Voice of Asia Aug 15 2014

VOICE OF ASIA 1 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014

Vol. 27 No. 33 Friday, August 15, 2014 Published Weekly from Houston 713-774-5140 28 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: [email protected]

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IMAGH 5th Annual Eid Milan in-stills youth with the spirit of giving

by Shobana Muratee

Still in its infancy, the Indian Muslim Association of Greater Houston (IMAGH) has made

remarkable strides these past five years leveraging every one of its events to incorporate dynamic initiatives that are benefiting a wide cross-section of the community, including seniors and

youth. At their 5th annual Eid Milan held on Sunday, August 10th at the Marriott Westchase, the IMAGH once again managed to capture the true fer-vor of one of India’s grandest festivals – the Eid Milan.

Greeting the gather of over 400 people Eid Mubarak, Abeezar Tye-bji, IMAGH’s founding member and a leading entrepreneur and CEO of Shipcom Wireless shared his experi-ences from his visit to India that de-scribed what India meant to him. “In

the world torn by strife India is a shin-ing example of Unity in Diversity,” he said, “as an American we truly get to celebrate diversity.” He elaborated on the IMAGH’s sister organizations Club 65 that engages seniors of the South Asian community in social ac-tivities and SAYA (South Asia Youth Alliance), a more recently stared or-ganization that helps the youth under-stand and promote culture, leadership

Dr. Basheer Khumawala, receives the Community Service Award from Consul General P Harish as Dr. Saleha, Col. Bhala, Latafath Hussain, and Dr. Maqbool Haq look on. Photos by Quaid Tinwala, SMB Media Productions.

IMAGH president Latafath Hussain, greets one of the senior members of Club 65 at the Eid Milan event.

DIL Kicks off its Annual Gala 2014

by Shobana Muratee

A formal media kick off for the upcoming annual gala and fundraiser for Developments

in Literacy (DIL) was hosted by its Chair Farida Abjani at the Asia Society Texas Center on the evening of Friday, August 8, 2014.

DIL is a non-profit organization that started fifteen years ago in California and operates with US based Directors and Pakistan based Trustees with nine Chapters in the US and bases in Lon-don and Canada. DIL mission is to help empower the underprivileged children, especially girls in Pakistan, through ed-ucation, “If we want a different world,

the one we can be proud of, then this is the way,” Abjani said stressing the importance of education as a means to development.

DIL’s Houston Chapter that was started in 2002 has been in the forefront of DIL’s activities and raised about $275K last year ac-cording its director Zeba Shah. Over all they had raised about $2m and this year the target is $3m Zeba said. This year the annual fundraiser and gala ‘Mu-ghal Darbar’ – A Royal Evening will be held on Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at the Omni Hotel, Galleria

Houston 4 River. Wajid Mirza, DIL’s Vice President

gave a detailed account of DIL and its objectives. “We have 20,000 students in 200 different schools in Pakistan,” he reported. Most of these students are girls. Pakistan’s girls are the least edu-cated, “By education, women issues like abuse are mitigated, would help reduce motality rate by 50% and also have fewer children, Mirza said. “Over 200,000 children’s lives have changed through DIL,” Mirza mentioned. DIL has 68% women in its schools. DIL is also the best run organization having less than half percent dropout rate and 88% go up to the next level.

Mughal Darbar gala – A Royal Evening on Oct 19, 2014

Chair Farida Abjani speaks at the Kick Off

Member of DIL L-R: Wajid Mirza, Saqima Husaini, Uzma Bawkher, Salma Siddiqi, Maha Khan, Farida Abjani, Munir Abraham, Zeba Shah, Janey Rizvi, Rosylyn and Ammar Nomani. Photos by NewsWireHouston.com.

VOICE OF ASIA 2 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014OP-ED/COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS

Publisher: Koshy ThomasAssociate Publisher: Sherly PhilipEditor-in-Chief: Shobana MurateeAustin Correspondent: Sherine ThomasPrint & Media Marketing: Jacob DavidMarketing: Susan Pothanikat Production: AR VadlamaniOffice Manager: Priyan Mathew Columnists:Legal: Richard M. AldermanLegal: Sharlene Sharmila RichardsMedical: Kesavan Shan, MDResearch: Prof. Meenakshi BhattacharjeeHealth Insurance: Sudhir MathuriaAstrology: Hardik Vyas

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by Hardeep Singh

There are times when a single, unexpected death sparks a change in medi-

cal practice. In 2012 a 12-year-old boy named Rory Staunton died after being misdiagnosed in a New York City emergen-cy room. Multiple physicians missed the symptoms, signs and lab results pointing to a streptococcal bacterial infec-tion that led to septic shock and overwhelmed Rory’s body. The tragedy prompted New York state in January 2013 to intro-duce “Rory’s regulations,” a set of stringent protocols aimed at preventing similar incidents in hospitals.

Comparable initiatives to prevent misdiagnosis have not happened on a national level—but there might be reason to ex-pect change soon.

New research my colleagues and I published in April in the journal BMJ Quality and Safe-ty shows the extent of the prob-lem. Based on previous studies of patients seeking outpatient care, we extrapolated data on diagnostic error to the entire U.S. adult population. Each year an estimated 5% are mis-diagnosed based on currently available evidence.

This may sound like a decent track record—95% accuracy—given that doctors are grappling with more than 10,000 diseases in patients who present a stag-gering array of symptoms. But a 5% error rate means that more than 12 million adults are misdiagnosed every year, and our study may understate the magnitude.

Still, after years of taking a back seat to problems such as medication and treatment er-rors, misdiagnosis is getting attention. In 2011 my research colleague in projects on misdi-agnosis Mark Graber founded the nonprofit Society to Im-prove Diagnosis in Medicine, which now holds an annual medical conference on diag-nostic error. More recently, the Institute of Medicine, an influ-ential branch of the National Academy of Sciences that ad-vises Congress on health care, is preparing a comprehensive action plan and hosting its sec-ond major expert meeting on Thursday and Friday. In 2015

the IOM will issue a report on misdiagnosis.

Meantime, the U.S. health-care community can take steps to reduce the problem.

The first is to improve com-munication between physicians and patients. Patients tend to be the best source of informa-tion for making a diagnosis, but often essential doctor-patient interactions such as history and examination are rushed, leading to poor decisions. As new forms of diagnostic and information technologies are implemented, managing large amounts of data will become increasingly complex, and phy-sicians could become more vul-nerable to misdiagnosis.

This problem exists in large part because time pressures and paperwork often force physi-cians to spend more time strug-gling to get reimbursed than talking with patients. Extra hours spent pursuing a correct diagnosis are not compensated beyond the payment for the visit, an already small sum for primary-care physicians.

The Battle Against MisdiagnosisPatients can’t solve this prob-

lem, but insurers can stream-line administrative paperwork and re-examine the logic be-hind reimbursement policies. Hospital systems can help by providing high-tech decision support tools and encourag-ing physicians to collaborate on tough cases and learn from missed opportunities.

Metrics also need work. As the old business adage goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Yet most health-care organizations aren’t track-ing misdiagnosis beyond mal-practice claims. Doctors need mechanisms to provide and receive timely feedback on the quality and accuracy of our diagnoses, including better pa-tient follow-up and test-result tracking systems.

Electronic health records will help eventually, but slow inno-vation in this area has frustrat-ed many physicians. And most doctors still lack access to elec-tronic patient data gathered by other physicians. Doctors can make a more informed diagno-sis when they can see the dis-

ease progression or learn what other doctors have discovered about the patient.

Finally, patients must start keeping good records of each meeting with a doctor, bringing the information to subsequent medical appointments and fol-lowing up with the physician if their condition doesn’t im-prove. No news from the doctor is not necessarily good news.

There is much we don’t un-derstand about the burden, causes and prevention of mis-diagnosis. The IOM report will spur progress, but health-care providers, patients, hospitals and payers can all help. The health outcomes of at least 12 million Americans each year depend on it.

Dr. Singh is chief of Health Policy, Quality and Informatics at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, and an associ-ate professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

(SOURCE: Wall Street Journal. Published on Aug. 7, 2014.)

Dr. Hardeep Singh

by Christophe Jaffrelot (Ex-press India)

Speaking as the chief guest at a conference at Gujarat University’s

convention hall on August 2, Supreme Court judge Justice Anil R. Dave said, “Had I been the dictator of India, I would have introduced Gita and Ma-habharata in Class I. That is the way you learn how to

live life. I am sorry if some-body says I am secular or I am not secular.But we have to get good things from everywhere.”

These words reflect some of the current misunderstandings about Indian secularism. It is in consonance with Indian secu-larism to borrow “good things from everywhere”, including the Gita and the Mahabharata. This “ism” does not imply the secularisation of society. On the contrary, whereas French la-ïcité involves a clear separation between public and religious spaces, far from excluding re-ligion from the public sphere, Indian secularism officially recognises all faiths, as evident from the Constitution and its implementation in the first de-cades of the Indian republic.

Jawaharlal Nehru himself wrote in 1961: “We talk about a secular state in India. It is perhaps not very easy even to find a good word in Hindi for ‘secular’. Some people think it means something opposed to religion. That obviously is not

Misunderstanding secularism Part I

correct. What it means is that it is a state which honours all faiths equally and gives them equal opportunities.” Sarve-palli Radhakrishnan, president of India when Nehru was prime minister, expressed a similar vision in these eloquent terms: “When India is said to be a secular state, it does not mean that we as a people reject the reality of an unseen spirit or the relevance of religions to life or that we exalt irreligion. It does not mean that secularism itself becomes a positive religion or that the state assumes divine prerogatives. Though faith in the supreme spirit is the basic principle of the Indian tradi-tion, our state will not identify itself with or be controlled by any particular religion.”

The specificity of Indian secularism transpires clearly in these quoted passages. Far from being areligious, irreligious or anti-religious, this principle is, on the contrary, perfectly com-patible with religiosity. But, recognising the importance of religion in the public space, the state intervenes in favour of all religious communities. It thus subsidises all kinds of religious activities, including pilgrim-ages for Sikhs (to Pakistan) and Hindus (like the one to Amar-nath in Jammu and Kashmir). The state also subsidises ma-jor religious celebrations such as the Kumbh Melas. The one in 2001, for instance, cost Rs 120 crore. Since 1993, Indian

pilgrims to Mecca have been largely state-funded, too.

This multicultural approach has been recently illustrated in the way President Pranab Mukherjee hosted an iftar party towards the end of Ramzan, soon after publicly offering prayers at the Padmanabhas-wamy temple.

This rather unique configu-ration is the product of a long history. Its immediate anteced-ent can be found in the words and deeds of Mahatma Gandhi, who advocated the recogni-tion of religious communities in the public space and their cohabitation as early as 1919, during the Khilafat Movement in which he joined forces with Muslim leaders. Subsequently, he tried to make the Congress party a “parliament” in which all denominations were repre-sented. In Hind Swaraj (1909), he promoted a conception of the Indian nation that ruled out identifying the nation with any religion: “If the Hindus believe that India should be peopled only by Hindus, they are living in dreamland. The Hindus, the Mahomedans, the Parsis and the Christians who have made India their country are fellow countrymen, and they will have to live in unity, if only for their own interest. In no part of the world are one nationality and one religion synonymous terms; nor has it ever been so in India.”Continued next week


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and entrepreneurship. IAMGH also wants SAYA to incorporate two ele-ments: Fun and Fellowship into their organization as a mark of observing IAMGH’s core values, Tyebji said.

He announced that IAMGH was planning to piggy back with the May-or of Houston and the Indo American Chamber of Commerce on their trip of friendship to Washington to meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visits US next month. Tyebji recognized the members of the IMAGH, Club 65 and SAYA com-mended their leadership and volun-teerism.

Eid Milan celebrations for the IMAGH have been more of an out-reach event. Every year during this celebration they invite other orga-nizations to show the Greater Hous-ton community who the Muslims are and why they celebrate this event. Last year the Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston were their guests and this year the Red Hat Society did

IMAGH 5th Annual Eid Milan instills youth with the spirit of giving

the honors. Rahat Kalle, Vice Presi-dent of Club 65, member of Red Hat Society spoke about the interrela-tionship of the two organization. Dr. Aaminah Durrani, Professor of Music at U of H, spoke more elaborately and eloquently on Muslims and Eid.

This was the IMAGH honored aca-demician couple Dr. Saleha and Dr. Basheer Khumawala, both professors at the C. T. Bauer College of Busi-ness, UH with the Community Ser-vice Award for making a difference in the lives of women and children through their organizations Pennies for Education and Health. Dr. Dr. Maqbool Haq is a noted Oncologist and Chairman of the Board of Direc-tors and Col. Raj Bhalla is a founding Member of IMAGH did the honors of explaining the significance of the Award that was later presented by the Hon. Consul General of India, Hous-ton, Paravathaneni Harish. “No one is so poor that cannot donate,’ believes Dr. Saleha and she mentioned that there are 1.6 m non-profit organiza-tions in the US. Speaking of her or-

ganizations she said that it operated with the help of volunteers most of who are from Bauer College and she also assured that 100% of the dona-tion would go towards the organiza-tion and none would be spent galas or such events.

Grand Patron of the event Dr. Mirza Baig a renowned scientist and neuro-surgeon from Houston has been active in humanitarian causes throughout his career, beginning in college. He is the founder of Firdous Foundation and Plus One Initiative that aims to em-power orphans and children in need to reach their full potential through meaningful and sustainable engage-ment that will enhance their lives.

Dr. Baig spoke about the giving back to the Motherland. “It is impor-tant to remember our heritage and to give back,” he said “And my efforts are towards education and health care.” Dr. Baig said that giving a do-nation was not so important as going to India, connecting with the people there and understanding their needs. That’s when he said one realizes the true meaning f giving back.

Wishing the guests Eid Mubarak Consul General P Harish, instantly connected with the gathering. In his profound message he reiterated the importance of connecting with the people and giving time which he said was more meaningful than just giving money. He spoke of India’s secular-ism and the way people, even though had a ‘different rhythm’ found a way to connect, “ The entire diversity is represented in one form or the other,” he said.

Reflecting on the success of the vent, Latafath Hussain President and founder of IMAGH said, “It exceeded my expectations and was made pos-sible because we have a great team that works together and we have member who are very supportive.” “ For the first time IAMAG, SAYA and Club 65 worked together and we had

representatives from the Pakistan, Sri Lankan and Naples communities present,” he said.

The event was efficiently emceed jointly by Arif Menon,a well know DJ and event organizer and Lubna Jumshyd also a media professional.

Comic relief was provided by Mu-lik Sayeedi while Abbas Ali Mirza and Uma Mantrawadi entertained the guest with songs and music. A de-lightful and sumptuous dinner with Hyderabadi specialties prepared by Mezban was served.

Master of Ceremonies Arif Menon with Latafath Hussain

Grand Patron of the event Dr. Mirza Baig speaking on the ocassion while Jer-emy Andrews looks on. Photos by Quaid Tinwala, SMB Media Productions.

Continued from page 1

Members of the Red Hat Society at the Eid Milan event


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A. I also saw the ad and was similarly concerned. It did seem “too good to be true.” Most companies either charge you to receive your credit score or have you sign up for credit monitor-ing or something else that requires you provide a credit card number.

So to find out what Credit Karma was all about, I went to the website and checked it out. Al-though you do have to give some limited personal information, they do not ask for a credit card and you do not have to sign up for any other service. I did some additional research and as far as I can tell, this is not a scam and your score is free. All of the information they provided me about my accounts was accurate and I found the website to be very useful. Of course, no com-pany can stay in business giving things away and the Credit Karma website contains numerous opportunities for you to apply for a credit card or loan.

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A. Under the law, whether a child must be secured in a safety seat when a car is operated depends on both the age and the size of the child. The law says that any child under the age of eight must be secured in a safety seat system, unless the child is taller than four feet, nine inches. Once the child reaches that height the child must wear a safety belt. Basically, the law recognizes that it is the size of the child and not the age that determines when the additional protection of a safety seat system is necessary.

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A. You are correct that to sue someone you need to provide the court with a location where the party can be served with notice of the lawsuit. You do not, however, need his address. Under the law, you may serve what is called the “agent for service.” If you were given written notice of the name and address of the management company that manages the property, the management company is the agent for service and may be served. If you were not given such notice, you may serve the management company, the on-premises manager, or rent collector.

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Disclaimer: Offer valid on qualifying 2015 bookings of minimum 7 nights in GoldLeaf or SilverLeaf Service. *Terms & Conditions: Offer valid on new 2015 bookings made in the USA or Canada between June 29, 2014 and August 31, 2014. Offer is applicable to any Rocky Mountaineer package of seven or more nights in GoldLeaf or SilverLeaf Service from the 2015 Rocky Mountaineer brochure. Deposits are required at the time of booking and full payment of the balance must be made by January 16, 2015. Travel must occur during the 2015 Rocky Mountaineer season between April and October. The maximum added value offer of $2500 per couple is with a qualifying Coastal Passage or Circle Journey package of seven nights or more in GoldLeaf Service. The Promotional Offer value varies by class of service, package selected, and date of travel. The Promotional Offer must be requested at the time of booking and will not be automatically or retrospectively added. An amendment fee of $50 CAD per booking will be charged for changes to the use of the Promotional Offer after the booking has been confirmed. US guests will be charged the equivalent amount in USD at the time of amendment. The Promotional Offer must be accepted as presented—substitutions to the elements of the Promotional Offer are not allowed. The Promotional Offer values are expressed in CAD. US guests must pay in USD. Offer is not applicable to 2-day rail only bookings or Group Tour bookings. Not available in conjunction with any other offer. Offer has no cash value and is non-transferable. Offer is capacity controlled, is not available on select dates, and may be modified, withdrawn, or amended without prior notice. Additional conditions apply.

25th Anniversary Offer

Indian and Vegetarian meals served on request

India Culture Center Hous-ton (ICC) is celebrating the 68th Independence

Day Celebrations with major Indo American Associations of Greater Houston on August 16th Saturday at the Stafford Center. The Signature event has been planned with lots of activities. The day long cel-ebrations commence with the

Parade, Awards, Cultural program, Fashion show, Little Champs contest and the grand finale is the Musical Concert with group from In-dia. The Dance India Dance (DID) fame star Kamlesh will also be performing at the event.

The event is al-ready sold out on the booths & there would be plenty of food, shopping and community out-

reach information too.The organizers of the India

Fest have tirelessly worked for almost 8 weeks under the leadership of President Char-lie Patel. The event chair Rajiv Bhavsar requests the communi-ty to come out in large numbers and enjoy the event. The mu-sical program would have pa-

triotic songs as also evergreen Hindi songs.

ICC held the auditions for the Little Champs (5-13 years) at the India House on Sunday August 10th. There was a great participation from the com-munity kids who sang in vari-ous languages. The kids did a phenomenal job and the Judges had a difficult time in select-ing the winners. The winners of the Little Champs would be performing on the ICC stage on August 16th. All the par-ticipants would be recognized & appreciated at the event. The Judges for this event were Veena Kaul, Mahalakshmi Krishnan, Alpa Shah and San-jiv Kumar. The auditions were coordinated by Ajit Patel with assistance from Sangeeta Pas-rija & Swapan Dhairyawan.

For more information please call Rajiv 281-2177330 or visit www.icchouston.org

India Culture Center to host I-Fest 2014 Celebrating India’s 68th Independence Day

ICC Directors with the participants of ‘Little Champs’ competition during the audition.

Little Champs aspirant during her audition

A musical tribute to the Tricolorby Nikhil RaghavanThis week, we celebrate

our Independence Day and Saintunes, a creative outfit in the city, headed by R. Kumar Narayanan, has composed a patriotic song in Hindi. The number has been sung by him and playback singer Rita, sup-ported by N. Ramanathan and Harish.

“The lyrics of Hey Hindustan are by Uday Meghani, who is with AIR, and I have composed the song as a tribute to our na-tion. It reiterates that we, as cit-izens, should value the freedom obtained thanks to the sacrifice of thousands of freedom fight-ers. It is also a tribute to the defence forces for safeguarding our nation by keeping awake with watchful eyes thereby helping civilians sleep peace-fully,” says Kumar.

The song is supported by a video compiled from stock images, and uploaded on You-

Tube. “The visual starts with children, as they are the future generation, and ends with the

Tricolour flying high against the blue sky,” explains Kumar.

Courtesy: The Hindu.

Kumar Narayanan

Menil Collections Presents Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence

Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence is the first

international project to explore the resonance of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s (1867-1948) ethics of non-violence, or “satyagraha,” in the visual arts. This exhibition presents approximately 130 works spanning several centuries and includes paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, sculptures, rare books, and films by art-ists from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The exhibi-tion’s themes echo the expan-sive humanitarian concerns of the Menil Collection’s found-ers, John and Dominique de Menil. Following their exam-ple, we aim to create a platform for international conversation on world-wide issues surround-ing human rights, compassion, civil disobedience, and prog-ress through non-violence.

A renowned photograph of

Gandhi’s last possessions, a carefully constructed “still-life” of the few objects he owned at the time of his death (two dinner bowls, wooden fork and spoon, porcelain monkeys, diary, watch, prayer book, spittoon, letter openers, and two pairs of sandals), is the catalyst for the exhibition. The striking simplicity of this pho-tograph, whose author remains unidentified, conveys the deep significance of these items, which serve as incarnations of Gandhi’s ascetic lifestyle and his conviction that the practice of satyagraha must begin “with the individual, at home,” as he once explained.

Among the diverse artworks

and artifacts on display will be iconic photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson from the tu-multuous time of India’s inde-pendence and partition in 1947, along with another group taken just before and immediately after Gandhi’s assassination in 1948. Portraits and documents of Gandhi’s most important predecessors and contempo-raries (Ruskin, Thoreau, Tol-

stoy, Sojourner Truth), as well as his most eminent follow-ers and leaders of significant movements of social and politi-cal reform in the last decades are included. The exhibition will also present major works illustrating the complex artistic visualizations of non-violence throughout world religions including iconography based on themes of asceticism, com-passion, abolition of slavery, and racial equality. Finally, artworks by modern and con-temporary artists that resonate with Gandhi’s vision and con-template in a critical way the unfinished conflicts of past and present will appear throughout the exhibition.

The exhibition will include

works by living artists such as Mel Chin, Marlene Dumas, Suzan Frecon, Theaster Gates, Robert Gober, Shilpa Gupta, Amar Kanwar, William Ken-tridge, Kimsooja, Ai Weiwei, and Zarina. Also on display will be examples by Eve Arnold, Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dan Flavin, Yves Klein, René Magritte, Ag-nes Martin, Barnett Newman, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark

Rothko, Jean Tinguely, Shômei Tômatsu, and Andy Warhol.

The opening events at the

Menil Collection will coincide with the 145th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth, October 2, 2014, and the exhibition will remain on view until Febru-ary 1, 2015, before traveling to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. In Houston the pre-sentation will activate a city-wide initiative at various sites within the Menil campus and many cultural organizations in the city. Curated by Menil Director, Josef Helfenstein, in consultation with Indian artist Amar Kanwar, Experiments with Truth will be accompa-nied by a publication intended to introduce the exhibition’s significant figures, ideas, his-torical events and trends to a non-specialist audience.

This exhibition is generously

supported by H-E-B; Skadden, Arps; Marilyn Oshman; and the City of Houston.

United Airlines is the Pre-

ferred Airline of the Menil Col-lection.

October 2, 2014 - February 1, 2015

Get Your Event Information Visit our website: www.voiceofasiaonline.com

Image courtesy Menil

VOICE OF ASIA 7 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014India’s Independence Day Supplement

�om a� � us at Voice of Asia

Independence Day Speech expectations high – PM Modi must make big moves

by Gautam Mukherjee

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to make dramatic announcements

and surprises for India and the world for his Independence Day speech. Certainly, the anticipa-tion is high, stoked in no uncer-tain manner by NaMo himself.

At the same time, everyone can see and appreciate the Govern-mental efforts to tone up the ad-ministration. Indeed it is difficult to proceed fast with the cumber-some inter-Ministerial fiefdom system inherited, renowned for working at cross-purposes, sup-ported by a bureaucracy grown totally unused to hard work and time-bound programmes over the last decade. But wasn’t all this changed rapidly, days after the Modi Government assumed office?

Having said this, results so far are positive, if not dramatic. The GDP is inching up, other eco-nomic parameters are improving, the Railways have been rescued from the brink, the functioning of the PSU banks is being over-hauled even as the UPA scam lia-bilities and NPAs are threatening to overwhelm their net worth, the SAARC region regional di-plomacy is stirring afresh, for-eign investment limits are being raised in multiple sectors, labour laws are being modernised. But why does it still feel like so much spring-cleaning and not what the

public expects from NaMo?The rump of a Congress pres-

ence, with just 44 MPs in the Lok Sabha, has nevertheless found a way to block the Government’s legislative agenda in the Rajya Sabha. There, it has 102 seats, and is successfully making com-mon cause with some of the re-gional parties too.

So when will the Government call a joint session of parliament to get its laws passed? Why is the NDA Government indulging a very negative Opposition when it does not have to, and particu-larly when the public wants rapid progress?

Governor Raghuram Rajan at the RBI is being allowed to continue with his obsession with inflation, implying that ‘growth’ is not the central bank’s main priority. And Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is chiming in with calibrated and cautious measures for the real economy that seem much too subdued.

This lack of big announce-ments and reform measures are causing impatience and disap-pointment in the public’s per-ception of this Government. This can be very dangerous for the upcoming Assembly Elec-tions. The loss of all three seats in recent by-elections in Uttara-khand are being interpreted by the Congress and others as early disaffection with the BJP/NDA and a reason to take heart for a

gradual comeback.Strangely, the BJP seems to

want to develop a consensus with the Congress which is im-possible if the latter wants to sur-vive and revive after its electoral rout. The Modi Government is also not seen to be putting the Congress leadership under the kind of pressure it deserves for its multiple wrong-doings and scams, thereby emboldening it.

The young, at 50, Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chief election strategist and pos-sible alter-ego, was formally anointed as President of the BJP on Saturday August 9, 2014. Dur-ing his speech on the occasion, Shah promptly warned the party cadre against complacence. This, in the presence of over 2,000 BJP delegates. Shah spoke of the need to spread BJP’s electoral dominance to the States holding elections shortly, with special emphasis on Jammu & Kash-mir, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where he wants to propel his party into winning, and on its own.

He also wants to extend its influence to the entire Eastern seaboard where the BJP has been heretofore weak or absent. Amit Shah also continued Prime Min-ister Modi’s electoral theme of seeking a Congress Mukt Bharat as the 130 year old Party had grown corrupt and venal. (Niti-Central)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to speak of dramatic changes and developments for India (PTI)

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Binayak Sen to Irom Sharmila: A look at India’s post-independence social activists

Binayak Sen: He has played mutiple roles over the years; academician, pediatrician, pub-lic health specialist and human rights activist. For more than 25

years, Sen provided health care to the adivasi people of Chhat-tisgarh. Sen was among the first to draw public attention to widespread human rights viola-

tions in the wake of the Salwa Judum. In 2010, he was con-victed of conspiring to commit sedition and other charges and sentenced to life in prison.

Binayak Sen, a post-independence social activist being taken to jail. He was the first to draw the atten-tion of the public to widespread human rights violations in the wake of the Salwa Judum . Reuters.

Masterchef India: Restaurants create patriotic dishes for Independence dayNEW DELHI: (First

Post) Restaurants and hotels are offering

gastronomical delights using global cuisines with a desi twist this Independence Week.

Mexican baked potato curry and mushroom and pasta in a spiced Makhani gravy, “Tri-colour Tri-Grain Pilaf” flag among others are some signa-ture dishes being offered by city chefs.

“We are hosting a ‘Global Cuisine Indian Style’ Food Fest to celebrate the global Indian on the occasion of Indepen-

dence Day by bringing together a fusion of global cuisine with Indian flavours and taste,” says Vijay Anand Bakshi, Headof Culinary Operations, Barbeque Nation.

The 60 new dishes are replete with innovative fusions on the menu. Signature dishes include the likes of Roasted Lamb in Thai Curry, Grilled Chicken Breast in Potli Gravy, Mexican Baked Potato Curry and Mush-room ‘n Pasta in Spicy Makhni Gravy and many more.

“Customers today seek the thrill of deriving maximum

pleasure for their taste-buds. This special food festival menu does just that ? offers the best of both worlds to customers by offering never-heard-before delectable dishes. We hope to leave our customers satiated yet longing for more,” says Bakshi.

A concoction of mouth-wa-tering desserts like Red and White Kheer, Rasgulla Litchi Cake, Masala Spice Brownie, Kappi Pie and much more at their nine outlets in Delhi-NCR region.

“Meal starters meal include various cocktails and mocktails

Tri-color Rangila Pilaf

designed taking desi ingredients like Jamun. The main course comprises grilled prawns in herbs, roasted Tandoor chick-en, lamb in thai curry as well as baked manchurian kofta in makhani Gravy. No meal is complete without desserts, so do not miss out on the Red and White Kheer and complete the

meal with our mouth-freshener ‘the pan shot with vodka’,” says Bakshi.

Following the eat healthy mantra and the Tattva Gourmet Organic Kitchen at Hauz Khas Village is offering just that.

“Just like India transformed from a captive country to an in-dependent one on August 15, I

want to see my fellow country-men free themselves from the clutches of unhealthy food and lifestyle options and switch to healthy food and living.

There is no better day to do that than the Independence Day! I believe food is interplay of function and form, which are

both essential components of functional gastronomy,” says Anuradha Madhusudhanan, Executive Chef, Tattva Gour-met Organic Kitchen.

He has developed a theme ti-tled “Functional Gastronomy? the bridge between Tradition and Modernity”. One of the dishes on their menu is named

“Tri-colour Tri-Grain Pilaf” which is a must try according to the chef.

“This recipe celebrates tra-ditional grains, and explores international palates. It is nutri-tionally balanced, and performs the function food should - nour-ish and heal you from within. The international flavors cel-ebrate gastronomy at its best,” says Madhusudhanan.

The five-star hotels in the city are also offering delight-ful dishes but also at a special price. Taj Vivanta travels back to its roots and is offering veg-etarian dishes like Tri Penne Salad and Tri Pepper Soup.

“Apart from creating a gas-tronomic impact, these dishes contain a lot of vegetables, all organic in nature symbolising the new fad of ‘vegetarianism’, yet keeping our roots intact.

Hence keeping it light and healthy yet close to roots for the urban gourmands of today is what we have created for Independence Day,” says Chef Neeraj Chaudhry, Executive Chef, Vivanta by Taj Gurgaon.

India’s Independence Day Supplement

VOICE OF ASIA 10 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014India’s Independence Day SupplementThis Independence Day artists explore Indian Roots

The “Freedom of Life” exhibition presents cultural and traditional

heritage of India through paint-ings

At the onset of Independence Day celebration, “Freedom Of Life” a painting exhibi-tion will be held from 16th to 22nd August at Art Gate Gal-lery, Churchgate. ‘Manas Kala’ and ‘Paintings are us’ are the two branches of art house. As the connoisseurs of art, they shoulder the responsibility of inspiring and representing cre-ativity of artists from India. Their motto to promote atists instigates from the thought that they (artists) are the historians of our culture and communi-ties. They nurture origins of culture through visual medium and truly signify Indian civili-zation. They want to continue in this great work of presenting cultural and traditional heri-tage of India through Painting Art. India is the only unique land which has traditions and customs associated with every element of nature, be it trees, animals or any other geograph-ical feature. Every element is linked to human life, behavior and survival.

The participating artists are:G.K. Laxman:He has painted realistic cre-

ations that capture Landscapes

and Portrait in all medium. He is specialized in Oil on canvas and charcoal paintings. In this exhibition he has shown beau-tiful visual of holy river Ganga during dusk and the rituals that are carried on it. Indians believe that every river is the Goddess and each denotes purity. River are referred to as Mother, which itself means life giver.

Ramesh Kharat:One can feel the artist’s love

to express through lavish use of different shades of colors. He is specialized in Abstract and Semi abstract form of art. The intensity reverberated through the mind and thoughts of the observer and one starts relating emotions and feelings in the painting with his own life.

S. Bala:Artist is personally mesmer-

ized by the Buddha and spe-cializes in relentlessly paint-ing different shades of abstract and the Buddha. The paintings in this exhibition are abstract forms, and very close to medi-tational mood. He is specialized in Abstract and contemporary art works.

Kapil:He adores and expresses his

love for culture in folk art style. He is specialized in Pen and Ink on Paper paintings. He fol-lows Madhubani style of paint-

ing with his own artistic creation. In this exhibi-tion he displays a grace-ful, emotive, coy In-dian rural lady by using sketching style of pen on paper. This kind of fine line sketching is one of the styles in Madhubani called ‘Kachni’.

Bhavna:She is specialized in

Acrylic and mix media paintings. She has used the most placid and bar-ren land- the dessert in India and its effect. The tiring heat and dif-ficult mode of survival show on the faces of the people living there. She deliberately paints faces in black and white and tops them with colorful turban. The black and white faces and colorful turbans hint us that the dry land of Rajasthan seems to raise colorful hopes of life.

Jacob:India can be simply praised

and admired for its variation in landscapes without associating them with virtues and values. The visual treat of landscapes is presented by artist. He is specialized in Water colour on paper and mix media medium of paintings. His paintings are

realistic landscapes which he paints in day light.

Sunny:His charcoal paintings pres-

ents cultural and traditional heritage of India.

Suchit Verma:He is the youngest of all artists

exhibiting in this group show follows the league of represent-ing beauty of India through its landscapes. He is specialized in Acrylic on Canvas.

This exhibition will bring one closer to Indian traditional, contemporary art and realis-tic artists. Truly, the busy life

schedule has taken away our leisure time and thoughts of ap-preciating beauty. But you will surely compensate this loss by having blissful experience while watching this vibrant exhibition by artists G.K. Lax-man, Ramesh Kharat, S Bala, Kapil, Bhavana, Jacob, Sunny and Sanchit Verma.

Ramesh Kharat: Red Buddha


Shri Krishna Vrundavuna, TX11814 Burlingame Dr, Houston, TX 77099Phone: 713-589-9183 www.txtemple.org

Shri Raghavendra AradhanaMahotsava 2014

Venue: Chinmaya Smriti 10353 Synott Rd, Sugar Land, TX 77498 - 1130

Saturday August 23, 2014 from 9 AM - 6 PM

Contact: Shri Krishna Vrundavana TX

Ph: 713-589-9183 • 732-983-2390 • [email protected]

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9 AM - Guru Pooja, Ganapathi Pooja, Shuddhi Punyahavachana

10 AM - Maha Sankalpa, Panchamrutha Abhisheka

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12 PM - Maha Pooja, Paada Pooja, Kanakaabhisheka, Hasthodaka

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12:45 PM - Ashirvachana by His Holiness 1008 Sri Sri Sugnendra Theertha Swamiji Udupi Shri Puttige Matha

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• Sarva Seva - $501 • Sampoorna Seva - $1008 (Grand Sponsor).

COMMUNITY

SU G A R L A N D , (Aug 7,

2014) — With flu season around the corner, it’s time to mark your calendar for our free flu shot clinic and commu-nity toy drive event, or see your primary care physician about getting vaccinated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention (CDC), flu can result in serious complications and leads to more than 200,000 hospital-izations each year in the U.S.

“The best way to flex your health muscles against influ-enza is to be vaccinated,” says Dr. Adelola Ashaye, primary care physician with Hous-ton Methodist Primary Care Group. “And it’s especially important for certain groups of people like pregnant women, those with chronic health con-ditions (such as asthma, diabe-tes, HIV/AIDS, lung, heart or kidney disease), people age 50 and older, residents of nursing homes and other long-term fa-cilities, and caregivers of those in a high risk group.”

Take the appropriate precau-tions to protect yourself from the flu. Test your influenza in-telligence below:

True or False? December is too late to get a flu shot.

False. A seasonal flu shot is the most important preven-tive step you can take. While the CDC recommends getting one as soon as the vaccine is available each year, the shot is offered through January and beyond since flu season typi-cally peaks in February.

True or False? The flu vac-cine can make me sick with the flu.

False. The flu vaccine can-not cause the flu. According to the CDC, the vaccine is made

On Saturday August 9, 2014 India House conducted its Annual

Summer Camp Youth Explo-sion! It was a day filled with fun, community fellow-ship, cultural diversity, and educa-tion. The day started off with the India House summer camp children presenting what they learned throughout the sum-mer in an interactive way that got the crowd involved. Then educational and empowerment break-out sessions were pro-vided for our youth as well as parents attending the event.

Everyone present thoroughly enjoyed talent presentations by the children. Dr. Virendra Mathur, one of the Trustees of India House and a major spon-sor of the event, spoke few words to encourage the children. Vipin Kumar, General Manager of India House welcomed the guests and acknowledged Mr. and Mrs. Bansal for their gen-erous support and sponsorship. He also thanked everyone pres-ent for attending the event and expressed special thanks to all of Sponsors as this event would not have been possible without their kind donation and sup-

port.The event

brought in d i g n i t a r -ies such as Ninth D i s t r i c t Congress-man Al Green and Eighteenth D i s t r i c t Congress-w o m a n S h e i l a J a c k s o n Lee! Both House Representatives inter-acted with the children and attendees. They called all chil-dren, volunteers and staff up to the stage to take photographs as well spoke to provide encour-aging words. In Congressman Al Green’s own words, “If Ba-rack Obama can become Presi-dent of USA, he sees no reason why one of the kids present here could not emulate his ex-ample”. Additionally, Council Member Richard Nguyen from District F attended and gave kind words. The youth explo-sion also presented numerous cultural acts and performanc-

es from various cultures and backgrounds. The children and the rest of the community were provided with fun jumps, water slides, food, popcorn, snow cones, basketball, enter-tainment, and school supplies! Overall the Youth Explosion was a very successful and well appreciated event. Apart from two major sponsors, Dr. Virendra & Nalini Mathur and Mr. Virinder & Mrs. Neena Bansal, the event was also sponsored by Sathish Rao of Udipi Restaurant , Walmart, Chick Fil-A, Fiesta, Target, PF Chang’s, and Fresh Market.

India House Annual Youth Explosion

Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hos-pital Offers FREE Flu Shots to benefit Santa’s Exchange

2013 Flu Shot Clinic & Community Toy Drive

with either an inactivated vi-rus, and therefore non-infec-tious; recombinant vaccine (which has no flu virus at all); or in the form of a nasal spray as a live but weakened vaccine and therefore not able to cause the flu. While a small number of patients may have side ef-fects (which are often mild and short-lived) from the vaccine such as fever, soreness at vac-cine site and aches, the flu vac-cine does not cause the flu.

True or False? I can spread the flu even if I don’t have symptoms.

True. “Healthy adults can pass the influenza virus to someone else one day before symptoms begin and can in-fect others up to five days af-ter getting sick,” Dr. Ashaye says. “Practice good preven-tion such as frequent hand-washing, coughing or sneezing into your elbow, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth.”

Dr. Ashaye also recommends staying home from work or school if you feel sick, and limiting contact with others to keep from infecting them.

To schedule an appoint-ment with Dr. Ashaye, call 281.276.0653 or schedule on-line at houstonmethodist.org/primarycare.

Give a Gift & Beat the FluHouston Methodist Sugar

Land Hospital is offering free flu shots on Saturday, Novem-ber 8 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. to community members who participate in Santa’s Gift Exchange.

Fort Bend and surrounding area residents can bring a new, unwrapped toy or clothing item to the Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital Main Pavilion lobby in exchange for a free flu shot. Held in collaboration with the Exchange Club of Sugar Land, Fort Bend Exchange Club, Rotary Club of Sugar Land, Ro-tary Club of Fort Bend and Toys for Tots Fort Bend, all toys and clothing will benefit local chil-dren in the Fort Bend area.

The flu vaccine is formulated to provide protection against three different flu viruses—H1N1, H3N2 and influenza B. No appointments necessary. Call 281.275.0751 with any questions.

Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital will be distribut-ing a limited supply of the influ-enza vaccine to persons with no history of egg and/or latex aller-gy. MUST BE 18 OR OLDER. If you are pregnant, please visit your OB/GYN or primary care physician to have your vaccine administered.

Dr. Virendra Mathur, Trustee, India House, Congressman Al Greeen, Congresswoman Sheila Jack-son Lee and Vipin Kumar, General Manager of India House with the children at India House

Children enjoying snacks and goodies during the summer camp.

VOICE OF ASIA 12 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014COMMUNITYby Dr. Venugopal Menon

As the Hindus of Greater Houston celebrates the Grand 25th Anniver-

sary of Janmashtami, we look back at the beginning of Hindu presence in this great city, its evolution and its enormous ex-pansion, and proudly revere and rejoice in the birth of Lord Krishna.

The PhiloshophySanatana Dharma’, the Eternal

Righteousness is the philosophy of life guiding the third largest section of humanity. Errone-ously addressed as ‘Hinduism’ it is the Faith inspired by divine revelations from ancient sages and seers, its basic principles resting on simple yet the Ulti-mate Truth. The cardinal axiom of Hindu belief is the universal presence of Divinity in every-thing that exists. It extols vir-tuous living based on ‘Dharma’, principles of righteousness, and our lives are guided by the doc-trine of Karma, the yardstick that evaluates our performance, eventually motivating the souls to earn salvation, merging with the Ultimate Reality.

Beginnings in HoustonThe earliest records of Hindu

gatherings in Houston date back to the early 1960s. Most of us then were focused solely on ex-panding our education and es-tablishing a career. When those basic desires were met, and we felt comfortable and content with our professional ambitions, we sensed a glaring vacuum, a thirst for our spiritual needs. Beyond the urge to meet the devout requirements of adults, we were compelled to provide an atmosphere to recreate a re-ligious setting for our children, our next generation.

Being thrust into an alien en-vironment, often facing hostile comments from fellow students, many of our children were subjected to severe emotional strains and identity crises. As we imposed demands on them to speak our language, eat our foods and act our ways, they realized that to be accepted by peers, they required cultivating a different set of habits and exhib-iting other patterns of behavior at school. Realizing the urgency of inculcating our value systems and imparting some fundamen-tals of our heritage to them it was an impending need for us to create places of worship to in-

Hindus of Houston – our humble history, our ambitious visions

troduce them to our ways. We started gathering in small

groups in our own residences on weekends and evenings, having prayers, bhajans and recitations, always including our children. Some of the stalwarts of the com-munity, like Kumar Krishen, Sen Pathak, Satish Jhingran, Hospeti and Diwan took initiative in ar-ranging such prayer meetings. Irrespective of the states of our origin or mother tongue, Hindus form all over India assembled in garages and living rooms of many homes and prayed, read Bhagavad Gita, sang bhajans, ate pot luck lunches and devel-oped friendship and camarade-rie. We named the group ‘ India Family Circle’. Later on it was changed to Hindu Worship Soci-ety, the organization registering with its constitution, purchas-ing a piece of land on Wirtcrest Road and building the temple in 1975.

Temples in Houston Around that time, there was

an offer from Sri Meenakshi Temple in Madurai to assist our community in building a temple as per their traditions and fol-lowing their Agamas. Devotees from the Southern states of India who were used to those conven-tions and rituals, accepted that offer and decided to build the temple under the initiative of Sam Kannappan. They bought a piece of land in Pearland in 1977 and Sri Meenakshi Temple

was built in Pearland in 1979. Even though most members of the community opted to go with either one based on their cus-toms, Raj Syal was unique that he would be mowing and clean-ing the yard of Sri Meenakshi Temple on Saturday and work-ing on the roof of Hindu Wor-ship Society on Sunday.

Hare Krishna Temple was the earliest one to be created in 1969 by Vishnujana Swami, a disciple of Sri Prabhupada (ISKCON) at a downtown location, which was recently relocated into a new, splendid temple in the Northwest.

Indian population and Hindu community in Houston began expanding with influx to the southern warmer Houston from the colder areas as well as new migrants arriving. After the initial hardship and struggles that such ventures had to face, and as our influence along with our affluence improved, several Hindu religious organizations slowly materialized in Hous-ton and cities all over the USA. Chinmaya Mission, Arya Samaj, BAPS Swami Narayan Temple, Sri Radha Krishna Temple, Du-rga Bari, VPSS, Ashta Lakshmi Temple and several others con-structed by devotees who sub-scribed to their particular needs. (Please see the attached list).

As the initial temples were being built, and around the time ‘Emergency’ was declared by

Indira Gandhi in 1976, a few Hindus, concerned about de-mocracy and Hindu culture in India assembled and established a monthly Shakha under Bharati-ya Swayam Sevak Sangh (BSS). Under the leadership of Sharad Amin and Ramesh Bhutada, the Shakha had regular meetings and activities including yoga, exercise, games and picnic, as well as inviting speakers to give talks to the members.

Organizations and Activities The Indian students at the Uni-

versity of Houston had an active social agenda and later the India Culture Center was established to address the many needs of the growing Indian community. The idea of creating a common facility for all Indians that was initially considered by ICC, finally materialized as an inde-pendent entity and organization as India House.

Bal Vihar was established in the early eighties under the aus-pices of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and the first Hindu Heritage Youth Camp was held in 1985, Suresh Patel being its first di-rector. Subash Gupta was the first president of VHP Houston and Beth Kulkarni was elected as its first woman President. In1987,Makar Shankranti Ut-sav was celebrated by VHP of America Houston Chapter. Shri Ram Chand Ji Mahajan came to Houston in 1979 and became an active Patron in the Hindu

community and started perform-ing Vedic Sanskars. His efforts brought forth the founding of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha and later the establishment of Arya Samaj in 1991. His son Dev Mahajan, Rita and Sunil Mehta and sev-eral volunteers worked towards the steady growth of Arya Sam-aj, creating its Dayanand Anglo Vedic Montessori School and the DAV library, the organiza-tion placing emphasis on edu-cation and community service projects.

Another milestone was estab-lished by Padmakant Khambhati in 1994 as the Voice of Sanatan Hinduism started airing on 1460 AM every Sunday morning from 9 am to 12 noon. The broadcast covers a variety of topics about Hindu Dharma and its interests and invites participation of the various Hindu organizations in Houston.

Hindus of Greater Houston In 1990 , Raj Syal took the

initiative along with the help of Hari Kewalramani, PC Sharma, Ravi Goel, GS Gopalakrishna, Garg, Dilip Mehta, Padmakant Khambhati, Beth Kulkarni, Sharad Amin and others to es-tablish the entity of Hindus of Greater Houston. Their desire was to unite all the Hindus of Greater Houston to collectively celebrate Janmashtami and Ram Navami together. The effort has succeeded in the most amazing way, the festivities improving

each year and drawing more at-tendance and reaching its Silver Anniversary, that we are cel-ebrating this year.

As of last year, an Advisory Board for the Hindus of Greater Houston was created with repre-sentative members from differ-ent organizations and to function as a link between the various groups. From the very humble beginnings almost half a cen-tury ago, the Hindus of greater Houston, through hard work and sheer determination have ac-complished an enviable legacy of success and unity of purpose. The tribute and repute go to the early activists who ventured and persevered against many odds to reach its present status.

As we look into the future, the horizon looks bright, extremely promising. The status that our immigrant generation has estab-lished for our faith in the land we domiciled has to be bequeathed to our legitimate followers. It is time that the new generation takes over the reins and marches into the future with a different focus and new set of objectives.

The most encouraging es-tablishment, the Hindu Ameri-can Foundation is the future of Hinduism here to ensure that we get established and recognized here beyond our temples and festivals. Their agenda is to help our religion step out of the Hindu hive to engage the broad-er culture, to forge a distinctly American Hindu identity and be tightly woven into the national fabric. Rishi Bhutada, a Hous-ton born, our own active mem-ber of HAF along with many American Hindus are involved with promoting pluralism and mutual respect, accurate under-standing of Hinduism, human rights issues, policy making and several objectives of our broader interests. Hindu Students Asso-ciation in various universities are helping to create a better un-derstanding about our faith and expelling misconception in the main stream.

It is our desire to make it known that all our accomplish-ments are basically founded and nurtured by our rich traditions, the fundamental Vedic prin-ciples that are the underlying guidelines of our way of life. We remain optimistic that ‘Hin-duism’ will be understood, ac-cepted and respected precisely for it stands for and who we are, in our new land of domicile.

Enthusiastic participants of the costume competitions held during Janmashtami celebrations each year. (Pic from previous year’s event)



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ONLINE.COMvoiceofasiaonline.com

by Rob Lever

WA S H I N G T O N , August 10, 2014 (AFP) - Even if

you don’t open a newspaper, turn on a television, log on to a computer or pull out a smartphone, you can get news -- from wearable technology.

As wearables gain traction, news purveyors are eyeing these devices for their potential to deliver headlines and more to people who want to stay up to date.

Some news apps already have the capacity to deliver news notifications, or full articles, to smartwatches or eyewear such as Google Glass.

“We are going full speed on smartwatches,” said Gilles Raymond, the San Francisco-based chief executive of News Republic, a mobile app that de-livers news to mobile devices from hundreds of outlets.

Raymond told AFP he ex-pects people will find it useful to get not only headlines but full articles on a smartwatch as the wearable trend revs up.

“When the iPhone came out, people were saying that not one would read news on a phone. Now nobody is saying that,” said Raymond.

“People will read articles on a watch. They may not read 300 articles, but people adapt quickly to technology.”

Raymond founded News Republic in France and has expanded to other European markets as well as North Amer-ica and China, aggregating news from hundreds of outlets, including AFP, Al-Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press.

Roman Karachinsky, CEO of the news aggregation app News360, also sees a future for wearables, but mainly for quick notifications they might not otherwise see.

“We want to change the for-mula from one where you go and seek information out to a world where information finds you when it’s relevant and use-ful,” Karachinsky said.

He said the newly intro-duced Android Wear plat-

A Samsung employee demonstrates the new SM-R381 Smart-watch, during the Tizen Developer Conference in San Francisco, California, on June 3, 2014 (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Read all about it: News you can wear

form for Google allows for News360 alerts to be sent to some smartwatches, and to Google Glass.

These alerts fulfill a need of getting information out quickly -- whether it is a sports score, stock market action or break-ing news -- in an unobtrusive way.

“Instead of digging around your pocket for your smart-phone, now you can just look at your wrist or glance up to your Google Glass,” said Karachin-sky. “It’s a very transformative experience.”

‘Glanceability’ -It remains unclear at the

moment how fast wearable technologies will catch on, and how people will use the devices.

While News Republic’s Ray-mond sees a demand for full ar-ticles, he differs from News360 on Google Glass.

But he said smartwatches may gain more traction when they become independent of smartphones, allowing people to shed their phones for some of the time.

Roger Kay, analyst at End-point Technologies Associates, said news on smartwatches and Google Glass will probably be limited to short items that can be absorbed in a glance.

“The glanceability of it is important,” Kay said.

“I don’t imagine people squinting at their watches to read articles; they have

enough trouble reading on their phones.”

Still, Kay noted that “a well-written headline can encapsu-late an entire story.”

For news organizations struggling with the transition to digital, wearables may offer some help, analysts say.

Ken Doctor of the media research firm Outsell said news organizations may be able to bring in more readers with alerts tailored to their interests, by delivering through wearables.

Doctor said that major news organizations are now deliver-ing millions of email alerts on important news for readers who register, and that this drives more traffic to the web-sites. The same could be true for alerts on wearables.

“The news alerts business, which has been around for 20 years, is having a huge revival,” he said. “This is a technique that works because of mobile and smartphones.”

Important in this effort is getting readers to register, to be able to determine the news they want to see -- essentially tracking their habits using the same techniques as retailers like Amazon or services such as Netflix.

“People are expecting alerts for news that is important to them,” Doctor said.

“And I would think the abil-ity of wearables to deliver alerts is very good and that it could spur news reading.”

by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA

NEW DELHI, (AFP) - Despite years as one of the India’s

top players of kabaddi -- a traditional contact sport that mixes tag and wrestling -- Ajay Thakur was not well known in his homeland. Until now.

Since the high-profile launch last month of a new Pro Kabaddi League, with live television cov-erage, corporate sponsors and brightly coloured lycra strips, the 27-year-old has become an over-night sensation.

The new league has given a new lease of life to kabaddi, which has been played in sandy backyards across India for gen-erations.

“It feels great when kids ask me for an autograph,” the player told AFP after a recent game with the Bengaluru Bulls, one of eight teams in the new league.

“It is all new to me, and makes me hungry for more of all this.”

Although the sums involved represent only a fraction of the funding that cricket attracts in India, they are transforming the game’s once dowdy image -- and the lives of its players.

“I never thought sponsors would put money on kabaddi,” said Thakur, who weighs in at 80 kilos (176 pounds), and is now able to afford the food that he needs to perform at his best.

Kabaddi features two seven-member teams facing off on a tennis court-sized pitch.

A “raider” from each team has to dash into the rival half and touch players from the oppos-ing team without being tackled before escaping back to safety on their side of the court.

Players traditionally chant “ka-baddi” repeatedly to prove they are not breaking the rules by drawing breath during that time.

But that is the low-tech ver-sion of the game. At the Thyagraj Indoor Stadium in New Delhi the screaming fans are treated to booming music, pyrotechnics

and plumes of smoke, while coloured spotlights focus on the players’ tight lycra outfits.

There are no shouts of “ka-baddi” -- instead an overhead screen provides a 30-second countdown, turning the sport into a slick show for audiences in the stadium and at home.

Team owners include a media mogul, a top industrialist and a popular Bollywood star.

The league is inspired by the Indian Premier League, cricket’s cash-rich Twenty20 tournament.

However Charu Sharma, the veteran commentator who came up with the new league, says the comparison only goes so far.

“We do not have that kind of money. But the IPL did make us realise that sport works well if you package it better,” he told AFP.

The top kabaddi player was sold for about $20,000. By com-parison, Delhi Daredevils paid a whopping $1.4 million for Eng-land star Kevin Pietersen in the 2014 IPL.

Sharma got the idea after see-ing how popular kabaddi was at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

“The world hasn’t yet woken up to the charms of this game,” he said, adding that it would be a shame for India, the homeland of the sport, to ignore such a cul-tural gem.

“If we don’t give due respect to it and don’t take pride in our achievements, it’s a shame.”

The game is played in around 35 countries including Pakistan, South Korea and Bangladesh, but India has won all seven gold medals at the Asian Games since it was introduced in 1990.

Confirmed viewing figures for the league are not yet available, but local media say 22 million people tuned in to watch the first day of the season last month.

Radha Kapoor, entrepreneur and owner of the Delhi franchise, said it was time India saw the po-tential of its indigenous games.

“I am sure a lot of people have doubts, but that is where the op-portunity lies,” she said.

“See what the US has done with baseball and American foot-ball.”

Later this month a World Ka-baddi League will launch, tar-geting the large Indian diaspora, with a first leg in London fol-lowed by stops in the US and Canada among others.

“It is like a kids’ game being played by grown-ups,” 17-year-old American Francis Britschgi, a recent convert, told AFP in Delhi.

“It has all the elements that make for a great spectator sport.”

Kabaddi in spotlight as ancient Indian game gets makeover

A raider of Delhi Dabang Kashiling Adake (C) attempts to tag one of the players of Bengal Warriors during the match between Dabang Delhi and Bengal Warriors in the Pro Kabaddi League in New Delhi. (AFP photo).

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Amal is a simple man, born into a poor but honest family of Bangladeshi immigrants. He works as a security guard at a mall surrounded by materialism, which is beyond his grasp.

The film shows him at a cross-road of this dichotomy – living the ‘honest’ life and the aware-ness of a ‘better’ life. His old school friend Robin, entices Amal to explore a lucrative means of livelihood. Seduced by the promise of a better life he be-comes a Carrier, finding himself in a glamorous world of lust and greed.

With time he befriends the sen-suous, impulsive and confident woman, Rijula, who represents the ‘better’ life, which he is as-piring for. The film follows their dangerous activities from Bang-kok to Mumbai as they escape from criminals, developing an unstated relationship.

In sharp contrast to this world is Amal’s close friend Sohag – peaceful and calm. She remains in the dark about his parallel life. But their relationship is so deep that she realizes the truth and suffers silently. They never verbalise their feelings for each other, remaining good friends, as she is a Leukemia patient. Amal wants to earn enough money for her treatment.

Through his actions Amal finds himself alone and trapped. Es-tranged from his family, Sohag succumbing to her disease and Rijula leaving him to take refuge in Australia, ominous shadows close in on him. The only way out left for Amal, is to pull the trigger and save his life.

Film: The Hun-dred Foot Journey Direction: Lasse Hallstrom Cast: Helen Mir-ren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon Rating: 2.5

by Sarit Ray, You know the

feeling when you read the ingredi-ents on a menu and think, oh, that sounds exciting. But when it arrives, it’s underwhelm-ing, and just not an inventive as you’d imagined it’d be. The Hundred Foot Journey – about the fairy-tale-ish career of a chef – is a lot like that.

On paper, it has a lot going for it. It’s based on a cute and popular novel, direc-tor Lasse Hallstrom has a repu-tation for adapting cute and popular novels, it’s backed by heavyweight producer Steven Spielberg, and the casting is a fantasy come true – Om Puri alongside Helen Mirren.

But innovation – a word characters in the movie keeps stressing on, in context to cook-ing – is just as important in cin-ema as it is in Michelin-starred restaurants.

Unfortunately, Chef Hall-strom serves up a dish that’s rather predictable. “Food is memory,” the protagonist Has-san (Manish Dayal) says. Hun-dred Foot…, unfortunately, reminds of an older Hallstrom film – Chocolat.

The setting, again, is a post-card-pretty French village. This time, it’s not chocolate that stirs things up, but the spice-heavy food made by a stereotypically raucous and colourful Indian family.

Papa Kadam (Puri), after a nomadic drive through Europe with family in tow, sets up a restaurant a hundred feet across the road from Madame Mal-lory’s (Mirren) one-Michelin-star restaurant.

If the film had focused on the cultural friction, it might have amounted to something. But the conflict is glossed over, or gen-eralised. Hallstrom’s film, as indeed Richard Morais’s best-seller, chooses instead to focus on the meteoric (and incred-ibly simplistic) rise of Hassan as a chef, from Papa Kadam’s kitchen to that of Mallory’s, to a chic Paris restaurant where food is all molecular gastrono-my mumbo-jumbo. Hassan, in effect, is the Sachin Tendulkar of the culinary world, who struggles even less than the Master Blaster.

Yet, The Hundred Foot… is worth watching, if only for the chemistry between Puri and Mirren. He’s the boisterous-ness to her frigidity, the spice

to her sugar. Yes, they represent clichés – the uninhibited Orient versus the measured Occident. But they do it so remarkably well, you don’t mind it one bit. Hallstrom and Spielberg deserve credit for bringing to-gether such spectacular acting talent.

Pretty boy Hassan and his equally pretty love interest – sous chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) share a more tepid ro-mance, in comparison.

The film is spectacularly well shot, as indeed, are most of the director’s previous works.

“Buno Haansh” - Feature film in Bengali language

Film Review:

A scene that’s all knives, seri-ous faces and fish heads being chopped off has the mood of a culinary battlefield, bordering on pastiche.

It’s not the elements, but the overall execution where the film suffers. Predictability aside, it would have done well to completely discard, or trun-cate, most of the post-interval storyline.

Unfortunately, it’s like a meal that drags with a few courses too many, with more misses than hits. (Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

The Hundred Foot Journey is all sugar, no spice

India vs France, culinary traditions vs cultural mores and a really good look-ing food film. Here’s looking at this Friday’s release -- The Hundred-Foot Journey. (AP Photo)

Story Synopsis:

Poster of Bano Haansh.

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Esha Gupta has credited her days in modelling for her stint as an ac-

tress in Bollywood.

The Humshakals actress, who started off her career in show-biz as a model, was the show-stopper for her designer friend Jyotsna Tiwari on the final day of India Bridal Fashion Week.

“I started my career as a mod-el and if I am standing here as a show-stopper, it is all due to my modelling. It made me an actress and gave me my much-needed break. I still get nervous when I walk on the ramp and still seek for blessings before starting the catwalk. I owe a lot to it, “ Esha told reporters after the show.

Esha turned a contemporary Christian bride on the ramp.

She completed the look of the bride in a flowy gown and a veil covering her head.

“I am happy to wear such a contemporary wedding gown, which does not make me look sexy. She gave me something which is young and contempo-rary,” she added.

Asked if she would like to be dressed as a contemporary bride and do a Christian wedding, the 28-year-old actress said, “My mother would kill me if I don’t do Indian traditional wedding and my father wants an Arya Samaj way of wedding. But I have no such plans for next 10

Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor landed in New Delhi for the last leg of their promotions of Singham Returns. (Source: PTI)

Esha Gupta: I owe my Bol-lywood career to modelling

years.”

Esha said she is yet to sign something substantial in Bolly-wood after Sajid Khan’s Hum-shakals and is currently gearing up for her debut international project which she will start

shooting in October.

Jyotsna’s collection was titled Under the Stars, which ranged from pre-draped saris, evening gowns, crafted lehengas to vo-luminous anarkalis in pastel shades.

MUMBAI - Aditi Rao Hydari says the disparity in remu-

neration of actors and actresses remains a reality in Hindi film industry despite the success of women-oriented films like ‘Queen’ and ‘Bobby Jasoos’.

“I don’t really understand why we are paid less than the male actors because we put equal efforts and recent past has shown that actresses can deliver a hit film. We deserve better pay, equal to what actors get,” Aditi told in an interview.

Actresses like Priyanka Chopra, Vidya Balan and Ka-trina Kaif have been vocal about the issue.

“Hats off to these ladies for speaking about it because I think we need to address this. I remember in a film of mine, though both my co-star and I were newcomers, he got far better paid than me. I was shocked and appalled. I actual-ly asked him what different are you doing that you are getting better paid!,” the 28-year-old actress said.

Aditi, who has been appre-ciated for her performances in

Pay disparity between male, female actors harsh reality: Aditi Rao Hydari

CHENNAI - Actor Suriya-starrer Tamil actioner Anjaan, which is releasing Friday, is go-ing to open in a record number of 1,400 cinemas worldwide, making it the biggest release for the actor in his career. The film releases in Tamil as well as Telugu on the same day.

Anjaan, which is jointly pro-duced by Thiruppathi Brothers and UTV Motion Pictures, is dubbed in Telugu as Sikandar.

“It’s (Anjaan) releasing in about 1,400 screen worldwide. That’s probably the biggest re-lease for Suriya in his career. Since the film is releasing in

Anjaan, first South Indian film to re-lease worldwide in digital

Actor Suriya Sivakumar in a still from Singam 2.

Tamil as well as Telugu on the same day, it’s opening in maxi-mum number of screens,” said trade analyst Trinath.

Trinath says the film is ex-pected to take the box office by storm.

“Since no other big Tamil or Telugu film is releasing on Friday, Anjaan’ is expected to register record openings. The film’s trailer and the pre-booking have already created enough buzz for audiences to throng to cinemas,” he said

Anjaan will also lock horns with Ajay Devgn’s Singham Returns, but it won’t be a battle

to look forward to, says Tri-nath.

“Suriya’s film will release in maximum number of screens in south India, while Devgn’s Singham Returns will target rest of the country and over-seas. I don’t think the two films will compete because they’re focusing on different territo-ries,” he added.

But it’s a coincidence that the real Singam (Suriya) will go head on with Singham.

Suriya’s Anjaan will also be the first south Indian film to release worldwide in digital. (IANS).

Delhi 6 and Rockstar, said it is a refreshing change that more women-oriented films are be-ing made and accepted by the audience.

“Actresses are getting stron-ger roles but there is a long

Aditi Rao Hydari

way to go before we can say things have improved substan-tially for female actors. The time is good for us in the indus-try because people are ready to experiment with subjects and write women-oriented scripts,” Aditi said.

Team Singham Returns cap-tured at a pro-motional event

Kareena Kapoor Khan and Ajay Devgn were spotted in Kolkata pro-

moting their forthcoming movie ‘Singham Returns’ on Sunday.

The actress looked gorgeous as always in an Indian wear she wore for the event. She chose a Myoho by Kiran and Meghna ensemble from their Autumn Winter 2014 collection. The look included a jacket kurta with matching palazzos that she had accessorized with silver jewel-lery from Aquamarine.

Ajay was his casual self. He chose to go with a brown t-shirt with blue denims.

Kareena, Ajay have previous-ly given hits like ‘Golmaal Re-turns’, ‘Golmaal 3’, ‘Omkara’ and ‘Satyagraha’, and we are sure ‘Singham Returns’ will be an addition to the list.

Esha Gupta

VOICE OF ASIA 19 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014ENTERTAINMENT

Support our Community!www.voiceofasiaonline.com

by Robert MACPHERSON

WA S H I N G T O N , August 12, 2014 (AFP) - Few were

more stunned and saddened by Robin Williams’ death than the US servicemen and women he loved to entertain, be it on the frontlines or by their hospital beds.

Williams has taken part in no fewer than six USO enter-tainment tours since 2002, the military charity said Tuesday, delighting nearly 90,000 troops across 13 countries including Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Robin was a gifted actor and comedian, but he was also a true friend and supporter of our troops,” said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a statement.

“From entertaining thousands of service men and women in war zones, to his philanthropy that helped veterans struggling with hidden wounds of war, he was a loyal and compassionate advocate for all who serve this nation in uniform.”

His fondness of Americans in uniform was vividly captured in 2012 when an outdoor show at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait was in-terrupted by the nightly playing of “Retreat” on the base’s sound system.

Up stood the entire audience to solemnly observe the lowering of the US flag. Williams, sport-ing a ski hat, likewise snapped to attention -- and then, when it was over, he expertly riffed off the moment.

“That’s pretty weird, in the middle of your act, having ev-erybody go ‘ouph!’,” quipped the veteran stand-up comic, spinning 180 degrees on his heels. “It’s like in the middle of sex, going: ‘bye-bye!’.”

“That was after we’d flown all night to Qatar and to Kuwait, hadn’t seen a hotel, really hadn’t

Robin Williams’ favorite audience: US soldiers

U.S. troops enjoy Robin Williams’ stand-up comedy during a USO tour stop at Baghdad Interna-tional Airport in 2003. GETTY IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES.

had a chance to clean up,” re-called USO senior vice president John Hanson, who accompanied Williams on that tour.

“Everybody was whipped. But his good nature was some-thing to watch,” Hanson told AFP in a telephone interview.

Stateside, Williams volun-teered for visits to wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washing-ton. He also shared the bill at a star-studded 2012 Stand Up for Heros gala for disabled veter-ans in New York.

Humor, he explained back-stage at the benefit gig, could be a potent form of therapy for wounded warriors, “part of coming back, of coming home.”

“These guys are incredible -- guys and girls,” he added. “This is just something that re-ally humbles me, to be in their presence. It kind of makes me

go, ‘Wow’.”In a way, by performing live

before an audience real sol-diers, Williams was reprising one of his most memorable characters -- the irreverent US armed forces radio DJ Adrian Cronauer in the 1987 movie “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

The real Cronauer, 75, who lives in southern Virginia, told Washington’s WTOP that di-rector Barry Levinson didn’t want Williams to meet him be-fore the film’s premiere, fear-ful that it might alter his manic performance.

“That was all Robin Wil-liams. All Robin Williams,” he said. “I’m a much more laid back person.”

Following in the footsteps of Bob Hope, whose morale-lifting USO shows during the Vietnam War became the stuff of comedy legend, Williams

was among the first USO enter-tainers to visit American troops in Southwest Asia.

From the 2007 tour, Hanson remembered how Williams -- barely able to speak after a blowing out his voice during an Iraq show -- reluctantly accept-ed the gift of a St. Christopher medal from a soldier collecting body armor prior to the tour’s departure from Camp Phoenix outside Kabul.

“Robin took it, turned it over in his hands, just studying it,” Hanson told AFP in a telephone interview.

“And Robin said, ‘Wait, you gave me yours, I’ll give you mine,’ and he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled out a large cross,” he said.

“And so they exchanged these bits of protection and each of them felt more powerful than body armor.”

WHAT: Shift your brain into overdrive and unleash your superhero smarts! Come train your brain with the Children’s Museum of Houston and watch as your mind muscles grow during Brain Games Wonder-Week at the Summer of Epic Adventure – The Sequel. Beating summer boredom requires mental prowess. Use your brain power to help you save the day! • Build and Smash: Put your mental and physical abilities to the test in this exciting challenge.

Event Time: All day every day in the Arena of Awesomeness.• Get Your Gear On – Capes and Masks: Use plastic fusion to

create superhero accessories.Event Time: 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Mon. – Sat); Noon to 2 p.m.

(Sunday) in Heroes’ Hideout.• Epic Experience – Zap! LED Circuitry: Power your own arc

reactor or superhero gear.Event Time: 3 to 5 p.m. every day in the Heroes’ Hideout.

• Making Villains See Light: Harness light to create amazing optical illusions at Science Station.

• Puzzle Piece Pictures: Use puzzle pieces to create art in the Alexander Art Academy.

• Super Suit Test: Engineer a suit that may enhance your super-powers in Inventor’s Workshop.

• A Superhero’s Conundrum: Solve how a pentagonal dodecahe-dron puzzle was built in Junktion.

• Walk Through Paper: Use your super smarts to solve a per-plexing puzzle in Junktion.

• Tornado Cycle Gizmo: Figure out how to make a tornado cycle gizmo spin faster in Junktion.

WHEN: Brain Games, August 21 - 27, 2014 ***Activities, events and times subject to change.WHERE: Children’s Museum of Houston, 1500 Binz,

Houston, TX 77004

BRAIN GAMES WONDERWEEKChildren’s Museum of Houston puts your brain power to the test! From August 21 – 27


VOICE OF ASIA 21 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014HEALTHHEALTHY LIVING Friday, August 15, 2014 Section 2 Page 21 Email: [email protected] Tel: 713-774-5140

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What is an Annuity?

An annuity is an in-surance product that pays out income,

and can be used as part of a retirement strategy. Annui-ties are a popular choice for investors who want to receive a steady income stream in re-tirement.

Here’s how an annuity works: you make an invest-ment in the annuity, and it then makes payments to you on a future date or series of dates. The income you re-ceive from an annuity can be doled out monthly, quarterly, annually or even in a lump sum payment.

The size of your payments are determined by a variety of factors, including the length of your payment period.

You can opt to receive pay-ments for the rest of your life, or for a set number of years. How much you receive de-pends on whether you opt for a guaranteed payout (fixed annuity) or a payout stream determined by the perfor-mance of your annuity’s un-derlying investments (vari-able annuity).

While annuities can be use-ful retirement planning tools, they can also be a not so ap-propriate investment choice for some people because they may not want to tie up their money for longer term. Any-one who considers an annuity should research it thoroughly first, before deciding whether it’s an appropriate investment for someone in their situa-tion.

Different Types of Annui-ties:

There are two basic types of annuities: deferred and im-mediate.

With a deferred annuity, your money is invested for a period of time until you are ready to begin taking with-drawals, typically in retire-ment.

If you opt for an immediate annuity you begin to receive

payments soon after you make your initial investment. For example, you might con-sider purchasing an immedi-ate annuity as you approach retirement age.

The deferred annuity ac-cumulates money while the immediate annuity pays out. Deferred annuities can also be converted into immediate an-nuities when the owner wants to start collecting payments.

Within these two categories, annuities can also be either fixed or variable depending on whether the payout is a fixed sum, tied to the performance of the overall market or group of investments, or a combina-tion of the two.

Are There Tax Benefits To Annuities?

Yes. Money that you in-vest in an annuity grows tax-deferred. When you eventu-ally make withdrawals, the amount you contributed to the annuity is not taxed, but your earnings are taxed at your regular income tax rate.

To Be Continued……For your Health or Wealth

For your health and wealth care planning contact 713-771-2900.

The technique, which involves a simple injection, could aid the recovery of hundreds of thousands of heart failure patients - and could even consign heart transplants to history.

by Sarah Knapton, Science Correspondent, The Telegraph

A pioneering new treat-ment that allows dam-aged hearts to recover

without the need for major sur-gery is being trialled by one of Britain’s leading medical insti-tutions.

The technique, which in-volves a simple injection, could aid the recovery of hundreds of thousands of heart failure pa-tients. Heart transplants could even be consigned to history thanks to a trial by Imperial College, London, which aims to show for the first time that gene therapy could repair fail-ing organs.

Almost 500,000 people in Britain suffer from heart fail-ure, with hundreds of patients requiring new hearts. Around 200 transplants take place in Britain each year. But two out of 10 people will die awaiting an organ due to severe short-ages of donors.

The trial involves researchers introducing a gene, created in a laboratory, into heart failure patients to boost the production of a key protein, which they believe will allow the muscle to recover.

Researchers say the treat-ment could offer a “viable al-ternative” to transplantation. The British Heart Foundation, which is funding the trial, said the discovery “offers genuine hope of an effective treatment in the near future”.

Dr Nick Banner, the consul-tant cardiologist at Harefield Hospital in north London, who carried out the first infu-sion of the new gene therapy, said: “Advanced heart failure is a progressive condition that results in a poor quality of life

and shortened life expectancy.“The best treatment currently

available is a heart transplant but the shortage of donor or-gans in the UK means that many patients will die on the transplant waiting list. Me-chanical pumps can keep some patients alive long enough for a donor heart to become avail-able.

“The rationale for this study is to investigate the effective-ness of a new form of therapy, which might in the future be a viable alternative to transplan-tation.

“This study will help us bet-ter understand whether the con-cept of repairing a heart with gene therapy might be possible, even in patients with advanced heart failure.” Heart failure usually occurs after damage or disease, and causes the heart to become progressively weaker at pumping blood as its cells become overstressed and begin to malfunction.

It can be brought on by high blood pressure; damage to ar-teries caused by alcohol or smoking; weak heart muscles

caused by genetic defects; or infections.

In many cases heart failure is caused by damage after a heart attack, where heart muscle and other tissue dies because its blood supply is cut off.

Some patients with advanced heart failure are fitted with a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), a mechanical pump that supports the failing heart and aims to restore normal blood flow.

The pump moves the blood from the left ventricle into the main artery (the aorta) so it can circulate the oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.

Currently there are about 100 to 150 people in the UK living with a pump but they are heavy and cumbersome and patients struggle to bathe or sleep while wearing the battery packs.

The new therapy is designed to increase levels of SERCA2a, a protein in heart muscle cells that plays an important role in heart muscle contraction.

In the new treatment, genes are pumped into the heart mus-

Researchers hope to increase levels of SERCA2a, a protein in heart muscle cells that plays an important role in heart muscle contraction Photo: Alamy

Pioneering new injection to cure heart failure without need for major surgery

cle cells to increase the level of SERCA2a using a harm-less engineered virus that will spread in the organ and help repair the damaged muscle so it can pump on its own.

Previous studies have shown that the technique works in ani-mals and on hearts in a labora-tory. Now human trials are to begin.

The team plans to take small biopsy samples of the heart muscle six months after treat-ment to measure if the gene is present, detectable and func-tional in the patients’ hearts.

Of the 24 patients enrolled in the study, 16 will be treated with the gene therapy and eight will be treated with a placebo.

“We will be using state-of-the art methods to gain detailed information on how and where the gene therapy takes effect, which will potentially help us develop and improve the thera-py,” said Sian Harding, profes-sor of cardiac pharmacology and head of the British Heart Foundation’s Centre of Regen-erative Medicine at Imperial College London.

“It’s important to remember that the therapy is not correct-ing a gene defect,” Prof Hard-ing added.

“We are working much more downstream, which means that no matter what the cause of the heart failure, the therapy should be equally beneficial for patients whether their heart problems stem from genes, lifestyle or the environment or a mixture of all of these.”

Prof Peter Weissberg, Medi-cal Director at the BHF, said: “Heart failure devastates the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the UK. Despite major advances in treating heart attacks, we’re still some way off a treatment that re-stores function in hearts dam-aged by one. This cutting-edge trial offers genuine hope of an effective treatment in the near future.”

Þ A drug taken by hundreds of thousands of Britons suffer-ing from heart arrhythmia may increase death rates, research

Two in five Americans at risk from type 2 diabetes: study

PARIS, August 12, 2014 (AFP) - Two in five American adults are expected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime, according to a study published Tuesday that warned of spiral-ling health costs as a result.

The risk was even higher for Hispanics and black women, half of whom are expected to develop the disease caused mainly by physical inactivity and excess bodyweight.

The study used data obtained from national population inter-views and the death certificates of nearly 600,000 adults.

The lifetime risk of develop-ing type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset or non-insulin dependent diabetes, rose from 20 percent for men and 27 per-cent for women in 1985-1989 to 40 percent for men and 39 percent for women in 2000-2011, researchers found.

“The largest increases were

in Hispanic men and women, and non-Hispanic black wom-en, for whom lifetime risk now exceeds 50 percent,” according to the authors of the study in The Lancet medical journal.

Death rates have declined over the same period, however, due to better health care, which meant that people live longer with the disease than before.

“Years spent with diabetes in-creased by 156 percent in men and 70 percent in women,” said the study.

“As the number of diabetes cases continues to increase and patients live longer, there will be a growing demand for health services and extensive costs,” said author Edward Gregg of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The World Health Organiza-tion says 347 million people worldwide have diabetes, which claimed about three mil-

lion lives in 2010.

Ninety percent of those had type 2 diabetes, which the WHO said “is largely the re-sult of excess body weight and physical inactivity”.

Diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kid-neys and nerves, and increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

“Diabetes can be prevented with lifestyle changes,” Lor-raine Lipscombe of the Uni-versity of Toronto wrote in a comment on the study, noting similar trends elsewhere in the developed world.

“Prevention strategies should include optimisation of urban planning, food marketing poli-cies, and work and school envi-ronments that enable individu-als to make healthier lifestyle choices.”

has suggested. A study of more than 122,000 Americans with atrial fibrillation showed that those given digoxin were 20 per cent more likely to die than patients receiving different treatments.

About 800,000 people in Britain have AF, the most com-

mon type of arrhythmia and the NHS prescribes around 5 million doses of digoxin each year.

The research, carried out by Stanford University Medical Center, was published in the Journal of the American Col-lege of Cardiology.

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VOICE OF ASIA 22 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014HEALTH, TECH & SCIENCE

by Brigitte CASTELNAU

PARIS, August 11, 2014 (AFP) - As the deadliest Ebola out-break in history tightens its

grip on west Africa, pharmaceutical companies have refocused their quest for a treatment or vaccine.

While several experimental drugs exist, few have moved beyond the stage of animal tests and negotiations are under way to try and fast-track drugs for the haemorrhagic fever that kills up to 90 percent of people it in-fects.

These are some of the candidate drugs.

VACCINES:

A vaccine being developed by Brit-ish pharma company GlaxoSmith-Kline (GSK) may enter clinical trials to test for safety and efficacy next month, World Health Organisation vaccines head Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele has told French radio.

He said results may be out by the end of the year, and “since this is an emergency, we can put emergency procedures in place... so that we can have a vaccine available by 2015.”

The GSK vaccine, being developed with backing from the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is made of an en-gineered virus, or vector, containing two non-infectious Ebola genes.

The vector enters individual cells of a patient and stimulate them to create a protein against which the body will mount a defensive immune response.

NIAID director Anthony Fauci told AFP a vaccine “could be available for nursing staff by 2015”.

The NIAID is also supporting the development of another vaccine which its maker, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Crucell, said “has been shown to completely protect mon-keys against the virus with a single dose”.

A Phase I clinical trial with 32 vol-unteers started in 2006, and showed the drug to be safe at certain doses. A followup study is planned for late

2015 or early 2016.

American firm Profectus Biosci-ences has an animal virus-based vaccine in pre-clinical testing, and the Thomas Jefferson University in Pennsylvania is working on a can-didate drug based on an established rabies vaccine.

TREATMENTS

ZMapp, a cocktail of three antibod-ies manufactured by Mapp Biophar-maceutical, has been given to two American missionaries and more recently a Spanish priest, all infected with Ebola while working with pa-tients in west Africa.

The Americans were said to have improved, but authorities say it is too early to tell whether this can be ascribed to the experimental drug, which has cured Ebola in mice and primates in tests.

US regulators last week loosened restrictions on another experimen-tal drug, TKM-Ebola from Canada-based Tekmira, which may allow it to be tried on infected patients.

In tests on monkeys the drug, be-ing developed under a $140-million (105-million-euro) contract with the US Department of Defense, provided 100 percent protection against an otherwise lethal dose of Ebola.

Other antiviral candidates include favipiravir, which started out as a flu treatment, and BCX4430 -- a broad-spectrum drug whose developers be-lieve it may work against an array of viruses.

Herve Raoul, director of the high-security Inserm laboratory in Lyon, said finding an effective antiviral drug was of the highest priority.

A drug that can limit proliferation of the virus within a patient would al-low their immune system to recover and make antibodies to fight the in-fection.

This would reduce the number of people falling severely ill, and create conditions conducive to improving sanitation, which is essential for halt-ing the spread of a virus easily killed by soap and water.

Race on for Ebola drug Apple jobs mostly held by white, Asian men, diversity report showsSAN FRANCISCO - Ap-

ple primarily relies on white and Asian men for

its top-paying technology jobs, feeding the perception that Sili-con Valley’s economic boom is largely excluding women, blacks and Hispanics.

A breakdown released Tuesday by Apple Inc. showed 54 percent of the company’s technology jobs in the United States are filled by whites and another 23 percent by Asians. Men make up 80 percent of Apple’s technology workforce throughout the world. Apple didn’t provide racial statistics for its global workforce of 98,000 employees.

Apple’s technological tilt to-ward white and Asian men is similar to situations previously disclosed during the past three months by other major Silicon Valley companies, including Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Face-book Inc., Twitter Inc. and Linke-dIn Corp.

Apple, the world’s most valuable company, has the largest workforce among that group. A significant chunk of Apple’s $575 billion market value has enriched Apple programmers and other technology workers who re-ceived stock options to supplement their salaries, which routinely exceed $100,000 per person annually.

The tech companies have been shar-ing the demographic data that they compile for the U.S. Equal Employ-ment Opportunity Commission under pressure from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH coalition. Jackson has been focusing on the tech companies because the industry has become a catalyst for new jobs and wealth as consumers buy more gad-gets and spend more time immersed in digital services.

Like its peers, Apple acknowledged its workforce isn’t as diverse as it should be. Apple CEO Tim Cook ex-pressed his disappointment in a letter posted with the company’s data. Low-er-level executives of the other tech companies had addressed diversity when they disclosed the compositions of their workforces.

“Let me say up front: As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page,” Cook wrote. “They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for

quite some time to improve them.”Jackson said he called Cook Tues-

day to congratulate him for “stepping up to the plate” to discuss the data. “It shows his personal commitment and his leadership,” Jackson said in a statement. “I urge him to take further bold steps to make Apple better, and leverage his leadership to make the whole industry better.”

Apple has been an outspoken cham-pion for diversity since Cook suc-ceeded the late Steve Jobs as CEO nearly three years ago. The company has trumpeted the phrase, “Inclusion inspires innovation,” as a rallying cry. Cook has reinforced that message on his Twitter account during the past two months with periodic posts supporting gay rights in the workplace.

As CEO, Cook also promoted Cu-ban-American Eddy Cue to Apple’s executive team and hired a woman, Angela Ahrendts, to oversee its stores. The Cupertino, California-based com-pany also added a second woman, Sue Wagner, to its eight-person board of directors last month. Even with those moves, 72 percent of Apple’s leader-ship is made up of men.

Including non-tech jobs, Apple ap-pears to be doing a slightly better job employing blacks and Hispanics than its peers. That may have to do with the

thousands of sales jobs at its 427 stores around the world, including 254 U.S. locations. Overall, 11 percent of the employees in Apple’s U.S. workforce are Hispanic and 7 percent are black. By comparison, 3 percent of Google’s U.S. workers are Hispanic and 2 per-cent are black. At Facebook, 4 percent of its U.S. workers are Hispanic and 2 percent are black.

Technology executives generally have traced the scarcity of women, blacks and Hispanics in computer pro-gramming and engineering to flaws in the U.S. education system. Apple, Google and others are financing efforts to steer more women and minorities to math and science in high school.

A shortage of qualified women and minority candidates for technology jobs explains some, but not all, of the industry’s bias toward white and Asian men, said Marianne Cooper, a sociologist at Stanford University’s Clayman Institute and author of a new book called “Cut Adrift: Families in Insecure Times.” She thinks most tech companies haven’t done enough to at-tract women and minorities or make the field more welcoming.

“The tech boom has been something to behold in terms of being an eco-nomic engine, but more people need to be brought along that ride,” Cooper said. (AP).

Apple employees walk between buildings on the Apple headquarters campus in Cupertino, Calif. on Aug. 25, 2011. A breakdown released Aug. 12, 2014 by Apple Inc. showed 54 percent of the company’s technology jobs in the U.S. are handled by whites and another 23 percent by Asians. Men make up 80 percent of Apple’s tech-nology workforce worldwide. (Credit: AP / Paul Sakuma)


Friday, August 15, 2014 Section 2 Page 23 Email: [email protected] Tel: 713-774-5140 BUSINESSONLINE.COM

voiceofasiaonline.com

SYDNEY / MELBOURNE

MUMBAI, (AFP) - US property ty-coon Donald Trump

praised India’s new prime min-ister on Tuesday, saying foreign investors were returning to the country after years of slowing economic growth.

The developer and television star predicted that “money will pour into India” as he briefed journalists on a new luxury apartment block in Mumbai dubbed “Trump Tower”.

“I have not met him, but your new PM has done a fantastic job of bringing people togeth-er,” he told the journalists in India’s financial capital.

Narendra Modi swept to power this year on a pledge to jolt the country from the eco-nomic doldrums.

He won support from across India and particularly among the young, who were attracted to his record as a business-friendly administrator during his 13 years running Gujarat as chief minister.

Donald Trump says optimism returning to India under Modi

“The perception about India has changed. The optimism is returning,” said Trump.

“You can see it in our sales. We are selling units more than our own expectations.”

The building’s promoters say they have sold nearly 100 apartments in the tower, which occupies prime real estate in the city.

“In my opinion, real estate prices in Mumbai are incred-ibly low because there are so

many other places, cities, coun-tries where you will find prices that are way too high,” said Trump.

With prices that start at 90 million rupees ($1.48 million), the new apartments are way out of the reach of most of the city’s inhabitants, nearly 40 percent of whom live in slums.

Since January, foreign inves-tors have poured $26 billion into Indian debt and equities, more than three times the figure for the same period last year.

Donald Trump AFP News Photo By Punit Paranjpe

by Rob Lever

WA S H I N G T O N , (AFP) - The social news group Buzz-

Feed unveiled a major new expansion plan, using a fresh infusion of $50 million in ven-ture capital.

Andreessen Horowitz, the big Silicon Valley venture group, announced late Sunday it is investing $50 million in BuzzFeed and that one of its partners, Chris Dixon, will be joining the company’s board.

Details of the investment were not disclosed. But the New York Times reported that the deal values BuzzFeed at some $850 million.

BuzzFeed meanwhile said it would expand in several ways.

Its video division will expand and become “BuzzFeed Motion Pictures,” which will “focus on all moving images from a GIF to feature film and everything in between,” according to a statement Monday.

BuzzFeed’s editorial team will expand to cover more breaking news, and will double the number of foreign corre-spondents.

BuzzFeed said it will also launch a test kitchen and food lab in Manhattan “to create more original lifestyle con-tent.”

BuzzFeed International will create news sites to India, Ger-many, Mexico and Japan this year, in addition to the French, Spanish and Portuguese edi-tions announced last year.

“We created BuzzFeed be-cause people still want to be informed, entertained, and in-spired but the way they con-sume media has dramatically shifted,” said BuzzFeed found-er and chief executive Jonah Peretti.

“Today we think the time is perfect to grow our company, build our brand and greatly in-crease the content we are pro-ducing so we can be the num-ber one digital media brand. The investment from Andrees-sen Horowitz will allow us to double down on our company’s mission by creating a new or-ganization and expand rapidly in all areas.”

- A serious news organiza-tion -

Dixon said on his blog that BuzzFeed is growing into a more serious news organization following its debut focusing on offbeat and oddball coverage.

“BuzzFeed started out focus-ing on lightweight content like memes, lists, funny photos, etc,” Dixon said.

“This led some industry ob-servers to dismiss BuzzFeed as a ‘toy.’ The company has since moved steadily up mar-

With fresh investment, BuzzFeed expands anew

The logo of news website BuzzFeed is seen on a computer screen in Washington, DC, on March 25, 2014 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

ket, following the typical path of disruptive technologies. It now has an editorial staff of over 200 people covering a wide range of topics -- politics, sports, business, entertainment, travel, etc -- and plans to invest significantly more in high-quality content in the coming years.”

Dixon added that BuzzFeed “is a media company in the same sense that Tesla is a car company, Uber is a taxi com-pany, or Netflix is a streaming movie company... The most in-teresting tech companies aren’t trying to sell software to other companies. They are trying to reshape industries from top to bottom.”

Andreessen Horowitz’s Marc Andreessen also touted the merits of BuzzFeed in a series of tweets.

“BuzzFeed has technology at its core. Its 100+ person tech team has created world-class systems... Engineers are first class citizens,” he wrote.

“And then on top of its tech-nology core, BuzzFeed’s re-porting team is now routinely committing breathtaking inves-tigative journalism...”

According to Dixon, “Buzz-Feed now reaches over 150 million people per month, is consistently profitable, and will generate triple digit millions in revenues this year.”

WA S H I N G T O N , (AFP) - The num-ber of US job

openings hit a 13-year high in June and more workers quit their jobs, pointing to a tightening labor market, La-bor Department data showed Tuesday.

Nonfarm job openings in the private and public sectors rose to 4.7 million on the last busi-ness day of June, from 4.6 mil-lion in May.

That was the largest number of openings since February 2001, and increases were seen across the entire country. Job openings have trended upward since January by an average of 159,000 a month.

In June, the ratio of openings to employment rose a tenth point to 3.3 percent, accord-ing to the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) report.

US job openings hit 13-year high A total of 2.53 million people

quit a job in June, up from 2.49 million in May. Quits generally indicate workers’ willingness or ability to leave jobs, a posi-tive sign for the labor market.

But the quit rate stood at 1.8 percent of total employment for the fifth consecutive month in June.

Total separations, or turn-over, which includes quits, layoffs, discharges and other forms of separations, such as retirement and disability, rose to 4.55 million in June from 4.53 million in May.

Hiring meanwhile increased by 92,000 jobs to 4.83 million.

“Quits are creeping higher, though like hires, they are not back to where they were prior to the start of the Great Reces-sion,” said Marisa Di Natale of Moody’s Analytics.

The JOLTS report added

fresh evidence of a firming la-bor market. Initial unemploy-ment claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, have trended lower, bringing the four-week mov-ing average to its lowest level since February 2006.

The US economy has added more than 200,000 jobs per month from February through July, the first time since 1997 the economy has generated that many for six months straight.

The Federal Reserve says that despite the sharp fall in the unemployment rate to 6.2 per-cent, there remains significant slack that has left far too many Americans without jobs.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen, in testimony to Congress in mid-July, said the central bank could hike its key interest rate sooner than the current fore-cast for the second half of 2015 if the job market continues to make solid improvement.

VOICE OF ASIA 24 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014BUSINESS

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WASHINGTON, Au-gust 12, 2014 (AFP) - The United States

said Tuesday that Secretary of State John Kerry technically abided his own government’s laws after he stayed in Myan-mar at a hotel owned by a sanc-tioned tycoon.

Myanmar, the host of talks this week among Southeast Asian foreign ministers in its showcase capital Naypyidaw, put up Kerry and his entourage at the Lake Garden hotel, which

US says Kerry broke no sanctions on Myanmar hotel

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures as he speaks to the media during a press conference at the conclusion of the AUSMIN talks at Admiralty House in Sydney, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel are meeting with their Australian counterparts at the annual Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN), which will focus on regional security and enhanced military co-operation. (AP Photo/Dan Himbrechts, Pool)

is owned by tycoon Zaw Zaw’s Max Myanmar Group.

State Department spokes-woman Marie Harf said that Kerry was assigned the hotel by Myanmar’s foreign ministry and that, while Zaw Zaw him-self was blacklisted, US law does not prohibit Americans from staying at accommodation owned by sanctioned compa-nies.

“You can stay at this hotel no matter who you are, you just

can’t do business with it. So if you wanted to sell them tow-els, you could not do that. But you could stay there,” Harf ex-plained.

Harf insisted that the choice of hotel did not conflict with the US push for Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to do more on human rights.

“When the secretary of state and President (Barack) Obama sit in Burma with Burmese lead-ers directly to their face and say,

you need to do more to reform, I think that makes the case much more clearly than where the sec-retary sleeps,” she said.

US relations with Myanmar have warmed dramatically since

the former military dictatorship embarked on democratic re-forms several years ago.

The United States has lifted most sanctions but keeps in place restrictions aimed at ele-

ments of the powerful army. Zaw Zaw is considered well-connected with the military, which abruptly moved the na-tional capital out of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon in 2005 and built the new city.

NEW DELHI, - India said Tuesday indus-trial output expanded

by an unexpectedly slow 3.4 percent in June from a year ear-lier while inflation accelerated, dimming prospects of a quick economic recovery.

The growth in output by In-dia’s mines, factories and utili-ties marked the third straight month of industrial expansion in Asia’s third-largest economy.

But the 3.4-percent annual growth in June undershot mar-ket forecasts of a 5.2-percent rise and was lower than the 4.7 percent increase logged in May.

In other bad news for the new right-wing government, hoping to steer the country out of its longest period of sub-five per-cent growth in a quarter-century,

India June industry output grows at surprisingly slow 3.4%

consumer price inflation also picked up pace.

Consumer prices rose 7.96 percent in July from a year ear-lier, far above the six-percent target set by the hawkish central bank and exceeding the previous month’s revised 7.46-percent rise.

The higher-than-expected consumer inflation means that the central bank will have less room to ease high interest rates to spur economic growth.

The economy grew by 4.7 percent in the financial year to March 2014, its second consec-utive year of sub-five-percent growth.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi that took

power in late May has been hop-ing to see “green shoots” of re-covery.

Modi won the biggest parlia-mentary majority in three de-cades after campaigning on a platform to revive the economy.

Some economists have warned that it will take time for compa-nies to ramp up expansion plans and for consumers to regain confidence.

Still, economists are hop-ing that an upturn in the global economy will create more de-mand for Indian exports.

Modi also has been seeking to sweep away bureaucratic and other hurdles to foreign invest-ment that is urgently needed to upgrade dilapidated ports, roads and other infrastructure.

VOICE OF ASIA 25 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014SOUTH ASIA/US

Youngest Astrologer of North AmericaAstrologer, Vaastu & Gem Stone Consultant

“HARDIK VYAS”Astrologer Hardik Vyas, a famous young face in Vedic Astrology from India is available in Houston. Call for guidance on Health, Wealth, Education, Career, Business, Property, Love & Passion, Marriage & Compatibility, Horoscope-Making, Child Problem, Luck & Fortune, Peace & Prosperity, Karma & Economical Sources.

Vaastushastra, the ancient science of land. Fix and appointment for personal visit to your home, plot, business/office, shop, fac-tory, and hotel. To gain peace of mind and prosperity, by doing little changes as per Vaastu Shastra. Simple, Easy, Scientific & Affordable solutions/remedies to overcome problems in your Horoscope and Vaastu.

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MangKindly Note: Astrology & VaastuShastra are Science of Nature, not related with any re-ligion, caste, or community. It is an Occult Science and gift of nature for the welfare of people to get proper advice.We Speak in English, Hindi, Gujarati

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Pakistan Returns rhetorical fire after criticism from Indiaby Qasim Nauman (WSJ) Pakistan Wednesday rejected

Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s accusation that Islam-abad was supporting terrorism as “baseless rhetoric,” signal-ing a possible cooling of rela-tions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

“The press reports of Indian accusations, at the highest polit-ical level, are most unfortunate, especially as the leadership of Pakistan wishes to establish good neighborly relations with India,” Pakistan’s foreign min-istry said in a statement.

Mr. Modi said on Tuesday that Pakistan was fighting a proxy war in India by support-ing terrorism. He was speaking to soldiers in the divided and disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Relations between the two countries hit their lowest point in a decade after the 2008 ter-rorist attacks in Mumbai, in which militants from Pakistan killed over 160 people. India has since linked any improve-ment in ties to Islamabad try-ing and punishing members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani militant group accused of car-rying out the Mumbai attacks.

This position was reiterated in May by Mr. Modi, on his first day in office, when he met Pak-istani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New Delhi. Mr. Sharif was in India to attend Mr. Mo-

di’s swearing-in ceremony, and the conciliatory tone of the visit raised hopes that ties will im-prove. The premiers wrote to each other in June, expressing their hope to work together for better relations.

Indian officials and politi-cians have accused Pakistan of using militant proxies against India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has denied supporting militant groups and says it is committed to peaceful ties with India.

“It would be in the larger in-terest of the regional peace that instead of engaging in a blame game, the two countries should focus on resolving all issues through dialogue and work to-gether to promote friendly and cooperative relations,” Paki-stan’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The foreign ministry also said that Pakistan’s armed forc-es “remain ready to defend the country’s borders and thwart any threat of aggression.” Mr. Modi said during his Kash-

mir visit on Tuesday that “the neighboring country has lost the strength to fight a conven-tional war.”

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since becom-ing independent countries in 1947. They also engaged in a limited conflict in the Kargil area of Jammu and Kashmir in 1999, which left hundreds dead on both sides. Despite a 2003 ceasefire, Pakistani and Indian troops regularly exchange fire along the volatile boundary be-tween their parts of Kashmir.

What Can India and Other Not-So-Major Powers Do as China Rises and the U.S. Pivots?

by Niharika MandhanaThat’s the question that Rory

Medcalf and C. Raja Mohan ask in a new paper published by Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy.

The answer, they argue, is that the “powers in the middle” – India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and others – can shape their own security future by forging closer defense and strategic ties among them-selves.

Their analysis rests on two assumptions. First, China’s rise is inevitable and unlikely to be peaceful, as evidenced by its growing military strength and rash of maritime disputes with its neighbors.

Second, the authors argue, Washington’s commitment to the region is far from reliable. Despite the U.S.’s planned pivot, it remains distracted by volatility in the Middle East and new challenges by Russia.

Instead of waiting and watch-ing to see how China-U.S. rela-tions evolve, the authors offer a different policy prescription: “middle power coalitions.”

By this, they mean numer-ous, flexible, overlapping part-nerships. What would that look like on the ground? Middle powers getting together more often in combinations of two, three or more for security dia-logues, intelligence exchanges, technology sharing, maritime surveillance cooperation, naval exercises and arms deals.

The authors – who are from two middle power nations, Aus-tralia and India – say these co-alitions could create “regional resilience against the vagaries of US-China relations.”

They draw up a number of possible scenarios including an all-out war between China and the U.S., a Cold War-like situa-tion, or a formula of accommo-dation between the two. They

also look at the possibility of a Sino-centric Asian order.

Whatever the course, none bodes well for the middle pow-ers, the authors contend. In a Cold War-like situation, for in-stance, smaller powers would be pressured to pick sides. If the major powers cut a deal, it “would involve Washington ceding additional space and role for Beijing in the manage-ment of the regional order,” an arrangement that would irk the middle players.

“It is difficult to imagine a large and workable Chinese sphere of influence in Asia that did not challenge the interests, security and dignity of other substantial countries, such as Japan, India or Vietnam, and was not accordingly resisted by them,” the article says.

So, the authors conclude, middle powers ought to be more proactive. Greater co-operation among them is less likely to raise hackles in China, which is allergic to U.S.-led ac-tivities and alliances it sees as efforts to contain Beijing’s rise. It would also have greater po-litical acceptability in tradition-ally non-aligned countries like India where closer ties with the U.S. invariably cause a stir.

This is already happening to a degree. In the last decade, India has deepened its strate-gic partnerships with a number of Asian countries. Last week, an Indian warship exercised with the Vietnamese navy in the South China Sea and Indo-Japan defense relations are ex-pected to deepen.

But can this plan work? Mid-dle power coalitions are gener-ally more favorable to the U.S. and are largely complimentary to Washington’s strategies in the region. China could call the bluff and, as the authors acknowledge, see them as an extension of U.S. strategy.

The bigger issue is that in the event of a flashpoint, the middle

players are unlikely to stand up to China or take on major risks to defend their partners. The analysis grants, for instance, that it is difficult to imagine India being willing to assist Ja-pan militarily if Tokyo goes to war with China over disputed islands, given India’s own bor-der tensions and economic ties with China.

Still, the article says, the coalitions could emphasize a multi-polar Asia and help middle powers create more room to influence the bigwigs as they shape the region’s fu-ture. (SOURCE: Wall Street Journal)

VOICE OF ASIA 26 FRIDAY, August 15, 2014HOROSCOPEYour Horoscope for the Week of August 15, 2014

Aries (A,L,E) 21 March to 20 AprilYou’ll feel unusually popular & could start to feel more comfortable with who you

are. Your natural charm & wit will be extremely sharp. Let an assuring tone of voice and sincere facial expressions take the place of a complex vocabulary. You want people

to believe you as well as understand you. The facts will speak for themselves. Clashes with others, especially over money, behavior and/or discipline are likely as your nerves may be ‘shot’ and your fuse a bit short, possibly.

Taurus (B,V,U) 21 April to 20 MayPositive surge in your social and personal life. Friendships come in many strange

flavors. Seek out the company of people who will tolerate you for who and what you are. You’ll accumulate personal power in some unexpected places. You may have been feeling a little down in the dumps lately. Events that happen this week, will now re-

new your old spirit & confidence, to make you feel on top of the world. Don’t go overboard on the celebrating, you need to get your beauty rest.

Gemini (K,CHH,GH) 21 May to 20 JuneChange of pace that will help you to deal with deep matters you have on your mind.

You may have felt a little like a balloon, lately, getting ready to burst. Don’t sweat it! Delegate some of those tasks to others while maintaining the overall control of things. Relax and enjoy the scenery, while you contemplate your next move or direction. Feel

confident in your ability to organize & get the job done effectively. You know some secrets to getting the job done with a minimum of effort on your part.

Cancer (D,H) 21 June to 22 JulyNeed for co-operation from co-workers, peers and family. You may find that you’ll gain

more respect once you reach over to mend the fence that has been broken. Your sharp tongue can sometimes get you into trouble, tone down your emotions & present the situ-ation a little more objectively. No need to let other walk all over you, but you must ac-

knowledge their perspective. The square peg just can’t fit into the round hole. . If you are unable to obtain the respect you need, you may need to relocate to a place where people will accept you as you are.

Leo (M) 23 July to 22 AugustExciting news or opportunities from far away. If you have been searching for a new

job or career, someone may have put in a good word for you. You may receive a fax or email requesting additional information about yourself, your education & your past experiences. Enjoy the attention, be confident in who you are & where you are going.

Be sure to take your time to examine all of your possible options. As they say, “All that glitters is not necessarily gold”.

Virgo (P) 23 August to 22 SeptemberKeen sense of loyalty & true understanding of others. You understand what makes

people tick. Speak your mind & don’t back down, you need to make a stand. Friends may not be as forthcoming to your cause as you would like them to be. They may still need your shoulder to lean on. Listen to their excuses or reasons for their behavior, but

don’t give into their logic for it. You know how to be supportive but you cannot continue to support everyone. Once you make that clear, you’ll learn a lesson you’ll never forget. People are just people, they are only human & their emotions can sometimes rule their actions.

Libra (R,T) 23 Sept to 22 OctNew routine that has you completely out of mind. News and gossip fall quickly on

hungry ears. Whether you play the hero or the fool, everyone will know about it. It doesn’t matter who started the whole thing. The Golden Rule has never looked more attractive. Don’t make any promises that you can’t deliver. You’ll need to relax yourself with comforting activities. Massages, bubble baths or a good aerobic workout may be

just what the doctor ordered.

Scorpio (N,Y)23 Oct to 21 NovYou may almost feel as if you are reliving a dream or a past experience. Realize that

things go around in a circle, sometimes. You subconscious can open new doors of dis-covery. Take the time to educate yourself on the fundamentals of meditation & you’ll

find more enjoyment in your spiritual side. Speak your mind, especially to people who tend to pick on the weak or sick. You don’t yet have to choose between right and wrong, but that day will come, soon enough. Sleep on it, and listen to your dreams.

Sagittarius (BH,F,DH,TH) 22 Nov to 21 DecYou may notice a tendency to lose patience with anyone who distracts you. Rebels

would do well to hide behind the rules. The odds of a risky venture are running against you this week. By giving the forbidden a rest, you ensure that it will be even more exciting next time you decide to venture your luck. Love and camaraderie could be

enhanced by time spent apart. Team players get to gauge their own worth as solo artists. Spend the latter part of your week acting entirely out of self-interest.

Capricorn (KH,J) 22 Dec to 20 JanGet past the immediate & to visualize your true goals. You shouldn’t bring your job

home with you. You may need the time to reflect on events in your personal life. The joke may have gone too far. Either others can’t follow your thinking or they’re just not interested in participating. Be direct about your opinions, but be careful of the impres-

sion that you leave behind. Your name could be mentioned for the wrong reasons. Realize that life’s to short to waste on trivialities & gossip.

Aquarius (G,S,SH) 21 Jan to 19 FebSort of sadness of something passing or leaving. Your outburst surprises an associate

who has never seen this side of you. Spontaneity drives you careening along a series of existing channels. Now that you know what’s possible, do what’s necessary. Be it in your professional or personal life, you’ll feel a significant loss. Bring with you an optimism in future endeavors. Instead of losing a best friend, you’ll really be gaining

new allies. A new network of contacts will provide you with all the work & pleasure you need.

Pisces (D,CH,Z) 20 Feb to 20 MarchMemories of days gone by & hopes for new celebrations of joy. You have family

gatherings to plan. Reflect on times when life was simpler & family values were fol-lowed. Take the time to include everyone close to you to participate. Your effort will mean a lot to someone special in your life. Others tend to learn from your example. If your actions & habits reflect a healthy lifestyle, you’ll influence & encourage others to

take a closer look at their own situation. You’ll be able to accomplish tedious tasks you’ve been put-ting off, lately. Sometimes simpler is better, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.

by Hardik Vyas, Astrologer Cell : 832-298-9950

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Voice of Asia Aug 15 2014