Indian November 4, 2011 Volume 3, No. 14

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The Pulse of Kiwi Indians

World at 7 billion

Feature | 16saif becomes

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India | 12

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Jaal traps aucklanders

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‘Overwhelming’ response to Auckland PlanMore than 2500 submissions have been re-ceived for the Auckland Plan and its support-ing plans.

The Mayor has welcomed the overwhelm-ing response to the Auckland Plan submis-sion process.

Provisional totals are: Auckland Plan, 1700 (with final count expected to be 2000); Economic Development Strategy, 80; City

Centre Master Plan, 200; Waterfront Plan, 660

Auckland Plan submissions contained over 4300 points of feedback including refer-ences to the supporting plans. The Auckland Plan is subject to statutory consultation and public hearings.

The Mayor says the enthusiasm with which Aucklanders have engaged with the process is fantastic.

“It has always been about us collectively articulating our vision for Auckland. It is my responsibility to give a strong lead in this, but

the input and wisdom of Aucklanders is es-sential,” says Len Brown.

“There is no doubt that the Rugby World Cup and the completion of projects like Wynyard Quarter, the Art Gallery, shared spaces and Auckland Zoo’s Te Wao Nui meant Aucklanders began to recognise the city’s po-tential and encouraged them to engage in the consultation process.”

About a third of submitters want to speak at hearings. Submitters can choose whether to speak at a formal hearing or informal workshop forums. The hearings panel will comprise all councillors.

Two thirds of company submitters want to be heard and 25 per cent of personal submit-ters.

Following the public hearings – which start on 14 November and include marae, Pacific Island and key stakeholder hearings – the draft Auckland Plan will be finalised in December and adopted in February, 2012.

The ten most popular topics included:l making a quality compact cityl the city centre master planl transformation shiftsl Auckland’s economyl the southern initiativel building enduring town centres and neighbourhoods

It has always been about us collectively articulating our vision for Auckland. It is my responsibility to give a strong lead in this, but the input and wisdom of Aucklanders is essential

“New Zealand has done itself proud,” RNZ 2011 chairman Brian Roche said.

“Rugby fans, even those with a passing interest in the Game have dressed up, painted their faces and turned each match into a true festival of Rugby and our country. Others have gone to Fanzones, enjoyed REAL New Zealand Festival events and given our visitors the best of welcomes.

“We promised a stadium of four million great fans and hosts and without a doubt New Zealand has delivered.

“None of this would have been possible without the passion and dedication of an army of people across New Zealand,” Roche said.

“The Team 2011 volunteers have been at the forefront of our efforts to look after visi-tors and ensure they left with the best of mem-ories of their time here while also contributing to the successful delivery of 48 matches.

“Through the past six years since we won the bid to host RWC 2011, our partners have worked tirelessly to ensure we created the best platform to deliver on the promises we made in Dublin.

“Today we thank those in central and local government, the NZ 2011 Office, provincial Rugby unions, regional tourism and other in-dustry organisations and of course the staff and management of our own organisation, RNZ 2011. The collective efforts of so many have ensured we have delivered an event all New Zealanders can be proud of and one that enhances our country’s position on the world stage. “Most importantly from our position as Tournament organiser, we have shown the

world that our great, little country can deliver a globally significant event with a host of chal-lenges. We are confident our success stands New Zealand in good stead to attract major events in the future.

“We are proud of our achievements in meeting our ticket revenue target and suc-

cessfully delivering 48 matches at 12 venues. Last night’s thrilling Final was the icing on the cake of what was already one of the great Rugby World Cups.

“I would also like to thank the IRB, Chair-man Bernard Lapasset, CEO Mike Miller and their team at subsidiary Rugby World Cup Ltd

for the close co-operation and support they have given us since we won the bid.”

IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset said the seventh Rugby World Cup had been an out-standing success.

“New Zealand 2011 will be remembered as an exceptional Rugby World Cup. It has been a Tournament where New Zealand’s rich culture and heritage has gone hand in hand with rugby’s tradition and values.

“New Zealanders should be proud of their event. They made it special by embracing the tournament the length and breadth of the country, welcoming all 20 teams and 100,000 international visitors with open arms. It was quite remarkable."

Lapasset also praised the Tournament Organisers and the spirit of close collabora-tion that has delivered one of the great Rugby World Cups.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Brian Roche, Martin Snedden and the Rugby New Zealand 2011 team, the New Zealand Rugby Union and the Government for their vision, dedication and hard work in de-livering Rugby World Cup 2011 in partnership with the IRB team.

“Their reward is the successful hosting of what will be remembered as one of the great Rugby World Cups, a sporting and operational success.

“New Zealand 2011 has positioned the country as a major event host, a superb tourism destination and a great country. It has also taken our sport to new audiences and has set the bar for future hosts.”

Tournament organiser Rugby New Zealand 2011 have thanked the people of New Zealand for the way they embraced the seventh Rugby World Cup and contributed to its success

World Cup a smashing success

Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remembering a dear mate…

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

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

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

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

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

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

the Indian community.NZICA General

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

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

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

New Zealand

Visa crackdown hits Indian studentsThe Australian Government is cracking down on student visas.

Indian students have been hardest hit in an Australian Government crackdown on student visas.

Foreign students caught skipping class or flunking courses are being deported in record numbers.

So far, the Immigration Department has cancelled 15,066 foreign student visas in the past year, a 37 per cent increase from the previous year. Of these, 6536 were Indian students, the Daily Telegraph reported.

About 3624 students are facing deporta-tion for flunking subjects or missing classes.

A further 2235 visas were cancelled on students who quit their original courses and were either working illegally – in some cases in brothels, the newspaper reported.

The crackdown, coming after the number of cancellations was steady for four years, has targeted lax students who had won visas to study at a vocational training level, such as cooking or hairdressing.

Indian students have been hit the hardest, while the biggest foreign contingent – Chinese – fare much better because they are less likely to be studying for a trade. Trade students are not only under the spotlight but a change in policy preferencing university students has now made entry to Australian courses harder.

Number of students affected by country: India 6536; China 1624; South Korea 924; Nepal 527; Pakistan 293; Sri Lanka 354; Thailand 376; Vietnam 367; Singapore 267; Malaysia 551; Others 3251.

The Telegraph reported that university graduates would have the right to work for two years after they graduate, leaving voca-tional training students to wait on a second tranche of changes, due next year, to find out

where they stand.Of the 332,709 international students

in Australia in June, more than half were studying at university, while a third were on vocational training visas studying diploma courses.

One in every five international students is Chinese, while one in every six is Indian.

Courses are also popular with South Korean, Brazilian and Malaysian students. The majority of international students study in NSW and Victoria.

To receive a visa they must be enrolled in a course and show they can pay tuition and living costs and meet health and English language tests.

Of the 15,066 cancellations by DIMIA in the past year, 3624 students lost their visas because they flunked some or all subjects or were no-shows to class. A further 2235 visas were cancelled for students who quit their courses and 212 were from students who fin-ished their courses early.

The Immigration Department offers eight kinds of student visas – including vo-cational training, university, English lan-guage courses or school education visas.

Despite oversight by the department, some students end up as illegal immigrants after failing to return home.

The department's annual report said that 8309 student visa holders became "unlaw-ful" in the past year because their student visa expired and they did not apply for a new one, such as a bridging visa.

In some cases, foreigners were not genuine students and use the work rights of a student visa as a back door to higher wages and working conditions in Australia.

Some women have come to Australia on student visas to work in illegal brothels.

– Daily Telegraph, Sydney

Aucklanders to have say on waste plan

Becoming the world’s most liveable city, re-ducing harm to the environment, meeting government regulations and managing costs and are key drivers of the council’s draft plan.

The draft Waste plan was signed off at Regional Development Operations Commit-tee on 20 October, with councillors’ support the streamlining of waste management across Auckland and reducing the amount that is sent to landfill each year. The Waste Minimisation Act 2008 requires Auckland Council to review its Waste Management and Minimisation Plan by 1 July 2012.

John Dragicev-ich, Manager of In-frastructure and En-vironment Services says that the creation of Auckland Council presented an oppor-tunity to rational-ise services for all of Auckland. “Until now, we’ve had seven different systems for collecting and dealing with waste across Auckland. With the alignment of the legacy councils, we have the opportunity to review and stream-line how we deliver waste services to all households.”

Aucklanders will be able to have their say on proposals for households in Auck-land to have wheelie-bins for rubbish and recycling, with a choice of bin size to reflect the household. A new organic waste collection could capture house-holds’ food/garden waste, for composting and other re-use. Households in the Gulf Islands will receive slightly different services, reflect-ing their unique geographic location.

The plan also includes consistent funding of waste and recycling services, for all Auck-landers. All households will pay directly for the kerbside refuse they put out (45% of Auck-land households already pay directly.) Rates or other funding sources will pay for kerbside recycling, organic waste and inorganic waste collections.

John Dragicevich continued, “We re-viewed the different services that were pro-

vided in Auckland, but we also looked at best practices in New Zealand and around the world. We have looked for waste solutions that will not only help to reduce the amount we send to landfill, but will treat more of our waste as a resource.”

John Dragicevich emphasised that any po-tential change will be done carefully and in stages over the next four years after the plan in adopted in mid 2012. “This will allow time for further collaborative discussions with the waste industry and communities, and enable

an extensive educa-tion programme. We want to hear what Auckland thinks and we’re looking for innovative and creative ideas from both industry and the community.”

The plan was informed by a Waste Assessment initiated under the auspices of the Auckland Transi-tion Agency, that re-viewed current and forecast demand for waste services in Auckland. In March 2011, councillors supported a stra-tegic direction of continuing with the current services and streamlining where possible, establish-ing new systems to

collect and recycle food and/or garden waste (which makes up 40-50% of the household waste stream) and exploring a mix of mea-sures to gain more operational influence over the entire waste stream.

The public and businesses can make a submission on the draft WMMP during the Special Consultative Procedure (17 Novem-ber 2011 to 31 January 2012). They may also attend a hearing to speak in support of their submission (February - March 2012).

The full draft plan and a summary with submission form will be available online, as well as at council service centres, libraries and local board offices from 17 November 2011. Consultation concludes on 31 January 2012.

From 17 November Aucklanders will be able to give feedback on Auckland Council’s draft waste plan, outlining ways to manage and minimise waste.

Aucklanders will be able to have their say on proposals for households in Auckland to have wheelie-bins for

rubbish and recycling, with a choice of bin size to reflect the

household.

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

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

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

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

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

They must include the name of the em-

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

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

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

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

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

Employers must keep staff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wi-Fi expansion for Auckland

New Zealand

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

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

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

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

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

Ivory, turtle shell seized in Auckland

The seizure was made by the Wildlife En-forcement Group (WEG) a multi agency team with representatives from the Department of Conservation (DOC), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and the New Zealand Customs Service.

The items seized last night will be foren-sically tested to confirm they are ivory and a Hawksbill Turtle shell. They include three

carved tusks, six statues and a fan. The seizure was made as the appropriate permits had not been obtained to import the suspected ivory items and turtle shell into New Zealand. A permit to import any specimen of endangered species is required under the Trade in Endangered Species Act 1989 which is administered by DOC. African and Asian elephants and Hawksbill turtles are clas-sified as endangered species.

At the same time the WEG team was exe-cuting the search warrant in Auckland, officers from the Police National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) and the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) executed a search warrant at an address in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire in England.

Two men were arrested at the Chelten-ham address on suspicion of the prohibited purchase of two elephant tusks and evading export restrictions.

The operations in Auckland and England follow the interception of two parcels at the Auckland Mail Centre. Forensic testing con-firmed that the parcels contained items carved from African elephant tusks. They were posted from Portugal and England. One parcel contained a carved ivory tusk and the other a statue of a woman’s head carved from ivory.

The parcels were seized as the appropriate permits had not been obtained to import the ivory prod-ucts into New Zealand.

Dylan Swain, a senior investi-gator and DOC’s representative on the Wildlife Enforcement Group is grateful for the help DOC has received from MAF, Customs and WEG.

"African and Asian elephants are at high risk of extinction because poachers continue to kill them for their tusks despite a global ban on trading in ivory,” says Dylan Swain.

The ivory trade ban was imposed in 1989 by the 175 countries that are parties to the Convention on International Trade in En-dangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). New Zealand became a party to CITES in 1989. “We recognise that protecting threatened species from extinction requires countries around the world to work together,” says Dylan Swain.

“New Zealand needs international support protecting our endangered species from being exploited. So we have a responsibility to help protect threatened wildlife in other countries such as elephants and sea turtles.”

Two Auckland men are assisting the Wild-life Enforcement Group with their enquiries following last night’s seizure of the items that are being forensically tested to confirm they are elephant ivory and a Hawksbill Turtle hell.

Twenty five items believed to be elephant ivory, and the shell of a Hawksbill Turtle, were seized from an Auckland address last night following the execution of a search warrant.

Auckland Council’s annual report, for its first eight months since establishment, has been adopted by the council’s governing body.

The annual report details the projects, services and activities that were carried out from 1 November 2010 to 30 June 2011, as well as the highlights and challenges Auck-land Council experienced as it formed the new combined organisation.

The report also includes financial and non-financial statements, showing council’s performance against the budget and non-financial measures set out in the 2010-19 Long-Term Plan it inherited from the Auckland Transition Agency.

The report was adopted at yester-day’s governing body meeting.

Some of the key projects and achievements across the region include:

Establishing council and committee struc-tures and developing the new governance model for Auckland

Preparing for Rugby World Cup 2011 - council worked to complete $21 million worth of transport projects and $3.9 million of event space upgrades. Work was also done to upgrade Queens Wharf and Shed 10 and to develop The Cloud

Transforming the Auckland waterfront with the opening of the Wynyard Quarter

Responding to the Christchurch earth-

quake, sending 196 Auckland Council and CCO staff to assist. We also donated $1.5 million to the reconstruction efforts.

Launching The Auckland Plan, Annual Plan 201/12 and 21 local board agreements for 2011/2012

Recording some of the best public trans-port usage rates since the 1950s - up 8 per cent for the year to 30 April

Opening a number of new regional facili-ties, including the new Auckland Art Gallery, Manukau Library and Research Centre, Norman Kirk Memo-rial Pool complex in Otara, the upgraded North Shore Leisure branches in Takapuna and Glenfield, Roskill Youth Zone. We also completed construc-tion of multi-sport fa-cilities in Papatoetoe

and Manurewa and progressed work on Te Wao Nui precinct at Auckland Zoo

The key financial results from the annual report include:

The council group recording a net deficit of $110m on a $2b operating budget. This was primarily due to the impact of lower capital revenue as property development slowed, and non-cash adjustments to reflect value changes in council investments and provisioning for future payments on weather-tightness build-ing claims

$877 million of capital works carried out across the region by the council group.

Working to create the world’s most livable city

Preparing for Rugby World Cup 2011 - council worked

to complete $21 million worth of transport projects and $3.9 million of event

space upgrades.

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INZBC Chairman Mr Wenceslaus Anthony said, “the Committee recognised the impor-tance of New Zealand’s growing relationship with India [India is now New Zealand’s 7th largest trade partner] and the benefits that at an FTA, now under negotiation, will bring to our two economies.”

In addition he noted that the Committee “had accepted many of the Council’s recom-mendations from its submission to the Com-mittee that will enhance and improve New Zealand’s relationship with India.”

The recommendations are the result of an inquiry into New Zealand’s relationship with India initiated by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on May 19 this year. The committee set out with the following terms of reference:l Consider trade, tourism, and opportuni-

ties including investment. l Examine strategic opportunities for both

New Zealand and India resulting from new opportunities for engagement partic-ularly flowing from technological innova-tion.

l Determine any untapped opportunities for growing the relationship in the areas of science, medicine, defence, education, and culture.

The committee has come up with the fol-lowing recommendations to the New Zealand government:

Political and diplomatic relationsThat New Zealand representation in India be reviewed in the event of the successful con-clusion of a free trade agreement, including consideration of the appointment of honorary consuls outside of New Delhi and Mumbai, in addition to the one in Chennai.

Trade and investmentThat the Government investigate mecha-nisms, beyond the Beachheads programme, for providing India-specific capability pro-grammes for businesses wanting to do busi-ness in India.

That the Government work with the private sector to decide upon states or cities in India for a New Zealand focus, and develop strate-

gies to concentrate New Zealand’s efforts on those places.

Export educationThat the Government instruct Education New Zealand to consider increasing its presence in India through education fairs or similar exer-cises.

Mindful of New Zealand’s need for scien-tists and engineers, that the Government con-sider lifting the immigration qualifications applying to the migration market.

That the Government instruct Immigra-tion New Zealand to review its decision not to process student visas during the Christmas–New Year period.

TourismThat the Government actively grasp oppor-tunities presented by co-hosting the 2015 Cricket World Cup with Australia.

ImmigrationThat the Government review visa provisions for Indian nationals with a view to the facilita-tion of travel to New Zealand, particularly for bona fide business and tourist visa applicants.

Sectors with potential for further engagementThat the Government assist the New Zealand business community in pursuing opportuni-ties for trade with India in ICT, creative in-dustries, aviation, engineering, science and innovation.

That the Government consider the need for more approved medical examiners to be appointed, and if a case exists amend the legislative framework to allow recognition of medical clearances from other equivalent jurisdictions. The objective should be to fa-cilitate the recruitment of more flight training students from India.

The Select Committee comprised John Hayes (Chairman), Jacqui Dean, Hon Pete Hodgson, Dr Paul Hutchison, Iain Lees-Gal-loway, Keith Locke, Todd McClay and Hon Maryan Street.

Some 24 individuals and parties submitted comments, suggestions and recommendations to the committee.

INZBC welcomes NZ Govt’s India reportThe India New Zealand Business Council (INZBC) has welcomed the recommendations in the Parliament’s Select Committee Report on New Zealand’s relationship with India.

NZ Prime Minister John Key and Indian President Pratibha Patil in New Dalhi during Mr Key’s state visit to India in June 2011

6 Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian

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

P: 09 278 9302 | F: 09 278 2143 | E: Bakshi.mp@parliament.govt.nz

www.national.org.nz

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi NATIONAL LIST MP

Improving education and skills is a critical part of National’s plan to lift New Zealand’s economic performance. A high-performing education system will help make sure our chil-dren and young people get the skills they need for the jobs of the future.

National kept our promise to extend 20 hours early childhood education to play centres, kohanga reo, and 5-year-olds. We’ve had to make some hard choices to rein in the skyrocketing costs, but we will keep 20 Hours and maintain the diverse ECE sector.

In some areas up to 40 per cent of five-year-olds arrive at school without any early childhood education. We’re targeting Māori and Pasifika children, and those from low-income backgrounds.

We’ve increased spending on ECE to $1.4 billion this year. And we’re lifting the number of qualified ECE teachers across the sector.

This year, primary and intermediate schools have continued to roll out National Standards and give parents plain-language reports at least twice a year. It’s important our kids learn the basics, reach their potential, and get the skills they need to succeed.

National Standards are signposts showing what children should be able to achieve in reading, writing, and maths, and by when. They help identify those who are falling behind so they can get the help they need.

National is working hard to give our young people learning opportunities and skill train-ing. This year we opened eight Trades Acade-mies around the country. Next year we’ll open

13 more.At Trades Academies, year 12 and 13

students can earn NCEA-equivalent credits in a tertiary setting while gaining practical skills in the workplace. By 2014, there will be 12,500 places for 16- and 17-year-olds in Trades Academies, Service Academies, which offer military-style programmes, and the wider Youth Guarantee, which offers vo-cational training at polytechnics and private training establishments.

We’re focusing on value for money, im-proving the relevance and quality of tertiary courses and reinvesting savings back in ter-tiary places. Next year we’ll fund 185,000 uni-versity and polytechnic places – 9000 more than in 2008.

We have also made changes to improve course completion rates and our qualifica-tions framework, and significant changes to the Student Loan Scheme. We’re committed to interest-free student loans, but the scheme needs to be financially sustainable into the future. And we want to make sure when bor-rowers take out a student loan, they take on the responsibilities that come with it.

Over the coming weeks we will make further announcements about education. Please feel free to contact me about these an-nouncements.

National is committed to making sure our education system delivers for children and young people. We want them to gain the skills, qualifications, and training they need to succeed.

National plans to Improve education and skillsKanwaljit Singh Bakshi MP

Boosting New Zealand's productive infra-structure is vital to unclogging the arter-ies of growth, creating jobs, and lifting incomes.

National is building the foundations for a stronger economy based on exports and saving. We’re tackling New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit by increasing invest-ment, setting clear priorities, and improv-ing the regulatory environment.

Our commitment to infrastructure is helping employ local people, create work for local businesses, and make it easier for exporters to get our goods to market.

Since coming to office National has invested heavily in infrastructure such as schools, ultra-fast broadband, the national electricity grid and our roading and rail networks.

Building faster economic growth is our top priority in transport. Improving our highway links means faster more reliable connections between cities and markets, lifting productivity. We’ve committed to investing $12.2 billion in state highways over 10 years and we’ve fast-tracked seven Roads of National Significance which are progressing well.

We’ve investing $750 million to help turn KiwiRail into a commercially viable business and $1.6 billion to improve and electrify Auckland’s commuter rail system. A further $471 million is being in-vested to upgrade Wellington’s commuter

network.National is building broadband infra-

structure that will help transform New Zealand’s future, promote greater innova-tion, and grow our economy. We’re rolling out ultra-fast broadband to 75 per cent of homes and businesses.

We’re also vastly improving broadband speeds to connect our rural communities with the world. National has invested $1.2 billion towards an ultra-fast broadband network and $300 million for rural com-munities and schools.

Other investments include $3.9 billion to upgrade the national grid, $740 million for school infrastructure, and $35 million to accelerate irrigation.

National’s second National Infrastruc-ture Plan sets out a 20-year strategic vision and puts in place an action plan to do a better job. The plan shows New Zealand’s infrastructure is improving with less red tape, more major investment in roads, rail, telecommunications, and electricity net-works.

Our investment in infrastructure continues to build a strong platform for growth. Building faster growth is the best way to create jobs, boost incomes, and provide the high-quality public services you and your family need and deserve.

Authorised by MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, 1/131 Kolmar Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland

Delivering better infrastructure to hardworking KiwisKanwaljit Singh Bakshi MP

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We have an election coming up on 26 November. This is your opportu-nity to vote for the party and local MP you want to represent you in Parliament. At the same time you get to have your say about which voting system you think is best for New Zealand.

The referendum will be held at the same time as the general elec-tion. It will ask voters two ques-tions. Firstly whether they want to keep the current MMP voting system, and secondly, what alter-native voting system they would prefer from a list of four options

regardless of how they voted in the first question.

National is honouring its pre-election promise to hold a referen-dum on MMP because we believe it’s timely for New Zealanders to consider how the voting system is working and have their say.

As a government, National is not campaigning for any voting system in the referendum because we believe it’s important for New Zea-landers to make up their own mind on this important issue.

Personally I support keeping MMP because it has produced five

stable governments. MMP is a pro-portional system which allows for the representation of the electorate and the representation of interests and minority ethnic groups. Under MMP there are more female MPs and more MPs from various ethnic and cultural groups.

MMP enables political parties to include minority candidates within their lists. This ensures that more people are represented in Parlia-ment. For example as a result of MMP I’ve been able to enter Par-liament and be an advocate for our Indian community bringing their

views to Parliament. Without MMP our Indian community wouldn’t have the representation it has at the moment and neither would other ethnic minorities.

New Zealand is a multi-cultural country and I think it’s important that Parliament reflects this with its MPs.

There is always room for im-provement and National recognises this. That’s why if more than half of voters choose to keep MMP there will be a review in 2012 to look at ways we can make our current voting system even better.

Every vote counts and I think it’s important that we all have our say about the voting system. I’d encour-age each of you to read up on the different voting systems so that you can make an informed choice.

The Electoral Commission has launched its public campaign on the referendum. The commission is providing a range of information which outlines each system in an easy to understand way.

For more information you can ring the Electoral Commission on 0800 36 76 56 or visit their website www.referendum.org.nz

Have your say about New Zealand’s voting systemKaNWaljIt SINgh BaKShI MP

National is building a brighter future for this country. We have a clear plan to strengthen our economy for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

As we head towards the election on November 26, I’ll be on the road a lot visiting local communities up and down the country. I’m looking forward to chatting to New Zealand-ers, listening to your concerns, and explaining National’s plan to con-

tinue building a brighter future.At the National Party’s cam-

paign launch I announced that we’ll spend $1 billion of mixed-ownership model proceeds on modernising and transforming New Zealand schools. We’ll use the proceeds, which will total $5-$7 billion, to set up a Future Investment Fund and buy new pro-ductive infrastructure for New Zea-landers. This is a win-win for New

Zealanders – we’ll build modern schools and vital infrastructure without getting into more debt.

Building a safer New Zealand is another one of National’s priori-ties. I know it’s really important to you from my chats to people in our Indian/Korean/Chinese communi-ties. You have a right to feel safe in your home and your community. We’ve been getting tough on crimi-

nals, putting victims first, and ad-dressing the drivers of crime.

Last week we announced that National will make bail laws stron-ger. This is about improving public safety. It fulfils our promise to review aspects of the bail system and builds on work we achieved in our first 100 days in office to reverse Labour’s decision to make it easier for defendants to get bail.

National is working hard to build our public health service, to deliver health care Kiwi families need, and to get more value from every dollar spent. We’re delivering more elec-tive surgery than ever before, we’ve got more doctors and nurses, and we’ve reduced the waiting time for cancer treatment.

Building on this great prog-ress, I announced last week that the Government is bringing in free after-hours medical care for under six-year-olds. This is great news for Kiwi families. It’s a tangible sign of how this Government’s excellent management of the health budget has led to improvements in health care.

National recognises that the global recession significantly af-fected job opportunities for young people – especially for 16 to 19-year-olds. We’re committed to boosting jobs and creating an environment that encourages economic growth.

That’s why National is establish-ing a new starting-out wage set at 80 per cent of the minimum wage. Our starting-out wage will provide young people with the opportunity to earn money, gain skills, and get the work experience they need.

The starting-out wage will be available for 16 and 17-year-olds in their first six months of work with a new employer, 18 and 19-year-olds who have come off the benefit, and 16 to 19-year-olds in training in a recognised industry training course.

Over the next few weeks you can expect many more announcements that will outline National’s plan to build a brighter future for New Zealand families.

National’s plan to build a brighter future for New Zealand Rt hoN johN Key

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The finesse and professionalism that MigHT-I Theatre presented the two-act Hindi play “Jaal–The trap” last Sunday proved a fitting tribute to the Queen of Suspense Dame Agatha Christie in her 120th anni-versary year.

Jaal is the Hindi adaptation of Dame Christie’s celebrated play “The Mousetrap”, which has the distinction of being the world’s longest continuously running play ever.

Performed uner the aegis of the South Side Arts Festival (for-merly the Manukau Arts Festival), Jaal is MigHT-I Theatre’s third production after the successful staging of the Gujarati play “Mara Varno Varghodo”, a second perfor-mance of which is being staged this weekend, and the Hindi “Ek Ruka Hua Faisla”.

Jaal begins with the murder of a mysterious woman in Khandala, a popular hill station and holiday spot near the western Indian city of Mumbai. The action takes place in a guest house, where a house full of suspects have gathered and where a second murder is about to be com-mitted.

At the heart of any mystery lies the question of what is real and what is not. This is particularly true of Jaal, which relies on disguise to confuse the audience. In true Christie style, it is quite impossible to guess who the culprit is and the audience was seen animatedly dis-cussing and arguing which of the

character was responsible for the murder.

The script of this Hindi adap-tation of the world’s most famous crime thriller play has been written by Prashant Belwalkar, who has also directed it. It is crisp, taut and spectacularly succeeds in keeping viewers on the edge of their seats

throughout the course of the perfor-mance peperred with spine-chilling moments.

The play featured some of the finest artistes in Auckland. Jyotsna Kkuntal Trivedi has essayed varied roles in different productions and is a crowd favourite. Kkuntal Trivedi has made a mark for himself for his

versatility and this play undoubt-edly cements his reputation.

Rupal Solanki had audiences in splits in the recent Gujarati pro-duction , brings in another power packed performance, while Jayas-hree Sonar is known to audiences in Auckland as a talented artiste who has featured on radio, TV and films.

A veteran of stage in India Shailesh Prajapati makes a come back to his favourite medium and Santanu Ghosh moves out from Bengali Theatre on to the wider Hindi stage.

Kedar Divekar is back after an exciting performance in Ek Ruka Hua Faisla and the surprise package was Raghunath Pawar, featuring in his maiden Hindi venture in Auck-land.

Lajja Prajapati ably assisted Belwalkar in directing the play, which was one of the most profes-sionally produced stage offerings seen in Auckland in recent times. Each of the performers played their role with finesse, modulating their voices perfectly and getting into the skin of their characters with great dexterity.

The strong cast, backed by a superbly crafted script, a well de-signed set – the likes of which one rarely finds in Auckland – and a convenient venue made this Diwali a cracking one. There were two per-formances of the play on the same day and the artistes must be com-mended for their commitment and dedication to perform them almost

back to back on the Sunday.The original English play “The

Mousetrap” was initially per-formed as a radio play in 1952 and was broadcast by the BBC with the title “Three Blind Mice”. The radio play had been commissioned in 1947 by Queen Mary, who was a Christie fan. The 45- minute play was based on a short story on which Christie had been working; however, audience reaction was so positive that Christie went back to work on the script, elaborating on it, and with its first performance on October 6, 1952, “The Mouse-trap” became a stage play.

After a seven-week tour, the play opened in London at The Am-bassadors Theatre on November 25, 1952. The play later transferred to St. Martin's Theatre in London on March 23, 1974 and has been running there ever since. The play has broken several records for its continuous theatrical run since its opening, and it is estimated that more than four million people had seen the play by the time its twenty-five year anniversary was celebrat-ed in 1977.

After another twenty years of performances it is safe to specu-late that an additional three to four million people have probably sat in the dark and tried to work out the puzzle of identitifying the mur-derer.

MigHT-I theatre dedicated “Jaal” as a celebration of the 120th anniversary of Agatha Christie.

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Sucheta Raj’s impressive Arangetram

After thorough training and practice under the watchful guidance of a teacher of Natya-shastra comes the first public performance of the dance student. This first debut public performance by reaching or climbing (etram) to the stage (aranga) is what the term ‘Arangetram’ means in the divine dance tra-ditions of Bharatanātyam.

Recently a trained Bhar-atanātyam dancer Sucheta Raj had her “Bharatanātyam Arangetram” on the 17th of September 2011, at the Playhouse theatre, Glen Eden, Auckland. She is the disciple of Smt. Rema Sundar of The Academy of Bharatanātyam.

After 13 years of diligent training and practice in the Pandanallur style, Sucheta ascended the stage and successfully present-ed the full repertoire to an appreciative au-dience. Beginning with the Pushpanjali and Allarippu, she presented 11 different dances.

Some of the highlights of the evening were the Padam, Krishna Nee begane baro, the Varnam, E maguava bhodincera, the Dasha-vataram and Thillana.

The dances were ethereal in a mystical temple-like setting with perfect footwork and excellent expressions. The orchestra comprised of Smt. Rema Sunder on Nat-tuvangam, Smt. Thulasi Prabhakaran

rendering the songs, Dr. Suresh Ramachandran on the mridangam, Smt. Bavani Suresh on the veena and Dr. Ashok Malur on the violin. The three-hour long reprtoire ended with Mangalam with a shower of flowers raining from above on the dancer.

At the culmination of the programme, she received overwhelming accolades from the audience. Very good pose and execution, attractive, beautiful, sublime were what one could hear from the people who came up on the stage to congratulate her.

By invitation, Sucheta gave

her first public performance, post arangetram, for the Rugby World Cup cultural show at the Cloud. This event was organised by the Auckland Council.

Sucheta is currently studying towards a Bachelor degree in Bio-medical Sciences at the University of Auckland.

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New Delhi: India wrote another chapter in history on Sunday after-noon as the much talked about India Grand Prix finale commenced at the show piece Buddh International Circuit.

International racing icons like Sebastian Vettel, J Button, Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Webber, L. Hamilton were busy pacing their cars through the circuit to clinch the title in the land that is hosting the event for the first time.

Huge number of F1 fans have turned up at the venue to witness the historic moment and see their favourite stars perform their best

moves right in front of them.

Surely, Indian would cheer aloud for their very own Sahara Force India team. And surely there would be lots of support for Indian F1 star Narain Karthikeyan who participated in the race for HRT Formula One Team.Large number of celebrities have turned up into the venue to watch the event. The long list include names like SRK, Sachin Tendulkar, Deepika Pdukone, Yuvraj Singh, Vi-render Sehwag.

India's cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, a die-hard motorsports fan, met seven-time world cham-pion Michael Schumacher at the Mercedes team paddock ahead of Sunday afternoon s inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

Tendulkar was accompanied with his wife Anjali and daughter Sara at the Buddh International Circuit.

Indian Grand Prix commences in styleIndian Grand Prix commences in style India’s higher education institu-

tions fared very poorly in the new “World University Rankings 2011-12” brought out by the London weekly "Times Higher Education" (THE).

Only one educational institute of India, Indian Institute of Tech-nology Bombay (IITB), appeared on this list of world’s top 400 uni-versities and that too at the lowly 317th position.

California Institute of Tech-nology (Caltech) in USA, with an overall score 94.8, topped this list, followed in descending order by Harvard University (USA), Stanford University (USA), Uni-versity of Oxford (UK), Princeton University (USA), University of Cambridge (UK), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Imperial College London (UK), University of Chicago (USA), University of California Berkeley (USA), etc.

Even some universities in Sin-gapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Brazil, Turkey, and Egypt ranked higher than India’s only entry IITB.

USA dominated these rank-ings with seven of its universities placed in the top ten and 75 in the top 200. Caltech in Pasadena, whose traces go back to 1891, boasts of 32 Nobel prizes, and its alumni include Intel cofounder

Gordon E. Moore, film director Frank Capra, and former Iceland prime minister Steingrimur Her-mannsson.

Claimed to be the “gold stan-dard in international university performance comparisons”, these rankings were developed by THE in concert with Thomson Reuters and with expert input from more than 50 leading figures in the sector from 15 countries across every continent, and employed 13 separate performance indicators. Published by TSL Education Ltd and edited by Ann Mroz, THE was founded in 1971.

Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, stressed that India needed to bring back the educational glory of ancient period like universities of Taxila, Nalanda, Sarnath, Amaravati, Banaras, Kanchi and Ujjain; and medieval period like Odantapura (745 CE), Vikramasila (810 CE), Somapura (480 CE), and Jagad-dala (1090 CE).

Rajan Zed, who is chairper-son of Indo-American Leadership Confederation, pointed out that tradition of education in India had been deep rooted. India needed to pump more funding into higher education and undertake some serious education reforms to compete at world level.

India’s universities fare poorly in world rankings

India

IndianIndian

India’s universities fare poorly in world rankings

India

New Delhi: Union Finance Min-ister Pranab Mukherjee formally launched the central government e-payment system on Monday with a commitment towards improving ef-ficiency in financial system.

“The commissioning of the e-payment system is a major achieve-ment and indicates Government’s strong commitment towards im-proving efficiency in our financial system, strengthening transpar-ency in operations and introduc-ing reforms for better governance, Mukherjee said.

The Finance Minister said that there has been considerable prog-ress in the use of electronic payment systems in the financial sector and it has taken the form of internet banking, online payment of taxes and use of debit and credit cards.

He said that introduction of electronic payment products by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) such as Electronic Clearing Service (ECS), National Electronic Fund Trans-fer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross

Settlements (RTGS) have ushered in new ways of payment processing and settlement.

Mukherjee said, “The transition from legacy systems to modern IT driven systems is not going to be easy and considerable effort and time will be required to develop a fully compliant and certified IT system. Staff capacity also poses a challenge.”

He said that cashless transac-tions for efficient financial systems are desirable objectives as paperless transactions usher in greater trans-parency and ease in management of operations besides providing clear audit trails in the system.

“This e-payment initiative by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) is a concrete step towards better governance aimed at ensuring prompt payments to vendors, em-ployees and final beneficiaries and is also an important step to usher in green banking,” Finance Minister said.

Govt launches e-payment system

Mumbai: The Media and Enter-tainment Council of ASSOCHAM has proposed regulation of aggres-sive television news channels by a public body and accountable under the Right to Information Act.

Emphasising urgent need for the proposed mechanism, The Associ-ated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said it is desirable to introduce appropriate checks and balances so that freedom and democracy are given real meanings and not misused. The way forward is co-regulation – rather than self-regula-tion – backed by a well-defined law.

Currently the Indian television industry has over 600 channels (about 150 of them news-based) and is estimated to clock revenues of Rs 32,000 crore by the year-end with 14 per cent growth over 2010.

Television plays a major role in the flow of information and is equipped with the power to influ-ence popular beliefs and opinions,

said secretary general D.S. Rawat. “Self-regulation is the norm that has high values and noble objec-tives. But in the context of modern-day broadcasting where we witness coming up of many regional and

national channels, self-regulation may not be sufficient.”

Present provisions in program-ming and advertising codes under

the Cable Act and News Broadcast-ers Association’s code of ethics are not sufficient and comprehen-sive. There is need for more clarity through elaborate stakeholder con-sultations to move forward in an in-clusive and balanced manner, said Rawat.

The need of the hour requires an independent regulatory author-ity providing guidelines so that a broadcaster is restrained from actions leading to any disaster, he added.

The Content Code and Broad-casting Services Regulation Bill does not cover legal interests of consumers. Privacy rights and protection of relevant stakeholders have also not been given appropri-ate attention, said Rawat.

The proposed legislative frame-work also does not recognise the existing reality of social media as means of broadcasting which needs to be taken in consideration.

ASSOCHAM calls for co-regulation of media content

Kolkata: The 21st century Indian woman prefers to stay with her in-laws after marriage as opposed to set up home on her own, accord-ing to a recent survey.

However, whether this is some kind of retro-progressive school of thought or a simple vote in favour of good old practicality, is some-thing social scientists can reveal.

A recent survey conducted by Jeevansathi.com reveals that 80% of girls prefer to stay with their in-laws after marriage.

The finding is contrary to the belief that the new age young women are independent in nature and want privacy in their lifestyles.

The sentiments revealed are similar for the metro and non metro. The main reason cited by the respondents is that in-laws are like their own parents and one can gain a lot from their experience and guidance.

The survey saw participation of 2000 girls and it is interesting to note that there is just a marginal difference in the preference trends

of girls in metros when compared with girls in non metros.

78% of girls in metros and 81% of girls in non metros have opted for living with their in-laws after marriage. When we questioned men on their preferences of staying with their parents after marriage then 88% of them responded posi-tively.

The survey was conducted among self registered female users of Jeevansathi.com residing in metros and non metros.

Jeevansathi.com, India’s fastest growing matrimonial site, provides online matrimonial classified ser-vices.

Today’s women prefer to stay with in-laws: Survey Mumbai: India’s leading multina-

tional conglomerate company Tata Group has appointed a new PR to handle its media activities after cor-porate lobbyist Niira Radia, who is allegedly linked to the 2G spec-trum allocation scam, shut down her PR firm Vaishnavi Corporate Communications on Sunday.

“The Tata group has appointed Rediffusion, led by Arun Nanda, to manage public relations and public affairs for the Tata group of compa-nies from November 1, 2011,” said a Tata statement.

“This follows the expiry of the contract with Vaishnavi Corporate Communications on October 31, 2011,” it said.

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said his company respects Radia's decision to leave PR business.

"The Tata Group respects the personal wishes of Niira Radia in not renewing any client man-dates. She has built Vaishnavi from scratch into the company it is today, often subordinating her personal and family interests in favour of her clients' priorities," Tata said in a statement.

Another of Radia’s clients,

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance In-dustries Limited (RIL), expressed regret at closing down of Vaishnavi.

“We regret the decision of Radia to discontinue her association with the business of communications consultancy,” said an RIL spokes-person in a statement.

"Radia's commitment has been very impressive and she has always led her team in a manner that tacti-cal developments do not lead to a de-focus on the strategic issues," read the statement.

Radia on Sunday announced she is leaving corporate consultancy business and shutting her PR firm Vaishnavi Corporate Communica-tions.

“To give precedence to my per-sonal priorities of family and health, I have decided against renewing any client mandates and to exit the business of communications consul-tancy,” Radia said in her statement.

“It is a painful decision, taken after much consideration and con-sultations,” Radia said.

In a mail to her employees, she said: “For many years, a few with vested interests have been trying to cause harm to Vaishnavi and me

personally. Till the recent past, I would fight back, survive and prob-ably react.

“However, today, I want to give them their victory and let them savour it. If that makes them better human beings then I am happy to have brought in a positive change in them.”

On April 4, Radia was quizzed by Indian Parliament's Public Ac-counts Committee (PAC) in connec-tion with the 2G scam.

According to reports, Radia told the committee that some of the leaked tapes were doctored and that she can give a list of such tapes.

The leaked taped conversations of the high-profile lobbyist with Ratan Tata and other influential people, including the jailed ex-tele-com minister A Raja who is accused of masterminding the swindle, had rattled the nation.

In perhaps the biggest scam in Independent India, allegedly mas-terminded by Raja, telecoms spec-trum was given away at throwaway prices in 2008 causing a potential revenue loss of up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

Tata appoints new PR after Radia quits

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12 Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian

New Delhi: After some action packed F1 racing at the Buddh International Circuit , New Delhi would be sizzled by the mesmer-izing voice of International pop star Lady Gaga on Sunday night.

She would perform at the Formula 1 after party and with new hair style the icon has already grabbed lots of eye-balls in this nation.

B-town actor Arjun Rampal is hosting the three-day after parties at Jaypee Integrated Sports Complex in Greater Noida.

"Kids met Lady Gaga, and are over the moon. She was amazing with them. Can't wait for her per-formance," Rampal tweeted.

Gaga said in her first press con-ference in the country - “Namaste India! I have always wanted to come to this beautiful country for a very long time and finally it’s been possible. More than the place, the thing that makes this country so beautiful is its people – I want to thank you all for your love and support!”

Lady Gaga was presented a plaque for the success of her albums The Fame’ and The Fame Monster’, which have collectively been certified as Double Platinum and her latest album, `Born This Way’, is already certified Gold in India. Passionate about her Desi Monsters, Lady Gaga met up with hoards of her screaming fans and obliged each one of them with au-tographs and photographs. Some of her fans were even dressed up like the Lady herself.

Following the colossal success of her latest album `Born This Way’, Lady Gaga has planned new releases that will hit stores on 23rd November which include Born This Way The Remix, Born This Way - The Collection [Born This Way album + DVD + The

Remix] as well as the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award winning HBO special Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden on DVD and Blu-ray that includes exclusive, never before seen footage.

`Born This Way’ is the fol-low-up to her 15 million selling debut - `The Fame’ and `The Fame Monster’ albums! It broke the iTunes record for the fastest rise to

the # 1 on release day. The first single from the

album, the title track “Born This Way,” set a music industry record by becoming the fastest single in history to reach sales of 1,000,000 copies (five days after its February 11th release).

Only the 19th single to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (issue date February 26), the recording was Lady Gaga’s third #1 on the chart.

On iTunes, the song debuted at the top spot in 14 countries, including the U.S., and hit #1 in all 23 iTunes stores worldwide its first week out.

In less than three years, Lady Gaga has earned numer-ous achievements including five Grammy Awards amongst twelve nominations, two Guinness World Records and the estimated sale of 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide.

Billboard named her both the “2010 Artist of the Year” and the top selling artist of 2010 ranking her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000’s decade.

Gaga has been included in Time’s annual “The 2010 Time 100” list of the most influential people in the world as well as Forbes’ list of the “The World’s Most Powerful Celebrities” in the world. Forbes also placed her at number seven on their annual list of the world’s “100 Most Powerful Women.”

With over 1.9 billion combined views of all her videos online, Lady Gaga is one of the biggest living people on Facebook with over 44 million ‘likes’ and is #1 on Twitter with over 15 million followers.

Lady Gaga is the only artist in the digital era to top the 5 million sales mark with her first two hits.

Lady Gaga to enchant India

Gurgaon (Haryana): Actor Saif Ali Khan was on Monday officially crowned as Nawab of Pataudi at ancestral palace Pataudi House, near Gurgaon.

Saif inherited his father Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi’s title 40 days after his death.

"Heads of 52 villages wanted to organise a symbolic coronation ceremo-ny, in which, a ‘pagdi’ (turban) would be placed on Saif's head as a mark of respect," Saif's sister Saba Ali Khan told reporters.

The 41-year-old actor became the 10th Nawab of Pataudi village, located about 25 kms from Gurgaon, while Saba was made ‘mutawalli’ (patron) patron of the Auqaf-e-Shahi-the royal body that manages religious and char-itable endowments in the erstwhile princely state.

Saif’s mother and actor Sharmila Tagore, sisters Soha Ali Khan and Sabah Ali Khan attended the coronation ceremony.

Former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi died at the age of 70 on Sept 22.

Saif Ali Khan becomes Nawab of Pataudi

India

Gaga said in her first press conference in the

country - “Namaste India! I have always wanted to come to this beautiful country for a very long

time and finally it’s been possible. More than the

place, the thing that makes this country so

beautiful is its people – I want to thank you all for your love and support!”

London: In a shocking development, Pakistan's Salman Butt and Moham-mad Asif could be the first cricketers to be put behind bars as they face jail sentences of up to seven years after being found guilty of spot-fixing in the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's in August 2010.

Butt, who was the captain during the match, was found guilty of cheat-ing and accepting corrupt payments whike Asif, who at the time of the Test match was ranked the world's No.2 bowler, was found guilty of cheating.

The third player involved, the fast bowler Mohammad Amir, pleaded guilty on Sept 16 to charges of conspiracy to cheat at gambling and accept-ing corrupt payments.

Butt and Asif are the first sportsmen, who have been convicted of cheat-ing under the Gambling Act 2005. Sentencing will take Thursday and they have been given bailed until then. Butt left the court refusing to answer ques-tions.

The criminal conviction has been handed down on the day Butt's wife Gul gave birth to their second child, a boy, in Lahore.

Butt was found guilty on a 10-2 majority verdict while verdict against Asif for accepting corrupt payments was a 10-2 majority.

"Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif deliberately and knowingly perverted the course of a cricket match for financial gain. Through their actions they brought shame on the cricketing world, jeopardis-ing the faith and admiration of cricket fans the world over," Sally Walsh, the senior lawyer in the Crown Prosecution Service's special crime and counter-terrorism division, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

"This prosecution shows that match-fixing is not just unsportsmanlike but is a serious criminal act. The actions of these top international players went against everything expected of someone in their position and they failed to take into account their fans of all ages and nationalities when decid-ing to abandon the values of sportsmanship so unconditionally," he added.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive, David Collier, in a statement said: "Integrity and fair play are the foundations for any sport-ing contest. The ECB fully supports the work of the ICC [International Cricket Council] Anti Corruption unit.

"We have established a unit at Lord's to both educate players and officials and seek to protect the integrity of the sport and we hope that criminal pro-ceedings will act as a strong and firm deterrent to complement this work."

The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, said: "This is a sad day for in-ternational cricket and sport in general. The integrity of sport is absolutely paramount. Fans have to be sure that what they see in front of them is true and fair.

"There needs to be a global effort on sports betting integrity and this is something that the International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has taken a lead on, heading up a high-level working group that I sit on.

"International sports bodies and governments need to work together and do everything possible to stamp out the threat of corruption in sport."

Butt, Asif facing jail terms in Pak betting scam

Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 13

Indian India

Bangalore: Popular band Metallica made Bangalore move and groove in the night as they performed their popular numbers on Sunday.

Large number of Metallica fans had gathered to enjoy the band perform their popular numbers at the Palace Grounds.

The International heavy metal band finally made their debut in India on Sunday night after mis-management and shame around hosting an event haunted New Delhi again as the much talked about show of the band was called off, leading to

four arrests on Friday. The senior official of the event

management company that was or-ganizing Metallica’s show in India and three other people were arrested after the rock show in Gurgaon got cancelled on Friday evening.

Rajesh Chandani, the opera-tional head of DNA Entertain-ment Network, was among the four people who got arrested on charges of cheating, media reports said.

The show was called off on Friday for 'technical reasons', media reports said.

Metallica rocks BangaloreNew Delhi: Mismanagement

and shame around hosting an

event haunted New Delhi again

as the much talked about show

of popular band Metallica was

called off on Friday night, leading

to four arrests. The senior official of the event

management company that was

organizing Metallica’s show in

India and three other people were

arrested after the rock show in

Gurgaon got cancelled on Friday

evening.Rajesh Chandani, the opera-

tional head of DNA Entertain-

ment Network, was among the

four people who got arrested

on charges of cheating, media

reports said.The show was called off on

Friday for 'technical reasons',

media reports said.

Over 25,000 people had ass-

mebled at the Leisure Valley Park

in Guargao sector 29 where the

band was supposed to play on

Friday night.But situation got tense as or-

ganizers had first postponed the

event to 4pm on Saturday and

later it was called off completely.

"We arrived in Delhi on Friday

very excited and ready to play our

first show ever in India at the F1

Rocks concert. However, imme-

diately at the end of our after-

noon press conference at a hotel

near the venue, we were notified

that there was a serious question

as to whether the show could

proceed with regard to the safety

of the concert audience. And

our first and foremost concern

is always for the safety of you, the

fans," the official site of the band

mentioned about the event.

"Once we, along with DNA,

the promoters of the show, deter-

mined that there was a failure of a

security barricade in front of the

stage that could not be adequately

repaired, the promoter reluctantly

announced the postponement of

the show until Saturday.

"Unfortunately, on such short

notice the promoters were unable

to secure a permit for a show on

Saturday. Therefore, DNA an-

nounced that we would not be

able to play in Delhi. Within the

next 24 hours a notification will

be issued by DNA regarding the

process for full refunds.

"We are deeply disappointed

with this news as we were looking

forward to our first experience in

India as much as you guys were.

Keep watching for updates here

as additional details are deter-

mined and confirmed," the site

said.The angry crowd tried to set

fires to banners near the stage,

damaged equipments, after an-

nouncement was made that the

concert has been cancelled,

media reports said.

The tickets were priced

between Rs. 1650 and Rs.2750.

Four arrested in Metallica fiasco

Ralegan Siddhi: Self-styled Gandhi-an activist Anna Hazare, now on a vow of silence, said he is planning to end the spell and tour India to meet men and women who are part of his anti-corruption movement.

"The thought of giving up on my ‘maumon vrat’ is playing in my mind. In the next 3 to 4 days I might end my ‘maun vrat’," he wrote in his latest blog titled Straight from the Heart!

"I will embark on a tour and meet all those young men and women, farmers, working class, school chil-dren from all over the world who were a part of this movement against corruption and at times even went

to jail for the sake of the cause," he said.

Anna earlier informed that the core committee of his group would be revamped only after a new constitution was formulated.

The trio of Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhusan met Anna Hazare on Sunday in his village, a day after they ruled out disbanding the core committee owing to controversies surrounding many issues and individuals.

Kejriwal in a press conference graced also by Anna himself said the group was united and they would fight the malicious campaign (by Congress) to discredit them publicly.

Anna to end silence, tour India

The thought of giving up on my ‘maun vrat’ is playing in my mind. In the next 3 to 4 days I might end my ‘maun vrat’. Crores of people have turned to reading my blog all over the world hence I think it would only seem appro-priate that I end my ‘maun’ and hold open discussions with them.

I will embark on a tour and meet all those young men and women, farmers, working class, school children from all over the world who were a part of this movement against corruption and at times even went to jail for the sake of the cause. I have this strong urge from within to meet and talk to all these people who bravely faced the hazards. Hence I would like to end my ‘maun’ and start off touring different states and hold discussions with them.

Especially I hope to gather as much energy from these young men and women as I had during my previous movement. The same energy will be uti-lized to get the Janlokpal Bill and then my struggle will continue for ‘Right to Reject’ and ‘Right to Recall’. All my countrymen will be connected with me directly in this struggle is my belief.

Jai Hind! Inquilab Zindabad! Vande Mataram! Bharat Mata ki Jai!K. B. Hazare (Anna)

Lahore: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), upped the ante on the contentious Kashmir issue saying that Indian troops would fail in the region.

"India will fail just like US forces failed in Afghanistan. Is Indian army more powerful than US forces?" asked Imran Khan at a massive rally here on Sunday.

Addressing about 100,000 sup-porters of his party, he said if US is not successful how can India be suc-cessful in Kashmir.

Attacking Indian government over human rights issues in Pakistan, Imran Khan said India cannot succeed by deploying 700,000 troops in the region.

Imran, whose party had failed mis-erably earlier in elections, is trying to revive his outfit taking on the govern-ment and other parties over corruption issues.

Pakistan faces general elections in 2013.

Indian troops would fail in Kashmir: Imran Khan

New Delhi: Flamboyant Indian opener Virender Sehwag mentioned that spinner Harbhajan SIngh would not take much tome in making a return to the Indian squad.

He said that Harbhajan would soon impress the selectors by bowling well at the upcoming Ranji trophy and thus make a comeback in the Indian colors.

Sehwag cited his example and

said that when he or Yuvraj were dropped from the side they scored good runs at the domestic circuit and then returned back to Indian team. He said that he is 100 percent con-fident that Sehwag would score run and return back to Indian side.

Sehwag is likely to make a come-back to the Indian side during the upcoming series against West Indies after recovering from prolonged

shoulder injury. Harbhajan Singh was dropped from the upcoming first Test match against West Indies. meanwhile he will leading the Punjab side in Ranji Trophy.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was dropped while Sachin Ten-dulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag made a comeback in the first Test against West Indies as the selec-tors announced the squad on Friday.

Sehwag sure of Harbhajan's comeback

Anna's latest blog follows:

Straight from the Heart !My Dear Sisters and Brothers,Namaskar.

saibaba

saibaba

16 Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian Feature

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

World at 7 BillionOn October 31, the world's population surpassed 7 billion. The United Nations Population Fund annual report highlights the remarkable trends behind the numbers: roughly one in two people now lives in a city, the average life span is 68 years, and almost a billion people are over 60. A world of 7 billion has implications for urbanization, access to health services and youth empowerment; however, it is also a call-to-action to renew global commitment for a healthy and sustainable world.

a motheR aNd heR ChIld IN leSuata, tImoR-leSte. A team from the UN Integrated Mis-sion in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) visited the area to conduct interviews with the local population and speak with suco (village) chiefs. UNMIT staff conduct these types of visits two to three times a year, often going into villages inaccessible by car.UN Photo/Martine Perret

a ChIld oF SomalI ReFugeeS, at a Camp IN malKadIIda, ethIopIa. With drought and famine ravaging their home country, thousands of Somalis have fled to refugee camps across the border.UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

SeCRetaRy-geNeRal VISItS BIRthplaCe IN KoReaChildren await the arrival of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the small village where he was born, in Eumseong County, North Chungcheong Province, Republic of Korea, as part of a welcome ceremony held by county officials.UN Photo/Evan Schneider

WoRld FeRIlIty RateS: INdIgeNouS FamIly IN VIet NamA mother and her three children, part of the indigenous Hmong group, in Sin Chai, northwestern Viet Nam. The general trend in world fertility rates shows they are in decline - due to a combination of factors, including economic development and the improved social role of women.UN Photo/Kibae Park

Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 17

Indian

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

NumBeRS CouNt; So Do People. Children of Hyderabad.UN Photo/John Isaac

a ChIld IN dhaKa’S KaRIal Slum, BaNgladeSh. According to the UN Millen-nium Development Goals Report 2007, one billion people, or roughly one out of three urban dwellers, live in slum conditions.UN Photo/Kibae Park

mIdWIFe IN toNgleWIN VIllage, lIBeRIa

ChIldReN play WIth gaR-Bage IN CamBodIa SlumChildren play with garbage in Phnom Penh’s Stung Meanchey slums, where some 2000 people live on the garbage dump and make their living selling recyclable refuse. According to the UN Millen-nium Development Goals Report 2007, one billion people, or roughly one out of three urban dwellers, live in slum conditions.UN Photo/Kibae Park

memBeR oF "VIllage oF hope" helpS VICtImS oF VIoleNt CRImeSMother and Child at the "Village of Hope"- Rwanda Women's Network community centre -- an initiative to provide services and emergency housing to women victims of rape and other violent crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide.UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

mINuStah SeRVeS mealS IN haItI Slum FoR aNtI-guN CampaIgNTwo young girls in Haiti's Cité So-leil slum eat meals served by UN Brazilian peacekeepers, as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)'s joint campaign with the Haitian national police to warn children of the dan-gers of playing with lifelike toy guns.UN Photo/Logan Abassi

Tonglewin Village el-der Kou Pealea has 30 grandchildren. Despite an infection in her knee she works in the field every day with her col-leagues from the Ganta Concerned Women's Group. Before the war Ms. Pealea was a mid-wife--until her clinic was burnt to the ground by soldiers. Now she de-livers babies inside her home.

UN Photo/Christopher Herwig

On the day the seven billionth baby is born, more than 20,000 children will die, mostly from easily prevent-able diseases like diarrhoea or pneumonia.

In India alone, nearly 5,000 under fives will die today. Worried for their children’s survival, many Indian parents will choose to have large families.

In Chad, one of the world’s poorest countries, a mother will give birth to an average of six children in her lifetime. This was once also true for Botswana, but after long-term investment in healthcare, child mortal-ity has reduced and the average mother in Botswana now has just three children. In New Zealand, the average is two.

But a growing world population is even more reason to stay focused on reducing child mortality says CEO of Save the Children Liz Gibbs.

“Not only is stopping children dying a moral im-perative, investing in improvements that help save children’s lives, in addition to family planning and women’s education in the poorest countries, is what will help slow population growth. Parents will feel more confident that most of their children will survive and have smaller families as a result,” she says.

Globally, 7.5 million children still die before reach-ing their 5th birthday every year. Most will have lived their short lives facing a daily struggle for survival. But progress is being made. The seven billionth baby is more likely to reach the age of five than at any point in history. In 1987, when the five billionth baby was born, 1 in 9 children never reached five years old. Today that figure is 1 in 16.

As the seven billionth baby is born, 20,000 OTHeR CHILdReN WILL dIe TOdAy

Feature

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

IndianIndian cuisineBeef, especially halal beef, is a measure of NRI progressiveness and inclusiveness. By

serving beef as primary item on their menu, Indian restaurants can show their progres-

siveness and inclusiveness of food. By making it halal and not serving pork, they also

show respect to religious sentiment and sensitivity. Indian restaurants in NZ and West

use beef extensively in all their menus, are they not hence progressive?

– Gopi Chand

Indian food should be about food cuisine from India. Is beef served in normal Indian res-

taurants in India? No! An Italian restaurant in Samoa need not serve fish to be inclusive

of Samoans. Italian restaurants is about Italian food. Indian restaurants should be about

Indian food. Stick to the cultural Indian food. By the way Indian food in restaurants is

more of Punjabi creamy stuff anyway. Do Indians eat this food at home? No!

– Dev Pratap

Fiji and the CommonwealthReverend Yabaki clearly shows the way forward in Fiji is to reestablish God's will

through the Men of God. With guidance of Commonwealth and Australia in particular,

Fiji has long been a country of God under various regimes that were not being led by

wooly headed dreams of few exploiting a democratic setup. Those forces have gained

there recently, and it is not amazing that Communist China is finding a foothold in the

once heaven of God. It is imperative that churches Citizen's Constitutional Forum, and

godmen like Rev Yabaki take the lead to save Fiji. Indian congregations should also be

given a role.

– Christian Henderick

Tribal culture has its own form of governance...why destroy it and replace it with a

western model of one-size fits all democracy. We should stop using the word common-

wealth...Is there really any common pool of wealth...Why keep the flame of imperialism

going while it has been an appalling chapter in human existence.

– Yashwant

Dassera decorationsSujatha Dattatreya’s really beautiful decorations definitely opened up my eyes to

another culture.

– Gabby

Congratulations Smt Sujatha Dattatreya, well done. Wonderful display of the Mysore

tradition Dassera show.

– Vasanth Kenchappa

Big B honoured with doctorateThis is a great honour to India by Australian universities. Why no one in India thought

to give Ph. D. to the greatest known Indian scholar of all times? By this move, Indian

students can get Ph. D. in various disciplines like actery, barbery, cookery, etc. in Aus-

tralia. Mr Amitabh's great father was a great poet. No such honour given to him in India

yet, Why???

– Pankaja Srivastava-Saxena

From the Editor

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

Indian Weekender Volume 3 No. 14Publisher: Kiwi Media Group LimitedGroup editor-in-chief: Dev Nadkarni dev@indianweekender.co.nzOnline editor: Arvind Kumar arvind@indianweekender.co.nzChief Technical Officer: Rohan Desouza rohan@ indianweekender.co.nzDesign: Sonata Design Ltd - sonatadesignnz@gmail.comAdvertising: Giri Gupta - Ph: 520 0922, Mob: 021 221 1131. Email - girigupta@xtra.co.nzAccounts & Admin: Chetan - Email: accounts@indianweekender.co.nzPlease email original editorial contributions, community notices and pictures to editor@indianweekender.co.nzViews expressed in the publication are not necessarily of the publisher and the publisheris not responsible for advertisers’ claims as appearing in the publication

Letters

Ten top stories on iwk.co.nz1. The great Fijian paradox2. Shilpi flaunts bikini and brains3. Indian cuisine’s sparkling jewel 4. Green workplaces – Practice, People, Ethics and Environment5. 100 not out, Fauja Singh runs (and completes) Toronto Marathon6. Diwali Sweets: Burfi and Gulab Jamun 7. Spirit of Shivaji lights up Wellington8. NZ basks in Rugby World Cup glory9. Deepavali transcends barriers – cultural and geographic10. Sujatha’s ‘multicultural’ Dassera allures

As the countdown to the election on November 26 proceeds, the two leading parties have been announcing their respective policies while attacking their opponents’ pro-nouncements with ferocity, even vitriol – as we saw in one of the televised debates.Last week a survey revealed that some 48 percent of Kiwis said they had little money to get by in life. This underscores the findings of numerous studies that show New Zealand to be at the bottom of the pile of OECD countries. Whether it is wages or cost of living or broadband usage, New Zealand always finds itself at the poorer end of the OECD spectrum: “the third world of the first world,” as some acerbic commentators have chosen to call it from time to time.Unfortunately, in the run up to the election, the two leading parties have shown a woeful lack of vision in dealing with the fundamental issues that plague this remote, high cost, low-wage economy. For the most part, they seem to be intensely focused on addressing the symptoms of the malaise than the malaise itself. While the compulsions of realpolitik might dictate such “dynamic” tactics (to borrow John Key), a broader vision of achieving longer-term goals would have raised the confidence in the country’s thinking voters. Many such voters are increasingly disil-lusioned by the predicament this small country finds itself in amid the continuing turmoil that embroils the globe – and the seeming inability of its leaders to steer it clear of trouble with any deftness.One hundred thousand skilled people have left the country in the past three years, most of them headed across the ditch to Australia, where intense growth foci like Perth and Western Australia beckon the qualified with wages two or three times bigger than what New Zealand employers can afford to offer.Perth is the size of Auckland in terms of population but the amenities, the lifestyle – and obviously the wages – it offers its denizens is palpable enough to give Auck-landers a complex not unlike what former Prime Minister Helen Clark felt when she visited South Korea. Looking at its broadband, she had remarked she felt like a poor cousin. (Incidentally, South Korea and New Zealand are at nearly the opposite ends of the OECD broadband spectrum).Back to some of this country’s most fundamental problems: To become financially viable and productive, New Zealand needs to not only stem the outflow of qualified people but to have in place a strategy to build its population to at least 7 to 8 million over the next few decades. This is an economic necessity and has to be achieved sensibly – not in the ham handed manner that has been attempted before that resulted in a pool of low quality migrants.Second, it must get over its aversion to explore natural resources. The clean and green image has in any case taken a battering in recent times to the point that the nation’s tourism has decided to change its signature from “100% Pure” to a rather tame “10% You”.There are enough advances in technology that ensure clean, controlled mining. Australia, whose government seems far more practical and with realistic goals for its people has achieved this and has put the economy on a growth path that will last years if not decades. Only this can create high paying jobs in any appreciable volumes – little else in New Zealand can.National and Labour can’t seem to shake off the phony cloak of political correctness when it comes to taking hard decisions that will have a positive long term effect on this country. Soft-pedaling and half-measures are the stuff of their policies an-nounced so far – whenever they have a semblance of practicality, that is. More often than not, they seem to boil down to just posturing to grab the headlines with little substance to back claims.John Key’s decision to summarily drop the 2025 Taskforce’s recommendations to catch up with the Lucky Country is symptomatic of this. With that mindset, expect little to change no matter who wins on the night of November 26

. - Dev Nadkarni

Parties leave real issues untouched

Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 19

Indian

The excitement around the Rugby World Cup pushed campaigning for this month’s election to the very last moment. Almost as soon as the All Blacks lifted the Webb Ellis trophy, political parties hit the campaign trail and the leaders of the two biggest parties have pub-licly gone head to head at least a couple of times in the week since.

Repeated polls have put Na-tional ahead of Labour by many a country mile and the latter’s frus-tration has been seen in its leader Phil Goff’s aggressive attacks on Prime Minister John Key. Mr Goff has even called Mr Key a liar on a televised debate for not following up his promise not to raise GST during his term in office.

Labour’s frustration also shows in the rather brazen boldness of some of the policies that it has so far announced. They are difficult to justify and their purpose seems to be to grab the attention in a situ-ation where the chance to close the yawning popularity gap with National is fast slipping away as D-day looms.

Suddenly, it has mustered the courage to push New Zealand’s eternal hot potato – a capital gains tax – as one of the main thrusts of its campaign. It did nothing on the matter when it was in power for nine long years. While an in-formed national debate on a capital gains tax is certainly long overdue,

rushing to make it an election plank is clearly aimed at pander-ing to its obvious power base – no matter that it will in all likelihood hit it most in terms of increased rents. And it is something that will undoubtedly turn off fence sitters among the better off voters.

Just as its other announcement of raising the minimum wage to $15 will. Nothing is more populist than promising more money direct-ly into people’s pockets but Labour hasn’t been able to back up these plans with convincing figures. Without sound economic measures and policies to increase jobs, com-pulsion on employers to increase wages is more likely to leave them with no option but to shed jobs.

Also, it’s announcement that it will waive GST from fresh produce catches the eye like a bright flash, but the logistics of doing it would be daunting to say the least. And the belief that sales outlets will du-tifully pass on the GST portion of the proceeds to consumers is rather naïve.

The recent industrial action across the Tasman, which ground-ed the entire Qantas fleet inconve-niencing some 70,000 passengers and threatening two high profile events – CHOGM and the Mel-bourne Cup – is warning enough of what can happen with another of Labour’s election planks: to return to industrial-wide awards.

New Zealand has been spared of crippling industrial action for nearly thirty years but this policy could bring back the climate of the militant 1970s when strikes and work stoppages were the order of the day.

The announcement of such poli-cies leaves it open to interpretation as more of an attention-grabbing tactic for a section of its core power base and the media than serious, well considered options actually addressing the real problems con-fronting the economy at a funda-mental level.

In any case, these and the other plans that Labour has announced leaves no option for it but to go on yet another borrowing spree, which according to one estimate leaves a hole several billions of dollars deep. In a scenario where the gov-ernment borrows close to $400 million a week to keep the country afloat, a plan that necessitates bor-rowing more has little merit.

Labour’s contention that revenue to meet this can be gar-nered with increased taxes on higher income earners and a capital gains tax as well as profits from state owned enterprises (SoE) is not only hard to justify but also makes it easier for higher income fence sitters to make up their minds on whom to support in this month’s election.

Speaking of SoEs, Labour has

stood its ground firmly in its vehe-ment opposition to National’s long-held plan of the partial sale of the government’s stake in them to get the country out of debt and bring back the books to a surplus by 2015 or even earlier if possible.

SoE ownership – particularly of iconic organisations like Air New Zealand – has always been a sensi-tive matter to New Zealanders and it remains to be seen if National’s punt on it will bring it dividends or erode at least some of its lead over Labour in the run up to November 26.

Detecting stiff headwinds both from Labour and other parties and gauging the general public mood, National last week tried to sweeten this election plank by saying it would spend a significant amount from the proceeds on education. But whether it will wash with a wary public even among its hard-core supporters remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, Labour will raise this issue repeatedly in the coming weeks.

Last week National showed some courage, so to speak, in tackling the gargantuan welfare monster that Labour created in its nine-year rule. The plethora of benefits it progressively introduced created a welfare dependency un-paralleled anywhere in the devel-oped world – one that is open to brazen abuse and makes poor eco-

nomic sense any which way one looks at it.

In fact it is one of the biggest reasons for New Zealand slip-ping in many of the OECD indices earning the sobriquet “the third world of the first world”. In the past three years, regrettably, the National government squandered its mandate in taking a number of hard decisions – one of them being to set things right on welfare abuse.

But its latest announcement to deal with this huge issue, however tame it may finally turn out to be on closer scrutiny, will definitely get hard working people – including a large number of entrepreneurial migrants – behind National.

The serial abuse of the welfare system including the “breeding to earn” syndrome among a signifi-cant number touches a raw nerve among a large body of hardworking taxpayers of all persuasions.

Unfortunately, however, both the leading parties have left the real problems that confront this remote little country of 4 million almost completely untouched. Questions such as some basic but hard deci-sions that need to be taken in terms of a long term plan to ensure its viability and financial security at a fundamental level have been left unaddressed.

Neither Labour nor National have demonstrated a convincing vision that goes beyond, well, November 26.

Comment

Who will you vote for on November 26?

“One of the greatest paradoxes of the Fiji sugar industry is that the one man who has been on the central stage for longer than any other person, who has done more to enhance the income of the Fiji cane farmers, is not a high powered politician, nor an intellectual ideal-ist, but a steely eyed, saffron robed Hindu monk”, wrote Daryl Tarte in 1977, referring to Swami Ru-drananda.

A greater paradox perhaps was that this “saffron robed Hindu monk” drove a Rolls Royce!

Swamiji’s critics (he had any number of them!) tried to discredit him by giving it as a proof that he was not the Spartan monk that he appeared to be but a man given to the enjoyments of worldly plea-sures.

According to Swami Rudranan-daji he bought the Rolls Royce for a thousand pounds from a financially hard pressed businessman and used it to transport poor people from their homes to the Ashram and back again. Swamiji thought that an ideal way to boost the morale of the poor was to let them ride in a millionaire’s limousine. Later he sold the wreck of the car to a col-lector for almost as much as he had paid for it.

Though Swamiji had said that

he bought the car to boost the morale of the poor by giving them a ride in a millionaire’s car, I suspect that his real reason was to make the establishment take notice of him. Nobody was going to pay much at-tention to a “saffron robed monk” when he fought for the sugarcane farmers but if the monk drove a Rolls Royce it was a different matter and Swamiji knew that.

Swamiji was able to get A. D. Patel, a brilliant lawyer who later became the first Leader of the Op-position in Fiji, to help him in his struggle for the sugarcane farmers. Together they fought against the establishment (mainly the co-lonial government and the CSR Company) for a long time until they were able to get a fair deal for the farmers through the Denning Award in 1969.

A. D. Patel died in 1969 but Swamiji was able to get the support of Ratu Mara, the Chief Minister who became the Prime Minister at independence in making sure that the farmers benefited from the Denning Award. Whenever anything was done to improve the financial situation of the farmers (farmers were given 30 percent of the profits while the CSR took the other 70 per cent) the company threatened to withdraw its op-

erations from Fiji and the colonial government used to give in to their demands.

After the Denning Award when the CSR, as usual, said it could not operate under such conditions, the Alliance government decided to take over the industry and the Fiji Sugar Corporation was estab-lished. Swamiji was very grateful to Ratu Mara for what he did for the farmers as he remembered with appreciation the important role played by the Prime Minister. It was fortunate that Ratu Mara was agreeable to the takeover for other-wise things would have continued as before, Swamiji had said.

Ratu Mara also had a major role in getting a much higher price than the world market price for Fiji sugar through the Lome Agree-ment with the European Union. So the prosperity the farmers (and the country) enjoyed after inde-pendence was in no small measure owing to Ratu Mara.

Daryl Tarte describes the im-provements in the living standards of the farmers as a result of this prosperity: “Solid concrete homes replaced flimsy shacks. Trac-tors replaced horses and bullocks. Farmers acquired cars and televi-sion sets. They set up businesses and their children went to univer-

sities and entered the professions”. As for Swamiji, he no longer had a car, Rolls Royce or otherwise, but he had enough devotees at his beck and call willing to drive him any-where he wanted to go.

Most of the farmers, however, did not know that Ratu Mara had played a major part in bringing about this change in their lives. Their leaders told them that Ratu Mara was their enemy and they believed them because the Alli-ance government seemed to adopt discriminatory policies, for in-stance, in admission to the univer-sity. Nobody explained to them that such positive discrimination was vital for the long term harmony of the nation.

Swami Rudranandaji had suc-ceeded in stopping the exploitation of the farmers by the European vested interests. But when their own people started exploiting the farmers for their personal gains it was too much for Swamiji. So he decided to take a back seat and con-centrate on the educational activi-ties of the Ramakrishna Mission.

He had established the Shri Vivekananda High School in 1949 itself when there was only one high school, the Natabua High School, for Indians. When SVHS started receiving grants from the govern-

ment and the grant-in-aid regula-tions did not allow all the chil-dren who applied to be admitted, Swamiji established another high school, the Nadi Secondary School (the present Sangam Sadhu Kup-puswami Memorial College).

Then he wanted to help those who left school without gaining any qualifications so he estab-lished the Nawaicoba Vocational Centre in 1981. He went to Ratu Mara again for help in establishing this Rural Development and Small Business School in Nawaicoba and the Prime Minister was able to get funding for the centre from the Eu-ropean Union.

The Ramakrishna Mission had sent Swami Damodaranandaji in 1976 to assist Swami Rudranandaji and strengthen the Nadi centre. Swami Damodaranandaji concen-trated on the spiritual activities at the centre. The Ashram once again started looking like an Ashram and no longer like a farmers’ centre!

Swami Rudranandaji’s 84th birthday was celebrated grandly by the devotees. A few months later, in June 1985, he gave up his body to continue his “spiritual journey towards the great goal of Nirvana, the Peace and Bliss that passeth all understanding”.

padmINI gauNdeR

How the ‘Rolls Royce’ Swami helped Fiji’s Indian cane farmers

deV NadKaRNI

20 Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian

Around 200 participants from twenty communities gathered in Tuvu for the

deSI IV Conference also graced by representation from two core funders

for FRIeNd AUSAid and NZ AId.

Suva: In Fiji, a billion-dollar mine is expected to start operating and producing gold and copper in the Namosi highlands within four years.

The Namosi Joint Venture mine is expected to generate an annual income of FJ$1 billion [US$544.4 million] at the current world market price of gold and copper.

Permanent secretary for Lands and Mineral Resources Filimone Kau said, "Hopefully, the company should be able to get its mining lease by June next year.

"The company will be ready to invest in building infrastructure and mine developments costing about FJ$1 billion. We are looking at Namosi and also continuing work on a feasibility study, the viability of the business, model of the mine and environmental issues."

Kau said landowners were con-tinuing talks with the company for access to land for exploration and studies.

"There is also the compensation agreement, but right now discus-sions are only limited to negotia-tions on exploratory work. It's both gold and copper and the land area involved for exploratory works is 72,352 hectares. There are hiccups here and there but we are trying to

resolve it and the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources is playing a facilitating role to ensure all griev-ances are resolved. We have orga-nized a meeting this week to look at some issues raised by the landown-ers and the company."

Kau said as far as the govern-ment was concerned, the ministry was the key sector ministry in dis-cussions on the exploration and tran-sition into the mining state.

He said lessons have been learnt from the Vatukoula mine and others in the Pacific that the management of mining needs to be coordinated with a broader participation of the government.

"We are setting up a govern-ment task force, which is bringing in all stakeholders to be part of the dialogue because we want to make it right as a lot is at stake.

"We want to do it properly and, hopefully, lessons from those places tell us that Namosi turns out to be a worthwhile, viable and well-thought out project.

"If all goes well, then the mine should be operating and produc-ing by late 2014 or early 2015. As forecast by the company, it will be a FJ$1 billion return annually with regards to the gold and copper price now."

Fiji Gold, Copper Mine to start in 4 years Suva: Ministers and senior officials

representing information ministries from developing countries are in Beijing this week for a two-week series of seminars and workshops discussing media trends around the world.

Fiji’s Ministry of Informa-tion Permanent Secretary, Sharon Smith-Johns, is representing Fiji at the seminar.

Participants will develop new ideas on how to disseminate infor-mation to the public and at the same time ensure information is not dis-torted, inaccurate or unbalanced when it reaches the general public.

According to Smith-Johns, the seminar is crucial to committing Fiji to a knowledge-based society but at the same time, looking at the challenges faced by other develop-ing countries.

“Developing countries can learn from each other if we make a collec-tive effort,” Smith-Johns said.

“We come with individual chal-lenges but we can make collective solutions. Similarly, this is some-thing that the Bainimarama govern-ment emphasises and the Ministry of Information and the media outlets in Fiji can capitalize on.”

China’s International Depart-ment for the State Council Informa-tion office director, Jiang Weiqiang, told participants that developing

countries at times have a weak in-ternational media voice.

He highlighted that 85 percent of the world's media was largely West-ern-controlled.

Director Jiang said this created a challenge for developing countries in ensuring correct information was shared.

This includes how developing countries face a dilemma when sourcing information from western media in shaping their own opin-ions.

“Developing countries should seek direct understanding and speak directly to each other. Seminars such as these can deepen the under-standing and misconception from global media,” director Jiang said.

China holds media seminars in Fiji

Fiji

Last month Fiji’s Health Ministry issued another warning to the na-tion’s food manufacturers to reduce sugar and salt content in pack-aged foods. The second warning was issued after the administration found that the earlier warning went unheeded.

Health Minister Neil Sharma said the ministry had approached the food industry to reformulate and re-label their products adding that the health ministry is targeting Trans fat (or Trans fatty acids) produced food items – a major contributor to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country as well as the rest of the Pacific Island countries.

This week the Fijian administra-tion went a step further. It has con-firmed that it plans to impose a “fat tax” – something which the Scan-dinavian nation of Denmark has already done. But the Fijian admin-istration has clarified that its own tax would be based on food ingredient parameters not necessarily the same as those of Denmark – local and re-gional realities will be considered.

Pacific leaders were among several of their world counterparts when they committed last month to taking action on the rapid growth of obesity-related illnesses at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s National Food and Nutrition Centre is focusing on the more general message “Choose and Prepare food and drinks with less salt, sugar, fat and oil”, which is one of the 10 key messages in the Food and Health Guidelines for Fiji.

Once a condition in wealthy nations, obesity is now more preva-lent in poorer nations because of the runaway growth in cheap processed, packaged foods laden with salt and sugar.

A slew of lifestyle diseases in-cluding obesity have reached epi-demic proportions all around the Pacific Islands region – a fact ac-knowledged by global development organisations. The situation is ex-acerbated because of the lack of healthcare resources and the high costs of treatment.

Fiji to tax “fatty” foods

aVINeSh gopal, FIjI tImeS

FRIEND is on the right track in its approach for Social Protection of communities‘ says an internation-al development professional. In his keynote address at FRIEND‘s annual DESI conference, Profes-sor Frank Ellis of UK said that the simple definition of this new buzz word in the Development world is ―protecting people from falling into extreme poverty.

Prof Ellis says while poor commu-nities have similar prob-lems in many other coun-tries, Fiji is e x t r e m e l y lucky to have a way of life where people help each other out. However he says it is important to have more than one way of live- lihood and diversification is a way of gener-ating resilience against risks in future.

First Secretary for Develop-ment Cooperation Mr Tim Gill in sharing his reflections from his earlier visits to FRIEND com-

munities, said while AUSAID is a big supporter of education in Fiji, he feels that it is unfortunate that there is something vital lacking in formal education and he believes that community education is one of the ways to fill this gap. He says FRIEND‘s adult education program is revolu- tionary as it not only teaches theory but practi- cal

learning is part of the process. His simple message was that while communities have their collective duty of planting for the clan, they could also plant for their families in their back- yard where the needs of the community as well as that of a family is also met.

Panelists from various FRIEND programs shared their stories of impact ranging from suc- cessfully negotiating for ad-ditional bus services in commu-nities to awareness on lifestyle dis- eases to starting off income generation projects. Participants also enjoyed songs and skits pre- pared by various community

groups based on their thoughts and experiences in their dealings with FRIEND. Some commu-nity members also brought displays of the skills they had learnt during skills training.

A r o u n d 200 partici-pants from twenty com-munities gath-ered in Tuvu for the DESI

IV Conference also graced by rep-resentation from two core funders for FRIEND AUSAid and NZ AID.

The one-day event concluded with Annual General Meeting of FRIEND and the launch of Com-mendation Awards for 2012.

“Weaving Dreams Together for Community Growth”

“Developing countries can learn from each other if we make a collective effort,”

Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 21

Indian

The Commonwealth Heads of Governments meeting starting Friday in Perth presents an ideal opportunity for Australia and New Zealand governments to adopt a fresh and creative approach to en-gaging the Bainimarama govern-ment, says a Fiji pro-democracy group.

The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum has written to the Com-monwealth Secretariat to bring to their attention issues for discuss on the possible way forward in ensur-ing a return to democratic rule in our island nation.

“CCF believes that the Com-monwealth Secretariat can play a significant and strategic role in Fiji’s return to Democratic Elec-tions through engagement es-pecially in the area of Political Dialogue as a precursor to the Constitution work and the provi-sion of technical and or financial support towards the electoral reform and the elections itself,” chief executive Reverend Akuila Yabaki said.

“The Commonwealth body, through CMAG and or the Com-monwealth Special envoy could find avenues to instigate the dia-logue process through consulta-tion with all relevant stakeholders and the Bainimarama government.

“This process is vital to ensure that the Constitutional and Elec-toral reforms which the current regime plans to undertake is inclu-sive and reflects what the people want in the lead-up to elections.”

Rev Yabaki said the Com-monwealth Heads of Government, through the Commonwealth Min-isterial Action Group, must con-sider taking on a more creative role in the solution through dialogue.

“This presents a significant op-portunity for Australia and New Zealand to find creative options to re-engage with Fiji, if the two nations want to have any influence on Fiji’s path to democratic elec-tions.

“The issue of engaging with Fiji must not be dictated by poli-cies based on concerns over China’s growing influence in the region but on the genuine desire to engage for the people of Fiji and the movement towards Sustainable constitutional democracy.”

“If they are to remain rigid as they have been and refuse to work with the current regime, then it should acknowledge the entry options available through the work of active civil society organiza-tions, who are striving to change mindsets at the grassroots level by educating people on human rights,

good governance, multicultural-ism and citizenship and preparing them for elections in 2014.

“CCF believes that prolonged isolationist approach will not augur well for the people of Fiji as there is growing anxiety amongst the general populous on whether the international community gen-uinely seeks to assist in restoring democratic rule in Fiji.

“It must also be acknowledged that Fiji is a key player in the di-rection regional politics sways on issues of Trade, Telecommu-nication, Security and Foreign relations. As it stands the Pacific Islands Forum is missing the pres-ence of Fiji who at the basic frame-work of relations is an influential actor. Regional development with the exclusion of Fiji will only lead to a fragmented Pacific.

“We hope that the issues and concerns are given serious con-sideration by all the member states and that the hope of the late Sir Paul Reeves in finding a Pacific solution for Fiji is realised sooner than later,” Rev Yabaki said.

“We also convey the hope of the people of Fiji that the members consider their commitment to re-gional peace and security is one that will benefit the individuals and the ordinary citizens ultimately.”

Fiji

‘CHOGM chance for fresh approach on Fiji’

Last year Fiji received the highest number of tourists ever from China. Visitors from China grew more than 32 per cent in just under 12 months. The large market that it is, market-ing in China could be costly and complex.

Going by the age profile of most Chinese tourists to Fiji in the recent past, Tourism Fiji decided on taking the social networking route and last week signed up with social mar-keting agency Digital Jungle. The company is a leading Chinese so-cially led, digital marketing agency that helps plan, execute and measure integrated digital marketing cam-paigns.

Founder and chief executive of Digital Jungle Dr Mathew McDou-gall said, “It is undeniable that social media is having a huge impact in un-derstanding and influencing Chinese

outbound travel so it makes complete sense that more tourism agencies are moving to leveraging this area.”

Social media in China is flourish-ing and it has started having a sig-nificant impact on tourism as well, the statement said.

According to iResearch statis-tics, online travel booking market in China in 2010 was US$9.67 billion, 58.4 percent growth compared to 2009.

Currently, more than 60 percent of Chinese internet users make their travel buying decisions based on online reviews. The online travel booking market in China is expected to follow a sustained high growth path – which would be good news for travel organisations such as Tourism Fiji to explore options in investing on online social mar-keting campaigns.

Fiji tourism wades into digital social marketing

Fiji Reserve Bank Governor Barry White-side expects the country’s tourism revenue to cross the $1billion mark this year. The forecast has been revised upward after esti-mates of inbound tourist numbers showed a growth of 10 per cent instead of the initially estimated 5 per cent.

Meanwhile the tourism sector is working toward making Fiji a viable and premium investment destination for in-vestors, according to the administration. Speaking to a group of investors from the United States, acting permanent secretary for Industry and Trade Shaheen Ali said,

“The US has always been the third or fourth largest export destination for Fiji and the recent trend and data suggest that this will increase and grow in 2011.”

The prospective US investors had meet-ings with local businesses, financial insti-tutions and government during their week-long stay in Fiji.

There is growing interest among pro-spective investors after the administration’s announcement of land reforms said to help facilitate long term availability of what is regarded as native land to foreign investors, according to Mr Ali.

Fiji’s tourism revenue to cross billion mark

More than 60 percent of Chinese internet users make their travel buying decisions based on online

reviews.

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

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

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

Jackie Blue, Melissa Lee & Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi

22 Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz

Indian Fijiheritage

Remembering Guru Nānak’s essential teachingsRam lINgam

Guru Nānak Devji was born to Mehta Kalyan Das Bedi and Tripta Devi in 1469, in the village of Tal-wandi also known as Nankana Sahib. This village is near Lahore in present day Pakistan.

The life of a Guru or a Prophet is a blessing to the disciple and becomes a message in itself. As the word (baani) of a Prophet becomes a scripture for the followers, so did the words of Guru Nānak Devji, the Adi Guru of the Sikh panth, got im-mortalised in the Shri Guru Granth Sahib – the scripture of the Guru’s followers.

Writing about Guru Nānak Devji, Swami Vivekananda wrote: “Guru Nānak was born in the sacred land of India. He gave a message of love and peace of the whole world and preached the same through his teachings. He was full of affection for everyone and his arms were always outstretched as if to embrace the whole world...”

On an auspicious day like Guru Nānak Devji’s birth anniversary, the Guru’s teachings need sincere listening to and contemplation upon, in order to commemorate the blessing of his birth – because a Guru is ultimately known for his teachings. A spiritual opportu-nity would be missed if the Guru’s words are not fully understood and just ritualistically chanted.

The origins of the Sikh tradi-tion lie in the spiritual and social teachings of Guru Nānak Devji who taught that the union with God is through Guru’s grace and direct

personal experience and he empha-sised meditation on the God’s name (Naam), to live with an inner awak-ening of God and an outer service by righteous means.

The Shri Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture of the Guru’s follow-ers has 5894 hymns of which 976 hymns (17%) are composed by Guru Nānak Devji. Of the many teachings through his hymns, the “Japji” revered as the “Japji Sahib” appears at the very beginning of the Shri Guru Granth Sahib.

The “Japji Sahib” is recited every morning by the Sikh-faithful and is considered as a concise summary of his teachings. The compila-tion of Japji Sahib con-sists of the famous Mool mantra -

”Ik Onkār”, an opening shloka verse, a set of 38 hymns and a final closing shloka. The symbol of ‘Ik-Onkār’ is also an emblem for Sikhs and is found on Gurd-waras. The Mool mantra ‘Ik-Onkār’ is the first series of truth-affirma-tions and is considered the essence and basis of Sikh panth.

All religious scrip-tures in the East have “Mool mantras” which hold the essence of the entire scripture. Explain-ing the concept of ‘Mool mantra’, the Vedanta

teacher Swami Swaroopananda says: “In the term mool mantra, mool means ‘root’.

Every tree has roots without which it cannot exist. The tree is sustained and nourished through these roots. They constitute the very foundation of the tree from which it grows and expands. In the same way, mool mantra means ‘that mantra in which lies the very essence of the Scripture’, the entire Scripture being an elaboration, expansion or explanation of that mantra”.

“Ik-Onkār Sat-Naam Kartaa-

Purakh Nirbhau Nirvair Akaal-Moorat Ajuni Saibangh Gurpar-saad” is considered to be the mool mantra of the “Granth Sahib”. Revealing and expounding on the Truth enshrined in this mantra is the entire “Japji Sahib”, and the elaboration of the “Japji Sahib” is the entire “Granth Sahib”.

The translation of the Mool Mantra – Ik-Onkār with the instruc-tion ‘Jap’ at the end which means ‘repeat and contemplate’ is as:

Ik Onkār: The One, the Reality, Om

Sat Naam: Of Name ever True

and EternalKartaa Purakh: The Prime doer,

the CreatorNirbhau: FearlessNirvair: Without enmityAkaal Moorat: Of Eternal FormAjuni: Without birth, UncausedSaibangh: Self-existent and

Self-illuminatingGurparsaad: Known by the

Grace of the Enlightened TeacherJap: Constantly repeat (This

word is not part of the mool mantra, but can be taken as the instruction of the Teacher to constantly repeat and contemplate on the mantra).

Many commentaries are written expounding the meaning of eacj word of Guru Nānak Devji’s Mool mantra. Later in the Shri Guru Granth Sahib , the importance of this mool mantra is re-emphasized as “a-ukhadh mantar mool man aykai man bisvaas parabh dhaari-aa“ meaning

“The Mool Mantra, the Root Mantra, is the only cure for the mind; I have installed faith in God in my mind.” - SGGS -675(1).

May Guru Nānak Devji’s teach-ings be contemplated upon till we get the true import and a direct ex-perience of his teachings.

Happy GURPURAB…!!

November 10, 2011 marks the birthday anniversary of the Shri Guru Nānak Devji (1469 – 1539 CE) and is known as Gurpurab. This day is one of the most auspicious days to those who follow his teachings. On this day the words (baani) and the life of the first Guru of Sikhs is contemplated upon. Here’s a look at the essential teachings of Guru Nanak Devji found in the famous Mool Mantar – ‘Ik-Onkār’ from his composition the “Japji Sahib”.

The translation of the Mool Mantra – Ik-Onkār with the instruction ‘Jap’ at the end which means ‘ repeat and contemplate’ is as:Ik Onkār: The One, the Reality, OmSat Naam: Of Name ever True and EternalKartaa Purakh: The Prime doer, the CreatorNirbhau: FearlessNirvair: Without enmityAkaal Moorat: Of Eternal FormAjuni: Without birth, UncausedSaibangh: Self-existent and Self-illuminatingGurparsaad: Known by the Grace of the Enlightened Teacher

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How are you doing post your accident on the sets of Bol Bachchan?These things keep happening. I had a small accident…cut my eye and injured a finger. But I am okay now. All good.

We hardly see you at store openings. What brought you to the launch of design-er Anita Dongre’s in-store dessert café Schokolaade?You can call Schokolaade a choco-late café. A very dear friend Mehul (Bhuta) has opened this shop. He asked me to come at the launch and I returned home after stuffing myself with chocolates. According to me it is a wonderful concept…you can come here, you can shop and they have great coffee as well…so you can enjoy it.

Don’t you think it’s difficult for actors to gorge on choco-lates?If you ask me, I would say it’s okay…chocolates are good for me. It puts you in a good mood as long as you work it off the gym it is all right. Zyaada na khaye baas.

We heard you are addicted to coffee. True?Oh I love coffee…I live on coffee. I drink too much coffee actually, especially Cappuccino. I should cut

that down on it.

Who would you like to take on a coffee date?(Jokingly) I only like coffee with Karan (Johar). It is as simple as that. I have my morning coffee with my wife (Aishwarya Rai Bach-chan) every day. In fact, I have my morning coffee with both the ladies of the house, ie my mother (Jaya Bachchan) and my wife…it’s a morning ritual.

Have you ever made her a coffee?Aishwarya is actually a tea drinker. So she prefers tea to coffee.

Do you have a favourite coffee joint in Mumbai?I really don’t have time to go out and have coffee. I make god coffee myself. So I enjoy it at home.

You said you drink too much coffee and gorge on choco-lates. But still you managed to cut down your weight. Is it for Bol Bachchan?Ya. Both Bol Bachchan and Dhoom 3 are on the floors. We are start-ing Dhoom 3 in the next couple of weeks. So I am getting into shape for that.

How is it having Aamir Khan as your co-star in Dhoom 3?

I am very excited. Aamir is a won-derful actor. He is a senior. He is somebody whose work I enjoyed even as a child. Both Uday (Chopra) and I are excited to welcome him to Dhoom team. I am really looking forward to work with him. Who won’t look forward to working with Aamir. I am lucky to get an oppor-tunity to work with him so early in my career.

With quite a few releases up your sleeve, do you think pro-moting a film well plays an important role in deciding its Box Office fate?We can't force today's audience to come and see a film. We can try to excite you as much as possible by us through promotions, sending out five star dinners and promos (laughs).

Of late, we are seeing you experimenting with char-acters. How are you picking your scripts?Lot of the time, you hear a script that inspires you and you do it. That's the way I work. I never worked based on a strategy…that, now I will do comedy, then action, and then I will do something else. It's just so hap-pened that this year I did a murder mystery (Game) and then, an action thriller (Dum Maaro Dum), almost back-to-back.

‘Chocolates are good for me’despite his finger injury, Abhishek Bachchan is too happy these days. He took out time off his shooting schedule to attend wife Aishwarya Rai’s godh bharai (Indian baby shower with gifts in the lap when the pregnancy is in advanced stage) recently and was also seen gorging on chocolate at a Bandra cafe. The actor chats up correspondent Sreya Basu in Mumbai

New Delhi: India witnessed the gorgeous socialite Paris Hilton visiting Mumbai and if things move on the right direction then the nation will also see reality star

Kim Kardashian walking on Indian soil in future.

The socialite and popular reality star of US had re-cently toured Mid- dle-East and now plans to visit India in future.

Kardashian recently tied the knot with basketball player Kris Humphries but filed for divorce this week

The gorgeous reality star said that she loves Indian 'culture' and would love to visit India in future and ex-perience it.

She said that she loves all the 'colours' of this nation and Indian 'bangles'.

"I would love to go there, see for

myself, get inspired and get some traditional clothes from there," she said. Recently she was spotted in New York attending the 40th birth-day of hotelier Vikram Chatwal.

Kim Kardashian looks to visit India

Mumbai: Lead actors of popular Hindi serial ‘Bade Achhe Lagte Hain’, Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar can boast of having a special fan of their serial as actor Amitabh Bachcan mentioned in his blog that he admires both the artists.

"I has spoken about my experience on the Tv about the serial I saw and the artists of which I admired. The serial was Bade Achhe Lagte Hain and the artists were Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar," he commented on his blog.

The on-screen couple made to the hot seats of popular Indian game show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati 5' that is hosted by Bachchan. Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar played the game for a charity that was going to help the poor of cancer, and to be able to build a center for paraplegics.

The special episode will be aired in

the upcoming weeks."Original, relaxed meaningful

and competent. Last night they were down on the set of KBC and playing for a charity that was going to help the poor of cancer, and to be able to build a center for paraplegics. Such warmth and such a delight to be in their company," Bachchan wrote in his blog.

"Natural, relaxed and without a glimmer of their star status, they seemed to have impressed all in their assessment of me," he mentioned in his blog.

'Bade Achhe Lagte Hain' is pro-duced by Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Tele-films and directed by Sangieta Rao. The love story has already gained good amount of popularity.

The serial premiered on Sony TV on May 30.

Big B loves Bade Ache Lagte Hain

Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 25

26 Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz

IndianIndianBollywood

Mumbai: Upset with the Censor Board for bleeping out the words ‘Choos Le’ (suck) from her song “Jawani Ki Bank Loot Le” in her up-coming film Loot, firecracker Rakhi Sawant is in attack mode this Diwali.

The lyrics of the song read, “Main russ malaai hoon, jannat se aayee hoon, saamne parosi hoon, aake choos le… hey… saiyaan jawani ki bank loot le.”

Rakhi insists that though the words could be controversial in nature when singled out, in her song they have been used aptly and with the right connotations, without any vulgar or offensive meaning.

The actress feels that the Censor Board is “biased”. “If they are so strict, why have they passed a song titled “Jhak Maar Ke” picturised on John Abraham and Deepika Padukone in Desi Boyz,” Rakhi shoots.

“If ‘Choos Le’ can be considered offen-sive, even ‘Jhak Maar Ke’ is a vulgar phrase. But the censors have allowed it to pass because the film has big stars in it,” she claims. “Even John’s dance steps in the song are in bad taste. He’s making distasteful gestures with his hand. I have no such gestures in my song,” she adds.

Rakhi Sawant miffed with Censor Board Rakhi's ‘forced’ wardrobe malfunctionMumbai: Firecracker Rakhi Sawant is cracking up over a forced wardrobe malfunction. Apparently, some freelance photographers at a promotional event of her forthcoming film Loot, clicked some compromising shots of Rakhi and passed them off on websites as a wardrobe malfunction.The pictures showing Rakhi posing on a big purple chair wearing a bright red dress have a glimpse of her panties.“On spotting Rakhi wearing a short dress, the photographers seemed to have had a gala time clicking her from lower angles. Rakhi is a bit angry but more amused that people are calling this a wardrobe malfunction,” remarked her publicist Dale Bhagwagar.“Why all this zabardasti ka hungama? Main toh waise hi itni hot hoon. Where was the need to do something as creepy as this,” Rakhi said in her trademark style, seeing the pictures termed as ‘Rakhi Sawant’s first wardrobe malfunction’ on the Internet.

Mumbai: Even as Shiney Ahuja’s appeal to the Mumbai High Court is pending hearing, his difficulties seem to be growing.

The actor, who had to spend time in jail after being accused of raping his house maid (a charge he has con-stantly denied), is shocked by an ad-vertisement rolled out by Micromax Mobile, this week.

The said advertisement, tagged as the ‘Bai commercial’, tries to take a humorous dig at the Bollywood star out on bail.

The advertisement, which is said to have been made especially for the Diwali season, has infuriated Shiney, who has sought legal action on the mobile company.

Conforming this, the actor’s publicist Dale Bhagwagar said, “Shiney has sent a legal notice to the mobile company as the advertise-ment amounts to willful character

assassination”.“As we know, Shiney had challenged his conviction and the Mumbai High Court has admit-ted his appeal, which is currently pending hearing. For the mobile company to air such a commercial influencing public opinion when Shiney’s appeal is pending hearing, is equivalent to contempt of Court,” he added.

Shiney, who is best known for his films Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Sins, Life In A Metro, Woh Lamhe, Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Gangster, is expected to be back in action with the release of his upcoming movies Ek Accident, Ghost, Chaloo Movie and Har Pall.

Shiney Ahuja slams Bai commercial

Mumbai: Stepping into Bollywood almost at the same time, actors Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singh grabbed a lot of eyeballs.

While Ranveer’s confident and charming portrayal of Bittoo Sharma in Band Baaja Baaraat won him a lot of female fans, Sonakshi’s role as the gaon-ki-gori Rajjo in Dabangg im-pressed many.

Following this, both the actors

showered praises on each other in various chat shows, and expressed their desire to work together. So much so that gossip mills even linked them up. But now there is a slight twist in the tale of their mutual ad-miration society (wink).

Nominated in the Fresh Talent of the Year category in Dainik Bhaskar Group’s Bhaskar Bollywood Awards, Ranveer and Sonakshi are at logger-

heads, competing tooth and nail with each other, hoping to get more votes to win the title.

Touted as India’s first democrat-ic awards, these are solely judged on vote counts, without any jury to override public opinion. This makes the battle between Ranveer and Son-akshi even more interesting – a true test of fanfare and popularity. Only time will tell, who beats whom!

Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha at loggerheads

Mumbai: Ra.One fever is all over the country as it is the biggest Diwali release ever.

But we know of someone who has taken this fever quite literally.

There’s a hush hush about phone calls that were made on Diwali af-ternoon and whole evening by a well-known actor to the Box Office eye keepers which is the root cause of fever. Before you start fancying all the actors who could be in this scene, we’ll let the cat out of the bag..

If reports are to be believed, ac-tor-producer and movie-marketing king Aamir Khan was very curious to know the opening numbers of Ra.One and he spoke to lot of people on day one. And what he heard then, was something he wasn’t an-

ticipating. His senses didn’t want to believe the information either and they called in sick.

"What comes as shock to us is the fact that few days ago he was praising SRK and wanted Ra.One to do well, but the news of outstanding figures didn’t go well with him. We heard, he has a fever and is unwell since the time this knowledge has bestowed upon him," said an offi-cial spokesperson related to Ra.One promotion.

"For the same reason, he can-celled his all the scheduled meetings with his producers, actors, techni-cians and others. If only, Aamir believed in the saying ‘Ignorance is bliss’ he would have planned out 5 more marketing plans in this time," said the spokesperson.

What Aamir Khan did this Diwali? Mumbai: He’s tickled your funny

bone and made you guffaw hysteri-cally. But did you know that stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma can hold a tune and give most playback singers a run for their money?

Packing in a surprise this weekend as he makes a wild card entry into Zee TV’s singing reality show for celebs - Maruti Suzuki Alto Star Ya Rockstar, Kapil is said to have floored the audience with his very catchy entry sequence to the song ‘Chhalla’ from Crook.

Not only were they roaring in delight to see him but also clicking their fingers and tapping their feet as he sang along.

It was almost like an instant re-alization for the rest of the contes-tants that that the competition has just become stiffer and that they’d have to try twice as hard to stay in the running for the coveted title of ‘Rockstar’.

“It feels so good to be able to do

something so different from what I have been recognized for. Of course, I will make people laugh even on

Star Ya Rockstar but it’s the very first time that people will hear me sing. My friends and well-wishers seem to enjoy my impromptu bouts of singing whenever we get-together. Let’s hope the rest of the country enjoys it just as much!” said Kapil.

In the same episode where Kapil makes a dramatic entry, catch all of Zee’s saas bahus make surprise ap-pearances on the show to delight the viewers on the festive occasion of Diwali.

So, while you have Sara Khan walking in as the vivacious Mona introducing her favorite contestant Manasi Parekh on the show, you see Vibha Chibber of Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein enter the stage with her trademark stern expression, in-timidating tone and rag Neha Marda before her performance. Usha Nad-karni aka Aai of Pavitra Rishta steps in to dance to a Marathi number ‘Naach re Mora’ and leaves the viewers begging for more.

Kapil Sharma enters Star Ya Rockstar

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IndianBollywood

Shah Rukh Khan’s Diwali release this year was touted as a movie that would bring Bollywood one step closer to bridging the gap with Hollywood. Yes Ra One does shine brilliantly in the technical area but a patch line story marred the overall attempt.

The BaCkground

So there is this kid Prateik (Armaan Verma) who loves “Kick Ass vil-lains” and his dad- the ultimate ex-emplar of a goofy south Indian geek Shekhar Subramaniam played by Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh wants to be acknowl-edged as “dude” by his son but Prateik firmly believes his dad to be a lame guy.

So Shekhar, to please his son, creates a game with an unbeat-able villain Ra One who inciden-tally comes to life and now only the game’s hero G One can save the day.

The sTory – 2/5

So father and son relationship, huh? Some moviegoers might say not again but sorry guys this is the season of Daddy’s day out or rather in.

Dads are in this filmy season but what lacks in this Diwali offering is credibility of the characters that portray the relation. It’s fine for a

dad to want to become his son’s hero but that looks good only if the bonding is the issue of the film and if the dad is a plausible character.

Ra One however doesn’t follow the rules and throws only a dash of that Dad-son combo in the entire mix and match bag of stories, and a few minutes into the movie the Dad is dead, the son and the wife are running for their lives while we are racing to figure out what is the next story.

Ra One takes sloppy romance, kick ass action and even a bit of sex comedy in one big bucket and jumbles them all to create something that once was known as a script (after Bollywood started making the recent masala movies I don't know if script exists any more).

Ra One and G one don't have the usual comic base of stories and hence while introducing two new super-people the writers should have made their roles stronger and definitive but what we get are rather vapid fuzzy outlines.

Why does anybody want to do anything in the film? I couldn’t figure that out clearly after 2 hours and 35 minutes, so tell me if anyone can.

And there is this one silly ques-tion too- Why the hell is a guy brought in a coffin and then cremat-ed and why does all this happen in a minuscule short amount of time?

The direCTion and TeChnique – 3.5/5

I didn’t give it for direction (sorry Anubhav Sinha) but I gave it for the technological brilliance that Ra One has shown.

Yes it wanted to take Bollywood closer to Hollywood and it did so; even to the extent that they not only produced superior sequences but also in terms of a rather bland storytelling (Hello Green Lantern disaster anyone?), Ra One gets the job done.

Barring the silly train jutting out and station crumbling to pieces se-

quence, Ra One has the right amount of goodies in terms of special effects to dazzle even the greatest cynics of Bolly techies.

The fights and the lights remind you of a number of Hollywood science fiction flicks but they are still well executed and a treat for the eyes.

So what if Superman can stop a bullet with his eyeball, G One can do it with his nose hole!

As for the direction, the se-quences are sometimes dragged too long and while other useless ones are introduced without a hint of mercy for the rational brains of the audiences.

The aCTing – 2.5/5

Does G One remind you of someone? Well if you have watched My Name Is Khan, then I am afraid you are right. There is very little difference between machine Shah Rukh and autistic Shah Rukh and both perform their missions without hint of emotions, well at least G One is honest and agrees (some consola-tion).

Kareena has the usual spirited demeanour as the wife of Shekhar but that is all there is for her. She looks pretty and mouths “gaalis” for the future of Indian women but as such has no more to offer.

Arjun Rampal looks menacing as

Ra One but sadly he doesn’t appear for a greater half of the film as this villain can change appearances Ter-minator 2 style.

Still I guess not talking much and only doing muscle show wasn’t much of a challenge for him.

The musiC – 3.5/5

The music is the one thing that stands out for Ra One in very in-imitable ways. For one Akon sings Hindi and does a fair job, although he doesn’t really fit as Shah Rukh’s voice.

Still the music rocks and as we all know “Chammak Challo” and the others are already hits.

The background music draws heavily from 80s maestro RD Burman but manages to create a unique fit in the screen play without stemming the overall flow of the scenes.

so should you pay for This game?

Ya you should if you are dying to see mind-blowing special effects and if you are a diehard fan of the science fiction genre.

But if you are looking for a “Dark Knight” style credible plot to go with all the gizmo gimmicks, then dishing out the notes wouldn’t be a nice experience for you.

aRNaB ChaRKRaBoRty

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Are you a phone addict?I am extremely gadget-friendly…I am obsessed with them. The moment a new phone comes to my hand, I don’t put in down before gowing through each and every thing in the phone. I am today’s girl and can’t do without gadgets.

I am too attached to my mobile phone…I can’t do without it. My phone is an extension of who I am. Fortunately, it’s the best way to stay connected. Even when I am driving I turn on a special Bluetooth as it is really dangerous to talk or SMS while driving. You won’t believe me but suppose I suddenly wake up at 3am, I check on my phone to see if anybody called or messaged.

What kind of applications do you use on your phone?I enjoy playing games on my phone. The only thing (social networking application) I have on my phone is Facebook.

What’s your caller tune at the moment?You know whenever a movie releases, I change my caller tune to my songs. Also at times, I change it to a latest hip number that is going around.

What are the other gadgets you can’t do without?My hairdryer…I swear. It is the best thing every girl can have.

There are so many phone companies in the market. Why did you choose Spice and become its brand ambassador?Because of its ‘S’…its logo is ‘S’…my name starts with ‘S’ and they have my face in the ‘S’…that’s really fun. Not only that, it is a company that signifies quality and mass appeal…and I am all for mass appeal.

After Delhi 6, you are again teaming up with filmmaker Rakeysh Om-prakash Mehra for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Are excited are you for the project?I am very excited about it and hopefully we will start shooting soon. So let’s see how things shape up. I am just finishing Players right now…we still have 10-day schedule left. And after that we will start promoting it directly.

How are you preparing yourself for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag?What I am doing in the film is a surprise thing.

So right now I can’t talk about most of it. But when it’s time I will.

What about Players?I love working with Abhishek (Bachchan) and Abbas-Mustan have become my favourite di-rectors right now. So let’s see what life brings me right now.

Your character in Players is inspired by Charlize Theron’s role in The Italian Job. True?Yes…my character is inspired by her role in the film. After all it’s her story on how she got justice to what was done to her. But at the same time, there’s more to her…more spunk and more to the story.

For quite some time, you are promot-ing breast cancer awareness and asking people to wear pink to support the cause…Ya…to me, breast cancer or any kind of cancer is so prevalent and rampant everywhere right now, it is imperative to make people aware about the disease. And one great way of doing is, in office everybody…boys (because I know boys are scared of the colour) and girls …should wear pink to promote awareness of this disease and say that you have to get your check ups done, you have to go to doctors regularly and the most important thing for women is, do not stress yourselves. A lot of researches say that emotional stress, besides hereditary, also cause cancer. So you need to be happy, healthy and lead a very, very prominent good life.

Ranbir Kapoor has recently said you are a drama queen. And to that you will say…?I am an actress darling. If I don’t do drama, who else will? Most of the biggest stars have always done a lot of drama.

Have you seen The Dirty Picture promos?Yes…I am a huge Vidya Balan fan and she can do no wrong ever in my eyes. Nobody else could carry that (role of Silk Smitha) off because she is sexy and classy at the same time.

Who is your 4 am friend?It’s my sister Ria. Even she is in the next room, I still call her with my cellphone and say: ‘Hi what are you doing? Can I come to your room because I am scared in my room?’

Sonam Kapoor is all smiles these days with critics still appreciating her performance in Mausam. Correspondent Sreya Basu catches up with the actor after she unveiled new music phones-Samba & Carnival-by S Mobility (Spice) recently in Mumbai

‘Biggest stars always do a lot of drama’

QUICK-N-EASY MUFFINS FOR KIDS' LUNCH BOX

ReCIpe

Indian

methodPre heat oven to 180c gas mark 3.Place 12 paper cases in a baking tray.in a bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips.in another bowl peel and mash bananas with a fork. add sugar and mix.Melt butter in a microwave. slightly beat in egg and milk until combined.With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture mixing as little as possible stop as soon there are no pockets of flour, then add butter into it and lightly mix everything until just combined( the important thing is do not over mix the batter).evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter using two spoons or an ice cream scoop.Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

INgRedIeNtS3-ripe bananas 170g- flour100g- butter170g- caster sugar1- large egg2tbsp- milk1tsp- baking powder1tsp- baking soda1/4tsp- salt100g chocolate chips

INgRedIeNtS230g- plain flour75g- butter115g- caster sugar30g- coco powder3/4cup- milk2- large eggs4tsp- baking powder100g- chocolate chips

methodPre heat oven at 180c, gas mark 3.Place 12 paper cases in a baking tray.in a large bowl whisk together the flour, coco powder and baking powder. Add the chocolate chips and sugar in it. Mix them together with a fork.Melt butter in a microwave, add eggs and milk, whisk it until well combined.With a rubber spatula mix butter mixture into flour mixture until the ingredients are combined. do not over mix the muffins. Mix as little as possible and stop when there are no pockets of flour.using two spoons evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter. Place in the oven and bake for 20minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the muffins comes out clean.Leave to stand for several minutes before twisting and removing from the pan.

tIpS: You will get 12 small muffins and 6 big muffins. if you have 12 muffin tray and you want to make 6 big muffins fill the other 6 cups with the water to keep the pan from warping. With muffins you don’t have to pull out the mixer, you only need two bowls to combine the ingredients because you only have to mix the ingredients they are not made like cake where we beat eggs or butter and sugar so always remember muffin mixture is only mixed not beaten. Muffins can be made and kept in the freezer for children’s lunch box. in the morning take them out from the freezer and keep them in there lunch box they will thaw themselves by the lunch time.

BaNaNa muFFINS ChoColate muFFINS

The benefits of an ongoing relation-ship with an adviser are numerous. An adviser will often have estab-lished relationships with various insurance companies and extensive knowledge of products and process-es. This will often prove less time consuming, particularly valuable in the fast settlement of claims during difficult times. Overall it is more beneficial for you to have an adviser as your first contact and as your ad-vocate. An adviser can answer any questions, sort out any issues, regu-larly review the appropriateness of your policies and generally manage your best interests. As an intermedi-ary between you and the insurance companies, your adviser will ideally be a source of specialised knowl-edge and your advocate.It is important to differentiate between a ‘salesperson’ and an adviser. The following ‘checklist’ is intended to get you thinking about what you need to consider when se-lecting an adviser you can trust, and how to gain the most benefits from this relationship!

Can the insurance adviser earn my trust? This is about respect, integrity, ad-vocacy and quality. Trust is a fluid commodity that ebbs and flows with each experience.

Playing fair – am I offered a number of products and price options for me to choose from?Fine Print – Key information and terms and conditions are clearly ex-plained to me.

Does the insurance adviser inspire me?This is about creating an experience for yourself that will create mutual loyalty.Connect – Empathises with yourself and touch you on an emotional levelunderstand – Uses a need analysis and creates a risk protection plan and not simply sell a product.

Does the Insurance adviser make it easy for me?This is about simplicity, speed and relevance which are the keys to you feeling at ease.Keeping it simple and understand-able – using words that you under-stand and not industry jargon.Simplifying decisions – offering fewer but better choices so you can make faster, better decisions.Advice – presents and provides advice in a way that helps you.

Does the Insurance adviser put me in charge?This is about being offered choices or are you forced down a chosen

path which is not your own. Are you being offered relevant information, enabling an informed choice?

Does the Insurance adviser guide me?There is a lot of information out there. This is about filtering out the ‘stuff’ with expert advise, education and information.Knowledge – Is the insurance adviser a product expert and having the passion for risk protection.Listening – Knowing your world, your life and your needs.Educate and Counsel – Helping you to understand the implications of your decisions.Is the Insurance adviser easily available?This is about being easily available and easy to get in touch with by phone, mobile, email or through a website or at the office. Are messag-es being returned within 24 hours?

Does the adviser maintain an ongoing relationship with you? Once you are ‘on the books’ and your first premium has been paid, you do not want to be ‘put on the shelf’ to be forgotten. Circumstances change and you do not want to be in a serious claim situation before you find out that your coverage no longer meets your needs. A good adviser

will actively review (often annually) your situation to ascertain whether your coverage is still adequate.

Does the Insurance Adviser exceed my expectations?Keeping in touch – by newsletters, birthday cards and always promptly returning phone calls or replying to emails.Claims – Drops everything to assist in the claim process however small the claim may be. It might also be noted here that while knowledge and experience are pre-requisites, it is also important that you have a good rapport with your adviser. This is invaluable to build-ing trust in the adviser-client re-lationship, often facilitating more open client disclosure during appli-cation processes (and avoiding UN/intentional non-disclosure at claim time), solidifying confidence in the adviser’s discretion, and assisting overall more personalised on-going service.

Ask someone you know! Ask friends, family or colleagues if they are happy with the services their advisers provide. They may give you some more ideas about what to ask a potential adviser. Someone may even have an excep-

tional experience to share that may be a great lead to finding the right insurance adviser. Hopefully these key issues will be able to lead you in the right direction.

Remember, an insurance adviser is your advocate: you need to be confi-dent that your adviser will endeavour to ensure you remain well protected in the present and in the future, so don’t settle for anything less!

The above information has been pro-vided to serve only as a guideline to assist in evaluating your insurance needs. You are encouraged to do your own research or consult with your adviser before arriving at any decisions. Oliver Pereira is an Auckland based Insurance Advisor contact details are below.

A disclosure statement as required under Financial Advisers (Disclo-sure) Regulation 2010 is freely avail-able on request.

oliver pereira – OPM Insurance Services Ltd.Ph. 0800 66 77 92 Faxmail. 021 551 669 Mobile. 021 66 77 92 Email. oliver.pereira@xtra.co.nz

What would you expect from your insurance adviser?

Column

olIVeR peReIRa

Indian Weekender | November 4, 2011 | www.iwk.co.nz 31

Indian

QUICK-N-EASY MUFFINS FOR KIDS' LUNCH BOX

Column

Skin Pigmentation

For Dry Skin

Morning : 1. Apply Shadew as a Cleanser. 2. Apply Shawhite 3. Cover face with Shabase / Shaglow.night : 1. Apply Shadew as a cleanser. 2. Massage with Shalife and Wipe off. 3. Tone skin with Sharose 4. Apply Shablem on patches and leave on.Afternoon : Home Pack: 3 tsp Shaface, 2 tsp Shafresh, 2 drops Shableach, 1 Egg Yolk, 1 tsp Honey, 2 tsp curd. Make into a paste and apply. Wash off when dry.

Note: You can refrigerate any remainder of this paste for next day. If it gets dry, add milk or curd and use. Wash face and apply Shasilk / Shabase.

With age, women tend to experience a range of changes in their body, pri-marily with their hormones. These changes are inevitable however may vary between individuals. A signifi-cant change that women go through is Menopause.

Generally, women attain Meno-pause around 50’s but the symp-toms can start earlier, these symp-toms could be physical as well as emotional and may range from increased stress, elevated anxiety levels to weight gain.

While the impact of this could be varied, in this article we will par-ticularly focus on weight gain only.

Changes in female hormones affect the amount of energy they expend otherwise. This over time can lead to fat deposition and weight gain. In addition to this, age related changes decrease the amount of muscle mass which may also drive weight gain.

Most women identify with a weight gain, change in their body shape, accumulating fat and thick-ening of waistlines during “middle age”. The underlying reason for

these changes is a slowdown in met-abolic rate.

During this time, as estrogen levels fall, the appetite increases leading to ad-ditional intake of food than usual also leading to weight gain.

As mentioned earlier, Menopause also tends to cause an impact on the emotions, generating a feeling that may lead to losing an inclination to exercise and / or eat healthy and feeling le-thargic to move around.

To manage meno-pause effectively, it is important to indulge in some form of physical activity as a part of your daily routine, also being regular ensures you don’t move away and lose the focus.

Eating frequent meals prevents the snack bingeing and reduces cravings in between meals. Small and frequent meals work better.

Reduce, refined carbohydrates in your diet and ensure you take enough fibre.

Eat protein sources at each meal. If you are a vegetarian, choose options like soy, nuts, paneer, milk and dairy products. Eat a variety of

fruits and vegetables, in addition to fibre they also provide vitamins, minerals and antioxidants

Snack healthy and avoid getting too hungry, binge eating can impact on your weight and leaves you feeling worse. Ensure you don’t

indulge in sweet cravings and eat healthier options of sweet snacks. When eating, watch your portions, every bit makes a difference.

Indulge in habits that increase physical activity and keeps you feeling good, physical activity can make you feel energetic and also elevate mood and prevent feelings of depression .

Eating well and being active are the key, It is never too late to change your lifestyle even at this stage. Ensure you get support from your spouse and family members.

Till next time eat healthy and be wise.

This article is a general guideline only, if you have any medical condition and for in-dividual conditions you should consult a health professional or your medical practitioner imme-diately.Varsha Asrani is a New Zealand registered clinical dietitian, for

personal consultations, queries, suggestions and feedback she can be contacted on info@varshaasrani.com

VaRSha aSRaNI

Ageing is a natural phenomenon and this seems to be the only way to live a long life. As we age, our body seems to develop a mind of its own.

Pausing the weight gain at Menopause

CAuSeSkin Pigmentation is due to the amount of melanin deposits in the skin, resulting in a diffused or circumscribed staining of the skin, which may show up as a dark patch on the skin surface.The root cause of this can be internal – due to internal imbalances – which causes the increase in production of Melanin in the body.exposure to the sun also adds to the increase of production of melanin in human body thus resulting dark patches on the skin surfaces which is called as Skin Pigmentation.

TreATMenTSClinical and professional treatment on weekly sessions is advised depending on the degree of the dis-order. To get your face evenly toned glowing, Bindu (The Shahnaz Husain’s expert) recommends a special treatments she offers at her Ayurvedic Beauty Clinic in Henderson along with home treatment products as suggested below

For oily Skin

Morning : 1. Wash face with Shazema 2. Mix Shagrain with Sharose and rub gently. Wash off. 3. Apply Shawhite on patches and cover with Shabase/Shasilk.night : 1. Wash face with Shazema 2. Dab Sharose 3. Moisture skin with Shasilk. 4. Apply Shablem on patches and leave on.Afternoon : Home Pack: 3 tsp Shaface, 2 tsp Shafresh, 2 drops Shableach, 1 E gg White, 1 tsp Honey, 2 tsp curd. Make into a paste and apply. Wash off when dry.

Note: You can refrigerate any remainder of this paste for next day. If it gets dry, add milk or curd and use. Wash face and apply Shasilk / Shabase.

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

Shahnaz Husain - The Ayurvedic Beauty Clinic 40 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Auckland. P : 09 9082440 E : info@shahnaz.co.nz www.shahnaz.co.nz

Any P igMenTATionTreATMenTs

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