9th August to 15th August 2014VOL 43. ISSUE 14 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

First & Foremost Asian Weekly in EuropeSEE INSIDE ....Asian communitydisheartened asBritain marks thebeginning of World War I

India finishes fifth in2014 Commonwealth

Games

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Baroness Sayeeda Warsihas resigned from herposition becoming thefirst Muslim Minister toleave office over theBritish Government’sPolicy on the conflictbetween Israel andHamas.Warsi became

Britain’s first Muslim toserve in Cabinet in 2010but was later demoted tobe a senior minister ofstate at the ForeignOffice and a minister forfaith and communities.Though no longer a

full member of Cabinetshe still had the right toattend Cabinet meetings.It was not immediatelyclear whether she wasresigning from both herministerial roles.On her official twitter

feed, Warsi, 43 wrote,“With deep regret I havethis morning written tothe Prime Minister (and)tendered my resignation.I can no longer supportGovt policy on #Gaza.”While the British

government has repeat-edly called for an imme-diate ceasefire in Gaza,Prime Minister DavidCameron has comeunder criticism from theopposition Labour partyfor refusing to describeIsrael’s actions as dispro-portionate.Baroness Warsi was

previously Chairman ofthe Conservative Partyand Minister withoutPortfolio, having joinedthe Cabinet in 2010.

Baroness Warsi Resigns

Continued on page 2

Ed Miliband MP, theLeader of Her Majesty’sOpposition had a face toface interview with jour-nalists from ethic media,including Asian Voice. This was followed by

the Labour party Eid-Ul-Fitr reception at theLondon Hilton, ParkLane.

Full story see page 16.Pic courtesy: Raj D Bakrania, Prmediapix

Indicating closer ties withthe mountain nationNepal, Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modiwon hearts during his two-day visit to the neigh-bouring country byannouncing a slew ofmeasures to help Nepaltowards a better future forthe benefit of Nepal aswell as India. The visit ofModi is the first bilateralvisit to the country by anIndian prime minister inthe last 17 years.Modi received a grand

ceremonial reception atthe Tribhuvan Airport.While addressing lawmak-ers of Nepal, the IndianPrime Minister announcedextension of a US $1 bil-lion ‘Line of Credit’ to theHimalayan state in addi-tion to what had beengranted earlier and hopedKathmandu would use itwell.The Prime Minister

coined a term ‘HIT Nepal’– H for High ways, I forinformation ways and Tfor transmission ways forthe overall development ofNepal. He also assuredNepalese people to sharescientific applications inagriculture, even its soilhealth card initiative forthe farmers of Nepal.He struck the chord of

Nepalese people saying,“You decide what needs tobe done, India will standby you”. He further saidthat India will never inter-fere in Nepal’s affairs. “Iam happy I came here soearly in my tenure. I willmake every effort to con-tinue my journey withNepal during my remain-ing days in office,” saidModi at a banquet hostedby the Nepal PrimeMinister Sushil Koirala.A c k n o w l e d g i n g

Koirala’s visit to India for

his swearing-in ceremony,Modi said that SAARCnations must come togeth-er to fight poverty. “Indiawill do all it takes. We willnot be doing any charity, itis our duty,” he saidadding that all SAARCnations stood to gain fromIndian advancement inspace technology.His opening remarks

in Nepali at theParliament House wasgreeted with great cheers.He said he was overjoyedto be in Nepal as he hadfirst visited the Himalayannation as a ‘Pilgrim’decades ago. He said thatassociation of India andNepal is as old as that ofHimalayas and the RiverGanga.Referring to the last

visit by an Indian primeminister - Inder KumarGujral came to Nepal in1997 - Modi said: “We liveso close to each other butit has taken 17 years for aPrime Minister to come

here. It rankles me. Ipromise it will not happenagain. I will be back verysoon for the SAARCSummit here.”Referring to Buddha

and Emperor Ashoka,Modi praised Nepal’sMaoists - without namingthem - for “leaving thepath of the bullet to takethe path of the ballot.Maoist leader PushpaKamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’,who now heads theUnified CPN-Maoist, lis-tened intently.“There are some in the

world who believe in theculture of the gun to reachtheir objectives. With itsdemocratic process, Nepalwill send a message to theworld and inspire peopleto abandon the culture ofthe gun. The world iswatching you. If you aresuccessful, others will beinspired,” he continued.He said that Nepal is

so rich in terms of waterthat it can remove dark-

ness in India. “We don’twant free power, we wantto buy it. A developmentcourse has to be charted.You decide (on tappinghydel power), we will bewith you. You can make aplace on the world stageby simply selling electrici-ty to India. We will doublethe electricity we are giv-ing you today. In 10 years,you will be helping us,”said Modi.Modi said authorities

had been directed to expe-dite completion of thedetailed project report onthe Pancheshwar multi-purpose project. He saidwork on the 5,600-MWproject should start in ayear. “It will give you fivetimes more power thanwhat you have at present.India wants to help. And ifa bridge on the MahakaliRiver is made, it willreduce the distancebetween us.”

Modi wins hearts in Nepal

Continued on page 26

UK

1) What is your current posi-tion?I am in the process of complet-ing my A License with theWelsh FA, and will be startingmy Pro License soon. I amalso co-owner of Fiona BarrattInteriors and FBC London –the high end interior designand furniture design compa-nies started by my wife. Itwould also be nice to workalongside the Government onissues to do with sport.

2) What are your proudestachievements?Having a 20 year career, win-ning the double in my first yearat Arsenal (league and FACup), getting married and hav-ing two children.

3) What inspires you?Life inspires me. Seeing peo-ple going all out to achievetheir dreams.

4) What has been the biggest

obstacle in your career?Prejudice.

5) Who has been the biggestinfluence on your career todate?The environment I grew up in,my mother and my wife.

6) What is the best aspect

about your current role?Variety – having the time to helpmy wife, working with variouscharities, learning to become acoach.

7) And the worst?In the end I will have to chooseone of them to take forward as aproper job!

8) What are your long termgoals?To go as far as possible, furtherthan I did in my football career– to be the best Manager, tohave one of the best designcompanies in the world, to helpas many people as I can in theworld, and to have a happy andstrong family in the future.

9) If you were Prime Minister,what one aspect would youchange?I would ensure that the first 3years of anyone’s apprentice-ship or professional career earn-ing up to £40,000 was tax freeto give them a head start.

10) If you were marooned on adesert island, which historicalfigure would you like to spendyour time with and why?Whitney Houston in her prime –singing is the soul of life, and I’dwant someone to sing to me intimes of loneliness!

Sol CampbellSol Campbell is a former professional footballer who played forTottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Newcastle United, aswell as the English national team. Over his career Sol has achieved73 caps for England. He has won 2 Premierships and 3 FA Cupswith Arsenal, an FA Cup with Portsmouth and the League Cup withTottenham. Sol has played over 500 games in the Premiership andcaptained Arsenal, Tottenham and Portsmouth and the Englandnational team. His team was voted ‘Best Team’ during two WorldCup competitions and once in the European Championships. Sol ismarried with two children.

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Baroness Warsi ResignsContinued from page 1

Boris Johnson, the Mayorof London, said the newswas “very sad” and hopedshe return to Government“as soon as possible.”He said that despite

being a self-proclaimedZionist, he regards theIsraeli action in Gaza as“ugly disproportionateand tragic” and will harmIsrael in the long-term.

Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MPand the Chair of HomeAffairs Committee toldAsian Voice, “BaronessWarsi’s departure from theCabinet is a loss to theGovernment. She was in aunique position as thecountry’s first womanMuslim Cabinet Ministerever. She has always beena person of principle whospeaks her mind.Baroness Warsi is cor-

rect to point out thatBritain’s foreign policydoes have an effect on thediaspora community inthe UK. A failure to com-municate our policy andan inability to act impar-tially towards two distinct-ly opposed sides, as is thecase in Gaza, provides afertile ground for thosewho are on a mission torecruit and radicaliseyoung Britons.

Many MPs havereceived thousands ofemails calling on ourGovernment to intervenemore strongly in supportof an immediate and last-ing ceasefire. Her actionsare a reflection of thatconcern.”Lady Warsi attended

Birkdale High School andDewsbury College, andstudied law at theUniversity of Leeds.

Military jets escort plane to Manchester Airport

A man has been arrestedon suspicion of making ahoax bomb threat after mil-itary jets were called toescort a passenger plane toManchester Airport.The Qatar Airways

plane was escorted in toland by the Royal Air Forcefollowing informationreceived by the pilot from apassenger. Police said thepilot was handed a noteabout a possible device on

board. Armed police board-ed the Doha to Manchesterplane and arrested a 47-year-old man. All flights inand out of the airport weresuspended for about 25minutes.The plane involved was

an Airbus A330-30, whichhad 269 passengers and 13Qatar Airways crew onboard.The RAF confirmed

Typhoon aircraft were

launched from RAFConingsby in Lincolnshireas part of its "quick reac-tion alert role" when a pilotrequested assistance.Operations at the airportresumed at about 14:00BST after the plane landedat a terminal.Greater Manchester

Police said the arrestedman, who comes from theNorth West area, was beingheld in custody for ques-

tioning.A statement for Qatar

Airways confirmed flightQR23 landed safely atManchester Airport aheadof its scheduled arrivaltime of 13:15 BST. It said:"The crew onboard hadreceived a threat about apossible device on boardand Qatar Airways imme-diately took all the neces-sary precautions to alertBritish authorities.”

Man arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat to pilots

An RAF jet escorted the Qatar Airways plane flying toManchester from Doha

Officers boarded the plane and escorted a passenger ontothe runwayJohn Vine, the chief

inspector of borders andimmigration, will stepdown in December sevenmonths prior his due date,amid a reported row overthe way his critical reportsare published. Mr Vine has been a fre-

quent critic of the immi-gration system sincebecoming the watchdogsix years ago includingexposing flaws in the e-borders scheme andrevealing there was a“migration refusal pool”which listed illegal immi-grants but who could notbe found.The Home Secretary,

Theresa May, was accused

of a “cover up” overanother report which hadsome details redactedwhile a number of othersare still to be published upto four months after theywere completed. TheHome Secretary wasaccused of a “cover up”over another report whichhad some details redactedwhile a number of othersare still to be published upto four months after theywere completed.Mrs May said: “I

would like to thank JohnVine for his hard work anddedication in scrutinisingthe vital work of control-ling immigration and pro-tecting Britain’s borders.”

Immigration watchdog quits

John Vine, former ChiefInspector of Borders and

ImmigrationTheresa May,

Home Secretary

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 3

ASIAN VOICE is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga House,12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW.Tel: 020 7749 4080 Fax: 020 7749 4081Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.comwww.abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

India-US ties: That were, and now are US Secretary of State was on a two-day to Indialast week for delegation-level strategic partnershiptalks with his Indian counterpart External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj; these were followed byshorter exchanges with Finance (and Defence)Minister Arun Jaitley, climaxed with a call onPrime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be meet-ing with President Obama at the White House inSeptember. Before we discuss what transpired, itmight be useful to deal with the delusional expec-tations voiced by India’s Mint newspaper. Mint, aDelhi-based glossy tabloid, is partnered by theMurdoch-owned Wall Street Journal (like allMurdoch publications fanatical in their support ofevery known position of every US administration,whether it be in Iraq, Syria, Libya or Ukraine or, asin the 1960s and 70s, a fervent believer in the wis-dom of CIA-sponsored military coups against dem-ocratically-elected regimes in Latin America. Thetwo papers may be ideologically cloned but thesame is not true of the India-US relationship. Mintchose its moral moment to fire an editorial broad-side at the Modi government for its close ties withthe BRICS nations [Brazil, Russia, India, China,South Africa].It took the government to task forcosseting China, which lays territorial claims toIndia’s Arunachal Pradesh, and funds Pakistanimilitary and infrastructure projects. Quite so, but isthis not also true of America’s financial and mili-tary aid to Islamabad - which amounts to a stagger-ing $30 billion? (See reference to Christine Fair inthe Comment below). Retelling the past is no badthing, for time past, present and future is the stuffof history. When, in the early years of the Cold War,the US and the West generally, were coy abouthelping India with its industrialization and defencewithout New Delhi’s substantial acceptance ofPakistan’s prior demands on Kashmir, the SovietUnion stepped into the breach with decisive sup-port to India in her hours of need. Again, in 1971,in face of the Pakistan military’s genocidal mas-sacres in East Pakistan (Bangladesh today) result-

ing in a 10 million refugee exodus into India, theNixon administration, in tandem with Mao’sChina, indifferent to Indian concerns, continued tosupport the Yahya Khan military dictatorship inIslamabad. Both powers did so in the ensuingPakistani war with India. Confronted with this for-midable existential challenge, New Delhi, unsur-prisingly, turned to Moscow to keep Washingtonand Beijing in check. Messrs Nixon and Kissingerwere much given to the use of the F-word and kin-dred obscenities in their references to IndiraGandhi and to Indians generally. Nixon beratedBritain for granting independence to fecklessIndians. For the next thirty years, the US andChina sought to contain India through Pakistan, asrelated in an American War College paper in 2006.This included an embargo of high-tech US exportsto India. Mint argued for a reorientation of Indianforeign policy, for a visionary “partnership with lib-eral countries [read US, EU] that favour free trade,free movement of persons, ideas and technology.”Indian entrepreneurs and students more adept atsifting fact from fiction than is the Mint leaderwriter, are sceptical about the idealization of USand EU practices. That said, India-US relationshave entered a new paradigm of maturity, under-standing and trust. Secretary of State Kerry accept-ed that there would be areas of divergence and con-vergence in the national interests of the US andIndia. The first encompassed trade issues in theWorld Trade Organization, with India sticking to itsarrangements guaranteeing food security for itspoorest citizens. The category of convergent inter-ests was exemplified recently by the time-tested“Operation Malabar” naval exercises betweenIndia, the United States and Japan. Add to this, theburgeoning Indo-US trade, investment, education-al and scientific cooperation and you will gauge theleap in the overall India-US relationship. Nurturewhat has been achieved, whilst working hard to ful-fill the potential of the future, is surely the wisestpolicy for India.

Pakistan’s covenant of war with IndiaChristine Fair, the American academic atGeorgetown University and author of “Fighting tothe End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War,” in awide-ranging conversation with the Times of India,spoke of the Pakistan’s Islamic covenant to wagean undeclared war against India through jihadi ter-rorism confected with sporadic orthodox militaryengagements along the border. Having trawledthrough a mountain of Pakistani documents, sheexplained to her interlocutor the country’s militaryleadership’s perception of a Manichean strugglewith ‘Hindu’ India. “ It’s surprising how muchjihad and Islam are actually involved in their publi-cations,” she says. “What Pakistan is trying to do isuse jihad to mobilize and to boost the morale oftheir troops so they are on a perpetual war footingwith India…..jihad is a way to make it seem as ifeverything the Pakistan army does is Islamicallyjustified…..This is critical to them because they aresetting up this civilization battle…..People like [USand Pakistani authors] Barnett Rubin and AhmedRashid argue for a grand bargain that solvesKashmir. This is all rubbish, I argue. Pakistan is anideological state. The Kashmir issue is not causal,it’s symptomatic.” As for Pakistan’s relationshipwith America, “They [Pakistanis] have taken $30billion from us, they kill our troops and we still paythe cheques. Osama bin Laden was in Abbottabadand still the cheques keep coming.” Over to you,John Kerry, then US senator and co-sponsor withSenator Lugard, of US legislation that bank-rolledthe Pakistan military and its works.On to Pakistan’s jihadi activities. Amir Zubar

Siddiqui, a senior Pakistani diplomat in the SriLankan capital Colombo, since 2012, is the coor-dinator of Islamabad’s Inter Services Intelligence(ISI) directorate’s terror operations in India. He

appeared on the Indian anti-terrorist intelligenceradar, following the arrest in Tamil Nadu, of an ISIsuspect, Thamseen Ansari, a resident ofThanjavur in central Tamil Nadu. Ansari told ofhis links to Siddiqui via a Muslim Sri Lankannational. Siddiqui’s name appeared again after thearrest of an ISI agent in Malaysia and his subse-quent extradition to India, where he revealedplans to attack US and Israeli consulates in thecountry. The arrested man, another Sri LankanTamil Muslim, Zakir Husain by name, informedhis interrogators that Siddiqui was the point-manwith cash and training for Indian recruits.Husain’s conversations with Siddiqui were held inthe Pakistani High Commission in Colombo. Fastforward, Delhi police have arrested a top Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, Meerut-born andPakistan-trained Subhan Quershi, aborting immi-nent attacks by his associates on targeted sites inIndia’s capital city. Two of Querishi’s colleagueswere arrested in Kolkata. Finally, Abdul Subhan,another LeT agent was caught in Kolkata in fortu-itous circumstances. He, too, was part of a terrorgroup with sights on Delhi. A frequent visitor toKolkata’s Alipore jail for meetings with jihadiAshrauddin, now serving a life sentence for thekidnapping of a local businessman and master-minding the terror attack on the city’s AmericanCultural Centre in 2002. Delhi sleuths trackedSubhan through an intercepted telephone call.Under interrogation, he divulged details of LeToperations in India and disclosed the names ofLeT and Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives inthe country. IM founder Amir Reza Khan, on therun, is believed to be hiding in Bangladesh. Indo-Pakistan amity has long been a hoax. Time to getreal, gentlemen.

Christian by faith, Hindu by cultureThe Deputy Chief Minister of the BJP-led Goagovernment, Francis D’Souza, set the kittenamong the pigeons by proclaiming that, though aChristian by faith, he was Hindu by culture. Indiais a “Hindu nation, ” he said, with a 5000-yearhistory, but he questioned a cabinet colleague’sdemand that India should be a Hindu state aswell. He could have pointed to France and theUnited States of America, both Christian asnations but secular as states. Mr D’Souza said itwasn’t his intention to give offence to any sec-tion of the community. His views, he said, were

sincere and should be respected. Respecting free-dom of speech and thought is the benchmark of acivilized society. The nineteenth century Bengalipoet Michael Madhusudan Dutt, writing to theliterary critic Rajnarain Bose (uncle of SriAurobindo), said that although “a Christian boy,”he continued to “draw inspiration from Hinduculture.” Dutt’s “Megnad” has been hailed by itsEnglish translator, William Radice, as a master-piece in epic poetry worthy of a place alongsidethe best in world literature. Francis D’Souza is ingood company.

COMMENT

AsianVoiceNewsweeklyAsianVoiceNews

It’s been a great summerfor Harrow. With all ofthe sunshine it’s beengreat to see all of our res-idents out and about inour parks.As a part of making

our parks great places tospend time with familyand friends we haveintroduced two new out-door gyms to help resi-dents get healthier andmore active.Harrow Council’s

outdoor gyms are a newway to look at health andfitness – offering a lot ofthe same equipment youwould find in an indoorgym, but in the great out-doors. They’re great foryoung people and adultsof all ages and fitnesslevels, and you don’tneed any experience touse them. Best of all,they’re completely free,with no expensive mem-bership fees to pay.We know that dia-

betes and obesity areparticularly commonhealth issues amongstresidents in Harrow;these gyms are a way ofencouraging us all to getexercising and gethealthy. Being active aslittle as once or twice aweek has been proven toreduce the risk of dia-betes in particular, andhelp us live healthierlives. In addition to ourpositive work on theCouncils health agenda,I have recentlyannounced an invest-ment of £50,000 for ourlocal sports & physical

activity network to reallytake advantage of thesummer weather byencouraging both youngand older people alike tohelp make us a more‘active’ Borough.Furthermore, the

Council has alreadystarted implementing positive plans todeal with some ofHarrow’s most pressingproblems, from tacklingour housing crisis toexpanding our schoolsso every child canreceive a good educa-tion, however it is alsoimportant that we workwith our local residentsto tackle some of the‘hidden’ problems inHarrow.Diseases like dia-

betes can go unnoticedfor a long time and it isessential that all of ourresidents have access tothe right support if prob-lems do arise. This iswhy we are carefullymonitoring what’s hap-pening at NorthwickPark Hospital.When I’ve been out

and about on thedoorstep I’m often askedabout Northwick Park;we’re all concernedabout increasing waitingtimes and fears over theA & E service. TheLabour Group is closelymonitoring the situationon behalf of our resi-dents and will speak upfor local people to pro-tect a hospital that is soimportant to all of us inHarrow.

Cllr David PerryLeader of Harrow Council

Health and fitness inHarrow

No good act performed in the world everdies. Science tells us that no atom of mat-ter can ever be destroyed, that no forceonce started ever ends; it merely passesthrough a multiplicity of ever-changingphases. Every good deed done to othersis a great force that starts an unendingpulsation through time and eternity. Wemay not know it, we may never hear aword of gratitude or recognition, but itwill all come back to us in some form asnaturally, as perfectly, as inevitably, asecho answers to sound

- William George Jordan

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 20144 MIDLANDS VOICE

A report has revealed that4.6% of the population inBirmingham has poor orno English language skills.Many are women from theBangladeshi, Somali andPakistani communitiesand without languageskills, they tend to feel iso-lated and cut off from soci-ety.TimeBank, a charity

holds free, informal class-es in community settingsfor long term UK residentswho cannot speak the lan-guage.

The charity has alreadyrecruited and trained morethan 60 volunteer Englishteachers for its TalkingTogether language projectin Birmingham, and thereare 18 free classes under-way in local neighbour-hoods. But 1,100 womenare still waiting for thechance to learn.The charity urgently

needs more volunteers,both to train as languageteachers and act as men-tors to support the learn-ers to develop their

English, or pursue train-ing, employment or skills.

Dave Conroy, pro-gramme manager atTimeBank in Birmingham,said: “Language skills arevital to build strong, unit-ed communities and with-out them, people can feelside-lined. They won’t beable to chat to teachersabout a child, visit thedoctor or hospital, goshopping or get to knowneighbours for example.This can make them feelvery vulnerable.”

A spectacular 50ft-tallchariot was pulledthrough Leicester citycentre Sunday as part ofa religious festival.The Hare Krishna

Rathayatra Festival ofChariots, one of thebiggest processions of itskind in Europe, saw thefour-tonne vehicle pulledby hundreds of worship-pers from the new HareKrishna Centre inGranby Street, throughthe city centre toCossington Park, inBelgrave.There, thousands of

revellers were enter-

tained by dancers, musi-cians, drama and exhibi-tions.The chariot had

arrived that morningfrom London on a 7.5-tonne truck. Its giantwooden wheels, made bythe Queen's wheelwright,overhung the sides. Ontop were effigies of thedeities Lord Jagannatha(Krishna), his sisterSubhadra and LordBalarama."Rathayatra is the

largest and most impor-tant festival hosted bythe Leicester chapter ofthe International Society

for KrishnaConsciousness (Iskcon)and the second largestsuch festival in Europe.This year it is even moreexciting to start rightoutside our new buildingin Granby Street," saidIskcon Leicester presi-dent Pradyumna Das.

Mayor Sir PeterSoulsby, who started theprocession by smashing acoconut on the ground,said: "It is a beautifulvisual and symbolic cele-bration which hasbecome deeply woveninto the fabric of ourcity."

A father whose son waskilled by a speeding driverusing two mobile phonesat the wheel has pleadedwith others not to repeather stupidity.Mother-of-one Marina

Usaceva was driving aJaguar X-Type when shecrashed into the back ofSukhdeep Singh Johal’scar in March last year.Sukhdeep (27) of

Welford Road, Leicester,died at the scene of thecrash near Wisbech, inCambridgeshire.A court heard last

Friday that Usaceva, 31,initially told police at thescene she had not beenusing a phone at thewheel. However, policeinvestigations establishedshe had sent and receivedtexts and calls on two sep-arate mobiles just beforethe crash.A judge at

Peterborough CrownCourt jailed her for sixyears, telling her he coulddetect “not a scrap orremorse”.Speaking after

Usaceva was sentenced,Sukhdeep’s father said nosentence could consolethe family.

Buhupinder Johalsaid: “Even 60 yearswouldn’t be enough, butthis is some kind of jus-tice. The only thing wecan hope is that otherswill learn from this. Peoplethink nothing of it, butusing a mobile phonewhile driving can kill.”Sukhdeep studied bio-

medical science at De

Montfort University andhoped to work in a hospi-tal. His father describedhow when his son wasone-year-old he was res-cued from a house fireafter his uncle wrappedhim in a turban and threwhim from a window.Inspector Bob Turner,

who oversaw the investi-gation for CambridgeshirePolice, said Usaceva hadbehaved “incredibly fool-ishly”.He said: “I have never

seen anything like itbefore – it was crass stu-pidity.”The crash happened

on the A47 near Wisbech,Cambridgeshire, at about4.30pm on March 15 lastyear. Prosecutor GeorginaGibbs said that the casewas aggravated by the factUsaceva was using “notone but two phones“,meaning a jail term wasnecessary. Usaceva, ofPadholme Road,Peterborough, admittedcausing death by danger-ous driving at an earlierhearing. She had previous-

ly been caught twice usingher phone behind thewheel and her licence wasendorsed in 2009 and2012, the court heard.A police examination

found Usaceva had used aSony phone to send a textmessage at 4.15pm andreceive a message at4.17pm on the day of theincident. A Samsungphone sent one message,made one phone call andreceived three incomingcalls in the 20 minutesleading up to the crash.She added the Jaguar wastravelling at at least70mph in a 60mph zone.However, witnesses saidthey believed it was travel-ling significantly fasterbecause it braked sharplyfor a speed camera, hittingMr Johal and causing athree-vehicle pile-up.Usaceva, who is origi-

nally from Latvia, wept inthe dock as Judge SeanEnright jailed her for sixyears and disqualified herfrom driving for eightyears.

More than 1,000 Birmingham women waiting to learn English

The four-tonne, 50ft tall chariot bearing effigies of gods is pulled through Leicester by Hare Krishna devotees

Woman jailed for crashwhich killed Leicester man

Sukhdeep Singh Johal

Marina Usaceva Victim: Sukhdeep SinghJohal

A thug pressed a knife to asecurity guard’s throatafter he was stopped at thedoor of a supermarket.Police have issued a

CCTV image of a manwanted in connection withthe “utterly unprovokedattack”, at the entrance ofAsda on Stockport Roadin Longsight.Officers were called to

the store at about 4.15pmon Monday, July 28.A man walked into the

shop and was seen actingsuspiciously at the self-service checkout. As hewas leaving the store, hewas challenged by thesecurity guard.The offender flew into

an abusive rant, thenpulled a folding knife outof his pocket and pointedit towards the guard’sthroat. He then ran off.

The offender wasdescribed as Asian, 35-40-years-old, around 5ft 8inwith an average build. Hehad medium length blackhair brushed forward, ashort black beard and waswearing a grey short-sleeved T-shirt, black com-bat-style trousers, blackboots and spoke Englishwith a Pakistani accent.PC Daz Davenport

said: “What we are dealingwith is an utterly unpro-voked attack on a memberof staff who was merelydoing his job. Not manypeople can imagine beingthreatened at knifepoint intheir place of work andjust because this manworks as a security guardit should not be dismissedas an occupational hazard.As a result, the securityguard was extremely

frightened and worried hewould be knifed so weneed to find the culpritand give him peace ofmind. What is also con-cerning is that the offend-er is openly carrying aknife in a public place andis prepared to use it tocause fear and intimida-tion without provocation,so it is imperative we findhim.”

Security guard has blade pushed tothroat in terrifying attack

CCTV image of Asian manwanted in connection withthe “utterly unprovoked

attack”

Birmingham’s Star Citycomplex based in theAston area of city, alleged-ly did not allow 22 yearold Leon Jennings and histwo friends to watch a filmsince they were not cele-brating the Muslim festi-val Eid, even though theStar City managementclaims ‘there is no truth inthe recent allegations’,Vue cinema has apolo-gised and started an inves-tigation based upon thesituation. There is a strongpositive correlationbetween the incident andthe ethnic population ofthe area as 87% of the res-idents living in the Astonarea are non- white. Mr Leon Jennings, pic-

tured, a viewing consult-ant at a photography stu-dio, from Sutton Coldfieldreportedly said: ‘I wasgoing there with my palsto the cinema as it’sOrange Wednesdays, soyou get two for one. As wedrove in the bloke on thegate said to use “nottonight guys, it’s couplesand families only”. Wethought he was just jokingand went and parked up.

He was making assump-tions about my religionand banning me based onmy skin colour. It’s notlike we are trouble makers- we are mature, alldressed respectably andjust wanted to go see afilm. I also know about thefestival, and it is supposedto be a festival of together-ness and welcoming - noone should be turnedaway. The only thing thisis going to cause is prob-lems in the communities.Furthermore, there

have been other similarincidents in which certainpeople have no be allowedto watch a film during aparticular time of year.During the end ofRamadan this year, 28th

July, there have beenreports of groups of peoplewho were not allowed towatch a film. EmmaNoakes a housing workerreportedly said onFacebook: ‘My friend’sfamily have just beenrefused entry at Vue cine-ma as they are not Muslim- this is a shocking dis-grace.’

Non Muslims stopped from watching a movie as they were not celebrating Eid

Birmingham’s Star City complex

50ft chariot centrepiece of festivalfor worshippers in Leicester

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 5

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 20146 UK

The IITUK AlumniAssociation (IITUK AA)held a panel discussion todiscuss the future ofbanking and finance.Organised by these brightand well-established pro-fessionals from IIT whoare now in the UK, at thewonderful premises ofthe Indian YMCA, theevent saw active partici-pation from alumniacross campuses and wasvery well received. The evening started

with a brief networkingsession over snacks andcoffee, followed by thepanel discussion, whichoffered a detailed per-spective on the financialindustry and its future.The panel discussion waspresided by DineshGupta (Senior VicePresident, Citigroup),Murthy Nuni (Owner,Marshal Fund Partners),Rajesh Solanki(Executive Director,UBS) and Amit Tripathi(Head of Technology,Customer Advocacy/CRM Barclays Bank).

Let’s have a quicklook at some of theseillustrious profiles beforeI tell you more about theevent. Dinesh Gupta issenior Vice President atCitigroup who started hiscareer at Citi as a con-sultant in Ireland in1989. Mr. Murthy R Nuniis the founder of MarshalFunds, which is a special-ist Private Equity andHedge Funds Business.Panelists also included

Rajesh Solanki and AmitTripathi, Rajesh is abanker and has spent 14years in London and NewYork working at largeglobal banks such as UBS,ABN AMRO, RBS and JPMorgan, while Amitworks at Barclays andsupports the CEO of clientand customer experiencewithin Barclays Privateand Corporate bank in thearea of customer servicing- such as Complaints,Queries, PPI etc.In the post-financial

crisis era one keeps com-ing back to the discus-sion around the future ofbanking. Banking as aprofession has always

been extremely lucrative,especially for dreamy-eyed fresh graduates whothink this professioncould convert them intoovernight millionaires.But things have changedpost the big crisis ofSeptember 2008 and withso many regulations andrestrictions that havebeen forced on the bank-ing sector; the debate onits future is extremelywell-timed. The panel covered a

range of topics which thebanking and financialservices sector facestoday, including the

scope and future of bank-ing, key growth areas, themajor challenges, regula-tory requirements andmacroeconomic / politi-cal factors.The discussion began

with an overview of theglobal banking industryin general and how it hasbeen adversely affectedby the global economiccrisis and the tougherregulatory environment.Fees have come down insome business lines(both structural andcyclical reasons) due towhich banks have beenforced to re-evaluatewhich businesses theywant to remain in. Regulators and gov-

ernments have put inplace tougher capitalrequirements and meas-ures to reduce overallrisk and leverage, with aview to reduce the “toobig to fail” mentality andreduce the risk to theoverall banking industry.Various banks have exit-ed areas they deemunprofitable or non-core,or in response toincreased regulatoryoversight.

Following which, thepanel discussed emer-gence of technology solu-tions and the opportuni-ties they offer to newentrants. Increased com-petition and tighternorms have provided afillip to fin-tech firms.Today, technology is acrucial parameter for thesuccess of financial firms,where technology is usedfor providing serviceexcellence leading toclient retention, provid-ing competitive productsand ensuring the firmsstay ahead in the busi-ness; making themselvesdistinct from their com-petitors. After such an intense

discussion, the focusshifted to the UK bank-ing sector. Banking sec-tor in the UK is dominat-ed by a few large players,which has led to lowerlevels of customer serviceand satisfaction.The panel also had

active interaction withthe audience, who posedseveral interesting ques-tions and insights to thepanelists. Overall, theevent was a great suc-cess, with everyoneapplauding the initiativeand looking forward tomore such events in thefuture. The IITUK Alumni

Association is a long-established organisationin the UK and provides aplatform for alumni ofthis prestigious institu-tion to interact and shareknowledge for eachother’s benefit. It organ-ises various interactivesessions (seminars, con-ferences) and socio-cul-tural events. It is a chari-ty organization and col-lects donations to fundscholarships for studentsat the IITs. It also runsthe IITUK Mentoringprogramme throughwhich it organises regulartalks on topics related tomentoring, leadership,career and personaldevelopment coveringvarious sectors includingTechnology andConsulting, Banking andFinance, Engineering andAcademia etc.

Let us know what you think. Email Spriha at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

IITians discuss the future of banking

IITUK panel discussion

Spriha Srivastava

Birmingham is set to havea daily air link with Indiaproviding an extra 1,500seats a week fromNovember.Air India commercial

director PankajSrivastava announced theplans at a celebratory din-ner to celebrate the air-line’ first anniversary ofthe Boeing 787Dreamliner service link-ing Birmingham withDelhi and Amritsar.Srivastava said:

“Since starting our fourtimes weekly Dreamlinerprogramme fromBirmingham Airport lastyear, we have handledmore than 80,000 passen-gers on board 210 flights.Air India is committed todevelop and grow in thismarket and once we havetaken the delivery of our18th Dreamliner aircraftin November, we hope tolaunch the daily opera-tion from BirminghamAirport. This will providean extra 1,500 seats aweek and give passengersgreater choice, flexibilityand opportunity to travelfrom the convenience ofBirmingham Airport toAmritsar and Delhi, andonwards on Air India’extensive global net-work.”

Paul Kehoe,Birmingham Airport’chief executive, added:“We are extremely thank-ful to Air India for recog-nising the demand fromtravellers needing the

flexibility of daily servicesfrom Birmingham. TheWest Midlands receivesmore foreign directinvestment from Indiathan any other regionoutside of London. It’stherefore not surprisingthat the route has beensuch a success in its firstyear and I am certain thata daily service wouldmake the Birminghamroute even more appeal-ing to Midlands’ trav-ellers.”Air India is also eye-

ing global aviation mar-kets after India’s nationalcarrier joined the 27-member Star Allianceearlier this year. Thedebt-laden carrier hasbeen working on meas-ures to reduce the debtand loss burden by sellingof aircraft and Air Indiaproperties in India andaround the world.

The carrier will ‘pullall plugs’ to utilise oppor-tunities and also face allthe challenges arisingfrom their Star Alliancedeal. The alliance has 27member airlines with18,500 flights connecting1,316 destinations across192 countries, it wasreported.Srivastava said: “The

young fleet of Dreamlinerand the world class Delhiairport as a hub canchange the fortunes ofAir India and Indian avia-tion sector. India has thepotential to tap the grow-ing global aviation marketbecause of its cost effec-tive systems and itsaccess to the most popu-lous region in the world.The addition of second-ary hubs in Mumbai,Chennai, Bangalore andKolkatta will strengthenour network.”

Air India set to introduce daily link fromBirmingham with new Dreamliner jet

Celebrating first anniversary: Mr Wild; BirminghamAirport CEO Paul Kehoe; Mayor of Solihull Kate Wild; AirIndia Commercial Director Pankaj Srivastava and Lord-Lieutenant for the West Midlands Paul Sabapathy CBE

A Harley Street doctor hasplunged naked to hisdeath from his £700,000penthouse flat. A passingdoctor attempted to resus-citate the man but he waspronounced dead at thescene.On last Wednesday,

Nazim Mahmood, 34, pic-tured, was seen standingalone on his glass-enclosed balcony beforefalling in front of shockedpassers-by in WestHampstead, London. After the fall, Dr

Mahmood was left uncov-ered in front of the man-sion block and a busyBarclays Bank for morethan three hours. Policesaid there were no policetents available to ‘shieldthe body’ and apologisedfor any distressed caused.Dr Mahmood, a GP,

ran Face Clinic London, achain of medical clinics

providing wrinkle treat-ments such as Botox andchemical peels. He isunderstood to have movedinto the property in WestHampstead three monthsago with his partnerMatthew Ogston. He wasdue to unveil another newclinic just yards from hishome next week, as busi-ness apparently thrived.He already had two otherclinics in Soho and HarleyStreet. He graduated from

the University ofBirmingham medicalschool in 2003 and movedto London a year later.He worked in a num-

ber of teaching hospitalsin different specialitiesincluding, accident andemergency, HIV medicine,obstetrics and gynaecolo-gy and paediatrics, beforecompleting his specialisttraining as a GP.In 2009 he founded

Face Clinic London with acolleague, Dr AnitaKapoor. She declined tocomment on his death,saying: ‘In order to berespectful I would like tobe left alone at this time.’A Scotland Yard

spokesman said: ‘Thedeath is being treated asnon suspicious at thisearly stage. Detectivesfrom Camden are investi-gating. An inquest will beheld at a later date.

Harley Street doctor plunges naked to his death

It has emerged that HSBCis allegedly closing thebank accounts of severalMuslim organisations,including a mosque previ-ously linked to radicalism.The bank was report-

edly accused ofIslamophobia after writingto Finsbury Park Mosquein North London, where

the cleric Abu Hamzapreached in the 1990s and2000s. The letter, datedJuly 22, said: “The provi-sion of banking services ...now falls outside of ourrisk appetite.”Similar letters were

reportedly sent to others,including the founder of aMuslim think-tank.

Giving a deadline ofSeptember, the letter said:“You will need to makealternative bankingarrangements, as we arenot prepared to openanother account for you.”HSBC however has

denied that the decisionwas made on religious orracial grounds.

HSBC closing bank accounts of Muslim organisations

UKwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 7

August 4th 1914 markedthe beginning of the FirstWorld War 100 years ago,some of the iconic land-marks like the Parliament,Tower Bridge, the Cardiffcastle and others wentdark at 10pm on Mondayto commemorate themoment UK entered theFirst World War. Germany had declared

war on France and invadedBelgium on August 3,1914. More than 9 millionsoldiers were killed in theensuring conflict includingaround 800,000 Britishsoldiers and more than120,000 civilians died as aresult of military action,malnutrition and disease.The Commonwealth paid aheavy price too, including74,000 Indian soldiers,60,000 soldiers each fromAustralia and Canada and27,000 Irish. The IndianCorps won 13,000 medalsfor gallantry including 12Victoria Crosses.Khudadad Khan won theCorps first Victoria Cross.Yet not much have beenrecorded or no separatecommemoration was heldfor the Indian soldiers fortheir magnanimous sacri-fice made in the name ofthe Queen. As a matter of record,

1.2mn Indian soldiers par-ticipated in the World WarI. Yet very little has beendone or said during thiscommemoration ceremonyin Britain, about thoseIndian soldiers, who havelaid their lives for a coun-try they have barelyknown. At the same time,newspapers like The DailyTelegraph, in a specialissue sponsored by LordAshcroft, has paid tributeto the 41,000 Jews whohave given died in this war.A month back, as part

of the Government’s FirstWorld War CentenaryProgramme, HRH TheDuke of Kent and formerSenior Minister of State inthe Foreign Office and

Minister for Faith andCommunities, BaronessWarsi, unveiled commemo-ration plaques for the 175men from overseas whowon Britain’s highest mili-tary honour, the VictoriaCross, for service in theFirst World War. The 11 bronze memori-

al plaques, were displayedto the public for the firsttime at an event atLancaster House inLondon, inscribed with thenames of the VictoriaCross holders which weresent to the recipients’home countries thereafter.When asked about his

opinion, Lord MeghnadDesai told Asian Voicesaid, “A million and a halfIndian soldiers fought inthe First World War. India’sExpeditionary Force was atthe frontier with Belgiumimmediately after war wasdeclared. The troops mayhave saved the BritishExpeditionary Force fromimmediate defeat accord-ing to some experts. Indiansoldiers fought in France,in the Middle East, atGallipolli and in EastAfrica. It was due toBritain’s gratitude for whatthe Indian Army had donethat in 1917,the Secretaryof State for India,Montague promised thereforms which became theMontague Chelmsford Actand brought elections to

provincial legislature.Indians fought bravely andself lessly and won manymedals. All Indians andPakistanis andBangladeshis should beproud of their bravery.”

Lord Navnit Dholakia,Leader of the Lib DemParty, House of Lords said,“In the WW1 centenarycelebrations, let us not for-get the contribution of sol-diers from theCommonwealth and in par-

ticular from the Indiansub-continent. Let usremind ourselves about thehigh price paid in life andlimbs by them. I have theprivilege of visiting manyBritish cemeteries main-tained by the War GravesCommission in variousparts of the world.“In almost all cases

they are superbly main-tained and cared for.Equally in all these places Iam struck by the names on

the grave stones. You can-not fail to read the namesof those who came fromthe subcontinent and gavetheir lives. But that is notall. Thanks to efforts byShreela Flather we havethe Memorial Gates as areminder of their sacrifice.In Brighton where mypolitical career began wehave the Royal PavilionGates dedicated to Indiansoldiers. We also have aChatri, a temple shapedmonument in the foothillsof Sussex Downs. Historyhas reflected number ofVictoria Cross won bythe bravery of these indi-viduals. We should not for-get them. They are as muchresponsible for protectingour democracy in Britainas other nations did.”

Lord Dolar Popat said,“The sacrifice that so manygave in World War 1 mustnever be forgotten. Britishand Commonwealth sol-diers fought side by side asbrothers and allies; theyfought for freedom and touphold the values that our

country and our Monarchyrepresent. The number ofIndian soldiers that foughtin both World Wars isastonishing; it is trulyhumbling to know that somany of our ancestors trav-elled so far and battled sobravely in often terribleconditions. I know that theCommemoration service inGlasgow today paid tributeto the soldiers of theCommonwealth, and Ihope we continue to do soover the coming weeks andmonths as we mark thecentenary of WW1.”However it is just the

beginning of the centenarycelebrations. It is perhapswise if the governmentenables the British Asians(who contribute largely tothe British society andeconomy), to learn moreabout their ancestors. Itwould be right for the gov-ernment to dedicate a spe-cial mention of the contri-butions by the Indian sol-diers, making the commu-nity feel rightly appreciat-ed.

Asian community left disheartened as Britain marksthe beginning of World War I

The First World War(1914-1918) was a water-shed event in modernworld history. India con-tributed immensely to thewar effort in terms of bothmen and material. Indiansoldiers served with creditand honour in numerousbattlefields around theglobe in - France andBelgium, in Aden, Arabia,East Africa, Gallipoli,Egypt, Mesopotamia,Palestine, Persia,Salonica, Russia, andeven in China.To mark the occasion

and highlight the pivotalrole of India in the war,the USI Centre for ArmedForces HistoricalResearch (CAFHR) incooperation with theIndian Ministry ofExternal Affairs hasdrawn up a plan to use the

Centenary commemora-tion of the Great War as amedium to emphasise thesterling contributionmade by the Indian Armytowards the establishmentof world peace. Major cat-egories of events and pro-grammes being plannedinclude: - Ceremonial participation

by the representatives ofthe Indian armed forces inevents organized overseasincluding in Turkey,France, Belgium and UK(there are pending pro-posals for events in NewZealand and Australia) - Commemoration activi-ties, including exhibitionsin India in collaboration

with the USI and ArmyHeadquarters. - MEA sponsored films,publications (includingthe latest Coffee tablebook ‘The Last Post’) andspecial projects, and pro-posed events planned andbuilt around them. - Association with andparticipation inInternational seminarsand conference (by MEAand USI), both in Indiaand overseas. - Activities by the IndianMissions overseas to high-light and project the sacri-fice of Indian soldiers inthe World War-I.To learn more about

Indian Memorials aroundthe world to commemo-rate the sacrifices made bythe fallen seehttp://issuu.com/indiandiplomacy/docs/iwm_book

India and the Great War: A Centenary Commemoration

Prime Minister DavidCameron hailed the entre-preneurial spirit ofBritain’s black and minor-ity ethnic communitieslast week as he welcomednews that thousands ofentrepreneurs and youngpeople of African-Caribbean and Asian her-itage are benefiting fromthe Government’s longterm economic plan toback enterprise, supportnew businesses and boostthe skills of tomorrow’sworkforce.In figures published

last week thousands ofaspiring entrepreneursfrom across Britain’s eth-nic communities are set-ting up a new businessthanks to Governmentsupport, while the numberof apprenticeships startedby BME people has morethan doubled since 2010.So far, over 5500 entrepre-

neurs of BME backgroundhave been awarded aStart-Up Loan, which pro-vides financial supportand business mentoring –over a quarter of all StartUp Loans to date. Similarly, the New

Enterprise Allowance, thescheme specifically target-ed at unemployed peoplewho want to start up theirown business, has benefit-ed 3030 African-Caribbean entrepreneursand 1270 Asian who’vebeen helped to turn their

dreams of starting a busi-ness into reality. And tohelp ensure that youngBME people can get thenecessary skills to securegreat jobs in the futuremore and more of themare beginning apprentice-ships, with big increasessince 2010. In 2009/10 –there were 9390 BritishAsian and 6390 African-Caribbean apprenticeshipstarts, while for 2012/13there were 19690 and16590 respectively. The news comes as the

Government celebratesreaching [20,000] peoplebeing helped through StartUp loans nationwide. Inreaching this significantmilestone, Start Up Loanshas now offered over £100million to entrepreneursacross the country lookingfor support in starting up abusiness and two thirds ofthe way from the target of

supporting 30,000 newbusinesses with £151 mil-lion by 2015.Welcoming the figures,

the Prime Minister said:“Backing business is a keypart of our long-term eco-nomic plan. And thestrong entrepreneurialspirit of Britain’s blackand minority ethnic com-munities means they arehaving a key role in boost-ing the economy. Thismeans more jobs for hardworking people; moreopportunities for people tobreak out on their ownand be their own boss; andmore prosperity and eco-nomic security for us all.And with big increases inthe number of BME peo-ple starting apprentice-ships this shows that peo-ple of all backgrounds arehaving a stake in achiev-ing a brighter future forour country.

Prime Minister praises BME entrepreneurs

Police forces throughoutthe UK must do more torecruit ethnic minorityofficers if they are to keepthe trust of the public, awatchdog has warned.The Inspectorate of

the Constabulary fears anoverwhelmingly whitepolice force will struggleto engage with communi-ties as the number ofminorities in the UK rises.A report called

‘Policing in Austerity:Meeting the Challenge’blames budget cuts for theproblem, as financially-stretched forces struggleto take on more non-whiteofficers.A total of 6,966 of the

131,258 police officers inEngland and Wales, or 5.2per cent, are from ethnicminority backgrounds,

compared to an estimated13 per cent of the Britishpopulation as a whole.

Police watchdog fears budgetcuts will limit hiring of ethnicminority recruits

An armed SikhMetropolitan Police officer

patrols the streets ofWestminster in 2004

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 20148 UK

According to a recentreport by the Ministry ofJustice, one in eight ofthose serving prison sen-tences in the UK is now aforeign national. The num-ber of Muslims in prisonhave increased by 6% to12,000 for the first time,though the number ofSikhs and Hindus contin-ue to remain very small(732 and 447 respective-ly). Even the number ofJewish offenders is assmall as 319, thoughBuddhists in jail arerecorded to be 1629.The prison population

includes 2009 offendersfrom Asia, with 562 fromPakistan, with no mentionabout IndiaThe number of

Muslims in jails, includingthose who have convertedwhile behind bars, hasalmost doubled in the lastdecade and they now com-

prise 14% of the total85,509 prison population.The statistics were in a

series of reports disclosinga rising tide of violence inprisons, a surge in suicidesand a fall in programmesintended to turn offendersaway from a life of crimeincluding those tacklingsex offending.One prison source said

jails were facing a “perfectstorm” while the PrisonOfficers’ Association saidthe figures demonstratedthat the prison system isfailing and in crisis.Other figures from the

ministry of justice showedthat 18 murderers and 15rapists are among morethan 1,000 offenders stillon the run despite beingrecalled to prison forbreaking the terms of theirrelease.Absconds have jumped

by thirty per cent in the

last two years from 175 to225 though the figure isdown from the 870 adecade ago.Officials have concerns

about the overall perform-ance of a quarter of the126 jails in England andWales as the prison systemstruggles to cope withbudget cuts.Serious assaults rose

by 30% in the last year inwhich there were threemurders in jail and a 69%rise in suicides to 88, thehighest level in nine years.Assaults on prison offi-

cers rose from 2,964 to3,363 in the year to theend of March including anincrease in seriousassaults on staff from 269to 370.The number of foreign

national prisoners in jails -representing about 150nationalities - at the end ofJune was 10,834 and

remains high despite theprime minister promisingto “personally intervene”in efforts to remove for-eign prisoners.Last year 43 foreign

national offenders weretransferred home to servetheir sentence as ministersfaced a series of setbacksin attempts to reduce thenumber in prisons inEngland and Wales.Only 162 foreign

national prisoners havebeen returned home toserve their sentencesunder prisoner transferagreements since 2010.Poland tops the list of

foreign nationals in prisonwith 867, followed by theIrish Republic on 798 andJamaica on 718.

Chris Grayling, theJustice Secretary, said theincrease in deaths in cus-tody was being taken veryseriously and he also

regarded the rise inassaults with concern.

Sadiq Khan, theShadow Justice Secretary,said: “The true scale of thegrowing crisis in the coun-try’s prisons is revealed bythe Government’s owndata. Violence is up,deaths in custody are up

and the number of prison-ers going on the run isup.”He added: “This is all

evidence of the incompe-tence of David Cameron’sGovernment. The evi-dence is piling up that theGovernment has caused aprison crisis.”

Foreign nationals and Muslim population in British prisons increase

H M Prison population (Source: Ministry of Justice 30 June 2013-30 June 2014,

England and Wales)

By PopulationNorth America 74 (US 54)Central+South America 180(Colombia 53)West Indies 881 (Jamaica 718)Africa 2330 (Nigeria 507)Europe 4857 (Poland 867)Middle East 474 (Iran 198)Asia 2009 (Pakistan 562)Ocenia 29 (Australia 16)

By ReligionRoman Catholic 15,535Other Christian 9227Free Church 1021Muslim 12,106Buddhist 1629Sikh 732Hindu 447Jewish 319Other 1565Not recorded or not recognised 386No religion 25,619Anglican 16,873All Christian 42,706

Overall totalsBritish nationals 73,999Nationality not recorded 676Foreign nationals 10,834

The First World War was billed to havebeen waged to end all the wars. It wasnot outrightly misleading, though it wasdefinitely a wishful thinking. The deathof some 10million soldiers, 20 millioncivilians, the unparalleled destructionover a vast area of mainland Europe asnever seen before was in a way a conse-quence of unfinished ‘business’ of theCrimean War of 1870 and the end of thewar in 1919 was the direct cause of theWorld War II, 20 years later.Since 1945, for 69 years the (longest

period in the European history)- therehas not been a major was on theEuropean continent. The ceremonies onthe 4th of August at Mons on theBelgium-German border, where the firstbattle took place between British andGerman armies and the services atWestminster Abbey and other places allover the Europe, makes one feel of thesea change of the situation in and aroundEurope. It is noteworthy that Britain and all

other involved countries have refraineddefinitely from celebrating a victory. It ismore a tribute to the dead of all thenations, reconciliation and realignmentfor peaceful coexistence. At the same time one must note with

enormous pride that the British peoplewent to war for their unique values ofjustice and freedom. They paid a veryheavy price, and when they won the war-along with the allies especially USA- theybegan reconstruction for a long termpeace and prosperity. Everyone wouldhave felt some satisfaction in the waytheir sacrifice and valour were recollect-ed. The then warring nations (Britain,USA, France and other allies as well asGermany, Austria, Italy, Russia had theirleaders standing side by side paying trib-ute to the fallen. As a British Indian, I take pride that

the leaders of the freedom of struggle likeMahatma Gandhi no less, Jawaharlal

Nehru, Sardar Patel,Tejbahadur Saproo andmany others worked hardto encourage Indians tojoin war efforts and sol-diers in hordes.1.2 million soldiers

(of the Indian subconti-nent) took part on thebattlefields of Europe,Africa and Middle East.At least 74,000 laid theirlives for a ‘foreign power’.It was a heavy toll. Thecontributions of the othermillions or more in thewar efforts, and the finan-cial contributions of thethen British Raj and sev-

eral princes runs into billions of pounds.Of course as a colony India was thrustinto the war, but one has to accept thereality prevailing circumstances.

Indian contributions numerically wasmuch larger in the Second World War. Ifeel that Indian inputs and sacrificeshave played an enormous role in supportof the British struggle for freedom, jus-tice and democratic norm and life. It isbeyond one’s imagination what theworld would be if the Nazis or theJapanese were the winners of theEuropean and pacific theatre respective-ly. The map of Europe is much different

now than what it was in 1914 or 1919.Most countries have opted for democrat-ic norms and peaceful coexistence, Tradeand commerce have reduced the tensionon the border and today’s EU with all itsweaknesses is the main reason we havefaced no wars for 69 years. The bold ini-tiative of Shri Narendra Modi to inviteleaders of the SAARC at his swearing inceremony has surely opened the door forbetter future for India and its neigh-bours.The British Media has been devoting

a lot of space and time to the eventsbefore and after 4 Aug 1914. TheTelegraph has been publishing a specialmonthly supplement sponsored by LordAshcroft, a prosperous man with publicservice backed by philanthropy has sure-ly carved out in the British annals.The last supplement dated 3rd

August has correctly a special section“Jews rally to serve the country that gavethem sanctuary.” It’s a worth readingpiece by Con Coughlin. It recollects thatin 1914 there were around 300,000 Jewsresident in Britain of which 41,000 hadjoined the action. Of the war deaths,New Zealand lost 17,000 soldiers,Canada 60,000, Australia 60,000, India74000 and Irish 27,000. Afterall theIndian blood has paid a heavy price forthe freedom and the values of GreatBritain.It is with the deepest regret I note

that British media has failed to recogniseand record such a heavyprice paid by those whowere born abroad and wereleast likely to live in thefreedom they fought for. Today’s British Asians

from the Indian subconti-nent have surely thousandsof relations who laid theirlives on the battlefields ofEurope. The due recogni-tion would have enabledbetter understandings oftheir descendent.As a Publisher/Editor

of Asian BusinessPublications Limited, Ialso feel that I have failed

to do something to salute the sacrifice ofthe soldiers of the Indian subcontinent. Icould have produced a similar publica-tions as we produced in March 2014-“The Turning Point- How a campaign tosave one temple united the entire Hinducommunity’. The contents of this sou-

venir was produced by Kripamoyadas,Srutidharmadas, Vinay Tanna, RadhaMohan das, Yogendra Sahu, of ISKCON. We had some support from sponsors

especially from Sow and Reap. KarmaYoga Foundation contributed the largestamount. This special publications is arecord of what happened about theBhaktivedanta Manor.If at all possible ABPL, with the sup-

port of individuals and businesses shouldpublish a book of record for Asians andnon Asians in Britain to remember thatour freedom has been at the cost of ahuge amount of sacrifice from those whowere born in far off lands.

The Annual Patron’s Dinner

The annual Patrons Dinner for the mostgenerous supporters of BhaktivedantaManor (Hare Krishna Temple) will betaking place on Saturday 9th August.That evening over a thousand businessleaders and their families will cometogether in a huge marquee for anevening of entertainment, opportunitiesto socialise, learn about the Temple’s lat-est projects and be treated to a deliciousthree course vegetarian meal.The Patron’s dinner is a very historic

occasion. Many readers would like toknow how it evolved. BhaktivedantaManor was campaigning for justice fornearly 20 years, costing them thousandsof pounds. At that stage some peoplewith foresight and commitment to thefaith, got together and formed thePatrons Council of individuals who con-

tributed £1000/year.Besides financial contri-

bution many patronsworked hard in cooking,serving food, cleaning,attending car parks etc forBhaktivedanta Manor-which now spreads over 77acres. Annual Patrons din-ner has not only become atradition, but also areminder of the campaignand celebration of thosewho are devotees of LordKrishna and those who areblessed to have listened tothe message of SrilaPrabhupada. - CB

As I See It

Foes foster firm friendshipMap of Europe 1914

Map of Europe 1919

Map ofEurope 2014

Boris Johnson and some others whenthey demand that PM Cameron shouldbe ready to leave EU, perhaps theyshould pause and think very carefully.Scotland is a part of the UK after manysacrifices and it is better to be togetherthan part the company for some illu-sionary gain or pride.

UKwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 9

Dr Gautam Khastgircomes from a famous fam-ily going back generationsthat contributed acrossthe pre- independent Sub-Continent. But he is hum-ble and it is quite hard toget him to talk about him-self, so I was happy tolearn from my dear editor,Rupanjana, that Gautamwas in London for just afew days recently. I man-aged to catch him for afriendly interview.

The most famous edu-cational establishment inChittagong, Dr KhastgirGirls’ High School inChittagong, Bangladesh,was established in 1907 byGautam’s great - grandfa-ther. “I regularly visitBangladesh to conductpublic awareness pro-grammes on women’shealth and to treatpatients in various chari-table hospitals. My ances-tral ties with Chittagongprovide me with that extramotivation to contributefinancially towards schol-arships to the Girls’School in Chittagong,Bangladesh, establishedby my forefathers a centu-

ry back,” he explained.The town’s mayor andothers identify one hospi-tal where he stays for aday, conducting a coupleof surgeries and seeingaround 250 patients need-ing his expertise in infer-tility treatment. His pro-grammes are to makemodern gynaecological

care popular, and also towipe away the misconcep-tions regarding infertilitytreatment prevailing inIndia and South Asia.

Though born into anelite family from undivid-ed Bengal, Dr Khastgirfaced a tough time as achild because his fatherdied early. Still, Gautam

overcame his challengesand built a brilliant aca-demic career.

He studied in Kolkata,came to the UK for furtherstudies and receivedMembership of the RoyalCollege of Obstetriciansand Gynaecologists. Hewas offered an academicpost here along withBritish citizenship.However, after a 10-yearyear stint in the UK, hechose to return to India toserve his country.

Since his return, hehas worked to makegynaecological endoscopicsurgery popular in easternIndia. He has demolishedthe myth that this surgeryis only for the rich andfamous. He did this byworking at charity hospi-tals and offering the serv-ice at a very reasonablecost; for the very poor, it isfree. In the past 15 yearshe has performed morethan 12,000 gynaecologi-cal endoscopic surgeries.He regularly conductshands-on training pro-grammes and live work-shops on endoscopic sur-gery and assisted concep-tion in his institution; theBengal Infertility andReproductive TherapyHospital. Gautam alsodoes this in other Indianstates and countries. Hisinstitution has beenselected by the Women’Health Initiative of theGovernment of Germanyand the United Nations asone of the six beacon

training centres of India.He has already trainedmore than 250 doctors toperform keyhole surgeryand assisted conceptionprocedures to popularisethe nationwide practice ofthese improved moderntechniques.

The Bengal Infertilityand Reproductive TherapyHospital is Gautam’sbrain-child and offers afull range of investigationsand treatments for infertil-ity at reasonable cost.

“Previously, little wasbeing done for infertilityon a national level inIndia,” he told me, “whilein the west the treatmentwas much moreadvanced.”

The institution hasenabled the birth of 1,000babies following success-ful infertility treatmentwithin five years.

Gautam’s hospital hasachieved some outstand-ing results such as healthybabies delivered of coupleswith genetic defects, andsafe delivery followingseven miscarriages.

His books on Women’sHealth and PregnancyPlanning are written inregional Indian languagesto educate the generalpublic about infertility,pregnancy care and gynae-

cological illnesses.Gautam told me that themain differences betweentreatment of infertility inthe UK and in South Asiaare that, “In South Asia,the majority of women areunaware that infertilitymay lie at the root of theproblem.

Assisted ConceptionTreatment in developedcountries like the UK andthe US involves the use ofa higher dose of medicinesthat results in the forma-tion of several eggs. Thisnot only increases the suc-cess rate but also the riskof multiple pregnancies.

In so far as the treat-ment in developing coun-tries like India goes, weuse a ‘soft protocol.’ Themuch smaller dose of med-icine given here means afewer number of eggs anda significantly lower inci-dence of multiple pregnan-cy. Such an approach notonly brings the infertilitytreatment within the graspof poor people of South-East Asia but also reducesthe cost of neonatal carefollowing premature deliv-ery with multiple pregnan-cies.”

He has painstakinglycollated patients’ opinionsand published a book tohelp develop confidenceregarding the modernmanagement of women’shealth.

Long may this gooddoctor continue his noblework in bringing happi-ness to so many!

Leading LightsRani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

The miracle Doctor serving South Asiaand bringing the gift of life

He has demolishedthe myth that

surgery is only forthe rich and famous

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201410 YOUR VOICE

The long wait for peaceWhile Sarah Teather’s piece in AV “Thelong wait for peace” is touching, it is toosimplistic. Jews, as a religious entity werenearly wiped out and are understandablyultra-cautious when it comes to survivalof their nation.With Hamas, ISIS, SIMI etc giving

normally idealistic, peaceful Islam the tagof extremism and the West fermentingunrest Israel is caught in no-man’s land. However Israel must not extinguish

hope of “Nationhood” for Palestinians,as people without hope, expectationsinevitably turn to violence. However out-landish act of firing rockets at Israel isnot the answer.Hamas should recognize Israel,

declare ten year truce and concentrate onbuilding a nation with entrepreneurialefficiency, infrastructure, greenificationand cottage industries to become eco-nomically self-reliant, with help of Israel,US, EU and Saudi Arabia. It should turninto “Singapore” of ME, seat of learning,as Palestinians are basically intelligent,hard-working people caught betweendevil and deep sea. If Palestinians, at the end of this tran-

sitional period, prove themselves withetiquette, then they should be grantednationhood under UN charter. There isno alternative but for two nations to livein peace and harmony, side by side.

Bhupendra M GandhiBy email

The kindness of strangersRecently it was depressing to watch andread news in the media about on goingwars in different parts of the world,killing of innocent women and children,gang rapes, abuse by people in authoritylike priest, babas, gurus, bapus, sportscoaches and corruptions, scandals,scams by politicians, big corporations,etc. It was therefore very heartwarmingto read news in the Canadian media of anact of kindness and humanity.Stephanie Headley, a Canadian lady,

has been suffering from systematic scle-roderma disease. This disease is incur-able and has meant that Ms Headley hasbeen struggling to breathe so is on 24/7oxygen bottle. Her skin has become sohard that it hurts her even if she slightlybends.Recently one hospital in Chicago

started steam cell therapy to curb thisdecease but the cost is aroundUS$128,000. This is a cost her familycannot afford so her children started online appeal for donation and collectedonly $13,000 way behind the estimatedcost needed for treatment.One morning a gentleman called her

and said that he was coming with anenvelope for donation. When he arrivedhe was disguised and handed her theenvelope with a bank draft for theamount of $128,000. This family finallysaw a light at the end of a long tunnel andMs Headley will soon go for treatment.When most people donate money or

do some social or charity work have atendency to want to let other peopleknow and brag by indirect or direct talk.Once Shri Morari Bapu said in his reli-gious discourses to try to hide how muchworship or prayer you offer to God fromothers and open up your life.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel.Markham, Ontario, Canada

Living in harmonyI don't know if news reports about cine-ma-goers being turned away from aBirmingham cinema because they weren'tMuslim are true or not but I was never-theless saddened to read them.If they are true it should never have

happened as Muslims welcome peoplefrom all faiths to join in the Eid festivalmarking the end of Ramadan. If it isuntrue then it smacks of people trying tostir up anti-Muslim feelings.We are all part of the community in

which we live and we all need to livetogether in harmony and peace regardlessof our ethnicity and beliefs.Unfortunately it is so easy for misconcep-tions to gather momentum and causeunnecessary problems and bigotry.

Amjad BashirUKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North

Lincolnshire and UKIP Communities spokesman

Speeding upThe rapid advance of the internet andtelecommunications is leaving air travelfar behind, crawling about as if it werestuck in the Stone Age.Why, in enterprising 2014, do we still

have to sit on a plane for 9 dreary hoursto visit India from the UK, or a mind-bog-gling 14 hours to reach Australia? Whycan’t these flying times be slashed to 30minutes and 1 hour respectively, or toSpain in just 10 minutes?Aircraft manufacturers really must

start thinking big and hire technologiststo create rockets which will shoot us intospace, level off, and zoom down into ourchosen destinations smoothly and safely.Then I, for one, will be able to leaveLondon for Mumbai after breakfast,spend 3 hours wandering around thatteeming Indian city and be back inLondon well in time for lunch on thesame day.We are all spending too much time sit-

ting in the air twiddling our thumbs whiledown below people are Skype-ing,Twittering, Facebooking, InstantMessaging and emailing one anotherworldwide with increasing ease andrapidity. On top of all that, we are aboutto be amazed by another new develop-ment - holograms - flashing an image ofourselves across the globe at the touch ofa button. Our life-like hologrammedimages will be able to interact with ourfar-flung companions as if we were actu-ally over there in person - chatting, laugh-ing, going for walks, seeing the sights - allfrom the comfort of our own homes onthe other side of the world. What next, eh?

Rudy OtterBy email

Brilliant analysis yet faultyBaroness Flather’s article on religiousschools is a brilliant analysis of the sub-ject.She is, however, wrong on one point:

to state blatantly that Hindus believe incaste system indicates her clear misun-derstanding of the subject. She would dobetter by doing some research as to theorigin of it before making such statement. She is, however, correct about her

assessment about Lord Sheikh’s misguid-ed argument that Halal killing are some-how less painful for the animals!Is the Lord unaware that animals also

feel the pain and suffering? Rather thanpromoting peace and harmony in theworld, supporting a barbaric method ofacquiring the meat is indefensible.Religious schools will only enforce

such beliefs and indoctrinate children’sminds insensitivity towards other sen-tient beings of this planet. All humanbeings can contribute to world peace byadopting some Yoga and Meditation tech-niques in all spheres of their lives.

Dr KamalLymm, Cheshire

National prideIt’s a pity that after every IndependenceDay and Republic Day celebrations, thecountry’s national flag is strewn on thestreets and people irrespective of caste,creed and colour blithely walk over them.Even when the national anthem is

played on radio or telecast on television,people don’t respect it by standing toattention and singing it. They are busytalking to people on their mobile phonesor chatting with their friends who arestanding beside them.As Indians, we should show respect

for our country’s national flag, nationalanthem and national song. It is onlythrough the sacrifices made by our free-dom fighters that we have managed togain independence; otherwise wewould’ve still been living under theBritish dominion.

Jubel D’Cruz,Mumbai, India

MisunderstandingI was surprised to read the letter fromRamesh Jhalla in reply to my letter of theprevious week.Mr Jhalla states in his letter states

that my "data about the Mongol invasionof India is shallow and confined to a verynarrow time period."He has completely misunderstood the

narrow remit which my letter focused on.Let me re-state what I said at the outset:"It is commonly believed by almost

everybody that the Mongols invaded in1526 and then started the Mogul rule,which lasted until the Indian Mutiny of1857 against East India Company, follow-ing which the British Government tookdirect rule over the territories and exiledthe last Mugal ruler to AndamannIslands."My letter was not about Muslim

invaders of India nor about other foreigninvaders. The sole purpose of my letterwas to correct the misunderstanding onthe part of many that the Mongols invad-ed in 1526. I wanted to show that theyhad tried for three centuries to invadeIndia, but were unsuccessful on previousoccasions.

Dhiraj KatariaBy email Continued on page 11

Dear Readers,

Diwali is now twomonths away. The NewYear is knocking at thedoor waiting to bring incolours and light to our liveswith fervour of joy andever lasting happi-ness. Asian Voice andGujarat Samachar willbe publishing the ‘DiwaliSpecial’ Magazine forour fabulous and supportive readerslike yourself. This year in the Englishsection, we are doing something spe-cial for our young readers. l If you are between 7-25 years ofage, write an article in English on'how you celebrate your Diwali everyyear' or 'your most memorable Diwaliwith friends and family' or 'how youcelebrate Diwali in your school' in nomore than 700 words, along with asuitable photo.l if you an organisation, which has ayouth wing or support youthactivities, tell us how youryoung members or youthwing celebrates Diwaliin 500-600 words with2 pictures (in no lessthan 300dpi).Last date of entry is Sunday 20 September 2014.Please email your article to aveditori-al@abplgroup.com with your fullname, age and contact number.

- Asian Voice

Namaste and acupressureThe technique of acupressure is similar inprinciple to acupuncture. It is based onthe concept of life energy which flowsthrough "meridians" in the body.In treatment, physical pressure is

applied to acupuncture points with theaim of clearing blockages in these merid-ians. Pressure may be applied by hand,by elbow, or with various devices. We per-form this ourselves or with the help ofexperts.Until recently, many Hindu traditions

were considered mainly as superstitionbut with the advent of science it isbecoming more evident that they arebased on scientific knowledge beingpassed down.The gesture of touching the palms of

our hands in “Namaskar” is a form ofrespect. However, scientifically speaking,joining both hands ensures joining thetips of all the fingers together. The tipsare pressure points of eyes, ears andmind. Joining them together is said toactivate the pressure points which helpsus to remember that person. In yoga, many exercises involve the

use of the pressure points including theperformance of Suryanamaskar in themornings which start the day with theactivatiion of appropriate meridians.

Dinesh ShethNewbury Park, Ilford

EDUCATION/COUNCIL VOICEwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 11

Businesses in Leicester'sGolden Mile have saidthey are suffering becauseof long-running road-works following the demo-lition of the BelgraveFlyover.Leicester City Council

is part-way through a £4million regeneration of thearea linking Belgrave andthe city centre, havingremoved the 1970s flyoverearlier this year.However, some firms

say the project's progresshas been slow with road-works causing huge con-gestion. They fear thescheme will run into theNavratri and Diwali cele-brations in September andOctober. From the start,the Labour-led council hasstated the project wouldtake until October to com-plete and says most busi-nesses in the area supportthe scheme. However,Kishan Devani, who isstanding for theConservatives in theLeicester East constituen-cy in May's election,claims people in the areahave been poorly informedabout the timetable andare angry about the dis-ruption. He admitted theremoval of the flyoverwould improve the area inthe long run but was caus-ing unacceptable short-term pain. He said: "TheGolden Mile looks like adirt road. Roads are beingclosed regularly, trafficbuilds up and pedestriansfind it difficult to crossroads. The work onBelgrave Road needs to be

completed as a matter ofurgency. I urge the citycouncil to prioritise thiswork. Hundreds of busi-nesses are suffering due tothis and this is not accept-able. "Residents have touse other routes to travelto their homes, causing ahuge amount of inconven-ience to residents, particu-larly the elderly. WithDiwali and Navratri fastapproaching, BelgraveRoad will be inundatedwith visitors. If the workis not completed by then,it will cause havoc for thelocal community and willinterfere with the festivi-ties." Raj Radia, of RadiaSuperstore, in MeltonRoad, said: "They havebeen working on the roadfor months and it is stillnot complete. As an inde-pendent retailer we arelosing a lot of businessand it's causing a lot ofinconvenience."

Chetan Amlani, whoruns a letting agency inBelgrave, said: "It is betternow the fly-over is gonebut much harm is beingcaused to trade by the

continuing roadworks."Former Labour city

councillor Ramila Shah,now a Conservativeactivist, said: "We are talk-ing about 11 months ofwork causing huge disrup-tion in the area. It shouldhave been completed bynow."A city council

spokesman said: "This is amajor project and we'vealways said we aim to geta substantial amount ofthe work completed whichwill allow the GoldenMile's famous Diwali cele-brations to take place asusual in October. We'vebeen in regular contactwith traders, such as theBelgrave BusinessAssociation and residents'groups, to keep themupdated on the works anddeal with any concernsraised. The completedproject will include signifi-cant improvements to theroad layout, cyclewaysand footpaths, car park-ing, landscaping and gen-eral appearance of thearea, benefiting businessesand residents.

Kishan Devani with traders concerned about the progressof the Belgrave roadworks

A special commemorativeservice to mark the deathsof Indian soldiers whofought for Britain in theFirst World War was heldin Bradford on Mondayevening. The event, at aBradford mosque, wasbeen organised by UKIPCommunities andC o m m o n w e a l t hspokesman, Amjad Bashir."It is important to

remember that one in sixof those who sacrificedtheir lives in this terribleconflict for the Allies werefrom the British Empire,mainly from India. Theycame from various faiths,but were mainly Moslemand I thought that itwould be a fitting tributeto mark their bravery andself-sacrifice by having

centenary prayers andservice of remembrance,"said Mr Bashir, MEP forYorkshire and NorthLincolnshire."It is vital that commu-

nities live and worktogether harmoniously,

regardless of their ethnici-ty or faith, and I see build-ing bridges and strength-ening respect and lines ofcommunication at theforefront in my role asCommunities spokesman,"said Mr Bashir.

WWI commemorative service in Bradford

It was most distressing to read about theplight of Shabnam Ramaswami (AV 2ndAugust), the battered wife subjected tomental and physical abuse from her hus-band. Luckily she had a happy ending,denied to thousands of women in India insimilar circumstances.Equally disturbing was the news of

the establishment of the Trust to raisefunds for yet another Gandhi statue inLondon, barely two miles away from theone in Tavistock Square.Gandhi too misused and mistreated

women. Obsessed with sex, he made ahabit of sleeping naked with nakedwomen, including his own 16 year oldgreat-niece Manu, the 19 year old wife ofhis great-nephew Abha as well as othermarried women. His controversial experi-ments, to test his will power wererebuked by his family, friends and otherpoliticians. Nehru described them as“abnormal” and “unnatural”. Some in hisAshram and on the editorial board of hisjournal quit their posts in protest.Unbelievably, Gandhi was well pro-

tected and his weird activities werehushed up. In fact, whose who did so andcontinue to do so, are just as guilty asGandhi was in his use and misuse ofwomen. No man, hero or villain has aright to lower women to this level of

debasement.The Trust should come out and tell

the whole truth about Gandhi. It shouldalso do some soul searching before askingfor funds for a man who ill treatedwomen. Domestic violence, rape, killingand hanging of women in India havebecome an every day occurance, of valueonly to the bureau of statistics. But whocares?I do not belong to the brigade that

admires the King’s new clothes. Gandhiis other people’s Mahatma, not anymorethe man I once worshipped as my God.Those who disagree with me have toprove me wrong.The man whose statue should be in

Parliament Square is Dadbhai Naoroji,the first Indian in the British Parliament,elected in 1892. He represented the cul-ture and spirit of India, promoting Indo-British relationship. Gandhi, who did notattend the Indian Independence Day cer-emony in New Delhi on August 15th1947, who hated the Africans, and whoappointed Nehru as India’s first PrimeMinister, inspite of the fact that SardarPatel had won the vote for the post, mustnot be allowed to be what he was not - a“superior soul”.

Kusoom Vadgama, London

Antagonist US do not hesitate to back-stab their closest allies. Obama’s US bentover backwards in trying to destroy lead-ing oil giant BP with real and fraudulentclaims without an ounce of conscious,atonement or penitent. The US badlylacks cardinal virtues. Kerry’s boisterousbridge-building visit to India to preserveUS ascendancy should be taken with apinch of salt, as was Chinese brevity, aone day wonder. China will go to any lengths to stop

India, Japan and Russia forming an axisof goodwill, as China would like to domi-nate South Asia, laying claim to vastareas of the South China Sea as well ason border areas with every neighbour.Unfortunately the blinkered West is toopreoccupied with Russia to noticeChina’s evil intentions.The unacceptable behaviour over

Modi’s Visa, the fiasco over an Indiandiplomat and routinely detaining IndianVIPs, including past President Dr APJKalam should not be accepted as normal,civilised behaviour. His meeting withIndian Foreign Minister Sushma Swarajended up in acrimony, as belligerent USwas reminded that friends do not spy,snoop on each other, as recent revelationconfirmed CIA officials listening, moni-toring BJP officials, as was the case withGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel.Modi/NDA government should know

unequivocally who are fiduciaries or truefriends, do not fall for phraseology andconcentrate on cementing trade relationswith them, especially with amenableJapan who is shifting investment, manu-facturing base from China to India thatcan transform India’s industrial map.

Kumudini Valambia, By email

Your Voice

The 15th Sikh Regiment arrive in Marseille, France on theirway to fight the Germans during the First World War.

A little videogaming 'linked to

well-adjustedchildren'

Playing video games for ashort period each daycould have a small butpositive impact on childdevelopment, a study byOxford University sug-gests. Scientists foundyoung people who spentless than an hour a dayengaged in video gameswere better adjusted thanthose who did not play atall. Children who usedconsoles for more thanthree hours reportedlower satisfaction withtheir lives overall.

The truth about GandhiContinued from page 10

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201412 MEDIA WATCH

The South Korean firm Posco isto partner Adani in the con-struction of the 388 kilometre-long North Galilee Basin Rail.

At full production, the project isestimated to add a yearly $2.97billion to the Queensland econo-my. Welcoming Australia’s deci-sion, Adani Group ChairmanGautam Adani explained thatthe mine together with theNorth Galilee Basin rail and thecompany’s port operations atAbbot Point, and the Adaniinvestments in Queenslandwould deliver more than 10,000direct and indirect jobs inAustralia and open up opportu-nities for local suppliers.Australia’s High Commissionerto India, Patrick Suckling, said:“It is good news for both Indiaand Australia.

Environment protection

Earlier, Australia’s Minister forthe Environment, Gregg Hunthad told reporters that, “Afterundertaking a thorough assess-ment under national environ-ment law, I have approved theCarmichael coal mine and railinfrastructure project subject to36 conditions. The absolutestrictest conditions have beenimposed…..with a specific focuson the protection of groundwa-ter.” However, Greenpeace andother environmental groups areup in arms protesting the projectwould cause irreparable damageto the area’s large and complexeco-system (Business Line, MintJuly 29).

FDI insurance raised

Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in India has been raisedto 49 per cent (as it has been inthe defence sector) in a bid bythe government to stimulateinvestment flows into the coun-try. However, the 49 per centroute must meet the approval ofInvestment Promotion Board,while the previous FDI figure of26 per cent would be permittedto take the automatic route. The49 per cent FDI will be a com-posite cap, that is, capital can

enter either as direct investmentor via the portfolio route, or as acombination of both. The UPAregime favoured such legislationbut was unable to command thenecessary majority inParliament. Amitabh Chaudhry,Managing Director and CEOHDFC Life Insurance, said themove would now enable insur-ance companies to provide therequired services to millions ofunder-insured Indians. RajeshSud, CEO and ManagingDirector Max Life Insurance,said the decision should bring inmuch needed long-term capitalinto the insurance sector(Business Line July 25).

Larsen & Toubroprofit doubles

Engineering giant Larsen &Toubro’s first quarter (April-June) profit has more than dou-bled to Rs 967 crore from Rs 459crore. This was largely due tothe monetization of DharmaPort in which the company hada 50 per cent stake, and fromgains of Rs 249 crore from thesale of part of promoter’s hold-ing in Larsen &Toubro FinancialHoldings in compliance with theSecurities and Exchange Boardnorms and through disinvest-ment in City Union Bank byLarsen & Toubro Finance.Beating market expectations,the company posted 10 per centgrowth in revenue of Rs 18,975crore against Rs 17,242 for thesame period last year.International revenue of Rs4,781 crore constituted 25 percent of the company’s total rev-enue (Hindu July 29).

Upbeat Wipro

IT company Wipro reportedanother good quarter (April-June), meeting market expecta-tions and providing hope of a

better second quarter. India’sthird largest software provider,after Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) and Infosys, posted a netprofit of Rs 2,067.2 crore in thefirst quarter 2014-15 over the

corresponding period last year.The revenue grew by 15 percent, thanks to a number ofmulti-million dollar deals.Speaking to reporters, CEOT.K.Kurien said the improveddemand for outsourcing serviceshad helped the company’s per-formance. Despite the upswing,Wipro has some way to go tocatch up with their peers,TCSand Infosys, opined an industryspecialist (Business Line July25)

Tatas’ $35 billion investment plan

Eighteen months after hisappointment as Chairman of theTata Group, Cyrus Mistry rolledout a strategic Group roadmapthat includes four new clustersfor special focus – Defence andAerospace, Retail, Infrastructureand Finance. Speaking about theGroup’s Vision 2025, he saidthat over the next three years,Tatas will invest around $35 bil-lion across a variety of business-es. “To outperform markets,each Tata company will sharplyfocus on performance, strive forexcellence, for global competi-tiveness, seek to achieve globalor national scale, and fosterfledgling businesses with asound evaluation of their growthpotential.” (Business Line,Telegraph July 30)

Global presence

Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) has become the firstIndian software company tocross the Rs 5 lakh crore ($84billion) mark in market capital-ization. The company has alsobecome the world’s second mostvaluable service provider, aheadof Accenture but behind IBM.Accenture is worth $51 billion toIBM’s $198 billion (Times ofIndia July 25)

Defence PSUs major draw

Electronics production in India’sDefence public sector enterpris-es (PSUs) during 2013-14touched Rs13,800 crore and isexpected to grow by 15 per centin the current financial year2014-15 ending March 31,according to the ElectronicIndustries Association of IndiaPresident Subhash Goyal. Theproduction of strategic electron-ics stood at Rs12,000 crore in2012-13 has grown steadily inthe past five years. TheAssociation’s summit inBangalore, currently in session,is designed take exploit the newopportunities opening up for theindustry, particularly in indige-nous design and innovationthrough Research &Development facilities(Business Line July 30).

Indian soldiers inGreat War

“An independent India may notchoose to remember the soldierswho laid down their lives sincethey were fighting for the BritishEmpire. But we do, as part ofregimental heritage. A soldier isa soldier, whichever political dis-pensation directs him to war…”So said a major-general of the

Indian Army, referring to India’sGlorious Dead in the Great War.It is time surely to outgrow theinfantile disorder of reflexiveanti-colonialism and come ofage. The regimental system, towhich the major-general refers,was a British creation, as werethe organizational structure andtraditions of free India’s armedforces, not speak of the coun-try’s rail network, maps andjudicial system and much elsewhich we take for granted today.

Centenary events

The thirty regiments that foughtin the Great War, among themSkinner’s Horse, MadrasRegiment, Gorkha and GarhwalRifles, commemorate their“Battle Honour Days” in theirown unique way. “This year thecommemoration will be special,with memorial services, photoexhibitions and events spreadover 1914-18 since it will markthe centenary of World War 1. Byits end in 1918, the [Indian]Army had earned 9,200 gallantryawards, including a dozenVictoria Crosses,” said an offi-cer. The Battle of Gallipoli in1915, for instance, is part of theinstitutional memory of the 14Ferozpore Sikhs. “Over 15 offi-cers and 371 troops were killedin a single day,” said the officer.(Times of India July 29).

Kharagpur IIT’snew system

The Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT), Kharagpur, isswitching over to over to a cred-it-based curriculum, saidDirector Partha PratimChakrabarti on the 60th

anniversary of its founding.“Having a credit-based systemwill help make the courses moreflexible and allow students totake a semester or a year off todo an internship, which wouldfurther enhance their learning,”said the Chairman of the Boardof Governors, Dr SrikumarBanerjee, formerly head ofIndia’s Atomic EnergyCommission. The Guest ofHonour Professor C.N.Rao FRSand Bharat Ratna recipient,addressing the Convocation,said: “All my achievements andwork, even while teachingabroad, was done for India….Ihope all of you [students] aresuccessful in your endeavours asthat will result in a successfulIndia.” (Hindu, Telegraph July27)

Germany newdestination

Increasing numbers of Indianstudents – 114 per cent up from200-09 to 2012-13 - are turningto German institutions for theirhigher education, particularly inmathematics, science, engineer-ing and information technology.To attract Indian students, anumber of German institutionsare running their courses inEnglish – Munich TechnicalUniversity being a leading exam-ple. Germany encourages Indianstudents to undertake researchin the areas mentioned abovesince there is a dearth of youngGerman students in these facul-ties, where the country needsspecialists. The German govern-ment permits foreign students toremain in the country in pursuitof their professional careers(Times of India, Telegraph, 27).

Gautam Adani

Azim Premji

Secretary of State John Kerry with Sushma Swaraj

See comment page 3

John Kerry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi

It was the mega deal that no part of the domestic or foreignmedia could afford to ignore. The Indian press gave it satura-tion coverage. The Australian government has approved AdaniMining’s $16.5 billion project to build a coal mine, among theworld’s largest, in the state of Queensland. The CarmichaelCoal Mine, which will produce 60 million tonnes of high qualitycoal a year, will also create an 189-kilometre-long rail line totransport the coal to port for the onward sea voyage to India,where 100 million Indians would be the beneficiaries of theelectric power produced. The value of the thermal coalresources, over a 60-year period, has been valued at $300 bil-lion.

UKwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 13

A confidence tricksterenjoyed a luxury lifestyleafter duping victims intobuying corporate eventpackages which neverexisted.

Sarjinder SinghDhillon, also claimed statebenefits while driving lux-ury cars, including aBentley Continental, andspent £84,000 on privateschools for his two chil-dren. He used false namesto dupe staff at variouscompanies into believingthey were buying hospital-ity seats at Wimbledon,the Grand National,Ascot, The Ashes and SixNations.Even after his arrest in

February 2013 foroffences while trading asRothschild Enterprises, hewent on to set upHamptons Events andcontinued the scam, dis-honestly obtaining about£35,000 in total, LeicesterCrown Court was told.Dhillon (42), who

failed to declare anyincome to the taxman orpay any tax between 2007and 2013, had £128,000 ofunexplained income goingthrough a businessaccount.This week, he was

jailed for two years andfive months for a total of21 offences.Dhillon, who has

never passed a drivingtest, also fraudulentlyobtained car insurance forvehicles owned at differ-ent times, including aPorsche Carrera, an AudiRS4 and Audi S5, a VWGolf, a Range Rover, aRenault Megane and aFord Fiesta. He lied abouthaving a £50,000 salarywhile claiming benefits toobtain a £160,000 re-mortgage on his home inBeacon Road,Loughborough, saidEsther Harrison, prosecut-ing.Dhillon admitted nine

counts of fraud relating to

the corporate events scam,one of fraudulently obtain-ing a re-mortgage, one ofdishonestly obtaining carinsurance – by failing todeclare he had no drivinglicence – and one count ofacquiring criminal proper-ty in the form of unex-plained cash deposits intobank accounts. He admit-ted nine offences of con-verting criminal property,or money laundering, bypaying £84,907 schoolfees to LoughboroughEndowed Schools,between 2006 and 2013,and purchasing variousvehicles.

Sarjinder Dhillon

Conman who lived a lifeof luxury is jailed

A man and two 16-year-olds involved in a conspira-cy to burgle mosques haveappeared in court.

Luke Wright, 27, andthe teenage boys, who can-not be named because of acourt order, pleaded guiltyto conspiring to entermosques, with intent tosteal, between January 31and April 5 this year.

Wright, of ThomassonRoad, off AmbassadorRoad, Leicester, furtheradmitted burgling theMasjid Al Falah Mosque,Keythorpe Street, Leicester,when money and miscella-neous papers were stolen,on February 6. He alsopleaded guilty to attemptedburglary at the Masjid At-Taqwah Mosque and

Islamic Centre, HarewoodStreet, Leicester, withintent to steal, on the sameday. The Leicester CrownCourt case was adjourneduntil September 12, for thepreparation of pre-sentencereports.Wright was remanded

back into custody and thetwo juveniles were releasedon bail.

Trio guilty of conspiring to burgle Leicester mosques

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Steel Tycoon and billion-aire businessmanLakshmi Mittal’s bid tobuy a mountain hassparked protests from thelocal community whobelieve the move couldmake the area a play-ground for the super-rich. After the string of

mega mansions, yacht,private jet and the pre-miership football club, hehas now reportedlyclosed on a deal to buythe 2,700-acre BlencathraMountain in the LakeDistrict. The mountain -which is 2,800-feet tall -was put up for sale by theEarl of Lonsdale, HughLowther, to allegedly payoff a staggering £9 millioninheritance tax bill.Mr Mittal was certain-

ly attracted by the factthat whoever buys themountain will be entitledto use the title Lord of theManor of Threlkeld and

the new owner will alsoobtain grazing rights forthousands of sheep.Apparently once it

became known lastmonth that an anony-mous buyer was prepar-ing to bid, a group calledthe Friends of Blencathracame up with a counter-bid. However, the group’sbid was some £350,000less than Mr Mittal’s.The group had want-

ed to turn the site intopublic land and has nowlodged a protest after theselling agent confirmedthe Earl had accepted anoffer from an unnamedparty.The agent’s statement

said: “Prior to reachingthis decision we had dis-cussions earlier todaywith representatives fromThe Friends ofBlencathra. We havetaken into account boththeir offer and the fact

that there is a significantshortfall between this andthe successful offer.”“The reason behind

the sale of Blencathra isto realise capital forinheritance tax followingthe death of the 7th Earlof Lonsdale in 2006. TheEstate’s solicitor has beeninstructed to proceedwith the sale and weexpect the matter to becompleted reasonablyquickly,” the statementadded.

Steel Tycoon Lakshmi Mittal buys a mountain?

Blencathra Mountain in thepicturesque Lake District

Steel TycoonLakshmi Mittal

A great evening of topclass holidays and travelsponsored by Travelinstyleof Stanmore was held onTuesday 29th July at theBernays Memorial Hall. Many renowned tour

operators were in atten-dance, including Gold

Medal, Seasons in Style,Wendy Wu Tours, ClassicCollection, OceaniaCruises, Superbreak andTaj Group of Hotels. The fun started at 6pm

and was attended by manyguests who were treated toa gala buffet and wine

with great prizes for luckywinners. It was a fantasticpromotional evening, andAlpa Shah, Directorthanked everyone formaking it to this event onsuch a hot night.

Pic courtesy: Raj DBakrania, Prmediapix

Travelinstyle of Stanmore hosts a gala evening

The House of Commonshas decided to have a spe-cial debate on the state ofhuman rights in Kashmir.Calling the “ongoingKashmir dispute a threatto regional and globalpeace”, the British MPDavid Ward has reported-ly informed the back-bench committee. Thougha formal date is yet to bedecided, Britain’s decisionto agree for a debate onKashmir hasn’t gonedown well with Friends ofIndia and SoutheastAsian thinktanks.However Britain's

Deputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg in an exclusiveinterview to an Indianmedia has said thatBritain does not want tobe a mediator betweenIndia and Pakistan overKashmir.The Times of India

reported that Britain’sForeign Office MinisterHugo Swire said that“any solution should bebetween the two govern-ments of India and

HoC to host debate on human rights in KashmirPakistan. The British gov-ernment does help and wehave had discussions onhuman rights as recentlyas last month. This is a

long-running conflict, andwe stand by to help; butultimately it can beresolved only by the twocountries in question.”

About 250 orthopaedicsurgeons from across theUK and India attended the16th annual conference ofIndian OrthopaedicSociety UK (IOSUK) heldat the Grange TowerBridge Hotel recently.IOSUK is the only

Indian orthopaedic con-ference outside India thatis recognised by all themajor orthopaedic associ-ations worldwide whichhas recently signed severallandmark MoU agree-ments with Indian andBritish Orthopaedicorganisations and institu-tions on mutual co-opera-tion. IOSUK President and

consultant orthopaedicsurgeon Mr. VenuKavarthapu from King’sCollege Hospital, Londonstressed on the objectiveof the society to create abridge between Indian andBritish orthopaedics thatwould result in improvedpatient care.The president of the

Indian OrthopaedicAssociation (IOA) Prof.Anil Jain and the presi-dent of the BritishOrthopaedic Association(BOA) Prof. Tim Briggsdelivered guest lectures onthe updates in modernorthopaedic care.

Mr. BN Muddu, thefounder president ofIOSUK was honouredwith ‘IOSUK Life TimeAchievement Award’

while Prof. Joe Dias, thefirst Indian origin BOAPresident, with ‘IOSUKSpecial Merit Award’.IOSUK honorary sec-

retary Mr. Anand Aryaand treasurer Mr. BJSingh took active role inorganising this meet.Several orthopaedic opin-ion leaders from the UKhave also taken part in theconference.The IOSUK organises

funded fellowships forIndian orthopaedic sur-geons to visit 68 centres ofexcellence in the UK andBritish orthopaedic sur-geons visit 18 centres ofexcellence in India. Thesociety also supports anumber of majororthopaedic charity pro-grammes in India and hasgrown exponentially overthe last few years.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201414 UK

After captivating fansglobally with his inim-itable stage performancesfor over two decades,actor extraordinaire andall-round A-list performerAkshay Kumar will set anew personal best onSaturday, 9th August2014, when he performson stage for an astound-ing 500th time.This impressive mile-

stone will take place atthe inaugural show toopen the first internation-al World Kabaddi League(WKL)tournament at theiconic landmark,London’s O2 Arena.

Akshay Kumar, who

is a fan of the sport ofKabaddi and recentlybought the team, ‘KhalsaWarriors’, will also be inLondon attending the pre-miere of his upcomingr o m a n t i c - c o m e d y‘Entertainment’, takingplace at IMAX Cinema -Science Museum onFriday 8th August 2014.

Within the entertain-ment fraternity, the inter-national superstar’s per-formances are one of themost anticipated at anyevent. He never fails toimpress with his charis-matic stage presence andbrings his own individual-ity and flair to all his

power-packed perform-ances.This time it is London

that will get to see himwork his magic, as fans

wait with bated breath forthis once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity to seeAkshay Kumar’s 500thstage performance.

For the third consecutiveyear, leading philanthro-pist and property develop-er Vraj Pankhania, chair-man of the WestcombeGroup, was proud spon-sor of The Kent &Curwen Royal CharityPolo Cup held onSaturday, July 19. VIPguests attended the pres-tigious event held in themagnificent grounds ofLord and Lady AndrewLloyd Webber’s privateBerkshire Estate,Watership Down.A beautiful English

summer’s day providedthe perfect backdrop forthrilling polo and superbhospitality which includ-ed a champagne receptionfollowed by lunch in themarquee. A charity auc-tion completed the eventwith the proceeds goingto Sentebale and Tusk

Trust, Prince Harry andThe Duke of Cambridge'srespective charities.After an exciting

match, Westcombe Grouptook the win 7 – 5 to liftthe celebrated cup.Tiffany & Co presentedbeautiful turquoise boxes

to the playerswith MostV a l u a b l e

Player award being givento HRH Prince Harry.Special guests includ-

ed Lord and Lady LloydWebber, Sabrina Fung,David Gandy, Jade Parfittand Jack Dyson,Samantha Barks andRichard Fleeshman,

Jamal Edwards, PattieBoyd, Michael Owen andsinger Aaron Kwok. Westcombe Group

would particularly like tothank all the players, Kent& Curwen, the auctiondonors and Lord LloydWebber for their generoussupport for this wonderfulday in aid of Tusk andSentebale.

An expert panel includingWajid Shamsul Hasan,former HighCommissioner ofPakistan, renowned jour-nalist Babar Ayaz, KiranHassan of InternationalInstitute of StrategicStudies, Aamer AhmedKhan of BBC UrduService and DeclanWalsh, Pakistan BureauChief of The New YorkTimes have come togetherrecently at Senate House,University of London andexamined “Pakistan’smedia under threat - Howsafe is it to be a journal-ist”. The discussion washosted by TheC o m m o n w e a l t hJournalists Association(CJA) on 28 July and waschaired by Owen BennettJones, BBC presenter,award winning journalistand author.

Rita Payne, presidentof CJA welcomed the gath-ering while Owen Jonesintroduced the speakers.Wajid Hasan said that

Pakistan has a chequeredhistory as far as Freedomof Press and Media areconcerned. He opined thatepisodes shown onTelevision were other

overblown or under-played.Aamer Ahmed Khan

spoke of the corruption inmedia and the pressuresunder which media hous-es operate.Declan Walsh spoke

about the tensions anddifficult moments forpress freedom in Pakistan,including attacks on jour-nalists. He also spoke onthe relationship betweenreligion and the state andthe role of GEO channelin bringing out issues.Kiran Hassan said that

there is an increased reali-sation that Pakistan is not

an isolated countrywith irresponsible

reporting and pervasiveoral culture. She con-cludes that there are rea-sons to believe that thereis still future for media inPakistan. The discussionhighlighted how journal-ists are under threat frommilitant groups and theestablishment, and howthe country has come tobe known as one of thed e a d l i e s tplaces in the world forjournalists to work. Theevent concluded with Qand A and interaction.

CJA hosts thediscussion “How safe is

it to be a journalist”

Former High Commissioner of Pakistan Wajid Hasanspeaks as Owen and Kiran look on

Annual conference of the IndianOrthopaedic Society UK held in London

BOA President Prof TImBriggs delivering guest

lecture

Mr BN Muddu receiving 'IOSUK Life Time Achievement Award'

Akshay Kumar to bring London to a standstill with milestone 500thperformance at the O2 Arena

Philanthropy and hospitalitywith the Princes

HRH Prince William, The Duke ofCambridge, his brother, Prince Harry with

Vraj, Kamal and Sunil Pankhania

Shree Swaminarayan Sidhant Sajivan Mandal KumKum UK, a registered Charity based in Parr RoadStanmore, celebrated its first Murti PatotsavAnniversary from 1st Aug to £ Aug 2014.The head & inspirer of the Kum Kum

Swaminarayan Mandir India, Shastri Shree AnandPryadasji Swami presided over the 3 day function. Thethird day function was kindly sponsored by MrBharatbhai Laxman Halai & Mrs Kasturben BharatHalai & Family.It included a 'Sanskrutik Bhajan Bhakti' Night on

the Friday evening before a 12hour 'Dhoon' (ChantingLord Swaminarayan's name in a rhythmic manner).Guests of the day included Bob Blackman MP for

Harrow East since 2010 and The Worshipful Mayor ofHarrow, Councillor Ajay Maru.On Saturday the end of dhoon was followed by

'Katha Vaarta' (reading of Holy books). The eveningprogramme included a Sanskrutik Drama- 'MaroHaath Jhalyo Harivare' (my hand is forever held by theLord). Chief Guest on the day was Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP.

On Sunday the programme commenced at 8pm with'Swaagat Yatra', (Procession), lead by SahajanandPipers, (a Scottish Pipe Band playing Indian andScottish melodies), followed by the 'Abhishek' of theidol of Lord Swaminarayan.

UKwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 15

An inmate who slashedthe face of a guard at ayoung offender institutionhas been given 18 monthsdetention.

Ayub Said (19) admit-ted unlawfully woundingthe officer, who suffered acut above his eye needingfive stitches. The incidenthappened at Glen Parvayoung offender institutionon December 29.

Leicester Crown Courtwas told Said was alreadyserving a six-year publicprotection sentence for anoffence of inflicting griev-ous bodily harm.

Victoria Rose, prose-cuting, said Said and threeother inmates received a"negative entry" on theirdisciplinary reports fromthe prison officer, for mis-behaving earlier in theday. At lunchtime, Said

and one of the inmatesinvolved in the earliermatter were "beingobstructive" and loiteringwhile taking their lunchback to their cells. Theprison officer asked Said'sassociate to go into hiscell. He refused and threwhis dinner over the officer.

Miss Rose said: "Theofficer went to usher theinmate into his cell, butSaid moved betweenthem. The officer saw aflash of metal and thoughtit was a blade, but there'sno evidence a blade wasused. He did not see whatthe weapon was, butsomething was used tocause the injury. It wassome form of implement,possibly to eat the lunchwith. As soon as he feltthe pain he grabbed Said,who bent his body down

and tried to grab his leg topull him over, as the offi-cer shouted for help. Henow has a permanent scarabove his right eye."

Sentencing, JudgeLynn Tayton QC said:"You intentionallyattacked a prison officerwith a form of weapon,causing a cut needingstitches and it's not clearwhat the weapon was. Itwas while he was carryingout his duties. The offenceis aggravated by your pre-vious conviction. In thecontext of your currentsentence, the 18 months Ipass concurrently makesno difference. You'realready being detained forpublic protection andwon't be released in anyevent until you're consid-ered to be no longer a dan-ger."

Overseas drivers by thethousands have escapedfrom paying parking finesdue to their foreign regis-tered vehicles, whichmeans that officials areunable to trace the vehi-cles.

Figures accounted byLeicester City councilshow that between 2009and 2013 only 457 out ofthe 2,776 penalty chargeswere paid. Significantly,this results in the loss of£100,000 for the councilas only an insignificantamount of £15,000 wasgenerated from the 457fines that were paid.

Furthermore, pursingthese drivers who possessforeign vehicles will resultin a further loss as the cost

would outweigh theincome generated for theLeicester City Council.

The council state thatit is difficult to trace thesedrivers as the holder of theUK drivers records, Driverand Vehicle LicensingAgency, do hold accountof oversea drivers andvehicles.

City Mayor Sir PeterSoulsby said: “This is aproblem for councils upand down the country -and it is particularly anissue in London and theLocal GovernmentAssociation is pressing theGovernment to takeaction to help council tofind overseas drivers. It isfrustrating but then theirdoes come a point where it

is more expensive to pur-sue the matter than let itgo.”

The council stated thatthe 2,776 tickets given tooverseas drivers were justa small 1.2 per cent of thetotal number issued overthe five years. Meaningthat around 1,156,666fines issued. A city councilspokeswoman said: “It is aproblem because theDVLA systems don’t holddata on foreign vehicles.We work very hard to pur-sue all unpaid parkingfines. However, DVLAsystems do not allow us totrace the keeper of foreignvehicles. Overall, finesissued to foreign vehiclesaccount for about 1.2 percent of all tickets issued.”

Inmate slashed face of guard at GlenParva young offender institution Foreign drivers in Leicester escape

parking fines

Government must send a clearand unequivocal message toboth sides in Gaza conflict

With the breakdown ofFriday’s ceasefire and theprospects of peace seem-ingly distant, it is nowmore important thanever that the internation-al community acts to getthe two sides to agree toa renewed ceasefire, andthereafter to re-establishmeaningful negotiationsto achieve a two-statesolution.

David Cameronshould be playing a lead-ing role in these efforts tosecure peace. He is rightto say that Hamas is anappalling, terroristorganisation. It’s whollyunjustified rocket attackson Israeli citizens, aswell as the building oftunnels for terrorist pur-poses, show the organi-sation’s murderousintent and practicetowards Israel and its cit-izens.

But the PrimeMinister is wrong not tohave opposed Israel’sincursion into Gaza. Andhis silence on the killingof hundreds of innocentPalestinian civilianscaused by Israel’s mili-tary action will be inex-plicable to people acrossBritain and internation-ally.

I am a supporter ofIsrael and I believe inIsrael’s right to self-defence. But its militaryactions in the past twoweeks have been wrongand unjustifiable. Theescalation of violenceengulfing Gaza has led,and is leading, to suffer-ing and destruction onan appalling scale, and islosing Israel friends inthe international com-munity day by day.

Israel’s present mili-tary action will increasethe future threats to itssecurity rather thancountering them. Israelis

rightly and justifiablywant that security, yettheir government’s pres-ent actions instead risksimply a growing a newgeneration bent onrevenge.

Sustainable securityfor Israel cannot beachieved simply by per-manent blockade, aerialbombardment and peri-odic ground incursion.Instead, it requiresacknowledging the legiti-mate claims ofPalestinians to state-hood, and sustainedefforts to secure a viablePalestine alongside asecure Israel.

As for the Britishgovernment, its job nowis to develop a collectiveresponse not a differenti-ated one and to speakwith one voice. We needthe clear and unequivo-cal message that has notso far been provided tobe sent from Britain toboth sides in this con-flict. David Cameron andthe Cabinet must putBritain in a leading rolein pressuring both sidesnow to end the violence.

First, the governmentas a whole should con-demn the escalating vio-lence now being perpe-trated by both sides inthis conflict, not just byHamas.

Second, it should beactively engaging withother EU leaders toachieve a unitedEuropean position, andapplying coordinatedpressure on both Israeland Hamas to commit toan enduring ceasefire.

Third, it should beworking to ensureEurope engages activelywith John Kerry and theArab League to re-estab-lish a meaningful peaceprocess once an enduringceasefire is achieved.

Ed MilibandLeader of Her Majesty’s OppositionLeader of the Labour party

EXCLUSIVE

Kapil Dudakia

On 29th July Elders cametogether to celebrate the20th anniversary of theDosti Club in MiltonKeynes.

The Club was set up sothat elders from our com-munity could cometogether on a regular basisto extend the hand offriendship, have a goodchat, exchange and debateideas and of course, par-take in a glorious vegetari-an lunch. The lunch bythe way is cooked by theclub members themselves.

Dosti has gone fromstrength to strength. Itnow has in excess of 300members and everyTuesday a good numberturn up to enjoy eachother’ company. The cele-brations were attended bymany from the communi-ty, the wider communityand even guests from fur-ther afield.

The city’ first MuslimMayor, Cllr Subhan

Shafiq was also in atten-dance. Of course being adevout Muslim the Mayorwas observing Ramadan.As they say, God works inmysterious ways.Ramadan concluded onthe night of the 28th leav-ing the good Mayor toenjoy his first officiallunch at the Dosti Club onthe 29th. Now how’s thatfor planning!

Local MP IainStewart, a great supporterof the Dosti Club was alsoin attendance as were a lotof representatives fromvarious departments of

Milton Keynes Counciland voluntary organisa-tions. A special guest hadtravelled all the way toMilton Keynes; it was theSecretary General of theNational Council of HinduTemples Shri SatishSharma. He was over-whelmed with the incredi-ble friendliness of Dostiand the positively welcom-ing atmosphere.

As Milton Keynes

grows and the communitygrows, it is evident thatsuch organisations will berequired increasingly moreto ensure that the needsand requirements of ourcommunity are met cor-rectly. This is now also anational requirement.

Many such clubs existaround the country pro-viding valuable service toour elders but there is inmy view insufficient focuson the full range of needs.For example from afford-able culturally sensitivecare homes and day cen-tres, to how we as a com-munity begin to recognisethat our tried and testedmodel of living and caringfor each other in a familyhome is breaking down.

I commend all thosefamilies who so valiantlyand with all the challengesof modern living, havefound a way of combining

our traditional familylifestyle of caring for ourparents and still staying inthe present. However allfamilies are not so blessedand even with the best willin the world some are notbe able to rise to such highexpectations. In those cir-cumstances it is time weconsidered alternativesthat serve our elders andallow for family bonds tobe maintained and evenstrengthened.

I also commend theDosti Club and all othersuch clubs in the country.We, as a community, oweyou so much for thetremendous service youprovide to each other.Now it is for all us to riseto the challenge that weshall all face sooner orlater. The youth of ourelders is strong when sur-rounded by love and fami-ly warmth.

Youth of our Elders

Greater Manchesterorganised a major 2 daysbusiness summit fromWednesday 6 August. Thesummit hosted delegatesfrom more than 40 Indiancompanies with the objec-tive of building strongerbilateral trade relation-ships between India andManchester.

The event was sup-ported by the UK IndiaBusiness Council(UKIBC), VisitEngland,Federation of Indian

Chambers of Commerceand Industry (FICCI), UKTrade and Investment(UKTI) and theManchester InvestmentDevelopment AgencyService (MIDAS) amongothers.

Patricia Hewitt, Chairof UKIBC said: “I’mdelighted that UKIBC areworking with GreaterManchester, to not onlyhighlight the opportunitiesfor collaboration betweenthe region and India, but

to bring businesses fromboth sides and a range ofsectors together to devel-op key areas of coopera-tion.”

“Greater Manchesteris one of the UK’s mostdynamic and innovativeurban areas, with excep-tional strengths in the lifesciences, education, digi-tal innovation and manu-facturing sectors. Theseare not only key areas ofgrowth and opportunityfor the Indian economy,

Manchester hosts a major business summit toimprove Indo-British relations

but are areas whereIndia holds real expert-ise, and a partnershipwith foundations inthese sectors holdsimmense promise fornot only Manchester,but India as well.”

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201416

ASIAN ACHIEVERSAWARDSThe people’s choice awards

Asian Achievers Awards is organised ever Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar to h

Venue: Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London W1K 7TN

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Rupanjana Dutta

The Labour party along-side the Muslim Friends ofLabour, co-chaired byKhalid Mahmood MP andFaiz-Ul-Rasool hosted anEid-Ul-Fitr reception onthe evening of Thursday31st July at the LondonHilton Park Lane Hotel.The event was attended bymany Asian Councillors,MPs and Peers and the spe-cial guest speakers includ-ed Rt Hon Ed MilibandMP.

While ShabanaMahmood MP did a fantas-tic job as the compere, RtHon Keith Vaz MP light-ened up the atmospherewith his best wishes forEid.

Introduced by DrHumera Rasool, EdMiliband, Leader of HerMajesty’s Oppositionspoke about many issuesincluding the values ofBritish Muslims, their con-tributions to the societyand charity, drawing paral-lels with the values of theLabour party. He said: “Myfriends tell me that this wasa particularly difficult yearfor fasting, with the longand unusually warm sum-mer days. In fact, BritishMuslims had the fourthlongest fast anywhere inthe world this year. I amsure Eid must be all themore enjoyable as a result!

“We have people herefrom lots of different back-grounds. And I love thatwe can come together, lotsof different religions, underone roof, and celebrate Eidtogether with our Muslimfriends. But I know toothat this is a special timefor Muslims to think abouttheir role in the world.�Oneof the British Muslim com-munity’s biggest strengthsis a passion for helpingpeople across the globe.�

“From donating prodi-giously during Ramadan totonight’s donations to thecrucial work of IslamicRelief in Gaza ... Thisimmense generosity tothose who share your faithoverseas is not somethingto be feared. It is some-thing to be celebrated.

“And let’s take amoment to look at the phe-nomenal contributionMuslims make to Britishlife. British Muslims playan essential part in the eco-nomic and cultural life of

this great country. You arean amazingly entrepre-neurial community. Youcontribute an astonishing£31 billion to our economy.

“More than 100,000British Muslims work insenior management posi-tions in Britain - as doc-tors, accountants andlawyers. Here in London,Muslim businesses createmore than 70,000 jobs.

“And there are count-less British Muslims whoare role models in everypart of our cultural life.From Olympic hero MoFarah – what a shame thathe couldn’t run in thisweeks’ CommonwealthGames – to former Englandcricket captain NassarHussein to One-Directionsuperstar Zayn Malik.

“And you are incrediblycharitable community too.British Muslims gave moreto charity here at homethan any other communityin Britain last year.

“British Muslimsenrich our society withyour culture and traditions,and I hugely respect andadmire your contribution.Without it, Britain wouldnot be the country it istoday.

“I know that Islam is areligion which prides itselfon the values of peace,love, charity and prosperityfor all. Everyone in ourcountry should take thetime to truly experienceand understand the contri-bution of British Muslims.And not give a distortedand unfair view of yourcommunity.”

Speaking about theLabour party and its valuesparallel to the Muslim val-ues, Mr Miliband said, “Iam delighted we have arecord number of shadowcabinet ministers fromBME communities, frontbenchers from BME com-

munities. And after thegeneral election, we willhave a record number ofmembers of parliamentfrom BME communitiestoo.

And because we havebeen listening to the

British people,we are developing a pro-gramme that speaks direct-ly to your concerns. It is aprogramme that tacklesissues that affect theMuslim community in thesame way as it affects allother communities. Likethe cost of living crisis, thegrowing gap between thoseat the top and everyoneelse. And the deep prob-lems faced by the next gen-eration, who fear that theywill have a harder life thantheir parents.

And Labour will alsotackle problems of specificconcern to British Muslims

too. Like the fact that thefight against race inequali-ty has stalled in Britainover the last four years.

So many members ofthe Muslim communitywork hard, do well atschool and university andthen find themselves heldback from getting the verybest jobs in the boardroom,judiciary or politics. Wehave to change that.”Sadiq Khan MP,

Shadow Justice Secretaryand Shadow LondonMinister said: “This Eid ulFitr event was historic.Never before has a politicalparty in the UK hosted anEid reception like this, withover one thousand BritishMuslims and friends of allfaiths and none in atten-dance to celebrate. It isgreat to see the LabourParty celebrating all themajor festivals - whether it

be Diwali, Vaisakhi, Eid,Hanukkah orChristmas.�“It was great tosee members of theShadow Cabinet, minis-ters, MPs, MEPs, Leadersof Councils, Parliamentarycandidates, Councillors,Lord Mayors,Ambassadors, LabourParty members, support-ers, trade unions and mem-bers of the wider communi-ty coming together to cele-brate Eid.�

“Ed spoke with passionabout the huge contribu-tion black and asian minor-ity ethnic communitiesmake to Britain whether inpolitics, arts, charity, teach-ing, media, sports andmuch more. This is whatone nation Labour isabout. His statement onthe shocking spiral of vio-lence that continues toengulf Gaza showed he

really understands theissues and challenges fac-ing innocent men, womenand children in the region.

“Although very proudof the record number ofBAME members of theShadow Cabinet and MPs,it was really encouragingfor Ed to announce thenumber of BAME parlia-mentary candidates inwinnable seats whichmeans the number ofBAME MPs is set to go upfor Labour.”

The evening was alsoattended by non Muslimpoliticians such as SeemaMalhotra MP and VirendraSharma MP. The enter-tainment was provided byQuwaat-Ul-Islam Girls’School from Forest Gateentertained and food wascatered by Madhus.Pic courtesy: Mr Rooful Ali/aliway.co.uk

Labour party hosts its first major Eid-Ul-Fitr celebration

Q: Do you think extrem-ism is growing in thiscountry- because ofSyria, and what shouldthe country do to stop it?Vast majority does notwant to see a rise inextremism. I believewhatever your faith is, orbackground is, it is muchstronger what divides us. Q: Is Labour party plan-ning to host a Diwali orVaisakhi after this Eidparty?We do a whole range ofevents, in Parliament,even as Labour party. InParliament and Labourparty Eid, Vaisakhi,Diwali are becoming aregular fixture on our cal-endar. This country isbecoming more and moretolerant and enjoys itsdiversity and celebratesall aspects of it.Q: Under labour govern-ment Immigration- whatwill be your policy onimmigration?We need an immigrationpolicy that has propercontrol. I believe that newcountries coming in to EUneed longer transitionalcontrol. I believe thiscountry needs a properintegration, in the workplace, we prevent people’swages being driven down.The combination of prop-er control, making surewe have integration andshowing proper standard

in work place-is the rightmixture.Q: Are you planning anIndia trip, since you can-celled your last trip forthe UK flood?Yes I am very keen to go ifpossibly can before thenext election.Q: In the next electionswhy should Asians votefor Labour?Fundamentally, becausewe want a greater countrythat works for all and nota few at the top of oursociety. What I see is acountry where people areworking harder for longerfor less money, their liv-ing standards aresqueezed.

People are worriedabout their children andwhat kind of lives theyare going to have. If peo-ple are running a smallbusiness, they find banksaren’t working for them.As a Prime Minister oneshould wake up to the

thought- how to make lifeeasier for all and not justthe wealthiest.

The Conservativesbelieve as long as thewealthiest are ok, wealthwill trickle down to oth-ers. I believed that’s afailed economic theoryfor the country. Whetherits a job for young peopleor building 200,000homes a year, freezingenergy bills or raisingminimum wage or betterchildcare and nurseryprovisions, Labour has anagenda that will definitelymake a concrete differ-ences to people.Q: How will improveopportunity for ethnicminority?We need jobs for youngpersons. Some ethnicminority community hashigher youth unemploy-ment than others. Weneed to deal with that.Small businesses are veryimportant. We need to

fundamentally change ourbanking system, so it real-ly works for small busi-nesses. I am very proudthat Labour is the partythat is not only sayingreform the bank but cutbusiness rates for smallbusinesses.

Across every issue weneed to make sure we alsomeet the equality agenda-economic equality andequality by way of back-ground. And to make thathappen, we need to haveequality in politics- prop-er representation. I amincredibly proud of notonly the representationwe have, but what we willhave after the election.Q: How do we ensureSmall businesses can beencouraged to invest inBritain?I think we should supportforeign investments ofany kinds, using UKTIand other vehicles tomake that happen.

Shabana Mahmood MP

Journalists interviewing Ed Miliband in the presence of Sadiq Khan MP

Face to face with Ed Miliband

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 17

ry year by UK’s leading news weeklies honour British Asian par excellence

Hosted ByPhillippa Tomson

Media Partners Sponsored Charity

www.asianachieversawards.com

For table booking contact us on 020 7749 4085

CWG 2014

With 64 medals including15 gold, 30 silver and 19bronze – India finishedfifth in the 2014Commonwealth Games atGlasgow in Scotland onlast Sunday.Though Indian athletes

couldn’t match its bestperformance ever in thehistory of CommonwealthGames in Delhi four yearsago, the Indian sports per-sons could performnation’s third best. In theDelhi CommonwealthGames in 2010, Indiacrossed 100 medalsincluding 38 gold medals.In the 2002Commonwealth Games,the India got total 69medals at Manchester. Meanwhile, England

took the top spot with 174medals of which 58 weregold. Australia, Canadaand Scotland were on 2nd,3rd and 4th place with 49,32 and 19 gold medals.Overall Australia won

137 medals while Canadawon 82 medals. Though interms of overall medalsIndia surpassed Scotland,but India won less numberof gold medals, hence itslid to fifth position. India won three

medals with ParupalliKashyap clinching a his-toric gold in men's bad-minton singles. JwalaGutta & AshwiniPonnappa settled for silverin the badminton women'sdoubles while the men'shockey team also got silveron the last day of the

sporting event. The curtains came

down on the 2014Commonwealth Gameswith a colourful ceremonythat witnessed somepower packed performanc-es by famous Scottishsinger Lulu, pop bandDeacon Blue, Australiansinger Kylie Minogue andmore than 2,000 perform-ers at the Hampden Park –Scotland's NationalStadium. In the medal tally,

Newzealand missed fifthposition by just one Goldas it got 14 gold medals.African countries includ-ing Kenya, Nigeria andJambia did well inAtheletics events.

India finishes fifth in 2014 Commonwealth Games

P Country Gold Silver Bronze Total1 England 58 59 57 1742 Australia 49 42 46 1373 Canada 32 16 34 824 Scottland 19 15 19 535 India 15 30 19 646 New Zealand 14 14 17 457 South Africa 13 10 17 408 Nigeria 11 11 14 369 Kenya 10 10 5 2510 Jamaica 10 4 8 2211 Singapore 8 5 4 1712 Malaysia 6 7 6 1913 Wales 5 11 20 3614 Cyprus 2 4 2 815 N Ireland 2 3 7 1216 Papua New Guinea 2 0 0 217 Cameroon 1 3 3 718 Uganda 1 0 4 519 Grenada 1 0 1 220 Karibati 1 0 0 1

Medals Tally

England top medalstally after 28 years

1st Squash gold for India

Badminton gold after 32 years Gowda, Yogeshwar & Babita win gold

England triumphed in theCommonwealth Gamesmedals table for the firsttime in 28 years, but therewere final day consola-tions for former topperAustralia with wins inmen's hockey and netball.England started the

day already assured of topspot in the medals tablefor the first time since1986, dethroningAustralia. With just 11more golds to be decidedon a rain-hit final day,Lizzie Armitstead struckfurther gold for England inthe women's cycling roadrace going one better thanfour years ago in NewDehli. Fellow Englishrider Emma Pooley fin-ished 25 seconds behindto finish second and add

to the silver she won in thetime trial. "I can callmyself a champion finally.It's special and somethingI've always dreamedabout," Armitstead said. "Ijust feel like I deserve this.I've trained so hard andI'm always on the podiumbut I don't win too manyraces."Welsh rider Geraint

Thomas then won gold inthe gruelling men's 168kmroad race. Thomas, whowon bronze in the timetrial, survived suffering apuncture with just 6 km togo to finish in a time offour hours 13 minutes andfive seconds. A sprint fin-ish saw New Zealand'sJack Bauer claim silverwhile Scott Thwaites tookbronze for England.

Dipika Pallikal and JoshnaChinappa have made notonly their country proudbut also gave a great signif-icant to their sport –squash, with their magnifi-cent win in the women’sdoubles gold medal matchat the CommonwealthGames 2014. Never beforeIndia has won a medal for-get gold in the squash andhas been dominated by theWestern Counterparts. Butthese beautiful lookingplayers from India not only

tamed their opponentsfrom England, the top seedsJenny Duncalf and LauraMassaro from England butdid it in style. The fifthseeds at the 20thCommonwealth Games,Dipika Pallikal and JoshnaChinappa had a great runhere at Glasgow. It is thesheer hard-work and dedi-cation from the Indian duoto finish on top of the podi-um after they came 5th inthe Delhi 2010Commonwealth Games.

Parupalli Kashyap etchedhis name firmly in the his-tory books by becomingthe first Indian male shut-tler in 32 years to win agold medal in theCommonwealth Games,but women's doubles pairof Jwala Gutta andAshwini Ponnappa had tosettle for silver inGlasgow.A bronze-medallist at

the Delhi Games, Kashyaprose to the occasion andplayed a sensational gameof nerves to eke out abreathtaking 21-14, 11-21,21-19 triumph againstDerek Wong of Singaporein the final showdownwhich lasted for over anhour. The 27-year-old from

Hyderabad thus joinedbadminton legend

Prakash Padukone andthe late Syed Modi, whohad won the title in thepast. While Padukone hadwon the men's singles goldmedal at the 1978Commonwealth Games inCanada, Modi retained itfour years later.

Yogeshwar an Olympicmedallist himself raced togold against Canada'sJevon Balfour in his newweight category, 65kg. Thebout lasted less than twominutes and it reaffirmedIndia's domination in thewrestling arena at theCWG where two goldmedals, one silver and abronze came its way.India's discuss thrower

Vikas Gowda threw63.64m in his thirdattempt which wasenough to give him thegold medal in Men'sDiscus Throw event at theCommonwealth Games.Four years back, at theDelhi CWG, Gowda hadmanaged a silver medal.As Yogeshwar leapt

over the audience barriers

and rushed up the aisle tohug his long-time trainingpartner Sushil, heremarked on the contro-versy over the selection ofsome wrestlers picked bythe Wrestling Federationof India (WFI) without aselection trial. India finished the

wrestling event with 13medals including five gold

medals, six silver and twobronze, second toCanada's haul of 6 gold.Though India bettered theDelhi Games haul of 12medals, Indian wrestlershad won a gold more in2010. Earlier, continuingin the now impressivePhogat Family Girls tradi-tion, Babita Rani won thefirst gold of the day in the

women's 55kg category.Babita, who had won sil-ver in Delhi 2010 in 51kg,was contesting in her sis-ter Geeta's event here.Last edition's winnerGeeta could not make it tothe Games due to injury.Babita did not disappointanyone by coming up witha clinical performance towin her final againstBrittanee Laverduire ofCanada. Showing herexperience, Babita was inno hurry to finish thingsoff quickly as she grappledpatiently to accumulatepoints.The 24-year-old was

placed comfortablythroughout her bout andsuccessfully warded off alate challenge from her 32-year-old rival.

The Reserve Bank of Indiakept its key policy repo rateunchanged as widelyexpected, but warnedabout inflationary risksshould a shortfall in mon-soon rains spark a surge infood prices. The RBI alsoannounced measures tofree up resources for banksto lend, a priority for PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sgovernment as it seeks toencourage investment inorder to put momentumback in sluggish economicgrowth. The RBI loweredbanks' minimum bondholding requirements,known as the statutory liq-uidity ratio (SLR), by halfa percentage point to 22percent to free up moremoney for lending, effec-tive from Aug. 9. The RBIalso cut the ceiling on debt

that must be held-to-matu-rity (HTM) by half a per-centage point to 24 percent. "With some continu-ing uncertainty about thepath of the monsoon, itwould be premature toconclude that future foodinflation, and its spill-overto broader inflation, can bediscounted," the RBI saidin a statement. The RBIkept the repo rateunchanged at 8 per cent asexpected. The repo ratehas been unchanged sinceJanuary, when the RBIincreased it by a quarterpercentage point. Foodprice inflation remains oneof the biggest risks forIndia, despite governmentmeasures to curb hoardingof food articles and settinglimits on the export ofonions and potatoes.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201418

No immunity scheme to bring backblack money: Jaitley

India’s finance ministerArun Jaitley ruled outintroducing an immunityscheme to unearth blackmoney, saying it discrimi-nates against the honesttaxpayers.In a debate on the

Finance Bill, 2014, in theRajya Sabha, Jaitley alsosaid the monsoon situa-tion was not as bad as afortnight or a month ago,but the government hasback-up plans for theareas affected by thescanty rain.He said the previous

United ProgressiveAlliance (UPA) govern-

ment had specified thatthe General Anti-Avoidance Agreement(GAAR) would be imple-mented from the next

financial year, while thepresent government wasyet to take a call on itsintroduction. Replying to adebate on the Bill, minis-ter of state for financeNirmala Sitharaman said,"I would like to put onrecord that experienceshows that when youbring in voluntary disclo-sure of income schemes(VDIS), it discriminatesagainst genuine taxpay-ers." Those who do pay taxare disincentivised, shesaid. "... it goes againsthonest taxpayers and itmay even be discriminato-ry. So, it (VDIS) may not

be a very conducive pathfor recovering more taxes,"Sitharaman said.The government had

introduced VDIS in 1997when the United Frontwas in power. Those whoopted for VDIS weregranted immunity fromprosecution under theForeign ExchangeRegulation Act, theIncome Tax Act, theWealth Tax Act and theCompanies Act. However,a later report by theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) slammedthe scheme for variousirregularities.

The UK Trade andInvestment (UKTI), adepartment of the Britishgovernment which facili-tates overseas investmentsin England, has expressedinterest in helping entre-preneurs from the north-east set up businesses inthe country.At an interactive ses-

sion with local entrepre-neurs, the UKTI, in associ-ation with the Federationof Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI), showcased theUK as an investment des-

tination for small andmedium-scale entrepre-neurs from the northeast.UKTI representatives saidthe country has a strongcommunity of Indian-ori-gin citizens and can beconducive for entrepre-neurs from India.Trade and investment

adviser at the Britishdeputy high commissionin Kolkata SandipChaudhuri said the coun-try is interested instrengthening businessties with India. "Indianentrepreneurs are wel-

come and will be support-ed extensively. The UK isthe number one businessdestination in Europe.Once an Indian entrepre-neur starts business in theUK, the entire Europeanmarket becomes accessi-ble. In fact, there is anopportunity for exposureto the global market,"Chaudhuri said.The interaction was

held as part of a roadshoworganized by the UKTI indifferent parts of the coun-try. Entrepreneurs fromthe northeast enquired

about the scope availablein England.Navinder Pal Singh

Kalsi, a consultant inBritain, explained theavenues that entrepre-neurs from the region canexplore in England. Kalsialso spoke at length aboutthe visa facilities availableto entrepreneurs fromIndia who wish to investin the UK. "There is a mis-conception that getting avisa is very difficult. Thisis not true. It you qualify,the journey is straightfor-ward," Kalsi said.

RBI keeps repo rateunchanged

The Gujarat model ofgrowth got an endorse-ment World Bank presi-dent Jim Yong Kim. "If theranking of India in (theease of) doing businessreport was based just onGujarat, it would improve50 places in the doingbusiness ranking. So, ourhope is that what PM(Narendra) Modi did inGujarat to improve thebusiness environment canbe scaled up to all overIndia. And, if that doeshappen, India will risevery quickly in ranking ofdoing business reports,"the World Bank boss said.The statement by the chiefof the multilateral body isthe latest certificate forGujarat, which claims tohave eased procedures forcompanies as well as indi-viduals. Modi, who wasthe state chief minister for12 years, is widely credit-ed with making Gujaratan investment hub. Evensince moving to thenational capital, Modi hasasked ministries to makelife simpler for citizensand countries through aseries of steps, includingreducing the size of theforms and identifyingarchaic laws that can berepealed.

World Bankchief praisesGujarat model

UK trade body woos northeast entrepreneurs

Indian engineers SachinBansal and Binny Bansalwho quit their jobs atAmazon.com in 2007 tostart Flipkart has raised$1bn to expand in India’srapidly growing e-com-merce market. The dealwas the largest single fund-ing raised by an Indianinternet company andFlipkart becomes India’slargest e-retailer at about$7bn. This investmenthelps us to think reallylong term, Sachin Bansalsaid. Shopping over inter-net is rapidly gaining popu-larity with India’s consum-ing class as an alternativeto retail sector still domi-nated by tiny mom-and-pop shops with limited,and erratic, stock. Indiansare only expected to buyabout $2.3bn worth ofgoods over the internet thisyear, but the skyrocketinguse of internet enabled bysmart phones is expectedto propel online retail salesto more than $30bn withinthe next five years. The Flipkart founders,

who were both raised inChandigarh and graduatedin 2004 from the presti-gious Indian Institute ofTechnology, are countingon their first-mover advan-tage, and homegrownappeal, to help themweather intensifying com-petition from their initial

inspiration, Amazon.“Being a local player,

we are definitely more con-nected to the ground reali-ty in the country,” saysSachin Bansal.“Commerce is a very localactivity, driven by localconditions and culture. Webelieve being local is anadvantage.” Universityacquaintances who becameclose after they both relo-cated to Bangalore to starttheir working lives, theBansals drew the initialinspiration for their busi-ness from the success oftravel-oriented ecommercewebsites, likeMakeMyTrip. “We startedseeing this huge boom ofonline travel, likeMakeMyTrip.com,” saysSachin Bansal. With Rs400,000 in combined sav-ings, the friends thoughtthey could launch the busi-ness. But they burntthrough their cash far

faster than expected, forc-ing each to turn to theirrespective parents for helpjust for their daily needs.“I had told my parents

we had enough money fortwo years, and we wouldtry for two years then seewhat happens,” SachinBansal recalls. “But we ranout of money after sixmonths. Then I was on amonthly allowance frommy parents.” After a fewmonths, Flipkart hadenough revenues to allowits co-founders to drawsmall salaries and, in early2009, they raised their firstequity investment fromAccel Partners.Today, their biggest

challenge will be how todeploy their enhanced warchest to compete mosteffectively with Amazon,which has been investingaggressively in India sincelaunching its own site ayear ago.

Flipkart founders raise $1bn

Arun Jaitley

When many divisions ofIndian conglomerate TataGroup were performingpoorly, some observerscompared Tata Group’snew chairman Cyrus Mistryunfavourably with his ven-erated predecessor, RatanTata, who caught globalattention with aggressive

foreign acquisitions. Others worried privately that thisdown-to-earth businessman was not cut out for corpo-rate India’s biggest job.

His recent presentation was the start of Mistry’sriposte. He laid out his “Vision 2025” for a new phaseof Tata’s growth, as well as existing areas such as steel-making, it would develop four new business “clusters”– retail, infrastructure, finance and defence – as part ofa $35bn three-year investment plan.

Tata was already more global than either Google orFord, Mistry argued, but within a decade it could win aplace among the world’s 25 largest businesses. Thosewatching seemed impressed. “He doesn’t like talking tobig audiences but he didn’t seem nervous,” says onewho attended. “I think he’d practised a lot. It wentdown well.” Born into Mumbai’s close-knit Parsi commu-nity, 46-year-old Cyrus Mistry is the second son ofPallonji Mistry, a property tycoon, and his Irish wife,Patsy. Having studied engineering in London, Mistry,who like his parents holds an Irish passport, returned toIndia, working for his father’s construction group.

Pallonji Mistry has an 18 per cent stake in Tata’sholding company, the source of much of his $18bn for-tune and status as Ireland’s richest man, prompting hisson to take up board positions at various Tata groupcompanies. Still, Mistry’s appointment as chairman, thefirst non-Tata family member to head the company inits 146-year history, caught India by surprise.

He took over at a difficult time. Tata’s deal makingleft high hopes but also unsolved headaches, includinghuge losses at Tata Steel’s European division, the lega-cy of its $13bn purchase in 2008 of Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus. India’s economy was in the doldrums,too, hitting Tata’s domestic car making and telecomsoperations. More than anything, Mistry had to grapplewith the intense expectations attached to Tata leader-ship: its high ethical reputation stands out in India,where business is often tainted by corruption. Thosewho know him say he was daunted by the scale of hisinheritance.

In person, Mistry is affable and informal, with thinwire glasses that contrast with his bulky frame.Colleagues describe a diligent and meticulous leaderwho combines an ability to soak up complex financialinformation with an engineer’s enthusiasm for technol-ogy. Flashes of his dry sense of humour emerged dur-ing his presentation, when discussing the mixed for-tunes of Tata’s existing retail operations. “He talkedabout 75m people coming into Tata-branded shops lastyear,” recalls one attendee. “Then he smiled, saying:‘Next year, let’s hope more of them actually buy some-thing’.”

Cyrus Mistry rolls out‘Vision 2025’ for Tata Group

REAL ESTATE VOICEwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 19

Suresh VagjianiSow & Reap

A Property InvestmentCompany

Our focus has been trading in properties which gives quick returnsin short spaces of time. One example is a property we traded inMarch 2012 where we exchanged or £1.1m and resold 3 days laterfor £1.3m; hence made £200k from an investment of £110k.Needless to say this was a good return, however currently thevalue of this property is in the region of £2.25m.

Though the return at the time over the space of a few days wasimpressive perhaps in hindsight we were celebrating over merecrumbs and we let the cake get away. However hindsight is a won-derful thing. In all fairness the market has increased beyond allexpectations over this period when many were calling the top in2012 the market carried on rising to unprecedented levels.

The amount of money used is a little deceptive as it was alwayssitting in the account, £550k which equates to half of the purchasemonies.

Therefore the question to ask is would it have made sense toleave the money in a property and enjoyed the natural rise of theproperty? Of course the answer looking backwards seems to beyes. The block of 5 flats has risen over £1m in less than two years.This equates to a rise of almost £10k per week. A good wage byany means.

We’re in the middle of one at the moment where we have pur-chased a freehold house in Victoria for £1.85m and are looking toexchange shortly for £2m. Therefore from £255k we will be lookingto make £200k within a couple of months.

Furthermore trades are easier to do when the market is sup-porting you i.e. meaning its rising; investors are falling over them-selves to get stock, many even buy with the anticipation of a futureprice rise, they don’t even need a discount to the present value.Also you don’t even have to be that smart in getting deals, justorganise a long completion date and the price will increase natu-rally!

The market currently is not rising in the exponential manner itwas say six months ago, it is not a weak market by any means,however there is more hesitation before offers are put in andexchanges are done, the market is pausing for breath.

In contrast to this last year we had purchased a deal in KilburnHigh Rd for £2.675m, the idea initially was as always to purchaseand resell; a hit and run strategy. However in this situation thedeal itself flowered in an unexpected way. A very kind housingassociation offered us over £500k free of cost to develop the prop-erty and in return give it back to them for a ten year period to rent.The property in total has been rented for £260k per annum and hasbeen valued by Savills at £4.765m. This allows us to refinance andpull out the initial investor money and stay in the deal, and it willstill be producing income every month. Furthermore there isanother £1m to be gained from this lump of property throughenhanced planning; we believe you can get six more studios on topof this property.

Hit & Run Or Stay Put?

The f l ip s ide is how many deals cou ld we do by having £550k s i t t ing in thebank ready for more trades , pe rhaps we would have pu l led a f ew of f over thi spe r iod . In t ru th they don ’ t come a l l the t ime , that’ s the bo ttom l ine . And af te ra l l i sn’ t a bird in hand be t te r than two in the bush?

Thi s prope rty has r isen £2m with in one year, equat ingto a r ise o f £20k pe r week . A handsome re turn fo r thoseinvesto rs who had put £1 .4m in to the deal and they wi l ls t i l l ge t income p lus hopeful ly fu ture upli f t , bo th thenatural upli f t and th rough the enhanced p lanning wepropose to do . In tru th when I f i r s t saw the bui ld ing Ithought i t was a dump, the rooms were pokey and small ,they cou ldn ’ t be sold o ff ind ividuall y as they wouldhave been too small to quali fy fo r a mor tgage . We actu -a l l y were not the bes t bidders , the deal d ropped in ourlaps a f te r the head bidde r kept d ragg ing the ir f ee t . Wepurchased at £299 per s q. f t . , which rea l ly i s a nobrainer in an area at t rac t ing – a t the t ime - £650 per sq .f t .

So it begs the question, is our method wrong in focussing on ahit and run strategy? Clearly from the above two scenarios it seemsto at least be called into question. In many ways a hit and run typemethod goes against the natural grain of property which is to risepassively.

On the other side is that these examples are being looked atwith the benefit of hindsight. If the market were to have dipped wewould have been justified in our approach.

On the deal I mentioned at the beginning of the article we per-haps would have needed to do a trade deal five times in order tomatch the same level of return as the amount the property hasrisen by itself. With all the work and hassle which goes with doingthese speedy transactions.

There are of course benefits of doing this, one is in terms ofwork to the property - it is non-existent, the property is bought andsold without it even being cleaned. The exposure to the market islimited therefore and downturns will have minimal effect.

The fund we wil l be launch ing fo r £40m wil l be f ocus -ing par t in t rading and par t in ho ld ing on to s tock anddeve loping . The t rading wil l ensure a s trong cash re turnfo r our investors and enab le us to return a targe t ed d iv -idends of 7 -9%. Whi ls t the purchasing and hold ing wi l lensure the under l y ing values wi l l be kept s trong andgrounded .

Given the relative slowing down of the market it seems as if therest of this year and the coming year will yield some good opportu-nities in the areas where the deals are more complicated andrequire development, as most buyers will be nervous of enteringinto these types of transactions, due to perceived future uncertain-ty. Therefore this is the time to enter, but remember to do yournumbers correctly and there’s no need to rush, deals will start toflow hence forward. Those who purchased in 2009 have made themost in terms of rise in property values.

West Hampstead, London, NW6Purchase Price: £1.3m

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l Often people get carried away with termslike Below Market Value; remember this is notthe main consideration, the potential for futuregrowth needs to be there. A property may becheap but that doesn’t mean it will increase invalue in the future.

l Property prices in good locations tend to behigh, but these are the areas where you getthe maximum capital appreciation. So it’sbetter to save or club together to ensure youpurchase a diamond.Follow us online:

The CBI arrested six peo-ple, including chairmanand managing director ofSyndicate Bank SudhirKumar Jain, for allegedlytaking bribe of Rs5000,000 for increasingcredit limit of some com-panies in violation ofbanking rules.

After keeping a watchon the activities of Jain forlast six months on thedirective of CBI directorRanjit Sinha, CBI sleuthsfinally swooped on his rel-ative and a MadhyaPradesh-based charteredaccountant and arrestedthem while allegedlyreceiving cash from repre-sentatives of companieswhich have been involvedin coal scam.

The CBI has filed twocases against Jain accus-

ing him of receiving thebribe through conduitsand abusing his officialposition to enhance thecredit limits of some com-panies in violation of laiddown procedures, officialsources said.

Sinha, who has been atthe forefront of fightingcorruption at high places,has been personally moni-

toring the case and thesearches that were beingconducted by its sleuths at20 places in Delhi,Mumbai, Bangalore andBhopal. "We are deter-mined to fight corruptionat high levels and today'scase was one such exam-ple," Sinha said.

In this case, CBIalleged that the conduitwas the brother-in-law ofthe CMD and the deal wasstruck by the charteredaccountant who has start-ed his own firm of provid-ing loans to big corporatehouses.

CBI claimed to haverecovered cash to the tuneof Rs 2100,000 from Jain'sresidence besides goldworth Rs 168 million andfixed deposits up to Rs6300,000.

CBI arrests Syndicate BankCMD in graft case

The government of Indiahas set the ball rolling onmerger of public sectorbanks, asking IDBI Bankand United Bank of Indiato prepare a consolidationplan. This is, however,expected to be precededby State Bank of Indiataking its subsidiary StateBank of Patiala into itsfold.

While the finance min-istry and state-run banksare looking at other merg-er options, work on thesetwo proposals has alreadystarted, top-level govern-ment sources said. Thereare 27 state-run banks inthe country, including fiveSBI subsidiaries. The gov-ernment is keen to bolsterthe weaker entities but hasasked banks to prepare ablueprint keeping in mindhuman resource issues,

geographical spread andtechnology platforms.While the match-makingexercise is so far confinedto only four banks,sources said the widerconsolidation plan wouldfocus on regional syner-gies. For instance, DenaBank may be allowed tomerge with PunjabNational Bank, whileOriental Bank ofCommerce may be headedfor integration with Bankof India. Although theproposals are only at pre-liminary discussion stage,Bank of Baroda, CanaraBank and Union Bank ofIndia have been identifiedas potential acquirers forthe weaker entities. Forinstance, United Bank ofIndia was once again hitby loan defaults, whichtook a toll on its financial

health. Similarly, DenaBank and the other twoKolkata-based lenders -Allahabad Bank and UcoBank - are seen in need fora helping hand. The gov-ernment is, however, keento avoid a merger of SouthIndia-based public sectorbanks given the strongcommunity sentiment. Asa result, sources said thatUnited Bank of India'smerger with IDBI Bankmade perfect sense. IDBIhas a weak presence in theeastern part of the countrywhere UBI has a strongbranch network. Besides,IDBI Bank is seen to havea weak retail network,which can be strengthenedby the Kolkata-headquar-tered lender. In addition,both the banks use com-mon software which willmake the merger easier.

Indian govt asks IDBI Bank,UBI to plan merger

India's factory activityexpanded at its fastestpace in 17 months in Julyas firms responded to bur-geoning new orders byincreasing output even asinput prices jumpedsharply, a business surveyshowed. The HSBCM a n u f a c t u r i n gPurchasing Managers'Index (PMI), compiled byMarkit, rose to 53 in Julyfrom 51.5 in June, its high-est since February 2013. Areading above 50 sepa-rates growth from contrac-tion. While the PMI hassignalled an expandingmanufacturing sector fornine months, a surge innew orders in July helpeddrive the solid improve-

ment in business condi-tions. The new orders sub-index soared to 55.9, itshighest since February lastyear. That was the biggestmonthly jump in themeasure in eight months.

"A flood of new ordersfrom both domestic andexternal sources has led toa surge in activity," saidFrederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economicresearch at HSBC."Details within the surveyshow that all monitoredcategories witnessed a risein output and orderflows."

However, the strongreading was tempered by asharp increase in the costof raw materials.

India’s manufacturing sectorposts fastest growth

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201420

Indian expat communityin Britain are losing near-ly £132m every year in“hidden and unfair” bankfees when they sendmoney home.TransferWise, an onlinemoney transfer site builtby the people behindSkype and PayPal, haswarned that thousands ofIndian expats are “need-lessly” losing money in“hidden” bank fees whenthey send money back tofriends and relatives.

It based its calcula-tions on an analysis ofWorld Bank research intoover £300bn of remit-tance money sent homeby migrants living in theUK. Every year, nearly£3.76bn is sent from theUK to India by migrants.When combined with theaverage charged by banksand traditional moneyremitters, it is estimatedthat Indian expats arelosing over £132m eachyear.

Banks and traditionalmoney remitters oftentake as much as 4 percent of the money sentabroad to India by expatsliving in the UK - evenwhen they claim they arecharging ‘no fees’. Theydo this by using an“unfair” exchange rate,TransferWise warned.TransferWise is revolu-tionising the way con-sumers and businessesexchange currencies. Itdirectly matches con-sumers in different coun-tries who want the oppo-site currency, bypassingbanks’ outmoded interna-tional payments systems.

Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of TransferWise,said: “We want to putmillions back in the pock-ets of Indian expats.People are unwittinglylosing millions every yearin unfair and hidden bankfees that they’re oftencompletely unaware of.We’re helping expats toallow their friends andfamily back home keepmore of the money they

send to them by switch-ing to our transparentand fair service.”

TransferWise chargesjust 0.5 per cent to sendmoney from Britain toIndia. It presents all itscosts transparently beforeusers make a transfer.The service also givescustomers access to thereal mid-market exchangerate - the rate publishedin newspapers, not oneinvented by banks.TransferWise, which wasestablished in 2010, istransferring millions ofpounds every day for con-sumers and small busi-nesses. The London-based company countsPeter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, andRichard Branson amongits backers.

Customers havealready moved more than£1bn using the platform -an approach that has putover £45m back in theirpockets. TransferWise’scampaign against hiddenbank fees has been sup-ported through a partner-ship with Oxfam. The ini-tiative with the charityallowed customers send-ing money to India viaTransferWise to donatesome of the money theywould have lost in bankfees to Oxfam, thus help-ing to support the chari-ty’s vital work in SouthAsia. Case study:Kaushal Maru is an ITconsultant who lives inLondon. He started usingTransferWise to sendmoney home to his mumthis Diwali. He said: “It’sso refreshing to use aservice that’s easy to useand transparent about itscosts. I used to use mybank and found it veryconfusing and a completenightmare - the chargeswere unclear, it took agesand it delivered a terribleservice. TransferWise istwice as fast and onlycharges me 0.5 per cent.What better way to cele-brate the festival oflight!”

Indians in Britain losing£132m every year inhidden bank fees

India stands firm, WTO fails toreach deal on customs rules

The World TradeOrganization failed toreach a deal to standardisecustoms rules, whichwould have been the firstglobal trade reform in twodecades but was blockedby India's demands forconcessions on agricultur-al stockpiling.

"We have not been ableto find a solution thatwould allow us to bridgethat gap," WTO director-general Roberto Azevedotold trade diplomats inGeneva the final day for adeal.

The deadline passedwithout a breakthrough.WTO ministers hadalready agreed the globalreform of customs proce-dures known as "tradefacilitation" lastDecember, but it neededto be put into the WTOrule book by July 31. Mostdiplomats saw that as rub-ber-stamping a uniquesuccess in the WTO's 19year history, which

according to some esti-mates would add $1 tril-lion and 21 million jobs tothe world economy, sothey were shocked whenIndia unveiled its veto.

Trade experts say thefailure to reach agreementis likely to end the era oftrying to cobble togetherglobal trade agreementsand to accelerate effortsby smaller groups of like-minded nations to liber-alise trade among them-selves. India has beenvocal in opposing suchmoves, making its veto

even more surprising.Deal can be signed if

its concerns addressed:India

Meanwhile, India saidthat it was willing to signthe deal, which it has tor-pedoed, if other WTOmembers could agree toits parallel demand forconcessions on stockpil-ing food, senior officials inNew Delhi.

It was not immediatelyclear if the latest com-ments by Indian officialswould open a window forthe deal to be resurrected.In Geneva, a trade diplo-mat from a developingnation said: "The trustthat countries have inwhat India says is going tobe significantly dimin-ished." The officials inNew Delhi said the dealcould be signed as early asSeptember.

"It is ridiculous to saythe Bali deal is dead," saida senior official at thetrade ministry. "We are

totally committed to theTFA, and only asking foran agreement on foodsecurity," said the official.Another trade officialsaid: "We expect that the(WTO) director generalwill call a meeting inSeptember and we areready to sign the deal inSeptember itself, providedTFA and food securityissues are passed together.We are quite hopeful forthe deal."

US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry, who was on avisit to India, told PrimeMinister Narendra Modithat India's refusal to signthe trade deal had under-mined the country'simage. "Failure to sign theTrade FacilitationAgreement sent a confus-ing signal and underminedthe very image PrimeMinister Modi is trying tosend about India," a USState Department officialtold reporters after Kerry'smeeting with Modi.

BUSINESS

India's sovereign credit rat-ing is expected to remainstable over the next 12-month period, brokeragefirm Morgan Stanley saidin its research report.“Decisive and timelyaction by the governmentto reduce the fiscal deficitthrough lower expendi-ture, moderate rural wagegrowth in line with pro-ductivity, and reducedenergy subsidies would beneeded to trigger anupgrade," Morgan Stanleysaid.India's sovereign iscurrently rated BBB- by allrating agencies; only S&Phas India on a negativeoutlook. While the ratingagencies do not detail spe-cific triggers for a down-grade, S&P is looking forstronger growth, fiscalaccount consolidation andlower inflation to revisethe outlook to stable.While India scores well forvariables, such as GDPgrowth and FXreserves/GDP on MorganStanley forecast, it needsto show considerableimprovement in inflation,fiscal balance and currentaccount deficit to poten-tially be upgraded. MorganStanley economics teamexpects India's inflationrate to be reduced to 6.5per cent over the next 12months. While this is animprovement from the cur-rent level, it still comparesunfavourably with theaverage BBB-rated EMsovereign (4.8 per cent),and average EM sovereignrated A and above (2.6 percent). Similarly, India's fis-cal balance expectation (-6.4 per cent of GDP) com-pares unfavourably withEM sovereigns rated BBB(-1.9 per cent of GDP) andA (-2.1 per cent of GDP).

India's ratingto remain

stable: MorganStanley

Roberto Azevedo

Sudhir Kumar Jain

CURRENCY VOICEwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 21

Foreign Exchange

The UK manufacturing sectorstarted the third quarter on afirm footing. Production andnew orders both continued torise at robust, above long-runaverage rates in July, encourag-ing further job creation.However, the pace of expansionat manufacturers cooled fromthe stellar growth spurt seenduring the first half of the year.At 55.4 in July, down from 57.2in June, the headline seasonallyadjusted Purchasing Manager’sIndex posted its lowest readingin one year, but nonethelessremained well above the surveyaverage of 51.5. The PMI hasnow signalled an improvementin operating conditions through-out the past 17 months.British mortgage approvals

rose for the first time in fivemonths in June, suggestinglenders were getting back intotheir stride after the introduc-tion of more stringent tests forborrowers earlier this year. TheBank of England said mortgageapprovals jumped 8 percentfrom May to 67,196 last month;analysts had forecast a smallerrise in approvals to 62,600.Monthly mortgage approvals

are still short of the 90,000 levelseen before the 2008 financialcrisis, and below a recent peakof just over 76,000 in January.

As well as the introduction inApril of tougher checks onwhether borrowers can affordtheir mortgages, the BoE lastmonth announced measures toprevent a build-up of risky homeloans.The Euro traded within a

narrow range despite news ofinflation slowing in July to itslowest rate since 2009. Thenews disappointed the marketsas the European central bank(ECB) has unleashed anunprecedented round of easingmeasures in an attempt to rekin-dle price growth and help the 18-country bloc’s battered econo-my. For the past 10 months the

inflation rate has been weakerthan 1 percent, less than half theECB’s goal, while joblessnesshas remained stubbornly near anall-time high for months, panti-ng a worrying picture for theECB.The news of EU sanctions

freezing out Russian banks dom-inated the headlines, concerninganalysts about the potentialeffects to the city. The restric-tions placed on the banks are thestrictest yet to come from theEU, and aim to lock the institu-tions out of the bloc’s capitalmarkets – of which London hasthe largest and most developed.

The sanctions say that sales ofdual-use goods and technology –which could be used for militaryuse in Russia – are now prohibit-ed. However, the statement addsthat this will apply only to con-tracts made from today, exclud-ing France’s sale of two Mistralwarships that it is selling to theRussian government.Spain has progressed anoth-

er step away from the eurozonecrisis, by releasing its strongestgrowth since the crisis began.Spanish GDP increased by 0.6%in the second quarter of 2014which is better than the 0.5%expected, and means growthincreased from the 0.4% growthin January-March. With thissaid, Spain is also being hit bythe deflationary strains in theeurozone. New inflation figures,released yesterday show that theconsumer prices index fell by0.3% annually in July.In Germany inflation hits a

new four-year low. Inflationdropped this month to 0.8%, thelowest it has been sinceFebruary 2010. The drop is like-ly to create uncertainties ofdeflation in the 18-membereurozone, where inflation fell to0.5% in June.Employers in the U.S. added

more than 200,000 jobs for asixth straight month in July, the

longest such period since 1997and a sign of growing optimismabout the economic outlook.The 209,000 advance followed a298,000 gain in June that wasstronger than previously report-ed. The median of economistscalled for a 230,000 increase.

The jobless rate climbed to 6.2percent from 6.1 percent in June asmore people entered the labourforce. Wages and hours wereunchanged from June.

Manufacturing expanded inJuly at the fastest pace in morethan three years, showing factorieswill help power the economy aftera second-quarter rebound, otherdata showed today. The Institutefor Supply Management’s indexincreased to 57.1, the highest sinceApril 2011, from 55.3 a month ear-lier. Readings above 50 indicategrowth.

US consumer confidencejumped to best level since 2007and despite the growing geopo-litical tensions, US consumersappear in confident mood.Consumer confidence jumped to90.9 in July, up from a revised86.4 the previous monthand better than the 85.3 expect-ed by economists. This con-sumer confidence figure is thehighest monthly level sinceOctober 2007, before the finan-cial crisis struck.

EU sanctions freezing out Russian banks

Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

GBP - INR = 102.78

USD - INR = 60.95

EUR - INR = 81.53

GBP - USD = 1.69

GBP - EUR = 1.26

EUR - USD = 1.34

GBP - AED = 6.19

GBP - CAD = 1.85

GBP - NZD = 1.99

GBP - AUD = 1.81

GBP - ZAR = 18.10

GBP - HUF = 398.08

www.rationalfx.comInformation provided by RationalFX.None of the information on this pageconstitutes, nor should be construedas financial advice. The exchangerates used are the commercial foreignexchange rates provided byRationalFX. For a live quote or to findout more about how RationalFX canhelp you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

Weekly Currencies

As of Tuesday 5th August 2014 @ 3pm

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201422 LONDON - SRI LANKA

Colombo: Sri Lankanpresident MahindaRajapaksa did not attendthe Commonwealth FirstWorld War commemora-tion service in Glasgowlast week. His regime hasbeen accused of killing upto 40,000 Tamils in 2009as Sri Lanka’s 26-yearcivil war reached itsbloody climax. There wasconcern that his presencecould overshadow theservice, whichCommonwealth leadersand senior British politi-cians attended.While Rajapaksa, the

Commonwealth chairman-in-office, until next year,stayed away, Sri Lankawas represented at StMungo’s Cathedral by thecountry’s UK high com-missioner. David Cameronhas described claims ofwar crimes and violationsof human rights as “chill-ing” and called for inter-national investigation into“this very long, appallingcivil war”. Rajapaksa’s

government has refused torecognise an inquiryestablished in March bythe UN Human RightsCouncil.Fred Carver, campaign

director for the Sri LankaCampaign For Peace AndJustice, welcomed thenews that Rajapaksawould not be at the serv-ice, saying that he was anembarrassment for theCommonwealth.“It is not enough for

those responsible for warcrimes merely to beshunned on the interna-tional stage,” Carver said.“The British governmentneeds to work to bringthem and their henchmento justice.” LastNovember, the govern-ments of India, Canadaand Mauritius refused toattend the Commonwealthsummit in Colombo, inprotest at Sri Lanka’shuman rights record. The

Department ofCulture Media andSport, which is co-ordinating the serv-ice with GlasgowCity Council, saidthat Rajapaksa wasinvited but wouldnot attend. In a let-ter to Sajid Javid,the culture secre-tary, the SriLankan govern-ment stressed thatthe decision to skipt h eCommonwea l t hevent had been

taken because of Britain’sfailure to rein in Tamil pro-testers.Last week, hundreds of

activists waving placardsdeclaring “Sri Lanka is ashame to theCommonwealth” gatheredoutside Celtic Park beforethe CommonwealthGames opening ceremony.Services of remembrancewill be held in London andGlasgow on Monday, aswell as in Belgium.

Lankan President skips warmemorial service in Glasgow

It is with much sorrowthat we join in the trib-utes to the family of Drand Mrs Vali Jamal on thepassing away of theirdaughter Mina Farah inVancouver, Canada, lastweek. Tributes by emailincluded John Nagenda,Uganda PresidentMuseveni’s Senior MediaAdviser; Shamsh Lakha,erstwhile Vice-Chancellorof Aga Khan University;Mr Mahmood Ahmed,Aga Khan’s representa-tive in Uganda; and MrNitin Jayant Madhvani,Mr Abid Alam, Dr SudhirRuparelia, Mr NaruThakkar, Mr KetanMorjaria, Mr VinodVadera, the family of thelegendary Dr MukhtarAhmad and eminentUganda Asian academicsProfessor Dharam Ghaiand Professor YashTandon. The funeral atIsmailia jamatkhana atBurnaby Lake wasattended by Senator forBritish Columbia MobinaJaffer; Honorary Consulfor Uganda in BC MrJohn Halani; CanadaIsmaili leaders Mr SalimAhmed and FaroukVerjee, scores of BC soci-ety friends of Mrs Jamal,and the team of Farah’scare-givers.Farah was born at

Stanford, California, onOctober 12, 1971, whereVali was pursuing hisdoctoral studies, preced-ed by beloved brotherArafat (Anu to her) in1970. Farah was bornwith cerebral palsy onaccount of oxygen-depri-vation at birth which ledin her last few years todeclining mobility andbed-confinement. Shelived for chunks of herlife in Uganda, USA,Ethiopia, Switzerland,and Thailand as part of

Vali’s studies and 25-year(1976-2001) assignmentswith UN-InternationalLabour Organization.She lived in WestVancouver, Canada, from1997 with her mother.Brother Arafat, him-

self a high UN official atUN High Commissionerfor Refugees, Geneva,and parents paid tributesto Farah at a condolencelunch after the funeral atthe J-Street Restaurant.Arafat spoke of his con-stant wish in his youngdays that Farah wouldspeak to him and of tran-sitions in his life whenFarah just broke down –when he was leaving forstudies at Cornell and athis wedding to ShaliniMehan. Zebi Jamal(daughter of Mbaleindustrialist Mr IbrahimMitha) spoke of the sup-port and companionshipFarah gave her in theirlife in West Vancouverand of the irreparable gapleft by Farah. Vali paidtribute to Zaibun for herlife-long devotion toFarah and thanked theILO for its institutionalsupport in terms of home

nursing care and healthinsurance. “Although ‘dif-ferently abled’ by normalstandards, the love sheexpressed through hereyes and emotionsendeared her to allaround her. To Zaibun,me and Arafat she wasthe unqualified star forall her life.”

Dr Vali Jamal: Vali isKenya-born long-termresident of Uganda. InOctober last year his aca-demic credentials (BACambridge, PhDStanford) were burnished

by the award of Uganda’stop-civilian GoldenJubilee Medal fromPresident Museveni.Over 40 awards weregiven out to UgandaAsians at the same timederived from Vali’s monu-mental book-in-progress(7.2 years) on UgandaAsians: Then and Now,Here and There. WeContributed. WeContribute. The award toVali was in recognition ofhis book.The wrist-breaker (8

kg) of over 1,750 pagesand 4,000 images fea-tures the history, back-ground, struggles andachievements UgandanAsians from the start ofthe Protectorate to the1972 expulsion and from

1972 to the present inUganda and diasporacountries. Vali says “It isa book never done beforeand never to be repeated,but sure to be plagia-rised,” alluding to unat-tributed pieces appearingall over. He says it showsthe book is of value!Uganda PresidentMuseveni has describedVali’s book as “a nationalasset in Uganda’s com-mercial diplomacy”;Professor MondoKagonyera, Chancellor ofMakerere University as“ e n c y c l o p a e d i c ,unequalled, an intellectu-al asset”; and ProfessorYash Tandon as “coura-geous, a generationalbook for generations tocome.” Vali put the bookaway during his 15 weeksin Vancouver to be nearFarah. He is ever cog-nisant that lots of peoplehave subscribed to thebook by way of sponsor-ships and pre-orders andVali now promises tobring the book out withinthis year as a special trib-ute to Farah. A commit-tee of Elders – theEminent Three, NaruThakkar, Vinod Vaderaand Ketan Morjaria – isminding a renewed spon-sorship drive. SeniorPresidential MediaAdvisor John Nagendaand Governor of Bank ofUganda Tumusiime-Mutebile are under-pin-ning the drive from theGovernment side.

The team at AsianVoice and GujaratSamachar expressprayers for the eternalrest of the departed souland pay tribute to Dr ValiJamal for his persever-ance in this monumentaltask on behalf of theUganda Asian communi-ty everywhere.

Final farewell to Mina Farah Vali I V Jamal

Many people don’t want their ageingparents to stay with themLondon: A survey has found that one third of peopledid not want their ageing parents to live with them ifthey needed full-time care, despite many feeling"guilty" about the prospect of arranging for them tolive in a care home. More than 50 per cent said thattheir homes were too small to accommodate theirparents and more than a quarter said they did not“have that short of relationship” with their parents.Fourteen per cent said their partner would not allowthe arrangement. Some said that the additionalburden would be impossible because they alreadyhad children to look after.

Taxman advised not to seize cashdirectlyLondon: The Institute of Chartered Accounts inEngland and Wales said that the government moveto let the taxman seize money directly from people’sbank accounts could wreck havoc with people’s livesand damage their credit ratings. The accountantshave warned that the scheme unveiled in the Budgetthis year – would damage “public trust in the taxsystem”. The institute said the plans were“unconstitutional and wrong in principle,” accusingHM Revenue and Customs of failing to say why itneeded the powers.

Driverless cars to make debut in UK earlynext yearLondon: Driverless cars will make its entry in Britishroads from next year, the Government announced.Guided by a system of sensors and cameras, themotors will take to the public highway in January for aseries of trials. Three cities will be selected to conductthe trials. Ministers have also launched a review tolook at current road regulations to establish how theUK can remain at the forefront of driverless cartechnology and ensure there is an appropriate regimefor testing driverless cars in the UK.

French hospital to open wine bar forterminally illParis: A hospital in France will open a wine bar forterminally ill patients in an unprecedented way toimprove their quality of life. Patients at the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital in central France will beable to take part in "medically supervised wine-tasting" sessions. They will be allowed to invitefriends or family over for a drink. Dr VirginieGuastella came up with the idea because shebelieves that patients "are entitled to enjoy" their lastdays.

Passengers at Gatwick told to keepessentials in hand luggageLondon: Passengers at Gatwick have been advisedto carry refreshments in their handbags as they fearinordinate delays in the arrival and departure ofplanes at the airport following shortage of baggagehandlers. Passengers flying into the airport may haveto wait for a long time to arrive while those leavingthe country have to carry essentials into the cabin.Some passengers arriving at the airport waited up tofour hours to claim their belongings while some ofthose who departed were still without their luggagefive days later.

Police officer at Gatwick cheatedpassengers of £15,000London: A female police community support officercheated passengers at Gatwick of £15,000 byconfiscating cash before their flights took off, sayingthey could not leave country with more than £1,000.Alexis Scott, 39, told passengers she would detainthem and they would miss their flight if they did nothand over the money. Scott even held out her policehat for unsuspecting victims to deposit the cash asthey walked through the departure lounge. She thenkept the money for herself. During her trial theprosecuting judge said she had no right to take themoney from passengers and simply stole it.

Ebola victims must be cremated, saysLiberian govt Monrovia: The Liberian govt has said that the victimsof ebola should be cremated to prevent the infectionspreading from highly-contagious corpses. The rulingwas made after bodies of victims were left to lie in thestreets for four days, with terrified residents refusingto remove them. One proposed burial site wassurrounded by angry villagers, who refused to let thegrave diggers enter; another potential site was ruledout when the landowner refused to sell the land. LewisBrown, the information minister, said that the victimswould now be cremated.

In Brief

Mina Farah

Dr Vali Jamal

WORLDwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 23

London: Former arch-bishop Rowan Williamssaid that Islam is restor-ing traditional Britishvalues such as sharedresponsibility and duty.He said that Muslimshad brought back“open, honest and diffi-cult public discussion”in one of their “greatestgifts” to Britain. Hecriticised sections of thepress for portrayingMuslims as “un-British”and complained of “illit-eracy” about religionamong figures in gov-ernment.Secularist groups

accused Williams of“foolishness”, but hisremarks were welcomedby British Muslim organi-sations. Keith PorteousWood, the executive direc-tor of the NationalSecular Society, said: “I’mstill smiling about thecomments he made aboutSharia law a few yearsago. You’d think he’d havelearnt his lesson.”In 2008, when still

Archbishop ofCanterbury, Dr Williams

provoked controversy bystating that the applica-tion of some aspects ofIslamic law in Britishcourts was “unavoidable”.He also drew both praiseand criticism after tellinga literary festival in 2012that the hijab gave someMuslim women strength.Dr Williams, who

stood down as the head ofthe Church of England tobecome master ofMagdalene College,

Cambridge, in 2012,told the Living IslamFestival in Lincolnshirethat Christianity andIslam were shiftingBritish values backtowards the community.He said that Britain

was an “argumentativedemocracy” where “weare not just individualvoters ticking boxes butindividuals and commu-nities engaging in open,honest and difficultpublic discussion. Oneof the greatest gifts ofthe Muslim communityto the UK has been thatthey have brought thatback to the people.”Asked if he meant

that Islam was rejuvenat-ing British values, DrWilliams said: “Yes. I’mthinking of the way inwhich, for example, inBirmingham we have seena local parish and amosque combiningtogether to provide familyservices and youth activi-ties, both acting out of avery strong sense that thisis what communitiesought to do. ”

Rowan Williams

Uganda court scraps anti-gay lawKampala: Uganda's constitutional court hasoverturned tough new anti-gay laws that had beenbranded draconian by rights groups, saying they hadbeen wrongly passed by parliament. The law is "nulland void," presiding judge Steven Kavuma told thecourt, saying the process had contravened theconstitution, as it has been passed in parliament inDecember without the necessary quorum oflawmakers. Cheering gay rights activists celebratedthe ruling, but supporters of the law said they wouldappeal at the Supreme Court.

Assault charge against Jemima Khan,Russell BrandLondon: Jemima Khan, the daughter late financierSir James Goldsmith and the former wife of Pakistancricketer turned politician Imran Khan, and herboyfriend Russell Brand were accused of assault bymasseuse. They also made a counter complaintagainst the masseuse. Thames Valley Police startedan investigation after the 31-year-old, who claimedshe had been booked by Miss Khan as a birthdaypresent for Brand, complained that the comedy actorpushed her during an altercation at Kiddington Halllast month. Brand denied the allegation and thepolice did not proceed to a full investigation.

Australia may intervene in Thaisurrogate baby caseSydney: Australian government is planning tointervene in the case of a sick Down's syndromebaby left with a Thai surrogate mother by Australianbiological parents. Pattaramon Chanbua, a 21-year-old food vendor in Thailand's seaside town of SriRacha, is taking care of her 7-month-old surrogatebaby, named Gammy, who also has a congenitalheart condition. The parents took Gammy's healthytwin sister back to their home in Western Australiastate. Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrisonsaid that they are taking a close look at what can bedone, but he did not want to give any false hopes orexpectations.

Met office forecasts heavy rains London: The Met Office said that the eighth hottestJuly since 1910 is about to end and soggy August isapproaching. The forecasting agency said scatteredshowers and intermittent days of rain would be ageneral theme in the first two weeks of August,marking an end to July's "extreme warm weather." Itwill kick off this weekend with heavy rainfall acrossWales, Devon, and the west of England and Scotlandas a low-pressure system lurking off the coastmoves north across the Irish Sea.

Pakistani troops to defend Saudis Riyadh: Panicked by the advance of the IslamicState of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis), Saudi Arabia hastaken the drastic step of calling in military assistancefrom Egypt and Pakistan to shore up the porous500-mile border, Gulf security sources said. SaudiArabia spent an estimated £35 billion on defence lastyear, leapfrogging Britain as the world’s fourth-largest military spender. This massive outlayhighlights Riyadh’s unease about whether itsdefences would hold if the jihadists launched adirect attack.

Parents paint triplets' toenails todifferentiate them London: Karen and Ian Gilbert are the parents ofidentical triplets. They find it difficult to differentiatethem. So they overcame the problem by paintingeach one-year-old’s toenails with a different bright-coloured varnish. Gilbert, 33, said: "It's not a fashionstatement. We really struggle to tell them apart. Wecame up with the nail varnish idea and it works. Itmakes life a lot easier when it comes to our dailyroutine of feeding, bathing and nappy changing. Thecolour coding helps us to know who has had what."

Older women make better mothers London: A study has found that children born towomen over 40 were healthier, cleverer and moreemotionally stable than those born to parents intheir 20s. Despite warnings that older women are atgreater risk of complications during pregnancy, astudy by researchers at University College Londonand Birkbeck, University of London, found that theytended to be wealthier, more experienced and couldprovide more stability to their child when it wasborn. Researchers found that the children of oldermothers were 22 per cent less likely to injurethemselves in accidents and were almost 30 per centless likely to be admitted to hospital.

In Brief

Former archbishop praises Islamic values

Doctors urged to popularise e-cigarettesLondon: Researchers haveurged the doctors to rec-ommend the relativelyharmless electronic ciga-rettes to help the smokersto quit the habit. “We’redealing with somethingwhich at face value couldbe huge for public health.We have something thatleads to death and seriousillness and we can replaceit with something muchless harmful,” saidProfessor Peter Hajek ofQueen Mary, University ofLondon, who led thestudy.“The key test is does it

increase or decrease ciga-rette use and smokingprevalence? All the otherthings are more or lesswaffle. If it increases ciga-

rette use it’s bad and weshould regulate. If itdecreases cigarette use it’sgood and we shouldn’tmeddle. There are stronghints of drops in cigaretteuse and that’s really theonly thing that matters.”

P r o f e s s o rHajek’s overview of81 published studiesconcluded that thedevices appeared tobe safe. E-cigarettescontain no tobacco,only nicotine andother relativelyharmless chemicalsand Professor Hajeksaid: “The harms ofnicotine are a tinyfraction of the risksof smoking. Outsideof pregnancy and

some other prescribedareas it’s probably in therange of what coffee doesto you.”E-cigarettes became

popular over the past fiveyears, and third of Britishsmokers have tried them

recently, with one in sevenusing them every day. Lessthan one per cent of non-smokers have tried them.“It’s captured smokers’imagination and they mustbe getting something posi-tive from it,” ProfessorHajek said. Wales is con-sidering a ban on e-ciga-rette use in public places,over fears that it could “re-normalise” smoking.Professor Hajek said: “itnormalises e-cigarette useand in a way we want that.We want smokers to think‘maybe I should switch aswell’.” There was no evi-dence that the vapourfrom e-cigarettes, which iscomposed mainly of water,could harm bystanders, hispaper found.

Muslim mother to be jailed forencouraging terrorism in Syria

London: A Muslim motherwho posted a message inthe Facebook encouragingterrorism in Syria faceslong jail term. Runa Khan,34, admitted posting amessage on Facebook inSeptember, saying:'Sisters, if you love yoursons, husbands and broth-ers, prove it by sendingthem to fight for Allah.'Khan, a mother-of-six,

also posted a a picture of asuicide vest on the site,alongside a message whichread 'sacrifice your life tobe in Islam' in July lastyear. She has been told toexpect substantial jail afterpleading guilty to postingmessages on Facebookencouraging men to goand fight 'for Allah' inSyria.Wearing a niqab while

standing in the dock ofKingston Crown Court,Khan pleaded guilty tofour counts of disseminat-ing terrorist publications

between July andSeptember 2013. Addressing the defen-

dant, Judge Peter Birts QCsaid: “I’m sure you havebeen advised they arecharges of the utmostgravitas that almostinevitably will be met by asubstantial custodial sen-tence.” The court heardKhan, from Luton, sent aseries of Facebook mes-sages to an undercoverpolice officer describing aroute from Turkey intoSyria. She received detailsof the route from

Mohammed Nahin Ahmedwho has admitted spend-ing eight months in Syriafighting alongside an AlQaeda-linked terroristgroup, the hearing wastold. Ahmed and child-hood friend Yusuf ZubairSarwar, both 22, fromBirmingham, fled to thecountry last May aftercontacting Islamic extrem-ists. They each pleadedguilty to one count ofengaging in preparation ofterrorism acts at London’sWoolwich Crown Courtearlier this month.

Gaza/Cairo/Jerusalem:Israel and Hamas-ledPalestinian guerillasentered a 72-hour truce onTuesday mediated byEgypt with a view toencouraging negotiationson a more enduring end tothe month-old Gaza war.Minutes before the

ceasefire took hold at 8 am(0500 GMT), Hamaslaunched a salvo of long-range rockets, callingthem revenge for Israel's"massacres". Sirens wentoff as far north asJerusalem's outlying areas.There was no word ofcasualties.Israeli ground forces

withdrew from the GazaStrip ahead of the truce,with a military spokesmansaying their main goal ofdestroying cross-borderinfiltration tunnels hadbeen completed.Troops and tanks

would be "redeployed indefensive positions out-side the Gaza Strip andwe will maintain thosedefensive positions,"spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said,reflecting Israeli readinessto resume fighting ifattacked. Several previousattempts by Egypt andother regional powers,overseen by the UnitedStates and UnitedNations, failed to calm theworst Israeli-Palestinianfighting in two years.Gaza officials say the

war has killed 1,834Palestinians, most of themcivilians. Israel says 64 ofits soldiers and three civil-ians have been killed sincefighting began on July 8,after a surge in Palestinianrocket launches.Israel was expected to

send delegates to jointalks in Cairo to cement alonger-term deal duringthe course of the truce.For now, Strategic

Affairs Minister YuvalSteinitz told Israel's ArmyRadio: "There are noagreements. As we havealready said, quiet will beanswered with quiet."

Israelis,Palestiniansenter 72-hourGaza truce

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201424 INDIA

Another minor raped in BangaloreschoolBangalore: A seven-year-old has beenallegedly raped in a school in south Bangaloreeven as the city police are yet to resolve theVibgyor International School rape case, reportssaid. A complaint was registered in the caseafter the incident was reported on July 21 bythe mother of the victim. The son of a staffmember of the school was detained by thecops. The garden city was earlier in a shockover the rape of a six-year-old girl in VibgyorInternational School. The Bangalore policearrested two gym instructors for sexuallyassaulting the six-year-old student in thepremises of the school.

Yeddyurappa's son to contestfrom ShikaripurBangalore: The BJP has chosen former MP BYRaghavendra to contest from Shikaripurassembly segment, the seat vacated by hisfather and former CM B S Yeddyurappa aftergetting elected to the Lok Sabha. BJP statepresident Prahlad Joshi said the party haddecided to field MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimathfrom Chikkodi in Belgaum district and Obaleshfrom Bellary rural. He said the state unit hadsent the three names for the party highcommand for approval. By-polls are being heldfor three assembly seats in the state on August 21.

TN govt files defamation caseagainst DMK leader StalinChennai: The Tamil Nadu government initiatedcriminal defamation proceedings against DMKtreasurer and former deputy chief minister M KStalin, saying he made derogatory statementson DMK MLAs' suspension from the assembly.City public prosecutor M L Jagan said that hehad filed a case against Stalin in the principalsessions court on behalf of chief minister JJayalalithaa. The matter relates to Stalin'sstatemen taking exception to the masssuspension of DMK MLAs from assembly for therest of the session.

South Brief

Ghana offers land to PunjabfarmersChandigarh: Ghana has offered to settleprogressive farmers from Punjab to give apush to the agricultural sector in the westernAfrican country, a Punjab governmentspokesman said. Punjab Deputy Chief MinisterSukhbir Singh Badal acceded to the proposalby a delegation from Ghana to settle farmersfrom Punjab in Ghana. Badal assured theGhana minister that a high-level delegationfrom Punjab would visit the African countrysoon to lay the groundwork for this settlementscheme, the spokesman said. The Ghanaminister said that Ghanaian President wantedto promote agriculture and that Ghana wouldwelcome Punjabi expertise in this regard.

Haryana Cong leader BirenderSingh joins BJP New Delhi: Senior Congress leaderChaudhary Birender Singh of Haryana joinedBJP in the presence of party president AmitShah but the formal announcement to thiseffect will be made on August 18 in the Kaithalrally of the BJP. Amit Shah is expected toattend this rally. Birender Singh met hissupporters in Jind and discussed his futurecourse of action. According to reports, a largenumber of his supporters advised Birender tojoin BJP and Singh responded by saying thathe will positively consider it.

Poor monsoon: Punjab seeks Rs 20 bn from CentreSunam (Punjab): Punjab has soughtfinancial assistance of Rs 20 billion from theCentre to deal with any drought-like situationin the state, Chief Minister Parkash SinghBadal said. Badal said the help has beensought on account of deficit rainfall in thestate during the monsoon season. "We havealready taken up the matter with the Uniongovernment to assist the state in dealing withthe drought-like situation," Badal said. “I amhopeful of a positive outcome of our efforts,"he added.

North Brief

Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu): Acourt in the Thanjavur dis-trict of Tamil Nadu convict-ed 10 people in a 2004 firethat tore through athatched-roof of a school,killing 94 children.

The owner of the pri-mary school was sentencedto life in prison on charges,including culpable homicideand endangerment, whilehis wife, the headmistress,the cook and the meal plan-ner were each imprisonedfor five years.

The court also sentencedfive government officialsprison terms of two to fiveyears and acquitted 11 otherdefendants.

The case drew attentionto the numerous ill-

equipped private schools inIndia, many lacking basicsafety measures such as firealarms and sprinklers. Stateinvestigators said the schoolhad no fire-fighting equip-ment and poor exit facilities.One of the surviving stu-dents, Madhumita, blamed"the carelessness of the

teachers" for the deaths inKumbakonam, a templetown about 320 km south-west of Tamil Nadu's statecapital, Chennai.

"If they had consideredthe children as their ownchildren, they would havesaved us," Madhumita,whose sister died in the fire,

said. She said that the teach-ers acted selfishly. None ofthe teachers died in the fire.

The blaze started in theschool's kitchen, wherelunch was being prepared ona log fire. The flames spreadswiftly through the three-story building, trappinghundreds of children. Manyof the children were burnedbeyond recognition as thefire brought down the roofof bamboo logs and coconutleaves. Others were suffo-cated by black smoke ortrampled as panicked stu-dents tried to tear throughthe brick and concrete walls.Almost all the victims werefrom poor families of labour-ers, shopkeepers and low-paid government employees.

Chennai: The DMK, whichwas at the receiving end forthe past few days due to therevelations of Press Councilof India chairman JusticeMarkandey Katju, has final-ly launched a counterassault. Katju had allegedthat a corrupt judge of theMadras High Court wasgiven extension ostensiblyunder pressure from DMK.

In a letter sent to VicePresident Hamid Ansari,the DMK legal wing secre-tary R S Bharathi hasdemanded the immediateremoval of former SupremeCourt judge Justice Katju aschairman of the PressCouncil of India.

He said that sinceassuming office as PCI'schairman, Justice Katju hasbeen issuing statementswhich were controversial innature and continue to criti-cise political leaders, parlia-mentarians, legislatures andnow even the judiciary.

Recalling the variousstatements made by Katju inthe recent past, Bharathisaid Katju had indeed criti-cised Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in 2013.The copies of the letter werealso sent to the Chief Justiceof India, Speaker of the LokSabha, secretary of UnionMinistry of Information andBroadcasting etc. The letteralso charged that by level-ling these charges JusticeKatju has indeed wilfullybreached the oath of secrecywhich he took while assum-ing office as a judge of theSupreme Court.

Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu):The Cuddalore police are onthe lookout for a 54-year-oldengineer with the publicworks department inChennai, who allegedlybought a 16-year-old girlafter paying her parents Rs130,000 and has been tortur-ing her for the last sevenmonths.

The man, identified as SKuppusamy, 54, an assistantexecutive engineer withPWD, has been on the runafter the Childline lodged acomplaint with Cuddalorepolice. Police arrested theminor girl's parents -Chinnadurai, 65, and CMalliga, 45, farm labourers.A middleman, Arumugam,who was the former presi-dent of Bhoothampadi pan-chayat, was arrested on July31. Childline Cuddalore dis-trict coordinator D RajeshKannan received a complaintfrom a group of youth that a16-year-old girl, who was

married to an elderly man inJanuary, had attempted tocommit suicide.

Kannan along with twoother officials visited the vil-lage and found the complaintgenuine and rescued the girl.They produced the girlbefore the child welfare com-mittee which sent her to achildren's home. They laterlodged a complaint with thesuperintendent of police.The girl discontinued herstudies after clearing Class10 examinations last year.Police inquiries revealed thatmiddlemen Velmurugan andArumugam approached thegirl's parents with a proposalto marry off their daughter toan engineer, who haddivorced his wife. The duopromised that the engineerwould offer them money andwould bear the marriageexpenses. The poor couple,who were initially reluctant,later succumbed to the pres-sure exerted by the two men.

Chandigarh: As theBJP-led Central gov-ernment is expectedto press for annul-ment of the HaryanaSikh Gurudwara(Management) Actthat challenges thesupremacy ofS h i r o m a n iGurdwara PrabandhakCommittee (SGPC) onmaintaining it overGurudwaras, the executivecommittee of the HSGPCdirected managers of all par-bandhak gurudwaras inHaryana to submit theaccount books and otherrecords with it.

Punjab chief ministerParkash Badal is infruriatedafter Haryana passed thiscontroversial act as SAD(Badal) that controlsShiromani GurudwaraPrabandhak Committee(SGPC) is wary of its pow-ers getting diminished overhundreds of cash-richGurdwaras because of theHSGM Act.

The managers have beendirected to submit therecords at HSGPC head-quarters in Gurudwara

Neem Sahib here. At a four-hour meeting of the com-mittee held at theGurudwara Neem Sahib, ithas been decided to proceedagainst those who do notobey the directive, saidPresident of the committeeJagdish Jhinda.

Jhinda said the commit-tee will also write to allmanagers of banks whereaccounts of Haryana gurud-waras are maintained,directing them not to enter-tain any cheques issued bythe Amritsar-based SGPC.

"We are informing themthat now HSGPC has comeinto existence after theHaryana Assembly enacteda law in this regard," he said.Jhinda said the HSGPC willtake action against the bankmanagers who fail to followits instructions.

Chandigarh: Portendingtrouble for chief ministerBhupinder Singh Hooda inthe run-up to the assemblyelections likely in October,Haryana cabinet ministerCaptain Ajay Yadavresigned from the cabinetalleging Hooda was sidelin-ing top party leaders andhad become a puppet in thehands of bureaucrats.

The 55-year-oldCongress MLA from Rewarialleged bias in matters ofdevelopment and recruit-ment and criticized the con-troversial induction of mem-bers of commissions andstatutory bodies.

Yadav is the third seniorCongress leader to accuseHooda of discrimination.Former Union ministerKumari Selja and RajyaSabha MP Birender Singh,who quit the Congress, toohave questioned Hooda'sstyle of leadership in thepast. “My constituency hasbeen discriminated againstin terms of governmentjobs, amenities, and deliber-ate attempts have beenmade to sideline me... Howcan I survive under such cir-

cumstances," Yadav asked.Yadav, meanwhile, ruled

out quitting the Congress,saying party chief SoniaGandhi was his leader andhe would remain aCongressman. He hoped hisresignation would send astrong message to the highcommand about the grow-ing resentment in the partyagainst Hooda. On whetherHooda would be able to leadthe party in the next polls,Yadav said, "The party hasauthorized him to lead thenext election, I have nooption except to agree."

Yadav, who held the keyportfolios of power and for-est & environment, beganhis political career in Rewariand has influence amongthe Yadavs in southHaryana.

10 jailed in TN school fire that killed 94 kids

DMK demands removal ofKatju as Press Council chief

Haryana minister quits, rapsHooda for regional bias

Chennai engineer 'buys' minorgirl, sexually abuses her

Haryana gurudwaras askedto follow HSGPC orders

Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Markandey Katju

TRAVEL - INDIAwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 25

The Caribbean evokes images of relax-ation, beautiful beaches, sparkling

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Mayuri Dave

After returning from theUS, Vishal Mehta startedthe Indian e-commercecompany Infibeam, withhardly 10 employees in theyear 2007, with a smallinvestment of hardly $ 1million. Within a span ofseven years, the youngentrepreneur created hisown space in the emerginge-commerce business inIndia with over 1,300 peo-ple and size of the compa-ny has grown rapidly to $100 million.

Business runs in theveins of 39-year-oldfounder and CEO ofInfibeam, as Vishal wasborn in a well-known busi-ness family of Ahmedabad.His father was a successfulbusinessman and mother aleading scientist at UnitedNations (UN) and the fam-ily holds global perspectiveand appreciates global cul-ture. He funded the com-pany by selling his personalassets rather than optingfor external equity funding.

The Cornell and MITSloan alumni joined Dellafter completion of studies.In the post internet-bubbleburst era where raisingcapital became difficultand the future of e-com-merce was doubtful, hejoined Amazon.com. Heworked at Amazon for sev-eral years in technology,finance and corporatedevelopment functions.

Like thousands ofIndians settled in the USA,Vishal too could have set-tled there, but he wanted

to pursue thedream of establish-ing a technologydriven companyof his own.After morethan 10years ofh i sl i f e

in the US, he finally decid-ed to come back to India in2007 and incorporatedInfibeam. Some of his col-leagues back in the US alsojoined him in building thecompany. “We started thecompany with hardly 10employees with a vision togrow it beyond the bound-aries of Ahmedabad.Today, we have offices inDelhi, Mumbai, Bangloreand Kolkata apart fromheadquarters inAhmedabad. Besides wehave logistics and ware-housing network in 11other cities,” says Mehta,while talking to AsianVoice. Despite presence ofAmazon.com, Flipkart,Snapdeal, Fashionandyou,Myntra, Inkfruit,D e a l s a n d y o u ,Homeshop18, Yebhi.comand many others, Infibeamis making its presence feltin the e-commerce spaceand offers online retailsolutions in B2C and B2Bsegments.

Though Infibeam.comstarted as an automobileportal in 2007, later onVishal turned into an

online retailer. In2010, Infibeam

launched ‘Pi’ – India’s firste-book reader. In the year2008, Infibeam acquiredPicsquare.com, a personal-ized photo painting web-site. Later on in 2014,another acquisition ofOdigma, a digital market-ing company for $ 5 mnbrought the company inlimelight.

In last May, SonyMusic Entertainmentbought 26 per cent stake inInfibeam DigitalEntertainment, which gavea much needed boost tothe company to expandfurther. “Apart from pan-India presence, we plan tohave our footprints in 40other countries in UAE,Africa and South-EastAsia. To fund our expan-sion programme, the com-pany is also mulling forIPO, later this year,” hesaid adding that Infibeamis a debt-free company andexpecting 50 per centannual growth in comingyears.

Infibeam founder Mehtaplans to fly high in growing

e-commerce space

The inauguration ofIndia's first dedicated,world-class cycle track atDiu. To mark the occasionmore than 300 cyclingenthusiasts took part inthe rally to promote greenmobility, sustainable liv-ing, health and environ-mental sensitivity along-with tourism in the islandof Diu.

Bhupinder Bhalla,Administrator of Daman& Diu, said "The dedicat-ed cycle tracks will give agreat boost to tourism andenvironment in the city.Our objective is to trans-form Diu as an ecological-ly conscious tourist desti-nation. The aim is clear:to make Diu the cyclingdestination of India".

The 4.3 km long cycletrack is the first-of-its-kind track in India andbuilt up at a cost of Rs. 3crore to provide eco-friendly means of trans-port within the city. Theproject has been complet-

ed with the technical sup-port of Ahmedabad basednon-profit organization,Centre for Green Mobility(CGM). CGM is provid-ing hand holding and

technical support for cre-ating cycling infrastruc-ture for the whole islandof Diu.

The Diu cycling net-work has been designed &planned as per interna-tional standards. Thetrack is separated fromthe main moving traffic toprovide safety to thecyclists. The track hasbeen prepared underphase I of the Rs. 32 croreproject being undertakenby the UT administrationof Daman & Diu to pre-pare 11.34 km long track.

Erstwhile Portuguese colony Diugets world-class cycle track

Chill out in the Caribbean

Former employee of one of the leading e-commerce players in the world,Amazon.com Inc, Vishal Mehta has created his own company Infibeam.

Vishal pursued his dream of building technology company, after more than10 years of his life in the US

Vishal Mehta

Bhupinder S Bhalla

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201426 INDIA - LONDON

Funeral parlour opposite retirementhome opposedLondon: Pensioners living at the back of the buildingin Maldon, Essex, protested against the move byAdam & Greenwood to construct a funeral parlouropposite their retirement home. The pensioners saidthat the funeral parlour would constantly remindthem that their time is not far off and added thatthey were distressed by the thought of having to seehearses and bodies coming and going during theirlater years.

June Whitfield hires a personal trainerat 88 London: Actress June Whitfield at the age of 88 hashired a personal trainer. She said that the newexercise regime had boosted her health. The actress,best known for her long-running role in the sitcomTerry and June, continues to enjoy a busy careermore than half a century after she started in thebusiness. She is determined to keep up withtechnology. “I have never tweeted but I do have aniPad – I play Scrabble with my son-in-law. I like thethought of trying to keep up.”

20 bodies recovered from KarachibeachesIslamabad: At least 20 bodies were recovered fromtwo separate beaches in southern Pakistan, where 23people had drowned, after they went swimming intothe sea despite warnings about strong currents.According to Dawn, 18 bodies were recovered fromClifton Beach in Karachi after which the rescueoperation was suspended owing to the darkness.Later, two bodies were also recovered from HawksBay. The incident occurred as thousands of peoplegathered at the city beaches on the second day ofEid despite the administration imposed a ban underSection 144 on entering or bathing in the sea, thereport said.

120 missing after Bangla ferry mishapDhaka: Bangladeshi rescuers struggled against astrong current and choppy river waters in the searchfor a ferry that capsized with more than 200passengers on board, leaving about 120 missing,many of them feared dead. The ferry involved in theaccident had a capacity to carry only 85 passengers,according to the country's inland transport authority,and sank in the river Padma about 30 km southwestof the capital, Dhaka. "The navy rescue team startedusing sonar to locate the ferry," said MohammadSaiful Hasan Badal, deputy commissioner of theMunshiganj district, where the ferry went down.

367 dead after quake hits southwestChinaBeijing: A magnitude 6.3 earthquake strucksouthwestern China on Sunday, killing at least 367people and leaving 1,881 injured in a remote area ofYunnan province, and causing thousands of buildings,including a school, to collapse. The US GeologicalSurvey said the quake registered at a shallow depthof less than 1 mile (1.6 km). Chinese state mediasaid it was felt most strongly in Yunnan as well as inthe neighbouring provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan.The official Xinhua news agency said the epicentrewas in Longtoushan town in Yunnan's mountainousLudian county.

Bomb kills religious leader, guards inPakistanDera Ismail Khan (Pakistan): A bomb killed aPakistani religious leader and two of his guardsduring a celebration at a northwestern shrine onMonday, police said, as officers prepared for amilitant backlash over a continuing military operation.Pakistan launched a military offensive in June toseize control of the Taliban stronghold of NorthWaziristan, a remote mountainous region on theborder with Afghanistan. Recent weeks have beenquiet as Muslims observed the holy month ofRamadan by fasting during the day. But police havesaid they expect attacks to increase after Ramadanended last week.

Former Libyan deputy PM kidnappedin TripoliTripoli: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped Libya'sformer deputy prime minister Mustafa Abu Shagor, aparliamentarian confirmed. The gunmen forced AbuShagor into a car near his house in Tripoli's al-Andalus region and took him to an unknown location.Shortly before the gunmen arrived, Abu Shagor hadreceived an anonymous call asking him to leave thehouse. But he refused. It could not be immediatelyknown who was behind the kidnapping.

In Brief

The death toll inMaharashtra's worst-everlandslide in Pune dis-trict's Malin villageclimbed to 136 with therecovery of more bodiesfrom the debris, whilemore than 100 villagerswere still trapped ormissing, an official said.

Teams of the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF) and other agen-cies have rescued 23 peo-ple till now, including theyoungest - a three-monthold boy Rudra - fromunder the muck anddebris, said NDRF chiefcommandant AlokAvasthy. The village witharound 200 people wasalmost entirely buriedunder a landslide lastweek following torrentialrain Inclement weatherconditions, wet, stickysoil and the stench fromthe decaying bodies ofhumans and animal car-casses continue to ham-per rescue operations.

136 killed inMaharashtralandslide

Continued from page 1While referring to tra-

ditional ties between thetwo neighbours, Modisaid: “An Indian FieldMarshal used to say that ifa soldier says he does notfear death, he is eitherlying or he is a Gurkha.This is the land of thebraves. We cannot for amoment forget the sacri-fices made by Gurkha sol-diers in the defence ofIndia.”

On his last leg of thevisit Modi prayed at thefamous Pashupatinathtemple in Kathmandu. He

sanctioned Rs 250 millionto build a 'dharamshala'and offered 2,500 kg ofsandalwood at the templebuilt for Lord Shiva.

Wearing a saffroncoloured kurta-pyjamawith a shawl draped on hisshoulder, Modi visited thetemple before meetingwith Nepalese PresidentRam Baran Yadav, whopaid him this compliment– “You have won ourhearts with your speech atthe Parliament.”

Modi’s agendaincludes speeding upnegotiations on a power

trade pact that is at thecentre of a new effort toimprove ties with a neigh-bour that serves as a bufferwith China. Negotiatorswere trying to narrowdown differences over the

power pact aimed at har-nessing Nepal's estimated42,000 MW hydro-electricpotential to meet domesticneeds and also supplyIndia's giant energy-starved economy.

Modi wins hearts in Nepal

India on Monday stronglycondemned the "derogato-ry" article against TamilNadu CM J Jayalalithaaappearing in the SriLankan defence ministrywebsite after agitatedAIADMK members dis-rupted Parliament pro-ceedings demanding a res-olution to denounce theaction.

The external affairsministry later summonedSri Lankan high commis-sioner SudharshanSeneviratne and lodged aprotest. While the Lankandefence ministry hasalready offered an "unqual-ified'' apology, officialsources said the sense ofoutrage in Parliament wasconveyed to the envoy.

"The issue raised by(AIADMK leader) VMaitreyan is indeed veryserious. India stronglycondemns it. We will defi-nitely summon the HighCommissioner of thatcountry and tell him aboutit," External AffairsSushma Swaraj said in

Rajya Sabha afterAIADMK memberstrooped into the Welldemanding a statementfrom the government.

Both Lok Sabha andRajya Sabha witnessedtwo adjournments each asAIADMK members dis-rupted the proceedingsand stormed into the Wellseeking a statement fromthe government even asthey raised slogansdenouncing the SriLankan President.

In the Lower House,parliamentary affairs min-ister M Venkaiah Naidusaid, "While matters con-

cerning diplomatic rela-tions are dealt with deli-cately, this is totally unac-ceptable and con-demnable. There is no hes-itation in condemning it."He also said he would con-vey the "strong feelings" ofthe members to Swaraj.

But the AIADMKmembers were not satis-fied with the reply andraised slogans like'Rajapakse down, down'and 'we want justice'.

Raising the issue dur-ing Zero Hour in theRajya Sabha, Maitreyansaid the article appearingin the Sri Lankan defence

ministry website was"derogatory" toJayalalithaa.

He asked whether thegovernment would sum-mon the Sri Lankan highcommissioner as this was"an insult" of not only theTamil Nadu governmentbut also the UnionGovernment.

AIADMK leader inLok Sabha MThambidurai demandedthat the House adopt a"strong and unanimousresolution condemning SriLanka" so that such inci-dents do not recur. Hesaid the governmentappeared more sensitiveto Sinhala feelings ratherthan those of Tamils.

In the Lok Sabha too,Swaraj shared the concernexpressed by the membersand said "on behalf of thegovernment, we condemnthis in the strongest termsand assure that we willsummon the HighCommissioner to makehim aware of the feeling ofthe House over the issue".

India summons Lankan envoyover article on Jaya

In the backdrop of Indiarejecting a World TradeOrganisation agreementon trade facilitation – amove that shocked theworld, Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modihas told the United Statesthat his government's firstcommitment is towardsthe poorest people of thecountry.

During a meeting withvisiting US Secretary ofState John Kerry andSecretary of CommercePenny Pritzker, Modi saidthat developing nationsface the challenge of tack-ling poverty and that theirgovernments' first respon-sibility is to address thatproblem.

Developed countriesshould "understand" thischallenge, the PM stated."The first responsibility ofmy government is to thepoorest people of thecountry. While we don'toppose the agreement, webelieve that the needs ofthose living on the mar-

gins of society, not just inIndia but elsewhere too,have to be addressed,"Modi told Kerry duringthe meeting. "PrimeMinister emphasized theneed for developed coun-tries to understand thechallenges of poverty indeveloping countries andtheir governments' respon-sibilities in addressingthem when discussionstake place in internationalforums," a PMO statementsaid. After India took atough stance on the issueof foodgrain holding andfood subsidy at the WTO

talks in Geneva, the UShad blamed the countryfor failure of the negotia-tions. Kerry was reportedto have told Modi duringthe meeting that India'sposition on the WTOagreement was sendingconfusing signals to theinternational community.

"I think the PM is onrecord to have said thatdevelopment challengesthat developing countriesface are something thatshould be understood byall,” External AffairsMinistry spokesman SyedAkbaruddin later said.

"India, as a developingcountry, has challengesand responsibility toensure food supplies to allits people and that isreflected in our stance.That stance takes intoaccount our needs. Ifother countries have a dif-ferent stance, we under-stand their perspectivesbecause they come from adifferent direction," hestated.

My govt's first responsibility istowards poorest, Modi tells Kerry

Stress, alcohol worst stroke triggersStress and alcohol are

the primary immediatetriggers for stroke inIndian men but sexualactivity could also set offthe life-threatening condi-tion, a cross-sectional sur-vey of patients conductedby AIIMS has found.

The survey, conductedon 290 stroke patients(210 men and 80 women)showed that certain high-risk activities had trig-gered the stroke in 44% ofthem. Among men, thisfigure was higher at 48%.

A 'trigger' is the imme-diate cause that precipi-tates a stroke while 'riskfactors' are lifestyle andhealth conditions thatincrease the chances ofhaving a stroke in the longrun.

"A small number ofmen, 5 out of 210 (2.4%),said they had sexual inter-course about two hoursbefore the stroke," said DrAshish Sharma, who ledthe study. Previous studieshave shown that sexinduces transient increas-es in heart rate, bloodpressure and adrenalinelevels which might putpressure on brain tissues,precipitating a haemor-rhagic stroke or bleedingin susceptible men.

Dr Sharma said noneof the women patientsreported sexual activityprior to the stroke. "It is

difficult to analyse thecause and effect of sexualactivity in precipitatingstroke because manypatients may not share theexact details," said anothersenior doctor.

Stroke, a condition tra-ditionally associated withold age, is increasinglyaffecting young and mid-dle-aged people.According to the study,trigger factors were mainlyfound in patients below 60years of age. The presenceof a trigger also made thestroke more severe, thestudy found.

Of the 48% of menwho reported certain trig-gers for their stroke, 19%

said they were nervous,distressed or scared in theweek preceding the strokedue to stressful events.Another 15% said theyhad more than four stan-dard drinks in the 24hours preceding thestroke or equal to 15 stan-dard drinks in the weekbefore the event. About9% said they sufferedfrom infection in the pre-ceding days.

Dr Kameshwar Prasad,professor and head of neu-rology department atAIIMS, said the findingscould help predict when astroke is most likely tooccur in susceptible indi-viduals, such as diabetics

and hypertensive patients."The study could help usdevelop a comprehensivestroke prevention pro-gramme which mayinclude anger and stressmanagement. In case ofclinical infections, aggres-sive treatment of infec-tions can be adopted tocheck the onset of stroke,"said Dr Prasad.

With increase in thenumber of stroke cases inthe recent past, particular-ly among youngsters, theneurology division of theinstitute conducted across-sectional survey onstroke patients to identifyhigh-risk activities whichprecipitate the life-threat-ening situation.

A major new analysisfrom the Global andRegional Burden of Strokein the 1990-2010 study,published in The Lancet,found there has been asharp 25% increase in thenumber of stroke casesamong people agedbetween 20 and 64 yearsover the past 20 yearsworldwide. Strokes in thisage group now make up31% of the total number ofcases, compared to 25%before 1990. The overallamount of disability andillness and prematuredeath caused by stroke isprojected to be more thandouble worldwide by2030.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 27

HEALTH STOP

WOULD THIS 90DAY HAIR LOSSCHALLENGE WORK FOR YOU?

"I have tried everything.What can I do about myhair loss?" Sounds famil-iar? If so, what can youdo?

In hair loss problems,although the hair is dead,the hair follicle is alive.Products applied directlyto the scalp cannot getinto the follicles. To cre-ate healthy tissue, thebody produces a sub-stance called collagen.This forms a networkthrough which blood ves-sels flow. This promoteshealthy follicles (underthe scalp) to counteractand reverse hair thinningand hair loss. So howcan you get into the folli-cles?

A new treatment withLED red light scalp rollertreatment may be whatyou may need for yourhair loss. "It is a simpletreatment" says SushmaBhanot, co-inventor ofthe treatment.

"The Nutrigro® LEDScalp Roller is a handheld device with 540extremely fine 3mm nee-dles. Apply this to thescalp to stimulate bloodflow to the follicles, cre-ate collagen and elastinto strengthen hair folli-cles. As the needles arevery small they do notcause pain but help informing temporary chan-nels allowing deeper pen-etration of the nutritiveNutrigro® Serum.

This encourages bet-ter hold of the hair to thefollicle and makes hairbrittle resistant."

Research shows thatthe 633nm Red lighthelps skin cells grow 5times the normal rate.

"It is thoughtimproved blood circula-tion in the scalp may alsohelp reduce levels ofDHT, a hormone that isassociated with hair lossin men. The Serumworks to stimulate hair

re-growth in areas of hairthinning by encouraginglocal blood circulationand hence nutrients tothe follicles." explainsRavi Bhanot, co-inventorof the treatment andauthor of HairToday...Hair Tomorrow."This treatment isdesigned for those whoare losing excessive hairwhen they brush theirhair, after showering oron their pillow case.

Sometimes hair lossmay be due to nutritionor hormonal imbalance.As hair is 97% proteinmake sure you get all thebuilding blocks to growhair. If it is a hormonalimbalance then it isimportant to rebalance.For women goingthrough or postmenopause, eat moreoestrogen rich foodssuch as soya and tofu.For men, increase onherbs such as SawPalmetto, that helpsreduce DHT. This youcan get from your diet orfrom supplements.Various hair supplementsare available such asNoukrin which providesfish based proteins orNutrigro Capsules thatsupply 100% vegetarianbased proteins.

So what does yourhair need? Try this 90day challenge. What if itdoes not work for you?Simple- return the emptyboxes and get your fullrefund.Choose your kit andstart the 90Day chal-lenge today

1.If you just need toincrease your hair vol-ume and make it thickerand healthier, all youneed is the Nutrigro®Shampoo and TheNutrigro® Conditioner.

2.If you are losinghair possibly due tonutrition or hormonalimbalances try theNutrigro® Male orFemale Hair FoodCapsules along withNutrigro® Shampoo andthe Nutrigro®Conditioner.

3.If you feel that yourhair is thinning or fallingafter brushing or shower-ing, try using theNutrigro® LED ScalpRoller with Nutrigro®Serum. Only take theNutrigro® Capsules ifyou feel nutrition or hor-monal imbalance may beplaying a part.

Ravi Bhanot

Author Hair Today...Hair Tomorrow

Astudy has found thatpeople who jogged

or ran for even fiveminutes a day may beable to extend theirlives by about threeyears and evenescape prematuredeath.

R e s e a r c h e r sexamined the exer-cise habits of more than55,000 adults in theDallas area who weremonitored for six to 22years.

Compared tothose who didn’t runthose who did were30% less likely to dieof any cause duringthe course of thestudy.

They werealso 45% lesslikely to die as aresult of cardiovasculardisease, researchers said.That means, non-runnerswere 24% more likelythan runners to die dur-

ing the study period. Infact, the mortality riskassociated with not run-ning was greater than themortality risk associatedwith being overweight orobese (16%), having afamily history of cardio-vascular disease (20%),or having high choles-terol (6%).

The researchers divid-ed roughly 13,000 run-ners into five groupsbased on how many min-

utes they ran per week.Those in the lowest groupran up to 50 minutes overa seven-day period, andthose in the highestgroup ran for more than175 minutes over thecourse of a week. But thebenefits of running werepretty much the same forall runners, according tothe study.

The researchers foundthat even running atslower speed would havesignificant benefits. Theresearchers calculatedthat it took 30 to 59 min-utes of running per weekto reduce the risk of pre-mature death. They saidthat people who can’tdevote 15 or 20 minutesto moderate physicalactivity can at least spare5 minutes daily to takebenefits. The researchersnoted that if the non-run-ners take up running,16% of the 3,413 deathsthat occurred during thestudy could have beenaverted.

An editorial said thatexercise is a miracle drugand the list of diseasesthat exercise can prevent,delay, modify progressionof, or improve outcomesfor is longer than we cur-rently realize.

A cure forcommon cold

To Our ReadersWe are publishing these

items in good faith,kindly consult your

Doctor before you try toimplement it. We do nothold any responsibility

for its efficacy...

Running for 5 minutes a day mayprolong your life

Scientists havedeveloped a new

compound, which canprevent people fromcatching the cold virusby blocking its trans-mission to others. Thecompound works bybinding to the virus,paralyzing it and pre-venting it from releas-ing the genetic materi-al that causes theinfection.

Dave Stuart, leadresearcher from theUniversity of Oxford,said that there werecurrently a number ofeffective drugs againstthe flu, but drugswhich can ward of dis-eases like commoncold, polio and hand,foot and mouth dis-ease are not available.

Stuart said thecompound could helpimprove polio vac-cines to help globalefforts in eradicatingthe disease once andfor all and if tests con-tinue to give positiveresults, he hopes itwill lead to the devel-opment of a drug thatcould finally treat andprevent people catch-ing colds.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201428

‘Entertainment’

Entertainment is a comedy film directedby debutant duo Sajid-Farhad, who areknown for writing numerous films.Starring Akshay Kumar and TamannaahBhatia are the lead actors. the film isproduced by Ramesh S Taurani of TipsIndustries Ltd. The film features a dogcalled Junior as Entertainment. Othersstars are Mithun Chakraborty, JohnnyLever, Krishna Abhishek, Prakash Raj,Sonu Sood, Vrajesh Hirjee and HitenTejwani.

Vijay not reserved, says Samantha

It's Tapasee's turn in Bollywood

Pak i s t a n im o d e l -a c t r e s sH u m a i m aMalick saysshe may haveshot steamyand passionatekissing sceneswith her co-star EmraanHashmi for herfo r thcomingB o l l y w o o ddebut “RajaNatwaral” butthere is no vul-garity in the

movie. "There is no vulgarity in the film atall. In fact, I am very proud that we havedone many romantic scenes in the film andhave shot beautifully," Humaima said at thelaunch of a song from the film. Directed byKunal Deshmukh, "Raja Natwaral", also fea-turing Paresh Rawal and Kay Kay Menon,will hit the theatres on Aug 29. "Everyonecan watch the film with his/her kids andfamily," she added.

Suriya to act in Telugu film

The 'Aadukalam' girl Tapsee Pannu isalready shuttling across variousprojects, 'Muni 3', 'Ganga', & 'Vai RajaVai with Gautham Karthik. She had afantastic debut in Bollywood with'Chasme Buddor' and if the sources areto be believed, she will be signing a newmovie 'Hamara Bajaj' which is producedby John Abraham & Shoojit Sarcar. Thefilm will have VJ turned actorAyushmann Khurrana as the male lead.

Tapasee is on a vacation to Athensand she says that, she will be happy totake the role if everything gets con-firmed officially since the paperwork ispending for the same. Meanwhile,Tamanna Bhatia and Kajal Agarwal arealso busy with their projects inBollywood. More or less it seems theroad to Bollywood is certainly gettingstarted from either Kollywood orTollywood.

RamyaNambeesancroons the epic'Vada Poche'

Actor Suriya has a very goodfan following among the

Telugu audiences and he hasexpressed his desire to do aTelugu film many times. NowSuriya is going to fulfil hiswish soon. He has signed fora Telugu film and even tookadvance from the producer.But he has not revealed thename of the producer and thedirector, when asked about it.Instead, he said that it wouldbe nice if the producer himselfannounces it. This is a verygood news for the fans of thisflamboyant actor and let's waitfor the announcement.

No vulgarity in ‘RajaNatwarlal’: Humaima Malick

It’s an Oct 18wedding foractress-produc-er Dia Mirzaand her softspoken fiancéSahil Sangha.C o n f i r m i n gthis, Dia said:“We’ve finallyzeroed in on adate for ourwedding. It’s18 October.That’s the datewhen Sahil andI will be mar-ried.” The wed-

ding will take place in Delhi and will beattended by the couple’s family and closefriends only. Dia is likely to later host alavish reception in Mumbai for herfriends from the entertainment industry.Sahil’s family is largely based in Delhi,and so, their nuptials are due to be heldin the capital. “It was the two families’decision to have the wedding in Delhi onthe chosen date,” said Dia.

Dia Mirza to marry SahilSangha on Oct 18

Bollywood super hit “Dhoom: 3,”which reportedly opened on 2,000

screens in 400 Chinese cities, hasentered the Chinese top ten chart. Afterstorming the Turkish box office andbecoming the only Indian film to get tothe Turkish Top 10, 'Dhoom:3', Yash RajFilms (YRF) offering, has now enteredthe Chinese Top 10 Charts at number 9,said a statement from the film's produc-tion house. Released 25th July,'Dhoom:3', which became the first Indianfilm to get widest release ever in China,came in with an impressive $1.35 millionfor the three-day weekend, beating thelocal Chinese romance "No Zuo No Die".

'Dhoom: 3' entersChinese top 10 chart

The one liner 'Vada Poche' from,“Vadivelu” has become a rage with theyoungsters. Dhanush went on to makeuse of the word in 'VIP' and penned asong too. Ramya Nambeesan who is nota trained vocalist but she has proven hermettle as a singer in Malayalam industryalready. She's the one who sung 'FY FYFY' in 'Pandia Naadu' which went on tobecome a huge hit. Ramya did sing,Pogaadhe Pogaadhe in 'DamaalDumeel'. Taj Noor, who started hiscareer in K-town with 'Vamsan' is com-posing music for this movie and called,Ramya to sing a special song which isnothing but the age old 'Kaka-Vada'story. The actor sung the song beautiful-ly and wanted to make a video session ofthe song since she is very happy withthe outcome. Well, not many peoplewould possess both the qualities ofbeing beautiful and having a wonderfulvoice, Ramya Nambeesan is definitelyunique!

Ilayathalapathi' Vijay is knownas someone who is reserved anddoes not talk much. But lately,many people say that, Vijay isnot a moody person and he isvery lively with the team heworks with. A similar statementwas issued by, Sathish, and nowSamantha joins in that list. Iwas quite nervous initially bythinking, Vijay is kind of areserved character. But hebroke that myth on the firstday of the shoot itself. Even after hecompletes his portion, I haven'tseen him getting into his caravanand spend time alone. He isalways there in the sets, talk-ing/teasing the unit. She also

adds, it is such a rare quality to seesuperstar of his stature to be jovial andmake fun of others. In that way, I havebeen entirely impressed with Vijay's char-acter. 'Kaththi' brings Samantha & Vijayfor the first time on screen together.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 29

Actor Rajkummar Raowill be romancing

Hema Malini in RameshSippy's film 'ShimlaMirchi.' "It's an unusualfilm and the treatment ofthe film is going to be verydifferent. I am extremelyexcited to romance HemaMalini on screen,"Rajkummar said. He saidthat so far he has not metHemaji, but it's a dreamcome true to share thescreen space with her.

Rajkummar Raoto romanceHema Malini

Rani Mukherjee’s bold role in ‘Mardaani’

Actress Priyanka Choprafought with real boxers in

"Mary Kom", a biopic on thefive time World Championboxer. She says it was noteasy to take a full-on punchfrom professional boxers dur-ing the shoot.

"All my opponents in thefilm were real boxers,"Priyanka said in an interview."It was very difficult to shootwith them because they arereal boxers and they don'tknow how to fake a punch,

they had to really hit you. So Ihad to get hit a lot and thatwas really hard," she added.

Co-produced by SanjayLeela Bhansali and Viacom 18Motion Pictures, "Mary Kom"shows Kom's journey from anathlete to a boxer, oppositionfaced by her father to take upthe sport as a profession,training with men, her fearlessnature, marriage and so-calledend of her boxing career.Directed by Omung Kumar, itis slated for a Sept 5 release.

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Aamir Khan throws up sur-prises with almost all his

new movies - the latest comeswith the poster of his upcomingfilm 'PK'. The actor features nudewith a strategically placed vin-tage boombox, and he has leftaudiences guessing what theRajkumar Hirani movie will beabout.

"What do you think guys?Tell me fast... butterflies in mystomach," Aamir posted on hisTwitter page. The poster elicited a roaringresponse from the Twitterati online, andseveral industry members too lauded theactor for pulling off such innovative stuntsfor his film's promotions. FilmmakerKaran Johar tweeted: "Intriguing and bril-liant first look of the much-awaited RajuHiranis #PK." "aamir_khan what a firstlook, gotta keep looking to figure ke yeh

#PK hai kya,"tweeted KunalKohli.

Composer VishalDadlani said: "ThatPK poster is MAD!!Already curious as hellabout the film! RajuHirani is the bomb, &Aamir has almost sixthsense-esque script-sense."

Aamir himself loved theresponses and mixed guesses

from people. "Alien! Adi Manav!Drunkard! Just someone who has lost hisclothes! Ha ha ha!!! Interesting guesses,"he posted. It has earlier been revealed that"PK" promotions will involve the use oftalking standees, which will be kept in the-atres, have the actor's photo and his voiceinstalled in them. When you go close to it,Aamir will speak to you.

I was obsessedwith Salman:

Sonam KapoorSonam Kapoor was

obsessed with SalmanKhan while she was a child.She says that meeting himwas one of the highlights ofher life. Now she is an actorand in an upcoming film shewill be playing the lead oppo-site Salman. In an interview,she narrated how she for thefirst time met Salman. “I’m abig fan of his.

When I was younger, I wasobsessed with him. My par-ents never allowed me on afilm set. But this one time Igot to know that dad (AnilKapoor) and Salman areworking together, so I pleadedwith him to take me on theset. I remember how he intro-duced me to Salman, saying‘She’s a big fan of yours. Whydon’t you speak to her forsome time?’ We spent around45 minutes together, but he[Salman] doesn’t rememberany of that. It was one of thehighlights of my life.”

When asked why she isnot working with her father,she said he (Anil Kapoor)refuses to be her father onscreen. “I told him, ‘You’replaying a father to others, butnot to me.’ He was like, ‘Yeah,it’s better that way.’

But honestly, right now,even I don’t want to workwith dad; I want to find myown path and make my ownimage. I don’t want to ‘use’my dad.”

Making a much-welcomed return to the silverscreen in her most bold and challenging role

to date, Rani Mukherjee sets a new benchmark inthe emerging genre of female-centric offerings inIndian cinema, essaying the lead role in Yash RajFilms’ “Mardaani,” releasing worldwide on 22ndAugust. Produced by Aditya Chopra, the film is araw, gritty and edge of the seat thriller that marksa distinct departure from director PradeepSarkar’s style of filmmaking. Rani essays as a

fearless and incorruptible cop. Joining Ranionscreen is a cast including Jishu Sengupta andTahir Raj Bhasin.

Shivani Shivaji Roy is an astute cop workingin the Mumbai Crime Branch unit. Deft at pick-ing up hidden clues and fearless in confrontinghardened criminals, she is presented with a casethat will change her life forever. When the mas-termind behind a child trafficking mafiamakes the mistake of kidnapping andsmuggling a teenage girl who is like adaughter to her, Shivani embarkson a relentless hunt for the girl.Fighting a war that has becomepersonal, Shivani plunges her-self into a seedy world ofdebauchery, cruel desires andexploitation. What followsis a deadly, cat and mousegame between a fearlesscop and a young andruthless mafia kingpin.

Aamir Khan goes nude for 'PK'

Priyanka fought with real boxers in‘Mary Kom’

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201430 UK

It would be unwiseto take any risks, particu-

larly in regard to joint interests and investments. Sobe extra careful if you need to deal with complexlegal matters and necessary red tape. If love hasleft you feeling rather dejected or cynical, it looks asthough soon events will pull you out of this mood ofdespondency.

Relationships arecomplex in the best of times, but Saturn's motion

can make things even more complicated now.Misunderstandings can plague partnerships orpotential romances - be more careful and forgiving.A good time for completing unfinished business andreassessing your future projects.

You need to paymore attention than

usual to your everyday work dairy. Meetings, workhours and organised breaks could play havoc, unlessyou're prepared to re-group on the spur of themoment. Try to be meticulous but flexible aboutyour schedule. Play your cards right and you can pullstrings in you favour.

You’re likely to findyourself doing a lot of

thinking about both new and existing partnerships,and maybe toing and froing in one relationship inparticular. Home and family duties and responsibili-ties may weigh heavy on you. In effect, you’rebuilding a new foundation, so the work you put innow will pay off in the future.

At home, be at yourdiplomatic best and try not

to tread on anyone's toes. Passions will run fromhot to cold, and relationships may suffer. Even themost strong-willed Leos will be more open to com-promise to keep the peace. All things considered,your health should be robust.

It's a time of slowand steady progress that

can set the stage for a long time to come. Ofcourse, there are still challenging issues on both apersonal and practical level. To get here you mayhave overcome obstacles by making important deci-sion and choices. You will achieve a lot more, bymotivating your own desires.

Decision making willprove to be a bit of a

bind because of your wavering mind - seek profes-sional advice and then steam ahead. Be carefulwith your expenditure as you have a tendency to beextravagant. In relationships, sometimes it is a goodidea to stand back and get a more objective view ofthe pattern of your life.

You will continue tobe in a restless mood for some time to come. This

makes you impatient with restrictions and evenmore determined to cut your own path. Do not getover-anxious if everything seems to be in slowmotion - it is time to pull a few strings. You are likelyto experience some tension in close relationships.

You may find your-self hard at work

behind the scenes, although that may not be appar-ent to others. You may find yourself caught up in awhirlwind of activity, with opportunities to advanceon both the inner and outer level. There’s a sparkleto your social life and much enjoyment is to be had

simply from being in touch with other people.

The planetaryactivity in your chart signals a time of mixed emo-tions as well as personal issues to be dealt with. Theaccent’s very much on relationships. The outlookremains optimistic, so don't be afraid to act if yourinstinct tells you it's time for change. Professionaland financial pressures will begin to ease.

Jupiter, the planet ofabundance, is transiting

your partnership sector. You have plenty of roman-tic options. Financially you are still not out of thewoods as Saturn is still challenging you. At work youwill experience a mixed atmosphere, therefore be onyour guard as communications can be misinterpret-ed.

Your communicationsector is all-abuzz with

planetary energies firing you up preventing you fromsleeping properly. Give yourself plenty of physicaloutlets to drain off some of the excess mental stim-ulation. You feel like you can finally settle into amore grounded and steady routine instead of lettingyour schedule run you.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

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Coming Events*Janmashtami celebration on Sunday 17 Aug atDhamecha Lohana Centre in S. Harrow. Contact07960541216*Wah Mummy Wah, Friday Aug 1, 8pm. Oasis acade-my, Croydon CR9 7AL. Contact: 0208 778 4728* Saturday 2nd August –Sunday 9th August 2014 –JaiSiya Ram in the aid of Poor Child Education –BapujiProgrammes in UK - Shree Hanumant Katha from 4-7pm at Shree Hindu Temple, Baxter Avenue,Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and wear, NE4 9QB, UKContact: 0116 266 2652. * Nehru Centre, 8 South Audley Street- 8 Aug 6:30pm Lecture come demonstration:Compilation of Repertoire in Kuchipudi and BharataNatyam with special reference to Sabdams VSoumyasri- Monday 11 Aug 6:15pm Exhibition: Tradition inModernity- An exhibition of contemporary Indian ArtAtria gallery- Tuesday 12 Aug 6:30pm Bahai Temples: LordMereworth, Mr Shatrughum Jiwani- Wednesday 13 Aug 6:30pm: Music tribute toHemanta Mukherjee- Soumyen Adhikari

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Temple celebrationPreparations are under-way for a 25th anniversarycelebration at a popularHindu temple inBirmingham. Scores ofworshippers and digni-taries are expected to joinin the milestone event atShree Laxmi NarayanTemple – also known asShree Hindu CommunityCentre - in Tyseley nextSaturday (Aug 16).The free all-day pro-

gramme, which will begin

at 9am will feature sancti-fication ceremonies bypriest Ramnikbhai Dave,thanksgiving of past presi-dents, secretaries andpriests, lunch, culturalperformances, speechesand more. TemplePresident MukeshbhaiLadwa said he felt “trulyhonoured”. For more information

contact Dr Kiran Vaja on0121 689 6433 or visitwww.shcc.org.uk

COMPETITIONTwo tickets are up for grabs to see legendary PareshRawal in ‘Dear Father’ on Friday 10th October

2014 in Leicester. All you have to do is answer thefollowing question to be in with a chance of win-ning. The winner will be chosen from all correct

entries on a lottery basis. All entries need to be sentto aveditorial@abplgroup.com by no later than

Saturday 13th September. Good luck.What is the character of Paresh Rawal called in his

film ‘Oh My God’1) Jayesh Chandrakant Mehta2) Kanji Lalji Mehta3) Umesh Dhanjibhai Mehta

A gala event is being heldon Sunday, 24th August,2014 to celebrate India’sIndependence Day.All Indian nationals,

persons of Indian originand friends of India are

welcome to participate inthe festivities which willcommence at 1100 hoursat the Indian GymkhanaClub, Thornbury Avenue,Isleworth TW7 4NQ (Opp.Osterley Tube Station).

Flag hoisting will be at1100 hrs followed byNational Anthem of India.The event will also

include cultural pro-grammes, food stalls offer-ing cuisines from different

regions of India and a raf-fle draw with attractiveprizes.

Indian High Commission to celebrateIndian Independence Day

Relatives of a woman killedby the driver of a £100,000hired supercar haverevealed he’d been convict-ed of speeding before thecrash. Saqib Hussain mayhave been “showing off”moments before heploughed into a FordFiesta last August whileagain speeding,Birmingham Crown Courtheard.

Noreen Ryan and hersister Mary, who was driv-ing, were returning from afamily birthday party whenthe £600-per-day Audi R8Spyder hit them. Noreendied in the Hall Green

smash and Mary was seri-ously injured. Hussain leftthe scene, handing himselfin at a police station hourslater.The 24-year-old, who

had driven the car to awedding, admitted causingthe death of BirminghamCity fanatic Noreen bydangerous driving and hasbeen told that a prison sen-tence is “inevitable”.The computer engineer,

of Alexander Road, AcocksGreen, also admitted caus-ing serious injury to Maryby dangerous driving andto a passenger in his car,Faisal Wahid.

Death crash driver Hussain hadprevious speeding conviction

The scene of the horrific crash and(inset) Noreen Ryan and Saqib Hussain

SPORT WORLDwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 2014 31

The International CricketCouncil has found bothEngland's fast bowler JamesAnderson and India'sRavindra Jadeja not guiltyof breaching its Code ofConduct.The England fast

bowler was in danger of aban of up to four Testmatches if found guilty of aLevel 3 charge of "pushingand abusing" India all-rounder Jadeja in the pavil-ion stairwell during the firstTest at Trent Bridge.But International

Cricket Council judicialcommissioner GordonLewis decided neither play-er transgressed, meaningAnderson is free to play inhis home Test at EmiratesOld Trafford.No verdict was expect-

ed until the weekend fromthe video-conference hear-ing held on Friday - inwhich Jadeja was appealingagainst a 50 per centmatch-fee fine for a Level 1offence relating to the sameincident and Anderson'scase was being consideredin full for the first time.But the ICC announced

in a press release: "HisHonor Gordon Lewis AM,the judicial commissioner,has found both England'sJames Anderson andRavindra Jadeja of Indianot guilty of breaching theICC code of conduct. "Thejudicial commissionerreached his decisions fol-lowing a six-hour hearing,which took place via video-conference. "Witnesses,including some Indian andEnglish players, providedevidence and were cross-

examined by the respectivelegal counsels."The ECB and

Anderson were representedin the hearings by Nick DeMarco, while Adam LewisQC represented Jadeja."The hearings were also

attended by the two teammanagers, the ECB's PaulDownton, the BCCI'sSundar Raman and MVSridhar, the ICC's generalmanager - cricket, GeoffAllardice, and the ICC'sethics and regulatorylawyer, Sally Clark."It was alleged that, after

Anderson and Jadeja hadexchanged words as theyleft the field for lunch onday two of the first Test,their disagreement hadescalated out of the publicview. Repercussions weresignificant, and Englandcould ill afford to lose theirlinchpin fast bowler andseries leading wicket-taker.Instead, though, Andersonis free to play for the

remainder of the series afterLewis threw out thecharges.The Indian team man-

agement had accusedAnderson of “abusing” and“pushing” Jadeja. Indiancaptain Mahendra Dhoni,who claimed to have seenAnderson “pushing” Jadejahad condemned the “physi-cal” act during a press con-ference at Lord's, sayingthat “there is no way can Igo and touch you, or youcan come and touch me”.Dhoni had also main-

tained that Jadeja had notbeen the aggressor. “It wasgood on Jadeja's part not toreact. I felt he addressedthe situation in a mostappropriate manner. That'ssomething we have to learnand move forward.Someone has to back off atthe right time,” Dhoni hadsaid.The Indian captain,

who appeared as one of theIndian witnesses along

with Gautam Gambhir andphysio Evan Speechly atFriday's hearing, however,would be happy that Lewisoverturned match refereeDavid Boon's decision tofine Jadeja 50 per cent ofhis match fees for “bringingthe game into disrepute”.According to the wit-

ness Prior, the words 'f**k'and 'f**king' are commonplace on an internationalcricket field. Second, it isnot an issue that umpireOxenford took the actionhe describes in his state-ment where he said, "Iheard Anderson use fouland abusive language atDhoni. In particular, Iheard him say "you're af**king fat c**t to Dhoni".According to

Anderson's version, it wasJadeja who was the aggres-sor and without provoca-tion. Anderson did admitabusing Jadeja telling himto “f--- off and get in yourdressing room”.

Anderson, Jadeja not found guilty Kallis quits ODI cricket monthsbefore World Cup

South Africa's JacquesKallis has surprisinglydecided to call time onhis international limitedovers career six monthsbefore the World Cup.The 38-year-old, one ofthe greatest all-rounders in the game'shistory, retired fromTest cricket last yearbut had been planning

to finish his South Africa career at the 50-over WorldCup in Australia and New Zealand in February andMarch. However, he announced a change of heartjust weeks after helping South Africa win a one-dayinternational series in Sri Lanka for the first time. "Irealised in Sri Lanka that my dream of playing in aWorld Cup was a bridge too far," he said in astatement.

Sri Lankan U-15 cricket teamasked to leave ChennaiJust days after the row over an unflattering article andgraphics on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaaappeared on Sri Lanka's defence website, the Under-15 cricket team from the neighbouring country wasasked to leave Chennai on Monday for 'security rea-sons'. The Under-15 team, comprising of 16 players,was in Chennai to take part in the JM Haroon Crickettournament, starting on Tuesday (August 4). Thetournament will have 11 other teams, including hostsIndia. The state police asked the visiting team toleave Chennai as they could not guarantee their safe-ty. The team later left for Colombo. The anti-SriLankan sentiment increased in the state in last fewdays after the row over controversial pictures of TamilNadu CM and the Indian PM used in an article on SriLanka's defence website. Following the uproar overthe article, the Sri Lankan government tendered an"unqualified apology" to Prime Minister Modi andTamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

South Africa reclaim No 1 Testposition

The SouthAfrica Test teamhas reclaimedtheir numberone Test posi-tion on theInternat iona lCricket Council(ICC) Test TeamChampionshipafter defeated

Sri Lanka 1-0 in the two-match Test series inColombo. South Africa had won the first Test againstSri Lanka and held the hosts to a draw in the secondone in Colombo on Monday to rise to the top of theleaderboard again. South Africa had entered the two-Test series against Sri Lanka on equal points withAustralia (123 ratings points), however, HashimAmla's side was ranked below Australia when ratingswere calculated beyond the decimal point. The 1-0series win has now put South Africa ahead ofAustralia on 124 ratings points and has also Amla'ssquad to regain the position they had surrendered toMichael Clarke's side on May 1, 2014 following theannual Test update. South Africa will now faceZimbabwe in a one-off Test in Harare starting onAugust 9. But when the Australian Test team travelsto the Sheikhdom in October to play Pakistan in theirtwo-Test series, they would be out to get back on topof the tree and they need a 1-0 or 2-0 margin win inthe series to make that happen.

Twelve teams of 6-a-sidecompeted in matches of 5overs each way on thegrounds of MerchantTaylors’ School,Northwood in tempera-tures close to 30 degreeCelsius. LogicareComplete Solutions werethe eventual winners, beat-ing Prideview in the final.Bircroft Insurance Servicescame 3rd and JohnCumming Ross won theplate trophy. Over£3.5k raised in a charityauction of Indian cricketmemorabilia, which was

run by Barnett Ross auc-tioneers. Around 200 peo-

ple attended the event,enjoying the lunch, tea and

bar provided by ThePrideview Group.Anyone looking to enter ateam, sponsor or donate araffle prize for next year’scompetition should email-n i l e sh@pr idemanage -ment.co.uk to register theirinterest.The chosen charity, BigHug Foundation, will usethe funds to complete theconstruction of an orphan-age and commence theredevelopment of a num-ber of slum homes nearCoimbatore in SouthIndia.

Over £11,500 raised at PrideviewCricketers’ Cup

The Indian OlympicAssociation (IOA) heaveda huge sigh of relief after itssecretary general RajeevMehta and wrestling refer-ee Virender Singh Malik,both of whom were takeninto police custody inGlasgow on Saturday, wereset free due to lack of evi-dence.Mehta was arrested on

charges of alleged drunkendriving while Malik, who isa FILA Grade I referee,was accused of sexuallyassaulting a staff memberat the guest house where

he was staying during theCommonwealth Games.The reports of the

blood samples did notshow that Mehta con-sumed more alcohol thanpermissible while on his

way back in aBMW carfrom a partythat wasorganised tocelebrate theperformanceof gymnastD i p aKarmakar onS a t u r d a y

night.No charges were

framed against the twoIndian officials as the pros-ecution failed to produceadequate evidence againstthem.

The alleged hit-and-runcase against Mehta wasalso disposed of because oflack of evidence. "Theentire incident was misrep-resented and I wasn't evendriving the car. In fact, itwas my friend who wasdriving while we werereturning to the hotel,"Mehta said. "They couldnot find anything substan-tial against me and theprosecution dropped all thecharges. I was nowhere atfault in the accident thateveryone has been talkingabout. In fact, the person

who was driving the othercar was at fault and that isthe reason police did notpress any charges againstme," said Mehta, who tookover as secretary general ofthe IOA in February thisyear. Both Mehta andMalik were scheduled totake a flight back home toIndia on Monday eveningvia London. Scotland'sSTV quoted a spokesper-son for the Crown Officestate prosecution service assaying: "Following full andcareful consideration of thefacts and circumstances of

the case, and taking intoaccount the availableadmissible evidence,Crown Counsel decidedthat there should be noproceedings (againstMehta) at this time. TheCrown reserves the right toraise proceedings in thefuture."In relation to Malik, a

Crown Office spokesmansaid: "After a full and care-ful consideration of allfacts and circumstancesthe case was dealt with byway of a direct measureand is now closed.”

Disgraced Indian officials set free for lack of evidence

Spinner Moeen Aliclaimed six wickets toinspire England to acrushing 266-run win overIndia on Thursday to levelan absorbing series at 1-1with two matches to play.

Spinner Moeen tooksix for 67, the first five-wicket haul of his testcareer, and India crumbledto 178 all out in their sec-ond innings on the finalmorning of the match.

England took the sixwickets they needed tosecure a first test winsince they beat Australiaat Durham last August,ending a dismal run of 10matches without victory.

"It was a bit of ascramble for the souvenirstumps at the end as itwas some people's firstwin and I want them toremember that," Englandcaptain Alastair Cook saidat the presentation cere-mony.

"But the senior playersstood up as well, the teamwas fantastic from one to11. "Moeen Ali's bowlinghas come on leaps and

bounds this summer; he'sfronted up to the responsi-bility, worked really hardand responded well.Getting six wickets to winthe game, you couldn't askfor more."

Moeen dismissedRavindra Jadeja,Bhuvneshwar Kumar andMohammed Shami in thespace of 12 balls, before heaptly took the final scalpof Pankaj Singh to com-plete figures of six for 67.

Earlier in the morning,James Anderson had gotEngland off to the perfectstart by dismissing RohitSharma and MahendraSingh Dhoni.

India batsman AjinkyaRahane played with com-posure to reach his secondhalf-century of the match,but his unbeaten 52 was invain as England main-tained the dominance theyhad shown over the firstfour days.

Man -o f - t h e -ma t chAnderson drew Sharmainto a faint edge throughto wicketkeeper JosButtler before dismissingDhoni in similar fashionwith a ball that nippedaway from the right-han-der.

Cook made a crucialbowling change, by intro-ducing Moeen who

bowled Jadeja with a full-length delivery beforeinducing Kumar, who hasthree half-centuries in theseries, to edge on to hispad and the ball looped upto Anderson at gully.

Moeen continued tobamboozle the Indianbatsmen and he bowledShami and Singh to wrapup a deserved victory forthe hosts. "We'll have tothink about if for the nextTest as the extra batsmandidn't really score any-thing - a lot will depend onthe kind of wicket that'sprovided but I don'texpect it to be different tothe wicket here," Indiacaptain Dhoni said. "(Fastbowler) Ishant Sharmadefinitely won't be fit forthe fourth test. PankajSingh bowled really well,he was the one personbowling the right lengthand he was unlucky not toget wickets. Whenever Iasked him to bowl he gaveit everything."

The fourth test beginsat Old Trafford,Manchester on Aug 7.

British boxer Amir Khanhas not forgotten hisroots. His face lightswhile talking about Indiaor Pakistan. And the for-mer two-time light welter-weight world championhas some plans for theregion too. “I've been forthe region and AbheySingh Chautala, theIndian boxing chief, askedme to open a boxing acad-emy in Punjab. This issomething I would like todo. I met him in Dubairecently and he invited meto India to have a lookaround for setting up anacademy,” Khan said. “Iam opening academies inPakistan and I have anacademy in England. If wecan have one in India, wecan have competitionsbetween us.”

A strong advocate forsafety in boxing, Khanwas all for the return ofheadgear in the sport. “I'dprobably say head guardsshould come back, espe-cially when you got fight-ers fighting maybe fivetimes a week,” he said.

Despite being acelebrity in UK, Khan, the

youngest Britisher to winan Olympic medal at 17years at the 2004 AthensGames, has no airs abouthim.

“I met Vijender(Singh) in the AthletesVillage. He's a good boxerand we talked about hiscareer. Indian boxers haveimproved their style, skillsand I like that aboutthem,” said Khan.

“They have improvedsaid Khan. They haveimproved over the years.They have done well tobring different coachesfrom different parts of theworld. They are seriousabout their sport. I hadmet their coach (GurbaxSingh) Sandhu at theLondon Olympics andwas impressed by hisplans.”

SSPPOORRTTwww.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 9th August 201432

Moeen puts India in a spinas England level series

Amir keen to start boxingacademy in Punjab