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Independence Day: PM Omits Sonia from Speech for First time

BY ANIL SHARMA NEW DELHI (DNAI): His biggest crisis moment - a protest against corruption looms large and threatens the credibility of his seven-year-old rule. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is at the historic Red Fort, rain soaking the gathering in the foreground of the fort, delivering his 8th successive Independence Day address from the protection and security of his bulletproof enclosure.

And then he makes a major statement with an act of omission

Co mi ng

So on

seven-year regime with a sense of achievement on issues such as economy, communal harmony, global relations even in the face of difficult domestic and external circumstances.” These successes are not ordinary. Today the world recognises our potential to be one of the major economic powers globally,” he asserts.

(News One India): After hoisting the tri-colour flag at Red Fort on 64th Independence Day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government has no magic wand to deal with the growing corruption in the country, but urged all political parties to “stand shoulder to shoulder” to fight against corruption.

Amid the surging corruption charges against his UPA-II government, Manmohan Singh promised a strong Lokpal Bill to end corruption. Indirectly commenting on Anna Hazare’s fast, which begins on Tuesday, Aug 16, PM said that hunger “We have no magic wand to deal with corruption in the country, but standing strikes will not help together, we can fight corruption.” This is the singular goal for India this year address the problem.

Rubbishing Team and too many things are weighing down the prime minister’s mind.

Anna’s demand for - not once does he make any No government has a magic wand. revision of the proposed Lokpal reference to the guidance and We are taking simultaneous action Bill, PM said that only Parliament leadership of Congress president on many fronts in our fight against can decide what type of Lokpal and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi corruption,” he emphasizes while legislation can be enacted. as has been usual practice in public underscoring that people should “I am aware of the differences addresses. The omission is more not resort to “fasts and hunger of opinion on some aspects of the striking as Gandhi is convalescing strikes”. bill. Those who don’t agree with in the United States after a major He promises a regulator for this bill can put forward their views surgical intervention. regulatory authorities, but observes to Parliament, political parties and Not just that, he does not refer that the issue should be dealt in even the press. However, I also once to past prime ministers such a manner so as to “reflect the believe they should not resort to Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi confidence” that “we can overcome hunger strikes and fasts-untoand Rajiv Gandhi, all of the Nehru- these challenges”. death,” Singh said.

Gandhi dynasty. Nor does he Dr Singh also added that while In keeping with the looking invoke the name of the father of back, looking forward spirit of corruption is a biggest threat to the nation - Mahatma Gandhi. the address, the prime minister the nation, the conversation on These have been regulars in his referred to the achievements of his how to eradicate corruption from the country itself became another huddle for country’s progress.

New Business in town? Call us 713-789-NEWS (6397) He also added that corruption past addresses.

Quite clearly, his mind is on other people, those not overseas or those who have passed away.For instance, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare! And the doughty warrior’s threatened fast unto death. So, the PM dwells at length on various aspects of corruption.

He does concede a bit, but remains aggressive.

“I have said so much on corruption because I know that this problem is a matter of deep concern for all of us. However, this is a difficulty.

was a “big obstacle” for India’s transformation to a global economic power.

“In the last few months many instances of corruption have come to light. In some cases, functionaries of the Central government face allegations of corruption. In other cases, it is the functionaries of various state governments,” PM added.

During his 40-minute Independence Day speech from Red

Fort, Manmohan Singh admitted that many funds meant for common people’s development were looted by corrupt government officials.

“Corruption manifests itself in many forms. In some instances, funds meant for schemes for the welfare of the common man end up in the pocket of government officials. In some other instances government discretion is used to favour a selected few.”

Japanese govt Funds $311 Billion for Delhi Metro’s Phase-III Rail NEW DELHI (The Hindu): The devastating tsunami suffered by it notwithstanding, Japan would fulfil its commitment by funding 40 per cent of the total cost of Delhi Metro’s ambitious Phase-III project.

The 103.05-km Phase-III, which was cleared by the Empowered Group of Ministers on Mass Rapid Transit System on Tuesday, will have four new corridors and will be built at a cost of Rs 35,242 crore.

proposal.

Though the JICA had informally communicated to Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan last year that it could fund the project, the devastating tsunami that hit Japan in March had cast doubts whether the Agency would fund Phase-III. H o w e v e r, t h e J a p a n e s e government conveyed to India in April that its assistance and partnership to infrastructure projects would continue as per plans.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which partially funded DMRC’s Phase-I and II projects, will provide Rs 14,097 crore - 40 per cent of the total cost - as loan, according to the EGoM which cleared the

While the Centre and Delhi Government will infuse Rs 7,497 crore, which is over 21 per cent of the total cost, as equity, they will provide Rs 5,100 crore as interestfree subordinate debt for land CONTINUED ON PAGE

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Fertlizer, Power Firms to Pay $5.5 Billion More for Imported LNg from Qatar NEW DELHI (ET): Fertiliser, power and other firms may have to pay an astronomical USD 5.5 billion (Rs 2.5 lakh crore) more for imported LNG from 2014 because of certain price changes Petronet LNG (PLL) had agreed to some years ago.

RasGas of Qatar had in 2002 agreed to sell sell 7.5 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Petronet at USD 16 a barrel oil price floor and USD 24 per barrel ceiling.

This translated into a minimum gas price of USD 2.01 per mmBtu and a maximum of USD 3.04 per mmBtu. However in 2003, PLL renegotiated the price and agreed to having a fixed price at USD 20 per barrel oil (USD 2.53 per mmBtu) for five years from 2004 to 2009.

For the next five years, it agreed to a price linked to moving average of the last 5 years of crude oil price and thereafter direct indexation with crude oil.

Sources said this led to price going up by USD 1 per year for five

years from 2009, and from January 2014 to USD 12.66 per mmBtu at oil price of USD 100 per barrel.

Had Petronet not changed the contract, the price of LNG from Qatar would have been USD 3.04 per mmBtu for 25 years. But now, users will have to pay USD 12.66

per mmBtu for 15 years beginning 2014.

The extra to be paid will be USD 3.7 billion a year and USD 55.5 billion (about Rs 2.5 lakh crore) for 15 years, they said.

Sources said the then GAIL Chairman and Managing Director P Banerjee had raised concerns over Petronet not signing on the USD 1624 per barrel floor-ceiling formula agreed at promoters meeting. But it is not know what response did his communications elicit.

GAIL, along with Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is an equal promoter with 12.5 per cent stake each.

Sources said originally it was GAIL which had in 1998 invited bids for supply of LNG at a price of USD 20 per barrel oil price. Later, Petronet LNG was formed and the tender transfered to it.

RasGas had in that tender quoted USD 2.53 per mmBtu price at USD 20 per barrel oil price and indexation impact of 2 cents per mmBtu for every USD per barrel increase or decrease in oil price.

This meant that if oil price were to be USD 100 per barrel, the LNG price would be USD 4.13 per mmBtu and USD 2.33 per mmBtu if oil price were USD 10 a barrel.

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Japanese to Provide $311 Billion for Delhi Metro’s Phase-III Rail CONTINUED FROM PAGE

27

free subordinate debt for land acquisition and Central taxes.

“It also includes loan from Government of Japan (JICA) of Rs 14,097 crore (40 per cent) and grant

by DDA of Rs 1,500 crore (4.26 per cent),” an official statement issued after the meeting said.

The Delhi Metro will raise Rs 1,586 crore (4.5 per cent) through property development and Rs 5,462 crore (15.5 per cent) through loans from financial institutions, the EGoM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee decided.

The Phase-III is likely to be completed by 2012.

The assurance about fulfilling their commitment on infrastructure projects in India was given by Japanese officials to the then Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao when she visited Japan in April.

A team from JICA had also met senior officials of the Delhi Metro and discussed aspects related to the project in April.

Besides the Delhi Metro, Japan is assisting projects like DelhiMumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and Dedicated Freight Corridor(DFC). It is also partially funding the Chennai Metro.

This would be the first time that the DDA will fund any Metro project.

The Phase-III, which will be

completed by 2016, will have a total of 67 stations with 15 interchange points that will facilitate free movement of people.

Delhi Metro, which currently has a network of 190 km, has already started preliminary work like conducting geo-technical survey, soil and other mandatory tests on all the proposed corridors to save time.

Tenders for certain corridors and constructing third bridge on the Yamuna River have already been floated. The Phase-III will kick off with the construction of a small stretch from Central SecretariatMandi House that is aimed at decongesting the over-crowded Rajiv Chowk station.

As part of its preliminary work, Delhi Metro has already completed staff allocation for the Phase-III project and has also appointed project directors, Delhi Metro officials said.

The corridors on the Phase—III are - Mukundpur to Yamuna Vihar, Janakpuri West to Kalinidikunj, Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate and Jahangirpuri-Badli.

Japan was plunged into chaos after a devastating earthquake sent a tsunami crashing through areas along its east coast in March leaving more than 23,000 people dead or missing and causing an estimate loss of $ 300 billion.

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What Happens When Multinational Mindsets Clash with the Desi Dynamic Learning, India ‘Ishtyle’

BY DIBEYENDU GANGULY MUMBAI (ET): Expatriate CEOs usually spend years in smaller, more developed, less complicated markets - Mexico, Thailand, Australia, Brazil before they’re posted in India. Not Jacques Challes. Before he arrived in Mumbai as managing director of L’Oreal India three years ago, Challes had only one foreign posting on his resume - a four year stint in London. Besides that, he had spent his entire 30-year career with L’Oreal in France, where the company sells its beauty products through a clutch of four large retail chains, in a stable market where the average age of the customer is 45 and the brand ambassador is Jane Fonda.

Now Challes finds himself in a booming market where less than 15% of his beauty products are sold through organized retail and the average age of the customer is 25.

His advertisements feature young women pulling trucks with their hair, which, he admits, the mature clientele in Europe would consider ‘very strange’. Challes is also overseeing a major expansion of L’Oreals’s manufacturing facilities in Pune, even as the company draws up plans to set up a second plant in a new location. “India is about the future of business.

Here, you are constantly building.

In France, everything is static, nothing extraordinary can happen,” he says.

Challes is coping with India in the best way he knows: by diving right into the chaos. He’s bought himself a Royal Enfield motorcycle, on which he and his wife Pascalle explore the suburbs and bylanes of Mumbai every weekend. “I bought the bike because I thought it was beautiful but then it became a life changer for me. You can’t get close to Mumbai in a car,” he says.

This strategy - which Challes

Expatriate CEOs are finding it a tough uphill climb, like Neil Mills, CEO, Spice Jet, the carrier reported a loss of Rs 59 crore ($1.31billion) in the fourth quarter of 201011 alone, cited so due to high fuel prices. Apart from this CEO’s are finding that communication is a major issue among cultural challenges, they have to get their Indian counterparts to buy in to their ideas and translate the work culture effectively to help make the corporation an outstanding success. With cultural gaps and resulting communication failures, the diversity they face in India is one of the toughest challenges they face in their work careers ever. If they can survive the Indian corporate atmosphere, communicate effectively to its staff and succeed, they can parade about that they have seen it all. Neil Mills served as CEO of Fly Dubai earlier

refers to as his ‘secret management recipe’ -- is based on an early insight into Indian work culture: the power distance between salesmen and senior managers at headquarters is huge. Unlike in Europe, where juniors can have equal, adult-toadult conversations with their bosses, it takes effort to get people to open up to their seniors in India.

“The difference between the field staff and highly educated managers here is so big that they are not able to communicate effectively. There is loss in translation. It is why strategies created at the top are often not executed efficiently in the field,” says Challes.

Communication is always an issue with expat CEOs, whether it’s between senior managers and

staff or among senior managers themselves. At Legrand India, managing director Yves Martinez has realized that its not enough to set targets and issue instructions to his managers - he needs to actively get their ‘buyin.’ “In India, people want to understand what they are doing, they want to take time over it. So you have to take time to convince the internal team,” he says.

Challes has now extended the motorcycle principle to work. Whenever he feels a sales

territory needs his attention, he books a flight to the nearest airport and arrives unannounced at the local L’Oreal office. He’s gone to Bhuj, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh this way and says, “I sit with the sales staff there to discuss what is going on. The first day, they tell me all is well, but the second day, they open up and it is all complaints.”

Martinez has worked with Legrand in Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa, but none of these markets were as fast growing as India’s. Unlike his compatriot Challes, who lives on Napean Sea Road in South Mumbai, Martinez has chosen to live in the suburbs, in Bandra. He’s also moved Legrand’s headquarters out of noveau Parel to Andheri - smack in the middle of the Mumbai Metro construction site. “We expected the Metro would be ready as per schedule by the time we moved, but it is now delayed and the area is a mess. This is a thing you have to learn to accept in India,” he says.

Martinez’s predecessor at CONTINUED ON PAGE

34

India Enjoys High Authority in World: Dmitry Medvedev

MOSCOW (ET): Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday lauded the “impressive tempo” of India’s development after independence, saying it rightfully enjoys high authority in the world.

“Keeping intact its national identity and unique, many centuries long traditions, your nation is demonstrating impressive tempo of social-economic growth, scientific, technical, cultural and humanitarian growth,” Medvedev wrote in his greeting message to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 65th Independence Day. He noted that India “rightfully” enjoys high authority in the world

and actively contributes in maintaining security and stability in Asia and the world as a whole. “ We h i g h l y v a l u e the privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India, based on long friendship of our people, substantive political dialogue distinguished by its constructive character and mutual trust, common stands on key issues of international agenda,” Medvedev wrote to the Indian leaders.

Medvedev expressed hope that the Moscow summit later this year will become a major milestone in further development of bilateral

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

relations, which have a significant potential of growth in many areas including trade, military-technical cooperation, science and culture, a Kremlin release stated.

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Falling Real Estate Sector May be Revived

by Sec. 25 Indian Companies Act Model BANGALORE (ET): Building apartments and standardized mansions for sale is passe?

Customers accepted such wanting and trashy products and services, weighed heavily in the sale agreement towards the seller, for years.

Now they want more.

For one thing, they want transparency in the deal. Well, for starters the current school of real estate developers never studied transparency in school except for their favourite t e a c h e r ’s d r e s s .

Therefore, they are in no position to offer any kind of transparency to their customers with their current domain knowledge.

The business model employed by the current crop of real estate players is to rope in as many buyers as possible, collect a hefty booking amount from the customer’s personal funds and then ask the customer to collect a loan

from a bank. This way, the developer is sitting on a pretty pile, has collected a tranche of public funds from the bank or financial institution and also got a few hundred hapless buyers to start paying equated monthly instalments (EMI) to the bank even before the first brick has

been laid on the building.

This was a good way of making money for new swanky cars, pleasures of the flesh and fully paid luxury holidays for quite a few real estate developers.

Real estate developers were never accountable to the customer as there

was neither any central nor any state law to back up the customer. There was never any serious competition for the developers to vie for the customer’s business as there were more buyers than sellers.

Little things like badly drafted agreements and larger sized sample flats than the actual flat to be sold would go a long way in killing the customer’s happiness all the way. For instance, Puri Constructions in Faridabad would show case an eight feet wide verandah while the same was marked six feet in the plan. The Meriton group would show off a 22 by 16 room for an actually planned room of 14 by 11 in Indirapuram. This would raise aspirations in children and wives and they would press their husbands with expectant looks to buy that shoddy product.

Well, that was phase one of the Indian real industry’s primitive attempts to grow and mature. Now it is time for phase two. The country needs wholistic real estate development instead of each developer going his own separate way.

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Kerala: Coconut Republic gone Cuckoo?

BY MINU ITTYIPE TRIVANDRUM (Outlook India): In the south quartet of states, Kerala, the smallest, demonstrates a slightly different behavioural pattern. Its human development index is impressive. The 2010 economic review puts literacy at 93.91 per cent, life expectancy at 74 years,

to alcohol in the last decade. The average age at which a Keralite begins to drink is 13.5 years.

Johnson J. Edayaranmula, executive director of the Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance, says, “Kerala has the highest number of road accidents in India; 40 per cent of them are linked to alcoholism.

Kerala is roiled by alcoholism, divorce, debt and suicide despite its high human development indices

birth rate at 14.6 per 1,000 and infant mortality at 12 per 1,000. Yet there is very little to cheer about this achievement. Alcoholism is one of its biggest social problems.

Horrifyingly, there has been an 800 per cent increase in teenagers taking

Around 18 per cent of divorces are blamed on alcoholism and 57 per cent of crime is alcoholrelated. The divorce rate has risen 200 per cent in the past decade.

Domestic violence has risen too.”

Suicide cases abound. “We even had an eight-year-old seeking help,” says Rajesh Pillai, director of Maithri, an NGO that works for suicide prevention. “Relationships, alcoholism and consumerism are the major factors.” Though the number of suicides has reduced from a decade ago, at 25.3 suicides per lakh population in 2009-2010, it is still over twice the national average of 10.9.

One of the chief reasons for suicide is debt. Kerala spends more than it earns. It is second only to Tamil Nadu in gold buying. K. Shivaram, director of the World Gold Council, India, says, “India’s gold consumption in 2010 was 936 tonnes; 45 per cent of it was bought in the southern states.”

Kerala abounds in gold shops, but gold loan agencies are equally numerous. It is a vicious circle— buying gold and mortgaging it for hard-time loans.

The high spending is probably driven by NRI remittance, which in 2009-10 was to the tune of `50,000 crore. According to Prof S. Irudaya Rajan of the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, at least two million Keralites live abroad, and a million in other Indian states. One million “Gulf wives” live grey, desolate lives in Kerala while their husbands toil in Dubai, Sharjah, Muscat, Doha.

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India Likely to get More Prominence at Harvard NEW DELHI (IF): Harvard alumni in India will join hands with the growing Indian student community to make India the professional, academic and cultural focus at America’s premier Ivy League university that is celebrating 375 years of its existence, alumni heads said.

Harvard University, which boasts of high profile names such as union ministers Kapil Sibal and P. Chidambaram, held a first of its kind interactive event in the Indian capital where alumni members rubbed shoulders with current students and newly-admitted students.

Around 100 people, including students and alumni from 12 Harvard schools came together over the weekend for the reunion by the Harvard India Students Group.

The US varsity celebrates 375 years of its existence.

‘The Harvard India Students Group is the first ever universitywise students group for the Harvard students in India in the long history of the university. This is also the first time we had a welcome reception in India for newly admitted students to Harvard where the students were introduced to a host of issues,’ Namita Wahi, president, Harvard India Students Group, said.

The event saw participation from around 100 students from various disciplines. The disciplines were as diverse as law, social entrepreneurship, business and academics, among others.

Over 100,000 Indian students are currently studying in universities

across the United States.

‘The Harvard Club of India seeks to promote national and global public policy discourse, including proactive dialogue with the central and state governments.

We have never hosted an event of this kind for the Harvard Students and community before,’ Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, president of the Harvard Club of India said.

‘Students from the Law School, the Business School, Kennedy School, the Education School, the School of Public Health, and the Design School attended the reception,’ Ghosh said.

Anirudh Burman, a newly admitted law student at Harvard, shared his experience: ‘Knowing people from different backgrounds and being similarly placed was indeed an experience for me. There is a sense of familiarity I hope to notice when I go to study law at Harvard.’

‘The number of students is significant. Since this was the first time Indian students from Harvard met in India, there was also a direct engagement between the alumni and the current students,’ said Wahi, who feels the reception brought them at the threshold of an important moment in the history of Harvard-India relations with ‘India increasingly becoming the academic, professional, and cultural focus at Harvard.’

The event was organized by the Harvard India Students Group, the Harvard Club of India and the South Asia Initiative.

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Railways to go LNg Way for Lesser Carbon Footprint

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NEW DELHI (ET): Railways has decided to gradually opt for liquefied natural gas on a large scale as part of its effort to reduce diesel consumption, green house gas emissions and ensure major operational savings.

The Indian Railways and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) have signed a MoU to explore the potential of LNG in a substantial manner in locomotives, factories and workshops.

“The induction of LNG in railways is likely to be in a phase-wise manner.

We will begin with industrial uses in factories to usage in diesel multiple units and then in mainline diesel locomotives,” a senior Railway Ministry official said.

Railways is currently dependent on refined petroleum products such as high speed diesel for locomotives and furnace oil in workshops and factories. At the moment, the transport behemoth uses approximately 250 crore litre of high speed diesel for locomotives annually.

“It costs around Rs 10,000 crore for the fuel and even if we manage to reduce 10 per cent of diesel consumption then the Railways’ saving will be Rs 1,000 crore in a year,” the official said.

LNG opens up immense possibilities to use this low cost

and environment-friendly fuel both for industrial and traction purposes.

It is sourced from the Middle East in special tankers with cryogenic facilities.

The fuel must be delivered to the end user through a ‘cold chain’ of cryogenic tanks and storages and special cryogenic road tankers.

“Due to the cumbersome and somewhat expensive storage and

transportation facilities, large scale use of LNG has not taken off in areas far from the western coast.

Now that cryogenic cold chain is becoming affordable, LNG can be used on a large scale,” he said.

The agreement between Railways and IOC is expected to open up new possibilities and act as a catalyst in the Indian industry towards adoption of LNG as a primary fuel.

“Major savings in fuel cost are expected with Railways switching over to LNG in a substantial manner,” the official said.

Railways has undertaken a series of steps to reduce green house gas emission as part of its green initiatives.

It has already embarked upon a project to use CNG in its fleet of diesel multiple units.

In addition, Railways have also begun work on the largest project in India to introduce bio diesel in transportation sector. “Two bio diesel etherification plants with a capacity of 30 tonnes per day each are being set up to give a boost to adoption of this green fuel in locomotives,” he said.

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India Failed to Reset Goals and Paid Price LONDON (TOI): After climbing to the number one Test ranking in December 2009, India were content on clinging to it instead of resetting new goals and paid the price as they were dethroned from the top spot by England after suffering a humiliating defeat at Edgbaston.

If India coach Duncan Fletcher is not expressing this in words, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men should listen to what England coach Andy Flower said after the Edgbaston Test: “It’s dangerous to hold on to what you’ve got.”

All Team India tried to do in the past 20 months that they were at the top of the Test heap India’s Sachin Tendulkar talks to MS Dhoni during the second day of the third was to hold on to their numero Test against England in Birmingham uno position.

On their journey to being number “The away series is there to Only last month, they clung on to a 1-0 lead in the West Indies one in the period from 2007-2009, improve yourself as a cricketer...

India lost to Australia and Sri you want to enjoy the sport, not and opted not to press for a win Lanka in 2007 and 2008 and beat think too much about techniques with 85 runs required from 15 overs and aspects of how you need to with seven wickets in hand in the New Zealand 1-0 on away tours.

At home, India drew with South change your game when you go to third Test.

Africa and beat Australia, New different places.”

India should have learnt from These are not words of a leader the past examples of other nations Zealand and Sri Lanka. Thus the -- England tried the same after the stretch between 2007-2011 show whom nation has come to adore.

2005 Ashes win and hit the ground one irrefutable fact: India had won These are words of a man who is with a thud; South Africa won in just one worthy series abroad -- the resigned to the fact India can never 1-0 win against New Zealand in win in Australia, England or South Australia in 2006 and promptly lost Africa. a return series in their backyard. 2009.

Aslew of individual performances These are realistic sentiments They all tried to hold on to their positions instead of resetting new and the luck of good draw, kept of a quality cricketer who knows them at the top. packed schedules would still follow, goals.

Talent aside, world’s best Test planning ahead is a dirty word and India began their reign as world’s best Test side on December 6, sides through the ages have had one administrators couldn’t care less.

The pity is India really had begun 2009. Over the next 20 months, central quality --- the intensity. It India drew against South Africa, allowed them to hunt like a pack of to win matches abroad. The wins at beat Australia and New Zealand at wolves. Australia and West Indies Headingley, Perth, Durban, Jamaica did it in the past. England is doing were beginning to get regular. home; drew series in Sri Lanka and Now that the slide has begun, South Africa; won in Bangladesh it now.

In planning, the very last detail it would be difficult to stop it. and West Indies before losing and options were taken into Especially once the senior players toEngland.

India owed their hold in world account. This intensity has never such as Rahul Dravid, Laxman been a collective part of Indian and Sachin Tendulkar retires, it cricket all this while to VVS cricketers’ mindset. would be a case of lambs thrown Laxman and oodles of luck.

Intense individuals yes, but not to wolves.

Laxman enabled India to draw in There would be no one to uphold Sri Lanka and South Africa, while an intense team. The intensity is against Australia at Mohali, he forced to spread thin when every the legacy of Tendulkar and Dravid, ensured a win after forging a ninth living day of your life is spent Laxman and Sehwag, Kumble or either playing matches or visiting Zaheer. All their work would then wicket stand with Ishant Sharma. airports. go to waste.

Dhoni said it as much after You can’t be honest with your If India has to regain its lost glory, Edgbaston: “Being a team sport, all departments need to click. If they planning, you can’t do justice to it has to give next four years for recovery. Allow cricketers to retain don’t, you would end up losing the your talent.

Dhoni made a revealing comment the intensity. Give freedom to a series. May be one series in 10 or 15, you would have one brilliant when he said an Indian cricketer sane voice to reset goals. Otherwise “80 per cent or may be 70 per cent” success would be accidental and show and end up drawing the of time play at home. hardly well-earned. series.”

Indo American News • Friday, August 19, 2011

33

Pietersen Eyes Whitewash

Kevin Pietersen is not satisfied with England’s number one Test rankings and said he wants his team to have more killer instinct and become the most intimidating side in world.

BIRMINGHAM (Samachar): Former skipper Kevin Pietersen is not satisfied with England’s number one Test rankings and said he wants his team to have more killer instinct and become the most intimidating side in world.

Leading 2-0, England thrashed India by an innings and 242 runs in the third Test at Edgbaston to become the number one side in the world but Pietersen said the hosts should not rest on their leurels and strive to achieve more.

“I played against that Australian team in 2006 in Australia and they cleaned us out every day of that series and it affects you.

“I promise you now that every day’s play of those Test matches you weren’t looking forward to it because you knew you were going to get dealt with.

“That’s what I hope we can do to opposition, but it’s going to be tough. We need to concentrate on doing what we do because what we have is very special, so there is no way we’re going to rest on our laurels,” he added.

Pietersen feels England will be now be feared by other teams after their domination of India, the erstwhile number one side.

“Potentially, other sides will fear us now. You look at that engine room, from Matty Prior down to No.10, those guys there can score 150 runs and take the game away from you - we’ve seen it a couple of times already in this series,” he said.

The South African-born English cricketer said their next target is to humiliate India by inflicting a whitewash.

“When you look all down our team it is not nice for the opposition.

The whitewash is now a target and a huge target because I played against Australia when we did get hammered and it’s a horrible place to be. So if we can inflict a similar defeat on India it would be amazing for us,” Pietersen said.

“I love playing in this team. As I said after winning the World T20 last year, I was fortunate enough to have a good start to my career and score plenty of runs and get a lot of personal accolades.

“But when you stand on a podium and lift a World Cup there’s no better feeling. It’s a team game.

We got that feeling in the Ashes and we’re going to have that at The Oval next week,” he said.

England have been the world’s No. 1 Test side for scarcely a week, and already there’s a feeling that this side ought to be capable of ruling the roost for the next decade or more, much as West Indies did in the 1980s and Australia in the 2000s.

The fact is, anyone who has witnessed England train, perform and even celebrate in the past 18 months will recognise the hallmarks of a squad that has found the courage to pursue lasting greatness, while at the same time developing the confidence to treat the extraordinary as commonplace.

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34 Indo American News • Friday. August 19, 2011

IamBUSiNeSSNewS

Multinational Mindsets Clash with the Desi Dynamic Learning, India ‘Ishtyle’

CONTINUED FROM PAGE

29

Legrand was Benoit Lecuyer, who, when transferred back to France, quit and came back to India, this time as managing director of the German electrical component company Hager Electro. Lecuyer, who had worked in South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore before moving to Mumbai, sees the Indian propensity for people over processes as ‘humanising.’

“In India, management is more personal,” he says. “One of the things I learnt in India is to avoid calling large meetings with 50 people, like they do in Europe. I call our managers for one-on-one discussions, which helps me get to know them. I think people in Europe need to be reminded that human beings should be at the centre of business and life.”

In the nine months since Neil Mills took charge as CEO of Spicejet, the airline has lived through a fake pilot scandal and the trauma of having its chairman named in the 2G scam. “In India, it’s always one issue after another,” says the South African expat, who was previously CEO of FlyDubai.

“The challenges I expected have been there, plus a lot of extra ones on top.”

These days, Mills is focused on food, or rather, the food preferences of Indian flyers. When he joined Spicejet, the airline had just introduced hot onboard meals, but the menu was restricted mostly to biryani. Over the past few months, Mills has been experimenting with a more varied menu - and discovering the diversity of Indian cusine in the process. “It’s a minefield,” he says.

“If I’d suggested serving food on two hour flights at FlyDubai, they would have thought me daft. Low cost airlines never serve hot meals in other parts of the world. But here, it’s inherent, not an add-on. People fly us for our food.”

Mills, like most expatriates, initially believed India to be one big homogenous country, an idea that quickly went out the window. His most important lesson here, he says, is to see people as individuals and not as stereotypes: “There’s no such thing as a common Indian culture.

You have to tailor the way you give instructions to people based on their divergent backgrounds. A person

with a south Indian name could be more north Indian, because he lived in Delhi all his life.”

Soon Kwon, managing director of LG India, spent most of his career in South Korea, with early stints in the US and Canada and a brief posting as managing director of LG Australia. None of this prepared him for the diversity of India. “Working in India is like serving many countries. There are different cultures that give unique insights from a customer point of view. An insight that Indians like to hear loud sound in TV or on a phone, is very different from the rest of our markets. So localisation is extremely important for us. We have an Indian Insight team which directly reports to me and is one of my primary focus.”

At Samsung, President and CEO JS Shin echoes the views of his compatriot. Shin has spent a major part of his 27 years at Samsung working overseas, in Australia , Germany , BENELUX ( Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and the US, and he finds India’s diversity the most interesting aspect of his posting. “The biggest learning from my Indian experience is the need to be open-minded and flexible to the market needs,” he says. “Unlike in the West, one cannot have a single strategy that one can apply throughout the country. We have to deal with organised retail as well as mom and pop stores. Our global flagship models are selling here as much as our low-end models.”

Michael Bonham joined Ford Motor Company in Australia 26 years ago and since then, he’s worked in the UK, US and Thailand, before being posted as managing director of Ford India four years ago. Most of this time was spent in Chennai, till he moved to Delhi three months ago, which he thinks is a ‘different country’. “This is my biggest international assignment,” he says. “For me, there’s been massive learning into what it takes to be a robust competitor in this region.”

The big milestone in Bonham’s career has been the launch of the Figo. He’s been a part of the launch of the Falcon in Australia, the Mustang in the USA and the Range Rover in the UK, but these

were quite different from the small car that’s come to be Ford India’s prime mover. “Indians understand value for money like no other,” he says. “Customers here go by the cost of ownership - fuel economy, maintenance costs, component costs, resale value - rather than purchase price. It offers lessons for the developed markets as well.”

Technology and business are all very well, but the lessons that go deepest are usually to do with human relationships. At Nissan Motors India, managing director and CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama has been determinedly trying to change Indian work culture by making it more democratic. “Indian managers are rich with ideas and views but in business meetings, they do not express any disagreement with their bosses. My constant effort is to create an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust, confidence and fearlessness and thereby enable free flow of honest opinion from all.”

Tokuyama, who has worked in Japan, the US, the Netherlands and France, first realised how different India could be when he was sent the minutes of a meeting between Nissan and its business partners in India. “It was a voluminous document, looking like a thesis,” he says. “There were points in it which were not even discussed in the meeting. I had always believed minutes of a meeting should be a concise business document that compiles points of the discussion and its outcome. But our business partners seemed to be using it to bring in points of their interest.”

Of all the expatriate CEOs, it is arguably the Japanese who find it hardest to adjust to Indian work culture, Asian cultural heritage notwithstanding.

This is largely because Japan’s highly developed but stagnant economy is in many ways the anti-thesis of the Indian economy. At Daiwa Asset Management India, co-CEO Takashi Yamaguchi was recently asked by his bosses in Japan to prepare a three year business plan for headquarters. “It was really very difficult for me,” he says. “Indian people have no experience making the kind of detailed business plans required in Japan. In a fast-growing economy like India, action is more important. In Japan, we focus on planning. We have tons of discussion before we take any action. Then we review the action and again do planning.”

Co mi ng

So on

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this Day, that Age - History then

15 August, 1947 - India declares independence from UK, Islamic part becomes Pakistan.

16 August 1994 - Chandrika Kumaratungo’s party wins Sri Lanka elections.

17 August 1985 - Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India.

18 August 2008 - President Of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf resigned due to pressure from opposition.

20 August 2002 - A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime

of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.

20 August 1993 - Mother Teresa hospitalized with malaria.

20 August 1994 - Ferry boat sinks at Chandpur Bangladesh, 300-350 killed 20 August 1996 - India defeat Pakistan in Under-15 World Challenge Final at Lord’s.

20 August 1988 - 6.5 earthquake strikes India/Nepal, 1,000s killed.

Mushroom Farming Opens up New Avenues for unemployed Youth in J-K

JAMMU (NTI): The growing demand for mushrooms has opened up new opportunities for unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir.

A large number of people have taken up mushroom cultivation due to low initial investment and

The annual production of mushrooms in Jammu and Kashmir has risen from 6000 quintals to 8000 quintals in the past three years.

The farmers also lauded the efforts of the Department of Agriculture for taking the initiative in popularising

Mushroom farming is taking on in a big way in Jammu and Kashmir, also in Himachal Pradesh, as many unemployed youth are finding that cultivating mushrooms needs space and soil, low investment that brings in high returns. The department of Agriculture is rewarding the youth for their initiatives in mushroom farming.

high returns.

The biggest advantage of mushroom farming is that it can be cultivated indoors in the absence of an agricultural land.

“In spite of being educated, I was unable to find employment. I went to the Department of Agriculture, where I was told about mushroom farming. The biggest advantage in mushroom farming is that there is no need for agricultural land, as cultivation can be done indoors.

The investment required is not very high, and the returns are very good,” said Naresh Kumar, a mushroom farmer.

Since several strains of edible mushrooms are available, the farmers could choose to cultivate them throughout the year.

mushroom farming The department provided them with over 5000 mushroom cultivation trays last year.

“We are trying to popularize mushroom cultivation. We prepare the spawn (seed) required for growing mushrooms and provide it to farmers. Apart from organizing awareness programs, we also provide many incentives. For example, a new farmer requires 150,000 rupees for setting up a basic unit. We cover half the cost,” said Ajay Khajuria, Director, Department Of Agriculture, Jammu.

Mushrooms retails for 150 rupees a kilogram ($3.50) and even more in the market assuring farmers of a tidy profit.

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36 Indo American News • Friday. August 19, 2011

IamPakistanNews

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India Invites Pak Commerce Minister Fahim to Speed Up Trade Talks

ISLAMABAD (Dawn): Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal on Wednesday extended formal invitation to Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim to visit India along with a business delegation to give impetus to the crucial talks started in April last for liberalisation of trade between the two neighbouring countries.

Pakistan and India had resumed talks among other issues on trade in April after a halt of over three years since the Mumbai carnage.

Both sides agreed in the secretary level talks to liberalise the trade regime, which was currently restricted to selected items for trading placed under the positive list.“ Sabharwal informed the Pakistani commerce minister that Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma would like to carry talks process forward,” an official statement of the commerce ministry issued after the meeting on Wednesday said.

It is believed that the Indian commerce minister now looking towards its neighbor Pakistan to engage her on political as well as technical level to change the decades old trade regime between the two countries.

Pakistan is trading with India through a positive list, a list of products importable from India.

The positive list included 42 items for trading in the year 1986, which was expanded to 1145 items in the

year 2011 showing that Pakistan has diverted its global trade toward India in past few years.

Pakistan Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has accepted the invitation, but the exact time of the visit to India has not yet been committed, the commerce ministry statement said.

Fahim expressed his gratitude for the invitation and stated that he was looking forward to the visit.

He further stated that the talks between the commerce secretaries of Pakistan and India have been very fruitful and both have worked very hard in streamlining the trade issues between the two countries.

However, the minister said there was a political dimension to this issue and the talks between the two ministers would help in resolving them. The minister did not mention the issue in the statement but he was referring to the issue of Indian demand of MFN status, which Pakistan was reluctant to grant to New Delhi citing political reasons.

On the other hand, a commerce ministry official said that Pakistan was already working on the Indian demand to convert the trading regime from positive list to negative list. This will be a historic change in the history of Pakistan in liberalising its trade regime with India.

But the official said Pakistan would keep the sensitive items produced in the domestic industry in

the negative list, which will not be allowed to be imported from India. However, it was not clear whether the negative list would be introduced to restrict import of those items or just to mention that no duty reduction will be made in duty of those items.

P a k i s t a n Pakistan Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim expressed his gratitude and has more than said he is looking forward to the visit to help streamline the trade issues that has 1100 items in been so lagging between India and Pakistan for years now the sensitive list But still going from positive list under the south Asia Free Trade entertain the Indian demands.

This could actually means to negative list, the official would Area (Safta). Indian government is pushing Pakistan to keep the that Pakistan would keep a large be a see change in the Pakistan’s negative list items in line with the number of items may be more than trade policy approach toward Safta sensitive list. But the official the sensitive list of the Safta in the India. said Pakistan was not willing to negative list with India.

On the India-Pakistan Border, A Cold Peace

SUCHETGARH (Dawn): It has been nearly eight years since India and Pakistan agreed a ceasefire over Kashmir – long enough for residents to start building brick houses and plant paddy fields up to the edge of one of the world’s most heavily militarized borders.

But for soldiers guarding the disputed frontier, it is a fragile peace that can be broken at any time.

“I wouldn’t call our relationship on the border cordial. We characterise it as professional,” said an officer of India’s Border Security Force (BSF).

Now, as India and Pakistan embark on a tentative peace process and try to decide how to open their borders to trade and travel, it will be the situation on the ground in places such as Suchetgarh that determine

the pace of the detente.

A cold peace has held on the zig-zag border that begins in Suchetgarh, in the dry plains of the Jammu region, and winds its way to the rugged heights of Kashmir.

“We are not on hair-trigger alert, nor lower our guard either.

Not even for a moment,” says one officer.

Is the tension worth it?

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GOPIO Houston Texas Chapter (Global Organization of People of Indian Origin) 16260 Kensington Dr. Sugar Land, TX 77479 Tel 713 256 5441 (Mahesh) 832 217 7045 (Chad) email:Gopiohouston@gmail.com - www.gopio.net

MARK YOUR CALENDER Upcoming Informative Seminars Hosted

By The Gopio Houston Chapter

AUGUST 28, 2011 SUNDAY 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM INDIA HOUSE

Informative seminar on topics concerning NRI Health Issues:

How to reverse the HEART DISEASE, diabetes and high blood pressure through Diet - Presented by Dr. Kota Reddy CANCER prevention and cure – Presented Dr. Sewa Legha Medical Treatment in India OR USA - Panel Discussion Dialog with the doctors (RSVP at gopiohouston@gmail.com -Light Refreshment Served prior to the seminar) OTHER MAJOR CURRENT ISSUES PURSUED BY GOPIO TO PROTECT THE INTEREST OF NRI (Non Resident Indians) AND PIO (People of Indian Origin)  Indian American Groups Seeking Relief on Penalties Stipulated

by U.S. Tax Rules on Foreign Bank Accounts  Pursue Indian Government to further relax the rules for surrender certificates  NRI Voting Rights  Protest against Australian Government for discreminatory Immigration Policy against Indians

Upcoming GOPIO seminars: October 09 Immigration Update, Child Adoption November 18 Tax Treaty/Investment Opportunity - US/India Please send your ideas and concerns to GOPIOHOUSTON@gmail.com

GOPIO is a community supported non-profit organization taking up issues of the Indian Diaspora and attempting to unifying the community in its common causes.

Support GOPIO by becoming a Life Member or chapter member. Call or E mail for more information.

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37

IameNtertaiNMeNtNewS

38 Indo American News • Friday. August 19, 2011

Farah Khan Reveals Her Darkest Memory

“Not my onus to patch up Salman,”

Katrina

Katrina Kaif, who is working with Shahrukh and Salman Khan in different projects says it’s not not her responsibility to facilitate a patch up between the warring Khans, after their friendly relations soured following a showdown at the birthday bash of the

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actress few years ago.

Katrina will be working with both Salman and SRK under Yash Raj Films banner. The film with her ex-beau is titled, Ek Tha Tiger, a romantic thriller, directed by Kabir Khan of New York fame.

The film will be released in 2012.

BY NEHA MAHESHWRI (TOI) Ace choreographerturned-director Farah Khan revealed her dark past on reality show, Just Dance. She disclosed how her Hindu neighbours saved them from getting killed during the riots of 1993 While Independence Day draw closer and each one narrates the stories of freedom fighters and their patriotism, Farah Khan revealed a dark and terrifying story from her childhood! While the contestants of Just Dance were fighting to secure their place in top 11 of the show, Farah Khan managed to narrate an untold

story of how her family had a narrow escape from death during the 1993 bomb blasts and riots.

She said, “We were a Muslim family staying in a cosmopolitan society, however during the riots when every-

one was struggling for their lives, we were saved by our Hindu neighbours who helped my family by discarding their name plates from the doors so that our house doesn’t stand out which would have otherwise caught the attention of the activists. I was very young then and none of us had the courage to step out alone.

Eventually, the neighbors took us with them and we were given shelter and hence saved from being stabbed to death.”

Farah adds, “This is one of my darkest memories and I hope no one has to go through this in his/her life.”

Freida Pinto Stars in Immortals Freida Pinto stars in her first 3D Hollywood action epic in IMMORTALS from director Tarsem Singh which opens in theaters on 11-11-11. Attached is a still of the actress in the new ancient Greek adventure from Relativity Media and below you will find links and embed code for the exciting trailer to this highly anticipated motion picture.

SYNOPSIS: Visionary director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall) transports us in this epic tale of treachery, vengeance and destiny in IMMORTALS, a stylish and visually spectacular 3D action adventure. As a power-hungry king razes ancient Greece in search of a legendary weapon, a heroic young villager rises up against him in a thrilling quest as timeless as it is powerful.

The brutal and bloodthirsty King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his murderous Heraklion army rampage across Greece in search of the long lost Bow

of Epirus. With the invincible Bow, the king will be able to overthrow the Gods of Olympus and become the undisputed master of his world.

With ruthless efficiency, Hyperion and his legions destroy everything in their wake, and it seems nothing will stop the evil king’s mission

As village after village is obliterated, a stonemason named Theseus (Henry Cavill) vows to avenge his mother, who was killed in one of Hyperion’s brutal raids.

When Theseus meets the Sybelline Oracle, Phaedra (Freida Pinto), her disturbing visions of the young man’s future convince her that he is the key to stopping the destruction.

With her help, Theseus assembles a small band of followers and embraces his destiny in a final, desperate battle for the future of humanity.

IMMORTALS is produced

by Gianni Nunnari (300), Mark Canton (300) and Ryan Kavanaugh (The Fighter).

DIRECTOR: Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell) WRITERS: Charles Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides CAST: Henry Cavill (Superman: Man of Steel), Freida Pinto (Slumdog

Millionaire), Stephen Dorff (Somewhere), Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Luke Evans (The Raven, The Three Musketeers), Kellan Lutz (The Twilight Saga), John Hurt (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Parts 1 & 2), and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) PRODUCERS: Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton, Ryan Kavanaugh .

‘No One Can Match up to Shammi’ LUDHIANA: Memories of legendary actor Shammi Kapoor his trademark dance and romantic antics - flooded city residents as news of his death got around past Sunday.

Declaring that there can never be any like him, Vaishali Malhotra of Sarabha Nagar said, “No one then or now - has had the energy and madness that made Shammi Kapoor an absolute legend.’’ Agar Nagar’s Harpreet Singh said the narrative of Shammi Kapoor will not end with his passing away. “His movies will continue to enchant many generations to come,’’ Singh added.For many it was like the passing of an era as they recalled dancing on his famous numbers from ‘Junglee’, ‘An Evening in Paris’ and ‘Teesri Manzil’. “I cannot believe that a legend who conquered many hearts with his dance, aura and looks is no more.

I remember dancing on his tunes,’’ said Arti Gupta, BRS Nagar.

Model Town-resident Taranpreet Kaur said, “No one can take your place. You will be deeply missed by millions and I am one of them.”

Memory lane Shammi Kapoor was an evergreen actor. An inspiration to a million. He had dance moves you can’t match up and still no one has that style statement Neelam Gupta | tagore nagar He was one of the first Bollywood icons for the youth. He liberated actors from being stereo typed.

Everyone will miss his style and substance Santosh R Paul | civil lines.

He was an inspiration not just by his style and the films he did, but also his attitude towards life. I will miss him

People magazine honors Bollywood fitness icon, Akshay Kumar, with title of

‘Fittest Body’

Bollywood’s leading action hero and fitness fanatic, Akshay Kumar, has been honoured with the coveted title of ‘Fittest Body’ by respected global media title, People magazine, and graces the cover of the latest issue, for the second time.

In 2008, Akshay walked away with the magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ title, and it seems People cannot get enough of Indian cinema’s health and fitness icon,

as he champions the newly awarded title and his second cover shot in three years.

This month’s edition features people with fantastic bodies and our very own Khiladi is the epitome of the Body Beautiful. At the age of 44, Akshay can still give the younger pin-up stars a run for their money. Although he is known to be a fitness fanatic, he has never indulged himself in getting six packs or eights abs, unlike most of the industry’s

actors.

In this issue of People magazine, the superstar talks about his fitness mantra which includes Kickboxing, Martial Arts, Swimming, Parkour, Yoga, Basketball, Volleyball, Cycling and Trekking. Akshay is at his modest best when he says, “I’m not what you call good looking. Our industry just happens to have excellent directors of photography.”

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40 Indo American News • Friday. August 19, 2011 NEW YORK: To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the September 11th tragedy, and to celebrate their tenth season Desipina & Co. – a fusion arts company focusing in film and theatre, dedicated to promoting crosspollinations of artistic, political and cultural dialogues – will present BARRIERS, a play

by Rehana Lew Mirza (The Good Muslim) about a South Asian family’s loss from the 9/11 attacks and the backlash they endure, featuring a cast that includes Pooja Kumar (Miss India USA 1995, “Hiding Divya”) and Sunkrish Bala (ABC-TV’s “Notes from the Underbelly”). Previews of BARRIERS will begin Wednesday, September 7 prior to an official opening date of September 9 at HERE (145 6th Avenue, enter on Dominick, 1 block south of Spring Street) in Manhattan.

Rehana Lew Mirza’s play BARRIERS takes place four months after the 9/11 attacks and focuses on the Chinese/Pakistani Abbas family and the loss of their eldest son Nabhil who had been in the World Trade Center during the attack. When Sunima, the Abbas’s only daughter, comes home to announce her pending engagement to a white man – she finds her joyful news lost in a mire of household problems and quickly becomes trapped in the shared family loss that was never dealt with. As this multi-cultural family begins to fragment, they begin to piece together the past each one hides, and the future they all share.

Originally mounted in 2002 at HERE and then subsequently co-produced with the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2003, BARRIERS is returning to the stage to look back on the ten-year anniversary of the September 11th tragedy. Directed by Colette Robert, BARRIERS features a cast that includes: Pooja Kumar, Sunkrish Bala, Joe Petrilla, Eileen Rivera, Jon Norman Schneider and Rajeev Varma. BARRIERS is an Equity approved showcase. BARRIERS

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Desipina & Co, celebrating their 10th season, present

Barriers

Rehana Lew Mirza’s play

is produced by Ying Le for Desipina & Co. and has a design team that includes Katherine Akiko Day (set and costume design), Colin Whitely (sound design), and Marie Yokoyama (lighting design).

BARRIERS is a part of HEREstay, HERE’s curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical and administrative support.

Rehana Lew Mirza’s full-length plays include BARRIERS (HERE; Asian American Theater Company, SF); The Good Muslim (Theater Row); Radio Diaries Of Hank, Yank, & Prank; Particles Of Pakistan (E.S.T. Sloan Commission); if it’s sad i don’t want to see it (O’Neill semi-Finalist) and LONELY LEELA. She was the 2010 IAAC playwright in residence at The Lark Development Center, a 2008-2010 TCG Future Leader fellow with New Georges, a Leopold Schepp scholar, a 2G Resident Artist, LMCC artist grantee, John Golden Award winner, Princess Grace finalist, and a Sundance Feature Film Lab finalist. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Desipina & Co. Colette Robert’s recent directing credits include: Pluck & Tenacity (Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Winner), SERIAL.BLACK. FACE (The Culture Project/Women Center Stage), when last we flew (FringeNYC-winner of Fringe Excellence Awards in Playwriting and Performance, Fringe Encore series, GLAAD Media Award-- Outstanding Off-Off-Broadway Play), and Stockton

(EST/Youngblood).

Pooja Kumar was crowned Miss India USA in 1995. In 2003, she received the Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actress Award for her role in the film “Flavors.”

Her other credits include: “Hiding Divya,” “Park Sharks,” “Bollywood Beats,” and “Anything For You.” Sunkrish Bala was recently seen on ABC TV’s “Notes from the Underbelly.” His other credits include guest starring roles on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “My Name is Earl,” “CSI: NY,” “Bones,” etc. Sunkrish will be seen in MTV’s upcoming comedy series “I Just Want My Pants Back,” slated to premiere in January 2012.

Joe Petrilla most recently played Hamlet at Webster Hall. He has performed at the Cell, Metropolitan Playhouse, Ensemble Studio Theater, Galapagos Art Space, and as part of the Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Lab. He co-starred in the film “The House is Burning,” a debut at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, playing opposite Oscar-winner Melissa Leo. Eileen Rivera’s credits include: The Encounter (Diverse City), Rosa Loses Her Face (Queens Theater in the Park), Beast (Nytw), Please Don’t Eat The Daisies (workshop, La Jolla Playhouse), Sides: The Fear Is Real (Culture Project), Dogeaters (Public/NYSF), etc.

Jon Norman Schneider’s credits include: edith can shoot things and hit them (Actors Theater of Louisville, Humana), A Play On War, Blind Mouth Singing (Naatco), Ching Chong Chinaman (Pan Asian Rep),

Queens Boulevard (the musical) (Signature), Durango (Public), Thunder Above Deeps Below (2G), etc.Rajeev Varma created New Zealand’s first Indo-Asian theatre company, The Untouchables Collective, in 2003. Raj was a lead in New Zealand’s first Prime Time Indo-Asian sketch comedy show, “1000 Apologies.” Other credits include “Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Young Hercules” and “Cleopatra 2525.”

BARRIERS and Desipina & Co. programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the Asian Women’s Giving Circle, the Nancy Quinn Fund (a project of ART/NY), Off Broadway Angels, and Dramatists Guild Fund.

The first performance of BARRIERS, on September 7th, will be a benefit performance with post-performance discussion and reception presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) and Desipina.

Scheduled September 7 through September 18, performances of BARRIERS will run Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm and 7:00pm (exception: no 7:00pm performance on Sunday, September 18). The two performances on Sunday, September 11th (at 2pm and 7pm) will be “pay what you can” with part of the proceeds going to support The Neil G. Shastri Foundation (www.NeilShastri.com), an educational foundation named in honor of a September 11th victim who was of South Asian heritage. Tickets are $18 general admission. BARRIERS will be performed at HERE 145 6th Ave. (Enter on Dominick, 1 Block South of Spring).

Tickets & Information at: www.here.org or call 212-352-3101.

For more information on BARRIERS or Desipina & Co., please visit www.desipina.org.

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Time to Send Your Dollars to India? Take Advantage of Exchange Rate MUMBAI (TOI) :The rupee touched a high of Rs 43.95 against the dollar recently. While the dollar was prompt to catch up, economists do not see a stronger dollar as a continuous trend. Says Manika Prem Singh, promoter of economic research firm Orbis Economics, “While the currency has not been able to maintain its position at sub-44 levels, this recent level should not be seen as a one-off movement in the rupee.”

A number of factors tilt the scales in favor of a stronger rupee. “The broad currency trend has been one of appreciation over time; the Reserve Bank’s foreign exchange reserves accretion is a possible reflection of the underlying pressures for a rise in the rupee; foreign direct investment (FDI) has improved in 2011-12 so far and policies are finally being cobbled together for allowing FDI in multibrand retail; and last, the subsisting weakness in the US economy will continue to translate into a stronger rupee, barring any major negative global development,” Prem Singh cites.

But an appreciating rupee is definitely not good news for dollar repatriations, that is, money sent to India by NRIs based in the US. We look at various scenarios and try to address how to deal with them What you should do Scenario 1: For regular repatriations Virat Diwanji, Executive Vice President, Kotak Mahindra Bank says, “Major remittance flows into India are for family maintenance, followed by investment into multiple asset classes including real estate. Sustenance remittance has no connect with exchange rates.”

What this means is that if you need to send money home on a monthly basis for your family’s expenses, there is little you can do about it, because you cannot really time such remittances according to the currency movements.

Scenario 2: For investment driven repatriations If you are wondering if now is a good time to remit funds to India for

investment purposes, Diwanji says, “While markets are volatile and one may see rupee in range of Rs 43- Rs 45, for those looking at investing in India, various long term asset classes including real estate looks attractive. Even NRO deposits have seen significant inflows as interest rates become more attractive. Hence looking at various asset classes and purpose for flows, one can continue to move money to India without looking at volatility.

For others who want to hold money in India without investing or converting, they can do so through Foreign Currency Non-Resident

(FCNR) deposit route and convert when they see a favorable exchange rate. Any rate north of Rs 45 is a good rate in the current scenario.”

Having said that, if your plan is to remit in the near future of 3-6 months, rupee is not likely to rise significantly.

Indranil Pan, Chief Economist of Kotak Mahindra Bank explains, “With capital flows just about covering the current account deficit, scope for any material INR appreciation looks limited. However, we cannot totally rule out bouts of rupee appreciation, especially around times of huge inflows (near IPOs etc). Some dollars could also start coming in due to the deal of Reliance and BP amounting to USD 7 billion that was cleared. All this in a stable global scenario could lead to some appreciation bias for the rupee.

However, we do not consider these as sustainable appreciations.” Pan expects USD/INR to remain choppy and trade in the Rs 44.00 - Rs 46.50 range for most part of this financial year.

An economist from a leading financial services firm also agrees. He says, “While the large interest rate differential will be positive for the INR, we fear that the global risk averse environment and its negative impact on equities will cap a large appreciation. Remitting funds now would be better than waiting for the next 3-6 months.”

Scenario 3: Currency bets?

It might seem tempting in times like these to bet against the dollar to make a quick buck.

But California based financial planner and NRI specialist with InvestmentYogi.com Ariadne

Horstman cautions, “If you have a US based need for the money in the short term, better keep it in the USA. Betting on currency moves is a big gamble. I might prefer to see people investing in funds which hedge the dollar professionally rather than doing it themselves independently.”

Option 1: Currency futures These are contracts devised to hedge risks that arise out of foreign exchange fluctuations. Experts suggest that today, one could sell the USD/ INR 6 months forward date or 2 year forward date. This will help the customer hedge against currency appreciation.

To explain with an example, suppose you enter a contract to sell USD 10,000 2 years from now, at an exchange rate of Rs 43. Suppose the rupee appreciates to Rs 42, you would still be able to sell at Rs 43.

Of course, this is a very simple example. You would need to take into account other factors such as costs, counterparty risks and so on. Like Horstman says, “I would only recommend it to seasoned investors who can well afford to take the risk and know the risks. I would not recommend this to the average Joe.” Option 2: Cost effective remittances What will the average Joe do in times such as these? Keep transaction costs as low as possible.

After all, you don’t want remittance costs eating into the already depreciating dollar value.

And if you plan ahead, you might have the benefit of time on your side. That is, you may be able to opt for lower cost remittance methods even though they may take a few days longer.

Whatever you do, Diwanji says, “It is advisable to look at the purpose of sending money (investment v/s sustenance) and take a decision accordingly. Further, it is also advisable to talk to your banker and seek advice on the quantum of remittance and the timing.”

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