SAT July issue 204

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CELEBRATING 11th YEAR OF PUBLICATION

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South Asia Times Vol.11 I No. 12 I July 2014 I FREE s o u t hasiatim es.com .au Editor: Neeraj Nanda

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11 Offbeat Indian Films Amongst 341 Films @ MIFF 2014 Read on pages 34-35 Overseas Indians mixed reaction to Indian budget– 2014...read on page 5

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FROM THE EDITOR

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South Asia Times

PUBLISHER/EDITOR Neeraj Nanda M: 0421 677 082 satimes@gmail.com

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Overseas Indians mixed reaction to Indian budget– 2014 M

by Neeraj Nanda

elbourne: There are an estimated 25 million people in the Indian Diaspora spread the world over. It is the largest in the world after the Chinese Diaspora, according to the Ministry of Overseas Indians.

In Australia, the Indian born population based on 2011 census data, there were 295,373 India-born people living in Australia, an increase of 148,000 people when compared to the 2006 census. The number has been climbing each year. Naturally, they are well connected to India and have business, social and cultural ties with the mother country. Many of them are Indian citizens with Permanent Residency (PR) while others are Australian citizens.

Any budget each year effects all Indian citizens including those resident in Australia. The 2014 budget presented by Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley presented on 10th July, has been hailed by Indian businessmen overseas for opening up FDI in defence and insurance sectors. But there are others who are not happy.

“There is hardly anything to cheer about for the NRIs in the budget. It seems the new government sidelined the NRI community and didn’t give importance to this very potential group. The unleashing of NRI fiscal power would have added strength to the hands of finance minister,” Azad Moopen, Director of NORKA Rootsm, was quoted as saying in Khaleej Times.

From a healthcare point of view, the budget should have outlined a road map for comprehensive inclusive solutions. Rs5 billion for new AIIMS in four States is a good sign. Some of the key components of the budget, such as providing special treatment packages for senior citizens, incentives for visually challenged people and other welfare initiatives; will help boost the social development, He said.

The budget disregarded demands on increasing GDP allocation on healthcare.

India with a dismal 2 per cent GDP spend is one among the lowest among emerging in healthcare expenses. It is important that this is

India’s Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence, Mr. Arun Jaitley arrives at the Parliament House in New Delhi to present the General Budget 2014-15, on July 10, 2014. increased to at least 4 per cent. Opening up of insurance sector to FDIs may help to increase the insurance penetration in this area.

“I hope that 7 to 8 per cent growth in three to four years can be achieved by cutting ‘Red Tape’ and rolling out ‘Red Carpet’,” he added.

“The setting up of an NRI Fund for Cleaning up Ganges is a welcome step, but the Government should encourage NRIs to invest in education. If there is no education, people will keep dirtying the Ganges and other rivers again and the best policy is to educate them,” Mr. Rajan Kathrani, Managing Director, Elekta Gulf Told the Emirates 24 News.

“India’s transformation has to be powered by technology - this is well recognized by the Government and has been articulated in the various initiatives in the Budget. I see this budget setting the stage for higher growth on strong fundamentals of manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, built on the backbone of technology, says Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi says the new government has shown its ambition to fix India's precarious finances, tame inflation and usher in growth. However, it will largely depend on sufficient monsoon rains to spur domestic farm growth, and external factors like the global economy and the price of oil, our correspondent says. A government survey, published recently, said the country's fiscal situation was worse than it appeared.

The report forecast GDP growth of between 5.4% and 5.9% in 2014-15, but warned that weak monsoon rains essential for farming - could affect it.

"This budget has nothing for the 'aam aadmi' and the poor. They have announced tax concessions to help corporates and big industrial houses. "While on the one hand, they have said they will continue with the tax collection fixed by the previous government, they have given concession to the big industrial houses under pressure," said the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge.

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) termed the Union budget as a "dud", saying it has nothing to offer to any section of the society and has missed out on important issues like corruption, inflation and looming drought.

"People had high expectations from the budget, but it turned out to be dud.

The budget was a last ray of hope. There are no steps to deal with corruption, inflation and no initiatives have been taken to tackle with the situation when there is a threat of drought looming over because of bad monsoon," party's National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal told reporters in New Delhi.

Obviously, reactions to the budget are on party lines.

The Modi government’s pledge of ‘Ache Din’ (good days) for the ‘Aam Aadmi’ (common man) will come or not is too early to judge.

Overseas Indians many not feel the pinch of rising prices and inflation but it remains a fact the vast masses need relief to overcome hard economic times. India’s socio economic challenges are big and being complacent can be catastrophic.

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Sankat Mochan Kendra opens

By our community reporter

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elbourne: There are an estimated 25 million people in the Indian Diaspora spread the world over. It is the largest in the world after the Chinese Diaspora, according to the Ministry of Overseas Indians. In Australia, the Indian born population based on 2011 census data, there were 295,373 India-born people living in Australia, an increase of 148,000 people when compared to the 2006 census.

The number has been climbing each year. Naturally, they are well connected to India and have business, social and cultural ties with the mother country. Many of them are Indian citizens with Permanent Residency (PR) while others are Australian citizens.

Melbourne, 15 June: The Sankat Mochan Samiti (SMS) finally opened doors for devotees with a bang. It’s the first of its kind - North Indian Hindu Temple, Social Welfare Kendra and Indian Cultural Education Institution (Three in One) in Australia.

SMS will cater not only Hindu

Opening times of Kendra: Tuesday Evening: 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm Thursday Evening: 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm Saturday Morning: 10.00 am to 12.30 pm Saturday Evening: 4.30 pm to 8.00 pm Sunday Morning: 10.00 am to 12.30 pm Sunday Evening: 4.30 pm to 8.00 pm population but also other communities interested in Hinduism. More than a thousand devotees attended the day of reverence and faith. People kept on coming the whole day amidst the chanting of religious hymns.

The ceremony started with the blessings of Lord Ganesh, for a successful completion and without any obstacles to the Kendra. The Vastu Puja

and Navagraha Puja were then performed. The most overwhelming ceremony, which took place for the first time in the history of Australia, was the 11,000 Ahutis (Offerings of sacred mixture of grains, ghee and aromatic perfumes) of most reverent and Siddha Maha Gayatri Mantra was performed. Five stations were carefully placed with all the

precautions of fire safety, as Havan Kunds. Minimum of 8 devotees at a time per station performed the Ahutis, thus making 40 Ahutis per recitation of Gayatri Mantra.

Later when the ‘Pran Pratishtha (infusion of life and divine powers in the idols) was completed and the curtains were open for the first time of the main deities, Ganesh Ji, Ram Darbar, Durga

Melbourne Indian Consulate’s new website By our community reporter

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elbourne: Getting information from the Indian Consulate has become easy now. The Consulate General of India, Melbourne has now launched its user friendly redesigned website: www.cgimelb. org. More or less all relevant information/links have been incorporated in the website. The new site has many sections including information about the Consulate, Consular Services and Trade & Investment.

The section on Indian Diaspora can connect you to the Minis-

try of Overseas Indians, a section on the ‘Know India Program’ which tells about the annual India visit program for Diaspora youth, study in India, trace your roots, details of Indian public sector banks in Australia, a list of Indian associations and details about the Indian ethnic media.

A section under the ‘Right to Information’ (RIT) gives information about this law which gives right to Indian citizens (including Indian citizens in Australia) to obtain government information under the RTI Act, 2005.

Lastly, the FAQ’s section tells you all that you about visas, consular services, passports etc. www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9095 6220, 0421 677 082

Mata and Sankat Mochan Hanuman Ji. Idol of Sirdi Sai Baba was also initiated for worship with puja rituals. Shri Sai Baba , also known as Baba by his followers is loved and worshipped by people with different religious and nationality background.

Patron Arvind Shrivastava declared that ‘Tera Tujhako Arpan’ – whatever belongs to you is now being offered to all of you. He asked everyone to make a vow to commit them to keep the Sankat Mochan Kendra going forever by their dedicated support.

More than 500 people enjoyed the Maha Prasda (Blessed food) after the puja ceremony. Devotees kept the religious vibrations alive by reciting religious compositions like Amritvani, Hanuman Chalisa, Sankat Mochan Path and many Bhajans and Keertans after the puja and meals. It was a grand opening and everyone saw their dream of having a centrally located North Indian tradition temple open in a central location of Melbourne fulfilled.

—SAT News Service

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Celebrate India launches

‘Indian Essay Competition’ By our community reporter

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elbourne: In a first of its kind the Celebrate India has launched its inaugural Victoria wide ‘Indian Essay Competition’.

The competition will cover 5,000 primary schools in Victoria and is for years 5 and 6 students to explore and share their experience of Indian culture.

The essay competition is sponsored by Air India, Indian Consulate, Melbourne and Indian Weekly. Announcing the competition, Mr. Arun Sharma, Chairman, Celebrate India said the project has been for two years in the making and the entries will be judged by a panel of ten volunteers.

Each school is to send the top 10 entries and the judging panel will finalise the winners of three prizes and winners will be presented their prizes at the Diwali celebrations at the Federation Square.

The topic of the essay is – Similarities and differences between the Indian festival of Diwali and Christmas.

Each school is to send the top 10 entries and the judging panel will finalise the winners of three prizes and winners will be presented their prizes at the Diwali celebrations at the Federation Square.

The prizes are One return ticket to India and one additional ticket for guardian sponsored by Air India (1st prize) and the second and third prizes are sponsored by the Indian Consulate, Melbourne. The Indian Weekly has offered Rs 10,000

accommodation support for the 1st prize winner.

Indian Consul General Manika Jain said, "People to people links are very important and we have been looking at ways to take India and its rich culture to the youngsters. The new

initiative would be a part of building that familiarity and understanding of Indian culture," she said.

Apart from this, the school with the most entries will also win a six-week Australian Football League (AFL) leadership program which

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includes a visit by an AFL player.

Every school would be receiving a teacher's resource kit that would assist entrants to explore the topic of Diwali and Christmas available on several websites including the national portal of India – http://india.gov.in/topics/artculture.

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Indians not ethnic minority, say writers of Indian history in Oz

By our community reporter

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Melbourne: "Are Indians an Ethnic Minority?"

(Vol 2-5) by Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan on Saturday, July 5, 2014 were launched by the Indian High Commissioner, Mr.

Biren Nanda at a largely attended function at the Indian Consulate, Melbourne.

Addressing the gathering Mr. Nanda traced the history of Indian migration to Australia and lauded the writers for their laudable work.

Representing the Victorian Premier Hon. Craig Ondarchie, MLC, who gave

an inspiring speech tracing the valuable contribution of the Indian community in Australia. President of the Victorian Legislative Council, Hon. Bruce Atkinson also spoke on the occasion.

Australian Indian Historical Society and the writers also spoke on the occasion.

The highlight of the

event was a power point presentation relating to the historical volumes with pictures of early settlers and the situation. Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan were present and addressed the gathering. The thing that they emphasised was that the Indians had come very early in the 19th century and hence had an equal hand in the establishment of Australia. Thus they felt Indians were not an ethnic minority and instead were also those who made Australia what it is now.

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There was also an exhibition of still photographs of the early 19th century settlers, their homes and families.

Are Indians an Ethnic Minority Series: 5 Volumes are – Discovering Victoria, Camela & Trailblazers, Horses, Hawkers and A Photographic History.

Contact: Australia Indian Historical Society Inc.; Email: jordanca@alphalink. com.au; Len Kenna (03) 9467 3295 Mobile 0438 778 944; Rajinder S. Minhas Mobile 0425 778 944.

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Colonial era India to come alive at ‘The Johnston Collection’ By our community reporter

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elbourne: Colonial India is soon to come alive here with a series of eight lectures – Out of India being organised at ‘The Johnston Collection’ from July 16 to October 22, 2014.

Presented by well known art and cultural historians, the Out of India study series will explore world where art, design and architecture meet.

The study series will provide an opportunity to consider responses to things Indian, and will offer insights into how the relationships between European and Indian, and occasionally Chinese craftsmen, were all interconnected. The Johnston Collection has an interesting history.

“William Johnston travelled to India as he was an antique dealer. He went to Calcutta and much of the collection was bought

from the Government House, Calcutta which was the residence of the Governor of Bengal. He later settled in England dealing in antiques, “says Louis Director of The Johnston Collection.

The collection has lots of colonial era furniture, ivory boxes and ceramic stuff, Louis told SAT. The lectures on different subjects will be held at the ‘The Johnston Collection’ a house-museum of fine and decorative arts cantered in an historic Melbourne townhouse in East Melbourne “The Indian community is welcome to come and have a connect with the colonial era period by attending the lectures,” says Louis.

Below are the dates and times of the lectures: - Furnishing The Colonial House | India and Australia, Contrasts & Parallels with James Broadbent Wednesday 16 July 2014, 10.15 am to 11.45 am

The study series will provide an opportunity to consider responses to things Indian, and will offer insights into how the relationships between European and Indian, and occasionally Chinese craftsmen, were all interconnected. The Johnston Collection has an interesting history.

- Queen Victoria's Maharajah | The many lives of Duleep Singh with Eugene Barilo von Reisberg Wednesday 30 July 2014, 10.15 am to 11.45 am - The British-Indian Bungalow with Clive Lucas Wednesday 13 August 2014, 10.15 am to 11.45 am - Staffordshire Or

Canton, Calcutta Or Birmingham? | Household goods in British Colonial India with James Broadbent and Christine Reid Wednesday 27 August 10.15 am to 11.45 am - Indian Accent | European style in India with Ian Stephenson Wednesday 10 September

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2014, 10.15 am to 11.45 am - Head For The Hills | Mt Macedon meets the Raj with Stephen Ryan Wednesday 8 October 2014, 10.15 am to 11.45 am - Wrapping The Body, Draping The Room: Kashmir shawls in British India with Susan Scollay Wednesday 22 October 2014, 10.15 am to 11.45 am BOOKINGS & ENQUIRIES Postal Address: PO Box 79, East Melbourne VIC 8002 Address : The Johnston Collection is located in a residential area.

The planning permit of the property does not allow it to publish the address of the Museum.

On the day of your visit you must be collected by our courtesy bus from the foyer of the Hilton on the Park Hotel, 192 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne.

Phone: +61 3 9416 2515 Fax +61 3 9416 2507 Email: info@ johnstoncollection. org

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Indians over 1 per cent of Australia's population: Report

By our community reporter

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ELBOURNE: A new rep A new report has found Indians comprise over one per cent of the total population of Australia while Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and Sindhi have emerged as some of the fastest growing languages other than English in the country.

The new report - 'The People of Australia' - was released recently by the Australian government providing a key statistical picture of the country's population and the make-up

of migrant communities.

The latest figures found people born in India continue to be the fourth largest group of residents born overseas, accounting for 1.4 per cent of the total Australia population, reports PTI. Based on 2011 census data, there were 295,373 India-born people living in Australia, an increase of 148,000 people when compared to the 2006 census.

Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison said that the key statistics of the report revealed the growing importance of Asian migration to Australia - in

2011, there were 148,000 more people born in India, 112,000 more Chinese and 51,000 more people born in the Philippines compared with 2006.

"We are a wonderfully successful and cohesive modern immigrant nation that has welcomed those from across the world to become part of the Australian story," Morrison said.

The PTI reports says, “ Key statistics of the report further found 252 overseas places of birth represented in the current Australian population, with England in top spot with more than

Over 71,000 people were Punjabi-speaking migrants and the language grew by over 207 per cent since 2006 while over 34,000 migrants were Gujarati-speaking and the language recorded over 188 per cent growth since 2006.

900,000 people and New Zealand second with 483,000, followed by China and India.”

The minister said that the report will assist governments and other agencies to respond to the challenges of providing services in a diverse cultural environment, including identification of sectors most in need of English language services.

"It should be a source of great pride to all Australians that we have been able to

unite from all parts of the world in a modern, cohesive and successful nation. This snapshot shows how far we have come and to shape the way that we manage our challenges now and into the near future," he said.

Almost 1.3 per cent of the total population were followers of Hinduism in 2011, an increase of 86 per cent when compared to 2006 census, according to the report.

Over 71,000 people were Punjabi-speaking migrants and the language grew by over 207 per cent since 2006 while over 34,000 migrants were Gujaratispeaking and the language recorded over 188 per cent growth since 2006, the report said.

Even Marathi emerged as a fast-growing language other than English by recording growth of slightly over 111 per cent since 2006 with over 8,500 migrants speaking the language as per 2011 census.

Kashmiri was one of the new ethnicities included in this year's report for the first time. Over 150 Kashmirispeaking homes were recorded during 2011 as compared to 85 in 2006.

They also topped the list of the highest broadband connectivity by language spoken for 2011 followed

by Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam and Oriya.

Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas shifted to Gandhinagar

By SAT News Desk

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elbourne: The BJP-led Modi government has decided to shift the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas shifted from Delhi to Gandhinagar (Gujarat) to be held January 7-9 since 2003. The PBD 2015 will be held at the Mahatma Mandir convention centre in Gandhinagar. It has been clubbed with the seventh edition of the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit (VGGIS) to be held at the same venue from January 11-13.

A report in the Indian Express says, “The Gujarat government, in its annual 2014-15 budget, announced plans by the Centre to celebrate the next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the Indian government’s annual engage-

ment with the Indian Diaspora by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar in 2015.”

The event held in New Delhi at the iconic Vigyan Bhawan last year. Distinguished Indians from all over the world attend the event and is addressed by the President, Prime Minister, and the Minister for Overseas Indians and Chief Ministers among others. This year after Mr. Modi took over as Prime Minister of the BJP-led government the independent Minister for Overseas Indians was not appointed and instead the new Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj was asked to manage both the MEA (Ministry for External Affairs) and MOIA (Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs). www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9095 6220, 0421 677 082

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Peeyush Gupta appointed non executive director of the NAB board M By our reporter

elbourne, 26 June: National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) has announced appointing Peeyush Gupta as a non excutive director of the NAB board effective November 5th this year.

The new appointment was made by NAB Chairman, Michael Chaney, today.

Gupta is currently on the boards of NAB’s Wealth Management Holdings including MLC, BNZ Life, Charter Hall Direct Property, SIRCA, Safety Return to Work and Support, and Quintessence Labs.

Gupta was a cofounder and the inaugural CEO of IPAC Securities, a pre-eminent wealth management firm spanning financial advice and institutional portfolio management,

which was acquired by AXA. In addition to wide ranging wealth management experience, he also has extensive corporate governance experience, having served as a director on trustee and responsible entity boards since the 1990s and as a director on multiple profit and not-forprofit boards.

Gupta holds an MBA in Finance and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, London Business School and Australian Graduate School of Management.

Chaney said “We are delighted Peeyush has accepted our invitation to join the Board given his significant experience in wealth management and governance, in executive management and director capacities. He is a valuable addition to the NAB Board.”

Gupta will succeed Mr Geoff Tomlinson.

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Gupta is currently on the boards of NAB’s Wealth Management Holdings including MLC, BNZ Life, Charter Hall Direct Property, SIRCA, Safety Return to Work and Support, and Quintessence Labs.

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Melbourne Durbar

No Oz lottery

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he Australian High Commission in New Delhi last month posted a message on its website saying it has learnt scammers sent sms phone messages to people in India telling them they have won a Rupees one crore lottery prize from the “Australia Embassy.”

The recipients were asked to put an Rs 15 000 “processing fee” into a bank account in order to receive the prize. At least one individual who called the scammers was

put through to a person who spoke with an Australian accent who pretended to be the Australian High Commissioner.

The Australian High Commission said it was not running a lottery and the so called scheme was completely fraudulent and designed to cheat victims of their money. The High Commission notified police about this scam, and urged anyone who received this sms to report it to the authorities.

MIFF 2014

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By Desi Oz

3 % Indians in Melbourne

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he Australian High Commission in New Delhi last month posted a message on its website saying it has learnt scammers sent sms phone messages to people in India telling them they have won a Rupees one crore lottery prize from the “Australia Embassy.”

The recipients were asked to put an Rs 15 000 “processing fee” into a bank account in order to receive the prize. At least one individual who called

the scammers was put through to a person who spoke with an Australian accent who pretended to be the Australian High Commissioner.

The Australian High Commission said it was not running a lottery and the so called scheme was completely fraudulent and designed to cheat victims of their money. The High Commission notified police about this scam, and urged anyone who received this sms to report it to the authorities.

FIAV changes

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elbourne is poised to host the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) returning for its 63rd year from 31 July – 17 August. The program includes a diverse line-up and a range of red carpet galas, parties and special events. In addition to screening the very best in world cinema, MIFF is Australia’s largest showcase of new Australian cinema and most vocal champion of both emerging and established local filmmaking talent.

This year MIFF delivers a remarkable

selection of award-winning features and documentaries including new films from Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai, American director Richard Linklater and Canadian cinema prodigy Xavier Dolan.

The First Glance selection also includes imaginative Shorts along with cinema for the whole family in MIFF’s already announced Next Gen program. Tickets for all films will go on sale with the full program release on 11 July. All info – www. miff.com.au.(Read preview story on pages 35-36)

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umours say that the Federation of Indian Associations (FIAV) President Mr. Vasan Srinivasan will not continue to lead the umbrella organisation of Indian organisations in Victoria after the next AGM. He had taken over as President some years back after a rather shaky

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9095 6220, 0421 677 082

factional period in the FIAV. The current Vice President Thomas Joseph is likely to be the next FIAV President.

Thomas Joseph is from the La Trobe Indian Association and is an Automobile Design Consultant - Toyota, Melbourne. Twenty-eight Indian organisations are affiliated to the FIAV and have their office in Dandenong.

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India’s unholy mess n

By Neeta Lal

EW DELHI, Jul 7 2014 (IPS) - One of the first things that Narendra Damodardas Modi did after being anointed as the Indian prime minister on May 26 was to set up an exclusive ministry (Ganga Rejuvenation) under Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti to clean up the country’s national river, the Ganges.

However, the Ganges’ largest tributary, the Yamuna – also one of the most polluted in the world and which provides the capital city of Delhi with 70 percent of its water needs — was barely mentioned in Modi’s rhetoric.

Critics point out that after a landslide win in the recent Lok Sabha (lower house) elections, Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party has made numerous references to the Ganges’ pollution (including organising a pan-India meet on the river on Jul. 7 featuring top experts) while totally ignoring the Yamuna.

Such neglect is hardly new.

Despite millions of dollars being pumped into numerous ambitious and state-funded schemes, as well as direct intervention by the Supreme Court and government agencies, the fabled Yamuna – revered by Hindus as a ‘living Goddess’ — has been reduced to a stinking drain.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the country’s premier pollution monitoring agency, Delhi alone contributes up to 80 percent of the pollution load of the 1,370-km river. In 2010, the Indian Supreme Court even referred to the Yamuna as a “ganda nullah” (“dirty drain”) rather than a dirty river.

The Yamuna plays a pivotal role in Delhi’s life, providing water for nearly 57 million people who live in its floodplains. Most importantly, 92 percent of the river’s waters are used to irrigate 12.3 million hectares of agricultural land that feeds a sizeable portion of India’s 1.2 billion people.

The river’s pristine beauty even prompted the Mughals to build one of their most spectacular monuments on the Yamuna’s banks — the Taj Mahal.

Yet today, the river is impacted deeply by pollution as garbage from millions of households, municipal disposals and soil erosion due to deforestation sullies the river each day. Toxic chemical

The fabled Yamuna River – revered by Hindus as a ‘living Goddess’ -- has been reduced to a stinking drain. Photo: Gérard Janot substances — insecticides, fertilisers, pesticides – only worsen the situation.

A World Health Organisation urban air quality database released on May 9 this year rang alarm bells in Delhi’s power corridors, forcing the administration to sit up and take note.

According to the report, the air quality in Delhi is the worst in the world, with polluting industries brazenly discharging much of their refuse into the Yamuna in the absence of strong punitive action.

Following the report, Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung constituted a high-powered committee – consisting of scientists and ecologists – to examine all aspects of air pollution, including pollution in the Yamuna caused by industrial and sewage discharges. The committee has been tasked with suggesting steps to check pollution and to devise both long-term and shortterm measures to tackle this serious issue.

Experts say the extent of pollution of the Yamuna River is so shocking that it now has a permanent thick layer of foam covering it completely. Yamuna is often also described as a ‘dead river’ since its pollution has seriously inhibited the survival of fish or other marine life in its waters.

Unfortunately, the State Pollution Control Board as well as the Central Pollution Control Board have also failed to address Yamuna’s pollution. All the past directives of the apex court have also been flagrantly ignored.

“The Central Air and Water Pollution Prevention Act gives unrestricted powers to these statutory bodies to proceed against polluters but entrenched corruption

has stymied all attempts to address the problem.

River cleaning is simply not a priority on the national agenda,” says an ecologist with Kalpavriksh, a pan-India green NGO. Although a large number of NGOs, pressure groups and citizens’ movements have been active in cleaning up the Yamuna, given the size and dimension of the problem, these piecemeal and sporadic efforts have not yielded any tangible benefits, adds the activist.

Environmentalists assert that treatment of effluents before their release into the river is far more vital than keeping a tab on the river and drains.

“We should learn from how countries abroad are scientifically recycling these wastes and using them for construction of new buildings and roads. Singapore recycles 98 per cent of its construction and demolition (C&D) waste.

We need to better the existing systems,” says Delhi-based environmentalist Anumita Roy Chowdhury.

Until now, experts say, the Centre has spent approximately 300 million dollars under the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) I and II to clean the river. The YAP’s first phase was launched in 1993.

It then covered Delhi, eight towns in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and six towns in the state of Haryana.

Under YAP II, the focus was on the Yamuna’s 22-km stretch in Delhi. The government plans to spend another billion dollars in the next phase to clean the river.

Experts add that pesticide traces in the water cannot be removed with conventional treatment as has been the case so far. “It’s like trying to slay a dragon with a pen knife,” explains B.R. Rao, an environmental scientist

formerly with the ministry of environment and forests.

“For micro pollutants such as pesticides, only more freshwater can reduce the percentage of traces in water.

These cannot be dissolved or assimilated, but they can certainly be diluted to an extent which will gradually help whittle down the levels of pollution in the river,” adds Rao. The Yamuna has a dilution requirement of 75 percent, explains Rao, which implies that for every 100 litres of wastewater, 75 litres of freshwater needs to be pumped into the river. With this fresh flow of water, pollutants (especially organic pollutants) dissipate to a large extent.

But at every step, this purified water is abstracted, and ever larger loads of pollution make their way into the river.

However, according to the Delhi-based think tank Center for Science and Environment, the main problem lies in the sub-optimal utilisation of the city’s sewage treatment plants (STPs).

Says Sushmita Sengupta of CSE, Delhi’s 17 STPs have a capacity to treat 2,445 MLD (million litres per day).

“Going by the Comptroller Auditor General 2013 Report sewage generation estimate of 3,060 MLD, the city can treat about 80 per cent of its waste, but it actually treats 1,651 MLD, approximately 54 percent Why is Delhi unable to treat its sewage completely?”

Of its installed capacity of 2,445 MLD, about 585 MLD remains unutilised (as of 201112). With only 1,218 MLD of sewage being treated, there exists a wide gap between what is treated and what is not. In other words, about 46 per cent of the total waste generated by Delhi

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Entrenched corruption has stymied all attempts to address the problem. River cleaning is simply not a priority on the national agenda." -- an ecologist with Kalpavriksh goes untreated into the river Yamuna.

Water experts also point out that the problem of sewage not reaching a treatment plant is also what scuppers the plans to clean the Yamuna. The city depends on its 6,400-km sewerage network to convey its waste to treatment facilities. But most of the time, this network does not function, leaving the treatment plants starved for sewage.

Illegal or unauthorised colonies only worsen the situation. Almost 50 per cent of Delhi lives in such colonies, generating ‘illegal’ sewage – sewage which is not transported in official sewers to official treatment plants.

These colonies do not have drains to transport sewage.

The people living in these areas either defecate in the open or connect their wastewater drains to an open channel, which flows into a larger drain and eventually into the river.

“A paradigm shift is required in Delhi’s approach to clean the river. The city planners must swivel their attention from the standard hardware – sewer and STP – to comprehend the linkages between water, sewage and pollution and most importantly, the need for authentic data. The science on river cleaning needs a drastic change in India,” sums up Sengupta.

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Ethnic cleansing goes unpunished in the ‘Land of the Pure’

By Neeta Lal

K

ARACHI, Jun 30 2014 (IPS) - It has been two years since he survived an attack on his life, but 24-year-old Quwat Haider, a member of Pakistan’s minority Hazara community, still finds it hard to narrate the events that scarred him for life.

“I wouldn’t even want my worst enemies to witness what I did on that summer day of Jun. 18, 2012,” the young man, hailing from the southwest Balochistan province, tells IPS. Like any regular day, he, his sister and their three cousins boarded a bus at 7:45 am bound for the Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences (BUITMS) in the capital, Quetta.

“There is no travel route, no shopping trip, no school run, no work commute that is safe for the Hazara." -Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch Just before they disembarked, a car filled with explosives rammed into the bus. “All I remember is hitting my head hard on the floor of the bus before I passed out.

When I came round, I heard screaming all around me.

People were getting out of the bus, as they feared it might explode. I got out too, still numb,” Haider recalled with difficulty.

Miraculously, he sustained no serious injuries, and was able to rush his sisters and cousins to the hospital.

Others were not so lucky.

Of the roughly 70 Hazara students on the bus that morning, four died on the spot, while dozens of others were seriously wounded in the blast.

It was not the first time a group of Hazaras had been attacked simply for their ethnicity, and experts fear it will not be the last.

A report released Monday

by Human Rights Watch, entitled ‘We Are the Walking Dead: Killings of Shi’a Hazaras in Balochistan, Pakistan’, documents systematic attacks on the community between 2010 and early 2014.

It has recorded at least 450 killings of the Shiite minority in 2012, and 400 in 2013. In 2012 approximately one-quarter of the victims, and in 2013, nearly half of

all victims, belonged to the Hazara community in Balochistan.

With their distinctive Mongolian features, Hazaras are a Persian-speaking people who originally migrated from central Afghanistan over a century ago. Today there are an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Hazaras in the country, the vast majority of who reside in Quetta.

According to Minority Support Pakistan, a non-partisan advocacy organisation, the community comprises approximately 20 percent of the country’s 180-million strong, Sunnimajority population.

The systematic targeting of Hazaras began around 2008, and each account is increasingly chilling – pilgrims en route to Iran are dragged from buses and executed on the roadside, families perish in bomb blasts at busy marketplaces or during religious processions, others are attacked while commuting to work and school, and some are simply slaughtered while praying in mosques.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a banned Sunni militant outfit that reportedly enjoys strong ties with the Al Qaeda and the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has proudly claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, declaring itself a sworn enemy of the Shi’a “infidels”.

In 2011, a letter circulated in Mariabad, a Hazaradominated inner suburb in eastern Quetta, read:

“Pakistan means land of the pure, and the Shi’as have no right to be here…Our mission [in Pakistan] is the abolition of this impure sect and people, the Shias and the Shia-Hazaras, from every city, every village, every nook and corner of Pakistan.”

In keeping with this deadly vow, the group has carried out endless bloody attacks, including two bombings in January and February last year that killed at least 180 people. The first incident, on Jan. 10 – which consisted of two subsequent bomb blasts – wiped out 96 people at a snooker club, injuring an additional 150.

This led to countrywide sit-ins in solidarity with the families in Quetta who refused to bury the dead. Three days later the government was forced to suspend the provincial government and impose federal rule in Balochistan.

Barely five weeks after the massacre, on Feb. 17, a car bomb went off in a crowded vegetable market in Quetta’s Hazara Town, this time killing 84 and injuring about 160 people.

Haider, who lives close to the site of the Jan. 10 attack, counts himself lucky to have survived. “When I heard the blast, I decided to go and help the wounded, but my mother called just then asking to be picked up from somewhere, so I left home.

Otherwise, I would have been dead too,” he added, referring to the scores of people who

lost their lives in the second blast, while tending to the injured.

Haider later went to look for his cousins among the carnage. “I saw corpses, headless bodies, singed limbs and hands… it was horrible,” he said. Rights advocates say that the government’s response to every killing is the same: officials make all the right statements, but fail to conduct any arrests or hold the perpetrators accountable.

Zohra Yusuf, chairperson of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) who participated in a factfinding mission to Quetta in May 2012, is disappointed with the government’s lacklustre efforts. “We… brought up the issue with the then governor and chief secretary [of the state] and both acknowledged the persecution; but they had no answers as to why action was not taken against LeJ, which in almost all cases owns up to the attacks,” she told IPS. Meanwhile, the situation for Hazaras is getting worse.

According to Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, “There is no travel route, no shopping trip, no school run, no work commute that is safe for the Hazara. The government’s failure to put an end to these attacks is as shocking as it is unacceptable.”

The HRCP estimates that 30,000 Hazaras have fled Pakistan in the last five

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“There is no travel route, no shopping trip, no school run, no work commute that is safe for the Hazara." -Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. years, resulting in a booming trafficking market in Quetta.

Thousands of desperate Hazaras have paid agents huge sums of money to facilitate passage to Australia and Europe, using dangerous sea-routes that offer no guarantee of making it to the other side alive.

Once a serene and peaceful city, Quetta is now pockmarked with army cantonments and military checkpoints. Over 1,000 soldiers from the Balochistan Frontier Corps (a paramilitary force), organised into 27 platoons, patrol the streets alongside the police. degree of security makes the continued persecution of the Hazara community even more “appalling”, according to Ambreeen Agha, a research assistant with New Delhi’s Institute for Conflict Management, since it is happening “right under the nose of the Pakistani army.”

For those like Haider, “home” has now become a violent and dangerous place. “No part of Pakistan is safe for me,” he said pessimistically. But unlike his brother, who left the country four years ago, he has no plans of fleeing. “It’s just me and my sister here; if I leave, who will take care of our parents?”

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Joginis dance outside a temple during a religious festival N

By Stella Paul

IZAMABAD, India, Jun 22 2014 (IPS) - At 32, Nalluri Poshani looks like an old woman. Squatting on the floor amidst piles of tobacco and tree leaves that she expertly transforms into ‘beedis’, a local cigarette, she tells IPS, “I feel dizzy. The tobacco gives me headaches and nausea.”

At the rate of two dollars for 1,000 cigarettes, she earns about 36 dollars a month. “I wish I could do some other job,” the young woman says longingly.

But no other jobs are open to her in the village of Vellpoor, located in the Nizamabad region of the southern Indian state of Telangana, because Poshani is no ordinary woman.

She is a former jogini, which translates loosely as a ‘temple slave’, one of

thousands of young Dalit girls who are dedicated at a very young age to the village deity named Yellamma, based on the belief that their presence in the local temple will ward off evil spirits and usher in prosperity for all.

Poshani says she was just five years old when she went through the dedication ritual.

First she was bathed, dressed like a bride, and taken to the temple where a priest tied a ‘thali’ (a sacred thread symbolising marriage) around her neck.

She was then brought outside where crowds of villagers were gathered, held up to their scrutiny and proclaimed the new jogini.

For several years she simply lived and worked in the temple, but when she reached puberty men from the village – usually from higher castes who otherwise consider her ‘untouchable’

– would visit her in the night and have sex with her.

Poshani says she was never a sex worker in the typical sense of the word, because she was never properly paid for her ‘services’. Rather, she was bound, by the dedication ritual and the villagers’ firm belief in her supernatural powers, to the temple.

The only time of year she was considered anything more than a common prostitute was during religious festivals, when she performed ‘trance’ dances as a divine medium through which the goddess Yellamma spoke.

But the majority of her nearly three decades of servitude was marked by violence, and disrespect.

Although a strong antijogini campaign in Vellpoor is making strides towards outlawing the centuries old practice, women like Poshani

have little to celebrate.

Though she relishes being free from sexual bondage, she struggles to survive on her own with no home, no land and a debt-burden of 200,000 rupees (about 3,300 dollars), which she borrowed from a local moneylender.

Visibly undernourished, Poshani represents the condition that most mid-life joginis find themselves in: sexually exploited, trapped in poverty, sick and lonely.

A cultural tradition or a caste-based system of exploitation?

According to official records, there are an estimated 30,000 joginis – also known as devdasis or matammas – in Telangana today. An additional 20,000 live in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh.

In both states, over 90 percent of the joginis are from Dalit communities.

Temple prostitution has

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been legally banned in the state of Andhra Pradesh since 1988. Under the law, known as the Jogini Abolition Act, initiating a woman into the system is punishable with two to three years, and with a fine of up to 3,000 rupees (33 dollars).

But this is too soft a law for so heinous a crime, says Grace Nirmala, a woman’s rights activist based in the state capital Hyderabad.

Nirmala, who heads an organisation called Ashray (meaning ‘shelter’), has been working for over two decades to rescue and rehabilitate jogini women. “[Joginis] live away from their families and have no rights […],” Nirmala tells IPS. “Her life is completely ruined. For that, the punishment is a couple of years of jail time or a few thousand rupees in fines.

How can this be justified?”

Contd. on page 20

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industrious call centre operators.

We call them John or Jane, but their names are as false as the hopes they are peddled. Extensive training grooms them to pitch products into US homes, taking abuse and responding to rudeness as part of the job; however behind every call is an ambitious worker coveting the lifestyle at the end of the line.

(Feature) 83 minutes

CHILDREN OF THE PYRE (India, 2008) Kashmiri director Rajesh S Jala's stark filmic explorations of Indian life reach their apex in Children of the Pyre, an unforgettable documentary about North India's most despised "untouchables". (Feature) 74 minutes.

FANDRY (India, 2013) Teenager Jabya and his family are "untouchables", still the subjects of wholesale discrimination 60 years after the caste system was abolished.

For Jabya this is concerning because it means he doesn't have the confidence to talk to Shalu, a higher caste girl he has fallen for. Rebellion seems the only way out, but there are some who don't take kindly to those who would rise above their station.

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THE FORT (India, 2014) After moving from the city to the countryside so his mother can find work and he can recover from his father's recent death, young Chinu initially has trouble fitting in. He gradually falls in with a group of boys his age, but when it seems that they betray his offer of friendship, he must come to terms with loneliness, loss and the need to start afresh.

(Feature) 106 minutes.

INVOKING JUSTICE (India, 2011) In the Muslim-dominated communities of Southern India, civil disputes are settled by allmale Jamaats (councils) that frequently apply inconsistent and biased interpretations of Sharia law to divorce requests, family law grievances, domestic violence and murder. Women are not allowed to attend their own hearings, instead relying on male family members to present their cases. (Feature) 86 minutes.

JAI BHIM COMRADE (India, 2012) Mumbai, 1997. A statue of Dr BR Ambedkar, champion of India's Dalit, or "untouchables", is defaced. This sparks riots that are murderously quashed by police, as well as a protest suicide by activist and poet Vilas Ghogre. This documentary traces the ongoing struggle through the poetry and music of Ghogre as it explores a centuries-old conflict drawn along caste lines. (Feature) 169 minutes.

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QUARTER NUMBER 4/11 (India, 2012) In 1993, a large factory in Kolkata was shut down, leaving its workers (many of whom lived on-site for years) unemployed. With his livelihood gone and a protracted case against the company ongoing, one of the workers has refused to leave; his tiny domicile gradually dwarfed by the apartment blocks and shopping complexes being constructed on the factory remains. (Feature)69 minutes.

TITLI (India, 2014) Titli is the youngest member in a family of car-jackers, desperate to escape the criminal life he was born into. When his frustrated brothers attempt to marry him off, Titli discovers an ally in his equally unwilling bride Neelu, and the two strike a bargain to help one another escape their worlds. (Feature) 125 minutes.

TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR (India, USA, 2014) For half a century, New Delhi's Kathputli Colony has been home to thousands of the city's magicians, acrobats, singers and puppeteers.

More than simply a community of like-minded souls, Kathputli is an incubator and preserver of artistic traditions that go back thousands of years. But now the government wants to bulldoze the entire slum to make room for a skyscraper and the residents of Kathputli must decide whether to fight or fade away.

(Feature)84 minutes.

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(Short) 34 minutes.

Source: miff.com.au (All details of timings, venues, dates, synopsis and tickets also in this site) www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9095 6220, 0421 677 082

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Joginis dance outside...

Contd from page 16

She added that most policemen in the state are not even aware of the law, which makes it hard to abolish the practice completely.

Superstition also plays a major role in keeping the tradition alive, with many villagers believing that joginis possess divine powers.

“Sleeping with a jogini […] is a way to invoke that supernatural power and please the goddess,” Nirmala explained. “In many families, if there is a nagging problem, the wife will ask her husband to go and sleep with the village jogini so that it will go away.”

Others, however, believe that India’s deeply entrenched castesystem is responsible for perpetuating this systematic abuse of so many thousands of women.

According to Jyoti Neelaiah, a Hyderabadbased Dalit rights leader, “The jogini system is not just a violation of women’s rights but a also of human rights, because it’s always a Dalit woman who is made a

jogini and those whom she serves are always from a dominant caste.” tells IPS the whole system is, in fact, a “power play” by which dominant social groups oppress the weaker, more marginalised members of society.

In Telangana, for instance, some of the biggest supporters of the jogini system are members of the wealthy, land-owning Reddy caste, as well as Brahmin priests.

Kolamaddi Parijatam, a social activist who has been mobilising rural women against the jogini system for the past six years, including those in the village of Vellpoor, which is home to 30 joginis, shares Neelaiah’s analysis.

She refutes the theory put forward by various organisations and even scholars that the practice of dedicating women to the local temple has deep cultural roots and should therefore be preserved.

Given that Dalits comprise nearly 17 percent of the population of the newly created state of Telangana, activists say that villages like Vellpoor

are well placed to lead the movement for legal reform.

“Women here now see the jogini system as a violation of Dalit people’s human rights,” Parijatam tells IPS. “So whenever anyone says that the jogini system is a cultural tradition, they ask: ‘Then why not make a nonDalit woman a jogini?’”

Local efforts gain steam Enraged at the government’s inability to clamp down on the practice, local women have doubled up as vigilantes in a bid to rescue women from the dedication ceremony.

“Dedications of joginis typically occur between the months of February and May when people in our region celebrate the festival of the goddess Yellamma,” Subbiriyala Sharada, head of an all-jogini women’s group in Vellpoor, tells IPS. “Our group strictly monitors the celebrations and if we get to know a girl has been dedicated to the goddess, we immediately call the police.”

Having been apathetic to the plight of joginis for decades, police are gradually beginning to act in accordance with the law,

largely due to pressure from local activist groups.

However, their progress is very slow, and activists carry the lion’s share of the burden of reporting violations of the law and ensuring the arrest of perpetrators.

But this, too, only solves part of the problem, because as soon as the dedication ritual is performed, the girl will continue to live with the stigma – remaining vulnerable to sexual slavery – until she is either properly rehabilitated, or until the end of her life.

Activists are currently lobbying the Indian government to divert resources from its ‘Special Component Plan’ – which provides social and economic support to marginalised communities in the form of vocational training, financial loans and alternative livelihood opportunities – to the rehabilitation of joginis, who have long been excluded from government assistance schemes.

Their inclusion as legitimate recipients of aid would significantly reduce

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the burden on most jogini women, who struggle – among other things – to raise their children in a safe environment.

According to Neelaiah, children of joginis risk verbal abuse and alienation in the community if their mother’s identity is revealed. Girl children are particularly vulnerable, as they face the double risk of being trafficked or forcible dedicated to the deity in their mother’s place.

These girl children are in special need of protection, she says. Both Neelaiah and Nirmala are helping to send children of joginis to school, which they feel is the best way to protect them. Fifteen-year-old Prashant, son of a former jogini named Ganga Mani, is one of the lucky ones who managed to complete the 10th grade and is now planning to enroll in a high school.

Mani, who is barely literate, is pinning all her hopes on her son for a better future. “One day he will become a big police officer. Our life will then change,” she tells IPS with a smile.

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Single mothers battle on in former war zone

By Amantha Perera

V

ALIPUNAM, Sri Lanka, Jul 7 2014 (IPS) - The village of Valipunam, 322 km north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, occupies one of the remotest corners of the country’s former war zone. The dirt roads are impossible to navigate, there are no street lights, telephone connections are patchy and the nearest police post is miles away, closer to the centre of the battle-scarred Mullaitivu district.

Here, even able-bodied men fear being alone in their homes. But 35-year-old Sumathi Rajan knows that if she leaves her small shop unattended at night, there is a good chance there’ll be nothing left in it the next morning.

Determined to preserve her sole income source, she sleeps on the shop floor every night, along with her 12-year-old son, despite the very real threats of theft, and even rape.

“I know what I have to do, I know how take care of my son, and myself,” the feisty woman, a single mother, tells IPS, standing in front of her humble establishment.

Rajan’s life has been one of upheaval and turmoil in the last five years.

In early 2009, when Sri Lanka’s three-decade-old civil conflict showed signs of reaching a bloody finale, Rajan and her family – living deep inside the area controlled by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – prepared to face a drawn-out period of violent uncertainty.

By April of that year Rajan and her son, only seven years old at the time, were among tens of thousands of Tamil civilians trapped in a narrow swath of land in between the Indian Ocean and the Nandikadal Lagoon on the island’s north-east coast as the Tigers fought a final bloody battle against government forces.

The two escaped the fighting alive but with no possessions except the clothes they were wearing.

For the next two-and-ahalf years, ‘home’ was a massive displacement camp known as Menik Farm in the northern Vavuniya district.

When the family finally returned to Valipunam in late 2011, Rajan was faced with the seemingly impossible

Subashini Mellampasi, a 34-year-old single mother of three, including a disabled child, raises goats to provide for her family. PHOTO: Amantha Perera/IPS task of building her life from scratch.

She was no stranger to the hard decisions that accompany the life of a single mother. Even before the war forced them to flee Rajan had to toughen up, since her occupation as a moneylender meant she had to be firm with her clients about repayment and interest rates.

She continues the business today, facing many of the same challenges as she did three years ago.

“When people don’t return the money on the due date, I will go to their homes to collect it,” she asserted.

Her shop received a boost earlier this year when she was chosen as the recipient of a one-off 50,000-rupee (380-dollar) grant from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“It helped me to expand the shop,” Rajan said, looking proudly around at the shelves that carry everything from dhal to single-use packages of shampoo. But new supplies mean fresh fears of theft and little peace for Rajan, who deposits her meagre monthly savings of some 25 dollars in her son’s account for safe keeping.

Stories like Rajan’s are not rare in Sri Lanka’s warravaged Northern Province, where between 40,000 and 55,000 female-headed households struggle to eke out a living, according to aid and development agencies in the region.

An assessment by the United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in June 2013 found that 40 percent of all women out of some 467,000 returnees who were displaced during the last stages of the war still felt unsafe in their own homes, while 25 percent felt similarly vulnerable venturing outside their villages by themselves.

The situation is worse for families headed by single mothers.

“From field assessments, there is a clear indication that children of the estimated 40,000 femaleheaded households are the most vulnerable to sexual abuse,” stated a protection update by the Durable Solutions Promotion Group, a voluntary coalition of international organisations and agencies, back in March.

Despite such odds, women who run their own households are some of the most resilient in the former conflict zone, according to humanitarian workers in the region.

“These women have a lot of fortitude,” M S M Kamil, head of the economic security department at ICRC, told IPS. “I think what they have gone through in the past three decades – as individuals, as families, and as an entire community – has made them resilient.

They feel that they can survive [and] take care of their families whatever the circumstances are,” he added.

Subashini Mellampasi, a 34-year-old single mother of

three children aged between five and 14 years, is living proof of the truth behind Kamil’s statement.

Her eldest boy is disabled, and cannot hear or speak.

To make matters worse, her husband left her and the three children after they returned to their village following the war’s end.

In early 2014, the ICRC gave her the funds to start up a small business.

Mellampasi chose to raise goats and purchased a small herd of about 10 animals. Six months on she has a herd of 40.

She has sold ten animals at roughly 100,000 rupees (about 700 dollars) and is using the money to construct a small house.

Each beast fetches anything from 10,000-20,000 rupees (75 to 150 dollars).

The remaining animals must meanwhile be cared for, and their milk collected each morning for the family’s consumption.

“It is a hard life, but I think I can manage,” Mellampasi told IPS. Because the sale of male goats does not provide a steady income, she has found employment as a cleaner in the nearby village school, for a daily pay of about 600 rupees (roughly 4.50 dollars).

She says she needs at least 10,000 rupees (about 80 dollars) a month in order to survive, but other families say they need at least twice that amount, especially those who use transport regularly.

Many cut corners by

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9095 6220, 0421 677 082

“I think what these [women] have gone through in the past three decades as individuals, as families, and as an entire community - has made them resilient." -- M S M Kamil, head of the economic security department at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). having neighbours look after their children while they are at work, or pawning their jewelry in order to purchase schoolbooks and uniforms for their kids.

While women like Mellampasi scratch out a barebones existence, thousands of others have fallen through the cracks altogether, according to Saroja Sivachandran, head of the Centre for Women and Development in Jaffna, capital of the Northern Province.

“There are thousands of women who are not receiving any kind of assistance,” she told IPS. “There are limited on-going programmes that target this extremely vulnerable group.

What we need is a large programme encompassing the full province and all the single female-headed families,” she added.

But financial aid to the country has been dwindling steadily since the war’s end. Three successive joint appeals for aid in the region have reported a shortfall of 430 million dollars.

With the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also winding down its work in Sri Lanka, a substantial programme for single mothers remains, for now, only a promise on paper.

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Love thy neighbour: Nawaz Sharif’s visit to India

By Ram Puniyani

I

ndia Pakistan relations have always been mired with in various controversies, which have been preventing the friendly relations with our neighbor, who in ‘popular perception’ is seen as an enemy. It is due to this that while all the members of SAARC countries have been invited, the one to draw maximum popular attention has been the coming of Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. In a deft move India’s the then Prime Minister designate sent an invite to all the heads of SAARC countries for his swearing in ceremony, (16 May 2014)which was held with great pomp and show.

Nawaz Sharif faced lots of obstacles in accepting this invitation. His family, his daughter included, tweeted and called for acceptance of the invite, she argued as to why India and Pakistan are living in a hostile situation like North and South Korea, why can’t they live like the countries of European Union. She was actually echoing the sentiments of most of the Pakistanis who want the strengthening of democracy in Pakistan and good relations with India; she articulated the aspirations of Pakistan’s majority for whom peace with India is synonymous with the path of good democracy and development.

In my own visit to Pakistan a couple of years ago I was overwhelmed with expression of longings of Pakistanis for friendship with India. This also gets reflected in their warm gestures in welcoming you, and showering the best of hospitality on you. The major obstacles in Pakistan to the peace with India come from the strong army and the Mullah alliance.

This time also as the Modi invite was in the pipe line the terrorist attack took place on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan, in Herat. The Hafiz Sayeeds of Pakistan raised their eyebrows and dished out the usual threats.

One also recalls that the horrific terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26/11 2008 took place when the process of peace between India and Pakistan was to pick up. The correlation between the steps of Indo-Pak peace process and attacks of terror, in which the hand of terrorist groups, who have their support from the some army quarters is

Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, in New Delhi on May 27, 2014 during his visit for Mr. Modi’s swearing in as Prime Minister. unmistakable.

One also recalls during previous NDA regime when Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to initiate the peace with Pakistan and took the friendship bus to Lahore, the then Pakistan army did not welcome it and expressed its reaction by occupying Kargil.

Pervez Musharraf was the army Chief at that time. This Kargil occupation by Pakistan army had to be fought by Indian army supported

by Clintons’ reprimand to Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil. During my trip I also happened to meet the civic activists who are committed to friendship with India.

These activists along with their counter parts in India have been promoting forums like Pak India People’s Forum.

They are also promoting peace and are campaigning amongst other issues, for the release of innocent fishermen who get arrested here and there. Currently Nawaz Sharifs’ releasing of the fishermen before his visit to India is a positive gesture towards better relations with

India and in turn peaceful South Asia. One also had a chance meeting with those working for and identifying with the work of ‘Aman Ki Asha’, (Hope for Peace) a joint platform of the major Indian daily along with a Pakistan daily.

Here in India the major rhetoric against Pakistan is indulged in mainly by BJP, when it is not in power. BJP has a contradictory attitude vis a vis Pakistan. When not in power BJP has been using Pakistan bashing to polarize the Indian society along religious lines. When in power, it offers an olive branch and releases pigeons of peace. One recalls that our current Prime Minister had brought in polarization in Gujarat after the Godhra tragedy and Gujarat carnage by primarily attacking Pakistan and its President Pervez Musharraf. In the Assembly elections of 2002 the hoardings were having Modi on one side a Musharraf on the other side, as if Modi was fighting elections against Pervez Musharrf. Even during

the election campaign of 2014, Modi did resort to menacing gestures towards Pakistan. His party colleague Giriraj Singh was very abusive to Pakistan. Here the ‘social-communal common sense’ is so constructed as if Indian Muslim is loyal to Pakistan, the Indo-Pak cricket matches are seen more as India Pakistan war rather than a sport which should act as a bridge between the countries in a sportsman’s spirit.

Irrespective of the fact that it was Madhu Gupta who was caught spying for Pakistan, the major feeling is to suspect every Muslim as a potential Pakistan spy. Our legendary film star, Peshawar born, Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan) was humiliated times and over again for his accepting the Pakistan’s highest civilian Award Nishan-e-Pakistan.

Rumors against Dilip Kumar were circulating on regular basis. Every skirmish on the border is used to denigrate Pakistan and at the same time criticizing Congress for its ‘soft’ approach to the issues.

The anti Pakistan rhetoric is

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one of the major tools in the hands of BJP, when it is not in power.

Its ally Shiv Sena goes one step forward. It has regularly created ruckus on every occasion of Pakistan India interaction. It dug up the pitch on the cricket ground to prevent the match, programs of Pakistan artists are disrupted and even now when Nawaz Sharif decided to come, Shiv sena threatened to boycott the oath taking ceremony.

Fortunately wiser counsels prevailed and Shiv Sena chief decided to participate in oath taking same.

Unfortunately, today in whole of South Asia the religious minorities are going through a rough weather, Christians and Hindus in Pakistan, Hindus and Muslims in India, Hindus and Buddhists in Bangla desh are facing constant violence and intimidations of other types.

The violation of the rights of minorities needs to be halted through mutual talks and cooperation. The atrocities on minorities in one country cannot be undone by doing atrocities on the other ones in other country. Every innocent person irrespective of her faith has a full right to follow one’s faith. This can be a major agenda to be taken up by SAARC countries in the times to come. Peace and reconciliation amongst communities has to be brought in, this is the prerequisite for growth and development.

As far as Pakistan is concerned, more the democracy becomes strong there; the hold of army may weaken and peace process will become stronger.

Strength of stranglehold of army in Pakistan is inversely proportional to health of democracy and friendship with India. While in India the democratic ground is stronger, a positive attitude to the democratic Government of Pakistan will empower it vis a vis the feudal-army-mullah forces there, in turn strengthening the peace and making us focus more on basic needs of the people related to health, nutrition, education, employment rather than increasing the defense budget. It will help us to focus more on bread and butter rather than on guns and ammunition.

- Response only to ram. puniyani@gmail.com Source: Plural India

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Hate crimes spread across Asia: MRG

By Amantha Perera

L

ondon: Hate crime towards minorities and indigenous peoples is a daily reality across Asia but is often ignored by the governments of the region, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) warns in its annual report.

This year's flagship report, State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2014 , is themed around ‘Freedom from Hate' and shows that a worrying trend of vilification and hostility towards minorities and indigenous peoples has spread across the region.

A key aspect of hate crime and hate speech is its invisibility, especially when governments or societies overlook or tolerate entrenched patterns of discrimination against particular communities, says MRG. Across Asia, governments have failed to provide adequate protection to its minority and indigenous populations.

‘Hate crimes have been able to flourish in Asia largely as a result of the complicity or support of politicians who stand to gain from the persecution of minorities,' says Mark Lattimer, MRG's Executive Director. ‘Hate speech goes unchallenged and crimes are often underacknowledged and

under-reported, enabling perpetrators to operate with impunity.'

Many Asian countries do not have hate speech laws, instead relying on blasphemy and criminal defamation legislation, which are more commonly used to silence political dissent than to protect victims of abuse.

Minority and indigenous communities in South Asia were feeling the effects of political transition in 2013. In India - where 26 sitting legislators have past charges of hate speech -the use of inflammatory language increased ahead of this year's general elections.

Research undertaken on behalf of MRG exposed the role played by political parties in encouraging antiMuslim violence in Uttar Pradesh last September.

In January, Bangladesh also held national elections amid violent protests and popular anger over the proceedings of the International Crimes Tribunal, which saw attacks on Hindu minorities in the Muslim-majority country.

Pakistan is witnessing a surge in violence against its Shi'a and Hazara communities, despite undergoing it’s first-ever transition of power between two democratically elected governments.

In Sri Lanka, Buddhist nationalists are conducting

an increasingly vocal hate campaign against the country's Muslim minority, including calling on people to boycott halal food and Muslim-owned businesses.

The government has done little to stop them.

Hate crimes send a message not only to the individuals targeted, but also to their communities.

This is especially evident in gender-based violence against minority and indigenous women, with rape and sexual assault employed as a weapon of war or an instrument of oppression to fragment and humiliate entire civilian populations, warns MRG. In July 2013, a Dalit woman in Nepal who reported her attempted rape by an upper-caste man was covered in soot and garlanded with shoes by a mob of 60 people, with the assault videotaped and uploaded onto YouTube.

In Southeast Asia, minorities were used as scapegoats to advance xenophobic political agendas, culminating in attacks on communities viewed as ‘foreign' in several countries. In Cambodia, anti-Vietnamese invective was used by the opposition party in a bid to discredit Prime Minister Hun Sen, while ‘yellow shirt' protesters in Thailand whipped up anti-Cambodian sentiments.

In Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak blamed a ‘Chinese tsunami' for the electoral losses he suffered in May 2013, aggravating ethnic tensions in the diverse Muslim-majority country.

But it was in Burma, where a slow process of reform has opened up some degree of free expression, that the situation for minorities was arguably most acute. In addition to reports of ongoing military abuses against ethnic minorities, a large number of Muslims, including the stateless Rohingya, were killed or displaced during the year by Buddhist vigilantes.

‘Normalised discrimination and hate speech lead inexorably to violence towards minorities and indigenous peoples,' added Lattimer. ‘That is why it is imperative for countries to curb the use of demeaning or inflammatory language in political discourse, sermons, the media and online.'

In Australia, hostile rhetoric against refugees and asylum seekers in the media and among politicians has driven increasingly negative popular attitudes towards these groups and harsher policies of containment, including offshore processing centres.

While this year's report

Delhi gets Lonely Planet’s Best Destination for Food & Drink Award By our correspondent

N

ew Delhi: India’s capital New Delhi has been adjudged as the Best Destination for Food & Drink

by Lonely Planet Magazine India Travel Awards 2014 at a glitzy ceremony held at the Palladium Hotel, Mumbai recently. Mr. Sudhir Sobti, Chief Manager (PR), Delhi Tourism received the award from Lonely Planet.

The Lonely Planet Best Destination for Food & Drink award is an exemplary prestigious award for Delhi and is a step forward towards making Delhi a preferred tourist destination.

The Lonely Planet Magazine India Travel Awards is widely

acknowledged as the most prestigious award in the Tourism and Travel Industry.

The Lonely Planet Magazine invited the country’s travel experts to choose their favourite destinations and most favoured travel experiences.

The awards were shortlisted by a panel of travel experts and professionals.

A poll was also conducted for Lonely Planet Magazine readers both online and in – magazine poll. The readers have voted in large numbers, across 32 categories, to celebrate the best in travel.

The award ceremony was attended by who’s who of the national travel industry, several international invitees and celebrities. www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9095 6220, 0421 677 082

“I think what these [women] have gone through in the past three decades as individuals, as families, and as an entire community - has made them resilient." -- M S M Kamil, head of the economic security department at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). documents disturbing levels of violence and propaganda targeting minorities and indigenous peoples in Asia, it also includes many examples of how hatred is being countered by legislators, politicians, journalists, and local communities.

—Minority Rights Group International, July 3, 2014.

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Pakistan: Where mothers are also children

By Zofeen Ebrahim

K

ARACHI, Pakistan, Jul 11 2014 (IPS) - If 22-year-old Rashda Naureen could go back six years in time, she would never have agreed to get married at the tender age of 16.

“Looking back, I know I was not ready for marriage,” she told IPS. “How could I have been, being merely a child myself?”

With only a third-grade education, Naureen became a mother at 17 and got a divorce soon after she delivered.

According to Naureen’s mother, Perween Bibi, who works for a small daily wage as a cleaning woman in Pakistan, “I have two more daughters [in addition to two sons] and we gave Rashda away in order to have one less responsibility on our hands.”

But the opposite turned out to be true. Today Bibi and her husband, who is a private chauffeur, must now find a way to provide for their grandson in a family of seven struggling to survive.

Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the story is that Naureen’s pregnancy could easily have been avoided.

“Before marriage my best friend urged me to take contraceptive pills, but I refused to listen to her,” Naureen confessed.

“Even my husband, who had been forced to marry me by his parents, said we should wait, but I didn’t pay any heed; I thought having a child immediately would cement our relationship, and my husband would begin to love me,” she said forlornly.

Dr. Tauseef Ahmed, Pakistan country director of Pathfinder International, a non-profit organisation working to improve adolescent and youth access to sexual and reproductive health services in more than 30 countries, says that early pregnancy is not uncommon among teenage brides.

In fact, having a baby is a way of proving one’s fertility, and the values of adolescent pregnancy are “protected by women and girls themselves,” he told IPS. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), nearly 7.3 million teenage girls become pregnant every year – of these, two million are aged 14 or younger. Meanwhile, an estimated 70,000 adolescents

Most South Asian nations struggle with the twin problems of early marriage and teenage pregnancy, making it crucial to tackle both simultaneously, experts say. PHOTO : Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS in developing countries die each year from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says stillbirths and newborn deaths are 50 percent more likely among infants of adolescent mothers than among mothers aged 20 to 29.

Infants who survive are more likely to have a low birth weight and be premature than those born to women in their 20s.

The problem is particularly pronounced in Pakistan, a country of 180 million people where 35 percent of married women between the ages of 25 and 49 years were wed before the age of 18, according to the latest figures in the 2012-2013 Pakistan Demographic Health Survey.

Experts say one of the main reasons behind the widespread occurrence of chid marriages and early pregnancies is a lack of education.

Naureen agrees, saying her disrupted education stands out as a glaring “missing link” in her early development Dr. Farid Midhet, who heads the USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Health Integrated Programme (MCHIP) in Pakistan, says there is a strong link between teenage pregnancy and female illiteracy.

“Together these contribute to high infant and child mortality and morbidity, high fertility, illiteracy in general, and production of children who are a burden on society,”

he told IPS. He added that this exacerbates poverty, which in turn fuels a vicious cycle of militancy, crime and social unrest.

Pathfinder International’s Ahmed believes a strong conservative current in Pakistani society – where 97 percent of the population identifies as Muslim – also conspires against the girl child, making early marriage and adolescent pregnancy a foregone conclusion for thousands of girls.

“Early marriage and not getting permission to attend school are the two main indicators of conservative forces here,” he stressed, adding that the “fear of backlash from conservative forces” has resulted in a glaring lack of positive initiatives within the public sector to tackle the problem.

This, despite the fact that study after study has shown that countries that improve school enrollment rates for girls also see a decline in adolescent child-bearing.

Asked how to tackle the health crisis caused by teenage motherhood, Zeba Sathar, country director of the Population Council of Pakistan, answered immediately that she would first and foremost invest in girls’ education.

“Globally proven strategies include keeping adolescent girls in schools, using economic incentives and livelihood programmes, offering life skills, informing families and communities

about the adverse effects of adolescent pregnancy, and mobilising them to support girls to grow and develop into women before becoming mothers,” Sathar told IPS. A regional problem The phenomenon is not exclusive to Pakistan, with several other countries in the region experiencing equally challenging situations.

Most South Asian nations, like Pakistan, struggle with the twin problems of early marriage and teenage pregnancy, making it crucial to tackle both simultaneously, experts say.

But this is easier said than done, as laws surrounding the ‘official’ marriage age are difficult to enforce and complicated by traditional societal values.

According to a 2013 report by the UNFPA entitled ‘Motherhood in Childhood’, India and Bangladesh remain among the countries where a girl is most likely to be married before she is 18.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka, on the other hand, show much lower rates of pregnancies among women aged 15 to 19.

The U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)’s World Population Prospects report states that the adolescent fertility rate among women in the 15-19 age group is 87 per 1,000 women in Afghanistan, 81 in Bangladesh, 74 in Nepal, 33 in India, 27 in Pakistan, and just 17 in Sri Lanka.

India’s eastern state of Bihar had the worst score

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card for child marriage.

Referring to a survey of more than 600,000 households conducted for India’s health ministry between 2007 and 2008, Sathar said nearly 70 percent of women in their early twenties reported having been married by the age of 18.

Bangladesh does not fare any better. One in 10 teens has had a child by the age of 15, while one in three girls gets married by the age of 15.

But numbers, according to Ahmed, do not tell the whole story.

“Early childhood marriages and fertility rates may be four times higher in Bangladesh than in Pakistan, but the former experiences higher aspirations [among women] for better education and gainful employment than Pakistan,” he stated.

Bangladesh’s Population Reference Bureau’s 2013 Data Sheet on Youth states the female labour force participation in Bangladesh is 51 percent, compared to just 20 percent in Pakistan.

Additionally, the percentage of women in secondary education in Bangladesh was 55, while in Pakistan it was just 29.

For women like Naureen, staying in school could have spared her a lifetime of pain.

“I would not have been married and become a mother at such a young age; I would have had time to think about what I was getting myself into… I would have been just a little bit wiser,” she said.

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बहुसांस्कृतिक दे श ऑस्ट्रेलिया

मिलन – विरह

एक लम्बे समय तक ऑस्ट्रेलिया में सरकारी नीति के अनुसार ‘केवल श्वेतांग लोग ही बस सकते थे| परं तु अब ऑस्ट्रेलिया का स्वरूप बदल गया है और लगभग २०० दे शों से आये हुए लोग यहाँ बसे हुए हैं | गत वर्ष यहाँ भारत से आने वाले आप्रवासियों की संख्या सबसे अधिक थी| सन ् १९७५ में ऑस्ट्रेलिया के तत्कालीन प्रधान मंत्री, माल्कम फ्रेज़र ने आप्रवासियों के लिये उनकी अपनी भाषाओं में कार्यक्रम प्रसारित करने के उद्दे श्य से एक विशेष प्रसारण सेवा (एस.बी.एस.) स्थापित की थी जो आज भी रे डियो पर ७० भाषाओँ में कार्यक्रम प्रसारित करती है | इस सेवा का टे लिविज़न प्रसारण शुरू से ही आप्रवासियों की भाषा में फ़िल्में और वृत्त चित्र दिखाता रहा है | ऑस्ट्रेलिया में बारहवीं कक्षा की परीक्षा में विद्यार्थी ५० भाषाओं की परीक्षा का प्रावधान है | इनमें हिन्दी भी सम्मिलित है | अनुवादकों तथा दभ ु ाषियों के लिये भी ५० से अधिक भाषाओं में मान्यता प्राप्त करने की सुविधा है और जिन लोगों को अंग्रेज़ी बोलने या समझने में कठिनाई होती है उनके लिये सामान्य सेवाएँ (जैसे चिकित्सा/ कानून/सुरक्षा आदि) सम्बन्धी सेवाएँ प्राप्त करने में सहायता के लिये सरकार मुफ़्त दभ ु ाषिया सेवा प्रदान करती है | यह बात आश्चर्यजनक भले ही लगे परन्तु भाषा और संस्कृ ति की विविधता को राष्ट्र-हित में कैसे प्रयोग में लाया जाये, यह बात ऑस्ट्रेलिया से सीखी जा सकती है | विभिन्न दे शों से आये हुए, विभिन्न भाषाओं और संस्कृ तियों के लोग यहाँ जिस प्रकार शांतिपूर्वक रहते हैं और जिस प्रकार सबकी भाषाओं और संस्कृ ति को प्रोत्साहन दिया जाता है – उस पर कोई भी दे श गर्व कर सकता है | इस अंक के k;Vyku'j स्तम्भ में विभिन्न विषयों पर रोचक कविताएँ हैं | साथ में, ईद पर एक लेख और ‘प्यार और संस्कृति’ पर एक रोचक संस्मरण है | इसके अतिरिक्त, ‘पुस्तक-परिचय’, ‘संक्षिप्त समाचार’, ‘अब हँ सने की बारी है ’, ‘ m hævpU , R itiqy;\’ व ‘सूचनाएँ’ स्तम्भ भी हैं | लिखियेगा कि आपको यह अंक कैसा लगा| -दिनेश श्रीवास्तव

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- कुसुम वीर, नोएडा, भारत

उत्ताल तरं गित लहरें थीं कुछ व्याकुल थीं कुछ थिरक रहीं तट से मिलने की चाहत में चंचल चपला सी मचल रहीं दरू किनारे बैठा तट था शांत संयमी संतोषी था लहर दौड़ मिलने आती उसको भी लौटा दे ता था लहरों का सुखद शील स्पर्श सागर तट को जब छू जाता भीग गया था तन उसका पर रोक न उसको पाया था बहु विशाल तट ने उसको बहुत रोकना चाहा था पर छोड़ अकेला उसे चपल निष्ठु र सा उसको पाया था लहरों का तट से मिलन-विरह मैं दे ख रही, कुछ सोच रही सागर अपार, मणि रत्न विपुल तट क्यों आती फिर व्यग्र लहर सृष्टि का यह चक्र सतत निरख रही कुछ खोज रही चिरं तन के सुख में मैं फिर

एक फूल

-डॉ भावना कँु अर, सिडनी

जो हमेशा बनाए रखता था एक घेरा अपने चारों ओर उदासी का घेरा... फिर न जाने कहाँ से एक माली आया और करने लगा दे खभाल... फूल सकुचाता रहा मगर माली के प्यार उसके दल ु ार उसके अपनेपन के आगे फूल ने भी कर दिया आत्मसमर्पण ... तोड़ डाला वह उदासी का घेरा लगा मुस्कराने, खिलखिलाने जीवन जीने की ललक, साँसें लेने का साहस, न जाने उसमें कैसे आ गया ! अब चारों तरफ प्यार, दल ु ार, अपनापन पाकर जी उठा फिर से... पर यह क्या! अचानक क्या हुआ इस माली को... एक ही झटके में उखाड़ डाला जड़ से... पर मासूम फूल उदास नहीं हुआ मुस्कराता रहा... बस यही सोचकर

अच्छा लगा हाल पूछा आपने तो पूछना अच्छा लगा बह रही उलटी हवा से जूझना अच्छा लगा दख ु ही दख ु जीवन का सच है लोग कहते हैं यही दख ु में भी सुख की झलक को ढू ँ ढना अच्छा लगा

k¨, puk;r

हैं अधिक तन चूर थक कर ख़ुशबू से तर कुछ बदन इत्र से बेहतर पसीना सूंघना अच्छा लगा रिश्ते टू टें गे बनेंगे ज़िन्दगी की राह में साथ अपनों का मिला तो घूमना अच्छा लगा कब हमारी चाँदनी के बीच बदली आ गयी

ágt vWR hué ked;rn;q ];sdI kI vWRg;\# prâ

mh;dev yh r*{ åp Kyo'² he dev;i/dev tum to qe mh;d;nI pu]o' se apr;/ hua; Ky;² jo t;<@v krne kI #;nI =m; kro p[.²u .Ul hué hmse² hw' mU!¹ a*r aD;nI md² moh² ah'k;r ne `er;² p;p-pu<y me' .ed n j;n; `or a'/k;r me' bIt; jIvn² p[.u terI xiKt ko n phc;n; dIn-hIn² blhIn ho gye² .IW, a;pd; ne hw m;r; l*$ clo he mh;dev² mh;k;l k; ivkr;l åp nhI'² .ol; åp lgt; Py;r; Ek j$; %ol² pvn p;vnI /;r; zo@¹I² p;p t;ir,I m;\ g'g; khl;é Ky; s.I j$;ye' %o dI' p[.²u jo m;\ p[ly'k;rI åp me' a;yI' X;;'t kro m;\ g'ge ko p[.²u he k¨,;s;gr² k¨, puk;r hm;rI =m; kro dev;i/dev² .Ul hué hmse² hw' mU!¹ a*r aD;nI D;n² /mR a*r pu<y ko Ty;g;² p;p² moh² a/mR se jo@¹; n;t; l;xo' ko .I nhI' zo@¹; hmne² `or nrk k; %ol; %;t; lU$-%so$ se s'pd; jo@¹I² Sv,R mhlo' ke de%e spne

इन बीते साठ सालों में

-श्यामल सुमन, जमशेदपुर

कुछ पलों तक चाँद का भी रूठना अच्छा लगा घर की रौनक जो थी अब तक घर बसाने चली जाते-जाते उसके सर को चूमना अच्छा लगा दे गया संकेत पतझड़ आगमन ऋतुराज का तब भ्रमर के संग सुमन को झूमना अच्छा लगा

-l+mI dÊ n*i$y;l² hirÃ;r

Ky; p;y;² Ky; %oy; hmne² smZe qe sb p;y; hmne C;;\d-ist;ro' ko zU le' hm² nye g[ho' k; inm;R, kre' sb ivk;ro' se invOÊ huye nhI'² Ky; p;y; sb %oy; hmne mn to c'cl q; apn;² ibn b;'/e bw# gye m;l; jpne mOg-tOã,; me' bIt; jIvn² kuz h;q n a;y;² bw# gye h;qo' ko mlne ter; p[c<@ v[Ðo/ ab de%; sb @Ub;² tuZ pr a;\c n a;é he mhex² he i]pur;rI² he kwl;xpit² p[.u dy; kro² terI xiKt ab hw j;nI x;'t kro dev;i/dev ko² b[÷;² ivã,u he gj;nn² k¨, puk;r hm;rI khI' i]ne] n %ole' sTy sd;ixv kuz n bceg;² jlmGn n ho /rtI s;rI D;n² /mR kI p[viO Ê nhI' hw² aD;n² a/mR kI invOiÊ nhI' hw k;m² v[Ðo/² md² moh ne jk@¹;² du"%² Vy;i/ ab inyt yhI hw jb-jb hoy /rm kI h;nI² b;!¹'e p;p kui$l ai.m;nI tb-tb p[.u tum ¬tre /r; pr² kro n der Ky; mn me' #;nI

पुराने दोस्त सब कहते है की हम सब साठ साल के हो गये लगता भी कुछ ऐसा है और सच्चाई भी यही है सफ़ेद और थोड़े काले बाल ज़िंदगी के बचे कुछ साल ख़्यालों में अक्सर सोचता हूँ पीछे मुड़ कर बीता वक़्त दे खता हूँ पक्की सड़कों पे रोज़मर्रा इसी दौड़ भाग में गर्मी, सर्दी बारिश और सूखे की मारधाड़ में कितनी तेज़ी से ज़िंदगी का वक़्त निकल गया पिछले साठ सालों का सफ़र कैसे गुज़र गया कुछ पता ही न चला

कि कुछ समय के लिए ही सही उसने भी पाया था अपनापन, प्यार, दल ु ार... पर नहीं समझ पाया इतने बड़े बदलाव का कारण क्या ये माली की अपनी सोच थी या फिर वह भटक गया था किसी की बातों से... जो सोच भी नहीं सका साथ बिताए वे ख़ूबसूरत पल क्या कभी याद नहीं आयेगा उस फूल का मासूम चेहरा? और क्या अब कोई फूल किसी माली को दे खकर तोड़ पायेगा अपनी उदासी का घेरा पैदा कर पायेगा अपने अन्दर जीने की चाह शायद नहीं क्योंकि उदासी के बाद मिलने वाला प्यार कभी कोई कहाँ भूल पाता है हाँ मर ज़रूर जाता है जीते जी और छोड़ दे ता है साँसें मंद-मंद मुस्कराते हुए अपने माली के लिए...

- अब्बास रज़ा अलवी, सिडनी बहुत से मेरे दोस्त बने कुछ मुझको छोड़ गये कुछ दनि ु या में कहीं खो गये कुछ दनि ु या से जुदा हो गये और आज भी अनगिनत दोस्त हैं रोज़ मिलते हैं और बहुत क़रीब हैं और शायद फिर इसी तरह नये नये दोस्त बनते रहें गे जब तक मेरा जिस्म साँस लेता रहे गा पर वे दोस्त जो चालीस साल पहले बने थे साथ-साथ पढ़े थे खेले कूदे थे अपने बचपन में जिनसे शायद इन पिछले बीते सालों में

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9095 6220, 0421 677 082

उनसे कुछ बार ही मिल पाया मैं सालों में वे मुझे आज भी अपने सगों से ज़्यादा अच्छे लगते हैं क्यों? इसका जवाब तो मेरे पास नहीं पर इसका विश्वास मेरे पास ज़रूर है शायद तुम्हारे पास भी टटोलो खुद को हम दिल के किसी न किसी कोने में कहीं न कहीं साथ साथ हैं बसे हैं और सारी ज़िंदगी बसे रहें गे तुम्हारे हम

j u l y

southSouth asia times 31 Asia Times

2 0 1 4

प्यार और संस्कृ ति – एक संस्मरण

-बसंत कुमार, सिडनी

नवम्बर का महीना था| ग्रीष्म ऋतु वसंत ऋतु की दहलीज पर खड़ी थी जब किसी ने सहसा अपनी ओर आने का संकेत किया| उसने सोलह मधुमास ही स्पर्श किये होंगे| उसकी आँखों का सम्मोहन मुझे आकर्षित किये बिना न रह पाया| मैं छुट्टियों में अतिथि के रूप में उसके पड़ोस में गया था| यौवन के आकर्षण ने मेरी नज़रों को कई बार झुका दिया पर वह बिना पलक झपकाये मुझे दे खती रही जैसे आँखों से हो कर दिल में उतरना चाहती हो| मैंने चौबीसवाँ बसंत पार किया था| मैं आकर्षण और सम्मोहन से कैसे वंचित रह पाता? शीघ्र ही मैं उसके पास चला गया| उसके पास पहुँचते ही मेरी नज़रें पुनः झुक गईं| वह मुझे निर्वाक लगातार दे खती जा रही थी| संकेत से उसने मुझे सोफ़े पर बैठने को कहा और स्वयं अन्दर चली गयी| जब वह वापस बाहर आयी तो उसकी आँखों में मदिरा का नशा तैर रहा था| उसके हाथों में एक ‘ट्रे ’ थी जिसमें मदिरा की एक बोतल और खाने के लिये कुछ तला हुआ नमकीन, बादाम और मीठा ‘केक’ आदि था| मेरा अभिनन्दन करके वह मेरे पास सोफ़े में बैठ गयी| उसके चाँदी जैसे बदन का स्पर्श मेरे

'ईद' का त्योहार ख़ुशियों का त्योहार है जो रमज़ान के पवित्र महीने के बाद आता है जब इस्लाम धर्म के अनुयायी पूरे माह रोज़ा या उपवास रखते हैं । सूर्योदय से सूर्यास्त तक वे कुछ भी नहीं खाते हैं । सूर्यास्त के बाद वे उपवास तोड़ते है , जिसे 'रोज़ा-इफ़्तारी' कहा जाता है । वे दिन भर अपनी धार्मिक पुस्तक, ‘कुरान शरीफ़' का पाठ करते हैं और अल्लाह (ईश्वर) की प्रार्थना करते हैं , पूरे महीने पवित्र जीवन बिताते हैं , गरीबों और दखि ु यों की मदद करते हैं । रोज़ों के बाद दिखाई दे ने वाला 'प्रथम चाँद,' ईद का चाँद कहलाता है । वे रमज़ान माह की समाप्ति पर ईद का चाँद दे खकर रोज़ा समाप्त करते हैं । उनके लिए यह चाँद

puStk-pircy

शरीर को कम्पित कर रहा था| मेरी नज़रों ने जब उसे निहारा तो वह मेरे आगोश में थी| मेरे शरीर में बिजली सी स्फु रन दौड़ रही थी| वह मुझ से चिपकी थी| धीरे -धीरे हमारा आलिंगन प्रगाढ़ होने लगा| जैसे ही उसने मेरे होंठों को स्पर्श करना चाहा कि सहसा मेरी संस्कृ ति ने मुझे झकझोर कर रख दिया| मैंने उससे कहा – यह संभव नहीं है | हमारी संस्कृ ति अलग है | मैं मांस-मदिरा का सेवन नहीं करता हूँ| हमारे रहन-सहन, वस्त्र, व्यवहार, उत्सव और आराध्य दे वी-दे वता सब अलग-अलग हैं | मांस-मछली, मुर्-गे अण्डे की बात तो दरू , कुछ जगहों पर लहसुन और प्याज़ खाना भी वर्जित है | क्या तुम ऐसी संस्कृ ति में रह पाओगी? मैं नहीं कहता कि तुम्हारी संस्कृ ति ख़राब है पर क्या दोनों संस्कृ तियों में सामंजस्य संभव है ? क्या हम एक-दस ू रे की संस्कृ ति में समावेश कर पायेंगे? यदि प्यार में अंधे हो कर अपनी संस्कृ ति को भुला भी दें तो हमारी अंतरात्मा हमें अवश्य ही धिक्कारे गी| भविष्य में आने वाली समस्याएँ, जैसे बच्चों की संस्कृ ति, धर्म, खान-पान, सामाजिक बहिष्कार आदि की समस्याओं को हम कैसे झेल पायेंगे? सभ्यता तो बदल जाती है पर संस्कृ ति को बदलने में दो हज़ार

वर्ष से भी अधिक लग जाते हैं | हम तो एक जाति (संकीर्ण वर्ग) में जन्म लेते हैं और आजीवन उसी में रहते हैं | उस वर्ग में किसी का समावेश संभव नहीं है फिर हमारे बच्चे किस वर्ग में आयेंगे? हो सकता है कि हम दोनों के शरीर और आत्मा का मिलन संभव हो जाये पर क्या हम पल-पल आने वाली अपनी इच्छाओं का गला और सोच का गला घोंट पायेंगे? नहीं न! यहीं से हमारा प्यार संस्कृ ति के झंझावातों में भाग कर दरू निकल जायेगा|

मैं बोलता रहा और वह निर्वाक, निर्विघ्न, निस्तब्ध सुनती रही| उसकी नज़रें न झुकीं, न रुकीं जैसे उसकी साँसे साँसें थम गयी हों| ऐसा लग रह था जैसे वे कह रही हों – निर्मोही तू प्यार क्या जाने?” उसके अंग-प्रत्यंग में प्यार और मेरे मानस में कर्तव्य की भावना थी| कौन सही था, यह तो मैं नहीं जानता| आज इस बात को पचास वर्ष बीत चुके हैं | मैं चौहत्तर वर्ष का हो चुका हूँ| मैं ‘भारतीय-आंग्ल संस्कृ ति का मेल’ नामक एक ‘चैरिटी-शो’ दे खने आया हूँ जहाँ मेरी मुलाक़ात उस से पुनः हो जाती है | उसके बाल सफ़ेद हो चुके हैं पर रं गों ने उन्हें रं जित कर रखा है | आज भी सम्मोहन में कोई कमी

ईद का त्योहार

बहुत प्यारा होता है । ईद का चाँद दिखाई दे ने के दस ू रे दिन प्रात:काल मुसलमान

स्नान कर नए वस्त्र पहन मस्जिदों और ईदगाह पर नमाज़ पढ़ने जाते हैं । सब

वीर उसको जानिये

लेखक – नवीन गुलिया, प्रकाशकप्रभात प्रकाशन, नई दिल्ली-११००२, प्रथम संस्करण-२०१३, पृष्ठ १३५, मूल्य–१७५ रुपये (ISBN: 978-93-5048-292-6) 'वीर उसको जानिये' एक साधारण इं सान की असाधारण कथा है | यह बहुत प्रेरणादायक जीवनी है जिसे एक बच्चे, एक जवान और सही मायने मेँ एक साहसिक व्यक्ति ने एक एक पल जिया है | एक बालक जो पढ़ने लिखने में और शारीरिक रूप से बहुत कमज़ोर था, उसने मेहनत करके अपनी राह बनाई और भारतीय सेना में अधिकारी बना परन्तु प्रकृ ति ने एक बार फिर से परीक्षा

ली| वह एक दर्घ ु टना का शिकार हो गया और गरदन से नीचे उस का शरीर बेकार हो गया| पर उसने हिम्मत न हारी और अपने मन को फिर से लड़ने के लिए तैयार किया| उसने न केवल अपने आप को संभाला वरन ् अपनी इच्छा शक्ति के बल पर अनेक बाधाओं से लड़ते हुए, १८,६३२ फ़ीट के विश्व के सबसे ऊँचे पहाड़ी दर्रे ‘मर्सिमिक ला’ तक पहुँचने वाला सबसे पहला व्यक्ति बना| उसने अनेक पुरस्कार व सम्मान प्राप्त किये| इनमें भूतपूर्व भारतीय राष्ट्रपति, डॉ. अब्दुल क़लाम द्वारा प्रदान किया गया ‘नेशनल रोल मॉडल’ सम्मान भी

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नहीं है | नज़रें नज़रों को निहारती रह जाती हैं पर आज उनमें पवित्रता का एहसास है | वह मेरे पास खड़ी है पर आज न तो बाला सा कंपन है , न रुदन| अब वह प्रौढ़ हो चुकी है | अगर कुछ है तो सिर्फ़ मानवीयता की किरणें हैं जो उसके हृदय से स्फु रित हो कर प्रकृ ति में मलयानिल सी फ़ैल रही है | मैं सोच रहा हूँ – क्या प्यार का ऐसा प्रतिरूप संभव है ? क्या उस प्यार में वासना की बू नहीं थी? क्या मैं ग़लत था? क्या मेरी संस्कृ ति ने उसे झकझोर कर जगा दिया था? क्या मैं उसके प्यार को समझ नहीं पाया था? आज वह अकेली है | उसने प्यार का मतलब समझा दिया है | अब उसके जीवन का एक ही उद्दे श्य है | वह है - विभिन्न संस्कृ तियों के सामंजस्य का प्रयत्न और प्रदर्शन जिस से दस ू रे के जीवन में उस दर्द का आगमन न हो जो उसने स्वयं झेला है | उसके जीवन का अकेलापन यथार्थ रूप से संकेत कर रहा था कि संस्कृ ति और मज़हब से प्यार कहीं ऊपर है – यह उसके भाषण से स्पष्ट हो चुका था| मैं जब से लौट कर घर आया हूँ तब से यह सोचने पर विवश हूँ कि क्या मैं ग़लत था? प्यार के बलिदान ने संस्कृ ति की माँग को मात कर दिया था|

लोग एकसाथ मिल-जुलकर अल्लाह (ईश्वर) को धन्यवाद दे ते हैं कि उसने उन्हें जीवन दिया, रोज़े रखने (उपवास करने) की शक्ति दी। बाद में गले मिलकर एक दस ू रे को ईद मुबारकबाद दे ते हैं । ईद का मेला भी लगता है । ईद के दिन सिवैयां और मिठाइयाँ खाई और खिलाई जाती हैं । सिवैयां इस दिन का प्रिय व्यंजन है । रात में मस्जिदों पर रोशनी भी की जाती है और आतिशबाजी होती है । मुसलमानों का विश्वास है कि रमज़ान महीने में उपवास रखने से उनकी आत्मा पवित्र होती है और नर्क से मुक्ति मिलती है । इसी खुशी में 'ईद' का त्योहार मनाया जाता है । ईद मुबारक!

(वेब-दनि ु या’ के सौजन्य से)

सम्मिलित था| यह व्यक्ति और कोई नहीं, इस पुस्तक के लेखक नवीन गुलिया थे| इस पुस्तक की भूमिका मिल्खा सिंह ने लिखी है | इसमें लेखक ने अपनी लड़ाई का वर्णन करने के अतिरिक्त, बहुत सी शिक्षाप्रद बातें लिखीं हैं जो उन्होंने अपने जीवन में सीखीं और जिनका उन्होंने पालन किया| इसके अलावा, इस पुस्तक में उनके द्वारा रची हुई प्रेरणात्मक कविताएँ भी हैं | ‘वीर उसको जानिये’ एक प्रेरणादायक पुस्तक है जिसे पढ़ कर मुश्किलों से लड़ने के लिये प्रेरणा मिलती है | —सुनीता कलकल

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डॉ. प्रेम फेकी को मिला ‘ए.एम.’ सम्मान

इस वर्ष, महारानी एलिजाबेथ–२ के जन्मदिवस की वर्षगाँठ पर ऑस्ट्रेलियाई सरकार ने जो सम्मान घोषित किये, उनमें मेल्बर्न के डॉ. प्रेम फेकी का नाम भी सम्मिलित था| उन्हें ‘ए.एम.’ (मेम्बर ऑफ़ द ऑर्डर ऑफ़ ऑस्ट्रेलिया) की उपाधि से सम्मानित किया जायेगा| डॉ. फेकी सन ् १९६४ से ऑस्ट्रेलिया में रह रहे हैं | वे भौतिक शास्त्र के विशेषज्ञ हैं और क़ीमती पत्थरों (रत्नों) के बारे में उन्होंने महत्वपूर्ण शोध कार्य किया है | आपने एक लम्बे समय तक मोनाश विश्वविद्यालय में अध्यापन तथा शोध कार्य किया है | इसके अतितिक्त अमेरिका (कैलिफोर्निया तथा वाशिंगटन विश्वविद्यालय) और न्यूजीलैंड (ओटागो विश्वविद्यालय) में भी उन्होंने कार्य किया है | यह सम्मान उन्हें भारतीय समुदाय की सेवा के लिये प्रदान किया गया है | आपने सदा ही नये आप्रवासियों की आस्ट्रेलिया में बसने में सहायता की है और आप कई भारतीय संगठनों से जुड़े रहे हैं | आप ‘पंजाबी क्लब’ के संस्थापक व सचिव थे और ‘इं डियन सीनियर सिटिजंस एसोसिएशन’ के संस्थापक अध्यक्ष के रूप में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाते रहे हैं | वे समाचार-पत्रों तथा एस.बी.एस. व फ़ीजी रे डियो द्वारा ऑस्ट्रेलिया में भारतीय समुदाय को विशिष्ट जानकारी दे ते रहे हैं | हिन्दी-पुष्प उन्हें इस सम्मान के लिये बधाई दे ता है |

संकट मोचन केंद्र की स्थापना

इस वर्ष, १५ जून को ५०० से अधिक व्यक्तियों की उपस्थिति में मेलबर्न में ‘संकट मोचन केन्द्र’ की स्थापना की गई| इस केन्द्र का पता है – १२८९ ए, नार्थ रोड, हं टिंगडे ल| यह केन्द्र हं टिंगडे ल रे लवे स्टेशन के पास और मोनाश यूनवर्सिटी बस-स्टाप के सामने है | इस केन्द्र का उद्दे श्य आध्यात्मिक, समाज कल्याण तथा शैक्षिक सुविधाएँ प्रदान करना है | यह सुविधा भारतीय तथा अन्य समुदायों द्वारा उपयोग की जा सकती है | यह केन्द्र निम्नलिखित दिनों व समय पर खुला करे गासोमवार, मंगलवार तथा बृहस्पतिवार को शाम को ६.३० बजे से रात के ८.३० बजे तक| शनिवार व रविवार को सुबह १० बजे से दोपहर के १२.३० बजे तक और दोपहर ४.३० बजे से रात के ८ बजे तक| सोमवार को श्री विष्णु सहस्रनाम, लिंगाष्टक तथा आरती, बृहस्पतिवार को साईं बाबा पूजा व आरती और रविवार को ११ बजे सुबह श्री अमृत वाणी सत्संग और आरती का विशेष आयोजन है | अन्य दिनों श्री हनुमान चालीसा, श्री संकट मोचन पाठ व आरती होगी| इसके अतिरिक्त, ९ जुलाई से अगले ८ हफ्तों तक हर बुधवार को शाम ७.३० बजे से ८.३० बजे तक धार्मिक ज्ञान के आदान प्रदान के लिये अध्ययन मंडली के मिलने का आयोजन है | इस कार्यक्रम की पहली श्रृंखला का विषय ‘हनुमान चालीसा’ है , जिस पर श्रीमती मधु कुमार व्याख्यान दें गी| अध्ययन मंडली के कार्यक्रमों में सम्मिलित होने के लिये अथवा विशेष धार्मिक व सामाजिक उत्सवों के आयोजन अथवा अधिक जानकारी के लिये, डॉ. सुनीला श्रीवास्तव से ०४२७ २७४४६२ पर फ़ोन द्वारा सम्पर्क कीजिये|

डॉ. राजकिशोर टं डन का निधन

मेल्बर्न के ८० वर्षीय प्रमुख वरिष्ठ नागरिक, डॉ. राजकिशोर टं डन का ३० मई, सन ् २०१४ को हृदयाघात होने के कारण दे हांत हो गया| सन ् १९३४ में आगरा में जन्मे डॉ. टं डन एक मेधावी छात्र थे और उन्होंने किंग जार्ज लखनऊ मेडिकल से एम.बी.बी.एस. की उपाधि प्राप्त करने के पश्चात न्यू जर्सी, लंदन, होंडू रास आदि कई स्थानों पर काम किया और सन ् १९७१ में मेल्बर्न में आये जहाँ उन्होंने अपने घर पर प्रेस्टन में चिकित्सक के रूप में काम करना आरम्भ किया| हिन्दी निकेतन के संस्थापक सदस्य व सर्वप्रथम अध्यक्ष के रूप में, उन्होंने विभिन्न सांस्कृ तिक कार्यक्रमों तथा उत्सवों के आयोजनों में महत्वपूर्ण योगदान दिया था| हिन्दी निकेतन के अध्यक्ष, डॉ. शरद गुप्ता ने घोषणा की है कि उनकी स्मृति में, अगले वर्ष से वी.सी.ई. हिन्दी परीक्षा में सर्वप्रथम आने वाले विद्यार्थी को डॉ. टं डन पुरस्कार’ से सम्मानित किया जायेगा| हिन्दी निकेतन के अतिरिक्त, डॉ. टं डन कई अन्य भारतीय संस्थाओं (उदाहरण के लिये मेल्बर्न के उत्तरी क्षेत्र के वरिष्ठ भारतीयों के संगठन ‘नरीसा’, तथा ‘इडियन म्युज़िक एसोसिएशन’) से भी जुड़े हुए थे| डॉ. टं डन के निधन से मेल्बर्न के भारतीय समुदाय ने एक कर्मठ, सहानुभतू िशील, सक्रिय व्यक्ति खो दिया है | हिन्दी पुष्प उनके निधन पर उनकी पत्नी श्रीमती मधु टं डन, बेटियों रीता व कविता, दामाद कुणाल तथा नाती रिवान के प्रति सहानुभतू ि प्रकट करता है और ईश्वर से प्रार्थना करता है कि वह उनके परिवार को इस दःु ख को सहन करने की शक्ति दे |

पिता-पुत्र

ab h\sne kI b;rI hw

पुत्र (पिता से) – पिता जी, आपके सिर के कुछ बाल सफ़ेद क्यों हैं ? पिता (पुत्र से) – जब भी तुम मुझे अप्रसन्न करते हो, मेरे सिर का एक बाल सफ़ेद हो जाता है | पुत्र (पिता से) – अब मैं समझा कि बाबा के सिर के सभी बाल सफ़ेद क्यों हैं |

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(प्रेषक –डॉ. सुरेश गुप्ता, मेल्बर्न)

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SUNDAY Language Program Hindi..................................9 am to 10 am – 93.1 FM BANGLA Urdu................................10 am to 11 am – 93.1 FM Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Tamil...............................11 am to 12 pm – 93.1 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SB Radio 2 Hindi.................................8 pm to 10 pm – 88.3 FM Monday & Saturday Singhalese.......................8 pm to 11 pm –97.7 FM 6-7 PM GUJARATI MONDA Y Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Hindi....................................3 to 4 pm – 93.1 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBSPm Radio Bengali...............................4 pm to 5 pm – 93.1 FM Wednesday & Friday 4-5 PM Hindi...................................6 pm to 8 pm – 88.3 FM Indian (Fiji)..................................6 pm to 8 pm 88.3 HINDI Punjabi........................1 1 am to 12 Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 noon 92.3 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SB Radio 2 Daily TUESDAY 5 PM

Hindi..................................... 6 am to 8 am – 97.7 FM Hindi....................................

2 pm to 4 pm – 97.7 FM kannada Sydney SBS Radio 3 Melbourne SBS Radio 3 WEDNESDAY Tuesday 3-4 PM

Hindi.................................... .6 am to 8 am – 97.7 FM Hindi.........................................

12 to 1 pm – 93.1 FM Nepali Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS1Radio 2 12 pm - 92.3 FM Punjabi............................

1 am to Melbourne 93.1 FM & SB Radio Hindi................................... .8 pm to 29 pm – 97.7 FM Saturday & Sunday 4-5 PM

THURSDAY PUNJABI Hindi...............................

5.30 am to 7 am – 97.7 FM Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 9 pm – 92.3 FM Tamil....................................

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It is the subject that chooses to be expressed through me: Annu Kalra

A

to express something you have experienced in order to share with others is something that just happens.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q - Being creative is not enough if you want your work to be seen and purchased by collectors, what do you say about this?

A - I think being creative is enough, because only creative people can appreciate art to purchase it.

Q - How do you choose the subject of your painting?

A - It may be incorrect to say that I choose the subjects of my paintings. It is the subject that chooses to be expressed through me. The universe gives me a peek into its magic and allows me to manifest some of it on the canvas. I can only be grateful for it, surely can’t take credit for it! You will realise that almost all my work is a reflection of the interplay of Divine energies. They are representations of the serenity of Shiva, the power of Lord Hanuman, the fiery beauty of Ma Kali, the playfulness of Kanha or the joyousness of Dervish dancers!

Q -What do you wish you knew about becoming an artist before you got started?

A - I don’t think we become artists, I think all humans are artists, painting their personalities on the canvas of life. Putting colour on paper

Q -Do you ever experience creative blocks?

A - I won’t say I do. There are times when I’m not able to paint but that’s not because there’s a block, it’s because I’m marinating in a subject that has descended into me and until it is sufficiently meditated upon

nnu Kalra has been drawing and painting for most of her life, but she didn't start showing her art in public until now. In 2014 she decided to exhibit her work in international market and is planning a series of exhibitions in Europe and in South Asia.

She is also a successful media professional in New Delhi.

RAJEEV SHARMA caught up with her and a lively question answer session followed.

Q- How long does it take you to create a piece?

A - When a painting is being done it is almost like no time elapses because I’m so absorbed in it and able to do nothing else. There have been times when I look out and see that it is the next morning, I don’t even realise...I’m so consumed in it. Sometimes I feel transformed into the subject and this was reflected in a comment a Critic and Friend once made “Looks like Ma Kali has painted Ma Kali”.

Q -What do you believe is a key element in creating a good composition?

A - The composition is determined by the energy of the subject. Whatever does justice to it.

and is ready to be rolled out, a harmonious piece of work will not result.

Q -A lot of beginning artists start out with acrylics, what is your medium of creating art,

watercolors, oils or acrylics?

A - I started with water colours on paper because that is what i used to do as a child.

Currently I work with acrylics on canvas. I do dabble in mixed media too.

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Q - How has your style changed over the years?

A - Aah...I think overall it is a more contemplative and relaxed flow now compared to the earlier sense of urgency and precision...the colours though continue to be bright and bold.

Email: annukalra@gmail.com

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MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL 11 offbeat Indian movies amongst 341 films to be screened

By our film reporter

M

ELBOURNE, 9 July 2014: The city in for a big celluloid experience never before experienced. With a potpourri of feature films, documentaries, short films, international and local film guests and movie related events the 63rd Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF-2014) is kicking off on 31 July and goes on till August 17. Film buffs are in for a treat.

The Festival launched its full program last night, consisting of 341 films, 17 program strands, 28 world premieres, 168 Australian Premieres, 19 Talking Pictures events, 24 international guests, and more than 71 local guests.

“With new venues and a broader footprint over our wonderful CBD, 2014 sees a new MIFF with more sessions giving the ravenous film-goer greater choice than ever. To close it off in style, we are thrilled to present the Australian

Premiere of FELONY, directed

by Melbourne filmmaker Matthew Saville, written by and starring Australian acting icon Joel Edgerton alongside Melissa George, Tom Wilkinson and Jai Courtney,” said Artistic Director Michelle Carey.

Opening MIFF with the already announced Predestination, a stylish thriller from Australian filmmaking duo the Spierig Brothers, this year’s festival marks its half-way point with the world premiere Centrepiece Gala screening of Cut Snake, a crime thriller from director Tony Ayres (Home Song Stories, MIFF 07).

A new program strand, I Dream of Genius: Science & Technology on Screen showcases the practical, philosophical and potential facets of science and technology in our lives.

Web Junkie is an engrossing look inside one of China’s prison-like rehabilitation camps for internet-addicted teens; Happiness, winner of Sundance’s World Cinema: Documentary Award for

Cinematography, follows the introduction of television into a remote Bhutan village; and the Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award winner, Particle Fever, tells the story of the Large Hadron Collider’s discovery of the Higgs boson

“God particle”.

MIFF will go beyond the glossy Bollywood façade to present an authentic portrait of contemporary Indian life via the spotlight India in Flux: Living Resistance, co-curated with Shweta Kishore. Showing

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audiences another side of one of the world’s most rapidly developing nations, this documentary program includes: Invoking Justice, an inspiring and intimate picture of Muslim sisterhood and collective action directed by

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FILM FESTIVAL - 2014

Deepa Dhanraj; and Anand Patwardhan’s multi-awardwinning Jai Bhim Comrade, which shines a light on a centuries-old conflict in Mumbai drawn along caste lines, where people are denied everything and forced to live in a world of scorn and prejudice.

In a sign of the times, MIFF has curated a new program Celluloid Dreams: Films Shot on Film, showcasing works that fully embrace 20th century celluloid technology to give their 21st century cinematic storytelling a unique edge. Offerings include: Happy Christmas, in which wildly prolific lo-fi auteur Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies, MIFF 13) reunites with Anna Kendrick for a candid and wry exploration of ‘adultescence’; Hard to Be a God, inspired by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky’s sci-fi novel of the same name, from the late enfant terrible of Russian filmmaking Alexei German; and Manakamana, a rhythmic meditation on pilgrimage in the age of mass transportation, set in central Nepal’s mountains and jungles.

This year MIFF delivers a retrospective on JeanPierre Léaud co -curated with Philippa Hawker. Known as the child of the French New Wave, Léaud has a gift for physical comedy, a singular approach to dialogue, and a distinctive presence. The retrospective will include

screenings of François Truffaut’s classic film, The 400 Blows, a bittersweet tale of a misunderstood adolescent, which went on to become one of the cornerstones of the French New Wave; and Out 1 – Noli me tangere, Jacques Rivette’s (Céline and Julie Go Boating, MIFF 75; La belle noiseuse, MIFF 92) most ambitious work: a mostly improvised 12-and-a-bit-hour serial set in the studios, cafés and streets of Paris – and destined to be a rare and special cinematic experience for MIFF audiences!

Taking the art of storytelling beyond the bounds of live action, this

year’s Animation program features new work from and about big-name animators and animation studios, as well as anime masterworks and documentaries. Michel Gondry’s Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? takes Noam Chomsky’s philosophical and linguistic work, and interprets it via the director’s own unique style, translating theories and ideas into tangible animations; legendary cult animator Bill Plympton (Idiots and Angels, MIFF 08), a perennial MIFF favourite, returns with Cheatin’; and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, directed by award-winning filmmaker

Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, MIFF 97), is the tale of an old bamboo cutter who discovers a tiny girl inside a bamboo stalk.

MIFF venues for 2014 include Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall; Forum Theatre; Kino Cinemas, a Palace Cinemas Partner; ACMI Cinemas, Australian Centre for the Moving Image; Hoyts Cinemas, Melbourne Central; Treasury Cinema; and RMIT Capitol Theatre.

SPECIAL EVENTS INCLUDE: MIFF 54th Shorts Awards – The festival features one of the most highly regarded

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short-film competitions in the Southern Hemisphere.

This year the eligible short films are competing for a total cash prize pool of $42,000.

The MIFF Shorts Awards Ceremony takes place Sunday 10 August.

MIFF’s Talking Pictures – A program designed to have audiences discussing, questioning and arguing all things cinematic with the festival’s filmmakers and personalities, opening the box on the issues and ideas in this year’s program.

Jerusalem 3D – For this special IMAX film, director Daniel Ferguson gained unprecedented access to Jerusalem’s most sacred sites, guided by archaeologist Jodi Magness, to present breathtaking visuals of them alongside rare aerial footage, resulting in a stunning cinematic experience.

Screenings at IMAX. Planetarium Fulldome Showcase – MIFF is excited to again present a special program of jaw-dropping fulldome screenings at the Melbourne Planetarium.

The Closing Night screening of FELONY takes place 16 August at Hoyts Cinemas, Melbourne Central.

The MIFF program will be online at miff.com.au and in The Age on 11 July.

All single session tickets are on sale to the public now.

E-Mini Passes, Passports and Opening Night tickets are on sale now at miff.com.au.

South Asia Times south asia 36 South Asia Timestimes

Sports

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Saina overcomes blisters to lift ABO title

By Ashok Kumar

B

raving blisters in her feet, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal overcame a defiant Spanish unseeded and world number 11 Carolina Marin 21-18; 21-11 to lift the Star Australian Badminton Open crown and take home prize money of Au $ 56,000.

“I am thankful to my parents for their support throughout,” said Saina after the match. She said that she was not sure whether she will be able to play today or not due to blisters in my both the feet but my Physio Kiran helped me back on my feet to come and play.

Nehwal continued from where she left off in the semi-final win over top seed Wang Shixian (China), her athleticism and attacking abilities wearing Marin down.

The Spaniard did sparkle from time to time with her deceptive left-handed shots catching Nehwal off-balance, but overall it was the Indian who dominated from start to finish.

Nehwal’s relentlessness in

chasing down Marin’s shots broke the Spaniard’s spirit in the second game. A warning from the umpire and a couple of service faults saw a dip in her focus even as Nehwal grew in confidence. The 21-18 21-11 victory took 43 minutes. This was Indian’s first World Super series title in 20 months, the last being in Denmark, though in 2014 she had won the Indian Super Series title a few days ago in Lucknow.

Marin who incidentally, beat P V Sindhu in the Quarterfinals two days ago was upbeat for the finals but Saina’s relentless smashes were too much for her to handle. But Marin was quick to open her account and take lead 3-1 and Saina was quick to establish early lead and take the first game 21-18 after some unforced errors that gave Marin to close in the gap.

Marin’s last encounter with Saina was in the Quarterfinals of Djarum Indonesian Open which Saina laboured to win 21-16; 21-19 to reach semifinals.

USE interview as box after this story

Interview

Saina: Hard work always pays

S

Saina Nehwal recently won the Australian Open 2014. ASHOK KUMAR of Indian Subcontinent Times (Sydney) emailed her a few questions after her quarter final victory.

Excerpts from her answers : Q: The Commonwealth Games 2010 Gold, according to reports meant a lot to you especially after a few hiccups before a splendid victory, your views on that.

Saina: Commonwealth games are great games after Olympics and Asian games, so the medal really

means a lot.

Q: Recently you have been out of form going by the various tournaments you played recently, any particular reason for the slump in form?

Saina: Nothing except that I was not completely fit to play to the maximum capabilities, still I did my best to give the best of my abilities.

Q : After the quarter final win you expressed great joy that you been into semis after a long time, your views please.

Saina: I am happy after

every win, so nothing different between the two. I feel happy after every win.

Q: You have played most of the top players in the Game. Do you plan your game before the match?

Saina: Planning is very difficult to make still we look into the weak angles of each

player and accordingly we play.

Q : In all your tough matches you tend to go into three games , specially losing the first one. Why? Saina: I want to win in 2 only but the opponents are so strong that they take me to the 3rd.

Q : How do you take your

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defeats??

Saina: I go to practice to do more for the next game. I believe that hard work always pays.

The IST: People look upon you as a role model, how do you feel??

Saina: I am happy for the compliment, I do not want to do wrong things in my life.

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