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Friday, August 13 , 2010

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Partners in Building Communities of Excellence

By Kalyani & Krishna Giri HOUSTON: One hot humid afternoon recently, we prepared ourselves psychologically and physically to endure Houston’s infamous peak hour traffic snarls as we headed south on Highway 59. To our surprised delight we found the ride smooth and effortless, with drivers conspiratorial in adhering to the posted speeds. Almost imperceptibly the landscape morphed into pure serenity as we exited and turned west into the sunset (like John Wayne in one of his Westerns) and University Boulevard; a quaint bridge, manicured lawns like verdant carpets, lamp-posts crested by old world lanterns, miles of tidy jogging trails, and a glassy lagoon. Lining the winding streets were homes so elegant, so structurally luxurious, that we longed to visit and linger and browse their halls and explore their nooks and crannies. As we pulled

Elegance makes for exemplary lifestyles

ourselves out of our covetous reverie, we recognized the magic of Telfair.

Indeed Telfair is the strongest conjuration, and those who live there, quite fortunate. A congenial Tony Farahani, the Custom Home Specialist of Partners in Building L.P. in Telfair, answered the door at the company’s open house “demo” home and ushered us into its cavernous hallway of cool marble, discreet lighting, and recessed windows. The dramatic filigree wrought iron balustrade of the winding staircase gave flight to whimsy; we could almost imagine a Bollywood heroine in a song and dance routine, sashaying delicately down those stairs.

As we talked with Farahani, we realized that Telfair is much more than what meets the eye; located in Sugar Land, which was founded as a sugar plantation in the mid continued on page

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Residents of Telfair Mr. & Mrs. Momin (Left), Mr. & Mrs. Dhand (Right) with Tony Farhani, Custom Home Specialist of Partners in Building L.P. Photo: Krishna Giri

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Partners in Building Communities of Excellence continued from page

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1800s, the area has evolved into a cultured, cosmopolitan metropolis and was named one of America’s Top 25 Places to Live by Money Magazine. It is just 20 miles away from downtown Houston, and is accessible to major employment hubs such as the Texas Medical Center, the Galleria/Post Oak area, Greenway Plaza and Downtown Houston. The fast developing 2018 acres of Telfair community in Sugar Land is the most sought after pieces of real estate presently. And Partners in Building is one of the many builders in Telfair offering clients unique, custom-created homesteads. With plans ranging from 3,200 to 5,250 square feet, Partners in Building brings 50 years of experience and commitment in identifying the specific needs of their clients through constant communication.

From design, to style, floor plans, and additional features such as wine storage chambers, multi-level living

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration - Charles Dickens areas, sunrooms, and ceiling treatments, all houses are energy efficient, and environmentally safe. Only the best quality building materials are used. Indigenous to the Partners in Building plan is the concept of open living spaces that flow seamlessly, with extensive entertainment arenas.

Designer hardwood, cabinetry, decorative art niches, durable ceramic tile, Jenn-Air appliances, granite countertops, and double-crown molding all add lasting value, said Farahani.

View of the foyer

Top view of living room designed by Partners in Building at Telfair

According to the clients’ needs, media rooms, custom closets, lofts, and guest suites are added. Partners in Building are very culturally sensitive; Indian/Pakistani clients may prefer to have a “dirty” kitchen, a second cooking area added, so that strong spices do not permeate the living spaces.

Some opt to have a second master bedroom added on in the ground floor to accommodate elderly relatives or young children. Telfair is also going to have its own Telfair Central Hall, an innovative 9,545 sq. ft. community center, which will take up residence next door to the newly constructed Houston Museum of Natural Science on New Territory Boulevard. It will accord residents of Telfair a place for gathering, and will boast a state of the art fitness center, and offices for the Telfair Community Association.

Residents of Telfair, Vijay and Sushma Pallod, have enjoyed the community swimming pool this past summer.

They are also avid bikers.

“When we were preparing for the MS 150, we found the biking trails perfect for our needs. We also see many people from the Indo American community walking in the evenings and early

mornings,” said Pallod. “It really is a beautiful place to live.”

There is a predominance of Telugu-speaking people from the Indo American community that have made Telfair their home, Sreedhar Dadi, an RJ with Hungama Radio, jokingly told IANews that it may be more prudent to rename Telfair to “TeluguFair”.

A homeowner in Telfair for the past two years, Harjit Momin loves his lifestyle at Telfair.

“I’m so glad that we worked with Tony Farahani. He is a very knowledgeable man and we had a great

experience having him advise and help us build our dream home,” said Momin.

Tony Farahani is an invaluable part of Partners in Building. The company has distinguished itself over the years and is the recipient of many state and local awards that include the 2007 Star Award from the Texas Association of Builders; Best Custom Home over $200, 000, Grand Award; Houston’s Best Parade of Homes Award 2008.

For more information, visit www. partnersinbuilding.com or contact Tony Farahani at 281 207 6800.

View of the front elevation of a luxury custom home built by Partners in Building atTelfair

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Infosys to Pass on US Visa Costs

Infosys CEO Senapathy Gopalakrishnan says higher US visa costs will be passed on to customers.

NEW DELHI: Infosys Technologies said the cost from US plans to hike visa application fees on some technology firms operating in the United States would over time be passed on to customers as it was an industrywide issue.

The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday on border security legislation, which also significantly raises visa application fees on a select group of companies that operate in the United States, including Infosys.

Infosys Technologieschief executive Senapathy Gopalakrishnan told reporters late Monday that the new fees would however in the immediate future have a minimal impact on India’s second largest outsourcer.

Indian outsourcing companies have come under recent criticism from some US politicians who say they add to unemployment in the US by outsourcing jobs to foreign workers.

“What happens over time is that this (visa cost) is transferred to customers

because this is industrywide. It will be built into the cost,” Gopalakrishnan said. He said that in the short term, the cost of new visa regulations would be approximately $4 million to $6 million as it would affect 2,000-3,000 Infosys employees.

The beefed-up US border security measures were approved by the Senate last week and the sponsor, New York Democrat Charles Schumer, said that the bill was also targeted at a select group of companies that “exploit” US law to import workers from abroad.

Senate aides said this would affect four companies from India that operate in the United States: Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam. Gopalakrishan said he felt “sad and disheartened” by the move, but said the company needed to better educate sceptics.

He said the Indian government was putting pressure to find a solution to this. “We hope the government will continue to support us.”

BUS I N ESS

Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

Yamaha Unveils Three New Bikes

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NOIDA (Hindu): Yamaha on Wednesday introduced three new bikes aimed at consolidating its position in the mass market segment besides taking its overall market share to 10 per cent by 2012 from 3 per cent. The Japanese bikemaker also wants high-volume Indian market to contribute more to its global sales as other Asian markets like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The YBR125, with 123 cc engine and mileage of over 71 km a litre, has been priced at Rs.47,000.

It would mainly cater to the mass segment between 100cc and 125cc.

Another new bike SZ with 153cc engine and mileage of over 62 km a litre will come with Rs.49,000 price tag, while its electric-start model has been priced at Rs.52,000. This stylish bike will target both youth in both urban and rural markets.

“These feature-rich and stylish bikes will help us make further inroads in the Indian bike market.

With our expanding network and launch of new models, we hope to increase our market share fast in SLEW OF LAUNCHES: Bollywood actor, John Abraham (left), and CEO the country,” India Yamaha Motor CEO and and Managing Director Yukimine Tsuji at a press conference in Greater Managing Director Yukimine Noida (Uttar Pradesh) on Wednesday. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty Tsuji told journalists here.

It sold just 2.2-lakh units in India cent market share in next 3-4 years, In the current year so far, Yamaha in 2009 and was aiming to double while over share in the up-market has recorded almost 100 per cent it sales this year, and then take it segment would touch nearly 30 per growth in sales, and the company further to 10-lakh units in the next cent from the current level of 10 per hopes that the new bikes would furcent,” said India Yamaha Motor Na3-4 years. ther fuel it.

“We hope to capture at least 10 per tional Business Head Pankaj Dubey.

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Abduk Kalam: t the Mind of a Leader

By Ziya Us salam (Hindu) Darkness has descended at the residence of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. A local short circuit has left all of us in darkness. Facing an emergency light sits Kalam in his study, his silver eyebrows gleaming, his face retaining its familiar spark.As he winds up a chat with his publishers, Rajpal, there is divine justice. The lights are back. This time he opens up to talk about his latest book, “Spirit of India”, a book that encapsulates the soul of the youth of the country with a selection of questions, many of them irreverent, that Kalam had to field in his interaction with youngsters over the past decade or so.

“I have interacted with 9.5 million youth of this country,” the former President says. His modesty prevents him from adding that his latest book is being translated into four languages, including Marathi, Gujarati, Assamese and Hindi, while his earlier venture, “Indomitable Spirit”, went into 11 translations. He is known for his love for students and youth, he travels widely; but how does he manage to write so much? “Spirit of India” is his 30th book, and seventh with Rajpal publishers.

“Writing is my love. If you love something you find a lot of time,” he says with a glint in his eye. As he surveys his aesthetically maintained study which has room for a handful of mementos and thousands of books, he adds, “I write for two hours a day, usually starting at midnight; at times

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi.

Photo: V. V. Krishnan

I start at 11.”

Much of the research for his latest book came via his interaction with millions of youngsters aged below 17. So, what did he notice in his talks with students?

“They are very open to discussion, very free with their opinions. One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask questions. A teacher should have a creative mind. He or she should encourage questions. At times I find teachers are in a hurry to finish the syllabus. But discussion should always be there. Let the students ask questions, even if some of them are

obvious.”

Creative classrooms The man who distributed newspapers in Rameswaram during World War-II — back then, as he writes in the book, as a little boy he used to get up at four in the morning, go for his tuitions, perform his Namaaz, learn the Quran Sharif, then go to the railway station to collect the newspapers — feels strongly that the future of the country is in the hands of its teachers. “Teachers are the driving force of change. We need creative classrooms. The classrooms should be rooms for discussion and debate.

Every subject is important for studies.

Science has its place, just as there have to be specialists of finance, commerce. We cannot have everybody as a scientist. We need to make teaching interesting.” He provides an example in the book. On page 72, while answering a question from a student in Aligarh, he writes, “Science has revealed that the human body is made up of millions and millions of atoms….For example I am made up of 5.8x10{+2}{+7} atoms.”

Then he calls for an Indian Science Service on the lines of Indian Administrative Service. “Scientists should be in a cadre, like the IAS.” However, before all that we need a healthy primary education system.

“Before higher studies we have to think of primary education. We need more reforms in primary education.

There are many good recommendations in the Prof. Yashpal Committee report. Classrooms should not be structured, they should be creative.

Our literacy rate is 66 per cent. Education is a must for 100 per cent literacy. Seven million students do 10+2. Three million go for higher studies. We need to address the skills of the dropouts.”

Complete literacy, he feels, can be attained with the Right to Education

Act, which is “going to change the education profile of the youth because it is free and compulsory”.

He, however, cautions, “To complete the success of achieving univer universal education, it is also essential that the programme of PURA (Providing the Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) should be in position throughout the country.”

That is certainly the way ahead.

But how do you explain the disparity in English language skills between those from city-bred and urban education and those whose medium of instruction is an Indian language?

“I studied in a regional language too as a young boy. Everything is fine till one comes to class 10. In places like Delhi where we have a large number of people from smaller towns and villages, we need special classes for such students. A student who goes up to 10+2 spends roughly 25,000 hours in the classroom. It gives one plenty of time for attaining knowledge, to gauge one’s learning capacity.”

Kalam feels it is important for a teacher to read in order to teach. “A teacher should not go by notes in the classroom. To teach for an hour, a teacher should prepare for three hours.”

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The Only Package Kashmir Needs is Justice If the Prime Minister does not take bold steps to address the grievances of the Kashmiris, there’s no telling where the next eruption will take us.

By Siddharth Varadarajan SRINAGAR (Hindu): Whatever his other failings, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah deserves praise for acknowledgingthattheprotestswhich have rocked the Kashmir valley these past few weeks are ‘leaderless’ and not the product of manipulation by some hidden individual or group.

This admission has been difficult for the authorities to make because its implications are unpleasant, perhaps even frightening. In security terms, the absence of a central nervous system means the expanding body of protest cannot be controlled by arresting individual leaders. And in political terms, the spectre of leaderless revolt makes the offer of ‘dialogue’ or the naming of a ‘special envoy’ for Kashmir proposals which might have made sense last year or even last month seem completely and utterly pointless today.

Ever since the current phase of disturbances began, intelligence officials have been wasting precious time convincing the leadership and public of India that the protests are solely or mostly the handiwork of agent provocateurs. So we have been told of the role of the Lashkar-eTaiba and ISI, of the ‘daily wage of Rs. 200’ and even narcotics being given to stone pelters. A few weeks back, an audio recording of a supposedly incriminating telephone call was leaked to the media along with a misleading transcript suggesting the Geelani faction of the Hurriyat was behind the upsurge. Now, our TV channels have “learned” from their “sources” that the protests will continue till President Obama’s visit in November.

Central to this delusional narrative of manipulated protest is the idea that the disturbances are confined to just a few pockets in the valley.

Last week, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters the problem was limited to Srinagar and two other towns. No doubt, some areas like downtown Srinagar, Sopore and Baramulla were in the ‘vanguard’ but one of the reasons the protests spread was popular frustration over the way in which the authenticity of mass sentiment was being dismissed by the government. For the women

hil fake encounter of April 30. Many observers have blamed his death — and the deaths of other young men since then — on the security forces lacking the training and meansfornon-lethal crowd control. Tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon are used all over the world in situations where protests turn violent but in India, live ammunition seems to be the first and only line of defence. Even tear gas canisters are so poorly designed Protesters set ablaze police vechile after two young men were killed in firing in here that they lead Pampore on August 1, 2010. Photo: Nissar Ahmad to fatalities. who came on to the streets with their package” once normalcy is restored.

Whatever the immediate cause, pots and pans and even stones, or the But the people have thronged the however, it is also safe to say that youths who set up spontaneous blood streets are likely to ask why this pack- young Tufail died as a direct result donation camps to help those injured age which the chief minister himself of Machhil. Though the Army has in the demonstrations, this attempt to admitted was “long in the pipeline” arrested the soldiers responsible for strip their protest of both legitimacy was never delivered for all the months the fake encounter, the only reason and agency was yet another provoca- normalcy prevailed. What came in the they had the nerve to commit such way of amending the Armed Forces a heinous crime was because they tion.

In the face of this mass upsurge, (Special Powers) Act? Of ensuring were confident they would get away Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has there was zero tolerance for human with it. And at the root of that contwo options. He can declare, like the rights violations? Of strengthening fidence is Pathribal, the notorious party apparatchiks in Brecht’s poem, the “ongoing peace process both fake encounter of 2000. The army that since the people have thrown internally and externally”, as the all- officers involved in the kidnapping away the confidence of the govern- party meeting in Srinagar earlier this and murder of five Kashmiri civilians ment, it is time for the government to month reminded the Centre to do? there continue to be at liberty despite At the heart of this missing package being charge-sheeted by the CBI. The dissolve the people and elect another.

Or he can admit, without prevarica- is the Centre’s failure to craft a new Ministry of Defence has refused to tion or equivocation, that his govern- security and political strategy for a grant sanction for their prosecution ment has thrown away the confidence situation where militancy no longer and has taken the matter all the way poses the threat it once did. The secu- to the Supreme Court in an effort to of the ordinary Kashmiri.

This was not the way things looked rity forces in the valley continue to op- ensure its men do not face trial. What in January 2009, when Omar Abdul- erate with an expansive mandate that was the message that went out as a lah became chief minister. Assembly is not commensurate with military result? elections had gone off well. And necessity. Even if civilian deaths are Had the Centre made an example though turnout in Srinagar and other less than before, the public’s capacity of the rotten apples that have spoiled towns was low, there was goodwill to tolerate ‘collateral damage’ when the reputation of the Army instead of for the young leader. Of course, those it is officially said that militancy has protecting them all these years, the who knew the state well had warned ended and normalcy has returned is Machhil encounter might never have the Centre not to treat the election as an also much less than before. happened. Tufail would not be dead The immediate trigger for the cur- and angry mobs would not be attackend in itself. The ‘masla-e-Kashmir’ remained on the table and the people rent phase of protests was the death of ing police stations and government wanted it resolved. Unfortunately, the 17-year-old Tufail Mattoo, who was buildings. Impunity for the few has killed by a tear gas canister which directly endangered the lives of all Centre failed to recognise this.

It is too early to gauge the reaction struck his head during a protest in policemen and paramilitary personto Abdullah’s promise of a “political Srinagar in June against the Mach- nel stationed in Kashmir. There is a

lesson in this, surely, for those who say punishing the guilty will lower the morale of the security forces.

Abdullah may not be the best administrator but his biggest handicap as chief minister has been the Centre’s refusal to address the ordinary Kashmiri’s concerns about the oversecuritsation of the state. Today, when he is being forced to induct an even greater number of troops into the valley, the Chief Minister’s ability to push for a political package built around demilitarisation is close to zero.

At the Centre’s urging, Mr. Abdullah made a televised speech to his people. His words do not appear to have made any difference. Nor could they, when the crisis staring us in the face is of national and international proportions. Today, the burden of our past sins in Kashmir has come crashing down like hailstones. Precious time is being frittered in thinking of ways to turn the clock back. Sending in more forces to shoot more protesters, changing the chief minister, imposing Governor’s Rule — all of these are part of the reliquary of failed statecraft. We are where we are because these policies never worked.

The Prime Minister can forget about the Commonwealth Games, AfPak and other issues. Kashmir is where his leadership is urgently required. The Indian state successfully overcame the challenge posed by terrorism and militancy. But a people in ferment cannot be dealt with the same way.

Manmohan Singh must take bold steps to demonstrate his willingness to address the grievances of ordinary Kashmiris. He should not insult their sentiments by talking of economic packages, roundtable conferences and all-party talks. He should unreservedly express regret for the deaths that have occurred these past few weeks. He should admit, in frankness and humility, the Indian state’s failure to deliver justice all these years. And he should ask the people of Kashmir for a chance to make amends. There is still no guarantee the lava of public anger which is flowing will cool. But if he doesn’t make an all-out effort to create some political space today, there is no telling where the next eruption in the valley will take us.

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Outsourcing to India Draws Western Lawyers

By Heather Timmons NOIDA (NYT): As an assistant attorney general for New York State, Christopher Wheeler used to spend most of his time arguing in courtrooms in New York City.

Today, he works in a sprawling, unfinished planned suburb of New Delhi, where office buildings are sprouting from empty lots and dirt roads are fringed with fresh juice stalls and construction rubble. At Pangea3, a legal outsourcing firm, Wheeler manages a team of 110 Indian lawyers who do the grunt work traditionally assigned to young lawyers in the United States at a fraction of the cost.

India’s legal outsourcing industry has grown in recent years from an experimental endeavor to a small but mainstream part of the global business of law. Cash-conscious Wall Street banks, mining giants, insurance firms and industrial conglomerates are hiring lawyers in India for document review, due diligence, contract management and more.

Now, to win new clients and take on more sophisticated work, legal outsourcing firms in India are actively recruiting experienced lawyers from the West. And American and British lawyers who might once have turned up their noses at the idea of moving to India, or harbored an outright hostility to outsourcing legal work in principle are re-evaluating the sector.

The number of legal outsourcing companies in India has mushroomed to more than 140 at the end of 2009, from 40 in 2005, according to Valuenotes, a consulting firm in Pune, India. Revenue at India’s legal outsourcing firms is expected to grow to $440 million this year, up 38 percent from 2008, and should surpass $1 billion by 2014, Valuenotes estimates.

“This is not a blip, this is a big historical movement,” said David B. Wilkins, director of Harvard Law School’s program on the legal profession. “There is an increasing pressure by clients to reduce costs and increase efficiency,” he added, and with companies already familiar with outsourcing tasks like information technology work to India, legal services is a natural next step.

So far, the number of Western lawyers moving to outsourcing com-

one-third what a Western law firm bills an hour.

Employees at legal outsourcing companies in India are not allowed

by Indian law to give legal advice to clients in the West, no matter their qualifications. Instead, legal outsourcing companies perform a lot of the functions that a junior lawyer might do in a American law firm.

Even global law firms like Clifford Chance, which is based in London, are embracing the concept.

“I think the toothpaste is out of the tube,” said Mark Ford, director of the firm’s Knowledge Center, an office Christopher Wheeler, a former assistant attorney general for New south of New Delhi with 30 Indian York State, met with his staff at Pangea3, a legal outsourcing law school graduates who serve Cliffirm, in Noida, India. ford Chance’s global offices. Ford lived in Inpanies could be called more of a dia for six trickle than a flood. But that may months to change, as more business flows out set up the of traditional law firms and into India. center, and Compensation for top managers at now manlegal outsourcing firms is competiages it from tive with salaries at midsize law firms London. outside of major metropolitan areas “We as of the United States, executives in the an industry industry say. Living costs are much haveshown lower in India, and often, there is the that a lot of added allure of stock in the outsourcbasic legal ing company. support Christopher Wheeler met last month with some of Right now, Pangea3 is “getting the lawyers he supervises at a legal outsourcing firm work can more résumés from United States in Noida, India. successfullawyers than we know what to do ly be done with,” said Greg McPolin, managing At Rio Tinto, Cooper said, she be- offshore very cost-effectively with no director of the company’s litigation came a champion of the idea of mov- quality problems,” Ford said. “Why services group, who divides his time ing work like document review to a on earth would clients accept things between India and New York. legal outsourcing company “because going back?”

Outsourcing remains a highly con- it works really well.”

Many corporations agree that outtentious issue in the West, particularly “It really is the future of legal ser- sourcing legal work, in some form or as law firms have been trimming their vices,” said Cooper, an American another, is here to stay. staffs and curtailing hiring plans. But based in London who travels regu“We will continue to go to big firms Western lawyers who have joined larly to India and has spoken widely for the lawyers they have who are outsourcing firms are unapologetic in promoting outsourcing. Still, she experts in subject matter, world-class about the shift to India. acknowledges hostility toward the thought leaders and the best litigaLeah Cooper left her job as man- practice. “When I was doing public tors and regulatory lawyers around aging lawyer for the giant mining speaking, people used to joke that I the world and we will pay a lot of company Rio Tinto in February to had better check under my car” for money for those lawyers,” said Janine become director of legal outsourc- something planted by a junior associ- Dascenzo, associate general counsel ing for CPA Global, a contract legal ate angered by her views, she said. at General Electric. services company with offices in Many legal outsourcing firms have What G.E. does not need, though, Europe, the United States and India. offices around the world to interact is the “army of associates around Before hiring. Cooper, CPA Global with clients, but keep the majority of them,” Dascenzo said. “You don’t added lawyers from Bank of America their employees in India; some also need a $500-an-hour associate to and Alliance & Leicester, a British have a stable of lawyers in the Philip- do things like document review and bank. The company has more than pines. Thanks to India’s low wages basic due diligence,” she said.

1,500 lawyers now, and Ms. Cooper and costs and a big pool of young, Western lawyers making the leap said she planned to hire hundreds in English-speaking lawyers, outsourc- to legal outsourcing companies come India in the next 12 months. ing firms charge from one-tenth to for a variety of reasons, but nearly

universally, they say they stay for the opportunities to build a business and manage people.

“In many respects it is more rewarding than jobs I had in the United States,” said Wheeler, who moved to India when his Indian-born wife took a job here in 2006.

“If you’re talking about 15 employees in a windowless basement office, I’m not interested in making that my life’s calling,” he recalled thinking when he started talking to Pangea3.

“But building a 500-person office, now that is a real challenge.”

Shelly Dalrymple left her job as a partner at a firm in Tulsa, Okla., in 2007 and is now based in India as the senior vice president of global litigation services at UnitedLex, a legal outsourcing company with offices in the United States, Britain, Israel and India.

When she first joined the industry, she said, growth was being driven by corporations that were pushing law firms to outsource to save money.

Now, Western law firms themselves are starting to embrace the industry, she said. “We are seeing law firms who are putting a lot of thought into their future coming to us with interesting and creative ideas,” she said.

Partners in the West are asking legal outsourcing companies in India to create dedicated teams of lawyers for their firms, for example. Those teams could expand and contract depending on how much business the Western firm has. “That means a law firm with 500 members in Chicago can compete with a 2,000-member firm in New York,” Ms. Dalrymple said.

Moving to a legal outsourcing firm, especially in India, is not for everyone. About 5 percent of Western transplants cannot handle it and move back home, managers estimate.

Some find it hard to adapt to India.

Other times, the job itself does not suit them after spending years working nearly independently as a litigator, for example, it can be hard to transition to managing and inspiring a team of young foreign lawyers.

Even lawyers who stay are sometimes wistful about their previous careers. “Of course I miss litigation,” Wheeler said. But, he added, “watching people learn some of the same skills I did is gratifying.”

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South Asia News of the Diaspora

Will India Be Ready to Host the Commonwealth games?

By sUmon Umon K ChaK haKra KraB raBarti Barti NEW DELHI (Time): The rains that hit New Delhi last week were bad news for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the biggest sporting spectacle ever to come to India. The event’s two shooting ranges, one of them inaugurated just 60 days ago, were extensively damaged in the downpour. A week earlier, the temporary roof of the table-tennis court in the Yamuna Sports Complex collapsed under another deluge, and the new Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Complex, hyped as the best aquatic arena in the country, is now a mess of debris, electric cables and leaking eaves.

But it’s not just bad weather that’s plaguing India’s efforts to get ready in time for its gold-medal moment in October. Inside the new showcase Nehru Stadium, construction of the weight-lifting arena was neglected until the end of July. A young swimmer this week tripped on a loose grill and hurt herself during the National Federation Cup, a test event held at the recently finished Talkatora Stadium. According to a six-month investigation and report by India’s top anticorruption agency, the Com-

Construction material lies scattered outside the newly inaugurated Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, one of the venues renovated for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, on July 27, 2010

monwealth Games’ infrastructure is in all-around bad shape, chiefly because of “large-scale corruption, usage of substandard material and repeated delays.”

The Commonwealth Games, first held in 1930, draw athletes from countries of the former British Commonwealth and are billed as a prestige event. For a country that had been

hoping to showcase its best to international tourists and media, India now seems to just hope to avoid disaster, with only two months remaining until the Oct. 3 opening ceremony.

Whispers of corruption and shoddy construction have been making the rounds of the capital for months. On a recent visit to two of the 17 venues, the problems described in the Vigilance Commission’s report were obvious.

There were loose tiles, loose grilles, unfinished stair staircases and seating arrangements, protruding iron rods, leaking roofs and walls, and debris inside and out.

The report also found pervasive overcharging by the private contractors building the new venues.

The Delhi government, the Sport Authority of India, and the central government, which bears most of the games’cost, over oversee construction for the games, but all have so far refused to comment on the problems found in the Vigilance Commission report. In an interview this week, Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organizing committee for the games, absolved himself of responsibility for

the construction problems: “It’s not our business to oversee the making of the stadiums. My job is to run the games, not construct stadiums.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday, July 29, minimized the problems. “I have reviewed the situation with the Cabinet Secretary on Wednesday, and I am satisfied that all necessary preparations are in place and will be in place,” he said.

“We look forward to a very successful games.”

But the projected cost of the event has already exploded from an initial estimate of $75 million (3.45 billion rupees) to nearly $7.6 billion (350 billion rupees). And if the games go awry, there will be a political cost as well.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s main opposition party, says the games are turning into a major embarrassment for the country and warns that it will hold the ruling Congress Party accountable. “There is no way out now,” says senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde. “And if, God forbid, the games flop, they have to answer to the

nation and the world.”

This view is not limited to the opposition. A.K. Walia, a Congress Party politician from Delhi and member of the Commonwealth Coordination Committee, is not sure if all the venues will be ready by the Aug. 15 deadline, when they are supposed to be handed over to the organizing committee. After an inspection of some of the incomplete venues this week, Walia criticized the way the work was being handled. “The way the work is going on, I have doubts over some of the games venues, but I hope that they will be ready in time,” he said.

To make matters worse, many top athletes have already decided to give the games a pass, from Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser to British cycling champion Victoria Pendleton and Australian tennis star Samantha Stosur. And for the first time in 44 years, Queen Elizabeth II will not attend, sending Prince Charles in her place. The Queen cited a busy social calendar as her reason for missing the games. Given the new concerns over safety, Delhi’s other invited guests may soon be sending regrets as well.

Mamata’s Rally Leaves Cong. Red-Faced NEW DELHI (TOI): Though stung by Mamata Banerjee casting doubts on the encounter killing of top Maoist leader Azad, Congress on Monday chose to put up with the latest embarrassment inflicted on it by the Trinamool chief.

Mamata’s decision to hold the meeting in the Maoist stronghold of Lalgarh despite opposition from CPM and reservations of security forces was controversial enough. But her slamming of Azad’s encounter virtually stunned Congress into silence.

The statement went against Union home ministry’s stand that Azad was a prized scalp in the anti-Maoist campaign and the view in Congress was that the railway minister had compromised the Centre’s position.

Congress decided against commenting on the issue. While it disagrees with Mamata, there is little it can do. Besides coalition compulsions at the Centre, the party is deterred by the cost of annoying an ally who has emerged as the vehicle of the growing popular clamour for a regime change in West Bengal. “This is a trouble we have to live with,” a Congress leader said.

Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed, in fact, tried to dispel the perception that the party had reservations about the Lalgarh rally where Maoist sympathisers made up most of Mamata’s audience. “Congress has extended moral support to the rally. Intellectuals, writers, artists and others are working for restoration of peace in the area,” he said.

Mamata made an unabashed attempt to woo Maoists in a region where Trinamool cannot boast of enough strength of its own. Congress sees Mamata as focussed on wresting West Bengal from the Left bloc and knows that she will go “to any extent” to realise her ambition. Her position as the largest UPA ally makes her indispensable to the coalition.

Condemnation of the encounter death of Azad “who was talking peace” is seen as an attempt to send out a message that Leftists are targeting messengers of peace. While the encounter was done by Andhra police, Trinamool has reportedly been saying that Bengal police had tipped off its Andhra counterpart.

Congress does feel Mamata’s statement could lead to trouble. This can compound Congress’s inhouse problems asAICC has been working hard to rein in a strong difference of opinion on the issue, as manifested by general secretary Digvijay Singh locking horns with home minister P Chidambaram on his “police centric” policy. “It will create confusion about Centre’s policy on Naxalites,” a leader said. But that may be a small price for the trophy of West Bengal that Mamata is promising to deliver.

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Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

motivation

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The Frog and the TV Tower!

By Prakash Iyer It was another noisy Thursday in frog world.

A group of young frogs were chatting, discussing the latest news. As they looked at the nearby TV tower, the city’ tallest structure, they thought how wonderful it would be to be able to climb on top of it, and go where no frog had ever been. “The wind, the view &hellip oh, to be on top of the tower!”said one of the frogs, and the others croaked in agreement.

They decided that the following Sunday, they would all climb to the top of the tower. On the appointed day, several frogs gathered to watch the group of young frogs try and do the impossible. As the frogs lined up for the climb, you could hear the shouts from the crowd. “Don”do it, it’ too dangerous!”

“No one’done it before, what makes you think you can do it?’

Some of the young frogs heeded the warnings, and ped out before the climb started. The rest set off nevertheless, and as some tiny frogs slipped and fell, you could hear the shouts grow louder. “You can”do it!” “The tower is way too high!”

One by one, all the frogs gave up, except one little frog. That frog paid no heed to the exhortations, and kept climbing, higher and higher until finally he reached the top of the TV tower. The first frog ever to get there!

The frogs clapped and croaked in

This inspiring tale unravels why it is so important to set goals.

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines - Diana Scharf

delight. When the little frog came down, the rest of them gathered around him.

“How did you manage it? What’the secret of your success?”they asked.

The frog just looked on, and did not say a word. It turned out that he was deaf.And so while the hordes were shouting “It can”be done’, he hadn”heard a word. He thought they were egging him on, and mistook their shouts as words of encouragement! It’ a good idea to lead your life like that frog.

As you go about chasing your goals, your dreams and your ambitions, disregard the people who tell you it can”be done.

Is there a course of study you want to pursue & but people are saying with your grades, you’ll never get

admission’?

Is there a new business idea that’ been jumping about in your head & but well-wishers are saying you’ll never find the capital for it?

And do you want to be rich and wealthy, and make your dreams come true - but are being told “get real, no one in our entire family has ever made that kind of money?’

Ignore them all. Turn a deaf ear.

Remember, what you achieve in life will be limited only by your ambitions, your dreams. So when people tell you it can”be done, they are in a sense, just testing your resolve, your commitment to your goals. How badly do you want to climb your own TV tower? Giving up is easy. Getting to your goals is hard work.

There will be also be moments

when you are the one watching other frogs friends, family and colleagues - trying to climb their TV towers. Be careful what you say to them. You could discourage them and stop them from working towards their goals.

Or you could egg them on, and help them achieve their goals. The choice is yours. As one wise man said, you can achieve any goal you desire & if only you will help other people achieve their goals!

And yes, did I tell you who the frog

met on top of the TV tower?

A bumble bee! Now, according to the laws of aerodynamics, the bumble bee cannot fly because its body weight is too high when compared to its wingspan. But luckily, the bumble bee never went to school and is unaware of the laws of aerodynamics. So it happily flies!

Be like the bumble bee, and the deaf frog. Find your goal, your TV tower.

And go for it. If you can dream it, you can do it!

Tata Tele-Managing Director Bags Telecom Person of the Year Award

NEW DELHI: Tata Teleservices Managing Director Anil Sardana has received the Voice & Data Telecom Person of the Year 2010 award. Sardana has been recognised for his per second billing schemes which created new opportunities for mobile customers.

Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal has won the award for Global Telecom Leader for 2010 for the acquisition of Zain Telecom. The company has access to Zain’s African mobile services operations in 15 countries, with a total customer

base of over 42 million.

Key industry players like BharatSanchar Nagar Nigam Limited,Wipro and Cisco are among those which bagged awards for topping in more than one category. Telecom secretary P.J. Thomas complemented the industry for crossing the 650 million subscriber milestone. The telecom industry now needs to offer connectivity to the remaining 500 million Indians, he said.

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Life & style

Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

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Men Smart, Women Smarter!

It’s time to bury the ‘weaker sex’ tag six feet under — women outperform men in several areas.

Proof? Check out studies, stats and expert opinion. Or, just look around.

By Geeta Padmanabhan CHENNAI (Hindu): It’s time to bury the ‘weaker sex’ tag six feet under ; women outperform men in several areas. Proof? Check out studies, stats and expert opinion. Or, just look around.

“Have you noticed that a lot of HR executives are women?” asks Usha Srinivasan, HR professional.

“Their ability to listen, engage with people, their empathy, emotional quotient, collaborative and inclusive approach… It’s got to be women.”

Women make friends easily, sweep their ego out, and find ways to adjust to a new situation, while men wait for it to change, somehow.

“Don’t forget women handle crisis better,” says Usha. Studies show women handle financial tight corners too better, probably, because they keep their expectations reasonable, or because they’re home-schooled in economics.

Speak out Also, they don’t have the traditional pressure men suffer to be stoic and manage things by themselves; women just knock on doors, and ask for help. A survey says women are far more likely than men to talk through their problems. We do that with friends, discuss what is stressing us out, and find solutions; and, no bottling up.

Women are better at helping friends and others cope with a loss or handle an issue. They stay on, and see the friend through, keep an eye on them, and patiently analyse the situation not just seal the matter by taking them on a drowning trip to the nearest pub!

There’s more women have stronger immune systems, too. And, that pretty much explains why men crumble under mild cold or fever.

HOME-GROWN SKILL: Motivational strategies come easily to women. Photo: M. Vedhan

Oh, and the health aspect, women are more likely than men to have their daily quota of fruits and veggies. So, is it really a surprise that women outlive men. Which brings us to economics again improving skills to save for the long years lying ahead.

Money matters And, any day, women are better managers, and good with investments (think self-help groups!), for they are more cautious with decisions, and think long term.

Experts in the field say women make better greater bosses too are good listeners, mentors and problemsolvers than their male counterparts.

“Women connect well,” says Usha.

“A home-grown skill may be, but motivational strategies come easily to them.” They aren’t alarmed when an employee breaks out in tears.

There’s more, and we could go on, but then, we also know where to stop, don’t we? And, are we proud of who we are? You bet!

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Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

in d ia

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Veganism is New Food Mantra for India’s Hip and Happening

By Neha Bhatt

NEW DELHI (Outlook): For all the time he spends on his computer, 15-year-old Manan Kohli isn’t your ordinary teenager. Rather than googling the latest playstation videogame, this class XI boy from Delhi’s Modern School is more likely to be browsing the internet for updates on veganism, or connecting with other vegans on Facebook. If your reaction is “vegan, what’s that?”, perhaps you need to google too. This strict form of vegetarianism, which forbids not just meat but all animal produce—such as eggs and dairy products (and honey, silk and leather as well)—has captured the imagination of young people the world over, Indians included, rather to the dismay of their less than new-agey parents.

For Manan it was the death of his pet dog three years ago that plunged him into this abstemious world, his views decisively shaped by the shocking videos on cruelty towards animals he encountered on the internet. When he turned vegetarian, his parents were worried. “I thought they would be proud of me—but they were far from supportive,” he recalls. When he decided to embrace veganism, they hit the roof. Even Lord Krishna drank milk, they argued with their rebellious son. But while he may pay lip service to their anxieties about him getting adequate nutrition, Manan is holding firm.

There are a growing number of other young urban Indians out there who have turned their back not just on childhood favourites like butter chicken and fish curry, but also dal makhni, ghee-spattered rotis and creamy shahi paneer. All of 23, Sneha Poojary, a Mangalorean living in Mumbai, was reared on a seafood diet—but you wouldn’t think so from the courage of her vegan convictions. “Being vegetarian isn’t enough, consuming milk contributes to the unethical farming of cattle,” says this avid organiser of vegan pot-luck dinners, busy building a vegan community in Mumbai through blogs and social networking sites. When in campaign mode, she can hold forth at length on the cruelties involved in dairy and poultry farming.

Lurking behind the allure of veganism for young people are a host of factors, ranging from animal love to health concerns, advice from spiritual gurus and the fad appeal of starstudded environmental and animal rights campaigns like PETA’s latest, which has actress Lara Dutta covered only in lettuce; or Pamela Anderson’s eye-catching ‘All Animals Have the Same Parts’ advertisement which has her posing in a bikini, her body parts tagged as if by a butcher. Says Manish Jain of Vegan Education Centre, Indore, who receives five to 10 calls a month from young people curious to know more about veganism, “With globalisation and outreach through various media, especially the internet, I see meat-eaters becoming more aware of the source of their food and the suffering attached to it.” There are no confirmed figures on the number of vegans in India, but Jain estimates

its Vegetarian Peking Duck.

For some, however, the easiest way to adapt is learning to cook.

Vasantha Rayalu, a 22-yearold iitian from Hyderabad who turned vegetarian more than a decade ago, and vegan recently, is adept at fixing a meal of aloo gobi when he doesn’t feel like stepping out for south Indian tiffin.

Himani, a selfconfessedfoodManan and Aparajita, the schoolkids who’ve embraced veganism. ie, swears by her shepherd’s pie, which subEven someone as young as Manan that four out of five converts are bestitutes soya beans for minced meat, knows he is missing out on imporlow the age of 30.

Some have turned it into a ‘couple tant vitamin B12—obtained from while Sneha stands by her vegan thing’. When Mumbai-based ani- meat and milk products—and takes gulab jamuns. Even young Manan mal rights activist Himani Shetty supplements to compensate. Still, experiments with vegan cakes and became vegetarian, her husband Ashi adapting to life without meat, espe- pasta.

Even so, parents—his and othAnand, who works in finance, fol- cially while eating out, and milk prodlowed suit. Later, when she decided ucts, can take getting used to. “I used ers’—are inclined to shake their to turn vegan, he supported her fully. to carry a list of ingredients I didn’t heads in disapproval at what they Drawn, like many others, towards want to consume and hand it over to see as an extremely restrictive diet. vegetarianism and veganism by a the waiter when I dined out with my Diet guru and medical doctor Shikha love of animals, Himani says she family, but my parents asked me to Sharma thinks many of their fears are rarely misses the life she’s left behind: stop,” says Manan ruefully. Others “It took me a few months to give it all went looking for up, but it’s been several years now, imported vegan and I haven’t wanted to go back to options such as soy eating meat, save for one time when sausages and burgI went to Goa and was tempted into ers from Fry’s, a ordering seafood, but couldn’t touch South African firm it when it reached our table.” For her that makes veggie husband, the conversion happened products that are overnight, says Himani, when the similar to meat in couple was watching a documen- taste, appearance, tary called Planet Earth on Discovery texture and nutrichannel. “He just connected with it,” tion. Karol found a Bangalore bakery she recalls.

Similarly, Sujoy D’Souza, now in that made vegan his early thirties, turned vegetarian cakes, but was more than six years ago with his wife stumped by the Karol, who he met in Canada. He was paneer-for-veggies already uncomfortable, he says, with rule followed by the weight he had put on after adopt- most airlines, until ing a meat-heavy diet while living she learnt to take in the West, and Karol’s vegetarian along snacks on ways proved decisive for him. After flights.

Dining out, howgiving up meat, his energy levels shot up, says Sujoy: “A good two hours of ever, is looking up badminton on weekends didn’t tire for vegetarians and me out any longer.” When the couple vegans. Cafe Cofmoved to Bangalore a few years ago, fee Day, a chain they found themselves increasingly frequented by influenced by campaigns against young people, has dairy-farming and decided to turn launched a vegan vegan. As a result, their two-year-old shake (using soy daughter Nikita doesn’t even know milk and coffee), what ice-cream is. “We freeze mango a popular Mumpulp and that’s the only ice-cream bai pizzeria has a she knows,” laughs Karol. The idea vegan (i.e. cheeseof a young child growing up without free) offering on milk would horrify many parents, the menu, Delhi but not them. “We ground black seed eatery Yum Yum (kalonji) for immunity and sesame Tree’s wheat proseed for calcium and sprinkled it tein-based mock over Nikita’s food,” says Karol. “We meat is a hit with even make soya and almond milk at diners, including home”.

unfounded. “Any evolved society has to become vegetarian eventually,” she says. “It’s a good, healthy trend, and nutrition can be obtained through items like raagi, sesame seeds, nuts and oilseeds. Children too can do without milk once they are weaned off their mother’s milk.” However, Dr Randeep Guleria of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences treads a more cautious line: “Meat and milk products give us relatively better quality protein and in some cases being vegan can lead to severe deficiencies.” He stresses the importance of B 12 supplements, especially in the case of children who are still growing.

Some children, though, are getting backing for their cause from an unlikely quarter—their own grandparents. Pressed by her mother and father to at least eat fish, 15-year-old Delhi girl Aparajita Amar won support from her vegetarian grandparents, living examples of the health benefits of giving up flesh. Sneha, meanwhile, has managed to get her parents on her side, after their initial hesitation. “Their own health reports have been far better after they began eating less meat. But I doubt if they can give it up completely—it’s too built into their system,” says Sneha.

Many young people, coming from families that have consumed flesh, milk and ghee for generations, could say the same. But clearly, it’s ideas that consume them, rather than meat and fish, butter, milk and ghee.

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human rights

Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

OOD SHOULD F T BE A RIGH E FOR TH POOR? :40 RY PG

FULL STO

Jogdiya, 2, lay with an intravenous drip in the Jhabua District Government Hospital, Madhya Pradesh, as his father, Ratan Bhuria, looked after him and his 4-year-old sister.

Photo: Lynsey Addario - NYT

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Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

IN D IA

Wheat Almost Steady; Bumper Crop Offsets Exports MUMBAI (ET): India’s wheat rarily halt grain shipments sparked tonnes of non-basmati rice and futures were almost steady on a buying frenzy.

200,000 tonnes of wheat to BanMonday afternoon as bumper out“India may release more grains to gladesh, a government statement put and stocks offset market talk neighbouring countries like Ban- said on Friday, as good rainfall of increasing exports and higher planting have to Asian neighbours as boosted crop prospects. a drought forced RusIndia, which curbed grain sia to temporarily halt exports in recent years to shipments, analysts and head off domestic price trade said. The Septemrises, made the announceber wheat contract on the ment after two global supNational Commodity and pliers cancelled deals to Derivatives Exchange ship some 65,000 tonnes was down 0.13 percent at of Black Sea wheat to 1,270 rupees per 100 kg Bangladesh after Russia at 1:18 p.m. curbed grain exports.

Three traders said there Bangladesh, the world’s is a likelihood of India fifth-biggest wheat importallowing more exports er, is expected to buy more to Asian buyers as Rusthan 3 million tonnes of the sia’s absence from the Wheat grains for sale in a grocery shop, Pune, India grain this year against 2.2 overseas markets will Photo: Geeta million tonnes the previboost prices. Russia is the ous year. Trade expects Inworld’s third biggest exporter of gladesh.... the have already started dia to allow upto 3 million tonnes wheat. U.S. wheat futures gained the process,” said an executive of exports by end of December to about 25 percent in the previous with a multinational trader. India manage stocks. “Even if India inweek as Russia’s move to tempo- has allowed the export of 300,000 creases exports the price may not rally sharply as we have massive stocks and expect a record production,” said an analyst with Agriwatch Research.

Food Corp of India had stocks of 33.58 million tonnes of wheat as on July 1, against buffer norms of 17.1 million tonnes, government data showed. The U.S Department of Agriculture estimated India’s wheat output at 80.7 million tonnes, in a report released on Tuesday, while the Indian government estimated it at 80.71 million tonnes, a record harvest.

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Mumbai Oil Spill Stops, But Danger Still Afloat MUMBAI (TOI): The oil that washed ashore on Monday at Mumbai’s Sewri and Colaba areas finally stopped flowing, but the scare may be far from over. While the sea at Colaba’s Geeta Nagar slum turned black, locals in Raigad district have reported signs of the oil spill on their shores on Monday, almost 100km from here.

About 879 metric tonnes of oil has flowed into the sea from MSC Chitra’s second and third fuel tanks so far.

More than 500 containers have fallen

into the sea causing a major hazard to navigational channels of Mumbai Port Trust and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. Operations remained suspended for the third consecutive day.

However, MbPT chairman Rahul Asthana said since the width of the ship was 32m, even if it lists at an angle of 90 degrees, much of it will still be above water.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday sought a report on the incident from the cabinet secretary.

The spill on India’s shores was caused by the collision of two Panama-registered cargo ships, MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia III, about 9 kilometres off Mumbai port last Saturday. The MSC Chitra was listing at a 75-degree angle and at least 200 of the containers it was carrying were floating in the water, NDTV news channel reported.

Some of these containers contained diesel, petrol and hazardous chemicals, coast guard officials said. Bunker oil was also leaking from the Chitra and the oil slick was gradually moving towards the coast.

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LiFEstYLE

Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

Lifestyle Changes Increasing Cancer Risk

BY SAMIHAH ZAMAN the clothing in the region protects people from ABU DHABI: (GN) Changes in the commu- the harmful effects of the sun. In addition, people nity’s lifestyle were causing a gradual increase here are darker skinned, which gives them higher in the prevalence of lung cancer in the country, tolerance to sun exposure than the fairer skinned Dr Emad Rahmani, Mafraq Hospital chair of people in the West.” Dr Rahmani warned that medicine and chief of the gastroenterology and people’s unhealthy lifestyles were likely to hepatology divisions, said. increase the incidence of some cancers with Lung cancer might be the leading cause time, including lung cancer and CRC. “Except of death due to cancer for CRC, it is imposworldwide but in the UAE sible to detect a canit kills fewer people than cer before it becomes leukaemia, and breast, malignant and later lymphatic and colorectal stages always require cancer, (CRC), a leading advanced surgery,” doctor in the capital said.

Dr Rahmani said.

However, changes in “So people should the community’s lifestyle remember simply were causing a gradual maintain a balanced increase in the prevalence diet, avoid bad habof lung cancer in the counits like smoking and try, Dr Emad Rahmani, drinking, and get regMafraq Hospital chair of ular physical exercise medicine and chief of the to avoid susceptibility gastroenterology and heto these deadly dispatology divisions, said. eases. There are no “Although lung cancer substitutes for healthy is not very common yet, living, just as multiif people are not careful, Cancerous cells dividing (John vitamin tablets are its incidence is very likely Hopkins) never a substitute to to increase,” Dr Rahmani eating fresh fruits and said. Dr Rahmani recently performed the first vegetables.” endoscopic removal of gastric cancer in the Prevalence: Cancers in the UAE. Most deadly: Middle East.

Breast cancer, lymphatic cancer, blood cancer He said the incidence of cancer always de- and colorectal cancer. pended on various genetic and environmental Increasing risk: Lung cancer factors.

Decreasing risk: Gastric cancer Most deadly “For instance, gastric cancer, which kills the cancers in the US: Lung cancer, prostate cancer second most number of people around the world, (men) and breast cancer (women), colorectal is uncommon in the UAE because of the high cancer levels of sanitation and hygiene here,” he said.

— Source: Dr Emad Rahmani, chair of medi medi“Similarly, skin cancer is uncommon because cine at Mafraq Hospital

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india

Want to Write a Book on ‘Robo’, Says Rajnikanth

HYDERABAD (The Hindu): vised by Mr. Srinivas, a techni- Rajnikanth plays another character Film director S. Shanker is known cian from Andhra Pradesh,” said which is suspense, informed Mr. for using visual effects to the best director S. Shanker at the audio Shanker.

Fascinated about the visual efin his movies. Continuing his fond- launch of Robo’s Telugu verfects, make-up, costumes used in the ness for visual effects, he is now sion. movie, Rajnikanth offering superstar said he wanted to Rajnikanth starwrite a book on the rer Robo movie, making of Robo. which was shot at It’s a 140-crore Hollywood’s presbudget movie and tigious Stan Winlot of efforts have ston studios using gone into making it, the best technical he informed. expertise.

Recalling inciThis apart, cosdents that happened tumes for the prior to the launch Superstar in this of the movie, Rajnimovie are done kanth said “When by Hollywood Shanker approached designer Mary me with this movie, E. Vogt, who had I was sceptical about worked for the acting as a Robo blockbuster “Men that too with a sixin Black” movie.

Stan Winston Great triumvirate:Film actors Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi with pack. Then acting with the gorgeous studios had earlier director Shankar at the audio release of ‘Robo’ on Friday.

Aishwarya Rai was made Hollywood Photo: G. Krishnaswamy another thing and I hits like Predator, It’s a movie about a scien- asked the director not to make me a Aliens and Terminator. “Robo animatronics were done by experts at tist played by Rajnikanth, who joker,” he said.

Music is composed by Oscar winStan Winston Studios. There are makes a Robo “Chitti” also over 1,500 computerised scenes in played by Rajnikanth. The Robo ner A.R. Rahman and the audio was this movie and Rajni sir had to do is introduced into the human en- released by actor-turned-politician vironment which leads to some K. Chiranjeevi here last Friday. four hours make up.

All the visual effects are super- interesting incidents. This apart,

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US Jobs Will Not Go to China, India, Germany: Obama Repeats Claim WASHINGTON (DC): The US President, Mr Barack Obama, has said that America had returned to robust competitiveness and the danger of jobs and industries fleeing to countries like China, India or Germany was over. “When I took office, we put in place a new economic plan that rewards hard work instead of greed; a plan that rewards responsibility instead of reckless; a plan that focused on our middle class, (and) making them more secure,” Mr Obama said at a Democratic Fund Raiser in Austin, Texas. Instead of spending money on special interest tax loopholes that don’t create American jobs, we said we’re going to make smart investments in education and innovation and clean energy that will benefit all people and our entire economy, he said. “Instead of giving special interests free rein to write their own regulations, we demanded new accountability from Washington to Wall Street so that big corporations had to play by the same rules as small companies and by individuals. That’s only

fair,” Mr Obama said. Observing that it took nearly a decade to enter the current phase of the economic mess he inherited, Obama said it’s going to take some more time to “dig our way out” of that hole.

“The devastation that has touched so many of our families, so many of our communities, that is going to take some time to heal. And I hear those stories firsthand wherever I travel. I hear about them in the letters that I receive every night that I read from people who are doing their best to keep on striving towards that American Dream.

So the road to recovery is long and it’s filled with challenges. And I’m under no illusion that we’ve gotten there yet. We’ve got a lot more work to do,” he said. Continuing with his critic of the Republican policies, Mr Obama said: “We’ve got a choice between a forwardlooking agenda that is rebuilding the structure of this economy so it’s working for all Americans, or just going back to the same stuff that got us into this mess.”

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Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

human rights

India Asks, Should Food be a Right for the Poor?

By Jim yardley JHABUA, India (NYT): Inside the drab district hospital, where dogs patter down the corridors, sniffing for food, Ratan Bhuria’s children are curled together in the malnutrition ward, hovering at the edge of star starvation. His daughter, Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs only eight.

Jogdiya, 2, lay with an intravenous drip in the Jhabua District Government Hospital as his father, Ratan Bhuria, looked after him and his 4-year-old sister.

Landless and illiterate, drowned by debt, Mr. Bhuria and his ailing children have staggered into the hospital ward after falling through India’s

ery of social programs,” said Bharat Ramaswami, a rural economist at the Indian Statistical Institute. “This is a big issue: Can you harness the market?”

India’s ability, or inability, in coming decades to improve the lives of the poor will very likely determine if it becomes a global economic power, and a regional rival to China, or if it continues to be compared with Africa in poverty surveys.

India vanquished food shortages during the 1960s with the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yield grains and fertilizers and expanded irrigation, and the country has had one of the world’s fastest-growing economies during the past decade. But its

customs call for the family of the groom to pay a “bride price” before a wedding. Mr. Bhuria spent most of his loan on his brother’s wedding and was left landless, yet he and his wife kept having children. They now have six.

He and his wife migrated with their children to work as day laborers in the neighboring state of Gujarat.

Working in Gujarat is common for farmers from Jhabua, but since none can use their ration booklets outside their home villages, they struggle to feed their families. When migrants returned to plant their fields in July, the malnutrition wards began to fill up at the district hospital.

“This is a cycle,” said Dr. I. S. Chauhan, who oversees the wards. “The mother is also malnourished. And they are migrant workers. They work all day and can’t care for their children.”

Moneylenders are common across rural India, often providing loans at extortionate rates.

Some farmers hand over food booklets as collateral. Sitting in a small shop, Salim Khan said people approach him for loans when a child is sick or if they need cash to travel for migrant work. “Until they repay me,” he said, “I keep their ration card.”

He uses the cards to buy grain at government Fair Price Shops at the subsidized rate of about 2 Photo: Lynsey Addario NYT rupees, or 4 cents, a kilogram. He Meera Damore sits with her severely malnourished son, Pappu, in the resells it on the open market for Jhabua District government hospital in the Indian state of Madhya six times as much. The margin Pradesh represents interest on the loan.

He has held the ration cards social safety net. They should re- poverty and hunger indexes remain ceive subsidized government food dismal, with roughly 42 percent of of some migrants for seven years. and cooking fuel. They do not. The all Indian children under the age of 5 “Sometimes I’ll have 50 cards,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll have 100 or older children should be enrolled being underweight. in school and receiving a free daily The food system has become rid- 150. It’s not just me. Other lenders lunch. They are not. And they are dled with corruption and inefficiency. do this, too.”

He said their yellow ration booklets hardly alone: India’s eight poorest Studies show that 70 percent of a states have more people in poverty roughly $12 billion budget is wasted, made him eligible for the full 77 — an estimated 421 million — than stolen or absorbed by bureaucratic pounds of grain, the most available Africa’s 26 poorest nations, one study and transportation costs. Ms. Gan- in a tiered rationing system. “The yelrecently reported. dhi’s proposal, has been scaled back, low ones are best for me,” he said.

This is just one of the illegalities For the governing Indian National for now, so that universal eligibility Congress Party, which has staked its would initially be introduced only that permeate the system, according political fortunes on appealing to the in the country’s 200 poorest dis- to people in Jhabua. Bribery is also poor, this persistent inability to make tricts, including here in Jhabua, at the common; government inspectors government work for people like western edge of the state of Madhya are known to extort monthly payments from the clerks who sell the Mr. Bhuria has set off an ideological Pradesh. debate: Should the country try someWith some of the highest levels subsidized grain. Moneylenders slip thing radical, like simply giving out of poverty and child malnutrition in money to clerks to let them use the food coupons, or cash? the world, Madhya Pradesh under under- ration cards to collect the subsidized Sonia Gandhi, President of Con- scores the need for change in the grain, sugar and fuel.

In a cavernous government waregress is pushing to create a constitu- food system. Earlier this year, the tional right to food and expand the official overseeing the state’s child house, bags of grain are stacked existing entitlement so that every development programs was arrested almost 15 feet high, awaiting trucks Indian family would qualify for a on charges of stealing money. In to carry loads to different Fair Price monthly 77-pound bag of grain, sugar Jhabua, local news media recently Shops. R. K. Pandey, the manager, and kerosene. Such entitlements have reported a spate of child deaths linked blamed local men for the persistent helped the Congress Party win votes, to malnutrition in several villages. malnutrition in the district, saying especially in rural areas.

Investigators later discovered 3,500 they often sell the subsidized wheat To Ms. Gandhi and many left- fake food ration booklets issued by on the open market and buy alcohol. leaning social allies, making a food low-level officials for themselves and He also noted that the Bhil population favored corn, not wheat, so besides a legal right would give people like their friends.

Mr. Bhuria a tool to demand benefits Inside the district hospital, Mr. Bhu- buying alcohol, they also sell the that rightfully belong to them. Many ria said he had applied three times for grain to buy corn.

Efforts are under way to reform the economists and market advocates ar ar- a food ration card, but the clerk had national system. Officials in the state gue that handing out vouchers would failed to produce one. liberate the poor from an unwieldy A farmer, Mr. Bhuria fell into deep of Chhattisgarh have curbed corrupgovernment apparatus and let them debt six years ago after he mortgaged tion by tracking grain shipments on buy what they please, where they his land for a loan of 150,000 rupees, computers, so that officials cannot please. or about $3,200. Like most people steal and resell it.

Pro-market advocates say that issu“The question is whether there is in the district, Mr. Bhuria is a Bhil, a a role for the market in the deliv- member of a minority group whose ing either food coupons or direct pay-

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ments would circumvent much of the corruption. They point to the eventual creation of a new national identity system — in which every person will have a number — as a tool that can make such direct benefits possible. At the malnutrition ward, Dr. Chauhan said that Jogdiya, the tiny 2-year-old, had pneumonia, diarrhea and possibly tuberculosis. His health had

been steadily deteriorating in recent weeks, but his father, Mr. Bhuria, had no money for either food or medicine.

He had gone to Gujarat in mid-July in search of migrant work but then quickly returned after Jogdiya and Nani became sicker. But he had to leave his sick children to find work as he felt he had no choice. “We didn’t have anything to eat,” he had said.

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Gypsy Travels: Caravan Tourism Arrives In India

By Madhushree Chaterjee

NEW DELHI/KHAJURAHO, (IT): A seven-seater caravan carrying a family of four from Britain cruises along on a single lane between Orchha and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. The rain has left a cool shroud of moisture in the air.

‘We love this caravan that we have rented from a transporter in Delhi,’ says Dominic Jones, a software consultant from Sussex who is touring India with his wife and two children. The family, which intends to stay till October-end, lives and sleeps in the van.

The caravan will ferry them around New Delhi too during the Commonwealth Games, Jones says.

Welcome to the world of ‘gypsy caravaners’ – a new breed of niche tourists who prefer the comfort of caravans or mini-homes on wheels while on holidays. The tribe is increasing its footfall in India with caravan tourism slowly becoming a viable option.

‘We cater to a niche clientele of

The clogged arteries of Indian metros make it an ideal vehicle to host mobile corporate parleys,’ he said.

Currently, travel transporters in Delhi are plying 700 multi-seater utility caravans called ‘Travelizzm’ that will be used for the Commonwealth Games in October, Babbar said.

The vehicles are priced between Rs.17 lakh and Rs.27 lakh.

German automobile giant Volvo, known for its tourist buses, is gearing up to meet the demand for caravans in India. ‘Our vehicles are often modified into caravans by customers after purchase,’ company spokesperson Vivekanand Jha said.

In May 2009, Mumbai-based auto designer Dilip Chabria designed a caravan for Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Built on a long Volvo chassis, the grey caravan boasts of a drawing room, resting rooms and a gymnasium.

Chabria, who took three months to build the caravan, said: ‘Designing the caravan was his most

t r a v el

difficult and ambitious project in 16 years.’

Last year, he designed another vehicle for Rs.3 crore fitted with a shower, bar, resting enclosure, entertainment lounge complete with a DVD player, X-Box and a playstation for actor Sanjay Dutt.

Madhya Pradesh-based Concept Combination Ltd, an auto-design firm, offers innovation styling and integration of systems to modify SUVs into holiday caravans. Punebased Overlanders also fashions caravans from SUVs. Caravans are making inroads into the domestic circuit after the government announced its caravan tourism policy in July last year, leading Delhi-based tourist transport operator Bobby K.S. Sawhney said.

‘It has huge potential given the country’s sprawling domestic destination network and the rising flow of foreign tourists. State tourism cells are realising the importance of caravans as luxury transport,’ Sawhney said at an Indian Tour Transporters’ Association conclave in the capital this week.

The government, under its caravan tourism policy, described ‘caravans as a unique tourism product

45

AirAsia Adds Hyderabad to Its India List

HYDERABAD: (BST) Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia launched a new flight connecting Hyderabad to Kuala Lumpur last month on July 20, marking its eighth destination in the country since its India services began in December 2008.

Jasmine Lee Sze Inn, head (Commercial), AirAsia, said that a promotional fare of Rs 3,453 was available for a limited number of

banks to make up for low creditcard penetration in India.

The airline sees big potential in the Indian market, she said citing 6,00,000 Indian tourist arrivals in Malaysia in 2009. “We are also promoting India heavily in Australia and China,” she said.

Hyderabad was a challenging market unlike Chennai and Kochi which have family ties to people in Southeast Asia, she said. “We

taken a flight. By 2009, it was 65 per cent of the population,” she said.

Like European low-cost carriers Easyjet and RyanAir, it was also trying to raise its income from ancillaries like in-flight food to 10 per cent of its total revenues.

AirAsia currently operates flights from Tiruchi, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata.

seats booked between July 5 and 8 for travel during July 20 up to August 31. The fare for all other seats to Kuala Lumpur would be Rs 4,000.

She said passengers can expect 30-40 per cent savings on fares compared with other flights, adding that the airline had entered into direct debit arrangements with 35

expect to tap business travellers, tourists, young couples and students.”

On the sustainability of lowcost airlines, she said there was a huge untapped potential in Asia.

“Sixty per cent of our passengers are first-time fliers. When AirAsia launched operations in 2001, only 6 per cent of Malaysians had ever

It plans to launch services from Bangkok to New Delhi and Kolkata.

It has a fleet of 92 Airbus aircraft, with A 320 for short-haul flights and A 330/340 for longhaul flights.

Air Asia is an all out Malaysian low cost air carrier.

Continued...

foreign tourists, showbiz personalities and individual corporate entities,’ Raju Babbar, owner of Babbaraju Mobile, one of the few auto firms in India that specialises in Western-style caravans, said.

His firm has bagged an order from the Madhya Pradesh government that wants to promote caravan tourism in major destinations.

The caravans built on a base of ‘Force Motor Tempo Traveller’ – a light commercial vehicle – are available in five categories: the family caravan, friends’ caravan, honeymoon caravan, individual caravan and the conference caravan.

Urban Cruiser, the fast moving family luxury caravan, is fitted with a mini kitchen, washroom, bar cabinets, refrigerator, laser television, two spacious recliners, couches, integrated audio system and multi-flow air-conditioning.

In May, Babbar unveiled his 10seater ‘Conference on Wheel’ caravan designed like a boardroom that can host corporate meetings on the move.

‘The conference tourism market is exploding in India and the demand for caravans is on the rise.

Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

Gypsy Travels: Caravan Tours in India

that promotes family tourism in destinations without adequate hotel accommodation’. Under the policy, it proposes to build modern caravan parks under public-private partnerships to park tourism campers and motor homes.

‘The caravan parks would add another exciting new facet to tour-

ism in Incredible India,’ the policy vision said. At the conclave, Tourism Minister Kumari Selja said ‘caravans could be rented for Rs.2,000 to Rs.5,000′.

But experienced caravan travellers like Aashish Gupta, founderdirector of Dimensional Learning that conducts strategy workshops

for the tourism industry, feels ‘caravan tourism has a long way to go before it comes of age’.

‘The concept is still new. Caravans must have a standard licensing regime, uniform designs and homogeneous price points. Indians are still not used to driving their own caravans,’ Gupta said.

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Indo American News • Friday, August 13 , 2010

sports

India Crumbles to 200-Run Loss vs. NZ DAMBULLA (Cricinfo): New Zealand’s plan of loading their side with seamers paid off as they bullied an alarmingly reckless Indian top order under lights to seal a 200-run rout and gain a bonus point. Ross Taylor and Scott Styris played risk-free yet attacking cricket to lift New Zealand from 28 for 3 to 288 before their bowlers let the conditions do the work for them as India’s technically inept batsmen crumbled without a fight.

It was a script that had worked well for India in theAsia Cup final at the same venue, but this time the boot was on the wrong foot. Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik struggled to get used to the pace of the wicket, but survived the early overs and looked set to launch the chase before things began to go awry. Daryl Tuffey had started his spell with a gentle loosener outside off but gradually reworked his lengths Ravindra Jadeja is caught at slip by Scott Styris, to trouble all batsmen despite operating below India v New Zealand, tri-series, 1st ODI. 130 kph. Sehwag perished first, falling to his signalled the beginning of New Zealand’s resur resurold weakness against the short ball aimed at the body. He had already survived a top-edge gence. Having threaded the spinners through the trying to pull Tuffey but, in the seventh over, off side with an array of cuts, carves and glides he gloved Kyle Mills through to the keeper. in a relatively quiet fifty, Taylor eventually Karthik got a rough decision in the next over, unleashed his favourite slog-sweep, tonking as Tuffey struck his pads with an in-ducker and Sehwag with the spin over square-leg. The tide Simon Taufel upheld the appeal though the had turned and once Styris reached his fifty, New Zealand took the batting Powerplay in batsman was well forward.

In his short stay at the crease, Rohit Sharma the 31st over.

Styris chipped Jadeja over the top and latched had all his weaknesses as a batsman exposed, flicking uppishly, and playing around his front on to the over-compensation in length by cutting pad before guiding a short ball outside off him square for fours. Both batsmen read Ojha’s lamely into Taylor’s hands at first slip. Suresh flight to pick fours in the 33rd as India began Raina was guilty of indecisive footwork, pok- to feel the heat. Dhoni was forced to bring his ing from the crease at another bait outside off seamers back but there was no respite: Styris from Tuffey. MS Dhoni attempted to stem the creamed Nehra over point and down the ground, rot with singles but Tuffey would not have any while Taylor swatted Praveen on either side of that either. Swooping in on a tap to the off of the wicket as 43 runs came in the five-over side, he threw down the stumps with Dhoni block. The force was clearly with New Zealand, out of his crease after being sent back by the and though Nehra came back well to stall them non-striker. When Yuvraj stuck to the theme in the end overs, there was enough momentum of the evening, edging a fuller one outside off to reach an imposing score.

Things did not begin so well though. Within into the cordon, India had lost their top six for 23 runs in under 10 overs and the chase was as the first two overs, Praveen and Nehra showed good as over. They eventually folded to their what India had missed in the Tests: genuine fifth lowest score in ODIs, and fourth heaviest swing. Praveen got the ball to move both ways, darting into the right-handers late, and holding defeat batting second.

While India’s reply was one-sided, New back the length to hit the seam and take them Zealand’s innings typified the ebb and flow of away. Martin Guptill nicked one of the awaythe one-day format. Taylor and Styris added 190 swingers to Dhoni while Nehra accounted for and throughout the stand were playing to a plan. Peter Ingram in similar fashion. Kane WilliamThey had identified around 260 as a defendable son, the debutant, was then nailed by one that score, and were keen to not over-reach. Com- darted away from the middle-and-leg line.

Though Styris and Taylor began to play their ing together with the innings in tatters, they survived some testing times mostly against shots, Dhoni kept attacking with close-in fielders and Styris almost fell for the trap. He stepped Praveen Kumar before shifting gears.

The introduction of spin allowed the pair out against Ojha and missed the loft, but Dhoni to settle into a survive-and-steal mode. They fluffed the stumping with the batsman well out othereventually found their feet as the ball lost its of the crease. It was the only error in an other shine, lashing through the packed off-side field wise sprightly fielding effort, and it cost India for boundaries. Ravindra Jadeja bowled a list- plenty. Under lights, their batsmen made several less spell, and his introduction in the 18th over more and it cost India the match.

Shiv Sagar

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Pakistan Suffers 9-Wicket Loss vs. England EDJBASTON: Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott hit unbeaten half-centuries to guide England to an emphatic nine-wicket win in the second Test at Edgbaston to give them a 2-0 lead in the series. Both batsmen finished on 53 with the second-wicket pair making light work of a potentially testing surface as the hosts completed their sixth consecutive Test victory midway through the afternoon.

England did the hard work before lunch and when they resumed 47 were needed with the bite gone from Pakistan’s attack. Strauss went to his fifty from 108 balls then Trott brought up the same milestone, his second fifty of the match, with a powerful cover drive which levelled the scores. Strauss secured victory via a rather inglorious inside edge but he’ll be highly satisfied by another successful outing, The day began with thoughts of Pakistan continuing their resurgence from the third

evening, but in the end it proved a stroll for England. The visitors had left themselves far too much ground to make up after crumbling for 72 on the opening day. Two more chances did go begging off Strauss, both to the hero of the previous day Zulqarnain Haider, although the first was very difficult and the second came with less than 50 needed.

It took England just 11 balls to wrap up Pakistan’s innings as Stuart Broad, lighter in the wallet after his fine for throwing the ball at Haider yesterday, had Mohammad Asif taken in the gully. However, Pakistan managed the early breakthrough they desperately wanted when Cook’s poor run continued. Cook’s footwork was nowhere and he is becoming a serious concern, although with Ian Bell still injured and the England selectors not keen on major structural changes he is likely to have the remainder of the series to revive his season.

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