Indian Abroad - Oct 1-15, 2022

Cong polls: Tharoor springs surprise as 15 Kerala party leaders back him

Return of int’l migration drives Aus population growth to 2-yr high

By Sanu K. George Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 30

(IANS) Will Thiruvananthapuram

Congress Lok Sabha member

Shashi Tharoor, known for his proficiency in English language, emerge as a “dark horse” or seen as a “black sheep” after the dust on the Congress presidential polls settles.

Preliminary indications are that he has already sprang a huge surprise with 15 top Congress supporting his candidature to the top party post.

Tharoor, who completed a hat trick of wins from the prestigious Lok Sabha seat here has never been the darling of the Congress leaders ever, especially in the state capital, as his impressive track record, outside of the political arena, has unnevered several, say critics.

Hence, his decision of contesting for the party president’s post was greeted with scorn by many

Congress leaders here. The normally silent veteran 81-year-old former Defence Minister A.K.Antony said Tharoor never said anything to him about his candidature.

Contrary to the general perception that he will find it hard to get anyone to sign his nomination papers, he found supporters in 15 of his leaders.

Tharoor sprang a huge surprise and reportedly his supporters are from all sections of the faction-ridden party in Kerala, including seasoned veterans and Youth Congress leaders.

On Monday, Tharoor made an emergency visit to Palakkad and briefly met Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the Bharat Jodo yatra. It was during his visit he managed to swell his support base.

Incidentally, from Kerala 328 Congress leaders are in the list of voters.

With Antony expressing his displea sure and AICC general secretary

(Organisation) K.C.Venugopal also not having any regards for Tharoor, the general impression was he will bite the dust and end up in an embarrassing position, but with 15 frontline leaders signing, things appear to have turned in his favour.

A media critic on condition of anonymity said this is perhaps the first time in several years there has been a challenge to the diktats of the Gandhi family.

“None should forget it was none other than Antony who led a faction out from the Congress party after differences of opinion surfaced with Indira Gandhi in the late seventies and joined hands with the CPI-M here. Now the same Antony is opposing someone who showed the guts to announce his candidature and this is politics,” said the critic.

Friday is the last day for filing of nominations and all eyes are on Tharoor, who has managed to cross a major hurdle, much against the wishes of Antony and Venugopal.

Indian Trade Fair to be held on October 1 at SunPAC in Sunnybank

If you are of the kind who loves fashion fiesta and a wonderful shopping experience, especially on festive occasions, the experience you have been yearning for has finally arrived. Come October 1, and you are sure to find yourself at SunPAC in Sunnybank amidst some of the very best brands to make your day a memorable one.

The buzz at the moment is that the Indian Trade Fair is all set to showcase the best of its women visionaries and entrepreneurs, all under one roof, on October 1, which is sure to satiate your Navratri, Diwali, Durga Puja, Dhanteras and Bhai Dooj shopping needs. Besides being a highly entertaining and utilitarian event, the Indian Trade Fair has a mission too and that is to support the Indian community here by bringing together women visionaries and entrepreneurs from across various industries.

It is a celebratory occasion where women in business from Brisbane and Gold Coast are showcasing

their brands under one roof at your doorstep. The Fair comes in just about the right time of the season to become nostalgic as one gets the opportunity to experience Indian culture through clothes, jewellery, and art and craft that showcase excellent artisanal skills from different states of India. It is there fore the moment for you to come and splurge in a traditional, modern, and luxurious shopping experience for all your festive needs. In this regard the Indian Trade Fair team aims to give you the best experience of fashion fiesta like no other.

Trend-setting fashion and lifestyle exhibition, curated by the latest designers are showcasing the work of all upcoming brands. The Fair brings to you a range of apparel, chaniyacholi, Indo-western wear, oxidized silver and fashion jewel lery, art, home decor, handbags, and much more.

The excitement reaches its peak with some of the big brands show casing their products at the Fair.

Big brands like Adamo Creations, Bling N Me by Mona, Desire Indian Boutique, Essentially IndianHandmade soft furnishings, Great Impression, RukaiyaShaikh (Heena Art By Ruku), Heera Collections, LMN Arts, Gina Mantra Australasia, Mann Khaira’s Unique Creations, Meraki Vibes, RGR Collections, Sharmeen Thomas - Makeup & Henna, Wedding and Party Trends and Wooden Artwork have commit ted themselves to leave an indelible impression on your mind affording you a joy incomparable to one you may have had before.

A trade fair of this magnitude is the culmination of the hard work and support of many individuals and partners. Keeping in view the great mission and the passion of its promoters, the Indian Trade Fair has been supported by companies from across industries.

The noble mission of the Indian Trade Fair in their pursuit to empower women through show casing their business brands has attracted the support and guidance of well-known fashion model, actor, wife, mother and a businesswoman AnuSamra who is the ambassador of Indian Trade Fair.She has been the source of relentless motivation for this trade fair. Anu Samra was the former Mrs Punjaban Australia –Mrs Punjaban Queensland. Also, behind the scenes Vahini Panda, Patron of Indian Trade Fair, has been a shining inspiration.Her guidance has been of immense significance during the organizing of this Fair. Vahini is the founder and CEO of Health Academy Australia and Health Courses Australia. She has been recognized and awarded many times, like International Women’s Day leadership award, Australian business community awards and the list goes on. Moreover, she is passionate about supporting women in all avenues.

The collective efforts of organizers and supporters of the Indian Trade Fair are paving the way for making this Fair a grand success.

Canberra, Sep 21 (IANS) The return of international migration has driven Australia’s population growth to its highest level in two years, official data revealed on Wednesday.

According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the country’s population was 25,912,614 people as of the end of March 2022, reports Xinhua news agency.

It represents an increase of about 239,800 people -- or 0.9 per cent -- from March 2021. That figure marks Australia’s highest population growth over a 12-month period since September 2020.

By comparison, in the 12 months to March 2021, the population grew by 0.15 per cent amid strict Covid-19 border restrictions.

Of the 239,800 people added to the population, net overseas migration (NOM) accounted for 109,600 -- or 45.7 per cent.

“After two years of mostly low or no population growth, overseas migra tion is again a significant contributor

to Australia’s population increase, accounting for almost half of the growth in the year to March 2022,”

Beidar Cho, Demography Director at the ABS, said in a statement.

The number of migrant arrivals to Australia increased 183 per cent from the previous year to 320,000, driving a strong turnaround in NOM.

However, the net migrant intake remained lower than pre-pandemic levels, which ranged from 238,000 to 260,000.

There were 309,300 births and 179,100 deaths in Australia in the year to March 2022.

The number of deaths was 10 per cent higher than in 2020-21.

Separate data from the national census also released by the ABS on Wednesday revealed Australia’s Indigenous population has hit almost one million.

As of June 2021, the country’s Indigenous population was 984,000 -- up 23.2 per cent in over five years.

Ankita murder: Last rites held finally, NH 58 blocked in protest

Sources have claimed that more than 100 PFI leaders have been

A large crowd, comprising students, political activists and common people, had earlier gathered in large numbers at the mortuary of the base hospital where her body was kept. Then, they held a sit-in protest on

detained by the two probe agencies, but there has been no official confir mation by the ED and NIA.

Meanwhile, PFI workers have taken to the streets in protest against the ongoing raids.

While the ED is investigating a money laundering case, NIA is questioning PFI leaders in connec tion with a terror related case. Further details are awaited.

Srinagar (Uttarakhand), Sep 25 (IANS) People’s anger over the mur der of Ankita Bhandari, who worked as a receptionist at a resort in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district and was reportedly being forced to provide “special services” to guests, contin ued with the National Highway (NH) 58 being blocked in protest, even as her last rites were finally conducted on Sunday evening.

Her body was brought to the NIT Ghat here and consigned to flames amid the presence of a large num ber of people.

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) were conducting pan-India raids on Thursday at the premises of the Popular Front of India (PFI), including the private residence of chairman OMA Salam in Manjeri, Kerala

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Dehradun, Sep 24 (IANS) Pulkit Arya, the son of now expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya, had pressurised Ankita Bhandari to provide ‘special service’ to the guests at his resort, DGP Ashok Kumar said on Saturday.

Ankita (19), who worked as a recep tionist at a resort in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district, was reported missing a few days ago. On Saturday morning, her body was recovered.

On Friday, the police had arrested Pulkit and his two employees in connection with Ankita’s death.

While giving information about the case, Kumar said the police have got some important evidence from the screenshots found from the

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deceased’s mobile phone.

“On the basis of the evidence received, it can be said that Ankita was being pressurised for providing ‘special service’ to the guests. There must have been a scuffle between them over the same after which this heinous crime was carried out,” Kumar said.

According to the information received, the owner of the resort, Pulkit, and other accused persons used to pressurise Ankita to have physical relationship with the guests. The deceased had told this to some of her friends. There was a dispute between Ankita and the accused on September 18 on this issue after which the accused took

her out on a two-wheeler.

On the way, Ankita again had an argument with the three men following which she was pushed into a canal. The accused then returned to the resort and told everyone a new story. When trio was questioned by the police, they confessed to the crime.

Saurabh, one of the accused, said, “Pulkit and Ankita were at the re sort on the evening of September 18 when there was a dispute between the two. Pulkit told us that Ankita is angry, let’s go to Rishikesh with her. We left the resort on a Scooty. We reached near AIIMS via the barrage. Then Pulkit stopped in the dark, about 1.5 km from the barrage post. After that we drank alcohol.

“We were sitting on the Cheela road along the canal. Then again there was a dispute between Ankita and Pulkit. Pulkit said that Ankita defamed him among her friends. She disclosed to her friends that we ask her to establish physical relationship with the customers.

“Ankita then threatened that she will tell the reality of the resort to everyone and threw Pulkit’s mobile into the canal. We got angry at this. We were drunk, didn’t know what we were doing. When Ankita started fighting with us, we pushed her and she fell into the canal. We panicked and reached the resort. When chef Manveer asked about Ankita, Pulkit said that she was not with us.”

Ankita Bhandari murder: BJP expels Vinod, Ankit Arya with immediate effect

Dehradun, Sep 24 (IANS) The BJP on Saturday expelled Vinod and Ankit Arya, the father and brother of Pulkit Arya who is the main accused in the Ankita Bhandari murder case, from the party with immediate effect.

Ankit Arya has also been removed from the post of Deputy Chairman of the Uttarakhand Other Backward Classes Commission with immedi ate effect.

“Taking the cognizance of the murder of Ankita, State President Mahendra Bhatt has expelled Vinod Arya and his son Ankit Arya, residents of Haridwar district, from the BJP with immediate effect,” the party’s Uttarakhand unit said in its order in Hindi.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also tweeted the suspension letter.

“In the Ankita murder case, we have removed Ankit Arya, brother of the main accused Pulkit Arya, from the post of nominated vice-chairman of the Uttarakhand Other Backward Classes Commission with imme diate effect. Along with this, Ankit Arya and his father Vinod Arya have also been expelled from the BJP,” he

tweeted.

The body of Bhandari, a 19-year-old who worked at Pulkit Arya’s resort Pauri Garhwal, was recovered on Saturday morning from the Chilla canal.

She had gone missing a few days

ago.

Pulkit Arya and two others were arrested on Friday night. The ac cused have confessed to murdering Ankita and throwing her body in the canal.

Ankita Bhandari’s body found from Uttarakhand’s Chilla canal

Dehradun, Sep 24 (IANS) The body of Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old staffer at a resort in Uttarakhand who went missing a few days ago, was recovered from the Chilla canal in the state on Saturday and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered an SIT probe into the murder.

the moment. The culprits should be given capital punishment using fast track court in this case,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the family of Ankita, in whose killing Pulkit Arya, the son of now expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya is allegedly involved, refused to perform the last rites, saying they will wait till the final post-mortem report comes.

The provisional post-mortem report had confirmed assault before death and the cause of death as drowning.

Ankita’s father Virendra Bhandari has refused to perform the last rites of his daughter.

“The government has tampered with the evidence by running a bulldozer on resort at midnight. Ankita’s last rites will be performed only when the final post-mortem report is received. I am not satisfied with the post-mortem report that has come at

The family finally relented after appeals from Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the local adminis tration. Dhami, who saluted Ankita’s father, assured that the trial would be held in a fast-track court and all possible help to the family.

“In such times it is natural for people to be angry. The government will provide whatever assistance required for the victim’s family,” he added.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA from Badrinath, Rajendra Bhandari, on Sunday reached Srinagar to meet the family members. Questioning the functioning of the government, he said that there were six BJP MLAs from Pauri Garhwal district, including two ministers and the Speaker, but none had come to Srinagar yet to meet the relatives.

He said that the resort was razed because the government had to destroy the evidence.

Ankita murder: Last rites held finally, NH 58 blocked in protest the Badrinath National Highway in front of the mortuary, demanding the hanging of Ankita’s killers, stranding vehicles on both sides of the highway.

“Ankita should get justice. There should be a high level inquiry into the matter,” he said.

On Friday, the police had arrested Pulkit and his two employees in connection with Ankita’s death, and her body was recovered on Saturday.

DGP Ashok Kumar said on Saturday that the police have got some im portant evidence from the screen shots found from the deceased’s mobile phone.

“On the basis of the evidence received, it can be said that Ankita was being pressurised for providing ‘special service’ to the guests. There must have been a scuffle between them over the same after which this heinous crime was carried out,” he had said.

The prime accused in the case is BJP leader Vinod Arya’s son Pulkit Arya.

Ankita, a resident of Dobh in Srikot, who used to work in the Vantara resort in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal. She went missing on September 18.

The BJP has removed Vinod Arya as well as his other son Ankit follow ing the incident.

Taking to Twitter, Dhami posted: “Today morning, Ankita’s body was recovered. Heart-broken with this heart-wrenching incident.”

On directions of the Chief Minister, the JCB razed to ground accused’s illegal resort on Friday night.

Strict action will be taken against the officers who were involved in the illegal construction of the resort, Dhami said.

“It is our resolve that the those guilty of this heinous crime will bot be spared,” he added.

Ankita’s family had lodged a missing complaint on September 21

with the revenue police and on the District Magistrate’s direction, the matter was transferred to regular police the next day.

Taking cognisance of the incident, Ashok Kumar, Director General of Police, Uttarakhand, had directed the Superintendent of Police, Pauri for a speedy investigation into the incident.

Following their arrest, they told the police that after murdering Ankita, they threw her body in Chila Shakti canal.

SDRF rescue team has been search ing the spot and the deep divers were also looking for the body in the bottom of the canal.

The search operation had resumed this morning during which the body was found.

The body has been handed over to the district police.

Patna, Sep 29 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said his government has taken cognisance of senior woman IAS officer’s apparent humiliation of a school girl over a sanitary napkin pad.

He said he learnt about the incident when the video of the incident went viral on social media and also hit the headlines across the country. “It has come to our knowledge and we are

looking into it,” he said.

Bamhrah, the MD of the Bihar Women and Children Development Corporation, stirred up controversy as her abrasive responses to ques tion by girl students at the “Shashakt Beti Samridh Bihar”, oraganised by the WCDC and Unicef, for Class 9 and 10 students, went viral.

As a student asked Bamhrah that the government is providing school dress, scholarship, bicycles and many other facilities to students, can’t it provide sanitary pads for Rs 20 to 30 to girl students - drawing applause, Bamhrah hit out, saying that people are clapping over the question but these are endless demands.

“Today, the government would pro vide you with sanitary pads for Rs 20 to Rs 30. Then you ask for jeans, pants and then, beautiful shoes,” she said but did not stop there.

“When it comes to family planning, will the government give condoms (Nirodh) to you. Why would I have a habit of taking everything free from the government? What is the need of it?”

At that, the student said the govern ment comes to them to seek their votes. Bamhrah angrily replied that “this is the height of stupidity. You don’t vote and go to Pakistan. You are giving a vote to take money and facilities from the government”.

That girl student responded that she is an Indian and why would she go to Pakistan?

“The government is providing facilities from the money of taxpay ers. If taxpayers are paying taxes to the government, why would they not demand for the services?” she asked.

Another girl student claimed problem in toilets for girls in the school, saying that the boys also enter the girls’ toilet and make them uncomfortable.

At this, Bamhrah asked if every stu dent present in the hall has separate toilets for them at home, leaving many in the audience surprised and shocked at the tenor of the senior IAS officer who demeaned the girl students.

Patna, Sep 29 (IANS) Senior IAS offi cer and Bihar Women and Children Development Corporation Managing Director Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, who had stirred up a controversy with her snide and abrasive responses to school girls in a public event here, on Thursday apologised for her remarks.

In a letter, Bamhrah explained the utility of the “Shashakt Beti Samridh Bihar” event and apologised to the girl students. “If any girl was feeling hurt over my statements, I apologise to them.”

Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took cogni sance of the matter and said that he will look into it and take action.

At the event, as a student asked Bamhrah that the government is providing school dress, scholarship, bicycles and many other facilities to students, can’t it provide sanitary pads for Rs 20 to 30 to girl students

- drawing applause, Bamhrah hit out, saying that people are clapping over the question but these are endless demands.

“Today, the government would pro vide you with sanitary pads for Rs 20 to Rs 30. Then you ask for jeans, pants and then, beautiful shoes,” she said but did not stop there.

“When it comes to family planning, will the government give condoms (Nirodh) to you. Why would I have a habit of taking everything free from the government? What is the need of it?”

At that, the student said the govern ment comes to them to seek their votes. Bamhrah angrily replied that “this is the height of stupidity. You don’t vote and go to Pakistan. You are giving a vote to take money and facilities from the government”. That girl student responded that she is an Indian and why would she go to Pakistan?

“The government is providing facilities from the money of taxpay ers. If taxpayers are paying taxes to the government, why would they not demand for the services?” she asked.

Another girl student claimed

problem in toilets for girls in the school, saying that the boys also enter the girls’ toilet and make them uncomfortable.

At this, Bamhrah asked if every stu dent present in the hall has separate toilets for them at home, leaving many in the audience surprised and shocked at the tenor of the senior IAS officer who demeaned the girl students.

Accused pressurised Ankita to provide ‘special service’ to guests, says DGP

Looking into matter of woman IAS officer’s sharp words for school girl: Nitish

Bihar IAS officer apologises for her ‘condom’, ‘sanitary pad’ remarks

Under the guidance of DGP Uttarakhand, the SDRF started search for Ankita in Shakti Canal, Chila Power House.

PAN-INDIA RAIDS ON PFI

Home Ministry all set to ban PFI after studying possible legal challenges

Pradesh DGP Vikram Singh ex plained many things in detail.

Former DGP Vikram Singh said that PFI should have been banned 5 years ago. He said, “Indulging in anti-national activities, preparing explosives, conspiring to assassinate the elected Prime Minister and money laundering of crores of rupees for anti-national activities. These are the grounds on which PFI can now be banned. It takes a long time to gather solid evidence in all these cases.”

Popular Front of India - India’s internal insurgency

By Arshia Malik

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) -- which was probing over 100 (Popular Front of India (PFI) members in connection with various cases -- arrested 45 mem bers in raids across the country on September 22. The PFI was under the watch of the central security agencies since long as its cadres were deeply involved in indoctrinat ing young Muslims and receiving funds from foreign-based entities for waging war within India.

By Sanket Pathak

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) Days after the NIA and the ED raided several locations linked to the Popular Front of India (PFI) across the country, the Union Home Ministry is planning to ban the extremist group on the basis of the evidences gathered by the investigating agencies, sources said.

However, before imposing the ban, the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) want to make full preparations, so that if the ban is challenged, then their side is not weakened.

In the raids conducted in 15 states of the country on September 22, the investigating agencies have found strong evidence of PFI’s involve ment in terrorist activities, based on which, it can soon be banned.

Soon after the raid, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also held a meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the NIA Chief. In this, instructions have been issued to review the facts gathered against PFI and take further action.

According to sources, the MHA is also taking legal advice before banning PFI, so that when the party concerned in this matter approaches court, the government remains ready with its move. This is also being done because the central government had to withdraw the ban on SIMI in 2008. However, later it was again banned after the Supreme Court order.

This time, the government donesn’t

seem to be in a hurry and leave any stone unturned. And that’s why, it is making its case strong, besides weighing all the legal asepcts before imposing ban on PFI.

According to the information, different agencies were engaged in gathering strong evidence against PFI for many years as instructions were given by the MHA that no link of PFI should be left out. While the NIA’s investigation was focussed on the illegal activities of the criminal organisation, the ED has now been completely successful in tracing the source of their finances.

A source close to the ED said that during the investigation, suspicious transactions of about Rs 60 crore have been detected in the bank accounts of PFI. It has also been learnt that money was being sent to PFI through hawala. For this, bank accounts of labourers working in Gulf countries were used to send money to India.

On the other hand, apart from gath ering evidence against the terror camp run by PFI members, the NIA has also collected strong evidences in five different registered cases, from making explosives to sending youth to organization like ISIS.

In 2017, the NIA, in its detailed report submitted to the MHA, had demanded a ban on PFI for its involvement in terrorist activities.

Several states have also demanded the ban from time to time.

While talking to IANS about why there was a delay, former Uttar

“One of the reasons behind the PFI not being banned so far is the political support they get. Leaders of some parties, even MPs, have described PFI as a social service organization. Its supporters are present in many states,” Vikram Singh stated.

“Not only this, PFI’s ally SDPI has also contested elections in many states. This is the reason why so much preparation has to be done to take action against PFI,” he said.

Vikram Singh said that according to his information, the link of funding of PFI has also been found from Turkey’s agency and Pakistan’s ISI. The boys were also tricked and sent to ISIS. The ED and NIA made full preparations to connect these links, so that strict action could be taken.

At present, the Jharkhand gov ernment has banned PFI. At the same time, according to the official website of the MHA, about 39 organizations have been banned by the government under Section 35 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.

These include Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizb-ulMujahideen, Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front, United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Al Badr, Al-Qaeda, Communist Party of India (Maoist), Indian Mujahideen, Islamic State/ISIS, as well as UN-listed terrorist organizations are also involved.

TRP scam spooks again: ED books 16 for money laundering; ‘exonerates’ Republic TV

channel, their company Lotus Enterprises, Narayan N. Sharma, owner of ‘Box Cinema’ channel and his company Box Cinemedia Pvt. Ltd., Vishwajeet O. Sharma and Darshan B. Singh, both owners of ‘Mahamovie’ channel and their company Teleone Consumers Product Pvt. Ltd.

tinkered with and controls used to favour specific channels, was superficial and based on analysis of limited aspects.

The Mumbai Police had named Republic TV, India Today and other channels as allegedly involved in the TRP scam that had shaken up the country’s media industry and sparked a massive political uproar.

Local police forces and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are also probing allegations against the PFI of ‘funding’ the 2019 anti-CAA protests and the 2020 northeast Delhi riots. Additional charges are terror funding and helping illegal Rohingyas and Bangladeshi migrants to sneak into India. Its footprints can be found in the pan-India protests against the National Register Census (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as well as the hijab row in Karnataka.

There is a lot of evidence that the PFI has roots in the banned SIMI (Students’ Islamic Movement of India) with many other organisa tions associated with it in various programmes, such as the Huda Islamic Center, Amity Peace Foundation, Jamaat-e-IslamiHind, Indian Pravasi Council (Oman), etc.

Many political parties too have been alleged to be associated with the PFI -- Milli Etihad Parishad (West Bengal), AMMK Party (Tamil Nadu), CPM (Kerala), Ambedkarite Party of India (Rajasthan) and so on.

The Uttar Pradesh Police, which is investigating over 19 cases against the PFI members filed in connection with the unrest reported in the aftermath of the Hathras case in September 2020, has accused the PFI of “sedition, conspiracy, disturb ing peace and promoting religious hatred”.

Since its creation in 2006 postBabri-Masjid demolition, with the merger of three Muslim interest groups, PFI’s presence has stretched to 23 states, according to the NIA.

It identifies itself as a “neo-social movement” with a vision to empower all marginalised sections in India. Several of its co-founders were originally SIMI cadres, hence the connection. E. Aboobacker, president of PFI’s political wing Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), headed the SIMI’s Kerala unit from 1982 to 1984, while Professor P. Koya, a member of the PFI’s national executive, was a founding member of both SIMI and the NDF. PFI vice-chairman E.M. Abdul Rahiman was a SIMI general secretary between 1982 and 1993.

Yet the members refute the connection to SIMI arguing that the banned outfit’s solution for the Indian Muslim community’s problems against “the rising tide of Hindutva” was Islam only whereas PFI believes India is a pluralistic country with many religions. This is seen by many Muslims simply as changing colours to lie low and out of the government’s and security agencies’ eyes. It even has a general secretary by the name of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who refutes the ED’s (Enforcement Directorate) claims that the PFI had funded the agitation against the CAA in various parts of the country.

The charge sheet has a long list -- contact with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) scholar Umar Khalid; providing funds to suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

councillor Tahir Hussain - under arrest for his alleged role in the Delhi riots; link to the Tablighi Jamaat - the Islamic organisation which faced criticism for holding a religious congregation at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz during the peak of the first wave of Covid infections; 2019 Mangaluru violence in which two people were killed in anti-CAA protests; gold smuggling through diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE consulate-general in Thiruvananthapuram; carrying out “forced conversions” in Kerala’s Malappuram; organising a terror camp in Kannur in 2013; running institutes where young people are indoctrinated; recovery of bombs, IEDs and swords from the same camp; and the most heinous of all the chopping off of a Professor T.J. Joseph’s palm in Kerala’s Idduki on false charges of blasphemy; plus the murders of various RSS and ABVP workers in South India.

Despite refuting all of the above charges, Ahmed Shareef, the founder member of PFI said in its mouthpiece ‘Gulf Thejas’, “After making India an Islamic state, the PFI will go to other countries.”

It is clear that India has an internal insurgency going on for several decades and that various Middle Eastern Wahhabi-inspired nations are willing to fund this insurgency. The coming weeks should reveal more about this.

GST evasion worth Rs 824 cr unearthed, ICICI Prudential among 15 entities under probe

New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) A Goods and Services tax (GST) evasion worth Rs 824 crore has been detect ed against 15 insurance companies as well as several non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

According to sources privy to de velopments, these companies were reportedly found to be availing input tax credit (ITC) without underlaying supply of goods and services.

Mumbai, Sep 29 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has virtually ‘exonerated’ Republic TV and R. Bharat -- English and Hindi news channels owned by Arnab R. Goswami, but the agency has booked 16 others of various private television channels and a market research group, for alleged money-laundering charges in the sensational TRP scam that erupted two years ago.

The ED charge sheet was filed on September 26 on behalf of Assistant Director Pawan Kumar before the Special PMLA Court Mumbai, and has sought initiation of proceedings, among others, to confiscate the provisionally at tached properties of all the accused as stipulated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, as they were bought from the proceeds of the crime.

The accused named are: Shirish V. Pattanshetty and Manish R. Sangh, both owners of ‘Fakht Marathi’

The others are: Bompally Rao Mistry of Sanch Media, Umesh C. Mishra, Vishal V. Bhandari, Dinesh P. Vishwakarma, Vikas V. Burungale, Ashwin C. Motiwale, Mahesh S. Bompalli and Rajesh K. Vishwakarma (all ex-employees of Hansa Research Group), as named in the charge sheet.

The ED has urged the Special Court to take cognisance and issue process against all the accused individuals (for arrest), order the confiscation of their movable and immovable assets, seize their passports, etc.

Presumably giving a ‘clean chit’ to Goswami and his news channels, the ED termed its investigations under PMLA as “at variance” with the probe initially conducted by the Mumbai Police, as “no such evidence is forthcoming” in the statements of the accused/ witnesses, digital data evidence and analysis of the raw data provided by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

The ED said that the Mumbai Police -- which had first exposed the scam in 2020 -- relied on a forensic audit report of Acquisory Risk Consulting Pvt. Ltd., that contended how the TRP calculation methodology was

In view of its findings, the ED charge sheet has not mentioned Republic TV, R. Bharat channels, its Editor-in-Chief Goswami or his company ARG Outlier Media, or any BARC officials.

However, the ED probe has detected instances of TRP manipulations not only in Mumbai and Maharashtra but also Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and has called for the FIRs filed by the respective state police for investigations.

Another FIR was registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police, which has now been transferred and under probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Delhi.

“From the investigations and evidence gathered, it is clearly established that the (16) accused committed the offence of money laundering... and are liable to be prosecuted and punished... and the provisionally attached properties involved in the money-laundering are liable to be confiscated... as per the PMLA,” the ED concluded. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)

Sources informed that on the basis of specific inputs received against ICICI Prudential Insurance for reportedly availing ineligible ITC without underlaying supply of goods and services, certain other common intermediaries were also identified. They informed that on further probe it was revealed that these entities had reportedly formed an arrange ment to pass on ineligible ITC in the guise of marketing services and fraudulent invoices were allegedly raised by following a systematic modus operandi in connivance with each other.

Sources aware of developments said that the modus operandi was sys tematically planned and executed mainly at the behest of insurance companies.

The probe is learnt to have revealed that the insurance companies had been executing the modus since the inception of GST, sources pointed out.

Subsequently, searches were conducted by officials of Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) at the premises of several insurance companies and NBFCs in multiple

cities, sources informed. While the searches are still underway, sources said that ICICI Prudential reportedly paid Rs 100 crore in cash voluntarily under Section 74(5) of CGST Act, 2017 during the course of investigation. Sources further informed that so far, GST evasion to the tune of Rs 824 crore has been unearthed and various insurance companies which availed and utilised ineligible ITC have voluntarily paid a total amount of Rs 217 crore in cash under Section 74(5) of CGST Act, 2017.

New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Amid the political imbroglio in the desert state, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said whatever has happened is sad and he is also hurt.

Gehlot has got together a two-three page document about the political developments in the desert state till now in which he said that he is hurt.

The Sonia-Gehlot meeting, which is underway, holds significance as it is expected to clear the air about the situation in Rajasthan and on the Congress presidential post.

Earlier in the day, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi met party leader K C Venugopal while Mukul Wasnik met Gehlot in Jodhpur House.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh

took his nomination form from the party’s Central Election Authority earlier in the day.

Gehlot reached the national capital on Wednesday night. However it is still unclear whether even after meeting Sonia he will file his nomination or not.

On Wednesday, Gehlot told the media, “We work under the Congress president. The decision will be taken by the party president in the coming days. The media should identify the issues of the country. Writers and journalists are being called terrorists and put behind bars. We are concerned about them.”

For the past two decades, the Congress has been trying to make a non-Gandhi the party president.

Senior leader Shashi Tharoor has

also been asked to file his nomina tion for the presidential poll which is slated to be held on October 17.

Raj crisis: Whatever has happened is sad, I am also hurt, says Gehlot

SCO Summit: Conflict between need and greed

Indian diplomacy’s ace performance at Samarkand

By Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza

The Economist magazine has termed the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) a ‘Talking Shop’ and perhaps rightly so. Once again vital regional challenges such as cooperation, connectivity and economy that the region faces have been ignored at the 22nd SCO Summit held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, between September 15-16.

At least four of the permanent members of SCO are a loggerhead with each other or with their imme diate neighbours. The Russian war in Ukraine has created uncertainty about the global supply of gas and oil.

Pakistan is grappling with terrorism in its northern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa as well as wrestling with armed separatists in south western province of Balochistan.

Diplomatic tensions run high with Afghanistan after Pakistan accused the former of providing the UN designated terrorist Masood Azhar with sanctuary.

India is busy tackling terrorist infiltration from Pakistan as well as serious border tensions with China. It was obvious from the start that this summit will not be a collective consultative conference but will end up becoming an opportunity for SCO member states to hold one-to-one meetings on the side lines.

On September 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting with the president of Uzbekistan signing a $16 billion investment deal. Another deal sealed at the SCO summit

sideline meetings was that between Russian and Uzbekistan which amounts to $4.6 billion.

According to the deal signed with China it will construct a ChinaKyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. The deal signed with Russia were in machinery, chemicals, petro chemicals and geology sectors of Uzbekistan’s economy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which Russia promised to support Turkey becoming a permanent member of the SCO in return for Turkey not to object the gas pipeline of which 750 km has already been laid down via Iran and needs to be build a further 250 km into Pakistani territory.

During a half-an-hour closed door meeting held at the Summer Palace residence of the president of Uzbekistan between Xi Jinping and Erdogan it is believed that a billion-dollar grain deal was struck which will enable China to earn billions of dollars from Turkey.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan choked several times during his speech to the summit describing that his country had turned into “a sea of water”, but no collective relief package was offered, leaving him high and dry.

Moreover, the SCO summit failed to persuade Putin to end the devastat ing war in Ukraine or for that matter the China’s illegal economic expan sion into the disputed territories of Gilgit-Baltistan under the guise of the so-called CPEC, which is part of her larger Belt and Road Initiative

program.

The Russian president and Chinese head of state both seemed to have come to a trade fair. Both were cutting trade deals left,right and centre. Putin was negotiating the price of gas and oil sale to pauper Pakistan and Xi was expanding Belt and Road Initiative into central Asia via Uzbekistan.

The purpose of the summit should have been to collectively find solutions to the menace of terrorist, slack connectivity and solving the energy crisis. Instead it ludicrously became an exercise of collective inaction.

Tensions among SCO member states run so high that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was unable to hold a one-to-one meeting with his Pakistan and Chinese counterparts.

One of the main reason for SCO summit to fail to come up with a joint declaration seems to be the lack of will of both China and Russia to withdraw from their desire to expand their hegemonic influence among their economic and political spheres.

None of the above countries initiat ed a debate in their home countries for peace and reconciliation. The war jingoism which has become the benchmark of Xi’s politics has antagonized the wider Chinese population to an extent that to reverse that could become a cause for Xi’s downfall.

Therefore, there was no collectively agreed agenda for the summit to discuss. No pre-summit discussion

was held among the leaders of the member countries which would have been a precursor for any productive road map.

The only country that stood its ground was India as Modi moved among the world leader like a sage advising Putin to consider peaceful means to forward his diplomatic ambitions.

India has become the fifth largest economy of the world surpassing the UK. As India moves forward to become the new manufacturing hub of the world, it is most unlikely that SCO will be able to become a forum for regional peace and economic cooperation. China, it seems, will use all means available to sabotage India.

India’s economic growth is led by the desire to meet the needs of both its population and wider world. China’s economic growth, on the other hand, is driven by imperialis tic economic expansionism driven by greed.

Modi’s advice to Putin that this was the era of peace is the key approach to achieve regional peace which in turn is vital for the region.

However, for this to happen the member countries of the SCO will have to strike a balance between need and greed. For now, it seems it will take quite some time before the current conflict between need and greed will resolve itself.

(Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza is an author and a human rights activist from Mirpur in PoJK. He currently lies in exile in the UK.)

Banning of extremist organisations is a right step

This hadees motivates all Muslims to prevent the wrong doer whether it includes big sins like killing, lynch ing, mass violence or small sins as abusing, backbiting.

A true Muslim must stop wicked person and organisation.

Such organisations must be banned which encourages a sense of enmity rather than love and compassion; provoking innocent Muslims into violent protests rather than focusing on a peaceful, prosperous commu nity. The Prophet Muhammad never allowed his companions to create instability and dissonance.

counterparts who have different faiths.

Consequently, if a handful of deviat ed Muslims form such organisations or institutions that stand against love, peace, brotherhood and Indian Constitution, they must be banned and boycotted immediately.

“None of you (truly) believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” (Hadees)

The reliable and applicable Hadees shows the importance of good will for our neighbours and near ones.

By Asad Mirza

During the last fortnight, India has asserted itself diplomat ically by refusing to join an important pillar of the US-led IPEF, and at the same time Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Samarkand has demonstrated his governments resolve to act globally and resolutely in interactions with regional leaders.

The 22nd summit of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) took place in Uzbekistan’s capital Samarkand, last week. The summit was held amid the growing geo-political turmoil set-off by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s aggressive military postur ing in the Taiwan Straits.

China which initiated this regional grouping as Shanghai Five in 1996, has transformed the forum into an influential grouping of eight nations, with many more like Iran to join as a permanent member and diverse countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Belarus and Mongolia being given Observer status, which shows its transformation into an influential regional forum, besides challenging to other western regional alliances.

In his address at the summit, Modi obdurately touched every relevant aspect of the current geo-political situation. He urged SCO to strive to develop reliable, resilient and diversified supply chains in the region. For this, better connectivity will be required, besides giving full rights of transit to each other, he asserted, in a veiled reference to Pakistan. He also batted for making India a regional manufacturing hub. On tackling the challenges of food security, he spoke of India’s efforts to popularise millets as an alterna tive and cheap option.

In a speech that was otherwise free from references to India’s regional issues on terrorism with Pakistan and on territorial sovereignty with China, Modi called for greater cooperation in the Eurasian region. He also focused on initiatives on manufacturing that India is willing to pilot in the next year, when India assumes the chair of the SCO and hosts the Summit in mid-2023.

Modi-Xi Jinping meeting

stand to gain much economically, if ties are improved.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, when asked about a meeting that never happened said that he did not “think there is anything more to read into that”.

Modi-Putin meeting

Modi’s bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit also received a lot of attention. The two leaders shared the customary diplomatic greetings, with Modi specifically emphasising that the modern era was not a time of war. According to reports, Putin acknowledged India’s position on the Ukrainian conflict and reaf firmed his commitment to a speedy resolution.

India and Chinese leaders express ing their concerns directly with the Russian leader about the war in Ukraine is reflective of global concerns about the effects of its aggression, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last weel.

The mainstream American media praised Prime Minister Modi for telling Putin that this is “not the time for war” in Ukraine. It was the lead story on the webpages of both The Washington Post and The New York Times, and was widely carried by the mainstream American media.

Modi-Erdogan bonhomie

Among other impromptu meetings was the one important one between Modi and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was held unannounced on September 16. After the meeting, Modi underlined that the focus was on economic ties between the two countries.

The MEA, in a statement, described the meeting as a review of current India-Turkey relations. While noting the increase in recent years in economic relations, particularly bilateral trade, it acknowledged the potential for further enhancement of economic and commercial part nerships. Erdogan last visited India in 2017.

By Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza

In a decisive move, a communal and radical outfit, Popular Front of India (PFI), has been banned for five years by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for its alleged links to terror funding. In addition to this, PFI’s associate organisations -- Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala -- are also banned leading to debate in the media about this.

A leading organisation of Pasmanda muslim named All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz has welcomed this move stataing that the Pasmanda Mahaz is against Muslim

communalism and believes that such organisations are also against the basic spirit of Islam.

So the extremist and radical organisations must be proscribed in order to maintain peace and harmony in the country, especially those organisations which have been instituted in the name of Islam but fail to follow Islamic principles and teachings. Islam propagates love and compassion for building an idealistic society devoid of fundamentalist organisations and proprietors who incite evil and violent activities.

There is a famous ‘hadees’, which states: “Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart and that is the weakest of faith.”

“Whoever wrongs one with whom a covenant has been made, burdens him with more than he can bear or forcibly takes something from him, I will be his adversary on the Day of Judgment,” (Al-Baihaqi).

The Indian Muslim community has been enjoying liberty of religion, equality, for earning livelihood, fraternity for prosperous society and enjoying a peaceful lifestyle. Islam is as old in India as it is in Mecca.

The great examples of the Barwada Mosque in Ghogha, Gujarat built before 623 CE, Cheraman Juma Mosque (629 CE) in Methala, Kerala and Palaiya Jumma Palli (or The Old Jumma Masjid - 628 - 630 CE) in Kilakarai testifies to the statement.

All these mosques could not have survived if there was hatred and communal tensions between the communities in the past.

This shows that Muslims have always enjoyed peaceful and friend ly relations with their other Indian

Contrasting this Hadees, proprietors and partners of radical organisa tions like Popular Front of India (PFI) have been trying to snare innocent unemployed Muslims in the organisation and grooming them to develop radical violent approach es and to harass innocent people not conforming to their ideology. These organisations are working against humanity.

The nationwide ban is expected to force them to quit their unethical work and repent to their flaws; adopt a simple and straightforward path that will lead them to build a prosperous culture and tradition as the following Quranic verse pleads unambiguously.

“Except for those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful. (Quran 25:70)”

(Dr. Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie, writer is author, translator, media panelist, columnist, socio-pasmanda activist and Medical Doctor by profession)

The most important meeting from India’s standpoint was a possible meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Everyone wondered wheth er roadblocks have been cleared and temperaments cooled after the recent success of commander level talks between two countries on the issues of Chinese aggression in the Ladakh region in May 2020.

But, officially the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) mentioned no such meetings. In fact, Samarkand offered the perfect opportunity for two leaders to reset the ties. But there seemed little willingness from the two sides, to compromise. In fact, if the reports are to be believed, the exchange between the two leaders, reminded one of the cold treatment meted out by Modi to former Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif at the 2014 SAARC summit, though it eventually ended with a handshake at the last moment, but nothing such hap pened in Samarkand. But the moot question here is whether China is in a mood to mend ties with India?

Well, it seems no, not at the moment perhaps. Modi and Xi have met twice earlier but that is not enough to read each other’s thoughts and also make a convincing and princi pled case, though both the countries

While India-Turkey’s economic and commercial cooperation constitutes an important dimension of the bilateral relationship, diplomatic ties have been adversely impacted over Turkiye’s public criticism of the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the February 2020 riots in north-east Delhi.

Modi-Raisi meeting, looking ahead Another important meeting at Samarkand was between odi and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Both the leaders took the opportu nity to discuss boosting ties in areas like energy, commerce and connec tivity. They also reviewed progress of the Shahid Behesti terminal at Chabahar Port and there are indi cations that the Iranian president also discussed a new mechanism to supply crude oil to India on rupee payment basis, instead of American dollars. This may bring the two countries closer on the trade and economic fronts.

The manner in which Modi and his diplomatic team carried the business at Samarkand shows the maturity and coming of age of the Indian diplomacy under the Prime Minister.

India will be hosting the next SCO Summit in 2023, and this will offer Modi an opportunity to develop the organisation into a more meaningful and cohesive organisation. A fact evident by the number of countries, which are desirous of joining it, due to its regional potential.

Trainee officer’s death case: IAF initiates court of inquiry

September 23, 2022. The report is awaited.

On September 24, his kin visited AFTC. They were briefed about the incident. The Indian Air Force con doles the unfortunate loss of life and prays for strength to the bereaved family in their time of grief. IAF is cooperating with the investigation being conducted by the police on the matter, the statement said.

Meanwhile, six Indian Air Force officials have been booked for alleged murder case following the death of Ankit Kumar Jha last week under suspicious circumstances.

The deceased youth, 27-year-old Ankit Kumar Jha was training at the AFTC in Jalahalli campus for oneand-half years, according to police.

Malayalam actor Sreenath Bhasi arrested for ‘abusing’ lady journalist

Kochi, Sep 26 (IANS) Malayalam actor Sreenath Bhasi was on Monday arrested by the Maradu Police after a lady journalist working in an online media complained of being verbally abused during an interview held last week.

Since the charges are bailable, he is expected to walk out of the Maradu Police station after sureties are presented.

Bhasi is reported to have lost cool while being interviewed after probing questions were put before him at an interview which was done in the course of promoting his latest film, ‘Chattambi’.

After sensing trouble, he later apologised by saying that he has not

abused anyone and just responded in a way that every one person would when insulted and emphati cally said he has done no wrong.

But the police registered the case and asked him to present before them.

On Monday morning, he sought a day’s leave to appear before them and that was granted.

But later changed his mind and informed the police that he can come on Monday itself.

After an hour’s questioning, the police arrested the young actor.

Bhasi began as a radio jockey and then turned a video jockey and it was in 2011 that he made his film debut in the blockbuster film

Bengaluru, Sep 26 (IANS) The Indian Air Force (IAF) has set up a ‘Court of Inquiry’ to establish the circumstances leading to the death of the Under Trainee Flying Officer (UTFO) Ankit Kumar Jha at Air Force Technical College (AFTC), Bengaluru on September 21.

An IAF official release stated that there were reports in the media about the death of UTFO. The de ceased UTFO had joined the IAF in February 2021 and was undergoing training at the Air Force Technical College (AFTC). His training had been terminated on September 20 2022, after informing his father of the same.

Termination of training was the

result of recommendations made by a Court of Inquiry (COI), which was instituted following a complaint by a fellow woman trainee officer against the UTFO on June 30, 2022, it said.

It had been established that the UFTO had committed certain acts of misconduct. The Inquiry proceed ings were duly examined at multiple levels before being approved at Air HQ, as per the established proce dure on the subject, the statement read.

As per the existing norms, an IAF officer was deputed to convey the news of this unfortunate happening to the parents of late UFTO A.K. Jha in New Delhi. A post-mortem examination was conducted on

He had allegedly committed suicide by hanging after being discharged following a court of inquiry.

However, the deceased youth’s family have claimed that their son had been killed.

In his suicide note, the deceased had mentioned the names of six IAF officials, including a commodore, two wing commanders, and group captain, among other, said police sources.

Aman, brother of the deceased, has alleged that a training officer had killed his brother and made it look like a suicide case.

Gangammamgudi police have taken up the case and are investigating both

Gujarat police book 13 persons for murder, rioting in Surendranagar district

on his neck and head and died on the spot. Three to four other family members suffered injuries and were rushed to a government hospital.

Mukesh Parmar whose condition is critical was rushed to Rajkot government hospital.

The Dhrangadhra police station officer said the police have invoked IPC sections related to murder, attempt to murder, rioting, unlawful assembly and sections of the Atrocity Act against all the thirteen accused.

A villager told the local media that there was enmity between the Koli community members and Dalits over the village sarpanch elections.

Rajiv Gandhi assassination: SC issues notice on pleas by Nalini, Ravichandran seeking release

New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu govern ment on the petitions of S. Nalini and R.P. Ravichandran, convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Citing the release of convict A.G. Perarivalan in the same case, both convicts, who are serving life imprisonment, have moved the apex court seeking their release from the prison.

A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and B.V. Nagarathna sought a response from the Tamil Nadu and Central government on the pleas. “Notice. Liberty granted to serve standing counsel of Tamil Nadu and Union of India...,” said the top court, in its order, while scheduling the matter for hearing on October 14.

Nalini and Ravichandran had moved the Madras High Court citing Perarivalan’s release, however the high court refused to entertain their plea seeking release from the prison. They moved the apex court challenging the high court order.

The high court had said that it cannot exercise powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to

pass a similar order, which was passed by the apex court to release another accused, A.G. Perarivalan, in the case. “The directions sought by the petitioner cannot be given by the court, as it otherwise does not have power similar to what the apex court has under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. For the fore going reasons, the writ petition is dismissed as not maintainable,” said the high court in an order passed in June.

On May 18, the Supreme Court invoked its extraordinary powers to do complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution, as it ordered the release of A.G. Perarivalan, sentenced to life in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

A bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao (retired now), B.R. Gavai, and A.S. Bopanna said: “In the exceptional facts and circumstances of this case, in exercise of our power under Article 142 of the Constitution, we direct that the Appellant is deemed to have served the sentence in connection with crime... The Appellant, who is on bail, is set at liberty forthwith.” Perarivalan is

currently on bail. His death sentence was commuted to life sentence and terrorism charges were withdrawn. The top court took into account Perarivalan’s prolonged period of in carceration, his satisfactory conduct in jail as well as during parole, chronic ailments from his medical records, his educational qualifica tions acquired during incarceration and the pendency of his petition under Article 161 for two-and-a-half years after the recommendation of the state cabinet.

government hospitals.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Valjibhai Parmar, a group of 12 armed with deadly weapons and led by Pankaj Vadaniya attacked his family and relatives on Sunday night, in which his nephew Jagdish suffered fatal blows from a sickle

In the last elections, a Dalit woman got elected to the general seat and wanted to be the sarpanch. Since then tension was brewing between the two communities. A criminal complaint was filed then at the police station, but no action was taken.

‘Jaage Ho?’ How PM Modi surprised Jaishankar with midnight call

you. But this time it was the prime minister,” said Jaishankar.

Recalling the incident, he further said, ‘The prime minister asked, ‘If I’m awake. It’s 12.30 (a.m.), what else will I be doing rather than being awake?’ Because in his life that’s probably natural,” he said, while praising PM Modi for his leadership role.

The Prime Minister further asked him whether he was watching TV.

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a plea seeking regula tion on the production, distribution, and consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs in the national capital and also health warning stickers on liquor bottles alike cigarette packets.

The plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay sought a direction to the government to publish health warnings on liquor bottles -- similar to the criteria adopted for warning signs on cigarette packets -- and the same should be advertised through electronic, print, and social media.

Upadhyay contended before a bench headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit that he would only press for limited prayer to have warning labels on alcohol bottles, as they are harmful. He further argued that a little

indulgence in this matter will benefit the youth and pressed for warning labels on the bottles.

The bench, also comprising Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Indira Banerjee, said that there are thoughts and counter thoughts, and some people say liquor taken in small quantities is good for health and nowhere similar things are said about cigarettes. The bench expressed its disinclination in entertaining the petition. “Either you withdraw this or we will dismiss it. This is a policy matter,” said the bench.

Upadhyay urged the top court to grant him the liberty to move the Law Commission in the matter. The bench said, “No, we will only allow withdrawal”. Upadhyay withdrew his petition.

The plea had also sought a direction

SC to hear petitions challenging scrapping of Article 370 after Dussehra vacation

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) Speaking at an event in New York, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar recalled an incident from 2016 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally called him past midnight and asked if he was awake.

“Jaage ho (are you awake)?,” was his first question, Jaishankar said, while lauding PM Modi’s leadership.

The External affairs minister, who was the Foreign Secretary then, was recalling the incident when an Indian consulate at Mazar-i-Sharif in war-torn Afghanistan was attacked

in 2016.

Jaishankar was speaking at an event to discuss the book ‘Modi@20:

Dreams Meet Delivery’ in New York on Thursday. He is in New York to attend the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“It was past midnight and our consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan was under attack.

We were trying to figure out what happened and my phone rang. It took me a bit by surprise. When the Prime Minister calls... you don’t get a caller ID but still someone connects

“Yes sir, I said. On being apprised that help was on its way, PM Modi asked to be informed personally when the operation is over. I said this will take two-three hours more and I will inform your office (PMO) when it’s over,” said Jaishankar.

“’Call me’, asserted the Prime Minister,” said the Foreign Minister, praising his sense of responsibility.

Talking about his role during the Covid crisis, Jaishankar said at the event, “If you look at how leaders around the world handled Covid - not everybody stepped up or said I’d take that call. To handle the consequences of very big decisions is an extremely singular quality.”

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday said it will list the pleas challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate the provisions of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, after the Dussehra vacation.

A counsel contended before a bench headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit that the petitions were supposed to get listed after the summer vacation, but they were not listed for hearing.

The bench, also comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and S. Ravindra Bhat, told the counsel that the petitions will be listed.

A bench headed by former Chief Justice N.V. Ramana in April this year had said the court will list the matter after the summer vacation.

A new five-judge bench would have

to be re-constituted to hear the petitions, since two judges on the bench -- Justice Ramana and Justice R. Subhash Reddy -- have retired.

A batch of petitions have challenged Centre’s decision to abrogate provi sions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The Centre, by abrogating the provi sions of Article 370, had revoked the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and subse quently, it was bifurcated into two union territories -- Union Territory of Ladakh and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, in March 2020, held that there was no need to refer

the batch of petitions challenging Article 370 abrogation to a sev en-judge constitution bench.

‘Some say liquor in small quantity is good’, SC refuses plea for warning labels on bottles

to the Delhi government to carry out a ‘health impact assessment’ and ‘environment impact assessment’ of production, distribution and con sumption of the intoxicating drinks and drugs in the spirit of Articles 21 and 47 of the Constitution.

Surendranagar, Sep 26 (IANS)

Due to old political enmity two groups clashed on Sunday night in Devcharadi village of Dhrangadhra taluka in Surendranagar district in which a youth was killed and a few others were injured. They have been shifted to Surendranagar and Rajkot

‘Pranayam’ directed by Blessy and starring Mohanlal and Anupam Kher. After that there was no looking back, so far he has acted in around 50 films.

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Rahul kicks off Bharat Jodo Yatra in K’taka, says tricolour has no value without Constitution

Ahead of Cong prez poll, G-23 says time to strengthen party

New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) One of the most vocal G-23 faces, Manish Tewari on Friday said that it was time to strengthen the party and termed the recent events in Rajasthan as unfortunate.

Chamarajanagar, (Karnataka) Sep 30 (IANS) After covering Kerala, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday kicked off the Karnataka leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra from Gundlupet town in Chamarajanagar district.

Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJP in the convention before the launch of Padayatra, Gandhi stated that tricolour has no value without the Constitution.

To counter the BJP and RSS’s ideol ogy and end the hatred and violence in the country, the Congress has taken up this padyatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, he said.

“It is being undertaken to protect the constitution. There is no place for any kind of hatred or violence in it. If someone falls, without enquiring about his religion, caste and language, he will be lifted up,”

Gandhi added.

“This is our Hindustan, bhaichara ka Hindustan (country of brotherhood).

This rally can’t be stopped. No force can stop the padayatra and this is the strength of this country,” he maintained.

During the yatra, which starts in the morning and continues till evening, the people meet us and

share their woes. They talk about unemployment, atrocities on farmers, privatisation of PSUs. Poora Hindustan, apna dard batata hai (the whole country is pouring out woes) he said.

The intention of the yatra is not to give long speeches. It is an opportu nity for the people to talk. Questions are raised on why this yatra is being taken up? Under democracy, there are various institutions like the media, parliament. But, all roads are closed for the opposition party, Gandhi stated.

When they rise to speak in Parliament, their mikes are muted and if anyone tries to voice concerns they are jailed. There is no other way left but to take up yatra, he said.

This yatra can’t be stopped. The voice of Hindustan can’t be stopped, he reiterated.

Thanking party workers for gather ing in large numbers, he welcomed them to join the yatra with him.

“When you walk with me, you will know about corruption, unemploy ment and inflation in Karnataka,” he said.

“Leadership, Ideological clarity, narrative & transparent access to resources are pillars of ‘A’ political party, Given recent unfortunate events it’s time to close ranks & strengthen @INCIndia recalling wise words of @CitiznMukherjee Y’Y& work for a Consensus & effective Presidency,” Tewari said in his tweet.

Late Thursday night G-23 lead ers, including Manish Tewari, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan met at Anand Sharma’s residence, but did not divulge the details of the meeting. After the meeting Sharma drove to the Jodhpur House to meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who announced on Thursday that he will not be contesting the election.

But, now Mallikarjun Kharge has thrown his hat in the ring and it is

likely that there may be a triangu lar contest.

However, the final outcome will be known only after the contestants file their nominations and the elections are held as Friday is the last day of filing nomination.

Australian welfare recipients struggle as inflation surges

“People on low, fixed incomes were already struggling with covering basic costs before the cost of living skyrocketed,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald said the “existing in come support system was woefully inadequate” with many people only receiving payments from A$38 to A$48 a day.

To put those figures in perspective, median rents for a unit are around A$65 a day, while fuelling a car costs about A$80, the report said.

MacDonald said with the federal budget due to be delivered in October, it was time for the govern ment to lift support payments to at least A$73.

Australian Treasurer announces budget improvement

Canberra, Sep 21 (IANS) Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that the country’s budget deficit has improved by tens of billions of dollars.

Ahead of the final budget outcome slated to be released later this month, Chalmers said the budget deficit for the financial year 2021-22 has come in A$50 billion ($33 billion) lower than projected by the government in March, reports Xinhua news agency.

He said A$28 billion of the improve ment came from higher-than-ex pected revenues -- mostly a result of high global commodity prices -- A$20 billion from payments that were lower than expected.

However, the deficit will still be “a little bit north” of A$30 billion and Chalmers warned it could worsen as a result of a downturn in coal and iron ore prices.

Budget Outcome is that this substan tial improvement is welcome, but the bulk of it is driven by temporary factors,” he told reporters here.

Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said at the same press conference that Australians should expect a “bread and butter” budget including a “substantial but temporary” lift in taxes.

“And we’ve come in, and we’re telling you that there are enormous pressures and the Budget is in structural deficit,” said Gallagher.

“And we’re doing what we can in the October Budget to go through the previous measures, the waste audit, having a look at making sure that the spending that’s currently being provided is going where we need it the most.”

or avoid seeking medical treatment, while 71 per cent had cut back on eating meat, fruit, and vegetables.

The report from the Sydney-based welfare advocacy group Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) found that 96 per cent of the 449 people surveyed had suffered physi cal and mental health hardships due to the surging costs of living, reports Xinhua news agency.

Among other key findings were that 62 per cent of those on welfare had been forced to regularly skip meals

“No one should have to choose between food and medicine, but these are exactly the choices being forced on people in Australia, one of the world’s wealthiest nations,” said ACOSS acting chief executive Edwina MacDonald.

Their plight is being exacerbated by Australia’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate, which had soared to 6.1 per cent during the past 12 months to the end of June, the highest figure since 1990.

ACOSS is also urging for an array of other welfare supplements to ensure disadvantaged people, such as single parents or those with disabilities or illnesses, can better cope with the rising CPI figures.

“The measures we propose are proportionate to the challenge,” MacDonald said. “It is simply un fathomable to inflict more stress on people who are already struggling to cover basic costs.”

ACOSS will present the report before the federal parliament in Canberra on Tuesday.

Australians encouraged to put their food waste to good use as compost

gardens where it can improve soil health and boost yields.”

He said the government would spend A$46 million ($30 million) in grants in the latest stage of its program.

More than 40 councils have become involved since 2013.

Griffin said the latest council grants could lead to about 2 million more households going FOGO.

“FOGO is helping households and councils in NSW reduce emissions, make the most of a valuable re source, and save money on landfill disposal costs,” Griffin said.

“And what we know from the Final

The government’s tax on petrol will be reinstated at its full rate on September 29 after it was cut earlier in 2022 in response to a global spike

in fuel prices.

Chalmers said deciding not to extend the relief measure was “difficult” but projected fuel prices would not spike overnight.

“We’re under no illusions that this will be difficult for people. It’s a difficult decision for us to take as well,” he said.

NSW to introduce new ‘no body no parole’ law

Sydney, Sep 20 (IANS) Dominic Perrottet, Premier of Australia’s New South Wales (NSW), on Tuesday announced that offenders in the state who refuse to provide informa tion on the location of their victims’ remains will be ineligible for parole under new laws.

Perrottet said that the government’s proposed bill would mean criminals must cooperate with investigators and disclose the location of remains for any chance of release on parole, reports Xinhua news agency.

“Being unable to locate a loved one’s body is extremely distressing and traumatic for the families and friends of victims and it denies a victim the dignity of being laid to rest appropriately.

“These laws are to stop inmates convicted of murder or homicide offenses from getting parole unless they cooperate with police to end

the torment of families and return to them the remains of their loved ones,” he added.

The law, which is still under proposal, will mean the State Parole Authority is obliged to refuse parole unless it receives written advice from the Commissioner of NSW Police Force as well as other relevant information to determine whether the offender has cooperated satisfactorily to identify a victim’s location.

The change in law is receiving much attention as it followed the high-pro file case of Chris Dawson, who was convicted last month of murdering his wife, Lynette, over 40 years ago, with the body never found.

Corrections minister Geoffrey Lee said the reforms are modelled on laws in other jurisdictions and would apply to all current and future inmates in NSW to capture

convicted offenders who have not yet been considered for parole.

“Any offender in prison coming up for parole should really think hard about maintaining their refusal to cooperate with police if they want to retain their prospects of getting parole,” Lee said.

33 injured after school bus-truck collision in Australia

Melbourne, Sep 21 (IANS) At least 33 people, some with serious injuries, were hospitalised on Wednesday after a collision between a school bus and a truck in Australia’s Victoria state, authorities said.

Sydney, Sep 21 (IANS) Residents in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have been encouraged to transform their household food and garden waste into compost with the extension of an environmental program. Announcing the ongoing rollout of a recycling scheme on Wednesday, NSW environment minister James Griffin said the new food organics and garden organics (FOGO)

collection service would ultimately help the state towards its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, reports Xinhua news agency.

“When FOGO waste ends up in landfill, it rots and generates damaging greenhouse gases,” Griffin said.

“Go FOGO will divert half a million tonnes of waste and instead see it processed into compost and used in large-scale agriculture, parks or

The Minister said the government would spend A$69 million during the next five years on a range of related environmental projects.

Among those initiatives is a program to build or upgrade 30 FOGO waste-processing facilities aimed at processing up to 600,000 tonnes a year.

New programs are also being developed to increase food dona tions and support businesses in recycling food waste.

School holidays, bad weather disrupts understaffed Sydney airport

already on holiday since last week, Sydney’s airport anticipates that almost 2.4 million passengers will pass through, with 1.65 million flying domestically and 720,000 internationally, in the period from this Monday to October 9.

All of this is on top of the airport struggling to fill job vacancies left by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In anticipation of this busy week, it held a second jobs fair to try to fill labour shortages.

The collision occurred at about 3.15 a.m. on the Western Highway, near the intersection of Condons Lane, causing the bus to roll down an embankment, reports Xinhua news agency.

Twenty-seven female students and four adults from Loreto College on board the bus along with the driver were all taken to the hospital.

One of the students was airlifted due serious injuries, while the rest are

said to be in stable condition.

The truck driver was also taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Loreto College, a Catholic school for girls aged 12 and up located in Ballarat, said in a statement that the bus was heading to the airport for a

school tour.

Victoria Police said they are investi gating the circumstances surround ing the collision and urged anyone who witnessed the crash to contact Crime Stoppers, an information receiving service.

Climate change threatens nearly 10% trees in Aus cities: Study

Canberra, Sep 20 (IANS) Trees in Australian cities are expected to be among the hardest hit in the world as climate change intensifies during the coming decades, according to a new international study released on Tuesday.

The study, published in the Nature Climate Change journal, estimated that between 90 to 100 per cent of all trees and shrubs throughout Australia’s urban centres would be severely impacted by the rising temperatures within the next three decades, reports Xinhua news agency.

statement.

ydney, Sep 23 (IANS) With millions of Australians heading away for school holidays, an understaffed Sydney airport has seen mass flight cancellations due to severe weather.

Severe thunderstorms saw more than 40 flight cancellations as heavy rain hit Sydney and much of the state of New South Wales (NSW), as well as parts of

Queensland, reports Xinhua news agency.

While the Bureau of Meteorology has downgraded its severe weather warnings as of Friday, heavy rain fall is expected to continue in the following days.

As school holidays are set to begin on Saturday in most states around the country, and some are

Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said all of the organisations across the airport have been working hard to rebuild the workforce and oper ational performance is improving, but labour shortages are an ongoing challenge with around 4,000 open roles across the airport.

Meanwhile, flag carrier, Qantas, has scheduled larger-than-usual aircraft between the country’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, as well as extra staff available in terminals, to manage the large influx of passengers to be brought by the upcoming holiday.

Lead author and bioclimatologist Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez from Western Sydney University said the team looked at the predicted impact of the deteriorating environment on 3,129 urban tree species throughout more than 160 cities around the world by 2050 and 2070.

According to the researchers, an average of 65 percent of species in each city will be at risk by 2050, with Australia’s being at a higher risk.

“A surprising finding was that about half of the tree species in each city examined are already experiencing climate changes that put them at risk,” Esperon-Rodriguez said in a

“This study is globally important because it identifies species at risk and also indicates which species are likely to be climate resilient,” he said.

Esperon-Rodriguez said the trees and shrubs in cities provide benefits to about 4.2 billion people by absorbing carbon dioxide and providing natural shade in urban environments.

In an article in the Conversation, also published on Tuesday, the researchers explained that trees cool their surroundings thereby reducing people’s use of air con ditioning, as well as absorbing city noise, providing habitat for wildlife.

“With all these benefits, increasing urban forest cover is a key climate action and liveability strategy for many governments and communi ties around the world,” they wrote.

The researchers said that in addition to selecting climate-resilient plant species for urban spaces, city planners should concentrate on “water-sensitive designs to allow rainfall to soak into the ground and reach root zones, instead of going down the drain”.

“The urban heat island effect will exacerbate increased temperatures, but more tree and shrub cover in urban areas helps to reduce this effect, so leaving large trees and shrubs in place to perform these roles is really important.”

Canberra, Sep 26 (IANS) Inflation in Australia is pushing the nation’s welfare recipients ever deeper into poverty, according to a report released on Monday.

MEA issues advisory for Indians in Canada amid rising hate crimes

have not been brought to justice so far in Canada,” it added

In view of the increasing incidences of the said crimes, “Indian nationals and students from India in Canada and those proceeding to Canada for travel/education are advised to exercise due caution and remain vigilant”.

The advisory went on to mention that Indian nationals and students from India in Canada may also register with the High Commission in Ottawa or Consulates Generalin Toronto and Vancouver through their respective websites, or the MADAD portal madad.gov.in.

Violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Leicester were the result of outsiders coming to the city and inflaming existing tensions, community leaders have said, Daily Mail reported.

Over the weekend, police made 47 arrests after clashes between large groups of mostly young men in the east part of the city, as tensions boiled over following a recent cricket match between India and Pakistan.

The Ministry and the High Commission/Consulates General in Canada have “taken up these inci dents with the Canadian authorities and requested them to investigate the said crimes and take appropriate action”, the advisory said.

“The perpetrators of these crimes

“Registration would enable the High Commission and the Consulates General to better connect with Indian citizens in Canada in the event of any requirement or emer gency,” it added.

Jayashree Ullal heads list of richest Indian professionals

Indian origin is a woman, Jayashree Ullal of Arista Networks.

Ullal, born in London and raised in India, heads the Arista Networks, US and is the richest professional with a wealth of Rs 16,600 crore, as per the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022.

India has proved itself to be the progenitor of some of the most brilliant professional managers in the world. Professional managers in the list consist of individuals who joined the business after it has been founded, helped it grow and these managers were given stock options from which they have created their wealth, said the statement.

Thomas Kurian (Rs 12,100 crore) of Oracle is in the second position

and is followed by Nikesh Arora (Rs 8,500 crore) of Palo Alto Networks.

Barring two, the top 10 rich profes sional executives in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich is populated with Indian-Americans.

The two exceptions are Ignatius Navil Noronha of Avenue Supermarts (wealth Rs 6,500 crore) and Aditya Puri of HDFC Bank (Rs 1,600 crore).

The others in the rich professionals list are: Ajaypal Singh Banga of Mastercard (Rs 6,500 crore), Satya Nadella of Microsoft (Rs 6,200 crore), Sundar Pichai of Google (Rs 5,300 crore), Indra K. Nooyi of Pepsico (Rs 4,000 crore), Pepsico and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe (Rs 3,800 crore).

But the people of Leicester say the relationship between the two communities has been strained for months and has been inflamed by misinformation being spread online and outsiders who have travelled to the city from nearby areas such as Birmingham, Daily Mail reported.

Police officers were diverted from the Queen’s funeral preparations in London to deal with most recent unrest which erupted on Saturday night and continued into Sunday.

So far, one man from Leicester has been jailed for his role in the incident but police have confirmed that a number of those arrested were from outside the city.

Amos Noronha, 20, was sentenced to 10 months in prison after

pleading guilty to possession of an offensive weapon in connection with the violence but no further details of his crime were released.

Noronha was one of 47 people arrested across the weekend after the clashes which resulted in 16 officers being injured, Daily Mail reported.

Those arrested stand accused of an array of offences including affray, assault, possession of weapons and violent disorder.

Dharmesh Lakhani, who has lived in the city for more than 50 years and works with local mosques, says he feels it was outside influences

that inflamed the situation.

He told BBC R4’s Today programme: “It’s been brewing slowly, slowly, slowly, and what happened at cricket acted as a trigger.

“Now my personal feeling is that if it was just people from Leicester, things would have calmed down.

“I feel there’s outside influences here and they’re not welcome. We really need just the people of Leicester, the Hindu organisations, the Muslim organisations, our authorities, the police and our local council and we could sort this out straight away.”

The Pune girl who selfmade it to the India rich list

Chennai, Sep 21 (IANS) IndianAmerican Neha Narkhede, co-Founder of Confluent, a stream ing data technology company, now figures in the India’s rich list 2022.

According to IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List, the 37-year-old Narkhede is the youngest selfmade woman entrepreneur to be in India’s rich list.

Her wealth is estimated at Rs 4,700 crore and she is ranked 336 in the IIFL Hurun India Rich List.

As per the information available in the public domain, Narkhede was born in Pune and got her Bachelor of Science in Engineering from University of Pune and Masters in

Technology from Georgia Tech.

In an interview to Forbes, she had said that she migrated to US to have a career in technology.

Narkhede, after her education, joined Oracle and then LinkedIn where she and her colleagues Jun Rao and Jay Kreps set up open source platform Apache Kafka.

In 2014, the trio decided to start Confluent with Narkhede as the Chief Technology Officer and later as the Chief Product Officer. She is now on the company’s board.

The company went public in 2021 at $9.1 billion valuation, as per Forbes.

Remembering Parmesh Chand, a humanitarian and a karm yogi

There are very few luminaries who leave such an impression on others that their passing leaves a vacuum impossible to fill as life goes on. The passing away of Parmesh Chand on September 21, 2022, in Brisbane, has left the Indian community in a state of utter shock and disbelief. Late Mr Parmesh Chand was a karm yogi who became well-known as an lndian community leader and solicitor. He was a prominent leader of the Indian community and hosted the Indian Bazar, the most signifi cant and first Indian festival to bring all Indian communities together in Brisbane.

Parmesh Chand had a Juris Doctor Law graduate degree from Bond University, Diploma in Legal Practice from Griffith University; and Diploma in Education USP. As a solicitor, he had served the interests of the community. He also contributed as part of a team of professionals who developed a course in International Migration with the assistance and input from relevant stakeholders. It is written in simple and plain English so that it can be accessed internationally.

Parmesh strongly believed that education is an integral part of any migration program and the program he had helped in preparing would meet the challenge of making an informed decision.

His demise is a great loss to the Indian community in Brisbane. There were many instances where he stood firm and selflessly for the Indian causes. Renowned for his integrity and honesty, he will be

Violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Leicester being fuelled by gangs from Birmingham

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday issued an advisory for Indian nationals in Canada in the wake of a “sharp increase in incidents of hate crimes, sectarian violence and anti-India activities in Canada”.

Chennai, Sep 21 (IANS) The richest Indian professional-person of

Leicester (UK), Sep 20 (IANS)

dearly missed and loved forever. Heartfelt condolences have poured in from the grieving family and his friends.

Japan bids final farewell to late PM Abe

with thousands of dignitaries from all over the world, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seated in the arena.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida received the ashes, which appear to be contained in a ceremonial box. He then formally handed it to military officers who placed the box in the centre of the altar, set up at the front of the room.

Some opponents have said that the government and Japanese taxpayers should not bear the entire cost of the event, while others question the rationale since only one other former Prime Minister has been given a state funeral since the end of World War Two.

Seventy-two per cent said the government had not done a good enough job explaining why a state funeral was needed.

Quad FMs meet on UNGA sidelines, hope to make it annual fixture

Tokyo, Sep 27 (IANS) Japan on Tuesday bid a final farewell to the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the country’s longest serving leader, at a state funeral.

The 67-year-old politician was gunned down at an election rally in July, the BBC reported.

Some 20,000 police officers have been reportedly being deployed for the security at the event being held at the Nippon Budokan arena in central Tokyo which is estimated to cost taxpayers $1.65 billion yen ($11 million).

The event is currently underway

Up to 1,000 soldiers are set to perform ceremonial duties, with a military honour guard firing 19 blank rounds from a cannon to salute the former Prime Minister. This is only the second state funeral held in Japan. The other was for former Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru 55 years ago.

Members of the public have been laying flowers outside the venue to pay their respects. Flags at govern ment offices across Japan are also being flown at half-mast, reports public broadcaster NHK. But people opposing the expensive event have taken to streets in protest.

Abe’s death has also shed light on another political controversy.

The suspect says he held a grudge against a religious group he claims bankrupted his family.

In the wake of the shooting, hundreds of Japanese lawmakers admitted ties with the group, including about half of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s members.

Kishida has told his party’s members to sever those links.

Nonetheless, the latest NHK poll suggests almost two-thirds of re spondents do not think the LDP has adequately addressed the matter.

73 dead as migrant boat capsizes near Syrian shore

Head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman cited sources as saying on Friday that the boat carried between 100 to 150 people, noting that the original capacity of the boat was only enough for 30 people.

Washington, Sep 24 (IANS) Foreign Ministers of the Quad countries -- India, Australia, Japan and the US -- met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York on Friday and said they hoped to make it an annual affair, taking another major step towards further institutionalising the platform focused on keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open from Chinese influence.

The four countries also signed Quad Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Partnership for the Indo-Pacific, which was discussed and agreed upon at the Tokyo summit of the Quad.

The Quad -- which started out in 2004 as the Australia-IndiaJapan-US Tsunami Core Group and later turned into the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue -- has witnessed intense engagement in recent years after it was resurrected in 2017 by the Trump administration from its 2008 collapse.

US President Joe Biden took it to the summit level with a virtual meeting in 2021, which was quickly followed by one in person. Their four summit -- and second in person -- took place in May this year in Tokyo.

Though the leaders have had two in-person summits in the two years since their first in 2021, there has been no decision for them to meet every year. But Quad Foreign Ministers will meet every year now, as they announced at their meeting on Friday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

the UNGA but in our respective countries as well,” he said.

The Minister then emphasised the importance of the Friday meeting, saying it has come at a time the world is passing through “a very difficult period” and mentioned the “global repercussions” of the Ukraine conflict and “climate events and emergencies”.

“So given the turbulent times, I think it’s particularly important that we go further in the constructive agenda that we have set for ourselves, that we work together on the delivery of public goods, that our efforts and particularly what we are signing today, the HDR (humanitarian and disaster relief) Partnership, which we discussed and finalised in Tokyo is I think, extremely timely,” he concluded.

and privilege to be here with my counterparts today.”

Finally, Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said, “Today the world is witnessing direct attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force. The free and open interna tional order based on the rule of law is under threat.”

He did not name China, but the reference barely concealed who he had meant.

“So it’s extremely significant for us to demonstrate together to the international community, our firm commitment to the principles of the UN charter and free and open Indo-Pacific order,” he added.

In a joint statement, the four countries welcomed progress in delivering on Quad commitments.

Damascus/Beirut, Sep 24 (IANS) At least 73 people died from a boat that sank off the Syrian coast, the Syrian Health Ministry said.

Twenty others have been rescued and sent for medical treatment at the al-Basel hospital in the Syrian coastal city of Tartous after the boat sank in the Syrian waters, Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash said in a statement on Friday.

The boat set off from Lebanon

on Tuesday carrying illegal migrants of various nationalities to “unknown destinations,” Syrian General Director of Sea Ports Samer Kobrosly earlier said on Friday, citing testimonies from the survivors.

The latest casualties included 31 bodies found on Friday during an ongoing search and rescue mission launched by Syrian authorities, Kobrosly added.

Lebanese, Syrians and other un identified nationalities were on the boat, the Britain-based war monitor revealed on Thursday, adding that the migrants’ initial destination was Cyprus, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Lebanese Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh, the 20 rescued migrants are five Lebanese, 12 Syrians and three Palestinians.

Hamieh said in a statement that the Lebanese Red Cross is coordinating with the Syrian Red Crescent on bringing some of the victims’ bodies home.

French energy sobriety plan to switch off Paris monuments at night

enough.

Other major French cities are also committed to energy sobriety.

In Marseille (Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region), emblematic build ings such as the Pharo, the Major, the Longchamp Palace and the Opera will be switched off earlier from the end of the month.

The city of Lille (Hauts-de-France) has already implemented such measures. According to a statement from the city hall, they represent annual savings of around 170,000 kWh of energy consumption.

“This is the first time that the Foreign Ministers from the Quad countries have gotten together at the United Nations General Assembly, so my hope is that this will become a regular feature of these meetings,” said US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who called the meeting and hosted it, in public remarks ahead of the signing of the agreement and their meeting.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar agreed.

“I think it’s a great idea that we meet regularly on the sidelines of

Blinken, who called and hosted the meet, said, “We’re looking forward to continuing to explore the many ways that the Quad enables us to deepen our cooperation. Our leaders have set out a very significant agenda for us when they met. We are following through on a lot of that work. So are our colleagues today is one more manifestation of that.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, “We do know our region is being reshaped, economically and strategically. And we are here because we want to work with the countries represented before you to better navigate this period of change together. So this is the heart of the Quad to create the region we all aspire to and it’s a great honour

In particular, they noted the signing of the disaster relief agreement and they look forward to the “counter-terrorism tabletop exercise” being hosted by Australia later in 2022. They also announced a statement on ransomware, calling on states to take reasonable steps to address ransomware operations emanating from their territory.

“We reiterated the Quad’s com mitment to supporting regional partners’ efforts to improve their maritime security and domain awareness,” they said further, and added, “We support the ongoing efforts, in close consultation with regional partners, to take forward the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness.”

Pakistan’s catastrophic floods ravage agriculture sector, jeopardize food security

Islamabad, Sep 24 (IANS) Pakistan’s agriculture sector, which contrib utes 24 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings, has been damaged as the recent climate change-induced catastrophic floods have jeopar dized food security and people’s livelihoods, and led to disruption in agricultural exports.

Paris, Sep 24 (IANS) The lights on the Eiffel Tower will be switched off at 11.45 p.m. from this week onwards, in a bid to save electricity due to the energy crisis.

Other major monuments in the French capital, such as the Paris City Hall, the Saint-Jacques Tower and the city’s museums will no longer be lit from 10 p.m., reports Xinhua news agency.

“The City of Light will remain the City of Light,” emphasized mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, during a presentation of the “energy sobriety plan” of Paris.

“It is important to show that every where, including this monument... which we symbolically light up in green when there are important moments for the climate, will also participate.”

An earlier switch-off time for the lights on the “Iron Lady”, built by engineer Gustave Eiffel 133 years ago, will lead to energy savings of 4 per cent, Hidalgo added.

According to the Eiffel Tower’s operating company, the annual night-time energy consumption of the “Iron Lady” amounts to 6.7 gigawatt hours, or about the equiva lent of the energy consumption of a town of 3,000 people.

The monument attracts six million visitors per year.

Meanwhile, the ornamental lighting on the facades and monuments of the capital will be switched off at 10 p.m. from this Friday.

This includes the City Hall, which is usually illuminated until 1 a.m., the Saint-Jacques Tower, the city’s museums, and the city halls for Paris’ boroughs (arrondissements).

According to the city of Paris, this will save nearly 10 million euros ($9 million).

The goal of the “energy sobriety plan” of Paris is to reduce the city’s consumption by 10 per cent, the equivalent of the energy con sumption of 226 schools, Hidalgo explained.

She also called on the state to take similar action for national monu ments, and for the owners of private monuments to take steps in the same direction.

Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak announced on September 17 that the Louvre pyramid and the facade of the Palace of Versailles would be switched off earlier to save energy.

However, she said that although symbolic measures were important to raise awareness, they are not

In Strasbourg, where the famous Christmas market attracts over two million visitors each year, the city hall faces the challenge of ensuring energy sobriety while preserving the spirit of the event.

“We are working on the whole project, so that it is coherent. We are thinking about illuminations but also about the 300 chalets which consume a lot of energy,” deputy mayor of Strasbourg Guillaume Lisbsig told the regional press.

Due to a decree on March 31, heating the outdoors of bars and restaurants and all outdoor public spaces will no longer be allowed at the Strasbourg Christmas market this year, or anywhere else in France.

Shopkeepers are stepping up against this decision.

In Paris, the famous Christmas illu minations on the Champs-Elysees will also be significantly reduced.

The committee which organizes the festivities on “the most beautiful avenue in the world” said that it wanted to “significantly” reduce the Christmas illuminations and the lighting of windows.

France, like many other European countries, is facing an energy crisis this winter.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has already announced that rolling blackouts are possible.

The floods since mid-June have damaged more than 8 million acres of crops including rice, cotton, pulses, oil seeds and vegetables, and inflicted losses of over 320 billion PKR ($1 billion), said officials from the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, adding that the livestock sector also suffered huge losses as more than 1 million animals perished due to floods, reports Xinhua news agency.

Besides agricultural and infra structure losses, heavy torrential rains and floods have killed nearly 1,600 people, injured over 12,000 and affected as many as 33 million people till date, according to the latest statistics of the National Disaster Management Authority.

As one-third of the country came underwater, the federal government has estimated the total cost of economic damage owing to floods at $30 billion, calling on the interna tional community to assist in relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Pakistani experts believe that the government should mobilize all the financial and technical resources to prevent the country from the looming food security crisis and play a vital role in getting the key sector back on track.

Pakistan’s agriculture sector remained crucial to the country’s economic growth and development and accounted for half of the employed labour force, but the recent climate change and erratic extreme weather events have taken a big toll on the sector, Chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Muhammad Azeem Khan

told Xinhua.

“All the major crops have been destroyed across the country.

Pakistan is the world’s fourth rice exporter and fifth cotton exporter, but the recent floods have destroyed these crops, affecting the country’s export revenue generation and global supplies,” Khan said.

In addition to this, he said the farming community in the country has suffered a lot, adding that the only source of sustenance for the community was their crops and livestock which they have lost substantially in recent floods.

The responsibility now lies on the government to provide farmers with special incentives to cover their losses to get them back on their feet, the expert said.

The loans sought by growers in the flood-affected areas should be rescheduled and interest on agricul ture loans should also be written off, Khan said, adding that the incum bent government has been taking measures and adopting prudent policies to restore the community and much more needs to be done.

Muhammad Azam Khan, a professor at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University in Rawalpindi, said that floods in many districts have de stroyed arable lands as continuous inundation made them unsuitable for planting winter crops, especially wheat, which contributed 72 per cent of the country’s daily caloric intake.

The country has already been facing a huge shortage of wheat. With

the delay in planting time due to flood water and land degradation, Pakistan could face a severe dearth of wheat and other winter crops, he told Xinhua.

“Dewatering of flood-affected parts of the country should immediately start ... any lapse will have conse quences for sowing of winter crops, particularly wheat.

He said that growing crops that were planted since the onset of the monsoon season such as rice, cotton, pulses, fodder, onions, tomatoes and other vegetables have either been washed away or dam aged due to flood water, so now the focus should be on planting winter crops to ensure food security and cut import bills.

In a conversation with Xinhua, Syed Waseem-ul-Hassan, food security commissioner at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, said that countries in South Asia including Pakistan have become hotspots for climate change-related extreme weather events, stressing that flood-led disasters have increased in fre quencies and magnitudes in recent decades.

Pakistan is bearing the brunt of climate change despite having a share of less than 1 percent of the world’s carbon emission.

A compensation mechanism at a global level should be introduced to help developing nations that are facing huge losses due to climate change impacts, he added.

‘Vedic food is the way of the future’

animal food and crops getting contaminated. All those issues have led to (food) processing and that itself is an issue. This has created a variety of health issues across the planet,” Soni explained.

“Most meat and its products are heavily contaminated and are the root cause of a lot of diseases including obesity and high choles terol. Hence the move is towards plant-based protein that has similar texture and taste but totally made from plants. The process remains to be scrutinised for future consump tion,” Soni added.

that has been used in our culture for centuries, hence is more conducive to our bodies.”

Bitter/astringent fruits and veggies, such as spinach, broccoli, and asparagus, Soni pointed out, “are lighter and cleansing. Many herbs and spices also have a host of health benefits. For example, turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon include anti-inflammatory properties. Basil is known to aid digestion. And black pepper can act as a diuretic and preservative with digestive properties.”

Soni also stressed on the need for healthy cooking oils.

He revived Awadhi cuisine in the US through two restau rants he set up in Boston and Cambridge in Massachusetts; served as an advisor to a Saudi Arabian prince who heads a hospitality chain in the kingdom; and tickled the taste buds of foodies in countries as diverse as Kuwait, the Seychelles and Kenya - and is now charting a new course popularising Vedic cuisine, the ingredients of which “have been used for centuries” and “is the way of the future.”

“Vedic food interests me as the ingredients used in it have been used for centuries in our culture and are hence time-tested. It promotes food items like regional fruits and vegetables, roots, herbs, teas and legumes, wild seafood and many more,” Chef Sunil Soni, who current ly serves as an advisor to a slew of Indian hospitality majors, told IANS in an interview.

It is the way forward as “the food chain across the world is contami nated,” he added.

“There are a lot of issues with the edible items including pesticide use, antibiotics, genetically modified crops, and water contamination.

This has resulted in all kinds of

Against this, he said: “Evidence from the Vedas suggest that the diet of the Vedic people consisted of cereals, initially barley but later dominated by rice, pulses such as masha (urad), mudga (moong), and masura (masoor), vegetables such as lotus roots, lotus stem, bottle gourd and milk products, mainly of cows, but also of buffaloes and goats.”

“Ghee is an Ayurvedic nutrition and a superfood because it promotes healthy digestion, decreases inflam mation, and can help reduce the risk of cancers and other diseases. Coconut oil can raise HDL (good) cholesterol and help you burn fat. Extra virgin olive oil (it should not be heated) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties,” he elaborated.

Then, there’s basmati rice and herbal tea.

health).

“Tea, as such, provokes all three doshas. For kaphas, caffeinated beverages like coffee may stimulate energy, whereas vatas may feel overly depleted by it. Herbal teas, which are caffeine-free and don’t rev up the doshas, are great for all constitutions and have shown that they reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease,” Soni elaborated.

Noting that “we as a society have to choose the right type of food”, Soni said: “Our culture has given us Vedic food that is time-tested over centuries. After a full cycle, we are realising that a Vedic diet provides all the food ingredients that are healthy and are conducive to human bodies. The shift is going to be permanent towards Vedic food. “It is the way of the future. Western countries are beginning to follow the oils that we use, the spices that are used in India and their herbs are filling the shelves of supermarkets.

Their benefits are visible. Most simple ailments can be easily rectified by switching to Vedic foods. It may prevent various major illnesses that we have seen rise in societies in the world and we know prevention is better than the cure,” Soni contended.

In this context, what were the culinary shifts that he noticed during the pandemic? Will there be

Jalolsavam 2022 organized

The Malayalee Association of Western Australia (MAWA) organized Regen Power Jalolsavam 2022 on 17th September at Champion lakes Regatta centre.

Its main attraction, the Dragon Boat Race, was organized with the assis tance of Fremantle Swan Dragon Boat Club and Dragon Boat Western Australia. Participants enjoyed the boat race and the procession at the event.==

A musical extravaganza was also organized on the occasion. Many of the songs enthralled the audience as

they provided them several nostal gic moments. Others were rhythmic and exhilarating, making it difficult to not tap along with beats.

MAWA provides support and assis tance to the Malayali community to come together and rejoice in a faraway land. Celebrations of Onam, X’Mas, Mother’s Day, Music Nights etc. provide opportunity for families to mingle and both children and parents to express their artistic talents. MAWA also endeavours to promote sports and games.

a gradual shift back to the pre-Covid days or are the changes permanent?

“Covid has changed the world. It is here to stay and its variants will keep coming. The best way to fight it is to develop a good immune system. It is prudent to consume good food that will keep us healthy and develop a strong immune system.

People are now looking for a change in lifestyle and eating habits. They are gravitating towards non-meat products like more vegetables and fruits and bringing it into their eating habits.

to Try

“More people are trying to grow their own food for personal consumption. This has brought a change in the food industry that is going to stay. This is more in line with our ancient culture and religion. The population has become more health conscious as bad eating habits have led to various diseases like liver and kidney failures,” Soni concluded.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)

If you want a quick and easy dessert, ice cream is always the best option.

Try these five inventive ice cream pairings:

I. Pabrai’s nalen gur ice cream with churro

Pabrai is the place to go if you prefer unusual, special flavours. Must try their Nalen GurIce-cream, which is a combination of Jaggery and coconut, along with a churro; this unusual combination will please your taste buds. To make your own twist on a classic treat, top it with a scoop of Nalengur Ice cream for a flavour that will surprise you.

II. Apsara’s chocolate chip ice cream with crepes

Apsara’s Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with Crepes is what happens when ice cream meets crepes. Discover the allure of warm buttery crepes topped with delectable chocolate chip ice cream. It’s topped with chocolate sauce.

III. Havmor vanilla ice cream with french toast

The Havmor Vanilla Ice Cream with French Toast and your favourite fruits, on the other hand, is out of this world. These crepes are sweeter than the ones often eaten for break fast. This option is enhanced with the addition of chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and a drizzle of your favourite sauce.

IV. Bina’s Thai Red Rubies with fruit custard and toppings of jelly

Get a chance to enjoy Thai ice cream flavours at Mumbai’s well-known Bina Ice-cream. Thai Red Rubies Ice cream, a variation on the popular Thai dessert Tub Tim Grob, is one of their unusual flavours. The flavour is named after the ruby-coloured pomegranate seeds.

FICQ to organize Diwali on October 28 at King George Square, Brisbane CBD

Diwali (Deepavali) is called the festival of lights celebrated all over India and most parts of the world, signifying the victory of good over evil as per Indian mythology. The Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland (FICQ) has been at the forefront celebrating the Diwali Festival in Brisbane since 2010, promoting harmony and multiculturalism. More than 15,000 people from all over Brisbane and other parts of Queensland attend the event annually, signifying the success of the festival over the years.

FICQ has already geared up to make this year’s Diwali celebrations a grand success like that of previous years. FICQ has invited all com munity members and others to celebrate this iconic event Diwali Indian Festival of Lights on 28th October 2022 at King George Square, CBD. The function will start with traditional Indian reception between 11:00 am to 11:00 pm AEST.

FICQ has ensured that the Diwali celebrations must standout for its grandeur, serving the purpose of celebratory zeal and enthusiasm, and bringing the fervor and flavor of the celebrations and the emotions visible in India. It is also an occasion to bring together and celebrate the very spirit of Australia which is highlighted in the country’s

multicultural ethos. Besides the Australian-Indians, members of other communities in Australia mingle with the Indian community to celebrate this festival of lights. Even in 2021 the FICQ hosted Diwali which was celebrated with music, Bollywood and Indian dances and food stalls, as every year, and it was a mega success despite COVID restrictions. The day, which started at 11am and finished at 11pm, was full of fun, including non-stop cultural performances, various stalls for foods, jewellery, clothes, artifacts and much more.

Normally the FICQ Diwali cele brations start with the lighting of the lamp and the inauguration of the Diwali souvenir by the special guests, advisors, and EC members. Later on in the day, a citizenship cer emony for new citizens of Australia is organized. All the dignitaries start arriving for the Indian traditional High Tea in the evening andthe official ceremony starts at 6.00 pm and is finished at 8.00 pm.

Generally speech by the FICQ President follows highlighting the importance of celebrating Diwali, which means the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. Then the mesmerizing evening begins with more colourful and exciting cultural performances.

Fun

In Ayurveda, Soni said: “There are six tastes or rasas: astringent, bitter, pungent, salty, sour, and sweet. Vedic cooking recommends incorporating each taste in every meal according to your personal constitution in order to achieve balanced nutrition and good health. It involves naturally existent food

“In Ayurveda, basmati rice is said to balance all three doshas (vata, kapha and pitta that control a person’s physiological, mental and emotional

Maharashtra Mandal Perth celebrates Ganesh Festival 2022

The Maharashtra Mandal Perthorganized Ganesh Festival 2022 at Perth, Western Australia on 3-4 September. YazMubarakai MLA, Sam Lim MP, Consulate General of India, PerthCounsel General of IndiaAmarjeet Singh Takhi, Dr Jags MLA,Indian Society of Western AustraliaPresident Satish Nair, andCouncillor of Radford Ward, City of ArmadaleKeyurKamdar were among the guests present at the event. TheOffice of Multicultural Interests and Lotterywestwere supporting this event.

The celebrations started on September 3 with Ganesh arrival procession which was with dhol tasha and followed by the idol’s

Prathisthapana. Morning Aarti was followed by Atharvashirsha recital and Mahaprasad distribution. A mul ticultural programme was organized later. The evening saw Aarti being performed and Mahaprasad distri bution for the evening.

On September 4, morning Aarti was followed by a cultural programme and Mahaprasad distribution. A multicultural programme was also organized. This was followed by Ganesh departure procession with dholtasha and Ganesh Visarjan.

About the event YazMubarakai MLA said, “I was honoured to represent the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Interests, Dr. Tony Buti MLA, at Maharashtra Mandal Perth 2022 Ganesh Festival. I was joined

by some WA Labor colleagues in the new member for Tangney Sam Lim MP, and the Member for Riverton Dr Jags MLA as well as a number of dignitaries from the Indian com munity in WA. As some of you may know, I’m from the town of Dahanu, just outside Mumbai in Maharashtra state, so it was a great night with lots of joy.” He thanked Maharashtra Mandal Perth for putting the event together and to all who attended.

Ganesh Festival is an annual event and one of the most important fes tivals that celebrates Lord Ganesha by worshipping the deityevery year in India. The communal festival lasts for 10 days and ends with the Ganesh Visarjan.

History made asall-women team to lead AIBC

Jodi McKay becomes AIBC’s National Chair and Ravneet Pawha gets the National Vice Chair

The Australia India Business Council (AIBC) announced recently the election of Jodi McKay as the National Chair of the AIBC and RavneetPawha as the National Vice Chair of the AIBC. It augurs well for the future of the or ganization as the country’s leading Australia India business chamber will be led by former NSW Leader of the Opposition, Jodi McKay and RavneetPawha, Vice President (Global Alliances) and CEO (South Asia) at Deakin University. Both Jodi and Ravneet were elected unopposed in the absence of any other candidate seeking to nominate for election to these positions.

Incidentally, it is the first time in the history of the AIBC that the two most senior elected AIBC leadership positions are occupied by two highly accomplished and experienced women. It demonstrates once again the ABC’s commitment to gender equity, inclusiveness and diversity.

Jodi and Ravneet will be supported in the AIBC national leadership team by Irfan Malik, CEO and Managing Director inQ Innovation Global and Ashok Mysore, Vice President Delivery and Operation at Infosys. McKay and Pawha’s election as National Chair and National Vice Chair of the Australia India Business Council Ltd comes at a momentous time in the history of Australia-India relations, with the two countries agreeing on an interim free trade agreement and negotiations underway for an Australia India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

“India is the fastest growing major economy in the world, and Australia has been positioning itself to realise the mutual benefits of growing trade ties,” McKay said.

“However, the relationship between Australia and India is not solely a government responsibility - busi ness must be prepared to step up and it is AIBC’s role to support and facilitate opportunities. Ravneet and I lead the AIBC at a crucial time in the bilateral relationship. We are excited about the opportunities for

Australia and the role of AIBC as the voice for business and an advocate for strengthening economic, social and cultural ties,” she added.

In her first comments after her election as National Vice Chair of the Australia India Business Council Ltd Ravneet said, “I’ve had the opportunity of being a voice in building robust government-to-gov ernment, business-to-business and people-to-people linkages between India and Australia for almost three decades in various roles, including as the President of the AIBC Victoria chapter for the past two years. India is Australia’s seventh-largest trading partner and fifth-largest export market, and the signing of the historic India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement has given significant momentum to the deepening of the bilateral relationship.Both governments rec ognise there is significant potential in cooperation in areas of trade and business, AIBC is well-positioned to advance this engagement by facilitating, nurturing, and promot ing industry, business, start-ups ecosystem through commercial and economic development between India and Australia.”

“I look forward to working with Jodi in strengthening AIBC’s role as a platform for leaders of businesses in both countries to transform and influence decisions that promote mutual awareness and under standing that makes it easier for Australian businesses to operate in India and vice versa,” she added.

McKay and Pahwa thanked the outgoing leadership team of Jim Varghese and SanushkaSeomangal.

Acknowledging the contribution of the outgoing leadership team McKay said, “Jim and Sanushka have placed AIBC in a strong position to champion the India Australia trade cause. Ravneet and I hope to build on that work for the mutual benefit of our two great nations.”

In recent times the AIBC has made rapid strides in the establishment of a digital platform to connect members, key stakeholders and businesses. It has launched AIBC’s Australia India Business Enterprises to translate business dialogue into business outcomes that help directly increase trade and investment between Australia and India.

Progressing further it has estab lished national industry chairs and selected national advisors to specif ically target trade and investment areas between India and Australia.

Further, it has initiated the appoint ment of five members by the AIBC board in every state and territory nine-member chapter composition. This development has eliminated chapter stacking and enhanced the organization’s business focus.

Also, the AIBC has elevated itself to become an organization with significantly improved corporate and financial governance, including well established procedures and protocols to ensure that member interests are at the forefront of all decision making. The organization has ensured as it goes along in its activities to encourage its future leadership to embrace continuous improvement and promote a culture of outcomes focused collaborative leadership.

Brisbane Ganesh Festival organized

Aussie Telugu Association orga nized their first ever Ganesh Festival in Brisbane on September 3. The event was attended by RK Roja Selvamani Garu, Minister of Tourism, Culture & Youth Advancement from Andhra Pradesh, India, R.K Selvamani Garu - the legendary Film Director, Sri Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao Garu, Member of Telangana Legislative Assembly and Sri Modugula Venugopal Reddy Garu, Ex Member of Parliament, Andhra Pradesh,India.

Free vegetarian lunch organized

Seva Dharma Mission orga nizedits monthly-free vege tarian lunch program, which is organized on every 2nd Saturday of a month, at LoganleaCommunity Centre, recently.Rice, pea dal, Zukini, potato, cheek peas, beans

curry, bread,fruit juice and herbal tea were served on the occasion. The participants were served the tasty meal. Some people showed interest for the yoga and meditation class.

The next free lunch will be served on 8th of October.

Ravneet Pahwa Jodi Mckay

Brisbane Maharashtra Mandal organizes Ganesh Utsav

The Brisbane Maharashtra Mandalorganized the Ganesh Utsav recently. Brisbane’s community participated in the Ganesh Utsav.Dignitaries present at the event were James Martin MP, member for Stretton, Max Chandler-Mather, MP, member for Griffith, Hon. Consul Archana Singh, Ram Mohan, Parminder Singh, AnoopNannuru, Krishnan Menon,

Fashion Show organized

TheBrisbaneRavishingFashion istasFashionShow 2022was organized recently, at Old Government House, Queensland.

The 2022 Spring Themed show was made a success with beautiful garments and perfectly fit the theme. The runway was a colourful explo sion of elegance, innovation and fun with positive feedback coming from the guests.

The mission of Ravishing Fashionistas is to empower women. They are setting a new standard where any woman can be a model in their own right and own their confidence irrespective of body types, background and beliefs. Their vision is to help the average women from disparate cultural backgrounds

to reach their maximum potential and find their uniqueness to be a

Hindi Day 2022 observed

India’s

Prime Councilavas in Perth organized Hindi Day 2022 with participation of over 300 Hindi servants and Hindi lovers from Western Australia at the Indian Community Centre (ICC) on September 17. Two Indian origin MPs of Western Australia - YazMubarakai, MLA and Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Citizenship and Multicultural Interests; and, DrJagdish (Jags) Krishnan, MLA were present at the program.

The climax of the program was presentations by primary and senior high school children and Swang art performance by JyotiRana. Winners

of three competitions in Hindi language - essay writing, calligraphy and manuscript - were awarded by the Prime Council and dignified guests. All participantstaking part in each competition were awarded consolation prizes. Hindi language teachers as well as the Chief Advisor werehonoured in the ‘School Curriculum & Standard Authority’ (SCSA) of Western Australia. From the next academic year starting January 2023, two Indian languages - Hindi and Tamil - will be taught in all Western Australian schools, for which the required curriculum has been finalized by SCSA.

Hindi Samaj of Western Australia

(HSWA), School, Hindi Language Teachers Association (HLTAWA), Arya Hindi Vidyalaya, Sanskriti Teaching Center, KalamDawat Group, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad of Western Australia contributed to the success of this event. Many socio-cultural organizations such as Maharashtra Mandal, Bhairavi Dance School and Academy of Classical & Bollywood Dance fas cinated all participants and guests with their cultural presentations based on Indian philosophy.

The Indian Society of Western Australia (ISWA) extended its full support for the hosting of the event.

Music maestro Zubin Mehta honoured

egendary Maestro Zubin Mehta was awarded Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) by GovernorGeneral of AustraliaDavid Hurley in recognition of his eminent service to the Australia-India bilateral relationship in the field of

SunitaAvadhani, JyotiGoraiya, Parul Mehta and Kirti Patel. The sponsors of the celebrations were Mahindra Automotive, Migration Guru, Cornerstone Law offices, Lee and Associates, Future Now, Relianz Home Loans, Mahendra’s Indian Cuisine, Century 21, Ganesh Grocery Store, and Oz Kirana.

The participants of the cultural program during the event

classical music and philanthropy at iconic @SydOperaHouse in the presence of anaudience at the end of the Australian World Orchestra’s Concert.

Zubin was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai, India, during the rule of

comprised Nupoor Dance Studio, Sargam Music Academy, Sharad More and his group of Bhajan singers, ShardaKolekar group, MrunaliniKolhe group, and Apali Marathi Shala children and Parents. Rhythm Drums Group presented the wonderful multicultural experience for VisarjanMiravnook. An art competition was also organized on the occasion.

better version of themselves.

L13www.indianabroad.news the British. His native language is Gujarati.His father was a self-taught violinist who founded the Bombay Symphony Orchestra and later the AmericanYouth Symphony, which he conducted for 33 years after moving to Los Angeles.

Fine Food Australia pavilion inaugurated

which was organized from 5-8 September.

Spices Board INDIA and India Trade Promotion Organization participated in the exhibition. A total of 20 Indian

exhibitors/exporters of food items, including spices displayed their wide range of products.

$23000ladduauction atGanesh Festival in Melbourne

Australia Alludu Indian Students organisationor ganised a grand Ganesh Mahotsav celebration recently, in which a laddu auction raised $23000for the organizers. The cel ebration wasattended by thousands of devotees from Melbourne and other places from across Australia.

For the occasion of Ganesh Utsav, a majestic five-foot eco-friendly idol of Ganapathi, specially made in Hyderabad, was installed.

The Ganesh Mahotsav celebration began with Ganesh puja and a spe cial arathi. Lord Ganesh’s idol was

decorated with rich adornments, artistic décor, lavish flowers, and fruit garlands. Rituals and Archana were performed during the day, and shlokas and Ganesha mantras were chanted by the priest. As part of the celebrationAyyapa SevaSamithi Melbourne performed Ganesh Bhajans. Entertainment and dhol performances continued all through the day amidst a spiri tual fervor. More than a thousand devotees and visitors participated in the celebrations. The organizers conducted ladduauction at the Ganesh immersion.

Talking about the celebration organizers Pallavi and Charan said, “This is the most incredible GanapatiChaturthi celebration in Southeast Melbourne. I feel spiritually uplifted when attending these celebrations. The vibrant ambience with colour, festive spirit and coming together of the com munity is incredible. My special thanks to Carina Garland, MP for Chisholm, Julian Hill MP For Bruce, MengHeangTak MP, State Labour Member of Parliament for Clarinda.”

HarbhajanMaan Show

HarbhajanMaan Show was organisedat Craigieburn, in Melbourne.Maan, who has

enthralled Punjabi audiences across the world,has been singing songs for the last 30 years. It was a memora ble evening.

GOPIO Gold Coast gets new Executive Committee

The GOPIO Gold Coast announced its new Executive Committee for 2022-2023 after its annual general meeting held on 11 September at the Indian Place Surfers Paradise. The following are the new Executive Committee members:

President – PradipGorasia

Vice President – Mokhtiar Singh

Vice President 2nd –ShrutiThakkar Secretary – Arash Singh

Joint Secretary – Padmanabhan Krishnan Treasurer – JessyKaurah

Assistant Treasurer – VarshaBadhe

Patron - PushpinderOberoi

After being appointed the new team has said that it will look forward to

uniting and connecting the Indian diaspora on the Gold Coast and it is committed to working together with all its members and volunteers to bring onboard a wonderful experience through networking, social/cultural events, and seamless feedback from all to help improve and grow as a team throughout its tenure.

Consul General Dr. Sushil Kumar inaugurated the India Pavilion of the “Fine Food Australia” at the Melbourne Conventions & Exhibitions Centre,

Trip organized for senior citizens Sydney celebrates Hindi Day

The Gujarat Community Queensland (GCQ) orga nized a one-day trip for senior citizens on 3rd September. The one-day trip was thoroughly enjoyed by the senior citizens.

The GCQ distributed disposable masks, hand sanitizer, water bottle, and cap at no cost. This

one-day trip was taken at spectac ular places covering Glass House Mountains and Pine River Dam.

The arrangement of the journey along with morning tea-breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea-snacks was arranged at a muchsubsidized cost. The GCQ volunteers worked hard to make this day special, successful and memorable. With

all of your support and compan ionship, GCQ would like to con tinue organizing more community activities/events with excitement and happiness. GCQ One-day Senior Citizen trip was supported monetarily and with support in kind by all the below businesses/ individuals.

The Hindi Day celebra tion was organized by Councilavas in cooperation with IABB School, Sydney. The ceremony was attended by several dignitaries from New South Wales State. School students introduced rich expression by presenting many good poems, and cultural programs.

Ramayan Dolls exhibition organized at Ganesh Festival

The Hindu Council of Australia (HCA) celebrated the Ballarat Ganesh Festival recently by organizingRamayan Dolls exhibition in Golu tradition, which isthe festive

Qantas starts new direct flight to South India

Australian airline Qantas launched a brand-new ser vice between Bengaluru and Sydney on September 14.The first direct flight linking South India and Australia took off from Kempegowda International Airport at 6:35 p.m.

The September 14 return flight from Sydney touched down in Bengaluru at 4:55 PM.

The Bengaluru-Sydney and the return flights will be operated by Qantas four times each week on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday using an A330 aircraft. With IndiGo, Qantas has a code-sharing arrangement.

According to Australia’s national airline, the direct trip will reduce the distance between the two cities’ travel times by approximately three hours. The route has experienced

high demand since the launch of the new service earlier this year, with both the outward and inward maiden flights completely sold out, according to a statement from Qantas.

About the flight Andrew David, CEO of Qantas Domestic and International, said, “Bengaluru’s

inclusion on our route map strengthens our links with India and comes after the introduction of direct services from Australia to Delhi last year, which were also well-received. The only airline now operating direct flights between the two main cities in Australia and the north and south of India is Qantas.”

display of dolls and figurines in South India during the autumn festive season. The exhibition was much appreciated by the attendees. Students from local schools visited

and took interest in Ramayan. Ballarat Mayor Daniel Moloney and local MP Catherine King also visited the exhibition.

Fashion categories set to see biggest growth in India festive season

of the respondents indicated will ingness to buy various products this festive season that began this week.

“The share of fashion in overall festive sale in the first festive week is estimated to increase by 9pp from 2018-22. Online fashion has grown 4x in the last four years compared to 3x growth for overall e-tail,” said Sanjay Kothari, Associate Partner, Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Fuelling this growth is the increas ing shopper base from tier 2 and beyond cities, “resulting in 2.5 times growth in fashion shoppers in the last four years”, Kothari added.

The positive sentiments are driven by demand for fashion, mobiles, electronics and large appliances.

Swiggy, Zomato make it to top 10 global online food delivery firms

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS)

Homegrown online food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy have made it to the list of the world’s ‘Top 10’ e-commerce-based food delivery companies, says a new report.

According to the Canadaheadquartered global research firm ETC Group, Swiggy was placed in 9th place and Zomato on 10th.

Meanwhile, China’s Meituan, the UK’s Deliveroo, and the US’ Uber Eats, a subsidiary of Uber, captured the top 3 positions, respectively.

“The food delivery sector refers to digital, on-demand platforms for ordering and paying for prepared food and, increasingly, groceries and other retail items,” the research firm said in a statement.

Bengaluru, Sep 23 (IANS) As the sales in the first festive week is likely to touch $5.9 billion this year, 63 per cent of consumers are plan ning to spend on fashion categories compared to 56 per cent last year, a new report showed on Friday.

Despite concerns around inflation

and discretionary spends, custom ers are looking forward to spending more and sellers on e-commerce platforms are expecting a 20 per cent volume growth during the festive season, reports Redseer Strategy Consultants.

According to its report, 83 per cent

Nearly 53 per cent of consumers are going to spend on electronics compared to 44 per cent last year.

Festive sales will see higher partici pation from fashion sellers this year compared to other categories.

Redseer has predicted $11.8 billion worth gross merchandise value (GMV) during the festive month.

Permanent Capital: Answer to India’s $10 Trillion Economy

businesses and investors to access opportunities for longer periods, ride out periods of high market volatility and, most importantly, acquire assets at attractive valuations when rivals cannot do so due to unfavourable market conditions or internal distress.

“Restaurants/retailers fill the orders and couriers deliver them to customers within a prescribed timeframe,” it added.

In June 2022, Zomato approved the acquisition of quick commerce start-up Blinkit for Rs 4,447.5 crore

($570 million) in an all-stock deal.

Zomato already owned more than a 9 per cent stake in Blinkit (earlier Grofers).

Meanwhile, Swiggy, a subsidiary of Bundl Technologies Private Ltd, deals with prepared food (restau rant) delivery, cloud kitchen, and grocery delivery via Swiggy Go.

“Venture capital and technology investment has fuelled the sector,

but companies have yet to deliver profits -- even in the sector-friendly circumstances of the global pan demic when delivery became more necessity than convenience,” the report said.

“Tweaking the business model to move toward profitability -- most prominently by adding grocery delivery -- is underway,” it added.

Alibaba Cloud to invest $1 bn to boost global biz

Beijing, Sep 22 (IANS) Alibaba Cloud has committed $1 billion investment to boost its partner ecosystem capa bilities and gain a larger pie of the Cloud market globally. Alibaba Cloud is currently the world’s third-largest public cloud provider. This investment consists of both financial and non-financial incentives, such as funding, rebates and go-to-market initiatives, the company said in a statement.

By Poornima Vardhan And Taponeel Mukherjee

The development and expan sion of Indian enterprises, especially in terms of improv ing capital use efficiency, can benefit from understanding global trends in money management and business efficiency.

The one trend that has been in focus throughout the asset management industry, especially the private equity world, is “permanent capital”. This is broadly defined as access to funds for long periods instead of the usual seven to ten-year fund horizon that has been the norm in the private equity industry.

Permanent capital funds focus less on exiting investments in a defined period - and the emphasis is more on generating potential long-run investment returns.

Investors have generated perma nent capital through a variety of strategies. Some large investors, such as Blackstone, Apollo & KKR, have utilised Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) to generate capital they can invest strategically. Apollo has also generated permanent capital through investing, and managing assets for a retirement solution focused annuity business called “Athene”, which, through its annuity business, generates significant cash that Apollo has utilised to generate returns.

Permanent Capital Vehicles’ (PCVs) growing popularity, in large part, was inspired by Warren Buffett. As the head of one PE firm was quoted by Financial Times, “everyone is suffering from Warren Buffett envy”. Specifically, Berkshire Hathaway’s buy-and-hold investment strategy, wherein every investment is viewed as an acquisition in a company rather than a mere trade. As such, the investment is considered a vote of confidence in the company’s

prospects and a long-term commit ment to helping it achieve the same.

As Buffett himself once famously noted, his “favourite holding period is forever”.

While Berkshire Hathaway may be the most celebrated name in the PCV space, it is by no means the only one. Markel Corporation, Danaher, Apollo, ThermoFisher, KKR and Johnson & Johnson are other examples - and the list is growing.

So how will Permanent Capital help India in the next decade?

The success of nations/economies depends on access to high-quality growth and low-cost capital. While India will enjoy high growth due to favourable demographic and economic factors, access to the low cost of capital will be critical. As the world heads toward high inflation and high-interest rates, the ability to make India an attractive destination for global capital is a must. The Indian government has been mak ing a huge push in this direction.

Government-led economic planning platforms, such as the development of GIFT City and the International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat, have already been created.

There is a significant push to create a more open and conducive regulatory scheme and simpler tax structure. With Permanent Capital, India will have the advantage of accessing global investments while generating long-term returns for investors.

• Permanent capital allows prior itising value and steady longterm returns over risky one-time buyouts that may be adversely impacted by unpredictable market cycles. Long-term value creation will help generate significant returns.

With higher degree of perma nent capital, it will allow Indian

With permanent capital, Indian companies can pursue essential high-growth-high-return proj ects that may yield significant investment returns in the future.

For investors looking toward emerging markets such as India, PCVs are essential, especially in the context of relatively lesser secondary market liquidity, longer investment horizons for value generation and smaller size of debt capital markets.

Using PCVs to hold on to invest ments longer for value creation could be a vital factor.

Most importantly, stable cash flows via permanent capital can help shield India from adverse market conditions and business es from the adverse funding con ditions and assist a company in acquiring valuable assets across the industry. Over the past decade, long-term investing has garnered more takers, especially in the aftermath of the Great Recession, following which economic growth, especially in developed countries, was muted.

The usual buy-and-sell-quickly strategy was becoming less viable. Case in point: a quarter of buyout firms worldwide never raised a fund post-2008.

As the capital markets and busi nesses in India evolve, winners and losers in highly competitive markets will be determined by various factors, including sources of funds. Both the quality and quantity of funding available will be one of the fundamental factors determining long-term winners. Permanency of capital offers some essential insights into improving one’s competitiveness.

(The views expressed in this article are personal and that of the authors.

The authors, Poornima Vardhan and Taponeel Mukherjee, head AltG, a firm that Offers Proprietary Investment Research)

“With more enterprises moving to the cloud and an increase in de mand for cloud services in a hybrid environment, Alibaba Cloud has made available globally a series of its proven infrastructure products, a multi-model cloud-native database and distributed cloud services,” it added.

With its revamped ecosystem strategy, Alibaba Cloud said the it is committed to investing $1 billion to support partners’ technology inno vation and their market expansion with Alibaba Cloud in the coming three fiscal years.

To accelerate partners’ growth, Alibaba Cloud also launched a “Regional Accelerator” programme to provide partners operating in different markets with a localised business collaboration model.

Alibaba Cloud ecosystem partners including resellers, technology partners (ISV, SaaS and SI), service and consulting partners can benefit from the program.

“Partners have always been a key focus for Alibaba Cloud, and we are committed to providing them

with strong support for our ongoing co-creation and value-add - both technologically and commercially - to further empower our joined cus tomers,” said Selina Yuan, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence International President.

“Our revamped partner strategy prioritizes our partners’ growth. By continuing to support our partners’ business expansion, we can build an inclusive ecosystem benefiting partners and customers,” Yuan added.

All hell breaks loose on moonlighting as WFH shrinks at Indian IT firms

By Nishant Arora New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) With IT major Wipro sacking 300 employees for moonlighting -- working for rival firms while drawing full-time salaries at the software firm -- industry experts on Thursday said IT companies must clarify their policies regarding employment and moonlighting as work-from-home (WFH) culture in the IT sector has apparently given rise to such work practices.

Amid the debate on what is right and what is wrong for employees who are at home and working, some leading IT and Cloud firms, afraid of backlash from employees if they go on record, told IANS that such practices are actually unethical, and WFH has kept their hands tied as they cannot monitor what their employees are doing from the boundaries of their homes.

At this moment, C.P. Gurnani, CEO and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra, has come in support of moonlighting from the big tech enterprises, saying that “If someone is meeting the efficiency and productivity norms, and wants to make some extra money, I have no problem. I would like to make it a policy. So, if you want to do it, cheers to that, but be open about it.”

Shrijay Sheth, Founder, Legalwiz. in, told IANS that the issue around moonlighting is beyond just having multiple jobs.

“It is a larger issue that employers face around work ethics, integrity, and priorities. With work from home being mainstream now, moon lighting is a common secondary revenue stream. While many are ok with employees being involved in alternative activities in extended work hours, some moonlighters are actually double dipping,” Sheth elaborated.

There are data-sharing and intellec tual property (IP) stealing fears too.

Most of the new-age businesses are IP, know-how and data driven, and there is always a risk of data and knowledge drain, more specifically when the moonlighting is done for competing companies.

“Many businesses rightly expect their employees to be the advocates of their brand. Many even do not claim employment credentials on their public social profiles, simply because they run a competing ‘free lance’ business in the same domain. It is becoming highly common in ITES and other services industries,” Sheth noted.

It was on-demand delivery platform Swiggy that introduced a new “Moonlighting” policy last month for its employees that will let them take up external projects to make more money.

Swiggy said this could encompass activity outside of office hours or on weekends that does not impact their productivity on the full-time job or have a conflict of interest with the company’s business in any way.

And all hell broke loose.

Mohandas Pai, former Director of Infosys, feels that “moonlighting is not cheating”.

“Employment is a contract between an employer who pays me for

working for them for ‘n’ number of hours a day. Now what I do after that time is my freedom, I can do what I want,” according to Pai.

TCS has also called moonlighting an ethical issue. Infosys issued a letter to employees strictly prohibiting them from practicing moonlighting, saying “No two-timing, no moon lighting, and no double lives”.

The IT major has sent an email to its employees, saying it is mandatory now for all to work from the office at least three days a week.

Amid the brouhaha over moonlight ing in India, cloud major IBM last week made it clear that the practice is not ethical and the company does not promote such behaviour at the workplace.

According to Sheth, it is best for the businesses to clarify their policies.

“Employment contracts should explicitly define employers’ toler ance to moonlighting and provide guidelines as to what is acceptable, if at all. That can help in formally easing up the conflicts and frictions around the issue,” he noted.

However, a shocked workforce of millions, working from home, can revolt against their bosses if more firing episodes happen within the IT firms’ ranks.

(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)

Congress prepares for first non-Gandhi president after 1998

defeating Jitendra Prasada, since then she was elected unopposed and in 2017, Rahul Gandhi was elected unopposed.

Gehlot said that Rahul Gandhi has refused to contest the party president’s election and wants a non-Gandhi to be the party pres ident. Gehlot said, “I will be filing nomination soon and it’s the need of the hour that the opposition should be strong.”

party spokesperson Gourav Vallabh openly supported the candidature of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

“We all have our individual pref erences but our job is to highlight ONLY the following,” he said in a message to AICC spokespersons, media panellists, office-bearers of the communications department.

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) Bihar

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on Sunday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss matters pertaining to opposition unity.

The two leaders briefed the Congress chief about the initiatives taken to unite the opposition parties against the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) The coming week Congress leaders will be filing nomination papers for the presidential poll. It now seems that apart from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari will throw his hat into the ring and some others may also join the fray.

While the Gandhis are likely to be neutral in the elections, party interim president Sonia Gandhi has asserted that the polls will be fair and she will not endorse any candidate.

Sources said that the issue of Rajasthan in the event of Gehlot joining national politics was also discussed, but there is no official word on it yet.

This will be the first election since 1998 that a non-Gandhi will be elect ed as party president. After Sonia Gandhi got elected for the first time

Gehlot will have to relinquish the post of Chief Minister if he gets elected as Rahul Gandhi has hinted that the Congress will adhere to the ‘one man one post’ formula as per the Udaipur declaration.

When asked he said “I think we have made a commitment in Udaipur and I hope that it will be maintained.”

The Congress had reiterated that anyone can contest the party pres ident’s poll as it was a democratic and transparent process and no nod was required from the leadership.

Jairam Ramesh, party general secretary said, “It’s important to reiterate that any member is welcome to contest for Congress president. This is a democratic and transparent process. Nobody needs anybody’s nod to contest, especially that of the party leadership.”

Jairam has also asked the spokespersons not to comment on any candidate as their duty is to highlight that the Congress is the only party which is conducting an election.

The direction comes a day after

He said that the Congress is the only political party to have a democratic and transparent system in place for election to the post of its president and this should be highlighted.

The Congress is the only political party in India to have an indepen dent Election Authority to conduct organisational elections. A person wanting to contest needs no nod from anybody to do so except from 10 PCC delegates for filing the nomination form, he added.

The Congress’ central election authority had issued a notification for the AICC president polls on September 22.

According to the notification, while the nomination forms will be available from Thursday, the filing of nominations will take place between September 24 and 30.

Scrutiny of the nominations will take place on October 1, and the same day, a valid candidate list will be published. The last date of withdrawal is October 8 following which, a final list will be brought out. While the poll will be held on October 17, counting will take place on October 19.

Gandhi family has no issues with me contesting for party chief: Tharoor

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 26 (IANS) Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said that the Gandhi family has no issues with him contesting for the party president’s post.

The Thiruvananthapuruam MP made a quick visit to Rahul Gandhi soon after his morning session of the Bharat Jodo yatra ended at Pattambi in Palakkad district.

“I came and met Rahul Gandhi. I spoke to the three people in the Gandhi family and they have no

issue with contesting for it. I am yet to make a decision and have been getting reactions from across the country, he said.

Asked if he expects backing from the Congress leaders in Kerala, with a smile, he said, “Yes, surely, but not all would support and my support will increase after the nomination is filed.”

Meanwhile, the indication is that Tharoor will be filing his nomination on Friday, the last day of filing of nominations.

R’than crisis: CLP meet cancelled as over 90 MLAs threaten to resign

the Congress’ central leadership that it was “not in his hands”.

Former Rajasthan deputy chief min ister Pilot, meanwhile, is believed to be the central leaders’ choice for the chief ministerial position.

A delegation from the Gehlot camp has went to meet senior Congress leader Ajay Maken who is in Jaipur as observer for the CLP meeting.

After the meeting, Nitish Kumar, who had met Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Arvind Kejriwal, and Sitaram Yechury on his previous Delhi visit, said: “Talks are on with all like-minded parties and since Congress is into organisational elections, we will take a view on it.”

Lalu Prasad said: “The prime agenda is to remove BJP as it has been done in Bihar.”

The meeting came soon after several opposition leaders had come togeth er to pay tribute to former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal in Haryana.

At the event in Haryana’s Fatehabad, Nitish Kumar gave a call for a “main front”, comprising the Congress, to oust the BJP in 2024 parliamentary polls.

NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Nitish Kumar and Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal, among several Opposition leaders, shared the dais at the rally organised by the Indian National Lok Dal, and gave a united

call to out the BJP government in the Centre.

RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and CPIM’s Yechury also attended the rally to mark the birth anniversary of the INLD founder Devi Lal.

However, the rally organiser INLD and its ally SAD do not share cordial relations with the Congress.

Nitish Kumar, who reiterated that he is not a Prime Minister candidate, said: “There is no question of a third front now and what is needed is the main front of opposition to ensure that BJP loses badly. I will urge all parties including the Congress to come together. My only wish is that

we all need to come together at the national level. We need to bring together more parties.”

Tejashwi Yadav said Kumar’s “fear less” decision to part ways with the BJP would prove to be the last nail in the party’s coffin.

“Nitish Kumar had no vested interests, but his only ambition was to uproot the communal forces,” he said.

Sukhbir Badal joined the call for like-minded parties to form a united front.

He said his party, along with the Shiv Sena and the JD-U, “are the real NDA as they had founded the alliance”.

Cong high command thought Rajasthan is Punjab but checkmated

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) As drama unfolded in Jaipur on Sunday, the Congress top leadership seems committed the same mistake as it did in Punjab, but did not anticipate that MLAs will go against high command unlike in Punjab where a majority of legislators went with its wishes.

The reason of the Rajasthan MLAs revolting is that unlike Amarinder Singh in Punjab, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has been with the MLAs and had held them together since the 2020 crisis. In Punjab the change of guard was smooth as Amarinder Singh did not resist and resigned, but in Jaipur, the veterans have checkmated the rival camp, who thought MLAs will go as the wish of high command.

Politics in Rajasthan took a new twist on Sunday with around 70 MLAs, who are staunch supporters of Gehlot, gathered at the residence

of state minister Shanti Dhariwal, to chalk out a strategy to eliminate Sachin Pilot from the race to select his successor.

State minister Pratap Khachriyawas said: “We have all the right to choose our leader and we will decide our leader.”

of Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi to submit their resignation.

Khachriyawas said that their only demand is that the new Chief Minister should be from those 101 MLAs who helped in saving the government during the rebellion and not from those who were a part of the rebels.

Jaipur, Sep 25 (IANS) The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting called on Sunday at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s residence has been cancelled as more than 90 Congress MLAs loyal to the veteran party leader threatened to resign, while demanding the new CM face be picked from their group.

“The MLAs want either Gehlot or his pick to be Chief Minister instead of Sachin Pilot,” Rajasthan minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told the media.

Gehlot reportedly received a call from Rajya Sabha MP K.C. Venugopal who asked him to “handle the situation” but the Chief Minister told

These include state Urban Development and Housing Minister Shanti Dhariwal, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Mahesh Joshi. Maken, speaking to the media, said: “We are not going to Delhi as of now. We have been asked to take feedback from each and every single MLA.”

Meanwhile, sources said that the Congress high command has called both Gehlot and Pilot to Delhi.

Azad launches new party, names it Democratic Azad Party

Jammu, Sep 26 (IANS) Former senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday launched his new political party and named it, the Democratic Azad Party.

Azad told the mediapersons here that around 1,500 names were suggested to him in Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit.

“The mix of Hindi and Urdu is Hindustani. We wanted the name to be Democratic, peaceful and independent.

“My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land and employment to native domiciles,” he said.

He also displayed the flag of his new

These MLAs reached the residence party which has blue, white and yellow colours.

Azad parted ways with the Congress after five decades as he said that nobody at the high command level of the Congress would listen to those who gave their life to strengthen the party.

After he resigned from the basic membership of the Congress, over two dozen prominent Congress leaders of J&K resigned in support of Azad.

He is now set to fight the forth coming Assembly elections in the union territory on his own. So far, he has been maintaining distance from both the BJP and the regional

mainstream parties of J&K.

Opposition unity ‘core’ as Nitish and Lalu meet Sonia

‘India playing in Football World Cup a distant dream’

India had appeared for its maiden Olympic football match against France at the 1948 London Games which they lost by a last-minute goal. This is what was written for “All India Football 1945-50” by an eminent soccer critic of England today who is also the sports chief of a leading English daily and who prefers to remain anonymous: “...India lost the match which she should have won. Her defence was sound, with not one weak link. Her forwards were clever and better masters of sprinting and dodging. They went through the 90 minutes of play without visibly tiring although they looked frail in comparison with their heftier rivals.

By Vishnu Makhijani

New Delhi, Sep 20 (IANS) India got a shot at playing in the Football World Cup way back in 1950 but backed out for reasons that are still not exactly clear and its chances of reaching the pinnacle are a distant dream but there is some hope for the revival of the game in the country with a new dispensation in place though it’s too early to predict the future, says veteran sports journalist Jaydeep Basu, who has edited a book titled “Box to Box” that traces the highs and the lows of the game in the country in the past 75 years.

“In my humble opinion, India play ing the World Cup is still a distant dream. It will take many, many years to achieve, unless some drastic changes come in Indian football,” Basu told IANS in an interview.

Do you see the new dispensation in the AIFF (All India Football Federation) turning around the fortunes of the game?

“The current body has been elected less than a month ago. So, we have to wait and see,” Basu responded.

After a prolonged series of events, that even saw the intervention of the Supreme Court, FIFA, the worldwide governing body of the sport, suspended the AIFF on August 15 for violating its statutes on third-party interference in its management.

India was also stripped of its hosting rights for international tournaments, including the U-17 Women’s World Cup in October. The suspension was lifted on August 27, following which the tournament will be held as scheduled.

In the elections held on September 2, as mandated by the Supreme Court, Kalyan Chaubey, a former India goalkeeper and currently a member of the BJP, was elected the AIFF President, defeating former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia by a lopsided 33/1 margin and ending the 14-year reign of NCP politician Praful Patel.

Choubey, in fact, is the first footbal ler to head the AIFF and certainly has his hands full with Bhutia

himself suggesting a way forward, harkening back to a time when the Santosh Trophy, the IFA Shield. the Durand and the DCM Cup and clubs like JCT and Premier Tyres were the feeding grounds for Indian football.

Then came the I-League and the ISL Today, the Santosh Trophy, the National Football Championship, is almost extinct.

“We have not got the domestic structure right as yet. The structure is yet to get sorted more so with the Indian Super League (ISL) coming in,” Bhutia says in an interview in the book.

“I am hoping that in the next 2/3 years, the domestic structure will be settled where the ISL and I-League will have more teams and we could have a 7-8 month-long season.

“The absence of a domestic league structure is definitely going to hamper the game in the long run.

I feel there should be a domestic league structure from where players can be spotted to play for ISL or I-League and then for India. It is important to have a domestic league structure,” Bhutia asserts.

“Bhaichung is very right in his ob servations. The newly-elected body of the All India Football Federation is now trying to bolster the domestic football system and has announced plans to revive old tournaments you are talking about. So, let us see where it goes,” Basu said during the IANS interview.

As for the 1950 World Cup fiasco, this is best described in an article titled “Were India banned (from the tournament) for wanting to play barefoot” by Peter Jones that appeared on July 11, 2018 on worldfootballindex.com: “It appears that the main reason was the AIFF delaying a decision on whether they would attend, this delaying tactic provided them with free travel courtesy of FIFA, and perhaps they were waiting for further benefits before the opportunity passed them by.”

Basu terms this “The Blunder Of the Century” just two years after

Where they failed was in shooting at the goal. Once they make up this de ficiency, it will have to be very very strong national side that would be able to beat the Indians. They have evolved a technique which baffles the Western player and makes his physical superiority appear futile,” the critic wrote.

It’s a different matter that just eight years later, India finished fourth at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the highest they have achieved at the international level, not counting regional tournaments like the Asian Games.

Alas, while India were the champi ons of Asia in the 1960s, the book maintains that “narrow political considerations caused irreparable damage to its fortunes in the 1970s” and narrates “how the game was undermined in the country in the 21st century and forced by unscru pulous officials to toe the line of the corporates”.

How did the book come about?

“I wanted to come out with a book on the Indian national football team on the 75th celebration of India’s independence. It also coincided with the Indian national team’s 75th year as the Indian football team played their first match in August 1948 at the London Olympics. Being a person always keen on history, I have been doing some research on Indian football for the past 30 years. So, I did not have to do much extra work on this book. But at the same time, I spent lots of time selecting the writers and different angles of the national team. The writers in this book are some of the best names in Indian football and I feel proud of them for writing some top class articles,” Basu responded.

Basu, who has covered several World Cups, Olympics and Asian Games, is also the author of “Stories From Indian Football”. What next?

What’s his next book going to be on?

“I have not set a target yet. But yes, I have plans to write more on Indian football,” Basu concluded.

(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)

Anupam Kher visits Sindhu’s house; gets bowled over by her trophies, medals

of her house, including her massive trophy collection.

Starting from the trophies that she won for the Under-16 tournaments and the Olympics, Sindhu gave an inside view of all her accom plishments and the pride that she brought to the country through the sport.

In the video posted by Kher on Instagram Reels featuring Sindhu’s medals and trophies, he can be heard saying, “One and only cham pion, look at this wall, I used to be very proud that mere wall pe kaafi saare awards hai par ye toh kamaal hai, (that wall has loads of awards but this is amazing) oh my god.”

“Yaha toh jagah hi nhi hai, bilkul jagah nhi hai (There is no space here),” he added.

her embellished cap.

“This is AMAZING: Recently I had the privilege of visiting CHAMP @ pvsindhu1’s home. She very humbly gave me a tour of her achievements!

Right from the age of 8! I was completely bowled by her awards, trophies & humility! She is our daughter of India, our honour. She is our motivating hero. Jai ho, Jai hind,” Kher captioned the video.

On the other hand, Sindhu also shared a picture of their meeting on her social media account saying it was her ‘honour’ to meet the veteran actor.

“Had the fortune of spending time with one of the all-time greats of Indian cinema. The laughs, the memories and quality conversation. What an honour,” she wrote.

Magnus Carlsen courts controversy, calls Niemann a cheat, says he is not willing to play against the American

Hyderabad, Sep 30 (IANS) Veteran actor Anupam Kher recently paid a visit to ace badminton player PV Sindhu’s house and was completely bowled over after looking at the huge number of trophies and medals won over the years by one of India’s most successful sportswom en ever.

The 67-year-old actor shared a video of their meeting, giving fans a tour

The actor-author also said in the vid eo that he had a conversation with Sindhu’s father where he shared plans of taking over another floor as they are running short of a place for trophies and medals.

The versatile artist who felt ‘privileged’ to have visited the badminton player’s house, wrote how he was mesmerised to see all the feathers that she has added to

The 27-year Sindhu, who is a two-time Olympic medallist having won a silver in women’s singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze in Tokyo last year, is currently on the path to recovery after sustaining an ankle injury during the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham while Anupam Kher is currently riding on the success of his movie The Kashmir Files and Karthikeya 2.

New York, Sep 27 (IANS) A day after world No.1 chess player Magnus Carlsen crushed India’s Arjun Erigaisi to clinch the Julius Baer Generation Cup -- the seventh leg of the USD1.6 million Meltwater Champions Chess Tour -- and broke the 2900 Tour Rating barrier, the world champion shed light on him sensationally quitting his game against American star Hans Niemann after playing just one move in the preliminary stage of the tournament on September 19, saying it was because his opponent had “cheated”.

In a statement posted on social media, Carlsen, who had caused a wave of shock when he pulled out of a match for the second time in two weeks, seemingly in protest at alleged cheating by his opponent, said, “At the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I made the unprecedented profes sional decision to withdraw from the tournament after my round three game against Hans Niemann. A week later during the Champions Chess Tour, I resigned against Hans Niemann after playing only one move.

“I know that my actions have frustrated many in the chess community. I’m frustrated. I want to play chess. I want to continue to play chess at the highest level in the best events,” said Carlsen, terming cheating an “existential threat” to the sport.

“I believe that cheating in chess is a big deal and an existential threat to the game.”

Carlsen also urged the organisers of tournaments to increase their vigil to ensure weeding out of the cheats.

“I also believe that chess organisers and all those who care about the sanctity of the game we love should seriously consider increasing secu rity measures and methods of cheat detection for over the board chess.

When Niemann was invited last minute to the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I strongly considered withdrawing prior to the event. I ultimately chose to play.

“I believe that Niemann has cheated more -- and more recently -- than he has publicly admitted. His over the board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup, I had the

impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do. This game contributed to chang ing my perspective,” added Carlsen.

In an indication he was not willing to play against Niemann anymore, Carlsen said, “I don’t know what they (alleged cheaters) are capable of doing in the future”.

“We must do something about cheating, and for my part going forward, I don’t want to play against people that have cheated repeatedly in the past, because I don’t know what they are capable of doing in the future. There is more that I would like to say. Unfortunately, at this time I am limited in what I can say without explicit permission from Niemann to speak openly. So far I have only been able to speak with my actions, and those actions have stated clearly that I am not willing to play chess with Niemann. I hope that the truth on this matter comes out, whatever it may be,” added Carlsen.

Indian designs on the international red carpet The stylist makes the celebrity

From internationally celebrated singer Cardi B to reality TV star Chrishell Stause amnd Megan Thee Stallion, Indian couturier and designer Gaurav Gupta has dressed some of the biggest international celebrities. Over the last seventeen years he has shaped a revolutionary brand of couture and experiential space design.

During this season’s Hollywood red carpet, including the Emmys, Cannes and Golden Globes he has dressed eminent artists in music, cinema, fashion and art. Let’s take a look:

Gaurav Gupta’s international placements

The names behind your favourite celebrity fashion icon

Tanya Ghavri is stylist to the likes of Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor, Ananya Panday and

the list is endless! She is a red carpet favourite and go-to name for even a casual coffee date. She recently

styled Ananya Panday for her film, “Liger.”

Rhea Kapoor

Aastha Sharma

Tanya Ghavri

Sanjana Batra

Sarah Niles in Gaurav Gupta Couture for the 74th Emmys

Carmella Rose in Gaurav Gupta Couture

Jeremy Pope in Gaurav Gupta Couture at TIFF 2022

Being a Bollywood star means you can’t even step on to your balcony without getting spotted or snapped by the paparazzi. From movie promotions, brand endorsements, travel duties, gym runs to even just hanging out with

Emmys Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Ted Lasso, Nominee Sarah Niles choose

Model & Actress Carmella Rose at

For the premiere of his film ‘The Inspection’ at the Toronto

a Gaurav Gupta Couture at the Emmys 2022 Red Carpet. She wore a three-dimensional wearable art the Daily Front Row Fashion Media

International Film Festival, Jeremy Pope wore the custom crystal

sculpture envisioned in glitzing gold sequin fabric that is artfully moulded in endless swirls.

Awards wore Gupta’s Black gown.

T-Shirt from Gaurav Gupta Man.

(L-R) Rhea Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor

(L-R) Stylist Aastha Sharma, Actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan & Disha Patani

(L-R) Stylist Tanya Ghavri, actresses Ananya Panday & Katrina Kaif

their buddies, celebrities need to keep their fashion-game strong. But not all celebrities have an innate sense of style, the smarter ones recognise this and hire themselves a stylist. A stylist who they can blindly trust to carry them through all their

public appearances, red carpet events and keep connected to the youth and stay relevant. Today we shift the spotlight on these stylists who work behind the scenes to make your favourite star look fabulous. Follow them on social media to keep staying stylish.

Amongst Rhea Kapoor’s many talents is being a stylist. She can be given sole credit for making her sister, Sonam, the fashion icon that

Aastha Sharma makes styling Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, look effortless. Recall Ash from Cannes? she is. Unafraid to experiment, try new trends and take the road not oft taken, Rhea is the person you need to be following if you’re looking

All of that was Aastha. In addition, she is responsible for hot favourites like Disha Patani and Nora Fatehi, as for some mind-blowing fashion inspiration.

well as Esha Gupta. Once you start following her, we’re confident you won’t be able to stop.

You should follow Sanjana Batra if you want to remain up to date with Shilpa Shetty’s latest eccentric saree and Huma Qureshi’s chic clothes. We like her for getting our favourite celebs, like Parineeti Chopra.

By Olivia Sarkar

20www.indianabroad.news Vol 2, Issue 16, Oct 1-15, 2022 (L-R) Stylist Sanjana Batra, Actresses Shilpa Shetty and Parineeti Chopra

Korean hair-bangs are in!

A South Korean beauty secret: Pink Aloe Vera

By N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe

Wished you had bouncy, beautiful, clean skin, that is plumped up with hydra tion like South Koreans? “Hydration is essential for healthy, bright skin. Our skin is made up of three layers. When the skin’s outer layer lacks moisture, it loses suppleness and appears harsh and aged. Hydrated skin appears more youthful, fresh, and radiant. It appears to be smooth and silky. So, when it comes to skincare, the most vital function to look for in a product is moisture. Pink Aloe Vera, a new Korean Beauty Secret, is the new synonym for Hydration! Pink Aloe Vera is high

in moisture, antioxidants, vitamins, and other skin-beneficial elements,” said the spokesperson of Faces Canada.

Green Aloe Vera is extracted and oxidized at controlled temperatures before being freeze-dried. This method turns green Aloe pink and considerably increases its potency by increasing emodin content and antioxidant levels. Aloe-Emodin, found in Aloe Vera, has potent anti-inflammatory qualities, and its concentration in Pink Aloe is sub stantially higher. It calms the skin and serves as an astringent, leaving it looking revitalized, moisturized, and bouncy.

This season, it’s all about soft waves and air-bangs for a natural-looking style that will leave you turning heads. Heralded by Vogue as “one of Korea’s top hairstylists”, Sunwoo Kim is the co-founder/owner of Cheongdambased salon, Woosun, and hairstylist

Start with towel-dried hair.

Apply your favorite styling product and comb your hair with a Detangling comb.

Blow dry hair using the multi-styler and the Coanda Smoothing Dryer attachment. Select the drying mode, by simply turning the switch on the attachment in the direction of the arrow. Choose low heat and high airflow settings, and to pre-dry hair until it is about 80% dry.

Add voluminous curls and waves by switching the attach ment to the 40mm Airwrap barrel. Using high heat and high airflow setting, hold the middle of a hair tress and let the enhanced Coanda airflow auto matically attract and wrap hair on the barrel. Hold in place until dry. Set the style with a cold shot for 5 to 10 seconds, before slowly releasing the curl.

• Twist the cool tip on the barrel to change the direction of the airflow and repeat on the next hair tress, to create a more natural look. Repeat around the head, alternating the airflow

direction each time.

To create the air bangs, switch to the Airwrap Soft Smoothing Brush to create volume from the roots of the hair. Choose a high heat and high airflow setting and place the brush under the fringe to lift the hair. The higher the lift, the rounder, and the more natural the shape of the fringe will be. Use the 30mm barrel to create the air bangs and comb through them again with the Soft Smoothing Brush.

Lastly, use the smoothing mode of the Coanda Smoothing Dryer on medium speed and low heat to hide flyaways and finish off the look. Start at the front left of the parting and smooth over the top section, leaving out the ends Pro-tips:

• When styling, the first stage of styling is to break the ‘tempo rary’ bonds in the hair so that it can be reshaped. This can typically be achieved by either wetting the hair or by heat.

For frizz-prone hair, try the Firm Smoothing Brush to achieve your voluminous air bangs.

Should you apply moisturizer or sunscreen first?

The gel contains a lot of water, which the skin needs to repair.

It’s an effective astringent, mois turizer, humidifier, and cleanser. It softens and soothes the skin, reduces wrinkles, treats acne and skin irritation, and protects the skin from pollution. It is suitable for both oily and dry skin types. It is quickly absorbed by (oily) skin and moisturizes (dry) skin.

It is the latest hydration hero. It

is far more effective than Green Aloe Vera at hydrating the skin. It penetrates the skin deeply to nourish the regenerative cells, promoting age-reversal and healthy, radiant, and moisturized skin. It is the go-to component for skin hydration.

Pink Aloe Vera is the holy grail of skin renewal, healing, and hydration. It is best used in skin care products such as mois turizers, serums, toners, day gels, and face cleansers. Pink Aloe Vera in Eye Serums helps to reduce puffiness and small wrinkles beneath the eyes for youthful, nourished skin. When used as a Day Gel, it instantly gives the skin a youthful glow and provides intensive oil-free hydration. When used in a Face

Serum, it begins a wonderful anti-aging journey by increasing skin suppleness. It softly cleanses the skin and provides incredible calming when used in a cleanser, removing it from any irritation produced by the environment or dietary habits. A night gel replenishes the skin’s lost water overnight and makes it appear glassy and supple during the day.

Furthermore, when Pink Aloe Vera is utilized in skincare, the products feel exceptionally light weight, non-oily, and non-sticky. This hero component allows the user to carry it all day without having to worry about cleaning the face many times, which could result in significant skin hydration loss. It is suitable for all skin types and is an excellent skin care provider.

Adding mineral & crystal-infused skincare products to your beauty routine

In recent months, what we have been witnessing is a great shift in the beauty industry. Skincare and wellness products are now front and center, shadowing the pre-pandemic focus on makeup and beauty. Going through a pandemic has turned the collective

consciousness towards the well ness space, taking care of mind, body, and soul. Aromatherapy and crystal-based healing are just two ways in which people have sought nourishment of their bodily senses.

Chaitanya Nallan, Co-Founder & CEO, SkinKraft Laboratories will clear your doubts regarding what you should apply first, either moisturizer or sunscreen!

Sunscreen needs to be applied not just in summers but throughout the year, yes, even in winters. However, it might be confusing when you are layering your skincare products.

To keep things simple, there are 2 types of sunscreens, physical sun screen and a chemical sunscreen.

You must apply your moisturizer first if you are using a physical sun screen and for a chemical sunscreen apply the sunscreen and then over it you can apply your moisturizer.

With changing formulations and innovation, the steps and method of doing skincare also keeps changing. There has been an addition to the old CTM routine; Sunscreen. Any skincare is not 100% effective if you do not seal it with sun protection. The thumb rule always goes from treatment to protection. So, one should always start with a serum, then a moisturiser and finish it off with a high protection sunscreen.

But with the changing game of skincare, now even we have moved away from traditional straight forward sunscreens. There are sunscreens which are infused with moisturising agents like hyaluronic acid, vitamin E. In such cases, one

can skip moisturiser and directly go for sunscreen. But sunscreen always has to be the last step in your skincare routine.

Let us throw some light on the most used products in any skin care routine, Moisturizer and Sunscreen. What is the order of preference? The answer isn’t exactly cut and dry, but my choice is justified by some scientific reasons based on their properties. Application of the moisturizer first will bridge any gaps in the stratum corneum and make the skin soft and supple. Also, moisturizers are typically reapplied every 10–12 hours. Sunscreens on the other hand, if applied directly over a dry skin would increase the dryness further leading to irritation of the skin. Additionally, sunscreens should form the outer layer as they can directly scatter/reflect/absorb the UV rays depending on their physical properties. And sunscreens should be reapplied every 2-3 hours for maximum efficacy, especially in tropical countries such as India where increased sweating is characteristic. At present, there are moisturizers available with SPF and vice versa in the market.

Nonetheless, as a rule I prefer to layer moisturizer and sunscreen separately, each catering to its own purpose,” adds Dr. Gagana B Gopal, Consultant Dermatologist, KAYA.

This wellness trend has also made its way into the skincare industry. Although mineral and crystal-infused skincare has been around since the ancient Egyptians, today these compounds are being added to everything from serums to moisturizers and face massage tools. Fascinating ingredients such as diamond dust, gold and silver leaf, rose quartz, and amethyst, are being hailed as ‘game changers’ in the skincare industry for their skin and spiritual benefits. The energetic healing frequency of these crystals and minerals can calm, soothe, uplift, and revitalize skin. Minerals are also crucial for overall health and well-being, they are nutrients that the body cannot do without. Minerals themselves are inorganic solids that exist naturally, through geological processes, and have a specific and predetermined chemical composition. Some vital minerals your skin needs are mag nesium, potassium, silica, calcium, and zinc.

Queenie Singh Sethia, Founder of Beauty By Bie shares trending minerals and crystals to look for in your skincare products:

complexion. Their highly absorbent nature gives them skin-lightening properties. Diamond dust is known to remove blemishes and fade acne and dark spots. Other benefits include: exfoliating dead skin cells, preventing skin aging, and hydrat ing the skin.

of unconditional love, and is said to boost feelings of self-love as well. It has remarkable benefits in skincare like the ability to stimulate blood flow to supply more oxygen to the skin, resulting in a flushed, natural glow. It also helps to relax facial muscles and ease stress.

The richness of this ingredient helps regenerate collagen, making wrin kles appear less prominent. It also promotes cellular repair, protects the skin from pollution, and gives a luminous sheen to the skin.

Diamonds are truly a girl’s best friend. This ingredient is packed with exfoliating features that wash off toxins and deliver a glowing

These luxurious, ancient beauty ingredients act as antioxidants and strengthen the skin barrier. They also aid in boosting circulation, improving skin elasticity, and protecting against environmental stressors.

Works as a UV filter in skincare products especially in physical

Mostly added in cosmetics to increase pigment. . This mineral is clean, hypoallergenic, and helps increase the SPF protection offered by sunscreens. Its ability to protect skin from UV and blue light makes it a must-have ingredient for people experiencing melasma.

This crystal represents purification and connection to spiritual and divine beings. Amethysts help to cleanse and detoxify the body, mind, and soul. Their skin benefits include: boosting collagen, curbing inflam mation, and increasing circulation.

This crystal is said to absorb negative energies, and heal the body from multiple ailments. Also known as the botox of the crystal world, malachite helps to gently cleanse clogged pores and visibly firm and lift skin. Additionally, it supports the skin’s natural defenses against free radicals.

to some of Korea’s biggest names, such as Blackpink, Irene Kim, Goeun Kim, Min-young Park, Ye-Ji Seo Sunwoo Kim, Dyson Ambassador walks us through the six simple steps to effortlessly create this look at home, using the next-generation Dyson Airwrap Multi-styler.

sunscreens. It is also commonly used as a lightening, thickening, and

lubricating ingredient.

A step-by-step guide by Sunwoo Kim

Skincare is always dynamic and experimental

Hydrate your skin with the holy grail of skin renewal, healing, and hydration

Ingredients such as diamond dust, gold and silver leaf, rose quartz, and amethyst, are being hailed as ‘game changers’

Diamond dust

What Are the Benefits of Minerals and Crystals in Skincare?

Achieve this look:

Best of pink aloe vera:

Iron Oxide:

Titanium Dioxide

Pearl protein

This crystal is known as the crystal

Rose quartz

Amethyst Malachite

and silver leaf

Online art galleries: The recent innovation for the artists community

The world of artists has always included art galleries in it.

People used to travel far to see actual exhibitions in galleries. In contrast, virtual exhibitions have become the new standard as a result of the global pandemic. Online art galleries were created as a result of art galleries following suit.

With the advent of both physical and online galleries, art enthusiasts can now experience the complexity of creativity. Virtual art galleries are advantageous in this situation in a number of ways according to Manya Roongta and KrishNawal, Founders of Childrens Art Museum of India.

Amidst the pandemic-induced lockdown and social distancing norms, museums and galleries had to hit the pause button. The artists had to come up with innovative ways to showcase their work.

During this time, digitization came as a blessing in disguise. The artist community suffered a setback but was able to revive it with the assis tance of online art galleries. It is due to them that people have been able to pursue their love for art despite the restrictions.

In today’s modern world, not only mature art enthusiasts but even millennials are inclined to pursue their love for art. Whether it is re vamping their homes or decorating their workspaces, they prefer to go for creative pieces. Due to this, the demand for art is growing further, and virtual art galleries are helping fulfill the same.

Virtual galleries do not require a physical location. For the artists, they allow flexibility and are a cost-efficient way of renting a physical space to display art at zero cost. In fact, you can also have a global presence and share your creativity with the world. You won’t be restricted to a particular area and can reach a larger audience, eventually boosting sales.

of India’s most exciting upcoming festivals

After more than two years of silence in the fields and cities of the best-loved art events, festivals are back with a bang. Held at beautiful destinations across India, these festivals offer unique opportunities for art enthusiasts. People passionate about art forms such as music, films or photography

The Jodhpur RIFF (Rajasthani International Folk Festival) is a five-day musical gateway that embraces Rajasthan’s rich musical legacy. The festival is hosted at the spectacular Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, the quintessential Blue City, described by Rudyard Kipling as “the work of angels, fairies, and giants.” When more than 250 performers from all over the world play against the majestic backdrop of Mehrangarh Fort, the audience is captivated by the sheer beauty and grandeur of the music. Jodhpur, also popularly known as the “Sun City,” encapsulates all that the state is known for—from golden deserts and crumbling forts to sumptuous palaces and luxurious accommo dations. So, this October, get ready to visit opulent palaces, indulge in local flavours, partake in adventure activities, experience the cultural extravaganza, and enrich your journey with memories that you will cherish for a lifetime.

can amalgamate their love for art with travel for an enriching break. And with organizers clearly deter mined to remind festival-goers what they have been missing, some of the country’s fine artists will grace art festivals across destinations for the rest of the year.

Now that the world is finally opening

up again, Booking.com has curated a list of domestic destinations with the most anticipated art festivals of 2022 for travellers to get into the vibe. From Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh to Alsisar in Rajasthan, plan ahead for exciting upcoming art festivals where each festival offers something completely unique.

Of course, by physically visiting the galleries, the audience can have a closer and deeper look at the mas terpiece. However, online galleries are not far behind. They enable audiences to cherish the aesthetics from different angles. Leveraging the power of technology, online art galleries allow 360-degree view and 3D realistic models of the artwork via virtual tours. Audiences can zoom, rotate, see animated add-ons, and much more with the online setup.

As normalcy gradually returned, art galleries started opening up while adhering to the COVID-19 protocols. However, virtual galleries did not lose their charm. Neither have they nor will they replace the physical galleries. However, they have been growing more than ever before and have fostered a hybrid culture where both physical and online galleries coexist. Admiring art is a personal experience. Today, audiences can witness creativity not only physically but also virtually if they wish to.

Virtual art galleries have not only helped the artist community to thrive during these testing times but have also helped in bridging the physical-digital gap. Embracing their love for art from their homes’ comfort zones, the audience can engage better with the aesthetically crafted pieces at their convenience with the help of technology and virtual tours. Online art galleries have proven to be a boon as they are relieved from the additional costs and the hassle of on-ground management. Even though they are a new trend, online art galleries have significantly impacted the artist community and brought many benefits to the table for both the audience and the creator.

Justin Bieber cancels India Tour

Bieber fans will be extremely disappointed to learn that the ‘Justin Bieber Justice World Tour – India’ scheduled for October 18th, 2022 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi has been cancelled owing to the singer’s health concerns.

Along with New Delhi in India, the artist has also cancelled other stops in the tour’s run-up to the India show including Chile, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Bahrain, UAE and Israel.

Known as one of the most stunning music festivals spanning three days in the magnificent Mahal of Alsisar in Rajasthan, Magnetic Fields is nothing less than a visual dream. It is a unique marriage of contemporary culture with Rajasthani customs and hospitality. The musical carnival features some of the world’s biggest underground stars as well as some of the country’s best and most forward-thinking music. Apart from the wonderful music, attendees can enjoy an adventurous jungle safari to the popular Ranthambore national park, high tea sips at a garden picnic, relax at majestic pool parties, and indulge in gourmet treats at The Chef’s table. Magnetic is more than

Nestled deep inside Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Dibang Valley, Dambuk is acclaimed for its oranges. Nature reigns in all her purity here, away from all the clamour of the city, retaining the state’s distinct rusti ness. Hundreds of acres of orange orchards on the mountain slopes add to the region’s charm during the harvesting season. This sparked the idea of an orange-themed music and adventure event. The Orange Festival of Adventure & Music attracts visitors from all over the world who want to discover Arunachal Pradesh’s untamed natural beauty and learn about the native way of life. The event is a perfect combination of traditional and modern elements, including

Held in the serene dreaming town of McLeod Ganj, artists and film enthusiasts consider it one of India’s greatest independent film festivals. The Dharamshala International Film Festival is also known for its exciting and unusual selection of documentaries, shorts and feature films. The festival also serves as a platform for filmmakers across the globe to showcase their talents. McLeod Ganj, often known as Little Lhasa, is a fascinating blend of Tibetan and British culture. Home to the spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, this town is famous for its breathtaking trekking trails, relaxing weather, magnificent scenery, and dynamic culture.

Vol 2, Issue 16, Oct 1-15, 2022 ART & CULTURE “While we are deeply disappointed that we will not be able to welcome Justin Bieber to India this year on account of his health concerns, we wish him well and hope he recovers at the earliest to be back for millions of his fans in India soon. While the cancellation of the ‘Justin Bieber Justice World Tour – India’ has been dependent on factors outside of our control,” said BookMyShow. The platform has already initiated a full and complete refund of the ticket amount for all consumers who had purchased tickets for the show. The complete refund will be reflected within 10 working days in the customer’s source account of the original transaction.

The Indian Photo Festival (IPF) is organized by Light Craft Foundation in partnership with the department of tourism, the government of Telangana, and the State Gallery of Art. IPF, India’s longest-running international photography festival, celebrates the world behind the lens with talks, workshops, screenings, and print and digital exhibitions by photographers from around the world. The festival aims to promote the art of photography while also addressing social concerns. The festival is hosted at several locations around Hyderabad, which offers a range of tourist attractions such as age-old heritage monuments, gardens and resorts, lakes, parks, museums, scrumptious dishes, and an amazing shopping environment. Hyderabad, endearingly named the

music, speed, and thrills. The Orange Festival of Adventure & Music is not just another music festival but a

Pearl City, is a stunning panorama of the past and is a blend of rich

simply a festival; it’s a whole experi ence that you must have.

confluence of music, oranges, and adventure put together in the scenic setting of the stunning Dambuk!

cultural and historical traditions spanning 400 years.

Online art galleries have significantly impacted the artist community and brought benefits to both the audience and the creator

Owing to the singer’s health concerns

Plan ahead and book these destinations

Foster a hybrid culture

Meet the growing demand

Enhanced customer engagement

Surpass geographical barriers

Jodhpur RIFF in Mehrangarh Fort - Jodhpur, Rajasthan (6th October - 10th October 2022)

Magnetic Fields Festival in Alsisar Mahal - Alsisar, Rajasthan (9th December - 11th December 2022 )

The Orange Festival - Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh ( 15th December - 18th December 2022)

Dharamshala International Film Festival - McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh (3rd - 6th November 2022)

Indian Photo Festival - Hyderabad, Telangana (18th November - 19th December 2022)

An innovative way for artists to showcase their work

Book releases this month

Reading books that you enjoy can help you relax and relieves stress

Developing

good habits at a young age can help pave the way for a prosperous future. Reading is a habit that we should all cultivate because it not only broad ens our knowledge and enlightens our minds, but it also aids in the development of our language skills and vocabulary.

UNPARENTING: Sharing awkward truths with curious kids (Reema Ahmad)

professional, eager to discover and learn new things.

Afterness spans across eighty years of his life, its edges tinged by the tumultuous events in India in the twentieth century, and interspersed with fascinating people, from the mysterious Kishen Khanna, who accurately predicted events in Ganguly’s life, to encounters and friendships with well-known histor ical figures such as Mother Teresa and Rajiv Gandhi.

Dr. Ashok S. Ganguly’s journey was interspersed with failures, but he doesn’t shy away from talking about these and the sacrifices that went on to define his life. He covers three important aspects in the book - importance of family and upbringing, impact of corporate environment and influence of society and outward perspective.

Honest, reflective, personal and revelatory, Afterness provides valuable insight into his thinking process and decision-making skills that enabled Ganguly’s meteoric rise and sustained his legendary career.

storyline from the cliffhanger to bring to the readers a myriad of revelations and twists. It narrates a captivating journey of what seemed to be the end of wars to only be another beginning. Enthralling, exciting and entrancing, the book explores the past with secrets that hold the power to shake ancient beliefs of the present, resulting in an alteration of the future.

Expressing his thoughts, national best-selling author, Akshat Gupta, said, “If you have liked the first part, then you are going to absolutely love The Hidden Hindu 2. It has unexpected twists and breathtaking revelations which will keep the readers on the edge. I am grateful for the love that has been showered for the first part and hope that they continue to show the same excite ment and enthusiasm.”

While the first battle is lost, the pro tagonist, Om, is yet to learn about his past. The Hidden Hindu 2 explores the hidden agendas behind allies and the identities of LSD, Parimal, and eventually, Om. Akshat Gupta takes the readers on an adventure as they traverse to gather knowledge if the book of Mritsanjeevani holds a bigger purpose than even immortal ity for Divinities and Demons.

Former President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday released a book titled “Ambedkar and Modi: Reformer’s Ideas, Performer’s Implementation” here in presence of Union Minister I&B Anurag Thakur, MoS Dr L. Murugan and former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.

While speaking at the launch of the book, the former President said that this book is a collection of Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s multidimensional ideologies and their works for the nation. Whether this is industrial development, labours’ rights, self-reliance, elec tricity and water resources’ develop ment, planning wise development of cities, education or gender equality, this book gives ideological founda tion and solid information on these important issues, said Kovind.

The book has been compiled by Bluekraft Digital Foundation and has a foreword by music composer and Rajya Sabha member Ilaiyaraaja. In 12 chapters dealing with domains as varied as infrastructure, education, socio-economic mobility, gender equality, self-reliance and many more -- the book not only presents Ambedkar’s vision of India, but also takes into account several achieve ments of Modi and his government.

respect to Baba Saheb. PM is per haps the only leader in the country who organised Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra during the ‘Heerak Janti varsh’ which was held for the first time after the implementation of the constitution. It is the episode of 2010 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat ‘’, he said.

“I would like to say that this book is a testimony that PM Modi is a true disciple of Baba Ambedkar”, the former President concluded.

Unparenting is a vibrant, whacky testimony to a parent-child relation ship where the child leads and the parent follows. Written in the form of deeply personal, engaging and often humorous essays, the book is a powerful reminder of what it feels like to be lost and misunderstood as a child, and how important it is to challenge what we think we know as parents.

Through her own awkward journey as a single parent, Reema Ahmad explores what it means to explore newer ways of bringing up chil dren-ways that nurture their sense of innocence and curiosity while giving freedom to choose their own truths. Reema invites you to hop along as she and her son, Imaad, learn to laugh and make up stories about why penises shape-shift, the mysteries of pubic hair, the magic of adolescent crushes and the maze of dating and sex. Join them as they explore these mysteries and other serious topics like abuse, adult rela tionships, divorce and dying-issues that adults often forget to wonder at and seldom question.

An unnamed man arrives in Berlin as a visiting professor. It is a place fused with Western history and cul tural fracture lines. He moves along its streets and pavements; through its department stores, museums and restaurants. He befriends Faqrul, an enigmatic exiled poet, and Birgit, a woman with whom he shares the vagaries of attraction. He tries to understand his white-haired clean er. Berlin is a riddle-he becomes lost not only in the city but in its legacy.

Sealed off in his own solitude, and as his visiting professorship passes, the narrator awaits transformation and meaning. Ultimately, he starts to understand that the less sure he becomes of his place in the moment, the more he knows his way.

Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, an internationally renowned Carnatic musician from the illus trious musical lineage of composer Saint Tyagaraja, wore many hats in his lifetime. Having made a stage debut at the age of seven, he was hailed as a child prodigy. From then till the time he passed away, at age eighty-six in 2016, he continued to be in the spotlight, not just for his extraordinary talent and versatility as a vocalist and multi-instrumen talist, but as a composer, playback singer and even, briefly, as a charac ter actor.

“Along with the maker of our con stitution, Baba Saheb contributed immensely for the banking, electrifi cation, labour management, revenue sharing system and education system of the country”, the former President said while launching the book.

“This book contains 25 pictures which give Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unconditional love and

Baba Saheb had always special emphasis on the development of the cities as he always used to say that the pressure of rising population should be minimised on the agri cultural land and modern transfor mation be carried out in the cities to change the lifestyle. He also used to say the waterways as the pathway for the development which is being characterised by the Narendra Modi government. The Modi government has implemented the vision of Baba Saheb”, Kovind added.

With utmost importance to the Jal Jeevan Mission, PM has forwarded the vision of Baba Saheb. It is an example in itself of how the Modi government has linked the vision of Baba Saheb to the common masses, he further added.

“Many people did the work of collecting votes and making statues in the name of Dr Ambedkar. But his vision was for the upliftment of the deprived class, if someone is implementing it step by step on the ground that is Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, said union Minister Anurag Thakur while speaking about the book.

The Union minister added further that Dr Ambedkar always believed that industrial development would prove to be a liberator for the under privileged society. And today be it Make in India or self-reliant India, or PIL schemes, all this work is being done in that direction under the PM Modi government.

“Today we can proudly say that India of Baba Saheb’s dreams is today marching with full confidence with the superpowers of the world under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, he said on the occasion.

Talking through difficult conversations

Every parent or guardian must have a dialogue with their children at some point in their lives to address their complex problems. Talks about subjects including racism, grief, loss, sex, divorce, and other struggles for which we occasionally lack the necessary solutions.

If you’ve ever felt numb or blank when dealing with your children’s inquisitive minds, IANSlife chatted with Sudarshan Vig, Co-founder & CEO, Merlinwand, to assist you navigate this situation with ease. What inspired you to start online publishing personalized books for kids?

SV: I, along with my co-founders, happen to be parents of growing kids. We realized that over the last few years, the dependence of kids on devices has greatly increased and that only exploded during the pandemic.

so any issue like good touch and bad touch can be discussed in the same environment.

Talk to your Kids about racism: Start the important conversation during the early years

fact, the conditions surrounding a divorce should be taken by taking a kid into confidence and both parties need to give due respect to the kid’s opinions as well.

The author invites readers to journey with him as he looks back fondly on his extraordinary life – from his childhood to his upbring ing in the metropolitan Bombay of the 1930s, to his PhD in Illinois and his eventual return to India. After joining Hindustan Unilever’s R&D department, Ganguly quickly rose up the ranks as a talented young

He was a primary school dropout, a teenage poet and composer, a restless mind, a polyglot, a legacy upholder, a wordsmith, an ice cream lover and a pathbreaker. This is a story of the many lives of Dr Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. Veejay Sai’s in-depth research into his life and work led him deep into unseen archival material and across the Carnatic musical landscape of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Fortified by interviews with his family members, disciples and peers, The Many Lives of Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, a definitive biography of the musical genius, is not only a revealing account of the personal traits and facets of an unparallelled genius, but is also a portrait of India’s classical music world, a place as much of beauty as of untrammelled egos.

This led to a decline in reading habits, which is foundational in the development of skills like free-wheeling imagination, cre ativity, and attention span. In order to bring back the reading habits in kids, we started Merlinwand. The idea is multi-pronged: To make sure they go back to reading in spite of competing content like videos, video games, etc, we made sure the books are personalized where the hero character and one’s friends can be personalized in our books. This way the kids can be part of the story and thereby enjoy it more. We also chose to create our own content, very imaginative stand alone stories which speak about contemporary topics and issues in a fun and relatable way. Our mission is to turn every kid into their own hero in stories which are dealing with contemporary and sometimes, serious issues.

Good touch and Bad touch: How to make children understand the difference between the two?

SV: One good thing which has happened recently in our curricula is that even schools teach about good-touch and bad-touch. We should continue this practice and we should bring more and more schools into this approach. This should ideally be part of the educa tion policy.

Other than that, we also need to maintain such a relationship with our kids that they do not fear open ing up to you about anything that happens in their lives, whether good or bad. We need to be empathetic to them and accept their vulnera bilities. We should always create an atmosphere where they can voice their discomfort freely and openly,

SV: This is a tricky topic to deal with considering that a significant number of folks do practice some kind of divisive “ism”, whether it’s racism or communalism or classism or casteism or ageism, or any other. Many times, we do practice the same without even realizing it.

Again, the onus is always to educate and practice equality and freedom as far as possible. Also, give the free dom to kids to ask questions, to raise any question against something we did which goes against what we preach. Believe me, that works wonders for us to know ourselves.

Another factor is that even if we talk and speak to our kids about these divisive practices, they will definitely witness the rampant usage of such evils around them. Encourage them to have discussions with kids their age practicing such evils. Also highly emphasize the value of debate and discussion over aggression.

One possibility is that the kid may be at the receiving end of such divisions. We need to make sure they have high self-esteem and the onus is on us, as parents, to resolve the issues in the right forum.

Tips for Talking to Your Kids About Divorce

SV: One of the biggest thoughts most parents have are, how will kids react to the news of something like a divorce? Now, to be honest, kids are way more mature today than ever before and they are way smarter than we give them credit for. Unless we are talking about toddlers, most kids already would be aware of conditions at home that may possibly lead to divorce.

If the divorce and conditions around it are mutually agreed upon, it’s easier to have the kid sit down and ask if one has questions and if the kid needs something, in particular, to be decided or talked about. In

If it is an acrimonious divorce, the best bet is to try as much as possible to have a third party assess the situation and possibly a therapist who can help the kid deal with it. Taking help from professionals is part of our evolution of ours as well as our kids’ well-being.

How should parents make kids aware of child abuse?

SV: Despite strict laws against child abuse in India, many are still victims of the crime. Child abuse can be mental or physical abuse. Psychologists state that if your child is not eating properly, has problems sleeping, and gets irritated or panics easily, these are signs that your child is facing mental or physical abuse. Sometimes parents tend to blame their kids when they share incidents like these. It’s not at all healthy and steps like these can have a serious effect on a kid’s mental health. When children are taught they are special and have the right to be safe, they are less likely to think abuse is their fault, and more likely to report an offender.

How to talk to your children about conflict or war

SV: War is a difficult topic to talk about. The conditions leading to war are so complex geographically and politically that it is always difficult to justify the mass killing on either side to impressionable kids. However, we can always talk about certain topics. While it is great to celebrate victories in wars, we should never glorify it to a huge ex tent. In spite of ourselves, we should maintain a pacifist narrative and talk more about the reasons behind any war in the past, than the war itself. If we do talk about war, it makes sense to bring out the violence of it all and how everything needs to be done to avoid violence at any cost. A good way is to personalize stories and talk about how it would affect them personally if we were part of a war.

Talking about subjects including racism, grief, loss, sex, divorce, and other struggles

SOJOURN (Amit Chaudhuri)

THE MANY LIVES OF MANGALAMPALLI BALAMURALIKRISHNA (Veejay Sai)

AFTERNESS (Ashok S. Ganguly)

THE HIDDEN HINDU 2 (Akshat Gupta)

Ex-President Kovind releases book “Ambedkar and Modi’, draws parallels between them

The Hidden Hindu 2 takes the

N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe

Majestic train journeys to witness the beauty of Southern India

By N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe

Atrain journey is perfect for anyone looking for a fascinating way to experience southern India. Such trips make a wonderful way to get closer to the rich culture and heritage. Although trains are usually associated with cities, Sripad Vaidya, Co-founder & COO, Confirmtkt handpicked five destinations with wide-reaching scenic beauty that one can marvel at when travelling by train.

This train journey is one-of-a-kind in its own way. Aside from giving a nature trip, it also takes people through a mythological journey. The railway connecting Chennai to Rameshwaram runs over Pamban Bridge, famous as India’s first bridge. Natives believe that Pamban Bridge was built by Lord Rama while searching for Goddess Sita, who Ravana abducted. The bridge links the Mandapam region in India with Rameswaram and Pamban Island. Though the rail ride is only 2.2 Km long, its surroundings and religious background make it one of the best life experiences.

People who want to enjoy train travelling near the hilly areas of the south must not miss Ooty to Coonoor train journey. Both of these destinations are popular among visitors for their picture-perfect scenic beauty. These two hill stations are located in Tamil Nadu and are connected via a special toy train. The tracks connecting Ooty to Coonoor are part of Nilgiri Mountain railways, which have been honoured by UNESCO due to their impeccable uniqueness and raw beauty. The best part of the train journey is it takes passengers through the tea plantations of Ooty and mountains covered with greenery.

Making start-up boutique hotels Insta-worthy destinations

In a crowded hospitality sector with big chains offering luxury and aspiration, starting an independent boutique hotel is a brave step and a risky one. But, if done right it is a huge opportunity. In the current scenario, travellers look increasingly for ‘experience’ but choose on the basis of photos and videos online while choosing an accommodation. Instagram has become one of the major platforms for this splash.

Boutique properties are a way to create something so beautiful and define success in your own unique style. Keeping in line with the way travellers consume, the class and the exquisite experience that is exclusive needs to be communicated through Instagram more than other

The train journey from Kollam to Sengottai will be a fulfilling experience for travellers who like to explore offbeat places. The railway line connects the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu through these two junction points. Passengers witness several lush green forests, clean & swiftly flowing rivers, and hills throughout the ride. Along the way, they pass a heritage bridge and a national highway built above and below the tracks. Train journey ensures travellers get to see Kerala’s natural beauty, making it the most picturesque trip ever.

buy train tickets in Search in select countries, which will be available in more countries soon.

The users in Germany, Spain, Italy and Japan can now shop for train tickets directly on Google Search, for travel in and around select countries.

Google said it has embedded sus tainability into its travel tools.

“For some trips, taking a train might be the more sustainable option, but finding the prices and schedules to get from A to B can take a few separate searches,” said Richard Holden, VP of Travel Products at Google.

The train ride between these two destinations in south India is like a slideshow of the rich plantation practices of the country. In this two-hour-long train journey, trav ellers pass through many luxuriant plantations of green tea, coconut groves and farms of a variety of spices. Take the train ride via Island Express; it covers the natural splendours of the path and gives the opportunity to experience the local life of the south up close.

It is important to understand your guests and curate the most customised experience as per their preferences. Syncing the hotel’s offering to best suit the taste and expectations of the guests guest a long way in making them feel welcomed. Understand what they prioritise, what they expect and what they desire. Translate the same things through your Instagram to stay connected with them.

Google has announced a new feature that will allow users to

“Starting today, you can now shop for train tickets directly on Google Search, for travel in and around select countries - including Germany, Spain, Italy and Japan,”

he mentioned in a blog post late on Tuesday.

Just query something like “Berlin to Vienna trains” and you’ll see a new module in the search results that lets you choose your departure date and compare the available options. Once you select the train that works best, there’s a direct link to complete your booking on the partner’s website.

“This feature will expand to more locations as we work with other rail providers. We also plan to begin testing a similar feature for bus tickets in the near future to broaden your choices for intercity travel,” said Holden.

Moreover, with new filters for both flights and hotels, it’s easier to find more sustainable options on Google Search, he added.

Food should be delicious but the presentation should be inspiring. Build plates that not only invite appetite but also are photographic delights. Food images are a great share for Instagram, beautiful and interesting plates encourage guests and dinners to also post on Instagram and share their moments with their connections.

A brand is beyond comfort, luxury, logo and colours. It is the personality and identity that differentiates the boutique hotel from competitors. It is important to not just attract potential guests but also strive to create aspirations. It is important to build a unique selling point. The whole packaging needs to be such that the boutique hotel becomes a fascinating option that guests feel they should not miss.

A very basic yet underrated idea to enhance Instaworthyness is to focus on lighting at the hotel. A profes sional photoshoot can amplify décor elements by adjusting light and even using extra lights. But, for the photos that guests take need the assistance of good lighting that would give good results. The lighting used to enhance the look of the hotel may not neces sarily translate into good lighting for photographs. So make changes to support that requirement.

capture beautifully the themed spac es that you have created and share

them on Instagram. Highlight not just the space but also encourage guests to share their happy mo ments enjoying the novelty.

social media platforms. Here are things that boutique hotels can do to make their hotels shine on Instagram and gain an edge, says

Roop Pratap Choudhary, Executive Director, Noor Mahal and Founder Colonel Saab, London (UK)

By following these simple steps, one can easily win the hearts of the new

Millennial and Gen Z Guests who are seamlessly setting new rules for Indian Hospitality.

Know your guests

Inspire with food

Establish your brand

for effect

Highlight themed spaces

Renowned train services include, Golden Chariot, Southern Splendour, Maharajas’ Express Southern Jewels Maharajas’ Express Southern Sojourn & Deccan Odyssey Jewels of Deccan.

It is important to build a unique selling point

Kollam – Sengottai

Chennai to Rameshwaram

Ooty to Coonoor

Kanyakumari to Trivandrum

Engineers build battery-free, wireless underwater camera that uses sound

It could also be used to capture images of ocean pollution or mon itor the health and growth of fish raised in aquaculture farms.

“We are building climate models, but we are missing data from over 95 per cent of the ocean. This technology could help us build more accurate climate models and better understand how climate change impacts the underwater world,” said Fadel Adib, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and senior author of the paper.

enough to power the electronics that take photos and communicate data,” said the study.

Once image data is captured, they are encoded as bits (1s and 0s) and sent to a receiver one bit at a time using a process called “underwater backscatter”.

The receiver transmits sound waves through the water to the camera, which acts as a mirror to reflect those waves. The camera either reflects a wave back to the receiver or changes its mirror to an absorber so that it does not reflect back.

YouTuber tests Apple Watch Ultra durability with hammer

New York, Sep 26 (IANS) A team of US engineers has developed a battery-free, wireless underwater camera, powered by sound, that is about 100,000 times more energy-efficient than other undersea cameras.

The device takes colour photos, even in dark underwater environments, and transmits image data wirelessly through the water.

The autonomous camera converts mechanical energy from sound waves traveling through water into electrical energy that powers

its imaging and communications equipment.

After capturing and encoding image data, the camera also uses sound waves to transmit data to a receiver that reconstructs the image.

Since it doesn’t need a power source, the camera could run for weeks on end before retrieval, enabling scientists to search remote parts of the ocean for new species, said the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications.

The camera acquires energy using “transducers made from piezo electric materials” that are placed around its exterior.

“Piezoelectric” materials produce an electric signal when a mechanical force is applied to them.

When a sound wave travelling through the water hits the transduc ers, they vibrate and convert that mechanical energy into electrical energy.

“Those sound waves could come from any source, like a passing ship or marine life. The camera stores harvested energy until it has built up

Meta, Google put employees on ‘notice periods’ to find new role or leave

Addressing the gathering at the Code Conference in the US this month, Pichai said that the more the company tries to understand the macroeconomic conditions, it feels very uncertain about it.

“The macroeconomic performance is correlated to ad spend, consumer spend and so on,” he told the audience.

Even though the image looks black and white, the red, green and blue coloured light is reflected in the white part of each photo.

When the image data is combined in post-processing, the colour image can be reconstructed.

The researchers tested the camera in several underwater environ ments. In one, they captured color images of plastic bottles floating in a New Hampshire pond.

They now plan to enhance the device so it is practical for deploy ment in real-world settings.

San Francisco, Sep 26 (IANS) The Apple Watch Ultra has been tested by a YouTuber who dropped it, subjected it to a jar of nails, and repeatedly smashed it with a ham mer to see how durable the sapphire crystal protecting the display is.

The Apple Watch Ultra was left mostly unscuffed, aside from minor dents along the titanium casing.

Next, the Apple Watch Ultra was mixed around in a jar of nails and was once again left with no visible marks.

TechRax also tested the durability of the Apple Watch Ultra’s sapphire crystal display cover by repeatedly hitting it with a hammer.

In the test, the watch withstood repeated hits with the hammer until it finally cracked, and only after the table took some damage first.

While the Apple Watch Ultra’s display did not initially take damage, the watch did fail to turn on after repeated hits.

The failure to power on could indicate that while the sapphire may not have broken at first, some internal components may have suffered damage.

Apple claims the Apple Watch Ultra is its most rugged, durable, and extreme Apple Watch yet, aiming to compete directly with Garmin.

Android users can now enjoy Dynamic Island-like features

San Francisco, Sep 23 (IANS) After Apple introduced the Dynamic Island feature on iPhone Pro mod els, app developer Jawomo launched “DynamicSpot” for Android users, which gives users their version of the new iPhone feature.

The app can be used in conjunction with almost any Android app, including messaging, music and timer apps.

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS)

Facebook’s parent company Meta and Google are reducing staff to cut costs amid the economic downturn, apparently putting some of them on traditional 30 to 60 days “lists” to find a new role within the company or leave.

Meta plans to cut costs by at least 10 per cent in the coming months and has put out more and more workers whose jobs are being eliminated on its traditional “30-day list,” reports Wall Street Journal.

On the other hand, Google’s parent Alphabet has reportedly deployed a similar approach, typically giving workers 60 days in which to apply for a new role if their jobs are set to be cut.

“Facebook parent is looking to reduce costs by at least 10 per cent, people familiar with the plans said, while Google has required some employees to apply for new jobs,” the report mentioned.

Meta has a “long practice” where

employees whose roles are eliminat ed are subject to termination if they can’t find a new job internally within a month.

The Mark Zuckerberg-run company had 83,553 employees at the end of the second quarter this year.

“Google typically gives employees 60 days to apply for other roles in the company if their jobs have been cut,” the report mentioned.

Last month, Google fired more than 50 workers at its incubator Area 120 and gave them extra 30 days to find another job at the company.

A Google spokesman was quoted as saying that nearly 95 per cent of employees found new roles within the notice period.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai aims to make the company 20 per cent more efficient hinting at job cuts, as the tech giant recently cancelled the projects at its in-house research and development (R&D) division called Area 120.

Google has suspended hiring new employees and reportedly told some existing employees to “shape up or ship out” if expectations are not met.

In a company message viewed by Insider, Google Cloud sales lead ership has threatened employees with an “overall examination of sales productivity and productivity in general” and that if next quarter results “don’t look up, there will be blood on the streets”.

As Big Tech companies lay off employees and freeze new hirings, Zuckerberg said in July that the company’s plan is to steadily reduce headcount growth over the next year.

Admitting that the social network has entered an economic downturn that will have a broad impact on the digital advertising business, Zuckerberg said that many “teams are going to shrink so we can shift energy to other areas inside the company”.

James Webb Space telescope captures striking view of Neptune’s rings

Users can also customise the app by changing interaction settings and selecting when to show or hide the DynamicSpot popup, reports CNET.

“DynamicSpot gives you (a) Dynamic Island mini multitasking feature, making it easier to access recent notifications or phone status changes,” Jawomo was quoted as saying.

“Just tap on the little black popup to open the displayed app, long-press the popup to expand it and view more details.”

According to the report, users can

download the basic DynamicSpot app for free from the Google Play Store.

Meanwhile, the Dynamic Island feature on 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max features a design that blends the line between hardware and software, adapting in real-time to show important alerts, notifications and

activities.

Ongoing background activities like Maps, Music, or a timer remain vis ible and interactive, and third-party apps in iOS 16 that provide information like sports scores and ride-sharing with Live Activities can take advantage of Dynamic Island.

Govt investing $30 bn in creating 4G, 5G infra in rural India: IT Minister

Mumbai, Sep 22 (IANS) IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the government is investing nearly $30 billion to ensure last-mile network accessibility for 4G and 5G in every village across the country and build a robust digital infrastruc ture in the rural areas.

Speaking at the ‘Global Fintech Fest 2022’, Vaishnaw said the govern ment has reached out to over 1.5 lakh gram panchayats to date.

“We are now creating a whole ecosystem of village entrepreneurs, channelising the energies of young sters to take good quality, highspeed data connectivity to every village in the country while making them a part of the growth journey,” the minister emphasised.

“We have tested this model and

approximately 80,000 new connec tions are now being facilitated every month,” he added.

Vaishnaw said there are three key areas in fintech for the government - building a robust digital infrastruc ture and a digital regulatory frame work, along with social inclusion and the societal imperatives around it.

Sharing his views on the digital regulatory framework, the minister said that telecom is the very founda tion of Digital India.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given us a clear mandate to overhaul our digital regulatory framework such that it is globally benchmarked and endorses global competitive ness,” said Vaishnaw.

Talking about the integration of

payment systems across the trans portation sectors, he said that while a project was taken up on common mobility, “the way technology has evolved over the last 5-10 years, I think instead of a card, probably the mobile phone itself will become the common integrating factor”.

Chinese automaker launches Teslainspired electric car at just $26,000

New York, Sep 22 (IANS) US-based space agency NASA has announced that its James Webb Space Telescope has captured the clearest view of Neptune’s rings in more than 30 years.

Most striking in Webb’s new image is the crisp view of the planet’s rings -- some of which have not been detected since NASA’s Voyager 2 be came the first spacecraft to observe Neptune during its flyby in 1989. In addition to several bright, narrow rings, the Webb image clearly shows Neptune’s fainter dust bands.

“It has been three decades since we last saw these faint, dusty rings, and

this is the first time we’ve seen them in the infrared,” Heidi Hammel, a Neptune system expert and interdis ciplinary scientist for Webb, said in a statement.

According to NASA, Webb’s extremely stable and precise image quality permits these very faint rings to be detected so close to Neptune.

Webb also captured seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons.

Dominating this Webb portrait of Neptune is a very bright point of light sporting the signature diffrac tion spikes seen in many of Webb’s images, but this is not a star. Rather, this is Neptune’s large and unusual

moon, Triton.

Covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen, Triton reflects an average of 70 per cent of the sunlight that hits it. It far outshines Neptune in this image because the planet’s atmosphere is darkened by methane absorption at these near-infrared wavelengths Neptune has fascinated researchers since its discovery in 1846. It is 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth, and it orbits in the remote, dark region of the outer solar system. This planet is characterised as an ice giant due to the chemical make-up of its interior.

Beijing, Sep 22 (IANS) Chinese automaker Changan Automobile has unveiled a new electric vehicle that resembles the Tesla Model 3.

With a starting price of $26,000, the newly launched Shenlan SL03 is a small electric sedan, reports auto-tech website Electrek.

The front end of the vehicle, where the bonnet meets the fascia, and its dimensions look very similar to the Tesla Model 3, which is priced at nearly $40,000.

In terms of specs, the base version comes with a range of 515 km based on the Chinese standard. A bigger battery pack is also available with a

longer 705 km range.

The company took over 15,000 reservations for the new electric car only hours after launching it.

The report mentioned that it plans to deliver the first units to customers

by the end of the year and ramp up production to eventually 15,000 units per month.

Meanwhile, the Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling electric car in Europe in 2021.

Garmin launches wearable smart BP monitor for $150

Connect app.

“Garmin is a trusted name in the health and fitness industry, and we are excited to introduce the FDAcleared Index BPM as another tool to stay on top of your health,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales.

“When using the Index BPM as part of the larger Garmin ecosystem, all of your health and fitness data can be viewed right in Garmin Connect, helping to give you a more complete look at your overall health in one app,” he said in a statement.

‘Night owls’ may have greater risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease

New York, Sep 20 (IANS) People who are ‘night owls’ could have a greater risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease than those who are ‘early birds’ as a new study has found that our wake/sleep cycles cause metabolic differences and alter our body’s preference for energy sources.

The researchers found that those who stay up late have a reduced ability to use fat for energy, meaning fats may build up in the body and increase the risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

be viewed immediately after they’re taken.

Featuring an adjustable cuff, the Index BPM is made to fit a wide range of arm sizes - from 9-17 inches (22-42 cm) in circumference.

Through the Garmin Connect app, users can also view their measure ment history and trends alongside other health stats, set up reminders to take their blood pressure and view those readings in 7-day, 4-week and 1-year reports.

The reports can even be exported as a PDF to be shared with a doctor.

“The differences in fat metabolism between ‘early birds’ and ‘night owls’ shows that our body’s circadi an rhythm (wake/sleep cycle) could affect how our bodies use insulin,” said researcher Steven Malin from Rutgers University in the US.

Called ‘Index BPM’, the compact and FDA-cleared upper arm blood pressure monitor features an integrated display so readings can

According to Garmin, up to 16 users can keep track of their individual readings from the Index BPM and sync the data to their own Garmin

The Index BPM has a battery life of up to 9 months and comes with four AAA batteries that can easily be replaced when necessary, said the company.

Even smartest AI models don’t match human visual processing: Study

journal iScience, the team em ployed novel visual stimuli called “Frankensteins” to explore how the human brain and DCNNs process holistic, configural object properties.

“Frankensteins are simply objects that have been taken apart and put back together the wrong way around. As a result, they have all the right local features, but in the wrong places,” Elder said.

The investigators found that while the human visual system is con fused by Frankensteins, DCNNs are not -- revealing an insensitivity to configural object properties.

For the study, published in the journal Experimental Physiology, the team classified participants into two groups (early and late) based on their ‘chronotype’ -- our natural propensity to seek activity and sleep at different times.

They used advanced imaging to assess body mass and body

composition, insulin sensitivity and breath samples to measure fat and carbohydrate metabolism.

Participants were monitored for a week to assess their daily activity patterns. They ate a calorie and nutrition-controlled diet and had to fast overnight to minimise the dietary impact on the results.

To study fuel preference, they were tested while at rest before complet ing two 15-minute bouts of exercise: one moderate and one high-intensi ty session on a treadmill.

Aerobic fitness levels were tested

through an incline challenge where the incline was raised 2.5 per cent every two minutes until the partici pant reached a point of exhaustion.

Researchers found that early birds use more fat for energy at both rest and during exercise than night owls. Early birds were also more insulin sensitive.

Night owls, on the other hand, are insulin resistant, meaning their bodies require more insulin to lower blood glucose levels, and their bodies favoured carbohydrates as an energy source over fats.

Biden claims ‘pandemic is over’ as WHO advises vigilance

Washington, Sep 19 (IANS) US President Joe Biden has claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic is over, as millions suffer from long Covid and several countries still bear the brunt of the global health crisis.

On the CBS ‘60 Minutes’ TV show on Sunday, Biden said: “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s, but the pandemic is over”. “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks,” Biden said while gesturing at the gathering. “Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing.”

order to understand visual process ing in the brain,” said researcher James Elder from York University in Toronto.

“Our results explain why deep AI models fail under certain conditions and point to the need to consider tasks beyond object recognition in

“These deep models tend to take ‘shortcuts’ when solving complex recognition tasks. While these shortcuts may work in many cases, they can be dangerous in some of the real-world AI applications we are currently working on with our industry and government partners,” Elder added.

For the study, published in the

According to the researchers, modifications to training and architecture aimed at making networks more brain-like did not lead to configural processing, and none of the networks were able to predict trial-by-trial human object judgements accurately.

“We speculate that to match human configural sensitivity, networks must be trained to solve a broader range of object tasks beyond catego ry recognition,” Elder noted.

tea

risk by 17%

journal Diabetologia.

When compared with adults who didn’t drink tea, those who drank 1-3 cups daily lowered their risk of diabetes by 4 per cent, while those who consumed at least 4 cups every day reduced their risk by 17 per cent.

The associations were observed regardless of the type of tea partic ipants drank, whether they were male or female, or where they lived, suggesting that it may be the amount of tea consumed, rather than any other factor, that plays a major role.

However, the US government still designates Covid-19 as a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization (WHO) says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, reports CNN.

Last week, the WHO said that future coronavirus waves are expected and that governments across the world need to remain vigilant and ready to respond to any threat that may emerge.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that this virus will not just fade away.

“The global decline in reported cases and deaths is continuing. This is very encouraging. But there is no guarantee these trends will persist. The most dangerous thing is to assume they will,” he said in his

latest remarks.

“The number of weekly reported deaths may have dropped by more than 80 per cent since February, but even so, last week one person died with Covid-19 every 44 seconds,” Ghebreyesus emphasised.

However, he said that “ee have never been in a better position to end the pandemic”.

According to the WHO, during the week of September 5-11, the number of new weekly cases worldwide decreased by 28 per cent over the previous week to more than 3.1 million. The number of new weekly deaths was down 22 per cent to just under 11,000.

Tedros likened the pandemic response to a marathon race.

Even as the pandemic wanes, people should maintain high levels of vigilance, said Mike Ryan, exec utive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme.

The world is fighting “a highly mutable evolving virus that has shown us, time and time again in two-and-a-half years, how it can adapt and how it can change”, Ryan added.

“Most of those deaths are avoidable. You might be tired of hearing me say the pandemic is not over. But I will keep saying it until it is. This virus will not just fade away,” he added.

Eating walnuts everyday may lower your BMI, control BP

New York, Sep 23 (IANS) A daily serving of walnuts may help in controlling blood pressure, prevent weight gain, and minimise your chance of developing diabetes and heart disease, according to a new study.

New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) A moderate consumption of black, green or Oolong (traditional Chinese drink) tea is linked to a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a study involving over a million adults from eight countries has revealed.

The findings suggest that drinking at least four cups of tea a day is associ ated with a 17 per cent lower risk of diabetes over an average period of 10 years.

“Our results are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to potentially lessen their risk of developing type 2 diabetes”, said lead author Xiaying Li from Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China.

The study, to be presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting in Sweden next week, scanned 19 cohort studies.

While it’s long been known that reg ularly drinking tea may be beneficial for health because of the various antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic compounds tea contains, less clear has been the relationship between tea drinking and the risk of diabetes.

Overall, the new meta-analysis found a linear association between tea drinking and diabetes risk, with each cup of tea consumed per day reducing the risk of developing dia betes by around 1 per cent, said the study published in peer-reviewed

“While more research needs to be done to determine the exact dosage and mechanisms behind these observations, our findings suggest that drinking tea is beneficial in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, but only at high doses (at least 4 cups a day)”, said Li.

It is possible that particular compo nents in tea, such as polyphenols, may reduce blood glucose levels, but a sufficient amount of these bioac tive compounds may be needed to be effective.

Despite the important findings, the authors noted that the study is observational and cannot prove that drinking tea reduces the risk of diabetes, but suggests that it is likely to contribute.

The finding, published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, showed that those in the walnut-eating group had lower blood pressure than those that did not eat the nuts, reports the Daily Mail.

According to the researchers, from the University of Minnesota, walnuts are the only nuts that contain Omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). The fatty acid has previously been linked to improved heart health. However, the researchers say more studies are needed to confirm the findings.

Previous research has linked walnuts to lower blood pressure, and suggested they prevent diabetes and heart disease. However, these results are yet to be backed up by a

rigorous clinical trial.

For the study, the team analysed data from 3,341 US people who were about 45 years old. Participants had taken part in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study run by the University of Alabama between 1985 and 2015.

They were initially interviewed about their diets, and followed up with at years seven, 20 and 25 of the study. Of those involved, the

340 who ate walnuts consumed about 0.6 ounces (19 grams) a day on average - the equivalent of seven walnut kernels.

At year 20, they were invited back for a health check-up where their BMI was measured, alongside their activity levels and blood pressure.

The scientists also suggested that walnuts led to lower weight gain and a higher quality diet.

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) Leading wearable brand Garmin has launched a smart blood pressure monitor for $150 that allows users to measure systolic and diastolic blood pressure at home and on the go.

Toronto, Sep 18 (IANS) Deep convo lutional neural networks (DCNNs) do not see objects the way humans do -- using configural shape percep tion -- and that could be dangerous in real-world artificial intelligence (Al) applications, say researchers.

DCNNs are the type most commonly used to identify patterns in images and video.

“Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap the rewards of all our hard work.”

Hatha Yoga: Yoga of Force

By Paddy Krishnan

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit Yuj meaning union or linking. In the context of Hindu scrip tures the aim is to link with the Divine (Ishvara, Brahman etc.) via different techniques such as Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Patanjali’s Yogasutras. These days, the term yoga is usually associated with physical aspects related to flexibility, breathing etc. and the link to God is typi cally ignored. This form of yoga should technically be referred to be a part of Hatha Yoga.

Hatha Yoga, meaning the yoga of Force, has Tantric origins and is only loosely connected to to Patanjali’s Yogasutras. It is more directly related to different Vedic rituals in the Karma Kanda. Some scholars have interpreted Hatha Yoga as a process for ascetics who torture themselves. The term Hatha Yoga itself is perhaps relatively recent (perhaps around 9th century CE). Before that, there was no separation of such form of exer cise from other practices such as martial arts (e.g., Kalaripayathu which was popular in Kerala), and the performing arts (e.g., Bharata Natayam and Kathakali). They were all viewed as a means for spiritual growth towards understanding one’s true self by focusing on one’s body.

The body is a gift from the Divine and hence should be used to show respect to the Divine. Such practices were considered as the practitioner’s Sadhana (spiritual path). The aim was to achieve perfection in the art form because perfection lead to the Divine. The Shiva Samhita

says that every living creature is a direct result of Shiva’s Asanas (or postures) during his cosmic dance that created the universe. All bodies created by Shiva were said to be malleable. Each indi vidual had to create a container that could hold the waters of liberation. Because the focus was still on spiritual development, all these physical practices were combined with Raja Yoga which is the path of meditation. The theory was that one could not obtain perfection in Raja Yoga without Hatha Yoga, nor perfection in Hatha Yoga without Raja Yoga. So both should be practised together till perfection is attained; although Hatha Yoga, was like a staircase that led one to the higher Raja Yoga.

Early physical yoga had Asanas (postures), Pranayamas sometimes called Kumbhakas (jars that relate to breathing techniques), Mudras (postures that are held for a long time), that were combined with Kriyas (cleansing techniques), chanting Mantras (sound), Dharana (concentration), and Dhyana (meditation). These were all part of the Tantric thinking that when the body perishes, life is over. A dead person cannot aspire for Moksha and thus will be subject to rebirth. Therefore one must learn the art of preserving the body and work towards Moksha (i.e., ultimate perfection). This re sulted in everyone, (i.e., monks, priests, and householders) using Asanas and Pranayamas leading to Dhyana as part of their daily living especially when perform ing rituals. The first reference to an Asana, in the context of med itation or concentration is in the Bhagavad Gita when Krishna ask Arjuna to sit straight and keep his head and neck erect. There are also references to Shiva discussing Asanas with Parvati.

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Initially, physical yoga was just a collection of diverse studies including bodily postures, breathing mechanisms, state of one’s mind and cognitive perfor mance. But one was allowed to experiment under the guidance of recognised experts. These practices were codified by ex perts such as Matsyendranatha and Goraksanatha culminating in Svatmarama’s Hatha Yoga

Pradipika or the book that sheds light on Hatha Yoga. Even the Hatha Yoga Pradipika states that postures or breathing exercises should not be treated as fixed set of recipes.

It is said that there are 84 Asanas that were originally given to us by Shiva. The Padmasana (lotus position) or Siddhasana (simple cross-legged) were the simplest of the Asanas and the most important for meditation. The Asanas make the body steady and flexible, resulting in getting rid of diseases. This is the first step in learning to control and discipline the body. Pranayama is regulating the flow of air through the body without using much force. Pranayama helps purify the energy channels of the body allowing Prana (the life force) to move more efficiently. One should start by forcibly moving Prana to various parts of the body and be able to move what normally goes downwards to move upwards. When one starts to do Pranayama, one might be exerting lot of force and thus might perspire. The aim is to make Pranayama steady without any exertion so that it appears to be motionless.

Bandhas are “locks (holding patterns)” used to contain Prana. Typically Bandhas are engagements of specific groups of muscles at the base of the pelvis, the abdomen, and the throat. Bandhas are usually challenging and therefore should only be attempted after one is competent in both Asana and Pranayama. Mudras are complex movements (often very slow) of the whole body that combines Asana, Pranayama and Bandha. There are many Mudras that are said to control the aging process and thus death. As Hatha Yoga is also about Moksha, there are Mudras that require one to think of the Divine, and not think of oneself or the outside word. The final step is the ability to leave all thoughts and be able to think of nothing in total silence. When the body is lean and healthy, the face is glowing with delight and the eyes are clear, one has an healthy appetite, and one’s desires are under control, one can conclude that one is on the path to mastering Hatha Yoga. When one has mastered Hatha

Yoga, one will have the following eight Siddhis (or prefect accom plishments). Note that these descriptions are symbolic and are not to be interpreted literally.

• Anima the ability to become tiny Mahima the ability to become gigantic Garima the ability to become heavy (like mountains)

• Laghima the ability to come very light (like cotton)

• Prapti the ability to get anything anywhere

• Prakamya the ability to realise any dream

Isata mastery over all natural forces (like God)

• Vasitva the ability to control all animate and inani mate objects

The Hatha Yoga describes the following four stages of development.

• Arambha: preliminary where the body becomes healthy Ghata: like a jar to signify the flow of Prana inside the body Parichaya: some knowl edge where the mind is calm

• Nispatti: consummate knowledge where there is no pain, old age, or disease. In this case the practitioner has become one with God and has combined Hatha Yoga with Raja Yoga. It also emphasises that any one who practices Asanas, Pranayamas etc. but does not aim to master Raja Yoga is wasting their time as they will not become truly spiritual.

Other aspects such as behaviour and foods are also said to have an impact on the practice of Hatha Yoga. For instance, over eating, over exertion, talking unnecessarily, and spending too much time with others are said to detract one from the path of becoming a Yogi. But by perseverance, discriminative knowledge, faith, and aloofness one can accelerate the process. Similarly including wheat, barley, rice, milk, ghee, honey, certain vegetables etc. in one’s diet will help one’s body be conducive to Yoga. Eating re-heated food, or food that has too much salt, is sour, vegetables that cause burning sensation will make it harder to practice Hatha Yoga. This is often linked to the

principles in Ayurveda.

These days, yoga classes are conducted all over the world. Most of them are not directly connected to religion (i.e., do not have links to Raja Yoga). The emphasis here is on using Hatha Yoga as part of one’s exercise routine. Hatha Yoga was never designed for cardio workouts or strength training. The purely physical aspects of classical Hatha Yoga focused on proper alignment of body, breathing and the ability to hold postures for a long time. In today’s world one could combine Hatha Yoga with other activities such as jogging,

cycling, using rowing machines, using weights, etc., to ensure that body is stronger and more re sistant to disease. As Hatha Yoga was never prescriptive, modern exercises can easily be included as part of the Yoga of Force.

Paddy Krishnan is a computer scientist, who got his BTech degree from IIT-Kanpur and PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Being very interested in Hindu philosophy, he maintains a blog at www.goldcoasthindu. wordpress.com

What is Pronology and how does it work?

physically cannot. Example, if we talk about Mukesh Ambani, he does not every time have to be physically present there. Our mind will quickly flash his personality and various other aspects. As we all know every thing in the universe is a vibration then so is our name. Experts study the sounds in your name and

understand the patterns that could form or have formed in your life.

Just like any other science is used to reduce the hardships of life, Pronology is also aimed at the same.

So Pronology analyses the vibrations in your name. Numerologists study those vibrations and how a little change can bring great success in life.

Let’s see how a name is given to a child

not give you the benefits that one expects from his life.As that name is kept unknowingly so it might add unnecessary struggles in life. A good name should be well calculated as per your date of birth and the combination of correct sounds.

Some benefits of this amazing science

When the vibrations or sound in our name is not correct you may encounter many problems in your life.

Let me give you an example here. Take the name Prasad, and read it slowly as Pr, Pra, Rasa, Sad, etc.

After knowing a bit about numerology, let’s now talk about Pronology. It is a very inter esting and life changing concept. Numerologists give lots of weightage to this science. Pronology is also called science of sounds. It works on the vibrations in our name because our name is a very strong part of our existence. We are known by our name. Our name reaches all-round the world even when we

• Your parents named you as per the lucky alphabets mentioned by the family astrologer, which is decided on the basis of time and place of birth.

• We see trending names, so ask our family and friends about their suggestions and keep name that sound stylist or different to us.

They combine fathers’ and mother’s names and create a child’s name out of it.

But this way even if you try to keep the most trending name, it could

Since it studies many aspects in a name like the sequence of alphabets in a name, phonetics in a name and it’s balanced out as per your birth chart, one can expect life changing results in lifelike:

Name will take to closer to success

• Will remove unnecessary struggles from life

• You will have happy and content life.

• Correct vibration will influ ence people around

• Will give you material success.

Among these words, the meaningful word is sad. It represents a lonely person who cannot receive coopera tion from his colleagues and friends.

Now this person will have problems in establishing good relations with people because he will have trust issues, he would prefer to stay alone.

There could be various incorrect vi brations in a name which might give health issues. So next time,when you are deciding name for anew born, do take help of this beautiful science. Even at any stage in life if you are feeling that struggles are not coming to an end then get your name analysis done. There are high chances of name not in sync with your birth chart.

Ridhi Mehta is a practicing numerologist,healer,tarot card reader, crystal expert and hyp notherapist.She entered the field of occult around 5years back.She has her Youtubechannel by the name Insights by Ridhii. Ridhi comes from a corporate back ground having an experience of more than 10 years.However, she has always inclined towards the world of divination. So, she fol lowed her heart and after taking professional qualifications she started practicing the science. She also taught over two hun dred students in the above fields. She has many success stories and believes that if we under stand to work with energies then there are many things that we can alter in our lives.

She can be contacted on ridhi22_mehta@yahoo.co.in / +918054317326 for any queries/ consultations/ classes.

Ridhi Mehta

BHEDIYA

HONEYMOON

THANK GOD

CODE NAME: TIRANGA

RELEASE DATE: 24th October 2022

Punjabi (With English

Amar Preet Chhabra

DIRECTOR: Ribhu Dasgupta CAST: Parineeti Chopra, Harrdy Sandhu

thriller,

Name: Tiranga” is the story of

spy on

CAST: Gippy Grewal, Jasmin Bhasin and more

Hindi (With English Subtitles)

PRODUCER: T-Series DIRECTOR: Indra Kumar CAST: Siddhart Malhotra, Rakul

Preet Singh, Ajay Devgan, Nora Fatehi

RELEASE DATE: 25 November 2022

LANGUAGE: Hindi (With English Subtitles)

PRODUCER: Maddock Films, Jio Studios

DIRECTOR: Amar Kaushik CAST: Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon SYNOPSIS: Bhediya revolves around the story of a werewolf, has its roots in popular folklore and is inspired

by legendary tales of Arunachal Pradesh, where the movie was also shot. The movie is part of Vijan’s horror comedy universe and also marks his second venture with director Amar Kaushik.

fearless mission for her nation in a race against time where sacrifice is her only choice. Chopra plays an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (Raw) agent who is on a journey across many countries

Madhuri: Back in 90s, writers used to pen scripts on sets

bedrock of any film, quite seriously, “We have table reading sessions with our fellow cast members now, something which was unheard of back then in the 1990s. We used to get dialogues on the go, just before a shot was supposed to be delivered.”

Adding a humorous hue to her statement, she further mentioned, “We used to wait for the writer to finish his dialogues, who would say from some corner of the set, ‘Haan madam bas 2 minute mein likh ke deta hoon (Just 2 minutes and your dialogues would be ready, ma’am)’”.

Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS) Actor Ayushmann Khurrana’s upcoming film ‘DoctorG’, a medical campus comedy-drama, is all set to release on October 14.

‘Doctor G’ features Ayushmann in the role of a medical student. Stepping into the shoes of a male gynaecologist, the actor has shared the first poster that gives us a sneak-peek into the chaotic world of his medical journey to becoming a Gynaecologist.

film industry was very disorganised and disjointed except for a few productions like Yash Raj Films, Subhash Ghai’s production or Rajshri Production, which were very organised in their approach. But now with the corporate culture having come up in the films, things are far more streamlined today.”

She then mentioned how the indus try has started taking writing - the

Things have changed for the good, the actress said and this in a way helps the India cinema to compete at the global stage where productions are flawless and of six - sigma quality, “Today, we are given a bound script about, which breaks down things to the last detail like what are we going to wear in a particular scene or what should be the pitching of the character. These details really help an actor prepare for a scene and deliver something that the audience would thoroughly enjoy.”

Meanwhile, ‘Maja Ma’ is set to drop on Prime Video on October 6.

Falguni Pathak on Neha Kakkar’s ‘Maine Payal Hai’ remake: Wish I could take legal action

“I feel overwhelmed and touched on receiving so much love from all over for the song, so I had to share their feelings,” Falguni said.

Falguni also shared that she wasn’t approached by the makers of ‘O Sajna’, Kakkar’s version of the song.

According to Pinkvilla, Falguni reshared a story by her fan that asked her to sue Kakkar.

Asked if she is planning on taking the legal route, Falguni said: “I wish I could but the rights are not with me.”

‘Doctor G’ cast includes Rakul Preet Singh as Dr Fatima Siddiqui and Shefali Shah as Dr Nandini Srivastav and Sheeba Chadha who plays Ayushmann’s mother in prominent roles. Taking to social media, Ayushmann Khurrana shared the poster of Doctor G and wrote, “ZindaGi hai meri full of Googly, Chahiye tha Orthopedics, par ban gaya DoctorG, Get ready for your appointments, #DoctorG will attend to you in theatres from 14th October 2022. #DoctorGInCinemas.”

Kangana shares throwback childhood pic, says family called her Indira Gandhi

Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS) Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has shared a childhood picture where she sported short hair and said that her uncles from the army background called her Indira Gandhi.

Kangana took to Instagram, where she shared her throwback picture. She pointed out the uncanny resem blance with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The actress, who is currently shooting for the biopic titled ‘Emergency’, wrote in her story, “It’s uncanny growing up... Many of my relatives called me Indira Gandhi probably because of my hair style #emergency”.

She shared another picture and wrote: “I didn’t follow anyone’s hairstyle as a kid I went to the village barber on my own and

guided him to do hair cut that I liked it short... this inspired many jokes in the family especially all uncles from army background called me Indira Gandhi... #emergency” ‘Emergency’, as the title suggests, is all about the state of national emer gency declared by Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975. It lasted till March 21, 1977, when Janata Party was voted to power in a historic election.

The film also stars Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Mahima Chaudhry and Milind Soman.

Manikarnika films presents ‘Emergency’ which is written and directed by Kangana Ranaut. The film is produced by Renu Pitti and Kangana Ranaut.

The film dialogues are by Ritesh Shah, who was previously associ ated with celebrated films such as

singer.

The 53-year-old singer told PinkVilla that she is happy to see her fans’ love for the original song, which was originally released in 1999.

When further asked if the makers or Kakkar tried to reach out to her after seeing her Instagram stories, Falguni said: “No.”

Peta seeks honour for Raju Srivastava

Lucknow, Sep 22 (IANS) The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has written to union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairy, Parshottam Rupala, requesting him to honour late comedian Raju Srivastava for his contribution in prohibiting the sale, manufacture, trade, and pos session of illegal spiked bits which are used to control horses.

In the PETA India video, which was produced on the heels of an

enforcement drive conducted by Lucknow police in which 70 spiked bits were seized, Raju Srivastava delivered a powerful message asking people to report the use of spiked bits to police and to have a horse-free wedding.

Srivastava (58) passed away on Wednesday in AIIMS Delhi, where he was admitted after suffering a heart attack while working out at a gym on August 10.

Shantanu, Avneet all set to make you dance to the tune of ‘Kesariyo Rang’

Mumbai, Sep 18 (IANS) Shantanu Maheshwari, who made his Bollywood debut in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, and ‘Aladdin Naam Toh Suna Hoga’ actress Avneet Kaur are coming together for the music video Kesariyo Rang.

The song is perfect for the festive season and will give Navratri vibes with its Garba beats and dance moves. In the poster shared by Shantanu on social media, he could be seen dressed in white kurta-dhoti paired with a colourful ethnic jacket.

Talking about the song, Shantanu says: “This song is the ultimate dance number for Garba and Dandiya this season. Collaborating with Avneet for this song was so much fun... We had a blast shooting and we hope the audience will love the song and enjoy dancing to it just as we did.”

condolences to his family, friends and admirers.”

Tamil actress and BJP spokesperson Khushbu Sundar said: “They say laughter is the best medicine. And those who have made us laugh depart, they leave behind memories of happiness and that is how they want us to remember them. Will always remember him with a smile and a teardrop.”

Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray said: “Bidding adieu to Raju Srivastava ji. He will always be remembered for the laughter he brought to millions of people! My heartfelt condolences are with his family and loved ones in this hour of grief.”

Shantanu is also known for reality shows such as ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi 8’, Nach Baliye 9’, and Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa 9’.

Composed by Lijo George and DJ Chetas, Kesariyo Rang’ has been

Parineeti Chopra: Back again to present myself in a whole new avatar

Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS) Actress

Parineeti Chopra, who is gearing up for the release of her next ‘Code Name Tiranga’, says she is back again to present herself in a new avatar that no one has seen her doing.

Articulating the sentiments of Raju Srivastava fans across the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the comedian, who passed away after a 43-day struggle on September 21 at the age of 58, “brightened our lives with laughter, humour and positivity”.

The Prime Minister said: “He leaves us too soon but he will continue to live in the hearts of countless people thanks to his rich work over the years. His demise is saddening. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.”

Noting Srivastava’s “untimely demise”, former President Ram Nath Kovind described him as the “mimicry king and excellent artiste”, even as he shared his “heartfelt condolences” with the comedian’s family, friends and fans.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Coal and Mines Prahlad Joshi said: “Pained to hear about the loss of renowned comedian Raju Srivastava ji. A gem who pulled away the distress of millions with his piece of work. Apart from being an accomplished artiste, he was a great human being. My heartfelt

Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh spoke on behalf of his family when he said: “Truly upsetting news of the untimely demise of our dearest Raju Srivastava bhai. You have left us with a gift of smiles and laughs on and off the screen forever. The Mukesh family extends our deepest condolences to the [Srivastava] family.”

Cricketer Shikhar Dhawan said in his tweet: “Saddened to hear the tragic news of Raju Srivastava’s demise. May God bless his soul. You will be in our hearts forever. My condolences to his family and admirers.”

The actress, who gained appreci ation for her performance in film such as ‘Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar’, ‘Saina’ and ‘The Girl On The Train’, said, “I am back again to present myself in a whole new avatar that no one has seen me do before! It is my attempt to keep doing disruptive content as I have been and to push my limits to bring something new on the table for the audiences.”

“The bruises and me holding the gun in the poster is just a teaser of all the things that is in store for the audiences. This is just a sneak peek into my character and I can assure you that we intend to shock and awe with this film,” she added.

Ayushmann-starrer ‘DoctorG’ booked for

‘Kahaani’, ‘Pink’, ‘Raid’ and ‘Airlift’.

sung by Asees Kaur and Dev Negi while Adil Shaikh has done the

choreography. It is coming out on September 22.

Directed by Anubhuti Kashyap, the film will hit the screens on Oct 14.

‘Brightened

Actress Madhuri Dixit Nene, who is gearing up for her streaming movie ‘Maja Ma’, recently spoke about the changes that she has witnessed in the recent years about how the Hindi film industry which is otherwise known as Bollywood has changed over the course of time.

While speaking to IANS, the actress, who plays a Gujarati homemaker in the film, said, “Earlier the Hindi

Mumbai, Sep 24 (IANS) Neha Kakkar is currently receiving flak on social media for remaking dandiya queen Falguni Pathak’s iconic number ‘Maine Payal Hai’, who wishes to take a legal action against the Bollywood

New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS)

Shefali Shah on why she loves cooking: Because it’s not forced on me

having a glass of wine. Doing my own thing. I enjoy doing it. “The fact that I like cooking and I know my way around in the kitchen.It helped me in ‘Jalsa’ and ‘Juice’ because cooking was an integral part of all these characters, including ‘Darlings’.”

Shefali has been ruling the OTT space with her work, does that add an extra pressure for her?

“It is overwhelming. Humbling. With so much love and it feels good that all the hard work that I have put in becoming all these characters have reached across all the audiences. It’s acknowledged and appreciated...”

New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez on Monday wore a lawyer’s robe before entering the Patiala House Court in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion case involving multimillionaire conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

Wearing the black robe, she tried to dodge the media, who were present in huge numbers outside the court. She moved a regular bail application before the court.

Jacqueline and another Bollywood actress Nora Fatehi had recorded their statements as witnesses in the case. Earlier, fixed deposits worth Rs 7.2 crore belonging to Fernandez were attached by the ED. The ED termed these gifts and properties as proceeds of crime received by the actresses.

Actress Shefali Shah, who can rightly be tagged as the reigning queen of the digital space with her work in the OTT space such as ‘Delhi Crime’, ‘Jalsa’ and ‘Human’ among many others, aces in

culinary arts as well.

Shefali in a conversation with IANS said: “I enjoy it because it is not forced on me and I don’t have to do it everyday. So I do it in my time, my leisure listening to music, and

Varun Tej’s next film will celebrate the valour of IAF

“I am always pressurised when I go on set. I don’t know what I will do or how I will do this. It’s just a part of who I am,” said the actress, whose performance as the strong-headed police officer Vartika Chaturvedi in the Netflix series has been widely appreciated by audiences and critics alike.

The court has now fixed October 22 as the next date of hearing. On this date, the court will hear the arguments on her regular bail plea. The scrutiny of the documents will also be done on the date.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently filed its second supple mentary charge sheet in which Jacqueline Fernandez has been named as an accused.

In February, the ED filed its first supplementary prosecution complaint against Pinky Irani, an alleged aide of Chandrashekhar, who introduced him to Bollywood actresses.

It has been alleged in the charge sheet that Pinky Irani used to choose costly gifts for Fernandez and later used to drop it at her house after the payments were made by Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

In December last year, the ED filed the first charge sheet in this matter before the court of Additional

Sessions Judge Praveen Singh. Later on in February, the ED filed a supplementary charge sheet against Irani.

Sukesh has spent around Rs 20 crore on different models and Bollywood celebs. A few had refused to take the gifts from him.

Back from Venice, Hrishitaa shares how world perceives Indian cinema

From being a panelists at Venice International Film Festival 2022, bagging the Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Cuttputlli’ to hosting the TV musical series ‘Rangoli’, actress Hrishitaa Bhatt is exploring different opportu nities and grabbing the eyeballs.

The actress felt proud to be among the panelists at the film fest in Venice and said that the best part is now is that people are not discrim inating between Bollywood and South cinema.

Briefing about her experience representing India at Venice International Film Festival 2022, she said: “Being in Venice was really amazing, nowadays with time people are not segregating cinema into Bollywood, Tollywood. But they are projecting it like Indian Cinema.

The entertainment industry has become really strong. So these were some of the things that we spoke about during the panel discussion.”

Elaborating more on how globally Indian cinema is perceived, she informed: “It really feels amazing when we get to know that people are very interested to know more about Indian cinema. As India is the largest film-producing country, and there is constant improvement in content, thus it is also known as the content hub of the world. I really

Raveena Tandon to star in Arbaaz Khan’s production venture ‘Patna Shukla’

social drama.

He reveals: “It’s a social drama but since we as a production house believe in entertaining our audience, the film was written like that. ‘Patna Shukla’ has all the ingredients that an Indian audience wants to watch.” Khan, who is known for his negative roles in films like ‘Daraar’ and ‘Qayamat: City Under Threat’ was also seen in movies such as ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’, ‘Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya’. While talking about the film he says that audienc es will see Raveena in a completely distinct look: “Wait to see Raveena in a never seen before avatar. Even when she was at the peak of her career while doing hardcore masala movies, Raveena never turned her back on meaningful cinema. ‘Patna Shukla’ is the perfect example of pure cinema meets entertainment,” he adds.

Shilpa Shetty explains significance of Sarva Pitru Amavasya

Chennai, Sep 25 (IANS) Observing the Sarva Pitru Amavasya, the day one honours one’s ancestors and performs certain rituals for them, actress Shilpa Shetty on Sunday put out a post on Instagram explaining the significance of the day.

She wrote: “Today is Sarva Pitru Amavasya, the day we honor our ancestors and perform certain rituals for them. According to vedic scriptures, we, as individuals, are born with three debts that we have to pay off during this lifetime.”

“Firstly, the debt to the divine (Devas power), the rishis and the pitras (ancestors). They have the power to help us in our life journey, through remembrance, prayer and gratitude.”

“The Magha Nakshatra is one of

the most powerful nakshatras that has a special connection with the ancestral lineage as it is ruled by the Pitras(ancestors).”

The spiritual practices that you do help your ancestors to find Mukti, or liberation, and in return, they send you blessings in abundance.”

“Our ancestors watch us from the other side with the awareness that life is just a game. And whilst they may usually play the role of a spectator, if we request them for help, then they are absolutely willing to do so.”

“So, let’s remember our ancestors prayerfully and with gratitude, knowing that they have the power to help us progress on our journeywe just have to remember them.”

feel very proud to be a part of such a prestigious event.”

Bhatt made her debut in the film industry with superstar Shah Rukh Khan-starrer the 2001 movie ‘Asoka’ and later she received appreciation for her role in ‘Haasil’, ‘Ab Tak Chhappan’, and many more. The actress was also seen in several web series and now she is seen hosting the show ‘Rangoli’.

She said that when ‘Rangoli’ came to her, there was confusion in her mind about whether she should take it up or not but finally she said yes to it.

Hrishitaa added: “I watched the show as a child. At that time Hema (Malini) Ji used to host the show. It gives a very different feeling that you have grown up watching a show and now you are hosting it. To be honest, there are people who watch on a regular basis, and they have given me amazing responses.”

Bhatt went to Trinity College, London for studies, but acting always remained her preference. “Acting came to me naturally. I am a trained kathak dancer, I do jazz at times, and I was good in academics. And I also participated in many debates, which helped me in public speaking. So you can say I was always out there, but from them,

Yami Gautam, who has acted in Tamil and Telugu films as well, has urged audiences to go watch “Baghi Di Dhee”, a Punjabi film directed by her father Mukesh Gautam, saying it was one of the best films she had watched recently.

Taking to Instagram, Yami Gautam penned a lengthy post on the film and her thoughts on it. She said: “In times where we are all hustling to find good content for our audience, I got the chance to experience some thing really wonderful and special -- ‘Baghi Di Dhee’!

“I know personally the incredible amount of hard work that has gone in, literally through high fever and sickness in nail-biting winters. The passion & sincerity with which the film has been directed is truly

acting attracted me the most. I won’t say it was a conscious decision but acting was a hobby and I loved doing it and that is why I am still doing it,” she said.

Bhatt is also part of the TV series ‘Swaraj - Bharat ke Swatantrata

inspirational.

“Words are not enough to express how proud I felt as a daughter as I watched the final result of this labor of love directed by my father Mukesh Gautam. It’s one of the best films that I have watched recently and feel even more proud that it’s a Punjabi film.

“Also, a very special mention to my brother, Jasraaj! You are one of the brightest directors to look out for and the world shall soon see what a talent you are!

“I request each one of you to please watch ‘Baghi Di Dhee’ releasing on November 11, 2022. The strength that you all hold to watch and support a good film surpasses everything.”

2018 contempt case: Delhi HC proceeds ex-parte against filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri

New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Monday proceeded ex-parte against filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, scientist Anand Ranganathan, and magazine and news portal Swarajya as nobody appeared for them in connection with a 2018 suo motu contempt case. During the course of the hearing, a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Amit Sharma noted that none among the three appeared before the court despite issuing notices. Accordingly, the court proceeded with the hearing and listed it for further hearing on March 16.

The case is in connection with their remarks against high court Justice S. Muralidhar who had quashed rights activist Gautam Navlakha’s house arrest order and transit remand in the Bhima Koregaon case in 2018. In the previous hearing on May 4, also the court had noted the absence of

the trio in the last couple of hearings while serving notices to them.

As per the case, the suo motu contempt proceedings were initiated against the respondents following RSS ideologue S. Gurumurthy’s tweets alleging bias by Justice Muralidhar. In his tweet, he retweeted the link from a blog called ‘Drishtikone’ which had an article titled ‘Why has Delhi High Court Justice Muralidhar’s relationship with Gautam Navlakha not been disclosed?’

The court took notice of the tweet and the article after Advocate Rajshekhar Rao wrote a letter to then Chief Justice Rajendra Menon, alleging that the article and Gurumurthy’s retweet was a deliberate attempt to attack a sitting High Court judge. Gurumurthy was later dropped from the case after an apology but others including Agnihotri and Ranganathan are still

the respondents. Earlier also, a contempt notice was sent to Vivek Agnihotri over his tweets that stated that Gautam Navlakha was shown leniency over the fact that he was a friend of the judge’s wife.

Yami Gautam bats for dad’s Punjabi film ‘Baghi Di Dhee’

Jacqueline dodges media, enters court wearing lawyer’s robe

Telugu Actor Varun Tej on Monday disclosed that his next film, which is being tentatively referred to as ‘Varun Tej 13’, will be about celebrating the valour of the Indian Air Force.

As reported earlier, the film’s story will be set in a war backdrop, with the actor playing a fighter pilot.

Mumbai, Sep 20 (IANS) Bollywood actor Arbaaz Khan, who turned producer with Salman Khan-starrer

‘Dabangg’, has roped in ace actress Raveena Tandon for his next production ‘Patna Shukla’ which is a

On Monday, Varun Tej took to Instagram to post a still from the film, that is being produced by Sony Pictures International Productions and Rennaissance Pictures and wrote, “Bravery that knows no bounds, celebrating the valour of Indian Air Force. Get ready to witness the battle in the skies on the big screen. Taking off soon!!!”

Sangram ki Samagra Gatha’. “’Swaraj’ means your own rule, and in this 75-episode series, we are cel ebrating 75 years of Independence. And the particular role that I will be playing is Rani Lakshmibai, it’s like a documentary drama.