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CONTENTS

YES 37%

Last week’s result

NO 63%

This week’s question

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Bollywood ---------------------- 24-25

Classifieds ------------------------- 50

Community Post -------------- 12-23

Date Book -------------------------- 49

Edit Page --------------------------- 53

HealthScience Post --------- 38-39

Horoscope ------------------------- 48

Immigration Post ------------- 45-47

India ------------------------------ 40-44

Life Style ----------------------- 26-27

Philosophy ------------------------- 52

Publisherís Diary ------------------ 4

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

TechBiz Post ------------------- 36-37

Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 31-33

Details on page 7

Will US India friendship survivePak hurdles?

Details on page 36

Details on page 8

Details on page 37

Details on page 12

Obama backsIndia's bid forUN Council seat

Locke to leadhigh-tech tradeteam to India

OBAMA SEWS UP AMARKET FOR FUTURE

FRIENDS INDEED: US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh embrace after the joint

press conference at Hyderabad House in New Delhi

Win-win partnership with India

India Post News Service

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: President BarackObama's India visit yielded $10 billion in business dealswhich will support 54,000 jobs in the United States. Call-ing India a market of the future, Obama in his deliberationswith Prime Minister Manmohan Singh established the in-

dispensability of the US-India partnership. Together theycharted the course for the 21st century through a range ofissues, activities, and programs that reflect the vision ofthe two leaders. Details on page 5

American Dream fulfils Indian DreamSRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: Being part of the Presi-dential Mission to India of US Presi-dent Barack Obama was not the onlything that has Indian American entre-preneur Rajeev Sharma celebratingthese days. It was an earlier visit to hishome by the President for dinner thathas him talking of the fulfillment of theAmerican dream.

Maryland-based Rajeev Sharma,CEO of ABSi Corporation and Solena ABSi Private Ltd(SAIP), who was part of the Presidential mission orga-nized by the US-India Business Chamber (USIBC), spoke

at the CEO Panel of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises 'India-US: AnAgenda for Co-Creation' at the Taj Pal-ace Hotel in New Delhi. The panel dis-cussion was moderated by RonSomers, President of the United States-India Business Council (USIBC) andalso featured the participation of fiveother CEOs from India and USA.

"In 1963, my family immigrated tothe United States in pursuit of theAmerican Dream with all its attendantopportunities and potential. 47 years

later, I am in India pursuing the Indian Dream with all itsattendant opportunities and potential.

Contíd on page 6

Rajeev Sharma

Indian Americanscammerfleeces oil heir

USIBC Summitpaints theBig Picture

Details on page 6

Boeing to startdelivery ofDreamliners

Sikhs opposenew turbansearch law

Gary Locke

Details on page 6

Details on page 12

Details on page 7

Details on page 40

Prithviraj Chavansworn-in asMaharashtra CM

Non-stop AI flightfrom Chicago; aDiwali bonanza

Sachin namedambassador forWorld Cup 2011

Ilyas Kashmiriemerging newBin-Laden

Do you believe Dr Sinha murderwas not hate crime?

More Obama visit stories on pages 36-37, 40-44

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Bollywood:Court marriageImran Khan will have a court marriagewith fiancee Avantika Malik to avoidcommitting to any particular religion.

1Cover Story:Obama visit

12Community:Non-stop flight

40India:UN Council seatPresident Barack Obama announcedbroad support to India's bid for perma-nent seat in the UN Security Council.

26Life Style:

'Indian Culture and Remembering Gandhi,'an exhibition by young artist RameshChindam is on in Fremont.

36Techbiz:

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke willlead a high-tech trade mission to Indiafrom February 6-11, 2011.

31Travel:Gir National ParkThe Gir National Park in Gujarat is theonly home in India for the Asiatic Lionof which there are nearly 300 in the park.

Trade mission

Air India's first non-stop flight to Indiafrom Chicago took off during the Diwaliauspicious week .

President Barack Obama's India visit yielded$10 billion in business deals which will sup-port 54,000 jobs in the United States.

Chindam exhibition

Remember when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hosted by Presi-dent Obama at the White House last November, how a pair of gatecrashers had hijacked the entire news coverage of the event in the Ameri-

can media?This month when President Obama was hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for

a Presidential dinner, well, there were no gatecrashers to divert the attention ofthe American media. But there was definitely an anomaly that dominated theirnews back home - did the President really spend $200m a day in India and did 34US warships really dock in the Mumbai port for his security?

While the conservatives went ballistic over this grossly exaggerated newsoriginating from the Press Trust of India, the middle of the road runners tried tomake sense of it with analysts who put the purported expense in the perspectiveof the war in Afghanistan which cost about $190m a day; and 34 warships? -that's 12% of the US Navy fleet.

Laughable as the original story itself is, it's irritating that leading Americanchannels should just jump on that while eclipsing the whole purpose of thePresident's engagement with India.

And as for President Obama, he did well but I thought almost every word thathe spoke at the different forums in Mumbai and Delhi were directed at anAmerican audience - billions in profits for American industry and thousands injobs for American workers.

This particular trip, I'd say was more about the intangible for India and thetangible for America in the short run. Of course it has been established that US-India relations are a two-way street and that any engagement between the twocountries is a win-win for both.

But what exactly did India get out of this pageantry? Plenty of photo opportunities,bragging rights and a real ego boost. And oh, there was an assurance from Obamaof support for a permanent UN Security Council seat. The American media hasdismissed it off as something that is not happening anytime in the near future. Butperhaps, this announcement was directed more at Pakistan than anyone else!

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Obama sews up a market for futureWin-win partnership with India


WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI:President Barack Obama's Indiavisit yielded $10 billion in busi-ness deals which will support54,000 jobs in the United States.Calling India a market of the fu-ture, Obama in his deliberationswith Prime Minister ManmohanSingh established the indispens-ability of the US-India partner-ship. Together they charted thecourse for the 21st centurythrough a range of issues, activi-ties, and programs that reflect thevision of the two leaders.

Below are summaries of eachof the areas the partnership isexpected to flourish:Export Controls

Committed to work together tostrengthen the global non-prolif-eration and export control frame-work and further transform bilat-eral export control cooperation torealize the full potential of the stra-tegic partnership between the twocountries. The two leaders agreedto take mutual steps to implementa four-part export control reformprogram, including: support forIndia's membership in the multi-lateral export control regimes, re-moving India's Defense andSpace-Related Entities from theUS "Entity List;" export licensingpolicy realignment, and exportcontrol cooperation.Partnership for an EvergreenRevolution

Agreed to develop, test, andreplicate transformative technolo-gies to extend food security inIndia as part of an "EvergreenRevolution." These efforts buildon the historic legacy of coopera-tion between the United Statesand India during the Green Revo-lution, and will benefit farmers andconsumers in India, the UnitedStates, and around the globe, andwill extend food security in India,Africa and globally. The Partner-ship for an Evergreen Revolutionwill contribute to the bilateral USFeed the Future Initiative.Counterterrorism Cooperation

Since the first bilateral discus-sions on counterterrorism in 2000,counterterrorism cooperation hasbecome a pillar of the U.S.-Indiarelationship. In the aftermath ofthe Mumbai terrorist attacks, theUS and India resolved to deepencollaborative efforts, and inten-sify exchanges, culminating in thesigning of the CounterterrorismCooperation Initiative (CCI) inJuly 2010. This landmark agree-ment made clear the determinationof our two governments to com-

bine efforts to combat terrorismand to work closely to ensure thesecurity of our citizens. Programsto exchange law enforcement bestpractices, hold reciprocal visits ofsenior-level officials to discusslessons learned, conduct jointmilitary training exercises, andjoining of forces in internationalfora on key counterterrorism is-

sues, demonstrate the closenessof this cooperation.Civil Space Cooperation

Agreed to scale-up joint US-India civil space collaboration,including space exploration,earth observation, and scientificeducation.Clean Energy and ClimateChange

Reaffirmed commitment to tak-ing vigorous action to addressclimate change, ensure mutualenergy security, and build a cleanenergy economy that will driveinvestment, job creation, andeconomic growth throughout the21st century. The Leadersstrengthened US-India coopera-tion on energy and climatechange through the followinginitiatives, including a number ofjoint research and developmentprojects, public-private partner-ships, and major commercial salesof renewable energy technolo-gies.Cyber Security

The US and India are advanc-ing efforts to work together topromote a reliable informationand communications infrastruc-ture and the goal of free, fair, andsecure access to cyberspace inview of its growing role in worldprosperity, commerce and culture.CEO Forum

Recognizing the vital role bi-lateral commerce plays in the glo-bal strategic partnership, Presi-dent Barack Obama and Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh high-lighted the importance of the US-India CEO Forum and theprogress made in implementingits recommendations. The USand Indian governments ad-dressed recommendations in theareas of clean energy, infrastruc-ture, education, and export con-trols.Defense Cooperation

The US-India defense rela-tionship has grown from solelymilitary-to-military links into amature partnership that encom-passes dialogues, exercises, de-fense sales, professional militaryeducation exchanges, and prac-tical cooperation. The leaders re-affirmed the importance of mari-time security, unimpeded com-merce, and freedom of naviga-tion, in accordance with relevantuniversally agreed principles ofinternational law.US-India Economic and Finan-cial Partnership

Since US Treasury SecretaryTim Geithner traveled to Delhi inApril 2010 to launch the new U.S.-India Economic and FinancialPartnership with Indian FinanceMinister Pranab Mukherjee, thetwo governments have institu-tionalized deeper bilateral rela-tions on economic and financialsector issues. These efforts in-clude a macroeconomic dialogueand financial sector and infra-structure working groups.Education

The two leaders committed to

an expanding, dynamic, and com-prehensive education partner-ship, including expanding aca-demic exchanges, developing

university and school linkages,and holding a US-India Educa-tion Summit.Entrepreneurs Roundtable

This event introduced thePresident to the next generationof Indian entrepreneurs andshowcased innovative partner-ships between US and Indianbusinesses that are creating new

markets for US-manufacturedtechnologies. These entrepre-neurs represent some of India'smost thoughtful and articulateminds on the major challengesfacing India today and showcasethe promise of the country's dy-namic, private sector-led inclu-sive growth. Their innovativebusiness solutions are helpingaddress some of India's mostvexing challenges - such as cleanwater, power, health care, educa-tion - while creating new marketsfor their US technology partners.The National Export Initiative

As part of the National ExportInitiative, President Obama notedthat India -- with its tremendouseconomic growth and its largeand growing middle class -- is akey market for US exports. Theseinvolve some of our country'slargest companies, but also an in-creasing number of small and me-dium-sized enterprises. On themargins of the President's trip,trade transactions were an-nounced or showcased, exceed-ing $14.9 billion in total valuewith $9.5 billion in US export con-tent, supporting an estimated53,670 US jobs.Indian Investment in the US

The US is the world's largestrecipient of Foreign Direct In-vestment (FDI). India is amongthe fastest growing investor inthe United States. Over the lastdecade, investment capital fromIndia grew at an annualized rate

of 53% reaching an estimated $4.4billion in 2009. This growing flowof capital from India reflects theincreased integration of the twoeconomies and has broughtmany benefits to the UnitedStates, increasing US exports andsupporting tens of thousands ofjobs in the last six years alone.Nuclear Security

The two countries signed amemorandum of understandingthat provides a general frame-work for cooperative activities inworking with India's Global Cen-tre for Nuclear Energy Partner-ship, which India announced atthe 2010 Nuclear Security Sum-mit. In working with India's Cen-tre, the United States will givepriority to discussion of bestpractices on the security ofnuclear material and facilities, de-velopment of internationalnuclear security training cur-ricula and programs, joint out-reach on security issues to theirrespective nuclear industries, andcooperation on other nuclear se-curity activities as mutually de-termined.Deepening Strategic Ties

Renewal of commitment to ex-pand cooperation on strategic is-sues facing the United States andIndia and to deepen and broadenstrategic consultations on coreforeign policy issues of mutualconcern. Such consultations re-inforce Prime Minister Singh'sand President Obama's vision oftransforming the US-India rela-tionship into a true global part-nership that reflects the exten-sive and growing strategic tiesbetween our two countries.US-India Development Collabo-ration in Afghanistan

Close collaboration to assistthe people of Afghanistan byidentifying opportunities to le-verage our relative strengths, ex-perience and resources. The col-laboration will focus on agricul-tural development and women'sempowerment, whereAfghanistan's needs are great.Securing the Air, Sea, and SpaceDomains

The United States and Indiahave launched a dialogue to ex-plore ways to work together, aswell as with other countries, todevelop a shared vision to pro-tect peace, security, and devel-opment to safeguard sea, air andspace, recognizing that in an in-creasingly interconnected world,it is vital to safeguard these ar-eas beyond national jurisdictionto ensure the security and pros-perity of nations.

The two leaders agreedto develop, test, andreplicate transformativetechnologies to extendfood security in India aspart of an ‘EvergreenRevolution.’ Theseefforts build on thehistoric legacy ofcooperation betweenthe United States andIndia during theGreen Revolution

Entrepreneurs representsome of India's mostthoughtful andarticulate minds.Their innovativebusiness solutions arehelping address someof India's most vexingchallenges - such asclean water, power,health care, education- while creating newmarkets for their UStechnology partners

The US is the world'slargest recipient ofForeign Direct Invest-ment (FDI). India isamong the fastestgrowing investors in theUnited States. Over thelast decade, investmentcapital from India grewat an annualized rate of53% reaching anestimated $4.4 billion in2009. This growing flowof capital from Indiareflects the increasedintegration of the twoeconomies


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American Dream fulfils Indian DreamI believe there is no greater tes-

tament to India's enormous ad-vancement, achievement andpromise for the future than thisremarkable paradigm shift." saidSharma. "We will be sharing withfellow panelists and conferees ourperspectives on the Indian Dream,describing our commitment oftime, money and resources butmost significantly we will detailhow we are innovating and suc-ceeding in the energetic Indianmarket. I am very honored to be apart of this historic visit of Presi-dent Barack Obama to India."

Only last month, Sharma andhis wife, Seema, had shared thesethemes of the American Dream,the Indian Dream and technologyinnovation with President Obamapersonally when they hosted himat a dinner at their home inRockville, MD. "We were veryhonored indeed by the President'svisit to our home," said Sharma.

In welcoming the President,Sharma discussed his family's im-migrant background and praisedthe opportunities to be had in theUnited States. Looking forward tothe President's upcoming trip to

India, Sharma had discussed thegoals of his company SAIP, astate-of-the-art renewable energycompany specifically focused onthe Indian market. SAIP will pro-vide clean, renewable energythroughout India while protectingthe environment, providing jobs,

and giving back to the communi-ties it serves. President Obama, inhis remarks that evening reiter-ated the importance of clean en-ergy and praised the applicationof American innovation into thedynamic Indian market.

Sharma further described theexciting story of SAIP in India.SAIP is actively bringing techno-logical innovation to the renew-able energy marketplace in Indiawith maximum impact at a locallevel and net zero carbon emis-sions at a time of significant needfor clean and economically com-petitive sources of energy in In-dia. "We are committed to ener-gizing a Green India that looks tothe future," said Sharma.

On the occasion PresidentBarack Obama said: "We have toremember that as long as we thinktowards the future and not justtowards the present, that Americawill prosper, and that the 21st cen-tury will be the American Century,just as the 20th was. Thank youso much for hosting us and it'swonderful to see all of you.Rajeev and Seema and your won-derful children, thank you for yourextraordinary hospitality."

Using a cutting edge, patentedand proven plasma gasificationand vitrification technology, SAIPconverts all forms of organicwaste into biosynthetic gas,which can produce clean, renew-able electricity or convertsthrough the established Fischer

Tropsch process into bio-fuel."SAIP's clean energy solutions

will deliver value in this greatcountry. By growing togetherwith India and our Indian partners,we are thrilled to contribute toIndia's growing momentum in es-tablishing a stable supply of clean

energy," added Sharma.Currently, SAIP is involved in

the development of several lead-ing-edge green power projects inIndia, both in major urban centersand in rural areas.

In the US, ABSi Corporation is

developing projects of varioussizes and will soon be announc-ing a 245MW project that will con-sume 3000 tons per day of aggre-gated solid waste displacing 6Million tons of carbon per year.The same technology solution isbeing used to develop bio-jetfuelfor British Airways in the UnitedKingdom by SAIP's partner com-pany, the Solena Group. 500,000tons of solid waste will be con-verted into 16 Million gallons ofbio-jet fuel economically, effi-ciently and with the carbon impactequivalent to taking 44,000 carsoff the road for one whole year.Similar agreements are being final-ized with multiple airline carriersin Europe and Asia.

Sharma is also the CEO of ABSibased in Washington, D.C, whichin addition to focusing on the re-newable energy market in the USmarkets is also a global informa-tion and technology solutionscompany. "At our core, we aretechnology innovators. I can as-sure you that there's no market inthe world where we'd rather beright now, and for years to come,than right here in India," saidSharma "for both our energy andcyber security solutions."

Cont’d from page 1

Boeing to start delivery of Dreamlinersto Air India in 2011

NEW DELHI: US aircraft manu-facturer Boeing has said it will startdelivery of '787 Dreamliners' to AirIndia by second quarter of nextyear.

"We have said in July that wewill start the deliveries ofDreamliners to Air India by sec-ond quarter of this year and westand by that," Boeing Indiapresident Dinesh Keskar said.

Air India plans to buy 27 B-787 'Dreamliners' from Boeingwhich are to be delivered inphases.

The B-787s, made of compos-ite materials to make it lighter andmore fuel-efficient than other air-craft, are to be deployed by AirIndia on long-haul sectors likeIndia-US and India-Australia fornon-stop operations.

Keskar said Indian aviationmarket will grow by 15 per centand profitability is increasing inthe sector.

On Boeing's deal with low costcarrier Spicejet for delivery of 30B737 planes, he said it is a goodsign for Indian aviation industrywhich is "coming back to life."

SpiceJet will buy 30 B737planes from Boeing in a deal worthUSD 2.3 billion, which is the partof USD 10 billion business dealsealed during US PresidentBarack Obama's visit in Mumbai.

Keskar said Boeing has a to-tal supply backlog of 100 aircraftto Jet Airways, Air India andSpicejet.

This backlog worth USD 15 bil-lion will be cleared in the next fourto five years, he said. -PTI

Ilyas Kashmiri emerging new Osamabin-Laden: US agencies

WASHINGTON: IlyasKashmiri, the one-eyed rabid anti-India leader of a Pakistan-basedterror group is suspected bycounter-terrorism officials to befast emerging as a new interna-tional jihadist plotter, planningfresh strikes in Europe andAmerica.

Considered the 'world's mostwanted man' by counter terror-ism organizations across threecontinents, the 40-year-oldKashmiri is seen as a terrorsuccessor to Osama BinLaden, CNN reported quotingtop US intelligence officials.

The US TV network said thebearded man, who sports avia-tor style dark glasses is nowmasterminding Mumbai styleattacks in Europe and US, andthreat of these attacks has notsubsided despite leakages ofthe plot, CNN reported.

"He (Kashmiri) may be deter-mined to go ahead with the execu-tion of the plots in spite of leaksand heightened vigil," the net-work said quoting AugustHanning, a former head ofGermany's foreign intelligenceservice.

Kashmiri brands India as hisenemy number one and his groupHarkat-ul-Jehad-Islami was sus-

pected to be behind bombing of apopular bakery in Pune in 2009.But he has made it public that hehas ambitions beyond south Asia,CNN said.

Born in Mirpur in the PoK,Kashmiri was once considered tobe run by the Pakistan's militaryintelligence ISI, but is reported tohave turned rouge to join and form

close relationship with al-Qaeda.Now American and European

security agencies believe thatKashmiri is trying to infiltratehighly trained terrorists into Eu-rope and US to launch coordi-nated Mumbai style attack in cit-ies Paris, Berlin and London, CNNsaid.

The TV network said that asmany as 10,000 foreign fighters

were in Pakistan's tribal territorieswho were been trained to carry outsuicide attacks.

CNN said Kashmiri was a vet-eran jihadist who in early yearsinfiltrated into Kashmir and alsofought Russians in Afghanistan,where he lost his eye.

After falling foul of his ISIsponsors, Kashmiri was arrested

in connection with a plot to as-sassinate Pervez Musharraf in2003, but was strangely re-leased short time later.

The American intelligencebelieves he was part of al-Qaeda core team which plot-ted and carried out the raid onthe CIA base in Khost on Af-ghan-Pak border in which 8 toppersonnel of the agency werekilled.

In a rare interview with AsiaTimes Online last year in northWaziristan, Kashmiri boasted

that Mumbai attacks were noth-ing compared to "what has al-ready been planned for the fu-ture".

CNN said European intelli-gence officials are now anxious"the future" may be imminent andKashmiri who has been pre-scribed "outlaw" by US securityagencies may be directing the newterror strikes.-PTI

Only last month,Sharma and his wife,Seema, had sharedthese themes of theAmerican Dream, theIndian Dream andtechnology innovationwith President Obamapersonally when theyhosted him at a dinnerat their home inRockville, MD

Using a cutting edge,patented and provenplasma gasification andvitrification technology,SAIP converts all formsof organic waste intobiosynthetic gas, whichcan produce clean,renewable electricityor converts throughthe established FischerTropsch processinto bio-fuel

Ilyas Kashmiri


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Indian American scammer in the dock for fleecing oil heirIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: Vickram Bedi whoruns Datalink Computer Services,a computer service business inChappaqua, New York has beenarrested along with this girlfriendHelga Invarsdottir for allegedlydefrauding Latin Grammy winnerand heir to the Schlumberger oilbusiness Roger Davidson of mil-lions of dollars in a bizarre con job.

The accused have been ar-raigned on charges of one countof grand larceny in the first de-gree.

Over a six year period fromAugust 2004 through to October2010, Bedi and Helga, throughtheir business, Datalink ComputerServices, their computer servicebusiness located in Mount Kisco,New York, on a continuing basisextorted money from Davidson,according to the WestchesterCounty Attorney's office.

The victim, a noted pianist andcomposer, is the great-grandsonand great grand-nephew of thetwo brothers who foundedSchlumberger Ltd. the multi-na-tional oilfield services companyheadquartered in Houston, Texaswith offices in Paris, France andThe Hague.

The defendants, acting in con-cert, were able to defraud the vic-tim by fabricating various secu-rity threats and scenarios usingnon existent foreign nationals andfalse affiliations with governmentintelligence agencies to further thesecurity schemes. They also in-

stilled the fear of bodily harm tothe victim, his family and the de-struction of the victim's life'swork: computers containing vari-ous musical compositions.

The scheme commenced inAugust 2004, when Davidson'scomputer developed a virus. Con-cerned that documents, photosand more importantly the musiche had written and had stored onthe computer could be lost, hetook the computer to Bedi's pre-mises to have it repaired. Bediconfirmed that the computer hada virus and indicated that the vi-rus was extremely virulent and hadalso damaged Datalink's comput-ers.

Bedi told Davidson that he hadthe facility, the contacts, and themeans of tracking down thesource of this virus that specifi-cally targeted his computer and

that he and his family were in gravedanger. As a result, Bedi con-vinced the victim to not only be-gin paying for computer data re-trieval and security, but also tobegin paying for necessary per-sonal physical protection.

Bedi subsequently advisedDavidson that he successfullytracked the source of the com-puter virus to a remote village inHonduras, and informed him thatthe hard drive was the source ofthe worm that had invaded the

computer. Bedi then apparentlyadvised Davidson that his(Bedi's) uncle, who Bedi con-tended is an officer in the Indianmilitary, flew to Honduras in an

Indian military aircraft during areconnaissance mission and ob-tained the hard drive.

Bedi further related that hisuncle obtained information thatPolish priests affiliated with OpusDei were attempting to possiblyharm Davidson. Opus Dei is theorganization that found notorietythrough Dan Brown's bestsellingbook the Da Vinci Code.

Bedi also advised Davidsonthat the Central IntelligenceAgency had subcontracted withBedi to perform work which wouldprevent any attempts by the Pol-ish priests associated with OpusDei to infiltrate the US govern-ment.

Over this period Datalinkcharged the victim's American Ex-press card accounts on a continu-

ing and monthly basis, resultingof a larceny of more than six mil-lion dollars.

In July of 2010, the HarrisonPolice Department became in-volved when interested partiescontacted them regarding a civilmatter relating to the investiga-tion.

The Harrison Police Depart-ment and the Organized CrimeBureau of the District Attorney'sOffice were the primary investigat-ing agencies, with assistancefrom the Mount Kisco and NewCastle Police Departments.

Bedi and Helga were arrestedby Harrison Police Department attheir home as they were prepar-ing to leave the country.

"As is charged in the com-plaint, these two defendantspreyed upon, duped and exploitedthe fears of this victim with coldcalculation and callousness," saidDistrict Attorney Janet DiFioreafter the defendant's were ar-raigned. "The systematic methodwith which they continued the lar-ceny over a period of more thansix years is nothing short of heart-less."

Bail was set at $5 million bondover $3 million cash for each ofthe two defendants.

Both defendants were orderedto surrender their passports. Tem-porary orders of protection in fa-vor of the victim have been issued.

Their next court date in MountKisco Village Court is scheduledfor Dec 2, 2010.

If convicted, the accused facea maximum of eight and one thirdto twenty five years in stateprison.

Assistant District AttorneySteven Vandervelden, Chief of theOrganized Crime and Criminal En-terprise Bureau, is prosecutingthe case.

Vickram Bedi and Helga Ingvarsdottir met President Barack Obama at a

Democratic fundraiser in Manhattan

Chavan sworn-in as Maharashtra CMMUMBAI: Congress leader

Prithviraj Chavan was sworn-in aschief minister of Maharashtra andNCP's Ajit Pawar his deputy.

Outgoing deputy chief minis-ter Chhagan Bhujbal, R R Patil,Ganesh Naik, Jayant Patil, LaxmanDhoble, Jaidutt Kshirsagar andSunil Tatkare were among the oth-ers who also took oath of officeand secrecy at a function held atRaj Bhawan.

Governor K Sankaranarayananadministered the oath of officeand secrecy.

Outgoing chief minister AshokChavan, who was forced to quitover his alleged role in the Adarshhousing scam and Union ministerVilasrao Deshmukh, were alsopresent.

Earlier, 64-year-old PrithvirajChavan visited 'Varsha', the offi-cial residence of his predecessorin south Mumbai.

On the other hand, NCP chiefSharad Pawar held discussionswith his nephew Ajit, 51, on com-position of the NCP ministry list.

Soon after being sworn-in, the

technocrat-politician Chavan saidhis government's topmost prior-ity would be to make Maharashtrathe most developed state in thecountry.

"My government will try tomake Maharashtra the No. 1 de-veloped state in the country," hetold reporters.

"Being entrusted with this job

is a big honor for me.The party has entrusted me

with the responsibility and I willcarry that out ably," he said.

In his comments, Ajit Pawar said,"The party has given me a very bigresponsibility and I will strive for atransparent administration.

"I will give justice to all regionsin the state," Pawar said.-PTI

Bedi and Helga werearrested by HarrisonPolice Department attheir home as theywere preparing toleave the country.‘As is charged in thecomplaint, these twodefendants preyedupon, duped andexploited the fears ofthis victim with coldcalculation and cal-lousness,’ said DistrictAttorney Janet DiFioreafter the defendant'swere arraigned

Prithviraj Chavan with PM Manmohan Singh


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Tendulkar named ambassadorfor World Cup 2011

DUBAI: Iconic Indian batsmanSachin Tendulkar, who is set tobecome only the second player inthe history of cricket to play sixODI World Cups, has been namedthe official ambassador of theevent to be held in the sub-conti-nent next year.

Tendulkar will be called uponto promote and support a varietyof ICC initiatives for the tourna-ment, which is the third biggestsporting event inthe world and willtake place inBangladesh, Indiaand Sri Lankafrom February 19to April 2 nextyear, the ICC saidin a statement.

"There are just100 days to go andI am really lookingforward to playingin another CricketWorld Cup," saidTendulkar, who willjoin Pakistan'sJaved Miandad asthe only other player to take part insix World Cups.

"In terms of limited-overscricket, the ICC Cricket World Cupis the highest level you can playso it is always a thrill to take partin such an important and widelyfollowed event.

"The fact that the 2011 eventwill be staged here in the sub-con-tinent makes it even more specialfor me and I am keen to ensure weplay well. As a team we would bedoing everything we can to winthe world cup on home soil," headded.

ICC Chief Executive HaroonLorgat said the governing body

was lucky to get the support of aplayer of Tendulkar's stature.

"We are very lucky to havesuch an extraordinary player asSachin supporting our flagshipevent.

"I don't think any other playerhas inspired a nation like he hasand the respect and affection heenjoys goes way beyond his na-tive India. Many other athletesand sports fans around the globe

admire what he consistentlyachieves and what he does forcricket," Lorgat said.

Throughout his two-decadelong career, Tendulkar has in-spired millions of cricket loversaround the world with his skill,temperament and love for thegame.

Since making his debut for In-dia in 1989 at the tender age of 16,he has scored more internationalruns than anyone else in historywhile also adhering faithfully tothe spirit of cricket.

Tendulkar has scored 14,292runs in 172 Tests, while amassing17,598 in 442 ODIs.-PTI

Sachin Tendulkar

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ke Moon, United Nations General Assembly President

M. Joseph Deiss and Indiaís UN Ambassador†Hardeep Puri†lightning the lamp to celebrate

Diwali†at United Nations in NY on Nov 4. Pics Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia

Secretary General Ban Ke Moon with other dignitaries at the Diwali Celebrations

Obama's visit aided in breakingmyths about Indian IT: Mittal

BANGALORE: US PresidentBarack Obama's just concludedvisit has helped in breaking mythsand stereotyping of India as"stealing jobs", apex IT industrybody NASSCOM said here.

The biggest takeway ofObama's visit was that it wouldaid "changing perspectives"about India stealing jobs or beinga call centre country. "It is also a

learning for us of what we need todo ahead and how we need towork with partnering with compa-nies", NASSCOM president SomMittal said on the sidelines of aProduct Conclave.

Seeking to assuage fearsamong Americans, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh during Obama'svisit this weak had said that Indiawas not in the business of steal-ing jobs from the US andoutsourcing was raising produc-tivity in America.

Mittal said Obama's visit wasnot just about signing deals, butabout around 200 CEOs of com-panies interacting with business,expressing themselves and talk-

ing about what they did and howthey saw India as a market and asa destination.

It also helped making India vis-ible globally. "Obama has done agreat job for our industry". Hepositioned India as a market, as aplace that has emerged. "I thinkword would have gone out to ev-eryone", he said.

"It is now to be seen in weeks,

months to follow how all this isgetting translated into real action,into real attitude change on bothsides", he said.

He said though NASSCOM asa trade body did not have a directinteraction with the US President,its members were well repre-sented in the CEO forum.

On whether the visit had al-layed fears of the Indian IT in-dustry, he said, "I think yes, thereis more work to do.

There is much better realiza-tion, that we are adding value".

There was also a message thatthe stereotypes and myths haveto be broken and that it was a"two-way traffic". India needed

to open and they were openingup and vice versa.

To a question whether the in-dustry sought to ensure a moreinclusive policy going forward,Mittal said that an indication hadbeen made through the Presidentand Prime Minister ManmohanSingh's statement.

"I think, it was part of govern-ment discussion. Both are com-

mitted to protectionism not be-ing way forward and open mar-kets will lead the way."

He said the Prime Minister'sstatement that India was notstealing jobs sent out a message.So did comments of some com-panies like Boeing and GE thatwere winning export deals andcreating jobs back in the US be-cause their design work wasdone here, cutting down on thetime cycle.

"India as a market and India asa place to leverage global talent iswell established", he said.

"But we have to ensure that ourperspective goes down tograssroot as well", he said. -PTI

Som Mittal

The Prime Minister'sstatement that Indiawas not stealing jobssent out a message. Sodid comments of somecompanies like Boeingand GE that werewinning export dealsand creatingjobs back in the US

UN Chief at Diwali celebrations


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Senator Menendez supportsIndia for UNSC

for adding India to an expandedUnited Nations Security Council,echoing a statement made byPresident Obama in New Delhi. Ina statement released Nov 8,Menendez said: "India is theworld's second most populousnation, a key economic player andvital to the stability of an impor-tant region. Simply put, India is acritical nation for global security,and it makes eminent sense to in-clude it on the short list of nationsthat should have a permanent seaton an expanded Security Council.President Obama's endorsementof India not only recognizes itsrole on the international stage butis also a logical move to enhanceglobal and American security bygiving a stronger voice to one ofour close allies."


NEW YORK: US Senator Rob-ert Menendez (D-NJ), a memberof the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee, signaled his support

US-India sign agreement tostudy Indian monsoon

India says Myanamar policyin national interest


NEW YORK: The UnitedStates and India entered into anAgreement on 'Technical Coop-eration for Study of DynamicalSeasonal Prediction of IndianSummer Monsoon Rainfall'.

It will deliver a useful coupledocean-atmospheric general circu-lation model to predict Indiansummer monsoon rainfall. The co-operation will enhance currentunderstanding of coupled ocean-atmosphere monsoon system overIndia and will be useful for futurestudies and model improvements.

The main objective of theAgreement is to develop throughdynamical weather predictionmodels a fuller understanding ofthe Indian monsoon and associ-ated precipitation characteristics.The nodal agencies for implemen-tation are Ministry of Earth Sci-ences, Government of India andNational Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration (NOAA),US Department.

A "Monsoon Desk" is beingset up at National Center for En-vironmental Prediction (NCEP) ofNational Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration (NOAA)to focus on and coordinate all ac-

tivities for India's monsoon-re-lated work including "MonsoonMission". This desk will coordi-nate numerical model simulationsand diagnostics between NCEP ofNOAA and Indian Institute of

Tropical Meteorology and IndiaMeteorological Department ofMinistry of Earth Sciences. Dur-ing Monsoon 2011 Indian and USscientists will work jointly for itspredictions utilizing a globalmodel at resolution of 28 Km inhorizontal and 64 levels in the ver-tical. A probabilistic outlook willbe provided for a two week pe-riod using ensemble approach.

The Government of India willprovide 2.4 crore rupees over aperiod of five years for activitiesassociated with establishmentand maintenance of "MonsoonDesk" and USA Government willprovide $100,000 per annum tocover deficit that may not be fullycovered through Government ofIndia funding.

The term of the Agreement isof five years. Dr Shailesh Nayak,Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sci-ences, Government of India andDr. Jane Lubchenco, Administra-tor, National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration were sig-natories from the USA side.

NEW DELHI: A day after Presi-dent Barack Obama talked aboutthe need for New Delhi to takehard position on human rightsviolation in Myanmar, India saidit was not in a "bargaining game"with the US on UN Security Coun-cil membership and its policy was

"propelled" by national and geo-political interest.

Maintaining that Obama's en-dorsement on UNSC is an "ex-plicit political" statement of "un-equivocal" support, notwith-standing his advice on Iran andMyanmar, sources said there wasno price to be paid for being onthe high table.

"I don't think one should see it

as a bargaining game, the US andIndia are playing. There are occa-sions when some times our posi-tions have coincided with that ofthe US.

"Our stand is propelled by ournational and geopolitical inter-est," sources said.

The feeling in governmentcircles assume significance in thecontext of the remarks by Obamawhile endorsing India's case forUNSC membership that increasedpower comes with increased re-sponsibility. In the same vein, theUS President had linked India'sstand on Myanmar and sanctionsagainst Iran and that it should notshy away from taking a hard standon these issues.

Sources said India does notneed to be so prickly as it is allabout friendship and these areterms of engagement.

In friendship one should beable to speak frankly one's mind.They also noted that in diplo-macy, everything is not alwaysblack and white as there areshades of grey in between, theysaid.

However, responding to an-other question, sources said onehas to be "brain-dead" or "oblivi-ous" to the situation India has toface considering it has a long bor-

der of 1600 KM with Myanmarand has security problems of in-surgency in the north-east whichit has to deal with.

Another angle to this is "huge"neighbor to our north wanting tobe an active player in Myanmar.

Welcoming US decision to liftthe ban on export controls relat-ing to dual-use items, New Delhisaid removal of Indian entities likeISRO, DRDO and BDL will pavethe way for "unimpeded flow" ofhigh-technology from that coun-try. PTI

Obama kept support for India'sUNSC bid secret till last

WASHINGTON: US PresidentBarack Obama kept his endorse-ment of India's bid for a perma-nent membership of the UN Secu-rity Council secret till minutes be-fore he rose to address the IndianParliament, as his move wassplashed on front pages of Ameri-can newspapers.

"Obama had kept the moveclose to his chest even till the lastmoment and it was not clear untilshortly before his parliamentaryaddress that Obama would call for

India to join an expanded councilon a permanent basis," The Wash-ington Post reported.

The support received endorse-ment from the media too whichviewed it as a move to counter China.

The papers, who carriedObama's support announced in aspeech in the Indian Parliament onthe front pages, said that it em-phasized Washington's efforts todeepen its economic and defenserelationship with the world's big-gest democracy.

While backing the President'smove, the Post cautioned that en-dorsement does not set a timeframe for when India would securea permanent Security Councilseat. Nor does it offer any guar-antee that India would securesuch a seat.

The New York Times on theother hand said that Obamabacked India for the UNSC tocounter China. "The Obamamove is aimed at counteringChina." -PTI

KOREAN HUG: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warmly welcomed by the

President of South Korea Lee Myung-bak, at the welcome reception of

G-20 Summit, at National Museum, in Seoul, South Korea on November 11

The Government ofIndia will provide 2.4crore rupees over aperiod of five years foractivities associatedwith establishment andmaintenance of ‘Mon-soon Desk’ and USAGovernment will pro-vide $100,000 per an-num to cover deficit

One has to be ‘brain-dead’ or ‘oblivious’ tothe situation India hasto face considering ithas a long border of1600 KM withMyanmar and hassecurity problems ofinsurgency


November 19, 201010

India Post www.indiapost.com November 19, 2010

COMMUNITYACROSS AMERICA

Details on page 19

12

Desi News

Details on page 14

Details on page 16

Details on page 18

Non-stop AI flight from Chicago;a Diwali bonanza

Indian Consul General Mukta Tomar cutting ribbon accompanied by Mayor

Aide to her right. Also seen in the picture are Jude Crasto, Manager Air India

Midwest, Katherine Thorat, Sunny Thomas and others

A.Q. SIDDIQUI


CHICAGO: Air India's first non-stop flight to India from Chicagotook off just as the Diwali auspi-cious week began for IndianAmerican community in Midwest.The event was celebrated atO'Hare airport terminal 5 by AirIndia's local office and airport staffamidst cheerful greetings by dis-tinguished guests, aviation offi-cials and travel agents.

The Indian Consul General inChicago Mrs Mukta Dutta Tomarcut the inaugural ribbon in front ofAir India's First & Business Classcheck-in counters at the O'Hare air-port. Jude Crasto, Manager Air In-dia Chicago, Katherine Thorat Dis-trict Sales Manager, Airport Man-ager Thomas Sunny and othersjoined the inaugural ceremony.

The event was witnessed bymany Air India passengers whowere eagerly waiting for the firstcheck-in for Air India's first non-stop flight from Chicago.

Soon after the inaugural cer-emony, the Air India team led thelocal media persons and travelagents to the departure gatewhere formal inauguration an-nouncement was made by Man-ager Jude Crasto. Welcoming the

guests, Jude Crasto briefly spokeabout Air India Chicago opera-tions and said the first non-stopflight from Chicago to India is go-

ing to be the fastest route for trav-elers to India. Air India non-stopflight leaving Chicago at 2.45 pmwill land at 5.05pm next day in Delhiand will reach passengers to most

Indian cities within hours. For thefirst time Hyderabad passengersleaving from Chicago will be reach-ing home at 8.15pm next day.

Passengers for Ahmedabad willland at 8.20pm. All passengers trav-eling to Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,Cochin, Kolkota, Bangalore andChennai will have the customs and

immigration at the destination air-port and will be reaching much be-fore mid-night of next day. Air Indiais now much ahead of other airlinesreaching passengers to all Indiancities within shorter flying time.

Indian Consul General MrsTomar congratulated Air India lo-cal team and Indian Americancommunity for the nationalcarrier's first ever non-stop flightfrom Chicago. She remarked thenew operation will be a popularchoice soon. Jean Lee, the admin-istrative officer from ChicagoMayor's office read a message ofgood wishes from Mayor RichardDaley. A cake ceremony followednear the departure gate.

The new non-stop Air Indiaflight from Chicago is already thefirst choice by many travelers fromMidwest. Many passengers atcheck-in counter and departuregate were happy to travel Air In-dia non-stop and expressed satis-faction that the new flight will bemost comfortable and the fastestway to reach home. The choicestIndian cuisines on board Air Indiaflight will be another attraction fortravelers to India. The beginningof Air India non-stop flight to In-dia from Chicago added to the fes-tive occasion of Diwali for Mid-west Indian Americans.

Sikhs oppose additional turban search at airportsIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: In keeping withthe constantly evolving airportsecurity rules, the TransportationSecurity Administration (TSA) re-cently informed representatives ofSikh advocacy groups that Sikhswould be subjected to a manda-tory turban search at all Americanairports.

Early last month, TSA officialstold representatives of UnitedSikhs, the Sikh Coalition, and theSikh American Legal Defense andEducation Fund (SALDEF) thatSikhs should now expect turbansto always be searched at Ameri-can airports.

While procedures which allowSikhs to pat down their own tur-bans and have their hands

swabbed by a TSA screener shallremain in place, what has changedis that Sikhs must go through anadditional hand wand scan of theturban as an extra screening pro-cedure 100% of the time. This istrue for Sikh travelers who volun-tarily choose to be screened by

going through the new AdvancedImaging Technology (AIT) ma-chines. The AIT machines (other-wise known as whole body imag-ing machines) are being placed in

airports nationwide over the com-ing years.

The Sikh advocacy groups,which oppose this policy andquestion its necessity, say, target-ing turbans for additional scrutinysends a message to other passen-gers that Sikhs and their articles

of faith are to be viewed with sus-picion by fellow travelers. "Thepolicy is a serious infringement onour civil rights and liberties," theysaid in a joint statement.

For all Sikh travelers, the Sikhorganizations have issued adviso-ries on what to expect at the air-ports:

Air travel checkpoints in theUnited States employ differentscreening technologies. Whilemost checkpoints only have metaldetectors, many airports are nowinstalling AIT machines. The AITmachines are new whole body im-aging devices that will be installedin every airport in the UnitedStates over the coming years.

According to the TSA, regard-less of whether a Sikh clears themetal detector or the new AIT ma-chines, they will still have to gothrough an additional procedure inwhich their turban will be checkedfor non-metallic items.

Cont’d on page 13

Bridal Expofacilitates launchof 'Success'

NEERAJ SOPARAWALA

CHICAGO: Inspirational booksand the reflections of success gu-rus, which provoke and enlarge theinner self, have been influential inmoving people toward success.Now, those who seek success inall aspects of life will have a sub-stantial new tool in learning andapplying the secrets behind truesuccess.

Vishwas Mahale, a Chicago-based author, is releasing histrailblazing book "The Success"in Hardcover & eBook format.Internet users from all over theworld will be able to purchase thehardcover book and eBook read-ers will be able to instantly down-load this thought provoking bookthrough internet devices like iPad,iPhone, Amazon Kindle and so on.

Parivar holdsmotivational familycelebrationsAsian Media USA

MOUNT PROSPECT, IL: Parivar,an organization dedicated to thewell being of South Asian familiesin North America, held a luncheonat the Bristol Court Banquet Hallsin Mount Prospect recently.

Over 150 individuals attendedthe event to hear motivationalspeaker and acclaimed authorKendra Smiley speak. Accordingto Executive Director Sam George,"The Asian Indian community inthe United States has done exceed-ingly well academically, profession-ally and hence financially, butrelationally we are bankrupt".

Punjab arrest ofSikh leaderscondemnedIndia Post News Service

NEW YORK: "Sikhs For Jus-tice" (SFJ), a US based humanrights advocacy group, hasstrongly condemned the "illegaldetention" of Sikh leaders, KACConvener Bhai Mohkam Singh,Dal Khalsa leaders HarcharanjitSingh Dhami and Kanwarpal SinghBittu, Baba Baljit Singh Daduwal,AISSF President Karnail SinghPeermohammad, Harpal SinghCheema, Kulbeer Singh Barapind,Jasvir Singh Khandur, SantokhSingh Salana, Harpreet SinghDadheri, Devinder Singh Sodhi(AISSF) and other human rightactivists.

Fremont Templecelebrates theFestival of Lights

Many passengers at check-in counter anddeparture gate were happy to travel Air Indianon-stop and expressed satisfaction that thenew flight will be most comfortable and thefastest way to reach home

What has changed is that Sikhs must gothrough an additional hand wand scan ofthe turban as an extra screeningprocedure 100% of the time

November 19, 2010 India PostCommunity Across Americawww.indiapost.com

13

During this second screening procedure,a Sikh will have a choice of either: a pat-down of their turban by a TSA screener;patting down their own turban and havingtheir hand swabbed for traces of chemicalexplosives; or requesting a private screen-ing (in a room outside of public view) oftheir turban.

In addition, after this extra screening ofthe turban, a third screening procedure (un-der AIT screening policies) will subjectSikhs to a metal detecting wand that will bescanned over the turban.

Under current procedures, a Sikh can al-ways ask that they pat down their own tur-ban rather than have a screener pat it down.

If a Sikh traveler opts out of the AITscreening, they will immediately be sub-

jected to a full body (rigorous) pat-downby a TSA official plus a hand wand screen-ing. If one is asked to undergo a full-bodypat down, he/she has the right to ask forthis screening to occur in a private room orother setting away from the rest of the trav-

eling public.The TSA's rationale about its stringency

with the turban search is that it considers aturban as "non form-fitting," and thereforemore capable of concealing dangerous items

than other forms of clothing. The TSA alsosays that its new AIT machines cannot seethrough the folds of a turban to determine ifit is concealing a dangerous item.

Questioning this rationale, the Sikh or-ganizations say that first, the Department

of Homeland Security's own website statesthat the AIT machines are capable of screen-ing threat items "concealed under layers ofclothing." Second, on Christmas Day 2009,a person was able to smuggle explosives

onto a plane headed to the United States inhis undergarments. If explosives can beconcealed in undergarments, all garmentsshould be targeted for extra scrutiny, notjust turbans.

Going forward, each of the Sikh organi-zations says it would continue to opposethis unjust policy. "We will call upon Sikhsin the coming weeks to communicate di-rectly with the TSA and their members ofCongress," they say.

"Each one of our organizations are alsoaware that the Sikh American community isas invested in the national security of theUnited States as any other community. Nev-ertheless, the TSA cannot target turbansfor extra scrutiny without cause. We willcontinue to vigorously question the neces-sity of this policy given the weak rationalespresented for it."

Sikhs oppose additional turban search at airportsCont’d from page 12

AI Chicago leapfrogs business to India


CHICAGO: Stiff competitionamong airlines notwithstanding,Air India operating from Chicagoto most Indian cities has been do-ing extremely well, judging fromthe support that it has been gen-erating from passengers and travelagents alike.

Partly to recognize the roleplayed by Air India consolidatorsand travel agents in Midwest, AirIndia Chicago office hosted anaward distribution event atAshyana Banquet hall inDowners' Grove, a south westsuburb of Chicago. It was at-tended by 130 plus members oftravel fraternity and guests.Among the VIPs were ChitraSarkar, head North America opera-tions, Sunil Krishen, executive Di-rector south region, H.J Mehtajiregional finance Manager USACanada besides of course, theChicago chief Jude Crasto, SunnyThomas, Katherine Thorat, Palkar,Indian Consul Vishwas Sakpal, Dr.Satya Ahuja and others.

In a talk to this paper, ChitraSarkar said that Air India was andis the primary choice of travelersgoing to India and it is committedto retain this position in comingyears as well. The newly built DelhiAirport will be the most modernfacility of its type in Asia and it

would be the main hub of Air In-dia operations for internationalflights. Initial teething problemswould be there but soon every-thing would be normalized and thetravelers going to inner cities likeMumbai, Hyderabad and

Ahmedabad would be rest as-sured of easy and fast connec-tions, she said.

Elaborating Sunil Kishen saidthat Air India would increase thenumber of 777 Boeing aircraft inthe next few years by about six toseven and that the managementwould consider having direct nonstop flights to other cities, includ-ing Mumbai. In fact, it has alreadydecided that the same 777 aircraftthat flies to Delhi would go toHyderabad.

"The passengers would not obe changing the plane," he said.This should help Air India facingstiff competition from other airlin-ers like British Airways that fliesdirect to Hyderabad from Londonor other European destinations. Hesaid the management would soonconsider extending the same facili-ties to passengers going toAhmedabad. "For Mumbai, therecould be a direct non-stop flightin the foreseeable future," he said

Chitra Sarkar said that the deci-sion would be taken after the ex-pansion and rehabbing of the

Mumbai airport, "but then there isa distinct possibility now." SunilKrishen added that Air Indiawould also be adding 787 BoeingDreamliner for improving andstrengthening its fleet.

J. Bhagat, head of Consolida-tor Krisby Travel was elated andsaid that they could multiply theirbusiness with Air India with directnon-stop flight to cities likeMumbai or straight no planechange connection toAhmedabad. The Air India Mid-west management headed by JudeCrasto then recognized andawarded certificates to Consolida-tors who topped the list in chan-neling business to Air India. AirTours headed by Mafat Pateltopped the list for 08 and 09.

Air India US Canada chief Chitra Sarkar (third from left ) with L to R.

Dr. Satya Ahuja, H.J. Mehtaji, Chitra, Mafat Patel, Sunil Kishen and Air India

Midwest Chief Jude Crasto

Chitra Sarkar with Katherine Thorat, Air India Sales Officer

Chitra Sarkar with Umesh Patel of Sky Bird.

The TSA's rationale about its stringency with the turbansearch is that it considers a turban as "non form-fitting," andtherefore more capable of concealing dangerous itemsthan other forms of clothing. The TSA also says that its newAIT machines cannot see through the folds of a turban

Chitra Sarkar said thatAir India was and isthe primary choice oftravelers going toIndia and it is com-mitted to retain thisposition in comingyears as well

November 19, 2010India Post Community Across Americawww.indiapost.com

14

'Spotlight on Hinduism' dispelsmisconceptions


NEW YORK: A novel educationalprogram, 'Spotlight on Hinduism' heldat the Drake Tech Centre in FortCollins, Colorado, Nov 5, celebratedthe Hindu 'festival of lights', Diwali,with many from Fort Collins and sur-rounding areas thronging to attendthe event held to create awarenessabout Hinduism.

The program was inauguratedby the Fort Collins Mayor, DougHutchinson, who shared the im-portance of not just tolerance, butof 'proactive inclusion' of themyriad cultures like Hinduism inFort Collins, to enrich the City'sdiversity.

Meant to be a part of the 'Cul-ture Classroom' initiative by theCity of Fort Collins' Human Rela-tions Commission (HRC) hostedat the Fort Collins Council Cham-bers, the program was attended bypeople from as far away as Den-ver, despite a last minute venueand time change.

The Spotlight on Hinduism,compered by Kate Anderson, a

World Literature Professor atColorado State University, in-cluded a presentation by a localHindu, Maya Jairam on 'Growingup in America and embracingHindu Spirituality' and a presen-tation by Forum for HinduAwakening's Bhavna Shinde

Hurley on 'Understanding, livingand preserving Hinduism'. Thepresentations, in a light and en-gaging manner, highlighted thechallenges faced by Hindus grow-

ing up in America, what it meansto be a Hindu, the unique spiritualscience underlying Hinduism con-cepts and the answers Hinduismholds out for problems at indi-vidual and society level.

Attendees listened with inter-est and participated wholeheart-edly in the spiritual experimentcomparing an accurate depictionof Shiva, a revered Deity in Hin-duism, and His denigrated depic-tion as a puppet. They asked prac-tical questions on the meaning ofvarious Hindu practices, scripturesand views on some of the conflictsfaced by the world today.

There was much interest incontinuing education on HinduSpirituality. The Spotlight on Hin-duism received much support inthe form of donation of time, re-sources, refreshments and host-ing of the panelists, from FortCollins and surrounding area Hin-dus and businesses, and con-cluded with the recitation of aHindu Holy verse for mutual un-derstanding to enhance learningabout Hindu Dharma.

Diwali celebrations at PrincetonUniversity


NEW JERSEY: Continuing witha tradition that began two yearsago, Diwali will be marked with acelebration and worship servicethis year too in the Princeton Uni-versity Chapel. The event is freeand open to the public.

The Diwali celebration ishosted by the University's Officeof Religious Life and organizedby the University's Hindu LifeProgram. This year's celebrationbuilds on similar observancesheld for the past two years. Thecelebration held in 2008 markedthe first time an official Diwaliservice was held in the chapel.

A harvest festival often con-sidered the Hindu New Year andthe most important holiday on theHindu calendar, Diwali will be ob-served with devotional music, sa-cred readings, classical Indiandance and a traditional Hinduworship service.

The worship service at thechapel will feature University stu-dents, faculty and staff, as wellas local Princeton residents andmembers of the broader Indiancommunity in New Jersey.

Vineet Chander, Coordinatorfor Hindu life at Princeton andmain organizer of the celebration,said that all are welcome to attendthe event and organizers hope

that this year's celebration willalso serve as an exploration ofcross-cultural collaboration.

"This year we've made 'Eastmeets West' the theme of Diwaliat the Chapel," Chander said."One of the things that we're most

excited about is the opportunityfor guests to experience a harmo-nizing of Hindu traditions andritual and Western influenced artform. The celebration honors theroots of Diwali, and at the same

time recognizes that the spirit ofthe holiday can find new expres-sion when we expand our hori-zons."

To that end, the celebrationfeatures collaborations among in-ternationally-acclaimed worldmusic groups Gaura Vani & TheMayapuris and the PrincetonUniversity Chapel Choir.

This will be the first time thechoir, who will be singing an origi-nal composition that draws fromboth Indian and European musi-cal styles, will participate in aHindu event on campus. In a simi-lar spirit, Bala DeviChandrashekar, the artist in resi-dence at the University's Carl A.Fields Center for Equality and Cul-tural Understanding, will performa dance drama that pairs classicalIndian dance form with a compo-sition by Tchaikovsky.

The event also will include de-votional performances by stu-dents who study Indian classicalmusic and dance.

While the chapel was foundedas a Presbyterian house of wor-ship, it has since grown to be-come "a truly ecumenical and in-ter-religious worship space" forstudents and the wider Princetoncommunity, as described on thewebsite for the University's reli-gious life office.

Bridal Expo facilitateslaunch of 'Success'

NEERAJ SOPARAWALA

CHICAGO: Inspirational booksand the reflections of success gu-rus, which provoke and enlarge theinner self, have been influential inmoving people toward success.Now, those who seek success inall aspects of life will have a sub-stantial new tool in learning andapplying the secrets behind truesuccess.

Vishwas Mahale, a Chicago-based author, is releasing histrailblazing book "TheSuccess" in Hardcover& eBook format. Internetusers from all over theworld will be able to pur-chase the hardcoverbook and eBook readerswill be able to instantlydownload this thoughtprovoking bookthrough internet deviceslike iPad, iPhone, Ama-zon Kindle and so on.

"The Success" be-sides being classed asmotivational book, con-tains some of the beststrategies for attainingSuccess, reflecting decades of ex-perience gained by the author, pro-viding a quick, authentic, working

approach to attaining true suc-cess.

In a talk to this paper during aBridal Exposition hosted byWaterford Banquet and IndiaHouse Restaurant at Elmhurst,

Vishwas Mahale, said, "I am verypleased to announce the launchof my Book, The Success. My aimis to make it available to the maxi-mum number of people possible. Ihave noticed that the Internet isthe best medium, allowing imme-diate access to people from all overthe world."

He further said, "The addedadvantage to me is the socialcause attached with this launch-a

portion of each sale will go forfunding a facility in Shirdi, a bur-geoning city near Nashik-

Kopergaon, for unprivileged chil-dren which will provide them withfood, clothes and education. I'mlooking forward to it becoming ahuge success."

Author Vishwas MahaleThe book 'Success'

Maharja Farm owner Bill

Pritesh Gandhi, host for the Bridal Expo, offering details to visitors

Cont’d on page 16Cont’d on page 18

The program wasinaugurated by theFort Collins Mayor,Doug Hutchinson, whoshared the impor-tance of not just toler-ance, but of 'proactiveinclusion' of themyriad cultures likeHinduism in FortCollins, to enrich theCity's diversity

‘One of the things thatwe're most excitedabout is the opportu-nity for guests to expe-rience a harmonizingof Hindu traditionsand ritual and West-ern influenced artform. The celebrationhonors the roots ofDiwali, and at thesame time recognizesthat the spirit of theholiday can find newexpression when weexpand our horizons’


15

Saldef night of culture, celebration, achievementIndia Post News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C: On Octo-ber 16th, the Sikh American LegalDefense Education Fund(SALDEF) held its National Galain Washington, D.C. Joined byover 250 guests, government offi-cials, awardees and supportersfrom across the country, the eventhighlighted Saldef's accomplish-ments and recognized those whohave contributed to the SikhAmerican community's progressand strengthened civil rights inthe United States.

The keynote speaker at thisyear's Gala was US Assistant At-torney General Tom Perez. Mr.Perez was unable to attend due toa family emergency. His remarkswere delivered by SamuelBagenstos, Principal Deputy As-sistant Attorney General for civilrights. In his remarks, Mr. Perezstated, "The Sikh commitment tosocial justice, an integral part ofyour faith, should be a lesson toall Americans." Additional speak-ers at the Gala included PaulMonteiro from the White House'sOffice of Public Engagement andMargo Schlanger, Head of theDepartment of HomelandSecurity's Office of Civil Rights andCivil Liberties.

At the Gala, Saldef announceda unique collaborative partnershipwith the D.C.-based Kaur Foun-dation to combat school bullying.Saldef's Chairman Manjit Singhannounced the new School Out-reach initiative in his address tothe evening Gala. "A lack of aware-ness and familiarity about Sikhs isthe root cause of the bullying andharassment that Sikh children facein the American schools today.The only way to stem this epi-demic for Sikh children is to teach

R-L: Samuel Bagenstos - Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Paul

Montiero - White House Office of Public Engagement, Margo Schlanger - DHS

office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and Surjit Singh Saund

R-L: Chairman Manjit Singh and Awardee Wade Henderson, Matharu Family and Board Member

Kavneet Singh, Board Member Mirin Kaur and Awardee KP Singh, Awardees Ravitej and Navneet

Kaur with Board Member Harminder Singh.

about Sikhs in school social stud-ies and world religion classes. Weare pleased to partner with KaurFoundation for their proven pro-gram and exceptional materials tolaunch this initiative and bring

awareness about Sikhs to publicschools across the country," saidSingh.

Jasjit Singh, Saldef AssociateExecutive Director, presented asummary of the year's challengesand victories. "Not since immedi-ately after 9/11 has our community

faced so many challenges - schoolbullying, racial profiling, hatecrimes, employment discriminationto name a few." Despite these ob-stacles, he highlighted signs ofprogress for the community andrecent Saldef campaigns, includ-ing reversing an 87-year old banon religious garb in Oregon pub-lic schools, driver's license pho-tograph issues, training law en-

forcement, holding public officialsaccountable and Saldef's contin-ued efforts to monitor the media.

Saldef recognized WadeHenderson of the LeadershipConference on Civil and HumanRights (LCCR), the nation's pre-mier civil rights coalition, with theDorothy Height Coalition Building

Award. Mr. Henderson reflected onSALDEF's contribution to thepost-9/11 era, "In the fourteenyears that you've been in existence,SALDEF has made a huge differ-ence. It takes the hottest fire tomake the strongest steel. You arestronger today because you haveresponded [to 9/11 backlash] in adirect and forthright way."

The Dalip Singh Saund Legis-lative Leadership Award was ac-cepted in absentia by OregonSpeaker of the House Dave Hunt.In his remarks delivered via video,Hunt emphasized the integral rolethat SALDEF played in repealingthe 87 year old law that preventedSikhs from teaching in Oregon'spublic schools. "Saldef and theSikh American community hasbeen right at the center of this fromthe start of this effort to repeal thislaw. You have helped send a very

clear message to all Oregonians:the teachers in Oregon are goingto be judged based on their abilityto teach and not based on theirreligious faith. You have sent avery clear signal that religious andracial bigotry is no longer welcomein Oregon."

SALDEF's 2010 Public Service

Award was presented to RavitejSingh Khalsa and Saba Ahmed fortheir extraordinary work on theOregon campaign against the banon religious garb in public class-rooms. Navneet Kaur, who wasalso actively involved in the cam-paign, accepted the award on be-half of Ms. Ahmed.

The Bhagat Singh Thind Com-munity Empowerment Award rec-ognized K.P. Singh for his embodi-ment of seva (selfless service) inserving as a Sikh Ambassadorwithin the Pan-Asian communities.The Youth Leadership Awardproved to be an emotional celebra-tion of the work and life of AjeetSingh Matharu, who passed awayearlier this year.

Surjit Singh Saund, a SikhAmerican from North Carolina,shared his personal experiencechallenging employment discrimi-

nation. Saldefassisted Mr.Saund in find-ing pro bonocounsel thatfiled a suitagainst thecompany fortheir allegeddiscrimination.Mr. Saundhigh l igh tedthe employ-ment relatedchallenges thec o m m u n i t ycontinues to

face and urged community mem-bers to fight such practices.

Entertainment for the eveningincluded a memorable performanceby The Tabla Guy, which incorpo-rated modern techno beats andclassical Indian drums, and ahigh-energy performance by theGeorge Mason Bhangra Team.

Diwali celebrations at BAPS MandirSURESH SHAH & SANDIP PATEL

CHICAGO: Diwali and NewYear celebrations were held at theBAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir,Bartlett, IL, on Saturday Novem-ber 6. The theme was "AhimsaParamo Dharma," signifying 'com-passion and non-violence' as thehighest form of one's duty.

"Hindu scriptures," ex-plained Vinod Shah, a volunteerat the Mandir, "have alwaystaught us to respect Nature, andhave enjoined us to pray and actin a way that promotes peace-ful, sustainable coexistence withall of God's creation."

Through a series of eye-opening presentations, thou-sands of visitors were informedof the positive impact of a veg-etarian diet not just on the mind,body and spirit but also the en-vironment. The presentationsshared teachings from ancientscriptural Hindu texts that are

Firework at the templeDecorated elephant at the gate

also aligned with facts from theworld's leading environmentalscientists.

"I have been a participant ofthese celebrations for the past

three years," said Philip Thayerof Keokuk, Iowa. "However, thisyear I want to make a change bygoing veg" he resolved. Mr.Thayer was just one of hun-

dreds who made similar resolu-tions as a mark for the New Year.

A breathtaking array of overa thousand vegetarian dishesdevoutly prepared by hundreds

of devotees was offered to thesacred images during theAnnakut celebrations, whichalso supported the message.

Cont’d on page 16

‘A lack of awarenessand familiarity aboutSikhs is the root causeof the bullying andharassment that Sikhchildren face in theAmerican schoolstoday. The only wayto stem this epidemicfor Sikh children is toteach about Sikhs inschool social studiesand world religionclasses’


16

To view the Book version of"The Success," log on to http://www.thesuccess.com, to see por-tions of the book and order a copy.Vishwas Mahale invites all tochange their lives by following itsprinciples.

"The Success" offers a pow-erful combination of ancient east-ern wisdom and cutting edge west-ern science, which yield dynamicresults in tandem. The book offersglimpses of a wider spectrum oflife where success is an achiev-able commodity, within the graspof every human being.

Meanwhile, the Expo atWaterford was a partial successin as much as the number of ven-dors were much restricted thistime compared to the one lastyear. Those catching the eyeswere Shan Photography, Rami'sFloral decorations, Shutter Boxfor video shooting and photog-raphy and Maharaja Farms thatbooks decorated horses for In-dian weddings.

The less participation of ven-dors was more than offset by alarge number of visitors who kepton streaming from 12 noon to 8p.m. in the evening. And this wasthe upshot of Success.

Bridal Expo facilitateslaunch of 'Success'

Ramme the floral decorator


The Annakut - literally, 'moun-tain of food' - is a devout offeringof the first meal of the New Year inthanksgiving to God for his provi-dence over the past year and toseek his blessings for the yearahead.

"The BAPS Complex in Bartletthas become a center of unity andvolunteerism in the community. Itis spreading the message of peaceand togetherness. I feel proud ofthe work and spirit of all the vol-unteers who have made this pos-sible," noted the Consul Generalof India in Chicago, Mrs. MuktaDutta Tomar.

Also attending the celebrationswere State Senator John Milner,Mayor of Bartlett Michael Kellyand Alexian Brothers HospitalCEO John Werrbach. Wishing ev-eryone a happy new year, MayorKelly proudly commented, "Noth-ing is even close to these celebra-tions in Bartlett. Nothing is evenone one-hundredth of this."

Similar celebrations were heldin BAPS centers throughout theworld. This year Pramukh SwamiMaharaj, the present leader ofBAPS celebrated Diwali andAnnakut in Gondal, Gujarat, India.

The BAPS Swaminarayan

Sanstha (BAPS), a worldwidesocio-spiritual organization inConsultative Status with the Eco-nomic and Social Council of theUnited Nations, is dedicated tocommunity service, peace and har-mony. Motivated by Hindu prin-ciples, BAPS under the guidanceand leadership of His Divine Holi-ness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, as-pires to build a community that ismorally, ethically and spirituallypure, and free of addictions.

Annakoot Prasad for Lord Swaminaryan

Diwali celebrations at BAPS MandirCont’d from page 15

Parivar holds motivationalfamily celebrations

Asian Media USA

MOUNT PROSPECT, IL: Parivar, an or-ganization dedicated to the well being ofSouth Asian families in North America, helda luncheon at the Bristol Court Banquet Hallsin Mount Prospect recently.

Over 150 individuals attended the eventto hear motivational speaker and acclaimedauthor Kendra Smiley speak. According toExecutive Director Sam George, "The AsianIndian community in the United States hasdone exceedingly well academically, profes-sionally and hence financially, butrelationally we are bankrupt".

Among the South Asian community, it isvery common to find an ambience of silencewhen it comes to familial woes. Parivar notonly brings attention to the fragile state offamilies in the community but it aims to helpbuild strong relationships through teach-ing, counseling and practical methodology.Their services are available to individualsof all ages and from varying familial stand-points (single, engaged, married, parents,grandparents).

The afternoon began with a warm wel-come from the Masters of Ceremonies Ryanand Shoji Boldt, The brief welcome was fol-lowed by a delicious lunch. After lunch, theaudience was privy to an inspiring musicalperformance from Georgy Das, ShinerGodwin and Nandu Chandra. A Parivar Sta-tus Report followed from Sam George inwhich he mentioned new resource launches

such as Before the Wedding Bells and Car-ing for the South Asian Souls.

Currently, there have been over 60 fam-ily results, 120 counseling cases, 250 hos-pital/prison visits and much more. A 24-hourhotline has also been established for indi-viduals in need nationwide, 1-877-PHELP-111. The organization is planning to expandinto Canada and the United Kingdom dueto overwhelming demand.

Kendra Smiley's keynote address fol-lowed the status report. Kendra Smiley com-bined humor and wisdom into her address

and enticed the entire hall into pin drop si-lence. She referred to her and her husband'sexperiences raising their three sons. She andher husband, John, have been married over35 years. Her work as a dedicated mother,entrepreneur, church and community leaderlanded her as the Illinois Mother of the Yearin 2001. She ended her address by referringback to Parivar's motto, "Building StrongFamilies One Home at a Time", and addingthat, "One home at a time starts with us".

Jain Society of Chicagocelebrates Deepavali

SURESH SHAH

CHICAGO: Jain Society of Chicago cel-ebrated the festival of Deepavali on a grandscale for a period of three days from FridayNovember 5 to Sunday November 7 in Jaincenter in Bartlett, a northwest Chicago sub-urb.

Participation was from members of Indiansociety at large. The event started in theevening on Friday with Ghantakaran Poojanperformed by Hiteshbhai Shah who camefrom Baroda to Chicago for the celebrationof this year Deepawali festival. Many devo-tees participated in this Poojan.

On the next day very early in the morn-

ing Digamber devotees performed Nirwaanlaadoo pooja in which about 250 membersparticipated. In the evening a musical groupheaded by Jitendrabhai Joshi performed oldand new filmy as well as famous Gujaratisongs.

This event was sponsored by Shri andSmt Rohitbhai Shah, a society member andan insurance agent in Chicago area. Mem-bers of the society were entertained with alive musical performance by a group calledMalhar from Canada.

Prayer in progress during celebration

Cont’d on page 18

Parivar not only bringsattention to the fragile stateof families in the communitybut it aims to help buildstrong relationships throughteaching and counseling

‘The BAPS Complex inBartlett has become acenter of unity andvolunteerism in thecommunity. It isspreading the mes-sage of peace andtogetherness’


17

Qatar Airways' Gala Dinner for travel agents

From Left, Lali Kumar, Sales Manager Specialty Markets USA; Kristian

Anderson Regional Manager USA; Konrad, Inside Sales Coordinator Midwest

Region; Tony, Sales Manager New York; Frank Laurie Sales Manager

Midwest Region and Shahabuddin, Sr. Sales Executive Midwest Region

A.Q. SIDDIQUI


CHICAGO: Qatar Airways' theworld's "wealthiest airline" andwinner of Sky Trax award as theworld's 5-star airline will soon haveits fourth destination in UnitedStates. This was announced byQatar Airways Regional ManagerKristian Anderson in a presenta-tion Gala dinner ceremony to Chi-cago travel agents at the HolidayInn Skokie.

It was a guessing game for allthose present which could be the"fourth destination" but evenbefore Kristian Anderson couldhint what could possibly be the"fourth" Qatar Airways destina-tion in U.S, travel agents raised"Chicago" slogan as the bestpossibility. Qatar Airways atpresent operates daily non-stopflights from New York, Washing-ton and Houston to Doha andconnects passengers from all U.S.major cities to India, Pakistan, SriLanka, Bangladesh and otherworld destinations.

Qatar Airways' gala dinnerevent was organized by local of-fice for the Chicago travel agents.Frank Laurie, Sales Manager Mid-west, Shahabuddin Sales Execu-tive, Lali Kumar Sales Officer andother sales team members fromNew York and Washington joinedthe event. Kristian Anderson, LaliKumar and Shahabuddin did aninformative video presentation forthe travel agents. Kristian pointedout that Qatar Airways enjoys abetter rating among the Middle-East carriers flying to US. Throughvideo presentation, Kristian

showed the comfortable 3-3-3 pat-tern seat configuration foreconomy class with more leg roomin comparison to 2-4-2 of other air-lines. He pointed to Qatar Airways

on board friendly service, deli-cious cuisines and special mealmenus also make it the first choiceof travelers. Rated as the "5-starairline", Qatar Airways enjoys a

popular choice status among In-dian passengers.

It directly connects US passen-gers to 11 Indian cities,Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai,Delhi, Amritsar, Goa, Chennai,Bengaluru, Kochi, Kozhikode andTrivandrum via Doha from NewYork, Washington and Houstonwith most convenient flyingschedules. For Pakistan, Qatar Air-ways operates daily flights fromDoha to Karachi, Lahore,Islamabad and Peshawar. It alsooperates daily for Dhaka andKathmandu. For Chicago andother US cities, Qatar Airways fliespassengers through its code-sharepartner United Airlines.

Many senior travel agents fromChicago were invited for the event.Iftekhar Shareef, former presidentFIA was also invited as the hon-orary guest for the event. QatarAirways Sales team and staff mem-bers were also individually intro-duced. Shahabuddin thanked allfor joining the event.

Tennessee hotel owners raise money for flood relief

NALINI RAJA


NASHVILLE, TN: One month of grassroots fundraising effort paid off big for theRed Cross this month. The Tennessee Busi-ness Association (TBA) raised $21,000.00to help the Red Cross with the NashvilleFlood Relief effort. The fundraiser was thefirst project undertaken by the TBA's cur-rent president, Dhansukh (Dan) Patel, pastChairman of AAHOA, Asian American Ho-tel Owners Association and the owner of

multiple hotels in Tennessee.A check in the amount of $21,000, includ-

ing the funds raised in one month of flyercampaigns and donations matched by localhotel owners, was presented to the RedCross on October 18. Over 100 people gath-ered at the Days Inn Stadium hotel in Nash-ville for the event. TBA presented the checkto local volunteer Chairman for the RedCross, Dr Pramod Wasudev.

The TBA is an association of hotel andlocal business owners in the Greater Nash-ville area. Since the disastrous flooding in

May of this year, the association's primarytopic for discussion has been how to bringrelief to flood victims and help rebuild Nash-ville, a city built on tourism and hospitality.TBA members have been working tirelesslyto bring relief to the flood victims.

Flyers were posted in hotels, whereguests were asked to donate to the Red Crossrelief effort. Hotel owners matched the dona-tions given, thus doubling the amount givento the Red Cross. The money will be used tohelp those still suffering from the devastat-ing losses caused by the floods that struck

Middle Tennessee May 2, 2010.Special guest here was then Tennessee

gubernatorial candidate, Bill Haslam and hiswife. Haslam has now been elected Gover-nor of Tennessee. He answered many ques-tions regarding the economy and how theTennessee tourism budget will be spent. TBAmade a generous donation to Haslam for hiscampaign and many members also made per-sonal donations. This was truly a groundbreaking event for TBA in its efforts to cre-ate community awareness. Mr. Shantu Hariwas instrumental in coordinating this event.

TBA members with Gov. Haslam Members presenting check to Red Cross

Deepavali at IndoAmerican Center

SURESH SHAH

CHICAGO: Seniors in Chicagocelebrated Deepavali festival withgusto and lot of fanfare at IndoAmerican Center (IAC). Over 200seniors attended the event thatwas coordinated successfully byGovindbhai Limbachia, an IACvolunteer and worker.

The start was with GeetaChawla lighting the ceremoniallamp. This was followed by a talkby Sudaksha Kapur on the impor-tance and significance ofDeepavali, the Festival of Lights.The highlights of the near threehours program were singing ofsongs and bhajans, renderingshayri and ghazal. The DJ musicwas from Shiv Chawla who hasbeen rendering his services at nocost.

Mohammed Kadri sangNavratri Ki Rat Na Puchho andDiwali ki Baat Na Puchho whileNaresh Shah rendered shayaripleasing all those present. NeeruSingh presented a poem while KiritShah staged a mono-acting play.Adam Usman sang a song urging

God to be "our guest".Jay Luthra, managing director

of IAC, proposed a vote of thanksand expressed satisfaction at the

Gathering at Deepavali celebrations at IAC

large presence of seniors. The end-ing was with Gujarati DandiyaRaas participated by many. Therewas a raffle also and a young girlpulled out the winning numbers.Mouth watering dishes wereserved - Farsnand sweets werefrom Lalben Rabari while MalekbenLala served ice cream. GovindLimbachia thanked everybody fortheir support.

A young girl involved in raffle draw

He pointed to QatarAirways on boardfriendly service, deli-cious cuisines andspecial meal menuswhich make it the firstchoice of travelers.Rated as the "5-starairline", Qatar Airwaysenjoys a popularchoice status amongIndian passengers


18

Jain Society of Chicagocelebrates Deepavali

Devotees thronging for darshan during Deepavali celebrations

On this occasion, Piyush Shah,youth secretary of the society aswell as Ms. Vaishali Shah were rec-ognized to support numerous ac-tivities for the youth and children.Shri and Smt Hemendrabhai andChandrikaben Shah have donated$ 500 towards opening of the doorof the temple in the early morningon the next day.

On Sunday, the final day of thecelebration Ashtaprakari poojawas performed with an Englishexplanation in which every mem-bers of the society participated. Inthe afternoon Derividhi pooja wasperformed. The three dayDeepawali program organized by


Teen artiste impresses withmusic concertJain Society of Chicago was a

grand success.

Punjab arrest of Sikh leaderscondemned


NEW YORK: "Sikhs For Jus-tice" (SFJ), a US based humanrights advocacy group, hasstrongly condemned the "illegaldetention" of Sikh leaders, KACConvener Bhai Mohkam Singh,Dal Khalsa leaders HarcharanjitSingh Dhami and Kanwarpal SinghBittu, Baba Baljit Singh Daduwal,AISSF President Karnail SinghPeermohammad, Harpal SinghCheema, Kulbeer Singh Barapind,Jasvir Singh Khandur, SantokhSingh Salana, Harpreet SinghDadheri, Devinder Singh Sodhi(AISSF) and other human rightactivists, for raising voice for jus-tice for November 1984 Sikh Geno-cide victims. The Punjab Bandh callwas given to show solidarity withthe victims of November 1984 SikhGenocide who have been deniedjustice for the last twenty six years.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, le-gal advisor to "Sikhs For Justice"stated it is very disturbing that

SAD-BJP government which cameto power assuring justice to thevictims of November 1984 SikhGenocide has now joined handswith the Central government todefeat the demand for justice. The

attempt by the Central-State gov-ernment to portray law abidingSikhs leaders, activists and orga-nizations as "Radicals" is verydangerous card being played to

suppress the voice of the Sikhcommunity stated attorneyPannun.

Attorney Pannun stated thatfreedom of speech and expressionare indispensable for a true de-mocracy, instead of arresting andcharging the Congress leaderswho organized massacre of Sikhsin 1984, attempts are being madeto stifle the movement demandingjustice for the victims of Novem-ber 1984 Sikh Genocide by arrest-ing Sikh activists.

Attorney Pannun further statedthat this is a part of the repressionand reign of terror let loose by theCentral government led by PMSingh and state government act-ing as the puppets to crush themovement for justice. The latestarrest of the Sikh leaders is thecontinuation of the intimidatorytactics by the government to breakthe resolve of civil society to standbeside the struggle of the SikhCommunity for dignity and justice,he added.


NEW YORK: Nearly 200people have attended a music con-cert given by Sriram Garikapati, anup-and-coming young singer, onthe Ganesh Temple premises in theFlushing section of Queens inNew York recently.

The budding artiste sang oldand new film songs in Telugu andHindi to the enthusiasm of olderand younger Indian-American au-diences. The songs included a few

devotional numbers rendered withall sincerity and veneration.

About a decade ago, Sriramstarted learning Carnatic and otherIndian traditional music styles.

His performance at the LakshmiHall in the Ganesh temple complexincluded the release of a CD com-prising Telugu songs in praise ofLord Venkateswara (Balaji).

The album titled"Sreenivaasam" was released bycommunity elders NehruCherukupalli and Srinivas Reddy.

Sriram dedicated all his songs inthe album to his grandparents.

Sriram started college this aca-demic year, but is keen on continu-ing his singing hobby. He wantsto make sure his hobby doesn'tinterfere with his studies.

"I'm happy about the great re-sponse I got from members of ourcommunity, especially from el-ders," the teenager said. "I'mgrateful to my parents for the en-couragement I have received overthe years."

Chander was appointed by theOffice of Religious Life in August2008 as the University's first co-ordinator of Hindu religious life,as part of efforts to enhance sup-port for Princeton students froma variety of backgrounds and re-ligious traditions. After a one-year pilot, the coordinator ofHindu life was made a permanent,full-time position in the Office ofReligious Life.

Chander said that, for someHindus, the significance of Diwalibeing observed at the chapel -which is home to Opening Exer-cises and Baccalaureate, and has

hosted guest preachers such asMartin Luther King Jr. - goes be-yond the event itself.

"While hosting this event, I'vemet guests who regularly attendservices at the chapel, but who hadnever witnessed Hindu worship,"Chander said. "At the same time, I'vealso met members of the Indian com-munity who had lived in Princetonfor decades, but had never set footin the chapel. By bringing folks likethis together under a common ban-ner, and by honoring a Hindu holi-day in Princeton's shared sacredspace, we are striving to lead theway in warmly welcoming the Hinducommunity into America's pluralis-tic landscape."

Diwali celebrations atPrinceton University


Piyush Shah, youthsecretary of thesociety as well asMs. Vaishali Shahwere recognized tosupport numerousactivities for theyouth and children

The attempt by theCentral-State govern-ment to portray lawabiding Sikhs leaders,activists and organiza-tions as "Radicals" isvery dangerous cardbeing played to sup-press the voice of theSikh community,stated attorney Pannun

November 19, 2010 India PostCommunity/Californiawww.indiapost.com

19

Cal News

Details on page 20

Details on page 21

Details on page 23

Fremont Temple celebrates theFestival of Lights

DEEPAK CHHABRA


FREMONT: Diwali (Deepavali)is the Hindu Festival of Lights. The

festival signifies the triumph ofgood over evil and light over dark-ness. Being the most importantfestival of the year, Diwali signi-fies the beginning of a new year -according to the Hindu calendar.It was on Diwali that Lord Ramaalong with his wife Sita and brotherLakshman, came back home aftera fourteen-year exile after killingevil-king Ravana. It is said that tocelebrate the return of their king,the people of Ayodhya, illumi-nated their homes with oil lamps(diyas) and burst firecrackers in thestreets.

Similar to that first celebration,every year Hindus across the worldcelebrate the festival of Diwali. OnNovember 5, the Fremont HinduTemple celebrated Diwali with anall day festival. This was Fremont

Hindu Temple's second DiwaliMela. Thousands turned up tocelebrate the festival in all itsglory.

The day started with kids pro-

grams which included a publicspeaking contest, a quiz-contest,and a fancy dress competition or-ganized by Mrs. Madhu Shahani,Chair Youth Committee .This was

followed by cultural dances per-formed by kids of all ages orga-nized by Mrs Vijaya Aasuri, ChairCultural Committee. The eveningprogram was filled with music con-cert by Alka Bhatnagar and herstudents.

Decorated with colorful lightsand filled with celebrating families,the temple resounded with themusic and celebration of the festi-val. Outside the temple, in the park-

ing lot, were approximately 28booths offering Indian foods andsweets of all kinds, colorfulclothes and jewelry, as well as fi-nancial, educational services ca-

tering especially to the Indian com-munity. As the day continued,dancing and singing groups wereespecially invited to capture theevening.

The Temple was also visited bydignitaries including Patricia

Danielson Board of Director ofWashington Hospital and variousFremont city dignitaries includingcouncil member Anu Natrajan,Robert (Bob) Wieckowski Vice

Mayor, Robin Torello CountyChair for Alameda County Demo-cratic Party, Trisha Tahmasbi fromOhlone Area United DemocraticCampaign HQ, Yogi Chugh Chairof Tri-Cities Democratic Forum, DrRaj Salwan Chairperson of theHuman Relations Commission ofthe City of Fremont. All these dig-nitaries were welcomed by TempleChairperson Dr. Romesh Japra andRajesh Verma, Co Chair, alongwith other chairpersons of Fre-mont Temple.

The festival came to a beautifulend with special prayers andchants from devotees of all ages.

Deepak Chhabra is Chair,Events & Diwali Mela, FremontHindu Temple

See more pics on page 19

SatyanarayanaSwamy Vratam atRiverside Temple

VICTORIA TRUVER

RIVERSIDE: Riverside's ShriLakshmi Narayan Mandir was oneof nineTemples in the United Stateschosen for the Shri SatyaNarayanaSwamy Vratam Mahotsavam. TheSatyanarayana Swamy murtis werebrought from Shri SatyanarayanaSwamy Devastanam, Annavaram,AP India by the six Purohits whowould perform the puja. Intensepreparations began weeks in ad-vance by Mandir Vice-PresidentLakshman Koka, wo was respon-sible for arranging the event. A to-tal of 5 vratam were planned for the3-day Mahotsavam.

Action packedDiwali atSunnyvale TempleKAVITA ARORA


SUNNYVALE: Thousandsgathered at the annual three-dayDiwali Mela during Friday Octo-ber 29 to Sunday October 31, fea-turing cultural performances,booths and Bollywood artists,Arnab Chakraborty and MickeyNarula, at the Hindu Temple andCommunity in Sunnyvale.

Diwali is the festival of lightsand is celebrated after Navaratri towelcome goddess of wealth,Lakshmi. Each year the SunnyvaleTemple celebrates with enthusiasmand this year was no different.

Analysing wisdomof people inelection 2010

DR HARMESH KUMAR

I could not stop thinking the No-vember election results through

the prism of my Indian heritageand collective wisdom of thou-sands of years. Pundits, reflectingon democracies of India andAmerica, predicted results mostlybased on a singular factor. Theyhighlighted the anti-incumbentwave in deciding the fate of theruling party in both the nations.However, we need to look intothese election results from thesocio-political, economic, racial,gender, national and local point ofviews. It has been, it is, and it willbe very difficult to predict theseresults based on above factors.

Decorated with colorful lights and filled withcelebrating families, the temple resounded withthe music and celebration of the festival. Out-side the temple, in the parking lot, were ap-proximately 28 booths offering Indian foodsand sweets of all kinds

November 19, 2010India Post Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

20

Fremont Temple celebrates the Festival of Lights

(Pics Rakesh Kapoor, Temple Administrator)

Satyanarayana Swamy Vratam at Riverside TempleVICTORIA TRUVER

RIVERSIDE: Riverside's ShriLakshmi Narayan Mandir was oneof nineTemples in the United Stateschosen for the Shri SatyaNarayanaSwamy Vratam Mahotsavam. TheSatyanarayana Swamy murtis werebrought from Shri SatyanarayanaSwamy Devastanam, Annavaram,AP India by the six Purohits whowould perform the puja. Intensepreparations began weeks in ad-vance by Mandir Vice-PresidentLakshman Koka, wo was respon-sible for arranging the event. A to-tal of 5 vratam were planned for the3-day Mahotsavam.

Even before the Purohits ar-rived, bhaktas filled the huge 50by 80 foot tent. When the SUVentered the Mandir parking lotentrance all the devotees rushedforward to greet the visitingpriests and have darshan of Shri

Satyanarayan Swamy. A conchwas blown loudly and many devo-tees came forward with arati thalis.

Head Priest Dr. Shukavak Dasabanged on a gong to announcethe forming of a procession.

A gold umbrella was heldabove the Murtis and the bhaktastook turns carrying them. The pro-

cession entered the Mandir wherelit arati trays were waved onceagain. Shri Satyanarayana Swamywas carried first to the Balaji altarfollowed by Shri Lakshmi Narayanand Shiva Parvati.

The visiting Purohits chantedmantras and slokas as the proces-sion continued clockwise around

the outside perimeter of theMandir, finally ending in the tent.The Murtis were placed on a raiseddais and were garlanded. Beforethe puja began introductions weremade. The visitng Purohits in-cluded Pandit AVS Sateesh Sarma,Pandit D. Venkata Chalapati,Pandit D. Suryanarayana, Pandit

DSV Sarma, Pandit A. KrishnaSarma and Panit Rajas Rao. Par-ticipating Mandir Priests were Dr.Shukavak Dasa, Pandit Vipul Janiand Pandit SeshacharyuluSamudrala.

Inside the tent each family satin rows for the Satyanarayanapuja. A complete set of samagriswere accompanied by aSatyanarayana Swamy Locket, alaminated portrait, Uttareeyam,blouse piece, kumkum, Pasupuand Akshintalu fromAnnavaramDevasthanam. Thevisiting Purohits conducted thepuja and told the story ofSatyanarayan in both Telugu andEnglish. The puja was repeatedthree times on Sunday, and onceon Monday and Tuesday. Atten-dance was high and response wasexcellent.

Murtis are unloaded from SUV and prepared for

procession

Procession walked clockwise ouside perimeter

of Mandir

Devotees offered arati to Satyanarayana Swamy Introductions were made before the puja Murtis were brought into Mandir during procession


21

Action packed Diwali at Sunnyvale Temple

KAVITA ARORA


SUNNYVALE: Thousands gathered atthe annual three-day Diwali Mela duringFriday October 29 to Sunday October 31,featuring cultural performances, booths andBollywood artists, Arnab Chakraborty andMickey Narula, at the Hindu Temple andCommunity in Sunnyvale.

Diwali is the festival of lights and is cel-ebrated after Navaratri to welcome god-dess of wealth, Lakshmi. Each year theSunnyvale Temple celebrates with enthu-siasm and this year was no different.

The events kicked off with a dhamakedarperformance by Bay Area musical bandAndaaz and K for Kishore winner,Bollywood playback singer, ArnabChakraborty. Arnab sang non-stop for twohours with all time famous Kishoredasongs such as Nakhre Wali, Ye ShamMastani, Roop Tera Mastana, his own hitssuch as Vaada Raha from the movie Khakeeand Katra Katra, both picturized onBollywood actor, Akshay Kumar, and alsopopular songs such as Humma Humma.Arnab kept the audience on their toes andas usual, the audience really enjoyed aBollywood style show and danced toArnab's singing.

During the morning hours on Saturday,Oct.30, a ceremonial Rath Yatra was part ofthe celebrations at the Sunnyvale HinduTemple. Usually, the statute of goddess

Lakshmi resides in the temple, but duringthe Rath Yatra, the goddess is taken out ofthe temple so everyone can see and receiveblessings. The Rath Yatra was followed bynon-stop cultural programs at the audito-rium by children of varied ages. MickeyNarula and Sadhna Deshpande entertained

the audience in the evening.Shopping is one of the best parts of the

Diwali celebrations at the SunnyvaleTemple. Folks from all over the Bay Area

spent time walking around the 40 boothsdisplaying colorful traditional Indian salwarsuits, kurtis, tunics, and designer wear alongwith handicrafts, business booths, and ofcourse, the food booths serving hotsamosas, garam garam chole bhature, andlots of other North and South Indian de-

lights.The festivities concluded October 31, but

not before the annual talent contest, tradi-tional antakshari game, and Sayantanee

show from Calcutta. The evenings duringthis festival have the biggest crowd andMickey Narula along with SadhnaDeshpande made sure the crowd was en-tertained with their feet-stomping hit songs.

Kavita Arora is Anchor & Co-Producerof Sitaarre TV

L to R - Chandru Bhambra, Naranji Patel, Satnam, Raj BhanotL to R: Naranji Patel, Bob Gill, David Cortese (2nd right),

Raj Bhanot (extreme right)Arnab Chakraborty

Mickey Narula

Laxman, Ram, Sita, Hanuman at Rath YatraRath Yatra Procession

New CAIR Department to expose IslamophobiaHADEER SOLIMAN

On Saturday, October 30,Imam Siraj Wahhaj, imamof At-Taqwa Mosque in

New York, made a simple requestto an audience of over 2,000 peoplein Southern California: "I ask youto be part of the legacy," he said,urging all those who were presentto inspire others by donating toallow the Council on American-Is-lamic Relations, Greater Los An-geles Area (CAIR-LA) to continueits work.

Now in its 14th year, the annualbanquet raised over $450,000 from

the Southern California commu-nity. In a time of heightenedIslamophobia and suspicion ofMuslims, CAIR's role of being anadvocate for justice and equality

is especially important to the Mus-lim American community.

"The goal was not only to raisemoney for the organization's an-nual operations, but to also cel-

ebrate the successes and accom-plishments on behalf of the Mus-lim community and re-energize andinspire the community to continueto assert itself with confidence

and strength despiteIslamophobic hysteria," saidMunira Syeda, CommunicationsManager for CAIR-LA.

Cont’d on page 22

The events kicked off with adhamakedar performanceby Bay Area musical bandAndaaz and K for Kishorewinner, Bollywood playbacksinger, Arnab Chakraborty.Arnab sang non-stop for twohours with all time famousKishoreda songs

November 19, 2010India Post Community/Californiawww.indiapost.com

22

Glimpses of the 31st Annual Nagar Keertan

Congresswomen LorettaSanchez (D-CA) encouraged theMuslim community to be civicallyengaged in her opening remarks.Imam Zaid Shakir also encouragedthe community to work together.

"This is not a time to be de-pressed. This is not a time to de-spair of the mercy of Allah. This isnot a time to become bitter. It's atime to be heartened," Imam ZaidShakir reminded the audience.

At the event themed "Carryingthe Legacy: Advancing with Con-fidence," speakers from the Mus-lim American community, awardrecipients from the interfaith andinter-ethnic community, and thosewho personally benefited fromCAIR's advocacy all spoke of thefriendship CAIR provides them,the hope it gives them, and thejustice for which it works tirelessly.

After a screening of CAIR's re-cent Public Service Announce-ment videos about Muslim Ameri-cans, CAIR presented awards tomembers of Christian, Jewish,Japanese and other communitieswho have supported MuslimAmericans and have made state-ments against Islamophobia. Four-

New CAIR Department to expose Islamophobiateen awards were given to indi-viduals and organizations whichhave stood up against anti-Islamicsentiment.

Among CAIR's awards, the"Courage in Media" award waspresented to OC Register colum-nist Yvette Cabrera, who has writ-ten humanistic stories that are notusually relayed to the public andhas clarified misinformation aboutIslam. Its "Courage in Leadership"award was presented to MayorJames C. Ledford of Palmdale, whohas publicly condemned hatefulanti-Muslim remarks, emphasizingthe need for partnership and mu-tual respect, and Sheriff Leroy D.Baca, who has initiated the Mus-

lim American Homeland SecurityCongress (MAHSC) to increasethe Muslim role and voice in na-tional security discussions.

Sheriff Lee Baca, who was outof the country and could not be

present, thanked CAIR for itsfriendship and exceptional repre-sentation of the Muslim commu-nity through video message, say-ing "I salute each of you for yourfaith in God and your faith in the

U.S. as your home.""This event brings the Muslim

community together and showshow much they value civil rights,"Sherif Morsi, Deputy Sheriff whoaccepted the award on behalf of

Sheriff Lee Baca, said after the event.Quoting Malcolm X, Ameena

Qazi, Deputy Executive Directorfor CAIR-LA and a moderator ofthe event, introduced CAIR'sMuslim Youth Leadership Pro-gram (MYLP), saying that as Mus-lim Americans, "we wake up, weclean up, and we stand up, witharms raised to Heaven for what weknow to be true." Alumni from thisyear's MYLP were present onstage and demonstrated the im-portance of CAIR's engagementwith the youth.

Later in the program, NoorAbdallah shared her experiencesas a Disneyland employee whowas told to work in a secludedstockroom because she worehijab. She thanked CAIR and the

Muslim community for their sup-port and hard work in helping herreach a compromise with Disney.

"The Muslim community is vitalbecause without its support youdon't have CAIR. It's the main struc-ture that provides support. CAIRhelps move the community forward,"Abdallah said after the event.

Hussam Ayloush, ExecutiveDirector of CAIR-LA for the past14 years, announced the launch-ing of CAIR's Islamophobia De-partment, which will expose andchallenge the industry ofIslamophobia. He reminded at-tendees that it is not the anti-Mus-lim hysteria that is the community'sgreatest challenge, but it is howthe Muslim community respondsthat matters.

"Advancing with confidencerequires courage, knowledge,pride and self-respect," Ayloushsaid. He added: "A legacy is onlyas good as it is carried. This meanswe learn about it, we respect it, wevalue it, we appreciate it, we buildon it - but we don't remain stag-nant. If all we do is hand down toour children what our parents andgrandparent struggled to achieve,then we've failed the next genera-tion and ourselves."


(Pics GS Video, Sacramento 916-412-2918)

Noor Abdallah shared her experiences as aDisneyland employee who was told to work in asecluded stockroom because she wore hijab

at Yuba City Nov 7. Details Next week


23

Analysing wisdom of people in election 2010DR HARMESH KUMAR

I could not stop thinking theNovember election resultsthrough the prism of my Indian

heritage and collective wisdom ofthousands of years. Pundits, re-flecting on democracies of Indiaand America, predicted resultsmostly based on a singular factor.They highlighted the anti-incum-bent wave in deciding the fate ofthe ruling party in both the nations.

However, we need to look intothese election results from the socio-political, economic, racial, gender,national and local point of views. Ithas been, it is, and it will be verydifficult to predict these resultsbased on above factors. What les-sons can we learn as intellectualsand pundits from this election? Iwant to share some thoughts frommy understanding and also frompeople's point of view.

Anti-incumbent sentiments inthe nation and in the state of Cali-fornia dominated, according tosome analysts. I will keep my fo-cus mainly on California electionwith some references to the na-tional election results. Many sup-porters of Meg Whitman encour-aged her invest $140 million of herown fortune in the fray.

She was convinced of the factthat buying Governor's officewould make her most eligible toserve people of California withoutany fear or pressures from the out-side. Maybe she would be the onlygovernor to keep herself free oflobbyists and special interestgroups.

Meg Whitman projected hersuccess as CEO of a corporationto be the yardstick for her futuresuccess. However, people did notbelieve her agenda. People of Cali-fornia did not believe that aperson's own financial fortune andalso being a CEO of a corporationwas enough to be the governor ofthe State of California and to beable to do people's business.

Her opponents struck whereher strength was most centered.They tried to change people's per-ception by stressing that she didmake millions of dollars in bonuseswhile working as CEO of E-Bayand laid off thousands of workersto make profit for her sharehold-ers. Some humanists accused herof following capitalistic policies formaking few people very rich whilekeeping the masses very poor.

Gender may also have playedthe role by projecting a womanrunning against a man. Some nega-tive comments in regards to hergender during their debate at UCDavis last month were noticed.

The politicians and policy mak-ers do need to think about the "socalled middle class that has beenshrinking in this country". Thishas led to a lot of frustration and

anger in hard working men andwomen in this country and espe-cially in California. The policies ofboth the major parties are focusedon two extreme positions i.e. oneparty (Democratic) focusing onpolitics of minoritism and tappinginto anger of the poor while otherone (Republican) focusing moreon protecting the bottom-line ofrich corporations and so-calledsmall businesses.

Both of these major parties needto think about the middle class (andcommon good) which is more andmore being squeezed as they areonly generators of tax revenues forthe country. It is very clear thatlarge corporations and some bigsmall businesses do not pay thetaxes at all as they are able to showmore losses in their tax filings.

The other thing RepublicanParty representatives are talkingabout the disbanding the healthinsurance improvements whichWhite House and Capitol Hill hasmade tremendous achievements tobring some sanity to the prices ofhealth insurance plans and poli-cies.

I have been in this country prac-ticing as a psychologist for the last

21 years, not even a single time Ihave seen increase in my paymentby the insurance companies,rather than I have seen a decreaseor cut in my payments. Both theparties need to work on makingsure that everyone in USA getsan affordable health care. As ithappens in the family that parentshave to take care of all the chil-dren irrespective of their cognitiveor physical strengths.

Some kids parents' know theycannot compete in the open mar-ket due to their disability or learn-ing deficits, however, they needto be protected to reduce resent-ment and anger and promote fair-ness among siblings. The Govern-ment has the same role.

For all the people on disabilities,our Government at State and Fed-eral levels spends billions of dollarsin providing the needed services tothe most needy population of oursociety, i.e. disabled, seniors andvictims of natural disasters.

Whereas private health and lifeinsurance companies are only ca-tering to people who can afford topay their high premiums. Oncethose high premium paying indi-

viduals become dysfunctional orlaid off or disabled they also be-come dependent on the Govern-ment and private insurance com-panies refuse to participate in pro-viding any benefit to those oncefunctional people.

The tea party euphoria also didnot help Whitman in California. Itbears some resemblance to India'spolitical system. The BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP) a right-wingparty in India reacts similarly asTea Party here does. Whenever,the Congress or other left-wingparties come to power in India, BJPrakes up issues like the site ofBabri Mosque and building of a

Hindu Temple. In the same man-ner, Tea Party was the one to makeGround Zero controversy moredistracting. Most constituents ofBJP in India and Republican Partyin the US control a major portiontheir country's wealth.

However, whenever CongressParty was in power in India, it hadhard time controlling prices of thecommodities. People would cryfrom Mehengai (higher prices thantheir income). During this electionalso Republican Party did not letPresident Obama create more jobsfor the unemployed. Even whenhe tried to give some respite tounemployed by extending theirunemployment benefits, Republi-can Party vehemently opposed itand then they blamed his policiesfor not creating the economicgrowth.

They blamed everything on theGovernment rather than seeingwhat their party has created whilecontinuing multiple wars which didlead to too much deficits as no onewanted to cut the defense budgetin the name of the security.

The regional results of Eastern andMid-Western States have a different

meaning as compared to election re-sults in California. The lesson is thatpeople are fed-up with politics of ex-tremism all over the world.

There is a recent movie (Livefrom Peepli) by Indian actor, pro-ducer and director, Aamir Khanwhich demonstrated very clearlywhat is more important to politi-cians and media. It is not the com-mon-good but how to protect theirpolitical interest without any con-sideration for the human suffering.

There was another argumentpeople did not buy in California, itwas the age of Jerry Brown. Theyclaimed that his ideas are too old,stale and not innovative as com-pared to new comers.

One lesson is very clear that itis not the age of the person whatmakes him or her win the electionit is social, economic and politicalcontext along with his or her luck.

However, it is very hard to pre-dict the results based on one ortwo factors. One thing is very clearthat Mr. Jerry Brown has been avery seasoned politician. I hap-pened to listen to him at variousIndo-American forums where hewas heard making jokes that whenhe ran for Governor in 1975, hismantra was "new ideas" and nowat the age of 72, his mantra was,"experience matters".

The other things we need toconsider that there were many fac-tors which did lead to Republicanstaking over the House and Demo-crats losing their anchoring. It wasvery sad that our President wasmaking fun at one of the campaignrallies of the man, "Rep. JohnBoehner (R-Ohio), who wants tobe the Speaker of the House".Nobody knows the future includ-ing our President who was predict-ing that Rep. John Boehner wasnot going to win the house backwhich he did and he will beSpeaker of the House.

I was very touched by the hu-maneness of Rep. John Boehnerwhen he was almost choking withemotion while talking about hishumble beginning when heworked as a waiter in his familyrestaurant.

It was his hard work which paidoff as he put it, "chasing his Ameri-can Dream". The lesson from thisstory I see is that our Presidentshould know better, especiallywith his higher cognitive abilitiesas compared to his predecessornot to make fun of his colleagues.

The spiritual aspect in politicscannot be ignored. The SupremeSoul or Higher Power can "make aking a beggar and a beggar a king"in seconds as this is very commonsaying in India I heard from myelders while growing up.

I am also reminded of the spiri-tual Shloka (poetry) of a Sufi poet,Baba Farid, "Dushman Mare TaKhushi Na Manyaiye, Ke SajanaBe Marjana", i.e. if our enemy dieswe should not be excited as ourfriends will die too. I wish our poli-ticians and pundits will keep thisin mind while serving people andhopefully we will see some posi-tive changes to alleviate humansufferings not only in this coun-try but all over the world.

One lesson is very clear that it is not the ageof the person what makes him or her win theelection it is social, economic and politicalcontext along with his or her luck

November 19, 2010India Post24 www.indiapost.com

TOP TENHINDI FILM SONGS1 Sau Gram Zindagi : Guzaarish

2 I Am Dog Gone Crazy:

Action Replayy

3 Dhoop Ke Makaan:

Break Ke Baad

4 Tumse Kya Kehna: Dus Tola

5 Sapne Saloney: Khelein Hum Jee

Jaan Sey

6 Maula Maula: Allah Ke Banday

7 Desi Kali: Golmaal 3

8 Ajab Leher: Break Ke Baad

9 I Got That Poison: Hisss

10 Janiya Teri Hansi Ada: Musaa

Bollywood heart-throb Imran Khan has revealed that he will have a court marriage -with fiancee Avantika Malik to avoid com-

mitting his big day to any particular religion.The actor, 27, has taken inspiration from Dan-

ish Aslam, the director of his upcoming movie"Break Ke Baad". Aslam opted for the same pro-cedure to tie the knot with his actress wife ShrutiSeth to avoid any religious clash.

"I am from a Muslim family and Avantika be-longs to a Hindu family. I personally didn't wantto commit our wedding to one religion or another.We felt the best way for us was that we wouldkeep it neutral and have a court marriage," Imransaid in a statement.

"Even Danish my director of 'Break Ke Baad'was in the same situation and had a court mar-riage," he added.

Imran and Avantika's marriage is scheduledto take place in the second week of January nextyear.

Also starring Deepika Padukone, "Break KeBaad" is releasing Nov 26.

Ever since Katrina Kaif has been in Patiala for the shooting of Ali Abbas Zafar's MeetMere Brother Ki Dulhan, there has been a queue of suitors ready to marry her. Thelocal Punjabi boys have been out in large numbers to catch a glimpse of the actress.

The bravest among them went ahead and proposed to Katrina. Yes, for arranged marriages.In the upcoming film Katrina plays the role of a girl who comes to Punjab with her parentsin search of a bridegroom.

Commenting on the amusing incident, Katrina said that people take her onscreen rolestoo seriously, but most of her fans are of the harmless kind. Her fans began showing upwith their parents and pre-wedding presents. After the initial marriage proposal debacle,

director Ali Abba Zafar had to tighten the security for Katrina.Fortunately, the crew is going to shoot in the outskirts of Patiala, so

there will not be much problem with the crowd control. Katrina hasbeen provided with private security that has successfully keptaway potential suitors.

This is perhaps for the first timethat a director has to use a bodydouble because the actress is

too sexy and too perfect for a dare barescene. This happened with directorVishal Bhardwaj when he had to shoota bare back scene with actress PriyankaChopra in 'Saat Khoon Maaf'.

The scene has Priyanka play a 38year old woman who is out of her mindand wants assurance of her beauty. So,she drops her gown when NaseeruddinShah's son Vivaan's character goes inher room. But Priyanka has too tonedperfect back for a 38 year old womanand so the director decided to go for abody double instead.

Priyanka will be playing the role of athirty-eight year old lady in that par-ticular scene of 'Saat Khoon Maaf' withVivaan and yes, Vivaan doesn't play herlover in the film.

Too sexy

India Post 25November 19, 2010

www.indiapost.com

Bollywood

KKKKKoenaoenaoenaoenaoenaKoena Mitra had a lot of fun and masti dressing up in a costume

with her girlfriends for her first Halloween celebration in Chicago.Koena had come to Mumbai for a few days but managed to make

it back to US in time for the big event.Koena shares her memories saying, "I had a blast partying non-stop

for 48 hours at my friend's house party in Chicago at Hollywood Hills.Then we moved to the open street party, where everyone mingles. It wasmy first ever Halloween and I was really excited about dressing up."

About her costume she said, "I had big hair with feathers coming outthat looked like a bird nest on my head. I also wore huge eyelashes, longnails and super high heels. The colors were blue and black.

"Someone suggested I have a black tongue but I wasn't yet ready forsomething so daring. It was amazing to see people wear the most outra-geous costumes ever."

Koena also took her stand for a cause by walking in famous SantaMonica Boulevard for the annual LA Gay Pride march. Talking about theevent, she said, "It's an iconic event that has people from all over theworld coming to the city to witness. It's a huge carnival with so manydifferent colors and people in daring ensembles. I went with my girl-friends and we partied and danced till early morning."

South sensation GeneliaD'Souza slapped a fanwho misbehaved with her.

She was on her way to inaugu-rate Kalamandir's new showroomin Besant road when one of herfans tried to touch her. As soonas Genelia reached the show-room, a huge crowd surroundedher making her movement almostimpossible. Despite police pro-tection, one of her fans at-tempted to touch her.

Geneila reacted instantly andslapped him. The man was latertaken in police custody. Geneliais currently shooting BommarilluBhaskar's 'Orange' with RamCharan Teja. The film is pro-duced by Naga Babu of AnjanaProductions.

Slap sensation

IN CHICAGO

Actor John Abraham has a quirky secret behind his successful eight-year-long relationshipwith Bipasha Basu. The actor, while shooting for an episode of the show, Emotional Atyachaar,was asked what kept the romance between the two going. In response, he said that it's

actually Bipasha's short term memory that has helped him a great deal. He says that whenever he's atfault, Bipasha tends to forget about it sooner or later, since she doesn't keep thinking about the samething for too long.

Quirky secret

www.indiapost.com26 India Post November 19, 2010


FREMONT: 'Indian Culture and Re-membering Gandhi,' an exhibition ofworks by young artist Ramesh Chindam,is now on at Artists Gallery, representingthe new generation.

Ramesh's recent collection empha-sizes on different atmospheres of Indiancustoms and Gandhi's life story. Throughvarious eras of history, the culture of In-dia has absorbed customs, traditions andideas from both invaders and immigrants.

Many cultural practices, languages, cus-toms and monuments are examples of thisco-mingling over centuries. Being fromsuch a diverse land, Ramesh brought allthose cultural experiences into his art.These paintings depict the real texture ofIndian culture and colors, imbued withdeep meaning.

For Ramesh the meaning of Art is deeprooted through his life experiences. Hewrites that "Art to me is an expression ofperson. It is the physical manifestation

of emotion. Art is a process: it continuallyevolves with time and environment. What weperceive as beautiful or consider matters ofsignificant importance, we capture them andshare them with others through our best ex-

pression. The medium could be music, litera-ture, film or painting. Art is simply the ex-pression of thoughts experienced throughthese mediums" and his collection parallelsthis thought.

Ramesh's paintings differ from one an-other in color and or technique. Experiment-ing with colors and different mediums; whilekeeping the integrity of the fundamentalforms of traditional Indian art alive is themain objective of his work.

Ramesh is constantly inspired by the

country of India where he spent most ofhis childhood and teenage years. This en-vironment and art of culture transformedhis hobby into his profession. He holds aMaster of Fine Arts degree from Acad-emy of Art University, San Francisco, Cali-fornia. He has practiced art since the lasteight years and has exhibited his art workacross United States and India. Currentlyhe is living in San Francisco working onhis past themes and combining presentthemes to it.

Ramesh's paintings differfrom one another incolor and or technique.Experimenting with colorsand different mediums;while keeping the integ-rity of the fundamentalforms of traditional Indianart alive is the mainobjective of his work Ramesh Chindam with Consul General of India

in SFO, Mrs. Susmitha G. Thomas

November 19, 2010 India Post

www.indiapost.com

27

A meeting with Amrita PritamSHAH A SIDDIQUI

(Former Pakistani diplomat)

I feel I am a very fortunate person who was blessed byGod to achieve every essence of a good life in this world.During my diplomatic life I often had a chance to see and

meet with different personalities of the political world to arts& culture and religious figures.

I remember my meeting with Amrita Pritam in New Delhi.She was an Indian writer and poet, considered the first promi-nent female Punjabi poet, novelist, and essayist, and shewas also considered the leading 20th-century poet ofPunjabi language. Amrita is equally loved on both sides ofthe border of the Indian subcontinent.

She is most remembered for her poignant poem, Aj AakhaanWaris Shah Nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah - \"Ode to WarisShah\"), an elegy to the 18th-century Punjabi poet, and anexpression of her anguish over massacres during the partitionof India. But I was inspired after reading her autobiography"The Revenue Stamp," English version of "Raseedi Ticket."

This book became very popular just after its publication,I believe in 1976. Since I am very fond of reading books ondifferent topics, I had a chance to buy the book in NewDelhi, and read this book twice. The reason, I found thewriter of this book deeply involved in love with Pakistan,its heritage and friends from Pakistan. It might be the rea-son that Pakistan is her birth place and she was born andraised in Gujranwala and Lahore.

I was posted at the Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi fromJanuary 1978. I knew a couple of local embassy staff whowere familiar with the New Delhi area, and also with AmritaPritam. I planned to meet her with the help of one of my localstaff, Aziz Khan.

After a week of communication she gave us a time tomeet her at her Safdarjang Enclave residence in New Delhi.It was mid August 1979, about 7:00 pm, I rang the door belland a young man, perhaps her aide, opened the gate andtook us inside the drawing room.

The house was built in stone with tall windows, trailingwith bougainvillea and different flowers like haarsinghar tree.The lawn was well maintained and strewn with tiny flowers.

After a while Amrita Pritam entered into the drawingroom and greeted us with enthusiasm, She was 60 yearsold but one could feel that she was still energetic and agorgeous lady. After greeting us with folded hands shetook her seat in the front sofa. Her Urdu or Hindi was

religious preacher. Even though she went against her Sikhtradition and cut her hair when she fell in love with Imroz, shedid not change her religion. Imroz was also from a Sikh family,but unlike traditional and religious custom, he did not have abeard. Unfortunately, at that evening he was not at home dueto a prior commitment somewhere else. Imroz was her life timecompanion till her death in 2005.

She was a very broad minded lady and did not hesitateto disclose her love affairs with laureate personalities suchas Sahir Ludhyanvi, and Imroz. She also mentioned abouther deep feelings toward Sahir in her biography. She re-membered Sajjad Haider, her very best real friend from Paki-stan. In her autobiography "The Revenue Stamp" she writes

"Sajjad was in Delhi for a good eighteen days. Nightshe spent at Marina Hotel, days at my house. This was thefirst time in my life I realized I had a friend in the world, afriend in every sense of the word. For the first time ever itdawned on me that a poem does not need to be created outof the passion of love. It can waft across the calm seas offriendship. At parting, I wrote: and live with me

Buy me a pair of wings, Stranger-Or come and live with me"In a remarkable sentimental statement she mentioned

about a cultural get together in London, where she met withFehmida Riaz, Shahab Qizilbash, Saqi Farooqi, AbdullahHussain and prominent classical singers Nazakat Ali andSalamat Ali.

She also mentioned Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Ahmed NadeemQasmi during the conversation.

One could see in her eyes the emotions and love offriends and land, which she left due to geographical condi-tions and politics.

She was very hospitable and courteous by nature, and sheproved it by talking with me for more than an hour, serving usdelicious desserts, samosa, and coffee. I looked at my watchand it was around 8:30 pm, when I thought it was time to thankher for being so courteous and friendly with us, and spent moretime than she had originally given to us for the appointment.She walked us to the gate to say good bye and shook hands.

It was one of the best times I ever spent with anylaureate person of the Indo-Pak subcontinent, who wasvery rich in bagging so many higher Indian literatureawards to her credit. When I heard about her death, Iwas shocked, and had a sort of flashback about all herconversations during meeting in Hauz Khas, New Delhi,about 26 years back.

mixed with a Punjabi accent.In her sixties she still had a lot of memories from her

native land of Gujranwala and Lahore, where she grew up,till her migration to India, in 1947. Her mind was still in thepast, and remembered each and every one of her friendsfrom Pakistan, like Sajjad Haider, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and manyothers. Amrita Pritam still remembered each little alleywayand street from Lahore, where she spent her blossominglife and was married to Pritam Singh, a prominentbusinessman's son. But it was not a long married life.

Amrita was a very modern type woman until her death.She was from a religious Sikh family and her father was a

Amrita Pritam

Sikh Film Festival to feature 'Partition'India Post News Service

ORANGE, CA: SikhLens: Sikh Art &Film Festival has chosen Partition (2007)as the feature film for the 2010 festival.The screening will be held on Novem-ber 20 at 8:30pm at ChapmanUniversity's Dodge College of Film andMedia Arts.

Directed by Vic Sarin, Partition is setagainst a mid-twentieth century Punjabas the British rule was ending in India. Itdepicts the story of Gian Singh (JimiMistry), a Sikh ex Indian Army officer anda Muslim girl, Naseem Khan (KristinKruek). Gian finds Naseem in hiding af-ter she is separated from her family andleft behind during the separation of Paki-stan from India. Neve Campbell also starsin the film as Margaret Stilwell, sister tolate commander of the Indian Army, An-drew Stillwell.

"We are very happy with the feature A scene from the ëPartitioní movie

film selection. Partition is a great film andsheds light on Sikh history to the west-ern world, where most people are unawareof the events that took place during thattime period," remarked Ravin Kohli, festi-val director. "Seeds of hatred sown dur-ing that period have reverberatedthroughout the history to this day in the

Indian subcontinent, and led to two wars andskirmishes between the two neighboringnuclear powers." Director Vic Sarin will beattending the festival, and has agreed to ad-dress a Q&A session with the audience afterthe screening.

Early bird tickets for the screening andfestival are available now at Sikhlens.com.

She was a very broad minded ladyand did not hesitate to disclose herlove affairs with laureate personalitiessuch as Sahir Ludhyanvi, and Imroz.She also mentioned about her deepfeelings toward Sahir in her biography

‘We are very happy with thefeature film selection. Parti-tion is a great film and shedslight on Sikh history to thewestern world, where mostpeople are unaware of theevents that took placeduring that time period,’remarked Ravin Kohli


November 19, 201028

India Post November 19, 2010www.indiapost.com

Real Estate30

Realty Tidbits

Jim J. Park Real Estate Person of Year

(from right) Allen Okamoto presents Jim Park (second from right with his family) with the AREAA's

2010 Real Estate Person of the Year Award.


LOS ANGELES: Jim J. Park, cur-rent president of the Asian RealEstate Association of America(AREAA), has been namedAREAA's 2010 Real Estate Personof the Year at the 5th Annual AsianAmerican Real Estate Convention& Gala.

Over the past 20 years, Park hasheld housing-related positions inthe public and private sectors, in-cluding the Federal Housing Ad-ministration and Freddie Mac. Hehas worked on behalf of commu-nity development agencies aroundthe country to advance sustain-able homeownership and commu-nity revitalization efforts. He is anappointed member of the FederalReserve's Consumer AdvisoryCouncil, chairman of the AsianPacific American Institute for Con-gressional Studies and is the co-founder of New Vista Asset Man-agement and Community AssetSolutions, creatinghomeownership solutions formulticultural professionals andhomebuyers.

Park also participates on numer-ous boards of national non-profitorganizations dedicated to ex-panding homeownership opportu-nities for underserved communi-ties, and he is one of the foundersand past-president of National

Coalition for Asian Pacific Ameri-can Community Development.

Under Park's leadership,AREAA grew to national promi-

nence with over 12,000 membersand 15 local chapters. AREAAhas become a strong policy voiceand advocate for Asian American

homebuyers, spearheading legis-lative change to allow Asians andimmigrants fair credit access. Somehighlights during his leadership

include establishing the AREAAEducation Foundation, whichaims to develop future leaders andprovide resources to homeownersin need, the launch of a | r | e maga-zine, and the growth of AREAA'sannual convention to become oneof the largest professionalmulticultural events in the nation.

"AREAA is proud to recognizeJim Park for his commitment tosustainable homeownership for allpeople," said Allen Okamoto,founding chair of AREAA andAREAA's 2008 Real Estate Person

of the Year. "Jim is a dedicatedleader with a vision to takeAREAA and the real estate indus-try to the next level to ensure thateveryone has a fair shot at theAmerican dream."

"I am truly humbled to receivesuch a prestigious award," Parksaid. "At AREAA, we have madegreat progress in bringing oppor-tunities to the real estate profes-sion and to Asian American con-sumers. Even in this economic cli-mate, I remain excited about ourwork and our role in advocatingfor our industry and our commu-nities."

With more than 12,000 membersin 38 states, AREAA(www.areaa.org) is the only tradeorganization that represents thediverse Asian American commu-nity and gives Asian real estateprofessionals a voice in the vari-ous policy and business discus-sions that affect the real estatemarket and Asian American con-sumers.

Lemon Tree apartmentsin Delhi-NCR

The lucrative and fast grow-ing affordable housingsegment has attracted the

attention of upscale Lemon TreeHotels, which is looking to lever-age its brand in the real estate seg-ment. The company would spin anew entity for the realty ventureto be called Lemon Tree Resi-dences to focus on developing amillion square feet of residentialaccommodation in Delhi-NCR,particularly Gurgaon. The promot-ers propose to offload up to 70 to74 per cent equity in the realtyventure to private equity players,according to a report published inFinancial Chronicle.

Lemon Tree Hotels, promoted byPatu Keswani, has Warburg Pincus,Kotak Realty Fund, and ShinesiBank as its investors. Warburg has

invested Rs 210 crore while KotakRealty Fund and Shinsei Bank havejointly invested $30 million in thehotel chain. Warburg Pincus in-vested Rs 70 crore separately in thecompany's budget hotel chain RedFox hotels. "We have identifiedthree possible sites in Gurgaon,where we will be looking to investRs 100-130 crore for acquiring anasset for developing apartmentspriced at Rs 30-80 lakh," said chair-man and managing director ofLemon Tree Hotels, Patu Keswani.The objective is to price their prod-uct at 20 per cent less than the pre-vailing market rate, he added.

The total project cost is ex-pected to be around Rs 250-300crore for building 1,000 apartmentsand the project is expected to belaunched next year.

Price correctionexpected inMumbai, Delhi

Property prices in Mumbai andNew Delhi are set to decline

by almost 15 to 20 per cent in thenext couple of months, accordingto an Indian real estateconsultancy.

"A correction is likely to hap-pen in Mumbai and New Delhiproperty prices. We believe the fallcould be in the range of 15 to 20per cent in the next few months.However, property prices in the tierII and III cities have been stableand likely to increase over theyears," Santosh Naik, ManagingDirector, Disha Direct, told Emir-ates 24|7.

Godrej Properties ManagingDirector Milind Korde was alsoquoted recently in the Indian me-dia that realty prices in Mumbaiand Delhi were overheated, butprices were recovering in citiessuch as Bangalore and Pune sincethe fall in October 2008.

Oberoi Realtyplans luxuryresidences

Mumbai-based Oberoi Realtyis in talks with premier hotel

chains worldwide to introduce theconcept of luxury branded resi-dences for a 1.5 million square feetproject at Annie Besant Road inMumbai's Worli area.

"This will be along the lines ofluxury serviced apartments avail-able in India. But it will give buy-ers like NRIs an opportunity toown a luxury residence and haveit cared for by the best hotel brandsin return for a fee," Saumil Daru,group CFO of Oberoi Realty toldFinancial Chronicle.

HM to openretail chain inBangalore

HM Constructions, one ofBangalore's leading real es-

tate companies, will soon be open-ing one of its prime retail build-ings in the heart of Bangalore'sshopping hotspots - Jayanagar IVBlock. The shopping complex isexpected to be operational in an-other 2-3 months time.

For all the retailers, who arelooking to set up their base in thislocality, this complex can be a veryviable option. Comprising Ground+ three floors, HM Group is offer-ing 15,500 sq ft of space in full orflexible floor plate options, therebyconverting every sq ft to more foot-falls per day relating to more busi-ness per day.

Parsvnath office complexworth Rs 225cr

Realty firm Parsvnath Developers will invest Rs 225crore in partnership with private equity firm Red

Fort Capital to develop a high-end official complex inthe heart of the national capital. The company startedthe construction of the project ‘Red Fort ParsvnathTower’, having a built up area of three lakh square feet,located on Bhai Veer Singh Marg near Gole Market.

Last month, Parsvnath had sold 24.5 per cent stake inthe project, which it bagged from Delhi Metro Rail Cor-poration, on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis, to RedFort Capital for Rs 120 crore.

‘I am truly humbled to receive such aprestigious award,’ Park said. ‘At AREAA,we have made great progress in bringingopportunities to the real estate professionand to Asian American consumers’

www.indiapost.com November 19, 201031 India Post

Gir is the only home inIndia for the AsiaticLion of which there are

nearly 300 in the park. The Gir Na-tional Park lies in the Gujarat pen-insula in South-Western India.The terrain is rugged with low hillsand the vegetation is mixed de-ciduous, with stands of Teak,Acacia, Jamun, Tendu and Dhaktrees, interspersed with largepatches of grasslands. The trees

on the hills are sparse and stunted.Within the sanctuary, there are numer-

ous human settlements of cattle herderscalled Maldharis with an estimated 20,000head of livestock (which, incidentally, formsa significant part of the Lion's diet). Thereare also places of Hindu worship and pil-grimage and sulphur springs at Tulsi Shyamand Kankai Mata. The edges of the park

have good population of Indian Gazelle,protected by religious sentiments of the lo-cal people.

Wildlife Attractions: A distinct belt ofvegetation is found along the main riversand streams. Species like the Jambu, Karanj,Umro, Vad, Kalam, Charal, Sirus and Amliare mainly found here.

Gir Sanctuary is the lastand only home of thecritically endangeredAsiatic Lion. These lionsare a smaller, morecompact version of theirAfrican counterparts

Cont’d on page 32

India Post November 19, 201032 Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

These trees are mostly broadleaved and evergreen, giving thearea a cool shade and the mois-ture content. Finally, Prosopis andCasuarina have been planted in thecoastal borders as part of the af-forestation plan.

The Asiatic Lion: Gir Sanctu-ary is the last and only home ofthe critically endangered AsiaticLion. These lions are a smaller,more compact version of their Af-rican counterparts, and are bestviewed at dawn or dusk when theyare on the move.

The Leopards: Leopard is con-sidered to be one of the most beau-tiful and graceful animals in thejungle, also the most dangerousone. Popularly known as the Princeof Cats, this animal is the mostadaptable among the predators,one of the reasons why it occupiesa much larger spread of Gujarat for-est cover. In the Gir National Park itis found in all the varied habitatsand vegetation types. The approxi-mate population of 210 Leopardsresides within the sanctuary area.

Reptiles: Not leaving the waterpredators behind, Mash croco-diles are often seen along theKamleshwar Dam Site. Anothermajor attraction among the reptilepopulation of Gir National Park arethe numerous non-venomoussnakes such as the Indian RockPython along with the four ven-

omous varieties of Indian Cobra,Common Krait, Saw Scaled Viper,Russell's Viper. Among the lesser-known wildlife of Gir National Parkincludes the most common animalthat can be sighted in the sanctu-ary, the Chital or Spotted Deer.Other main wild attractions areNilgai, Chinkara, Sambhar, BlackBucks, the four horned Antelope,Wild Boar, Indian Flying Foe, GreyMusk Shrew, Indian Hare, PaleHedgehog, Small IndianMangoose, Small Indian Civet, In-dian Pangolin, Indian Porcupine,Ratel, Indian Fox, and Jackal. Thethree smaller wildcats - the JungleCat, Desert Cat and the Rusty Spot-ted Cat also inhabit the forest, a factwhich shows that the forest is notjust meant for the protection of Li-ons, but the entire cat family.

Avian Population: The forest isalso rich in bird life, with an esti-mated 300 species inhabiting the Gir

National Park. Many wildlife ex-perts believe that had Gir not beena Lion sanctuary, it could have eas-

ily passed off as a protected areafor the incredible diversity of birdsthat it harbors. The avifauna hereoccupies the forest floors, smallplants and shrubs and even thecanopy of the trees. The ParadiseFlycatcher, Black Headed CuckooShrike, Pied Woodpecker, Bonelli'sEagle, Creset Serpent Eagle,Painted Sandgrouse, Bush Quailand Grey Partridge are the com-monly found varieties in the park.

Safaris: Jeep Safaris are an idealway to travel inside the park, asthe uneven terrain of the park canbe conveniently covered on asturdy vehicle. The park authori-ties permit you to take your ownvehicle inside the park but onlywith the addition of a park guide.Jeeps can also be hired from theoffice at Sasan or from the tour

operators. Seats should be bookedin advance for a ride on the minibus operated by the park adminis-tration. The safari timings are 6:30to 9:30 am and 3 to 5 pm.

Other AttractionsTribal Village Visit: A couple

of tribes still reside inside the parkco-existing with the wild animals.A visit to these tribal villages is aninteresting experience that intro-duces the visitors to the uniquelifestyle and ways of living of thetribal people.

Nearby Cities: The historictown of Junagadh has a numberof attractions that include forts,palaces and gardens. Shoppingoptions in the town abound withethnic Rajasthani goods findingthe top spot on a shopper's list.

Best time to visit: December toApril

How to get thereAir: Nearest airport is Keshod,

while it will be ideal to travel by airto Rajkot and take a bus or taxi fromhere. Another major airport isAhmedabad, connected to Delhithrough daily flights (6:00 and18:15). Indian Airlines fliesMumbai-Ahmedabad twice a day(5:30 and 19:30)

Rail: The nearest railheads areSasan Gir and Veraval, while themost convenient railway station isRajkot.

Road: State Transport buses areavailable from Junagadh and Veravalbetween November and June.

Gir National Park: Only home in India for the Asiatic LionCont’d from page 31

Stringent visa norms hit tourist inflow in GoaPANAJI: Stringent visa norms have

forced chartered flight operators from Po-land to delay operations to Goa, deprivingthe state of nearly 1500 tourists, tourismofficials said.

Travel and Tourism Association of Goa(TTAG) spokesman Ralf D'Souza said Po-land was supposed to start their regularoperations to Goa from this year onwardsbut their flights will now be delayed.

"We were expecting the first charteredfight to arrive by first week of Novemberbut due to time-consuming visa formalitiesthey will not begin operations before De-cember 15," D'Souza said.

The delay will result in cancellation ofseven flights from this country, which meanswe will lose out on 1500 tourists, he said.

"If things on Indian front do not improve,then these tourists might be diverted to otherdestinations," D'Souza said, adding, "If notGoa, they will offer them some other desti-nation".

According to the state tourism industry,if India relaxes its stringent visa norms, atpar with last year's rules, the foreign touristinflow can increase by 15 per cent.

"We do not mind if the Ministry of HomeAffairs have curbs on citizens from hostilecountries. But those guests arriving fromtraditional tourism markets should not bedealt with harsh visa norms," he said.

Earlier, India was giving long-term visas,

valid up to a year and multiple entry visa forthree years.

As per the new directives, a tourist visadoes not exceed validity of three months.And if a tourist wants to visit again, he hasto go back, wait for one month (cooling pe-riod) and re-apply for the visa. .

Also, there is a repeat clientele to the

tune of 40 per cent for Goa, D'Souza said."If someone is visiting India year after

year, his information will be available onlinethrough immigration authorities. At least,his visa application should be expedited,"he said.

Goa is losing its tourism revenue to com-

petitive destinations like Thailand,Singapore, Sri Lanka and other Asian coun-tries, he said.

If visa norms take three weeks or more,how can we get tourists who plan their visitat the last minute," he asked.

Russians hitRussian travelers, who make for the sec-

ond largest guests to this tourist state, havefound Sri Lanka, Thailand and other coun-tries as destinations to spend their vaca-tions when icy winter hits Moscow.

Russian consulate representative, VikramVarma said that earlier many Russians hadmade Goa as their base and used to be hereduring entire winter in their country.

"They used to arrive here in Novemberand stay till March or April, when tempera-ture in the country drops to minus degreeCelsius," Varma said, adding these travel-ers used to fly to destinations like Nepal,Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia for some pe-riod and return to Goa.

"Now if they fly out of the country, theyhave to re-apply for visa and only after cool-ing period of one month, they can again getit," Varma said.

"The visa issues is really causing incon-venience for the travelers who want tospend more than two to three months herein Goa," Harpal Singh, station Manager,Minar Travels, said.-PTI

9 pc increase inforeign touristsarrival

NEW DELHI: Arrival of foreign touriststo the country has registered more than 9per cent increase in October this year overthe same period in the last year, accordingto the Tourism Ministry.

A total of 4.87 lakh foreign tourists vis-ited India as against 4.46 lakh during Octo-ber 2009 and 4.50 lakh in October 2008, theMinistry's data said.

There has been a growth of 9.2 per centin October this year over the same monthlast year as compared to a negative growthof 0.9 per cent registered in October 2009over October 2008. In September this year,3.69 lakh foreign tourists had visited thecountry.

Allaying the apprehension of decline ininflux of foreign tourists during the Com-monwealth Games here, the Delhi airport haswitnessed an increase of 5.1 per cent in for-eign tourist arrivals in October 2010 com-pared to October 2009.

There were total 43.22 lakh foreign touristsduring the period of January-October with agrowth rate of 9.9 per cent, as compared to39.34 lakh and a negative growth rate of 6.7per cent during January-October 2009 overthe corresponding period of 2008. -PTI

"We were expecting thefirst chartered fight to arriveby first week of Novemberbut due to time-consumingvisa formalities they will notbegin operations beforeDecember 15,"D'Souza said

Jeep Safaris are anideal way to travelinside the park, as theuneven terrain of thepark can be conve-niently covered on asturdy vehicle

India PostNovember 19, 2010 33Travel & Hospitality Postwww.indiapost.com

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Himachal govt to launch heli-taxisDHARAMSALA: In a bid to

attract high-end tourists to thestate, the Himachal Pradesh gov-ernment has decided to launchHelicopter service from nextmonth, a top tourism official saidhere.

"Heli-taxis will be started inHimachal Pradesh next month toattract high-end tourists to thestate. For this, the government hasidentified three companies -- SimSam Airlines, Mesco Airlines andShiva Airlines," Director of stateTourism Arun Sharma said.

Negotiations are on with theheli-taxi operators to finalize theirarea of operation and fare, he said.

"An MoU is likely be signedwith the companies in the next fewdays...Initially, we have plans tostart heli-taxis from Delhi andChandigarh to all the district head-quarters.

Later, most of the prominenttourist places will be linked withair connectivity," he said.

The tourism department hasidentified 57 helipads in the statethat could be made functional for

the heli-taxi service.Over 11 lakh tourists, including

about four lakh foreigners, had vis-ited Himachal Pradesh, known forits apples and picture-perfect tour-ist spots, last year.

Meanwhile, the hospitality in-dustry is happy with the govern-ment decision.

"The advent of the heli-taxiswould certainly increase the in-flux of the tourists...This wouldpromote Buddhist tourism in thetrans-Himalayas," a hotel ownersaid. -PTI

Integrated tourism projectalong Puri coast

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissagovernment will implement the Rs116 crore integrated tourismproject along the coast near Purikeeping in mind environment is-sues.

"Protect the natural beauty andenvironment while developing in-tegrated tourism project along thesea shore near Puri," chief secre-tary B K Patnaik told officials at ameeting on the much-publicized'Samuka Beach' project near Puri.

The tourism department hadprepared a master plan for devel-oping an integrated tourismproject along the coast at an in-vestment of Rs 116.59 crore onpublic-private-partnership mode.

The project components werestar hotels, resorts, internationalconvention centre, golf course,culture villages, craft bazaar and a'gurukul'.

Of the 3,000 acre of land identi-fied for housing the tourismproject, state-owned IDCO (Indus-trial Infrastructure DevelopmentCorporation of Orissa) had already

drawn map for beginning work on972 acre of land in the first phase.

District collector of Puri hadsubmitted a plan for further acqui-sition of 62 acre.

The state government had alsoinvited tenders from hoteliers forconstruction of hotels and sea re-sorts, an official said, adding that

negotiations were also on forbuilding commercial complexesand others.

IDCO has already completedwork on an approach road to theproposed tourism project site,while the energy department hasbeen asked to supply power to thesite for which Rs 37.55 crore wouldbe utilized. -PTI

Kerala companyto promotetourism fest

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:To promote tourism along with busi-ness, the Kerala government hasdecided to form a company calledKerala Tourism Trade PromotionOrganization.

"The new company will conducttourism fairs, similar to the GrandKerala Shopping Festival," Chief

The project compo-nents were star hotels,resorts, internationalconvention centre,golf course

Minister V S Achuthanandan toldreporters after a cabinet meeting.

The Grand Kerala ShoppingFestival is organized by the tour-ism department with active partici-pation of trade and business com-munity. The fourth edition of GKSFwill be held next month. -PTI

The Grand KeralaShopping Festival isorganized by thetourism departmentwith active participa-tion of trade and busi-ness community

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November 19, 2010

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36 India Post November 19, 2010www.indiapost.com

Tech News TechBizLocke to leadhigh-tech US trademission to IndiaIndia Post News Service

MUMBAI: Delivering remarksat the US-India Business and En-trepreneurship Summit in MumbaiNov 6, US Commerce SecretaryGary Locke announced he will leada high-tech trade mission to India.The February 6-11, 2011 businessdevelopment mission will promote

the export of high-technologyproducts from leading US firms andmake stops in New Delhi, Mumbai,and Bangalore.

"Exports are leading the US

economic recovery, spurring fu-ture economic growth and creat-ing jobs in America," Locke said."Increasing trade between theUS and India will help drive in-novation and create jobs in bothcountries. As trading partners,US companies can help Indiameet the ambitious economic andsocial goals laid out by its gov-

ernment, while the Indian marketholds enormous potential for USexporters."

The trade mission will highlightexport opportunities for US busi-

nesses in a broad range of ad-vanced industrial sectors, includ-ing civil-nuclear trade, defense andsecurity, civil aviation, and infor-mation and communication.

The India business develop-ment mission will help build onthe exporting success US com-panies have had in 2010 - upnearly 18 percent compared tothe same period last year. It willbe Locke's second trade missionas Commerce secretary. In May,he led a clean energy businessdevelopment mission to Chinaand Indonesia.

Commerce's International TradeAdministration helps Americancompanies export their productsand services around the world,utilizing some 1,500 US Commer-cial Service staff stationed in 77countries across the globe. Lastyear, the US Commercial Servicehelped facilitate billions of dollarsin US export sales, supporting jobsacross the country.Energy Cooperation launched

Delivering remarks at a busi-

ness innovation-focused eventhosted by the Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce and Indus-try and the American Chamber ofCommerce in New Delhi, Com-merce Secretary Gary Locke dis-cussed the economic opportuni-ties that would result from acloser relationship between theUS and India, and underscoredthe importance of mutually ben-eficial, job-creating trade betweenthe two nations.

Locke also announced thelaunch of a US-India Energy Co-operation Program, a partnershipthat brings together US and In-dian companies and our two gov-ernments to focus on specificprojects and initiatives that willdevelop the clean energy market-place and help realize its poten-tial within India. He gave particu-lar thanks to the US Trade Devel-opment Agency and its director,Lee Zak, for making the programa reality and for providing thesupport necessary to get the firsttwo projects off the ground.

US-India economic relationship: The real numbersSRIREKHA CHAKRAVARTY


NEW YORK: With the IMFprediction of India's GDP growthpitched at an annual rate of morethan 8% through 2015 and anever-expanding consumer marketof 1.2 billion individuals, Indiarepresents a tremendous oppor-tunity for US firms to expand theiroutput of goods and services.

As part of the National ExportInitiative, the US Administrationis taking concrete steps to expandUS exports to India, includingthrough advocacy on behalf ofUS firms, the expansion of the useof trade finance and by having adialogue with the Government of

India to enhance market accessfor US exporters in a number ofkey sectors.

India's domestic demand for

foreign goods has soared since2002 with global merchandise im-ports quadrupling to reach $257.7billion last year. The US is cur-

rently India's second-largest im-port partner, representing morethan 6%, or $16.4 billion, of theIndian import market. As US firms

continue to take advantage of theincredible opportunities providedby India's rapid growth, they areexpected to continue to increase

US exports and create large num-bers of high-value jobs at home.US Merchandise Exports toIndia

• US merchandise exports toIndia quadrupled between 2002and 2009, surpassing $16.4 bil-lion. In 2010, that figure in-creased 18% compared to thesame period in 2009 thus far to-taling $12.7 billion. Increases inexports have supported jobgrowth, particularly importantduring the recent weakness ofthe domestic US market.

• India is increasingly becom-ing a significant trading partnerhaving climbed from the 29th to17th largest market for US exports.

US President Barack Obama speaks at the US-India Business Council and

Entrepeneurship Summit on November 6

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke (L) shakes hands with Anand Mahindra

(R) of Mahindra and Mahindra and Ajay Piramal of Piramal Enterprises Limited

(C) during US President Barack Obama's meeting with entrepeneurs

Contíd on page 37

India to go up theIMF ladder onquota reforms

SEOUL: In a significant reflec-tion of the country's growing eco-nomic clout, India will shoot up tothe eighth place in the Board ofthe International Monetary Fundonce the G-20 countries approvethe quota reforms that have al-ready been proposed.

"India will move to the eighthposition in the IMF Board from itspresent 22nd position. We will getmuch more in the quota share oncethe G-20 leaders take a politicaldecision to approve what has beendecided by the IMF on quota in-crease in 2008," Planning Commis-sion Deputy Chairman MontekSingh Ahluwalia told reportershere briefing on the deliberationsahead of the G-20 summit. -PTI

Pak to importvegetablesfrom India

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistangovernment has allowed import ofvegetables from India, amongstother countries, in a bid to tackle asharp rise in its prices followingthe destruction of agriculturalfields due to floods.

The Commerce Ministry herehas issued a notification to amendthe Import Policy Order of 2009 toallow the import of vegetables.

Among the items whose importwill be allowed through the Wagahland border are green chilli, capsi-cum, cabbage, radish, ladyfinger,cauliflower, ginger and carrot.

Officials said the floods thatdevastated large parts of Pakistanearlier this year had submergedagricultural fields and destroyedthousands of acres of crops. -PTI

Punjab economyon upswing:Minister

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Fi-nance Minister Upinderjit Kaurhas accused former Chief Minis-ter Captain Amarinder Singh ofresorting to "blatant lies and de-liberate distortion of facts" on thefiscal health of the state during theCongress government's tenure.

"The debt burden of the statewent up from Rs 32,496 crore in2002, when Amarinder assumedoffice, to Rs 52,923 crore when herelinquished it, a shocking andphenomenal increase of over 62 percent (approximately)," she said.

In contrast, after the SAD-BJPgovernment assumed office inMarch, 2007, the state's debt had in-creased to just Rs 62,000 crore at thestart of the current fiscal, translatinginto a relatively meager growth rateof just 19 per cent, she claimed. -PTI

As part of the National Export Initiative, the USAdministration is taking concrete steps to ex-pand US exports to India, including throughadvocacy on behalf of US firms, the expansionof the use of trade finance and by having adialogue with the Government of India toenhance market access for US exporters in anumber of key sectors

37India PostTechBiz Postwww.indiapost.com

November 19, 2010

USIBC Presidential Summit paints the Big PictureIndia Post News Service

MUMBAI: Corporate leaders atthe Nov 6 business conclave inMumbai, India featuring PresidentBarack Obama reached consensusthat transfer of technology, mar-ket access, and resisting protec-tionism must be central to stimu-lating growth, creating jobs, andspurring two-way opportunity.

The business to business rela-tionship between the UnitedStates and India showed its grow-ing strength by the sheer numbersof high-level CEOs who attendedthe business summit. Every avail-able seat in The Oberoi Trident'sRegal Room with a capacity of 500was filled with US or Indian cor-porate business leaders.

"The US-India commercial rela-tionship has achieved a level ofdepth and maturity where we standtogether to create a "win-win" op-portunity for both countries," saidRon Somers, President of the US-India Business Council (USIBC).

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman andCEO of Reliance Industries, India'slargest private sector company,described how his recent $1 bil-lion-plus investment inPennsylvania's Atlas Energy,which has pioneered shale gasextraction in the United States, will'grow' American jobs and enhanceAmerica's energy security whileproviding access to these sametechnologies to explore much-needed gas supplies in India.

GE's Chairman and CEO, JeffImmelt, described India not onlyas a vast market for America'shigh-end manufactured products-like locomotives, aircraft, combinedcycle gas turbines, and jet engines-products America still excels atmanufacturing, but India is alsonow a vital link in the global sup-ply chain of many world-class com-panies. GE has been on the groundin India for over a century. It sellsAmerican-made products into In-dia as well as develops sophisti-cated equipment in places likeHyderabad and Bangalore.

Anand Mahindra, Vice Chair-man and MD, Mahindra &Mahindra, echoed the benefits ofthe two-way street connecting

the US and Indian economies,whose tractor business in the USis investing in technologies that arecreating American jobs while en-abling Mahindra and Mahindra toincrease its capacities to satisfydemand in India and around theglobe. The result is a net gain ofjobs being generated for both sides.

Louis Chênevert, Chairman andCEO of United Technologies Cor-poration, whose storied brandsinclude Carrier, Pratt & Whitney,Otis Elevators, and Sikorsky heli-copters, spoke to UTC's ability toremain competitive by integratingIndia into the company's globalvalue chain. "Net/net," USIBCnoted, "the next chapter in US-In-

dia commercial ties is about col-laboration and integration, pre-senting comparative advantagesso US and Indian companies canremain globally competitive."

Global players PepsiCo,Honeywell, Bharti Enterprises, andIndia's largest housing lender,HDFC, suggested that consolidat-ing and sustaining this remarkablegrowth story will require attentionto implementation. Building hu-man resource capacities, havingthe benefits of prosperity reach alllevels of society, connecting ruralIndia to opportunity, while pro-tecting the environment-these areall areas requiring utmost priority.

"Without inclusive growth-reaching all segments of society

in both India and the UnitedStates-the message about global-ization and its benefits will continueto be a difficult case to make. Nolonger is it sufficient to rely on gov-ernments to articulate the benefitsof globalization; companies mustconsciously reach out to their mar-kets to ensure inclusivity as coreto development," USIBC said.

Access to basic education isjust one example where vast im-provements are urgently needed.PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi is passion-ate on this point. Both countrieshighly value education, yet pro-viding access to basic educationcontinues to present challenges.Preparing the global workforce oftomorrow is a daunting task thatwill require support from the busi-ness community.

Rajan Bharti Mittal, of BhartiEnterprises, spoke to the impera-tive of inviting greater investmentinto India's farm-to-market supplychain, which requires massive out-lays for infrastructure if produc-tivity and efficiency are to be en-hanced. Without such improve-ments, attaining an "Ever-GreenRevolution"-the ultimate goal-willremain ephemeral. Opening India'smulti-brand retail sector to orga-nized players will attract invest-ment into this essential sector.

Honeywell CEO Dave Cote em-phasized the importance of tech-nology collaboration as a crucialingredient for growth. The big chal-lenges of the 21st Century-be itweather forecasting, crop distribu-tion, disaster relief, climate change,e-health, e-learning-all stand agreater chance of being solved byapplying new innovations of tech-nology. Easing of technology trans-fer rules will facilitate greater tech-nology exchange, equipping theUS-India partnership with the toolsto face future challenges together.

HDFC's Deepak Parekh spokeof the need to mobilize new capi-tal markets in India so infrastruc-

ture can be built at a pace that gen-erates opportunities to keepIndia's young population working,while extending the promise ofprosperity to all segments of soci-ety, including those living at the'bottom of the pyramid'. "Anythingshort of success on these fronts -in both countries - will run counterto our mutual interests. On thesematters, we are in this as partners,together," USIBC noted.

The promise of greater technol-ogy collaboration-applied in waysnever thought possible-to enabletransformative change, concludedthe summit's deliberations. Palantirand Intuit, US innovators engagedin cutting-edge homeland securityand IT solutions, and Jubilant LifeSciences and Kotak Mahindra,leading global Indian biotech andfinancial service companies, werefeatured companies demonstrating

this transformative thinking and'next generation leadership'.

Palantir's Alexander Karp de-scribed how India's homeland se-curity requirements can be revo-lutionized by American technolo-gies that emerged from 9/11, theattack on New York and Washing-ton in 2001, which sparked inno-vations in national security.

Intuit's CEO, Brad Smith,praised the knowledge partnershipbetween the United States andIndia that first gained traction af-ter addressing the challengesposed by Y2K and which is nowfacing headwinds from rising pro-tectionist sentiments. "We have aresponsibility to help this Admin-istration and our companies bet-ter articulate how a knowledgepartnership between the UnitedStates and India enables our com-panies to remain strong and com-petitive," USIBC stated. Job cre-ation is dependent on the strengthof companies and their compara-tive advantage.

Hari Bhartia of Jubilant Life Sci-ences described a wide vista ofcollaboration that can be forgedin health care. Rising health carecosts in the United States can bepartially offset by lower costs inIndia-as linkages are developedand discoveries are pioneered to-gether. The possibilities for coop-eration in the pharmaceutical andhealth field are limitless.

Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindradescribed the growing inter-de-pendence of our financial systems.The technologies underpinningthe world's largest economy mustbe applied now to the world's fast-est growing economy.

CEO Jeffrey Immelt (C) and US President Barack Obama (R) speak at the Trident Hotel in Mumbai on November 6

US-India economic relationship:The real numbers

• Top US export categories in2009 included machinery ($2.3 bil-lion), aircraft and parts ($2.3 bil-lion), electric machinery ($1.3 bil-lion) and fertilizers ($1.1 billion).Strong figures in these categoriesindicate considerable potential forgrowth in US exports in a widevariety of industries.

• States throughout the nationbenefit from exports to India. In2009, more than half reported mer-chandise export shipments to In-dia above $100 million. The larg-est state exporters of merchandiseto India included: California ($2.2billion), Texas ($1.9 billion), Wash-ington ($1.8 billion), New York($1.5 billion), and Florida ($1 bil-lion). The wide geographic distri-bution of state exporters suggeststhat trade ties with India are ben-eficial to people throughout the

country.US Services Exports to India• US services exports to India

more than tripled over the past sev-eral years, increasing from $3.3 bil-lion in 2002 to more than $10.5 bil-lion in 2008. The rapid growth inthese exports has been supportedby increased FDI from India to theUnited States and the growing mer-chandise trade relationship be-tween the two countries.

• In 2008, the largest US ser-vice export category to India wasthe travel sector at $3 billion. Othermajor categories included educa-tion services ($2.7 billion) and busi-ness, professional and technicalservices ($1.1 billion). Indian stu-dents are now the largest groupof foreign students within theUnited States and represent a ma-jor growth market for Americaninstitutions of education.

Contíd from page 36

Access to basic education is just one ex-ample where vast improvements are urgentlyneeded. PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi is passionateon this point. Both countries highly valueeducation, yet providing access to basiceducation continues to present challenges.Preparing the global workforce of tomorrowis a daunting task that will require supportfrom the business community

www.indiapost.com38 India Post November 19, 2010

Health ScienceHealth Line

Family health history a powerful,underused tool

WASHINGTON: Make Grandmaspill the beans: Uncovering all thediseases that lurk in your family treecan trump costly genetic testing inpredicting what illnesses you andyour children are likely to face.

It may sound old-fashioned,but a Cleveland Clinic study com-paring which method best uncov-ered an increased risk of cancerhelps confirm the value of what iscalled a family tree health history.

All it costs is a little time ques-tioning your relatives, yet goodfamily health trees are rare. A gov-ernment survey estimated lessthan a third of families have oneand time-crunched doctors seldompush their patients to remedy that.

`Ì view family health historiesas back to the future,'' says Dr.Charis Eng, a cancer geneticist atthe Cleveland Clinic's GenomicMedicine Institute. `Ìt's the best-kept secret in health care.''

Holiday gatherings can be agood chance to gather the infor-mation, as can reunions or evenfunerals. The U.S. Surgeon Gen-eral operates a free website - https://familyhistory.hhs.gov that helpspeople create a family health his-tory and share it electronically withrelatives and their doctor.

However you do it, get the

scoop on both sides of the family,says another study of 2,500women. Researchers found thatwomen not only know less aboutthe health of their paternal rela-tives, they tend to dismiss thethreat of breast cancer if it's onDad's side.

`Ìt's a risk no matter what,'' saysDr. Wendy Rubinstein of Chicago'sNorthShore University Health Sys-tem, who presented the research lastweek at a meeting of the AmericanSociety of Human Genetics.

Far too often, a family healthhistory consists of whatever youhappen to jot down on that clip-board in the doctor's waiting room.Mom hasn't confided her soaringcholesterol? Can't recall what killedAunt Mary? Don't realize that thehunched back of Grandma and hersisters could foreshadow yourosteoporosis? Or maybe Dadnever mentioned that in his 40s hesurvived the prostate cancer thatkilled his own father.

Looking for patterns of familialillness can predict someone'sbrewing health risks, so gaps canbe a problem.

How does a good history com-pare with those online genomictesting services sold without adoctor's prescription for hundredsof dollars that analyze DNAglitches and predict people's pre-disposition to various diseases?

To find out, the ClevelandClinic's Eng recruited 44 people 22patients in her family cancer clinic

and their spouses _ for a familyhealth history and a saliva testfrom one of those genomic ser-vices, Navigenics, to calculatetheir risk for colon cancer andbreast or prostate cancer.

Both approaches classifiedabout 40 percent of participantsas having above-average risk butthey picked the same people onlyabout half the time. For example,the genomic screening missed allnine people with a strong family

risk of colon cancer, five of whomEng's clinic gave extra scrutiny toprove they carried a specific genemutation.

`À patient might have donethis testing and been very reas-sured and not come to medicalcare,'' she told last week's geneti-cists' meeting.

On the other hand, Navigenicslisted eight men at risk for pros-tate cancer when their family his-tory predicted a risk no higherthan average.

Why the difference? No matterthe brand, genomic screening takesa broad look at DNA variations, in-cluding some that scientists aren'tsure play a big role. Yet it oftendoesn't include high-profile genemutations that are linked for spe-cific diseases and can require morespecialized testing, Eng explains.

Navigenics didn't return a callfor comment.

``Family history remains thebest genetic tool we have, buthealth care providers are not tak-ing advantage'' of it, says Dr.Maren Scheuner of the VeteransAffairs Healthcare System in LosAngeles, who is leading a pilotproject to add family cancer histo-ries to the VA's electronic medicalrecords at two area clinics. -AP

Report faults fedsover Kansas Citycomplex

KANSAS CITY, Mo.: A reportaccuses a federal agency of pro-viding misleading informationabout environmental conditions ata Kansas City complex whereworkers have complained ofhealth problems.

The inspector general's investi-gation determined that testing con-ducted so far has not identified anysignificant health hazards presentin the roughly 40 percent of theBannister Federal Complex con-trolled by the General Service Ad-ministration. But the report says theGSA cannot provide assurance thatthe complex has historically been asafe and healthy workplace.

The 310-acre federal complexhas housed various facilities, in-cluding a Department of Defenselandfill and manufacturing sites forweapons parts and aircraft, andhas been the subject of severalenvironmental inquiries over theyears. -AP

Officials suggestW.Va. residentsget H1N1 shots

CHARLESTON, W.Va.: Statehealth officials say the H1N1 vi-rus is still a potential threat de-spite less attention given to swineflu compared with last year's out-break. -AP

Maine pineneedles yieldTamiflu material

PORTLAND, Maine: A little-known raw material used in themost widely used antiviral flu medi-cine comes from the fruit of treesnative to China. It turns out it alsocomes from pine trees in Maine'sbackyard.

Researchers at the Universityof Maine at Orono say they'vefound a new and relatively easyway to extract shikimic acid - akey ingredient in the drug Tamiflu- from pine tree needles.

It remains to be seen if the pro-cess can be applied commercially.The extract could be valuable be-cause Tamiflu is the world's mostwidely used antiviral drug for treat-ing the flu. -AP

Iowa sees 33%increase inwhooping cough

DES MOINES, Iowa: Iowa pub-lic health officials say they've seena 33 percent increase in whoopingcough this year over the previousfive-year average.

Iowa Department of PublicHealth epidemiologist Ann Garveysays so far this year there havebeen 423 cases of whoopingcough, or pertussis, in Iowa.That's compared with about 200cases at this time last year.

The five-year average is about318 cases.

But Garvey says pertussis iscyclical and increases are expectedevery three to five years. -AP

Washington Hospital physician awarded gold medal India Post News Service

FREMONT, CA: DavidLarson, MD, PhD, co-medicaldirector of WashingtonHospital's innovative GammaKnife Program, was awardedthe Gold Medal from the Ameri-can Society for Radiation On-cology (ASTRO), theorganization's most prestigiousaward given to only two indi-viduals each year. Dr. Larsonreceived the award for his con-tributions to the managementof brain tumors and the field ofradiation oncology.

"It's truly an honor to havea physician of this caliber onthe Hospital's medical staff,"said Nancy Farber, chief execu-tive officer of Washington

Hospital Healthcare System."Dr. Larson is just one exampleof the high caliber medical staff

that is available locally to carefor our patients."

Dr. Larson accepted the

award at the Society's 52nd An-nual Meeting held in San Diego.The meeting attracted more than

10,000 attendees from aroundthe world.

"I am humbled and honored

by this recognition from mypeers," says Dr. Larson, whois a 25-year member of the or-ganization and served as itspresident and chairman of theboard in 2001.

The Gold Medal is bestowedon revered members who havemade outstanding contribu-tions to the field of radiationoncology, including research,clinical care, teaching and ser-vice according to ASTRO'swebsite, the world's leading or-ganization devoted to radiationoncology. Its members includemore than 9,000 medical andscientific professionals who useradiation therapy to treat pa-tients with cancer and otherdiseases.

Cont’d on page 39

A Cleveland Clinic study comparing whichmethod best uncovered an increased risk ofcancer helps confirm the value of what iscalled a family tree health history

David Larson, MD, PhD

The Gold Medal isbestowed onrevered memberswho have madeoutstanding contribu-tions to the field ofradiation oncology,including research,clinical care,teaching and service

India PostNovember 19, 2010 Health Science Post 39

www.indiapost.com

The award was presented by TheodoreL. Phillips, M.D., professor emeritus ofRadiation Oncology at the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco. "Dr. Larson isan outstanding clinician, and clinical andlaboratory scientist," stated Dr. Phillipsin his remarks. "He became a leader of ra-diation neuro-oncology nationally, estab-lished the guidelines for radiation oncol-ogy participation in central nervous sys-tem radiosurgery, and later became a pio-neer in stereotactic body radiosurgery. Hehas been a great teacher and role modeland a supportive friend to many in ourspecialty."

During his career, Dr. Larson has pub-lished hundreds of articles, mostly aboutbrain tumors, and has lectured around theworld. He was one of the early users of theGamma Knife for radiosurgery, a form ofradiation therapy that focuses high-pow-ered x-rays on a defined area of the brainto treat brain tumors and other disorders.He also advises the manufacturer of theGamma Knife about ways to improve thetechnology and served on a committee thathelped developed the Perfexion, the latestversion of the Gamma Knife.

Currently at Washington Hospital, Dr.Larson uses the Gamma Knife Perfexion,the most advanced and effective versionof the technology. The powerful Perfexion

is the centerpiece of the Gamma Knife Pro-gram, part of the Hospital's Taylor McAdamBell Neuroscience Institute. WashingtonHospital was only the third hospital in theworld, and the first in the United States, toinstall the Perfexion.

"The fully automated device works ex-tremely well while minimizing the radiationdose to surrounding normal brain tissue,"

Washington Hospital physicianawarded gold medal


explains Dr. Larson. Despite its name,Gamma Knife radiosurgery does not makea surgical incision. Rather, the program'sskilled team of specialists uses directbeams of radiation to treat brain-relateddisorders without opening the skull. Thesafe, noninvasive approach is nearly pain-less, and patients can usually return homein just a few hours, resuming normal ac-tivities the next day.

During his career,Dr. Larson has publishedhundreds of articles, mostlyabout brain tumors, andhas lectured around theworld. He was one of theearly users of the GammaKnife for radiosurgery, aform of radiation therapy

Briefs India India Post November 19, 2010www.indiapost.com40

NewsObama supports India's bid

for UN Council seat

NEW DELHI: President BarackObama wound up his visit withthe announcement of broad sup-port to India's bid for permanentseat in the UN Security Counciland offering to play "any role" inreducing Indo-Pak tensions, aeuphemism for Kashmir which hasbeen a sensitive issue here.

Indo-Pak tensions came upduring talks Obama had with PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh whoexpressed readiness to engagewith Pakistan but made it clear thatthere can be no dialogue tillIslamabad ends "terror-inducedcoercion".

During the 75-minute meetingin the Hyderabad House onpacked day of events, Singh andObama agreed on a number of newinitiatives, including cooperationon internal security, removal of In-dian companies from the US sanc-tions' list and setting up of a re-search centre in India in civilnuclear field.

Obama, who struck the rightchord with the Indian political andbusiness leaders, made the most-awaited announcement when hespoke to MPs backing India'squest for permanent membershipof a "reformed" UNSC in the"years ahead".

The announcement, which wasgreeted by thunderous applauseby the gathering, was tempered

with his suggestions for what In-dia should do to fulfill its in-creased responsibility that comes

with increased power.His message was clear that In-

dia should speak up on issues like

human rights violations inMyanmar and implement sanc-tions against Iran over its nuclearprogram.

"Indeed, the just and sustain-able international order thatAmerica seeks includes a UnitedNations that is efficient, effective,credible and legitimate.

"That is why I can say todayin the years ahead, I look forwardto a reformed UN Security Coun-cil that includes India as a perma-nent member," he said in hisspeech in Parliament.

US President Barack Obama addressing the joint session of Parliament, in the Central Hall of Parliament House, in New Delhi on November 8

'Indeed, the just and sustainable internationalorder that America seeks includes a UnitedNations that is efficient, effective, credibleand legitimate. 'That is why I can say todayin the years ahead, I look forward to areformed UN Security Council thatincludes India as a permanent member'

Cont'd on page 41

Greeting MPs as he arrives to deliver a speech at Parliament House

US President Barack Obama inspecting the Guard of Honour,

at the Ceremonial Reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan

in New Delhi on November 8

$ 10 billionbusiness dealswith India

MUMBAI: President BarackObama announced $10 billion inbusiness deals as he arrived in In-dia to boost U.S. exports and jobs.

Obama flew into Mumbai, India'sfinancial hub, and announced theUnited States would also relax ex-port controls over sensitive tech-nology, a demand of India's that willhelp deepen U.S. ties with theemerging global power and its tril-lion dollar economy.

Details on page 30

Mumbai studentscharmed byObamas

MUMBAI: "He is the mostpowerful man in the world. Still heis able to connect with us, theyouth." A visibly impressed stu-dent said after the event where USPresident Barack Obama inter-acted with them.

Obama, accompanied by hiswife Michelle, asked questions tostudents before taking sometough ones from them during anhour's interaction at St Xavier'sCollege here.

Details on page 31

Details on page 31

Dance withchildren tocelebrate Diwali

MUMBAI: Imparting a touchof informality, US PresidentBarack Obama and First LadyMichelle danced spiritedly to afoot-tapping Marathi folk song asthey participated in symbolicDiwali festivities with children ata city school.

The US first couple took abreak from their formal engage-ments to savor dance presenta-tions by youngsters and visit ascience exhibition at the HolyName High School, close to theHotel Taj Mahal where they arestaying.

India Post 41

www.indiapost.com

Obama in IndiaNovember 19, 2010

Recalling the terror attack onParliament in 2001 and Mumbai at-tacks in 2008, Obama said the USwould continue to insist toPakistan's leaders that "terroristsafe heavens within their bordersare unacceptable and that the ter-rorists behind the Mumbai attackshould be brought to justice."

Earlier, addressing a joint pressconference with Singh, Obama saidKashmir was a "longstanding dis-pute" between the two countriesand that he believed both have in-terest in reducing tensions.

Emphasizing that the US "can-not impose" solution to this prob-lem, he said he has "indicated" toSingh that "we are happy to playany role the parties think is appro-priate to reducing these tensionsthat is in interest of the region, thetwo countries and the UnitedStates."

Hoping that "conversations"between India and Pakistan wouldstart over the "next several monthsand years", Obama said the dia-logue may not start on that "par-ticular flash point" (of Kashmir) but

Obama supports India's bidfor UN Council seat

Contíd from page 40

India not stealing US jobs: PMNEW DELHI: India asserted

that it was not in the business ofstealing American jobs, even asUS President Barack Obama saidthat deals with India to create50,000 jobs back home were aimedat assuaging citizens' fears.

"India is not in the business ofstealing jobs from the US...outsourcing (work to India) hashelped improve the productivecapacity and productivity ofAmerica," Prime MinisterManmohan Singh said at a jointpress conference with visiting USPresident Barack Obama atHyderabad House here.

The two leaders committed toenhance the bilateral cooperationin technology transfer, enhance-ment of trade and investment flowto create jobs in the respectivenations and raise the living stan-dards.

Replying to a question onoutsourcing, the US President,who earlier met Prime MinisterSingh and held delegation leveltalks, said that both countries wereoperating on stereotypes thathave outlived their usefulness andclarified that he hasn't raised theoutsourcing bogey during this trip.

To a specific question on thepurpose of his visit, Obama saidpart of the reason why he adver-tised creation of 50,000 jobs fromdeals signed in Mumbai during his

visit, was to tell people in Americawhy he spent so much time in In-dia.

Obama said the relationshipbetween the two nations as a de-fining partnership of the 21st cen-tury and acknowledged India'semergence as a prominent and keyplayer on the global stage.

On his part, Singh welcomedAmerican initiative and commit-ment to support India, saying this

was essential for sustaining 9-10per cent growth over the next threedecades.

He pointed out that Indianeeded USD one trillion of invest-ment in infrastructure over the nextfive years.

One of the major steps agreedduring his visit was lifting of con-trols in exports of technology bythe US to India. The US has strictexport control regime for the know-

how, which has applications forboth military and civil uses, andIndia was denied the same.

"We will remove Indian organi-zations from the so-called entitylist, which will allow greater coop-eration in a range of hi-tech sectorlike civil space and defense," hesaid.

The Indian Prime Ministerhailed the US decision and said:"This is a manifestation of grow-

ing trust and confidence of eachother."

In his opening remarks, Obamastressed that the US expandedtrade and investments to createprosperity for the people of the twonations. "The major trade dealsthat were signed in Mumbai werea clear step forward in elevatingIndia as US's top trading partner.

"We have agreed to keep reduc-ing trade barriers and resist pro-tectionism," he added.

He said the purchase of USCargo planes by India will create22,000 jobs in America.

The two countries have agreedto enhance cooperation in severalareas including agriculture. Thecooperation would cover weatherand crop forecast, critical to theIndian agriculture which employsmore than 50 per cent of its people,Singh said. .

Replying to a question on con-cerns in the US over trade sur-pluses in several countries, Obamapraised India for maintaining a bal-ance.

"India has been a part of thesolution and not problem," hesaid.

A number of memorandums ofunderstandings (MoUs) weresigned between the two countries.These related to energy coopera-tion, Shale Gas Resources, petro-leum and natural gas.-PTI

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama at Joint Press Conference in New Delhi

other issues like confidence-build-ing measures to enable the twocountries to focus on range of theirchallenges and opportunities.

On his part, Singh said Indiawas committed to engaging withPakistan to resolving all outstand-ing issues, "including the word-K (Kashmir). We are not afraid ofthat.

"But it is our request is that youcannot simultaneously be talkingand at the same time the terror ma-chine (in Pakistan) is active as everbefore. Once Pakistan moves awayfrom terror-induced coercion, wewill be very happy to engage pro-ductively with Pakistan to resolveall outstanding issues."

Singh noted that he had al-ways maintained that a "strong,peaceful and moderate" Pakistanis in the interest of India, SouthAsia and the world as a whole.

Obama commended Singh's"sincere and relentless desire",expressed "publicly and pri-vately", to pursue peace with Pa-kistan and hoped the two coun-tries would "find mechanisms thatwill be appropriate" to reduce ten-sions.-PTI

Obama leaves Parliament spellbound

US President Barack Obama bows and greets the audience beside

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after delivering a speech

at Parliament House

NEW DELHI: An effectivecommunicator that he is, US Presi-dent Barack Obama cast his spellfrom the moment he entered themajestic Central Hall of Parliamentwith members clamoring to shakehands with him.

And he struck a correct politi-cal note in the beginning itselfwhen he shook hands with RahulGandhi who was welcoming himwith a namaste after he saw theyoung leader in the fourth row.

And he literally stole the showin his address to Parliament, pep-pering his speech with words like'Jai hind', 'Bahut dhanyawad' andPanchatantra to connect with theworld's largest democracy.

As regards the larger canvas,Obama sang paeans to his 'hero'Mahatma Gandhi.

"And I am mindful that I mightnot be standing before you today,as President of the United States,had it not been for Gandhi and the

message he shared with Americaand the world," he said.

In his 35-minute address,Obama also recalled SwamiVivekananda's address in hishometown of Chicago over a cen-tury ago where he had said that"holiness, purity and charity arenot the exclusive possessions ofany church in the world, and thatevery system has produced menand women of the most exaltedcharacter".

The first African-American tobecome the US President, Obamaalso paid tribute to Dr B RAmbedkar. "We believe that nomatter who you are or where youcome from, every person can ful-fill their god-given potential, justas a Dalit like Dr Ambedkar couldlift himself up and pen the wordsof the Constitution that protectsthe rights of all Indians", he said.

Obama received the loudestapplause when he said "I look for-ward to a reformed UN SecurityCouncil that includes India as apermanent member". Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh, CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi as BJPveteran L K Advani and otherswere seen lustily cheering the dig-nitary.-PTI

42 November 19, 2010India Post

www.indiapost.com

Obama in India

$ 10 billion business deals with IndiaMUMBAI: President Barack

Obama announced $10 billion inbusiness deals as he arrived in In-dia to boost U.S. exports and jobs.

Obama flew into Mumbai, India'sfinancial hub, and announced theUnited States would also relax ex-port controls over sensitive tech-nology, a demand of India's that willhelp deepen U.S. ties with theemerging global power and its tril-lion dollar economy.

While most of the announceddeals had been pending formonths, Obama's visit has beenhailed as moving the UnitedStates closer to India as Wash-ington tries to revive a weakeconomy and gather support topressure China on its currency.

"The United States sees Asia,especially India, as the market ofthe future," Obama told a meetingof U.S. and Indian business lead-ers. "There still exists a caricature

of India as a land of call centersand back-offices that cost Ameri-can jobs. But these old stereo-types, these old concerns, ignoretoday's realities."

The $10 billion in deals willsupport 54,000 jobs in the UnitedStates, White House aide MichaelFroman said.

Obama's first act was to paytribute to victims of the 2008Mumbai attacks.

"We visit here to send a veryclear message," Obama said aftermeeting victims' families at theluxury sea-front Taj Mahal PalaceHotel, the iconic landmark whereTV images showing it in flamesafter battles between militants andcommandos came to symbolizethe massacre.

In our determination to giveour people a future of security andprosperity, the United States andIndia stand united."-PTI

US President Barack Obama addressing a meeting of the Indo-US Business delegation groups,

in Mumbai on November 6.

Raps India over silence on Myanmar

NEW DELHI: US PresidentBarack Obama criticized India forshying away from condemningalleged rights abuses by theMyanmarese junta, saying democ-racies with global aspirationsshould not remain silent and ig-nore "gross violations" in othercountries.

"When peaceful democraticmovements are suppressed, asthey have been in Burma(Myanmar), then the democraciesof the world cannot remain silent,"Obama said in an address to theParliament, a day after he de-manded the immediate and uncon-ditional release of democracy iconAung San Suu Kyi.

"Faced with such gross viola-tions of human rights, it is the re-sponsibility of the internationalcommunity, especially leaders likethe United States and India, tocondemn it," he said, apparently

unhappy that New Delhi has beensoft towards the military regimein Yangon.

"If I can be frank, in interna-tional fora, India has often shiedaway from these issues," Obamasaid.

Though Obama earlier en-

dorsed India's quest for a perma-nent seat on the UN SecurityCouncil, the US president alsounderlined that a place at the toporgan of the world body wouldrequire New Delhi to stand up forthe promotion of democracy.

"With increased power comesincreased responsibility," he said,adding that he looked forward toworking with India, "and othernations that aspire to SecurityCouncil membership" to ensurethat Security Council resolutionsare implemented and sanctionsenforced.

In an apparent reference toIndia's stated policy that it doesnot want to interfere in the affairsof any other country, Obama said,"Speaking up for those who can-not do so for themselves is notinterfering in the affairs of othercountries. It is not violating therights of sovereign nations, it isstaying true to our democraticprinciples."

India has maintained ties withthe junta as security, energy andstrategic priorities as Chinastepped up its activities there. In-dia in July hosted Myanmar's mili-tary leader Than Shwe for a statevisit.

In his speech, Obama also ac-cused Myanmar's military rulersof "stealing" the country's firstelection in two decades whichwas held recently.

"It is unacceptable to gundown peaceful protesters and in-carcerate political prisoners de-cade after decade.

"It is unacceptable to steal anelection, as the regime in Burmahas done again for all the world tosee," he said.-PTI

Michelle runs out of moneywhile shopping

NEW DELHI: Michelle Obama,wife of the American President,Barack Obama was on a shoppingspree here on Monday, Nov 8.

While shopping, she seemedto get enough of nothing and ranalmost broke picking up gifts forher beloved ones.

She was out for buying Indianhandicrafts and other products atNew Delhi's sun-dappled craftsmuseum.

First lady of the most powerfulnation just could not resist themagical spell of Indian handi-crafts and went on shoppingstuffs for her daughters and ac-quaintances back in America.

Mrs. Obama was scheduled todrop in at the museum for one hourbut the beauty of the productsmesmerized her to an extent thatshe stayed for two hours instead.

Throughout her visit at the mu-seum, she was busy buying stuff.

And then came the point whenMichelle ran out of money shehad brought for shopping. Shesplurged around Rs. 80,000 on thepaintings, bed spreads and otheritems that she plans to gift onChristmas.

She purchased greetings deco-rated with Madhubani motifs fromBihar, few colorful key chains andGanesha idols as well as kanthabedspreads from the Bengal stall.Michelle Obama also bought cro-chet dining table cover fromAndhra and also took some em-broidered textile pieces which is aspecialty of northeastern India.

Her long list of shopping alsoincluded mobile covers, yogithailas and rag Gujarati dolls.-Agencies

US First Lady Michelle Obama (C) shops during her visit to National

Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (Crafts Museum) in New Delhi

'Speaking up for thosewho cannot do so forthemselves is notinterfering in the affairsof other countries. It isnot violating the rightsof sovereign nations, itis staying true to ourdemocratic principles'

India Post 43

www.indiapost.com

Obama in IndiaNovember 19, 2010

Joint statement calls for smashing terror networks like LeTNEW DELHI: India and the US

have agreed that all terrorist net-works, including Lashkar-e-Toiba,must be defeated and asked Paki-stan to bring to justice the perpe-trators of the Mumbai terror at-tacks.

A joint statement issued at theend of official engagements ofthree days of President BarackObama's maiden visit to India, thetwo countries emphasized the im-portance of close cooperation incombating terrorist financing andin protecting the international fi-nancial system. .

Prime Minister ManmohanSingh and Obama reiterated thatsuccess in Afghanistan and re-gional and global security requireelimination of safe havens andinfrastructure for terrorism andviolent extremism in Afghanistanand Pakistan.

"Condemning terrorism in all itsforms, the two sides agreed thatall terrorist networks, includingLashkar e-Taiba, must be defeatedand called for Pakistan to bring tojustice the perpetrators of theNovember 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"Building upon the CounterTerrorism Initiative signed in July2010, the two leaders announceda new Homeland Security Dia-logue between the Ministry ofHome Affairs and the Departmentof Homeland Security and agreed

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the delegation level talks with the US President Barack Obama, in New Delhi on November 8

to further deepen operational co-operation, counter-terrorism tech-nology transfers and capacitybuilding," the statement said.

Endorsing India'slongstanding call for reform forUN Security Council and its questfor permanent membership, Singhand Obama favored an "efficient,effective, credible UN to ensure ajust and sustainable internationalorder."

Singh welcomed Obama's affir-mation that US looks forward to areformed UNSC that includes In-dia as a permanent member.

The two leaders reaffirmed thatall nations, especially those thatseek to lead in the 21st century

bear responsibility to ensure thatthe UN fulfill its founding idealsof preserving peace and security,promoting global cooperationand advancing human rights.

Agreeing that their delegationsin New York work together to en-sure that the UNSC play an effec-tive role, both the leaders under-score that all states have an obli-gation to comply with and imple-ment UNSC resolutions includingsanction regimes, said the state-ment.

Reaffirming their nations'shared values and increasing con-vergence of interests, Singh andObama resolved to expand andstrengthen the India-US global

strategic partnership.Building on the transformation

in India-US relations over the pastdecade, the two leaders resolvedto intensify cooperation betweentheir nations to promote a secureand stable world; advance tech-nology and innovation; expandmutual prosperity and global eco-nomic growth; support sustain-able development; and exerciseglobal leadership in support ofeconomic development, opengovernment and democratic val-ues, it said.

The two leaders affirmed thattheir countries' common ideals,complementary strengths and ashared commitment to a worldwithout nuclear weapons givethem a responsibility to forge astrong partnership to lead globalefforts for non-proliferation anduniversal and non-discriminatoryglobal nuclear disarmament in the21st century, the joint statementsaid.

They affirmed the need for ameaningful dialogue among allstates possessing nuclear weap-ons to build trust and confidenceand for reducing the salience ofnuclear weapons in internationalaffairs and security doctrines, itadded.

They support strengtheningthe six decade-old internationalnorm of non-use of nuclear weap-ons.

They expressed a commitmentto strengthen international coop-erative activities that will reducethe risk of terrorists acquiringnuclear weapons or material with-out reducing the rights of nationsthat play by the rules to harnessthe power of nuclear energy toadvance their energy security.

The two leaders expressed re-gret at the delay in starting nego-tiations in the Conference on Dis-armament for a multilateral, non-discriminatory and internationallyand effectively verifiable treatybanning the future production offissile material for nuclear weap-ons or other nuclear explosivedevices.-PTI

Mumbai students charmed by Obamas

MUMBAI: "He is the mostpowerful man in the world. Still heis able to connect with us, theyouth." A visibly impressed stu-dent said after the event where USPresident Barack Obama inter-acted with them.

Obama, accompanied by hiswife Michelle, asked questions tostudents before taking sometough ones from them during anhour's interaction at St Xavier's

College here."The way he himself interacted

with us, I am impressed," KrishmaShelar, a BA Second Year studentof St Xavier's college, said.

Indian politicians need to learna lesson or two from the US Presi-dent on how to connect with theyouth, Khusboo and Rachna, stu-dents of H R College, said.

Obama, who was wearing awhite shirt and dark trousers, en-

sured an informal atmosphere.He spoke after his wife had

advised the students to ask some"tough" question and keep himon his toes.

"I don't like speaking afterMichelle (but if) you want to asksome easy questions that's fine...I want to have a dialogue withyou."

The US President encouragedthe youngsters with compliments

like "good question", "terrificquestions".

When a student asked aboutPakistan and why not declare it aterrorist country, Obama said: "Iwas expecting it (the question)."

Greeted with cheers, he alsodid not disappoint the students,who wanted to shake hands withhim. Before leaving the students,he mingled with them obliging re-quests to take photographs withhim. Obama connects with stu-dents, leaves them charmed

Despite the heat and humidityof Mumbai, Obama braved theopen sun during his nearly hour-long interaction with the students.

"I liked the way he handledquestions," said VarshaSrinivasan, a second year B Scstudent of St Xavier's College.

"He talks in a way youngstersunderstand," Varsha said, addingthat she was thrilled to listen tothe US President.

Shruti Patel, a second year B Scstudent of the same college, said "Igot everything from him. I expectedhim to speak on Pakistan and hedid that. He spoke on topics rel-evant to the youth. The way hehandled questions on dicey topicswas something to admire."-PTI

President Obama†interacting with students at St Xavier's College Mumbai on Nov 7.

(Pic Mohammed Jaffer-SnapsIndia)

'Condemning terror-ism in all its forms, thetwo sides agreed thatall terrorist networks,including Lashkar e-Taiba, must be de-feated and called forPakistan to bring tojustice the perpetratorsof the November 2008Mumbai attacks '


www.indiapost.com

Obama in India

Dance with children to celebrate Diwali

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama dance with students during a Diwali performance in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Imparting a touchof informality, US PresidentBarack Obama and First LadyMichelle danced spiritedly to afoot-tapping Marathi folk song asthey participated in symbolicDiwali festivities with children ata city school.

The US first couple took abreak from their formal engage-ments to savor dance presenta-tions by youngsters and visit ascience exhibition at the HolyName High School, close to theHotel Taj Mahal where they arestaying.

"Hello! Namaste! Good Morn-ing!", said a beaming 49-year-oldObama to the media as he enteredthe venue wearing black trousers,a matching tie, a spotless whiteshirt with folded sleeves and with-out the formal jacket.

The Obamas, who lit a lamp tomark the celebrations, weregreeted by the students in tradi-tional Indian attire as they inter-acted with the children, shakinghands and posing for photo-graphs. The students were seengleefully clicking the couple's pic-tures using cellphone cameras.

Both Obama and Michelle, 46,attired in a pink top and grey-check skirt, sat through the danceperformance by the students andcould not resist the temptation tojoin them to shake a leg when in-vited.

Sporting broad smiles, the vis-

iting dignitaries watched with keeninterest the foot-tapping 'Koli'song and dance, a folk art form ofcoastal Maharashtra, clappingand cheering the children. Thefun-loving Kolis (fishermen) areknown to be the first inhabitantsof the Mumbai city.

At first, it was Michelle whoshowed her dancing skills bymatching the steps with the chil-dren. When Obama told the chil-dren in a lighter vein that he hadnot been asked to join the celebra-

tions, he was pulled in by the stu-dents and he soon began sway-ing on the floor of the hall be-decked with fresh flowers andleaves.

The couple mingled freely withthe children, their parents andteachers for a good five minutes,happily signing autographs andposing for photographs.

Salman Khurshid, Minister ofState for Corporate Affairs andMinister-in-Waiting for Obama,was seen explaining the signifi-

cance of performances to the USPresident.

Obama had become the firstUS President to celebrate Diwaliat White House last year.

Earlier, the US President andthe First Lady were taken aroundan exhibition by the studentsbased on themes on environment,including dangers of global warm-ing, the benefits of wind energy

and rainwater harvesting."A tree a day keeps global

warming away," Obama said to thewaiting media.

One of the students later saidObama liked their dance and calledit "graceful, nice and beautiful"."Mr Obama liked our dance verymuch. He danced with us, he alsodid the Koli dance and 'diya'dance," he said.

At a meeting with children atthe university library here lastevening, Michelle had dancedwith them to the tunes of a songfrom Hindi film 'Rang De Basanti'.

She was at it again, joining aspirited dance on the folk song--"Mee hay koli, sodilya doli (I am afishermen, I have put boats tosea)".

At the next venue, the StXavier's College in southMumbai, Michelle reminded thecollegians that when they hostedPrime Minister Manmohan Singhin the US, she had danced to thetunes of Punjabi 'Bhangra'.

"The Obamas came, they sawus and we the students were con-curred," a beaming Shruti Patel,second year student of the col-lege, said.

There is something mesmeriz-ing about the first couple of theUS, she said, adding the Obamashave a very high energy level.-PTI

Bhopal gas survivors protestduring Obama visit


NEW DELHI: Hundreds ofsurvivors of the December 1984Union Carbide (UCC) gas disasterin Bhopal, India, and people ex-posed to groundwater contami-nated by hazardous wastes fromUCC's long-abandoned factorydemonstrated in New Delhi Nov 8.

They demanded positive actionby President Obama that will helpfix the ongoing problems of theworld's worst industrial disaster,which was caused by a US corpo-ration. In solidarity with theBhopalis, concerned citizensworldwide called the WhiteHouse to ask the Obama Admin-istration to promptly address theongoing environmental and pub-lic health crisis in Bhopal.

The organizations said that, asthe promoter of US corporate in-terests in India, Obama was mor-ally responsible for ensuring le-gal accountability of US corpora-tions operating in India.

Following years of safety cuts,on Dec. 3, 1984, the American-owned UCC's pesticide plant inBhopal leaked tons of deadly gas

containing methyl isocyanate(MIC) over the city of Bhopal.Estimates have indicated that8,000 to 12,000 people died in thedisaster's immediate aftermath,and in the years since, the deathtoll has risen to more than 25,000people. Over 100,000 people stillsuffer from long-term disabilities.In 2001, Michigan-based DowChemical Corporation became the100% owner of UCC.

"Because of these two Ameri-can corporations, today over ahundred thousand people arechronically ill and hundreds aredying untimely deaths in Bhopal,"said Rashida Bee, president of thesurvivor organization Bhopal GasPeedit Mahila StationeryKarmchari Sangh. Hundreds ofbabies are being born with hor-rific malformations and their par-ents suffer damages to the liver,kidney and lungs and brain." Apreliminary study by the BhopalMedical Appeal strongly sug-gests parental exposure to con-taminants in groundwater can in-crease the rate of birth defectsfourfold compared to India's na-tional average.

US President

Barack Obama

and First Lady

Michelle Obama

paying floral

tributes,

at the Samadhi

of Mahatma

Gandhi at

Rajghat in Delhi

on November 8

US President

Barack Obama

and Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh

toast during a

banquet hosted by

the Indian President

in New Delhi on

November 8

45 India Post November 19, 2010www.indiapost.com

In Brief Immigration7 sheriff's officialsto be deposedin lawsuit

PHOENIX: Maricopa CountySheriff Joe Arpaio and six othersheriff's officials are scheduled tobe deposed in a lawsuit that ac-cuses deputies of racially profilingHispanics in immigration patrols.

The depositions are scheduledto end Nov. 19.

The handful of Latinos whofiled the lawsuit alleged that offic-ers based some traffic stops onthe race of Hispanics who were invehicles, had no probable causeto pull them over and made thestops so they could inquire abouttheir immigration status.

Arpaio denies the allegations andsays people pulled over in the pa-trols were approached because depu-ties had probable cause to believethey had committed crimes. -AP

Voters choseBrewer forimmigration law

PHOENIX: A swell of approvalfrom voters who support Arizona'snew immigration law and feel thatmost illegal immigrants should bedeported helped Republican JanBrewer win the governor's race.

An Associated Press analysisof preliminary exit poll results andpre-election polls shows morethan three-fourths of people whostrongly support the new law fa-vored Brewer over Democratic op-ponent Terry Goddard.

Goddard won over nine out of10 voters who strongly opposethe new law and nearly three-fourths of Latino voters.

Brewer signed the law in Aprilas she criticized what she calledthe federal government's inactionon illegal immigration. -AP

Illegal immigrantguilty inmarijuana plot

BOISE, Idaho: A 22-year-old il-legal immigrant from Mexico haspleaded guilty to federal chargesaccusing him of growing morethan 1,675 marijuana plants on U.S.National Forest land in Idaho.

The Idaho Statesman reportsLeonardo Villasenor-Cesar of LaAngostura, Michoacan, Mexico,pleaded guilty to conspiracy tomanufacture and distribute 1,000or more marijuana plants, manu-facturing 1,000 or more marijuanaplants and two firearms charges.

US District Judge EdwardLodge scheduled sentencing forJan. 20. Villasenor-Cesar faces amandatory minimum of 30 yearsin prison. -AP

Court to considerimmigrantadoption case

KANSAS CITY, Mo.: The Mis-souri Supreme Court is taking upthe case of a woman from Guate-mala who says she did not con-sent to her son's adoption by asouthwest Missouri couple. -AP

'Employees waiting for H1B extensionshould not be deported'


NEW YORK: Employees onH1B visa awaiting approval of anextension should not be sub-jected to arrest, detention or de-portation, argues an amicus briefby the Legal Action Center of theAmerican Immigration Council(LAC), together with the AmericanImmigration Lawyers Association(AILA), filed early this month.

An H-1B employee should notface arrest, detention or deporta-tion after his initial period of ad-mission expires if a pending exten-sion request remains under reviewargues the brief, filed in federaldistrict court in Connecticut, main-taining that H-1B employers whofollow the law should not lose valu-able employees because of wide-spread delays at immigration pro-cessing centers. "Both existinglaw and common sense dictate

that the government cannot sit onan employer's H-1B extension re-quest and then arrest the em-ployee due to its own processingdelays," said Melissa Crow, direc-tor of the Legal Action Center.

The LAC filed the brief on be-half of a Lebanese national repre-

sented by the Worker and Immi-grant Rights Advocacy Clinic atYale Law School and the AsianAmerican Legal Defense and Edu-cation Fund. The plaintiff wasgainfully employed when his em-ployer requested an H-1B exten-sion in early 2004, more than amonth before the deadline.

Though his employer paid a $1,000"premium processing" fee to ob-tain a decision within 15 calendardays, the government neither ap-proved nor denied the applicationand refused to respond to re-quests for information. Nearlyseven months after the extension

request was filed, but before DHShad decided it, immigration agentsarrested the plaintiff for allegedly"overstaying" his visa.

While federal law permits H-1Bemployees to remain in the UnitedStates for up to six years, the gov-ernment grants visas for only threeyears at a time. Typically, the gov-

BIA continues broad 'sought to acquire' standardGARY ENDELMAN & CYRUS D. MEHTA

In a recent unpublished deci-sion, the Board of ImmigrationAppeals, in In re Jose Jesus

Murillo, A099 252 007, October 6,2010, http://drop.io/oucv5fe, reaf-firmed its broadened "sought toacquire" standard under the ChildStatus Protection Act (CSPA).

The CSPA artificially freezesthe age of a child below 21 yearsof age so that he or she is not de-prived of permanent residencywhen the parent is granted thesame status. One of the require-ments is for the child to seek per-manent residency within one yearof visa availability. Often times, aCSPA protected child falls throughthe cracks by failing to meet theprevailing rigid filing requirementswithin the one-year deadline.

The Board in In re Jose JesusMurillo held that the term "soughtto acquire" includes substantialsteps towards the filing of the rel-evant application, although thesesteps may fall short of an actualfiling or submission to the rel-evant agency.

The Board's interpretation willprovide further relief to children

who are otherwise protected bythe CSPA but unable to complywith or navigate the complex bu-reaucratic requirements to filewithin one year.

It should be noted that In reJose Jesus Murillo is an unpub-lished decision, devoid of anyprecedential authority, and doesnot bind the DHS or the DOS.

Still, it follows closely on theheels of other unpublished Boarddecisions that have applied thesame "sought to acquire" stan-dard and thus provides more am-munition to those who need tomake similar arguments. See In reKim, 2004 WL 3187209 (BIA Dec.20, 2004), (the child beneficiary"sought to acquire" LPR statuswithin one year of visa approvalbecause her parents hired an at-torney to start preparing the ad-

justment application within theone-year period); In re Castillo-Bonilla, 2008 WL 4146759 (BIAAug 20, 2008) (the respondent"sought to acquire" LPR withinthe one-year period when, duringthis time, he informed both theImmigration Judge and the Boardthat he wished to file an adjust-ment application, even though the

application was not actually filedwithin one year).

INA §203(h), introduced bySection 3 of the CSPA, providesthe formula for determining theage of a derivative child in a pref-erence petition even if the childis older than 21 years. To qualifyas a child under INA §101(b)(1),one must be below the age of 21and unmarried.

The age is determined by tak-ing the age of the alien on the date

that a visa first became available(i.e. the date on which the prior-ity date became current and thepetition was approved, which-ever came later) and subtractingthe time it took to adjudicate thepetition (time from petition filingto petition approval).

Based on this formula, if thechild's age falls below 21, the childis protected under the CSPA. Spe-cifically, §203(h)(1)(A) also re-quires the alien to have "soughtto acquire" LPR status within oneyear of visa availability. It is theinterpretation of the term "soughtto acquire" that was the subjectof the Board's holding in In re JoseJesus Murillo.

Both the Department of HomeSecurity (DHS) and the Depart-ment of State (DOS) have inter-preted the phrase "sought to ac-quire" narrowly. DHS limits thisphrase to filing an I-485 applica-tion for adjustment of status. See"Revised Guidance for CSPA"(April 30, 2008), uscis.gov/files/n a t i v e d o c u m e n t s /CSPA_30Apr08.pdf.

Cont’d on page 46

ernment may seek to remove non-citizens who overstay a temporaryvisa. But a federal regulation spe-cifically permits an H-1B employeeto continue working for up to 240days after his initial period of ad-mission expires so long as his em-ployer filed an extension requestbefore that period ended.

In the amicus brief, LAC andAILA argue that the automatic ex-tension of work authorizationshould prevent the governmentfrom arresting H-1B employeeswhile their employers' extensionrequests remain pending. Withsupportive declarations from threeprominent companies that relyon H-1B workers, the brief fur-ther argues that subjecting non-citizens in the plaintiff's positionto arrest would threaten to dis-rupt key sectors of the U.S.economy and undermine thegoals of the H-1B program.

The CSPA artificially freezes the age of achild below 21 years of age so that he or sheis not deprived of permanent residencywhen the parent is granted the same status

An H-1B employee should not face arrest,detention or deportation after his initial periodof admission expires if a pending extensionrequest remains under review argues the brief

India Post46 November 19, 2010Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

The DOS too has interpreted"sought to acquire" narrowly andindicated that in consular pro-cessing cases, the date that achild seeks to acquire LPR statusis the date Form DS 230, Part I, issubmitted by the child, or by thechild's parent on the child's be-half to the National Visa Center(NVC). See "Child Status Protec-tion Act: ALDAC 2" (January 17,2003), http://travel.state.gov/v i s a / l a w s / t e l e g r a m s /telegrams_1369.html.

In cases where the principalbeneficiary parent adjusts statusin the US, and the child will be


BIA continues broad 'sought to acquire' standardapplying for the visa overseas,the DOS requires the principal tofile Form I-824 to initiate thechild's follow-to-join application.The DOS has also indicated thatsince Form I-824 is not the onlyway to initiate the process, postsmay seek advisory opinion incases in which some other "con-crete" step has been taken.

We question why the DHS andDOS sought and continue to seekthe most restrictive interpretationof what is clearly a remedial stat-ute. Here is the legislative historyof the CSPA, which is worth re-producing from the Board's deci-sion in In re Jose Jesus Murillo:

"The congressional. intent inenacting the CSPA was to "bring

families together" (Rep.Sensenbrenner, 148 Congo Rec.H4989-01, H49991, July 22, 2002)and to "provide relief to childrenwho lose out when INS takes toolong to process their adjustmentof status applications"(Rep.Gekas, id. at R4992); see also, Rep.Jackson-Lee, "where we can cor-rect situations to bring familiestogether, this is extremely impor-tant.'.' ld. atH4991.

In enacting the CSPA, Con-gress expressed its concern thatalien children "through no faultof their own, lose the opportunityto obtain immediate relative sta-tus." H.R. Rep. 107-45, H.R. Rep.No.4 5, I 07th Cong., 1st Sess.2001, reprinted in 2002U.S.C.C.A.N. 640, 641 (Apr. 20,2001). Indeed, the United States

Court of Appeals for the NinthCircuit has held that the CSPAshould "be construed so as toprovide expansive relief to chil-dren of United State citizens andpermanent residents." Padash v.INS,358 F.3d 1161, 1172 (9th Cir.2004)."

In In re Jose Jesus Murillo, theBoard rejected the DHS's posi-tion that "sought to acquire"means the actual filing of an ap-plication or petition. The Boardstated that "it is not bound bythe interpretation of the DHS orDOS as to the statutes which itadministers" (citing Matter of M/V Saru Meru, 20 I&N Dec. 592,595 (BIA 1992)).

The Board observed that INA§203(h)(1)(A) includes theunique term "sought to acquire"rather than terms such as "file,""submit" or "apply," which ap-pear in other parts of the INA.While each of these terms requirethe presentation of an applicationto relevant officials, the meaningof words such as "seek" or"sought" include "to try to acquireor gain" or "to make an attempt"according to the Board, which re-ferred to the Merriam-Webster'sCollegiate Dictionary.

In In re Jose Jesus Murillo, therespondent claiming status as achild did not file the I-485 applica-tion within one year of visa avail-ability. However, the respondentargued that he still satisfied the"sought to acquire" element be-

cause he hired an attorney to pre-pare his adjustment of status ap-plication within one year of the visanumbers becoming available, andhe filed his application within a rea-sonable time thereafter while hewas still under the age of 21.

The Board held that the respon-dent child, whose age was other-wise protected under the CSPA,clearly demonstrated an intent tofile his application and made sub-stantial advances towards havingthe application prepared and filedthrough an attorney within the one-year period.

The Board observed that if ithad found otherwise, the childwould have aged out and wouldhave been unable to seek CSPAprotection for no fault of his own.The Board also did not require a

showing that this attorney was in-effective in filing the documentwithin one year.

The Board's decision tobroaden the term "sought to ac-quire" to include steps short ofactually filing an application is in-deed welcome. There are manysituations in which a child pro-tected under the CSPA may notbe able to comply with the rigor-ous filing requirements of theDHS or the DOS within the one-year filing period.

Moreover, the Board's rulingwould assist those who are in re-moval proceedings, and who maynot be able to obtain a timely hear-ing with an Immigration Judge inorder to file an adjustment applica-tion within one-year of the visanumber becoming available, and analternative filing with the clerk ofthe court is not made within theyear or rejected.

There may be other situationswhere the parent may have filed anI-485 adjustment application manyyears ago, and may not have in-cluded the I-824 application withhis or her application. It was notusual to attach an I-824 with anunadjudicated I-485 adjustmentapplication prior to the CSPA.

Moreover, there have alsobeen situations where the NVC,during the initial processing of aconsular visa application, mayhave erroneously omitted thechild's name even though he orshe was protected under the

CSPA.As a result, the child or the

parent of the child may not havecomplied with the DOS require-ment of filing a DS 230, Part I,but may have taken other stepsto seek LPR status such as at-tempting to contact the NVC byletter or telephone to include thechild, or took other steps suchas seeking the advice of an at-torney.

In these situations too, onecan demonstrate that the CSPAchild "sought to acquire" LPRstatus within one-year of visaavailability. On the other hand,not every step to seek perma-nent residence in the one yearperiod will be viewed favorablyespecially when it does not com-port with CSPA's purpose, whichwas to protect an alien child fromaging out due to no fault of hisown. In In Re Mario FranciscoCisneros Baron, 2009 WL3713334, the respondent as-serted that neither did he nor hisparents file an adjustment appli-cation within one year becauseof his criminal convictions.

He was put into removal pro-ceedings and left voluntarily, andthen illegally reentered andlodged an adjustment applica-tion in connection with subse-quent removal proceedings. TheBoard, in this case, remainedunpursuaded that his parentsconsulted with a lawyer withinone year of the visa availabilitydate since, here, the respondentwas himself partially responsiblefor failing to file an adjustmentapplication "because of a tacti-cal decision resulting from hisown criminal behavior."

While none of these are pub-lished decisions, those seekingCSPA protection should rely onIn re Kim, In re Castillo-Bonillaand now In re Jose Jesus Murilloto make similar arguments incases before the DHS, an Immi-gration Judges, the Board, beforeUS Consuls overseas and evenin federal court.

We commend the Legal ActionCenter of the American Immigra-tion Council for filing a winningamicus brief in In re Jose JesusMurillo, and readers will surelyprofit from its CSPA Practice Ad-visory, legalactioncenter.org/practice-advisories/child-status-protection-act. Practitionersshould continue to seek to inter-pret "sought to acquire" in abroadly humane way for their cli-ents to achieve what the Con-gress intended, a formula for theprotection of children and ad-vancement of family unit.

* Cyrus D Mehta, may be contactedat 212-425-0555 or

[email protected]

The Board's decision to broaden the term‘sought to acquire’ to include steps short ofactually filing an application is indeed wel-come. There are many situations in which achild protected under the CSPA may not beable to comply with the rigorous filingrequirements of the DHS or the DOS withinthe one-year filing period

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India Post 47November 19, 2010 Immigration Postwww.indiapost.com

Court won't weigh in onimmigration measure

OMAHA, Neb.: The NebraskaSupreme Court won't weigh in onwhether municipalities can enactimmigration-related restrictions onwhere people can live or work, thecourt said in an opinion.

A federal judge had asked thestate's highest court to considerthe issue as she hears a lawsuitchallenging the ci ty ofFremont's ordinance barring il-legal immigrants from renting orworking there.

The high court said the requestdidn't allege a violation of state law,so it won't take up the question.

Fremont voters approved theordinance in June, but it has yetto go into effect.

The American Civil LibertiesUnion of Nebraska and the Mexi-can American Legal Defense &Educational Fund, also known asMALDEF, have challenged theordinance. The groups, whoselawsuits have been combined, saythe voter-approved ordinance is

discriminatory and contrary towhat is allowed by state law.

US District Judge Laurie SmithCamp has said she wasn't surewhich court should hear the law-suits because they suggest theordinance violates both state and

federal laws. She asked attorneysto craft the language of a ques-tion to be answered by the Ne-braska Supreme Court that wouldindicate whether the ordinance isvalid under state law. The ques-tion was submitted to the high

court in September.The Fremont ordinance would

require employers to use a fed-eral online system that checkswhether a person is permitted towork in the US.

It also would require peopleseeking to rent property to applyfor a $5 permit at City Hall. Thosewho said they were citizens wouldreceive a permit and would nothave to provide documents prov-ing legal status. Those who saidthey weren't citizens would re-ceive permits, but their legal sta-tus would be checked. If they'refound to be in the country ille-gally and are unable to resolvetheir status, they would be forcedto leave the property.

Landlords who knowingly rentto illegal immigrants could be sub-ject to $100 fines.

Faced with expensive legal chal-lenges, the city council has sus-pended the ban until its legality isdecided in court. -AP

Immigration office controversialin Iowa suburb

URBANDALE, Iowa: A pro-posed immigration office with hold-ing cells for illegal immigrants issparking concern among resi-dents of the Des Moines suburbof Urbandale.

The Des Moines Register re-ported that U.S. Immigration andCustoms Enforcement has rentedspace in a warehouse near theDays Run neighborhood.

Local operations for the agencyare now housed in the federal build-ing in downtown Des Moines.

``I understand the need for thefacility, but the location is inap-propriate,'' said Susan Larsen, amother of three who lives in theneighborhood.

She said it would be close totwo schools and soccer fields.

``I'm not sure what is drivingthis location,'' Larsen said.

The U.S. General Services Admin-istration, which provides transpor-

tation and office space to federalagencies, told Urbandale officials ina Sept. 20 letter that a new locationwould help agents, officers and at-torneys carry out their duties.

Holding cells would be for ille-gal immigrants who would eitherbe processed and released or de-

tained in area jails.``There will be some cells, some

holding cells that folks will stay inthroughout the process,'' GSAspokesman Charlie Cook toldWHO-TV. He said they don't ex-pect anyone to be detained in thebuilding overnight.

Radical preacher can holdon to UK passport

LONDON: An immigration tri-bunal has ruled that a radicalMuslim preacher wanted in theUnited States can hold on to hisBritish passport.

One of the country's best-known Islamist radicals, AbuHamza Al-Masri is blind in one eyeand has hooks in place of thehands he says he lost fightingSoviet troops in Afghanistan in

the 1980s.He was found guilty of incit-

ing racial hatred and encourag-ing followers to kill non-Mus-lims in 2006 and is currently serv-ing a seven-year prison sen-tence in the U.K. American offi-cials want to extradite and try himon separate charges of helpingto set up an al-Qaida trainingcamp in rural Oregon. -AP

The high court saidthe request didn'tallege a violation ofstate law, so it won'ttake up the question.Fremont votersapproved theordinance in June

November 19, 2010India Post48

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Horoscope

Deal will close and you

will finally lay your

hands on large chunk of

money. Some issues involv-

ing a child will continue to

bother you with no possible

solution in sight. Trip will be

interesting and you will make

a very useful contact. There

will be dramatic changes in

ongoing legal battle with vic-

tory in sight.

Planets are favorable to

make your move in career.

Work done in past will pay off

now and a big promotion is in

order. You will need to deal with

a government agency also.

People prone to high blood pres-

sure will need to keep an eye

on monitor for next few weeks.

You may make some money

through stocks

You may not like the ideas

given by spouse or a

business partner at all. You

may replace an old vehicle

also. People who are making

big promises are not reliable,

so be careful before entering

any deal with them. Eat meals

on time or the problem will ag-

gravate. You will start getting

ready for overseas trip also.

Money will come with

out making much ef-

forts. You will be full of en-

ergy and take couple of bold

initiatives. Results will be in-

stant and positive. There will

be some changes in the people

you are doing business with

and new people will be better

for you. You may arrange a

small get together at your place.

You will receive some

encouraging news

from far off place. Trip will

be finalized quickly. You will

spend lots of time on phone

or computer and try to

reach out many important

people. Get together will be

lively and relaxing. Some of

you will be called for the

second interview by a big

corporation.

Things will keep improv-

ing in career. Large fi-

nancial gains out of a prop-

erty or stocks transaction

possible this week. You may

invite few colleagues from

work at your place for din-

ner. Business will improve

and you may finally get the

big order. Spouse will need

lots of emotional support this

week.

You will overcome many

hurdles this week. Money

may not come right away but

will be promised. Chance of

winning a law suit also be-

come stronger. You may be

relocating your office or home

to a better place soon. You

will be invited to a get together

and spend quality time with

close relations and friends.

Many important meet-

ings will take place

during the week. You will

feel lucky and get many

things done. All hurdles will

get out of your way. people

involved in research work

will see ultimate success.

Boss will be on your side

on all important issue and

will take and act on your

advice seriously.

It will be a very fruitful

week. Deal will close on

your terms. Luck is on your

side and most of your plans

will go through without any

delay. You will give final

shape to an interesting fam-

ily trip also. Value of your

assets and stocks will ap-

preciate considerably. Do

not ignore legal papers.

Do not let obstructions

change your mind. Suc-

cess is not too far off. People

who promised big time will

fail to deliver on time. You will

receive blessings of an eld-

erly person. You will get to

spend some quality time with

family. Spouse will pay more

attention to health and need

over the counter medica-

tions.

Money wise you will do

better. You may hit

some kind of financial jack-

pot. Change in career will be

associated with big financial

benefits. Legal matters will

continue to move in right di-

rection. You may add or re-

place and old vehicle with

new luxury model. You may

invite few people at your

place this week.

Nov 19 - Nov 25 by Pandit Parashar

Sun and Mars in second

forms laxmi yoga. You

could hit some kind of finan-

cial jackpot if not this week

but soon. Mind will be re-

laxed and you will go out

and buy some new cloths

and luxury items for your-

self. You will be double

minded about traveling long

distance next month for

business purpose.

Pandit Parashar, CEO & COO Astro Scan USA is also avail-able for individual consultations.He can be reached at: [email protected]

925-833-7170website: www.parashar.com

November 19, 2010 India Post 49

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DatebookNEW YORK

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PhilosophySWAMI VIDITATMANANDA

SARASWATI

We are all seekers of hap-piness. But that seek-ing gains direction

when a person is exposed toVedanta. What makes a person gotowards Vedanta is really God'sgrace! It is said that a love forVedanta or the love of non-dual-ity is due to the grace of God.

Being exposed to the teachingof Vedanta makes you a seeker.Although we are seekers already,the nature of our seeking becomesclearer to us. Vedanta brings thatto our attention.

The beauty of Vedanta is thatit addresses the very fundamen-tal need that we have. It takes as abasis our simple day to day expe-riences and shows us certain pat-terns, such as how our lives havea certain agenda. The teachers ofVedanta helps us realize the basicfacts of our lives, which we our-selves may not be able to see.

This is like the law of gravity;it was always there, but somebodyhad to make us understand it.Vedanta brings the fundamentallaws of life to our attention.

Lord Krishna says [BhagavadGita, 2-47], "karmaëyevädhikärastemä phaleñu kadäcana," you havethe freedom to perform actions,but not the freedom to determinetheir outcome. It is a simple state-ment, which signifies the basicfacts of life. Also, Lord Krishnasays, [Bhagavad Gita, 3-9],

Vedanta gives direction tosearch for happiness

"yaj ïär thätkarmaëo 'nyatraloko'yaà karmabandhanaù,"whenever an action is performedin a spirit other than as a yajïa, itbecomes a binding action. Thereare certain laws governing ourlives. When we know the laws, wecan live life in keeping with thoselaws. If we do not know the laws, itis possible that we may be violat-ing them unknowingly.

And we may get punishedfor that too, without our know-ing why, l ike a chi ld who

doesn't understand why he hasbeen punished by his parents.Often, we cannot understandwhy this happens in our lives.Vedanta draws our attention tothe basic laws of life or realitiesof life. It is important for us toknow these laws or realities sothat we can live our lives inkeeping with them.

Violating a law always bringsabout some punishment or pain.

When you violate a law you

get violated in turn. For example,if rub your back against the barkof a tree, your skin gets hurt. Simi-larly, when you rub against thelaw, it is you who that gets hurt.Therefore, in order not to be hurt,it is important that you shouldknow the laws.

Following the law not only pre-vents us from being hurt, but isalso beneficial to us. Therefore,the exposure to the teaching ofVedanta enables us to learn theright attitudes and values. We

might not change externally andmay continue to live life as weknow it, but our priorities and re-sponses change. A completetransformation comes upon us aswe begin our inner growth.

In some ways, the journey to-wards Vedanta is like being on aroad without a map. You want toget somewhere, but don't knowwhere or how to get there. Vedantaprovides you the map. Until then,we don't even know what we are

searching for. Vedanta not onlytells us where we are going andwhat we are looking for, but alsoshows us how to get there andfind it. Vedanta is like an operat-ing manual for life.

Detachment & maturityIt seems like a 'Catch 22' that

you need to be emotionally ma-ture to be detached and detach-ment is necessary for emotionalmaturity. Therefore, in order toacquire emotional maturity wefollow certain rules. For example,

we live in accordance with thevalues, such as truthfulness andhonesty.

The practice of these valueswill, in course of time, bring aboutdetachment. The values and basicrules are always given. If I am emo-tionally mature, I would follow therules without being told. For thisreason, I start following the val-ues whether I like it or not so that,in course of time, I will learn to be-come emotionally mature.

SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV

Today, in spite of all thebreathtaking advance-ments for a comfortable

living, the modern man is deniedsustained moments of inner joy,peace and tranquility. This hasbecome an illness especiallyamong many rich people, whodon't know what exactly they areexisting for or why the happinesshas become elusive to them inspite of having all the comfortsaround them.

That which is not in your un-derstanding is mystical. ThoughScience tries to unravel this mysti-cism it has made the whole pro-cess quite complex and confusing.

Dealing with facts like there are18 billion organisms on the facialskin, science deals more with com-plexities of life, taking a muchcloser look at creation, but notproviding enough clarity.

Unlike animals, when oncetheir stomach is filled becomecalm, man on the other handstarts to wonder and questionabout the nature of thingsaround him and within him. Thetrue inner self inside everyonedoes not like boundaries and al-

True inner self does notlike boundaries

ways seeks to expand. It alwayslongs to be boundless.

If you try to achieve thisboundlessness consciouslythen it is called Mysticism, but ifyou do it unconsciously then it iscalled Materialism, which is ex-actly what Science is trying toachieve. There will be no bound-

ary only if there is no physical em-bodiment.

If we are unable to feel the un-conscious, does that mean theunconscious does not exist forus? Though Science has provenmany things about Nature, itwould not have got the respectand admiration of the people, butfor the practical application ofscience, namely, Technology. Apure scientist would have been

scoffed at for all his theoriesabout Nature, but for the moderntrinkets, the gadgets that help usin our daily life. Thus, science hasbecome quite noteworthy. Re-move the gadgets, nobody wor-ries about Science. Everythingthat we see, hear and feel hap-pens "within us". It is the indi-

vidual who comprehends the re-ality around him. The Sadhguruillustrated this with an example.If there were to be a debate be-tween an owl and a man as towhat is daylight, who would beright? To the owl which is awakein the night, the moon would ap-pear like the bright sun, what theman sees in the day. When some-body in the audience cried thatboth could be right, the Sadhguru

replied such an answer was givenmostly by diplomats and thosewho had successful marriages!"

Thus with the real problemstarting after the survival needswere taken care of, seeking thecreator became a passionate avo-cation of the masses. Even be-fore knowing who we are, we

want to know the Creator. Wegave Him all sorts of names, wegot Him married, we made Himhave children and gave our des-tiny in His hands.

Most of our sufferings are ofour own making. We have the lib-erty to choose between whatmakes us happy and what makesus painful within ourselves. Webecome restless when we losecontrol over our own selves, ourown body and our own behavior.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati

When you violate a law you get violated inturn. For example, if rub your back againstthe bark of a tree, your skin gets hurt. Simi-larly, when you rub against the law, it isyou who that gets hurt

If you try to achieve this boundless-ness consciously then it is called Mys-ticism, but if you do it unconsciouslythen it is called Materialism

53Edit Pagewww.indiapost.com

November 19, 2010 India Post

India Post

Indo-Pak nuclear commission:A SWOT analysis

D SUBA CHANDRAN

An earlier article called forthe establishment of anIndo-Pak Nuclear Com-

mission on the model of the IndusWater Commission (IWC) be-tween the two countries. It wasalso suggested that unlike theIndus Commission, which is offi-cial and technical, the Indo-PakNuclear Commission, whilst func-tioning as an official institution,could also have adequate provi-sions for a strategic dialogueamongst the security communityon both sides. The technical as-pect of the Nuclear Commissioncould work alongside a track-1.5initiative, to avoid a major short-coming of the Indus Water Com-mission.

What are the strengths of thissuggestion? Three specificstrengths could be identified:First, such a Commission willprovide a formal and institu-tional structure to the ongoingunstructured dialogue, prima-rily led by the track-II initiativeand occasionally discussed bythe two governments as a partof their Composite Dialogue.

The second major strengthwould be continuity and per-manence. As the Commissionis being suggested as an offi-cial and permanent body, itwould ensure continuity to thenuclear debate between the twocountries. Given the new doctrinesand counter-doctrines enunciatedby India, Pakistan and its militaries,it is important that the two coun-tries are in a continuous dialoguewith each other. Such a nuclear dia-logue needs to be intensive and pro-tracted so to prevent misunder-standings.

Besides, it would strengthenthe existing agreements and pavethe way for expanding newer ones.Perhaps, due to this lack of per-manency and continuity, Indiaand Pakistan have been unable toreach any major agreements in thepast two decades; after the agree-ment on not attacking each other'sinstallations signed in 1988.

The third major strength of anIndo-Pak Nuclear Commissionwould be in terms of its insulationvis-à-vis regional security devel-opments. A serious problem withany bilateral dialogue between In-dia and Pakistan has been its fail-ure to insulate a negative devel-opment elsewhere.

A terrorist attack always exertsextra pressure on any Indo-Pak dia-logue; at times, it even disrupts theprocess. Besides, even if there areno major negative developments,the multiple dialogues within asingle large Composite Dialogue(with eight issues) also pose a prob-

lem. If there is no positive develop-ment on one issue, it has a dominoeffect on other issues.

A permanent and continuousIndo-Pak Nuclear Commission,like that of the Indus Water Com-mission, will be able to insulate it-self from other regional develop-ments and non-progress in otherissues within the Composite Dia-logue.

Now, what are the weaknesses?Both India and Pakistan have beenwary of any formal dialogue. De-spite the Pakistani rhetoric of re-starting the peace process and theIndian rhetoric of a Composite Dia-logue, both countries are makingpiecemeal responses to interna-tional pressure. There is no sin-cere attempt to revive the bilateral

dialogue. In a non-dialogue envi-ronment, it is impossible to estab-lish a nuclear commission.

The second major weakness ofan Indo-Pak Nuclear Commissionwould be associated with the re-luctance of both India and Pakistanto share any credible information

on their nuclear assets, doctrinesand related issues. Since both coun-tries would like to keep their nuclearprogram confidential and theirweapons program even more so,the proposed Indo-Pak nuclearcommission that envisages regu-lar interaction on these matters may

perhaps be premature.The third major weakness of the

idea would again be the sharing ofinformation with the strategic com-munity, as envisaged in the NuclearCommission. The hard reality is thatthe multiple security institutionswithin India and Pakistan do notshare nuclear-related information.What is the level of sharing withinthe nuclear bureaucracies, militar-ies and the foreign ministries in therespective countries? If security es-tablishments are wary of sharinginformation within their own coun-tries, how can they be expected toshare it at bilateral levels?

What are the opportunities?While the above weaknesses areimportant, the environment for es-tablishing such an institution is not

totally gloomy. Both countrieshave an agreement that callsfor not attacking each others'nuclear installations. TheLahore round of CompositeDialogue makes an explicit at-tempt to debate nuclear is-sues.

More importantly, the stra-tegic community in both Indiaand Pakistan is extremely anx-ious to have a structured dia-logue on nuclear issues,thanks to the proliferation ofnew doctrines. At the State

level, both countries are concernedabout the nuclear deals with the USand China and would like accessto more information at the officiallevel. Finally, the global environ-ment demands a better understand-ing on nuclear issues. With the Glo-bal Zero movement gaining mo-mentum and the pressure on theCTBT and FMCT likely to buildfurther, the environment is ripe.

What could be the likely threatsto an Indo-Pak Nuclear Commis-sion? An initial hesitation of thegovernments even after the com-mission is established; thus usingit only as a nominal measurewherein there is no effective shar-ing of information. The hotlinebetween the DGMOs is a perfectexample of a CBM not being fullyexploited. Even the Indus WaterCommission, in recent years, is notfunctioning to its full potential. Itcould thus happen to the NuclearCommission as well.

However, despite its weak-nesses, the track-II initiative has toconvince India and Pakistan that astructured and institutionalizednuclear dialogue is imperative.Though the primary weakness ofthis idea comes from how the Stateperceives it, in the long run, bothIndia and Pakistan may consider thejoint Nuclear Commission useful.

The writer is Deputy Director,IPCS

Give & take

President Obama's performance was designed to please In-dia and he struck all the right notes during his three-dayvisit. The debate is now on the symbolism and substance of it.

In the initial stage it seemed that with a large troop of CEOs accompa-nying him, he had secured a deal to satisfy the hunger for jobs backhome. The Indians, in the backdrop of visits by the previous twopresidents in this decade, Bill Clinton and George Bush, were leftasking if a weakened Obama of a recession-hit US had anything togive? Would he convincingly express himself on US dual strategyon Pakistan and the Indian case for a permanent seat on the UNSecurity Council? In the end he was able to satisfy India on both.

On Pakistan he asked that recalcitrant nation to dismantle theterror machinery on its soil and issued a ringing endorsement for apermanent seat for India in a reformed UN Security Council. It is wellknown that a reform at the UN is not imminent and that there wouldbe vociferous reaction from other claimants to the permanent seatlike Germany, Japan and Brazil. Still, by voicing support to India'scase, which even George Bush was not ready to endorse, PresidentObama has accorded a new stature to India.

It is argued that a weakened Obama and a weakened US are look-ing for allies to bolster their positions across the world particularly inthe backdrop of a rising China. And who can be a better ally close toChina than India, the largest democracy. The East Asian countrieshave welcomed US re-engagement there amid fears of Chinese domi-nation. The emergence of India in this equation is welcomed by all.

Except for China, all other permanent members of Security Councilhave welcomed India's candidature. China also has moved from itsearlier position of stubborn opposition to remarks that it "under-stands India's aspirations to play a greater role in the United Na-tions."

It was feared that the UN reform process was struck in a mold andwould never move forward considering the differing voices of differ-ent nations on the subject. But the US president's announcementhas changed the dynamic and has injected a greater impetus to thereform process.

Pakistan was waiting with bated breath for a major announcementduring the Obama visit but, according to reports, it was taken abackby Obama's endorsement for an India seat at the UN Council. Itimmediately issued warnings citing moral reasons (repression inKashmir, defying UN Council resolutions) why India should not beaccorded this honor.

There were sober reactions too. 'The Express Tribune' was boldenough to say Pakistan must give up its "confrontational foreignpolicy" that had developed "because of the subordination of ourForeign Office to the military point of view."

Noting the bon-homie which the US President displayed in India,it said, "The ease the world feels with India is owed to India's softimage which our ideology and our weak state situation do not allowus. The truth is that our hard ideological environment repels globalcapital as investors feel jittery visiting Pakistan."

On Kashmir also the paper faulted Pak policies saying, "In today'sworld, defeat can be described in one way only: international isola-tion... Be it Kashmir or any other issue, principles don't help if theycause isolation, pointing to martyrdom as justification for nationalhonor."

While India basks in this new limelight, there is a realty check onhow a reluctant India is being thrust on the world stage as a majorplayer. Is India ready to take on the role or will it continue to wait andreact to the negative tactics of Pakistan and China? Is the corrup-tion-ridden inward-looking Indian leadership ready to face the world?

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood

Qureshi with his Indian counterpart S M

Krishna during talks in Islamabad

The strategic commu-nity in both India andPakistan is extremelyanxious to have astructured dialogueon nuclear issues. Bothcountries are con-cerned about thenuclear deals with theUS and China andwould like access tomore information atthe official level


November 19, 201054


November 19, 201056

indiapost_11-19-2010

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