the annual "In Memoriam" montage, along with Alan Rickman, Omar Sharif, David Bowie and Leonard Nimoy.

However, IndianAmerican Pixar artist Sanjay Patel's animated short "Sanjay's Super Team", which tells the

story of an immigrant community and "a family of colour", lost the Oscar to Chilean film "Bear Story".

A Kerala native was gleaming with pride when Inside Out won the Oscar for the best animated feature film on Monday. Sajan Scaria, from Nalanchira (Thiruvanathapuram) was a part of the winning movie's crew. Sajan, who is a character supervisor at Disney Pixar studio, has worked for seven Hollywood films, including Inside out. Before this, Resul Pookutty had won this award for his work as a sound artist in Slumdog Millionaire (2009).

Documentary short on honour killing wins accolade

Pakistani-Canadian journalist and filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won the Academy Award for documentary short, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, about honour killings.

Qaiser, 18, fell in love with a man against her family's wishes. Shortly after they eloped, her father and uncle shot her in the head and left her for dead. Her survival led her to become a rare voice for women in similar situations and the one needed for Obaid-Chinoy to tell the story. "She wanted her story told," said ObaidChinoy. "The impact of her story is tremendous, because it is going to change lives, and it's going to save lives, and there can be no greater reward than that."

Preity Zinta ties the knot with Gene Goodenough

As per Filmfare.com. report Bollywood actress Preity Zinta has tied the knot with her long time beau, Gene Goodenough on February 29 at Los Angeles.

The wedding was apparently a very private affair with only the bride and groom's immediate family and close friends present.

While the actress kept denying all claims about her immediate marriage, pictures suggest otherwise. Preity's close friends, Sussanne Khan and Surily Goel were spotted holidaying in LA and while there, they also posted a lot of pictures on their Instagram account. This further confirmed the fact that Preity was indeed getting married in The City of Angels, Los

Angeles. Buzz is that Preity plans to have her version of the big, fat Indian wedding once she is back in the country in April.

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Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Drunk Air Indian passenger fined £1,000 for urinating in aisle A drunk passenger on an Air India flight from India to Birmingham was slapped with a hefty 1,000 pound penalty for urinating in the aisle, shocking the crew and sparking angry protests from other passengers.

Jinu Abraham, 39, who was travelling with his 10year-old son, was handcuffed and restrained with seat belts and arrested when the flight landed in Birmingham on January 19 and later fined £300 by the Birmingham Crown Court.

Abraham was also directed to fork out £500 as compensation, and £185 in costs besides a victim surcharge of £30.

During the flight he had become aggressive after drinking alcohol, declining crew's request to get back to his seat.

John Cardiff, the prosecuting lawyer, told the court, "About 40 minutes prior to landing he removed his trousers and

stood in the aisle. He pulled down his boxer shorts, exposing his buttocks and then began urinating on the floor and seat of the aircraft. He was restrained by crew with plastic handcuffs and seat belts for the rest of the flight and was arrested on landing."

When questioned, Abraham later said he had drunk two whiskies, that he was on anti-depressants and he could not remember anything about his actions, the Birmingham Mail reported.

Alan Newport, Abraham's lawyer, said the defendant and his wife,

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who had been married for 11 years, worked for the National Health Service.

His wife is a theatre nurse.

He said Abraham had been on medication after one of his children died at birth and that his wife had returned from India on a separate flight with their 15-month-old child.

"Unfortunately because of a mix up at the airport in India his medication had been placed in the hold. He

was without medication and nervous about flying and was concerned about his wife's welfare. He effectively tried to selfmedicate and it went dramatically wrong, not just for him, but the passengers on that flight.

Fortunately no one was injured and the flight was able to land without an emergency request. He was shocked and surprised about what was said about his behaviour. He accepts it must have been incredibly upsetting for passengers and crew and possibly fightening for those people on board in that confined environment," Newport said.

Asian man's finger cut-off in racist attack in Rotherham A 31-year-old Asian man had part of a finger chopped off by a meat cleaver in a racist attack in northern England, police said on Sunday.

The man, described

by South Yorkshire Police as an Asian, was set upon by two men at a petrol station in Rotherham early on Saturday morning as he tried to withdraw money from an ATM. One of the men

punched the victim several times in the face before the other sliced off the top of his left hand forefinger with what is being described as a meat cleaver. He was admitted to a hospital and his condition was stated to be stable.

The first attacker is described as white, tall and slim. The victim was, however, unable to provide a description of his accomplice.

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ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 You may find yourself

hard at work behind the scenes, although that may not be apparent to others.

You may find yourself caught up in a whirlwind of activity, with opportunities to advance on both the inner and outer level. There’s a sparkle to your social life and you will have fun communicating with others.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 It would be unwise to

take any risks, particularly in regard to joint interests and investments. So be extra careful if you need to deal with complex legal matters and necessary red tape. If love has left you feeling rather dejected or cynical, it looks as though soon events will pull you out of this mood of despondency.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 Relationships are complex in the best of times, but Saturn's motion can make things even more complicated now.

Misunderstandings can plague partnerships or potential romances - be more careful and forgiving. A good time for completing unfinished business and reassessing your future projects.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22 Your horizons are most certainly expanding. Your philosophical thoughts will make your mind run wild. With Sun transiting your Solar 9th House, there will be many opportunities.

Your financial affairs are looking up. Do not miss out on ways to better yourself in the coming weeks.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

The prevailing pattern of planets gives you a marvellous opportunity. Take time out to strengthen close ties of affection, sort out emotional differences and proffer the olive branch to anyone who may have caused you pain in recent months.

Venus throws an easy light on affairs of the heart prime time for engagements and weddings.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23 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 Virgoans will be more open to compromise to keep the peace. All things considered, your health should be robust.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

Health is an important area that you will take seriously. It is likely that you may embark on a course of physical exercise and diet. It could be quite a difficult week psychologically with increased danger of misunderstandings arising and not being able to see the wood from the trees. Try to be diplomatic.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22 The planetary activity in your chart signals a time of mixed emotions as well as personal issues to be dealt with. The accent’s very much on relationships. The outlook remains optimistic, so don't be afraid to act if your instinct tells you it's time for change. Professional and financial pressures will begin to ease.

You will continue to be in a restless mood for some time to come. This makes you impatient with restrictions and even more determined to cut your own path. Do not get over-anxious if everything seems to be in slow motion - it is time to pull a few strings. You are likely to experience some tension in close relationships.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

Although all kinds of opportunities are coming your way, there are many obstacles between you and the fulfilment of any of these. You’re likely to find yourself weighing practical considerations with long–term goals. Some of you will try to get away from the routine chores.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

The fiery planet Mars, continues to occupy your Solar 10th house for some time to come. Its influence will help you to maintain a high energy level and achieve positive results in anything that requires drive and initiative. If you are involved in a fairly competitive field of activity, you will be the one who comes out on top.

The Sun transits through your solar first house. You experience a renewal of energy and vitality now, and it's a strong time for increased personal confidence.

The emphasis is on self-expression. You are more decisive and forward-looking now, and you put more faith in your own abilities.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

SPORT

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India finish as No. 2 Test side

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Assured of the number two Test team spot at the annual cut-off date on April 1, India is set to bag USD 500,000, even as the country held the top spot in the T20 format.

Though India are sitting on top of the table in the shortest form of the game, they are not assured of continuing in the same position as a lot of T20 cricket is still to be played before the cut-off date.

India, who claimed number one spots in 2010 and 2011, earned a total of 110 points, finishing just two points behind leaders Australia's 112 in the Test rankings. Australia grabbed the No. 1 spot after winning the Christchurch Test by seven wickets, which has

given them a 2-0 series win against New Zealand and they will now pocket a cash award of USD 1 million.

Australia skipper Steve Smith will receive the Mace and the cash award on behalf of his team in a ceremony to be held at a later date. This is

Messi sends autographed jerseys to his little Afghan fan

Argentine football star Lionel Messi has sent not one, but two jerseys to the five-year-old Afghan boy who became an internet sensation last month when he was pictured wearing a plastic bag with "Messi" scrawled on it in marker pen

the eighth time Australia have finished as the number one ranked Test side at the annual cut-off date since the inception of the current rankings system in 2003.

It had earlier topped the table each year from 2003 to 2009. South Africa, by virtue

Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

Aussies win Test series, not friends

of finishing third, will pocket USD 200,000, while Pakistan will receive USD 100,000 with a fourth-place finish.

For Australia, it is a double delight as they have also topped the ICC ODI Team Rankings. The Aussies (126 points) have finished comfortably ahead of secondplaced New Zealand (114) and India (113) on third.

In ICC T20 rankings, India are currently leading the field with South Africa occupying the second position. But the rankings can undergo a major change after the ongoing Asia Cup T20 in Bangladesh and ICC World Twenty20, which is scheduled to be staged from March 8 to April 3 in India.

Malinga hints at retirement announce retirement It was a brilliant comebefore the upcoming back to pick up 4 for 26 World T20, another in his first appearance major tournament that since November last they will begin as year. Any bowler would defending champions. have been happy to "I don't know what will return with such fighappen next day but I ures. More so, if you are will try my best," he the captain of the said. defending champion For Malinga these and having led from Lasith Malinga 'last few years or the front to successfulmonths' is about trying to do as ly defend 129. For Lasith much as possible for Sri Lanka.

Malinga, however, the eventual He is a vital cog in the bowling result may have been a happy unit as was evident. With the one but the body was hinting at World T20 coming up, Malinga something more dire. is determined to make it through So much so that he repeatedthe tournament. "We have ly called this phase of his career World T20. I am the most expeas his last and was very hesitant rienced bowler. to speculate on how much longer "Whatever I can do through he could continue playing. Few painkillers or injections, (if) this months or few years and that is the end of my career then if I could be it for the Sri Lankan can do something for the team, pacer, thanks to the knee injury then I will always try to do that," that he suffered. said the visibly knackered "Might be," was his answer skipper. to a direct query if we would

Steve Smith's joy at leading Australia to a Test series win over New Zealand that took them back to the top of the world rankings was tempered by the news he had been charged with dissent for his role in a confrontation with an umpire. The International Cricket Council (ICC) charged both Smith and fast bowler Josh Hazlewood after the pair confronted umpire Ranmore Martinesz when a decision went against them on the fourth day of the second test at Hagley Oval. With New Zealand battling to build a second innings lead, Hazlewood was convinced he had trapped Kane Williamson leg-before only for umpire Martinesz to deny the appeal. Captain Smith asked for a review, though `hotspot' technology showed Williamson had got a thin inside edge onto his pad, so ball tracking was not examined. The big screen did not show a clear picture of the hot-spot and Hazlewood exploded, with stump microphones capturing his expletive-laden tirade, and Smith then confronted Martinesz. Hazlewood was later fined 15 per cent of his match fee for swearing while Smith was fined 30 per cent for dissent after Australia wrapped up the match. The ICC said Smith admitted the offence and accepted the sanction, and there was no need for a formal hearing. Smith had said after the match he had only sought clarification from Martinesz as to why other technology had not been used to confirm the decision on the field. “I thought I was well within my rights to go up to the umpire and ask him why we didn't use the real time Snicko,” Smith told reporters. “I guess out in the field we couldn't see a hot-spot and I've been informed since then that if there's a hot-spot they don't go to real time Snicko, so that was basically what I was doing at the time. That's deemed to be dissent and I'll cop that on the chin and I need to be better as a leader, I need to set the example and that was not good enough.”

The Australians were booed by the crowd after the incident, while former players were divided on social media as to whether the tourists had overstepped the mark. “I don't think we're not nice guys,” Smith said of Australia, who have previously been accused of pushing the boundaries of sportsmanship and criticised for sledging.

Indian women sweep T20 series against Lanka

Indian women inflicted a humiliating 9-wicket defeat on the Sri Lanka counterpart to clean sweep the three-match Twenty20 International series at the Jharkhand International Stadium Complex in Ranchi, last week. Set to chase a meager 90 for their sixth straight win in as many games in the bilateral arrangement, Smriti Mandhana led India's innings with an unbeaten run-a-ball 43 as the hosts overhauled the target with 37 balls to spare. In supreme touch, Mandhana attacked from the word go and kick-started with a couple of boundaries in the first over. At the other end, Vellaswamy Vanitha too did the bulk of the scoring in boundaries and raised the 50 of the partnership with the first ball of the seventh over.

Chamari Atapattu got her team the only breakthrough as she broke the 64-run opening stand by having Vanitha caught by Hansima Karunarathne on

34 off 25 deliveries, inclusive of five hits to the fence. Mandhana then combined with Veda Krishnamurthy to guide India home without any further hiccups.

Krishnamurthy contributed 13, including two boundaries, to her 27-run union with Mandhana.

Earlier, for the second consecutive time, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat under overcast conditions.

Pacer Niranjana Nagarajan and spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad got their first game in the series as the hosts decided to rest all-rounders Shikha

Pandey and Sneh Rana.

The visitors made three changes to their squad by resting opener Yasoda Mendis, left-arm pacer Udeshika Prabodhani and in-form wicketkeepr-bat Dilani Manodara. India opened the bowling with spin and in-form Anuja Patil struck in the first over

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by trapping Oshadi Ranasinghe, playing her first game of the series, plumb in front when the batter was yet to open her account.

A freak miscommunication in the middle led to Shashikala Siriwardena's dismissal, for a two-ball duck. The Sri Lankan skipper drove the ball to third man region and took off for a single but Atapattu changed her mind. The captain-vice-captain duo were both at the non-striker's end when Deepti Sharma sent in the throw at the striker's end and Sushma Verma did the rest. Nipuni Hansika combined with her vice-captain for a 33-run stand to revive their innings but Ekta Bisht sparked a dramatic collapse and the tourists lost five wickets for 11 runs. Hansika made 24-ball 13 before she was undone by some smart work from Verma behind the stumps.

Deepti struck soon after as she had Atapattu caught by Mandhana for

21. The Bisht-Verma duo combined again to send Karunarathne back for just 1 and leave the visitors reeling at 40 for 5 after 12 overs.

Gayakwad got her first wicket when Prasadani Weerakkody, batting on 3, edged an easy one to Mandhana and Bisht picked her third as Mithali Raj latched on to an edge from Nilakshi de Silva's bat. Eshani Lokusuriyage and Ama Kanchana provided their team the much-needed burst towards the end.

Kanchana added 17 to the 39-run stand with the senior batter before Sharma led to her run out in the penultimate over. Verma effected her third stumping in the game as Patil got her second wicket with the final ball of the innings. It was Lokusuriyage's unbeaten knock of 25 that propelled them to a respectable 89 but with the Indian top-order in pristine form, the total was never going to prove enough.

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Asian Voice | 5th March 2016

India beat Lanka to reach Asia Cup final

India secured their third straight victory over Sri Lanka at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday and became the first finalists of the 2016 Asia Cup Twenty20 series. Things mostly went India's way from start to finish, with MS Dhoni's decision to field being vindicated by his bowlers who kept Sri Lanka to 138 and the required runs being knocked off in 19.2 overs for the loss of five wickets.

India's chase was not without blemish, with their openers dismissed by Nuwan Kulasekara inside four overs, but a 53-run alliance between Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina put them back on track.

Kohli's fourth T20 50 of the year put the finishing touches on victory and there was a welcome cameo from Yuvraj Singh, who produced his most fluent innings since returning in January.

Sri Lanka, who lost to hosts Bangladesh in their previous match, now face Pakistan on Friday needing to win handsomely to have a hope of joining India in Sunday's summit clash.

Critical to India's success was taking wickets at regular junctions. Six Sri Lankans made it to doubledigits but none topped 30, which is reflective both of the hold India had on them as well as how poorly they applied themselves on a two-paced surface.

Since making an international return to the T20 side on January 31, Ashish Nehra had struck in his first spell on five of eight occasions. Today he made it six, removing Dinesh Chandimal for four when the batsman charged, heaved and nicked to MS Dhoni. As if on cue, Jasprit

Bumrah struck moments later when Shehan Jayasuriya feathered a regulation take to Dhoni.

Getting starts has been one of Sri Lanka's main worries this year and a scoreline of 15/2 in four overs was another failure.

Nehra continued to ask questions of Tillakaratne Dilshan, twice belting out confident shouts for lbw as the ball darted about on a skidding pitch. Nehra's first spell of 3-0-12-1 contained 10 dot balls and with Bumrah also frugal in his first three, Sri Lanka took 31 off the Powerplay overs. First ball after the

fielding restrictions were lifted, Dilshan mistimed a hook off Hardik Pandya and found fine leg. This left Angelo Mathews to once again try and turn a sorry situation into an innings of substance, but his a t t a c k i n g approach saw him bowled by Pandya for 18 from 19 balls.

Four wickets down, Sri Lanka then found themselves having to contend with R Ashwin with their run rate under five-and-a-half per over. Milinda Siriwardana brought the much needed impetus, hitting Ravindra Jadeja for six and four off successive deliveries before he fell trying to hit Ashwin over the ropes. Here on, only a couple meaty swipes from Thisara Perera and Kulasekara added as minor irritants to India, who struck five times in the last four overs.

Chamara Kapugedera's 30 from 32 deliveries was the highest individual score of the innings.

Pak T20 team gets green signal The Pakistan government has cleared the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to send the national team to India for next month's ICC World Twenty20, with board chairman Shahryar Khan saying that he would request the ICC to arrange for additional security details for Shahid Afridi's squad.

"I am pleased that our Government has given its consent for our team to visit India," Khan was quoted as saying. "As a duty of care, we have asked the ICC to put in place special arrangements for the Pakistan cricket team while in India.

Will also be expecting visa facilitation and other arrangements for the Pakistani fans wishing to visit India for the ICC World T20."

There had been speculation over Pakistan's participation at the global event that runs from March 8 to April 3 across eight venues in India, with Khan fretting that the ICC would impose a fine on the team should it pull out. Earlier this month, Khan had confirmed that

Pakistan's travel to India was entirely the decision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Pakistan have been pooled in Super 10 Group 2 featuring India, Australia, New Zealand the winner of Group A of the qualifying round. Pakistan open their campaign against the qualifying team on March 16 at Eden Gardens, then play India in a marquee clash at Dharamsala on March 19.

Three days later, they move to Chandigarh to face New Zealand and then on March 25 will play Australia at the same venue.

Pakistan have reached the final of the World Twenty20 twice, losing to India in a thriller during the inaugural edition in 2007 and then beating Sri Lanka at Lord's to claim the title in 2009.