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Cheers! India is On a New High

By M Padmakshan MUMBAI (TOI): Cheers! India is on a new high. One more whisky brand from the country has made it to the list of 10 largest selling spirit brands in the world.

Officer’s Choice Whisky, the single brand from the Kishore Chhabriaheaded Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD), is now the tenth-largest selling spirit brand in the world, with sales crossing 12 million cases.

The findings are part of the 2010 edition of the survey conducted annually by UK-based Drinks International, a magazine that devotes exclusively on reporting on world spirit

markets. Leading the list of world’s largest ten brands is the 63 millioncase Jinro from South Korea. The ranking is across all spirit segments such as rum, vodka, brandy etc.

The other two Indian brands already in the list are Bagpiper and McDowell No.1, the flagship brands of Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits Ltd ( USL).

South Korea Jinro is followed by Smirnoff, the legendary vodka from the staples of Diageo that sells 24 million cases annually. Lotte Liquor BJ (21 million), Brazilian Cachaca brand Pirassununga of Companhia Muller De Bebidas (19.5), Tanduay rum

from Tanduay Distilleries o f t h e Philippines ( 1 6 . 5 million), celebrated rum brand Bacradi from Bacardi Martin (18.6) precede Bagpiper that has a sales figure of 16 cases.

million

While Johnnie Walker is ranked eighth with 14.5 million cases, McDowell No.1 with 13.5 million cases and Officer’s Choice with 12 million cases occupy the ninth and tenth slot, respectively.

Indian whiskies, which were unaffectedbytherecession,havenow emerged as new power brands in the global arena. The millionaire brand list is dominated by India with six whisky brands figuring in the list of world’s top 10—Bagpiper, McDowell No.1, Officer’s Choice, Original Choice, Royal Stag and Old Tavern. Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniel’s, Ballentine’s and Jim Beam are the other brands in the list.

Officer’s Choice, at fourth posi-

tion, is the latest entrant in the list.

While Bagpiper and McDowell No 1 sit pretty at No. 1 and No.3, respectively, Johnnie Walker occupies the No 2 slot.

The change in the ranking of Johnnie Walker, which occupied the numero uno position for at least a decade, is the fallout of recession that gripped the developed economy in 2008 and a major part of 2009, forcing many tipplers to opt for a brand a notch below.

Deepak Roy, a one-time blue-eyed boy of Mr Mallya, currently heading the operation of ABD, said “Officer’s Choice can easily replace McDowell No.1 from its position as the third largest-selling whisky.”

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Indo American News • Friday, September 10, 2010

SpiceJet to Commence Int’l Operations from October 7 NEW DELHI (PTI): Leading low cost carrier SpiceJet today announced that it will fly to international destinations from October 7, with the first flight from New Delhi to Kathmandu.

“Driven by the confidence vested in us by our stakeholders and their encouragement over the past five

years of domestic operations this month, a mandatory requirement to launch international flights, has already got the government’s nod to fly on two more routes, Male and Dhaka.

The low-cost carrier, which will induct seven more aircraft into its fleet this year, will use the new aircraft

b u s in e s s

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BlackBerry Agrees to “Monitoring of Services” NEW DELHI (PTI): Faced with an August 31 government deadline, BlackBerry mobile phone maker Research In Motion (RIM) today gave in promising access to Indian security agencies to monitor all its services with immediate effect.

The government, meanwhile, says it won’t ban BlackBerry services for at least 60 days, easing up on the threat leveled over access to encrypted data.

The Ministry of Home Affairs says it will ``review the situation in 60 days,’’ after telecom authorities examine Research In Motion’s proposals to give security agencies greater access to corporate e-mail and instant messaging.

RIM is facing widespread concern over its strong data encryption, which is beloved by corporate customers ea-

ger to guard secrets but troublesome for some governments

in the Middle East and Asia, which worry it could be used by militants to avoid detection.

Nearly two months after insisting that it does not have the provision to grant access for such monitoring,

RIM made certain proposals for lawful access of BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) and BlackBerry Messenger Services (BBM) by the law enforcement agencies.

RIM’s response came after the Home Ministry made it clear that Blackberry has to shut down its operations in the country from September one if it failed to provide access to monitoring of its messenger services.

“RIM has made certain proposals for lawful access by law enforcement agencies and this would be operationalised immediately. The feasibility of the solutions offered would be assessed thereafter,” a Home Ministry statement said.

The Ministry has made it clear that any communication through the telecom networks should be accessible to the law enforcement agencies and all telecom service providers including third-parties have to comply with this, it said.

American Universities Looking to Expand Operations in India years, we are now excited to begin this new chapter in the success story of SpiceJet,” the company’s Director and interim CEO, Kishore Gupta, said in a statement.

After Kathmandu, the airline, owned by media baron Kalanithi Maran, will also launch daily flights on the Chennai-Colombo route from October 9. However, the flights to Kathmandu will be operated 6 days a week.

“We are delighted to welcome Colombo and Kathmandu as a part of our new global network and look forward to extending our hospitality to our passengers in this new phase of growth,” SpiceJet’s Chief Commercial Officer, Samyukth Sridharan, said.

Bookings for both Kathmandu and Colombo are now open, said the statement.

SpiceJet, which completes five

on international routes.

The airline currently has 21 aircraft in its fleet and has also placed orders with Boeing for 30 new aircraft in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Deliveries of these planes are scheduled to begin in 2014.

Last week, an Empowered Committee of the Civil Aviation Ministry had also given in-principle approval for the import of these aircraft.

Sun TV Chief Kalanithi Maran had acquired a 37.7 per cent stake in the second largest no-frills carrier in June.

However, an open offer by Maran for an additional 20 per cent stake, which was to be launched in August, has got delayed due to some technical issues with the market regulator Sebi.

The new promoters are yet to announce fresh dates for the open offer.

Shares of the company were being quoted at Rs 76.15 apiece on the BSE today, up 0.6 per cent.

AHMEDABAD: American universities were looking to expand operations in India, after the opening of this sector for foreign educational institutions here, a US official said.

“American universities are looking to expand operations in India, a country which sends the most number of students for studying in US,” American centre director Anne Grimes said here on Tuesday.

Grimes was here to take part in three-day 6th Anniversary Celebrations of- The American Corner- at Ahmedabad Management Association complex here beginning today.

“After the opening up of education sector in India, I have already been approached by a group in US who are looking at educational initiatives in India,” American Centre Director Anne Grimes said.

“There are number of universi-

ties who have interest in India like the University of Chicago,” she said adding that University of Columbia is doing something in Mumbai and will be visiting next month here, besides University of Illinois which is planning to begin its alumni association in India.

“India has the highest number of foreign students in United States which is around 1,03,000,” Grimes said.

“The five posts of US in India, including consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad together process 6,00,000 visa applications annually of which more than two thirds are issued visas,” Grimes said.

“Nearly 20 per cent of the visas issued from India are for students,” she said.

“We have initiated a slew of measures to step up our consular operations so that there is not so much

of waiting time for getting visa,” Grimes said.

Speaking about the uproar on hike in H1-B visa fee, Grimes said “US government is well aware of the concerns of Indian government and business houses have. I want to point out it is not targeted at India, its a worldwide change in the visa fee structure.”

“India and the US have both greatly profited and benefited from growing economic relationship and that is going to continue,” she said.

Replying to a query on possibility of roll back in hike of visa fee Grimes said “I can’t speculate”.

Speaking about Gujarat, Grimes said “The only regional Indian language that showed up in US census was Gujarati, over 280,000 Gujarati speakers are there in US, so I think there is lot of potential to build up relations with this state.”

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Raghav Bahl: Top of the Amazing TV Race

After a two-year lull, the man who launched iconic TV shows in the 1990s and struck it big in the 2000s is ready for more

By Veena VenugoPal P NEW DELHI (Mint): I am early for my meeting with Raghav Bahl, founder and editor of Network18.

The three television sets at the reception of the company’s office in Noida are tuned to three different news channels—all owned by Bahl—and I get a mild headache watching the hyper-dynamic images and primary colours. Which is why when I walk up to Bahl’s corner office on the first floor, I am stunned to see that the wall he faces has a dozen television sets, all tuned to different channels, and though his eyes constantly flicker over my head to the wall, he doesn’t seem to be discomfited by them.

There is, of course, no such thing as too much TV in Bahl’s world.

With 11 channels, 13 websites, 18 magazines and gross revenue of Rs3,000 crore, Bahl’s Network18 is now “standing abreast” (his words) with the big boys of Indian media.

In the course of the 90 minutes that I spend with him, I get the feeling that though his media empire was built on a set of propitious circumstances and some very adventurous decisions, Bahl, 49, is probably mildly surprised at how quickly it has all happened.

“I was always interested in television and even though I started working with AF Ferguson as a consultant after my MBA, I continued to make small news-based programmes for Doordarshan. Then in 1991, when cable TV came to India, we thought this was a great opportunity,” Bahl says. He invested all the money he had, Rs50,000, and made the pilots for two shows. One, a business show titled India Business Report, and the other, a current affairs show called The India Show. India Business Report was picked up by BBC World and telecast over six years across the world and the The India Show became the iconic Amul India Show on Star. That set the ball rolling. “Then when Zee was launching, I got on a plane and met them—they were a two-desk organization then—and we started making content for them.

Then Sony came along and the same thing happened,” he says.

The real game changer, however, happened towards the end of the decade. TV18, as the company was called then, decided to tie up with

CNBC and start a business news channel. It was a giant leap from being a content provider to a broadcaster.

“Business news in India was a huge opportunity. And with our experience of India Business Report, I knew that we had several advantages,” he says.

Then the government changed the regulation and insisted that any news broadcaster uplinking from India could only have foreign ownership of up to 26%. CNBC had 51% and it had no interest in trimming down to 26%. So it asked TV18 if they would like to buy them out. “During the market frenzy of late 1999, we said let’s do an IPO. That’s the first time we got lucky. We raised close to Rs70 crore as capital.

So when the regulation changed and CNBC decided to sell, we had the capital to buy them out,” he says.

Bahl talks much like he does on TV. He has an intense gaze and his answers are quick, yet comprehensive, chronological and constructed in visual, graphic words—“the markets were on fire”, “we were on song”, “strong doses of profitability”. And he is such an excellent conversationalist that he tends to ask questions and answer them himself, all rather animatedly. “Are we saying that TV news creates excesses? Of course it does. Do our channels also sometimes create excesses? Of course they do!”

CNBC TV18 became successful and Bahl and his team focused solely on that until 2005. Then they thought they should try and play with the big boys. Aaj Tak was the leader in Hindi news and NDTV 24x7 had the English news monopoly. “So we thought this was a good time to scale up, let’s go for broke. We did a lot of things in very rapid succession; we launched

the Hindi CNBC Awaaz, then we met up with Rajdeep Sardesai and Sameer Manchanda and launched CNN-IBN. In 2006, we acquired Channel 7 and made that our Hindi language service,” he says. The company also started investing heavily on the Web and when the opportunity came to partner Viacom and launch the entertainment channel Colors, they grabbed it. “Those were the days of taking big debts—markets were wild, we were successful and everything we touched was turning into gold,” he says. The acquisition spree continued and Network18 stumbled into magazine publisher Infomedia and bought that too. “We all made mistakes,” he laughs, “Tatas bought Corus and Jaguar and we bought Infomedia!”

Then suddenly in 2008 the party ended, abruptly. “Risk” became a bad word and no one was willing to lend. Loaded with debts from all its new partnerships and acquisitions, Network18 hit crisis point. “For us, 2008 was a tough year. Our problem was that we were victims of our own success. All our channels were successful. If they weren’t doing well, it

would have been an easy decision to walk out. We could have sold them or shut them down. So we bor borrowed. I was leveraged. We had to borrow to keep the ship going,” he says.

When the mar markets turned in 2009, Bahl and his team quickly got in the game and raised some Rs1,200 crore of equity, using the money to reduce debt load. “The fact that we went through that valley of death and came out alive is the reason why we are where we are.

Because of the crisis, we are now in a place where we are ready to change gears and take Network18 into its next phase,” he says.

Crises by definition have long tails.

“There is a point when you know the worst is over but you have to give

time before the world settles down and you can afford to be adventurous again,” he says. Bahl used that time to write his debut book—Super Power?

The Amazing Race between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise. “I am quite illiterate about literature, I don’t read fiction. So my book had to be about current affairs. China was fascinating but I didn’t know much beyond the headlines. India I knew well—it was a story I had reported on since 1991.

As I went deeper, I realized there was a fascinating interplay between these two countries. So I thought I have this one year and let me see if I can tell a story,” he says.

He is busy promoting the book now and has no plans to write another in the immediate future. Now that the crisis is well and truly over, his focus is on squeezing profitability from all the investments. Though Network18 grew an average of 100% every year from 2005 to 2010, it has not been profitable during the time.

“Now we not only have successful brands, we have a deleveraged balance sheet and we have cash. We are in the pink of health. The next two years can be a true bend in the river or true take-off for us. People who think we have bitten off more than we can chew should watch us closely now,” he says, eyes firmly on the multiple TV screens on the wall.

Purchase Discount Zoo Tickets at any of the 33 Fiesta Mart stores. Visit the courtesy booth of Any Fiesta Mart to purchase an adult zoo admission for $9 and a child zoo admission for $6. - IA News VISIT THE HOUSTON ZOO THIS WEEK

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Indo American News • Friday, September 10, 2010

Sonia Gandhi Becomes Congress Party Chief for the Fourth Time NEW DELHI (Outlook): Sonia Gandhi today became the Congress President for the record fourth consecutive term with a message to party colleagues that they should not forget the “big responsibility” of working for all sections of society irrespective of whether the party is in power or not.

63-year-old Gandhi was declared re-elected unopposed at a ceremony which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and host of other senior party leaders.

Thanking the party leaders and workers for bestowing the responsibility on her yet again, she reminded them in a brief address that Sonia Gandhi after filing the nomination Congress always stood for papers for the post of Congress president, all sections of the society at her residence in New Delhi on Thursday. and this should not be forgotten.

“Since the beginning, Congress has came in 2004 when the party formed been working for every section of the government wresting power from society. Whether we are in govern- NDA, expressed confidence that her ment or not, we should not forget this party cadres would always keep the big responsibility,” she said. flag of the Congress flying high.

Gandhi, whose crowning glory

in d ia

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Pray, Is This Woman Power at All? fight the wrongs in the world (for a whole one year as per contract) and yet look gorgeous as ever? Because most women I know don’t have that power. Are these women’s passions toward world peace actually real? What’s the guarantee that they are not in it just for the fame?

I back my doubt with the fact that most participants of our national BEAUTY PAGEANT: The Miss Universe 2010 contestants in Las Vegas. Photo: AFP beauty pageant end up in Bollywood as the lead

By Ria Bera pete with one another, by walking heroine or some item girl or other.

MUMBAI (Hindu): I watch Miss the ramp with attitude and wearing Whatever happened to world peace?

Universe every year and every year everything from gowns to bikinis.

I think it’s time they stop telling I try to figure out why anyone would They have perfect hair, a perfect pair us that these pageants represent the combine swimsuit modelling with of legs and yet their ultimate goal is power of women. It has got nothing world peace. It’s like adding apples to spread peace and save the world to do with woman power and has got and oranges. from global warming! everything to do with pretty girls who Quite frankly, this is a competition They say these women represent want to make it big in the fashion/ where size zero – or even smaller (is girl power. Exactly what power are film industry. Please, woman power there something like size minus one?) we talking about? Is it that women is not so petty.

– models from around the globe com- are nothing but pretty faces who

26/11 Revisited: Krishna Praises Taj Staff MUMBAI (Outlook): External Affairs Minister S M Krishna praised the employees of the iconic Taj Mahal Palace and Towers Hotel here, which bore the brunt of the 26/11 terror attack on the city, for preventing what could have been a greater tragedy.

“I would like to compliment the hotel (Taj Mahal Palace and Towers) staff, who were able to resist the terrorist attack and prevented what could have been a greater tragedy,” Krishna told reporters.

He was speaking after attending a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on External Affairs along with Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, held at the recently reopened heritage wing of the hotel, which was massively damaged in the attack and the subsequent gun battle.

The meeting was held at the hotel to convey “our respects to those who lost their lives in the 26/11 tragedy”, Krishna said adding, “The indomitable will of the people to remain fearless and contain terror by resolute action is laudable.”

The Tata Group that owns the hotel reopened the 107-year-old heritage wing, which became the symbol of the worst terror strike on the country with its red burning dome, on August 15, nearly 21 months after it suffered extensive damages in the November 26-28, 2008 terror attack which took away the lives of 166 people.

The Taj’s modern tower wing reopened within a month of the attacks. The company spent Rs 175 crore in repairing, restoring and upgrading the heritage wing. Thirty-one people, including 12 Taj staff, lost their lives in the attack.

Describing the iconic hotel as a landmark of not only Mumbai but the entire country, Krishna paid homage and respect to all those who lost their lives during the gruesome attack.

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By Prabhudev Konana CHENNAI (Hindu): An influential friend of mine once said that bribing someone with a briefcase full of cash is something that happens only in old movies: it was a thing of the past. But now cash is being taken in suitcases and gunny bags in vans to be paid as bribe. The new wealth and prosperity are, in fact, feeding a frenzy of corruption that is quickly causing the decay of societal morals and ethics. Even the national honour is up for auction in hosting the Commonwealth Games. A nation that aspires to be a superpower cannot take pride in its abysmal 84th place in the corruption perception index as measured by Transparency International.

Bribing is now considered an investment by many who seek government jobs. This investment, they assume, gives them a moral right to expect a return through more corruption. The public “servants” who dole it out seek greater investment. The honest and the financially weak often exit the government sector, only to reinforce this belief. The bureaucratic hierarchy itself is established based on the extent to which one can engage in corrupt practices, rather than on merit and honesty. The honest few with the determination to fight the system are either transferred to inconsequential roles or remain dejected and angry.

The unabated corruption strengthens the power of public servants — which is truly a slippery slope.

For citizens and businesses, it is faster and more efficient to engage in immoral and illegal activities in their interactions with government.

Those who can, or are willing to, engage in such activities are likely to have fewer headaches and greater rewards. There is academic literature that argues that bribing as a means to achieve ends in an environment of pervasive corruption and archaic policies actually helps growth. But the system penalises honest and weak citizens by means of bureaucratic delaying tactics.

A recent visit to certain industrial units in Bangalore was illuminating.

Factory owners, it was found, resort to an annual ritual of bribing numerous government inspectors — those who handle factories and boilers, pollution, labour, excise levies and so on. It is a rational decision since this makes things cheaper and faster. The choice is between spending countless days providing every minute detail to the inspectors, some of whom expect fair “compensation” for being there, or focussing on one’s core business.

One business owner told me that the inspectors themselves were expected to share their bounty along the hierarchy; else they would be pursued negatively by others. The irony here is that government “servants” who are supposed to facilitate economic activity act as “masters” of businesses.

It is unfair to blame all the problems on the government. A not-too-trivial fraction of private citizens and business owners are equally responsible for the situation, and private sector corruption could be dwarfing government-led corruption — we will never know. Private entities transact on an

o p ini o n

Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

The Slippery Slope of Corruption

A STRONG HOLD: Greater transparency, accountability, enforcement, and self-governance are essential to control the malaise. Photo: K. Gopinathan

all-cash basis in order to avoid paying taxes. Some business owners exploit labour without paying fair wages or subjecting them to pollutants and harsh working conditions. They inflate invoices for government subsidies or contracts. Some businesses receive thousands of acres of prime land at a fraction of the market value.

A few businesses illegally tap into the electricity grid or tamper with electrical meters. A significant fraction of residential buildings do not conform to planning regulations. Businesses are set up without permits. Innocent farmers are exploited and stripped of their land at rates that are much below the market value — often with the help of the heavy-handedness by the government. The private sector flouts rules and regulations, feeding more corruption.

To prevent the exploitation of the system, the law-makers — who are part of the corrupt system — introduce greater regulations, inspections, and restrictions, without recognising that adding so-called “oversight” leads to even greater potential for corruption. Hernando de Soto, the Peruvian economist, famously said in his seminal book Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Thrives in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, that in most countries “it is very nearly as difficult to stay legal as it is to become legal.” He stated this in the context of private property rights and bureaucratic hurdles, but it applies to every aspect of government transactions.

Therefore, regulations are a doubleedge sword. On the contrary, pursuing the perpetrators of corruption has been a comical exercise. In Karnataka, for example, less than 10 per cent of the government officials who were caught red-handed accepting bribes has been prosecuted. Even the laws are changed to make it harder to prosecute the culprits.

Maybe there is a need to think differently to put a lid on corruption and hopefully push it down incrementally.

Broken Window Syndrome There is hope for improvement, and some clues can be found in my experience at the new Bengaluru International Airport. The once congested and dingy old airport, where clearing immigration and customs, collecting baggage, and using the toilet were severe challenges, has been replaced by a clean and spacious airport. Immigration and customs

clearance are fast (except for those confusing forms), respectful, and organised. There is little corruption or bureaucratic nuisance. Why have attitudes changed?

Some argue that the numerous security cameras installed there prevent officials from engaging in corruption.

Some suspect that training, higher salaries, and better governance including complaint services have lowered corruption. Maybe it is the new environment: clean and nice cubicles with computers bring forth a new attitude. It could be that people standing in queues treat government officials with respect and decency. It is possible that there is pride in projecting a positive image of the country. A sig-

nificant fraction of the workforce being younger and probably untainted by corruption, may have contributed to the changing attitude.

There are many variables. But, the behaviour in the old, dingy airport supports the Broken Window Syndrome first studied by James Wilson and George Kelling in housing projects (government housing for economically poor families) in New York. They argued that when a window is broken in a building and it is not fixed, then over time the rest of the windows will be broken and soon that building will be infested with plunderers, leading to social breakdown. This can be applied to a building or a community at large.

When a neighbour throws garbage in a street corner, everyone else will pursue it as fair game and quickly dump more garbage as there is no perceived cost. The same applies in the matter of observing traffic signals. Socially imposed regulations cease and disorder becomes the norm — to the great dissatisfaction of law-abiding citizens.

The new airport implodes those norms of broken windows and creates a modern vision for employees to respect. Let us hope we can replicate some of that in thousands of government buildings, hospitals, and railway and bus stations.

If security cameras can contribute to lowering corruption, then why

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not record all government-citizen interactions? There are costs, but it is worth the effort to put a lid on this moral decay. Maybe, honest neutral observers can be witness to government-citizen interactions. There are possibilities for corruption to occur by other means, but at least the honest ones are troubled less.

There is another point of view to reduce corruption. Stringent rules create corruption. When Customs duties on small electronic items were exorbitant and exemptions were available only to the extent of a few hundred rupees, both travellers and Customs officials found a common ground to bypass the rules through corruption.

With higher exemptions in place and free import of gadgets such as laptops now, the opportunity for corruption has radically decreased. Maybe, rules must be designed to prevent incentives to cheat.

If corruption has to be controlled, there needs to be greater transparency, accountability, enforcement, and self-governance. All these are difficult to achieve, and require experimentation and different thinking.

The slippery slope of corruption has a powerful downdraft where the weak and the honest suffer the most. Let us hope that the political, business, and bureaucratic establishments, with the help of pressure from the media and the citizenry, will wake up to fix the broken window of corruption.

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South Asia News of the Diaspora

A Memorial for Jyoti Basu at His Native Place ... in Bangladesh

By Sandeep BhuShan DHAKA (Outlook): We drive 10 km down the Dhaka-Chittagong highway and swing into the interiors, only to crawl along the narrow road meandering under a canopy of banana and palm leaves. Strewn on either side are white shipla or water lilies, Bangladesh’s national flower.

Beyond the road, as far as the eye can see, farmers in quaint hand-made boats are fishing in water-logged paddy fields. After about 10 km, we come upon, and stare bewitched at, the Meghna river—a tributary of the Brahmaputra but just as mighty and expansive. Here the road turns a bend, suddenly bringing into view Chowdhury Para, a hamlet in Barodi pargana of the Sonargaon subdivision. In this nondescript village is located the ancestral house of Jyoti Basu, the late Marxist leader, one who shaped the redoubtable election-winning CPI(M) regime in West Bengal and dominated Bengal politics for three decades.

Chowdhury Para has acquired fame here in recent weeks, cour courtesy the Bangladesh government’s decision to convert Basu’s ancestral

house, called Nagapada, into a library-cumtourist complex. This could well inaugurate a new chapter in IndoBangladesh relations, often marked by suspicion, animosity and, occasionally, armed skir skirmishes along the porous border. It could—who knows—even become a symbol of common civilisational links between the two countries, torn asunder so cruelly six decades ago.

Basu’s ancestral house in Bangladesh.

It isn’t difficult for us to locate Nagapada, a two-storeyed structure squatting, place; a staircase leads to another two rather gloomily, on 2.04 acres. This rooms and a drawing room upstairs.

Time hasn’t spared Nagapada—the was the residence of Jyoti Basu’s father, Nishikanta Bose, who later paint has peeled off, the driveway took on the other variant spelling of linking the entrance to the rear is Bose—Basu. Though the East Paki- overgrown with weeds. Yet, miracustan government impounded much lously, a piece of the past survives of what Nishikanta owned as enemy here, not only through the framed, property after Partition, Nagapada’s sepia-faded family photos that still surrelatively small size suggest a modest hang on the walls, or the odd sur land-holding. On the ground floor viving armchair or bedstead. It is are two rooms and a public meeting nurtured by the memory of 80-year-

old Mohammmed Shahidul, the owner and caretaker of Basu’s ancestral house.

The government’s decision to convert Nagapada into a tourist complex should have enthused Shahidul, render light as it would his task of preserving the zamindari abode of Nishikanta. Instead, he is inconsolable at its very mention. Subjected to the whims of history—two par partitions and torn homes—he fears the project would blight his last days. “It will be painful, very, very painful if I am asked to leave, at this stage in life,” he laments amid loud sobs. You can’t but empathise—four generations of his family, starting with his mother Ayatonissa, have lived in Nagapada. This is his home; he has nowhere to go.

After he recovers, he talks of olden days, about the zamindari. From Shahidul’s account, it seems Nishikanta came from Bikrampur, and married Sharatchandra Das’s only daughter, Hemlata Das, Jyoti Basu’s mother.

He settled in this village, but in an-

other house, which hasn’t survived.

When Shahidul was 15, the Boses or Basus left Chowdhury Para for good.

Shahidul’s mother Ayatonissa, a family retainer, got Nagapada; the other building where Nishikanta Bose had stayed was gifted to her brotherAbdul Ghaffar. The property transfer was executed through power of attorney.

The ambiguities of history notwithstanding, most here fondly remember Dr Nishikanta Bose, a doctor who attended poor patients for free.

“And when times were bad and crops failed, the Boses would waive the land revenue of the sharecroppers,” says Shahidul. Agrees another older denizen, Zakir, “Bose was a publicspirited doctor who would visit his patients at home, particularly those who were in serious condition.” In those days, it was considered unthinkable for the zamindar to visit a ryot’s home—and many in the village wonder at what we today consider an ordinary gesture. The family’s zamindari was also benign, even benevolent, in comparison to other estates.

As Rahmatullah recalls, “Zamindar Nishikanta Bose was unlike other

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in d ia

Tharoor-Sunanda Reception: PM Skips, Wife Blesses NEW DELHI (IANS): Shashi Tharoor may have lost his ministerial job, but he has not fallen out of favor with the Prime Minister.

Gursharan Kaur, Manmohan Singh’s spouse, was among those who came to wish Tharoor and his wife Sunanda Pushkar good luck on their marriage, the third for both, at a power-packed reception Friday night.

All roads virtually led to the India habitat Centre as the capital’s poweratti and glitterati trooped in to felicitate the couple. Tharoor married Dubai-based Pushkar in his ancestral home in Kerala Aug 22.

Tharoor looked winsome in a designer cream sherwani and Pushkar glowed in a shell pink chiffon sari with exquisite bead work as they shook hands, smiled and posed for photographs with guests.

Gursharan Kaur chatted with the newly-wed couple, who profusely thanked her for taking time out on a soggy evening for their wedding reception. The prime minister, who inducted Tharoor in his cabinet as a junior foreign minister, could not come as he did not want to create a security nightmare, sources said.

Gursharan Kaur’s presence sparked speculation that Tharoor could stage a second coming when the next cabinet reshuffle takes place.

Vice President Hamid Ansari and many Cabinet ministers braved the gloomy weather to make an appearance. Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Minister for Non-Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad were among those who came with flowers, gifts and good wishes.

Across the political divide, BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Arun Jaitley

A large number of political leaders, diplomats and others attended a wedding reception hosted by Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and his new wife Sunanda Pushkar in New Delhi on September 3.

also made an appearance. Clearly Tharoor’s appeal cuts across party lines. The BJP had joined the opposition clamour for Tharoor’s resignation as minister of state for external affairs when reports surfaced linking him and his then “friend” Pushkar to manipulation of the Kochi Indian Premier League franchise.

Virtually the entire foreign office turned out in full regalia. Ambassadors, writers, media mavens, socialites, including cultural impresario RomiChopraandChetanSethfamous for his cigar parties, added that extra dash of glamour to an unpretentious low key reception. The decoration in the Silver Oak hall was minimally elegant, with white flowers competing with the pink rose petals in Pushkar’s hair. Kerala delicacies competed with the standard North Indian dishes like chicken malai tikka and roast mutton on the menu.

There was nothing exotic for dessert either: kulfi, ice-cream and jaleb-

is, take your pick. Those looking for an alcoholic high had to do with soft drinks, sherbets and jal jeera - and the high of being at the capital’s most talked about reception.

In his e-mail wedding invite, Tharoor, also a famed novelist, had invited select guests, seeking their blessings.

“I have lived through a great deal of unrest in the last couple of years, and the prospect of being able to have a real home at last, with a woman I love and wish I had met many years ago, will only strengthen me in facing the challenges of public service that lie ahead.” The 54-year-old Tharoor, it seems, has become lucky the third time around. This was the couple’s third reception after those at Thiruvananthapuram and Dubai, where Pushkar, a Kashmiri is based. Tharoor is a first time Congress Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram. A former career diplomat, he, however, lost out in the race for the UN secretary general’s post.

Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

Strictly for Moms

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Hyderabadmoms.com is an online guide for mothers

By Neeraja Murthy HYDERABAD (Hindu): It has been created by a mom and is strictly for all mothers. Hyderabadmoms. com – the website being launched tomorrow promises to be an online guide for all mothers and to-be-mothers of all ages.

Log in and a world of information opens in front of you. Be it on beauty, hairstyling and colouring tips, home remedies, books, counselling, parenting, finding out about schools or a paediatrician or even your child’s vaccination… the website will have it all. “Vaccination is more of a mom’s concern and young mothers have many doubts. Fathers are not involved so much in it,” says Bhavani Raman, the woman behind the website. Interestingly, it was one such issue of hers which led to the creation of chennaimoms.com.

When Bhavani moved to Chennai from the US, her first priority was finding a good school and a paediatrician for her two kids. “In the US, there are online forums for the mothers.

Here there are a few common sites but not anything which caters only to mothers, especially if they are new to

For all mothers: Bhavani Raman

a city,” she says and adds, “I went to a school for my son’s admission and I was told that the admission was over a month ago. There was no clarity of information and I decided to start a website for mothers like me.”

It’s not just fellow mothers who offer tips, there is a panel of experts - paediatrician, lactation consultant among others who will respond to your queries. Blog, make new friends i.e meet mothers of your age and your area and plan play dates for your child. Besides Chennai, the website has also been launched in Delhi, Bangalore and Pune.

So, mothers what are you waiting for? Log in and click away.

A Memorial for Jyoti Basu continued from page

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zamindars who often perpetrated atrocities on tenants.”

Jyoti Basu, too, never forgot the caretakers of Nagapada. Dates don’t come to him easily at this age, but Shahidul recalls meeting Basu in Writer’s Building and in the Basu household in Calcutta. He says the leader would affectionately address him as ‘Kaka’ and ‘Baboo’. For his part, Basu could visit Chowdhury

Para only twice—in January 1987 and November 1999.

SaysAwami League leader Obaidul Qader, who has been entrusted to oversee the project, “The PM has also cleared my proposal for the construction of a memorial. It will be completed by 2012.” A pause later, he adds, “He is a great leader of the subcontinent. And he was from Bangladesh. So he was a Bangladeshi as well. The people here love him.”

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Honorary Award for Global Star, Maan International Punjabi singer and Bollywood star Gurdas Maan has received an honorary degree from the University of Wolverhampton.

The global icon received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music at a ceremony at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre yesterday. (Tuesday, 7 September).

The honorary degree was presented by the School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure in recognition of his considerable contribution to popular music.

At the ceremony, Gurdas said: “This is an emotional moment for me. I accept this honour on behalf of the millions of fans and listeners of my music across the world. I would like to thank everybody here today and especially the people of Wolverhampton, who have continued on page 41

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Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

india international

Poland’s PM Given Ceremonial Welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan NEW DELHI (NTI): Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Rashtrapati Bhavan after arriving from Bangalore.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manomohan Singh, and his wife, Gursharan Kaur, received him in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Tusk, who is on three-day official visit of India, is accompanied by his wife and senior ministers and officials.

He is scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Dr. Singh.

Earlier, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur called on Tusk. Leader of Opposition

Sushma Swaraj also exchanged greetings with the visiting Polish Prime Minister.

In Bangalore, Tusk attended a function where an agreement was signed between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency.

A Parliamentary Friendship Group was also constituted between the two countries.

Poland is India’s major trading partner and the prime export destination in Europe.Bilateral trade between the two countries stands at 4.12 billion US dollars.

In a bid to boost Indo-polish economic relations, Polish-Indian Investment Forum was jointly organized in Bangalore by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Polish Embassy. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, signed a Memorandum of Understanding between CII and Polish Information & Investment Agency on the occasion.

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Still Room to Grow in Global IT Market: Azim Premji LONDON (ET): There is still a lot of room to grow in the global IT industry, Azim Premji, the boss of Indian IT giant Wipro, has said.

“If the global IT services market is growing at 3 per cent to 5 per cent and global exports from India are growing at 5 per cent, evidently that proposition is more attractive to the customer,” Premji, India’s second richest man, with an 11 billion pounds fortune, told The Sunday Telegraph.

He said, “The base is USD 50 billion a year of IT exports from India, so it’s not a small industry any more, but there’s still a lot of room to grow because it only represents between 3 per cent and 4 per cent of global market share. This is a USD 1.6 trillion industry.”

Nevertheless, Premji admitted that until recently, India’s IT services sector was spooked by fears that Britain would become more protectionist on account of its current austerity drive.

“This question was asked to British Prime Minister David Cameron when he was in Bangalore because some outsourcing contracts had been suspended,” he said.

“A specific question was asked as to whether the new policy of the British Government was to only give contracts to UK companies,” he said.

Cameron’s answer was that Britain was running an 11 per cent deficit and would look at all costs, regardless of where suppliers are based, and needed to obtain the best possible prices. “He got an ovation for

that,” Premji said.

“I thought it was a fair answer.

The visit was very successful.

He created a very strong impression. Trade between India

during the global downturn after growing by more than 30 per cent for seven consecutive years.

It is expected to grow by 15 per cent this year. Wipro reported a 20

65-year-old Premji, nicknamed “the Bill Gates of India,” has pledged to give away most of his fortune.

and Britain is surprisingly low, but there’s a very high feel-good factor about Britain in India,” he added.

65-year-old Premji, nicknamed “the Bill Gates of India,” has pledged to give away most of his fortune.

“I’ll announce it when it happens,” he said. Premji’s family holds a 75 per cent stake in Wipro. The largest IT services company in the Indian market by sales and the seventh largest in the world by market capitalisation behind Indian rivals Tata and Infosys as well as global giants IBM and Accenture, Wipro has ridden the boom in outsourcing and global IT services.

India’s IT services sector saw the growth of its exports halved from 11 per cent to 5.5 per cent

per cent increase in revenue in Q1, 2010, and is forecast to earn revenues of about USD 6.5 billion (4.2 billion pounds) for the entire year.

Wipro has long outgrown its Indian roots, with just 9 per cent of sales now in India, compared to 55 per cent in the US and 25 per cent in Europe.

Half of Wipro’s European sales are in Britain, which Premji said is also back in a growth mode in IT services.

Wipro is strong in financial services, with a lot of UK and US banking clients that Premji isn’t allowed to name.

It’s also active in retail, working for companies including supermarket chain Morrisons, and has large IT services operations in the manufacturing, energy and utilities, transportation and healthcare sectors.

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youth today

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Goodbye Enid Blyton - Five Kids Writing Tales of Their Own

By Arpita Basu MUMBAI (Outlook): If you still think Potato Chips is comfort food for overweight teens, it’s obviously been a while since you legged it to a bookstore. Because there, sitting neatly on a shelf, you will find it—the latest addition to a rising pile of books penned by teenagers and snapped up by publishers to fill the gap between Enid Blyton and Sidney Sheldon.

But before you bookmark it as kiddie fiction, Anshuman Mohan, the articulate 15-year-old writer of Potato Chips (completed when he was 13, and published by HarperCollins this year), will have you know that he, for one, “would rather not publish my book than have it stacked in the kids’ section

Anshuman Mohan, 15 School St Xavier’s, Calcutta Book Potato Chips, published

by HarperCollins, 2010 Theme School life and adolescence

alone. I see it this way: my book is written by a kid to an adult”. His ambition is shared by most young storytellers, including Shival Gupta, who has felt published-author goosebumps twice over with Discovery of the Swordcase, a fantasy novel, and “romantic comedy” Where Edges Meet, out in 2009.

“I don’t want to connect only with teenagers,” asserts the 12th-grader, whose tryst with novel-writing has been cut short by IIT-JEE preparations in Kota.

Textbooks have also slowed down Anirudh Vasdev, a secondyear student of English literature, currently working on his second collection of short stories to follow his first, Of Ghosts, Wizards and Other Fantasies. Published

by Sterling, the book got a dream launch at the London Book Fair

last year. “I remember skipping classes to write in the library, wondering whether anyone would ever read me. And then, there I was, signing books for readers of all ages!” he beams.

Anirudh Vasdev, 19 College Hans Raj College, Delhi • Book Ghosts, Wizards and Other Fantasies, published by Sterling, 2009 Theme Fantasy fiction

away into some chaotic desk drawer, come from? Pradipta Sarkar of HarperCollins, who worked with two teen writers (Anshuman and Trisha Ray) for the house’s Young Adult range, offers: “Youngsters these days are surer of themselves, tech-savvy, net-savvy, world-savvy. They also have diverse and exciting lives, and much more to say than, say, a teen 15 years ago.”

Sudeshna Shome Ghosh, editorial director, Puffin, adds parental encouragement to the mix. Puffin, which published Adventures in Antarctica by the teen brothersister duo of Rishi and Suravi Thomas in 2007, will, in November, add 17-year-old mountaineer Arjun Vajpayee’s name to the list of young authors.

Arjun’s account of scaling Mt Everest will be an adventure tale, as real as it gets, to be rivalled only by action as it unfolds in the imagination. Which, along with fantasy (the Harry Potter effect?), is a recurring theme in manuscripts from teens and tweens, say publishers. The other clear winner is a wholesome school tale, liberally garnished with pranks and punishment, and sometimes, budding romances. Ronen Chatterjee’s second novel Ready to Rock, for instance, is set in Sherwood College, Nainital. As Bond explains, “At 12 or 14, you either write about yourself or let imagination run riot. But

experience, these pen-wielding adolescents make up for in contexts, situations and lingo. So the political unrest over Nandigram and Nano crops up in the Calcuttabased Anshuman’s book, while

Asmita Goyanka, 15 School Montfort School, Delhi Book The Mystic Temple, published by Roli Books, 2008 Theme Fantasy adventure with five girls as protagonists

schoolspeak like panga, murga As more teen writers script sucand pehnao topi is sprinkled in cess stories, some of India’s bestothers. Virtual conversations via loved children’s authors feel it email and chats also do a lot of the could open a new chapter for the talking. Sample this from Potato genre. Says Ruskin Bond, who indulgently reads poems, novelChips: las and everything in between From:rohan.hunk.soccer@yabrought to him by his little fans: hoo.com “In the last five years, there has To: aman.007@gmail.com been a sudden upsurge in children Subject: Hi who want to write. Earlier, it was Hi, dude, wassup? I’m chilling. just the school magazine, and a US is kewl! Life here rox. Heat handful of students would take up in cal sux. Tell you more l8r. C u writing later. Now, everyone wants soon. to be published! Maybe there is a “The idea is the beginning,” certain glamour about it now, with feels Sengupta, after which it is writers gaining prominence in the all the way uphill to build the visual media.” Adds children’s plot and characters. At 15, Asmita author Subhadra SenGoyanka, who began gupta, also one of the jotting down Mystic organisers of children’s Temple as a 10-yearlitfest Bookaroo that old, knows that altook off in 2008, “Nowready. Now playing adays, children’s books critic to her 11-yearare selling very well and old brother’s literary publishers have woken pursuits, she explains up to this huge untapped her choice of books: market. Ten years ago, “The reason I prefer most publishing houses the Twilight series Ronen Chatterjee, 18 didn’t even have a chilis that the characters College IIPM, Delhi dren’s editor. The sceare better etched out, Books Fire Within and Ready to Rock published by nario’s different now.” as opposed to Harry Har-Anand Publications, 2007 and 2009 respectively While the publishing Potter, which is more Theme Inspirational, coming-of-age tales industry hasn’t quite descriptive. A good turned over a new leaf story is more than events, right?” yet, all of this may be incentive you do not necessarily connect Another 15-year-old, Rohini Roy, enough for children to type out better with readers your own age, is grappling with that perfect last that formidable first sentence. But who’d sometimes prefer to read line to conclude her tribute to her where does the gumption to actu- a writer who’s seen more of the late father, who passed away last ally send drafts to potential pub- world and has more to offer.” year.

What they may lack in range of lishers, instead of tucking them What the newbies on the block

There is no dearth of grist for the teen ideas mill: fantasy, action, school tales, romance. readily acknowledge is that changes suggested by editors work well, and no, there isn’t any bullying.

But if they expect their baby fat to see them through loose writing, they have another think coming. Himanjali Sankar, editor of Scholastic India that brings out an

Trisha Ray, 18 College Jadavpur University, Calcutta Book The Girls Behind the Gunfire, to be published by HarperCollins, 2011 Theme Action-adventure thriller

annual compendium of pieces by budding authors called For Kids

By Kids, states, “The same stringent standards of quality, style and language that we expect from adult authors are expected from younger ones.” By the same logic, as Dibakar Ghosh, senior commissioning editor, Penguin Books India, reveals, the royalty arrangement with Rohini “is on par with other first-time authors”. Trisha Ray, who keyed in 85,000 words for her “kickass action thriller” The Girls Behind the Gunfire, too is happy with her “incredibly generous advance”. A karate kid herself (she earned a black belt in school), Trisha’s protagonists will be dorky girls who can fire a mean shot and land a clean kick where it counts.

Heck, they aim right. Much like our fledgling writers themselves.

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Global india

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DTC Bill Brings Bad News for NRIs NEW DELHI (EC): The new direct taxes code could bring a large number of global Indians under the tax net as it does away with a provision that allowed individuals to escape tax in any country citing double tax avoidance.

The new legislation, introduced in Parliament on Monday, says an individual shall be resident in India in any financial year if he is in the country for more than 59 days in that year and has been in India for more 365 days in the four preceding financial years.Anumber of Indian industrialists including Vedanta’s Anil Agarwal and Essar’s Ravi Ruia have acquired non-resident status over the years.

“The DTC has only attempted to clean up the provision in line with the laws globally,” said an official with the central board of direct taxes (CBDT), the apex direct tax arm of the government.

A phrase “being outside India” in the existing income tax law exempted

individuals who stay outside the country for six months from paying taxes. This was prone to misuse and allowed individuals to escape tax in any country, the official said, requesting anonymity.

The new code is expected to come

into effect from April 1, 2012.

More than 25 million Indians stay overseas and one million visit the country every year. A large number of NRIs particularly those working in the gulf countries usually visit

India for longer durations.

“This could result in a situation wherein the overseas income of NRIs may be subject to tax under certain situations,” said Vikas Vasal, executive director at consulting firm KPMG. Amitabh Singh, partner at Ernst & Young, said this could become a dampener for the over overseas Indian population who routinely visit India to meet their relatives and friends.

“They will now have to restrict their stay to less than 60 or be in danger of becoming tax residents,” he said. NRIs who have spent 365 days in the last four years, which is per permissible under the cur current income tax law, are at the risk of becoming a resident and facing tax on their global income. They will be given relief from payment of tax for two years on their global income in the transition period when they become resident from nonresident, a CBDT official said.

Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

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sports

Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

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Off-field Woes Debilitate Pakistan in T20 Series

By Andrew Miller CARDIFF (Cricinfo): England’s Twenty20 cricketers were barely forced to break a sweat as they sauntered to a crushing six-wicket victory in Cardiff against a Pakistan side whose off-field woes appeared to have seeped out into the middle with them. Despite another slight wobble with the bat as England closed in on a record-equalling seventh T20 victory in a row, a dismal target of 90 never looked like being a challenge, as Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy once again eased them over the line with six overs to spare.

The victory wrapped up a 2-0 clean sweep of the Twenty20 series, and completed a subdued sojourn in South Wales for Pakistan, which started with further newspaper allegations ahead of Sunday’s opening fixture, and concluded this evening with their lowest ever total in the for format, as Tim Bresnan led an excellent attacking bowling performance with 3 for 10 in 3.4 overs. In front of a county-standard attendance of 5,821, it was an anticlimactic spectacle in every sense. But at least the sunset was pretty.

Although Pakistan this time batted first of their own volition, their innings started in an uncannily familiar fashion to Sunday’s first fixture. A loose first over from Ryan Sidebottom was swatted for 11 useful runs (one fewer than had been the case two days earlier), before Bresnan dismissed Kamran Akmal via a rash pull for the second game running. He struck with his second ball on Sunday, and his fourth today, but at 11 for 1, Pakistan’s innings had once again been robbed of its early momentum.

The situation got steadily worse for Pakistan. Bresnan claimed his second wicket in five balls when Mohammad Yousuf flapped a well-directed bouncer to Bopara at deep square leg, and six balls later, Shahzaib Hasan was also suckered by the short ball, this time courtesy of Stuart Broad, who beat him for pace as he swished airily and snicked the thinnest of edges through to the keeper, Steven Davies.

Broad then made it two in an over, as an anxious Shahid Afridi poked nervously at his first ball before topedging his fourth to Morgan at midwicket. At 22 for 4 after five overs, Pakistan were already dealing with

India House Youth Cricket Clinic

Mohammad Hafeez was well run out after laboring to 14 from 32 balls,

damage limitation.

Mohammad Hafeez’s response was to drop anchor as if he was battling to save a Test match. He faced 19 of the next 21 deliveries of the innings, picking off five singles while Umar Akmal ticked impatiently at the other end of the pitch, and it came as little surprise when Umar beat that tally in one blow by mowing Graeme Swann straight back over his head for the first six of the series. He produced an identical blow in Swann’s next over, only to fall one delivery later, as Swann gave the ball extra air outside off stump, and a clueless Umar threw back his head to be bowled through the gate for 17.

Hafeez’s torturous innings was ended by a sharp run-out as Sidebottom shied at the non-striker’s end from short fine leg, and two balls and a single later, Fawad Alam’s grim series was concluded by a first-ball duck, as he attempted to cut Swann off the back foot and edged instead to the keeper.

Umar Gul produced the shot of the innings when he lifted a Broad slower ball over the fine leg boundary for six, but Razzaq was unable to find his range in a fitful performance.

He finally struck his first boundary from his 19th delivery, as Sidebottom offered too much width from a lowtoss, only for both men to fall from his next two deliveries. First to go was Razzaq, who top-edged a slower-ball bouncer to Yardy at slip, before Gul pumped a similar delivery to Bopara, running in from deep square leg.

Shoaib Akhtar creamed Bresnan through the covers for a handsome four, but before the over was out, Bresnan had been rewarded for an impressive performance with his third and final wicket of the innings. A

Shiv Sagar

well-directed yorker took out the base of middle stump to leave England chasing a meagre 90 for victory.

Their desire for a swift kill was showcased by Craig Kieswetter, who unfurled an audacious back-foot drive over extra cover for six as Umar Gul’s first over was clattered for 19. However, both he and Steven Davies fell in consecutive deliveries in Shoaib’s subsequent over, and thereafter England opted for a safety-first approach to their run-chase.

The spin of Saeed Ajmal and Af Afridi claimed a wicket apiece after Paul Collingwood and Bopara had knocked off a third of the target in seven overs, but it was once again Morgan’s matchless repertoire that put the contest beyond doubt. Three fours in 14 balls, all of them from the spinners, injected some late oomph to the innings, before Yardy sealed the deal with an all-run four to deep cover.

Two Players on Radar

LONDON: Two Pakistan cricketers were issued notices by the ICC seeking information nearly a month before the spot-fixing scandal broke during the Lord’s Test last month, ESPNcricinfo has learned. The players are part of the squad in England and were sent notices because they were already under the scanner of the ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

The ACSU “had already served notices seeking information from certain players even before the scam broke out,” a source familiar with the ongoing investigation told ESPNcricinfo. It is also understood that relevant PCB officials were aware of the notices, which were sent immediately after the first Test in Nottingham.

Youth cricket camp participants pose with organizers Ranjit Nair (left), Curt King and Mahendra Govardhan. The summer camp concluded with the presentation of trophies. The camp has now been extended to Fall on Sundays with the sponsorship of David Raj of Ameriprise Financial. For more information, visit cricketclinic.info.

Tendulkar is IAF’s Group Captain NEW DELHI (DNA): Senior Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar was conferred with the Indian Air Force’s honorary rank of Group Captain to honour his cricketing achievements and contribution to the nation.

Tendulkar is the first sportsperson to be conferred a rank

by IAF and the first personality with no aviation background Tendulkar is the first sportsperson to be to receive the honour. conferred a rank by the IAF In 2008, India’s World Cup winning eminent personalities acknowledgcaptain Kapil Dev had received the ing their contribution towards the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel nation. of the Territorial Army. The 37-yearThe IAF had, in January this year, old Tendulkar was inducted into the mooted a proposal to confer the Air Force as its brand ambassador honorary rank of Group Captain on with IAF chief Air Chief Marshal PV Tendulkar.

Naik doing the honours in a glittering IAF feels that besides the recogniceremony at the Air Force auditorium tion, his association with it would mohere. tivate the younger generation to join “It’s a great pleasure and honour to the Air Force to serve the country. be honoured by IAF. It was a wishful Naik said the batting legend’s assothinking and it has come true today. ciation with IAF will help in making I’m extremely proud to be a part of the youth aware about the Air Force.

IAF. I want to urge the youth to join air “Youth admires him (Tendulkar). force and serve the nation. So dream, I think the youth will get inclined because dreams do come true,” Ten- towards the Air Force. What youth dulkar said after receiving the honour. will do in future we can’t say but the Earlier, President Pratibha Patil had indications that we are getting from conferred the honorary rank of the school students ... we are hopeful.”

IAF on the iconic batsman on June “To take corrective measures in 23 this year. reforming the IAF is my duty and SaThe rank was conferred on Ten- chin’s association will help in spreaddulkar under the provision of granting ing awareness (about the Air Force),” honorary rank by Armed Forces to Naik said.

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india

PM Rules Out Retirement, Wants Younger Cabinet NEW DELHI (ET): I am the prime minister and I am very much in control”. That was the unambiguous message that Manmohan Singh sought to send out on Monday as he made it clear that he has no plans to hang up his boots any time in the foreseeable future.

Insisting that he was strong enough to cope with the pressure of his job, Mr Singh went to great lengths to disprove the perception of being disengaged from his office and disconnected from his party, while talking to a group of editors in the Capital.

The PM ruled out immediate retirement even as he dodged suggestions that he was keeping the chair warm for Mr Rahul Gandhi. “I am not planning to retire,” Mr Singh said, and added that he would soon attempt to address the great Indian paradox of a young nation being ruled by old leaders. “I would like to reduce the average age of my Cabinet,” he said, but refused to set any timeframe for the exercise.

In the 80-minute freewheeling conversation during which he dealt on a gamut of issues—from Jammu & Kashmir, Naxalism and Ayodhya to international subjects like the recent Chinese belligerence and new vexed issue of environmentalism—Mr Singh tried to shrug off the impression that his government was in drift.

The interaction—a rare event for any prime minister, more so for Mr Singh who likes to be known as a quiet doer—came in the backdrop of a deepening perception that he was at the end of his tether as his government and the Congress party were seen to be talking different languages on critical issues of national importance.

Mr Singh chose to look at the frequent wranglings over policy issues, in the party and in the government, as part of the discourse of a “healthy democracy” and said

these are “not necessarily bad”.

He pointed to the Congress tradition of allowing an interplay of different voices which, while on the surface suggested irreconcilable differences, strengthened the party, the government and indeed the country itself.

“There were almost daily exchange of letters between Pandit

Nehru and Sardar Patel. There were differences between Indira Gandhi and her deputy Morarji Desai. A group of Young Turks led

by Chandrashekhar openly constituted a dissident group within the Congress. These only strengthened the party,” he said.

He also used the occasion to send out a not-so-subtle message to the judiciary that has been of late displaying an itch to encroach upon the executive’s terrain. “I respect the Supreme Court’s decision (on foodgrain situation), but it should not get into the area of policymaking,” Mr Singh said.

Even as the prime minister exuded confidence over tackling policy pinpricks within his government, he acknowledged the challenges before it—Naxalism, problems in Jammu and Kashmir and the Ayodhya verdict—in the near term.

“We are not dealing with easy problems here,” he said, and added that these would have to be addressed with patience. At the same time, he seemed to give home minister P Chidambaram’s tough law and order line the thumbs up while dealing with the problem of

Naxalism, a line that is at variance with a section of the Congress establishment.

“Naxals are more menacing than ever before. We have to address valid socio-economic reasons. But law and order has to be addressed first. I can’t pull a rabbit out of the hat. The country must learn to be patient. Otherwise efforts can get counter-productive,” Mr Singh said.

Mr Singh, who is planning a few out-of-the-box steps to contain the troubles in Jammu and Kashmir, said he would discuss the government’s action plan with his colleagues in the Cabinet Committee on Security. “Stalwarts such as Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi have attempted to solve it. We are groping for solutions,” he said. On the economic front, Mr Singh backed the demand for effective regulatory mechanisms.

“Regulators have to be effective,” he said.

The prime minister, who responded to the charges of his ministers washing policy linen in public, rejected the view that the government was forced to acquiesce to the political predilections of a section of his party.

Mr Singh reiterated that recent decisions of the environment ministry should not be construed as a blow to development, and said he would step in to iron out the differences. He stressed that environmental issues were important, yet at the same time made it clear that it should not be at the cost of perpetuating poverty.

“India has to industrialize to generate more wealth and so environmental concerns should be reconciled with development concerns,” he said.

“I have invited the environment minister, coal minister and transport minister to sit together and find ways of addressing environmental concerns,” Mr Singh said.

Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

41

Bopanna-Qureshi Advance to US Semis

Pakistan’s tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna proceeded to the semi finals of US Open 2010.

NEWYORK (NDTV): The Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Bopanna andAisamul-Haq Qureshi continued their dream run at the US Open as they beat the 10th seeded pair to enter their first ever Grand Slam semi-final.

The Indo-Pak duo seeded 16th beat Dick Norman and Wesley Moodie in straight sets 7-5, 7-6.

In the semifinal, they will be up against the unseeded Argentine duo of Schwank and Zeballos.

Honorary Award for Global Star, Maan continued from page 35

shown me so much love and respect over the years.”

Dean of the School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure, John Pymm, said: “The University is absolutely delighted that Gurdas Maan has made time in his very busy international touring schedule to receive an honorary doctorate. Gurdas’ contribution to music is immense and he is a real inspiration for our students.”

With a career spanning over 25 years, Gurdas Maan has become the most prolific and recognizable Punjabi singer in the world today.

He has produced over 30 albums and written over 200 songs. He has played a major role in promoting Asian culture at an international level, and his songs portray real life issues and appeal to people of

all ages and backgrounds His ability to sing, write his own lyrics and perform on stage has made him one of the most versatile and successful artists ever. He has toured the globe, performing in the USA, Canada, Middle East, New Zealand, Hong Kong, UK, Italy, Greece, Denmark, France, Norway and Australia. His stage shows are packed with energy, and his music, whilst infused with eastern and western flavours, remains quintessentially Punjabi.

On other fronts, Gurdas Maan has also starred in blockbuster Bollywood films and has received numerous awards, including the Jury’s Award, presented to him by the President of India in 2005.

Gurdas Maan is one of an exclusive handful of Indian artists who has consistently filled the largest

and most prestigious venues in the UK, including the Wembley Arena, NEC (LG Arena) and will perform for the first time in the Royal Albert Hall in 2011.

Did you know?

Indo-American News is the only South Asian publication to be audited by Circulation Verification Council every year. This means you have a guarantee that every advertising dollars you spent in promoting your business is being read by readers in the US.

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Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

B o o k TAL k

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In Conversation with Deepak Chopra on his New Book....’ Muhammad’

By Deborah Solomon NEW YORK (NYT): As a leader of alternative medicine who was born in India and raised as a Hindu before opening a wellness center in California, what led you to write your new book, “Muhammad,” a fictionalized biography of the Muslim prophet?

I had previously written “Jesus,” and I grew up in an environment where the kids in my school were either Muslim or Jewish or Zoroastrian. New Delhi has a very eclectic mix. There wasn’t any animosity.

Having said that, my grandparents were prejudiced and Islamophobic.

If a Muslim’s shadow crossedmy grandmother’s body — she lived with us — she would go and take a shower.

No! Yes! My father was a doctor, an army cardiologist. He was very secular, and we discussed how prejudiced my grandparents were and how we would never be like that. So that was my upbringing. I was always interested in going deeply into the life of the Prophet.

The Muhammad who emerges from your book is not completely admirable. He’s a fearful and illiterate orphan who runs from his visions before he finally becomes a warrior. Are you concerned someone will issue a fatwa against you?

I wrote the book factually and with respect. Beyond that, I can’t control anyone’s reaction.

You are pretty inventive in a

chapter narrated by Eli, a Jewish scribe who is employed by Muhammad to follow him around and write down his every observation.

Medina had a Jewish population.

The Jews were the ones who knew

how to read and write. The Arabs, including the Prophet, were mostly illiterate. A writer of historical fiction has poetic license.

Do you think it is possible that the Koran was actually written

by Jews?

How come there are so many references to Moses and the prophets in the Koran? I would not be surprised if Jewish scribes inserted a lot of that.

The Persians, too, were very literate. They gave us the poems of Rumi, the Sufi mystic.

Everyone says there are no Muslim moderates, and if there are, they never speak up. TheSufis are indeed the reformers. Imam Rauf and his wife are Sufis and reformers and have been doing great work for years.

You refer to Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is overseeing the planned Islamic center in Lower Manhattan.

Are you saying Sufism represents the reform branch of Islam?

Yes. Traditional Islam is a mixture of all obedience to Allah, and if that requires militancy, so be it. Whereas Sufism exalts beauty, intuition, tenderness, affection, nurturing and love, which we associate with feminine qualities.

Do you see any parallels between Sufi and New Age philosophies?

New Age is such a mixed bag. I don’t like the term because in many ways it bastardizes some of the great traditions.

How do you define your practice?

I was trained as a medical doctor.

I went to medical school because I wanted to ask the big questions. Do we have a soul? Does God exist?

What happens after death? And so I gradually moved in the direction of what I can only call a secular spirituality.

Do you think God exists?

Yes, but not as a dead white male.

How would you define spirituality as opposed to religion?

Self-awareness and awareness of other people’s needs.

If someone asks what religion you are, what do you say?

I say God gave humans the truth, and the Devil came and said, “Let’s organize it, we’ll call it religion.”

At least religion is free to worshipers. Isn’t it costly to attend a meditation retreat at the Chopra Center?

I hardly break even. It’s very laborintensive, and insurance does not cover it, although there is some progress. Religions take donations and don’t pay taxes. Look at the wealth of the Vatican!

Should insurance companies cover meditation classes?

Yes. If insurance companies paid for lifestyle-management classes, they would save huge sums of money.

We need to see that alternative medicine is now mainstream.

BizarreNews

Child-dropping Ritual Faces Ban

BIJAPUR (NDN): A bizarre ritual of dropping children between one and five years from a height of up to 20 feet in a Karnataka village to fulfil a vow to the gods will be banned, a senior state official has said.

The ritual takes place in Nidoni village in Bijapur district in this southern Indian state otherwise known globally for its software and outsourcing industry.

Couples without children for a long time take a vow that if they are blessed with a child, they will have their newborn dropped from atop the Shiva Parvathi temple, said panchayat secretary Ramesh

Gawari, a native of Nidoni, 550 km northwest of Bangalore.

However, none of the children suffers any injury. The temple priest and four to five others stand atop the temple to drop down the children who fall into a blanket held about four to five feet above the ground by a group of six men.

The ground below the blanket is also covered with cotton, beds and other soft material as a protective measure, according to Gawari.

Shalini Rajneesh, state woman and child development secretary, has directed Bijapur Deputy Commissioner V.B. Patil to take steps to ban the ritual at once.

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life & style

Stanley Lifestyle in Talks to Raise $10 Million MUMBAI: Bangalore-based retail outlets called Stanley for The size of a store varies from Stanley Lifestyle, manufacturer across major metros such as Delhi, 6,000 sq ft in smaller cities to about and supplier of leather upholstery Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad 20,000 sq ft in metros, he said. to car-makers such as GM and and Kolkata plans to expand the Stores featuring international Ford, is looking at raising USD network to 24 by next year. brands such as Arper, Iterby, Cal“We are planning to open 15 ligaris and La-Z-Boy, will cater to 10-million through private equity, a top company official said.

“We are in talks with a few PE firms to raise around USD 10-million but have not finalised anything yet.

We will be offloading a minority stake. We might raise the funds by early next fiscal,” Stanley Lifestyle’s Managing Director and CEO, Sunil Suresh, told Mahendra Xylo featured here could be a potential customer for Stanley Lifestyle leather upholstery based in India.

PTI here.

With a current turnover of Rs 140-crore, Stanley more Stanley stores in cities demand coming from every sector Lifestyle is planning to use the such as Pune, Kochi, Ludhiana, right from home to hospitality, he proceeds to set up a tanning and Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and In- said. finishing unit, expand its furniture dore. Each store costs around Rs The company is also rampingretail business and in backward in- 3-7-crore depending on the store- up its upholstery business in view size and location,” Suresh said, of huge growth in the automobile tegration, Suresh said.

The company, which already adding that the stores would be segment and is in talks with sevoperates 9 large format lifestyle company-owned. eral auto companies.

Indo American News • Friday, September 10 , 2010

43

Kolkata Fashion Week Cancelled KOLKATA: The third edition of the Kolkata Fashion Week (KFW), due to begin here next week in its new avatar as “Indian Fashion Carnival”, has been postponed indefinitely.

“The event has been postponed for the time being due to certain unavoidable circumstances and operational difficulties, but we promise to return to you soon to announce the new dates for the Indian Fashion Carnival,” said Pratik Sen, Director of Mindscapes One, the organisers of the event, in a statement.

With the spotlight on Mahatma Gandhi and khadi, the three-day event slated for a September 10 beginning was billed as the city’s biggest fashion extravaganza.

Fashion shows of late have been a matter of pride in India. It not only provides for jobs and keeps the textile industry in booming business, it brings in much needed foreign revenue through investors from all over the world. The textile industry has always been the strength of India ever since the British reigned. Today India is one of the leading nations which can capitalize in textiles. The fashion industry is an outlet that channels the latest styles available in dress wear for everyday use and the Bollywood film industry.

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