20th February to 26th February 2010VOL 38. ISSUE 41 80pLet noble thoughts come to us from every side

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Foreigners again thetarget in Pune blast

A new terrorist organisation claims the creditThe latest twist in thePune blast on Tuesday wasthe claim by a hithertounknown Pakistan basedterror outfit, Laskhar-e-Taiba Al Alami that theyhad carried out the Puneblast. Investigations so farhave clearly establishedthat the German Bakerywas targeted to inflictcasualties on foreignersliving and frequenting thecity and the area.

Further, as the blastput the Indo-Pak talksunder strain, PakistanPrime Minister Gilani onTuesday offered to shareintelligence information toavoid such incidents.

The new outfit’s claimis that they attackedbecause India is refusingto discuss the Kashmirissue in forthcoming talks

with Pakistan.One more victim of the

blast died, bringing the tollto 10, while more than 40were injured on Saturday in

a powerful blast.The Osho ashram and

Chhabad House, a religiousplace of the jews is alsolocated very near to theGerman Bakery. The bak-ery is also a favourite placefor foreigners hence it wastargeted.

It is also worth men-tioning that a week beforethe Pune blast, at meet-ings PoK and Lahore hadsaid that Indian cities likeDelhi, Pune and Kanpurwill be targeted. One ofthe meetings was held tomark the KashmirSolidarity Day.

Continued on page 23

A scene of the German Bakery destroyed by a fatalbomb blast on Saturday in Pune

Fonseka challengesRajapaksa victory

in Apex CourtCommonwealth says Sri Lankan

polls not upto the benckmarkSri Lankan elections arestill under a cloud, asjailed opponent ofRajapaksa, retired armychief Sarath Fonseka hasfiled a petition in theSupreme Court. He haschallenged the results ofthe polls, alleging thatPresident had got thepolls rigged. In a relateddevelopment, theCommonwealth has alsotermed the polls as “Notmeeting key bench-marks”.

Sarath Fonseka, inhis petition filed onTuesday through hislawyers, has chargedRajapaksa, ElectionsC o m m i s s i o n e r

Dayananda Dissanayakeand 20 others with rig-ging the vote and elec-toral malpractice.

Sarath Fonseka

Continued on page 23

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 20102 UUKK

Gone are the days when anAsian name in the whiteworld raised an eyebrow.The integration of theAsian community withinthe mainstream populationhere in the UK has takenapproximately 40 longyears. Even though thereare still debates on it, thehistory is a testament thatwe have fought hard to beaccepted, not only in thebusiness community butalso in other areas of theliterary, arts & culturalcommunities.

The situation now issuch that the world is look-ing at us for inspiration intradition, culture, food etc,nevertheless we still findourselves at the crossroadsof self-identity in the UK.

We have many BritishAsians who call themselvesby English names, whetherits singer Juggy D(Jagwinder SinghDhaliwal), Panjabi MC(Rajinder Singh), M.I.A(Mathani MayaArulpragasam), Jay Sean(Kamaljit Singh Jhooti),Freddie Mercury(Farroukh Bulsara), televi-sion presenter Konnie Huq(Kanak Huq) or theManagement Guru JamesCaan (Nazim Khan).

Ever wonder why?

Psychologists claim thatculture plays a very impor-tant role in training thesuperego that mainly con-tributes to identity build-ing and personality struc-ture of a human. It is oftenbelieved, amongst Asianoffsprings living in thewest, their superego getsheavily affected by thestark difference of cultureoutside and inside theirhomes. This at some pointor the other reflects in theirbehaviour or life styles.

Some people think it isstill difficult to be famousin the white world with anAsian name. So, firstchange the look, then thename and later a completerevamp of life style is oftennoticed. A perfect exampleis of our own, Jay Sean,No1 American sensation,was born as KamaljeetSingh Jhooti in Hounslow,West London to Sharanand Bindi Jhooti, PunjabiSikh immigrants. He wasraised in Southall, and dis-played musical talent at anearly age. At age 11, he andhis cousin Pritpal Rupraformed a hip hop duonamed "Compulsive

Disorder". His stage nameat the time was MC "NickyJ", with the "J" beingderived from the first letterof his last name "Jhooti".He eventually came to beknown by the nickname"Jay" among his friends. Hewas a student at LatymerUpper School, the sameprivate school that HughGrant, Heston Blumenthaland Lily Cole had attend-ed. He finished his GCSEsas a "straight-A student"and then completed his Alevels with an A grade inBiology and B grades inMathematics andChemistry. He later

enrolled in Barts and TheLondon School ofMedicine and Dentistry atQueen Mary, University ofLondon, to study Medicinebefore he dropped out in2003 to pursue a singingcareer. For his musiccareer, he chose the stagename Jay Sean; "Jay" wasthe nickname his friendsknew him as (derived fromhis previous stage name"Nicky J"), while "Sean" isderived from "Shaan"—anickname he was called athome by his grandmoth-er—which means "shining

star" or "pride" in Punjabi.While interviewing a

few British Indian chil-dren, I could not fail tonotice their opinion on thisname saga. Surjo, a highschool student said, “Mywhite friends cannot pro-nounce the name Surjocorrectly. They call me by apet name- Jo. At least thatmakes it easy for many topronounce an otherwisetongue twisting propernoun!”

His sister Tanya an Alevel student said, “I agree.My school name is Sagari.But my teachers andfriends find it much easierto call by my pet nameTanya. So it be!” Tanya,originally a Russian namemeans 'girl'.

Another A form stu-dent Ketaki Sharma says,“My class mates call meKetty. I like being called so.I think Ketty is much morea common name in Britain,so it's familiar to all, friend-ly and less difficult to pro-nounce.”

Anand Mehra, a stu-dent in a popular college inLondon adds, “I think it isvery important to have the

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name intact. I have friendscalling me Andy at times,but I never introducemyself as anything otherthan Anand. It might be adifficult name to pro-nounce, but I am com-pletely at ease with myname as it is.”

Shakespeare had writ-ten in his famous Romeoand Juliette, 'What's in aname?' Identity Theoriststhink opposite. Some ofthem claim name is thefirst identity one has andpeople who have problemswith name, have problemswith their identity.

My aim is to stop andmake one ponder- ischanging name purposeful-ly meant for gaining suc-cess in a world other thanAsians' or is it just initiat-ing another familiar namefor commonality purpose?Does our real identitychange with our changingnames? Does it make us adifferent person? Orshould we call it a conspir-acy of converting a multiracial community into asingle race society? It isindeed a time for analysis,thought and a complete re-assessment!

What's with the name? M.I.A

Konnie Huq

James CaanFreddie Mercury

Jay Sean

Brief

Faithandcommunity leadershave united in their call forpeople to take action to pre-pare for flooding in theMidlands. From the end ofthismonth, theEnvironmentAgencywill issue floodwarn-ings to an additional 56,000propertieswith aBT landlineat risk of river and sea flood-ing. Homeowners in the

region are being urged tolook out for letters whichthey can expect to receive inthe comingweeks, and to acton the information. Amongfaith and community leadersbacking the call isMahendraDabhi, Chairman of HinduCouncil Birmingham. "Askyourself, are youprepared fortheriskof flooding?Ifnot,do

read carefully the letter youwill receive. Should youhavedifficulty in understandingthe information, do not shyaway, find out more. As theysay, better to be safe thansorry."Tofindout ifyouareatrisk of flooding telephone0845 988 1188 or visitwww. e n v i r o nm e n t -agency.gov.uk

Nearly three quarters ofBrits from an ethnicminority background (74per cent) are unaware ofchanges to the StatePension that could bene-fit them financially,according to a YouGovpoll.

As the number of con-tributing years ofNational Insurance peo-ple need to build up a fullbasic State Pension isreducing in April, statis-tics show 29,000 BritishBangladeshis, 91,000British Pakistanis and

219,000 British Indiansover 55 could now benefitwhen they retire.

Findings show nearlya third (31 per cent) ofBrits from an ethnicminority backgroundhave taken time out ofthe workforce and morethan one in 10 (16 percent) rely on a partnerfinancially – both ofwhich may mean theyneed to do somethingnow to boost their StatePension provision.

Angela Eagle,Minister for Pensions and

the Ageing Society, said:In the past, women

who chose to stay homeand care for family andchildren have missed outon pension cash in retire-ment. From April 2010this will change and thesystem will be fairer forwomen and carers so that9 out of 10 women will beable to build up a fullbasic pension in theirown right.”

V i s i twww.direct.gov/better-future for more informa-tion.

One voice on new flood warnings

Britain's ethnic communitiesunaware of State Pension changes

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 www.abplgroup.com 3

Thought for the WeekIndo-Pakstan bedevilled by Islamist terrorismIndia's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is ina bind: just as he had ageed to a resumption ofthe Indo-Pakistan dialogue in Islamabad cameyet another bombing in India, this time in a pop-ular restaurant in Pune. Nine people perished inthe blast, among them two foreigners - an Italianwoman and an Iranian male - while over 50 peo-ple were injured. Pro-western voices in Indiahave been clamouring of late for the Indo-Pakistan talks to resume. Dr Singh decided todespatch a delegation of his senior foreign min-istry officials to test the waters in Islamabad.The Pune outrage must surely make him thinkagain.

A decade ago, one of his predecessors, AtalBehari Vajpayee, journeyed to Pakistan on a highprofile search for peace. His hosts repaid histrust with a stealthy occupation of the Kargilheights from which their forces had to be forciblyejected. It turned out to be a costly miscalcula-tion for both sides: the Pakistani military andintelligence services and their craven politicalallies believed they had India by the throat inKashmir; they knew better after being bootedout with heavy losses. But India too paid dearly,losing some 700 soldiers in the conflict, victimsof serious political misjudgment in Delhi.

Preliminary findings on the likely source ofthe Pune attack will shortly be with the Indianprime minister. He has then to come to a deci-sion on the projected Indo-Pakistan talks. Thereis a terrorist alert throughout India, with airportsand railway stations and other sensitive centresunder heavy security surveillance. Democraticsocieties will always be vulnerable to terroristattacks on soft targets, there being no foolproofprotection against them.

India is the victim of an undeclared warconducted for the most part from across the bor-der. Pakistan has been an Anglo-Amercan clientfor the past half century. It is also a closer andmore sinister Saudi-Chinese tool. Such are theground realities that face India. They constitute

the greatest challenge to the security and exis-tence of the Indian state since its creation inAugust 1947.

Indian statecraft has to be an amalgam ofhard power and dissuasive diplomacy. Trust canonly be vested in countries which make noallowances for the incubators and abettors ofterror.

In this context one must mention theBollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan and hispublic outburst against the exclusion ofPakistani cricketers from India's IPL Twenty20cricket competition. He was well within hisrights and good taste in simply lodging a protest.But in high dudgeon, he chose to describePakistan as “a great neighbour,” just as India, heexclaimed, was a “great country.”

Mr Khan had clearly forgotten that this“great neighbour” was responsible for the terror-ist slaughter of 26/11, surely the the most terri-ble day in Mumbai's history. He lives in the cityand feeds on its acclaim, its riches and robustmulti-ethnic and multi-cultural life without theslightest sensitivity for its terrible ordeal.MrKhan preposterously lent moral eqivalence toIndia and Pakistan. On the BBC's Jonathan RossTV show, he claimed he had only expressed sup-port for cricketers from abroad to come and playin India. Like hell. He didn't have the guts torepeat the weasel words that have enraged somuch of India.

Trust the British press to reduce this to aShiv Sena- Shah Rukh Khan conflict. Fewdecent men and women would have a good wordfor the Sena and its thuggish ways. But ShahRukh Khan's offensiveness transcends the ShivSena. India is a tolerant place. If millions ofIndians have voiced their disgust at the verbalantics of a Bollywood star, more millions of theircountrymen and women, including Hindus,Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and atheistshave defended his freedom of speech.

They have all done India proud.

ECB arrogance impedes English cricketetMichael Vaughan, England's former Test captain,

and Paul Collingwood the current star, are bothagreed that English cricketers are losing out intheir earnings and cricketing experience by notbeing able to participate in the Twenty/20 inChampions League.

As a cricket commentator, Vaughan was moreforthright. The title of his column in The DailyTelegraph said it all - “We're arrogant for notembracing India.” He explains: “The ChampionsLeague is not for international players. It is forthe county lads to earn a few quid and get a mas-sive buzz from playing in big grounds in front ofdecent crowds, something they never experienceat home. It means a little more employment forguys who face winters that are long and hard andfull of nothng but netting from October to March.Now because it clashes wth the end of the CountyChampionship they could miss out.”

The logjam can be resolved with common

sense, clearly an uncommon commodity at times.Lalit Modi, the Champions Legue Commissioneris well aware that for the tournament to prosperin the long-run the participation of English coun-ty sides is imperative.

However, it is the present situation that hasthrown up the seemingly immovable object,Vaughan writes, “I hate the fact that in this coun-try we are arrogant and stubborn. We say 'we arenot letting India rule the world.' Yet everyone elsemanages to build a relationship with India andmakes a nice living too....We cannot accept in thiscountry that India are the market leaders in worldcricket. We resent the fact they match the passionand fans with the financial muscle. It's time tostop fighting and build relationships.”

These wise words should be heeded – soonerrather than later. England invented this greatgame, and it is in England's gift to enrich it andtake it to greater heights.

Tackling Naxalite violenceNaxalite Maoist violence in India has many roots,some complex, others less so. Naxalites havetapped into the discontent of marginalised commu-nities in the impoverished eastern and centralregions of the country. Some of this unrest stemsfrom the unjust land tenure system, and some areincubated in the immemorial poverty and discrimi-nation suffered by tribal groups whose welfare haslong been ignored by mainstream society.

It is right that the authorities in Delhi and theaffected states seek an equitable solution to thisfestering crisis by offering a package of economicmeasures which will go some way to correct oldwrongs. A meaningful dialogue coupled with realchanges on the ground is an imaginative way for-ward. However, it would appear, that the Naxaliterank and file are hostage to the vaulting ambition

of their leaders whose goal is nothing less than theoverthrow of the Indian state and its replacementby a Maoist dictatorship.

They and their flock have taken recourse tomindless violence in the deluded belief that suchaction will end in a resounding for their benightedcause. It certainly will not. The government's velvetglove conceals an iron fist. It would be a terriblepity if Naxalite militancy leads to an armed con-frontation, in which there can only be one winner.

India is an upwardly mobile society. Many ofthose who were once unable to benefit from India'seconomic boom are now beginning to prosper.Opportunities are opening throughout the land.The bullet and bomb will not lead to a classless nir-vana but to a harvest of sorrows. Let good senseprevail before it is too late- on all sides.

COMMENT

Every parent has hadthat totally unnervingexperience: when theirtoddler asks a seeminglyinnocent question that itis just not possible toanswer. No, I don't meanthe "How are babiesmade?" sort of question.I'm talking about theones that are much deep-er and more difficult toanswer than with merebiology.

The events of thepast week have remindedme of when my daughteronce asked me "What isthe price of money?" Atfirst I remember thinkingthat she had simply madea mistake and didn'tunderstand that moneywas the mechanism bywhich we calculated priceand that it did not itselfhave a price. But themore I tried to explainthe deeper I got into trou-ble. I realised that this isa very profound questionindeed as the Greeks andthe rest of the Eurozonehave been finding out inthe past 10 days.

The Euro has lostalmost a third of its valueover the past few months.It is now priced at justover $1.35. (A great timeto buy currency if you areplanning on a holiday onthe continent) But that isnot the serious issuehere. Why is the Euronow priced so low? Whyis this money so cheap?The answer is that theEuro is a currency with-out a government.

"Money makes theworld go roundA Mark, a Yen, a

Buck, or a Pound"Those words ofthe old

Cabaret song are now outof date. Each one of thesecurrencies used to haveits own separate govern-ment. But the Mark wasreplaced by the Euro aswas the Franc, the Pesetaand the Lire and now inthe Eurozone there aremany governments. Butcurrencies really needjust one government thatcan adjust the economiclevers to keep the curren-cy stable. That is whatalmost every other cur-rency in the world has: asingle government thatdecides how to keep thedifferent parts of its econ-omy synchronised so thatthe rest of the world hasconfidence in the coun-

try's capacity to pay itsdebts and in the value ofits money.

But the Greek gov-ernment has taken verydifferent political deci-sions in its part of theEurozone from the deci-sions the German govern-ment has made in its part.They have paid theirworkers more than thoseworkers have producedand been able to sell.They have borrowed tothe point where they maynot be able to repay andso the rest of the worldhas lost confidence intheir currency. In effectthe decisions the Greeksmade have affected orperhaps I should sayinfected the Germans, theFrench and all the othercountries of the Eurozoneas well.

It was always a riskthat this might happen.Indeed it was this fearthat some would say laybehind the French andGerman desire to have aNew EuropeanConstitution. But thatconstitution fell and wasreplaced by the muchweaker Lisbon Treaty.Europe has not becomeone country with onegovernment and that iswhy the Euro is now tear-ing the Eurozone apart.

In Britain we knowwhat it is to have a twospeed economy. Londonoften overheating whilstthe North east is unableto keep up. The skill ofgovernment is in trying tospread jobs and opportu-nity throughout the areaof its currency to harnessall regions and keep astrong economy. A singlegovernment can do thatwith difficulty. For themulti-government euro-zone it is almost impossi-ble.

As Chancellor,Gordon Brown set stricteconomic tests that havekept Britain out of theEurozone. Each day aswe see the Poundstrengthen against theEuro we may come tothink of this as one of hisgreatest economicachievements.

And the answer tothe question? Simplereally: "The price ofmoney is tough politicaldecisions that create sta-bility and confidence."

Beware of ChildrenAsking Questions!

Barry Gardiner MP

Member of Parliamentfor Brent North

The one important thing that I have learned overthe years is the difference between taking one'swork seriously and taking one's self seriously.The first is imperative and the second isdisastrous.

- Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991)

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 20104

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Boyle says Mumbaidwarfed the statuette

T-)' -@ >+V' !W

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 the

Oscar after having missed it almost five timesearlier.‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on a

cleft-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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DisclaimerAsian Business Publications Ltd

(ABPL) is not in any way respon-sible for the goods and servicesrendered by its advertisers. TheABPL management accepts all

advertisements in good faith andit is entirely up to readers to verifyadvertisers’ products and services,should they feel the need to do so.

What kind of economic sense it makesto spend £1.6m to claw back £1.1m fromthe MPs? Then there is the Chilcottenquiry on the war in Iraq. How much isthat going to set back the likes of you andme – the taxpayers? All this is happeningat the time when the country is only justrecovering from the recession- when peo-ple are struggling to make ends meet. Themoney spent on these enquiries couldwell be spent on other tangible issues likecreating jobs and providing better servic-es.

It makes the blood boil to see on thetelly the other Wednesday during thePrime Minister’s question time the imma-ture and rowdy behaviour of these MPs.There was so much jeering and shoutingthat even the speaker could not hear theanswers. It was an interesting debatebetween Brown and Cameron – a clash ofthe titans- but it was so difficult to follow.One would not expect this kind of bar-room brawling from the so called intelli-gent MPs. It is time for the politicians toact as responsible people.

Dinesh ShethNewbury Park, Ilford

An Inquiry into theEnquiries

As a charity that helps so many pen-sioners who experience financial hard-ship, we read with interest GordonBrown’s proposal to set up a NationalCare Service, providing free care to elder-ly people to allow them to stay in theirown homes.

Whilst we support any measure thathelps retain dignity and alleviates distressin old age, we strongly believe that if thiswere to become a reality it must operatealongside measures that ensure people ofworking age are making their own provi-sions for their future care costs.

We recently commissioned a nationalpoll that showed one third of young pro-fessionals had made absolutely no provi-sion for their care needs in old age – with55% assuming their care costs will becovered solely by the state.

These are worrying statistics: in thelong-run, unless the government steps upits efforts to encourage people to thinkabout their futures – to save and take per-sonal responsibility – our children andgrandchildren will bear the brunt of woe-ful under-provision and increased taxa-tion.

The announcement at the King’sFund completely contradicts the govern-ment’s adult social care Green Paper,which only ceased to be consulted uponon the 18th November last year.

So while we welcome this measure forthose in immediate need, we hope thegovernment shares our view, that thisproposal cannot be considered a tenablesolution to an issue that is likely tobecome one of the biggest challenges fac-ing us over the coming decades.

Rob TolanHead of Policy & Research,

Elizabeth Finn Care

Brown's proposal to setup National care

Kapil’s comments about speech by RtHon Shahid Malik (AV 13th Feb issue, pg6) is not fair. Rt Hon MP has right toclaim credit in securing financial aid tovarious countries, and also the right tomention about increasing number ofMuslims in British parliament. This rightof speech is enshrined in the democracyof the UK and the parliamentary immuni-ty.

However the contention about Britishparliament becoming wholly Muslim isnot pragmatic but talks about the minis-ter's admirable and zealous devotion toIslam. Proud British Caucasians willnever abandon their century old heritageto Asian or other non Anglo Saxons. Anindependent Muslim parliament was cre-ated in 1992 but it was pushed into mediaoblivion.

Kapil’s statement that Britain willcontinue to be wholly Christian is also bitjarring. Christian predominance is under-mined due to secular policy ofGovernment. Many churches are beingsold off, attendance in churches is falling.Some oriental practices like meditation,yoga, Zenism, Buddhism, institutionslike ISKCON, Art of living are gettingquite popular amongst Christians.

Ramesh JhallaVia Email

Muslim Parliament ofGreat Britain

Our Prime Minister who has alwaysbeen private, suddenly blurted out astrange mixture of old jokes, windysmiles and fresh intimacies on lastSunday. Our PM might have steered thecountry on to the rocks but on lastSunday we were invited to vote for himmore because he and his wife suffered theintense sorrow of losing their first child!

Our PM once assured us that hewould never use his family for "cheappolitical stunts", he was a serious politi-cian to deal with serious issue of govern-ing our country. He did not just breakthat word but shattered any right to beregarded as a man of self-respect.

Tuesday morning we got the TVviewing figures, a verdict of the voters!Dancing on Ice- 8.34 million, Countryfileattracting 6.08 million viewers, AntiquesRoadshow- 6.92 million, Seven Ages ofBritain 4.5 million viewers. PiersMorgan's Life Stories: Gordon Brownonly 4.2 million viewers! Voters wouldrather watch Antiques Road Show thanto watch Gordon Brown!

Ravi ShahHarrow

Gordon Brown goespublic with emotions

Baba Ramdev says that it is the birthright of every individual who is born andbrought up in India, he has a right onIndia. No caste or religion can be a bar-gaining point. Western school of doctorsdo not really acknowledge our exercises.But in reality our exercises like yoga andhealth cautions like vegetarianism aremuch healthier.

What we need to improve is our poli-tics and people's attitude. That would dowonders to our country.

Ramesh MoradabadiSouthall

Need a change

Apparently Indian government haschanged the tactics and is invitingPakistan for talks inspite of the blasts inPune. It is about time strategies need tobe looked into. Even though there are ele-ments which are stopping the two gov-ernments to get together on one platformbecause of some unknown fear, it is timethat the unnecessary bloodshed of inno-cent people is stopped. When will theseterrorists understand that Indians are soused to all such things that it doesn't real-ly affect anyone to a bigger extent.

Yes, these causes fear for some time,and irreparable damage to the concernedfamilies, however the main objective ofthese blasts and carnage has been defeat-ed. Pakistan, who used to hold its headhigh and give India the arrogant front, isnow keeping a low profile as the entireworld is aware of its state sponsored ter-rorism activities.

I salute the families of the victims asthey are the martyrs along with the thou-sands of defence personnel who lay theirlives to protect my country. Jai Hind.

Vikram SharmaLondon

Talks after blasts?

Not many people, even amongstLabour supporters would defend PMBrown’s record, first as a Chancellor andthen as PM. But he does not deserve thebackstabbing, feeble plot to dethrone himwhen the election is less than five monthsaway, even though many would considerhim arrogant, displaying smugness andelitism, bringing in class politics when somany Labour elite shun the State educa-tion and educate their children in fee pay-ing private schools. Then it is the duty ofevery parent to do their best for their chil-dren, especially on the educational front.

The time has passed when no one hadthe courage to take him on at the lastLabour conference. Now they must standby his side and project united front, asvoters hate divided party, divided govern-ment. This saga has lasted longer thanCoronation Street and public is losinginterest in what they would perceive asnon-event. It is time for the Labour Partyto give us coherent and convincing rea-sons why we should vote Labour. Weneed a Labour government; the alterna-tive is too horrendous even to contem-plate.

Bhupendra M GandhiVia Email

Labour’s death wish

A landmark victory to the Hindu manindeed. He finally achieved what hewanted. It is also a great feeling that thebritish judges have regarded and respect-ed the norms of the hindu religion andupheld the same. Though slowly andsteadily, UK is finally coming to termswith multi-culturalism and understand-ing the fact that there is a growing votebank of Asian community and our wishesand way of life cannot be ignored what-soever.

However, at the same time I feel, asmodel citizens we have to start under-standing and realising our duty towardsmother earth and stop using herresources and torturing her by the smokeof the burning pyres. There may be glob-al debates on whether there is globalwarming or not, but no one can nowrefute the fact that our planet is goingthrough the turmoil given the climatechanges and increase in natural disastersaround the globe.

Given the fact that we will be burninga lot of wood now in the UK, maybe it istime for our Hindu religion to revisit ourtexts and make changes accordingly asthe times have changed as well. Ofcoursewe dont want our loved ones to be vic-tims of the natures fury which in turn willlead to our bodies being eaten up by scav-engers, making our souls wander aroundfor eternity. Therefore, we need to changethe way we look at things and find a mid-dle solution so as to uphold the centuriesold tradition and also to respect the cli-mate now.

Anjana MehtaLondon

Open pyre victory

Further to your article in last week’sAsian Voice (Saturday 13th February2010) regarding "Golden Mile in the UK'sBest Street Food" I totally agree withDharmesh Lahkani whose family ownsBobbys Restaurant in Belgrave Road,Leicester. The midlands particularLeicester should be proud to have wonthe title UK Curry Capital in 2007.

My family and I take a much longermile using the M1 from London just toexperience and enjoy some of the bestindian food available in the UK. In myopinion visiting restaurants like Bobby'sis all part of the excellent Leicester expe-rience.

Umesh RaichadaLondon

Food in Leicester

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Davender Ghai, 71, adevout Hindu has won theright to be cremated on atraditional 'open air' funer-al pyre when he dies. Hestrongly believes that thetradition of open-air cre-mation is essential to theliberation of his soul afterdeath.

But his local authorityand the Ministry of Justice- contended that theancient practice of 'naturalcremation', widely carriedout in other parts of theworld breached the 1902Cremation Act.

Last week, however,London's Court of Appealsaid that the spiritual heal-er and respected charityleader's heartfelt requestcould be accommodatedunder existing law.

The landmark rulingmeans that thousands ofHindus, Sikhs - and any-one else wanting 'naturalcremation' - can be con-tent that their dying wish-es can legally be carriedout.

It opens the way forbuilding new crematoriawith a hole in the roof tomeet the requirements ofthe faiths. At present nosuitable site for Mr Ghaito be cremated exists.

Mr Ghai, a father ofthree from Gosforth,Newcastle upon Tyne, tolda national daily that hewas 'overjoyed' by thedecision. Mr Ghai, aBritish citizen who came

to England from Kenyain 1958 to study.

The court was toldthat Mr Ghai wanted afuneral pyre of woodthat should be open tothe sky, but the sitecould be surrounded bywalls and the pyre cov-ered with a roof whichhad an opening.

The Ministry ofJustice said this was nota building, which was astructure bounded bywalls with a roof, andthe law was there toprotect 'decorum anddecency'.

But three ofthe country's top judgesdisagreed, ruling that theMinistry of Justice defini-

tion of a building was toonarrow.

All Mr Ghai wantedwas a traditional fire andfor the sun to be able tofall on his body and thiscould be carried out in apurpose-built crematori-um within the law, they

said.Mr Ghai, the founder

of the Anglo-AsianFriendship Society

(AAFS), said he had beenleft 'virtually penniless'fighting the case. But nowhe hopes to submit pro-posals for a natural crema-tion site and has alreadybeen offered land.

A spokesman forNewcastle City Council

said, “...Following thejudgment, all local author-ities will await furtherguidance from the HomeOffice and Defra asregards any proposed reg-ulations or legislationwhich may control theproposed manner of cre-mation to ensure environ-mental standards and pub-lic health are protected.”

Nitin Mehta, Founderof Indian Cultural Centresaid, “Davendra Ghai'sapparent victory to have afuneral pyre for cremationhas raised some widerquestions about how ourcountry is facing up to thevexed question of accom-modating the needs anddemands of a huge num-ber of disparate groups. Apoint comes in the journeyof an immigrant when wehave to acknowledge thefreedom, sense of fair playand the overwhelminggoodwill of the peopleamongst whom we live.The Hindu communityis known for getting onwith the not too easy taskof making ends meet.

It is not averse toadopting new ideasand adapting long heldbeliefs and doctrines tothe reality they find them-selves living in. The timehas come to pull togetheras Briton's and remindourselves of the manygreat things about thiscountry.”

Hindus win rights to open air funeral pyre

Over 100 people repre-senting London’sHindu communitiesjoined officers from theMetropolitan PoliceService at a specialevent last week to markthe inauguration of theHindu ConsultationForum.

The gathering, heldat the Shree KutchLeva Patel (SKLP)Community Centre inNorth West London,saw Hindu Religiousand industry leadersand other prominentmembers of the Hinducommunity with offi-cers from the MPS andpoliticians discussingthe crime and safetyconcerns of Hinducommunities in theUK.

The Joint Chair ofthe Forum GulzariBabber who is also theChair of EalingCommunity and PoliceConsultative Group

and national Treasurerof Hindu ForumBritain welcomed theaudience and outlinedthe process by whichthe Forum came intobeing.

Gulzari Babberstressed that HinduCommunity does notput demands on thepolice or any other gov-ernment departments.Commander SteveBloomfield, who repre-sented MPSCommissioner, Sir PaulStephenson, acknowl-edged the work beingdone and assured theHindu community inLondon thatMetropolitan Policewould work alongsidethem at all times.

The meeting con-cluded with a shortpresentation by Saischool children onBhagwat Gita and deli-cious food from thehost SKLP Community.

Hindu Consultation Foruminaugurated at special event

L-R: Mr Gulzari Babber, Sir Steve Bloomfield,Mr Arjan Vekaria and Ms Anuja Prashar

Davender Ghai cheered by supporters

Open air funeral pyre

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 20106 UK

Kapil’s

KHICHADIby Kapil Dudakia - email: kapil@abplgroup.com

Open Letter toPoliticians

I was intrigued whenBarry Gardiner MP forBrent North recentlywrote an open letter tothe Hindu Forum ofBritain. Taking a leafout of his book Ithought I would try myhand at something sim-ilar and put forward achallenge of my own.

Dear Politicians ofall political parties,

I am sure you are allvery keen to listen tothe community and Itrust that you will alsohear their message. Inlight of this and giventhat the election is onlymonths away, I wonderif you can consider thefollowing points andconfirm to the commu-nity what your exactposition is, and that ofyour party? In particu-lar, rather than theusual rhetoric and plat-itudes, the communitywould be very interest-ed to learn what yourparty will do practicallywithin the next term ofparliament to addressthese issues.

Mr Ghai recentlywon support of thecourts that his con-tention to have an openpyre is in fact legal aswell as being within allcurrent planning laws.In light of this, can youconfirm if your govern-ment will proactivelyensure that for the peo-ple of Harrow/Brent(an example) you willfacilitate the allocationof land and the requiredfunding to build thefirst dedicated cremato-rium that meets theneeds and requirementsof Hindus. This shouldprovide for the tradi-tional cremations aswell dedicated openpyre facilities whenthose are requested.

Given that we nowhave the first Hindustate funded primaryschool in Harrow, canyou confirm that yourgovernment will ensureland and all necessaryfunding will be madeavailable immediatelyto ensure that the pro-vision of the first statefunded Hindu second-ary school becomes areality also. Thisshould have the highestpriority to ensure thatthose pupils who com-plete their education inthe Hindu primaryschool have an option

to also transfer to aHindu secondaryschool.

It has now been wellestablished that theHindu community isone of the most highlyeducated and withmany very talented pro-fessionals. All theresearch also showsthat when it comes topublic appointments,the proportion of peo-ple from the BAMEcommunity, and in par-ticular the Hindu com-munity, represented onthese bodies is incredi-bly low. Thereforewhat will your govern-ment do to remedy thissituation within theterm of one parlia-ment? It is importantto also note that equityand equality shouldalso be considered inrelation to the faith ofthese appointees (alltoo often Hindus fareless well even whencounted within theAsian context).

Over recent yearsthe government hasspent tens of millions ofpounds in supportingcertain community andnational organisationsin pursuit of the‘Preventing ViolentExtremism – PVE’agenda. Will your gov-ernment confirm that itwill provide funds ofsimilar quantum tothose other communi-ties (and their associat-ed organisations) whohave integrated well,are hard working andlaw abiding. For exam-ple, the Hindu commu-nity.

Care for the elderlyhas become a nationalissue though it is inter-esting to note thatwhen it comes to cul-turally sensitive statefunded care homes andservices for the Hinducommunity – they sim-ply don’t exist.Therefore will yourgovernment confirmthat within the term ofone parliament we willsee the establishmentof culturally sensitivecare homes in areaswhere the proportion ofpeople from certain cul-tures/communities ishigh? For example,Harrow, Brent, Ealing,Southall, Ilford toname but a few.

I have listed onlyfive points to ensurethat these requests donot become too burden-some to any of the par-ties. What all politicalparties need to note is

that there should be noexcuses in relation whyany of these fives itemsare not doable. Thewhole point of raisingthese issues directlywith those who wantour votes is to get totalclarity on what they arewilling to do that isreal, practicable andwithin one parliamentterm?

So I end this shortletter by remindingeach prospective seekerof our votes – what isyour answer to each ofthe above points? Andto the voters, if any ofthe politicians/politicalparties fail to respond,or they come up withexcuses, I hope that initself will answer thequestion you have inyour mind, i.e. ‘whoshould you vote for, ornot!’

Support forIndians inAustralia

I came across agreat initiative by theNational HinduStudents Forum. Theyhave started an onlinepetition that is regis-tered at No 10 that asksthe Prime Minister andthe British Governmentto support the rights ofIndians in Australiaand not be raciallyattacked. It takes 2minutes of your time tocomplete, so why notlog on to the followingsite and register yourvote. We may not beable to do much fromhere in the UK, howev-er, the least we can dois support the work ofour youngsters who aretrying to help Indiansin Australia.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/IndianAustralia/

Anyone forBNP?

So Nick Griffin andhis right wing extrem-ists will finally allowpeople other than‘white’ to join theirdeluded party. Ofcourse it will be inter-esting to see if anyonefrom the BAME com-munity does indeedjoin up. I was wonder-ing, what would hap-pen if those who jointhen voted Nick Griffinout of his own party?Interesting, realitymight end up beingstranger fiction at thisrate.

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After the whole hulla-baloo about bogus col-leges, dodgy studentssupported by sham mar-riages, the UK Borderand Agency is now plan-ning to bring about acomplete revolution inthe student visa rules.The new regulations thatare to be enforced, willensure that studentsstudying below degreelevel have a limited abilityto work in the UK and thattheir dependants cannotwork here at all. It will beeven harder for bogus stu-dents, whose only aim is towork in the UK, to comeinto the country.

The Home SecretaryAlan Johnson confirmed,that the Government willimplement plans to intro-duce a points test by 2011for those who wish to earnBritish Citizenship.

New measures instudent's visa include:

! a good standard ofEnglish (equivalent ofholding just below a GCSEin a foreign language) willbe needed to come to theUK, study and also willneed to be demonstrated inorder to study any othercourse below degree level;! restricting the lowestlevel courses (A-levels andequivalent) to only themost trusted institutions;! halving the amount oftime a student studyingbelow first degree level oron a foundation degreecourse, will be able towork, to just ten hours dur-ing term time;! a ban on bringing independants for anyonestudying a course for lessthan six months; and banon dependants of anyonestudying a course lowerthan foundation or under-graduate degree level fromworking - they will faceremoval from the UK iffound doing so.! a ban on foreign studentsstudying below degree levelif the course includes awork placement - unlessthat course is being provid-ed by a university, collegeor training provider whichhas the status of "highlytrusted sponsor";! introduction of toughercriteria for defining whichcourse providers count as"highly trusted sponsors" offoreign students.

Mr Mathew Philip, alawyer from ThevaSolicitors said, “These new

visa rules for students arebasically meant to com-pletely put students offfrom applying to the UK.On one hand it's expectedfor a student to have excel-lent level of English andpay more than EU studentsto come and study in theUK. On the other handtheir families are supposedto sit at home and not earnanything. In my opinion,Home Office is violatingbasic human rights. It isbehaving like ‘Big Brother’watching over the UK stu-dents. It is very uncannyand completely uncalledfor.”

Immigration team fromMorgan Walker Solicitorssaid, “Dodgy institutionshave been exploiting over-seas students for longenough now. Automaticallywhen their sponsorshiplicenses are removed, thestudents' leaves are can-celled too. It is importantthat one does proper back-ground check before apply-ing to a college or universi-ty abroad. However, withnew rules coming into prac-tice, the standard for edu-cation in the UK will surelyimprove. This country willget students who are capa-ble and the students willstudy in those universitieswhich will shape a stablefuture for them.”

Radha Solanki, a stu-dent from a renownedLondon college said, “Thenew rules are very weird.UK Border andImmigration expects stu-dents to have high qualifi-cations to apply for acourse here, but they do notlet dependents work hereand even reduce hours forthe students to work. Ontop of that they scrape offthe possibility for studentsto independently find a jobfor ourselves and practical-ly ensure we don't get a cit-izenship after so much ofhardship. The right answerto these rules, will be uni-versities getting no over-seas students at all. Whenthe income falls, automati-

cally the rules will change.It feels like we are alreadyunder the BNP rule!”

While the UK BorderAgency makes life difficultfor overseas students, it hasrecently got itself involvedin some racism allegations.Lord Dholakia, the LiberalDemocrat Deputy Leaderin the House of Lords,questioned the Minister forI n t e r n a t i o n a lDevelopment, Lord Brett,on 9th February about alle-gations of racism and a cul-ture of impunity amongstaff in the UK BorderAgency.

Referring to a recentreport in The Guardiannewspaper, Lord Dholakiahas demanded that theGovernment look again atthe decisions taken by theUK Border Agency in rela-tion to asylum seeks whohave been deported, inorder to make quite surethat racism did not playany part in those decisions.He stated that ‘the jail-ing… of Ali Dizaei tenyears after the MacphersonReport on institutionalracism clearly demon-strates that racist behav-iour or racism of any kindis not acceptable.”

Replying for theGovernment, the Minster,Lord Brett, said that aninternal investigation hasbeen commissioned intothe allegations relating tothe UK Border Agency,and that lessons would belearnt. He said that theinquiry would “find a solu-tion to the problem” if itwas determined that asy-lum seekers had beendeported for the wrong rea-sons.

Lord Dholakia alsopressed the Minster toensure that the inquirylooked at the wider aspectsof race relations at the UKBorder Agency.

Tougher rules for foreign studentswhile UK Border & Immigration

faces racism allegations

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Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 7

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 20108 www.abplgroup.com

News in BriefCon tricks – just say no

Miliband's address to Midlands' key players

Health bosses in Birminghamare enticing teenage girls to havecervical cancer jabs by offeringthem £45 worth of Love2Shopshopping vouchers each. Thevouchers are being offered by cash-strapped NHS chiefs in north andeast Birmingham, where take-up rates for the poten-tially life-saving vaccines are among the worst in thecountry. They are spending £22,500 on the scheme,targeting 500 teenagers in a bid to protect them fromthe disease which killed 27-year-old TV personalityJade Goody, pictured.

Get jab, receive voucher

More people in the West Midlands have highblood pressure than anywhere else in the UK. Two outof every five people tested were found to have highblood pressure which puts the region at the bottom ofthe hot spots league. Despite the problem, three quar-ters of people in the region don’t know their bloodpressure numbers, according to the Blood PressureAssociation (BPA). For help call the Blood PressureInformation Line on 0845 241 098.

Blood pressure shock

Award for East End bossLeading West Midland veteran busi-

nessman Tony Deep Wouhra has beenawarded an honorary doctorate fromBirmingham City University in recogni-tion of his outstanding achievementsspanning almost 40 years. He receivedthe accolade at a ceremony at theSymphony Hall, Birmingham, last Wednesday. Tony,pictured, is the chairman of East End Foods, a sup-plier of ethnic food which he founded with his fourbrothers in 1972. He was awarded an MBE in 1999.

Worcestershire MP 67-year-old SirMichael Spicer (Con MidWorcestershire) has been ordered torepay £15,109.37 after claiming morethan £26,000 from the taxpayer to payhis gardening and cleaning bills, and tobuy a new dishwasher. He is retiring atthe next election, and advises new MPsto “be true to yourself”. Father-of-threeSir Michael, pictured, adds: “And, of course, justenjoy it. Keep remembering that, despite all that isbeing said about Parliament, it is an enormous privi-lege to be here.” Bet it is.

Happy days attaxpayers’ expense

Debate on Lord KrishnaA free debate organised by Hindu youth entitled

‘Krishna – history or myth’ will take place at Arya Samajin Nechells, Birmingham, from 11am till 2pm nextSunday (Feb 28). All welcome.

According to the Office ofFair Trading, or OFT,around one in 11 adults,that’s four million people,have responded to a scamat some point in their life,of whom nearly a thirdhave lost money. In addi-tion, around half of thosescammed have lost morethan £50 in total, withfive per cent having lostmore than £5,000.Seventy-three per cent ofscams are received byemail, 21 per cent by let-ter and 12 per cent via

text. Scamnesty is beingrun in partnership with129 local authorityTrading StandardsServices, of which WalsallCouncil is one. The coun-cil’s cabinet member forsafer stronger communi-ties, Councillor GarryPerry, said: “Scammersare using ever moresophisticated and cun-ning tactics to dupe peo-ple out of their cash. Itreally is important thatour residents are onguard. Scams can bring

real upset and misery totheir victims.” Amongtips being offered to wardoff potential scammersare: (1) Stop think and besceptical. If something

sounds too good to betrue, it probably is a scam(2) Don’t be rushed intosending off money tosomeone you don’t know,

no matter how plausiblethey may sound (3) Thinkabout how much moneyyou could lose from reply-ing to a potential scam.It’s not a gamble worthtaking (4) Ask yourselfhow likely it is that youhave been especially cho-sen for this offer.Thousands of other peo-ple will probably havereceived the offer. Scamexamples include theSpanish lottery, awardnotifications, clothingcollection, dodgy cata-logues, phoneyastrologers and racingtipsters. To find out morecall Consumer Direct on08454 040506.

Around 1,000 guestsreflecting the multicultur-al make-up of the WestMidlands attended theannual AsianGovernmental Dinner inBirmingham lastThursday. A fiercely pas-sionate and eloquentspeech was delivered bykeynote speaker DavidMiliband MP, our ForeignSecretary. "We have thevalues, the ideas and withevents like this we willget the energy too," MrMiliband told attendees.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder on stage withhim were his colleaguesPat McFadden (who this

week returned from avisit to thePunjab, India), LiamByrne (who is this weekvisiting Pakistan) andShabana Mahmood,Ladywood Parliamentarycandidate. Earlier in theday Mr Miliband had metwith young people to lis-ten to their views, con-cerns and issues. Theround-table functionwas held at the NewBingley Hall in Hockley.Also present were LordKing, fellow columnist

Keith Vaz MP, MPs RobMarris and Adrian Bailey,Neena Gill, former MEPand several local council-lors, leading businessmenand businesswomen,faith leaders and stu-dents. This event clashedwith a separate LabourParty fundraising dinnerat the nearby RadissonHotel where Hilary Benn,the EnvironmentSecretary, was principalspeaker. This event wasattended by around 50people.

A mammoth celebrationto celebrate the sixtiethanniversary of India’sRepublic Day broughttogether over 1,000guests from all sections ofsociety at the ICC inBirmingham last Sundayevening. The event wasorganised by the HighCommissioner of India,Nalin Surie, in collabora-tion with the local IndianEmbassy andBirmingham CityCouncil. The two-partprogramme mainly fea-tured Bharatnatyam

dance performances, withnarration and specialeffects, led by GeetaChandran and her six-strong troupe. The com-pere was Piali Ray, direc-

tor of Sampad, the Indiandance organisation.Eagle-eyed observersnoted how dignitaries -Mr Surie, Mike Whitby,leader of Birmingham

City Council, localConsul General Mr CGururaj Rao and man-of-few-words WestMidlands LordLieutenant PaulSabapathy - kept theirshoes on, disrespectfully,some may say, while onstage lighting the lamp.And how within ten min-utes of doing so, the lampwas blown out. One won-ders whether the lampwas lit as a mark ofrespect and welcome, asit should be, or for thephotoshoot only?

February is Scams Awareness Month which sees thelaunch of SSccaammnneessttyy, a national campaign whichaims to nab scammers who target residents to partwith their cash.

Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or dhiren.katwa@abplgroup.comDee KatwaMidland Voice

Ethnic food firm finedAn award-winning Nottingham-based supplier and

retailer of ethnic food products, Asiana Limited, hasbeen fined over £8,000 for failing to comply withpackaging regulations. The family-run companypleaded guilty to nine charges between 2006 and 2008that related to not registering with the EnvironmentAgency, failing to meet its recycling obligations andfor not producing a certificate of compliance duringthose years. An estimated over 58 million tonnes ofpackaging is produced annually by the European com-munity.

Diverse concertTop female vocalists from Africa and Europe, cur-

rently on a national tour, will be at The Drum ArtsCentre in Birmingham this Friday evening (Feb19).The women from diverse African cultures will col-lectively share their rich musical heritage that "enter-tains, challenges and positively enriches" as part ofthis inaugural event. The group's next stops are inGateshead, Liverpool, Morecambe, Leicester andLondon on Feb 22,23,24,25 and 27, respectively. Formore information visit www.blackroutes.org.uk or call0121 331 4746.

New club launchedA new organisation aimed at uniting

Birmingham’s professionals and entre-preneurs has been launched. TheBirmingham Chamber Executive Club(CEC) has been established throughone of its satellites, the Institute ofAsian Businesses (IAB), but Paul Bassi,the Chamber’s first Asian president,explained the new enterprise was aimed at providingopportunities all round. He added: “It will not have acommittee or a board, there will be no annual elec-tions, there will be no presidents and no politics.”

Skills West MidlandsA new annual event, Skills: West Midlands, is

being aimed at the region’s 14-19-year-olds. It will beheld at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, on 17 and 18March. To sign up or find out more contact 01823362800 or visit www.skillswestmidlands.co.uk

Shutters come downThe Hillfields Health Centre in Coventry has

closed after 40 years of serving patients. The centre,in Howard Street, was home to three GP practiceswho, between them, cared for a total 12,000 patients.The centre closed last Friday and will be demolishednext month. Dr Manoj Pai, who was based at the cen-tre for six years, said: “This was a futuristic buildingwhen it was built in the 1970s. Now there is a lot ofemphasis on getting several practices under one roofwith other health services.”

Sixty years on

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 9

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201010 ART & CULTURE

Spriha’sCorner

Bollywood legendAmitabh Bachchan hasnow become the brandambassador for COL-ORS, a Viacom 18 MediaPvt Ltd channel andIndia’s number oneIndian Hindi entertain-ment channel.The channel is com-

ing soon in the US & UKmarkets, aims to enter-tain the entire HindiSouth Asian Diaspora,across all generations.Speaking to Mr.

Bachchan during a tele-phonic interview, hementioned that he isenjoying his associationwith the channel sincethere is a group of youngand enthusiastic peoplebehind the entire work.He also said that he hadjust recently finishedshooting for Big Boss 3and is looking forward tomore.“My association with

COLORS began withBigg Boss Season 3.Now, by taking on theresponsibility of being itsBrand Ambassador, I feelextremely honoured inbeing able to partner amedia channel that has

been a conduit of socialchange while churningout excellent qualityentertainment. I am sureCOLORS, with its myri-ad hues of entertain-ment, will spread itsmagic in the US & UK asit did in India.”During the interview,

he also mentioned hislatest association withGujarat as its brandambassador. He said hehas accepted Mr.Narendra Modi’s invita-

tion to be the brandambassador for Gujaratin promoting tourism forthe state by shootingmore films in state.Mr. Bachchan had

been all praise for thedevelopment in Gujaratand said the state was aplace worth visitingagain and again. In facthe also said that if thegovernment planned adocumentary to show-case the state, he wouldlike to be a part of it.

AKS performing artsgroups brings yet anoth-er exciting performanceto zap London audi-ences. After the successof its first play “Thirtydays in September,” thisgroup of young andenergetic professionalshas brought some comicrelief for all in their nextperformance.A comedy set in

London, Caught in theNet is about a taxi driverleading a dual existence.As if one wasn’t alreadya handful, the protago-nist Joginder PratapSingh is juggling twowives! The plot thickenswhen the daughter fromone wife meets and fallsfor the son from theother in an online chatroom.Enter Sanjay Gupta,

lodger and loyal friend,who is left to manage themayhem that Jogi causesin his wake. Whatensues is a mad comedyabout love, betrayal,marriage, kids and thecoincidence called life.Starkly different by

design from the group’sfirst play, this RayCooney original hasbeen adapted to an

Indian context, stillkeeping it set within thebounds of the city ofLondon. The play alsohas a a collage of cul-tures and values juxta-posed on a genuinelyhilarious and idiosyn-cratic set of characters,with the slightest (veryBritish) hint of innuen-do.Speaking to Neha

Jain, who is part of theplay, she said the groupnow has new members,as was needed by thestory.“The cast for this

play necessitated us togo beyond our smallgroup and reach out totheatre enthusiasts invarious parts ofLondon. Fortunately wewere contacted by sever-al people who hadenjoyed our maiden per-formance and were keenbecome a part of Aks.Among these we foundour Jogi, who works inthe shipping industry. Incollege –student Hassanwe found the idealGaurav. Herschel, a con-sultant, was an interest-ing choice for Dad andhe plays his characterwith uncommon

panache and cheerfulaplomb.”The play is co-direct-

ed by Ali Tariq Khan andAnkur Chopra and issaid to be the next levelin the group’s journey toexplore the multipleforms and facets of the-atre. Both in terms ofhaving a larger cast anda script highly depend-ent on comic timing andsynchronicity, the play,as Neha says, was a chal-lenge beyond past expe-rience.The performance

dates of the play will befrom February 18th –February 20th atRudolph Steiner House,followed by a bollywooddance party. It is defi-nitely a must watch andin case you still haven’tbooked your tickets,now is the time.As Neha puts it in

her words,“We really had a

super time rehearsingthis one, and getting itready for you. We thinkyou’ll love watching itjust as much.”(Log on to

http://web.me.com/nehajain/Aks/Tickets.htmlto book tickets)

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

Big B endorses ‘Colors’By Spriha Srivastava

Spriha’sCorner

On Sunday 21st February2010, the Annual SportsCompetition for NationalHindu Students Forum(UK) [NHSF] will be tak-ing place on the hallowedgrounds of LoughboroughUniversity. Students hail-ing from all corners of theUK shall commence battlein contemporary and tra-ditional sports, withsewa, learning and a fewsurprises included toengage students with ourdharma whilst they strivefor sporting glory. Themotivation for organisingan NHSF (UK) SportsCompetition comes inmany forms, but some keyfactors lie within our owndharma. Many will beaware of Hindu dharma’slong-standing commit-ment to physical healththrough practices such asHatha Yoga and a wholestream of holistic healingknown as Ayurveda.However, the situation wesee in the UK today sug-gests health is not as highon our personal agendasas it should be.We witness the obesity

epidemic through themedia everyday and thestatistics tell us why - 1 in4 adults are obese and

therefore are increasingtheir risk of developing avast array of diseases andillnesses associated withobesity.

The youth are suffer-ing too, with 16% of 2-15year olds in the obese cat-egory and the NationalHealth Service is spend-ing over a billion poundsto treat the consequencesof obesity. The govern-ment recognizes the roleof physical activity inreducing this burdenhence large investment,but despite schemes inthe workplace andschools, many are notmeeting recommendedtargets of physical activityper week.At university there is

abundant competition forour attention, and thecost and time commit-ments often prevent manystudents from taking onpotential sporting ven-tures.NHSF recognise our

duty to ensure studentsgain as much as possibleat university, and theSports Competition pro-vides a tangible goal forlocal universities to aimtowards. Weekly trainingat university exposes stu-

dents to sports and pro-vides members at chapterlevel an enjoyable way ofengaging in physicalactivity with their fellowstudents.It may be a cliché, but

the unity and teamworkformed through trainingin a competitive environ-ment enables students toutilise their physical andintellectual capacities anddevelop skills essential forworking with others invarious avenues of life.Providing students

with the hope and inspi-ration that a nationalSports Competitionundoubtedly delivers, canhopefully assist inencouraging youngBritish Hindus to partici-pate more in sport, lead ahealthy lifestyle and unitein Lord Hanuman’s mani-festation of strength, soli-darity, humility and unity.Perhaps in the near

future some students willlead the way and act asrole models for youngpeople wanting to pursuesporting careers, and oth-ers will see a flourishingand vibrant youth takingour Dharma forward intothe next decade of the21st century!

By Rudrajoy Chakroborty, Interfaith PR NHSF (UK)

NHSF Hold Annual Sports Competition 2010

National Hindu StudentsForum (UK)

Time for some hide andseek comedy

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 11EDUCATION/COUNCIL

This article is intended forthose in business whohave duties under healthand safety law (‘duty hold-ers’), for example employ-ers and those in control ofworkplaces.

Who enforces healthand safety law?

Health and safety lawis enforced by inspectorsfrom the Health andSafety Executive (HSE) or

by inspectors from yourlocal authority. Inspectorshave the right to enter anyworkplace without givingnotice. On a normalinspection visit an inspec-tor will look at the work-place, the work activities,and to check that you arecomplying with health andsafety law. He/she mayalso talk to employees andtheir representatives, takephotographs and samples,and take action if there is arisk to health and safetywhich needs to be dealtwith immediately.

Enforcing health andsafety law

On finding a breach ofhealth and safety law, theinspector will decide whataction to take. The inspec-tor should provideemployees or their repre-sentatives with informa-

tion about any actiontaken. Inspectors maytake enforcement action inseveral ways to deal with abreach of the law. In mostcases these are:

Informal - Where thebreach of the law is rela-tively minor, the inspectormay tell the the employeror contractor, what to doto comply with the law,and explain why.

Health and SafetyImprovement notice -

Where the breach of thelaw is more serious, theinspector may issue animprovement notice to tellthe duty holder to dosomething to comply withthe law. The notice will saywhat needs to be done,why, and by when. Theinspector can take furtherlegal action if the notice isnot complied with within

the specified time period.

Prohibition notice -Where an activity involvesa risk of serious personalinjury, the inspector mayserve a prohibition noticestopping the activityimmediately and notallowing it to be resumeduntil remedial action hasbeen taken. The noticewill explain why the actionis necessary.

Prosecution - In somecases the inspector mayconsider that it is also nec-essary to initiate a prosecu-tion. Health and safety lawgives the courts consider-able scope for punishingoffenders and deterringothers. For example, a fail-ure to comply with animprovement or prohibitionnotice carries a possibleunlimited fine or two years’imprisonment, or both.

Appeals - A dutyholderhas the right of appeal toan Employment Tribunalwhen an improvement orprohibition notice isserved. How to appeal isexplained on the reverse ofthe notice.

Information toemployees or their repre-sentativesDuring a normal

inspection visit an inspec-tor will expect to checkthat those in charge havearrangements in place forconsulting and informingemployees about healthand safety matters. Sucharrangements are requiredby law. An inspector willmeet or speak to employ-ees or their representa-tives during a visit, wher-ever possible. When theymeet, employees or theirrepresentatives shouldalways be given the oppor-tunity to speak privately tothe inspector, if they sowish. The inspector willprovide employees or theirrepresentatives with infor-mation about mattersaffecting their health, safe-ty and welfare. This infor-mation relates to theworkplace or activity tak-ing place there, and actionwhich the inspector hastaken or proposes to take.

Helpline: 0207 556 2181e-mail: desi@hse.gsi.gov.ukWebsite: www.hse.gov.uk/construction/gujarati

What to expect when a health and safety inspector calls

Rhaynukaa SoniOutreach Executive

Local authorities shouldbe able to choose when torestrict late night drinkingin their local areas, ratherthan the governmenthanding down one-size-fits-all regulations ondrinking laws.The government has

announced that councilswill be able to imposeblanket bans on the sale ofalcohol after 3am in entirestreets or city centres

affected by alcohol-relatedanti-social behaviour anddisorder. While LondonCouncils welcomes themove, it is clear that ablanket ban such as this isnot always the best way todeal with problems stem-ming from excess drink-ing. Instead, it wantslocal authorities to beallowed to develop localsolutions to local prob-lems.

Back from left: centre manager Gill Teather, Mayor Sir Robin Wales, Cllr Joy Laguda,West Ham MP Lyn Brown

Prime Minister Gordon Brown visits Newham'sCommunity Resource Centre for Older People

Communities should havesay on late night drinking

rules, says London Councils

UK Health and Safety Law protects you even if you are not working here legally

A 21-year-old sociolo-gy student at theUniversity of Leicester hasflouted the tradition ofviewing higher educationas an opportunity toescape her parents, liveaway from home andexperience freedomand independence -by bringing her fatheralong with her.Anuya Pai and

her father have livedin adjoining rooms inUniversity Halls ofResidence for thepast three years.Anuya’s father, DrAnand Pai, has sus-pended his medicalcareer to accompanyhis daughter, who is awheelchair user, tothe University as herfull-time support.Anuya’s parents orig-inate from Mangalorein South India, butAnuya has lived inEngland all her life.Dr Pai comment-

ed: “I am happy to behere with Anuya asshe pursues her edu-cation. I know howimportant this is toher and I have alwaysbeen willing to pro-vide whatever support isnecessary in order for mydaughter to achieve herambitions in life.”Whilst Anuya is in her

lectures, Dr Pai runs

errands for her, such asfetching her library booksfor assignments.Anuya said: “It was

quite an unusual request –wanting to bring my Dadwith me – but they didn’tseem to see any problem

with it. The accommoda-tion has an adjoiningroom so if I need my Dadfor anything in the middleof the night, I can call himeasily. This wasn’t avail-

able in other universitieswhere carers are off-cam-pus in other accommoda-tion. But the University ofLeicester has accommo-dated for him well, as wellas for me.“One of the majorthings whichattracted me to theUniversity ofLeicester was thewheelchair friendlyaccommodation asit’s hard to findwheelchair accessi-ble housing off cam-pus.”The high calibre

of support availableto disabled studentsat the Universitywas illustratedrecently with recog-nition from theTimes HigherEducation whoawarded theA c c e s s A b i l i t yCentre and StudentDevelopment theO u t s t a n d i n gStudent Supportaward at theirannual ceremonyfor their project‘Access toEm p l o y a b i l i t y ’which looked at sup-

porting students withskills and work place-ments. It was theAccessAbility Centre whomade arrangements toaccommodate Anuya’s

University of Leicester Sociologystudent brings her father to university

unusual living situation.Dr Paula

Dobrowolski, Head of theAccessAbility Centre,commented: “It has beendelightful to work withAnuya and her father.Anuya’s support require-ments have been fairlystandard and, once every-thing was set up, Anuyahas led an independentlife at University. The aimof the AccessAbilityCentre is to support stu-dents to fulfil their poten-tial and find their inde-pendence. I wish herevery success for her stud-ies.”

Anuya with her father Dr Pai

pic courtesy: University of Leicester

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201012

Scrutator’s“India on the brink of introducing GM crops to avertglobal crisis” was the title of an extensive Rhys Blakelyreport in The Times (February 9). He was referring toan eagerly awaited government decision on geneticallymodified aubergines. Mr Blakely got it wrong. TheIndian minister Jairam Ramesh announced an indefinitemoratorium on the decision until more scientificresearch had been done. Meanwhile, our scribe clearlyanticipating the worst quoted sceptical sources opposedto GM crops. They contested that such crops would leadto a second green revolution that was projected as theseminal route to permanent food security, the first hav-ing occurred in the 1960s and 70s banished the spectreof famine from the land. Somewhere down the line GMcrops will have to come into their own if the world's ris-ing population is to be adequately fed.

The Independent's Andrew Buncombe, reportingfrom Delhi (February 9) told how Indian scientists hadremoved the offending genes which were responsible forthe tomato's short shelf life. A normal tomato lasts 15days, without these genes it would be guaranteed to last45. This would be a bonus for the common man. InIndia 30-40 per cent of fruits and vegetables go badbefore they have reached the market, the lack of refrig-erated trucks being the cause.

If the process achieved with the tomato could beextended to, say, mangoes, bananas and papayas theimpact for consumers would surely be seminal, said MrBuncombe. The scientific breakthrough with the toma-to was the work of Professor Datta and his team at theNational Institute Plant and Genome Research, whoclaim to have produced the world's longest lasting toma-to. Professor Datta's tomato was not expected to reachthe same pitch of public controversy as the brinjal(aubergine), said Minister Ramesh. The approval forthe tomato would be ready in two years, he said.

Rural India onmove

Rural India is doing prettywell, thank you. To appre-ciate this you must turn toIndia Today rather than,say, the London Times.India Today, the Delhi-based weekly magazinehas published an informa-tive feature on the“Changing Face of RuralIndia” in its issue ofFebruary 15. It is wellworth a read. The leadingarticle by Dilip Bobb

opens thus: “Forget thoseimages of ravaged vil-lagers, kids with distendedbellies and ragged clothesand a future as grim as thecracked, sun-baked earth.Islands of poverty stillexist but most of ruralIndia is transformedbeyond recognition thanksto a host of factors whichhas put unprecedentedwealth into the hands offarmers across the countryand turned it into a hugeconsumer market. Lateststatistics show that agri-cultural growth and rural

income has largely beenunaffected by the econom-ic slowdown, this, despitethe fact that the contribu-tion of agriculture to ruralincome has actually comedown. Instead, we have agrowing service industryand alternate revenuechannels from horticul-ture, poultry, fisheries andother activities which areless rain-dependent andwere virtually non-exis-tent a decade ago. India's6,38,000 villages, whichharbour 72.2 per cent of

the population, once thealbatross around its neck,are now the signposts toits future.”

New crops and tech-nology have swelled thespirit of entrepreneurialadventure. Take SunilKatkade from Naygaon, asmall village in the Nasikdistrict of Maharashtra.From growing rain-fedBajra and wheat on whichhis family were hardpressed to survive, he hadinstalled a micro-sprinklerirrigation system, fouryears ago, and switched to

vegetable farming. He alsotied up with an exporterwho guaranteed purchaseof his output at pre-setprices. He earns Rs600.000 annually and hasa middle class house andlifestyle complete with ajeep. Such cases are multi-plying at speed. If urbanhouseholds are payingmore for their food, theirrural brethren are the prin-cipal beneficiaries.

Indo-Israeltrade deal

A Delhi-based report byJames Lamont and MartinWolf (with additionallreporting from TobiasBuck in Jerusalem) in theFinancial Times (February12) referred to the immi-nence of India-Israelitrade talks - “India priori-tises Israel on trade pact” -which aimed to establish afree trade agreementbetween the parties.

“India is to launchnegotiations on a bilateraltrade agreement withIsrael in what is one of themost tangible symbols offast-warming relationsbetween the two coun-tries,” wrote our scribes.New Delhi was prioritis-ing a deal from a list of 20countries seekingimproved trade with oneof the worlds fastest grow-ing large economies, theysaid.

They went on:“Bilateral trade betweenIndia and Israel has risenquickly, reaching about$4.1 billion in 2008,excluding a growingdefence trade. A more for-mal agreement would giveIndia's manufacturersgreater access to Israel'shigh-technology sector,

while Israel would benefitfrom better trade andinvestment prospects inIndia's domestic market of1.2 billion people....Among other areas, Israelhas agricultural technolo-gy that would assistIndian farmers in boostingproductivity....Trade nego-tiations with New Delhiare a big step for Israel. Italready has bilateral tradeagreements with the US,European Union andCanada.”

India has similaragreements with the

South East Asian bloc,Asean, and also wih SouthKorea. Once an agreementwas in place Israel's tradewith India could rise to$12 within five years, anIsraeli official told the FTcorrespondents.

The political dimen-sion of such an agreementwould be hugely signifi-cant. India's previous par-tiality for the Arab world(with little reciprocity)can now be consigned tothe archives as a bizarrecuriosity.

Warplane tested

A report from Moscow byVladimir Radyuhin in TheHindu newspaper(January 30) told of thesuccessful test flight of theprototype Sukhoi 50, thefifth generation stealthfighter to be jointlydesigned and manufac-tured by Russia and India.The US F-22 is the onlysuch aircraft in existence.

Mr Radyuhin writes:“Russia's new fifth-genera-tion stealth fighter(FGFA), a joint projectwith India which is set toform the backbone of thetwo nations' air power tillthe mid-21st century,made a successfulflight...The plane per-formed 'very well' during a47-minute flight at an air-field in the far eastern cityof Komsomoslk-on-Amurand met 'all our expecta-tions', said a spokesmanfor the SukhoiCorporation.”

He went on: “TheFGFA will also be a quan-tum jump for India, as thejoint partner with Russia,where the Indian aviationindustry will be a full-fledged partner. Under a2007 inter-governmentalagreement, the HindustanAeronautics Limited tooka 50 per cent investmentstake in the $8 billion proj-ect and will contribute 25per cent design and devel-opment work....India willbe responsible for supply-ing the plane's navigationsystems, mission comput-er, cockpit displays andalso provide compositesfor the airframe.”

Sulhoi head MikhailPogosyan said: “The jointRussian-Indian aircraftwill not only strengthenthe defence might of theRussian and Indian air

forces, but will take a wor-thy place in the world mar-ket.

Tejas, Akash mate

The Hindu's BangaloreBureau reported(February 3) that DefenceMinister A.K.Antony hadannounced the Indian AirForce's decision to procure750 Akash missile systemsfrom Bharat ElectronicsLimited. He also statedthat the IAF would orderan additional 20 Tejasfighter aircraft fromHindustan AircraftLimited, which is expectedto be cleared for full pro-duction at the end of theyear.

The orders for theAkash missiles and Tejasaircraft assume signifi-cance for India's defencetechnology and manufac-turing. The Akash haspassed its teething prob-lems, much to the satisfac-tion of the IAF, MinisterAntony said. Scepticismabout the Tejas project haslong gone, he remarked.

High-techbuzz

Joe Leahy writes in theFinancial Times (January29): “Walk into the John F.Welch Technology Centrein Bangalore and you

could be forgiven forthinking you have strayedinto the Q division (thelaboratory dedicated toinventing new gadgets)from a James Bond film.

“In one area ofGeneral Electric's 1mil-l i o n - s q u a r e - f o o tresearch and develop-ment centre, namedafter the company'schief executive, scien-tists are testing a spe-cial 'pedestrian-safe'bumper for cars whichcan hit people at speedwithout maiming them.Elsewhere boffins areworking on locomotiveengines that run onmethanol extractedfrom grass growingalongside India's rail-way lines, and on

super-compact medicalequipment that costs afraction of the price ofsimilar products in thewest.

“Opened in 2000 with275 scientists and engi-neers, today the centreemploys 4,300 – or one insix of GE's researchertechnologists worldwide.This year the ratio willincrease to one in four,according to GuillermoWille, the centre's manag-ing director. 'Why India?It's very straightforward,'says the German engineer.'There are very few othercountries where you canhire such large numbers ofengineers so quickly.China is comparable butafter that nothing comesclose'......But for VijayGovindarajan of the TuckSchool of Business atDartmouth College NewHampshire, and chiefinnovation consultant atGE, the rise of thesemultinational R&D cen-tres in India and China isdriving a profound shift ininnovation as significantfrom mainframe comput-ing to the personal com-puter, or the introductionof the internet....'We are atthe cusp of of a new para-digm in which innovationwill happen in India andChina first and then it'll goto the rich countries'.Professor Govindarajan

co-authored a recentHarvard Business Reviewpaper on the subject withJeff Immelt, GE chiefexecutive.

Enough said.

G E technology Lab in Bangalore, its fourth such facilityfollowing sites in the United States and France

MEDIA WATCH

Prosperous farm in India’s Gujarat

Tejas fighter aircraft put through its paces

Alpesh PatelConsultant EditorFinancial Voice

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 www.abplgroup.com 13

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LEGAL & GOVERNANCE

Pursuing High Ethical Standardsin Harrow

Can you help set the standard onethics and probity?Are you interested in promoting high levels of standards and ethics in local government?Assistance from members of the community is needed to help oversee the standards for theconduct of Members of the Council.

The London Borough of Harrow is seeking four members of the public to become IndependentMembers of the Standards Committee. The Standards Committee oversees the delivery of highstandards of behaviour by Councillors and advises on good practice in relation to ethics and probity.

The Standards CommitteeThe Committee consists of six Councillors and four independent members who are notCouncillors. The Committee advises the Council on the Code of Conduct for all Councillors andco-opted members, is responsible for promoting and developing high standards of conduct,providing and organising training, and considering complaints against Councillors.

CriteriaTo be considered for the position of independent member you must be able to demonstrate:

• an independent and analytical mind• tact and good interpersonal skills• the ability to give clear and reasoned advice.

In addition, you should not:

• be a Councillor or employee of any Council• have a contractual, legal relationship or close personal relationship with the Council, anyCouncillor or an employee of the Council

• be a member of a political party.

The Council provides a basic allowance of £445 per annum for this role. Short discussion sessionswith shortlisted applicants will be held by members of a Selection Panel formed of Councillors ofthe Standards Committee. This Selection Panel will then recommend to Council those candidateswho it believes are suitable. Final appointments will be agreed by Council meeting in May 2010.

If you would like an informal discussion about the role please contact Vishal Seegoolam on020 8424 1883.

Apply online at www.harrow.gov.uk or email your name and address torecruitment@harrowcouncil.info quoting reference LG-IM2007. Alternatively, please call020 8424 1983, fax 0118 952 0108 or write to Harrow Recruitment Team, First Floor,60 St Mary's Butts, Reading, Berkshire RG1 2LG. Closing date: 8th March. Please beaware that the closing time for an application is Midnight on the day of the closing date.An equal opportunities employer.

Canadian oil firm on BP,Reliance takeover radar

Value Creation, a Canadianoil firm is on the radar ofBritish player BP andReliance Industries, anIndian giant for a takeover.The Canadian company isin a financial problem andis likely to faces appoint-ment of receiver.Interestingly, while BP isbelieved to be a preferredpartner, the British energymajor may have problemsat home from shareholdersand environmentalists.Reliance, the Indian firmalso has bet for theCanadian company with aconsiderably higher bid.

Value Creation holds

reserves of oil-rich sanddeposits, which is consid-ered a very expensive aswell as highly damagingfrom an environmentalpoint of view, is it requiresa lot more energy.

Reports in Britishmedia have said BP looksdetermined to go aheadwith taking a controllingstake in the Canadian firm.

While BP has offeredUS$ 1.2 billion, Reliancebid amount is put at US$2 billion. Much more ener-gy is needed to convert oilfrom sand to usable fueland even the landscapegets destroyed.

January salesof Tata Motors

up by 93%Premier Indian vehiclemanufacturer recordedsales of 85,714 units glob-ally in January 2010,which is 93% more thansales of January 2009.

This performanceincludes vehicles fromTata, Tata Daewoo andHispano Carrocera com-mercial vehicles, Tata pas-senger vehicles, Jaguarand Land Rover as well asbrands distributed inIndia by the company.Sales for the 10 monthperiod of year 2009-10(April – January) stood at681,480, up 13% over thesame period a year ago.

JLR sales globally alsomarked a rise of 195% with16,269 units sold.However, the cumulativenumbers for the 10 monthperiod stood at 153,247vehicles, down by 20% overthe same period last year.

Shadow Business SecretaryKen Clarke addressed theLondon Chamber ofCommerce’s AsianBusiness Association din-ner last week. The AsianBusiness Association(ABA) created over adecade ago attracts manyhighly successful Asianbusiness people. Its aim isto campaign on issuesdirectly affecting Asianbusinesses within London.Ken Clarke said: “TheAsian community has a fan-tastic culture of enterpriseand is a major source ofentrepreneurship in Britain.

British Asian firmsgenerate around 10% of

the country's GDP despitemaking up only 4% of thepopulation. I am sure thatthey will continue to growfrom strength to strength.”

Lawyer Sunil Gadhia, headof the India practice at

Stephenson Harwood andChairman of the AsianBusiness Association(ABA) with Ken Clarke

Ken Clarke Praises AsianBusiness Achievements

Kingfisher to havea Delhi – London

flight soonKingfisher Airlines, thelatest private carrier fromIndia has got an approvalfor starting 7 new interna-tional routes, the airlinehas said. Two of theseroutes – New Delhi toLondon and New Delhi toHong Kong will be startedsoon.

The airline has alsogot the nod to fly on Delhi– Bangkok, Delhi – Dubai,Mumbai – Dubai andMumbai – Colombo.

I write in preparation of BBC Breakfast’s news-paper review and a good time it is to overview themarkets. The FTSE 100 seems to have found some-thing of a floor, the problem is that longer termmomentum and short term momentum are inopposing directions. So it’s anyone’s guess whetherthings will move up or down and my bet is sidewayswhen undecided. If I had a gone to my head, and Ioften do, then I would say it will rise with a 60%probability.

I am asked most whether we will have a ‘doubledip’ recession as it is only now people are panick-ing and feeling unemployment. It’s not nice whenimports become more expensive because the fareast is growing strongly and our currency is weekand we don’t have cash in our pockets. But that iswhere we are. So double dip? Yes 65% for sure. Inany event we’re not out of recession – 0.1% growthdoes not count and it feels like a recession so it isone!

I am also asked about Emerging Markets funds.Now they’ve had a great run. And whenever thereis any are where they’ve had a great short term runbut longer term you know you need to be investedthen I usually say to people ‘pound cost average’.That is the technique where by periodically youinvest a fixed amount. Your average entry pricehedges against falls and still makes you eventuallyfully invested.

Turning to gold, and I often am asked aboutgold, Johnson Matthey has done well out of goldprices and I have to add I came across an interviewwith Nirmal Sethia recently from 2005 when hepredicted these prices. He was being interviewedfor the New York Sun in 2005 and said, “The priceof gold is now about $422 an ounce -- in less thanfive years, it's going to top $800 an ounce," he says."I believe that figure could even go beyond $1,200an ounce." He was right then and the reasons hegave in terms of supply and demand have beenproven exactly correct and have not gone away.

So as gold companies become like oil compa-nies – benefitting from inconceivable prices – so dotheir share prices.

Of FTSE 100 stocks to catch my eye is RollsRoyce. It has, and continues to rise strongly. Andone for the smoker – BAT. It will hit an all time highthis year.

And what of Barclays? Still 50% off its all timehigh but about 8-fold higher than its low? Manypeople will have stocks in their portfolio like this.What do you do? Get out if in? Or in if out? Myview is to imagine if you were looking at it afreshwithout any holding. Would you buy it? Does itmake sense on its merits? A large company withrecord profits and cash that survived the crunch?In a balance medium risk, even low risk diversifiedportfolio, Barclays would be in there. Is it likely torise 100% and hit all time highs? It’s got as muchchance of doing that in the next 12 months as Ihave of losing 20kg. The race is on to prove mewrong.

In an effort to help matchseekers on the Internet,Shaadi.com, the world’slargest matchmaking serv-ice, introduced users totheir ‘Valentine Quotient.’On a specially designedValentine’s micro-site onShaadi.com, over 360,000love-struck individualsacross the globe testedtheir VQ on Shaadi.com& FB. According to theresults, while 42.64% ofquiz takers revealed thatthey were flirty, a close

40.54% said caring is theway to be. 9.31% said theypreferred to be a romanticto woo that special one,while only 7.51% thoughtthat being fun helped youzero-in on that perfectmatrimonial alliance.

Commenting on thecelebrations, GouravRakshit, Business Head,Shaadi.com said, “Inlaunching the “ValentineQuotient” tool onShaadi.com, we wanted tohelp out those looking for

love this Valentines Day.The results of theValentine Quotient havenot only brought aboutintriguing revelationsabout the changing prefer-ences of the youth but alsohave helped highlight theattributes that defineValentine’s Day”.

As part of the V-DayCelebrations, Shaadi.comalso ran a poll called‘Happily Married’.Visitors who took the pollcould choose theirFavourite CelebrityCouple and vote for themost inspiring love storythat managed to tug theirheart strings. Leading thepoll were Abhishek &Aishwarya (32%) whileBig B & Jaya came a closethird at 20%. Shahrukh &Gauri stood at No. 2(29%) while close rivalAamir & Kiran came farbehind at the 4th position(9%). At the bottom of therung stood newly-wedRajasthan Royals coupleRaj & Shilpa (4%) andBollywood’s not-so-favorite couple Sanjay &Manyata at a close 2%.

The inflation in Indiasurged to 8.56 per cent inJanuary, the highest inover 13 months, ahead ofthe Union Budget for2010-11 that would spellout the stance on stimuluspackages.

Inflation, which hasalready breached the RBI'sestimate of 8.53 per cent,has also fuelled concernsthat the apex bank couldfurther tighten the mone-

tary measures initiatedearlier this month in itsthird quarter monetarypolicy review.

Projecting that infla-tion would touch 8.56 percent by current fiscal-end,the RBI had sucked outabout pound 4.97 billionfrom the banking systemto check the rising prices.

Over one-year highinflation was led by cost-lier sugar and potato

prices. Sugar rates rose by58.96 per cent while pota-toes turned costlier 53.39per cent.

Economists predictinflation to reach 10 percent by fiscal-end, makingthe roll back of stimulusmeasures a tricky issue forFinance Minister PranabMukherjee.

"There is a tough bal-ancing act ...in the Budget.If he withdraws stimulusthen it would put pressureon inflation.

However, withdrawingstimulus is necessary toreduce fiscal deficit," CrisilPrincipal Economist D K

Joshi said.In the wake of the

global slowdown in 2008,the government hadannounced many sops,including cut in exciseduty, to prop up the thenslowing economy. Nowthat the industrial growthis also at 16-month high of16.8 per cent (December),experts feel the upcomingBudget may see stimulusbeing withdrawn.

Investors' fear aboutthe government rollingback stimulus had thebenchmark Sensex onBSE closing down by over100 points.

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201014 FINANCIAL VOICE

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Barclays, one of the lead-ing UK banks that did notneed any government aidduring the financial crisishas reported a surge of92% in net profit. Thebank recorded profits at£11.6 bn for the 2009 fullyear. Barclays opted not tojoin the UK government'sbail-out scheme for banks.It opted to rebuild itsfinances using funds fromthe Middle East.

A major part of thehuge profits was thoughearned from the gains that

came from sale of BGIfund management armthat was taken up byBlackRock of the USA lastyear. If that amount istaken off, the profits werejust £5.3bn.

Barclays said it hadloaned about £35bn tobusinesses and house-holds in the UK in 2009,having promised in Aprilto lend at least £11bn.

The willingness forbanks to lend is seen as animportant factor for eco-nomic recovery.

Barclays profits surgeby 92% to £11.6bn

A 15-member Nigerianbusiness delegation visit-ed Ahmedabad last weekto attract investment to itscountry in various sectors.Led by the executive gov-ernor of Borno state ofNigeria, Dr Ali-ModuSherif, the team attendedthe 3rd Nigeria-IndiaBusiness and InvestmentForum (NIBIF-2010)organised by CII inAhmedabad.

"Borno state of Nigeriahas economic and invest-ment potential in varioussectors, including agricul-ture, solid minerals' min-ing & processing, com-merce, tourism, hospitali-ty, energy & constructionindustries and oil & gasprospecting. At present,the government is alsooffering good tax sops for

investors," said Sherif.Nigeria has a popula-

tion of 140 million and itsGDP is growing at a paceof 6.5%. "Adequate securi-ty agents have been strate-gically deployed to ensurethe safety of lives andproperties of the people ofBorno state and investorsalike," Sherif said in hisspeech.

Gujarat has a long his-tory of relations withAfrica and Nigeria is amajor source forIndia's import of crudepetroleum.

"We want to renewrelationship with peopleof Gujarat and India. Sofar, China has investedover $200 million inNigeria while India'sinvestment is less than$90 million.”

Nigerian team woosGujarati businessmen

The Cairn India-ONGCJV has initiated explo-ration work in its Gujarat-Saurashtra basin block."The JV has received envi-ronment ministry clear-ance for initiating explo-ration following a positiveenvironmental impactassessment (EIA) reportin the NELP-V block. Itwill be allowed to drill onewell in the west coastblock during 2010," a sen-ior petroleum ministrysource familiar with theproject said.

The Gujarat-Saurashtra basin block

(GS-OSN-2003/1) is 51%owned by ONGC whileCairn India owns the bal-ance 49%. The JV part-ners had sought environ-ment clearance for theblock, which is over 12nautical miles away fromthe west coast.

The MoEF said that ifcommercial viability of theGujarat-Saurashtra proj-ect is established, theoperator will be requiredto prepare a detailed planfor development of oil andgas fields and obtain afresh environmental clear-ance.

The Cairn India-ONGC JV is producing oilfrom its Barmer oilfield inRajasthan that was dis-covered by Cairn India.The Mangala field thatwas dedicated to thenation by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh aver-aged a gross production15,430 barrels of oil perday (bopd) in Q3 FY2010. It is currently pro-ducing around 20,000bopd and more than 1.5million barrels (mmbbls)has been produced sincefield start-up in August2009 through Train One.

Besides selling twoparcels to RIL the latestbuyer of the Barmercrude, four parcels havebeen delivered to MRPLin Q3 FY 2010; trialparcels to IOC are expect-ed to commence soon.

Incidentally, beyondRajasthan, Cairn Indiahas launched seismic sur-veys in a number of itsother blocks. It has alsoundertaken 4D seismicsurvey at Ravva. CairnIndia has also launched3D seismic surveys inPalar basin and in SriLanka.

Cairn-ONGC JV begins exploration work in Gujarat

Infosys Technologies, theIndian software giant, willdesign and implement anew research informaticssystem(RISe) for the SanFrancisco-based ElanPharmaceuticals followingthe signing of a partnershipagreement.

A joint statement saidthe new informatics systemwill help ElanPharmaceuticals, a leadingbiotechnology company,accelerate its research byleveraging Infosys' intellec-tual property in this field.

No financial details ofthe deal were announced.

'We are confident that

partnering and collaborat-ing with Infosys will createa comprehensive informat-ics platform for our discov-ery research needs,'' AjayShah, director (researchinformatics at ElanPharmaceuticals), wasquoted as saying.

'We selected Infosysafter a competitive proof-of-concept phase duringwhich they fully estab-lished their credentials andinvestments in this chang-ing field of discoveryresearch, and demonstrat-ed flexibility and maturityin terms of rapid applica-tion development using

agile and scrum method-ologies.

'With Infosys' solutionand engagement model,Elan will be able to lowercosts for scientific opera-tion and facilitate innova-tion,'' added Shah.

The new research infor-matics to be designed byInfosys will open novelways for ElanPharmaceuticals to unlockdisparate data spreadacross its in-house researchlabs and other commercialor public sources for itsresearch needs.

This will also pave theway to a customized reg-

istry, and inventory and aworkflow management sys-tem for biological entities,the statement said. Withthe help of the new infor-matics system, Elan and itsresearch partners will raisetheir research output byefficient selection of drugsor biologics.

It will also reduce timespent on registering andexperimenting with bio-entities and reducechances of later failure.Under the agreement,Infosys will retain owner-ship of co-developedIP as part of the implemen-tation.

Infosys to design informatics for US biotech company

Inflation in India surges to 13-month high

Over 360,000 check their ‘Valentine Quotient’Abhishek – Aishwarya voted no. 1 celebrity couple on Shaadi.com

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 15FINANCIAL VOICE

Dr Rami Ranger MBE with Mr Shashi Tharoor,Minister of External Affairs, India.

Bharti rings in Africa via Zain TelecomKuwaiti company to sell entire African operations

Bharti Airtel, Indian com-munications major hasfinally been able to ring inAfrica, after a Kuwaitifirm, Zain Telecom agreedto sell its entire Africanoperations for US$ 10.7billion. Sudan andMorocco would not be apart of the deal.

Sources in Kuwait saidthe board of directors ofZain accepted the BhartiAirtel offer. Kuwaiti news

agency KUNA reportedthat it would an all cashdeal. The operations spanacross 15 countries andwill see that Bharti is incompetition with MTN.

Bankers in India havesaid Bharti Airtel has hugecash reserves and enoughborrowing capacity tofinance the deal.

If the deal goesthrough, the acquisitionwill give Bharti a firm

foothold in a relativelyuntapped market.

Africa has nearly 450million mobile phone usersand a teledensity under50%, still offering largeroom for growth for a com-pany like Bharti Airtel.The Indian operator wouldbecome world’s seventhlargest mobile company bysubscriber base after thedeal, if it goes through,likely by the end of 2010.

UK government has urgedworkers sending cash tofriends and family over-seas to keep their moneysafe by using formal chan-nels like banks, transfercompanies and foreignexchange agencies.

Launching new advicelast week, InternationalDevelopment MinisterGareth Thomas said up to£2bn – a third of all remit-tances sent back tofriends and family - cur-rently goes through ‘infor-mal’ channels. MrThomas and theExchequer Secretary tothe Treasury SarahMcCarthy Fry launchednew Financial ServicesA u t h o r i t y“Moneymadeclear” guid-ance which providesimpartial advice for peo-ple who send remittancesfrom the UK.

Remittances are a vitalsource of income in manypoor countries, paying forschool and medical fees,food and clothing formany families. From theUK, the main developingcountries that receivemoney in this way areIndia, Pakistan, Nigeria,

Jamaica and Ghana.The FSA

“Moneymadeclear” guid-ance “Sending MoneySafely”, includes practi-cal, impartial advice toenable consumers to makean informed choice onwhich companies to sendmoney through, what todo if things go wrong anddetails of a formal com-plaints procedure.

Gareth Thomas said:“For many of the world’spoorest families, moneysent home by loved onesis the main source ofincome. Families in thedeveloping world relyheavily on this money fortheir day-to-day expensessuch as food and medicalbills.

“EU legislation hasrecently been introducedto protect people sendingmoney home to countriesin the EU. We need tomake sure that this sort ofprotection is now extend-ed to give those sendingportions of their wages todeveloping countries simi-lar security.

“After the earthquakein Pakistan, remittancesincreased by up to 300

percent and banksand authoritiesworked together tomake it easier for peo-ple to send and receivemoney. We now need touse this model after otherdisasters such as therecent earthquake inHaiti.”

Sarah McCarthy-Fry,Exchequer Secretary tothe Treasury, added:“Remittances haveincreased significantlyover the last few years andfor some they are a vitalway of providing financialsupport to families andloved ones. To supportremitters in the UK, it ishighly important that theyalso have the opportunityto choose from a widerange of financial servicesand products.

We believe there is a

significant opportunity toimprove the level of finan-cial inclusion in the UKfor remitters, and that iswhy Government is work-ing closely with industryso that together we candeliver new ways to pro-vide essential and lifechanging services.”

Dan Waters, FSAdirector, conduct risk said:“There are hundreds ofmoney transfer businessesin the UK, and choosingone can be a difficult deci-sion for customers. TheFSA’s Sending MoneySafely leaflet gives simple,straightforward guidancewhich will help customerscheck out businessesbefore they hand over anymoney.”

New guidance on remittances from UK Dr Rami Ranger honoured withPravasi Sanman for services to

Indo-British Business

Dr Rami Ranger MBE,Chairman, Sun MarkLtd., and Sea, Air & LandForwarding Ltd., hasreceived the NRIBusinessman of the YearAward from Mr ShashiTharoor, Minister ofExternal Affairs, India, ata glittering functionorganized by the NRIInstitute at the LeMeridian Hotel in NewDelhi. Dr Ranger is alsothe proud winner of the

Queens Award for Exportand the Queens Award forEnterprise, 2009.

Dr Ranger is responsi-ble for persuading a num-ber of British Blue Chipcompanies to invest inIndia. These includeUnited Biscuits,Weetabix, Premier Foodand Best Foods. Thesecompanies are investingheavily in India and thusgenerating employmentlocally.

British businesses should shiftfocus to India, China

EU trade partners pushed out of the top ten destinationsA new study, commis-sioned by UK Trade andInvestment (UKTI) andconducted by LeedsUniversity BusinessSchool says that in thecoming years, China ranksno. 1 and India at no. 3 forbetter business prospectsfor British companies.Hence, there is a revolu-tion that will take place inthe way UK trades andinvests in the world.

EU partners likeGermany and France havebeen pushed out of the topten destinations for theperiod 2012 to 2014. Thetwo were at no. 2 and 3after USA for the period of2005 to 2007.

The report, releasedlast week ranks the 52countries offering the bestopportunities for Britishcompanies before andafter the 'credit crunch',and provides an intriguinginsight into where UKPLC has been, and shouldbe, investing time andresources to develop inter-national business.

The countries offeringthe best opportunitiesbetween 2005 to 2007were mostly Britain's long-established trading part-ners: United States (1),Germany (2), France (3),Ireland (4), theNetherlands (5), Belgium(6), Spain (7), Italy (8),China (9) and Japan (10).

Five years later, theeconomic powerhouses ofChina, India and the UShave become dominant.Even beyond that, thelandscape is transformed,with the top ten countriesincreasingly dominated bythe emerging economies ofEastern Europe, the FarEast and Africa.

Between 2012 and2014, the top ten is pre-dicted to be: China (1),US (2), India (3), Libya(4), Ukraine (5); Russia(6), Romania (7), Korea(8), Mexico (9) andSingapore (10).

Only EU nation in thetop 20 for coming years isSweden, while many ofthe biggest trading part-ners in the West slip dra-matically, Germany (30),France (34), Ireland (42),the Netherlands (37),Belgium (44), Spain (47)and Italy (46).

Lord Davies, UK'sMinister for Trade,Investment and SmallBusiness said, “The pat-terns of trade are changingaround the world andBritish businesses are hav-ing to adapt. NumerousUK firms, many of themSMEs have seen theirbusinesses transformed byexporting.”

He added, "The start-ing point for success is totake an informed, strategicand long-term view about

where the opportunitieslie. This is where UKTrade and Investment,with its network that cov-ers all of these markets,can make the difference."

Professor PeterBuckley of the University'sCentre for InternationalBusiness (CIBUL) and thereport's lead author, said,"The results of this studywere really surprising, andshow just how quickly theworld is changing follow-ing the downturn in thewake of the global finan-cial crisis".

"We didn't expect tosee some of our closestneighbours and tradingpartners, like France,Germany and Spain, beingreplaced as key businesslocations by formerEastern Bloc nations likethe Ukraine and Romaniain just five years' time".

British companieswhich place an emphasison emerging markets inAsia are also likely to berewarded.

Mark Robson of UKTrade and Investment(UKTI) said, “The sheersize of America's economyand its potential forgrowth as the global econ-omy recovers means itcannot be discounted. Thesame can be said foranother of the world'sbiggest economies,Japan”.

Foreign investment rules in India easedForeign Investment pro-motion Board (FIPB) ofIndia can approve invest-ments of up to Rs 12 bil-lion ($259 million),

Home Minister P.Chidambaram said lastweek after a cabinetmeeting.

Earlier, the FIPB, an

arm of the finance min-istry, had power toapprove foreign invest-ments of up to Rs 6billion.

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201016 FINANCIAL VOICE

Quality forCommunity

Mayank S. Rawal, FCQI CQP

Time is so precious, andto appreciate the Valueof time, each and everymoment spent in aC o m m u n i t yOrganization’s life spanshould not be wasted.

These momentscould be more preciousthan say any `preciousstone’, as they con-tribute to the success ofthe CommunityOrganization throughserving member’sCommunity needs,achieve greater respectfrom members, andincrease loyalty.

A Value Moment canfocus on any one of theC o m m u n i t yOrganization’s definedcore values for exampleculture, discipline,ethics, environment,health, performance,social factors (Values

Value MomentsUntil the movie ‘CharlieWilson’s War’ starringTom Hanks you probablyhad not heard of USCongressman CharlesWilson. He died this pastweek. I am not exagger-ating when I say he wasthe single most danger-ous and powerful man inthe world of the pastthree decades. An enemyof democracy, a funderof terrorism, a backer ofOsama Bin Laden. Thelast two of these three hedid unwittingly – but noless culpably.

Wilson as aCongressman ensuredcovert funds routedthrough Pakistan to theAfghan mujahedeen tosupport their effortsagainst the Soviets. Butit was beyond the wit ofthe Americans to seethat the Pakistanis want-ed to handle the funds inorder to keep the funds,that they would buyarms themselves toattack their democraticneighbour India; that theAmerican support forPakistan simply putIndia more in the Sovietcamp in the 80s whichwas a far bigger dangerto US fears of globalSoviet domination thanthe dustbowl ofAfghanistan; that whenthe Soviets left, the vac-uum would be filled bythe Mujahedeen obvi-ously – from freedomfighters to Taleban, whatdo warriors do without awar, they don’t start civilgovernment, they findnew enemies, usingthose self-same missilesagainst US forces inAfghanistan to this day –amongst them a youngman called Bin Laden.And to complete the cir-cle, the Soviets leftAfghanistan in 1989 –just before the USSR

collapsed – ie they wouldhave gone in any event,without the need to armPakistan andAfghanistan.

Wilson was a manwho so disrespecteddemocracy, an enemy ofIndia, the largest democ-racy in the world, tosuch an extent that heendorsed resolutions inthe US Congress for theestablishment of aKhalistan, or independ-ent Punjab, to be carvedout of the disintegrationof India. He supportedresolutions in the USCongress to declareIndia a terrorist state. Ihave the documents.They came into my pos-session when working inthe US Congress.

Other sources havesubsequently told methat 90% of the fundsfrom Wilson to Pakistanto fight the Mujahedeenin Afghanistan stayed inPakistan. Zia, who hadin his office ‘Its Charliewhat done it’ may wellhave been referring notto the Mujahedeen victo-ry over the Soviets, butthe funding of thePakistani army inKashmir against Indiantroops.

The story of the CIAfollows the pattern of theold saying, ‘when moneymeets experience, it isoften money that leaveswith the experience andexperience which leaveswith the money’. Wellthe CIA were the moneyand Zia the experience.One would like to thinkthe CIA has matured.

If there were twothings in the last 30years you did not wantto do, one was armAfghanistan and theother was arm Pakistanto attack India. GeorgeW Bush was wrong post

9-11, when he said,‘You’re either with us oragainst us’ because theproblem is his bumblingsled to his country beingagainst itself when hisfellow countrymenarmed the Afghans andPakistanis. If you wantto know the right thingto do in internationalaffairs, find a youngnaïve country withpower, and do the oppo-site of what they do.

Next week I meetformer PresidentMushraff at ChathamHouse. I look forward toasking him if he is sad-dened at the passing ofCharlie Wilson. I suspectI know the answer.

The columnist hailsfrom Karamsad and is aBoard Member of theUnited NationsAssociation (UK) andTrustee of ChathamHouse (The RoyalInstitute of InternationalAffairs). He is a formerVisiting Fellow atCorpus Christi College,Oxford. He readPhilosophy, Politics,Economics at St Anne’sCollege, Oxford when healso interned in the USCongress researching theillicit nuclear prolifera-tion activities of AQKahn. He also has adegree in law and quali-fied as a barrister. He is aformer Bloomberg TVpresenter and FinancialTimes columnist with250+ columns publishedin the FT and author of13 books. He is officiallydesignated ‘Dealmaker’for the BritishGovernment, looking forhigh potential technolo-gies of strategic impor-tance to the UK.

He runs a fund man-agement company.Alpesh.patel@trader-mind.com

The Man Behind Bin Laden is Dead

Alpesh Patel’sPolitical Sketchbook:

which help clarify whatthe organization isabout and what it isworking towards).Starting a Committeemeeting with a ValueMoment can be benefi-

cial towards creatinggreater enthusiasm,motivation, dedication,and securing the com-mitment of allCommittee memberstowards all tasks.

Here are a few suggestions;

1. Understanding our Community member’srequirements is an essential `Quality’ ingredient to asuccessful event, so let’s make sure we clearlyunderstand them – otherwise, our attendancefigures will be affected.

2. Always ensure that the Community service ourorganization provides to our members is at TheRight Level, The Right Time, The Right Cost.

3. For event success, we need sufficient eagerness tolook forward to new events, sufficient happiness tokeep ourselves productive and sufficient enduranceto provide more than we did the year before.Overall, Value moments should set the scene for theinitiation of stimulating, inspiring, and productivediscussions at committee meetings.

ArcelorMittal SA, theworld’s largest steelmaker, posted a fourthquarter profit of $1.07 bil-lion and said it expectsdemand to strengthen thisyear.

Steel buyers world-wide are set to increasepurchases by 10 per centthis year, said AdityaMittal, the company’schief financial officer, asmanufacturers in devel-oped and emerging mar-kets use up excess stocks.

ArcelorMittal has beenhit hard by the recent steelslump. The profit in thelast three months of 2009was higher than a thirdquarter profit figure of$903 million and wellabove a $2.6 billion loss in2008’s fourth quarter.Still, the company made aprofit of just $118 millionfor all of 2009, comparedto a $9.4 billion profit ayear earlier.

ArcelorMittal saysdemand is already pickingup - with first quartershipments outpacing thefourth quarter - butwarned that this will beoffset by lower sellingprices and higher costs foriron ore and coking coal.Net debt will increase dur-

ing the first quarter, itwarned.

Mittal said the compa-ny would hike prices butwas still feeling the painof fulfilling orders madewhen prices were lowerlate last year.

He said ArcelorMittalwill refocus from payingoff debt to investing in itsbusiness, seeking growthopportunities in India andBrazil. It has some $4 bil-lion to spend on new proj-ects this year.

Mittal said the compa-ny sees demand in devel-oped countries - theUnited States, Germanyand Japan - growing 15per cent from a very lowlevel. Emerging marketssuch as Brazil will alsogrow 15 per cent - exceptfor China, where demandwill grow at a steadier 5per cent. China did notexperience the same deepdownturn seen in the restof the world.

ArcelorMittal said in astatement that substantialcost cuts last year had leftit in a good position for aslow recovery this year. Itoutpaced a savings targetof $2 billion, by shavingsome $2.7 billion fromrunning costs this year. It

is aiming for total savingsof $5 billion by the end of2010.

ArcelorMittal sufferedthree consecutive quarter-ly losses before returningto profit in the third quar-ter last year.

The company blamedlower selling prices andweak demand for the steelused for cars, machineryand buildings for poorprofits last year. Averageprices were down by morethan a quarter.

Its sales nearly halvedfrom $65 billion duringlast year’s recession,down 48 per cent from$124.9 billion in 2008.

The company alsotook a one-time charge of$2.4 billion for writingdown the value of steelstocks and paying sever-ance to workers under avoluntary redundancyprogram. This was partial-ly offset by some gainsfrom lower-than-expectedlegal costs and the sale ofunused permits for theEU’s cap-and-trade pro-gram.

ArcelorMittal pro-duced some 6 per cent ofworld steel in 2009 - downfrom its usual share of 10per cent.

ArcelorMittal posts $1.07 bn Q4 profit

India’s industrial produc-tion registered a better-than-expected growth of16.8 per cent in Decemberto log the fastest expansionin a decade, helped by astrong showing by themanufacturing sector thatsaw its output surge 18.5per cent.

The high growth comesagainst the backdrop of a0.2-per cent decline regis-tered in the index of indus-trial production (IIP) inDecember 2008, as per lat-est data released by theCentral StatisticalOrganisation.

‘India’s high industrialoutput figures show robusteconomic growth and theeconomy is likely to do

well in the quarter throughDecember,’ FinanceMinister PranabMukherjee said, reacting tothe latest numbers.

‘We had thought indus-trial growth may be 13 percent. But it is now justunder 17 per cent. So theperformance is very muchin the direction that weexpected of a good revival,’added PlanningCommission DeputyChairman Montek SinghAhluwalia. ‘But I don’texpect 17 per cent growthto continue month aftermonth - that’s for sure.’

The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) had alreadyrevised its forecast forindustrial output growth

for the current fiscal to 8.4perc ent, against 6.3 percent estimated just threemonths ago because of theimpressive recovery stagedby the manufacturing sec-tor.

Significantly, as manyas 14 out of the 17 industrygroups in the indexshowed positive growthduring December, com-pared to the correspondingmonth of the previous year,with transport equipmentand parts logging the high-est growth of 82.2 per cent.

Among the broaderindices, mining outputexpanded by 9.5 per cent,while electricity generationwas up by 5.4 per cent, thedata showed.

India’s industrial outputregisters 16.8 per cent growth

The government Mondayallowed export of 10,000tonnes of sugar to theEuropean Union (EU), at atime when the UPA regimeis desperately trying to bringdown prices of the sweeten-er in the domestic market.The DGFT has allocated aquantity of 10,000 tonnes of

white or refined sugar forexport to the EU for the fis-cal 2009-10 (sugar seasonOctober 2009 - September2010) through state-runtrading firm Indian SugarExim Corporation.

Indian Sugar EximCorporation, which is thedesignated agency for export

of sugar to the EU, willexport the commodity undera preferential quota agree-ment, a DGFT notice said.

Although, officially therein no ban on export of sugar,prior approval from authori-ties is required, which theFood Ministry is not granti-ng since January 2009.

India to export 10,000 tonnes of sugar

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 17FINANCIAL VOICE

A few days ago I vieweda beautiful 1st Floor flatin the middle ofBelgravia, probably oneLondon finest addresses.The property was almostperfect equidistance inoverlooking the middleof the green. The proper-ty was west facing andhad a roof terrace rough-ly of 400 Sq Ft. The gar-den was obviously east

facing thereby ensuringgood sunlight, importantfor ensuring a nice greengarden in the centre ofLondon.

The property, lot 51in the Allsops Auction, isdue to come up for auc-tion on the 17thFebruary 2010. The flatsize is 1500Sq Ft andbeing on the 1st flooralso benefits from a bal-cony. Not knowing thearea I contacted an agentwho has been in the areafor more then 35 yearsand whom we workclosely with. In his opin-ion it is difficult to pricethese types of propertiesdue to the rarity of theseproperties coming on tothe market in the first

place let alone in theauction.

In his opinion thisproperty once done upwill go for £2500- £3000per Sq Ft. This equatesto a resale value of £3.75to £4.5 million. Thisproperty has perfectattributes west facingand a balcony, roof ter-race, and equidistancefacing on the square.

Guided at £2m, thisproperty will not leaveany margin for the devel-oper judging from thekeen interest shown atthe viewings. Guideprices can be well off themark, I have seen prop-erties go for double ofthe guide price.

Internally the view-ings were mostly donewith buying agents, par-ties from Russia ,America and China weretaking a keen interest inthe property. Judgingfrom the viewings therewas a lot of presencefrom end users.

This was not good forus, as investors, as thesepeople are not interestedin getting a bargain.

These buyers seemedmore interested inacquiring the property asa rare piece of art ratherthen viewing this merelyas a property investment.

The type of interestthis property has attract-ed will put any developerout of the game. I thinkthe property will go wellabove the £2m mark, myprediction would be£2.5m plus. Time willtell.

By the time the youare reading this the ham-mer will have droppedand the properly willhave been exchanged.

From the finest areain London we now focuson Tottenham, to a twobedroom flat in an excouncil block on the firstfloor.

This is somethingsmall enough to ventureinto for a first timer whowants to explore proper-ty investment and diptheir toes in.

14 Ashdown Court,56 Lansdowne Road,London, N17 9XQ

The property is situ-ated in the residentialarea of Tottenham closeto local shops and withinclose proximity of theopen spaces ofTottenham Marshes.Transport Links are pro-vided byNorthumberland Park

rail station.The property com-

prises a first floor twobedroom flat within apurpose built blockarranged over groundand three upper floors.Accommodation on First

Big Enough to Choke On, and Small Enough to ChewFloor comprises ofReception Room, TwoBedrooms, Kitchen,Bathroom with WC andwash basin. The Exteriorof the property is benefit-ed from a residents’ carpark.

Amenities

The only two railwaystations that are actuallywithin the boundaries ofN17 are Tottenham Halestation and White HartLane station. However,there are two LondonUnderground stationsjust beyond N17’s south-eastern and WesternBorders. Tottenham Halestation provides servicesto both the Victoria lineand National RailServices. White HartLane station providesservices to National Rail.Between the two border-

ing stations- SevenSisters and TurnpikeLane, they provide

access to the Victoriaand Piccadilly under-ground lines, respective-ly.

Even though N17does not possess the

same raging nightlife onefinds in central London,it has its own, scaledscene. There are over 25pubs in N17 area, as well

as countless bars andeven a few clubs. Pubsinclude: The Swan, TheWhite Hart, The Ship,The Bricklayers, TheBootlaces, The FerryBoat, The Victoria, TheVolunteer, and The NewMoon Public House.Most of these pubs areon the High Road. Barsand pubs as well asshops are scattered upand down the HighRoad.

The High Road is alsoscattered with supermar-kets. There is aSainsbury’s, an Iceland,and lots of smallershops.

ComparablesThe most recently

recorded transaction inLansdowne Road was153, which sold for£195,000 on28/08/2009.

Summary

This property in ouropinion should be valuedat £135,000 conserva-tively. Guided at£100,000 it could proveto be a great deal. Therental income on thisproperty will be in theregion of £10,200 perannum.

On a 25% deposit theinput would be £28,750based on a purchaseprice of £115,000. Therest would be financed at5.5% which would givepayments of £4,743 perannum. This would pro-vide a yield far in excessof any high street bank,and perhaps more safer.

This is not where onewould make the bulk ofthe return, the returnwould be made on theresale. A return of£15,000 after all costscan be expected on aresale after a 6 – 12month period.

So in summary toenter this will only costyou £30,000, the returnwithin 12 months isexpected to be £15,000and if this does not occuryou will be earning inexcess of 10% on yourdeposit.

The question is: whywouldn’t you go for this?

Suresh Vagjiani is the Managing Director of Sow & Reap, a Property Investment & Financing company.

Call On: 0207 706 0187Sow & Reap

Commercial Finance

Gujarat Properties - Sale & Resale

Property Sourcing

Mortgages

Sow & Reap Properties Limited is trading as Sow & Reap.Registered in England No. 05083823 Registered Office Address: 31 Southwick Street, Paddington, W2 1JQ

Email at: info@sowandreap.co.uk

Average Current Values

N17 N National

1 Bedroom properties £142,200 £214,700 £142,200

AshdowneCourt, 56,LANSDOWNE ROAD, F L 20/10/2005 £125,000TOTTENHAM,GREATER LONDON,N17 9XQAshdowneCourt, 56,LANSDOWNE ROAD, F L 24/03/2005 £138,000TOTTENHAM,GREATER LONDON,N17 9XQ

Comparables

Treating knee swelling

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010

BY SWATI BHAN

18 www.abplgroup.com

kitchen TreatsIf you have any questions write to mamta@abplgroup.com

By Mamta Bhatia, Psychologist

LLiiffee ssttyylleeSwelling of the knee is acommon disease not onlyamongst elders but theyoungsters as well. Toprevent from knee fromswelling some of thehome made remedies are

To cut down theactivity that makes theswelling worse. Forexample,prevent activi-ties like cleaning house,dusting and on the con-trary allow the knees torest for a few weeks.• Apply ice to the knee

for 20 minutes everytwo hours. Ice packscan be purchasedfrom your local drugstore and come with aprotective wrapper.For an easy home-made ice pack, use alarge bag of frozenpeas or cranberries .

• By elevating the kneeabove your heartwhenever possible.For example if youare habituated usinga computer it is advi-cable to switch overto a laptop. Activitieslike watching TVshould be done withleg on top of thecouch.

• Wrap your knee light-ly with an elasticbandage. Anotheralternative is to pur-chase a surgicalstocking from a phar-macy. A non-pre-scription strengthsurgical stocking willapply even pressureto your entire leg, and

reduces the danger ofwrapping your kneetoo tightly.Fluid on the knee is

another way of sayingyour knee isswollen. Thei n f l a m m a -tion fromsome injuryhas causedp ro t e c t i v efluid to rushto the joint,and theresult iss w e l l i n g .While severes w e l l i n gneeds to behandled by amedical pro-f e s s i o n a l ,m i l dswelling can often bedealt with at home usinghousehold first aid items.Knowing how to treatyour swollen knee athome can be a real costsaver

The best possibletreatment for swelling isice therapy. Elevate theknee to hip level or high-er, and apply an ice pack

to it. Make sure you havea cloth or towel betweenthe ice pack and yourskin to prevent frostbite.Apply the cold to theknee for 20 minutes at atime, then allow the skinto warm up for about fiveminutes, then reapply.Do this for an hour andsee if the swelling hasgone down.

Stay off the knee.This may seem too sim-ple, but it is often themost effective method toheal it. Curtail your nor-mal activities for a fewdays, and apply ice andcompression, and see ifthe swelling dissipates.When you are sitting,keep the knee elevated toimprove circulation.When lying down, keepthe leg elevated with pil-lows to encourage theexcess fluid to drainaway from the kneejoint.

Use a compressionbandage, such as an Acebandage, to help supportthe knee while it is heal-ing and to compress thefluid around the knee,encouraging it to moveout of the joint and beabsorbed into the rest ofthe body. Make sure thebandage is tight enoughto provide support, butnot so tight as to cut offcirculation. These threesimple steps will clear upmost cases of fluid on theknee.

Masala VadaIngredients

• 1 cup yellow gram(chana) dak

• 1/2 cup onion finelychopped

• 1/2 cup coriander finelychopped

• 1/2 cup dill leaves finelychopped

• 3-4 green chillies finelychopped

• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds• oil o deep fry

Method

• Wash and soak dal for 3-4hours.

• Keep 2 tbsp. dal aside, grind therest,coarsely.

• Mix all other ingredients, includingwhole dal.

• Add 2-3 tbsp. hot oil to the mix-ture.

• Heat oil, make pattie shapedrounds with moist palm.

• Let carefully into the hot oil.• Fry first one side then the other till

golden brown.• Serve hot with green chutney,

tamarind chutney, or ketchupMaking time: 20 minutes (excluding

soaking time)Makes:

15 vadas (approx.)Shelflife:

Best fresh

This week’s articlefeatures the poem of twovery talented brothers -Jasdeep and OnkardeepSingh Khalsa. They writefluidly about love, what itentails and how it can berepresented so beautifullyfrom a spiritual perspec-tive. Often in life we canbe so incredibly caughtup in the chaos of ourissues we dismiss positivefeelings that are underour nose. We can’t seeoutside our fish bowlsand easily forget to recog-nise the greatness in ourlives. At Thinkspalondonwe believe that a vibrantway to experience posi-tive feelings over andover again is to magnifyany emotion that makesyou feel great. Notice theway in which Jasdeep andOnkardeep articulate andmagnify the emotion‘love’. Appreciate howthey scale in and out oftheir world to explainwhat it means to them. Ihope you enjoy it asmuch as I do:

Love for each other

The love of two for eachother moves the world, Ittravels into the hearts ofall uncurled, Piercing allproblems and conflicts, it

rides the high birdunfurled,Such is the power of love,of love.

Perfection exists in thisstate of bliss, A time ofstillness not to be missed,Light in the dark, theheart caries you Littlethings in life left, the twoso true.

The souls rejoice, theyhave united once more,Two become one, thespiritual law, The indi-vidual crawls throughtheir journey, But togeth-er do they grow, the thouand me.

In joy, in sadness, in con-flict, activity, The com-fort in silence a sure signof clickery, Create, takeand sharing all things,Realising the oneness,the angels sing.

Two become four andthen still more, Unity,love, self sufficiency uni-versally core, A utopia?Ideal? Perhaps nothingmore, But a worthwhileaim, love not war.

The love of two for eachother moves the world, Ittravels into the hearts ofall uncurled, Piercing all

problems and conflicts, itrides the high birdunfurled, Such is thepower of love, of love.

Strength in breakingthrough any layer,Humanity life's religion,breath it's prayer, Thelove of two expanded myfree dove, Such is thepower of love, of love.

If you are inspired bythis, have a go at writingyour own poem or creat-ing a vision board of pic-tures that representthings in your life thatmake you feel happy.Read more poetry, go toart galleries or take awalk in the park, inspira-tion can be found any-where, and you just haveto be open to it! Help tosupport Jasdeep andOnkardeep by purchasinga copy of SpiritualPoetry: A Disciple’sJourney (www.spiritu-alpoetry.co.uk) for your-self or as a gift for some-one who you feel needsinspiring. If you areinspired send me yourthoughts or poems.Remember all the poweris from within so createthe world and the feelingsthat you want. Until nexttime, good luck!

A beautiful magnification of love

www.abplgroup.com 19Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010

Shah Rukh Khan doingeverything to make hisforthcoming home pro-duction “Ra One” a hugesuccess. He himself playsa superhero in the film,while Kareena Kapoorhas been signed to playthe lead actress. ShahRukh is also hellbent onroping in Hollywoodsuperstar Jackie Chan toact in the film!

“I love Jackie Chan, infact when my son was born I wanted him to looklike Jackie and I thank god as he does” said ShahRukh as he praised Jackie. However, things are notgoing as easy for Shah Rukh on “Ra One” front.Jackie Chan has still not confirmed abut his pres-ence in the film.

SRK too light-heartedly revealed the same say-ing, “I want Jackie Chan to be a part of ‘Ra One’ buthe is a little expensive. He has asked me to get intouch with him again so hopefully that will workout.” The film will mostly be shot in London andwill be one of its kind super hero film.

SRK trying to ropein Jackie Chan

Salman Khan hasa good fan follow-ing, but one fantreats him as God.

A certain fan ofSalman keeps apicture of him inhis wallet andstarts his day bylooking at his pic-ture, every singlemorning!

“A fan ofSalman Khanwakes up everymorning toSalman’s picture.Usually, peoplestart their day by

looking at god’s picture, but for this fan – Salman isGod. His house is like a shrine dedicated toSalman,” according to an eyewitness.

“The fan carries Salman’s picture in his walletand keeps looking at it throughout the day– Salmanis an inspiration to the fan. This guy follows all ofSalman’s films avidly, his charitable works and hislife in general,” adds the witness.

Salman is God forthis fan!

Amitabh Bachchan is anavid blogger and he hasgone a step closer to fansnow through vogging orvocal blogging by whichyou can hear his thoughtsanytime at the push of abutton on your mobilephones.

The service calledBachchan Bol is beingintroduced by InsideIndia, which is a reposito-ry for licensable contentand entertainment fromIndian superstars.

'Bachchan Bol empow-ers me with a personalplatform on which I canconnect and speak directlywith my fans across the

globe anywhere and any-time. This is myway...From my films to myfamily, from my country tomy city, you will be able tohear about it all, in myown voice, directly onyour mobile phone,'Bachchan said in a state-ment.

As part of the service,Amitabh will be sharinghis personal and profes-sional experiences fromtime-to-time. This servicewill be available to mobileusers at a monthly sub-scription or pay-per-minute pricing model.

A spokesperson forInside India said: 'We are

honoured and excited tolaunch this project withsuch a fantastic icon ofIndian cinema. We knowthe power of Indian enter-tainment and we are firm-

ly embedded in the inno-vation of technology andthe digital world.'

'Combining these twoelements we are paving anew way for social net-working, starting it in theworld's most excitingcountry and taking itacross the globe.'

Fans can connect withthe megastar by dialling505678910** from theirmobile and landlinephones. They will also beable to get updates ofBachchan Bol by joiningthe Bachchan BolFacebook, Orkut, Twitter,Rediff or SMSGupShupgroups or communities.

Hrithik starrer ‘Kites’ to hit theatres on May 21Hrithik Roshan starrerromantic saga 'Kites',which also marks theBollywood debut ofMexican model BarbaraMori, will hit theatresworldwide on May 21.

The Hindi and Englishversions of 'Kites' will bereleased worldwide simul-taneously in 60 countries.

The first trailer of themovie, which has beenproduced by RakeshRoshan, distributed andmarketed by Reliance BigPicture, was unveiled in1,700 screens on 12th

February."Kites is a first-of-its-

kind Indian film and ithas already generatedhuge interest. We areproud to present the firstlook to a worldwide audi-ence," said SanjeevLamba, CEO of RelianceBIG Pictures.

'Gangster' directorAnurag Basu has direct-ed the Hindi versionwhile the English versionhas been reworked by thewell known Hollywooddirector Brett Ratner,whose direction credits

include 'Rush Hour Series'and 'X-Men: The LastStand'.

The film is a romantic

saga that goes beyondbarriers, boundaries andcultures. It is a story ofpassion that defies everyrule, of a relationship thattakes two lovers on athrilling journey filledwith precious momentsand unexpected betrayal.

It also stars KanganaRanaut, Kabir Bedi andNick Brown. Kites hasmusic by Rajesh Roshan,cinematography byAyananka Bose and stuntcoordination byHollywood’s SpiroRazatos.

Recently, rumorswere doing roundsthat Arbaaz Khan ishaving an affair withhis co-star MadhuriBhattacharya of‘Prem Kaa Game'.

But when we theactress was contact-ed, she said, “It'sridiculous and does-n't have an inch oftruth in it. I don'tknow where all thiscomes up from,Arbaaz is really anice and decenthuman being.”

She went on tosay, “When I met him first I was quite nervous buthe made me very comfortable. And in fact, webecome good friends and I respect him a lot.”Moreover, Arbaaz is quite impressed with Madhuriand has even signed her for his next film “Bachelor'sParty”.

‘Prem Kaa Game' also stars Salman Khan whowill be seen narrating the story. Besides Salman;Tara Sharma, Johnny Lever and Malaika Arora inthe principle role and movie revolves around extra-marital affair.

Arbaaz Khan findsa new love?

Big B takes to voice blogging now

Ajay Devgan in another comedy actWith three hits behindhim, Ajay Devgan is hav-ing the time of his life andthe actor is set to ticklethe funny bone once againwith 'Atithi Tum KabJaoge?, a film which hesays will remind people ofcomic genius ofHrishikesh Mukherjee'smovies.

The actor, who hasbecome a successful namein the genre of comedy,with hits like 'Golmaal','Golmaal Returns' and 'AllThe Best', plays the role ofa reluctant host, trying hisbest to get rid of an unin-vited guest in the film,which is an adaptation ofnoted satirist SharadJoshi's short story 'Tum

Kab Jaaoge Atithi'.Konkona Sen plays

Devgan's wife with PareshRawal being the uninvitedguest.

"It is a HrishikeshMukherjee kind of a film.Remember his films whenwe used to get emotionaland also smile as thescenes unfolded. That'sthe bracket that 'AtithiTum Kab Jaoge?' findsitself in. It has the kind ofhumour which is cleanand quite rib tickling,"Devgan said.

The 40-year-old actorsaid that the USP of thefilm is it's script anddespite being low on budg-et, it is high on innovativepresentation.

"The film is not verybig budgeted and neither isit a multi starrer. However,what is of utmost impor-tance here is that it has asolid script which makes itworth it. A good balance ismaintained between whatis presented on screen and

how it looks. That haspretty much been takencare by (director) AshwaniDhir," Devgan said.

Devgan is elated withthe good response to themovie in a recent targetscreening done atMumbai, where it saw a 76per cent positive response.

"We were always confi-dent about the film butsuch acceptance made usfurther assured that audi-ences are still rooting forclean comedies. Weshowed the film recentlyto a set of people belong-ing to both class and massaudience. It was amazingto see 76 per cent votes inmovie's favour," the actorsaid.

Darsheel becomes a super-hero at the age of 12Darsheel Safary hasbecome a super hero withhis acting in “Zokkomon.”“I get to fly through theair, over buildings, saveand rescue people. I feltlike a true hero, ” saysDarsheel delightedly.“What's more I had myown special really coolcostume, like Superman'scape… even better.”

Does Darsheel realizehe's the youngest super-hero in the world?

He chuckles, “I dorealize that. But afterTaare… I had to prove to

the world that I can dobetter, no? So I had to doa really special film.”

Darsheel says his stud-ies were hard to keep upwith because of the longhours of training andshooting for Zokkomon.“My teachers used tocome on the sets, so Iwouldn't lag behind in mystudies. It was really toughdoing this film. But finallyworth it. Because myfriends will see me flyingthrough the air. I can'twait.”

What would Darshel'sfriends and girlfriendthink of him playing thesuper-hero?

“The question on thegirlfriend is a personalone,” says the maturesuperstar. “As for myfriends they'd probablyfreak out. I'm enjoying thethought of being theyoungest super-hero in theworld.”

Tell him Shah RukhKhan is playing a super-hero, and Darsheel sayscleverly, “His super-herowould be very different,much older. I'm just achild. He's grown up. I amsure his Ra.1 is very differ-ent from my Zokkomon.”

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201020 www.abplgroup.com

Two grandsons [Udhayanidhi Stalinand Dayanidhi Azhagiri] are raking inthe moolah with their respective pro-duction houses, and the third hasdecided to take the plunge in front ofthe camera! Arulnidhi, son of M.K.Tamilarasu (Kalaignar Karunanidhi’sson), was an aspir-ing director. Wehear that the 23 yearold is a trained direc-tor and was aching toget his own movie goingwhen someone in the fami-ly suggested he try his handat acting first! So he will soon tograce the silver screen in a moviedirected by Pandiaraj of Pasangafame and produced by daddy dear-est!

The movie will also starSunaina, who is carefully pickingher way through Tamil flicks. Thispromising lovely awaits therelease of Yathumagai oppo-

site Sachein and the completion ofThiruthani with Bharath. InYathumagai we hear she plays a ratherpowerful role that gives her immenseacting scope, while in Thiruthani, she

has some trademark Perarasustyle moments of humour!

What genrewill themovie with

Arul comeunder?

Given thatthe team is really

hush-hush and want-ing to keep their hero

especially hidden, lookslike it will be a long

while before we knowmuch about the movie!Shooting is likely to startnext week. Maybe at thepooja we’ll find out

more!

If you are of the opin-ion that there exists a coldwar between Dhanush andSilambarasan, think again.Both the actors are goodfriends and proving thisnow is Dhanush, who sayshe is ready to act withSilambarasan.

“If there is a script thatis so powerful and hasmeaty roles for both of us, Iam ready to share thescreen space withSilambarasan,” says theson-in-law of the superstar.He also says the crew too should beequally strong.

“And last not but not least, theproducer should be able to pay oursalary,” he says with all smiles. Onthe remake of Telugu blockbuster‘Ready’, for which he is currentlyshooting for, Dhanush says, “the film

will be racy right from the firstscene.”

“Acting with Genelia is a delight,”he says and adds: “Because theactress is full of energy and is a thor-ough professional.” Ask him aboutdirector Mithran Jawahar, he says,“This is my third film with him. Hopewe would score a hat trick.”

I am ready to act withSimbu: Dhanush

Classical Soul MeetsClassic Bollywood

Take a musical trip fromMemphis to Mumbai withthis ultra funky excitingnew 10 piece Asian SoulFunk band that melts gen-res, cultures and sounds,Botown is a super-tightband of multi-culturalmusicians performingBollywood grooves rebornwith a soul funk twist.

It’s an exciting culture-clash musical experiencethat takes you on a tripfrom Memphis toMumbai.

The live performancescombine the glamour ofBollywood and the charis-ma of the Soul legendsfrom a band that is com-mitted to bringing thehouse down with everyperformance and thenplaying on top of the rub-ble. And yes of course theyhave their own troupe ofsexy dancers!

The band was puttogether by Ajay, a UK-

born musician with top-ten hits in India and whohas worked with artists asdiverse as Jamiroqua,Gregory Isaacs and theKing of Bollywood himself– Shah Rukh Khan!

Says Ajay: “Bollywoodand Soul are both music ofthe people. I’ve alwaysbeen passionate aboutboth, so combining thetwo is a musical dreamcome true. Fans of bothmusic genres will be athome at the gig.”

The Botown band lineup features: drums, bass,Indian percussion, hornsection, guitar, male &female vocals, dhol, DJturntablist, rapper anddancers, all completingthe full live BollywoodSoul Funk experience!

This year alone,Botown have sold out twonights at Waterman’sBrentford, headlined theSouthampton Festival andsold out a night at the JazzCafé.

Indian, Russian films winGolden Conch at MIFF

Russian directorAlexander Gutman’s “17August” won the GoldenConch for the BestDocumentary, while “TheSpell,” directed by UmeshKulkarni was adjudged thebest fiction film at the11th MumbaiInternational Film Festivalof Documentary,Animation and ShortFilms, which concludedlast week.

“17 August” wasunanimously praised bythe jury for its rigorous,transformative treatmentof the unlimited humanspirit in an extremely lim-ited space. Mr Gutman’s53-minute documentarytraces the life and

thoughts of BorisBezotechestvo, sentencedto life imprisonment in asmall cell. His world is allof four walls and a viewfrom the window. The St.Petersberg based filmmak-er received the GoldenConch award along with acash prize in the ‘BestDocumentary above 30minutes’ category. Thejury did not recommendany award in the less than30-minutes category.

Ritu Sarin and SonamTenzing’s documentary“The Sun behind theClouds” won the SilverConch in theDocumentary above 30-minutes category, for‘upholding the spirit of lib-

erty and maintaining asense of balance whilebringing about differentperspectives within theTibetan struggle.’ It isabout the Dalai Lama’sefforts to resolve the con-flict peacefully and thereaction of the youngergeneration to the newstance.

Anwar Jamal’s“Anwar- Dream of a DarkNight” and DeepaBhatia’s “Nero’s Guests”won special mention.

In the ‘Documentaryunder 30 minutes catego-ry’ - Vagabond - A nomadin spirit and in reality and“I Found a Thread” jointlyshared the Silver Conchaward.

Despite Sena threat, flyingstart to ‘My Name Is Khan’

Shah Rukh Khan starrer“My Name Is Khan” had apacked opening on Fridayacross the country withMumbai restricting thenumber of shows follow-ing the Shiv Sena threat todisrupt screening. Mostmultiplex owners inMumbai decided to goahead with the screeningwhile the single screentheatres decided againstshowing the movie for thetime being, fearing vio-lence.

Amid unprecedentedsecurity, Maharashtrahome minister R R Patildrove to multiplex INOXto catch the first show of'MNIK'.

Khan, who is in Berlin,tweeted early on Fridaymorning, "good m'ingmumbai. wotever the fate

of the film, never wishedthis upon the city thatmade my dreams cometrue & gave me all. ibelong to u (sic)."

In Gujarat, the firstfew shows were cancelledafter VHP and BajarangDal activists stagedprotests and torchedposters of the movie, butlater the shows resumed.

The film opened to full

houses in Delhi,Bangalore, Kolkata,Chennai and severalother cities.

"Post noon showswere all sold out in ourtheatres in Delhi. Weare booked till Sunday,"Jayendra Banerjee, VicePresident SatyamCineplexes said.

"Some 75 screens inDelhi and NCR arescreening the movie.

The film has also benefitedfrom the Shivratri holidayon Friday. On an averagemultiplexes are running 11to 12 shows a day," a dis-tributor said.

The film's release raninto trouble after Senalashed out at Khan forsupporting inclusion ofPakistani players in theIPL-3.

Sunaina stars with Kalaignar’s grandson

Pia is ready for more bikiniPia had acted in ‘Poi Solla

Porom,” “Aegan” and

“Goa.” She is currently

pairing with Vishnu in the

film “Bale Pandiya”. Pia

while speaking to the

media recently said,” I am

from a place called Itava

in Uttar Pradesh. I have

studied up to12th stan-

dard. My two sisters are

teachers. My father want-

ed me to become a

teacher. But my dream

was to act in films. I told

them a lie that I have got a

chance to act in TV serials

and came to Mumbai.

After lot of efforts I got the chance to dub for TV serials.”

Adding more, she said, “I also got the chance to act. I also participated

in the interview held for selection of actresses. At that time I am intro-

duced to Priyadarshan and because of this I got the opportunity to do the

female lead role in ‘Poi Solla Porom’ directed by Vijay. I am currently act-

ing in ‘Bale Pandiya’ and am pairing with Vishnu. This film is a full length

comedy film. I am interested in doing bubbly role, serious role and village

girl role which has scope for acting. If the story demands I am ready to

wear bikini dress. When I acted in Aegan I liked Ajith’s loving talks. I love

his character.”

BollyKatsAsian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 www.abplgroup.com 21

New Hindi moviesreleasing this week

Top 5 Bollywood moviesfor the week

No. Film No. Last TotalWeek weeks

1 Ishqiya 1 22. 3 Idiots 2 73. Veer 3 34. Striker New 15. Rann Madhu 4 2

1. Toh Baat Pakki, 2. Aakhri Decision, 3. Click

A comedy and romance flick, “Toh Baat Pakki” is atypical Indian family drama that reflects the presentday aspirations of a sister, who wants the best of thematch for her younger sis, and is even prepared tochange the guy in the middle of marriage prepara-tions as one was already fixed, that too as per herdesigns only. A Tips Music Films presentation, it isproduced by Ramesh Taurani. Rajeshwari exempli-fies the quintessential Indian middle class womanwith the aspiration and ambitions to reach the nexthigher social stature in her society.

Rajeshwari is married to Vinay a bank cashierfor the last 7 years. She has two adorable children.She has always been the driving force in the familyand her dream is to get her sister Nisha married tothe most suitable boy within their Saxena commu-nity. Rajeshwari is against the dowry system andtherefore the propositions to find a suitable matchwithin the given scenario is not very promising butshe is determined to do so.

As the story unfolds, Rajeshwari with the fate ofchance finds a good Saxena boy studying engineer-ing and has prospects of a promising future. Rahulis a good proposition for her sister and sensing theopportunity she gets him to move into her house asa paying guest. Of course, here money is not dis-cussed but the only discussion is about hisprospects and views on marriage. However, whenRajeshwari learns that Rahul is not interested inmarriage, she smartly devices a plan to bring hersister and make them get to know each other...andalmost confident that once he meets Nisha there isno turning away and Rajeshwari's predictions areright. Nisha’s innocence and simplicity are a rarityin this day and age, which makes it impossible forRahul not to be bestowed. They fall in love.Rajeshwari is happy. Marriage is fixed “Toh BaatPakki”. This is all set; preparations are full swing,till one day Yuvraaj comes to Rajeshwari's house.Yuvraaj is also a Saxena. He has his own business,he is waiting for his house to getbuilt...Rajeshwari’s can’t believe her luck! This is abetter prospect.

The story takes twists and turns whereRajeshwari tries to set up Nisha with Yuvraaj.Rahul finds out through Nisha about Rajeshwari'stricks. He now needs to alter this situation withoutgetting Rajeshwari suspicious of his acts.

Directed by Kedar Shinde, the film has PramodSharma’s story, while the screenplay and dialoguesare by Vibha Singh. The lead cast consists of Tabu,Sharman Joshi, Uvika Chaudhary, Vatsal Sheth,Ayub Khan, Sharat Saxena, Himani Shivpuri,Suhasini Mulay and Upasna Singh.

Mayur Puri, Sayeed Qadri and Shabbir Ahmedhave penned the lyrics and Pritam Chakraborty hasscored the music. Mika Singh, Sonu Nigam, JavedAli, Shilpa Rao, Pritam Chakraborty, RanaMazumder, Soham Chakrabarthy, Antara Mitra andRahat Fateh Ali Khan have given the playback.

Sonam beats others to be Shahid’s girlPankaj Kapur’s “Mausam”had a number of con-tenders for the female leadopposite his son, Shahid,like Shatrughan Sinha’sdaughter Sonakshi,Govinda’s daughterNarmada, and AlyquePadamsee’s daughterShazahn Padamsee.

However, looks like it’sgoing to be Sonam Kapoorwho takes away the cake.

According to sources,everyone on the unit of“Mausam’ is glad to have

Sonam join the team.They are of the opinion

that Sonam is a goodchoice for the role.

Supriya Pathak,Pankaj’s wife, is the most

excited of them allto have Sonam inthe film. She gotalong with Sonamamazingly well dur-ing the shooting of“Delhi-6.”

Sonam was chosenfor the film without anaudition. While that isalright, the film was sup-posed to look for girls allover the country for therole. Apparently, the ideawas dropped as it provedto be too troublesome.

Payal Rohatgi is now looking for meaty rolesReality TV contestant and actress PayalRohatgi is tired of looking hot and sexy.Now she wants meaty role so that she canshow her acting prowess.

“How long can you bank on your bodyand your face to help you get roles in films?At the end of the day, anyone who wants tobe known as an actor wants to be appreci-ated for his/her work,” she says. After thereality show “Bigg Boss” she became morewiser. In he reality show her friendshipwith Rahul Mahajan came under scrutiny.“I knew Rahul for seven years when weentered the reality show, but he is a personI don’t know any more because as a friend,he has become extremely selfish. He nevertook a stand for me in the reality show andlistened to all kinds of crap about me fromothers. But I still give him the benefit ofdoubt as it is a manipulative game. I willnever want to be linked with a man whocan’t stand for his woman.”

“The show proved to be an eye opener

for me. I understood that Rahul wastaking me for granted. It mademe more independent andmature. The show is a replicaof how this world is – wherepeople keep playing mindgames and you can onlytrust yourself. God keepstesting you and I learnt tostay clam.”

She is now attendingtheatre workshops, andalso has a film coming up.“The film is set against thebackdrop of the 26/11attacks and I am playingthe role of a journalist in it.I am extremely excitedabout it, as I am tired oflooking hot and sexy. Themeaty role will give me thechance to show my actingprowess,” she says.

Katrina takes arickshaw ride

Katrina Kaif seems to befollowing in her boyfriendSalman Khan’s footsteps.Salman is known to gorickshaw-hopping in thedead of the night.However, Katrina wasseen getting into a rick-shaw last week with hermanager.

This happenedbecause Katrina couldn’tfind her driver when shecame out after the screen-ing of ‘Ishqiya’ at a subur-ban multiplex.

The show ended at10.30 pm and whenKatrina came out, she wasunable to locate her car orthe driver. She tried call-ing him but because ofnetwork problem he couldnot be contacted.

Since Katrina couldn’tstand around waiting,given the number of peo-ple that were starting togather around her, shetook quick action andhurriedly got into a rick-shaw with her businessmanager.

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201022 INDIA

In divine light By Rajen Vakil

Arjuna, the inner discipleYudhisthira is frightened seeing themight of the Kauravas just as the GreatWar was about to begin on the battle-field of Kurukshetra. He felt his armywas much smaller and subject to defeat.Arjuna and Sri Krishna console him.Arjuna tells Yudhisthira that he has the‘Pasupata Astra’, which if he uses,could destroy the whole Kaurava armyin the blink of an eye. Rather, he wouldengage in ordinary warfare and achievevictory the hard way, slowly and withgreat difficulty.

In this small episode, Vyasji unrav-els to us two waysto enlightenment –one, a shortcut andi m m e d i a t eapproach and theother, a slow andsteady process. Thefirst is a secretmethod, fraughtwith dangers ofmany imbalancesof the body-brainsystem, givendirectly by a masterto only certain dis-ciples. The secondis a slow and steadymethod which canbe taught freely.

When Panduand his wives werein the forest, Kuntisuccessfully usedthe mantra given toher by RishiDurvasa to givebirth to both,Yudhisthira and Bhima. Nonetheless,she could not invoke Indra to give birthto Arjuna. Pandu performed severe aus-terities by standing on one foot, signify-ing balance and voluntary suffering.After a period of one and half years,Arjuna was born. Arjuna was born anadvanced soul; not only is he one of thefive Pandavas, he also represents thestudent or disciple.

The aim of all disciples is to reachthe stage of ‘pratyahara’ or freeing ofattention from the attractions of thesense organs. In the twelve years of van-vaas (exile), Arjuna has worked hard onhis attention. The name of his bow is‘Gandiva’, which represents thediaphragm and his arrows symboliseattention. Every small disturbance,emotional or mental, immediatelyaffects the diaphragm and makes ourbreathing chaotic, fragmenting ourattention. By practicing rhythmicbreathing, we bring our diaphragm intorhythm and balance, sharpening andmaking the attention one-pointed.When we are able to hold a sustainedarrow of attention within us, we havereached pratyahara. This is the greatestmoment in our spiritual quest and atthis moment the inner guru appears tothe disciple and guides him to higherpaths of yoga. In the Mahabharata, SriKrishna becomes Arjuna’s charioteerand guides his chariot between the twoarmies or no-man’s land, symbolisingthe state of pratyahara. It is here thatthe immortal knowledge of the SrimadBhagwad Gita is given to the deservingdisciple.

Arjuna represents the emotionalcentre and before this centre can com-municate with the divine, it must bepurified. Dhritarashtra gave to thePandavas the barren country of‘Khandavprastha’. This comes from theword ‘khand’ which literally means asmall part (or something that has been

destroyed). For a disciple, it signifieschaos in all the centres of the body-brain system. From Khandavprastha,the Pandavas established‘Indraprastha’, the city where the ener-gy of the senses rules. Ordinarily, thefive senses work with the energy of sen-sitiveness or excitement, creating chaosin our lives. Here, the disciple shiftsfrom sensitiveness to sensitivity, estab-lishing the state of Indraprastha within.

Let us study an event during thisphase of the Mahabharata. One day,Agni (the God of fire) asked Sri Krishna

and Arjuna if hecould burn theKhandava forestand satisfy hishunger. Everytime he tried toburn it, Indrasent rain andquelled the fire.Agni then askedSri Krishna andArjuna for help.

Arjuna askedAgni to startburning the for-est and as soonas Indra sentrain, Arjuna cre-ated a canopy ofarrows whichstopped the rainfrom cooling thefire, allowingAgni to satisfyhis hunger. Inreturn Agni gaveArjuna a special

chariot with horses and the ‘Gandiva’with two quivers, which would never beshort of arrows. This whole episodesymbolises how Arjuna purified theemotional centre. The Khandava forestsymbolises our sub-conscious, full ofsamskaras. The spiritual fire of tapaburns this chaotic forest. Once this isdone, we have freed our attention fromthe momentum of past samskaras andthat is how we can get the Gandiva, rep-resenting rhythm and balance of thebreath, and the quivers of arrows, repre-senting quality of attention.

From the Yoga perspective, in oursolar plexus area there are the twochakras, Manipura and Kundli.Manipura is active and holds the energyof excitement (sensitiveness). Kundli isinactive but holds the energy of sensi-tivity. The yogi slowly stops the workingof the Manipura and activates theKundli. Karna represents the Manipurachakra and Arjuna, the Kundli chakra.Both are in the solar plexus signifyingthat the source of energy is the Sun.Karna is the son of Surya, but he is alsoAngaraj, signifying solar energy wastedin excitement and bodily pleasures.Arjuna is the son of Indra or lightning(solar energy in a concentrated form).When the Manipura withers, the Kundliopens up and we are freed from excite-ment, and now energy takes on a con-centrated form allowing us to invokeand thereafter, hold the divine presence.

When emotions are purified andattention becomes one-pointed, theemotional centre is filled with the pow-erful energy of love, leading to realshraddha or faith. From this pointonwards, our spiritual progress wouldbe very fast.

(Edited by Chintu Gandhi.Illustration by Siddharth Ramanuj.)

The author can be reached byemailing 3srb@live.com

UK DFID to help 8 million Indianslum dwellers with better facilities

£14.5 million aid to be used in 20 citiesGareth Thomas, UK min-ister for InternationalDevelopment recentlyannounced £14.5 millionaid to help bring betterfacilities for 8 million slumdwellers in 20 cities inIndia.

The DFID funded pro-gramme will support gov-ernment of India’s flag-ship Jawaharlal NehruNational Urban RenewalMission (JNNURM) pro-gramme.

Speaking at a highlevel meeting on the futureof cities across India andAfrica, the InternationalDevelopment Ministersaid that the £14.5m fund-ing would help to targetpoverty in some of India’smost overcrowded cities.

The programme willprovided clean drinkingwater to slum households,give better sanitation facil-

ities through improvedsewerage, waste manage-ment and drains.

Slum households willalso benefit from a legallysecure claim to theirhome, through tenancy orownership.

Addressing the meet-ing, Gareth Thomas said,“People often don’t realisethat despite being an eco-nomic success story inmany ways, India stillfaces huge poverty and ishome to one third of theworld’s poor.

Poverty is particularlybad in larger cities. That’swhy this funding is soimportant - it will make ahuge difference in helpingto meet the basic needs ofsome of India’s poorestpeople.

Films like SlumdogMillionaire have helped togive British audiences a

brief insight into the reali-ty of how difficult daily lifeis for people in slums. It isright that we take actionto help those people whoneed it most.”

DFID support willform part of a £6 billionIndian Government proj-ect. As well as providingbasic services to the poorin 20 Indian cities, it willhelp local governmentsand partners to delivervital services to a further43 cities – helping some45% of the total slum pop-ulation.

The Ministerannounced the funding ata high level seminar whichbrought together academ-ics and key partners, likethe World Bank, to discusshow Government thinkingon cities in developingcountries could beimproved.

Bangladeshi writerTaslima Nasreen, targetedby Islamic fundamental-ists for her controversialbook “Lajja” is back inIndia and has soughtextention of her visa.

She was forced toleave India after radicalsprotested against her pres-ence in West Bengal inNovember, 2007. Shecame back to India recent-ly and has been put up atan undisclosed place.

The medico turned

writer has requested for apermanent residency inIndia, but the governmenthas not taken any decisionon that. Her wish to visitKolkata will also remainunfulfilled, as officials feelit will spell trouble.

Living a life in exilesince 1994, Taslima hasstayed in France, Swedenand the USA also. She isin India for five years, buthere also she met withopposition from radicals.

Going for theHaj yatra on foot

Ahmed and wife Haseena will travel from Mehsana to MeccaVisiting well knownshrines on august days bywalking is a very oldHindu ritual, but for achange, A muslim couplefrom Mehsana in Gujarathas decided to walk rightupto Mecca. AhmedSheikh – 49 and his wifeHaseena – 45 will coverthe distance of 6,000 kilo-meters from their hometown to the holiest of theMuslim shrines in SaudiArabia in 9 months.

They have planned tostart on February 28 andexpect to reach Mecca inaround nine months. Theywould be passing through5 countries in their ardu-

ous trek.The couple was waiting

for their wish to performthe Haj yatra for ten years,but money is a problem.They decided to walk rightthrough. They got theirpassport just recently.

“It is a test of patience.Haj is an imperative dutyfor all Muslims who havethe resources to carry itout,” he adds. On passingthrough terrorist regionsand inhospitable terrain,Sheikh says, “We are car-rying the message of peaceand love for all the peopleon our way. There is nofear of anything. God iswith us.”

KND is newParsi high

priest in IndiaKaikhusro NavrozDastoor Meherjirana, arespected Parsi scholarwas recently anointed asthe Parsi high priest(Vada Dastur) of India atNavsari in Gujarat.Popularly known asKND, he used to presentmusical recitals on AllIndia Radio’s Vadodarastation in Gujarat.

Based in Mumbai atpresent, he is also anadvocate, he hasauthored two books onbanking laws. He is also astudent of Indian classi-cal music.

A follower of theKirana gharana of UstadAbdul Karim Khan, andparticularly of the latesinger Gangubai Hangalof Hubli, KND said “Itwill be my endeavour toattend to the controver-sial problems of the com-munity with all love, sin-cerity and understanding,and without an iota ofmalice or hatred. Only onfailing that I may take thehelp of my legal experi-ence of half a century,” ashe spoke to an Englishdaily.

Now, a singing sareefrom Andhra designer

Saree loving Indianwomen now can alsoenjoy their favouritemusic or songs, thanks toan innovation brought inby P. Mohan.

The designer fromDharmavaram town inAnantpur district ofAndhra Pradesh concep-tualised “Swaramadhuri”– the singing saree with

eight micro speakers onthe border, while a 2 GBmemory chip and a smalldigital music player is puton the “Pallu”. The deviceis capable of playing 200songs or can enthrall thewearer for 4 hours.

P. Mohan has earlieralso designed sarees withsmall LED bulbs, and calledthem ‘lighting sarees’.

Taslima Nasreen

Taslima back in India, wantsher visa extended

Now, liquor permit on arrival at Ahmedabad airportNow, tourists coming to Gujarat can say ‘cheers’ to this! The state government in its bid to make flow of liquor easier for visitors has startedissuing permits at the Ahmedabad airport itself. According to Gujarat tourism department officials, the process of issuing the permits will startfrom Tuesday from the department’s counter at the airport. Any visitor coming to the city can approach the counter at the domestic arrival terminaland seek the permit. “We have taken the initiative to ensure liquor is not an impediment in the growth of tourism sector in the state,” Gujarattourism secretary Vipul Mitra said. This is another step from the forward-looking government to simplify the process of obtaining liquor for visitors,he added.

23Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010

Congratulation

Shruti Ganapathy, former Assistant Editor of Asian Voice,and Mr Santosh Hariharan got married in Mumbai, India

on January 17th 2010.We wish the newly wed couple a happy married life ahead

and all success in the coming years.

- CB Patel and everybody at ABPL

Foreigners again thetarget in Pune blast

JuD chief HafizMuhammad Saeed hadsaid the only solution toproblems between Indiaand Pakistan is the "libera-tion" of Jammu andKashmir, failing whichradical groups wouldresort to the "option ofjehad".

Use of RDX is estab-lished in the Pune blast,giving a clear link to thePakistan connection.

In another incident,two British citizens weredetained for a few hours inNew Delhi on Monday, asthey were seen indulging insuspicious activities,though reports late onTuesday evening suggestthat they were released.Stephen Hampston (46)

and Steve Martin (55) hadchecked in less than aweek ago at RaddisonHotel.

Last week, a USnational was arrested ashe was to board a flight.He had a sharp edgedweapon, similar to a knifeconcealed in his cabinbaggage. KensingtonCarmichael, a convertfrom Christianity to Islam,had a tourist visa to India,Pakistan and Bangladeshand came here fromPakistan. He was detainedminutes before he was toboard a Qatar-boundflight.

Continued from page 1

Fonseka challenges Rajapaksa victory in Apex CourtThe petition sought a

determination from theapex court that the elec-tion of PresidentRajapaksa at the recentPresidential election wasvoid.

A court in Colombohas also issued an arrestwarrant against Fonseka’sson-in-law DanunaTillakaratne, though hehas avoided arrest tillTuesday evening.

JVP leader SomawansaAmarasinghe, AnuraKumara Dissanayaka,Sunil Handunnetti, Ravi

Karunanayaka and JohnAmeratunge accompaniedFonseka's lawyers to thecourt.

Fonseka in his petitionalso contended that statemedia was also misused,malpractices had takenplace at polling boothsand counting centres.Lanka polls did not fullymeet key benchmarks:

CommonwealthReleasing the final

report of the expert teamthat was entrusted withobserving the January 26Sri Lankan presidentialpolls, Commonwealth sec-retary general Kamlesh

Sharma said the polls didnot fully meet key bench-marks for democratic elec-tions. He went on to saythat the arrest of defeatedcandidate has led toincrease in tensions in theisland nation.

Commonwealth secre-tary general said, “Eventhough on the day of theelection voters were freeto express their will, short-comings primarily in thepre-election period meantthat overall, thePresidential elections inSri Lanka did not fullymeet key benchmarks fordemocratic elections.

Many of the problemsidentified reflect the sameproblems that affected theprevious elections. Theseproblems - which havealso been highlighted bythe country's ownCommissioner ofElections - will hopefullyreceive urgent considera-tion”.

Referring to post-elec-tion developments, espe-cially the arrest GenFonseka, Sharma saidthese developments haveincreased tension. It isimportant that the rule oflaw and due process areapplied.

Continued from page 1

Not a Fancy but a flight of necessityThe Direct Flight between London and Ahmedabad Must Be ResumedTourism has emerged asmajor source of earningsfor many countries. Toattract people across theglobe, each country devel-ops sites and locations.Transport and communi-cation links are strength-ened as part of infrastruc-ture building. Like coun-tries, regions or stateswithin a country, vie withone another to attract alarger tourist flow andthus earn a income andgenerate employment forits people.

When Gujarat isviewed as a major touristdestination, it fails to proj-ect itself, not because itdoesn’t have beautifulspots to showcase. NotedBollywood actor AmitabhBachhan, who has recent-ly agreed to become abrand ambassador forGujarat, recently wrote inhis blog that Gujarat hashighest number of heritagesites in the country.

Bachhan is right butthen question remainsunanswered as to whyGujarat is not a favoritedestination. Answer per-haps lies in the fact thatGujarat has only oneinternational airport, viz,Ahmedabad and that toodoes not have any directflight to and from NorthAmerica, Europe and evenFar East. In quite contrast,Southern states likeAndhra Pradesh,Karnataka or a smallerstate like Punjab andKerala have more directflights or more interna-tional airport.

It's very surprising thatstate like Gujarat, whichhas a larger chunk of itsDiaspora population livingin USA, UK and othercountries in comparisonwith other linguistic coun-terparts from India, doesnot have a direct flightfrom these countries. Notonly from the viewpoint ofestablishing and maintain-ing cultural link, but alsofor developing and expand-

ing trade and business,direct flights play a crucialrole. Gujarati emigrantsare drawn from differentparts of the state, such asKutch, Saurashtra andSouth Gujarat not to speakof Central Gujarat which isvery near to Ahmedabad,erstwhile capital of thestate which has nowbecome a major businesshub of the country.

Gujaratis are consid-ered as affluent peoplewith significant purchas-ing power. Tourismauthorities of other statesand countries likeSingapore, Thailand andDubai etc. target Gujaratisas potential tourists and itis ironic that Gujaratis set-

tled in other countries findit most uncomfortable toreach to their ancestralland. In the absence ofdirect flights toAhmedabad and also lackof other international air-ports, they have to firstland at Mumbai or NewDelhi and then catch aconnecting flight toAhmedabad, Bhuj, Rajkotor Surat. In the process,they not only have tochangeover aero plane butalso face a lot of otherhardships. The woes ofelderly people, pregnantwomen, women with smallchildren and those with

health problems are com-pounded when they haveto download and uploadtheir hand baggage.

To be specific onA h m e d a b a d - L o n d o n -Ahmedabad direct flight,the issue is real. From theviewpoint of traffic andrevenue, none can ignorethe fact that UK promisesa lot. Almost two-third ofabout 7.5 lakh Gujaratisreside in the vicinity of7500 sq. miles of England.Even during the so calledoff-season, about 2,500people visit India eachweek between May andSeptember and the num-ber rises to 7,500 inOctober and subsequentmonths. For most of themGujarat is the final desti-nation.

After a sustained cam-paign by various organiza-tions and prominent peo-ple, including editor andpublisher of Asian Voiceand Gujarat SamacharC.B. Patel, the NDA gov-

ernment introduced twodirect flights toAhmedabad initially andraised it to five subse-quently. However, afterthe advent of UPA govern-ment and with Praful Patelin charge of the CivilAviation ministry, directflights were withdrawn.Despite the representationfrom different quartersand also by CB, the min-istry has not done any-thing to resume the flight.

During the discussionwith London basedregional director of AirIndia about two years ago,a delegation of National

Congress of GujaratiOrganisations [NCGO]contested the airliner’sclaim that there was notenough traffic. The dele-gation argues that if thatwas the case then why

did Air India increase thefrequency from two to fivea week? In the same meet-ing, delegation pleadedwith the authorities tohave at least one weeklyflight from London toAhmedabad so that ques-tion of adequate traffic didnot arise. Till today, theIndian airliner has notresponded to this request-what a pity?

The relentless crusaderfor resuming the directflight between India’smost advanced state ofGujarat and London, thefinancial capital of Europeand adopted home ofsome 7.5 lakh Gujaratis,C.B. Patel, publisher andeditor of GujaratSamachar and Asian Voiceand also chairman ofNational Congress ofGujarati Organisations[NCGO] left no stoneunturned in his recentvisit to Gujarat to ensurethat the issue got the sup-port of local media. CB inhis interaction with mediapersons, urged the promi-nent leaders of Gujaratiorganizations, like GujaratChamber of Commerceand Industry to launch asimilar campaign as theissue is vital from the viewpoint of expanding eco-nomic ties between twocountries as well asnurturing the Gujaratidiaspora.

Daily News andAnalysis [DNA] in itsreport quoted CB exten-sively. Similarly, TheTimes of India and promi-nent Gujaratis dailies pub-lished from Ahmedabad,Surat and Rajkot andMumbai as well, gave widecoverage of the plight ofGujaratis living in USA,UK and Middle East, espe-cially, Muscat-Oman.

Death toll rises to10; Gilani offers

intelligencesharing

Praful Patel

Uproar over Nottinghamcouncil decision to shutdown Redford Complex

The Nottingham Councildecision to shut downRedford Unity Complex,used by about eight blackand Asian organizationsto stage various socialactivities, has outragedthe social and communitygroups, who are now plan-ning to launch an agita-tion and challenge thedecision at appropriateforum.

Prafulbhai Trivedi ofNottingham HinduSwayaym Sevak Sangh-Hindu Group said variousHindu, Gujarati and Blackorganizations are usingRedford Unity Complex atRedford, NW7 3FW fortheir social activities since

last 18 to 20 years.Nottingham Council hasnow decided to shut downthe complex with effectfrom 31st March next.Various charity and regis-tered organizations havepetitioned against the deci-sion. Trivedi told AsianVoice by telephone that thedecision to shut down thecomplex was not in accor-dance with the law.

Hindu Swayam SewakSangh has also expressedits readiness to buy thecomplex. Anyone wishingto join save RedfordComplex campaign couldcontact Prafull Trivedi on0115 9390138 and 01159302341.

INDIA-UK

Also refer Asian Voice edition 06th Februarypage 22 ‘London-Ahmedabad direct flight:

Praful Patel assures early resumption’

Ahmedabad emerging favourite for overseas patientsFirst femur surgery in Gujarat performed at Parekhs Hospital

DILIP D. TRIVEDI

Ahmedabad is rapidlyincreasing its share in themedical tourism sectorwith more and more peo-ple coming from the USA,UK and other countriesfor various treatments andsurgeries. It’s not just theeconomics – the quality ofmedicare also is the driv-ing force behind thesteadily rising number ofpatients here. Doctors inIndia are known to havesuccessfully performedhighly complicated surger-ies on patients who hadbeen turned away by med-ical practitioners abroad.

A unique surgery forreplacement of the Femurbone for a 70 year oldpatient from Kenya, Mr.John Mugo was recentlycarried out in Ahmedabad,at the Parekhs Hospital byDr. Dimple R. Parekh, ajoint replacement special-ist.

Asian Voice had a chatwith Dr. Parekh as well asa few patients, particularlyfrom abroad about whythey have come toAhmedabad and India fortheir treatment.

Dr. Parekh said that tothe best of his knowledge,the surgery for replace-ment of the Femur bone(the bone in the upperportion of the leg - it con-nects the hip and theknee) that he carried outon John Mugo was thefirst of its kind in Gujarat.The patient had lost a sig-nificant portion of hisfemur bone due to infec-tion and post operativecomplications, as he had

undergone atleast 6 sur-geries previously. But forsome reasons, the infec-tion and the complicationswere simply not comingunder control, resulting ina type of decay of thefemur bone.

For John Mugo, it washis second visit toAhmedabad and ParekhsHospital. In the first visit,treatment was aimed atcontaining and getting ridof the infection. After thatwas achieved, he is backand has already undergonesurgery for Femur replace-ment. His condition postsurgery is satisfactory, butwill be required to stay atthe Hospital for a longerperiod.

For the benefit of read-ers and patients, AV askedDr. Parekh a few ques-tions about India gettingmore recognition, thenecessity of joint replace-ments, the cause of wearand tear, whether condi-tions leading to jointreplacements can beavoided or delayed, etc.

Dr. Parekh said thatnormally, two types ofartificial joints are avail-able – Indian as well asimported. Even in theimported implants, thereare two options. Patientswith Indian lifestyle – ofsitting with their legs fold-ed need a higher gradejoint, whereas those whodo not need to sit or squatcan do with the othertype. In most of the cases,patients opt for importedjoints, as they are betterand have a longer life.With an imported jointreplacement, the patientnormally enjoys 15 to 20years of normal life.Further, such surgeries areopted by Indian patientsmostly in the later stage oflife, in most of the casesonly after 50 or 55 yearsof age, whereas especiallyin the western countries,patients of even 40 yearsof age do opt for jointreplacement surgeries.

The exact cause ofwear and tear in joints –arthritis has not pinpoint-

ed or discovered by med-ical science, hence precau-tions and avoiding thesurgery altogether are notpossible. But, if peopleread the symptoms early;get them checked and actas per medical advice,there are chances that thetiming of surgeries forjoint replacement can bedelayed, pushed back.Lifestyles are one of thekey possible factorsresponsible for wear andtear of joints. For peoplewho want to take precau-tions, even if they can’t siton the floor, they need tosit for a few minutes dailywith their legs folded atthe knees in order to havesome good exercise fortheir knee joints.

Further, the latesttrend, advancement injoint replacement surger-ies is computer aided pro-cedures. Computer aidedsurgeries result in perfectalignments of the joints,which helps the patientslive and work as if it wasnatural; the life of the arti-

ficial joint is increased.The new techniques alsoeliminate the postoperative need of physio-therapy.

On why India is gain-ing faster recognition inthe field of medicaltourism, Dr. Parekh saidin India, we have a lot ofdoctors going in for spe-cialisation, whereas inmost of the other coun-tries, there is virtually nocompetition due to pauci-ty of doctors. Competitionleads to the medical pro-fession pursuing upgrada-tion of their knowledge,skills continuously.

Specialist doctorsfrom many countriescome to India to see thelatest techniques and pro-cedures that their Indiancounterparts have mas-tered. All this leads to thetreatment available herein India being comparablewith the best in the world,or even better in many afield, Dr. Parekh added.

Asian Voice also met afew other patients, partic-

ularly from abroad. Mr.Ahmed Jafer Aladin, 74had come from Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania. Heunderwent a knee replace-ment surgery. When askedwhy he thought he had aproblem, he said he hadone of his legs polioaffected, hence the otherleg had to carry more bur-den of his body, leading tomore wear and tear.Ahmed has his roots inGujarat, as his ancestorshail from Jafrabad town inAmreli district. He and hisfamily also come to Indiaand their native placeoften.

About the doctor andthe Parekhs Hospital, hesaid he had got a few goodreferences from acquain-tainces in Tanzania aboutDr. Parekh. Further, inGujarat, they feel like theyare at home. Mr. Ahmedadded that even the familymembers of the doctorcome to see them, givingthem a distinct feeling ofwarmth.

Another lady, Mrs.Shirin Feroz Sulaiman,70, also of Gujarati originand settled in Tanzaniahad come for hip replace-ment surgery. She wasdiagnosed with arthritisand was told she wouldneed the surgery sooner orlater. Having close rela-tives in Canada, she hadgot herself examined bydoctors there also atleast4 times. Ultimately, herhusband decided to cometo the Parekhs Hospital inAhmedabad for the sur-gery as he also got goodreferences about theDoctor.

Ahmed Jafer Aladin with Dr. Parekh John Mugo with Dr. Parekh

Saturday 20th February 2010 - Asian Voice

Husband of Pratibha Patil proved a land grabberDevisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, husband of President of India, Ms. Pratibha Patil was proved to be aland grabber and asked by a local court to return the farm land of over two acres that was grabbed froma poor Dalit farmer in Amravati district of Maharashtra. The incident is seen as a major embarrassmentto Ms. Pratibha Patil. Devisingh was accused of forging papers to grab the land near highway two yearsago. The farmer, Kishore Bansod, had last year found that most of his land had been transferred toMr Shekhawat in the government records.

24

Cardiology treatment inAhmedabad is as goodas it is in USA or EuropeA team of 13 cardiologists from Algeria visited

the city recently to update their knowledge, skillsHeart care facilities andtreatments in Ahmedabadgot another internationalendorsement, as a team of13 cardiologistsfrom Algeriarecently visitedthe city as partof Indo-Algeriaheart summit.Algerians havea strong Frenchconnection, yetthey decided tobank on Indiaand Gujarat.Senior cardiolo-gist from theAfrican coun-try, Dr. M T Douadi,explaining the reason saidthat in treating heart con-ditions, the medicaladvancement inAhmedabad is as good as

that practiced in the USAand the European coun-tries.

The Algerian teamlearnt the lat-est tech-niques fromDr. SameerDani and histeam of cardi-ologists at theUN MehtaInstitute ofCardiology, apart of thestate govt.owned CivilHospital inthe city.

Dr. Douadi furthersaid, the technical skills ofdoctors in removingblockages with stents areimpressive. We have learnta lot.

Dismissal of Muslim cop for two wives OK, says SCSupreme Court of Indiahas recently ruled thatservices rules stay validwhen it matters, even if itis about a muslim manhaving more than one wifethat is permissible accord-ing to his religion.

A muslim police con-stable from Rajasthan,Liyakat Ali was terminat-ed for having two wives at

a time, breachingRajasthan Civil Services(Conduct) Rules, 1971.These rules say that anygovernment employeecannot have a second mar-riage without taking adivorce with the first wife.

He fought his case for23 years, but finally he losteven in the SupremeCourt.

Ali’s contention wasthat Muslim personal lawdid not prohibit a secondmarriage even as the rela-tion with first wiferemained legally binding.The law did not mandatetaking permission of thegovernment and Ali mar-ried Maksuda withoutdivorcing his first wifeFarida.

SC Bench of Justices VS Sirpurkar and AftabAlam dismissed Ali'sappeal against the HCjudgment prima facieaccepting the stand of theRajasthan governmentthat the 1971 rules wereapplicable to all govern-ment servants, irrespec-tive of the religion, toenforce strict discipline.

Chhattisgarh officer has wealth worth Rs. 5 bnAn IAS officer in theChhattisgarh government,state AgricultureSecretary BabulalAgrawal is believed tohave amassed wealthworth Rs. 5 billion.

Recently, the IncomeTax authorities conductraids at his residence inRaipur. He was later sus-pended by the state gov-ernment.

The 1998 batch IASofficer now faces investi-gations from many agen-cies, including the CBI,the Income Tax and theState Bureau ofInvestigation ofEconomic Offences.

The IT authoritiesrecently conducted raidsat residences of many offi-cers in Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh states.

Agrawal is believed to behaving the maximumwealth that is dispropor-tionate to his income.

He has 40 crorerupees in 220 fake bankaccounts and owns 16bogus companies, whichhe used as hawala chan-nels.

In neighbouringMadhya Pradesh, seniorIAS couple Arvind and

Tinu Joshi have also beensuspended after an I-Traid at their home recov-ered Rs 30 million incash, Rs 5 mn in jew-ellery, Rs 500,000 in for-eign liquor, Rs 700,000 inforeign currency and Rs30 mn in insuranceinvestments.

The lokayukt has reg-istered a disproportionateassets case against them.

Agriculture Secretary Agrawal suspended after IT raid

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 25

London: US troops have been eating scorpions and drinking cobra blood at a military exercise camp in Thailand, aBritish newspaper has claimed. According to the paper, during the exercise, Thai Navy instructors have been teachingthe American troops how to crunch lizards, catch and kill cobras, and then cut off their heads before drinking the bloodstraight from the body. However, animal rights campaigners have condemned the war games, involving 14,000 troopsfrom countries, including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. Animal Aid Director Andrew Tyler said: "It'sa macho and stupid exercise that seems to have been carried out as some sort of sick entertainment.

US troops eating scorpions, drinking cobra blood

RoundupChinese court jailstop dissident

Haiti govt raises quaketoll to 230,000

Indian professor killedin Alabama shooting

25 killled as trainscollide in Brussels

Hindus in US seek immediatewithdrawal of Hanuman doll

Nevada (US): Hindushere are upset anddemanded the immediaterecall of the toy "Hanumanas plush doll", calling it"inappropriate, upsetting,and denigrating".

Hindu statesmanRajan Zed, in a statementon Tuesday said that inap-propriate usage of Hindudeities or concepts forcommercial or other agen-da was not okay as it hurtthe devotees.

Hanuman as a plushdoll reduced him to a toyunder the mercy of a child,while in reality the believ-

ers put thedestinies ofthemselves inthe hands oftheir deities.This wouldsend erro-neous mes-sage to ourhighly impres-sionable chil-dren that theycould controlHanuman andother deities,Zed, who is president ofUniversal Society ofHinduism, added.

Meanwhile, Bhavna

Shinde ofForum forH i n d uAwakening, ina communiqueto Kridana, thecompany basedi nPennsylvania(USA) whichsells Hanumanplush dolls,s a i d :"Hanuman ishighly revered

in Hinduism, meant to beworshipped in temples orhome shrines, and not tobe thrown loosely around

on the floor, cars, bath-rooms, etc.; or squeezed;or hit by feet; or used as aplay ball or pillow. Pleaserecall this toy immediatelyand refrain from produc-ing/selling any more ofthese in the future."

"We feel that your toy'Hanuman as plush doll' isvery inappropriate, upset-ting, and denigrating. Wehumbly request that whilemanufacturing otherHinduism related objectsalso, please stay true tothe Scriptures andrespectful to Deities andconcepts", Shinde added.

Ahmadinejad declares Iran as a nuclear stateTehran: Iran PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejadtold hundreds of thou-sands of cheering Iranianson the anniversary of thefoundation of the Islamicrepublic that the countrywas now a “nuclear state.”He said that his countryhad produced its firstpackage of highly enricheduranium just tow daysafter beginning theprocess.

"The first package of20 per cent fuel was pro-duced and provided to the

scientists," hesaid, referring tothe recentlybegun process ofenriching Iran'suranium stock-pile to higherlevels.

E n r i c h i n guranium pro-duces fuel for anuclear powerplants but canalso be used tocreate material for atomicweapons. Iran announcedlast week it was beginning

the process ofenriching itsuranium stock-pile to a higherlevel.

The inter-national com-munity haswarned Iranagainst furthere n r i c h m e n ta c t i v i t i e s ,

threatening newUN sanctions.

Tehran has said itwants to further enrich theuranium which is still sub-

stantially below the 90 percent plus level used in thefissile core of nuclear war-heads, as a part of a planto fuel its research reactorthat provides medical iso-topes to hundreds of thou-sands of Iranians undergo-ing cancer treatment.

But the West saysTehran is not capable ofturning the material intothe fuel rods needed by thereactor. Instead it fearsthat Iran wants to enrichthe uranium to makenuclear weapons.

New Zealand gurdwara honours killers of IndiraWellington: Some mem-bers of the Indian commu-nity in Auckland wereupset by the decision ofNew Zealand’s largestSikh gurdwara to honourthe three killers of formerIndian prime ministerIndira Gandhi as martyrs.

The temple inManukau has hung on itswalls portraits of Gandhi'sbodyguards SatwantSingh and Beant Singh,who were killed in a gunbattle after firing morethan 30 bullets into her in1984, and of co-conspira-tor Kehar Singh, who was

sentenced to death, theWeekend Herald reportedon Saturday.

Entitled "ShaheedBhai" - or martyr brother -they hang alongside otherswho have been killed fortheir Sikh beliefs. Thenewspaper described howthe pictures had dividedthe Sikh community andupset other Indians inNew Zealand's largest city,which has the country'slargest Asian population.

"If someone wants tohonour a terrorist, that'san individual choice," VeerKhar, general secretary of

the New Zealand IndianCentral Association, toldthe paper.

"But to put them up ina public place, as a com-munity we totally con-demn such an activity."

He acknowledged thatatrocities were committedagainst the Sikh commu-nity prior to Gandhi'sassassination, but saidhonouring the men whokilled her was creatingunnecessary tension.

"We sympathise withthe pain, we don't denythat those things hap-pened," he said. "We want

to say that we have tomove on in life."

However, Ranvir LaliSingh, a Sikh who hasbeen involved with thetemple for 15 years, toldthe paper that anyone whodied for the religion wasconsidered a martyr.

"We don't considerthose who killed IndiraGandhi as terrorists, theyare our martyrs," he said."She was killed by herSikh bodyguards asrevenge for her attack onthe Golden Temple, ourholiest shrine, and forthat, we consider them our

Two pc of illegal immigrants in US are IndiansWashington: In 2009,India accounted for thethird highest increase inthe number of illegalimmigrants in the US in10 years, according to anew government report,though only two per centof all illegal immigrantswere Indians.

The number of illegalimmigrants in the US fellby seven per cent to 10.8million last year.

A majority of themcame from Latin America,according to the depart-ment of homeland security(DHS) report, thoughIndia with 200,000 was thesixth biggest sender of ille-gal immigrants to the US.

In overall numbers,Indians accounted for onlytwo per cent of illegalimmigrants. Mexico (6.7million) topped the listwith 62 per cent, followedby those from El Salvador(530,000), Guatemala(480,000), Honduras(320,000) and thePhilippines (270,000).

Between 2000 and2009, the Mexican-bornunauthorised immigrantsincreased by two millionor 42 per cent. But thegreatest percentageincreases occurred amongunauthorised immigrantsfrom Honduras (95 percent), Guatemala (65 percent), and India (64 per

cent)."The number of unau-

thorised residentsdeclined by one millionbetween 2007 and 2009,coincident with the USeconomic downturn," saidthe report based on censusdata and extrapolationsfrom the total foreign pop-ulation in the country.

Beside the US andglobal financial crisis,other reasons the reportadduces for the drop in theundocumented populationinclude tougher borderenforcement and a nation-al crackdown on illegalimmigrants.

The overall annualaverage increase in the

unauthorised populationduring the 2000-09 periodwas 250,000 with 10 lead-ing countries of origin rep-resenting 85 per cent ofthe unauthorised immi-grant population in 2009.

Of the nearly 11 mil-lion undocumented peopleliving in the US in January2009, 37 per cent, or fourmillion, arrived sinceJanuary 2000, 44 per centsince the 1990s and 19 percent since the 1980s, theDHS said.

An estimated 8.5 mil-lion of the 10.8 millionunauthorised immigrantsliving in the US in 2009were from the NorthAmerica region.

Beijing: A high court in Beijing has upheld the 11-year imprisonment given by a lower court to LiuXiaobo, a Chinese writer and prominent dissident,who has evoked the sympathy of governments andhuman rights activists across the world.

In a rare development, diplomats of the UnitedStates and European Union gathered outside theBeijing high court trying the case. The US ambassa-dor to China Jon Huntsman issued a statement call-ing for Liu’s release saying he should not have beenconvicted in the first place. But the Chinese foreignministry said that the government would not beinfluenced by the international outcry against thecourt verdict. "There is no dissidence in China," MaZhaoxu, spokesman of the foreign ministry, said.

"I’m innocent," Liu, 54, shouted as he was beingremoved from the court. The Beijing court rejectedhis appeal against the judgment of a lower courtwhich convicted him in December for "inciting sub-version of state power" through his writings.

Port-au-Prince: The Haiti government now says thatlast month’s devastating earthquake has claimed230,000 lives and more bodies remain uncounted.The government initially estimated 150,000 dead onJanuary 24, apparently from bodies being recoveredin the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince,the capital that was near the epicentre.Communications Minister Marie-Laurence JocelynLassegue said the government now counts 230,000deaths. But she says the new figure is not definitive.She says it does not include bodies buried by privatefuneral homes in private cemeteries or the deadburied by their own families.

The new figure gives the quake the same deathtoll as the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Washington: A disgruntled leady professor at theUniversity of Alabama in Huntsville last week shotdead three of her colleagues, including an Indian pro-fessor. The professor was miffed at being denied atenure. Three other school employees were woundedin the incident on Friday. School spokesman RayGarner identified the dead as Gopi Podila, chairman ofthe biological sciences department; Maria Davis andAdriel Johnson, both associate professors of biology.Indian American professor Podila's research interestsincluded functional genomics of plant-microbe inter-actions and plant molecular biology and biotechnolo-gy. Police did not immediately identify the suspect whowas in custody and a second person who wasdetained, 'not arrested'. But Huntsville Times identi-fied the suspect as Amy Bishop, a Harvard Universitytrained neuroscientist.

Brussels: At least 25 commuters were killed whentrains collided head-on during rush hour outsideBrussels on Monday, the mayor of the suburban townof Halle told Belgian media. "There are at least 25dead," said the local official, cited by Flemish publictelevision VRT and national press agency Belga.Neither the national railways company SNCB nor thetrack operator Infrabel were able to confirm the toll.

However, "police would place the probable tollfrom the accident at least a dozen dead," Infrabelspokeswoman Fanny Charpentier said, spelling outthat two trains initially collided head-on. "The colli-sion was brutal, the train didn't brake," an unnamedpassenger was quoted by RTL TV news website assaying. "Wagons have been turned over, lots of peopleare in shock."

MahmoudAhmadinejad

Saturday 20th February 2010 - Asian Voice26

Africa Focus

Ivory Coast President Gbagbodissolves government

Obama names Indian Muslim as Special Envoy to Islamic worldWashington: Much to the delight of Indian Muslims, US president Barack Obama has named an Indian-American Muslim as Washington’s special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). The WhiteHouse on Friday named Rashad Hussain, an Obama acolyte who is son of Indian immigrants from Bihar, as theUS envoy to the 57–member OIC, following up appointments of several Indian-Americans, including at least twoother Indian-American Muslims, to high level posts. Obama had earlier appointed Srinagar-born Farah Panditand Dr Islam Siddiqui, an immigrant from Uttar Pradesh, in his administration.

Nigerian parliament appointsVP as acting president

SA celebrates 20th anniversaryof Mandela’s release

Two OZ premiers clash over attacks on IndiansMelbourne: John Brumby,the Victorian Premier, hasslammed his NSW coun-terpart, Kristina Keneally,for suggesting that Indianstudents fearful of comingto Melbourne due torecent racist attacksshould instead considerSydney.

Brumby accusedKeneally of seeking toexploit Victoria's problemswith violent attacksagainst Indian students.

He claimed thatKeneally was trying todrag down Victoria whileher state was much lesssafe than Victoria.

"We are the safest statein Australia, full stop. Allof the statistics on that areunambiguous," The Agequoted Brumby, as saying.

He pointed out thatthe crime rate against theperson was 552 per100,000 people in Victoria- half the 1100 per100,000 in NSW.

His attack came in thewake Keneally'sannouncement last weekthat a NSW minister wasbeing sent to India to sellthe message that studentswho came to NSW wouldbe helped into safe accom-modation.

"The differencebetween Sydney andMelbourne may be lost inthe overseas market. Wewant to send a messagethat NSW is a welcomingplace for international stu-

dents," she said.Brumby said Victoria

continued to attract visi-tors and residents fromaround the world andinterstate - "by the way,including from NSW".

"When you are the bestperformer, as we've beenin this area, of course youget people trying to dragyou down. But the factsremain: we are seen as themost liveable city any-where in Australia," hesaid.

Welcome desk atMelbourne airport for

Indian studentsA welcome desk has

been established forIndian and other interna-tional students at theMelbourne airport to "helpsettle" them, a ministersaid last week.

Victorian Minister forSkills and WorkforceParticipation BronwynPike said that studentswould receive a warm wel-come at the InternationalStudent Welcome Desklocated in the arrivals hallat MelbourneInternational Airport. Thegovernment "knows inter-national students needsupport to help settle in toa new country", said Pike.

A team of local volun-teers will now be at thedesk during peak arrivaltimes to hand out wel-come packs to internation-al students arriving inMelbourne.

UK ministers tackle public concerns on AfghanistanLondon: Senior ministershave found the ideal plat-form to converse directlywith the public tostrengthen support for thewar effort in Afghanistan.

Yoosk.com, the socialmedia tool that enablesdirect conversationsbetween public figures andthe general public, hasbrought the likes ofForeign Secretary DavidMiliband, DefenceSecretary Bob Ainsworthand Secretary forI n t e r n a t i o n a lDevelopment DouglasAlexander closer to thepeople with concernsabout the situation in thewar-torn region.

David Miliband hasalready responded to near-ly 15 questions ranging

from issues of tacklingpoverty in the region towhat victory inAfghanistan will look like.

The initiative waslaunched in the lead up tothe London Conference onAfghanistan in January,which brought togetherpolitical leaders fromacross the world toaddress issues around last-ing peace in the region.

Yoosk stepped in tofacilitate a more people-to-people consultationbetween government fig-ures and various audiencegroups. In a videoresponse to the questions,Miliband acknowledgedthe great concern overBritish casualties and saidit was important that itwas addressed. “The

objectives are to ensurethat Afghanistan is neveragain a place for interna-tional terrorism and Ithink the concerns areover whether they can beachieved,” he said.

The key driving forcebehind Yoosk is to encour-age ordinary people to puttheir passion for specificsocial and economic issuesto work by asking the rightquestions of key decisionmakers, rating theirresponses in a PerformanceLeague Table and fuellingfurther debate.

This innovative toolhas received further fund-ing from Channel 4’s 4iPinvestment fund andScreen West Midlands.The six-figure investmentwill be used to add further

functionality to the serv-ice, already in use by theForeign andCommonwealth Office,the Ministry of Justice,among others.Central tothe development ofYoosk's toolbox will be theenhancement of its capaci-ty to pull in questionsfrom a wide number ofonline communities usingwidgets, Facebook appli-cations and Twitter.

Yoosk’s vision is forelected leaders and otherpublic figures to be avail-able to the public for inter-views and conversationsonline. A key motivationis to popularise participa-tion, empowering the pub-lic to take a greater inter-est in the political process.Logon to: www.yoosk.com

NATO troops gain control ofTaliban stronghold

Kabul: The NATO-ledforces on Sunday claimedto have gained controlover Marjah and othermajor strongholds of theTaliban militants inAfghanistan as the newoffensive involving over15,000 soldiers continuedfor the second day.

The forces, includingthe US, Afghan andBritish troops, killed 27militants and seized cru-cial positions acrossMarjah since they beganhouse-to-house search inthe southern Helmandprovince as part of theoperation 'Mushtarak'(together) launched onSaturday.

Mohammed DawoodAhmadi, a spokesman for

Helmand province's gover-nor, said Afghan andNATO forces had set up11 outposts across Marjahand two in the neighbour-ing town of Nad Ali.

"We now occupy all thestrategic points in thearea," he said.

From those posts,marines and soldiersbegan patrolling, search-ing door-to-door forweapons and fighters.This phase of theoperation, considered themost dangerous, isexpected to last at leastfive days.

However, the alliedforces faced resistancefrom the insurgents andthe pattern suggested thatthe hardest fighting lies in

the days to come, TheNews reported.

One American and aBritish marine soldierwere reported killed bysmall-arms fire. NATOofficials said that no civil-ian casualties had beenreported.

The combined forcesalso held meetings withlocal Afghans and askedfor help in finding Talibanand hidden bombs in thearea.

The offensive has beenlaunched as part ofAmerica's new strategy toestablish the control ofcivilian government in thetroubled areas before thewithdrawal of the USforces from Afghanistan in2011.

Afghanavalanches

kill 166 peopleKabul: The avalanchesthat blocked a mountainpass north of Kabul lastweek has claimed at least166 lives, Afghan officialssaid. Afghan army troopsdug through huge snow-drifts trying to rescue peo-ple from buried vehicles inthe Salang Pass, a keyroad that connects theAfghan capital with thenorth. Helicopters ferriedrescuers to the scene andbrought down the bodies.

Interior Ministryspokesman ZemeriBashary said rescuershave recovered 166 bodiesfrom the Salang Pass, 115km north of Kabul.

Some of the victimswere found frozen todeath inside theirvehicles.

Yamoussoukro: Ivory Coast's President LaurentGbagbo has dissolved the government and electoralcommission, casting doubt on when the long-delayedelections will occur. Prime Minister Guillaume Sorohas been asked to form a new government.

Mr Gbagbo accused the electoral commission offraudulently trying to add more than 400,000 peopleto the electoral roll. The opposition says most of themare from ethnic groups in the north, who were unlike-ly to support Mr Gbagbo. In the past two weeks, pres-idential supporters have been trying to use the courtsto remove thousands from the electoral roll, accusingthem of being foreigners.

Crisis in Kenya oversuspension of ministers

Nairobi: Kenya is again facing a fiery political crisisafter clash between the Prime Minister Raila Odingaand President Mwai Kibaki over suspension of twoministers.

On Tuesday, Salim Lone, adviser to Odinga saidCabinet minister from Oding’s party will boycottfuture Cabinet meetings till the dispute between thePrime Minister and the President is resolved. Lonesaid Odinga cannot function effectively following thedispute. On Sunday, Odinga suspended two minis-ters following allegations of corruption. Hours later,President Mwai Kibaki annulled the suspensions.

The spat has sparked a debate in Kenya aboutconstitutional powers and high levels of corruption.Odinga has asked former U.N. chief Kofi Annan tomediate, and Kenya's Attorney General has warnedthat the dispute could foster a constitutional crisis.

Abuja (Nigeria): Nigeria's parliament has empoweredVice President Goodluck Jonathan to run Africa'smost populous nation in place of an ill and absentpresident, striving for a political end to a crisis thatground the government to a virtual halt and triggeredthe resumption of an insurgency in the vital oil sector.

But the move is not contemplated in the constitu-tion, legal experts say, and could cause more frictionbetween the Christian south, which gains the presi-dency at least temporarily, and Muslim north, whichfinds itself out of the seat of power.

Cape Town: South Africans on Thursday last cele-brated the 20th anniversary of former presidentNelson Mandela's release from prison by sharing theirmemories of his triumphant walk to freedom after 27years behind bars for resisting apartheid. Veterans ofSouth Africa's struggle to end racist rule, of whichMandela became the emblem during his imprison-ment, converged on Groot Drakenstein prison nearCape Town from early morning to commemorate thehistoric event, which laid the ground for the country'speaceful transition to democracy in 1994.

EU deplores Libya visaban for Europeans

Tripoli: The European Commission has condemnedLibya's decision to stop issuing visas to the manyEuropeans whose countries are in the Schengen bor-der-free zone. The commission says it "deplores theunilateral and disproportionate" Libyan decision andthe nations affected will consider an "appropriatereaction". Libya's move came after Switzerlandallegedly blacklisted 188 high-ranking Libyans, deny-ing them entry permits. The Swiss ban is said toinclude Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his fam-ily. Switzerland is in the 25-nation Schengen zone -European countries that have abolished mutual bor-der controls.

John Brumby Kristina Keneally

Victorian premier accuses his NSW counterpart of fishing in troubled waters

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010

Court tells govt to restore water, medical care to AQLahore: A Pakistani court last week directed the federal government to provide medical care and other facilities todisgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan after he complained that authorities had placed a "ban on water and medicalsupplies" to him. A single-judge bench of the Lahore High Court issued the order after Khan’s counsel Syed Ali Zafartold it that the government had deprived the scientist of medical facilities and barred him from leaving his residenceeven to visit his brother who is critically ill in hospital. Khan’s counsel told the court that the scientist’s relatives andfriends had been stopped from visiting him.

27

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Gilani tells terrorists to prepare for deathIslamabad: PakistanPrime Minister YousufRaza Gilani last weekwarned terrorists to pre-pare for death if they didnot abandon nefariousacts of terrorism andadopt the right path.

Addressing a meetingof parliamentarians of theruling Pakistan People'sParty, he said the terroristshad been defeated by thearmy in the Swat valleyand Malakand divisionand would soon becrushed everywhere elsein the country.

The government couldnot ignore the issue of ter-rorism as "it is not only theissue of our survival but ofour coming generations",Gilani said.

Terrorists are enemiesof Islam and humanity

who did not even knowwhich nation they wantedto fight, he added.

Pakistan's armedforces had broken the backof terrorists, who are nowon the run from their hide-outs and were targetinginnocent people in cities,he said.

Gilani asked workersof all political parties to

keep a vigilant eye on"doubtful and alien ele-ments" and cooperate withlaw enforcement agencies.

Referring to the per-formance of his govern-ment over the past 22months since it came topower, Gilani said it hadadopted the path of recon-ciliation in national poli-tics and the effects of thispolicy are being felt now.

He said democraticculture is being promoted,institutions are beingstrengthened, the consti-tution is being implement-ed and supremacy of theparliament is being estab-lished.

The constitution of1973 will be restored in itsoriginal form and all blotsintroduced by dictatorsand unelected elements

for their personal gainswill be removed from it, headded.Gilani equates Kashmir

to PalestinePakistan prime minis-

ter Yousuf Raza Gilani hasequated Kashmir toPalestine, saying peacewill be elusive in SouthAsia and Middle Eastunless these issues are set-tled. During a meetingwith Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas, Gilanisaid: "The resolution ofthe Palestine issue findsresonance in the just andpeaceful struggle ofKashmiri people for self-determination."

"People of Palestineand occupied Kashmir arefighting for their just rightof self-determination," headded.

Musharraf is one of thebiggest stars on Facebook

Islamabad: FormerPakistan president PervezMusharraf, whose popu-larity is quite unmatchedon social networking web-site Facebook, has beendeclared "Connector of theDay" by CNN.

"Musharraf is becom-ing one of the biggest starsin Facebook. His personalFacebook page has morethan 127,000 fans and heregularly answers ques-tions and posts statusupdates," reads a note putup on CNN.Com.

Musharraf, who signedup on Facebook sometimein October last year, has

become very popularacross the board.

The former militaryruler, who quit in August2008 to avoid impeach-ment, is currently livingabroad. According toMusharraf's own snapshotof his fans according toage, location and gender,he has about 100,000Pakistanis following himon Facebook.

As of February 1, healso had 629 Indian fans,with 258 based in NewDelhi.

Pakistani lawyers boycottcourts over judges row

Islamabad: ManyPakistani lawyers boy-cotted courts on Mondayin a protest againstPresident Asif Ali Zardari,who is embroiled in apotentially destabilisingdispute with the judiciaryover the appointment ofjudges.

Earlier the lawyersboycotted the courts andlaunched a nation-widestrike for the reinstate-ment of chief justice whowas sacked by militaryruler Pervez Musharraf.

The latest row erupted onSaturday when a SupremeCourt panel blocked anorder from Zardari issuedearlier that day appointingtwo judges, one to theSupreme Court and theother as chief justice ofthe high court in the cityof Lahore.

The court saidZardari's order was a vio-lation of the constitutionas the president had notconsulted the SupremeCourt chief on theappointments. The presi-

dent's spokesman deniedany impropriety, sayingthe chief justice had beenconsulted.

The lawyers were backon the streets on Mondayin major cities across thecountry, protesting againstthe unpopular Zardari.

"We warn the govern-ment to stop this adven-turism, stop constitutionaladventurism. It will beharmful to them," QasiMohammad Anwar, presi-dent of the Supreme CourtBar Association said.

SC panel blocks Zardari’s order appointing two new judges

Taliban confirms Hakimullah Mehsud’s deathIslamabad: PakistaniTaliban last week con-firmed that its chiefHakimullah Mehsud haddied of injuries sustainedin a US drone strike, end-ing weeks of speculationover his fate. Talibansources based in theAurakzai tribal region toldTV news channels that 28-year-old Mehsud wasseverely injured in a droneattack in Shaktoi area of

North Waziristan Agencyon January 14.

The sources claimedMehsud died recently nearMultan city in Punjabprovince while being takento Karachi for treatment.His body was taken backto the tribal belt, they said.

However, there werealso reports that Mehsudhad died almost twoweeks ago and was buriedin his father-in-law's vil-

lage in Aurakzai Agency.Te h r i k - e -Ta l i b a n

Pakistan spokesman AzamTariq is yet to issue state-ment about Mehsud'sdeath. Tariq has beeninsisting that Mehsud isalive and at an undisclosedlocation. The Talibansources also said com-mander Noor Jamal aliasMaulana Toofan had beennamed as the new chief ofthe Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistani and US secu-rity officials had been say-ing for the past two weeksthat they were certainMehsud had died ofinjuries sustained in a USdrone attack. Shortly afterreports of Mehsud's deathfirst emerged in mid-January, the Taliban issuedtwo audio messages inwhich the dreaded com-mander claimed he wasalive.

Blocking of Zardari‘shut up’ tape evokes protestIslamabad: Pakistaniauthorities have blockedYoutube for some hours toprevent people from see-ing a video in which presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari toldan unruly section of agathering to “shut up.”This action by the author-ities have evoked strongprotest from the public.

The clip that has beencross-posted at severalwebsites shows Zardarisaying a forceful "shut up"to members of the audi-ence while speaking at arecent rally.

The blocking ofYoutube by the PakistanTe l e c o m m u n i c a t i o nAuthority figured promi-nently on Twitter and sev-eral new versions of the"shut up" video have sur-

faced and are being circu-lated. One "remixed" cliphas Zardari talking to theaudience with a dialogueby Amitabh Bachchanplaying in the backdrop,followed by the Black EyedPeas' song "Shut Up".

Adil Najam, editor of apopular magazine, wrote:"If authentic, and it seemsto be, the video is striking,but also sad to see. Suchbehaviour is embarrassingfor any politician, butespecially for the presi-dent of a country."

Comments expressingshock at Zardari's behav-iour are piling up on sever-al websites. "I guess MrZardari will realise that 'jabawaam bolne lagegi tabshut up karna mumkinnahin'," read one comment.

US comfortable withsafety of Pak N-arsenal

Washington: The Obamaadministration is comfort-able with the safety ofPakistan’s nuclear arsenal,US defence secretaryRobert Gates said. At thesame time he said thatOsama Bin Laden’s outfit,Al-Qaida, is helping thePakistani Taliban to"destablise" the govern-ment in Islamabad. Hesaid that evidence sug-gested that al-Qadea ishelping Taliban in plan-ning, targeting the attacks,Gates told FOX News.the

"It's a syndicate. And(the United States is) try-

ing to help the Pakistanisunderstand that if any ofthe three of these, or oth-ers such as the Haqqaninetwork, are successful, itredounds to the benefit ofthe others. So we've got toattack this problem as awhole, rather than piece-meal," Gates said.

Gates said though hehas no idea where the topal-Qaida leaders, includ-ing Osama bin Laden are,but there could be oppor-tunities once Pakistanforces start operation inthe region and they startto move around.

Pak court adjourns hearingof Mumbai attack case

Islamabad: The hearing inthe Mumbai attack caseagainst LeT's operationschief Zakiur RehmanLakhvi and six other sus-pects was adjourned for aweek without any proceed-ings on Saturday as thejudge was busy with anoth-er official engagement.

"There were no pro-ceedings on Saturday asjudge (Malik MuhammadAkram) Awan had to gofor an engagement in theSupreme Court," ShahbazRajput, the lawyer forsome of the accused, tolda news agency.

Sources said the next

hearing was scheduled forFebruary 20.

However, they said itwas unlikely that therewould be any proceedingson that date too as BarCouncil elections arescheduled for the sameday. It is expected the trial,which is being conductedwithin Adiala Jail inRawalpindi for securityreasons, will resume onlyon February 27.

The accused were lastyear formally charged withplanning and helping exe-cute the assault on India'sfinancial hub in November2008.

Passing ofwomen’s rights

bill criticisedIslamabad: PakistanNational Assembly mem-ber Jamshed Dasti hascriticized passing ofWomen Rights Bill by par-liament and said that thehouse has insulted Islamicsociety by doing so.

Dasti said rights ofmen should also be takennote of, and that he wouldsoon move a bill in thisregard in the lower house.

Dasti vehementlyopposed the WomenRights Bill, saying it wastantamount to an insult tothe whole Islamic society.

He also criticised for-mer President GeneralPervez Musharraf'sregime, and said that anylaw which was made inthe general's rule hasbecome a problem today.

Leaders belonging toradical parties such as theJamaat-e Islam (JI) andthe Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam(JUI) had also objected tothe bill in the lowerhouse, saying that it was aviolation of the funda-mental norms of Islamand the constitution.

They said that such alaw would promote "vul-garity among women",and proposed sending thebill to the Council ofIslamic Ideology for fur-ther review.

Yousuf Raza Gilani

Pervez Musharraf

Your attitude to whatyou want out of life will have an important bearing

on your main objectives. Don't be afraid to act moreforcefully if opportunities present themselves andwhere there are competitive elements. Close personalrelaionships may come under some stress and strain -keep your temper in check.

Health is an impor-tant area that you will take seriously. It is likely thatyou may embark on a course of physical exercise anddiet. It could be quite a difficult week psychologicallywith increased danger of misunderstandings arisingand not being able to see the wood from the trees. Tryto be diplomatic.

You are likely to belucky in terms of opportunities and meetings withhelpful persons. Whatever you are aiming to achieveat this time will suddenly take a leap onto a new level.If you are hoping to move up the ladder of succes, thisis definitely a time to be on the alert for new openings.

Many cancerianswill be intent on expanding their mental horizons.Your way ahead is likely to become very clear now -priortise your future goals. This is an appropriatetime in which to talk things over with your loved one -especially anything that has been worrying you ormaking you feel insecure.

Love and close personalrelationships will occupy the centre of your attentionthis week. With Venus remaining in your oppositesign, any emotional tensions will be smoothed out eas-ily and harmony will prevail. On a purely practicalnote, you can expect your financial affairs to take aturn for the better.

Venus continues tofavour your love life. If you are still seeking the idealpartner, things are definitely looking up. An increasein your social life is likely to bring you in touch withsomeone attractive. At work you need greater flexibili-ty as well as a degree of patience. Do not step on anyone's toes.

Don't get over- anx-ious if you feel that you're being kept in the dark. Youwill probably find that worries have been unfounded.Although you may be faced with a difficult decisionconcerning your career or employment, this is not thetime to hide. Don't waste time if you can improve mat-ters.

Your urge towardsgreater freedom and independence is very strongly accen-tuated. In intimate affairs, the prospect appears entirelyfavourable. In work matters you can expect a progressivephase. Efforts to bring about desirable changes in yourworking life are more likely to be positive.

It's time whenexperience will enable you to enrich your inner mindand personality. You are moving into a new phase oflife which will bring wider scope for developing yourunique qualities and talents. You are likely to movearound more than usual. Life will become very livelyand there will be a lot of social interactions.

Don't take short-cuts in legal or official matters. It will be only too easyto feel exasperated by bureaucracy but you won't bedoing yourself any favours if you lose your cool. Thisis a fine time for you to get away from the mundanerealities of life and relax. Some of you will probably goabroad.

You can expect a livelyand varied time ahead. Communications will be freeand easy, making this an excellent time to deal withimportant matters. Also, you'll find that people youmeet, perhaps especially newcomers, will be a stimu-lating influence and may encourage you to dabble innew interests.

You can expect a sus-tained and quite hectic flow of visitors to contributegreatly to a very buoyant atmosphere. If you are ambi-tious, this promises to be an important time in yourlife. You are likely to get the lucky breaks and reach awider audience no matter what your aims.

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201028

Week commences 20th February 2010ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

SAGITTARIUS Nov23-Dec21

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

AQUARIUSJan21-Feb19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500

UK

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Amazing predictions

! Health Problems! Investments! Married Life! Children’s matters! Marriage Compatibility! Love Affairs! Court Cases! Any other problemsCall 020 8518 5500 and face your future with confidence!

Sneh Joshi, the UK’s leading Vedic astrologer,

writer and TV personality can answer questions on:

! Hanuman Chalisa onSunday 21st February at10.30am at AdhyaShakti Mataji Temple ,55 High Street, Cowley,Middlesex UB8 2DX.Contact on07882253540! Holi Celebrations on28th February, 6-10pmMother's Day withPandit Ravi Sharma on14th March, 2pm-6pmCommunity Centre, 67AChurch Lane, LondonN2 8DRContact: 020 8346 6686! Swamirayan Temple,Neasden presents Holicelebrations on 28thFebruary 2010 5pm-8pmSwaminarayan School,260 Brentfield Road,London NW10 8HEContact: 020 8965 2651! Hindu/Sikh SpeedDating followed by'Asian Woman FashionSoirée' - After PartyDate: Saturday, 20 Feb2010, Venue: “AgendaBar”, 6:45-9:30pm and9:30pm-3amMinster Court, 3Mincing Lane, London,EC3R 7AA! Hindu Speed Date inLeicester @ RevolutionBarDate: Thursday, 25thFeb. 2010Revolution Barb New Walk, LeicesterLE1 6TF! Hindu & Sikh SpeedDate in Manchester @Revolution BarDate: Friday, 26th Feb.2010Venue: Revolution Bar– Manchester

90-94 Oxford Road,Manchester M1 5WH! Presstop creativepresentsSLAMbassador UKThursday 25 February

Sascha Aurora AkhtarThursday 4 March

Music by BalujiShrivastav Friday 19February

Kuch Kuch Friday 5March

Zoe & Idris Rahman byFriday 12 March! Come along to StLuke’s Hospice IndianMela (fair) with lots ofIndian themed stalls,selling products andoffering taster sessions.Do some shoppingwhilst tasting somelovely food. Many stallson the day including,Henna, Jewellery,Indian head massages,Saris and lots moreorganised by St Luke'sHospice on Saturday24th April 2010 Venue:Claremont High School,Claremont Ave, HA30UH Time: 11am until2pm. Contact Kate onthe details below KateGammell on 020 83828096 or email kgam-mell@stlukes-hospice.orgwww.stlukes-hospice.org! Time for change byBrahma Kumaris,Sunday 21 February 2-5:30pm at GlobalCooperation House,London NW10 2HH.Contact: 020 8727 3350

e

This week CB Patel, Publisher/Editor ofAsian Voice and Gujarat Samachar will betalking on different topics including his tripto India

Coming EventsWhat is the Ideal Home Show

all about?If you give a correct answer you maywin 4 tickets for your family.Write to Alka at alka.shah@abplgroup.com withyour correct answer and full postal address.Last day of entry: Monday 22nd February 2010.Special ticket offer expires on 19 March 2010.Visit www.shreemevents.com for more details.Please note that kids 15 years and under can attend

the show for free.

COMPETITION

Shahrukh Khan visited one of his favourite restaurants lastweek, the award winning Chak 89 based in Mitcham.

He so loved the ambiance and the wonderful service thathe promised to come back again.

Manager Mr Khalid said, "Chak 89 has regular visits bycelebreties including Jay Sean, Raghav, Rahat Fateh Khan

and many more who have loved the food and service. Ifyou want to meet them, you should visit us."

'Chak De' star visits Chak 89

Across1 Woody Allen movie6 Ginger cookies11 parts of gals.14 Passion15 Mayhem16 Swiss canton17 Root of bitterness?19 Earthlink rival20 Integers, briefly21 Laptop surfer’s

connection22 “The White Album”

track24 1966 Wilson

Pickett hit

27 Color bands30 Safecracker31 ___Aid32 Elizbeth of “Lone

Star”33 Sch. in Lexington36 Sobriquet for

Stallone41 Stag attendees42 Bonkers43 ___de vie (clear

brandies)44 Summers in

provence45 Steals, as livestock48 Colorado pro

52 Less friendly53 Exchange fee54 Couple57 Training run58 Mail system,

1860-6162 Unified63 Landlord64 Stand for art65 Postal motto

conjunction66 City near York67 Nixon’s AgnewDown1 TV jou rnalist Paula

2 Smack addition?3 Front-runners”

abbr.4 Island near Naxos5 Matured6 Arrow bodies7 Ms. comanceci8 Fauna starter?9 Opp. of neg.10 “Luv” dramatist11 Chickenlike bird12 Fairy-tale tol

collector13 Half-bracked18 Get up23 Tail greeting24 Pepper grinder25 Putin’s refusal26 Actress Rowlands27 Take off the top28 Shopper’s bag29 Motley horse32 Ltr addenda33 Perfume holder34 Pouting face35 “Devil Inside”

group37 Worldwide police

grp.38 Violini Leopold39 Plain-crash grp.40 Apollo’s mother44 Night before45 Actress Mimi46 Trademark DOS47 Ranges48 French mustard49 Low-budget prefix50 African nation51 Spoked54 Lucie’s dad55 Manipulator56 Norway’s capital59 Have a tab60 Compass dir.61 LL Cool J’s genre.

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 29

C R O S S W O R D - 751 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22 23

24 25 26

27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35

36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43

44 45 46 47

48 49 50 51

52 53 54 55 56

57 58 59 60 61

62 63 64

65 66 67

Solution of Crossword-74

TIME PASS

KAKURO - 75The numbers in the pink squares refer to the sums

of the digits that you must fill into the empty spaces directly below orto the right of the pink square containing the number. For instance,

in the given example,the 2 boxes below 12must contain 2 digitsthat add upto 12,whereas for 20, the 3boxes places horizon-tally next to it must addupto 20. No zeroes areused here, only thedigits one throughnine.Note:

A digit cannotappear more thanonce in any particulardigit combination. Forinstance in the exam-ple, we cannot havethe combination of8+4+8 for 20.

HOW TO PLAYEach row, columnand square 3x3 boxis a sub-grid of 9cells. Fill in the gridso that each sub-grid contains thedigits 1 to 9. Everypuzzle has onesolution.

Sudoku-75

Solution of sudoku-74

48 6 2 33 5 4 7

3 4 8 1 9

6 1 5 7 81 4 3 62 9 7 1

3

TSE

EA

TG

How many words of four or more letters can youmake from the letters shown in today’s puzzle? Inmaking a word, each letter may be used once only.

Every single human, plant andanimal has had one at somepoint on Earth Many things

can cause you to lose it, butmany things can be done topreserve it, it can be verypainful and hard, but very

enjoyable at the same time,sometimes other other peopletake their own, but many peo-

ple try to improve theirs.What am i?

SPELLATHON - 75Today’s Ratings: 03-average |04-good |

05-outstanding

Solution of Spellathon - 74emir, mime, mire, miser, simmer, swim,

SWIMMER

20

12

Example

MINDBENDER - 75

Each word must containthe central letter. Thereshould be at least oneseven-letter word. Plurals,foreign words and propernames are not allowed.British English Dictionaryis used as reference.

13

7

16

7

18

21

8

16

6

3

23

13 14 16 8

14 58

16

17

12

14

4 11

29

13

6

16

10

13

14

19

22

7

16

22

23

10

Solution of KAKURO - 74

By Dr Anil Mehta

Charles Darwin (1809-82), British naturalist andgeologist is considered asone of the greatest andmost innovative scientistsever lived. He laid the foun-dation of modern evolu-tionary theory that changedour understanding of theworld and our place withinit. Born (1809) inShrewsbury, Shropshire, ofa wealthy family, Darwinwas judged a failure atschool in everything exceptsports, though he was fasci-nated by all livingthings, collectingplants and insects.He failed to com-plete his medicaltraining atEdinburgh, andmoved toCambridge to gaina theology degree.However, insteadof joining thechurch, he set offon a journeywhich was tochange his life andthe direction ofbiological science.

Aged 22,Darwin joined theship HMS Beagleon a 5-year scien-tific expedition(1831-36) roundthe world as anunpaid naturalistto pursue his interests inzoology and geology. Thisgave him the opportunity toobserve a variety of geolog-ical phenomena in differentcontinents, and the floraand fauna especially ofGalapagos Islands in theSouth Pacific (600 miles offthe coast of Ecuador),which formed the basis ofhis work on animal varia-tion. He collected hundredsof specimen of fossils androcks during the voyage.Galapagos in particularoffered Darwin a living lab-oratory in which he sawhow various creatures hadevolved to fit their sur-roundings.

Darwin’s family wealthmeant that he didn’t needto find work, so, on his

return he spent his time inlecturing, writing, andexpanding the ideas he hadbegun to develop on hisvoyage. Like everybody elseat the time Darwin believedthat species of plants andanimals were individuallycreated and remainedunchanged for all time. Butin Galapagos Islands, heobserved that each islandsupported its own form ofwildlife (tortoise, birds etc)which was closely relatedbut slightly different in

many ways from island toisland.

After much deliberationDarwin concluded that allliving (man included) andextinct species were notsomehow created in eachgeological age but wereevolved over billions ofyears from a commonancestor or a single tree oflife. New species were thedescendents of earlier lesscomplex species. These hadgradually changed as theenvironment changedaround them (natural selec-tion) acquiring specialcharacteristics (flying,swimming and so on).Species best suited to theirenvironment were morelikely to survive (survivalof the fittest) and passed on

the characteristics whichhelped them to survive totheir offspring. Simply put,evolution was broughtabout by mutation andinheritance.

Darwin didn’t pub-lished his findings for thefear of the offence theymight cause (his devoutwife was horrified!) but in1858, when he learnt thatanother Englishman, ayoung naturalist AlfredWallace had developed sim-ilar ideas to his own, he

published his book,‘The Origin ofSpecies by NaturalSelection’ in 1859. Itwas an instant suc-cess though provokedfierce oppositionespecially from theChurch as it contra-dicted the biblicalbelief of divine cre-ation. Darwin’sanother book ‘TheDescent of Man’(1871) which dis-cussed human cre-ation aroused evengreater debate sinceit suggested thathuman descendedfrom apes – anu n c o m f o r t a b l ethought for many!However, since hisideas were based onenough scientific evi-

dence, they soon gainedcurrency and now very fewwould question the theoryof evolution. His researchon plants was also pub-lished in a series of books.

Darwin married in 1839to his cousin EmmaWedgwood and lived happi-ly with his family in a smallestate in Kent. A shy man,he declined to debate hiswork publicly. He died in1882 and was buried withgreat honour along withother greats at WestminsterAbbey, London. Althoughhis theory has been modi-fied over time, it remainsfundamental to the study ofbiological sciences. Hisremarkable achievement ismarked by his appearanceon the £10 note.

Solution of - 74 : Caught in the act

WHATZIT? - 75Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this

arrangement of letters.

Solution of 74 :The one word was

“AMEN”. thus making theBoss believe he was pray-ing rather than sleeping.

Charles Darwin – Thefather of evolution

5 1 9 4 7 8 6 2 3

2 7 4 9 3 6 8 1 5

8 3 6 2 5 1 7 4 9

1 4 8 5 6 7 9 3 2

6 5 7 3 9 2 4 8 1

3 9 2 8 1 4 5 7 6

4 2 1 8 9 3 6 7

7 8 3 6 2 5 1 9 4

9 6 1 7 4 3 2 5 8

C H I R R O P E N O M A NA U R A E D I V A T A R AW H A T S O E V E R T O G O

S E A O R C A R I AF A S W H A T Y O U W I L LA L U M N U S T R AT O R E S A R I S P C SW H A T C H A M A C A L L I TA A H R I D E R E I R E

M A D E A S T E R NW H A T M E W O R R Y R I OH A R E A A R E R AA B E T W H A T S U P D O CL I N N A O N E P I A N OE T T A Y O G O S A G E S

8 17

12 9

14

11

6 18

10

20

15

15

11

7 20

6

11

4

28

16

14

27

11

17

15

24

7

9

12

21

7

15

9 5 9 7

8 1 3 2 2 1 4

4 2 1 9 8 6 8

6 9 2 4 1 3

1 3 9 6

7 5 9 6 9 6

9 8 8 7 9 2 9

2 4 1 8 5 1 6

9 6 5 1

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201030

Eating a bar of chocolatea week could help pre-vent strokes, accordingto Canadian researchers.

Scientists conducteda study of 50,000 peopleand found that those eat-ing chocolate were 22per cent less likely to suf-fer a stroke than thosewho didn't. In addition,people who had a strokebut regularly ate choco-late were 46 per cent lesslikely to die as a result.

The researchersclaim that the reason forthe findings could to bethat the food is rich inflavonoids, an anti-oxi-dant.

However, the scien-tists were also keen tostress that it is importantto keep in mind that eat-ing too much chocolatewill affect a person'sweight, as chocolate ishigh in saturated fats.

They also warnedthat more research willbe needed to look intothe possible link betweeneating chocolate andreducing the risk ofstroke.

Stroke and heart dis-ease are common com-plications of diabetes.

"We already knowthat there are com-pounds found in choco-late, called flavonoids,that are thought to pro-vide some protectionfrom heart disease," saidLibby Dowling, CareAdviser at Diabetes UK.

HEALTH WATCH

HEALTH WATCH INBRIEFWholegrain bread is goodand good for you, as mostpeople know. But it is notonly the fiber-rich bran,the outer shell of thegrain, that is healthful.On the contrary, researchat the Lund UniversityFaculty of Engineeringshows that bread bakedwith white rye flour,which is flour made fromthe inner, white part ofthe rye kernel, leads tobetter insulin and bloodsugar levels comparedwith wheat bread withrye bran. White rye flourthus leads to much bettervalues than both regularwheat flour and rye bran.At the same time, muchof the bread that is soldin stores today in mostcountries is in fact bakedwith wheat flour andbran from various grains.

The great differencebetween white rye andwhite wheat surprises theresearchers.

"Precisely what it isthat makes rye lead to astable blood sugar curveis as yet unknown. Butwe are getting closer andcloser to an answer.There are several differ-ent types of rye, and allnot all types have thesame effect, which meansthat some of them can beomitted from future stud-ies. The rye flour that issold in stores is often amixture of differenttypes," says Liza Rosén, adoctoral candidate in

Applied Nutrition andFood Chemistry at theLund University Facultyof Engineering, who hasled the study. Theresearch is part of the EUproject "Healthgrain," inwhich researchers studyhow wholemeal productscan be used to preventdiseases including type 2

diabetes and heart andvascular diseases.

According to LizaRosén, if you want tooptimize the health bene-fits, you should eat por-ridge or bread made fromwhole grain, where all theparts of the grain areincluded.

"This gives you all thebenefits of rye. The branincludes many healthfulfibers, vitamins, miner-als, and antioxidants.This also helps give afeeling of satiety andhelps lower blood sugarresponses over the longterm. On the other hand,we did not see such goodresults regarding bloodsugar and insulin directlyafter the meal," she says.

In meal tests the

researchers also foundthat individuals who ateboiled rye kernels forbreakfast were fuller andate significantly less forlunch, more precisely 16percent less in energyintake, compared withthose who ate breadmade from white flour.They also found that

both bread and hot cerealmade with white rye andwholegrain rye are morefilling than white wheatbread. The most effectiveform was rye porridges.

"It is probably thewater in the porridge thatincreases the feeling ofsatiety. But the water hasto be mixed into theproduct. If you drink thesame amount of waterwith rye bread, theresults are not as good,"she explains.

The original objectiveof Liza Rosén's researchwas to try to determinethe reasons that whole-grain products are sobeneficial, in that theyhave been shown to pro-tect against cardiovascu-lar diseases and certain

types of cancer. There isalso strong evidence thatwhole grains can preventtype 2 diabetes andinsulin resistance.

"Since rye has beenshown to yield lowinsulin responses, I start-ed with that. A highinsulin response can leadto insulin resistance inthe body, that is, that thebody has a hard timeresponding to insulin.Insulin resistance canresult in high bloodsugar, high blood pres-sure, and bad blood fats,which in turn increasethe risk of age-relateddiabetes and cardiovas-cular diseases. Since Ihave found so much ofinterest, I haven't had yettime to look into barley,for instance, but perhapsin the future. On theother hand, several otherresearchers at LundUniversity have studiedbarley and its health ben-efits," says Liza Rosén.

There are only a fewstudies of how whole-grain forms of variouscereal grains affect ourhealth, so there is a greatneed for more detailedstudies of the issue.Enhanced knowledge inthis field creates a basefor the development of anew generation of cus-tom-designed wholegrainproducts that can coun-teract different types ofdiseases associated withour prosperity.

People with high levelsof vitamin D almost halvetheir risk of developingheart disease or diabetes,claim researchers.

They found those withlowest levels of the vitaminin their blood were atgreater risk of a range ofserious disorders.

The findings come froma review of 28 existing stud-ies involving almost100,000 people whichlooked at vitamin D levelsamong the middle-aged andelderly.

The research team fromWarwick Medical Schooldiscovered a 43 per centlower risk of cardiovasculardisease, Type 2 diabetesand metabolic syndromeamong people with highlevels of vitamin D.

They claim most people

can boost their vitamin Dintake through diet and sunexposure - at lest 30 min-utes twice a week.

There is mounting evi-dence that vitamin D couldplay a vital role in helpingprevent disease and stop-ping elderly people suffer-ing falls.

US researchers last yearclaimed vitamin D 'defi-ciency' may be to blame for

600,000 cancer casesworldwide each year, par-ticularly in northernEuropean countries wheresun exposure levels are rel-atively low.

The latest study pub-lished in the medical jour-nal Maturitas found thosewith high levels of vitaminD were 33 per cent less atrisk of having cardiovascu-lar disease compared tothose with low levels.

There was a 55 per centreduction in risk of Type 2diabetes and the risk ofmetabolic syndrome washalved.

'Overall, we found thathigh levels of vitamin D areassociated with a 43 percent reduction in car-diometabolic disorders,'said the researchers.

One of the authors, Dr

Johanna Parker, who is cur-rently working in aBirmingham GP practice,said the review excludedpeople given vitamin Dsupplements as part of theresearch, but they may havetaken them of their ownaccord.

She said: 'We recom-mend people eat a healthydiet with two to three por-tions of oily fish a week andfive portions of fruit andvegetables. Most, about 90per cent, of your vitamin Dcomes from sunshine so werecommend sensible sunexposure in the summer.People should expose them-selves for 30 minutes twicea week - this means expos-ing the face and arms withno sunscreen. This wouldprovide the body with ade-quate vitamin D.'

Cancer patients with termi-nal disease who take a dailycocktail of vitamins couldextend their lives by twoyears or even longer, claimresearchers.

Three out of four in apilot study survived anaverage of five monthslonger than the expectedone year, and some were

still alive three years aftertreatment started.

Dr Bob Lister, co-author of the study byBritish and Danishresearchers, said the resultswere similar to the survivalgains from new drugs andin some cases better. Butthe important differencewas there were no side

effects reported by patientstaking vitamins, he said.

Dr Lister, chairman ofthe Institute of BrainChemistry and HumanNutrition at LondonMetropolitan University,said: 'We believe theseresults are meaningful andjustify trying to get backingfor a proper clinical trial.

People with cancer are con-stantly asking what can wedo, not necessarily to beatthe cancer but to have abetter quality of life what-ever the length of survival.Most importantly, takingthese supplements isextremely safe, and therewere no adverse reactionsamong the patients.'

Eating rhubarb baked ina crumble is not onlytasty it may also be thebest way to take advan-tage of its health bene-fits, and could lead tothe development of newcancer treatments.

Researchers havefound that bakingBritish garden rhubarbfor 20 minutes dramati-cally increases its levelsof anti-cancerous chemi-cals. The findings fromacademics at SheffieldHallam University,together with theScottish Crop ResearchInstitute, were publishedin the journal FoodChemistry.

These chemicals,called polyphenols, havebeen shown to selective-ly kill or prevent thegrowth of cancer cells,and could be used todevelop new, less toxic,treatments for the dis-ease, even in caseswhere cancers haveproven resistant to othertreatments.

Academics are nowhoping to use the resultsto study the effect ofrhubarb's polyphenolson leukaemia. They aimto discover the best com-bination of polyphenolsand chemotherapyagents to kill leukaemiacells, even those previ-ously resistant to treat-ment.

It is the first time thebenefits of British gar-den rhubarb, specificallya variety grown in SouthYorkshire, have beenstudied. Previousresearch has focussed onOriental medicinalrhubarb, which has beenrecognised for its healthbenefits and used in tra-ditional Chinese medi-cine for thousands ofyears.

Feeling stressed? Trychamomile! This 'tradi-tional' remedy has beenaround for years, buthow much truth is therebehind this old wives'tale?

In an evaluation forFaculty of 1000, MichaelVan Ameringen and BethPatterson draw attentionto the first randomizedcontrolled trial ofchamomile for the treat-ment of generalized anx-iety disorder (GAD).

The study, recentlypublished in the JournalofClinicalPsychopharmacology,reports that "chamomileextract therapy wasfound to be efficaciousfor mild-moderateGAD".

Patients with mild-moderate GAD wereincluded in the study and

received eitherchamomile or placebo.Those that received thechamomile treatmentwere found to have a sig-nificant change in theseverity of their GAD.

Van Amerigen andPatterson comment onthe results of the study,saying that they "suggestthat chamomile mayhave modest [anti-panic]activity in patients withmild-moderate GAD andmay potentially be usedin those who are averseto traditional pharma-cotherapy".

Calming power of chamomile

Rhubarb could fight cancer

Can chocolate reduce stroke?White rye bread healthier than whole wheat?

Cocktail of vitamins may give cancerpatients an extra two years

High levels of vitamin D halve risk of developingheart disease and diabetes

Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 2010 www.abplgroup.com 31

English Premier League MatchesSaturday, 20 FebruaryArsenal v/s Sunderland Emirates Stadium 15:00Everton v/s Man Utd Goodison Park 12:45Portsmouth v/s Stoke Fratton Park 17:30West Ham v/s Hull Boleyn Ground 15:00Wolverhampton v/s Chelsea Molineux 15:00Sunday, 21 FebruaryAston Villa v/s Burnley Villa Park 14:00Fulham v/s Birmingham Craven Cottage 15:00Man City v/s Liverpool City of Mcr. Stadium 15:00Wigan v Tottenham DW Stadium 16:15Monday, 22 FebruaryBlackburn v/s Bolton Ewood Park 20:00Tuesday, 23 FebruaryMan Utd v/s West Ham Old Trafford 20:00

Brett Lee may call it a day

IPL attracts one of the topEngland football clubs

Ravindra Jadeja bannedfor a year by IPL

Australian speedsterBrett Lee has said theelbow surgery he under-went was the mostpainful of the many sur-geries he has undergone.He further said, he wasnot sure whether hewould play cricket forAustralia again.

He had the operationin December and hencecould not play in atleasttwo series. He has already announced retirementfrom test matches in December 2008. Yet, he is notsure whether he would be fit again to play even ODIs.It all depends on his recovery post the surgery.

Lee has endured plenty of injuries over hisdecade-long international career but has still foundtime to take 310 Test wickets and 324 ODI wickets.

However, he said the elbow problem was provingespecially tough to get over.

The cash rich cricket brand of IPL has attracted oneof the top England football clubs. Commissioner ofIndian Premier Leauge (IPL) Lalit Modi told one ofthe English dailies in London that the club is keenon bidding, as two new teams are up for grabs andthe process will be over in less than a month, beforethe IPL season kicks off next month.

Reacting to the reports, Manchester United andChelsea have denied of any intentions or interests.

The base price for getting a franchise is set atapproximately £143 million.

Ravindra Jadeja, a talentedand upcoming allrounder whohas already played for India inT20s and ODIs was onSaturday last week banned bythe lucrative Indian PremierLeague (IPL) for one year. Hewas charged for ‘anti teamactivities’ and slapped withthe ban. The 21 year old play-er from Saurashtra, accordingto the IPL was trying to nego-tiate for a better contract with other IPL teams with-out having secured a nod from Rajasthan Royals, theteam that had picked him up two years ago. IPL play-ers guidelines and terms say that RR have the first rightto say no, any player can only contact other teams afterthey have exercised their right. Jadeja’s contract withRR was over, but he did not accept the offer of renewal.Lalit Modi, IPL Chairman and Commissionerannounced the ban and warned players that the T20League will not tolerate any blackmailing.

In a strongly worded statement, the IPL boss said,“The player guidelines laid out by the GoverningCouncil of the IPL are sacrosanct and all players willneed to strictly adhere to the same. We will not toler-ate any player playing games or blackmailing anyteams or the IPL/BCCI in any manner.”

Brett Lee

Ravindra Jadeja

B’desh posed some challenge in the last ODINZ scamper home with a 3 wicket win at Christchurch

At Christchurch onThursday last week,Bangladesh gave a spiriteddiplay in batting and bowl-ing, even though it was notgood enough to beat thehome team or preventthem from a clean sweep.New Zealand won the 3rdand final ODI by 3 wickets,but only after a mini col-lapse in the later part oftheir run chase raised somehopes for the visitors.

Batting first,Bangladesh posted a mod-est 241 with the help of amaiden ton by ImrulKayes, while Shakib andAshraful were the onlyother batsmen to scoremore than 30 runs. Shakibalso posed some real chal-lenge for the home teamwith his bowling, as heclaimed 4 wickets from his10 overs giving away just33 runs. But MartinGuptill played the keyinnings, scoring 91 runsand almost assuring the

home team of a victory,though they were almost50 runs away from the tar-get at that point of time,when Guptill walked backto pavilion. Two moreNew Zealand wickets fellin quick succession, butFranklin and Butler didnot allow any further dam-age and wrapped up thegame in the 46th over.

Kayes batted for themajority of Bangladesh's

innings, buildingproductive part-nerships withthe middle orderto guide histeam to 198 for4 after 40 overs.Kayes paced hisinnings intelli-gently. Playingsecond fiddle tothe likes ofAshraful andAftab Ahmed,he rotated strikeeffectively andhit the occasion-

al boundary to keep thescoreboard ticking even aswickets fell at regularintervals around him. Hewas eventually dismissedfor 101, looking for quickruns in the 48th over.

Bangladesh could onlymanage 43 runs from thefinal ten overs. DanielVettori, wicketless until the44th over, scalped up threebatsmen in consecutiveovers to end with 3 for 42

from his ten. Tim Southeewas the pick of the NewZealand attack, concedingjust 37 runs from his tenovers with 3 wickets.

Brendon McCullumbegan the chase in bel-ligerent fashion, pullingShafiul Islam over squareleg for six in consecutiveovers, but fell attemptingan ugly slog, dragging afuller Rubel Hossain deliv-ery onto his off stump.Martin Guptill was insupreme touch from ballone. The running betweenthe wickets was especiallyimpressive while Guptillwas in the middle, stealinglightning-fast singles tomen in the infield.

Guptill batted beauti-fully to string the NewZealand innings together.

{Brief scores: 3rd ODI- NZ 244 for 7 (Guptill91, Shakib 4-33) beatB’desh 241 for 9 (Kayes101, Southee 3-37, Vettori3-42) by 3 wickets}.

IPL in trouble again afterthreats from within, outside

Shiv Sena unrelenting on OZ players; Deccan Chargers unhappy over shifting matchesThe highly popular andcash rich cricket carnivalof IPL in India is in trou-ble again. And the prob-lem seems to be threepronged this time. Havingdecided to shift all homematches of DeccanChargers from the twoAndhra Pradesh cities, theLeague and BCCI have

been slapped notice by thefranchise, asking to reviewthe decision or face a boy-cott from the Championsof season III. The issuewas however resolvedlater on Tuesday evening,with Cuttack being thecompromise venue for afew matches.

On the other hand,

even the Shiv Sena hasreiterated that would notallow Australian players toplay in Mumbai, whileafter the blasts in Puneover the weekend, Huji aPakistan based terroristgroup has also warned allforeign players to keepaway from coming toIndia. Huji threat is also

extended to the HockeyWorld Cup and theCommonwealth games.

IPL commissioner LalitModi had last week decid-ed to shift all the matchesout of Hyderabad andVishakhapatnam in view ofthe volatile situation inAndhra Pradesh over theTelangana agitation.

Team India at VancouverOlympics cuts a sorry picture

The Indian contingent cuta sorry picture at theopening ceremony ofVancouver Olympicsopening ceremony as theentire team, while parad-ing were not in one uni-form. Flag bearer ShivaKeshavan said the mis-matched attire embarrass-ment was a result of horri-ble quality of theUniforms.

It led to the Indiancommunity mobilisingdonations to give the teama better set of uniform.

According to local

media reports, the uniformthat had been given to theteam for the opening cere-

mony was of poor quality.A local businessmandonated fresh uniformsthat the Indian athleteswore at the opening cere-monies at the BC Place.

The government how-ever had a different storyto tell. India's Chef deMission in Vancouver R KGupta reportedly said thatShiva was miffed becausehe wanted his father tomarch in the opening cere-mony and since there wasno uniform available forhim, Shiva chose to notwear the uniform himself.

Further clarifying itsposition in the matter, thegovernment provided astatement of the expendi-ture on each athlete, refut-ing all claims that mem-bers of the team were notprovided adequate finan-cial help.

From bearing theexpenses of their ceremo-nial clothing to dailyallowances of USD 50 perday, the sports ministrysaid it has spent aroundRs 7.4 lakh on the eight-member Indian contingentat the Winter Olympics in

Uniform not good enough, some members did not even get one

Tamim Iqbal is bowled by Tim Southeeat Christchurch on February 11

Hockey World Cup to have commando securityAfter the Pune blast lastweekend, the governmentof India decided toenhance security arrange-ments for the World CupHockey tournament thatis getting underway in thelast week of this month.

The venue of the hock-

ey extravaganza is theNational Stadium nearIndia Gate in New Delhi.About 200 commandosarmed with guns and 1000troops of central para mil-itary forces will be on dutyto ensure that the tourna-ment remains safe through

March 13. 12 Countriesare participating. 400players and officials, dele-gates are expected.

IPL will be startingfrom March 13, whileDelhi will again be hostingcommonwealth games inOctober.

The security ofCommonwealth Gameswill also be reviewedafresh to ensure safety of9,000 athletes from 71countries besides 1,00,000international spectators,who are expected to visitthe country.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 20th February 201032 www.abplgroup.com

ODI drubbing for WISkipper Ponting lead histeam from the front, scor-ing his 29th century in thelimited overs edition. Hecontributed 106 in histeam’s mammoth score of324. Chris Gayle led thecharge, but could notcarry on for long, as heperished at 34. Thoughthree of his batsmenscored half centuries, WestIndies found themselves50 runs short as the matchended on Sunday atBrisbane.

Friday last week, thevisitors had some chancesto register a win after theybowled out Australia for225 runs, but rains playedthe spoil sport at Sydney asWest Indies had just beguntheir chase. The match hadto be abandoned.

With this, Australiasecured a 3-0 lead andcontinued their unbeatenhome campaign in Tests,ODIs and a T20.

For Ricky Ponting, itwas his first in an ODI at

Brisbane. A Sunday crowdof more than 20,000applauded. It was ahealthy crowd for thisseries.

Cameron White wasalso scored an attractive63, which included somebrutal hitting of the balland his body. He was hurtby a Pollard bouncer whenhe was on 35. The ballmissed his helmet and hithis jaw, though an x-rayrevealed he had no major

damage.Bowling by West

Indies was wayward at thestart, though their earlycatching was spectacular.Shane Watson had rushedto 26 when he loftedSmith and Wavell Hindssprinted back from mid-on, diving for the take justinside the boundary. TimPaine (24) also made astart but departed to a cutshot which ended up witha leaping Pollard at point.

Batting was harderunder lights than it hadbeen during the day andthe Australian bowlerswere on target when itmattered.

Deonarine was in goodtouch during his 53 but thepressure grew and he hadto hit out, giving Hauritz awicket when he found longon. Pollard walked in withthe team needing eight anover and two runs a ballwere required off the finalten overs.

Once Pollard got set-tled he planted a couple ofbig sixes but in the end theassignment was far toobig. It's been like that forthe touring teams for mostof the summer.

{Brief scores: 4th ODI -OZ 7 for 324 (Ponting 106,White 63) beat WI 8 for274 (Deonarine 53, Pollard62, Smith 58*) by 50 runs.3rd ODI - Match aban-doned - WI 0 for 6 - OZ225 (Clarke 46, Hussey 44,Rampaul 4-61).}

Cricket getsOlympic nodInternational OlympicCouncil (IOC) last weekgranted recognition toICC, making the populargame eligible to get intothe Olympics. At a meet-ing last week inVancouver, Canada, IOCgranted recognition toICC, paving way forCricket’s participation inOlympics from year 2020.

Two other games –sport climbing and powerboating also got the IOCnod.

IOC director of com-munications Mark Adamssaid after the meeting heldahead of the WinterOlympics, “They arerecognised federations byus, which now means thatthey can take part in IOCevents. It could be seen asa first step towardsbecoming Olympicsports,” he added.

Haroon Lorgat, chiefexecutive of ICC applaud-ed the IOC decision, as he

said, “The ICC is extreme-ly proud of the recognitionthat cricket has got. Wehave always considered itto be the first step inbecoming a part of theOlympic family.

Lorgat further said,T20 is the only format ofthe game that could be apart of the Olympics. Hesaid, ICC has yet to decidewhether the body wouldbid for participating. Itwill be put on the agendafor one of the forthcomingICC meetings.

ICC yet to decide on participation

Adam Voges and Ricky Ponting celebrate the run out ofWavell Hinds at Brisbane on Sunday

Ponting pockets series 3 – 0 at Brisbane

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