Indian Weekender #65

Kanwaljit’s Auckland office: 1/131 Kolmar Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland

P: 09 278 9302 | F: 09 278 2143 | E: [email protected]

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Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi NATIONAL LIST MP

Indian November 18, 2011 Volume 3, No. 15

For Free distributioN

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New Zealand’s first Indian weekend magazine

The Pulse of Kiwi Indians

doing business in india

Community | 8National building stronger

economy : bakshi

Community | 7

Wooing your precious vote

Remembering

Pg 31

Pg 7

Pg 5

Pg 17

Indian New Zealand

The steadily widening gap between wages and the cost of living, the financial state of the country and law and order weigh heavily on the minds of Kiwi voters of Indian origin as they ponder which party to give their valuable tick to next Saturday.

Indian Weekender canvassed a cross section of Kiwis of Indian extraction for their opinions on the factors that concern them most and which party they think had the best policies to address them.

For almost all of the Kiwi Indians contacted, the inability of the country’s politicians to come up with policies that create economic growth, more jobs and better wages was one of the biggest concerns, especially in the worsening global economic conditions.

Among other concerns were fears of growing international debt that could send New Zealand down the road that Greece, Italy and some other European nations find themselves on.

The flight of young, trained and skilled talent to Australia while not properly assessing the skills that migrants already possess but are not permitted to practice because of unrecognised qualifications were

other concerns expressed.“Cost of living versus wages is

the biggest concern,” says Auck-land based chemical engineer Sud-hakar Prabhu.

He agrees with economists who have been saying for many years that New Zealand needs planned population growth to make its economy viable and growth orient-ed. “Population growth is needed to provide sustained growth,” he says.

Alton Shameem, JP, who de-scribes himself as a “New Zealand-er-Fijian” is a prominent certified public accountant and community leader based on Auckland’s North Shore. According to him, the country needs to have “Prudent, ef-ficient, responsible, common sense and effective management of our macro and micro economies so that the fruits of the economy flows to all levels of society and much needed jobs are created.”

For former New Zealand Indian Central Association President and Wellington resident Ratilal Cham-paneri, “The cost of living, law and order, the economy, hospitals/education and the rebuild of Christ-church” are the biggest priorities.

The cost of living coupled with lack of jobs and enough oppor-

tunities to earn more whether in employment or business is what is driving Kiwis out of the country, according to Auckland based man-agement consultant Arun Rao. “We are also far behind comparable countries in IT, telecommunication and broadband network in terms of both capacities and affordability, not to speak of infrastructure,” he says.

‘Indian MP’s have failed to in-fluence policy’

Mr Prabhu believes that there is enough talent in New Zealand especially among the vast migrant communities that the government has no mechanism to tap. They are neglected either because their qualifications are not recognized or because they have no experience in those jobs in this country.

“There is a vast resource of tal-ented and skilled people mainly among immigrants who are not uti-lised well. Most of these persons are working several levels below what they can deliver. I’ve met many taxi drivers who were bankers, chem-ists, etc. but are now doing menial work. All of these people are poly-glots and educated. They can be used to the advantage of industry.”

This is where community

leaders, particularly Members of Parliament of Indian origin have failed badly, say the respondents. “They have not done enough to make a difference in the corridors of power to help the migrant cause at least in terms of recognition of their qualifications and experience in their home countries,” says Mr Prabhu.

Entrepreneurship needs to be promoted“The government needs to promote entrepreneurship at all levels of society as the wealth of the nation is created by entrepreneurs and business people in conjunction with the workers. They can be self em-ployed, small, medium or large en-terprises,” says Mr Shameem, who is the founder, leader, chairman and president of numerous community, professional and business organisa-tions including the New Zealand Association of Certified Public Ac-countants (NZACPA).

Lifting productivity and creat-ing jobs and encouraging innova-tion, which new Zealand has been known for is what needs the most attention from the new govern-ment, says Mr Champaneri.

Mr Rao believes New Zealand

Cost of living, jobs, economy biggest concerns for communityDev NaDkarNi

needs to grow out of the milk, meat and agriculture mindset. “We’ll have to develop a long term strate-gy to encourage and support indus-tries – starting with education, R&D subsidies and management support. On shorter terms, we can look to exploiting our natural resources like coal, oil, minerals, etc.”

Sunita Patel, Henderson Mitre10 Mega Finance Director says there ought to be “More support for busi-ness growth through shorter consent processes and periods; differing wage rates for youth and appren-ticeships must be promoted to teach practical skills,” in the interests of business growth in the country.

“Core industries need to set up moving away from a import based economy. Exports of software, technology, etc has to be given the impetus. Something like Nehru s 5 year plan is needed to make this happen,” says Mr Prabhu.

Economy a worryAll respondents were equally

concerned about the economic climate in New Zealand and most believe that there ought to be re-straint on government expendi-ture so that taxpayers’ hard earned monies are wisely and productively utilised in health, education, law and order and social services.

“There has to be reduction in our government’s overseas borrowing and savings must be encouraged so that we don’t end up with financial disasters like we are currently wit-nessing in Greece, Italy, other Euro-pean Union countries and the USA,” says Mr Shameem.

“Encourage savings, invest-

Auckland Transport is planning a major upgrade of Tiverton Road and Wolverton Street.

Work on this essential upgrade is expected to start in the first half of 2012 and take up to two years to complete.

The project aims to provide a better and safer experience for road users and pedestrians along this busy 2.2km stretch of arterial road. The route will also benefit from the undergrounding and upgrading of utility services and other visual improvements.

Come along to the open day to learn about the proposed works, ask questions and give your feedback. Plenty of off-street parking available. Refreshments provided.

Find out more: (09) 355 3553 or visit www.aucklandtransport.govt.nz

Thursday 24 November 3pm to 6pm

New Windsor School Auditorium, New Windsor Road.

Tiverton – Wolverton UpgradeCommunity open day

indian Weekender | November 18, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 3

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A moving, personal tributeLong time associate, friend and legal luminary Thakorbhai Parbhu spoke engagingly about Sir Anand at the evening, peppering his address with little known anecdotes that revealed many biographical and personal facets of the Governor General. Excerpts:

“Your connection with the Indian community goes back to your late Father – Dr Sati as he was affectionately called. He practised at 201 Ponsonby Road. He originally came from Fiji and on completion of his medical degree was supported by the Indian Association for residency in New Zealand. He was one of our first Indian doctors in New Zealand.”

“You are the by-product of a good family. Your late father and your mother Taraben were respected stalwarts and great supporters of the Indian community. You married a lovely girl – Lady Susan, a Legal Executive from the law firm of Cairns Slane & Co. and you both raised your lovely family.”

“My personal reflections over all these years are the dinner parties at our place, your place and your parents’ place; too many to mention. You and Lady Susan attended by grand-daughter Shaila’s first birthday at May Road Hall.”

“The hockey game you organised with the Justice Department and my tea, our frequent meetings in the Law Library and the dinner at your unit in Freeman’s Bay with David Lange who lived around the corner in Wellington Street are still fresh in my mind.”

“I try to keep in touch with your movements at the local gymnasium which you attend with our mutual friend Norman Elliott.”

“Your nature, disposition and character, your amiable attitude, your ability to relate to all ethnicity, your friendship and contact with people and organisations has made you a likeable and acceptable person in fitting with your high office. You have been a great bridge builder in New Zealand with the various communities.”

“Your dignity in difficult circumstances has stood you well. In the position that you have attained you have brought honour and respect to the Indian community not only in New Zealand but throughout the world.”

“You have walked into the pages of New Zealand history.”

Remembering a dear mate…

there were fewer than 10000, now there are more than 100,000 making Indians the second largest ethnic Asian group. The participation of Indians is huge. When I joined law, Indian lawyers could be counted on one hand now there is a whole roomful and more,” he added.

While being Governor General, he had the occasion to attend several functions with “an Indian dimension” throughout the country, he said. Among these he recalled Diwali in many parts of the country, the diamond jubilee of the Wellington Indian Sports Club, the 85th anniversary of NZICA in Palm-erston North and the NZICA Womens Conference in Wel-lington in 2008 that Lady Susan inaugu-rated.

Touching upon relations between Indian and New Zealand, Sir Anand acknowledged the current negotiations on the free trade agreement and the commitment of Prime Ministers John Key and Manmohan Singh. He said there was “real substance” in the negotia-tions and that the relationship between the two countries “ was becoming closer in a substan-tive way”.

Sir Anand described the Pravasi Bharatiya Award that was presented to him at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi was one of his most cher-ished. While it made him proud of his Indian heritage, it also reflected the greatness of a

country like New Zealand where it was possi-ble for a person of Indian, whose grandparents and parents were migrants, could stand proud with achievements as lawyer, judge, ombuds-man and finally as Governor General.

He said he looked forward to “restore the spontaneity and relative anonymity that comes out of stepping down from office.” He was car-rying a multitude of memories with him, he added, many of these were shared closely with

the Indian community.NZICA General

Secretary Raj Thandi said, “Sir Anand is a great New Zealander and distinguished com-munity leader. He is a fine example of a New Zealander who made good through hard work and a commitment to realising high goals.

“The Association was very proud to honour Sir Anand and his wife, Lady Susan. A special plaque, designed by myself was presented to Sir Anand that symbolised the respect that he deserves.”

About 200 members and guests, including representatives of the New Zealand Govern-ment attended the function. Sir William Birch, a former New Zealand Minister of Finance, Ramesh Patel, a New Zealand Olympian, Judge Ajit Singh, Auckland City Councillor Des Morrison and Member of Parliament Kan-waljit Singh Bakshi also attended the event among several other community luminaries.

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ments and reducing debts both at national and individual levels so that our future generations are not shackled with colossal debt burden and are not at the mercy of some foreign powers,” he adds.

“More work needs to be done on Free Trade Agreements with poten-tial other countries. New Zealand can provide quality and expertise on Agriculture and should be capi-talise,” says Mr Champaneri.

Which is the best party suited to achieve this?

Going by Indian Weekend-er’s respondents, the community appears divided on which is the best party that could bring fruition to their wish list.

“National has a lead even though Labour has come up with a few pos-itive policies like paying businesses for employing apprentices and de-veloping skills, capital gains tax and investing more in early child-

hood education,” says Mr Rao.For Sudhakar Prabhu, National’s

intention on tightening the noose on social security rorts gets a thumbs up. “I think that at present National is having the best policies to deal with these issues. Their idea of con-trolling social security payments is appealing to me,” he says.

Mr Shameem believes the Act Party is the best bet. “The Act Party’s focus is on economy, freedom, personal responsibilities, re-engaging with Fiji, creating jobs, law and order, employment oppor-tunities and making government re-sources efficient, affordable, effec-tive and productive for the greater good of the nation and the people.”

“Labour Party’s ideas on Super is arguably more to the right, but the main trend of its policy is left,” avers Mr Champaneri. “The policy to remove GST from fresh vegeta-bles and to make income tax more progressive are broadly liberal

moves. Its capital gain tax has been hailed by right as well as left-wing economists and once again the eco-nomic case for it is strong. Capital gains are a form of income.”

“Neither of the major ones is good enough,” is how Ms Patel re-sponded.

Who will be the best PM?Contrary to the divided opinion

on which is the best party to lead the nation, the respondents were near unanimous on their choice for the next Prime Minister, though a couple shied away from naming their definitive choice.

Mr Shameem is diplomatic when he responds with, “The one who has the majority support in the Parlia-ment,” as the best PM.

“John Key is my pick,” says Mr Prabhu. Key is also Ms Patel’s choice for leading the next govern-ment.

“People want someone positive

in any crisis. Mr Key has the best grasp of economic issues facing the country, compared with Mr Goff,” says Mr Champaneri. “There is no doubt in my mind that Mr John Key will be the next Prime Minister even though he has some drawbacks and the opposition has no leader. Bring back Helen Clark,” he adds.

And finally, their take on the electoral system

For Mr Champaneri, no voting system is perfect. “FPP suffered from a perfect storm of three factors: Muldoon’s doctorial ways, Rogernomics and Ruthanasia, when the two major parties supporters felt betrayed, and the 1978 and 1981 elections, when the Party winning the most votes didn’t win the most seats in parliament. My personal preference is the MMP system – it’s working OK.

“Each has it’s strengths, and weaknesses and delivers its own particular benefits and drawbacks.

Under MMP, major government parties have been forced to take a more inclusive and conciliatory ap-proach to other views and interests. They have seen the need to negoti-ate for support before introducing legislation. On the whole this pro-duces better legislation and a more constructive parliament.

“The MMP system has positives and should be given some more time to see its effects rather than to change it now,” he concludes.

“MPP stops dictatorial and ar-rogant democracy by the two major grand old parties viz; National and Labour. However, it needs fine-tuning to make it equitable and a fairer system and not abused as is currently the situation,” says Mr Shameem.

Mr Prabhu says, “MMP seems to be the best as it is already en-trenched and change will do little for the common man considering the pool of politicians is very small.

Sudhakar PrabhuAlton ShameemRatilal Champaneri Arun Rao

4 indian Weekender | November 18, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian

A young tabla players dream came true.

Divyesh Naidu with the Tabla Maestro Zakir Husasin

Divyesh Naidu admired Zakir Hussain since he was little. Meeting the Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain

personally made him more traditional towards his culture. He is a role model for him when it comes to

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One of the last surviving veterans of the World War II passed away on 23 October, exactly one month before his 87th birthday.

Former Chief of Naval staff, Admiral (Retd) Oscar Stanley Dawson, AVSM, PVSM, died at the Air Force Hospital, Banga-lore on Sunday 23rd October, due to brain hemorrhage. Admiral Dawson, whose naval career spanned 41 years, was the first Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the first President of India, Mr Rajendra Prasad in 1953-54.

As a young Lieutenant in the Royal Indian Navy, he took part in the Burma Campaign as the Com-manding Officer of a MTB (Motor Torpedo Boat). He served as Chief of Naval Staff from March 1, 1982 until his retirement on November 30, 1984. He was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for his services and leadership. He was also the recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.

On retirement from the Navy he served as India’s High Com-missioner to New Zealand before finally settling down to a retired life in a quaint cottage in the quiet suburb of Richards Town in Ban-galore, which his parents moved into on arriving in India from Burma when he was a boy. He was associated with the British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia. He was also presi-dent of Anga Karunya Kendra and Chairman - Project Lead Free. After retirement, he was involved in the development of the Goa Shipyard, the cleaning of Ulsoor Lake in Bangalore, the campaign for unleaded petrol, rehabilitation of the handicapped etc.

Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson, or “Stan” as he was known to his friends, was a bach-elor, married to the Navy. He set very high standards for himself and had a low tolerance for medi-ocrity. As commanding officer he ran a tight ship, and was known to be a hard task master, which did not make him popular with some of his officers but he was greatly admired and respected by others especially from the lower decks.

During the 1971 Indo-Pak war, he was the Director Naval Opera-

tions in Naval Headquarters, and was responsible for the operations, notably the successful planning and execution of Op Trident and Op Python. In true naval tradition, the captain takes the bouquets and the brickbats and hence all the credit for the Navy’s spectacu-

lar successes in that war went to the CNS, Admiral Nanda. Naval history is silent on Dawson’s role but it had to be significant.

As the Naval Chief he was responsible for the acquisition and refurbishment of the moth-balled Royal Navy aircraft carrier, HMS HERMES and her airborne package, which was commis-sioned as INS VIRAAT to replace the ageing INS VIKRANT, which earned him the sobriquet, “a naval aviator at heart”, but this does not mean he neglected the surface and subsurface arms of the navy.

But he will be remembered by posterity for his brainchild, the “Karwar Project”, which went on to be called ‘Project Seabird’ and is now commissioned as the naval base, INS KADAMBA. It is en-tirely appropriate that his final guard of honour should be pro-vided by the men from that estab-lishment.

Although considerably watered down due to financial constraints and some thoughtless pruning and alterations by his successors, the Karwar naval facility still bears the mark of his genius.

This prompted another naval veteran and good friend and col-league, (late) Admiral “Jerry” Nair to remark at the inaugura-tion, “Stan, they should erect your

statue at an important cross-road in the naval base as a tribute to your genius” and then went on to add, “Unfortunately, it might spoil the scenery!” Whether or not the navy recognizes this and erects a statue or names a road or a building in the naval base after him, the state

of Karnataka and the district of Karwar will be forever indebted to him for putting Karwar on the map of the world. It is pertinent to mention that Karnataka is the most neglected coastal state in India and still does not have any ambitious plans for developing its ports and coastline.

Admiral Dawson’s sage advice to the Karnataka govern-ment on this score fell on deaf ears.

As Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, when the de-liberations of the 4th Pay Com-mission were in progress, he

arranged for the Chairman of the CPC to experience life on board a submarine and in the high alti-tude, which resulted in the insti-tution of Submarine Allowance and High Altitude Allowance for personnel serving in submarines and in high altitudes. He was also responsible for getting Naval/Defence Attaches posts for naval officers in several Indian embas-sies like Tokyo, Muscat, Canberra, Nairobi, etc.

Those like me who had the privilege of serving on his staff will remember him as a true pro-fessional who was wedded to the navy, a martinet at work but a very warm, jovial friend and con-fidante, a sportsman and a music lover otherwise. They don’t make people like him any more – they broke the mold.

A contemporary of his, Admiral Awati had this to say to me: “Stan and I grew up in the service together. We had the same seniority from the rank of Com-mander on, until he succeeded Ronnie in April 1982. ….When in Delhi Stan insisted that I stay at the Navy House which I did. Stan is almost exactly three years older to me, a kind and generous person. ….Stan brought a certain dignity to the Chair while he occupied it. A good man.”

Former Indian HC to NZ deadCarl H. Gomes

A young tabla player's dream comes true

Divyesh Naidu admired Zakir Hussain since he was little. Meeting the Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain personally made him more traditional towards his culture. He is a role model for him when it comes to play tabla. It was a great opportunity to witness Zakir Hussain & Masters of Percussion concert on Oct 29 at Auckland Townhall. It was a memo-rable night with super special dancers.

Divyesh Naidu with the Tabla Maestro Zakir Husasin

Since its launch on August 27, the Bay of Plenty’s first Hindi-Punjabi radio station, BollyBOP, is now tuned into by most Indians in the area.

The station broadcasts from a fully equipped modern studio in the heart of Tauranga CBD, one of New Zealand’s fastest growing cities. BollyBOP’s footprint reaches Waihi, Katikati, Mt Mauganui all the way to Te puke, Gordonton and even

parts of Hamilton. The station plays mainly Hindi

and Punjabi music, Gurbani Kirtan, and reads out news from India, besides broadcasting other variety entertainment programming for 24 hours.

BollyBOP is a commercial station owned by the Dhatt Group (who also own the frequency). It accepts advertisements for broad-casting.

Bay of Plenty goes Hindi 24x7

National List MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi during a visit to the BollyBOP studio in Tauranga. Mr Dhatt is at extreme right


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The Department of Labour is reminding employers that the law now requires them to keep signed written employment agreements for all their staff.

Since 1 July all employers are required to keep signed copies of employment agree-ments or current terms and conditions for all employees, or they may face a penalty.

“Employment agreements are required for all employees no matter when they started work,” says Annie Newman, the De-partment’s Acting Chief Adviser of Employ-ment Relations.

“This affects all employees including those hired on a verbal agreement or employ-ees who do not have current written agree-ments in place,” says Ms Newman.

“Having a clearly written employment agreement helps reduce the risk of misun-derstandings and there are some provisions that must be included in employment agree-ments,’’ she says.

They must include the name of the em-

ployer and employee, a description of the work to be performed, the place of employ-ment, times the employee is to work, the wages or salary, and an explanation of ser-vices available for solving problems.

“It’s the employer’s responsibility to maintain and keep an up to date copy of each employee’s agreement and provide a copy of the agreement if an employee requests it,” Ms Newman says.

The Department of Labour has developed an Employment Agreement Builder to help employers through this process.

Failure to ensure an employment agree-ment is in place for all employees may result in a labour inspector taking a penalty action against an employer.

This involves a seven-day notice period to rectify the breach and if this isn’t com-plied with then penalties may be sought in the Employment Relations Authority of up to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for companies.

Employers must keep staff

Aucklanders and visitors will soon be able to enjoy enhanced and expanded Wi-Fi services, offering more wireless coverage and faster access to the internet across central Auckland and its fringes.

Auckland Council has entered a partner-ship with Tomizone, Australasia’s largest Wi-Fi services provider, which will see network expansion start immediately.

The expansion will offer economic devel-opment benefits to the region and provide an important service to visitors to Rugby World Cup and beyond.

“With 85,000 visitors expected during Rugby World Cup and more than 200,000 ex-pected from next year’s cruise season alone, visitors to Auckland will be able to step off their plane or ship and immediately access information about Auckland. For Auckland-ers, it means more and better wireless inter-net access for portable devices such as iPads,” says Len Brown.

The Wi-Fi zone will expand into areas such as Kingsland, the entire length of Queen

Street, Britomart and Queens Wharf, lower Parnell, northern Ponsonby Road, Mt Eden Village, Onehunga, key rugby training areas and selected transport hubs around Auckland.

The network will remain in place follow-ing Rugby World Cup and continue to expand to other parts of Auckland with re-investment of profits from the service.

“Auckland Council will retain control of the content, which gives it a flexible platform for the future,” says the Mayor.

Service will be offered at a guaranteed dis-count to benchmarked market rates, with free access provided to a number of websites offer-ing information about public services, RWC activities, tourism and transport services.

“This enhanced network coverage will be attractive to residents and our international visitors who want to use their Wi-Fi gadgets to roam around the city,” says Tomizone Ex-ecutive Director Steve Simms. “Many of our visitors will want to use their roaming account from providers such as Skype, iPass and Boingo which they can do on this network.”

Wi-Fi expansion for Auckland

New Zealand

Diversity forum will focus on mediaA multi-media study about Paul Henry and Hone Harawira is being presented by Wellington’s Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research at next month’s 2011 New Zealand Diversity forum jointly hosted by the Human Rights Commission and the Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust.

Its work examines the intense public ar-guments around comments made by promi-nent media figures in 2010, such as Henry’s deliberate mispronunciation of an interna-tional dignitary’s name and then repeatedly laughing about it, and Harawira’s alleged racist comments about Pakeha. The forum will also include activities that tackle race

relations priorities identified in this year’s Race Relations Report, and feature the pre-sentation of the Annual Diversity awards. A parallel youth forum is being held at the same time.

The New Zealand Diversity Forum 2011 is being held at Hamilton on 21-22 August Also on the programme on Sunday at 3.30-5.00 pm is a forum on “Community Media and Diversity” hosted by the Community Access Radio Waikato Trust.

Attendance on Sunday and for individ-ual forums is free. If you are attending for half a day or more on the Monday the regis-tration fee is $50.

New Zealand

Bay of Plenty goes Hindi 24x7

Founder of Sun Microsystems and the name behind Khosla Ventures, Vinod Khosla, plans to follow up several New Zealand companies’ in-vestment pitches.

The billionaire venture capital-ist was founding chief executive of Sun Microsystems, and later joined Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, building Nexgen/AMD. In 2004 he founded venture company KhoslaVentures and currently has a 51% stake in New Zealand-founded company Lanzatech, reportedly a $3.5 million investment.

LanzaTech, founded in 2005, produces fuels and chemicals through a gas-liquid fermentation process from gas resources that include waste gases from steel mill flues, oil refining and biomass such as municipal solid waste.

Mr Khosla was in Auckland on Friday and along with Sir Stephen Tindall and Renee Kwan, co-found-er of Greater China Assets, heard several New Zealand companies pitch for investment. These compa-nies included YikeBike, Biomimet-rics Laboratory and Martin Aircraft Company.

Mr Khosla said the presenta-tions he had seen had been very in-teresting and there were a number he intended to follow up and delve deeper.

“Our process is a three, four

month process sometimes longer given the remoteness and distance but yes there are very interesting ideas.”

Mr Khosla said the question he would consider would be whether he could contribute any thinking to make the companies bigger than they thought of themselves.

He said there had been a lot of very good ideas in the pitch process but that it was important in any pop-ulation to have an ecosystem around these ideas to leverage the most out of them.

Mr Khosla said if one company such as LanzaTech was successful, it became a role model to show success was possible and created such an ecosystem.

He said such an ecosystem needed developing and most of this was giving entrepreneurs confi-dence.

“I always say you need arrogance and over confidence to be an entre-preneur. It’s an essential quality of entrepreneurship, almost not know what your limitations are, and be optimistic, be arrogant, be over-confident.”

Mr Khosla said he believed that if there were a few more role models such as LanzaTech in New Zealand, the number of start ups would explode by an order of magnitude.

LanzaTech 'unbeatable'

Billionaire Indian American VC eyeing NZ companiesalex Walls

He said he was very excited about LanzaTech, as it had an “un-beatable” cost structure, working as it did with waste streams, and with the efficiency of conversion by the microbes involved.

“It makes for an unbeatable cost structure and that’s what you need to compete.”

He said another exciting fact was that LanzaTech’s microbes were like “designer bugs” which could produce a wide array of chemicals. This meant that if a given chemical's price increased in the future, Lan-zaTech could possibly begin produc-ing more of it.

Mr Khosla said he saw Lanzat-ech as a large public company in five years with a wide array of products and hopefully leveraging a large number of partners.

Khosla Ventures launched a $US1.05 billion fund last month, the New Zealand Herald reported, one of four major funds. LanzaT-ech meanwhile has signed its first commercial customer, Mumbai-based Concord Enviro Systems, a deal which allows Concord Enviro Systems to use LanzaTech's technol-ogy, Radio NZ reported.

The company refused to disclose any financials around the deal when approached by NBR.

LanzaTech was voted as the world's eigth hottest biotech company, up from 31st in 2010,

The rankings, published by Biofuels Digest, are based 60% on votes from a 100-member College of international selectors and 40% on votes from subscribers of Biofu-els Digest and Renewable Chemi-cals Digest.– Published with permission from the National Business Review

If one company such as LanzaTech was successful, it became a role model to show success was possible and created such an ecosystem.


Indian Community

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Subject to tender and New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) funding approvals, work on the essential upgrade is expected to start in the first half of 2012.

The proposed works are expected to take up to two years to complete and the aim is to provide a better and safer experience for road users and pedestrians.

The upgrade will also strengthen connections between New Lynn, Rosebank Road, Lansford Crescent and the SH20 extension at Mount Roskill.

A community open day is being held on Thursday November 24, 3pm to 6pm, at the New Windsor School Auditorium (New Windsor Road), where people can learn about project plans and provide feedback.

The Tiverton-Wolverton upgrade, seeks to: n Widen the existing roads to

provide four lanes (two in each direction) from Clark Street East to the intersection of New Windsor Road and Maioro Street

n Improve pedestrian safety by up-grading the existing footpaths, installing four new pedestrian islands and introducing new pram crossings

n Install traffic signals at five major intersections to improve traffic

flow and improve pedestrian safety:

l Taylor Street/Wolverton Streetl St George Street/Wolverton

Streetl Blockhouse Bay Road/Tiverton

Road/Wolverton Streetl Whitney Street/Tiverton Road Tiverton Road/New Windsor Roadn Upgrade the existing bus shelters

along the routen Underground Vector power and

Telecom services n Upgrade street lightingn Upgrade and strengthen local

catchpits to reduce localised flooding

n Develop a new cycle route along Miranda Street, Margate Road, Mulgan Street and New Windsor

Road that will link with the New Lynn SH20 cycle route at Maioro Street

n Investigate possible upgrades at other intersections to improve traffic flow, particularly during peak periods:

l Richardson Street/White Swan Road

l White Swan Road/Hillsborough

Road l White Swan Road/Donovan

RoadWhau Local Board chairman

Derek Battersby says his board fully endorses the project.

“This is an essential upgrade that is ultimately going to bring many benefits for motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and those living in the area,” he says.

“It will remove the bottleneck that occurs between the existing four-lane roads in New Lynn and New Windsor and give local resi-dents new and safer crossing points and a wider footpath.

“The new cycle route nearby means cyclists travelling between New Lynn and Mt Roskill can avoid an extremely busy commuter and freight route. The corridor currently carries an average 33,400 vehicles a day but the upgrade will provide extra capacity for future increases, which will prove vital once con-struction of the NZTA’s SH20 Wa-terview connection begins. The un-dergrounding and upgrading of local utility services is also a bonus and will help to improve the look of the area.

“The Whau Local Board is right behind this project and we’re keen to see it start as soon as possible.”

Tiverton-Wolverton Rds upgrade in 2012Auckland Transport has called for tenders on a major upgrade of Tiverton Road and Wolverton Street – a busy 2.2km stretch of arterial road between New Windsor and New Lynn.

Indian Community

Indian Weekender invited two candidates of Indian origin from each of the two major political parties – Labour and National – to list ten reasons why Kiwi Indians must vote

for their parties. On this page, we publish the responses sent in by Sunny Kaushal, first time Labour Party candidate for Pakuranga and National List MP in the present

Parliament and candidate for Manukau East, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi.

hEAd to hEAd for the Kiwi Indian vote

As well as the two major parties National and Labour, two minor parties ACT and New Zealand First are also fielding candidates of Indian origin in next Saturday’s election.

National is the party that is delivering more for our Indian community. We are working hard to build a brighter future for New Zealand and our policies benefit hardworking Indians.

1. National is building a stronger economyNational has a straightforward and comprehensive plan to build a stronger, more competitive economy. We are balancing the books sooner by getting back to surplus in three years because it means less debt and lower inter-est rates for Indian households and businesses. We’re creating incentives for Indians to work hard, save, and get ahead, through changes to tax and welfare. And we are building better roads, broadband and other infrastructure so businesses can grow.

2. National is building world-class infrastruc-tureNational is building New Zealand’s productive infrastruc-ture by increasing investment, setting clear priorities, and improving the regulatory environment. We are improving highway links because this means faster, more reliable connections between cities and markets, which lifts pro-ductivity. We are building broadband infrastructure that will help transform New Zealand’s future, promote greater innovation, and grow our economy. We are also investing heavily in infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, our rail networks, and the electricity grid.

3. National will shorten waiting times in hos-pitalsNational will continue to deliver more operations, faster treatment, and a better chance for a healthier life. We will continue to focus on better, sooner, more convenient healthcare for Indians. National’s economic management and focus on efficiency has meant District Health Boards are now providing more care sooner, and significantly im-proving patient services in our hospitals. We will provide even more elective surgery. We will extend the four-week maximum waiting time target for cancer radiation treatment to include chemotherapy. And we will reduce waiting times for important diagnostic tests and further reduce waiting times in emergency departments.

4. National is protecting our communitiesNational is building a safer New Zealand with recorded crime down 7 per cent. We have passed 18 new laws to make Indian families safer, we have boosted police on the frontline, we have introduced tougher sentences and parole laws, and we have cracked down on gangs and P. National will stay tough on criminals. We will screen parole applications to reduce unnecessary hearings, in-crease penalties for child pornography, and introduce civil detention orders for the most high-risk offenders.

5. National is protecting victims of crimeNational is committed to putting victims at the heart of the justice system. Victims find themselves in the crimi-nal justice system through no fault of their own and they deserve all the support and services they need. We intro-duced a $50 offender levy, which funds 13 new services and entitlements for victims. National will double the pen-alties for breaching a protection order, fund a programme of security improvements for the homes of family violence victims, and keep improving services for victims.

6. National is building better housingNational knows that good housing is important for the

health and wellbeing of our Indian families and our com-munities. We’re focused on making sure that all New Zealanders have a warm, dry, and health place to live. We are well on our way to insulating 188,000 homes having already insulated 130,000 homes. We have completed 50,000 upgrades to state housing, including clean heating and necessary maintenance. We have created 2000 jobs during the recession through state housing upgrades. And we have assisted 4400 first-home buyers to get finance. National will increase the supply of social housing through the more effective use of existing resources and we will continue to provide warmer, drier and healthier homes.

7. National is reforming welfare National is reforming the benefit system to focus on what people can do, not what they can’t. It is not socially or financially sustainable to continue to spend eight billion dollars a year to pay benefits to 12 per cent of working age New Zealanders. We will better support people into em-ployment with an active investment approach. Research shows that children are better off when their parents are in work, not on welfare. We have greater aspirations for New Zealanders and their children, which are achieved through work, not welfare. National’s improvements to the welfare system are expected to result in up to 46,000 people off welfare and another 11,000 working part-time within four years.

8. National is improving employment relationsNational will continue to improve employment law. A flex-ible and fair labour market is critical for building a stronger and more competitive economy. Over the past three years, National has brought a better balance to labour market rules through 90-day trials which has created 13,000 jobs, improving the Holidays Act, and streamlining the personal grievance system. National will introduce a Starting-Out Wage for young people. This will give some of our young-est and most inexperienced workers a much-needed foot in the door. We will also extend flexible working arrange-ments, continuing to improve collective bargaining and review constructive dismissal.

9. National is building 21st century schoolsNational has made improving our schools a priority because good schools are vitally important. They provide an opportunity for all children to get ahead and make the most of their lives. National has substantially increased funding to build and upgrade schools. We’ve fast-tracked school building work through the recession and we’ve also provided extra resources to make our schools ready for ultra-fast broadband. Now we are taking the next step. National is modernising and transforming New Zealand’s schools. We will invest $1 billion from the Future Invest-ment Fund to make our schools ready for the 21st Century.

10. National is prioritising science and innova-tionNational will boost investment in the science sector to transform Industrial Research Limited (IRL) into an ad-vanced technology institute. High-tech sectors could contribute substantially more to the economy than they currently do. Over the next five years, we will effectively double the size and capability of IRL, transforming it into an advanced technology institute with up to 700 staff and with a far greater reach than at present. National will earmark up to $ 80 million from the Future Investment Fund for capital spending in areas like new buildings and equip-ment.

1. To own our future: Keeping the Kiwi-owned earning assets in Kiwi hands. National will sell the assets. Labour won’t. We know that once they’re gone they’re gone. Last year our power companies and airline returned nearly a billion dollars in dividends. It’s no wonder that foreigners are so interested in getting their hands on them! Labour will pay back out country’s debt faster than National without selling the assets.

2. A Fairer and Smarter tax system Fairness means that when times are tough, everyone gets a fair go and everyone pays their fair share. At the moment, some New Zealanders aren't paying their fair share and are leaving it to others to shoulder the burden. A fairer and smarter tax system will help to provide some relief for low and middle income people who are struggling..

3. Cost of Living Labour will give families a tax break and relief to average working New Zealanders currently struggling with High Cost of living under National Government. We will make first $5000 a person earns tax-free. GST will be removed from fresh fruit and veg-etables. nimum wage $15.00 per hour.

4. Jobs and Skills: We’ll invest in our young people to get them into work, and we’ll support the businesses that take them on. Labour will train more apprentices. We’ll get 9000 young people off the dole and into training. We’ll channel their dole payments into employer subsi-dies. We’ll get them working in Canterbury and around the country. Labour will ensure all teenagers are either earning and learn-ing. A Labour Government will use major government contracts to back NZ firms instead of exporting jobs offshore. Con-tracts will be awarded fairly providing the best deal for New Zealand and New Zea-landers. It’s about Kiwi jobs, Kiwi skills and Kiwi industries. It’s about our future.

5. It is about our Kids Labour is committed to making a major investment in children, starting at the be-ginning – up to the age of six. Ensurong every 3 and 4 year old has access to free 20 hours Early Childhood Education a week, maintain fees control, work with the sector to reinstate 100% qualified teachers and restore cuts made by this government over time; We’ll establish a Ministry for Children and make sure that kids are its priority – not just in theory, but in practice.

6. Savings Labour will make KiwiSaver universal,

simpler and compulsory for all wage and salary earners. Restarting contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund.

7. Better Transport System Labour will partner with the Auckland Council to give Aucklanders the world-class transport system they deserve. Labour will provide funding of $1.2 billion from the Land Transport Fund for the rail link --- half the proposed cost --- on the understanding that the Auckland Council is responsible for funding the other half. This investment will get Auckland moving. It was time to "unchoke the heart of Auckland".

8. Ethnic PolicyLabour will establish a new Ministry of Ethnic Affairs. Taking ethnic participation from symbolism to nation building. Deepen the level of New Zealand’s awareness and understanding of ethnic communities and our growing diversity. Consult widely and constantly with ethnic communities. Con-structively work to eliminate “everyday racism”. Increase ethnic participation in leadership roles in New Zealand

9. Law and Order Labour is committed to Making all 62 one-person police stations in New Zealand two-person stations. Petty Crimes mst be treated seriously. Labour is committed to developing long-term programmes that prioritise prevention and that will endure across the short-term ‘getting tough on crime’ pressures of the electoral cycle. ur aim is to extend the community policing model we implemented in our last term. This means working with communities to determine the policing programmes they need to target particular crime hot spots such as youth crime, burglary and family violence.

10. Best Health and EducationLabour’s health funding to keep pace with a growing, ageing population. Free 24/7 doctor visits for children under six. Ring-fenced funding for mental health services. Sustainable funding for aged care. More affordable dental care. Consistent, nation-wide access to quality hospital services. A highly skilled, highly motivated workforce. All core government policies to have health impact assessments. Labour’s educa-tion policy recognises children and young people are New Zealand’s future and that every one of them deserves access to quality education. We know an education is not just about memorising facts and figures. Our education policy focuses on modernis-ing teaching and learning for all, so our chil-dren are prepared for tomorrow’s world.

Ten reasons Why you should voTe for labour Ten reasons Why you should voTe for naTional

Authorised by by G Hamilton, L2, 2652 Thorndon Quay, Wellington

Indian Community

Authorised by G. Hamilton, Level 2, 262 Thorndon Quay, Wellington.

See National’s plan to Build a Brighter Futureat www.national.org.nz

ONLY A STRONG STABLE GOVERNMENTCAN DELIVER FORYOUR COMMUNITY

PARTY VOTEwww.national.org.nz

STN2516IW

Not all politics is serious, and the Auckland Indian theatre company Prayas is this month presenting a play mixing laughter, dance, music and a gentle political point -- the Kingdom of Cards (Tasher Desh).

Set against a background that could be anywhere in the world, the play uses humour and satire to make a point or two about freedom and choice.

To be performed at TAPAC in Western Springs, 24-27 November, Kingdom of Cards is Prayas's way of honouring the 150th anniversary of its playwright, the remarkable Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

A man of many plays and poems, Tagore is fondly remembered in South Asia, not least because he wrote the national anthems of two countries - India and Bangadesh.

Unlike the anthems, Kingdom of Cards is not a solemn occasion.

Tagore wrote it as an attack against social stigma, prejudices and bigotry prevalent in the tumultuous political landscape of that time. It was more than that though; Kingdom of Cards is critical of all totalitarian and undemocratic regimes.

It is, however, timeless and its humour and criticism has a ready place in modern New Zealand life.

The Kingdom of Cards is a colourful music and dance comedy tells the story of a Prince who wants to be free from the burden of a monotonously lavish life. He sails off with a merchant friend to seek adventure and challenge in unknown lands.

"Our peace and calm are like an ancient tree. Worms have burrowed into it and it's dead: we want to cut it down."

In Alice in Wonderland style, he ends up in a childlike world where everything is a card character. The people live a stilted life and are guided by 'rules' and the hierarchy of cards.

"You're female - you should preserve peace. We're male, and we must preserve culture".

With romance, music and laughter, the prince changes lives.

Prayas, which has a solid five year record of plays to its credit now, has reached out to the Auckland theatre community and involves players and crew of many different ethnicities.

It is directed by Amit Ohdedar & Choreographed by Jason Moore

Prayas was founded with the objective of staging an annual production. The idea was that these would be the works of noted Indian playwrights in English.

A political play for election season

While official talks between the gov-ernments of New Zealand and India on the proposed Free Trade Agree-ment are progressing well, the India New Zealand Business Council is keeping up the momentum in getting businesses in the two countries to in-teract and engage with one another with a number of activities and events.

One of these was held last week at the Langham in Auckland earlier this week. The council and High Commission of India in New Zealand jointly held a business event with the theme ‘Doing business in India – op-portunities and challenges’ sponsored by the ANZ Bank, which is planning a major thrust in India.

INZBC Chairman Wenceslaus Anthony told Indian Weekender that the event was “Historical as it is first time in the history of INZBC that the Indian High Commission is co-sponsoring an event with the council. This is largely due to the visionary leadership of the High Commissioner Admiral (Retd) Sureesh Mehta.”

Mr Anthony said that during his tenure the High Commission has con-tributed significantly in promoting trade and business between India and New Zealand. One of his most signifi-cant contributions was the successful mission of Prime Minister John Key’s delegation to India in June this year. The mission was designated a state visit.

Speaking at the function, His Ex-cellency Admiral Mehta said, “For a meaningful relationship the busi-ness community has to look seriously toward strong bilateral trade and business ties.” While other speakers would be speaking about doing busi-ness in India, he said his call would be to explore how Indian Businesses could invest in New Zealand and how there could be more significant increase in terms of dollars of supply of goods and services from India to New Zealand.

Giving a comprehensive historical background of India, he said today India had become the focal point for the world’s big corporations. He said that there is an active market of about 500 million people in India, which global companies have an access to in the overall population of India, which is about 1.2 billion.

He said that one could look at joint ventures in various sectors and spoke about the numbers of CEOs in large Corporations overseas who are of Indian Origin. He also said though Indians are just over 1% of the total population in USA, the high percent-age of Indians occupying senior man-agement roles across various sectors and the number of doctors, engineers, scientists, IT specialists and other professionals was considerable.

He said he was pleased to see Indians doing well in New Zealand citing the instance of Bhav Dhillon of CEMIX who joined the company as an employee just few years ago and then bought over the company, which last week was ranked the 21st fastest growing company in New Zealand – and also ranked the fastest growing manufacturer in Auckland and Northland as part of the Deloitte’s Fast50 list.

Other Speakers at the event in-cluded Sir Ken Stevens of Glidepath, Rick Osborne of Fonterra, Micheal Orton of eBus and Sameer Handa of Patton Engineering. Bhav Dhillon proposed a vote of thanks on behalf of the INZBC. The Q & A session that followed proved a lively and interac-tive one with several questions being asked about the developing relation-ships between the two countries espe-cially in the backdrop of the emerging FTA.

NZ-India business opportunities discussed

His Excellency the High Commissioner of India to New Zealand Admiral Suresh Mehta delivering his address at the event

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Indian Community

‘Akhand Bhajans’ which Sri Sathya Sai Service Organisation had or-ganised during the weekend of 12-13 Nov 2011.

More than 500 devotees at-tended the 24-hour non-stop devo-tional singing (Akhanda Bhajans) session, which the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation NZ organised on No-vember12-13 in Auckland.

Simultaneous sessions were also held in Wellington and Ham-ilton, where also large numbers of devotees were present. The singing took place continuously between 6pm onm Saturday and 6pm on Sunday.

This was a part of the global annual event organised by Sathya Sai Baba devotees all over the world. “It was being done not for the sake of one individual, one nation, or one community. It was for the welfare of humanity as a whole,” said one of the organisers.

The event commenced with the lighting of the ‘Akhanda Jyothi’ (sacred lamp) that was kept lit for 24 hours. The sacred lamp was lit in each country during the 24 hour period based on local time.

New Zealand was ahead of many countries to start the singing ses-sions, owing to its position on the time zone. As the earth revolves, lamps were lit in all countries ac-

cording to the local time, and by the time the westernmost country lighted the lamp, easternmost countries had completed the ‘Akhand Bhajans’.

Before the event was complet-ed here, the world was in a girdle of sacred lamps lit round the globe by Sai devotees. This sacred lamp not only helps to concentrate the minds of devotees but promotes also a sense of spiritual unity and harmony among the devotees.

Sai Organisation that promotes the unity of faiths has set up an example in New Zealand, by singing devotional songs in Sanskrit, English and Maori languages. The songs were dedicated to all aspects of God and faiths. It has therefore spread the message of love through the names of the embodiment of universal love.

Faithful chant devotionals round the clockKanwaljit Bakshi Singh, National

List MP, welcomes the Government’s announcement that Papatoetoe High School in Manukau East will receive $1.8 million to upgrade classrooms.

“Having modern, healthy class-rooms makes a lot of difference to students, teachers, and communi-ties,” Mr Bakshi says.

“Papatoetoe High School will make changes to a block with 12 classrooms, administration, and re-source spaces.

“The funding will help Papa-toetoe High School meet the chang-ing needs of our students so they can use the latest technology in the decades ahead.

“The National-led Government spent $6 million for 11 Manukau East schools to get upgrades, new class-rooms, and new non-teaching spaces as part of the Jobs and Growth pro-gramme, which wrapped up earlier this year.

“This funding is on top of the

recent announcement that National will put a billion dollars towards modernising schools around the country over the next five years.

“National is committed to giving every child the chance to reach their potential.”

More than 500 major building modernisation projects have been completed, including more than 270 new classrooms and gyms, and more than 140 libraries, halls, and admin-istration blocks.

New classrooms for Papatoetoe High School

Primary school children across Auckland will be stretching their imaginations in the hopes of having their Christmas-themed designs transformed into New Zealand’s largest laser projection.

The regional search kicked off today to find a festive design, created by a primary school class, to become the highlight of a commu-nity Christmas event at the Telstra-Clear Pacific Centre in Manukau on 20 December.

Luke Patterson, TelstraClear Marketing Manager, says this is a unique opportunity for children

to see their own creations come to life. “This is a great way for kids to express their artistic talents using an interesting high-tech medium and for teachers to do something differ-ent with their students in the lead up to the holiday season. I can’t wait to see the winning design light up the sky. “This event is the perfect fit for TelstraClear since it combines our community and family focus with leading-edge technology that’s designed to connect and entertain people.” The winning class will have their design brought to life as a public animated laser projection

and will also receive a $1,000 Tel-straClear voucher for their school to use on products and services like TelstraClear’s leading high-speed broadband service.

To enter the competition chil-dren and teachers can visit http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/go/laser to download an entry form and start a laser-powered Christmas animation adventure.

TelstraClear Christmas Laser Show design competition Opens: 1 November 2011 Closes: 25 Novem-ber 2011 Competition details: www.telstraclear.co.nz/go/laser

Kid’s Christmas creations to light up Auckland icon

Authorised by Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi 1/131,Kolmar Road Papatoetoe Auckland. Authorised by Melissa Lee,

779 New North Road, Mt Albert. Authorised by Dr Jackie Blue 1282 Dominion Rd, Mt Roskill

Providing a strong voice for the Indian community in John Key’s Government

Jackie Blue, Melissa Lee & Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi


IndianIndian

divine mission elevates spirit of the faithfulThe Divine Retreat Centre’s move-ment in New Zealand held a 6-day full time mission for the first time at Christ the King Church, Owairaka, Auckland from October 8 to 13 this year.

Divine Retreat Centre, located in Kerala, India is the largest Catholic Retreat Centre in the world. Over 10 million people from India and all over the world have attended re-treats here since 1989. The retreats are conducted every week of the year in English and 6 other Indian languages.

Besides the numerous evange-lisation works that are carried out by the Vincentian Fathers and their team of volunteers, Divine Retreat Centre cares for 3,000 sick and needy people in the charitable homes and many other social service projects run by the Divine Charitable Trust on a long-term basis.

The mission held at Christ the King Church, Owairaka, with Fr Augustine and his team of Glen and Teresa was a transcendent experi-ence for everyone involved. A retreat often suggests a sense of privacy but this was different – people of dif-ferent ethnicities came together to participate in a powerful collective experience.

This was a celebration of the power of God to reach across com-munal barriers and create a wonder-ful tapestry woven together from diverse skeins of society – Tongans, Samoans, Maoris, Europeans, Sri Lankans, Indians, Filipinos,

Chinese, and people of different faiths, some even taking annual leave, put aside their differences and in one week were unified by the transformative grace of God, their lives changed by sharing in one an-other’s experiences.

By week's end, through the power of prayer and parable, an overflow-ing church of more than 1000 people had spent 7 hours a day for 6 days experiencing something unique, something that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. The week imbued every participant with a sense of mission – that we can change the world by changing our

own lives that we are not alone for God is with us not only as a divine being but also through our neigh- bours.

Fr. Augustine arrived on October 6 for a private retreat for the core members of the group and he began by telling them a parable based on Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, where the donkey assumed that the cheering was for him and on being challenged to reproduce the event

the next day, found himself unable to do so and resorted to braying and kicking his legs, which led to people stoning him – we are merely messen-gers, vehicles for the Lord’s word.

The mission began on

October 8 with a concelebrated mass by Auckland Bishop Pat Dunn and seven other priests. Bishop Dunn reminded everyone that we are alive with the Holy Spirit; only dead fish flow with the river; we don’t have to meander downstream aimlessly but can choose to follow the Lord even if it means going

against the flow. Indeed, we don’t even have to choose; if we keep our hearts and minds open God will choose our paths for us (the presence of the people at the Retreat was an example of that).

The topics covered ranged from sin, faith, family, marriage, youth and finally the message was that ev-erything that happens in our lives is part of a divine plan for us. Some-times we don’t understand all of it, because our understanding and ex-perience are limited, but if we re-member that God has a plan for each

of us we will learn to be patient – wait and pray are the watch-words.

Wenceslaus Anthony, Chair-man of DRC Movement, NZ, said all those who attended were touched during the mission and they in turn will be able to touch the lives of others and thus build the Super City of Auckland of God’s love. It was encouraging to see many people attending this impor-tant spiritual feast.

There is much to be done in Auckland, New Zealand “The harvest is great and the labour-

ers few” (Mathew 9:37) Wenceslaus urges.

Just as the body needs nourish-ment, so does the spirit. Through various ministries of DRC NZ and the spirituality of the movement the members will continue to endeavour to be a witness and touch the lives of people with God’s love.

louella sHetty

Pat Dunn, Bishop Of Auckland, celebrating the Holy Eucharist with other priests for the large faithful gathered on the 1st day.

Youth in large numbers on the Youth Day during the Mission.

The launch of a new New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse (NZFVCH) website will give New Zealand greater access to family violence research and emerging says the Families Commission.

The Families Commission, which has responsibility for the New

Zealand Family Violence Clearing-house, is pleased to announce that the new website is operational. This project is part of a new partnership between the Commission and the University of Auckland.

“The purpose of the website,” says Chief Families Commissioner Carl Davidson, “is to make informa-tion available to people working in violence prevention. Better informa-tion means better results, and it’s in

the interests of all New Zealanders that our response to family violence draws on the best research from around the world.

“The vision of the Families Com-mission is to be a centre of excellence for knowledge about New Zealand families and whānau. Working with the NZFVCH is part of that vision to ensure we can advocate for the interests of families from a strong evidential base.”

“Evidence must form the basis of our response to preventing family violence, and campaigns such as our White Ribbon Campaign to end vio-lence against women and the its not OK campaign, will benefit from fast and efficient access to the best evi-

dence from around the world.”“The Clearinghouse draws on

the expert leadership and academic excellence exemplified by Dr Janet Fanslow, whose work has contrib-uted greatly to understanding family violence in New Zealand, and As-sociate Professor Robyn Dixon, who has extensive experience in leading multidisciplinary teams in research and evaluation projects.”

“By ensuring high quality re-

search is readily available we are in a much better position to move New Zealand to a violence-free future.”

The NZFVCH was established in 2005. The Clearinghouse team includes Dr Janet Fanslow and As-sociate Professor Robyn Dixon at the University of Auckland, Gay Richards as Information Specialist, Dr Chris Paton as IT Specialist and Jessica Trask as NZFVC Manager. The Clearinghouse uses a number of different methods to make its infor-mation more accessible, including the new state-of-the-art website, an on-site librarian and improved link-ages to the family violence sector.

The NZFVCH website is acces-sible at www.nzfvc.org.nz

NZ Family Violence Clearing-house website launched

News from New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse - October 2011

https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1108437477301&format=html&print=true[3/11/2011 11:05:21 a.m.]

Print

Panui

Issue 2 October 2011

In This IssueNew resources

In the news

Upcoming events

Newsletter

Kia ora and welcometo newsletter No. 2 from the

NZFVC. The links in thisnewsletter will take you tothe NZFVC's new website.

Quick Links

NZFVC Website

Contact the InformationSpecialist

Tena tatou katoaIf you have visited the New Zealand Family ViolenceClearinghouse website recently, you will see that it haschanged! The NZFVC at its new location and the redesignedwebsite will be officially launched on Thursday 10November. You are invited. Download the invitation. PleaseRSVP by 2 November 2011. The NZFVC teamnow at Tamaki Innovation Campus The University of Auckland

New resourcesHere are just some of the books, reports, journal articles andother resources added to the NZFVC library this month. TheRead summary / Request this item links will take you to moreinformation about the item on the NZFVC website. Otherlinks will take you to other websites to access online resources.Please contact us if any links are broken.

Creating change : for people working to

prevent family violence in New Zealand

by Campaign for Action on Family Violence.

Wellington, N.Z.: Campaign for Action on Family

Violence,March 2011.72 p. (PDF 2.6MB)

ISBN: 9780478335286

Other Title: Creating change toolkit.

Read summary / Request this item

Available online: Click here to access online

Finding safety: provision of specialised domestic

The launch of a new New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse (NZFVCH) website will give New Zealand greater access to family violence research and emerging says the Families Commission.

Community news in pictures

Community

Kalipuja was held at May Road War Memorial Hall in Mt Roskill with more than 380 people attending. The Puja decoration was a replica of the Shri Dakshineshwar Temple, which is one of the famous Kali temples of Kolkata. Guests enjoyed the food, live music with Dhak-Kashor (Drum) and entertainment (fireworks, quiz contest with prizes, raffles, etc.).

Bhabna NZ celebrated its 9th year Sree Kalipuja on October 29th-2011

IndianIndian india

















New Delhi: United States has ten-dered an apology for an incident in September when former president APJ Abdul Kalam was frisked by the security at the JFK Airport in New York even after he had boarded the flight for returning to India.

"Appropriate procedure for ex-pedited screening of dignitaries had not been followed," the US

embassy here said after reportedly a formal apology to the Indian gov-ernment and the former president.

"We deeply regret the inconve-nience that resulted for him as a result of the September 29 incident involving the security screening at JFK Airport in New York," the statement said.

USA also assured to work out a procedure so that such incidents did

not recur. Indian external affairs minis-

try was upset over the incident and India's ambassador to US, Niru-pama Rao, was asked to take it up at the highest level in Washington.

Kalam was returning on an Air India flight when the incident took place.

He was in USA for a series of events in September.

US apologises for Kalam frisking

New Delhi: Civil Aviation minister Vayalar Ravi said on Friday that Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee might speak with the banks over a possibler bail out of cash-drought Kingfisher Airlines.

However, he added that the debt recast would not be made the way it was done in case of national carrier Air India.

Ravi said owner of Kingfisher airlines, Vijay Mallya, had spoken to him for some help and hence he discussed the issue with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy.

Kingfisher Airlines have been passing through tough situation for quite some time now with the air-lines losing nearly Rs. 1000 crore in the current financial year.

The airlines has to repay a bank loan of Rs. 7000 crore, media reports said.

The flight company has not made payments to the oil companies.

Earlier, aviation regulator Di-rectorate General of Civil Avia-

tion (DGCA) had sent a notice to Kingfisher Airlines, asking to give reasons behind the cancellation of at least 80 flights in the last three days.

Owned by Vijay Mallya, King-fisher Airlines has been cancelling large number of flights in recent times.

The rule book states that airlines need to take the permission from aviation regulatory body DGCA before taking decision on reschedul-ing flights.

DGCA not only sent a notice to Kingfisher Airlines for explanations behind their decisions to cancel so many flights, but they also asked the company to think about compensat-ing the passengers.

For the past few days passengers had been facing severe problems as Kingfisher cancelled the flights without giving any sort of notice, media reports said.

Several passengers had to pay extra amount and buy tickets in other flights as their scheduled flights were cancelled.

Kingfisher Airlines seeks govt help New Delhi: Foreign Tourist Ar-

rivals (FTAs) during the Month of October, 2011 was 5.63 lakh as compared to FTAs of 5.07 lakh during the month of October, 2010 and 4.59 lakh in October, 2009. There has been a growth of 11.0% in October, 2011 over October, 2010 as compared to a growth of 10.5 % registered in October 2010 over October, 2009.

The growth rate of 11.0% in October 2011 is higher than 8.7% growth rate observed in Septem-ber, 2011 over September 2010.

FTAs during the period Jan-uary-October, 2011 were 49.38 lakh with a growth of 10.0%, as compared to the FTAs of 44.87 lakh with a growth of 11.9 %

during January-October 2010 over the corresponding period of 2009.

Foreign Exchange Earn-ings (FEE) during the month of October 2011 were Rs. 7019 crore as compared to Rs. 5219 crore in September 2010 and Rs 4806 crore in October 2009.

The growth rate in FEE in Rs terms in October 2011 over October 2010 was 34.5% as com-pared to 8.6 % in October 2010 over October 2009.

FEE from tourism in rupee terms during January-October 2011 were Rs. 60780 crore with a growth of 18.4%, as compared to the FEE of Rs. 51334 crore with a growth of 21.1% during January- October 2010 over the

corresponding period of 2009. FEE in US$ terms during the month of October 2011 were US$ 1424 million as compared to FEE of US$ 1175 million during the month of October 2010 and US$ 1028 million in October 2009.

The growth rate in FEE in US$ terms in October 2011 over October 2010 was 19% as com-pared to the growth of 29.3 % in September 2010 over September 2009.

FEE from tourism in terms of US$ during January-October 2011 were US$ 13310 million with a growth of 19.0%, as com-pared to US$ 11187 million with a growth of 28.6 % during Jan-uary-October 2010 over the cor-responding Period of 2009.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals grow 11%

Indian india

Mumbai: The Eurozone debt crisis and persistently high crude oil prices will have a direct bearing on future investment climate in India and make it challenging to manage the growth-inflation balance, RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn said on Friday.

These two external factors have already started taking a toll on Indian exports. However, the bank interest rate cycle appears to have peaked and further hikes may not be warranted, he said while addressing the managing committee meeting of Associated Chambers of Com-merce and Industry of India (ASSO-CHAM).

Gokarn said though the risk of endemic food inflation remains, there are signals that headline in-flation may start coming down by January next year and level below 7 per cent in the first half of 2012-13.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised interest rates 13 times since early 2010 but failed to rein in inflation, which remains above 9 per cent. Instead, asset quality at banks is eroding and economic growth in Asia's third largest economy is slowing.

Turbulence in the country's biggest export markets – the United States and Europe – have prompted many industry leaders and govern-ment officials to predict an export

slowdown and a worsening trade deficit in the second half of the fiscal year ending March 2012.

“The stress points in global sce-nario are evolving rapidly,” said Gokarn. “External turbulence is also impacting currency exchange rates in emerging markets like India. The rupee is the fourth most depreci-ated currency in Asian region in the past two-and-a-half months. From growth perspective, the country is facing a slowdown.”

Gokarn said that the rupee has become a floating currency now within the boundaries of structur-al capital controls. “The RBI has stayed within bounds of stated poli-cies on the rupee,” he added.

The RBI predicts GDP growth of about 7.6 per cent in 2011-12. Increasing affluence and changing consumption patterns are driving up food inflation, said Gokarn.

He said efforts should be made to remove infrastructural bottlenecks, speed up new development proj-ects and bring fiscal deficit within manageable limits to contain rising inflation and maintain growth mo-mentum.

ASSOCHAM president Dilip Modi said the industry is concerned over ways to drive up investments. He said the EU crisis is impacting domestic economy which has seen cost of credit rising steadily.

Inflation dynamics show that within manufacturing sector, the highest price rise is in primary and upstream products. “Intermedi-ate goods producers are passing on higher costs to consumer goods industry. Since consumer indus-try faces price rise resistance from consumers, their profit margins are under pressure,” said Modi.

‘Eurozone crisis may impact Indian investment’

External turbulence is also impacting currency exchange rates in emerging markets like India. The rupee is the fourth most depreciated currency in Asian region in the past two-and-a-half months. From growth perspective, the country is facing a slowdown.”

New Delhi: The Income Tax Settlement Commission, Minis-try of Finance, has settled over 15000 tax disputes involving over 1.35 lakhs tax proceedings in its life time since 1976. In 2010-11, it passed 400 orders, in which it settled income amounting to 595 Crores, which was 187% over the returned income of 206 Crores in these cases.

This was stated by Ramji Sinha, Chairman, Income Tax Settlement Commission here on Friday, while inaugurating the ‘K. N. Wanchoo Conference hall’, in order to commemorate Justice Kailas Nath Wanchoo, for his role in visualising the Income Tax Settlement Commission.

The inauguration took place in the presence of eminent tax payers, members of bar associa-tion, and other senior officers of the Commission.

The Income Tax Settlement Commission is a high-level, Al-ternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) body for resolving pro-tracted tax disputes.

This organization was set up in 1976 on the recommendation of a high level Committee con-stituted by the Government under Justice K. N. Wanchoo, retired

Chief Justice of Supreme Court. The Settlement Commis-

sion is mandated to resolve tax disputes by serving as a neutral mediator, by adopting consensus rather than conflict approach. Its objective is to allow non-habit-ual tax offenders to come clean by making disclosure before the Commission, which then passes final settlement orders within 18 months.

The full amount of tax and interest is to be paid by the appli-cant before making the applica-tion. The orders of the Commis-sion are final and conclusive and binding for both parties, i.e. The Income Tax Department and the taxpayers.

At present, there are 4 benches of the Commission working at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. During the recent budget speech in 2011, the Union Finance Minister has announced setting up 3 new benches of the Income Tax Settlement Commis-sion.

The Commission is com-mitted to serve its objective of dispute resolution in a time bound manner, which is in line with the National Litigation Policy of the government.

Over 15000 disputes settled by Income Tax commission

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Mumbai: The government has announced a series of measures to tackle corruption and is set to propose for consideration seven bills in the forthcoming session of Parliament, Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Plan-ning, Science, Technology and Earth Scienc-es of India, said in a BBC television debate last week at the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit.

These include bills to protect whistle-blowers and a bill to prevent bribery by foreign officials. “Legislation cannot be made under public frenzy,” he argued, refer-ring to widespread civil society protests in the summer, saying the protests had turned “we the people” into “we the mob”.

The civil society collective that led anti-corruption protests in the summer – infor-mally termed Team Anna, after the Gandhi-an “Anna” Hazare who became the face of the agitation – will restart agitation if the ruling Congress party does not introduce a bill to create an ombudsman that takes into account all of their concerns, said activist Kiran Bedi, Founder and Secretary-General, Navjyoti India Foundation.

“There is a huge trust deficit,” Bedi said, demanding that the government must include provisions in the “Lokpal Bill” to include all government officials, including law-makers and judicial officials under the ambit of the law. It must make bidding of all valuable contracts transparent and all politi-cal donations public.

Adi B. Godrej, Chairman, The Godrej Group, Godrej Industries, and President Designate, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said CII has framed a “code of business

ethics” that many businesses are support-ing. He said India is suffering from not just corruption in business-to-government deal-ings, but also petty corruption that almost every citizen has to face. This is hurting the economy and preventing Indian and foreign companies from investing in India.

Godrej said corruption can be significant-ly reduced by making government processes and decision-making transparent and non-discretionary. Punishment for corruption must be swift and certain, he said, adding that it is more important in the long run to create an economic environment where such acts do not pay; this can be achieved by en-suring reasonable levels of taxes and rela-tively quick legal redress.

A recent Transparency International survey revealed that two in four Indians said they paid a bribe in the previous year, against an average of one in four globally. However, 74% said corruption could be beaten, against just 49% elsewhere. “When the people see laws are enforced, commitment at the top is real, they will feel safer in saying no to corruption,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair, Transparency International.

Labelle said businesses can play a signifi-cant role if they decide on a zero-tolerance policy to bribe-giving and publicly report everything they pay to the government. India has ratified the UN Convention on Corruption, and it can find a place among the top 10 in Transparency International’s rank-ings within three to four years, provided the right institutions are created and allowed to function.

More anti-corruption bills in India’s Parliament

New Delhi: There is no such proposal under consideration of the Planning Commission for relaxing ban on sex determination tests, said a government statement on Friday.

Recently a news item appeared in media suggesting that there is a proposal under consideration in the Planning Commission to relax ban on sex determination tests.

It may be mentioned that the ‘Child Sex Ratio’ is a monitorable goal of the 11th Five Year Plan. Census 2011 data has revealed that there is a steep decline in the Child Sex Ratio in the country and the situation has not improved during the last decade. Further it has been noted that the girl child faces adverse environment in the early growth period also.

Planning commission supports creat-ing and developing environment where all children grow healthy irrespective of their gender. This implies care and protection to

the pregnant women regardless of whether the fetus is male or female. However, serious efforts have to be made to protect the girl child. Support to girl child will result in re-storing honor, protection and revalorization of the child.

With a view to formulate the 12th Five Year Plan, Planning Commission has consti-tuted a large number of Steering Commit-tees, Working Groups and other Task Force, Sub-Groups.

Each Committee and group has 15 to 20 members. Members are requested to give their views / comments / observations on the issues which are to be addressed in the 12th Five Year Plan as per terms of reference and related matters.

Reports of various Working Groups and Steering Committees are under preparation and inputs from these reports will be includ-ed in the 12th Five Year Plan.

"No proposal to relax ban on sex determination"

Haridwar: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said he is grieved to learn about the loss of lives in the stampede at Haridwar.

The Prime Minister has sanctioned an ex-gratia of one lakh rupees each to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 to those seriously injured in the stampede from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

At least 16 people were killed and over 10 others were injured in a stampede at 'Gayatri Mahakumbh' organized by Gayatri

Sangh in Haridwar's Chandidweep area on Tuesday morning. The injured people have been admitted to local hospitals. Condition of two are critical.

The stampede took place when a large number of people tried to enter the gate of Shantikunj Ashram where a 'yagya' (sacri-ficial fire) was arranged.

Thousands of devotees had assembled to take part in the birth centenary celebrations of religious guru Pandit Shreeram Sharma, founder of Gayatri Shakti Peeth.

haridwar stampede: PM sanctions ex-gratia

india

saibaba

saibaba


Indian Feature

ECF 0056 Ref_MagAds-Indian Weekndr_halfdps_cp.indd 1 19/10/11 10:10:34 AMECF 0056 Ref_MagAds-Indian Weekndr_halfdps_cp.indd 1 19/10/11 10:10:34 AM

Remembering India’s valiant

honouring India’s war veterans on Remembrance day: 137,000 lost their lives in World War-I and IIThe contribution of South Asian servicemen and women in both World Wars is still not widely acknowledged. “Their sacrifice remains largely unnoticed – despite the fact that soldiers from South Asia outnumbered their British comrades in receiving the Victoria and George Cross Medals, the highest awards for bravery.” Said Ontario, Canada based researcher Kharid Rus-tomjee who is putting together a book on the South Asian contribution in the major World Wars.

As Remembrance week passes the facts remain that Indian soldiers in World War One and Two fought for the British and allied forces with the biggest volunteer army in history during the 1913-1918 conflict and the 1939-1845 war.

Rustomjee said, “People are just absolutely astounded when you explain that over 3.5 million South Asians fought alongside the British, Canadians, Americans, Australians and New Zealand armed forces in both conflicts.”

He added, “They were fighter pilots, bomber pilots, tank drivers, sailors and infantryman and performed gallantly.”

Rustomjee said veterans he has spoken to believe the role played by vol-unteers from India and the rest of the Empire in both world wars is relatively unknown.

In World War I alone, more than 1 million Indians volunteered and 50,000 Indians died fighting for Britain. During World War II from 1939 to 1945 2.5 million Indians fought for the British against the Germans and Japanese and much of north-east India was turned into a British military camp to defend south-east Asia from the advancing Japanese army.

In an interview with the BBC, Dr K. Vadgama, who is campaigning for greater public recognition of India’s role in the World Wars said that Indian soldiers paid a heavy price for British freedom.

“It’s about time that we were put into text books and children’s history books, so that we can live in the country with some degree of dignity,”

Harbans Singh – one of about 2.5 million Indian soldiers who enlisted for

veeNo DeWaN


Indian

ECF 0056 Ref_MagAds-Indian Weekndr_halfdps_cp.indd 1 19/10/11 10:10:34 AMECF 0056 Ref_MagAds-Indian Weekndr_halfdps_cp.indd 1 19/10/11 10:10:34 AM

A new website has been launched by the Commonwealth War Graves Com-mission to highlight the contribution of the people of 'Undivided India' during the first and second world wars, a com-mission official said.

"Forever India" at www.Cwgc.Org/foreverindia tells the remarkable story of some of the millions of Indians who left their homes in order to fight for the Allied cause, he said.

The Forever India website is the result of a joint project between the Commonwealth War Graves Commis-sion and the Indian government, which is one of six governments that fund the Commission's work.

"The Commission's new Forever India website tells a powerful story of which many people remain unaware," said Alan Pateman-Jones, Director General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

"It will allow young people to explore Commonwealth history in a broader context and to uncover some personal accounts from the people of Undivided India who served and died, but whom the Commission continues to honour at memorials and cemeteries around the world," he added.

According to the website about 1,105,000 troops from Undivided India served overseas in the First World War. By the end of the second world war, Undivided India had provided the largest volunteer force in history, com-prising over 2,500,000 servicemen and women.

Around 161,219 troops from Un-divided India who sacrificed their lives in the two world wars are com-memorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in fifty countries around the world, the website reveals.

Of the 161,219 troops who sacrificed their lives, 26,272 have their identified burials with their own headstones. 134,947 are commemorated on me-morials - the names of those known to have died whose bodies have not been found or those who were cremated, ac-cording to their religious beliefs.

In the First World War, participants from the Indian subcontinent won 13,000 medals. Eleven of them were awarded Victoria Cross, including two who were awarded posthumously.

In Second World War, Indian per-sonnel received 4,000 awards for gal-lantry. 31 of them were bestowed with the Victoria Cross.

Website honouring undivided India's war heroes launched

Feature

Carl Gomes

Britain in World War II – says martial traditions came before any misgivings about fighting for someone else’s King and country.

“We were not fearing from war. Our mind became like theirs. We thought: ‘If we will not kill this man, he will kill us’,” he said.

Captured by the Germans, he survived both German prison camp and the experience of being bombed by his own side on the way there.

At the end of the war he lived to fight in the new army of independent India against Pakistan and China.

Dr Vadgama has a collection of letters written by Indian soldiers who fought for Britain.

“Some talk about how hell might be better than this bitter sickening period of their time in England. But yet they always said at the end of the letter that they must stick with their King and Emperor,” she said.

Voluntary enlistment in the Indian Army – under British command – was stepped up. By the end of the war the Indian army had become the largest volunteer army in the world. Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims played a decisive role in ending the war in some theatres of war. About 87,000 Indian soldiers lost their lives during this conflict.

In 1944, Indian forces were largely responsible for recapturing Burma and stopping the Japanese advance on the rest of the Raj and were instru-mental in battles all over Asia, North Africa and Europe. In Britain, France and Italy to this day Indian soldiers are honored every year on Remembrance Day as the surviving Indian soldier’s parade proudly in their medal and turbans.

Across Europe and Asia there are war memorials, cemeteries and annual parades that mark the huge sacrifice of the Indians – Ghurkhas, Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and Muslims who gave their lives to defend the British Empire.

At the British war cemetery at Kohima, near the Burmese border in north-east India, their contribution is remembered with the words: “For your tomorrow, we’ve given our today.”


IndianHindi teaching curriculumLearning one's culture and language does not mean one cannot integrate into NZ society. If you were to live in a non-Western country, would you discard your language and culture in the name of integrating into that society? I don't think so. Go get a life.

– Anita K

What's wrong with creating another Fiji in NZ? At least these descendants of Indian migrants know how to treat all human beings as equals - none of the caste problems you find in India! They have remarkably preserved their culture and language for some 125 years. Regionalism and caste system are one of the dividing factors in India. Why is Hindi not readily accepted as a national language in the South? In Fiji, South Indians speak in Hindi. There is no caste, just Indians and very proud.

– Anita K

Within Fiji, all Fiji Indians are equal there is no caste system within them. The highest caste in Fiji is white European, who brought Fiji Indian to Fiji. Second highest is local Fiji Kabiti who as Kshatriyas control army and politics. Some Fiji Indians tried to control politics but failed. Third is Gujarati Fiji Indians who control business. All equal Fiji Indians are essentially Girmityas who as Jahajis in an unsanitary passage in crowded ships lost caste and became equals, thanks to Gora Sahib.

– Prashneel Singh

Congratulations Messrs. Nafis Akhtar, Syed Mugeeb, Rais Alvi, Mugtaba Hussan Said, Mohammed Abdul Haq, Shaik Shamsheeruddin, Mohammed Naveed Ahmed, Farhat Rana Malik, Nasir Khan, Mohammad Iram Zaid, Ghani-ur Rahman for providing a lead to Hindi. This is a very great move, which will keep Hindi speakers in NZ- Indians from various states of India, and Fiji Indians too, eternally indebted to these big hearted gentlemen from Pakistan and some also from India. It is heartening to see that Hon’ble MP Bakshi is working under them to carry out this noble work. The question must be asked why Indian High Commission failed in this duty; these forward looking leaders have created an environment of goodwill that reduce the enmity in India's heart.

– Ghulam Lone

Teachers get in on Diwali spiritA very big thanks and vinaka to all who contributed to the schools in Fiji.Times here are not very well interms of finance but your donation has been a blessing in disguise for the children. I would very much appreciate if my school[Deshbandhu Vitogo School] is considered in your future.\ donations as it lies in the povery line.The children come from a poor family and some at times go without food as they come to school. Special request to Mr Rishi Maharaj please...

– Ashwin Chandra

CHOGM presents avenue for fresh approach on Fiji says CCFReverent Yabaki clearly shows the way forward in Fiji is to reestablish God's will through the Men of God. With guidance of Commonwealth and Australia in particular, Fiji has long been a country of God under various regimes that were not being led by woolyheaded dreams of few exploiting a democratic setup. Those forces have gained there recently, and it is not amazing that Communist China is finding a foothold in the once heaven of God. It is imperative that churches Citizen's Constitutional Forum, and godmen like Rev Yabaki take the lead to save Fiji. Indian congregations should also be given a role.

– Christian Henderick

Tribal cultures have their own form of governance...why destroy it and replace it with a western model of one-size fits all democracy. We should stop using the word common-wealth...Is there really any common pool of wealth...Why keep the flame of imperialism going while it has been an appalling chapter in human existence.

– Yashwant

From the Editor

Indian Weekender is published by Kiwi Media Group, 98 Great South Road, New Market and printed at APN Print, Ellerslie, Auckland Copyright 2010. Kiwi Media Group. All Rights Reserved.

Indian Weekender Volume 3 No. 15Publisher: Kiwi Media Group LimitedGroup editor-in-chief: Dev Nadkarni [email protected] editor: Arvind Kumar [email protected] Technical Officer: Rohan Desouza rohan@ indianweekender.co.nzDesign: Sonata Design Ltd - [email protected]: Giri Gupta - Ph: 520 0922, Mob: 021 221 1131. Email - [email protected] & Admin: Chetan - Email: [email protected] email original editorial contributions, community notices and pictures to [email protected] expressed in the publication are not necessarily of the publisher and the publisheris not responsible for advertisers’ claims as appearing in the publication

Letters

Ten top stories on iwk.co.nz1. Remembering Guru Nanak’s essential teachings2. Singh's a finalist in top movie contest 3. Pausing the weight gain at Menopause4. INZBC welcomes NZ Govt’s India report5. ASB celebrates Diwali in Style6. Who will you vote for on November 26?7. 'Hugging Saint' coming to NZ? 8. Sucheta Raj’s impressive Arangetram9. Fiji’s tourism revenue to cross billion10. Jaal traps Auckland audiences

New Zealanders seldom vote a party into power for just one three year term – usually they give a party a six-year rope. It is therefore no surprise that a survey of busi-nesspeople reveals an overwhelming majority of 98 per cent canvassed feel National deserves at least another three-year term.

It may well turn out that way on next Sunday, barring a bizarre but plausible situa-tion where the quirkiness of the MMP system throws a spanner in the National Party’s works and a ragtag coalition of other parties finds itself forming a government. But why would such an overwhelming majority of businesspeople surveyed want to give National another go? Prime Minister John Key has been accused, with some justi-fication, of soft-pedaling on some of the more difficult issues in his first term. There is school of thought that believes that he and his team did not go far enough in the reforms that were expected of his government in the run up to the last election.

Of course, the National-led government’s first term was beset with a slew of huge, unfortunate problems beyond its control. The unfolding global financial crisis, our own failing finance companies, the Pike River disaster, the Canterbury earthquakes – all these took a terrible toll on the government’s plans and finances. But even so, his gov-ernment is seen not to have done enough on several fronts that it could well have.

National supporters have often had us believe that most of the hard decisions would be taken in the second term probably in the belief that this year’s election would be a cakewalk for National, giving it the mandate to govern alone. One opinion poll a couple of weeks ago alluded to that sort of situation where National polled more than 50 per cent.

But subsequently following the teacup episode and the Greens’ and New Zealand First’s rising popularity that began to look a little less likely. A blue-green coalition possibility has been discussed and may well come to pass in the event of National falling short of a majority and things go pear shaped for John Banks in Epsom. Coalitions inevitably lead to compromises and a blue-green alliance, if it happens, will mean a lot of compromises for National’s plans both to dilute government’s holdings in state owned enterprises and also plans to exploit natural resources. These, indeed, form important parts of National’s plans to boost the economy as also reduce debt.

National’s recent climb down on emissions, designed to reduce the burden on almost all sectors of the economy will also not go down well with the Greens as a par-ticipant in the new government. All this means National will further have to slow down on the pace of its own version of reforms. This could well lead to consensus paralysis – an inevitable result of MMP style governments, where a clear majority to govern alone is nearly impossible.

In such a scenario, National will be left with its other lower profile policies to stem the country’s economic slide – welfare reform, cutting the size of the bureaucracy, rationalising government departments and suchlike. These can hardly be considered broad brush, future agenda setting measures.

They are rather necessary corrective steps to right Labour’s nine-year largesse of creating the twin monsters of a bloated Wellington bureaucracy and an eminently rort-able welfare system in a bid to create a sub-culture of dependency and therefore a permanent vote bank. Welfare costs more than eight billion dollars each year, with few checks and balances as to its effective and honest use.

It is an undeniable fact that despite the global boom in most of Labour’s years in power in the early 2000s, corporate New Zealand stagnated with its business unfriend-ly policies for which it has shown a penchant even in the present electoral campaign.

Though many of its pronouncements were sound, Labour’s policies this time around seemed to have been made in the belief that this election was a lost cause from the word go – a case of promising the impossible in the full knowledge that there is no chance of a mandate to achieve them. Besides, the party couldn’t even put up a proper and credible leader until the very end.

No wonder 98 per cent of businesspeople want to give National another chance. . - Dev Nadkarni

Will National do better in a second term?


Indian Comment

Election sideshows tell their own stories

It is often said that rugby is the re-ligion of New Zealand. From Sep-tember to October we had a ‘fes-tival’ of rugby, which seemed to prove the saying right as the whole nation came together in celebration of the Rugby World Cup. There was national euphoria throughout which was palpable.

It perhaps started with the Tongan team arriving in Auckland. Very few seemed to have been left behind in Tonga as a whole lot of them came to support their team. The Tongan community in New Zealand was everywhere in Auck-land as the excitement built up and they were quite confident about their prospects.

There was a sea of red and white (the colours of the Tongan team) everywhere to greet the Tongan team. Their expectations were proved right with their beating France in the pool games. This was no mean achievement as France went on to the finals and had a very narrow defeat at the hands of the All Blacks. According to the BBC the Tongans had pulled off one of the biggest wins in the history of the game.

The whole Tongan community

seemed to travel with the team to Whangarei for their next game. The Tongans proved how vital this support was for bringing out the best effort from their team. The French seemed to agree when at the end they admitted that they stood little chance against the All Blacks as they were playing against the whole nation. Perhaps that was

why they lost against Tonga also in the pool game as the tremendous support the Tongans had almost made one wonder if the game was being played in Tonga. .

I hardly watch rugby for two reasons. First of all I don’t un-derstand the game. The other reason is that I get upset watching the players getting battered and

bruised and bleeding. That is not my idea of entertainment. For the same reason I don’t watch boxing also. Hence I watched very little of the actual games in the last two months. But I could not help seeing the main events as they came again and again on TV news.

At the end when Richie McCaw was shown with the trophy strange-

ly enough I thought of Sri Krish-nan. I could not understand it. But again and again as the captain ap-peared with the trophy it seemed to me to be Sri Krishnan! It intrigued me. Then I remembered Sri Krish-nan saying, ‘O Arjuna! There is no end to my divine manifestations … Whatever there is endowed with extraordinary glory, attractive-

ness and vigour, know all that to be born of a fragment of my power’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10, verses 40-41).

Throughout the six weeks the whole nation had a feeling of exhil-aration. The nation was confident that it could host an international event of this magnitude. If there was any doubt it was only about the

All Black winning the cup though it was hardly ever expressed openly.

Last year when India hosted the Commonwealth Games, in spite of the initial hiccups, we were all confident that India could do it well. In the end everyone, includ-ing the ones who had been very negative initially, had to admit that it was a great success. But

there was a great fear at the back of our minds throughout which was that there might be some terrorists lurking behind who would succeed in ruining the whole thing. It was only after the triumphant comple-tion of the whole event that we could breathe a sigh of relief.

However, here in the Pacific, it was very different as hardly anyone even thought of terror-ism. The police were out in full force but they were looking for petty criminals, not terrorists. In the final weekend the number of arrests, we were told, was not much more than during an ordi-nary weekend. Though the families were out in large numbers most of the nights there were not even other serious crimes (leave alone terror-ist attacks) like kidnappings or rapes. No wonder NZRU said a big ‘thank you’ to all New Zealanders for being such wonderful hosts.

This is what makes the Pacific different from other parts of the world. This is also the reason why more and more people want to come here and make it their home. Let us hope that the Pacific will be able to live up to its name for a long time to come.

PaDmiNi GauNDer

The festival of rugby brought great joy to this beautiful land

Dev NaDkarNi

Throughout the six weeks the whole nation had a

feeling of exhilaration. The nation was confident that

it could host an international event of this magnitude.

Every election has its sideshows – some which happen spontaneously, others that seem planned and en-gineered carefully and still others that are a bit of both. In the run up to next Saturday’s election, the po-litical campaigning has seen its own share of sideshows and is quite likely to see some more in the remaining week.

While a campaign sideshow can be seen exactly as that – a sideshow – it can also hint at a lot of the goings on behind the scenes in political parties, their style of working, their policies, their leadership, their at-titudes and responses toward their rivals – and even a nation’s electoral system.

And what might well be called a sideshow of a sideshow, it also exposes the media’s biases and prejudices as it goes about reporting these sideshows in an atmosphere that is charged with a sense of antici-pation as election day approaches.

Driving around some parts of Auckland in the past couple of weeks, I found a number of Nation-al Party billboards – or hoardings – that were either defaced or had messages added to them. At first I thought it was some random, rather inspired vandalism. But as more such doctored signs came in sight I wondered if there indeed was a coor-dinated plan to deface them in what is a known Labour stronghold.

This week it emerged that it was indeed an act of planned vandalism on a nationwide scale, with more than 700 of National’s signs defaced or doctored. Curiously, it has turned out to be a member of the Green

Party who was responsible for the coordinated action. What’s more, he was a partner of the party chief Russel Norman’s executive assistant, who has since been stood down after it was revealed that she knew about the plan weeks in advance.

As well as damaging the party’s image severely, especially at a time when it has been doing so well in pre election popularity polls and is being touted as a potential kingmak-er, the action has belied its stand as a party that attracts thinking, intel-ligent persons with evolved, modern views. In fact it has done the op-posite: it has revealed the extremist fringe of the Greens – the side one sees in environmental issue protests, be it in anti-whaling or anti-palm oil protests.

Though Mr Norman handled the crisis well and offered to work with the National Party to set right the vandalised billboards, the damage has been done and the Green’s im-pressive juggernaut has suddenly lost steam – all because of the mind-less extremist action of one person.

But what is even more damaging is that it happened right under the nose of the party’s chief without his knowledge but with the full knowl-edge of perhaps his closest confidant – his secretary – something thing that speaks poorly of the cohesive-ness and the culture in the top ech-elons of the party.

For many people like me who were seeing the vandalised signs as we drove around, the first and obvious question that popped in our minds was whether Labour’s sup-porters had lost all hope and were

stooping so low to derail its main rival’s campaign in such a crass manner.

Even worse, the act of vandalism will also create confusion in voters’ minds about the possibility of the Greens supporting the National Party if at all the latter falls short of the vote necessary to govern alone – a thing which was increasingly being discussed as the latest polls showed a slight decline in support for National and an increase for the Greens.

The vandalism has definitely raised doubts if elements within the Greens are really up to a pos-

sible blue-green alliance – or was the act essentially random one, with the perpe-trator acting alone. But can someone acting alone mount such coordinated action on a nationwide scale without likeminded support? As well as a full investigation – which it will do after the election – the Green Party will also do some soul searching.

Sideshow Act-IIThe word “storm” has been the media’s flavour of the week. First, they described Prime Minister John Key and Epsom ACT candidate John

Banks meeting over cups of tea as the proverbial storm in the teacup. A few days later, when Mr Key walked away from persistent media questioning about this storm in the teacup, he was described as having “stormed out” of the stand up press meet. Judging by footage on televi-sion, Mr Key simply walked away – far from “storming out”.

On both counts the media got it wrong. The meeting and its after-math are anything but a storm in a teacup – though the National Party would love to describe it as that. For the more Mr Key and the party try to

downplay it, the more it seems there is something inconvenient for them about it. But there is little doubt that in the next few days, details will peter out. If it indeed contains the uncomplimentary things that were supposedly discussed about the ACT leadership and senior citizens, it could rock National’s boat for what-ever it’s worth. In any case, it is un-likely to be the “game changer” that one senior journalist described it as.

However, the important issue that has not received the attention it deserves in this sideshow is the quirkiness of the MMP system that National’s arrangement with ACT

demonstrates. It is counterintuitive to see the

leader of a major party to tell constit-uents not to vote for his own party but for someone else if he must be voted to power. This is the confusing bit of the MMP system, which ac-cording to surveys, most people do not understand – even in a country like Germany where it has been in use for decades. Also, there hasn’t been much by way of voter familia-risation campaigns on the various al-ternatives to choose from for people to make an informed choice, giving rise to a situation where people are likely to vote with a “stick with the known devil” mindset.

So, we are expected to vote in a referendum whether to keep MMP or go for some other elec-toral system, come next Saturday. Despite the three-yearly cups of tea and coffee that ACT and National leaders somewhat awkwardly quaff in Epsom, MMP has its pluses.

For instance, if it wasn’t for MMP, for example, it would have been im-possible for ethnic minorities to find their representatives in Parliament – though they are unelected and often comprise individuals almost foisted on the people by the party is indeed a sticking point with many.

No electoral system, however, is perpect. The MMP system in use in New Zealand most certainly needs tweaking and refining – which is quite likely to be the opinion of a majority of the people voting at the referendum.

Stand by for a few more side-shows big and small between now and next Saturday.

It is counterintuitive to see the leader of a major party to tell constituents not to vote for his own party but for someone else if he must be voted to power. This is the confusing bit of the MMP system


Indian Fiji

This is recognition for Fiji Television and a group of 3 people who came together to put the winning entry together.

The Pacific Islands region’s leading airline Air Pacific, jointly owned by the Fijian govern-ment and Qantas, is investing nearly US$600 million in acquiring three new wide bodied Airbus aircraft to replace its ageing long haul jet fleet.

The Airbus A330-200 model will replace its Boeings – 747 and 767 aircraft. “This deci-sion is a significant milestone in our 60-year history because it will be our first-ever pur-chase of new wide-body airplanes, and these state-of-the art A330s are clearly going to be planes that our customers and the people of Fiji will be thrilled to fly,” the airline’s managing director and chief executive, Dave Pflieger told media.

Earlier, the airline cancelled its order of Boeing’s much delayed, new state of the art 787, which flew successful passenger trials in Asia just last month.

The planes cost about US$200 million apiece and the first of the three is expected to arrive in early 2013 followed by the other two later in the year. A330-200 is a fuel-efficient aircraft that will use 45 per cent less fuel than the present fleet, according to Air Pacific. The planes will fly the Fiji to Sydney, Auckland, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles routes.

According to Mr Pflieger, the new aircraft will be kitted out to “embody the beauty and spirit of Fiji and its 333 islands.”

Air Pacific to acquire three new Airbus aircraft

A new codeshare agreement between the US headquartered American Airlines and Fiji’s flag carrier Air Pacific is expected to boost the number of US tourists travelling in the islands of the South Pacific region.The agreement, to be ratified by the US government in the next 60 days or so, will connect the US airline’s Los Angeles hub with Honolulu, Nadi and Suva besides other connections in the islands region where Air Pacific flies to.

American’s vast internal network in the US will help connect 20 destinations within the country to South Pacific destinations “seam-lessly,” according to the US airline, which op-erates more than 3400 flights every day.

American's Vice President – Strategic Alliances Kenji Hashimoto said, “This new

codeshare relationship will give our custom-ers seamless connecting opportunities to new destinations in the South Pacific.”

Describing the agreement as a win-win situation Air Pacific chief executive Dave Pflieger said, “Air Pacific's customers have the opportunity to earn AAdvantage miles on all Air Pacific flights, and American's cus-tomers can use their AAdvantage miles on all Air Pacific routes including complimentary inflight meals, drinks, entertainment, airport lounge facilities, and express lanes through customs and immigration for business class passengers.”

American Airlines is a founding member of the OneWorld alliance between several global airline operators.

New airline codeshare to boost American tourist numbers

Further building its local online pres-ence, Tourism Fiji’s Australian office has this week made access to its online information base even easier with the release of a dedicated smart phone friendly website.

Located at www.fijime.com.au, alike the recently-released PC-acces-sible version, the new website is jam

packed with a host of information de-signed to showcase the destination’s ever-evolving product base and its ability to all market elements Irre-spective of requirement.

Tourism Fiji Regional Director Australia, Paresh Pant said a key dif-ference with the smart phone friend-ly format version was its ability to

make click through-easier than other phone-accessed websites which in-variably offer much smaller con-nection buttons. “This smart phone website is a prime example of how we are embracing Web 3.0 platforms to engage and educate both our industry partners and consumers on precisely what Fiji has to offer,” he said.

Tourism Fiji launches smart phone friendly ‘Fiji Me’ AU website

Fiji’s tourism figure has exceeded expectations with approximately 631,000 visitors coming to our shores last year, says Prime Minister Commodore Josaia Voreqe Baini-marama.

He said that the tourism industry which now contributes 34 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product, has grown “from strength to strength”.

“In fact according to previ-ous Government predictions and experts, we weren’t to reach these numbers so soon,” he told guests at the WorldMark Resort Denarau Island Stage 3 Development ground-breaking ceremony today.

“My Government recognises the importance of the tourism industry for the sustained economic growth of Fiji and its ability to create sus-

tained livelihoods.”In this third phase development,

which will be completed in 2013, 63 new luxurious apartments will be added to the existing 138 apart-ments.

The Prime Minister said that government would continue to provide and improve the tourism in-dustry environment for the benefit of all, the developers, the landowners, the hotel operators, the employees and those that provided ancillary services.

The PM said the $49m project, upon completion, would offer im-proved services, increase room in-ventory and further consolidate the Wyndham and World Mark time-share arrangements in the Fijian Tourism Industry.

“The ground breaking ceremo-ny for stage 3 development of this Wyndham property is an indication and manifestation of the growth and indeed confidence in the Tourism Industry.”

“You can be rest assured that my Government will continue to provide a conducive environment for commercial growth and at the same time build mechanisms for the benefit of all Fijians,” he said.

The construction project has been awarded to a local company called Pacific Building Solutions.

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific has been in the country since 1998 and has 23 resorts throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Tourism figures exceed expectations

Korean headquartered global elec-tronics giant LG has chosen Fiji’s beautiful beaches and the islands’ idyllic surrounds as promo pic-tures that will be flashed on mil-lions of LG television sets in showrooms across the world.

TV manufacturers use a range of alluring pictures to display on their screens in electronic stores to attract customers to their brands.

The images were filmed by a 19-strong crew from Korea, which recently visited Fiji with the support of Tourism Fiji’s Korean regional office. The footage is to be used to illustrate the latest technology surrounding LG’s range of new 3D TVs and home theatre equipment.

The launch will include road shows in 140 countries in Asia,

Europe and North America where scenes from Fiji will form a high-light of the on-screen imagery. As well as the famous sun sand surf and sea pictures associated with Fiji, pictures depicting sporting and soft adventure activities like golf, island cruising, jet skiing, hot air ballooning, scuba diving sport and white water rafting have also been included.

Daisy Park, Tourism Fiji Re-gional Representative in Korea said the exercise provided the national tourist office with a fan-tastic opportunity to promote Fiji both in LG’s home base of Korea and beyond via the giant elec-tronics company’s international sales and marketing distribution network.

Acknowledging the crucial role that media play in raising aware-ness, understanding and action about educating and empowering farmers with the latest technology and information they need to meet the world’s growing food demands, the Technical Centre for Agricul-tural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), earlier this year ran a competition for journalists in the African Ca-ribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc of countries.

Of the more than 145 entries, the international judges selected six winners, one each from the four African sub-regions, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Fiji’s Anish Chand won the prize for the Pacific region.

“This is recognition for Fiji Tele-vision and a group of 3 people who came together to put the winning entry together. We did not think the piece would win the Pacific region category,” Chand said.

The winners will each receive a cash prize of 1000 euros. A final

selection of the top three winners will be announced on November 17, during the conference on “In-novations in Extension and Advi-sory Services: Linking Knowledge to Policy and Action for Food and Livelihoods” in Nairobi, Kenya.

Eyeing Fiji on a million television screens

Fiji journalist wins ACP prize for agribusiness story


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New airline codeshare to boost American tourist numbers

Caroline Ratucadra/FijiSUN: The mining industry in Fiji is expected to rake in over one billion Fijian dollars of economic activity once explorations and actual mining activities at defunct and potential sites become fully operational.

Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said Gov-ernment was seriously consider-ing re-activating explorations and actual mining at Mount Kasi in Cakaudrove and the operations of other potential mines like Namosi.

He made the remarks while opening the country's first bauxite mine at Nawailevu in Bua recently.

Commodore Bainimarama said development of the mining sector would create immediate business and employment opportunities, improve Fijians' living standards, reduce poverty and attract eco-nomic attention to the region.

"As the Fijian Government ex-plores the best and most promis-ing opportunities for economic advancement, it is crucial that our Government and our part-ners maintain a level of transpar-ency and fluid communications to ensure valuable and unassailable growth," he said.

Commodore Bainimarama said Fijians should feel confident in this form of exploration such as

the Nawailevu bauxite mine while Government continued to imple-ment various reforms to create high trading standards for long term growth and a bright future for the Fijian economy.

However, with the development

of the mining sector, he assured the people that Government would not shy away from its responsibility to the community and the people.

"We stand by the workers. We stand by the resource owners. We stand by the investors. We stand by the environment. Ours is a holis-tic approach. This is how we will proceed," Commodore Bainima-rama said.

As of June this year, a total of 49 special exploration licenses covering 576,146 hectares were issued by Government.

The Prime Minister who is acting Minister of Lands said a further 37 exploration applications including deep sea explorations were in varying stages of process-ing.

"We’re strengthening the moni-toring of these licences to ensure the licence holders keep true to their commitments, I am happy to state that feedbacks received have been encouraging," Commodore Bainimarama said.

The Nawailevu bauxite mine is the first for Fiji and is now the third operating mine in the country, after Vatukoula and the Wainivesi gold mines.

Expanded prospecting, big profits anticipated in Fiji mining Educational games with names like

“Beware the Money Snakes” and “Time Saver”, designed on the lines of traditional snakes and ladders and monopoly board games, are teach-ing school students how to under-stand the use money, differentiate between needs and wants and be able to accurately track and record their income and spending.

E d u c a t i o n a l games are believed to promote logical thinking and problem solving. The innova-tive project is in the process of integrating financial education into Fiji’s existing school curricula in all levels from class 1 to form 6. By 2013, all primary schools in Fiji will be teaching how to save, spend wisely and invest.

Funded by the Australian Aid Programme in Fiji the project is jointly managed by the education ministry and the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP). The PFIP is a Pacific-wide programme helping provide sustainable finan-cial services to low income house-holds. It is a multi-agency initiative drawing funding from AusAID, the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the European Union and

the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Young Enterprise Trust of New Zealand is the provider of special-ist and technical services to the educational games project in Fiji. The trust’s lead facilitator Sharron Buer said, “The real beauty of Fi-nancial Education board games is

that they can be played many times, over the financial education learning time, and when students track their progress they can celebrate their success.”

With exciting and innovative methods of teaching financial edu-cation, 12 regional primary school teachers, Ministry of Education of-ficials and staff from the ministry’s Curriculum Development Unit have undergone a four-day workshop in Suva to do just that. A similar work-shop for secondary teachers will be held in Suva next week.

Games to promote financial literacy in schools

Australian High Commissioner, Ms. Judith Robinson, engages in a FED game with participants at the workshop in Suva.

The mining industry in Fiji is expected to rake in over one billion Fijian dollars of economic activity once explorations and actual mining

activities at defunct and potential

sites become fully operational.

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What’s the deeper meaning behind Namaste and Charansparsh?Dev NaDkarNi

Namaste or NamaskaraThe act of joining the palms of the hands in front of oneself is known as Namaskara or Namaste. It is with the Namaskara that people offer prayers to deities and also greet each other throughout India. It conveys reverence, respect, welcome, friendship and hospital-ity.

The Namaskara is perhaps the most ancient form of formal per-sonal greeting, much older than the handshake. Its antiquity is not easy to gauge, but the Namaskara has been represented even in the earli-est of sculptures. The etymology of the words Namaskara and Namaste are relatively easier to deduce. “Namaha” in Sanskrit is “obei-sance” and “Te” is “You”. Therefore Namaste is “obeisance to you”.

The palms are among the most expressive parts of the body. They are used to great effect in convey-ing moods and emotions in Indian classical dance. The various posi-tions of the palms and fingers as they convey emotions and moods are called Hastamudras. Namas-kara is among the most commonly used Hastamudras.

The manner of holding the joined palms conveys much. The head bent forward with the tips of the fingers touching the forehead and the eyes shut conveys deep reverence. The palms held slightly lower with the base of the thumbs in line with the solar plexus and the head bent forward ever so slightly conveys both greeting and welcome. Here, the intensity of the accompany-ing smile adds to the degree of the warmth conveyed.

The joined palms raised way above the head could convey fare-well and palms similarly held high with the forearms sticking to each other till the elbows could convey a sigh of relief at the end of an

ordeal or a departure of a particu-larly troublesome guest. The last one, of course, is not performed in front of the other person –it is always behind his or her back! The Uddanda Namaskara is holding the palms farthest from the top of the head while lying flat on the floor face down in front of a deity or god.

In addition to all these varia-tions, each individual adds his or own little personal characteristic to the Namaskara. It may be a wave of the palms, a shake of the head, or a distinct manner of smiling while doing the Namaste.

The most-accepted socio-an-thropological explanation for the genesis of the handshake may hold good in the case of the Namaskara too. Baring one’s hands and putting them in front of another individual conveys the fact that the person is

unarmed and therefore is a friend and comes in peace.

CharanasparshaWisdom, unlike knowledge, comes only with age. This has been rec-ognised since ancient times in Indian culture. It is for this reason that older persons are revered. A younger individual must respect the older one. It does not matter that the older person is poorer in knowledge, economic or social status. The sheer fact that the older person has “seen many more rainy seasons” is enough for a younger person to pay respect to him or her. This is the central sentiment behind the act of Charanasparsha, or touching an elder’s feet. Those feet have traversed more places, trod through the many landscapes

of life. There is no doubt that travel is one of the greatest educators. It takes one through so many environ-ments, situations, and exposes one to so many ideas that it can only add greatly to one’s wisdom. Feet being the basic mode of locomotion, it is rather apt that one pays respects to one’s elders with Charanasparsha.An elder may touch the feet of a younger person in the event that the younger individual is a spiritually ad-vanced, holy personage. Long after a holy personage has passed away, his or her Paduka or footwear is often worshipped for generations. Almost no other possession is revered as much as the Paduka, which indeed, is the extension of the Charana or feet.There is a school of thought that sees Charanasparsha as going against the belief that all individuals are equal. The act, therefore, is seen as self-de-meaning. But apart from the beauti-

ful spirit behind Charanasparsha and ethics, the very act may be hardwired into our behavioural pattern.

Bending before a higher ranked member of a group is a common mode of paying respect or acknowledging authority in several species of animals, par-ticularly the primates. It is common practice for primates in the lower social order to bend before the acknowledged leader of the group and many times fall on the floor with the haunches raised. The pecking order among hens is a variation on this theme. Going down on one’s knees was also a manner of acknowledging authority for several centuries in the western world. And it is common practice to bend com-pletely before god almighty in the practices of several religions. Charanasparsha continues to be a practice much in use and is one of the common factors that run through all the religions of India.

FijiHeritage


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Los Angeles: After his role in Tom Cruise-starrer Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Anil Kapoor will star in a local iteration of the show and help usher Jack Bauer into his home country

The Slumdog Millionaire's quiz master is gearing up to taste Holly-wood once again.

The actor will be sen playing the role of an Indian version of Kiefer Sutherland's remarkable character 'Jack Bauer'.

He is all set to produce the Indian version of '24' through his company named Anil Kapoor Films Co.

The pre-production would com-mence from mid-2012 in India.

In American TV debut with 24, Anil played Middle Eastern, Kamistan President Omar Hassan in the final season of the long-running thriller action series.

Anil Kapoor to play Indian Jack Bauer

Why did you name the book The Mad Tibetan?We had to make the title of the book based on one of the stories. For a considerable time my editor Sanjana and I, both decided the name of the book with be Piano Tuner and Other Stories. But by the time I finished writing Mad Tibetan, I wanted to name the book after it…I suppose the name was prominent in my head as it was most recently written as compared to other stories.

What is the story all about?The Mad Tibetan is the story of Ruth Mayberry. I was born and brought up in New York and I have some friends there. The story is inspired by those relationships. I lost one of my close friends in the last year or two. The story is inspired by her. This is the only story in the book that is not related to India.

How long did it take to pen and put the stories together?There are some stories in this book which are from early 80s…then beech mein I wrote two-three stories. But basically it is a work of the last one-and-a-half to two years. And I am most satisfied after having done this piece of work.

Was it difficult to convince Amitabh Bachchan to come and inaugurate the book?I didn’t have to convince him. I just requested him and he said: ‘Okay, I will come and inaugurate the book’. He was very gracious, it was really nice of him. I am very happy that the book was released by Amitji.

Do you prefer to be known as a writer or actor? I love acting. But, I think, writing is a more intimate thing for me…it’s what I have to say about things around me, about life…it’s my ob-servations and my take on life. Once Maheshji (Bhatt, filmmaker) told me that if you want to be a good actress, then don’t do anything else; just put your heart and soul into acting. But I could not stick to that unfortunately (smiles).

When did you start writing?I have been writing for a long time…almost when I started my career as an actor…in fact, I have always been writing. I started with poetry and published two books. The first one was Lamha-Lamha… it was published in the early 80s (1981)…I call it my childhood work because it was from that romantic period of

life when you are not aware of the reality of life. After that, four-five years back, there was another book on poetry- Black Wind and Other Poems (2004). That was more hard-hitting, more intense and crucial work. That book has a section called The Silent Scream that has 24 poems about women living in mental asylums…the poems were based on the way I observed them and felt about them. It was kind of issue-based work.

Of all the books you have written so far, which one is your favou-rite?I can’t say which book I wrote better among all. But all I can say is that I am more attached to The Mad Tibetan as it is recently written.

You are trying your hand at film-making as well…Yes, I have written and directed a film. It’s called Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish. The film should release by February-March next year. Manisha Koirala has done the main role in the film.

What inspires you to do so many things at a time?Life inspires me.

‘Writing is a more intimate thing for me’deepti Naval revealed the author in her with the release of her new collection of short stories, The Mad Tibetan- Stories From Then And Now. Correspondent Sreya Basu in conversation with the actor-poet-painter-photographer, who recently turned filmmaker as well


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Mumbai: Actor Neha Dhupia will be endorsing Gdivas-a fashion brand of Gitanjali Group, world’s largest in-tegrated branded diamond jewellery manufacturer.

Gdivas is a fashion forward brand offering a collection of jewel-lery studded with diamonds, pearls and coloured stones.

With the ‘G’ in the brand name standing for Gitanjali, ‘Divas’ is more to do with the attitude of the confident and stylish women of today who is a diva in her own right.

"Thus, a very apt and appropri-ate choice for the brand ambassa-dor has been the very stylish Neha Dhupia, who is known for her versa-tility, modern urbane chic personal-ity, confidence and tremendous self belief- values that truly emulate the young working women of today," said a company spokesperson.

Neha said, “It’s wonderful to be associated with a fashion forward

brand like Gdivas, offering young professional women like me, jewel-lery which we can flaunt for every occasion, an extensive yet affordable collection to choose from, which adds flair to any outfit and above all, all occasions, truly making one feel like a diva!"

Shardah Uniyal, GM Market-ing – Gitanjali Group says, “Gdivas, the latest offing from the Gitan-jali Group aims to bejewel a young woman with adulation everyday for every occasion. The collection boasts of lightweight trendy and chic pieces that complete every ensemble no matter what the occasion.

"Neha Dhupia truly personifies the young free spirited, social and independent woman who is a diva in her own right, thus being an apt choice as a brand ambassador for Gdivas.”

The range is priced at INR 3150 onwards.

Neha dhupia to campaign for Gitanjali

Mumbai: After ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na’, Ratna Pathak Shah will play Imran Khan’s mother and Boman Irani’s wife in ‘Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu’.

The role she plays in ‘Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu’ is completely different from what she had played in ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na’.

Her role in ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na’ was loved by everyone and we never know, ‘Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu’ might end up giving us the next awesome ‘Maa aur Beta’ combo.

The movie is directed by Shakun Batra and stars Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor opposite each other. It is a romantic-comedy and will release on 10th February.

Ratna Pathak to play Imran Khan’s mother

Mumbai: The Bollywood super-star Shah Rukh Khan turned 46 on Wednesday and he was indeed on Cloud Nine.

This year King Khan welcomed his 46th birthday in a plane while returning to Mumbai.

Shahrukh Khan thanked his fans and tweeted, “thanx so much boys & girls. celebrated my birth-day in the plane 30000 ft in the air…then on the tarmac…finally with my lil girl & boy.”

“….this birthday will celebrate with a well deserved many hours of sleep...thanx for ur wishes. dont

feel older or wiser” tweeted Shah Rukh Khan . His brand new movie RA.One is storming at the box office and broke significant records by collecting Rs. 92 crores in its first five days of its release despite adverse reviews. The 'Badshah' of Bollywood recently attended In-ternational pop icon Lady Gaga's show at the F1 after-party in Greater Noida on Sunday night.

After Ra.One, his fans might expect to see some more actions as he would be seen showcasing some great action moves in Don 2. The film will be released in 3D version.

Shah Rukh turns 46 on a plane

Mumbai: Vidya Balan's 'The Dirty Picture' has already triggered a new controversy as Southern sex siren Silk Smitha' s brother has sued the makers of the film.

V Naga Vara Prasad, Silk Smitha's brother, has sent legal notice to producer of the film Ekta Kapoor and director Milan Luthria on the grounds that the makers had not taken any consent from the

family members before making the film that is based on the life of the actor.

The Dirty Picture is reportedly based on the facts provided by Silk Smitha's alleged boyfriend.

Smitha's brother, who lives in Andhra Pradesh, was concerned more about the content of the film.

He feels that her sister has been projected in an obscene manner. He

said he would sent another notice if the film-makers do not respond to his first notice.

B-town actor Vidya Balan por-trays the role of Silk Smitha in the film and already the promos have at-tracted lots of attention.

The film also features Nas-eeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor in lead roles.

Silk Smitha's brother objects to Vidya's film

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Kolkata: Theatre-crazy Kolkata wit-nessed thinking star Naseeruddin Shah perform in his directed play 'The Caine Mutiny Court Martial' in the city on Tuesday night.

The play was staged at Kala-mandir as a part of the two-day long theatre event titled 'Stage Door' pre-sented by Leopard Creations and

Weaver Studio Centre for Arts."The situation of drama today is

not different than earlier years. It is a medium of communication. It is a target of communication than enter-tainment.So we choose those plays that can both entertain audience as well as convey a deep message," Shah said at a press conference.

He agreed that the quality of good theatre writers has reduced than what it used to be in the 1970s.

"Those writers still has relevance. Their words and plays had signifi-cance. The stories were ahead of time so they are still equally relevant," he said.Shah, who received immense recognition for his performance in

films like 'Masoom' and 'Ijaazat', said that he does not feel that the younger generation do not find interest in the-atres.

"I do not feel that the young gen-eration is running away from theatre. I feel inspired when young people come to see theatre," he said.

Speaking about theatres and ex-

periments, Shah said: "Experimenta-tion is good if it results in something. On should reach somewhat of solu-tion for problem you let yourslf. We try to experiment with words. To me words are of paramount importance."

The actor said that he has acted in few interesting movies in recent times- 'Dirty Picture', 'Maximum' and 'Michael'.

The play 'The Caine Mutiny Court Martial' is a two-hour play that deals with Second World War. In just two acts, it showcases the tragedy of war. Theatre group 'Motley' was formed by Naseeruddin Shah along with Tom Alter and Benjamin Gilani in 1979.

suPriyo HaZraMumbai: Like other industries, now Indian Bolly-wood has also started giving value of money to its spectators.

The upcoming Movie GHOST A Mega Bollywood Production in association with Owl village films Pvt. Limited produced by Bharat Shah Co Produced by Puja Jatinder Bedi Casting Shiney Ahuja, Sayali Bhagat etc. have taken a first mover advan-

tage and bring a real value for money to all there spectators who will be coming in cinema Halls to watch their movie 'Ghost'.

It’s one of its kind first con-cepts till now in Bollywood, for an MOU has been signed with Bharat Berry Technologies to offer free one month Push Email and PIM Sync BharatBerry ser-vices which cost Rs 80/- per month to all the spectators who will be coming in cinema halls to watch 'Ghost'.

Puja, co-producer of the movie and Dr. Ajay Data, founder of Bharat Berry in joint statement said: “This relationship is very win-win for both of us as well as for our movie viewers. First time we are brining not just entertainment to the movie buffs but also advanced daily life solution to their mobile handset."

Bharat Berry has also created a platform for fans of Ghost and now movie viewers can enjoy movie trailers / exclusive pictures / behind the scenes of movie on www.ghostfanclub.in and also share ideas and comments on this highly technology oriented platform.

Shiney Ahuja's Ghost lures people to theatres

Youths inspire Naseeruddin Shah

I do not feel that the young generation is running away from theatre. I feel inspired when young

people come to see theatre


IndianBollywood

While people were guessing that he has turned full time actor, Farhan Akhtar has again donned his director’s hat for Don 2: The King is Back (earlier titled Don 2: The Chase Continues). Correspondent Sreya Basu catches up with Farhan after he unveiled the first look of the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer in Mumbai recently

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Tell us something about Don 2.I really don’t know what to say about the film as that way I will be giving out the whole story. It has been fun, challenging yet sat-isfying journey so far to make this movie. I was guilty of saying that I won’t prob-ably make a sequel of Don, but my obses-sion with the character got the better of me. With amazing help and support and almost a sharing of vision with Ritesh (Sidhwani, producer) and Shah Rukh and rest of the team, I could not help but make Don 2.

Isha Koppikar has been dropped in Don 2?There are two-three characters from Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006) who won’t be continuing in the sequel. One of them is that of Jasjit (played by Arjun Rampal), then there is that of Anita (Ishaa Koppikar) and there was a cop Inspector Verma…even he is not in the sequel. The screenplay and story didn’t need those characters to come into this one…that’s the reason why you don’t see them in this film.

Who is the ‘King’ of Don 2: The King is Back?The King of Don 2 is undoubtedly Shah Rukh Khan.

Did you consult your father and writer Javed Akhtar on the script of Don 2?Whatever film I write, I give it to him (Javed Akhtar) to read. I want him to give his feed-back on screenplay, dialogues. He is some-body who is extremely experienced, some-body who is very good with the art and craft of writing; and fortunately I have this kind of access to him. It makes sense for me to use him and I use him to get feedback on not only this, but every script.

When you were making Don: The Chase Begins Again, you consulted Salim Khan (Salim-Javed being the screenplay writer of Amitabh Bachchan’s Don in 1978). Did you do the same this time too?I had gone to him to request him to give per-mission to make the film. I thought it was

important that people who worked on the earlier film be happy with the remake we had made. So I met him regarding that, not the screenplay or such things. He was very, very kind and completely wished us all the best for the remake. Hopefully that applies to the sequel as well.

In the 2006 film, you retained some of the dialogues from the 1978 film like Don Ko Pakadna Mushkil Hi Nahi Namumkin Hai. Are you trying some new lines in the sequel or want to carry forward the legacy?There are other dialogues in the film of course. For us, the line you just spoke about, strike a chord. But who knows, may be some other dialogue Don says in Don 2, might match out to the audience. While writing dialogues and thinking about the style of the dialogues, I knew that the approach has to be to write it in a way that films of that time (1970s) were written, where people spoke with a bit of theatrical sense. There was a lot more drama in the lines. So I maintained the approach as it gives you good feeling and also makes the film sound different. It takes you back to the times when you got to see films like this where you know every dialogue was a DIALOGUE. So it is written with that in mind. But again, whatever people take from that, is upto them. There are fun lines in the film, hopefully they will enjoy.

Did you ever think of another actor for Don, had Shah Rukh said ‘no’ to you?I don’t even want to think about that. When I started out to make the film, I wanted Shah Rukh to play the character and he loved the part. Beyond that, I stopped thinking about any other actor as I got the person I wanted for my film.

Social networking sites are flood-ing comments since Don 2 trailer was put on Youtube. What is the best compliment you have got so far?The best compliment I have got about the film so far is ‘Thank You for making Don 2’…that’s the sweetest thing one can say with minimum words.

‘King of don 2 is Shah Rukh Khan’


Indian

Slimcal Range

iNGreDieNts8- chicken drumsticks1- potato (cut into chunks)4tbsp- coriander powder2tsp- ginger paste2tsp- garlic paste1cup- curd 200g- tomato puree1tsp- red chilli powder1tsp- garam masala3to4- whole red chillissugar a pinchsalt according to taste½ cup- chopped fresh coriander 1tbsp- oil

metHoDtake oil in a pan or a wok add whole red chillis and stir. Add ginger garlic paste and fry until light brown. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, sugar, salt and stir them.

beat curd with a fork and add to the masala. Keep stirring on medium heat, till you see oil on top of the masala, then add tomato puree, potatoes and chicken to it.

Cover and cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until the chicken is tender. serve with lots of chopped coriander on the top.

tiP:this chicken will be with little gravy even if you are not adding water to it, because chicken sheds water and the curd also has water in it so when you cover and cook you don’t need to add water to it.

CELLuLITECellulite describes those bumps, lumps and bulges that do not go away with simple diet and exercise. On a low-calorie diet, fat will go off in many areas, but the cellulite lumps will remain. Cellulite areas are generallyl Inner, upper and back parts of the thighs.l Stomachl Buttocksl Inside and back of upper armsl Hipsl Inside the kneeslLower back, upper back, just below the shoulder blades.

TrEATmENT OF CELLuLITE1. Balanced and purifying diet2. Exercise3. Massage4. Proper Elimination5. Relaxation.

SLImCAL OILThis powerful infusion of time tested ingredients has been specially created to eliminate toxins through draining effect and fatty tissues while increasing skin’s firmness and elasticity. It contains high quality plant extracts and active ingredients that have proven efficacy in reducing cellulite and toning skinInstructions: Apply on problem areas in firm, circular movements for 15 – 20 minutes. Wash Off.

SLImCAL GELSlimcal Anti-Cellulite Gel’s non-greasy and deep penetrating formula combines natural active ingredients working in synergy to strengthen support tissues, stimulates the blood circulation and encourage toxin eliminations.Instructions: Massage it on the body with invigorating movements, concentrating on problem areas (waist, abdomen, hips, thighs) until the gel is absorbed. Apply daily morning or evening.Other food supplements available too.

For more advice on the treatment or products offered by Shahnaz Husain NZ, Contact BINDu (CIBTAC, International Qualified Beauty Therapist and Diploma in Shahnaz Husain, India)

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OFFShahnaz Husain Group offers anti-cellulite massage treatment, specially designed to remove the unwanted bulges from your body. Experience the unique benefit of an integrated system of clinic care and product excellence at Shahnaz Husain, New Zealand.Benefits of this Treatment: It reinforces the benefits of exercise. Individual areas cellulite bulges are massaged to directly stimulate circulation.

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Slimcal Gel = $ 35.52

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Slimcal Oil

This powerful infusion of time tested ingredients has been specially created to

eliminate toxins through draining effect and fatty tissues while increasing skin’s

firmness and elasticity. It contains high quality plant extracts and active ingredients

that have proven efficacy in reducing cellulite and toning skin

Instructions

Apply on problem areas in firm, circular movements for 15 – 20 minutes. Wash Off.

Slimcal Gel

Slimcal Anti-Cellulite Gel’s non-greasy and deep penetrating formula combines

natural active ingredients working in synergy to strengthen support tissues,

stimulates the blood circulation and encourage toxin eliminations.

Instructions

Slimcal Oil = $ 35.52 / Gel = $ 35.52

Food Supplement = $ 22.00

Going from strength to strength in the sophisticated formulation of products, the Shahnaz Husain brand name has become a symbol of quality and purity. It has received prestigious international awards for Quality Excellence and faced the most extracting test of all ….the Test of Time.

CORIANDER CHICKEN

Indian Column

Generally what I observe with my clients who aspire weight loss is when they initially see me the mo-tivation level is very high however it takes a downward dive as time passes. Not many are able to main-tain the momentum or the discipline that is required to lead a change.

In this article I have invited Paul Ah Kuoi, a very dear friend, col-league and a motivational expert to share his expertise and his experi-ence with us in the hope that this would be the inspiration that our readers need to lead the change. Paul himself has gone through an immense transformation and is willing to share his experience with weight loss aspirants. Paul, please share your background (health) with our readersWhen I embarked on this journey in 2006, I weighed 147.5kgs. I loved my food especially my chocolate cake. Being just over 30 (age-wise) at the time, I always thought it was too late in life for me to ever get fit, I thought these weight loss pro-grammes were not for me and yet, here I am today - weighing in at 99kgs.

What inspired you to lead the change?There were a series of unpleasant events that had been accumulating in the back of my mind over so many

years and they reached a crescendo in 2006 when I decided ‘this is it’ - I was able to draw all these unpleasant experiences forward and utilised them as fuel for my motivation.

What steps did you take to lead the transformation?I have realised through my journey that small prac-tical steps make a huge and a lasting difference over time. In my case, just switching from dark blue milk to light blue, regular drink to the diet variety, trimming the skins/fats off my meats before cooking, eating at the table as opposed in front of the television all this combined with dedication at the gym lead the trans-formation.

How do people react when they see you now?The thing I love the most is the look on my kid’s faces, the sparkle in their eyes and the smile that says, ‘Yeah, that’s my dad!’. People, who have known me from my chubby days, find it very hard to believe how much I’ve changed. It is not unusual (although I’m still trying to get used to it) for people to give me the look and approach to ask all sorts of diet, health & fitness

questions. I love picking up my kids from school and they get asked a lot whether their dad is a wrestler or a bodybuilder. I have been referred as Batista (WWE Wrestler) and The Rock (WWE Wrestler/Actor) and WOW! I think my family is quite used to the attention now.

What is the secret of your success?I have achieved this through a combination of well balanced diet and physical training. My NLP certification (neuro semantics) has also played a very important role through my journey, being a certi-fied life coach I've used some of those mental tools to reprogram my thinking/perceptions.

These are also the tools that I use with my clients to help them succeed.

How do you feel with the change?I feel much more energised, fit and healthy – not only physically but mentally too. It has also boosted my self confidence ten fold.

What are some tips that you can share with our readers?Changing/reprogramming one's thoughts and perceptions = chang-ing one's attitude. The process of change begins with creating new thoughts, attitudes, and habits that point you in the right direction.

Most people suffer from burnout over the first 2 weeks because they expect overnight results. One needs to stop focusing on the results, but focus on the actual steps and the process that lead to success. Your workout in the gym is just the be-ginning, once you leave the gym

you must continue to perform and do things that are necessary to achieve the results.

It's not enough just to have the right attitude...you have to align them with ACTION!

How can you help our readers?Being a certified life style coach, I can lead and motivate them through some tried and tested tools to facili-tate their success.

What is the best way to contact you?Through my Face Book page or via my email [email protected]

Your final message for our readers“The greatest wealth is health.” ~ VirgilPaul Ah Kuoi is a lifestyle coach and can be contacted for personal or group consultations on the above email address.

This article is a general guideline ONlY, if you have any medical condition and for in-dividual conditions you should consult a health professional or your medical practitioner imme-diately.Varsha Asrani is a New Zealand registered clinical dietitian, for personal consultations, queries, suggestions and feedback she can be contacted on [email protected]

varsHa asraNi

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