www.theasianstar.com Vol 19 - Issue 33
Air quality in New West worse than in New Delhi Smoke blowing into parts of southern B.C. for the past three days has been so bad it landed Vancouver in the top three spots on a list of major cities that have the worst air quality in the world. And the smoke from Washington state wildfires keeps coming. Vancouver landed in the second spot this week, with its air quality deemed “unhealthy” at a rating of 160 on the website IQ Air. Vancouver’s air was ranked worse to breathe than that of Los Angeles, but not as hazardous as Portland’s, rated at 305. The air quality index alerts people to unhealthy levels of pollutants including particulate matter that can be inhaled into the lungs. At the levels found in Vancouver, people are urged to shelter indoors, especially given the risk to health from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But Vancouver isn’t the only bad place to breathe in B.C.
India on Name Changing Spree to erase the Mughal history Early this week, the government of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) decided to change the status of a project that has been in the making since 2016: the Mughal Museum. In the city of Agra—home to the famous Mughal monument, the Taj Mahal—the museum was conceptualised to showcase the “political and cultural milestones” of the Mughal empire that ruled India for more than two centuries. In the middle of the announcement, UP’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked, “How can our heroes be Mughals?” He, then, revealed plans to rename the museum after the Hindu ruler, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, to “invoke a feeling of nationalism and self-esteem”.This is the latest incident of the UP government doing away with Muslims names in its cities and establishments. Historians and political scientists have been observing this erasure with alarm. Zoya Hasan, professor emerita at the Centre for Political Studies in New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University, told VICE News that renaming a museum meant for Mughal artefacts in a city that was the seat of the empire for centuries, after a Hindu ruler “flies in the face of reason, logic and history.”“ Continued on page 7
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Tel:604-591-5423
BC govt outlines $1.5 billion economic recovery plan The BC govet on Thursday unveiled its wideranging economic recovery plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with support for job retraining, a tax break for businesses, and funding for a new tourism task force.The province said about 200,000 jobs will be protected in a plan that’s largely being seen as a potential election platform if Premier John Horgan decides to send voters to the polls this fall.About $300 million will go toward small- and mediumsized business recovery grants, touted to help
approximately 15,000 hard-hit businesses. Another $470 million for a new provincial sales tax rebate on business investments in machinery and equipment, as well as a 15-percent refundable tax credit based on eligible new payroll. More than 8,000 businesses in Metro Vancouver have closed since February, according to Statistics Canada, while the same region has lost 149,100 jobs. The unemployment rate has climbed to 11.6 per cent from 4.6 per cent before the pandemic.
Continued on page 9
Surrey RCMP officers swarmed by large group of kids & adults Video footage shared on social media shows RCMP officers being surrounded and harassed by a large group of kids and adults earlier this week in Surrey. Officers were responding to a report of an unattended child in the Newton neighbourhood around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, police said. Surrey RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Elenore Sturko said a group of about 10 to 15 minors and adults had a “very hostile and oppositional reaction” to officers attending the area. The officers were the subject of attacks with rocks and other objects and physically assaulted, according to RCMP. Footage appears to show one youth trying to rip the side mirror off of an RCMP cruiser and throwing a shoe at one of the officers.
One officer also chased after a youth who allegedly threw something that struck the officer in the head, police said. “While he’s trying to arrest that young man for the assault, the child is being held onto by other youth that were there,” Sturko said.
Continued on page 7
Canada sees a surge in COVID-19 cases A resurgence in coronavirus infections in several provinces over the last few weeks has raised alarms about current disease control measures in place and what steps need to be taken to curb the spread of the virus. B.C, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec have all reported a bump in cases throughout September, and some have paused their reopening plans as a result. Those under 40 are driving the spread in most provinces. In Ontario, health officials have identified smaller, indoor gatherings as the culprit. Younger people may also be working in precarious jobs where their exposure is increased,
or where sick days may not be readily available. Officials will need to determine which reopening policies to roll back and which to keep, as cases mount. Those choices will need to be made quickly, infectious disease experts said. “In pandemics, it’s all about the speed of response,” said Dr. Matthew Oughton, an infectious disease specialist at Jewish General Hospital and assistant professor at McGill University in Montreal. “The slower you are for something that spreads and expands exponentially, the farther and farther behind you’re going to get.”
Registration Open 2020/2021
Programs Kg – Gr. 11 New BC curriculum
Ů +ORNGOGPVKPI VJG WRFCVGF JGCNVJ CPF UCHGV[ RTQVQEQNU Ů 'PUWTKPI MKFU YJQ TGSWKTG GZVTC UWRRQTV CTG RTKQTKVK\GF CPF JCXG VJG UGTXKEGU VJG[ PGGF Ů 5WRRQTVKPI VJG OGPVCN JGCNVJ CPF YGNNPGUU QH UVWFGPVU YJQ OC[ DG GZRGTKGPEKPI CFFKVKQPCN EJCNNGPIGU DGECWUG QH VJG RCPFGOKE Ů #TTCPIGOGPVU HQT *[IKGPG CPF *CPF 9CUJKPI Creating life long learners
0GY 5EKGPEG .CD Ů .GCTP 5KMJ DGNKGHU 5KMJ *KUVQT[
8820 168 Street, Surrey, BC - Call 604 930 2122
Sports - Basketball, Soccer, Hockey etc. Arts - Media arts, Photography, Graphic arts Religious studies - Kirtan, Santhiya, Tabla, Punjabi, Doctrines of Sikh faith, info@gobindsarvar.ca www.gobindsarvar.ca
BUS SERVICE AVAILABLE
Community service - Adopt a street, tree plan ng, food drives