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Raheela Ahmed

Indian Muslim woman wins key Maryland post Details on page 6

Neela Banerjee

Indian-American journalist gets Poe award Details on page 8

G4 for more permanent members in UNSC Details on page 8

Vijay Mallya resigns from Rajya Sabha Details on page 9

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VOL 21, No. 1127

May 6, 2016

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MODI TO ADDRESS U.S. CONGRESS ON JUNE 8

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to address a joint meeting of the US Congress on June 8 during his visit here, Speaker of the US House of Representative Paul Ryan has said.

"The friendship between the United States and India is a pillar of stability in an important region of the world," Ryan told reporters during his weekly press conference.

"This address presents a special opportunity to hear from the elected leader of the world's most populous democracy on how our two nations can work together to promote our shared values and to increase prosperity. We look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to the US Capitol on June 8," he said.

Modi, who was invited by President Barack Obama for a bilateral visit when he was here for the nuclear summit, will be the fifth prime minister of India to address a joint meeting of Congress, and the first since 2005.

Earlier, Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh (July 19, 2005), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (September 14, 2000), P V Narasimha Rao (May 18, 1994) and Rajiv Gandhi (July 13, 1985) addressed the joint meeting of the US Congress.

Harmeet Kaur Dhillon

Harmeet Kaur elected to key Republican post Details on page 5

Indian who stalked woman jailed for 19 yrs Details on page 6

Pentagon joins Vaisakhi celebration Details on page 6

F-16s: US asks Pakistan to make full payment Details on page 6

CONTENTS Bollywood ---------------------- 28-29 Classifieds ------------------------- 48 Community Post -------------- 16-26 Date Book -------------------------- 47 Edit Page --------------------------- 54 HealthScience Post --------- 32-35 Horoscope ------------------------- 11 Immigration Post ------------- 45-46 Life Style ----------------------- 50-53 Philosophy ------------------------- 49

OBAMA FUNNY, CHARMING: So said Priyanka Chopra after attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington DC on April 30. Here she is seen posing with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. (Details on page 5)

Details on page 5

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ove Him or hate Him but you can't ignore PM Modi!" Discounting the capital enunciation for 'him', this definitive statement comes from a face less inhabitant of the virtual world reacting to a news story about the official invitation to the Indian Prime Minister to address a joint session of the US Congress next month. I guess that about sums up my own sentiments about the Indian leader, who has steadily and purposefully been building quite the reputation in countries around the world with his single-minded mission to make India great again.

It's interesting how in spite of venomous campaigns by Opposition parties within the country to discredit him, regular people within and outside India seem to recognize and acknowledge Modi's efforts.

Anyway, more than Modi's charm, charisma or statesmanship, what is making people - the opinion makers and common citizens alike - take notice is the reciprocal warmth that he has been getting from world leaders. To quote another netizen commenting on the same story, "… I wonder how on earth India is being friendly to Iran, Saudi, Israel, UAE, at the same time… or have excellent relations with the USA and Russia; China and Japan with ease…"

Well the answer could simply be what this other commentator, even if only a casual observer of world affairs, thinks "… it is economics that is driving the world today, not political gains…"; but I would credit PM Modi for having the vision to recognize where India's better interests lie.

The US and India today, are in a relationship that's akin to an arranged marriage complete with love and the clichéd saas-bahu kind of tiffs. So okay it just happened that until only two years ago the US didn't want Modi to even enter their country, but now they are going all out to accord him due respect as a legitimate leader of the free world.

Again, not my opinion, but to give it a flip perspective, I quote a Pakistani netizen, who cautions India saying: "… to be America's friend is lethal… ask any Pakistani, we will tell you." Well, that's a whole different relationship, right?

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Cover Story: Modi to address Cong Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to address a joint meeting of the US Congress on June 8

Community: New Gopio team Gopio has elected a new international executive council at a warmly contested election, conducted electronically

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Modi to address US Cong on June 8 WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to address a joint meeting of the US Congress on June 8 during his visit here, Speaker of the US House of Representative Paul Ryan has said.

"The friendship between the United States and India is a pillar of stability in an important region of the world," Ryan told reporters during his weekly press conference.

"This address presents a special opportunity to hear from the elected leader of the world's most populous democracy on how our two nations can work together to promote our shared values and to

Manmohan Singh (July 19, 2005), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (September 14, 2000), P V Narasimha Rao (May 18, 1994) and Rajiv Gandhi (July 13, 1985) addressed the joint meeting of the US Congress.

The tradition of foreign leaders and dignitaries addressing Congress began with the Marquis de Lafayette of France, who spoke in the House chamber on December 10, 1824.

Ronak D Desai, a Fellow at New America and an Affiliate at the Belfer Center's India and South Asia Program at Harvard University, said, "an invitation to Prime Minister Modi to address a Joint Meeting of Congress is sig-

"This address presents a special opportunity to hear from the elected leader of the world's most populous democracy on how our two nations can work together to promote our shared values and to increase prosperity. We look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to the US Capitol on June 8," he said increase prosperity. We look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to the US Capitol on June 8," he said.

Modi, who was invited by President Barack Obama for a bilateral visit when he was here for the nuclear summit, will be the fifth prime minister of India to address a joint meeting of Congress, and the first since 2005.

Earlier, Prime Ministers

nificant, given past US policy towards Modi during his time as Chief Minister of Gujarat."

Modi's visit is likely to be the last official meeting between the two leaders during President Obama's final year in office.

Top American lawmakers welcomed the decision of Ryan to invite Modi to address joint meeting if the US Congress.

"I applaud Speaker Ryan for

inviting Prime Minister Modi to address a Joint Meeting of Congress, and I look forward to welcoming the Prime Minister to the Capitol. This address will serve as a sign of the deep and important relationship between the US and India," said Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Our partnership in areas such as defense, nuclear power, renewable energy and space exploration is very strong, thanks to our many shared values. I look forward to hearing from Prime Minister Modi about how we can continue working together to promote peace and prosperity," Royce said.

"I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to Washington in June, where his address to a Joint Session of Congress will explore how our two nations can work together to further our shared values and interests," said Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu lawmaker elected to the US Congress.

"As the world s oldest and largest democracies, the US and India have many shared values and objectives. Since Prime Minister Modi was first elected in 2014, he has made active engagement with the US a priority on many levels including exploring mutually beneficial economic opportunities, stronger government-to-government relations, and enhanced security engagements," she said.

Earlier this month, Gabbard, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, wrote to Ryan encour-

Harmeet elected to key Republican position WASHINGTON: An Indian American Sikh woman from California has been elected to a key position in the Republican Party at the national level.

Chandigarh-born Harmeet Kaur Dhillon was elected as the newest national committee woman

lawyer, Dhillon, 47, was born in India, but raised in rural North Carolina after her Sikh parents moved to the US. "A little girl from Chandigarh, India, the Bronx, and Smithfield, North Carolina back in the day, to being one of California's three

I could not have done this without the support of a huge number of friends old and new and my family, who have brought me to where I am today. Thank you to my parents Parminder Kaur Dhillon and Tejpal Singh Dhillon for instilling conservative values in me of the Republican National Committee by thousand plus votes in attendance at the California Republican Party convention. She was earlier the vice chairman of the California GOP. She was the first woman elected to this position of vice chair of the California Republican Party.

A nationally recognized trial

votes on the RNC. For the next four years starting in late July, I will help shape the policies of the party of Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman, the party of liberty and opportunity," Dhillon said after her election.

Following her clerkship with Paul V Niemeyer of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Dhillon's practice in New York,

London, and the San Francisco Bay Area has focused on federal and state commercial litigation and arbitration, with a particular emphasis on unfair competition/ trade secret misappropriation, intellectual property (including trademark litigation and internet torts), complex contractual disputes, and First Amendment litigation.

"I could not have done this without the support of a huge number of friends old and new and my family, who have brought me to where I am today. Thank you to my parents Parminder Kaur Dhillon and Tejpal Singh Dhillon for instilling conservative values in me. I am truly honored," she said.

Based in San Francisco, Dhillon among other things also sat on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union, and once made a financial contribution to Kamala Harris' campaign for local office. Harris is a US Senate hopeful and rising star in Democratic politics. -PTI

aging him to invite Modi to address the Congress.

"I'm pleased that Speaker Ryan has granted my request," said Congressman Ami Bera, the only Indian-American in the current Congress.

of the US House of Representatives.

"This will be the first joint meeting of this speakership. We certainly look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi in the United States Capitol this summer, I be-

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

"India is a key partner of the US, and this will be an opportunity for members of Congress to learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing our two nations," he said.

Last week, Bera and Royce along with two other lawmakers had urged Ryan to invite Modi to address a joint session of Congress.

Ryan had told reporters that Modi would be the leader to address a joint meeting of the Congress after he became the Speaker

lieve it's June 8th," Ryan said.

"India is the most populace democracy and soon it's going to be the most populace country.

The friendship between our nations is a pillar of stability in a very, very important region. This address presents a special opportunity for us to deepen our ties with our ally, India," he said.

"It is a chance to hear from the prime minister on how we can work together to promote our shared values and to increase prosperity," Ryan said. -PTI

Barack Obama is funny, charming: Priyanka WASHINGTON: Indian actress Priyanka Chopra says she was glad to meet US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as she attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner here.

The 33-year-old "Quantico" star, who is currently shooting in the US for the big screen "Baywatch" reboot, dazzled the affair in a deep-cut, black and sheerstripe gown.

Priyanka took to Twitter to share about her meeting with the Obamas.

"Lovely to meet the very funny and charming @barackobama and the beautiful @flotus. Thank you...," she wrote along with a picture.

At the Washington-insider event, attended by journalists, celebrities, politicians and advertisers, Obama did not hold back and he took jibes at Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, CNN's Jake Tap-

Priyanka at the dinner

per among others.

The 2016 White House Correspondents' dinner, which was President Obama's last in office, was hosted by comedian Larry Wilmore. -PTI

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Indian Muslim woman wins key Maryland primary WASHINGTON: A 22-year-old Indian-American Muslim woman has won a key primary election in the US state of Maryland, upsetting a veteran in the process.

Raheela Ahmed, received 9,624 votes as against incumbent Jeana Jacob (6,004 votes) in the Board of Education District 5 primary elections.

She along with her runner up

cent of that.

"Mr Trump can make outrageous and offensive statements for political reasons, but I am a strong believer that America's diversity is our strength," Raheela said, who attributed her win to America's diversity.

If elected in November general elections, she would be the youngest Indian-American to be

"I'm representing individuals that largely do not identify with my faith, ethnicity, youth and gender, in a time where Islamophobia, racism and discrimination are around every news corner. However, this election win shows that people see what they want to see," Cheryl Landis who got 8,072 now advance to the November general elections.

Her win is considered to be significant given the anti-Muslim rhetoric's coming from top Republican candidates in particular its presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

"If Mr Trump's views were a true reflection of Americans beliefs, I would not have won this election decisively. My district has around 56,000 voters and Muslims are less than one per

elected to this top education post in Maryland.

"The plan of action is to win the general election, which I lost by 3 per cent in 2012. I will be engaging all sorts of stakeholders over the next several months. I love grassroots campaigning...it's the core of my candidacy," she told PTI. Raheela's father, a technology entrepreneur immigrated from Hyderabad at the age 25, while her mother moved to the US when she was five years old from Pakistan.

"By attacking aspects of people's identity like gender, ethnicity and faith, Mr Trump is dividing the masses. Strength comes from unity, collaboration, trust and understanding. If he really wants to make America great again, he needs to stop dividing and start uniting!" she added.

She said she believes that no religion condones violence, extremism, or terrorism. Islam is no exception.

"The majority of Muslims are peaceful people. The word 'Islam' itself means peace. Terrorists that act under the name of Islam are twisted in their understanding of the faith," she said.

"I'm representing individuals that largely do not identify with my faith, ethnicity, youth and gender, in a time where Islamophobia, racism and discrimination are around every news corner. However, this election win shows that people see what they want to see," she said.

"I won because more people connected with my shared values and aspirations than those turned off by my differences," said Raheela , who is currently an Advisory Associate with the Global Public Sector at Grant Thornton LLP. -PTI

US asks Pak to make full payment for F-16s WASHINGTON: The US has asked Pakistan to "put forward" its "national funds" to buy eight F-16 fighter jets after some top American Senators put a hold on the use of tax payers' money to partially finance them, a move that may create a hurdle for the deal.

"While Congress has approved the sale, key members have made clear that they object to using FMF (foreign military financing) to support it.

Given Congressional objections, we have told the Pakistanis that they should put forward national funds for that purpose," US State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters at his daily news conference.

On February 11, the State Department had informed the Congress about its determination for selling eight F-16s to Pakistan at

an estimated cost of USD 700 million. The move was opposed by the Indian government which summoned the US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, to lodge its protest.

US top American lawmakers led

by Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, put a hold on the sale arguing that it would not let the Obama administration use tax payers' money

for sale of the fighter jets to Pakistan given that Islamabad was not taking enough action against terrorist organizations, in particular the Haqqani network and there was continued existence of terrorist safe havens inside its territory.

Last week, top American lawmakers during a Congressional

hearing openly told the Obama administration that they feared Pakistan would be using these F16 fighter jets against India and not against terrorists.

However, both the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Pakistan government insisted that F-16 is an important tool in the fight against terrorism and urged the Congress to remove the hold. The lawm a k e r s stood their ground and told the Obama administration that it will not till the time Pakistan takes tangible action against the Haqqani network.

Now Pakistan has time till May end to avail the American offer to procure F-16s.

Sources here told PTI that the May deadline for Pakistan to respond to the new development from the US is based on "offer validity and (Lockheed's) production process" point of view.-PTI

Indian who stalked woman jailed for 19 yrs WASHINGTON: A 32-year-old from the victim.

Indian-American has been senSingh eventually travelled to tenced to 19 years in jail in the US New York, where he attempted to for stalking a college classmate enroll at the same university as from New Delhi to Texas for nearly the victim. He was denied and ora decade and threatening her as dered by the university to stay she moved to several American away from the campus. cities.

When the victim moved to CaliCollin County District Attorney fornia for an internship, he tracked Greg Willis convicted Jitender down her address and followed.

Singh on charges of burglary of a When the woman moved back habitation and fraudulent use of to New York, Singh followed. information and jailed him for 19 An information technology years. He was also ordered to pay company hired the victim, and she a USD 4,000 fine.

"The jury put an end to this victim's decade- When the victim moved to long stalking nightmare," Willis said in a California for an internship, statement. he tracked down her "While we respect address and followed. the jury's service, we were disappointed with When the woman moved the sentence, and we do back to New York, intend to appeal," defense attorney Joe Singh followed Padian said.

According to Willis, Singh first moved to Plano in 2011. met his victim while they both atBetween 2011 and 2014, Singh tended college in Delhi. Though harassed the victim through merely classmates, Singh asked phone calls and other electronic the victim to marry him in 2006. means, Willis alleged.

Willis said the victim, whose In 2014, Singh located the identity was not released by au- victim's address in Plano by thorities, refused the proposal, falsely creating a credit monitorangering Singh. ing service account in her name.

Singh then began following the While the victim was away, victim home and threatened her Singh travelled to Plano and broke with violence until she graduated. into her home by convincing a In 2007, the victim left India to locksmith to unlock her door. study at a New York university.

Singh took her passport, social However, that didn't end Singh's security card and other docuobsession. ments as well as several pieces of Authorities say he continued her jewelry. his harassment and assaulted the A suspicious neighbor called woman's father in India. Singh was Plano police which located Singh convicted for the crimes in India, in the parking lot of the victim's but made an appeal and agree- apartment and arrested him in ment with authorities to stay away 2014. -PTI

Pentagon celebrates Vaisakhi for 3rd year WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has observed annual Vaisakhi festival for the third consecutive year here, noting that the US Defense Department places high value on supporting free exercise of religion of its personnel.

"This is significant because the Department of Defense places a high value of supporting free exercise of religion of its personnel," Pentagon Chaplain Kenneth R Williams told PTI in an interview as he helped in organizing the third annual Vaisakhi celebration here.

"We are honored to celebrate Vaisakhi here at the Pentagon, which is not only the birthday of

the Sikh religion, but also the day that Guru Gobind Singh set us on the path to be Sikh soldiers and warriors," said Major Kamal Kalsi, one of the few Sikhs who have been allowed to serve in the US armed forces with his religious symbols intact.

Kalsi thanked the Pentagon Chaplin's office of being so supportive of this Vaisakhi celebration.

Petty Officer Guldeep Kaur Sindhu, who has served on active duty on the US Navy for six years, was the main speaker of the event.

Her expertise has led her to work on gun systems and ordnance that are employed on Naval aircraft.-PTI

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Indian-American journalist G4 for expanding UNSC permanent members gets Poe award WASHINGTON: An IndianAmerican journalist was felicitated here by US President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle as she and her colleagues were presented with a prestigious award during the annual White House Correspondents Dinner here.

Neela Banerjee and three of her colleagues from Inside Climate News John Cushman Jr, David

Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. She covered global energy, the Iraq War and other issues with The New York Times.

A graduate of Yale University, she also served as a Moscow correspondent with The Wall Street Journal.

The award was shared by Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post, who explored the issue of lead poisoning among poor

Misha Euceph, a Pakistani radio journalist from Rawalpindi was among the 18 budding journalists selected for WHCA annual scholarship. She was also felicitated by the US President and the First Lady Hasemyer and Lisa Song were presented with the prestigious Edgar A Poe award.

The annual award by the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) honors journalistic work of national or regional significance.

A Washington DC-based journalist Banerjee, before joining Inside Climate News, was energy and environmental reporter for the

black children in Baltimore after Freddie Gray died in custody in a high-profile case of alleged police abuse.

"As early as 1977, scientists at energy and oil giant Exxon Corporation told top executives that fossil fuel emissions were warming the planet. Over time, however, Exxon became a leader in denying climate change and argued that the science was inclu-

sive," the judges wrote.

"Reporters Neela Banerjee, John Cushman, Jr David Hasemyer and Lisa Song of Inside Climate News, used documents, interviews and the public record from four decades to reveal a deeply disturbing trail from climate change discovery to denial," it said.

"The story prompted the New York Attorney General to issue a subpoena to force Exxon to disclose records in order to determine if it committed fraud under state law," the judges said.

Misha Euceph, a Pakistani radio journalist from Rawalpindi was among the 18 budding journalists selected for WHCA annual scholarship. She was also felicitated by the US President and the First Lady.

Euceph, is the recipient of a USD 5,000 grant through the WHCA to help finance a postgraduate degree for a student in the Government and Public Affairs reporting track.

Among the judges for journalism awards included Indian American Indira Somani, an Assistant Professor of Journalism at the School of Communications, Howard University in Washington, DC where she teaches broadcast journalism courses. -PTI

Hurriyat welcomes change in Center's stand SRINAGAR: Union minister V K Singh's statement that separatist leaders can talk to Pakistan High Commissioner has been welcomed by the moderate Hurriyat Conference while the hardline faction said peace will not be restored until promises made by the Centre to Kashmiri people were fulfilled.

While welcoming Singh's statement, Chairman of moderate Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the Centre has realized that red lines do not work in politics or diplomacy, the chief of hardline faction, Syed Ali Shah Geelani said peace cannot be achieved till promises made by India to the people of Kashmir at the national and global level are fulfilled.

"It (Singh's statement) is better late than never. Perhaps the government of India has realized the red lines which they had drawn do not work either in politics or diplomacy," Chairman of moderate Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told reporters here.

Terming it as a "welcome

change" and an "acceptance of the reality", he said there is no other option for India and Pakistan but to engage with each other and take along the people of Kashmir.

He suggested that the Centre need to revisit the policies of "shedding the beaten track and take new initiatives" of former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee to address Kashmir issue.

The Mirwaiz said the Kashmir is among India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and Hurriyat has always maintained that it is the primary party to the dispute.

He also accused the state government of using "oppressive methods" to silence the separatists. The Mirwaiz threatened mass agitation if the curbs on the movement of separatists are not with-

He also accused the state government of using "oppressive methods" to silence the separatists. The Mirwaiz threatened mass agitation if the curbs on the movement of separatists are not withdrawn In a written reply in Parliament on April 28, Singh had said that since the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Union of India and these socalled Kashmiri 'leaders' are Indian citizens, there is no bar on their meetings with representatives of any country in India.

drawn immediately.

Meanwhile, dismissing Singh's statement, Geelani said "It is not an issue for us whether we are invited or not. Our only concern is that the promises made by India to the people of Kashmir at the national and global level are fulfilled." -PTI

UNITED NATIONS: Decrying the "out of date" structure of the UN Security Council, G4 nations including India have said the problem of "imbalance of influence" in the Council cannot be corrected if only non-permanent members are added to the power-

"It will actually widen the difference between permanent and non-permanent members even more, tilting further the scales in favor of a dispensation that was valid in the special situation in 1945 but is no longer now," he said in the meeting, convened on the

ful world body as part of its re- issues of 'Categories of Memberform. ship' and 'Regional Representa"We have heard some oft-re- tion'. peated arguments that expansion Akbaruddin said the decisionin the permanent category would making process in the Council be 'undemocratic'...in our view, must be more participative and expansion in both categories par- democratic and expansion in both ticularly in the permanent cat- categories is the "only way" to egory is essential to reform the Se- ensure an equitable distribution curity Council and make it demo- of influence and equilibrium that cratic, legitimate, representative, reflects the current situation. responsive and effective," India's "A larger permanent memberPermanent Representative to the ship will ensure enhanced repreUN Ambassador Syed sentation and say in the decision Akbaruddin said in a statement on making from the regions and membehalf of the G4 group here. bers which are currently not repBesides India, other G-4 na- resented or under represented tions are Brazil, Germany and Ja- compared to their role and input pan.

Akbaruddin stressed that the Security Akbaruddin said the Council's present strucdecision-making process ture is not reflective of contemporary realities in the Council must be and "not fit for purmore participative and pose."

Expansion in only democratic and expansion the non-permanent category will not solve the in both categories is the problem presented by a "only way" to ensure an Council whose structure and composition is equitable distribution "out of date" of the present day realities and not representative of the ma- so far. jor shifts in geo-political and eco"This would increase the legitinomic order, he said at the infor- macy and effectiveness and remal meeting of the General Assem- sponsiveness of the Council by bly on Intergovernmental Nego- ensuring that the decisions taken tiations on Security Council re- reflect the interest of the broad form. membership and thus will be bet"We do believe that the prob- ter implemented," he said. lem lies in the imbalance of influTaking the opposite view, ence within the Security Council Pakistan's UN envoy Maleeha between the permanent and non- Lodhi said more permanent mempermanent members. Expanding bers would diminish and not enonly in the non- permanent cat- hance the Council's democratic egory is not going to solve the credentials and effectiveness. problem.

PTI

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May 6, 2016

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Swamy 'the Dragon' is back in Parliament HARISH RAO

A

fter 17 years, breaking all the barriers of Lutyens Delhi, the irrepressible Subramanian Swamy entered Parliament again on Monday, the 25th of April.

Swamy first entered Rajya Sabha in 1974 as a Jan Sangh MP. His first question in the house was to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on how General Insurance had allotted an Agency to her Italian daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi. Insurance Agency allotment was only for Indian citizens and it was a clear cut violation.

Continuing his charges, Swamy brought out documents showing most of the vehicles of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and other government offices were insured through Italian daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi's Insurance Agency and thus it was also a violation of Foreign Exchange Regulation Law.

Hearing the question Indira Gandhi lost her temper and the ruling Congress MPs created hell in the House leading to an adjournment. But the next day, Indira Gandhi admitted that Sonia "made a mistake" by applying for an Insurance Agency (!) and had cancelled on previous day evening itself after Swamy had pointed out the "error".

This was perhaps an implicit admission on part of the Prime Minister that the case was water tight and there was no way out.

While his opponents never tire of saying that he is a maverick and can't be trusted, history has proved that once Swamy trains his guns on an issue, he is seldom wrong. For starters he has never had a defamation case registered and proven.

Now, like the 'Return of the Dragon', Swamy has entered into Parliament through Rajya Sabha.

Vijay Mallya resigns from Rajya Sabha NEW DELHI: Independent MP and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, facing a case of loan default of over Rs 9,400 crore, has resigned from Rajya Sabha, a day before Ethics Committee of the Upper House was set to recommend his expulsion.

In his resignation letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, he said he does not want his "name and reputation to be further dragged in the mud".

"And since recent events suggest that I will not get a fair trial or justice, I am hereby resigning as a member of the Rajya Sabha with immediate effect," Mallya said in the letter.

This is Mallya's second term in Rajya Sabha and it would have otherwise come to an end on July 1.

Ethics Panel of the Upper House, which had taken up the matter, had unanimously decided

Vijay Mallya

in its April 25 meeting that Mallya should no longer remain a member of the House and was planning to recommend his expulsion in its next meeting. -PTI

German envoy inaugurates Srinagar Diwan-e-Khas SRINAGAR: The first phase of the restoration of Diwan-e-Khas (hall of private audiences) here was inaugurated at the Mughal garden 'Shalimar' on the banks of Dal Lake by German ambassador to India Martin Ney. The ambassador unveiled a plaque commemorating the project and also opened to public view the restored papier mache ceilings inside Dewan-e-Khaas, an official spokesman said.

Naeem Akhtar, Jammu and

Kashmir Minister for Education was present on the occasion.

The Ambassador said that since 1981, Germany has spent more than Rs 400 crore on 2650 projects aimed to preserve cultural heritage in 144 countries.

In India alone, more than 50 such projects have been undertaken and Rs 22 lakh Diwaan-eKhaas project has now been added to the renowned list of such heritage sites in India, he said.-PTI

From his comments on Twitter, it is easily seen that he would not spare Sonia Gandhi. Now it would be fun to watch Rajya Sabha TV.

deal, Sunanda's murder etc., Swamy has unearthed a new one, about a Pakistani lady called Farida Ataullah.

Subramanian Swamy

In the midst of all the UPA related scandals such as National Herald, Aircel-Maxis, Jet-Etihad

According to Swamy, this lady is closely connected to ISI and is based in Sharjah. Farida is a close

friend of Sonia Gandhi. She has been travelling frequently to Delhi for the past 45 years and was a major presence at the Priyanka Robert Vadra wedding.

We will have to wait and see what documents and dossiers Swamy is going to produce in Parliament on this.

He will not hesitate to use the Parliamentary forum to raise questions, interventions, and jump into debates against Sonia, Rahul, P Chidambaram, and family.One thing is sure - Swamy knows how to tackle the enemies and will change the chemistry and power equations in Rajya Sabha.

The last bastion currently controlled by Congress and Left is under serious threat. Coming days are going to be full of fun and fire in Rajya Sabha with BJP shifting gears from low to high.

10 India Post

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May 6, 2016

Horoscope

May 6, 2016

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May 5th - May 12th2016 Please send your birthday, place of birth and time, so I can give you your zodiac sign, according to Vedic astrology. Send to Jaysastrology@gmail.com

M

ercury weak take care of communication, debts, abdominal issues, disputes, fires, and relationships. Sun is strong giving leadership and energy and prospect for those looking for job. Into looks get new clothes, hair cut go to movies and fine arts. Enjoy children, visit spiritual place.

Avoid argument with older and younger siblings and friends.

Mental peace at home likely.

rofessional matter and status looking up, mental peace is attained at home.

Feeling good. Self efforts pay off in business, partners.

Gains in investments, children, and higher education.

Income from female friend or older sister. Make the call to someone you have emotions for relationship. Avoid haste and disputes with employees and uncles. Avoid dispute with father and government, obey law.

S

ental peace disturbed at home. Don't purchase cars or real estate. Arguments between lovers lead to debts litigations. Kidney, urinary problems may arise.

Women get regular gynecheck up. Moody behavior, depressed is seen.

Work will assume lot of time, it correlated to your children, emotions, and speculation.

Sun gives leadership at work position and work with higher authoritive people.

udden setback, obstructions, and delays in education, real estate, immovable assets. Many planets placed where separations from family, expenses and losses, health issues, careful of law. Be careful driving and vigilant of surroundings.

Stay calm with partner and business relations. Have drive to get things, done short journey with family is possible. Professional matter looks positive for status.

P

M

M

E

W

ain focus is on relationships, businesses or joint ventures, foreign land and entrepreneurial activities .Expect a mixture of gains and income along with expenses, separations or long-distance ventures with same. Your partner may get recognition or a leadership position. Enjoy wealth and status connected with your own efforts and family life. Anxiety and nervousness along with lack of confidence may arise.

xpect a mixture of good fortune and setbacks with entrepreneurial partnerships. Stay calm in decision making. Connect with large, medical, spiritual, or government organizations and work on creativity, communications, and the fine, healing or performing arts. Focus on independent projects, make decisions, and consider property matters in the workplace. Go on short journeys, small gains in fortune.

P

ay low through midMay, especially with your career. Be vigilant to manage debts, disputes, fire, theft, accidents and false allegations in the workplace. Your best bet is to connect your job with law, medicine, finance, social work and psychology, and to be of service to others.

Teach, publish, and advise.

Work on patience and maturity.

L

ork out of your home and on your home.

Beautify your living space and consider that new car, boat, horse, motorcycle, etc. Expect a mixture of good fortune and setbacks with property, vehicles and home life through mid-May. Be vigilant to avoid accidents at home and with transportation. Real estate does well for you through mid-Sept. Will get help from older siblings or friends and people in high places.

S

M

S

lanets are strong for your spiritual progress and connect to you spiritual leader. Long distance journey for short time. Self effortsgives good fortune.

Reach out to father or father like figure. Mars strong gives good results in property, vehicles and fixed assets.

Enjoy time with loved ones.

Asked to give advise, or make decisions on critical matters, don't rush advise.

udden setbacks, be patient and be careful to avoid accidents. Focus on your Will, Inheritance, insurance, and might get in mystical science. Relationships issues arise stay calm avoid dispute can disturb mental peace due to martial ties.

Stay alert while traveling for work or pleasure with family.

May be losses and expenses with property, cars and fixed assets. Get medical check up for heart patients.

ain focus on your children, education, investments and creative projects. Think big, study the fine, healing and performing arts, and work on writing, business and communications. There may be a mixture of gains, income and friendships, along with losses, expenses and separations. Exercise patience. Connect with your guru or religious advisor.

peak up as an authority figure and communications expert, but be careful to avoid verbal disputes. There may be status for and with partnerships, and from writing, business and brokering through, but be patient with short-lived setbacks and obstructions with your status.

Be vigilant in the workplace avoid confrontation with other employees. Mental peace at home and with children.

This weekly horoscope is more focused and accurate as it is based on ascending signs. The ascending sign is worked out on the basis of your date, time and place of birth.

The predictions elsewhere are based on your Sun sign or Moon sign. The Sun remains in one sign of zodiac for one month whereas the Moon remains in one sign for about 60 hours. What is important is the ascending sign, which changes every couple of hours. That is how this site offers you more focused predictions.

JATIN P - ACHARYA MIHIR • JAYSASTROLOGY@GMAIL.COM • 630-675-7148

Tech News Icahn sells Apple stake, citing China NEW YORK: Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sold his stake in Apple, citing concerns about the giant tech company's prospects in China.

Apple's stock fell 9 percent after it reported a sizeable drop in iPhone sales. Icahn, a longtime booster, told CNBC he still thinks Apple is a ``great company.'' But he said he worries about Chinese regulators, who recently blocked Apple's online services. Apple has been hoping to expand in China.

Icahn last year called it a ``nobrainer'' to invest in Apple, predicting the company could be worth $1 trillion.

At that point, he owned 53 million shares, valued then at $6.5 billion, nearly 1 percent of the company. The stock has fallen 20 percent since then, but Icahn said he still made $2 billion from selling his shares. -AP

China completes implementation of VAT BEIJING: China has replaced all business tax with a value-added tax (VAT) after extending the policy to cover four new sectors of construction, real estate, finance and consumer services, as part of reform agenda to halt economic slowdown in the world's second biggest economy.

The inclusion of the four remaining sectors will bring almost all goods and services under the VAT cover and is expected to save Chinese businesses billions of dollars.

VAT refers to a tax levied on the difference between a commodity's price before taxes and its production cost.

Revenue tax refers to a levy on a business's gross revenues.

The expansion of the VAT scheme is expected to ease tax burdens by more than 500 billion yuan (USD 76.9 billion) this year.

China's service sector is increasingly picking up the slack of manufacturing as it shifts towards a more sustainable growth driven chiefly by consumer demand.

Expanding VAT to more service sectors is also part of the supplyside structural reforms authorities have been promising since last year to address the structural imbalances in the Chinese economy.

The reforms were launched as Chinese economy last year slipped to 6.9 per cent and the government has fixed 6.5 to seven per cent as GDP target for this year. The pace of Chinese growth last year was at its weakest since 1990. -PTI

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May 6, 2016

AAI to sell e-billing solution overseas NEW DELHI: Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to aggressively tap overseas markets for its in-house developed 'e-billing' solution that can be used by air navigation and airport services providers.

The fees collected through this solution, which would help entities in data gathering, e-invoicing and collection of tariff from airlines at a single place, accounts for almost 35 per cent in AAI overall revenue.

As part of its efforts to expand its revenue stream, the national airports operator is scouting for opportunities overseas to sell its niche product.

Developed in-house, the electronic billing solution for data, e-invoicing and collection of tariff from the airlines is being used by AAI for several years now.-PTI

Modi launches scheme to provide free LPG connections to poor BALLIA, UP: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a Rs 8,000 crore scheme to provide 5 crore free LPG connections to poor families as he attacked previous governments for just paying lip service to reducing poverty.

In the first year, 1.5 crore such connections will be released and the target of 5 crore will be completed in three years, he said, comparing it to the just 13 crore LPG connections provided in 60 years of independence.

per month previously, while the bonus limit too has been doubled to Rs 7,000.

Provident fund (PF) portability has been provided to help utilize the Rs 27,000 crore of retirement benefits lying unused because of

Consumers are currently entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each or 34 bottles of 5 kg each in a year at subsidized rates. A subsidized 14.2-kg cylinder is currently available at Rs 419.15 per bottle in Delhi while the 5-kg pack costs Rs 155.

Market-priced LPG is available at Rs 509.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Giving up subsidized LPG will help cut the government's subsidy bill, which was at Rs 30,000 crore for the fuel last fiscal.

Nearly Rs 5,000 crore of subsidy saved through the campaign is being used to provide LPG connection to the poor.

"We have released 60 lakh new connection to poor in the last one year," he said.

Under the scheme launched, a financial support of Rs 1,600 for each LPG connection will be provided to the BPL households. The identification of eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the state governments and the Union Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing at the launching ceremony of the 'Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana', at Ballia, Uttar Territories.

Pradesh on May 1. Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha is also seen The country currently Calling himself 'Shramik No.1' "In my first speech in Central workers changing jobs or cities. has 16.64 crore active LPG con(Worker No.1), he listed out initia- Hall of Parliament after BJP govOn March 27, Modi had offi- sumers. tives taken by his government for ernment came to power (in 2014), I cially launched the 'Give-it-Up' Stating that LPG coverage is the welfare of laborers. had said my government is dedi- campaign, urging the well-off to being increased, he said there are The launch coincided with May cated to poor. surrender their LPG subsidy so serious health hazards associated Day and Modi attacked previous "Whatever this government that it can be given to the needy. with cooking based on fossil fuels. governments for doing little for the does will be for the benefit of the The aim is also to bring down According to WHO estimates, poor. "Policies made by previous poor and for the welfare of poor," the country's dependence on en- about 5 lakh deaths occur in India governments were not keeping in alone due to unclean cooking fumind the welfare of poor but only els. Experts say having an open Poverty, he said, can be eradicated only if ballot boxes," he said. fire in the kitchen is like burning poor are empowered, given resources and Poverty, he said, can be eradi400 cigarettes an hour. cated only if poor are empowered, Providing LPG connections to opportunities as well as education, jobs, given resources and opportunities BPL households will ensure unihouses, drinking water and electricity. He as well as education, jobs, houses, versal coverage of cooking gas in drinking water and electricity. questioned the policies pursued by the previ- the country and this will empower He questioned the policies purwomen and protect their health, he ous government for poverty eradication sued by the previous government said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for poverty eradication, saying had in his Budget for 2016-17 propoverty has only increased dur- he said as he listed out various ergy imports by 10 per cent by vided Rs 2,000 crore to provide ing past years. labor-friendly initiatives, including 2022. deposit free LPG connections to "We are working to fight pov- raising minimum pension to Rs "Responding to the call, 1.10 1.5 crore women belonging to BPL erty," he said, adding that under 1,000 and introduction of labor crore people have given up their families. the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala identification number (LIN). subsidies," he said.

Further, the Budget announced Yojana, free LPG connections will Also, the maximum wage that Subsidy surrendered will be that the scheme will be continued be provided in name of women entitles bonus to workers has been used to provide free LPG connec- for two more years to cover 5 crore members of BPL households. raised to Rs 21,000 from Rs 10,000 tion to BPL families. households. -PTI

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May 6, 2016

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Technology to play big role in US-India ties WASHINGTON: US-India business corridor is "uniquely" poised to build the digital future of the global economy, corporate leaders from the two countries said at the summit of the business advocacy group USIBC. Participants of the first-ever West Coast Summit of US India Business Council (USIBC) said that technology is poised to play a major role in US-India bilateral ties.

Held in the Silicon Valley, the summit, US-India Technology Partnership: Using Scale and Speed to Bridge the Divide, examined how the US-India business corridor is uniquely poised to build the digital future of the global economy, a USIBC statement said.

Amitabh Kant, the CEO of the National Institution of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, proposed ways in which the Indian Government and industry can coordinate efforts to ensure the success of programs such as Digital India, Startup India, Skill India, Financial Inclusion and Make in India.

"With the Prime Ministers (Narendra Modi) extraordinary vision and leadership, India stands out as a force for change," said John Chambers, Chairman of USIBC.

"There is a reason why Cisco is investing USD 100 million in India the next few years; it is representative of what we think is an opportunity to build the next generation of innovative solutions, talent, and products for the digital

He also highlighted that dismantling a heavy bureaucracy, fostering healthy and competitive environment continue to be the mandate for the government.

Kant was awarded the USIBC Transformative Leadership Award

Amitabh Kant

economy," he said.

Kant said India's future would lie in how successfully the country is able to provide universal access for all citizens as well as improve the quality of education across all levels.

- an honor that has been instituted by the Council to acknowledge excellence in public service and recognize the honorees achievement in championing USIndia ties in the areas of trade, politics and culture. -PTI

CA to turn approver in Jindal coal case NEW DELHI: In a new twist to the coal scam case in which a special court has said industrialist Naveen Jindal was the "central figure" in the entire criminal conspiracy, a chartered accountant working for Jindal Group has offered to turn as an approver to make disclosures.

Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar said it would hear on May 11 the plea of accused Suresh Singhal, also director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, who had moved an application on April 21 seeking pardon and to make disclosure statement in the case.

Singhal's disclosure statement was later on recorded by a magistrate and placed before the special judge in a sealed envelope.

During the day, the special court ordered framing of charges against Jindal, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, ex-Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda and 12 others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and other offences in Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation scam case.

"In the over all facts and circumstances of the case, I however direct that for the time being copy of applications moved by Suresh Singhal along with the order sheets recorded by the court may be supplied to counsel for ac-

Naveen Jindal

cused persons as it will be appropriate to first adjudicate upon the present issue before proceeding to frame charges formally against the accused persons," the judge, who has already issued notice to CBI and 14 other accused, said.

In his plea, Singhal has claimed that co-accused Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd,

had purchased NDEPL at the instruction of Sushil Maroo also working with the Naveen Jindal Group.

"I was also in practice of selling companies. Rajeev Jain had been purchasing different types of companies from me. I also sold New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd to him. I also handed over all the papers required by him for the purpose of transfer of ownership and management, documentary evidence of which forms part of the records...

"Rajeev Jain in conspiracy with Maroo kept me in dark and didn't disclose their real purpose. After getting all the transfer papers from me they kept the shares and directors change pending taking the advantage of my good faith which I had for them," he claimed.

He further claimed that decision to invest and pay Rs 2 crore to Sowbhagya Media Ltd, allegedly promoted by co-accused and former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao, was carried out at their behest. -PTI

Hillary or Trump - Berkshire will prosper regardless OMAHA, Neb.: Berkshire Hathaway's idiosyncrasies were on display this weekend, as tens of thousands of people filled an arena to listen to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger talk business for several hours at the conglomerate's annual meeting.

No other company can match the crowds who attend Berkshire's meeting, the 51year-tenure of its top two executives or its eclectic mix of businesses. Though attendance was down from last year's 50th anniversary meeting when more than 40,000 attended, it still dwarfs any other corporate meeting.

In an adjoining 200,000square-foot exhibit hall, Berkshire subsidiaries such as See's Candy, Fruit of the Loom and Geico insurance sell their products as executives chat with shareholders.

Buffett told shareholders that some of the keys to successful investing are avoiding envy and costly fees. The investor said it's important not to try to copy others who profited in a company's initial public offering or claimed a lottery jackpot. ``You don't want to get envious of somebody who bought an IPO or won a lottery. You have to do what makes sense to you,'' Buffett said.

That kind of advice - and

Buffett and Munger's willingness to take almost any question - are part of what keeps people coming back to the meetings. Bob Shanahan returned for his second Berkshire meeting so his son, Tim, would have a chance to attend while the 85-year-old Buffett and 92-year-old Munger are still lead-

Warren Buffett

ing the company. ``You never know how much longer they'll be around,'' said Bob Shanahan, who lives in Castle Rock, Colorado.

It didn't take much convincing to get Tim Shanahan to make the trip. He is studying finance at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and has looked up to Buffett for several years, Cont’d on page 14

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India to clear $ 6.5 bn of Iran's oil dues NEW DELHI: Keen to step up engagement in hydrocarbon sector with Iran, India has conveyed to the Persian Gulf nation that it was ready to clear nearly USD 6.5 billion of the dues for oil import from that country at the earliest, provided there was clarity on payment channel.

The message has been conveyed to Iran even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the oil-rich country later this month.

Government sources said there has been a series of discussions at various levels both in Tehran and here and both sides were confident of resolving the issue soon.

"We are working on clearing the dues to Iran and are hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon," they said.

Following lifting of sanctions against it in January under a historic nuclear deal, Iran had terminated a three-year-old system with India of getting paid for half of the oil dues in rupees and has been insisting on being paid in Euros for the oil it sells to Indian refiners.

It has also scrapped free delivery of crude oil to Indian refiners.

Officials said though Western sanctions against Iran were lifted, problems persist in banking channels due to which regular transactions were not possible yet.

Refiners like Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MPRL) owe nearly

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Iran last month during which they had conveyed to Iranian leaders that India wants to significantly ramp up engagement in oil and gas sector with that coun-

Cont’d from page 13

USD 6.5 billion in dues to Iran.

Since February 2013, Indian refiners like Essar Oil and MRPL paid 45 per cent of their import bill in rupees to UCO Bank account of Iranian oil company.

The remaining has been accumulating, pending finalization of a payment mechanism.

try.

The issue of the pending dues had also figured in the meetings.

Swaraj during her visit had conveyed to Iranian leadership that India wants to invest in joint ventures in oil and gas sectors in the Persian Gulf nation where foreign investors from major economic

ence for our customers and we are pleased to adopt a five day work schedule that also recognizes their commitments outside of their work," said Sumitro Ghosh, CEO,

Tata Starbucks Private Limited.

"The new work schedule offers our employees additional 52 personal days off and greater flexibility in their lives, he added. USbased Starbucks entered the Indian market in October 2012 through a 50:50 Joint Venture with Tata Global Beverages and currently operates 83 stores in India across Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune. Starbucks stores are operated by the joint venture, Tata Starbucks Private Limited, and branded as Starbucks Coffee."Agencies

Ban to continue on registration of diesel cars NEW DELHI: The ban on registration of diesel-run SUVs and high-end cars with engine capacity of 2000 cc and above in Delhi and NCR will continue as the Supreme Court did not modify its earlier order which said the bar would remain in effect till further orders.

A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi will now resume on May 9 the hearing on various pleas including those of automobile giants like Mercedes,

tion-free Iran by raising oil imports and possible shipments of natural gas. It also wants rights to develop Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf discovered by OVL. A deal for the field was not signed during Pradhan's visit as Iranian Parliament, Majlis, is yet to approve the new Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) under which the Farzad-B field is to be given to the OVL-led consortium. -PTI

Hillary or Trump - Berkshire will prosper regardless

Tata Starbucks adopts 5-day work schedule HYDERABAD: Tata Starbucks Private Limited has announced five-day work schedule for its more than 1,200 employees working across its coffee outlets in the country. The move which kicks off from May 15 marks a first-of-a-kind initiative for a food and beverage retailer in India. "Both Starbucks and Tata share values of putting our employees first and sharing the company's success.

"We acknowledge that our success would not be possible without the contributions our partners make on a daily basis to provide an exceptional third place experi-

powers are rushing in to get early footholds after lifting of sanctions.

Following lifting of sanctions against Iran, India has been eying deeper energy ties with that country and has already lined up USD 20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as petrochemical and fertilizer projects there.

New Delhi is looking to increase engagement with the sanc-

Toyota, Mahindra and General Motors for allowing registration of big diesel cars and SUVs. The apex court, on December 16 last year, had barred registration of cars and vehicles with engine capacity of 2000 cc and above till March 31.

"Interim order dated 16th December, 2015 passed by us restraining registration of diesel cars with a capacity of 2000 cc and above, shall continue pending further orders from this Court," it said on March 31.

As the court did not pass any direction with regard to the registration of these vehicles, the order banning it would now continue till further orders.

During the hearing, senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for three minors, who had moved the apex court, seeking direction to curb Delhi's spiraling pollution graph cited the example of California and said that the corrective steps taken there can be taken here also to reduce pollution.-PTI

Buffett takes a hands-off approach to managing all the companies Berkshire owns, allowing the individual CEOs wide latitude unless he's aware of a problem that needs his attention. He also encourages managers to focus on building the long-term strength of their brands.

Benjamin Moore paints CEO Mike Searles said running a Berkshire subsidiary has been a pleasant change after a career of working for public companies that focus heavily on each quarter's results. ``The way Berkshire runs its company, it's all about two things: the future and ethical performance,'' Searles said. ``The culture is so long range.''

One of Berkshire's latest acquisitions, Precision Castparts, re-

``For someone my age, he's a good hero to have,'' Tim Shanahan said shortly after snapping a quick picture of Buffett touring the exhibit hall.

Shareholder David Parr said eventually replacing Buffett has to be a concern for Berkshire shareholders because of his age and remarkable talent, but he's confident that Buffett has a good plan in place and has a knack for choosing good people. ``His investing is not about a magic formula. It's about him,'' said Parr, who is from Superior, Wisconsin. ``If it was a formula, everyone would be doing it.''

In presidential politics, Buffett has long supported Democrat Hillary Clinton, so one shareholder asked what might happen to Berkshire if Republican Donald ``The way Berkshire runs its Trump were elected. company, it's all about two ``That won't be the main problem,'' Buffett things: the future and ethisaid before reassuring cal performance,'' Searles shareholders that Berkshire would prosper re- said. ``The culture is so gardless of who is long range.'' elected. He said U.S. businesses will conceived an intense welcome to the tinue to adapt and thrive. ``No presidential candidate or company when Buffett visited its president is going to end that,'' he booth displaying the aviation parts it makes. said.

Dozens of shareholders surThough Berkshire did not release its full first-quarter report, rounded Buffett and Precision Buffett offered a preview of re- Castparts' CEO with their phones sults. The company's profit grew in the air to try to snap a picture, 8 percent, largely because of the while security guards created a way it had to account for its bubble around the executives.

The attention was a bit more Duracell acquisition on paper, but profits fell at its BNSF railroad and intense than Precision Castparts executives were used to from inat its insurance units.

Buffett warned shareholders dustrial trade shows, but Jay that Berkshire's size - more than Khetani said joining Berkshire has 90 companies and investments - been great so far. Instead of draftwill make it difficult to continue ing a quarterly earnings report and preparing to deal with questions delivering exceptional returns. ``We had to forgo superior re- from investors, Precision sults for satisfactory,'' Buffett said. Castparts executives can focus on ``We're quite happy with the sat- running the business, Khetani said.-AP isfactory result.''

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India 5th in fake goods trade; China tops LONDON: India is the fifth biggest exporter of fake goods globally, while China is on the top with a huge 63 per cent share in the estimated half-a-trillion dollar worldwide imports of counterfeit and pirated goods.

China is followed by Turkey, Singapore, Thailand and India among the top-five countries from where most fake goods originate, as per a new study by the OECD (Organization Economic Cooperation and Develop-

ment) and the European Union's Intellectual Property Office.

China-made products accounted for 63.2 per cent of total seizures of fake imported goods globally, while the second-ranked Turkey's share was just 3.3 per cent.

The same for Singapore, Thailand and India stood at 1.9 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

Among the countries hit hardest by the global trade in fake foods, the US comes on

the top and is followed by Italy, France, Switzerland and Japan in the top-five.

"Imports of counterfeit and pirated

Kingfisher brand auctions flop again MUMBAI: Lenders failed to find any takers for brands and trademarks of the long defunct Kingfisher Airlines at an e-auction with their efforts to recover a portion of over Rs 9,000 crore dues from beleaguered Vijay Mallya hitting yet another air pocket.

The reserve price was kept at Rs 366.70 crore, not even a tenth the price at which the brand was pledged for an exorbitant Rs 4,000 crore in 2010.

Sources said however that the reserve price was "too high" for any bidder to come in. The attempts came within 45 days of the 17-bank consortium's failure to sell the Kingfisher House, the erstwhile headquarters of

the airline, for Rs 150 crore.

The fugitive Mallya, who was the chairman of the grounded airline and his group companies owe more than Rs 9,000 crore to the consortium led by SBI. Banks so far have recovered only around Rs 1,240 crore and a similar

amount has been encashed through selling pledged shares in group companies but the money is held up in various court cases.

Lenders may now look at revising the reserve price for both Kingfisher House and brand Kingfisher and will soon start the valuation exercise, bank sources told PTI. The items on sale during the e-auction included the Kingfisher logo as also the once-famous tagline 'Fly the Good Times'.

The other trademarks on sale included Flying Models, Funliner, Fly Kingfisher and Flying Bird Device.

"There were no bids, possibly because the reserve price was considered very high.

Though the reserve price was set much lower than its original valuation at the time of taking the brand as collateral, people still found it to be high," a banking source said.-PTI

Singapore Indian chamber team to visit AP SINGAPORE: The Singapore Indian direct investment in India's thermal energy Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) sector. is planning a trade mission to Andhra "Our chamber has a wide network, onPradesh to help members expand into the ground knowledge, and extensive experiIndian market through collaboration, joint ence in helping businesses seize opportuventures and partnerships. nities in India and other potential markets," It will be a joint mishe said, assuring the sion by SICCI and the "We are planning a Singapore Indian busiSingapore Business Fedness community of new eration (SBF) as a follow mission early June initiatives, strong support up to a number of suc- and chamber plans and value-added services cessful Singapore vento bolster their entrepreto help members tures in India in June, inneurial spirit and busicluding the master plan expand into the ness goals. of Andhra Pradesh's new Indian market "It would like to urge capital city of Amaravati.

SICCI members to start "We are planning a through collaboraseriously looking at the mission early June and tion, joint ventures Greater India region for chamber plans to help expanding their local opand partnerships" members expand into the erations and investing in Indian market through major infrastructure and collaboration, joint ventures and partner- property development projects in India seekships," R Theyvendran re-elected chairman ing expertise and equity from Singapore comof SICCI said. panies," Theyvendran in a call to the 1,000Another major landmark was Singapore strong members of the 92-year old chamber.

Sembcorp Industries' recently launched The companies and businesses have a USD 4.2 billion coal-fired power generation good name in India as reliable and trustplant in Andhra Pradesh, a largest foreign worthy business partners, he said. -PTI

goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5 per cent of global imports, with US, Italian and French brands the hardest hit and many of the proceeds going to organized crime," OECD said about the new study that takes into account the latest available figures till the year 2013.

The study puts the value of imported fake goods worldwide at USD 461 billion in 2013, compared with total imports in world trade of USD 17.9 trillion.

"Up to five per cent of goods imported into the European Union are fakes. Most originate in middle income or emerging countries, with China the top producer," it added.

The report, which analyzed nearly half a million customs seizures around the world over 201113, further said that its findings contradict the image that counterfeiters only hurt big companies and luxury goods manufacturers.

Fake products crop up in everything from handbags and perfumes to machine parts and chemicals, while footwear is the mostcopied item though trademarks are infringed even on strawberries and bananas.

"Counterfeiting also produces knockoffs that endanger lives auto parts that fail, pharmaceuticals that make people sick, toys that harm children, baby formula that provides no nourishment and medical instruments that deliver false readings," it added.-PTI

Desi News PG&E names Kiyota VP of Public Affairs India Post News Service

SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has appointed Travis Kiyota as vice president, Community Relations and Public Affairs. Kiyota currently serves as vice president, Local Government Relations, and will now also provide strategic leadership for the company's Community Relations organization.

"Travis is a talented and dynamic leader with a clear goal for PG&E to be the leading corporate citizen in the diverse communities of Northern and Central California.

Leveraging his extensive experience working with local government and elected leaders will help us achieve maximum impact in addressing the needs of our communities," said Helen Burt, senior vice president, External Affairs and Public Policy for PG&E. Kiyota joined PG&E in 2001 and has served in his current position for over three years. In his new role, Kiyota will also oversee PG&E's community benefit program, which contributed more than $25 million in charitable donations in 2015 supporting emergency preparedness, education, the environment, and economic and community vitality.

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Top writers interact at Boston's Sanskriti 2016

May 6, 2016

Details on page 19

Newly elected Gopio team seeks closer ties with India India Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) has elected a new international executive council at a warmly contested election, conducted electronically for the first time, where 208 of the 223 international delegates from 21 countries cast votes. It elected Niraj Baxi of Silicon Valley (USA) as its President. Other elected officers are: Noel Lal (Sydney, Australia) as Executive Vice President, Ram Gadhavi (New Jersey, USA) Vice President, Dr. Rajeev Mehta (USA), Dr. Pradip Sewoke (France), Mrs. Suman Kapoor (New Zealand), and Rajendre Tiwari

(The Netherlands) as International Coordinators.

The election process was supervised by GOPIO Chairman, Inder Singh who will continue in that position.

Formed in 1989 at the First Global Convention of People of Indian Origin, GOPIO has now reached most countries with a sizable Indian Diaspora population. In the past, GOPIO elections were generally held at its biennial conventions, wherein only a fraction of the international delegates could participate. However, with new technologies being available, the present election was held electronically with a record participation by 93% of the international delegates.

With India at the threshold of accepting new technologies and business investments, the new team has come up with a m o t t o , " G O P I O Means Business" so as to attract Indian Diaspora entrepreneurs and businessmen to take more interest in investing in India in all spheres, in business, phil a n t h r o p y, education, healthcare and social causes.

"With an investment and businessfriendly government in India, we see a lot of opportunity for the Indian Diaspora to invest and ac-

tively participate in India's development," said President Niraj Baxi.

GOPIO Executive Vice Presi-

fairness, transparency and accountability; there are many challenges that lie ahead of us and we

GOPIO 2016 Office bearers: From top left clockwise, Niraj Baxi, Noel Lal, Ram Gadhavi, Dr. Rajeev Mehta, Dr. Pradip Sewoke, Suman Kapoor, Rajendre Tiwari, GOPIO Chairman Inder Singh

dent Noel Lal said that GOPIO would reach out to all countries where we have the Diaspora presence.

Vice President Ram Gadhavi, who has brought Gujarati Diaspora writers on a common platform in the US, plans to extend it to all Indian writers on a global GOPIO forum.

GOPIO Founder President, Dr. Thomas Abraham, who also serves

need good wishes and continued hard work from everyone," Baxi continued.

GOPIO is a non-partisan, nonsectarian and secular global organization with about 50 chapters delegates, over 200 life members in over 24 countries. It actively promotes the interests of people of Indian origin worldwide by monitoring and addressing current critical issues of concern, and by

The new team has come up with a motto, "GOPIO Means Business" so as to attract Indian Diaspora entrepreneurs and businessmen to take more interest in investing in India in all spheres, in business, philanthropy, education, healthcare and social causes. as the Executive Trustee of GOPIO Foundation, said that GOPIO will increase its social and philanthropic activities in India, as well as in countries with a large Indian Diaspora population.

Baxi further said that he would work towards making GOPIO the voice of any and all NRIs and PIOs and would take initiatives in growing GOPIO in all countries and regions of the world.

"In all our internal and external activities, we want to bring about

enhancing cooperation and communication between groups of Indians living in various countries.

The new GOPIO team seeks your suggestions and participation. If you have an issue about our Diaspora community that should be taken up, please bring it to our attention. We are here to serve you. Please contact GOPIO President NirajBaxi, Tel: 408-3079845 or email: president@gopio.net or visit www.gopio.net

May 6, 2016

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Top writers interact at Boston's Sanskriti 2016 GEETHA PATIL

BOSTON: The Calcutta Club USA and The Boston Pledge presented their Second International Sanskriti 2016 - Literature, Arts, Theater and South Asian Book Fair on April 24 at Thoreau Elementary School, MA. Hundreds of viewers decked in

genesis of his writings.

Shobha De, a well-known journalist shared her day-to-day writing experiences in a Q&A session with audience.

Srijato Bandopadhyay, a popular poet of the Bengali younger generation and a winner of Ananda Puroskar

Indian Ambassador Arun Singh and eminent author Dr Amit Chaudhuri

their Indian traditional attire gathered in the hall with lots of enthusiasm and eagerness to browse through the book tables and listen to speeches of prominent personalities. The registration to the event was followed by the opening ceremony in the main auditorium that started with Bratati Bandyopadhyay's poetry recitation from India.

Shilajeet Mukherjee delivered an enlightening keynote address.

The afternoon interaction ses-

Book Fair at Sanskriti

sions were started with distinguished writers, professors, directors and business leaders. Dr. Amit Chaudhuri, an eminent author and academician from Calcutta who was awarded the Sahitya Academy award, India's highest literary honor, in 2002 for his novel A New World was introduced by Partha Ghosh to the audience for lively discussions to learn more about

The 'Book Fair-2016' exhibition commenced simultaneously in the morning at 10:30 am in the main hall. The book fair floor was full of book tables that displayed a number of books by leading publishers and sellers like Roy Bookstores, Kolkata; Bodhi Praashan, Jaipur; Tulika Books, Marlboro; Grandparents by Aaria, Nashua, Barely Read Boo, Sudbury; Wellesley Books/Penguin RH; Authors Direct - Worldwide.

This was followed by authors' 'Recital & Reading' session that included Sudipta Bhawmi, Sunayana Kachroo, Partha Banerjee, Anay, Chandu Shah, and Neela Bhattacharya Saxena who recited enthusiastically about their works.

Creative art contests in floral design, jewelry making, and Rangoli were also conducted by

time and active participation in the event.

Special thanks were given to

aging support. Convenors of Sanskriti 2016, Chitro and Ruma Neogy felicitated the ambassador,

Creative art contest

sponsors like Billion Bricks, Singapore; H4training, Boston; Urban Public, Denver; Chettinad Grill, Dr. Gauri Dutta, Kohinoor

panelists and play directors with a decorative Calcutta Club plaque.

Arun Singh called upon the Calcutta Club to continue build-

A section of the audience

award in 2004 for his book Uronto Sob Joker was introduced by Alokesh Duttaroy to the audience for active interaction. The chief guest of the event was Indian Ambassador to the United States, Arun Singh who delivered his inspiring speech on the Role and Contributions to the American Economy.

A meticulous moderator, Shouvik Gangopadhyay led the panel of notable authors such as Dr. Vivek Bald, MIT; Dr. Maina Singh, American University, DC; Manreet Sodhi Someshwar, New York who discussed vibrantly on 'History in South Asian Literature' and answered all the questions raised by the audience.

Mohit Chopra introduced Dr. Sam Pitroda from Chicago who delivered his speech on 'Dreaming Big.' An able Bengali director Aparajita Das presented a hilarious and vigorous Bengali play called 'Dance Pe Chance.' A dynamic Director Preetesh Shrivastava, staged a Hindi Manch play entitled 'Sipahi Ki Ma.'

Madhuparna and team with many invited judges as a part of the event. All the writers, speakers, artists and directors were recognized with much gratitude for their

Collections, Raj Dogra Realty, Moksha Spa, A1 Home Medical Supplies, Huntington Learning Center, DOPL, Kolkata; Teamwork Arts, Ltd, Delhi for their encour-

ing on the book fair initiative and to take the program mainstream.

Chettinad Restaurant served delicious Indian food with Bengali flavor to the audience.

AAP welcomes Sukhpal Khaira of Punjab India Post News Service

CHICAGO: The Chicago Chapter of Aam Aadmi Party held a meet and greet session with Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Senior Party leader

from Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St Louis in addition to large number of volunteers and supporters from Chicagoland.

Khaira touched upon first hand plans of Aam Aadmi Party to come

Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Ajeet Singh. Pics Asian Media USA

from Punjab, India on Friday April 28 at Cascade Banquets in Bensenville, a north west suburb of Chicago. It was attended by a large number of NRI volunteers

up with solutions for debt ridden state of the Punjab that could once boast of booming economy and all around upswing in all sectors of activities. Things have changed

in the State due to corruption.

Khaira observed that the State had reached bottom levels compared to any other state in India due to gross mismanagement by the two major ruling parties that have governed the State since Independence. He discussed each of the problems and how AAP plans to conduct dialogues with all stakeholders in the State to take their inputs and come up with a manifesto and execution plan for each of the 117 constituencies. A campaign under name of 'Bolda Punjab' is currently going on with youth of Punjab across all major towns and villages.

Mat Singh Dhillon, Lakhbir Singh and Atul Anand welcomed the gathering and shared his poetry calling for people of Punjab to bring the change it deserves for progress of Punjab.

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PCS Rangla Punjab meet a big success RAJINDER MAGO

CHICAGO: The Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago (PCO) presented its flagship annual event "Rangla Punjab 2016" to

cultural variety event in Chicago area, showcasing Punjabi performing arts, The program was emceed by

Artists of all ages, teenage boys and girls, college students, and adults dressed in a variety of Punjabi colorful costumes per-

PCS girls Gidha

Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago board officials. Pics Asian Media USA

celebrate Vaisakhi festival on Saturday April 23 at Meadows Club Banquet Hall in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. With more than 200 participants rendering 30 spectacular variety acts and attended by more than 1000 the even turned out to be a huge success.

Jaslin Kaur Nanua & Harmanjit Kaur Dhillon; Mona Bhalla; Guru Dhaliwal & Surinder Singh Sangha; Raskirth Singh & Rajinder Singh Mago. It was divided into four segments, touching upon dazzling performances of Bhangra and Gidha dances, delightful

PCS ladies' the "Milwaukee Gidha" group in "Kikli Kaleer Di”

PCS has been organizing Rangla Punjab for more than two decades. And it happens to be the single largest annual Punjabi

Punjabi songs, and melodious music, by local and guest artists from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.

formed their best on stage. Young children were trained by PCS volunteer instructors who were practicing since January of this year for this event.

The Gidha dance moves by the ladies from "Milwaukee Gidha" Team, "Shaunkanna Chicago Diyan" and "Chicago Gidha," and "Nachdiyaan Mutiyaraan" were nostalgic reminders of rural Punjab and won the hearts of the audience with their fast beat music, stellar acts and colorful costumes. The set up in the lobby with vendors and exhibit booths, Sikh warriors of world wars posters display, resembled a "Mela."

PCS Vice President Surinder Singh Sangha welcomed the audience. The program opened with singing of a prayer "shabad" by a group of young children from Palatine Gurdwara Gurmat School.

A variety of Punjabi songs delighted the audience. Kanchanji, a versatile singer rendered a melodious song "Aej Jindari Sari Sari;" Mona Bhalla and daughters

moved the audience with their energy, passion and the song "Kudi Bindaas;" Mahijit Singh Virdi, a veteran singer and TV artist sang "Dilchori sada ho gaya." Mandeep Singh Saini sang"Tankhah;" Vijay Rajput sang "Punjabi Boliyaan."

Siobhan Kaur Henegan along with her siblings sang a melodious song "Challa" with live music.

Ronny Kular conducted the awards and recognition ceremonies in cooperation with Sunny Kular. All the sponsors, item coordinators, participants and their families were thanked for their support. Outgoing PCS president Vick Singh was awarded a plaque for

The upcoming P.C.S. organized events are: "Punjabi Youth Graduation & Scholarship Night" dinner and party on June 12 at Viceroy of India Banquets in Lombard, IL where all the High School and College "Class of 2016" graduates who register will be honored and scholarship awarded to the selected candidates. All the Punjabi students graduating in 2016 are requested to register with PCS to participate in the party and scholarship contest. The "Rangla Punjab 2016" participants will also be honored.

"P.C.S. Sports Festival" is

PCS kids. "Navi Paneeri" the budding Bhangra dancers

his excellent services during his term. Vick Singh thanked his team for their full support in 2015. Outgoing PCS Chairman Amritpal Singh Sangha was also honored with a plaque.

slated for August and PCS Night including Bhangra Competition in November. PCS participation in Thanksgiving Day Parade is on November 24.

Cont’d on page 21

AAP welcomes Sukhpal Khaira of Punjab Cont’d from page 19

Gurcharan Singh Jhaj and Jasbir Singh Palia shared his expectations from AAP and encouraged the gathering to support the party that is largely run via voluntarily contributions.

The hugely successful event was conducted by Gurmukh Singh Bhullar. Kartar Singh, Asian Games Gold Medalist in Wrestling and former Police officer who has recently joined AAP, flew in especially from Seattle and addressed

A section of the audience

the gathering. Pradeep Sundriyal, Convener of AAP USA Overseas group shared details about various AAP chapters in USA and how NRIs have been instrumental in helping the party since its inception and how they can contribute for further success of the party to help root out the menace of corruption from Punjab.

Srikanth Kocharlakota, Secretary of AAP USA Overseas wing, shared some of the major achievements of AAP's Delhi government in the fields of education,

healthcare and tackling menace of corruption in Delhi and how similar plans will be put in place once AAP forms government in Punjab in 2017.

AAP Chicago Convener Ajeet Singh thanked all who were able to attend the event at short notice. He said Chicago chapter looks forward to further participation of NRIs to support AAP for upcoming Punjab elections. Anyone who is willing to volunteer for further party events can contact 847-529-9778.

May 6, 2016

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Gut roaring time with Anuvab on the Brit!

ARCHANA ASTHANA

MILPITAS, CA: Enacte Arts prides itself on bringing quality acts to the Bay Area, and the stand-up comedy by Anuvab Pal at the India Community Center in Milpitas was no exception. The presence of a stellar entertainer and a receptive audience was already a dynamic mix for an entertaining evening; the introduction by Dr. Priya Satia of Stanford as a preamble to understanding

the inherent humor related to British in India was the cherry on top. The stage was set for a lively, intellectually stimulating, gut roaring time!

As an associate professor of modern British history, Dr. Satia wanted to explore why references to British imperialism and post colonial India would be funny. She touched upon racism, a fodder for many humorists, in which a handful of people are trying to rule a vast country...specific examples of the Brits calling the Himalayas, "hills", or calling Chinese and Indian workers in Malaysia, "foreign natives" appear

PCS Rangla Punjab meet a big success Cont’d from page 20

The Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago is an all volunteer not-for-profit community service organization devoted to promoting Punjabi culture, language, performing arts, education, good citizenship, healthy lifestyle, and sports. Its Board of Directors for 2016 are Harkewal Singh Lally (Hon. Chairman), Gurmit Singh Dhillon (President), Surinder Singh Sangha (Vice President), Bikram Singh Chohan (Executive Secretary), Parvinder Singh Nanua (Finance Secretary), Surinder Singh Palia (Sports Director), Manjeet Singh Bhalla & Kulbir Singh Bagri (Inter-Community Directors), Gagandeep Singh Multani and Raibrinder Singh Ghotra (Youth Directors).

funny because of their ludicrousness.

The registers of comical can be controversial...if you can joke about something, it points to a security with it, for example, jokes related to slavery, racism, discrimination etc, which would be very uncomfortable topics otherwise. The end of the British Empire provided a satire boom in the 1960s, through the subversive power of jokes and absurd portrayals of situations, circumstances and personalities.

Anuvab Pal makes Indians laugh at themselves, which they are not always very good at. The audience could identify readily with

the many references to the stereotypically timid, effeminate Bengali whose strongest weapon is his words…his poetry; the Punjabi who is more brawn than brain, the miserly Gujarati, the literate South Indian category ...loosely representing the four corners of India.

Then, there is the Nepali, who, despite lofty achievements is reduced to the universal "Bahadur", a man Friday of sorts.

Even though these references are not new, and may be considered politically incorrect in most interactions, they do tickle the funny bone because of their absurdity.

The subversive take on the post colonial mindset of the Indian people is actually very much alive to the present day, because, as Anuvab puts it, "No one told us that the British had left"! So, we continue with the colonial legacy, no matter how absurd it may be juxtaposed to the modern times.

Anuvab lauded the genius of Mahatma Gandhi, as one man who agreed to let the hordes of masses who did not want to fight, to not fight, and called it the non cooperation movement, where essentially there was no movement!

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GITPRO meet hails new tech Gut roaring time with Anuvab on the Brit! making waves PALO ALTO, CA: The Global Indian Technology Professionals

ence was a huge success.

From Festival of Globe (FOG) Silicon Valley, Upendra Giri, PfMP, who is Chairman FOG Summit 2016,

Association (GITPRO) organized the Fifth Conference on Emerging Technologies, Professional Development & Entrepreneurship on April 23 at Jewish Conference Center, Palo Alto, CA. The confer-

participated in the day-long conference where more than 400 people attended and interacted with more than 35 highly accomplished and renowned speakers of high tech industry of Silicon Valley. All the

India Post News Service

sessions were informative.

GITPRO Founder Khanderao Kand enlightened the audience with latest technologies which are making a wave in the industry.

There was a great presentation by Biren Gandhi (in picture) who is a Strategist at Cisco. He emphasized the role of Drones and FOG computing after Cloud Computing and new frontiers in the digital age.

GITPRO 2016 had following tracks: Technology Tracks: DevOps, Openstack, JavaScript SPA Node/ Angular Startup Entrepreneurs: Structuring Startup, Monetization, Investment, Pitching, Business model, Funding, Succeeding & more Professional Development: Meet Technologists, Startup CEOs, Career Coaches, & Executives. Learn Agile, Scrum, Managing Career etc.

Big Data IoT Cloud Summit: Sessions on Big Data, Cloud, Internet of Things More can be found at http:// gitpro.org/gitproworld/

Unique music concert with appreciation session GEETA PATIL

BOSTON: Shadaj and SPK Academy arranged a unique event featuring music appreciation session followed by a concert on Friday evening, April 29 at India Center, Shrewsbury.

Hundreds of classical music lovers gathered in traditional Indian attire to enjoy the evening with Ustad Shahid Parvez's Sitar vadan accompanied by Amit Kavthekar on Tabla and Sutapa Sengupta on Tanpura. This event was presented in the memory of Ustad Alla Rakha, a well-known Ustad Shahid Parvez at musical concert in Boston Indian tabla player who popularized the art of tabla by playing brief bio-sketch highlighting their skills; Shailesh Salgar for arrangacross the globe with popular art- specialty and achievements. In the ing a well-equipped sound system ists like Ravi Shankar, Mickey first part of the concert Ustad without any interruptions; Dr. Hart-a rock n 'rolls percussionist Shahid Parvez presented raga Sudhakaran for his meticulous disPuriya Kalyan in the tribution of tickets and marketing and Buddy Rich- a conversation form on services, Gauri Chandna for hostjazz drummer. He also the Gayaki Ang. The ing the event and all the volunbridged the gap besecond half of the teers who gave their valuable time tween Carnatic and concert consisted of and services in decorating the Hindustani music by Sitar vadan by Ustad stage and arranging the hall and playing with both reParvez. The main making this event a grand success. nowned Carnatic and raga was Puriya Gratitude was expressed to Hindustani musiKalyan and the con- Mahesh Lachyankar and family for cians.

Gauri Chandna cluding piece was hosting all the artists along with Gauri Chandna invitees. At the end, everyone enwelcomed warmly the audience at Shiddha Bhairavi.

Shadaj and Rajesh Godbole joyed delicious food prepared by the concert. She introduced all the artists of the concert with their were thanked for their organization Bollywood Grill of Shrewsbury.

Cont’d from page 21

come to his show, she tweets, "can't come, have Rotary club meeting".

SRK responds, "OK auntyji, Jai Shri Ram"! Or, the propensity of the youth to ignore vowels in their expedient texting makes Anuvab react to a text from his son, as reading the Uzbek language! When his wife tries to explain the message, he is horrified that she, too, has become Uzbek!

Anuvab then took a dig at the innate nature of Indians in what he describes as 90% "harami" which can decently be translated as scoundrels! His sparkling wit is clear in the comical references to when British approached and demanded surrender, Indians readily acquiesced. They had found someone else to run the municipality and take on the government headaches!

The Brits were stunned at the lack of resistance, and after centuries felt the full impact of Indian haraminess - when nine out of the top ten British businessmen are of

The strategy of working with, but not cooperating or fighting with the British unsettled the rulers, and led to many comic pieces in Anuvab's act.

Much of Anuvab's dialogue was in a fake British accent, and then he spoke about the English language as she is spoken in India. When an Indian speaks English, it sounds like he is auditioning for the film, "Gandhi", and the forceful enunciations may sound like someone just shot you in the behind!

Expounding on the evolution of language, it was inevitable to bring up the mixed up "Hinglish" combo...especially prevalent in Bollywood film titles..."Jab we met", "Always Kabhi Kabhi", Pyaar Impossible"...to name a few.

Indians are nonplussed sometimes when grilled by visiting foreigners as they have the facts correct, having read the right books.

The ubiquitous tour guides at historical monuments, however, have their own way of dealing with When an Indian speaks such questions, and offer completely made up English, it sounds like he is stories with substanauditioning for the film, tially altered facts. For example, introducing "Gandhi", and the forceful Shah Jahan, the great Moghul emperor, as the enunciations may sound cousin of Naseeruddin like someone just shot you Shah, a Bollywood acin the behind! tor!

In other references to the Mughal reign as fodder for the humor, Anuvab cites Indian origin, their Jaguars and the legacy of the culinary influ- steel plants have been taken over ence, specifically, the biryani (a by Indian industrialists, a large spiced rice and meat dish), and the populace on the island is Indian, Indians' exaggeration of their love while the British man is eating for it. Every Indian claims to know chicken tikka masala and speak"the best" of many things, includ- ing in Hindi!

Anuvab observed that the coning biryani! If it is not made by "his guy", it cannot be as good! temporary, new India has been creSo, if you eat the Delhi biryani, ated by the Silicon Valley computer locals claim, "you will go mad", apps and is followed by the changafter eating the Bombay one, "you ing of the rules between India and will die", the Lakhnavi biryani will U.S through technology. The tech "make you forget everything", millionaires display their wealth by and after eating Calcutta version, wearing torn shorts, logo T shirts "you will never go back"! and riding their bikes, while the Anuvab's kinesthetic caricature of Indian rich continue to flaunt it such outcomes was acutely hilari- gaudily.

Anuvab's fast paced delivery, ous.

The ridiculous divide between rapid fire dialogues and increduthe digital and the pre-digital age lous facial expressions leave no was shown through references to time for any other reaction than the young and old generations raucous laughter. His wit and huwho are trying to bridge the gap, morous portrayals do more than and falling into pretty comic situ- initiate a laugh, they make us pause ations. As when, Anuvab's mother and reexamine the impact of the believes the tweet is a personal British raj. Are we finally comfortexchange between her and the ce- able enough with our past to now lebrity she is following. So, in re- laugh about it and deem it a non sponse to Shahrukh Khan's call to issue?

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May 6, 2016

India Post 23

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Guj Samaj celebrates Spring Festival ASHWIN PATEL

ST LOUIS: A two and half decade old community organization set up to preserve Gujarati culture and heritage, the Gujarati Samaj of St. Louis, Missouri, celebrated the Spring Festival with great bonhomie at St. Ann Community Center, St. Louis, on April 16.

The program started with light Gujarati food provided by Haveli.

More than 400 people attended

sisted of 17 different items performed by members, children, juniors and seniors, who dressed up

in different costumes pertaining to spring. They represented the culture of all parts of Gujarat. The program was filled with folk dances, Gujarati Raas, Bollywood songs, classical songs, Bollywood remix songs. Cultural program was coordinated by Hema Patel. The Master of Ceremony for Cultural Program were Prapti Patel, Anusha Mehta and Jinal Bhagat. The purpose of the program was to encourage large participation, celebrate the spring festival and to provide a platform for Gujaratis to mingle with each other and also with those from other ethnic communities.

Laxmi Prasad Barot passes away India Post News Service

CHICAGO: Laxmi Prasad Barot, 85, father of Hemant Brahmbhatt (Hi India newspaper) passed away on Monday, April 25 in Chicago after prolonged illness.

Hemant Brahmbhatt and his family members said that though no more physically he would "always be part of us, being part of our heart." Hemant said, "Throughout my life my father taught me many things: Respect, Moral values, Honoring, Sincerity

Laxmi Prasad Barot (July 31, 1931 - April 25, 2016)

Pics courtesy Hema Patel of Haveli

the celebration.

The cultural program started with the singing of American and Indian national anthems. It was followed by a prayer. Jitendra Prabhu, president of Gujarati Samaj, welcomed the gathering.

The three hour program con-

Family members giving final homage to Laxmi Prasad Barot

and Ethics. We grieve his death and pray to God that his Soul rest in peace. " He believed in "simple living and high thinking and lived long enough with joy and fulfilling life.

Barot, who had started eking out a living for family members from the time he turned 14, gradually mastered the art of typing and worked with some private companies before joining the top-drawer organization like Gujarat Electricity Board .

He had been living in the US for the past 16 years. He enjoyed going to gardens and watching dramas and musical shows. After kidney failure, he had been on dialysis since 2009 and, in September last, was admitted to hospital

where he remained semi-conscious till he breathed his last.

Laxmi Prasad was cremated at Bohemian National Cemetery of Chicago on N. Pulaski Road, at 11 am on Saturday April 30 in the presence of a number of family members, relatives, friend and members of Chicago Indian community.

He is survived by his wife Sushila, two sons (younger Hemant and elder Nitin) and daughter Dharmista. While Nitin is working with GEB, Dharmista lives in Philadelphia.

India Post and its staff members join many in Chicagoland in expressing their sense of grief and loss, and pray that Brahmbhatt family gets strength to bear this loss.

Gujarati Samaj is a leading organization in St. Louis for the Indian community. It will host a 5k walk at Millennium Park, 2 Barnes West Dr, Creve Coeur. MO on May 14 Saturday 8 am and picnic at Mc Donnell Park (Lindbergh Shelter) on June 26, 2 pm onward

The 2011 Board of Directors are - President: Jitendra Prabhu, Vice President: Mahendrar Patel, Secretary: Tejas Bhakta, Treasurer: Jayesh Desai, Members: Hema Patel, Mahendra Z. Patel, Nilesh Patel, Chirag Shah and Jayesh Dahya.

Bal Vihar students 'Walk for Water' gallons of water and walk to experience the struggle millions of ST. LOUIS: The Center of In- people go through every day.

According to the organizers, dia Cultural Education- Bal Vihar of St Louis held a "Walk for Wa- they were able to raise over $3000. ter" event at Vlasis Park Ballwin They said that the 100% of the MO on Saturday April 16 to raise funds raised will go to water.org, a funds and create awareness for non-profit organization that helps the water crisis around the world. build wells, and the infrastructure The event attended by about to access safe and sanitized water 225 people turned out to be a well in countries such as Africa, South organized one by the youth group America, India, Bangladesh and of the school from ages 13 -18 Philippines.

The Center for Indian Cultural years under the leadership of the school yoga team leader Surekha Education - Bal Vihar of St. Louis, a nonBidep profit orand the ganizacommut i o n , nication since its and marincepketing tion in leader 1992 has Shoba b e e n Shekar. serving Around t h e t h e Bal Vihar Walkathon Metro St. world, millions of women and children, Louis Indian community. The primostly girls, spend up to five mary focus of this organization is hours a day walking to fetch wa- to provide Indian cultural educater for their daily use. Without ac- tion to students age 5-18, its apcess to clean water, they collect plication and integration with the dirty water from rivers, streams, or global multicultural and multifacponds and carry it home in heavy eted society. They are also taught containers on their heads or discipline, tolerance and devotion strapped to their backs. Every 20 in their daily routine.

The ultimate goal is "to throw seconds a child dies due to water related disease. Five million girls the light of cultural knowledge on don't go to school because their every child, to make every child an outstanding citizen and to time is spent carrying water.

As part of the Walk for Water, spread the song of peace and harparticipants were expected to carry mony around the world."

India Post News Service

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May 6, 2016

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Shankar Ehsaan Loy concert enthralls San Jose India Post News Service

SAN JOSE: Shankar Ehsaan Loy, the musical trio along with Siddharth Mahadevan, Raman, Rasika Shekhar, and singing twins Sukriti Kakkar and Prakriti Kakkar, evoked endless memories of the

past during their live concert on April 29 organized by Sankara Eye foundation at the Event center at San JosĂŠ State University (SJSU).

Sankara Eye Foundation is a non profit organization which initiates and drives community eye care activities in India. SEF cur-

rently has 11 hospitals and is working on three new hospitals in Hyderabad, Indore and Jaipur.

Through their fundraising efforts, SEF USA has played a significant role in increasing the number of free surgeries, since inception, to over 1.25 million in 2014. SEF's mission is to realize the goal of 20/20 vision for the people of India by the year 2020.

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Share a Smile hosts annual fundraiser Asian Media USA

CHICAGO: Share a Smile Chicago, a no profit body with a global vision to share and give back to the less privileged senior citizens, held a fundraiser to raise money to fund various projects that it endorses, including for senior home called Sukhdham.

The annual fundraiser was held on April 22 at The Meadows Club, featuring "The Funny Indian"

ing with laughter at his opening act.

Share-a-smile Chicago truly believes that "Great things are done through a series of small things brought together." Keeping that in mind on a monthly basis they hold community gatherings for the seniors to socially engage, educate, foster communications with peers and simply to have fun!

They work with Barrington Area Executive Committee members and "The Funny Indian" Rajiv Satyal at Share a Smile Chicago annual fundraiser dinner

Rajiv Satyal with Deepa Bharaj family

Rajiv Satyal. The opening act featured Chicago-born comedian, Azhar Usman. Usman obtained a law degree, but instead of practicing law, started doing stand-up comedy. He had the crowd roar-

Council of Aging and support their Meals-on-wheels program to help deliver hot and nutritious meals to home bound seniors. They work in conjunction with Autumn Leaves a senior community serving people

suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia.

One of their major benefactors is "Sukhdham" which simply means a place of well being. It houses seniors who have been abandoned by their families. They are housed, fed and their medical expenses are taken care of. It takes $600 to support a senior for one year at this home.

This has been a landmark year for SASC. They also sent a container of essential supplies and goods to flood victims of Chennai, helped victims of domestic abuse and distributed coats to the homeless in Chicago.In March, it announced the launch of SASC Naperville chapter.

The president Vandana Walia thanked all the volunteers and core SASC committee members who had worked hard to make this

event happen and all the volunteers, sponsors and the Chairman Sushma Bhanot.

The evening included a beautiful Ganesh Vandana dance by Amy

to raise funds that evening.

Executive Committee: President: Vandana Walia, Dipti Thakkar, Founder/Director: Sushma Bhanot, Vice-Presidents:

One of their major benefactors is "Sukhdham" which simply means a place of well being. It houses seniors who have been abandoned by their families. They are housed, fed and their medical expenses are taken care of.

Verma, Devina Sharma and Ananya Sharma which was followed by a Latin dance performed by Aaron and Alissa from Fred Astaire Dance Studio. The audience enthusiastically participated in the silent auction which contained various donated gift basket items

Medini Pradhan/ Rajni Asija, Treasurer: Deepa Bharaj, Secretaries: Meenakshi Mehta & Kavita Mahableshwarkar Board Members: Priyanka Sublok, Prajakta Sukhatme, Amardeep Lall, Dimple Patel and Nidhi Pawar.

Interfaith role in women empowerment stressed at UN PRAFULL LANDE & SANJEEV SAGAR

NEW YORK: United Nations Women organized annual conference of CSW 60 (Commission on the Status of Women) this year from March 14 till 24 in New York.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOCaccredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world attended the session. Sant Nirankari Mission being such an NGO, organized a panel discussion event on the topic of "Interfaith Role in Women Empowerment" on March 21.

The priority theme of UN Women is "Women's empowerment and its link to sustainable

development and the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls."

Unlike other gender equality goals set forth by the CSW for their Planet 50/50 by 2030, violence against women is not something that will end by setting strict laws alone. We need to create change in the core attitude where the violent behavior stems from. Perhaps this is why in recent years we are seeing the presence of more faith based organizations like the Sant Nirankari Mission being invited to partner with this UN initiative.

Recognizing our oneness at the spiritual core and committing to a

life of peaceful coexistence is what is required for violence to end.

As Dr. Iqbaljit Rai summed it up well in an interactive session the UN team attended. "The very foundation of the SNM and its

followers is always to treat women with the utmost respect, regard and honor as they play a much more important role than men in all societies. Social Welfare Department of the SNM continuously works

for empowerment of women in many ways. Care-giving is imbibed in the nature of its followers.

Women are taking equal part in the administration and preaching of the Mission.

"SNM believes that "Equality through Spirituality" is the only way to go in future. Gender bias has no place in it. Mission followers always hold women in high esteem both in the organizational and socio-spiritual activities without any discrimination on the basis of gender."

It was discussed that if Interfaith has to play a bigger role in achieving this goal, principles of E5 needs to be propagated, E5 which corresponds to Enhancement, Engagement, Empowerment, Equality and Empathy for all. This theme was the undercurrent in the panel discussion. Panelist for the event were the experts in this field of work: Ravi Karkara (Senior Advisor, Deputy Executive Director, UN), Shabnam Madhok (Representative, SNM), Prof. Richard Potter (Author- Authentic Spirituality), Joy Theriot and Maharoo Moshari.

Community Across America

26 India Post

May 6, 2016

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Smithsonian showcasing Shiva & Parvati NEELA PANDYA

WASHINGTON DC: The Smithsonian, "world's largest museum and research complex" in

Park and nine research facilities; has about 138 million objects/artifacts. In 2015, about 28 million

wood or cloth.

He urged major art museums of the world, including Musee du

Smithsonain Museum showcasing Hindu deities

Washington DC, is displaying people visited Smithsonian. David three iconic Hindu Chola bronzes J. Skorton is the Secretary of the till early 2017.

Smithsonian Institution.

These among others Commending include Shiva Nataraja Smithsonian for show(ca. 990), Shiva casing Hindu artifacts, Vinadhara (ca 950) and Rajan Zed, President of Parvati (10th century) at Universal Society of Smithsonian's Arthur Hinduism, said that art Museum logo M. Sackler Gallery. had a long and rich traFounded in 1846, Smithsonian; dition in Hinduism and ancient consisting of 19 museums and Sanskrit literature talked about regalleries, the National Zoological ligious paintings of deities on

Louvre and Musee d'Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc., to frequently organize exhibitions with focus on Hindu arts and culture, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.

Vedic Center celebrates Ram Navmi with gusto KRISHNA DAS

CHICAGO: The Vedic Day Care appreciative of the generous do- Trivedi, Ashok Gandhi. The Center, a pre-school and kinder- nations made by the parents of the Prasad was sponsored by Sukadia garten educational facility in Chi- children. They were honored on Restaurant. cago, celebrated its annual Ram the stage to show the gratitude of Vrishabh thanked all of them Navmi function on Sunday April the Day Care. for their support and sponsorship.

24.

Amongst the many who finan- The Vedic Day Care seeks to strive Approximately 100 people attended the program. The children of the Vedic Day Care Center recited Bhagavad Gita slokas, sang nursery songs and performed folk dances.

To accompany this extravagant display put on by the children was a play based on Lord Ram's pastime.

The director of the Center, Vrashabh Das, briefly enlightened Vedic Day Care Center presenting skit and a play during Ram Navmi Celebrations the crowd on the progress of the facility and gave a lecture on the sig- cially supported the Center are Dr. towards improving the children's nificance of Ram Navmi. He said C.M. Modi, Dr. Agarwal, Navin education by broadening their that the Day Care Center is really Mehta, Kalpesh Patel, Rupal horizon.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy concert enthralls San Jose There was a VIP reception organized by SEF sponsored by Bank of the West. "We have a special relation with Sankara, have been members for over 10 years and have introduced lot of my friends. We support this incredible organization because of their transparency and accountability", said Madhura Walia and party to India Post correspondent.

"We started supporting SEF since 2005. Instead of investing in expensive Christmas gifts, our family decided to support SEF and our small help will open eyes to a needy person. The very feeling of supporting a family gives so much pleasure which cannot be replaced by any gift," said Singhal and party at the reception.

The concert began on time with up-beat performances by

'Pretty Woman' from Kal Ho Naa Ho to 'Maa' from Taare Zameen Par. If Shankar's singing carried with it the weight of experience, the younger singers showcased the exuberant face of music. Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy paid their tribute to the father-son duo, RD Burman and SD Burman, where they sang snatches of some of their evergreen hits.

Rasika wowed all with her evocative notes on the flute.

When three musicians with 20 years of collaborative camaraderie perform, part of the joy lies in witnessing the unspoken communication on stage. Shankar did enthrall the audience with songs in Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.

The last 15 minutes of the show were electrifying, with numbers such as 'Mitwa' (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) and Shankar's signature

Siddharth Mahadevan and singing twins Sukriti Kakkar and Prakriti Kakkar. He wowed the audience with his songs "Malang", "Zinda", "Hulla Re" although it was his first International tour. He made his debut in 2013 with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. He got further acclaim for the song Malang by music director Pritam in the movie Dhoom 3. He has also composed music for the Marathi film Swapna Tujhe ni Majhe with his cousin Soumil. He also sings in Telugu, Tamil, Marathi and Malayalam.

Shankar began with the scintillating 'Ek Dantaya', an invocation to Lord Ganesha, from the album Vishwa Vinayaka, before moving on to the rousing track from Dil Chahta Hai, dedicated to his friends. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's compositions have flavored many coming-of-age movies, including My name is Khan and Rock On! When they rendered the title tracks of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and 'Locha-E-Ulfat' from 2 States, it brought about a warm rush of nostalgia.

The women in the audience had a field day, with many songs being dedicated to them from

'Breathless' that saw him zoom up the popularity charts and concluding the concert with Senorita' from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

Speaking on the occasion, K. Sridharan, Board of Trustees, SEF thanked the volunteers, sponsors, audience and artists who have been supporting Sankara all through their journey. "Our vision is to eradicate curable blindness in India by the year 2020 and we need all your support for the same.

The charity navigator has repeatedly given the organization top rating of four stars. Funds raised through these events are utilized towards construction of state of the art hospitals across various states in India, to conduct free eye camps in rural areas, free eye surgeries for the less fortunate, and to maintain these hospitals," he said.

A day before the show, the composers interacted with the media at a press conference April 28 at the Hilton, San Jose downtown, where the team briefed the media about the upcoming show and also talked about the music scene in India and their composing experience.

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India Post 27

TOP TEN HINDI FILM SONGS

1 Kar Gayi Chull : Kapoor & Sons 2 Sab Tera: Baaghi 3 High Heels Te Nachche: Ki & Ka 28

India Post

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May 6, 2016

I

t's not every day that a kung-fu legend comes out and praises you. And if you're a newbie on the scene, it feels all the more sweet. Disha Patani, who is going to appear in her first Hindi film 'Dhoni: The Untold Story', is shooting in China currently with Jackie Chan for an international film titled Kung Fu Yoga in China.

A source close to the actress said, "She has impressed Jackie so much so that he gushes about her to everyone he meets. Disha is a trained gymnast and her proficiency with action-packed sequences while shooting in China hasn't gone unnoticed by the senior actor who feels that Disha's skill will be appreciated in Hollywood too. He has re-

4 Jabra Fan: Fan 5 Bol Do Na Zara: Azhar 6 Ji Huzoori : Ki & Ka 7 Bolna: Kapoor & Sons 8 Most Wanted Munda : Ki & Ka 9 Let's Talk About Love : Baaghi 10 Buddhu Sa Mann : Kapoor & Sons

I

ferred her to his agents in Hollywood."

Well, that's one lucky girl. So do we see another Bollywood actor heading for the West? It was also reported that the actor gifted her a jacket with his name on it.

Uday is the most amazing human being who I have ever met in my entire life not just in India but around the world. If anyone is his friend that person is lucky to have him in his life

N

argis Fakhri, who is gearing up for her next release 'Azhar' alongside Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai gets candid about her rumored boyfriend Uday Chopra. When she was quipped whether she is dating Uday, she replied, "Am I really dating? Interesting you ask me. Uday Chopra is a person who will be a part of my life for the rest of my life. He is the most amazing human being who I have ever met in my entire life not just in India but around the world. If anyone is his friend that person is lucky to have him in his life".

She insists that she is only a friend of the 'Dhoom' actor. Nargis says she is currently single.

"These days women are lucky. We are independent, can choose our career make our own money and choose when want to marry and have kids which can also happen at later age. So, we should take advantage of living our lives to the fullest before we think of settling down with a dude and being in the kitchen because I won't be cooking any rotis".

rrfan Khan, who has carved a niche for himself in Hollywood, features in Ron Howard's film Inferno opposite Tom Hanks. There was even a sneak peek at Irrfan's look in the film. Well, now we hear that Inferno will release in India before the US. In fact Inferno will hit Indian screens on October 14, 2016 a full two weeks before the US release date scheduled for October 28. As for the film, Inferno is the cinematic adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller by the same name that will see Irrfan Khan playing a parallel role along with Tom Hanks who portrays the character of Harry - the head of The Consortium, helping Zobrist (Ben Foster) in his mission.

Bollywood

May 6, 2016

India Post 29

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S

onakshi Sinha is going to play Karachi-based journalist in her next venture titled 'Noor' which is based on Saba Imtiaz's popular novel 'Karachi, You're Killing Me!'.

The movie will be directed by newcomer Sunhil Sippy and the film will go on floor this year end.

'Noor' revolves around female journalist Aisha and her work struggles in the titular city.

Meanwhile, Sonakshi has walked out of Apoorva Lakhia's 'Haseena', which was based on Dawood Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parkar's life, due to date issues. Sonakshi chose 'Noor' over playing Haseena Parkar.

Says a source, "Though she thinks it's a fantastic script, the film has to be finished in one schedule of 45 days, which she is having problems scheduling. She feels there is no point in keeping anyone waiting so, after a lot of thought she felt it would be best for all if she excused herself from the film."

E

sha Gupta of Humshakals fame has grabbed the role in the sequel to Vipul Shah's Commando - A One Man Army. A blend of action and romance, the film tentatively titled Commando 2 is directed

by Deven Bhojani, and will have two leading ladies with Adah Sharma being the other one who has been roped in recently. en in be se i g h t The film is ren o o N will s ported to One , who t h r i l l e r ' e n s h o u l d e n o have some amazg Le m ny, unny rthcomin that wo lves. Sun iing stunts with lead actor s r o e e f s the ', believ for them her expe d Vidyut Jamwal getting d d n p n i e u r e. p e Sta rienc o stand pital, sha nt and o s the e d groomed for the same by atp n x a e e i t n up rm ns e ca y ow ll women or tending special workshops. speak as in th empowe ll decisio g indem e r a w n n up f ust te n sha Shooting for Commando 2 who n wome o take sm f becomi , I ca nt. We m but stand t n o t o e e e t l , sui enc eing ab has already started, and Esha ende werm ut sical e pur empo be indep r be phy s abo i n t e that b tep in th I is supposed to join the shoot . o m m ' s ve t ght o t wo do it at I a first n t . in June-July this year. abou e you ha cream, fi g to sband th y o u n k i l a o e t m g s d o u am p e n hen you ays told to yell, or h up t The first version of Comday I oyfriend n g s a d d - y e a r - o l d e o v "W nts alw . a T ' a h i , i b 4 t d g ' mando had received mixed repare You don ld the me nd sayin y to your Little th es," the 3 y M . i a a . . t o . views from the audience and was up du up to s o it ny t s p e a k elf," Sun t waking ld be able u c a n d n t s s h a r e d noted for Vidyut Jamwal's perforo u s e u y o r you s not ab You sho onight, h my par mance and the sequel is planned to "It' ions. e bot hes t release by the end of 2016. decis g t h e d i s e r s o n l i k l l a sm rp ashin onge n o t w ing a str m My parents always told me you have beco . d e add to be independent. We must tell women to

S

speak up. You don't have to yell, scream, fight or be physical, but stand up for yourself

30 India Post

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„ Health

Line

Gene that makes people look older MIAMI, UNITED STATES: It's no secret that good genes can explain why some people age well.

But researchers say they have identified a specific gene variant that can make people look about two years older than their actual age.

Scientists already know that the gene in question, known as MC1R, is responsible for producing red hair and pale skin, according to the report in the journal Current Biology.

But now they have identified a variation in this gene that seems to age people faster.

"For the first time, a gene has been found that explains in part why some people look older and others younger for their age," said researcher Manfred Kayser of Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Previous research has shown that a person's genes and environmental factors contribute equally to how old a person looks.

Perceived age is also important because it can be linked to a person's actual health and their risk of dying prematurely, other research has suggested.

For the current study, scientists examined the genomes of more than 2,600 elderly Dutch Europeans "for DNA variants associated with differences in perceived facial age and wrinkling as estimated from digital facial images," the report said. -AFP

„ New HIV rising among some populations ST. PAUL, Minn.: The number of new HIV infections in Minnesota last year stayed about the same as 2014, but state health officials are expressing concern about a significant increase in some populations and groups.

The Minnesota Department of Health said new HIV cases among people aged 20 to 29 increased by 24 percent in 2015. And 58 percent of new cases were people of color. Among females, more than half of new cases were Africanborn women. The number of cases among intravenous drug users rose by 86 percent over 2014.

The state had 294 new HIVAIDS cases last year, down from 306 the previous year.

State health commissioner Dr. Edward Ehlinger says the rising infection rates in communities with limited access to HIV testing and prevention programs are due to continuing social, medical or income disadvantages. -AP

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May 6, 2016

Zika was present in Americas earlier Details on Page 34

Novel technique to develop vaccines for Cancer, Asthma LONDON: In a breakthrough, scientists have designed a simple technique that makes it possible to quickly and easily develop new type of vaccines for diseases such as cancer, asthma, allergies and cardiovascular diseases.

"The major research breakthrough is that we have created a general and user-friendly platform for the development of a special type of effective and safe vaccines," said Adam Sander from University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

"The highly effective method opens a new door for controlling diseases such as cancer, asthma, allergies and cardiovascular diseases by means of vaccines," said Sander.

The simple and effective technique will pave the way for effective vaccines against not only infectious diseases but also cancer and other chronic diseases, researchers said.

The idea behind the new technique is to mimic the structure of a virus. When you have made the virus structure, it is used as a platform onto which are glued harmless parts of the disease which you want to vaccinate against, they

said.

This creates an overall viruslike structure, which constitutes an important danger signal for the body. The immune system will therefore produce antibodies

treatment of a number of serious diseases, for example cancer, which are not caused by foreign organisms, they said.

"We can see from our experiments that the method works. The

The new technique being tried out

against the disease - a mechanism which has been difficult to activate by traditional vaccines, researchers said.

The technology is so effective that it can trick the immune system into attacking the body's own cells, which may be used in the

method is generic, which means that we can glue, for example, different parts of pathogenic organisms onto the surface of the virus-like platform," said Susan Thrane from University of Copenhagen.

"Previously, it was a major prob-

lem to activate the immune system and get an adequate response," said Thrane. "We now have a unique technique that enables us to develop vaccines against diseases that we have so far been unable to fight," she added.

The vaccine breakthrough also means that previous research in vaccines can get a new life. For many years, researchers have tried to find vaccines against, for example, malaria, cancer and allergies, but the vaccines have either been too ineffective or dangerous.

However, the new research provides the 'structural' building blocks that were needed to make the vaccines effective, researchers said.

This means that new vaccine research can proceed directly to the development and testing of new vaccines against, for example, breast cancer and allergies, they said.

"It will be a game changer for low-income countries, which can now make vaccines targeted at widespread diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria," said Ali Salanti from University of Copenhagen. -PTI

Postpone retirement to live longer WASHINGTON: Working past the age of 65 could lead to longer life, according to a new study which suggests that retiring early may be a risk factor for dying earlier.

Researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) in the US found that healthy adults who retired one year past age 65 had an 11 per cent lower risk of death from all causes, even when taking into account demographic, lifestyle and health issues.

Adults who described themselves as unhealthy were also likely to live longer if they kept working, the findings showed, which indicates that factors beyond health may affect post-retirement mortality.

"It may not apply to everybody, but we think work brings people a lot of economic and so-

cial benefits that could impact the length of their lives," said Chenkai Wu from OSU. "Most research in this area has focused on the economic impacts of delaying retirement. I thought it might be good to look at the

Poor health is one reason people retire early and thin can lead to earlier death also health impacts," Wu said.

Wu examined data collected from 1992 to 2010 through the Healthy Retirement Study, a longterm study of US adults.

Of the more than 12,000 initial

participants in the study, Wu narrowed his focus to 2,956 people who began the study in 1992 and had retired by the end of the study period in 2010.

Poor health is one reason people retire early and also can lead to earlier death, so researchers wanted to find a way to mitigate a potential bias in that regard.

To do so, they divided the group into unhealthy retirees, or those who indicated that health was a factor in their decision to retire - and healthy retirees, who indicated health was not a factor.

About two-thirds of the group fell into the healthy category, while a third were in the unhealthy category, researchers said.

During the study period, about 12 per cent of the healthy and 25.6 per cent of the unhealthy retirees died.

Healthy retirees who worked a

year longer had an 11 per cent lower risk of mortality, while unhealthy retirees who worked a year longer had a 9 per cent lower mortality risk, researchers said.

Working a year longer had a positive impact on the study participants mortality rate regardless of their health status, they said.

"The healthy group is generally more advantaged in terms of education, wealth, health behaviors and lifestyle, but taking all of those issues into account, the pattern still remained," said Robert Stawski from OSU. "The findings seem to indicate that people who remain active and engaged gain a benefit from that," he said.

The findings were published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. -PTI

May 6, 2016

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Fatty liver may lead to heart disease LONDON: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis and therefore cardiovascular disease (CVD), a new study suggests.

CVD is primarily the cause of death of patients with NAFLD. The extent to which NAFLD itself, rather than associated conditions such as diabetes, obesity, or atherogenic dyslipidemia, is responsible for increased cardiovascular death has been a matter of debate.

Now, researchers from Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital and Pierre and Marie Curie University in France have found that NAFLD is an independent risk factor for atheroscle-

rosis and therefore CVD. NAFLD is an increasingly common condition in patients with obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherogenic dyslipidemia and arterial hypertension, researchers said.

"Evidence indicates that the fatty and inflamed liver expresses several pro-inflammatory and procoagulant factors, as well as genes involved in accelerated atherogenesis," said Raluca Pais from Pierre and Marie Curie University.

"This raises the possibility that the link between NAFLD and cardiovascular mortality might not simply be mediated by shared, underlying, common risk factors, but rather that NAFLD independently contrib-

Music helps babies learn speech MIAMI, UNITED STATES: Babies who engage in musical play may have an easier time picking up language skills, suggests a study.

US researchers compared nine-monthold babies who played with toys and trucks to those who practiced banging out a rhythm during a series of play sessions.

They found that the musical group showed more brain activity in regions involved with detecting patterns, an important skill when it comes to learning language.

"Our study is the first in young babies to suggest that experiencing a rhythmic pattern in music can also improve the ability to detect and make predictions about rhythmic patterns in speech," said lead author Christina Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (ILABS).

"This means that early, engaging musical experiences can have a more global effect on cognitive skills."

The study was small, enrolling just 39 babies and their parents, who took part in a dozen 15-minute play sessions over the course of a month.

Twenty of the babies listened to recorded children's music while they sat with their parents and helped pound out drum beats to music that included waltz rhythms and tunes like "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," a baseball classic.

The other 19 babies also attended active play sessions that used toys and blocks, but without music.

"In both the music and control groups, we gave babies experiences that were social, required their active involvement and included body movements -- these are all characteristics that we know help people learn," Zhao said.

"The key difference between the play

groups was whether the babies were moving to learn a musical rhythm."

When the babies underwent brain scans - known as magnetoencephalography (MEG) - at the end of the month, researchers wanted to see how they differed.

So they had the babies listen to speech and music sounds that occasionally contained a disruption in the cadence, or flow of sound.

Babies in the music group showed stronger brain responses in both the auditory and the prefrontal cortex, which are involved in controlling attention and detecting patterns, the study found.

"Pattern perception is an important cog-

nitive skill, and improving that ability early may have long-lasting effects on learning," said co-author Patricia Kuhl, co-director of I-LABS. "Schools across our nation are decreasing music experiences for our children, saying they are too expensive," added Kuhl.

"This research reminds us that the effects of engaging in music go beyond music itself. Music experience has the potential to boost broader cognitive skills that enhance children's abilities to detect, expect and react quickly to patterns in the world, which is highly relevant in today's complex world."

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal. -AFP

utes to increasing this risk," said Vlad Ratziu from Pierre and Marie Curie University.

Researchers studied almost 6,000 patients between 1995 and 2012 to assess whether NAFLD is incidental to or is the cause of atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries, the major blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain, neck, and face.

All patients were examined using carotid ultrasound with measurement of carotid in-

researchers said.

Steatosis predicted C-IMT better than diabetes or dyslipidemia, after adjustment for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors, in 5,671 patients, they said.

Long-term follow-up in 1,872 patients after eight years added a further critical piece of information by confirming that patients with fatty liver were more likely to develop carotid plaque over time, researchers said.

Steatosis occurred in 12 per cent and

Researchers studied almost 6,000 patients between 1995 and 2012 to assess whether NAFLD is incidental to or is the cause of atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries, the major blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain, neck, and face. tima-media thickness and carotid plaques, researchers said.

Using the Fatty Liver Index (FLI), a wellvalidated biomarker panel, researchers observed that steatosis (fatty liver) is associated with carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), a pre-atherosclerotic lesion that predicts cardiovascular events.

C-IMT increased proportionally with FLI, and this association was independent of traditional cardiometabolic risk factors,

carotid plaques in 23 per cent of these patients. C-IMT increased in patients with steatosis, but did not change in those who stayed free of steatosis, they said.

In patients with metabolic syndrome at risk for cardiovascular events, NAFLD contributes to early atherosclerosis and its progression, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, researchers said. The findings were published in the Journal of Hepatology. -PTI

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New way to 'reverse' Parkinson's LONDON: Scientists have found a way to 'reverse' symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's - using fruit flies as test subjects.

The researchers have demonstrated that genetic and pharmacological approaches can be used to lower levels of toxic metabolites in the nervous system and thereby alleviate several symptoms of neurodegeneration.

"Our research is focused on better understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to onset and progression of disease

neurodegenerative disorders worldwide are Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The treatment options for these diseases are limited, and to date no cures exist," he said.

"Our hope is that by improving our knowledge of how these nerve cells become sick and die in the brain, we can help devise ways to interfere with these processes, and thereby either delay disease onset or prevent disease altogether," Giorgini said.

The research utilized the common laboratory fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in order to ex-

We find that if we inhibit either TDO or KMO in Huntington's flies we reduce loss of neurons.

In Alzheimer's or Parkinson's flies we see extension of the shortened lifespan exhibited by these flies, and we also reverse the defects they have in movement symptoms in neurodegenerative disorders," said Professor Flaviano Giorgini, from the University of Leicester in UK. "These are diseases in which specific populations of nerve cells within the brain die, leading to severe problems in movement and cognitive deficits in patients," Giorgini said.

"The two most common

plore the role of specific metabolites in the kynurenine pathway that cause loss of nerve cells in models of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

Earlier studies have shown some of these metabolites are toxic to nerve cells, and their levels are increased in these diseases.

In the past, the researchers

have found that they can use genetic approaches to inhibit (or "mute") the activity of two critical enzymes in this pathway TDO and KMO - which lowers levels of the toxic metabolites and reduces nerve cell loss in a fruit fly model of Huntington's disease.

In the current study they have uncovered how inhibiting these two enzymes improves "symptoms" in flies because of increased levels of a "protective" kynurenine pathway metabolite known as kynurenic acid which counteracts the effects of the toxic metabolites.

"There is a fine balance between levels of 'good' and 'bad' metabolites that occurs in the kynurenine pathway. In disease, it shifts towards the 'bad', and by inhibiting TDO or KMO, we shift it back to 'good'," said Giorgini.

"For example, we find that if we inhibit either TDO or KMO in Huntington's flies we reduce loss of neurons. In Alzheimer's or Parkinson's flies we see extension of the shortened lifespan exhibited by these flies, and we also reverse the defects they have in movement," he said.

"We have even used a druglike chemical to inhibit TDO and found that this also alleviates 'symptoms'," Giorgini added. PTI

Research to keep people healthy & happy BOSTON: For those mired in the eternal quest for health and happiness, there's some good news. Harvard is on the case.

With the help of a $21 million donation, the Ivy League school is rounding up top researchers and launching a center to study happiness and health, and whether they're connected. ``We're going to be trying to see if the old adage that happiness makes you healthier is true,'' said Laura Kubzansky, co-director of the new center and a professor social and behavioral sciences.

Officially, it's called the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, housed at Harvard's school of public health.

It was created with a donation from the family of Lee Kum Sheung, the man who invented

oyster sauce in China in 1888.

Since then, his enterprise has grown into two Hong Kong-based international companies that sell food and health products.

The center is taking on questions about happiness that have split scientists. Some believe there's a clear link between mental and physical health, and several studies have supported the idea. Optimism, for example, has been tied to better heart health.

But some other studies have recently found that happiness has no direct effect on mortality.

Harvard plans to add more evidence to the debate, but by studying the question, researchers also hope to learn more about what makes people happy. They want to know if certain behaviors are tied to mental and physical health, and how factors like income and

race play a role. They're complex questions, Kubzansky said, with few easy answers. ``We're not going be in the business of saying to people, `Don't worry, be happy,''' she said. ``There are many social forces and constraints that make it impossible or harder for people to attain these states of mental well-being.''

Ultimately, the goal is to produce findings that can be used to help people stay healthy and happy.

The work is a departure from the type of medicine that aims to treat or cure diseases. Here, researchers are studying the absence of disease. ``If you only ever look at the bad things that happen, then you may not understand the full spectrum of factors that matter,'' Kubzansky said. ``We're trying to look at a bigger spectrum of health.'' -AP

Zika was present in Americas earlier WASHINGTON: The Zika virus, which has been linked to serious birth defects, may have been present in the Americas well before it was first identified in Brazil in March last year, a new study has found.

According to researchers at the University of Florida (UF) in the US, the Zika virus was present in Haiti several months before the first cases were reported from Brazil.

The findings also suggest that the spread of Zika virus in the Americas was likely more complicated than early theories presumed.

"We know that the virus was

brile illness within the Gressier/ Leogane region of Haiti were taken to a free outpatient clinic, where blood samples were drawn and screened for dengue, chikungunya and malaria.

Upon isolation, the viruses were first considered "mystery" viruses, as polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tests indicated they were neither dengue nor chikungunya viruses, and little attention had been paid to the possibility that Zika virus might be present in the Caribbean.

Using a sophisticated RTPCR based method that potentially amplifies any RNA,

Researchers hope further enquiry will shed light on the factors that led to the proliferation of Zika virus in Brazil as well as the sharp rise in the number of birth defects in that nation

present in Haiti in December of 2014," said Dr Glenn Morris, a professor of medicine and the director of UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute.

"And, based on molecular studies, it may have been present in Haiti even before that date," said Morris.

Although the findings suggest that the Zika virus was circulating in the Americas prior to 2015, what remains unclear is exactly what confluence of factors caused the virus to take off in Brazil.

Researchers hope further enquiry will shed light on the factors that led to the proliferation of Zika virus in Brazil as well as the sharp rise in the number of birth defects in that nation in cases where pregnant women were infected with the then-uncommon flavivirus.

Scientists isolated the Zika virus from three patients while studying the transmission of dengue and chikungunya in Haiti in 2014.

School children exhibiting fe-

the researchers produced PCR amplicons that were subsequently sequenced and identified as Zika virus sequences.

The plasma samples that yielded Zika virus were taken three months before March 2015, when Brazilian scientists first confirmed via genetic analysis that Zika virus was present in Brazil and causing a significant disease burden in the South American nation.

The Zika virus was virtually unknown outside of public health circles prior to the 2007 outbreak in the Yap Islands, a small group of islands in Micronesia where an estimated 73 per cent of residents 3 years of age and older were infected with the virus.

"The Brazilian and Haitian strains are genetically similar," said John Lednicky, an associate professor in the UF College of Public Health.

The findings were published in journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. -PTI

May 6, 2016

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'Reduce sitting time to live longer' HOUSTON: Reducing daily sitting time by one to two hours could have a significant and positive impact on future cardiovascular health, scientists, including one of Indian-origin suggest.

Researchers found that sedentary behavior is associated with increased amounts of calcium deposits in heart arteries, which in turn is associated with a higher risk of heart attack.

"This is one of the first studies to show that sitting time is associated with early markers of atherosclerosis buildup in the heart," said Amit Khera, from University of Texas in the US. "Each additional hour of daily sedentary time is associated with a 12 per cent higher likelihood of coronary artery calcification," said Khera.

Researchers found that reducing daily "sitting time" by even 1 to 2 hours per day could have a significant and positive impact on future cardiovascular health.

For individuals with a desk job that requires them to sit for large portions of the day, they suggested taking frequent breaks.

"Try a one to five minute break every hour. Stand up. Walk up a flight of stairs.

All of this helps in a small way.

Then get in your strenuous exercise in the evening as well," said Julia Kozlitina from University of Texas.

In some individuals, cholesterol builds up inside the walls of the arteries supplying blood to the heart in mounds called cholesterol plaques. Over time, calcium accumulates in these plaques, researchers said.

The amount of coronary artery calcium can be measured through Computed To-

mography (CT) scanning and directly correlates with the amount of cholesterol plaque, as well as with heart attack risk, they said.

For the study, researchers asked 2,000 participants to wear a device that measured their activity levels for a week.

Participants spent an average of 5.1 hours sitting per day and an average of 29 minutes in moderate to vigorous physical activity each day, researchers said.

"We observed a significant association between increased sedentary time and coronary artery calcium. These associations

were independent of exercise, traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and socioeconomic factors," said Khera.

"This research suggests that increased subclinical atherosclerosis characterized by calcium deposition is one of the mechanisms through which sedentary behavior increases cardiovascular risk and that this risk is distinct from the protective power of exercise," he said.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging. -PTI

Mental health task force in Minnesota ST. PAUL, Minn.: Gov. Mark Dayton has created a task force on mental health in Minnesota.

Dayton issued an executive order creating the task force. It will include Minnesotans who have experienced mental illness, state and local government officials, mental health and other health care providers, and judicial and law enforcement officials.

Dayton says too many Minnesotans go for too long to get mental health care. More

than 200,000 adults and 75,000 children in the state live with mental illness, and people wait an average of 10 years before seeking treatment.

The governor directed the task force to come up with recommendations for caring for Minnesotans with mental illness, including new policies, legislative changes and funding.

The task force will report back to Dayton and the Legislature by the end of November. -AP

Funds sought for drinking water protection HARTFORD, Conn.: Connecticut Rep. Elizabeth Esty is urging federal officials to provide more financial resources to help states protect public drinking water.

Esty said in a letter that Connecticut's Department of Public Health needs more money to support technical staff in its drinking water division, where staffing has been reduced from 50 to 38 employees.

She also supports the agency's request for more funding to pay for the state's

certified operator program. There's one person who certifies operators of 2,500 water systems in Connecticut.

Esty called for the federal financial assistance after a recent Associated Press analysis determined dozens of water systems across the state exceeded federal lead levels at least once since January 2013.

The Democrat says ``immediate action'' is needed to ensure access to safe drinking water. -AP

Fitness with 1 minute intense exercise TORRONTO: Don't have time to stay in shape? Think again, as scientists have found that even a single minute of very intense exercise produces health benefits similar to longer, traditional endurance training.

"This is a very time-efficient workout strategy. Brief bursts of intense exercise are remarkably effective," said lead author Martin Gibala, professor at McMaster University in Canada.

Scientists set out to determine how sprint interval training (SIT) compared to moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT), as recommended in public health guidelines.

They examined key health indicators including cardiorespiratory fitness and insulin sensitivity, a measure of how the body regulates blood sugar.

A total of 27 sedentary men were recruited and assigned to perform three weekly sessions of either intense or moderate training for 12 weeks, or to a control group that did not exercise.

The team has previously shown that the SIT protocol, which involved three 20-second 'all-out' cycle sprints, was effective for boosting fitness.

The workout totaled just 10 minutes, including a two-minute warm-up and threeminute cool down, and two minutes of easy

cycling for recovery between the hard sprints.

The new study compared the SIT protocol with a group who performed 45 minutes of continuous cycling at a moderate pace, plus the same warm-up and cool down.

After 12 weeks of training, the results were remarkably similar, even though the MICT protocol involved five times as much exercise and a five-fold greater time commitment. "Most people cite 'lack of time' as the main reason for not being active," said Mr Gibala.

"Our study shows that an interval-based approach can be more efficient - you can get health and fitness benefits comparable to the traditional approach, in less time," he said. -PTI

36 India Post

B

himtal is a popular tourist destination located in the Nainital district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

It is located at an altitude of around 1200 meters, and is named after Bhima, one of the Pandavas from the epic of Mahabharata.

The town of Bhimtal is popular among tourists and local travelers alike due to its proximity to the hill station of Nainital. Bhimtal is famous for the enormous Bhimtal

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Lake in the region which is bigger than Naini Lake and offers good boating facilities. The lake has an island in its centre which can be accessed only through boats.

About 22 km from Nainital, the

lake is surrounded by the Kumaon hills all around. Geologists believe that the lake was formed by the chain of faults caused by the movements in the earth's crust.

The blockade of surface drainage

May 6, 2016

water led to the formation of Bhimtal Lake.

Bhimtal supports a wide variety of animal species like black eagle, wall creeper, tawny fish owl, bulbul and emerald dove.

Best time to visit: The climate of this region can be classified as sub tropical, with the basic seasons of summer, winter and monsoon. Summers in the town of Bhimtal are very mild and winters are cold, thus making it an ideal destination for honeymoons.

The best time to visit the town of Bhimtal would be during the summer months and also during early winter.

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Chinese beach resort woos Indian tourists SANYA, China: Sanya, a picturesque city on the southern end of China's Hainan Island, famous for its bays with beach resorts, is wooing Indian tourists who love adventure and duty-free shopping, officials have said.

"We welcome Indian tourists with open arms. We have world class facilities here, secondly we have very good environment, there is clean air and we have no pollution, the sea water is pure and tourists can do a lot of shopping here," Vice Mayor of Sanya City Council, Wu Peng told visiting journalists from India and some Asean countries here.

Sanya boasts of some top-ofthe-line hotel chains who have set up shop along the beaches here.

Apart from being famous for its beach resorts, the tropical paradise is also famous for duty-free shopping.

"The tourists love the sunkissed beaches and pollution-free environment here. Tourism is Sanya's pillar industry," he said.

Wu Peng also said that in 2015, there were about 50 million tourists who visited Sanya.

"The revenue from tourists industry was up to about 30 billion Yuan," he said.

The inflow of tourists is not only from China's mainland now.

Many foreign tourists flock this town, said Wang Feifei, Deputy Director of the Sanya Tourism Development Commission. She said there is Sanya Phoenix International Airport and flights to several destinations operate from there. "The place is also a heaven for those who like seafood," she added.

Sanya also has a lot to offer for the shoppers.

Notably, nearly one-and-a-

half years back, China had opened world's largest duty-free shop (DFS), attracting several international brands, in Sanya city.

Located in the Haitang Bay area the duty-free shopping centre has an area of 72,000 square meters.

"People are now moving beyond the established tourist destinations. They want to try out new places and when they visit Sanya they will realize that it has so much to offer," said George Jin, a local tour guide.

Notably, the town is also wellconnected by rail route. China's Hainan Island Circling high-speed railway is the world's first HSR circling an island in tropical zone. The 653-km rail belt connects Haikou in the north to Sanya in the south.

Since 2003, Sanya has hosted Miss World beauty pageant six times. -PTI

Kurukshetra evening Aarti on YouTube KURUKSHETRA: Modern information and communications technology (ICT) tools would be extensively used to promote the historic town of Kurukshetra as a tourist destination with the government looking to attract visitors at this religious place.

People all over the world would be able to watch evening Aarti at the holy Brahmasarovar here on YouTube, local MLA, Subhash Sudha said here.

He said the National

Informatics Centre (NIC) has been assigned the task to organize these facilities.

Sudha said he would meet the Haryana Governor, who is also chairman of Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB), and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to ensure the development work by the board could be streamlined.

He said an annual budget of Rs 7 crore has been sanctioned by the government for the KDB. PTI

Chicago tourism numbers hit new record

LA eyes 1.05 lakh Indian visitors NEW DELHI: Los Angeles is looking to attract around 1.05 lakh Indian visitors in 2016 as it undertakes various initiatives to hardsell itself as a preferred tourist destination.

"We are expecting 4.8 per cent growth year-on-year in numbers of Indian visitors to Los Angeles in 2016 amounting to around 1.05 lakh visitors," Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board President and CEO Ernest Wooden Jr. told PTI. In 2015, around 99,000 Indians visited Los Angeles, he added.

Detailing the type of visitors from India, Wooden Jr said: "It is a mix of leisure and business.

Around 90 per cent of Indian visitors in 2015 were leisure while 10 per cent were business."

On the initiatives that Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board is taking to promote the city in India, he said: "Initially, the main focus is going to be to educate the

travel trade community about what Los Angeles has to offer."

After that the board will talk to retail operators and eventually to the consumers directly, he added.

"The main attractions that Los Angeles offers to visitors is great sight seeing, beaches, amusement parks, Hollywood, shopping experience and diverse culinary scene," Wooden Jr said.

At present, China is among the top source markets for Los Ange-

les, "We are expecting the same kind of growth potential out of India in long term. The potential here is very huge."

On an average, Indian visitors stay was 7.3 nights in Los Angeles in 2014, with an average per visitor spend of USD 108 per day.

Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board is a private, nonprofit business association with a mandate to promote the city as a preferred destination. -PTI

CHICAGO: The number of domestic visitors to Chicago hit a record last year, reaching nearly 51 million.

That was close to a 5 percent increase over the previous year.

An announcement by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office said Chicago was one of just three U.S. cities to rack up more than 50 million visitors.

Emanuel's office said marquee events helped boost the numbers. Those included the NFL

Draft and the James Beard Foundation Awards. Both events are returning to Chicago over the coming week. And this summer, Chicago and Lake Michigan will host the America's Cup. It's the first time in the sailing competition's 164-year history that it will be held in a freshwater setting.

The mayor's office said direct spending by visitors reached an estimated $14.9 billion last year. AP

India to link Interpol data with e-visa NEW DELHI: India is likely to link the Interpol Red Corner Notice database with its e-tourist visa network to avoid embarrassment caused by issuance of the travel document to a leading Chinese dissident recently.

The move comes after India had to revoke the e-tourist visa granted to Germany-based Dolkun Isa, a leader of World Uyghur Congress (WUC), after granting him the document.

New Delhi had to cancel Isa's visa after China informed India that an Interpol Red Corner Notice is pending against Isa. "We want to link the Interpol

Red Corner Notice data base with our e-tourist visa network so that no person having a Red Corner Notice against him is given the travel document and it is detected at the application stage," a Home Ministry official said.

TVoA (tourist visa on arrival), enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), popularly known as e-tourist visa scheme was launched on November 27, 2014.

Under the e-tourist visa scheme, an applicant receives an email authorizing him or her to travel to India after it is approved and he or she can travel with a print-out of this authorization. -PTI

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Dog-drawn sleds in snow-covered backcountry RACHEL SAPIN

AURORA, Colo.: One of the best parts of dog sledding with Good Times Adventures in Breckenridge is wiping out. Seriously.

When your life is in the hands of eight dogs with personalities that are about as different from one another as the cast of ``Orange is the New Black,'' you can't take anything too seriously. ``If the sled happens to tip over, and you're sitting here, it's a tuck and roll situation.''

Those were the sage words of wisdom from Courtney Donald, my dog sled guide, before giving me and fellow staff writer Susan Gonzalez the keys to a gangline of yappy, giddy Siberian Huskies who would be our ``wheels'' for the next hour, reported Aurora Magazine. And it was our job to learn in five minutes how to guide them through six miles of glorious, snow-packed trails that wind along the Swan River Valley in the Rocky Mountains.

It was only a matter of time before we proceeded to whiz around a tree-lined curve and tumble face first into a cold pillow of white snow.

My senses were exhilarated and everything got a little brighter after that wipeout. For a wonderful moment I felt like I was a child yardsale-ing off a jump while skiing.

The unique part of Good Times Adventures, my guide explained, is that unlike other dog sledding tour companies, you are in control. The tour is run as a ``relay'' which means one musher leads the dogs while another sits in the sled below and holds on for dear life.

The tour guide drives ahead of you in a snowmobile with a passenger

member when leading the sled dogs is the foot brake that digs into the snow and which you stand on when you want the dogs to stop because otherwise they'll keep going - trust me. When you guide the sled, it's a lot like skiing, where you need to lean into turns to keep your center of gravity.

Before the tour, Donald intro-

was at a stop. One of the dogs, Mackey, had an appetite for destruction, Donald said. ``He ate through two of these harnesses yesterday. Just like puppies at home, these guys get in trouble too,'' she said.

And Good Times Adventures has 163 of these beautiful, fluffy troublemakers who range in age

sleigh attached that the dogs have been trained to follow.

The tour can accommodate up to six people with both sleds, and the mushers can trade off. Note to visitors: bring goggles. Snow is likely to fly in your face most of the time you sit in the sled under the musher. I learned that the hard way.

The most important thing to re-

duced us to the dogs and their unique personalities.

First, there were the lead dogs, Farmer and Chicken. ``These guys are 4 years old.

You want the smart ones up front,'' Donald said matter-of-factly.

Then there was Voodoo, the rookie-in-training who just turned one and kept attempting to sprint at full force even when the sled

from 3 months old to 15 years old.

Tours generally last a little more than an hour and trails exist for everyone from beginner-level mushers to more advanced drivers, with opportunities to wind through the narrow pine-tree paths and downhill through the valley.

It's nothing to match Alaska's Iditarod sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome, which entails trekking nearly 1,200 miles across harsh mountains and sea-ice terrain. But the experience does give one a taste of the frosty mode of transport now nearly extinct.

In the 1700s, the Inupiaq and Yup'ik peoples used wood latticed and gut-skin covered kayaks plus ski-like runners to glide over snow when pulled by dogs, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

100-acre park at Indianapolis Museum INDIANAPOLIS: There's a lot going on in Indianapolis this spring, between the presidential primary and the Indy 500. For visi-

tors or locals looking to get away from the hubbub, consider a visit to the gardens and nature park on the campus of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The grounds include an unusual outdoor space for contemplation called ``Park of the Laments.''

Art lovers will want to start inside the museum, of course, where the collection ranges from Vincent van Gogh to Georgia O'Keeffe to intriguing exhibitions of contemporary art and design.

But make sure to allow an hour

or more for exploring the extraordinary grounds outside the museum building. Here you'll find Oldfields Gardens and the 100-acre Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park.

The gardens are part of the Lilly House estate.

You can tour the historic mansion, which was once the home of J.K. Lilly Jr., an Indianapolis businessman. But on a beautiful spring day, the gardens are the place to be. Every path is lined with colorful flowers and the trees rain down fragrant blossoms in the breeze.

From the gardens, make your way to the Art & Nature Park.

You'll find a canal, a lake, fields, meandering paths, outdoor art installations and even an old-fashioned swing set where you can kick your feet up to the sky. The artwork includes ``Funky Bones,'' 20 white benches that form a huge human skeleton. ``Funky Bones'' was the setting for a scene in the young adult book ``The Fault in Our Stars,'' written by John Green, who was born in Indianapolis.

And don't miss ``Park of the Laments.'' Walls made of smooth gray stone rise on either side as you descend a staircase into a tunnel, then emerge into a grassy field edged by more stone walls.

Whether your laments are personal, political or otherwise, it's a peaceful spot for clearing the mind.

-AP

The demand for sled dogs spiked with the gold rushes that hit Alaska in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ``During one of the big rushes it was said that no stray dogs could be found on the streets of Seattle, having all been rounded up and shipped to Alaska,'' the BLM writes. ``Malamutes, huskies and other breeds were mixed to haul freight and passengers.''

Sarah Spalla, kennel manager with Good Times Adventures, said she often hears from visitors that they don't expect they can go dog sledding anywhere, even in the snowy Rocky Mountains.

But for Spalla, working day-inday-out training, guiding, feeding and of course, cleaning up lots of dog poop, is an experience she would never trade for more 21stcentury modes of transportation. ``This winter is number 12 for me,'' she said, adding that much of the staff at Good Times Adventures have been with the company for a more than a decade. ``Every dog is special. They're definitely members of the team. There are a few here and there that I don't see eye-to-eye with, but they're all different. Some are bossy, some are sweet and some not so much. No day is exactly the same.''

What struck me most about the dogs when I spent a few hours with them was the variation in their eyes: from icy blue to those with two different-colored eyes or multi-colored brown, green and yellows staring into my soul - or so it felt - with their signature piercing husky gaze.

And for the pet lovers out there, don't worry, when the dogs are ready to retire, they are adopted out as house pets. -PTI

Taxis slow traffic in anti-Uber protest BUDAPEST, Hungary: Hundreds of taxi drivers drove slowly on Budapest's main thoroughfares here to protest ride-hailing apps like Uber and what they say is a growing market for unlicensed passenger transport.

Taxi drivers also parked in a long line on one side of the Chain Bridge across the Danube River, further complicating downtown traffic.

Drivers say they have invested heavily to comply with regulations which, for example, compel Budapest taxi cabs to be painted yellow. ``In our business, over 50 percent of those working are part of the black economy, continuing to

carry passengers illegally and without permits,'' said protest organizer Geza Gottlieb. ``The number of those dedicated to the illegal transport of passengers in Budapest is growing day by day.''

Gottlieb said that while authorities had carried out some ``show procedures,'' including removing license plates off unlicensed taxis, nothing had really changed since similar protests earlier this year.

Uber did not react to the taxi drivers' complaints, but said it would give its users a discount during the protest hours. This confirmed the fears of some taxi drivers who thought their rally would give Uber more publicity. -AP

May 6, 2016

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Cont’d from page 36

Summers in the town of Bhimtal extend through the months of March, April and May. These three months will experience a maximum

temperature of around twenty seven degrees (27°C) and a minimum temperature of around ten degrees (10°C). This is an ideal time to visit the town.

Bhimtal is a place of religious significance as well. A temple complex is located in the town and this complex attracts pilgrims from in and around the region. Called Bhimeshwar, the temple complex was built in the 17th century. Its exquisite architecture is an additional attraction.

You can also travel to the nearby locations of Almora, Pangot, Ranikhet and Mukteshwar during your trip to Bhimtal.

Tourist Attractions Bhimeshwara Mahadev Temple: It is an old Shiva temple, located on the embankment of Bhimtal Lake. It is believed that a temple was in existence there during the time of Bhima, when he had come to this place during the exile

period of the Pandavas.

The present temple was built by Baz Bahadur - a king of the Chand Dynasty along with the Raja of Kumaon. The 17th century temple is located by the 40 feet high

Victoria dam.

Hanuman Garhi: Hanuman Garhi or Hanumangarhi is located some 3.5 km from the Tallital or South End bus stop; at an altitude of 6,401 ft. Lord Hanuman - the monkey god of the epic Ramayana - is the main deity of the temple.

The place also offers some good views of the setting sun over the Himalayas. The statue of Hanuman located here is about 4 m high.

Folk Culture Museum: The

Folk Culture Museum, popularly known as Lok Sanskriti Sangrahalaya, houses a good collection of information and artifacts about the hilly regions of Uttar Pradesh. The collection of artifacts includes important information on various topics like stone implements, traditional rites, rituals and archaeologically important items.

It also has an impressive collection of photographs and reproductions of rock art.

Hidimba Parvat: Hidimba Parvat of Hidimba Hill is located some 5 km from Bhimtal and is named after the demon wife of Bhima Hidimba of the Mahabharata.

Vankhandi Maharaj, an environmentalist and monk has developed a refuge for wild animals. The wildlife asylum is known as Vankhandi Ashram.

Victoria Dam: Victoria dam is located at one end of Bhimtal Lake and has terraced flower gardens that are placed on either side of the dam. There is also the 17th

century Bhimeshwar Temple devoted to Shiva, located very next to it.

Karkotaka Temple: The hill of Karkotaka is quite well known for the Nag Temple and is visited by

Tourists can take a walk through the huge forests that surround the lake. The dam is 40 feet high and offers sights of nature that is very rare in other parts of the country. The gorge is decorated with wild flowers that give it a beautiful look, which attracts good number of tourists every year to this place.

thousands of pilgrims who come here to worship the serpent god, Nag Karkotaka Maharaja on the event of Rishi Panchami.

Karkotaka hill is named after a mythical cobra named Karkotaka. It is believed that the temple with the serpent god protects the villagers from snake bites.

Aquarium: Bhimtal Lake has an island located within it, which once had a restaurant. The restaurant was closed down due to pollution issues and an aquarium was created in its place by the Nainital Lake Development Authority. The aquarium is now home to fish brought from countries like China, South Africa and Mexico.

How to reach:

By Air: Flights can be taken to the minor airport located in the town of Pantnagar.

By Bus: Buses to Bhimtal run from many destinations including Nainital, Dehradun, Haridwar and even Rishikesh. Buses from Nainital are frequently available.

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Realty Tidbits

Construction permits via online mode NEW DELHI: All construction permits in Delhi and Mumbai will be granted only through online mechanism from October 2, this year, a move aimed at bringing transparency and improving ease of doing business.

However, the present system of both online and manual procedure will continue till then, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has said.

"From October 2, 2016, all construction permits in Delhi and Mumbai would be only through online mechanism. There will be no man to man contact," Naidu said on the sidelines of an event.

The Urban Development Minister said the government will notify the Real Estate Development and Regulation Bill on May one.

The bill, seeking to regulate the real estate sector, bring transparency and help protect consumer interests, was passed last month in Parliament in the first leg of the Budget session.

After the notification of the bill, Naidu said various stakeholders, including builders, will fall in line and anybody violating the rules would be taken to task.

He said the bill will give more credibility to the functioning of the real estate sector. -PTI

Rhode Island sees record home sales

PROVIDENCE, R.I.: A nonprofit group that tracks the housing market says more single-family homes were sold in Rhode Island during the first quarter of 2016 than during any other first quarter in three decades.

The Rhode Island Association of Realtors announced that more than 1,900 home were sold in that period, topping the record of 1,825 sales set in 2005.

The number is a 15 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Arthur Yatsko, president of the group, says high rental prices, low interest rates and price appreciation are factors in the increase.

The median price of houses sold in Rhode Island in January, February and March was $225,000.

That number is 12.5 percent higher than during the same period last year. -AP

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High-rise plan at Hudson's site in Detroit PITTSBURGH: A federal grand jury in western Pennsylvania has indicted a Louisiana man on charges of defrauding hundreds of real estate agents across the nation out more than $2 million.

The U.S. attorney's office said the Pittsburgh grand jury returned an 11-count mail fraud indictment April 19 against 40-year-old Rex Alan Harris of Covington, Louisiana. The indictment was unsealed after the arrest in Louisiana of Harris, who has several aliases. -AP

Crown Point at Stonebrae Country Club in Hayward is now open India Post News Service

HAYWARD, CA: It's time to discover where resort-inspired living happens every day. With beautiful new models now open, you're welcome to experience Crown Point at Stonebrae Country Club, Brookfield Residential's newest neighborhood in Hayward.

A rare place of beauty and opulence, Crown Point puts you at the center of it all, presenting exceptional living with stunning new residences in a picturesque, country club atmosphere. With breathtaking golf course, Oakland and San Francisco views and an exclusive selection of new singlefamily homes, this is where country club living reaches a new level of luxury. Visit to tour the models and see why there's no better place to call home than Crown Point.

Located on the fourth hole and surrounded by beautiful open space and green hillsides, new homes at Crown Point present a delicate balance of refined elegance and tranquil ambience.

Three two-story floor plans range in size from approximately 3,961 to 4,657 square feet and offer up to six bedrooms and four-andone-half baths, presenting all the room needed to indulge in personal luxury.

Plus, spacious plans feature great rooms for connecting with

family and friends, while equally impressive lofts and downstairs bedrooms make the perfect space for guests to relax in comfort. Pricing at Crown Point starts from the $1.5 million.

Residents will enjoy gourmet kitchens boasting stainless steel Bosch® appliances, elegant quartz countertops and convenient islands. In addition, each

Surrounded by beautiful rolling hillsides and home to prestigious TPC Stonebrae, this exclusive community offers a gated entry, picturesque country club setting, wide open preserved spaces and scenic trails.

And, at TPC Stonebrae, a par72, 7,200-yard championship golf course layout features a new clubhouse, health and wellness cen-

home will include a luxurious master suite, gracious living areas, toptier finishes, premium features and personalization opportunities like optional California rooms and ensuites.

Stonebrae Country Club unveils a lifestyle brimming with the everyday luxuries you desire in an ideal location near the East Bay, the Peninsula and San Francisco.

ter, fine dining at the Dormy House, tennis and bocce courts, full-service golf shop and 25-meter lap pool. Residents can also enjoy concierge services that range from housecleaning services to mobile car detailing.

Crown Point is located at 3 Country Club Drive, Hayward, California 94542. For more information, visit

BrookfieldNorCal.com or call (510) 886-2107.

About Brookfield Residential (Northern California) Brookfield Residential Northern California (San Francisco Bay Area market), a division of Brookfield Residential Properties Inc., is a premier lifestyle provider that strives to create the best places to call home. We are a team of dedicated and knowledgeable professionals who have the passion and experience to craft exceptional new homes, neighborhoods and communities. In the San Francisco Bay Area market, we are respected as an award-winning innovator and are recognized for delivering consistent quality, design details and an outstanding customer experience.

Please visit www.BrookfieldNorCal.com for more information.

Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. is a leading land developer and homebuilder in North America. We entitle and develop land to create master-planned communities, sell lots to thirdparty builders and operate our own home building division. We also participate in select strategic real estate opportunities, including infill projects, mixed-use developments and joint ventures. Further information is available at BrookfieldResidential.com.

SC asks Sahara to give details of properties NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Sahara group to furnish details of all its properties in a sealed cover to ascertain the fact as to whether they are sufficient for paying back the entire amount to the investors.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur, however, refused to grant parole to Sahara chief Subrata Roy, who is in jail since March 4, 2014, saying that so far its orders have not been complied with "substan-

tially".

"We should know about the

total assets of the Sahara group.

What exactly is the extent of

Sahara chief Subrata Roy

properties, we must know.

Currently, 66 properties of the group are scheduled to go on sale which will generate around Rs 6,000 crore.

"This might be enough for securing Roy's bail but not to refund the entire money to investors. We want the rest of the properties to be brought into focus so you give us a list of properties," the bench, also comprising Justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, said.

Cont’d on page 44

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'No scope for further cut in housing prices' NEW DELHI: Realtors' apex body CREDAI has said there is no scope for further reduction in housing prices as this would lead to rise in NPAs and non-delivery of real estate projects.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had asked real estate developers

to reduce prices to encourage more people to buy properties.

"About 90 per cent of the real estate stock in the country has already seen a correction of about 20-30 per cent. There is no scope

for further rate cut. Any further cut will lead to NPAs and non-delivery of projects," CREDAI (National) President Getamber Anand told PTI. "His (RBI Governor) statement should not be taken out of context as he has recommended an

adjustment and not necessarily a price cut. The adjustment could be through other ways like easy payment scheme to attract home buyers," he said.

The real estate sector is facing

slowdown in demand leading to mounting unsold stocks and huge delays in project completions.

"I am hopeful that as interest rates come down, there will be more credit and buying. And I am also hopeful that prices adjust in a way that encourage people to buy," Rajan had said while delivering the Y B Chavan Memorial Lecture here.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lowered rates by 1.5 per cent cumulatively since January last year and earlier this month the policy rate was cut by 0.25 per cent to 6.5 per cent - its lowest level in more than five years.

More than half of the rate cuts have been passed on by the banks to consumers.

"My sense is that there is a little bit of everything that needs to happen" for the revival in the real estate sector, Rajan said.

"There is an issue of certainly how they see the housing market and how they see prices.

There has to be an adjustment so that more people want to go and buy," he had said. -PTI

Loopholes found in key housing scheme NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has found several loopholes in the implementation of a key housing scheme, Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), in selection of beneficiaries, quality of work while also expressing its displeasure over "diversion" and "misappropriation" of funds.

In its report submitted to the Lok Sabha, the Public Accounts Committee, in its report on the Ministry of Rural Development, spelt out the need for focus on efficient and effective utilization of budgetary grants, moving away from the existing tilt towards timelyutilization of grants.

There have been "serious shortcomings" in areas such as identification and selection of beneficiaries of the scheme, construction and quality of work, financial management, and monitoring and evaluation among others.

"The committee note several cases of operation of multiple bank accounts, diversion of IAY funds towards other scheme/programs, expenditure on inadmissible items, misappropriation and suspected

cases of misappropriation, unauthorized deduction of funds on account of administrative charges," the reports states.

IAY, launched in 1985, is a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development designed to provide assistance to BPL families who are either houseless or have inadequate housing facilities.

The report noted as a "serious lapse" the fact that assessment

has not been made about the actual housing shortage in 14 states even after the scheme had been running for almost 30 years. It shows absence of planning and coordination with the states by the Ministry, the report said.

"What is even more disturbing for the Committee to note is that several ineligible beneficiaries were selected to reap the benefit," it said. -PTI

China's HNA to buy Carlson Hotels HONG KONG: A unit of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group has agreed to buy Carlson Hotels, which owns brands including Radisson and Country Inns and Suites, the latest in a flurry of overseas investments by Chinese companies.

HNA Tourism Group will acquire all of Carlson Hotels Inc., the companies said in a joint statement that did not disclose the purchase price.

They said that Carlson's headquarters would remain in Minnetonka, Minn., after the deal is completed.

HNA Tourism Chairman Bai Haibo said buying Carlson Hotels will help the Chinese company ``establish our presence in the U.S. market and expand our footprint in hospitality internationally.''

He added that HNA would ``accelerate growth by investing substantially in the business.''

The purchase is the latest in a string of global transactions by Chinese companies as they diversify abroad to counter slowing growth at home while also scooping up foreign expertise and technology.

Other deals this year include Haier Group's acquisition of General Electric's home appliance business, conglomerate Wanda Group's purchase of Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment,

and state-owned ChemChina's mammoth $43 billion bid for Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta. It also comes weeks after China's Anbang Insurance Group was thwarted by Marriott International in its attempt to acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

As part of the deal, the Chinese company will also acquire a 51.3 percent stake in Brussels-based

Rezidor Hotel Group AB, which operates Carlson hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Under Swedish takeover rules, HNA is required to either buy the remaining shares of Rezidor it doesn't own or sell its stake down to 30 percent.

Carlson has 1,400 hotels in 115 countries and territories and employs about 90,000 staff worldwide.

HNA Group, based in southern Hainan province, operates hotels, airlines, airports and financial services and real estate businesses.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016. -AP

Housing prices up in Oct-Dec quarter MUMBAI: Housing prices in the country rose during the October-December quarter of the 201516 fiscal, the Reserve Bank data shows.

The prices witnessed the highest increase in Lucknow while a decline was noticed in Jaipur during the December quarter of 201516 year-on-year.

Housing Price Index (HPI)-All India (base 2010-11=100) increased to 221.7 in third quarter of the last fiscal from 218.2 in the previous three-month period. "On an annual basis, in Q3:2015-16, Lucknow witnessed the highest increase of 16.1 per cent while HPI declined in Jaipur (Y-o-Y change of -5.2 per cent)," said the quarterly HPI of

the Reserve Bank. Sequentially (third quarter of 2015-16 over second quarter of 2015-16), HPI of Kochi increased by 8 per cent while HPI for Bengaluru declined by 1 per cent.

"The annual increase of HPIAll India moderated since Q1:2015-16. During Q3:2015-16, the rate of increase fell below 10 per cent," the RBI said. The previous low was in Q3:2013-14 when the rate of increase was 10.1 per cent.

The RBI has released the data for all India and 10 major cities Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kanpur and Kochi for the October-December quarter of 2015-16. -PTI

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Real estate heir's plea deal approved NEW ORLEANS: Robert Durst, the estranged member of a wealthy real estate family and subject of a documentary about the death of his first wife, was sentenced to 7 years and 1 month in prison on a weapons charge that cleared the deck for him to face murder charges in California.

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt sentenced Durst, 72, in New Orleans, approving a sentence that Durst had accepted in February as part of a plea agreement. Engelhardt also fined Durst $5,000 and said that his sentence, once served, would be followed by three years of supervised release. Durst will serve more than 4 1/2 times the maximum under federal guidelines.

Durst is charged in Los Angeles in the 2000 killing of a female friend, Susan Berman, to keep her from talking to New York prosecutors about the disappearance of his first wife in 1982.

His attorneys have said repeatedly that he is innocent, does not know who killed Berman, and wants to prove it. ``I have been waiting to get to California about a year so I can state my not guilty plea,'' Durst,

looking pale in an orange jail jumpsuit, told Engelhardt. ``I truly, truly want to express my statement that I am not guilty in the death of Susan Berman.''

Ten years and a $250,000 fine

caliber revolver after being convicted of a felony. However, Engelhardt noted, a presentence report recommended 12 to 18 months under federal guidelines.

Engelhardt said the longerthan-standard sentence was reasonable because the plea deal included agreements with U.S. attorneys in Houston and Manhattan and the Orleans Parish district attorney not to prosecute Durst on a variety of offenses. Those could have carried senNew York City real estate heir Robert Durst leaves a tences longer Houston courtroom. New Orleans Federal Judge Kurt Engelhardt on April 27 approved a plea agreement for than 85 Durst to serve 7 years, 1 month in prison on a weapons months, charge. Durst still faces a separate murder charge in Engelhardt California. said. would have been the maximum He will get credit for time sentence that Durst could have served since his arrest in midfaced for illegally carrying a .38- March last year, Assistant U.S.

State reservoirs to remove floating houses JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.: Several local and state officials and houseboat owners are opposed to the Tennessee Valley Authority's move to remove floating houses from its reservoirs in Tennessee and other states after a study showed a large number of the homes have been built and docked over the past 10 years.

Washington County commissioners voted to support a state Senate resolution urging the TVA to reject a provision that would require all houseboats to be removed within the next 20 years, the Johnson City Press reported.

According to the TVA study, the recent growth of unpermitted floating houses has raised concerns about potential environmental and safety impacts.

TVA amended its regulations in 1977 to prohibit non-navigable houseboats except for those existing before 1978. ``The Senate wants all boat houses to be grandfathered in,'' Karen Jenkins, who owns a floating house docked on Boone Lake, told county commissioners.

Since 2000, it appears the agency's policy has been to temporarily allow floating houses in

its reservoirs, the Tennessee River and its tributaries that meet the minimum safety and environmental standards. ``Because our lake house is pre1978, I thought they would grandfather us in,'' Jenkins said. ``That's why I'm confused about what they're doing now.''

TVA's board of directors will hold a ``listening session'' for the public at a May 5 meeting in Buchanan.

There are an estimated 1,800 structures, used mainly for habitation, along TVA reservoirs and rivers. -AP

Louisiana man in $2 mn real estate fraud PITTSBURGH: A federal grand jury in western Pennsylvania has indicted a Louisiana man on charges of defrauding hundreds of real estate agents across the nation out more than $2 million.

The U.S. attorney's office said the Pittsburgh grand jury returned an 11-count mail fraud indictment

April 19 against 40-year-old Rex Alan Harris of Covington, Louisiana. The indictment was unsealed after the arrest in Louisiana of Harris, who has several aliases.

Harris is accused of having promised television and Internet advertising to generate home sales. Authorities allege that the

agents paid thousands of dollars but the advertising never occurred and Harris and others spent the money on such things as merchandise and New Orleans Saints season tickets.

Court documents don't list an attorney for Harris who could respond to the charges. -AP

Attorney Michael McMahon said. ``They always do that,'' he said.

Accepting the sentence ``cleared the decks - at a cost,'' defense attorney Richard DeGuerin said. ``It's a great cost, but he's not facing any other prosecutions except what's in California.'' ``This case is and always has been about the accusation that Bob killed his best friend, Susan Berman. He did not kill Susan Berman, he doesn't know who did, and he's eager to get to California and prove that,'' DeGuerin said.

McMahon and DeGuerin said Durst also will forfeit more than $44,000 found in his hotel room when he was arrested and $117,000 in a package sent to Everette Ward, the name under which Durst had registered, and intercepted by the FBI after his arrest.

Durst's attorneys and prosecutors in Los Angeles have agreed that he will be in Los Angeles by mid-August.

He's likely to leave Louisiana within a couple of weeks, McMahon said. ``He'll be out of here pretty quickly,'' McMahon said, noting

that timing and the specific prison that Durst goes to is up to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Engelhardt recommended that Durst serve his time at FCI Terminal Island, California, about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The location is near the trial venue and has medical facilities Durst needs because of his ``advanced age and serious health considerations, including mobility challenges,'' defense lawyers wrote in a request.

An estranged member of the wealthy New York real estate family that runs 1 World Trade Center, Durst was tracked to New Orleans in March 2015 by FBI agents worried that he was about to flee to Cuba.

He was detained at a hotel on the eve of the finale of a six-part documentary about him, and was arrested early on the morning of the show. ``The Jinx'' described the disappearance of Kathleen Durst, the death and dismemberment of a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, and Berman's death.

At the end of the show, Durst is heard muttering, ``What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.'' -AP

SC asks Sahara to give details of properties Cont’d from page 42

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for Sahara, sought release of Roy on the ground of his "deteriorating" health and the fact that market regulator SEBI has already been authorized to sell 66 properties.

"The court should consider granting parole to him or put his client under house arrest. I am in substantial compliance of the orders of this court. SEBI has the property and the machinery. I am required for compliance of order of this court and I am not required for any offence. At this stage please consider all the factors and grant me parole. My client's health has been deteriorating and he may not be able to survive another summer in jail," Dhawan said.

To this, the bench said, "We don't see substantial compliance unless the money is refunded to the investors. It does not give us pleasure to keep somebody in jail.

See, there has to be change in circumstances and there has to be a substantial compliance of our order."

When the bench enquired

about the total assets of Sahara in India and abroad, Dhawan sought two weeks time to seek instructions and produce the list of properties in a sealed cover to the court.

The matter is listed for hearing on May 11.

At the outset, senior advocate Arvind P Datar, appearing for

The bench said, "We don't see substantial compliance unless the money is refunded to the investors.�

SEBI, informed the court that the market regulator, in consultation with Justice B N Agrawal, has engaged services of SBI Capital Markets and HDFC Realty to sell properties of the Sahara Group.

He said the selling process of 66 properties will be completed in four months time and the first phase of the sale process would commence next week. -PTI

In Brief Indian-Americans convicted for H-1B fraud WASHINGTON: An IndianAmerican couple has been convicted on charges of H-1B visa fraud and will face up to 30 years imprisonment, the Department of Justice has said.

Raju Kosuri, 44, and his wife Smriti Jharia, 45, of Ashburn, along with four co-conspirators fraudulently applied for more than 800 illegal immigration benefits under the H-1B visa program.

The indictment alleges that Kosuri has set up a network of shell companies that he presents to immigration authorities as independent businesses in need of Indian workers, but which he in fact owns and controls.

It alleged that Kosuri and his co-conspirators use these entities to file petitions for non-existent job vacancies at Kosuris data center in Danville.

The visa fraud scheme involves the forgery of numerous individuals signatures on visa petitions and exhibits without their knowledge.

The indictment alleges that Kosuri has generated gross proceeds of at least USD20 million over the life of the scheme, the Justice Department said.

The indictment also alleged that Kosuri and Jharia conspired with a consultant named Raimondo Piluso to defraud the Small Business Administration, by submitting fraudulent HUBZone applications. -PTI

„ Immigration center stage in Brexit campaign LONDON: U.K. politicians who want Britain to leave the European Union are fighting back after President Barack Obama sided with those who want the country to stay in the 28-nation bloc.

Justice Secretary Michael Gove led the charge, arguing the U.K. will face a migration ``free-for-all'' if it votes to remain in the EU in the June 23 referendum. The comment comes after Obama told Britons they would be at the ``back of the queue'' for a trade deal after an ``out'' vote.

Gove told the BBC ``nobody knows'' how long a trade deal would take.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, a supporter of the exit campaign, also spoke after being condemned for his personal attacks on Obama.

Johnson said those favoring EU membership should not ``crow too soon.'' -AP

Immigration

Police seek to engage immigrant communities

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Details on page 46

GOP takes on Library of Congress on immigration terminology WASHINGTON: Congress may not be able to reform the immigration system, fix the broken tax code or even pass a budget. But it's telling the Library of Congress how to label immigrants living in the country illegally.

That's how conservative Republicans are responding to a move by the library to drop the term "illegal alien" in favor of "noncitizens" or "unauthorized immigration" for cataloging and search purposes. The move came in response to a petition from the American Library Association to change immigration-related search terms to make them less judgmental.

The library's move, announced in a three-page statement last month, was met with outrage from conservatives, who asked that a provision to block it be added to legislation that funds the legislative branch and its agencies, which include the Library of Congress.

"This needless policy change by the Library of Congress embodies so much of what taxpayers find enraging about Washington," said Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., in a statement introducing similar legislation. "By trading commonsense language for sanitized political-speak, they are caving to the

whims of left-wing special interests and attempting to mask the grave threat that illegal immigration poses to our economy, our national security, and our sovereignty."

The library makes cataloging changes 3,000-4,000 times a year,

words like "negro" and "oriental."

"What is so controversial about asking the library to use references that are found in the United States Code?" countered Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., who inserted the provision into the spending bill this week.

says Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the top Democrat on the legislative funding panel. She says the move inserts a "poison pill" into a normally nonpartisan annual funding bill.

"The Library is in the business of language and nomenclature and should be free to make these decisions outside of the political spectrum," said Wasserman Schultz.

She likened it to dropping archaic

In fact, the library said in a March 26 statement that "the phrase illegal aliens has taken on a pejorative tone in recent years" and added that "aliens" can be confusing since it can also mean beings from another planet.

The bill funding the operations of Congress is the most obscure and little-watched of the 12 annual appropriations bills, making news only because it contains a freeze on lawmakers' pay and permits

sledding on the Capitol grounds.

But the legislative branch measure is closely watched by congressional leaders and is one of a handful of the bills that's usually guaranteed to enjoy bipartisan support. Injecting politics into it is frowned upon.

The immigration issue is but one of many policy topics that are added to the annual spending bills. As the appropriations work gets under way, the Senate is in the unusual position of taking the lead. The appropriations process, once a dominant feature of Congress' annual schedule, has withered in recent years, with Congress resorting to rolling the traditionally separate measures into a single giant, must-pass spending negotiated in secret at year's end, rather than through open debate and amendment over many months.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has made reviving the appropriations process a priority. The first few bills to make it through the Senate pipeline have been mostly free of what Democrats call "poison pill riders," despite opportunities to try to block environmental regulations or President Barack Obama's mostly symbolic executive order on gun violence. -AP

India seeks Mallya's deportation from UK NEW DELHI: India has asked the UK to deport Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines has been accused of defaulting bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore, citing the revocation of his passport and a non-bailable warrant against him.

External Affairs Ministry also emphasized that India will continue pursuing Mallya's deportation matter with the UK authorities.

Four days after MEA revoked the liquor baron's passport, ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "The ministry has written to the High Commission of the UK in Delhi requesting the deportation of Vijay Mallya so that

his presence can be secured for investigations against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002."

He further said that Indian High

Commission in the UK will also be issuing a similar note verbale to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

"Mallya's passport was re-

voked last week in view of these (PMLA) investigations and nonbailable warrant issued by the Special Judge, Mumbai. We will continue to pursue this matter with UK authorities," Swarup added.

ED has approached the MEA seeking initiation of deportation proceedings against Mallya, charged with money laundering in the Rs 900 crore IDBI loan fraud case.

Mallya, who had left India on March 2 for the UK, can approach the British authorities to grant him permission to continue his stay in that country or challenge the revocation of his passport. -PTI

Immigration Post

46 India Post

May 6, 2016

www.indiapost.com

Immigrant students seek in-state tuition ATLANTA: A group of young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and who have been granted temporary permission to stay is asking a judge to order the Georgia university system to allow them to pay instate tuition.

The university system requires students seeking in-state tuition to provide verification of ``lawful

known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA don't meet that requirement.

In a court filing in Fulton County Superior Court, a lawyer for the 10 young immigrants argues that the federal Department of Homeland Security has said that people who have qualified for the 2012 program are ``lawfully present.'' The young people bringing the legal action,

The state Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit contending college students who are not U.S. citizens are entitled to in-state tuition, ruling the Board of Regents is immune from legal challenge in this instance.

presence'' in the U.S. The Board of Regents, which governs the university system, has said students with temporary permission to stay under a 2012 program -

who meet all the other requirements, should therefore be eligible for in-state tuition, attorney Charles Kuck wrote in the filing.

The Georgia Supreme Court in

February rejected a similar request from some of the same young immigrants, saying it was barred by sovereign immunity, which shields the state and state agencies from being sued unless the General Assembly waives that protection.

To get around that, the court filing names each individual member of the Board of Regents rather than naming the board, which is considered a state agency. ``Justice, common sense, and Georgia's own economic self-interest all demand in-state tuition for DACA recipients,'' Kuck said in a statement. ``We will fight for this until we win. The hope of Georgia's children is at stake.''

University system spokesman Charles Sutlive declined to comment on pending litigation.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund last month filed a separate federal lawsuit on behalf of two immigrant college students who graduated from Georgia high schools and live in the state but are required to pay out-ofstate tuition. That suit says the policy is pre-empted by federal immigration law and therefore violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. It also says the policy violates the Constitution's equal protection guarantee because it denies in-state tuition without a constitutionally valid justification. -AP

Police seek to engage immigrant communities INDIANAPOLIS: An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department program is encouraging officer engagement with immigrant communities.

About 50 Burmese youths from the Falam Baptist Church of Indi-

ana participated in a demonstration in the IMPD and Me program, The Indianapolis Star reported.

They met with police officers, learned what to do in a traffic stop and took notes from the bomb squad.

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newspaper that he was concerned about how his department can address the city's growing immigrant communities. He added that immigrant involvement in policing ``helps us with some of the cultural issues that we have at times when we're trying to investigate crimes or investigate victims.''

'Isa suppressed facts for obtaining visa' NEW DELHI: Accused of bowing to Chinese pressure on Uyghur leader Dolkun Isa, India has defended its decision to revoke his visa, saying that Isa had "suppressed" facts while obtain-

Dolkun Isa

ing it but admitted that China had made its position clear to New Delhi that it should honor the Interpol Red Corner notice against him.

"Isa applied for a tourist visa under the electronic travel authorization system. He was accordingly granted the visa. After ob-

taining the visa, Isa stated publicly that he was coming to attend a conference in India. A fact which was suppressed in the visa form and something that a tourist visa does not permit.

"Further more it came to the notice of authorities that Isa was subject of an Interpol Red Corner notice," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Asked if China had raised its objection on granting of visa to Isa by India, he said, "They made their position clear that Isa has an Interpol Red Corner Notice and all the countries which are member of Interpol should honor that."

However, the Spokesperson rejected the charge that visa revocation was done under Chinese pressure, saying the facts were "suppressed" by Isa and that led to revocation of his visa and no other "meaning" should be read into the Indian action.

Visa policies are very clear and if a bonafide applicant obtains visa based on furnishing correct information and after following due process, there will be no cause for any revocation, he added. -PTI

Pasco ex-cop wants coroner removed PASCO, Wash.: A former Pasco police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a Mexican immigrant last year is asking a judge to remove the Franklin County coroner from an inquest into the man's death.

Ryan Flanagan's attorney has filed the request in Superior Court.

The Tri-City Herald reports that Flanagan is concerned about comments Coroner Dan Blasdel has made in the death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes.

Johnson is asking a judge to take over the coroner's inquest, which is scheduled to begin May 23 at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

Zambrano-Montes died after the officers shot at him 17 times while he was throwing rocks at police and passing cars. The shooting was captured on cellphone video and went viral.

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant declined to prosecute the three officers involved. -AP

Forty groups have participated in the IMPD and Me program over the past three years.

Indianapolis officer Candi Perry said the program has helped the department monitor the city's smaller communities more effectively. She said community policing has made the department seem more trustworthy, which encourages immigrants to call when there's an issue, so the program's success is measured by calls. ``There's a freedom in conversation that wasn't there before,'' the officer said.

The city's Immigrant Welcome Center has supported the

department's immigrant outreach programs for years, according to the center's executive director, Terri Downs. She said it can be hard for officers to foster meaningful relationships with refugee populations, many of whom come from places where people fear police, due to their previous experiences. ``It's very, very difficult to gain the trust of them from a person in uniform, because of the number of military governments throughout the world that would jail people,'' Downs said. ``(The IMPD officers) recognize the importance of coming to them and bringing them in and saying, `We are your friends.''' -AP

Datebook

May 6, 2016

NEW JERSEY Upcoming Sat, May 14 • Hindi Drama Chanakya New Jersey Venue: RITZ Theartre, 1148 E Jersey St, Elizabeth, NJ 07201 Time : 8:00 pm

Wed, May 18 • Amjad Sabri Qawwali Night Venue: Edison Hotel, 1171 King Georges Post Rd, Edison, NJ 08837 Time: 08:00 pm

Sun, May 29 • Hasya Kavi Sammelan (Humor, Laughter & Poetry) Venue: Kenilworth Inn, 60 South 31st Street, Kenilworth, NJ 07033 Time: 03:00 pm Contact: 551-697-8703

NEW YORK

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

Upcoming

Fri, May 13 • Hindi Drama Chanakya - New York Venue: Community Center Auditorium, 14309 Holly Ave, NY 11355 Time : 08:00 pm

Fri, May 13 • Indian Speed Dating In NYC | Special Desi Valentine Event Venue: Maple / Aspen Club, 157 W 47th St, New York, NY 10036 Time : 06:00 pm Contact: 6465438127

India Post 47

CHICAGO

Upcoming

• Raaga Lahari Thaman Live in Concert

Sat, May 7 • Marathi Movie - Sairat (With English Subtitles)

Venue: Pavilion Hall (Indoor), Santa Clara

Venue: Serra Theaters, 200 Serra Way,

County Fair Grounds, 344 Tully Road, San

Milpitas, CA 95035

Jose, CA 95111

Time: 02:00 pm

Sat, May 7

Time: 7:00 pm

Sat, May 7

Contact: 650-670-6665

Venue: Windemere Ranch Middle School

Fri, May 13 • Geet Ramayan By Sridhar Phadke

• Spandana Volleyball Event 2016 Soccer Field, 11611 East Branch Parkway,

Venue: Jain Temple Auditorium, 722 S. Main

Sat, May 21

San Ramon, CA 94582

Street, Milpitas, CA 95035

• Desi Saturdays New Yorks Weekly Saturday Night

Time: 10:00 am

Time: 07:30 pm

Venue: LEXICON, 226 E 54th St, New York, NY 10022 Time : 9:30 pm

Sun, May 15

ATLANTA

• Moving Closer Featuring Shafqat Amanat Ali and Rekha Bhardwaj

Upcoming

Venue: Chabot College Center of Performing Arts, 25555 Hesperian Blvd, Hayward, CA 94545 Time: 7:30 pm

Sat, May 21 • Shri. Pattabhirama Pandit Vocal Venue: CET - Soto Theater, 701 Vine Street, San Jose, CA 95110 Time: 04:30 pm

Fri, Jun 3 • The Ultimate Antakshari Challenge & Karaoke Night Venue: Golden Peacock Banquets, 24989 Santa Clara St, Hayward, CA 94544 Time: 07:00 pm

Sat, May 14 • Splendor of the Indian Ragas Venue: Speakers Auditorium, Student Center East, Georgia State University, 55 Gilmer Street Southeast, Atlanta, GA Time: 4:00 pm

Sun, May 22 • S. S. Thaman Live In Concert Venue: Lassiter Concert Hall, 2601 Shallowford Rd, Marietta, GA 30066 Time: 4:00 pm

Sat, May 28 • Bappi Lahri: The Legend Live In Atlanta Venue: Atlanta Event Hall, 3750 Venture Dr, Duluth, GA 30096 Time: 08:00 pm

ILLINOIS Upcoming 1st and 3rd Sunday of Month • Chicago Children's Bal Mukund Character Building Program and Hindi Literacy Classes Venue: Vogelei Center, 650 W. Higgins Road, Hoffmann Estates, IL 60192 (Next to Nissan Dealership) Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @ 630-561-4807

Mondays and Fridays • Free ESL - English as Second Language Classes Metropolitan Asian Family Services Venue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL, Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm Contact: 773-465-3105

Mondays and Fridays • Free ESL - English as Second Language Classes Where: Metropolitan Asian Family Services Venue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL, Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm Contact: 773-465-3105

Swami Ishatmananda • Bhagavad Gita: Philosophy of life Venue: Public Library-95th Street 3015 Cedar Glade Rd Naperville IL 60564 Time: 1st friday of every month 7-8 pm Contact: 630-637-0662

• India Eternal: From the Vedic Age to the Present Venue: Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago 10915 N. Main Street Glendale Heights, IL 60139 Time: 10:00 pm Contact: 630-655-8822

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Philosophy

May 6, 2016

India Post 49

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H

e who through wisdom discerns that there is no division between the Eternal and the manifested world, bears the mark of one who is free even in life.

Whose mind is even, when honored by the good, or persecuted by the wicked, bears the mark of one who is free even in life.

In whom all sensuous objects, put forth by the supreme, melt together like the rivers and streams that enter the ocean's treasure house, making no change at all, since he and they are but the one Being, this sage self-conquered is set free.

For him who has understood the nature of the Eternal, there is no return to birth and death as of old; if such return there be, then the nature of the Eternal was not known.

If they say he returns to birth and death through the rush of old imaginings, this is not true; for, from the knowledge of oneness, imaginings lose all their power.

As the most lustful man ceases from desire before his mother; so, when the Eternal is known, the wise cease from desire, through fullness of bliss.

The scripture says that, even for him who profoundly meditates, there is a going after outward things of sense, on account of Works already entered on.

As long as there is the taste of pain and pleasure, so long are there Works already entered on; the

fruits come from the acts that went before; without these acts where would the fruits be?

From the knowledge that I am the Eternal, the accumulated Works, heaped up even through hundreds of myriads of ages, melt away like the work of dream, on awaking.

Whatever one does while dreaming, however good or bad it seems, what effect has it on him, on awaking to send him either to hell or heaven?

On knowing the Self, unattached, enthroned like the dome of heaven, the man is no longer stained at all by Works to come.

As the ether enclosed in the jar is not stained by the smell of the wine, so the Self encompassed by its vestures, is not stained by any quality of theirs.

Works that have been entered on, before wisdom's sunrise, are

away in the fire of perfect wisdom.

When they have beheld the oneness of the Self and the Eternal, and stand ever firm in the power of that knowledge, for them those three kinds of Works exist no longer; for them there is only the Eternal, free from every change.

When the saint rests in the Self, through understanding that the Self is other than its vestures, that

ing after even a world full of them, is seen in him who has awakened.

But if the pursuit of mirages goes on, then the man has not wakened Excerpted from Verses 439 468, Vivekachudamani - The Crest-Jewel of Wisdom. Translated

by Charles Johnston. The 1228th birth anniversary of Adi Shankracharya was observed on April 23.

The one who loves all in-

ATMANANDA (BLANCA OF VIENNA)

Q: Can anyone help me or must each one find out for himself?

MA: The professor can teach you only when you have the capacity to learn. Of course, he can give you help but you must be able to respond. You must have it in you to grasp what he teaches. It is you who study and you who pass; you who earn and you who

best path for each is the one which the guru points out for him.

Q: I am a Christian MA: I am also a Christian, a Mohammedan, anything you like.

Q: How can I get happiness?

MA: First tell me whether you are willing to do as I bid you.

Q: Yes I am.

MA: Are you really? All right,

that is real happiness.

Q: Is there no justification in professional or any other worldly work at all?

MA: Occupation with worldly things is like slow poison. Gradually, without your noticing it, it leads you to death. Should I advise my friends, should I advise you, to take this road? I cannot

kindles the light of aware-

Q: Am I right to believe that you are God? MA: There is nothing but God; everything and everyone is only a form of God. In your shape also He has come here to give darshan.

Q: Then why are You in this world?

MA: In this world? I am not anywhere. I am within myself.

Q: Why am I in this world?

MA: He plays in infinite ways.

It is His pleasure to play as He does.

Q: But I, why am I in this world?

MA: That's what I have been telling you. All is He. His play is in numberless forms and ways. But to find out for yourself why you are in the world, to find out who you really are, there are various sadhanas (spiritual practices and methods).

You study and you pass your exam; you earn money and you enjoy the use of it. But all this is in the realm of death in which you go on life after life, repeating the same thing over and over again. But there is another path - the path of immortality, which leads to knowledge of what you are in reality.

not destroyed by wisdom, until they have reached their fruition; like an arrow aimed and sent forth at the mark.

The arrow discharged by the thought that there was a tiger, does not stop when it is seen to be a cow, but pierces the mark through its exceeding swiftness.

Verily, Works entered on are the most formidable to the wise, they disappear only through being experienced. But Works accumulated and Works to come both melt

the Self is the pure Eternal; then the myth of the reality of Works entered on no longer holds him, just as the myth of union with things of dream no longer holds him who has awakened.

For he who is awake no longer keeps the sense of "I and mine and that," for his looking-glass body and the world that belongs to it; but comes to himself merely through waking.

Neither a desire for pursuing mythical objects, nor any grasp-

No division between Eternal & manifested world When the saint rests in the Self, through under-

Meditating on the lotus of your heart, in the center is the untainted; the exquisitely pure, clear, and sorrowless; the inconceivable; the unmanifest, of

standing that the Self is other than its vestures, that

infinite form; blissful, tran-

the Self is the pure Eternal; then the myth of the

quil, immortal; the womb of

reality of Works entered on no longer holds him

Brahma.

-Kaivalyopanishad

Adi Shankracharya

Best path is the one which Guru points out

-Yajur Veda The human body is the temple of God. One who ness within gets true light.

-Rig Veda Bless us with a divine voice that we may tune the harpstrings of our life to sing

Of everything he is the inmost Self. He is the truth; he is the Self su-

whatever it is - cannot last. But if you find happi-

preme.

ness in God who is everywhere, all pervading,

suppose I ask you to remain here, will you be able to do it?

Q: No (laughter) MA: You see, happiness that depends on anything outside of you, be it wife, child, money, fame, friends - whatever it is - cannot last. But if you find happiness in God who is everywhere, all pervading, who is your own Self -

of himself.

-Rig Veda

you, be it wife, child, money, fame, friends -

spend.

Q: Which is the best path?

MA: All paths are good. It depends on a person's samskaras, his conditioning, the tendencies he has brought over from his former lives. Just as one can get to the same place by plane, ship, train, car, cycle, etc., so also different types of people. But the

in all living beings a part

songs of Love to you.

Happiness that depends on anything outside of

who is your own Self - that is real happiness.

tensely begins perceiving

-Chandogya Upanishad Anandamayi Ma

do this. I say tread the path of immortality, take any path that suits your temperament which will lead you to the discovery of your Self.

Excerpted from the Prologue of the book, Death Must Die, by Ram Alexander. The 120th birth anniversary of Anandamayi Ma was celebrated on April 30

The all-knowing Self was never born, nor will it die.

Beyond cause and effect, This Self is eternal and immutable. When the body dies, the Self does not die.

Insure yourself FIRST. Call Sahanis, (Arish, Priya or Shiv) for your Insurance needs 718- 271- 0453. Serving for last 35 yrs

-Katha Upanishad

50 India Post

LOS ANGELES: Anyone who's spent time with a cat might agree with filmmaker Peter Atencio when he says cats are the ``15-yearolds of the animal kingdom.''

Dogs are eager to please their owners. Cats couldn't care less.

But the kittens that play the title tabby in the new action-comedy ``Keanu " impressed their human co-stars so much, they've earned permanent places in Hollywood. ``They blew away my expectations,'' said Atencio, director of ``Keanu'' and a self-described ``crazy cat man'' who has three cats, two dogs and a rabbit at home. ``They took direction really well.'' ``Keanu,'' tells the story of Clarence and Rell ("Key & Peele'' stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele), two mild-mannered guys who pretend to be killer criminals after a gang of thugs steals Rell's kitten, Keanu. The gangsters want to keep the kitten - now wearing gold chains and a tiny do-rag - but Clarence and Rell will do anything, including embracing their inner tough-guys, to get him back.

Seven brown tabbies, all rescued from animal shelters, played Keanu. Trainer Larry Payne

www.indiapost.com

May 6, 2016

said animal roles generally require multiple actors (or, in this case, cat-ctors), as each has its own personality traits that contribute to the onscreen character.

Some kittens are better at hitting marks, for example, while others are particularly skilled at sitting still and being

adorable. ``There's the run guy, there's the snuggle guy, there's the meow guy,'' Key said. ``It's like assembling a team of bank-robbers,'' Atencio added.

Cont'd on Page 53

May 6, 2016

India Post 51 www.indiapost.com

All-3 Khans for Modi govt anniversary

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has sent out special invites to Bollywood A-listers for a starstudded event that marks the second anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

The guest list is headlined by Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.

A crowd of over 60,000 people is expected to gather at India Gate in the Capital on May 26 for the mega event, to witness an eighthour show, titled `Zara Muskura Do'. It will feature a series of short films highlighting the Modi government's achievements.

Unlike last year's celebrations, `Saal Ek, Shuruaat Anek', this year's show is slated to be a national event. The government has formed a panel of ministers, headed by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, and comprising of Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and

T

iger Shroff is known as a great dancer courtesy his flexible moves in 'Heropanti' and various online videos, and the actor says he wishes to open a dance school to train talent across the country. The young actor is not a fan of various dance competition s h o w s and thinks an institute would be a better platform for budding performers. "I wanted to open up a dance school for everybody including the u n d e r privileged. There's so much talent in India that goes unnoticed," Tiger told PTI in an interview.

"People have to pave their way through dance competitions, which I am totally against. If I am able to make a name for myself then I will surely open a dance school."

When it comes to his inspiration as a dancer, the 26-year-old looks up to superstar Hrithik Roshan and finds his dancing effortless.

"Whenever I meet him, I ask

I&B Minister of State, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, to supervise the prep. The panel has been holding weekly discussions regarding the government schemes that will take centre stage at the event.

According to official sources, Amitabh Bachchan will open the cer-

emony, which will be telecast live and will feature representatives and celebrity ambassadors of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Digital India and Rural Electrification programs. The guest list includes AR Rahman, Ajay Devgn, Riteish Deshmukh, Rajkumar Hirani and Saina Nehwal, among oth-

ers.

The Khan trio has been on cordial terms with each other, having been snapped hugging it out at several events. While Salman and SRK performed together at the last editions of Filmfare Awards and TOIFA Dubai, Aamir is known to touch base with Sallu and SRK on their birthdays. The Khans have also taken to support each others' films by promoting trailers and posters on the social media. And now, they re-unite on Modi's invitation.

Tiger Shroff wants to open a dance school him so many questions about his career, how he prepares for his songs. I always tell him, 'Sir, every time I see you in a song everything else becomes invisible and I am left looking at you.

How do you make look things so easy...?'"

Besides their love for dance, Tiger says they both share similar philosophies about life and career.

"We have a similar mindset.

We are very hard on ourselves.

Our philosophies are somewhat similar regarding life and careers, so along those lines we talk... We usually talk about fitness."

The actor, meanwhile, is excited about his new release, Sajid Nadiadwala's 'Baaghi'. Tiger says

that the film has the potential of becoming a "cult" action movie.

'Baaghi' gave me a lot of scope to perform, never seen before action and not just nonsensical fighting. There is a strong emotional content in it, which drives the action forward.

"I want the audience to whistle and cheer for me in the film, for what I am fighting for... I have worked hard to make it look like a spectacle but I want the emotional quotient to come even stronger." The actor feels the

action in the film is unlike other movies, where the hero punches the main villain and 10 other goons go flying in the air. Tiger says that Indian audience needs to be presented with authentic action movies.

"I think we are trained to see hero punch one and 10 others go flying in the air, we are used to seeing heroes bounce villains on the floor like a basketball. I find that little nonsensical. I understand

that if it is done in a comic way. If it's done in a humorous way, it is okay but that is not something I like to do."

Post his next project, which is a superhero film, the actor is going to take a break from the action genre. "For now, 'Baaghi' is the best I could offer in terms of action to my audience. I don't think I will get something like this easily again. Till then, I don't see myself doing anything in that direction."-PTI

52 India Post

May 6, 2016 www.indiapost.com

I don't fear anything: Azharuddin India Post News Service

MUMBAI: The Azhar movie chronicles the life and times of the former Indian Cricket Captain, through his colourful journey. It is based on incidents and facts in the life of Mohammad Azharuddin, who talks in the following interview about his life and the film:

The first two years (after the match fixing case) were really difficult but I stood strong through the case.

If I had lost (the case), it would have been a very different story.

The film would have been made in a very different way. I don't look at life negatively. I believe good things happen to positive people.

people who don't support you.

There are chances that negative talk about you will resume. Does it scare you?

I am pretty used to it. Nobody can stop them from saying whatever they have to. I don't worry about what people say about me as long as people who love me and

coming a coach?

I will be happy if I am given an opportunity. I am willing to give back whatever cricket I have played. A number of players have come to me for advice but I choose to not talk about it for publicity. I am not that kind of a person. As a cricketer you must help people who are struggling and give them proper advice.

You took over a year to say yes to a film based on your life. And now that the trailer has already released, what do you think of it?

You never think about your life being replicated on screen. So naturally it's a different feeling.

But I think Emraanbhai has done really well. He has worked very hard, trained and read a lot of paper clippings and is extremely professional. I like his approach towards work. He even hurt himself while training for the cricket portions and you have to make those sacrifices when you know you have to deliver. From whatever I have seen so far, it looks good.

When you heard that Emraan will be playing you in the film, what was your reaction?

I thought he was the best person to do the job. I've seen his films. The first thing that appeals to me about an actor or a player is his or her professionalism. I think Emraan has been very professional, and has worked very hard on the film. He left no stone unturned. I'm sure people will like it. It's not easy to copy someone.

It's a different film involving events that occurred in somebody's life. I think people will get inspired by this.

Once the film releases, people will revisit the controversies of your life. Won't it make you uncomfortable?

Azhar: People are bound to talk, but I don't blame them. I think tough people survive difficult times. If you don't have patience during those times, you will not survive. That is the law of nature.

Were you sceptical about sharing details of your life for a film?

I don't fear anything. If I did, this film wouldn't have been made.

When you want to do something, you have to do it whole-heartedly.

I think they've done a good job of portraying whatever has happened in my life. It's a positive film, and people shouldn't see it in a

Emraan Hashmi with Mohammad Azharuddin

Staying positive is my strength and I am thankful to Allah for giving me that strength and patience.

Even though the judiciary has given you a clean chit and withdrawn the ban, there might be

my fans, who care for me, are happy.

After all that happened, do you wish to associate yourself with the Indian cricket team by being a part of the management or be-

Can game theory help parents?

NEW YORK: Game theory, a branch of mathematics dealing with strategic thinking, has been applied to scenarios of war, business and biology. But parenting?

You bet, said writer and New York City dad of five, Paul Raeburn, who has written a book with academic Kevin Zollman noting all the ways dealing with kids might go more smoothly if only parents knew a little bit about game theory.

The book, ``The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting,'' was published in April by Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

A conversation with Paul Raeburn: AP: What motivated you to take on game theory as it relates to parenting?

Raeburn: I didn't know a whole lot about game theory but I was delighted to take a look at a new approach to parenting because as the father of five kids I've pretty much tried everything

and I have what you might call a mixed record. All of my kids have turned out fine but it's been a real learning experience along the way.

Basically, without getting into the mathematics of game theory, which are beyond me, the idea is that game theory is sort of an organized way of studying strategies. As parents, it can give us confidence to do the things that we instinctively think we should do.

AP: In parenting, does game theory rely on the notion of negotiating. Should parents be in the business of negotiating?

Raeburn: In negotiations you have to be strategic. Our children are some of the toughest negotiators we will face. They really can stick to their positions. So the ideas of game theory that are applicable to parenting include how to better negotiate with your kids, how to be fair, how to encourage them to be fair with one another and how to encourage

them to cooperate with one another.

AP: What are some specific game theories that relate to parenting?

Raeburn: For instance, the

There are indirect ways you can discover whether he's doing his best in school without prying too much or making him a neurotic mess to get A's when he's only capable of B's. idea of fairness. If you're going to share a piece of cake and you want to share it fairly between your son and your daughter, one game theory technique is called, `I cut, you pick.' So your son, who

is older, takes the knife and cuts as carefully as possible into two pieces and then your daughter picks the one she wants.

He has the incentive to make them as identical as possible because if they're not he's going to get the smaller piece. That works pretty well. The problem there is who cuts, so a game theorist would say it's important to make sure you alternate who cuts. That works pretty well.

AP: What about cooperation?

Raeburn: Suppose you ask your son and daughter to clean up the bedroom. You've promised them ice cream if the room gets cleaned up. You come back in a little while and the room is clean, but your son looks exhausted and your daughter is sitting in a corner playing with one of the toys.

It turns out he's done all the work and she hasn't done any of it, so do they both get the ice cream? Will your son be willing to do all the work next time?

Again, alternating would work. He puts away one toy and she puts away another.

negative way.

Azharuddin, now that you have so closely been involved with the process of film-making, what's your take on acting as a profession?

It's not an easy profession at all. They have to fight it out, and there's so much competition nowadays. When you watch a film on the big screen, you don't realise the hard work and sacrifice that goes into making it. When you're shooting, it takes ages sometimes to move from one shot to another.

It's a testing time for actors. You have to get into a different mould, learn so much, and still keep your mind straight. It's a very tough job.

Why did you choose to use a film as a medium to tell your story and not, maybe, write a book instead?

It is purely because of the reach. So many people watch films. If I had written a book, only some [people] would have read it.

Cinema is a large medium. Once they (audiences) see it, they will see the problems I had to face, the tough times, and how I came out of it all. I feel it is also an inspiring film. How I reacted at that time, what my attitude was, how I behaved, how other people said things against me, and how I reacted to them‌ if everybody has to know all that, then cinema as a medium is the biggest.

The game theory behind that is called tit for tat: The other party cooperates with you, so you cooperate with them.

AP: Can you talk about the principal-agent relationship?

Raeburn: In these kinds of relationships, it's always the agent who knows more. So when you send your son to school and he comes back and tells you everything is fine, you the parent are the principal because he knows everything and he only gives back to you some of that information.

But there are indirect ways you can discover whether he's doing his best in school without prying too much or making him a neurotic mess to get A's when he's only capable of B's.

Let's say he's in high school and he's starting to think about college. He finds a college that he likes that's a reach. You sit back and see what happens and suddenly he's doing better in school.

That's telling you all he needed was the incentive.

Sometimes, you don't have to do anything. You can find out much more by sitting back. -AP

May 6, 2016

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Kittens turn Hollywood stars Cont'd from Page 50

Payne initially trained three kittens to play Keanu, but they aged out halfway through production. ``(They) had gotten big and not really kitten-like anymore,'' he explained.

He adopted four more kittens to finish the film. All were about eight weeks old when they began their month-long training.

Besides learning the skills

they'd need for their scenes - sit, stay, go from one mark to another - the Keanus had to get used to the noise and commotion of a movie set. Loud sounds typically make cats run and hide. ``It's a little bit easier with the kittens, believe it or not, than with adult cats, because I don't think they know any better,'' said Payne, who trains all kinds of animals for film and TV roles. ``The kittens al-

most think, `This is what all kittens do: We work on movies!'''

Payne plied the kitties with treats during training. Repetition and positive reinforcement are key, he said. He uses off-camera buzzers or clickers - which signify food is coming - to summon the cats to their marks.

He also used treats to get them to tolerate the dozen or so costumes Keanu wears. Rell dresses his pet in a little fedora, goggles, a

leather jacket, a hoodie and sunglasses, among other things.

When the kittens weren't on screen, they hung out in miniature star trailers: deluxe animal carriers decked out with beds, toys and water. When filming on location in New Orleans, all seven Keanus stayed with Payne in his hotel suite.

Peele, who co-wrote ``Keanu,'' said a cat-napped kitten wasn't part

of the film's original premise. He and co-writer Alex Rubens knew the main characters and their squares-in-gangland dilemma, but ``it didn't feel like we had something that really justified why we would put ourselves in danger,'' Peele said. ``That's where the kitten came in.''

Though he has a dog who sometimes wears outfits ("We got a Burberry outfit and we do have a little beach hoodie. It goes deep.''), Peele said they made Keanu a kitten because ``we realized there's not a lot of kitten movies.''

Payne, too, said he ``never had the pleasure of doing an entire kitten movie'' in his 30-year career.

Atencio would do one again, saying, ``I would love to do a kitten-based horror or thriller.''

Maybe he'll call on the kittens formerly known as Keanu? All the film's feline stars are staying in Hollywood. Though one went home with ``Keanu'' co-star Tiffany Haddish to become a housecat. Payne said the others will continue to act.

He and his colleague, April Mackin, each took two kittens home, and the remaining two live at the California ranch where Payne keeps his menagerie of acting animals. ``The fact that I was able to acclimate them to a movie-set environment when they were real young, they become valuable for us for the future to do that work,'' he said. ``They're provided a great home. We have on-staff vets. And they're very spoiled, much like a normal star would be.'' -AP

Never go on a crash diet: Zareen Khan MUMBAI: "Hate Story" actress Zareen Khan, who has been at the receiving end of body shaming in the past, says she is happy that men and women have become forthcoming in talking about the issue.

Zareen recently posted her teenage pictures, when she used to be overweight, and also wrote that she never bothered about people's negative c o m ments about her body. " B o d y shaming is really bad and I'm glad that people have actually started coming forth and speaking about it. I don't understand how can

anyone judge you to be beautiful or ugly based on your body," Zareen said in a statement.

The 28-yearold actress has lost oodles of weight in the rec e n t p a s t and is training under fitness

trainer Abbas Ali. A lot of youngsters have approached Zareen at the gym where she works out and on social networking websites asking her about the secret to weight loss.

While she believes determination is important to achieve a goal her main message to the youth is never to go on a crash diet.

"The worst thing you can do to yourself is go on a crash diet.

Only a healthy lifestyle will help you achieve a fit body. No shortcuts."

Zareen is currently shooting for "Aksar 2", a sequel to the 2006 Emraan Hashmi-starrer thriller. -PTI

Akshay Kumar in footballer's hairdo India Post News Service

MUMBAI: Akshay Kumar is a true football fan. But that's not

the only reason why he is sporting a short crop with an even sharper parting. In his next release 'Housefull 3', the Bollywood superstar plays a footballer. He thought it would be suitable to wear his hair like world-famous footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Aguero.

When asked about his latest hairdo, Akshay said: "My love for sports is not a hidden secret, be it cricket, karate or football. Usually the rains play spoilsport for all other games. However, when it comes to football even the rains cannot take away the joy of the

game. Kicking the ball in slush, falling down and getting your clothes dirty is something everyone must experience. My son Aarav and I wait for the monsoon to play football. It gives us a high. Coming to Housefull 3, I play a footballer in the film. It was fun playing the game with Riteish Deshmukh and Abhishek Bachchan on screen and off it."

Housefull 3 is releasing worldwide on 3rd June featuring Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Lisa Haydon and Nargis Fakhri.

Sylvester Stallone to make TV debut LOS ANGELES: "Creed" star Sylvester Stallone is all set to make his TV debut with a mafia drama series called "Omerta".

The 69-year-old actor is expected to portray a mob boss in Antoine Fuqua's television adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel, reported Ace Showbiz.

The show is adapted from Mario Puzo's book of the same name. It's the final novel in the author's mafia trilogy that started with "The Godfather" and "The Last Don".

Stallone is set to

work with "The Equalizer" director Antoine Fuqua for the project.

The news comes just weeks after Fuqua signed a multi-year TV deal with Weinstein Co. The director is now gearing up for the release of his new movie "The Magnificent Seven" starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt.

Meanwhile, Stallone is expected to reprise his iconic role as Rocky Balboa in "Creed 2" after he won a Golden Globe and received an Oscar nomination, for "Creed".

His other films include "Ratchet & Clank" and "Animal Crackers". -PTI

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Good time to consolidate the Act East Policy

India Post

ANGSHUMAN CHOUDHURY

A

lmost a year before 20 soldiers of the Indian Army's 6th Dogra Regiment were killed in a brutal offensive by Naga-Manipuri militants along the India-Myanmar border in Manipur's Chandel district, the Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj announced a decisive move from India's earlier 'Look East' to a new 'Act East' design for Southeast Asia. The assailants were understood to be operating freely across the Indian border with Myanmar - a country that is set to serve as the springboard for India's entry into Southeast Asia.

In this context, is it possible to sustain a long-term relationship with Southeast Asia without first securing the 1640km-long unfenced India-Myanmar border?

Can India's Northeast accrue the benefits of the upgraded 'Act East' approach without a secure politico-military climate of its own?

The Look East Policy (LEP), originally conceived in 1991, was re-branded as the 'Act East Policy'

(Manipur) to Mae Sot (Thailand) via Mandalay (Myanmar), the highway aims at establishing a direct vehicular link to Southeast Asia to facilitate greater ease of civilian transport and commercial trade.

However, the highway passes through the Sagaing Division in west Myanmar - a hotbed for insurgent groups from Northeast India. In fact, the point of origin for the highway (Moreh) falls in Chandel district of Manipur, a highly volatile area contiguous to Myanmar that has witnessed a spate of violent insurgent attacks in the last two years.

Another overland linkage in the form of a Delhi-Hanoi rail link is still stalled in its first stage within Manipur, owing to the threat posed by regular incidents of abductions, extortion and illegal tax imposition by rebel groups.

The border routes also overlie on a larger transnational network for arms and drugs trafficking along the threshold of the infamous Myanmar-Laos-Thailand

There have been no joint patrolling exercises along the border, contrary to what existing bilateral agreements specify. Furthermore, the 'hot pursuit' cross-border raid by the Indian Army last year, exposes critical communication gaps between the two governments insofar as intel-sharing is concerned (AEP) in 2014 in an attempt to adopt a more proactive foreign policy towards India's Southeast Asian neighbors.

Focus is to be laid on building people-to-people connectivity, with India's Northeast and Myanmar serving as the core nodal points for access to the tiger economies of Southeast Asia.

While Myanmar is viewed as a proximal partner in improving overland connectivity with the rest of Southeast Asia, Northeast India is meant to serve as a key 'land bridge' to the Greater Sub-Mekong Region.

Both these waypoints also share a common cultural heritage, making it conducive for India to forge a long-lasting bilateral relationship.

Ground Realities Out of the several connectivity projects in the pipeline, the trilateral India-Myanmar-Thailand highway is of prime importance.

Proposed to run from Moreh

'Golden Triangle'. Therefore, opening up India's eastern borders before plugging these critical contraband gateways can backfire by perpetuating regional militancy.

Security Design: Aspects and Gaps India signed a 'legal assistance pact' with Myanmar in 2010 that allows transfer of Indian insurgents from Myanmar to India contingent on mutual agreement. UPAII also signed a MoU with the Myanmarese government in May 2014 on joint border patrolling and information-sharing.

The BJP government too bilaterally discussed critical security issues with Myanmar during the first meeting of the IndiaMyanmar Joint Consultative Committee in July 2015. During this time, the Indo-Myanmar Regional Border Committee comprising of army and paramilitary officials from both countries also met in Manipur to discuss joint border

action.

However, the Indian state appears unclear on the specific security design to secure the border - whether to continue with paramilitary protection or switch to the army.

There have been no joint patrolling exercises along the border, contrary to what existing bilateral agreements specify. Furthermore, the 'hot pursuit' cross-border raid by the Indian Army last year, exposes critical communication gaps between the two governments insofar as intel-sharing is concerned.

This gap needs to be closed with more intimate and transparent diplomacy. Thus, the lapse in the security blueprint for India and Myanmar is largely in implementing existing policy, rather than introducing new ones.

Beyond providing a 'framework for action', the existing arrangements have not achieved much, and militant groups continue to thrive along the border with considerable impunity.

Way Forward India must imperatively draw up a well-defined inland security pact with Myanmar that stipulates a clear and coherent strategy to contain border militancy. The ideal precursory approach would be to cut-off vital supply lines for the militant camps and degrade their resource pool by plugging contraband routes.

The offensive design must fully incorporate Myanmarese security forces given the latter's familiarity with the local topography. Also, focus must be laid on neutralizing core insurgent infrastructure like camps housing the top-rung of militant leaderships rather than peripheral camps.

Most crucially, a regular monitoring and periodic review mechanism must also be created to ensure effective implementation of the counter-insurgency blueprint.

The Indian government must make positive use of the change of guard at Naypyidaw. The coming of the National League for Democracy (NLD) to power can usher in an era of transparent and committed diplomacy, which could reverse the bilateral lapses and shortcomings that India faced with the previous government.

Thus, this seems to be a good time to consolidate the Act East Policy and ensure sustainable security for the eastern border corridors.

The writer is Research Intern, SEARP, IPCS

Tumbling out

T

he BJP has an ideology, however negative, which discriminates between religions, that of Hindus and others. There is another national "secular" political party with high ideals on paper and which has ruled India for more than 45 years, which in practice has had no ideology except to make money. The general public knows about it but suffered all these years because it found nothing could be done about it. Narendra Modi in his campaign speeches had been promising onslaught against corruption but nothing significant has happened in the last two years of NDA rule.

The BJP was holding its punches and not exposing the Congress corruption-raj because it wanted cooperation of the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress in passing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill which could have led to ease of doing business across the board. However, with Sonia and Rahul directing continuing of blocking of the bill in Rajya Sabha, BJP has lost hope and now feels free to let the skeletons in the Congress cupboard tumble out. And one by one they are tumbling out even taking the Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi in their sweep.

The most damaging is a recent judgment of an Italian court which exposes the role of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh in AgustaWestland Chopper Deal. It reveals that Sonia's Political Secretary accepted the commission of •15 to 16 million ($17 - 18 million) from the middlemen. The Milan court while convicting AgustaWestland chopper company chief Giuseppe Orsi described how the firm paid bribes to top Congress leaders in India and lobbied with them to bag the Rs 3600-crore ($451 million) deal. It also names the role of Sonia Gandhi's trusted aide and AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes and the then National Security Advisor MK Narayanan. The court said the previous UPA government was not co-operating in the probe.

Interestingly, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has joined the fun asking the BJP-led Central government that why wasn't Sonia Gandhi raided the way the AAP leader's private secretary was raided by the CBI in an alleged corruption case.

Next in line in this exposure of Congress corruption is a "bright" young MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal who has been charged by a special court of the CBI with corruption in unfairly bagging a Jharkhand coal block. Also charged along with him is a former Congress minister Dasari Narayan Rao and former Jharkhand Chief minister Madhu Koda.

There are other UPA related scandals which are being pursued now such as the cases related to National Herald, Aircel-Maxis, JetEtihad deal etc. The irrepressible Subramaniam Swamy who has just re-entered Parliament has already got under the skin of the Sonia Gandhi followers. He promises to sharpen the attack on the Dynasty.

Anyway, according to Aakar Patel, columnist writing in The Firstpost, the days of the Congress nationwide are numbered.

Analyzing, he says, the Congress has governments in seven states - three small states in the northeast; Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya, two major states in the south; Kerala and Karnataka, and two small states in the north; Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It is not certain that Congress will retain Uttarakhand and Himachal where elections are due next year.

In Kerala, opinion polls say the Congress will lose the state to the Left. In Karnataka, the Congress chief minister has been hit with a series of scandals. The second development is the return of the BJP's former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa as the party leader. He remains popular with the large Lingayat community and his return will mean the BJP will be the favorite to win the next election.

In Assam, opinion polls say the BJP will win easily and convincingly. In Bengal, Congress is partnering with a weakened Left Front and opinion polls suggest that Mamata will win.

On the Congress-mukt Bharat debate, he says, "The question this time will not be if this is going to happen but when."

May 6, 2016

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