Asian Voice

13th August to 19th August 2011VOL 40. ISSUE 15 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

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The Commonwealthgames mess rockedParliament for the secondday on Tuesday as oppo-sition NDA garb thedebate in both theHouses and demandedresignation of Delhi chiefminister Sheila Dikshit inthe wake CAG observa-tions against her.

"Sheila Dikshitisteefa do (resign SheilaDikshit)," Oppositionmembers raised slogans'Ab toh yeh spasht hai,Sheila Dikshit Bhrashthai (now it is clear,Sheila Dikshit is corrupt)in both Lok Sabha andRajya Sabha. This wasthe cry soon after LokSabha Speaker MeiraKumar finished refer-ences to the nuclearattacks on Hiroshimaand Nagasaki. BJP andShiv Sena memberstrooped into the well ofthe House raising slo-gans against SheilaDikshit.

Amid din, SP mem-bers raised the issue offake encounters in UttarPradesh.

Parliamentary affairsminister P K Bansal washeard saying that if this

was the stand of theOpposition the Houseshould be adjourned forthe day.

To counter the oppo-sition attack, some rulingparty members stood upholding posters allegingcost overrun and over-payment for projects inBJP-ruled Gujarat. As thedin continued, theSpeaker adjourned theHouse till noon, barelyminutes after it met forthe day.

When the Housesreassembled the ruckuscontinued forcing theadjournment of theHouses for the day. In theLok Sabha, SamajwadiParty members troopedinto the well of theHouse, waving newspa-per reports on the CAGfindings.

Continued on page 25

CWG scam rocks Parliament,Opposition demands DelhiCM Dikshit’s resignation

Sheila Dikshit

US, the largesteconomy

downgraded

Story on page 23

Rupanjana Dutta

Britain has epitomisedfreedom under the rule oflaw, it was a model formuch of the world, espe-cially for developing coun-tries. Today Britanniastands traumatised as law-less thugs roam the streetslooting and burning what-ever catches their fancy.The Frankenstein monsterin full enjoyment of socialbenefits and myriad wel-fare perks has been rein-

carnated as rampaginggangs on a spree of nihilis-tic disorder.

Shops, businesses andhouses in many areas ofLondon and other Britishcities are ruined hulks,with owners and residentsin deep shock. This eco-nomic downturn had beenhurting, but the presentdamage will leave a deeperimprint. The breakdown ofsocial order and moralityis difficult to swallow.

Asians in Britain have

thrived in retail enterpris-es and properties. Thesehave been destroyed, leav-ing innocent people home-less and destitute. Asian-run pharmacies,newsagents, corner shops,restaurants in areas likeEaling, Kingsbury,Tottenham, Walthamstow,Woodgreen, Lewisham,Croydon, Tooting, BethnalGreen, Stratford, EastHam, Woolwich have beenaffected by the mob vio-lence of a growing under-

class of youthful blacksand their white confeder-ates. They looted electron-ic items, branded shoes,cigarettes, spirits, clothes-as they moved about fromone location to another.

On Tuesday before ourpaper went to press, Policeadmitted they were pre-pared to use plastic bulletsagainst rioters if a fourthnight of lawlessnessgripped London and itsenvirons.

Continued on page 4

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Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 20112 UK

one to oneKeith Vaz MP with

Beinazir Lasharie, CEO of the Kazuri CommunityBeinazir is currently Director of Kazuri

Community grew up in Ladbroke Grove on a

council estate and attended what was once

known as ‘the worst school in Britain’. She start-

ed working in retail at 17 and began volunteered

at an advice centre for unemployed people in

North Kensington. She has since worked for a

training centre offering vocational training to

young people and children who have been

excluded from school and youth offenders,

worked for David Game college group, and has

organised a study support centre for the local

council. As well standing for local election,

Beinazir is Governor on Personnel and Curriculum

committee for Maxilla Nursery, a volunteer at

Radio Lollipop in Great Ormond Street Hospital.

1) What inspired you tobegin your career in thisfield?

I have worked withyoung offenders for afew years and I haveworked in private educa-tion and people with spe-cial needs. Seeing thelack of provision for thedisadvantaged is outra-geous so I feel that it isimportant to create abridge to help all peoplewho need it, not justhelp accessible if yourfamily has money.

2) What are your proud-est achievements?

Working with a 10 yearold special needs childand being able to see theprogress with her.Holding two Youth

Conferences in theHouse of Commons.Helping to deliver myniece and nephew.Standing for local elec-tion in 2010.

3) Please tell us aboutyour current position?

I am the Director ofKazuri Community anot-for profit companywhich works to test asystem of rehabilitationand reintegrationthrough addressing men-tal health issues and sub-stance misuse. I amproud to work with theKazuri group as I havepersonally been affected,because of a close familymember, by addictionand mental healthissues. Addiction is asubject close to home.

4) What has been thebiggest obstacle in yourcareer?

Not being able to afford togo to university has beenan obstacle, I am stillattempting to do moduleshere and there as workand studying is so chal-lenging but I’m strugglingthrough it.

5) Who has been thebiggest influence on yourcareer to date?

My father, MushtaqLasharie. He runs anNGO, Third WorldSolidarity, I have metmany corrupt people in mylife and I am proud to seemy father make a name forhimself and not be cor-rupt. I also grew up with awoman who has specialneeds and unfortunatelythe ‘system’ failed her andshe is now under a Section3 drugged up to be a veg-etable, which breaks myheart, but I am working on

getting her out of there.

6) What is the best thingabout your current role?

Being able to help people,being able to use my expe-rience in life to make a dif-ference to others, con-tributing to society andactually being the changethat I wish to see.

7) And the worst?

All the challenges are apart of doing what we do,I am a very positive per-son and believe in what Ido whole heartedly.

8) What are your longterm goals?

To be able to support peo-ple in realising theiropportunities and reinte-grate without stigmaattached. KazuriCommunity is a not-for-profit company, run bypeople who have experi-ence of working with thedisadvantaged and in edu-

cation. My co-direc-tors, Zahid Shaqil hasa long, esteemed histo-ry in setting up aca-demic institutions andwork as a philanthro-pist and our otherdirector, Em Ekong iswell respected for herwork in regenerationand helping the disen-franchised by raising

money in theThird Sectorto help withc ommun i t yspecific proj-ects to helpw o m e n ,young offend-ers andB A M Egroups. Weare an all eth-nic board,because we

believe the Black andAsian communities inparticular don’t addressthe issue of addictionand mental healthproblems are brushedunder the carpet

9) If you were PrimeMinister, what onething would youchange?

The cuts towards theNHS and public servic-es. I would make every-one volunteer at leastonce in their life even ifit’s over the weekendfor those who work.

10) If you weremarooned on a desertisland, who would youlike to spend your timewith and why?

David Cameron, Iwould make him agreeto make some changeswhen we get off theisland, and if he refusesthen I would probablywrestle him.

OSWA CL IEE T

YHT

PersonalInjury

SOLICITORSEmail: [email protected] Website: www.levenes.co.ukAshley House, 235-239 High Road, Wood Green, London N22 8HF

0800 118899

Contact Mr. Mitesh Patel, Solicitor

No Win

No Fee

There are 2.5 million peo-ple diagnosed with dia-betes in Britain, and anestimated 1 million peopleunaware that they are suf-fering with undiagnoseddiabetes.

Roanne have beendiagnosed with type 1 dia-betes for 13 years nowandhad all the usual symp-toms; extreme thirst,weight loss, tiredness, butthese symptoms devel-oped so slowly that Ithought I was feeling com-pletely normal. I woulddrink water constantly,and my thirst was neversated. I ate a lot, and was

always losing weight.Roanne hadn’t even

heard of diabetes at thispoint, but as soon as hestarted taking insulininjections he realised howawful he had really beenfeeling. It was a toughlifestyle change, he wentfrom eating whatever hewanted to a low fat, lowcarb diet, it wasn’t easy,but the difference it madeto my health was worth it- no contest.

While he was stilllearning how to controlhis diabetes, he was outshopping with his friends.They were in a shopping

centre, and Roanne bloodsugar suddenly dropped.This is known as hypogly-caemia, and means thereis not enough sugar inyour blood to meet yourbody’s energy require-ments. It’s a terrible feel-ing, and Roanne collapsed,spilling the entire contentsof his bag on the floor. Hewas struggling to eat somechocolate to bring hisblood sugar back up whena security guard walked upto his friends and him andtold us that we couldn’t sitthere, we had to move.

His friends picked uphis things and helped him

Be Aware! - A Diabetic

to his feet (He was still soweak that he could notstand on his own). Thesecurity guard must havethought that he was justan inebriated teenager, it 's

sure that if he had knownthat Roanne was sufferingwith a medical condition,he would have offeredhelp instead.

These are just a couple

of the reasons why thework of Silver Star is soimportant; Silver Star is alocal charity which pro-motes diabetes awarenessand tests for diabetes –and raising awareness iscrucial. Diabetes maydevelop slowly, but if youget regular blood sugartests you can get appropri-ate treatment sooner, andavoid complications ofdiabetes, such as blind-ness and heart disease.

Silver Star operates aMobile Diabetes Unit(MDU), which can visityour organisation or placeof work. Contact Silver Star on0845 094 9933 or [email protected].

Roanne Denton and Judith Twigg, Leader of DerbyshireDales District Council

Oxford is renowned for itsacademic heritage, its archi-tecture, and its diversity,however what is missing isa Place of Hindu worship,and a community centre.

Hindus in Oxfordshirehave been travelling toLondon, Birmingham etc tocelebrate their Festivals andkeeping in touch with theirculture.

Diverse Hindu popula-tion in Oxford is crying outfor a place, where they allcan meet and enjoy theirfestivals and cultural activi-ties. To fulfill this gap,Oxford Hindu Temple &Community Centre Projectwas established two yearsago, and within these years,the committee have heldPrayer Sessions every 2ndSunday of the month with-out fail in hired halls. Sincethen, various fundraisingevents have been held likeDiwali dinner and dance,Holi festivals, SummerMelas, Fusion MusicFestival, and this August weare bringing the first SriMad Bhagwat katha for 9days in Oxford from 20thaugust to 28th Aug - by thefamous Sri Morari Bapu'snephew Pujya Sri MathuraDas Ji. It will be held in ahired school hall for 9 days,with Katha and PritiBhojan everyday.Janmashtmi will also be cel-ebrated on 22nd august. SriRam Bapu Ji of Wembleywill be coming to grace theKatha and bestow his bless-ings on the Pooja. Thisproject is a long term proj-ect, with an aim of estab-lishing a permanent placeof worship and Centre forcommunity service. Formore details: www.oxford-hinutempleproject.org

First BhagwatKatha recital in Oxford

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 www.abplgroup.com 3

Thought for the WeekLessons to be learned as British

cities are set ablazeWhen David Cameron became leader of theConservative Party, he asked Iain Duncan Smith, apredecessor, to make an in-depth investigation intothe state of Britain's inner cities, focusing on issuesarising from social deprivation and disadvantage. MrDuncan Smith did a commendable job. He cut nocorners, telling the truth as he saw it without fear orfavour. The contents of his report were disturbing.He referred to the growth of a vast (largely black andwhite) semi-literate underclass seeded in brokenfamilies, with few skills, low self- esteem, unem-ployed and frequently unemployable, confronted bya bleak future and going nowhere. It was a powder-keg waiting to explode. Mr Duncan Smith was inter-viewed on television and radio, but most interlocu-tors and discussants appeared to suggest that he wasbeing unduly alarmist. Mr Duncan Smith's antennahad picked up signals which he transmitted throughthe spoken and written word to audiences up anddown the land, without getting the response hedeserved. Such intrusions into well protected com-fort zones are rarely welcomed.

The arson and looting in significant parts ofLondon have been a wake-up call. The mindlessviolence has spread to areas of Liverpool, Bristoland Birmingham. Houses have been burned down,department stores systematically and brazenly loot-ed and small shops and businesses subjected to sim-ilar treatment. The Asian community has suffereddisproportionately from this breakdown of law andorder. Hindus, Jains and Sikhs belong to a silentmajority that has no co-ordinating body to representtheir concerns and vulnerability. What started as alocal difficulty with the shooting by police of MarkDuggan, a resident of the London borough ofTottenham, has become a national crisis requiringthe urgent presence of Prime Minister Cameron,Home Secretary Teresa May, London Mayor BorisJohnson and the leader of the Labour opposition EdMiliband and his deputy Harriet Harman, all havingcut short their annual holiday and returned to thecapital. Such is the seriousness of the situation. Theeventual financial cost of arsonist activity will behuge. The reputation of London and the UK as safehavens for investment has been dented; hopefullythe 2012 Olympic Games will not suffer the conse-

quences. However, let us avoid easy surrender to the usual

blame games. That said, certain facts need to be stat-ed and explored. The first of these is surely the trag-ic death of Mark Duggan, who was shot by thepolice, the circumstances yet to be examined by aneutral body. This much is known: he was a youngAfro-Caribbean male who lived with his partnerfrom the same community. First media reports thathe had fired first at the police have been shown to beinaccurate. How then were such reports publishedand circulated and who was the source?

Bereaved members of the Duggan family held asilent vigil outside the Tottenham police station:why couldn't someone from the station or fromScotland Yard meet with them and assure them of afull and impartial inquiry into the circumstances ofMr Duggan's death? The police behaviour wasinsensitive. There have been cases of black deaths inpolice custody and relations between the local blackcommunity and the police had virtually brokendown. The stage was set for a 1980s-type riot.

Mr Duggan's partner told a television interview-er that the police were racist, but she denounced thearson and violence that had gripped the area, sayingthis had nothing to do with Mark Duggan'sdemise.The looters and arsonist we see on TVscreens are concerned only to rob and destroy withnihilistic abandon. They have destroyed the proper-ties and livelihood of innocent people and left thempsychologically scarred, perhaps for life. They leftthe moral order as badly damaged as they have thesocial and political. There was (and is) no excusewhatsoever for such lawlessness. The perpetratorsmust be brought to justice. There is no automaticprocess that can guarantee the healing of deepwounds. Such a process has to evolve through firm-ness, magnanimity and understanding.The largerpicture must be kept in view. The economic travailsthat affect the UK and swathes of Europe have leftuncertainty, resentment and hardship in their wake.The tools fashioned in Margaret Thatcher's account-ancy generation are inadequate in repairing the bro-ken societies of today. Economic panaceas to thepresent debt crisis have to be married to socialissues if they are to be successful.

America's woes multiplyThere is no sign yet that the United States is insight of calmer waters. At the weekend came newsthat a Chinook helicopter had been brought downby Taliban fire, killing everyone on board includingthe 30 US Navy Seals responsible for hunting downand killing Osama bin Laden, and seven membersof the Afghanistan Army. It was the single biggestloss of American lives in the Afghan conflict and itputs at risk President Obama's exit strategy fromthat war-torn country. Reports that the US andNato forces have the Taliban on the run appear atrifle optimistic. As a force the insurgents are fromvanquished.

Pakistan continues to be a cauldron of unrest,with over 800 deaths this year alone in inter-ethnicviolence in the port city of Karachi, the country'slargest and most populous urban centre.Meanwhile, Washington's relations with Islamabadcontinue to deteriorate and may soon hit thebuffers. As if this were not enough, the US isembroiled in Libya and has a number of other ironsin the Middle Eastern fires. These wars are provinghugely expensive; and they do not help balance the

books back home. The shenanigans in Congressover the country's budget – the default was avoidedby a whisker – led Standard and Poor to downgradethe US economy from is prized triple A rating forthe first time in history. This sent stock marketsplunging the world over with no relief in sight. TheUS President, in a desperate bid to rally domesticopinion, declared ringingly: “Markets will rise andfall but this is the United Stares. No matter whatsome rating agency may say, we've always been andwe always will be a triple A country.”

The market response was further panic. By mid-afternoon in New York, the Dow Jones industrialaverage had fallen by more than 400 points. Asinvestors scrambled for safer havens the price ofgold shot to a new high. Mr Obama's gilded rheto-ric has failed to rally the troops. His country's toxicdebt speaks louder than honeyed words. Truth isthat America is history's greater debtor nation.

The meshing of US financial and foreign anddefence policies needs urgent sorting if the future isto be saved for future generations of Americans andtheir peers throughout the world.

Dalai Lama passes the baton to Lobsang SangayTibet's spiritual leader, His Holiness the DalaiLama, has formally handed over political authori-ty to Lobsang Sangay, who assumes office asPrime Minister of the Tibetan Government inexile. The youthful Delhi University and Harvard-educated Mr Sangmay, who was elected by a freevote of the Tibetan diaspora, has promised toopen negotiations with China over Tibet's auton-omy and cultural iidentity but the surly men inBeijing have ruled this out, just as they did withthe Dalai Lama.

Beijing will be satisfied with nothing less thanan elaborate and well publicised kowtow in keep-ing with its primordial traditions, but this beingthe 21st century, the customs and practices of amedieval empire can have no legitimacy in the

modern world. Chinese leaders in their age-old conceit believe

that time is on their side as they intrigue andmanoeuvre for prime position in the Tibetanstakes. Time, however, is not on the side of theMiddle Kingdom and its unecountable rulers.Strong empires through history have been knownto crumble to dust. The Chinese empire is noexception, although the circumstances of its even-tual demise is hidden from human view. If theBeijing leaders are as wise as they claim to be,they will grasp the hand held out to them byLobsang Sangmay and his spiritual mentor HisHoliness the Dalai Lama and start talking. Jaw-jaw is better than war-war, as Winston Churchillpronounced many moons ago.

One might call it a coinci-dence but in our recentdeliberations at LondonAssembly the Health andPublic Services Committeeagreed to examine issuesdealing with Access toMental Health and aboutthe same time I attended anevent organised by Mind inHarrow piloting ‘Time toChange’ programme aimedat South Asian Communityin Harrow, North WestLondon. What is not a coin-cidence is the significance ofvolatile issues surroundingmental health.

The scale of mentalhealth illness is quite stag-gering. At any one timearound one adult in six isexperiencing symptoms ofmental illness and one infour people are likely toexperience mental illnessduring their lifetime. Mentalillness is the largest singlecause of disability in andcosts at least £77 billion ayear.

Time to Change is theCountry’s most ambitiousprogramme to end discrimi-nation faced by people whoexperience mental healthproblems. This programmeis led by Mind, and Rethinkand funded with £16m fromthe Big Lottery Fund and£2m from Comic Relief, andevaluated by the Institute ofPsychiatry at King's College,London. The project aims toinspire people to worktogether to end mentalhealth discrimination byworking directly with peoplewho themselves experiencemental health problems.

The initiative of Rethinksupported by Mind inHarrow is particularlyremarkable as not only it hasbeen involved for a numberof years in focusing on men-tal health issues but usergroups such as ‘Ekta’ areproviding supportive andtherapeutic activities aimedat South AsianCommunities. Mind inHarrow provided a perfectplatform recently for thelaunch of Time to ChangeSouth Asian anti-stigmapilot campaign. MentalHealth in itself is complexbut stigma associated with itin certain communities likeSouth Asian Communitiesmakes it even more chal-lenging. Findings of a recentreport analysing attitudestowards mental health prob-lems in the South AsianCommunities highlight that:

1. ‘Sharam’ (Shame),fear and secrecy surround-ing mental illness makes it ataboo subject. Often there islittle open discussion evenwithin immediate familymembers.

2. The causes of mentalhealth problems are oftenmisunderstood. This beingthe case due to culture ofsecrecy surrounding mentalhealth problems, misunder-standings and misconcep-tions.

3. Family has pivotalrole to play in the life ofsomeone with mental healthproblem. There being a ten-dency for close family mem-bers to ‘protect’ their rela-tive with mental illness fromgossip and family’s reputa-tion and the resultantreduced amount of contactthe person might have withthe extended family andwider community.

4. Social pressure toconform. Adherence tosocial norms is seen to becritical when it comes toachieving and maintainingrespect and standing withincommunity.

5. People with mentalhealth problems are not val-ued to the degree that theycan be dismissed as ‘stupid’and irrelevant.

6. Mental health prob-lems can be serious threat tomarriage prospects for per-son experiencing mentalhealth problems.

The event in June pilot-ing the Time to Change cam-paign was hosted andchaired by Krishna Jameswith panel discussions andmoving presentations bymental health service usersdescribing their own person-al experiences and howthey’d managed to overcomebarriers with support andunderstanding. Followingthe powerful launch, themessage needs to spreadquickly and widely across allareas. The starting point inmy view is Londonwide roll-out of Time to Change cam-paign to bring about aware-ness as well as eliminationof mental health discrimina-tion in our South Asiancommunities. In my futurecolumn I’d report progressmade on this front. To helpthe campaign I urge commu-nity groups to promote thecampaign. For further infor-mation and how you canhelp in promoting mentalhealth issues email me [email protected]

“TIME TO CHANGE”Time to end Mental Health Discrimination

“Our London”

CIIr Navin Shah AM

London Assembly Member

for Brent and Harrow

COMMENT

Nobody grows old merely by living a

number of years. We grow old by deserting

our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but

to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul

- Samuel Ullman (1840-1924)

With an 'unprecedent-ed' 16,000 police officersdue on the streets of thecapital on Tuesday night,answers were beingdemanded over the appar-ent failure of the police tobring Monday's riots undercontrol.

The riot started withkilling of Mark Duggan, ayoung Afro-Caribbeanmale who lived with hispartner at Ferry Lane,Tottenham. Circumstancesof his death are yet to befully investigated. Whilehis partner has accused thepolice of racist behaviourin the past, she denouncedthe rioting as unacceptableand unrelated to MrDuggan's death.

The London riot thatthe started Tottenhamspread to all over Londonincluding East and South.

Local areas andbusinesses in

LondonShops in London Roadnear Norbury andThornton Heath remainshut. The looters tried tolift the metal shutters ofBharat Shah & Co inThornton Heath and didnot succeed. They alsotried to break through therear shutters but failed.Several other premiseswere broken into, especial-ly 2 Indian jewellers shopin the area. The jewelleryon display was cleared off.

On Tuesday at3am, some lootersbroke intoBhagwanji Ram &Sons in Kingsbury,North London. Butthe security fog dis-abled them and thelooters were forcedto run away.

In DubaiJewellers all displayjewelleries werestolen, whileHarrow Shoppingcentre, Kingsbury Arcadeare asked to shut down.

On Ealing Road, shopslike Foodco and many jew-ellery shop owners calledup each other as theyclosed their shops ensuringtheir neighbours are safe.

In Lewisham Iqbal J(name changed onrequest) told Asian Voice,"I have kept my shopclosed today. But it is suchan appalling situation. Justbefore Olympics name ofour country is purposefullymaligned!"

In Clapham SouthNiranjanben YogeshKumar Patel's shop wasset on blaze and the resi-dents on the top floor nar-rowly escaped death.

The riot and hooligan-ism also spread toGreenford, Southall andEast ham.

In Ilford the Co-opera-tive, in High Street,Barkingside had shut at8pm – two hours earlierthan usual – as a “precau-tion”.

According to teammanager Jas Rehal, Ilford

Recorder reported that hehas watched the attack onCCTV footage captured inthe store, the gang of fiveused a crowbar to pullopen the shutter coveringthe cigarettes. Spirits werealso taken and stuffed intoblack bags, said Mr Rehal.

Richard MilesJewellers, George Lane,South Woodford, was ran-sacked at just after 10 onMonday night. Gold andsilver jewellery along withwatches were all takenfrom broken display cabi-nets in the shop. BhavikaDewchand and her father,who owns the shop, wereat the damaged buildinglast night after getting aphone call about the dis-turbance.

Bhavika said: “We werewaiting here for the shut-ters to be fixed. Four mencame back and one camerunning towards us. Hehad something in hishands. I’ve never driven off

as fast as that.”She added: “Forty of

them lifted up half theshutter and were throwingrocks and bricks at thewindows.”

The neighbouringNationwide bank was alsotargeted and its windowssmashed.

The incident followedreports of looting in IlfordLane, High Road, Ilfordand Woodford Green.

A shopkeeper wasforced to defend his shopwith his family fromyoungsters at 7.30pm onMonday, saying policewere slow to respond tothe unrest.

Nearly all businessesclosed early in the after-noon and shutters weredropped before gangs of“40-50” young peopledescended on the areafrom 4.30pm.

Shopkeeper JunaidKhan, 23, said BB Fatimacash and carry in Ilford, hisfamily business, was one ofonly three businesses thatremained open in the nor-mally bustling street.

He told a local paper:

“When they came downthe road these kidssmashed some watermel-ons outside. We weren’tgoing to take that so weclosed the shutters andtwenty of us stood outsideto protect the shop.Nobody tried anythingthen. There were differentgroups of about 50teenagers. I know aboutthree other shops that weresmashed.”

The supermarket hadsold out of cigarettes andother goods as people trav-elled as far as Forest Gateto find an open store.

Mr Khan added: “Thepolice didn’t turn up fortwo hours. It’s an absolutejoke. This kids weren’tprotesting, for them it wasa chance to rob.”

Another father of three,of Madras Road, nearIlford who was surveyingthe damage on Tuesdaymorning, saw lootersbreaking into Danabhai

Jewellers, 200mfrom the cash andcarry. He said heand his familywere forced tohide in theirhouse from“ f r i g h t e n i n g ”scenes.

He said:“There were biggroups here from4.30pm, thewhole street was

full with about 200 people,but no police at all. Abouttwenty of them forcedopen the shutters of thejewellers.

“Then everyone wentinside because they said tous ‘if you come forwardwe’re going to hit you up,’it was very frightening.”

BirminghamShop windows weresmashed in Birmingham aslarge crowds gathered fol-lowing rumours of copycatriots. Police established anexclusion zone up to half amile around the city’sfamous Bullring shoppingcentre. McDonald’s,Jessops and LA fitnesswere targeted, with binsthrown through the win-dows. A twitter from crick-eter Kevin Pietersonrevealed that they wereasked to remain inside thehotel since Monday9:30pm and not step out.

BristolIn Bristol about 150 peoplewere involved in troubleuntil the early hours of themorning.

Police said the Stokes


Writing a column article this weekendcould not have come at a better time,for much of my Saturday has been spentpositively engaging as a guest speakerwith the future of this country and mostof my Sunday whilst campaigning hasbeen spent thinking about whether thefuture will map out for them and indeedfor us all. I am of course referring toour teenagers and younger adults andmost specifically those who attendedthe Youth Conference in central-London this Saturday most excellentlyorganised by Asian Voice. I would liketo expressly thank Rupanjana Duttaand C.B. Patel of Asian Voice for organ-ising the event, inviting me as a guestspeaker and for providing refreshmentsthroughout the day. It was evident thatall parties who attended had benefittedin some way from the speakers in atten-dance and I have had many positive e-mails so far to thank me for my contri-bution in general and for providing aninsight into the fields of law and politicsspecifically which is where my careerhas taken me. I must also humbly saythat there were many positive messagesI took away myself from other speakersin attendance and I think this demon-strates that you are never to old to learnsomething if you allow yourself to betaught.

This week has also been an excitingweek for Londoners in general as theMayor of London, Boris Johnson,awarded almost £10million of fundingfrom his Outer London Fund to twentyLondon Boroughs, including £856,400for Harrow, £500,000 for Brent,£416,685 for Barnet and £260,000 forHillingdon to name a few. The hand-outs from the excellent scheme showthat Boris is a truly inclusive Mayor forall of London and not just the centrelike his predecessor Ken Livingstonewho arguably was obsessed with ‘Zone1’ only and very much neglected theouter-London Boroughs. This threeyear scheme was set up in March 2011aiming to provide £50million to groweconomic activity and drive employ-ment in parts of London benefitting lessdirectly from large-scale infrastructure

investment in the capital such asCrossrail and the 2012 Olympic Games.£10million was made available in thisfirst round of funding with the aim ofproviding Boroughs with immediateaccess to funds which they can use toincrease the attractiveness and econom-ic competitiveness of their town centresin the build up to the Christmas periodand throughout the New Year. The sec-ond round, open until 14th October2011, will see the allocation of over£40million of funding to developlonger-term projects to regenerate andrejuvenate areas ranging from a smallparade of shops to town centres.

In Brent, local plans are already inplace to use the well-received fundingfrom the Mayor’s Outer London Fundto reduce empty buildings in the area byopening up spaces in and around thecentre for temporary use, supportingindoor and outdoor markets, sprucingup shop fronts and using lights andvisual arts to animate the high streetahead of December’s festive season. InHarrow Town Centre £496,000 of fund-ing will be spent reducing the number ofvacant shops in the centre and hosting amajor festival to promote the town as aleading place to shop and do business.The North Harrow project will see thecreation of an enterprise zone as well asa Christmas Treasure hunt, a springfood fair and extensive marketing of theshopping area using the £360,400investment from the Outer LondonFund.

Whilst those of us operating localsmall to medium sized enterprises andthose soon to enter into employment ingeneral, such as many of the students Ispent my Saturday with, seek growthand or economic stability, the Mayor’sOuter London Fund is a welcome assur-ance that London will continue to be alevel playing field of opportunity for allregardless of where we live or work andhaving many more pleasant lookingtown centres across London for exam-ple can in my opinion only encouragemore welcoming custom and apprecia-tion from its natural attractiveness.

An exciting week

Cllr Sachin Rajput

Conservative Greater London Assembly Candidate

For Brent & HarrowContinued from page 1

Britain ablaze and lawless

Croft and St Werburghsareas of Bristol were alsoaffected in what the forcedescribed as a "volatile sit-uation".

LiverpoolA clean up operation

has taken place inLiverpool after trouble in anumber of areas.

Police described it "avery saddening picture".Charles Jupiter, 21, a

bartender, set up aFacebook page, LiverpoolClean Up, following riotsin Toxteth. He added: "Ihope it doesn't happenagain tonight, but if itdoes, we will be out hereagain.

"There are far manymore decent people inLiverpool than those fewwho rioted."

LeedsA man was shot in theChapeltown area of Leeds.He remained under armedguard in hospital where heis being treated for seriousfacial injuries. Officers saidthe incident on Mondayevening, in Savile Place,was followed by "pocketsof isolated disorder".

KentThere were confrontationsbetween police and youthsin the Medway towns inKent.

In Gillingham youthsclashed with police in HighStreet and cars were setalight in Chatham in theearly hours of Tuesday.

FootballThe Football

Association has called offEngland's friendly withThe Netherlands atWembley on Wednesday.Carling Cup matches atCharlton, West Ham,Crystal Palace and BristolCity have also all beenpostponed.

Support fromreligious

organisationsAuthorities from BAPS

Swaminarayan Temple inNeasden told its followersto be careful and vigilant.They have also extendedtheir hands to help peopledistressed by this situation,though they have not reallyheard anything from them.

Recent riots that start-

ed in Tottenham are nowspreading around the UKwith reports of Gurdwarasbeing attacked in London.Groups of Sikhs havestarted gathering aroundthe East London and IlfordGurdwaras to provide pro-tection as there have beenelements of mob disorderin East Ham, Ilford andRomford.

There are reports ofGurdwara Singh SabhaBarking being attackedearlier on Tuesday bybricks and other materials.The Police intervenedstraight away in the inci-dent with the mob quicklymoved on by the Police.Groups of Sikhs gatheredaround the GurdwaraDasmesh Darbar ManorPark, Gurdwara KaramsarIlford, Gurdwara SinghSabha Barking, GurdwaraSingh Sabha Seven Kingsand Mata Sahib KaurAcademy Newbury Parkas well as other Gurdwarasin affected areas to protectthem. They have also sentacross messages toBirmingham Gurudwarasto be careful.

income families, yet hehas at least eight otherproperties, including a£2million home in SouthWoodford.

Another is servingLabour councillor AyeshaChowdhury, who alleged-ly lived in council housingdespite owning propertiesworth at least £1million.

Mr Haque said he washoused because his previ-ous home had been demol-ished. He apparently toldthe Sunday Telegraph thathe lived there because heconsidered himself a 'so-cial democrat' who 'want-ed to connect with thecommunity'.

A council spokesmansaid he could not discuss

individual cases. MrsChowdhury, who repre-sents Beckton ward inNewham, lived in a hous-ing association homedespite she and her hus-band, Faiz, owning 17properties.

Mrs Chowdhury toldthe daily she has nowmoved into a nearby prop-erty and has changed herelectoral roll details to thenew address.

She declined to com-ment on why she lived in acouncil house given herfinancial situation.

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 5UK

By Priyesh Patel

After weeks of prepara-tion and organization, theOshwal Mela finallyarrived on Sunday 24thJuly 2011. With rides,arcades, business stands,a health zone and a rangeof diverse food and enter-tainment, the OshwalMela has something foreveryone!

Eighteen months agoDarlingtons Solicitorsacquired a newConsultant Solicitor. Agentleman with a veryestablished background,who has raised hundredsof thousands of poundsfor his community. Hehas travelled overseas tohelp people who are lessfortunate, and wasrecently given the honorof an MBE for all of hishard work and effort overthe years. His name isRati Shah MBE.

Having such anastounding reputationwithin his community he

offered our firm theopportunity to occupy astall to promote the firm.This is where I came in,my name is Priyesh Patel.I was given the job oforganising this event.Having organised similarevents, my in depth expe-rience and knowledgeallowed me to set an indepth plan of action. Theplan included ensuringdeadlines were met withall the marketing materialand using effective mar-keting strategies to por-tray the right image forthe firm. Creativity beingone of my many skills Idecided to design all thematerial myself. I wasproud of the outcomeknowing my contributionhad all paid off.

This was my first timeat Oshwal Mela and I wasextremely impressed bythe strong minded andexceptionally friendlynature of the people.After meeting and talkingto thousands of visitors at

the Mela, it was evidentthat the community is fullof entrepreneurial mindedand very hard workingpeople.

We at Darlingtonshave seen success fromthis event after just a fewdays. Our main findingfrom the event is that faceto face contact is the keyto gaining new clients andwe will be using theseresults to set a benchmarkfor future events.

I would like to takethis opportunity on behalfof Darlingtons Solicitorsand myself to say a verybig thank you to all thepeople who put sucheffort into volunteering atthe Oshwal Mela, theymade the whole event ahuge success.

For more informationabout the firm or areasof law that we coverplease visithttp://www.darlingtons.com/Or call us on 020 8951 6666

Lawyers supporting the community

SPECIALIST COMMERCIAL FINANCE BROKERS

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Kulvinder Sethi, who runsan electrical firm, hopes tomake life easier for theSomali athletes by spon-soring them. The countryhas been racked by a 20-year-old civil war betweenthe government andIslamist extremists. MrSethi, who runs AnandInternational Ltd, saidthey should be supportedto make Somalia "proud".

"Most companieswould like to sponsor highprofile teams of powerfulcountries, but I believethat there are countrieswhich are more in need ofsupport," he said.

"The athletes have thisone great opportunity tostand, compete and repre-sent their country, but inorder to do this they needa helping hand."

The businessman said

the Olympians, who have"nothing at the moment",have been forced to travelalong the "road of death" -the main road through thecapital Mogadishu.

"Not only are theytraining without shoes inextreme heat, they'redodging bullets - one ofthem even got shot," MrSethi (pictured) said.

Saneey Mohamed,from the SomaliaOlympics Committee,

hopes the new sponsor-ship deal will allow moreSomali sportsmen andwomen to join the team.

"We have 300 athletesand we're trying to getabout 1,500 to compete inLondon 2012," he said.

Leicester studentMohamed Isak, 20, whohas trained for four yearsas a middle distance run-ner, hopes to be one ofthose extra athletes.

"It would meanabsolutely everything tome and the Somali team aswell - I've trained hard forthe Olympics next year,"he said.

Mr Sethi, who alsofunds a local cricket andfootball team, hopes topersuade other businessesto join him in supportingthe Somalians beyond2012.

Businessman ShirajHaque allegedly lives insocial housing despiteowning eight other prop-erties - including a ￡2mil-lion property. Ministershave vowed to preventanyone earning more than￡100,000 from living in alocal authority property.

But multi-millionaireShiraj Haque as revealed

by the Sunday Telegraphallegedly continued to beliving in taxpayer-sub-sided social housing witha rent of just £135 a week.He owns property worth£5million, a chain ofrestaurants and a super-market.

The attractive, three-storey house in BethnalGreen is meant for low-

Leicester firm supports Somali Olympic team

Multi-millionaire property tycoon living in a council house?

Shiraj Haque

Ayesha Chowdhury

'Happy day' which really mani-fested into a productive andhappy reality.

The speakers includedSupriyo Chaudhuri, the Head ofEducation at London School ofAccountancy and Managementwhose interactive topic of dis-cussion was 'Mind the Future'.

He was followed by Cllr SachinShah, a Labour Councillor, whoworks for the charityParkinson’s UK and who alsospoke about the importance ofextra curricular activities.

After the brief and humorousspeeches, Amit Sodha, a wittyLife Style Coach and an associ-ate of our Living Style columnistMamta Saha in Think SpaLondon ushered away the 15-20years old participants and con-

ducted a beautiful workshopwhile the older group wasenlightened through a 18minsvideo of the film Secret and aninteractive session conducted byAekta Mahajan and PratikDattani, assisted by Sachin andSupriyo.

After lunch, the afternoon

started with a fantastic presenta-tion by Pratik Dattani, anEconomist and Chairman of theCity Hindus Network, with aninsight to a journey with aspira-tion to become a painter, finallylanding with a career in finance.This was followed by an insight-ful speech by Cllr SachinRajput, a barrister andConservative Councillor- whoemphasised on the value of net-working, opening doors to

This workshop based conferencewas principally planned to pro-vide the youth with mentorswho can help them shape a pos-itive future. We are aware that

this is a tough time in Britainwith a possibility of double diprecession and soaring tuitionfees.

Asian parents still have acertain ideology though childrenhave started visualising theirdreams differently. Yet often we

are pushed to fulfil dreams thatare not even ours and we growaverse to our lives. Hence thisworkshop based conference wasorganised by our able team.

The aim was to offer the follow-ing:a. If you have a dream follow it.b. Think positive- and it willhelp you shape your future. Itmight take time, but the key ispatience.

c. If you do not have a way toachieve your goal or attain yourdream, make a way.d. If you needtguidance/help/special atten-tion, seek it.e. We have expertise, you havezeal- together we can achieveanything, absolutely anything.

Our aim was to provide aplatform or spectrum to realiseone's inner potential and trans-form their goals into reality.

The level of participationfrom the audience was remark-able. The event started with anintroduction by compere AektaMahajan, Strategy DevelopmentManager for the Home Office,who introduced the speakers,the importance of such a work-shop based conference andspoke about August 6th the


Youth Conference 2011 - A step in the right direction

Amit Sodha during the workshop with over 20 group

Divya Talwar, BBC journalist, speaking to the audience while CllrSachin Rajput and Aekta Mahajan look on

Cllr Sachin Shah speaking aboutextra curricular activities

Pratik Dattani defining shapes and relating characteristics

Engrossed participants kistening to the speakers

Interactive workshop with Aekta Mahajan

Interactive workshop with participants talking about their experience

Psychologist Mamta Saha

Many people have great ideasabout what they want toachieve however struggle whenit comes to applying structurearound their goals. When thereis no structure around goalssetting there is a risk that yourgoals can be too ambiguousand not specific. This maymean that it is easy to digressand difficult to achieve. If thissounds familiar think abouthow badly you want to achievecertain goals in your life. If youare getting fed-up with havinga lack of motivation and noclarity read on to see how youcan take responsibility for yourown life and success by lettinggo of bad habits and followingthe SMART process when itcomes to goal setting.

S: Make sure you areSpecific about what you want.The more specific you are the

higher the chance of achieve-ment. For example you maywant to work in the media.But, what do you want to do?Push yourself to be as specificas you can - only then will yoube fully clear on what youwant. Being specific wouldsound like: I want to be a radiopresenter.

M: Make sure you canMeasure the actions it willtake for you to achieve yourgoal. So if you plan to work inthe media as a radio presenteryou may want to set a goal ofattending 1 networking eventa month that will expose youto people in radio media.

A: Achievable: it is impor-tant that your goal is stretch-ing yet achievable. Ensure youdream big and importantlyknow what you need to do tofulfil your ultimate goal.

R: Realistic: be realisticabout your goal. So instead of

giving yourself 6 months to bea commercial radio presenter -aim to start on local radio asan intern once a month withthe aim of being commercialin 12-18 months.

T: Timely: when are specif-ic about the time limits youset your big and mini goalsyou create structure andprocess around your dream.This is vital if you want tochallenge yourself and growout of your comfort zone.

I am running an event onSeptember 17th in London.To register your interestemail: [email protected]. Keep up to date by‘liking’ the Think Spa Londonpage on Facebook and follow-ing us on Twitter. Lastly, ifyou feel coaching would bene-fit you or someone you knowdo get in touch with me.Good luck with your SMARTgoals!

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build

our youth for the future

- Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)

With the same ideology, Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar organ-

ised a youth conference on Saturday 6th August 2011 in LondonSam

college, next to the Guild Hall in the City. It was attended by almost

60 people between the age group of 15-25.

How to have SMART Goals

Supriyo Chaudhuri talking about“Mind the Future”


Cllr Sachin Rajput taking part in a workshop withyouth between 15-20 years

Interactive workshop with Pratik Dattani

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Youth interacting during lunch

opportunities. Divya Talwar, a jour-nalist with BBC spoke about her fail-ure to be a LSE graduate thatenabled her to become a Cambridgegraduate. Also her unbeatableenthusiasm to be a journalist, shun-ning a career in Pwc, that landed hera job in BBC. While the older crowd

joined Amit for their workshop inthe afternoon, the younger onesenjoyed encouragement and guid-ance through Aekta, Cllr SachinRajput, Divya and Pratik who con-ducted the second workshop.

The youngsters who attended theafternoon had indomitable spirit and

they were very keen participants inwhether it was a game or workshop.They asked very specific and per-taining questions and their excite-ment denoted the popularity of theevent and its praiseworthy success.The event concluded with a shortnetworking session.

Christmas has a wonderful effect oneveryone. Thinking of Santa Claus andhis sack full of goodies, the reindeerspulling his sledge across the sky andthe snow capped chimneys- all have amagical affect on the mind. It's the sea-son of kindness, love and generosity.

Snow changes the landscape every-where into a winter wonderland thatcan be enjoyed by everybody andSwitzerland at Christmas is a steptowards Santa's gift factory!Winter Rail Holidays

Many of the scenic rail journeysalso operate in winter and just bring anew dimension to the experience.Crossing the Alps on the GlacierExpress in winter brings a whole newmeaning to the word ‘snow’ with thevast masses of snow and ice every-where.

Mountain Excursions – especiallyin non ski areas such as Mount Pilatusor small areas as on Mount Rigi can beeven more fun with offerings of sledg-ing, winter hiking or soaking up thesun on a terrace with a hot cup ofchocolate. Zurich Christmas Market (24 Nov – 23 Dec)

Zurich - Switzerland's biggest city -offers a number of Christmas Markets.The largest being the indoor marketinside the railway station with 160wooden chalets and a 50ft highChristmas Tree. The oldest markettakes place in the winding streets of theOld Town while in the city centreanother market offers a more modernselection of goods and gifts. Not to bemissed is a visit to the SingingChristmas Tree on Werdmuehleplatzjust a few minutes’ walk from thefamous Bahnhofstrasse. Basel Christmas Market (24 Nov – 23 Dec)

In the heart of the city, in the Old

Town with its glittering Christmas dec-orations, is the attractive BaselChristmas market with a special atmos-phere all of its own. Be sure to visit theJohann Wanner House which is worldfamous for its range of Christmas deco-rations. Everything one could desirewish for in a Christmas festival just likein the good old days is to be found here. Bern Christmas Market (24 Nov – 23 Dec)

Little Christmas trees decorate thefacades of the houses, adding to theromantic mood. The Old Town houses,dating from the 15th to 17th centuries,provide a fantastic and unique back-drop for the distinctive Bern ChristmasMarket. Montreux Christmas Market (24 Nov – 23 Dec)

The Montreux Christmas Market isreputed to be the finest ChristmasMarket in all of Switzerland presentingover 130 richly-decorated woodenchalet-style stands, manned by crafts-men and shopkeepers who will be offer-ing a host of unique and originalChristmas gifts.Christmas Markets with a special set-ting

Einsiedeln in Central Switzerland isall aglow from 26th November to 4thDecember when market traders set uptheir Christmas stands on the town’s‘Klosterplatz’ square.

A fairy tale setting for a Christmasmarket is Stein am Rhein (near theRhine Falls) which is one of the mostbeautiful and best preserved medievalold towns in Switzerland and famousfor its magnificent murals.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Continued from page 13

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 20118 www.abplgroup.com

News in BriefChaos in the ClassroomSell your kidney for £28k

proposalPeople should be allowed to sell their kidneys for£28,000 to tackle a severe shortage of donors, a sen-ior research fellow at the University of Dundee hassuggested. Sue Rabbitt Roff says it is time to pilot“paid provision” of live kidneys in the UK, under“strict rules of access and equity”. In Birmingham,only 17% - amounting to 180,000 – have signed up tothe organ donor register, against 29% nationally.

Thieves steal church bellNowadays, not even places of worship are spared. InBirmingham, shameless thieves have stolen an his-toric church bell from St Gabriel’s in Weoley Castle.The bell was only discovered missing when wardenJohn Orchard tried to ring it for a Sunday service,only to find total silence. In some parts of the city,metal thefts are reaching epidemic proportions and itis believed that those responsible for stealing the bellwere keen to cash in on a substantial piece of scrapmetal.

Robber jailed A Birmingham robber who brokeinto a family home then forciblyremoved jewellery worth over£1,000 from one of the occupantshas been jailed for seven years.Kwame Giwa, 21, from KingsNorton, and his unknown accom-plice broke into the home in WeoleyCastle then assaulted the father andhis male friend. Kwame, pictured, was found guilty ofrobbery at Birmingham Crown Court last Friday.

New forum for divorceesA divorce help group is being launched inBirmingham. Divorce Recovery Workshops is a char-ity which aims to help partners through a break-up byguiding them through sessions. The launch comes as38% of first marriages and 70% of second unions endin divorce.

Membership withdrawnAn estate agent with three convictions for fraud hasbeen expelled from voluntary membership of TheProperty Ombudsman scheme. In January, AmerjitSingh Dhuga, the owner of wli.uk.com, was fined£3,120, with £3,417 costs, for 26 offences that includ-ed fraudulent use of the TPO and OFT logos on hiswebsite.

One in 11 cars ‘clocked’One in 11 vehicles checked in the Midlands werefound to have been “clocked”. HPI, which checks outvehicles for potential buyers, said the growing trendof car clocking was an increasing threat to used carbuyers. On average, winding back the mileage canadd between £100 and £400 to the value of the vehi-cle for every 1,000 miles which are taken off.

Lost parrot reunited A missing bilingualparrot, Mittu, hasbeen found. Mittu,who speaks Englishand Urdu, hasbecome part of thefamily since GhaffarAhmed, 36, and hiswife Shabana, 31,brought him to theirhome in Lye, Stourbridge, six months ago. Tearsturned to joy when the couple and their three youngdaughters were reunited with Mittu, pictured withGhaffar, four days after he had gone astray.

Firearm offender caged A "dangerous" man from Birmingham hasbeen jailed for seven-and-a-half yearsafter being found guilty of possessing afirearm with intent to endanger life.Rakesh Kumar, 23, pictured, of SouthRoad, Hockley, was sentenced last Friday- following his conviction at a hearing inJune - in connection with a shooting out-side his home last October. The victim,aged 18, has since recovered from his gunshot injuries.

Top cops suspendedThe Chief Constable of Cleveland and his deputy havebeen suspended from their posts after being arrested byMidland detectives investigating allegations of fraud andcorruption. Sean Price and his deputy Derek Bonnardwere arrested last Wednesday.

Teen killed in roadcollision

A Birmingham teenager killed in aroad accident outside his school hasbeen named as Rajinder Mahal. Hewas 16. Rajinder, pictured, theyoungest of six children, fromSmethwick, was involved in a colli-sion with a Suzuki motorbike outsideLordswood Boys School in HagleyRoad, Edgbaston, at 9.50pm lastMonday. He was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospitalwhere he later died. The 39-year-old biker was unin-jured but suffered shock. Bouquets of flowers havesince been left at the scene. One friend, Jack, wrote:“You have left this world way too early but you havegiven so many people memories of you which will lastforever.” Another card read: “I’ll miss your trainersbeing in my way as I come through the front door.”More than 300 people have joined a memorial groupon Facebook and paid tribute to Rajinder’s ‘kind andgenerous personality’. Witnesses to the accidentshould call West Midlands Police’s collision investiga-tion unit on 0345 113 5000.

Drug smugglers jailed A father and son fromBirmingham who smug-gled £7.5 million of hero-in hidden in chilli pow-der from Pakistan havebeen jailed. GulabMohammed, 51, and hisson Khalid, 29, fromSmall Heath, were snared by border officials whoinspected the suspicious spices at an industrial unit inShropshire. The pair were convicted of drug smug-gling following a five-day hearing at BirminghamCrown Court last Friday. Gulab, pictured left, wassentenced to 21 years imprisonment and Khalid, pic-tured right, to 19 years.

Measles cases riseMeasles cases in the West Midlands have more thandoubled in the past year, according to the HealthProtection Agency. It confirmed 30 youngsters caughtthe potentially deadly virus in the first six months of2011 – compared to 13 in the whole of last year.Nationally, there have been 654 victims of measlessince January, compared to 374 in 2010.

MP’s new book on phonescandal

Tom Watson, the West Midlands MPwho led the campaign to expose news-paper phone hacking, is to write abook setting out his side of the story.The Labour MP, pictured, for WestBromwich East has signed a deal withpublishers Penguin Press, to be pub-lished by the end of the year.

Cash as confetti oncelebrities

Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council spent nearly£100,000 hiring celebrities to attend its functions overthe past five years. Many were engaged as speakers,while others were used to promote the city at a host ofsporting and cultural occasions. Those booked includeDame Kelly Holmes, Britain’s Got Talent novelty actStavros Flatley and newsreaders Kate Silverton andMary Nightingale.

Careless driver avoids jailA driver who caused a crash which killed a grandmotherhas been given a 12-month community sentence with250 hours of unpaid work, and banned from driving fora year. Harminder Singh Rai, 23, from Exhall,Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to causing 63-year-oldYvonne Johnson’s death by careless driving.

According toGovernment data, 578schoolchildren wereexpelled and more than28,000 were suspendedfrom the region’s class-rooms for reasonsincluding physical orverbal abuse towardsteachers and fellowclassmates, bullying anddrink and drugs. Duringthe 2009-10 academicyear, a total of 28,815pupils – that’s 148 learn-ers a day - were suspend-ed or permanentlyexcluded at Midlandschools.The figures from the

Department forEducation come asSchools Minister NickGibb vowed to get toughon disruptive pupils witha series of measures toput head teachers andteachers back in controlof the classroom. They

include clearer guidanceand increased searchpowers for head teach-ers.In Birmingham, 201

children wereexpelled fromschool last year,including 102 forphysical or verbalabuse towardsteachers or fellowstudents, 64 for“persistent disrup-tive behaviour” and ninefor reasons relating todrugs and alcohol.Birmingham City

Council, Europe’s largestlocal authority, has nowpledged to work togetherwith teachers, schoolsupport staff and parentsto address this issue. Aspokesman said: “It isimportant that badbehaviour is not tolerat-ed. Sometimes a youngperson who has gone

Discipline, or rather the lack of it, in West Midlandschools has become a serious issue, it has emerged.

Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or [email protected] Katwa

Midland Voice

down a destructive path,perhaps by mixing withthe wrong peer group,needs a second chance toget back on track.” Hesaid exclusion was alwaysa “last resort” adding, “inBirmingham we seek to

give them thatsecond chanceand the supportneeded to makethe most of theireducation andhelp thembecome the goodcitizens of

tomorrow.”Sandwell had 64 per-

manent exclusions –including 14 for physicalor verbal abuse and 20 fordisruptive behaviour -and more than 2,300 stu-dents were hit with sus-pensions.Sandwell Council edu-

cation chief CouncillorBob Badham said reduc-

ing that number was a“top priority” for the bor-ough and that the numberof suspensions had fallenby more than two-thirdsbetween 2008-09 and2009-10.Schools in

Staffordshire recorded atotal of 113 permanentexclusions, compared to66 in Solihull, 57 inDudley and 51 inWorcester. Walsallexpelled 26 students,including five for physicalassaults against adults,and suspended a further2,565.

Has your child beensent home from school forbad behaviour? Also,every parent, peer wishestheir child to have gooddiscipline, but many failin their attempts toachieve this. Why? Emailme your experiences,thoughts, views.


A man who failed his driv-ing test five times got afriend to take it for him -who then failed in 'spec-tacular fashion'.

Dim-witted HadiMohammed, 28, andDerbas Hamed, 25, cheat-ed the test system andwere both jailed afteradmitting the fraud.

Gloucester CrownCourt heard that Hamed,a qualified driver, turnedup at the test centre in thecity pretending to beMohammed. But suspi-cions were immediatelyaroused when he arriveddriving his own car with-out 'L' plates and withoutanyone else in the vehicle.

He then took the test

in Mohammed's name andfailed 'in a spectacularfashion', making 16 driv-ing mistakes in theprocess.

Ex-Iraqi-police officerMohammed was jailed for

two months and father-of-two Hamed, who has aprevious conviction forfraud after he impersonat-ed someone else for a driv-ing theory test, was sent toprison for three months.

A doctor was accused ofsexually assaulting twopregnant patients duringintimate examinations andattempting to kiss a mid-wife on the breast onMonday.

P r i y a n t h aKandanearachchi, pic-tured, allegedly told onewoman in her 39th weekof pregnancy, ‘This isgoing to be the most pleas-urable experience of yourlife’, before conducting aninternal examination, adisciplinary panel heard.

The locum obstetricianlater allegedly squeezed asecond pregnant patient’sbottom while he tried toexamine her. He is thensaid to have ‘groped’ a

midwife by pulling her tohim and kissing her breastthrough her tunic.

An investigation later

suggested there mighthave been ‘cultural issues’over his behaviour, thehearing was told.

The doctor, who quali-fied from the University ofColombo in Sri Lanka in1994, was accused of sex-ual misconduct at aGeneral Medical Councilhearing in Manchester onMonday.

Dr Davies said thedoctor’s version of themidwife incident was thatshe had put her arm on hisshoulder and that his headhad accidentally brushedagainst her.

Dr Kandanearachchi,of Bridgend, denies mis-conduct. The hearing con-tinues.

Doctor accused of sexual assaultsof pregnant women

Friend in need is friend indeed

Derbas Hamed and Hadi Mohammed

A crackdown on illegalimmigration through thecollege system has leftwould-be legal studentsout of pocket and with-out a course

Hundreds of foreignstudents who had signedup in good faith to gov-e r n m e n t - a p p r o v e dBritish colleges havebeen left out of pocketafter inspectors forcedthe closure of their insti-tutions in a drive againstillegal immigration.

Students from out-side the EuropeanUnion typically payabout ￡4,000 a year forcourses at the colleges,but many now have little

chance of receivingeither the educationthey paid for or a refundof their fees.

Two years ago theHome Office introduceda licensing schemedesigned to end thescandal of bogus col-leges that were in effect“visa factories” for ille-gal immigrants.

Only reputable ones,it was claimed, would beable to continue trading.Abuses uncovered in thelatest inspectionsinclude overseas stu-dents failing to attendclasses and a teacher fal-sifying attendance regis-ters. Some students are

incapable of speakingEnglish, despite suppos-edly passing officiallyapproved tests. Many,instead of attendingcourses, melt into thegrey economy to work inbreach of their visas.

Maurice Dimmock,chief executive of theAccreditation Service forInternational Colleges,warned that the newdrive against private col-leges teaching non-EUstudents could lead tothe closure of about 400out of 900, leaving thou-sands of studentsstranded without cours-es and destroying legiti-mate businesses.

One of the leaders of aBritish Arctic expeditiontold last week how he shotthe polar bear that killed a17-year-old schoolboy.

The attack claimed thelife of Horatio Chapple, apupil at Eton, and leftthree other members ofthe 13-strong team badlyinjured.

Mr Reid sufferedsevere face, head and neckinjuries.His father, Peter,65, said his son was devas-tated by the death ofHoratio.

The group had beentaking part in a three-

week expedition toSpitsbergen, the largest ofthe islands of Svalbard,organised by the BritishSchools Exploring Society.

Before leaving theyunderwent a weekend oftraining to help them copewith Arctic conditions andthey were also taught howto protect themselves frompolar bears.

They arrived inNorway on July 25 andspent a week training aspart of a larger group of 80before being separatedinto groups of about adozen called "fires"

because it is supposedlythe optimum number ofpeople for gatheringaround a campfire.Maninder Kaur Dhallu,17, a sixth form pupil atKing Edward VI HighSchool for Girls inBirmingham, was alsoamong the group.

"She said she saweverything," said herfather, Rajinder Singh, 48,of Walsall, West Midlands."She didn't really want totalk about it. She said shewould tell us when shegets home. She is very dis-tressed."

Students hit hard as ‘visa factories’ shutArctic bear unnerves expedition students

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 201110

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Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seenso euphoric on Monday morning, as theyexpected a couple of Oscars. British Indians inthe UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township ofMumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almostthe entire Bollywood waited in expectation,glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebra-tions as one by one, their heroes, the actors ofthe British Indian film and the music maestro, AR Rahman bagged the top awards in the worldof entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won theOscar after having missed it almost five timesearlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on acleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directedby American director Megan Mylan, won theOscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar

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Many call centre employees in Indiatake on western names while interactingwith their callers, and many of our peoplehere voluntarily change their names fromsay Purshottam to Peter or Mahendra toMichael or Rahul to Rob to suit andaccommodate their English friends orcolleagues. This is ok as far as it is vol-untary but last month an incident wasreported in the media of a companywhich was found guilty of race discrimi-nation for forcing Indian-origin employ-ees to adopt English names. At work, mystaff or superiors wanted to call me byAnglicised names of Dennis or Den orDes or even Denise but I would alwaysinsist that my name was not difficult topronounce and that they must call me bymy proper Indian name. It so happenedthat eventually they loved my name somuch that they would not call me by anyother name than “Dinesh”.

This is fine but the crunch comeswhen I use the spell checker on the com-puter. It comes up with the alternativesof “Dines” or “Danish” for my first name.This is probably acceptable. It howeverbecomes embarrassing when it checksthe spelling of my surname and comes upwith “Sheath” by adding one extra letterof “a”. It does not take much imagina-tion to comprehend what it means. Myson’s name is Shital and when he was atschool, his class-mates would shorten itto Shit. He has given the name ‘Kian’(Irish origin) to his son and ‘Amaya’(Japanese and Spanish origin) to hisdaughter.

Dinesh ShethNewbury Park, Ilford

What’s in a Name?

After almost 65 years ofIndependence, people of India havereached to the level of thinking to fightpeacefully to achieve fairer free society.Anna Hazare therefore truly said that it israre opportunity for Government of Indiato change the history of India by approv-ing the Lokpal Bill. I am not only sur-prised but disappointed by the presentGovernment that they want to excludePrime Minster and judiciary and manymore officials and top people from thisbill. It is a shame to think and act in sucha way. It is therefore Anna Hazaredeserves our full support for fasting on16th August at Jantar Mantar , Delhi.

Delhi Police should use its commonsense and support this cause other wisewe will have the impression that thepolice in India don't want to improve thelives of ordinary people of India.

May I ask the Prime Minister of IndiaMan Mohan Singh why he does not wantto be included with in the jurisdiction ofLokpal Bill? Here in Britain Only Queenis above the Law.

Dharam Sahdev Ilford

Lokpall Bill

The Harrow Council for Justicestrongly believes that both the adminis-tration and opposition at the town hallsare equally important in serving people.But of course their respective effective-ness depends on their internal unity andtogetherness.

It is within this context that we areworried about what has now been widelyreported in Harrow, for example,‘Following the announcement councilleader, Councillor Bill Stephenson(Labour), said: “We very happy with howour candidate did and were united behindhim. The Tory candidate did win butthere is civil war going on in that party atthe moment.”

(http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/9168820.Deputy_leader_denies__civil_war__between_Tory_group_members/)’

We don’t know whether there is sucha ‘civil war’ or not but what we do findodd is that the leader of the oppositionConservative group on the HarrowCouncil is around but seems to have saidnothing publicly about the outcome ofthe very recent Stanmore by-electionwhich the Conservatives won. This alongwith the reports indicating how/ why twoConservative councillors recently left thegroup tends to suggest that there is nosmoke without a fire. Such a political cli-mate in Harrow is not helpful at all!

Dev MahadevaiahDeputy Chairman

Harrow Council for Justice

Civil war in Harrow

It has been reported that SoniaGandhi has undergone surgery in theUnited States for an undisclosed medicalcondition and she is out of intensive careunit and recovering well.

The UPA government under SoniaGandhi is promoting medical tourism forforeign patients from Middle East andWestern countries in preference to Indianpatients. The party is very quiet about thenature of the ailment and the place whereshe is getting medical treatment.It hasbeen reported in Delhi that parents of acancer parent child are forced live in thetoilet in Delhi Medical Institute due tolack of accommodation in the hospital.Indian government is spending lakhs ofrupees in foreign currency for Sonia’streatment as if it cannot be treated inIndia.

It is totally demoralising and frustrat-ing for ignoring Indian hospitals andIndian consultants in preference toWestern hospital and doctors. BeingItalian by birth , Sonia Gandhi prefers tobe treated by a Westerner and in aWestern country. She do not want to betreated by ‘natives’. Indian politicians aredegrading our medical system.

Sonia Gandhi constituted four mem-ber of the party namely Ahmed Patel, AKAntony, Janardhan Dwivedi and RahulGandhi to oversee the party’s functioningin her absence. In the name of pseudosecularism, Sonia Gandhi had made surethat Hindus are minority in the commit-tee. There is no mention of senior con-gress members like Pranab Mukerjee andChidambaram. It is high time for IndianHindus to fight for their rights.

Arun VaidyanathanVia Email

Sonia Gandhi and herdouble standards

If there's one sentiment that definesGeorge Osborne's article for theTelegraph , it’s that there is no need for usBrits to panic. The economic convulsionsof the past few days, contends theChancellor, serve to prove that the coali-tion was right to approach deficit reduc-tion as it has. "The alternative of morespending and yet more borrowing is nowfrankly ludicrous," he says, "and placesthose who advocate it on the outerfringes of the international debate."

He has a point. As I have said previ-ously in my letters to AV, there are rea-sons to believe that we'd be hurtlingtowards a credit downgrade and higherborrowing costs were it not for the factthat our debt-GDP ratio is set to declineby 2015. Based on Standard and Poor'sanalysis of America's debt, Osborne'snew fiscal rule, "to ensure that debt isfalling as a share of GDP by 2015-16", islooking even shrewder today than whenhe announced it in his first Budget. Theevent of of last keep once and for allkicked the Labour Party policyspend,spend and spend to get us our ofthis crises is no more credible, there is noplan B, we have to stick to plan A.

Ravi ShahHarrow

George Osborne is spot onGreece is going through an economic

crisis of Herculean magnitude but ourpoliticians are in slumber, unable orunwilling to tell us the cause or the realunderlying fault-line that has caused sucha precarious economic meltdown.

Greece is bankrupt for all practicalpurpose. It will never be able to repay theloan. The question of default is when andnot if. Yet EU, led by Germany andFrance is willing to lend more money to aeconomically crippled nation in order tosave their over exposed, badly regulatedbanks who have lent billions to Greece.Now with the emergence of Spain, Italyand even US as the near bankruptnations, in need of bailout, the globaleconomic meltdown is on the horizon.

It seems economic prudence, com-mon sense takes second place to politicalposturing and economic literacy, unbe-lievable inaptitude. The gloom ladenbeliefs that the world would plunge intoanother economic meltdown if Greece isallowed to go bankrupt is another reasonput forward to justify pouring money intothis bottomless pit.

It is a crazy notion to lend more, likepouring ouzo down an alcoholic’s throat,sitting on a dentist chair? People ofGreece know this.

Absenteeism is the highest in EU andevery government department have fan-tasia employment policy bordering fatal-ism, with at least 5% ghost workers. Doesany one here know that most Greekworkers can retire at the relatively youngage of 50 with 95% pension of the finalsalary? No wonder our workers are up inarms with the Government proposal toraise the retirement age to 66 and pen-sion based on average pay rather than thefinal salary.

Bhupendra M GandhiVia Email

Greece Tragedy for EUDilemma to support Indian or British

team vexing Sheth is unwarranted.Support must be to rugged competition,ethics of game and quality of sportsman-ship, Indian or British.

Supporting Indian team should becongenital and automatic to Indian, viateachings of 10,000 year old cultural her-itage ingrained in genes. Modern cricketshould not be compared with ancientteachings which are eternal andunchangeable.

Ancient noble culture of India alsoexhorts us to be ambivalent and supportBritish team as part of sharing thrills andspills - including cricket.

Equating support to UK with cricketis myopic. Where would such cricket fansplace those who have NO interest incricket? Would one doubt those who loveand support other sport?

Real support TODAY should be torescue Britain when it is teetering on thebrink of bankruptcy due to cataclysmicglobal economic meltdown similar to2007-2008.

Support can be rendered by leading alaw abiding life, contributing to economyof Britain, and promoting all round well-being of U.K.; by eliminating ogres likeanti national and anti social malpractices,decline in religiosity and marriage institu-tion which are corroding Britain.

We support Britain in all its altruisticendeavours. Cricket fever is tip of ice-berg.

Ramesh JhallaVia Email

Clash of Titans

The government should be in control,not looters, shooting them when neces-sary.

The army should have been broughtin as it was necessary. On Monday thepolice were standing by doing nothingletting the looters to loot. This wasencouraging even more looters to comeout after they saw on tv that police werenot doing anything. It was free for all.Getting things free by looting. Shootingone or two looters would not have beenout of place. Fear was the more effectiveweapon. So if the government had shot afew looters, they would have instilledfear in looters and they would havestopped.

Jamila MohamedVia Email

Shoot the looters

Recent humiliating defeat of Indiawas pathetic. Yuvraj has been badly treat-ed and Raina overrated, Dhoni continueddespite of poor performance and enjoyed200 crores sponsored money. Rohit hasbeen side lined. Kartik and Dinesh areignored. Now cricket is more of intellec-tual excercise than stamina.

The coach cannot be blamed, he hasno knowledge of local cricketers and canonly train the selected ones! India willsoon be at the bottom of table, failing touse talents like Dravid, Sachin andLakshman.

Dr K R N MoorthyHandworth

India's defeating team

YOUR VOICE


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If you are planning a trip toIndia, irrespective of the reasonof travel, you need to completean online application form, takea print out and submit it at thenearest India Visa ApplicationCenter in the United Kingdom.

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It is very important to keep in mind that the two pho-tographs that you do need to submit along with yourapplication must be of a specific size i.e. 50x50 and witha white background. The visa centers in London,Birmingham and Edinburgh do have photo booths thatwill be able to provide you with the right size and quality.

Please note that incorrect or incomplete applications,documentation or photographs may not allow us to pro-ceed with accepting your dossier at the visa center. A com-prehensive FAQ tab on the homepage of our website willprovide you with more information on your applicationrequirements. Where do I apply for a visa to India?There are 8 locations within the United Kingdom whereyou can submit your application for a visa to India. Theseare:India Visa Application Center 60-62 Wilton Road, Victoria, London, SW1V 1DE.India Visa Application Center 142-148 Goswell Road, London EC1V 7DU.India Visa Application Center 1-3, Canalside, Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex, UB4 0JN India Visa Application Center 20 - 21 Pemberton Street, Birmingham B18 6NYIndia Visa Application Center 66 Hanover Buildings Rose Street,Edinburgh EH2 2NNSubmission of Application for all the above centers: 0830- 1430 Hrs Collection of processed passports from all the above cen-ters: 1300 - 1630 Hrs Monday-FridayIndia Visa Application Center C/o. The India Centre, Sanquhar Street, Splott, Cardiff, CF24 2AA.Working hours are from 09.00hrs until 14.30hrs Mondayto FridayIndia Visa Application Center C/o. Mel Milaap Centre134 Berkeley Street, Glasgow, G3 7HY. Working hours are from 0930 - 1430 Hrs Monday-FridayIndia Visa Application Center C/o. Jain Community Centre669 Stockport Road, Longsight, Manchester, M12 4QE.Working hours are from 0930 – 1430 Hrs Monday-FridayWhat documents are required and the subsequent fees tobe charged?Complete information on the documents required and thesubsequent fees which will be charged can be found underthe section ‘All About Your Visa’ on the homepage of ourwebsite http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk. Under each categoryinformation is broken down into four tabs at the top of thepage titled: Visa Fees, Document Checklist, ApplicationForm, Photo Specifications and FAQ.

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“Men, it has been well said, think inherds; it will be seen that they gomad in herds, while they onlyrecover their senses slowly, and oneby one." So it is with the rioting andthe financial markets too this pastweek. The poorest and the richestin society.

Groupthink is a psychologicaloccurrence that occurs withingroups. Group members work as aherd without critical evaluation.These groups have high levels ofcohesiveness, are insulated, andare socially similar with an illusionof invulnerability creating excessiveoptimism and encouraging risk tak-ing and an unquestioned belief intheir morality causing them toignore the consequences of theiractions. There tends to be closed-mindedness which rationaliseswarnings and ignores them and adegree of self-censorship to avoiddeviation from the group.

You may think that psycho-bab-ble. You may think the British policeshould behave like the Indian policemight – do a lathi charge and cracksome skulls. Maybe a curfew, tear-gas. Whatever the short-term solu-tion – longer term the answer is not

as liberal as the lathi is conserva-tive.

The answer long term is notmore money into these areas – wedon’t have the money. The answerlong term is not stronger laws. Buthere is an answer. We Indians inBritain regularly proclaim howpeaceful, law abiding, wealth creat-ing we are. Well that is selfish self-boasting unless we take those val-ues and that community and dosomething into the hearts of othercommunities.

We have to permeate and pene-trate the unemployed dejectedcommunities – not as some soft lib-eral politically correct molly-cod-dling – but teaching in thoseschools volunteering to mix withgroups from the bottom of society.You stop groupthink when thosegroups are intermingled. More ofour Indian lawyers in London volun-teering their lunchtimes to be a ‘bigbrother’ and ‘big sister’ to those inthese communities.

Punishment – sure – but it’s notenough. Imagine these yobs whowere rioting were our children inour families – well they’d surely geta ‘kicking’ in most Indian families –

if not physically at least proverbial-ly. And if the family could not man-age that, then there would be anintervention from others.

Our police are overstretched,our councils don’t have the moneyto pay-off the hooligans. We need abig brother and big sister mentoringscheme of advice to all those ininner-cities. Mentoring and advisingthem to give them access, to helpthem, network with them. I’ll do it.Sign me up. I can manage 10mentees. I meet them, open doorsfor them, try to find jobs for them.Not because I am a do-gooder softy– far from it – I’ll give them a kick-ing if they’re criminals – butbecause it is my country too and Icannot sit back and proclaim howwonderful my Indian community isat getting A grades (two a penny)and going to Oxford and Cambridge(so what).

As my grandmother used to say,‘educated, but didn’t count’ and Ifear too many of us in Britain areeducated but don’t count.

Alpesh PatelFacebook: alpeshp1Blog: www.alpeshblog.com

The Madness of Crowds

Political SketchbookAlpesh Patel’s

A solicitor smuggleddrugs and phones intoPentonville jail in over-sized shoes, Blackfriarscrown court was told.

Ritesh Brahmbhatt,31, was allegedly caughtwith packages containingskunk cannabis, the ille-gal stimulantmephedrone, known as"meow meow", and elec-tronic scales inside hissize 12 wide-fitting shoes,

Lawyer accused of smuggling drugs into jail in oversized shoesjurors heard.The shoes were at least

three sizes too big for him.The court heard he wasplanning to pass the con-traband to inmate DavidSterling, 28, who waswearing a full Muslim robe

to conceal the items.Sterling and fellow

prisoner Desmond Brown,26, both of Bromley-by-Bow, Brown's girlfriendDanielle Porter, 24, ofBarking, and friend CalvinChance, of Leytonstone,

all deny two charges ofconspiracy to convey arti-cles including drugs,mobile phones and com-ponents into prison.Brahmbhatt, of Ilford, didnot appear before thecourt. The trial continues.

The director of one of theUK's main suppliers ofalcohol and tobacco to theconvenience store sectorhas been ordered to pay£4m in relation to allegedVAT fraud, as reported bythe Daily Telegraph.

Madhusudan Patel,the director of PaylessCash & Carry, was allegedof claiming close to £4min VAT on liquor purchas-es. Frances Coulson, ofsolicitors Moon Beever,who helped prosecute thecase, said: "The ruling is avindication for HMRC ofthe use of provisional liq-uidation and liquidatorsto tackle fraud."The case centred on

claims for VAT refunds onwhat the court decidedwere missing trades. Inevidence, Mr Patelclaimed the trades wereall legitimate and hadtaken place. However, thejudge found Mr Patel'sevidence to be "often veryunconvincing" and that hewas "not a reliable wit-ness". The court has putfreezing orders on MrPatel's assets whichincluded residential prop-erties.

Cash and Carryexecutive in

alleged £4m VATfraud


Scrutator’sAs a people, the Japanese are among the most diligent, effi-cient and technologically resourceful in the world. They are notgiven to wasting money or time on high-profile projects withpartners who fail to measure up to their exacting standards. Itwas therefore encouraging to note their praise for the per-formance of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in com-pleting Phase I of the this mass urban transport system ontime and on budget. Consider these facts: the contract wassigned in September 1996, with the work beginning in October1998. The projected timeline was 10 years, it was completedtwo years and seven months before the stipulated date.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), whichprovided 60 per cent of the financing, contracted theFoundation for Advanced Studies on InternationalDevelopment (FASID) to make a detailed study of the project'sconstruction; having done so, FASID assessed it with the fig-ure 3, the highest possible grade, compliment to the manage-ment and engineering skills of E. Sreedharan and his localteam.

Having achieved this benchmark, Japan has decided tomove up a gear in its involvement with India's industrial devel-opment. Under the new Comprehensive Economic PartnershipAgreement (CEPA), India-Japan trade is projected to reach $25billion by 2014, up from the present $12.6 billion. Following thefirst meeting of the CEPA in New Delhi, Japanese AmbassadorAkitaka Saiki said: “This arrangement will facilitate andenhance two-way trade and investment. Over the next decade,duties on 66 per cent of the products traded between the twocountries will be reduced to zero. Under the new arrangement, Indian professionals will be able to provide and contributetoward the further development of Japan's IT sector (TheHindu August 1).

Japan's role in the construction of the ambitious Mumbai-Delhi industrial corridor will be paramount. Watch this space.

Returning to India

With declining salaries and jobopportunities in the West, theflow of returning IT profession-als to India is gathering pace. ITand IT-enabled firms in Indiahired 28 per cent more non-resi-dent Indian professionals in thefirst quarter of the current fiscal.It is followed by pharma andhealthcare, up by 20 per cent,automobile and manufacturing,up 18 per cent, telecom, up percent, banking and financial serv-ices, up 10 per cent. The surveywas done by recruitment consul-tancy MyHiringClub.com.“The high economic growth

in India with many good oppor-tunities has has fuelled the NRI[Non-resident Indian] trek backto India. In addition to that,many USA companies are open-ing offices in India and hiringgreater numbers to target thegrowing Asian market, saidRajesh Kumar CEOMyHiringClub,com. He said the flow of NRIs

would increase as the the salarygaps in India continue to declinein comparison with those

abroad. “Increasing numbers of NRI

professionals are now returningbecause the advantages of doingso outweigh the disadvantages,”Mr Kumar opined (The Times ofIndia July 30).

Corrupt CM falls

The Economist (August 6)reports: “News of the sacking ofB.S. Yeddyurappa, ChiefMinister of Karnataka .....cameon July 31. The scandal was thathe had not gone earlier. MrYeddyupprappa, a power brokerin the Bharatiya Janata Party,was indicted on July 27th in adamning judicial report whichsaid he presided over the illegalpillage of minerals in his state,collecting corrupt payments ofat least 300 million rupees($7million). His connectionswith mining barons extended tomaking some of them state min-isters. “For years Karnataka's iron

ore has been plundered, much ofit going to China....shady firmsmade fortunes, not botheringwith royalties,permits or safety

standards. Some $3.6 billionwere lost in tax revenues.... saysthe report...... The miningstopped only after an order inApril by judges on India'sincreasingly active SupremeCourt...... Mr Yeddyurappaleaves the BJP..... red-faced. Ithas made a virtue of bashing theruling coalition, led by theCongress Party, over scams of itsown.”A case surely of the coal call-

ing the kettle black.

Growth platform

West Bengal appears to be find-ing its feet after being hobbledfor 34 years by the cronyism ofthe Communist Party-led LeftFront regime. Under the newChief Minister MamatraBanerjee's Trinamool Congressbrush, the state government isconstructing a platform of eco-nomic and educational expan-sion, social well-being andresponsive politics which isresponsible and disciplined.Global management consul-

tancy, technology delivery andoutsourcing firm Accenture iskeen to ramp up its presence inWest Bengal, according to StateIndustry Minister ParthaChatterjee. Speaking toreporters at the StateSecretariat, he said the firm hadbeen asked to submit a writtenproposal for expansion. “Theiroutfit here has some 400 people.The facility is located at UnitechInfospace at Rajarhat [the satel-lite township adjoiningKolkata]. They are looking tohave a headcount of 10,000-25,000 and would require100,000 square feet, the ministersaid.Accenture set up offices in

West Bengal in February.Minister Chatterjee has also

held meetings with members onIndia's National Association ofSoftware and ServicesCompanies (Nasscom). He saidthe West Bengal Governmentwould set up IT hubs in Tier-IItowns of Durgapur, Asansol,Siliguri and Haldia. The statewould also seek to increase theventure capital corpus to sup-port start-ups (small and medi-um IT enterprises).Having called on the services

of Sam Pitroda, India's telecom-municationsnsns czar, WestBengal has asked NarayanaMurthy, the founder mentor ofInfosys, to become chief mentorof the state's IT panel. MrMurthy has accepted the offerwith pleasure, saying that hewas looking forward to givinghis inputs to the panel.

Gorkhaland deal in hills

Chief Minister Banerjee hasstruck a deal with the GorkhaJanamukti Morcha (GJM) tobring peace to the troubled hillarea of the Darjeeling and Teraidistrict, which has long beenwracked by strikes and disrup-tions in search for a separateGorkhaland. That demand hasnot been conceded, but the GJMhas been given significantadministrative and politicalautonomy and promised sub-stantial financial aid from thestate budget and from centralgovernment grants.

Significantly, Union HomeMinister P. Chidambaran waspresent at the signing of theaccord (The Hindu, FrontlineJuly 30).

US retreats, Indiaarrives

Los Angeles Times reportersW.J.Benigan Ralph Vartabedian(July 22) write: “As NASAretreats from an ambitioushuman spaceflight programmefor the foreseeable future, for-eign countries are moving aheadwith their own multibillion-dol-lar plans to build space stations

and even take the long voyage toMars....... Their ambitions are adeclaration of their economicand technological arrival.”NDTV's Science

Correspondent Pallav Baglatakes up the story (July 31).“The Americans recently retiredone of their most successful,space shuttles, the Atlantis.Now, India is working towardsrealising its dream – to create areusable satellite launch vehicle.An engineering model, of whatscientists at the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO)call the reusable launch vehicle,is currently housed at a secretfacility in Kerala. Covered withspecial heat resistant tiles, it willsoon roar skywards.”A reusable launch system

contrasts with expendablelaunch systems, where eachlaunch vehicle is launched onceand then discarded. “We aredreaming about a fully reusablevehicle, there are several ele-ments we need to understand asof now we have a technologydemonstrator,” said D rK.Radhakrishnan, Chairman,ISRO.Initially, a reusable launch

vehicle will be tested like a rock-et and retrieved after falling intothe sea. Eventually, it will landon the ground like any aircraft.

New Air Chief takes over

Air Chief Marshal Norman AnilKumar Browne took charge ofthe Indian Air Force from retiredAir Chief Marshal PradeepVasant Naik on July 31. He is

India's 23rd air chief. The newAir Chief Marshal said that theIAF was on the cusp of a majortransformation into a “potentstrategic force.” With the IAFinducting state-of-the art equip-ment, the modernisation would“lead to a major upgrade of ourcombat potential. While changeis the hallmark of growth andprogress, the biggest challengefacing us is in the coming yearsis to manage this fast pacedchange effectively, withoutcompromising on high opera-tional standards,”he said.A fighter pilot with 3,100

flying hours, Allahabad-bornAir Chief Marshal Browne has

flown MiGs,Jaguars and SU-30s, a warplanehis son Omar istrained to fly. AirChief MarshalBrowne is deco-rated with theParam VishistSeva and Ati

Vishist Seva Medals, and alsothe Vayu Sena Medal.

Recognising the past

New Statesman's India issue(July 18), like the curate's egg,was good in parts. One of itsbetter passages reminded usthat not all of India's rise can beascribed to liberal free marketeconomics. To ignore the roleplayed by the country's statistpast would traduce history. JonBernstein's draws attention tothe centres of technologicalexcellence such as the IndianInstitutes of Technology (IITs),which were set up in the 1950son Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru's watch. In the words ofthe oft quoted New York Timesguru Thomas Friedman, theybred “a phenomenal knowledgemeritocracy, a factory churningout and exporting some of themost gifted engineering, com-puter science and software tal-ent on the globe.” And BillGates, the founder ofMicrosoft, said, “It’s hard tothink of anything like IIT any-where in the world. It is a veryunique institution.”One in every five start-ups

in Silicon Valley, California, hasbeen founded by IIT graduates.Mr Bernstein again: “Back

home, Indian firms are movingto more knowledge-intensivespecialisms, such as consultingand systems integration and, ina quirk of globalisation, are set-ting up their own outsourcingdivisions in China and else-where.”

Sonia Gandhi's surgery

Congress Party President SoniaGandhi underwent successfulsurgery for cancer at NewYork's Sloan-Kettering CancerCenter, a world famous institu-tion for cancer care andresearch. The operation wascarried out by Andhra-bornoncologist Dr DattatreyeyuduNori. Ms Gandhi was accompa-nied by her son Rahul, who,along with Ahmed Patel,A.k.Antony and JanardhanDwivedi, will oversee partyaffairs in her absence. She isexpected back in India in amonth.

Air Chief Marshal Norman AnilKumar Browne

An engineering model of a space shuttle made byscientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation

L to R: Japanese Ambassador Akitaka Saiki with India’s CommerceSecretary Rahul Khullar

MEDIA WATCH


Be a Fashionista, Be You! If you have any questions or a story or a new style

to share with us, please write to Shree at [email protected]

Big news, makeupmavens: Our vintagefriend the lipstick isstrutting her way back toour kissers in a bevy ofcreamy nudes and corals.And red! Like many ofmy generation, I was a lipgloss addict for years,mainly because I viewedlipstick as a dramatic,mature item of make-up.Looking at lipsticks was,however a completely dif-ferent matter. I meanwho hasn’t stopped at theDior counter on way tobuy moisturiser and beentransfixed by the jewelslined next to each other,shining in all their rain-bow-hued glory? Then,one bored Saturday Ipicked up a scarlet bulletof brilliance and tenta-tively slicked it on. It wasthe legendary RussianRed of Mac and I was aconvert.Since then, I have

bought an array of lip-stick hues ranging fromthe classic to the kooky.And this is what I havelearnt: it’s awfully diffi-cult to find a shade thatsuits me. And when I do,it gets discontinued.Nevertheless, my love forlipstick rages on and mymakeup bag (a big boxactually) overflows withlipsticks I have neverworn! Hey, everyone'sgot them. Hidden awayin bathroom cupboardsacross the country arelipsticks that seemed tobe just what we werelooking for – the every-day nude, a great red, avibrant summery pink –and they were, for a dayor a week until wenoticed they weren't

exactly right, that theydidn't really suit us. Isthere a way to avoid mak-ing expensive mistakeswith lipsticks?Here’s my two pence!

With so many productsavailable and perfectimages of goddess-likewomen staring at us fromevery magazine cover,telly advert and billboard,it can seem impossible toknow what will work andwhat will be a waste ofenthusiasm. Luckily, itdoes not take magic tochoose the right lipstickcolours. All you need todo is figure out what skintone you have and thenuse the hues that flatterit.

The perfect nude lip-stick isn’t only a greateveryday shade, it’s anabsolute necessity withthe smoky eyes that somany of us are so fond of.If you have pale skin likeKalki Koechlin, tryChanel Rouge lipstick inBeige Felin. If you havemedium skin like FriedaPinto, try YSL RougeVolupté lipstick in NudeBeige. Or if you are adarker skin tone likeKajol, try L'Oréal ParisInfallible in Barely Nude.Red lipstick is the

stiletto heel of make-up.In other words, it'sinstant of glamour in a

tube. It’s also a polarisingfactor...either you lovecrimson or you can’t evenconsider it. Think youcan’t pull off a red lip?You can! The trick is todetermine the undertoneof your skin and pick ashade accordingly. If youhave cool skin tone i.eyou are on the paler sideand your veins appearblue, go for a blue basedred like Mac Ruby-Woo.If your skin has a goldenundertone, your veinsappear green and yourhair and eyes are dark, gofor a orangey yellowbased red like the NarsJungle Red.What girl doesn’t feel

pretty in pink? Whilemany may balk at theidea of pink lipstick, thetrue girly girl will neverbe able to resist a hint ofpink. The bold-facednames of beauty industryhave been pushing pink,matte or shiny, light ordark, back on track tobeing the next lip look dujour. But there is one thatI have worn for years andrecommended a hundredtimes.. LancomeL'Absolu Rouge in Voilede Rose. This shade ismellow and not too pris-sy and versatile enoughso can be worn all yearround, not just in thesummer months. So, next time you are

in a huff wiping off theextra sooty eye-shadowfrom under your eye andthe taxi is downstairs,remember, lipstick is themost powerful item ofmake-up a woman canown; nothing changesyour face in an instantlike colour on your pout.

Lipstick Jungle

fashionistaby ShreefashionistaThere was, once upon a time, a King.

Now, you would think that being theKing, he had nothing to worry aboutand lived his life in perfect happinessbut you would be wrong. Even thoughthe King had all the riches he could pos-sibly imagine and loyal subjects, helived with a great sadness. His onlychild was blind.

'I would give anything to make mylittle princess see again,'came an announcementfrom the King one day.

The subjects of thekingdom were overjoyed.They had forever beenunhappy that theirprincess was blind andnow finally they had achance to do somethingabout it.

So they tried. Day afterday a long queue of peopleformed outside the palace,all wanting to try their luckat restoring the princesssight. But no matter howmany potions the princess drank, sheremained sightless as ever.

'Is their no one in this huge kingdomof mine, that can give my daughter hersight back?' wailed the King.

'There might be one possibility yourmajesty,' said the Grand Vizier one day.

'Pray speak, O Grand Vizier,' saidthe King.

'There is this boy I hear, who lives inthe neighbouring kingdom,' said theGrand Vizier, bowing down so low thathis nose touched the ground. 'He is saidto have magical powers.'

'Bring me this boy at once!' com-manded the King.

The boy was summoned to thePalace.

'What can I do for you, yourmajesty?' said the boy.

'Boy, I shall give you your weight ingold if you use your magical powers torestore the sight of the princess,' saidthe King.

'I shall certainly try your majesty.But should I be successful, I ask not foryour gold, but for your kingdom,' saidthe boy with a small bow.

The King gasped. The Grand Vizierand all the courtiers gasped. How darethis boy show such impudence?

The King regarded the boy thought-fully, then with a wave of his hand said,'You shall have what you ask. Nothing is

more important to methan the princess. But ifyou fail, I shall have yourhead.'

The boy was led intothe princess' chambers.He gazed upon the beau-tiful girl as she lay fastasleep. He closed hiseyes and murmured anincantation. In an instant,the sleeping girl awokeand looked at her father.

'Father, Father, I cansee!' she said.

The King shouted forjoy and ran to hug his

daughter.The boy stood in one corner,

smiling to himself.'Who is it Father, that has restored

my eyesight?' asked the princess whenshe had hugged and kissed her fatherfor all she was worth.

'It is I, O princess,' said the boy,stepping forward. As he did so, thePrincess' mouth fell open in horror. Theboy's eye sockets were empty. He hadtransferred his own gaze to theprincess.

'My boy, you are the kindest soul Ihave ever met,' said the King, withtears in his eyes. 'Will you marry mydaughter and rule my kingdom with thesame kindness you have shown her?'

'Yes, your majesty,' said the boywith a smile. And as you might alreadyhave guessed, the blind boy wascrowned King and together with hisQueen, he ruled the vast kingdom andthey lived happily ever after.

The Blind Princess

Short Story by Neha Garg

For more stories visit www.scribbledesk.com

Disclaimer: This puzzle is created solely by Radha abw with the help of a pen and paper, understanding thebasics of the subject at hand, and any resemblance to a similar puzzle is purely unintended and coincidental.

This is a 9x9 grid,3x3 (boxes)Sudoku puzzle.Make sure thateach and everyrow, column andregion/box con-tains the number 1to 9 once.

Clue: Start withthe boxes withjust one missingnumber!

Sudoku

Radha Abw

The market takes placethroughout December andcan easily be combinedwith a visit to the RhineFalls.Mountains of snowy funSki resorts can some-

times be intimidating forthe non skier, besidesbeing usually higherpriced – so why not headfor some non ski moun-tains. Just a day tripmight be enough for thenovice to become addictedto the cold powdery snow.Our favourites areLucerne’s local mountainsMount Pilatus and Mount

Rigi which can easily becombined with a visit tothe Christmas market inLucerne. With the rightSwiss Travel System tick-ets it does not cost aforunte and childrenunder 16 years will travelfor free. On the way up ordown Mount Pilatus stopat the ‘Snow & Fun’ Parkat Fräkmüneteg, hire asledge, a minibob, an air-board or even a snowbikeand try out your skills onthe prepared slopes. Carnival (February 2012)Carnival or ‘Fasnacht’

in Switzerland may not bequite the spectacle that itis in Rio, but anybody whothinks the Swiss are con-servative is in for a sur-prise. During the carnivalseason the Swiss let theirhair down and enjoy life tothe full. People in colour-ful masks and costumesparade through the streetplaying musical instru-ments and the whole placeis in party mood for up tosix days. Switzerland’sbiggest and best-knowncarnivals are held in Baseland Lucerne.

Continued on page 7 Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Asian BusinessPublications Ltd will cele-brate its 11th year of theAsian Achievers Awardsat the Wembley Stadium,London on 16thSeptember, 2011.The renowned awards

is recognised by the AsianCommunity for beingcredible and distinctive.The remarkable contribu-tions and attainment byindividuals with respect toeconomic, social and cul-tural development across

the Asian community inthe UK will be honouredon this prestigious occa-sion.Not everyone can win

a award, but by simplyjoining in the celebrationsyou will be one of the emi-nent guests who will gath-er to endorse our commit-ment to raising standardsand building a better soci-ety.

Know anybody worthyof a nomination? See ourform on page 25.

AAA is here again

Asian Voice wishesall its Indian and

Pakistani readers aHappy

Independence Day.

Mentoring schemeA new business mentoring programme has beenlaunched for creative industries, designed to supportcompanies to make the leap for business in India andother emerging markets. Business mentoring is a fullyfunded programme offering a range of support for cre-ative companies that are located in the Greater Londonarea with a commitment to doing business in emergingmarkets. Mentoring Programme begins 12th September.For more information contact: [email protected]

14 Asian Voice Saturday 13th August 2011

Sakshi Shivanand is notnew to the industry. Theactor starred in quite a fewKannada films and some ofthem were commercialsuccesses. Then she quiet-ly retreated from the sceneand stayed away for fouryears. The buzz at thattime was that the actor hadbid adieu to acting and hadchosen domestic bliss aftertying the knot. "But that is

far from the truth," says theactor, who's now back witha film opposite Crazy StarRavichandran. "I'm in arelationship, but definitelynot married. My absencefrom the big screen can beattributed to the fact that Iwas away in the US foracademic reasons. I'd beenpursuing a course in proj-ect management," sheexplains.

Dhanush has recentlyannounced that his wife,superstar Rajinikanth’selder daughter Aishwarya,will soon make her directo-rial debut. Being a greatmovie buff, Aishwarya usu-ally accompanies Dhanushfor all his shootings andhas also assisted a fewdirectors, includingDhanush’s brotherSelvaraghavan in hisKarthi starrer Aayirathil

Oruvan.For the past few

months, she has been busypreparing the script. Theproject will reportedly beannounced afterRajinikanth’s completerecovery. In her maidenfilm, Dhanush will be thehero and Shruti Haasanwas announced as thefemale lead. But due to dateproblems Shruti has backedout from the project now.

Sakshi Shivanand back in films

Prabhu Deva to marryNayantara in Mumbai

Shruti Haasan opts outof Aishwarya’s film The largest TRP gainer quiz show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (KBC)

on Sony TV is set to dominate the television landscape onceagain and the good news is that even this time AmitabhBachchan has agreed to host it He has put pen to paper andcommitted his involvement further. Commenting on this,Bachchan said, “Sony and I have signed on for KBC for the next 2seasons, KBC conceptually was brilliant. There was drama,learning, suspense and thrills all rolled into one. Its presentation was

something that had been pioneering for Indian television. All these factors work”.In KBC 5 Bachchan will be donning an entire new look. Giving his style a

unique twist will be the acclaimed Indiandesigner Rohit Bal.

Based on the most popular global television showin history ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’, KBC followsthe same concept of giving individuals the chance to wina life changing cash prize. A major unique and innovativeelement added to the new 5th season will allow the

contestants to set their own safe haven anywhere in themoney tree, adding to the immense suspense alreadysynonymous with the show.Commenting on the launch of the new series, Neeraj Arora,Executive Vice-President Head of International Business,said, “KBC holds a prominent position in Indian television.There could be no better host than Mr Bachchan who is notonly a global movie star, but also an icon to billions of fansaround the world.” The new season of Kaun BanegaCrorepati begins on India’s Independence Day, Monday15th August 2011, at 8:30 pm.

Neha Dhupia finds a new man

Genelia onlyfor Riteish

Abhishek Bachchan

becomes lecturer

Taking his 'sirji' avatar seriously, AbhishekBachchan took to teaching at Anupam Kher'sActor Prepares recently. The series started bythe institute, titled an Actor Prepares: behind

the success,began with along discussionwith the actor,who was trainedin acting byAnupam Kherhimself. As aguest lecturerthe juniorB a c h c h a nimparted hisk n o w l e d g eabout acting andfilmmaking tomany Bollywoodaspirants in theinstitution.

Bollywood actress NehaDhupia has found a new manfor company. Though she hasbeen extremely guarded aboutthe new man in her life -Venezuelan James Sylvester-she does not mind steppingout with him at events andbeing photographed by theshutterbugs. She has refusedto give details about him. Themystery man, who has beensnapped with the actress, hasbeen referred to as Jimmy, aVenezuelan. But his realname is James Sylvester,Jimmy being his nickname.After much coaxing, Nehaonly admits, "Yes, I am ingood company. I have neverbeen comfortable talkingabout my personal life, that'swhy I prefer a no commentsstance."

Genelia D'Souza has become extremely choosy abouther future films. If it is with her beau RiteishDeshmukh it is okay. They both worked together in“Tujhe Meri Kasam” in 2003 & “Masti” in 2004. Sincethen they have not worked together in any film. NowGenelia has signed two films with Riteish Deshmukh- Indra Kumar's “Masti 2” and another untitled roman-tic comedy, to be directed by newbie Mandeep Kumar.According to grapevine they are going to tie the knotsometime next year.

Says a source, "Doing more films with Riteishmakes sense. Her conservative in-laws are happy tolet her continue work post-marriage as long as she ispaired with Riteish."

Her spokesperson shoots down the speculationthough, saying, "Genelia is doing four films inBollywood and the south with different actors, includ-ing Rana Daggu-bati and Abhay Deol. She is readingscripts and choosing the ones she likes. There is nomarriage happening anytime soon."

Riteish's older brother Amit married TV actressAditi Pratap in 2008, and she stopped working follow-ing that. In Genelia's case, the family has decided tomake a concession if she works with her would behusband. Maybe Riteish and Genelia will become apower couple like Abhi-Ash, Saifeena etc.

Though originally sched-uled to take place inHyderabad, as per the lat-est indication, the mar-riage of Prabhu Deva andNayantara will be solem-nized at Mumbai. It is saidthat Prabhu Deva andNayantara wants to avoidunnecessary media atten-tion and have decided tomarry at Mumbai sincethey are very popular fig-

ures in Hyderabad andChennai. In the meantime, Nayantara is anx-iously waiting for therelease of Telugu film 'SriRama Rajyam', which isslated for 15th August. Asfor Prabhu Deva, he iscurrently engaged in theshoots of 'Rowdy Rathore',a remake of superhit'Vikramarkudu' in Hindiand a Tamil film 'Vedi'.

Amitabh all set to hostKBC 5 in new style

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 15BoLLyWood

While the 'good news' isalready out that Lara Dutta isexpecting her first baby withhubby Mahesh Bhupathi,numerologist predict it couldbe a baby boy. While Lara isrunning in her 34th year,Mahesh is in his 38th. The year2011 which is adding up toNumber 4 (Rahu) has beenproving primarily lucky forNumbers 1, 2, 4 and 7 peopleand Lara-Mahesh fit the bill

perfectly. Hence Lara will have a safe delivery and it willbe a healthy boy, says numerologist. The baby is due byend of January 2012.

Actress Katrina Kaif agreed todo an item number for“Bodyguard” reportedly at theinsistence of Salman Khan'sbrother-in-law Atul Agnihotriand sister Alvira. The itemsong Aaya Re AayaBodyguard.... features Katrina,Salman Khan and the actor'sreal life bodyguard. The num-ber recently shot at Film Citywill be the title montage in themovie. The song featuresKatrina as the glamorous gal being wooed by Salmanwhile her bodyguard keeps him at bay. The shoot was sen-sational and very high on energy. “Bodyguard” is a roman-tic action film starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

The ground below SanjayDutt and Arshad Warsi's feetmay have just shaken! Newsis that the originalMunnabhai-Circuit jodi isbeing replaced, and AamirKhan and Sharman Joshi arebeing considered to fill theirshoes! If sources are to bebelieved, it's whilst theshooting of '3 Idiots' thatRajkumar Hirani and VidhuVinod Chopra considered the

option of casting Aamir Khan and Sharman Joshi asMunnabhai and Circuit. The makers, apparently,thought that it would bring about a fresh change to theimage and the franchise. Aamir was excited about theidea and was game if the script was good enough.

Hema Malini is known forher social work and recentlyshe got an opportunity to givedonation to a charitableorganisation through a quizshow. The actress recentlyparticipated in Bhojpuri KaunBaega Crorepati hosted byone of her best friends and excolleague Shatrughan Sinha.The actress won big amountwhich she donated to a chari-table organisation. It isbelieved that the actress enjoyed chatting with friendShatrughan Sinha on the sets of KBC.

Why Katrina Kaif agreed tobecome item girl?

aamir tipped to replace Sanjay duttin Munnabhai series

hema Malini donates KBC prize money

He is an actor, painter andnow a music composer.Salman Khan has turnedmusic director for his broth-er-in-law Atul Agnihotri'sfilm “Bodyguard.” HimeshReshammiya, the music com-poser for the film made wayfor the hero to add his tunesto the last song. The rainsong, picturised on Khan andKareena will play during theend credits of the film. A

source close to the film revealed, "Salman decided tocompose music for the song Teri Meri Prem Kahaani atthe spur of the moment.”

Salman Khan turns music director

Is it a baby boy for Lara?

Mahie feels awkward doing intimate scenes Priyanka Chopratouching the right chords

Hrithik Roshan and Karan Johar are teaming up again after 10years. Hrithik who played the fat boy in Karan Johar's “KabhieKhushi Kabhie Gham” will be in Karan Johar’s new film“Agneepath.”

The film is still being shot, and the two friends have alreadydecided to join hands for their third project. The film, a thriller, willtake off as soon as Hrithik finishes shooting for his father RakeshRoshan's “Krissh” sequel.

In fact, Karan Johar's Dharma Productions has already appoint-ed a group of special writers to start work on the subject.

This will be the first time Dharma will be producing a film on thegenre. Apart from Kaal, the John Abraham and Vivek Oberoi star-rer, Dharma Productions has never venture into the realm ofthrillers.

A source revealed, "The Hrithik Roshan starrer thriller will bedirected either by Agneepath director Karan Malhotra, or it will besomeone entirely fresh. KJo's usual favourites, Punit Malhotra,Ayaan Mukerji or Rensil D'Silva will not be directing the project."

According to another source, "Hrithik, Malhotra and Johar sharea very warm relationship. They got along very well throughout themaking of Agneepath. While doing the film, they came up with anidea which soon translated into something that could be put on cel-luloid."

Said a source, "History has it that more complex the role, thebetter Hrithik gets. Agneepath is definitely not an easy role to play,but Hrithik has done full justice to it. Naturally, Karan Johar is alsovery happy with Hrithik's performance."

Karan Johar, Hrithikteam up again

I feel like coming back:

MadhurI dIxItMadhuri Dixit was at the peak of her career when she marriedShriram Nene and decided to leave Bollywood to head to Denver, US.That was in 1999. Now, over a decade later, the actor has increasedthe frequency of her trips to Mumbai; some for work, some for herfamily. Ask if she plans to return ‘home’ and she smiles, “Mumbaiwas always home. Of course, that’s (Denver) home too. But some-times, I feel maybe I should come back…”

The actor won various honours for her films in the ’80s and ’90s,insists she never planned any of this. “Leaving Bollywood wasn’tplanned. One thing I was clear about - the moment I met the rightperson in my life, I wouldn’t hesitate,” says the actor, insisting thateven when she was in India, she was never affected by stardom. “Ihad a simple life at home and was never part of the scene. So it was-n’t tough leaving my career behind, because everybody has dreamsand a big part of mine was to have a family - a husband and children.”

Madhuri is a doting mother to Arin (8) and Raayan (6). And liv-ing in Denver gives the 44-year-old actor time for her kids. “I get myprivacy there, I can do all the normal things that everybody does,which I could never do in Mumbai. That gives me a sense of free-dom,” she says. Even though her children haven’t seen all her work,they do question her about why she’s still called ‘Dixit’ in India.“They ask me, ‘why do they call you Madhuri Dixit, you’re Neneright?’” she laughs, adding, “They have seen Devdas (2002), a bit ofGaja Gamini (2000) and Aaja Nachle (2007).”

The actor, who was recently presented the Bollywood Beauty LegendAward at the Vogue Beauty Awards, is also on the cover of VogueMagazine this month. “This is the love of the people and it always feelsgreat to be recognised,” says the actor, who is currently in talks with themakers of Dedh Ishqiya, the sequel to the Abhishek Chaubey filmIshqiya (2010). She will also be mentoring chefs on a culinary TV show.

Mahie Gill who has done intimatescenes in her debut movie 'Dev

D' and also in her forthcoming'Not A Love Story' but finds

them difficult and awkward. 'Ifeel awkward doing these

scenes and it's not very easybecause the entire crew isthere. But I feel that it'slike any other emotionand one has to depict it.The kind of cinema I am

doing is realistic andso this is also a part ofit,' Mahie said. Askedwhat goes on in hermind while doingintimate scenes,she said: 'The onlything in your mindis that you have todeliver your best. Itshouldn't look arti-ficial at all.'

Priyanka is coming withan album that will con-tain about 10 pop songs.The album will bereleased worldwide,sometime next year. Atrained Western classicalsinger, Priyanka is cur-rently in the studio, writ-ing and recording herdebut pop album, inEnglish. She said, "Iwanted the album to bein English as it wouldhave a worldwide appeal.However, that does nottake away my Indianroots. My music will stillreflect Indian culture.Besides, let's not forgetthat music is universal,it has no language."

AV: UK now has many Basmati ricebrands, how do you differentiate your-self from them?

As Tilda devotees know, not all riceis the same. What makes Tilda differ-ent from other rice brands is that TildaPure Basmati is exactly that: 100%Pure Basmati. It is Pure Basmati thatgives the unique aroma and long whitefluffy grains.Tilda is the brand that takes scrupu-

lous care to remove broken grains,which release starch and cause rice tostick when cooked. It is this dedicationto quality that sets Tilda apart fromother brands.

Tilda has also launched innovativeSeal ‘n’ Store bags to ensure its riceretains the freshness, aroma andflavour, which its customers have cometo know and love. The iconic water-proof Tilda blue bags have also enabledTilda to reduce its packaging destinedfor landfill by nearly half.

AV: People say Tilda rice, though ofexcellent quality is more expensivethan others. Have you found it as ahindrance?

Tilda’s passion for Pure Basmatiknows no bounds. Due to the rigorousprocess used to remove broken grains,

Tilda can guarantee a quality that noother rice can offer – quality that loyalcustomers consider to be worth payinga little extra for. Only Tilda Pure Basmati produces

light, fluffy, perfectly separated, restau-rant-quality rice – which is why topchefs always have it in their kitchens.Families have also been cooking withTilda for 40 years and it continues to bethe UK’s number one Basmati brand– atrue testament to the brand’s populari-ty amongst all generations of cus-tomers.Tilda Pure Basmati dry rices are

known for their superior flavour, aromaand delicate texture when cooked.With each variety tested for purity, therange includes Pure Basmati andWholegrain Basmati (also known asBrown Basmati)- which still has thebran layer of each rice kernal intact,giving its distinctive nutty flavour andhighly nutritious fibre content. Tilda also recog-

nises that the onlyway to ensure asustainable futurefor Basmati is toensure that farmersreceive enoughsupport and ulti-mately a good price

for their rice. If farmers don’t get a fairprice, they may switch to other types ofrice or different crops altogether.We at Tilda thus believe that Tilda

offers outstanding overall value for itsprice. Our loyal consumers have neverfound price as a hindrance to purchase.

AV: Tilda has many ready-made ricepackets - how do you come across theideas?

We interact with our consumersacross communities all the time tounderstand their needs and come upwith ideas that help them in their lives.Tilda has home cooking sewn up.

Whilst the Pure Basmati is easy to pre-pare and a versatile cooking ingredient,busy lifestyles mean some people prefera quick meal solution. Tilda has adiverse range of Steamed rice recipesthat can be cooked in the microwave in2 minutes and a new Stir Fry rice

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 1716 Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011

The Success Story: Tilda celebrates its 40th AnniversaryTilda is the brand name used since 1970 for a rice and related food

products company now headquartered in Rainham, England and with

offices in Dubai, (UAE) and Delhi (India).

Its basmati rice is the top-selling rice in the United Kingdom. Since

1994, they have operated Tilda Foodservice, providing professional

kitchens with a variety of uncooked dry and frozen rice products.

Basmati – with its distinctive nutty aroma, delicate flavour and ele-

gant long grain – is affectionately known as the Prince of Rice and

Tilda (which was the first to bring Basmati to the UK 40 years ago)

is Britain’s number one Basmati. On its 40th anniversary the Head

of Marketing at Tilda, Mr Vijay Vaidyanathan, reveals its success

story at an interview with Asian Voice.

range. With delicious flavours in theTilda Steamed range includingWholegrain Pilau, Sweet Chilli &Lime, Butternut Squash and CoconutChilli and Lemongrass. Perfect on theirown or as part of a meal, each pouchcontains the finest and most natural ofingredients, with no artificial flavours,colours or preservatives.The Pure Basmati grain absorbs

flavours more readily than other rice,making it a brilliantly adaptable ingre-dient that can work in hot or colddishes. Tilda has a team dedicated to

trying out new varieties that canwork with a range of cuisinesfrom Indian and Thai to Mexicanand Italian.

AV: Tell us more about Tilda -how it started and what inspiredyou to start a rice in a non riceeating country?

The story of Tilda is one ofunbroken success. A family busi-ness that has grown to an inter-national food brand selling inover 40 countries, Tilda was thefirst company to bring Basmati tothe Western World around 40years ago.The company started its busi-

ness selling Basmati to the Asiancommunity who immigrated tothe UK in the late 60s and early70s. To this day Tilda is by far thefavourite Basmati brand withinthe discerning rice-eating com-munity and, as Indian and Asiancuisines have grown in populari-ty, is now used by families all overthe UK.Over the years Tilda’s quality

has helped it reach out to not justTraditional rice eating communi-ties, but also to the wider main-stream audience in the UK.

AV: Where do you get your rice from?

For many years Tilda has workedhand-in-hand with the Basmati farm-ing community in the foothills of theHimalayas and is committed to pre-serving the authenticity of the grain.Tilda supports 10,000 farmers in India– all of whom it knows by name - byproviding Pure Basmati seed at noprofit, giving free advice on farming

techniques and ensuring that itsfarmers always receive a fair pricefor the crop. Each and every batchof Basmati is then DNA tested byTilda and aged for at least ninemonths before it is sold.

AV: Are you thinking of bringingout new recipes or diverting intoany other items besides rice - likemasala etc?

The Tilda collection of PureBasmati rices comes in two for-mats: classic dry or steamed(which takes just two minutes tocook in a microwave). Tilda isconstantly listening to consumersto cater for changing tastes, suchas the newest additions to theTilda Steamed Basmati range:Lemon and Coconut. We have alsolaunched a Tilda Stir Fry range ofOriental rice products.There are no immediate plans

to launch Masalas, but one cannotpredict the future – so watch thespace really!

AV: What is the USP for Tilda?

Easy to prepare, Tilda Basmatiis a versatile ingredient that workswell in a wide range of nutritiousrecipes. Thanks to Tilda’s passion

and the efforts it makes to remove bro-ken grains (which would release starchand cause rice to form stodgy clumpswhen cooked), Tilda Pure Basmati pro-duces light, fluffy, perfectly separated,rice and is the only 100% Pure BasmatiRice. Basmati with its low GI is a healthy

carbohydrate. Our Brown Basmati,with its bran layer intact, is high infibre.

On the basis of the above one couldsay that Tilda stands for uncompromis-ing quality.

AV: Tell us about the brain behind thisrice industry.

The Tilda story began with thevision of our founder, late MrNarshibhai Thakrar who was born inIndia in 1918. At the age of 18 he leftto pursue a career in Uganda. By 1945he was running his own retail businessand went on to develop a successfulwholesaling business selling rice andsalt.Firstly the Ugandan government

took over all trade in rice and salt, thenin 1972 Idi Amin gave the AsianCommunity 90 days notice to leave.Bhai lost everything.Bhai, as he was fondly known and

his now growing family moved to theUK and he set up a new business inLondon . So in 1972 the Tilda brandwas born. The UK rice market was verydifferent then and Bhai saw an oppor-tunity to revolutionise how rice wassold to the growing communities fromthe Indian subcontinent. He installed the first colour sorting

machine to be used in the UK, so thatTilda Pure Basmati was cleaned ,sort-ed, and milled to perfection with nostones or discoloured grains. Unlikeother rices cooks could use Tildastraight from the bag. He also movedthe market out of jute, introducingpaper sacks with attractive designs anda new more manageable 20 kilo size.Having laid the foundations for the

Tilda brand, through hard work anddedication to quality, Bhai passed thebusiness on to the younger generationwho went on to build the brand intowhat it is today.

Tilda ready to heat (microwave) recipes

Threshing basmati at harvest time

A basmati rice mandi (market)

Tilda basmati rice range

Rupanjana Dutta

Basmati field in the Himalayan foothills A basmati flower in bloom

18 Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011

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You can advertise in our Financial Voice andreap tremendous benefit of it.

Contact advertising team on

020 7749 4085

Standard Chartered Banksaid its pre-tax profit fromIndia operations in thefirst six months (January-June) of this calendar yearnarrowed 39 per cent to$378 million from $624million a year ago. Higherprovisions in the wake ofdeteriorating asset qualityand compressed marginsaffected the bank’s earn-ings during this period.

India was the bank’smost profitable marketglobally at a pre-tax level,and following the decline,it is placed third afterHong Kong andSingapore. This is also thefirst time the foreignlender reported a drop inearnings under NeerajSwaroop since he joinedthe bank as chief executivefor India and South Asiain August 2005.

Income from the Indiabusiness in the first half

fell 12 per cent from a yearearlier to $ 893 million.The net interest marginshrank 70 basis points to3.1 per cent due to anincrease in competitionand rising interest rates.

“India has had a chal-lenging six months. Weremain cautious in theimmediate term. However,momentum remains goodand we are confidentabout longer termprospects. We will contin-ue to maintain a verystrong competitive posi-tion,” Swaroop said.

He expects the bank’smargin to remain in therange of 3.0-3.2 per cent inthe coming quarters.

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In our recent article wesaid that HM Revenue &Customs (HMRC) had setup a special Task Force totarget the restaurantindustry, fearing thecontinued existence of taxdodging practices.

We set out below 3 casestudies where HMRCspontaneously investigatedbusinesses within therestaurant sector. Therewould have beensignificant savings if theseowners had come forwardvoluntarily and soughtspecialist advice ratherthan waiting to bediscovered.

Case Study 1 - PAYEMr A was paying cash

wages to waiters etc,without accounting for taxor national insurance. Therestaurant owner also

engaged students and othercasual staff for busyperiods but failed to obtaincompleted forms P38(S)and P46 which underinstruction from HMRCwould have allowed him topay sums gross. Adisgruntled ex-employee“blew the whistle” andHMRC collected additionaltax and NIC from Mr A forfailing to operate PAYE,with interest and penalties,covering a six year periodtotalling £53,000.

Case Study 2 – Cash Supplier

Mrs B was approachedby a supplier offering verycheap stocks of meat,prawns and ice cream.However, the supplierinsisted on being paid incash and gave Mrs B aninflated purchase invoice.Mrs B received a cashrebate, being the differencebetween the actual andinflated purchase figure.Mrs B pocketed the rebateand did not declare it toHMRC. She also claimedthe full value of thepurchase invoice as adeduction against herprofits. HMRC undertook aseries of investigationslinked to the supplier andMrs B’s tax irregularitieswere uncovered. She had topay back taxes, interest and

penalties of £77,000 whichforced the sale of thebusiness.

Case Study 3 – Diverted TakingsMr C ran a chain of

restaurants through hiscompany. Hesystematically evaded taxby vastly under-declaringhis sales. He closed tillsdown at 11 p.m. when therestaurants were open untilmidnight. He alsomanipulated tills so thatonly receipts from waitersX, Y and Z were putthrough the till with waiterW’s jobs being excluded.The practices went on formore than 20 years andcame to light when Mr C’sestranged wife wrote aletter to the taxman. Mr Cnarrowly avoided acriminal prosecution but heand his companies werestill left with a bill forCorporation Tax, VAT,Section 419 tax andbeneficial loan taxes inexcess of £250,000.

Nowadays, HMRChave powers to visitbusiness premisesunannounced and inspectany assets and documentswhich they feel arereasonable to check the taxposition of the business.They can interrogatecomputers and take away

documents. Otherenquiries may arise as theresult of test purchase,surveillance or businesseconomics exercises.HMRC’s armoury is trulywell equipped to take onthe sector.

The best way to dealwith tax irregularities is todisclose themspontaneously to HMRCbefore they find out. Thismust be done with extremecare and specialist advicein order to limit taxliabilities or avoid criminalprosecution in the mostserious cases.

If you require anyassistance in making a taxdisclosure, pleasetelephone Sean Wakeman,Partner, on 020 7842 7285or Anand Unalkat on 020 7842 7143.

Sean Wakeman

Tax Investigations PartnerAnand Unalkat Tax Investigations Senior

Restaurants get a roasting from the Taxman!

Supreme Court of Indiabegan hearing Vodafone'sappeal challenging a $2.5billion tax bill over itsacquisition of mobileassets in the country, acase keenly watched byforeign investors in Asia'sthird-largest economy.

Vodafone, fighting thetax bill in India over its2007 purchase ofHutchison Whampoa Ltd'sIndian mobile business,had appealed to theSupreme Court challeng-ing a lower court order

that Indian tax authoritieshad jurisdiction over taxbills in cross-border deals.

Tax authorities saidVodafone's deal was liableto be taxed because mostof the assets were based inIndia and under the law,buyers have to withholdcapital gains tax liabilitiesand pay them to the gov-ernment.

Vodafone has earliersaid the law did not requireit to deduct tax and thatcapital gains tax is usuallypaid by the seller.

SC beginsVodafone taxcase hearing

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

So should you buy? I’ve been saying all year thatstocks are cheap and this year you would have a 15%return. Am I wrong. Don’t be silly – of course I’m not.Personally I don’t care if stocks rise or fall – I’m notselling you anything – but I think they’ll rise. The rea-sons: first, as I said on the BBC this past week. Theunemployment and budget deficit levels of most of thebig economies around the world are in single digits –under 10 percent.

Second, for every pound of profit a FTSE 100 (100of the largest UK companies makes) you are payingaround £10 to buy a share in the company. That ischeap. Usually you end up in the past 10 years payingas much as £22 to £32.

So why are shares plunging? The market is not anaccurate precise barometer of price and value.Thankfully. And so it is it drops when it can. So whatmight you want to buy?

I searched for FTSE 100 so major global compa-nies. I wanted their valuation better than FTSE 100average based on Price to Book ratios (this is a meas-ure of what they paid for their assets. I wanted com-panies whose performance was better than FTSE 100so far this year. (FTSE 100 is down 17% YTD). I want-ed to be diversified and avoid stocks in same sector.

I also wanted Stocks that if they return to the highof the past two years will provide a 25%+ return. I alsowanted stocks which had recouped their credit-crunchshare price drops.

So which names came up? Serco, Autonomy, Tateand Lyle, BG Group, Rolls Royce, G4S, Pearson, WMMorrison, Rexam, Legal and General, Vodafone.

Does it means you’ll make a killing? Not likely – justthat I think you’re picking up a bargain and will out-perform bank interest, the broader market and I fullyanticipate with these stocks 30%+ return in total andaverage over 2 years, if not better.

What of Barclays – the one stock I am asked aboutmore than most. Yes, it is cheap, it is seriously under-valued. It did not meet my above criteria because it hasfallen so far – but that makes it attractive in its ownright of course. As I write it is at 175p. I think by yearend it could easily be at 300p again. Even if it droppedto 100p – I find it attractive. The returns are attractiveeven if it took two years to get to 300p and that’s theway to look at it.

He has recently purchased his third property through us at£131,000, due to be completing this week. This was purchased blind byhim but also bought blind by us. Some surface investigation informedus this was a good deal. It was a higher gamble as we hadn't seen theproperty from inside. The property was occupied by the current ownerswhich was a good sign. Even assuming this property needed a thoroughrefurbishment it should not cost more than £15,000, being a two bed-room flat.

When the property was valued the valuer placed a value of £178,000this is almost unheard off. Valuers tend to never go above the purchaseprice. As by doing so they are exposing themselves. If in the event ofrepossession the price is not achieved they will be held accountable.Therefore the valuers generally keep the valuations to a minimum andkeep to the purchase price.

The last property because of the location being outside of London ismore of a buy and flip property rather than a Buy to Let property. Theproperty consequently was purchased using a no penalty product sowhen it is resold there will be no fee to pay to the lender. This meantthere was an arrangement fee of 3% on commencement of this mort-gage.

We were filmed purchasing this property at auction in TheRepossessions program last Thursday on ITV1.

The profile of this client is typical of who would benefit from ourservices, in short someone who is time poor and does not want any has-sle from the property.

Altogether his relationship with Sow & Reap has made him about£215,000 over a 3 year period without wasting any of his time.

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 19FINANCIAL VOICE

One of our first clients,who done his mortgagewith us back in thesummer of 2005, had achoice when he firstcame to me: me, whocharged a fee of £250for my advice andanother mortgage bro-ker who did notcharge. He chose medespite the fee. Afterhe had gotten to know me better, after a fewyears, he admitted the reason he had chosen me wasbecause I was Indian. He had been told when it comesto property work with Jews or Indians. Since he hastaken this decision he has done over 20 mortgageswith us and will be completing his third property withus this week.

Whilst money was coming in through the business, he made thewise move of investing into properties. He had a few properties whenhe started working with Sow & Reap to refinance his properties andoptimise the lending and reduce interest rates.

Our advice was always for him to become less dependent on thebusiness, as currently the business is eating his time away, despite gen-erating a good income.

This is a typical problem many business people have as their busi-nesses do not run without them. Though they realise the need to diver-sify and change this model , the current business is generating too muchmoney for them to move into something else. They perceive they maylose what they have if they move into something else. In short they arein their comfort zone and they perceive they may lose what they have ifthey try to grow.

Property As Sow & Reap grew, our client Gengiz Arif grew along side us.Property is a good buffer to have alongside your business. The main

reason being it is passive, meaning it will take little or zero of your timeup. This means it will allow you to focus on what you do best which isrunning your own business. It will also act as a cushion if your businessdoes not do so well. It can also serve you well during your retirement,as by nature it produces a monthly income which will be your substi-tute for going in to work. The important point is when setting this upensure you work with the right people to make sure the purchase isactually passive.

Back to our client, as he was doing his mortgages with us we sug-gested he purchase a property as money was sitting idly in his proper-ties not doing very much. So he agreed.

Suresh Vagjiani

Managing Director

Sow & Reap

A Property Investment &

Financing company.

Cash Rich but Time Poor ?

His business is running a cafe in the centre of Kingston. His day startsat 5am and ends late in the evening, 6 days a week which used to be7 days. The business was handed down from his father and he hasapplied himself to the trade from the age of 16. From one premises, henow owns three next door to each other in Prime Kingston.

We picked up a studio in W2 for £214,000 in March 2009 - this property is now worth£325,000. This was followed by another property in West Kensington, spookilyenough it was also purchased for £214,000 - this is now worth well in excess of£350,000. These properties were purchased without him seeing the properties, sim-ply on our say so.

The bottom line is still a fat profit so no issues, he standsto make about £40,000 net on this purchase.

l Make sure you have a strategy whenplanning your property purchases, otherwisea few years down the road you may realizethis wasn't the direction you wanted to go in

l Keeping interest only on your BTLmortgages at the outset will reduce youincome tax liability

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now: Tips of the Week

UK Sales 0207 313 4595 India Sales 0203 384 5323

Westbourne House, 14-16 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5RH

Specialists in:

l Property Sourcing

l Mortgages

l Commercial Finance

l India Properties

Sow & Reap got me

£215,000over 3 years

that’s what I call amazing

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 201120 financial VoicE

After pooh-poohing foralmost a year, UK's CairnEnergy Plc has said itwould accept all riders thegovernment of India hasattached for givingapproval to its stake salein Cairn India to mininggroup Vedanta Resources.

Cairn EnergyChairman Bill Gammell,who had till recently main-tained that forcing CairnIndia to pay royalty andcess on the mainstayRajasthan oil block wasagainst the signed contractand would hurt minorityshareholder's interest, onAugust 3 wrote to OilSecretary G C Chaturvedisaying all the precondi-tions set by the govern-ment were acceptable tothe company and Vedanta.

To get $6.02 billionfrom the sale of a 40 percent stake, Gammell saidCairn Energy and Vedantawill vote at a shareholders'meet for acceptance of theroyalty and cess riders,ignoring the resolutionpassed by the Cairn Indiaboard in February oppos-ing the value demolishingpreconditions.

"Cairn UK HoldingsLtd (a wholly owned sub-sidiary of Cairn Energy),holding 52.11 per cent ofthe issued share capital ofCairn India, and VedantaResources Plc Group, hold-ing an aggregate of 28.5 percent of the issued sharecapital of Cairn India, shallboth be voting in favour ofacceptance" of these condi-tions, Gammell wrote.

Cairn India had on July26 stated that its April-June quarter net profitwould halve to Rs 14.35billion if it was asked toshare royalty on crude oilproduced from theRajasthan fields.

The company currentlydoes not pay any royaltyon its 70 per cent interestin the Rajasthan fields. Theroyalty, as per the contract,is paid by state-ownedONGC, which got a 30 percent stake in the 6.5 billionbarrel field for free.

The CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) on June 27gave consent to the Cairn-Vedanta deal, but subjectto Cairn or its successoragreeing to charging ordeducting the royalty paidby ONGC from revenuesearned from sale of oilbefore profits are splitbetween the partners.

This cost recovery ofroyalty will lower CairnIndia's profitability.

Also, the CCEA saidCairn India must pay a Rs

2,500 per tonne cess on its70 per cent share of oilproduction. Cairn main-tains that cess, like royalty,is a liability of ONGC andhad initiated arbitrationagainst the government onbeing forced to pay cess.

Gammell said CairnEnergy and Vedanta willvote in a postal ballotbeing conducted amongCairn India shareholdersfor withdrawal of the cessarbitration.

Cairn Energy, togetherwith Vedanta, has 80 percent voting rights in CairnIndia and can overrule theobjections of minorityshareholders to see anyproposal through.

"We expect the resultsof the shareholder vote tobe announced inSeptember and hopethereafter to be in a posi-tion to comply with all ofthe conditions set," hewrote, seeking an exten-sion of the one-monthdeadline the governmenthas set for acceptance ofthe conditions.

Cairn accepts all preconditionsfor Vedanta stake sale

Reliance Industries onTuesday said it hasreceived governmentapproval for selling a 30per cent stake in 21 out ofa proposed 23 oil and gasblocks to UK's BP Plc for $7.2 billion. The CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs (CCEA) had onJuly 22 cleared the sale ofstake by RIL to BP in 21blocks, including theshowpiece eastern off-shore KG-D6 gas produc-ing area and discoveryarea NEC-25.

However, it held backthe same for two inconse-quential blocks - one adeep sea area off theOrissa coast and the otheran on land block in Assam- over technical issues.

"RIL has received thegovernment of India'sapproval for its transforma-tional deal with BP," the

company said in a state-ment. "RIL is grateful tothe government of India forthe approval, which willresult in the largest foreigninvestment in the domestichydrocarbon sector."

RIL says this will resultin the largest foreign

investment in the domes-tic hydrocarbon sector.

BP will have to furnisha bank guarantee and per-formance guarantee, asper the ProductionSharing Contract.

The deal, which mightincrease in value to $ 20billion on the basis offuture performance pay-

ments and investment, willgive Reliance access toBP's expertise in deepwa-ter drilling and acceleratedevelopment and produc-tion from its fields, partic-ularly the under-perform-ing KG-D6 block in theeastern offshore.

For BP, which has beenstruggling to recover fromthe disastrous Gulf ofMexico oil spill disasterlast year, the transaction isa chance to enter a marketwhere energy demand isgrowing at 5-8 per cent.

"BP will take a 30 percent stake in 21 oil and gasProduction SharingContracts (PSCs) that RILoperates in India, includ-ing the producing KG-D6block. Following theapproval, RIL and BP willwork together to concludethe deal expeditiously," thestatement added.

Reliance – BP deal gets govt approval

The Indian stock marketturned highly volatile onTuesday with the bench-mark index plunging backinto the red after oscillat-ing more than 1,600 pointsbetween negative and pos-itive territories.

After plunging deepinto red with an earlymorning loss of 558points, the stock marketstaged a smart recoveryand theSensex wipedoff all itsmorning loss-es by earlyafternoon.

However,the recoverywas short-lived and the index againmoved back into the redzone.

The index had opened472 points down in themorning and the losseswidened to 558 pointswithin minutes. However,by the early afternoon, theindex had recovered morethan 700 points from itsearly morning lows.

By late afternoon, the

index had traversed over1,600 points between thenegative and positive terri-tories.

Experts said that thebrief recovery was mostlydue to positive opening inthe European markets,which later pared theirgains with the trendreflecting on Indian bours-es also.

After falling 1,322points in thepast fivetrading ses-sion, theSensex hadopened veryweak in themorning withheavy selling

in stocks like RelianceIndustries, Infosys, ICICIBank and TCS.

Another benchmarkindex Nifty was also oscil-lating between positiveand negative zones afterslipping below 5,000-pointlevel earlier in morning.The Nifty was 71 pointsdown at 5047.70 points at1.45 pm after briefly trad-ing in positive territory.

Volatile trading inBSE; market recovers,

plummets again

Most religions prescribethat one should abstainfrom gambling. This issound advice as in gam-bling there is no certainty,there is only probability.And probability is aboutas reliable as Tiger Woodswinning – it happens fair-ly often, but not all thetime. So if someone saidthey were going to wagertheir life savings, house,car and kids on a bet –they would be considereda fool (to put it mildly).When news began toemerge that Italy wasstruggling to keep upwith its debt repaymentsand may even default, itsent shockwaves throughthe stock markets. Thiswas compounded by therating agency Standard &Poor’s (S&P) downgrad-ing the rating for the USAby one notch. Theinevitable sell off was welland truly on.

By the time you readthis, we will all have aclearer picture of the trueimpact on the marketsbut for many it willalready be too late.Billions have been of

wiped off the value ofcompanies and personalportfolios. The EuropeanCentral Bank (ECB) andthe leaders of G7 haveboth held meetings andmade statements to tryand infuse some confi-dence in investors. Theleaders of France andGermany have alreadypledged to do whatever ittakes to prevent the Eurofrom collapsing. Make nomistake, we are on theverge of another creditcrunch / recession /Armageddon – call itwhat you will.

Surely one wouldthink that at such a criti-cal time, the last thingone would do is take agamble in order to sur-vive. And yet this isexactly what is beingdone. The ECB is buyinggovernment debt in the‘hope’ that those govern-ments will honour therepayments. PresidentSarkozy and PrimeMinister Merkel haveagreed to support theEuro, in the same ‘hope’that their fellowEuropean partners will

not just throw theirhands up and walk awayfrom the table.

Difficult times call forstrong and courageousleadership. While itremains to be seen if all ofthe actions being takenby these leaders will haveany impact, it is fair tosay that they are all tak-ing a huge gamble. Andthe stakes are not justtheir homes or money –but that of millions ofpeople they represent.Now in theory this wouldbe inexcusable – as I saidearlier there is no certain-ty in a gamble. But lead-ers do not have the luxu-ry of standing by the side-lines and not making adecision. When there areno clear answers and noone knows what is goingto happen next, they haveto take a gamble on whatthey think, or ratherhope, will be the out-come. Perhaps when yougamble with good inten-tions it becomes an ethi-cal gamble?

By Amit Patel

Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field ofLeadership and Human Resource Management

An Ethical Gamble

India's benchmark goldfutures on the MultiCommodity Exchangeextended gains by morethan 3% on Tuesday morn-ing and hit a new peak of26,198 rupees per 10grams, tailing a rally in theworld market and on aweak rupee.

The October contractwas trading 3.16% higherat 26,041 rupees. It hasrisen over 11% in August.Indian rupee fell sharplyon Tuesday to its lowest in10 weeks as a selloff inglobal equities ignitedfears of foreign fund out-flows. International spotgold gained more than 2%on Tuesday, roaring to all-time high for a second con-secutive session to standabove $1,750 as equitymarkets dived on growingfears of a global recessionfollowing last week's UScredit downgrade.

Gold hits recordhigh, above

`26,000 per 10 gms

Standard & Poor's, whoserating downgrade of theUS has created mayhemin markets worldwide,warned that Asia-Pacificeconomies, includingIndia, might face a deeperand prolonged impact ifthe global economy suf-fers a renewed slowdown.

S&P said the implica-tions for sovereign creditworthiness in the Asia-Pacific would likely bemore negative than previ-ously experienced and alarger number of negativeratings actions would fol-low.

Lowering of credit rat-ings generally make bor-rowings costlier and diffi-

cult for the country orcompany being down-graded.

"Fiscal capacities ofJapan, India, Malaysia,Taiwan and New Zealandhave shrunk relative topre-2008 level," it said,adding that these coun-tries continue to bear thescars of the downturn.The governments, it said,would be required to usetheir own revenuestreams to support theireconomies and financialsector once again.

It further said that if arenewed slowdowncomes, it would create adeeper and more pro-longed impact. At the

time of the global finan-cial crisis in 2008, severalcountries, includingIndia, had rolled out stim-ulus packages facilitatingmonetary expansion andlower taxes to mitigatethe impact of the slow-down.

At that time, India hadprovided three fiscal stim-ulus packages totalling Rs1,860 billion, whichhelped the economy clocka growth of 8 per cent in2009-10, as against 6.8per cent in 2008-09. Priorto the crisis, the Indianeconomy had beenexpanding at a growthrate of over 9 per centover a three-year period.

India, others on brink ofanother crisis: S&P

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 21FINANCIAL VOICE

GBP - INR = 73.96

USD - INR = 45.25

EUR - INR = 64.24

GBP - USD = 1.63

GBP - EUR = 1.14

EUR - USD = 1.42

GBP - AED = 5.99

GBP - CAD = 1.63

GBP - NZD = 2.00

GBP - AUD = 1.60

GBP - ZAR = 11.95

GBP - HUF = 316.89

www.rationalfx.com

Foreign Exchange

Rajesh Agrawal is the Chairman & CEO of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

For any further information call 020 7220 8181 or e-mail [email protected]

Information provided by RationalFX.

None of the information on this page

constitutes, nor should be construed

as financial advice. The exchange

rates used are the commercial foreign

exchange rates provided by

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out more about how RationalFX can

help you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

WeeklyCurrenciesAs of Tuesday

9th August 2011 @ 10.30amAll the world’s economies con-tinue to struggle to keep theirheads above water as growthseems to be slow if any and thepolicies in place just do notseem to be working. The US have finally been

downgraded to AA+ with itsdebt spiraling out of controland no strong policy in place totackle it $14 trillion dollar debtproblem. This came as no sur-prise but there are worriesabout further possibilities ofthem being downgraded fur-ther if something is not put inplace to reduce their deficit.Fannie Mae and Freddie Macare also in line to announcetheir downgrading this week,which will see a knock oneffect across financial markets. A good thing may come out

of these downgrades, whichmay cause the US to look moreaggressively about their fiscalpolicy and push policy makersto act more responsibly andintelligently. If the US fall thenthe whole world economy areexpected to follow suit withpredictions that a double diprecession is in horizon.Although S&P analysis wascorrect in its direction and thereason to downgrade the USrating, it is also somewhatflawed as there is no doubt that

the US will be able to pay offits debt in due course. Despite the US debt crisis,

the Eurozone continue to haveincreasing problems of theirown as its debt crisis also spi-raling out of control and withmore European countries goingdeeper and deeper into the red.They seem to be in a far worseposition than the US, as USneed to deal with it own singlecountry but the Eurozone

needing to deal with 17 mem-ber states totaling a populationof 329 million people. Lastweek Jean-Claude Trichetmade firm comments regardingthe Euro zone debt crisis andfailed to reassure the marketswhen speaking. The EuropeanCentral Bank made anannouncement on Sunday thatthey would intervene in themarkets for Spanish andItalian bonds to soothe its

investors after the US ratingdowngrade and to ease the tur-moil in the markets that previ-ous week. The Eurozone areadamant to keep an eye on itsselling of bonds and ensurethat the popular bonds are ofsufficient size to ensure theprotection of the Euro. Frenchpresident Nicolas Sarkozy andAngela Merkel supported thebond-buying, which will allow€440bn worth of fiscal stabilitywithin the market. This willhowever help short term butmid-term they will need tocome up with a better way totackle their problems, if Francewas to lose its triple A ratingthen this could have more of aneffect on the markets than theUS downgrade.The main news to look out

for in the UK will be the BoEminutes and their commentsabout interest rates and its QEprogram. UK continues torelease mixed data and withthe markets being very uncer-tain about the future of the US,Eurozone and the UK, showsthat there is plenty of unrest inthe markets with stock marketsalso plummeting as a result ofthis. Whatever the outcomefor the US or Eurozone, onething is for sure that the UKwill be directly affected.

A Long Road to Recovery

Attari: To facilitate move-ment of passengers andtrade on board SamjhautaExpress and goods trainrespectively, Indian andPakistan customs authori-ties have decided to estab-lish telephonic contactbetween Attari ( India)and Wagah (Pakistan) railoffices.

The decision wastaken at a meetingbetween officials of cus-toms departments of bothnations at Lahore. Theproposal to set up a hot-line was floated in the ear-lier meeting held in Junelast.

Customs commission-er Ranjit Singh said thathe and his Lahore coun-terpart, collector KhawajaOmar Mehdi, had stressedon setting up a hotline atAttari and Wagah railoffices so that delay inmovement of passengerand goods trains could bechecked.

"There is a communi-cation problem in theabsence of telephoniccontact at Attari railoffice, which at timescauses delays in move-ment of trains that affectsboth passengers andtrade," he said.

Other issues discussedincluded local problemsbeing faced by customsdepartments of bothcountries, includingbeginning of truck move-ment from Attari landborder and their clearancetiming.


In focUSPak bans LeT, JeM from taking donationsLahore: Authorities in Pakistan's Punjab province havebarred 23 banned organizations, including theLashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, from collect-ing donations for their activities. The Punjab govern-ment warned that those found providing donations oraid to the banned organizations will be charged underthe Anti-Terrorism Act. However, the government didnot include the Falah-e-Insanyat, a front for theJamaat-ud-Dawah, in the list of groups barred from col-lecting donations. The organizations included in thelist are LeT, JeM, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan,Tehrik-e-Jaffaria Pakistan, Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan,Khuddam-ul-Isla, Islami Tehrik-e-Pakistan, HizbutTahrir and Jamiat-ul-Ansar. The move coincided withthe start of the Islamic holy month of Ramzan, whenextremist and militant groups launch special drives tocollect funds.

Taliban down Nato chopper, 31 USsoldiers killed

Kabul: At least 31 US special operation soldiers andseven Afghan commandos were killed in a helicoptercrash in eastern Afghanistan. In terms of casualties, itwas the deadliest single incident for American forces inthe decade-long war. The Taliban claimed they downedthe helicopter with rocket fire while it was taking partin a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered inthe province of Wardak. It said wreckage of the craftwas strewn at the scene.

Karachi violence toll rises to 47Karachi: With 12 more people being killed, the deathtoll from the latest wave of ethnically fuelled violenceover the past three days in Pakistan's southern city ofKarachi rose to 47. Officials said that 11 persons wereshot dead while 24 people had been reportedly killedearlier. Around 240 people were killed in shootings andother attacks in Karachi in July, making it the worstmonth on record. Struggling to halt gunfights ragingacross the city, the government has deployed hundredsof extra paramilitary troops in Karachi. "House-to-house searches are going on and some suspects havebeen detained," local government official SharfuddinMemon said.

Pak bank robbed of Rs 4.6 m in five minutesIslamabad: Six robbers managed to run away with Rs4.6 million (over $53,000) from a private bank inPakistan's port city of Karachi in an operation that last-ed just five minutes. The robbery finished the robberyfive minutes, even breaking CCTV cameras and hold-ing all bank employees hostage. According to a policeofficial, five robbers entered the bank and one stoodoutside to provide backup support. The bandits tookaway Rs 4.6 million and the mobile phones of sevenstaff members. They first destroyed cameras installedin the building and also took away the tapes of CCTVfootage, he said.

India-Pak commerce ministers to meetfor trade talks

Islamabad: The commerce ministers of Pakistan andIndia will reportedly meet in New Delhi next month,after a gap of over three years, to discuss issues relatedto trade expansion and proposals to remove non-tariffbarriers that hinder smooth trade between the twocountries. According to sources, the decision wastaken after Indian commerce and industry MinisterAnand Sharma sent a formal invitation to his Pakistanicounterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim to discuss sever-al important issues.

Pak to get F-16 upgrade kits from USWashington: The United States defence departmenthas awarded a USD 42.3 million contract to LockheedMartin, one of the world’s largest defence contractors,to provide 10 upgrade kits for Pakistan’s F-16 A/B air-craft. Pakistan Air Force had earlier this year inducted17 new F-16 Block 52+ fighters into 5 Squadron - partof an 18-aircraft deal signed in 2006.

Rights group demands probe intoLankan massacre

Colombo: An international human rights group urgedthe United Nations to investigate the execution-styleslaying of 17 workers for a French aid agency in SriLanka five years ago, after a government probe did notidentify the killers. New York-based Human RightsWatch said the government's failure to bring the killersto justice "highlights a broader lack of will to prosecutesoldiers and police for rights abuses." The Sri Lankanemployees of Action Against Hunger were found deadin August 2006 in a region rocked by heavy fightingbetween government soldiers and separatist TamilTiger rebels. At the time, European monitors said theywere convinced government troops were responsible,but the government blamed the rebels.

Islamabad: Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief HafizMuhammad Saeed mayface fresh detention afterBritish diplomats met sen-ior Pakistani officials toconvince them to crackdown on the organisation,a front for the bannedLashkar-e-Taiba.

Diplomats from theBritish missions inIslamabad and New Delhihad a successful rounds oftalks with Pakistani lead-ers in the last week of July.

These talks might lead tothe detention of JuD chiefHafiz Muhammad Saeedand a possible crackdownon his group.

The report contendedthat the developmentswere an outcome of a'covert diplomatic cam-paign' by India to pressurePakistan to rein in theJuD, which New Delhi hasblamed for the 2008Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The report quoted thediplomats as saying that

the British governmenthopes to convincePakistan to address India'sconcern about Saeed andrestrict the activities of theJuD in Pakistan andJammu and Kashmir.

Pakistani authoritieshad launched a limitedcrackdown on the JuD andits leaders in the aftermathof the Mumbai attacks afterthe UN Security Councilclassified the group as afront for the LeT.

However, no official

notification was issued toban the JuD and most ofits detained leaders,including Saeed, werefreed within months.

PaKiStaN-BaGladeSh-Sri laNKa

Dhaka: A corruption casehas been filed againstBangladeshi oppositionleader Khaleda Zia, offi-cials say. Ms Zia has beenaccused of acquiringwealth exceeding herknown income. An arrestwarrant has also beenissued against her son,Tarique Rahman. BothKhaleda Zia and TariqueRahman - who is believedto be living abroad -strongly deny the charges.

The cases will furtherheighten tensions betweenthe government and oppo-sition, correspondents say.The Anti-CorruptionCommission (ACC) hasaccused Ms Zia of usingundisclosed income to buyland for a charity namedafter her late husband.

An ACC official said

that the Zia CharitableTrust did not have anyknown source of incomefor a 12.6m Taka(£100,000) sum that madeup part payment for a landpurchase in Dhaka.

This is the first corrup-tion case against the for-mer prime minister sincethe Awami League govern-ment came to power in

January 2009.The opposition argues

that the ACC is not politi-cally neutral and that thecharges against Ms Zia aregroundless. TariqueRahman - believed to beliving in an undisclosedlocation abroad - is accusedof money laundering.

He and 18 other people- mostly from the opposi-tion BangladeshNationalist Party (BNP) -are also accused of involve-ment in a grenade attackon a political rally in 2004.Mr Rahman is widelyexpected to succeed MsZia as the next leader ofthe BNP. Earlier this year aBangladeshi court sen-tenced his younger brother,Arafat Rahman Koko, tosix years in prison in amoney-laundering case.

Islamabad: Claiming therewere all time high securitythreats, Pakistan navy hasmoved away its main bat-tleships out of its Mehrannaval base in Karachi tothe Makran coast inBalochistan.

The navy sent its war-ships away from its mainbase in Karachi to Ormarain Balochistan as a precau-tionary measure after the16-hour terrorist siege ofits main naval airbase,PNS Mehran, on May 22.

The move has cometwo months after the com-mando style gun and rock-et-propelled grenadeattacks on Mehran, that

resulted in destruction oftwo P3C Orion airplanes -which were key navalassets - and the killing of10 security personnel.

Since then, the mainbattleships have been sta-tioned in Ormara. Thenavy chief ordered theimmediate movement ofthe entire fleet in view of"all-time high securitythreats, which continue to

loom even today," saidsources.

The attack on the navalairbase was carried outjust weeks after three navybuses were bombed inKarachi on April 26 andApril 28. However, anunnamed senior navy offi-cial said not the entire fleetbut "definitely quite a few"warships had been moved.

Despite the movement,Karachi remains securesince there are other navalassets in place guardingthe city, he said. A navyspokesperson declined tocomment, saying navydoes not speak on opera-tional details.

Graft case against Bangladeshopposition leader Khaleda Zia

Fearing attacks, Pak warships moved out of Karachi

A hotline

between India

and Pak rail

offices

Islamabad: The US andPakistan are headedtowards a confrontationover nuclear arms, warneda Pakistani daily.

An editorial in theNews International saidthe US plans to forcePakistan to sign the FissileMaterial Cutoff Treaty andhalt the production ofnuclear bombs material.

'This has understand-ably caused much alarm inPakistan.'

While noting thatPakistan and the US areheading towards con-frontation yet again, 'thistime over nuclear arms',the editorial observed:

'The US-Pakistan relation-ship has challenges butremains strategically vital:this about sums up therelationship as it standsnow...'

It said it seems that'Pakistan's ultimate worthto the US - despite all pos-turing to the contrary - is

becoming increasinglyclear'.

'The Americans wouldrather have assistancefrom Pakistan - in the fightagainst terror in Pakistanand beyond in Afghanistan- than have that assistancecut off. It would ratherthat its spooks were

allowed to do their work inPakistan than that theywere eased or pushed out,'it added.

It went on to say that'all this talk of ties reach-ing a fever pitch andthreatening to explodeeschews the fact that theUS values its leverage overPakistan and also realis-es...that leaving Pakistannow would mean a muchbigger headache later'.

'Yes, Pakistan worriesthe Unites States. But forprecisely that reason, theUnited States isn't goingto be able to ignorePakistan's interests any-time soon.'

Pakistan, US headed for showdown over N-arms

UK diplomats ask Pakistan torein in Hafiz Saeed

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 23world

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Washington: The UnitedStates, the world’s largesteconomy, has lost itsfamed AAA rating, endingan era lasting almost acentury in which sover-eign bonds issued by itwere branded risk free.Following the downgradethe panicked stock mar-kets in major trading cen-tres lost heavily.

The downgrade thefirst since 1917 – by creditrating agency Standard &Poor’s to AA+ – has fur-ther fuelled uncertainty inan already weak globaleconomic environmentthreatened by the possibil-

ity of defaults in Europe, afragile recovery in the US,and fears of a double-diprecession.

Despite the USCongress agreeing to raisethe debt ceiling and cutspending to avert default,S&P went by recentevents to conclude thatpolicymaking had become

“less stable, less effectiveand less predictable thanwhat we previouslybelieved”.

“The downgradereflects our view that theeffectiveness, stability, andpredictability of Americanpolicymaking and politicalinstitutions have weak-ened at a time of ongoingfiscal and economic chal-lenge,” S&P said in astatement released afterthe close of US marketsearly on Saturday. TheS&P move comes withindays of China’s DagongGlobal Credit Rating Codowngrading the US.

China is the largest foreignholder of US debt – about$1.15 trillion.

Following the down-grade, the stock marketswent for a tailspin in worldmarkets. There are fears ofa repeat of September 15,2008, when they woke upto a world withoutLehman Brothers.

In the short-term, theimpact may be negative.Global investors react toany negative event bymoving out of risky assetsinto safe assets such asSwiss currency or gold.There may be pressure onthe Indian rupee.

US, the largest economy downgradedNew York: A federal grandjury in the US has indicted26 people, including 19Indians, for their partici-pation in a multi-milliondollar health care fraudand drug distributionscheme to facilitate thesubmission of false claimsto Medicaid and privateinsurers.

The indictmentreturned by a federal grandjury in Detroit charged 26individuals, including doc-tors and psychologists,United States attorneyBarbara McQuadeannounced last week.

An Indian-origin phar-macist is accused of beingat the center of the con-spiracy. The 34-countindictment alleges that 49-year old pharmacistBabubhai Patel, the bene-ficial owner and controllerof some 26 pharmacies,concealed his ownershipand control over many ofthe Patel Pharmaciesthrough the use of strawowners.

The indictment allegesthat Patel would offer andpay kickbacks, bribes andother inducements tophysicians, in order toinduce those physicians towrite prescriptions forpatients with Medicare,Medicaid, and privateinsurance, and to directthat those prescriptions bepresented to one of thePatel Pharmacies forbilling.

"Today's arrests and theallegations in the indict-ment bring to light one ofthe largest diversion con-spiracies ever uncoveredin the state of Michigan.These individuals abusedtheir positions of trust andendangered the lives ofcountless people by illegal-ly distributing more thansix million doses of opiatepainkillers and depres-sants throughout south-east Michigan andbeyond," special agent incharge of drug enforce-ment administration'sDetroit Field DivisionRobert Corso said.

Patel and his associ-ates paid physicians andpodiatrists associated withthe scheme, kickbacks andother inducements inexchange for the medicalprofessionals writing pre-scriptions for controlledsubstances for theirpatients, and directingthose patients to fill theprescriptions at a PatelPharmacy.

19 Indians indicted in UShealth care fraud

Beirut: A besieged Syriancity came under freshartillery fire early as a dead-ly military assault leftPresident Bashar Assad'sregime increasingly isolat-ed, with Arab nationsforcefully joining the inter-national chorus of condem-nation for the first time.

The renewed violencein the eastern city of Deirel-Zour comes a day afterat least 42 people werekilled there in an intensify-ing government crack-down on protesters.

"We heard very loudexplosions, and now there'sintermittent gunfire," anactivist said. He said peo-ple were too terrified totake the wounded to gov-ernment hospitals, insteadtreating them at home or inmakeshift hospitals.

The LocalCoordinating Committees,which help organize theprotests and track theuprising, said machine fireand artillery blastsresumed in Deir el-Zour.Syrian troops also stormedMaaret al-Numan in thenorthern province of Idlibat dawn, activists said.

"Forces entered the cityfrom its eastern side andthey are preventing theresidents from entering or

leaving the city," the LCCsaid in a statement.

More than 300 peoplehave died in the past week,the bloodiest in the five-month uprising againstAssad's authoritarian rule.Deir el-Zour, in particular,has come under witheringattack. The city is oil-richbut largely impoverishedregion of Syria known forits well-armed clans andtribes whose ties extendacross eastern Syrian and

into Iraq. "Humanitarian condi-

tions in the city are very badbecause it has been undersiege for nine days," anactivist said "There is lack ofmedicine, baby formula,food and gasoline. The cityis totally paralyzed."

The international com-munity has sharply con-demned the government'scrackdown, imposing sanc-tions and demanding animmediate end to theattacks. But in a sign ofgrowing outrage, Syria'sArab neighbors joined thatchorus of criticism, voicingtheir concerns of a crack-down that intensified duringthe holy month of Ramadana time of introspection andpiety characterized by adawn-to-dusk fast.

Kathmandu: Nepal arrest-ed the new representativeof the Dalai Lama ahead ofthe swearing in of the newprime minister of theTibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala. Laterhe was released. ThileyLama, volunteer coordina-tor of the Tibetan RefugeeWelfare Office, was pickedup for interrogation alongwith an aide for holding apress conference, though ithad no political overtonesand simply sought to urgefor the protection of refugeerights. The 55-year-old’sarrest comes after Nepal’snew communist-headedgovernment began anunprecedented crackdownon Tibetans under pressurefrom China.

Dalai Lama envoyarrested, released

in Nepal

Cairo: Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarakhas denied charges of cor-ruption and ordering thekilling of protesters, on theopening day of his trial inCairo. He was wheeled ona hospital bed into a cagein court to the astonish-ment of onlookers outside.The 83-year-old is beingtried along with his sons,ex-interior minister Habibal-Adly and six other for-mer officials. The chargeof ordering the killing ofprotesters carries thedeath penalty.

Mubarak deniesall charges

Syria intensifies crackdown, Arab countries pull out envoys

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 201124 InDIA

Cart

oon:

Jam

i

Yes, we have started taking steps to stop corruptionBut underhand dealings okay

In foCusAmarnath 'Shiva lingam' melts again

before 'yatra' endsIt's bad news for fervent devotees of Lord Shiva as theholy 'Ice Lingam' at the Amarnath cave has melted 10days before the yatra formally ended. According toreports, the unprecedented rush of devotees has con-tributed to the ice lingam completely melting awaydays before the 'yatra' ends. This year has seen thehighest number of devotees visiting Amarnath. In lessthan a month, nearly 600,000 pilgrims have so far per-formed the annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine ofAmarnath, officials said.

Mumbai blast suspect held in BengalNational Investigation Agency sleuths have arrested aman from Suti in Murshidabad district of West Bengalfor allegedly supplying explosive-grade ammoniumnitrate to the July 13 Mumbai serial blasts bombers.The local police had no clue to the operation until twoNIA officers arrested Jiarat Sheikh from his village andproduced him in court for transit remand. A Jangipurcourt granted the NIA a three-day transit remand totake Jiarat to Delhi for interrogation.

Sonia Gandhi undergoes surgery in USCongress President Sonia Gandhi has undergone sur-gery in the United States. Making a bare announce-ment, Congress General Secretary JanardhanDwivedi, told reporters that the 64-year-old leaderwas recently diagnosed with a medical condition andhas been advised surgery. On the advice of her doc-tors, she has travelled abroad and she is likely to beaway for two-three weeks. A core group has been con-stituted in her absence to look after her functions. Itcomprises Defence Minister A K Antony, her politicaladvisor Ahmed Patel, her son and party GeneralSecretary Rahul Gandhi and party spokespersonJanardhan Dwivedi.

Lobsang Sangay sworn in asTibet's PM-in-exile

Harvard scholar Lobsang Sangay was sworn in as thenew Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, succeeding the Dalai Lama as the movement'spolitical leader. 43-year old Sangay, who replacesSamdong Rimpoche as Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister) ofTibetan Central Administration, was administered oathby Ngawang Phelgyal, the Chief Justice Commissioner,at a public function presided over by Tibetan spiritualleader the Dalai Lama.

India to give $2bn to fund bailouts in EuropeIndia is set to fund bailouts in financially-strickenEurope, marking a dramatic role reversal from 20 yearsago when it went knocking on the doors of theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a balanceof payments crisis. The government on sought parlia-mentary approval to provide over Rs 9,003 crore (over$2 billion) in loans to the multilateral agency's NewArrangements to Borrow (NAB), a fund whose corpuswas raised to over $500 billion in March when the debtcrisis in Europe showed no signs of abating. So, fromGreece, which has received $300 billion so far, toPortugal's $100 billion bailout, India could be playing apart in the international rescue operations.

AV Correspondent

Controversial GujaratIPS officer Sanjiv Bhattwho had alleged complic-ity of chief ministerNarendra Modi in the2002 riot cases, has beensuspended by the stategovernment on Monday.

A five page suspen-sion letter was served tothe 1988 batch IPS offi-cer alleging that he hadbeen unauthorisedlyabsent from duty andalso misusing officialmachinery.

The suspension fol-lowed after Mr Bhatt filedan affidavit in theSupreme Court in Marchthis year alleging that MrModi had in a crucial lawand order meeting on27th February 2002 hadordered officials to goslow on rioters. Bhattclaimed he was present atthe meeting when Modiissued the orders, a claimdenied by the Modiadministration.

The Modi government

had subsequently issuednotices to Mr Bhatt warn-ing of departmentalaction alleging that hewas not attending to hisplace of posting in SRPchowki at Junagadh.

Bhatt had just a weekback, filed another affi-davit before the SupremeCourt, in which he hadsubmitted crucial e-mailexchanges between thetop most legal officer ofthe state with the advo-cates of the riot accused.Sources close to Bhattreveal that the IPS officercould soon approach theSC again claiming thatthe government was vic-timising him for his anti-government stand.

Karnataka Chief MinisterD V Sadananda Gowda onMonday expanded his five-day-old ministry inducting21 with Cabinet rank butleft out the mining mag-nates Reddy brothers andtheir close associateSreeramulu.

All the ministers whowere inducted had servedin the outgoing ministry ofB S Yeddyurappa who hadstepped down as ChiefMinister following hisindictment by Lokayukta inits report on illegal mining.

Karunakara Reddy andJanardhana Reddy, whowere also indicted in the

Lokayukta report andtheir close associate frommines rich Bellary districtB Sreeramulu, failed toreturn to the ministry. Thethree were ministers inBJP's first government inthe South headed byYeddyurappa.

There is no DeputyChief Minister amid spec-ulation that JagadishShettar who was defeatedby Gowda, a Yeddyurappaloyalist, in the secret ballotmay get this post. Thestrong bid by Shettar tobag this post was broughtto naught by Yeddyurappa,who opposed creation ofthe post.

Governor H RBhardwaj administeredoath of office and secrecyto the newly inducted min-isters at Raj Bhavan,acceding to a request atshort notice by Gowda.With the induction of the

new ministers, thestrength of the ministryrose to 22, leaving 12 moreberths to be filled asKarnataka is entitled for a34-member ministry as perthe constitutional norm.

According to partysources, under a consen-sus reached between rivalfactions, 12 belonging toYeddyurappa camp andnine from Shettar groupwere chosen to join theministry after three-daysof consultations by theparty's central leaderDharmendra Pradhan,who is in-charge of partyaffairs in Karnataka.

AV Correspondent

To galvanize the partyworkers, ahead of theassembly elections nextyear, Gujarat BJP is nowholding `tiffin' meetingsacross the assembly con-stituencies of the state.The meetings are intendedto foster camaraderieamong the party workersat the grassroots level andalso to ensure better inter-action between the seniorleaders and the workers.

The specialty of thesemeetings is that the partyworkers are asked to carryhomemade food in a tiffincarrier to the meeting andafter attending the meet-ing, which lasts about twoto three hours share theirfood with their party col-leagues and eat together.

“The idea is to hold atleast one such meeting ofthe party and of each cellin every constituency,”said Dr. Jagdish Bhavsar,the convenor of the mediacell of Gujarat BJP.

The party has alto-gether nine cells including

media, scheduled tribe andscheduled caste, women,cyber cell and so on. Sowhile it makes at least tensuch meetings at everyconstituency, the totalnumber of such meetingswill be 1,820. “Such meet-ings were held earlier alsoin the party during munic-ipal elections or bye-elec-tions, however, this is forthe first time that thesemeetings are being organ-ized at such a large scale,”Bhavsar said.

The process was how-ever started by two of thesenior most leadrs ofGujarat BJP, PurushottamRupala and I K Jadeja, intheir respective con-stituencies of Amreli andDhrangadhra more than adecade back and still car-ryout such baithaks.

“Now the decision hasbeen taken at the execu-tive level to conduct suchmeetings all over the stateas it is felt that this is oneof the most effective waysto re-energize the workersahead of the election,”Bhavsar added.

BJP to hold ‘tiffin’ meetingto galvanise party workers

Controversial GujaratIPS officer suspended

The government tabled theLokpal Bill in Parliamentlast week amid widespreadprotests by the AnnaHazare group whichstepped up its oppositionto the official draft by burn-ing copies of the proposedlegislation. While civil soci-ety members slammed thebill calling it "weak, anti-poor and anti-dalit", thegovernment respondedsharply, with senior minis-ters counter-attacking theHazare group and termingthe language of the protestas an "insult and affront toParliament".

Copies of the legisla-tion were burned atHazare's village of RaleganSiddhi in Maharashtra.The bill was also burnt atPari Chowk in GreaterNoida, Rithala, ShastriNagar, Jantar Mantar,Kashmere Gate, Dwarkain the national capital andSector 18 in Noida. TeamAnna announced plans toburn the bill's copies every

day till August 16 whenthe Gandhian activistintends to go on an indefi-nite fast against the bill.

The introduction of thebill in the Lok Sabha wasnot devoid of politics, withleader of OppositionSushma Swaraj objectingto the exclusion of theprime minister from theanti-corruption ombuds-man's ambit. Later, Swarajand her Rajya Sabha coun-

terpart Arun Jaitleystressed the party's posi-tion at a press conference.

The Hazare group tar-geted Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, withSwami Agnivesh sayingSingh's U-turn on inclu-sion of his office showedthe perception of a "clean"PM was a myth. ArvindKejriwal said the govern-ment bill would not solveissues of the poor as it

leaves out the administra-tion's lowest rung withwhich people come indirect contact.

Congress leaders wereunhappy at Swaraj's inter-vention in the Lok Sabhaas they argued that onlythe legislative competenceof a bill should be com-mented on during intro-duction of the law. Butgiven the stiff competitionon who is tougher on graft,the BJP leader did not passup the opportunity toscore a point.

Ministers aggressivelyaccused BJP of politicalopportunism. Telecom min-ister Kapil Sibal said, "If BJPis so concerned aboutLokpal, the states they are inpower would have had alokayukta.'' He said Gujarat,Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand and Uttarakhanddid not have a Lokayukta.Home minister PChidambaram referred tothe exclusion of PM as a"temporary eclipse".

Anna, opposition tear into govt Lokpal bill

D V Sadananda Gowda

Karnataka CM expands ministry,keeps Reddys out

Sanjiv Bhatt

ject. We are coming for-ward with this bill….(which) will integrate landacquisition and relief andrehabilitation for the firsttime…I will hopefullybring the bill in this ses-sion of Parliament itself,”the minister said.

On the question ofhow “public purpose” willbe defined, the minister

said the matter was noteasy to resolve. “I want tomake it very clear that thisbill does not stop privatepurchase of land for pri-vate purposes. Land isrequired for industrializa-tion; land is required forurbanization; land isrequired for infrastruc-ture,” he said.

The minister said

some activist groups feltpublic purpose was toowidely defined. “We havedefined public purpose toinclude industry, industri-alisation and some formsof urbanization. I knowthere are large grey areas,”he said.

But here again, theminister hinted that landacquisition for projects

funded or executed by pri-vate enterprise cannot beruled out. “I do want tostress that in my view,public purpose meansinfrastructure, public pur-pose means railways,roads, highways andbridges. Public purposedoes not mean malls,shopping complexes,” hesaid.

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 25

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INDIA

Supreme Court lauds Gujarat government’s land policyFrowning at increasingincidents of governmentforcibly acquiring land forindustrialisation and resi-dential schemes, SupremeCourt observed that theLand Acquisition Actmust be scrapped as it is a“fraud” devised by some“sick people”. SC alsocomplimented theNarendra Modi govern-ment for its land acquisi-tion policy since there are“no complaints of anyforcible acquisition”

whereas issues of farmersand poor being uprootedare pouring in from allother states.

A bench of justicesG S Singhvi and H LDattu observed: “The Acthas become a fraud. Itseems to have beendevised by people with asick mind who have scantregard for the welfare ofthe common man.”

SC made the obser-vations while dealing withpetitions by farmers fromUP’s Hapur district. “Weare coming across severalcases of land beingacquired in the name ofemergency and public pur-pose.”

“But there is onestate from where we do

not receive any such com-plaints. Look atAhmedabad which isdeveloping but there areno complaints from thatplace. They have the sameofficers of the same cadreas in the rest of the coun-try. “Mr Haren Rawal(ASG) comes from thatstate and he would vouch-safe for it,” the benchremarked, adding that “theofficers from other statesperhaps should get train-ing in Gujarat.” PTI Land

‘Retrospectiveeffect to bee x a m i n e d ’Without offer-ing any com-m i t m e n t ,rural develop-ment.MinisterJ a i r a mRamesh saidthat the gov-ernment wasexamining the

implications of whetherthe proposed LandAcquisition andRehabilitation Bill wouldbe applied retrospectivelywith a cut-off date.

“One of the issuesthat we confronted whiledrafting this bill is whetherit should be with prospec-tive effect or with retro-spective effect. Normally,new legislation is withprospective effectalthough some times likein the Forest Rights Act, itwas applied retrospective-ly with the cut-off date,”Ramesh told the LokSabha.

“It is a very finedividing line. Land is astate subject. Land acqui-sition is a concurrent sub-

Continued from page 1

With Speaker MeiraKumar taking up theQuestion Hour, NDAmembers began shoutingslogans against the DelhiGovernment and demand-ed resignation of chiefminister Sheila Dikshit.

The Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG)report on the 2010Commonwealth Games,which was tabled in theParliament on Friday,indicted the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO)for the appointment ofSuresh Kalmadi as theOrganising CommitteeChief. The report alsoindicts Delhi chief ministerSheila Dikshit for mis-spending in the game'spreparation.

The report runninginto nearly 800 pages isdamaging for the scam-tainted Congress party andthe UPA government itleads at the centre since ithas sucked into its vortexthe party's "best chief min-ister" Sheila Dikshit andalso the PMO.

Addressing the media,Rekha Gupta, deputyCAG, said there were

numerous instances of"single tendering" and theawarding of contracts to"ineligible vendors".

The process was incon-sistent so as to favour par-ticular bidders, she said,while disclosing details ofthe report tabled inParliament earlier in the day.

Stating that there was"active involvement of the(Delhi) chief minister",she said favours weregranted to vendors whowere not qualified.

The report states,"Suresh Kalmadi wasappointed CWG OCChairman on PMO's rec-ommendation ofDecember 2004 despiteobjections from thensports minister."

The report said thePMO was responsible forappointing Suresh Kalmadias Commonwealth GamesOrganising Committee(OC) chairman.

According to the CAGreport, Sheila Dikshit hasbeen blamed of costing thetreasury Rs 310 million inlosses by approving inflat-ed contracts (street light-ing) during the prepara-tions of theCommonwealth Games.

CWG scam rocks Parliament,Opposition demands DelhiCM Dikshit’s resignation


As we come close to cele-brating the 64th IndianIndependence Day, it’stime to look back here inLondon and see how farwe have come. It isindeed true that Britainhas had a strong impacton India during the colo-nial rule but today I willfocus on an area whereIndia has had a strongerinfluence on Britain –Cuisine. In a completelyglobalised world, it isnow easy for cuisines toslowly penetrate into dif-ferent markets to maketheir presence felt. If wetake the example ofLondon, we get a clearexample of multicultural-ism. For instance, inLondon you find Indian,Chinese, Middle-Eastern,Thai, Mexican andCaribbean and so on.

Indian cuisine too hasslowly evolved in the UK.According to Britain'sFood Standards Agency,the Indian food industryin the United Kingdom isworth £3.2 billion,accounts for two-thirds ofall eating out, and servesabout 2.5 million Britishcustomers every week.

The history of Indianfood in Britain is nowalmost four hundred yearsold and not only has thecuisine undergone a greatchange in the UnitedKingdom but also in itsnative land. Apart fromthe reports of occasionalexplorers, the story reallystarts with the arrival inSurat of the English mer-chants of the East IndiaCompany in 1608 andthen again and more suc-cessfully in 1612.

According to menu-magazine.co.uk, “Thefirst recorded Indianrestaurant of the twenti-eth century was the Salute Hind in Holborn in1911 but the first to haveany real influence wasThe Shafi opened byMohammed Wayseemand Mohammed Rahim in1920. Coming from NorthIndia they opened theircafe in London’s GerardStreet (now the centre ofLondon’s Chinatown). Itsoon became a kind ofcommunity and IndianStudent Centre.”

However, in 1926, thefirst fashionable Indianrestaurant which isknown as Veeraswamywas opened in London’sRegent Street. Slowlyafter that many restau-rants specialising inIndian cuisine startedopening up. These restau-rants had a big challengeof bringing authenticIndian food to UK. Andmany of them have been

extremely successful. The Old World

Hospitality Group hasthree restaurants inLondon – Chor Bizarre,Tamarai and Sitaraay.When asked what makes

Indian cuisine popular inBritain, the group’sspokesperson said, “Withthe increase of globalisa-tion, different cultureswere coming together andfar more open to trying

new culinary experiencesand cuisine types. Overthe time, we gainedaccess to new foodgroups that were notreadily available in theUK and as different cul-tural backgroundsincreased the mix, a myr-iad of cuisine was born.

It is hard to believe thatthere are more Indianrestaurants in Londonthan Mumbai or Delhiand the word curry hasbecome more popular in

western countries than inIndia. Until recently,Chicken Tikka Masalawas crowned the food ofLondon. The UK’s multiethnic communities haveensured that Indian cui-sine has become a stapleon the British Menuacross the country.”

For an experience of arich Indian cuisine, Iwent to Chor Bizarre overthe weekend. I wasextremely stunned by thedécor to start with. It isan Aladdin’s Cavethemed restaurant includ-ing treasures from Indianperiod royalty which cus-tomers can purchase. It isalso the only restaurantoutside the KashmirValley to have access tothe secrets of the‘Wazwan’ – the legendaryKashmiri ceremonialfeast of 36 courses.

The restaurant has avery lavish menu withitems from every part ofIndia. I found the food tobe absolutely deliciousand truly Indian. Itmatched the magnifi-cence of the décor.

Indian cuisine stillremains the most favouredcuisine in Britain. Thefood has variety, flavor,

spice, aroma and muchmore. With time, restau-rants have now started thefusion of Indian cuisinewith another cuisine inorder to make it appealingfor more people.

The best part aboutIndian cuisine is that it isas diverse as the country.

With every state having acuisine of its own, itmakes it extremely spe-cial and lavish. Such isthe quality attached to‘Being Indian’.

Let us know what you think. Email Spriha at [email protected]

By Spriha Srivastava

26

Bhavan Centre, Londoncelebrated India’sIndependence Day onFriday 5th August withmany distinguishedguests.

Chief guest was the

Acting HighCommissioner of India MrRajesh Prasad. The Mayorof Hammersmith andFulham and the Bhavan’sFounder-Patron MrManeck Dalal OBE were

Bhavan Centre celebratesIndia’s Independence Day

Mr Joginder Sanger, Bhavan’s Chairman, speaking atIndependence Day. L. to r. Cllr Frances Stainton,

Mr Rajesh Prasad and Mr Maneck Dalal OBE.

A section of the audience at the Independence Day celebration

The Acting High Commissioner of India, Mr Rajesh Prasad

Sare Jahan Se Accha by our Hindustani vocal students

Our Bharatanatyam dancers

Parukkulle Nalla Naadu performed by our Karnatic Vocal students

Our Kathak dancers

also present.After the prayer by

Bhavan’s Director, DrM.N. Nandakumara,Bhavan’s Chairman, MrJoginder Sanger welcomedthose present and intro-duced Mr Maneck Dalallater welcomed all thosepresent.

Having retired fromthe post of chairman afteralmost 40 years earlier thisyear, Mr Maneck Dalalwas back at the Bhavan inhis new capacity asFounder-Patron.. Mr Dalalpraised the help theBhavan received from theIndian High Commission.He also recalled the cor-dial relations which theBhavan had had with theBorough of Hammersmithand Fulham and went onto say; “…it was a luckyday for the Bhavan whenwe pitched our tent in theBorough of Hammersmithand Fulham.”

The Mayor ofHammersmith andFulham, Cllr. FrancesStainton, responded bysaying that it was an hon-our for the Borough, thatthe Bhavan chose to locatein Hammersmith andFulham. She also notedthat the Bhavan’s churchpremises were very closeto the house whereGandhiji stayed in the late1800s. There was no doubtthat Gandhi had visitedthe church building often.

Mr Rajesh Prasad saidthat he was a well-wisherof the Bhavan and con-gratulated Mr JoginderSanger on becoming theChairman of the Bhavan.Mr Prasad then spokeabout the relationshipbetween India and theUnited Kingdom. “Todaythe two countries have asolid special relationshipin many spheres, includingeducation, science, tech-nology and culture.”

He said, “India meansmany things to many peo-ple. While it has made vaststrides in the fields of IT,bio-technology, nuclearscience and space, it is theprocess of uplifting thelives of millions of peoplewho are still below thepoverty line.”

Paying tribute to therole of NRIs, Mr Prasadsaid that Indians in theUK have distinguishedthemselves by playing avery special role in helpingto build bilateral relationsand he hoped that theywould continue to furtherstrengthen strategic rela-tions. He congratulatedthe good work being doneby the Bhavan and recalledhis first visit to the Bhavanin the eightes.

Mr Joginder Sangerlater thanked the ChiefGuest and the Mayor forbeing present. In the func-tion. The evening conclud-ed with a cultural pro-gramme, including patriot-ic songs and dance, whichwas compèred by M/sParvati Nair.

The world of curry & spices

Chor Bizarre - Menu

Tamarai interior

Chor Bizarre - Interior

Black TigerPrawns


Sabarmati Ashram: Built in 1915,about 7 km from Ahmedabad city acrossthe tranquil stretch of Sabarmati River, isthe Sabarmati Ashram, Gandhiji’s HQduring his long struggle for India’s inde-pendence. It was the nerve centre for theIndia’s freedom movement and wasreferred to as the Satyagraha Ashramduring Gandhiji’s stay.

Gandhiji (also known as Bapu) livedhere from 1917 to 1930. His simple hutwas called Hridayakunj, so named as itwas the heart of the ashram. His activi-ties were not merely confined to politicalprotests but also focused on social issuessuch as the plight of untouchables andthe poor, Hindu-Muslim unity, and theregeneration of rural India. The ashramwas committed to a simple and disci-plined life. Everyone lived in a simpleaccommodation and had to put somemanual work such as washing plates andclothes. There were no servants.

The ashram was the scene of manyevents in the India’s independence strug-gle. For example, it was from here inMarch 1930 that Bapu led a band of fol-lowers a month long historic Salt (orDandi) March to Dandi – a small coastaltown in South Gujarat to protest againstunjust tax on salt which hurt poorest sec-tion of the society. They walked all theway to Dandi (thousands joined them onthe way) and gathered salt in defiance ofthe law. Similar marches for making orcollecting salt were staged across thecountry. Thousands of arrests were made(including Gandhiji and Nehru) but by fol-lowing spring the making of the salt forpersonal use was permitted. This symbolicbut defiant action caught people’s imagi-nation, and inspired the whole countryinto previously unknown sense of unityand national identity. It made Gandhiji theunchallenged leader of India’s independ-ence movement that ultimately led to theending of the British rule.

Sabarmati Ashram is now a monu-ment to this remarkable son of India. Hiscottage is preserved and contains hispersonal effects (sandals, glasses,clothes, spinning wheel). A museumwithin the ashram displays excellent pho-tographic records and paintings depictinghis life and times. The adjoining librarycontains a collection of letters and booksdealing with his life, work, and teaching.It also publishes and sells Gandhi relatedliterature and arranges exhibitions onaspects of his life.

Aga Khan Palace: Across the MulaRiver, to the north-east of Pune city, andset within lovely gardens, is the grandAga Khan Palace. However, it is morethan just a palace. It’s a historic land-mark, a witness to India’s freedom move-ment. It was built in 1892 by the AgaKhan III, a prominent leader of India’sMuslim community. His grandson AgaKhan IV donated it to the nation in 1969,Gandhiji’s centenary year. Since then it’sa Gandhi related museum known asGandhi National Memorial or the YerwadaAshram. It was here that Gandhiji andother leaders of India’s freedom move-ment (including Mhadeobhai Desai,Sarojini Naidu) were interned by theBritish government for nearly two yearsafter he delivered his momentous QuitIndia resolution in Bombay (nowMumbai) in 1942, following which therewas a nation-wide unrest and thousandswere arrested. Today the palace is dedi-cated to highlighting Gandhiji’s extraordi-nary life and times.

A fine garlanded bronze statue ofGandhiji and Kasturba stands in the centreof the main hall; other rooms areunchanged since the time they were occu-pied by the freedom fighters and containtheir personal effects. Photos and paint-ings on the walls depict India’s independ-ence movement and events in Gandhiji’slong political career. A shop attached tothe museum sells khadi and cotton items.

Kasturba and Mahadeobhai passedaway here while still under internment.Simple marble memorials (samadhis)containing their ashes are erected in thepalace gardens.

By Dr Anil Mehta

Sabarmati Ashram and AgaKhan Palace: Witnesses toIndia’s freedom movement

Hridayakunj Cottage(Sabarmati Ashram)

The elegant AgaKhan Palace

A 1915 portrait ofGandhiji and Kasturba

(Sabarmati Ashram)

A marble smarak(memorial) to Kasturba

(Aga Khan Palace)

27

India, the biggest demo-cratic country in the worldwith its industrial powersand the fastest developingeconomy is the 7th largestcountry in the world.

India attained freedomfrom the British rule at thestroke of midnight ofAugust 15, 1947, and shookoff the shackles of Britishrule and became free. It wasa night of celebration allover the country. On thatnight, thousands of peoplegathered to rejoice the inde-pendence of the nation out-side the Assembly buildingand as dawn showed thebright glow, JawaharlalNehru, the first PrimeMinister of India, unfurledthe national flag on theramparts of the Red Fort. Itwas a moment of freedom,joy, peace and unity.

The vedic verse chantedat the funeral pyre ofGandhiji "Lead me from theUnreal to the Real, fromDarkness to Light, FromDeath to Immortality"reminds us of the sacrifice,determination, dedicationand devotion of our leaders,the makers of true India.

The Independence Dayof any country is amoment of pride and glory.On this special occasion,rich tributes are paid tothe freedom fighters whosacrificed their lives andfought to free their moth-erland from the clutches ofthe oppressors - Britishwho ruled the country.

Celebrations of

I n d e p e n d e n c e :Independence Day is cele-brated with flag hoistingceremonies and culturalprogrammes all over thecountry. The main pro-gram is held at the RedFort in Delhi where thePrime Minster unfurls theNational Flag and it issaluted by guns.

This is accompanied bya march-past of the armedand police forces. Similarceremonies are held in all

the state capitals. The PrimeMinister's speech at the RedFort in Delhi is a majorhighlight. Patriotic presen-tations by school childrenadd colors to the celebra-tions. Delhi’s skyline getsdotted with thousands ofkites taking to the sky thisday. The preparations forthe celebrations begin amonth in advance. Roadsare decorated with flags.

It is also a national hol-iday, with educational insti-tutions, private and govern-ment organisations remain-ing closed, but for officialcelebrations in the morn-

ing. Schools and collegesmark the day with culturalactivities, drills, flag hoist-ing and distribution ofsweets. Government as wellas private organisations cel-ebrate it similarly.

Families and friends gettogether for lunch or din-ner, or for an outing.Housing colonies, culturalcentres, clubs and societieshold entertainment pro-grammes and competi-tions, usually based on thefreedom theme. In cities,one sees a sudden burst ofsaffron, green and white,the Indian tri-colour. Themedia goes to town with avariety of contests, promo-tions and programmes relat-ed to Indian independence.Television channels showpatriotic movies and relent-lessly play patriotic songsfrom old and new movies.Billboards on roadsides fordifferent brands pay theirtribute to the nation.

Everyone seems tohave something going forthem. Shops and pettytradesmen sell a range ofIndependence Day mer-chandise such as flags,stickers, tee-shirts andgreeting cards. Streeturchins hawk paper andplastic flags and tri-coloured balloons tomotorists at traffic signals.

What lies beneath thecelebrations is the nationalspirit of gaiety, pride andhope for a better future. Aspirit and hope that isrenewed each year.

A moment of pride and glory


Indian Wedding

Usually a traditionalBihari wedding lasts for amonth, but nowadays ithas been reduced to a five -day affair.

A Hindu Bihari matri-monial rite begins withSatyanarayan Katha, aprayer that is performedby the groom and his fam-ily, under the supervisionof a Pundit. All theattending family membersare supposed to fast. Thehavan is performed on thelast day to conclude allthe wedding rituals.

Then the rit-ual Haldi Kutaitakes place, inthis groom’smother andother suhagins(married ladies)grind theturmeric to apaste that issent to the bridefor the ritualubtan.

After that,an auspiciousday is fixed forCheka, which isthe engagementceremony. Inthis ceremony,5, 7, 9, or 11members from thegroom’s family along withthe groom visit the bride’shouse along with gifts,known as Chekas and thebride and groomexchange rings. The nextday, the same ritual isrepeated by the bride’sfamily and they visit thegroom’s house.

The Shagun is per-formed in which thebride’s priest, accompa-nied by her brother, thebarber, and four othermembers, take auspiciousgifts to the groom’s fami-ly. The bride’s brotherapplies tilak/teeka on thegroom’s forehead that sig-nifies that family’s accept-ance of the wedding. Thebrother gets along a lot ofgifts like vessels, clothes,jewellery etc.

Shagun is followed byTilak. In this ceremony,haldi paste, speciallymade by the bride’s moth-er, is brought in a silverbowl that is applied onthe groom. Tilak is one ofthe biggest ceremoniesheld by the groom’s party,

this is equivalent to awedding reception. Onthe wedding morning,once again thehaldi/turmeric paste cere-mony is performed so thatthe bride and the groombeautify and purify theirbodies after which theyare dressed up for theJaimala ceremony.

Silpoha, a ladies ritu-al, is held early in thewedding morning whereinthe groom’s mother in herChunri/shawl, along withher mother-in-law or her

husband’s elder brother’swife grinds akshat or riceon a flat grinding stone.While grinding they seekblessings of gods andancestors. After that, aritual Imli-Ghutai is per-formed by the groom’smaternal uncle and auntjust before the pariccha-van. It is to drive awayevil omens and to warnthe groom not to indulgein any form of vices. Inthis ritual, the uncle feedsa betel leaf to the groom,but the groom keeps itbetween his teeth whilehis mother takes it fromhim and eats it herself.This act signifies that themother will accept all theevil omens falling on himupon her.

Now the weddingfunction begins. The brideis brought to the weddingground where she per-forms an Aarti of thegroom and then the cou-ple exchange garlands.Before the commence-ment of wedding rites, thebride’s mother and othermarried women hold the

Galsedi ceremony. Duringthis ritual, the mothercarries a plate that con-tains a small lighted lamp,betel leaves and smalllumps of cow dung. Allthe women, one by one,heat the betel leaves onthe lamp and foment thegrooms face, forehead andeyes at least five timeseach from their left hand.

After that, the bride’sbrother or brother-in-lawescorts the groom to themandap for KangnaBandhana ceremony for

which the bride adorns ayellow silk sari withzari/gold borders withoutany jewellery on herbody. The pundit ties thebracelets made of mangoleaves, raw cottonthread, colored rice,turmeric and money, onthe right hand of the cou-ple and for the next fourdays they have to wearthis symbolic bracelet.Then the barber, presentin the mandap, cuts thefingernails and toenailsof both the bride and thegroom. Then thekanyadaan takes place.In this ceremony, thebride’s father stretchesout his right hand to thebride’s mother whoplaces her right hand onit, signifying the givingaway of daughter. All thistime, the priests chantthe mantras. The groomthen retires to his roomand once again the bridechanges her dress for theKanya nirakshan whichmeans an introduction tothe groom’s family andrelatives.

A traditional Bihari wedding

Community

Pateti is the Parsi new yearday. The significance ofPateti is that it is the dayto dwell on the wrongs orsins one may have com-mitted the previous year,and atoning for them.

On Pateti day, whichcomes in the month ofNavroj, the Parsis visit thefire temple or agiary, meetother Parsi families andexchange gifts and sweets.Worship Ahura Mazda,symbolised by fire andpromise to live with goodthoughts, use good wordsand perform the rightactions. The word Pateti isderived from Pazend patet,meaning ‘repentance.’

The Zoroastrian tenetsare based on the threeideals of good thoughts,good words and gooddeeds. Anything that isout of accord with this isconsidered a sin.

On this day Parsi menwear their traditionaldress called dagli and thewomen dress up in theirtraditional and heirloomgara sarees. In the agiary apuja (jashan) is performedand sandalwood is offeredto the fire.

As in most festivals,cleaning the house is animportant activity beforethe festival. A tilak isplaced on the foreheads ofchildren, new clothes are

worn and elaborate menusorganised. Jashan orthanksgiving prayers areoffered in fire temples andthe day is spent in meetingfamily and friends andexchanging the traditionalgreeting Sal Mubarak.

Decorations: The frontdoor thresholds on Parsihomes are decorated with

powdered chalk designs,often in the shape of a fish,with red powder placed forthe eye of the fish. Thedesigns are produced bystamping a tray containingthe chalk and perforatedwith the design.. Strings offlowers, especially tuberos-es and marigolds, grace thetop of the doorway.

Fragrances: The oldcustom of burning sandal-wood and incense in acenser and walking aroundthe home and filing the air

with a light smoke and fra-grance, has been replacedby sprinkling sandalwoodpowder on glowing coalsplaced on the censer.

New Clothes: Newclothes are a gift, especial-ly for children in a family,since first thing in themorning, Parsis bathe andwear new clothes beforevisiting a temple.

Food: A traditionalbreakfast includes Ravomade from suji (semoli-na), milk and sugar, andSev - fried vermicellicooked in sugar syrup andgarnished with raisins andalmond slivers.

Lunch and dinnerdishes include pulao dal(rice and lentil sauce) -often plain rice and moongdal, sali boti (meat insauce with fried potatostings placed on top), andpatra-ni-machchi (fish pre-pared in leaves).

Sweets include suter-feni (fine vermicelli swirls)and jalebi (an orangecoloured deep fried, sugarsyrup soaked batter,shaped like a large pretzel).

Other Customs: Othercustoms include makingcharitable donations,sprinkling visitors withrose water as they enter ahome, and watching ahumorous satirical playabout Parsi lives.

Pateti is a day of repentance for Parsis

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In divine lightBy Rajen Vakil

When King Bhagiratha,the grandson ofAnshuman, heard of howhis 60,000 great granduncles had died becauseof Rishi Kapila’s wrath andnot achieved freedom, heleft his kingdom andmoved to the Himalayasto do tapas.

Living only on fruitsand roots he performedheavy austerities for athousand years afterwhich the goddess Gangaappeared before him. Sheasked the king what hedesired. The king repliedthat the souls of his fore-fathers had not attainedfreedom as they were stillsearching for the yagnahorse because of whichthey had lost their lives.He requested her todescend from the heavensand fill the oceans whichhad become dry as RishiAgastya had drunk them,and then with her waterwash the spot where hisforefathers had died, sothat they would be free.Ganga said that she wouldonly be able to descend ifLord Shiva would hold herand as he is the only onewho would be able to bearthe powerful force of herwater when she wouldstart flowing downwards.

Bhagiratha then wentto Mount Kailas and didtapas to please LordShiva. After a long time,

Lord Shiva finallyappeared before him andagreed to support thedescent of the Ganga.Shiva then sat down inthe North East. The kingmeditated upon Ganga.Seeing Lord Shiva sittingin the North East, Ganga

started to descend to theearth. All the divine andcelestial beings came towitness this magnificenthappening. Lord Shivasupported the river as ifhe was wearing a garlandof pearls. From Shiva’sneck, with a roaringsound, Ganga fell on theearth, split into three andstarted flowing towardsthe oceans to the spotwhere Bhagiratha’s greatgrand uncles had died.The king took her water inhis hands and paid obla-

tions to his great granduncles, setting their soulsfree.

There is a higher levelof understanding that isnormally not accessible tous. Sometimes flashesdescend from there whichresult in great inventionsor discoveries. To contacthigher knowledge wemust be free of the lowerand that is fulfilment ofour ambitions. The kingleaves his kingdom towork on freeing his psy-chic nature of themomentum of personaldesires. It is only whenwe are free of everythingpersonal can we digestthe higher which is non-personal.

The river is held byShiva implying purity ofemotions. The king firstfrees himself of desire andcontacts higher knowl-edge in the form ofGanga. She tells him topurify his emotions, onlythen will she descend. Histapas to Shiva is symbolicof attaining emotionalpurity. This is an auspi-cious happening for everystudent, that as heacquires purity of emo-tions, the source of allknowledge called Gangaopens up for him.

All past articles on the Mahabharata can beaccessed from http://epaper.asianvoice.com or from http://www.3stepbreath.com/mahabharata.html

The Descent of the River Ganga

A new study has revealedthat behavioural therapyproves more efficient aswell as economical inmigraine. It include relax-ation training, hypnosisand biofeedback.

Long-time behaviouraltherapy researcher andpractitioner Dr DonaldPenzien said the costs ofprescription prophylacticdrugs - the kind chronicmigraine sufferers takeevery day to prevent onset- may not seem much evenat several dollars a day.

But those costs keep

adding up with additionaldoctor visits and more pre-scriptions, noted DrPenzien, professor of psy-chiatry at the University ofMississippi MedicalCenter and co-author of

the study.The cost of behavioural

treatment is front-loaded.You go to a number oftreatment sessions but thenthat's it. And the benefitslast for years, he added.

Migraines are best cured bybehavioural therapy

Stomach aches are a com-mon problem among indi-viduals of all ages,whether male or female.Eating outside food fre-quently gives one stomachaches.

General physician, DrGanesh Gadkari says,"When the body's digestivesystem is unable to digestthe food, thus the diges-tive process remainsincomplete and a stomachache occurs." He says thatthough it's not a grave ail-ment, it can sure causeone discomfort and so herecommends natural reme-dies to seek relief fromstomach aches than pop-ping pills. Here are someremedies one can easily tryat home:

• If there's stomach acheresulting due to acidity, havea glass of soda water.

• An energetic drinkthat also works wondersfor a stomach ache issqueezing half a lime in aglass of water and adding atablespoon of honey to it.

• A yummy andhealthy snack option iseating some pomegranateseeds to which a pinch ofsalt and pepper added.

• One way to seekquick relief is to prepare a

mixture of mint, gingerand lime juice, along witha pinch of black salt. Addto a glass of water, stir welland drink.

• Here's a grandmom'straditional solution: Eat asmall bowl of curd towhich a teaspoon ofground fenugreek or methiseeds. This also helps toclear the digestive tract.

• Chewing aniseedstoo can give relief fromstomach aches. For bestresults, soak a few tea-spoons of aniseeds in aglass of water, overnight.Next morning eat thesoaked aniseeds and drinkthis water.

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 29HealtH WATCH

Any questions write to [email protected] Mamta Saha

Psychologist

Recently I have noticedthat many people struggleto stay in the present. Notbeing present means thatyou constantly ‘live in’ andtalk about the past byrecalling (thinking andtalking about) negativeexperiences and situa-tions. Often individualsuse these negative experi-ences as a compass to dic-tate how they will live theirlives today and let thesepast moments’ influencewho and how they arenow. If this sounds famil-iar think about how satis-fied you are with your life.If you are getting fed-upwith sounding like a bro-ken record and are con-stantly living in a state of‘victim mentality’ read onto see how you can takeresponsibility for your ownhappiness by letting go ofyesterday and by startingto embrace today.

The first thing to bemindful of is that ‘thoughtshave power’ By recalling‘dramas’ from the past andconstantly revisiting themin your mind will give younothing but zapped energyand dissatisfaction –because when you think ofnegative things from thepast – this naturally makesyou feel upset/angry etc.By recreating negative situ-ations in your mind you are‘confirming’ to yourself thatyou would like similar situa-

tions to repeat in yourfuture. This is also knownas the ‘self fulfilling prophe-cy’ and is where you re-livetough times in your mind,talk about them and expectthem to occur in the future– and guess what, they do.Make a list of all the thingsyou want to change in yourlife and create 3 actionpoints around each activityand how you will changethings positively.

Secondly, think aboutwhat you do want asopposed to don’t want. Itis important to focus onthe positive of what youcan have rather then whatwas missing. The Buddhasaid ‘we are what wethink. All that we are aris-es with our thoughts. Withour thoughts we make ourworld’. So, use the powerof positive visualisation tomotivate yourself and instilfaith in your future, thisenables progression asopposed to regression andfrustration. You may wantanswers or closure fromthe past – but learn to letgo of wanting such thingsbecause you keep yourselfin yesterday and don’tallow yourself to live –today. Start to daydreamabout possibilities in yourlife as opposed to nega-tive, grey situations fromthe past. Write down whatyou are daydreaming andhow it makes you feel.

Then know that if you con-centrate hard enough onthese visions – your lifewill start to change posi-tively around you.

Know that you can bein control of yourthoughts, feelings andactions if you choose tobe. We have a lot of choic-es in life – so never feelobligated and pressured tokeep your thoughts in anegative space. Learn tobe your own best friendnot your own worstenemy. Guilt is a heavyemotion that weighs youdown and you don’tdeserve this. You deserveto be happy so that youcan live your life in thenow and embrace all thegifts that surround you.

Due to the success ofthe Impact Boot Camp I amrunning an event onSeptember 17th in London.To register your interestemail: [email protected]. Keepup to date by ‘liking’ theThink Spa London page onFacebook and following uson Twitter. Lastly, if you feelcoaching would benefit youor someone you know doget in touch with me.Remember you have all ittakes to live happily andpeacefully – so think twicebefore you allow anythingnegative to get the better ofyou. I send you all peaceand energy.

How to let go of the past

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Do your children have theart of conversation?Well, let’s first agree whata ‘conversation’ is. Aconversation is definedloosely as an exchange ofideas/thoughts or opin-ions. So, does a ‘dis-tracted’ conversationcount? You decide.

Ria recently had avisit from her cousinswho are much older thanher. As they stayed overfor a few days, I had anopportunity to personallywitness what a teenager’sroutine is like. I startedto surprise myself as myold fashioned views start-ed to trickle out. But pic-ture this, children withphones wake up andimmediately pick up theirblackberry to see whatthey have missed on facebook and twitter whilstthey have been sleeping.This is immediately fol-lowed by responses thatmust be delivered beforethey get to the bathroomto get dressed. The dis-traction continues overbreakfast and for the restof their day until theyfinally fall asleep. Irealised I was beingunfair as I too am gluedto my blackberry, forwork I might add. So, Isuppose children are onlymimicking what is

‘acceptable’ around them.Can we blame them?Should we blame our-selves? Should we leavethe smart phones aloneand focus instead on theloved ones around us?

I must admit, there isnothing like being secondto a blackberry or iphone.The occasional distrac-tion as I talked to themturned out to be a repeti-tive thread. These young-sters are clearly mastersof multi-tasking as theycontinued to hold a con-versation with me whilstupdating their friends ontwitter and BING bomb-ing their blackberryfriends (Bing bombing issending ‘Bing’ messagesrepetitively to your BBMfriends). Memories frommy childhood floodedback and I wondered if Ihad the ‘art of conversa-tion’ or did I simplymuster responses (asshort as possible) whilst Icontinued my ‘real con-versation’ with myphone? Since when did‘virtual’ relationshipsovertake the ‘real’ ones athome?

Personally, I am not abig fan of social network-ing but can see its advan-tages. My daughter isonly 2 but knows how tounlock an iphone and

enjoys the occasional ses-sion of Angry Birds orTalking Tom. I am notproud to give in to thenew generation of ‘tech-no-friendly’ children but Ido wonder whether theywill lose the ‘real’ art ofconversation. I wonderwhether we value our‘virtual’ relationshipsmore than the ‘physical’ones around us? Are vir-tual relationships easieras they are convenient?There is no expectation ofan immediate response,you can pretend you did-n’t see the message, sayyou were busy or pretendthat your phone wasswitched off? Real rela-tionships need you to be‘present’, to ‘understand’the other person and‘respond’ to them imme-diately. That is the realart of conversation and Isuppose this is real life.

Don’t get me wrong, Iknow we will continuetext, email, tweet, face-book, bing bomb andbbm! I just wish to growolder with a generationthat also knows the art ofconversation.Quote:

“Everybody gets somuch information allday long that they losetheir common sense”

– Gertrude Stein

Art of Conversation

By Radhika Madlani

Should you have any comments or want to get in touch with me you can email on [email protected]

Natural remedies for stomach ache

You need to pay moreattention than usual to your

everyday work dairy. Meetings, work hours and organisedbreaks could play havoc, unless you're prepared to re-group on the spur of the moment. Try to be meticulous butflexible about your schedule. Play your cards right and youcan pull strings in you favour.

At home, be at yourdiplomatic best and try not to tread on anyone's toes.Passions will run from hot to cold, and relationships maysuffer. Even the most strong-willed Taureans will be moreopen to compromise to keep the peace. All things consid-ered, your health should be robust.

Your communicationsector is all-abuzz with planetary energies firing you uppreventing you from sleeping properly. Give yourself plen-ty of physical outlets to drain off some of the excess men-tal stimulation. You feel like you can finally settle into amore grounded and steady routine instead of letting yourschedule run you.

It would be unwise totake any risks, particularly in regard to joint interests

and investments. So be extra careful if you need to dealwith complex legal matters and necessary red tape. If lovehas left you feeling rather dejected or cynical, it looks asthough soon events will pull you out of this mood ofdespondency.

You will continue to be in arestless mood for some time to come. This makes youimpatient with restrictions and even more determined tocut your own path. Do not get over-anxious if everythingseems to be in slow motion - it is time to pull a few strings.You are likely to experience some tension in close relation-ships.

You may find yourselfhard at work behind the scenes, although that may not

be apparent to others. You may find yourself caught up ina whirlwind of activity, with opportunities to advance onboth the inner and outer level. There’s a sparkle to yoursocial life and much enjoyment is to be had simply frombeing in touch with other people.

Relationships are com-plex in the best of times, but Saturn's motion can make

things even more complicated now. Misunderstandings canplague partnerships or potential romances - be more care-ful and forgiving. A good time for completing unfinishedbusiness and reassessing your future projects.

Jupiter, the planet ofabundance, is transiting your partnership sector. You

have plenty of romantic options. Financially you are stillnot out of the woods as Saturn is still challenging you. Atwork you will experience a mixed atmosphere, therefore beon your guard as communications can be misinterpreted.

You’re likely to findyourself doing a lot of

thinking about both new and existing partnerships,and maybe toing and froing in one relationship in par-ticular. Home and family duties and responsibilitiesmay weigh heavy on you. In effect, you’re building anew foundation, so the work you put in now will payoff in the future.

The planetaryactivity in your chart signals a time of mixed emotionsas well as personal issues to be dealt with. Theaccent’s very much on relationships. The outlookremains optimistic, so don't be afraid to act if yourinstinct tells you it's time for change. Professionaland financial pressures will begin to ease.

Decision making willprove to be a bit of a bind

because of your wavering mind - seek professionaladvice and then steam ahead. Be careful with yourexpenditure as you have a tendency to be extrava-gant. In relationships, sometimes it is a good idea tostand back and get a more objective view of the pat-tern of your life.

It's a time of slow andsteady progress that can set the stage for a long timeto come. Of course, there are still challenging issueson both a personal and practical level. To get hereyou may have overcome obstacles by making impor-tant decision and choices. You will achieve a lotmore, by motivating your own desires.

This week in CB Live, Jyotsnaben Shah, Consulting Editor of Gujarat Samachar willinterview Mr Vijay Patel of Waymade Pharmaceutical Ltd and a well wisher and donor ofDevdaya charitable trust UK, who will talk about hisdedication towards philanthropy and Devdaya Charity'scause and will be joined by Dr Ramnik Mehta and Mr A C Patel from the Trust as well.Mrs Priti Modi, poet will talk about her experience anddedication towards the good cause and will be joinedby Mrs Bhanuben Mehta and Mrs Madhuben Mehta.


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2nd Edition of A4 size GlossyMagazine of "British Punjabis"- Remarkable Success StoryFriendly, Faithful & FierceRise of India- Baroness Sandip Verma - LordsMinister for InternationalDevelopment, Equalities andWomen, Whip in the CabinetOfficePunjabi Language is ourCommon Heritage- Mr Neeraj Arora - Independent JournalistFiranghis of Punjab- Mr Bobby Singh Bansal - Historian and AuthorPunjabis abroad: Enriching the world with hardwork and enterprise- Dr Preman Addy - ABPLNew Melody for new entrepreneurs- Ms Ridhika Batra - Director - Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), UKFor more information call: Mr Nikhil Gor on 020 7749 4009/07875 229 200email: [email protected]

Following the launch of a new Time to Change anti-stigma campaign in Harrow in June, there is a hive ofactivity going on over the next few weeks encourag-ing people to be open and honest about mentalhealth. The aim of the project is to change attitudesand behaviour of 3000 members of South Asian com-munity towards mental illness. As a part of the proj-ect, Time to Change are hosting an array of localactivities to get people talking about mental healththis months. Time to change is celebrating Rakshabandhan in Harrow on 13th August to engage familyand all siblings. 27th August (11am-4pm) Time toChange will take over St George's shopping centre,bringing together a collection of artists performing tosupport the end of stigma around mental health.

l Shravan mas parayan. BAPS SwaminarayanMandir, 190 Queensway, Southend-on-Sea, SS12LU.17-19 August.8pm to 9.30pm l Bhojan and Bhajans on Monday 15th August2011 at Kadwa Patidar Centre, Kenmore HA38LU, 12:30pm-1:30pm. Contact: LaxmichandHemraj Shah- 020 8907 8621l Independence Day of India with Mayor BobbyCartwright. Sat 20th Aug, 7pm Contact: [email protected] 14th August, Shree 108 Hanuman Chalisa,Social Club Hall, Northwick Park Hospital,Watford Road, Harrow, HA1 3UJ, Dipakben Patel020 8459 5758l Shree Jalaram Mandir, 39-45 Oldfield LaneSouth, Greenford, Middlesex, UB6 9LB, Tel: 0208578 8088 / 9285 Friday 5th August to Saturday13th August 2011 Daily Katha from 2.30pm to6pm followed by Prasad upto 8pml Shravan Maas Satsang at Shree Aden, 67AChurch Lane, London N2 8DR at 7:30-10:30pmfrom 1st-29th August. Contact: 020 8346 6686lSurrey Gujarati Hindu Society has arranged acoach trip to ISKCON Watford temple forJanmashtami on Sunday 21st August 2011.Departby 10.00am and leave temple by 7.00pm.Bhavnaben on 0208 684 4645

Asian Voice wishes all thebrothers and sisters a

Happy Raksha Bandhan

Time to Change

The Indian Vovinam martial arts team won sixbronze medals in the World VovinamChampionship organised in Ho Chi Minh city,Vietnam on July 26-31. 'Twenty-Two countriesincluding Vietnam, Italy, France, Iran, Laos,Indonesia and Cambodia participated in thechampionship. India struggled against the topteams but played well to win six bronze medals,'said a statement from the Vovinam Associationof India. Vovinam is a Vietnamese martial artpractised with and without weapons. Medals:Jiban Sanasam (51kg male), Kanta Singh (54kgmale), Ajit Meitei (57kg male), SaraswathyRethinam (51kg female), Saraswathy Rethinam,Ruhini Devi, Meena Rani Devi (3 female groupperformance), Ruhini Devi-Ajit Meitei, KantaSingh, Prem Kumar (1 female vs 3 male withoutweapon performance).

Asian Voice - Saturday 13th August 2011 31SpORt woRld

India’s pace bowler Zaheer Khan wasnot available for the rest of the series ashe has to undergo surgery to fix ankleimpingement.

In a statement BCCI secretary andpresident-elect N Srinivasan said thatthe fast bowler needed 14-16 weeks torecover completely. “He will thereforenot be able to participate in the ongoingTest series and the subsequent T20 inter-national and One-day series,” it said.

For all those who saw Zaheer gothrough his paces, ambling in for a fewdeliveries at nets and eventually bowl-ing three overs in the two-day gameagainst Northamptonshire, the diagno-sis was obvious a long time back itself.But what exposed the team manage-ment and the support staff completelywas the opening line of the statement.

“Zaheer is suffering from a recur-rent right hamstring strain and a rightankle impingement,” it said. Even moredamagingly, it added: “He will require

surgery for his ankle, followed by inten-sive rehabilitation for the ankle and thehamstring.”

What took everybody by surprise,even incredulity and anger, is the sud-den entry of the ankle into prime timenews. As far as the country was told,Zaheer simply had a hamstring strain

that he picked up on the first day of thefirst Test at Lord’s. That was nearly 16days ago. He has been in London sincethen, apparently going through closemedical treatment.

So how come nobody noticed thatthe bigger problem was with the ankle?Zaheer himself seemed to be payingattention to only his hamstring eachtime he went through the motions ofregaining his fitness. The impressiongiven though was that he was well onhis way to recovery.

The team manager, in fact, statedthat everything was going according toa well-laid out plan, when he was con-fronted by media personnel. “We willknow for sure by tomorrow evening. Wewill make an official announcementthen,” he said, which confirms now thatthe management knew more than whatit was letting on. Maybe, it wanted theBoard secretary to make the grandannouncement, as he inevitably did.

Six bronze medals for

India in Vovinam meet

India’s ace 800mrunner TintuLuka’s wait toqualify for LondonOlympics contin-ued even as shewon her secondgold medal in fourdays on theEuropean circuit.Luka, legendary PTUsha’s protege,won her secondconsecutive goldlast week by clocking 2.03.62 at the rain-hitAmsterdam Open Athletics meet. Yet again,Luka was way behind her national record of1:59.17, but her effort was good enough to fetchher gold and a cash award of 250 Euro. She wasfollowed by American Bethany Praska (2.05.01)and Israeli Ali Goldfarb (2.17.77) in second andthird places. Luka, who had won gold atKarlstad Grand Prix in Sweden with an effort of2:02.58 on August 2, is yet to cross the LondonOlympics qualifying ‘B’ standard of 2:01.30.

She has already qualified for the WorldChampionships to be held at Daegu, SouthKorea from August 27 to September 4. Also end-ing on the podium was Ghamanda Ram, whowon silver in men’s 800m final with a timing of1:48.69 sec. He had finished fifth at Karlstadwith a timing of 1:47.25. The gold was capturedby Trinidad’s Jamaal James (1.48.71) and bronzewent to Halit Kilic (1.49.96). The WorldChampionships and London Olympics ‘B’ quali-fying standard for men’s 800m race is 1:46.30.

Tintu grabs another

gold, Ram wins silver

Out of favour Pakistani cricketer, Shoaib Malik,has taken to playing tennis and is elated at beat-ing his star wife, Sania Mirza, on a mini court."I play tennis with Sania twice a week. I beather at a mini court recently," Malik said duringa recent interaction at Lahore airport.

Malik, who developed interest in the gameafter his marriage to the Indian tennis ace, isnow aiming to beat her on a standard court.

"I now want to win a game on a full-sizedcourt," the former Pakistan captain said.

Emphasising on the rise in Sania's ranking,Malik pointed out that her game has improvedafter their marriage. Malik said he was in Indiaduring the historic cricket World Cup semi-finalbetween the arch-rivals but regretted for notbeing able to watch it live.

"I did not have a visa for Mohali," he said.Sania is passionate about cricket and the couplesupport their respective countries during anIndo-Pak cricket match. "We watch the gametogether, she supports India and I supportPakistan," he revealed.

Shoaib goes one up on

Sania in tennis

Falgun Bhojak, motivating the KenyansFalgun Bhojak, the son ofMr and Mrs Ashwin wasborn in June 1985. He wasbitten by the sporting bugduring his formal educationat the prestigious St Mary’sSchool. While in school,Falgun participated indiverse sporting activatessuch as swimming where hiscontinued desire to excelcatapulted him captain ofthe School and NationalTeam for six years (1999 –2004). While still in school,he also played cricket, hock-ey and participated incycling competitions for StMary’s and NairobiGymkhana where he is amember to date.

With community servicebeing an integral part of theKenyan and Asian culture,Falgun has participated andpromoted community serv-ice projects such as partak-ing in a resource mobilisa-tion strategy to buildschools for the less fortu-nate in Machakos. He also

visited local hospitals toassist the cancer andorthopaedic wards. He aimsto get more and moreKenyans interested insports.

He recently took part inthe London Triathlon atExcel Exhibition centre.

AV: How was the experi-ence in participating inTriathlon. And why did you

participate in?I participated in the

Ironman UK 2011 whichwas held in Bolton area,where I have to swim 3.8km, then cycle 180 km andfinish off with a 42.2 km runwhich should all be done in17 hrs. The experience wasvery good and very tough.

AV: It is believedKenyans are wonderful insports, especially running.Why do you think you needto motivate them further?

Yes they are great sports-men and women. They needto venture out into othersports areas and furtherdominate there and I plan todevelop triathlon in Kenyaand do the best I can to helpanyone who is interested.

AV: Do you want to pur-sue a career in sports or is itjust a hobby?

I am a graduate ofhuman kinesiology from auniversity in South Africacalled Nelson Mandela met-ropolitan university. I am

currently a sports teach inKenya where I help youngmen and women to becomethe best that they can be aspeople.

AV: What is yourfavourite form of sports?

I love all sports, but Ienjoy watching cricket andfootball. Otherwise I aminterested in all sports.

AV: Tell us a little moreon yourself- what are youdoing in London etc

I came to the UnitedKingdom to attend mybrother’s graduation atWarwick University and toacclimatise to the environ-ment and weather for myrace which was held on 31stJuly.

AV: Is there any messagefor the community?

I would encourage moreto become physically activein triathlon sport. Its is avery good sport to partici-pate in and will help in themaintenance of health in thelong run.

Zaheer needs surgery to fix ankle impingement

London Olympics organisers’ decisionto name controversial Dow ChemicalCompany “with the blood of Bhopal onits hands”, as a sponsor of the 2012 sta-dium in London, has sparked outrageamongst campaigners fighting for jus-tice for Bhopal gas tragedy victims.

The London Organising Committeeof the Olympic Games (LOCOG)recently confirmed that Dow wouldsponsor the 7 million pounds fabriccurtain thatwill encirclethe OlympicStadium dur-ing next sum-mer’s games.The move haso u t r a g e dcampaignersfighting for25,000 peo-ple who died in India’s devastatingchemical leak in 1984, Express.co.ukreports.

The victims’ campaigners haveargued that children in the city are stillbeing born maimed because of the poi-son that continues to pollute the city’sgroundwater. The campaigners arebacking a number of criminal and civilcourt cases against Union Carbide.They are also urging widespreadprotests, including a ‘Bhopal Olympics’involving disabled children, until a

change of heart from London. The campaigners are particularly

shocked by London Olympic chiefSebastian Coe since his grandfatherwas from India. “We have a message forSeb Coe: Surely, it’s possible to do theOlympics without taking money fromthis company?” spokeswoman RachnaDhingra said. “They have a PRmachine working for them day andnight. They can pretty much get away

with any-t h i n g .They’re sopowerful andhave so muchmoney. Theyhire the moste x p e n s i v elawyers inthis countryand they dan-

gle the carrot of investment in India.” Arundhati Muthu, Greenpeace

spokesman, also described the London2012 move as ‘offensive’. “This crassattempt by Dow to detoxify their brandwon’t wash with the thousands of vic-tims of the Bhopal disaster, nor ordi-nary Londoners,” Muthu said.

The International Campaign forJustice in Bhopal has urged PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh to make aformal complaint to David Cameron,the report said.

Respected com-mentators andleading opinionmakers SunilGavaskar andRavi Shastri,the voice of thegame adored bymillions acrossIndia, are beingpaid a stagger-ing Rs 36 mil-lion each annually by the Indian crick-et board to air official opinion. So thenext time you hear them lending theirfervent support to a Board policy - likethe resistance to umpire reviews - takeit with a pinch of salt.

The staggering sum, which is over andabove what the former Indian captainsearn from independent contracts withbroadcasters when the team tours abroad,covers all ‘BCCI-owned’ cricket on Indiansoil - The Indian Premier League (IPL),the Champions Trophy and all interna-tional matches played at home, a seniorBoard of Control for Cricket in India offi-cial said. He added that “they cannot sayanything that goes against the policy orinterests of the board” and that it wascompulsory for any channel telecastinginternational cricket on Indian soil to getthe two on board.

Row over Dow as London Olympic sponsorCampaigners fighting for justice for Bhopal gas victims shocked

Falgun Bhojak

BCCI pays Gavaskar,Shastri 36 mn eachto air official opinion

By Premen Addy

The sight of woebegone pace spearheadZaheer Khan limping off the ground afterbowling three ineffective overs yielding24 runs in a two-day 12-a-side warm upgame against a Northamptonshire sec-ond XI at Northampton summed upIndia's situation. They looked dispiritedand broken-backed, their hyped tour ofEngland a damp squib best forgotten.

It will take Zaheer 14 weeks to recov-er from his hamstrung injury and from anoperation to a damaged ankle. The selec-tors have much to answer for picking aman so clearly unfit for purpose in a seriesmeant to settle the No 1 spot in Test crick-et. Virender Sehwag, who had flown infrom Delhi following a two-month recu-peration from a shoulder operation, failedto find his feet or timing in an awkward30-minute occupation of the crease beforebeing pinned lbw for 8 by rookie DavidBurton. His partner Gautam Gambhir,equally ill at ease for his hour at the wick-et, departed for 18. Mahindra SinghDhoni, the captain, made 2 and VVSLaxman 49, the day's silver lining beingAbhinav Mukund's stylish 113 retired.India were all out for 352, to whichNorthamptonshire replied with 355 for 7when stumps were drawn. Their openersMal Loye and Niall O'Brien were in robustform striking a century apiece.

Amit Mishra looked good with batand ball (61 and 2 for 62 from 25 overs ofleg-spin and googlies) and will surelyreturn to the Test squad as replacementfor the dismal Harbhajan Singh.Common sense (always in short supplywith Indian selectors, home or abroad)would decree that Mukund, with a hun-dred under his belt, retain his position asopener. Sehwag or Gambhir could part-ner him. I would favour the explosiveSehwag rather than the staid Gambhir,but my opinion, not having been solicit-ed, is exclusive to this page.

England are on a roll. They are wellprimed and raring to go. On presentshowing they should be home and dry

without breaking sweat.Farokh Engineer, India's debonair

wicketkeeper-batsman of the 1960s and70s, but now a beer-barrelled media guruof goodly girth, let fly at coach DuncanFletcher for India's present woes. Hetook issue at Fletcher's selection, since itwas done at Gary Kirsten's prompting,who as coach himself had taken India tothe top of the Test league and presidedover their ODI World Cup triumph.Perhaps Engineer was deep in his cupswhen made his foolish and ill-consideredremark. Fletcher, respected worldwide asa fine coach with a good record, has onlyrecently taken over the reins with India.Better to leave him well alone and con-centrate instead on India's inept cricketadministration, the captain and his play-ers. There has been a visible loss of pridein that quarter.

Meanwhile, there is much to rejoiceabout in Zimbabwe's emphatic 130 runTest match victory over Bangladesh inHarare. The hosts had requested the ICCfor temporary exclusion from the Test

scene until they had put their brokenhouse in order. After years in the Testwilderness, Zimbabwe have returned toemphasise their Test match credentialswith a well scripted victory in whichtheir bowlers and batsmen played anequal part. Much credit is also due tocoach Alan Butcher, a former Surreyplayer and coach, who has brought histeam up to speed internationally.

Bangladesh have been playing Testcricket since 2000 and precious little toshow for their efforts, apart from inebri-ated talk on the coming spring amid theseemingly permanent winter of discon-tent. Time to take a break from Tests, asZimbabwe wisely did, and return to thebasics. Bangladesh still have much tolearn about the game at the highest level.

Zimbabwe 370 (Masakadz 50,Sibanda 78, Taylor 71) and 291 for 5declared (Taylor 105 not out, Taibu 59)

Bangladesh 287 (Nafees 50, Ashraful73, Shakib 68, Vittori 4 for 68) and 244.

Zimbabwe's Brendon Taylor wasMan-of-the-Match.


Dravid to retire from ODI, T20 after current seriesRahul Dravid who was rewarded with aplace in the one-day side after his highperformances in the first two test matcheswill be retiring from ODI and T20 match-es after the current series.

Dravid, addressing the media, saidthat the recall had taken him by total sur-prise. “I was not considered for One-day-ers for two years. So, I was not expectingthis. This has come as a surprise. I amhonoured and privileged to be chosen,” hesaid. He went on to add that he would dohis best under the circumstances but hisbody language suggested that there wasmore to it. Maybe, he wasn’t up to it.

In fact, he showed the BCCI and itsselectors in a totally poor and unprofes-sional light by saying that this would behis last One-day series.

“I am announcing my retirement fromOne-dayers and T20,” he declared. “I willplay this series, of course, but I won’t beavailable after that.” He was visiblyshocked by the development, rather thanpleasantly surprised as many had expect-ed. Dravid made it clear that he simply

wanted to focus all his energy on Testcricket. “I hadn’t communicated my inten-tions to the Board,” he said, trying to savethe day for the BCCI. “But I am going toplay only Tests from now on,” he said. “Iwill try and do my best in these tough con-ditions,” he added.

Dravid, it may be recalled, had last

played for the Indian One-day side in2009. That time too, he had been sent anSOS as the team was preparing for theChampions Trophy in South Africadespite being off the radar since 2007.

With the rest of the batting lookingbrittle, it was felt that his experience andtechnique would come in handy. But sixmonths into the experiment, he wasshown the door. Since then, it has been atough ride for him.

“It wasn’t easy,” Dravid had concededearlier on this tour. “I was assailed bydoubts. I wondered if I was still goodenough,” he explained. He was still scor-ing runs but it lacked the solidity associat-ed with him. He must have given up allhopes of playing in coloured clothing forIndia again, especially as the youngbrigade had started charming the country.More importantly, the side went on to winthe World Cup, too, virtually sealing hisfate. At the same time, he didn’t seem assolid as he is wont to be. Dravid, however,has been the master on this tour, tacklingthe conditions and the seam, swing and

pace of England dexterously. His two cen-turies stood out, especially, with most ofthe others at their wits’ end. But, clearly,even he has been taken by surprise.Dravid recalled to ODI squad

Rahul Dravid has been recalled toIndia's ODI squad after two years for theseries against England beginning on Sept3. Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh,who were injured, have been left out of the16-member squad for five ODIs and one-off Twenty20, selectors announced.Dravid is in brilliant form with two back-to-back centuries against England in thefirst two Tests. He last played in an ODIagainst West Indies in the ChampionsTrophy at Johannesburg, Sept 30, 2009.

Squad:Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain),

Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), GautamGambhir, Rahul Dravid, SachinTendulkar, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina,Rohit Sharma, Zaheer Khan,Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar,Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, VinayKumar, Amit Mishra and Parthiv Patel.

Dispirited India face likelydisaster at Edgbaston

A j a n t h aM e n d i sbecame thefirst bowler tobag six wicketsin a Twenty20internationalas Sri Lankaclinched theseries 2-0a g a i n s t

Australia with an eight-run win in the sec-ond match on Monday. The unorthodoxspinner finished with 6-16 off four oversas Australia lost their way after an explo-sive start provided by Shane Watson, whohammered a 24-ball 57 with five sixes andsix fours. Australia, who lost the firstmatch by 35 runs, were eventually restrict-ed to 149-9, after the hosts made 157 atthe Pallekele International Stadium. SriLanka were indebted to opener MahelaJayawardene (86 off 63 balls) for posting acompetitive total before Mendis endedAustralia's early flourish.

Ajantha Mendis makes

history in Lanka win

RationalFX will be the main sponsors ofBirmingham City for the 2011-12 seasonand are looking forward to see their nameon the famous blue shirts. BirminghamCity is also happy with the development.Ian Ditton, commercial manager of thefootball club said, “We are very muchlooking forward to working closely withsuch a dynamic, rapidly expanding com-pany. From the very first conversation wehad with RationalFX it was clear that thecompany mirrored Birmingham City’s pro-fessionalism and ambition."

Birmingham City are the currentCarling Cup holders - having defeatedArsenal in the final at Wembley earlierthis year - and are also in the UEFAEuropa League. Rajesh Agrawal,Chairman and CEO of RationalFX, thetrading name of Rational ForeignExchange Limited, said, "RationalFX hasjust passed one billion pounds of foreignexchange business and we have also justlaunched a new online money transferservice – Xendpay. So we feel that this isa perfect time to associate ourselves witha big European football club.”

RatioanlFx to sponsor

Birmingham City this yearAbhinav Mukund on his way to score 113 against Northamptonshire in the 3 day match.

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