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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016

1

Yearender special

A

2016 in Retrospect

Sports

MIDWEST EDITION | EAST COAST EDITION | Volume 7 • Issue No. 390 DECEMBER 30, 2016 | THE COMMUNITY FIRST YEARENDER SPECIAL

Legends bloom amid gloom x

yearender special

2016 in Retrospect

US NEWS

Business

E-commerce rides on Donald Trump rewrote history with an incredible presidential Atmade Rio India’s deep embarrassment was digitization redeemed by silver-winning shuttler P.V. run that himOlympics, Time’s Person TRUMP TSUNAMI SWEEPS THE US

of the Year and catapulted him to the second spot on Forbes list of the world’s most powerful. A rank outsider with no government or military experience, the Manhattan SAYAN MUKHERJEE, NEW DELHI mogul demolished two political dynasties.....

Sindhu, ‘bronzed’ wrestler Sakshi Malik and a refreshingly confident gymnast Dipa Karmaka The rapid growth of smartphones and internet connectivity has given greater access to virtual shopping and e-tailing for the tech-savvy generation BAPPADITYA CHATTERJEE & FAKIR BALAJI, KOLKATA/BENGALURU

T

he increasing use of digital technologies in buying and selling merchandise for convenience and mobility pushed e-commerce in India to an inflection point in 2016. The rapid growth of smartphones and internet connectivity across the country, especially in tier-II and III cities, has given greater access to virtual shopping and e-tailing for the tech-savvy

T

generation and millennials.

Even as e-tail behemoths Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon vied for a greater pie of the growing ecommerce market, enterprises and businesses in diverse sectors have joined the bandwagon to hard-sell their products by leveraging digital technology.

“E-commerce in India is at an inflection point, thanks to robust growth in consumer demand.

Mobile penetration and increasing use of smart phones have led to the emergence of m-commerce, which

E-tail behemoths Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are vying for a greater pie of the e-commerce market in India.

(Photo: Courtesy, http://www.softwaregen.com)

accounted for about 40 per cent of the sector’s sales this year,” Tata CLiQ Chief Executive Ashutosh Pandey told IANS. According to a study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), transition to mobile shopping is faster in India, which overtook the US this year in terms of active mobile users (220 million) and next only to China in user base.

The emergence of the Omnichannel model in e-tailing has also enabled netizens shop across e-por-

tals, web sites, apps and in stores as per their convenience.

“As a result, e-commerce players are looking at seamless integration of online and offline stores to offer consumers a unique shopping experience in the virtual and real worlds,” Pandey asserted.

With digital payments increasing through multiple gateways for online and offline buying, the push for cashless transactions in the aftermath of the November 8 demonetization has driven more and more consumers to e-shopping

and m-shopping.

Greater use of cloud computing, data analytics and artificial intelligence has made e-commerce players not only competitive and smart in retaining their mass user-base but also map shopping trends and predict purchasing patterns to consolidate their dominant position for sustaining growth.

Though demonetization has impacted the retail sector due to the cash crunch, digital transactions have enabled e-commerce firms to weather the crisis.

he euphoria over sending itsx biggestx contingent yearender special Reliance yearender special INDIA NEWSdisrupts, telecom spectrum disrupts more ever to the Olympics did BUSINESS not lastx as the perforW E-COMMERCE WILL BLACK GO OUT OF SYSTEM? I yearender special 2016 inThe Retrospect mance of Indian xathletes did not RIDES ON DIGITIZATION year 2016 can well be labeled as the domestic yearender special money retrieval year that saw the government measure up to promise. It was aThe increasing use of inblack 2016 Retrospect digital technologies2016 in buying follow a carrot-and-stick policy, nudging hoarders to in Retrospect crushing reminder to not only and selling merchandise on their own by paying a penalty before Businesscome clean sports authorities but also to an for convenience.... the Income Tax Department showed the stick. expectant nation that believed DIPLOMACY .and medals were A just thereOFforQUIET the taking YEAR -- all our athletesDIPLOMACY needed do was show up in sufficient As Prime numbers.

Minister In the Modi event, theawayIndian Narendra stayed they were on a “break”. And in The year saw various celebrity this year, India followed a hope Olympics Association’s (IOA) November, they applied for couples breaking up in the divorce — just months after they of quiet diplomacy of astrategy double-digit tally -better than co-hosted Power Couple, a reality TV show majorly based on while projectingBollywood its soft and Hollywood too, love and positivity. the six-medal haulworld in with London four between the split power at the body, Together, Arbaaz and Malaika, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt The rapid growth of smartphones who got married in 1997, and years — camea to nought as evenearlier as it suffered setback always complemented each other and internet connectivity hassensation creating a massive Some analysts feelto virtual that too with their looks, have a 14-yearin thereturned fight against terrorism.

India with agreater mereaccess silver given yearender special old son named Arhaan. and e-tailing for black chances to the Actors Sushant Singh Rajput and a bronzemany fromshopping the Rio Games.

Minister Narendra Modi with PV Sindhu, Sakshi Dipa Karmakar Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi VasudevMalik, addressesand during the International Day Actors Brad Pitt and Ankita Lokhande: He made and Jitu Rai in New Delhi. (Photo: IANS/PIB) the tech-savvy generation Prime External Affairs Ministerthe Sushma Swaraj at United for Yoga programme at United Nations in New York.the (Photo: x Angelina Jolie: Nations LabelledGeneral Assembly. (Photo Credit: UN/IANS) or years, world of addresses girl Mohammed go weak inJaffer/IANS) the knees when moneybegan, hoarders may finally As the Games similar showbiz has set popular as the split of all splits of he proposed to her on one knee on The Brangelina breakup the Brangelina benchmarks for love and 2016, national television.

Qaeda and the Islamic State.But alas, the demotivate the honest taxpayer rocked the entertainment Dipa Karmakar and despair, it was Malik who of “earning” a spot at the Olympics headlines -- predictably onromance. the But lines OBITUARY breakup gymnast rocked the away from dent didn’t last long. wasstory to be expected of finally a world, leaving their fans This love the reel, real life love stories went entertainment world made their acting Council Having that Akbaruddin had debut s Prime Narenbroke heartbroken. an unwanted duck, on the but getting disqualified for doping of “Indians knocked out” --Minister started like noneon other, leaving golfer sour multiple celebrity in as 2009 with the TV Pavitra MEGHNA MITTAL, NEW DELHI and 18-year-old taken record were Rs Aditi Ashok, the ridiculed functioning in ashow “randrafor Modi stayed away this couples across the followed Bollywood and their fans heartbroken.

Rishta, Sushant and Ankita were dom mix of ad-hocism, scrambling year, India aTAMIL OF 67,382 crore made by 71,726 Jolie citedtwo “irreconcilable differ- the got married in 2014 in but Hollywood in 2016, which latter quicklyparalysis.” pronounced one of best missing podium 13th day of the global competition. hours before his first bout was stacking up on theQUEEN internet’s “mostand political strategy of circuit quiet diplomahe yearalso 2016 can well be atin declarants. is expected as the grounds for the France, and have six children — decided to split, but severalAttempts interestingly brought Hindi ences” IDS-2016 looking couples at one point of to TV reform council sufcy NADU, while projecting its soft power FOREVER divorce, releasedcrore a state-account rumours indicated and that an actress cinema’s verydomestic own “Breakup time.

Hesetback was offered Kai Po gloss Che!, labeled as the to fetch overwhile Rsa Pitt 30,000 in together. giving worthy of themSindhu Dipa put a bit of another ignominy India could have viewed” lists. fered another that directly the world body, even as it suffered a song”. for India’s Their personal lives hogged ment of his own to People magazine Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar could have been home-breaker hit whichquest put him a roll in Bollyfor aonpermanent setback inmoney thea fight against terror-when black retrieval direct tax revenue tosaddened the governShe was shy girl she love saga. saying: “I am very by this, and into celebrity hairstylist Adhuna thison on his the gossip selves, reportedly taking a tollagain seat onwood, the Council. ism. limelight through was India’s deep embarrassment all treading uncharit and everyone was happy done without. year that saw the government while the Voluntary Disclowith Ankita.

After a sixandAR had Rahman’s the social media but what matters most now is the Bhabani: They called it quits after Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan andThe relationship Intergovernmental NegotiaMusiccolumns composer stepped into the movie world. world buzzing. well-beingof of our kids.”resulted in 16 years of marriage, announcing actress Malaika Arora: The speculayear long romance, Sushant ment follow a carrot-and-stick polScheme 1997 tions on reforming the Council lost had to concert commemorating MS Sub- sure tered redeemedfirst ever-so-partially by four territory as Indian women — the narrative changing But all this was a mere footnote IANS has compiled a mix of that they had “mutually and amition about tensions between the The two got together in 2004 announced in January 2016 that he the momentum built up last year. bulakshmi’s concertDecades at the UN 50 disclosure icy, nudging hoarders to come of Rs 33,000 crore and later, by India projected soft at United but General splits fans and fraternity cablypower decided to separate”.

It was couple Nations had been on for a while, The after starring in Mr & Mrs Smith, would tie the knotdecided with Ankita by Assembly in years ago wasthat the left highlight of a collection disrupts, spectrum women — clean silver-winning shuttler “women or “girl power”. when viewed in the global context. on Reliance theirof own by paying awhat of telecom Rs 9,760 crore in more March thatpower” Arbaaz and members wonder about went athletes. not revealed why thedisrupts parents of it was leading to the latter’s split worth from the end of this year.

But their relaJuly to put off further negotiations series events this year promoting but had setback on the terrorism front Minister Narendra Modi when wasThe one of Friends thestar Jennifer Aniston. They two children — Akira and Shakya Malaika decided toPrime announce that tionship took another course. penalty before the she Income of taxes. influence.Tax on reforms to the next session after India’s wrong: cultural P.V. Sindhu, “bronzed” wrestler As the collective thought process Wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s proThe title-screamers remained two It wasIDS left plodding on a lonely road India. “The land of Taxila, one of discussions spluttered. The new sescarried forward by Oscar-winner’s to the Department showed thetribute stick.

The required theAkbar declarants most popular actors Tamil, concerned thedeclaration greatest learning centers of sion that Akbaruddin to the General “Queen of Music” in August was an in startedclearly in September The Income Declaration toand pay 25the per cent of the taxturned inamong the nations cesssaga or not willtrue-blue be determinedgreats, by Themore Rs 13,860 crore The intention of IDS was has Sakshi Malik, a refreshingly confiof nation from hope to tracted but ultimately wasteful who were at the about terrorism. ancient times, is now host to the Ivy Assembly’s general debate that folevocation of universal harmony, not yet taken it up.

Jayalalithaa became a colossus in

2016 in Retrospect

Entertainment India Diplomacy

APARAJITA GUPTA, NEW DELHI

t was the year of the big bang in telecom. Reliance Jio’s disruptive entry into the sector threw an unorthodox gauntlet at its rivals, triggering a bruising war of words -- and tariffs -- among players.

But it was also the year which ended in a whimper for the telecom spectrum auction. The much-touted “biggest spectrum auction” proved to be a stupendous failure, marring the spirit of the industry. Reliance Jio launched its fourth generation (4G) services in September — offering free voice, forever. To sweeten the deal, it threw in free data till the end of the year, later extending it to March of 2017.

Voice is what telecom operators make their money on. Without that, how does one survive in a market as price sensitive as India?

“I assure you, we will not lose money,” Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani told his shareholders while

‘Luv Ka The End’: Splitsville E-commerce time in Bollywood, Hollywood

Will black go rides on digitization out of system?

DURGA CHAKRAVARTY, MUMBAI

2016 in Retrospect F

T Entertainment A

E-tail behemoths Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are vying for a greater pie of the e-commerce market in India.

(Photo: Courtesy, http://www.softwaregen.com)

A YEAR OF QUIET DIPLOMACY

generation and millennials.

Even as e-tail behemoths FlipARUL LOUIS, UNITED NATIONS kart, Snapdeal and Amazon vied he increasing use of digi- for a greater pie of the growing etal technologies in buy- commerce market, enterprises and ing and selling merchan- businesses in diverse sectors have dise for convenience and joined the bandwagon to hard-sell mobility pushed e-commerce in their products by leveraging digital India to an inflection point in technology.

“E-commerce in India is at an 2016. The rapid growth of smartphones and internet connectivity inflection point, thanks to robust across the country, especially in growth in consumer demand. tier-II and III cities, has given Mobile penetration and increasing greater access to virtual shopping use of smart phones have led to the and e-tailing for the tech-savvy emergence of m-commerce, which BAPPADITYA CHATTERJEE & FAKIR BALAJI, KOLKATA/BENGALURU

announcing the Jio offer. This was taking competition to a whole new level. “The free voice call offer by Reliance for the 4G rollout was a major event — it was disruptive,”

Rishi Tejpal, Principal Research Analyst for Telecom Business Strategy at Gartner, told IANS. Jio’s disruptive offer led to long queues at its outlets across the country. But then in mobile telephony, each network is dependent on the others for successful completion of pan-Indian calls.

Reliance Jio found a new turf war in the making. It accused incumbent players of not providing enough number of Points of Interconnection (PoIs).

As expected, the matter was dragged to the ministry level and the watchdog — the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The regulator proposed a heavy penalty of Rs 3,050 crore, in all, on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular for “violating license norms” by denying enough PoIs to Reliance Jio. “The issue of limited interconnection points, as highlighted by Reliance Jio, impacted the customer experience it wanted to give its customers,” Tejpal said.

accounted for about 40 per cent of the sector’s sales this year,” Tata CLiQ Chief Executive Ashutosh Pandey told IANS. According to a study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), transition to mobile shopping is faster in India, which overtook the US this year in terms of active mobile users (220 million) and next only to China in user base.

The emergence of the Omnichannel model in e-tailing has also enabled netizens shop across e-por-

tals, web sites, apps and in stores as per their convenience.

“As a result, e-commerce players are looking at seamless integration of online and offline stores to offer consumers a unique shopping experience in the virtual and real worlds,” Pandey asserted.

With digital payments increasing through multiple gateways for online and offline buying, the push for cashless transactions in the aftermath of the November 8 demonetization has driven more and more consumers to e-shopping

and m-shopping.

Greater use of cloud computing, data analytics and artificial intelligence has made e-commerce players not only competitive and smart in retaining their mass user-base but also map shopping trends and predict purchasing patterns to consolidate their dominant position for sustaining growth.

Though demonetization has impacted the retail sector due to the cash crunch, digital transactions have enabled e-commerce firms to weather the crisis.

T he End’: Splitsville girl’ raised her own bar globally ollywood,I ‘Desi Hollywood APARAJITA GUPTA, NEW DELHI

t was the year of the big bang in telecom. Reliance Jio’s disruptive entry into the sector threw an blending faiths and lowed in New York. Over a week unorthodoxtraditions, gauntlet at itstime, rivals, triggering a bruising war of words -- Assembly and they met scores of world leaders and languages at the General tariffs -- among chamber in aplayers. show of 21st century the various geographic, political and But it was also the year which pizzazz.

On Gandhi Jayanthi, economic groups before External ended in a whimper for the telecom which isauction. commemorated at the UN Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj spectrum The much-touted “biggest spectrum auction”Day proved as the International of Non- came to deliver India’s speech at the to be a stupendous failure, marring violence, the UN postal service general debate on its last day. As a the spirit of the industry. Reliance released a commemorative stamp in result, support for India’s bid for a Jio launched its fourth generation NIVEDITA, NEW DELHI (4G) services in September — offerpermanent seat in the Security honor of Subbulakshmi. ingIndia free voice, sweetenon the had forever. a low Toprofile Council was solidified among key once that lot she wants datasaid till the the deal, it threwhe in free diplomatic that masked groups of nations, the universal end of the year,front later extending it toit aseems the world, and 2016 of behind-the-scenes diplomacy. risks from terrorism was highlightMarch of 2017. helped her Voice what telecom operators Afteris having made agettripa few to steps ed and Pakistan was isolated on her dream.

The year saw make theircloser moneytoto on.address Without that, Washington the Con- Kashmir. how does Priyanka one survive inChopra a market asbecoming the gress,sensitive Modias India? did not attend the announcing Prime Minister Nawaz was price the Jio offer.

This Sharif was taking first South Asian to win a People’s annual general debate of the Gener“I assure you, we will not money,” competition to a whole new level. “The free Choice Award,lose followed bycall offer by Reliance for the 4G rollReliance Industries Mukesh voice al Assembly that Chairman brings together presenting Oscar and Emmy Ambani told his shareholders while out was a major event — it was disruptive,” heads of state and government from

Rishi Tejpal, Principal Research Analyst for Telecom Business Strategy at Gartner, told IANS. Jio’s disruptive offer led to long queues at its outlets across the Ninety percent of inthemobile speakers country.

But then telephony, terrorism, each network isbut dependent mentioned none the others for successful comexcept onSharif talked of Kashmir, pletion of pan-Indian calls.

Akbaruddin andturf asked, Reliancepointed Jio foundout a new war “Diplomacy is the art of theincumpossiin the making.

It accused providing ble; arebent you players seeing of anynot other counenough number of Points of Intertries raising the issues Pakistan has?” connection (PoIs).

After As Sharif ’s general debate expected, the matter was to theBurhan ministryMuzaffar level and speech dragged glorifying watchdog — the RegWani, athecommander of Telecom the Hizbul ulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Mujahideen, Eenam Gambhir, The regulator proposed a heavya young diplomat thecrore, Indian penalty of Rsat 3,050 in all,mison Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Pakistan’s India and sion replied hammering Idea Cellular for “violating association with terrorism in alicense reply norms” by denying enough PoIs to that made herissue a mini-celebrity Jio. “The of limited intercon-in Reliance nection points, as highlighted by Reliance Jio, impacted the customer experience it wanted to give its customers,” Tejpal said.

The gauntlet thrown by Reliance Jio was, of course, picked up — there was no way out. The three big telecom players in the country — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular — brought in their own League terrorism,” said in a This was despite 113 countries of offers on freeofcalls for pre-paidshe customers.

“The incumbents memorable line.seem not to have lost the 122 that responded to an IGN comparable share or aseen a largein India, market however, had setbacks survey in 2014 supported expandmovement of their customers to Jio,” fighting terrorism asconsultancy China contining the Council, according to Mahesh Uppal, Director of firm Akbaruddin. uedFirst, to told provide Com IANS. cover for Pakistan Losingfor market share isbased one thing; India’s cultural push -- a major and terrorists therelosing who revenue is another and a more serious mateffort this year -- included an exhibare behind attacks on India. ter. “There is sufficient evidence that it, “Africans in India: From Slaves to Beijing blocked New Delhi’s attempts by incumbent mobile operators to won the People’s Choice Award for US that tookdepicted her to chat match Jio’s aggressive has dented Generals” India’sshows tra- with request to havepricing Pakistan-based her significantly,” international acting as of Jimmy Fallon, Ellen those DeGeneres Uppal adds.debutdition their revenues openness that raised Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood FBI agent Alex in American and Seth Meyers.

Her name The situation, therefore, wouldParish be a matter who was behind the attack who came as slaves to positions of was of Azhar, concern TV for both sides, he suggests. also featured in Time magazine’s thriller series Quantico.

Shepower is as rulers and military leaders. on Pathankot air force base, The the new year would decide who gets a MostInternational Influential People said to be the first South AsianThe 100 bloody nose and who remains unscathed in a terrorist by the Security Second Yoga in the declared actress to win the honour. The World list alongside Oscar-winner this bruising fight.

Council committee that imposes Day was celebrated under the leadBy the end of September, of second Leonardo DiCaprio, Facebook actress is also the partnumber of the sanctions on terrorists linked to al- ership of the Sadhguru at the UN in wireless telephone in India and CEO Mark season subscribers of the show and had also landed founder June with several hundred people, already crossed the one billion mark, standthe bigmillion, ticket toaccording Hollywood a Zuckerberg and singer Nicki ing at 1,049 to with including Mogens Lykketoft, the Minaj, among others.

TRAI data.negative role in Baywatch, which president of the General Assembly,

The gauntlet thrown by Reliance Jio was, of course, picked up — there was no way out. The three big telecom players in the country — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular — brought in their own offers on free calls for pre-paid customers.

“The incumbents seem not to have lost comparable market share or seen a large movement of their customers to Jio,” Mahesh Uppal, Director of consultancy firm Com First, told IANS. Losing market share is one thing; losing revenue is another and a more serious matter. “There is sufficient evidence that attempts by incumbent mobile operators to match Jio’s aggressive pricing has dented their revenues significantly,” Uppal adds.

The situation, therefore, would be a matter of concern for both sides, he suggests.

The new year would decide who gets a bloody nose and who remains unscathed in this bruising fight.

By the end of September, the number of wireless telephone subscribers in India had already crossed the one billion mark, standing at 1,049 million, according to TRAI data.

sunset end of their distinguis careers. Swimming super Michael Phelps announced swansong with a haul of 28 med 23 of them gold, to become most decorated Olympian of time — and tying with India’s o all tally.

The American signed off his tering career with an Olympic of gold in 13 individual events 10 in team categories, wrapping his Rio commitments with medals.

The mantle of being the Gam greatest crowd-puller and showm was, however, reserved for “sp king” Usain Bolt.

His cheeky smile towards camera before finishing ahead o rivals by a considerable margin his 100-meter semi-final heat w south much mirth-invoking as tennis Victoria Azarenka’s joking but nificant assertion: “Who can c this guy? Maybe The Flash?”

Olympic and world records w re-set in several disciplines at raising the bar higher for not podium-seekers in Tokyo 2020 A close also India as a sportingSasikal nation.

‘George

Michael Goodbye on ‘last Christmas’ George Michael

Scheme-2016 (IDS-2016) first tranche by November 30, by Ahmedabad-based Maheshku- to bring into the tax net unac- what the government actually launched from June 1politics, for four one another 25 per cent by March 31, mar Champaklal Shah, and a Rs counted money and give an oppor- manages to garner against the Tamil Nadu’s who months allowed people to declare 2017 and the remaining by Sep- 200,000 crore declaration made by tunity to tax evaders to come clean expected Rs 30,000 crore. Official dreamt of playing a by larger national their unaccounted income tember 30, 2017. thea brilliant a higherChoice tax and penalpayAbdul Razzaque Mohammed The year 2016 started for theInterestingly, actress on note when she wonalbeit thewith People’s Awardfigures for on collection of the first government not take into Sayed, resident of Mumbai, proved ty. The message that the govern- tranche of 25 per cent tax are still ing a 45 per cent tax and assuring role too. did her international acting debut as FBI agent Alex Parish in American TV thriller series ‘Quantico’ disclosures them of complete secrecy and no account two high-value false.And As expected, the two declar- ment probably wanted to give to awaited. Some reports suggested they were on a “break”. in foul-play, at large was that it pays that the amount declared could go prosecution -- before the demone- made in IDS suspecting ants did not November, they applied for make any payment by the public SPORTS NEWS which later saved it embarrasstization surprise was hurled.

November 30, the last day to pay to be an honest taxpayer and that way below the earlier estimate of divorce — just months after they Rs 67,382 crore as more declaraIn IDS, after final reconciliation, ment as those co-hosted payments never first installment of the tax defaulters would be punished.

Power the Couple, a FIREWORKS But whether the IDS was a suc- tions are likely to turn bogus. the actual declarations received actually came. reality TV show majorly under IDS. based on AT GROUND love and positivity.

Together, Arbaaz and Malaika, It has been a year of who got married in 1997, and fireworks for Indian Priyanka’s cricket. always complemented each other awards, being invited to the annuhumanitarian work stars Dwayne Bravo and Zac Efron. doing a round of asanas in front of the 193 members of the UN. with their looks, have a 14-yearal White House Correspondents also led her to be appointed as a She again grabbed the have headlines unfurled The players the UN. New Delhi’s strategy of quiet Dinner and was also conferred Global Goodwill when she was named one of the pre- Unicef old son named Arhaan.

To celebrate Deepavali, the towdiplomacy started outside the UN at stupendous India’s fourth-highest civilian senters at the 88th Academyperformances Awards Ambassador, and one of her ering glass-fronted UN Secretariat the Nonaligned Summit in Actors Sushant Singh Rajput honour, the Padma Shri. and gave away the award in the Best biggest moments of fame was to be held just before the Generwas lit up with the image of a traVenezuela to close the year as the top and and Ankita out Lokhande: He made homes and Hundreds villagers migrated of their tookShe temporary Editing category. also took to the invited toshelter “I feel that Iof am destiny’s favourite the annual Whitein Housepanchayats, al Assembly session in September. ditional lamp and “Happy Diwali” Emmyranked stage as a presenter forteam, the Correspondents child,” Priyanka told IANS in an Dinner with US led girlin go weak knees when Priyankathe Chopra a still from in herthe popular American show ‘Quantico’.

Test (Modi did not attend thatthis either.) projected onwhile itin in letters several community halls, line of fire Jammu first time,the and her red carpet interview earlier year. schools and religious places away from President Barack Obama and First and Kashmir s of he proposed to her on one knee on The trioPriyanka’s of Vice President Hamid stories high.

Although not sponENTETAINMENT back to the country. The Bareilly- no looking back as she kept statements this field, year have found journey in showbiz Lady Michelle Obama. Her mother off the the Board of Ansari, Minister ofThe StateBrangelina for 17, Exter-shebreakup sored by India, an exhibition the that ina television.

But alas, forayed into Bolly- delivering the the unexpected. mentions in leading international started when, at was born talentnational Madhu Chopra, is at proud rocked entertainment nal QAYOOM, Affairs M J Akbar andthe PermaUN inof September paid tributes to Locals SHEIKH JAMMU said in the affected areas, Yet, the brunt these hostilities for Cricket in India — a title that wood in 2003 The didn’t Hero: Love The year 2016 started for the Control Priyanka has achieved everything on portals’ best-dressed lists too. crowned Miss World the lovewith story last long. nent Representative Syed AkbarudTeresa, world, leaving their fansStory of a Spy. been borne thousands of vil-citizenexcept for a formal declaration of Soon after Jayalalithaa’s death, various leaders and party wings urged Sasikala to no other Indian girl has brought After that, there was actress on a brilliant note when she own. an Indian Her growinghas popularity in Mother the byher rld Having made their acting debut by adoption, whose sisters work din began the diplomatic drive top brass heartbroken.

For years, the of showbiz has set popular benchmarks for love he world yearto2016 brought back war, what was happening was remlagers (BCCI) living across close toglobe the internatake charge of the party. (Photo IANS) the among the poor there boost India’s influence as an ng in 2009 with the TV show Pavitra nightmarish memories ofreel, real life love stories went sour for iniscent of the 1965 and 1971 contional border and LoC.—While and the the forgotten even in New emerging economic and political have been... and romance. But away from the en.

Rishta, Sushant and Ankita were York where the the UNover headquarto thousands neutralize Pakistan’s pastpower warsandfor of flicts between India and Pakistan. seven civilians were killed and AR Rahmanquickly performs at pronounced the Indian Independence cilable differ- got married in 2014 in one Day ofconcert bestorganised at the United Nations. (Photo: IANS) is located. bid to rake up the Kashmir issue. multiple border celebrity residents in couples the Jammuacross the Bollywood and Hollywood .. in Pakistani People living in these areas have four dozen ters injured unds for the France, and have six children — decided to split, but several looking TV couples at one point of region whose lives remained on the shelling on civilian areas, homes been equally bitter about the state eleased a state- together. rumours indicated that an actress time. He was offered Kai Po Che!, edge because of myriad ceasefire were also damaged, crops destroyed and the central governments for have been home-breaker for which put him on a roll in Bollyeople magazine Actor-filmmaker Akhtar couldNEW TRIDIBFarhan BAPARNASH, DELHI The Indian team with the trophy after thrashing England 4-0 in wants Test series, violations by Pakistan. and cattle killed in border villages. not coming to their help.

AIADMK ‘Bharatin ddened by this, and celebrity hairstylist Adhuna this love saga. wood, reportedly taking a toll on his After India carried out surgical Hundreds of villagersChennai. migrated (Photo: "We wereSurjeet promisedYadav/IANS) small pieces IANS, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ost now is the Bhabani: They called it quits after Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan and relationship with Ankita. After a sixstrikes across the Line of Control out of their homes and took tem- of land away from the border to Ratna’ for Jayalalithaa 16 years of marriage, announcing actress Malaika Arora: The specula- year long romance, Sushant had s.”

(LoC) on September 29, Pakporary shelter in panchayats, com- build dwellings to avoid being CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s ruling he Kerala Vigilance and and amitensions ether in 2004 that they had “mutuallyistani troops tion haveabout violated the between the announced in January 2016 that he munity halls, schools and religious caught in the cross fire," Jagdish AIADMK party requested the Union Anti-Corruption Bureau wastimes couple been onbyfor a while, but would tie the knot with Ankita by & Mrs Smith, cably decided to separate”. truceIt110 withhad impunity places away from the line of fire Kumar, 57, a resident of Sucheton Friday began a probe government to declare their late in Ave, March that De-stress Arbaaz and the with end of this year. But their relarevealed why the resorting parents of toit wasindiscriminate r’s split from not2536 West Peterson Abhyanga detox massage,during or take or therapies to alleviate 2016. cosmetic Such migrationstherapies garh sector, told IANS. against former Chief Minister leader and former Chief Minister Malaika decided to announce that tionship took another Shakya Aniston. They two children — Akira and became a norm each time guns Given DIABETES, the increase in terror shelling and firing on the internachronic condition : course.

ARTHERITIS, SPONDYLOSIS , SKIN DISORDERS, OBESITY, Chicago, IL 60659 Oommen Chandy and others on J.Jayalalithaa’s birthday as the Schools remained closed attacks ALLERGY carried out by PSORIASIS non-state tional border in the Jammu, CHOLESTROL the Jammu region. The, LoC rity Force (BSF) guarding the LoC roared.

BP in, THYROID, MIGRAINE, ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, , charges of nepotism.

National Farmers’ Day and award Kathua and Samba districts.

Poonch and Rajouri districts has and the international border in the and villages appeared haunted dur- actors in Nagrota, Uri and elseWebsite: www.santhigramusa.com The probe was directed by a Vigher with Bharat Ratna posthuINFERTILITY, IMPOTENCY, PCOS UCwhere ,AUTOIMMUNITY, in Jammu and Kashmir dur- PARALYSIS , been no exception to Pakistan's Jammu Twenty-six Indian soldiers and ASTHMA, ing,SARCOIDOSIS the shelling and firing, in region have effectively ilance Court here following a petimously.

The party also resolved to ing 2016, border residents can paramilitary troopers have been BACK attempts toACHE de-stabilize,the relation- retaliated HiraCANCER Nagar, Samba, the Pakistani Army's SCIATICA , PARKINSONS, MSR.S.Pura, ,MND, & MORE tion by A.H. Hafeez, who belongs killed in Pakistani shelling and fir- ship between the two countries. indiscriminate targeting of military Suchetgarh and half a dozen other only pray for peace between the whatever was necessary so that to the Kerala Congress (Scaria Jayalalithaa is awarded the Nobel two countries in 2017. ing during the last three months in The army and the Border Secu- and civilian facilities. sectors of the border in 2016.

Thomas), an ally of the ruling LDF. Peace Prize and the Ramon The petition said Chandy and Magsaysay award for implementing ctress on a brilliant note when she won the People’s Choice Award for several of his cabinet colleagues had various welfare schemes. t as FBI agent Alex Parish in American TV thriller series ‘Quantico’ appointed their relatives to governThe party passed a resolution ment posts during their tenure to this effect at his general council won the People’s Choice Award for US took her to chat shows with meeting. According to the resoluher international acting debut as Jimmy Fallon, Ellen DeGeneres tion Jayalalithaa had always called FBI agent Alex Parish in American and Seth Meyers. Her name was herself as a farmer.

TV thriller series Quantico. She is also featured in Time magazine’s Owaisi acquitted in said to be the first South Asian 100 Most Influential People in the actress to win the honour. The World list alongside Oscar-winner IANS, HYDERABAD eleven-years old case actress is also part of the second Leonardo DiCaprio, Facebook and CEO Mark season of the show and also landed founder he Madras High Court this NEW YORK: AIMIM chief Asadudthe big ticket to Hollywood with a Zuckerberg and singer Nicki week cast doubts on the din Owaisi and four legislators of *Average annual household savings switching Farm.

Minaj, among others.savings based on 2015 national survey of new policyholders who reported his negative role in Baywatch, which per reason behind the sudden party, who by included his brother to State Priyanka’s humanitarian work stars Dwayne Bravo andState Zac Efron. death of J. Jayalalithaa, and asked too, gotand relief Casualty when a court inCompany.

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State Farm Fire also led her to be appointed as a She again grabbed the headlines Esha Patel, Agent why the late Tamil Nadu Chief Telangana this week acquitted Global Goodwill State Farm General Insurance Company – Bloomington, IL when she was named one of the pre- Unicef Minister’s body could not be them in a case related to demoliToll Free: 888-925-3742 senters at the 88th Academy Awards Ambassador, and one of her exhumed. tion of a mosque 11 years ago. and gave away the award in the Best biggest moments of fame was to be The court said that after news A court in Sangareddy town has Editing category. She also took to the invited to the annual White House reports about Jayalalithaa recoveracquitted the Lok Sabha member Emmy stage as a presenter for the Correspondents Dinner with US ing well, there was the sudden from Hyderabad and four state legn a still from her popular American show ‘Quantico’. first time, and her red carpet President Barack Obama and First news that she was dead. islators of All India Majlis-e-ItteThe Bareilly- no looking back as she kept statements this year have found Lady Michelle Obama. Her mother

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amil home side, but Dhoni’s menter ha no trouble in lifting the said titl close The Asia Cup title put India Chief Ministe good stead to reclaimJayalalithaa, the Worh th T20 crown, which charge has asSecret bee General Disclosing evading them since the inaugurth neerselvam said edition in 2007. soon formally General India then headed party’s off to th Earlier in t pas West Indies to kick offAIADMK their lon Sasikala was th Test season ahead. Kohli ledtheth become in the fir team from the front Secretary.

The party’s Luv Ka The End’: Splitsville time in Bollywood, Hollywood Test with his maiden passed double to the reso Indian team handed England a 4-0 here in the mo to comprehensively beat th hosts by an innings and 92 ru drubbing to end the year on a high note before drawing the remainin BRIEFS and eventually ended with the two matches as India got back KERALA AYURVEDA WELLNESS CENTER team completing a 4-0 humiliathe No.1 ranking again, albeit f t has been a year of fireworks tion of England to consolidate the a short while.

Timeless Therapies From the Nature for Indian cricket. The players numero uno spot in the longest Men-In-Blue flunked miserably in their mojo to win the next two After drawing the first Test have unfurled stupendous per- format. While Mahendra Singh the five-match One-Day Interna- matches and win the series.

Rajkot, Kohli and Co. took th formances to close the year as the Dhoni’s team lost out to eventual tional (ODI) series to go down 1After the 2-1 drubbing of Sri challenge hands down as Ind top ranked Test team, while off champions West Indies in the 4. However, India bounced back Lanka, India headed to handed Alastair Cook’s men a 4 the field, the Board of Control for World Twenty20 semi-finals, well in the shortest format, comBangladesh for the Asia Cup, drubbing to end the year at th 773-942-6161 Cricket in India (BCCI) top brass Virat Kohli ensured that 2016 pleting a 3-0 whitewash of the which was clipped to a T20 tour- zenith of the Test rankings wi have been at the receiving end of ended with India extending their Kangaroos in their own den. nament for the first time ever. The 120 points. In the limited-ove Oomm the Supreme Court’s ire for defy- winning streak to 18 Tests — the Back home, India had to pass Indians defeated the hosts in their formats, India finished (2011-16). the yearB others include ing the Justice R.M. Lodha Com- longest since March 1987. the Sri Lankan test before pro- first outing before convincingly No.3 in ODIs and No.2Sivakumar, in T20IK mittee’s recommendations.

Here is a look at India’s overall ceeding to Bangladesh for the Asia outclassing their arch-rivals PakOff the field, it was the tuss The year started with You Indiacan performance The hosts wereyour off to a istan, and went on to beat Sri between the Supreme Cour save anthroughout averagethe of year: $761*Cup byT20. insuring both reclaiming the lost glory in the With the focus on T20s, India shocking loss to the young Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emi- appointed Lodha Committee an car and home together. Let's discuss the coverage you need.

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Trump plans to reshape judiciary After taking office, the US President-elect will inherit more than 100 court vacancies IANS, WASHINGTON

U

S President-elect Donald Trump, who will inherit over 100 vacancies in federal courts, and an open Supreme Court seat, plans to reshape the judiciary after taking office, a media report said.

The judicial vacancies that President Barack Obama would hand over to Trump in the January 20 transition of power was nearly double the 54 openings that Obama found eight years back, the Washington Post reported.

Confirmation of Obama’s judicial nominees slowed to a crawl after Republicans took control of

the Senate in 2015. White House officials blamed Senate Republicans for “an unprecedented level of obstruction” in blocking the Democratic president’s court picks.

Trump has vowed to choose ideologues in the mould of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia The result was a multitude of openings throughout the federal circuit and district courts that would allow the new Republican

Trump, Obama ‘patch up’

president “to quickly make a wide array of lifetime appointments”.

State gun control laws, abortion restrictions, voter laws, anti-discrimination measures and immigrant issues were all matters that were increasingly heard by federal judges and would be influenced by the new composition of the courts.

Trump has vowed to choose ideologues in the mould of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon — a prospect that has activists on the right “giddy”.

The Supreme Court vacancy created by Scalia’s death in February was a motivating issue for many conservative voters, especial-

Barack Obama

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama called his successor Donald Trump this week to have “a positive conversation”, as tension over Israel and transition been build up, media report said.

“Today’s call, like the others since the election, was positive and focused on continuing a smooth and effective transition,” a statement from the White House said, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The President and Presidentelect committed to staying in touch over the next several weeks and agreed their respective teams would continue to work together to effectuate a smooth transition on January 20,” it said.

Trump told reporters outside his Florida home that he and Obama had a “very nice” and “general” conversation.

The phone call came after an abstention vote on an Israel-related resolution from the US prompted Trump to question the decision on Twitter.

“We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the US, but...” read a Trump tweet.

Trump also tweeted that the transition process was not smooth. He pledged to do his best to “disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks. Though it was going to be a smooth transition-Not!” The harsh words may have been connected to an earlier remark from Obama that he could have beaten Trump if they went against each other in an election.

—IANS

ly evangelical Christians, to turn out for Trump in November.

Senate Republicans refused to hold even a hearing on Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the US Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, for the Scalia seat.

“Republican tactics have been shameful and will forever leave a stain on the US Senate,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

Japanese PM ends Pearl Harbor visit J IANS, WASHINGTON/BEIJING

Donald Trump

President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration is scheduled for Friday 20 January 2017.

apanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Pearl Harbor, during which he offered no apology for Japan’s sneak attack on the US in 1941, was this week deplored by China, which said “it is more in the interest of the future to make one sincere apology than to put on dozens of smart shows”.

Abe on Tuesday acknowledged that the US and Japan fought a fierce war “that will go down in the annuls of human history”, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Each and every one of those servicemen had a mother and a father anxious about his safety. Many had

wives and girlfriends they loved.

And many must have had children they would have loved to watch grow up. All of that was brought to an end,” said Abe. China, however, poured cold water on Abe’s visit to Pearl Harbor, saying what “Japan waged against China and other Asian neighbors was a war of aggression.

Reconciliation between the inflicters and victims must and can only be based upon sincere reflection and apology from the inflicters”.

Adding that the only way that a genuine and lasting reconciliation can be realized only by “one sincere apology than to put on dozens of

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

smart shows.”

The Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the reports and commentaries carried by the western media like the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal that label this trip as “smart”, not “sincere”.

US designates 2 LeT leaders as terrorists ARUL LOUIS, NEW YORK

D

esignating two Pakistanbased leaders of Lakshar-eTayyiba (LeT), the United States has exposed the long tentacles of the group that stretch from Gaza and Syria to Bangladesh and Myanmar and the activities of two of its front organizations.

The Treasury Department announced that it was adding LeT financial officers Shahid Mahmood and LeT Lahore “emir” Muhammad Sarwar to the list of

Specially Designated Global Terrorists and gave an extensive report on their activities.

In a separate announcement, the State Department said LeT’s youth

recruitment arm, Al-Muhammadia Students (AMS), was added to the list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The terrorist designations ban providing money or material support to those organizations or people or having any transactions with them and it freezes their property.

The State Department said that since LeT was designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2001, the group has repeatedly changed its name and created front organizations.

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india news

Soon, penalty for keeping banned notes The Opposition questioned the logic behind the ordinance that the cabinet recently approved and termed the government policy as ‘rudderless and confused’ PM to address nation on New Year’s Eve

IANS, NEW DELHI

T

he cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance which makes possession of demonetized Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes beyond March 31, 2017 illegal. A penalty of up to Rs 50,000 would be imposed on those who hold more than ten of the banned notes.

The Opposition, however, questioned the logic behind the ordinance and termed the government policy as “rudderless and confused”.

It also accused the government of repeatedly bypassing the Parliament over demonetization and other issues. People can deposit old notes in banks up to December 30 and with the Reserve Bank of India up to March 31 next year.

The ordinance — called "The Specified Bank Notes Cessation of Liabilities Ordinance" — is still

‘Strategic capabilities not against China’ NEW DELHI: In wake of China’s statement that India’s successful testing of the nuclear capable AgniV ICBM should safeguard South Asia’s strategic balance, India on Tuesday said that its strategic capabilities are not targeted at any country. “India’s strategic capabilities are not targeted against any particular country,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a statement.

“India abides by all the applicable international obligations and hopes that all other do the same.

“India’s strategic autonomy and growing engagement contributes to strategic stability,” he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: “We have noted reports on India’s test fire of Agni-V ballistic missile. The UN Security Council has explicit regulations on whether India can develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.”

“China always maintains that preserving the strategic balance and stability in South Asia is conducive to peace and prosperity of regional countries and beyond,” Hua added.

India on Monday moved a step closer to join the super exclusive club of countries with nuclearcapable ICBMs by successfully test-firing the indigenously developed Agni-V off the Odisha coast.

Once the Agni-V is inducted, India would be among the league of the nations like the US, Russia, China, France and Britain with ICBM capability.

A penalty of up to Rs 50,000 would be imposed on those who hold more than ten of the banned notes.

awaiting the presidential nod after which the exact details would be made public, sources said. The ordinance, approved during the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeks to amend the Reserve Bank of India Act, aimed at extinguishing the liability of the government towards bearers of such notes.

“The ordinance primarily seeks to shield the government against future litigations that may follow for not honoring the promise to pay,” a senior official said.

The ordinance makes it clear that collection of old notes up to ten in number will not invite prosecution. Reacting to the developments, a senior Congress leader

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the nation on New Year’s Eve, informed sources said on Thursday. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the nation before the dawn of the New Year.

The address is likely at 7.30 p.m. on December 31,” the sources said.

Modi last addressed the nation on November 8, when he announced demonetization of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The Prime Minister may speak on demonetization in his December 31 address, as the 50day period sought by him to ease out cash crunch situation across the country gets over on December 30.

told IANS: “Is it proper to pass an ordinance on a matter which is sub judice? I think this is a cover up operation to legalize the demonetization order because even its veracity is under judicial scanner.”

He also questioned the logic behind bringing an ordinance barely a month before the next Parliament session.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy called the NDA dispensation as “government of ordinances”.

“The government has gone berserk. They are bringing one notification after another. They are suffering from utter confusion.

There is no cohesion between the government and the RBI,” Roy told IANS. Janata Dal United (JDU) leader K.C. Tyagi called the government policy on demonetization as “rudderless”.

Anil Baijal appointed Delhi’s new Lt. Governor IANS, NEW DELHI

P

resident Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday accepted Delhi’s Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung’s resignation and appointed Anil Baijal as his successor.

Delhi Tourism and Culture Minister Kapil Mishra welcomed Baijal’s appointment as Delhi’s Lt. Governor and said he was hopeful of cooperation from the new Lt. Governor. “I welcome his (Baijal’s) appointment. I am hopeful that the new L-G will clear several development projects of the government which have been stopped.

Hopefully the blockade will end now,” Mishra told IANS. An official statement earlier announced: “The President has

Newly appointed Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal (Photo: IANS)

been pleased to appoint Anil Baijal to be the Lt. Governor of National Capital Territory of Delhi with effect from the date he assumes

charge of his office.”

“The President has accepted Jung’s resignation as Lt. Governor of Delhi,” the statement read.

‘Over 200 more fighter jets needed’ IANS, NEW DELHI

T

he Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, on Wednesday said 200 to 250 more fighter aircraft were required to be inducted in the next 10 years to meet the air force’s operational requirement.

India has sufficient number of aircraft in the heavy category in Sukhoi-30s, whereas gaps in the medium and lightweight categories needed to be filled, he told the media here.

The IAF chief said that 36 Rafale jets being bought by India from France were not enough.

Arup Raha (Photo: IANS)

“We are still inducting Sukhoi30s; it will last us for another 40 years. The Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas) will fill some void in the

lightweight category... Rafale is an excellent aircraft. But we have just 36 aircraft; we require more aircraft in the medium-weight category,” Raha said.

“To fill the gap, one more line of production is needed in India,” he said, adding that a decision on the matter is likely soon.

On September 23, India signed a 7.87 billion Euro (about Rs 59,000 crore) deal with France to buy the 36 Rafale fighter jets to meet IAF’s critical operational requirement for a multi-role combat aircraft and enhance its strategic reach, especially in the context of arch rival Pakistan.

Baijal’s appointment came a week after Jung suddenly resigned on December 22, taking everyone by surprise.

Welcoming Baijal’s appointment, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said that he hoped Baijal would be “impartial in his dealings” and will release the Shunglu Committee report that reportedly slams the Kejriwal government for its irregularities.

“We expect Anil Baijal to release Shunglu Committee report on corruption of AAP government soon after taking over!” Maken tweeted.

The Shunglu Committee investigated the alleged irregularities committed by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of Delhi.

Fresh border firing between India, Pak JAMMU: The Pakistan Army on Thursday fired at Indian positions on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, defense sources said here.

The sources told IANS that the Indian Army retaliated the violation

by Pakistan of a 2003 ceasefire between the two countries.

However, no casualties were reported on the Indian side in the firing in Gulpur sector of Poonch district along the Line of Control — the de facto border that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

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international INTERNATIONAL x

US-Israel ties hit a low point

The United States abstained from a UN vote urging Israel to abandon building settlements

Israel PM blasts Kerry for Middle East policy speech

IANS, WASHINGTON

U

S Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday made a forceful defense of the Barack Obama administrations approach to Israel and its vision for a Middle East peace, while warning that a twostate solution, the only viable option, was “in jeopardy”.

“Two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,” Kerry said emphasizing that it was the only way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state.

In a speech amid a low point in US-Israeli relations after US abstained from a UN vote urging Israel to abandon building settlements and less than a month before the Trump administration takes office, Kerry, referring to the vote, said: “The US did in fact vote in accordance with our values.”

The historic UN resolution demands Israel to stop the settle-

SHORT TAKES Zardari to contest elections in Pakistan ISLAMABAD: After his return to Pakistan from an 18-month, selfimposed exile, former President Asif Ali Zardari announced on Tuesday that both he and his son, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, will contest elections and be part of “this Parliament”.

Dwelling on his “surprise announcement”, Zardari said he will contest elections from his sister’s seat in Nawabshah whereas Bilawal will contest from his mother, Benazir Bhutto’s constituency in Larkana.

Iraq launches fresh offensive against IS BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces announced on Thursday the start of a second offensive against the Islamic State (IS) terror group in the city of Mosul.

Mohammed al-Bayati, head of the security committee in the province of Nineveh where Mosul is located, told Efe news that the operations resumed in order to free the city from the jihadi group.

The operation against the IS in Nineveh began on October 17.

Bad weather and IS resistance forced a stop to the ground offensive, but preparations to resume the operation have been happening for the last few weeks.

—IANS

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

US Secretary of State John Kerry

ments construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and denounced the settlements as a “flagrant violation” of international law.

About 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands that Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast War and has been controlling them ever since, despite international condemnations.

“No American administration has

done more for Israel’s security than Barack Obama’s,” he said, citing the amount of military aid Israel has received from the US from Iron Dome to intelligence. “More than half of our entire global foreign military financing goes to Israel,” Kerry said.

Kerry said that two-state solution is in danger despite popular support.

“Polls of Israelis and Palestinians show there is still strong support for

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s Middle East policy speech, denouncing Kerry as “obsessed” and “biased.”

Speaking in a televised statement on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that “Kerry deals obsessively with the settlements instead of touching on the root of the conflict”, Xinhua news agency reported.

Netanyahu said he was “disappointed” and “surprised” by Kerry’s speech. “Is that what the Foreign Minister of the world’s largest power

a 2-state solution in theory. They just don’t believe it can happen.”.

Kerry said that proliferation of settler outposts illegal not only by Oslo Accords, but also under Israel’s

Towards permanent truce in Syria IANS, ANKARA

T

urkey and Russia have agreed on a proposal for a general ceasefire in Syria and will aim to put it into effect by midnight on Wednesday, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

But he still insisted that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad must eventually go, a precondition for talks that Russia has always opposed.

There was also no sign that the mainstream Syrian opposition groups agreed to the ceasefire, and

People celebrate restoration of security in Aleppo city. (Photo: Xinhua)

it appears likely there will be disagreement about the territory to be covered by any ceasefire. The rebel groups will want it to extend to the Damascus countryside, something that Russia opposes.

A senior official in the opposition said they had not received the details of any official deal and denied that they agreed to a ceasefire agreement.

“The details of the ceasefire have not been presented officially to the opposition factions yet, and there is no agreement at this point,” the official said.

Russia, Iran and Turkey said last week they were ready to help broker a peace deal after holding talks in Moscow where they adopted a declaration setting out the principles any agreement should adhere to.

has to focus on?”

The Prime Minister also said he looks forward to working with the President-elect Donald Trump administration to “repeal” Friday’s resolution by the UN Security Council, which condemned Israel’s continued expansion of the settlements.

In his 70-minute speech, only weeks before the end of the Obama administration term, Kerry warned that Israel’s construction of settlements was imperiling the chance of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel and achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

own laws, as they are often located on private Palestinian land and strategically located in places designed to make the two-state solution impossible.

Tripartite meet on Afghanistan MOSCOW: Russia, China and Pakistan agreed to expand their tripartite consultations on the Afghan conflict and include other countries, including Afghanistan, after Kabul objected to its absence from the regional discussions.

“The parties agreed to proceed with consultations in an expanded format and would welcome the participation of Afghanistan,” a joint statement issued after a meeting of the senior officials of the three countries said here.

Russia ends military plane’s salvage operations IANS, MOSCOW

R

ussian emergency services on Thursday concluded operations in the Black Sea where a Russian military aircraft crashed on Sunday, killing all 92 passengers and crew on board.

“The active phase of the search (for human remains and aircraft debris) has now concluded,” said a spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Divers have managed to recover “the bodies of 20 persons and remains of nearly all the victims,” explained a rescue operation spokesperson.

The aircraft impacted the water

Photo taken on December 27 2016 shows the rescue operation on the Black Sea coast. (Photo: Xinhua/Sputnik)

at about 510 km/hour on Sunday, Efe news reported.

According to the latest official

report of the Russian Ministry of Defense, issued on Wednesday, 239 human fragment remains have

been recovered and would be used to identify the victims using nextof-kin DNA. A Russian military spokesman, who announced the conclusion of the rescue search, said, “All the debris of the Tu-154 plane has been pulled from the water.”

Five days after the tragedy, the precise cause of the accident remained unknown, although rescue services have already recovered the three on-board “black boxes”.

The third flight data recorder tape recovered from the Tu-154 has been damaged but may be partly deciphered.

The black box itself, located in the tail section, was destroyed.

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sports

Sports Ministry threatens to sever ties with IOA Scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Singh Chautala were elevated to Life Presidents by the IOA at its annual general meeting in Chennai, angering the Sports Ministry IANS, NEW DELHI

T

he Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) decision to appoint scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Singh Chautala as honorary Life Presidents created a storm with the Sports Ministry threatening to sever ties with the IOA and Chautala threatening legal action.

Chautala and Kalmadi were elevated to Life Presidents by the IOA at its annual general meeting in Chennai. Kalmadi, however, later declined to accept the position.

The move triggered a storm with the ministry threatening to issue a show cause notice to the IOA and also to break ties with the national Olympic body if it failed to retract on its decision on the two tainted administrators.

Nine sportspersons appointed as DSP CHANDIGARH: Indian hockey star Manpreet Singh and runner Mandeep Kaur were among the nine international sportspersons who were handed appointment letters for the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police by the Punjab government.

Along with prolific midfielder Manpreet, five hockey players Akashdeep Singh, Sarvanjit Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Gurwinder Singh Chandi and Dharamvir Singh were appointed as Deputy Superintendents of Police under the sports quota at a function attended by Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Other sports personalities who were offered the DSP posts in the Punjab Police weree three-time Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mandeep Kaur, Asian Games silver medallist athlete Khusbir Kaur, and Asian Games bronze medalist athlete Amandeep Kaur.

Manpreet said in a Hockey India (HI) release: “It is a great honor to get appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police. I would like to thank the Punjab government for recognizing our efforts in hockey.”

Mandeep flew down from Kolkata where he was playing the Beighton Cup for the ceremony in Chandigarh.

He, along with Akashdeep, Ramandeep, Chandi and Dharamvir was part of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

—IANS

MIDWEST / EASTCOAST

Suresh Kalmadi (in the picture) and Abhay Singh Chautala as honorary Life Presidents created a storm with the Sports Ministry threatening to sever ties.

“The ministry will never accept such tainted people in the Indian Olympic Association and that is

why we have expressed our reservations right after they were appointed last evening,” Sports minister

Vijay Goel told reporters. “This move is against the constitution of IOA and is not acceptable to the Sports Ministry. I am disappointed by the decision because both are facing cases of corruption.”

“The ministry will issue a show cause notice to the IOA within a day or two as the government will in no way allow corrupt people in such posts,” Goel added.

“We want transparency in sports. Till the time these two don’t resign or are sacked, we will not deal with the IOA.” “We want all the federations to be transparent and corruption free.

By appointing Kalmadi and Chautala, what message is the IOA giving out?” Goel further said. Goel reiterated his stance on Twitter: “Transparency and accountability is vital in sports; until Kalmadi and

Chautala resign or are removed, we will not deal with IOA in any form.” Kalmadi served as the IOA President from 1996 to 2011 and was jailed for 10 months for his involvement in the corruption scandal that cast a big shadow on the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, but was later released on bail.

Chautala is a former chief of Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) and his term at the helm of the IOA was full of controversy.

He also faced corruption charges.

Chautala, however, hit back at Goel for opposing his appointment and threatened to drag the minister to court. “I will take legal action against the Sports Minister.

I will consult my friends in the IOA and will then take a call on what I need to do next,” Chautala was quoted as saying by India Today news channel. Kalmadi was also not spared by his ex-party (Congress) colleague Ajay Maken with the former Sports Minister called the IOA’s move “sad and painful”. Maken urged the Sports Minister and the Centre to put pressure on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to revoke its decision. IOA associate Vice-President Narinder Batra also said that he might quit the body in protest against the appointments.

Kohli emerges favorite for Cricket Australia IANS, CHENNAI

C

ricket Australia (CA) named India Test skipper Virat Kohli as captain of the board's One-Day International (ODI) Team of the Year, which also includes promising medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah as the other Indian. Besides the Indian duo, the team comprises of five Australians in David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, John Hasting and Mitchell Starc, South Africans Quinton de Kock and Imran Tahir,

England's Jos Buttler and Pakistan's Babar Azam.

Kohli, who recently guided the Test team to three consecutive series wins against the West Indies, New Zealand and England respectively, has amassed 739 runs from just 10 ODIs played this year.

The Delhi right-hander has smashed three centuries, with 154 being his highest score besides scoring four half centuries in the calendar year. Bumrah, on the other hand, has impressed one and all with his brilliant performances

Virat Kohli has amassed 739 runs from just 10 ODIs played this year.

in his maiden year in international cricket. He has taken 17 wickets from just eight ODIs in 2016.

Cricket Australia's ODI Team of

‘Wished to be part of ‘Chennai 28 II’ IANS, CHENNAI

I

ndia’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin says he wished he was part of recently released Tamil sports drama “Chennai 28 II”, a successful sequel to 2007 Tamil film “Chennai 600028”. He said the film put his life on rewind mode.

A story about friendship set against the backdrop of gully cricket, both the parts were directed by Venkat Prabhu.

“What a wonderful movie ‘Chennai 28 II’. Completely put

my life on rewind mode. Genuinely felt I could have been a part of it,” Ashwin, who was recently

named the International Cricket Council (ICC) Player of the Year, wrote on his Twitter page on Tuesday.

Touched by Ashwin’s words, Venkat Prabhu tweeted: “Thank you so much. Missed casting you.

Will confirm you for ‘Chennai 28 III’.”

Starring Jai, Shiva, Vijay Vasanth, Premji, Aravind Akash, Mahat and Vaibhav among others, the film reunites the friends from the first part and takes a look at their lives and how it has changed over a span of eight years.

the Year: Virat Kohli (Captain), Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, John Hasting, Mitchell Starc among others.

Hyderabad to host PBL 2017 opener NEW DELHI: Hyderabad will host the opening match of the Premier Badminton League (PBL)’s second edition which starts on January 1, while the final will be held in New Delhi on January 14.

After two days of action in Hyderabad, National Sports Club of India, Mumbai and BBD Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy will host the second and third leg respectively.

Koramangala Indoor Stadium will host the Bengaluru leg as well as be the home stadium of Chennai Smashers.

—IANS

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Yearender special YEARENDER SPECIAL

x

2016 in Retrospect

Sports

Legends bloom amid gloom At Rio Olympics, India’s deep embarrassment was redeemed by silver-winning shuttler P.V. Sindhu, ‘bronzed’ wrestler Sakshi Malik and a refreshingly confident gymnast Dipa Karmakar SAYAN MUKHERJEE, NEW DELHI

T

he euphoria over sending its biggest contingent ever to the Olympics did not last as the performance of Indian athletes did not measure up to promise. It was a crushing reminder to not only sports authorities but also to an expectant nation that believed medals were just there for the taking -- all our athletes needed do was show up in sufficient numbers.

In the event, the Indian Olympics Association’s (IOA) hope of a double-digit tally -- better than the six-medal haul in London four years earlier — came to nought as India returned with a mere silver and a bronze from the Rio Games.

As the Games began, similar headlines -- predictably on the lines of “Indians knocked out” -- started stacking up on the internet’s “mostviewed” lists.

India’s deep embarrassment was redeemed ever-so-partially by four women — silver-winning shuttler P.V. Sindhu, “bronzed” wrestler Sakshi Malik, a refreshingly confi-

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar and Jitu Rai in New Delhi. (Photo: IANS/PIB)

dent gymnast Dipa Karmakar and 18-year-old golfer Aditi Ashok, the latter two missing the podium but giving a worthy account of themselves, all treading into unchartered territory as Indian women athletes.

As the collective thought process of the nation turned from hope to

Fireworks at ground Indian team handed England a 4-0 drubbing to end the year on a high note TRIDIB BAPARNASH, NEW DELHI

I

t has been a year of fireworks for Indian cricket. The players have unfurled stupendous performances to close the year as the top ranked Test team, while off the field, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) top brass have been at the receiving end of the Supreme Court’s ire for defying the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

The year started with India reclaiming the lost glory in the T20 format in which they were the inaugural champions in 2007,

and eventually ended with the team completing a 4-0 humiliation of England to consolidate the numero uno spot in the longest format. While Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team lost out to eventual champions West Indies in the World Twenty20 semi-finals, Virat Kohli ensured that 2016 ended with India extending their winning streak to 18 Tests — the longest since March 1987.

Here is a look at India’s overall performance throughout the year: With the focus on T20s, India started the year with the limited overs tour Down Under where the

despair, it was Malik who finally broke an unwanted duck, on the 13th day of the global competition.

Sindhu and Dipa put a bit of gloss on it and everyone was happy again — the narrative changing to “women power” or “girl power”.

Wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s protracted but ultimately wasteful saga

of “earning” a spot at the Olympics but getting disqualified for doping hours before his first bout was another ignominy India could have done without.

But all this was a mere footnote when viewed in the global context.

The title-screamers remained two true-blue greats, who were at the

sunset end of their distinguished careers. Swimming superstar Michael Phelps announced his swansong with a haul of 28 medals, 23 of them gold, to become the most decorated Olympian of all time — and tying with India’s overall tally.

The American signed off his glittering career with an Olympic tally of gold in 13 individual events and 10 in team categories, wrapping up his Rio commitments with six medals.

The mantle of being the Games’ greatest crowd-puller and showman was, however, reserved for “sprint king” Usain Bolt.

His cheeky smile towards the camera before finishing ahead of his rivals by a considerable margin in his 100-meter semi-final heat was as much mirth-invoking as tennis star Victoria Azarenka’s joking but significant assertion: “Who can catch this guy? Maybe The Flash?”

Olympic and world records were re-set in several disciplines at Rio, raising the bar higher for not only podium-seekers in Tokyo 2020 but also India as a sporting nation.

home side, but Dhoni’s men had no trouble in lifting the title.

The Asia Cup title put India in good stead to reclaim the World T20 crown, which has been evading them since the inaugural edition in 2007.

India then headed off to the West Indies to kick off their long Test season ahead. Kohli led the team from the front in the first Test with his maiden double ton to comprehensively beat the hosts by an innings and 92 runs before drawing the remaining The Indian team with the trophy after thrashing England 4-0 in Test series, in two matches as India got back to Chennai. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) the No.1 ranking again, albeit for a short while.

After drawing the first Test at Men-In-Blue flunked miserably in their mojo to win the next two Rajkot, Kohli and Co. took the the five-match One-Day Interna- matches and win the series.

After the 2-1 drubbing of Sri challenge hands down as India tional (ODI) series to go down 14. However, India bounced back Lanka, India headed to handed Alastair Cook’s men a 4-0 well in the shortest format, com- Bangladesh for the Asia Cup, drubbing to end the year at the pleting a 3-0 whitewash of the which was clipped to a T20 tour- zenith of the Test rankings with nament for the first time ever. The 120 points. In the limited-overs Kangaroos in their own den.

Back home, India had to pass Indians defeated the hosts in their formats, India finished the year at the Sri Lankan test before pro- first outing before convincingly No.3 in ODIs and No.2 in T20Is. Off the field, it was the tussle ceeding to Bangladesh for the Asia outclassing their arch-rivals PakCup T20. The hosts were off to a istan, and went on to beat Sri between the Supreme Courtshocking loss to the young Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emi- appointed Lodha Committee and Lankan side in the first match, but rates (UAE). In the rain-marred the BCCI that created the headDhoni’s army soon rediscovered final, India were up against the lines.

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yearender special YEARENDER SPECIAL x

2016 in Retrospect

United States A rank outsider with no government or military experience, Domand Trump pulled off a stunning victory over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton

Trump tsunami sweeps the US ARUN KUMAR, WASHINGTON

D

onald Trump rewrote history with an incredible presidential run that made him Time’s Person of the Year and catapulted him to the second spot on Forbes list of the world’s most powerful.

A rank outsider with no government or military experience, the Manhattan mogul demolished two political dynasties — Bush and Clinton — to pull off a stunning victory over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton with only half her billion dollar war chest.

Pollsters, pundits and his 16 Republican rivals -- governors, senators and the son of a former President and brother of another among them -- all took him as a joke with one scribe vowing to literally eat his column if the billionaire became the party nominee.

Louisiana’s Indian-American Governor Bobby Jindal called Trump an “unstable narcissist”, while South Carolina’s fellow desi chief executive Nikki Haley chided him for his rhetoric against immigrants.

Yet as 2016 dawned, Trump with his promise to “Make America Great Again” by building a “big beautiful wall” to keep the job-stealing, “rapist” Mexicans out and barring all Muslims had emerged as the frontrunner for Republican nomination.

One by one, his rivals fell by the wayside from “low energy” Jeb Bush to “Little Marco” Rubio to “Lying Ted” Cruz as the Democrats gleefully awaited his emergence as Grand Old Party’s standard bearer smelling what they believed would be a cakewalk.

On the other side, the powerful Clinton machine overcame a serious challenge from self-styled Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders with the supposedly neutral Democratic National Committee coming to Hillary’s aid as WikiLeaks later revealed.

US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SPENT $2.17 BN IN 2016 WASHINGTON: White House hopefuls and groups supporting them spent a total of $2.17 billion during the election campaign that Republican Donald Trump finally won, a study has claimed.

The study was conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and analyzing figures compiled by the Federal Election Commission, tax authorities and other reports. It found that Trump and groups supporting him spent $409 million, a little more than half of the $759 million his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton spent.

That means that each of the

Then, as Teflon Trump trained his guns on “Crooked Hillary” with ever-surging crowds at his rallies in battleground states chanting “lock her up” amid allegations of “pay for play” at the family charity, the chatterati insisted his primary tactics would no longer work.

President Barack Obama thought Americans were “too sensible” to elect Trump as he took on even the

62.979 million votes Trump secured cost him $6.50, while each of Clinton’s 65.845 million votes cost her $11.50.

Despite losing the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes to Clinton, Trump won because he garnered more than the required 270 electoral votes needed to become president.

According to the study, Trump spent $66.1 million of his own money to help finance his campaign.

Pope for suggesting that he was not Christian for the mogul’s plan to build that huge wall as top Republicans scurried away from him lest he may sink their boat too.

But with each insult, Trump’s stock rose, with the brash billionaire warning that there would be riots if he was not named the party nominee. And anointed he was, even as Ohio governor John Kasich stayed

away from the party convention hosted by his state and an insulted rebellious Cruz invoked a “conscience” vote.

Back on the campaign trail, Clinton wondered why she wasn’t 50 points ahead as she dumped half of her rival’s “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic” supporters into a “basket of deplorables”.

But even the release of a 2005 tape of Trump trash talk with TV host Billy Bush about “grabbing women by the p***y” with impuni-

ty did not dampen the fervor of his supporters who took to wearing Clinton’s insult on their tees with pride.

And it was the revenge of these “Adorable Deplorables” as they called themselves that saw Clinton’s formidable “blue electoral firewall” crumble in battleground states to propel self-styled “Mr. Brexit” to a stunning victory on election night.

Clinton, who before the election was “horrified” at the idea of Trump not readily accepting the poll outcome, initially implored her supporters to give Trump a “chance to lead” before going into hiding.

But it wasn’t long before she came out of her sulk to blame FBI Director James Comey and Russian President Vladimir Putin for her stunning defeat, and openly came out in support of efforts to undo his election by any means.

Even as he mocked the CIA for suggesting that the Russians had hacked the Democrats to help him get elected, Trump continued his tour of battleground states to thank the still surging crowds that really brought his victory.

“Well, we all did it, together! I hope the “MOVEMENT” fans will go to D.C. on Jan 20th for the swearing in. Let’s set the all-time record!” he tweeted before a rally.

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l l a g n i h s i W r a w i r a P i n a h t s Raja

From: President Ram Saini ARA Team.

Nilesh Sudhrania, Rakesh Choudhary, Anup Ruia, Nikhil Fafat, Poonam Fafat,Sweta Jajoo, Rishi Jain, Amit Arora.

Nav Gupta, Sudha Gupta, Dr. Badridas Taparia, Dwarka Taparia, Ashok Sharma, Kushalraj Singavi, Anup Sukhlecha, Neha Patodia, Vibhor Mathur.

More information please visit : www.chicagoara.org or Email: chicagoara1@gmail.com

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2016 in Retrospect

India

Will black go out of system?

Some analysts feel that too many chances to the black money hoarders may finally demotivate the honest taxpayer MEGHNA MITTAL, NEW DELHI

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he year 2016 can well be labeled as the domestic black money retrieval year that saw the government follow a carrot-and-stick policy, nudging hoarders to come clean on their own by paying a penalty before the Income Tax Department showed the stick.

The Income Declaration Scheme-2016 (IDS-2016) launched from June 1 for four months allowed people to declare their unaccounted income by paying a 45 per cent tax and assuring them of complete secrecy and no prosecution -- before the demonetization surprise was hurled.

In IDS, after final reconciliation, the actual declarations received

and taken on record were Rs 67,382 crore made by 71,726 declarants. IDS-2016 is expected to fetch over Rs 30,000 crore in direct tax revenue to the government while the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme of 1997 resulted in disclosure of Rs 33,000 crore and collection of Rs 9,760 crore worth of taxes.

The IDS required the declarants to pay 25 per cent of the tax in the first tranche by November 30, another 25 per cent by March 31, 2017 and the remaining by September 30, 2017. Interestingly, the government did not take into account two high-value disclosures made in IDS suspecting foul-play, which later saved it embarrassment as those payments never actually came.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The Rs 13,860 crore declaration

by Ahmedabad-based Maheshkumar Champaklal Shah, and a Rs 200,000 crore declaration made by Abdul Razzaque Mohammed Sayed, resident of Mumbai, proved false. As expected, the two declarants did not make any payment by November 30, the last day to pay the first installment of the tax under IDS.

The intention of IDS clearly was to bring into the tax net unaccounted money and give an opportunity to tax evaders to come clean albeit with a higher tax and penalty. The message that the government probably wanted to give to the public at large was that it pays to be an honest taxpayer and that defaulters would be punished.

But whether the IDS was a suc-

cess or not will be determined by what the government actually manages to garner against the expected Rs 30,000 crore. Official figures on collection of the first tranche of 25 per cent tax are still awaited. Some reports suggested that the amount declared could go way below the earlier estimate of Rs 67,382 crore as more declarations are likely to turn bogus.

A year of playing hide and seek in J&K Hundreds of villagers migrated out of their homes and took temporary shelter in panchayats, community halls, schools and religious places away from the line of fire in Jammu and Kashmir SHEIKH QAYOOM, JAMMU

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he year 2016 brought back nightmarish memories of past wars for thousands of border residents in the Jammu region whose lives remained on the edge because of myriad ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

After India carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on September 29, Pakistani troops have violated the truce 110 times with impunity by resorting to indiscriminate shelling and firing on the international border in the Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts.

Twenty-six Indian soldiers and paramilitary troopers have been killed in Pakistani shelling and firing during the last three months in

the Jammu region. The LoC in Poonch and Rajouri districts has been no exception to Pakistan's attempts to de-stabilize the relationship between the two countries.

The army and the Border Secu-

rity Force (BSF) guarding the LoC and the international border in the Jammu region have effectively retaliated the Pakistani Army's indiscriminate targeting of military and civilian facilities.

Yet, the brunt of these hostilities has been borne by thousands of villagers living close to the international border and the LoC. While seven civilians were killed and over four dozen injured in Pakistani shelling on civilian areas, homes were also damaged, crops destroyed and cattle killed in border villages.

Hundreds of villagers migrated out of their homes and took temporary shelter in panchayats, community halls, schools and religious places away from the line of fire during 2016. Such migrations became a norm each time guns roared. Schools remained closed and villages appeared haunted during the shelling and firing in R.S.Pura, Hira Nagar, Samba, Suchetgarh and half a dozen other sectors of the border in 2016.

Locals said in the affected areas, except for a formal declaration of war, what was happening was reminiscent of the 1965 and 1971 conflicts between India and Pakistan.

People living in these areas have been equally bitter about the state and the central governments for not coming to their help.

"We were promised small pieces of land away from the border to build dwellings to avoid being caught in the cross fire," Jagdish Kumar, 57, a resident of Suchetgarh sector, told IANS. Given the increase in terror attacks carried out by non-state actors in Nagrota, Uri and elsewhere in Jammu and Kashmir during 2016, border residents can only pray for peace between the two countries in 2017.

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2016 in Retrospect

Diplomacy

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj addresses at United Nations General Assembly. (Photo Credit: UN/IANS) ARUL LOUIS, UNITED NATIONS

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s Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed away this year, India followed a strategy of quiet diplomacy while projecting its soft power at the world body, even as it suffered a setback in the fight against terrorism.

Music composer AR Rahman’s concert commemorating MS Subbulakshmi’s concert at the UN 50 years ago was the highlight of a series of events this year promoting India’s cultural influence. The Oscar-winner’s tribute to the “Queen of Music” in August was an evocation of universal harmony, blending traditions, time, faiths and languages at the General Assembly chamber in a show of 21st century pizzazz. On Gandhi Jayanthi, which is commemorated at the UN as the International Day of Nonviolence, the UN postal service released a commemorative stamp in honor of Subbulakshmi.

India had a low profile on the diplomatic front that masked a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

After having made a trip to Washington to address the Congress, Modi did not attend the annual general debate of the General Assembly that brings together heads of state and government from the 193 members of the UN. New Delhi’s strategy of quiet diplomacy started outside the UN at the Nonaligned Summit in Venezuela held just before the General Assembly session in September.

(Modi did not attend that either.)

The trio of Vice President Hamid Ansari, Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar and Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin began the diplomatic drive there to boost India’s influence as an emerging economic and political power and to neutralize Pakistan’s bid to rake up the Kashmir issue.

Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev addresses during the International Day for Yoga programme at United Nations in New York. (Photo: Mohammed Jaffer/IANS)

A YEAR OF QUIET DIPLOMACY India projected soft power at United Nations but had setback on the terrorism front

It was carried forward by Akbar and Akbaruddin to the General Assembly’s general debate that followed in New York. Over a week they met scores of world leaders and the various geographic, political and economic groups before External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj came to deliver India’s speech at the general debate on its last day. As a result, support for India’s bid for a permanent seat in the Security Council was solidified among key groups of nations, the universal risks from terrorism was highlighted and Pakistan was isolated on Kashmir.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was

left plodding on a lonely road among nations more concerned about terrorism.

Ninety percent of the speakers mentioned terrorism, but none except Sharif talked of Kashmir, Akbaruddin pointed out and asked, “Diplomacy is the art of the possible; are you seeing any other countries raising the issues Pakistan has?”

After Sharif ’s general debate speech glorifying Burhan Muzaffar Wani, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Eenam Gambhir, a young diplomat at the Indian mission replied hammering Pakistan’s association with terrorism in a reply that made her a mini-celebrity in

India. “The land of Taxila, one of the greatest learning centers of ancient times, is now host to the Ivy League of terrorism,” she said in a memorable line.

India, however, had a setbacks in fighting terrorism as China continued to provide cover for Pakistan and for terrorists based there who are behind attacks on India.

Beijing blocked New Delhi’s request to have Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, who was behind the attack on the Pathankot air force base, declared a terrorist by the Security Council committee that imposes sanctions on terrorists linked to al-

AR Rahman performs at the Indian Independence Day concert organised at the United Nations. (Photo: IANS)

Qaeda and the Islamic State.

This was to be expected of a Council that Akbaruddin had ridiculed as functioning in a “random mix of ad-hocism, scrambling and political paralysis.”

Attempts to reform council suffered another setback that directly hit India’s quest for a permanent seat on the Council.

The Intergovernmental Negotiations on reforming the Council lost the momentum built up last year.

The General Assembly decided in July to put off further negotiations on reforms to the next session after discussions spluttered. The new session that started in September has not yet taken it up.

This was despite 113 countries of the 122 that responded to an IGN survey in 2014 supported expanding the Council, according to Akbaruddin.

India’s cultural push -- a major effort this year -- included an exhibit, “Africans in India: From Slaves to Generals” that depicted India’s tradition of openness that raised those who came as slaves to positions of power as rulers and military leaders.

The Second International Yoga Day was celebrated under the leadership of the Sadhguru at the UN in June with several hundred people, including Mogens Lykketoft, the president of the General Assembly, doing a round of asanas in front of the UN. To celebrate Deepavali, the towering glass-fronted UN Secretariat was lit up with the image of a traditional lamp and “Happy Diwali” projected on it in letters several stories high. Although not sponsored by India, an exhibition at the UN in September paid tributes to Mother Teresa, an Indian citizen by adoption, whose sisters work across the globe among the poor and the forgotten — even in New York where the the UN headquarters is located.

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cinema news

George Michael

Goodbye on ‘last Christmas’ George Michael at 53, breathed his last on Christmas Day 2016 following heart failure — ironically, making it his ‘Last Christmas’ RADHIKA BHIRANI, NEW DELHI

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‘father figure’ in international music, gone too soon. At 17, George Michael delved into infidelity through his evergreen classic ‘Careless whisper’, saying ‘Guilty feet have got no rhythm’ — like perhaps no teen pop star of today can write.

His music, like his fans would agree, has had a shelf life transcending multiple decades — irrespective of whether it was doled out when he began in 1981 as one half of pop duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley — or when he became famous in his own right with his solo single 'areless whisper'.

That apart, his changing looks — is a smiling teen-pop idol look in the peppy 'Wake me up before you go-go', with piercing eyes and ruffled blonde hair in the 'Careless whisper' video or the picturization of 'Faith' in which he gyrates wearing an entirely different grunge look with a black jacket, sunglasses and a stubble — have had a lasting impression on legions of his fans.

They are in mourning now as Michael — at 53 — breathed his last on Christmas Day 2016 fol-

George Michael passed away on Christmas Day 2016. (File Photo)

lowing heart failure — ironically, making it his ‘Last Christmas’.

'Last Christmas, I gave you my heart/But the very next day, you gave it away/This year, to save me from tears/I’ll give it to someone special.' Michael’s songs spoke of

love, desire, heartbreak, and in later years as a performer, he came up with tracks of socio-political references. Beyond a point in his career, Michael distanced himself from risque music videos and his pop-star image to make relevant statements.

Like, his 1994 single “Jesus to a child” was a tribute to Anselmo Feleppa, a Brazilian man with whom he had a short-lived relationship as Feleppa died of an AIDSrelated brain haemorrhage in 1993.

His single in July 2002, “Shoot the dog”, criticized the former US President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It courted controversy for being anti-American.

However, his career’s trajectory never saw the end of love songs even as he dabbled in multiple musical genres throughout his glorious career.

Controversies seemed to eclipse the latter part of his music career — leading to a slow output during the 2000s.

His last studio album of new songs was 'Patience' in 2004.

At one point, Michael even said that he had spent the past 20 years trying to sabotage his glittering career via a series of humiliating drug and sex scandals.

In retrospect, freedom from the dark phase of his life is what he has got — as he leaves behind a legacy of music that his fans will cherish for years to come.

BRIEFS Salman celebrates his 51st birthday

MUMBAI: Superstar Salman Khan brought in his 51st birthday this week with a grand celebration with his family members and friends at his farmhouse in Panvel.

Looking dapper in a black shirt and formal pants, Salman cut the cake with his nephew Ahil, son of the actor’s sister Arpita Khan Sharma. For his birthday, Salman launched his much-awaited mobile app Being In Touch.

'Dangal' made tax free in Haryana CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government announced that Bollywood film Dangal would be tax-free in the state.

"The exemption Aamir Khan has been given keeping in view the promotion of 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' programme and promotion of wrestling in the movie," Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced at a public meeting. Dangal features Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who is portraying the role of former national level wrestler Mahavir —IANS Singh Phogat.

After Carrie Fisher, her ‘Haraamkhor’ shot in just 16 days mother too passes away IANS, MUMBAI

LOS ANGELES: Debbie Reynolds, who rose to stardom in Singin' in the Rain, died on Wednesday, just a day after her daughter Carrie Fisher (in picture) passed away. Debbie was 84. According to Debbie's son, she died of stroke, reports tmz.com.

Carrie Fisher’s death has shocked Hollywood celebrities who remember the actress as the “brightest light” and a “wonderful talent”.

Fisher, 60, died four days after she suffered a cardiac arrest on a flight.

Her daughter Billie Lourd said the actress has passed away after taken ill travelling from London to Los Angeles, reports telegraph.co.uk.

After the news of her death broke, the celebrities took to social media to express their grief. Here is what they shared.

Steven Spielberg: I have always stood in awe of Carrie. Her observa-

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tions always made me laugh and gasp at the same time. She didn’t need The Force. She was a force of nature, of loyalty and of friendship. I will miss her very much.

Zach Braff: Carrie Fisher. RIP. What a talent. What a year.

Ryan Seacrest: Thoughts and prayers to Carrie Fisher’s family Rita Wilson: God bless Carrie Fisher. This woman and her friendship will be deeply missed. —IANS

pcoming Hindi film Haraamkhor, the trailer of which was launched this week, was shot in 16 days. Shlok Sharma, the movie’s director, credits his actors and team members for the speedy and “spot on” job.

The movie, which features Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shweta Tripathi, is set in real locations.

“It was indeed very challenging to finish an entire feature film’s shoot in 16 days. That’s why the team’s role was the most crucial.

My lead actors Nawaz bhai and Shweta were spot on. So was the crew,” Sharma said in a statement.

“Siddharth, my DOP (director of photography), and his team, along with the production team, were all absolutely in tandem.

There was no way this would have been possible without the team I had behind me,” he added.

Haraamkhor is finally set to

Haraamkhor, which stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shweta Tripathi will release on January 13, 2017. (File Photo)

release on January 13, 2017, following a prolonged run-in with the Central Board of Film Certification.

In a judgment last week, the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) reversed a ban on the film, citing it to be socially responsible.

The film explores the romance between a 14-year-old school stu-

dent and her teacher. Decorated with visuals set in a small village are the main characters of the film, the teacher, the student, a boy who has a crush on the same girl and his friend who helps him and the teacher’s wife. The trailer is funny in parts — even as the film sets out to spread a serious message.

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2016 in Retrospect

Entertainment

‘Luv Ka The End’: Splitsville time in Bollywood, Hollywood The year saw various celebrity couples breaking up in the Bollywood and Hollywood too, with the split between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt creating a massive sensation DURGA CHAKRAVARTY, MUMBAI

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or years, the world of showbiz has set popular benchmarks for love and romance. But away from the reel, real life love stories went sour for multiple celebrity couples across the Bollywood and Hollywood circuit in 2016, which also interestingly brought in Hindi cinema’s very own “Breakup song”.

Their personal lives hogged limelight through the gossip columns and had the social media world buzzing.

IANS has compiled a mix of splits that left fans and fraternity members wonder about what went wrong:

Actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: Labelled as the split of all splits of 2016, the Brangelina breakup rocked the entertainment world like none other, leaving their fans heartbroken.

Jolie cited “irreconcilable differences” as the grounds for the divorce, while Pitt released a statement of his own to People magazine saying: “I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the well-being of our kids.”

The two got together in 2004 after starring in Mr & Mrs Smith, leading to the latter’s split from Friends star Jennifer Aniston. They

The Brangelina breakup rocked the entertainment world, leaving their fans heartbroken.

got married in 2014 in France, and have six children together.

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar and celebrity hairstylist Adhuna Bhabani: They called it quits after 16 years of marriage, announcing that they had “mutually and amicably decided to separate”. It was not revealed why the parents of two children — Akira and Shakya

— decided to split, but several rumours indicated that an actress could have been home-breaker for this love saga.

Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan and actress Malaika Arora: The speculation about tensions between the couple had been on for a while, but it was in March that Arbaaz and Malaika decided to announce that

they were on a “break”. And in November, they applied for divorce — just months after they co-hosted Power Couple, a reality TV show majorly based on love and positivity.

Together, Arbaaz and Malaika, who got married in 1997, and always complemented each other with their looks, have a 14-yearold son named Arhaan.

Actors Sushant Singh Rajput and Ankita Lokhande: He made the girl go weak in the knees when he proposed to her on one knee on national television. But alas, the love story didn’t last long.

Having made their acting debut in 2009 with the TV show Pavitra Rishta, Sushant and Ankita were quickly pronounced one of best looking TV couples at one point of time. He was offered Kai Po Che!, which put him on a roll in Bollywood, reportedly taking a toll on his relationship with Ankita. After a sixyear long romance, Sushant had announced in January 2016 that he would tie the knot with Ankita by the end of this year. But their relationship took another course.

‘Desi girl’ raised her own bar globally The year 2016 started for the actress on a brilliant note when she won the People’s Choice Award for her international acting debut as FBI agent Alex Parish in American TV thriller series ‘Quantico’ NIVEDITA, NEW DELHI

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he once said that she wants the world, and it seems 2016 helped her get a few steps closer to her dream. The year saw Priyanka Chopra becoming the first South Asian to win a People’s Choice Award, followed by presenting Oscar and Emmy awards, being invited to the annual White House Correspondents Dinner and was also conferred India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri.

“I feel that I am destiny’s favourite child,” Priyanka told IANS in an interview earlier this year.

Priyanka’s journey in showbiz started when, at 17, she was crowned Miss World — a title that no other Indian girl has brought

Priyanka Chopra in a still from her popular American show ‘Quantico’.

back to the country. The Bareillyborn talent forayed into Bollywood in 2003 with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. After that, there was

no looking back as she kept delivering the unexpected.

The year 2016 started for the actress on a brilliant note when she

won the People’s Choice Award for her international acting debut as FBI agent Alex Parish in American TV thriller series Quantico. She is said to be the first South Asian actress to win the honour. The actress is also part of the second season of the show and also landed the big ticket to Hollywood with a negative role in Baywatch, which stars Dwayne Bravo and Zac Efron.

She again grabbed the headlines when she was named one of the presenters at the 88th Academy Awards and gave away the award in the Best Editing category. She also took to the Emmy stage as a presenter for the first time, and her red carpet statements this year have found mentions in leading international portals’ best-dressed lists too.

Her growing popularity in the

US took her to chat shows with Jimmy Fallon, Ellen DeGeneres and Seth Meyers. Her name was also featured in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list alongside Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and singer Nicki Minaj, among others.

Priyanka’s humanitarian work also led her to be appointed as a Unicef Global Goodwill Ambassador, and one of her biggest moments of fame was to be invited to the annual White House Correspondents Dinner with US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Her mother Madhu Chopra, is proud that Priyanka has achieved everything on her own.

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2016 in Retrospect

Obituary

Queen of Tamil Nadu, forever Affectionately called ‘Amma’ by fans and party activists, Jaya wielded power with an iron hand VENKATACHARI JAGANNATHAN, CHENNAI

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he was a shy girl when she first stepped into the movie world. Decades later, by when she was one of the most popular actors in Tamil, Jayalalithaa became a colossus in Tamil Nadu’s politics, one who dreamt of playing a larger national role too.

Jayalalithaa, who died on the night of Dec 5 after a 74-day battle for life, was a politician par excellence, a Brahmin woman who reached the pinnacle in a state where anti-Brahminism is very strong and led her AIADMK party to four victories in assembly elections — the last two in succession.

Affectionately called “Amma” by fans and party activists, she wielded power with an iron hand, many men in the party falling at her feet at public events.

Born in Karnataka on February 2, 1948 into an Iyengar family and

named Komavalli, Jayalalithaa moved to Chennai in the 1950s to live with her mother who worked as a stage and Tamil film actress.

At 16, she acted in a Kannada movie which turned out to be a blockbuster. She also acted on stage for years even as she continued to study.

Although she wanted to pursue higher studies, Jayalalithaa gradually veered towards acting.

Her first Tamil movie was Vennira Aadai (1965). Over the decades, she acted in 140 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and even one in Hindi Izzat opposite Dharmendra.

Her acting career peaked after she was paired with the legendary M.G. Ramachandran or MGR. The success of their film Aayirathil Oruvan (1965) turned Jayalalithaa into a leading heroine in Tamil movies. The two were an instant hit on the silver screen and they were said to be friends too in real life.

It is widely believed that it was MGR who prompted Jayalalithaa

to join politics. However, in reality, she made her own choice.

MGR appointed her the AIADMK’s Propaganda Secretary in 1984.

But it was her grit and tenacity that helped Jayalalithaa, a Brahmin in the Dravidian movement, to move her way up. When MGR fell ill and was under medical treatment in the US, Jayalalithaa led the AIADMK’s alliance with the Congress in the 1984 general and assembly elections.

Life became choppy after MGR died in December 1987, leaving Jayalalithaa to battle it out with his wife Janaki for the leadership of the AIADMK. The party split into two factions. In 1989, the two factions reunited under Jayalalithaa’s leadership and she was elected its General Secretary.

In the same year, she was elected

to the Tamil Nadu assembly for the first time and became the first woman opposition leader in the state. In 1991, she became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in elections held after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination at an election rally near Chennai.

Losing in 1996, Jalayalithaa returned to power in 2001 but had to step down after her name figured in a court case. After being

cleared, she took over again in 2002 and ruled till 2006. She wrested the state from the DMK in 2011, but had to step down in September 2014 after being convicted in a corruption case by a Bengaluru court.

Acquitted, she took back the reins in May 2015 and led her party back to power in 2016. Jayalalithaa had been in and out of power many times, but she never gave up.

DEATHS THAT LEFT INDIA POORER

It was a year when India lost many prominent personalities from all walks of life, with politics receiving a particularly severe blow

l The year started with the demise of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who presided over the state’s first coalition regime with the Bharatiya Janata Party as a M.M. Sayeed junior ally. l Cho Ramaswamy, a respected journalist and an actor who had starred in many movies with Jayalalithaa, died the next day in Chennai — also in the same Apollo Hospitals. l India also lost two former Lok Sabha Speakers — Balram Jakhar on February 3 and Purno Sangma on March 5. Both were from the Congress, though Sangma later quit the party protesting against party president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin. l Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister

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Kalikho Pul committed suicide on August 9 Rao died on January 30. Earlier, on January 4, after a string of developments led to his former Supreme Court Chief Justice S.H. ouster in July.

Kapadia also died. l Satyanand Munjal, a coIndia’s first ‘Mr Universe’, Manohar Aich passed away in Kolkata on June 5 at the age founder of the successful of 104.

Hero Group, breathed his last on April 14.

Neil O’Brien, India’s first quizmaster and the l The oldest litigant in the father of Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien, died on June 24.

Babri Masjid row, Hashim Ansari, died on July 20 in Nirankaris were in mourning Hashim Ansari Ayodhya, the very town after the sect leader, Baba where a mob razed the 16th century mosque.

Hardev Singh, was killed in a l Well-known diplomat Arundhati Ghose, who car accident in Canada on May 13. was once Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, died on July 25.

Isak Chishi Swu, one of the l Besides Cho Ramaswamy, journalism two most prominent Naga Hardev Singh separatist leaders, passed away suffered a huge loss in the death of Dilip on June 28 after a prolonged illness.

Padgaonkar, a former Editor of The Times of India, on November 25.

Former Indian Army chief General K.V. Krishna

l Leading Malayalam cartoonist and poet O.N.V. Kurup passed away on February 13 while writer and activist Mahasweta Devi expired on July 28. l The world of arts and music lost some stalwarts: LegMahasweta Devi endary dancer and choreographer Mrinalini Sarabhai died on January 21. l Carnatic music legend M. Balamuralikrishna died on November 22, and painter Syed Haider Raza on July 23. l April 22 saw the passing away of leading Urdu poet Malikzada Manzoor Ahmed in Lucknow at age 87. l In sports, hockey star Mohammed Shahid, who enthralled millions at the peak of his career, died on July 20.

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SOUTH SPECIALsouth special x

Sasikala to become AIADMK supremo A close aide of the late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, Sasikala has been elected as AIADMK General Secretary IANS, CHENNAI

T Soon after Jayalalithaa’s death, various leaders and party wings urged Sasikala to take charge of the party. (Photo IANS)

BRIEFS AIADMK wants ‘Bharat Ratna’ for Jayalalithaa CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK party requested the Union government to declare their late leader and former Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa’s birthday as the National Farmers’ Day and award her with Bharat Ratna posthumously. The party also resolved to whatever was necessary so that Jayalalithaa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Ramon Magsaysay award for implementing various welfare schemes.

The party passed a resolution to this effect at his general council meeting. According to the resolution Jayalalithaa had always called herself as a farmer.

Owaisi acquitted in eleven-years old case NEW YORK: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and four legislators of his party, who included his brother too, got relief when a court in Telangana this week acquitted them in a case related to demolition of a mosque 11 years ago.

A court in Sangareddy town has acquitted the Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad and four state legislators of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Asaduddin Owaisi, his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, Ahmed Pasha Khadri, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan and Muazzam Khan were booked by the police on March 16, 2005.

—IANS

amil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said V.K. Sasikala, a close aide of the late Chief Minister and party leader J. Jayalalithaa, has agreed to take charge as the AIADMK’s next General Secretary.

Disclosing this to the media, Panneerselvam said that Sasikala would soon formally assume charge as the party’s General Secretary.

Earlier in the day, the ruling AIADMK passed a resolution that Sasikala was the only person fit to become the party’s General Secretary.

The party’s General Council passed the resolution at its meeting here in the morning.

According to the party constitution, a General Secretary has to be elected by the basic members in Tamil Nadu and the office-bearers of party wings in Puducherry, New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh,

There should be a General Secretary to chalk out the party’s policies, authorize the party treasurer to handle the accounts and other activities, the party said.

The ruling party also said it would work under the leadership of Sasikala.

After Jayalalithaa’s Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. death, various leaders Panneerselvam and other leaders and party wings urged attended the meeting. The council also passed a resolution condoling Sasikala to take charge of the party the death of Jayalalithaa.

Later, Panneerselvam took a Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra copy of the General Council resoand Andaman. lution to Sasikala, who is residing Till such time a person is elected at Jayalalithaa’s residence in Poes by the various wings of the party, Garden here. the General Council has unaniSoon after Jayalalithaa’s death, mously decided that the fit person various leaders and party wings to become the General Secretary is urged Sasikala to take Sasikala. charge of the party.

Probe against Chandy for nepotism IANS, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

T

he Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Friday began a probe against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and others on charges of nepotism.

The probe was directed by a Vigilance Court here following a petition by A.H. Hafeez, who belongs to the Kerala Congress (Scaria Thomas), an ally of the ruling LDF. The petition said Chandy and several of his cabinet colleagues had appointed their relatives to government posts during their tenure

Oommen Chandy

(2011-16). Besides Chandy, the others include K.M. Mani, V.S. Sivakumar, K.C. Joseph, Anup

Jacob and P.K. Jayalekshmi. The court ordered the preliminary probe report to be filed on or before February 6, 2017, based on which the court would then decide if a case was required to be registered.

Meanwhile, Chandy told reporters in Kochi that he welcomed the probe. “I fully welcome this probe as I have never appointed anyone,” he said.

This petition was filed soon after Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan resigned in October after reports of him appointing two of his close relatives to key government posts surfaced.

President offers prayers at Tirumala TIRUPATI: President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday offered prayers at Lord Venkateshwara temple here.

Accompanied P. Mukherjee

by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, he had ‘darshan’ around 2 p.m.

The President, who is on a southern sojourn in Hyderabad, reached Renigunta Airport near here by a special aircraft. —IANS

Madras HC casts doubt on Jaya’s sudden death IANS, HYDERABAD

T

he Madras High Court this week cast doubts on the reason behind the sudden death of J. Jayalalithaa, and asked why the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s body could not be exhumed.

The court said that after news reports about Jayalalithaa recovering well, there was the sudden news that she was dead.

The court issued notices in this regard to the Prime Minister, and the central and state governments.

The court also said no revenue division officer saw the body nor any health report was given.

The court also asked whether the guidelines given in Netaji Sub-

Jayalalithaa died at the age of 68 in Apollo Hospital. (Photo IANS)

has Chandra Bose case were followed in Jayalalithaa’s case, when it came to the death of a person hav-

ing a large public following.

Jayalalithaa was in the Apollo Hospitals for 75 days.

Nobody was allowed to see her in the hospital on the pretext of risk of causing infection.

Reacting to the court’s observations, PMK founder S. Ramadoss in a statement demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into Jayalalithaa’s death.

Citing reports about amputation of Jayalalithaa’s legs, Ramadoss said if that was true, it was not known whether the permission for the surgery was obtained from her blood relatives or from the state government.

He said normally when hospitalized, a person would lose weight, but Jayalalithaa did not seem to have lost any weight. J. Jayalalithaa died at the age of 68, a day after she suffered a cardiac arrest.

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YEARENDER SPECIAL yearender special

x

2016 in Retrospect

Subcontinent

No more India-Pak bonhomie After a high in 2015, India-Pakistan ties touched a new low this year as terror guns kept blazing from across the border, killing several Indian jawans AROONIM BHUYAN, NEW DELHI

A

s 2015 had drawn to a close, there were fresh expectations on IndiaPakistan ties with the two sides deciding to resume their comprehensive bilateral dialogue during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Islamabad and Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a surprise visit to Lahore on Christmas Day on his counterpart Nawaz Sharif ’s birthday and his granddaughter’s wedding. That euphoria now seems a distant dream.

And for good reason.

Even as the Foreign Secretaries of the nations were scheduled to meet to formulate the dialogue process, terrorists of the Pakistanbased Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attacked the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot on January 2 this year resulting in the deaths of seven Indian security personnel and all five attackers. The entire peace initiative was thrown off the rails.

India demanded that Pakistan bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice and gave what it termed irrefutable proof of the JeM’s involvement in the attack. Pakistan lodged an FIR against unknown persons in February.

In March, India allowed a Pakistani investigation team to visit Pathankot as part of the probe into the attack.

In the same month, Pakistan arrested an Indian national, Kulbhushan Jadhav who had inadvertently crossed over from Iran and

DGMO Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh and MEA spokesperson Vikas Swaru addressing a press conference in New Delhi. (Photo: IANS)

charged him with spying. India said that Jadhav is a former Indian Navy officer. Jadhav has since been denied consular access despite repeated requests from New Delhi.

In April, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar held talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry during the latter’s visit to New Delhi for a meet on Afghanistan but the government has since dismissed this as “not to be taken as a bilateral dialogue”.

In June, Pakistan reportedly said that it would consider allowing an Indian investigation team to visit its territory as part of the Pathankot probe attack but with no palpable action being seen taken by Islamabad, hopes of a dialogue continued to recede though

Terrorists carried out a cross-border attack on an Indian Army base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 Indian soldiers lost their lives. (File photo: IANS)

the National Security Advisors of the two countries reportedly continued to remain in contact.

Things took a drastic turn for the worse with the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, the poster-boy of Kashmiri terrorism. Bilateral relations dipped to a new low with Pakistan describing Wani as “a martyr” and accusing India of human rights violations in Kashmir.

The violence sparked off in the Kashmir Valley by the killing of Wani claimed the lives of nearly 100 people, with India blaming Pakistan for inciting the violence.

Sushma Swaraj, in a statement, categorically ruled out talks with Pakistan, saying that “talks and terror cannot go hand-in-hand”.

Pakistan suffered further embarrassment when Bahadur Ali, a terrorist who had infiltrated from its territory was caught by Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit was issued a demarche which stated: “Bahadur Ali has confessed to our authorities that after training in Lashkar-eToiba camps, he was infiltrated into India.”

At an all-party meeting in New Delhi in the backdrop of Kashmir, Prime Minister Modi red-flagged Pakistan’s continued abuse of human rights in Balochistan province and mentioned this in his Independence Day speech as well.

Then came September 18.

Terrorists, allegedly belonging to

the JeM, carried out a cross-border attack on an Indian Army base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 19 Indian soldiers had lost their lives.

This time, as the whole country clamoured for revenge, India retaliated with aggression by going on the diplomatic offensive of isolating Pakistan in the international community.

Then came the surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control on September 29.

Just ahead of this, warning the world that “we do not know who this Frankenstein’s monster will devour next”, Sushma Swaraj in her speech at the UN General Assembly, said in Hindi: “If we want to defeat terrorism, there is only one way — that we unite across our differences, add steel to our resolve and inject urgency in our response... And if any nation refuses to join this global strategy, then we must isolate it.”

Modi cancelled his visit to Islamabad to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit that was scheduled in November in protest against Pakistan’s state sponsorship of terrorism. Other Saarc nations like Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan too followed suit, citing the same reason.

India also said that it would revisit the World Bank-brokered 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that has withstood three wars — drawing nervous reactions from Islamabad.

As of now, the prognosis for 2017 doesn’t seem too good.

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YEARENDER SPECIAL yearender special

x

2016 in Retrospect

Business

E-commerce rides on digitization The rapid growth of smartphones and internet connectivity has given greater access to virtual shopping and e-tailing for the tech-savvy generation BAPPADITYA CHATTERJEE & FAKIR BALAJI, KOLKATA/BENGALURU

T

he increasing use of digital technologies in buying and selling merchandise for convenience and mobility pushed e-commerce in India to an inflection point in 2016. The rapid growth of smartphones and internet connectivity across the country, especially in tier-II and III cities, has given greater access to virtual shopping and e-tailing for the tech-savvy

generation and millennials.

Even as e-tail behemoths Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon vied for a greater pie of the growing ecommerce market, enterprises and businesses in diverse sectors have joined the bandwagon to hard-sell their products by leveraging digital technology.

“E-commerce in India is at an inflection point, thanks to robust growth in consumer demand.

Mobile penetration and increasing use of smart phones have led to the emergence of m-commerce, which

E-tail behemoths Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are vying for a greater pie of the e-commerce market in India.

(Photo: Courtesy, http://www.softwaregen.com)

accounted for about 40 per cent of the sector’s sales this year,” Tata CLiQ Chief Executive Ashutosh Pandey told IANS. According to a study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), transition to mobile shopping is faster in India, which overtook the US this year in terms of active mobile users (220 million) and next only to China in user base.

The emergence of the Omnichannel model in e-tailing has also enabled netizens shop across e-por-

tals, web sites, apps and in stores as per their convenience.

“As a result, e-commerce players are looking at seamless integration of online and offline stores to offer consumers a unique shopping experience in the virtual and real worlds,” Pandey asserted.

With digital payments increasing through multiple gateways for online and offline buying, the push for cashless transactions in the aftermath of the November 8 demonetization has driven more and more consumers to e-shopping

and m-shopping.

Greater use of cloud computing, data analytics and artificial intelligence has made e-commerce players not only competitive and smart in retaining their mass user-base but also map shopping trends and predict purchasing patterns to consolidate their dominant position for sustaining growth.

Though demonetization has impacted the retail sector due to the cash crunch, digital transactions have enabled e-commerce firms to weather the crisis.

Reliance disrupts, telecom spectrum disrupts more APARAJITA GUPTA, NEW DELHI

I

t was the year of the big bang in telecom. Reliance Jio’s disruptive entry into the sector threw an unorthodox gauntlet at its rivals, triggering a bruising war of words -- and tariffs -- among players.

But it was also the year which ended in a whimper for the telecom spectrum auction. The much-touted “biggest spectrum auction” proved to be a stupendous failure, marring the spirit of the industry. Reliance Jio launched its fourth generation (4G) services in September — offering free voice, forever. To sweeten the deal, it threw in free data till the end of the year, later extending it to March of 2017.

Voice is what telecom operators make their money on. Without that, how does one survive in a market as price sensitive as India?

“I assure you, we will not lose money,” Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani told his shareholders while

announcing the Jio offer. This was taking competition to a whole new level. “The free voice call offer by Reliance for the 4G rollout was a major event — it was disruptive,”

Rishi Tejpal, Principal Research Analyst for Telecom Business Strategy at Gartner, told IANS. Jio’s disruptive offer led to long queues at its outlets across the country. But then in mobile telephony, each network is dependent on the others for successful completion of pan-Indian calls.

Reliance Jio found a new turf war in the making. It accused incumbent players of not providing enough number of Points of Interconnection (PoIs).

As expected, the matter was dragged to the ministry level and the watchdog — the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The regulator proposed a heavy penalty of Rs 3,050 crore, in all, on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular for “violating license norms” by denying enough PoIs to Reliance Jio. “The issue of limited interconnection points, as highlighted by Reliance Jio, impacted the customer experience it wanted to give its customers,” Tejpal said.

The gauntlet thrown by Reliance Jio was, of course, picked up — there was no way out. The three big telecom players in the country — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular — brought in their own offers on free calls for pre-paid customers.

“The incumbents seem not to have lost comparable market share or seen a large movement of their customers to Jio,” Mahesh Uppal, Director of consultancy firm Com First, told IANS. Losing market share is one thing; losing revenue is another and a more serious matter. “There is sufficient evidence that attempts by incumbent mobile operators to match Jio’s aggressive pricing has dented their revenues significantly,” Uppal adds.

The situation, therefore, would be a matter of concern for both sides, he suggests.

The new year would decide who gets a bloody nose and who remains unscathed in this bruising fight.

By the end of September, the number of wireless telephone subscribers in India had already crossed the one billion mark, standing at 1,049 million, according to TRAI data.

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SOUTH SPECIAL diaspora x

‘Restore Aryan to his natural parents’

Aryan was separated from his Indian-origin parents on December 13 by by authorities in Norway IANS, NEW DELHI

E

xternal Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj demanded that the five-year-old child, who was separated by Norwegian authorities from his Indian origin parents who have been accused of beating him up, be reunited with his mother and father.

“We want restoration of Aryan to his natural parents. This is our firm stand and Indian Ambassador will convey this to the Norwegian authorities,” Swaraj said in a series of tweets. “Our Ambassador in Norway is meeting the Norwegian authorities regarding Aryan,” she said. “I refuse to accept that foster parents can take better care of the

Short takes

Indian-origin man faces ID theft in US

child than the natural parents. The foster parents are totally ignorant of the Indian culture and our food habits.” Aryan was taken from his kindergarten school on December 13 without the parents being informed and is being kept at a children’s welfare home some 150 km away from Oslo.

His mother Gurvinderjit Kaur was also taken into custody and was subjected to interrogation.

The child’s father, Anil Kumar, who runs an Indian restaurant, has denied all the allegations and said that his son was asthmatic.

While the father and son are Norwegian nationals, the mother is an Indian passport holder.

With India saying that it will help

if approached, Gurvinderjit Kaur contacted the External Affairs Ministry for support in the case.

This is the third such case in Norway involving Indian children.

In 2011, a three-year-old and and a one-year-old were separated from their parents but were later reunited when the UPA government took up the issue with Norwegian authorities.

In another case of alleged child abuse in December 2012, a sevenyear-old and a two-year-old were separated from their parents. The mother got a 15-month prison term and the father was jailed for 18 months. The two children were sent to the custody of their grandparents in Hyderabad.

Sushma Swaraj has said that the Indian Ambassador in Norway is meeting the Norwegian authorities regarding Aryan. (Photo IANS)

Kerala CM inaugurates school in Sharjah IANS, SHARJAH

K NEW YORK: An Indian-origin man faces identity theft and H-1B visa fraud charges, Phillip Talbert, the Eastern California federal prosecutor, said.

A grand jury indictment found that Abhijit Prasad stole the identity of two people to get H-1B visas and also filed 31 petitions with false statements about work projects to be done in California, according to the prosecutor’s office in Sacramento, California.

NYPD to allow Sikh officers to wear turbans NEW YORK: Ihe New York Police Department (NYPD) has come up with new rules allowing Sikh police officers to wear turbans instead of traditional police hats, officials said.

The NYPD has said the turbans must be navy blue and have the NYPD insignia attached, the BBC reported.

Under the new rules, religious members of the force were also permitted to grow beards up to half-an-inch long. New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill said the change was to encourage religious members of the community to apply "to work in the greatest police department in the nation".

—IANS

erala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a three-day official visit, inaugurated an Indian school, a media report said.

Vijayan toured the new Sharjah Indian School building in Juwaisa area and later congratulated the Indian Association Sharjah for its efforts in offering affordable education to expatriate children, the Gulf News reported. Hundreds of community members, including women and children, were present to receive Vijayan at the school premises. He was accompanied by K. Muraleedharan, a member of

the Kerala assembly, and Y.A. Rahim, president of the Indian Association Sharjah. Vijayan attended a large reception by the

community members at Sharjah Expo Centre.

He will also attend an award function organized by a Malayalam

TV channel and a public reception in Dubai. He paid a surprise visit to a labour camp of Indian workers in Al Quoz. Vijayan’s visit is considered significant in view of increased cooperation between the UAE and Kerala.

The Emirates established a new consulate in Kerala this year.

He said Kerala would set up an exclusive cell to support investment from expatriates. Speaking at a business meet in Dubai, Vijayan announced that a singlewindow system and online transactions for facilitating investments were also in the pipeline. Inviting expatriate investors to Kerala, Vijayan pledged to offer guarantee for investments in the state.

Four-day Sikh festival opens in Singapore IANS, SINGAPORE

A

four-day festival to mark the 350th birthday of Guru Gobind Singh opened this week. Thousands of Sikhs from around the region were expected to attend the “Naam Ras Kirtan Darbar”, a biennial event which started in 2002, said a report in the Strait Times.

Guru Gobind Singh was the 10th Sikh guru and was known as a literary genius.

The free event will feature music performances and an exhibition on the history of Sikhism. It will also offer free vegetarian food made by volunteers at gurdwaras in Singapore. The festival will also have on display a sacred relic - a 300-yearsold pitcher used by Guru Gobind Singh. Another highlight is a miniature paper replica of the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

More than 20,000 people are expected to attend the festival, which is one of largest Sikh gather-

Guru Gobind Singh was the 10th Sikh guru, known as a the literary genius.

ings outside South Asia. A live feed of the event will be streamed on Facebook. For many Sikhs the event will be an opportunity to meet members of their community living in different countries. “Sin-

gapore has always been our home base. It is a good chance to come back home, see each other and be part of the community again,” said Shanghai-based Ashmit Singh who has come to attend the event.

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Sikhs show the way, feed the homeless

BY A STAFF WRITER HICAGO, IL -- About 20 members of the American Sikh Community of Chicago helped feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day and again on Christmas Day at Salvation Army head office in Chicago.

Sikhs have been doing this since 1992.

Sikh Religious Society of Palatine and Illinois Sikh Community from Wheaton helped spread the word. People contribute money and labor voluntarily for the event.

S Sarwan Singh and Bibi Jasvir Kaur Singh are the main force behind this.

Some families have been associated with ‘sewa’ (service) since its beginning and feel that this was how Baba Nanak started Langar.

Once he found out that the sadhus are hungry and haven’t eaten for days, he spent Rs 20 that his father gave him to start a business. Instead, he went to the market, bought grocery, cooked food for the hungry sadhus and fed them.

“Once you start doing sewa there, you start realizing how blessed we are, who have food on table.” Many of these homeless

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people bring kids with them who otherwise may not get any food let alone hot lunch.

Kids were also given free toys donated by other charities. There were people from other faiths, too, like Jews, who lend a helping hand.

There was plenty of hot food for over 500 people. They also got fresh pies and different types of drinks like hot tea and coffee. AD Singh donated canned food

items too. Sikhs gave checks collected at Thanksgiving and now at Christmas.

Major Nancy Powers of Salvation Army thanked the Sikhs and expressed her desire to bring more non-Sikhs to Gurdwara Sahib on her next visit to Gurdwara. She said, “She really enjoyed her visit to Gurdwara and the respect showed to her by Sikh Sangat.”

She proudly displayed in her office

Christmas banquet held in Chicago

BY A STAFF WRITER T PROSPECT, IL -- Melodious carols, dance presentations, canticles, inspiring remarks and yuletide sermon marked the Grand Christmas Banquet hosted by United Christian Cultural Association [UCCA] on December 16 at the Bristol Palace in Mount Prospects, Illinois.

The presence of Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General of India, and Telugu movie actress Divya Vani from India enhanced the evening celebrations of songs, dances, music, worship and dinner.

Vani opened the evening accompanied by a graceful musical carol. Addressing the guests, Dr. Sayeed extolled the festival of Christmas and reflected on the exceptional contributions made by Christians in India in education, health care, charity, social empowerment, emancipation of women’s socio-economic

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Pilot smuggles $195k into US from Mumbai

[LtoR] Satish Dadepogu,Raju Pasumarthi, Emanuel Neela, Keerthi Ravoori, Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Farha Sayeed, Suneeta Christina, Actress Divya Vani, Renee Thogaru, Pravin Neetipud, Vasanth Charles & Nandan Thogaru

conditions and participation in public life and expressed his appreciation to the UCCA leaders for inviting him and his wife to Christmas celebrations.

Others present were Keerthi Kumar

Ravoori, director of UCCA, Emmanuel Neela, vice president, Vasanth Charles, director. Suneeta Christina, Satish Dadipogu Austin D’Souza, Nandan Thogaru and Pravin Neetipudi.

When Hindi and Urdu poets waxed lyrical

BY A STAFF WRITER ORCROSS, GA -- Having a dream is a beginning, coming together to make it real is progress, bringing it to fruition and continuing it for years is success.

Hindi- Urdu Saanjhe bol, a local congregation of professional and amateur Hindi-Urdu poets from South-East Asia, is one such success. It was started by two visionary women “Sandhya Bhagat and Manju Tiwari” who had the audacious dream of providing a platform to local Hindi-Urdu poets.

This dream came to fruition in the Summer of 2007 bringing together poets and is in its 10th year of coming to reality while standing tall against all odds.

The annual event’s 9th episode was held on the chilly evening of December 25 at Fusion Event Hall, Norcross, GA. This episode was extremely special, marked by the truckload of young talent bustling with

the plaque presented to her and picture from her visit to Gurdwara Sahib. This year, many Sikh youths also joined the sewa there.

Salvation Army provides drug deaddiction at their new beautiful location and prepares the homeless for regular jobs and ultimately home ownership. They are located at 825 Christiana Ave in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

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new ideas, radiant energy and ability to get their ideas across in the South-east Asian lingua- franca.

The audience was mesmerized by

the ease with which these young poets conveyed strong messages and difficult thoughts woven into an elegant rosary of words.

BY A STAFF WRITER ALLAS, TX -- A commercial airline pilot from Dallas has admitted smuggling more than $195,000 in cash and several pieces of jewelry into the US. Anthony Warner, 55, will face sentencing for the bulk cash smuggling charge on April 18. He faces up to five years in prison and forfeiture of the seized property.

Prosecutors say Warner was a member of Global Entry, a US Customs and Border Protection program designed to speed up entry into the US for preapproved travelers.

Warner flew from Mumbai, India, into the Newark Liberty International Airport on January 10, but the Global Entry terminal wasn’t functioning.

Warner instead went through customs, where officers found $195,736 in cash wrapped in newspaper inside his laptop bag. Officers also found 10 rings, four sets of earrings and various jewelry pieces that have yet to be valued.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

FRIDAY, 30 DECEMBER, 2016

Mongol Foundation’s cultural extravaganza

BY A STAFF WRITER HICAGO, IL -- The Talented Mongol Foundation celebrated a cultural extravaganza on the evening of December 24 at Meadows Club 2950 Golf Road Rolling Meadows, IL 60008.

Gandalger Batjarga beautifully conceptualized the entire event with the goal of bringing the entire Mongolian community of Chicagoland together. Over 700 people attended the event during which a team of over 30 artistes gave performances that were a treat to eyes.

The audience was spellbound by the amazing stage set-up which was put together by a construction crew which specializes in theater.

The foundation has organized three events so far since inception. The first was the volleyball championship supported by B. Batbaatar U. EnkhErden.

The second was Senior Day Supported by B. Tserenbat B. Ganzorig and the current one,

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Gandalger Batjargal with Mongol Foundation Trust board & Sponsors

the third event which was “Bayariin Misheel” (Holiday Spirit) New Year celebration with help of B. Tserenbat D. Adilzaya B. Mijee.

“Over 700 people attended the Mongolian Association’s spectacular dinner theater musical. The Meadows Club is fast

becoming a hub for international music, culture and cuisine, a realization of the vision for this Club. We are looking forward to another year of celebration of international cultures”, said Madan Kulkarni, CEO of The Meadows Club.

Felony charge against students for bullying

BY A STAFF WRITER T LOUIS, MO -- Local school leaders are scrambling to figure out changes to Missouri law coming January 1 that some say could result in students being charged with felonies for bullying or getting into a fight at school.

The changes stem from a legislation passed in 2014 that also increases maximum fines for felonies and misdemeanors and creates a fourth degree of assault.

The changes do not mention schools, and it’s unclear how schools and law

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enforcement will interpret them. Many school administrators were learning about the changes this week.

Come January 1, third-degree assault and some cases of harassment will become Class E felonies. Harassment will be a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, if the victim suffers ‘emotional distress’ from an act committed with that purpose.

The state considers harassment to be a form of school bullying, and harassment is among the offenses school districts are technically required to report to local law enforcement.

Also under the new law, a person who ‘knowingly causes physical injury to another person’ will have committed the felony of thirddegree assault.

At least two area school districts, Hazelwood and Ferguson-Florissant, have already interpreted that definition to mean that any student, no matter their age, who gets in a fight can be charged with a felony.

These changes to state law come at a time when schools are increasingly trying to use services such as counseling to reduce the need for punitive discipline of young students.

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Man fondles woman on Air India flight

BY A STAFF WRITER EWARK, N.J. -- Authorities say an Indian citizen living in New Jersey who is accused of fondling a passenger on a flight from India to Newark wrote notes to the victim apologizing for a ‘moment’s stupidity.’

Federal prosecutors say 40-year-old Ganesh Parkar, of Robbinsville, moved from his ticketed seat in business class on December 21 and sat next to a woman in economy class on an Air India flight from Mumbai. They say he touched one of her breasts after she fell asleep.

Investigators say he apologized in two short notes written while on the flight.

Parkar was later charged with abusive sexual contact. He was released on a $50,000 bond, put under home electronic monitoring and ordered to relinquish his passport.

The charge carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.

Parkar’s attorney says his client ‘asserts his innocence.’

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Indian rejects visa fraud allegations

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BY A STAFF WRITER ASHINGTON, DC -Indian American Abhijit Prasad, who has been charged in the United States with fraud and aggravated identity theft for obtaining two H-1B visas by false immigration documents, has rejected the allegations.

According to a release issued by US Attorney’s Office Eastern District of California, the federal grand jury returned a 33-count indictment on December 23 against Prasad of Tracy, Calif., charging him with 31 counts of visa fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, Prasad filed 31 petitions for H-1B non-immigrant visas containing false statements, made under penalty of perjury, as to purported work projects to be performed at various locations in California.

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The indictment further alleges that Prasad obtained two H-1B visas procured by fraud and false statements, and used the means of identification of a real person to effectuate his visa fraud scheme, the release by attorney Phillip A Talbert’s office said.

On December 23, the defendant was arraigned on the indictment and released with conditions, including the surrender of his passport and a bond until a further detention hearing.

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum statutory penalty of ten years on each visa fraud count, and a $250,000 fine.

He faces a two-year mandatory, consecutive sentence on the aggravated identity theft counts, as well as a $250,000 fine.

“The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” the release by the US Attorney’s office said.

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COMMUNITY NEWS / eastcoast 2

Friday, 30 DECEMBER, 2016

Chinna Jeeyar Swami welcomed in Atlanta

BY A STAFF WRITER TL ANTA, GA -- With the blessings of HH Sri.Sri. Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji, the Jeeyar Education Trust (JET), Atlanta hosted an event on December 3 at Skyland Business Center, Cumming to promote the upcoming grand ceremony of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya’s 1,000th birth anniversary “Ramanuja Sahasrabdhi”.

Mastero Ghazal Srinivasji accompanied Swamiji and dedicated his time for Swamiji’s mission. This grand ceremony is going to be held in May 2017 at Hyderabad, India.

The event highlights the completion of the 216-feet statue for Swami Ramanujacharya, appropriately named “Statue of Equality”.

The entire auditorium was electrified by Swamiji’s arrival, who was zealously received by a throng of devotees. The evening started with a beautiful dance rendition about Swami Ramanujacharya. Students of “Nataraja Natyanjali” school performed a visual representation of how Swami Ramanujacharya preached and propagated Vaishnavism and religious equality.

This dance was followed with a musical performance by “Raganjali” group of more than 50 singers from Atlanta. These spirited singers sang in synchronous melody about Swami Ramanujacharya.

The evening continued with the soul-

Indian doc gives $500k for medical center

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stirring ghazal recitation by maestro Dr. Ghazal Srinivas.

The culturally rich activities were followed by extending birthday wishes. Swamiji recently completed 60 years and the sweet, innocent and blossoming kids of Atlanta Prajna showed their love and affection to their Acharya sharing the stage with Him to sing Happy Birthday.

As a highlight to the program, Sri. Chinna Jeeyar Swami took the stage and talked about “Bhooloka Vaikuntam” and “Ramanuja Saharsabdhi”. Swamiji explained about the ongoing plans for the project and

invited everyone to join hands as a service to the completion of the grand statue for Ramanujacharya.

The whopping turnout, against the inclement external weather conditions of cold chilly rain, only shows the power of the Inner Calling. This event attended by more than 1,000 people was a great success.

JET Atlanta team thanked all of the attendees, without whom, the spirit of the program could not have been maintained and all the generous donors who so graciously donated to the solemn cause taken up by Swamiji.

Indian student charged in cyber attack case

BY A STAFF WRITER SAN FRANCISO, CA -- Indian American computer science student Sean Krishanmakoto Sharma was arrested after a multinational operation to crack down on young hackers and has been charged with carrying out cyber-attacks on a chat site.

Sharma was produced before federal Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar in Los Angeles on December.19 and was released on a $100,000 bail bond,according to Brian Stretch, the federal prosecutor for Northern California.

“Sharma had used a ‘distributed denial of service,’ DDoS, tool to disrupt the computers of a San Francisco company that provides chat services to other companies between November 2014 and January 2015,” Stretch said in a statement. A court document identified the company as Chatango.

DDoS is a form of cyber-attack that floods computers with bogus requests that overwhelm and paralyze computers. DDoS uses viruses and programs known as botnets, which robotically transmit disruptive requests to servers, and trojans, which are secretly implanted in other people’s computers to carry out attacks from there.

A court document said that Sharma used a

BY A STAFF WRITER EW YORK, NY-- Philanthropist and orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Krishne Urs has made a hefty donation to a New York-based university medical center.

The Indian American physician provided the Richmond University Medical Center with $500,000 for its $65-million emergency department construction project.

A medical school graduate of the University of Mysore, Urs immigrated to New York in the early 1960s to study to become an orthopaedic surgeon.

He practised at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, which later became Richmond University Medical Center. He served as the chief of orthopaedic surgery at the medical center from 1986 through 2001.

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Fugitive gets 16 yrs for killing wedding guest

botnet called Xtreme Fire to carry out the attacks.

Sagar, before whom Sharma appeared, became in 2013 the first Indian American woman to be appointed a federal judge.

The FBI, who arrested Sharma on December 16 in La Canada, Calif., identified him as a 26-year-old graduate student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The FBI said that his arrest was part of a joint anti-cybercrime operation by the

U.S., Australia and 11 European countries that was coordinated by the European Cybercrime Centre at The Hague, in the Netherlands.

“A total of 34 people were arrested during the five-day operation conducted from Dec. 5,” the FBI said without identifying the others or the countries they were arrested in.

“Many of them were under the age of 20,” the FBI continued.

International award for Jersey doctor

BY A STAFF WRITER ERSEY CITY, NJ -- Sumul N. Raval, a leading neuro-oncologist at Monmouth Medical Center and Community Medical Center in New Jersey, has recently been honored with a prestigious international award for state-of-the-art treatment to people with brain tumors.

Raval, a board-certified neurologist who completed fellowship in neuro-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, was presented with the GBM (Glioblastoma Multiforme) Heroes Award during the 21st annual scientific meeting of the Society for Neuro-Oncology in

Dr. Krishne Urs

HH Sri Sri. Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji

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Dr Sumul N. Raval

Scottsdale, Arizona.

The honor recognizes individuals who have dedicated their lives to helping patients with GBM and their families, according to CURE magazine that organized the Scottsdale meeting.

This year’s conference drew 3,600 neurooncologists, neuro-surgeons, radiation oncologists, neuro-radiologists and scientists from 55 countries, and is said to be the most comprehensive neuro-oncology meeting in the world.”

Both the Monmouth Medical Center and the Community Medical Center, where Raval works, are RWJBarnabas Health facilities, New Jersey’s biggest health care system.

Balkumar Singh

BY A STAFF WRITER NEOLA, N.Y. — A man who spent 16 years as an international fugitive after killing a guest at a New York wedding on Long Island has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.

Balkumar Singh, originally from Guyana and of Indian descent, was sentenced Dec. 19 in Nassau County Court. He pleaded guilty last month to murder in the 1999 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Abzal Khan.

Authorities say Singh shot Khan seven times following a dance floor dispute at a wedding hall; scores of guests witnessed Khan’s death.

Singh, who had several aliases, traveled to Canada and Guyana before an international manhunt ended in Trinidad in March 2015 with his capture by law enforcement.

He was featured in a 2009 episode of “America’s Most Wanted.”

“I’m sorry for the pain I caused the family,’’ Singh told reporters before his arraignment in Nassau County court.

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Call Mina Bhakta @ 620-655-8088 Heading : Arial @ Black 14 Font White color or Callie 843-681-3655

HIRING

JSolegtbtk RrLzvuLzuLx Ãt{tuvxeole mkCt¤, jtRx buRLxulLm ;ubs jtuLz[e ftb btxu ykøt{uS Ct»tt ctuje ylu mbS Nfu ;uJt fvjle sYh Au. jedj MxuxTm sYhe. ytf»tof vdth mt:u hnuJtle mdJz ytvJtbtk ytJNu. mtkslt 5 :e 9 ’hBgtl mkvfo fhJtu Looking English speaking couple to take care of Independent Property in Virginia. Light maintenance and laundry work included. Legal status must.

Attractive salary and accommodation provided. Call between 5 pm to 9 pm

btuxj nuÕv rNftdtu vtmu Jtpfudlbtk ytJuje 99 Yble ypfTMxehegh ftuheztuh btuxjbtk ntWmrfrvkd fvjle sYh Au. hnuJtle mdJz ytvJtbtk ytJNu. jedj MxuxTm sYhe. 99 Room exterior corridor Motel in Chicago near Waukegan is looking for Housekeeping couple. Accommodation provided.

Legal Status must.

Call: (215) 964-3016

MOTEL HELP

Looking for single to manage a small motel in Illinois.

Call:757-487-5796 or Email: sirdrpatel@ gmail.com

Call 212-731-4592

MOTEL HELP

btuxj nuÕv

Immediate opening for experiences Motel Manager to manage 29-unit Independent Motel close to Chicago Midway Airport. Immigration legality, experience and reference must.

Heading : Arial Black 12 Font Black color Accommodations provided, couple preferred.

zeçgwfT, ytgtuJtbtk ytJuje £uLatRÍ btuxjbtk ntWmrfrvkd ;ubs £Lx zuMf fvjle sYh Au. £LxzuMf vtuÍeNl btxu VTjwyLx RkøjeN sYhe. ytf»tof vdth mt:u hnuJtle mdJz ytvJtbtk ytJNu. Need Housekeeping and Front Desk couple in Franchise Motel in Dubuque, Iowa. Fluent in English must for Front Desk position.

Good pay and accommodation provided

Call Pushpa Patel @ 773-728-9400

btuxj nuÕv rNftdtu:e yuf fjtflt yk;hu vuhw, RrjltuR Ft;u ytJuje mwvh yuRx btuxjbtk £LxzuMf ;:t ntWmrfrvkdle sYh Au. hnuJtle mdJz ytvJtbtk ytJNu. Super 8 motel in Peru, IL (1 hour from Chicago) need Housekeeper & Front Desk help.

Accommodation will be Provided.

Contact: Deepak 630-706-0597

RESTAURANT HELP

Immediately Hiring Cook & Customer service persons for Indian Restaurant in Chicago

Call: (630) 544-8969

RESTAURANT HELP

Heading : Arial Black 14 Font White color

Looking for a Tandoori Chef helper for Indian Restaurant.

Call: 708-256-2561 or 708-307-8502 MOTEL HELP

Front Desk, Manager, Maintenance Man & Housekeeper wanted for Motel in Florida, Ohio & Michigan

Call Rakesh Patel 313-467-0051 or Email: rakesh7869@aol.com

Call Jay Patel @ 815-483-5399 btuxj nuÕv

rNftdtu vtmu Jtpfudlbtk ytJuje btuxj btxu £Lx zuMf btxu rmkdj y:Jt fvjle sYh Au. jedj MxuxTm sYhe. hnuJtle mdJz ytvJtbtk ytJNu. ykøt{uS Ct»tt vh Ãt{CwðJ sYhe. Motel in Chicago near Waukegan is looking for a Single person or a Couple to work at front Desk.

Legal status must. Accommodation is provided.

Fluency in English is required.

Call: 215-964-3016

MOTEL HELP

Independent Motel in Buffalo, NY need a couple for housekeeping. Accommodation provided.

Legal status must.

Call : 716-923-3377

HIRING

We are looking for an individual who has basic skills of computer to manage warehouse in Skokie, IL with sales experience.

Call Ken @ 847-845-7850 or Email Resume at: kpsdnkr@aol.com inside text : Arial 11 Font Black color

MIDWEST / EASTCOAST

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NANNY WANTED Two physician family in Cincinnati, Ohio seeks live in Muslim nanny for three girls ages 2, 5, and 7 years old.

Potential candidates must have previous experience in childcare, good references, and must be willing to drive.

Candidates must also be willing to help with cooking and light housekeeping. Pay will be provided as a weekly or annual salary with 2 weeks paid vacation included.

Nanny will be taking children to and from school and extracurricular activities in our own minivan. Serious inquiries only. Immediate availability to start.

Call Almas Kherani or Najam Ansari @ 312 560 3866

MOTEL HELP

Motel in Indiana looking for housekeeping couple or single. Good pay & Accommodation provided.

Legal status and English speaking must.

Call: 574-226-6938 HIRING

General Manger position open for Franchise Hotel in Minneapolis (Twin City Area). Starting pay $36,000-$50,000.

Accommodation provided.

Call: 651-424-6157 (9 AM - 5 PM Mon-Fri only) or Email: erickota4@gmail.com

MOTEL HELP

40 Room Franchise Motel in Vicksburg, Mississippi looking for a resident manager couple. Accommodation provided. Fluent English Heading : Arial Blackand 14 FontLegal White colorstatus must.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016

35

HOTEL/MOTEL FINANCING

Hotel / Motel Cheap Rate Financing, 20% Down – No Experience, 15% Down – With Experience, 5% - $5.0 Mill – 30 days closing

Call: 877-337-6869 or Email: Jessie@enterglobe.com

MOTEL FOR SALE IN HOUSTON, TX Indoor corridor, 85 rooms, 3 story, Interstate, close to Bush Airport. Offering Price $3 Million Dollar. Absentee owner.

Buyer need to provide the proof of down payment Call Ashok Daftary, CCIM Broker, Om Realty Finance Co.

Ph: 972-612-0000 or E-mail: omrealtyfinance@gmail.com

JeÍt ybuhftlt ytvlt Cth; Ft;ult mkck"eytulu yburhft VhJt fu CKJt btxult JeÍt ykdu yburhft:e gtuøg btdo’Nol mt:u JeÍt yhS ;theF Jduhu btxu RrLzgt mkvfo fhtu

Call (India): 9925552623 or 9428959655

HOUSEHOLD HELP

Looking for a live-in Veg & Non-Veg cook for a small and loving family. You will get good salary, respect and friendly atmosphere

Call: 219-316-0344

Call Mike @ 214-417-9882

HELP WANTED

Experienced person with online sales for full time wanted in Queen's, NY for Amazon & E-Bay.

Call: 516-650-5317 or Email Resume to: Ravish42@gmail.com

MOTEL HELP Franchise Motel in Northwest Indiana near Chicago needs Single/Couple for Front Desk / Housekeeping position. Must have legal status. Accommodation provided.

Call: 219-512-2800

INDIAN GROCERY STORE FOR SALE One of the Best Reputed INDIAN GROCERY Store in the town, Well Maintained, 2400 sq.Ft with Very LOW RENT and Established Indian Grocery with Very Good Lottery Commission in a busy location closer to Mall and all big stores at major intersection on Main Road. Space to Add Fast Food Kitchen as already 3 compartment sink and PREP Counter is ready (It’s a BIG demand for Fast Food).Store is for Sale due to Family Reason.

Contact @ 224 595 3920

Rohit A. Shah – MBA, LUTCF Financial Representative

Fixed Annuities

Disability Income

Life Insurance and inside text : Arial 11 Font Black color

Long Term Care

The Pietsch Financial Group, Inc. 1 Summit Avenue, Suite 135 Oak Brook Terrace, IL 60181 Office Phone: 1-630-317-2504 Office Fax: 1-630-317-2539 Cell: 1-847-219-2536 1-847-970-9431 Email: Rohit_Shah@GLIC.Com

Financial Representative of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), New York, NY. The Pietsch Financial Group Inc. is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Guardian. 2016-22707 Exp 8/18

COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR, COLLISION & CUSTOM PAINT CENTER Contact: S QUADRI @ 847-675-BODY (2639) / Fax: 847-675-2656 Email: bodywerks8444@yahoo.com 8444 Niles Center Rd, Skokie, IL 60077

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Heading : Arial Black 14 Font White color

ntuxj nuÕv

buRle (gw.yum.yu)btk ntuxjbtk ntWmrfrvkd btxu Cth;eg fvjle sYh Au. hnuJtle mdJz ytvJtbtk ytJNu.

Need Indian couple for Housekeeping job at Hotel In Maine, USA. Accommodation will be provided.

Call Asit @ (617) 770 0045 ext 102

LIQUOR STORE FOR LEASE

Great opportunity! Liquor store for lease in St. Louis. Monthly sale $100,000. Deposit $100,000.

Call: 314-799-7287 FOR SALE

2 Photo Studios for sale inside Chicago south side shopping mall.

Good business, Store managers have 5-10 yrs experience.

Owner retiring. Easy money!

Text Clara: 847-217-4541

z[tRrJkd jtgmLm b¤Nu òu ytv yburhftbtk jedj l:e ylu ytvle vtmu mtu~gj rmfTgturxe ftzo l:e ;tu vK Mxux ytuV JtprNkøxlbtk:e z[tRrJkd jtmLm bu¤JJtbtk b’’ fheNwk. Vtul vh ykøt{uSbtk Jt; fhtu.

Call: 347-321-3381

Natural

Authentic Homemade Taste-NIRAV PICKLES

Happy New Year to all our loyal NIRAV customers

Try Nirav pickles, made fresh right here in America."

The name you have known and grown to trust!

Ask your favorite retailer for Nirav pickles

For wholesale inquiries call: 847-674-2480

INDIAN GROCERIES & SPICES INC., 8051 N. Central Park, Skokie, IL 60076. USA Tel: 847-674-2480, Fax: 847-674-2490.

Email: niravigs@gmail.com

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MIDWEST / EASTCOAST

RESTAURANT HELP

Immediate hiring Tandoori Cooks, Curry Cooks, Kitchen helpers and Waiters for Indian restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA. Excellent salary plus accommodation provided.

Call Singh : 412 298 3097

£e btdo’Nol

yburhft ylu RrLzgtlt ftg’tfeg ylwCJe ;hV:e £e inside text : Arial 11 Font Bl btdo’Nol bu¤Jtu. ftuRvK M:¤u :gujt jøl, rzJtumo fu ct¤flt mvtuxo btxu, mkck"eytu btxu :guj Rrbøt{tLx VtRjtubtk, mkck"eytulu JeÍexmo fu MxwzLx JeÍtbtk £e btdo’Nol ;ubs ;btht rJM;thlt muluxh fu ftukøt{umbul-muluxhle sYhe b’’ btxu mtu~gj Jfoh ftkr; vxujltu mkvfo mJthu 9 :e mtkslt 7 ’hBgtl fhJtu Call Kanti Patel @ 773-814-3167

ntuxj nuÕv fuLmtm rmxe, fuLmtm Mxuxbtk £uLatRÍ ntuxj btxu Heading : Arial Black 12 Font Black gwJtl ylu MVwr;o:e ftb fhe Nfu ;uJt ntWmrfrvk d fvjle sYhAu. £uLatRm ntuxjbtk ftbltu ylwCJ sYhe. ytFt J»to ’hBgtl DKe Ybtu b¤e hnuNu. Wvhtk; ylwCJe nuz ntWmrfvh ylu buRLxulLmlwk ftb fhe Nfu ;uJt Ôgr¾;ytule sYh Auu. ytf»tof vdth ylu hnuJtle mdJz ytvJtbtk ytJNu. Opening in kansas city and Des Moines, IOWA

Call: Mike Patel 334-657-8100

MIDWEST / EASTCOAST

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016

PATEL, SINGH & RAO SERVICES

37

Out of Status can soon become Out of Country

IT PAYS TO

RENEW EXPIRED & OLD WORK-PERMITS HERE

CHECK

DOUBLE

REMAIN IN STATUS: AVOID DEPORTATIONS • WORK-PERMITS-RENEWABLE-WITH LEGAL

STATUS, TRAVEL PERMISSION, SSN & DRIVER LICENSE. OUT-OF-STATUS & BORDER-X-ING OK., 3-4 MO. EASY PAYMENTS. • EXPIRED-F1/F2, B1/B2, H-1B/H-4, C-10,J,L & VISA WAIVER PROG.-O.K. • GREEN CARD WITH YOUR SPONSORING EMPLOYER/ CITIZEN MARRIAGE PARTNER

GM Kazim, Agent

GM 60 Kazim, Agent Tyler Creek Plz Elgin, IL 60123 60 Tyler Creek Plz Bus: 847-278-0255 Fax: 847-289-8700 www.gmkazim.com Elgin, IL 60123 Bus: 847-278-0255 Fax: 847-289-8700 www.gmkazim.com

I could help you save hundreds with a free Discount Double Check .

CALL ME TODAY. ®

Call: PSR ASSOCIATE TOLL FREE: 1-877-566-0071 Email:psrservicesusa@yahoo.com

BUSINESS LOANS

1306932

State Farm, Home Office, Bloomington, IL

For Hotel, Motels, Gas Station, Liquor Store, Franchise, Doctor Office, Deli, Retail Store, Restaurant, Cash Advance and Dollar store.

Call: Mr. Iqbal (718) 637-1178 or 516-837-0020 Please visit www.credit4biz.com

S&A IT TRAINING

Are you interested in earning annually $100,000 and above!!!!!.

Launch your career as an IT Business Analyst with us.

Business Analyst is the liaison between business and technology.

Our Business Analyst program will empower you to seize the emerging opportunity.

We offer both in class and online courses, our program is 6 weeks and the 4 hours class is on Sat or Sun only.

Our course includes BA curriculum, Tool training, Resume writing, Monitoring, Demo interviews, Role play, Job applications and post job assistance WE OFFER JOB PLACEMENTS

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING

Call Hussain @ 847-749-6509 Email: triumph4lifeBA@gmail.com www.sandaittraining.com

It`s ALL About You

SCHOOL

Learn to drive in best rate We speak Gujarati, Hindi & English

Call Now: Kamlesh Patel

Ph:( (847) 352-4919, Cell: (847) 287-3225 (Call after 12 pm: 7 days a week)

You need an agent who...

•Listens and Understands your particular needs •Knows the local markets •Communicates with you on a regular basis •Handles all the details •Gets you the best value, whether you are buying or selling For Honest, Ethical and Reliable Real Estate Assistance, Contact Vatsal"'

$10,000

up to

AMIGO DRIVING

WHEN SELECTING A REAL ESTATE AGENT, YOU NEED SOMEONE WHO SEES YOU AS A PERSON, NOT A PROFIT

Provided the lender allows the credit

Back to buyer or seller at closing Realtor is local resident for more than 15 years. Call broker for details.

Free home value analysis

Vatsal Doshi, Broker (Commercial & Residential) Cell: 630-728-0810

Email: vatsalrealtor@gmail.com Website: www.vatsaldoshirealtor.com

For Customer Testimonial Scan Code This information was provided through public record information as a market update only and dose not necessarily reflect that the aforementioned agent providing the update participated in the transaction, Some or all of the home in this update may have listed or sold" by owner or other real estate professionals."

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MIDWEST / EASTCOAST

Insured & Be Secured MEDICARE & OBAMACARE Ask for Low OR $0 Premium Medicare Advantage Plans with $0 Deductible for Prescription Drugs Plans

Call for Free Appointment

1375 E Woodfield Road Suite 140 Schaumburg, IL 60173

Navin Shah Certified Medicare & Obamacare Broker

Call for FREE no obligation quote

Auto Home Landlord Renters Boat Motorcycle

INSURANCE

630-440-3354 Call for all

HEALTH

your INSURANCE needs

Other Services INSTANT LICENSE PLATES RENEWAL STICKERS TITLE & REGISTRATION

Business Package Liability Property Work comp Business Auto

Phone: 773 459 0750 Email: healthinsurance.navin@yahoo.com FREE APPLICATION……FREE APPLICATION

OBAMACARE (OPEN 1ST NOV – 31 ST JAN 17) Medicare advantage prescription drug plan ($0 premium) (Open 15th Oct-7th Dec)

Get maximum benefits Lower Premium Maximum coverage CALL IMMEDIATE AND SET UP AN APPOINTMENT

Life

Shailesh Rajput

Oriental Insurance Agency Inc

121 Fairfield Way, 106 A Bloomingdale, IL 60108

ybu dwsht;e, rnk’e ylu Cth;eg Ct»ttytu ctujeyu Aeyu

CHAUDHARI & RAO

BHARAT KOTHARI

Licensed Insurance Agent for Auto-Home-Life-Health

We speak Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi & English

Cell : (630)779-6086 or (630)403-4051 Email: bkothari@ifsbrokerage.com

Medicare has neither endorced nor revised

IMMIGRATION SERVICES

SERVICES • Visitor Visa • Student Visa • Relative Visa • Investor Visa • Citizenship • Affidavit Support • Intra-Company Transfer • India Passport • Adoption • Dual Citizenship

We Speak Gujarati, Hindi & English Translation from Hindi-Gujarati into English

Reasonable Fees Guaranteed Service

2442 Army Trail Road, Hanover Park, IL 60133 Next to Patel Brothers

Tel: (847) 357-1600

Special 4ft LED Light with Installation only $12

This is not a law office and we can't give legal advice

We Specialize in Insuring small Businesses Advance Insurance Consultants Inc. Business Insurance Specialists 1783 S. Washington St., ST#101B, Naperville, IL 60565

We Specialize in Insuring:

info@strongledlights.com • www.strongledlights.com

SHIPPING TO INDIA? We ship by Air and Ocean around the World

20'FT & 40'FT HC Full Container, Less Than Container and Air Cargo One stop shop for your Moving & Relocation needs.

Call:1-847-673-6100

www.gandhishipping.com

Hassle free - Exceptional Service

Hotel/ Motel Insurance Restaurant Insurance

Gas Station Insurance

Computer Consultants Ins

Sandwich Shops/ Deli

Doughnut Stores Insurance

Workers Compensation etc.

Call Tanvir Ahmad Cell: 630-718-9492, 630-697-5304 Email:tanvirahmad@advanceins.net

773-262-6161 WWW.ASIAINSURANCE.COM

MIDWEST / EASTCOAST

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016

39

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016

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For All Your Travel Insurance Needs……

Any One Traveling Anywhere In The World

@hiindia

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MIDWEST / EASTCOAST