Indian Weekender 17 June 2016

17 June, 2016 • Vol. 8 Issue 13 • www.iwk.co.nz

NZ’s first Kiwi-Indian weekly newspaper

The pulse of Kiwi-Indians

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CONTENTS

17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

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New Zealand

Young Kiwi-Indian awarded Apple scholarship Pg

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Opinion/ Editorial Day of triple tryst with history

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Sports

Techmate

NZ names Indian-origin Jeet Raval for Africa tour

Highlights from Apple WWDC 2016

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Entertainment Rs 100-crore club has poisoned our filmmaking sensibilities

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Face of the week Ushering Prayas’ first comedy play

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Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame—

three awards, one signature event

The Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame awards are the highest honours for the Indian community in New Zealand and are conferred every year in an iconic signature gala event hosted by Indian Weekender.

Maya Shivam

between the age of 16 to 35 years.

This young achiever could have demonstrated their genius in any field, be it academics, sports, art, culture, community service or any other area.

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ince its inception four years ago, the event has been growing in size and profile. Every year, Prime Minister John Key has attended the event and inducted the Hall of Fame recipient, who joins the list of stalwarts.

the community. These are truly the unsung heroes who have made a difference to numerous lives around them. Indian Weekender felicitates these heroes at their event.

The Hall of Fame:

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he Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame was instituted to recognise the unparalleled achievements of an individual in their field of endeavour that has brought name, fame and glory not only to the individual but also to the KiwiIndian community at large.

Through these awards, Indian Weekender provides a platform to acknowledge and celebrate the success of these Kiwi-Indians.

The first inductee to the Hall of Fame was Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, followed by Dr Ajit Swaran Singh.

Dr Kantilal Naranji Patel is the reigning inductee. None of these individuals need any introduction

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ast year saw the inclusion of two new award categories— the Kiwi Indian Unsung Hero and Kiwi Indian Young Achiever.

Kiwi Indian Young Achiever:

T and are exemplary in their own areas of endeavour.

he Kiwi-Indian Young Achiever honours young Kiwi-Indians who have shone through their talents and hard work and have become names to reckon with. Nominations were invited from young people

Kiwi Indian Unsung Hero:

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he Unsung Hero award is dedicated to those who carry on regardless of their achievements being recognised. They do not care for name, fame, money or personal gain, but follow their overpowering calling to service

This year too, like previous years, the Hall of Fame is likely to witness about 400 plus guests in an invite-only, black tie event, hosting the top business and community leaders from across New Zealand. Watch out for our bumper issue next week and all details of the event in the following week.

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17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

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Agritech summit harvests trade opportunities; provides FTA insights M IWK Bureau

ore than 200 global business leaders and stakeholders came together on June 13 at the Langham, Auckland, for the first-of-itskind summit on agritech held by India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC). The summit witnessed business leaders from across New Zealand and India to discuss in depth the scope of agribusiness in both the countries.

The summit is a culmination of a series of discussions, stemming from a Memorandum of Understanding signed

by INZBC with the New Zealand Fieldays Society—the foremost organisation of the country’s agricultural sector.

The summit precedes the annual fourday Fieldays, scheduled to be held from June 15 to June 18 at Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton.

“INZBC has always endeavoured to bring together a range of organisations, think tanks and academicians under one

The summit is a culmination of a series of discussions, stemming from a Memorandum of Understanding signed

by INZBC with the New Zealand Fieldays Society— the foremost organisation of the country’s agricultural sector

roof through our flagship event, INZBC Summit. This year, for our third annual summit, the agritech theme is relevant and timely given the importance of the agriculture sector for both the countries,” said Wenceslaus Anthony, Head of Govt Relations, INZBC.

Left: Arvind Mehta, Chief FTA negotiator Right: Rattan Sagar Khanna, Chairman Dairy PHDCCI

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The summit had an interesting line-up of speakers from both New Red Black Zealand and India.

Agriculture Orange is the major contributor to the economies of both, India and New Zealand, and therefore there is much that can be gained by working together.

The summit was open to public and many enthusiasts joined the high-level discussions. We bring some snapshots of the key themes that dominated the summit.

Speaking at the summit, Jane Cunliffe, New Zealand Trade Commissioner based in Delhi, described India as a “major economy on the move”.

While the general feeling was that New Zealand companies can contribute to the development of agriculture in India through their innovative skills, modern technology, and farm management techniques, “population and income growth are key drivers in the growth of the economy. However, the agricultural sector needs immediate attention to cope with the challenges of the modern world including skills development, farm mechanisation, cold storage, warehousing, food processing and packaging. We need to Top left: Indian delegation and FTA team with INZBC leadership team along with National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Prime Minister John Key understand where New Zealand Top right: Alan Pollard, Chief Executive Pipfruit, New Zealand can fit,” she said.

Above (from left): Jane Cunliffe, NZ Trade Commisioner; Jo Goodhew, Food Safety Minister; and Malcolm Bailey, Director Fonterra Ms Cunliffe led a panel on Commercial and Partnerships, which included Sanjeev Asthana, Chairman, Agricultural Skills Council of India,; Stuart

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www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

“With 69% of India still living in rural areas and more than 500 million people listed as vegetarians, there is ample scope to enhance the participation of New Zealand companies in India.

Gordon, Chief Executive, Waikato Innovation Park; Alan Pollard, Chief Executive, Pip Fruit; and Mark Steed, Head of Agri Business and Property Finance, Westpac.

Ms Cunliffe said that the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise was seeing larger farms emerging in India and that it was working

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with 60 companies intensely for achieving the objectives.“With 69% of India still living in rural areas and more than 500 million people listed as vegetarians, there is ample scope to enhance the participation of New Zealand companies in India. It is, however, important to consider a number of issues before engaging with India’s farming sector.

“We need to get a number of things right and ask the right questions. ‘Can New Zealand, as a successful primary sector producer, supply to India? Will our systems and technology fit?’ We need to get things right,” she said.

Addressing the summit, Simon Brown, General Manager, Accelerator Services, Callaghan Innovation, said that New Zealand has a farming and technological sector, which complements each other for the overall benefit of the agricultural industry.

“Our farmers are business people and our scientists in the agricultural area are farmers. Our farmers are predominantly growers and our technologists follow them to understand their needs and expectations,” he said. “This involves working with them to identify their opportunities and barriers to growth including connecting them to the right technologies, talent and funding.”

Mr Brown said that New Zealand exports of agricultural, dairy, meat and other products currently feed about 40 million people in various parts of the world. This is in the face of the current global demand of about seven billion, which is expected to grow to 10 billion over the next 25 years.

“Agritech in New Zealand offers solutions to world problems through highly collaborate public and private sectors. Our farmers are unfettered by subsidies and focus on value. We have a proud history of bootstrapping,” he said.

Mr Brown, however, agreed that the size of the farming industry, the geographic distance, and limited output compared to growing world demand pose serious challenges to New Zealand. “We still create impact in the markets in which we operate.

However, we realise the need to be globally competitive,” he said.

Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew, who was also at the summit, speaking at a panel session on Tech, Food Processing and Future Collaborations, =said that New Zealand is assisting India to improve its food safety standards, increase yield from land, and grow better crops.

She said that there are a number of areas where New Zealand has been cooperating with India to promote its objectives of boosting agricultural output.

“Our apple industry is collaborating with a university in Himachal Pradesh to increase the quality and quantity of apple output. The project began in 2013 and has seen the value of apple output increase to US$ 534 million. This is set to rise to more US$ 2 billion by 2030,” she said.

Speaking about the measures the government is taking to promote agriculture, farming and related industries, she said that the establishment of New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre in Wellington in

17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

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Attendees at the Summit

Clockwise from above: INZBC signs MoU with PHDCCI in the presence of Prime Minister John Key and Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew; Michael Appleton, Lead adviser MFAT Right: Brett O’Reilly, CEO ATEED

The team negotiating the India-New Zealand FTA, led by Arvind Mehta, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Govt of India also attended the summit and gave good insights into the correct status of negotiations.

May 2016 as a partnership between the government, industry organisations and research institutions has been a step in the right direction.

“This is a virtual centre that will see the best scientists around the country collaborating on work programmes that cut across different food and beverage sectors. It has been established in response to a key recommendation from the government inquiry into the whey protein concentrate contamination incident,” Ms Goodhew said.

“We are keen to promote closer relations with India and we are hopeful that further negotiations for a viable Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will start soon,” she said.

She said INZBC played a critical role in promoting bilateral trade with India.

Some of the others that addressed the more than 200 attendees were

ATEED Chief Executive Brett O’Riley, who was the moderator of the panel that comprised Gareth Evans, General Manager, Autogrow Systems; Ross Townshend, Chairman, RML Engineering; Earl Rattray, Representative, Engender Technologies; and Dr Frank Scrimgeour, Director, Institute for Business Research, University of Waikato. Other prominent speakers were Michael Appleton, Lead Adviser for South and South East Asia, MFAT and Victoria Hallum, Manager of International Policy and Partnerships, Callaghan Innovation. The emcee of the event was Fran O’Sullivan of New Zealand Herald fame. The team negotiating the India-New Zealand FTA, led by Arvind Mehta, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Govt of India also attended the

summit and gave good insights into the correct status of negotiations. He said, “Many negotiators miss the wood for the trees and believe a zero-tariff [deal] is what free-trade agreements are about.”

“Trying to take that negotiator on the Indian side to zero means it just goes into rounds and rounds and rounds. So my humble submission, honourable Prime Minister, if you could tell your negotiators that the best is the enemy of the good,” he said. “Here is a man in front of you who’s giving you a very good deal, take it and build on it later but don’t try to take all of it at one point of time because it may take too long.”

In his address, Prime Minister John Key, who also attended the summit, replied that New Zealand was realistic when negotiating but also wanted to try to get the best deal. He also mentioned that bilateral talks with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee during his state visit to New Zealand last month had ensured that a free trade agreement with India was a priority for the government. However, negotiations kicked off in April 2010 and have gone through 10 rounds without a result. The summit was wrapped up with a quick note from the Bhav Dhillon, INZBC Treasurer— the force behind it all.

While the FTA with India still remains a work in progress, the INZBC 2016 summit, with its focus on the agritech industry, was a giant stride towards the common business interests of the two countries and their shared investment and commitment to the industry.

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www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

Young Kiwi-Indian awarded Apple scholarship

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Awards abound at Don Ha’s fifth-anniversary celebration

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I Kerman Kohli, the developer of The Homework App

The Homework App is available on the App Store for iOS users for free or for $4.99 with upgraded features.

Accelerating success.

t was an evening of fun, entertainment and recognition at the annual celebrations of Don Ha Real Estate. Based in Manukau, South Auckland, Don Ha hosted its fifthanniversary celebrations on Sunday, June 12, at Sails Restaurant, Westhaven Marina in Auckland.

Don Ha started five years ago and has grown leaps and bounds with its 35 agents in the past half decade. Present at the event were people from various professional backgrounds such as mortgage brokers, property managers, clients, builders, financial advisers, property agents and other businessmen.

The anniversary celebrations not only raised a toast to the company’s achievements in the previous financial year but also honoured the individual agents who brought in maximum sales and business to the firm.

Agents were recognised and awarded in 12 different categories and the main award as No.1 Sales Person of the Year. The event started with the Gold, Diamond, and Platinum awards based on the commissions earned by individual agents for the company. Ashwant Hardeo bagged the Gold award, Brent Mitchell

and Ram Vinod were winners in the Diamond award category and seven other agents took the Platinum award.

Rickhil Prakash collected five trophies: Platinum, Business Growth, Highest Sales in both, Units and Volume, and the No. 1 Sales Person of the Year. Following Prakash in Sales Units and Volume were Aaron Jokhan and Zarn Ha. Brent Mitchell was the winner in the newest category Rookie of the Year.

Project Marketing Manager Steve Starke, Director Colin Claxton and General Manager Mala Maharaj hosted the ceremony. Don Ha also took to the dais to share witty stories, experiences, and insights into their exceptional salespeople.

World-renowned speaker Robin Banks elevated the spirits of the attendees with his motivational speech and activity at the event. The audience danced and laughed their hearts out at his jesting yet power-infused performance.

Wilson Ha received the award for Business Sales, Along Wong for the Best Project Marketing Team Salesperson, Penny Macdonald for Customer Service and Shabnam Nisha for the Best Office Administrator.

The evening ended with a toast to the winners, cocktails, and a brief mix n mingle.

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oung people are a force to reckon with. Their dreams and achievements put our community on a global map.

Last year, student entrepreneur Kerman Kohli’s The Homework App was one of the top six apps to be featured in a list of back-to-school tools in the US. The year before that, he won the Tait Communication Senior Software Development award as part of the Bright Sparks competition.

And this year, Kerman won a prestigious scholarship with Apple. He left for the US to attend the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco earlier this week.

Chosen from 350 recipients from around the world, the scholarship was awarded to the 18-year-old Macleans College student for developing The Homework App. “I developed The Homework App to make school life easier for everyone,” said Kerman. “This app helps students of all ages to keep track of their tasks.”

Kerman started developing apps at the age of 12 and introduced The Homework App in 2012. The app, which has been downloaded more than one million times, lets students add tasks, view class schedules, colour code the subjects and help them remember to complete their homework with regular reminders.

Kerman, who is still in the US, described his experience at WWDC as “insane”. He met with Apple developers during the event who will now look into his app to further develop it.

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Co-ethnic exploitation of Indian migrants must stop: Canterbury Migrants Centre GM The foremost thing is to understand that because of the dwindling numbers of locals, we need migrants to sustain and improve our economic growth.

The message of economic benefits of migration must be loud and clear.

Gaurav Sharma

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young Henry Jaiswal, who has his roots in Indore and Dehradun, came to Christchurch in 1996 to become a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer (LAME).

After switching his line of work multiple times, he finally turned to the non-profit sector a few years ago, and now heads Canterbury Migrants Centre—the biggest non-profit organisaiton in the South Island working for ethnic communities welfare.

And yes, in between, he found love, married a Kiwi, and has a nine-year-old daughter.

Indian Weekender caught up with him to chat about his 20-years in the Garden City and issues faced by Indian migrants when they come to the South Island, which is much less diverse than its Northern counterpart.

IWK: Before we move onto the issues, can you please tell our readers a bit about your background?

Henry: After spending my initial years with my family in the MiddleEast, I moved to Christchurch 20 years ago when I got a chance to do my six-year course for LAME in Air New Zealand’s Engineering College. I graduated in 2002 and worked in Air NZ, Origin Pacific Airways in Nelson and finally at Emirates in Dubai for a few years.

Then I switched my profession to quality assurance and joined Christchurch-based General Cable. In 2011, I became the Australasia quality manager at the General Electrics Oil and Gas division.

But the corporate world never suited my societal inclinations, and in 2014, I turned to the non-profit sector joining the largest iwi here, Ngāi Tahu. I have been working as the General Manager of Canterbury Migrants

Henry Jaiswal, GM, Canterbury Migrants Centre

Centre for more than a year now.

In between, I also hosted a radio programme in Hindi at the Plains FM 96.9 community access radio for years.

IWK: That’s some varied experience.

But your experience as an Indian migrant coming to Christchurch must be different as you married a Kiwi woman?

Henry: Yes, definitely.

I would say while other migrants experience the local Kiwi culture outside-in, I have gained an inside-out perspective because of my wife Anne whom I married in 2004. This has enabled me to see both sides of the coin and get into the real reasons for the social isolation and difficulties Indian migrants face when they first move here.In New Zealand, especially in the South Island, we suffer from a village mentality, which can sometimes lead to a perception of discrimination against migrants.

This is not necessarily right or wrong. It is just a by-product of our geographical isolation, due to which the general masses are not used to other cultures and ways of life. And Kiwis realise it too.

That’s why the big OE (overseas experience) is a rite of passage

here. Everyone wants to do that.

Although, I wish more and more Kiwis actually plan their OEs in countries that provide different experiences rather than all going to the UK, which is essentially just the same with probably much more people.

Moreover, we have to realise that in the South Island, or should I say in Christchurch in particular, the growth of migrants has not been organic. Unlike Auckland, the influx here has been necessitated either by the rebuild after the earthquakes or by mushrooming of educational institutes, which depend mainly on international students, the majority coming from India.

So the local population also needs time to adjust to the changing realities of a more diverse Christchurch. You won’t believe it now but when I came to Christchurch two decades ago, I would see another Indian once or twice every year. And see what is happening now. You enter Ara (the new name for the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology) and it seems you have entered a college in India.

IWK: How do you describe what is happening with the migrant population in the South Island now?

Henry: To detail what I mentioned above, every migrant and host community go through a four-stage process before we achieve successful integration.

This essentially means that the migrant communities while retaining their ethnic culture, accepts the local ways of life as their own. The host culture too gets enriched as a result. In this, the first stage is forming, followed by storming, which leads to normalising, and then performing is achieved. I believe we are at the storming stage now, and it will be at least 10 years before the performing stage is reached.

IWK: And get there?

how

do

we

Henry: The foremost thing is to understand that because of the dwindling numbers of locals, we need migrants to sustain and improve our economic growth.

The message of economic benefits of migration must be loud and clear. For example, without international students coming from India, how else can Education NZ expect to achieve its stated goal of doubling the economic value of New Zealand’s education industry (currently at NZD 2.5 billion) by 2025?

And I am not even talking about the dairy and construction sectors, which are increasingly reliant solely on migrant workers.

IWK: But there are many issues that have come up with regards to Indian students coming to the South Island to study: not many jobs, part-time jobs with less than minimum wages, etc.

Henry: Yes, that’s true. But in my opinion, this issue boils down to what kind of promises is being made to Indian students back home. If the promise is to deliver good education and the student comes here specifically for that, there are absolutely no issues in that.

But if the promise was to provide good jobs and it’s been violated, authorities must take note of that. The Canterbury Migrants Centre keeps hearing anecdotal stories like these, but as yet, we don’t have any concrete data or complaints to be able to comment.

IWK: What about co-ethnic exploitation of Indian migrants, which the community is just about waking up to?

Henry: Yes, that’s an issue. If you look at the recent case of Indian restaurant Masala in Auckland exploiting Indian workers, it’s a scenario all too familiar in Christchurch. Or Indian-origin immigration advisers charging exorbitant fees from Indians back home promising them assistance.

Or instances of the sub-degree independent training provider and PTE courses owned by Indian immigrants bringing in Indian students with “false” promises.

All this points towards the fact that co-ethnic exploitation does happen.

We (the Indian community in New Zealand) need to do some introspection and make sure few bad apples don’t spoil the name of the entire community.

Christchurch gears up for International Yoga Day Gaurav Sharma

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uilding upon the highly successful first-ever celebration of the International Yoga Day last year, the city is set to witness a much bigger and better event this time around, with the Indian High Commission joining hands with The Art of Living Foundation of Shri Shri Ravi Shankar,

Iyengar Yoga, Adiyoga and the city-based social organisation Indian Cultural Group.

To be held at Te Hapua in Halswell, it will be a two-hour afternoon programme with a message from Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, and asana and pranayama sessions by David Hopgood, Clare Davenport, Tilak Raj and Aurora Smith.

Participants at International Yoga Day in 2015

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www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

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Auckland observes Elder Michael Wood to step into MP Phil Goff’s shoes Abuse Awareness Day

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It is a day to come together and celebrate the joy of being the seniors of the society,” said an elderly at the Khushi event last week.

Shanti Nivas Charitable Trust hosted Khushi, a fun family day for older people at the Mt Roskill War Memorial Hall on Sunday, June 12. World Elder Abuse Awareness day is celebrated every year on June 15 to acknowledge and spread awareness on the global issue of elder abuse.

The event showcased dance performances by young individuals and groups. Eminent faces from the community such as Roshan Nauhria, Inspector Rakesh Naidoo, Jeet Sachdev from Bhartiya Samaj, Ashokbhai Darji from Auckland Indian Association, National MPs Kanwaljit Bakshi and Dr Parmjeet Parmar attended the event and encouraged individuals to come forward to share their experience and spread awareness about this growing issue.

Leading Shanti Nivas from the front, Nilima Venkat delivered an astounding speech on how some elders took a stand against emotional abuse from their family members, and it has helped to recognise the distress signals amongst the elders.

“Most of these cases of abuse happen within the family and by own children, mental torture and at times physical abuse too. It’s high time we bring this subject to the table and bring justice to the sufferers and bring a smile to hundreds like them,” said Nilima Venkat. Three-quarters of elder

Top: The team of Shanti Nivas Charitable Trust Above: Performance at the event

abuse and neglect in New Zealand occurs at the hands of family members. About half of the abusers are adult children and about half of the abused elders are more than 80 years old.

Shanti Nivas organised Khushi to add a little entertainment and happiness to the lives of the elderly and also to celebrate the Elder Abuse Awareness Week. The crowd cheered at the endearing performances of young schoolchildren who danced to Bollywood numbers and devotional songs.

Team Shanti Nivas received a standing ovation for their untiring services as they stepped on stage and greeted the audience.

n Sunday, June 12, Labour declared Michael Wood as its candidate for Mt Roskill. The position, which has been long held by MP Phil Goff, will now be taken over by Mr Wood, as the former runs for the Mayoral position later this year.

Present at the campaign launch were Labour leader Andrew Little, MP Phil Goff, Auckland Central List MP Jacinda Ardern, Chair of Electorate for Mt Roskill Shail Kaushal, Labour President Nigel Haworth and Puketepapa Local Board Member Michael Wood.

The launch ceremony was held at May Road School in Mt Roskill and attended by more than 250 people from the suburb.

Labour Party and Green Party went into an allegiance last month to work together and give New Zealand a better government in the General Elections of 2017.

Phil Goff has been on the Mt Roskill chair for 32 years with a brief absence from 1990 to 1993. He recollected some light moments and acknowledged the growth of the diverse community in Mt Roskill over the years.

“Michael is a person of incredible wisdom and common sense. He brings a real strength to this electorate, and he will be hard working as he has been already in the capacity he has fulfilled.

“We look forward to him becoming an excellent Member of Parliament too,” said

MP Phil Goff addressing the audience

an emotional but joyous Phil Goff as he introduced Michael to the audience. Labour leader Andrew Little mentioned the dire need of change in the government especially at this time of housing crisis, which is a major issue in Auckland. With migration increasing by the day, the demand for houses has shot up and so has the prices of the properties.

“We are positive of Michael’s win at the elections, as we believe Michael has been a very active member of the party and has contributed immensely to the well being of the individuals of Mt Roskill,” mentioned an eager supporter at the venue.

The audience interacted with the panel on the stage at the Q&A session and post-launch programme.

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New Zealander’s historic election to UN Committee

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n June 15, New Zealander Robert Martin was elected to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at UN headquarters in New York.

Martin made history, as he is the first person with a learning disability to be elected to a UN Committee.

“Robert’s election is a milestone achievement for all people with disabilities.

He is the first person with a learning disability to stand for and be elected to a UN Committee,” said New Zealand Disabilities Rights Commissioner, Paul Gibson.

“Robert Martin hasn’t just smashed through a glass ceiling; he’s smashed through the ceiling and walls of institutions that locked him away for most of his early years. Every New Zealander can be proud of his incredible achievement today.”

A prominent disability rights advocate, Martin was nominated by the New Zealand government to the committee that comprises 18 independent disability experts. The panel monitors how well countries are implementing the convention on the rights of persons

MaAuley High School accepting the award from Prime Minister John Key Robert Martin, pictured making history at the UN

with disabilities. Eighteen candidates from around the world are vying for nine positions. “Robert played a significant role in the development of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and at times was the only representative of people with intellectual/learning disabilities,” said Mr Gibson.

“Some of his contributions to the convention are providing hope for people like him, the otherwise most forgotten members of our communities, locked away in institutions around the world.

“Robert has dedicated his life advocating for the rights of people with learning disabilities to participate in their communities instead of being locked away in institutions.”

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cAuley High School has truly excelled winning both the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Engaging, and the Supreme Award, says National MP Kanwaljit Bakshi.

“I was glad to have the opportunity to see McAuley High School win both these awards for their outstanding work with their students and the school community and families,” Mr Bakshi said.

“The school has joined with communities to change the way it works with students and their families, to build respect for their languages and cultures from a strong Catholic faith base. They have been getting excellent results—exceeding national

averages and seeing their students become actively invested in their own education and futures.

“The Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards are a recognition and testament to our hard-working education professionals. National’s unrelenting focus has been, and continues to be, on raising achievement for all our students. I want to acknowledge, support, and encourage the people who share that focus and work with students every day,” Mr Bakshi said.

The awards cover early childhood education and primary through to secondary schooling. For more information visit www.pmawards.education.govt.nz.

MSD to assist Auckland Transport switch

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eniors Minister Maggie Barry says she is concerned older people in Auckland are worried and confused about the forthcoming changes to how the SuperGold Card travel concession works in the city.

Following an Auckland Transport decision to integrate the SuperGold Card with its HOP smartcard system from July 1, cardholders must have a HOP to continue to use their free travel concession. “I’ve heard from many older people in Auckland that there is a lot of anxiety and confusion over the July 1 changeover and what it means for SuperGold holders,” Ms Barry says.

“I’ve asked the Ministry for Social Development to work with Auckland Transport and assist it in getting the message out in a clear, simple and understandable way.” If SuperGold

cardholders buy a HOP card for $10 with a $5 credit loaded, they will travel free in Auckland after 9 a.m. weekdays on trains, selected bus services and ferries, and all day on weekends and public holidays.

“In collaboration with Auckland Transport, the Ministry of Social Development has prepared information to go out to cardholders about the changeover. It will also be available on the SuperSeniors website, www.superseniors. msd.govt.nz, and at Work and Income service centres and Community Link sites in Auckland.”

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www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

India Trade Alliance—discussions and deliberations on the FTA

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ITA News Desk

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he India Trade Alliance (ITA) organised an interactive session with Mr Arvind Mehta on Wednesday, June 15, at the Stamford Plaza Hotel. Mr Mehta, who is the Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, is the lead negotiator for the India-NZ FTA and the RCEP, which is a proposed FTA between the ASEAN nations and New Zealand, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea.

Emphasising on the importance of having the participation of many countries in a trade agreement rather than just two, Mr Mehta encouraged the New Zealand government to look beyond the existing proposition of a bilateral agreement. He also stressed upon the fact that while India had a lot to offer in the services sector, reciprocity would be difficult and an exclusive FTA may end up in endless negotiations.

ITA Chairman Giri Gupta said that while both countries have much to offer each other, sagacity and patience was the need of the hour. He urged negotiators from both countries to stay positive and be solution-oriented. He thanked Asia New Zealand Foundation, NZ Technology,

Mr Arvind Mehta, lead negotiator for India-NZ FTA addressing the audience during the event

MFAT, PwC and ASB for their support and assured that the India Trade Alliance shall keep organising such informative sessions and work towards bridging the gap in trade between India and New Zealand. A more detailed report of the event will soon be released.

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17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

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Investing in future New Zealand John Key

Prime Minister

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nfrastructure investment supports people’s daily lives. It provides the roads we drive on, delivers the electricity we use and the water we drink.

It underpins the delivery of public services ensuring that education, health and justice networks are fit for purpose as well as giving businesses the confidence to invest another dollar and employ another person. Budget 2016’s $2.1 billion public infrastructure package continues this National-led government’s commitment to

invest in infrastructure now to ensure all Kiwis can continue having access to high quality public services. The government has invested heavily in transport infrastructure projects including the $1.4b Waterview Tunnel in Auckland, which will open early next year. We are also investing $11 billion for seven roads of national significance and 13 important regional road projects across New Zealand.

Investing in transport infrastructure has flow-on effects throughout our economy including in our booming tourism industry, which is now a major employer and a huge part of our economy. In Budget 2016, the government announced an additional $37 million investment in tourism infrastructure, which includes establishing a fund to help regional communities pay for small infrastructure projects such as

additional restrooms and car parks. The government recognises that it is important for our children to have modern and safe environments to learn in. That’s why Budget 2016 is investing an extra $882.5 million to deliver 480 new classrooms, nine new schools, and two school expansions.

This includes $168 million for the Christchurch schools rebuild programme, and around $153 million to be invested in school property in greater Auckland region.

Access to better broadband means more New Zealand businesses and students can make the most of the digital economy.

The National-led government is investing $2 billion to roll-out faster internet across New Zealand through our Ultra-Fast Broadband and Rural Broadband Initiatives. A programme that has helped create close to 4,000 jobs

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for New Zealanders. As well as investing in infrastructure, the government has a comprehensive package of reforms to improve the supply and affordability of housing to ensure more people can own their own home. Budget 2016 continues this commitment by investing a further $100 million to free up more Crown land in Auckland for housing.

Investing in quality infrastructure gives the government the best chance of making a difference in the lives of New Zealanders.

Budget 2016’s well-targeted investment in infrastructure across public services will help lift our country’s productivity and economic growth. Over time, this will result in better wages and higher living standards for New Zealanders and their families.

Defence modernisation signals government’s commitment to New Zealand’s security Kanwaljit Bakshi

National List MP

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he latest Defence White Paper signals the government’s ongoing commitment to the defence and security of New Zealand through a $20 billion, 15-year investment to modernise our Defence Force.

Modernising the Defence Force will ensure it is able to meet the country’s

security and defence challenges now and into the future. The challenges include awareness of, and being able to respond to, activities in our Exclusive Economic Zone, supporting our interests in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and protecting defence information networks against increasing cyber threats.

The White Paper outlines current plans to replace or enhance existing major capabilities such as the ANZAC frigates as well as strategic and tactical airlift capability. It also signals investment in new capabilities. The major point of difference from the last White Paper in 2010 is an increased focus on cyber threats and cyber security issues. As the world changes, the

use of technology and the internet as a sinister tool will only increase. That’s why the White Paper includes new cyber support capabilities to improve the protection of our Defence Force’s information networks.

Additional defence intelligence personnel will also be trained to better support current and future operations.

New Zealand has never shied away from playing its part on the international stage and among the areas where its presence is most felt in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. As we look to increase our presence and responsiveness to operations in the South Pacific and Antarctica, investment will focus on ice-strengthening the planned third offshore patrol vessel and a new naval

tanker to better support operations in these areas. The government will also invest in a new vessel to enable the Defence Force to respond faster to humanitarian and other incidents in the South Pacific.

The investment in new and enhanced capabilities outlined in the White Paper will ensure our Defence Force is equipped to continue its good work at home and abroad.

New Zealand has carved out an enviable reputation on the world stage. We have led the way on free trade, playing our role as peacemaker and standing alongside our allies in conflict zones. Upskilling our personnel and improving our technology means New Zealand continues to pull its weight on the world stage.

Huge risks for New Zealand in allowing young NEETs to slip through the cracks Jenny Salesa

Labour MP

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n 2004, Statistics New Zealand began measuring and reporting on the number of young Kiwis who were “not in employment, education or training”— the NEETs. Fast-forward 12 years and we now have an appalling 87,200 young Kiwis between the ages of 15 and 24 categorised as NEETs. That’s 23,100 more than when this National government took office.

Unemployment rates in South Auckland run at almost double the rate of the rest of Auckland and the NEET rates are also higher, which is particularly concerning given our high youth population. In Ōtara and Papatoetoe, in my electorate, the youth unemployment rate at the last census was 28.5%—1,791 young people—second only to the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu rate where nearly a third of all young people were unemployed.

A whopping 45.2% of our local 15- to 19-year-olds were unemployed.

There’s plenty of evidence showing there are both short-term and long-term consequences for these socalled “disengaged individuals” and for our economy as a whole. AUT has estimated that NEETs set the country back at least $1.8 billion over one to three years.

Gail Pacheco, director of AUT’s future of work programme, has said if people fall out of the system when they are young it is terribly hard for them to catch up. And that’s a big risk in a future where people must keep their skills updated in line with new technologies.

Young, out-of-work New Zealanders and those not in education are likely to have a lifetime of poorer outcomes not just in future earning capacity, but in terms of their personal health and well-being.

The situation is particularly acute for our Maori and Pacific communities, which have young demographic profiles. The NEET rate for Maori is now 23.1% and for Pacific young people 20.6%. These are pretty grim statistics. Research shows that those out of work for periods longer than a few months will experience much poorer outcomes than their working peers after two years.

What a waste! Put yourself in their shoes.

Ever applied for a job and not received a reply? How many “thanks, but no thanks”

responses would you need before each became just another acknowledgement of failure? And we know our Māori and Pacific youth are particularly “easily bruised”, as a former Manukau Institute of Technology leader has put it.

Bill English, you will remember, called this demographic “pretty damn hopeless”.

As well as having a corrosive effect on important working skills long periods of unemployment also negatively influence employers’ perceptions about a candidate’s ability. Being unable to find work can have a debilitating and long-term effect on mental health toll.

If a young NEET is lucky enough to find a job, the work is likely to be at a lower skill level and pay rate than their non-NEET peers. That is, of course, if there are jobs to apply for. In some regions, work has just dried up. It might be a cliché, but our kids are our future. In the coming decades, the number of New Zealanders over 65 will double, and today’s young people will be steering our economy.

We’re entering an age where lifelong learning, being able to train and retrain across multiple jobs and even multiple careers, will become more important than ever. That we have increasing numbers of job seekers experiencing unemployment

for long periods of time demands not just attention but bold policy as well. As OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria has said, “Investing in young people is vital to avoid a scarred generation at risk of long-term exclusion.”

Being able to learn new skills, whether you’re 17 and just left school, or you’re 47 and just been made redundant, is the currency of the future of work.

And with studies telling us that 46% of the jobs we rely on today are likely to be replaced by automation in the next 20 years, being able to retrain is vital. We have shortages in skills across the country.

Training our NEETs so they are better equipped and have the skills New Zealand needs is a no-brainer.

Labour’s three years’ free post-school education plan means Kiwis can train or upskill across their working lives, without having to take on huge debts. Alongside that we’d give a leg up to young entrepreneurs, many of whom are smart, innovative, young people who have ambitions outside of traditional education pathways, in the form of a grant.

The employment potential of our young people needs to be developed to the full. They are, after all, New Zealand’s future leaders.

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www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

Veto a government that vetos children

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David Shearer Labour MP

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generation ago, my parents were able to build a comfortable family home and raise three children on just one income—a perfectly normal situation in the 1950s and 60s but an impossible dream for most families now.

Over time, survival has become much more difficult. The weight of runaway rents and mortgages, student debt and rising living costs mean plenty of families struggle even on two incomes. It’s never been harder to make ends meet.

Despite this, family remains as important as ever, which is why Labour has been trying for years now to change the law so that young Kiwi parents get enough parental leave when they welcome new children into the family.

On June 29, our Bill proposing 26 weeks paid parental leave should pass its third and final reading to become law after four years of Parliamentary debate, two select committee hearings, overwhelming public support and a majority of MPs voting in favour of it.

But it may not.

The National Party is threatening to use the extreme measure of a financial veto to deny families and children that vital financial support in those precious early months. This, despite the fact that the

majority of parliament—and the majority of New Zealanders—support it.

At a time in New Zealand’s history when most couples are unlikely to be able to afford leave from work without pay, the government’s threat is ethically very wrong.

It is purely driven by politics, rather than what is right for families and the future of our country.

The research and evidence tell us that 26 weeks of caring for a new baby improves outcomes for children in New Zealand.

Long-term, that will save us all money in health, education, unemployment benefits, youth justice and corrections and other social services. In other words, it’s smart.

It’s financially savvy too: a staged implementation will ensure the affordability of our policy, and at full implementation it will cost $107m in a year the government plans to have a surplus of $3b-plus. When most New Zealanders want a law, their Parliamentary representatives—after careful scrutiny of the impact—should deliver it to them. That’s democracy.

During the first select committee process on Labour’s proposal, 99.4% of the submitters were in favour of it. The second time around, that support increased to 99.94% with a substantial increase in the people making submissions on the Bill.

The good news is you will get the final say on this. If National does veto the 26 weeks of paid parental leave that New Zealand families so desperately need, you get to veto them next year when you vote in the general election.

Electorate Office: 7 Fulton Cres, Otara 09 274 9231 or 09 278 9972 jenny.salesa@parliament.govt.nz Papatoetoe: YouthLine Building, 145 St George Street, Friday mornings 9.30am to 12pm Otahuhu: Otahuhu Town Hall, 10 -12 High Street Monday mornings 9am to 12pm Authorised by Jenny Salesa, Parliamentary Buildings, Wellington

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17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

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first for Fiji and the Pacific, Ambassador Peter Thomson has been elected as the United Nations General Assembly president of its 71st session beginning in September.

Current assembly President Mogens Lykketoft announced the winner of the secret-ballot election.

Ambassador Thomson was one of two nominees for the post along with Cyprus’ Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andreas Mavroyiannis. He won in a close 94 to 90 vote. The UNGA presidency rotates annually between five geographic areas and this year it’s the turn for an Asian-Pacific representative to head Assembly meetings, of

which both Cyprus and Fiji are members. Fiji and 11 other Pacific Small Island Developing States put Ambassador Thomson’s candidacy forward at the United Nations.

After the election, Ambassador Thomson congratulated Mr Mavroyiannis for the honourable manner in which the contest had been contested. He expressed his deep appreciation to those who had given their support in today’s ballot and thanked the Government of Fiji and the Pacific Small Island Developing States for putting his name forward for the presidency.

He gave special words of thanks to the hundreds of Fijians serving in the blue helmets and blue berets of UN peacekeeping in the

Fiji’s Ambassador to the UN, Peter Thomson (left), who has been elected

world’s trouble spots. Ambassador Thomson is the first national of a Pacific Island Country to be elected to the presidency in the history of the United Nations.

In his address to the General Assembly after the elections,

Beauties discuss social issues with students Filipe Naigulevu

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tudents of Nasinu Secondary School were reminded of the alarming social issues facing our society.

They were given a reminder by the seven Vodafone Millennium Sinu Festival contestants who visited the school on June 13.

School principal Apisalome Vunisa thanked the contestants for taking their time out to visit the school and to raise issues, which were prevalent to youths.

“We are trying to motivate our students as some of the contestants are students themselves.

“For them to come here and present the issues they are advocating makes a difference,” he said. Mr Vunisa said the visit was also part of their partnership with Nasinu Town Council. This will also improve our relationship with the community of Nasinu so we can

Ambassador Thomson said he would be bringing to the General Assembly’s 71st Session the international issues of importance to developing countries and the General Assembly as a whole, with special attention on the

implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, along with necessary action on climate change and ocean issues.

He said that by the end of the 71st Session, the General Assembly must be able to show real progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

As President-elect, Ambassador Thomson pledged to serve the General Assembly, “in a spirit of fidelity and commitment to the common good, always in accord with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the UN”.

Congratulatory messages were tweeted to Mr Thomson, including New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark who is a candidate for the UN Secretary General post.

New Indian High Commissioner to Fiji readies for duty

F 2016 Vodafone Millennium Sinu Festival contestants during their visit to Nasinu Secondary School

build it to be one of the best towns in Fiji,” he said.

The contestants shared with the students the various issues such as teenage pregnancy, school dropouts, drug abuse, violence against children and climate change.

The festival, a first in Nasinu, will raise funds towards supporting the Prime Minister’s National

Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Fund and the beautification of the town in line with its theme: ‘Let’s Unite to Beautify Nasinu’.

The Miss Nasinu, who will be crowned on June 18, will compete with other municipality queens for the Miss Fiji crown.

Miss Fiji will later represent the country to the Miss South Pacific pageant.

iji is a beautiful country, says newlyappointed Indian High Commissioner to Fiji Vishvas Sapkal.

“This is the first time I have come to Fiji and the Pacific region.

I arrived in Fiji on April 25 and on my way from Nadi to Suva, I have experienced Fiji’s nature,” he said.

Mr Sapkal was deputy chief of mission in the Embassy of India in Cairo before he was appointed as the new High Commissioner to Fiji. “People here are very friendly and very welcoming. They always have beautiful smiles on their faces. Fiji is a very beautiful country,” he said.

Mr Sapkal is originally from Maharashtra State in Sangli in India. He will be the India’s High Commissioner to Fiji for the next three years. “Sugarcane fields in Fiji remind me of Sangli. There

Vishvas Sapkal, the newly-appointed Indian High Commissioner to Fiji

are also many sugarcane fields in India and Fiji and India has a historical relationship,” he said.

Mr Sapkal said he wanted to strengthen the relationship between Fiji and India in all fields.

“I am looking forward to enhancing bilateral co-operation between India and Fiji. Fiji and India has had excellent cooperation at all levels,” he said.

Mr Sapkal said his wife and two sons were also enjoying themselves in Fiji.

Tamavua-I-Wai bridge re-opens for public FRA contractor worked round the clock for a fortnight to repair crack

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he traffic jam at the Tamavua-i-wai bridge will now ease for travellers after the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA) re-opened the bridge to two lanes on June 12.

FRA acting chief executive officer, Rory Garland said, “After two weeks of round the clock working, FRA contractor Fulton Hogan Civil had completed the most critical strengthening works ahead of time. This will enable use

Source: Fiji Sun

of both lanes of the bridge with an on-going weight restriction whilst the remaining work is completed,” Mr Garland said.

“FRA is able to open to two lanes ahead of time due to restructuring of the work programme to achieve a staged opening. Our contractors were also assisted by better than expected weather.”

FRA discovered a crack in the steel beam under the bridge last month. The FRA immediately ordered single-lane traffic over

the bridge to allow for immediate repairs to be undertaken.

This has caused long queues of vehicles and traffic jams at both the Lami and Suva ends of the bridge.

The traffic jam has also caused numerous delays for businesses, workers, commuters and school children.

Mr Garland said the 18 tonne weight restriction would remain in place for both the lanes until completion of the remaining

strengthening works.

Fiji Taxi Union assistant general secretary Mohammed Shameem said, “We are happy with the work done by FRA and Land Transport Authority.

“For the last couple of weeks taxi drivers faced some challenges.

They were stuck in traffic for long hours and did not reached their targets,” he said.

Shore Buses Limited was one of the bus companies badly affected by the traffic jam. Shore

Buses managing director, Jasper Singh said, “We are happy that the bridge is now re-opened to two lanes again.

Mr Singh said they faced some problems at the beginning when FRA was repairing the bridge but they later found some solutions to provide their services in that traffic jam.

Rehoboth Infrastructure Ltd construction worker Nacanieli Vakanau said, “I worked tirelessly for the last couple of weeks.”

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www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

Need to expand our economic base says AG

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ttorney General and Minister for Finance Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says it is important that we expand our economic base.

He spoke during the budget consultations with students at Natabua High School, Lautoka, on June 13.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said Tropical Cyclone Winston had devastated our economy. And this was why “we say our economy is vulnerable”.

“As Fijians, it is our biggest challenge to expand our economic base. We cannot be independent on one sector of wealth,” Mr

Sayed-Khaiyum said. A student of Natabua High School raised her concerns on the services provided for disabled people as she claimed there were more than 5,000 disabled people in the Western Division.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said that he agreed that Fiji needed to improve on the services provided for the disabled people in our country. He said when the new Constitution came “we introduced tactile signing language for disabled people to ensure they get education just like everyone else.

“The Constitution was translated into the tactile signing language for them to

feel the alphabets and understand what the new Constitution holds. Currently we are getting those constitutions translated into iTaukei and Hindi languages so we can better our service for them,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

He said we buy a lot of products from overseas like food items, building materials, clothing, etc. “We need to import some of these items on the overseas currency. We also produce various other items in Fiji, but overall the production of goods has come down to 4.5 per cent.”

Attorney General and Minister for Finance Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum

NEWS in BRIEF Record number of students register for voting

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total of 2,034 students have so far chosen to register with the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) in the first week of the 2016 Student Voter Registration Drive. This is an increase from last year’s drive, which recorded 1,331 new registrations after week one.

“This large increase in student registrations is an indication of the growing level of interest that younger generations in Fiji have in the electoral process,” said Mohammed Saneem, Supervisor of Elections. FEO teams will visit high schools, special needs schools and technical colleges around Fiji with the aim to provide convenient voter services to students over the age of 18.

“FEO understands that many students, particularly in rural schools, may find it difficult to travel to our offices to register so we brought the services directly to them,” Mr Saneem said.

FEO has visited 55 schools so far including Koro High School. The School Voter Registration Drive began on Monday, June 6 and ends on Friday, July 1.

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Usamate launches bridging programme urses in Fiji will be able to practise in a professional manner and provide quality service based on better understanding of the job, says Health Minister Jone Usamate.

“They should be able to undertake all nursing practice in a professional manner and provide quality nursing care based on their understanding of the health care system, culture and tradition, and values of the Fiji Nursing profession,” Mr Usamate said. Mr Usamate spoke at the launch of the Bachelor of Nursing Science (postregistration) on June 13 at the TISI Sangam College of Nursing and Health Care Education in Labasa.

“This is another significant milestone achievement for the Sangam College of Nursing and Health Care Education,” he said.

Already 60 nurses from the Northern Division have shown interest in enrolling for the course.

“The bachelor of bridging programme is a post registration course that was developed to upgrade the qualification of the serving nurses with Diploma Certificate to attain bachelor’s degree.

“The programme provide candidates with the in depth knowledge and practical skills appropriate to become more competent in the field of nursing.”

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Thought of the week

An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have

— Andy Warhol

Editorial

From the desk of the Managing Editor

“

What is self-talk and how does it work? The definition of self-talk can be simply stated: Self-talk is a way to override our past negative programming by erasing or replacing it with conscious, positive new directions. Self-talk is a practical way to live our lives by active intent rather than by passive acceptance.

With self-talk, we have a way to give new directions to our subconscious minds by talking to ourselves in a different way, consciously reprogramming our internal control centres with words and statements which are more effective, more helpful to every part of us that we would like to improve. The self-talk statements paint a new internal picture of ourselves as we would most like to be.” ~Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D. from What To Say When You Talk to Yourself With advancements and a new understanding of how the human mind works and how we can now use this understanding to our advantage, it is now possible to break out of our core beliefs and thought patterns. Self-talk is one such extremely effective tool to use when you discover that a thought pattern no longer serves you.

For example, having seen a childhood where you saw your parents always struggling for money, inadvertently your inner programming may tell you that you will always struggle with finances and that it is difficult to have plenty. However, when viewed from the Law of Attraction standpoint, this would ensure that your thoughts would always keep you trapped in the cycle of struggle and scarcity. Self-talk has been seen to help break away from such limiting thoughts.

So the next time your mind tells you that you cannot overcome whatever you are struggling with right now, use self-talk to break out of your limiting beliefs and watch how your new belief turns into reality and success.

It has been a week full of activity and besides all the events in the community, the countdown to the Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame has begun. Our current issue brings all the developments and stories as they have unfolded.

As we begin collating comments and wishes from everyone who is involved with Indian Weekender, I would like to request our readers to send in their comments or suggestions or anything else that you would like to share with us for our special mega issue. Please e-mail these to editor@indianweekender.co.nz Last Sunday, an American-born man who’d pledged allegiance to ISIS gunned down 49 people on Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando—the deadliest mass shooting in the United States and the nation’s worst terror attack since 9/11. The man has now been named.

Let us spare a moment for the innocent victims of this shooting. While we do that, let us also contemplate about the heinous acts human beings are capable of. Whether they are done in the name of religion, of ego, of vindictiveness or simply to prove a point. Each one of us is capable of such acts, and the only thing that sets us apart from the perpetrators of such acts is our choices and ours value systems. Let us hold strong to those strengths and send prayers to the bereaved families.

Until next time.

Giri Gupta

Indian Weekender : Volume 8 Issue 13 Publisher: Kiwi Media Group Limited Managing Editor: Giri Gupta | girigupta@xtra.co.nz Editor: Annu Sharma | editor@indianweekender.co.nz Chief Reporter: Swati Sharma | reporter@indianweekender.co.nz Reporter: Rizwan Mohammad | iwk.rizwan@gmail.com Reporter: Esha Chanda | iwk.eshac@gmail.com Chief Technical Officer: Rohan Desouza | rohan@indianweekender.co.nz Sr Graphics and Layout Designer: Mahesh Kumar | mahesh@indianweekender.co.nz Graphic Designer: Yashmin Chand | designer@indianweekender.co.nz Accounts and Admin.: accounts@indianweekender.co.nz Sales, Marketing & Distribution: 022 3251630 / mahesh@indianweekender.co.nz Views expressed in the publication are not necessarily of the publisher and the publisher is not responsible for advertisers’ claims as appearing in the publication Views expressed in the articles are solely of the authors and do not in any way represent the views of the team at the Indian Weekender Published by Kiwi Media Group, 98 Great South Road, Auckland • T. +64 09 213 7335 Printed at Horton Media, Auckland Copyright 2016. Kiwi Media Group. All Rights Reserved.

Pick of the week

The Sky Tower glows in rainbow colours to show support to the LGBT victims of Oralando massacre. The victims were honoured with rainbow-themed tributes across the world. Photo credit: Brett Phibbs

Word: Wobbly Meaning: Tantrum Usage: The kid threw a wobbly when his father did not let him play

Tip from the trenches

Useful life hacks

1. Sugar can cure a burnt tongue 2. Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead to cure a throbbing headache 3. Mix a tsp. of nutmeg with a tbsp. of honey and apply it for 30 minutes to remove an acne scar 4. Put your nail paint in the fridge for 15 minutes for a smoother application 5. Putting dry tea bags in shoes or gym bags will absorb unpleasant odor

Modi doctrine: a mix of personal victory and breaking old barriers

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Nirendra Dev

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ven as the United States has christened PM Narendra Modi’s vision of Indo-US ties as ‘The Modi Doctrine’, politicians and political watchers feel that Modi has been able to break from India’s past hesitation in dealing with the US and also turned the diplomatic occasion into a great “personal victory” for him as well.

“Basically Modi has addressed three barriers—personal, ideological and institutional.

There was a hesitation about engaging with Modi. The US was disinclined also because they preferred India merely as an ally not an autonomous partner.

They were not clear about institutional engagement,” Praful Ketkar, editor of the RSS-run The Organiser said.

“The United States also had ideological differences with India.

But all these have been knocked off,” Ketkar said, adding that during last two years, “One single most achievement of the Modi government in foreign policy was the ability to change a global perception that India’s foreign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Barack Obama

policy is generally non-committal and passive.” Biju Janata Dal floor leader Bhartruhari Mahtab endorsed a similar sentiment.

“Building up strong Indo-US ties has been an agenda for the Indian government since the time of Rajiv Gandhi. But there always was some hesitation. To an extent, this hesitation prevailed during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime despite Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott (former US Secretary of State). But now that hesitation is gone,” Mahtab said.

“I welcome the fact that PM Modi has shown it clearly that there should not be any hesitation or a kind of shyness in embracing the United States with open arms

publicly. This is a new shift,” he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargia also welcomed Washington’s gesture in designating Modi’s vision as ‘The Modi Doctrine’, and said, “This is a great personal victory of one leader who remained focused on his work even when everyone else and the secular brigade and NGOs wanted the international community to isolate him.”

Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Indo-US ties has been christened ‘The Modi Doctrine’ by Nisha Desai Biswal, the US’ Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. The Communist Party of India-Marxist has been

critical of the burgeoning ties with the US. “The Modi government has clearly abandoned India’s longstanding policy of developing good neighbourly relations and also the Look East Policy. The government has to answer against whom is India becoming a priority partner of the USA in the region,” a statement from the party politburo said.

Reacting to this, Mahtab took potshots at the Marxist party and wondered: “I do not know who the comrades are trying to impress.

Is it aimed towards Beijing?” A number of BJP leaders, especially from the party’s foreign policy department, say that not only with the US, but also with other countries, PM Modi has tried a new road map to establish enhanced ties.

“Modi seems to have done his homework well prior to all key meetings. His handshakes are firm and more than once he has taken note of the minutest things such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s birthday in 2014 when Modi was hardly a month in office,” a BJP leader said. “Effective homework about each leader and government has

Day of triple tryst with history Arun Kumar

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istory was made three times in one day last week. Hillary Clinton broke the glass ceiling.

Donald Trump completed his hostile takeover of the Republican Party, and Narendra Modi came full circle with an address to the US Congress.

Clinton’s tryst with history as the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major party has been 16 years in the making, bit by bit. Since she and husband Bill Clinton left the White House in 2001, the former first lady has been planning a return, but with roles reversed.

First, a black man with a Kenyan father and an American mother thwarted her plan to get the Democratic nomination in 2008 with his message of hope and change though she did manage to put ‘18 million cracks in the glass ceiling’ then.

And this time around, a fiery old man called Bernie Sanders singed her aura of inevitability as millions of millennial feeling the ‘Bern’ flocked to the Democratic Socialist in greater numbers than they did to Barack Obama in 2008.

Obama, now President, was quick to put his seal of approval on the woman who served him for four years as secretary of state even as the White House promised to keep its hands off the

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Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump

Narendra Modi

FBI investigation into her growing e-mail scandal.

But Bernie fans gave a yawn while another unlikely Pied Piper of a different hue named Donald Trump, whose supporters match their passion for Sanders, offered to welcome with open arms those who loathe to support ‘Crooked Hillary’.

Trump was also quick to jump on the latest revelations from her e-mails that Rajiv Fernando, a major desi donor of the Clinton campaign and a big benefactor of the Clinton Foundation, was appointed to a group that oversees US nuclear and security policies, in 2011.

The Chicago securities trader suddenly resigned from the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) when ABC News raised questions about his credentials. Meanwhile, even

as many big wigs in his own Republican party upbraided the mogul over his “racist” remarks questioning the fairness of a US-born judge hearing a case against Trump University because of his “Mexican heritage”, he scored another “yuge” win, as trump says, in the primaries.

From party boss Reince Priebus to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, they all repudiated his comments about the judge and some lawmakers even reversed their Trump endorsement.

The 2008 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who led a failed campaign to stop Trump, said he saw no reason to change his mind.

However, his running mate Paul Ryan, now House speaker, who had endorsed Trump after much hemming and hawing, called his comments text-book racist but said Clinton was

not the answer as he vowed to still back the mogul their differences notwithstanding.

Topping the 1,237 magic number needed to win the Republican nomination by more than 300 delegates with the backing of a record 13.3 million angry ordinary folks, the ever unapologetic brash billionaire simply asked the establishment critics to man up.

And as Clinton and Trump celebrated their overnight wins in the last primaries, calling each other unfit to be president, Modi, once barred from entering the US under a little known law passed by the US Congress, headed to Capitol Hill to address that very august body.

Amid seven standing ovations and 60-plus applauses, Modi, now Prime Minister, dressed in his trademark white kurta pyjama

come in handy for Modi when the actual meeting takes place.

Modi often uses carefully tailored oneliners with each leader at every bilateral meeting and these have gone off well,” the party leader said.

Engaging with China during the last two years, despite the unease in ties, Modi did not seem to be bogged down by any “bitterness of the past”, said the BJP leader.

“He has tried to carry SAARC along and also tried the same while engaging with BRICS,” the leader said.

Blogger and political commentator Sunanda Vashisht feels that the “Modi doctrine is a new genre of diplomacy.

It can be defined as diplomacy for development”. But Modi’s seeming tilt towards the US has invited criticism from a key ally, Shiv Sena.

In a sarcastic dig at the PM, the Sena mouthpiece Saamna wrote: “The US President has become a good friend of PM Modi. Their relationship is so deep that we wonder if the Obama family will shift to Surat, Rajkot, Porbandar, Manali, Mahabaleshwar or Delhi post his retirement.”

and grey Nehru jacket with an Indian tricolour hankie in his pocket struck all the right notes.

For his government “the constitution is the real holy book,” said Modi, giving “all the 1.25 billion of our citizens” regardless of background “freedom of faith, speech and franchise (right to vote)” .

Fresh from his third major summit with “friend Barack”, winning US recognition as a “major defence partner” giving India access to technology like its “closest allies and partners,” he noted how “our relationship has overcome the hesitations of history.”

If Atal Bihari Vajpayee had termed India and the US “natural allies,” Obama had “called our ties the defining partnership of the 21st century”, Modi recalled, urging a journey together to realise the full promise of “this extraordinary relationship.”

Concluding with American poet Walter Walt Whitman’s lines: “The orchestra have sufficiently tuned their instruments. The baton has given the signal”, he added one of his own, “There is a new symphony in place.”

And as he took his bow with lawmakers milling around him and falling over each other seeking his autographs like excited schoolboys, there was only one question in the air: with whom would he play that symphony—Clinton or Trump?

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Modi, Shah exhort party cadres for Mission UP, 2019 Lok Sabha polls Brajendra Nath Singh

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ith eye on next year’s assembly polls in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, and on “Mission 2019”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 12 exhorted BJP party workers to preserve the massive goodwill the party received in 2014 till the next general elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, in his speech, trained his guns at the state’s Samajwadi Party government and raised the issue of alleged “migration” of Hindus from Kairana, in Shamli district, and the recent Mathura violence.

The Prime Minister, addressing a meeting of party office bearers in Allahabad before the official inauguration of the party’s twoday National Executive meet, said, “The need of the hour is to preserve the massive goodwill that the party got in 2014, like a monsoon downpour,” according to a BJP leader, who attended the office bearers meet. The Prime Minister

From left to right: Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley; BJP Chief Amit Shah; Prime Minister Narendra Modi; party veteran LK Advani during the BJP National Executive meeting in Allahabad

also asked the party leaders to preserve its 11 crore members.

Reminding party leaders of “Mission UP” and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Modi said the party needs to preserve these 11 crore people as “voters and members” of the party by involving them with social initiatives and campaigns of the BJP government.

Modi also gave tips to party leaders to change in accordance with technology, time and age, keeping in mind the assembly elections in Uttar

Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, which are due next year.

However, Amit Shah targeted the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in his speech.

He attacked the SP government over the “atmosphere of violence” in Uttar Pradesh.

“The incident at Kairana where a large number of people are migrating is very unfortunate.

The Mathura violence was also very unfortunate.

The SP government has been unable

to control the situation,” Shah said in his presidential address.

He also directed his ire against the Congress, saying its politics of obstructionism had become the hallmark of the main opposition party in the last two years.

Providing to the media highlights of the party president’s address, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad later said that Shah compared the performance of the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre with that of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

“While there was policy paralysis in the Congress-led government, our government has made progress with clear policy decisions—where policy decisions are taken by the political leadership and the executive implements them,” Prasad quoted Shah as saying.

The BJP president pointed out that the two years of the Modi government have been corruption-free.

He also asserted that the NDA government’s two years

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have been exceptionally good and a lot has been achieved.

Referring to the recent polls, Shah said.

“The victory in Assam has opened the gates to north-east India for the BJP.” “From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Kutch to Guwahati, the BJP is expanding,” he said at the meeting, which was attended, among others, by senior ministers, BJP chief ministers, party MPs and state unit chiefs.

The party chief also said that unlike in the past the “disconnect between the foreign and defence policy” has also been done away with in the last two years.

He also expressed confidence that the party will return to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and the Centre in 2019 as well.

Shah referred to the top civilian honours accorded to Modi by two prominent Islamic countries, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, in a clear message to Muslims who continue to be wary of BJP due to its Hindutva agenda.

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Era of cheap fuel over, profit margins could be hit: Assocham

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ith international oil prices climbing back to more than $50 levels, driving around on cheap fuel seems to be a thing of the past though there is no danger of “hard times” as yet, Assocham said on June 12.

“The party time on driving around on cheap fuel seems to be over, though there is no danger of hard times as yet even though the automobile fuel has witnessed about 20 per cent increase in the recent past,” the industry chamber said on the basis of a recent study.

“While the crude oil prices have shot up by about 20 per cent in the last few months, the auto fuel prices at the filling stations have increased between 12 and 18 per cent in different cities, depending on the state levies,” said the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India.

“A sharp increase in the retail prices of automobile fuel, particularly diesel, will have a cascading impact on the prices of a large number of consumer items, building the inflationary pressure and making the task of the Reserve Bank of India difficult in moderating the interest rates,” it added Noting the price of petrol in Delhi this year has touched Rs 63.20 per litre in June from Rs 56.61 in March, Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat, while releasing the paper, said: “If the crude oil prices further go up, the government should seriously think of rolling back the duties imposed when the prices touched rock bottom. The

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crude prices shot up from $25 to $50 per barrel in the last six months on the back of pick-up in demand from China, India and reduction in stockpiles in the US. “If the trends of rising prices continue, the profit margins could be hit since the corporate India is not in a position to pass on the rising raw material cost to the consumers even among the industrialised goods,” he added.

As per the available official data, the Indian basket of crude oils inched further up, closing on Thursday, June 9 at $49.35, over its closure at $48.91 the previous trading day.

In Ghana, President Mukherjee calls for UN reforms Francis Kokutse

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resident Pranab Muhkherjee on Monday, June 13, said the United Nations should be reformed to keep pace with world developments and pitched for India’s candidature for permanent seat on the Security Council He said it was so because with India’s size and civilisational depth, the country cannot remain to “be watching from the sidelines as the Security Council dispenses solutions to global issues”.

Similarly, President Mukherjee said, “the continent of Africa of over a billion people cannot be bystanders while its fate is defined”.

Addressing the students of the University of Ghana as part of his two-day visit to the country, he said, “Reform and change of the United Nations is inevitable and the youth should be at the vanguard of this call for change. Outdated structures cannot resolve problems of today.”

The visiting president added: “Positive transformation cannot be brought about by archaic systems and concepts.

“The United Nations established in the wake of the Second World War cannot effectively respond to the evolving international challenges that we face today.”

President Mukherjee said the growth of India into a robust and a confident nation is not an overnight phenomenon, adding that it took “decades of toil and the sacrifices of our leaders and strengthened by the momentum generated by hundreds of thousands of students and scholars”.

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President Pranab Mukherjee speaks during a joint press briefing with the Ghanaian President at the Government House in Accra

“It is their innovations, discoveries, rock-solid determination and self-belief, and more importantly a burning desire to serve the nation, which has contributed to India’s success,” he said.

President Mukherjee said after Independence, India did not “follow blindly the models of development that might have been successful elsewhere”.

“We recognised that natural and financial resources were only one side of the coin of development,” he said, adding that “the other side is the quality of human resource that alone can transform the natural resources into prosperity and happiness of the people”.

President Mukherjee left Accra to Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday, June 14, on the second leg of his three-nation African tour, which also took him to Namibia.

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Kejriwal targets Modi after President rejects bill

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elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi following presidential rejection of his government’s bill to exclude Parliamentary Secretary’s post from the office of profit.

“Modi ji does not respect democracy; he only fears Aam Aadmi Party... he is terrified with the good works being done in Delhi,” Kejriwal said in his one of the tweets on Monday, June 13.

Rejection of the amendment proposed to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, has put the fate of 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, who have

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

been appointed as parliamentary secretaries, in jeopardy. Kejriwal said no MLA appointed to the post was given money, car, bungalow or anything else by his government.

“Every MLA was working for free. One MLA was dedicated for power issues, one for water issues,

one for hospitals and one for schools,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Blaming Modi for not letting the party MLAs work, the Chief Minister said, “Modi ji says neither he will work nor let others do. He says stay at your home and do not work.”

“Our one MLA used to spend his own money on petrol and visit hospitals. Tell us what wrong he used to do?” Kejriwal asked and added, “Modi ji forced him to sit at home.”

Earlier, petitions were filed with the president to seek disqualification of these MLAs on the ground that they occupied the office of profit in violation of the Constitution.

Govt trying to start LNG barges on Ganga by 2018-end

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he government is making efforts to ensure that environment friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled barges commence navigation on the National Waterway-1 on the river Ganga by the end of 2018, an official statement said “Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Petronet LNG have been asked to plan and coordinate their work plans in a manner such that LNG barges could commence navigation on NW-1 by December 2018,” a shipping ministry statement said on June 13 in New Delhi.

State-run joint venture Petronet LNG will design, construct and operate LNG unloading, storage, bunkering and reloading facilities on the national waterways, it said.

Action has already been initiated for preparing detailed feasibility report and it is expected to be completed by December 2016, it added.

Petronet LNG plans to set up a base depot at Haldia and fuelling stations at Sahibganj (Jharkhand), Patna (Bihar) and Ghazipur (UP).

The IWAI will facilitate the switchover of bunker fuel from diesel to LNG by persuading the barge owners and the operators about the benefits of LNG. The IWAI will also provide land,

wherever possible, for setting up LNG storage and will develop jetties to facilitate bunkering.

Introduction of LNG barges is being considered in Goa too, as national waterways there offer immense opportunities in transportation of iron ore and are closer to LNG storage facilities.

“Higher fuel efficiency and negligible pollution are major attendant benefits of the new fuel.

As per the present pricing, operating LNG barges will be much cheaper than diesel as fuel.

“LNG barges will be a step towards achieving the commitments made by the country at COP 21 (international climate change talks),” the statement added.

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total of 147 villages in 11 states were electrified during the week ending June 12 under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna, a statement said on June 13.

“Of the electrified villages, 76 are in Assam, 28 in Jharkhand, 10 in Bihar, six in Meghalaya, one in Uttar Pradesh, three in Chhattisgarh, four in Arunachal Pradesh, six in Odisha, nine in Madhya Pradesh, and two each in Manipur and Rajasthan,” said the statement from the power ministry.

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A total of 8,242 villages have been electrified till date, it added.

The government has decided to electrify the remaining 10,357 villages by May 1, 2018, the statement said.

“Out of the remaining 10,210 villages, 6,557 are to be electrified through grid, 2,850 villages are to be electrified through off-grid, where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers, and 344 villages are to be electrified by the state governments; 459 villages are uninhabited,” it added.

GST model law suggests tax levy at first point of transaction

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ST will be levied at the first point of transaction in sales of goods and services under the regime of uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) likely to be rolled out in April 2017.

The model GST law, circulated in the meeting of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on Tuesday, June 14, said a threshold annual turnover for levy of the tax will be at Rs 10 lakh. For North East and Sikkim, the limit will be at Rs 5 lakh.

The model GST law has 162 clauses and four schedules.

In case of tax evasion, maximum imprisonment of five years with a fine was suggested.

The law also proposes for setting up of an Authority for Advance Ruling and a ‘Composition Levy’ for entities with turnover of Rs 50 lakh.

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MAHESH BINDRA BASED IN AUCKLAND

Contact Auckland Office

Level 1, 21 East Tamaki Rd, Papatoetoe, Auckland 2025 Ph: 0800 BINDRA (246372) mahesh.bindra@parliament.govt.nz

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Authorised by Mahesh Bindra, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

The central government is hoping to get the Constitution Amendment Bill passed by Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session. It plans to roll out GST from April 1, 2017.

Virtually all states have supported the idea of GST except Tamil Nadu, which has “some reservations”, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after the meeting of Empowered Committee on the long awaited indirect tax reform.

Salient points of the draft GST bill include: • GST rate not specified in the constitutional amendment bill, as desired by the Congress.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was complete consensus at the empowered committee meeting that there should be no constitutional cap on the GST rate.

• All forms of “supply” of goods and services such as sale, transfer, barter, exchange, license, rental, lease and import of services of goods and services made for a consideration will attract CGST (central levy) and SGST (state levy) • As GST will apply on “supply”, the erstwhile taxable heads such as “manufacture”, “sale” and “provision of services”, among others, will lose relevance • The liability to pay CGST or SGST will arise at the time of supply • With GST to be applicable according to whether a transaction is “intra-state” or “inter-state”, separate provisions are there to help an assesse determine the place of supply for goods and services • States will draft their own State GST based on the draft model law with minor variations • GST would be payable on “transaction value”, being the price actually paid or payable, and said to include all expenses in relation to sale, such as packing and commission • As the threshold limit, the draft GST Bill proposes Rs 10 lakh, and for Northeast states and Sikkim, an amount of Rs 5 lakh

INDIA ABROAD

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Thousands expected for Yoga Day celebrations in New York’s Times Square

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n uncommon calm is scheduled to embrace the frenetic “Crossroads of the World”, the city’s Times Square, on June 20, this year’s Summer Solstice Day in New York, when thousands of people practice the ancient Indian art to celebrate the International Day of Yoga.

The Times Square community event will likely be the biggest Yoga Day celebration outside India. The day-long series of seven events that run from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. will stretch over several city blocks.

The celebration organised by the Times Square Alliance brings together 30 yoga studios ranging from the Iyengar and Bikram institutions to Sonic Yoga and mang’ Oh Yoga.

“Yoga unites us with the universal flow and connects us with our own personal rhythms,” Douglass Stewart, co-founder of Solstice in Times Square, said.

“As the sun climbs to its highest

Participants at International Yoga Day last year

point and is suspended in the sky for the longest period, it provides us with a vital force that sustains all of life, giving us a focal point and uniting our purpose to achieve our highest ambitions.

Last year more than 30,000 people participated in the Times Square event.

India’s Consul General Riva

Ganguly Das has brought together 17 organisations in six states to reach out to the American community with the message of yoga.

Community organisations across six states in northeast United States are holding 30 events to observe Yoga Day. Another important celebration

Indian-origin girl is Apple developer conference’s youngest attendee

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ndian-origin Anvitha Vijay is only nine years old but she has already developed a handful of apps for Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Recognising her potential, the US-based technology giant has invited her to its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.

This made her the youngest participant at the event considered the Mecca for app developers, Fortune magazine reported.

Two years ago, Vijay, who lives in Australia, was facing a ‘cash crunch’ when she decided to build a mobile app.

With only $130 in her piggy bank—not enough to pay a developer to build the app for her—she decided to take matters into her own hands and spent a year watching free tutorials on YouTube and internet to learn how to programme, Fortune magazine reported.

On Monday, June 13, Vijay joined thousands of other developers to be a part of the WWDC 2016. The India-origin girl attended WWDC as part of Apple’s scholarship programme.

“Turning an idea for an app involves a lot of hard work,” said the little programmer as

Nine-year-old Anvitha Vijay

she described the process of developing an iOS app.

“There are so many components to building an app, including prototyping, design and wireframing, user interface design and then coding and testing,” she was quoted as saying.

According to Fortune, she is already working on her next app, which would help children her own age to set goals.

INDIAN WEEKENDER JUNE 23

HALL OF FAME SPECIAL

will be in Boston where the South Asian Arts Council is organising an observance at the historic Hall of Flags in the State House, the seat of Massachusetts state government on Beacon Hill, on June 23. The community celebrations started off Friday, June 10, with events at two schools in the New York suburb

of Freeport that was organised by the Hindu Swyam Sevak.

On Saturday, June 11, it was the Queens Museum’s turn to hold the celebration in association with the Indian Business Association, in front of the city landmark Unisphere, a 37-metre stainless steel globe.

A unique feature of the community celebrations this year will be Yoga Day events at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and Newark Liberty Airport on June 21.

On June 19, New England International Day of Yoga will be celebrated at the Kresge Auditorium of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge.

Celebrations are also planned for Columbus and Cleveland in Ohio and Hershey in Pennsylvania.

Several Indian organisations are to take the celebrations to schools in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut states.

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Saina regains Australian Open crown

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ndian star Saina Nehwal captured second Australian Badminton Open Superseries title in three years after overcoming Chinese Sun Yu in the women’s singles final on Sunday, June 12.World No.8 Saina lost the first game 11–21 against the World No.12 Chinese before winning the next two games 21–14, 21–19 to clinch the championship for the second time in three years. The match lasted for an hour and 12 minutes. Now, the 2015 World Championship runner-up has a 6-1 lead in the head-to-head record against 22-year-old Sun. It was the 26-year-old Hyderabadi’s seventh Superseries title.

At the start of the final in the $750,000 tournament, Sun moved off brilliantly, leading 9–4. She made the advantage even bigger as she took straight four points to sit at a 15–8 lead as she stunned the experienced Saina with her powerful and sharp smashes.

After losing the first game 11–21, Saina put up a gutsy display to make strong comeback in the second game. The London Olympic medallist played with control and didn’t allow Sun to run away with the speed the way she did in the first game.

Sun came under pressure and made some unforced errors at the start. Saina held an 11–8 lead, which later became 14–12 before the Indian rode the momentum to take three straight points that gave her a five-points cushion,

Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal entered the final of the Australian Open Super Series by defeating second seeded Wang Yihan

which she built on to seal the second game 21–14. Former world No.1 Saina upped the ante in the deciding game and dominated the game. After an 8–3 lead got evaporated, thanks to Sun’s brilliance, the former world junior champion Saina equalised at 10-all and remained always in the lead thereafter.

Saina’s nearly flawless game made Sun to force the issue and the young Chinese made some faults out of desperation,

especially at the smashes that went long and wide. However, Sun battled hard and remained in contention. When Saina bagged three consecutive points to hold an 18–14 lead, the Chinese refused to give in, taking three points on the trot to sit at one point difference.

The Indian then again moved on to 20 by taking two straight points but Sun kept fighting hard until finally she hit the net to give Saina the game at 21–19 along with the title.

Germany begins Euro campaign with 2–0 win over Ukraine

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NZ name Indianorigin bat Jeet Raval for Africa tour

O

n Friday, June 10, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) named Indian-origin batsman Jeet Raval in the squad for the upcoming Test series against Zimbabwe and South Africa next month.

Raval is the latest Indian recruit after leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, who returned to the Black Caps squad since playing his last Test in 2014.

The 27-year-old Raval has been a consistent performer at the top of the order in the domestic four day competition, with a first-class career average of 43.85. In the 2015–16 season, he averaged 55.71, making three centuries and helping lead the Aces to the Plunket Shield title.

Coach Mike Hesson said Raval deserved his call-up and hailed Sodhi’s ongoing development.

“Jeet has been impressive in the Plunket Shield for a number of years now and in the last 12 months we’ve seen his maturity and decision making continue to improve,” Hesson was quoted as saying by New Zealand Cricket.

“He’s learnt to adapt to conditions

Indian-origin cricketer Jeet Raval

and has performed well for New Zealand A, so we believe he’s more than ready to make the step up to the international arena.

“Ish was outstanding in all formats during the second half of last season, beginning with his performances in the Plunket Shield for Northern Districts.

He was also exceptional for us with the white ball last summer and that’s seen him gain valuable confidence on the international stage,” he added.

The Kiwis will play two Tests against Zimbabwe in Harare before locking horns with the Proteas in Durban and Centurion.

Usain Bolt wins 100m in 9.88 seconds at Racers GP

G

oals on either half by Shkodran Mustafi and Bastian Schweinsteiger assisted world champions Germany to a 2–0 win over Ukraine in their Group C opener at Euro 2016 in their bid for a record fourth European crown.

The Germans enjoyed greater ball possession from the start.

They lead 1–0 at halftime at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

It was the sixth meeting between the two sides with Ukraine never having won once.

But they could not carve open a disciplined Ukrainian defence easily who were not overawed by the occasion or at the prospect of facing the world champions.

It was clear they were not going to go down without putting up a fight. Germany went ahead in the 19th minute. Shkodran Mustafi’s perfectly timed header gave them the 1–0 halftime lead.

Mustafi beat his marker and towered above everyone else to meet Toni Kroos’ curling free kick

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates after the men’s 200m final at the 2015 IAAF World Championships

T Germany’s Shkodran Mustafi celebrates after scoring their first goal

from the right just outside the penalty area. His powerful header went in the top left corner of the net. Ukraine were not bogged down after conceding and despite Germany’s superiority, they had chances of their own. German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made two crucial saves. He first stopped Yevhen Konoplyanka with a dive towards his left and then tipped over Yevhen Khacheridi’s

effort from close range. Defender Jerome Boateng cleared a goal bound ball off the line. Ukraine had a goal ruled out for offside in the closing stages of the first half.

The second half saw both team create chances but could not finish them off. But in the final seconds Schweinsteiger latched on to a pinpoint Mesut Ozil pass, of a swift counter-attack, to put the result beyond doubt.

riple World and Olympic champion Usain Bolt graced local fans with a blistering season’s best run of 9.88 seconds to win the men’s 100 metres at the inaugural Jamaica National Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium.

His is the second fastest time this year in the event, reports CMC. Bolt, the world’s fastest man, won ahead of Nickel Ashmeade (9.94s) and his Racers Track Club teammate Yohan Blake (9.94s) in a positive 1.0 metres per second wind speed on Sunday, June 12.

Former World record holder

Asafa Powell finished fourth in a time of 9.98s.

The highly anticipated event, which was the highlight of the meet, did not disappoint the spectators in the almost-packed stadium.

Bolt, running from lane four, stumbled out of the blocks but the towering figure quickly recovered and burst through the middle of Powell and Blake, who were in lanes three and five, respectively.

Ashmeade, out in lane eight, closed well to separate the big trio in what was a blanket finish for the minor places.

KIDS ZONE

www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

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Black

23

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Yellow

Yellow is the colour of a glittering sunrise Yellow is the colour of sweet mango ice-cream Yellow is the colour of firework Yellow is the symbol of light and shine that a person can bring to another’s life

Fun with knowledge

Did you know

Soduku

In 1993, the average fast food cheeseburger had 333 calories. Today, the average fast food cheeseburger has 590 calories. That's 77% more calories than 20 years ago!

A

Riddles and Answers

Q. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?

A. A glove.

Q. What has to be broken before you can use it?

A. An egg.

Q. What has a neck but no head?

A. A bottle.

Q. What gets wetter as it dries?

A. A towel.

Q. What goes up and doesn't come back down?

A. Your age.

Q. What belongs to you but is used more by others?

A. Your name.

Solution to last weeks's Soduku

mother duck and her little ducklings were on their way to a lake one day. The ducklings were very happy following their mother and quack-quacking along the way. All of a sudden the mother duck saw a fox at a distance. She was frightened and shouted, Children, hurry to the lake. There's a fox!

The ducklings hurried towards the lake. The mother duck wondered what to do. She began to walk back and forth dragging one wing on the ground.

When the fox saw her he became happy. He said to himself, It seems that she's hurt and can't fly! I can easily catch and eat her! Then he ran towards her.

The mother duck ran, leading the fox away from the lake. The fox followed her. Now he wouldn't be able to harm her ducklings.

The mother duck looked towards her ducklings and saw that they had reached the lake. She was relieved, so she stopped and took a deep

Solution to last weeks's crossword

The Devoted Mother breath. The fox thought she was tired and he came closer, but the mother duck quickly spread her wings and rose up in the air. She landed in the middle of the lake and her ducklings swam to her.

The fox stared in disbelief at the mother duck and her ducklings. He could not reach them because they were in the middle of the lake.

Dear children, some birds drag one of their wings on the ground when an enemy is going to attack.

In this way they fool their enemies into thinking they are hurt. When the enemy follows them this gives their children time to escape.

Did you know

If you anger a Tasmanian devil its ears turn into a pinkish -red shade

Send us stories, drawings, poems and other contributions by your little ones along with their photographs for this page. E-mail us at editor@indianweekender.co.nz

24

FEATURES

17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

By Manisha Koushik

Weekly forecast: JUN 17 to JUN 23

Manisha Koushik is the talented daughter and associate of world renowned celebrity astrologer Dr Prem Kumar Sharma. A practicing astrologer, tarot card reader, numerologist, vastu and fengshui consultant is based in India Black but maintains a global presence through the onlineRed channels. She is available for consultations online asOrange well.

Let her tarot cards do the magic and numbers make you understand which choices in life will be best for you!

E-mail: support@askmanisha.com | Website: www.askmanisha.com Contact: +91-11-26449898 Mobile/Whatsapp: +919015607139

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

Sticking to your pace at work may not help in meeting the deadline so quicken your pace. Your loving and caring nature will make a positive impact on your love life. Someone may send positive signals on the romantic front. You are likely to jump to seize the opportunity for an out of town trip. Suitable accommodation is likely to be found for those hunting for one. A property may come to some through inheritance. You maintain good health.

Lucky No.: 4 / Lucky Colour: Navy blue

You may be called upon to accompany someone out of town. A satisfying period at the office is foreseen.

You will be able to implement your ideas at work.

Those in a repetitive job will think out ways to make their existence exciting. You are likely to enjoy the company of lover. Disappointments are quite apparent for those waiting for a big break on the financial front. Health of a family elder is set to improve.

Someone is likely to specially come to meet you and brighten your life. You will be able to consolidate your position on the professional front. Things hanging fire for sometime at work will show some progress.

You are likely to change your view about someone on the social front. Interest that was waning on the academic front is likely to be restored. Financially, you will be able to steady yourself. Health poses no problems.

This is the best time to go in for a new venture. You will be able to enjoy the time with family and friends.

Businesspersons are likely to do brisk business and establish themselves. Chances of making good money cannot be ruled out for some. Lover will share your enthusiasm for an exclusive outing. A family celebration will give you an opportunity to meet people you have not met in a long time. Health remains good.

LEO

VIRGO

You will manage to maintain the pace of work and increase your earnings. Manoeuvring to a position of power where you will be able to dictate your terms at work will not be difficult. Someone’s guidance on the academic front will help keep you abreast of others in class. Some good investment opportunities come your way. You can be gifted money this week.

Coming back in shape will motivate some to take up an exercise regimen seriously.

Lucky No.: 17 / Lucky Colour: Violet

Things remain hunky dory on the academic front.

It is an auspicious time for those wishing to set out on a pilgrimage. Some of you can plan to shift to a new house. Much pleasure is likely to be derived by those having a romantic affair on the sly. In the absence of any higher directions, you will do a good job of taking your own decisions at work.

Good advice will help a family youngster excel.

(March 21-April 20)

(April 21-May 20)

Lucky No.: 3 / Lucky Colour: Maroon

(May 21-June 21)

Lucky No.: 15 / Lucky Colour: Chocolate

(June 22-July 20)

Lucky No.: 3 / Lucky Colour: Yellow

LIBRA

SCORPIO

Lucky No.: 1 / Lucky Colour: White

You are likely to create a niche for yourself on the professional front. Things begin to look up on the monetary front. Joining a gym will augur well for your health. Hard work on the academic front will help keep your performance consistent. You may become a pillar of strength for someone on the family front. Trying too hard on the romantic front may get you the result you expect! You will remain socially active by remaining in touch.

Lucky No.: 1 / Lucky Colour: Cream

This is the right time to forward your request at work.

You may get the chance to express your feelings for someone on the romantic front. Travelling with someone you like is likely to prove exciting. You will be able to complete the documentation of a property related matter. Religious rites are likely to be performed by some. You may get something major done in the house. An improvement in earnings is indicated for some. Health remains good.

Lucky No.: 6 / Lucky Colour: Cream

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

This proves to be a good period for you. You will be quick in finishing your work in the office and plan out something personal. Opportunities for additional earnings may present themselves on the financial front. You will feel mentally unburdened and happy about your health. Your suggestions for the betterment of home will be put in action.

Lover’s persuasive ways will add to your romantic mood! A fun trip is on the cards, so enjoy!

Lucky No.: 22 / Lucky Colour: Navy blue

You will feel satisfied with your achievements on the academic front. An inner joy will keep you aglow this week. Someone eligible in the family can get a marriage proposal. Something conducted by you at work is likely to get thumping reviews. You will manage to control wasteful expenditure. An outing with lover cannot be ruled out and making plans together with partner will add to enjoyment. A drive down the countryside will prove most refreshing. Health remains good.

Lucky No.: 11 / Lucky Colour: Orange

Meeting a childhood friend is possible, so get set to go down the memory lane. Someone may volunteer to help you on the academic front. An emotional connect is likely to be achieved in your current relationship. Your popularity on the social front is set to rise, as you keep in touch with all.

Money flows in through good earnings. Those involved in speculation or betting may find the end of the week profitable. You will remain fit and energetic.

Lucky No.: 15 / Lucky Colour: Coffee

You may feel a bit disappointed with the behaviour of someone close but you will have to take it in your stride. Those in authority are likely to enjoy enhanced powers. You are likely to be in total control of things on the professional front. Curbing wasteful expenditure will become your priority and help in saving more. You will be able to improve your health as you turn your focus towards yourself. Regular exercise promises total fitness.

Lucky No.: 7 / Lucky Colour: Golden

(July 23-August 23)

(Nov 23-December 11)

(August 24-Sep 23)

(Dec 22-January 21)

(Sep 24-October 23)

(Jan 22-February 19)

(Oct 24-November 22)

(Feb 20-March 20)

The wheel of healing sciatica through Ayurcare Dr Keerthi Shyamala Krishna

A

yurveda literally means the science of life (Ayur means life, Veda means science). Ayurveda is an ancient medical science, which was developed in India thousands of years ago. Believed to have been passed on to humans from the gods themselves, Ayurveda developed and evolved into what it is today from several ancient treatises, most notably Atharva Veda, which dates back to five thousand years. The ancient Vedic literature by sages has clearly laid out instructions to maintain health as well as fighting illness through therapies, massages, herbal medicines, diet control and exercise.

Ayurveda is a system of medicine, which could heal with its natural remedies even the so called incurable diseases without any side effects. Ayurveda is especially useful in ailments such as joint pains, Arthritis, Diabetic neuropathy, Spondylitis, knee pain, and sciatica. Only after examination of the patient by the physician, the actual diagnosis, prognosis and course of treatment are determined and patients advised accordingly.

Sciatica treatment Sciatic pain can make life miserable.

Walking, standing, bending over, driving a car, working at a computer, catching up on household chores, sneezing or coughing, and many other activities of daily living can cause sudden and intense pain.

Patients who suffer sciatica, especially of a more acute nature, find the symptoms disrupt many aspects of their life.

It’s important to understand which

conditions cause sciatica because sciatica is not a condition, it’s a medical term used to describe symptoms caused by other low back conditions.

Reasons behind sciatica might be Bulging disc or herniated disc, Degenerative disc disease (DDD), Piriformis syndrome, Pregnancy, Spinal stenosis, Spondylolisthesis and trauma.

While sciatica can be very painful, it is rare that permanent nerve damage (tissue damage) will result.

Most sciatica pains result from inflammation and will get better within two weeks to few months. Also, because the spinal cord is not present in the lower (lumber) spine, a herniated disc in this area of the anatomy does not present a danger of paralysis.

According to Ayurveda Sciatica (Gridhrasi) is one among vathavyadi which occurs due to an aggravation of vathadhosha. Sometimes even kapha (dosha responsible for lubrication and bodily fluids) vitiation along with Vata

(vata kaphaj) also causes sciatica. Main symptoms will be burning, stinging or numbing pain that are felt in the hip, thigh, leg or foot which may or may not be associated with low back pain. Ayurveda is specialised in treating sciatica with the highest treatment success rate. It offers excellent therapies along with internal medicines for treating Sciatica.

Treatment in Ayurveda is aimed at restoring the equilibrium through correction of the underlying functional in-equilibrium. Ayurvedic treatments for Sciatica concentrate on bringing back the aggravated vata or vatakaphato the state of equilibrium and thereby to the state of health.

Ayurcare NZ offers a holistic solution for everything, from a healthy lifestyle, healthy food habits and the art of positive living to treatment management and the cure of chronic ailments without any harmful side effects.

The combination of Vedic philosophy and health practices form the basis of the

activities offered at our centre. Ayurveda places great emphasis on prevention and encourages maintaining health by paying close attention to balance in one’s life through right thinking, diet, lifestyle and use of herbs.

These treatments are completely natural and unique.

The series of this treatment will cleanse the body of deep tissue toxins, open the necessary channels, and bring in rejuvenation and enhance sense of well-being thereby increase vitality, confidence and health. These treatments are a good remedy for sciatica and many other ailments.

For further details, contact: Ayurcare NZ Ltd Ayurvedic Treatment & Beauty Therapy Centre , Level 1, 2 White Swan Road, Mt Roskill, Auckland 1041 Ph.: 09 973 4337 Mob: 022 6750844 Fax: 09 973 4338 Email: ayurcarenz@gmail.com www.ayurcare.co.nz

FEATURES

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

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Apple CEO Tim Cook

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pple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference was held in San Francisco, California, from June 13 to 17. This year, Apple awarded 350 scholarships to encourage young developers. More than 100 attendees were under the age of 18—the youngest being nine.

Elsewhere in this issue, you can read about the young Indians who were present. The two-hour keynote delivered by CEO Tim Cook and other executives in front of a strong audience of 5,000 was choc-a-block with new versions, incremental updates, and some major overhauls to the software side of Apple hardware that consists of Mac, iPhone, TV and the Watch platforms.

From all the announcements, a pattern emerged that tells us that Cook’s Apple is gearing towards consistency and continuity between all hardware platforms.

It is about enabling a similar experience irrespective of the user’s device. It is also about Siri everywhere. We saw Siri, which was until now only restricted to iPhone, coming to the desktop.

Apple Pay will also be available on the desktop via Safari. Besides all this, there were various updates to Apple’s big apps. Some of the important announcements were:

Meet the macOS OS X was rechristened macOS and the new update will be Sierra. With Siri coming to desktop, you can use voice commands to search and other Siri functions. A neat new feature, Universal Clipboard, will let users copy and paste across multiple Apple devices.

Apple Pay is also coming to the

it faster to load the apps, and a new app called Breathe is aimed at those who are interested in meditation. It is now easier to share your activity details with friends through Activity Sharing.

And big news—Minnie Mouse is a new watchface now.

Don’t forget the iOS

web and it will be gradually rolled out to more countries to enable users to make online payments through Safari.

content. Apple also demoed a new

tvOS grows up

sensors to play games on TV.

tvOS, besides getting a whole lot new channels, is also getting a Siri support, making it easier to search

app for your iPhone that works as a remote for your Apple TV. The app also lets you use your phone watchOS is 3 Update to watchOS brings

some crucial and welcome changes including the ability to “scribble” to respond to a message. Yes, that is the new way to write now.

Just draw letters on the watch to respond. The side button on the watch will bring up a new dock system to move around the apps.

The new iteration also makes

iOS changes include a complete redesign of Music and Maps and new functionalities have been added for 3D Touch.

With “raise and wake”, you can see notifications when you lift your phone.

Perhaps the most excitement revolved around revamping iMessage. The app was opened to developers who can develop stickers and more. The app also automatically turns some words into emoji. You can share songs and handwritten notes with other users. And did I mention that you get emojis that are three times bigger? Yay!

One third of humanity cannot see Milky Way due to light pollution

T

he Milky Way is invisible to more than one third of humanity, including 60 per cent of Europeans

and nearly 80 per cent of North Americans, a new world atlas of light pollution suggested on Friday, June 10.

“Light pollution is no longer only a matter

for

professional

astronomers,”

researchers from Italy, Germany, the US and Israel, wrote in a paper in the US journal Science Advances.

The problem “represents a profound

alteration

of

experience—the

a

fundamental opportunity

for

human each

person to view and ponder the night sky,” said the study.

The new atlas, based on high-resolution satellite data and precision sky brightness measurements, documented a world that is in many places awash with light.

The most light-polluted country is Singapore, where the entire population

The Milky Way sparkles over the Grand Canyon in Arizona

never experiences conditions resembling

The researchers specifically examined

true night, it found. In Western Europe,

the G20 countries, finding that in terms of

only small areas of night sky remain

area, Italy and South Korea are the most

relatively

in

polluted and Canada and Australia the least.

Scotland, Sweden, Norway, and parts of

Residents of India and Germany are most

undiminished,

mainly

likely to be able to see the Milky Way from

Spain and Austria.

On the other hand, countries with populations

least

affected

by

light

their home, while those in Saudi Arabia and South Korea are least likely.

pollution are Chad, the Central African

In addition, almost half of the US

Republic, and Madagascar, with more

experiences light-polluted nights, despite

than three quarters of their people

the vast open spaces of the American west.

living under pristine, ink-black night sky conditions.

Overall, more than 80 per cent of people on Earth live under light-polluted skies.

HALL OF FAME

www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

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In preparation for International Yoga Day Maya Shivam

Yoga for physical fitness and health fitness maintenance:

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s International Yoga day draws near, it is time to brush up our basics on yoga. Yoga is defined as a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health and relaxation.

There are various paths of yoga that are often practised, albeit leading towards the same goal. Each one is a specialised branch of one comprehensive system. As described by the Self Realisation Fellowship established by Paramahansa Yogananda, there are six main paths: Hatha Yoga: a system of physical postures, or asanas, whose higher purpose is to purify the body, giving one awareness and control over its internal states and rendering it fit for meditation Karma Yoga: selfless service to others as part of one’s larger self, without attachment to the results, and the performance of all actions with the consciousness of god as the doer Mantra Yoga: centring the consciousness within through japa, or the repetition of certain universal root-word sounds representing a particular aspect of spirit Bhakti Yoga: all-surrendering devotion through which one strives to see and love the divinity in every creature and in everything, thus maintaining an unceasing worship Jnana (Gyana) Yoga: the path of wisdom, which emphasises the application of discriminative intelligence to achieve spiritual liberation

training is the most popular way that yoga is practised today. People who usually practice yoga only for physical fitness target mainly their physical bodies, although after long-term practice they also are able to feel the spiritual aspects of it.

Yoga as a sport:

Raja Yoga: the royal or highest path of yoga, immortalised by Bhagavan Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita and formally systematised in the second century B.C. by the Indian sage Patanjali, which combines the essence of all the other paths. At the heart of the Raja Yoga system, balancing and unifying these various approaches, is the practice of definite, scientific methods of meditation that enables one to perceive, from the very beginning of one’s efforts, glimpses of the ultimate goal—conscious union with the inexhaustibly blissful spirit.

It was in the late 19th century when yoga was introduced to the Western hemisphere from its Indian roots, and since then it has undergone various adaptations. Today, yoga is practised for five main reasons:

This approach to yoga is especially prominent in some Latin American countries. It is also widely controversial.

Its practitioners, many of whom are excellent athletes, master hundreds of extremely difficult yoga postures to perfection and demonstrate their skills and beautiful physiques in international competitions.

But this new sport, which also can be regarded as an art form, has drawn much criticism from the ranks of more traditional yoga practitioners.

Yoga as therapy: Yoga as therapy attempts to restore health or full physical and mental functions. Although the idea behind yoga therapy is old, its name is fairly new. Yoga therapy is, in fact, a whole new professional discipline, calling for far greater training and skill on the part of the teacher than is the case with ordinary yoga.

Commonly, yoga is intended for those who don’t suffer from disabilities or ailments requiring special attention. Yoga therapy, on the other hand, addresses these special needs. For example, yoga therapy may be

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able to help find relief from chronic back pain, asthma, rheumatism, and many other ailments.

Yoga as a lifestyle: This enters the proper domain of yoga. This helps to unlock the real benefits of yoga when you adopt it as a lifestyle. This means living yoga, and practising yoga every day, whether it’s physical exercises or meditation. Above all, it means applying the wisdom of yoga to everyday life. Yoga has much to say about what and how you should eat, how you should sleep, how you should work, how you should relate to others, and so on. It offers a total system of conscious and skilful living.

Yoga as a spiritual discipline: Lifestyle yoga centres

on healthy, wholesome, functional, and benevolent living. Yoga as a spiritual discipline adds to that the traditional ideal of enlightenment, i.e., discovering your spiritual nature. In yoga, it is called the atman (pronounced aht-mahn) or purusha (poo-roo-shah).

According to yoga philosophy, the spirit is one and the same for everyone, all beings and all things. It’s formless, immortal, superconscious, and unimaginably blissful.

It is transcendental because it exists beyond the limited body and mind. You discover the spirit in the moment of your enlightenment. (as explained in dummies. com) If you have been contemplating taking up the practice of yoga, this might be the perfect time to start. No matter what your initial aim for taking up this wholesome practice, you will clearly see its benefits in all aspects of your daily lives.

Relianz Group launches travel services; honours staff

A

uckland’s well-known money transfer company Relianz Forex launched its travel services on June 3 at a glittering function in the Langham hotel. The new enterprise debuts as Relianz Forex enters its eighth year of operations. In the short span of seven years, the company has opened seven branches across Auckland and one in Wellington.

The launch was a gala affair combined with the annual function of Relianz Forex, where the company honours and awards its top performing staff with gongs, citations and gifts.

Valuing staff’s contribution to the enterprise is an integral part of the Relianz business philosophy and this is the second year that the company has held such a function to honour its star performers in the presence of its stakeholders, customers and eminent citizens. Labour Party MP for Mount Roskill Phil Goff was the chief guest at the function while National MP Kanwaljit Bakshi and New Zealand First MP Mahesh Bindra were guests of honour.

Special guests of honour were Mr Ravi and Mrs Rema Gnanadickam, Mr Giri’s former boss when he worked in the travel and foreign exchange business in India.

The couple travelled all the way from Sydney especially for the function and launch of Relianz Travel.

The evening was themed ‘Eight to Infinity’ as a metaphor for where Relianz is at on the cusp of its eighth year. The graphic was designed by Mr Giri himself and depicted the contribution of Relianz staff in growing the business from a solitary branch to eight, the support and inspiration the company draws from its customers and the potential it sees in growing from here on, with the launch of its travel services. The idea builds on the special significance that the number eight has in so many cultures.

Left: Amandeep Singh (left) receives his award for Relianz Star Performer of the Year 2015–16 from MP Phil Goff (right) Right: Mr Giri addressing the attendees

Moreover, eight on its side symbolises infinity, and that’s where the enterprise is inspired to fly towards, RelianzForex Managing Director told Indian Weekender at the launch function.

Explaining the group’s foray into the travel business, Mr Giri said, “We are grateful to communities in Auckland for their constant support to Relianz Forex. Travel is quite allied to the foreign exchange business and our venturing into the travel business is partly in response to our customers’ frequent requests.”

Mr Giri gave an inspiring speech welcoming the guests, charting out the company’s progress so far and outlining future plans as the invitees listened in rapt attention.

The chief guest, guests of honour and Mrs Usha Giridharan lit the ceremonial lamp to declare Relianz Travel launched, while Mr Goff declared the website published, the homepage displaying brightly on the screen. Mr Goff, in his speech, commended Mr Giri and his special attention to not only customer service but also looking

after his staff so well. He specially praised him for acknowledging the contributions of his former staff as well by inviting them to the annual celebration and the launch.

He made appreciative remarks about the hard-working ethic of the Indian community in New Zealand in general.

Mr Bakshi and Mr Bindra, too, were appreciative of Relianz’s business strategies and special attention to the human factor both concerning customers and staff.

Mr Gnanadickam, in his short address, spoke about Mr Giri’s strong yet compassionate work ethic and ability to carry people with him in the long haul and congratulated him on his achievements.

Mr Giri acknowledged Mr Gnanadickam’s influence on his working life as a mentor.

The highlight of the evening was a specially designed quiz titled ‘Around the world with Relianz Travel’ devised and conducted by journalist and media professional Dev Nadkarni, who was also the master of ceremonies for the evening.

The interactive quiz session witnessed eager participation from the audience and

the winning table happened to be the top table, No 8 named Auckland. The chief guest and the guests of honour heartily participated in the proceedings.

Also in attendance at the function were prominent Indian community leaders, Relianz Group’s business associates, bankers and members of the Kiwi Indian media. As usual, the company’s staff and their families were all present to partake of the evening’s celebrations.

Staff honoured on the night were Amandeep Singh, Relianz Star Performer of the Year 2015–2016; Tajinder Singh, Best Branch of the Year 2015–2016; Ashish, Above and Beyond (for the second time in a row); Aman Gujral and Chacko Thomas (both long service awards). Each recipient then addressed the audience with their brief acceptance speeches.

The evening wound up with a unique 30-miniute concert titled Sargam Fusion with an ensemble of talented artistes led

by Ashish Ramakrishnan (vocals) who specially put together a repertoire of music from all over the world and different parts of India as a theme for the launch of the travel business. The troupe also surprised the audience presenting a special song for Relianz Travel, which could well morph into a jingle for the business. The evening concluded with a vote of thanks given by Namrata Giridharan.

The Relianz Eight to Infinity event, deftly managed by Ram Iyer and CFI Events, concluded on a high note following a sumptuous spread of Indian delights served up by the excellent chefs at the Langham.

ENTERTAINMENT

www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

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Rs 100-crore club has poisoned our film-making sensibilities Kishori Sud

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spiring to cross the glorified figure of Rs 100 crore at the box office is proving to be a “poison” for the Indian film industry, says acclaimed veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, who believes making content-based movies more economically will be a step in the right direction.

Just last month, Naseeruddin featured in two films—The Blueberry Hunt and Waiting.

The Blueberry Hunt just came and went, but Waiting— a story on a special bond established by two people from different walks of life, who befriend each other in a hospital while nursing their respective comatose spouses—found many takers.

“This Rs 100-crore club has poisoned our film-making sensibility. It is as if we are finally admitting the real reason why we make movies... It is important that content-based movies must be made economically,” Naseeruddin said.

His reason, “You cannot expect a guy who plies a rickshaw or works on the road all day to go and see films like Waiting. He will not. He will go and see a Bajrangi Bhaijaan or a Happy New Year because he needs that.

“You cannot expect him to see a film about his own life ... It’s unfair to even expect it,” said the 66-year-old, who in his four decade-old career, has featured in a mix of commercially entertaining as well as niche movies.

He doubts if niche movies would ever appeal to labourers and factory workers.

“These films will always be a niche activity. So, if these movies start aspiring to enter the Rs 100 crore club, then the quality of such films will suffer,” the Padma Bhushan awardee added.

The actor says a lot of film-makers succumb to the “temptation of bigger budgets” very quickly. “When a small film succeeds, in the next film they want

Amitabh Bachchan in it. So it’s a dismal scenario. I would agree that there are a lot of films coming that stimulate your thinking, but at the same time I would say they are still less ratio-wise as compared to the 1970s,” said the actor, who impressed viewers with his work in films such as Sparsh, Aakrosh, Masoom and Mandi.

Drawing parallels between the 1970s and present times, he said that if earlier there were two or three content-based films, now there were 20 or 30.

“But the number of rubbish movies has also proportionately increased.

“The percentage of people making new-age cinema is still very small. And I am afraid they will always be small.

That is something experimental cinema-making people will have to live with. They will never have it easy,” he added.

He, however, has high hopes from the regional film market.

“It is important that regional cinema develops. It is certainly happening in Marathi (cinema). In Kannada, the alternative cinema has always been there and also in Malayalam. The signs are good, but trouble is that everybody is looking at Rs.100 crore,” Naseeruddin said.

He feels the revival of Marathi and Punjabi cinema is great.

“Marathi cinema went through a very bad phase because of the low comedy that was being made.

“It has been recently revived. And Punjabi cinema has revived too as they make more popular kind of stuff,” he said, praising his A Wednesday co-actor Jimmy Sheirgill for his contribution to reviving Punjabi cinema.

Asserting that regional cinema must flourish because “today there is no longer such a thing called a pan-Indian movie”, Naseeruddin said, “The days of 50-week run are gone forever. Sholay ran in the same theatre for two years in Mumbai... That era is gone. Now every movie is a niche movie.”

Bollywood needs to get rid of mediocrity or Hollywood will take over: Anurag Kashyap Uma Ramasubramanian

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ilm-maker Anurag Kashyap, who has helmed hard-hitting films such as Black Friday and Gangs of Wasseypur, feels that the Hindi film industry needs to pull up its socks as regional cinema is “threatening” the industry and even Hollywood may “take over” the national market with its dubbed version of films.

“The more regional cinema will threaten us, Bollywood will work harder. We are threatened from everywhere because we are more mediocre as compared to everybody else. We have to get rid of our mediocrity and pull up our socks and make better films,” Kashyap said in an interview in Mumbai.

“Apart from regional films, Hollywood will definitely take over because they have started dubbing everything.

“We have to start making better content,” he added.

Regional cinema, which has always been high on content, has also now started to be a money-spinner at the box office.

With films such as Sairat (Marathi), Thithi (Kannada) and Kammatti Paadam (Malayalam), it is coming into spotlight in a big way.

Kashyap also believes that unlike Hollywood, Bollywood is a star-driven market.

“Sometimes you need stars in the west...

(But) when the idea is bigger, you go for a newcomer. In Hollywood, they will go for a newcomer because they believe in the idea. Here, when the idea is bigger, they go for the star because they don’t believe in the idea... It’s a star-driven market,” he said.

The film-maker also doesn’t “enjoy” controversy.

“In this country, people can’t deal with honesty... I talk straight... I am not a person who looks for controversy. I don’t enjoy controversy so much. Today, everybody has an opinion, and in a sea of opinions, it doesn’t matter,” the 43-year-old said.

Of late, Kashyap said, he has become “very selfish”.

“I want to live my life and my focus is on work and my family. I am 43 now and I

have seen a lot in life. My entire focus is on my own happiness,” added the film-maker, whose last directorial Bombay Velvet failed to elicit the response he had expected.

Kashyap said his journey in the industry has been “quite a roller coaster ride. It feels good and I would not like to change anything about my journey. It’s quite satisfying if I get to do what I want to, I am happy. I am my own boss,” he added.

He is currently busy promoting his film Raman Raghav 2.0, which narrates the story of serial killer Raman Raghav, who went on a murder spree in Mumbai in the 1960s.

It features Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the notorious serial-killer alongside Vicky Kaushal, who plays a police officer.

Kashyap also admitted his fascination with the crime genre.

“I enjoy making crime films.

I, as a director, never left that space. I am fascinated by crime,” he said.

The psychological-thriller, presented

by Reliance Entertainment and a product of Phantom Films, is set to hit theatres on June 24.

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FEATURES

17 June 2016 | www.iwk.co.nz

Ushering Prayas’ first comedy play Red

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Although a commercial research analyst by profession, Sananda Chatterjee is a theatre enthusiast at heart.

Her involvement with theatre began at the age of two when she started performing in community shows, dance dramas and musicals.

Esha Chanda

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he has been with Prayas Theatre for more than a decade and has assisted in most of the company’s productions as an usher, stage manager, assistant director, writer, and most recently, as director. Her upcoming play Love n Stuff is unlike Prayas’ earlier annual productions; it is a fullblown comedy. Indian Weekender caught up with Chatterjee for a quick chat about her directorial debut and her involvement with one of the most prominent theatre companies in New Zealand.

Sananda Chatterjee

IWK: How is this play different from Prayas’ past productions?

My love for the dramatic is definitely something inherently Indian. I connect with stories of and from home. But I also connect with stories that are Kiwi. I resonate with the laid-back attitude and the welcoming people.

IWK: How do you think the Indian theatre scene has evolved in New Zealand?

IWK: Love n Stuff is your directorial debut with Prayas.

How has the experience been?

Sananda: It has been excellent.

A challenging, tiring and exciting experience all rolled into one! I have had so much fun making the show, collaborating with the same people (and some new ones) in a different capacity.

Making the calls feels different to following the path to someone else’s vision. Of course, I am sure there will be bumps on the road that I need to overcome, but it has been an awesome learning experience and a very steep one.

classical, although I claim to be no singer. I have enjoyed dancing for as long as I can remember.

Theatre, in particular, started with Prayas. That’s going back nine-10 years. And I haven’t looked back.

Above: The cast and crew of Love n Stuff; Inset: Sananda Chatterjee

Sananda: Well for one, I get to be in the driver’s seat. So it brings my sensibilities into the mix. It is also the first proper comedy that Prayas has attempted, and I am honoured to be the flag bearer of that.

IWK: You’ve been with Prayas for a decade and since then worked in various capacities.

What is it that you’ve enjoyed the most?

Sananda: I can’t categorically say I have enjoyed one role more than the other. Every production I have done so far has contributed

towards my learning; from assistant director, writer to stage manager, I have learnt at each rung, at each turning point. But I definitely don’t hate the change of role in this instance.

IWK: How did your involvement with theatre/ performing arts begin?

Sananda: It goes back to my Bengali roots. I was dancing on stage for cultural programmes from the age of two.

Not much late, I started singing.

I trained briefly in Bharatnatyam and slightly in Hindustani

IWK: Y o u stayed in India before m o v i n g to New Zealand.

How do you think the two different cultures influence your work?

Sananda: I have spent much of formative years in India and about the same in Auckland. I have never had any culture clashes or identity. I am the kind of person who readily absorbs what I like about things that surround me. Cultural harmony so to speak. India influences my senses, and New Zealand influences my sensibilities. I am a migrant, neither from there nor entirely from here and that gives me (or anyone in my position) a unique perspective.

Sananda: It has evolved greatly, even in my short time working in it. Prayas has picked up great momentum in the last 11 years that it has been around. The interest from our community was already strong and the mainstream interest is growing by the day.

The great thing is now when you say Prayas, the theatre community knows who you are talking about.

They are starting to understand our point of difference. We aren’t even close to being as diverse a theatre community in New Zealand, as it is, say in the UK or Canada but we are getting there.

And we continue to diversify.

Some change is slow but worth it.

IWK: What do you think the audience will take away from Love n Stuff?

Sananda: I hope they take away that we need to remember to laugh at ourselves, take life with a pinch of salt and a thick sense of humour. And also that relationships are fragile, vulnerable and often insecure.

But I guess most importantly, I hope they have a good time and a hearty laugh!

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Cab Workshop

Employment for newcomers Date: Saturday, 18 June and 2 July 2016 Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Venue: Howick Local Board Meeting Room, Pakuranga Library Building, 7 Aylesbury Street, Manukau 2010

CAB Pakuranga-Eastern Manukau will hold two free information sessions for newcomers on Employment Learn about: CV writing, importance of cover letter, interview techniques, marketing oneself effectively and boosting self-confidence. Presenter: Val Maskell, CAB Career Club facilitator. Lunch provided. To get more information please email CAB Pakuranga at settlement. pakuranga@cab.org.nz or call Vani at 021459520.

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Visit www.khwajagharibnawazindia.com or Contact Chief Moallim Gaddinashin Peer Syed Imran Chishty +91 9928418797

Do Not Delay!

(via internet); when the item is faulty; when buying a car. Presenters: Jess from Whitireia Community Law and Sandra Andrew of Citizens Advice Bureau Porirua.

For RSVP: Call at 04 237 8846 or Email at manager. porirua@cab.org.nz mailto:cab.porirua@xtra.co.nz

Housing in New Zealand for newcomers Date: Friday, 24 June 2016 Time: 10.15am to 12.15pm Venue: War Memorial Library – Upstairs, Corner Woburn Rd and Queens Drive, Lower Hutt

CAB Lower Hutt will hold a free information session for newcomers on Housing in New Zealand. Please come and join to find about: advice on how to keep home warm, safer and dryer; basic information on renting including finding a rental property, types of tenancy, tenancy agreements, bond and rent payments, landlord and tenants responsibilities. Refreshment provided. For more information please call at 04 566 6039 or email at lowerhutt@cab.org.nz

International Yoga Day Consumer rights for newcomers Date: Thursday, 23 June 2016 Time: 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Venue: Lecture Theatre at Whitireia Polytechnic (entrance 1)

CAB Porirua will hold a free information session for newcomers on consumer rights. Find out about your rights: when buying something from a shop, or online

Date: Tuesday, 21 June 2016 Time:7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

Venue: Mt Albert War Memorial Hall, Auckland.

Celebrate International Yoga Day Tuesday 21 June.

Program includes simple yoga stretches, meditation relaxation, kirtan. Free entry. BYO mat/towel. Bring a friend. For more information, contact: MeditationNZ classes@nzsm.co.nz

FEATURES

www.iwk.co.nz | 17 June 2016

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