indiapost 07 26 2013

INDIA POST [email protected]

This week’s question

V O I C E O F I N D I A N S W O R L D W I D E

www.indiapost.com

NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA • CALIFORNIA VOL 19, No. 984 July 26, 2013 50¢ Periodical Postage

India Post

US has little concern for Indiaover Taliban fears?

Last week’s result

YES 36% NO 67%

Certified by “CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL Readership 117,765”

CONTENTSBollywood ---------------------- 28-29

Classifieds ------------------------- 52

Community Post ------------ 16-226

Date Book -------------------------- 36

Edit Page --------------------------- 54

HealthScience Post --------- 32-35

Horoscope ------------------------- 47

Immigration Post ------------- 44-46

Life Style ----------------------- 49-51

Philosophy ------------------------- 53

Publisher’s Diary ------------------ 4

Real Estate -------------------- 30-31

TechBiz Post ------------------- 12-15

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 40-43

Top Stories

Details on page 21

Details on page 6

Details on page 10

Details on page 7

Details on page 7

Details on page 6

BIDEN REASSURES INDIAOVER AFGHAN EXIT

Details on page 16

Details on page 16LAUGHING MATTER: Visiting US Vice President Joe Biden with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a meeting

in New Delhi on July 23. They discussed serious issues also

‘PM candidatewill be throughconsensus’

PM to visit USin Sept andmeet Obama

Stresses on removing trade bottlenecks

NEW DELHI: The visiting US Vice President JosephBiden in his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singhstressed the need for removal of bottlenecks to enhancetrade ties with India and emphasized on the reforms pro-cess to encourage business.

Biden also sought to calm fears over the exit of UStroops from Afghanistan and capitalize on growing invest-ment opportunities.

The most senior US official to visit India since Presi-dent Barack Obama in 2010, Biden discussed with Singh

the security situation in Afghanistan during a 75-minutemeeting.

There is widespread unease among Indian leaders overwhat will happen in Afghanistan once US combat troopsleave in 2014 with many fearing that Pakistan has most togain from the withdrawal.

Even though plans for talks between the US and theTaliban collapsed last month, the possible return to powerof the insurgents alarms many in India.

Details on page 6

Taj 'Spellbound'Jill Biden leftcraving for more

Glittering kickoffparty for 21ST

Festival of India

Puri splendorreplicated atFremont Temple

Rajnath Singh in US

Don't want Modias my PM:Amartya Sen

Advani must beat the helm, saysShatrughan

Pitroda: Diversitybackbone ofIndia innovation

Will House Immigration billbe better?

India Postwww.indiapost.com

July 26, 20132

July 26, 2013 India Post 3www.indiapost.com

28

Mission StatementTo empower the Indian Diaspora and make their voice strong and effective in countries of their adoption. RJ Media conglomerate

offers a credible, professional and complete package of news, opinion, entertainment, networking and information.

NewsweeklyIndia Post

India Post July 26, 20134

Romesh K [email protected]

For editorial, contact: [email protected] or call 510-797-7799

Classifieds: Tel: 510-938-8668; E-mail:[email protected] or Tel: 510-275-4467, E-mail: [email protected]

Graphics Inquiry: Tel: 510-936-9490; E-mail: [email protected]

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS1860 Mowry Ave # 200 Fremont, CA 94538Tel: 510-797-7799, Fax: 510-790-2806; E-mail: [email protected]: Vikram PaulTel: 510-789-7520 Extn: 208; E-mail: [email protected]

For Editorial: Sonia SidhuTel: 510-797-7799; E-mail: [email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO & SILICONVALLEY1860 Mowry Ave # 200 Fremont, CA 94538Tel: 510-938-8667e-mail: [email protected] Nayar: 510-579-2760e-mail: [email protected]

LOS ANGELES12908 Indian Lane Norwalk,CA 90650Tel: 562-441-5511, [email protected]

CHICAGO2543 W Devon Ave Chicago IL 60659Tel: 773-973-7394; Fax: 773-973-7396;Email: [email protected]

NEW YORKTel: 908-338-3752 (Marketing)Tel: 732-283-4939 (Editorial)E-mail: [email protected]

NEW JERSEY21 Longfellow st., Carteret, NJ 07008Tel: 732-969-1114; Fax: 732-969-3735E-mail: [email protected]

BOSTONTel: 617-298-9200; Fax: 617-298-1104GOPE; E-mail: [email protected]

ATLANTA67 Peach Tree Dr., Ste. 102, BuckheadAtlanta, GA 30309Tel: 404-425-3021E-mail: [email protected]

FLORIDA8401 West Sample Road30, Coral Springs, Florida - 33065

TORONTO, CANADATel/Fax: 416-744-8610DELHIJin Kushal Suri Complex, 3rd Floor,230-A, Masjid Moth, (NDSE Part-II)New Delhi - 110049Tel: 11-26257769 / Fax: 11-46142969E-mail:[email protected]• Fernandes MansionTam Taloa, Bassien (W) MumbaiTel: 09619 330159• Diana GabrielIsmail Building, Veer Savarkar RoadFort Mumbai 400 001Tel: 98200 28348E-mail: [email protected]• Vaidehi PatelE-mail: [email protected]: 011 91 98797 79976

Romesh & Sunita Japra PublishersRajesh Verma Co-PublisherVikram Paul PresidentKrishan Sharma Mg Director & Joint EditorVinod Dhawan Senior EditorNaresh Sodhi General ManagerAmit Saini IT DirectorGhanshyam Bisht Supervisor Graphics

SAN FRANCISCO & SILICON VALLEYVijay Thapar CPRO & AdvertisingSonia Sidhu Management AnalystDeepak Chhabra PromotionsHarish Kalewar PromotionsPriya Nayar Bureau ChiefGregg Nuti Sales & Marketing DirectorRakesh Kapoor CorrespondentRatika J. Paul Photo JournalistNeeloo Kapoor Photo JournalistSudesh Kumari CorrespondentRama Mehra AdvertisingVidya Sethuraman CorrespondentRitu Maheshwari CorrespondentSujata Singh CorrespondentRaaj D. Photo Journalist

LOS ANGELESMrs Shashi Trivedi Bureau ChiefJ S Bedi PR & MarketingMrs Prem Kishore Sr CorrespondentGreg Heffernan CorrespondentMs Bobby Sharma CorrespondentBabeeta Kaur Dhillon CorrespondentPavan Kaur Bhatia Correspondent

CHICAGORamesh Soparawala Resident EditorA Q Siddiqui Correspondent

ST. LOUISAshwin Patel Correspondent

NEW YORK & NEW JERSEYPinky Kaur Bureau ChiefSrirekha N. Chakravarty CorrespondentNikita Japra CorrespondentSukhvinder Saini Circulation

ATLANTASanjay Saggere Bureau Chief

FLORIDAB K Madnani

CANADAFirdaus Ali Correspondent

BOSTONGope Gidwani Bureau Chief

DETROITAshok B Jain, M D Bureau ChiefGurminder Singh

SAN DIEGONeelu Bhardwaj Bureau ChiefSACRAMENTOMadan Sharma Bureau ChiefJanak Sidhra CorrespondentUpen Shukla Correspondent

CENTRAL VALLEY (CA)Dr Ram Saini Bureau ChiefSheila Rogers Correspondent

YUBA CITY (CA)Satnam Tatla Correspondent

CAROLINASNalini Raja Patel Correspondent

INDIAVinod Dhawan Senior Editor &Bureau ChiefTripti Parule Correspondent

NEW DELHIJitender Singh Rawat GraphicsVijender Shah Graphics

PUNJABShiv Japra Bureau ChiefAnil Kanwar Senior Correspondent/Marketing

DOABA, PUNJABRomesh Kaura Correspondent

HYDERABADM Sagar Kumar Bureau Chief

MUMBAINidhi Soparawala CorrespondentFrank Fernandes Correspondent

Diana Gabriel Marketing

VADODARA, GUJARATVaidehi Patel Correspondent

The Weekly NewspaperServing Indians Worldwide

www.indiapost.com

India Post

HIGHLIGHTSPublisher’s Diary

INFO-CENTER

For advertisement rates call the office nearest to you:

Bollywood:Birthday with beauAfter spending a secret Spanish holidaywith Ranbir, Katrina Kaif managed toenjoy her birthday with her alleged beau

1Cover Story:Biden in Delhi

16Community:Ratha Yatra

44Immigration:

Backers of comprehensive immigrationlegislation are gearing up for a campaignto push the House to act

49Life Style:

Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan endedone of the film industry's most-talked-about feuds by hugging each other

12Techbiz:

Companies are confident the U.S.economy will grow at a modest pace overthe next year and are hiring more

40Travel:GulmargGulmarg means "the meadow of flow-ers" and the place is a picturesque lo-cation known for its unparalleled beauty

Brighter outlook

The Fremont Temple Ratha Yatra hap-pened on 14 July where a gathering ofover 3000 devotees took part

Visiting US Vice President Joseph Bidensought to calm Indian fears over the exitof US troops from Afghanistan

Hug of century

India Post (ISSN-1064-3868) is published weekly for$30 for 52 issues yearly by India Post, 1860 Mowry

Ave # 200 Fremont, CA 94538. Periodicals postagepaid at Norwalk, CA and additional mailing office.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the

corporate headquarters: 1860 Mowry Ave # 200Fremont, CA 94538

Copyright © 1994 Indamec, Inc.DISCLAIMER

India Post assumes all advertisers to be reliableand responsible for all liability for their claimers

This week US Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Dr Jill Biden arevisiting India. Vice President Biden's visit follows US Secretary of State

John Kerry's visit to India last month. And of course, it precedes Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh's visit to the United States later this September.

By the time you read this, Biden would have returned home, but his visitmerits a run through, if nothing, to reiterate the significance that India and theUS continue to attach to an all encompassing engagement from bilateral tradeand investment to building on the civil nuclear agreement, climate change,defense cooperation and defense sales and regional cooperation.

If this looks uncannily like the agenda that Secretary Kerry went to Indiawith last month, yes, it is the same. Indeed, these are the areas that cover thegamut of strategic cooperation between the two countries, the foundations forwhich were laid during President George Bush's visit to India almost a decadeago.

Like in any relationship, India and the US too go through highs and lows,but what is important is that we don't take the highs as being motivated and thelows as the petering out of the mutual understanding between the two coun-tries, which is based more on the contemporary realities of geo-political powerequations rather than on a one-off agreement or deal. The Asia-Pacific todayis the new western front for all things strategic.

The Vice President's 'official' engagements apart, it is the little sidelightsthat Dr Jill Biden will add to the visit that are more interesting. She is doing ahealth and nutrition event in a small community in Agra and having a similarrendezvous in Mumbai at a facility that deals with victims of gender-basedviolence; she's then visiting a girl's education event at the Anjuman-il-Islamschool for girls.

Oh, and the vice president is scheduled to visit IIT-Mumbai to meet with thewomen faculty and engineers and tour the facility.

All in all, hopefully it will be a fruitful visit for Biden and he comes back topursue a mutually beneficial future for the two countries.

Push for reform


www.indiapost.com

Cover/Top Stories

Biden reassures India over Afghan exitStresses on removing trade bottlenecks

NEW DELHI: The visiting USVice President Joseph Biden in histalks with Prime MinisterManmohan Singh stressed theneed for removal of bottlenecksto enhance trade ties with Indiaand emphasized on the reforms

process to encourage business.Biden also sought to calm fears

over the exit of US troops fromAfghanistan and capitalize ongrowing investment opportuni-ties.

The most senior US official tovisit India since President BarackObama in 2010, Biden discussedwith Singh the security situationin Afghanistan during a 75-minutemeeting.

There is widespread uneaseamong Indian leaders over what

will happen in Afghanistan onceUS combat troops leave in 2014with many fearing that Pakistanhas most to gain from the with-drawal.

Even though plans for talksbetween the US and the Taliban

collapsed last month, the possiblereturn to power of the insurgentsalarms many in India.

Biden, who arrived here Mon-day July 22 on a four-day visit,held comprehensive talks withSingh after which, sources said,the Prime Minister will undertakea bilateral visit to the US from thirdweek of September and will meetPresident Barack Obama apartfrom attending the UN GeneralAssembly in New York.

The probable dates mentioned

are September 20-26 but there isno confirmation.

According to the sources, thetwo sides discussed ways toboost trade ties, with Biden ex-pressing concerns of Americancompanies and stressing on theneed to remove hurdles to do busi-ness here. On his part, Singh alsoemphasized the need for greatercommercial engagement for Indiato meet its own quest for eco-nomic growth.

The Cumulative FDI Equity In-flows from the US during the pe-riod April 2000 to January 2012amounted to about USD 10.36 bil-lion, constituting 6 per cent of thetotal FDI into India.

The two leaders also dis-cussed the situation in the region.Another important component oftheir talks was energy, includingsupply of LNG from the US.

Singh and Biden discussed awhole range of issues, includingimplementation of the landmarkcivil nuclear deal and ways to en-hance commerce, the sourcessaid. The two leaders agreed totake these issues forward.

In this context, the Prime Min-ister told Biden that he looks for-ward to meeting Obama in Sep-tember, the sources said.

During the meeting with Biden,Singh conveyed his best wishesto Obama.

The US Vice President startedhis day with a meeting with hisIndian counterpart Hamid Ansari

US Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. meeting President

Pranab Mukherjee, in New Delhi on July 23

US Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. meeting Indian Vice President

Mohd. Hamid Ansari

PM to visit US in Sept; attendUNGA, meet Obama

'Spellbound' Jill Biden left craving for more after Taj visit

NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterManmohan Singh is expected toundertake a six-day visit to theUS from September 20, duringwhich he will have a bilateralmeeting with President BarackObama in Washington besidesattending the UN General As-sembly in New York.

Singh will be undertaking thevisit to the US from September 20.He will first travel to New York toattend the UNGA and then visitWashington for a bilateral sum-

mit with Obama, the sources said.This will be Singh's second

visit to Washington for a bilat-eral visit during Obama's tenure.He had last travelled to the UScapital on a bilateral visit in No-vember 2009.

He had visited Washingtonagain in April 2010 but it was toattend the Nuclear SecuritySummit.

Obama paid the reciprocalbilateral visit to India in Novem-ber 2010.-PTI

during which they had a wideranging discussion on variousaspects of bilateral relations aswell as regional issues includingAfghanistan.

During the meeting, Ansarispoke of the need for continuousattention for building the partner-ship that is based on shared val-ues and on his part Biden alsoemphasized that enhanced eco-nomic engagement was in the in-terest of both countries, sourcessaid.

Biden also outlined PresidentObama's and his own personalcommitment and interest in expan-

sion of India-US bilateral relationsand referred to India's own LookEast policy and itscomplementarity with the US re-balancing towards Asia.

The two Vice Presidents alsoreviewed the regional situationespecially the entire gamut of is-sues relating to Afghanistan.

The Vice President also calledon President Pranab Mukherjeeand held meetings with Leader ofOpposition Sushma Swaraj.

Before his scheduled departure

for Mumbai, Biden attended thedinner by Ansari hosted in hishonor. -PTI

AGRA: Spellbound by thebeauty of Taj Mahal, US SecondLady Jill Biden felt that the littleless than an hour she spent herewas too brief and wants to visitthe monument of love again.

As she entered the site, shetook a pause for few moments infront of the imposing white-marblecomplex. Then she took a 40-minute tour of the monument, ac-companied by two guidesShamsuddin Khan and BarunRawat, who informed her aboutthe finer details of the 17th cen-tury monument.

The visibly impressed digni-tary was seen touching the wallsof the magnificent monument toget a feel of the intricate marblecarving.

"It is quite amazing. It is sobeautiful. We took a drive of threehours to come here and it is soworth it. It is one of the SevenWonders of the World," Jill Bidentold PTI.

Dressed in all blue, the wife ofUS Vice President Joseph Bidenwas accompanied by their daugh-ter Ashley and son-in-law DrHoward David Krein.

While she was busy capturing

the beauty of the monument, theyoung couple, who were marriedlast year, were busy clicking pho-tographs together. The family alsoposed to be clicked in front of themarble marvel.-PTI

US Vice president Joe Biden’s wife Jill with daughter Ashley and son-in-law

Howard David Krein at historic Taj Mahal in Agra on July 23

India PostJuly 26, 2013 7

www.indiapost.com

Top StoriesSwaraj meets Biden, refrainsfrom raising Modi visa issue

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj meeting US

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: BJP leaderSushma Swaraj met visiting USVice President Joe Biden andraised the issue of visa to skilledworkers but refrained from dis-cussing the lifting of ban onAmerican visa to Gujarat ChiefMinister Narendra Modi.

"I had a very good meetingwith Mr Joe Biden, Vice Presidentof United States of America.Amongst other issues, I raised theissue of tantalisation agreementand H1B visa to Indian profes-sionals," the Leader of the Oppo-sition in Lok Sabha said on micro-

blogging site Twitter.US has entered into agreements,

called Tantalisation Agreements,with several nations for the purposeof avoiding double taxation of in-come with respect to social secu-rity or medicare taxes. India is notyet a signatory to this agreement.

Swaraj, however, refrained fromraising the issue of the US lifting

the ban on visa to Modi. BJP Presi-dent Rajnath Singh, who is on afive-day visit to the US, has saidhe will raise this issue with theAmerican authorities.

Meanwhile, BJP expressed itsire over reports that 40 Lok Sabhaand 25 Rajya Sabha MPs havewritten to US President BarackObama appealing to him to con-tinue with the no-visa policyagainst Modi.

"Are these MPs voicing theview of their voters/people of theirconstituency or their prejudices?Against our own country man?

Shame," BJP spokespersonNirmala Sitharaman said.

She demanded that these 65names be made public.

"The 65 names be revealed,questions asked in their constitu-encies about their motives.Whose cause are they serving?Modi an elected CM!" shetweeted.

PM candidate will be throughconsensus: Rajnath

SUDHIR VYAS

NEW JERSEY: BJP PresidentRajnath Singh said here he woulddiscuss with all other allies withinthe National Democratic Alliancebefore making any formal an-nouncement of their Prime Minis-terial candidate.

Talking exclusively to this cor-respondent during a phone inter-view, Singh said "hum sab kosaath le key chalange. (We will

take everyone into confidence).There will be consensus within theNDA before we make any suchannouncement", Singh claimed.

Singh was in New York beforehis trip to Washington. Asked tocomment on the recent statementof the Shiv Sena and TrinamoolCongress, who are against sup-porting Modi as the prime minis-

terial candidate of the NDA, hesaid "I will talk to the allies once Ireach India".

In reply to another questionwhether the NDA had any backupplan in case it could not reach themagical figure of 272 Lok Sabhaseats to form government, Singhsaid "let us not take up this issueas only time will tell whether wecould get to the winning post. No

stone would be left unturned todefeat the UPA government led bythe Congress", he asserted.

In reply to a question about thealleged divisive policies of Modi,the BJP president said "pinpointone incident to show that Modiwas pursuing divisive policies. Itis all about how you look at it andwhat you think of it", he said add-ing, "BJP has never followed and

will not follow in future the policyof divide and rule."

On the issue whether BJP willonce again rake up the Ram Mandirissue or will it leave it the cold stor-age as it has been doing for thepast several years, Rajnath Singhsaid, "once we come to power wewill give preference to balanceddevelopment and if the Ram

Mandir fallsunder our de-velopmentalagenda will bedefinitely giveit a shot but it(Ram Mandirissue) will notbe a politicalplank".

Later talkingto reportershere, Singh vir-tually ruledhimself out ofthe prime min-isterial race.

"It's not necessary that partypresident should also be a crowdpuller and a prime ministerial can-didate. I have an assignment todo for my party. I have a job todeliver - that is victory of the partyin the 2014 elections."

"Seven months before the elec-tions, I have nominated Gujaratchief minister Narendra Modi aschairman of the party's election

campaign committee. What is un-usual in that? We have nominatedModi like other parties do andwhy read between lines. I havenamed him as campaign head inview of his image, popularity andcommitment to the party," he tolda press conference at the start ofhis five-day trip to New York andWashington.

'He is a crowd puller not onlyin Gujarat but also in TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh and Bihar -from North to South, Eastto West. He is one singleleader with a national ap-peal. His popularity willhelp the party in the elec-tions,' he said.

'I am more interested ingetting the BJP back topower at Centre and pack-ing off the corruption-rid-den bad governance ofthe Congress, in my ten-ure as president of theparty,' he said. On thequestion of poll promises,he said BJP would rathergo in for developmentaldebate than Ram JanmaBhoomi issue. 'Ram templewas not a major poll issueanytime. It was at best a

national issue but not an electionissue,' he added.MODI VISA

Addressing a community re-ception hosted by OverseasFriends of BJP (OF-BJP) in NewJersey, Rajnath Singh gave a highmark of leadership to Modi de-scribing him as leader with na-tional appeal and observed thatthe US will have to give him a visasooner than later.

Singh, who is here on a five-day US visit, added, "I do notneed to praise the Gujarat ChiefMinister...the whole world haspraised Modi's performance. Lookat the paradox. The research pa-per of an agency of America ad-mired Modi's governance andachievements, but the govern-ment has been closing its eyes onthe question of issuing visa tothe same man." The receptionheld at the TV Asia auditorium wastelecast live by the channel.

Singh said the BJP motto for2014 elections is to make India aglobal leader and global player notjust economically and in strate-gic matters but also spirituallyand culturally.

BJP General Secretary AnanthKumar, MP, Dr SudhanshuTrivedi, advisor to the BJP Presi-dent and Vijay Jolly, BJP Convenerfor Overseas Affairs also spokeon the occasion.

Lamp lighting at the OFBJP event by Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh addressing Meet in NJ

Don't want Modi as myPM: Amartya Sen

PATNA: Coming out stronglyagainst Gujarat Chief MinisterNarendra Modi, Nobel laureateAmartya Sen has said he doesnot want him to become India'sprime minister as he does nothave secular credentials. Theprominent economist also criti-cized Modi's model of gover-nance saying he did not approveof it. "Yes, I don't want him," Sentold a news channel in reply to aquestion on whether he wantedhim as his prime minister.

"As an Indian citizen I don'twant Modi as my PM. He hasnot done enough to make minori-ties feel safe," he said. On beingasked why he did not want so,

Sen said, "He could have firstof all been more secular and hecould have made the minoritycommunity feel more secure.""No, I don't approve of it... Idon't think the record is verygood. I think I don't have to be amember of the minority in orderto feel insecure... We Indiansdon't want a situation where theminority feel insecure and couldlegitimately think that there wasan organized violence againstthem in 2002.

I think that is a terrible recordand I don't think Indian PrimeMinister as an Indian citizen...Of who has that kind of record.No, I do not."-PTI


www.indiapost.com

Top Stories

Britain's future king is bornLONDON: Congratulatory messages

from around the world poured in as PrinceWilliam's wife Kate Middleton gave birth

to a baby boy, with Britons and the Royalfamily ecstatic at the arrival of Britain's fu-ture King.

The 31-year-old Duchess of Cambridgegave birth to a baby boy at the private Lindowing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington,central London.

The fountain in Trafalgar Square was litup with blue lighting to mark the birth ofthe third in line to Britain's throne and "It'sa boy" was instantly being flashed on theBT Tower in central London.

In an official announcement,Buckingham Palace said, "The Queen andPrince Philip are delighted at the news ofthe birth of the Duke and Duchess ofCambridge's baby."

Queen Elizabeth II is expected to havebeen the first to be informed about her new-

est great-grandson by phone.Prince Charles, the grandfather of the

8lbs 6oz boy, responded to news of the birthby saying he was "enormously proud andhappy" of becoming a grandparent.

"Both my wife and I are overjoyed at thearrival of my first grandchild. It is an in-credibly special moment for William andCatherine and we are so thrilled for themon the birth of their baby boy," he said.

"Grandparenthood is a unique momentin anyone's life, as countless kind peoplehave told me in recent months, so I am enor-mously proud and happy to be a grandfa-ther for the first time and we are eagerlylooking forward to seeing the baby in thenear future," Charles said.

British Prime Minister David Cameronwas among the first to take to Twitter to

say: "I'm delighted for the Duke and Duch-ess now their son has been born. The wholecountry will celebrate. They'll make won-derful parents".

The statement issued by KensingtonPalace, the Duke and Duchess' official resi-dence, confirmed that William was presentfor the birth.

"The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh,The Prince of Wales, The Duchess ofCornwall, Prince Harry and members ofboth families have been informed and aredelighted with the news," the statementsaid.

US President Barack Obama and lawmak-ers congratulated the royal family on thebirth of the new prince.

"Michelle and I are so pleased to con-gratulate The Duke and Duchess of Cam-bridge on the joyous occasion of the birthof their first child. We wish them all thehappiness and blessings parenthoodbrings," he said.

"The child enters the world at a time ofpromise and opportunity for our two na-tions," Obama said in a statement.

Top-selling British newspaper 'The Sun'changed its name in its edition to "TheSon" to honor the royal baby..-PTI

Prince William and Kate Middleton


www.indiapost.com

Top Stories

Washington Post highlights Maryland kids cricketIndia Post News Service

GERMANTOWN, MD: In a lead articleon its Kids section on July 20, the Wash-ington Post has highlighted the rising in-terest in cricket among Maryland kids. In alengthy piece, Post reporter Moira E.McLaughlin goes on to compare cricketwith Baseball and pinpoints the differences.

She writes, "In the past couple of years,the game of cricket has been growing inpopularity among Maryland kids. Nextweek, six coed youth cricket teams from theMaryland Youth Cricket Association willmeet at the first Maryland Youth CricketChampionship. It will be the first state youthcricket competition in the country, accord-ing to Jamie Harrison, who helped foundthe United States Youth Cricket Associa-tion.

"The Maryland association plans to addtwo more teams to the group next year.

"At a recent match early on a Sundaymorning, the Germantown Kids CricketClub challenged the Bowie Girls and BoysClub, playing on part of a baseball field.

"Coach Anurag Babbar started theGermantown team two years ago with fiveplayers, because his son, Anav, now 12,wanted to play. Today, there are 65 playerson his team, so they have enough playersfor two teams."

The article was illustrated with picturesfrom the Maryland kids cricket.

Ishaan Verma, 11, takes

practice swings after his

team finished a cricket

match in Germantown

India, Chinatalk to ensurepeace on LAC

NEW DELHI: India and China on Tues-day July 23 discussed ways to ensurepeace and tranquillity along the border inthe backdrop of recent Chinese incursionsduring a meeting here, the first since thethree-week "face-to-face" standoff in Aprilat Depsang Valley near LAC in Ladakh.

India is understood to have raised theseincursions and their impact but there wasno official confirmation for the same.

The two-day meeting under workingmechanism for consultation and coordina-tion on India-China border affairs also "dis-cussed all issues since the last meet inNovember", sources said.

"The meeting deals with all issues ofpeace and tranquillity on the border....However, this meeting does not deal withborder issues as those issues are handledby Special Representatives on both sides.Also the meeting does not discuss BorderDefence Cooperation Agreement sincethere is a separate mechanisms for that,"spokesperson in the Ministry of ExternalAffairs said here.

The meeting is led by Joint Secretary inMinistry of External Affairs GautamBambawale and seniors officials of Minis-try of Defence and Home Affairs from In-dian side and a composite delegation ofofficials from Chinese side comprisingmembers from various departments dealingwith the boundary issue, he said. -PTI

The Germantown kids Cricket Club in blue,

plays the Bowie Boys and Girls Club in a match


www.indiapost.com

Top Stories

'BJP to create atmosphereof goodwill and trust'

Row over Shakeel Ahmed's IM comments continues

Advani must be at the helm,says Shatrughan

WASHINGTON: The BJP, ifvoted to power, will create an at-mosphere of "mutual goodwill andtrust" with the US, party presidentRajnath Singh said here, askingAmerica to look at India as a long-term strategic partner and "notmerely as a transactional" rela-tionship.

Besides strongly raising India'sconcerns over H-1B visa issuesas mentioned in the Comprehen-sive Immigration Reform Bill,Singh said the BJP-governmentwould give new impetus to Indo-US ties, which is not only in theinterest of the largest democraticcountries of the world, but also ininterest of regional and globalpeace, stability and prosperity.

"If we come to power, we willcreate an atmosphere of mutualgood will and trust between ourtwo countries so that all the per-ceptional problems can be auto-matically overcome and substan-tive issues resolved through mu-tual dialogue," Singh said on thefirst day of his Washington trip.

"The US should not look itsrelationship with India as merelytransactional relations, but as along-term strategic partnership,"Singh said in a series of close doormeetings attended by experts fromvarious think-tanks, key Congres-sional staff, policy-makers, offi-cials, academicians and thosefrom the corporate world.

Participants of these meet-ings, according to sources,shared their frustration with In-dia, in particular in the trade andbusiness sector, to which Singhis believed to have said that theBJP is in favor of taking reformprocess forward.

"We are very much in favor oftaking forward the economic re-form process. It was under the

NDA regime that the Indo-US re-lations both at the trade and com-merce level as well as the strate-gic partnership level received fur-ther boost."

Noting that the BJP govern-ment gave new impetus to the eco-nomic reform process, Singh saidthe BJP welcomes FDI in manykey sectors of the economy.

"However, we have certainconstraints with regard to allow-ing FDI in multi-brand retail... be-cause it will affect the livelihoodof 50 million Indians adversely,"he said.

The US should appreciate ourconcerns just as we appreciate theconcerns of the United States.

Batting for Indian companiesand Indians who would be af-

fected by the provisions in theImmigration Reform Bill, he urgedthe US to reconsider these strin-gent provisions.

"The US should understandand appreciate the concerns ofIndia on economic issues and pro-posed Comprehensive Immigra-tion Reforms bill in US, which willput more monetary burden on In-dian human resource deploymentfor Offshore IT companiesthrough H1B & L1 visa regime,"Singh said.

Participants repeatedly askedquestions and expressed their frus-tration over the current economicclimate in India noting that it is notconducive for foreign direct invest-ment, the sources said.-PTI

NEW DELHI: The row overCongress leader ShakeelAhmed's comments linking birthof Indian Mujahideen to 2002Gujarat riots refused to die downwith BJP slamming it as a bid to"use terror" for votes and ques-tioned if Rahul Gandhi andPrime Minister ManmohanSingh endorsed these views.

Ahmed, however, got back-ing from Minority Affairs Min-ister Rehman Khan and Con-gress leader Digvijay Singheven as he met party chief SoniaGandhi in the wake of contro-versy.

Ahmed, who is believed to have

explained his position to Gandhi,accused BJP of diverting the nation'sattention from NIA's "observations"

on the creation of IM."By dramatized hue & cry, BJP

spokespersons are trying to make

it my statement simply to divert thenation's attention from NIA's ob-servations," he wrote on Twitter.

His remarks have not gonedown well in the party, which dis-tanced itself from the same yes-terday.

Slamming the comments, BJPspokesperson ShahnawazHussain told reporters here that"the Congress wants to mustervotes even in the name of terror-ism... Congress leaders are eulo-gizing terrorism."

Hussain's colleague RajivPratap Rudy said the Congresswas trying to "legitimize" IndianMujahideen and terrorism.

"At a time when the countryis fighting terrorism, Congressis trying to support terrorism,"he said.

"We will like to have com-ment from Rahul Gandhi or thePrime Minister as to whetherthey support the views ofShakeel Ahmed," he said.

While the attack continued,Ahmed got support from the Mi-nority Affairs Minister who saidhe had quoted from NIAchargesheet.

"Suffering has taken place.There is anger among Muslims.Anger is prevalent. It is obvi-ous," Rehman Khan said.-PTI

Shakeel Ahmed

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and

Shatrughan Sinha at a function in Patna on July 22

PATNA: A day after MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chauhan hailed L K Advanias BJP's supreme leader, anothervoice of support for the party pa-triarch came when ShatrughanSinha described him as the "mostseasoned and mature" leaderwho must be at the "helm of af-fairs".

Sinha also appeared to lend hissupport to murmurs of discontentin the party over projection of the

Gujarat Chief Minister as possibleprime ministerial candidate sayingif it was done through Parliamen-tary Board "it would be great".

"I still maintain that NarendraModi, though he is verypopular...the kind of hype thathas been created thanks to me-dia and thanks to all of us, he hasbeen very successful.

"If he has been projected asprime minister after ParliamentaryBoard meeting, it would be a greatthing. But the rider (is) that fromour point of view Advani sahabmust be at the helm of affairs,"the MP from Patna Sahib told re-porters here.

He said Advani was a states-man. "He is the most seasoned,most mature person and to me hehas always been the ultimateleader. He is the last person whowould ever sulk.

He has never demanded theprime ministerial position. Wepray that, whoever, is decided asthe PM candidate through theParliamentary Board, must havethe blessings of Mr Advani."

Asked whether Advani should

be in the race for prime ministe-rial candidate, Sinha said, "Therecould not be a better person thanhim in terms of statesmanship.

"Advani is, as I said, to me andto most of us, the one who hascontributed the maximum in thegrowth of BJP from 2 seats to al-most 200 seats (in the Lok Saba).He cannot be sidelined."

Sinha's comments come a dayafter the Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister calling Advani the su-preme leader of the BJP and setoff on his "Jan Ashirvad Yatra"from Ujjain during which postershave photographs of various lead-ers but not Modi.

Rajnath Singh

The US should appreciate our concerns justas we appreciate the concerns of the UnitedStates.Batting for Indian companies and Indi-ans who would be affected by the provisionsin the Immigration Reform Bill, he urged theUS to reconsider these stringent provisions


www.indiapost.com

Top Stories

Central Bank pays hefty dividend to Indian govtDIANA GABRIEL

MUMBAI: The Central Bank of India, one of the largestnationalized banks of the country, has performed well lastfinancial year and this enabled the Bank management topay a hefty dividend and PNCPS amounting to Rs.373.27crores to the Indian government for the year ending March2013.

At a small function organized in the Office of FinanceMinister P. Chidambaram, the Bank chairman and manag-ing director M.V. Tanksale, along with Malay Mukherjeeand R.K. Goyal, Executive Directors of the Bank, handedover a check for the amount to the Minister.

Besides Finance Minister P Chidambaram, those presenton the occasion were Namo Narain Meena, Minister ofState for Finance and Ms SnehLata Srivastava, Addl. Sec-retary, Department of Financial Services. During the checkpresentation event, Bank chairman M.V Tanksale felici-

tated the Finance Minister and appraised him about vari-ous activities taken by the Bank during the last year andthe way forward.

The Bank recently opened a branch at Bharat DiamondBourse, Mumbai. The Chairman and Managing DirectorM. V. Tanksale inaugurated the branch at a grand functionattended by top diamond merchants from the Bourse andthe top Bank officials. The Branch will cater to the bankingneeds of diamond merchants.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank that had cut its Base Rateto 10% from 10.25% with effect from July 15 in response tovarious measures taken by RBI, is now not going to reviewits decision and will continue with its reduced base rate,according to M.V. Tanksale, the CMD. He further statedthat every effort will be made by the Bank to reduce thecost of deposits.

L-R: B Mondal, Field Zonal Manager, Delhi, R.K. Goyal and Malay Mukherjee Executive Directors of the Bank, M.V. Tanksale,

Chairman & Managing Director, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State Finance, Mrs. SnehLata

Srivastava, IAS, Addl. Secretary, Department of Financial Services and P C Joshi, AGM-PR

L-R: R. K. Goyal, Executive Director, M.V. Tanksale, Chairman

and Managing Director, B.K. Singal, Field General Manager, B.

V. Joseph, Chief Manager, Anoop Mehta, President,

Bharat Diamond Bourse

Pravasi Divas inSydney to boost ties

MELBOURNE: The Indian community in Australia andthe Pacific will get an opportunity to contribute betweenIndia and countries in the region at the 7th Regional PravasiBharatiya Divas Convention in Sydney, a top Indian diplo-mat has said.

"The objective of the convention would be to reach outto those members of the community who have been unableto participate in the annual PBD in India and to provide aplatform for the Indian community in Australia and thePacific to contribute to the relationship between countriesof the region and India," Indian High Commissioner toAustralia Biren Nanda said.

The three-day-long convention for Non-Resident Indi-ans and People of India Origin in Sydney, scheduled tostart on November 10, will be organized by the Indian mis-sion in the country in collaboration with the New SouthWales Government. -PTI

12 India Post July 26, 2013www.indiapost.com

TechBizTech News

President of Chiba University of Commerce, (Japan) Haruo Shimada and BJP

MP Piyush Goyal at BSE during the conference on

India-Japan Global Partnership

Survey: Brighter US economicoutlook boosts hiring

WASHINGTON: Companiesare increasingly confident the U.S.economy will grow at a modestpace over the next year and arehiring more, according to a surveyof business economists.

Nearly one-third of the econo-mists surveyed by the NationalAssociation for Business Econom-ics said their companies addedjobs in the April-June quarter, ac-cording to a report. That's the high-est percentage in nearly two years.And 39 percent expect their firmswill hire more in the next six months.That's near the two-year high of40 percent reached in the January-March quarter.

The hiring increase occurredeven though sales and profitgrowth slowed in the second quar-ter.

Optimism about future eco-nomic growth increased. Nearlythree-quarters of the survey re-spondents forecast growth of 2.1percent or more over the next 12months. That's up from two-thirdsin the first quarter survey, releasedin April, and the most in a year.

The quarterly survey's resultsecho much of the recent datatracking the economy. Growth hasbeen slow in the past nine months,but employers have added jobs at

a healthy pace. Many economistsanticipate that the steady hiringwill help accelerate growth in thesecond half of this year.

The NABE surveyed 65 of its

member economists between June18 and July 2. The economistswork for companies from a varietyof industries, including manufac-turing, transportation and utilities,finance, retail and other services.

Among the findings:*Only about 35 percent of the

respondents said sales at their

firms increased in the second quar-ter. That's sharply lower than the55 percent who reported risingsales in the first quarter. And 15percent said sales fell, up from 9

percent in the first quarter.*Profit growth also slowed:

Only 21 percent of respondentssaid profit margins increased lastquarter, down from 29 percent inthe first.

*Only 19 percent of economistssaid their firms were raising wagesand salaries, down from 31 percent

in April and the lowest proportionsince October.

Looking ahead, companies areincreasingly concerned abouthigher interest rates. That reflectsthe jump in rates that took placefollowing Federal Reserve Chair-man Ben Bernanke's comments inlate May that the central bankcould slow its bond-buying pro-gram later this year. Those pur-chases are intended to keep inter-est rates low.

The interest rate on the 10-yearTreasury bond, a benchmark thatinfluences mortgage rates and otherborrowing costs, has increasednearly a full percentage point toabout 2.5 percent since May.

When asked for their biggestconcern over the next 12 months,17 percent of the respondents citedrising interest rates. That is a bigjump from April, when only 4 per-cent cited such concerns.

The biggest concern for mostcompanies is the health of the glo-bal economy, which was cited bynearly one-third of the respon-dents. Europe's financial crisis hasplunged that region into a reces-sion, and growth in China, Braziland other large emerging marketshas also slowed. That's crimpingU.S. exports. -AP

File photo of job seekers lining up to register to attend

a job fair in Atlanta

Apple's developer website hackedNEW YORK: Apple Inc, the

iconic maker of iPhone and iPad,has temporarily shut down itsdeveloper site after a hackertried to steal personal informa-tion about the most valued tech-nology firm's software develop-ers.

The California-based firmsaid the 'intruder' might haveaccessed personal informationlike developers' names, mailingaddresses, and email addresses.

The computer and softwaremajor has closed down the site,where programmers write appli-cations for Apple products likeiPhones, Macs, etc, on July 18

for overhauling and updation."Last Thursday, an intruder at-

tempted tosecure per-sonal infor-mation ofour regis-tered devel-opers fromour devel-o p e rwebs i t e , "Apple saidin a state-ment on its developer's website.

"Sensitive personal informationwas encrypted and cannot be ac-cessed, however, we have not

been able to rule out the possibil-ity that some developers' names,

mailing ad-d r e s s e s ,and/or emailaddressesmay havebeen ac-cessed.

"In thespirit oft r a n s p a r -ency, wewant to in-

form you of the issue. We took thesite down immediately on Thurs-day and have been workingaround the clock since then," the

statement further added.Apple said it is overhauling

the system to prevent a similarincident from occurring in fu-ture.

"In order to prevent a secu-rity threat like this from happen-ing again, we're completely over-hauling our developer systems,updating our server software,and rebuilding our entire data-base.

"We apologies for the signifi-cant inconvenience that ourdowntime has caused you andwe expect to have the developerwebsite up again soon," it said.-PTI

Obama commendswork of consumerprotection agency

WASHINGTON: PresidentBarack Obama is commendingthe work of a consumer protec-tion agency created after theeconomic crisis.

The Consumer Financial Pro-tection Bureau got its first perma-nent director last week after theSenate voted to install RichardCordray after years of delay.

In his weekly radio and Internetaddress, Obama says consumerscan go to the agency to ``get somemeasure of justice'' when financialinstitutions disregard the rules.

He says the bureau has ad-dressed more than 175,000 com-plaints and has helped recovermore than $400 million in refundsfor consumers.

In the Republican message,Reps. Todd Young of Indiana andTim Griffin of Arkansas are callingon the Democratic-controlled Sen-ate to vote on bills passed by theHouse to delay requirements onindividuals and businesses byObama's health care law. -AP

Par panel seeksregulator for multi-brand retail FDI

NEW DELHI: Cautioning thatthe entry of foreign retail giantscould create joblessness, a Parlia-mentary panel has asked the gov-ernment to set up a 'Retail Regula-tory Authority' to deal with issuesconcerning foreign multi-brandretail companies in the country.

"We have recommended aregulatory authority to look intothe problem (impact of FDI inmulti-brand retail on MSMEs),"Tiruchi Siva, DMK leader andChairman of the ParliamentaryStanding Committee on Industry,told reporters here.

According to Siva, if multi-brand retail chains are not regu-lated well, it will impact medium,small and micro enterprises(MSMEs), farmers and domesticmandis.

"Once...mandis are eliminated,the big foreign retail giants willmanipulate prices and our farmerswill be forced to sell their prod-ucts at low prices dictated by them(foreign retailers), the panel saidin a report.

"Our own squeezed out retail-ers and all those associated withthe market and retail trade wouldlose their livelihood and becomejobless. It will add to our alreadyexisting social and economicwoes, which generate so muchunrest and violence." -PTI

13India PostTechBiz PostJuly 26, 2013

www.indiapost.com

Facebook's mobile phoneapp users cross 100 millionNEW YORK: Social network-

ing giant Facebook has said over100 million people are accessingits website every month throughits app for feature phones, aidingthe firm in expanding in develop-ing markets like India.

'Facebook For Every Phone'app enables people glo-bally to connect withfriends and others on thefamous social networkingsite regardless of the mo-bile device they use.

"We are excited to an-nounce that there are nowmore than 100 millionpeople using FacebookFor Every Phone eachmonth," the California-based company's GrowthManager Ran Makavysaid in a post.

Facebook for EveryPhone is a fast and easy-to-usenative app that works on more than3,000 different types of featurephones from almost every hand-set manufacturer. These devicescan cost as little as 20 US dollars,he added.

"Today, millions of people indeveloping markets like India, In-donesia and the Philippines arerelying on this technology to con-nect with Facebook, without hav-ing to purchase a smartphone,"Makavy said.

The app is powered by tech-

nology created by Snaptu, an Is-rael-based mobile platform thatwas co-founded in 2007 byMakavy.

"Our small team relaunchedSnaptu as Facebook For EveryPhone in July of that same year,

and grew the user base to where itis today. Snaptu's platform usesthe power of servers to accelerateand optimize the way mobile appswork, and is the key to providinga great user experience on low-enddevices," he added.

Founded in 2004, Facebook has

1.11 billion monthly active usersas of March 2013 of which about79 per cent of the daily active us-ers are outside the US and Canada.The firm's user base in India stoodat 78 million as of March 2013. -PTI

McDonald's falls short,warns of tough year

NEW YORK: McDonald'sCorp. is mixing up its menu to luremore customers but not enoughof them are biting.

The world's biggest hamburgerchain reported a second-quarterprofit that rose 4 per cent but fellshort of Wall Street expectations.

It also said July sales are ex-pected to be relatively flat andwarned of a tough year ahead. Itsstock edged down more than 2 percent at USD 98.05 in premarket trad-ing.

The company, based in OakBrook, Illinois, says global salesedged up 1 per cent at restaurantsopen at least a year for the threemonths endedJune 30.

The figurerose by thesame amount inthe US, wherethe companyhas been tryingto adapt tochanging eat-ing habits withitems such as itsnew chickenwraps and egg-white breakfastsandwiches.

But the tepidgrowth in the latest quarter reflectthe challenges facingMcDonald's, which for years hadbeen a standout in the fast-foodindustry.

Part of the problem is that eco-nomic conditions remain weak inmany parts of the world. But an-other factor is that dining habitsare changing, particularly in theUS, with people increasingly opt-ing for foods they feel are fresher,

healthier or higher-quality.CEO Don Thompson, who took

over last summer, has said that thechain has a bigger product pipe-line than in the past.

Thompson has noted that thecompany can capitalize on ideasfrom around the world and adaptthem to other markets.

But for the first three monthsof the year, the company reportedits first global quarterly sales de-cline at restaurants open at least13 months.

For the latest quarter, the com-pany said sales were down 0.1 percent in Europe as results in Ger-many and France dragged down

results from the United Kingdomand Russia.

In Asia, the Middle East andAfrica, sales also dipped 0.3 percent, primarily because of nega-tive results in China, Australia andJapan.

For the quarter, the companyearned USD 1.4 billion, or USD 1.38per share. That's up from USD 1.35billion, or USD 1.32 per share, ayear ago. -AP

Anil Ambani moves SCagainst appearance

NEW DELHI: RelianceTelecom Ltd (RTL) hasmoved India's top courtchallenging the trial court'sorder summoning RelianceADAG Chairman AnilAmbani and his wife TinaAmbani as prosecutionwitnesses in 2G spectrumallocation scam case.

A bench headed by Su-preme Court's Chief JusticeP Sathasivam, before whomthe matter was mentionedfor an urgent hearing,agreed to hear the case andposted it for July 24 beforean "appropriate bench".

RTL, facing trial in thecase, moved the SupremeCourt against the trialcourt's order as the apexcourt had earlier restrained allother courts, including high court,from entertaining any plea arisingout of 2G scam case.

The trial court had July 19 al-lowed India's top investigativeagency Central Bureau ofInvestigation's (CBI) plea that thetestimony of Anil Ambani and TinaAmbani may throw light on allegedinvestment of over Rs 9.9 billion

by his group companies in SwanTelecom, facing trial in the casealong with its promoters ShahidUsman Balwa and Vinod Goenka.

It had said CBI's plea to sum-mon Anil Ambani, Tina and 11others as prosecution witnesseswas essential for arriving at a justdecision in the case.

Testimony of Anil and Tina isrequired to prove the facts "per-

taining to incorporation of shellcompanies as some of the wit-nesses examined earlier have notbeen able to do so," it had said.

The court had dismissed thecontentions of the counsel for theaccused persons that CBI's plea"suffers from the vice of delay"saying the process of examinationof prosecution witnesses is stillunderway.-PTI

Anil Ambani

India Post TechBiz Post July 26, 2013

www.indiapost.com

14

Tata to launch light commercial vehicles in AustraliaMELBOURNE: Automobile gi-

ant Tata Motors is all set to launchits light commercial vehicles inAustralia through an agreementwith a local distributor FusionAutomotive.

Under the deal that gives Fu-sion Automotive exclusive market-

ing and distribution rights withinthe country, it will first start with arange of commercial vehicles in thefourth quarter of 2013, accordingto media reports.

The 4x2 and 4x4 'Xenon ute'models, with single-cab and dual-cab variants would be made avail-

able and all models will be pow-ered by a 2.2-litre turbo diesel en-gine producing 103-kW of powerand 320Nm of torque, said a reportby local daily 'The Age'.

Sara Smith, marketing and com-munication manager of FusionAutomotive, was quoted as say-

ing in the report that the new mod-els will be competitively priced andwell equipped.

"We haven't locked down aprice point. But they will be in theAUD 20,000 to AUD 30,000 (aroundUSD 18,446-27,669) range," shesaid.

Fusion Automotive said by theend of 2013, there will be 13 deal-ers and the company was target-ing 25 dealers around Australia bynext year.

A report in the web portal 'TheMotor Report' here quoted TataMotors MD Karl Slym as saying:"We are very pleased to an-nounce our entry in Australia andthis marks an important milestonein the continued expansion of ourglobal footprint."

"As we launch products testedand validated across some of thetoughest terrains into the Austra-lian market, we are happy to part-ner with Fusion Automotive, whobrings to the table their tremen-dous experience in the Australianmarket," Slym said.

This is more of a re-entry forthe car-maker in the country. Tatakicked off in Australia in 1996 withits Telcoline ute it will again focuson the budget utility market whenit relaunches, the report added.

Fusion Automotive MD DarrenBowler, said the new 'ute' rangewill be up to dealing withAustralia's harsh conditions.

"There is no tougher place on

earth to test vehicles than on thetough and demanding roads ofIndia, and we believe this will givethe Tata Motors products a com-petitive advantage within the Aus-tralian market," Bowler said.

He added that the light commer-

cial segment is now the third larg-est segment of the Australiannew-car market, with 13 majorbrands in the 4x2 and 4x4 catego-ries.

"We believe there is demand inAustralia for a utility range of ve-

hicles with the toughness andvalue for money equation thatTata Motors products deliver."

In regards to other passengervehicles, Bowler said Fusion Au-tomotive may look to other Tataproducts in the future. "There are

a number of other vehicles wecould consider as Tata has a hugerange of great products. But weare focusing on launching ourrange of commercial vehicles firstto make sure we get that right,"Bowler said. -PTI

Govt ‘has nothing to dowith sale of Jet slots’

NEW DELHI: Under flak fromseveral MPs over the Jet-Etihaddeal, government has said it had"no role to play" in the sale of Jet'sslots at London Heathrow airportto the Abu Dhabi-based airline.

Terming the charges of irregu-larities in sale of three slots by Jetto Etihad leveled by the MPs as"absolutely baselessand false", Civil Avia-tion Ministry came outwith a detailed note onthe matter, saying"Government or anyother Civil Aviation In-stitution in India hasno role to play".

"This is purely afunction of Airport Co-ordination Limited ofHeathrow Airport andthe concerned air-lines," it said.

It also maintainedthat Air India, whichhad four slots atHeathrow, was currently usingonly three and the remaining onewas leased to Delta Airlines of theUS.

A slot, or landing and depar-ture time, are permissions to use arunway or airport infrastructurewhich is given by the airport tothe airlines as per procedure.

Politicians, including NishikantDubey of BJP, Dinesh Trivedi(Trinamool Congress) andSubramanian Swamy (Janata Party)had claimed that the Heathrowslots were owned by the govern-ment and not Jet Airways. Jet hadsold them to Etihad without offi-cial permission or reimbursement

to the government, they had al-leged.

Countering the charges, theMinistry said that trading of slotsat Heathrow or any airport and al-lotment of global traffic rights toIndian carriers were two differentthings.

While the rights to fly on inter-

national routes under Bilateral AirService Agreement are given bythe government, the availability ofslots at foreign airports likeHeathrow "are two different mat-ters," it said.

It quoted data received fromHeathrow airport authorities tosay that slot trading in the last 12

years, had risen from42 slots in 2000 to 526in 2012. Apart from AirIndia and Jet, manyairlines like SWISS,British Airways, Vir-gin, Qantas, Delta,Continental and AirFrance have traded ortransferred slots forthe last 15 years.

Two years after aslot is allotted to anairline by the airport,the airline gets 'grand-father rights' on it. Theairline then is entitledto trade the slot to an-

other airline by way of sale, lease,sale-and-leaseback or 'baby sit-ting'.

Baby sitting is the practice ofleasing slots on a short or mediumterm basis by one airline to a non-competing airline. Sometimes analliance partner may 'baby sit' aslot to keep out newcomers. -PTI

India produces recordpulses in 2012-13

NEW DELHI: India hasachieved a record pulses produc-tion of 18.45 million tonnes (MT)in the 2012-13 crop year endedJune, while foodgrain output fellby 1.5 per cent to 255.36 MT dueto drought in some states last year.

The Agriculture Ministry re-leased the fourth advance esti-mates of foodgrain production for2012-13.

Pulses output has been revisedupward to record 18.45 MT in2012-13 as comparedwith 18 MT in the thirdestimates released inMay. Pulses outputstood at 17.09 MT in2011-12.

The record pulsesproduction augurs wellfor the country which isdepended on imports tomeet the shortfall ofaround 3-4 MT. Highersupply will reduce imports andalso prices.

Higher support price promptedfarmers to grow pulses.

"As per the latest estimates,India has produced 255.36 MT offoodgrains during the 2012-13," anofficial statement said.

The foodgrains output is sameas it was in the third estimate, butit is lower than the record 259.29

MT achieved in the 2011-12 cropyear (July-June).

In foodgrains category, riceproduction has been revised up-ward to 104.4 MT from 104.22 MTin the third estimates.

However, rice output is lowerat 105.3 MT compared with 2011-12.

Coarse cereals production es-timates have also been revisedupward at 40.06 MT in 2012-13from 39.52 MT in the third estimate,

but it is still lower than the previ-ous year's 42.01 MT.

However, wheat output hasbeen revised downward to 92.46MT from 93.62 MT in the third es-timate. Production stood at record94.88 MT in 2011-12.

Foodgrains output in 2012-13is lower than previous year due topoor monsoon in Maharasthra,Karnataka and Rajasthan.-PTI

The record pulses produc-tion augurs well for thecountry which is dependedon imports to meet theshortfall of around 3-4 MT.Higher supply will reduceimports and also prices

15India PostTechBiz PostJuly 26, 2013

www.indiapost.com

Factors that affect auto loans 60% students borrowannually to cover costsTo some people, auto financ-

ing might seem like a mys-tery and if you have bad

credit, you might believe that theuniverse is working against you.After all, aren't bad credit autoloans supposed to be the worst ofthe worst? In reality, there aremany factors that impact autoloans, and bad credit isn't the onlything that could be holding youback or working to your advan-tage. With the right combinationof factors, even bad credit auto

loans can be surprisingly afford-able.CREDIT

Credit score does play a part inthe kind of auto financing youqualify for. The better your score,the better your rates will be. Addi-tionally, if you have a good scoreand other factors working against

you, your score can be your sav-ing grace. However, if you havepoor credit for any reason, thereare many other things that carryjust as much weight. The lengthof your credit history can also in-fluence your interest rate; even ifyour score is bad, if you have along credit history with success-ful loan payments, you can get abetter deal.EMPLOYMENT

Your job, your salary, and thelength of time you've been em-

ployed at your current position areall influential in your interest rate.For example, if you make a lot ofmoney but have only held yourjob for a few months, you may besubject to worse rates than some-one who makes a modest salarybut has been in their current rolefor a decade. Longevity tells fi-

nancing bureaus that you have asteady income you aren't at risk oflosing. Additionally, the loan-to-income ratio will make a difference.If you make $50,000 a year and buya car that costs $30,000, your carloan will be three fifths of your in-come, a bad sign to a lender.PURCHASING

Elements of your car purchasespecifically can also impact yourauto financing. For example, thelarger your down payment, thelower your interest rates can be.Furthermore, new cars tend to getbetter financing than used carssince there is less product liabil-ity. Purchasing additional cover-age on your car can lower pay-ments as well, although you willultimately end up paying more onthe face value of the loan due tothe increased price of the car.

Despite what you may haveheard about bad credit auto loans,there are many things that affectyour ability to get a good rate andcredit score is just one of them.Not all car loans with bad creditwill have tight terms and steep in-terest rates; if you meet some ofthe other criteria, you might beable to secure a great auto loan,regardless of your credit score.

Despite what you may have heard aboutbad credit auto loans, there are many thingsthat affect your ability to get a good rate andcredit score is just one of them. Not allcar loans with bad credit will have tightterms and steep interest rates

Nearly 20 million Americansattend college each year.Of that 20 million, close to

12 million - or 60% - borrow annu-ally to help cover costs.

There are approximately 37 mil-lion student loan borrowers withoutstanding student loans today.

As of thefirst Quarterof 2012, theunder 30 agegroup hasthe most bor-rowers at 14million, fol-lowed by 10.6million for the30-39 group,5.7 million inthe 40-49 cat-egory, 4.6 mil-lion in the 50-59 age group and theover 60 category with the leastnumber of borrowers at 2.2 millionfor an overall total of 37.1 million.

There is roughly somewherebetween $902 billion and $1 tril-lion in total outstanding studentloan debt in the United States to-day. The Federal Reserve Bank ofNew York reports $902B while the

Consumer Finance Protection Bu-reau reports $1T.

Roughly $864 billion is out-standing federal student loan debtwhile the remaining $150 billion isin private student loans. Privatestudent loans are not made orbacked by the federal government.

As of Quarter 1 in 2012, the av-erage student loan balance for allage groups is $24,301.

About one-quarter of borrow-ers owe more than $28,000; 10%of borrowers owe more than$54,000; 3% owe more than$100,000; and less than 1%, or167,000 people, owe more than$200,000.

www.indiapost.com July 26, 2013

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 25

16 India Post

Desi NewsJalaram Mandir

organizes BhagwatKatha, Guru

Purnima

Details on page 23

Details on page 19

Details on page 21

Puri splendor replicated atFremont Temple Rath Yatra

RITU MAHESHWARI

India Post News Service

FREMONT, CA: Jagannath Puriis one of the four pilgrim centers(Dhams) that are most sacred toHindus. Lord Jagannath is one ofthe most revered and prayed in-carnations of Vishnu. Every year,in the month of July, LordJagannath is taken out in a Chariot(Rath), around the city to the

packed streets, full of devoteeseager to get a glimpse of the Lord.

This is the day when Lord be-longs to everyone. Regardless ofsocial status, everyone has equalopportunity to see, touch and getblessings of the lord.

Fremont Hindu temple togetherwith the Bay Area Odiya Commu-nity follows the same tradition andorganizes a Rath Yatra every yearto commemorate the event. It be-

gins with Snana Poornima and cul-minates in Bhauda Yatra. It eventsrun through for the whole month.

The main event Ratha Yatrahappened on Sunday, 14 July thisyear where a gathering of over 3000devotees took out a beautifullydecorated Rath constructed byPrasanna Samanta Ray, Rudra Karand their team members. TheRatha replicated the splendor ofPuri Rath Yatra.

Special arrangements weremade by Deb Mohanty and hisbhajan group to conduct dis-courses on the significance of RathYatra. Manoj Panda, Shakti Swain,Amiya Mohanty, Asish Sahu, DilipPraharaj, Namita Panigrahi, MitaTripathy, and several other volun-teers prepared special Odiyadishes as offerings to the Lord andserved as Prasad.

Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra deities and Pt Jhagendraji.

Pics Neeloo Kapoor Devotees eager to pull the sacred Chariot and also get a glimpse of the Lord

Cont’d on page 19

Glittering kickoff party for 21ST Festival of IndiaVIDYA SETHURAMAN


FREMONT, CA: The Federa-tion of Indian Associations is aFremont based Non-Profit orga-nization, working on variouscommunity based initiatives.The FIA has also proudly hostedthe annual Festival of India andParade for the last twenty years.

This event has continued togarner participants from all overNorthern California, and has at-tracted luminaries and dignitar-ies from all over the world. Thefestival organizers have contin-ued to organize this Festivalwhich is intended to give ourcommunities an opportunity towork together and present thisFestival year after year.

Every year, the attendance hasgrown manifold and has allowed

our communities to get a better un-derstanding of the culture, the arts,the music and foods of the IndianAmerican community and allow ourcommunities to further strengthentheir bonds with each other.

The 21ST Festival of India cel-ebrations are to be held on Au-gust 17 and 18 at 39439 Paseo Pa-dre Parkway, Fremont, corner ofPaseo Padre and Walnut Ave. The21st anniversary celebrations are

coupled with Gadar Centennial,150th Swami Vivekananda an-niversary celebrations and 100years of Bollywood.

L-R: Smitha, Naresh Sodhi, Rajesh Verma, Dr Romesh Japra, Ritu Maheshwari, Priya Nayar, Vidya & Soni Singh.

Pics Neeloo Kapoor

Cont’d on page 19

Diversity backboneof innovation inIndia: Sam PitrodaRAMESH SOPARAWALA


CHICAGO: "Diversity has al-ways been the backbone of inno-vation in India. In solving the chal-lenges of development, demogra-phy, and disparity, we will needexpansion, excellence and equity,"said Dr Sam Pitroda, Advisor tothe Prime Minister on Public In-formation Infrastructure and Inno-vation

In his keynote address at theIndia Innovation Summit orga-nized by the Confederation of In-dian Industry (CII) here in Chicagoon Thursday July 18, he observedthat "as a nation of a connectedbillion, a first in the history of theworld, we need to leverage emerg-ing technologies, including socialmedia, to help alleviate the enor-mous problem of poverty."

Ro welcomesPelosi move onagenda for womenIndia Post News Service

FREMONT, CA: Ro Khanna,former Deputy Assistant Secre-tary of Commerce and candidatefor California's 17th congres-sional district, has issued the fol-lowing statement on LeaderPelosi's new Women's WorkplaceRights Initiative:

"I am very encouraged to seeLeader Pelosi and several otherHouse members take the lead to-day in promoting an "EconomicAgenda for Women in Families",which will better advocate forwomen and families in this coun-try. Their work casts much neededlight on three of the most impor-tant issues facing women in ourcountry today: equal pay for equalwork, work-family balance, and ad-equate funding for childcare.

Soha Ali Khan tolead FIA IndiaDay Parade

ABDUL SDDIQUI

CHICAGO: Bollywood actressSoha Ali Khan will serve as theGrand Marshall for FIA's India In-dependence Day Parade on Sat-urday August 17. The Parade willhave a kick-off from Devon Ave &Western Ave in Chicago.

Iftekhar Shareef said actressSoha Ali Khan is the daughter ofNawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi,a former India cricket captain andactress Sharmila Tagore.

India Post 17July 26, 2013 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

Aligarh Muslim University VC visits Bay AreaRAS H. SIDDIQUI

NEWARK, CA: The Aligarh Muslim Uni-versity Alumni Association of NorthernCalifornia (AMUAA) had the pleasure ofhosting a luncheon for Lt. Gen. (Retd.)Zameer Uddin Shah, Vice Chancellor of theirAlma Mater on Saturday, June 22 at theChandni Restaurant in Newark, California.

The Vice Chancellor was accompaniedby his wife Mrs Sabiha Shah. Besides be-ing the VC of one of the most famous uni-versities in South Asia, Shah has been oneof the most senior-level Muslim soldiers everin the Indian Army (he reached the positionof Deputy Chief of Army Staff). He is alsothe older brother of famous Bollywood ac-tor Naseeruddin Shah.

For an introduction of the hosts in theirown words, the "AMU Alumni Associationof northern California consisting of thealumni of Aligarh Muslim University and itsfriends and supporters of the Aligarh move-

ment was founded in 1996 as a secular, non-partisan, non-political organization servingthe Educational, Social, Literacy and Culturalneeds of the Community. It aims to keep aliveSir Syed Ahmad Khan's dream of ensuringequality for all and particularly the under-privileged through education, by support-ing AMU and its students in their academicefforts, and by organizing events to high-light AMU's role in creating a modern India."

In their promotion of the event it wasstated that "Vice Chancellor Zameer UddinShah, has affirmed his core mission of mak-ing AMU one of the top universities in In-dia through pursuit of excellence in teach-ing and research."

This goal also happens to be close tothe hearts of many AMU alumni in the US

particularly those in the San Francisco areawho have excelled in many fields and wouldlike to see their old university present evenbetter opportunities for future generationsof AMU students.

The gathering started off with some net-working and a fine brunch buffet in theMughlai tradition. Before the formalities Ihad a chance to interact with the VC. Wediscussed the contributions of Aligarhalumni as leaders in other countries in theregion, his brother's efforts to boost the artsirrespective of borders.

Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah

Cont’d on page 20

July 26, 2013India Post18 Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

The festival kickoff party wasorganized by FIA on July 13 at SanJose Garden Airport Hotel. Theglittering event was attended byover 230 Bay area residents fromall facets of life. The evening wasan ultimate platform to socialize,and allowed the Bay area residentto interact and share their opinionon our community.

The entertainment quotient ofthe evening was provided by fash-

Glittering kickoff party for 21ST Festival of IndiaCont’d from page 16 ion show by Nalli Silks, Mountain

View and scintillating performanceby Alka Bhatnagar.

Alka Bhatnagar was born in afamily with a long tradition in mu-sic, in Meerut, India.Gifted with a melodi-ous and baritonevoice, she pursuedher Master's in mu-sic and went on tobecome an ac-claimed singer. Theguests of festival'skickoff party en-joyed the perfor-mance of Alkaji andher team which wasa perfect blend ofevergreen and latestmelodies.

Nalli Silks, ahousehold name in South Indiapresented contemporary designs

from their house. The fashionshow was a fusion of poise anddignity. SonyaWadhwa, Execu-tive VP at NalliSilks thanked FIAfor the opportu-nity and remem-bered their grandopening in Bayarea around 20years back in FIAmela.

Dr RomeshJapra, Chairman ofFIA, says the an-nual festival is topromote diversityand democracy

and build bridges between variouscommunities and business. "Ev-ery year we showcase Indian cul-ture and heritage through mela,booths, dances and floats to main-

stream Americans and the nextgeneration. Through Health Fair,

over 100 physi-cians and otherhealth profes-sionals give freetesting and medi-cal advice," hesays.

Dr Japra saidthe kickoff partyis the best startfor the grandevent. Hethanked the at-tendees of theevening andlooking forward

to make the 21st festival a grandsuccess.

Dr Romesh Japra & Dr Harmesh Kumar

Raj Salwan, City Council member, Fremont

& Ashok Kapoor

Ritu, Smitha, Deepak Chhabra & Mrs Chhabra

Manorama Joshi & Soni Singh

Sonya Wadha, Executive VP Nalli Saree with models


The pujas, prasad, decorationsand the special veshas were con-ducted in the same fashion just asthey do in Puri.

Mahesh Pakala, a member ofthe Odiya community said, "TheBay Area Odiya community hasbeen working hard to build theChariot for Lord Jagannath for thepast several months. Our Tri Val-ley team who led the celebrationsthis year, presented a well orga-nized and coordinated event withefficient support of the FremontTemple events director DeepakChhabra and temple administra-tion. The community comes to-gether passionately and emotion-ally for this special celebration andthe fervor is similar to celebrationsin Puri, Odisha, the abode of LordJagannath"

Temple officials GovindPasumarthi, Manorama Joshi,Rakesh Kapoor, together with thetemple priests helped create thespiritual ambience in the temple.

Puri splendor replicated atFremont Temple Rath Yatra

Musical performance and discourses on the occasion

Dev Roy, Mahesh Pakala, Manorama Joshi and Govind with other devotees

establishing Lord in the temple

Cont’d from page 16

Yesudas presents mix of favorites & a few surprisesVIDYA SETHURAMAN


HAYWARD, CA: India's fore-most exponent of Carnatic vocalmusic and leading playback singerin all Indian languages, DrK.J.Yesudas performed liveCarnatic concert on July 20 atChabot College, Hayward,California. The show was pre-sented by Thampy AntonyThekkek and Prema Thekkekin association with LendingHands International.

The three-hour divineconcert attracted around 1300music lovers from all parts ofUnited States. AntonyThekkek, also known asThampy Antony, is an Indian-American film actor and pro-ducer. He won the Best ActorAward at the Honolulu Inter-national Film Festival in 2005for portraying the role of DrAcharya in the English film'Beyond the Soul', directed byRajeev Anchal. In 2010, hefeatured in the Hollywoodmovie Cash (2010 film).

Thampi Antony producesfilms under the banner of'Kayal Films' and has pro-duced critically acclaimed movieslike Parudeesa, Sufi Paranja Kathaand Papilio Buddha. Thampi An-thony with his wife Prema Thekkekis involved in health care businessand has been serving the Bay area

for over two decades. "It was asuccessful event and we arehappy to bring in Dr K.J.Yesudasafter six years to perform in Bayarea and are also planning to havea light music show with him nextyear," said Prema Thekkek andThampi Antony, Organizers of thisgala event.

Regina Raj, Founder of Lend-ing Hands International, said,"Lending Hands Internationalfounded in 2005 is a non-profit or-ganization which helps the poorand under privileged children and

families for the education, medi-cal, housing, and establishing alively hood such as a business.Our Mission is to break the ongo-ing cycle of poverty by educatingchildren. We believe; by helpingone child at a time; we can helpthe poor, distressed, and disad-vantaged family break out of the

cycle of poverty. Till date we havehelped poor families in Kerala, In-dia and are planning to expand toother states in India and in US aswell."

Besides being a seven-time In-

dian National Award winner forBest Male Playback Singer, DrYesudas has also been honoredwith the Padma Bhushan, the thirdhighest civilian award in India.Equally renowned for his prowessin Indian classical singing as he isfor performing some of the mostpopular Indian film songs ever,Yesudas is credited with singingmore than 50,000 songs in all re-gional languages in India.

He is the only singer who hasbeen given the title of AsthanaGayakan aka Official Singer of

Ro welcomes Pelosi moveon agenda for women


FREMONT, CA: Ro Khanna,former Deputy Assistant Secre-tary of Commerce and candidatefor California's 17th congres-sional district, has issued the fol-lowing statement on LeaderPelosi's new Women's WorkplaceRights Initiative:

"I am very encouraged to seeLeader Pelosi and several otherHouse members take the lead to-day in promoting an "EconomicAgenda for Women in Families",which will better advocate forwomen andfamilies inthis country.Their workcasts muchneeded lighton three ofthe most im-portant is-sues facingwomen in ourcountry to-day: equalpay for equalwork, work-family bal-ance, and ad-equate fund-ing forchildcare.

"The agenda is part of a largerframework that promotes the Pay-check Fairness Act and the Preg-nant Workers Fairness Act, andchampions paid sick leave, paidparental leave, and Obama's pro-posal for greater preschool andchildcare subsidies and tax credits.

"These sorts of reforms arelong overdue, and as a member ofCongress I will be proactive inmodernizing the workplace andensuring that women are pro-tected equally under the law."

Since announcing his cam-paign for Congress in early April,Ro Khanna has received key en-

dorsements from Lt. GovernorGavin Newsom, local elected lead-ers including Mayor OrrinMahoney of Cupertino and MayorEstevez of Milpitas, and some ofthe leading job creators and inno-vation luminaries in Silicon Valley.

Ro for Congress is focused onbuilding a technology andgrassroots driven 21st centurycampaign that utilizes and im-proves upon the best practicesdeployed by both Obama cam-paigns. A longtime Bay Area resi-dent, Ro returned to Fremont aftera two-year stint serving as Deputy

Assistant Secretary at the U.S.Department of Commerce in theObama Administration.

In addition to running for Con-gress in California's 17th District,he is also currently a Silicon Val-ley technology lawyer, visitinglecturer in economics at StanfordUniversity and adjunct professorof law at Santa Clara University.Ro's book on manufacturing, En-trepreneurial Nation: Why Manu-facturing is Still Key to America'sFuture, has won widespread praisefor its strategies for keeping thebest companies, jobs and oppor-tunities in America.

Ro Khanna

Kerala. He was awarded PadmaShri in 1975 and Padma Bhushanin 2002 by the Government of In-dia for his contributions to thearts. In 2011 Yesudas was honoredwith the CNN-IBN outstandingachievement award.

Accompanied by Srivatsan onthe violin, T.S.Nanda Kumar onmridangam, Santosh Chandru onghatam and Balaji on thambura, itwas indeed a superb show thatwould even appeal to casual fansof Indian classical music.

Cont’d on page 20


When I mentioned that I hadvisited my late father's former placeof residence at AMU namedMumtaz House, he lamented thatthe current conditions of all thedormitories was not good and thathe was seeking assistance in fund-ing for their repair and upgrading.He also mentioned that he had in-vited the Aga Khan and PrinceCharles to pay a visit to the cam-pus.

The formal event started in theAligarh tradition with the recita-tion from the Holy Quran by AfzalKhan. Emcee for the afternoon andlocal AMU luminary ShaheerKhan said that this was the firsttime that the organization hadhosted an AMU Vice Chancellorand welcomed the communitypresent, some of whom had comefrom as far away as Sacramentoand Davis.

He also reminded everyonepresent of the coming Eid Milanparty and Sir Syed Day on Sep-tember 27 this year. He alsothanked the donors who havesupported the efforts of theAlumni Association and theAligarh Education EndowmentFund. He then introduced the ViceChancellor who came to the stageand received a plaque on behalfof the association, presented byNihal Khan. Mrs Shahla Khan alsopresented a bouquet of flowers toMrs Sabiha Shah. That set thestage for the VC's speech.

Vice Chancellor Lt. Gen. (Retd.)Zameer Uddin Shah spoke forabout 50 minutes and used aPowerPoint presentation. It is justnot possible to incorporate all

that he said in this single reportso a few chosen highlights willhave to suffice here. He was com-manding in his delivery and ex-uded confidence from the begin-ning of his speech to the very end.

He started off by thanking ev-eryone for the honor and the won-derful gift. He said that the job ofbeing a Vice Chancellor was athankless one. "It is the toughestI have held," he commented gen-erating quite a few smiles in theaudience; especially since he is aformer military man.

Aligarh Muslim UniversityVC visits Bay Area

"I accepted the job as a mis-sion," he added. "My missionwas to pull AMU out of thetrough in which it has de-scended," he said. He added thathis mission (with Allah's help)was to make AMU a top univer-sity in India within two years. Hesaid that he was going toInsha'Allah turn the Universityaround so that its graduates canmeet the new demands of boththe market and the nation.

Shah Sahib said that he facedthree immediate issues: Studentindiscipline, intra-religious (notcommunal) and regional frictionon campus, and lastly faculty in-fighting. He added that theseproblems were difficult but werenot insurmountable. He said thathe is looking to add more new andqualified faculty at AMU.

He said that he was a liberalMuslim and he wanted AMU tobe a liberal-secular institution butprimarily for the Muslims. "It is asecular institution, primarily forthe Millat as Sir Syed wanted it,and we are going to keep it thatway," he said. He added that thefocus should remain on "modern-scientific education," something

that unfortunately was not beingprovided.

He said that AMU needs tomove beyond the blackboard andchalk era into the computer age.He added that the year 2020 willbring on the university centenaryand the plan should be to make ita memorable one remembered allover the country since it is an in-stitution of national importance.He also said that unfortunatelythe university had a setback onits minority character status andthat he would focus on getting it

restored. The Vice Chancellor said that

foreign dignitary visits to the cam-pus have dried up mainly due toour own fault. "It was the fault ofthe students misbehaving and re-belling against visitors but theydo not know what colossal dam-age they did to our reputation."He said that will have to changeand that some important foreigndignitaries have already acceptedhis invitation to visit AMU when

they visited India next.Shah Sahib dwelled a great deal

on the need to improve the facili-ties at AMU especially the hous-ing which is beginning to re-semble a slum. He added that thiswas one of the main reasons whyforeign student's numbers havedeclined dramatically.

He stressed the modernizing ofthe existing facilities and thebuilding of new ones on campusespecially for female students.The restoration of the horseriding club and adding a golfcourse (The VC is an avid golfer)at AMU were already on thecards. He said that AMU shouldproduce well-rounded graduates.

On entrance standards forAMU he said that all aspiringstudents should pass an entranceexam (not just for engineering andmedical students). He also addedthat foreign languages, includingChinese and Hebrew need to betaught on campus.

To conclude, Lt. Gen. (Retd.)Zameer Uddin Shah expressedpride in Aligarh Muslim Univer-sity alumni all over the world andhoped that they could assist himin his mission to build the cam-pus infrastructure in whateverway they can. He added that hewas also seeking the assistancefrom the Aga Khan Foundationfor this effort.

The VC took questions afterhis speech and was presented abook on the Taj Mahal by author-photographer Maqsood UlHaque. The event concluded witha presentation of Aligarh focusedpoetry by Khalid Siddiqui titled"Green Day".


He stressed the modernizing of the existingfacilities and the building of new ones oncampus especially for female students. Therestoration of the horse riding club and add-ing a golf course (The VC is an avid golfer)at AMU were already on the cards

Yesudas presents mix offavorites & a few surprises


Gandhi Youth Camp atVedanta Society RetreatIndia Post News Service

OLEMA, CA: Gandhi YouthCamp is a residential one weekcamp to be held August 3-10 atthe beautiful 2500 acre VedantaSociety Retreat in Olema, Califor-nia near Point Reyes.

Now celebrating its 28th year,there are still openings for boysand girls 10-17 years old(grades 5-12).

Gandhi Youth Camp hasbeen held annually onceevery year for the last 27years in the rolling foothillsof beautiful mountains andsurrounded by majesticbeauty. The camp has beenled by Dr. S. N. Subba Rao,who has dedicated his lifeto youth development, andhe visits us every year from India.

The camp can take only about45 boys and girls. It has been runby a dedicated group of adult vol-unteers and youth counselors.This one week camp is offered at amuch lower rate than many other

camps of similar nature. This hasbeen made possible by the gener-ous use of the camping facility bythe Vedanta Society, in addition tothe efforts and energy put in by theparents and youth. Indeed, theGandhi Youth camp provides suchan excellent environment for oneweek that children who attend thiscamp simply love it very much and

look forward to revisiting every year.Gandhi Youth Camp promotes

the strong value system of ourIndian heritage, self-discipline,non-violence and leadership in-volving community service.

Cont’d on page 22

After the deep customary "Om"chant, the live concert kicked offwith the Vanajakshi in Kalyaniraga, he then went on to performVathapi Ganapathi in hamsadvani,mix of favorites and a few sur-prises. Yesudas fans are sure toown his Vatapi Ganapathim albumthat unfailingly transports the lis-tener to a different world. He gavea musical treat to the packedcrowd in all languages startingfrom Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Hindietc.

He also took time to explainsome of the finer points of sing-ing Indian classical music, talkingabout the origins of certain raagas

and how they've evolved overtime. Other songs performed in-cluded Thaye Yashoda (Thodiragas), Janaki Ramana, MaaBhavani (Hindolam ragas).

There was a special luncheonwith Dr K.J.Yesudas at Sneha In-dian restaurant, Sunnyvale on21July. He interacted with over 100guests and spoke about his musi-cal journey.

Artistes like Yesudas are rare.He has a talent for renderingsongs in multiple languages cut-ting across multiple beliefs, race,and religion, a sincere effort tounderstand the meaning, clear lyri-cal pronunciation, enthusiasm toconstantly learn, and all of this withtotal emotional involvement.


Diversity backbone of innovationin India: Sam Pitroda

RAMESH SOPARAWALA


CHICAGO: "Diversity has al-ways been the backbone of inno-vation in India. In solving the chal-lenges of development, demogra-phy, and disparity, we will need

expansion, excellence and equity,"said Dr Sam Pitroda, Advisor tothe Prime Minister on Public In-formation Infrastructure and Inno-vation

In his keynote address at theIndia Innovation Summit orga-nized by the Confederation of In-dian Industry (CII) here in Chicagoon Thursday July 18, he observedthat "as a nation of a connectedbillion, a first in the history of theworld, we need to leverage emerg-

ing technologies, including socialmedia, to help alleviate the enor-mous problem of poverty."

The Summit, organized in part-nership with the Chicago Councilon Global Affairs (CCGA), the US-India Business Council (USIBC),PanIIT Alumni Association andTiE Midwest, brought togethercreative minds, experts and entre-preneurs, financing institutionsand economic development offi-cials, packing the halls with tre-

mendous energy and enthusiasm.Discussions encompassed keypolicy interventions, fundingmechanisms, and partnership op-portunities between India and theU.S. in the innovation space.

Madhav Lal, Secretary, Minis-try of Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises (MSME) emphasizedleveraging collaborations to scaleup innovations, and the growingrole of technologies to enable thiscross-sector engagement. "Iwould like to see more collabora-tive networks between the govern-ments, industry, academia and in-stitutions, cutting across countryborders," he said.

The MSME Ministry was oneof the agencies that also had anexhibit booth at the Summit, which

had on display their various ini-tiatives that facilitate innovationamong smaller companies.

Other agencies that partici-pated in the exhibition includedthe Indo-US Science and Technol-ogy Forum (IUSSTF), Council forScientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) and the National Small In-dustries Corporation (NSIC).

CII President S Gopalakrishnanwas leading a CII CEOs delegationto the Summit. In his thought pro-

voking address, he said that theneed of the hour is to empower alarge number of people using mo-bile connectivity and cloud com-puting platforms and make them apart of the knowledge revolution,which would ultimately contributeto economic growth.

"Innovation generates eco-nomic value, new jobs and a cul-ture of entrepreneurship. By vir-tue of its relationship with com-petitiveness, innovation emergesas a factor in promoting economicgrowth," he added.

Stressing the need to enhance

Public-Private Partnership (PPP),Vikram Kirloskar, Chairman, CIIInnovation Council and Vice Chair-man, Toyota-Kirloskar Motor said,"Mutual trust will lead to mutualbenefit.

Speakers at CII Meet: L-R: Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, Dr Sam

Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and

Innovation and Kris Gopalakrishnan, President, CII and Co-founder &

Executive Vice Chairman, Infosys Ltd.

Speakers and guests at the meet that was well attended by cross

section of industries and businesses

Cont’d on page 23


These principles are integratedin several activities that go onthroughout the day.

The day begins with 6 amwakeup, an optional morning runfollowed by a meditation sessionwith prayer in many religions andphysical exercises often directedby youth counselors. After break-fast, the campers go on to severaldifferent work projects in groupsof 5 and 6 where theywork together the wholemorning which is over 3hours of physical labor.

Some examples of thework projects are trailblazing (involve cuttingdown the excess growthafter winter rains to main-tain roads and trails in thesurrounding beautifulforest), gardening(planting new trees andshrubs and weeding),fixing pavements, painting barnsand decks, and maintenanceprojects involving carpentry work.

These work projects are aunique feature of this particularyouth camp usually not availableat other camps. This has beenmade possible by the collabora-tion of the monks at the VedantaSociety who allow generous useof their property at Olema, Califor-

nia, located near the Point ReyesNational Sea Shore, about twohours north of San Francisco.

After an exuberating morning'swork, campers come back for alight snack. While they meet andgreet each other take bath and getready for lunch. The afternoonprogram is filled with a variety of

Gandhi Youth Camp atVedanta Society Retreat

fun activities that include groupdancing, t-shirt painting, discus-sions and games.

The highlight is the groupgame activities that Subba Raojiweaves so skillfully that it winseverybody's heart and mind. Chil-dren, youth and adult, boys andgirls, everybody looks forwardeagerly to these group games thatinculcate a sense of belonging,sharing and caring. This is a trulydelightful experience not to be

missed by anyone.After the evening snack, many

other activities follow wherecampers hook up with each otherand while parents wonder if theyare feeling tired, the young camp-ers go on working, enjoying, andsharing tirelessly to everybody'samazement. And yes, the camp-ers participate in every camp ac-tivity including cleaning and

cooking. Where do they get allthis energy from?

Before dinner, Subba Raojiconducts a prayer and discussionsection. After dinner, the camp-ers plan out cultural events, jeop-ardy type of games to learnGandhiji's principles, and thenewsletter.

When a group of bandits ha-rasses travelers, mostworry about their safety.

If you're Subba Rao, you'd followthem to the ravines and confrontthem, armed with nothing but a heartfull of love ... and consequently youwould convince all 550 bandits to putdown their weapons and help thepoor villagers with developmentwork!

Fearlessness. Peace. Everyonewants it, many rally for it, but fewactually have it. At 82, Dr S. N. SubbaRao - a Gandhian legend respectfullycalled "Bhai-ji" - still has a habit of doing the unimaginable: whetherit means confronting bandits with compassion, engaging in peacedialogue with world leaders, promoting interfaith understanding, orrunning youth camps with thousands of participants doing com-munity service.

"Accept everything that makes you strong - physically, intellec-tually and spiritually," Dr Rao says. "Reject everything that makesyou weak."

Dr S. N. Subba Rao


Promoting peace through arts in Little Tokyo

Oakdale City Councilopens with Hindu Prayer


LOS ANGELES, CA: In a stir-ring remembrance of the atomicbomb dropping on Hiroshima, Ja-pan 68 years ago, The JapaneseAmerican Cultural and CommunityCenter (JACCC) will host Remem-bering Sadako: A Call For PeaceAug. 3-6 in Little Tokyo in down-town Los Angeles. The four dayevent will promote peace throughthe arts, culminating with a per-formance by long-time peace ac-tivist and renowned singer/songwriter, Jackson Browne, in theAratani Theatre.

Among the special guests willbe the brother and nephew ofSadako Sasaki, whose story wasimmortalized in the children's book"Sadako and the Thousand Paper

Cranes." Sadako was two whenthe bomb was dropped. At age 11,she became ill with leukemia fromradiation exposure. In keeping

with a Japanese legend that saysthat if a sick person folds 1,000paper cranes, the gods will makeher well again, Sadako spent longhours in bed, folding those paper

cranes, and never giving up hope.When Sadako had folded six hun-dred and forty-four cranes, andthey hung above her bed onstrings, her classmates folded therest.

"Sadako is remembered by chil-dren around the globe through thestory of a thousand origamicranes," said Leslie Ito, Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of the JACCC."She and the origami paper cranehave become international sym-bols for peace and we invite peopleof all ages and ethnicities to joinus Aug. 3-6 to celebrate peacethrough arts and culture.

All events take place at theJACCC, located at 244 S. San PedroStreet (between 2nd and 3rdStreets) in the historic Little Tokyodistrict of downtown Los Angeles.

Just before the Oakdale City Council Hindu invocation; Rajan Zed (third from right) with Mayor Pat Paul (fourth from

right) and other members of the Council

SONIA SIDHU


OAKDALE, CA: The CityCouncil of Oakdale in California,founded in 1871, had its first his-toric Hindu invocation on theevening of July 15, containingverses from world's oldest exist-ing scripture.

Rajan Zed, President of Univer-

sal Society of Hinduism, deliveredthe opening prayer from ancientSanskrit scriptures before the CityCouncil. After Sanskrit delivery, hethen read the English translationof the prayer.

Zed recited from Rig-Veda, theoldest scripture of the world stillin common use, besides lines fromUpanishads and Bhagavad-Gita(Song of the Lord), both ancientHindu scriptures. He started and

ended the prayer with "Om", themystical syllable containing theuniverse, which in Hinduism isused to introduce and concludereligious work.

Reciting fromBrahadaranyakopanishad, RajanZed said, "Asato ma sad gamaya,Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyormamrtam gamaya", which he thentranslated as "Lead me from the

unreal to the Real, Lead me fromdarkness to Light, and Lead mefrom death to Immortality."

Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita,he urged council members to keepthe welfare of others always inmind. Council members, city em-ployees and public were seenstanding in prayer mode with theirheads bowed down during thisinvocation.

Wearing saffron colored attire,

a ruddraksh mala (rosary), and tra-ditional sandalpaste tilak (religiousmark) on the forehead, Zedsprinkled few drops of water fromriver Ganga of India, consideredholy by Hindus, around the po-dium before the prayer. Zed pre-sented a copy of Bhagavad-Gitato Mayor Pat Paul, who thankedZed.

Known as "Cowboy Capital of

the World", female majorityOakdale is home to a CowboyMuseum and Stanislaus Riverwinds through town. Prominentpeople associated with it includebaseball player Miguel Olivo,singer-songwriter Brett Dennen,football player Bruce Coslet anddrag racer Eric Medlen. KathyTeixeira and Bryan M. Whitemyerare City Clerk and City Managerrespectively.


The public and private sectorcannot be working in isolation."

He elaborated on the recent for-mation of the Global Innovationand Technology Alliance (GITA),which manifested as PPP-modelbased, a non-profit companyjointly incorporated by the Tech-

nology Development Board (TDB)of the Department of Science &Technology (DST), Government ofIndia and CII.

On enabling innovation in edu-cation, Dr Naushad Forbes, Chair-man, CII National Committee onHigher Education and Director,Forbes Marshall highlighted twomajor areas of engagement: tobuild capacity in the administra-tive leadership in higher educationinstitutions and connecting In-dian companies with leading U.S.universities.

"As Indian companies investmore in Research and Develop-ment, there is a heightened need

Diversity backbone of innovationin India: Sam Pitroda

to connect them to leading re-search institutions and universi-ties," he said.

The Indian government hasdeclared 2010-2020 as the decadeof innovation, and the upcominglaunch of the India Inclusive In-novation Fund seeks to catalyzethe creation of an entrepreneurialecosystem, targeted at innovative

solutions for the bottom of thepyramid. In this context,Chandrajit Banerjee, Director Gen-eral, CII expressed that U.S.-Indiacollaboration presents a huge op-portunity.

"A lot remains to be done inIndia on the innovation front, andwe believe that the power of col-laboration between India and theU.S. - two countries with a diverse,democratic and creative people -would yield tremendous results.We are delighted to hold the IndiaInnovation Summit for the first timeever in Chicago, and hope to seemany fruitful partnerships emerg-ing from this interaction," he said.

A section of the attendees


Soha Ali Khan to lead FIA India Day ParadeABDUL SDDIQUI

CHICAGO: Bollywood actressSoha Ali Khan will serve as theGrand Marshall for FIA's India In-dependence Day Parade on Sat-

urday August 17. The Parade willhave a kick-off from Devon Ave &Western Ave in Chicago.

Iftekhar Shareef said actressSoha Ali Khan is the daughter ofNawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi,a former India cricket captain andactress Sharmila Tagore. Shareefalso said that Soha's dynamicbrother and Bollywood's super-star is no other than Saif Ali Khan.

Unveiling the plans, FIA'sPresident Hina Trivedi and

Trustee Chair Iftekhar Shareefmade a joint announcement to hostan impressive India IndependenceDay function that will feature a

grand parade, gala banquet andflag-hoisting ceremony from Au-gust 15 to 17.

To facilitate large participationfrom the public, the FIA has madeparking arrangements in andaround Devon Ave.

FIA President Hina Trivedi saidthat invitations to the elected offi-cials have been sent and FIA hasactively enlisted the sponsorshipsupport of many corporations,companies and business estab-

lishments. She said that FIA ismaking every effort to bring in thefinest local talent and youth todominate the events this year.

Iftekhar Shareef, Trustee Chair-man, said a host of invited electedofficials including Governor PatQuinn, Mayor Rahm Emanuel andAldermen along with Bollywoodstar Soha Ali Khan will lead thecolorful convoy of decoratedfloats in the grand parade filledwith bands, dances, colorful cos-tumes and reverberating music.The parade will showcase the richdiversity and cultural splendor ofIndia with the confluence of vari-ous regions each making an at-tempt to capture the unique ele-ments of India's majestic heritage,tapestry and landscape.

Shareef said that the newly ap-pointed Consul General of IndiaAmbassador Dr Ausaf Sayeed willattend all the events. India's Min-ister of State for Transportationand Highways SarveSatyanarayana has also confirmedhis presence for all the events.

Special Guest world silver med-alist Mohtesham Ali Khan alongwith India's Esa Misri will also betraveling from India and attendingall the programs.

Keerthi Kumar Ravoori, ExecutiveVice President detailed three majorevents to be hosted by FIA in com-memoration of India's Independence:

(1) Grand India IndependenceDay Parade will be held on Satur-

day, August 17 that will kick-off at11:30 a.m. from the corner of De-von Ave. & Western Ave in Chi-cago;

(2) Gala Banquet & Receptionon Friday, August 16 [6:30 p.m.] atIndia House Banquets inSchaumburg, Illinois and

(3) Indian Flag-Hoisting cer-emony on the Daley Plaza in Chi-cago downtown on Thursday,August 15 at 11:45 am on the cor-ner of Dearborn Street and Wash-ington Street.

Iftekhar Shareef thanked Alder-women Debra Silverstein andState Senator Ira Silverstein forrelaxing the zonal parking timingson the side streets of Devon Avewhich will help Attendees Park inthe side streets of Devon Ave. Heurged that all participants to bewatchful of the signs and makesure to follow the parking rules onthe side streets of Devon Ave.

Soha Ali Khan

Trustee Board Chief Iftekhar Shareef and President Hina Trivedi

FIA to help in vital issues facing IndiaSURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: Good, bad andindifferent things keep happen-ing in India and many times weare just silent spectators.

In recent days, three devel-opments have been rather dis-turbing and caught the eyes ofIndians in this part of the world.One is the Uttarakhand tragedy,the second one is the suicide byone the bright and upcomingyoung engineering student hail-ing from relatively backwardclass and the third is the taintedfood supply to schoolchildren

The Federation of Indian As-sociations which is brandishedas one concentrating on paradesand banquets, has decided totake up two of the causes. It hasjoined efforts with other likeminded organizations to helpUttarakhand victims.

The FIA Board has also de-cided in principle to look into thedetails of the case of young en-gineering student NitinPadlakar,19, who was driven tocommit suicide because of ha-

rassment from some of the seniorswho apparently were pressuringhim to help them in exams.

Padalkar was a first year stu-dent at Ramrao Adik Institute ofTechnology and the family sparedno efforts to get him best possible

education. His father is a cooliewhile the mother a vegetable ven-dor. His suicide has devastated thefamily.

FIA has taken up the matterwith the Principal of the Institute

as well as with the new MumbaiPolice Department to get the firsthand feel about the status of in-vestigation - if the culprits whoare named in the suicide note arebooked and if the Principal hasinitiated any disciplinary actionagainst them or the case hasgone to cold storage.

FIA also intends to help thefamily in all possible ways -mainly with providing best legalhelp to get those (howeverhighly connected they may be)involved to pay the price fortheir action. FIA may also con-sider helping the family get bestpossible education for Nitin'ssister who is now determined tobe an engineer and help her par-ents realize the dream of herbrother.

"We appreciate that the gen-eral public and media in particu-lar appreciate our new stance,and help FIA efforts in bringingjustice to the bereaved Padalkarfamily," said Hina Trivedi, FIAPresident.

The FIA Board hasalso decided in prin-ciple to look into thedetails of the case ofyoung engineeringstudent NitinPadlakar,19, whowas driven to commitsuicide becauseof harassment


Gujarati Samaj organizes fun-filled picnicAsian Media USA

CHICAGO: Gujarati Samaj Chicago (GSC) organized itsannual Family Picnic from 11:30 am to 7 pm, on Sunday July14 at Cook County Forest Preserve, Northwest Busse Grove.

The picnic was a big success with a well-planned pro-gram of food, beverages (soft drinks) and engrossing games.The mouth watering lunch consisted of Gota, Chai, Mexi-can food, Chatni, Chips & Salsa, Nachos & cheese, Popsicleand ice cream. Dinner served in the evening consisted ofKhichdi, Kadhi, Veg Shak and Puri. The temperature wasaround 90 degrees F and to overcome the heat the organiz-ers served watermelons and plenty of drinks,

Throughout the event, Indian games and sports, suchas cricket, volleyball, Bingo, and fun games like StandingKho, Gajgrah, Lemon & Spoon, and other enjoyable games

Trophies were given to Puja Lapsiwala, Vidya Soni, EshaModi, Ayushi Modi, Shalin Shah, Sirohi Shah, Ayushi Shahand Eisha Shah. Trophies were presented by spouses ofthe Board Members.

President Suryakant Patel said that his team comprisedyoungsters who worked hard combining the experience ofseniors with their own innovative ideas to attract all, mostlythe youth,and tom a k eG u j a r a t iS a m a jmore ac-ceptable toall seg-ments ofthe soci-ety.

GujaratiSamaj Chi-cago is anon-profit organization serving the Chicagoland area withan avowed objective to help the community to grow per-sonally, professionally, emotionally, and spiritually by prac-ticing Gujaratis' inherent goodness, integrity, and enormousbusiness skill.

Its upcoming events are: GSC Mix & Mingle: Saturday,August, 17th at Holiday Inn,3405 Algonquin Rd., RollingMeadows, IL 60008. From 7-00 pm.

Navratri Garba Raas: Saturday September 8th at ManavSeva Mandir, 101 S. Church Road, Bensenville, IL 60106.From 7-30 pm.

Diwali Dinner: Saturday, October 26 at India House, 1473-1521 W. Schaumburg Road,

The following members are part of the 2013-2014 GujaratiSamaj of Chicago Executive Board. Suryakant Patel- Presi-dent, Kamlesh Shah- Vice President; Jayesh Parikh- Gen-eral Secretary; Bhavesh Shah- Cultural Secretary; ManishPandya- Treasurer; Deepen Modi- Jt. Treasurer; SandipShah- Board Member; Ashok Shah- Board Member; VibhaDave- Board Member; Payal Shah- Board Members; MaulinParikh- Board Member; Umang Shah- Board Member;Dakshesh Modi- Board Member.

were played. There were many games for children as well aselderly people and the winners were rewarded with prizes.

Gujarati Samaj young and senior members. Pics Asian Media USA

Celebrating a young member's birthday

Volleyball game in progress


Encyclopedia of Hinduismto be launched in Chicago

ATUL PATEL

CHICAGO: Manav SevaMandir, a socio religious organi-zation of Indian Americans inBensenville, will be hosting avery special event - the launch-ing of the historic Encyclope-dia of Hinduism - on Saturday July27.

Twenty-five years in the mak-

ing, the product of more than 1000esteemed scholars from aroundthe world, totaling 11-volumes andapproximately 7000 entries, theEncyclopedia of Hinduism is thefirst of its time in history that thedepth and breadth of India's greatspiritual culture is made avail-able in authentic, academic andscholastic form.

The Encyclopedia was con-ceived, inspired and blessed byone of India's most beloved andrevered spiritual leaders, SwamiChidanand Saraswatiji(founder of the Hindu-Jain Temple in Pitts-burgh, and an inspira-tion behind innumerableHindu/Jain templesthroughout Americaand the world). It hasbeen published by IndiaHeritage ResearchFoundation of whichSwami ChidanandSaraswatiji is theFounder/Chairman.

The Swami will becoming to Manav Seva Mandir forthis historic launch event, wherehe will deliver an address on"Spirituality in Daily Life: TheEternal Message of SanatanDharma," which will also includetime for question-answer and aguided universal meditation.

Swamiji will be accompanied bySadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, PhD,the Managing Editor of the Ency-clopedia, and an American gradu-ate of Stanford University who hasspent the last 17 years living inIndia, studying and serving underSwamiji. Sadhvi Bhagawati gives

discourses, lectures, question-an-swer sessions and leads medita-tion at Parmarth Niketan and intravels around the world.

Swami Chidanand is also thepresident and spiritual head ofone of India's largest spiritual in-stitutions, Parmarth NiketanAshram in Rishikesh.

The Encyclopedia is truly acompendium of thousands ofyears of history, science, art, ar-chitecture, polity, religion, phi-losophy and culture. It is not lim-ited to Hinduism as a religion, butrather provides all inclusive treat-ment of India's spiritual culture(including in-depth coverage ofSikhism, Jainism and Buddhism,and aspects from Islamic andChristian traditions in India). TheEncyclopedia was previewed andblessed at a huge ceremony in In-

dia by His Holiness the Dalai Lamaand hundreds of India's most re-vered spiritual, social and nationalleaders.

"We invite you all to come tobe part of this historic event whichwill surely teach, touch and trans-form you. The program will takeplace in a mixture of Hindi, Gujaratiand English, so be sure to bringyour young ones and the secondgeneration youth as well as wellas there will be a great deal in En-glish for them to understand andenjoy," said Bharat Barai, a MandirTrustee.

Swami Chidanand and Ma Bhagwati Saraswati Devi

It is not limited to Hinduismas a religion, but ratherprovides all inclusive treat-ment of India's spiritualculture (including in-depthcoverage of Sikhism,Jainism and Buddhism, andaspects from Islamic andChristian traditions in India)

Jalaram Mandir organizesBhagwat Katha, Guru Purnima

YOGESH THAKKAR

CHICAGO: It was a grandseven days spiritual affair for hun-dreds of Hindu devotees at ShreeJalaram Mandir Chicago inHoffman Estates with a renowned

Kathakar Guruji BhupendraPandya conducting ShrimadBhagwat Katha beginning July 15and culminating it with GuruPurnima Celebrations on July 21.

On the first day, GurujiBhupendra Pandya arrived withPothi-Bhagwat and par-ticipated in ShobhaYatra with a large num-ber of devotees andMandir officials. Gurujistarted his discourse ex-plaining the importanceof Pothi Yatra and alsonarrated the importanceof Bhagwat. He contin-ued his talk on Bhagwatnarrating various Avtars(Lord Vishnu Incarna-tions) and their rel-evance for that time. Thediscourse was embel-lished with anecdotesand humor casting alasting spell on all those attend-ing the hours long narration.

Shree Pandya has his ownunique and distinct style andthose coming to listen to his dis-course would want to come again.The atmosphere became divine.The narration on the birth of ShreeKrishna had the attendees im-mersed as if it was a real life hap-pening and celebrated it with greatenthusiasm, with music andbhajans. Even Pujya Guruji got

emotional which added more lifeto the celebrations. Devoteesdanced, sang bhajans, did Garbaand took pride in swingingBalkrishna.

On Friday July 19, it was NandMahotsava and Giriraj Utsavwhich were celebrated with lot ofreligious fervor and enthusiasm.The atmosphere was very muchlike one being in Gokul.

On Saturday July 20, the first

part of the program starting at 1p.m. was allotted to youth. Themain purpose was to get the youthto understand their religion andhave their doubts cleared thruquestions answer session. Gurujiin his persuasive distinct stylehandled the job quite creditably.There was variety of questions putforward by youth as well as adults.Some were simple and some werevery interesting as well as intel-lectual.

One question worth notingwas, 'Why are there many gods inHinduism? This was answered byGuruji in most befitting mannerpointing out that it was reflectiveof individual characteristics andqualities of multi faceted person-ality of ultimate reality.

In the second phase Katha wasextended and it ended with'Rukmini Vivah' marriage of ShreeKrishna and Rukmini. It was cer-emoniously arranged according toVedic method. On Sunday therewas closing ceremony and Gurujinarrated crux of Bhagawat and alldispersed with a feeling that theyunderstood Hinduism in real per-spective and better.

During the entire Katha Gurujiexplained the true characteristicsand value of Sanatan Dharma andcleared many prevailing miscon-ceptions. Riddhi Joshi played therole as Krishna and Arpit Joshi,Rudra Joshi and Parth Joshiplayed roles of brothers toRukmini.

With an increase in the Mandiractivities that attract a larger at-tendance, the facility right nowis proving relatively inad-equate. Plans are afoot for ex-pansion. An ardent appeal fromMandir Board Members andsupported by Guruji was made.A spontaneous proposal ofdeclaring donations in bricks@ 101$ was floated and metwith instant favorable re-sponse.

Guruji also visited the newlymodernized kitchen at the costof nearly $ 160000 and hopedthat with the support of devo-tees the Chicago temple maybecome a replica of Virpur

Temple - the only temple in theworld that does not accept dona-tions in spite of multifarious ac-tivities.

A booklet 'Harine Bhajta' wasdistributed by Shri GhanshyamThakkar to all participants free of cost.

The entire proceedings werelive telecast simultaneously atnook and corner of the temple withwebcasting.

Jalaram Mandir Katha Shobha Yatra

Guruji Bhupendrabhai with a devotee

Jalaram Katha attendees Festive spirit during Jalram Katha

Cont’d on page 26


With Shree Guruji blessings andhis divine guidance many institu-tions such as the Samakti Foun-dation, Samakti Mission USA,Samakti Mission UK and SamaktiSeva Parivar are active in upliftingthe lives of the handicapped, andunderprivileged by offering medi-cal, social, educational, and spiri-tual help.

Pujyashree Bhai has held manyseminars, especially for young-sters every year across the globe.Participants not only of Indian ori-gin but even the ones with theirroots in the western soil are at-tending these events and areshowing a keen interest in howthey can apply ancient religiouspractices in contemporary times.

Guruji's exposition of the divin-ity does not have any language-barrier, as he is fluent in languageslike Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, San-

Jalaram Mandir organizesBhagwat Katha, Guru Purnima

skrit and English. He has rendereda total of more than 450 discourseson Bhagavat, Ramayan, Geeta,Upanishads and other subjects.

For the Katha, the Chief Hostswere Late Shri Ambalal DahyabhaiThakkar family and Late ShriDhulchanddas KarsandasThakkar family.

The Pothi Yajmans wereSatishbhai, Pratibhaben Jagi;Tejasbhai Bhatt; Priteshbhai,Manishaben Patel. Daily Yajmanswere Piyushbhai, Geetaben,Sonibe Chaudhari, NimeshbhaiPatel. Krishna Janmotsav incharge were Ashokbhai,Hemaxiben Thakkar family.

For Rukmani Vivah, in chargefor Lord Krishna Paksh wereBabunath Tekriwala (Sponsor didnot want their names to be pub-lished) and for Rukmani Pakshwere Deepakbhai, AnjanabenPatel. For Rukmani Mosad Paksh:Surendrabhai, Padmaben Thakkar.


Over 800 attend Kadva Patidar picnicJAYANTI OJHA

CHICAGO: The Kadva PatidarSamaj of Chicago (KPS) success-fully hosted its annual summerpicnic at Carl Hansen Woods atCook County Forest Preserve,Hoffman Estates, a north side Chi-cago suburban July 14 with over870 members, friends, and well

wishers participating.The picnic starting from 11 am

and continuing till 7:30 pm was one

of the most enjoyable events forall the participants. Volunteers ar-rived at the Carl Hansen Woodsas early as 8:30 am and startedpreparation to serve the expectedcrowd of more than 800+ members.

The food team served donuts,chips, salsa, peanut butter and

jelly, breads for kids. Guests wereserved over 1000 pieces of cornson two grills. Also, as usual, In-

dian traditional Fresh Gotta(Bhajiya) was cooked and addingto the taste on Gott was specialIndian Kadi (Chatani) preparedalong with fried green peppers andonions. To counter the scorchingheat the water team served coolbottled water ice, and beverages.

Many famous In-dian games such ascricket, volleyball,Kothra Daud, waterballoons, musical chairwere played. Prizeswere given to winningindividuals and teams.The Raffle tickets werealso sold and the win-ners were given com-plimentary gifts.

A traditional Indiandinner was served to allmembers and gueststhat had vegetablepulav (rice), mixed veg-

etables, handmade mango pulp(russ), Puri, Rayta (butter-milk),Athanu (achar) and green peppers.

KPS trustee & committee members

Indians with Seniors join July 4 paradeSURENDRA ULLAL

CHICAGO: With great enthusi-asm and patriotism, the new Boardof the Indian Community of NilesTownship along with the UnitedSenior Parivar took part in Skokie's4th of July Parade this year.

Thousands of people wit-nessed the parade and watchedwhile more than 40 members ofICNT marched together dressed inred, white and blue T-shirts, anddancing and jumping to the musicof Indian DJ Dhamaka. Whilespectators enjoyed the haunting

music, the Indian community wellrepresented with children asyoung as 5 and octogenarianspassed through the streets ofdowntown Skokie, stopping on toshare greetings of Happy Fourth

of July with everyone.Rohit Joshi, president of ICNT

wished a happy IndependenceDay to the Mayor of Skokie.Arvind Patel, Jt. Treasurer, andVijai Gupta, Vice President werejoined by Ramanbhai Patel, Presi-dent of United Senior Pariwar and

ICNT members - all dancing withthe music and adding to the holi-day atmosphere.

After the parade, the ICNTserved a delicious and healthylunch to all the participants.

ICNT enthusiastically exploresIndian culture and music to sharethe Indian heritage with the differ-ent ethnic groups in Niles Town-ship area. The board plans to cel-ebrate the 66th Republic Day ofIndia in the last week of January2014.

Indians and Seniors participate in Independence Day Parade in Skokie-Niles

Raunak Mela at Hari Om MandirAsian Media USA

CHICAGO: Hari Om Mandir inMedinah (a north side Chicagosuburb) organized its annual'Raunak Mela-2013' on Sunday,July14 with over 200 devotees,guests, and well-wishers partici-pating.

Those who came to the Melahad lot of fun. For kids, there wasmoonwalk etc. Other attractionswere snacks, merchandise stalls,Health Fair and much more.

There were many items for eat-ing: Chole Bhature, mouth water-ing Dosa; Panipuri, Samosa/Tikkiand Rossogulla, sandwich &

sprout, corn stall by Vipani, BhelPuri, Lassi, juice and soft drink etc.which were enjoyed by all. Hari OmMandir's youth volunteers ac-tively participated to manage vari-ous stalls and other activities.

Health camp was organized forhealth checkup of nearly 100people. They received Blood

Sugar Checkup, EKG and BloodPressure screening. Dr OmDhingra and Dr Ramesh Dhingravolunteered to conduct the entireHealth Checkup and ShashankSaxena and Sharul Saxena assistedthem.

Desi Junc-tion coveredthe wholeevent live onRadio. Thehighlight ofthe Mela wasthe Antakshri,part of whichwas aired live.The segmentrecorded wass t r e a m e dagain at 8 pmCST on 15July. The participants were so ex-cited about singing at theAntakshari knowing that theirvoice would be heard all over theworld by interested listeners!

Executive Board of the Temple:Brij Lal Sharma President, IndrajitSarkar Vice President, SnehChaudhary Secretary, VikasChoudhary Treasurer, Jeetu PatelSpecial Events, Sham Taxali Prop-

erty Management, RameshBhardwaj Publication & Parking,Anshu Paul Education, UshaVerma Food & Prasad.

Hari Om Mandir has statues ofall major North Indian deities. Ev-

ery Sunday there is a Havan andgeneral congregation followed byAarti and Bhojan Prasad. On ev-ery first Saturday of the monththere is Devi Jagran from 7-10 pm.Every Monday there is Shiv Pujaand every Tuesday it conductsHanuman Challisa Path. There aretwo learned priests available intemple for Poojas, Havan, Kathasin the temple and at home.

Kids enjoy games at the Mela

Health Camp at Raunak Mela

www.indiapost.com

TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS

1 Maston Ka Jhund: Bhaag MilkhaBhaag2 Tum Tak: Raanjhnaa3 Sawaar Loon: Lootera4 Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: BhaagMilkha Bhaag5 Ay Saki: Raanjhnaa6 Mera Yaar: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag7 Manmarziyan: Lootera8 Ek Ghadi : D-Day9 Murshid Khele Holi: D-Day10 Ghanchakkar Babu: Ghanchakkar

India Post28 July 26 , 2013

After spending a fun-filled secret Spanish holiday at Barcelona with Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif managed to enjoy her birthday dinner with her

alleged beau recently!According to spectators, Ranbir drove to Katrina's

Bandra residence in a white Merc around 9 pm to pickher up and headed to a luxury hotel in south Mumbai.

Later they met up with close friends to have dinner inBandra.

Katrina's spokesperson has however refused to com-ment. But the spokesperson said, "She was down with aviral fever. She was not keen to have a big birthday bash,

so she went to have dinner in Bandra with close friends."A source close to the actor says, "RK dropped Katrina

home in the wee hours of the morning."

Seems like Nargis Fakhri won't enthusiastically support the ad age, 'practice makes perfect' for a while. She injured herself while rehearsing her moves for her item number with

Shahid Kapoor for his upcoming movie.She has been practicing her steps since the last few

days and pulled a muscle in the back just a day beforeshe was supposed to shoot for it.

A source associated with the movie says the shootwas slightly delayed, owing to Nargis' injury. The songneeds to be shot immediately as the set, built in a

suburban studio, is ready."The team is waiting to see whether Nargis

will be able to pull off the song within the stipu-lated time," said the source.

Interestingly, she will also be doing somebelly dancing in her item song.

Sonam Kapoor, who assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali in "Black",says direction is her first love and acting came as a mistress.

"Yes, my first dream was to be a director. I love reading, I lovemovies, and stories. It's because of that I always wanted to di-rect," Sonam told reporters.

"You get attached to the fame and glamour and I am attachedto it. I won't lie about it. That was my first love, but then actingcame as a mistress," added the actress who has been acting infront of the camera for the past six years.

In future, she has definite plans to go behind the camera to tellher kind of stories.

"And if nothing else, at the risk of sounding extremely spoilt,I have my sister (Rhea who produced 'Aisha') to make movies forme."

India Post 29July 26, 2013

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

If you thought Farhan Akhtar could bid adieu to his grueling exercise and diet regime, now that RakeyshOmprakash Mehra's biopic 'BhaagMilkha Bhaag' is out, you couldn'tbe more wrong.

Apparently, the actor, who hasbeen training hard for over a yearto get under the skin of 'The Fly-ing Sikh', will have to continuewearing his running shoes for thenext two months. Reason is twosongs and a few scenes ofShaadi Ke Side Effects directedby Saket Chaudhary and pro-

duced by Pritish Nandy Commu-nications, remain to be shot, and

Farhan simply cannot afford to regainany of the weight he had lost during thefilming of the second half of Bhaag.

Bollywood's 'desi girl'Priyanka Chopra,who turned 31 on

July 18, wished love,luck and success ga-lore by her friends andcolleagues from theHindi film fraternity.

The actress hasbeen on a roll, cour-tesy the widely appreci-ated 2012 film "Barfi!", andfor her international singles"In my city" and the recently-released"Exotic". She has also been busyworking on the biopic on boxingOlympic medalist Mary Kom.

Despite her father's demise in June,Priyanka, a former beauty queen, re-turned to work at the earliest.

After a career of over a decade in theindustry, the actress is one of the mostformidable names, with hits like "Krrish","Don", "Fashion" and " Agneepath"under her belt. She won a NationalAward for her portrayal of amodel in MadhurBhandarkar's "Fashion".

Huma Qureshi is all praise for her D-Day co star Arjun Rampal.Both Huma and Arjun are sent on a secret mission to Pakistan to bring back India's most wanted man.

Talking about Arjun, Huma says, "We all were celebrating Arjun'sbirthday and I was shocked to know that he had turned forty. Icouldn't believe it. He's so fit and also very good looking.He's great fun to work with and he's veryinvolved with what's going on in thefilm".

Talking about her role in thismale centric movie Huma adds,"It's a very male heavy film andthere are many male characters.But I knew for a fact that if fe-male characters were beingcast, Nikhil wouldn't wastethem. He's not going to castme just like that. I will bringsomething every importantto the table".

India Post July 26 , 2013www.indiapost.com

Real Estate30

Realty Tidbits Forest Service property inJackson under contract

Oregon house flippers flipfewer, do better

SALEM, Ore.: ``Flipping''homes - purchasing a house, fix-ing it up and selling it again withinsix months for a profit - may bedown in Oregon, but the profitsare up.

According to the latest datafrom RealtyTrac, there were 949single-family home flips in the firsthalf of 2013 in Oregon. Each homewas purchased at an average priceof $187,391. When they were re-sold again a few months later, sell-ers banked more than $37,000 inprofit.

That's a 47 percent decrease inhomes flipped from the first halfof 2012. But although flippedhomes last year were losingmoney, flipping homes this year isproving to be profitable. And thereturn for Oregon investors - 20percent - was much better than the9 percent national average.

Nationwide, more than 136,000homes were flipped in the first halfof 2013. The average gross profitoff these homes was $18,391.

Flipping homes not only pro-vides a profit to sellers, but it also

helps add overall value to a neigh-borhood and can be a way tobreathe new life into old homes.

``For the most part, these are

flippers who are actually addingimprovements to the propertyrather than just relying on homeprice appreciation,'' said DarenBlomquist, vice president atRealtyTrac. ``In Oregon, the

metrics were even more indicativethat the flippers are adding valueto improvements.''

The ideal home for the practice

would be inexpensive with easycosmetic fixes, said ByronHendricks, president of PrudentialReal Estate in Salem. His companydoesn't participate in home flip-ping, but brokers will frequentlypartner with investors to help iden-tify promising neighborhoods andhomes.

``I think sometimes that prep-ping the property for re-sale is assimple as some cosmetic work andvery minor repair issues,'' he said.``There's other times where it canbe tremendously involved; thinkof contaminated houses with sub-stantial rot issues or structural is-sues. It takes a skilled person toestimate how much it will cost inrepairs.''

Flipping can become especiallypopular - and profitable - whenhome prices are rising, and quickly.

Delhi govt lifts power of attorney banNEW DELHI: Delhi Govern-

ment has decided to lift the banon transaction of propertiesthrough general power of attor-ney (GPA) which is expected toprovide relief to lakhs of resi-dents living in group housingsocieties and others.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshitsaid government decided to re-verse the restriction imposed byit last year in transaction of prop-erties through GPA consideringdifficulties faced by people ofthe city.

"We have decided to allowtransaction of propertiesthrough GPA," Dikshit said.

Following a Supreme Courtorder on property transactions,

Delhi government in April last yearhad put a stop on property trans-action through GPA.

The Supreme Court had on Oc-tober 12, 2011 ruled that sale trans-actions carried in the name of GPA

will have no legal sanctity and im-movable property can be sold ortransferred only through regis-tered deeds.

The Delhi High Court on May

5 had quashed the Delhi govern-ment order banning property salethrough GPA.

Following the Delhi Govern-ment order, volume of propertytransaction in the city had come

down drastically as selling ofleasehold properties through GPAtransfers was a convenient way ofsuch transactions.

Transaction through GPA was

common for properties not hav-ing a clear title.

Officials in Revenue depart-ment had said government'srevenue collection had alsocome down following the banon property transactionsthrough GPA.

The lifting of the ban onGPA-based transactions willhelp sale and purchase of prop-erties in unauthorized colonieswhere there is no clear title.

The city government hadregularized 895 unauthorizedcolonies in September last yearand the decision to lift transac-tion through GPA will allow prop-erty sell and purchase in thosesettlements, said officials. -PTI

The lifting of the ban on GPA-basedtransactions will help sale and purchase ofproperties in unauthorized colonieswhere there is no clear title

Cont’d on page 31

EDMC to rollbackpropertytax hike

NEW DELHI: East Delhi Mu-nicipal Corporation has said it willrollback the hike in property taxrates, days after its North coun-terpart decided to move in the di-rection.

In a resolution approved dur-ing the Standing Committee meet-ing, the councilors agreed that in-crease of tax from 12 to 20 per centshould be rolled back.

"The decision of North Corpo-ration has been welcomed by alland traders of EDMC will feelcheated if we do not do the same,"the resolution said.

"Since the traders have beenasking for a rollback, we believetheir demands should be met," itsaid.

Earlier this month, NDMC haddeclared it would rollback the hikein property tax rates of non-resi-dential properties. -PTI

Over 50,000families identifiedfor housing scheme

CHANDIGARH: Over 50,000beneficiary families have beenidentified for Haryanagovernment's ambitious schemePriyadarshini Awaas Yojana(PAY), aimed to provide housesto economically and socially-de-prived sections of the society.

"As many as 51,171 benefi-ciary families have so far beenidentified and registered for thesanction of funds. The processof registration and sanction offunds to the listed beneficiariesis going on in full swing," said anofficial release here.

The PAY is a demand-based100 per cent state-fundedscheme, which aims at providinghouses to two lakh poor familiesliving in the rural areas.

Initially, approximately two lakhfamilies are planned to be cov-ered under PAY within a periodof two years --2013-14 and 2014-15. The project is estimated tocost Rs 1,350 crore.

Each of the selected beneficia-ries will be provided financialgrant of Rs 90,100, including Rs81,000 for house and Rs 9,100 forconstruction of sanitary toilet.-PTI

JACKSON, Wyo.: The U.S. Forest Service has enteredinto a contract to sell 10 acres at Bridger-Teton NationalForest headquarters in Jackson.

Real estate agency William Van Gelder says the priceagreed on for the property is $11.5 million.

He would not name the party that hopes to buy theland.

If sold, the acreage would come into the town underrural zoning and would require a zone change for com-mercial development.-AP

India Post 31July 26 , 2013 Real Estate Postwww.indiapost.com

Donald Trump

Donald Trump to launch firstIndian project in Pune

WASHINGTON: America's realestate business tycoon and celeb-rity Donald Trump has announcedhis companies' first Indian project,a 22-storied residential twin tow-ers in Pune having 44 luxurioussingle-floor condominiums.

"Trump Organization's firstproject in India, Trump TowersPune, will epitomize inspired liv-ing and timeless elegance,"Donald Trump, said on the microblogging website Twitter, to an-nounce his entry into India's book-ing real estate market.

"A pair of sleek ultra-moderntowers that redefine the Pune sky-line, Trump Towers Pune marksthe entry of the Trump brand ofluxury and elegance in India," thecompany said on its website.

As the first Trump project inIndia, Trump Towers Pune is a

blend of modern architecture, cul-tural richness and an oasis of elitecomfort, it added.

The cost of each condominium

has not been an-nounced yet. Expectedto be completed by 2015,Trump Towers Pune willalso have an exclusivefitness center byBollywood star JohnAbraham.

"All residences willhave five bedroomswith an additional hometheatre room and host a360-degree view of Punecityscape with the sur-rounding Aga Khan Pal-ace and the lush greenJogger's Park beingprominent.

Trump Tower Pune isbeing developed by city's leadingreal-estate developer, PanchshilRealty, located in upscale KalyaniNagar neighborhood.

Days of high residentialprices gone: Parekh

MUMBAI: Amidst stubbornprices in most of the real estatemarkets, HDFC chairman DeepakParekh said here the residentialprice escalation now seems to bea thing of the past.

"My view is thatreal estate pricesshould come down, atleast on the residentialside. The days of pricesshooting up havegone," Parekh toldshareholders duringthe company's annualgeneral meeting here.

He also said thecommercial real estatesegment has collapsedand the prices of com-mercial properties areunlikely to rise.

"If you look at thegeneral property sce-nario, commercial realestate has collapsedacross the country," hesaid, adding the IT, re-tail and office space are in surplus.

The chairman of the largestpure-play mortgage lender further

said it is only residential compo-nent where prices have not yetfallen.

"In smaller cities they (residen-tial prices) have gone up but theyare reasonably priced in Tier II and

Tier III cities," he said, adding hiscompany's growth is coming fromsmall towns now. -PTI

HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh

``Home flipping was at an out-landish peak when prices wereshooting up so much,'' Hendrickssaid. ̀ `The gambling that occurredwhen prices were running highpaid off well.''

``I think what it tells us aboutthe market is that the market ishealing,'' said Blomquist. ̀ `Flippingis a way to bridge the gap betweendistressed housing markets and amuch more healthy and vibrantmarket. As long as it's a short-livedtrend. We wouldn't want to seeflipping continue year over year

because that would be a sign of amarket that's overheated andhighly speculative.''

It is, after all, gambling. Flippersrely on the ability to sell the homeat a higher value than purchasedin order to make the effort worthit, and that doesn't always panout.

``Things that are worth it usu-ally take some work,'' Hendrickssaid. ̀ `I really applaud this effortand I love to see people doing itand doing it with integrity andmaking money off it because itmakes our communities a betterplace.'' -AP

Oregon house flippers flipfewer, do better


HDFC plans to buy LeverHouse in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Country's largesthousing finance company HDFCis planning to buy HindustanUnilever's former headquarters,Lever House, located at BackbayReclamation in the southern tip ofthe megapolis.

"Today, the HUL building is onlease with us and we have the rightto buy it and we will buy it," chair-man Deepak Parekh told the share-holders at the annual general meet-ing held here over the weekend.

No financial details were imme-diately available.

HUL was housed at the LeverHouse for 46 years before it movedto a new campus in Andheri (East)in North Mumbai in January 2010.

The mortgage lender will alsoshift its general insurance arm,

HDFC Ergo General Insurance, andHDFC Mutual Fund to the build-

ing. "The group's requirement isvery large. We are also going tomove HDFC Ergo and mutualfund," Parekh said.

Currently, HDFC is headquar-tered at Ramon House (in the samearea in south Mumbai) where itstarted its operations in 1977.Later, it took over the entire build-ing but chose to retain the name.

On this, Parekh said, "We donot want to change the nameRamon House, where we started,because it is good luck for us.

We want to retain the nameRamon House."

However, the 1.53 lakh sqft HULbuilding will be named as HDFCHouse, Parekh added. -PTI

Currently, HDFC isheadquartered atRamon House (in thesame area in southMumbai) where itstarted its operationsin 1977. Later, it tookover the entire build-ing but chose toretain the name.

Sobha Developers' Q1 salesbookings up 26 pc

NEW DELHI: Sobha Develop-ers' sales bookings rose by 26 percent to Rs 602.8 crore in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, as thecompany sold more area at a higherprice despite overall slowdown inhousing demand.

The company had sold proper-ties worth Rs 479.4 crore in thesame quarter of last fiscal, Banga-lore-based company said in itsoperational update.

In volume-terms, Sobha Devel-opers sold 10 per cent more area

in the first quarter of 2013-14 fis-cal at 9.2 lakh sq ft against 8.35lakh sq ft in the year-ago period.

The average price realizationwas higher by 14 per cent at Rs6,548 per sq ft against Rs 5,737 persq ft during the period under re-view.

"The real estate operation ofthe company during the first quar-ter of the financial year 2013-14performed credibly especially inBangalore, Chennai and Trichur.Notwithstanding a slowing

economy and sliding rupee, therewas sustained momentum insales," Sobha said.

The company noted that itslaunch of a mixed developmentproject in Bangalore was success-ful, allaying concern of slowdownin that market.

Sobha said that its sales book-ings in the NCR market dipped inthe first quarter. It expects the mar-ket to recover on account of "posi-tive dynamics in employment anddemographics".-PTI

www.indiapost.com32 India Post July 26, 2013

Health ScienceHealth Line

Cancer survivorsface more

menopausalsymptoms

Details on Page 34

Smart knife to tell surgeon iftissue is cancerous

LONDON: Scientists have de-veloped a 'smart knife' that can tellsurgeons immediately whether thetissue they are cutting is cancer-ous or not.

In cancers involving solid tu-mors, removal of the cancer insurgery is generally the best hopefor treatment. The surgeon nor-mally takes out the tumor with amargin of healthy tissue as it isoften impossible to tell by sightwhich tissue is cancerous.

One in five breast cancer pa-tients who have surgery require asecond operation to fully removethe cancer. The new device caneliminate the need for repeatedsurgery.

In the first study to test the in-vention in the operating theatre,the 'iKnife' diagnosed tissuesamples from 91 patients with 100per cent accuracy, instantly pro-viding information that normallytakes up to half an hour to revealusing laboratory tests.

The iKnife is based on electro-surgery, a technology invented inthe 1920s that is commonly usedtoday.

Electrosurgical knives use an

electrical current to rapidly heattissue, cutting through it whileminimizing blood loss.

In doing so, they vaporize thetissue, creating smoke that is nor-mally sucked away by extractionsystems.

The inventor of the iKnife, DrZoltan Takats of Imperial CollegeLondon, realized that this smokewould be a rich source of biologi-cal information.

To create the iKnife, he con-nected an electrosurgical knife toa mass spectrometer, an analyti-cal instrument used to identify

what chemicals are present in asample.

Different types of cell producethousands of metabolites in dif-ferent concentrations, so the pro-file of chemicals in a biologicalsample can reveal information

about the state of that tissue.In the new study, the research-

ers first used the iKnife to ana-lyze tissue samples collected from302 surgery patients, recordingthe characteristics of thousandsof cancerous and non-canceroustissues, including brain, lung,breast, stomach, colon and liver

tumors to create a reference li-brary.

The iKnife works by matchingits readings during surgery to thereference library to determinewhat type of tissue is being cut,giving a result in less than threeseconds.

The technology was thentransferred to the operating the-atre to perform real-time analysisduring surgery. In all 91 tests, thetissue type identified by theiKnife matched the post-opera-tive diagnosis based on tradi-tional methods.

"These results provide com-pelling evidence that the iKnifecan be applied in a wide range ofcancer surgery procedures.

It provides a result almost in-stantly, allowing surgeons tocarry out procedures with a levelof accuracy that hasn't beenpossible before," Takats said.

"We believe it has the poten-tial to reduce tumor recurrencerates and enable more patients tosurvive," he said.

The findings are published inthe journal Science TranslationalMedicine. -PTI

Cont'd on Page 34

NC weighs abortion ban for some insurance policiesRALEIGH, N.C.: North Caro-

lina is poised to prohibit privateinsurance companies from cov-ering customers who decide tohave abortions if their policiesare purchased through a healthinsurance marketplace.

Limiting private coverage ofabortion is allowed under thefederal health overhaul law re-quiring nearly everyone to buyinsurance or pay a fine, andmore than 20 other states havealready decided to do so.

Legislation aiming to furtherrestrict abortion in North Caro-lina includes a ban on coveringthe procedure when it's electivein private policies sold on thenew online marketplace. TheHouse and Senate passed a pairof competing measures, andnegotiations are under way over

final language.The 2010 health care overhaul

law requires states to havewebsites where households and

small businesses can shop for pri-vate health insurance. Individu-

als can shop for their own cover-age through the exchanges andcould receive government subsi-dies based on their income. Con-

sumers can start shopping in Oc-tober for coverage that begins in

January.North Carolina, like many

states where Republican oppo-sition to the health care lawcontinues, opted against set-ting up an exchange. The fed-eral government will run thestate's exchange instead.

But the federal law that cre-ated the insurance marketplacesalso allows states to prohibitabortion coverage in health in-surance policies offeredthrough them. Anyone wantingcoverage for most abortionswould need to purchase thatcoverage separately, outsidethe marketplace. Abortions thatfollow rape or incest or ifdeemed necessary to preservethe mother's life would be cov-ered by policies sold on the ex-change.

Lab facilities inKerala to beimproved

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Analytical laboratories in Keralawould be developed at a cost ofRs 50 crore for the strict imple-mentation of the provisions inthe Food Security Act, stateHealth Minister V S Sivakumarhas said.

"Facilities at the governmentanalyst laboratory atThiruvananthapuram and re-gional analytical laboratories atKozhikode and Kochi would beimproved to meet internationalstandards," the minister said inan official release here.

"Steps would be taken to getthese labs accredited with theNational Accreditation Board forTesting and Calibration Labora-tories (NABL)," he said.

The scheme would be imple-mented with the assistance of theCentre. New laboratories wouldbe started in border districts ofPalakkad and Kasaragod as partof the drive to intensify food se-curity tests.

Three mobile laboratorieswould also start functioningsoon as part of the drive, the min-ister said, adding that foodsafety officers would be de-ployed in all assembly constitu-encies in the state. -PTI

Perry orders probeof rural hospitalchain

DALLAS: Aides to Gov. RickPerry say he has ordered a ̀ `deepand comprehensive look'' athealth care facilities owned by aDallas-area physician whose ru-ral hospitals have violated safetyregulations without drawing statescrutiny.

The Dallas Morning News re-ported that the decision comesafter Democratic state Sen.Wendy Davis of Fort Worthcalled on Perry and other lawmak-ers to not ̀ `drag their feet'' in de-termining the size and severity ofpatient abuse and deaths at hos-pitals owned by Dr. TariqMahmood of Cedar Hill.

Perry spokeswoman LucyNashed said the governor expectsthe Texas Health and Human Ser-vices Commission and its inspec-tor general ``to thoroughly re-view this and any other allega-tions to ensure Texans are receiv-ing safe and effective medicalcare.''

State health officials said aninspection team already visitedone of Mahmood's hospitals, theLake Whitney Medical Center inWhitney. -AP

India Post 33Health Science Postwww.indiapost.com

July 26, 2013

HPV virus behind third ofthroat cancer cases

LONDON: Human papillomavirus maybe behind a third of all throat cancers, sug-gesting that the HPV vaccine may providepatients with protection from the disease,a new Oxford study has found.

The new findings come just a month af-ter Basic Instinct star Michael Douglas re-

ported to have spoken about the link afterhis own diagnosis with throat cancer.

Experts said the research which quanti-fies the link, showed "striking" results, BBCNews reported.

HPV is the major cause of cervical can-cer, and is known to spread through geni-tal or oral contact.

The study looked at HPV's link with can-cer of the back of the throat - oropharyn-

geal cancer. It looked at blood test resultscollected from people who took part in ahuge prospective study into lifestyle andcancer, who were all healthy at the start.

Researchers were able to check for thepresence of antibodies to one of HPV'skey proteins - E6 that knocks out part of

cells' protectionsystem, whichshould preventcancer developing.

Having the anti-bodies means HPVhas already over-come that defenseand caused cancer-ous changes incells, the reportsaid.

The study com-pared blood test re-sults - some morethan 10 years old -

for 135 people who went on to developthroat cancer and for 1,599 cancer-freepeople.

Researchers at the University of Oxfordfound 35 per cent of those with throat can-cer had the antibodies, compared withfewer than 1 per cent of those who werecancer-free.

The study was published in the Jour-nal of Clinical Oncology. -PTI

India Post Health Science Post34

www.indiapost.com

July 26, 2013

Bright light can make you morehonest, less selfish

LONDON: Bright lights makepeople more honest, altruistic andethical, and less selfish, a newstudy has claimed.

Researchers conducted vari-ous experiments and found thatpeople in a brightly lit room do-nated more than twice as much asthose in a dim room, and were morelikely to offer to help others.

"We provide the first experi-mental evidence showing thatbrightness appears to heightenthe salience of morality to the

individual, thereby leadingpeople to perform ethical deeds,"said researchers from NationalSun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.

"We suggest that brightnessmay enhance the self-importance

of morality and thereby increaseethical behavior," they said.

The researchers carried out aseries of experiments with threelevels of brightness under 12,

eight, and four fluorescent lights,'The Independent' reported.

In one experiment, men andwomen were told they were play-ing a game which involved shar-

ing money between themselvesand a stranger said to be in an-other room. Those in the bright-est room offered around 15 percent more of the cash than those

in the moderately litroom, and around 30per cent more than thepeople in the dimmestroom.

The researchers cal-culated an 85.2 per centhonesty rate for peoplein the well-lit room, 70.4per cent for those in

the moderately lit room, and 51.9per for those under dim lighting.

The study was published inthe Journal of Environmental Psy-chology. -PTI

Those in the brightest roomoffered around 15 per centmore of the cash than thosein the moderately lit room

Cancer survivors face moremenopausal symptoms

MELBOURNE: Cancer survi-vors are twice as likely to experi-ence severe and frequent meno-pausal symptoms than otherwomen, according to a new Aus-tralian study.

The study was led by Univer-sity of Melbourne and the RoyalWomen's Hospital Melbourne,with the King Edward MemorialHospital and the University of

Western Australia.The number of cancer survi-

vors were twice who faced severemenopausal symptoms like hotflushes and night sweats com-pared to women who do not havecancer, the study said.

Lead author Jennifer Marino ofthe University of Melbourne andthe Royal Women's Hospital saidthe study was the biggest of itskind to assess the impact of meno-pausal symptoms on the qualityof life of cancer survivors.

"Our study showed for the firsttime, that cancer survivors expe-rienced more severe and frequentmenopausal symptoms (such ashot flushes and night sweats)than patients who did not havecancer," Marino said.

More than 1,51,000 (aroundone in 25) women in Australia arecancer survivors with more thanone third of those are breast can-

cer survivors.Almost 1,000 cancer survivors

(mostly breast cancer) and 155non-cancer patients aged 40 to 60,who attended the MenopauseSymptoms After Cancer Clinic atthe King Edward Memorial Hos-pital in Western Australia, weresurveyed to determine a range offactors including severity ofmenopausal symptoms, impact onquality of life and sexual function.

Cancer survivors had twice asmany hot flushes (six compared

with three in 24 hours) and weretwice as likely to report severe orvery severe flushes as non-can-cer patients.

More than 200 cancer survi-vors reported experiencing morethan 10 flushes a day.

Interestingly, the mental healthof cancer survivors appeared tobe better than the non-cancer pa-tients.

"The study revealed the can-cer survivors were less troubledby symptoms of anxiety and de-pression than women attendingthe menopause service who hadnever had cancer," Marino said.

Senior author ProfessorMartha Hickey said menopausalsymptoms were a frequent anddistressing effect of cancer treat-ments in women.

"In women with hormone sen-sitive cancer such as breast can-cer, effective treatments reduceestrogen levels and this com-monly leads to menopausal symp-toms," she said.

Co-author ProfessorChristobel Saunders, DeputyHead of the University of West-ern Australia School of Surgery,said the findings were significantin providing an improved under-standing of the nature and impactof menopause on cancer survi-vors while also highlighting theneed for better support servicesfor menopausal women withoutcancer.

The study was published inthe journal Menopause, a state-ment from University ofMelbourne said. -PTI

Interestingly, the mental health of cancersurvivors appeared to be better than the non-cancer patients."The study revealed the can-cer survivors were less troubled by symptomsof anxiety and depression than women at-tending the menopause service who hadnever had cancer,"

Medicare gives state hospital90 days to shape up

AUSTIN, Texas: Federal inves-tigators say an East Texas statepsychiatric hospital could loseMedicare funds because of defi-ciencies in 12 distinct areas of pa-tient care and hospital manage-ment.

The Centers for Medicare andMedicaid Services has given theTerrell State Hospital 90 days tofix things or lose Medicare fund-ing - $4.6 million that accountsfor about 9 percent of thehospital's $49 million budget, theAustin American-Statesman re-ported.

In a letter, the federal agencysaid nursing, laboratory, food, an-esthesia and respiratory serviceswere deficient, and the hospital'sinfection control and physicalenvironment for patients weren'tadequate. The agency also saidfederal, state and local lawsweren't followed.

The agency gave the hospitaluntil Oct. 6 to fix the problems orlose funding.

``We've still got work to do,and that's our focus,'' said CarrieWilliams, spokeswoman for theTexas Department of State HealthServices, which operates statehospitals. ̀ `The extra time will letus continue to work on the hos-

pital, make improvements andmeet the standards we expectfrom our state hospitals.''

The Medicare agency was ex-pected to reveal its detailed find-ings at the end of the month afterthe state has a Medicare-ap-proved plan to remedy thehospital's shortcomings, theAmerican-Statesman reported.

The investigation began inApril after the American-States-man made the agency aware ofthe 2012 death of Terrell StateHospital patient Ann Simmons.The 62-year-old woman died atthe hospital 30 miles east of Dal-las after being left in restraintsfor 55 hours. Medicare investi-gators concluded that impropercare was responsible for her deathand a continued threat to thelives of other patients.

After warning the state of ur-gent deficiencies, which the statehas remedied, the Medicareagency began a comprehensiveinvestigation of the hospital. Theagency's letter stemmed from thatinvestigation, the American-Statesman reported.

Since April, state officials haveforced the hospital's superinten-dent to resign and closed its 20-bed medical unit. -PTI

No travel curbs overSARS-like disease: WHONEW DELHI: The World

Health Organization said the situ-ation arising out of the spread ofSARS-like Middle EastCoronavirus in many countries isserious but does not constitute apublic health emergency and doesnot recommendedany travel or traderestriction yet.

Middle EastRespiratory Syn-drome Coronavirus(MERS-CoV) cancause fever, cough-ing and pneumo-nia. It is related toSevere Acute Res-piratory Syndrome(SARS) and itssymptoms are alsosimilar to H1N1 or swine flu andhas already killed 45 personsacross the world.

"WHO does not advise specialscreening at points of entry withregard to this event nor does itcurrently recommend the applica-tion of any travel or trade restric-tions," a WHO statement said.

"It is the unanimous decisionof the Committee that, with the in-

formation now available, and us-ing a risk-assessment approach,the conditions for a public healthemergency of international con-cern have not at present beenmet," WHO said after a meetingof its International Health Regu-

lation Emer-gency Commit-tee.

India has,however, sentan advisory toall states on thespread of theMERS virus,saying it hasbecome a glo-bal threat andpatients withtravel history to

the Middle East, China and Tai-wan, who show signs of respira-tory discomfort, should be re-ported and kept under surveil-lance.

The Director General HealthServices has asked its airporthealth officials to screen all in-bound passengers with flue- likesymptoms for H1N1 and MERS.-PTI

India has, however,sent an advisory toall states on thespread of the MERSvirus, saying it hasbecome a globalthreat

India Post 35Health Science Postwww.indiapost.com

July 26, 2013

India gets yellow fever vaccineafter severe shortage

NEW DELHI: In a major relief for thosetraveling to African nations, governmenthas received a consignment of 60,000 yel-low fever vaccine doses through WHOwhich will be distributed across thecountry.

There has been acute shortage of thevaccine in the country and users are find-ing it difficult to get the vaccine ever sincethe Kasauli-based Central Research Insti-tute stopped its manufacture.

The yellow fever vaccine is compulsoryfor all those traveling to African nations,after the World Health Organization held aconsultation on yellow fever saying thethreat of introduction of Yellow Fever intoAsia was very real in the age of faster airtravel.

"There was a shortage of yellow fever

vaccine as WHO was not supplying it lead-ing to problems for users. We have pro-cured 60,000 vaccines and the same arebeing distributed to 27 vaccination centersacross the country for use," Director Gen-eral of Health Service Jagdish Prasad toldPTI.

The Health Ministry has already placedan order of 2.75 lakh doses of the vaccinefrom the WHO which are likely to be re-ceived soon and would be sufficient for twoyears.

The yellow fever vaccine is available at27 government vaccination centers free ofcost and is also available in the open mar-ket. However, due to shortage of the vac-cine, it is being sold in the black-market byprivate retailers, leading to problems forthose traveling to African nations. -PTI

India Ventures to float Rs1,000-cr healthcare fund

KOLKATA: Ajay Piramal Group pro-moted India Venture Advisors, a healthcarefocused venture capital, is planning tolaunch a Rs 1,000 crore fund.

"We are looking at Rs 1,000 crore fund,of which Rs 500 crore will be from overseasinvestors to invest in the Indian health-caremarket," India Ventures Advisors PresidentSanjay K Randhar said.

He said the existing Rs 400 crore hasbeen completely invested or committed anda new fund will be unveiled.

"We will be the sponsors of the fund,but we cannot disclose how much we willput in the fund," Randhar said during his

brief visit at a CII organized health-caresummit here.

The company has focused on some earlystage hospitals with strong local presencemainly in south and western India.

He said that Tier-II and Tier-III cities willdrive the next phase of growth in healthcarein India.

This is a market that had huge potentialfor expansion in quality healthcare, he said.

With the Reserve Bank having classi-fied the health-care industry as part of theinfrastructure sector, long-term loans of aterm period of 12 years are now availablefor the sector, Randhar said. -PTI

The federal law also sets up a mecha-nism requiring insurance plans that offerabortion coverage to charge beneficiariesseparately, and those funds would have tobe kept in a separate account from taxpayermoney like government subsidies that helppeople buy health insurance. That wasn'tsatisfactory for North Carolina Republicanswho have written the state abortion legis-lation.

``Under the Affordable Care Act, directfunding for abortions is prohibited. How-ever, through these segregated funds thatcan be used in the plans, you have taxpayerfunds that are indirectly going to be fund-ing abortions unless the state opts out ofthat,'' said Rep. Jacqueline Schaffer, R-

Mecklenburg.Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North

Carolina controlled more than 80 percentof the individual insurance market, the U.S.Health and Human Services Departmentsaid last year. Blue Cross does not coverabortion, pregnancy or delivery in its stan-dard plans, company spokesman LewBorman said. Those procedures can becovered by purchasing an additional ma-ternity rider, he said.

Based on company filings with the state,some of the seven Blue Cross individualand group policies submitted to the N.C.Insurance Department for potential listingon the exchange included abortion cover-age. The state reviews policies to make sure

they comply with laws and regulations thatgovern what's marketed in North Carolina,then they're reviewed by the federal mar-ketplace operators to make sure they meetfurther standards.

Two smaller insurers also have submit-ted individual policies to the Insurance De-partment for potential inclusion in the ex-change. Coventry Health Care of the Caro-linas Inc. filed two policies for individualsthat do not cover elective abortions, saidAetna spokesman Walt Cherniak. Aetna ac-quired Coventry in May.

FirstCarolinaCare Insurance Co. filed onepolicy for individuals that specifically ex-cludes abortion and one that makes no men-tion of the term, according to company fil-ings. Company representatives did not re-spond to requests for comment about the

policies.A final list of available poli-

cies is expected to be publishedby the time open enrollmentstarts Oct. 1.

In the abortion legislationpending in the General Assem-bly, other elements would directstate health regulators tochange abortion clinic rules sothey're similar to those for am-

bulatory surgery centers. Any medical pro-fessional could refuse to participate in anabortion based on conscience, a right thatnow applies to doctors and nurses.

County and local governments would beprohibited from covering abortions beyondthe exceptions for rape, incest or preserva-tion of a mother's life. Insurance policiesfor state employees and teachers alreadyhave those limits. The federal governmentalso excludes insurance coverage for abor-tions except in the same circumstances.

By the end of June, 22 states had movedto restrict abortion coverage availablethrough the marketplaces, according to theGuttmacher Institute, which tracks restric-tions on abortion rights.-AP

NC weighs abortion ban forsome insurance policies

In the abortion legislation pendingin the General Assembly, otherelements would direct state healthregulators to change abortion clinicrules so they're similar to those forambulatory surgery centers.

Cont'd from Page 32

Planned Parenthood: Wilmingtonoffice to stay open

WILMINGTON, N.C.: Planned Parent-hood Health System says it won't close itsWilmington office even if the North Caro-lina General Assembly approves new restric-tions on abortion clinics.

The StarNews of Wilmington reportsthat spokeswoman Melissa Reed said theWilmington clinic does not meet the stan-dards of a freestanding surgical center butwould raise the funds to do so if that's man-dated.

Planned Parenthood operates four clin-ics in North Carolina that offer abortionservices

There are two bills under consideration,and Gov. Pat McCrory said that if it reacheshis desk he would veto the more restrictiveone that would require abortion clinics meetthe same standards as surgical centers andrequire a doctor be present for all doses ofabortion drugs. The Senate has yet to acton the measure. -AP

July 26, 201336 India Post

www.indiapost.comDatebook

NORTHERN CALIFORNIAUpcoming

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAUpcoming

Thu,Sat, July 25 to 27• Ohlone College SummerFest Theatre DepartmentProductionVenue: Smith Center At Ohlone CollegeNummi Theatre 43600 Mission Boule-vard, FremontTime: 8:00 pmContact: (510) 659-6031

Sun, July 28• Shri Krishna MadhuramVenue: Chabot College Performing ArtsCenter in Hayward CATime: 4:30 pmContact: 510.545.6037

Sun, July 28• Ohlone CollegeSummerFest TheatreDepartmentProductionVenue: Smith Center At Ohlone CollegeNummi Theatre 43600 Mission Boule-vard, FremontTime: 2:00 pmContact: (510) 659-6031

Sat, Aug 3• Jaane Kahan Gaye Won DinVenue: Royal Delhi Palace, 22323 ShermanWay, Canoga Park, CA 91303Time: 6:30 to 8:00 pmContact: 805-404-9836

Sat, Aug 17• 21st Festival of India andParadeVenue: Corner of Paseo Padre and WalnutAve., 39439 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont,CA 94538Time: 10:00 amContact: 510-565-9993

ATLANTAUpcoming

Wed, Aug 7• DJ Shaan's Chand RaatEid MelaVenue: Atlanta Event Hall, 3750 VentureDr, Duluth, GA 30096Time: 6:00pmContact: 404-993-2060

Sat, Aug 10• Pankaj Udhas Live In AtlantaVenue: Atlanta Event Hall, 3750 VentureDr, Duluth, GA 30096Time: 8:30pmContact: 404-934-9991

Sat, Aug 24• Festival Of India 2013Venue: Gwinnett Center, 6400 SugarloafPkwy, Duluth, GA 30097Time: 8:00 pmContact: 404-317-5474

Fri, Age 2• “Cbazaar Style Bash –Clothing Exhibition”Venue: Holiday Inn Express, 5925 Lusk Blvd,San Diego, CA 92121Time: 10:00amContact: 314-258-3117

Fri, Age 2• The Moment of Calm - GlobalForgiveness MomentVenue: Place of work or residence , 100 SouthMain Street, Carson, CA 90745Time: 2:00 pm

Sun, June 24-August 8• Ohlone for Kids (and Teens)Summer Enrichment ProgramVenue: Office of College AdvancementOhlone CollegeContact: 510-742-2304

• J K Yog Satsang and BalMukund Hindi Classes are heldevery 2nd and 4rth Sunday ofMonthChicago Satsang Information:J K Yog, Chicago - Swami MukundanandaVenue: Clarion Inn/Waterford Banquets,Board Room, 933 South RiversideDrive, Elmhurst, IL 60126Time: 3:30pm-5:30pmContact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok@ 630-561-4807Website: www.jkyog.org

1st and 3rd Sunday of Month• Chicago Children'sBal MukundCharacter Building Programand Hindi Literacy ClassesVenue: Vogelei Center, 650 W. HigginsRoad, Hoffmann Estates, IL 60192 (Nextto Nissan Dealership)Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @630-561-4807Website: www.jkyog.org/bal-mukund

Sat, Aug 3• Sathwaro Shri RadheShyamnoVenue: Coppernicus Center (GatewayTheatre), 5216 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago,IL 60630Time: 8:00 pmContact: 708-408-2488

Fri, Aug 9• FIA independance day GalaBanquet DinnerVenue: India House Banquet, 1521 WSchaumburg Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60193Time: 7:00pmContact: 630-251-5843

ILLINOISUpcoming

NEW JERSEYUpcoming

NEW YORKUpcoming

Fri, July 26• Personal With The LastEmpress SrideviVenue: The Metropolitan, 3 Pratt Blvd,Glen Cove, NY 11542Time: 8:00 pmContact: 516-439-8989

Sat, July 27• Indian Speed Dating - Meet 15Desi Dates In One NightVenue: K lounge, 30 W 52nd St, New York,NY 10019Time: 6:00 pmContact: 646-543-8127

Sat, Aug 3• NKC Eid ExhibitionVenue: Holiday Inn Westbury, 369 Old Coun-try Rd, Carle Place, NY 11514Time: 12:00 pmContact: 631-456-7335

Sun, July 28• Indian Clothing & JewelryExhibitionVenue: Palace of Asia, 2389 Route 70 West(located at America Inn), Cherry Hill,NJ 08002Time: 12:00 pmContact: 570-606-3384

Sun, Aug 4• Chand Raat Eid FestivalVenue: The Rose Garden, 911 Arena Dr,Hamilton Township, NJ 08610Time: 4:00 amContact: 6098884141

Sun , Aug 4• Satinder Sartaaj Live in NYVenue: Colden Center , 65-30 Kissena Blvd,, NJ 11367Time: 7:00 pmContact: 516-852-2222

AIRWING TRAVELS INC.New York(Hicksville)

New Jersey(Iselin)Est. 1991

Tel: (516) 931 4600 Toll Free: (866) 532 3413 Tel: (732) 658 5450

Lowest Fares / Confirmed Seats to INDIA &Other Destinations Worldwide

Save upto 40% on First and Business ClassOPEN 7 DAYS - CCall or Email : [email protected]

10635 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132

Tel: (314) 423-9990 or (800) 55 SEEMA Fax: (314) 423-0391

SEEMA WORLD TRAVEL, INC.One of the Oldest Travel Agencies in St. Louis

Competitive Rates & Confirmed Seats

for All Major Airlines

www.indiapost .com

N E W Son your desktop

India Post 37July 26, 2013www.indiapost.com

Tel: 773-728-9071 773-315-8597

SPECIAL LOW FARES TO BOMBAY, DELHI, MADRAS,CALCUTTA, DHAKA, KARACHI, LAHORE etc.

CONSOLIDATORS (INTL. & DOMESTIC)

SKY WORLD TRAVEL 1-888-695-0005

E-mail us at: [email protected]

FOR ALL YOUR

TRAVEL NEEDS

Sita Ram Patel

INTERNATIONAL DOMESTIC

@ 847-568-0535

AIR INDIA AND ALLOTHER MAJOR

AIRLINES.PACKAGE DEALTAJ TOUR-SOTC

CALL:

2600 W. Peterson Ave.,Suite 105 Chicago IL 60659

Experienced TravelConsultants

Pasport and Visa Servicesavailable

* Confirmed seats(Even in High season)

* Low Airfares* Courteous Service

Call and Contact

MATCHLESSEXPRESS TOURS

Tel. (773) 338 62602240-42 West Devon

Chicago IL 60659

Ph# 773-338-4080

Fax# 773-338-4088

India Post38www.indiapost.com

July 26, 2013

India Post40 www.indiapost.com July 26, 2013

Gulmarg means "the meadow of flowers" and the place is indeed a picturesque location. Known for its unparalleled beauty, Gulmarg's virgin forests are a welcoming sight for tourists. The lush green slopes, theirsilence broken by the occasional tinkling of cowbells, have been the

locale for several films. The rich verdure with the snow-capped tips provides anideal ambience for the skiing and winter sports.

Located in the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, Gulmarg is in theBaramulla district, 57 km southwest from the capital city of Srinagar. It is perched atan altitude of 2730 meters above sea level and is not very far from the Indo-Pakistanborder. It has a gently sloping topography generally identified with European ski-ing of the 1940s and 1950s.ADVENTURE SPORTS:

For the adventure seekers Gulmarg is the ultimate destination for skiing. You mayeasily hire the skis and sticks, snow boots, woolen socks, mufflers, windproofjackets, goggles, and caps. With all the equipment and the Ski instructors at hand itis the best bet to enjoy the holidays at Gulmarg. The skiing season at Gulmarg isfrom November to February. The slopes in Gulmarg varying between 8,700 and10,500 feet make the ski runs the highest in India. It is noteworthy that Gulmarg isthe only heli-skiing resort in Asia. Even the amateurs can enjoy with the ski lifts andthe chair lifts. Cont’d on page 42

India PostJuly 26, 2013 41Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Oberoi Udaivilas voted best resort in AsiaNEW DELHI: Oberoi Udaivilas,

Udaipur has been voted the bestresort in Asia for the third con-secutive year by the New Yorkbased Travel + Leisure magazinebased on a reader's poll.

Commenting on the develop-ment, the Oberoi Group ExecutiveChairman P R S Oberoi said: "It isindeed a moment of pride for usthat The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipurhas been voted the best resort inAsia for the third consecutiveyear."

This is a significant landmarkfor Indian tourism that will makeIndia a preferred destination

amongst international travelers, headded.

In addition to Oberoi Udaivilas,Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur and OberoiAmarvilas, Agra have also beenranked amongst the top ten re-sorts, as per the magazine.

Earlier, Oberoi Hotels & Resortswas voted the world's best hotelbrand by Travel + Leisure maga-zine.

Travel + Leisure offers informa-tion about the destinations aroundthe globe with a mix of advice,photography, reporting, and cov-erage of hotels, food, design, style,culture, and trends. -PTI

Tourism meet focuses onsecurity of foreign visitors

NEW DELHI: Security of for-eign visitors and improving facili-ties to boost India's image as a tour-ist-friendly country were the mainfocus of the tourism ministers' con-ference held here.

In the wake of the country get-ting negative publicity over inci-dents of crime against foreign tour-ists, it was decided in the confer-ence that all states and union ter-ritories will have tourism police.

Those which do not have it willset up the force by taking officialson deputation from police and en-gaging ex-servicemen and homeguards.

The conference, which was at-tended by 23 tourism ministers andhigh-ranking officials from 12states and UTs, also passed a reso-lution aimed at making the coun-try safer for tourists, especiallywomen.

"In case of assault on any tour-ist, states will ensure immediatepost-traumatic help to the victim,respecting their privacy," the reso-lution said.

The ministers also decided toestablish proper toilet facilitiesalong roads leading to importantdestinations, utilizing the existinginfrastructure like petrol pumps,dhabas and panchayat bhawans.

State tourism departments

would rope in local bodies forcleanliness measures and takesteps to make tourism destinationsbeggar free.

Terming the meet, as "historic",Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevisaid, "We met to evolve strategies.I never expected such a response."The ministry had said it will encour-age people involved in the tourismsector to wear badges with the slo-gan 'I respect women'.-PTI

"In case of assault on any tourist, states willensure immediate post-traumatic help tothe victim, respecting their privacy”

India Post July 26, 201342 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Gulmarg: Ideal for skiing and winter sportsGulmarg also boasts of a gor-

geous green golf course that hap-pens to be the world's highest too.You may even hire the golf setsfrom Gulmarg. The Golf Club of-

fers short-term memberships to theplayers.

Gulmarg also offers some excel-lent opportunities for long walks.In case you take up the outer circlewalk you can enjoy the pine for-ests and wonderful vistas. Thebeauty of the Kashmir valley will

not fail to mesmerize you. Thenthere are the Nanga Parbat and theHaramukh that you may explore.

Past: The British discovered thehill resort of Gulmarg in 1927 dur-ing their colonial rule in India.TOURIST ATTRACTIONS:

From Gulmarg, a pony trackleads upwards to Khilanmarg,Kongdori and Seven Springs. Ittakes a couple of hours by pony,and slightly longer on foot.Khilanmarg offers an unparalleledview of the great Himalayan range.From here, across the Apharwat -

the peak that looks up from thispoint - is Alpather Lake, a pictur-esque alpine lake that remains fro-zen until late June.

It is located at a distance ofabout 13 km from Gulmarg. Forhorse riding freaks, Alpather Lakemakes an exciting day's excursion,and one has to start early morningand return by late evening. Slightlylower than Gulmarg is the shrineof Baba Reshi (a Muslim mysticsaint), which is visited by peopleof all faiths.

Best time to visit: Throughoutthe year (November-February forskiing). The hill resort of Gulmargis a gorgeous place to be atthroughout the year. There are win-ter months from November to Feb-ruary that are ideal for skiing.

The adventurers are known tothrong the hill resort as soon asthe snow falls. As it is, the summermonths from May to Septemberoffer pleasant weather to the tour-ists. The sun scorched souls fromthe plains flock to the hill resort asa summer retreat.How to reach

Air - The nearest airport is inSrinagar. This airport is connectedwith major cities of the country. Thenearest railhead is at Jammu.


India PostJuly 26, 2013 43Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

Publicly Acclaimed Top Vegetarian Restaurant Serving

If You are looking For the BEST & the MOST AUTHENTIC VEGETARIANRESTAURANT IN TOWNCome to One and Only One Place

CATERING IS OUR SPECIALITY

TASTE OUR 30 PLUSE MOUTH WATERING DISHES ONCE YOU COMETO US YOU WILL NOT ELSEWHERE THAT IS OUR GUARANTEE

NORTH INDIAN • SOUTH INDIAN • GUJARATI • JAIN DISHES

Tel:(773) 274-58002508 W. Devon Ave.Chicago, IL 60659

E-mail: [email protected] www.aryabhavan.comFax: (773) 262-4465

Goa seeks visa-on-arrivalfor Russian tourists

Uttarakhand seeks 3,560 crpackage for tourism infra

Virginia artist moves dinosaursin hopes of new park

Mark Cline likes to point-out what he has in com-mon with the dinosaurs

he so often sculpts: Just as thegiant reptiles did throughout their150-million-year reign, Cline has tokeep evolving.

In 2001, his Enchanted CastleStudios in Natural Bridge burstinto flames. In April of last year,his Professor Cline's HauntedMonster Museum located in thesame community caught fire.That's not to mention the ever-changing demands for tourist at-tractions, which the Waynesboro-born artist both creates and sup-ports through his sculptures.

`Ì look at these fires as ways ofreinventing myself,'' Cline says.`Ì've constantly had to relook athow I was going to survive.''

Cline's most recent attempt at`èvolution'' was transporting a fewof the creatures at his DinosaurKingdom, located in the woodsdirectly in front of the monstermuseum, to Grottoes. DinosaurKingdom shut down along withthe museum - the `ànchor attrac-tion,'' he said - after the fire. Whiletrying to figure out the best wayto reopen his attractions, the Natu-

ral Bridge park itself, highlightedby the rock formation that givesthe site its name, went up for sale.

``We decided it wasn't going tobe a good investment (to reopenthere),'' Cline said.

He started looking for a newlocation for his huge dinosaur rep-licas. Enter Grottoes, a town withits own naturally formed tourist

attraction -Grand Caverns.Earlier this month, the prehis-

toric creatures started to take overthe woods near Grand CavernsPark. That's when Cline's teamplaced three dinosaurs in thetown. And he arranged for twomore - a mother triceratops and her

baby.Cline is using the next several

months to test out his creations inGrottoes and see how visitors andlocals alike react to them.

He'll likely leave the sculpturesup until the end of October, atleast. He plans to approach Grot-toes Town Council - as he did inthe winter when he was grantedpermission for the test-run - to seekapproval for a permanent, paidtourist attraction. He hasn't deter-mined what the name of the sitewould be, but it would likely in-clude at least 20 dinosaurs.

`Ìf that works out, we're look-ing at possibly bringing severalmore dinosaurs there and arrang-ing them very similar to how wehad it at Dinosaur Kingdom,'' hesaid. ̀ Ì think this could be a goodattempt to try to stay ahead of thetourism game.''

Dinosaur Kingdom married di-nosaur replicas with Civil War sol-dier creations, a combination thatproved successful, Cline says. Itwas featured on several networks,including the Discovery Channeland BBC.

`Ìt was a winning formula,'' hesaid.-AP

DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhandgovernment has demanded Rs3,559.81 crore for the re-construc-tion of tourism infrastructural fa-cilities damaged in massive floodshere.

State Tourism Minister, AmritaRawat put forward this request be-fore CentralT o u r i s mMinistry ata tourismminis te rs 'conferenceheld in NewDelhi, ac-cording toan officialstatement.

The cen-tral govern-ment shoulddeclare a fi-n a n c i a lpackage ofRs 258.74crore undera short-termplan, Rs 322.07 crore under mid-term plan and Rs 2,981 crore underlong-term plan for the state, shesaid.

She also requested for an ex-pert team to be sent to inspect the

damage done to the tourism infra-structure and property here due tothe natural disaster.

Eight towns are completely safedespite the calamity and tourisminfrastructure in popular touristspots including Mussoorie,Nainital, Haridwar and Rishikesh

are intact, she said.Amrita also requested all the

tourism ministers to inform thetourists planning to come toUttarakhand about the presentsituation.-PTI

PANAJI: The Goa tourism min-istry has pitched for a visa-on-ar-rival facility to be extended to tour-ists from five more nations includ-ing Russia, to attract maximumfootfall during the peak tourist sea-

son.Goa tourism minister Dilip

Parulekar, who is back from Delhiafter attending a meeting of statetourism ministers told reportersthat the demand has been placed

before Union Tourism MinisterChiranjeevi to extend the visa-on-arrival facility for tourists fromRussia, Germany, France andNetherlands.

Russia is the leading market for

Goa's tourism industry from wheremore than a lakh tourists arriveannually, second only to arrivalsfrom the United Kingdom.

"I have requested Union Min-ister for Tourism Chiranjeevi to in-

clude more countries like Russia,Germany, France and Netherlandsin the list of countries whose citi-zens can be granted visa-on-arrivalfacility," Parulekar told reportershere.

Citizens from 30 different coun-tries already enjoy visa-on-arrivalfacility at half a dozen airports inthe country including Dabolim inGoa.

The minister said that havingmore countries on the list for visa-on-arrival facility would help in-crease foreign tourist arrivals toIndia, since tourist destinationslike Sri Lanka and South East Asiaoffer such a facility.

Parulekar said that the tourismindustry in Goa is thankful to theCentre for allowing collective land-ing permits which enables a groupof more than four tourists to landin Goa and get visas at the airport.

The concession is permittedwith the rider that the travel agentwho brings the group should notallow any of them to stray aroundand everyone should be together,following same travel itinerary. -PTI

Cline's most recentattempt at ̀ èvolu-tion'' was transportinga few of the crea-tures at his DinosaurKingdom, located inthe woods directly infront of the monstermuseum, to Grottoes

44 India Post July 26, 2013www.indiapost.com

In Brief ImmigrationDetails on page 46

How to qualifyas person of

extraordinaryability -II

Immigration backers planpush for reform

WASHINGTON: Backers ofcomprehensive immigration legis-lation are gearing up for a cam-paign to push the House to act,even as some begin openly voic-ing fears they're already losing thefight.

Congress' month long Augustrecess could be crucial and sup-porters aim to exert influence indozens of congressional districtshome to Republican House mem-bers seen as open to reform.

Business and religious groupsand others with ties to the GOPmajority are under pressure to winover lawmakers through tailor-made campaigns from within theirdistricts, involving ministers, lo-cal executives and other contacts.Immigration activists, labor lead-ers and others on the left are mak-ing plans for larger-scale mobili-zations such as rallies andmarches to exert pressure fromwithout.

``Here's the fact: We're not win-ning, so we've got to wage a cam-paign,'' said Sen. John McCain, R-

Ariz., a lead author of the Senate-passed immigration bill. ̀ `There aremany members of the House thatdon't want to take up any bill atall, as you know. What our job is,

we want to convince them to atleast pass legislation, so that wecan go to conference and worktogether.''

The scenario supporters hope

to avoid is what happened toPresident Barack Obama's healthcare bill in the summer of 2009,when it was savaged by irate vot-ers at unruly town hall meetings,

taking a beating it never really re-covered from.

`Àugust is a month in whicheither legislative proposals die, orthey survive,'' said Sen. Robert

Menendez, D-N.J. He said thosewho favor immigration legislationmust be heard in August. ̀ Ànd ifwe do that, we'll be well positionedfor the fall in the House. If wedon't, then we run a risk.''

Immigration legislation, a toppriority for Obama, has been inlimbo since the Senate last monthpassed a sweeping bill with provi-sions aimed at securing the bor-der, requiring employers to verifytheir workers' legal status, allow-ing many more workers into thecountry legally, and offering even-tual citizenship to the 11 millionimmigrants already in the countryillegally.

Many members of the House'sRepublican majority oppose citi-zenship for people who crossedthe border illegally or overstayedtheir visas, and House SpeakerJohn Boehner, R-Ohio, has ruledout taking up the Senate bill in theHouse. Instead, he's declared thatthe House will move in a piece-meal fashion, beginning with bor-der security.

Janet Napolitano

Napolitano approved as Calif. university presidentN FRANCISCO: The Univer-

sity of California's governingboard voted to appoint Home-land Security Secretary JanetNapolitano as the first femalepresident of the 10-campus sys-tem despite objections to herrecord on immigration.

Napolitano said her leadershipexperience as a cabinet secretaryand governor of Arizona hadprepared her for leading the uni-versity system with 240,000 stu-dents.

``Let me acknowledge that Iam not a traditional candidate forthis position,'' the 55-year-oldNapolitano told the regents. `Ìhave not spent a career inacademia. But that said, I havespent 20 years in public serviceadvocating for it.''

Student regent Cinthia Floreswas the only board member tocast a vote against Napolitano,

echoing heated remarks from pro-testers inside and outside the meet-ing concerned about deportationsand other elements ofNapolitano's policies as head ofhomeland security.

`Ì grew up in an immigranthousehold, in an immigrant com-munity,'' Flores told the regents.

`Ì can tell you the fear is real.''Napolitano defended her track

record on immigration, saying shehas been an advocate for the fed-eral DREAM Act and immigrationreform.

She is expected to start the newjob in late September and will makea base salary of $570,000, about

$20,000 less than her predeces-sor. Chairman of the board ofregents Bruce Varner saidNapolitano was offered the samecompensation as Mark Yudof,but her representatives said shewould take the lower salary.Napolitano did not directly ad-dress why she decided to takeless pay.

`Àll I will say is I've been inpublic service for 20 years, andyou do these jobs because ofyour passion for the work,''Napolitano said.

She will also get a one-timerelocation fee of $142,500, an an-nual auto allowance of $8,916,and $28,500 annually in specialsenior management benefits plusa standard retirement plan thatwould be vested after five years.

Her base salary as homelandsecurity secretary is $199,700.

John McCain

Cont'd on Page 46

Cont'd on Page 46

Biden: Immigrationoverhaul is aboutpublic safety

WASHINGTON: Vice PresidentJoe Biden is making a case foroverhauling the nation's immigra-tion laws.

Biden is rallying support fromlaw enforcement officials and ar-guing that a sweeping new lawwould help public safety.

The Senate immigration legis-lation would boost border secu-rity and provide a path to citizen-ship for immigrants who are in theUnited States illegally. Biden saysmaking it law would bring thoseimmigrants ̀ òut of the shadows.''

He says border crossings havedeclined sharply but that secu-rity measures in the bill wouldhelp cut down human and drugtrafficking as well.

He says the bill would help lawenforcement by requiring immi-grants without documents to reg-ister, submit to fingerprinting,and pass criminal backgroundchecks.

Biden spoke after a meetingwith law enforcement officials. -AP

Aus audit revealslarge-scale fraudof visa system

MELBOURNE: Thousands ofIndian students and skilled work-ers on 457 foreign worker visascheme entered Australia ondodgy travel and work docu-ments from 2008-10, according toa report.

The immigration department'sinternal audits show fraud ratestouching 50 per cent and revealthat it has struggled to properlyidentify people who were enter-ing the country, the AustralianBroadcasting Corporation (ABC)said.

"Identity fraud is a significantrisk in the Indian caseload givenhow easily genuine documentswith fraudulent details can be ob-tained," according to one of thedocuments obtained by the ABC.

The large scale prevalence ofidentity theft because of low levelof technology in Indian pass-ports led to a significant level offraud during 2008, 2009 and 2010but has been brought under con-trol since then, according to thedocuments.

Reacting to the report, Immi-gration Department spokesper-son Sandi Logan admitted thefigures from 2008-09 financial yearwere troubling.

"Around the periods of 2008,2009, 2010, the fraud levels werequite considerable, a matter ofreal concern to the Departmentof Immigration and Citizenship,"he said. -PTI

India Post 45July 26, 2013 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Outsourcers must be receptiveto changes: TCS

MUMBAI: With the new USimmigration bill posing long-termcost implications for the IT play-ers, the country's largest softwareexporter TCS has said companiesneed to be receptive to the situa-tions in any market.

"....there is an unemploymentissue. Job growth is a major issuebeing faced by many nations. Soyou are seeing regulatory changesor discussions, dialogues aboutregulatory changes...," companyMD & CEO N Chandrasekaran toldreporters at the earnings an-nouncement.

"It is happening not just in theUS. In Canada, there is a discus-sion, in Australia there is also adiscussion. So, we just have to bereceptive of those situations andengage in the whole process andthen see what changes we needto make to our business model as

and when it is required," he said.The US immigration bill pro-

poses several changes includinghigher visa costs and increase inwages for H-1B visa holders. It willhurt the over USD 100 billion IT-ITES industry in the country anddomestic software firms like TCSand Infosys as their cost of op-erations could go up.

In June, the Senate approvedthe most far-reaching reforms toU.S. immigration policy in 50 years.

Chandrasekaran said TCS is"extremely engaged" in all thecountries it is present in. "We willdo anything that we need to do inorder that we have a very effec-tive and agile business model," hesaid.

Asked if clients had ex-pressed concerns around theseproposals that could impact costand the model of delivery of ser-

vices for Indian outsourcers,Chandrasekaran answered in thenegative.

"There is no impact on clientspend (because of the regulatorychanges). They today understandthe environment and are workingwith that...There is no finality...Sowe all have to wait to see how it(Immigration Bill) will proceed andtake actions appropriately," hesaid.

Australia recently tightened itswork visa program with changesto the 457 visa program (for skilledimmigrants) that requires compa-nies to prove that they have con-sidered local hires and advertisedin newspapers before sponsoringworkers from outside of Australia.

Similarly, Canada is also takingsteps to ensure that only genuineskill shortages are being filled bytemporary overseas labor. -PTI

How to qualify as person of extraordinary ability -IICYRUS D. MEHTA

Continued from last week

Unfortunately, postKazarian decisions seemto be affirming the two-

part test and final merits determi-nation analysis notwithstandingthe holding in a prior decision,Buletini v. INS, 860 F.Supp. 1222(E.D. Mich 1994), which held,"[o]nce it is established that thealien's evidence is sufficient to meetthree of the criteria listed in 8 C.F.R.§ 204.5(h)(3), the alien must bedeemed to have extraordinary abil-ity unless the INS sets forth spe-cific and substantiated reasons for

its finding that the alien does notmeet extraordinary ability." Id. at1234.

Under the burden shifting ap-proach in Buletini, the petitionershould be deemed qualified, andthe burden then shifts onto theService to reject the evidence thatmeet the criteria, if suppose, it findsthat the evidence was fraudulentor too dated and stale. In fact, sucha burden shifting approach is notunknown in other aspects of immi-gration law.

As my colleague DavidIsaacson has pointed out, in theasylum context, an applicant whodemonstrates that he or she hassuffered past persecution on ac-count of a protected ground is re-buttably presumed to have a rea-sonable fear of future persecutionon that same ground. 8 C.F.R. §§208.13(b) (1), 1208.13(b) (1).

In such cases, by regulation,"the Service shall bear the burdenof establishing by a preponderanceof the evidence" that a change incircumstances, or the reasonablepossibility of relocating within the

country of persecution, should leadto a denial of asylum. 8 C.F.R. §§208.13(b) (1) (ii), 1208.13(b) (1).

Rijal v. USCIS, 772 F. Supp. 2d1339 (W.D. Wash. 2011), aff'd Rijalv. USCIS, 683 F.3d 1030 (9th Cir.2012) is a decision that explicitlyfollows the Policy Memorandum,and ignores the burden shiftingapproach as set forth in Buletini.Although the petitioner in Rijal, aNepali documentary film maker,submitted a UNICEF prize, theUSCIS concluded that it did not

meet the evidentiary criterion of"lesser nationally or internationallyrecognized prizes or awards of ex-cellence" as it was awarded morethan 4 years ago and did not pro-vide evidence of the alien's sus-tained acclaim.

While the court criticized theUSICS for failing to consider thisevidence under 8 CFR §204.5(h) (3)(I) and for similar errors under otherevidentiary criteria, it neverthelessheld that the petitioner did not suf-fer prejudice from these errors as"it made those errors with an eyetoward the ultimate merits determi-nation."

Rijal at 1347. Based on a holisticdetermination of the petitioner'sevidence, the court held that theUSCIS appropriately found that thepetitioner did not demonstrate sus-tained national or international ac-claim. It is clear that the Ninth Cir-cuit in Rijal affirmed the two steptest set forth in the Policy Memo-randum even though the sugges-tion of a "final merits determina-tion" was mere dicta in Kazarian.

Noroozi and Assadi v.Napolitano - F. Supp. - (SDNYNov. 14, 2012), available on AILAInfoNet at Doc. No. 12111644(posted 11/16/12), is another re-cent decision from the SouthernDistrict of New York that hasagreed with the Kazarian two-stepanalysis. Petitioner Noroozi repre-sented Iran in table tennis at the2008 Olympics in Beijing. Al-though neither Noroozi nor the Ira-nian table tennis team won any

medal at the Olympics, the USICSinitially approved the EB-1 peti-tion, but then subsequently re-voked it. A second EB-1 petitionwas filed, which was denied on theground that Noorzi only met twoof the criteria, but not three.

The court agreed with theUSCIS that there was no evidenceto substantiate that he played a"leading or critical role" for histeam and nor did the "publishedmaterial" about him pass mustersince it focused more on the teamand only briefly mentionedNoroozi. Even though the failure

to meet the evidentiary criteriacould have ended the analysis, thecourt also discussed how Noroozidid not merit a favorable judgmentunder the second part "final mer-its determination."

Since Noroozi ranked 284th inthe world in table tennis, and fin-ished 65th place in table tennis inthe 2008 Olympics, the courtnoted that this would oblige theUSCIS to hypothetically grant EB-1 petitions to the 283 higherranked table tennis players, andalso to the 283 higher ranked play-ers in other sports, assuming theywere non-US citizens, as well asto the 64 table tennis players whooutperformed Noroozi in the 2008Olympics.

The court's "final merits deter-mination" in Noroozi is troublingas the EB-1 was never intendedonly for the number one player ina sporting field, and this decisionshould be contrasted with a pre-Kazarian decision involving an icehockey player in the NationalHockey League whose team wonthe Stanley Cup, but was not anall-stars or one of the highest paidplayers, but was still found to bequalified under EB-1. See Muni v.INS, 891 F. Supp. 440 (N.D. Ill 1995).

The "final merits determination"permits USCIS to set subjectivebaselines with respect to rankingsof players in sports even if theywould potentially qualify underthe ten evidentiary criteria asMuni did after he sought rever-sal of the denial of his EB-1 peti-tion in federal court. Interestingly,in Noroozi, the attorney also be-came a plaintiff along with the pe-titioner on the ground that theUSCIS denied the EB-1 petition

based on the petitioner's associa-tion with the attorney who hadbeen unfairly singled out in a DOScable. That strategy too failedsince the court rejected that therewas any bad faith on the part ofthe USCIS in denying Noroozi'sEB-1 petition.

Various unpublished AAO de-cisions [See e.g. AILA InfoNetDocument Nos. 12062752 and12062753] suggest that thegovernment's final merits deter-mination will consider evidencewhether or not the petitioner hasdemonstrated : 1) a "level of ex-

pertise indicating that the indi-vidual is one of the small percent-age who have risen to the verytop of the[ir] field of endeavor," 8CFR § 204.5(h)(2); and 2) "that thealien has sustained national or in-ternational acclaim and that hisor her achievements have beenrecognized in the field of exper-tise." § INA 203(b)(1)(A); 8 CFR§ 204.5(h)(3). See also Kazarian,596 F.3d at 1119-20.

While it makes sense to pre-serve the argument in the recordthat the final merits determinationis inapplicable and to propose theburden shifting approach underBuletini instead, it also behoovesa petitioner to argue that his orher client merits a favorable adju-dication under the "final meritsdetermination" analysis giventhat it has been blessed in post-Kazarian decisions.

The amorphous nature of thisstandard allows the petitioner'sattorney flexibility to make abroad argument just as it givesthe USCIS examiner the same flex-ibility to approve or not approvea case even after the petitionerhas submitted evidence under theevidentiary criteria.

For instance, if a petitioner hasmet 3 out of 10 evidentiary crite-ria, the agile practitioner may beable to argue that the petitionerhas demonstrated to be amongthe small percentage who hasrisen to the top of the field, sus-tained national or internationalacclaim, and recognition ofachievements, by highlightingonly the strongest evidencerather than evidence submittedunder all three criteria.

The court agreed with the USCIS that therewas no evidence to substantiate that heplayed a "leading or critical role" for his teamand nor did the "published material" abouthim pass muster since it focused more on theteam and only briefly mentioned Noroozi.

While it makes sense to preserve the argu-ment in the record that the final merits deter-mination is inapplicable and to propose theburden shifting approach under Buletini in-stead, it also behooves a petitioner to arguethat his or her client merits a favorable adju-dication under the "final merits determination"

Cont'd on Page 46

India Post46 July 26, 2013Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Although Boehner had hopedfor House action on immigrationbefore August, that goal is nolonger in sight. He reiterated thatthe House must address the issue.When and how remained unclear,although Boehner said he hopedto see the House pass somethingbefore Congress next confrontsraising the debt ceiling, which isexpected sometime this fall.

Authors of the Senate bill sum-moned dozens of business lobby-ists, officials with religious groupsand others to the Capitol earlierthis week to tell them they neededto work harder and coordinate bet-ter to win over House Republi-cans.

The senators distributed a listof 121 House Republicans seen aspersuadable, and instructed thosepresent to focus on tailoring indi-vidual campaigns for their con-gressional districts.

``We are going to have numer-ous business contacts - whether itbe a local restaurant that caresabout immigration or a high-tech ormanufacturing or financial businessin their district - contacting them interms of how important this is tothe future of jobs in each district,''said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The coalition that supports im-migration overhaul includes agri-

culture interests, businesses largeand small, Catholics andevangelicals, high-profile Repub-licans, labor groups and others. Bymost measures, it dwarfs thoseopposed to reform, including teaparty activists and lesser-knowngroups such as NumbersUSA, aswell as some leading Republicanvoices.

``We're up against a very shrillminority,'' said Charles Spies, aGOP fundraiser and co-founder ofthe group Republicans for Immi-gration Reform.

Yet thus far, supporters havenot translated their greater num-bers and bigger budgets into asuccessful campaign to shift opin-ion among House Republicans.

Some officials with outsidegroups say that until recently theirattention was focused on the Sen-ate, arguing that as they begin tomake inroads in congressional dis-tricts their efforts will show.

Joe Trauger, vice president ofhuman resources policy at theNational Association of Manufac-turers, said his group is makingplans for everything from planttours for members of Congress toshowing up at their town halls overAugust, all aimed at ̀ `making surethey understand there are folks outthere that do support moving for-ward on immigration reform andwant the House to proceed.'' -AP

Immigration backers planpush for reform

Cont'd from Page 44

Supporters lauded Napolitanoas a leader who has managed large,complex public agencies, and saidher political aptitude would helpthe financially embattled univer-sity system secure money from thestate and donors.

``I think we have in front of us aremarkable person of character,''said California Lt. Gov. GavinNewsom, who cast his vote for her.

Before the vote, dozens of pro-testers gathered outside the boardmeeting, waving signs and shout-ing speeches against Napolitano.

Six protesters were arrested in-side the building after one jumpedover a rope barrier and headed to-ward the regents, prompting moreshouts and chants of ``Educationnot deportation.'' UC officials saidthe six people were cited and re-leased.

Flores called on Napolitano toprioritize immigrant student issues,fund academic preparation pro-grams, and review the presiden-tial appointment process.

The announcement that

Napolitano had been nominatedfor the position caught many uni-versity and Washington insidersby surprise.

Napolitano was the unanimouschoice of a 10-member searchcommittee that considered more

than 300 people for the job.Napolitano, who attended the

private Santa Clara University inCalifornia as an undergraduate,has already announced her resig-nation from President BarackObama's cabinet.

In the week since she surfacedas the search committee's choice,some faculty members have com-

plained that she is more schooledin politics than higher education.

Several newspapers have takenissue with the secrecy surround-ing Napolitano's selection and theshort time frame between the an-nouncement and the vote.

Napolitano will succeed Yudof,68, who in 2008 became the firstpresident from outside Californiato lead the UC system in two de-cades. He had spent 11 years lead-ing the public universities in Min-nesota and Texas.

As UC president, Yudof wasone of the nation's most highlypaid college administrators, earn-ing an annual salary of $591,084 -almost triple what Napolitanomakes as Homeland Security sec-retary - plus car and housing al-lowances, retirement contribu-tions and other benefits thatbrought his annual compensationat more than $925,000.

Napolitano will take over at atime of improving but still seriousfinancial challenges for the univer-sity system, including rising costsfor employee salaries and retire-ment benefits.-AP

If the scholarly articles are veryimpressive, but the awards are notand the petitioner may havejudged the work of only one PhDstudent, then the focus could beon the impressive scholarly ar-ticles when qualifying him or herunder the final merits determina-tion.

Moreover, under the final mer-its determination, a petitioner maybe able to point to other evidencethat may not categorically fall un-der the 10 evidentiary criteria, suchas testimonials from eminent au-thorities in the field, as well aspetitioner's stellar academicbackground.

Of course, if the evidence sub-mitted under the evidentiary crite-ria is all qualitatively superior andextensive, then the practitionermust not rest on these laurels andtake pains to highlight this for the"final merits determination." Fi-nally, the practitioner must alwaysremind the USICS that the "finalmerits determination" is governedby the preponderance of evidencestandard, as suggested in thePolicy Memorandum too, whichrequires only 51% certainty.

It need not be this way as Con-gress probably did not intend forthe USCIS to create a subjective

Napolitano approved as Calif.university president

How to qualify as person of extraordinary ability -IIfinal merits determination, when itenacted the priority worker cat-egories under the Employment-based first preference in the Immi-gration Act of 1990. The startingpoint for examining the legislativehistory of the Immigration Act of1990 is the House Report. See H.R.Rep. No. 723, Pt. 1, 101st Cong.,2d Sess. 4 (Sept. 19, 1990). Withrespect to aliens of extraordinaryability, the House Report states:

In order to qualify for admis-sion in this category an alien must(1) demonstrate sustained na-tional or international acclaim inthe sciences, arts, education, busi-ness or athletics (as shownthrough extensive documenta-tion); (2) be coming to the UnitedStates to continue work in thatarea of expertise; and (3) by virtueof such work benefit the UnitedStates. Documentation may in-clude publications in respectedjournals, media accounts of thealien's contributions to his profes-sion, and statements of recogni-tion of exceptional expertise byqualified organizations. Recogni-tion can be through a one-timeachievement such as receipt of theNobel Prize.

An alien can also qualify on thebasis of a career of acclaimed workin the field. In the case of the arts,the distinguished nature of the

alien's career may be shown bycritical reviews, prizes or awardsreceived, box office standing orrecord sales. In short, admissionunder this category is to be re-served for that small percentageof individuals who have risen tothe very top of their field ofendeavor.H.R. Rep. No. 723 at 69.

There is nothing in this passagethat suggests that the USCISneeded to conduct a two-stepanalysis to determine extraordi-nary ability. On the contrary, theHouse Report broadly suggests anumber of possibilities underwhich an alien can establish ex-traordinary ability, such asthrough publications in respectedjournals, media accounts or state-ments of recognition of excep-tional expertise by qualified orga-nizations. Moreover, the HouseReport also indicates that "[a}n

alien can also qualify on the basisof a career of acclaimed work inthe field."

The implementing regulationsappropriately relied on the HouseReport in defining "extraordinaryability" to mean "a level of exper-tise indicating that the individualis one of the small percentage who

have risen to the very top of thefield of endeavor." See commentaryon implementing regulations at 56Fed. Reg. 60897 (Nov. 29, 1991).

The proposed regulationswould have used one of the "few(emphasis added) who has risen tothe very top of the field," but afterlistening to the objection of com-

mentators, the Service substitutedthe word "few" with "small percent-age" in deference to the same, al-beit broader, verbiage that was usedin the House Report.

By developing the ten eviden-tiary criteria at 8 C.F.R. §204.5(h) (3)(1)-(x), and recognizing that if analien met three out of the 10 crite-ria, the Service appropriately fol-lowed Congressional intent by al-lowing this alien to demonstrateextraordinary ability, which is "alevel of expertise indicating that theindividual is one of the small per-centage who have risen to the verytop of the field of endeavor."

(This article is partly based onDemystifying the Final MeritsAnalysis of Extraordinary Abilityby Cyrus Mehta, Roberto Cabal-lero and Rita Sostrin, ImmigrationPractice Pointers, AILA 2013-14Ed. The article contains generalinformation and should not be re-lied upon as a substitute for legaladvice.)

Cont'd from Page 44

Several newspapershave taken issue withthe secrecy sur-roundingNapolitano's selec-tion and the shorttime frame betweenthe announcementand the vote.

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

Cont'd from Page 45

Documentation may include publications inrespected journals, media accounts of thealien's contributions to his profession, andstatements of recognition of exceptionalexpertise by qualified organizations. Recog-nition can be through a one-time achieve-ment such as receipt of the Nobel Prize.


www.indiapost.com

Horoscope

Your Weekly FutureJULY 26TH - AUGUST 1ST, 2013

by Pandit Parashar

(March 21 to April 20)

You will buy some nice gifts for others. Business trip will be an-

instant success. You will be offered a nice and easy part time

consulting job. Confidence level will be on the peak and your advise

will help a needy friend. You will be slowly getting ready for an up-

coming big event and finalize travel plans also.

(November 23 to December 22)

You may receive a weak offer from a relatively new company. Mind

will stay relaxed and you will enjoy food of your choice this week.

You may also win a big favor from a government agency. Boss will

take your side and agree with your plan. Some of you will be slowly

getting ready for an upcoming presentation.

(December 22 to January 19)

If you are not careful, you could make big commitment and find

yourself under huge financial pressure. Things will keep improving

at work, its the money you have to be careful with. You will get to

meet an old friend after long interval this week. Do not disclose your

plans and strategy to any one at work.

(January 20 to February 18)

Have patience with partner whether its life or business as transit-

ing Mars in seventh is disturbing. Mind will be slight restless as

you will be looking for some easy solutions to problems. It will be

better to stick to earlier plan and wait for the right opportunity to

strike. Money will come and go fast.

(February 19 to March 20)

Planets will help those who are looking for change in career. If

appearing for any competitive exam, chances are you will come

out with flying colors. Advertising bills will be high and you may try to

downsize everything. Weak Mercury in first will cause some ner-

vousness in mind but you should stick to your guns.

(May 21 to June 20)

You will be fixing things in or around your home this week. You will

feel tired of Almost no progress or the stale life and take some

drastic actions. Results will be very favorable. You may seek help

from some one lot younger to finish your project. You may also finish

some important paper work and mail them out.

(July 23 to August 22)

Car could give some trouble and need little repairs. People in

business should keep an eye on employees this week. You will

be working extra hours without much financial gains. Some of you

will be travelling long distance to attend an important meeting. You

may become double minded about attending an upcoming social

event.

(September 23 to October 22)

Extra time spent at work will pay off. Boss will make necessary

recommendation. Money wise you will continue to stay in com-

fortable zone. A child will need your help with home work or studies.

People you try to get in touch may not return your call promptly. You

will be introduced to an interesting personality this week.

(April 21 to May 20)

Some issues involving a close family member will keep your mind

occupied and solution is no where in sight. You will have a chance

to make some money little unorthodox way. Sign all papers after

careful examination only. Boss will call you and have some serious

talks. You will slowly gain edge over your opponents.

(June 21 to July 22)

Things will get little tough at work and the news will not be encour-

aging. Money wise another expensive week and you may have to

use your reserves to meet fresh commitments. People in business

will experience slow down and you may think of even changing your

field. You may be in touch with a wise man for some advice.

(August 23 to September 22)

You should continue to be very careful when it comes to money

and avoid making any fresh commitments for some time. Run-

ning around will increase and you may have to do some amendment

in paper work ready to go. You may be in market to replace an old

vehicle also. It will be better to seek advice and help from experts.

(October 23 to November 22)

Business will pick up little bit and you will have few new clients

this week. Do not lower your expectations and stick to your

terms when it comes to negotiating a deal. A friend will give very

good advice. You will be desperately looking for ideal partners for

your project. Spouse will plan a small get together this weekend.

Pandit Parashar, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA is also available for individualconsultations. He can be reached at: [email protected]

510-886-4370 website: www.parashar.com


July 26, 201348

www.indiapost.com49 India Post July 26, 2013

MUMBAI: Two of Bollywood's biggest superstars,Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, ended one of the filmindustry's most-talked-about feuds recently.

"Finally u realize turning the page is the best feeling inthe world, becos there is so much more to the book thanthe page u were stuck on, (sic)" Shah Rukh tweeted.

Both the actors had hugged each other at an Iftar partyhosted by Congress leader and Bandra MLA BabaSiddique in Mumbai on Sunday July 21. They had not spo-ken to each other after a fight at actor Katrina Kaif's birth-day party in 2008.

"Salman and Shah Rukh are my childhood friends. Theythemselves met each other," Mr Siddique had said at theIftar party.

Both Shah Rukh and Salman seemed perfectly fine, thelatter being the one who took the initiative to shake handsand hug Shah Rukh.

FUNNIEST TWEETSShahrukh Khan and Salman Khan are trending on Twit-

ter, ever since the two superstars have decided to bury thepast and start afresh. Here is what appeared on Twitter:

•Baba Siddiqui seemed as happy as Rakhee from KaranArjun when Salman and SRK were hugging each other.

•Petrol prices to be slashed by government because#Salman-HuggedSRK

Suraj Pancholi, 22, is deeply emo-tional, strong-headed, does notdrink or smoke and is calm even

when provoked. In this interview heopens up about his girlfriend Jiah Khanwho took her own life by hanging:

"I met her through Facebook 10months back. She was a really nice per-son, quiet, small things made her happy,caring, but she was too possessiveeven about my guy friends. We wenttwice for dinner and then a week later, Iget a message saying, 'Sooraj, I needhelp. My hand is bleeding. Can youcome over?'

"I was in town and she stayed inSagar Sangeet Juhu (three minutes frommy house), so I sent my staff to herhouse at 11.30 at night. She opened the

door and fainted. She had slit her hand at the elbow like 3inches. I was 21 then. By the time I went there, the doctorhad stitched her up and she was on drips. I was with her,but she did not speak.

"After a few days, I called her mother up in Londonand introduced myself. I told her, 'Aunty, Nafisa is underdepression and she needs you and her sisters to lookafter her and be with her. I have met her only twice andshe has called me'. She said, 'Beta, I will come in twomonths, but please take care of her'. But she took fourmonths to come.

"During those four months, I fell in love with Nafisa.I could relate to her as I too, like her, lived alone andcould see what she was going through. She would tellme how she was depressed due to not getting work,her relationship with her family not being good, thefact that her father had disowned her and that she sup-ported herself.

Cont’d on page 50

•its just #Salman-HuggedSRK. Hype aise kar rahe hojaise India-Pakistan ki dosti ho gayi

*National holiday declared in some parts of India after#SalmanHugged-SRK

•What do you mean by #Salman-HuggedSRK even#SRKHugged-Salman

•Na vikaas se, Na prakash se, Na jeevan apna sawaar Ke.Saara Desh khush tab hua when #salmanhuggedsrk

•SalmanHuggedSRK. And everyone else lived happilyever after. Phew

•Rakhee seen Crying..Kajol, Mamta & Jhonny

dancing...Amrish Puri Tensed in Heaven..Rakesh lookingfor a script to sequel...

•Its ok Micheal Clarke...No one will talk about the crush-ing defeat vs England coz#salmanhuggedsrk

•One of the most serious issues that hampered the growthof this country is finally solved.

•Considering the hype around #SalmanHuggedSRK, Ma-dame Tussauds may decide to have a wax statue of SRK

and Salman hugging each other.•Jaya Bachchan hugs Rekha after SRK and Salman hug

and patch up.•The biggest issue of the Desi community has been

solved: SRK and Salman Khan hugged today. Now for thesmaller problems, like poverty.

Suraj opens up about Jiah

July 26, 2013India Post

www.indiapost.com

50

Rollicking India Tribune Nite in ChicagoAsian Media USA & Harish Rao

CHICAGO: It was an extrava-ganza of fashion, dances, breath-taking lights and sounds as IndiaTribune presented its India TribuneNite 2013 which rocked a capacityaudience at the classy MeadowsClub here on Saturday, July 13.

As the audience were treatedto a vibrant fashion show by Stu-dio Elite choreographed byMonica Gandhi and presented bySahida Khan and Abiha JavedKhan, what really followed was atruly memorable dance concertaptly titled "Dance, Vance teRhythm Suhana" by performersfrom Hollywood and Chicago ledby choreographer and dancerShivani Thakkar. The show wasconceived and scripted by MadanKulkarni and narrated by ShebaniKulkarni.

The finesse and energy of theMKM Bollystars from Hollywood,the sensuousness of Arabiandancers Megan and Jessica andthe breathtaking pyrotechnics ofhip hop and breakers DannyHaywood and the Brave Monksfrom Chicago had the audiencegasping in awe and appreciation.

Tanya Prabhakar commenced

the show with welcome to all thoseattending the event and then in-troduced the first performance, aninvocatory number by LeahNandy, a student of Guru DilshadKhan. It was a very skillful perfor-mance with beautiful movementsand expressions in the KathakStyle of dance.

This was followed with USCongressman Danny Davis read-ing out a special proclamation ap-plauding and appreciating thecontributions of India Tribuneand its publisher Prashant Shahto the community in the US. Hepresented the proclamation toEric Shah of the Tribune who

spoke briefly thanking all and un-derlying the face that the eveningwas going "to be and about en-tertainment, entertainment andentertainment".

Leah Nandy then presentedthe "Agneepath" dance whichagain captivated the audience for

its subtle grace and footwork.The fashion show then pre-

sented by Studio Elite held swayfor the next 30 minutes as ener-getic and sprightly models pa-raded an exquisite collection ofdesigner outfits by leading de-signers from South Asia.

The churidars, lehengas,kaftaans and other accessoriessizzled under the dazzling lightsand through innovative presen-tations conceived and choreo-graphed by Monica Gandhi. Theaudience were mesmerized by therich designs and intricate work onthe outfits presented.

A brief glimpse of the cultural

show which was to follow the din-ner was then announced byShebani Kulkarni and a rivetingpresentation of classical and fu-sion styles, Dola re & Dum Dum

was presented by the MKMBollystars from Hollywood.

A multi-course dinner was

served with wine and champagne

Scintillating Fashion Show at India Tribune Nite

A glimpse of Mix and Match Bollywood Hollywood dance presentations

Shebani Kulkarni

service. The gourmet dishes madeby the chefs of the MeadowsClub were highly appreciated

Apart from the desserts themood was enhanced by some me-

lodious songs by Chicago song-stress Kathakali Das Gupta. Aheady mix of Indian, Latin, Cau-

casian and Black performers gavetheir own twist to fa-mous Bollywoodtunes which re-flected the interna-tional appeal ofBollywood musicand dance today.The choreographyof Shivani Thakkarwas exceptional andinnovative.

The classical ele-ment was first intro-duced to the audi-ence by narratorShebani Kulkarniand then a short

video clip showing famous clas-sical Bollywood performancesover the years was presented.This was followed by an extremelyexpressive Bharat Natyam piece

"Bho Shambho". Black and Latinperformers Erica Duff and GloriaLanuza delighted the audience intheir traditional Indian outfits asthey performed to the Taraanafrom the movie Thak Shak in"Bollywood Natyam".

The vibrant and colorful folkelement of Bollywood was fol-lowed by the Spirit of Rangeelapresented by Megan and Jes-sica which featured colorfulprops and entrancing move-ments. A high energy Rajasthanifolk style presentation ofDholna by the MKM Bollystarsproved very captivating

The pop and hip hop sec-tions were then introduced tothe audience while Cabaret andMujra was the next segment.This was followed with an ab-solutely breathtaking medley ofcabarets and a mujra by theMKM Bollystars". The lights

and sound added to the glamourand finesses of the presentation.

Madan Kulkarni, founder andCEO of the Meadows Club, pro-posed a vote of thanks on be-half of India Tribune and thenthe culmination was another ex-quisite presentation, a medley ofTalli Ho Gayi and Jai Ho by theMKM Bollystars.

Prashant Shah, Publisher ofIndia Tribune, complimented thechoreographers, performers anddirectors of the show for an out-standing presentation and saidhe was already thinking andplanning for the next year'sevent.

India Post

www.indiapost.com

51July 26, 2013

Bad is the New Good: AkshayIndia Post News Service

Akshay Kumar who playsa flamboyant gangsterin 'Once Upon A Time

in Mumbaai Dobaara', has beenspotted trotting the globe forpromotions of the film. First In-dia, then Oman, followed by theUK and recently Akshay visitedthe United States of America,where he partook in a press con-ference with the film's directorMilan Luthria and shared his

experiences about the film.The film depicts the fervent

gang wars of the 80's era inMumbai and Akshay has contin-ued to move away from type toplay a baddie in this film. Com-menting on his villainous role, hesaid: 'Bad is the New Good' andcommented: 'I am not trying to glo-rify a bad lead character; it is justa character I am playing. Not manyactors agree to play a negativerole'.

Akshay last played a negative

character in the film Ajnabee afterwhich 'Once Upon A Time inMumbai Dobaara' would be hissecond. The film is a 'villain's lovestory' and Akshay feels verystrongly about his role, as he be-lieves not many bad characterstake centre stage as important char-acters. Akshay also said that theonly difference in the sequel is thechange of a few faces whilst thestory picks up from where it leftoff.

However, despite the negative

hue in his character, Akshay seemsto be concentrating more on ro-mance then his usual action-packed stunts in the film. He haspassed the stunt baton to ImranKhan, who performs a series ofthrilling action sequences.Akshay said: "He [Imran Khan]did all the stunts with me andjumped from rooftops, and I wasvery impressed with him. I thinkhe is the next action hero.'

Returning to form for this se-

quel, director Milan Luthria (TheDirty Picture) was all praise forAkshay Kumar, saying: "Akshayis a very happy guy, a wonderfulhappy person to work on and offthe sets. Having a person like himwith you gives you a lot of confi-dence. He kept the atmospherevery happy on the set. I also feltthat the character played in theoriginal instalment by EmraanHashmi needed to be older, with adifferent kind of presence."

"She told me about her gettingabused by her former boyfriendsand how an older man had rapedher when she was 14 in Londonand how at one point in her life,she would get only one meal aday.

"I fell even more for her. Shejust needed more love from herfamily and respect from peoplearound. I could not fulfil all of that,though I did more than a 21-year-old could. She would cry everynight. She could never be alone

after she met me and would cometo my house often.

Initially, even my father did notapprove of her as she had a reallysexy image, but he was fine after Imade him meet her.

"Every night during the sevenmonths we were seeing each othershe would cry, barring threenights - once when we were inGoa, my birthday and her birthday.She had a depression problem andhad been for counselling before

Suraj opens up about Jiahand she told me she had even triedto hang herself before.

"Till now also, I have respectfor her mother and really wish Icould ask her that does she reallybelieve I have done something asshe knows what I have done forNafisa.

"One day she told me, 'Suraj, Iam not getting my periods. Can wego to a doctor?' We went to thisdoctor, who gave her a pill sayingshe would get it. We went backhome and everything was normal.When the police asked her familydoctor if I was there at the time of

abortion, they denied it. The po-lice asked me and I said, 'Sir, wehad a physical relationship. Shedid not tell me about her preg-nancy. If it can be proven that itwas mine, I will accept it otherwiseit is not mine as I can't say'.

LIVING WITH GRANDPAR-ENTS

"I used to stay with my grand-parents in Juhu from the begin-ning and my sister lived with my

parents. They both died fiveyears back and so, since the ageof 16, I live alone with my fourdogs. My parents initially livedin Bandra and now live in SevenBungalows. I could take care ofmyself that is why I was so goodin jail.

"I miss both my grandparentstoday. There was some energysupporting me in jail. I don't knowwhether it was Nafisa or mygrandparents. I know that shewould not want me to go throughthis. If the mother blames me, Ishould tell her that I did not takeher life. In fact, I gave her exten-sion of life by 10 months. Had Inot been there in her life, shewould have tried this and suc-ceeded earlier.

THE BREAK UPA month before Nafisa passed

away, she came to my house at 8in the morning crying. She said, 'Ihave had a fight with my mother'and had small cut marks on herhand. I left her with my friendKaran and without telling her,went across to meet her mother.

I asked her mother, 'Aunty, didyou have a fight with Nafisa? Didyou hit her?' She said, 'No, I havenever hit my daughter'. I told herI am no one to come between themboth but just wanted her to knowthat her daughter was not doingwell and needed medical assis-tance and her help and that I wastrying my best to help her.


"Every night during the seven months wewere seeing each other she would cry, bar-ring three nights - once when we were inGoa, my birthday and her birthday. She hada depression problem and had been forcounselling before and she told me she hadeven tried to hang herself before.

Akshay Kumar

52 July 26, 2013India Post

www.indiapost.com

Classifieds

www.indiapost .com

NEWSon your desktop

CHICAGO COMPANY NEEDSPERSONAL ASSISTANT

A Chicago company is looking for

PERSONAL ASSISTANT.

The position will not disturb your present job,

Applicant Must be English

speaking,computer literate with

good typing skills.

Age: 18yrs & above can apply.

salary is $350 per week.

Email at

[email protected] for Questions

Customer service representative

URGENTLY NEEDED.

A person with computer skills and

good typing skills who can

learn so fast.

Any job experience is eligible.

Salary Monthly is $2995.

Email at

[email protected] more information

India Post 53July 26, 2013

Page Sponsored by Sahaniswww.indiapost.com

You Insure all your Valuables, all are replaceable except YOU! So Insure yourself FIRST. Call Sahanis, (Arish, Priya or Shiv) for your Insurance needs 718- 271- 0453. Serving for last 35 yrs

Philosophy

Body is actually the world- there is no difference

Real success lies inmaking others happy

Greg Goode

Swami NikhilanandaSaraswati

Love sewed us securelytogether.We owe nothing to theneedle and thread.

-Rumi

The lower classes of so-ciety are those who fattenthemselves in life in thename of religion.

-Ibn el−−−−−mubarak

Three things in this lifeare destructive: Anger,Greed, Self-esteem.

-The Prophet

Better than being whatyou imagine to be goodis to be with those who arereally good. Worse thandoing something evil is tobe with those who areevil.

-Bayazid Bistami

Most of humanity do notknow what it is in their in-terest to know. They dis-like what would eventuallybenefit them.

-Al-Nasafi

O Lord! If I worship youfrom fear of hell, cast meinto hell. If I worship youfrom desire for paradise,deny me paradise.

-Rabia

The learned man whoonly talks will never pen-etrate to the inner heartof man.

-Saadi of Shiraz

Your medicine is in you,and you do not observeit. Your ailment is formyourself and you do notregister it.

-Hazrat Ali

Your direct experience of a physical objectis nothing more than colors, sounds, textures,sensations of hardness, softness, moistnessor dryness.

When a person is positively satisfied, he/she wants to share the feelings of joy andcontentment with others, wants to work forthe welfare and well being of others.

GREG GOODE

The body is not often dealtwith in non-dual teachings,writings and gatherings.

But it is just as much a part of ex-perience as emotions, thoughtsand feelings!

Actually, your direct experi-ence can show you directly, in thehere-and-now, that:

• The "body" is not a physicalobject.

• The "body" is not a separateobject endowed with a separatesentience.

• The "body" is not a containerof awareness.

• Rather, the body, like theworld, is awareness itself.

That is, in direct experience youcan discover that the "body" isactually the body of love and theworld of light: pure clarity andunconditional openness.

The body is actually the world- there is no difference to be found.It is the global world of experiencein which there is no inside/out-side, no here/there, no separationand no suffering.

But what about the brain?Many credible scientists say thatawareness is a produce of brainchemistry.

When looked at very closely,physical objects are not to befound. They melt directly intoawareness. Your direct experienceof a physical object is nothingmore than colors, sounds, tex-tures, sensations of hardness,softness, moistness or dryness.Each of these sensations is in-

SWAMI NIKHILANANDASARASWATI

Success can be measuredfrom two standpoints - ex-ternally and internally. Ex-

ternally it is the measure of a jobwell done and the accompanyingrecognition from society. Inter-nally it is a feeling of achievement,satisfaction, fullness, complete-ness, wholeness which comes onthe completion of a task or the ful-fillment of a desire.

All of us have various goalswhich are based on our desiresand aspirations. When we fulfill adesire or achieve a goal we feelhappy and successful. Till an-other desire arises and we feel in-complete and we begin to striveagain. Sometimes it happens thatwhen we reach a goal we begin tofeel a void in our lives and do notknow what to do next.

Success can also be measuredby the feeling of comfort we havewith ourselves. This generallyhappens when we live accordingto our intrinsic nature. If we attainwhat we want and still find some-thing lacking then we know thateither our desire was not desirableor the means adopted were not in

separable from its exclusive sen-sory modality. In other words,

• Colors are inseparable fromvision,

• Sounds are inseparable fromhearing

• Sensations of texture, hard-ness, softness, moisture or dry-ness are inseparable from touch

• Flavors are inseparable fromtaste

• Fragrances are inseparablefrom smell Even in imagination,"sense objects" cannot appear

apart from "sense faculties." Thisis shocking if it is "grokked." Forexample, if it is deeply understoodhow a color can never be experi-enced separately from seeing, thenit simply makes no sense to believethat you can "see a color." Colorsaren't objects hanging around out-side awareness, waiting to be seen.Rather, the arising of color is whatwe mean by "seeing."

THE BRAINThe brain is normally thought

of as a mass of a certain kind ofbiological tissue. That is, it is nor-

mally thought of as a physicalobject. As a physical object, it ispart of the "world." How does thebrain arise? What happens? Noone sees their own brain in theact of seeing. We may "see" and"feel" the brains of other organ-isms, the way I did in school. Wesee many images of brains inanatomy classes, images of CAT-scans and X-rays on light tables,in textbooks, on computerscreens, represented by scopesand meters of different kinds, and

on TV shows about doctors andcops.

What arises in all cases is a vi-sual or tactile image. But biologistsand physiologists say that thebrain is an essential component forsentience. Many people attractedto nondual teachings agree.

The "awareness" that is mea-sured by brain science includes

• Certain kinds of reactivity tostimuli,

• The ability to see, hear, smell,move, etc.

• The ability to speak or giveverbal reports

• The ability to recall objectsand actions

• The ability to report one'sname or location

• The measurements of chemi-cals

• The activity of and withinneurons, as measured and de-picted by various kind of scien-tific apparatus

There are two things to sayabout these elements in the de-scription of awareness. One isthat they are all based on the very

same kind of physical object as atable or a chair.

You can investigate at any timehow one of these objects orevents arises: as a set of colors,sounds, textures, etc. So how canthe brain, which is experienced asan arising in awareness, actuallygive rise to awareness? That islike saying that the color "blue"can give rise to awareness!

Greg Goode is a philosophi-cal counselor in New York Citywho uses video in combinationwith direct counseling to instructon the direct path.

accordance with nature.Modern managements feel that

if a person is satisfied there will bea lack of motivation, which willwork against the interest of thecompany. This is a negative wayof looking at the issue of satisfac-tion. When a person is positivelysatisfied, he/she wants to share the

feelings of joy and contentmentwith others, wants to work for thewelfare and well being of others.His/her motivational levels arehigher and the opposite happens- he/she wants to do even moreand work more efficiently. This isthe state of mind of a Mahatma.

Swami Chinmayananda, thefounder of Chinmaya Mission wentall over the world, reaching out topeople not because he desired

anything. He did it out of a joy ofsharing what he had, so that oth-ers may benefit as well and sharein his knowledge, good fortuneand success. It was an expressionof the joy he felt within. True suc-cess is that which gives joy to meand to others.

Success should include or em-

brace all aspects of my life - holis-tic success. Some professionalsmay be greatly praised at work butbe utter failures in the family. Somemaybe good for the family but forsociety they may be no good. Wemust be whole individuals, just asGod intended us to be.

Take the case of a mango seedthat grew to be a plant and then atree that gave the world sweetfruit. What did the seed do? It did

nothing but remain true to its na-ture and in that it found fulfillmentand completeness. So we have toremain true to our Supreme Na-ture for in that lies our greatestsuccess.

We must learn how to sharesuccess from the life of Lord Rama.After returning from Lanka he was

asked how he won the battle andhe gave credit to all those who hadhelped him, making even the ordi-nary monkeys great. Real successlies in making others happy andgiving credit to the whole team.

Swami NikhilanandaSaraswati, a spiritual master ofthe Chinmaya lineage, is the Re-gional Head of Chinmaya Missionin New Delhi and its centers inNoida, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

54 Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

July 26, 2013India Post

India PostReformists all

It is to the credit of President Obama that he wound up the ill-thought of George Bush led intervention in Iraq and is now inthe process of winding up a similar intervention in Afghanistan.

From reports of daily bombings in Iraq it doesn't seem the Ameri-cans have left Iraq a haven of peace. Does that mean the Americansshould go back to Iraq to "save" that country? Is it anyway betterthan before the US had intervened? Nobody in US is prepared toanswer this question.

Now with the imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan, the samequestion is being repeatedly asked. Will the US leave Afghanistana better place than before it intervened? The example of Iraq showsthat Afghanistan also will be back to normal violent feuds andbombings. The imposition of democracy in these two faction-rid-den states has only a brought a bad name to democracy.

The early notion that America has the divine right to restore"order" in the world has taken a big beating. The order it seeks torestore is colored by self-interest. The Iraq and Afghan interven-tions have also played havoc with US economy. An economicallyweak and war-exhausted US will not again try to intervene in an-other State. There are enough domestic problems piled up for Obamato think of solving the world's problems.

George Bush also talked big to the world about virtues of de-mocracy and sought to export and impose it on other countries.Watching the Democrat-Republican stalemate in US houses theworld would not be greatly enthused about this mode of gover-nance. Right since his inauguration Obama has faced stiff opposi-tion to his plans and with the near equal party equations in theSenate and House, hardly any worthwhile initiatives have seensuccess. The healthcare and immigration reforms are stuck at vari-ous stages.FAVORITE WORD

Reform is the favorite word for the media in the present situa-tion. There was no talk of reforms when the US was doing well andwas the only superpower to reckon with. It is the favorite word alsoin India where the economy is in the doldrums thanks to populistschemes. But this word was not in use when India was growing at9 percent. So things have to be perceived to be going wrong beforeany corrective measure, that is reforms, can be thought of.

Now what is reform depends upon the ideology of the party thatuses this word. For the Republicans bringing in laws to ban abor-tions is reform. Making immigration difficult for illegal entrants isreform. For Democrats liberal abortion rules is reform and makingimmigration easier for the brilliant young students who could makea difference to the US economy is reform.

In India the discourse about reforms is not too ideological.Whoever comes to power practices crony capitalism. And in theruling Congress administration all kinds of animals inhabit. If ho-lier-than-thou anti-corruption crusader defense minister AK Antonyhas allowed the armed forces to be deprived of modern weaponsfor fear of bribes to dealers' agents, the Congress' own RailwayMinister is caught allowing huge bribes for Railway Board posts.

When the BJP talks of reforms it is not clear if it wants to bring ingood governance or Hindu nationalism. It is not prepared to clearthis ambiguation. Narendra Modi, who started off with offering analternative model of governance has gone back to maligning secu-larism and arrogantly proclaiming Hindu nationalism.

It is matter of satisfaction that fewer countries now want toreform other countries embroiled as most of them are in domesticproblems. Along with many western countries, India had been try-ing to reform its eastern neighbor, Myanmar. It has now learnt fromits mistakes and has made peace with Generals finding that Chinawas all the time exploiting Myanmar resources without any ideo-logical hang-ups. In fact China has found a new way of interveningin other countries: by offering economic carrots.

Indian military aid forAfghanistan: Syrian lessons

MONISH GULATI

There is a growing viewamongst certain ana-lysts that India's reluc-tance to provide military

(lethal) aid to Afghanistan particu-larly after the recent visit of theAfghan president to India, is in-dicative of a deficient Indian ap-proach to Afghanistan, in terms ofthe want of in-depth evaluation,risk appetite and a coherent strat-egy.

The viewpoint advocates theuse of military aid as an instrumentfor achieving Indian foreign policyobjectives in Afghanistan. Citingthe case of the recent US decisionto supply arms to the forces op-posed to Syrian government, thisarticle argues that it may not be aviable assessment.CURRENT DISCOURSE

India's response toAfghanistan's repeated requestsfor military hardware assistancehas been viewed as surprising andsymptomatic of little policy plan-

ning and preparedness to realizeIndian foreign policy objectives inAfghanistan. Further there is skep-ticism regarding India's long-termstrategy towards Afghanistan,despite its expressed desire toseek a larger role.

One view is that "New Delhinever possessed and continues tolack the necessary commitment totake on a strategic role in the coun-try that may require it to bear somepotentially costly burdens." NewDelhi's position on arms transferto Afghanistan has even beenfound to be reeking of cowardiceor even worse, India has no strat-egy for Afghanistan.

There is also a foreboding thatthe complex unfolding of eventsin the coming days would testIndia's present intensity of en-gagement into the transforma-tional decade (2014-2024) and may

even result in India having no pres-ence at all in Afghanistan. Thiswould be because New Delhi'scurrent policies are blindsided tothe full range of possibilities inAfghanistan in the future , someof which can potentially reversesIndia's engagement in that coun-try.

In essence India's Afghanpolicy is constrained by self im-posed restrictions, desire to heedto regional sensitivities or playingsecond fiddle to the great powers,which has compromised its stra-tegic objectives and its future en-gagement in Afghanistan.

It has been suggested thatgiven the history of India's rela-tions with the Taliban and its col-laboration with the ISI, it is an ap-propriate time to counter the com-ing to power of the Taliban inKabul through arms support to theKarzai government. India requiresto do everything possible to en-sure the defeat of the Taliban, even

at the cost of "going counter tothe US strategy".SYRIAN LESSONS

The US arms to the Syrianrebels (Free Syrian Army) beganafter the chorus on US inaction onthe Syrian conflict reached a cre-scendo amid mounting civiliancasualties and human rights vio-lations. Also the Russian armysales to the Syrian regime contin-ued, clandestine arms sales fromIran to the Iraqi Shia militias andthe Hezbollah prompted their in-tervention in Syria, the 'redline' onuse of Chemical weapons wascrossed and the peace talks inGeneva were stalling. However,the arms transfers have had un-desired consequences.

US and Western weapons in-stead have been reaching Iranian-backed Shiite militias fighting tokeep Bashar Assad's forces in

power in Syria. Also in the handsof the rebels "that could one daybe turned against the US," as it's"extremely difficult" to distinguishbetween friend and foe in Syria. Ithas been concluded that "noamount of safeguards can guar-antee that weapons will not fallinto the wrong hands."

Also fractures have grown asthe Free Syrian Army (FSA) hasincreasingly maneuvered to dis-tance itself from other Islamist fac-tions in order to corner fundingand weapons deliveries from theUS. Rivalries have expandedwithin Syria's opposition after asenior member of the FSA was re-portedly killed by a rival Islamistgroup (al Qaeda).

Recently the US House andSenate Intelligence panel membershave voted to block PresidentObama from arming Syrian rebelsby placing severe restrictions onfunding. There is a fear that theUS administration plan would let

weapons fall into the handsof terrorist groups linked toal Qaeda. The committeefelt that if US is going toarm FSA it has to make surethat it can control what armsare out there so they don'tfall into the wrong hands.AFGHAN CONTEXT

There are some key dis-tinctions to be made in thecase of Afghanistan. First,India unlike the US role inthe Syrian conflict is notpart of any peace or recon-ciliation process in Af-ghanistan and has little in-fluence on the participatingparties. Two, India has nocontributions to the ongo-ing NATO/ISAF military

operations in Afghanistan and hasserious reservations about doingso in the future.

Three, India, unlike the US andthe NATO is not part of any equip-ping program of the Afghan Na-tional Security Forces. Last andimportantly, India has no mecha-nisms to monitor or ensure that theweapons supplied by it do not fallin Taliban hands and are not usedagainst the NATO/ISAF.

In such a situation, given theunintended consequences militaryaid have, it would be ideal for In-dia to step-up its assistance intraining and maintenance of equip-ment where crucial gap in capabil-ity exits. Recent acquisition of Mi-17 helicopters by the Afghan Airforce presents one such opportu-nity.

The writer is an IndependentAnalyst

Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a recent visit to India


July 26, 201356

indiapost 07 26 2013

Documents

immigration post

community post

healthscience post

techbiz post

india postwww

newsweeklyindia postindia

travel hospitality post

us vice president joe