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Memorable win at Lord's for India and myself: Dhoni

VOL 20, No. 1036

July 25, 2014

50¢

Periodical Postage

MODI FOR PVT SECTOR ROLE IN N-ENERGY

Details on page 6

Shah Rukh, Deepika coming in Sept Details on page 25

SCE issues alert on Utility bill scam Details on page 20

FIA ropes in Sahil & LA Tan for Grand I-Day

Only 22% Americans know about Hinduism

Details on page 16

Details on page 17

Katrina sister Isabelle Kaif to be honored

How AI pilots averted a major catastrophe

Details on page 50 Details on page 20

Uttar Pradesh govt sets up NRI department

CONTENTS Bollywood ---------------------- 30-31

AMBITIOUS PROGRAM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being briefed by the Secretary DAE and Chairman, AEC, Dr. R.K Sinha, about Dhruva Reactor, at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai on July 21

Details on page 6

INDIA POST SURVEY survey@indiapost.com This week’s question

Modi will ease nuclear ties with US? Last week’s result

China sees great posibility of working with Modi?

YES 78%

NO 22%

MUMBAI: Indicating a greater role of the private sector in the field of nuclear energy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said there was a need to tap additional sources of investments for the ambitious expansion program.

"We would need to tap additional sources of investments for our ambitious expansion program," Modi said in an interaction with scientists during his first visit to the Department of Atomic Energy here.

He hoped the role of the industry in providing equipment and systems for the nuclear program would continue to grow and recognized that adequate incentive structure

should exist to facilitate that.

The Prime Minister asked the atomic energy establishment to present a human face of India's capabilities in nuclear science to the world and extolled its success achieved despite years of international technology denial.

He asked the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to make special efforts to expand its research and extend on a national scale applications of atomic science in areas like healthcare, waste management, water treatment, agriculture and food preservation.

Details on page 5

Certified by “CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL Readership 117,765”

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ollateral damage takes on a chilling dimension and a whole new meaning in a globalized world. Case in point - the blowing up of a Malaysian Airlines flight full of Danish and other nationals, headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, by Russia-backed Ukrainian separatists in an airspace that can at best be said to be controlled by some non-state actors.

I mean, in the fight between Russia and Ukraine, why did a totally unconnected Malaysia have to suffer the loss of its aircraft and some random innocents from 11 different countries have to die such a senseless death? Who is paying the price for whose cause?

Think of this scenario today (I refrain from using adjectives for want of the right words to describe the emotions involved) where family members of say an Australian who perished on that aircraft are waiting for their loved one's last remains, but they would have to wait helplessly with little assurance or consolation because: the remains of all 282 on that flight will first be transported by train from Torez to Kharkiv that is somewhere along the Russian-Ukrainian border; there they will be handed over to authorities from Netherlands to be flown all the way to Amsterdam for forensics before being flown again to the respective home countries; and all these decisions are being made between some unconcerned separatist leaders in Ukraine and the Malaysian authorities and authorities in Netherlands.

While all this is happening there are threats of the beginning of a cold war between the United States of America and Russia, both of which are indulging in a lot of diplomatic posturing, which if escalated, can have far reaching implications for the world at large.

In the diplomatic wrangling between all these nations involved, will the Dutch father of his only child who died in that crash ever get answers as to whose cause did his daughter's death serve?

How does one reconcile to a situation such as this where regular folks have absolutely no control over some international happenings that somehow seem to deal a direct blow to their lives? Will the truth ever be told?

Romesh K Japra rkjapra@indiapost.com

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HIGHLIGHTS Bollywood: Never again Saif Ali Khan regrets the crass comedy and his triple role in 'Humshakals' which has received flak from critics and public.

Cover Story: Nuclear program PM Narendra Modi says there is need to tap additional sources of investments for the ambitious nuclear program.

Community: Chicago I-Day FIA in partnership with Chicago's renowned showbiz-team - Sahil & LA Tan will host the India I-Day Grand Mela

Biden concerned Vice President Joe Biden is concerned about the deportations of immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally.

Life style: Guest of Honor Hollywood actress Isabelle, sister of Katrina, will be this year's Guest of Honor at the Miss India-Canada Event

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Local TV App KTSF has launched a local TV App to provide more accurate viewership of Asian American consumers in media.

Puri The most sacred pilgrim center for Hindus in India, Puri in Odisha is described as the resting place of Lord Vishnu.

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July 25, 2014

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Modi for pvt sector role in n-energy MUMBAI: Indicating a greater role of the private sector in the field of nuclear energy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said there was a need to tap additional sources of investments for the ambitious expansion program.

"We would need to tap additional sources of investments for our ambitious expansion program," Modi said in an interaction with scientists during his first visit to the Department of Atomic Energy here.

He hoped the role of the industry in providing equipment and systems for the nuclear program would continue to grow and recognized that adequate incentive structure should exist to facilitate that.

The Prime Minister asked the atomic energy establishment to present a human face of India's capabilities in nuclear science to the world and extolled its success achieved despite years of international technology denial.

He asked the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to make special efforts to expand its research and extend on a national scale applications of atomic science in areas like healthcare, waste management, water treatment, agriculture and food preservation.

Modi was briefed by R K Sinha,

Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, and other top officials and scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre on India's atomic energy program, an official press release said.

Modi reaffirmed his belief that energy security, which was increasingly based on clean and reliable sources, was the critical driver of India's rapid and sustained long-term development. He

man resources in the country.

Stressing that nuclear safety and security were of the highest priority for him, the Prime Minister asked DAE to ensure that the country's standards and prac-

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being briefed by the Secretary DAE and Chairman, AEC, Dr. R.K Sinha, at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai on July 21

He was also told about DAE's extensive research and development and education programs and its contributions in varied areas such as healthcare, especially cancer treatment, food security, solid waste management and water purification.

saw an essential role for nuclear energy in India's energy strategy, given the scale of demand.

He assured the DAE of his full support in the implementation of its ambitious expansion program and expressed hope that it would meet the target of increasing the

China's special envoy praises ISI BEIJING: China's new special envoy to Afghanistan has given a clean chit to Pakistan and its powerful spy agency ISI amid allegations that they backed terrorist outfits.

"The Pakistan government has done a lot of positive contribution to the fight against terrorism," Sun Yuxi told his first media conference here.

He was replying to a question about the allegations of involvement of Pakistan based groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the attack on Indian Consulate in Herat in May and whether China will engage with Pakistan to bring such groups under control.

"I believe that in future the Pakistan government will play an important and positive role in the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan and fight terrorism together with the international community," said Sun, a former Chinese Ambassador to India who famously asserted China's claims over Arunachal Pradesh in 2006 ahead of the then Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to New Delhi.

About allegations that ISI was behind the attack on the Indian

capacity by three times from the present level of 5780 MW by 202324 within the projected cost.

Underlining the importance of ensuring that nuclear energy remained commercially viable and

Consulate in Herat, Sun said "I think as an agency for the gov-

Sun Yuxi

"The Pakistan government has done a lot of positive contribution to the fight against terrorism," Sun Yuxi told his first media conference here

ernment and for the military of Pakistan, the ISI has been effective in fighting against terrorism".

"As for the specific case I have not been following the developments for some time," he said.

"But I do believe that the Pakistan government or any responsible agency of Pakistan will only fight against terrorism instead of being involved with any terrorist groups," Sun, who was also previously worked as Ambassador in Afghanistan besides Italy and Poland, said.

Sun said he will be closely coordinating with India and Pakistan to bring about peaceful transition to Afghanistan as US and NATO troops set to withdraw from that volatile country by 2016.

"As a special envoy I will keep a close working relationship with my counterparts in Pakistan and India as to contribute to peace and to fight against terrorism in both countries," he said.

"I also want to tell my colleagues from India and Pakistan that both countries are making efforts so as to safeguard peace and stability in Afghanistan and helping its reconstruction," he said. -PTI

competitive with other sources of clean energy in the long run, he also asked DAE to continually upgrade technology both with regard to long-term plans and international trends. DAE, he said, must also plan for ensuring adequate availability of skilled hu-

tices were the most advanced in the world. He also asked DAE to pay special attention to local communities in planning and implementing nuclear power projects.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval also accompanied the Prime Minister. -PTI

Babus to declare assets under new rules NEW DELHI: The central gov- March 31 of every financial year. ernment has notified rules under There are about 50 lakh central the Lokpal Act making it manda- government employees, including tory for all its employees to file IAS, IFS and IPS, among others. declarations of their assets and The rules, Public Servants (Furliabilities and those of their nishing of Information and Annual spouses and dependent children. Return of Assets and Liabilities It has issued new forms for fil- and the Limits for Exemption of ing these returns which have Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, fields to give details on cash in 2014 - were notified by the Departhand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and The employees need to units in companies or declare motor vehicles, mutual funds, insurance policies, provident aircraft, yachts or ships, gold fund, personal loans and advance given to a and silver jewellery and person or any entity, bullion possessed by them among others.

The employees need to declare motor vehicles, aircraft, ment of Personnel and Training yachts or ships, gold and silver (DoPT). jewellery and bullion possessed As per the rules, notified unby them, their spouses and depen- der Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, dent children, according to the every public servant shall file decform. laration, information and annual They need to give detail of their returns of his assets and liabiliimmovable properties and state- ties as on March 31 every year on ment of debts and other liabilities or before July 31 of that year. on first appointment or as on Cont’d on page 6

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Govt slams Cong for targeting Speaker on LoP NEW DELHI: The Government hit out at Congress for targeting Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over the issue of Leader of Opposition (LoP) status, saying it reflected the party's "desperation" and claimed it was "people's mandate" that it should not even get the LoP post.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar said that "casting aspersions" on the Speaker was "outrageous, condemnable and unacceptable", adding, "If people have not given them mandate to rule, people have not even chosen 55 of them, what can we do? How can we help?"

His statement came close on the heels of Congress leader Amarinder Singh alleging that no decision by the Speaker on the issue of the Leader of Opposition till now has raised fears that she could be "influenced" by the government.

"To cast aspersions on the Speaker shows the desperation of

Prakash Javadekar

Congress..... People have not given them Leader of Opposition.

It is the people's mandate," Javadekar said.

Talking to reporters outside Parliament, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath also targeted Mahajan, saying "some parties are feeling that many of the issues which they want to raise are not

being given importance which they need to be given."

Reacting to the criticism, Javadekar said, "Congress leaders' reactions are outrageous and actually an aspersion on the Speaker.... The Speaker is of the House. And whoever is in the chair, they act in a neutral way.

"To cast aspersion on the

Modi now calls for 'Cong-free' Maharashtra MUMBAI: Ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a pep talk to party workers here, telling them that they should go to the people with confidence and work unitedly for "Congress-

gress govt got majority. After the BJP-led government took over, people have a feeling that the country is going forward," he said.

Internationally also, there is hope with regard to India, he said.

"In Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha

Maharashtra are due in October.

"He came, he spoke, he conquered," said state BJP president Devendra Fadnavis while describing Modi's interaction with the party functionaries.

"Modi discussed the party's

Speaker is absolutely outrageous, condemnable and unacceptable."

When asked about the Congress' allegation, the Speaker said she cannot comment on such issues.

Amarinder Singh, who is also the Congress' deputy leader in Lok Sabha, had charged the Narendra Modi government with being "petty" and "unfair" to Congress in not granting the official Leader of Opposition's post and feared that key appointments like that of Central Vigilance Commissioner and others would not be made fairly.

Mahajan is yet to take a deci-

UP govt sets up NRI department LUCKNOW: With an aim to solve problems of Non-Resident Indians belonging to Uttar Pradesh, the state government has set up an NRI department.

In pursuance with the instructions of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, a new NRI department has been created in the state and its responsibility has been given to Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Sanjeev Saran, a spokesman said here.

free" state.

Addressing a gathering of party workers here, Modi referred to the recent Lok Sabha elections and said that for the first time a non-Congress government had got the mandate which has raised the hopes of people.

"For the first time, non-Con-

elections, the party should go ahead with confidence of victory.

The confidence of the BJP cadres in BJP is intact," the Prime Minister said.

"All workers should be united for Congress-mukt (Congressfree) Maharashtra," he said.

Assembly elections in

poll preparedness. He also sought our opinion about functioning of the BJP-led government at the Centre," a state BJP spokesperson said after the meeting.

"He was keen that those occupying the last rows should come forward and participate in the interaction," the spokesperson said. -PTI

The newly formed department will work towards effectively solving the problems of people from the state living abroad, besides encouraging investments from them, he said.

Work is going on as per a strategy to increase contact with the NRIs belonging to the state and make them partners in its progress, the spokesman said, adding that earlier a special cell was set up for solving the problems of NRIs. -PTI

Babus to declare assets under new rules Cont’d from page 5

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with party workers during his visit to Mumbai on July 21

sion on the issue of Leader of Opposition in the lower house.

Congress with 44 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha has emerged as the second largest party after BJP's 282 but fell short by 11 seats to stake claim for the LoP, for which it requires a strength of 55.

As per Direction 121 of the 'Directions of the Speaker', the Speaker should ensure that a Parliamentary party or group should have at least one-tenth of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha for being eligible for getting the LoP post. -PTI

These declarations are in addition to such returns being filed by the government employees under various services rules.

However, the competent authority may exempt a public servant from filing the information in respect of any asset if its value does not exceed his or her four months basic pay or Rs two lakh, whichever is higher, the rules said.

The employees, who have already filed their declarations, information and annual returns of property, shall file revised declarations as on August 1, 2014, to the competent authority on or before September 15, this year.

According to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, a public servant shall furnish to the competent authority the information relating to the assets of which he, his spouse and his dependent children, jointly or severally, own.

He is also mandated to declare his liabilities and that of his

spouse and his dependent children, as per the Act. The government is in process of modifying certain rules, including those related to search committee's working, under the Lokpal Act. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act provides for the establishment of a Lokpal for the Union and Lokayuktas for the states to inquire into corruption charges against public functionaries.

President Pranab Mukherjee had given his assent to Lokpal Act on January 1, this year.

The previous government could not go ahead with the muchtouted appointment of the Lokpal due to objections raised by BJP about the selection procedure of the anti-corruption body.

As per existing rules, an eightmember search committee will draw up a panel for consideration by the selection committee led by the Prime Minister for appointment of chairperson and members of the Lokpal. -PTI

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Modi wants 'excellent' relations with Sri Lanka: Swamy COLOMBO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants "excellent" relations with Sri Lanka, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said as he met President Mahinda

Committee for Strategic Action, is here to deliver a talk on 'India under Modi: relevance for the region and the world'.

He pointed out that Sri Lanka's

Subramanian Swamy with President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Rajapaksa here and underlined that the end of the LTTE campaign in this country had ensured the security of India too.

Swamy, chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

security was important to India as he met Rajapaksa along with a BJP delegation at his official residence Temple Tree.

Swamy, who is regarded a friend of Sri Lanka due to his steadfast

opposition to the campaign of violence carried out by the LTTE, said that the ending of the LTTE campaign in the country in 2009 had ensured the security of India too.

The delegation commended Sri Lanka's initiatives in the Tamildominated north and east toward improving infrastructure, bringing better educational opportunities to students and implementing programs to make the country a trilingual nation.

The BJP team told President Rajapaksa that Modi wants "excellent relations with Sri Lanka", Colombo Page reported.

Rajapaksa told the team of Sri Lanka's interest in establishing a center of excellence in maritime and environmental studies.

The team also discussed a number of issues of bilateral and regional significance, including the functions carried out by the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and Sri Lanka's strategic importance in relation to this work, indicating that Sri Lanka plays a pivotal role in guarding the Indian Ocean.-PTI

Swaraj seeks info on Indians jailed abroad NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has directed all Indian missions in the countries where significant number of nationals were in jail to provide updated information for further action.

who were working in Nesma and Partners Company at a project in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, had been in detention since 12 June, 2013 and had, after the verdict of the higher court, been sentenced to two months imprisonment.

Yet they were unable to return as the company owner had invoked his private right of compensation for the loss of property caused by the workers.

"The company, which had been reluctant to revoke its right for compensation, not only agreed to waive it but paid for the return passage of all the 40 workers, who arrived in InExternal Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj dia," government This came after the release of sources said here.

40 Indian nationals, who returned They said that Swaraj has, as a after being held in prison in Saudi follow up measure, asked "all InArabia for nearly one year for al- dian Missions where significant legedly violating labor laws of that number of Indian nationals are in country. jail to provide updated information The 40 Indian nationals hailing which will be monitored and acted largely from Bihar and Rajasthan, upon, wherever required." -PTI

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Corrupt judge charge: Katju poses six questions to Lahoti NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, who alleged that three Chief Justices of India made "improper compromises" during UPA rule in allowing a judge under corruption

said, "Some people have commented about the timing of my statement. What happened was that some Tamilians had commented on Facebook that I am posting several matters on my

Markandey Katju

cloud to continue in office, has posed six questions to one of them - Justice R C Lahoti - on the issue.

Katju asked if after receiving the adverse IB report against the Additional Judge, Lahoti, who was then Chief Justice of India, called a meeting of the threeJudge Supreme Court Collegium, consisting of himself, Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Ruma Pal, and the Collegium, having perused the IB report recommended to the Government of India not to extend the 2-year-term of that Additional Judge.

Katju, Chairman of the Press Council of India, put the posers to Lahoti on his blog.

On timing of his statement, he

Facebook post, so I should also post some of my experiences in Madras High Court.

"Then I started posting about my experiences there, and it was at time I remembered this experi-

dation of the 3 Judge Collegium of the Supreme Court was sent to the Government of India, he (Justice Lahoti), on his own, without consulting his 2 other Supreme Court Collegium colleagues, wrote a letter to the Government of India asking the Government to give another one year term as Additional Judge to the concerned Judge?"

The allegation on how an unnamed additional judge of Madras High Court was given extension at the instance of UPA-I government owing to pressure from an ally, a "Tamil Nadu party", apparently DMK, and then confirmed as a permanent judge led to an uproar in Parliament by AIADMK MPs even as questions were raised by parties like Congress on its timing.

Katju further said on his blog, "If indeed the IB reported, after an enquiry, that the Judge was indulging in corruption, why did he (Justice Lahoti) recommend to the Government of India to give that corrupt Judge another term of 1 year as Additional Judge in the High Court?"

Snag in plan to turn Dilip Kumar's house to museum ISLAMABAD: A directive by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to turn the ancestral house of legendary actor Dilip Kumar in Peshawar into a museum is facing opposition from the provincial archaeological department which termed the proposal as "unfea-

the basis of high cost, saying the owner had demanded Rs 80 million for the house in 2013, which might be higher now.

The letter also referred to a letter by the "Information, Public Relations and Culture Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" province

Katju further said on his blog, "If indeed the IB reported, after an enquiry, that the Judge was indulging in corruption, why did he (Justice Lahoti) recommend to the Government of India to give that corrupt Judge another term ence too, and posted it," he said.

Katju asked, "Is it, or is it not, correct that after that recommen-

Katju, who became the Chief Justice of Madras High Court in November 2004, had told TV channels, "These three former CJIs made improper compromises. Justice Lahoti who started it, then Justice Sabharwal and then Justice Balakrishnan. These are CJIs who can surrender. Is a CJI going to surrender to political pressure or not going to surrender to political pressure?"

Balakrishnan rejected the allegations as "completely baseless and not factually correct".

Katju, who was a Supreme Court judge from 2006 to 2011, was appointed as the PCI Chairman on October 5, 2011 and is due to retire on October 4, this year.

He started his blog posting by saying Lahoti, when contacted by some media people about his statement which was published on my blog and in a daily, generally remarked that he has never done anything wrong in his life.-PTI

Dilip Kumar’s house in Peshawar

sible", media reported today.

The Department of Archaeology and Museums has turned down the government's request to convert the 91-year-old thespian's dilapidated house in Peshawar's famous Qisa Khawani Bazaar area into a national heritage musuem, terming it "unfeasible".

The Dawn reported that in a letter to the ministry of information and heritage, the department said the house was located in congested areas and can be reached only through a narrow six feet wide and 33 feet long street. The location makes it difficult for the visitors to approach it.

"The house is totally unsuitable for conversion into a museum or library being very small and congested," it said.

The department also said that the house of three to four rooms was not protected under the Antiquities Act of 1975.

It also objected to the idea on

which "termed it wastage of taxpayers' money".

Dawn quoted a source in the ministry of heritage who said that after acquisition, significant funds would be required for its preservation and transforming it into a museum or a library, besides a huge recurring expenditure.

"The purpose for which all this exercise is being done will not be fulfilled." The source said that under the 18th Amendment, acquisition of land was now a subject of the provincial government.

Sharif had earlier ordered Information and National Heritage Minister Pervaiz Rashid to take measures to turn the house into a heritage spot.

Dawn said Information and National Heritage Secretary Mohammad Azam said officers concerned were already in Peshawar to work on the proposed project and prepare a report on how to go about it.-PTI

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US shares India's desire on South Asia WASHINGTON: Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to reach out to all of India's neighbors, a top American diplomat has said the US shares India's desire for a South Asia that is better and more interconnected.

"It is refreshing to see that Prime Minister Modi has reached out to all of India's neighbors as its first acts, and I think that those are very positive signs," Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, nominee to be the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, told Senators during her confirmation hearing.

"We share with India a desire for a region that is better and more interconnected because it is the least interconnected region, particularly from an economic standpoint," she said.

"We share also with India a desire to see Bangladesh be a strong, pluralistic democracy that is free of political violence and that, of course, is stable. So we work constantly with India as well as other diplomatic partners to that end. I think Prime Minister

Modi's early actions are very encouraging in that regard," Bernicat said in response to a question from Senator Time Kaine, who chaired hearing.

"They certainly are encourag-

"With a consistent annual economic growth rate of roughly 6 per cent, Bangladesh aspires to become a middleincome country and is an increasingly important trading partner and destination for US investment ing in terms of his own actions, and they were received that way in Bangladesh as well," Kaine said, referring to the recent steps by the Modi government towards

Bangladesh; which was the first solo foreign trip of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

In her testimony, Bernicat said as the world's eighth-largest country by population and third-largest Muslim-majority nation, Bangladesh is known for its moderate, secular, pluralistic traditions.

"With a consistent annual economic growth rate of roughly 6 per cent, Bangladesh aspires to become a middle-income country and is an increasingly important trading partner and destination for US investment. Strategically situated between a growing India and a newly opening Burma, it is wellpositioned to play a key role in linking South and Southeast Asia," she said.

Noting that labor rights and workplace safety remain a top US priority, she said US wants Bangladesh to ensure that there will be no more heart-rending tragedies like the Rana Plaza building collapse or the Tazreen Fashions factory fire.-PTI

President of World Bank Group, Dr. Jim Yong Kim meeting the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defense Arun Jaitley, in New Delhi on July 22

Congress anti-Punjab, says Sukhbir CHANDIGARH: Stating that Punjab's fiscal health is sound, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal accused opposition party Congress of attempting to tarnish the image of the state by

Sukhbir Singh Badal

Accusing the state government of suppressing their voice, both leaders walked out of the House protesting against noncoverage of speeches.

Replying to the charge of Congress leader Lal Singh's claims of heavy debt owed by public sector undertakings, Badal said that out of outstanding debt of state PSUs of Rs 67,800 crore, about Rs 48,000 crore was food credit limit.

He said out of the remaining Rs 19,700 crore debt left, as much as Rs 11,000 crore was productive debt incurred by PSPCL to create infrastructure including transmission lines. He listed other productive expenditure also before concluding that the net debt was only Rs 6,000 crore.

Drawing comparison of state's debt with that of other states ruled

by Congress party, he said that the growth of Punjab's debt had been lowest since 2002 as against the growth in outstanding debt of other states.

He stated that the debt of Haryana increased by 325 per cent to Rs 75,310 crore now from only Rs 17,730 crore in 2002. Similarly the debt of Andhra Pradesh in-

presenting a "wrong" financial picture.

Participating in debate on state budget, Badal said: "The Congress party which presented financial figures here (in the state assembly) on state's fiscal health was wrong. The party has always tried to portray anti-Punjab image for political gains."

The Deputy CM appealed to the opposition benches not to malign the state for their "selfish" political reasons but analyze the budget as well as the state's fiscal health by taking a holistic view.

In his message to the opposition, Badal said "I appeal to everyone to Drawing comparison of support our positive initiatives and desist state's debt with that of other from criticism for the states ruled by Congress sake of criticism".

Talking on the issue party, he said that the of debt, Badal said that growth of Punjab's debt had the SAD-BJP led state government in its ten- been lowest since 2002 ure had successfully brought down the debt as per- creased by 294 percent from Rs centage of Gross State Domestic 48,000 crore in 2002 to Rs 1.94 lakh Product (GSDP) from more than crore.

50 per cent to now 31 per cent.

Punjab, which was at Rs 35,730 Contrary to opposition party's crore, has now reached Rs 1.02 claims, Badal insisted that the lakh crore, he said. state's financial position was Giving an example, Badal said: sound and state was paying sal- "Maximum debt is on industrialary and wages to its employees ist Mukesh Ambani and then Anil and carrying out development Ambani and their debt is producwork. tive one. Whether higher debt When Sukhbir was speaking, means their financial position was Congress MLAs Charanjit Singh worse."

Channi and Kuljeet Nagra stood On the issue of investments up from their seats and asked the flowing out of Punjab, Badal said Speaker why speeches of Con- state industrial units are expandgress leaders were not being re- ing their facilities to other states corded by a regional electronic considering the location advanmedia channel. tage.-PTI

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All rivers are as divine as Ganga, says Bharti NEW DELHI: All rivers are divine and the government will not neglect any of them in its zeal to rejuvenate Ganga, Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti said in the Lok Sabha.

"Every river is as divine as Ganga. The government will take care of Ganga, Yamuna and also other rivers," she said while replying to a debate on the demands for grants of her ministry.

Bharti was responding to the members who wanted to know why all attention was being paid to Ganga by the government at a time when several rivers of the country

are facing menace of pollution and need cleaning.

She further said Rs 2,037 crore earmarked for cleaning of Ganga and Rs 100 core for development of embankments would be fully utilized within the course of the financial year.

The Lok Sabha later passed the demand for grants of the Water Resources Ministry by voice vote.

Stressing that NDA accords top priority to water management, Uma Bharti

Bharti said the government would observe the first week of 2015-16 as water conservation week and the fiscal as water conservation year.

Responding to the concerns of the states with regard to reparian disputes, she said "the differences should be termed as issues and not disputes."

Bharti said every effort would be made to resolve the water sharing problems between Andhra Pradesh and newly-formed state Telangana.

The Minister said she would be willing to hold a meeting with the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangaga to resolve the water issues. -PTI

Gandhinagar solar power model for Delhi NEW DELHI: The Centre says it is taking steps to connect rooftop solar power systems with the grid in the national capital, on the lines of a model in place in Gujarat's Gandhinagar.

"The Gandhinagar model has been successful... and, in line with this, Delhi government has initiated steps to promote gridconnected solar rooftop power in consultation with all stakeholders in Delhi.

"These steps include formulation of a

solar policy in Delhi, issuance of a suitable order on solar tariff, net metering and grid connectivity by the regulator as also setting up of a few pilot projects on grid connected solar rooftop power in Delhi," Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

He added that the ministry has recently launched a Grid Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Program, which provides central financial assistance (CFA) of up to 30 per cent of the project cost limited to the benchmark of Rs 100 per watt for grid-connected rooftop solar power plants.

"Other states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, and Uttarakhand are also promoting rooftop solar power generation by using the CFA of the ministry," Goyal said. -PTI

July 25, 2014

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Pak violated ceasefire 19 times since Modi took over

India home to one in every 3 child brides in world

UNITED NATIONS: India has that age group were married after the sixth highest prevalence of age 15 but before they turned 18.

NEW DELHI: Pakistan violated Then why the government has at the appropriate level through child marriage in the world with The report added that in India, ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir "bowed" to the recurring ceasefire the established mechanism of one in every three child bride liv- the median age at first marriage is 19 times since the new govern- violations by Pakistan, Azad hotlines, flag meetings etc," he ing in India, a United Nations re- 19.7 years for women in the richment took over and the Indian asked. said. port said. est quintile compared to 15.4 for side retaliated appropriately in Jaitley recalled that during the The minister said during the Child marriage among girls is the poorest women. first meeting Prime Minister most common in South Asia and In the Dominican Republic and Narendra Modi had with his Paki- sub-Saharan Africa and India is India, the wealthiest women marry stan counterpart Nawaz Sharif among the top 10 countries with about four years later than the here on May 27, he had under- the highest rates of child marriage, poorest women. lined the importance of border UNICEF said in a report titled UNICEF said that Female Geniceasefire.

"Ending Child Marriage - Progress tal Mutilation (FGM) and child "Our Prime Minister further and prospects." marriage are the two practices that emphasized the importance of "South Asia is home to almost affect millions of girls across the maintaining peace and tranquility half (42 per cent) of all child brides globe. at the borders and upholding the worldwide; India alone accounts It said while prevalence has sanctity of the LoC," he said for one third of the gloabout the meeting that took place bal total," the report a day after the new government said.

"Female genital mutilation took over.

Worldwide, more The two leaders also agreed than 700 million women and child marriage prothat Foreign Secretaries of the two alive today were mar- foundly and permanently countries would get in touch to ried as children or beexplore how to move bilateral re- fore their 18th birthday. harm girls, denying them lations forward.

More than one in their right to make their own In reply to another question, three - about 250 million decisions and to reach their each case, the Rajya Sabha was current year till July 16, there have Jaitley said along the LoC in - entered into union beinformed. been 54 ceasefire violations along Jammu and Kashmir, the army has fore age 15, the report full potential."

"Our head has not bowed... the Line of Control (LoC) and In- adopted a robust counter- infiltra- said.

This government will not let our ternational Border in Jammu and tion strategy which has an approThe 10 countries with the high- decreased slightly over the past heads bow," Defense Minister Kashmir. priate mix of technology and hu- est rates of child marriage are three decades, rates of progress Arun Jaitley said replying to quesBetween May 26 and July 17, man resources to check infiltra- Niger, Bangladesh, Chad, Mali, need to be scaled up dramatically tions in Rajya Sabha.

19 ceasefire violations took place tion effectively.

Central African Republic, India, to offset population growth in the Jaitley's response came when along the LoC and International "Innovative troops deploy- Guinea, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso countries where the practices are Leader of Opposition Ghulam Border and in all such cases, there ment, efficient use of surveillance and Nepal respectively. most common.

Nabi Azad said Narendra Modi, was retaliation by the Indian side, and monitoring devices and fencIn India, about 27 per cent of "Female genital mutilation and before becoming the Prime Min- he said. ing along the LoC have enhanced women aged 20 to 49 years were child marriage profoundly and ister, used to accuse the then UPA "All CFVs are taken up with the the ability to detect and intercept married before age 15. permanently harm girls, denying dispensation of being "weak". concerned authorities of Pakistan infiltration," he said. -PTI About 31 per cent of women in them their right to make their own decisions and to reach their full potential."

"They are detriments to the girls themselves, their families, and their societies," UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said.

"Girls are not property; they have the right to determine their destiny. When they do so, everyone benefits."

According to the newly-released data, child marriage is widespread and can lead to a lifetime of disadvantage and deprivation.

"Girls who marry before they turn 18 are less likely to remain in school and more likely to experience domestic violence.

Young teenage girls are more likely to die due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s; their infants are more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life," it said.

The report further added that more than 130 million girls and women have experienced some form of FGM in the 29 countries Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director, UN Women, New York, Lakshmi Puri meeting the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Dr. in Africa and the Middle East Najma A. Heptulla, in New Delhi on July 21. The Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Dr. Lalit K. Panwar is also seen where the harmful practice is most common.-PTI

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Greenwich shop celebrates 100 years GREENWICH, Conn.: Grover Cunningham was a man of vision.

Only 11 years after Henry Ford produced the Model T, the Greenwich man thought the time was right to start an autobody shop in his hometown.

That was 1914, and the same autobody shop, which bears the founder's name, continues to operate in the capable hands of grandson Bruce Cunningham, and great grandson, Gary Cunningham.

The reason for the shop's success is each generation's pride in their work, according to Bruce, who succeeded his father, Evan, and carried on his demand for precision. ``I've been here since 1960,'' said Bruce, 70, sitting in his small office at 74 N. Water St., in the Byram section of Greenwich.

He said his father made it very clear that customer satisfaction was crucial to the success of the business. ``Your father is tougher than anyone else because he expects more out of you.''

The long-term success of the business might be even more surprising because it has been achieved in the same nondescript location where Grover started the shop. ``It's excellent quality work, and

word of mouth is the best advertising you can have,'' said Bruce, recalling his father accepted all kinds of work during the slow times. That included projects like painting furniture and refrigerators. ``I did porch furniture for a customer. She wanted pink furniture. There were nearly 100 pieces. I painted, painted and painted.

A father of three, Gary said he thinks none of his children will want to take over the business. His older brother, Bruce Cunningham Jr., is a teacher and football coach at Wilton High School ``We also painted two refrigerators black. It was a way to keep me busy,'' said Bruce, who specialized in painting at the business. ``I did 90 percent painting.

It was trial and error at first. It took a couple years.''

While Bruce spoke in his of-

fice lined with business memorabilia and family photos, Gary worked in an adjoining bay, polishing an emergency vehicle brought in by the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Department for frontend repairs. ``I went to Wright Tech in Stamford and took autobody. I really enjoy repairing a car or taking a damaged car and making it new again,'' said Gary, 46, who focuses on body work.

A father of three, Gary said he thinks none of his children will want to take over the business.

His older brother, Bruce Cunningham Jr., is a teacher and football coach at Wilton High School.

The business, which survived a fire in the 1940s, has allowed Gary to see generations of Greenwich-area families grow up because loyal customers continue to seek them out. ``We see cars my grandfather worked on. They keep coming back. They know you do good work,'' he said, adding because they are tucked away in a Greenwich neighborhood and not on the busy Post Road, people have to make an effort to find the business. ``They go out of their way to find us. We're off the beaten path.''-AP

Biz disruption by cyber attacks worries cos NEW DELHI: Enterprises are most concerned about reputational damage and disruption of businesses as a result of cyber attacks, a report by consultancy firm KPMG has said.

According to KPMG India's 'Cybercrime Survey 2014', 48 per cent of the respondents indicated that they suffer disruption of their business processes and reputation damage as a result of a cyber attack.

About 45 per cent said cyber attacks led to financial losses (either direct or indirect), it added.

"With rise in the cybercrime, businesses are increasingly facing impacts not only on the financial front but also irreversible damage to their brands and market reputations," KPMG India Partner and Head of

Risk Consulting practice Mritunjay Kapur said.

"As a result of this growing threat, there is a significant need for corporates to recognize cyber

threats and craft cyber response plans," he added.

The Survey had over 170 participants from the likes of CIOs (Chief Information Officers),

CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) and related professionals from across India.

While 89 per cent respondents acknowledged that cybercrime has emerged as a major threat, about 51 per cent perceived themselves to be "easy target" for such attacks due to the nature of their business.

Of these 51 per cent, about 68 per cent respondents claimed they monitor cybercrime threats on a daily basis.

"Cybercrime continues to remain a tough challenge for organizations. Over the years there has been a significant increase in the number of cybercrime attacks prompting organizations to stay alert, seek means to fight cybercrime threats," the report said.-PTI

Over 3,500 Indians back from Iraq in last 30 days NEW DELHI: Over 3,500 IndiMeanwhile, official sources ans have been evacuated from said there were "hold-ups" and conflict-hit Iraq in the last one despite best efforts some of the month even as nearly 50 Indian Indians were not ready to leave. nationals still remain in the conThere were about 10,000 Indiflict zones of the war-torn coun- ans before the start of the serious try including 39 construction strife between government troops workers who are in captivity in and Sunni militants backed by al Mosul.

While 2,500 tickets have already been uti- Meanwhile, official sources lized to bring back the Indians, an additional said there were "hold-ups" 1,000 tickets by the employers for the Indian and despite best efforts workers have been fa- some of the Indians were cilitated by the mission, the Spokesperson in not ready to leave the External Affairs Ministry said.

He said the ministry was mak- Qaeda in Iraq. With MEA faciliing all efforts to secure release of tating the departures, it is esti39 Indians who are in captivity of mated that there are about 6500 Sunni militants ISIS in conflict-hit Indians in the non-conflict zones Iraq. The government has been in left. touch with all the neighboring Gulf Most of these Indians are in countries for the release of the Kurdistan and Basra which are workers. non-conflict zones. -PTI

East India Company opens store in UAE DUBAI: British East India Company, a food brand headed by an Indian-origin entrepreneur, has launched its first store in the UAE. Besides fine teas and coffees, the company offers artisan sweets and biscuits, a chocolate range and jams and marmalades.

The company also offers hand-crafted bone china and porcelain for tea and coffee.

The 19th-century trading company was refashioned by Indianorigin entrepreneur Sanjiv Mehta

in 2005.

Mehta, Chairman of the company, said the UAE was a natural destination for the company to choose its next store.

"The Emirates are fast becoming recognized as a global retail leader, and we are truly delighted to be here," he said.

The store of the company is the third in the Middle East as it already runs a store each in Kuwait and Doha, and the first in the UAE. -PTI

'Morning people' less moral at night LONDON: Early risers are more likely to cheat and behave unethically in the night hours, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found.

Researchers have found that early-rising "larks" and late-night "owls" had different levels of honesty depending on the time of day.

The study, by Sunita Sah, research fellow at Harvard University in the US, and colleagues examined the behavior of almost 200 people with the subjects taking part in problem-solving tests and games without realizing that it was their honesty that was being measured.

The study examined the rela-

tionship between ethical decision making and people's "chronotype" - which is when individuals are most likely to want to be asleep or when they have more energy.

It found a significant link between people being more likely to be honest when it fitted in with their chronotype, 'BBC News' reported. This meant that the earlyrising "larks" were more ethical in the morning - and the "owls" were more likely to be honest at night.

Researchers found that the level of dishonesty was found to be heightened when people were outside of their preferred time of day.-PTI

Tech News Indian-American CEO convicted for paying kickbacks NEW YORK: An Indian-American CEO of two publicly-traded companies has been convicted on charges of paying kickbacks in return for purchases of his companies stock.

Shailesh Shah, 48, of California pleaded guilty before US District Judge Richard Stearns to two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud.

He will be sentenced in October and could face a sentence up to 20 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a fine of USD 250,000, the FBI said in a statement.

As President and CEO of two publicly-traded companies, Shah agreed to pay secret inducements to an investment fund representative in exchange for having the firm buy stock in his companies.

The kickbacks were concealed through the use of sham consulting agreements and other fraudulent documents.

Shah, however, did not know that the purported investment fund representative was an undercover FBI agent.

The plea follows a lengthy investigation focusing on preventing fraud in the microcap stock markets.-PTI

Now, anti-glare display for your smartphone WASHINGTON: Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a novel glass surface that can provide anti-glare, anti-reflective display for your smartphone, allowing you to use the device in bright light.

The glass reduces both glare and reflection, which continue to plague even the best mobile displays today.

Users have to dish out extra cash for a filter or film - some of questionable effectiveness - to lay on top of their glass screens so they can use the devices in bright light.

One of the most promising developments involves layering antireflective nano-structures on top of an anti-glare surface.

But the existing technique doesn't work well with glass, the material of choice for many electronic displays, so Valerio Pruneri's team at ICFO (The Institute of Photonic Sciences) in Spain collaboration with Prantik Mazumder's team at Corning Incorporated set out to find a new method. -PTI

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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley receives a memento from Chairman and MD, Canara Bank, RK Dubey at the inauguration of 5011th branch of the bank in New Delhi on July 19

KTSF, first station to align with Nielsen, to launch mobile TV App PM SWAMY

NEW YORK: Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, recently announced that KTSF, an independent, full-power station, available to over 1.7 million Asian Americans in and around the greater San Francisco-Oakland area, launched its local TV App in the Apple App Store and fully implemented Nielsen proprietary mobile measurement software in order to inform its research and insights and drive advertising effectiveness.

This app will provide more accurate viewership to effectively demonstrate the power of Asian American consumers in media.

According to Nielsen's CrossPlatform report, 81 percent of Asian Americans have smartphones compared to 70 percent of the general public. Asian

Americans also currently watch 19 percent more videos on smartphones per month than the average person. With Nielsen's proprietary mobile measurement tool, TV stations are now able to

accurately and effectively measure Asian Americans' viewing habits to include mobile online viewing.

As one of the largest Asian broadcasters in the U.S., KTSF's viewers will have access to both live and on-demand television programming in the San Francisco area. Supplemental mobile viewing will contribute to existing television audience estimates with mobile viewers, allowing KTSF to identify additional viewing that it is not currently receiving credit for today.

Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and

measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in 104 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

KTSF has been broadcasting Asian-language content since 1976. KTSF is an independent, full-power television station providing news and entertainment programming to over 2.75 million television households. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, KTSF broadcasts in 10 languages KTSF is the first Asian media outlet in the United States to offer Nielsen Media Research data to its clients.

Microsoft to log out 18,000 employees NEW YORK: Microsoft's India-born CEO Satya Nadella has announced axing up to 18,000 jobs over the next year, the biggest round of jobs cuts in its 39-year history, in a "difficult but necessary" move as it integrates recently acquired Nokia business and cuts costs.

The company expects to incur pre-tax charges of up to USD 1.6 billion over the next four quarters, including up to USD 800 million for severance and related benefit costs, and USD 350 million to USD 800 million of asset-related charges.

The layoffs, the first since Nadella took over the helms of the company five months ago, however, will have "minimal" impact in India, which is an important geography for the USbased giant.

Of the total 18,000, about 12,500 professional and factory positions will be eliminated through synergies and strategic

alignment of the Nokia Devices and Services business acquired by Microsoft this year.

The workforce realignment is expected to be substantially com-

start of the journey, not the end.

The more difficult steps are creating the organization and culture to bring our ambitions to life.

"The first step to building the

Satya Nadella

plete by end of this year and fully completed by June 2015.

"Making these decisions to change are difficult, but necessary," Nadella said.

"Having a clear focus is the

right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year," Nadella, who took over from Steve

Ballmer in February, said in an email to employees.

Microsoft is moving to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months.

When asked on the restructuring impact on India, a Microsoft India spokesperson told PTI: "We have about 6,500 employees in India, which also includes employees from Nokia.

The impact will be minimal. It will be very very small."

As of June 30, 2013, Microsoft had about 99,000 people on a full-time basis, 58,000 in the US and 41,000 worldwide.

This, however, does not include the employees moving in post the Nokia-deal.

Earlier this year, Microsoft completed the acquisition of Nokia's handset division for which it paid over USD 7.2 billion. -PTI

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India, China to sign MoU for cooperation in Railways MUMBAI: India and China are likely to sign an MoU for cooperation in Railways during the forthcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in September, a senior Chinese diplomat said here.

"In terms of cooperation in the construction and overhaul of the existing railway system across India, China had sent an advance team here, which held a first round of consultations.

And then an MoU is very much likely (to be signed) when the Chinese President comes to India in September," Consul General of China in Mumbai Liu Youfa told PTI on the sidelines of a CII event on the weekend here.

Last week, a 22-member highpowered Chinese delegation headed by deputy administrator of

National Railway Administration Zheng Jian visited India and held talks with the top brass of Central

China started trains which were running at 90 km per hour and today it has built up a whole national network of bullet trains which run at a speed of 300 km per hour.

Railway in Mumbai.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed cooperation in

raising speed of trains on existing routes, training of heavy haul transportation and station development under strategic economic dialogue, among other issues.

"India can take China as a testing ground. China has gone through the pain of overhauling the redundant railway system.

China started trains which were running at 90 km per hour and today it has built up a whole national network of bullet trains which run at a speed of 300 km per hour. So, China could be the place for India to seek reference from," Youfa said.

The two countries can also form a strategic plan on how to proceed with cooperation in overhauling the existing railway system across India and to build a fast train, he said.-PTI

Tech Mahindra further expands footprint in S Arabia DUBAI: Tech Mahindra, a specialist provider of connected solutions, has signed a joint venture agreement with Midad Holding, which is a subsidiary of Al Fozan, a pre-eminent group with diversified business interests in Saudi Arabia.

The joint venture will be called Tech Mahindra Arabia, it was announced here. Tech Mahindra will have 51 per cent ownership while Midad will own 49 per cent stake in the joint venture.

Headquartered in Al Khobar, Tech Mahindra Arabia will also

have presence across other major cities in Saudi and will be functional post the regulatory approvals.

"Saudi Arabia has been a focus market for Tech Mahindra and we are excited about the economic

ICICI launches special service for Canadian customers MUMBAI: The country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has announced the launch of a special service called 'Hello Canada' for its Canadian customers, under the label of ICICI Bank Global Banking.

Targeted at the Diaspora, either already migrated or migrating to Canada, this service offers customers the convenience of opening a Canadian dollar account with ICICI Bank Canada along with an NRI savings account with a branch in the country, the city-headquartered bank said in a statement.

The bank has one of the largest branch network among domestic banks in Canada which are run under a fully-owned subsidiary.

Customers may open both accounts with simplified documentation by visiting the nearest ICICI Bank branch in the country once.

Commenting on the new offer, its president Vijay Chandok said,

"ICICI Bank works towards addressing customer needs to make their lives simpler. Our experience of serving 1.5 million NRIs for over a decade has helped us gain better insight into their needs".

The service enables the customer to transfer funds in the ICICI Bank Canada account when in In-

dia, making sure his funds are safe and secure while he is in transit, he said, adding that customers also get preferential rates on these funds transfers.

ICICI Bank is present in 19 countries, including the home market.

Last week, the bank said it will be entering Chinese and South African markets with full-fledged branches this fiscal. -PTI

Govt to restart Aadhaar linked DBT scheme The regional strength of Midad Holding and the global connectivity of Tech Mahindra will create a synergic value proposition for customers in Saudi Arabia.

growth potential the region has.

This joint venture will establish the company as a leading player in providing IT and ITeS solutions.

Additionally it will also provide exciting career opportunities for the talented men and women in Saudi region," CP Gurnani, MD and CEO, Tech Mahindra said.

GB Kumar, Vice President and Geo Head, Middle East and North Africa, Tech Mahindra, said Saudi Arabia is the region's largest economy.

Tech Mahindra Arabia will pave the way for exponential growth by solving the business and technical challenges of customers from telecom, public sector, oil & gas, petrochemicals, utilities, manufacturing and BFSI segments, Kumar said.

"Our differentiating strengths in networking, mobility, analytics, cloud and security will be of key importance in bringing value to Saudi customers. Tech Mahindra Arabia will provide gamut of Information Technology (IT) and ITenabled services (ITES) to cater to the established and emerging sectors in Saudi Arabia," he added. -PTI

NEW DELHI: Government is mulling restarting DBT scheme to directly transfer money into Aadhhar-linked bank accounts with a view to plug leakages by weeding out ghost beneficiaries.

"Government may restart the Aadhaarlinked direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme as it has initiated the exercise to evaluate the efficacy of the scheme," a source said.

Planning Commission and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which implements the Aadhhar project, are jointly preparing a report on the Aadhaarlink DBT scheme.

The source said the UIDAI and the Commission's senior officials are visiting 300 districts spread across the country to study the impact of the Aadhhar-based scheme.

The Commission has been

asked to submit the report on the Aadhaar based DBT in these 300 districts before August 15, he added.

Earlier on January 30, the UPA

government had suspended the ambitious direct benefit transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme, where consumers in 289 districts in 18 states got cash of Rs 435 per month in their bank accounts for purchasing cooking gas at market rate.-PTI

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'Small banks big push to financial inclusion' MUMBAI: Consultancy firm Deloitte has said RBI's move to allow specialized banking entities such as payment banks will go a long way in furthering the cause of financial inclusion, and prospective players, who leverage technology would get a head start.

The proposed payment banks' business model will need to be cost-effective and technologyenabled, as they will have to be volume-centric.

Given the level of penetration and unmet needs, such banks will provide an alternate infrastructure, which will further the cause of financial inclusion, said Deloitte India Senior Director Monish Shah.

The central bank had issued draft guidelines for setting up of payment banks, which will cater to the marginalized sections of

society, including migrant laborers, for collecting deposits and remitting funds. The regulator has set strict entry norms, including Rs 100 crore capital, for such banks.

On the prospective players who are likely to enter this area, Shah

said there will be considerable interest not just among MFIs, NBFCs but probably telecom firms, retailers to leverage their large customer base and touch points.

For such banks to be viable, the interested parties will have to play on the technology front, he said.

The RBI said payment banks will need to have a minimum capital of Rs 100 crore as against Rs 500 crore required for full-fledged commercial lenders. "Both payments banks and small banks are 'niche' or 'differentiated' banks, with the common objective of furthering financial inclusion," it said.

The proposed small banks will provide a whole suite of basic products such as deposits and supply of credit, but in a limited area of operation, the monetary authority said.

Such entities will offer a limited range of products like acceptance of demand deposits and fund remittances and will not be allowed to lend directly to end customers.

The idea of differentiated banks was mooted in a RBI- appointed panel's report in last November.

Governor Raghuram Rajan had said in April, when RBI allowed IDFC and Bandhan Microfinance to get into commercial banking, that the apex bank would soon be coming out with on-tap bank licenses. -PTI

Google Maps now available in Hindi JAIPUR: Search giant Google has launched its Google Maps in Hindi seeking to make its navigation service more useful for users locally.

Google Maps in Hindi will be available for desktop and android mobile phone users, who will be able to see Hindi names for cities, localities, important roads and routes as well as popular points of interest such as public parks and schools.

Launching the service nationally from Jaipur, Suren Ruhela, Product and Program Management Director, Google, said, the service may be made available in regional languages based on the feedback of this initiative.

He said that the service was a part of the company's global initiative to make maps more useful for users locally.

"We made maps useful across

the user group whose needs are uniform. The new Google Map service is more useful and the user can take a virtual tour of a place

where he wants to go and launching it in Hindi will give comfort to the Hindi users," he said.

The users need to enable Hindi as their preferred language on their devices to view Hindi name labels on the Maps.-PTI

MORE TECHBIZ POST NEWS ON PAGES 24-26

Desi News Utility bill scam calls for continuous public awareness India Post News Service

T

he voice on the telephone is insistent.

"I'm with Southern California Edison. You're late on your Edison bill for the last two months.

We have a truck on the way to your business to disconnect your electricity in the next 30 minutes and it will be turned off for approximately two weeks."

The solution, says the caller, is to pay over the telephone with the purchase of a $500 prepaid debit card immediately. The customer rushes to the nearest convenience store, buys the card and gives the caller the security number on the back to pay the bill.

In less than five minutes, the customer has unknowingly been ripped off for $500.

Details on page 20

Anjaneya Temple & Cultural Center for Maryland PM SWAMY

MARYLAND: A multi million dollar religious cum cultural center for Indian Americans in Ijamsville, MD, Sri Bhaktha Anjaneya Temple (SBAT), is nearing completion and if all goes as per schedule, it will be formally consecrated on August 31.

The near $8 million center sprawling on a 43-acre lot will have a built up area of 5200 sq ft and will house a towering 36 ft Anjaneya -Maruti idol besides other Hindu deities - Balaji Bhoodevi, Subramnaya, Shiva Parvati, Radha Krishna, Durga and others - carved out from balk stone.

COMMUNITY ACROSS AMERICA

16 India Post

SURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: The Mangalorean Konkan Christians Association (MKCA) Chicago has announced hosting its annual picnic on Saturday, August 9 at Hawthorn Badminton Shelter grounds in Vernon Hills, a northwest suburb of Chicago.

MKCA would welcome all the patrons, well-wishers and guests for this picnic. "This is a 'free for all' event organized in honor of everyone's support and encouragement to the organization," said Vissia D'Souza, MKCA spokesperson.

Details on page 19

Details on page 21

FIA ropes in Sahil & LA Tan for Grand I-Day Mela RAMESH SOPARAWALA India Post News Service

CHICAGO: Federation of Indian Associations-Chicago [FIA] in partnership with Chicago's renowned showbiz-team - Sahil & LA Tan - are teaming to host the India Independence Day Grand Mela - A festival of music, dance and singing, according to Keerthi Ravoori FIA President Ravoori said it would be a fitting grand finale to a series of exciting festive events hosted in celebration of India's Independence Day on Saturday, August 16 starting at 2:30 pm in the Republic Bank outdoor premises located at 2720 W. Devon Ave in Chicago immediately after the conclusion of the Parade.

Chicago Mayor along with other elected State and Federal officials besides local dignitaries are invited to India Day celebrations and expectations are that they would grace the occasion,

said Ravoori This Grand Mela encompasses an eclectic array of music, dance,

and singing and food samplers to continue the Indian Independence Day festive exuberance.

Keerthi Kumar Ravoori with Rham Emanuel

The Mela will showcase, promote and celebrate the host of local artists bringing their incredible talent for people of all ages to enjoy and experience the spirit of India and Indianness.

This Mela being hosted under the chairmanship of Ajeet Singh, FIA's Joint Treasurer, aims to unleash a wealth of local community talent showcasing the best of traditional and contemporary Bollywood music, dance performances, singing. It will feature emerging artists in genres that span between the traditional to contemporary.

The admission to Mela is free.

FIA applauds the generous sponsorship initiative of SAHIL & LA Tan who are taking the lead to give back to the community their share of outstanding entrepreneurial success by this incredible generous community-reinvestment act, added President Keerthi Ravoori.

FIA Chicago India Day with Mika & Sunny HARISH RAO

Details on page 18

MKCA, Chicago announces annual picnic

July 25, 2014

www.indiapost.com

Shah Rukh, Deepika coming in Sept

CHICAGO: The Federation of Indian Associations, a break away group setting up a separate FIA, has announced hosting India Day celebrations in a grand way.

Sunil Shah, the founder President, said there would be a gala entertainment program on Saturday August 9 at Copernicus Center on Laurence Ave in Chicago featuring Bollywood singer Mika Singh and Sunny Leone. The entertainment program will be graced among others by Meenakshi Lekhi, a member of Indian Parliament.

The culmination will be on Saturday August 16 with Flag Hoisting ceremony in Village Schaumburg in Schaumburg. Shah said that besides Indian Consul General Dr Ausaf Sayeed the elected officials of Schaumburg

Sunny Leone, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi and singer Mika Singh. Top right Founder Chief Sunil Shah and (bottom right) current chief Omkar Sangha

Village, Hoffman Estate, Hanover Park, Congresswoman Tammy

Duckworth and State Senators and Representatives are invited as Spe-

cial Guests and are expected to attend the event.

Community Across America

July 25, 2014

India Post 17

www.indiapost.com

Only 22% Americans know about Hindus & Hinduism MADHU PATEL

CHICAGO: It was 125 years ago that Swami Vivekananda came to this country and talked about Sanatan Dharma ( popularly known as Hinduism) and set up Ramakrishna Mission across the country creating awareness about ancient Indian religion and basic religious thinking of universal love and brotherhood.

It was three decades later that another Hindu Monk Swami Yogananda came to this country and sought to bring ancient Indian thought on religion and wisdom here. He set up Self Realization Fellowship way back in 1920 that has huge number of followers even today.

It was in fifties that yet another spiritual master from India AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad sailed to this country and taught Bhakti Yoga, a path to self realization and Moksha. He set up International Society of Krishna Consciousness which reached out to truth seeks thru Hare Krishna temples in various parts of the country.

Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion

adherents across the world and moksha (liberation) as its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA. Despite this, a recent survey conducted in USA by a Pew Research Center showed that only 22 percent Americans know some-

communities and create awareness about the basic philosophical thought of Sanatan Dharma that in essence teaches Vasudha Eiv Kutumbakam - the whole word is my family.

Kanubhai Brahmbhatt, a Brand Ambas-

Hinduism

one who is Hindu.

This number is lowest than any other religion/denomination surveyed. Catholics rank highest with 87 percent, followed by

Chicago Gayatri Pariwar celebrates Gurupurnima SURENDRA ULLAL

Devotees & main yajmans: Natubhai & Madhuben, Ambalal & Kailashben performing puja

CHICAGO: Global Gayatri Pariwar Chicago celebrated 108 Kundi Gayatri Yagya

on Saturday, July 12 from 11am to 3pm at corner of Lee & Touhy in Desplaines, North West suburb of Chicago.

Addressing the devotees gathered during the celebration, Chief Guest Smt Santosh Kumar, president of Metropolitan Asian Family Services (MAFS) said that Gurudev Pt. Shree Ram Sharma Acharya sought to bring divinity in mankind and thereby Gayatri Mother Aarti by Chief Guest Santosh Kumar & others heaven on earth. on Gurupurnima

evangelical Christians, Jews, Atheists, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.

Americans express warmest and more positive feelings towards Jews (average rating 63); followed by Catholics, evangelical Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., the

Cont’d on page 19

survey adds.

Reacting to this survey findings, a large number of activists including Rajan Zed ( president Universal Society of Hinduism Nevada) Neela Pandya ( Marketing consultant NJ) Sohan Joshi ((NFIA President Chicago) Ashwin Patel (CEO Seema Enterprises St Louis) Dayal Meshri ( CEO Advanced Research Chemicals Tulsa OK) Ashok Jain MD ( a physician from Michigan) and many others across the country have urged American Hindus to make intensive efforts to reach out to non-Hindu

sador for International Yoga Alliance and founder Director of Yog Setu, said it was pity many Americans know nothing or little about Hindus or Hinduism especially when a vast number of them have been practicing Yoga for good mental and physical health . "Yoga was one of the master contributions of ancient Indian Rishis and Hindus to the world, and Indian Americans need to make special efforts to educate about huge cultural contributions of Hindus to the world civilization," he said Cont’d on page 19

18 India Post

Community Across America

July 25, 2014

www.indiapost.com

Anjaneya Temple & Cultural Center for Maryland PM SWAMY

MARYLAND: A multi million dollar religious cum cultural center for Indian Americans in Ijamsville, MD, Sri Bhaktha Anjaneya Temple (SBAT), is nearing completion and if all goes as per schedule, it will be formally conseNew Temple

crated on August 31.

The near $8 million center sprawling on a 43-acre lot will have a built up area of 5200 sq ft and will house a towering 36 ft Anjaneya -Maruti idol besides other Hindu deities - Balaji Bhoodevi, Subramnaya, Shiva Parvati, Radha Krishna, Durga and others - carved out from balk stone.

According to Rajesh Natrajan, SBAT Manager, 25 sculptors from India are working to give finishing touches and that the four-day consecration ceremony beginning August 29 will be officiated by priests at the temple and priests from India. Religious ceremony and cultural programs will form part of its Maha Kumbhabhishekam that will include poojas, homams, pravachanam, aarathi, etc.

"Hundreds of devotees from all parts of

Inside of the Temple

25 sculptors from India are working to give finishing touches and the four-day consecration ceremony beginning August 29 will be officiated by priests at the temple and priests from India the country - residents in and around Maryland and far away Los Angeles and mid west Chicago areas - are expected to attend the four-day program. The auspicious moment of Kumbhabhishekam is slated to be between 10-45 am to 11-30 am on August 31.

Natrajan said that the center when functioning fully will prove to be a big boon to devotees and residents as it would be one of its kind in Maryland. Even now it conducts classes but before long it will have classes for Yoga, teachings of Vedas and Sanskrit too. It has enlisted services of qualified Yoga teachers to address the increasing urge for this ancient Indian practice for mental and physical health A small house on this zoning approved site currently serves as an interim temple with images of various deities, including Lord Hanuman. It performs various poojas and homams; offers religious services and conducts sloka, Veda, Ramayana stories and Sanskrit classes. Objective is to raise a 36ft Hanuman temple, said to be the first of its kind in USA, to serve the devotees in Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC. It runs two Vedic Paathshaalas in India.

Ijamsville, whose history goes back to 1785, is an unincorporated community in Frederick County of Maryland.

July 25, 2014

Community Across America

India Post 19

www.indiapost.com

MKCA, Chicago announces annual picnic SURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: The Mangalorean Konkan Christians Association (MKCA) Chicago has announced hosting its annual picnic on Saturday, August 9 at Hawthorn Badminton Shelter grounds in Vernon Hills, a northwest suburb of Chicago.

MKCA would welcome all the patrons, well-wishers and guests for this picnic. "This is a 'free for all' event organized in honor of everyone's support and encouragement to the organization," said Vissia D'Souza, MKCA spokesperson.

The event will include plenty of activities and competitions to keep everyone occupied for the whole day with Volleyball, Throw ball, Shuttle Badminton, Dog-n-bone, Tug-of-war, Sack Race, Lemon Race, Musical Chairs, cricket and many more.

There will be plenty of food and beverages to keep one energized and keep going till late evening, she said.

MKCA has also announced

Chicago Gayatri Pariwar celebrates Gurupurnima

Rajnibhai Modi, Kusumben Patel, Santosh Kumar, Prahladbhai Prajapati, Sohan Joshi, Rohitbhai Joshi, Mrs Bapu, Shote Morari Bapu and sitting Anilbhai Patel display Souvenir book "Prakhar Pragya" launched during celebrations of Guru Purnima festival Cont’d from page 17

He penned more than 3,000 books for enlightening the masses and that it is our moral duty to spread his message world wide so that his life time mission is achieved. Prahladbhai Prajapati from Highpoint North Carolina specially came to offer his respect and homage Gurudev on Gurupurnima day. He sang one beautiful song and also gave speech about importance of Guru and why one needs to chant Gayatri Mantra regularly.

Sohanbhai Joshi, a community leader and president of National Federation of Indian Associations (NFIA) and a scholarly priest Rohitbhai Joshi applauded the services of Global Gayatri Pariwar Chicago for the benefit of people. In his lecture, Chote Morari Bapu appealed to devotees to heartily contribute and extend support to Gayatri Shaktipeeth Chicago so that it can easily build a new temple in Desplaines, IL. Ambalal Patel, Kaolshben Patel, Natverbhai Patel,

Madhuben Patel and Minaxiben Kansara were Main Yajmans. All devotees chanted Gayatri Mantra and other mantras besides offering Aauhuti into Gayatri Yagya.

Kusumben Patel and Rajnibhai Modi explained the significance of Gayatri Yagya rituals. Harshaben Thakkar and Bhanuben Darji sang songs.

Bhaskarbhai played tabla and Anilbhai Patel played flute. At the end of the program, Kusumben thanked all the guests, devotees and volunteers for their presence and support.

"This is a 'free for all' event organized in honor of everyone's support and encouragement to the organization," said Vissia D'Souza hosting Monthi Fest on September 6. "Details of the Fest will

be forthcoming soon," Vissia said.

Plea for equal treatment under religious course bill India Post News Service

row. It also made a good business sense to know the beliefs of "others" in a global community. Moreover, students should have knowledge of the entire society to become full participants in the society.

"Religious and moral grounding of students was a good idea,

TOLEDO: Indian Americans in Ohio have pitched for equal footing with other religious groups when religious course bill is implemented in Ohio.

Under this bill public school pupils could obtain school credit for religious coursework taken off campus during regular school Under this bill public hours. school pupils could obIt is pointed out by Prakash Patel a motelier tain school credit for reliin Ohio, that it would be gious coursework taken difficult to find teachers of Hinduism and other off campus during regular Indian religions in school hours. smaller communities.

Non-Hindu-Sikh and Jain students, however, would be but instead of teaching one reliwelcome to classes teaching the gion to students, Ohio schools Indian religions wherever avail- should be directed to come up able when this bill was imple- with a comparative religion class teaching basics of all major world mented, Patel added.

Rajan Zed, President of Univer- religions, including the viewpoint sal Society of Hinduism, said that of non-believers," he added.

Ohio, a culturally diverse society, that opening-up the Ohio children to major world religions and non- besides various Christian denominabelievers' viewpoint would make tions, has now a considerable poputhem well-nurtured, well-balanced, lation of Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and enlightened citizens of tomor- Buddhists, non-believers, etc.

Only 22% Americans know about Hindus & Hinduism Cont’d from page 17

They urged to do charity, invite others to visit Hindu temples/ ashrams, be good role models, act for the benefit of all, volunteer, try to stay pure and exhibit warmth and love towards fellow Americans.

Rajan suggested to each American Hindu to take a vow of helping at least one charitable project during this year for less fortunate members of the community.

Unlike most other religions,

Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no rigidity about following a set teaching. Hindus believe that no religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine paths are facets of God's Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.

Headquartered in Washington DC, Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world". Alan Murray is its President.

Community Across America

20 India Post

July 25, 2014

www.indiapost.com

Utility bill scam calls for continuous public awareness India Post News Service

T

he voice on the telephone is insistent.

"I'm with Southern California Edison. You're late on your Edison bill for the last two months.

We have a truck on the way to your business to disconnect your electricity in the next 30 minutes and it will be turned off for approximately two weeks."

The solution, says the caller, is to pay over the telephone with the purchase of a $500 prepaid debit card immediately. The customer rushes to the nearest convenience store, buys the card and gives the caller the security number on the back to pay the bill.

In less than five minutes, the customer has unknowingly been ripped off for $500.

Since news of this bill scam first surfaced about eight months ago, Southern California Edison (SCE) continues to wage an ongoing fight against fraudulent callers who, authorities say, have become more aggressive and sophisticated when preying on customers.

"When SCE started doing TV news interviews about the scam,

customers got wiser and the imposters started collecting less money," said Arthur Chico from SCE Corporate Security. "So they increased their monthly volume of calls from 300 to 500 to 1,200 to 1,500.

They picked up their efforts, employed more callers, used faked names and used fake employee numbers."

Since December 2012, more than 8,000 customers have been targeted in SCE's service territory. Of that number, between 800 and 900 customers have lost an average of $1,000 to $2,000, others more than $3,000. Statistics show more than $250,000 in losses to SCE customers.

Chico is working closely with law enforcement agencies investigating scams at the local and federal levels. What makes the scam so difficult to stop is that the majority of calls come from outside the United States, making the apprehension of culprits more challenging.

"A lot of it's out of the country.

The anonymity of the Internet has made calls more difficult to trace," said senior detective Tim Sidentopp of the El Monte Police Department, who collaborates with Chico working to stop the scams.

"We don't know who's on the other end of the telephone doing this.

And the D.A. can't prove who it is or where it's coming from. It's a phone bank."

Authorities say the newest scam involves "double-dipping" and "triple-dipping." Scam victims are called the day after they've paid

The customer rushes to the nearest convenience store, buys the card and gives the caller the security number on the back to pay the bill. In less than five minutes, the customer has unknowingly been ripped off for $500. imposters and told their transaction didn't go through and to resend the money a second or third time.

"Scammers know there's a good opportunity to collect money without going through a lot of hassles," said Chico. "Customers fear if they

don't pay they could lose their business and they don't know SCE procedures."

Roughly 90 percent of SCE's targets are businesses. Eighty-five percent of the victims are Hispanic, Asian and Middle Easterners who own commercial businesses - restaurants, small markets, pizzerias, car washes and hair salons - and English is their second language.

SCE is urging its customers to stay vigilant about suspicious telephone calls requesting personal information and demanding payments, and learn how to guard against becoming a victim.

The best weapon against scams is education. These following tips can help SCE customers protect themselves, said Chico.

•Phone numbers. Phone scammers often use "off" phone numbers like 888 or different number combinations. SCE uses 800 numbers for any customer contacts.

• Extension numbers. Imposters use extension numbers to make themselves appear more legitimate.

SCE does not use extension numbers.

• Threats. SCE does not threaten

customers with service shut-off for two weeks.

• Reloaded Debit Cards. SCE does not accept Green Dot or Vanilla reload debit cards.

• Weekends/Holidays. SCE does not call customers on weekends or during holidays.

• Southern California Edison will never call and demand immediate payment," said Marlyn Denter, manager of SCE Consumer Affairs.

"We're in the business of keeping lights on, not putting our customers out of business by threatening them with disconnection. We're here to help 24/7."

Customers are urged to call SCE's Customer Service Center at 800-655-4555 and report a suspicious call, verify information and get answers to collection questions.

The center is serviced 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Customers should never use call back numbers provided out of the blue to verify their billing information. Instead, call legitimate SCE telephone numbers printed on their utility bill or SCE's website (SCE.com).

Cont’d on page 21

Readers Write... www.indiapost.com

How AI pilots averted a major catastrophe

O

n Sunday evening 13th July 2014, Air India's flight AI-144, a B-777, was ready for a routine flight from Newark to Mumbai with 300 passengers and 15 crew. The weather in New Jersey was heavy with passing showers here and there.

It was a routine departure at about 5 pm (local time) for a long 15-16 hrs flight to Mumbai. The aircraft naturally was at its maximum take off weight, as it was fully loaded with the fuel required for this long transcontinental flight.

The take off run was a normal routine one. Immediately on lift off the worst nightmare of a pilot, the loss of an engine at maximum take off weight, happened.

The left engine caught fire, and at the same time the cockpit engine fire warnings did not function. The passengers and crew sitting on the left side were horrified to see flames from the left engine.

Other airplanes and Air Traffic Control warned the pilot of the engine being on fire. The pilots till that time unaware of the engine fire, checked up and carried

out the emergency drills as per the required procedures. The B-777 is a 2 engine aircraft, and losing one engine (50% power) at the maximum a/c weight on take off is a nightmare for the best of pilots and in the best of circumstances.

In such an emergency, the pilots will first think of making the aircraft light, which is done by dumping the extra fuel. For this pilots need to climb up to a designated minimum height and dump the fuel in areas already specified by the local airport authorities. The time to reach the dumping height and area could have taken 15 to 30 minutes, because of heavy weight and loss of an engine. The actual fuel dump can take another 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the amount of fuel to be dumped out. The exercise of dumping fuel to lighten the aircraft would have taken any thing around 60 to 70 minutes, a valuable time they did not have.

The pilots had a serious emergency of an engine having been on fire at hand. This could have caused secondary as yet unknown failures. They had to take an instant decision, which they

rightfully took to land as soon as possible, rather than use up precious time to try and dump fuel.

The immediate landing back, of course had its own problems. The very high landing weight. This in turn will need the aircraft to be landed at a much higher speed.

The immediate anxiety of the pilots in this case would have been

three fold. Firstly, will the airplane stop in the available runway length, landing at about 200 Knots (which is 370 kms/hr), the minimum speed required at the weight. Secondly, will the landing gear take the load of landing at such a high speed and weight (85 tonnes more than the maximum design landing weight). Thirdly, they were flying only on one engine, which has its

own problems of aircraft handling and control.

The pilots averted a major emergency into becoming a possible catastrophe by landing back the aircraft successfully. The handling skills and good cool airmanship displayed by the pilots was the primary reason of this emergency being converted into just an incident, which the Indian media thought was of no consequence of being reported or being commented upon.

The visual media (all channels of TV) was only concerned on a non issue of why one 'Ved Pratap Vaidik' met a certain ' Hafiz Saeed' on a visit to Pakistan. The print media was merely interested in printing and commenting some dubious statistics where the ATC Controllers and pilots have erred.

Regrettably the media just shut their eyes to this incidence as it made no juicy news for them. They were not interested in how a major catastrophe was averted and lives of 315 persons were saved by the good professional handling and competent decisions of Air India pilots.

My congratulations to Capt

Disclaimer :- India Post does not endorse opinions expressed in the letters.

Gautam Verma and his crew (2nd Commander Capt Niranjan Singh & First Officers Capt Pankaj Wadhawan & Capt Shilpika Das) for displaying airmanship and professional competence of the highest order in handling a most difficult situation competently and successfully.

It is disappointing that the PRO of Air India has also failed in bringing the true facts of the incident to the notice of the visual and print media and getting the competence and proficiency of their employees due national recognition. It should also be a matter of great national concern that the Indian media had nothing to say about the competent handling of this grave in-flight situation and preventing it becoming a catastrophe.

Friends do share this with others, as the National media has failed to recognize and give due credit to our Indian pilots, who have done a great and creditable job and not let a grave emergency develop into disaster.

G S Bakshi Retired Air India & Indian Air Force Pilot, New York

July 25, 2014

Community Across America

India Post 21

www.indiapost.com

Shah Rukh & Deepika coming in Sept India Post News Service

SAN JOSE, CA: DBR entertainment has proudly announced that its long standing promise of bringing a grand Bollywood extravaganza to the doorsteps of the community of Bay Area is finally being delivered in the form of S . L . A . M .

(Sound..Light..Action..Music) THE TOUR. After a long gap of 10 years, a show of this magnitude and magnificence is coming to the Bay Area.

This show with the brightest stars of Bollywood, performing with foot tapping music and Bollywood numbers at one of the grandest arenas of Bay area will definitely charge and electrify the atmosphere of San Jose, and would leave the people and fans of this beautiful county with everlasting memories to be cherished for many years.

DBR, in a press release, has invited the people at this part of the country to get ready to shake a leg with Shah Rukh Khan (Actor/Producer), Farah Khan Kunder (Director/Actor), Deepika Padukone (Actor), Malaika Arora Khan (Actor), Abhishek Bachchan (Actor), Boman Irani (Actor), Sonu Sood (Actor), Vivaan Shah (Actor), Kanika Kapoor (Singer) and Yo Yo Honey Singh (Singer/Actor).

The "SLAM in SAP " as we call it, is supposed to be the biggest Bollywood production which is supported by more than 150 crew members, dancers, choreographers performing on the grand stage of the SAP center. It is going to be a well scripted and immaculately conceived and planned show from beginning to end. It would be a visual delight and a riot of colors and music, stunning visuals, state-of-the-art production, colorful fireworks and elaborate costumes.... And the rest will be for your eyes to see and feel.

A little about the team: (DBR Entertainment) D: Dave Atwal: Dave is a first generation successful entrepreneur of the Bay Area and had been

Utility bill scam calls for continuous public awareness Cont’d from page 20

Most importantly, never give out personal information over the telephone.

"These imposters are great fishers of information," said Chico.

"You never know who they are and imposters will use that information against you."

involved in land development, construction, and Movie production in the bay area, USA, and Canada. His passion for the mov-

"I am blessed to get a lot of love and support from people around the world. This is our way of giving this love back and thanking you all. I am super excited and looking forward to being in your city along with the director & the cast of our next film Happy New Year and my colleagues Farah, Deepika, Malaika, Abhishek, Boman, Sonu, Vivaan, Kanika and Honey Singh. We promise you an evening of love, laughter and entertainment. So mark your calendar and be there at Slam, The Tour," - Shah Rukh Khan

ies; and promotion of Indian culture had been instrumental in his being a part and bringing this mega show to the Bay area and Canada B: Bikram Jeet Singh: a successful business man in Bay Area, started his business from scratch and reached heights, Lives in San Jose.

R: Rana Atwal: CEO of his own brokerage firm in real estate called the Realty One Group American and American United Mortgage.

Has had his business over decade.

The Kickoff party to this mega event is being scheduled on 1st of August at sponsor Ashwini Kumar's finest "M Lounge" in San Jose located at 98 S 2nd St San Jose, CA 95113 The first lot of tickets will be opened for purchase on Aug 1st between 11 AM to 2 PM only. In case there is any change in the ticketing information, the same shall be communicated to you all at the appropriate time.

DBR has announced that it has already received an overwhelming response to the show and enquiries for the sponsorships and tickets are pouring in every hour of the day.

The venue of the event would be: SAP Centre, 525 W Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95113 DBR team has thanked the media for their active support and blessings for this grand event and would keep appraising the media about all the new developments about this event in the future.

Kite flying picnic in Skokie SURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: Although not a part of India Day celebrations, the Kite Flying event that Indian Community of Niles Township (ICNT) has organized on Sunday August 10 at Laramie Park in Skokie (a suburb of Chicago) has sparked enough interest among members

and hence, there was no need for "duplicating the efforts". In that context, the Township members suggested holding a Picnic with a difference like "Kite Flying" - a popular festival in India.

He said that the Indian CG Dr

Kites and Phirkees

Rohi Joshi, president of the ICNT, said the Indian CG Dr Ausuf Sayeed along with many other dignitaries are invited to the event and "we expect them to grace the occasion with their presence� of Indian community in the area that many feel it could well be dubbed as part of near seven days of festivities organized by different organizations in Chicago land.

Rohi Joshi, president of the ICNT, said that his organization is already participating with others in India Day celebrations

Ausuf Sayeed along with many other dignitaries are invited to the event and "we expect them to grace the occasion with their presence." The event has sparked great interest and Joshi has to pitch for early registration since the "quantity of Kite and Phirkees "is limited.

Sports Track Prime Minister Narendra Modi hails India's victory

SPORTS 22 India Post

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated the Indian cricket team for their "wonderful victory" against England and said he was proud of the great performance.

"Well played Team India!

Congrats on the wonderful victory at Lord's. We are very delighted & proud of the great performance," Modi tweeted.

His comment came soon after India clinched their first Test win at the historic Lord's in nearly three decades.-PTI

Cricketing world hails India's victory LONDON: Cricketers from world over took to twitter to heap praise on India for their first Test victory at Lord's in 28 years after they beat the hosts by 95 runs in the second Test here.

"Horrific hour for Eng. India bullied & bounced them out. Remember Eng won the toss on the greenest pitch ever & blew it, changes needed !!," tweeted Warne after England collapsed to 223 all out, chasing a 319-run target on the final day of the match.

Former England captain Alec Stewart said India were the deserving winners. "Congratulations to India. You've thoroughly deserved your fantastic win at Lords. You've outplayed England on a very English pitch," wrote Stewart on his twitter handle.

Another former captain Michael Vaughan wrote: "WTF have we just witnessed over the last hour..... Change required I am afraid...Out lead... Out Bowled...

Out Batted...Out Thought...."

Speedster Ishant Sharma took career best seven for 74 to steer India to a famous win.

"Well done India-Well bowled Ishant! No sympathies fr Eng who need a head-master not a coach!!!" tweeted former India spinner Bishan Singh Bedi.

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar, who is here as a commentator, twitted: "Eng may have committed harakiri after lunch but Ind was the better side over 5 days. Deserving winners." -PTI

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Indias Ajinkya Rahane takes applause for scoring a century as he leaves the field after being caught and bowled by England's James Anderson, during the first day of the second Test match

Memorable win at Lord's for India and myself: Dhoni LONDON: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has described his team's 95-run win over England in the second Test here as a special one, and said the victory was a "memorable" one for him because he does not forsee himself to play a five-day game again at the 'Home of Cricket'.

India clinched their first Test win at the historic Lord's in nearly three decades after riding on Ishant Sharma's inspired spell of fast bowling to demolish England by 95 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

India registered their first Test win at Lord's in 28 years - only second win in 17 Tests here - after Kapil Dev's team achieved the feat back in June 1986 winning by five wickets.

"It is a special win here yes, but every Test win is special in its own way. I remember the 2007 series when the match ended in a draw because of bad light and S Sreesanth and I were batting at that time. We saved the Test and

Ishant Sharma registered his best bowling figures of 7 for 74, England v India, 2nd Investec Test, Lord's

Ravindra Jadeja, second right, celebrates with his teammates after running out England's James Anderson to win the Test match at Lords cricket ground, London

were victorious in that series.

"Every Test is special and it is

great to win outside India. It will couple of series outside India, we be my last Test at Lord's because were in a position to seal victoI don't see myself coming back ries in one Test each in both here in a few years. So yes, it is a South Africa and New Zealand. very memorable victory," Dhoni Somehow we were not able to do said at the post-match press con- that but I felt the bowlers put in ference. great efforts in both those Ishant, whose consistency has matches. It was important to keep always been under the scanner, working hard and giving the delivered when it mattered most, same kind of preparation and as he grabbed a career-best fig- thinking into every game. ures of seven for 74 to bowl out England for Every Test is special and it is 223 in pursuit of a competitive victory target great to win outside India. It of 319. will be my last Test at Lord's From a relatively comfortable 173 for because I don't see myself four, the last six wickets coming back here in a few fell for only 50 runs with years. So yes, it is a very the final five coming in only 12.2 overs after memorable victory," lunch on an absorbing Dhoni said fifth day's play.

Dhoni lauded his young and "And because of that prepainexperienced team and said the ration and thinking, we have win was just reward for the visi- sealed the first Test victory overtors. seas for this young team. It was "It is a result of hard work and fantastic to see the kind of effort effort of the team," said Dhoni and determination from this team about his young team's achieve- and overall a very memorable ments. game of cricket for us," he added.

"The result will not always be Cont’d on page 23 in your favor. But in the last

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Cook not to relinquish captaincy despite string of losses LONDON: Critics might be calling for his head, but under-fire England captain Alastair Cook says he is not willing to step down from the leadership position at the moment despite his side crashing to a 95-run loss in the second cricket Test against India at Lord's here.

India clinched their first Test win at the historic Lord's in nearly three decades after riding on Ishant Sharma's inspired spell of fast bowling to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

gone 26 innings without scoring one.

"I haven't had any tougher times in my career than at the moment. It gets harder and harder the longer it goes on. But I don't think walking away from it would be the way to go," Cook said defending his decision to stay on as England captain.

"Until somebody taps you on the shoulder and says 'we don't want you to be captain', or 'we think there is a better man', or my position does become untenable

Indias players celebrate taking the wicket of England's captain Alastair Cook, left, during the second day of the second Test

India registered their first Test win at Lord's in 28 years - only second win in 17 Tests here - after Kapil Dev's team achieved the feat back in June 1986 winning by five wickets.

Horribly out-of-form Cook himself scored only 22 runs in the second innings as England's top century maker in Test cricket has now

I want to carry on."

When asked pertinently if he had set any timeline to regain form or have a rethink about his captaincy, Cook replied, "I'm just as determined as I was at the beginning of this game. I still want to throw everything into being captain of England. I've still got that determination to do that.-PTI

Indian coaches allowed at ringside in CWG Boxing MUMBAI: There was good news for Indian boxers at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with the world body AIBA reversing its original stand of not allowing coaches to second them at ringside during bouts.

A communication received from AIBA to a senior boxing official said that the world boxing body has communicated that "Indian coaches will be allowed to second the boxers and be at ringside during the Games," concluding on August 3, sources informed PTI. Boxing competition starts on July 25. In what appeared to be a case of misunderstanding, India's boxing coaches at the Games had earlier been barred from occupying ringside seats during bouts due to the country's termination from AIBA. A communication to this effect

from the competition organizers was received by the Indian Olympic Association.

AIBA suspended IBF first in 2012 and then terminated it in March this year stating that the then set of office-bearers were "damaging the image, reputation and interest" of the sport.

Later, in May there was a meeting in Lausanne between AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu and the IOA President, N Ramachandran, to discuss issues related to boxing in India.

"AIBA received full support from the IOA with regards to the selection of the new AIBA member for India. Further to this agreement, AIBA immediately informed the IOA of the AIBA Executive Committee decision of May 14 to accept Boxing India as the new National Federation," AIBA stated. -PTI

Lord Paul compliments team India

Memorable win at Lord's for India and myself: Dhoni Cont’d from page 22

The hero of the day was Ishant who bettered his previous tally of six for 51 against New Zealand at Wellington early this year to help

LONDON: NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, a keen cricket enthusiast, has complimented the Indian team for their victory against England in the second Test at the historic Lord's here.

"I was at the Lord's soon after lunch. It was nice to see... in my presence three wickets fell and India romped home victorious. It was India's second victory at Lord's," he said.

"I was there in 1986 when Kapil Dev led India to victory for the first time at Lord's. It was great that we have something to celebrate," Paul said after receiving the International Icon of the Decade Award at the Global Indian Excellence Summit and Awards organized by the World Consulting and Research Corporation here. -PTI

Li Ning as apparel partner for World Kabaddi NEW DELHI: World Kabaddi League has announced its partnership with Li Ning, renowned sports brands, as the official apparel partner for its opening edition.

The Li Ning Company has been a leader in sports apparel and equipment globally. It will provide a wide range of clothing for the games related personnel, including the team kits.

World Kabaddi League is slated to kickstart on August 9.

With 94 matches and matches scheduled across three continents in UK, US, Canada, Dubai and India, WKL will follow F1 format.

WKL will present the sport to its fans in a completely new avatar by adding more action-oriented elements. The maiden Indian contact sport which has committed fan following across the globe will soon be pegged amongst the most followed game amongst enthusiasts.

WKL will be played in Circle style which is the most popular Kabaddi format followed across 26 countries globally.-PTI

the opposition is playing shots and at other times it doesn't. Today it worked and we got quite a few wickets in this way," he said.

"Ishant is a tall bowler and he can make good use of the bounce.

Indian players celebrate the wicket of England's Ben Stokes during the third day of the second Test match between England and India at Lords cricket ground

his side end victorious.

"There was pressure on us because with just 200 more runs needed we knew there will certainly be a winner in this game.

We had a fantastic chance to win this Test at the start of play today.

They had a very good partnership going but once we got a wicket we made sure we put pressure on the opposition," Dhoni said.

Ishant bounced out England today as the hosts lost five wickets for just 50 runs in less than 13 overs. The medium pacer picked four wickets for nine runs off just 21 balls in the post-lunch session.

Difficult to convince "It was very difficult to convince him (Ishant) to bowl short.

Ishant is someone who gives 100 per cent whatever be the situation, and he works hard on his fitness and his bowling. So it was hard to convince him to bowl short consistently," Dhoni said.

"I set the field accordingly so he was forced to bowl short. It was the strategy for him and it worked well.

Sometimes it works because

So he has to bowl a lot of overs in the overseas matches and he should use the bouncer and short stuff in his armory to trouble the batsmen. Modern day cricket has changed and batsmen don't always duck to the bouncer. Even we encourage our own batsmen to play attacking shots if they can assess the bounce," Dhoni added.

Tale of tail-enders One of the trademarks of this series has been the way tailenders have batted and for India be it Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Mohammad Shami in both the Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord's.

And Dhoni was quick to praise the contributions of the lower-order.

"Jadeja is a very talented cricketer. But at many times he feels a lot of pressure. The way he played in the second innings, such knocks will give him much confidence and maybe he will settle down a lot in the future. But the number where he bats, lower down the order, I want him to play attacking cricket because he is more comfortable that way.-PTI

Prior to miss rest of India series due to injuries LONDON: England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has taken an immediate break from the national duty due to a set of injuries and will not be part of the remainder of the Test series against India.

Prior's decision came after England suffered a crushing 95-run defeat at the hands of the visitors. The wicket-keeper batsman said he tore his quad before the

first Test and apart from a hand injury an Achilles problem has forced him to take the decision.

"As it stands now, I'll miss three Test matches, and then I'll do my utmost to get fit and ready for the back-end of the winter. It is a huge decision and not one I have taken lightly obviously, because I could have played my last game," Prior said, announcing his decision.-PTI

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Lord Paul hits out at unsolicited advice to India LONDON: Lord Swraj Paul has hit out at "politicians, pundits and the press" of powerful foreign countries for "thrusting" unsolicited advice on India which was quite capable of managing its own affairs.

The recent Lok Sabha elections had "exposed" the "cascade of unsolicited advice that is constantly thrust on India," the NRI industrialist said at a function here.

"As the election has proved, India is quite capable of manag-

ing its own affairs without gratuitous suggestions cloaked in the guise of western wisdom," said Paul, the founder-Chairman of the Caparo Group.

He expressed the view that the goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had speedily begun the task of uplifting 1.2 billion people of India in terms of health, education and personal earnings to make the country a fair society.

He described Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley as "a man of great principle and stature who is determined to take India into a more prosperous era" by getting the economy onto a sound footing without resorting to quick-fix solutions.

Inaugurating a one-day Global Indian Excellence Summit and Awards 2014, Paul took the opportunity to congratulate Prime Minister Modi and his government.

Paul received the 'International

Lord Swraj Paul who received International Icon of the Decade Award at Global Indian Excellence Summit presented an award to Priti Patel MP, newly elected Treasury Secretary in UK PM’s Cabinet in London on July 21

Icon of the Decade Award' from Prof Malcolm Mcdonald of Cranfield School Management for his outstanding achievements in the fields of manufacturing, education and philanthropy.

In his acceptance speech, Paul dedicated the award to the 1.2 billion Indian people.

In his inaugural speech, he said the recent elections in India re-af-

firmed the maturity of Indian democracy.

"Almost 600 million people voted without much regard to caste, creed, or sectarianism.

Whether someone was Hindu or Muslim, high caste or low caste was largely irrelevant. The primary public focus was on who would be the right persons to deliver the right policies," he said.-PTI

FM wants black money unearthed at home too NEW DELHI: As government makes effort to bring illicit money stashed abroad, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked the I-T Department to focus its effort on unearthing 'quite large' amount on black money within the country as well.

"The government is making full efforts to bring back the black money stashed abroad, but the officers of the (Income Tax) Department have to make equally serious efforts to unearth black money within the country," he said in a statement.

He asked "all senior officers to focus their efforts to unearth black money within the country which is also quite large".

The government has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to unearth black money stashed abroad. The SIT, headed by former Supreme Court Judge M B Shah and

Vice Chairman Arijit Pasayat, has 11 members in the panel who are heads of many investigative and enforcement agencies of the country.

The Finance Minister also hoped that revenue targets fixed for direct taxes in the current fiscal would not only be achieved but would be surpassed as well.

The direct tax collections for the current fiscal has been pegged at Rs 7,36,221 crore.

"In order to achieve this target, the officers of Income Tax Department will have to work with the highest standard of ethics... credibility of the department is its biggest asset," he said.

He emphasized that officers are duty-bound to work in a nonadversarial, non-intrusive, transparent and fair manner, yet they have to deal firmly with those trying to evade taxes. -PTI

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India gets Swiss invite for talks Indians among top three spenders in Singapore on black money NEW DELHI/BERNE: As India steps up pressure on Switzerland for details of alleged black money stashed there, Swiss authorities have invited Indian officials to Berne to discuss further cooperation in these matters.

Besides, Switzerland has already transmitted "few positive responses" to India, a spokesperson in Swiss Finance Ministry said, without divulging any further details on this.

Sources, however, said these "responses" may not be related to the Indian names figuring in the so-called 'stolen lists' of those having alleged Swiss bank accounts.

Switzerland has been refusing to share details on names obtained

by Indian authorities through other countries, namely France and Germany, saying they figured in lists stolen by certain ex-employees of the concerned banks and no details can be shared on the basis of illegally-obtained information.

"As written to the Indian government, the Swiss government would like to welcome a delega-

tion of administration officials from India to discuss the further cooperation in tax matters in Berne, after the talks in February 2014 in India," a Federal Department of Finance spokesperson told PTI from Berne.

He was replying to queries on steps being taken by Switzerland

Switzerland has been refusing to share details on names obtained by Indian authorities through other countries, namely France and Germany to address India's concerns over denial of information about alleged black money stashed in Swiss banks.

A high-level delegation from Switzerland had held discussions

on tax matters with the Indian government officials in New Delhi in February this year.

Asked about the 'few positive responses' received by India from Switzerland and whether these were cases related to 'spontaneous exchange of information', the spokesperson said, "We can't give you any details about the few positive responses that Switzerland has transmitted to India."

Typically, there are two types of information exchange frameworks followed by Swiss authorities - 'spontaneous' exchange where details are given voluntarily to a foreign country if any irregularity is found with regard to a foreign client; and exchange of information in reply to a request.

The spokesperson also refused to share specific details about the number of requests received from India for exchange of information and the number of replies given by Switzerland.

"The annual statistics of administrative assistance are not country-wise but give only total figures of all countries.-PTI

SINGAPORE: Indians were among the top three spenders in Singapore during their visit here in the first quarter of this year, Singapore Tourism Board has said.

But spending by the Indians during the quarter was off by 3 per cent on the year at SGD284 million due to a fall in arrivals and less per capita expenditure of leisure visi-

tors, the board said.

The Indian tourist arrivals in Singapore was 65,557 in January which is down by 7.9 per cent a year ago.

In February, 62,999 Indian tour-

ists visited Singapore, which was 5.6 per cent better than a year ago, and in March the number was 70,472 visitors, unchanged from March 2013.

In April, 79,522 Indian tourists visited Singapore, up by 4.5 per cent on the year.

But the expenditure of these visitors was outside the quarterly report.

Overall, Singapore's tourism receipts or earnings during the first quarter grew by 5 per cent on the year to SGD6 billion from 3.9 million international tourist visitors, which STB said was steady compared to a year ago.

China topped the list of tourism receipt-generating markets in the first quarter with SGD800 million spent by 557,466 Chinese tourists who visited Singapore during that period.

Indonesia was second with SGD658 million spend by the country's 749,389 visitors to the city state during the January-March 2014 period, the board said. -PTI

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LG India eyes 3-fold growth in smartphone sales MUMBAI: Buoyed by increasing smartphone sales across price categories, Korean electronics giant LG has said it expects revenues from the segment in India to jump almost three-fold this year.

The handset maker, which launched its flagship smartphone 'LG G3' here, said it is on path to achieve 10 per cent market share in the world's second most populous market.

"We are seeing very good traction and will exceed our target of Rs 2,000 crore in revenues from smartphones in India this year from Rs 800 crore in 2013," LG Electronics India Managing Director Soon Kwon told PTI. In the first half of the year, the business from the category has almost trebled, he added.

Asked about the ambitious target of achieving 10 per cent market share this year, Kwon said: "It is very much on track and looking at the sales we are having, we are on track to achieve it in 2014."

He added that LG will launch few more handsets this year in the Rs 20,000-30,000 range to further strengthen its presence and reach.

Currently, it has phones in the price category of Rs 6,500-65,000.

According to research firm IDC,

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and Soon Kwon, MD of LG Electronics India during the launch of LG G3 Smartphone in Mumbai on July 21

Samsung is the market leader in multi-crore smartphone category in India with 35 per cent market share followed by Micromax (15 per cent), Karbonn (10 per cent), Lava (6 per cent), Nokia (4 per cent) and others (30 per cent).

LG has roped in Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan to pro-

mote 'LG G3' smartphone in the country.

About 15,000 limited edition G3 smartphones with Bachchan's signature will be released in the Indian market and few lucky buyers will get the opportunity to meet him.

The 16GB version will be priced at Rs 47,990, while the 32 GB ver-

sion will be available for Rs 50,990.

LG G3, which sports a 'Kill Switch' that can disable the handset in the event of a theft, features a laser auto focus camera, smart keyboard, smart notice and a slim metallic design.

Globally, the G3 has witnessed exceptional traction and LG expects

the same in India, Kwon said.

LG Electronics Marketing Head Amit Gujral said the company expects to sell half a million G3 devices by year-end.

The 4G-supporting smartphone features a 5.5-inch quad HD display, 13 megapixel OIS+ (Optical Image Stabilizer Plus) rear camera and 2.1 MP front camera.

With the latest Android KitKat operating system, LG G3 also has a a removable 3,000 mAh battery, 2/3 GB RAM and internal memory of 16 GB and 32 GB options. It also has a micro SD slot with maximum 128 GB capacity.

The firm also unveiled at the event its G watch, priced at Rs 15,000. The watch has a 1.65-inch display and features Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 processor and has an internal memory of 4 GB with a 512MB RAM. The dust and water resistant watch sports the Android wear OS and has a 400 mAh battery.

LG said G3 is being launched in India with Rs 15,000 worth of consumer offers. There is a discount of Rs 5,000 on the LG G Watch when bought along with the G3.

The offer also includes Rs 3,500 worth QuickCircle Case free and an one time screen replacement worth Rs 6,500. -PTI

Sebi for separate governance Micromax launches LED TV; to be sold on Snapdeal norms for big corporates MUMBAI: To ensure focused enforcement of corporate governance norms, capital market watchdog Sebi's International Advisory Board has suggested separate governance standards for "big and complex business groups".

The suggestion comes at a time when India is gearing up for revised norms on various aspects of corporate governance including those pertaining to related party transactions and independent directors.

Besides, the International Advisory Board (IAB) has proposed the integration of disclosures made by entities under different regulations to reduce the number of times the same disclosure is to be made by an individual.

These proposals were deliberated upon during the fourth meeting of the International Advisory Board (IAB) held on July 18 and 19.

With regard to corporate governance norms, IAB concurred with Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) approach and said there was a need to address the gap in what is reported

by auditors and what investors, across jurisdictions, expect.

"Also, it was suggested that there needs to be different governance standards for big and complex business groups, with too many subsidiaries.

With regard to proposed norms for crowd funding, IAB said that Sebi needs to undertake a more detailed study and should also take into account issues like "fraudulent conveyance in crowd funding and the likelihood of equity bubbles".

"A more focused enforcement of corporate governance norms was emphasized by the IAB so as to derive the true benefit of the prescribed norms," Sebi said in a statement.

With regard to proposed norms for crowd funding, IAB said that Sebi needs to undertake a more detailed study and should also take into account issues like "fraudulent conveyance in crowd funding and the likelihood of equity bubbles".

It was also suggested that the involvement of government in the financing of SMEs, start-ups and infrastructure projects, at least in the initial stage, is very crucial.

Besides, IAB proposed institutional deepening which can be achieved by regulatory reforms, "such as relaxing portfolio restrictions on pension and insurance funds as well as private equity and venture capital funds, etc", the statement said.

"It was suggested that specifically the regulation and tax should be neutral between debt vs equity...," it added.

On legislative recommendations of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), the advisory group observed that it was difficult to design a regulatory architecture that is suitable for all future market developments.-PTI

NEW DELHI: Phone maker Micromax has launched a 32-inch LED TV which would be sold exclusively on e-commerce platform Snapdeal.com.

This is the first time Micromax has entered into a strategic part-

audio and video formats and HDMI & VGA ports to give additional viewing options, it added.

The smartphone manufacturer had ventured into the panel market in October 2012 by

nership with Snapdeal.com to launch its latest offering, the eretailer said in a statement.

Priced at Rs 16,490, 32 inch LED TV will have features as zero dot panel, narrow bezel design, USB play supporting all

launching its range of LED TVs. According to Snapdeal, the TV would be available across 400 cities and will be delivered to customers in NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad within two business days. -PTI

July 25, 2014

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TOP TEN HINDI FILM SONGS

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AIF ALI KHAN now regrets the crass comedy and his triple role in 'Humshakals' which has received flaks, both from the critics and the paying public.

Speaking to Mirror, Saif admitted that he had 'surrendered' himself to Sajid even though he was uncomfortable with the content. "The film didn't have a script as such, it was all there in Sajid's mind. I did whatever he asked me to," said Saif.

He acknowledged that stepping out of his comfort zone and putting his faith in someone else's convictions was a mistake he regretted today.

"I did the film thinking that it will help me expand my market, but obviously that wasn't a clever idea," said the actor. "I was trying to be someone I'm not. The humor was not the kind I enjoy. My upcoming film, Happy Endings, is closer to the comedy I believe in and am known for."

Asked if he was aware of the backlash of negative reviews and the adverse audience reactions, Saif said, "I was and I can understand it. The film was very regressive. In fact, while watching it, I asked myself what I was doing in it. I knew I had let my fans down and underestimated their intelligence," shuddered the 'shaken up' actor. He solemnly promised he would never do such a film again.

Given the popularity of the original, which co-starred Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, it was natural for the makers to consider a second film. The modalities are currently being discussed."

F

or months now, speculation has been rife about Aamir Khan's next film after 'P.K'. Now, it is learnt that it could be Shankar's sequel to Robot, starring Rajinikanth once again, which is set to roll early next year. A source close to the filmmaker says, "Preliminary talks are on to sign Aamir."

Said the source, "Given the popularity of the original, which co-starred Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, it was natural for the makers to consider a second film. The modalities are currently being discussed."

This is Shankar's second attempt to induct Aamir into the hit franchise. Robot was initially planned with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead. The actor was also supposed to produce the fantasy adventure, but the deal fell through following creative differences. Shankar then approached Aamir who too turned it down. The film then went to Rajinikanth who made it a blockbuster.

1 Galliyan: Ek Villain 2 Banjaara: Ek Villain 3 Saturday Saturday: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania 4 Callertune: Humshakals 5 Fugly Fugly Kya Hai: Fugly 6 Aaj Phir Tumpe: Hate Story 2 7 Johnny Johnny: Its Entertainment 8 Samjhawan: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania 9 Raat Bhar: Heropanti 10 Humdard: Ek Villain

G

uess who's grabbing all the attention for her regal looks? It's none other than the gorgeous Aditi Rao Hydari. The light eyed beauty is considered to play the lead role in William Dalrymple's 'Khair-un-Nisaa' alongside Ralph Fiennes, who will also direct the film.

The character of Khair-un-Nissa is based on William Darymple's novel The White Mughals which is a true love story that took place in early nineteenth century Hyderabad between James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khairun-Nissa Begum.

Recently, William Dalrymple tweeted a picture of Aditi Rao Hydari with the cover of The White Mughals reflecting the uncanny resemblance between the two.

Recently, William Dalrymple tweeted a picture of Aditi Rao Hydari with the cover of The White Mughals reflecting the uncanny resemblance between the two

July 25, 2014

Bollywood

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D

S

anjay Leela Bhansali's 'Bajirao Mastani' will also feature Priyanka Chopra with Ranveer Singh and Deepik Padukone in the pivotal role. Priyanka has done a special number, 'Ram Chahe Leela' in 'Ram Leela' and now she will be seen in a crucial role in the much talked about 'Bajirao Mastani'.

'Bajirao Mastani' is based on great Maratha emperor Peshwa Bajirao and his second wife Mastani. Deepika will play Mastani and Priyanka will play Ranveer's first wife Kashibai.

Ranveer will learn Marathi and will reportedly go bald for the role.

Priyanka''s role as Kashibai is a performance based. She plays a troubled wife of Bajirao and the character requires lots of dedication and hard work. This is Piggy Chops first mythological movie.

R

anbir Kapoor will play a superhero in Ayan Mukerji's yet-untitled next the film. The Kapoor scion says, "I am excited to play the role of a superhero, but when we talk of superheroes, we just have one image - Spider-Man or Superman. But he (Ayan) isn't writing a film along those lines.

I think it's a fantasy-based film, a mythological (based) in contemporary times. And it will have a boy who will have some form of superpowers. But right now, it's too early to talk about it," says Ranbir.

The actor, who has worked with his close friend Ayan earlier in Wake Up Sid (2009), and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013), says that the latter has "gone completely underground" trying to write the story.

Ranbir also adds that the film is very ambitious in idea, as well as budget.

"Ayan is thinking big, but for that he really has to concentrate on the writing part.

e e p i k a Padukone will be seen in completely diverse looks in her releases to come. Starting from her look in Finding Fanny which shows her as a Goan for the first time to a Maharashtrian look in Happy New Year it is a wide range that Deepika will be seen covering in terms of her characters and looks.

Post Finding Fanny and Happy New Year, she will be seen in Tamasha, Piku and Bajirao Mastani.

Imtiaz who usually does n o t prefer to repeat his female cast h a s however made an exception with Deepika.

H o m i Adajania, who had his first outing with Cocktail, has signed Deepika for his next. Even though Finding Fanny is a very different film from Cocktail, he was sure Deepika would convincingly deliver this side of the spectrum as well.

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„ Health

Line

Intas launches cheaper blood cancer drug NEW DELHI: Homegrown drug maker Intas Pharmaceuticals has launched a generic version of blood cancer drug Azacitidine at one-fifth of the price of currently available drug for the disease.

The company's product Azadine, which is a generic version of US-based Celgene Corporation's Vidaza, is used for treating MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome) and AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) types of cancer.

"Treatment with Azadine would cost around Rs 50,000 for a months dosage while treatment with the imported drug for the same dosage currently costs in the range of Rs 2-2.5 lakh per patient," Intas Pharmaceuticals India Head, Marketing & Sales Vijayesh Gupta told PTI. He claimed oncologists had to rely on the imported drug, which costs in the range of Rs 15-18 lakh for the entire treatment schedule due to lack of alternatives.

"With Azadine the cost of the complete treatment would be around Rs 3 lakh," he said.

MDS is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow does not make enough healthy blood cells and there are abnormal cells in the blood and/or in the bone marrow.

Advanced stages of MDS may lead to AML. Azacitidine is the only drug which has been shown to prolong overall survival duration and time to transformation into AML, increase response rate, reduce transfusion burden and improve quality of life. -PTI

„

Clemson trustees won't vote on tobacco ban

CLEMSON, S.C.: The chairman of Clemson University's board of trustees says the panel won't vote on a plan to ban tobacco use anywhere on campus.

The State newspaper reported Chairman David Wilkins says the administration, not the board, will handle the plan.

Several trustees said during a committee meeting they thought the question should go to the board rather than being handled by the president and his staff. But Wilkins said that wouldn't happen.

Clemson now bans smoking in buildings. The new rule would also ban smoking in outdoor areas and add smokeless tobacco to the indoor ban. Wilkins says it would go into effect in July 2015.

The subject was only mentioned at the meeting in reference to a report from a task force that's formulating the policy. -AP

Health Science

'Quick evaluation key to fighting TB in India' Details on Page 35

33 India Post

www.indiapost.com

July 25, 2014

HIV diagnosis rate fell by third in US over decade NEW YORK: The rate of HIV infections diagnosed in the United States each year fell by one-third over the past decade, a government study finds. Experts celebrated it as hopeful news that the AIDS epidemic may be slowing in the U.S. ``It's encouraging,'' said Patrick Sullivan, an Emory University AIDS researcher who was not involved in the study.

The reasons for the drop aren't clear. It might mean fewer new infections are occurring. Or that most infected people already have been diagnosed so more testing won't necessarily find many more cases. ``It could be we are approaching something of a `ceiling effect,''' said one study leader, David Holtgrave of Johns Hopkins University.

The study was released online by the Journal of the American Medical Association. It is part of the journal's special report on HIV research, issued ahead of the International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia.

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, which destroys the immune system. The World Health Organization estimates 35 million people globally have the virus. In the United States, 1.1 million people are thought to be infected,

data span a decade, making this a larger and longer look at these trends than any previous study, said another study author, Amy Lansky of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The findings: 16 out of every

A pediatric HIV expert at Johns Hopkins' Children's Center in Baltimore, holds a vial. The rate of HIV infections diagnosed in the United States each year fell by one-third over the past decade, a government study finds. Experts celebrated it as hopeful news that the AIDS epidemic may be slowing in the U.S.

though many don't know it.

The study is based on HIV diagnoses from all 50 states' health departments, which get test results from doctors' office, clinics, hospitals and laboratories. The

100,000 people ages 13 and older were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2011, a steady decline from 24 out of 100,000 people in 2002.

Declines were seen in the rates for men, women, whites, blacks,

Hispanics, heterosexuals, injection drug users and most age groups. The only group in which diagnoses increased was gay and bisexual men, the study found.

The diagnosis rate is a direct measure of when people actually tested positive for the virus. The diagnoses may be identifying infections that happened recently or years before.

The study found diagnosis rates dropped even as the amount of testing rose. In 2006, the CDC recommended routine HIV testing for all Americans ages 13 to 64, saying an HIV test should be as common as a cholesterol check.

The percentage of adults ever tested for HIV increased from 37 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2010, according to CDC data.

Lansky acknowledged that given the testing increases, the new findings may seem like a bit of a paradox. One might assume that ``if more people get tested, you're more likely to find more people who are infected,'' she said.

Cont'd on Page 36

Moth eyes inspire more efficient solar cells LONDON: Inspired by how moths use their eyes to see in the dark, scientists have created a new solar cell with drastically increased light collecting efficiency.

All over the world researchers are investigating solar cells which imitate plant photosynthesis, using sunlight and water to create synthetic fuels such as hydrogen.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) developed such a photoelectrochemical cell, recreating a moth's eye to drastically increase its light collecting efficiency.

The cell is made of cheap raw materials - iron and tungsten oxide.

Rust - iron oxide - could revolutionize solar cell technology.

This usually unwanted substance can be used to make photoelectrodes which split water and generate hydrogen.

Sunlight is thereby directly converted into valuable fuel rather than first being used to generate electricity.

Unfortunately, it conducts electricity very poorly and must therefore be used in the form of an extremely thin film in order for the water splitting technique to work.

The disadvantage of this is that these thin-films absorb too little of

the sunlight shining on the cell.

Empa researchers Florent Boudoire and Artur Braun have now succeeded in solving this problem.

A special microstructure on the photoelectrode surface literally gathers in sunlight and does not let it out again.

The basis for this innovative structure are tiny particles of tungsten oxide which, because of their saturated yellow color, can also be used for photoelectrodes.

The yellow microspheres are applied to an electrode and then covered with an extremely thin

nanoscale layer of iron oxide.

When external light falls on the particle it is internally reflected back and forth, till finally all the light is absorbed. All the energy in the beam is now available to use for splitting the water molecules.

In principle the newly conceived microstructure functions like the eye of a moth, said Boudoire.

The eyes of these night active creatures need to collect as much light as possible to see in the dark, and also must reflect as little as possible to avoid detection and being eaten by their enemies.

The microstructure of their eyes especially adapted to the appropriate wavelength of light.

Empa's photocells take advantage of the same effect. -PTI

34 India Post

Health Science Post

July 25, 2014

www.indiapost.com

Rs 2,700 cr for health care in Delhi Budget NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has earmarked Rs 2,724 crore for health sector in the Budget for Delhi during the current fiscal, including plans to set up centers in each district for victims of sexual assault and a multi-specialty hospital in South Delhi.

In the wake of increasing cases of sexual assault in the national capital, the Govern-

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

ment proposed to set up one stop centers for crisis management and rehabilitation of victims of sexual assault in each district in government hospitals.

"Three such centers at Deen Dayal hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital will become functional in the next three months, where the victims can be provided proper medical care along with legal and psycho-

social counseling and support in a secure, gender- friendly environment," Jaitley said.

The Minister informed that a new medical college with 100 seats will be started in Rohini and efforts are being made to ensure that the first batch of students is admitted by next year.

The plan outlay of Rs 2,724 crore for health sector is approximately 16.3 per cent of plan outlay (excluding Centrally Sponsored Schemes), which is Rs 16,700 crore.

The total budget estimate for the Government of NCT of Delhi is Rs 36,766 for the year 2014-15.

Considering the paucity of good health care facilities under government sector in South Delhi and the felt need of the area, Jaitley said the Government has proposed to sanction one multi-specialty hospital for South Delhi in the current year.

Besides, 50 dialysis centers will be opened to provide free dialysis to poor patients suffering from kidney failure.

To offer prompt trauma care, 110 new ambulances fitted with state-of-the-art life support equipment will be inducted in the Centralized Accident and Trauma Services (CATS) fleet.

Keeping in view the "quantum of work load" with existing Forensic Science Laboratory, the government proposed setting up of three more Forensic Science Laboratories for which land at Sheikh Sarai, Rohini and village Sayurpur at a cost of Rs 11.25 crore has been purchased, Jaitley said.

The Minister informed that online facility has been launched for Out Patient Department (OPD) registration and issuing of free birth registration certificate at the time of discharge of mother and newborn baby from Government Hospitals has also been initiated. -PTI

Togadia launches India Health Line in Jaipur JAIPUR: Taking forward his socio-medical project, VHP leader Dr Praveen Togadia has launched India Health Line in Rajasthan aiming to provide free health facilities to the people across the country.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony at Jaipur Medical Association auditorium here, he said the project was aimed at reaching out to the poor and needy people through timely and free consulting by medical fraternity.

"I discussed the idea with large number of doctors in 80 cities during last three years and asked whether they would like to see one needy patient a day free of cost.

"I got a good response after which the project was launched in Delhi, Indore, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Pune and now in Jaipur," Togadia said.

Specialist doctors like Cancer surgeons, Cardiologists, Gynecologists, Nephrologists, Urologists and others will provide free consultation to one patient

every day and the needy can reach them by calling 18602333666, the International Working President of VHP said.

He said that more than 5,000 doctors have been associated with the project and the number was expected to cross 50,000 in the future which would benefit millions of people in the country. -PTI

VHP leader Dr Praveen Togadia

New health policy soon: Vardhan BHUBANESWAR: Announcing the Center's plan to unveil a new health policy soon, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said National Health Mission (NHM) would be reviewed and made more inclusive to make "health for all" a social movement.

"The government wants to formulate a comprehensive new health policy for which efforts have already begun. The country needs a comprehensive policy to address the complex healthcare challenges," he told reporters here before winding up his twoday visit to Odisha.

The new health policy would be given a final shape after wide-ranging discussions and consultations with national and international experts keeping in mind the changing scenario and advances in the healthcare sector, he said.

Vardhan said he is already in the process of reviewing NHM, which would be completing a decade in April 2015, in order to make it more effective.

Constant interaction is being held with experts from diverse backgrounds on meeting the unachieved goals, the minister said, adding steps are also being taken to ensure rational prescribing of drugs by doctors to promote cheaper essential drugs like generic medicines.

He termed the exodus of doctors from the country for brighter career prospects

as a matter of "grave concern," saying a large number of trained medicos are leaving India each year for more lucrative careers abroad.

"Though the government does not have a policy of making them repay the subsidies that funded their education, it is up to the

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

doctors to be more concerned about the health goals of the nation and contribute their might to achieving them," Vardhan said.

Cont'd on Page 35

Smoking may contribute to suicide risk WASHINGTON: Nicotine in cigarettes may trigger psychiatric disorders, raising a smoker's risk of committing suicide, a new study has warned.

Previous research has shown that cigarette smokers are more likely to commit suicide than people who don't smoke.

This reality has been attributed to the fact that people with psychiatric disorders, who have higher suicide rates, also tend to smoke.

But researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis found that smoking itself may increase suicide risk and that policies to limit smoking reduce suicide rates.

In a study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, a team led by Richard A Grucza, reported that suicide rates declined up to 15 per cent, relative to the national average, in US states that implemented higher taxes on cigarettes and stricter policies to limit smoking in public places.

"Our analysis showed that each dollar increase in cigarette taxes was associated with a 10 per cent decrease in suicide risk," said Grucza, associate professor of psychiatry.

"Indoor smoking bans also were associated with risk reductions," he said.

Grucza's team analyzed data compiled as individual US states took different approaches to taxing cigarettes and limiting

when and where people could smoke.

From 1990 to 2004, US states that adopted aggressive tobacco-control policies saw their suicide rates decrease, compared with the national average.

The opposite was true in states with lower cigarette taxes and more lax policies

toward smoking in public.

In those states, suicide rates increased up to 6 per cent, relative to the US national average, during the same time period.

From 1990 to 2004, the average annual suicide rate was about 14 deaths for every 100,000 people.

Using statistical methods, the researchers compared rates of suicide in states with stricter tobacco policies to rates in states with more lenient laws and lower taxes. -PTI

July 25, 2014

Health Science Post

India Post 35

www.indiapost.com

'Quick evaluation key to fighting TB in India' WASHINGTON: Getting patients in India quickly evaluated by the right doctors can be just as effective at curbing tuberculosis (TB) as a new, highly accurate screening test, a new study suggests.

While ideally all suspected TB cases would be evaluated with the new test, it is primarily being used only on the highestrisk populations and only in public health clinics, partly because of its cost and the complexity of the nation's health care system.

This slows diagnosis of a disease that must be caught early, the researchers said.

Approximately 8.6 million people worldwide develop active TB each year, and 1.4 million die from it. Twenty-five per cent of all diagnosed TB patients are in India alone.

Although treatment for TB is freely available and highly effective, the disease continues to kill hundreds of thousands of

people every year in India, and vast numbers of cases go undetected.

The researchers say that for better TB tests to make a major difference they must be made available to the private health care providers where patients first seek care. " M o s t people in India Patients are treated at a government tuberculosis hospital in Gauhati, India.

Public health officials in the country are grappling with a strain of TB that with underlying does not respond to medication.

TB initially seek care for cough from the private health care sector," said study's lead author Henrik Salje from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"Private providers often use the wrong tests for TB, and without getting the right diagnosis, patients move between providers with long diagnostic delays," said Salje.

Often, patients with symptoms start with "glass ceiling" from its Asian and Black NHS convenient and more trusted private sector workers that prevents them to realizing their physicians and informal health care providpotential, the party pledged. ers, but ultimately public sector physicians About 20 per cent of the workforce in diagnose and treat more than half of the TB NHS is made up of Asian & Black communities and majority of them are from India.

The UK Government has always acknowledged the economic benefits due to migration of health care workers from various English-speaking countries, they added.

Doctor Neeraj Patil, Former Mayor of "The London Borough of Lambeth" who is also a member of the National policy forum of the Labor Party moved this amendment at the policy forum and the party endorsed it. -PTI

Labor to tackle racial discrimination in NHS LONDON: The UK's Labor Party has said if voted to power next year, it would tackle racial discrimination faced by Asian and Black doctors and nurses in the state-funded National Health Service.

The party adopted the pledge at its twoday National Policy Forum that concluded in Milton Keyes.

"The Labor Party pledges to address Institutional Racism amongst its workforce," the party said.

"It will develop a framework of action to tackle racial discrimination faced by Asian and Black doctors and nurses in the NHS," they said.

If elected to power in the 2015 General elections, the Labor Party will remove the

New health policy soon: Vardhan Cont'd from Page 34

Vardhan, who visited AIIMSBhubaneswar, said to develop one doctor in AIIMS, the taxpayer pays Rs 8 to 10 crore. "The poorest of poor Odiyas and Indians are subsidizing you. So when you become doctors please work in an unselfish manner so that India can achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals," he advised the students.

The minister said that during his interaction with faculty members and students of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, he urged them to convert the dream of accomplishing the health goals into a reality.

Voicing concern over shortage of doctors and health professionals in the country, Vardhan said Medical Council of India (MCI) has been asked to adopt a prag-

matic approach during inspection of medical colleges to decide number of seats for medical courses.

MCI's focus should be more on quality of education in medical colleges rather than on small infrastructure needs, while colleges should also take quick corrective measures to remove deficiencies in time so that the number of seats is not slashed, he said.

On the question of euthanasia, Vardhan said there should be wide-ranging discussion among experts from various sectors, including medical and legal professionals and lawmakers, to evolve a consensus as the issue is highly sensitive.

There should be no hurry in taking any decision on the matter, he said, adding, "We should not try to force or impose any decision on euthanasia." -PTI

cases in India.

They have long used sputum smear microscopy, which may miss up to half of all active cases.

The new test for TB, Xpert MTB/RIF, can diagnose TB in 90 minutes, capture 70 per cent of cases missed by microscopy and can also determine if the strain is resistant to rifampin, the most important anti-TB drug.

India has begun rolling out this new technology, but since Xpert MTB/RIF is much more expensive than traditional tests, it is currently being implemented mainly in public clinics to test HIV-positive patients who may also have TB or those at high risk of having multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

Researchers explored the impact of six different roll-out strategies by developing a mathematical model of TB transmission, careseeking and diagnostic and treatment practices in India.

They found that providing access to Xpert for 20 per cent of all individuals seeking care for TB symptoms could reduce new TB cases by 14.1 per cent over 5 years, while the "high-risk-only," public-sector strategy currently being implemented might only reduce TB cases by 0.2 per cent.

However, achieving this result required substantially more resources and appropriate TB treatment.

The research was published in the journal PLOS Medicine. -PTI

36 India Post

Health Science Post

July 25, 2014

www.indiapost.com

Douglas County retirees lose health plan challenge OMAHA, Neb.: Douglas County is not obligated to contribute the same amount to retiree health plans as it does for active employees, the Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled.

The ruling Friday reverses a lower court's decision last year to refund more than $1 million in health care premiums to Douglas

The board reduced the county's subsidy for individual retiree health coverage from 93 percent to 75 percent - an additional $1,000 per year - and from 85 percent to 65 percent for retirees with dependents County retirees, The Omaha World-Herald reported.

The dispute stems from the Douglas County Board's decision in 2009 to increase

retirees' contributions to their health insurance premiums. The board reduced the county's subsidy for individual retiree health coverage from 93 percent to 75 percent - an additional $1,000 per year - and from 85 percent to 65 percent for retirees with dependents - an additional $2,000 to $2,750 a year.

Two retired deputies sued, arguing that county officials were contractually bound to maintain retirees' premium subsidies until they became eligible for Medicare. The lawsuit by Sam Christiansen and Rich McShane covered more than 250 retired Douglas County employees.

But the state Supreme Court held that health benefits, unlike pensions, are not a form of deferred compensation. As a result, the court wrote, ``the retirees had no contractual right to participate in the (health care plan) for the same premiums paid by active employees.''

Attorneys will advise the Douglas County Board in closed session about whether the county can or should try to recoup the money paid out to retirees under the lower court's judgment, County Administrator Patrick Bloomingdale said.

-AP

Fortis chief welcomes hike in FDI ceiling NEW DELHI: Welcoming the government's proposal to hike FDI ceiling in insurance sector to 49 per cent, Fortis Healthcare Executive Chairman Malvinder Mohan Singh said the move would help insurance firms attract much-needed capital from overseas partners.

"I think it (hike in insurance FDI) was long overdue. I am glad that it has happened. It will certainly bring in more investment, the insurance sector needs that investment so 49 per cent FDI in insurance is a very positive thing," Singh told PTI. Presenting the Budget for 2014-15 earlier this month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed raising the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap from 26 per cent to 49 per cent in the insurance sector.

"The insurance sector is investment starved. Several segments of insurance sector need expansion. The composite cap of the insurance sector is proposed to be increased to 49 per cent from the current level of 26 per cent with full management and control through the FIPB route," Jaitley said.

Jaitley also said two key initiatives - free drug service and free diagnosis service would be taken up on priority as part of move towards 'Health for All'.

Charting out the healthcare roadmap of

the new government, Jaitley said plans have been firmed up to set up four more AIIMS like institutions at Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Poorvanchal in UP is under consideration and a sum of Rs 500 crore has been set aside.

Charting out the healthcare roadmap of the new government, Jaitley said plans have been firmed up to set up four more AIIMS like institutions at Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Poorvanchal in UP "We as an industry (healthcare) are certainly engaged with the government. I am of the clear view that I do see the government increasing investment in healthcare.

They are clearly looking at how to increase the coverage of health insurance and how to ensure that healthcare is affordable and accessible for people across the country," Singh said. -PTI

HIV diagnosis rate fell by third in US over decade Cont'd from Page 33

But several factors could explain the decline.

One is Holgrave's `ceiling effect' theory.

Another is a possible ebb in new infections.

The CDC has been estimating about 50,000 new infections occur each year and that number has been holding steady in the past decade. That estimate comes from

reports from 25 city and state health departments, joined with statistical modeling.

Lansky said maybe new infections are waning. Or maybe not, she and other experts said.

How could new infections be holding steady when diagnoses are falling? Perhaps the infection count might be buoyed by the expanding epidemic in young gay and bisexual men, said Sullivan, the Emory researcher. -AP

Arrowhead removed from tribal's chest after 40 yrs INDORE: Doctors at Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital here removed after operation an iron arrowhead lodged in the chest of a 55-year-old tribal man for the last forty years.

Mansinh, who lives in Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh, told the doctors that he was shot with the arrow during a quarrel four decades ago, when he was about 15 years old.

The wooden shaft of the arrow was pulled out afterwards (and the wound was treated with traditional herbal medicines), but the iron arrowhead remained inside.

It gave him no trouble until recently

when he complained of pain in the chest.

X-ray image revealed the iron object inside the left side of chest, so local doctors sent him to MY Hospital.

Dr Sumit Shukla, an associate professor at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, said it was nothing short of a wonder that the iron piece - about 4 inches in length - caused no infection all these years.

A team of seven doctors, comprising Dr Ankur Maheshwari, Dr Sonia Mojej and Siddharth Dubey and others performed the operation which lasted three hours. PTI

India Post 37

July 25, 2014

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Realty Tidbits

Plan to hive off sick PSUs' real estate NEW DELHI: The government is considering a proposal to hive off real estate owned by sick public sector companies in Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad to state-owned National Buildings and Construction Corporation (NBCC), before selling off the chronically loss-making entities.

Senior government officials say that NBCC, which is developing real estate in the national capital, has shown interest in prime plots owned by companies such as Bengal Chemicals, National Bicycle Corporation and Richardson & Cruddas in Mumbai's Worli and Byculla.

Similarly, in Kolkata, the company is looking at land owned by NJMC as well as state-government entities such as Lilly Biscuits and West Bengal Warehousing Corporation. -Courtesy TOI

„

HDFC Fund raises $250 mn for realty NEW DELHI: HDFC Property Fund, a part of financial sector conglomerate HDFC group, has announced the closure of USD 250 million international fund focused on investing in Indian real estate.

The fund-raising exercise has been concluded with investments from marquee international institutional investors and marks closure of HDFC's second international real estate fund, it said in a statement.

HDFC had raised an international fund of USD 800 million in 2007, which is fully deployed.

The recently closed fund will focus on investing primarily in residential property developments in major cities across India.

HDFC Property Fund had also set up in 2005 two domestic real estate funds; one with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore that has been substantially exited and another Rs 464.4 crore fund which is fully exited now. -PTI

Real Estate 38

India Post

www.indiapost.com

July 25, 2014

Office space leasing to pick up in 2015 MUMBAI: Office space leasing activity in the city is not expected to move significantly before next year although the sentiment in the real estate sector is witnessing some improvement, says property consultant CBRE. "Market sentiment in Mumbai's office space has seen a slight spurt in the April-June period compared to the last couple of quarters and is expected to fare better in Q3 of 2014," CBRE South Asia Chairman and Managing Director Anshuman Magazine said in a statement.-PTI

Global realty investors may currently focus on metros MUMBAI: Even though the government's move to reduce capitalization limit to USD 5 million is likely to attract FDI in the real estate sector, industry experts believe global investors may initially focus at major metros than investing in high-risk Tier 2 and 3 cities.

While the developers' community is upbeat about foreign investments in smaller cities, international players are reluctant to enter markets which are of high risk, especially where infrastructure has yet not been developed.

The new government in its budget has announced reduction in built-up area threshold from 50,000 sq mt to 20,000 sq mt and drop the minimum foreign direct investment limit to USD 5 million from USD 10 million.

"Already there is a shortage of over 18 million houses and Tier 1 cities are bursting at their seams.

Given the current scenario, the opportunity presented by tier 2 and 3 cities are ripe, awaiting to be tapped by developers backed by

foreign investors," Tata Housing Managing Director Brotin Banerjee told PTI here.

He further said many private equity investors have ventured into Indian realty since the sector was opened to FDI in 2005.

According to experts, FDI would flow in such tier 2 and 3 cities where the infrastructure is in place and the investors are assured of better returns.

"We may not see an immediate flow of investments in smaller cit-

"Given the further relaxation in FDI norms, the participation is only expected to improve in the near future," he said.

ies where there is no proper infrastructure in place. Tier 2 and 3 cities may have land, but at the same time if basic infrastructure is not

in place, they become high risk markets for investors. There is a need to create smart and social infrastructure," PwC Executive Director Anish Sanghvi said.

Among the tier 2 cities Pune, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar and Kochi, and tier 3 cities like Madurai, Baroda, Nashik and Trichy are likely to attract investments as they are upcoming in terms of social infrastructure and economic development, experts said.

According to experts, at least for the next 12-18 months, internationals investors may look at major 6-7 metros.

"Smaller towns are high risk markets, specially when we don't have the necessary infrastructure in place. For us, we will continue to look at 5-6 major markets like NCR, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore among others," Embassy Property Developments Chief Executive Officer Commercial Real Estate Division Michael Holland said. PTI

RBI allows ownership of property abroad KOCHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now allowed resident Indians to remit money abroad for the purchase of immovable properties.

According to a new RBI directive, banks are allowed to remit up to US$125,000 (around Rs

75 lakh) every financial year for any permitted current or capital account transaction, or a combination of both. The money can be used for purchasing immovable property outside India.

Financial experts point out that the new norms might be helpful for the state as it would be easier for Keralites to spot properties due to their significant overseas connection. "The RBI's decision to allow resident Indians to acquire immovable properties outside India is encouraging. Real estate has always elicited immense interest among Indians. So, relaxation of the norms will encourage them to remit more

money outside the country.

The income from such properties will then find its way back to the Indian economy regularly, adding to the foreign exchange re-

serves," said Promoth Manghat, vice-president, Global Operations, at UAE Exchange. The Liberalized Remittances Scheme (LRS), notified by the RBI, allows residents to acquire and hold shares, debt

instruments or other assets outside India without the prior approval of the RBI. In August last year, the RBI had reduced the ceiling from US$200,000 to US$75,000 per person in a financial year.

"Real estate prices are yet to revive in many parts of the world, except in a few places.

The new RBI norms came at the right time. Keralites, who have a considerable amount of disposable money, can now look at foreign countries to buy properties," said G Sanjeev Kumar, financial advisor and managing director at Progno Financial Planning Systems Pvt Ltd. "Though the limit prescribed

by RBI is small, individuals in Kerala can now own properties over a period of time," said Arun Kumar, a lawyer practicing in UAE.

Real Estate Post

July 25, 2014

India Post 39

www.indiapost.com

Home loan EMI may fall by 8 percent NEW DELHI: EMI on home loans is expected to come down by 8-10 per cent following the RBI's move to ease norms for banks to raise long term funds for financing affordable housing projects, consultant KPMG said here.

To encourage infrastructure development and affordable housing, RBI has exempted long term bonds from mandatory regulatory norms like CRR and SLR if the money raised is used for funding of such projects.

RBI said that lending for affordable housing means loans eligible under priority sector, and loans up to Rs 50 lakh to individuals for houses costing up to Rs 65 lakh located in the six metropolitan centers - Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

For other areas, it covers loans of Rs 40 lakh for houses with values up to Rs 50 lakh.

"The recent move by RBI is a welcome move as it would help stimulate demand for housing and

make houses affordable to some extent," KPMG's Partner and Head of Real Estate and Construction Neeraj Bansal said.

"The inclusion of housing sector in this provision is a positive initiative by RBI and would help stimulate demand for housing in the country," Bansal said.

"The move is expected to reduce Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) of a home loan borrower by 8-10 per cent, which coupled with recent income tax incentives have the potential to boost annual savings of an individual to the tune of Rs 1 lakh," he added.

Singapore to play major role in Indian realty SINGAPORE: Singapore investors should capitalize on the sops announced in the budget for India's real estate sector, says an expert.

Abhijit Ghosh, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said Singapore companies will be in an advantageous position to invest and lend to the Indian real estate

sector.

The India-Singapore avoidance of double-taxation agreement offsets taxes on earnings, making it more attractive investment opportunities, he told some 150 businessmen at the "Indian Budget 2014 briefing" held by the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) here.

Singapore levies 17 per cent corporate tax while India has just reduced its tax to 15 per cent, announced in the recent budgetary

proposals earlier this month.

Ghosh urged the investors to market Singapore's expertise in housing, urban and town planning, development of ports and water projects in India.

He said such opportunities will come from India's plans to build 100 smart cities in the coming years.

The Singapore and Indian governments have already discussed the scope of such projects.

Singapore's Foreign and Law Minister K Shanmugam visited India last month and discussed the potential of Singapore experts in India's development including housing, urban town planning, ports, water projects and skill training.

Last year, Singapore accounted for 25 per cent of the total foreign direct investment into India, according to Ghosh.

"Singapore is also playing a dominant role in re-shaping the Indian economic resurgence for the next five years, and we will continue to do so," said Ghosh.

Singapore, with its comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) with India, has become a gateway for Indian businesses to Asia. -PTI

The step taken by RBI is a positive step towards improving liquidity and reducing cost of funds for infrastructure sector.

"The inclusion of housing sector in this provision is a positive initiative by RBI and would help stimulate demand for housing in the country," Bansal said.

The cost of funds to infrastructure sector is expected to come down by 100-200 basis points as

banks would no longer need to meet regulatory requirements of maintaining required cash reserve ratio (CRR), statutory reserve ratio (SLR) and priority sector lending (PSL) on funds raised for infrastructure and housing sector.

"Currently, housing loans below Rs 20 lakh have lower interest rates as they fall into priority sector lending. With this step, loans up to Rs 50 lakh in 6 metropolitan

cities (housing costing up to Rs 65 lakh) and Rs 40 lakh in other cities (housing costing up to Rs 50 lakh) - a major chunk of housing demand - are set to get cheaper," Bansal said.

The central bank had said it intends to "ease the way for banks to raise long term resources to finance their long term loans to infrastructure as well as affordable housing". -PTI

40 India Post

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July 25, 2014

The most sacred pilgrim center for Hindus in India, Puri is also known as Jagannath (the Lord of Universe) Puri and is credited with the famous Jagannath temple. It is located along the coast of Bay of Bengal in the state of Odisha in India. The Hindu mythology contained in the Skanda Purana describes Puri as the resting place of Lord Vishnu.

P

uri is a large repository of art and architecture of India, especially that of Odisha. The historical and cultural edifices have silvery antiquity dating back to 3rd century BC to 17th century AD. Konark, Bhubaneshwar and Puri complete the golden triangle of Odisha, the three places with majestic history, heritage and many renowned worshipping shrines of which Puri attracts the maximum number of visitors.

Major attractions nearby Puri include the Chilka Lake, renowned as the biggest inland salt-water lagoon, Puri beach, Gundicha Ghar and the Chilika Wildlife Sanctuary. Many tourists make it a point to visit other attractions like Temple of Child Krishna at Indradyumna Tank, Markandeswar tank, the Museum and

Sudarshan Workshop and Atharnala Bridge.

The famous Sun temple of Konark is in close proximity of less than an hour's journey. A major celebration in Puri is Rath Yatra (Car/ Chariot festival), conducted every year. This Car festival, held during June - July period, is associated with the Jagannath temple and during this season thousands of Hindu pilgrims throng to Puri to witness the majestic festival. Another festival which attracts many is the Puri Beach Festival which is celebrated in the month of November every year.

Puri is an emerging industrial area with major industries like rice milling, handicrafts and fish curing.

Puri is a religious place and a holiday attraction. Puri engulfs all cultural heritages of ancient India and traditional Hindu beliefs. With historical temples and sacred rituals, Puri draws the enthusiast tourists to its lap for a lifetime experience.

Cont’d on page 42

July 25, 2014

Travel & Hospitality Post

India Post

41

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Kerala tourism bags 2 PATA awards THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Tourism has bagged two honors at the Pacific Asia Travel Association Awards for this year.

The state tourism department's 'Responsible Tourism' initiative in Kumarakom and its online newsletter have won the PATA Gold awards, said an official statement quoting the Macau Government Tourism Office, which supports and sponsors the awards.

Kumarakom Responsible Tourism Project won the award in the Corporate Social Responsibility category while Kerala Tourism ENewsletter received the recognition in the Marketing Media section.

This is the second consecutive PATA Gold award for the Kerala Tourism E-Newsletter.

There are 20 winners of the

PATA Awards this year, selected from 181 entries from 66 organizations and individuals worldwide.

"This is a remarkable achievement for Kerala. This honor will inspire us to continue our efforts in rural tourism development and also taking the brand of Kerala far and wide," state Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar said.

"Through the Kumarakom model, we have shown the world that it is possible to successfully link the local community with the hospitality industry and various government departments for empowering the people and developing an area while sustaining eco-friendly tourism," he said. The awards will be presented on September 19 at the Diamond Island City Hall in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. -PTI

Resumption of Char Dham Yatra a 'calculated risk' DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has said resumption of the Char Dham Yatra was a calculated risk which he took deliberately to revive the state's economy much of which depends on religious tourism.

Facing criticism for ignoring the risk factor and hurriedly starting the Char Dham Yatra which had to suspended recently, he said, "Starting the Char Dham Yatra was

the state's population depends on religious tourism and if the Yatra was not started this year it would have taken even longer to restore the confidence of visitors in the facilities on the route and revive the sector which is central to the state's economy, he said.

Rawat has come in for criticism of late for being too much in a hurry to resume the Yatra this year which has had to be suspended after fre-

a calculated risk I took to put the state's derailed economy back on track in the wake of last year's calamity."

"Religious tourism which is the backbone of the state's economy was lying in shambles after the calamity and not conducting the Yatra this year would have further delayed the process of its recovery," Rawat told reporters here.

Livelihood of a large section of

quent disruptions.

The Opposition parties have been saying that he could have waited for the roads to be repaired fully before resumption of the Yatra which has been frequently suspended this season due to bad weather and blockage of roads.

Char Dham Yatra is currently on hold in view of a MeT department's warning for heavy rains in parts of Uttarakhand. -PTI

42

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tains its sacred nature. Many Hindu devotees visit this beach to have a dip at sea. Legends claim that this was the bathing place of Sri Chaithanyadev who attained the state of Brahma here.

Ganesha Temple: Archeologically important temples in Puri are many. One of them is the Ganesha temple, dedicated to Sri Vinayaka. The temple is assumed to have been built long back has many carvings showcasing Hindu religious beliefs and cultural heritage. Hindu devotees visit frequently this temple to offer prayers.

Lakshmi Temple: A small

PURI

The mythological resting place of Lord Vishnu

Cont’d from page 40

ATTRACTIONS Shree Jagannath Puri Temple: Shree Jagannath Puri temple, one of the most impressive monuments of the State of Odisha, was constructed by a famous king of Ganga Dynasty Ananta Varman

Markandesvara Temple, placed near Bindu Sagar and assumed to be constructed during 13th century, is a well known Shiva temple.

The temple resembles the other two famous Shiva temples in Odisha, Vaital Deul Temple and Sisiresvara Temple. The slight difference with the Sisiresvara temple is in the or-

Chilika Lake

Chodaganga Deva dating back to 12th century at the seashore Puri.

This astounding Vaishnava temple enshrines Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Balabhadra. The main temple of Jagannath is an impressive and amazing structure constructed in Kalinga style with a height of 65 meters placed on an elevated platform.

Lord Jagannath is believed to be the symbol of Universal peace, love and brotherhood and is a manifestation of Lord Krishna. The important annual festival here is the ritual of Rath Yatra, during which thousands of devotees throng to this temple.

Chilika Lake: Chilika Lake, Asia's the biggest inland salt-water lagoon, is separated from the waters of Bay of Bengal by a narrow neck of land. The Lake extends across the three districts of Puri, Ganjam and Khordha in Odisha.

Located around 50 km from Puri, the lake is a tourist attraction with many small islands of emerald green and natural beauty.

Markandesvara Temple:

namentation of the doorframe, in which 'graha' (planet) Ketu is absent and the figures of other eight 'grahas' are only represented.

Narendra Tank: The Narendra Tank, one of the largest tanks in Odisha and believed to be built in the 15th century, is located at

Mauza Dandimala Sahi, near Puri.

This is a holy tank in which the famed Chandana Yatra of Lord Jagannath, known as 'Chandana Pushkarini' is celebrated annually.

There are many small and big temples surrounding this tank. The water level of the tank with 16 'ghatas' (bathing places), is about 10 feet below the present road level.

The main ghata has a flight of steps made of Khondalite leading to it.

Puri Beach: Golden sands, amazing sceneries of sunrise and sunset, soothing effect of sunbath and seclusion in tranquility, Puri beach offers all these to her most privileged guests. A favorite tourist spot, Puri beach is very long and quite wide. This place offers physical and spiritual calmness for the body and soul. The seashore breasts famous pilgrim centers including Jagannath temple.

Swargadwar Beach: Swargadwar, literally means the door to heaven, is a secluded beach and a holy place in Puri.

This beach is unaffected by modern cultural offerings and main-

during May-June, on the day known as Jyestha Sukla Sasthi. On this occasion, Goddess Lakshmi happily invites the couple Shiva and Parvathy in this temple.

Best time to visit Puri: Puri has a hot summer and a bit cool winters. The best time to visit the place is from June to March.

HOW TO REACH

By Train: Puri is a major railway junction. Regular direct train services are available from Puri to many cities in India, including Bhubaneshwar, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, and Kolkata.

By Air: Biju Patnaik airport at

Puri beach

temple dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi, situated near Jagannath temple, plays a very important role in Rath Yatra. It is assumed that

Bhubaneswar, 56 km away from the heart of the Puri city, is the nearest airport.

By Bus: Odisha Road Trans-

Narendra Tank

the marriage of Lord Siva and Goddess Parvati occurs on the sixth day of bright fortnight of Jyeshta,

The famous Rath Yatra

port Corporation buses connect Puri to many cities in Odisha.

July 25, 2014

Travel & Hospitality Post

India Post

43

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Australia records 39 pc footfall from India MUMBAI: Increase in aviation capacity and integrated brand campaign resulted in a 39 per cent growth in footfall of Indian travellers in Australia during May this year, according to Tourism Australia.

"Australia witnessed the highest growth in Indian arrivals in a

an increase of 19 per cent relative to the same period previous year.

Increase in aviation capacity by 93,400 seats (on an annualized basis) with the introduction of direct, non-stop flights on the triangulated route of Delhi-SydneyMelbourne by Air India, and attractive tactical co-operative mar-

single month achieved during the past seven years for the month of May 2014, with a remarkable 39 per cent increase over previous year," Tourism Australia Country Manager, India and Gulf, Nishant Kashikar told PTI here.

According to data, there were 21,700 visitors from India during May 2014, bringing the total for the five months to May to 82,500,

keting campaigns with Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and trade partners, including MakeMyTrip, Kuoni, Mercury Travels among others have also contributed to this growth, Kashikar said.

Australia has witnessed a sustained growth in arrivals from India in the recent past and aspirational integrated brand cam-

Indian in Saudi rejects Rs 3 lakh phone bill RIYADH: An Indian in Saudi Arabia has been banned from traveling abroad until he pays his telephone bill of over Rs 3 lakhs from SIM cards he claims have been registered falsely under his name.

Shamsuddin Ansari, who works as a driver, is trying to get his name absolved from paying three outstanding phone bills issued by a leading telecom company worth more than 22,000 Saudi Riyal (Rs 3,54,534 approx).

Ansari said he has been banned from traveling abroad without paying his telephone bill of over Rs 3 lakhs from SIM cards.

"I am oblivious to where these bills have come up from," Ansari was quoted as saying by the Arab News. "I received a phone call from a telecom executive in Riyadh, who warned me to pay up. There are

three SIM cards under my name and ID." "I am a house driver and cannot afford three SIM cards in the first place," he added.

"My iqama copy has been mis-

used. There is a credit limit system in place and a driver such as myself would never be authorized to run up a bill beyond SR 1,000.

Why, then, has the telecom company kept quiet about such a staggering amount," he said.-PTI

paign like 'There's Nothing like Australia' across print, television, digital and out-of-home mediums have also resulted in the growth, he said.

Further, interest was generated by content-integration activities by showcasing Australia on the popular drama series and in the hit Bollywood production also helped, he added.

"We are extremely pleased with the results achieved during the peak summer holiday season and the growing popularity of Australia amongst Indian travelers. We are geared up to keep the momentum going and optimistic that the launch of our food and wine centric campaign, and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, will lead to further growth in visitor arrivals from India in the coming months," Kashikar said.

India is one of the world's fastest growing outbound travel markets and going forward, arrivals from India are expected to perform well, with an average annual financial year growth rate of 7.2 per cent through to the financial year 202021, he said.

The Tourism Forecasting Committee has estimated arrivals from India to Australia for the year 201415, to be 190,000. -PTI

Home tourism planned in Kakrajhor JHARGRAM, West Bengal: The forest department will introduce home tourism, on lines of the hill belt, in picturesque Kakrajhor area of West Midnapore, Chief Conservator of Forests N Rajsekhar has said.

Rajsekhar, CCF (western) said eight families had been chosen in the area and the model would be Lambatar in Darjeeling Hills where tourists do spend nights in the households of local families and get introduced to local customs.

As part of the move to showscase the tourism potential of the area, a Kakrajhor-based trekking route will be opened for the adventurous while the kechkijhora falls will be beautified with its adjoining roads developed and amenities created, he said.

This was the first time home tourism was bring introduced in south Bengal region.-PTI

Malaysia Airlines offers refunds to travelers KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines has said it would offer full refunds to passengers intending to cancel tickets and waive fees for customers who want to change their travel plans following the downing of MH17 over Ukraine, months after the mysterious crash of MH370.

The struggling Malaysian flag carrier said it will offer refunds even for non-refundable tickets.

Passengers can change or cancel their tickets without attracting fi-

tween July 18 and December 31 this year.

"Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets the loss of MH17, and is very much appreciative of the support from our passengers."

MH17 was apparently shot down by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine at around 1415 GMT, hours after the Kuala Lumpur-bound Boeing 777 had taken off from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

The air disaster came about

nancial penalty.

The move comes in the wake of the downing of MH17 over Ukraine which claimed the lives of all 298 people aboard.

"Our Enrich passengers will also receive fee waivers for any changes to their travel itinerary, as well as refunds of miles should they choose to cancel their redemption tickets," the airliner said in a statement.

It said the waiver was applicable for those booked to travel be-

four months after Flight MH370 disappeared. The plane which took off from Kuala Lumpur lost contact with air controllers on March 8 while en route to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The airline's finances have strained following the successive tragedies. It had already suffered losses amounting to USD 1.3 billion over the previous three years.

-PTI

In Brief India starts online passport service in UK LONDON: India has announced the launch of an onlineonly passport application service in the UK, a move aimed at streamlining services provided by the Indian mission here.

"Applications for Passports will be accepted at the High Commission of India through online appointment system only," a High Commission of India statement said here.

"A total of 100 slots on daily basis will be available.

The High Commission will continue to accept applications through post," it said.

The move is among a series of steps introduced by the Indian mission here to streamline services.

The Indian mission had recently also set up a "Public Response Unit" as well as weekly "Open Houses" to coordinate its response to a growing number of queries from NRIs and people of Indian-origin in the UK. Earlier this year, the Indian High Commission had announced the launch of an online booking system for the submission of OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) applications to tackle waiting time at India House premises in central London. -PTI

„ Indian industry urges UK to ease visa system LONDON: Indian industry representatives have called on the UK to examine its visa system to make people to people movement easier for greater economic cooperation between the two countries.

"It is time to review our (IndiaUK) economic engagement and chart a course for the future ... none of this will be possible without promoting people to people exchange," Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Ajay Sriram, mission leader of this year's annual CEOs delegation to Britain, said.

Sriram, who is also chairman and senior managing director of DCM Sriram, added: "The UK has effected changes in policy which curb the movement of technical personnel between India and the UK. There is a need to examine ways to enhance the easier transfer of students and technical experts and address these issues on a priority to increase business engagement."

His views were echoed by delegation member Dhruv M Sawhney, chairman and managing director of Triveni Engineering & Industries, which has significant waste-to-energy operations in the UK. -PTI

Immigration

New Mexico governor tours immigration facility

44 India Post

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July 25, 2014

Details on page 46

Joe Biden says US needs a 'rational' immigration policy DETROIT: Vice President Joe Biden told protesters here he shared their concern about the deportations of immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally.

Biden was interrupted by protesters shouting, "Stop deporting our families," during a speech at Netroots Nation, a major annual meeting of liberal activists. The vice president said, "I respect your view and I share your view."

"We should clap for those young people," Biden said. "Can you imagine? Can you imagine the pain, the anxiety of coming home every day wondering whether or not your mother or father will still be there?"

The Obama administration has been seeking $3.7 billion in emergency border spending to deal with a surge of young Central American migrants at the South Texas border. The White House has sought comprehensive immigration reform and faced criticism from immigration groups over a large number of deportations in recent years.

It was unclear if the protesters

were raising concerns over deportations of the recent influx of the young Central American immigrants or the broader number of deportations during Obama's presidency. Biden's office said the

gration in the nation, telling the audience that the newcomers "fuel America's dynamism" and the nation needs a "rational policy."

Biden, a potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, dur-

Vice President Joe Biden meets with students who participated in Step IT Up, an accelerated learning program which trains workers for high-growth and well paying information technology (IT) jobs in Detroit

vice president was sympathizing with people who are concerned about the separation of families.

Biden credited the role of immi-

ing his 47-minute speech to liberal activists, spoke at length of his support for gay marriage, efforts to address income inequal-

ity and the administration's work to end wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the administration's highest priority is restoring the American "bargain" where the wealthy, middle class and poor benefit in a growing economy.

The vice president promoted his record as a model for liberal Democrats who have sometimes expressed unhappiness with the pace of change during Obama's tenure.

"I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to fighting some of the toughest progressive battles the country has seen," said Biden, who said he was "flattered" that Progress Now Executive Director Arshad Hasan, who introduced him to the crowd in downtown Detroit, credited Biden for declaring his support for gay marriage in 2012, three days before Obama also did so.

"The credit really goes to the (LGBT) community. As more and more of you all had the courage ... to come out, average Americans began to understand who you were," he said.-AP

Detentions a 'risk' faced by migrants: Vargas WASHINGTON: Immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas has said that his detention by US border agents in Texas was just an example of the risks that undocumented immigrants face every day in America.

Vargas, 33, a Philippines-born prize-winning journalist, was handcuffed and questioned by Border Patrol officers as he prepared to board a domestic flight to Los Angeles in the border city of McAllen.

He was ordered to appear before an immigration judge, but not before news of his detention triggered a media storm amid an influx of tens of thousands of Central American children over the US-Mexico border.

"I've been traveling around the country for the past three years" without incident using a Philippine passport that lacks a

US visa, said Vargas, who came out as an undocumented immigrant in a widely-read 2011 essay.

But he told CNN he was unaware on his first visit to Texas to

(70 kilometers) from the border.

"When you fly through JFK... there's no Border Patrol agent checking your passport when you go through," explained Vargas, re-

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigration rights activist and self-declared undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington

investigate the plight of child immigrants that the border there is a "militarized zone" with checkpoints scattered as far as 45 miles

ferring to New York's John F Kennedy International Airport.

"But here, in south Texas, that's what happened - and, you know,

people need to understand that if you are undocumented in this country, that's the risk you take," he said.

Asked about the migrant youngsters he encountered in Texas, Vargas said, "All you have to do is look in the eyes of these children to know that they have been through some sort of hell."

Vargas was 12 years old in 1993 when his young mother put him on a flight in Manila to be raised by his grandparents in California, in hopes that he could live the American dream.

He went on to join the Washington Post, where he was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008, then came out in a 2011 essay in the New York Times as one of America's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. -AFP

Immigration Post

July 25, 2014

India Post 45

www.indiapost.com

Perry tells Hispanic group Listing foreign national's to 'secure' border qualifications on perm form

O

ne of the most surprising lessons to learn for prac titioners who regularly file PERM labor certifications is that past certifications do not always mean future certifications. In other words, just because 10 PERM labor certifications prepared in the same way have all been certified without issue does not mean that the 11th one will also be certified.

That is the nature of PERM. The Department of Labor (DOL) is notorious for suddenly coming up with new and previously unheard of reasons for denial.

Most recently, there have been reports of a slew of PERM denials, primarily for physician and teaching occupations, on the basis that Section H.14 of the ETA Form 9089 indicates that a medical or other license is required, but Section K does not list that the PERM beneficiary holds a license.

What makes these denials even more baffling is that in many of these cases, the foreign national's

The DOL has promised to issue an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on this issue. But since the ETA Form 9089 will remain unchanged, it is anticipated that the FAQ will advise practitioners to list the foreign national's qualifications in Section K.9. AILA raised the issue of the denials in a DOL Stakeholders Meeting on December 12, 2013 (AILA Doc. No. 14011449). In sum, the DOL responded with: "In general, if an employer states that a specific position requires a license, the employer should indicate that the beneficiary has the license. The appropriate place to list the license is under K.9 so that the analyst can compare the requirements and the beneficiary's qualifications.

OFLC will issue an FAQ to spell this out more clearly.

"When stakeholders asked OFLC to consider in the future, issuing an FAQ in advance of the change in practice, OFLC agreed

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recommends that denials of a PERM labor certification solely because of not listing a license should be reported to the AILA-DOL liaison committee. A motion for reconsideration should be filed at the same time work experience practicing medicine or teaching in the US was listed in Section K thereby providing proof that the foreign national was indeed licensed.

Moreover, the ETA Form 9089 does not provide any specific section in which to list licenses. Most disturbing is the fact that the DOL did not previously deny any PERM applications for failing to list a license on the form. But that did not stop the denials from coming.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recommends that denials of a PERM labor certification solely because of not listing a license should be reported to the AILA-DOL liaison committee. A motion for reconsideration should be filed at the same time.

SAN ANTONIO: Texas Gov. Rick Perry took his border secu-

CORA-ANN V. PESTAINA

to take this into consideration if there is a decision to make a policy change.

"OFLC is continuing to examine how to address cases already denied on the basis that Section K did not list the license or certification. Employers with denials on this basis may wish to file a Request for Reconsideration of the denied case to at a minimum preserve the issue until OFLC develops further guidance."

At the recent AILA National Immigration Conference in Boston on June 18-21, 2014, representatives of the DOL indicated that the instructions in Section K.9 of the ETA Form 9089 already instruct practitioners to list "job duties performed, use of tools, machines, equipment, skills, qualifi-

cations, certifications, licenses, etc." Accordingly, the DOL expects practitioners to list all the experience and qualifications gained with a particular job under the particular job experience listed on the ETA Form 9089. At the AILA national conference, it was also suggested that Section K of the ETA Form 9089 can be completed to only indicate the foreign national's license or other special qualification earned during a specific time period when he was not also earning work experience and the ETA Form 9089 will not be denied for failure to list an employer's name and other details. Other qualifications that need to be included in Section K.9 of the ETA Form 9089 include (See AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 14041655.

(Posted 04/16/14): • Licensure, or eligibility for license, e.g., Medical License, Teacher Certification, Professional Engineer (PE).

• Knowledge or coursework acquired in a course of study.

• Professional certificates or diplomas, e.g., Microsoft certification, Health and Safety Certificate, CPR Certificate, Engineer-inTraining Certificate.

• Board Certification, or Certification Eligible, e.g., Board Certification in Internal Medicine, Board Certification in Immigration Law. • Second degree, if required by employer, e.g., Bachelor's in Civil Engineering, in addition to a Ph.D. • Degree or other credential required at H.4, "education: minimum level required," does not match the foreign national's credential at J.11, "highest level achieved relevant to the requested occupation" [e.g., H.4 requires a BS in Chemical Engineering; J.11 indicates foreign national has a (relevant) Ph.D. in Process Engineering, but foreign national also has a BS in Chemical Engineering that cannot be entered anywhere in Section J or K].

To be continued * Cyrus D Mehta, may be contacted at 212-425-0555 or info@cyrusmehta.com

Texas Gov. Rick Perry

rity criticisms to an audience of Hispanic ministers in San Antonio,

telling them the federal government should put more Border Patrol troops on the ground and drones in the air to secure the Texas-Mexico border.

Perry has sparred with President Barack Obama over the recent flood of Central American children crossing the border. He aired those grievances to the Libre Initiative, a religious group courting Hispanic voters to conservative candidates.

Perry, a Republican who is considering running for president, noted his recent visits to the border, where he said he saw hundreds of women and children make dangerous journeys to the U.S. border.

Federal officials say the flow of children crossing the border without parents has slowed in recent weeks. -AP

PRADEEP ROY-SINGH B.A. LL.B. M.B.A. J.D. Attorney-at-Law

Former Assistant State s Attorney

Civil & Criminal Litigation Felonies, Misdemeanors, Inc DUI 1 Personal Injury, Business, Divorce etc.

1 Property Tax for Commercial Properties 1 1

http://www.proy-singh.com

2335 W. Devon Ave., Suite 204, Tel: 773-381-1820 Chicago, IL 60659

Immigration Post

46 India Post

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New Mexico governor tours immigration facility ARTESIA, N.M.: New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has said that hundreds of detained immigrants represent the humanitarian consequence of false beliefs that anyone can stay in the U.S. Martinez made the remarks after touring a temporary detention facility in Artesia, the Roswell Daily Record reported. She was joined by federal and state officials at the barracks of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. ``This is no place for young mothers and babies. One is just 11 months old,'' Martinez said.

However, she praised medical staff for caring for immigrants who were severely dehydrated from their journey. According to Martinez, many of the immigrants residing there journeyed as long as long as 18 days.

The governor said a compre-

hensive immigration plan from Washington and the Obama administration is needed to stop the influx of immigrants. ``This is a 100 percent federal issue,'' Martinez said.

She criticized what she called

Artesia will soon be sent back to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador as part of a plan for quick removal, authorities said. About 40 Central American immigrants were deported Monday by airplane from Roswell to Honduras.

The volume of child immigrants has significantly taxed resources at the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments in recent months and prompted President Barack Obama to ask Congress to approve an emergency $3.7 billion spending bill piece-meal efforts such as partial deportations or permanent residency for people illegally brought to the U.S. as children.

More immigrants being held in

The Obama administration has been struggling to deal with a flood of more than 57,000 children traveling alone since Oct. 1. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh

RI's 5 things: Immigrant holds, joblessness down PROVIDENCE, R.I.: From the lowest unemployment rate in six years to a new policy on detaining immigrants, here are five things to know in Rhode Island: HOLDING IMMIGRANTS There's a new policy in Rhode Island related to holding immigrants in custody. The state Department of Corrections will no longer honor requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - known as detainers to hold an immigrant unless a warrant has been issued. Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed the new policy. Civil liberties and immi-

broadly on some issues but got testy, too. Cranston Mayor Allan Fung and businessman Ken Block met in a special edition of Rhode Island Public Radio's ``Political Roundtable.''

The mayor portrayed himself as the candidate with experience who has gotten ``real results'' in his city and would focus as governor on jobs. Block highlighted his plan to identify waste and fraud in state government and said he would use the bully pulpit to bring reform.

A SHRUNKEN MAYOR'S FIELD

UnitedHealthcare is entering the individual market for the first time. Average increases for large groups range from 5 percent to 11 percent. The commissioner says there will be more competition and plan choice next year grants' rights advocates had raised constitutional concerns. In February, a federal judge in Rhode Island determined a U.S. citizen's constitutional rights were violated when she was held on such an ICE request. She's suing.

A GOP TUSSLE The two Republicans seeking the party's nomination for governor jostled in a campaign round table in which they agreed

Businessman Lorne Adrain dropped out of Providence's mayoral race, a decision that could make the path to victory harder for former mayor and two-time convicted felon Buddy Cianci.

Adrain, who like Cianci was running as an independent, called it a tough decision but one that was best for the city given the ``risk'' of a Cianci victory. A general election field of two independents, the eventual Democratic nominee and

the lone Republican running would have meant the victor could win with a small percentage.

UNEMPLOYMENT DROPS Rhode Island's unemployment rate of 7.9 percent is the lowest since July 2008, and officials say the economy had its best sixmonth start in years. The state Department of Labor and Training reported this week that the rate was down three-tenths of a percentage point from May. The state shed 400 jobs in June, but the number was up 5,900 in the first half of the year. The state is tied with Mississippi for the country's worst unemployment rate.

HEALTH INSURANCE RATES Rhode Island Health Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Hittner approved premium rates for 2015 that include single-digit increases for most insurers and a drop for one. The individual rate for Blue Cross & Blue Shield will increase 4.5 percent and drop over 7 percent for Neighborhood Health Plan.

UnitedHealthcare is entering the individual market for the first time. Average increases for large groups range from 5 percent to 11 percent. The commissioner says there will be more competition and plan choice next year, in part because of the efforts of the state's insurance marketplace, HealthSource RI. -AP

Johnson said earlier this month that as many as 90,000 unaccompanied child immigrants could be apprehended by the end of the budget year in September. Many said they are fleeing pervasive gang violence and crushing poverty.

The volume of child immigrants has significantly taxed resources at the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments in recent months and prompted President Barack Obama to ask Congress to approve an emergency $3.7 billion spending

bill to deal with the situation he has called an ``urgent humanitarian crisis.''

Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection recently launched a public relations campaign to warn would-be immigrants and their families in Central America that the trip to the U.S. border is dangerous and immigrant children will face deportation after they are apprehended. But since the trip through Mexico can take weeks or even months, recent border crossers are unlikely to have seen much of the campaign. -AP

Immigration debate upended by a flood of children ASHINGTON: The sudden rise in the number of families and unaccompanied minors from Central America crossing the border has dramatically redefined the nation's yearlong debate on immigration.

Once a debate over how to fix a broken system and provide a path to citizenship for millions, it has now become a race to decide how to increase border patrols and send people back quickly to their country of origin.

While latest developments have refocused attention on immigration, it's hardly under the terms that President Barack Obama

are urging prompt legislative action to stem the flow of Central Americans into the United States.

Some Republicans even want Obama to take decisive action himself, a shift from their usual criticism that he has abused his executive powers.

The divisions fall mostly along partisan lines, but the circumstances also have caused some splits among Democrats and led immigration advocates to question Obama's focus on detention and deportation.

Some questions and answers about how we got to this upended

Demonstrators lying in front of the White House in Washington to represent deported family members during a rally for immigration reform

and immigrant advocates once envisioned.

Obama had demanded action on a broad change in the law that would have given millions of immigrants illegally in the United States a way to citizenship while spending more on border security.

When Republicans balked, he threatened to act on his own. But now the White House says it's focused on addressing the influx of border-crossers and returning as many as quickly as the government can.

Republican lawmakers had decided to scuttle any votes on a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws this year. Now, they

state of affairs.

Q. Haven't illegal border crossings been dropping?

A. Yes. From 1990 to 2007, apprehensions by the Border Patrol of people crossing illegally averaged nearly 1.17 million a year; some of the highest were from 1998 to 2000. By 2012, they had dropped to nearly 365,000. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. rose from an estimated 3.5 million in 1990 to a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. The number then fell to 11.3 million in 2009 and has remained statistically stable since despite some indications it might be slightly rising. -AP

Datebook

July 25, 2014

NEW JERSEY Upcoming Fri, July 27 • Fashion Extravaganza Venue: Marriott Uniondale Hotel, 101 James Doolittle Blvd, Uniondale, NY 11553 Time : 06:00 pm Contact: 732-331-0255

Sat, Aug 2 • Devi Sri Prasad Live In Concert – New Jersey Venue: Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette St, Newark, NJ 07102 Time: 7:30 pm Contact: 732-404-7621

Sat, Aug 9 • Tribute to R.D.Burman by Mahalaksmi Iyer and Jolly Venue: Union County Performing Art Center, 1601 Irving Street, Rahway, NJ 07065 Time: 8:00 pm

NEW YORK Upcoming Sat, Aug 09 • Tribute to R.D.Burman by Mahalaksmi Iyer and Jolly Mukherjee Venue: Union County Performing Art Center, 1601 Irving Street, Rahway, Nj 07065 Time : 8:00 pm Contact :732-986-4011

Sat, Aug 9 • Kumar Sanu Live In Concert Venue: Colden Center, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367 Time: 08:00 pm Contact : 718-639-2881

Sun, Aug 24 • Mika Singh Live In New York Venue: Long Island University, 720 Northern Blvd, NY 11368 Time: 06:30 pm Contact: 347-989-6104

India Post 47

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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Upcoming

Upcoming

Sun, Aug 3 • Bombay Jayashree And

Sat, July 28 • Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty Sanskriti Music

Shubha Mudgal Live In Bay Area Venue: Chabot Collage, 25555 Hesperian Blvd, Hayward, CA 94545 Time: 6 pm Contact: 408-368-6865

July 26, 27, Aug 2, 3 • BATA-Cricbay Cup - Proceeds will go to Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF) Venue: Fremont and Sunnyvale Cricket Ground Time: 9:00 am

Sat, Aug 9 • BATA Cup (San Ramon)- All proceeds go to Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF) Venue: Bay Area Telugu Association, 39120 Argonaut Way, Fremont, CA 94538 Timet: 8 pm

Sat, Aug 9 • GurdasMaan Live in Concert Venue: San Jose Center for Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd, San Jose, CA 95113 Contact: 408-802-5128

Sun, Aug 10 • Meet & Greet With Siddharth Venue: Tirupathi Bhimas, 1208 S Abel St, Milpitas, CA 95035 Contact: 408-629-0554

Sat, Aug 16 • 22nd Festival of India and Parade Venue: Corner of Paseo Padre and Walnut Ave., 39439 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont, CA 94538 Contact: 510-565-9993

ILLINOIS Upcoming

Venue: Amador Theater, 1155 Santa Rita Rd, Pleasanton, CA 94566 Time: 05:00 pm Contact: 408-887-5948

Sat, Aug 23 • Aa Family Komedy Chhey Gujrati Drama Venue: James Logan Performing Arts Center, 1800 H St, Union City, CA 94587 Time: 7:00 pm Contact: 510-648-0596

• J K Yog Satsang and Bal Mukund Hindi Classes are held every 2nd and 4rth Sunday of Month Chicago Satsang Information: J K Yog, Chicago - Swami Mukundananda Venue: Clarion Inn/Waterford Banquets, Board Room, 933 South Riverside Drive, Elmhurst, IL 60126 Time: 3:30pm-5:30pm Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @ 630-561-4807 Website: www.jkyog.org

1st and 3rd Sunday of Month • Chicago Children's Bal Mukund Character Building Program and Hindi Literacy Classes

ATLANTA Upcoming Tue, July 24 • Aakriti - An Evening of Indian Classical Dance Venue: Joe Mack Wilson Auditorium,Southern Polytechnic State U, 1100 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta, GA 30060 Time: 4:30 am

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

Sun, July 29 • Bollywood Dream Girl Hema Malini As Durga

Venue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL, Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm Contact: 773-465-3105

Venue: Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303 Time: 6:30pm

Mondays and Fridays

Sun, Aug 3 • Tamil Mega Kondattam

Stars

Venue: Ferst Center for the Arts, 349 Ferst Dr, Atlanta, GA 30313 Time: 6:30 pm

• 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

48

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July 25, 2014

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Horoscope

July 25, 2014

India Post

49

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Your Weekly Future

by Pandit Parashar

JULY 25TH - JULY 31ST, 2014 (March 21 to April 20)

M

ind will be restless but you will continue to find good solutions for obstacles. Spouse may suffer from minor injury while working in kitchen or handling a tool. Jupiter's transit in forth is a good sign of addition of another property. Children will continue to do very well. You may buy some furniture items for the house.

(September 23 to October 22)

I

ncreased physical activities will bring you back in shape. You may not like the ideas given by spouse at all. Boss will call you and discuss an important project with you. Beware of a new and young colleague who joined recently. You may drop your plans to attend a religious event because of some other commitments.

(October 23 to November 22)

(April 21 to May 20)

Y

ou will hit your financial goals easily. Venus in second gives you few chances to make money this week. You may suc cessfully negotiate with a government agency and clear the confusion. People in competitive field will continue to gain edge over their opponents. You may also visit a mall and buy some nice stuff for your self.

L

ack of confidence will allow others to take undue advantage of you leading to some disturbance in personal life. Opportunity will come through an old contact. You may dispose off money making stocks also. Some one tall with slight gray hair will give some useful lead. Children will continue to excel in life.

(November 23 to December 22)

(May 21 to June 20)

B

usiness will pick up all of a sudden and you will have few other reasons to celebrate with family and friends this week. Some money will go to government in shape of taxes. Mind will stay cheerful as obstacles will be followed by easy solutions. Those looking for one, a new relationship is also in the air with a courageous person.

Y

ou have to have confidence if you want results. Goals are closer than you can imagine. Money wise you will continue do well.

You may go out of your way to buy some expensive present for some one close. There will be tremendous progress in ongoing relationship. Do not lend money to anyone this week.

(June 21 to July 22)

V

ery cautiously you will make a smart move in career. Gamble will pay off in big way. Some of you may need to treat some skin problem recently popped up. It will be a good idea not to count chicken but keep an eye on the road while driving. You may be spending money on upgrading your existing home or a vehicle this week.

(December 22 to January 19)

C

olleague may try to drag you into unnecessary argument. You may start to feel uncomfortable about a relationship recently started. Good piece of advice coming from a trusted source.

You will put some money aside for rainy days this week. Spouse will feel better with home remedy. Try few lottery tickets this week.

(July 23 to August 22)

T

hing you have been looking for else where is in your close circle.

Email will come back with positive response. Some how you will need to stop unnecessary spending being made by family members. Health issue should not be ignored. Bold actions in career will take you closer to goals. You may also finalize the business trip.

(January 20 to February 18)

P

lanets will help you gain an edge over even the strongest opponents. Right time to go for the competitive exam. Mind will be relaxed and you will continue to make right choice in career. A big promotion or raise is also in the air. You may change your mind on the last minute to attend a religious event in close circle.

(August 23 to September 22)

M

istakes made in the past will catch up putting you under severe financial pressure. It will be better to avoid liquor at the party this week. Some one close may come up with a proposal to start business in partnership and you may seriously explore the possibility. You will also gain friendship of an influential person this week.

PANDIT PARASHAR, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA is also available for individual consultations.

He can be reached at: parashar@parashar.com

(February 19 to March 20)

Y

ou will make a very risky move in career. Gamble will pay off interm of better future and room for promotion. You may misplace some valuable item in the house. Trip to neighboring town to attend a party will be relaxing. You may take time out to clean home and get rid of things piling up dust. Bank balance will shot up.

510-886-4370 www.parashar.com

50 India Post

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July 25, 2014

India Post News Service

TORONTO, Canada : Up and coming actress in Hollywood, Isabelle Kaif will be this year's Guest of Honor at the 24th annual Miss India-Canada Event, presented by Chevrolet, on Saturday, August 16 in association with Zee TV Canada. As a rising star, Isabelle will be presented the prestigious Special Achievement Award for contribution to independent cinema. She is the sister of wellknown Bollywood actress, Katrina Kaif. sabelle Kaif was raised between In dia and England. In 2009 she moved to New York City to attend the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. She started out doing theater in New York and working as an assistant director, which led to independent cinema, with titles such as Summum Bonum (East End Film Festival, Official Selection.)

Isabelle now lives in Los Angeles where she continues to work. Recent credits include Jean-Francois Pouliot's much-anticipated "Dr. Cabbie", which is set to release September

I

19 across North America; co-starring Vinay Virmani and Kunal Nayyar.

In addition, Canadian singing sensation, Raghav will perform live at this year's show and be singing the hit song "All I Need Is You" from the Dr. Cabbie soundtrack.

Raghav, is best known for his single "Angle Eyes" which peaked at number 7 in the UK in 2005. At 17, he moved to Los Angeles, California, United States to develop his vocal skills by Seth Riggs who has trained, amongst others, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.

A year later he moved to Liverpool, England where he studied at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. In late 2012, Raghav was featured on the track Ishq Shava, from the popular Bollywood movie: "Jab Tak Hai Jaan". The music was composed by A.R. Rahman, and the film was directed by the late film maker legend, Yash Chopra.

Moreover, this year's show is presented

by Zee TV Canada, who will once again air the event, post show. "This is an event with a rich history and showcases talent and beauty under one roof, and we are proud to support this initiative" said Hari Srinivas, President of Ethnic Channels Group, Zee TV's Canadian partner.

Cont'd on Page 52

Canadian singing sensation Raghav

July 25, 2014

India Post 51 www.indiapost.com

Acid attack victims find strength in numbers NEW DELHI: Left with little hope of leading a normal life after having acid flung at her, Rupa, a girl in her 20s, is now gearing up set up her own boutique thanks to an initiative by Chaanv - a rehabilitation centre that began operations here last year.

Located in Laxmi Nagar, the centre is a first of its kind in the country that offers shelter to acid attack survivors undergoing treatment in the national capital.

Rupa credits Chaanv and the 'Stop Acid Attacks' campaign founded by Alok Dixit to helping her undergo a two-month training in dress designing from a mechanical engineer.

Many others like Rupa, all survivors of acid attacks are now reaching out to the centre, which is now managed and run by the acid attack fighters who have recovered with grit.

Survivors gathered here recently and shared their stories at

a discussion, which highlighted gory tales of acid attack and the need of regulation to control the open sale of acid that, activists say will help curb the violence against women.

Laxmi Saa, winner of International Women of Courage Award, narrated her painful story where her jilted lover threw a glass of acid on her face at after she refused to accept his proposal in 2005.

"It has been a tough journey since then," says Laxmi.

She has gone through seven major surgeries after which she filed a PIL in the Supreme Court to regulate the sale of acid at the retail shops. The Court passed an order on July 18, 2013, prohibiting the sale of acid without license making it mandatory for retailers to maintain a record of customers.

The order has not been implemented by the Centre.

Buyers are bound to produce identification and address proofs

and should be above the age of 18. Additional to this, the dealers will have to submit details of sale to the local police within three days of the transaction.

"Acid is being sold openly in the market. Anybody and everybody can buy it without any regulation. The government is least interested and does not pay heed to the order passed by the Apex Court. We thus want stringent laws to regulate the sale of acids," says Alok Dixit, founder member of Stop Acid Attacks campaign.

Laxmi recalled the horrific incident which turned her life topsy turvy.

"It was very difficult for me. I could not complete my education.

People used to look down upon me. Social rehabilitation became difficult and also lawyers asked me degrading questions. It was then that I thought of doing something for the survivors and victims like me," says Laxmi who now coordi-

Akshay among Time's smartest 50 India Post News Service

B

ollywood star Akshay Kumar has added another feather to his illustrious cap by being named among the '50 Smartest Celebrities on Twitter' by Time Magazine. The star of such box office smash hits as Holiday and OMG: Oh My God is ranked in 25th position, and is the only Bollywood star to be featured on the prestigious list.

Joining Akshay Kumar on the Time list is Indian composer, A.R Rahman, Oprah Winfrey, Lord Sugar, Ricky Martin and Willow Smith. Topping the list is Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, followed by Justin Bieber's mother.

Time explained that they came up with the list using a reading comprehension test known as Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG). "The SMOG test measures the number of three syllable words used in a text to calculate

the years of education required to understand it. An environmental activist, DiCaprio often tweets

Akshay Kumar

about 'conservation' and 'global warming', which may have helped him earn the top spot," Time said in an article. The instrument, according to Time, is intended to process English words only.

This is not the first time that Akshay Kumar has received global recognition, as he has topped many style, fashion and celebrity icon lists, and has also been lauded

by The Observer newspaper (UK) as being more famous than Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Akshay Kumar is preparing for the release of his upcoming film, 'Entertainment', which releases on the 8th of August.

Laxmi and Rupa

nates activities of 'Stop Acid Attack' campaign.

A research conducted by Alok Dixit, showed that 71 men have been victims of acid attacks whereas a whooping 167 females have been attacked by acid by jilted lovers or due to other enmity at public places and at home.

"With our initiative we want to change the state. Our fight does not include any funds or help from the government. We work on crowd-funding and tend to help in rehabilitation work of the survivors," says Dixit.

In most of the cases, say activists, the victims are the brave and courageous lot who have take a stand in society.

"The egoistic approach of the attackers is the biggest reason for most of the attacks. The patriarchal society wants to show their supremacy and they do so by attacking the females," says Karuna Nundy, an advocate at the apex court.

The founders of 'Stop Acid Attack' have now begun a new campaign called 'Spot of Shame'.

"We have traveled to 50 places in the country and want a put up a board with 'Spot of Shame' on it where these acid attacks have taken place," says Laxmi.

Dixit points out that the campaign is small and will mark the places where girls and women were attacked with acid. -PTI

52 India Post

July 18, 2014 www.indiapost.com

Kapoors' ancestral home in Peshawar crumbling ISLAMABAD: The dilapidated ancestral home of Indian film industry's celebrated Kapoor family in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar may crumble soon, according to a media report.

The Kapoors lived in Dhakki near Peshawar's Qissa Khwani Bazaar - the famous street of storytellers - before partition.

A Dawn report delved on the depressing state of the building that once housed the Kapoors.

"The air inside their old (Kapoor) haveli is still, the gloom in the empty rooms is like time mourning its own passage, a surrender to dust, to dampness and to death. It is the indifference of a terminal patient to a visitor who brings no hope but stands by the bed," the paper reported.

The reporter of the newspaper, who visited the home, says he

treaded "carefully as rubble falls from the roof, wary of breaking a mold-infested floorboard and go down to the dark basement where the building may collapse on itself one day if not saved soon."

"It will add to the debris under Dhakki, the old city neighborhood built over a mound of rubble beneath which lie many lost civilizations."

The report speaks of the nostalgia that Raj Kapoor evokes.

According to the reporter, he entered the house through a hole in the back wall to see the creak of rusty hinges tearing through the silence.

It also appreciated the house's magnificent facade and ornate jharokas fit for a royal palace in some princely state.

"The haveli stands silent, crumbling. People walk by, indifferent

The Kapoors lived in Dhakki near Peshawar's Qissa Khwani Bazaar

to the building or its significance."

He also visited Dilip Kumar's

ancestral home in Feelkhana Nawab Nasir Khan - the street where the last Mughal governor

Nasir Khan maintained an elephant shed.

Dilip Kumar's house recently made news when Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared it a national heritage.

Next on the trail of ancestral homes of famous Bollywood actors from Peshawar was Shah Rukh Khan's.

His cousin Maqsood Ahmad, a frail laconic man, said Shah Rukh's father, Taj Mohammad Khan, and his brother Ghulam Mohammad Gama, were staunch supporters of Congress.

Partition saw Taj Mohammad leaving Pakistan to escape arrest and his brother Gama imprisoned for seven years. -PTI

SISTER ACT Isabelle Kaif to be honored at Miss India-Canada 2014 Cont'd from Page 50

This year's Grand sponsor is Sears. The event is also supported by: Suhaag.com, Om Financial, Lakeshore Convention Centre and Cuisine of India, to name a few.

The 16 finalists have been selected and will compete for the title on-stage on Saturday, August 16 culminating in the crowning of Miss India-Canada 2014.

Lesser known facts Here are some of the lesser known facts about Isabelle.

1. Isabelle has six sisters and one brother including Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif.

Her mother is a Caucasian of British Nationality, and her father is a Kashmiri of British Nationality.

2. 'Dr Cabbie' is Isabel's debut film, which is co produced by Salman Khan's Being Human.

3. Isabelle will be featured opposite British actor Kunal Nayyar of The Big Bang Theory fame in 'Dr Cabbie'.

4. 'Dr Cabbie' is about an Indian student who doesn't get to study medicines in Canada and starts driving cabs in order to survive there. The film also has Vinay Virmani in a key role.

5. Isabelle was supposed to

act opposite Vinay Virmani in the film, but the role eventually went to Adriane Palicki.

6. Isabelle underwent an acting course at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute of New York.

7. Interestingly, Isabelle studied at the same acting institute where her sister Katrina's alleged boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor studied.

Interestingly, Isabelle studied at the same acting institute where her sister Katrina's alleged boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor studied.

8. Once there were reports of Isabel acting with Anil Kapoor's son Harshwardhan in a short film.

9. Her hair color is dark brown and her height is 5 feet 6 inches.

She was born in Hong Kong.

10. Isabelle has been modeling since the age of 14. She was born on March 22, 1986.

Philosophy

July 25, 2014

India Post 53

www.indiapost.com

Page Sponsored by Sahanis MADAME HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY

N

ot very long ago a poor Hungarian, who not only had no means of any kind but was almost a beggar, traveled on foot to Tibet through unknown and dangerous countries, led only by the love of learning and the eager wish to pour light on the historical origin of his nation. The result was that inexhaustible mines of literary treasures were discovered.

Philology, which till then had wandered in the Egyptian darkness of etymological labyrinths, and was about to ask the sanction of the scientific world to one of the wildest of theories, suddenly stumbled on the clue of Ariadne.

Philology discovered, at last that the Sanskrit language is, if not the forefather, at least - to use the language of Max Muller - "the elder brother" of all classical languages.

Thanks to the extraordinary zeal of Alexander Csoma de Koros, Tibet yielded a language the literature of which was totally unknown.

He partly translated it and partly analyzed and explained it.

His translations have shown the scientific world that (1) the originals of the Zen-Avesta, the sacred scriptures of the sun-worshippers, of Tripitaka, of the Brahmans, were written in one and the same Sanskrit language' (2) that all these there languages- Zend, Nepalese, and the modern Brah-

JAMES SWARTZ

P

erception, inference, and language are means of knowl edge. The means of knowledge we use is determined by the type of object we want to know.

For example, if I want to see a sunset I can't use my ears. Knowledge of thought depends on intellect.

To understand feelings I should have a heart.

The means of knowing relative things is obvious, but the knowledge revealing the limitless I is subtle because it has to remove a deep and hidden obstacle, the ignorance of my limitless nature.

For the means to operate properly, the mind must be trained to listen. Listening with an open mind requires disciplined and consistent setting aside of cherished views of oneself and the world. The only purpose of a means of knowledge is to deliver a clear vision of truth, the limitless I. Simply hearing that one is free of limitation is not enough. Doubt comes from incomplete and incorrect thinking and is only removed by careful and patient reflection.

Meditation as a thought-free state or religious ritual as devotional practice are valuable tools for purifying the mind, but will not remove self doubt. So, along with

man Sanskrit-are more or less dialects of the first; (3) that old Sanskrit is the origin of all the less ancient Indo-European languages, as well as of the modern European tongues and dialects; (4) that the three chief religions of heathendom - Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Brahmanism - are mere heresies of the monotheistic teachings of the Vedas, which does not prevent them from being real ancient religions and not modern falsifications.

when one thinks that he whose labors first gave to science such precious results, he who was the first sower of such an abundant harvest, remained, almost until the day of his death, a poor and obscure worker.

Origin of Nassik We, that is to say, one American, three Europeans, and three natives, occupied a whole carriage of the Great Indian Peninsular Rail-

Rama's bathing place is shown in Nassik. In an ancient MS there is a statement of one of Rama's generals, who, somehow or other, is not mentioned in the Ramayana.

This statement points to the river Godavari as the frontier between the kingdoms of Rama, King of Ayodya (Oude), and of Ravana, King of Lanka (Ceylon). Legends and the poem of Ramayana state that this was the spot where Rama, while hunting, saw a beautiful an-

Sanskrit is the origin of all Indo-European languages

Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

His translations have shown the scientific world that the originals of the Zen-Avesta, the sacred scriptures of the sun-worshippers, of Tripitaka, of the Brahmans, were written in one and the same Sanskrit language

The moral of all this is evident.

A poor traveler, without either money or protection, succeeded in gaining admittance to the Lamaseries of Tibet and to the sacred literature of the isolated tribe which inhabits it, probably because he treated the Mongolians and the Tibetans as his brothers and not as an inferior race - a feat which has never been accomplished by generations of scientists.

One cannot help feeling ashamed of humanity and science

road on our way to Nassik, one of the oldest towns in India and the most sacred of all in the eyes of the inhabitants of the Western Presidency.

Nassik borrowed its name from the Sanskrit world "Nasika," which means nose. An epic legend assures us that on this very spot Lakshman, the brother of the deified King Rama, cut off the nose of the giantess Sarpnaka, sister of Ravana, who stole Sita, the "Helen of Troy" of the Hindus.

telope, and, intending to make a present to his beloved Sita of its skin, entered the regions of his unknown neighbor.

No doubt Rama, Ravana, and even Hanuman are historical personages who once had a real existence.

Excerpted from 'From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan' an account of Madame Blavatsky's visit to India, published in 1892. The 183rd birth anniversary of Madame Blavatsky will be observed on July 31.

the knowledge that I am limitless Awareness, I should follow the method of thinking enjoined by the scripture, the negation of all incorrect views about the nature of the world and myself.

The most formidable obstacle to the assimilation of the truth is the thought "If only I were different or the world were different, I

vision' wouldn't have been understood a hundred years ago. Words only work to describe substances, properties of substances, actions, species or classes, and relationships, so how can the limitless I, which is apparently not an experienced object and obviously beyond these categories, be revealed through the teachings of Vedanta?

and accounted for, an intimate part of every transaction, words can reveal it.

Vedanta tackles the word problem by first informing me that I'm an unlimited I. That I'm limitless is indicated by the fact that though I have literally hundreds of thousands of unique experiences in my lifetime, I continually experience

Doubt comes from incomplete and incorrect thinking The means of knowing relative things is obvious, but the knowledge revealing the limitless I is subtle because it has to remove a deep and hidden obstacle, the ignorance of my limitless nature. would be happy." Looking forward to an ideal inner or outer situation is futile because life and oneself is already and always perfect. When this thought is removed the mind enjoys limitless vision. So spiritual practice, meditation if you will, is the struggle to purify beliefs supporting the notion of oneself as a limited being.

Words can only reveal known objects. For example, the word 'tele-

If I say "tree," a tree thought takes place in the mind because we have experienced trees, but the words "limitless I" don't mean anything to most of us because we think of ourselves as limited I's.

And the limitless I is the part of ourselves that can never be objectified, so it seems words won't work to reveal it. However, if the thought that we're limited is a delusion and the limitless I present

James Swartz

myself as a simple conscious being, one transcending all experiences. The same I, unaffected by time, witnessed my baby body, youth body, adult body, and feeble old-age body and their myriad transactions.

Excerpted from 'What is Advaita Vedanta. James Swartz is author, speaker and teacher of a unique, contemporary, no-nonsense approach to Vedanta

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.

- Buddha Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

- Jim Rohn Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr. It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you're not a winner.

- Vince Lombardi Personal discipline, when it becomes a way of life in our personal, family, and career lives, will enable us to do some incredible things.

- Zig Ziglar For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.

- Plato Rule your mind or it will rule you.

- Horace

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Declining influence of US in South Asia

T

he US' influence in South Asia is fast diminishing and this trend is likely to continue deep into the future. In the aftermath of World War II, South Asia was considered a strategic backwater by the US policymakers. Additionally, South Asia offered little economic opportunities to the US corporate sector. With the solitary exception of turning Pakistan into an alliance partner, the US cared little about this region.

Even in the realm of alliance politics, the US had little to offer Pakistan. Pakistan's membership in the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the Central Treaty Organization, and the US' military assistance to Pakistan was ineffective during Pakistan's military misadventures against India. It was only after the late 1970s' Soviet military intervention in Af-

Afghanistan will trim Washington's influence in South Asia. The resilience of the Afghan Taliban and limitation of a superpower's abilities to confront non-state-actors will question the US' credibility in the region.

Secondly, the US leverage over Pakistan in the post-Afghan war phase will dry down with an almost automatic cut in the US military and economic assistance to Islamabad. History will unquestionably repeat and the US-Pakistan alliance will terminate, as was the case after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.

Thirdly, the US' influence over India, resulting from an innovative "strategic partnership" project during former US President George Bush's era may not survive his successor Barack Obama's administration. The enthusiasm of the first Obama administration to further elevate this partnership

File photo: U.S. soldiers board a U.S. military plane, as they leave Afghanistan, at the U.S. base in Bagram north of Kabul

ghanistan that Washington got critically involved in South Asia.

The US' interest in South Asia deepened in the post-Cold War era in view of Indian economic reforms, nuclearisation of the region and the pivotal role Afghanistan played in the terrorist attack on the US in September 2001. As the US once again turned Pakistan into an alliance partner in the war against terrorism and established an extraordinary strategic understanding with India, South Asia occupied substantial priority in the US national security agenda.

The US' war in Afghanistan that began in 2001 is about to come to a close. The US troop withdrawal from this country is indisputable.

Irrespective of debates over the probable level of US engagement in Afghan affairs post 2014, it is almost certain that the closure of billions of dollars worth of war in

India Post

CHINTAMANI MAHAPATRA

was short-lived and the second Obama administration has paid less than modest attention to India.

There is no doubt that the election victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of now Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with a strong popular mandate, has generated sizeable excitement in Washington. Hope of revival of the earlier impetus in the Indo-US strategic partnership has been rekindled.

Obama's invitation to Modi to visit Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal Desai's trip to India soon after the new government assumed office, visits by influential Senator John McCain and Deputy Secretary of State William J Burns to prepare the ground for the Indo-US strategic dialogue between Secretary of State John Kerry and Indian

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj are all signals of Obama's renewed interest in India.

But Prime Minister Modi appears less animated to visit the US, more involved in constructing a peaceful neighborhood, more focused on reviving the national economy and less enthralled to project India as a global leader.

About ten months have passed since the Devyani Khobragade episode begot a psychological divide in the New Delhi-Washington bond. Repairing the mind-set is not going to be easy even for the new Indian government.

The Obama administration's relationships with other smaller South Asian countries - especially Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - have also soured in the recent years.

Washington was hesitant to do business with the Awami League government after the January 2014 elections, criticized Dhaka's handling of human trafficking problems, and reduced import of garments after a deadly fire in a garment factory.

The US' efforts to hold the Sri Lankan government responsible for severe human rights violations during the closing weeks of antiLiberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam operations have widened the political divide between Colombo and Washington. The Sri Lankan government has demonstrated bitterness over the US double standard in combating terrorism - one standard for itself and another for other countries.

Significantly, India's smaller South Asian neighbors are fast moving towards developing closer relationships with China. Although this is generally perceived as an anti-India phenomenon, the reality is that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are looking up to China as a new guarantor of help in the face of the US' heavy-handed approach towards them.

It is also a fact that the US has enhanced its engagement with Nepal in response to fast growing Chinese economic presence and political influence in that country.

But compared to China, Washington's influence in Nepal is minimal. It is almost certain that the drop in Washington's political weight will further augment Chinese leverage over Islamabad as well. It is time to ponder over the diminished US and rising Chinese profile in the region.

The writer is Professor, School of International Studies, JNU

Pak Army motives

I

f only Kashmir had been given over to Pakistan, there would be peace between the two countries and together they would bend their energies to improving the lot of their people. This is the view still of veteran Left Liberal intellectuals who follow the perception of the West to the 't'. It is true that tremendous amount of money and large contingents of Indian Army have been deployed to keep Kashmir within India. It is true that the same amount of money spent elsewhere in rest of India would have improved the lives of the poor. But to believe that Pakistan would be satisfied after taking over Kashmir is a myth that has just been exploded by two American writers with their books on the Pakistan army and motives behind its working.

Prof Christine Fair of Georgetown University in her book 'Fighting to the End: Pakistan Army's Way of War' looks at some questions like, What drives the insecurities of the Pakistan army even after it acquired nuclear weapons and blunted India's conventional military superiority? She argues that the Pakistan army's concerns about India "are not purely or even mostly security driven". It is about ideology. The army sees itself protecting not merely the territorial borders of Pakistan but its "ideological frontiers". Rawalpindi sees Pakistan locked in a civilization conflict with India. Fair concludes that "for the army, resisting India's rise is a necessary condition for the survival of Islamic Pakistan".

There is enough proof available to support this theory. If the Pakistan Army only wanted Kashmir, it would not have so carefully and calculatedly planned, promoted, armed and infused money into India's Punjab insurgency; it would not so single-mindedly keep producing and flooding India with fake currency; it would not keep inventing terrorist groups within India to keep destabilizing its giant neighbor; its embassies in neighboring countries would not be facilitators of mischief within India; the militant groups produced and nurtured by ISI would not be carrying out terrorist acts against Indian positions in Afghanistan. There is hardly any international organization where Pakistan would refrain from trying to malign India.

So raison d'ĂŞtre of Pakistan Army is not comparing with India and bettering Pakistan competitively. It is solely to arrest the rise of India. Pakistan has never won a war against India. But that would not stop it from trying again. Christine Fair points out that the Pakistan army does not view its inability to win multiple wars against India as "losing". Sustaining the ability to challenge Delhi, and to challenge India's rise, is in itself the prize for them. She suggests, the Pakistan army will continue to take significant risks, rather than do nothing. That explains the Kargil misadventure by former Army chief and President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf. And there is no guarantee that more such mischief is not on its way.

If India can demonstrate Hindus and Muslims living together in peace there could be nothing more damaging for the existence of Pakistan. So the Pakistan Army will do its best to damage that possibility.

Much of Pakistan Army's planning is based on the belief that India is a weak country with a soft government unable to act. This is partly responsible for the rise of strongman Modi in India.

Pointing to US policies on Pakistan, Fair defines Pakistan as a "greedy state", and suggests any appeasement of the Pakistan army, in the hope of changing its behavior, would only reinforce its revisionist pursuits.

New York Times reporter Carlotta Gall in her book "The Wrong Enemy" drives home the point that "Pakistan, not Afghanistan, has been the true enemy."

Gall says that hemmed in by India, to the east, Pakistan wants Afghanistan as an ally. But the Afghan government has a close relationship with New Delhi. Feeling strategically encircled, Islamabad has resorted to proxy warfare to replace the current Afghan government with a friendlier regime.

July 25, 2014

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