asian voice

The sixth edition of theVibrant Gujarat GlobalSummit concluded in thestate capital Gandhinagaron Saturday evening withinvestment promises worthRs 40,000 billion for thestate. The biggest ever sum-mit enrolls 17,719 businessproposals, 105 countries,50,000 Indian delegates,1,800 foreign delegates and1500,000 footfall.Gujarat chief minister

Narendra Modi came infor fulsome praise fromIndia Inc with RIL chair-man Mukesh Ambani hail-ing him as a leader with"grand vision" and hisyounger brother AnilAmbani putting him in theleague of MahatmaGandhi and Sardar Patel. "In Narendrabhai, we

have a leader with a grandvision...Gujarat has been apioneer state in infrastruc-ture giving it an innateadvantage," MukeshAmbani said at the VibrantGujarat Summit. The three-day grand event aimed atinvestment promotion andcreating investor friendly

climate was attended by topIndian industrialists andrepresentatives of foreigncompanies and a battery ofenvoys."We began from

Gujarat and we come backhere again and again toinvest. We have committedinvestment of Rs 1,000 bil-lion in Gujarat. We willexpand our operations inGujarat in Jamnagar andHazira," Ambani saidadding that the Reliance isproud to be called a"Gujarati company." Healso committed furtherinvestment of Rs 5 billionin Pandit DindayalUpadhayay PetroleumUniversity. His younger brother,

Anil, described Modi as "aking among kings." "Let meattempt to paint anotherpicture: October 2, 1869,Porbandar, Gujarat - thebirth of MohandasKaramchand Gandhi, thefather of the nation;October 31, 1875, Nariyal,Gujarat - the birth ofSardar Vallabhbhai Patel,India's man of steel;

December 28, 1932,Chorwad, Gujarat - thebirth of Dhirubhai Ambani,India's greatest entrepre-neur; and September 17,1950, Vadnagar, Gujarat -the birth of NarendraModi," he said.

Continued on page 26

19th January to 25th January 2013VOL 41. ISSUE 36 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

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Anil Ambani compares Modi to Gandhi, Sardar Patel at Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2013

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with Indian and foreign delegates atthe Vibrant Gujarat Summit - 2013 at Gandhinagar.

India demonstrated itsrenewed resolve to fight firewith fire along the volatileLine of Control, directingall its battalion command-ers on the fiercely-contestedboundary to retaliate withall their might if thePakistani Army provokesthem by violating the cease-fire or pushing militantsinto Jammu and Kashmir."I expect all my com-

manders on the LoC to beaggressive and offensive inface of provocation andfire...No passivity isexpected from them. Theirresponse has to be meas-

ured and for effect," said atough-talking GeneralBikram Singh, a day aheadof Army Day celebrations.The fact that the Army

chief issued an unequivo-

cal warning to Pakistan tocease and desist from mis-adventures along the bor-der is a confirmation thereis going to be no immedi-ate de-escalation of ten-sion, especially as a defi-ant Pakistan refused toown up to the beheadingof an Indian soldier andmutilation of another'sbody by its elite SSG com-mandos on January 8.Speaking around the

same time that Pakistanbrushed aside India'scharges at the brigadier-level flag meeting at the


General Bikram Singh

India warns Pakistan againstany border misadventure

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Lord Popat of Harrowhas been appointed as aGovernment Whip andLord-in-Waiting in theHouse of Lords follow-ing the recentGovernment reshufflein the Lords last week.He will be a spokesper-son for business andtransport in the Houseof Lords. The appoint-ment was confirmed byNumber 10 onWednesday 9th Januaryby the Prime Minister’sSpokesperson after HerMajesty The Queen’sformal approval.He will be replacing

Viscount Younger ofLeckie, who on thesame day was appointedas the ParliamentaryUnder Secretary ofState at the Departmentfor Business,Innovation and Skillsafter the resignation ofLord Marland.Lord Popat is the

first Gujarati Ministerto represent theConservative Party onthe Frontbenches in theHouse of Lords and hisappointment has beenvery well received by theGujarati community inBritain, East Africa andof course Gujarat.

Lord Popatbecomes the first

GujaratiFrontbencher in

the House of Lords

Continued on page 6

LordPopat

Life of Pi wins Golden Globe Award

For full storysee page 13

Composer MychaelDanna with his wifeAparna Danna

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 20132 UK

Please tell us about your cur-rent position?I have something of a ‘portfo-lio’ life at present: I own asmall communications compa-ny, for the last ten I’ve beenDirector of a multi faith body,and now I’m very pleasedbecome part-time Director ofthe India Overseas Trust, setup to commemorate the 40thanniversary of the expulsionof British Asians fromUganda. I am also workingtowards a ProfessionalDoctorate. So my currentportfolio keeps me on my toes!

What are your proudestachievements?Probably the challenge thattook me furthest out of mycomfort zone was swimmingthe Hellespont (Turkey) toraise money for a water aidproject; with matched fundingfrom the EU, I raised enoughto supply a village in Ethiopiawith clean water. The first few

steps into the sea that daywere some of the scariest sec-onds of my life, and I did feelproud of myself for carryingon! I was also thrilled to beawarded an MBE two yearsago, and very proud to take myfamily to Buckingham Palace.

What has been the biggestobstacle in your career?Someone once said that acareer is a series of opportuni-ties seen in retrospect, andthat has been very true for me.I have been very blessed in thechances I’ve been given, butthey mean I have to keeplearning new skills and mak-ing new contacts, which pres-ents a series of obstaclesrather than a single major one.

Who has been the biggestinfluence on your career todate?When tempted to give up, Iremember the challenges myfather had to overcome as a

captain in the merchant navy -and indeed all his generationwho experienced the war. Hedid so with fortitude and goodhumour, and his influence onme has been profound. I havealso learnt a lot from WalterHerriot OBE, who has provid-ed national leadership onbusiness enterprise and inno-vation. I have known Walterfor nearly 30 years, and beenso impressed by his generositywith his time to people start-ing out in life, and his modest

approach when others wouldhave grown arrogant.

What do you feel are the mainopportunities or challenges ofthe role ahead?In common with all charities,the India Overseas Trust mustuse its limited resources clev-erly to achieve ambitiousaims; it is also working main-ly within the specific time-frame of the commemorationyear. So, we have to ‘worksmart’ to maximise impact

Jenny Kartupelis MBE

Jenny Kartupelis is a communications professional by back-ground, having founded and run public relations businessesover the last 30 years, handling clients from the commercial,private and academic sectors. In 2002 she helped to estab-lish, and has since been Director of a multi-faith organisa-tion, enabling understanding and partnerships between dif-ferent faiths, and between the faith and public sectors. Shehas also been interim director of a number of charities, andher most recent appointment is as the Director of the IndiaOverseas Trust, established to commemorate the 40thanniversary of the expulsion of British Asians from Uganda.Jenny was awarded an MBE in 2010 for ‘services to interfaith relations’.

Keith Vaz MP

within those constraints, andthis means taking up the chal-lenge of creating partnershipsfor mutual benefit. This is alsoone of the major opportunities– good partnerships formednow will extend the projectand allow for innovation.

How do you see the long-termimpact of the project?The aspiration has always beento create lasting legacy, both interms of information and edu-cational tools for future gener-ations, and also most impor-tantly, to benefit the lives ofpeople in Uganda. Some ofthis legacy is already being putin place, but the work in Africawill be designed in response toresearch into priority needs.

If you were Prime Minister,what one thing would youchange?I have no political affiliation,but would change the nature ofpolicy-making so that it wouldbe more strongly evidence-based, rather than ideologicallydriven. In other words, policywould be made on the basis ofprojecting its real-worldeffects, and their implicationsfor the common good.

If you were marooned on adesert island, which historicalfigure would you like to spendyour time with and why?Lord Byron – he was a greatoutdoor swimmer, so we couldtrain together to make ourescape, and meanwhile I’d beentertained by his poetry read-ings.

Keith Vaz MPwith

The Asian Voice Politicaland Public Life Awardsrepresent Asian Voice’smodest effort to honour anumber of outstandingindividuals from differentcommunities, walks of lifeand diverse political per-suasions who servesociety intheir owns p e c i a lway, andwho con-tribute sig-nificantly,in whateverthey do,t o w a r d smaking abetter world today and forthe future.

It is the sixth year theawards have been present-ed and as in previousyears, the event will beattended by 250 high pro-file politicians from allpolitical parties, success-ful people from the worldof business and communi-ty leaders.

The awards forachievements in 2012 willbe handed out at a presti-

Parliamentarian of the Year Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP

Conservative Minister of the Year Rt Hon Michael Gove MP

Junior Minister of the Year Ed Davey MP

Special Award for Achievement in Film Tariq Anwar (The Kings Speech)

Conservative Backbencher of the Year Nadhim Zahawi MP

Liberal Democrat Backbencher of the Year Julian Huppert MP

Labour Backbencher of the Year Anas Sarwar MP

Journalist of the Year Paul Lewis

Business in the Community Award Kantesh Popat

Lifetime Achievement Award Nirmal Sethia

Local Government Award Luftur Rahman & Dr Neeraj Patil (joint award)

Charity of the Year Path to Success – Anita Choudhrie

Businessperson of the Year Fukhera Khalid

Contribution to Sport in the UK Leicester City Football Club

Columnist of the Year Yasmine Alibhai Brown

TV Personality of the Year Rudolph Walker

Restaurant of the Year Curry Fever

Asian Broadcaster of the Year B4U

Face of the Future Award Arjun Rajyagor

International Entrepreneur of the Year Subaskaran Allirajah

Community Award Ranjit Mathrani

Professional of the Year Professor Iqbal Singh

Creative and Entertainment Co of the Year Naz Choudhry

Cabinet Minister of the Year Rt. Hon Andrew Mitchell MP

Shadow Cabinet Minister of the Year Rt. Hon. Yvette Cooper MP

Liberal Democrat Minister of the Year Paul Burstow MP

Junior Minister of the Year David Gauke MP

Labour Backbencher of the Year Stella Creasy MP

Conservative Backbencher of the Year Gavin Barwell MP

Parliamentary Journalist of the Year Anushka Asthana

Diversity in the Public Services Award John Hannett

Journalist of the Year Riz Lateef

TV Personality of the Year Jameela Jamil

Business Demonstrating Sustained

Growth of the Year Mr Deepak Nangla

Young Entrepreneur of the Year Rajesh Agrawal

Parliamentary Service Award Staff of message service

Broadcaster of the Year Nick Ferrari

Lifetime Achievement in Health Dr K. Anji Reddy

Business Person of the Year Bharat Shah

Restaurant of the Year Chak 89

Asian Broadcaster of the Year ATN BANGLA

School of the Year HABS

Business in the Community Lycamobile UK Ltd

Local Government Award Councillor Jagdish Sharma

2012 Winners 2011 Winners

It is that time of year again…The Asian Voice Public and Political Life

Awards nominations. The awards celebrate the achievements of those who

have made a special contribution to our political or public life over the last

12 months in a variety of fields.

The Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards 2013

gious ceremony in theMembers Dining Room ofthe House of Commonson 7th February 2013.

This year, as everyyear, we are seeking your

nominations for theawards. Please send your nomina-tions for Political andPublic Life Awards to:[email protected]

This forthcoming week Barak Obama will make hissecond Inaugural speech as President. In his first suchspeech four years ago, he specifically mentionedHindus – so important had they become to the futureof US growth and capitalism. Indeed, it was the firsttime ever any American President had mentionedHindus in their inaugural speech upon swearing theOath of Office.

David Cameron announced this past week his plansto visit India next month. Writing on his blog before hetook office (political blogs are far more revealing thanpolitical speeches – as many unguarded politicianshave discovered to their cost) why he is visiting Indiawhen he wrote, ‘Our relationship with India goes deep.But I think it can and should go deeper. Our specialrelationship with America is well known. But as theworld’s centre of gravity moves from Europe and theAtlantic to the south and the east, I think it's time forBritain and India to forge a new special relationship forthe twenty-first century.’

The problem is – actions speak louder than words.Explain to me how you plan a special relationship withIndia when your Home Secretary is rabidly ‘off thereservation’ with visa policy such that the presumptionis Indian marriages are sham until proven otherwise.So how the heck do you expect Indians talent to cometo the UK when you don’t want their spouses here?You think they can’t fly to Frankfurt and New Yorkinstead?

How do you plan a special relationship when majorIndian corporate investors here have to jump throughcrazy loopholes so you can meet your immigration tar-gets because you have an open border policy withRomania? What’s the Romanian track record on addingto British GDP? And where the hell is Lakshmi Mittaland Ratan Tata’s voice in all this. Making money is notall life is about.

Countries have ‘most preferred status’ with eachother. UK does with the US for instance. No visasneeded. But deeds speak very loudly when it comes toIndia.

The next election is two years away if you want tocapture the British Indian vote, and funds, here’s yourstrategy – and the Party to steal this idea first, wins therace for this ethnic vote: double your visa staff in India,remove the sponsorship bureaucracy for family mem-bers coming to the UK (you don’t think the threat ofprison is a deterrent in a cold, wet, expensive coun-try?), have a prejudice in favour of Indian wanting tosettle in the UK – has the community not done youproud as you mention at every single patronising oppor-tunity how wonderfully colourful, peaceful, law-abidingwe are, with such tasty food you’ve adopted and love.For God’s sake, we’re not children seeking a belly ruband a pat on the back. Some darn deeds to our fellowIndians wanting to settle here and help pull the countryout of the hole it’s in may be in order. So leave the EUif you want David Cameron – form an economic unionwith India instead. Bet you’d win that referendum.

Let’s hope Britain recognises by deeds, not justwords, the importance of Indians to Britain, the wayPresident Obama, the most powerful man in the worlddid in the most significant speech of his life. Wedeserve deeds not words.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 3

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Modi wave at Vibrant Gujarat conclaveVibrant Gujarat announced itself with pomp andcircumstance and much good sense, since that iswhat one expects of business leaders at work andat play. Economic and social activity feed off eachother to the advantage of both. Some of the mostlucrative business deals have been incubated orsealed on the golf course. Those present at theopening of this year’s Vibrant Gujarat in the statecapital, Gandhinagar, included the biggest namesin India and significant personalities from abroad.Take your pick from the galaxy of India’s good andgreat, from Ratan Tata, Cyrus Mistry, the Ambanibrothers, Mukesh and Anil, Anand Mahendra,Chanda Kochchar, to Shashi Ruia, Adi Godrej,R.C.Bhargava and Gautam Adani. Senior diplo-mats from the US, the UK, Japan et al mingledwith the guests, each looking to promote the com-mercial of their respective countries.

The US may still deny Gujarat Chief MinisterNarendra Modi a visa, but Uncle Sam is unbur-dened by moral compunctions when it comes totrade and investment. Britain wisely has alignedits business interests with its political interests,hence the UK High Commissioner Sir John Bevan

attended in the flesh, as did Ron Sommers,President of the IUS-India Business Council.

Indian speakers such as Ratan Tata spoke ofthe advantages of doing business in Gujarat.Turfed out of West Bengal, thanks to MamataBanerjee’s populist demagogy and mission creephooliganism, the Tatas relocated its Nano plantfrom the environs of Kolkata to Sanand in wel-coming Gujarat. Mr Tata said the papers for thetransfer were cleared by the Modi government intwenty-four hours. Other voices waxed eloquenton the pleasures of doing business in Gujarat. Butwhen Vice Governor of the Russian Federation’sAstrakhan province, Konstonten Markolov,whose government had recently signed a protocolfor enhanced economic co-operation with Gujarat,said: “I would like to wish him [Narendra Modi]all success in India’s general election in 2014,” theaudience rose to their feet in prolonged applause.Was Mr Markolov the recipient of a vision? Weshan’t know until the votes are counted, a processstill a year and a half away. A week is a long timein politics, as Harold Wilson, Britain’s Labourprime minister long years ago, famously observed.

Jehadi terrorism and British policyPakistan has been, and continues to be, the epi-centre of Islamist terrorism, with Saudi Arabia itsprincipal funder. Both are favoured Westernclients. Mark Curtis’s book entitled “SecretAffairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam”revealss disturbing details of a relationship thatgoes back to the high noon of empire in India, andcovers its subsequent flowering in the MiddleEast, the Balkans and North Africa.Frankenstein’s monster now stalks its creator. Thekarmic cycle has run its course. Even the Pakistanipredator is not exempt from the consequences ofits work. The messianic dream of the UniversalCaliphate’s second coming appears to be dissolv-ing into a hideous nightmare as sectarian conflictin the House of Islam between Sunnis and Shias,whose fault-lines cut across national frontiers, asdo the area’s varied ethnicities involving Turksand Kurds, Kurds and Arabs, Baluchis andPunjabis, Mohajirs, Sindhis and Pathans etc.These spreading internecine conflicts are wreakinghavoc in the Middle East, and most notably inPakistan itself, where paralytic state organs areincapable of controlling the forces they onceencouraged. Everyday killings in Pakistan are rife,the latest horror of 100 deaths at a snooker club inthe city of Quetta, frequented by Shias, being butthe latest example. The export of terror abroadthrough myriad non-state actors, who did theirwork in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, and pre-viously in the London Underground on 5 July2005.

Set in historical mode, Mark Curtis, a formerResearch Fellow at the Royal Institute ofInternational Affairs (Chatham House)is anauthor with impeccable credentials, tells of theBritish alignment with Islamic conservatism andseparatism in the Indian subcontinent firstly as ahedge against the anti-imperialist Indian NationalCongress, perceived as the party of the Hindumajority. By the end of the Second World War, thenew Islamic Pakistan. with Britain as its midwife,was roped in as a client-ally in the evolving ColdWar against the Soviet Union. This was after theCongress leadership had refused to play ball onBritish military bases in an independent India.Pakistan’s Muslim League government, in con-

trast, welcomed this presence, which was dulyretained and expanded in the country’s northwest. Britain was complicit in the Pakistan-spon-sored Pathan invasion of Kashmir, that followedPartition, in October 1947; the UK subsequentlysupported the Pakistani position on Kashmir atthe United Nations and other internal fora.

Shining a light on the American role wouldamplify the Curtis narrative. The US was in lock-step with its British ally. Following JawaharlalNehru’s first visit to Washington as Indian primeminister, a State Department minute castigatinghim for his “inflexible attitude” on Kashmir,” sug-gested “national traits which in time, if not con-trolled,, could make India Japan’s successor inAsiatic imperialism. In such circumstances, astrong Muslim bloc under the leadership ofPakistan and friendly to the US might afford adesirable balance of power in South Asia.”Pakistan was duly co-opted into US-sponsoredalliances such as SEATO and CENTO to ring-fence the Soviet Union primarily, but also to con-tain India. A cornucopia of arms supplies pouredinto Pakistan (and still does), enabling its militaryto initiate wars against India in 1965, 1971 and1999. In the second of these conflicts, the US andMaoist China acted in concert against New Delhi.The mainstream British and American mediamarched in step with their respective govern-ments, as they did over the invasions of Iraq andLibya. First estate and fourth estate were com-rades in arms.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York andWashington resulted in a change of Anglo-American policy, without this being a tectonicshift. Relations with India are friendlier now thanthey ever been, but given the international securi-ty architecture projected by the US and its Natoallies, the space for a closer alignment betweenIndia and the West does not at present exist. MarkCurtis’s brilliantly researched and constructedwork is one not to be missed. No thinking personcan afford to ignore it. Those who read it andabsorb its message will be wiser and more enlight-ened for the effort. One can only quote NoamChomsky: “Unearthing this largely hidden historyis a contribution of the highest significance.”

Cameron’s damage limitation exercise in IndiaPrime Minister David Cameron’s visit to India, thesecond since he came to power in the summer of2010, will be something of a damage limitationexercise in the field of education. Thanks to theUK’s stringent visa rules, the numbers of Indianstudents looking for places in British universitiesand schools declined by 23.5 per cent overall in2011-12 including a drop of 28 per cent at the post-graduate level, according to figures recentlyreleased by the Higher Education Statistics Agencyin London. Around 30,000 students entered the in2011-12 compare to 40,000 in the previous year.Despite the fall in numbers, Indians are second toChina’s 79,000 student entrants last year. Which isscant consolation for universities who have longedwarned that they were losing India’s brightest and

best, and also the revenues they brought, to theUnited States, Canada and Australia.

According to Britain’s Financial Times, MrCameron will arrive in India early next month toassure his hosts that the UK’s visa regulations aremot designed to discourage bonafide studentsentering the the country, but to keep the bogus fra-ternity out. London’s Tory Mayor, Boris Johnson,described the Cameron government’s immigrationpolicy as “crazy”, accusing it of driving “India’stop talent” to seek other countries more welcomingof their presence. What precisely did Mr Cameronmean when he spoke of an “enhanced relationshipwith India” on his first visit to New Delhi? It isakin to the riddle of the Sphinx. Few understood itthen, fewer understand it now.

Comment

Leave the EU and form anEconomic Union with India

The illiterate of the 21st century willnot be those who cannot read orwrite, but those who cannot learn,unlearn and relearn

- Alvin Toffler

www.abplgroup.com - asian Voice 19th January 20134 Midlands Voice

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£500 reward to help stopgraffiti vandals Council bosses are hunting prolific graffitivandals who have daubed 2,500 tagsacross the city, costing thousands ofpounds to clean up.

The authority has spent almost £30,000scrubbing away the tags from its buildingsin the past few months. It fears the billcould run to more than £200,000 byAugust. Businesses have also paid thou-sands of pounds to clean them up since thetags first started appearing last summer.The council has now taken the unprece-dented step of offering a reward of £500 toanyone who can help secure convictions.

London Road was hit in November.Manoj Keshavji, chairman of London RoadBusiness Association, described it as an"onslaught" to a local newspaper.

Anyone with information about the peo-ple responsible for either of the tags cancontact Leicester City Council's city wardensteam on 0116 252 6430.

Pedestrian critically ill afterbeing punchedA pedestrian is critically ill in hospital afterbeing punched and knocked out in Dudleyby a driver he was urging to slow down.

The 40-year-old was knocked to thefloor with a single punch after the driver ofthe vehicle pulled over and approachedhim.

He suffered a serious head injury and iscurrently in a critical condition at hospital.

The attacker was driving a white 4x4 caralong Newland Grove, in Dudley, at around3pm on Sunday 13 January when theassault happened.

The suspect was described as wearinggrey jogging bottoms and a grey top.

A 25-year-old man was later arrested atan address in Netherton and is being ques-tioned by officers in connection with theattack.

Jaguar Land Rover to create800 new jobs in Solihull

Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover isto create another 800 jobs at its Solihullplant to cope with soaring sales figures, ithas been revealed.

It is under-stood that theextra jobs arein response tothe brand’sstrong per-formance inChina, USA and

Russia and the UK success of its new RangeRover Evoque model.

More than 200 of the new posts will besupported by the Government’s RegionalGrowth Fund, while JLR is investing£370million at the plant.

The planned expansion at the Solihullworks, which already employs 6,000 peo-ple, will include a new aluminium body shopfor the new Range Rover, as well asupgrades to paint technologies.

The carmaker made a record £1.5billionprofit in the year ending March 2012,despite the eurozone crisis which has hitmany motor manufacturers.

In Brief

The wife of a man who diedafter being punched in thestreet says she forgives the15-year-old boy who killedhim. Mathanika Nimalarajaspoke out to pay tribute toher husband, Ponnuthurai,following the sentencing ofthe teenager who hit him.Mr Nimalaraja, who was

known as Nimal, fell back-wards and hit his head afterbeing punched by the youthat the junction of Gipsy Laneand Northfield Road, inNorthfields, Leicester, inJune last year. He died inhospital a week later.Following a court hearing

on Monday which saw theboy sentenced to a three-yeardetention order, MrsNimalaraja said: “I am notangry any more. Before, Iwas angry because I lost my

husband, but I am not angrynow.“The boy is a child and he

didn’t mean to kill Nimal – itwas an accident.“He was only 14 years

old when this happened – thesame age as my son now.“Whatever sentence he

got – three years or fouryears or five years, it doesn’tmatter – my husband is notcoming back.”The teenager, who cannot

be named, had denied killingMr Nimalaraja, 41, but a juryfound him guilty ofmanslaughter following afive-day trial.

Mr Nimalaraja and hiswife would have celebratedtheir 15th wedding anniver-sary on June 25. He died onJune 16. Mrs Nimalaraja saidthe tragedy had devastatedthe family.Hundreds of members of

the Tamil community fromaround the world travelled toattend Mr Nimalaraja’sfuneral.His children led the trib-

utes at the service, describ-ing him as a “super-herodad” who cared for everyone. The teenager has already

served six months of his sen-tence while on remand.He will serve a minimum

of a further 12 months incustody, but after that couldbe released on probation forthe remainder of his sen-tence.

A dad who was jailed forabducting his daughterthree years ago is expectedto ask a high court judgefor his release this week.Razwan Ali Anjum

from Queensway,Rochdale abducted hisdaughter Atiya Anjum-

Wilkinson in November2009 after she went tostay with him on her thirdbirthday.The former insurance

salesman said he was tak-ing Atiya to Southport butinstead he took her toLahore and told mum

Gemma Wilkinson thatshe was ‘never going tosee Atiya again’.Gemma, from Ashton-

under-Lyne, spent threeyears in a living nightmaresearching for her daugh-ter.Anjum was jailed for

contempt of court afterrefusing to reveal Atiya'swhereabouts.The breakthrough in

the hunt for Atiya came onDecember 24 when shewas located by thePakistani authorities whohad been carrying out asurveillance operation ona house.Atiya was found in a

village near Sialkot in thePunjab.Gemma was told about

the discovery onChristmas Day when shewas also sent up-to-datephotographs of Atiya.

Atiya returned toEngland on a PakistanInternational Airlinesflight from Islamabadwhich touched down atManchester Airport onFriday December 28.

The desperate and helpless father of amissing student called on the ManUnited fans to help trace his son as hehanded out leaflets outside the OldTrafford on Sunday.Santanu Pal, who has flown from

India to help search for son Souvik,braved the bitter cold with his appeal onSir Matt Busby Way ahead of Sunday’smatch between the Man U andLiverpool.Souvik, from Bangalore, was last

seen at a party at the nearby WarehouseProject on New Year’s Eve.The 19-year-old, a student at

Manchester Metropolitan University,had trained for a part-time job servingrefreshments at Old Trafford and hadworked at United’s match against WestBromwich Albion just days before hedisappeared.Mr Pal’s leaflets featured a picture

and description of his son, who has ascar on the right side of his forehead andwas last seen wearing a pale denim long-sleeved shirt with a collar, grey chinotrousers and navy blue leather boots.United officials displayed an appeal

on their pitch side digital advertisingboards before the match – and stadiumannouncer Alan Keegan asked support-ers in a crowd of 75,501 for their help.Police believe Reds fans may be able

to provide vital clues to Souvik’s where-abouts.Det Chief Insp Colin Larkin told a

local media: "The police and the familyof Souvik Pal are grateful to ManchesterUnited for their support for this appeal."Souvik was last seen near the

Warehouse Project, which is not far fromOld Trafford."We hope that there could be some-

one among the crowd who may havesome information that could help us."Officers are trawling hours of CCTV

footage but admit they have had littleresponse to their appeals. Mr Pal hasvowed to stay in Manchester ‘until I getmy son back’.

Anyone with information onSouvik’s whereabouts should call policeon 0161 856 4223 or Crimestoppers,anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Missing student's father callson ManU fans to help find son

Missing student Souvik Pal

Souvik's father Santanu Pal handing out pamphletsoutside Old Trafford Appeal March to find Souvik

Mathanika Nimalaraja, wife ofvictim Ponnuthurai Nimalaraja

Ponnuthurai Nimalaraja

Atiya Wilkinson Anjum

Gemma Wilkinson with Razwan Anjum

Wife of Ponnuthurai Nimalaraja says she“forgives the boy who killed him”

Rochdale father to make court bid for his release

UKwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 5

A taxi driver who alleged-ly duped a blind womanout of £270 has avoidedjail.Shafak Hussain, 36,

took unsuspecting pas-senger Jill Holland, 52, toa cashpoint after he hadpicked her up from hospi-tal. She wanted to takeout £30 to pay for herfare.But the driver callous-

ly withdrew £300 – pock-eting £270 and handingher the £30. Father-of-twoHussain, who complainedof racism after he wasarrested, was rumbledwhen Miss Holland calledher bank the followingday.He pleaded not guilty

to theft but was convictedafter a trial at Manchestermagistrates court.Hussain, pictured, of

Plymouth Street, Oldham,on Friday was given a sus-pended four-month prisonsentence, meaning he wasable to walk free.The court heard that

following the offence, onAugust 5, Hussain hadbeen shunned and reviledby colleagues at Shaw-based Motown cars whowere disgusted by hisactions.

He has since had hislicence revoked and wasalso ordered to carry out150 hours' unpaid work,and told he must repaythe stolen money to MissHolland.The soon to be father-

of-three had claimed hehad taken the £300 out ofthe account with MissHolland’s full knowledgeand given it to her.Passing sentence, the

judge said there was nocriticism against MotownTaxis, remarking thatuntil the incident they hadgiven a good service toMiss Holland and tookher to work on a dailybasis.After the case

Hussain, who was orderedto pay £625 costs, said hehad put his house up forsale to fund his appeal.

Oldham Taxi driver spared jail

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A prominent Hindu inde-pendent school, based inthe London borough ofBrent, is to consider relo-cating after the latest cen-sus data showed thatneighbouring borough,Harrow, now houses themost Hindu residents inthe country. TheSwaminarayan School,which celebrated its 20thanniversary a few monthsago, has traditionally beenlocated on grounds direct-ly opposite the BAPSSwaminarayan temple, inNeasden, where studentsgo to attend prayers.The London borough

of Harrow emerged as thelocal authority with thelargest Hindu populationin the country in the 2011

UK census, with 60,407Hindus, displacing theonce top borough ofBrent, now with 55,449adherents of the faith.This shift in demograph-ics has caused the schoolto postpone its considera-tion to become a freeschool, which could see itbecome a taxpayer fundedestablishment, but stillallowing for religious edu-cation and the daily act ofcollective worship inaccordance with thetenets Hinduism.The school’s Principal

Mahendra Savjani hasmade it clear that if theschool decides to becomea free school, it will prob-ably move to a site inNorth Brent or Harrow.He also told a local com-munity blog in Brent that:

“While we have not founda site, we would wish tolocate in the heart of theHindu Community”,which means Harrowwould now be the primarychoice for the new site.In a statement to the

Asian Voice MrsChaudhuri, a staff mem-ber at the school,remarked: “The governorshave decided that theywill not be applying forfree school status in thecurrent round. Wereceived a variety of opin-ions last term from par-ents and staff of theschool on this very impor-tant issue, and (the boardof governors) have decid-ed they would like to carryout a more detailed con-sultation during thecourse of 2013.”

Hindu school considers move to Harrow

The reprimand in India ofcontroversial Hyderabadipolitician AkbaruddinOwaisi, of the All-IndiaCouncil of theBrotherhood of Muslims(MIM), who had travelledto London for ‘medicaltreatment’ last week, hascaused mixed feelingsamong Britain’s Muslims. Adherents of the faith

were spotted outside theIndian High Commissionin London on Monday,handing out leaflets claim-ing: “Hindu-Muslim riotsare ignited everyday byintentionally building tem-ples near sacred Muslimsites. Is this why we askedfor freedom from the Raj?Churchill was right inthinking Indians were notresponsible enough yet fortheir freedom. Free OwaisiNow!”While Mr Owaisi has

left Britain since thesecomments were made, it isknown that he attended afunction in the westLondon borough ofHounslow prior to goingback. Also, it is still notclear which organisationhas been responsible for

leafleting Indians acrossthe capital, but the inclu-sion of slurs against theChief Minister of AndhraPradesh, Kiren KumarReddy, a former associate-cum-enemy of MrOwaisi’s brother,Asaduddin Owaisi wholeads the MIM party, hasraised the spectre ofIndian politics spillingover onto the streets of theUK.This propaganda on

behalf of Mr Owaisi, who

elicited wide condem-nation after his speechagainst Hindus,describing them as“impotent” and callingfor the violent restora-tion of “Muslim rule inIndia”, has been con-trasted by strong reac-tion from variousMuslim institutions inthe UK.The Chairman of

the Council of IndianMuslims (UK), aLondon based advoca-cy group, MunafZeena, speaking beforeOwaisi flew back toIndia, told an Indiannewspaper last week: “I

am going to contact theauthorities with a requestto revoke his visa. Wehope he soon goes back.The speech made byOwaisi is not acceptablein any part of the world. Ihave listened to thealleged speech made byhim and it is very shock-ing. We have consistentlystood against the politicsof hate that tries to inciteviolence.” Mr Zeena wasnot available for subse-quent comment.

Muslim fundamentalistsrouse support in London

Akbaruddin Owaisi

Up to 60,000 Britonshave been the victims of amu l t i -m i l l i o n - poundIndian call centre andinternet fraud, the Mailhas revealed recently.Investigators believe

the sheer number takenin by the loans scammakes it one of thebiggest frauds ever car-ried out in the UK fromoverseas.At its height, more

than 1,000 people a daywho had legitimatelysought unsecured loanswith banks and financecompanies were being‘cold called’ from callcentres in the Indian cap-ital New Delhi – with 100of them daily being duped

into signing-up and pay-ing a ‘processing fee’ tosecure non-existent cash.A special Delhi police

cell, normally focused onanti-terrorist operations,is heading the investiga-tions after a request fromthe British HighCommission and theSerious Organised CrimeAgency, the UK’s nation-al police agency. Indianpolice say at a ‘conserva-tive estimate’ theybelieve around £10mil-lion was cheated out ofUK citizens seekingloans.Most victims have

been cheated out of smallsums ranging from £90 to£250, but one man, they

say, lost more than£200,000 as he ‘chased’his promised loan.Detectives say they

believe they have nowsmashed the gang, withthree Indian men arrest-ed on suspicion of a‘deep-rooted conspiracy’to commit fraud usingelectronic equipment.However, others remainon the run in the UK andIndia.Callers from Delhi

with excellent Englishspeaking over Skype orthe web pretended theywere in the UK and oftenreferred the victim to thefictitious ‘references’ ofsatisfied clients alreadyon the internet.

1,000 Britons a day conned by Indiancall centre and internet fraudsters


The breathtaking back-drop of Haryana inNorth India is the settingfor the new comedy-drama Matru Ki Bijleeka Mandola, thatreleased last week. Therustic romance is set in asmall, picturesque farm-ing village, where threeprotagonists’ livesentwine with bitter-sweet and unexpectedresults.Boasting an eclectic

cast of veteran actors,Bollywood’s young gunrising stars and also thesymbolic ‘Gulabi Bhains’(pink buffalo), thefilm’s very own itemgirl, Matru Ki Bijlee kaMandola is a comedydrama set in the rusticsurroundings of a vil-lage in Haryana inIndia. The film tells thestory of of HarryMandola (PankajKapur), a wealthyindustrialist who loveshis drink, his daughter‘Bijlee’ (AnushkaSharma) and theunusual bond theyboth share with Harry’sMan Friday, ‘Matru’(Imran Khan).Much to her father's

delight, Bijlee is all set tomarry Baadal (AryaBabbar), the son of apowerful politicianChaudhari Devi(Shabana Azmi). Thisalliance which is far fromjust being a simple unionof two young peoplebecomes the seed for astory that brings twistsand turns in the lives of

Matru, Bijlee andMandola.The film is directed by

cutting-edge filmmakerVishal Bhardwaj, whoselist of esteemed directori-al credits includesMaqbool and Omkara,which see Vishal give hisown interpretation oftwo Shakespearean clas-sics, Macbeth andOthello. The film’s crisp,well-observed script isalso written by VishalBhardwaj together withAbhishek Chaubey, andproduced by Vishal’s pro-duction company Vishal

Bhardwaj Pictures.Bhardwaj, who

directed two well-regard-ed Shakespeare adapta-tions, approaches theplaywright's complexityin the film's climacticwedding sequence, whichfinds the five lead charac-ters operating at cross-purposes with one anoth-er while discovering thattheir own motives aren'tso sound. It's too bad therest of the film couldn'tmatch this level of inspi-

ration.Kapur and Azmi are

delightful throughout,even when Kapur'sMandola hallucinatespink buffaloes instead ofelephants. Sharma iseffective as the high-spir-ited Bijlee, but Khandoesn't bring much ener-gy to his part, and in factseems to disappear fromthe film for long stretch-es.Better songs and a

stronger romance wouldhave helped draw atten-tion away from the film'sunfocused screenplay.

Matru Ki Bijlee KaMandola ends up apleasant diversion thatcould have been muchmore.The film has conclud-

ed the first weekend witha decent collection at theIndian Box Office. TheImran Khan andAnushka Sharma starrerhas collected Rs 22.42crores net at the domes-tic collection centres inthe opening weekend ofits release.

Let us know what you think. Email Spriha at [email protected]

Matru ki Bijlee strikes

When we normally talkand think about brandswe often do so from avisual perspective;colours, images, adverts.All of these are importantfor the communication ofa brand, but really it justscratches the surface. Distinctive brands

play at a much higherlevel of interaction andinvolve more than a senseof sight. Brands whichare memorable use thefull palette of sensoryexperiences that we canunderstand. Taste, smell,touch, sound, as well aswhat we see. By attaching a senso-

ry experience above thevisual to an advert, itdelivers a greater impact.That is why televisionadverts are preferred overprint ones, and are invari-ably talked about more. Companies generally

take the easy way outwhen marketing theirbusiness. If they have thebudget; they buy expen-

sive bits of advertisingmedia, and then go aboutmaking very clichéd andgeneric statements. Typically companies

that have never commu-nicated their brand willdo so from a visual levelfirst. The next notch up isthey will create videocontent and add sound tothe sensory experience.However, the most pow-erful sense to play on andwhich creates the greatestlevel of connectivity issmell.We are surprisingly

oblivious as to the wayour senses interact withour day-to-day experi-ences, none more so thansmells. Chefs will tell youthat we eat with ournoses. The smell of a foodadds more to taste thananything else. That’sbecause most of what we‘taste’ is actually beingsensed by our olfactorysystem (the network ofthe smell system in thehuman body).Clever marketers are

fully aware of this phe-nomenon and have putvital importance to theway brands smell. Takefor example Nike. In twoNew York Nike Townstores, marketers sprayedan odour that was craftedto make people feel moreactive in one store, andleft the other as per nor-mal. They rotated thissmell between the twostores. What they foundwas whenever the craftedsmell was introduced intoa store, sales went up.

Rolls Royce had aproblem when they start-ed introducing plasticsinto the design and buildof their cars. Consumersquickly cottoned on thatthese cars were no longerbuilt to the same labori-ous, traditional standardsthat was associated withthis great brand andexpressed their displeas-ure. Rolls Royce countered

by injecting smells intothe fabric and dash thatcreated the impressionthat nothing hadchanged. The smell wasof the ‘old car’, of wood,grease and steel, thusreassuring consumersthat the cars were built tothe same imperious stan-dards.In a marketing test in

America, a group ofteenagers was asked tosee if they could identifypairs of jeans once theyhad their brand labelsremoved. The test groupstruggled. However, theone brand that came outexceptionally well in thisexperiment wasAbercrombie and Fitch.The reason being, theyinject a smell into theirjeans which the teenagersrecalled very easily.Large or small, com-

panies that can think cre-atively about how theycommunicate their brandby appealing to more thanone sense at a time cangarner the attention theycrave, and leave theimpression that they arelooking for.

Mo Luthra

Branding Consultantwww.moluthra.com

Do you have a nose for a great brand?

Spriha Srivastava

Releasing this weekendis Tip TopE n t e r t a i n m e n t ’ sMumbai Mirror, a cop-drama with a uniquescreenplay that intelli-gently combines sus-pense and action.Directed by AnkushBhatt and produced byRaina Sachiin Joshi, thefilm stars Sachiin Joshi,Gihani Khan, PrakashRaj, Vimala Raman,Aditya Pancholi andMahesh Manjrekar. The lead protagonist

of Mumbai Mirror ispolice officer, 'AbhijeetPatil', and the film chartshis rise and fall. Being apolice officer in the big,bad city that is Mumbaican be quite some task.Mumbai works accord-ing to its own, uniquephilosophy. People hereare the most ambitiousand the risks taken forthe fulfilment of thosegoals are the most dan-

gerous. Every man whocomes here starts com-peting in an unknownrace, and each oneaspires to win, at anycost. Mumbai Mirrorboldly captures thisstruggle for the survivalof the fittest.The film will revolve

around Abhijeet Patil,who is one of the bestcops in Mumbai.Consigned to an impor-tant mission involving adrug-dealing cartel, hecompletes it withintegrity and ease. Butsoon he begins to rile thewrong people on thewrong sides. He causes araucous with theextremely powerfulShetty, a leading playerin the drug mafia whoruns innumerous illegalbars. Little does Patilknow that trying to out-wit him ends up beinghis most foolish mistake.Now entangled in the

hardcore drug circuit, hecomes to a head with hisseniors who are alsoinvolved, and in turnloses his job. After the termination

of his role in the force, aspiralling series ofdestructive and humili-ating episodes leavesAbhijeet broken. At thispoint, his loved onesstep in to support hisrehabilitation andimpending fight back.Individuals and their

reach and influence canbe unforseeable - anoth-er driving theme thatgets exposed through thelayers of the film as thescreenplay progresses.When Abhijeet startsinvestigating one of hiscolleague's murders, aentirely unknown racketsurfaces. As MumbaiMirror climax, Abhijeetlearns to play his cardswisely and thus changesthe game.

Mumbai cops this weekend

Lord Popat becomes the first GujaratiFrontbencher in the House of Lords

Continued from page 1Coincidentally, Lord

Popat was attending theVibrant Gujarat summitas part of the British del-egation at the time of hisappointment and had tocut short his trip to India,to return to the UK andtake on his new role. LordPopat’s press office con-firmed to the Asian Voicethat he met with ChiefMinister Narendra Modiand discussed ways tostrengthen ties betweenthe UK and Gujarat,before leaving the gather-ing to come back toLondon.Following his appoint-

ment in a statement toAsian Voice, Lord Popatwrote: “It is an absolutehonour to have beenappointed as governmentwhip and to have thechance to serve in HerMajesty’s Government. I

never imagined when Iarrived in Britain fortyyears ago that I would beso fortunate and I feelvery humbled by thisappointment and I amgrateful for all the goodwishes that people havesent in the past week. I’mlooking forward to thenew challenge.”The peer, along with

Conservative MPShailesh Vara, last yearbrought to national recog-nition the contributionthat Ugandan Asianimmigrants have made toBritish society, since theirexpulsion from the EastAfrican country in theearly 1970s by PresidentIdi Amin. Lord Popat isalso Secretary of theA n g l o - A s i a nConservative Associationand Chair of theConservative Friends ofIndia.

Stephen Lawrence'sbrother has launched arace discrimination caseagainst Britain’s biggestpolice force, claiming offi-cers harassed him due tohis skin colour.Stuart Lawrence, 35,

claimed that MetropolitanPolice officers hadstopped him at least 25times over “recent years”because he was black.Launching his legal

battle, the teacher claimedhe was the victim of a sus-tained campaign ofharassment from ScotlandYard officers.It was reported that a

letter of complaint wassent last week to SirBernard Hogan-Howe,the Met Police commis-sioner, outlining the caseand naming the officersinvolved.

The Duchess ofCambridge ended weeksof speculation byannouncing the royal babywill be born in July. Itmeans the child — whowill one day reign whether

it is a boy or a girl (due toa law change) may shareits birth month withPrincess Diana who wasborn on 1 July 1961.It was also revealed

that the condition of theDuchess who was suffer-ing with acute morningsickness is now seenimproving.

The duke and duchessare preparing for theirmove into the apartmentat Kensington Palace for-mally occupied byPrincess Margaret. Theyhave advertised for a ser-vant to attend to the royalhousehold when the cou-ple become parents thissummer.

Royal baby to arrive in summer

StephenLawrence's

brother suesMet for race

discrimination


Teenagers from 1846(Southall) Air CadetSquadron are about tostart a major theatre tourwith the famous MilitaryWives Choirs. Last yeargirls in the Squadronasked if they could form aBhangra dance team, lit-tle expecting that itwould lead them to somehighly prestigious per-formances. After appear-ing at a military tattoolast June, the Squadronwas approached to dancein two try-out concertswith the Military Wivesof WattishamChoir atSkegness andKings Lynn. Bythen the young-sters, whosenumber nowincluded twoboys, had beentraining hardwith a choreographerfrom Bollywood DanceLondon and wowed theaudiences with their rou-tine. This success led tothe dancers performing atthe Ministry of DefenceDiwali reception at HMSPresident in October and

an invitation from topmusic promoter JohnHessenthaler for thegroup to appear in aseries of concerts withMilitary Wives Choirsacross the UK in 2103.“It all started after we

won our wing drill com-petition” said FlyingOfficer Amen Manget,“and the girls asked if wecould do some dance. Ifelt it would be good forteam working and atten-tion to detail so theyspent weeks putting aroutine together.”

Cadet Warrant OfficerPriyanka Narain said:“We are all very excitedto be part of these con-certs which will help toraise money for servicecharities. The MilitaryWives are inspiring and itis such an honour to be

appearing in their show.We have all enjoyedworking hard for theseconcerts and gettingsome expert tuition fromour choreographer hasbeen amazing.”

An equallyunexpected outcomefrom this project is howmuch the cadets havelearned about them-selves. “None of the staffreally expected this, “saidAmen, “but the quiet selfdiscipline that dancerequires has brought outqualities in some of the

young people thatwe hadn’t previ-ously seen in othercadet activities.For example, thereare two cadetswho, throughhelping to developthe dance team,have demonstrat-

ed real leadership. Thesecould well be among ourcadet NCOs of the future.We are all very pleasedthat this idea, whichcame from the cadetsthemselves, has taken offin this way, it will be suchan experience for them”

Air Cadets to Tour withMilitary Wives Choir

You can see the Air Cadet Bhangra Dancers at the followingvenues as part of the Military Wives Choirs tour:

Saturday January 26th The Central Halls Chatham Kent.

Saturday February 9th The Royal Theatre Harrogate.

Saturday February 16th Bradford St George’s Hall.

Sunday March 10th The Beck Theatre. Hayes. Middlesex.

Sunday March 17th The Alban Arena St Albans.

Saturday April 20th Shanklin Theatre Isle of Wight.

If you are between 13 and 19 and want to find out more about joining the

Air Cadets visit raf.mod.uk/aircadets

Keval Dhokia

After a year of communityefforts to raise awarenessof Asian female foeticide,both on the subcontinentand in Britain, the govern-ment will now launch afull-scale inquiry into theissue. These concerns overillegal abortions based ongender, highly prevalentamong Britain’s SouthAsian community, resur-faced in a House of Lordsdebate recently, when

Health minister EarlHowe claimed that thebias towards male birthsin: “a very small numberof countries (of origin) areindications that birthratios may differ from theUK as a whole, and poten-tially fall outside the rangeconsidered possible with-out intervention.”This means that the

government’s preliminarystudy, from sourcesincluding the 2011 UKcensus, showed that: “sex-

selective abortions havetaken place on an industri-al scale”, particularly inimmigrant Indian subcon-tinental communities.This has forced the UK’sChief Medical Officer toissue a warning to allabortion clinics and hospi-tals, reminding them thatit is illegal to authorise anabortion based on the gen-der of the foetus. Whiledisclosure of the sex of afoetus has conventionallybeen left till after 12

Pressure increases for inquiry into Asian female abortions

weeks, many parents havegone abroad and on theinternet to find the genderearly and then requestabortions on circumstan-tial non-medical reasons iffound to be a girl.The intervention in a

House of Lords debate onabortion was brought by aseries of peers includingBaroness Knight whoasked: “Is (Howe) awarethat if Parliament hadknown that abortionswould occur because thecoming child was a girlwhen the mother wanted aboy, the Act would nothave gone through?.”Lord Alton of Liverpoolasked Earl Howe: “Is theMinister familiar with areport that recentlyappeared in the Economist(magazine), which saidthat around 100m abor-tions have taken placethroughout the world onthe basis of gender, whichit calls ‘gendercide?’.”

Serious alarmwas also raisedabout the importa-tion of male-cen-tric values from thes u b c o n t i n e n t ,when a DailyTelegraph under-cover investiga-tion, last year,uncovered a num-ber of BritishAsian doctorsknowingly offeringgender-selectiveabortions. Oneconsultant, Dr

Prabha Sivaraman, wasfilmed telling a pregnantwoman who said shewanted to abort a femalefoetus: "I don't ask ques-tions. If you want a termi-nation, you want a termi-nation.” Another, Dr RajMohan, was filmed agree-ing to a woman's requestfor an abortion eventhough she specificallytold him the reason wasthat she did not want ababy girl. He told her: "I'llput too young for pregnan-cy, OK?" The CrownProsecution Service andthe Police are currentlyconsidering criminalcharges against these doc-tors, among others.An Economist article

focussed on India’s severegender imbalance infavour of boys, illustratinghow more affluent urbanIndians, in states likeMaharashtra andHaryana, were bribing

doctors to illegally find thegender of their unbornchild, and aborting if agirl, debunking the con-ventionally held myth thatfemale ‘gendercide’ onlyoccurred among the unde-veloped rural poor. Thereason is most likely theneed for the new middleclass to retain new wealthsuch as property and busi-nesses within the family,by favouring male birthsthat create heirs, ratherthan daughters, who leavethe family on marriage andrequire steep dowries thatmay cause the loss ofsome of these assets.In addition, an Oxford

study found that, from1995 to 2005, Indianwomen undoubtedlyaborted more girls thanboys. This has fed into thedebate about the troublingshortage of women inNorthern and WesternIndia, causing critics tospeculate whether therecent gang rapes in Delhiand Punjab are caused bythe over-prevalence ofmen in those states, due tothe over termination offemale foetuses in thosespecific areas.Both India and the UK

conducted their latest cen-suses in 2011 and theresults which have filteredout since then have showna statistically significantabundance of male babiesamong mothers from Indiaand China.


Mythology has neverceased to intrigue andinspire me. It is probablystale to talk about howLord Ganesha got his ele-phant face but recentlywhen I got a chance to re-visit this tale, it opened awhole new set of ques-tions that shrouded mymind. My initial reactionwas to question ratherchastise Shiva for killinghis own son, which in myview was a penalty toograve for the sin. Howcould the superior beinghimself tyrannise thisway? Is this how he wouldwant to exemplify feelingof forgiveness, compas-sion, non-violence to us

mere mortals? The factual nitty-grit-

ties of the story howeverchange this perception.Shiva had been cursed bya saint that he wouldslash his son's head off.Ganesha on the otherhand had to bear thebrunt because his birthwas from Parvati's sweat,so he had to have a re-birth in a purer form. Theelephant that made thesacrifice had also beencursed and this was themoment when his spellcould be broken. It issurely more than a coinci-dence for all these eventsto occur at the same time.Even with one of the linksmissing, the story wouldnot be the same and therewould not have beenGanesha in the form weworship him today.

This made me wonderwhether such an event

was beyond God's controlas well. He had to pay hiskarmic dues and it musthave been agonisinglypainful for him to fire histrishul at his son. Itseems that it was a culmi-nation of multiple inci-dents pieced together.The question that springsis: do events in our lifetoday still happen thisway? Do we manifest thefactors or are we merelypuppets in the hands ofour destiny? Do we reallyhave control?

While we might thinkthat we have control overour lives and decisions wemake, but in reality it mayall just be happening theway it was supposed tohappen. We often hear thesuccess stories of greatachievers sometimes justhappen, almost incidentalin a way. Not just success,any mishap or accident

Devika Srimal

Destiny - beyondour control?

also occurs when severalfactors come into play atthe same time and wecan’t point our finger toany one reason - whetherit is the time one left thehouse, the moment onedecides to take a differentroute than the usual oneetc. There is only a tinyelement of consciousdecision-making but theinexplicable portionrefers to something that ispre-determined - call itdestiny, fate or luck.

I tried to put thishypothesis to practicalsense. I recently quit myjob and decided to moveback to India. This is alife-altering decision;good or bad, I don’t knowyet. However, it was notsudden and not an easyone. I had been thinkingabout quitting for over anyear now but there werestrong reasons holdingme back. I was living inlimbo until the week mybrother visited. Whilecatching up over a cosyfamily dinner at home, westumbled on a discussionaround my career. Onething led to another andby the time desert was

served, I was preparingmy resignation letter.

This naturally sur-prised my colleagues,friends and family. Whatsurprised me was the sud-den turn of events. I hadhad this desire deep downfor so long but it just did-n’t happen, so over time Ihad given up and noteven thought about it.Had my brother not visit-ed, or if my parents werenot in town, or if we hadnot discussed my careeroptions - it would nothave happened.Ultimately, it made merealise that although thedecision and action wasmine, the timing of it wasnot quite in my hands.

An answer to thisquestion perhaps lieswithin karma theory. Whatcreates our destiny is alsoour own karma/actions.The timing however canplay a pesky role since ourcredits and debits are car-ried forward and can crys-tallise in the future. InGanesha’s story, Shivahad been cursed by RishiKashyap for slaying hisson in the past.

To conclude, we may

not have total controltoday on our life, startingfrom our birth in a partic-ular family to choosingour life-partner to even lit-tle things such as decidingwhen to resign; but wehad control of the pastthat has influenced ourtoday. So a good propor-tion of today is pre-deter-mined, but it was deter-mined only by us at somepoint in the past. Nowwhen we want to improvetoday, we may quite liter-ally want to go back intime and change thingsbut that too remainsbeyond our control! All wecan do is design a bettertomorrow by improvingour karma today.Devika Srimal is a

member of the CHN. TheCHN is a London-basedorganisation which isrooted in progressiveHindu philosophy andvalues, and encouragesnetworking amongst itsmembers, who are princi-pally London-based pro-fessionals. You can signup to be a member or findout more about the CHNat www.cityhindusnet-work.org.uk.

Reenu Punnoose

London's Bollywood cal-endar for 2013 kickstartedon Monday, 14 Januarywith the promotionalevents for the first majorrelease of the year, Race 2.The film's creative produc-er, Jay Shewakramani andSaif Ali Khan, the leadactor of Race 2, was in thecity to promote Saif's firstrelease after his much-hyped wedding to KareenaKapoor in October, 2012.

Race 2 is an action thrillerdirected by Abbas-Mustanand produced by UTV andTips Music Films starringSaif Ali Khan, JohnAbraham, Anil Kapoor,Deepika Padukone,Jacqueline Fernandes andAmeesha Patel. It is thesequel to the 2008 hit filmRace. The movie is sched-uled to release on 25January.

Following onfrom the Mayor ofLondon BorisJohnson's visit toMumbai lastNovember tostrengthen thelinks between thecity and the Indianfilm industry, thefirst majorBollywood promo-tional event of theyear saw the pres-ence of AdrienWootton, Chief Executive

of Film London andthe British FilmCommission, the cap-ital's film and mediaagency. “We are hereto encourage film pro-duction to come intoLondon from all overthe world and obvi-ously from our pointof view India is a veryimportant market, avery important thriv-ing and fertile filmcommunity”, saidWootton, “we reallywant to encourage anew and fresh marketwith the Indian filmindustry which is whyit's a great pleasurereally to welcome Saifand Jay here. Greatto have them with thisfantastic new film in

London. Great start to2013...come back andmake some more moviesin London!” Saif alsoexpressed his pleasure athaving filmed in Londonover the years. He notedthat out of the four filmshis company 'IlluminatiFilms' has produced so far,two have been shot inLondon, “I feel London ismy second home and love

working here. I like themindset of the people wework with here and enjoyinteracting with the press,more than anywhere else...

I think there are manysides to London. You've todo your reconnaissanceproperly and you'll find it'san amazing city to shoot.And multi-faceted interms of how it can beshot. I very much look for-ward to shooting my nextfilm here as well.”

Race 2 is Saif's fourthfilm with DeepikaPadukone but he is confi-dent that their pairing hasnot become too repetitive,“I am happy to be able tosay that the films we aredoing and the directors weare working with are verydifferent. I think it's anadvantage because it's asuccessful pairing and Ithink people would stilllike to see it.”

Saif is also full ofpraise for co-actor JohnAbraham who he says“was a great influence” onthe rest of the crew, partic-ularly, with respect toworking out and stayingfit. “ I thought we couldprobably get away withtraining a little less andthen we come and see

John Abraham, you know,walking around withouthis shirt.”

When asked what werethe challenges involved inplaying the same characterfor a second time on-screen, Saif told AsianVoice, “mentally, it's mucheasier because you've doneit before and you under-stand what it is. But phys-ically it is a little demand-ing because there's moreaction, and however manytimes you do that, it does-n't get any less tiring.” Headded that the script writ-ers and the productionfaced the main challengein trying to make Race 2 abetter, “cooler” moviewith more twists and turnsthan the first one. Hedescribed the script as themain USP of Race 2- ascript that has justifiedmaking a sequel to Race,“that has shades and tonesof the original but at thesame time is somethingnew. I think they've doneit well. The first half is arevenge kind of drama andthe second half is a veryinteresting kind of heistmovie involving 'Christianrelics' which I think iscool.”

Saif chitchats with Press topromote Race 2

Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan with Adrien Wootto (extreme right), Jay Shewakramani(left) and the moderator for the Press conference

A new programme waslaunched in London thismonth to support localsocial entrepreneurswho are from migrantcommunities or whobenefit migrant commu-nities. Funded by theMetropolitan MigrationFoundation the CLIMBprogramme will givefour social entrepre-neurs the opportunity topitch for a portion of£40,000 in fundingavailable, as well as freesupport to help themgrow their local busi-ness.

The event took placeon Tuesday 15 Januaryat Coin StreetNeighbourhood Centre,Southbank, and was anopportunity to find outmore about the pro-gramme, receive practi-cal advice and networkwith other local entre-preneurs.

Now 15 applicantswill be chosen for afour-week workshopwhich will take themthrough the necessarysteps to make theminvestment ready. Thefinal application stagewill see up to 10 appli-cants go through to aDragons Den style eventwith a chance to bid fora portion of the £40,000available. They will alsoreceive a year’s worth ofsupport including freevenue space, access topersonal mentors andother support tailored to

their needs.Paul Birtill, Director

of MetropolitanMigration Foundationtold Asian Voice in astatement, “Whilst thesocial enterprise sectoris growing with a wealthof opportunity, we areconcerned that there islimited involvementfrom migrant communi-ties. We are supportingthe Young Foundationto deliver this pro-gramme to create realopportunities for localsocial entrepreneurs. Itis these individuals whocreate potentiallyimportant and commu-nity-focused enterprisesbenefiting the widercommunity”.

The YoungFoundation’s MargaretOgebule said “We arelooking for Individualsor groups of peoplefrom migrant andrefugee communitieswho are passionateabout social change,and have the entrepre-neurial air and drive tomake their ideas hap-pen.”

Those who missedthe launch of these pro-grammes can still applyonline until January 23.To find out how to regis-ter or for more informa-tion please visit: TheYoung Foundation:http://youngfounda-tion.org/projects/grow-ing -migrant - soc ia l -entrepreneurship/

Social Enterprisesupport forMigrants in

London

He was in his first year ofwork, but now he had anadded responsibility; hehad to care for his mothertoo. He says that at thattime he was thinking interms of a set career path;“I was slightly statusdriven.”

He carved a success-ful career and combined itwith his domestic respon-sibilities.

After 18 years withA n d e r s e nConsulting/Accenture,Sunil had not really con-sidered working foranother company andwas, by his own admis-sion, quite “cautious.” Hewas secure, he had ayoung family and wife,and as his mother livedon her own, he had tocare for her.

But he got to a pointwhere he was decidingwhat to do next and try-ing to balance his familyresponsibilities, his dutyto his mother, and hiscareer. Then he read abook called “The 4 Vs ofLeadership” by PeterShaw. The four Vs areVision, Values, Vitalityand Value Added. TheseVs became a structure forSunil’s life and he usedthem to make his deci-

sions, along with thinkingabout some difficult ques-tions that Peter Shawposed to him.

One of the salientquestions was, “What’sholding you back?” Sunilsays it was this questionthat propelled him intochanging his lifestyle.With a father and agrandfather who haddied young of heartattacks, when Shawasked Sunil, “Whydon’t you enter a race?”it seemed obvious forSunil to take up run-

ning. He now gets his PAto schedule two runs aweek, and on those dayshe takes his fist meetingat 9.30am. It has madehim sharper and moredecisive, and “it has mademe less risk averse!” henotes.

He really cares abouthis team and supportsmembers to develop. Heis actively looking forsomeone to replace himwithin 18 months. Since2007, he has been a busi-ness mentor and volun-teer for the YoungEnterprise Scheme. Sunilsays, “I had got into thecorporate plan but hadnot correlated it with mypersonal plan. Family,mum, come first for me.”

Sunil is also a repre-sentative on the DiversityCouncil at PwC and saysthat he hopes that “westart to see some mean-ingful and practicalaction to embrace diversi-ty in large organisations.”


Sunil is a Senior Partnerwho leads HealthIndustries Consultingwithin PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK.Health Industries focuseson clients in the health,pharmaceutical and lifesciences sectors.

Prior to PwC, heworked for three years atAtos Consulting and for18 years at AndersenConsulting/Accenture.His career has been spentleading business andtechnology consultingprojects in the healthcare,pharmaceutical, life sci-ences and governmentindustries both in the UKand globally. He leads ateam of 40Partners/Directors and anextended team of ~200staff.

Sunil spoke to AsianVoice at his stunningoffices in More London,by the River Thames.

Sunil is also responsi-ble for growing the PwC’stechnology business with-in consulting; something

he is excited aboutand “One of thereasons” he “wasrecruited,” hefeels; “wasbecause of hisbusiness and tech-nical background.”Sunil and his teamwork with clientsto help themaddress their busi-ness issues andimprove their per-formance. Theymay be in the pub-lic or private sec-tor, national orinternational.

Noting thathistorically, PwCwas seen as prima-rily a financialconsulting firm, hefeels that there isplenty of scope toalso make it into adistinctive technolo-gy consulting business inthe UK serving multipleindustries.

“I apply technology innew and different ways todrive business forwards,”

he told us. “We have bet-ter technology in our per-sonal lives than in mostcorporate businesses.How do you change peo-ples’ attitudes and howdoes the business derive

Leading LightsRani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Sunil Patel

Sunil Patel, A Better Kind of Business Leader

benefit?” he comments,giving the example of aleading hospital thatwants to give iPads tonurses and consultants.He is enjoying the chal-lenge of helping patientsand citizens to engage innew ways. “We’re helpingour clients to articulatethe value of technologyand for technology todrive customer engage-ment and new businessmodels.”

Sunil studiedC o m p u t e rScience atM a n c h e s t e rUniversity and wasinspired by aProfessor and GP,Dr Anthony Nolan,who showed theyoung Sunil howsubjective decisionmaking, combinedwith data analysis,formed Dr Nolan’sdecision makingprocesses. As a GP,Dr Nolan had tomake key decisionsthat affect peoples’lives and quality oflife. This inspiredSunil to work at thecusp of technologyand healthcare.

He also creditshis Gujaratiupbringing and

background as playing apart in his life choices,for he is happiest whengiving to others in socie-ty.

Sunils’ father diedwhen he was 22 and hislife changed at that point.

I apply technology

in new and different

ways to drive business

forwards

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In a rare gesture, China’stop leadership hosted hisdelegation at Great Hallof People and had a freeand frank discussion andexchange of ideas on arange of subjects includ-ing trade, industry, socio-economic development,investment, and prevail-ing global economic sce-nario. Modi emphasizedabout the shared heritageof India and China, andcommon vision forimproved quality of livesof their people.

In his meeting withthe Mr Wang Gang, ViceChairman of the ChinaPeople’s Political

Consultative Conference,(and a member of thepolitburo of CommunistParty of China), Modishowcased Gujarat as adestination with a con-ducive environment toinvest and work. He alsoexplained Gujarat becom-ing a major tourist desti-nation. He brought outthe richness of Buddhistculture in Gujarat whichsolicited very keen inter-est among Chinese leader-ship. He also dwelledupon the ancient Indianand Chinese ethos, rela-tionship, friendship, cul-tural and business ties.

While showcasing

Brand ‘Gujarat’ – which isequated with Guangdongof China, he invitedChinese business commu-nity and public enterpris-es to participate in theVibrant Gujarat GlobalInvestors’ Summit- 2013.

He highlightsGujarat’s special invest-ment regions as areaswhere Chinese companiescould invest. He called onChina to invest in infra-structure and power proj-ects in the state, wooingpotential investors with asales pitch that show-cased Gujarat as a statewith levels of “gover-nance, transparency andstability” that they couldnot find elsewhere inIndia. He declared that“the two great countrieswill make Asia the centre-stage of the global econo-my.”

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The cancellation of 80 flights in the pastcouple of days left thousands of passen-gers in the lurch prompting theDirectorate General of Civil Aviation todemand an explanation from Kingfisher.

The cash-strapped airline claimedthat it had to drop flights as the compa-ny was trying to reconfigure its aircraft.There was chaos at several airports afterpassengers complained that they werenot intimated about the Kingfisher can-cellations.

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A study published inThe Lancet, a Britishmedical journal, saidthat just a quarter-hourof physical exertion aday could reduce a per-son's risk of death by14% and increase lifeexpectancy by threeyears compared to inac-tive people.

Incidentally, anothertheory published in a dif-ferent British journalsaid daily TV-viewing forsix hours could take

away five years fromyour life.

Adding and subtract-ing years from your lifehas never before beenquantified in such med-ical terms, say doctors.The 15-minute short-cutto good health, in fact,changes the most funda-mental rule that wasapproved by the WorldHealth Organization-that 150 minutes ofactivity a week is neededto stay healthy.

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The anti India feeling ofNRIs

The despicable events that took placein Delhi have rightly been condemnedeverywhere. The way the people of Delhicame together and put pressure on thepoliticians and the police to act showsthat the vast majority of Indians wantfundamental changes, so that never againsuch a dastardly act takes place. It istherefore unfortunate that certain sec-tions of the media tried to demonise allIndians. It is also regrettable that AlpeshPatel in his column made reference toHindu Gods. Alpesh claimed that Indiancelebrities did not come out to condemnthe atrocity including Amitah Bachhan.Amitabh has written a moving poem andmany public figures have spoken out.Jayesh Patel in the letters column con-demned almost everything Indian andpraised China. There is no freedom inChina, millions of people were killed inthe cultural revolution and a firm grip ofthe ruling elite means you will never hearanything negative about the country.Uttambhai Mistry blames Hindus andtheir traditions. Here in the UK JimmySavile’s abuse has come to light. For sixdecades this man abused vulnerable peo-ple and no one stopped him. Tens ofthousands of abuses take place in the UKevery year. Will Alpesh and Uttambhaiblame the Christian religion, will Alpeshcondemn everything British? To claimthat because we are Indians we are justi-fied in criticising every Indian failurewithout any balance is absurd. So occu-pied have some of the NRIs become witheverything negative about India that theyfail to see similar failures in their adoptedland. Snapping away at India while sit-ting here in the UK is not going to changeanything. It would be far more useful forAlpesh and others to offer their expertisein how to stop future Jimmy Savile.

Nitin MehtaVia Email

Comment by RSS chief

Post Delhi-rape comments by RSSchief, ‘‘wife a contractual servant’’ areanathema and anachronism. Asarambapu’s comments that rape should havebegged to rapists with sisterly sentimentsare hideous; blaming victim when prosti-tution is rampant in Greater Kailash,south Delhi, is atrocious. Such remarksshow that their intelligence does notmatch their status. Public is right to cas-tigate both them. They should havefocussed on assault, apathy, delayed res-cue and slack follow up by legal machin-ery.

Hindu leaders have failed followers;have allowed press to direct hatredtowards themselves. Hindu leaders arestumbling with open eyes in spite of antiHindu national and global hostility. Theyare crippling dynamic Hindus via imprac-ticable philosophies and ideals?

There has been no such oppositionIndian press to seditious statements byKashmir separatists, activists ArundhatiRoy, Medha Patkar, A. Owaisi and Indianpoliticians who praise M. Jinnah. There isnot enough hatred to recent cease fireviolation by Pakistan.

Women today have successfullyentered male domains of science, eco-

Special relationship with USA

In both, first and second World Wars,USA had to intervene to bring aboutworld peace.

Winston Churchill delivered a speechat Westminster College in Fulton,Missouri on 5 March 1946. The U SPresident had travelled 1000 miles to lis-ten to him. Parts of this speech follow.

“The United States stands at thistime at the pinnacle of worldpower......Opportunity is here and now,clear and shining, for our both coun-tries..........I have strong admiration andregard for valiant Russian peo-ple.............Nobody knows what SovietRussia intends to do.......

An Iron Curtain has descendedacross the Continent. The capitals ofEurope: Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna,Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest andSofia—all these famous cities and thepopulations around them lie in what Imight call the Soviet sphere.

It is necessary that constancy ofmind, persistency of purpose and thegrand simplicity of decision shall ruleand guide the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did inwar.”

The above circumstances no longerexist. USA now wants to have a specialrelationship with EU. Both are economicblocs of $16 trillion each. The entire restof the world is just another $16 trillionGDP annually.

Mr Cameron will soon give his mostimportant speech, probably on 22January 2013, on our relationship withthe EU and a referendum on the EU if 32important areas could not be renegotiat-ed. Neither renegotiation nor referen-dum is in the national interest.

It is time for Labour to have theabove constancy, persistency and sim-plicity and decide in their 2015Manifesto that if elected, they will rec-ommend joining the Euro currency in thenational interest: Real One NationLabour.

Nagindas KhajuriaVia Email

A Cap and a Claw-back

The Government’s plans to increasebenefits at 1%, less than the rate of infla-tion, will make seven million families –half of Britain’s working households –worse off by an average of £165 a year,according to an analysis by the Institutefor Fiscal Studies (IFS). Maternity pay,child benefit and low pay tax credits willalso be subject to the cap. If pricesincrease by more than what is anticipatedin coming years, people on benefits willbe the hardest hit by this rancid benefitsraid. It will be fair if the cap only appliesto the money which is being dished out toscroungers who do not want to pull theirweight and leech on those who brave theinclement weather and go out to workcome rain or shine.

At the moment there are no plans toinclude pensions in this cap. However, itwon’t be long before the Government willdecide to apply the 1% cap on pensionsas well. It has already taken unilateralaction which imposed an unfair change inthe rate at which pension paymentsincrease annually. Previously the pen-sions increased in line with an increase inthe more favourable retail price index(RPI). This was drastically changed sothat the increases have now been linkedwith the less generous consumer priceindex (CPI). Why is it that in times ofausterity, the first thing which comes toministers’ minds is people’s pensions?This is fundamentally unfair.

Dinesh ShethNewbury Park, Ilford

In the reign of the blind

The saying, “In the reign of the blindone eyed Jack is the king” is so apt to thisshort sighted government bent upondestroying our already run down NHSwith the plan closure of at least four “A &E” departments in North London whichwould put thousands of lives at risk,especially for the elderly, chronically sickand disable persons.

I am not surprised that N.W. LondonHospital bosses have to tell GPs not torefer patients to already busting to theseam A & E at Northwick Park andCentral Middlesex hospitals. Besides GPpatients, even hospital patients who haveundergone ENT and other such surgerieshave to use A & E departments for emer-gencies, dressings and other such servic-es that were once carried in the mainwards by nurses and junior doctors or bythe visiting nurses in their own homes.

This government would like todestroy all these excellence and expertiseby penny pinching at home while playingRobin Hood overseas by spending bil-lions in Asia and Africa for undeservingcauses where the money goes straightinto the Swiss bank accounts of corruptto the core politicians.

I am glad that Harrow West MPGareth Thomas is taking active interestbut where are our Brent MPs? I would bemore impressed if Ed Miliband gives us asolemn promise not to close these A & Edepartments and include it in their mani-festo. After all Labour promised not todowngrade Edgware General Hospital in1997 but the hospital was downgraded assoon as Labour took the reign. It is easi-er to be magnanimous when in opposi-tion but the proof of the pudding is in theeating.

Bhupendra M GandhiVia Email

Damini’s ordeal: Where haveall the celebrities gone?

In his article ‘Rape and absence ofleadership’ (AV 12 January 2013) AlpeshPatel questions, quite appropriately: “Sowhere are you Sachin Tandulkar? Whyhaven’t you spoken up about the rape inDelhi? Where are you AmitabhBachchan? Shah Rukh Khan?”

This disinterestedness on the part ofthe celebrities is all to do with the Indianclass system. The upper classes will lookdown condescendingly on the lowerclasses and will not want to get involvedin a social problem they see as theirsalone. But when it comes to lucrativecommercials, which generally exploitlower classes, they will jump on to it atthe first opportunity – because it bringsthem more money and status, never mindthe social implications. It is always a one-way process which promises the ordinaryIndian all the escapism and fantasy theywant to see in the films. To the naïve ordi-nary Indian, therefore, they are heroesfighting evil and are to be worshipped.But in reality these so-called celebrities

Water tip

Drinking cold water from the tap infreezing weather stuns the mouth andthreatens to give you an instantheadache. Yet we need to drink enoughwater in winter to avoid dehydration inour heated environments.

To take the cold sting out of my glassof tap water, I add a dash of boiling waterfrom the kettle, making the now tepidwater a pleasure to drink. Do try it andyou will be delighted.

Rudy OtterVia Email

expose their timidity when it comes totaking a social stand. I am sure that ifthey were to give active leadership, theirvoices would be heard and it would makea tremendous difference in the mindset ofthe ordinary Indian. Sadly, however, theyare just ‘actors’, by no standardsAngelina Jolie’s or Joanna Lumley’s.

But what of those celebrities who areindeed in a position to lead but take noinitiative – actors who have entered intoIndian politics promising change? Surely,they are in a much better position toinfluence their fellow politicians and takea united common front? Oh no, no, wedon’t want to get our clothes dirty! Sorry,Damini, you have an uphill task.

Uttambhai D MistryBolton

nomics, politics and space walk yet main-taining contractual obligations.

In democracy, women are entitled tomove anywhere fearlessly at any time ofday or night and dress as they please. If‘Laxman rekha’ is for women, then menshould follow ‘Durga and Kali rekha’where males, Mahisasur and Raktabeejwere killed.

Vicious condemnation of remarks byHindu leaders is not justified. These lead-ers stated ideals and principles which arebeyond intelligence of public thus unfor-tunately can be misinterpreted by mis-chief mongers.

Comments should be sympathetic tovictim and stress males to respect womenas equals. Male dominated ethos must bepushed to past tense.

Ramesh JhallaVia Email


EducAtion/council Voicewww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 11

During this year’s foot-ball season, we have seensome high profile racistincidents involvingnumerous teams andplayers. Over the lastyear, I have becomeincreasingly frustratedwith the treatment offootballers from ethnicminorities; by what isbecoming a very large“minority”.What is frustrating

me is the way that thesecrimes are being dealtwith - like a joke! I canalmost guarantee thatthere is no other profes-sion in the world wherean employee can raciallyabuse someone and stillwork for them again.Yet for example, Luis

Suarez, who calledPatrice Evra a “Negro” 5times and said, “I don’tspeak to blacks” duringan argument, merelyreceived an 8 match banand £40,000 fine and stillmanaged to retain hisprofessional career. If theFA is serious about their‘Kick it Out’ campaignthen they must take the

necessary steps to actual-ly ‘Kick it Out’. In myopinion, Suarez shouldhave been sent to a civilcourt and be put on trialfor this crime. Not onlywas the punishment fromthe FA pathetic, but alsoLiverpool FC even sup-ported him, which iseven more difficult tocomprehend for anyonewho has been subjectedto racial abuse!The fact is, even

though this has been apretty damning year forthe image of footballglobally, this is not some-thing that is new andpublicity is somethingthat will probably notsolve anything. The onlyoption I see now is for allplayers to walk off thepitch at the sight of anyracial abuse. In fact, ACMilan’s Kevin-PrinceBoateng walked off thepitch in a friendly matchwith his teammatesbehind him. In my opin-ion, this is a great exam-ple of what footballersshould be doing to tacklethis problem. How long

will it take for fans totreat this behaviour ascompletely unaccept-able? Fans that not onlypay for their ticket towatch a match but alsofor their transport, foodand sometimes eventheir accommodation.I think one of the

major problems withdealing with this wasnicely outlined by PiaraPowar, ExecutiveDirector of FootballAgainst Racism inEurope (FARE) whosaid, "What does SeppBlatter (FIFA President)know about what it is tobe abused or excludedbecause you are an eth-nic minority, and whatmight be the right orwrong way to respond?”The fact that FIFA,

UEFA & the FA treat thisas poorly as they do isbecause of the lack ofrepresentation from eth-nic minorities at thehighest level. The prob-lem boils down to onething - most white peoplewill not know what it islike to be racially abused.

Football: In Black & White

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By Chirag Patel, Vice President NHSF (UK)

National Hindu Students Forum (UK)

The number of studentscoming from India tostudy at British universi-ties fell by almost a quar-ter last year afterchanges to student visarules, new figures show.The number of Indian

students enrolled atBritish universitiesdropped by nearly aquarter last year follow-ing the introduction ofmore stringent rules onstudent visas, new fig-ures have shown.Fewer than 30,000

students from India werestudying at UK highereducation institutions in2011/12, compared withjust under 40,000 in theprevious year. There was

also a 13.4 per cent dropin the number ofPakistani students atBritish universities year-on-year, according to thestatistics released by theHigher EducationStatistics Agency.However the overall

number of non-EU stu-dents at British universi-ties rose by around 5,000to 302,680, driven by asharp increase in stu-dents from countriesincluding China,Singapore andIndonesia.Universities have

warned that recentchanges to student visarules mean they face los-ing bright students from

countries like India torival colleges in the USand Australia.Boris Johnson during

his visit to India calledon the Government toremove students fromimmigration target fig-ures and allow them tostay longer to work aftertheir courses end.David Cameron is

expected to address theissue on his visit to Indianext month.Recent figures

showed India was stillthe second most com-mon country of origin forforeign students in theUK after China, whichsent 79,000 students lastyear.

The Nobel Prize-winningscientist behind super-mate-rial graphene believes itcould kick-start a high-techboom in Manchester, a localnewspaper has reported.Prof Kostya Novoselov

told Manchester EveningNews that new superlab toresearch the acclaimed sub-stance could turn the cityinto a global hub for newtechnology.The £61m National

Graphene Institute atManchester University aimsto build new devices andinventions using the atom-thin material derived fromordinary graphite.

It will see sci-entists work along-side developersfrom the world’stop electronic com-panies to pioneernew discoveries.P r o f

Novoselov, whowon the NobelPrize for Physics in2010 with col-league Andre Geim, spoketo the M.E.N as a newartist’s impression of theinstitute was released.The 7,600sq m building

in Booth Street East willhouse state-of-the-art facili-ties, including two ‘clean-

rooms’ where scientists canexperiment without contam-ination. The physicist saidthat more than 150 firmshad been in talks aboutsending their staff to workwith the Nobel Prizewinnersand their team.

Number of Indian studentsfalls by a quarter in the UK

Centre at Manchester Universityto create 'Graphene City'

Islamic extremistspreached at more than 200university events last yearraising fresh fears overradicalisation on campus,as per a report in TheDaily Telegraph.A dozen events also

featured speakers withlinks to the fanaticalgroup Hizb ut Tahrir – acontroversial organisationbanned by the NationalUnion of Students.Extremists were invit-

ed to a host of eventsdespite criticism fromTheresa May, the HomeSecretary, that universi-ties were “complacent” intackling the risk of radi-calisation.

The research, by cam-paign group StudentRights, found a total of214 university events fea-tured known extremistslast year.The most frequent

speaker was HamzaTzortzis who was promot-ed at 48 events,Mr Tzortzis has called

for an Islamic state,expressed his hostilitytowards Western valuesand stated that: "We asMuslims reject the idea offreedom of speech, andeven of freedom."Hizb ut-Tahrir was rep-

resented at six per cent ofthe events even thoughtthe NUS has a policy not

Extremists attended morethan 200 university events

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Part Qualified Accountant

Harrow Borough Councilis asking people to con-tribute ideas for the regen-eration of a site in Harrowon the Hill, a local news-paper has reported.The council is plan-

ning a £1.28 million proj-ect to transform LowlandsRecreation Ground into astate-of-the-art town cen-tre park.The project will see

the area being landscaped,a performance space cre-ated, children’s play areasmade and new pathwaysbuilt. It will also seeaccess to Harrow-on-the-Hill station beingimproved.However, before the

work starts, the councilwants local people to tellit how they want thespace to be used.

A total of 13,422 youngpeople from acrossNewham cast their voteand elected Rebekah Dikeas the new Young Mayor ofNewham. Rebekah Dikeaged 14 attends LittleIlford School and received984 votes. The turnout of61% is the highest percent-age turnout for any YoungMayor election in the UK.A total of 53 young

people will form the YouthCouncil, who will supportand advise the YoungMayor and her Deputy.The Young Mayor will

have a £25,000 budget tospend on local projects foryoung people. Among the

achievement of previousYoung Mayors have beendelivering Newham's jointOlympic Stadium Bid toDowning Street, cam-paigning for young peopleto be involved in volun-teering opportunities dur-ing Games time and deliv-ering the Olympic Truce tothe United Nations.

Harrow Council appeals for ideas The new park will be

officially opened with aprogramme of live per-formances in August.These will be run byHarrow Arts Centre.The project is being

funded through the Mayorof London’s OuterLondon Fund which aimsto improve the fortunes oftown centres in peripheral

parts of the capital.A public drop in ses-

sion will take place at theentrance to Harrow-on-the-Hill station onJanuary 22 from 12pmuntil 6pm.At this event the proj-

ect team will be on handto discuss ideas, answerquestions and listen toideas.

Young Mayor of Newham elected

to give the organisation aplatform.The research also

found eight events weremoved off campuses fol-lowing complaints whileanother ten were can-celled.In other moves, 17

video or audio clips fea-turing the late terroristAnwar al-Awlaki, pic-tured, was shared online

www.abplgroup.com - asian Voice 19th January 201312 Media Watch

According to godman AsaramBapu the rape case victimshould have implored herassailants to spare her and,while doing so, taken a secondline of defence with a Saraswatichant. Shaken by the publicuproar, both men claimed thatthey were misquoted, that theirwords taken out of context, thenexplained that marriage was abinding contract with wives ashewers of wood and drawers ofwater and mothers to children.Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Dalleader Abu Azmi advisedwomen to “dress properly,” andavoid the streets after sunset,while BJP Home Minister inChattisgarh state, NankiramKanwar, attributed recentcrimes against women to “plane-tary positions.” He wasn’t onthe same page as Shakespeare’sCassius, who warned: “Thefault, dear Brutus, is not in ourstars,/ But in ourselves….”

The last word on the subjectbelongs, surely, to PresidentPranab Mukherjee, who,addressing the Uttar PradeshState Assembly, said: “A countrywhich cannot respect its moth-ers, sisters and daughters cannotbe called a civilized country.”

A country that is planning aMars space mission in 2014exists cheek by jowl with super-stition and reaction of the deep-est dye. Not pleasant to the eyeor ear, perhaps, but a damningreality for sure.

Drawing the red lines

Where does freedom end andlicence begin? You may well ask.Britain has shown the way withlegislation which makes ethnicor religious incitement a crimi-nal offence. A few years ago, aJamaican convert to Islam inLondon was put behind bars forappealing to the faithful to killJews and Hindus, served his jailsentence in the UK, promptlydeported to Jamaica. Not so inIndia, Akbaruddin Owaisi, hav-ing made an inflammatory anti-Hindu speech in Hyderabad,was allowed to depart for theUK. Public outrage forced theAndhra Pradesh to bestir itselfand arrest Mr Owaisi followinghis return to the city. Mr Owaisi,a member of the Islamist Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM),happens also to be a member ofthe State Legislative Assembly(MLA).

Meanwhile, in Amritsar, afunction was held in the SikhGolden Temple, in which theJathedar of the Akal Takht,Giani Gurbachan Singh, hon-oured the relatives of IndiraGandhi’s assassins, The func-tion was held on the 24thanniversary of Satwant Singh’sand Kewal Singh’s hanging. Thetop leadership of the ShiromaniGurdwara ParbhandakCommittee (SGPC) and the rul-

ing Akali Dal prudently stayedaway, it was a sorry sight. Thebusiness of any state, one wouldlike to think, is to earn the citi-zen’s respect as the upholder ofthe law, not court popularitywith the mob and the undeserv-ing. (Times of India, HinduJanuary 9,7).

Not cricket, but war

It wasn’t cricket, and it wasn’tthe gentlemanly thing to do. APakistani army unit, takingadvantage of heavy fog, crossedthe Jammu and Kashmir borderand attacked an Indian militaryoutpost, killing two jawans, one

of whom was decapitated, thesevered head carried off as a tro-phy of war. The sheer brutalityhas sent shock waves across thecountry. The Times of India’sfront-page report (January 10)

suggested that India may beforced to “rethink the peaceprocess” but its craven editorialbleated continued attempts to

foster good will and understand-ing between the countries, acliché at the best of times, but aninsensitive pronouncement now.Weren’t we told several monthsago that restoring cricket tieswith Pakistan would lead to theroad of everlasting peace ? Ifcricket hadn’t stopped the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965, 1971 and1999, why should it do so now?Such shibboleths have beendoing the rounds for decades,even as the terror attacks onMumbai in March 1993 andNovember 2008 were beingincubated across the border.

Errors of policy

Former BJP Prime Minister AtalBehari Vajpayee’s journey forpeace to Lahore in early 1999was rewarded a few months laterby Islamabad’s military opera-tions on the Kargil heights; thiswas followed by the fiasco of theAugust summit of 2000 withGeneral Musharraf. The vapidpeace-mongering of the presentCongress Prime MinisterManmohan Singh has been noless disastrous. There is a lesson

to be learned. Sportsventures do not andcan not of them-selves reduce thetoxin of hate; other-wise the BerlinOlympiad of 1936would not have beena stepping stone to1939 and the SecondWorld War. No NaziOlympiad couldhave effected a rec-onciliation between

Hitler’s Germany and countriesopposed to its doctrine of racialsupremacy. Likewise, the found-ing principle of the Pakistanistate was hatred of India’s non-Islamic communities and its goal

ever since has been the destruc-tion of India. Cricket forPakistani rulers has been a con-tinuation of jehad by other

means. The Hindu (January 10)in an exercise of ritual breast-beating wailed that oneunnamed “provocations” alongthe Line of Control in Kashmirthreatened to derail the promiseof an enduring peace.Islamabad’s call for UN inter-vention was promptly (and sen-sibly) shot down by FinanceMinister P. Chidambaram withstern words of warning. Thiswas supplemented by Air ChiefMarshal NAK Browne’s no-non-sense message that enough wasenough, that other options wereunder consideration to forcePakistani compliance along theLoC in Kashmir.

Nobel laureate lauds FDI

Cambridge professor andEconomics Nobel laureate, JimMirlees, addressing the IndianStatistical Institute, Kolkata,said that allowing foreign directinvestment (FDI) in multi-brandretail in India and opening thesector to multinational compa-nies would boost the country’seconomy. “It seems to me thatIndian consumers are bound tobenefit from it,” he said, addingthat global retail giants wouldbring in value-addition once thesector was opened up. The titleof Professor Mirlees ISI talk was“A Good Tax System” (HinduJanuary 9).

Railway price hike.

It is to be hoped that after theten leans of no price rises thathas driven the Indian Railwaysinto the buffers, the price hikeannounced by Minister PawanKumar Bansal will herald theyears of the fat kine. These grad-uated rises will impact most onlong distance travel in the sleep-er class and first class categoriesand least on commuters on shortdistance urban or country trains.The much needed revenue of Rs6,600 crores will go some inhelping the modernization ofIndia’s rail network. Be that as itmay, for India’s opposition par-ties, the opportunity of playingto the gallery and demand aprice rollback was simply toogood to pass. Their marriage ofconvenience in parliament is parfor the course.

Science projects

Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director-General, CERN, (EuropeanOrganization for NuclearResearch, Geneva) made a pitchfor India’s associate member-

ship of the organization. CERNwas instrumental in the discov-ery of the Higgs Boson – an elu-sive elementary particle longsought after as the holy grail byphysicists. “This is the right timefor India to be a member ofCERN,” he opined. He wasspeaking on the sidelines of theHomi Bhabha session on “MegaScience and India” at the cente-nary celebrations of the IndianScience Congress in Kolkata.

Mr Dieter-Heuer arguedthat India’s associate member-ship of CERN (costing $10 mil-lion annually) would not onlyopen mega science experimentsto Indian scientists but alsoenable Indians to participate intraining and education pro-grammes at the CERN laborato-ry. India currently enjoys observ-er status at CERN. The proposalis awaiting Union Governmentapproval. According to physicistBikash Sinha associate member-ship of CERN would allow

Indian industry to bid for CERNcontracts in general and also inniche areas. (Business LineJanuary 5)

Kolkata is set to registeranother first with the UnionGovernment funding the estab-lishment of a Centre forExcellence in Space Sciencesunder the auspices of the IndianInstitute of Science Educationand Research. The centre isexpected to become operationalby the middle of 2013. (Times ofIndia January 7)

Finally, work is set to start inLadakh on the construction ofthe world’s largest solar tele-scope under the control of theBangalore-based IndianInstitute of Astrophysics. Solartelescopes are special purposetelescopes to study the sun. Thisunique project involves otherscientific institutions such asIndian Space ResearchOrganization, AryabhattaResearch Institute ofObservation Sciences and theTata Institute of FundamentalResearch.(IANS agency,January 5,Hindu January 7)

Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne

Bikash Sinha

Coffin of two Indian soldiers, killed by Pak soldiers and behead them inMendhar along the the LoC

Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director General CERN, speaking at the IndianScience Congress

The cold snap may have northern India in its icy grip, but nofall or rise in temperature can stop loose tongues wagging inseason and out on anything that catching their fancy. Godmenand plain men and odd men must have their say on mattersgreat and small as the Constitution of the land guarantees allcitizens the right to speak freely and think freely. RSS chief(and BJP mentor) Mohanrao Bhagwat told a reporter that theDelhi rape case was a demonstration that such things occurredin “India,” where urban life and “Western values” prevailed,while in the pastoral bliss that is “Bharat” crimes such as thesewere unknown. Phew!

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Times of India (ToI)online, dated Saturday 12January had an articleheadlined “Delhi gang rapeaccused lived on marginsof India’s economicboom”. The article showedsympathy for these animalsdue to their poor back-ground.I think a sympathy is

called upon for a numberof Indian politicians resid-ing in India’s current 552-member lower house ofParliament who are facingcriminal charges (includingrape). I understand thatthis has risen by about athird since 2009, all theway to 162. You neverknow they may have car-ried out their crimes due totheir poor upbringing.No wonder that the

current Parliamentaryreview on crime and pun-ishment for such vile andheinous crimes, such asdeath by hanging or totalsurgical and painful castra-tion is not an option fortheir consideration in thereview. Just as the famousand now forgotten “Hoo-Ha”, regarding the AnnaHazare’s anti-corruption

Your Voice

Composer Mychael Dannahas won the Best OriginalScore for the Life of Pi atthe 70th edition of theprestigious annual GoldenGlobes Award held in LosAngeles on January 13,2013. The film which hasalso been nominated for11 Oscars, has recentlylanded in controversy asthe Oscar nominatedsinger Bombay Jayashrihas been accused of copy-ing Pi's lullaby from aMalayalam classic.According to reports, atrust, named after 19thcentury Carnatic musicianRavi Varman Thampi akaIrayimman Thampi,alleged Pi’s lullaby is notan original composition,but a direct translation ofThampi’s classicMalayalam lullabyOmanathinkal kidavo.This was, of course,denied by Jayashri.Danna has beaten

Alexandre Desplat (Argo),Dario Marianelli (AnnaKarenina), Tom Tykwer,

Johnny Klimek, ReinholdHeil (Cloud Atlas) andJohn Williams (Lincoln) towalk away with the presti-gious trophy at the glitzy

gala on Sundaynight. He wasjoined by hiswife AparnaDanna, wholooked ravishingin an Indian sari.

Directed by Ang Lee,the film Life of Pi is basedon Canadian author YannMartel’s Man BookerPrize-winning novel of the

same name. The storyrevolves around the pro-tagonist, Piscine Molitor"Pi" Patel, an Indian boyfrom Pondicherry (a for-mer French colony),exploring issues of spiritu-ality and practicality froman early age. He survives227 days after a shipwreckwhile stranded on a boatin the Pacific Ocean with aRoyal Bengal Tiger namedRichard Parker. The novelis a work of fiction set inthe summer of 1977 thatdraws on places and his-torical events in India. Amongst other win-

ners, British singer Adelehas won best song for thetheme to the James Bondfilm Skyfall.

Life of Pi Director Ang Lee, with actors Tabu and Suraj Sharma

British singer Adele with her award(best song for the theme to the James

Bond film Skyfall)

Bombay Jayashri

(Jan Lokpal) Bill, I would-n’t be surprised that thisreview too will eventuallybe buried deep in theircesspool/pit, to save their

skin. What a “great”Democracy! Mera BharatMahan.

Mohinder MasterVia Email

Mera Bharat Mahan

Life of Pi wins Golden Globe Award

British public views immi-gration as the biggestproblem facing their socie-ty with one in three peoplebelieving that tensionbetween immigrants andpeople born in the UK is amajor cause of division, anew survey has found. A report by the think-

tank 'British Future', titled"State of the Nation:Where is BittersweetBritain Heading?", foundthat one in three peoplebelieves tension betweenimmigrants and people

born in the UK is themajor cause of division,while well over half regardit as one of the top threecauses. It, however, also sug-

gests people are, at heart,tolerant of those who

come into the country. Sunder Katwala,

director of 'BritishFuture', told the PTIthat the survey high-lighted a national anxi-ety about immigrationto which nationalpoliticians needed to

respond. MPs fear that as many

as 300,000 migrants couldenter the UK fromBulgaria and Romaniawhen current restrictionson their movement are lift-ed next year.

Reenu Punnoose

The High Commission ofIndia has revised the visafee for Tourist Visa andResearch Visa for all UKnationals with effect from17 January 2013. Allapplications sent by postor submitted in personfrom this date shouldinclude the revised fee.Interestingly, the officialnotice on the fee hike wasissued only on 11 January2013 and it is unclear whythe general public havebeen given less than aweek's notice regardingthe change in fee.The new fee for the

six-month Tourist visawill rise to £82.20 and theupto-two-year Tourist visafee will rise to £277. For

Tourist visas for morethan two years and up tofive years, the fee will riseto £507. Similarly, underthe Research visa catego-ry, the new fee for the six-month visa will be £32,and fee for the one-yearvisa will be £52. All thesefees exclude the addition-al £10.20 VFS ServiceCharge. The visa hike comes in

the wake of recent relax-ations in visa rules forBritish travellers to India.An earlier rule preventedBritish travellers frommaking individual trips inquick succession to Indiaand was recently relaxedby the Indian authorities.The Telegraph reports thattour operators like RajeevManral of Indus Tours

and Travel, an India spe-cialist, have strongly criti-cised the increase in visafees and fears it willimpact tourism. He said,"It's a case of one step for-wards, two steps back-wards. The changes to there-entry rules wereencouraging, but I'm surethis increase is going tohave a serious impact." Headded: "Visa applicationsare long and cumbersome,and most of the time thewebsite is not workingproperly. It is a waste oftime for travellers and fortour operators who offerto process applications ontheir behalf." India is reportedly vis-

ited by six million touristsevery year, including 800,000 from Britain.

India hikes visa fee for UKPassport holders

Immigration causing division?


Celebrations of Swami Vivekananda’s150th birth anniversary commenced on12th January 2013 in major cities:Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast,Birmingham, Leicester, Cardiff, London,Reading and Woolwich.

Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal isreached! An inspirational weekend for theHindus of the UK this week as theirHindutva was Awakened through theSV150 inaugural celebrations.

Encouraging the development of highthoughts the SV150 Committee UKreleased there their first book at the inau-guration function: Life and Message ofSwami Vivekananda.

It was very fortunate that at the Londonevent in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,addressed by Swami Dayatmanand-ji(President of Ramkrishna Mission UK), DrNanda Kumar (Director of Bharatiya VidyaBhavan) and Swami Niliptananda(President of Sewashram) launched thebook and presented it to the noble MP’sBarry Gardiner, Bob Blackman and LondonAssembly Member Mr Navin Shah. Thisbook was distributed for free to everyonewho had attended the event.

The programmes across the countrywere filled with: SV150 introductory video,plays, classical dances, songs, inspirationalspeeches. The programme in all cities wasthen concluded with an audio of the firstspeech of Swami Vivekananda in Chicago

A keen interest was taken by the publicto be apart of the regional and local initia-tives of the touring exhibition called:Vivekananda Exhibition on Ancient IndianCivilisation which is being planned toshowcase the important features of Indiancivilisation and his message in 100 places inUK, starting in March 2013.

Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversaryattracts 2000 people in major cities across the UK

Book launch by Nanda Kumarji of Bhavan, Swami Dayatmanandaand Swami Niliptananda

MP Bob Blackman addressing the audience

Chief Guest Swami Dayatmananda giving a speech Mr Dhiraj Shah VCP of SV150 speaking to the audience

Shivakuru Selvathurai, aHarrow resident for the last 11years has won the Harrow'sHeroes Award for the fourthconsecutive year. 66 years oldMr Selvathurai spends manyhours volunteering for the com-munity, caring for disabled peo-ple. He also regularly con-tributes his time to the PatientParticipation Group, atRoxbourne Medical Centre, atHarrow Museum and HeritageCentre and on Harrow Agenda21's environment forum alongwith many other communityorganisations. He also lent ahelping hand to the LondonOlympics as the gamesAmbassador and at a streetparty to celebrate the Queen'sDiamond Jubilee, and hereceived acknowledgement fromthe Mayor and PM for the for-

mer and Her Majesty the Queenfor the latter.

Mr Selvathurai told AsianVoice, “I am getting older andmay be in 5 years I won't be ableto do all that I do now. While Ihave the stamina and the energy,there is no better feeling thangoing to bed having done somegood in the world.”

“I came to Britain 11 yearsback and I wanted to repay thepeople of the UK and that ofHarrow, so I decided to do what-ever I could do to help out. Ienjoy every minute of it.”

Mr Selvathurai is also anmember of the Harrow BritishLegion, Friends of St MarksHospital and Moorfields EyeHospital, and has been a'Neighbourhood Champion' inWesley Close, South Harrow,since 2009.

Neighbourhood champion winsHarrow Heroes Award for the

fourth consecutive year

Shivakuru Selvathurai with his wife and daughter Anutha along withthe Mayor of Harrow, Cllr Nizam Ismail

Cricket legend MrMuttiah Muralitharanhas been appointed asthe international brandambassador by the SunMark Ltd.

Sun Mark Ltd mar-kets quality food anddrink products in over100 countries and itsbrands have becomehousehold names acrossthe world.

Mr Muralitharan,better known as Murali,said that he was delight-ed to be associated witha company whichbelieved in customercare and also markets

quality products at aprice that is right.

It is being hailed asan ideal partnership withMurali being the worldrecord holder for themost wickets taken ininternational cricket, arecord which is expectednever to be broken, andSun Mark which holdsthe prestigious accoladeof being the only compa-ny in Britain to have wonthe Queens Award forEnterprise inInternational Trade forfour consecutive years, arecord which also cannotbe broken in a hurry.

Cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharanto represent Sun Mark Ltd

Muttiah Muralitharan with Dr. Rami RangerMBE, CEO Sun Mark Ltd

India League to observe 65th deathanniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

The India League will be observing the65th death anniversary of MahatmaGandhi on Wednesday 30 January2013 at 11am, in Tavistock Square,London WC1 where MahatmaGandhi's statue is situated. Like everyyear, the event will have representa-tives/dignitaries from the Indian HighCommission and the Borough ofCamden, and other community lead-ers who will gather to pay their floraltribute to India's 'father of the nation'.It's a free event and members of thepublic are welcome to join.


Tanveer Mann

The horrific deathof a 23 year-old girl,who became a vic-tim of gang rape inDelhi last monthhas awakenedIndia’s politiciansfrom a slumber,which has made them unconscious when it comesto one of India’s most common crimes againstwomen up until now. The attack that occurred on16 December 2012 sparked massive protests acrossthe capital. A month on however, we ask, how muchhas the government done to stop similar cases fromoccurring in the future. There is a worry that thisrape case will become a thing of the past like manyprevious cases, when it should be a wake up call tothe politicians in government, urging them to takedrastic measures to stop rape altogether. According to the National Crime Records

Bureau, in 2011 alone, there were 24,206 rape casesregistered in India, not including the number ofcases that were unreported. Evidently, this is anextremely important issue; ensuring the safety ofIndian women is imperative, just as much as it is topunish the attackers. Simply giving the death penal-ty will not end future rapes; it merely placates pro-testers, gives the ‘impression’ of justice and maystop one extra attacker but that is it. Men in Indianeed to be educated from an early age so that theyare aware of the worth of women. Changes shouldbe introduced in schools across India to increasesocial consciousness. Entertainment should bemore severely age-restricted and a system should beintroduced that provides support to survivors ofsexual violence. Of course, families of victims of rape desperate-

ly want to seek revenge on attackers and, in theireyes, the death penalty or execution is the best pun-ishment. However, this does not stop future rapecases of women in the same area. People shouldfirstly begin to talk about it openly, instead ofregarding it as a taboo subject. That is the mostimportant step that needs to be taken before anyreforms, measures and changes are proposed. Thesocial stigma attached to rape needs to be destroyedand the only way that can be done is through opendiscussion in society.

Last night saw some of Hollywood’s finest exquisitelydecked out in a variety of beautiful outfits, for the70th annual Golden Globes 2013 ceremony in LosAngeles. Of course, it was all about the awards andwinners but the question of who was wearing whatalways seems to creep on to the most talked abouthighlights of the event. I’ve put together some of myfavourite looks from last night. What do you think?

Mu

SIC

FASHION

IN DEPTHTOP 25 ASIAN DOWNLOAD CHART!

1. One Pound Fish – One Pound Fish Man2. The Folk King – Various Artists3. The Ladies Anthem – Northern Lights4. Fevicol Se - Mamta Sharma, Wajid &Keerthi Sagathia5. Drama Queen – Bups Sagu (feat. DaljitMattu)6. Risk (feat. Nachhatar Gill) – DJ Sanj7. This Party Getting’ Hot – Jazzy B (feat.Yo Yo Honey Singh)8. Jee le Zaraa – Vishal Dadlani9. Saans - SHreya Ghoshal & MohitChauhan10. Hookah Bar – H Reshammiya, V Singh

& ATrikha 11. Kharku – Diljit Dosanjh & Tru Skool12. Yaarian – Manpreet Sandhu (feat. Dr. Zeus)13. Adhi Adhi Raat – Bilal Saeed14. Whatever – Foji (feat. Sudesh Kumari)15. Raatan – Garry Sandhu (feat Rupin Kahlon)16. Mashallah – Shreya Ghoshal & Wajid 17. High Heels – Jaz Dhami (feat. Honey Singh)18. Rani Tu Mein Raja – M Singh, B Pandit & Yo Yo H Singh19. Radio – Diljit Dosanjh & Tru Skool 20. Ishq Wala Love – S Ravjiani, S Merchant & N Mohan 21. Balma – Shriram & Shreya Ghoshal 22. Motorcycle – Jaz & Parv (feat. Miss Pooja & Nirmal Sidhu)23. We doing it Big (feat. Smooth & Raftaar)24. Lat Lag Gayee – Benny Dhayal & Shalmali Kholgade

25. Challa - Rabbi

Did you know..?There’s a naturally pink lake in Australia

called Lake Hillier.

Word of the Week:Clerisy: n. A distinct class of learned orliterary people

If you have any particular topics you would

like covered on my page, please let me know.

The Death Penalty isNot Enough

Upcoming

EvENTSThe National Wedding Show 2013

As the UK’s largest series of wed-ding exhibitions, the National AsianWedding Show brings together hundredsof exhibitors to showcase their productsand services. The event will take place onSunday 20th January 2013 at the HiltonBradford.

The Bhangra Showdown 2013 The Uk’s Biggest Bhangra Competition returns for its 6thshow to Hammersmith Apollo on 9th February 2013.

To find out more, visit: www.thebhangrashowdown.co.uk

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[email protected]

Jennifer Lopez in Zuhair Murad Heidi Klum in Julien Macdonald Nicole Richie in Neem Acra Taylor Swift in Donna Karen Megan Fox in Dolce & Gabbana

Julianne Hough in Monique LhullierJessica Alba in Oscar de la RentaHayden Panettiere in white Roberto Cavalli

Ileana D’Cruz ended the year2012 on a high note. Herdebut Hindi film “Barfi” notonly ended up as a commer-cially successful film but wasalso highly acclaimed by crit-ics, with Ileana’s debut per-formance coming for sky-high praise. She also man-aged to realize her long-timedream of debuting in Hindifilms and to her credit, heldher own in the film against anestablished hand likePriyanka Chopra.

Last spotted in Tamil filmsopposite Vijay in “Nanban”early last year, Ileana hadmoved lock, stock and barrelto Mumbai from Hyderabadapparently with an idea offurthering her career inBollywood. Ileana actuallydebuted as an actress in filmsthrough the Tamil film Kediwhich had Tamannaah play-

ing a negative role (it wasprobably her only and lastsuch role in films).

Ever since they starredtogether in Kedi, Ileana andTamannaah, both slim andsvelte beauties, have beenclose friends. Ileana admittedthis fact while speaking tonewsmen recently during hervisit to Hyderabad. “ThoughI live in Mumbai, my heartlies in the South Indianstates. I’m not a party animaland in fact, I avoid most ofthe parties to which I’m invit-ed. Whenever I find some freetime, I love to spend itleisurely in my home.”

Thanks to the success ofBarfi, Ileana has reportedlylanded up the lead in PhataPoster Nikla opposite ShahidKappor, which would keepher away from Telugu orTamil films for the time being!

Not many films released inKollywood make a record;some don’t even make animpression. But not“Thuppaki.” This very stylishfilm of Vijay, Kajal Agarwaland Vidyut Jamwal and direct-ed by AR Murugadoss hasgone beyond being a mega hitby reaching Rs 1 billion in col-lection!! Murugadoss is thefirst director to reach thismark in both Kollywood andBollywood. Kudos to thegenius! In Bollywood it was“Ghajini” and now its“Thuppaki” in Kollywood. “Atthe beginning of the film itself,we had decided it should be aflick that appeals to both massand class and that it should bethe highest grossing Vijayfilm. Luckily the festival sea-

son also helped us. Since theaudience’s expectations werefulfilled, the movie crossed 1billion,” said the director.

The very satisfied produc-er, Kalaipuli S Dhanu said,“Thuppaki crossed 1 billionin the first two weeks of itsworldwide release. Exhibitorscalled to tell me that theyearned in just a few days whatthey would have earned in ayear with this film. Now,Murugadoss is making aHindi film with AkshayKumar and when asked aboutthis he said with a smile,“Ghajini and Thuppaki werethe first to enter the 1 billionclub in Bollywood andKollywood respectively. Nowmy target is 2 billion with thisAkshay Kumar film.”

Tamannaah is my closestfriend: Ileana

‘Thuppaki’ reaches `1 bn mark

Dancer and Bollywood actress IshaSharvani is debuting in Tamil through thefilm “David” which has Vikram and Jiiva inthe cast. She who has settled in Kerala whilespeaking said, “I have donned a special rolein David. Acting with Vikram was a newexperience to me. Though I was living inKerala for the last 15 years, I will be actingin a Malayalam film only now. The reasonfor this is that I did not like the stories I gotearlier. I like to act in the roles in which oth-ers have not donned so far. That is the rea-son I select good roles and act in it. In oneway I am happy because instead of being adancer I have proved myself as an actress. Inthat way I am satisfied. I am interested toact in Tamil and Malayalam films but theroles should be good.”

I have proved myselfas an actress:

Isha Sharvani

16 www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 17

Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh, who worked withAmitabh Bachchan in “Aladin,” says he willdefinitely work with the megastar in “Kahaani2,” a sequel to his successful 2012 thriller“Kahaani.” "Yes, I can assure you that AmitabhBachchan will be part of ‘Kahaani 2’ in someway or the other. His blessings matter a lot tome. I can't see myself making any films withouthim," Ghosh had said. Big B had lent his voicefor the song Ekla chalo re in Kahaani. Thedirector says he will roll the camera as soon asthe script is locked.

Talking about shooting, he said, "In amonth's time... I am still scripting the film so Ican't say exactly when I will start shooting.The story will be a continuation from where wehave left Kahaani." He assures this time Vidya,who played the protagonist in “Kahaani” tothe hilt, will be seen in an action avatar. "Yes, Iam planning to make her do some actionsequence in Kahaani 2 but let's see how thingsshape up. It's going to be challenging for me toprove myself again, but I am not thinkingabout that at all. I am just hoping for the best,"said Ghosh. Ghosh made Kahaani at a shoe-string budget of Rs 8 million and thanks to theoverwhelming response; it changed the direc-tor and the producer's fortune by grossing Rs800 million at the box office. If Vidya Balanwas lauded for her stupendous performance inKahaani, she was aptly supported by the per-formances of Parambrata Chatterjee andNawazuddin Siddique.

Sujoy Ghosh keen to castBig B in ‘Kahaani 2’

Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta ranks high on thewish list of several actors. But when it comes to casting,the international filmmaker goes by her mother’s instinct.A source reveals that actor Ronit Roy who will play therole of Ahmed Sinai in her upcoming film “Midnight’sChildren” based on the Booker Prize-winning novel bySalman Rushdie was actually her mother’s choice, as shethought that he would suit the role perfectly. But thisisn’t the first time that Deepa has gone ahead with hermother’s suggestion when it comes to casting. "Deepa’smother is her secret casting director. Earlier too, Deepaagreed to her mother’s choice when it came to casting.In fact, it was her mother, who had suggested JohnAbraham as the lead for her 2005 film Water."

Deepa Mehta’s secretcasting director revealed!

Salman Khan, who is knownfor toned physique, goes fora vigorous diet to get back inshape. The actor is a regulargym freak, took little breakdue to his health problems,where he started to specialfood cooked by his mom.Apparently, the actor has totake a low-carb diet and hewould avoid taking food fromhome. Sallu Bhai will haveonly fruits for some weeks toget back his physique.

Vidya goesbold again

Vidya Balan ditchedher trademark sariwhen she stepped outfor Dabboo Ratnani'scalendar launch. Theactress was alsoseen with sindoorin her hair. Nayidulhan after all!In the calendarshe is seen in abold avatar.When askedabout it, shequipped, “I aman actress so Ihave differentavtars.”

Salman goes on a strict diet!

After being diagnosed withovarian cancer, Manisha Koiralaflew down to London fortreatment and has also startedher chemotherapy sessions. Theactress is very active to her fansin Facebook, messaging hermoments every now and then.In which Manisha has expressedthat she would write an autobiography, after returning toIndia. She also added that thisphase of life has brought outthe spirituality in her.

Actors Sidharth Malhotraand Parineeti Chopra havebeen roped in to star inKaran Johar's yet to be

named productionventure. The film will be

co-produced by DharmaProductions and

P h a n t o mProduction.

This isSidharth'ss e c o n d

film withD h a r m a

P r o d u c t i o n safter his debutmovie "Student OfThe Year." Sidharthis excited andtweeted: "Here it isguys, my second film!...really excited to workwith Parineeti Chopra,

Phantom and Vinil."

Manisha to writeauto biography!

She is just six-films-old, but AnushkaSharma has already worked with fourtop directors of her choice. She talksabout why she is glad she didn'tsign a Vishal Bhardwaj film earli-er in her career and being cooltreated like a regular guy by hermale friends... She says, “I got alot of offers after Rab Ne Bana DiJodi and most of them were of smalltown girls, which was not differentfrom my character Taani. They didn'texcite me. I was very clear from dayone. A lot of people came to meand advised me to sign lots offilms.

Six months after Rab Ne... Iwas sitting at home and it wasobviously not easy, especiallyafter you are launched in a bigfilm as mine. And thenBadmash Company happenedand it was completely differentand I just went with my instincts.“What I know is that I can act. Mydirectors have shown faith in meand offered me roles that requiregreat performance. And that is whatI am greedy about.

“Well, I guess there is nothingelse to talk about since I am notdoing anything wrong or saying any-thing against anyone. I am not creat-ing controversy so people think let'slink her up! Shahid, Arjun and Ranbirare all my friends and I do not knowthe difference between my male andfemale friends.

“I am pretty broad-minded and I amlike any normal 24-year-old. These guystoo treat me like a guy. If I had to hideanything I would do it inside my house,why go out with anyone in public?”

Ajay Devgn, who is all geared up for his next release, UTVMotion Pictures' “Himmatwala,” has put on his dancing shoesand this time it is to bring the most popular number ‘TathaiyaTathaiya’ from the 80’s back !! Directed by Sajid Khan, the duohas done everything to recreate the aura of the original songand give their audiences a chance to relive the magic which wascreated by Superstar Jeetendra and Sridevi back in the 80’s.

Devgn who is now quite comfortable with dancing wasseen enjoying the shooting and said, ‘It is one of the most pop-ular numbers from the 80’s. Right from the sets to the cos-tumes and the choreography, everything has been perfectlyrecreated.” When quizzed Sajid Khan about the comparisonwhich people would make between the original & his version,he said, “I want people to make comparisons because I have

done justice to the original. Of course, it will be unfair to com-pare Ajay to Jeetendra especially since Jeetendra’s image as adancer was strong at that time.”

Choreographer, Farah Khan, says, “I was not sure whetherAjay would be able to match Jeetendra’s steps, but the entireunit broke into applause after he gave his first take. UTVMotion pictures has acquired the rights of the original songfrom Saregama and they are delighted with the association. Infact, Head of Music at Saregama India Ltd, Adarsh Gupta saidthat “Saregama is looking forward to the association with ver-satile Director Sajid Khan and Disney UTV for their upcomingblock-busters. Together we will revive the very happening eraof music from the 80s." It is set to hit the theatres on 29thMarch 2013.

Hrithik Roshancelebrated his 39thbirthday recently. Hiswife Suzanne hasplanned a surprisebirthday bash for himin a yatch, near theGateway. Hrithikreveals that wasindeed a surprise forhim, as he got toknow about the planonly throughnewspaper, like others.On the day of hisbirthday, his wifesuddenly took him tothe place asking himto attend a friend’sparty only to realizethat it was indeed hisown birthday party. Hefeels blessed to haveall the friends whoattended the party.

Bollywood star Aamir Khanholds Amitabh Bachchanin high regard and says heneither sees himself onthe same platform as themegastar nor can he evercompete with the senioractor. Both the actorswere contenders on BigCBS Prime's show "India'sPrime Icon". While Aamiris out of the race, Big B isamong the top three iconsalong with politicianNarendra Modi and masterblaster Sachin Tendulkar."I don't even feel I am onthe same platform as him(Amitabh), I am not evenanywhere close,” Aamirsaid. The two actors sharea mutual admiration foreach other, haven't yetworked together in a film.

I can nevercompetewith Big B:Aamir Khan

Sidharth, Parineeti in KJo's next

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 201318

Financial VoiceDear Financial Voice Reader,

The start of the financial year is a good time torecognise what winners and losers do differently ininvestments. I took the trading data of 400 privateinvestors over a 4 year period and analysed it. Mosthappened to be of Indian origin. I wanted to knowwhat winners had in common compared to the losers.I went through every position (well the computer did)of every trader. Then picked out some winner andsome losers and try to work out what they kept gettingright and wrong. Or why winners turned to losers.(Losers never become winners). As far as I am awareno one has ever done this.

Here are some of the findings.Once a security risen 10% into profit, if it

falls back into loss, you are less likely to makemoney: Traders who saw a stock rise 10%, rarelymade money, if they then held onto it whilst it slippedinto a loss. Winners did not let winning trades becom-ing losing trades.

Some make money that are right only 4 timesout of 10: Some winning traders made money despitebeing right less than half the time. They did thisbecause the amount they won when they were rightwas more than the amount they lost when they werewrong. Put another way, soon after their positionswere in a loss, they exited and did not hang around forthe trade to turn into a longer term profit. If they tend-ed to hold winning trades for, say, 25 days, then theydid not hold losing trades longer than the average peri-od.

Forex traders were particularly successful –trend following and reverse trends: Those tradingthe foreign exchange markets were particularly likelyto be profitable and successful of the batch I observed.This is not to say those buying and holding stocks forthe long term are not profitable, it’s just that the audi-ence being observed was one of active traders. So outof those why should foreign exchange trading workwell? It appears that one reason is that such marketsoften ‘trend’ ie move in one smooth direction and thenreverse.

This is not a hard and fast rule – but relative toequities it has been noticed by many traders. This mayhelp such traders make money. Of course it could bethey are better – but it appeared from the trades I saw,they captured trends and those trends existed, ratherthan with those trading other securities. One exceptionwas commodities. Those traders did well too, but alsooften due to wild swings, in losing periods, gave backgains.

Those who bet small amounts, but did moretrades, were more profitable than those tradingbig size but infrequently: We found winners did notmake big bets. But rather their risk was limited, it’s justthat when they found that 1 or 2 trades in a hundredwhich kept on winning, they were able to hang on tothem.

Alpesh Patelwww.investingbetterblog.com

India's exports fell almost2% to $24.9 billion inDecember, contracting forthe eighth straight month,as demand in the US andEurope remained weak. Butwith imports rising 6.3% to$42.5 billion, the tradedeficit widened to $17.7 bil-lion, adding to the concernsover the current accountdeficit.

The government, how-ever, saw a silver lining inthe pace of contractionslowing down in December,raising hopes of a reboundduring the last quarter ofthe current financial year.

Commerce secretary S RRao said the fall in exportswas slightly arrested and

"with a new set of incen-tives, which we came intoforce from January 1, weexpect that in the currentquarter (January-March2013), there will be a fur-ther improvement in theexport performance".

He said world trade hadnot performed well in 2012and the year was the "worst"in terms of global trade. "Ifwe look at the WTO fore-cast for 2012, initially theyforecast that world tradewill grow by 3.9% but thathas been scaled down thriceand it ended with 2.5%. The2012 rate of growth in theworld trade has been lessthan half of past 20 yearaverage," Rao said.

India’s exports fall for eighthmonth in a row, trade deficit nears $18 bn AirAsia looks for a partner to launch an Indian airline

Keval Dhokia

Indian steel-tycoon andBritain's richest personLakshmi Mittal, 62, andhis family, have spent$600m in an effort toreturn their primary busi-ness, the world’s largeststeelmaker ArcelorMittal,to profitability. The injec-tion of funds caused thefamily to lose three percent of their ownership,down to 38 per cent,despite spending $300mon new shares, because$1.7bn of equities issuedwere bought by newinvestors, diluting thedynasty’s holdings.

The firm’s share pricehit rock-bottom in May2012, lower than during the2008 financial crisis, as lastyear saw anaemic demandfrom economically uncer-

tain European markets andstagnating growth in China,culminating in lower steelprices, growing inventoriesof unsold steel, and weakerrevenues. By August theBig Three rating agencies,including Standard &Poor’s, had labelled thecompany’s credit rating atbelow investment grade or‘junk’ status.

In response to this tur-bulence, chief financialofficer and Mittal Senior’selder child, Aditya Mittal,36, has since implementeda de-leveraging planinvolving asset sales, a div-idend cut and this latestfinancing deal, to restorethe reputation of hisfather’s business. The dealreached $4bn recentlyafter the successful sale ofequities and convertiblebonds, exceeding an ini-

tially expected uptake of$3.5bn.

Lakshmi Mittal said ina statement to investors:“We have consistently saidthat reducing net debt is apriority for the company.This transaction, supple-mented by proceeds fromongoing asset disposals,the announced reductionin dividends and contin-ued cost-saving initiatives,will significantly lower our

net debt.”However, Reuters

reported that ratingagency Moody’s will bekeeping a "negative out-look" until ArcelorMittalde-leverages its balancesheet further, and both theglobal economy and steelmarkets improve.

In a further turn ofevents, Aditya Mittalannounced that the firmwas considering the pur-chase of a steel plant inAlabama from Germancompetitor ThyssenKrupAG. He said this wouldnot affect the firm’s Junedebt-reduction target of$17bn, from $22bn, butMoody's said more neededto be done to support thecompany's ‘junk’ creditrating, before any assetpurchases were to be con-sidered.

AirAsia plans to launch anIndian airline in partner-ship with a local promoteras the desire to earn sharein one of Asia's biggestaviation markets trumpsfears of a hypercompeti-tive industry full ofbureaucratic obstacles.

Two people close to thedevelopment said Asia'slargest budget carrier isexploring options to set upa company that will bemajority owned by anIndian promoter, prefer-ably a well-known busi-ness group.

AirAsia will hold 49%in the venture that willapply for an aviation

licence. The Malaysiancarrier has broached theissue with the VideoconGroup and the talks are ata preliminary stage, oneperson said. VenugopalDhoot, the chairman ofthe Videocon Group, con-firmed that they had beenapproached by the airline.

"They had approachedus. These were preliminarydiscussions. There's noth-ing I can say now," Dhootsaid. An AirAsiaspokesperson in Malaysiadeclined to respond tocomment on the issue.

Tony Fernandes, thepromoter of AirAsia, is aflamboyant businessman

with a taste for FormulaOne racing and football.He built AirAsia intoAsia's largest budget carri-er and stunned the avia-tion industry in 2011 byordering 200 A320 NEOs,breaking the record set byDelhi-based IndiGo thathad ordered 180 aircraftfor $15.6 billion.

Though initially notvery enthusiastic aboutthe liberalisation of FDI inaviation in India, he isbelieved to have changedhis mind recently. Hetweeted after a visit toMumbai that he is feelinggood about India, whichhe says will be a big mar-

ket for AirAsia like China. Fernandes is the owner

of Queen's Park Rangers(QPR), which currentlylanguishes at the bottomof the English PremierLeague and which he saysis his biggest worry. "QPRkeeps me awake at night,not the aviation business,"he said recently.

Fernandes' interest inIndia adds an intriguingtwist to the scrappy battlefor market share in Indiabetween low-fare airlinesIndiGo and SpiceJet, thestate-owned Air India, andJet Airways, which hasfull-service and low-fareoptions.

The revenue departmentlast week sent a reply tothe Vodafone's representa-tion on Rs 112 billion taxissue and also expressedits willingness to discussthe matter with companyofficials.

"Finance ministryhas replied toVodafone on tax case.The revenue depart-ment has written thatboth the secretary andthe CBDT chairmanare keen to talk to set-tle the issue," a seniorfinance ministry offi-cial said.

In its reply to the taxreminder notice sent bythe revenue departmentlast week, Vodafone hadsaid it believes it is notliable to pay tax for its$11.2 billion acquisition ofIndian telecom business ofHutchison Whampoa.

"Vodafone has replied

to this reminder, statingthat it continues to believethat no tax is payable onthe above transaction," theBritish firm had said in itsreply to the revenue depart-ment's reminder notice.

The tax case relates tocapital gains tax arisingfrom the sale of telecombusiness by Hong Kong-based HutchisonWhampoa that involvedIndian assets to Vodafonein 2007. The reminder didnot include any deadlinefor payment of the tax.The Income Tax depart-

ment on October 22, 2010passed an order determin-ing a tax liability (includ-ing interest) of Rs 112.18billion on Vodafone for thedeal which took place inCayman Islands in 2007.

The SupremeCourt, however,quashed the order inJanuary 2012. Afterthe apex court's rul-ing, the Income TaxAct was amendedwith retrospectiveeffect to bring intothe tax net suchoverseas merger and

acquisition deals thatinvolve Indian assets.

Section 119 of thefinance Act, 2012, seeks tovalidate the October 2010order of the Income Taxdepartment. The depart-ment had also passed anorder imposing a penalty ofRs 79 billion on Vodafonein April, 2011.

Revenue dept keen to discusstax case of Vodafone A sudden bonanza greeted

travellers in India as com-peting airlines slashed one-way domestic airfares tomost destinations to Rs2,100. The unexpectedreduction caused a madrush to online travel portals,with people scampering tobook tickets while the seatsand the low fares lasted.

Airlines' officials clari-fied that the fares werelowered for a few seats onevery flight betweenFebruary and April. Also,reservations have to bemade by January 13.Nevertheless, the 40-50%cutback in ticket costsproved to be considerableand a major lure.

Round-trip fares fromMumbai to Delhi weretrimmed from the usualRs 7,000-9,000 to aroundRs 4,000 from February 1to April 30. Tickets toother popular sectors toowere made available atsimilar rates.

Airlines slashdomestic fares

Lakshmi Mittal

Mittal family act to restorecompany's reputation

finAnciAl Voicewww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 19

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap A Property Investment

Company

Sometime in late 2011 we sourced a three bedroom property in MaidaVale in a purpose built block. The property was a duplex with a share offreehold. Strangely enough although the estate agents thought it was anex council, further investigation revealed it not to be so.

When purchasing another property previously in the same block oursolicitor dug deeper into the history at the request of the lender and dis-covered this block was made to house council tenants, but at the timethere was an over supply hence it was used for private owners. Thismeans strictly speaking it is not an ex council property. The significanceof this is huge.

A block at the bottom of Gloucester Terrace W2 known as GilrayHouse was formally an ex-council property, the majority of the tenantsgot together and purchased the freehold from the council, as you areallowed to under the legal process called collective enfranchisement,which gives you to the right to club together with other leaseholders tobuy the freehold for a fair market price.

When you analyse this you will find nothing has changed regardingthe property, the uplift comes simply from changing the label of a block.The property construction and the occupants are all still the same.

There exists a stigma which makes ex council property less desir-able, sometimes it comes down only to the label given to it. Often youcannot differentiate it from any other block. The reason for the stigmais that 'ex council' properties are perceived to be housed by the poorersection of society. This stigma is even institutionalised as lenders alsodiscriminate on this basis, assuming these block are predominantlyoccupied by immigrants, one parent families etc, however this is nolonger the case with Central London properties as the original inhabi-tants have long ago moved on, though they are still unfairly demonizedand consequently achieve a far lower price than equivalent private prop-erties, even though many are better maintained than private blocks.

From a yield point of view they produce a far greater income thanprivate properties due to the low service charges and long lease whilstattracting a similar rental to private properties.

This property was originally sourced for £325,000, which we knewwas very cheap for a three bed in this block. The property only requiredminor cosmetic work costing a couple of thousand pounds and it waspromptly let for £450pw to a group of foreign students. Since then theproperty has always been re-let within a short space of time.

It is our practice to get a valuation done six months after purchase,for the benefit of our buyers. The property was valued at £450,000. Tobe frank this seemed a little over ambitious, so we valued it slightlylower at £425,000. The date of this valuation was 8th May 2012. Giventhe property was purchased on 20th January 2012 at 41 BurlingtonClose W9 this represents a huge uplift given the time. Some clients havestated that the examples given seem to good to be true. Well for thedoubting Thomas a land registry search will confirm the purchase priceand date, and the property will appear on the Find A Property web sitewith an asking price of £450,000 shortly after the date of this article.

The property was purchased using a mortgage which had a veryshort penalty term, for only 6 months. Generally products like this meanthe arrangement fees are higher as the lender knows you're likely toredeem the mortgage early so they make sure they get their profitsupfront.

As the buyers had come in cheaply the idea was to refinance andtake the uplift out so they could replicate the purchase and buy anoth-er one. As the property was not producing too much income after themortgage and service charges had been paid they thought it more fruit-ful to sell up completely and try to replicate their original success.

The property was bought in partnership between two brother inlaws. One worked as a plumber and the other in a civil service job, bothon modest salaries. They realised if they did not do anything the timewill come when they will not be able to even send their kids to univer-sity. So they saw the benefit of investing in something.

The cost of everything is moving upwards. Simultaneously you'rebeing stripped of the services the country once used to supply freelysuch as education and health, so investing wisely and taking ownershipof your finances is not an option, it’s a must, even if you wish to justmaintain your existing standard of living.

Selling the above property for £420,000 will net them £70,000 afterexpenses, which gives them £35,000 each. They struggle to save even afraction of this in a year and they have done next to nothing in terms ofeffort to earn this amount of money. The property was actually offeredto another client first, he viewed it and then went on holiday withoutmaking a decision. It was then offered to the existing purchasers, these

Cashing In Your Chips!

The va lue of the f lat s in the b lock doubled over night . Three bedroom proper ties havesold there for £750,000.

By doing nothing people think they are sa fe, but this is an i l lus ion. If you 're not mov-ing forwards you ' re automat icall y moving backwards.

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now: Tips of the Week

0207 313 4595

55 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch Tower, London, W1H 7AA

Specialists inCentral London

Property Sourcing

clients have worked with us previously and have developed trust andconfidence in our recommendation. Without looking at the propertythey purchased it blind on our say so.

The idea behind selling this is to try and replicate the same formulaagain. Although we have informed them deals like this don’t come in ahurry at levels between £300- £500k in Central London. The chancesare they will be investing by grouping their funds with others to getstronger returns by buying properties worth around the £1m mark.

They feel the growth they have made on this property will not repli-cate itself the following year and so they wish to extract it and try togenerate the same level of return through another deal for this comingyear.

The property has been put on the market today with an aggressiveagent. I'm sure it will start attracting offers this coming month and willachieve close to asking price. Had this property been purchased prior tothe government's reduction on housing benefits it would have attractedrents of £820pw, this would have given the owners an income of£28,000 after all expenses. But this was a honeymoon period, and wasnever due to last forever. However even after a 2-year period of earningthis kind of income you have already made your money, as typically youhave got half your deposit back out of the property. Normally a£100,000 would be buried to purchase a property at this price, after twoyears you would have made £56,000 in net income.

The problem now is many landlords have had it too good and arehaving withdrawal symptoms. They believe their property should be get-ting more than the market will pay. The longer they choose to hold onto this outdated view the more money they will be losing. The currentrental returns are still very good touching 8% yield which is a solidreturn.

Coincidentally over the weekend I meet another couple of brother inlaws who wanted to invest and they have been looking in Kingsbury andthe surrounding areas. They have been looking for six months, over thisperiod they have seen twenty properties and offered on three, howeverthey have been unsuccessful in securing a property.

One of them commented the rates of growth I was talking aboutsounded 'too rosy', these were his exact words. I agreed, the situationIS rosy this is why many people all around the world are investing inCentral London.

He was complaining it is difficult to get hold of properties as all thegood ones seem to ‘disappear’. The reason for the time taken to get aproperty was partly down to his indecision, and partly the demand fromthe brown pound in these areas, which seems to have been unaffectedby the credit crunch. The property prices seem almost to be propped upby a combination of Indians and Sri Lankans. The English have longsince left this patch.

So I reasoned if these two races are pushing the property prices upin these locations, imagine what’s going on in Central London wherethe demand comes from 63 different nationalities from all around theworld. The price of anything is determined by simple demand and sup-ply. And the supply is further constrained in these regions by the strictplanning rules enforced in these boroughs.

The statistics speak for themselves, my suspicion is foreign money isbeing parked in London not for the growth rates, but for the securityagainst the financial turmoil going on around the world. There are norestrictions to foreigners buying in the capital, the increase in propertyprices is a by-product not necessarily the aim.

[email protected] www.sowandreap.co.uk

l The more motivated the seller, the better theprice! Anyone moving abroad, getting divorcedor going bankrupt will need a quick sale, whichis when you will get a good price. Always askwhat the reason for the sale is.

l The early bird gets the worm! More peoplelose money from not making a decision thanmaking the wrong decision when it comes toproperty investment.ets’ eyes and not yourown.


[email protected] Fernandes

In the US, PresidentObama has taken a majorstep towards immigrationreform by changing immi-gration policy in order toallow undocumentedimmigrants with familiesto stay in the US, and on apath to citizenship despiteopposition from theRepublicans. They willneed to return to theircountries to apply for resi-dency. Latino votersturned out in record num-bers in Florida andColorado and made itclear that they wantedchanges that Obama hadpromised in 2008 and itappears that he is now ful-filling those pledges.

In the meantime, inEcuador there has beenan influx of pensioners tothe city of Cuenca and iscausing concerns amongstlocal residents.

Canada has openedtheir doors to skilledtradesman, for exampleelectricians, welders,heavy-duty welders andpipe fitters to address seri-ous labour shortages insome parts of the country.

Russia has announceda reduced quota of work-ers for 2013, down by50,000 to 410,000. Thereare exemptions from thisquota for certain profes-sions, which include seniorstaff usually Directors andEngineers.

In Australia there is tobe a new visa option forinternational studentsgraduating in Australia tobe allowed to work forbetween 2 and 4 yearsdepending on their qualifi-cations.

In the meantime in theUK, we are awaiting thereport of the MigrationAdvisory Committee intoshortages. This will bepresented to theGovernment who will,inevitably, accept the rec-ommendations. Yetanother report has con-cluded that the number 1concern of the British pub-lic is immigration.Interestingly, however, itfound that the concernwas greatest in areaswhere immigration waslow, and lowest was inLondon where immigra-tion forms the highestconcentration. There isto be (yet) anotherannouncement of theneed for integration by theimprovement of Englishblah blah blah……

Maria Fernandes hasbeen in practiceexclusively in immigrationfor the past 25 years.Fernandes Vaz is based at87 Wembley Hill RoadWembley in Wembley andcan be contacted bytelephone on02087330123, by email [email protected].

ImmigrationAround the World

A study commissioned bythe government last yearon quantifying blackmoney generated in thecountry has estimated thatthe illicit wealth is likely toexceed 10% of GDP oranywhere above Rs 10,000billion, given the size ofthe economy.

The 1,000-page reportwas submitted to thefinance ministry by theNational Institute of PublicFinance and Policy(NIPFP) in the last week ofDecember. The financeministry is taking a view onit before deciding to table itin Parliament, sources said.

The study was headedby R Kavita Rao, head ofNIPFP's tax policy andresearch, and included for-mer director general ofincome tax investigationSS Khan. The report hasgiven sectoral break-up ofthe scope of black moneysuch as the real estate sec-tor, telecom, mining etc.

The last such studycarried out at the instanceof the finance ministry was

by NIPFP in 1984 whenthe latter had estimatedblack money generated inthe country to the tune of19% to 21% of GDP or upto Rs 360 billion.

After major ruckus inParliament and a civil soci-

ety movement, the govern-ment had in March 2011selected three thinks tanksto estimate the quantum ofblack money - NationalCouncil for AppliedEconomic Research(NCEAR), NIPFP andNational Institute ofFinancial Management(NIFM). The first reporthas been submitted by

NIPFP while officials inthe finance ministryrefused to disclose statusof other two reports.

The NIPFP had earliercarried out studies in 1976and 1981 when it had esti-mated black money gener-

ated in the country to bearound 15% to 18% ofGDP and 18% to 21% ofGDP respectively.

In a white paper onblack money tabled inParliament last year, thenfinance minister PranabMukherjee had listed taxevasion through transferpricing as one of the majorareas of generation of

black money. He had saidit was largely invisible tothe public and difficult andexpensive for tax officersto detect. The white paperhad quoted a private studyreport saying "developingcountries may be losingover $160 billion of taxrevenues a year, primarilythrough transfer pricingstrategies".

The white paper hadsaid, "The illicit moneytransferred outside Indiamay come back to Indiathrough various methodssuch as hawala, mispricing,foreign direct investment(FDI) through beneficialtax jurisdictions, raising ofcapital by Indian compa-nies through global deposi-tory receipts (GDRs) andinvestment in Indian stockmarkets through participa-tory notes."

Tabled in May 2012, thewhite paper had said it wasquite possible that a largeamount of money trans-ferred outside India mightactually have returnedthrough these means.

Stating that India's GrossDomestic Product (GDP)growth and risk appetitemay lag expectations,Citigroup Global cutIndia's rating from'Neutral' to 'Underweight'.

Citigroup sees BSESensex rising by 7% morefrom current levels in2013, with a target of20,800. "Indian marketwill be led by earnings pershare (EPS) growth in2013, not PE expansion,"the bank said. More gov-ernment reform action,along with easing inflationand falling interest ratesshould support equities,added the bank.

The group favourscyclical stocks to defen-sives in the Indian market.

Earlier this week, Fitchhad also said that Indiamay face a credit ratingsdowngrade in the next 12-24 months. The recentmacroeconomic trendshave been disappointing, aFitch analyst had said.

Last month, global rat-ing agency Fitch hadwarned that policy slip-page, fiscal loosening inthe run-up to 2014 generalelections and weak growthcould force a downgradeof India's credit rating. It

had pegged India's growthfor the current financialyear at 6%.

"Our affirmation of the'BBB-' rating in Junereflected India's diversifiedeconomy and high domes-tic savings... Policy slip-page and/or mounting evi-dence of a structuraldecline in the trend growthrate, such as protracted rel-atively weak economicdata, could cause the rat-ings to be downgraded,"Fitch had said.

Standard & Poor's hadalso warned that India stillfaced one-in-three chanceof downgrade in its sover-eign rating to junk gradeover the next 24 monthsciting high fiscal deficitand debt burden, but rival

Moody's said the country'sgrowth prospects for 2013have improved.

"A downgrade is likelyif India's economic growthprospects dim, its externalposition deteriorates, itspolitical climate worsens,or fiscal reforms slow," theS&P had said in a state-ment.

"High fiscal deficits anda heavy debt burdenremain the most significantrating constraints" it said.

The ratings agency hadin April cut the outlook onIndia's BBB- rating, lowestinvestment grade, to nega-tive from stable, assigningone in three chance of adowngrade to belowinvestment grade over thenext two years.

Kingfisher Airlines'planned investment of Rs6.5 billion as part of a planto return the airline to theskies is not enough torestart operations at thetroubled carrier, a senioraviation regulatory offi-cial said.

Kingfisher, whichlost its operating licenceat the end of 2012 andhas not flown since thestart of October, is esti-mated to owe $2.5 bil-lion in debt to banks, staff,vendors and others and isscrabbling to find newinvestors.

The revival plan, whichKingfisher Chairman VijayMallya filed last monthwith the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation

(DGCA), may not guaran-tee a reliable service, asenior official at the regu-lator with direct knowl-edge of the plan said in abriefing.

"There are a lot ofissues regarding lenders,staff payment which wefelt may not lead to reli-able services. The plan hasno provision for airportdues. There should be noinconvenience to passen-gers," said the source, who

declined to be named.Mallya wrote in a letter

to Kingfisher staff that therevival plan would befunded by the airlines' par-ent UB Group and would

involve using sevenplanes for the start ofthe summer season.

Kingfisher, onceIndia's second-largestairline, has tried unsuc-cessfully for over a yearto bring in newinvestors. The airline

held talks with Gulf carri-er Etihad Airways inDecember, sources said,which did not lead to aninvestment. DGCA sus-pended the airline's licenceto fly in October aftermonths of cancelled flightsand staff walkouts.

Kingfisher revival plan not enoughto restart operations – official Infosys raised eyebrows

with a surprisingly strongshow in the third quarterand confounded analysts'prognostications thatIndia's second-largest soft-ware firm would deliveranother quarter of disap-pointing performance andlower its revenue guidancefor the fiscal.

Beating the low expec-tations - set by perform-ance in the recent past andmanagement commentary- resulted in theBangalore-based firm'sstock vaulting by 17 percent on Friday, its biggestsingle-day jump in nearlytwo decades. For all theexcitement on the stockmarket, Infosys' revenuegrowth forecast wasunchanged at 5 per cent.

Infosys' Q3 resultsbeat expectations

Having already investedRs 880 billion in Gujaratso far, Essar Group willmake a fresh investment ofRs 140 billion in the state'sport sector and water sup-ply projects, the compa-ny's chairman Shashi Ruiasaid last week.

"I am pleased toannounce that Essar willinvest further Rs 140 bil-lion in the port sector andwater supply projects,"Ruia said at the sixth edi-tion of “Vibrant Gujarat”in Gandhinagar.

Of the proposed freshoutlay, he said, Rs 100 bil-lion will be invested todevelop ports in Hazira andSalaya in Jamnagar capableof handling dry bulk, liquidand container cargoes.

"Further, we propose toinvest Rs 40 billion in bulkwater supply projects inthe state," Ruia added.

The fresh investmentswill have the potential togenerate 15,000 jobsdirectly and indirectly aswell as form a critical partof the state's maritimeinfrastructure.

Ruias-controlled EssarGroup has a huge invest-

ment in Gujarat spreadingacross sectors such as oilrefining, port, steel andpower. In fact, majority ofthe company's investmentsare in Gujarat.

The group accounts for20 per cent of Gujarat'srefining capacity, about 20per cent of its power gen-eration capacity and 30per cent of port capacity.Essar's 10 million tonneper annum steel plant isalso located in Gujarat.

Congratulating Modifor his recent electoralsuccess, Ruia said Modihas "once again provedthat good economics canco-exist with good politics.Under Modiji's leadership,Gujarat will surely remaina torch bearer for the eco-nomic growth of the coun-try. He is a man with avision. He is a man with amission. He is a man witha conviction," Ruia said.

Citigroup cuts India's rating from'Neutral' to 'Underweight'

Essar to invest Rs140 billion inGujarat's port sector, water projects

finAnciAl voicewww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 21

GBP - INR = 87.62

USD - INR = 54.61

EUR - INR = 72.76

GBP - USD = 1.60

GBP - EUR = 1.20

EUR - USD = 1.33

GBP - AED = 5.89

GBP - CAD = 1.58

GBP - NZD = 1.91

GBP - AUD = 1.52

GBP - ZAR = 14.06

GBP - HUF = 354.30

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WeeklyCurrenciesAs of Tuesday

15th January 2013 @ 2.30pm

Concerns over the growthprospects of the UK economycaused sterling to flounderagainst many of its peers lastweek, with the most notablemove against the euro, where wesaw prices reach a nine monthlow.

International Monetary Fundchief Christine Lagarde told theBBC on Monday that growthshould return to the Eurozone in2013. Christine Lagarde’s com-ments follow ECB presidentMario Draghi's declarationsmade last week that the toughestmoments for the area havealready been overcome.Christine Lagarde reassuredinvestors by expressing her con-fidence that the Eurozone willstart to recover from the crisisthis year. She pointed to theprogress in building the bankingunion and the successful imple-mentation of austerity measuresby the Member States as themost important factors leadingto the improvement in EU econ-omy.

Output from Eurozone facto-ries fell by 0.3% in November,according to the latest officialfigures from EU body Eurostat.The drop marks the third succes-

sive month of decline. The fallcomes in spite of analysts' fore-casts of a rise and means pro-duction is now 3.7% lower thana year ago. However, the pace ofdecline is slowing, andNovember's fall compares to a1% drop in October. TheEurozone countries which sawthe sharpest falls in Novemberon a monthly basis werePortugal, where output fell3.4%, and Spain, which saw a2.5% drop. Despite the falls,which are an indicator of lowereconomic activity, analysts saidthere were signs that the worstwas over.

Expiring this month, it isbelieved that Bernanke and hiscounterparts will prolong

Operation Twist, aninitiative designedto lower long-terminterest rates. Lowerborrowing rates spurboth investment andconsumption, whichwould aid the timidrecovery of theworld’s largest econ-omy. An extensionof the scheme wouldincrease the moneysupply; therefore

with speculation the Fed willpush its balance sheet to holdnearly $4tn assets, if correctinvestors are likely to sell theirdollars before the currencydevalues further.

Mario Draghi’s hawkishcomments last Thursday hasbeen crediting for decliningyields on respective govern-ments bonds in the euro zone aswell as easing market turmoil.The next focus for Europeanleaders will be the issue ofreducing unemployment inEurope, which is currently at arecord of 11.8%.

Spanish banks borrowedslightly less from the EuropeanCentral Bank in December thanin the previous month as Spain's

access to funds improved alongwith an easing of euro zonefunding pressures. Bank ofSpain figures showed localbanks borrowed 357 billioneuros ($476 billion) from theECB in December of 2012, a 2percent fall from 365 billioneuros in November. However, itwas still more than twice the 132billion euros taken by thelenders in December 2011.Spanish banks accounted for32.1 percent of euro zone banks'emergency borrowing from theECB in December 2012, the datashowed.

The US dollar saw someweakness during Asian trade fol-lowing comments by FederalReserve Bank of ChicagoPresident Charles Evans, thatthe central bank should keeppolicy accommodative to sup-port the economy and he expectsinterest rates to stay low until2015. US dollar buyers are pre-sented with an excellent oppor-tunity to take advantage of cur-rent rates, considering the nega-tive sentiment on the pound, asthe safe haven US dollar contin-ues to be sold off in the wake ofincreased risk appetite amongstinvestors.

UK Economy remains in Focus whilst IMF chiefChristine Lagarde sees Eurozone recovery in 2013!

Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX,

Currency Specialists.

Christine Lagarde

Islamabad: Pakistan's GrossDomestic Product (GDP)could raise by 2% per annumif they grant India the MostFavoured Nation (MFN) sta-tus, which could normalizetrade relations between thetwo neighbouring nations,according to study by anindependent organization.

Trade normalization withIndia can also add to nation-al funds by over Rs 470 bil-lion per annum in addition tobenefits of Rs 70 billion toconsumers in the shape ofcheap imported goods, butthis would require outsmart-ing smart Indian negotiators,the Express Tribune reports.

Dr Hafiz Pasha, formerfinance minister and vicechairman of the Institute ofPublic Policy said their organi-zation's research shows thattrade normalizations, com-monly known as granting theMost Favoured Nation (MFN)status to India, will also helptrim down inflation on theback of availability of compar-atively cheap Indian goods.

Pasha added that over aperiod of three years thecountry would achieve 700million dollars in annual

gains besides creating200,000 new jobs. However,in comparison with Pakistan,India will only gain 0.5% ofits gross domestic product(GDP). Pasha said thePakistan government shouldgo ahead with MFN status forIndia, but should get mean-ingful concessions whilenegotiating further reductionsin sensitive list maintained byIndia under South Asia FreeTrade Agreement.

In February last year,Pakistan had abolished posi-tive list containing only 1,956items or 27% of the allowedtariff lines with 1,209 non-importable negative list, only18% of tariff lines. The gov-ernment has not met its com-mitment of abolishing thenegative list by the end ofDecember 2012, citing con-cerns over the grant of MFN.

www.abplgroup.com - asian Voice 19th January 201322 Pakistan-Bangladesh-sri lanka

US asks Pakistan to ensureprotection of minoritiesWashington: Strongly condemning aseries of terror attacks this week targetingPakistani Shia Muslims, a US Congress-established body on religious freedomtoday asked the Obama Administration toimpress upon Islamabad to ensure protec-tion of minorities in the country. "The mur-der of innocent civilians because of theirreligious beliefs is outrageous and tragic,and we extend our condolences to theirfamilies," said Katrina Lantos Swett, chair-man of the US Commission on InternationalReligious Freedom (USCIRF).

Pakistani truckers of NATOgoods go on strikePshawar: Truckers who carry supplies toNATO troops in Afghanistan went on strikein northwest Pakistan to protest lower pay,inadequate security and corrupt officials whodemand bribes from the truckers. The sup-ply route is an important lifeline for interna-tional forces in landlocked Afghanistan. Thecoalition ships about a significant portion ofits non lethal supplies through Pakistan intosouthern Afghanistan. The other land routethrough northern Afghanistan, Central Asiaand Russia is longer and more expensive.The strike began last week in response tothe government's decision to require truck-ers to go through authorized companies tocarry NATO supplies instead of making indi-vidual deals with the government-runNational Logistics Cell, said Jehanzeb Khan,head of a transport workers union in north-west Pakistan. The companies pay the truck-ers less, said Khan.

Call to remove troops to save SiachenIslamabad: The India-Pakistan disputeover Siachen, the world's highest battle-ground, is a "waste of resources" thatcould be put to much better use, a leadingPakistani daily said, renewing a call for alltroops and infrastructure to be removedfrom the area. "Despite decades havingpassed, the two countries have beenunable to come to a comprehensive agree-ment on this barren wasteland," the Dawnsaid in an editorial. The Siachen glacier haslost 5.9 km of its longitudinal length due torising temperatures. The glacial ice masshas thinned by 17 per cent, the daily said.It would be pertinent, then, to renew thecall for all troops and infrastructure to beremoved from the Siachen area.

Violence may spiral inelection-bound PakIslamabad: Experts fear violence couldescalate in the run up to the electionsscheduled later this year and the proposedUS troop withdrawal from Afghanistan thefollowing year. The army's reluctance tolaunch anti-Taliban operation in terroriststronghold of South Waziristan borderingAfghanistan has heightened these fears. Theoutfit, with links to the al-Qaida, has carriedout dozens of attacks on the Hazara com-munity over the past year, but the recentbombings were the most devastating.

Qadri long march: 3,000 securitymen arrive in IslamabadIslamabad: Three thousand personnelfrom the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa FrontierConstabulary and Punjab police arrived inIslamabad as a part of the securityarrangements for the Jan 14 long march tobe led by the Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran(TMQ) chief Tahirul Qadri. The army hasalso been issued directives to remain onstandby in case of an emergency situation.

US drone attack kills 5 in PakIslamabad: A US drone targeted a com-pound in the lawless North Waziristan tribalregion of Pakistan, killing five suspectedmilitants. The attack occurred in Heso Khelvillage near Mir Ali, one of the main townsin North Waziristan Agency. The compoundwas destroyed. Reports said four missileswere fired at the compound. Nearly 40 mili-tants have been killed in five drone strikesin the tribal belt bordering Afghanistansince the beginning of the year.

In Focus

Islamabad: Lashkar-e-Taibafounder Hafiz Saeed, accusedof masterminding the 2008Mumbai massacre, said Indiawas trying to destabilisePakistan and predicted vio-lence in Kashmir regioncould get "ugly".

"We do not want any forceto be used or any militaryoperation for this. But theIndians are opting for theother alternative," Saeed saidin an interview.

Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the 1990s, themilitant group which Indiablames for the rampage inMumbai, where terroristskilled 166 people over threedays. He denies any wrong-

doing and links to militants.He denied Indian press

reports that he had beeninciting action against theneighbouring country justbefore the recent outbreak of

the worst violence inKashmir since both neigh-bours agreed a ceasefire near-ly a decade ago.

In the third fatal attack inKashmir this week, aPakistani soldier was killedon Thursday by "unprovoked"Indian fire, a Pakistan armyspokesman said.

He was shot while man-ning a post in the Battal sec-tor of Kashmir, which is splitbetween the two sides by aheavily fortified borderknown as the Line of Control(LoC), the spokesman said.

Saeed accused India oftrying to disrupt the peaceprocess with Pakistan anddragging its feet on the long-

standing issue of Kashmir."This is their usual prac-

tice. Betraying the interna-tional community and desta-bilising Pakistan," said Saeed."And that's what they aredoing this time." India hasrepeatedly called on Pakistanto bring Saeed to justice, anissue that has stood in theway of rebuilding relationsbetween the neighbours sincethe carnage in Mumbai.

India is furious thatPakistan has not detainedSaeed since it handed overevidence against him toIslamabad. Washington hasoffered a reward of $10 mil-lion for information leadingto Saeed's capture.

Islamabad/Karachi: Yieldingto protests over the killing ofnearly 140 Shias in Quetta,Pakistan PM Raja PervezAshraf sacked Balochistangovernment and imposedgovernor's rule in the trou-bled province.

Following a major terrorattack on their neighbour-hood on Thursday, thousandsof Shia Muslims had refusedto bury their dead until theBalochistan government wasdismissed and the army givencontrol of Quetta. Acceptingtheir demand, the Pakistangovernment on Monday dis-missed the PPP-led coalitiongovernment for failing to pro-tect the minority community.

President Asif Ali Zardariissued a formal proclamationlate on Monday which saidthat a report from the gover-nor had made it clear that thegovernment of Balochistan

"cannot be carried on inaccordance with the provi-sions of the Constitution".

Following the order, theprotesting Shias who hadpicketed on the streets of theBalochistan capital with bod-ies of the victims, ended theirfour-day sit in protest andstarted burying those whohad died in the bomb attacks.

The order said governor'srule would remain in force fortwo months. PM Ashrafannounced the government'sdecision during a meetingwith Shia leaders.

However, the governmentdid not concede to a demandfrom the ethnic Hazara Shiasfor the army to be given con-trol of Quetta to improvesecurity and to carry outoperations against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. When Shia leadersrepeated the demand for thearmy to be given control,

Ashraf said governor Magsiand the civil administrationwill have the authority to callin the military if needed.

The death toll from awave of terror attacks byhomegrown Sunni groupsand a Baloch separatist outfitin Pakistan's restive north-west rose to 140. Refusing tobury the dead, Shiite Muslimleader Maulana Amin

Shaheedi challenged armychief Gen Ashfaq Kayani ,saying he had failed to pro-tect the minority sect. Thecity of Quetta witnessed theworst violence, with threeblasts targeting Shias, whohave in the past few yearsborne the brunt of the vio-lence unleashed by thePakistan Taliban and Sunniextremist groups inBalochistan, Swat andPeshawar . Two suicidebombers blew themselves up,one inside a snooker club andthe other outside in a car,within a 10-minute gap in aShia-Hazara community-dominated neighbourhood,killing 105 people andwounding 169. "They will notbe buried until the armycomes into Quetta." The deadincluded three journalistsand nine police officers,police and eyewitnesses said.

Hafiz Saeed

Kashmir violence could turn'ugly', Hafiz Saeed warns

Pakistan GDP could gain bygranting MFN status to India

Colombo: The Sri Lankanparliament voted by a majori-ty to impeach the country'sChief Justice ShiraniBandaranayake, beginningthe process to remove herfrom office. The impeachmentmotion was passed by a two-third majority with 155 mem-bers voting for and 49 againstit. It is now up to Sri LankanPresident Mahinda Rajapaksato take a decision if he willremove the country's firstwoman chief justice. The gov-ernment accuses her of cor-ruption, an allegation thechief justice denies. Recentcourt rulings said the processwas unconstitutional, and shemay refuse to leave.

Critics of the governmentsay that the top judge is beingvictimised and the independ-ence of the judiciary is beingchallenged. The governmentdenies this, the report added.

Parliament had decided tohold a two-day debate on thereport of a Parliament SelectCommittee (PSC), appointedto probe allegations levelledagainst Bandaranayke.

The PSC had run intocontroversy over its conductwith members being accused

of blatant bias. Key amongthe criticism levelled againstthe committee was therefusal to grantBandaranayake enough timeto present arguments on thecharges against her andcross-examine witnesses.OnDec 6, Bandaranayake hadstormed out of the PSC hear-ings saying she was not beinggiven a fair trial. There werealso allegations that she wasinsulted and called a "madwoman" by government PSCmembers.Citing bias, the fouropposition members of thePSC resigned after sevenhearings. But the governmentpushed through with thehearings, eventually findingthe chief justice guilty ofthree of the five charges thatwere looked into by the PSC.

Raja Pervez Ashraf

Sri Lankan parliamentimpeaches chief justice

Shirani Bandaranayake

Pak PM sacks Baloch govt after Quetta killings

US to speed up Afghan trooptransition, says Barack Obama

Rise of India, China will shake global order: US think tank

worldwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 23

19 children among 46 deadin China landslideBeijing: A desperate search for three peo-ple missing in a landslide in southwesternChina ended on Saturday when their bod-ies were pulled from the mud, taking thefinal death toll to 46 - many of them chil-dren. Authorities in Yunnan province saidthat the last three bodies were recoveredon Saturday morning after a night of franticefforts by more than 1,000 rescue workersto locate the final missing residents of theremote village of Gaopo. Those buriedincluded 27 adults and 19 children. Twoother people were hospitalised after thelandslide struck engulfing 16 homes, bring-ing a thunderous crash and throwing upthick clouds of dust.

Singapore’s 1st womanspeaker is a PIOSingapore: Indian-origin politician HalimahYacob is set to become the first womanspeaker of Singapore’s parliament nextweek replacing Michael Palmer, who wasforced to resign over his extra-marital affair.Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said hewould nominate Halimah as the nextspeaker when the House holds session onJanuary 14, 2014. Fifty-eight-year-oldHalimah, an Indian-origin Muslim, would beresigning as minister of state (MOS). She ismother of five and a former labour lawyer,is a member of parliament from the rulingPeople’s Action Party (PAP).

9 dead as Mideast batteredby hail, snow, rainRamallah: Abnormal storms which for fourdays have blasted the Middle East withrain, snow and hail have left at least ninepeople dead and brought misery to Syrianrefugees huddled in camps. Two womenwere found dead in the West Bank aftertheir car was swept away in floods, while a30-year-old man froze to death inTaalabaya. Snow carpeted Syria's war-torncities but sparked no let-up in the fighting,instead heaping fresh misery on a civilianpopulation already enduring a chronicshortage of heating fuel and daily powercuts. The Palestinian infrastructure isdeeply flawed and unable to handle weath-er like this.

Japan plans extra $2.1 bn inmilitary spendingTokyo: Japan plans to spend an extra $2.1billion on missiles, fighter jets and helicopters,as it tries to strengthen defence capabilitieswith concerns growing over a rising China.The cash injection over the next few monthscomes on top of regular military spending for2012-13. It is separate from a request for arise in the military budget for the next fiscalyear which policymakers called for.

30 die in Nepal bus accidentKathmandu (Nepal): A police official says abus veered off a mountain road in westNepal leaving at least 30 people dead andseveral more injured. The bus drove off thegravel road in a remote mountainous areanear Chatiwan village. It was dark and thearea was covered in thick fog. The busrolled about 300 meters (300 yards) fromthe road. Rescuers and local villagershelped the pull the dead and injured fromthe wreckage. Among the dead were 22men, seven women and a child.

One in 25 US teens hasattempted suicide: StudyNew York: About one in 25 US teens hasattempted suicide, and one in eight hasthought about it, according to a nationalstudy based on interviews with thousandsof teens. Researchers, whose findingsappeared in the journal JAMA Psychiatry,said those numbers are similar to theprevalence of lifetime suicidal thinking andattempts reported by adults, suggestingthat the teenage years are an especiallyvulnerable time. The results are based onin-person interviews of close to 6,500 teensin the United States and questionnairesfilled out by their parents. Just over 12 per-cent of the youth had thought about suicide

In Focus

Washington: PresidentBarack Obama has promisedto speed up a transfer of leadsecurity responsibility fromNato to Afghan forces thisspring, in a sign the pace ofUS troop withdrawals couldquicken.

After meeting AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai,Obama said Nato forceswould have a "very limited"role in the country after 2014and insisted that Washingtonhad achieved its prime goal of"decapitating" al-Qaida.

The leaders met at a cru-cial moment in the final chap-ter of a long, bloody war, andas Obama balances the futuresecurity of Afghanistan withUS combat fatigue and adesire to spend America'sdwindling resources at home.

"Starting this spring, ourtroops will have a differentmission -- training, advising,assisting Afghan forces. Itwill be a historic moment andanother step toward fullAfghan sovereignty," Obamatold a joint news conference.

Nato plans previously

called for foreign forces totransfer the lead in fightingthe Taliban by the middle ofthis year. Obama was carefulto stress, however, that UStroops will still fight along-side Afghans.

Karzai added that fromthe spring, "the Afghan forceswill be fully responsible forproviding security and protec-tion to the Afghan people."

"International forces, theAmerican forces, will be nolonger present in the vil-lages... it will be the task of

the Afghan forces to providefor the Afghan people insecurity and protection."

Obama, planning thewithdrawal of most of the66,000 US troops left inAfghanistan, said that after2014, American forces wouldhave a "very limited" missionin training Afghan forces andpreventing a return of al-Qaida.

But he warned thatKarzai, with whom he hashad a somewhat testy rela-tionship, would have to

accept a security agreement,still under discussion, granti-ng legal immunity to UStroops who remain behind.

"It will not be possible forus to have any kind of UStroop presence post-2014without assurances that ourmen and women who areoperating there are (not) insome way subject to the juris-diction of another country."

Karzai announcedprogress on another stickingpoint between the sides, say-ing the leaders had agreed toa complete return of deten-tion centers and terror sus-pects to Afghan control,starting soon after he returnshome.

But he would not bedrawn on the size of the for-eign troop garrison hebelieves is necessary to sup-port Afghan forces.

The White House hasordered the Pentagon to comeup with plans for a smallerfuture Afghan presence thangenerals had expected, per-haps numbering 3,000, 6,000or 9,000 US troops.

Washington: The rise ofChina and India as majorworld powers and how theyview their relationship withthe West promises to test theestablished global order,according to a US think tank.

In the coming decades,"as the two powers grow, theyare bound to change the cur-rent international system -with profound implicationsfor themselves, the US, andthe world," says a new publi-cation of the CarnegieEndowment for InternationalPeace.

"And whether they agreeon the changes to be made,especially when it comes totheir relationship with theWest, will influence the sys-tem's future character," says

the publication, "Crux ofAsia: China, India, and theEmerging Global Order".

A close examination ofChinese and Indian perspec-tives on the fundamentals ofthe emerging internationalorder reveals that India-China differences on manyissues of both bilateral andglobal significance are stark,it says.

"China and India's sus-tained economic growth fuelstheir increasing geopoliticaland military influence," saysthe publication edited byAshley J. Tellis, a senior asso-ciate, and Sean Mirski, a jun-ior fellow respectively in theCarnegie South AsiaProgramme.

Despite their develop-

mental similarities, Chinaand India's bilateral strategicrivalry means that they havecompeting priorities on mostmajor global issues, the pub-lication says.

Sino-Indian differencesare considerable on issuesrelating to the nonprolifera-tion system, Asian security,regional stability in SouthernAsia, and security in the mar-itime commons, space, andcyberspace, it says.

But the two rising powersbroadly agree on mattersrelating to the internationaleconomic system, energysecurity, and the environ-ment.

"Because of its ongoingshift to the Asia-Pacific andstatus as the only global

superpower, the US mustmanage a complex set of rela-tionships with China andIndia, which are at timesworking at cross-purposes,"the publication says.

Both China and Indiawant a stable Asia-Pacificthat will allow them to sus-tain their economic prosperi-ty, but they perceive threatsvery differently and havedivergent priorities.

"Importantly, India seeksa resolute American presencein the region to hedge againstpossible Chinese excesses,while China sees the US assignificantly complicating itspursuit of its regional goalsand worries about Americancontainment attempts," thepublication says.

Hamid Karzai with Barack Obama

Beijing: In the midst of mar-itime tensions with severalneighbours, China for thefirst time has published mapsof over 130 islands of SouthChina Sea as well as the dis-puted islands with Japan link-ing them with the Chinesemainland on an equal scale.

The new vertical-formatmaps of China, published bySinomaps Press, includemore than 130 islands andislets in the South China Sea,most of which have not beenfeatured on previous maps ofChina, the NationalAdministration of Surveying,Mapping andGeoinformation (NASMG)said. Vietnam, Philippines,Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwanstrongly contest China’sclaims on the South ChinaSea islands.

Publication of Map withChinese claims in e-passportshave already drawn strongreactions from Vietnam and

Philippines. The old maps,which were in horizontal for-mat, only featured biggerislands such as the Xisha,Zhongsha and Nanshaislands called by Vietnam asParacel islands.

The new vertical mapshave marked clearly themajor South China Seaislands and demonstratedtheir geographic relationswith surrounding islandcountries as well as sur-rounding islands and islets,Xu Gencai, chief editor ofSinomaps Press said.

In the bottom-left corner,there is also a zoomed illus-tration of the Diaoyu Islandscalled Senkaku islands byJapan, displaying their posi-tional relations and those oftheir affiliated islets with theChinese mainland andTaiwan. The new maps willnot be available to the publicuntil the end of January, theXinhua report said.

Beijing claims disputedislands as its own on map

Beijing: The booming tradehas spawned several populartattooing subjects like pic-tures of celestial beauties,dragons and snakes, tigerface and faces of lovers of tat-too wearers.

China's tattoo artists areinscribing pictures of Hindugod Ganesha as the fashionfor tattooing the entire bodyis spreading fast in the coun-try. Reflecting this trend,Beijing-based Global Timesdaily carried a picture ofGanesha inked on the back ofa tattoo enthusiast.

The booming trade hasspawned several popular tat-tooing subjects like pictures ofcelestial beauties, dragons andsnakes, tiger face and faces oflovers of tattoo wearers. Butthe use of Ganesha in the athe-ist country suggests increasinginterests in Hinduism amongyouth, observers said.

There are nearly 300,000tattoo shops in China with

over 2,000 of them being inBeijing alone, according to FuHailin, director-general of theChina Association of TattooArtists. "But I can say that 90%or more are not qualified," thepaper quoted Fu as saying.

Tattooing, which had beenbanned over the past decades,is now being allowed with theministry of human resourcesand social security and theChina Hairdressing & BeautyAssociation issuing work per-mits to the artists since lastmonth. Candidates need topass an examination to testtheir knowledge concerninghealth and sterilization toobtain a permit.

Ganesha being inked inbody tattoos in China

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Delhi doctors help transplantlivers in PakistanWhen Pakistani raiders were fighting Indiansoldiers, a group of Indian doctors washelping their Pakistani counterparts to docomplex liver transplants in Lahore. Thedoctors from Delhi's Apollo Hospital spentlong hours in the surgery room of SheikhZayed Hospital during a four-day trip thatbegan on January 6. Since many Pakistanipatients are unable to travel to India forvarious reasons.

Malaria kills 20 times morethan what govt saysIndia will soon revise its malaria mortalityfigures, with the new estimates expected tobe at least 20 times more than what thehealth ministry portrays at present. A 16-member committee of the Indian Council ofMedical Research has found that the actualnumber of malaria deaths in India on anaverage would be around 40,297 — around40 times higher than present estimates. Onan average, 40,297 Indians die of the mos-quito-borne disease every year. Overall, thenumber of malaria cases is 9.75 million.

ASI in police custody for rapeAn assistant sub-inspector of police whowas arrested for allegedly raping a womanin Beniapukur area of the metropolis wassent to police custody till January 16. Amedical examination on the woman hasbeen conducted. The woman has given astatement that the ASI had raped her onearlier occasions also. Asked whether thewoman was mentally challenged, Shamimsaid, "Whether the victim is mentallyretarded or not will be decided by the doc-tors. We can't decide it."

Passenger rail fares to beraised from January 21The government announced an increase inrailway fares for passengers, the firstupward revision in nine years, which willhelp generate 66 billion rupees for thecash-strapped railways. The fare hike will beeffective from January 21.Last year inMarch, the government was forced to rollback the first fare hike in eight years, whichwas aimed at shoring up the finances of arail network whose dysfunction has becomea major drag on the economy.

Urvashi wins Bigg Boss 6,Imam wins Best EntertainerThe grand finale of Bigg Boss 6 that has beenrunning for the past few months on Colorschannel finally happened today and UrvashiDholakia was announced as the winner.Urvashi along with Sana, Imam and Niketanwere amongst the final four on the showtoday. From all of them, Niketan was the firstto be eliminated. Further Sana was declaredas the second runner up. While Imam hap-pens to be the first runner up, he also wonan additional prize of Rs 10 lakhs for beingthe Best Entertainer in the Bigg Boss house.

Militants kill anothersarpanch in J&KUnidentified terrorists killed a 'sarpanch'(democratically elected village head) inSopore district of the valley. In a critical con-dition, Mir was shifted to sub-district hospitalSopore where he succumbed to his injuries.The body of the deceased was handed overto his relatives for last rites. Terror outfitslike Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammadhad been issuing death threats to the pan-chayat officials, asking them to resign fromtheir posts for over a year.

25 killed in BiharTwenty-five villagers from Jharkhand, amongthem women and children, were killed andnine others injured in Bihar's Aurangabaddistrict when the truck they were travellingin overturned. More than 40 people, com-prising of labourers and their families, weretravelling on the truck when it overturnedinto a roadside in village of Aurangabad,they were returning home after harvestingcrops in Bihar's Kaimur district." Taking aserious note of casualties of labourers in thisaccident, the chief minister has ordered banon ferrying labourers on trucks in the state.

In Focus

Assembly elections in Tripurawill be held on February 14and in Meghalaya andNagaland on February 23 andtheir results will be out onFebruary 28, the ElectionCommission announced.

The EC also announcedbyelections to nine assemblyconstituencies in Mizoram,Uttar Pradesh, West Bengaland Punjab on February 23and in Assam, Bihar andMaharashtra on February 24,but their results will be outtogether on February 28.

Chief Election

Commissioner V S Sampathsaid with the announcementof schedule for the two-phasepoll in the north- easternstates and bypolls in variousstates, the Model Code ofConduct will be in operationwith immediate effect and ECwill keep a strict vigil on anyviolation of the code.

He said electronic votingmachines will be used in elec-tions to the three north-east-ern states as well as in bye-elections in the seven states.

"The Commission willdeploy general observers in

adequate number to ensuresmooth conduct of electionsand appoint adequate num-ber of expenditure observersand assistant expenditureobservers to exclusively mon-itor election expenditure ofcontesting candidates," theCEC said.

The notification forTripura elections will beissued on January 21 and forMeghalaya and Nagaland onJanuary 30. All the threestate assemblies have 60seats each. While 10 arereserved for SCs and 20 for

STs in Tripura, 55 assemblyseats are reserved for STs inMeghalaya and 59 inNagaland.

According to the pollschedule, the last date for fil-ing of nominations in Tripurais January 28 and after scruti-ny the next day, the last datefor withdrawal of candida-tures is January 31.

For Meghalaya andNagaland, the last date for fil-ing of nominations isFebruary 6 and after scrutinythe next day, the last date forwithdrawal is February 9.

Gujarat has topped the list of20 large states in terms ofeconomic freedom, gover-nance and inclusive growth.

“The top state in India in(terms of) economic freedomin 2011 was Gujarat. It dis-placed Tamil Nadu which hadbeen at the top in 2009,” saidthe report of ‘EconomicFreedom of the States ofIndia 2012’ which wasreleased by former RBI gover-nor and present Rajya Sabhamember Bimal Jalan.

According to the reportprepared by noted econo-mists Bibek Debroy, LaveeshBhandari, Ashok Gulati andSwaminathan Aiyar, Gujaratis followed by Tamil Naduand Madhya Pradesh.

The economic freedomindex, which is based on themethodology developed byCanada-based FraserInstitute, is an indicator ofeconomic governance, statelevel reforms and inclusiveeconomic growth.

Gujarat freedom index,the report said, has been ris-ing fast and estimated at 0.64points, much ahead of TamilNadu and Madhya Pradesh at0.56 points. Haryana andHimachal Pradesh have beenplaced at fourth and fifthpositions respectively.

According to the report,West Bengal, Jharkhand andBihar figured in the bottomthree in terms of economicfreedom index for 2011.

The median score for eco-nomic freedom of all states,which had declined from 0.38in 2005 to 0.36 in 2009, hasimproved substantially to0.41 in 2011.

The biggest improvementhas been registered byMadhya Pradesh with free-dom index score rose from0.42 in 2009 to 0.56 in 2011enabling it to move up fromsixth to third position.

The economic freedomreport said that the biggestdecline in index was recordedby Jharkhand which slumpedfrom 8th position to 19th spot.

As many as eight statesregistered decline in theirranks. These include some ofthe most industrialised states

like Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra and AndhraPradesh, it said.

In over long-time horizon,it added, Punjab has fallen ineconomic freedom rankingfrom 6th position in 2009 to12th place in 2011.

The report, which has aspecial reference to labourissues, said that lack oflabour sector reforms washampering economic freedomand growth.

The states with bestlabour regulation wasMaharashtra followed byKarnataka and Punjab, whilethe states with worst trackrecord of labour reforms wereWest Bengal, Kerala, UttarPradesh and Assam.

Gujarat tops economic freedomindex, displaces Tamil Nadu

India has denied award-win-ning British journalistYvonne Ridley a visa. Shewas scheduled to address theSpring of Islam conferencebeing held in Hyderabad bythe Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.

The London-based jour-nalist, who was captured bythe Taliban on an undercoverassignment in

Afghanistan in 2001 andconverted to Islam after herrelease in 2003, was toaddress various sessions atthe three-day conference,which began on Friday.

"The Indian governmentis refusing to give me a con-ference visa to address50,000 women in Hyderabadabout women's rights ... Iwould have thought after thecatastrophic handling of theDehli rape case, politicianswould be more sensitive, butit seems not. We women con-tinue to be sidelined andtreated as second class citi-zens," she said in her post onFacebook.

Ridley, through videoconference, addressed threesessions of girls, women andjournalists.

"The Indian governmentknows how powerful wordsare. That is why I am sittingin the UK today talking toyou instead of being with youto deliver this speech in per-son," she said, addressing the

session of journalistsSaturday.

Khalid Mubashir-ul-Zafar, president of Jamaat-e-Islami's Hyderabad unit, saidRidely was given all neces-sary clearances by the exter-nal affairs ministry, but wasdenied visa in the last minutebecause of the tense situationin Hyderabad.

There was tension in thecity Friday after a group ofpeople staged protests in theold city over the arrest ofM a j l i s - e - I t t e h a d u lMuslimeen (MIM) leader andlegislator Akbaruddin Owaisifor his alleged hate speech.

Ridley was also denied avisa when she planned a tripto Kerala in 2010 to address aMuslim women's conferenceorganised by the Jamaat.

India denies visa to Britishjournalist Yvonne Ridley

India and Bangladesh maysign a liberalized visa agree-ment and extradition treatylater this month when homeminister Sushilkumar Shindevisits Dhaka for threedayhome minister-level talksbetween the two countries,beginning on January 28.

The new visa agreement,called revised travel arrange-ments, will remove somerestrictions on visit of eachother’s businesspersons, sen-ior citizens above 65 years ofage and children below 12 --on the lines of the new visaregime between India andPakistan. “Drafts of bothrevised travel arrangementsand extradition treaty havebeen finalized. These aremost likely to be signed byShinde and his Bangladeshicounterpart M K Alamgirduring the January 28-30talks,” a senior official said.

Introducing time-frame forissuing non-diplomatic visa,simplification of multipleentryvisa for businessperson, ‘visa-on-arrival’ for senior citizensand children, allowing addi-tional entries for medical visa,issuing group visa to touristsand extending the duration oftransit visa are some of areaswhich may see changes in thenew agreement.

Though both countrieshave been working on signingthe extradition treaty for

long, the proposal of the newvisa agreement got a pushduring the home secretarylev-el talks in Dhaka in Octoberlast year. That move, inciden-tally, came over a month afterIndia signed a liberalized visaagreement with Pakistan.

The extradition treaty, ifsigned, will pave the way fordeportation of ULFA generalsecretary Anup Chetia andmany other northeast insur-gents who have been hiding inBangladesh. Similarly, it willalso help Dhaka in gettingback its criminals who are cur-rently lodged in Indian jails.

India has been pressingfor Chetia’s deportation forlong. The ULFA militant hasbeen in a Dhaka jail followinghis arrest in 1997 on thecharge of enteringBangladesh without validdocuments. He had, however,moved court seeking asylumin Bangladesh on securityreason, making it ‘legally’ dif-ficult for Dhaka to executeNew Delhi’s demand.

India, Bangla to signliberalized visa pact

Sushilkumar Shinde

Yvonne Ridley

indiAwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 25

16 more die due to coldwave in UPBiting cold wave conditions snuffed out 16more lives in Uttar Pradesh during the last24 hours as death toll due to the harshweather touched 249 this winter. Five people died in Gorakhpur which wasthe coldest place in the state yesterday, fol-lowed by four each in Farrukhabad andBarabanki, two in Sant Kabirnagar and onein Bijnore. Maximum temperatures werebelow normal by 5 to 12 degrees Celsiusover some parts of the state. Weatherwould be mainly dry over the state in thenext 24 hours and fog/shallow fog wouldprevail over one or two places in the state.

Man dies after being hit bycop's baton in HyderabadA 77-year-old retired government officialdied fter he was accidentally hit by a lathi(baton) thrown by police officer at a speed-ing motorist.Pratap Reddy, a retired officialof the forest department, succumbed to hisinjuries at a private hospital a day after hewas injured in the incident that took placeat Vanasthalipuram in the limits ofCyberabad police commissionerate.

Muslim panchayat bans cell-phone use by girlsAfter the khaps in Haryana and UttarPradesh, a Muslim community panchayat inRajasthan banned girls from using cell-phones and also from dancing and singingat weddings, ostensibly in an effort to pre-vent incidents like Delhi gang-rape. Boysand girls have also been prohibited frommarrying someone against the wishes oftheir families or someone from a differentcommunity, panchayat members said. Therestrictions have been imposed on theMuslim community members at Salumbartown in Udaipur district, some 400 km fromJaipur, by the Anjuman Muslim Panchayat,a minority community council. Fine ofRs.51,000 has also been decided for thosewho marry someone from a different com-munity," said the secretary.

Woman gang-raped inGurdaspur, five arrestedIn a case similar to the gang-rape of aparamedic student in New Delhi, a 29-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped byseven persons. The victim, a resident of aGhukla village under Kahnuwan police sta-tion, was on way to her village in a buswhen the driver and conductor kidnappedher and took her an undisclosed locationwhere they and their five accomplicesgang-raped her. The next morning, thedriver dumped the woman in a near hervillage. The SSP said five of the sevenaccused had been arrested while twounidentified persons were still absconding.The next morning, the driver dumped thewoman in a near her village.

Akhilesh visits Nirbhaya’s familyNearly two weeks after the death of 23-year-old victim of Delhi gang-rape, Nirbhaya, Uttar Pradesh chief ministerAkhilesh Yadav finally found time to visither grieving family members in their ances-tral village in Ballia. The CM reached themodest home of the family with a bankdraft of Rs 20 lakh, just a day before the‘terahavi’ (13th day ritual after death).Akhilesh’s visit occurred amid tight security,with police personnel deployed from otherdistricts as well.

No safety for women onDelhi roads: Supreme CourtHolding that there was no safety forwomen on Delhi's roads, the SupremeCourt Court said ‘We are failing to treatwomen with dignity, equality and respect."The observation came as the court issuednotice to the central government, theNational Commission for Women and theDelhi government's State TransportAuthority on a public suit questioning thevalidity of the two finger test conducted onrape victims. The court was told that theinvasive two finger test was against thedignity of women.

In Focus

Narendra Modi suggestsglobal forum for sharinghigher education and devel-oping partnerships betweenuniversities across the world.Inaugurating anInternational Conference ofAcademic Institutions (ICAI)in Gandhinagar, Modi said,"By organizing this confer-ence, Gujarat has created anopportunity for exchange ofknowledge."

Terming the world as aglobal village of knowledgeand technological develop-ment, Modi exuded faith thatsuch international conferenceswill provide a platform to theexperts of academics and will

create a bank of knowledgecapital for sharing of knowl-edge. "This conference will beinstrumental in preparing a

road map to turn this dreaminto a reality," he said.

Judith Wolfson of theUniversity of Toronto saidthat such events createforums for discussion andbest practices. Leadingindustrialist Sanjay Lalbhaisaid this conference is thefirst of its kind in the country.

The conference is beingheld at Pandit DeendayalPetroleum University campusas a part of Vibrant GujaratGlobal Investors' Summit-2013. Academicians from 260top universities and academicinstitutions are taking part inthe event to deliberate onvarious aspects of knowledge

sharing and mutually benefi-cial tie-ups.

Higher education insti-tutes of Gujarat, state gov-ernment run and internation-al universities signedMemorandums ofUnderstanding (MoUs) forknowledge sharing on theoccasion.

Meanwhile, at anotherseminar on export held atNational Law University,Modi released 'VISION-2020'- a document on export com-petitiveness of Gujarat. Hestressed on chalking outfuturistic export strategy thatcaters to demands of thefuture generation.

The Delhi Police tendered anunconditional apology toDelhi high court for not nam-ing in its report the copspatrolling the area in which agirl was gang-raped in a mov-ing bus. The Delhi Policehave now filed a fresh reportcontaining the names of thepolicemen who were presentat the time when the 23-year-old victim and her friendsought help. The court alsoasked the ministry of homeaffairs to consider raising thenumber of PCR vans toensure better safety ofwomen in the capital.

"Why only ACP, why notDCP, why not theCommissioner have been putto task?" a bench headed byChief Justice D Murugesansaid while expressing itsanguish over the non-disclo-sure of the names of police-men who were patrolling theareas where the girl wasraped in a moving bus onDecember 16. "We had direct-ed you to give the names of

the officials posted on rele-vant PCR vans and the areasconcerned. We are not con-vinced because the names ofthe officials have not been,Justice V K Jain, said.

Three ofthe menaccused ofraping andmurdering a23-year-oldwoman in acase that hasp r o v o k e dwidespreadanger with the governmentand police will plead not guilty,their lawyer said, citing lapsesin the police investigation.

The Delhi-based physio-therapy student died twoweeks after being beaten andgang-raped on a moving busin New Delhi, then thrownbleeding onto the street.Protests followed, along witha fierce public debate over thefailure of authorities to stemviolence against women.

Five men are facing vari-

ous charges including mur-der, rape and abduction. Asixth suspect is being investi-gated separately to determineif he is below the age of 18, ashe says he is.

L a w y e rManohar LalSharma, whois represent-ing the busdriver, who isthe mainaccused, hisbrother andanother man,

said he was keen for the caseto go to trial so that the evi-dence police had presentedcould be tested in court.

"We are only hearing whatthe police are saying. This ismanipulated evidence. It's allon the basis of hearsay andpresumption." It is not knownif the other two of the fiveaccused men have a lawyer.

Charges against the sixthmember of the group have notbeen brought while policecomplete an inquiry to con-

firm his age. If he is found tobe below 18 he will be tried ina juvenile court and if con-victed will go to a correctionalhome, not a prison, to serve amaximum term of three years.

Sharma said the policehad rushed through theinvestigation against the fivemen even when they were notready with the key detail ofthe age of the sixth memberof the group, who lured thewoman and a male friend intothe bus and, according toleaked accounts, was themost brutal in the attack.

Fast-track trial: Legalexperts had said a lack of rep-resentation for the suspectscould give grounds for appealif they were found guilty.Convictions in similar caseshave often been overturnedyears later.The trial will beconducted in a special fast-track process. One of the sus-pects, Akshay Thakur, wasdue to appear in court whenpolice are likely to seek hisremand in custody.

Modi suggests global forumfor sharing higher education

Army Chief General BikramSingh on Tuesday said IndianArmy’s record is the best inthe world as far as humanrights is concerned. Notingthat the Indian Army person-nel work in tough terrainslike Siachen, Gen. Singh saidthey discharge their duties inthose areas while “followingthe principles of war andhuman rights”.

Addressing the 65thArmy Day parade in NewDelhi, the Army chief alsoasserted that the IndianArmy is prepared to face allchallenges to national securi-ty and foil the designs of theenemy against the backdropof nation-wide anger over thebeheading of a soldier byPakistani troops on the LoC.

Gen. Singh said theIndian Army has kept itsoperational preparedness atthe highest level in view ofvarious challenges.

“I want to assure thenation that Indian Army isprepared to face all challengesto national security....Every

solider of the Indian Army isready to face any challengeand we are ready to make anysacrifice for the security ofthe nation…

…Indian Army is alwaysprepared for securing bound-aries of the nation and foilthe designs of the enemy...Itdeals with all challenges in aprofessional manner,” theArmy chief said in his speechin which he also touchedupon issues like modernisa-tion of forces and their paritywith civil administration.

While talking about themodernisation plan of theArmy including the inductionof attack helicopters andother equipment in the force,Gen. Singh said at the parade,“We understand the impor-tance of human mind workingbehind the machine”.

The Army chief expressedconfidence that the Army, theAir Force, the Navy, centralparamilitary forces and thepolice will together provide astrong safety shield to thecountry.

Indian Army’s humanrights record is the best in

the world: Army Chief

Delhi gang rape accused to plead not guilty, seek trial

India’s rural developmentminister Jairam Ramesh com-mended the Narendra Modigovernment for its implemen-tation of a component of theCentre’s rural housingscheme.

“The beneficiaries ofIndira Awaas Yojana canavail Rs 20,000 loan for con-struction of their houses atdifferential rate of four percent interest. Only about44,000 such beneficiariesacross the country availedthis benefit last year. Over33,000 of them were fromGujarat,” Ramesh toldreporters, acknowledging theModi government’s initiative.

In fact, nearly 78 per centbeneficiaries of the scheme,according to statistics withthe ministry, came fromGujarat. None of the statesruled by the Congress figureamong the top three perform-ers.

Gujarat was followed byTamil Nadu, where about2,700 poor availed cheaploans to build houses, andJharkhand, where 2,200 peo-ple availed it. “Gujarat and

Tamil Nadu are the two stateswhere IAY beneficiariesavailed cheap bank loan facil-ity,” Ramesh said.

In this fiscal too, Gujaratleads implementation of thisIAY component - of the30,849 people who haveavailed it across India,24,852 are from Gujarat.Jharkhand and MadhyaPradesh - both ruled by theBJP - rounded up the topthree performers list, thoughby a huge margin.

Jairam Ramesh commendsGujarat govt work

Narendra Modi

Jairam Ramesh

www.abplgroup.com - asian Voice 19th January 201326 IndIa

Continued from page 1

He further added:"Narendrabhai has theArjuna-like clarity ofvision and purpose." Hesaid Modi's skills have"acted as a huge magnetfor investors and entrepre-neurs from India andacross the world in thepast decade." He said,"Narendrabhai Modidreams with his eyesopen, and has an openheart and mind."

Having brought theTata Group to Gujaratnearly five years agothrough the Nano car pas-senger project, Ratan Tatasaid that the group hasalready invested or com-mitted Rs 340 billion inthe state.

He also said thatGujarat stands out betterthan other states in Indiaand the credit for thatgoes to Modi. He said thestate has become vibrant,attractive and new invest-ment destination. AnandMahindra of Mahindraand Mahindra group said,"Today people are talkingabout China model ofdevelopment in Gujaratbut day is not far whenpeople will talk aboutGujarat model of growthin China."

UK India BusinessCouncil (UKIBC) chairPatricia Hewitt, whosecountry ended decade-long boycott of the stateimposed in the aftermathof 2002 communal riots inOctober last year, laudedGujarat for having main-tained a near double digit

growth rate in the last tenyears which was morethan that of China. RonSommers, representingUS India BusinessCouncil (USIBC) calledGujarat's progress "stun-ning."Human capital the newtarget for Vibrant Gujarat

If Gujarat faces prob-lems of skilled labourdespite a business friendlyenvironment, this yearsVibrant Gujarat summithas planned to overcomethis hurdles. TheDirectorate of Employmentand Training (DET) hassigned 243 MoUs withinstitutions and corporatesto address the surgingdemand for skilled labor invarious industry sectors inthe state.

The MoUs were signedduring the course of a spe-cial seminar, 'Youth devel-opment - IndustryResponsive SkillDevelopment'. The MoUswere signed under cate-gories like environment,automobile, electrical andelectronics, garments,engineering, hospitalityand IT soft skills.

Among the prominentMoUs that were signedduring the seminar werethose between GujaratState Road TransportCorporation (GSRTC)and DET to establish driv-er training institutes totrain more than 4,000drivers, conductors andmechanics of GSRTC. Thesecond major MoU wassigned between GreenEnviro Services Co-opera-tive Society Limited,

Gujarat Pollution ControlBoard (GPCB) and theDET for environmentalcourses. Maruti SuzukiLtd signed an MoU withDET for adopting five ITIsin the state, which includeBecharaji, Kadi,Viramgam, Detroj andMandal.Most successful summit,says CM

Chief minister Modiclaimed that VibrantGujarat summit was themost successful summitevent. Claiming that the2013 summit has fourtimes the number of for-eign participants as com-pared to its first edition in2003, Modi claimed thatthe focus on small- andmedium-scale industriesduring the summit haschanged the way theseindustries think. Modiclaimed he wants SMEs inGujarat to compete withcountries like China thatdump their goods in India.He said both Canada andUK want to upgrade theiroffices in the state andbring them at par withtheir office in Mumbai.“Gujaratis are big tourists.The Thai ambassador haspromised to start a weeklyflight between Thailandand Ahmedabad. I canassure you that withinthree months he will beobliged to start threeflights a week.”

Besides imbibing newskills in SMEs andenhancing export capabili-ties the summit will alsotake care of cotton farm-ers. “Of the number ofdelegates, the biggest were

textile industries. AnMoU has been signed byan industry from Gujaratto set up potash manufac-turing facility in Canada.The potash will be export-ed to Gujarat to helpfarmers here,” Modiclaimed. He said that heintends to set up facilitieswhere the cotton of thefarmers is used to makeready-made garments bymaking value additions.Will revive India withpower of youth: Modi

Modi promised the cre-ation of three million addi-tional jobs through thestate’s development initia-tives, while claiming thatGujarat accounted for 72per cent of the jobs createdin India and had the low-est unemployment rate.

“This century isIndia’s and we will revivethe country with thepower of the youth,” hesaid adding Gujarat hasbeen less impacted byglobal problems “The lastfew years have not beenvery encouraging for theglobal economy. This hashad its impact on thelivelihoods and social livesof the people across theglobe. Even the fastestgrowing economies of theworld have experienced aslowdown.

“This situation hasimpacted India also andthe growth of our econo-my has slowed downrecently. It will be a greatservice to the global com-munity if this forum andplatform can display thecommitment for better-ment of economy and bet-

terment of the lives affect-ed,” he said.

Thanking people forgiving him the opportuni-ty to serve them again, hereiterated that he wants tobenchmark the state'sinfrastructure andprocesses with the ‘best’in the world.

“This platform alsoprovides the scope todebate and evolve mecha-nisms which make oureconomies sustainableand dependable. All of uswant a solution to this.But none of us are individ-ually competent to find it.Collectively, we can andwe must,” he added.

“Gujarat will nowbenchmark with best inworld. Phase 1 of develop-ment is over. We will beginphase 2 now,” he said.Boasting of the state’sinfrastructure, Modi saidhe would be setting upworld-class investmentregions. “We want smartcities, world class infra-structure and world classtechnology,” he said.

Modi also promised toimprove the income offarmers through scientificagricultural techniques.Talking about growth ofSME sector in his state, hesaid: “A central govern-ment official told meIndia's SME growth ratewas 18 per cent, comparedto growth rate of 85 percent in Gujarat.” Modi for PM

Contrary to earliersummits when at least twoindustrialists said Modiwas fit for PM’s post, thistime only Gautam Adani

wished Modi, armed withhis “able leadership,”should go “up north.”Interestingly, the onlyother person whoexpressed a similar wishwas KonstantinMakarelov, vice-governorof the tiny Astrakhanprovince of the RussianFederation, saying hehoped Modi will win the“next general elections.”UK treads cautiously

British high commis-sioner James Bevan, whomet Modi in October afterthe British felt the need to“engage Modi,” was cau-tious at summit. Bevanavoided any direct or indi-rect reference to Modi,even as speaking about“natural” and “tradition-al” partnership betweenGujarat and Britain overcenturies. He hoped for a“thriving and strongerrelationship” withGujarat.Pak stays indoors

Amid escalating ten-sion along the Indo-Pakborder, Modi thought it fitto provide a low profile fora business team fromPakistan, which was askedto stay put in aAhmedabad hotel. “Wewere told that there aresome visa issues and theycan’t come toGandhinagar,” saidGujarat DGPChittaranjan Singh.Officials said the presenceof Pakistanis at the Modishow would have causedembarrassment to BJP’snational leadership whohad taken a strong posi-tion on the issue.

State gets `40,000 billion worth investment promises

Continued from page 1

Chakkan-Da-Bagh cross-ing point in Poonch dis-trict, Gen Singh accusedIslamabad of resorting to"outright lies".

Pakistani Army's cross-border raid on January 8was a "premeditated andpre-planned" operationthat would have needed atleast 10 days of prepara-tion and reconnaissance,he said. The Indianjawan's beheading was a"gruesome, most unpar-donable act" that wentagainst the "basic ethics"of soldering and tenets ofthe Geneva Convention,he added.

Although Gen Singhemphasized the currenttension would not escalateinto a conflagration, hold-ing that several stageshave to be crossed beforethe two countries go to afull-scale war, he did admitthe first stage of the spiralhad been reached.

The blunt acknowledg-ment coincided with hard-ening of the anti-Pakistanmood which would testthose in the governmentwho want tension to bedefused for the sake of thepeace process. The tough-

ening of the popular senti-ment found reflection inCongress's endorsement ofShiv Sena's opposition tothe participation ofPakistani players in theIndia Hockey League aswell as BJP's bellicoseexhortation that Indiantroops decapitate 10Pakistani soldiers for eachIndian one.

India has reasons to befurious. This is not thefirst time Indian soldiershave been beheaded by thePakistani Army-jihadicombine, with their headsbeing taken back as "tro-phies" across the LoC,admitted Gen Singh.

Infamous Pakistaniterrorist and al-Qaidamember Ilyas Kashmiriwas part of the raid on anIndian post in theNowshera sector in 2000,for instance, during whichone Indian soldier of the17 Maratha Light Infantrywas beheaded and six oth-ers killed.

More recently, twojawans were decapitatedduring the turnoverbetween the 19 Rajput and20 Kumaon Regiments inthe Keran sector in July,2011. "We have to putpressure on Pakistan,

nationally and internation-ally, to make its Armyaccountable," said GenSingh.

"Though the beheadinghas angered us at thestrategic level, it was a tac-tical operation and we willrespond at the tacticallevel now...We do not planto up the ante. We willuphold the ceasefire aslong as the adversaryrespects it but will retali-ate if provoked," he added.

The Army chief admit-ted the January 8 cross-border raid had exposed"some tactical lapses" onthe Indian side but saidthis was not the time foran inquiry to be conductedsince it would affect themorale of the forces. Fornow, even as correctivemeasures are underway,"we won't remain passivewhen attacked", he said.

On the SiachenGlacier-Saltoro Ridgeimbroglio, the Army hastold the government itshould not let go of the"strategic gains" achievedafter shedding a lot ofblood - over 850 Indiansoldiers have died in theglacial heights since 1984 -till the "trust deficit" withPakistan is bridged.

India warns Pakistan againstany border misadventure

BJP chief Nitin Gadkari isall set to get his secondthree-year term as theparty president, with theBJP leadership and RSSbrass settling on his nameafter a long futile search tofind a successor.

The party is expectedto complete the formali-ties and make anannouncement by end-January, in a decisionwhich guarantees RSSupper hand in the saffronparty's matters. However,many feel it could evenhasten the ascendancy ofGujarat CM NarendraModi in organizationalaffairs.

There were many partyseniors — from YashwantSinha to L K Advaniamong a good number ofothers — who had cam-paigned against a freshterm for Gadkari in lightof disclosures of financialirregularities about thePurti Group that he co-promoted. However, lackof consensus within BJPon who should succeedhim tilted the scales infavour of Gadkari in thefinal lap.

Considering that a sec-ond term for Gadkari hadlooked virtually impossi-

ble after disclosures ofirregularities in his com-panies linked to him hitthe headlines last year, theprospect of a second termmay appear to be almost apolitical miracle. In fact,his mentors in the RSShad also looked resignedto his ouster but held outfearing that that hisremoval in the face ofcharges will be interpretedas confirmation of wrong-doing on the part of theirfavourite swaymsevakfrom Nagpur. Gadkari par-tisans have refutedcharges of irregularities,arguing that these aremostly of technical natureand considering that theBJP chief severed his linkswith the Purti Group,should be pinned on him.

Sources in the partysaid that his colleagueshave already acquiesced tothe decision, althoughquite a few of them fearthat persisting withGadkari may leave theparty vulnerable to attacksfrom its rivals, particularlyCongress.

The lead UPA playerswiftly seized upon thecharges against Gadkari toaccuse BJP of hypocrisyover corruption.

Nitin Gadkari tostay BJP presidentA study conducted in

Surat and Vadodara hasrevealed that both thecities have a potential fora metro rail project.Experts opined that workon the Ahmedabad metrorail project, which is shap-ing up fast, is expected tocommence in 2013.

N Sivasailam manag-ing director of BangaloreMetro Rail Corporationsaid that Delhi metro willbe the world largest metrowith a network of 450 kmby 2018.

He further said what isneeded is the easy excessto these metro rains.“These metro stationsshould be well connectedwith pedestrian’s lanes sothat people can excessthese stations with easy.But having such lanes inthe busy cities is a majorproblem.”

Sanjay Gupta, directorand executive chairman ofthe Metro Express forGangovernment has for-mulated a policy whichwill complement thedevelopment in the areafrom where the metro railwould pass. Gupta saidthat the metro will beinterlinked with BusRapid Transit and therewould be several stationswhere the stations wouldoverlap.

Metro rail likely inSurat, Vadodara

indiAwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 27

Let us see the psycholog-ical symbolism in the

story told by Markandeya.King Parikshit, in reality,had married a frogprincess who had cheatedmany kings in the past.The king was of theIkshvaku lineage. Theword ‘Ikshvaku’ comesfrom ‘ichcha’ or ‘desire’and sugarcane, meaning ‘asweet or pleasant desire’i.e. the desire to searchwithin or for freedom.

The princess’ fatherhad put a curse on her thather children would haveproblems with Brahmins.Here the Brahmin standsfor the Intellectual Centrewithin us. King Parikshitwas a Kshatriya whichmeans he was centred inthe Emotional Centre. Hisson’s names were Shalaand Bala.

Once Shala was madeking, Parikshit retired intothe forest. Shala went on a‘mrigaya’ which literallymeans a hunt in the forest.The deeper meaning ofthis is a quest or a deepintellectual pursuit withinour own minds. Shala wentdeep into the forest i.e. hemeditated deeply and per-haps came across an innertruth. Now to express thattruth, he needed the useof the Intellectual Centreand more importantly, that

part of the brain which wecall the left brain. It is theleft brain which expressesand puts thoughts into lan-guage. So Shala went tothe rishi Vamadeva. ‘Vama’means left. Shala asks theLord of the left brain forhis ‘vami’ or left-handedhorses. In other words,Shala needed to use hisleft brain to express thetruth he had seen, whichhe could not because ofthe curse on his mother.

The rishi agreed butasked for his horses to bereturned after the king hadhunted down his kill. KingShala agreed but later,after his work was done,refused to keep his wordwhich angered the rishi.Because of the curse on hismother, King Shala was not

able to achieve harmonywith his Intellectual Centre.

The meaning of Shalais a spear or one whoselanguage pierces andhurts. He does not havethe calming intelligence ofthe Intellectual, only thereflex behaviour of theEmotional. The angry rishiinvokes four demons to killthe king. The four demonsare lust, avarice, greed andanger. King Shala is killedby his own negativity.

King Shala’s brotherBala, who stands for willand strength, nowbecomes king. He invokesa poisonous arrow to killthe rishi but the arrowends up killing his ownson. King Bala’s secondarrow then turns on him,setting him on fire. KingBala asks the rishi to for-give him. Will is formedwithin the EmotionalCentre. It is the use of willthat brings a pause toreactions and negativity ofemotions. Will also comesthrough deep pain and suf-fering, symbolised by thedeath of King Bala’s son. Itis through this sufferingthat the king’s inner visionflowers and he surrendersto the rishi.

All past articles on the Mahabharata can be accessedfrom http://epaper.asianvoice.com or from http://www.3stepbreath.com/mahabharata.html

The Symbolism in Markandeya’s Story

Subhash Chandra Bose,popularly known as

Netaji, was born toJanakinath Bose andPrabhavati Devi on January23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissaas the ninth child among 14siblings. The birthday is cel-ebrated on January 23.

Life and Activities:

Subhash Chnadra Bosewas a brilliant student. Hetopped the matriculationexamination of Calcuttaprovince in 1911 and didhis Bachelors in Philosophyfrom the University ofCalcutta. He continued hisstudies in Fitzwilliam Hallof the University ofCambridge with a highscore in civil service exams.

He joined Indian poli-tics after the Amritsar mas-sacre and started the news-paper Swaraj. He workedunder C.R. Das, thenmayor of Bengal. Heencountered many ups anddowns in his political life.Several times, he was sentto jail for participating inthe freedom struggle. Hebecame general secretary ofthe Congress party in mid1930s and worked withGandhiji and JawaharlalNehru. He took part in civildisobedience movementbut was soon cut off fromthe mainstream of Indianpolitics due to ideologicalconflicts with Gandhiji.

Nataji was influencedby the teachings of SwamiVivekananda and butbelieved in violence for thejustified reason. His slo-gan was “Give me bloodand I will give you theindependence.” It isbelieved that Netaji died ina mysterious plane crashwhile flying to Tokyo on18th August 1945.

Netaji is rememberedfor his valuable contribu-tion to IndianIndependence. His birthdayis observed with great rev-erence throughout India,especially in Orissa andWest Bengal. Schools andcolleges observe this day byconducting seminars andactivities. Young boys andgirls are dressed in militaryuniform and are taken inthe procession around theschool. Songs composedfor independence are sung.

Netaji was one of themost prominent leaders ofIndian freedom struggle.Though Mahatma Gandhiand Jawaharlal Nehru havegarnered much of the creditfor successful culminationof Indian freedom struggle,the contribution of SubashChandra Bose is no less.He has been denied hisrightful place in the annalsof Indian history. Hefounded Indian NationalArmy (Azad Hind Fauj) tooverthrow British Empire

from India and came toacquire legendary statusamong Indian masses.

To fulfill his parentswishes he went to Englandin 1919 to compete forIndian Civil Services. InEngland he appeared forthe Indian Civil Servicecompetitive examination in1920, and came out fourthin order of merit. However,he was deeply disturbed bythe Jallianwalla Bagh mas-sacre, and left his CivilServices apprenticeshipmidway to return to Indiain 1921.

After returning to India,Netaji came under theinfluence of MahatmaGandhi and joined theIndian National Congress.On Gandhiji's instructions,he started working underDeshbandhu ChittaranjanDas, whom he lateracknowledged as his politi-cal guru. Soon he showedhis leadership qualities andgained his way up in theCongress' hierarchy. In1928 the Motilal NehruCommittee appointed bythe Congress declared infavour of DominationStatus, but SubhasChandra Bose along withJawaharlal Nehru opposedit, and both asserted thatthey would be satisfied withnothing short of completeindependence for India.Netaji also announced theformation of theIndependence League. Hewas jailed during CivilDisobedience movement in1930. He was released in1931 after Gandhi-Irwinpact was signed. Heprotested against theGandhi-Irwin pact andopposed the suspension ofCivil Disobedience move-ment, especially afterBhagat Singh and his asso-ciates were hanged.

Netaji was soon arrest-ed under the infamousBengal Regulation. After ayear he was released onmedical grounds and wasbanished from India toEurope. He took steps toestablish centres in differ-ent European capitals witha view to promoting politi-co-cultural contactsbetween India and Europe.Defying the ban on hisentry to India, he returnedto India and was againarrested and jailed for ayear. After the general elec-tions of 1937, Congresscame to power in sevenstates and Subash ChandraBose was released. Shortlyafterwards he was electedPresident of the HaripuraCongress Session in 1938.During his term asCongress President, hetalked of planning in con-crete terms, and set up aNational planning

Committee in October thatyear. At the end of his firstterm, the presidential elec-tion to the Tripuri Congresssession took place early1939. Subhas ChandraBose was re-elected,defeating Dr PattabhiSitaramayya who had beenbacked by MahatmaGandhi and the CongressWorking Committee.Clouds of World War IIwere on the horizon and hebrought a resolution to givethe British six months tohand India over to theIndians, failing which therewould be a revolt. Therewas much opposition to hisrigid stand, and he resignedfrom the post of presidentand formed a progressivegroup known as theForward Block.

Subhas Chandra Bosenow started a mass move-ment against utilizingIndian resources and menfor the great war. There wasa tremendous response tohis call and he was putunder house arrest inCalcutta. In January 1941,Subhas Chandra Bose dis-appeared from his home inCalcutta and reachedGermany via Afghanistan.Working on the maxim that"an enemy's enemy is afriend," he sought coopera-tion of Germany and Japanagainst British Empire. InJanuary 1942, he began hisregular broadcasts fromRadio Berlin, whicharoused tremendous enthu-siasm in India. In July1943, he arrived inSingapore from Germany.In Singapore he took overthe reins of the IndianIndependence Movementin East Asia from RashBehari Bose and organisedthe Azad Hind Fauj (IndianNational Army) comprisingmainly of Indian prisonersof war. He was hailed asNetaji by the Army as wellas by the Indian civilianpopulation in East Asia.Azad Hind Fauj proceededtowards India to liberate itfrom British rule. En routeit liberated Andeman andNicobar Islands. The I.N.A.Head quarters was shiftedto Rangoon in January1944. Azad Hind Faujcrossed the Burma Border,and stood on Indian soil onMarch 18, 1944.

However, defeat ofJapan and Germany in theSecond World War forcedINA to retreat and it couldnot achieve its objective.Subhas Chandra Bose wasreportedly killed in an aircrash over Taipeh, Taiwan(Formosa) on August 18,1945. Though it is widelybelieved that he is stillalive after the air crash notmuch information couldbe found about him.

Subhash Chandra BoseA prominent leaderof freedom struggle

The international kite fes-tival was held in atSabarmati Riverfront,Ahmedabad saw partici-pation from a large num-ber of domestic and for-eign kite enthusiasts. Atotal of 120 kite flyersfrom eight states and 74foreign kite flyers will takepart in the event.

The event was well-planned. Around 300kitists from 40 countriesand 10 Indian states gath-ered at Sabarmati river-front for the InternationalKite Festival in the city.The weather gods playedspoilsport ruining the bestlaid plans of Gujarattourism department.

All the participantsgreeted the local visitorsduring their parade.Gujarat has used it to pro-mote tourism.

“We have now taken topromoting the ‘patangutsav’ even in smallcities,” said Modi.Meanwhile, thousandscontinue to throng the kitefestival with people crowd-ing the food court area.

Bioduni Olugbami ofthe Kuramo KiteAssociation of Nigeriasaid that this was his firstvisit as an individual butrepresentatives from hiscountry had been coming

to the festival for last fiveyears.

Bigger and better- thatis what the TourismCorporation of GujaratLimited (TCGL) hadpromised for theInternational Kite Festival2013! Visitors had lookforward to splurge onfood, shop from craftbazaars and enjoy watch-ing kites of different sizeand shape flying along thebanks of Sabarmati duringthe next month’s fest. Theevent was planned on the1.5 km stretch ofSabarmati riverfront proj-ect between Gandhibridge to Nehru bridge.The festival took placefrom January 9 th. It hasinvited 150 kite fliers fromacross the world for thisyear’s festival. This year,the International Kite

Festival included otheractivities apart from kiteflying. There was a lightand sound show, work-shops and training on kitemaking among others, Italso planed to hold a sepa-rate pavilion to showcasehistory and significance ofkites to introduce peopleto the subject. “We hadalso call some of the kitemakers so that people canknow how kites aremade,” said the official.

It also planned toshowcase the traditionalGujarati way of celebrat-ing the kite festival tothose visiting the city.“The best way to do this isto take foreign kite fliersto Pol and let them watchfor themselves howAhmedabad enjoys kiteflying on January 14,” theofficial said.

International kite festival:Festive spirit soars high on Ahmedabad riverfront

The traditional MakarSankranti recipe is Indiandry fruit chikki

I n g r e d i a n t s :Badam(almonds) 1 cup(chopped), Pista 1 cup(chopped) Cashew(kaju)1 cup (chopped), Jaggery(gur) 1/4 cup (grated),Kesar (saffron) few soakedin milk, hee 2 big spoons

Method: Take a panand put ghee and heat it.When it melts add gratedjaggery. Let it blend.When it becomes thickadd kesar and the dryfruits and mix well. Whenit is done it will start leav-ing pan sides. Grease aplate and pour into it.Cool and cut into pieces.

Til gajakIngrediants: 1 cup

sesame (til); 3/4 cup stickyjaggery, 1/2 tsp cardamompowder, 2 tbsp ghee

Mehtod: Roast thesesame in a pan stirring itcontinuously. Allow it tocool. Make thick syrupusing jaggery and water.Add the sesame to it andmix well. Grease a platewith ghee and spread themixture into a thin sheet.After it cools, cut and store.

Health benefits:Jaggery has been been anintegral part of IndianMeals, Dry fruit chikki,jaggery replaces sugar inthis dry fruit chikki loadedwith vitamin e, iron andzinc. forming part of

Curries & Sweets. It con-tains many nutrientsincluding magnesium thatstrengthens the nervoussystem & potassium thatis vital conserve the acidbalance in cell and com-bats acids & acetone

Dry fruit Chikki

By AV Correspondent

The Sikhs who spreadnot only in India but

across the globe are one ofthe most prosperous com-munities across the world.Primarily land owners, theyare known for their enter-prising and hardworkingnature and are ardent fol-lowers of Sikhism, theirreligion. The Gurdwara,their place of worship, hasbeen constructed in vari-ous parts of the countryand the world and many ofthem are architectural mar-vels. But the one situatedin Bharuch in Gujarat hasits own historical impor-tance. And followers, notonly from Sikhism butother religious believers,too visit here to seek theblessings of the GuruNanak. History has it thatthe Gurdwara PehliPatshahi in Bharuch city isa shrine made in memoryof Guru Nanak Dev’s visitduring his missionary jour-ney. From here GuruNanak continued his jour-ney to North India. TheGurdwara situated on thebank of river Narmada and

located about 70 km fromVadodara apart from thereligious significance hasits architectural beauty aswell. The shrine is countedas one of the most impor-tant shrines of Sikhs.

According to Sikhmythology dating cen-turies back, it is at thisplace that the Guru Nanakwas able to win over peo-ple through his simplicity.Guru Nanak reached at thebank of the river and want-ed to cross it, but the localking denied a boat to GuruSahib and asked him tofend for himself. The kingdid not realise the impor-tance and power of theSikh Guru. Wanting toshow the king his arro-gance, the guru asked hisdisciple not to react to theking’s ignorance. Then theGuru Sahib asked one ofhis accomplices, BhaiMardana to lay Chadar onthe water. Bhai Mardanaobeyed the order of theGuru and laid the chadar.To the surprise of the kingthe chadar served like abridge to the guru and hisdisciples and the king sawthat they crossed the river

on the chadar. SoGurdwara Sahib has beennamed as Chadar Sahibafter this incident.

Sikhs have beendemanding for a roadalong the bank straight tothe Gurdwara Sahib as dueto encroachment the pathhas narrowed and it hasbecome difficult to reachthe place in vehicle. A bigLangar Hall has been con-structed which will be usedfor parking if the demandfor road is met.

The Gurdwara is alsoknown for its architecturalbeauty and the people ofthe community at anygiven chance visit theshrine to seek blessingsand salute his SupremePower. They say that ablessing from the shrinegives them confidence intaking up the most difficulttask and achieving theimpossible. The Sikhsbelieve that just as theGuru was able to destroythe arrogance of the kingand restore faith in theSupreme Power his follow-ers too come here humblyand seek the blessings andto achieve their goal.

The Gurdwara at Bharuchone of the most important shrines of Sikhs

www.abplgroup.com - asian voice 19th January 201328 travel & women

Trekking in the Himalayas remains theclosest that one can get to a nomadicexistence in the great outdoors, wherethe journey and destination each havetheir own merit. The journey is reallyabout you and the destination a rewardto that you who have made this effort toget to where you want to go. Needless tosay that along the way you will findmany sights that will be relived andenjoyed by you for a lifetime. The IndianHimalayas have some of the mostrevered trails for the avid trekker – be itthe professional or the first time enthusi-ast. There are treks that range from theeasy going trails (day hikes, weekendtreks, etc.) to the harder 5-10 day for-mats where one gets to go deeper intothe Himalayas and enjoy the same forwhat they are well known for.

With this format, one gets to enjoythe sport but at the same time has awarm and cosy place to come back to atthe end of the day. While every effort ismade to give you your night stay in oneof the camps/lodges,in some cases wealso have comfort-able alpine campingthat is done in someof the treks atremote places thatfall along the routewhich is required forcompletion of thetrek. Even on thesealpine campingstays, we use someof the best equip-ment availableincluding 3/4 seasonMountain Hardwearor Lafuma tents,warm sleeping bags, experienced moun-tain guides, kitchen team, etc. In addi-tion to the comfort factor on this kind ofa trip, there is a sizeable saving in termsof the cost due to reduction in porteragecosts, logistical costs, etc. the benefit ofwhich is passed on to you. This formatalso ensures that trekking as a sport isviable commercially for small groups andit is not always that you need to form alarge group to get the benefits of a largegroup pricing.

Trek to Har ki-Dun: You have seenthe Lord of the Rings and appreciatedthe landscape; you need not go all theway to New Zealand!! The trek to Har-ki-Dun will provide you with all thesights that you are looking for. Lushgreenery, scraggy mountains, toweringsnow capped peaks, glaciers and gushingstreams that seem to spring fromnowhere. Har-ki-Dun is situated in theWestern Garhwal Himalayas, at the baseof Fateh Parvat.

Trek to Valley of Flowers: The worldfamous Valley of Flowers is situated inthe upper expansions of BhyundarGanga in the far interior of GarhwalHimalayas. Spread over an area of 87.5sq. km., the valley is at an altitude of is3250 m to 6750 m above mean sea level.Many a legend are associated with thisvibrant and eye catching Valley, and areoften in the epics of the Ramayana andMahabharat.

The Valley of Flowers National Parkstarts from Ghangharia but the main val-ley starts after crossing the gorge.

Trek to the source of the Ganges:You begin the trek at Gangotri, which isbustling with sages and sadhus (holy-men) who have journeyed here to payhomage at the source of the Ganges, themost revered river in India. The spiritualintensity of Gangotri, one of India's mostsacred pilgrimage sites, is palpable asyou witness the daily puja at the temple,and the Hindu devotees bathing at thewater's edge.

Kuari Pass (Curzon's Trail): Thistrek is also known as Curzon's Trail(named after the Indian Viceroy, LordCurzon, who undertook this trek duringhis stay in India). The main attraction ofthis trek is the majestic views of thepeaks of Nanda Devi, Hathi-Ghodi,Kamet, Dronagiri, etc. During the trekone would pass through pristine forestsof Oak, Rhododendron and Deodar. Thebeauty of the region is best described bythe famous explorer, Eric Shipton, whosaid, "A vision of such beauty is worth aworld of striving."

Trek to Nagtibba: This is undoubted-ly the best short trip for any family look-ing at an outdoor holiday. Unique thingabout the trek is the easy accessibility ofthe start & finish point. Even though thetrek is easily accessible it does not com-promise on the quality of outdoors at anypoint. This is a total wilderness trip withsparse habitation and rich flora allaround.

Trekking in the Himalayas

We spend around 10per cent of our wak-

ing hours with our eyesshut.

And while it's com-monly thought that weblink to keep our eyeslubricated, it seems a lot ofthe time it's because ourbrains need a little nap.

New research suggeststhat the human brain usesthat tiny moment of shut-eye to power down.

Scientists find thatblinking is a chance forour brains to power down

Researchers fromJapan's Osaka Universityfound that the mentalbreak can last anywherefrom a split second to afew seconds before atten-tion is fully restored.

Scans that track theebb and flow of blood with-in the brain revealed thatregions associated withpaying close attentionmomentarily go offline.

The brain then goesinto a 'default mode net-work', or idle setting.

The same setting isengaged when our atten-tion is not required by acognitive task such as read-ing or speaking and ourthoughts wander freely.

Mini nap: blinkingallows the brain to go intoidle mode Blinking allowsthe brain to go into idlemode During this modewe tend to contemplateour feelings; we wonderwhat a friend meant by arecent comment; we con-sider something we didlast week, or imagine whatwe'll do tomorrow.

While listening toanother person or reading,

that usually comes at theend of a sentence and whilewatching a film, we're mostlikely to blink when anactor leaves the scene orwhen the camera shifts.

Most of us takebetween 15 and 20 suchmoments of downtime perminute.

The new research, pub-lished this week in thejournal Proceedings of theNational Academies ofScience, studied 20healthy young subjects ina brain scanner as theywatched snippets from theBritish comedy Mr. Bean.

When subjects blinked,the researchers detected amomentary stand-downwithin the brain's visual

cortex and somatosensorycortex -- both involvedwith processing visualstimuli - and in areas thatgovern attention.

Separate studies onblinking have shown thatwhile telling a lie, peoplehave been found to blinkless. In the seconds aftertelling a lie, however, theliar will blink far more fre-quently than a truth-teller.

Researchers, includingone of Indian origin, haveclaimed that a small mole-cule called TFP5 rescuesplaques and tangles byblocking an overactivebrain signal, therebyrestoring memory in micewith Alzheimer’s disease(AD).

A new study by NIHresearchers shows thatwhen a molecule calledTFP5 is injected into micewith a disease that is theequivalent of humanAlzheimer's, symptomsare reversed and memoryis restored, without obvi-ous toxic side effects.

“We hope that clinicaltrial studies in ADpatients should yield anextended and a betterquality of life as observed

in mice upon TFP5 treat-ment,” Harish C Pantfrom National Institute ofNeurological Disorders atStroke said.

“Therefore, we suggestthat TFP5 should be aneffective therapeutic com-pound,” he said.

To make this discov-ery, Pant and colleaguesused mice with a diseaseconsidered the equivalentof Alzheimer's.

One set of these micewere injected with thesmall molecule TFP5,while the other wasinjected with saline asplacebo.

The mice, after aseries of intraperitonealinjections of TFP5, dis-played a substantialreduction in the various

disease symptoms, alongwith restoration of memo-ry loss.

In addition, the micereceiving TFP5 injectionsexperienced no weightloss, neurological stress(anxiety) or signs of toxi-city.

The disease in theplacebo mice, however,progressed normally asexpected. TFP5 wasderived from the regulatorof a key brain enzyme,called Cdk5.

The over activation ofCdk5 is implicated in theformation of plaques andtangles, the major hall-mark of Alzheimer’s dis-ease.

The study has beenpublished in the FASEBJournal.

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New compound reverses Alzheimer’s symptoms

This weeks article isabout how you can stop

living in fear and how youcan start living. I read alovely quote by RichardBranson, it was ‘life is a lotmore fun when you sayyes’. I hope this articleinspires you to step brave-ly out of your comfort zoneand start embracing thebeautiful experiences thatlife presents. Stop doubt-ing and start living.

Firstly, accept that youcannot minimise all risk,learn to feel comfortablewith not all the pieces inplace and start to warmyourself to the feelings ofambiguity. Lets yourselfgo and flow through whatmay feel uncertain and turnit around into excitement.

Stop forming negativepictures in your mind aboutthe future and believethem to be reality. You do

not do yourself any favourshere. What you do is staywell and truly put into yourcomfort zone. Yes, every-one gets a little worriedand afraid at times. Butdon’t set yourself up to fail.If you see things to behard and difficult, they willbe. Start to think aboutthings in a more positiveway and think about whatyou can learn if youembrace the experience.

Be mindful that uncer-tainty does not paralyzeyou. Often when we aredoubtful and fearful westop, start shaking, cryingor doing something similarand what we don’t do isact. Start taking action andstop riding on this wave offear. Stop talking over andover again about what iswrong and what you don’tknow and start creatingexciting and motivating

plans to push ahead. Takethe first step and tell your-self to be brave, trust your-self and go forward.

Learn your lessonsabout certain people andmove on. If someonedrains you and irritates youthey are not good for yourlife. You should never bemade to feel disrespectedand you should never haveto convince someone tolove and accept you. If youare unhappy with yourfriendships and the compa-ny you keep start to detachyourself and you will fundthat new and better peoplecome into your life,because you made thespace for them.

Don’t forget to followus on twitter, like us onfacebook and email us ifyou have any questions.Light and love – [email protected].

How to be true to yourself in 2013

Any questions write to [email protected] Mamta Saha

Psychologist

Researchers foundthose with a spiritual

understanding of life weremore likely to suffer frommental illness

Being spiritual maygive life deeper meaning,but it can also make youmore susceptible to men-tal illness, new researchsuggests.

A study found thatpeople professing to bespiritual, but not conven-tionally religious, weremore likely to suffer froma host of mental chal-lenges.

They suffered prob-lems including abnormaleating conditions, drugabuse, anxiety disorder,phobias and neurosis.

They were also morelikely than others to betaking medication formental health problems.

Professor MichaelKing, from UniversityCollege London, and hisfellow researchers wrotein the British Journal ofPsychiatry: 'Our mainfinding is that people whohad a spiritual under-standing of life had worsemental health than thosewith an understandingthat was neither religiousnor spiritual.'

The study was basedon a survey of 7,403 ran-domly selected men andwomen in England whowere questioned abouttheir spiritual and reli-gious beliefs, and mentalstate.

Of the participants, 35per cent described them-selves as 'religious', mean-ing they attended achurch, mosque, syna-gogue or temple.

The vast majority ofthis group were Christian.

A further 19 per centclaimed to have spiritualbeliefs or experienceswithout following a specif-ic religion, while 46 percent were neither religiousnor spiritual.

More...Man who did one new

thing every day of 2012 toraise money for pregnancycharity hits his fundrais-ing target - and announceshis wife is expecting again

Smoking doesn'trelieve stress... quittingdoes! Study proves bene-fits of nicotine are a myth

Just one in 11 of uswill stick to our NewYear's resolutions for sixmonths (and 40% give upafter two weeks)

More than nine out of

10 were white British,with an average age of 46.

Of the differentgroups, spiritual peoplewere 50 per cent morelikely to have a gener-alised anxiety disorderand 72 per cent more like-ly to suffer from a phobia.

Spirituality was alsoassociated with a 40 percent greater likelihood ofreceiving treatment withpsychotropic drugs

Spirituality was alsoassociated with a 40 percent greater likelihood ofreceiving treatment withpsychotropic drugs

They also had a 77 percent higher chance ofbeing dependent on drugsand were 37 per cent moreat risk of neurotic disorder.

Spirituality was alsoassociated with a 40 percent greater likelihood ofreceiving treatment withpsychotropic drugs.

Individuals of religiousfaith and those with noneexperienced equal levelsof mental problems, thestudy found.

But there were fewerproblems with drugs oralcohol among the faithful.

Unlike some Americanstudies, the new researchfound no clear relation-ship between religiousbelief and happiness.

One recent large inter-net study in the USreported that non-reli-gious people with spiritualbeliefs were emotionallyless stable than othergroups.

However, they madeup only 2 per cent of thestudy sample.

The researchers wrote:'We conclude that there isincreasing evidence thatpeople who profess spiri-tual beliefs in the absenceof a religious frameworkare more vulnerable tomental disorder.

'The nature of thisassociation needs greaterexamination in qualitativeand in prospective quanti-tative research.'

The fiery planet Mars,continues to occupy your

Solar 11th house for some time to come. Its influ-ence will help you to maintain a high energy leveland achieve positive results in anything thatrequires drive and initiative. If you are involved in afairly competitive field of activity, you will be theone who comes out on top.

It is essential thatyou adopt a very open attitude now for this is a

time of lucky opportunity and a chance to greatlyenrich your working life and at home. New windowson the world are about to open and this will have amaturing effect on you. There is a rather secretiveaura surrounding new romance.

A tremendousamount of planetary

activity in your chart signals a time of mixed emo-tions as well as personal issues to be dealt with.Although the very practical affairs of life continue tobe highlighted, this does not mean that there will beall work and no play. Your pioneering personalityalways shows through.

You will probablyhave little cause to

complain this week. Expect everything to runsmoothly and luck to attend your efforts. However,underneath this positive surface you may beplagued by a feeling of restlessness. Try to srike abalance between material and emotional affairs !

You should enjoy a verypopular phase in your life

where everyone wants to invite you to parties. Thiswill give you a chance to meet people and pursueany romantic liaisons that might present them-selves. Your communications are extremely highmaking it easy to close those lucrative deals.

It's a time of slowand steady progress that

can set the stage for a long time to come. Ofcourse, there are still challenging issues on both apersonal and practical level. To get here you mayhave overcome obstacles by making important deci-sion and choices. You will achieve a lot more, bymotivating your own desires.

You will feel ener-getic and confident as

the week begins. New beginnings are favouredaround now. Your thinking is inspired, so listen toyour thoughts. This may be a time of expansion andit would be unwise to let yourself become compla-cent. Affairs of the heart are likely to flourish.

There seems to besome pressure on financial affairs and maybe a

problem to contend with in regard to a joint venture.If you feel that something has been hanging in thebalance, whatever happens you will get a clearerpicture of the situation eventually. Allow matters toride as impatience will not give you the whole pic-ture.

Give top priority toimportant written work, official matters and vitalcommunications. If you can manage to get awayfrom usual routines, this will not only prove to behighly enjoyable but it will have a decidedly benefi-cial effect on your physical and psychological well-

being. Loved ones will be looking after you.

All close ties oflove and affection will benefit from the gentle influ-ence of Venus. If you are married or have a well-founded relationship, it seems that the pattern ofevents will somehow draw you closer together emo-tionally. Those who are not yet totally decided, thisis a fine time to do some serious thinking.

You will be pleased tosee that your social life

livens up during this week. It is as if a lucky twistof events and something unexpected that will pro-vide you with a key to your heart's desire. There isa definite expansive trend where money is con-cerned, so do not be surprised if this turns out be atime of lucky breaks.

You may find yourselfhard at work behind the

scenes, although that may not be apparent to oth-ers. You may find yourself caught up in a whirlwindof activity, with opportunities to advance on boththe inner and outer level. There’s a sparkle to yoursocial life and much enjoyment from being in touchwith other people.


ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

��

��

��

Coming Events

l Celebration of Jain Community Centre’s 10thAnniversary“The President’s Launch”, Saturday 26thof January 2013, 4.30pm till late, Jain CommunityCentre, Dress Code: Smart, 4:30-10:30pml Gujarat Hindu Society organises Youth SportsFestival, Sunday 24 February, 2013, 10am-4pm.Juniors-8-11 years, Youth 12-14 yearsm Senior 15-18 years. Entrance £1/per sport, sports include:Badminton, Table Yennis, Carom, Chess, Kho Kho,darts, Dodge Ball. Contact: 01772 253 901l Gandhi Martyr's Day celebration, Tavistock Square,London 30th Jan, 11am. Contact [email protected] Sunday 20th Jan 2013 - 3.00pm -5.30pm –Bhajans by Shree Budhdev and Shree ManubhaiKotak and various visiting Artists and finishing withARTI.Maha Prasad sponsored by Shree Manishaben. Adhya Shakti Mataji Temple, Cowley, UB8 2DX. Tel: 07882 253 540l POhWER Harrow to help you know more abouttheir services in Harrow, what they do locally andhow you can become involved. They would valueyour local ideas and involvement so that togetherthey can extend their services and support to othersin Harrow and so that they can make their voicesheard locally. 21st January 2013, between 10am and12pm at: Wealdstone Library, Wealdstone, HA3 7AE

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Asian Voice Youth

Conference

Shaping Young Lives

Asian Voice is organis-ing a Youth Conferenceon Saturday 23 March2013 for 15-25 yearolds. The conferencewill begin at 11am andwill continue into the afternoon. It will feature lead-ing professionals from different walks of life whowill share their personal experiences and offer prac-tical advice on how young people can fulfil theiraspirations and get ahead in the world of work. Theconference will also include interactive sessions andmentoring opportunities.This year we are hoping to attract a wide range

of people and all youth within the age bracket arewelcome. There will be various competitions to winprizes and opportunities to talk to successful andinspiring people in the field of your choice. We willalso bring out a Youth pullout for the participantsand young readers. If you wish to participate in thisyouth conference, please [email protected], with your full name,age, email address and phone number by 3 March 2013.

A hospital healthcareassistant appeared incourt on Jan 14 chargedwith a sex attack on awoman patient. SajinKunjappu Panikkassery,29, of Langton Road,Chichester, West Sussex,was remanded in custody

by Worthing magistrates.He is accused of fourcounts of sexual assaultand one of rape of apatient, at St Richard'sHospital in Chichester onlast Thursday. He is due toappear before ChichesterCrown Court on 5 April.

The majority of Britonswill lose out in the long-term from a pensions rev-olution which could seethe retirement age hit 77,it emerged on Mondaynight.Under the shake-up,

all Britons will get a ‘flat-rate’ pension worth £144a week if they have atleast 35 years’ ofNational Insurance con-tributions.Millions will benefit

when the changes areintroduced – particularlythe self-employed andstay-at-home mothers –as ministers create along-term system that thecountry can afford.But many will also

lose out – including manyof those born after 1970 –because of the way thenew payment is calculat-ed. The long-awaitedshake-up comes intoeffect in April 2017.

Healthcare assistantappears in Court

Pension revolution to shake up Britain

Last Thursday a courtheard that solicitors froma London law firm havebeen accused of facilitat-ing sham marriagesbetween foreign couples,to convince UKBA thatthese marriages were actu-ally real, as reported bythe Daily Mail.Solicitor Tevfick

Souleiman and threeimmigration advisersworking for him allegedlymade 'substantial' sums byforging documents tohoodwink the UK BorderAgency during the eightyear scam, it was alleged.Brides were apparently

flown into Britain fromeastern European EUcountries to marry non-EU citizens, giving thegrooms rights to live andwork in the UK, the OldBailey was told. In somecases the couples only meteach other at the solici-tor's office on one occa-sion before their weddingday. The accused denyconspiracy to breachimmigration law between2004 and last year andalso deny receiving pro-ceeds of crime. Kosimov,from Wembley, who isbeing tried in his absence,denies money laundering.

Solicitors accused of facilitating 'sham marriages'

Sport Worldwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 2013 31

Little-known Chinese stunsSaina Nehwal in last 8

Five days before HanLi celebrates her25th birthday shereceived an unex-pected gift in theform of prized scalpof Saina Nehwal atthe Korea OpenSuper Series Premierin Seoul on Friday.

The little-knownChinese shuttlerstunned the Indianace in the quarterfi-

nals 21-14, 15-21, 21-12. Ranked 26 in theworld and having never won against Saina, notmuch was expected from Han. However, theformer Chinese national champion had in factregistered a rather easy victory against theIndian. Though she lost the second game Hanhad it easy over Saina in the other two.

After losing the first game at 14-21, Sainawas off to a brisk start in the second. Playinghalf-smashes with ease, Saina raced ahead to4-0 and by the break the Indian was comfort-ably placed at 11-6. As Han widened the gap to8-3 the Indian was confined to play the catchup. Though Saina tried hard after the mandato-ry change of courts, Han maintained a comfort-able lead. Thereafter, Han surged ahead to 17-11 forcing the Indian to give up.

Australia beat Sri Lanka by107 runs in first ODI

Opener Phil Hughes scored a debut century asAustralia amassed 305 for five and dismissedSri Lanka cheaply for a 107-run victory in theopening match of the five-game one-day inter-national series at Melbourne on Friday. Hughesbecame the first Australian to score a centuryon his ODI debut as the hosts posted a bigscore after winning the toss against Sri Lanka.The diminutive left-hander cracked 112 off 129balls to help set the Sri Lankans a competitiverun chase under lights at 6.12 runs an over. Butthe Sri Lankans, despite being well in thematch at 111 for two, self-destructed with threerun outs and Clint McKay (4-33) helped bowlthe tourists out for 198 with 10 overs to spare.

Hughes was the highlight of a free-scoringAustralian innings with skipper George Baileyscoring 89 off 79 balls and David Hussey chip-ping in with a late unbeaten 60 off 34 balls.

Hussey, the younger brother of veteranMike Hussey, finished with a flourish, plunder-ing 21 runs off the last over from off-spinnerAjantha Mendis, including a six over long-off tobring up his half-century.

Former India skipper RahulDravid believes MS Dhoni,while still the best man tolead India in Tests, needs tochange the way he captains ifhe is to turn around India'sfortunes. Acknowledging theteam's poor run and the factthat the captain is under"enormous pressure", Dravidsaid, "What it (a turnaround)will require from him (Dhoni)is a change in the way he cap-tains, a recognition that hecan't do everything all thetime, and the willingness toask for and accept help."

Dravid believes there areno alternatives to Dhoni asTest captain, so he must giveup the captaincy in T20s andpick and choose ODI assign-ments. "There's a lot of talkof split captaincy these days.It won't be a bad model forIndia to adopt, if only tokeep Dhoni fresh as Testcaptain," Dravid said."Dhoni has got to recognizethat he can't continue tocaptain and play all the time,because it is making himstale. The pressure of inter-national cricket is huge - itlends itself to a lot of fatigue- and Dhoni has been in thejob a long time now.

"To start with, Dhonicould easily give up the IndiaT20 and Chennai SuperKings captaincies. He shouldcertainly play ODIs and T20sfor India, because he isinvaluable to the side. Givingup a couple of captaincy rolesmight give him more time inthe main India job and thefreshness to keep doing it. "Itwould also give India anopportunity to perhaps givesomeone like (Virat) Kohli achance to be T20 captain,break him into the job andsee how he goes. There isanother option for Dhoni aswell, which he has resortedto in the past: to miss the oddODI series and prepare him-self for the big competitions."

Dravid also says Dhonimust change his captaincystyle to suit the changingrequirements of the team."He must also recognize thathe needs to change a verysuccessful leadership style -almost change direction -because the team is chang-ing." Dravid suggests thatunlike in the past, when he hadexperienced batsmen andbowlers to aid his "instinct"and "gut feel", Dhoni mustadopt a more hands-on

approach to the Test captaincy."He led on instinct and

gut feel, and it worked bril-liantly for him. Now Dhoniis captaining a team withyoung guys, who need morecommunication and guid-ance. One of the criticismsdirected at Dhoni has beenthat there is very little com-munication about plans androles either.

"He is not one for bowl-ing plans and bowlers' meet-ings. When you have seniorbowlers like Zaheer, Kumbleand Harbhajan, the captainneed not worry about all thatbecause the bowlers knowwhat to do. The youngerbowlers coming in now, likeAshwin and Ojha, need toknow what the plan is...they

need to discuss strategy andplanning well before they goon to the field."

Given the series of over-seas tours in the comingyears, Dravid says, "I don'tthink anybody expects him(Dhoni) to have great successin the immediate future.People recognize that this is aperiod of transition and thatthere are going to be toughdays. What they need toknow, though, is that the wayforward has been clearlymapped. If Dhoni wants tolead India, the job is going todemand a lot more energy andinvolvement. He is the manfor it at the moment, if he canfind that second wind."

On why there are noalternatives for Dhoni asTest skipper, Dravid says,"At one point we feltGautam Gambhir could takeover the job...yet what goesagainst him today is the factthat he has not scored toomany Test runs in the lastthree years, and he averagesunder 32. Virat Kohli is theonly other alternative leader,and he ticks the box of beingan automatic selection in allthree formats. Yet I believeit's a little early for him."

The Pakistan Cricket Board has decidedto retain senior batsman Misbah-ul-Haqas captain for the Test and one-day seriesin the forthcoming tour of South Africa.

The 38-year-old has drawn flak forhis below-par performances in one-daycricket including the recent tour ofIndia. The PCB had removed him ascaptain of the Twenty20 squad last yearfor being a slow scorer.

But sources in the PCB said that thenational selectors were told by theBoard that Misbah will continue ascaptain for both formats whileMohammad Hafeez has been retainedas captain of the T20 squad.

Pakistan leaves on January 20 forSouth Africa to play three Tests, fiveone-dayers and two T20 matches.

"Board chairman Zaka Ashraf ishappy with the performance of Misbahand the way he led the team to the one-day series win in India recently," onesource said.

"The positive report about Misbah isthat despite his age, he is fit and bringsabout lot of confidence and discipline to

the team with his presence and leader-ship qualities," the source said.

He said the board had decided tocontinue with Misbah for the South

African tour while Hafeez would begroomed to take over from him after theChampions Trophy in England this year.

Akmal brothers axed: Meanwhile,the selectors have axed wicketkeeperKamran Akmal and his brothers Adnanand Umar from the Pakistan squad forthe three-test tour of South Africa.

The selectors opted to pick SarfarazAhmed as wicketkeeper for the series.Chief selector Iqbal Qasim said thesquad for the five ODI's and two T20matches would be announced later.

"That is why we have picked onlyone wicketkeeper in the touring squad,he said. The selectors named only fourpace bowlers for the tour including theexperienced Umar Gul, Junaid Khanand uncapped test bowlers MohammadIrfan and Ehsan Adil.

Pakistan squad: Misbah-ul-Haq(captain), Mohammad Hafeez, NasirJamshed, Younus Khan, Asad Shafiq,Azhar Ali, Faisal Iqbal, Haris Sohail,Sarfaraz Ahmed, Umar Gul, MuhammadIrfan, Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil, TaufiqUmar, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman.

Leander Paes will spearhead asecond-string Indian team in thehome Davis Cup tie againstSouth Korea next month follow-ing a revolt by the country'sfrontline players.

Eight top players, excluding13-times grand slam doubleschampion Paes, had submitted alist of demands to the All IndiaTennis Association (AITA) witha threat to snub the regional firstround tie in New Delhi fromFebruary 1-3.

The AITA agreed to most ofthe demands but it was notenough to convince the disgrun-tled players including multipledoubles grand slam championMahesh Bhupathi, SomdevDevvarman and Rohan Bopannawho made themselves unavail-

able for the tie.AITA chief executive

Hironmoy Chatterjee said the fed-eration had extended the deadlinebut the players did not commit toplaying in the team event.

"We gave them the opportu-nity to reconsider their stand.We tried everything, what more

could we do?" Chatterjee said."We did out best."

The AITA had agreed to thedemands for a new coach, ahigher share of prize money andthe players' involvement in thechoice of venues for ties butrejected a request to change thecaptain and decided to retain S P

Misra to lead the team againstSouth Korea.

"We agreed to give them busi-ness class air fare, we also agreedto give them a team of six. Whatmore? We tried everything,"Chatterjee said of the last-minuteefforts to convince the players.

"We also agreed to name theteam physiotherapist in consul-tation with the players."

VM Ranjeet, Vijayant Malikand Purav Raja, who are allranked outside the top 500 in sin-gles, will now partner doubles spe-cialist Paes against South Koreawhile Ashwin Vijayaraghavan andArjun Kadhe were named as thereserve players.

"It was made clear to theplayers that as far as captain andcoach is concerned this responsi-

bility vests with the associationand it will be the associationwhich will name the captain aswell as the coach," the AITA saidin a statement.

In a joint statement, the play-ers criticised the AITA's teamselection and said they wouldcontinue to sit out. "We are dis-appointed to note that instead ofengaging in discussion with us,the AITA has selected an inexpe-rienced team to represent thecountry in this crucial DavisCup fixture," the players said.

"The AITA's position reiter-ates and reaffirms our stand, andwe are constrained to state that,unfortunately, we will be unavail-able to represent the countryuntil such time that the AITAengages with us in good faith."

Paes to lead second-string Davis Cup team after players' revolt

Misbah to remain Pakistan's Test, ODI captain

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 19th January 201332

Kevin Pietersen given fullEngland contractKevin Pietersen rubber-stamped his return tothe England set-up bysigning a full centralcontract with theEngland and WalesCricket Board (ECB).Pietersen was frozenout of the internationalpicture in August lastyear when he wasdropped for the finalTest against SouthAfrica over claims hesent text messages to rival players criticising then-England captain Andrew Strauss. The South Africa-born batsman subsequently returned to the squadtowards the end of 2012, but was only tied to ashort-term contract that was due to expire at the endof the month. However, limited-overs coach AshleyGiles confirmed that the 32-year-old has now signeda full central contract with the ECB that puts him ona par with the rest of his England teammates. Thecurrent set of central contracts is due to expire at theend of September.

Sachin Tendulkar's son makesit to Mumbai U-14 squadSachin Tendulkar's sonArjun has been namedin the Mumbai under-14 squad for the WestZone league games inAhmedabad from Jan20 to Feb 1. Thiscomes after Arjun'sselection in the U-14probables list lastJune. The 12-year-oldslammed the firsthundred of hisemerging career inMay 2012. Arjun is aleft-hander and bowlsleft-arm pace. MumbaiU-14 squad: AkashSavla, Darshan Padare,Vaishnav Narvekar,Tanush Kotian, ArjunTendulkar, AzimShaikh, Omkar Rahate,Abhishek Shetty, AgniChopra, Druv Vedak,Hashir Dafedar, Manas Raikar, Jay Dave, JahangirAnsari and Yash Joshi.

Mamata Banerjee gets giftfrom Pakistan Cricket BoardAmid simmering tensionat the LoC, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Friday gota pleasant surprisefrom across the borderwith the PakistanCricket Board sending asilver-coated Quran.“Overwhelmed” by thehospitality at the EdenGardens during India-Pakistan second ODI,the PCB sent the gift tothe Cricket Associationof Bengal who handedit over to the CM duringa function at the Netaji Indoor here on Friday. "ThePCB who included Chairman Zaka Ashraf werebowled over by the hospitality received here. As agesture, they have sent the gift for Mamata," a CABofficial said. Meanwhile, Mamata announced theformation of a task force to oversee the developmentof sports under a five-year scheme. She also gaveaway Rs 200,000 each to 1,750 clubs in Bengal toimprove the standard of sports. The CM alsoannounced 'Bongo Khel Ratna' award, the state'shighest honour for achievement in sport which willbe given from next year.

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Indian batsmen andbowlers failed in unisonas they suffered yet anoth-er defeat, this timeagainst England, in thefirst of the five ODIs inRajkot on Friday. First thebowlers leaked 325 runs,with Ishant Sharma goingfor none for 86 in his 10overs, then the batsmencouldn't keep up with therequired rate as Englandclosed the contest with anine-run victory, theirfirst on Indian soil in anODI since 2006.

As it happens so oftenin big chases that pendu-lum swings from one sideto the other with the teamdefending the total hold-ing the edge, England hadtheir nose in front for themost part of the Indianinnings. Although Indiagot off to a breezy start,with Ajinkya Rahane andGautam Gambhir sharing96 runs for the openingwicket, England cameback strongly with threequick wickets.

Rahane was the firstto go when he chippedTredwell to JadeDernback at long-off.Gambhir didn't last longtoo as he got out, flickingstraight to Ian Bell atshort midwicket offTredwell, after completinghis fifty. Virat Kohli'swoeful form continued ashe once again departedcheaply, giving a simplecatch to Craig Kieswetterbehind the wickets offTim Bresnan.

Yuvraj Singh (61) andSuresh Raina (50), intheir stand of 60 for thefourth wicket, tried totake the game away fromEngland but Tredwell

once again came to thevisitors' rescue, gettingthe prized wicket ofYuvraj, who played someimpeccable pull shots dur-ing his knock.

Raina took the chargeafter the fall of Yuvraj asthe left-hander smacked afew audacious strokes tokeep the pressure off skip-per MS Dhoni. But hiswicket, which was onceagain taken by Tredwell,forced Dhoni to take morerisk. The Indian skipperdid hit four sixes duringhis 32-run knock, hiswicket, taken byDernbach with a slowerdelivery, almost sealed thematch for England.Ravindra Jadeja, playingon his home ground, toofell in the same over, edg-ing one to the stumps forjust nine runs.

Tredwell was the mostsuccessful of the English

bowlers, picking up 4 for44, while Dernbach andTim Bresnan shared twowickets apiece and StevenFinn got one.

It was as good a wick-et a batsman could havehoped to bat on and theEngland batsmen did notmiss a chance to make themost of it, setting a mam-moth 325 for 4 for Indiato chase in the first of thefive one-day internation-als. Ian Bell was the topscorer for England withhis 96-ball 85, whileAlastair Cook (75), KevinPieteren (44) and EoinMorgan (41) too playedcrucial knocks to take thescore past 300.

The Indian bowlerstried their best to restrainthe England scoring butall of them went for plen-ty as the wicket at then e w l y - c o n s t r u c t e dSaurashtra CricketAssociation offered noth-ing to help their cause.Apart from Ishant, who

had dreadful day, otherIndian bowlers too weretaken to the cleaners.

Bell and Cook gaveEngland the perfect start,stringing 158 after the vis-itors won the toss anddecided to bat. The duotreated the Indian bowlerswith utter disdain, pun-ishing anything that couldhave fetched runs. Bell, inparticular, was in fluenttouch, cutting and pullingthe pacers while sweepingand lofting the spinnersfor big shots. The positivemindset of Bell rubbed offon Cook as the Englandcaptain took full toll ofanything that was pitchedfull to him.

Bell got to his half-century when he reverse-swept Jadeja for a bound-ary, while Cook got thelandmark with a single offa conventional sweep.Both departed in quicksuccession, with Bell get-ting run out to a directthrow by Rahane, whileCook too found Rahane atshort fine when he triedto sweep Raina.

But Pietersen andMorgan got in the groovequickly as the duo accu-mulated 44 runs in thebatting power play. Butwhen it looked the twowould propel England to amammoth total, AshokDinda struck twice. Hecaught Morgan in his fol-low-through, while gotPietersen caught at long-off where Virat Kohlileaped forward to take agood diving catch.

Samit Patel (44) andwicketkeeper batsmanCraig Kieswetter (24)played useful cameos totake England to 325. Bothadded 70 in just 37 deliv-eries, including 64 in thelast five overs.

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Alastair Cook and Ian Bell both in the runs again.

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