AV 14th December 2019

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE Solicitors, Advocates Immigration Specialists Commissioners of Oaths Family & Divorce

Rashid A. Khan

Solicitor (Principal) ● Switching Visas Asylum & Immigration ● Over Stayers New Point Based System ● European Law ● Work Permits ● Nationality & Travel Documents ● Visa Extensions ● Human Rights Application ● Judicial Reviews ● High/Court of Appeals ● Tribunal Appeals ● ●

R

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

Head Office: 190 Merton High Street, Wimbledon, London SW19 1AX Tel: 02085 401 666 02086 720 666, Fax: 02085 430 534 07878 33 5000 0777 4222 062 FREE LEGAL ADVICE

14 - 20 DECEMBER 2019 - VOL 48 ISSUE 32

EXCLUSIVE

COMBATTING EXTREMISM Priyanka Mehta

Prime Minister Boris Johnson believes that the London Bridge attack by Usman Khan cannot be blamed on the Home Office's Prevent scheme.

Prevent is the UK government’s ground war against extremism. The programme is considered to be controversial as a counter-terrorism strategy by industry experts. It seeks both to educate communities about the risks of radicalisation and stage interventions with vulnerable individuals long before any crime has been committed.

In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Johnson stressed that “although Prevent has its critics, we have to do everything we can to stop people getting on the pathway to radicalism and extremism”. He continued, “I don’t think that the recent attack can necessarily be blamed on the defects in the Prevent scheme. It seems to me that the man who was responsible for the London Bridge atrocity was a hardline Jihadi who had been radicalized through contact with Anjem Chowdhury and others.”

Continued on page 5

inside: Despite media hype, no let in rape cases SEE PAGE 16

Fire kills 43 in Delhi, worst in 20 years SEE PAGE 26 This week's Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar comes with a special magazine titled 'Bringing Prosperity To Kashmir' which is supported

by The Loomba Foundation. The magazine is dedicated to the empowerment of poor widows in Jammu and Kashmir.

If you wish to donate please use the pledge form on the back cover of the magazine.

2 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Patel claims Labour government risks 50 more murders a year

Tory Islamophobia row: Candidate retweets post claiming Muslims have 'nasty culture'

The Home Secretary has claimed that the election of a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn would lead to 52 more murders a year and a violent crime epidemic.

A former BBC journalist and Conservative general election candidate shared messages on social media where she claimed Muslims play the “race card” and have a “nasty culture”.

Writing for The Daily Telegraph on Sunday, 8th December, Priti Patel, claimed that Labour’s opposition to police use of stop and search would lead to fewer criminals being caught and more weapons on the streets.

According to her the increase in weapons could mean up to 4,000 extra violent assaults a year, nearly 150 more sex assaults and 52 more murders, equivalent to one a week based on an analysis by the Conservative research department. The same report also claims there would be 882 more firearms on the streets. She wrote, “I said, without apology, that I wanted those same criminals to feel terror at the thought of committing offences.”

The department has

Linden Kemkaran, who is contesting from Bradford East, retweeted a user on Twitter last week who dismissed Islamophobia as nonsense – describing it as a “crock”.

She retweeted two others who accused Naz Shah, of being “not white enough” to have experienced Bradford’s “no-go areas” and claiming the prospective MP’s loyalties did not lie in the city.

Kemkaran also ‘liked’ a post labelling the shadow minister for women and equalities – who is Britishborn and of Pakistani heritage – a “Pakideshi” who pushes the “doggy do-do Muslim narrative”.

It comes after the Conservative party chairman, James Cleverly, apologised on Sunday after a string of allegations of Islamophobia and racism against the party’s candidates. According to The Guardian at least four ministers had gone on election campaigning trips to endorse Tory candidates

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel with Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police Dave Thompson

used official statistics from the Home Office on how many people have been arrested for possession of an offensive weapon or firearm as a result of the use of a stop-and-search power and then, using separate figures from the Office for National Statistics, extrapolated estimates of crimes that the weapons could have been used for.

The report itself reveals it is based on the assumption that anyone arrested for the possession of an offensive weapon or firearm would have gone on to com-

mit a crime at some stage had it not been seized by the police. This however, is an assumption that can not be proven.

Earlier, on Monday 9th December, Boris Johnson was challenged by LBC’s Nick Ferrari over these claims and was unable to explain where the figures had come from.

Last month, Ministry of Justice figures showed that black and Asian people are being subjected to more stop and searches by police while the tactic is being used less on white people.

BBC accused of failure to address Tory Islamophobia The UK's largest Muslim organisation has accused the BBC of “failing to sufficiently report” on Islamophobia rampant within the Conservative Party.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), has written to BBC Director General Tony Hall to raise its concerns about the lack of proportionate coverage of the Conservative Party’s “institutional Islamophobia”.

Reminding Mr Hall of the BBC’s responsibility as a public broadcaster to be impartial and consistent, the MCB has requested that “racism against Muslims be given equal importance to racism against others.” MCB Secretary General, Harun Khan, said, “The Conservative Party has an institutional, widespread problem with Islamophobia, which has

Justice secretary Robert Buckland said tough restrictions will be imposed on Islamist extremists in the

accused of anti-Muslim hatred.

Kemkaran – who has been pictured with Boris Johnson – became embroiled in a row with Shah after the shadow minister accused her of using “far-right language”, claiming she told young people at a hustings last Thursday that the city had “crime infested streets” and “no-go areas”.

In response, Kemkaran re-tweeted a user – whose Twitter biography reads “No to that cult, Islam” – who sent a message to Shah saying, “You are a dunce. There weren’t any no go areas when I was a kid. Muslims always the victims, play race card, ‘Islamophobia’, what a crock, what a nasty culture.

No integration, what makes you think we will accept 3rd world ways and why should

we?”

She also retweeted another user who messaged Shah saying, “We know where your loyalties lie and it’s not Bradford.”

The Tory candidate also liked a tweet from a user who replied to Shah’s criticism of Kemkaran’s comments about “no-go areas” in Bradford, writing: “Pushing the doggy do do Muslim narrative again.

Another Pakideshi [who just happens to support rape gangs] pushing her lies via the race card. Truth hurts.

There are ‘no go’ areas in #Bradford, crime is 50% above the average – not forgetting their other cultural delights, FGM.” She also liked another tweet by a user who claimed that she was not able to view a house because the sellers required a “sharia mortgage”.

Graffiti emerges supporting London Bridge terrorist A Grafitti supporting the accused of London Bridge terrorist attack last month has emerged in

Harun Khan, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain

been clearly documented both by the MCB and other individuals, organisations and media outlets.

“Not only has the BBC not covered the full extent of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party that many in society feel should be discussed this election, it has also given a platform to individuals who have used

far-right Islamophobic hate.

On 2nd December, Melanie Phillips made an accusation that deception is a mainstream Muslim belief in The Times.

“License payers, who include millions of British Muslims, are essentially paying to facilitate the incitement of hatred against themselves.”

Assuring safety at Christmas markets On Monday 9th December in a bid to assure British people that they are protected, it was reported that convicted or suspected jihadists will be banned from going to crowded areas this festive season.

Boris Johnson with Linden Kemkaran

wake of the London Bridge attack. Jihadists will be banned from travelling to places where there are large gatherings, which includes festive markets, sports stadiums and shopping centres.

Buckland told the Mail, “Christmas is coming so we are absolutely right to do this. Given what has happened, there will be much more comprehensive

restrictions for these people.

There will be tougher travel restrictions, stopping them going to crowded places such as Christmas markets.

It's important that we give the highest degree of confidence to the British people that they are protected from the people who want to inflict terror. We can't let our way of life be undermined.”

Stoke-on-Trent in central England. Stoke-onTrent is Usman Khan's hometown and according to The Sunday Times, the graffiti reads "Usman Khan Call 4 Justice" emerged last week as part of a probe into the criminal’s background and others.

Tagged with the letters "COB", the graffiti is believed to refer to a local gang calling themselves the Cobridge Boys. The rundown area is home to a large Pakistani community.

Khan was shot dead by police officers after he went on a knife rampage on November 29, killing two people. The body of Khan was reportedly secretly flown back to his family's ancestral village of Kajlani in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"I condemn their actions," Mohammed Pervez, leader of Stoke's Labour party group in the area, told the newspaper.

"The graffiti will be offensive to the family of Usman Khan and to the wider community," he added.

The relatives of the killer have already issued a statement denouncing his act and expressing condolences to the victims' families.

Earlier, Khan was arrested with two others from Stoke as part of a ninemember Al Qaeda plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange.

They also had plans to set up a terrorist training factory in the guise of a madrassa on land owned by Khan’s family in PoK. The South Asian-origin man was later jailed indefi-

nitely for public protection in 2012. However, this was replaced by a 16-year sentence on appeal, and he was freed last year.

Khan had also discussed organising a Mumbai-style attack on the British Parliament.

He was described by the judge who sentenced him for terrorism offences in 2012 as an ongoing risk to the public with a "serious, long term venture in terrorism".

The profile of Khan dating back to his conviction in 2012 reveals his links with Islamist terrorism. He had been secretly recorded talking about plans to recruit British radicals to train at a camp in PoK.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

COMMENTS

UK

3

14 - 20 December 2019

Perils of rushing to judgement The shooting dead of the four accused in the horrific gang rape and murder of 27 year-old vet Disha has resulted in two public responses: the first overwhelmingly celebratory, that they met their just deserts when the Hyderabad police killed them for that is what they deserved. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar were lauded by the public at large including the father and neighbour of the murdered Disha. Rough justice, it assuredly was, say those appalled by the lack of due process of a trial by a court of law and sentence.

The Hyderabad police say in their defence claim that the accused when taken to the scene suddenly broke free, snatched a gun and started firing at them; they retaliated killing the men. The explanation is not implausible.

Desperate men have been known to fall back on desperate remedies. As Minister Maneka Gandhi said herself in reproach to the police action, the accused would have been hanged anyway by a court of law. Precisely. The accused knew this too, hence their last desperate action.

To meet the ends of justice a top level inquiry should be held including an autopsy report. All the relevant evidence to be placed before a panel of experts before a conclusive verdict is reached. Justice must then be done and seen to be done.

Madurai (Tamil Nadu) -born Sundar Picchai, an IITKharagpur alumnus, is among a number of Indian CEO’s to have made it big, joining the global CEO A-list as Alphabet chief. Picchai remains Google CEO, but as head of the parent company and its subsidiary is to run both as world’s second and third most valuable company respectively. Satya Nadella, sharing a similar background, runs Microsoft, whose market capitalisation was $1.4 trillion a few days ago, while Alphabet market value closed

at $893.3.billion. Apple is globally the most valuable firm, with Amazon in fourth place.

Mahidra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra tweeted: ‘India’s most robust export is probably the global CEO. It’s now a universal perception that Indian executives are leadership material. If only there was some way of monetising these exports, India would have a perpetual balance of payments surplus.’

That said, the critical question is why Indians achieve such stellar success abroad and markedly less at home. To the achievements of Pichai and Nadella, one may add those of Shantanu Narayan at Adobe, Rajeev Suri at Nokia and Ajay Banga at Mastercard. – the list of Indians leading tech-centric companies is undoubtedly impressive by any standard, but what hinders their replication in India? This is not to deny that India has considerable achievements in the size and quality list of companies; it has excellent CEOs too, but of their success revolve round their ability to work the prevailing eco-system including its rotund bureaucracy, of applications and clearances raj, winking bankers granting dubious loans to favoured clients, projects with padded costs loans create a system tends to negate enterprise and out-of- the- box thinking.

The weight of rules and regulations are calculated to wear out the patience of the sturdiest souls.

All is not lost, however. Around 2014, the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business, India ranked 130 in a list of 192 countries. Several years ago in almost one fell swoop, her ranking rose to 77, then to 63. China, from 46 is now 32, while Russia, US and EU economic sanctions and all, stands 28. The target for India must now surely be somewhere in the forties. Cabinet approval for India’s first debt exchange traded fund to bring in retail participation in bond market is welcome news. Edelweiss has been appointed to launch the plan to be called Bharat Bond ETF, Economic reforms continue apace.

The recent attack by Pakistani jihadi terrorist Usman Khan (whose body was flown back to his village for burial) in the London Bridge area, stabbing to death two innocents, before he was grappled to the ground by a courageous member of the public, then shot dead by a police marksmen. It is a reminder, if such were needed, of grave threat posed by fanatics determined to impose their warped vision of a new world order – a new Caliphate, if you will, on the lines of the late dreaded Abu Baker alBaghdadi and his nefarious organisation was built on rape, torture and beheadings of captive infidels across a swath of the Middle East. A revolting picture 10 Coptic Christians lined up for decapitation sears the mind.

Countries in Africa are beset by the presence of these home-grown terror groups, foremost among them Nigeria’s vicious Boko Haram. Jihadi operatives, singly or collectively, have attacked targets in Paris, Brussels, Madrid, and a series of of chosen sites in Germany. In Sri Lanka Easter bombings of churches by a local jihadi businessman claimed the lives of some 247 innocent worshippers. It would appear that the US and its European allies are somewhat coy on the subject since evidence suggests they categorise two such groups, one covertly acceptable, the other clearly not. It depends on their geopolitical goals. America‘s CIA Director General Bill Casey in the 1980s funded an ambitious anti Soviet grand alliance stretching from Egypt, the Gulf states to China, its hub Pakistan and its mi litary dictator Zia ul Haq, Frankenstein’s monster, as it turned out, who funnelled the funds through the country’s notorious Inter Services (ISI) directorate to train and equip jihadi terror groups for operations on India and Afghanistan, perceived as a strategic buffer against India. Mumbai was assaulted twice,

first in March 1993, then in November 2008. During the first commando-style attack 300 innoce nt died, during the second the figure was 167. The US response to March 1993 was embarrassment, in the aftermath of the second much handwringing and breast-beating on terrorism per se without mention of the P-word, Pakistan, which received $20 billion as military and economic aid passed through bipartisan legislation in Congress. Mark Curtis’s researched work, Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Rad ical Islam is well worth perusing.

The BBC and other Western Broadcasters refer to jihadi terrorism in markedly neutral tones for fear of being branded Islamophobic by their radical chic constituents and by defensive Muslim groups in seasonal hunts for Islamophobes, now a fashionable buzzword. This is one plausible explanation, the other more damning, is geopolitics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warnin gs on international terrorism receive vigorous nods of approval from European leaders, but no further. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s appeal to NATO for cooperation on terrorism was greeted with silence. No matter, Russia signed a multi-billion dollar contract with neighbour China for the supply of Russian gas from eastern Siberia, a blow to sanctions regime imposed on Russia by the West.

Meanwhile , German Chancellor Angela Merkel expelled two Russian diplomats for ‘not cooperating enough’ in the investigation into the death of a Chechen jihadi granted political asylum by her government. She then rushed off to the NATO summit at Watford in England, hoping, no doubt, to press her credentials as a loyal member of the Alliance as its anti-Russian crusades, even as the poison of Nazism and anti-Semiti sm spreads inexorably across her country.

(The rise of Sundar Picchai)

Jihadi terrorism a global menace

Memorable evening at ‘Tolly’ Club Kolkata’s Tollygunge Club is famed for its sylvan setting that includes its legendary golf course and myriad other luxurious facilities. Membership is much prized. The club recently hosted a Brains Trust, its co-organiser the British High Commission in New Delhi. The speakers were both eminent and varied and riveting. The opening speech was delivered by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, former Indian ambassador to UNESCO, spoke about the exploration of India’s North East and the discovery of the mighty Brahmaputra and its tributaries which flow through Assam and southwards into the Gangetic plain and the Bay of Bengal. Colonel Ajai Shukla, former company

commandant Hodson’s Horse, author and defence analyst, presented in a colourful detail the history of the India-China border.

Major General Cardoza, Indian Army, legendary Gorkha officer -, who recounted how he had stepped on a mine in the Sylhet district now in Bangladesh) during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 forcing him to amputate the injured limb with a khukri to prevent gangrene setting in.

General Nicholas Carter, Chief of Britain’s Defence Staff closed proceedings with an arresting account of the challenges posed by digital world. It was some evening, warmly appreciated by an enthralled audience.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

- Barack Obama

Alpesh Patel

Crunch Time Put into Google 'British Hindus' and click News and you can see why British Indian groups not just Hindu ones are telling me they are being pressured by nefarious legal tools to shut them up or shut them down. Threatening baseless legal regulatory action - which will tie up the innocent in costs with threats that their life's causes and work will be shut down, unless they shut up.

Headlines to try scare y ou include “British Hindus voting for Labour are not ‘traitors’ to India (The Guardian); ‘”Divisive tactics” WhatsApp messages urge Hindus to vote…”

(Guardian) “Hardline Hindus are pushing the Indian Government’s agenda…(CNN), “British Indians warn Hindu nationalist party not to meddle…”(Guardian) “These Sikh and Hindu ‘leaders’ who compete over racism… ”(Independent).

Shame on you if you dare say what the Chief Rabbi said and the Muslim Council said about how you should consider voting – is the message.

I am glad those two British communities are as strong and vocal as they are so they do not suffer in the silence being sought to be brought on my community. God bless the Jewish and Muslim faiths for showing you can be faith based and say what you think without shame.

See the headlines and articles: You mu st be using secret tools like 'whatsapp' to communicate and umm....Facebook....to be a secret agent for the Government of Russia (I mean India), and Modi's love-child, and be 'nationalist' and 'hardline' and 'divisive'. Best shut up. Because silence furthers the freedom of speech the rest of us preserve!

These articles’ strategy is the same one like calling ALL Brexiteers racists. No, EXACTLY like that. Or all Conservatives racists. Or indeed all Labour Party members anti-semitic. Pick one from a group, and say rest are all like that.

Genius! To get silence.

Boy are you wrong if being Hindu is something you'll shame us about. Or frighten us about.

No, if anyone should be scared, it’s those seeking silence. Yes, we know how to communicate amongst ourselves and the rest of the world too.

And we support the Jewish and Muslim faiths to defend themselves too from anyone using the same tactics on them - as if anyone would dare.

Well, just as there are Hindus and Indians (not the same thing!) voting Labour, there are British Indians encouraging a non-Labour vote, as I said to the BBC, the Labour Party is as institutionally anti-Hindu as it is anti-semitic.

Overwhelmingly the same people, processes, procedures are what makes it institutionally anti both faiths.

Yes, yes, I know, what about the Greens? But save them for another day.

Editor: CB Patel Asian Voice is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 • Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Website: www.abplgroup.com INDIA OFFICE Bureau Chief: Nilesh Parmar (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad-380 015.

Tel: +91 79 2646 5960 Email: gs_ahd@abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

4 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Pilgrims lose thousands of pounds as 'Hajj trip cancelled by travel firm Muslim families have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after their Hajj pilgrimages were cancelled - while the company they booked with has shut up shop.

As many as 20 worshippers used Taha Travel in Small Heath to book their Hajj packages for July 27 which cost around £4,300 per person.

But they say the director of the travel agency, Jameil Kendawi, told them that their trip to Mecca, Saudi Arabia was cancelled because of issues with their visas - just one day before they were supposed to travel. In a long text message he apologised and said he would provide a full refund in ‘less than 40 days’.

But since then the shop has closed down and former customers say they have not been refunded.

Birmingham Live tried to contact Mr Kendawi but his phone number is no longer active.

Taha Travel has shutters up at its Whitmore Road premises. No-one was answering its telephone number.

Trading standards said it is investigating the customer complaints and are not able to comment at this time.

Mohammed Asif Qureshi, 61, paid £20,500 for himself, his wife, brother and sister-in-law to go on the holy pilgrimage.

Each Muslim is expected to perform Hajj at least once in their life if they are fit enough and financially capable of undertaking the journey.

Mohammed said the only reason why he booked his trip with Taha Travel was because they were the only agents that could offer him the specific dates he requested.

He said he was given a cheque for £3,200 from Taha Travel as part of his refund, but it bounced when he tried to cash it in the following day.

Nasma Omer, 45, suffers from heart problems but delayed an operation so she could go to Mecca on July 27.

But she also found out her trip was cancelled the day before, via text message.

She saved for more than four years and demanded her money back from Taha Travel.

She also claims she was given a cheque for £3,500 that did not clear.

Another woman paid £8,000 for her and her friend to perform Hajj.

Sara Amin, 45 was

swayed by how good he deal was and a friend had used Taha Travel to go to Umrah, the trip to Mecca than can be undertaken at any time of the year.

Sara had spent 10 years saving for the trip before her son helped her out with the rest of the money.

Their last contact with Kendawi was at the end of October, according to her.

Sara said he has been paid back just £500 so far.

Imran Hussein’s 64year-old dad, Faraqat, also booked to go to Mecca on July 27 with Taha Travel.

Muslim schoolgirl too scared to leave house after being choked and punched by woman in horror bus attack The Muslim schoolgirl who was choked with her own hijab and punched by a woman shouting racial slurs in a horrific bus attack is now too scared to leave her own home.

Redena Al-Hadi, 14, and her sister Wida, 13, were travelling home from Silverdale School in Sheffield when they were brutally attacked by a 40year-old woman.

Video capturing the incident shows the woman pushing the schoolgirl onto the floor and then pummeling her with a serious of vicious blows.

Miss Al-Hadi was pinned to the floor as her attacker used her Islamic headscarf to garrote her.

Police officers arrived at the scene and arrested the 40-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man on suspicion of racially aggravated assault and public order offences.

'It makes me feel sick and scared,' Redena told the Mirror following her appalling attack.

'I don't want to go to school. How can an adult attack a child for wearing a hijab? I was a young girl trying to go home. It makes me feel so targetted.

That is who I am.

'When she was strangling me I thought I was going to die. She shouldn't be on the streets. She could do this to another Muslim.

I am now too scared to leave my house.'

South Yorkshire Police initially announced the woman had been let off with a caution, but have since told MailOnline the investigation will undergo a full review.

Miss Al-Hadi said the confrontation began when she, her sister and another female friend were accosted by the 44-year-old man who allegedly called the friend the n-word.

A young bystander stuck up for the group but was allegedly punched, Miss Al-Hadi said.

She said she tried to get off the bus with her friends but that's when the woman launched her appalling attack.

Screams were heard as the woman knocked her victim to the pavement and rained down blows in front of several witnesses.

She claims her sister suffered a black eye and a suspected broken cheekbone in the assault and said she gave a statement to the police - who bailed the attacker shortly after.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: 'Our inquiry into reports of racial abuse in the Ecclesall Road area of Sheffield on Wednesday 4 December is continuing.

The investigation is also currently undergoing a full review. This will include revisiting and speaking to witnesses.

'Officers remain in contact with the victim and her family and are

keeping them updated. A 40-year-old woman, arrested at the scene, has been given a caution for assault, while a 44-yearold man remains on police bail as enquiries continue.

'Anyone with information, or who holds footage of the incident, is asked to call 101 or email enquiries@southyorks.pn n.police.uk quoting incident number 601 of 4 December 2019.'

Redena Al-Hadi (pictured), 14, and her sister Wida, 13, were travelling home from Silverdale School in Sheffield when they were brutally attacked by 40year-old woman.

Gurdwaras helping migrants to volunteer to leave the UK Two Midland Gurdwaras are among community organisations which have been helping the Home Office by offering asylum seekers advice on how to return home.

Human rights organisation, RAPAR uncovered the names of all 21 organisations that are helping push a voluntary returns scheme.

The scheme is where an asylum seeker or migrant with an expired visa can opt to return to their home country without fear of law enforcement.

The Gurdwaras in the Midlands involved have been named in a Freedom of Information document obtained by the organisation as the Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh Shaheed, Handsworth and Guru

Nanak Gurdwara, Smethwick.

Refugee organisations have expressed concerns over having 'Voluntary Return Surgeries' in communities as they fear vulnerable people are not being informed on all of their options and that these organisations may be paid to encourage migrants to leave the UK. However, a representative from Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh Shaheed said it runs the service on a voluntary basis to offer advice and has done for several years.

The voluntary return scheme offers the individual up to £2,000 if they agree to leave the UK which they can use to start a business or find accommodation when they return home.

in brief

MAN KILLED IN A460 CRASH NAMED

A man killed in a crash on the A460 has been named as 28-year-old Laxman Swali (pictured).

Mr Swali, from Wolverhampton, was driving a Peugeot 107 when it was in collision with a car transporter near the M6 on Monday lunchtime.

The collision happened nearly Shareshill, near the M6, at around 12.05pm on Monday.

Police, paramedics and an air ambulance were sent to the scene and the A460 was closed between Junction 11 of the M6 and Junction 1 of the M54 as a result.

A spokesman from Staffordshire Police said:"Despite medical efforts sadly Laxman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Specialist officers are supporting his family at this difficult time."

The driver of the transporter was unharmed.

Staffordshire Police and West Midlands Serious Collision Investigation Unit are appealing for witnesses or anyone with relevant dashcam footage to call officers on 101, quoting incident 237 of December 2.

WANSTEAD GANG MEMBER GUILTY OVER MURDER OF INNOCENT MAN SHOT DEAD

BY MISTAKE

Three gang members, including a 21-year-old Wanstead man, have been found guilty of murdering an innocent man who was shot dead by mistake during a bloody turf war.

Joseph Williams-Torres, 20, was targeted by three hooded youths as he sat in a van with a friend in Walthamstow on the evening of March 14 last year.

Hamza Ul Haq was one of three attackers who mistakenly identified Mr Williams-Torres as a member of a rival gang, pulled out a gun and fired, before running off in less than two minutes, jurors heard. The victim was hit in the chest and legs. He died on the way to hospital less than an hour later.

Prosecutor Allison Hunter QC told jurors the shooting was part of a series of related and "retaliatory" acts of violence that had its roots in a dispute between rival groups of youths.

Ul Haq, 21, Loic Nengese, 19, and a 16-year-old from Hackney, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denied murder but were found guilty following a trial.

Ms Hunter said the defendants were friends who were associated with the same gang which had become increasingly confrontational and angry since the murder of one of their own, Elijah Dornelly, in May 2017. They were engaged in a "turf war" with other gangs, jurors heard.

In November 2017, Ul Haq had been squirted with acid and another boy was stabbed by a group of masked hooded males in Walthamstow, the court heard.

Ul Haq presumed it was gang rivals as they set out to avenge the attack on March 14, jurors were told.

Jurors were told how the defendants were captured on CCTV cameras and the youth dropped his mobile phone at the scene. Ul Haq and Nengese denied being the attackers caught on CCTV. The youth admitted being at the scene but declined to name who he was with, saying it was not his coaccused. Following their convictions, Judge Anthony Leonard QC remanded the defendants into custody to be sentenced on January 10. Ul Haq will also fall to be sentenced for attempted aggravated burglary.

COMPUTER HACKERS TRICKED HOUSE BUYER OUT OF £55,000

A house buyer was tricked out of a £55,000 deposit for his new home after hackers diverted the funds into a money launderer's account. Fraudsters carried out the scam by accessing the email account of the victim's conveyancing solicitor and a sent bogus message giving him details of where to send the payment. Thinking he was carrying out the solicitor's request he unwittingly paid the money into the bank account of 29-year-old Surjan Roopra (pictured) who wasted no time spending thousands of pounds at John Lewis, Apple, Next, Debenhams, ASOS, and sent some cash overseas. Roopra pleaded guilty to converting £55,000 of criminal property, between May 4 and May 8, 2018. Mr Bannister said £22,818 was used for Roopra's own benefit, of which £13,350 was withdrawn in cash. There was £9,468 still in his account that was recovered. The victim is still out of pocket by about £45,000. Roopra was jailed for 18 months and now faces a proceeds of crime hearing, when the court could confiscated any assets he may have.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

UK

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

5

14 - 20 December 2019

COMBATTING EXTREMISM Continued from page 1

Recent reports indicate that Islamist threat remains strong in the UK with counter-terrorism experts warning against complacency. On Monday 9th December, a man was arrested in the Bristol suburb of Clifton on suspicion of Islamist-related terrorism offenses.

According to the Avon and Somerset Police, the 33-year-old was held on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism. However, they added that the attack was not linked to the London Bridge attack.

Yet, the spotlight is thrown back on the government's failure to combat the growing threat of extremism that prevails in the UK ever since the 7/7 London bombings. Founded in 2003, the Home Office claims that, Prevent, so far, has successfully diverted more than 1,200 people from extremism and, potentially, acts of terror. But it must be noted that Usman Khan was part of the Desistance and Disengagement Programme (DDP), an arm of Prevent. Anjem Choudary, the Islamist firebrand preacher, and his influence is also reportedly a DDP subject. Khan had also been secretly recorded talking about his plans to recruit UK radicals to attend a training camp in Kashmir.

very inconvenient but the restriction no longer exists which makes it much easier for many in the hospitality industry.

However, chefs can still not be sponsored for fast food or standard fare outlets. UK Visa and Immigration at the Home Office defines a standard fare outlet as the following: "A standard fare outlet is one where the menu is designed centrally for outlets in a chain/franchise, rather than by a chef or chefs in the individual restaurant.

Standard fare outlets also include those where dishes and/or cooking sauces are bought in readymade, rather than prepared from fresh/raw ingredients.”

However, for providing certainty to the Small and MediumSized Asian Businesses and bolstering the British economy, Boris' goes back to his central theme of “get Brexit done”.

“In the current state of the economy there is massive uncertainty and everyone is waiting for

It is a very complex international dispute which I don’t think we are capable of solving owing to our historical role. We hope that both parties (India and Pakistan) can work towards resolving the issue.

“I think the worst thing that the UK can do is take sides

“Incorrect to side either with Pakistan or India on Kashmir” The revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir by the Indian Government has caused a domino effect on British politics. These consequences are reflected in Labour's Kashmir resolution in Brighton and in the way the Party is endorsed by “terrorist organisations” like the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

Probed about his stance on Kashmir and the existence of such “terrorist outfits”, Johnson noted that it is incorrect for any political party to favour one country over the other.

“We are opposed to any kind of extremism and we will do anything we can to stamp it out. On the issue of Kashmir, let’s be clear the: UK faces the difficulty of being there right at the beginning.

on the issue and come down favouring one over the other. And I think the Labour Party has made a mistake in seeming to intervene in the issue through their resolution.”

Seen by some as a Prime Minister carrying forward David Cameron's legacy of strengthening UK-India relations, Johnson further re-emphasised his intent on negotiating a UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in a postBrexit environment.

He said, “We will begin a multi-lateral negotiation process and pursue a UK-India FTA at the

earliest. I think India presents vast opportunities and there are ways in which India can open up its markets to us.

“We have already made it clear that we will be speeding up the Tier 2 visa process and we are expanding it to accommodate various other categories and industries as well.”

Immigration: We will bring in the curry chefs that the catering sector needs Recently multiple changes have been made to the UK visa system,

especially since the introduction of the 2-year Post Study Work Visa. This was followed by the expansion of the Shortage Occupation List of 6 October 2019 which has made it easier for Tier 2 Sponsor Licence employers and Tier 2 General visa migrants. The changes mean that about nine percent of total employment in the UK will come within the scope of the shortage occupation list, compared to less than 1 percent of total employment, which was previously the case.

Many perceive the On Kashmir Conservative Party both parties (India and that hope We to be more antiPakistan) can work towards resolving the immigration, owing to Theresa issue. I think the worst thing that the UK May's Hostile can do is take sides on the issue and come Environment polidown favouring one over the other. And I cy.

However, the Labour Party has made a mistake think Johnson insists, in seeming to intervene in the issue “One of the reasons why we through their resolution. want to get Brexit done is to bring fairness to our Brexit to happen which we can get immigration policy and bring in to it done on 31st January provided this country all the people who are we can get a working Conservative needed across these industries and majority government. small scale businesses.

“There are only two options: “We realise that the curry Either you have a working majorihouses, catering, and hospitality ty Conservative government or sector need more curry chefs and you have a hung Parliament. If you we will bring them through our have a hung Parliament then it Australian style points-based will lead to further delay and conimmigration scheme. Most fundafusion. The Labour Party wants to mentally we will ensure the fair hold a second referendum and treatment of immigrants between there is no possibility of the EEA and non-EEA arrivals.”

Liberal Democrats forming a govPreviously there was a ban on ernment on its own, and not an restaurants and other establishalliance with us either even in the ments that had a takeaway service eventuality of a hung Parliament.” from sponsoring Chefs. This was

Majority of Sikhs expected to back Labour In a poll of 1,000 Sikh voters conducted on Saturday 7th December, 58% of those who have decided how to vote have said that they will vote Labour.

The survey was conducted following the final leaders debate on Friday evening where Sikh voters were asked to provide reasons for their voting intentions.

According to the Sikh Federation UK, twenty-seven percent said they will vote Conservative whereas 8% registered Liberal Democrats as their preference and 15% remain undecided. In total 150 constituencies have been identified where there are at least 1,000

Sikh constituents and candidates have been sent the Sikh Manifesto 2020-2025 produced by the Sikh Network.

Labour had two existing Sikh MPs: Preet Kaur Gill the first Sikh woman MP and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi the first turban wearing Sikh MP in comparison to the Conservatives which had no Sikh MP sitting in the Parliament. The Sikh poll suggests the issue of racism and hate towards Sikhs may be a key factor why Labour is ahead of the Conservatives when it comes to Sikh voters. Labour’s Race and Faith Manifesto addresses the growing Sikh hate crimes and also safeguards Sikh articles

of faith. Jeremy Corbyn’s endorsement of the Sikh Manifesto has also put the Conservative Party on the back foot and at a disadvantage.

Virendra Sharma at Tudor Primary School in Ealing Southall In the meantime, Sharma, who has represented the London constituency of Ealing Southall since 2007, has been actively campaigning with student groups, local councillors and volunteers in his ward alongside other Labour leaders such as Dr. Rupa Huq. Sharma is slated to retain his seat in the upcoming election.

6 UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Delayed admissision to A&E, almost 5,000 patients died in three years

Coroner’s report warns theme parks to act on ride danger after Jannath's death

A study by leading NHS doctors has revealed that almost 5,500 patients have died over the past three years because they have spent so long on a trolley in an A&E unit waiting for a bed in overcrowded hospitals. Their conclusion that long delays finding spare beds is costing patients’ lives has emerged as Boris Johnson comes under mounting pressure over the fragile state of the NHS.

A coroner has warned theme park operators about the risk of future deaths unless they address safety concerns over water rides, after an inquest into the drowning of an 11-year-old girl.

The assistant coroner for south Staffordshire, Margaret Jones, has written a report for the prevention of future deaths to UK theme park managers, concluding an inquest into the death of Evha Jannath. Evha was “propelled” from a vessel on the Splash Canyon river rapids ride at Drayton Manor in Staffordshire during an end-of-year school trip with friends from Jameah Girls academy in Leicester on 9 May 2017.

The inquest last month into her death heard how she had waded to the end of the ride after the fall but fell into deeper water while trying to climb an algae-covered “travelator”. She was later discovered face down in the water.

The inquest jury found that Evha died accidentally.

Jones said there had been no safety warnings given to guests boarding the ride’s boats, and that warning signs were incomplete and

In all 5,449 people have lost their lives since 2016 as a direct result of waiting anywhere between six hours and 11 hours. It found that those deaths represent the total “estimated attributable mortality” from the delays.

The Patients Association has called these findings “deeply shocking and very worrying” and blamed the deaths on underfunding of the NHS. The research, by Dr Chris Moulton and Dr Cliff Mann, found that 960 out of 79,228 patients who had to wait about six hours died as a direct result of the delay.

This means that one in

every 83 people who have to wait that long to be admitted will die as a direct result of the delay in them starting specialist care for their condition, they said in their research, as yet to be published.

Similarly, 855 people died over the p ast three years because they waited about seven hours, as did 636 others who faced delays of at least 11 hours. An NHS spokesperson said, “Actually, the latest official figures show that your chances of dying if you are admitted to hospital are lower than they have been at any time in the last five years despite patients increasingly being older

and sicker.

“Doctors are also concerned that patients who have to wait with ambulance crews outside A&E units, because staff are too busy to accept them, are at risk. It emerged last week that a man suffered a cardiac arrest and died after waiting for an hour in the back of an ambulance outside Worcestershire Royal hospital.

Less than three-quarters (74.5%) of people who sought care at A&E unit in England in October were treated and then discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours – the smallest proportion since the target was intro-

duced in 2004.

That is far below the 95% of patients that ministers and NHS chiefs say should be dealt with by A&E staff within four hours.

The grim statistics are likely to add to growing fears in the NHS that services could really struggle to cope this coming winter with the annual spike in demand, especially if there is a major flu outbreak and with snow already falling in parts of England. Many hospitals are also finding it increasingly difficult to respond to a fast-growing need for both urgent and non-urgent care because at least a third of doctors have begun working fewer shifts as a result of a continuing dispute over their pensions.

Thursday’s figures – the last before the general election on 12 December – showed that of the 1,376,282 people who attended a hospital-based A&E in October 908,168 were seen within four hours but 311,513 were not. The data is slightly incomplete because figures from 14 NHS trusts which are taking part in a trial of a new measurement of A&E waiting times were not included.

in some cases illegible due to wear and tear.

The coroner added that no water rescue equipment was available to staff and they had not been trained in such rescues, and ride staff had “no clear understanding” of emergency procedures.

Now, Jones has asked for a detailed response to the report from Drayton Manor’s manager and replies regarding actions taken as a result of the HSE notice from all theme park managers nationally. The coroner has given until 8 January for the parks to respond, although that period can be extended. Copies of the report have been sent to Evha’s family and school, the chief coroner for England and Wales and Staffordshire’s Safeguarding Children board. The ride, which has been closed since the incident, will not be reopened without approval by the HSE.

Brexit Party expels councillor Detectives seek "crucial information" after tip-off in for racist comments On Monday, 9th December the Brexit Party expelled a councillor for making racist comments to undercover reporters.

Local Brexit Party councillor David Mincher and a regional assistant manager named Gordon Parkin boasted about trying to bury a pig's head under a mosque in Hartlepool and complained about Muslims "outbreeding us" during a Channel 4 undercover investigation.

They were also caught on camera using a series of offensive slurs against Muslims, black people, Pakistanis and Turks.

Mincher complained that Muslims "live like animals" and said he once tried to bury a pig’s head under a mosque "We tried to put a big pig's head in the concrete," he said. "We got over the fence. You know, when people were doing the groundwork. They had all the bouncers who do all the North East, were doing the security for that mosque. So when we got in they caught us. Just f***ing kicked us out.”

“Because we were going to take a video with a pig’s head under their concrete.

Let them finish it. Let it all get built. And then just send

search for missing Naheed Khan

Cllr David Mincher was expelled from the party for saying he tried to bury a pig's head in concrete when a local mosque was being built

the video and say, ‘Look there, there you go, you’ve got a f***ing pig’s head under your mosque there so you’ll have to get it all knocked down and redone again’. Or they just leave it, cos it’s desecrated ground innit?”

Mincher also recounted the story in the company of Rick Moore, who is a candidate in Blackburn.

Moore did not object to the exchange at the time, but later said he was tired and had "switched off" from what Mincher was saying. “I do not endorse his behaviour, and I can only apologise for not paying attention to what was being said to me at the time so that I could have taken action. I hope that Mr Mincher is dismissed from the party.”

Referring to the pig head story, Mincher later said he had fabricated it "as a stupid

act of showing off” to reporters.

Mincher was also caught on camera using racial slurs against Muslims, saying they live like animals, and also used derogatory terms against Asians and Pakistanis.

“Nearly all of Middlesbrough is P***s.

Boro’s f***ing rife with all the f***ing Asians now like,” he said.

Parkin, who was said to be the party's assistant manager for the North East region, also complained about Muslims "outbreeding us". Asked why there were fewer immigrants in the town, he replied: “They won’t have them. They f***ing persecute the bastards.” Hartlepool general election candidate and Brexit Party chairman, Richard Tice, said the pair have been expelled for their "appalling" remarks.

Detectives are urging someone who has 'crucial information' to help again, as they investigate the murder of a missing woman from Teesside.

Officers dedicated to solving Naheed Khan's case received new information in mid-November 2019 which they say could be crucial to the investigation.

For operational reasons, officers at Cleveland Police say they can’t explain how they received the information or specific details, but they say the intelligence could be of real significance to the investigation.

They are now directly appealing to those who have

Naheed Khan

provided information in the last month to come forward again as they may be able to assist officers with their enquiries.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Dimelow said: “I would urge the person or people who have provided us with crucial intelli-

gence to make contact and help us with our enquiries.

This could be the key to helping us find Naheed and bringing her back to her family.

“We have had support from people across Cleveland sharing our appeals, and whilst I know it can be frustrating that we can’t explain in greater detail about what we know, it is to protect the integrity of what is an extremely sensitive enquiry.”

Last month, Crimestoppers announced a £10,000 cash reward as an incentive for information on where the 43-year-old's body may be located.

Junior doctor and Miss World hopeful diagnoses fracture in rival's wrist A junior doctor who won Miss England diagnosed a fracture in a fellow Miss World contestant's wrist during rehearsals after other doctors allegedly told her it was 'just a sprain'.

Bhasha Mukherjee, 23, was approached by Miss Luxembourg, Melanie Heynsbroek, 20, during rehearsals for the world

famous pageant in London last week because her wrist was painful. The beauty queen (pictured) examined her fellow contestant's wrist and suggested an X-ray as she believed it was fractured - and when Melanie was rushed to A&E doctors there confirmed the bone was broken. Ms Mukherjee claims Ms Heynsbroek had already been to see a doctor

and had an x-ray in Luxembourg after she fell over at an ice rink, but medics missed the fracture.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

UK

7

14 - 20 December 2019

The valuable 500 campaign: Disability should not be at the shores of Diversity & Inclusivity

Loneliness, isolation, lack of understanding of invisible diseases and increasing pay gay.

Why is disability still at the shores of D&I projects in most corporate organisations?

Priyanka Mehta An Irish woman who is diagnosed with ocular albinism, has set up The Valuable 500 to end workplace discrimination based on disability. Aiming to get 500 leading corporate businesses to sign up to her campaign of disability inclusion, Caroline Casey had recently visited New Delhi to participate in a disability-focused event, hosted by Brookfield Properties in association with CII IBDN and Enable India. She says, “I set up The Valuable 500 with a simple mission – to urge corporates across the world to commit to the cause of disability inclusion. I wanted to challenge influential companies and corporates and send this message that disability should not and cannot be at the shores of Diversity & Inclusivity projects.”

Launched in Davos earlier in January, The Valuable 500 aims to get 500 international businesses to make this commitment. And in the process some of the most influen-

tial leaders associated with her campaign today include Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, and Jeff Dodds, Chief Operating Officer, Virgin Media. She has now also announced 17 leading Indian businesses, including Tatas and Mahindra, who have pledged to join The Valuable 500. India is currently seeing an increased awareness of disability inclusion as a pressing issue which businesses need to tackle. New research has found persons with disabilities form less than 0.5% of staff in India's top firms–yet between 10– 15% of the Indian population live with a disability.

Perhaps, a similar comparison can be drawn to the treatment of disability in the UK's corporate sector. Disabled people continue to face prejudice in their workplace especially if the latest government figures are considered which indicate that on average people suffering from disability are paid 12.2% less than those without impairments. The disability pay gap was however, widest for people classified as having a mental impairment

disability as part of their definition of diversity. She says “I think there is a lack of education when it comes to disability. Most people have a stereotypical idea of the definition of disability and are therefore very quick to judge when someone they perceive as able uses resources for disabled people. But it will be interesting to note that 80% of these disabilities are invisible, and it is important that people are aware of this and think more carefully about what disability means and the impact it Caroline Casey can have. I believe that – defined by the ONS as depresbusiness has the power to drive sion and anxiety, mental illness, social change and so it is time businervous disorder, epilepsy or learnnesses stand up and ensure dising disability. Various charities abled people are fully included in have also said that negative attitheir organisation.” tudes and lack of understanding of The Conservative government disability hold people back during promised in 2016 to halve the hiring and recruitment process. employment gap by helping an 90% of companies claim to prioriextra 1 million disabled people into tise diversity, but only 4% include work, although the party’s 2019

You’re not bad with money.

You’re just with the wrong bank.

Imagine a bank account with easy budgeting tools, instant payment alerts, no fees overseas and 24/7 support.

Start feeling good about money with Starling Bank.

Voted Britain’s Best Bank. Twice.

Download the Starling Bank app today.

election manifesto downgrades this by committing them merely to “reduce” the disability employment gap.

The study by Office for National Statistics also found almost one in five of Britons between 16 and 64 had a disability last year, with the proportion rising from 11.9% among the youngest age group, to 31.4% among those aged 60-64.

Now, loneliness and isolation among disabled people is a critical issue, with one in four feeling lonely every day with about 26 % people admitting that they avoiding engaging in conversation with a disabled person.

In the UK apart from Case, two of the other top BAME leaders who are championing for the cause of disability inclusion are Kush Kanodia and Raj Kalia. Businesses that aren’t inclusive and don’t manage health and disability effectively are at the risk of damaging their reputation among staff and customers. They could also face legal action if they fail to comply with equalities law.

8 UK

AsianVoiceNews

14 - 20 December 2019

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

I OWE SO MUCH TO SO MANY

Hello and Goodbye Dear Readers, The UK has given me a lot over the years. I have had a decent run so far and with the help of multiple people over a span of almost five decades, I have managed to build a respectful life in London. However, there was a time when I felt gravely overwhelmed with life here and had almost called it quits. In my previous column, I mentioned questioning my future in this country after a mere three weeks of setting foot here. To this day, I wonder how different my life would have been had I given up and returned.

So mere days after landing at Heathrow, a wave of emotions gushed through me. Work wasn't going as well as expected. Life felt expensive at that point.

Remember, I was only a student struggling to juggle a physically-taxing job, my classes, and my expectations from my own self. I returned home from a particularly difficult day at work and school. Fed up, I spoke to Tak and RL about my decision to go back to India. In their own ways, they tried to convince me to stay and explore potential in London a little bit more. However, I was adamant.

Determined to go back home, I went to the Air India office in London and approached a white woman sitting at the counter. Was I confident about my decision to give up? No! Having just spent three weeks in London, I believed the lady wouldn't understand my English. So I asked to speak to the brown gentleman nearby. Enter Mr Kapadia. Dear readers.

This man is quite possibly the reason I managed to stay back in the UK. Mr Kapadia asked me my name and we had an easy conversation in Gujarati. I asked for a ticket to India. A little perplexed, he asked when I would like to return? I said, no. Just a single ticket. Not returning. After a brief pause, he asked when I landed in London. I said three weeks back. He asked me if all is well. Is there a problem at home? Is a loved one ill?

I responded by saying I see no future in this

country. There is a lot of struggle so I would rather go back to India and start afresh. Mr Kapadia gave me a good stare for may be half a minute. I stood in front of him unwavering. I had to look self-assured in my decision.

After a few moments he said wait a minute! And went inside. Within minutes, he came back and said that he had spoken to his manager. Air India, according to him, gave away a complimentary ticket once a month as a reward to passengers for their support. Now, we are talking midDecember. So he said that month's ticket is allotted. "So IF you wait for 3-4 weeks, I can get you a free ticket in January.” The man, Lord be with him, asked me about my monthly expenses, did a brief calculation, said a ticket would cost me £90, so I should instead wait a couple of days, go sightseeing, experience an English Christmas, and all in all, I will still save £80.

Come back on January 10, he said, and I will make sure your ticket is free. Mr Kapadia was probably 10-15 years elder to me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "if you have already landed in London, why not enjoy it?" I was convinced. A free ticket to India? I was ecstatic at the proposition. I left the office convinced. What's a couple more weeks here, I thought.

It was a foggy day in London as I stepped out and made my way back to the house. As I reached closer to home, I saw a bright light shining ahead of me. TAKE COURAGE, the red neon light said cutting through the fog. I found a sudden change in my mood. Is this God telling me to keep strength? First a free ticket, and now a message from God? As I climbed the stairs to my room, I took each step with greater spirit.

I met Tak and RL. They felt I was being unreasonably panicky so they were not as much interested in my free ticket story.

They, however, noticed the difference in my demeanour and asked what had happened. I said God sent me a message today.

“He is asking me to take courage!” I said.

We later had our usual three course meal

Tanzanian diaspora in UK celebrates almost six decades of independence On 9th December, Monday President John Magufuli celebrated 58 years of independence from the erstwhile Colonial power of The Crown. Tanganyika became Tanzania after the spice Island of Zanzibar merged.

It was the first country in East Africa to gain complete independence on 9th December 1960. From the early 20th century, the distribution and extraction of diamond became one of the greatest pillars of the country's economy.

There is a long and complex history of Tanzanians in the UK, with various individuals of various ages, occupations and races migrating to the UK for numerous reasons. The expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972 significantly increased the number of South Asians in the United Kingdom. Besides the early

migration of East African Asians from Tanzania to the UK, since the 1990s there has been an increasing presence of the nation's indigenous Black African population as well.

Within London, the largest concentration of Tanzanians can be found in the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Lewisham, Hackney and Camden. Birminghamin the West Midlands follows with an estimated 4,500-5,000 residents of Tanzanian origin, some 3,500-4,000 individuals live in Reading, the figure for Manchester is slightly lower at 3,000-3,500.

It is thought that some 2,500-3,000 Tanzanians live in Milton Keynes, whilst the nearby settlements of Coventry and Northampton are home to roughly 1,5002,000 Tanzanian residents.

Slough and Leicester are both noted for having in the range of 800 and 1,500 Tanzanian residents each, whilst the cities of Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff and Edinburgh all have a presence of Tanzanian individuals in their hundreds.

Now, numerous people have sent their messages celebrating Tanzania's almost 60 years of independence.

One Raghuvirbhai Patel in his message said “I grew up in Tanzania and progressed steadily in the UK. I am grateful to both the countries and their people.”

We send our warmest wishes to Tanzania and their people.

Asian Business Publication Limited.

and then they decided to take me to a pub afterwards. Full confession, I had never been to an English pub before. The three of us went to a nearby pub and one of the guys asked for three half glasses of 'Courage'.

Apparently my special message from God was in fact, a beer advertisement.

My First English Christmas Well, I had a couple of weeks to bear and classes were closed for Christmas. I would go to the local library to read and Tak and RL had their respective jobs. Staying at home wasn't an option as the electricity and gas meters needed two shillings an hour to work. We used to be as frugal with heat and gas as possible and used both sparingly. So I would spend my time at the library, reading anything and everything.

Christmas finally arrived and all three of us went to Trafalgar Square to see the Christmas eve celebration. Thousands of people were assembled in the area. For me, it was the London culture that grabbed my attention the most. Strangers hugged and wished each other. Couples stood close and occasionally pecked each other on the cheeks. I was amazed at this distinct culture. There were also people who jumped into the fountains at Trafalgar. I was borderline amazed.

We then went to Westminster Abbey for the midnight mass. The christian ceremony had a grace of its own. It was rejuvenating and possibly for the first time since I landed, I was happy. I met several nonChurch goers at church that night.

Britain may be a secular country, but it is undeniably Christian in its society. The Parliament recently talked about Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, all being Islamic countries. In comparison, it makes me happy to say that India is not a Hindu country. It is a country where people of multiple religions live together.

Christmas is a time when people shop.

This trend hasn't changed in years. We would go to small nearby supermarkets too. Interestingly, there were no mega-

CB Patel markets in those days. I learnt how Sainsbury evolved from a small store near Holborn to a multi-million organisation, and how Tesco grew into a massive corporation from a barrow, in London. All these stores however, only stayed open till six or seven in the evening, and did not open on Sundays.

An idea sprouted in my mind. I wondered how much more they could earn if they learnt how to convert the traditional English grocery store into a self-service store. I realised that there was a big potential to it. This really helped build my future when I entered the convenience store business. Napoleon Bonaparte called England a 'nation of shopkeepers'. After the Ugandan expulsion of South Asians, they brought such a massive impact to British economy that even the media and the Royals took notice of their phenomenal success.

British Asians not only developed small stores, but pharmacies, restaurants, groceries, ready-made food items. The sudden boom in Asian, predominantly Gujarati businesses was such, that the Indian curry, a dish that made the Whites wring their noses with disgust, became a national dish.

There are thousands of Indian restaurants in the UK today.

Soon, New Year's Eve arrived. Life was more traditional in those days. English way of life came in stark contrast to modern life today. Families got together more often.

There was a willingness for co-habitation.

Dear readers, Unfortunately, we will have to cut short our trip down memory lane today. I have been proposed with an idea of converting these columns into a book and I am strongly weighing the possibilities. The past two weeks have been surreal for me as through sharing my experiences, with you I got to relive the moments. I may be 82, but I remember every single detail as vividly as the present. I am grateful for all the positive feedback this column has received. Until next time...

Cancer still a stigma among South Asian Recent statistics show there is a significantly lower uptake of cancer screening among the BAME population compared to the white British population in the UK – but also that earlier diagnosis can lead to better outcomes.

But some South Asian campaigners are now raising awareness, tackling misconceptions and addressing the assumption that cancer always means that one is going to die young.

Raveen Sethi legs were so itchy she was struggling to sleep. She’d assumed it was dry skin from the cold weather, but when her symptoms worsened, she went to her GP who told her it was scabie, a skin infestation caused by mites. She was given medication, cream, and advised to get her bedroom fumigated.

“I had found a lump in

my neck but didn’t think it was anything to worry about and didn’t want to make a big deal of it so just covered it with scarves,” the 24-yearold trainee financial advisor, who lives in Essex, tells HuffPost UK. “When we saw the dermatologist, she checked for enlarged lymph nodes and hinted it could be cancer. I found cancer was very much a taboo subject,” she says of reaction in her South Asian community when she told people. “They were shocked as they associated cancer with death. I felt like my diagnosis was the elephant in the room and people wanted to talk about

it but didn’t know how to.”

Having finished her treatment in September 2018, Sethi is now in remission. She still worries about a relapse – “people like to think it is in the past and don’t want to talk about it” – but she hopes speaking up will show other people they are now alone. “I have been surprised and pleased to have other people from the Asian community get in touch to share their own cancer experiences.”

Whether people decide to talk about it with their families or not, she adds, they need emotional, medical and practical support.

Talking can help people as we can talk about the uncertainty and help them find solutions to problems and make important decisions about your future.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

UK

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

9

14 - 20 December 2019

Birmingham gang jailed over Vijay Mallya in last-ditch battle to stave off bankruptcy 'chop shop' racket Twelve state-owned Indian banks are petitioning for ex-billionaire Vijay Mallya to be declared bankrupt over 1.15 billion pounds ($1.52 billion) in unpaid debts.

The banks and an asset restructuring company, led by the State Bank of India, have taken the tycoon to a London court in what lawyers have described as “the end of the road” in their long-running battle. Mallya hasn’t paid anything toward the debt, the banks’ lawyers told the court Tuesday.

It comes as Mallya, who founded the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., faces extradition to his home country of India to face fraud charges. He was granted permission to appeal the decision, which will be heard in February.

The bankruptcy petition was brought in the U.K.

because Mallya has lived there for around 20 years and owns a number of assets in the country, lawyer Marcia Shekerdemian told the court. These include a townhouse in London’s Regent’s Park thought to be worth more than 30 million pounds, a 13 million-pound mansion in Hertfordshire, three yachts and shares in Force India Formula One Team Ltd. The petition for bankruptcy should be dismissed because the banks are pursuing the same debt through the Indian courts on a diametrically opposite basis, Mallya’s lawyer Philip Marshall said in written submissions. At the very least, the hearing should be adjourned until the determination of Mallya’s appeal against the extradition order against him, he said.

Mallya didn’t immediately respond to a request

Vijay Mallya

for comment sent to him and his attorney.

He was arrested in London in April 2017 after 17 banks accused him of willfully defaulting on more than 91 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) in debt accumulated

by Kingfisher Airlines, which shut down in 2012. A willful defaulter is someone who refuses to repay loans despite having the means to do so.

Sikh peer seeks apology from BBC over radio censorship Sikh peer Lord Ranger has written an angry letter to Lord Hall, the director-general at the BBC, attacking the broadcaster for trying to censor fellow Sikh peer Lord Indarjit Singh and stopping him from broadcasting certain Sikh teachings on BBC Radio Four’s Thought for the Day programme after fears his comments may offend Muslims and has demanded the corporation issue an apology.

Lord Singh of Wimbledon quit Thought for the Day in October this year after 35 years in protest at what he claimed was censorship by the BBC and was particularly upset about a senior producer and was reportedly

Lord Rami Ranger

Lord Indarjit Singh

particularly upset abour a senior producer trying to stop him from broadcasting a message about the martydom of the 9th Sikh master, Guru Tegh Bahadur, last year saying the senior producer tried to pull his broadcast at the last minute as it was thought it might offend Muslim listeners. It was finally aired in

November 2018.

A reviewed that was ordered by senior management at the BBC rejected his complaints and in October Lord Singh resigned saying that free speech was being curtailed and has now started a new formal complaint against the comrporation which is still in progress.

Somerset Muslims say Islamic graveyard is needed Muslims in Somerset say there is a need for a dedicated Islamic graveyard due to increases in the local population.

Meraz Aziz, from Taunton, said the "Muslim demography is growing", with the closest cemetery situated in Bristol.

He said Muslim representatives had met Somerset West and Taunton Council, and would submit a planning bid next year.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said "burial space across the UK is becoming an increasing problem".

Muslims make up 0.3% of the total population in Somerset, according to the 2011 census. This included a 57% population increase from 938 residents in 2001,

to 1,470 in 2011.

MCB secretary general Harun Khan said the lack of burial space was either due to "a shortage of space in urban areas where there is a high concentration of Muslims" or "because there isn't a burial space for Muslims in the vicinity of smaller communities".

Mr Khan said: "This is something that does need to be addressed by faith leaders and local authorities to ensure there is sufficient provision of burial space for Muslim communities across Britain."

Funerals in Islam follow specific rites, with cremation forbidden.

"Islamic practices for burial are in line with the Jewish tradition, with Muslims striving to bury the

dead as soon as possible after death," Mr Khan said.

Meraz Aziz, from the British Bangladeshi Association, said: "Something needs to be started in Taunton because the Muslim community and the demography is growing.

"The diversity and all the minority communities here, they need to be looked after."

Speaking about the planning application, he said: "We've already spoken to a few councillors. They are very positive about that, they say they will try to get something for us this time."

Somerset West and Taunton Council said it would "look at the plans when they are submitted and want to work with the Muslim community".

A gang harvested parts from more than 100 stolen cars in one of the country's largest ever "chop shop" rackets.

Four men from Birmingham ripped up vehicles taken from across the country in violent car-jackings and burglaries to fix write-offs bought at auction.

The cars, one of which had faulty airbags, were sold on to unsuspecting buyers online without safety checks. Nadeem Arshad, Zahir Hussain, Mohammed Nadeem and Amaan Zameer were jailed at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday.

The four men were sentenced following a Newton hearing after admitting conspiracy to handle stolen vehicles and car parts.

- Nadeem, 28, was jailed for six years - Hussain, 31, was jailed for four and a half years - Zameer, 30, was jailed for five and a half years - Arshad, 42, jailed for seven years Zameer also pleaded guilty to assault with intent to resist arrest.

Separately, Lisa Spence, 34, admitted possession of vehicle log books for use in fraud. She was given a nine

Nadeem Arshad, Zahir Hussain, Mohammed Nadeem and Amaan Zameer all admitted conspiracy to handle stolen vehicles and car parts

month suspended sentence and ordered to do 100 hours unpaid community work.

On sentencing, Judge Michael Chambers QC described the operation as "sustained and determined".

West Midlands Police said it had linked the gang to 117 stolen vehicles worth more than £1m, but believed hundreds or "potentially thousands" more could have passed through their hands.

The vehicles were stolen-to-order by unidentified thieves, police said, and found at addresses in Charles Henry Street and Cheapside, Digbeth.

Nadeem, Hussain and Zameer were arrested after an owner tracked his stolen BMW to a third premises on Grove Road in Sparkhill and

alerted neighbourhood officers, who found the defendants inside.

One VW Golf, sold to a buyer for just over £10,000, was fitted with airbags unlikely to deploy in a collision, said police.

Detectives also found stolen parts being sold by the gang on eBay. "The scale that we've seen from these chop shops is unprecedented in the West Midlands," said Det Insp Hannah Whitehouse from West Midlands Police.

The force believes a 100 per cent increase in vehicle thefts in the past four years is being driven by the criminal demand for car parts and it is lobbying the government for improved regulation.

10 READERS VOICE

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

General election decision time The crunch time of the general election has arrived.

Votes will be cast on 12 December, 2019, no one know which way the dice will fall. Although Polls are predicting a Tory victory, but there is no guarantee it will happen that way. If voters vote tactically, then the likely result would a hung parliament or paper thin majority for Labour or the Tory party. This has been the most uncivil and divisive general election in the history of this country because of Brexit. The sole purpose of this general election was because the British parliament were unable to accept both the Theresa May’s and Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreements they had made with the European Union. The dilemma is that if the result of the general election is not clear cut, it will gets United Kingdom back to square one, the whole exercise would prove to be useless.

“Getting Brexit done” on the terms of Boris Johnson’s general election manifesto will inflict a hit of up to £20 billion a year on government finances, rising as high as £28 billion if the UK crashes out of the EU without a trade deal agreement at the end of 2020, a new report has warned. By contrast, analysis by the UK in a Changing Europe (UKCE) think-tank estimated that Labour’s softer proposed withdrawal deal would deliver a positive fiscal impact of £2-£12 billion, while the Liberal Democrat plan to halt Brexit altogether would provide a “Remain bonus” worth £12 billion a year to government coffers.

Despite Mr Johnson’s often-repeated assurances that “getting Brexit done” will bring an end to the threeyear period of business uncertainty following the 2016 referendum, the think tank found that it was “easy to imagine” outcomes that will “lead to an increase not a reduction in economic uncertainty”.

UKCE director Professor Anand Menon of King’s College London, said: “The harder the Brexit, the more difficult the already problematic economic and fiscal arithmetic will become for any government. “One way or another, this election may ‘Get Brexit Done’, but the economic impacts will be with us for the next Parliament and beyond.”

This is a crucial time to think very seriously and wisely before casting your vote. The ramifications of this decision will affect the future of the young generation and the one’s following them . One has to think about the national interest first and not of the parties or oganisations.

Baldev Sharma Rayners Lane, Harrow

Open letter to all candidates: My Vote Counts; Your Promise Matters!

Dear Candidates, I’ve now seen a few General Elections and I am particularly intrigued by the spike in activity on part of the Indian diaspora with active election campaigns during the current elections. A number of articles have been written about the recent events and why this Election is particularly important. My humble submission is: Every election is important and is an opportunity for electors to choose the political leadership both at National and the Regional levels. Every vote cast has its impact on what the next few years of Governance will look like. As a member of the Indian diaspora, I feel pained that my ethnic identity is being used as a tool to ping pong political mileage. Saying words of support for me at an Indian diaspora event or at a religious place isn’t going to cut it for me. I would like you, the soon to be elected representatives, to remember the positive contribution that we make to this country, that we call home and that which we pay to running, on the floor of the Parliament, where these words will mean a lot more. I would like to see each of those making tall promises of support to actually speak for us at discussions in Parliament, in law making and while my human rights are being prejudiced against. I call out to each party, each candidate campaigning and canvassing to seek my vote, to remember that My Vote Counts and your voice will count where it matters the most. It’s a partnership where if I sign my vote for you on the box, you have to remember your side of the deal too!

My Vote Counts; Your Promise Matters!

Thank you!

Lakshmi

MAKE YOURSELF HEARD Write to our ‘Reader’s Voice’ section about what you think regarding the various ongoing issues all around the world.

Please send your letters to aveditorial@abplgroup.com Make sure they are NOT more than 350 words.

Any letter longer than the limit may not be published.

Note that all your letters are subject to being edited by our team for valid reasons.

- Asian Voice

Big OCI confusion There is big confusion among people holding OCI documents. On the OCI website it states that it is mandatory for children to get OCI document reissued.

Whenever the child's passport is renewed and it is also mandatory to reissue OCI document after the person attains the age of 50 and when that person renews his or her passport. This is fine and clear. But when we contact the VFS offices who deal with this they and their staff say everyone has to reissue their OCI documents whenever the passports are renewed because we believe that they want more business. I would like to appeal to the HIGH Commisioner of India at London to clarify this matter urgently and state in Gujarati and Punjabi news papers about this confusion.

Vinod Dattani By email

Punchy columns that guides and educates Britain’s Indian Community Besides being regular contributor for twenty five years, I am also an avid reader of AV/GS, especially at election time.

Various luminary columns by Alpesh Patel, Kapil Dudakia and dedicated editor Shri C.B. Patel, “As I See It” guides, informs and educates us as how to vote tactically so that we have MPs and London Assembly Members who could safeguard our interest at the highest level. MP Bob Blackman, Sailesh Vara, Alok Sharma, Barry Gardiner, Navin Shah AM are few among many names that readily come to mind as friends of British Indian community.

One piece that I found enlightening and educating is under CB’s column, As I See it titled “Labour Party’s despicable “Divide and Rule” approach needs to stop”, as well as hard hitting Alpesh’s column, “United We stand, Labour In Panicked Damage Control” and “Do Not Mistake Us As Weak Walkovers Mr Corbin” a few among many such brilliant writings that should wake up British Indian Community that normally hibernates on political front.

While Mosques, Churches, Synagogues and many more such places of worship as well as Community Center do not hesitate to preach politics from the pulpit, inform their worshippers whom to vote for, our temples and Community Center shy away from taking stand, preaching neutrality, sitting on the fence with handmaiden attitude, that is until they need favours. Have we learnt nothing from our experience in East Africa where we stayed away from politics when we should have participated enthusiastically, joined political parties like, TANU, KANU, KADU and many more? Our failure to participate in politics led to mass exodus from these beautiful parts of Africa where we enjoyed highest living standard. Could it be blessing in disguise!

By the time next issue of AV drops through my letterbox, election result will be out. It will indeed be a test of our resolves on voting front. I sincerely hope that we have elected right candidates who are our friends, stand by us in our hour of need!

Bhupendra M. Gandhi By email

Rape: crime of ultimate revulsion Has India learnt nothing from brutal rape and murder of young medical student Nirbhaya in Delhi that sparked worldwide protest, obviously not! The recent case of rape and murder of a young veterinary doctor in Hyderabad aroused similar reaction blaming politicians of ignoring the revulsion of the entire nation, paying lip service to placate angry population.

This case has taken an unexpected turn, all four suspects shot dead by police, allegedly trying to escape when taken to the scene of crime. Could there be an ulterior motive behind shooting, as normal practice is that such dangerous prisoners are hand-cuffed, even chained when out and about, not in a position to attack police!

Although BJP government has passed some draconian laws, including death penalty, it seems to have no effect, as justice is slow, appeals and counter appeals, plea for mercy takes years to implement death penalty, thus negating the fear and purpose of the death sentence. Many law-makers have demanded even more severe punishment, name and shame criminals on TV; widely publish their photographs in print, public flogging, surgically castration of convicted rapists and few more.

Punishment alone is not the solution, as it is akin to bolt the door after horse has bolted! It should be accompanied by Education, Family involvement, Social media, Temple priests, Community awareness and few more steps to curb the epidemic of such crimes. Many blame Bollywood for spreading culture of loose morality, glamourize dirty dancing, flimsy dress-code and lifestyle beyond reach of 99% of the population, meant for escapism from the grim reality at ground level Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu suggested rethink, not allowing mercy appeals, fast track justice within fixed time-frame, in special court set up for such heinous crimes. How come people have sunk to such a depth of morality vacuum in the land of Rama, Krishna, Guru Nanak, Lord Mahavir, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar!

Name withheld By email

Kapil’s Khichadi To Her Majesty’s Government

Kapil Dudakia I request the upcoming Her Majesty’s Government, of the following: The Indian community in the UK is now one of the most important in terms of its contribution to the very well-being of this nation. Indians are integral in almost every sphere of life. We know how extraordinary we are in all professional disciplines, and of course all sectors of business and we put into the economy three times more than the UK average. We are one of the most law abiding communities in the UK. We represent a diversity of cultures, languages, faiths, cuisine, the arts – yet when it comes to nation building, we are one with the UK. So, it is now time that Indians also get the respect that they deserve from the Government and its policies.

In the recent years we have seen an attack on Indians by some politicians and activists who have used the situation between India and Pakistan for their own selfish purposes. We witnessed politicians inviting some extremists to the Houses of Parliament in the name of human rights, but their true intention was to promote extremist ideology. We have even seen the High Commission of India being attacked by Pakistani vandalism on India’s Independence Day. Freedom of Speech and Expression are great fundamentals for any democracy, however, these come with an equally high bar on responsibility. We cannot allow the rights of one community to be trampled upon only to appease another community. We have seen how the Jewish community has been attacked mercilessly.

Some politicians sat back and allowed extremists to gain momentum. Such momentum unchecked results in a community that now lives in fear. As a nation we cannot allow that to happen to any other community. Her

Majesty’s Government must ensure governance is done with equity, and not via appeasement.

For the sake of our democracy and the trust of the nation, Brexit must be concluded urgently.

The world is our oyster. It awaits a Great Britain that will be proactive in chasing every FTA there is on this planet. How we do business in the UK, and how we actively seek partners abroad must experience a sea change. The old methods won’t work and with those old methods, the old philosophy of the Empire years must be put to bed, permanently. As Mahatma Gandhi had said, we must be the change. Fortunately for the UK you already have Indians here who can help with this transformation.

Talking of democracy, is it not time we ensured that every legal voter must show identification before they are allowed to vote?

There are reports of illegal voting taking place, both at the voting booth as well as via postal votes. Some parties have made it an art form. The next government must make this airtight, there should not be any chance of malpractice by anyone. The integrity of each vote must be respected.

A country can only function if its economy is sound. So, the new government must ensure that the GDP is not only maintained, but we should be seeking to see a significant increase. With wealth and fair taxation comes the ability of a nation to pay for the services we all love and cherish. The NHS, education, the emergency services, the armed forces and of course the very infrastructure of the nation. All of these are costly and demand not just money, but adequate prioritisation. The fiveyear cycle is fit for short term political developments, however as a nation is it not time to have a debate on our needs for the next few decades?

(Expressed opinions are personal.)

We are grateful to all letter writers for more and more versatile letters well within word limit.

Please keep contributing as always.

If you are new, then write to Rupanjana at rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com - AV

www.asian-voice.com

EDUCATION

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

AsianVoiceNews

11

14 - 20 December 2019

Poor children lose out on exercise, research suggests

Labour pledges to cap class sizes at 30 pupils

When it comes to getting enough exercise, wealthier children are beating their poorer classmates, research from Sport England suggests.

Only about two in five children (42%) from lowincome homes do the recommended 60 minutes' exercise a day. But this rises to 54% for children from better-off homes, a survey of more than 130,000 five- to 16-year-olds suggests.

Children from more affluent homes also enjoy exercise more, the online survey of 132,835 children and 4,480 parents indicates, with 43% of those from poor homes saying they enjoyed being active, compared with 59% of those from wealthy families. There is also an exercise gender gap, the researchers say, with about

Labour is promising to cap class sizes at 30 pupils across all schools in England if it wins next Thursday's general election.

The pledge is an extension of the party's commitment in its manifesto to limit classes to this size at all primary schools. The party said it would fulfil the pledge by recruiting nearly 20,000 extra teachers over five years.

The Conservatives said English schools were rising up international rankings.

The party has pledged an extra £7.1bn by 2022-23 for schools in England.

Labour's pledge to recruit nearly 20,000 teachers is similar to a promise made two weeks ago by the Liberal Democrats.

Lib Dem education spokeswoman Layla Moran

accused the party of trying to "copy" them, but added that Labour had "no hope of meeting this target".

She said Labour would not be able to "square these promises" with leaving the EU if voters back the party's Brexit deal in its planned referendum, due to "thousands of EU teachers coming to work in schools each year".

Labour said the recruitment would be funded from an extra £25bn in schools spending over the next three years. The party has also committed to ensuring all teachers have formal teaching qualifications within five years. Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner told BBC Breakfast a Labour government could not make changes "overnight", but they would "reversing the trend" of

increasing class sizes and lack of spending under the Conservatives.

The National Association of Head Teachers said 47,000 secondary teachers and 8,000 primary teachers would be needed by 2024 to keep pace with an expected increase in pupil numbers.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said that in government Labour would "would wreck the economy, leaving no money for public services".

He added that figures this week from the OECD's international school rankings showed English schools had risen up the league tables. Mr Gibb added that schools in Wales, where schools are run by the Labour-led devolved government, were the lowest performing within the UK.

Oxford University has announced its first scholarship for disadvantaged black British students. It will be funded by US entrepreneur Arlan Hamilton (pictured), who created the Backstage Capital fund for start-ups run by under-represented founders.

The Oxford-Arlan Hamilton and Earline Butler Sims Scholarship will start in 2020 and run for three years. Each successful applicant will have their fees and living costs paid for a threeyear undergraduate degree.

Oxford University said it had handed the highest proportion of its places to ethnic minority students in its history in June. It said 18% of

undergraduates were from ethnic minorities, while 61% of students attended state schools.

Oxford has previously been criticised for being socially exclusive by former education minister David Lammy. Ms Hamilton said the scheme forms part of a programme she will fund in the United States to get more black students into university.

She said: "'I just really want someone who didn't or wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to this university to do so.

"I want them to be truly nurtured and able to focus on themselves, instead of worrying about the things, that perhaps, I have had to

worry about in the past - like how you are going to pay your rent, while trying to get an education. I want them to be able to focus on the things that fuel and give them life."

Each beneficiary will also be given a £3,000 internship grant to boost their employment prospects. They will need to be of black African, Caribbean or mixed race heritage to qualify.

half of boys but only two in five girls meeting the recommended minimum for sport and exercise. The researchers also found the black and Asian children were less likely to be doing enough exercise than the rest of the children in their age group.

The good news is overall exercise levels have improved slightly since 2018. Almost half of all children (46.8%) now take part in an average of 60 minutes of physical activity a day, up 3.6% on last year's figure of 43.2%.

Government guidelines recommend children and young people get 30 minutes of their daily physical activity during the school day and a further 30 minutes outside of school.

And Sport England says

the survey results indicate the rise in exercise levels has been driven by more children being active outside school.

Of the children who responded to the questionnaire: - 40.4% did 30 minutes or more a day at school - 57.2% did 30 minutes or more a day outside school But almost a third (29%) of the children were doing less than 30 minutes of exercise whether in or outside school, the research found.

The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey was conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of Sport England in the school year 2018-19 with online surveys completed in classrooms across state primary, state secondary and independent schools.

New GCSEs 'widen gap between Oxford University launches scholarship scheme for black students rich and poor' The new GCSE system in England is in danger of "further disadvantaging the disadvantaged", research for the social mobility charity Sutton Trust finds.

The study says grades for disadvantaged pupils fell slightly, compared to their peers, by just over a quarter of a grade across nine subjects.

These pupils were also less likely to get a 9 grade with 1% achieving this compared to 5% of wealthier children.

The charity says ministers must monitor the longterm impact of the reforms.

The report - Making the Grade, by Professor Simon Burgess from Bristol

University and Dave Thomson from FFT Education Datalab - assesses data from pupils at statefunded schools from 2016 to 2018.

It counts disadvantaged pupils as those "eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the six years up to and including the year in which they reached the end of Key Stage 4".

The researchers say it is at the grade 5 boundary where most of the negative effect of the reform on disadvantaged pupils occurs.

"Non-disadvantaged pupils were 1.63 times more likely to achieve grade 5 or higher following the reform, whereas they were 1.42 times more likely to achieve

How the new grades compare with the old ones

grade C or higher beforehand.

"This will matter if grade 5 rather than grade 4 becomes the expected standard for progression to post16 courses or even in university admission."

Gift your loved ones an Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar subscription for Birthday, Wedding & Anniversary Save lots of money by subscribing for both papers

● Exclusive news, Outstanding columnists ● Excelent value for your subscription ● For 50 weekly issues and several special magazines plus Annual Calendar

Your Voice for 47 years, 200,000 readers Please detach this form and send it with your payment or credit card instructions to address below

NAME ADDRESS

ear One y on for d ripti subsc amachar an ly n S o t s i Gujara oice in UK V n a i s A

Diwali magazine 2019 Please tick as appropriate:

❏ Gujarat Samachar & Asian Voice ❏ Gujarat Samachar

POST CODE TEL: Email: ❏ I’d like to be kept up to date by email with offers and news from ABPL I enclose a cheque/ postal order of £................... made payable to Gujarat Samachar Please charge my ❏ Visa ❏ Mastercard ❏ Credit ❏ Debit card for £ Card Expiry date Card No: Signature

RATES VALID FROM 1-2-2018

1 Year 2 Years

UK G.S. A.V. Both G.S. £30.50 £30.50 £36.50 £79 £55 £55 £66.50 £147

EUROPE A.V. Both £79 £131 £147 £252

Please Note: Subscriptions are non-refundable after 30 days

G.S. £95 £174

WORLD A.V. Both £95 £154.50 £174 £288

Date

CALL NOW 020 7749 4080

or Email: support@abplgroup.com www.asian-voice.com www.gujarat-samachar.com

GUJARAT SAMACHAR & ASIAN VOICE Karma Yoga House, Unit 1 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW

12 MEDIA WATCH

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

SCRUTATOR’S retains confidence to intervene in the foreign market to curb volatility. Net foreign exchange investment rose to $20.9 billion in the first half of fiscal starting April, ending March 31, 2019-20, from $17 billion a year ago, while net foreign portfolio was $8.8 billion over the same period.

Following turbulence and political uncertainty in 2013, prompted corrective measures by the RBI, it has since been a steady rise, with $175 billion added in the last six years (Hindu December 6).

The gang rape and murder of a woman doctor in Hyderabad was crime difficult to accept. It led to an explosion of rage with mass crowds calling for the execution of the perpetrators and venting their anger at the police and the state authorities.

Parliament in New Delhi was convulsed, but that said, there is need for serious introspection about why violence against women appears to occur with such disturbing frequency.

Sweden’s King Gustav and Queen Sylvia meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi

certainly could. Not so long ago, A Shiv Sena MP on the flight from Mumbai to Delhi was so uncouth and insulting to the crew that he was banned by the Air India management from travelling with the airline for a year or more (Times of India December 3).

Australian aid to Pakistan cut off

Protesting crowds in Hyderabad

Several years ago the horrific case of a young woman medical student returning home late at night on a public bus was so brutally raped that she never recovered and died of her injuries.

Now comes yet another case of a broadly similar dimension. ‘The short sighted neglect that keeps us locked up in our outrage has also kept us from viable solutions,’ commented American Gary Boyle with commendable insight following an incident in his own country.

In some European countries, Germany, Scandinavia, and in the United States chemical castration is permitted against repeated offenders. Before moving to such measures, India requires more effective policing for a start. There needs to be a more robust approach than somewhat casual response when such are reported, with concern and tact in questioning rather than abrupt proof from the victim. Fear of scandal and social ostracism keep some victims blanketed in silence.

Smoother court procedures, restrained but effective questioning of victims, efficient data sharing among police forces, better lighting of streets accompanied by surveillance cameras etc come readily to mind.

Better sex education in schools, less gender discrimination at the workplace or in employment, but coordination and urgency are key to tackling the problem related surely to a culture of patriarchy, deep, corrosive and utterly barbarous at its worst manifestations scarcely occasional any more. The hideous event at Hyderabad was transcended in Uttar Pradesh, for long India’s foremost bad land, a continuing bleak area of darkness. A young woman who was raped unable to get police attention, then

travelling to a local court for a hearing against the perpetrators, intercepted by them and set alight, then running, a ball of fire finally rescued but not before she had suffered 90 degree burns, carted from one hospital to another she was put on a flight to Delhi and admitted to a hospital there with modern appliances and expert medical care. Hindi and the culture of the Hindi heartland, said the Home Minister Amit Shah fairly recently was the ultimate expression of Indian identity. May the mercy of God be upon us and rescue us from rabid lunacies!

The print media and TV channels a vented public shame and anger. The Telangana State government has set up a fast track court for the Hyderabad outrage.

UP limbo is set to carry on.

Australia has ceased all bilateral aid to Pakistan including support for programmes for the uplift of poor women and girls, as the funds worth 19 million Australian dollars are redirected to meet to meet new commitments in the Pacific region, the aid to be phased out in 2020, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Economic Times December 5) .

Keeping tabs on China’s Navy The Indian Navy is closely monitoring the activities of of its Chinese counterpart of the Andaman islands, according to Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, addressing a press conference on the eve of India’s Navy Day. He also stated the Navy was in close surveillance of key maritime routes for terrorist infiltration into India (Statesman December 4).

India’s maritime Sentinel

more funding necessary, says Admiral Karambir Singh to the government, to keep pace with the demands of national security.

India’s geography with seas on three sides on critical maritime routes east, west and south, linking the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and their adjacent waters are the answers (Economic Times December 4). The late K.M. Panikkar’s monograph, ‘India and the Indian Ocean,’ published way back in 1943 to deserved acclaim, has been out of print for decades past, calls surely for an urgent reprint.

LinkedIn’s India in surge India is the second-largest market after the US, and the biggest in the Asia Pacific region. We also have roughly over 62 million users, second only to the US, the home market of the company. Its user base has surged 24 per cent a year to 62 million. Microsoftowned professional networking company is broadening its appeal in the relevant quarters. Corporate India are a driving force in its expansion but a broad segment of informed society are realising that is an effective way to build a personal brand and shape their narrative (Economic Times December 5).

Days after Sweden had expressed reservations on India’s Kashmir policy, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde met his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar, for talks on bringing their respective countries into a closer alignment on economic cooperation, including greater Swedish investment in India, multilateral global order, on terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism.

Warmth, Courtesy of Swedish Royals

Foreign exchange reserves soar

Sweden on same page on terror

King Gustav and Queen Silvia, have arrived at New Delhi on an Air India flight captivated the crew with their informality, warmth and appreciation of the service. A member of the flight crew said: ‘There is much Indian VIPs can learn from the Swedish King and Queen.’ The most

Naval chief Admiral Karambir Singh

and technology has been noteworthy as it ranks fifth globally after the US, Russia, China and Japan. The goal is to develop a 200-ship navy 2027 This has been a generational shift, with

Dr Manmohan Singh blamed the late Narasimha Rao for not taking pre-emptive action as home minister by calling on the army to nip in the bud the anti-Sikh riots of November 1984. (What was then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi doing?) Attacking a man long gone and hence unable to defend himself was moral cowardice of as low order. Years ago, Dr Singh paid a handsome tribute to Rao, saying how much he owed to him, when he (Singh) as finance minister unshackled the Indian economy from the entrenched, debilitating lobby of the old licence-and-permit raj regimes.

Margaret Alva Once a respected Congress leader, Margaret Alva censured her party leadership for their disgraceful treatment of Narasimha Rao, to whom the country owed much as he piloted it through its most dangerous decade since Independence in the early and

India, Russia in complex combat exercise India and Russia are set to commence a military exercise involving their Special Forces, warships, submarines, fighter jets and transport aircraft and helicopter and mechanised units of their respective armies. The exercise stretching from Babina, Pune, Gwalior and Goa will be conducted parallel to the one with the basic drill with China to the east in Meghalaya, from December 7 to 20.

Earlier, in mid-November, India completed a complex triServices disaster relief operation exercise with the US Navy in the waters abutting the coasts of Visakhapatnam and Kakinada.

(Times of India November 27).

December 4 was India’s Navy Day. Long the Cinderella of the country’s armed forces, its progress into the contemporary sphere, driven by advanced science

Manmohan Singh blots copybook

India’s foreign exchange reserves have soared to $451.7 billion on December 3, said the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India .Shaktikanta Das. The bank will now acquire the firepower to to act against the sharp depreciation of the rupee. The RBI has maintained consistently that it

Margaret Alva

middle-1990s. Akali leaders said they were disgusted by Manmohan Singh’s words. He now joins Begum Gandhi’s court with Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and others of the mafia raj (Hindu December 6) China’s Haier brings big bucks to India Haier Group, China’s white goods maker has injected Rs 775 crore in 2019 into its Indian business, its largest investment in a single year.

The announcement came in the wake of the disclosure by its subsidiary Haier Appliances India that its profits had more than doubled its authorised its share capital to Rs 4,000 crore. Analysts said that, going by the trend, more funds are likely to flow into the Indian unit in 2020 (Economic Times December 6)

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

UK

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

13

14 - 20 December 2019

British Sikh couple will adopt again after winning landmark battle against council A British Sikh couple plan to adopt again after winning a landmark case against the council who turned them away because only white children were available.

Sandeep, 38, and Reena Mander, 35, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, were awarded last week nearly £120,000 in damages after The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council rejected their adoption application because of their 'Indian background'.

And the landmark ruling at Oxford county court has encouraged the family of three to adopt again.

The couple were left stunned when told they would not be considered as prospective parents because only white children were available in Berkshire and the surrounding area.

Instead the pair turned to a US agency and after completing their profile a woman who was eight months pregnant chose the couple to adopt her white child.

Mr and Mrs Mander with their 18-month-old son who they adopted from an agency in the US

The Manders, were present at the birth of their son, who is now 18 months, describe him as a 'wonderful little boy' who enjoys swimming lessons, according to The Times. Judge Clarke awarded the couple general damages of £29,454.42 each and special damages totalling £60,013.43 for the cost of adopting a child overseas after ruling the couple had been racially discriminated against at the hands of their council. After the ruling Mr and Mrs Mander said: 'This decision ensures

that no matter what race, religion or colour you are, you should be treated equally and assessed for adoption in the same way as any other prospective adopter.'

Judge Melissa Clarke said in her ruling: 'I find that the defendants directly discriminated against Mr and Mrs Mander on the grounds of race.'

The couple, who were described as 'high earners' and earn a number of properties including their five bedroom home, had undergone seven unsuccessful IVF

treatments before turning to Adopt Berkshire in 2016.

But the agency said it did not have any children of Indian or Pakistani origin and recommended they looked to adopt in India or Pakistan.

Mr and Mrs Mander, both from Sikh families, were born and raised in the UK and attended Catholic schools. Mr Mander said: 'We would have been happy to adopt children of any ethnic origin.'

The pair tried to reverse the agency's decision through formal complaints and local government ombudsman and even secured the support of local MP, Theresa May, who was then home secretary.

Now, to keep their son's US heritage embedded in family life, the couple celebrated Thanksgiving last month and will be heading to the States on Tuesday where they plan to visit annually. But to protect their son's birth mother they have chosen not to release further details of their child.

CIIr Ketan Sheth Councillor for Tokyngton Wembley Brent Council’s Chair of Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee

Brent’s new ‘Gateway to Support Services’ for older people Older or disabled people who need help accessing community activities or advocacy, and carers who need support, will now be able to access support from various locations across Brent with the launch of the Brent Gateway Partnership this month. The Brent Gateway Partnership is a new partnership led by Age UK Brent, Harrow and Hillingdon with support from Harrow Mencap and Capable Communities.

The new ‘Gateway to Support Services’ hub will provide a joined up, seamless approach to delivering preventative social care services and statutory advocacy support in relation to the Care Act, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act, carers support services and social isolation prevention by enabling users to have a single point of access to a range of services. The hub model will promote community capacity and reduce demand on social care and health services.

The way individuals access the services will not change, they will still be able to access the service themselves or be referred by a professional such as their GP or social worker, but the new model means users will only need to speak to one provider who will assess their needs.

The hub model will also reduce the barriers that some of the Brent’s most vulnerable users face when accessing these vital services as these services will be locally focused, delivered from hubs across the borough and directly connected to the local communities.

Celebrating a decade of GP guilty of sex assaults on 23 female patients helping those in need A GP who cited Angelina Jolie and Jade Goody to instil fear in his patients about their health has been found guilty of sexually assaulting 23 women.

Manish Shah preyed on cancer concerns to carry out invasive intimate examinations for his own sexual gratification, the Old Bailey heard. He convinced his victims to have unnecessary checks between May 2009 and June 2013.

He was convicted of 25 counts of sexual assault and assault by penetration.

Jurors acquitted 50-yearold Shah, of Romford, of five other charges. They were told afterwards he had already been found guilty of similar allegations relating to 17 other women, bringing the total number of victims

to 23.

He will be sentenced for all the offences on 7 February. The BBC's health editor Hugh Pym said it was one of the biggest cases of its kind involving one doctor.

The trial heard Shah mentioned a news story to one patient about Hollywood star Jolie having a preventative mastectomy, before asking if she would like him to examine her breasts.

In another instance involving a different complainant, he mentioned TV personality Goody - who died of cervical cancer - and advised an examination was in her best interests, it was claimed. Prosecutor Kate Bex QC told the trial: "He took advantage of his position to persuade women to have invasive vaginal exami-

Manish Shah worked as a family planning specialist

nations, breast examinations and rectal examinations when there was absolutely no medical need for them to be conducted."

One of Shah's patients told the BBC how she became one of the GP's victims.

"He would say you need to have these sexual health

tests, to make sure you're safe - you never know if somebody goes with somebody else even though you might have a safe partner," she said.

"He was just encouraging the tests along when I didn't think anything of it, I thought if a doctor suggests it you pretty much go along with it.

"He just duped so many people. He used our weaknesses and fears and took complete advantage. But not one time did I actually think he was doing anything untoward."

The NHS in London said it "extended sympathies" to the victims and added: "As soon as the allegations came to light, swift action was taken and we have supported the police throughout their investigation."

Ex-Pakistan cricket star admits bribery conspiracy

A former professional cricketer has admitted being involved in a spot fixing racket.

Nasir Jamshed, 33, who played in 48 one-day internationals and two test matches for Pakistan, dramatically changed his plea to guilty during his Manchester Crown Court trial.

Two other men, Yousef Anwar, 36, of Littlebrook Avenue, Slough, and Mohammed Ijaz, 34, of Chippinghouse Road, Sheffield, had already admitted conspiracy to commit bribery before Jamshed's trial.

The plot was unearthed by an undercover police officer, who infiltrated the spot-fixing network by pos-

ing as a member of a corrupt betting syndicate.

The officer found that the plot involved opening batsmen in the Bangladesh Premier League and Pakistan Super League Twenty20 tournaments agreeing to not score runs from the first two balls of the match, in return for payment. At the trial in Manchester, the undercover officer gave evidence from behind a screen.

Voice distortion technology disguised the officer's identity in the courtroom. The trial heard that Jamshed, who has previously been banned from cricket for 10 years following an investigation by the Pakistan Cricket Board's

Home care providers Caremark (Slough & South Bucks) have celebrated their ten-year anniversary with a party for clients, care and support workers and office staff.

Guests enjoyed cake, prosecco and old-time music at the Windsor football club in St Leonard's Road, as well as a live performance from local pianist Fingers Fred.

Care Manager Suki Dhillon said: “It was such a special day for us. Not only did it mark ten years of working within this local community to help ensure those who need a little support in later life receive it, but it was also wonderful to see the smiles on our clients’ faces.

“Everyone who attended our party joined in with the singing and dancing. Even one of our oldest clients, Gladys Robson who is 99, came along and did the conga!”

Suki and her husband, Ranjit, opened Caremark

Suki and Ranjit

(Slough & South Bucks) in 2009 after Ranjit’s father found himself in need of a little support in later life.

The business recently earned a ‘Good’ overall rating from the Care Quality Commission and offers care and support services to vulnerable people throughout Windsor, Datchet, Wraysbury, Old Windsor and Maidenhead.

Ranjit added: “We’re immensely proud of what we’ve achieved in the last ten years and would like to say a huge thank you to our wonderful team who help us to deliver such a high standard of care every day.”

FINANCIAL A SERVICES

L to R: Yousef Anwar, former Pakistan cricketer Nasir Jamshed and Mohammed Ijaz

anti-corruption unit, was originally approached to go along with the scheme as a player. He later became a go-between to promote the plot to other players, the court heard.

The undercover officer found there had been an

attempted fix in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) towards the end of 2016, and an actual fix in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in February 2017.

Jamshed, Anwar and Ijaz will be sentenced in February.

MORTGAGES Residential Buy to Let Remortgages

PROTECTION Life Insurance Critical Illness Income Protection

Please conta act:

Dinesh Shonchhatra S Mortgage Ad dviser

Call: 020 8424 C 4 8686 / 07956 810647 77 High Street, Wealdston ne, Harrow, HA3 5DQ mortgage@majorestate.co om ~ majorestate.com

14 COMMUNITY

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Johnson woos Indians on a Temple spree On Saturday 7th December, just days ahead of the General Election, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson alongwith his girlfriend Carrie Symonds visited the famous BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden to woo the Indian diaspora.

Pledging to partner with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his mission to build a new India, Prime Minister Johnson said, "I know Prime Minister Modi is building a new India. And, we in the UK government will support him fully in his endeavour.

"British Indians have played a vital role in helping the Conservatives win elections in the past. When I told Narendra bhai [Modi] this, he just laughed and said Indians are always on the winning side."

Dressed in a bright pink silk sari, Symonds accompanied Johnson in her first official campaign tour which was also attended by home secretary Priti Patel.

Marking the celebrations for what would have been the 98th birthday of guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the president of the Swaminarayan Sanstha, Johnson also noted the contributions of the Temple and said, "This temple is one of the greatest gifts that the

Hindu community has given to our country. It is brought to life by the amazing community spirit that inhabits it. You are giving back to our society through the great charitable work that you do. London and the UK are lucky to have you.

"There can be no place for racism or anti-India sentiment of any kind in this country.”

In the meantime, Patel reiterated the party's commitment to introduce a new

Australian-style pointsbased immigration procedure for a "fairer" visa system for migrants from all over the world, including India.

"The vote to leave the EU was a vote to take back control of our borders, and that is exactly what a Conservative-majority government will do by getting Brexit done and ending freedom of movement.

Immigration will finally be subject to democratic control.”

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel at BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden

Impromptu visit to Bhaktivedanta Manor Krishna Temple

Carrie Symonds with Johnson

Sikh discriminated for beard, receives compensation of £7,000 A Sikh job hunter who was denied work at Claridge's because of a strict "no beards" policy has won £7,000 in compensation.

Elements Personnel Services Ltd refused to offer work to Raman Sethi, who has a beard, due to “grooming” standards from its five-star clients, an employment tribunal heard.

The agency had in the past received complaints from the hotels, including an email from Claridge's in April 2018, which read: "No pony tails, no facial hair...please ensure none of that here at Claridge's," said Judge Holly Stout.

But Judge Stout found that the hotels had not been consulted by the agency over whether they would make an exception on religious grounds and awarded him £7,102.17 compensation, including £5,000 for "injury to feelings".

The agency specialises in providing staff for London's five-star hotels including The Connaught, Claridge's and The Dorchester.

Mr Sethi, who is orignally from New Zealand, had attended a recruitment event run by Elements in November 2017 and was signed up, but was later told that they couldn't keep him on their books.

An email from Elements to Mr Sethi said that there “wouldn’t be enough shifts to give you” as hotel managers “won’t allow having facial hair due to health and safety/hygiene reasons”.

The email added: "I know it's part of your religion, and we have tried to accommodate to allow you to get started with us, but unfortunately no facial hair is a part of the fivestar standards."

Mr Sethi, who follows the Sikh practise of not cutting his hair, said he was "deeply hurt" and took Elements to the tribunal. In evidence, a member of the agency's management team argued that the requirements of their five-star customers were "entirely outside of our control" and that clients would send staff home instructing them to shave or they will not be given further shifts. The judge was shown complaints relating to grooming as well as The Dorchester’s policy for “Male Service Staff Face: Clean shaven, no moustaches and beards or facial hair allowed".

Judge Stout accepted that the agency had felt pressure to apply a "no beards" policy but ruled that it was discriminatory. She said: "The agency has not produced any evidence of their clients being asked about

whether they would accept a Sikh working for them who could not shave for religious reasons.”

"The possibility of clients making an exception to their policy for Sikhs for religious reasons had not, on the evidence before us, been explored."

Judge Stout added that Elements’ policy "places Sikhs generally, and it placed Mr Sethi himself, at a particular disadvantage because it is a fundamental tenet of the Sikh faith, to which Mr Sethi adheres, for a male to have an uncut beard."

After being turned down

by Elements, Mr Sethi has found shifts working at the five-star Savoy through another agency.

Speaking after the ruling, Mr Sethi's barrister, Mukhtiar Singh, said, "He was deeply hurt by the decision not to recruit him and, like many Sikhs, felt duty bound to fight for justice. The case is important because it shows that a no-beard policy will be subject to close scrutiny by the tribunals and courts.”

Mr Singh added that he was donating his fee for the case to the aid group, Khalsa Aid.

Johnson with Priti Patel at Bhaktivedanta Manor Krishna Temple

On Sunday, 8th December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an impromptu visit to Bhaktivedanta Manor Krishna Temple near Watford. He was accompanied by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who herself went to school in Watford.

The Prime Minister was taken through the £10 million Sri Krishna Haveli, a multi-purpose community facility, which is nearing completion. During the ceremony, he was given a traditional welcome of Sanskrit mantra ceremony.

Johnson was then led to

the beautiful temple room inside the main mockTudor mansion building donated by the late Beatles George Harrison. After receiving a ceremonial blessing in front of the famous shrine, he said, "I am inspired by the work of this Temple and the community here. It is not only a place of great spirituality of course, it attracts hundreds of thousands of people and the Manor brings all sorts of people together. It is wonderful to see this Haveli, which is almost complete."

The PM then vowed to return to the Temple when

the centre formally opens.

After the presentation of gifts and the Temple's famous sweets, the PM fed oxen from the Temple farm. Feeding cows or oxen is an auspicious activity in Hindu culture, where all animals are deeply respected.

“Bhaktivedanta Manor is place of worship and spiritual education,” explained Vinay Tanna, Head of Communications at the Temple. “Therefore is not affiliated with any particular political party.

However we respect and honour all who want to visit here, at any time.”

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

SP

TLIGHT

Jatinder Verma

Tara Arts, and Protecting Multiculturalism

Jatinder Verma

Sunetra Senior

J

atinder is the founder of Tara Arts: a key player in driving multicultural theatre throughout London.

Over the last 40 years, the lauded theatre company has helped raised the profile of a diverse range of diaspora narratives, from keeping alive the viewpoints of traditional culture to exploring the newer, existential questions of the mixed-race experience in a modern, post-colonial world.

This includes the company’s first landmark piece, brought to the stage in the mid-Seventies, Sacrifice by the famed Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore.

Jatinder commented: “It was great to be able to re-introduce Tagore’s work to Britain, and comment on what was going on in our own era.” A more recent production, which just finished its run at Tara, is Homing Birds by the Lahore-born writer Rukhsana Ahmad, “which asks if a place can ever be home without a connection to family and roots.”

was thrilling to see myself in the news, but at the same time disconcerting.

Immigrants were being told they were unwanted. There were rentiers with signs that said ‘No Curries’. It was ambivalent. We were being asked to come over, but targeted as a source of trouble in the public eye.” Today, Jatinder similarly reports “actors being slapped in the street, and a senior member” of his own staff being told to go back to her own country. He further reminded of the recent case of a Punjabi couple being refused adoption rights due to racial discrimination. Again, though our government seems to deny a nationalist stance, society’s actions say otherwise.

This cultural regression is due to the fact that the close-minded legacy of imperial nationalism has fundamentally persisted. In effect, we are not witnessing a new racism, but rather racism resurfacing. Jatinder elaborated: “colour is about more than skin. It is about the stories of a particular group of people, which have not yet made it into the

*** mainstream.” This can be seen clearly in Jatinder talked of the social context of the fact that traditional European plays Tara Arts, the first establishment to be are being rewritten through a colonial owned and run by BAME dramatists, perspective on bigger and bigger stages, when the term ‘black’ was a badge of but rarely “the historic plays of honour under which anyone who was marginalised people.” Jatinder continnot deemed the then lionised status of ued: “Yet India and Africa have such vast white could unite. “I welcomed the voicliterature denoting their own pasts – es of any marginalised culture, and hapwhere are they?” pened to be an artistic leader of South This is, of course, especially imporAsian descent”. Over time, individual tant since Britain legitimately shares a cultural narratives became increasingly close history with its ex-dominions. nuanced given the prior platform and Jatinder commented: “People like to an increasingly accommodating nation: believe we’ve taken tremendous strides “I have worked with some fabulous in cultural progress, but there’s been Indian actors, introducing Indian drastagnation. For example, 15% of Britain matic form into my theatre too.” is made up of BME communities, but Tara Arts has then charted the proonly 2% of arts funding goes to repregressive trajectory of cultural integrasenting arts led by minorities.” He tion from the time of mass migrahighlights a bureaucratic gap tion, following formal in equality. Indeed, presendecolonisation to the ter Anita Rani has also current era of globali“Colour is recently campaigned to sation with cosabout more than have Indian Partition mopolitanism at its nationally commemheight. However, skin. It is about the orated alongside a here Jatinder stories of a particular widespread call to poignantly emphagroup of people, which have colonial history sised a new yearntaught comprehening in minority have not yet made sively in the UK’s communities for a schools. it into the supportive social A consummate, space: “a lot of BAME mainstream.” conscious projection of a artists are again longing plethora of emotive perfor security in expressing spectives into the public realm themselves. They are feeling would unconsciously rewrite the wider unwelcome.” This mood is undeniably narrative of national identity to be more connected to the xenophobia surroundopen. Here, Jatinder quoted James ing the phenomenon of Brexit. Jatinder Baldwin as a famous post-colonial critelaborated on the resurgence of this ic: “he stated that you should not drown anti-immigration sentiment within the in history, but rather learn from it. In context of his own migratory experiterms of identity politics, you can either ence: spell ‘roots’ conventionally or as ‘routes.’

“I was part of the Kenyan exodus in The latter takes you forward while the 1968. This made national headlines at former traps you in the past. We can the time. I remember having a conflicteither be compelled towards making ed response as a fourteen-year-old. It

connections amongst ourselves in the future or continue to fear difference.”

He further emphasised the power of storytelling, or narrated accounts, in reshaping personal perception to accomplish this. “Just witnessing an alternative imagination invites you into the wonder of another world – you don’t even have to know the religion, nationality or culture to which it belongs.” For example, the company recently staged a children’s production, drawing on Hindu mythology: “The children were amazed to see an apparently mortal man, the God Krishna, contain the whole world in his mouth!

They were fascinated by this magic.”

This latent appreciation can certainly be applied to adults. To be British could easily mean feeling part of a vibrant democracy. However, far from coming to terms with the colourful inner architecture that constitutes it, the country remains beholden to a onedimensional concept of superiority.

Multiculturalism then cannot just be spoken; it must also be deep-rooted.

This is why Tara Arts’ sole force has been BAME subjective expression. “We want to utterly deconstruct the historic notion of ‘the other.’ It’s a western distortion. Historically in Britain, there has been conflict between Christians and Jews, then Protestants and Catholics, and now colour and whiteness.”

Finally, it’s the preservation of this particular harmful mentality that repeatedly catalyses hate. Institutionally overturning a splintered past based on this default psychology is to truly negotiate modern British identity. And so fittingly intuitive, Tara Arts not only tells of the importance of underrepresented stories, but also politically protects the strong character of multiculturalism that underlies them too.

Tell us a bit about an upcoming show?

Very soon it will be the 185th anniversary of the end of slavery, which marks the beginning of a new system of Indian slavery. At Tara Theatre we’ll be hosting a new play about Indians who were taken to Mauritius to work in British sugar plantations. This will be called The Great Experiment.

Tell us a bit about the Tara Theatre?

It is based very near Earlsfield overground station - which is only 10 minutes from Waterloo. As well as welcoming in a range of BME theatre, the physicality of the theatre is unique. It’s a meeting of East and West, and has been a source of delight for visitors and artists alike. We have authentic ancient Indian doors, welcoming in an audience to a stage floor which is made of earth.

The mood is very intimate, with comfortable seating.

Finally, exactly how can we make multicultural imagination part of the national dialogue?

Our own communities must become active champions of the arts.

We must demand that our stories be shown on major public platforms such as the BBC. Secondly, we must be philanthropic in our endeavours, being prepared to financially support our own young peoples’ efforts. Finally, we need critics to counter the way mainstream critics are looking at the world.

W: https://www.tara-arts.com/

UK

15

14 - 20 December 2019

WHY SADIQ KHAN DID NOT RENEW UBER'S LICENCE?

On 5th December Sadiq Khan revealed that "several breaches that placed passenger and their safety at risk" was one of the reasons Uber didn't have their licence renewed in London.

Khan claimed that a driver who was suspended for possessing an obscene image of a child was able to continue driving.

Speaking to James O'Brien on LBC, the Mayor of London said, "Tfl, as the regulator, has to have the safety of the public as a priority. Let me tell you the two biggest concerns that TfL have. There have been 14,000 times a passenger has got into an Uber car and the person they thought was driving them wasn't that driver.

"Then, number two, there have been examples when drivers had been suspended or dismissed due to serious concerns. I can now tell you one of them was a driver having obscene photographs of a child on their social media device.

"Yet those drivers who had been suspended or dismissed were able to play the system that Uber has and drive people around. "Public safety is a priority and the independent experts that TfL hired said the systems aren't robust.

"How can TfL not err on the side of caution and say we're not convinced, we're not going to renew your licence.

I don't care how big Uber is. When I am the Mayor, I want a system where everyone plays by the rules."

Now, Uber's rival Ola is expected to penetrate the London market in the American driving company's absence.

Andy Roe, London's new fire commissioner In the meantime, London Mayor has also announced the city's new fire commissioner, after Dany Cotton was forced to step down last week in the face of criticism for her role in the Grenfell fire. Her deputy Andy Roe will step up to the top job and lead “transformational change”.

The phase one inquiry into the tragedy found that the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) advice for residents to stay in their homes may have cost lives. It also found that the firefighters were not trained well enough to adequately deal with the disaster. Khan said, “The Grenfell Tower inquiry report made it clear there were institutional failures that meant, while firefighters performed with great courage and bravery, the overall response to the disaster was not good enough, and there are significant lessons for London Fire Brigade.”

Roe will be responsible in helping Sir Martin Moore-Bick in phase two of his enquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. The inquiry will focus on factors that lead to the fire, including the use of flammable cladding in the building.

LAWYER CYCLES THE LENGTH OF INDIA TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THE WIDOWS An International lawyer is taking on the epic challenge of cycling 4,500km across the length of India. Starting in the southernmost Indian city of Kanyakumari, Chris Parsons will reach Srinagar, Kashmir 45 days later.

Chris is aiming to raise US$450,000 to help impoverished widows and their children in India on behalf of The Loomba Chris Parsons Foundation, a UN accredited global charity.

Chris has been an ambassador for The Loomba Foundation since 2011, the UN accredited charity which was set up in London in 1997 by Lord Raj Loomba CBE and his wife Lady Veena Loomba. The Chairman of the India practice of the international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills said, “Unfortunately, many widows in India are left destitute when their husband dies. This is where The Loomba Foundation comes in. Through their empowerment programmes, the charity provides skills training and other support to help widows become self-sufficient so that they can support themselves and their families.”

Chris's prior fund-raising campaigns for The Loomba Foundation include cycling 2,000 km from London to Gibraltar in 2011 where he raised $200,000 which educated 240 children of widowed mothers for five years. Additionally, in 2015, he walked 30 marathons in 30 days from Mumbai to Bangalore. He raised $300,000, which helped to support 5,000 widows in the Indian city of Varanasi, home to some 90,000 widows, in a project that was launched by the Prime Minister of India. He said, “I have personally visited schools in Delhi where the children of widows have been educated, and I have also met a number of the widows – including in Varanasi – who have been empowered thanks to the support of The Loomba Foundation.”

16 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

INDIA

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

14 - 20 December 2019

17

14 - 20 December 2019

Despite media hype, no let in rape cases Implementing NRC and Citizenship Only the names have changed. The name of the city, the victim, names of the perpetrators…what remains the same is the monstrosity of the crime. A 27-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad was subjected to brutal sexual assault by four men in the Telangana capital, strangulated her to death and the body was burnt in an attempt to erase all proof. And, close on the heels of the Hyderabad case came another incident - a rape survivor from Unnao was burnt to death.

Protests spilled out onto the streets and reverberated in Parliament where some lawmakers even called for castration and public lynching of rapists. Amidst the outrage, surfaced the reports of encounter killings of all four accused in the veterinarian gang rape and murder on December 6 morning. This

People shout slogans as they gather at the site where police shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a 27-year-old veterinarian, in Hyderabad

‘Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives’ (27.9 per cent) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (21.7 per cent),

The four accused in Hyderabad rape and murder case

triggered a nationwide debate on justice delivery, with one side supporting it as speedy justice and the other raising concerns over 'extra-judicial' measures. All the noise camouflaged the plight of young woman returning home in Hyderabad and was gangraped and murdered. Just like the cry of the 22-year-old paramedic gang-raped and brutalised on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012, a crime that triggered nationwide outrage and protests, hastened the fall of a government at the Centre and saw more stringent provisions introduced in India’s rape laws.

Since then, “women’s security” has become political issue and an election slogan.

But not much changed in a country considered among the most unsafe in the world, ranked 133 among 167 nations in a recent report by Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security. An earlier global survey by Thomson Reuters Foundation had put India on top of a list of ten most dangerous countries for women, ahead of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Statistics bear out the stark reality faced by women in India, a country where the feminine form is worshipped as the mother goddess. Latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that more than 33,600 women were raped in 2017- that is, one rape every 15 minutes. Majority of cases under crimes against women were registered under

‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (20.5%) and ‘Rape’ (7.0 per cent). A total of 3,59,849 cases were reported against women in 2017.

Since 1971, when NCRB started collecting rape data, India has recorded a 1,200 per cent increase in cases of sexual assaults. What the data hides is the fact that among the accused are political leaders, elected lawmakers, self-styled godmen and security personnel; a CRPF jawan is among three people arrested in the first week of November for raping a minor in Uttar Pradesh. The story becomes even horrific when crimes such as the multiple rape-andmurder of an eight-year-old girl in a temple in Jammu’s Kathua surfaces, very frequently, from each corner of the country.

Nirbaya's parents' statements raised a fresh debate Indian legal system dealt with crimes against women, with inordinate delay, and sometimes outright denial, in justice. After the Hyderabad case, public anger reached such a head that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde responded. He said justice can never be instant and loses its character when it becomes revenge. At the same time, he admitted that the recent events in the country have sparked off an old debate with new vigour, where there is no doubt that the criminal justice system must reconsider its position and attitude towards the time it takes to dispose of a case.

"But I don't think justice can

ever be or ought to be instant, and justice must never ever take the form of revenge. I believe justice loses its character of justice if it becomes revenge," the CJI said.

Whenever a rape case triggers widespread outrage among Indians, political leaders respond in one of two predictable ways: some find a way to blame the raped woman for her fate, while others demand stricter laws and harsher punishments for rapists. While castration, lynching or public hangings of rapists would obviously be against the law, calls for more stringent punishments for rape are just as baffling for lawyers and activists who work on rape cases in India. In February 2013, the government did get a stricter rape law in response to the public outrage after

delivery improved in cases of rape? Here's a look at the legal status of some of the cases that shook the nation.

Unnao rape case The 2017 case of alleged kidnapping and rape of the then minor girl by ex-BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao was transferred by the Supreme Court to a trial court in Delhi with a direction to CBI to complete the investigation within seven days. On August 2 it directed that CBI could avail additional seven days in exceptional circumstances. The court initiated 'in-camera' proceedings from September 11 at AIIMS, where she was admitted after an accident on July 28, for recording her statement. The victim and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts were killed in the accident.

Former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is the main accused in the Unnao rape case.

Nirbhaya case. While the punishment for rape remains seven years of imprisonment extendable to life term, the new law provides for 20 years to life imprisonment for gangrape and allows death penalty for repeat offenders. Other laws, too, have been amended to introduce harsher punishments for rape. In 2015, the Juvenile Justice Act was amended to allow minors between age 16 and 18 to be tried as adults in cases of murder and rape. In 2018, the central government introduced the death penalty for those who rape children under the age of 12.

The laws, according to several lawyers, are now stringent enough. But do stricter punishments effectively work to reduce rape? Do they help make women safer? Since 2013, how much has justice

Besides the main rape case and the accident case, three other matters transferred to Delhi are -- the FIR against victim's father under Arms Act; his custodial death and a separate gang rape of the victim.

The three accused in the gang rape case -- Naresh Tiwari, Brijesh Yadav Singh and Shubham Singh -- are all out on bail. The final arguments in the case are on under District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, who recently concluded recording statements of defence witnesses and started hearing the CBI's arguments.

Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case Several minor girls were sexually and physically assaulted in a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, which came to light after a TISS report was given to the Bihar government on May 26, 2018, in which for-

mer Bihar People's Party MLA Brajesh Thakur is the prime accused. The verdict in the case is likely on December 12, a month after its earlier decided date.

The CBI told the special court that there was enough evidence against all the 20 accused in the case.

On May 29 last year the state government shifted the girls from the shelter home to other protection homes and on May 31 the FIR was lodged against the 11 accused in the case. The Supreme Court on August 2 took cognisance of the case and transferred the probe to CBI on November 28.

On February 7 this year, the cases were transferred from a local court in Muzaffarpur to a POCSO court at Saket district court in Delhi. The court reserved order on September 30 after final arguments by the CBI counsel and 11 accused in the case, also including exBihar Social Welfare Minister and the then JD(U) leader Manju Verma, who faced flak as allegations surfaced that Thakur had links with her husband.

Nirbhaya rape case In the December 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case of a 23-year old paramedic student in Delhi, the Supreme Court in July last year dismissed review pleas of three of the four convicts, upholding their death penalty.

It rejected the review pleas filed by Mukesh (30), Gupta (23) and Sharma (23), saying no grounds were made out by them for a review of the verdict. The fourth death row convict, Singh (32), did not file a review petition against the apex court's May 5, 2017 judgment.

Recently three convicts, facing gallows in the gang rape and murder case, wrote to the jail authorities, seeking withdrawal of an October 29 notification granting them seven days' time to file mercy pleas with the President against their execution. The jail authorities had informed the Nirbhaya gang rape case convicts that they had exhausted all legal remedies and were only left with the provision of filing a mercy petition against the death sentence before the President. The top court, in its 2017 verdict, upheld the capital

victed by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

Kathua rape case The 2018 rape and murder of an 8-year-old nomadic girl in a Kathua village had seen conviction of six people. Four months later, in October, a court in Jammu, however, directed the police to register an FIR against six members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which probed the case, for allegedly torturing and coercing witnesses to give false statements. Judicial Magistrate Prem Sagar gave the direction to senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Jammu on an application by Sachin Sharma, Neeraj Sharma and Sahil Sharma, who were witnesses in the case, saying cognizable offences are made out against the six.

In June this year, District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh sentenced to life imprisonment the three main accused, while awarding five years in jail to three others for destruction of evidence in the case that shook the nation. The trial was shifted to Pathankot in Punjab on the order of the Supreme Court after lawyers in Kathua attempted to prevent submission of the charge sheet in court. Day-to-day in-camera trial was held for a year.

According to the charge sheet, the girl who was kidnapped on January 10 last year, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in the district after being kept sedated for four days before she was bludgeoned to death. The abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area, it said.

The rise of crime against women and rape cases in India is alarming. It has unfortunately become a routine to find mention of few rape incidents on a daily basis in the news reports. One of the major reason of no deterrence or increase of the incidents of rape in India is its judicial system which takes extremely long time in punishing the perpetrator and this delayed rather lethargic judicial process has become a routine in all cases of rape including even those cases which have been reported

People hitting streets seeking speedier and exemplary punishment to rapists.

punishment awarded to them

by Delhi High Court and trial court. One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was con-

widely, generated huge public uproar, been debated for days together. This delay is not attributable to one wing of the justice delivery system but virtually to all - the police, judicial process and the legislators.

Bill fraught with challenges

On November 20, Home Minister Amit Shah said the government intends to launch a nationwide National Registry of Citizens (NRC), an ambitious exercise to identify and separate legal citizens and illegal immigrants.

Residents will have to produce proof confirming that they were born in India and that their parents were Indian citizens.

The BJP’s intention behind this exercise needs a closer scrutiny. It is important to note that issues like building a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya had increased the party’s popularity and expanded its voter base.

The party had promised a countrywide NRC in its manifesto for 2019 elections.

According to political observers, the rhetoric of eliminating these immigrants who are mostly Muslims could be music to the ears of BJP’s hard fans. The influx of illegal immigrants to India, especially in states such as Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, is a grave concern. A large number of these illegal immigrants reside under a fake identity and many have allegedly become core vote banks for a few political parties.

Immediately after the home minister’s statement, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had vehemently opposed any such move in her state. “No one could take anyone's citizenship away in Bengal,” she had said. But can an all-India NRC address this complex issue?

Amit Shah assured that all citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list and that NRC is different from the Citizenship Amendment Bill. "NRC has no such provision which says that certain religions will be excluded from it. All citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list. The NRC is different from Citizenship Amendment Bill," Amit Shah said in his address to the Rajya Sabha. He added, "The process of NRC will be carried out across the country. No one, irrespective of religion should be worried, it is just a process to get everyone under the NRC." NRC and CAB backers say illegal Muslim settlers have been steadily expanding their footprint across the country.

One unofficial estimate puts the number of Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims in Jammu alone at 50,000, their numbers having built up over the past decade with the blessings of local politicians, including some from the BJP. Another case is that of about 750 Rohingyas illicitly running a madrasa in Aligarh. They reportedly arrived in Delhi via Kolkata in 2012, and proceeded to Aligarh, where the Deoband network allegedly helped them settle down.

father makes it to the list but porous the system is. At the One view is that the BJP his children don’t. A pan-India same time, feel the observers, brought CAB to accommodate registry would be an entirely scores of Hindu migrants from Hindu and other non-Muslim different exercise than the Bangladesh, who settled in migrants who fled Bangladesh, Assam NRC which was just an Assam, did not get such assisPakistan and Afghanistan due update on the 1951 citizens’ list. tance and landed in trouble to religious persecution, as According to the information during the NRC exercise in the against Muslim migrants who shared by Indian Civil Liberties state. The estimated 1.9 million infiltrated due to economic Union, in a pan-India NRC people excluded from the NRC reasons. Proponents of this exercise, those born before list include a high number of view claim pro-Muslim parties 1987 will have to show that Hindus. This has prompted the and organisations have they were born in India before Assam unit of the BJP to launched a two-pronged attack July 1987. Those born after July demand a fresh NRC in the to serve their constituency - on 1987 but before December state. the one hand, criticise NRC in 2004 will have to prove two An uphill task an attempt to prevent it from things: a) they were born in Its difficult to implement the weeding out Muslim infiltraIndia, and b) proof that either entire exercise with a populators, and on the other, build pressure on the Modi government to add Muslims to the list of refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who will be eligible for Indian citizenship under CAB. NRC backers feel that the Narendra Modi government is rectifying a 'historical wrong' through this exercise. To them, the genesis of NRC is not in communal politics, but in the vote-bank A protest against Assam's National Register Citizen draft in Kolkata. politics of Congress of their parents are/were tion of 1.25 billion people of regimes in the 1960s and 1970s, Indian citizens. Those born which 700 to 800 million peowhich compromised both the after 2004 will have to prove ple may not even have birth interests of indigenous people that both their parents are certificates. By a mere adminisin Assam as well as national Indian citizens. In case their trative exercise, one cannot security. Congress politicians parents have different nationcome to a definitive finding are accused of looking the alities, they will need to prove that somebody is not a citizen. other way when leaders of panthat one of the parents is The exercise will end up with a Islamist movements were welIndian citizen and the other lot of undocumented inhabicoming illegal Muslim settlers parent is not an illegal immitants. It doesn’t help that preto Assam and helping them grant. vious such nationwide exercissettle down.

The govt's NRC game plan es by the government have However, observers feel Proving someone an illegal turned out to be damp squibs. that the home minister's asserimmigrant could, therefore, be The adverse aftermath of tion that the NRC exercise will a lengthy process. And the demonetisation is still being be completed before the 2024 questions don’t end here. debated with lack of data to Lok Sabha election and all ille“What will the government do prove if it actually curbed black gal settlers will be expelled with the identified illegal money. Similarly, the goods from the country is in variance immigrants?” asks foreign and services tax is being with the situation on the affairs expert Sushant Sareen. blamed for destabilising the ground. A credible pan-India “Supposedly, you identify 20 unorganised sector.

NRC exercise will require honmillion people as illegal immiLikewise, the implementaest police and administrative grants across India, where will tion of NRC in Assam was officials on a wide scale so that the government deport these nothing short of a disaster. the infiltrators are identified. people? Will any country volThere are claims that many That a high number of illegal untarily or willingly accept illegal residents have been migrants have managed to such a huge number? Will the included in the list and several obtain crucial government government put 20 million indigenous residents have identification documents, such people in detention centres? been kept out. There have also as Aadhaar and voter cards, as Who will bear the cost of runbeen cases where a brother well electricity and cooking gas ning these detention centres?” finds his name on the list but connections, with the help of asks Sareen. Given the chalhis siblings are kept out, or a conniving officials shows how

lenges to this perceivable mammoth exercise and the uncertain outcome, many suspect the ruling party’s intention behind announcing a nationwide NRC by 2024.

Responding to such fears, the home minister had clarified in the Rajya Sabha that a pan-India NRC will not target any particular religion. But critics refuse to trust Shah’s assurance.

Call for free and open debate The government is planning to update the National Population Register (NPR) by September 2020.

Once the NPR is completed and published, it is expected to be the basis for preparing the National Register of Indian Citizens.

Activists demand that the government must conduct a free and open debate in Parliament before launching a nationwide NRC. Says Civil rights activist Teesta S e t a l v a d : “Citizenship in India is based on the nonnegotiable principles of equality and non-discrimination.

Moreover, there are clear constitutional and legal bindings.

This government, therefore, needs to answer a) if the NRC exercise will be an inclusive constitutional process b) what will be the criteria for being registered (included) or left out (excluded) from the NPR process which will precede the NRC and lead to it. What are the documents that will be required? c) What will be the cut-off date?”

Setalvad further highlights the problem of undocumented genuine Indians who might become the first casualties of NRC. “UNICEF figures point to the fact that only 52 per cent births are registered in India.

Not all Indians have a passport, many don’t own land, there is a huge migrant labour population across the country who don’t have basic voting rights even after 70 years of independence, and only 240 million people have homes in their own name,” Setalvad pointed

out. She says the government must publicly and rationally debate these issues in Parliament before rolling out NRC across India. “In Assam, several marginalised sections, Bengali Hindus as much as Muslims were deliberately kept out,” she noted.

In a survey conducted by the Rights and Risks Analysis Group, it was found that in Assam, each person excluded from the list spent Rs 19,065 on an average to challenge their exclusion before Foreigners' Tribunals. The Assam NRC has reportedly cost the exchequer about £160 million for a population of 32.9 million. Imagine the financial burden on the taxpayer for 1.3 billion people.

With the government struggling to meet its committed expenditures, is there room to spend millions on an exercise that may only lead to further chaos? Or is this just another divisive propaganda aimed at the 2024 elections?

NRC & CAB two sides of the same coin: Mamata Banerjee West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) are two sides of the same coin and the Trinamool Congress will oppose it till the end. Speaking at a party programme in Kolkata, Mamata said the NRC and CAB were being taken up by the Centre to divert attention of the people from the economic slowdown. “If you give citizenship to all the communities, we will accept it. But if you discriminate on the basis of religion, we will oppose it and also fight against it,” the chief minister said.

CAB, NRC will divide nation in the name of religion: Protestors The silent protest under the banner of ‘Citizens against NRC and CAB’ witnessed a huge gathering in Hyderabad demanding the Central government to withdraw the bills.

The protestors also demanded that TRS and other political parties, who believe in the Constitution should oppose the bills in the parliament.

Expressing unhappiness about both the bills, Kiran Kumar, president of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, said “The CAB is a discriminatory bill. It is for the first time that a religious element is being introduced in India’s citizenship law. Under the garb of saving people suffering from religious persecution, the government is doing sinister things. There are existing laws for giving citizenship status and what is need for new bills for selective religions only,” he wondered.

Talking about the NRC, he said the bill will make life of poor people difficult, as they do not have land in their name and will be difficult for them to produce documents. Calling the CAB bill anti-nation, the protestors claimed that the bill would divide the nation.

16 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

INDIA

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

14 - 20 December 2019

17

14 - 20 December 2019

Despite media hype, no let in rape cases Implementing NRC and Citizenship Only the names have changed. The name of the city, the victim, names of the perpetrators…what remains the same is the monstrosity of the crime. A 27-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad was subjected to brutal sexual assault by four men in the Telangana capital, strangulated her to death and the body was burnt in an attempt to erase all proof. And, close on the heels of the Hyderabad case came another incident - a rape survivor from Unnao was burnt to death.

Protests spilled out onto the streets and reverberated in Parliament where some lawmakers even called for castration and public lynching of rapists. Amidst the outrage, surfaced the reports of encounter killings of all four accused in the veterinarian gang rape and murder on December 6 morning. This

People shout slogans as they gather at the site where police shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a 27-year-old veterinarian, in Hyderabad

‘Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives’ (27.9 per cent) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (21.7 per cent),

The four accused in Hyderabad rape and murder case

triggered a nationwide debate on justice delivery, with one side supporting it as speedy justice and the other raising concerns over 'extra-judicial' measures. All the noise camouflaged the plight of young woman returning home in Hyderabad and was gangraped and murdered. Just like the cry of the 22-year-old paramedic gang-raped and brutalised on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012, a crime that triggered nationwide outrage and protests, hastened the fall of a government at the Centre and saw more stringent provisions introduced in India’s rape laws.

Since then, “women’s security” has become political issue and an election slogan.

But not much changed in a country considered among the most unsafe in the world, ranked 133 among 167 nations in a recent report by Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security. An earlier global survey by Thomson Reuters Foundation had put India on top of a list of ten most dangerous countries for women, ahead of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Statistics bear out the stark reality faced by women in India, a country where the feminine form is worshipped as the mother goddess. Latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that more than 33,600 women were raped in 2017- that is, one rape every 15 minutes. Majority of cases under crimes against women were registered under

‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (20.5%) and ‘Rape’ (7.0 per cent). A total of 3,59,849 cases were reported against women in 2017.

Since 1971, when NCRB started collecting rape data, India has recorded a 1,200 per cent increase in cases of sexual assaults. What the data hides is the fact that among the accused are political leaders, elected lawmakers, self-styled godmen and security personnel; a CRPF jawan is among three people arrested in the first week of November for raping a minor in Uttar Pradesh. The story becomes even horrific when crimes such as the multiple rape-andmurder of an eight-year-old girl in a temple in Jammu’s Kathua surfaces, very frequently, from each corner of the country.

Nirbaya's parents' statements raised a fresh debate Indian legal system dealt with crimes against women, with inordinate delay, and sometimes outright denial, in justice. After the Hyderabad case, public anger reached such a head that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde responded. He said justice can never be instant and loses its character when it becomes revenge. At the same time, he admitted that the recent events in the country have sparked off an old debate with new vigour, where there is no doubt that the criminal justice system must reconsider its position and attitude towards the time it takes to dispose of a case.

"But I don't think justice can

ever be or ought to be instant, and justice must never ever take the form of revenge. I believe justice loses its character of justice if it becomes revenge," the CJI said.

Whenever a rape case triggers widespread outrage among Indians, political leaders respond in one of two predictable ways: some find a way to blame the raped woman for her fate, while others demand stricter laws and harsher punishments for rapists. While castration, lynching or public hangings of rapists would obviously be against the law, calls for more stringent punishments for rape are just as baffling for lawyers and activists who work on rape cases in India. In February 2013, the government did get a stricter rape law in response to the public outrage after

delivery improved in cases of rape? Here's a look at the legal status of some of the cases that shook the nation.

Unnao rape case The 2017 case of alleged kidnapping and rape of the then minor girl by ex-BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar in Unnao was transferred by the Supreme Court to a trial court in Delhi with a direction to CBI to complete the investigation within seven days. On August 2 it directed that CBI could avail additional seven days in exceptional circumstances. The court initiated 'in-camera' proceedings from September 11 at AIIMS, where she was admitted after an accident on July 28, for recording her statement. The victim and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts were killed in the accident.

Former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is the main accused in the Unnao rape case.

Nirbhaya case. While the punishment for rape remains seven years of imprisonment extendable to life term, the new law provides for 20 years to life imprisonment for gangrape and allows death penalty for repeat offenders. Other laws, too, have been amended to introduce harsher punishments for rape. In 2015, the Juvenile Justice Act was amended to allow minors between age 16 and 18 to be tried as adults in cases of murder and rape. In 2018, the central government introduced the death penalty for those who rape children under the age of 12.

The laws, according to several lawyers, are now stringent enough. But do stricter punishments effectively work to reduce rape? Do they help make women safer? Since 2013, how much has justice

Besides the main rape case and the accident case, three other matters transferred to Delhi are -- the FIR against victim's father under Arms Act; his custodial death and a separate gang rape of the victim.

The three accused in the gang rape case -- Naresh Tiwari, Brijesh Yadav Singh and Shubham Singh -- are all out on bail. The final arguments in the case are on under District Judge Dharmesh Sharma, who recently concluded recording statements of defence witnesses and started hearing the CBI's arguments.

Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case Several minor girls were sexually and physically assaulted in a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, which came to light after a TISS report was given to the Bihar government on May 26, 2018, in which for-

mer Bihar People's Party MLA Brajesh Thakur is the prime accused. The verdict in the case is likely on December 12, a month after its earlier decided date.

The CBI told the special court that there was enough evidence against all the 20 accused in the case.

On May 29 last year the state government shifted the girls from the shelter home to other protection homes and on May 31 the FIR was lodged against the 11 accused in the case. The Supreme Court on August 2 took cognisance of the case and transferred the probe to CBI on November 28.

On February 7 this year, the cases were transferred from a local court in Muzaffarpur to a POCSO court at Saket district court in Delhi. The court reserved order on September 30 after final arguments by the CBI counsel and 11 accused in the case, also including exBihar Social Welfare Minister and the then JD(U) leader Manju Verma, who faced flak as allegations surfaced that Thakur had links with her husband.

Nirbhaya rape case In the December 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case of a 23-year old paramedic student in Delhi, the Supreme Court in July last year dismissed review pleas of three of the four convicts, upholding their death penalty.

It rejected the review pleas filed by Mukesh (30), Gupta (23) and Sharma (23), saying no grounds were made out by them for a review of the verdict. The fourth death row convict, Singh (32), did not file a review petition against the apex court's May 5, 2017 judgment.

Recently three convicts, facing gallows in the gang rape and murder case, wrote to the jail authorities, seeking withdrawal of an October 29 notification granting them seven days' time to file mercy pleas with the President against their execution. The jail authorities had informed the Nirbhaya gang rape case convicts that they had exhausted all legal remedies and were only left with the provision of filing a mercy petition against the death sentence before the President. The top court, in its 2017 verdict, upheld the capital

victed by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

Kathua rape case The 2018 rape and murder of an 8-year-old nomadic girl in a Kathua village had seen conviction of six people. Four months later, in October, a court in Jammu, however, directed the police to register an FIR against six members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which probed the case, for allegedly torturing and coercing witnesses to give false statements. Judicial Magistrate Prem Sagar gave the direction to senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Jammu on an application by Sachin Sharma, Neeraj Sharma and Sahil Sharma, who were witnesses in the case, saying cognizable offences are made out against the six.

In June this year, District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh sentenced to life imprisonment the three main accused, while awarding five years in jail to three others for destruction of evidence in the case that shook the nation. The trial was shifted to Pathankot in Punjab on the order of the Supreme Court after lawyers in Kathua attempted to prevent submission of the charge sheet in court. Day-to-day in-camera trial was held for a year.

According to the charge sheet, the girl who was kidnapped on January 10 last year, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in the district after being kept sedated for four days before she was bludgeoned to death. The abduction, rape and killing of the child was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the area, it said.

The rise of crime against women and rape cases in India is alarming. It has unfortunately become a routine to find mention of few rape incidents on a daily basis in the news reports. One of the major reason of no deterrence or increase of the incidents of rape in India is its judicial system which takes extremely long time in punishing the perpetrator and this delayed rather lethargic judicial process has become a routine in all cases of rape including even those cases which have been reported

People hitting streets seeking speedier and exemplary punishment to rapists.

punishment awarded to them

by Delhi High Court and trial court. One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was con-

widely, generated huge public uproar, been debated for days together. This delay is not attributable to one wing of the justice delivery system but virtually to all - the police, judicial process and the legislators.

Bill fraught with challenges

On November 20, Home Minister Amit Shah said the government intends to launch a nationwide National Registry of Citizens (NRC), an ambitious exercise to identify and separate legal citizens and illegal immigrants.

Residents will have to produce proof confirming that they were born in India and that their parents were Indian citizens.

The BJP’s intention behind this exercise needs a closer scrutiny. It is important to note that issues like building a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya had increased the party’s popularity and expanded its voter base.

The party had promised a countrywide NRC in its manifesto for 2019 elections.

According to political observers, the rhetoric of eliminating these immigrants who are mostly Muslims could be music to the ears of BJP’s hard fans. The influx of illegal immigrants to India, especially in states such as Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, is a grave concern. A large number of these illegal immigrants reside under a fake identity and many have allegedly become core vote banks for a few political parties.

Immediately after the home minister’s statement, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had vehemently opposed any such move in her state. “No one could take anyone's citizenship away in Bengal,” she had said. But can an all-India NRC address this complex issue?

Amit Shah assured that all citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list and that NRC is different from the Citizenship Amendment Bill. "NRC has no such provision which says that certain religions will be excluded from it. All citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list. The NRC is different from Citizenship Amendment Bill," Amit Shah said in his address to the Rajya Sabha. He added, "The process of NRC will be carried out across the country. No one, irrespective of religion should be worried, it is just a process to get everyone under the NRC." NRC and CAB backers say illegal Muslim settlers have been steadily expanding their footprint across the country.

One unofficial estimate puts the number of Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims in Jammu alone at 50,000, their numbers having built up over the past decade with the blessings of local politicians, including some from the BJP. Another case is that of about 750 Rohingyas illicitly running a madrasa in Aligarh. They reportedly arrived in Delhi via Kolkata in 2012, and proceeded to Aligarh, where the Deoband network allegedly helped them settle down.

father makes it to the list but porous the system is. At the One view is that the BJP his children don’t. A pan-India same time, feel the observers, brought CAB to accommodate registry would be an entirely scores of Hindu migrants from Hindu and other non-Muslim different exercise than the Bangladesh, who settled in migrants who fled Bangladesh, Assam NRC which was just an Assam, did not get such assisPakistan and Afghanistan due update on the 1951 citizens’ list. tance and landed in trouble to religious persecution, as According to the information during the NRC exercise in the against Muslim migrants who shared by Indian Civil Liberties state. The estimated 1.9 million infiltrated due to economic Union, in a pan-India NRC people excluded from the NRC reasons. Proponents of this exercise, those born before list include a high number of view claim pro-Muslim parties 1987 will have to show that Hindus. This has prompted the and organisations have they were born in India before Assam unit of the BJP to launched a two-pronged attack July 1987. Those born after July demand a fresh NRC in the to serve their constituency - on 1987 but before December state. the one hand, criticise NRC in 2004 will have to prove two An uphill task an attempt to prevent it from things: a) they were born in Its difficult to implement the weeding out Muslim infiltraIndia, and b) proof that either entire exercise with a populators, and on the other, build pressure on the Modi government to add Muslims to the list of refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who will be eligible for Indian citizenship under CAB. NRC backers feel that the Narendra Modi government is rectifying a 'historical wrong' through this exercise. To them, the genesis of NRC is not in communal politics, but in the vote-bank A protest against Assam's National Register Citizen draft in Kolkata. politics of Congress of their parents are/were tion of 1.25 billion people of regimes in the 1960s and 1970s, Indian citizens. Those born which 700 to 800 million peowhich compromised both the after 2004 will have to prove ple may not even have birth interests of indigenous people that both their parents are certificates. By a mere adminisin Assam as well as national Indian citizens. In case their trative exercise, one cannot security. Congress politicians parents have different nationcome to a definitive finding are accused of looking the alities, they will need to prove that somebody is not a citizen. other way when leaders of panthat one of the parents is The exercise will end up with a Islamist movements were welIndian citizen and the other lot of undocumented inhabicoming illegal Muslim settlers parent is not an illegal immitants. It doesn’t help that preto Assam and helping them grant. vious such nationwide exercissettle down.

The govt's NRC game plan es by the government have However, observers feel Proving someone an illegal turned out to be damp squibs. that the home minister's asserimmigrant could, therefore, be The adverse aftermath of tion that the NRC exercise will a lengthy process. And the demonetisation is still being be completed before the 2024 questions don’t end here. debated with lack of data to Lok Sabha election and all ille“What will the government do prove if it actually curbed black gal settlers will be expelled with the identified illegal money. Similarly, the goods from the country is in variance immigrants?” asks foreign and services tax is being with the situation on the affairs expert Sushant Sareen. blamed for destabilising the ground. A credible pan-India “Supposedly, you identify 20 unorganised sector.

NRC exercise will require honmillion people as illegal immiLikewise, the implementaest police and administrative grants across India, where will tion of NRC in Assam was officials on a wide scale so that the government deport these nothing short of a disaster. the infiltrators are identified. people? Will any country volThere are claims that many That a high number of illegal untarily or willingly accept illegal residents have been migrants have managed to such a huge number? Will the included in the list and several obtain crucial government government put 20 million indigenous residents have identification documents, such people in detention centres? been kept out. There have also as Aadhaar and voter cards, as Who will bear the cost of runbeen cases where a brother well electricity and cooking gas ning these detention centres?” finds his name on the list but connections, with the help of asks Sareen. Given the chalhis siblings are kept out, or a conniving officials shows how

lenges to this perceivable mammoth exercise and the uncertain outcome, many suspect the ruling party’s intention behind announcing a nationwide NRC by 2024.

Responding to such fears, the home minister had clarified in the Rajya Sabha that a pan-India NRC will not target any particular religion. But critics refuse to trust Shah’s assurance.

Call for free and open debate The government is planning to update the National Population Register (NPR) by September 2020.

Once the NPR is completed and published, it is expected to be the basis for preparing the National Register of Indian Citizens.

Activists demand that the government must conduct a free and open debate in Parliament before launching a nationwide NRC. Says Civil rights activist Teesta S e t a l v a d : “Citizenship in India is based on the nonnegotiable principles of equality and non-discrimination.

Moreover, there are clear constitutional and legal bindings.

This government, therefore, needs to answer a) if the NRC exercise will be an inclusive constitutional process b) what will be the criteria for being registered (included) or left out (excluded) from the NPR process which will precede the NRC and lead to it. What are the documents that will be required? c) What will be the cut-off date?”

Setalvad further highlights the problem of undocumented genuine Indians who might become the first casualties of NRC. “UNICEF figures point to the fact that only 52 per cent births are registered in India.

Not all Indians have a passport, many don’t own land, there is a huge migrant labour population across the country who don’t have basic voting rights even after 70 years of independence, and only 240 million people have homes in their own name,” Setalvad pointed

out. She says the government must publicly and rationally debate these issues in Parliament before rolling out NRC across India. “In Assam, several marginalised sections, Bengali Hindus as much as Muslims were deliberately kept out,” she noted.

In a survey conducted by the Rights and Risks Analysis Group, it was found that in Assam, each person excluded from the list spent Rs 19,065 on an average to challenge their exclusion before Foreigners' Tribunals. The Assam NRC has reportedly cost the exchequer about £160 million for a population of 32.9 million. Imagine the financial burden on the taxpayer for 1.3 billion people.

With the government struggling to meet its committed expenditures, is there room to spend millions on an exercise that may only lead to further chaos? Or is this just another divisive propaganda aimed at the 2024 elections?

NRC & CAB two sides of the same coin: Mamata Banerjee West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) are two sides of the same coin and the Trinamool Congress will oppose it till the end. Speaking at a party programme in Kolkata, Mamata said the NRC and CAB were being taken up by the Centre to divert attention of the people from the economic slowdown. “If you give citizenship to all the communities, we will accept it. But if you discriminate on the basis of religion, we will oppose it and also fight against it,” the chief minister said.

CAB, NRC will divide nation in the name of religion: Protestors The silent protest under the banner of ‘Citizens against NRC and CAB’ witnessed a huge gathering in Hyderabad demanding the Central government to withdraw the bills.

The protestors also demanded that TRS and other political parties, who believe in the Constitution should oppose the bills in the parliament.

Expressing unhappiness about both the bills, Kiran Kumar, president of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, said “The CAB is a discriminatory bill. It is for the first time that a religious element is being introduced in India’s citizenship law. Under the garb of saving people suffering from religious persecution, the government is doing sinister things. There are existing laws for giving citizenship status and what is need for new bills for selective religions only,” he wondered.

Talking about the NRC, he said the bill will make life of poor people difficult, as they do not have land in their name and will be difficult for them to produce documents. Calling the CAB bill anti-nation, the protestors claimed that the bill would divide the nation.

18 FINANCE - UK 14 - 20 December 2019

Dear Financial Voice Reader, Alpesh Patel Dear Financial Voice Reader, I will be speaking this week at the Sustainability and Social Impact Investment Conference supported by City Hindu Network and sponsored by M&G. I can think of few things more Hindu than sustainability. So how can you do it? Especially when the City and investment has so much power to shape our world.

Well, you could exclude certain groups such as weapons, tobacco, alcohol, gambling companies. That’s common. But even here people would say they disagree with some issues there.

You could focus on companies who have ESG ratings, that is Governance, Social and Environmental factors. And you could say you will only invest where the social impact is measured. This is something a company I work with does using blockchain – www.worldwidegeneration.co and also another one www.finboot.com which for instance makes sure your clothes have not been produced by slave or child labour using blockchain to track.

Yes it’s small. Some say impact investing is $500 billion worldwide whilst $75 trillion is the value of all stock exchanges.

The good news is you have so much demand and will be on trend doing it because we know from UN Sustainable Development Goals, and scandals like VW, Enron, BP that these issues are no longer ignored and forgotten – or indeed Bhopal – but that has still been largely forgotten (Dow Chemicals owns the company which was responsible for the Bhopal disaster).

The good news is it’s also good for your pocket: Systematic reviews of the literature conclude that integrating sustainable factors either improves financial returns, or causes no detriment to them, across all asset classes.” According to Professor Timo Busch, in 2017, from School of Business, Economics and Social sciences, University of Hamburg.

And we know from disasters that investors will punish companies who do not comply – just look at the share prices of Equifax, Valeant, Vale, VW after their respective failures of governance. Yes indeed, it’s not sustainable.

Tesco considering sale of Asian businesses

Tesco is mulling over the sale of its Thai and Malaysian stores that could result in Britain’s largest supermarket chain exiting two of its last remaining international businesses. In a statement, the supermarket said it had started a review of the businesses after an approach by an unnamed buyer.

Tesco operates 1,967 stores in Thailand, under the Tesco Lotus brand, and another 74 in Malaysia, employing more than 60,000 people. The businesses made combined revenues of £4.9bn in the year ending in February, making a profit of £286m – about a fifth of Tesco’s total global profits. Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, said the Asian operations were a “trophy asset” given Tesco’s leading market position in Thailand and the growth potential offered by a country experiencing increasing urbanisation. “It could go for a very high price, and it’s also the case that Tesco doesn’t need to sell,” he said. “It should be a knockout price.”

Tesco’s chief executive, Dave Lewis, in June highlighted growth opportunities in the Asian business, including plans to open another 750 convenience stores in Thailand. The

Asian business is growing faster than Tesco’s core business and is more profitable, with margins of about 6% compared with less than 3% in the UK and Ireland and the central European arm that operates in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The sale of the Asian business would leave Ireland and central Europe as Tesco’s only remaining non-UK operations, representing the almost complete retreat from the international supermarket empire formed by Sir Terry Leahy.

Tesco has withdrawn operations from Japan, the US and Turkey in recent years.

The last significant retreat came in 2015, when Lewis sold off the supermarket’s South Korean business.

That sale, which earned Tesco £4bn, came as he sought to shore up the company’s balance sheet after an accounting scandal was revealed in 2014. Lewis, who plans to leave Tesco in the summer after overseeing the turnaround from the accounting scandal, had previously given indications that Tesco had reached the end of its period of asset sales. However, the company would examine serious bids, a person with knowledge of the company’s strategy said.

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

SUVs 'makes mockery' of electric car push in UK The researchers have found that the high-emission sports utility vehicles (SUVs) now outsell electric cars in the UK by 37 to one. As a result, overall exhaust emissions from new cars have been increasing, not declining, for the past three years, says the UK Energy Research Centre. SUV sales are jeopardising the UK transport sector's ability to meet EU emissions targets, it said.

Prof Jillian Anable of the UKERC said this made "a mockery" of UK policy.

"Effectively, we have been sleepwalking into the issue," she said.

"The decarbonisation of the passenger car market can no longer rely on a distant target to stop the sales of conventional engines. We must start to phase out the most polluting vehicles immediately. It is time to enact a strong set of

SUV

regulations to transform the entire car market towards ultra-low carbon, rather than focusing solely on the uptake of electric vehicles."

Over the past four years, there have been 1.8 million SUV sales, compared to a total of 47,000 for battery electric vehicles (BEV). In 2018, SUVs accounted for 21.2% of new car sales, up from 13.5% three years earlier. However, BEV sales are coming from a low base, as the technology is still relatively new. "SUVs are larger and heavier than a standard car, emitting about a quarter more CO2 than a medium-size car and nearly four times more than a

electric

medium-sized battery electric vehicle," said the UKERC. "Assuming the majority of these SUVs will be on UK roads for at least a decade, it is estimated the extra cumulative emissions to total around 8.2 million tons of CO2."

The UKERC said the "extraordinary leap" in SUV sales over the past four years seemed to be due to "attractive car financing packages which divert attention from running costs". Although vehicle excise duty is higher for gasguzzlers, more than 90% of new cars in the UK are now sold by way of deals that

wrap the excise duty into the monthly cost, "rendering the only clear policy signal to discourage high-carbon vehicles somewhat useless," it said.

All-electric vehicles still represent only a fraction of total car sales. The UKERC said they remained at less than 1% of new car sales in 2019. There are also challenges to uptake, including a lack of charging points on roads and too few low-cost models.

The UKERC warned against abandoning the EU's emissions targets after Brexit, although no political party is currently advocating this. It said EU regulations had been structured to allow makers of larger, heavier cars to have higher levels of emissions per km.

"Yet, despite its flaws, there are dangers of Britain choosing not to align with the EU vehicle regulations post-Brexit," it added.

November footfall in high street slide by 4.3% The number of visitors to high streets slipped by 4.3% in November compared with the same month last year, twice the rate of decline of retail parks, which fell by 1.8%, according to new figures from a data company called Springboard. Overall retail footfall across the high street, shopping centres and retail parks declined by 3.4% year on year in November, said Springboard, based on data from 480 shopping locations.

Parts of Yorkshire, the Midlands, Lincolnshire, north-east England and the eastern fringes of Scotland were particularly affected by heavy rainfall and flooding during November, with more than twice the normal level in some places, according to the Met Office. The Springboard analyst Diane Wehrle said that while high

streets always tend to suffer more from rain than other shopping destinations, many retail parks had also taken action to slow their rate of decline, including by adding more restaurants.

Black Friday, the day on which retailers offer heavy discounts to kick off the Christmas shopping season, fell on 29 November this year, meaning it was outside of the period covered by Springboard’s figures. Early figures suggested that the event may have offered some relief to struggling retailers, with Barclaycard reporting transaction values up 16.5% year on year from data covering about a pound in every £3 spent in the UK. Springboard’s early data suggested that Black Friday footfall increased by 3.3% year on year, although Wehrle said that may have been driven by steep dis-

counting that could eat into retailers’ profits.

Any short-term boost from Black Friday would come against the backdrop of a structural decline in bricks-and-mortar retailers in favour of online shopping.

Online sales as a proportion of all retailing increased to 19.2% in October 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics – a percentage point higher than October 2018. At the same time, British businesses have had little let-up from Brexit uncertainty, compounded by the run-up to general election. Some economists have suggested that relatively strong pay growth, a driver of higher consumption, may have peaked amid gloomy forecasts for the economy.

The ONS retail figures showed that the quantity bought in retail sales increased by only 0.2% in

the three months to October 2019 when compared with the previous three months, the lowest growth since April 2018.

The pressures on retailers have prompted drastic action: more than 85,000 jobs were axed over the 12 months to October, according to the British Retail Consortium.

It has also put particular scrutiny on retail property owners. The investment manager M&G on Wednesday announced that it had suspended withdrawals of money from its property portfolio fund, saying that an unusually high level of investors had asked to get their money back. Investors have withdrawn £2.8bn from 15 major open-ended commercial property funds in the past year, according to the data firm Morningstar.

UK employers halt job hiring as demand falls A survey of the labour market shows that the employers in Britain have decided to have a wait and watch attitude as far as hiring new hands are concerned and the demand for new workers has tumbled to a seven-year low.

ManpowerGroup said years of strong jobs growth had ended in 2019 as Brexit uncertainty and a slowdown in global trade took their toll on business confidence. The recruitment firm’s survey of 2,101 employers found the outlook for the first quarter of 2020 was weak with hiring intentions by firms in London at a 10-year low. A balance of companies, when asked whether they intended to hire additional workers or

reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter, registered +2%, the lowest figure since 2012.

London, which has among the largest number of employers and usually offsets poor figures from the UK’s regions, was among the worst affected after hiring

intentions dropped five percentage points from the fourth quarter to -1 for the first three months of 2020.

However, the east Midlands, described by the survey as a “bastion of positivity for many years”, fared even worse: employer hiring confidence fell 15 percentage

points to -2%, its lowest level in more than a decade.

Wales dropped to -1%, Yorkshire and the Humber hit -1% and the north-east declined to -4%.

ManpowerGroup said the normally buoyant market for workers in London’s financial sector began to dry up in the summer and had contracted ever since, particularly among accountancy and law firms that once aggressively recruited staff.

The report, which is used as a key economic indicator by the Bank of England and the Treasury, says: “Declining levels of confidence in almost every sector and region paints a sluggish picture for the start of 2020, with only a few bright spots.”

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

REAL ESTATE VOICE

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

19

14 - 20 December 2019

DON’T JUDGE A BOOK

BY ITS COVER We are in the midst of closing another deal in South East London for a client. This property is the second one she is purchasing in quick succession. The first one is also in the same locality, in fact in the same block. She purchased it blind, i.e. without seeing it, as she will the second. It would take half a day to go to view a property on the other side of London, and so the client was not too keen on the journey neither did she feel the need, as long as we had viewed it, she was satisfied.

Suresh Vagjiani Sow & Reap London Property Investment

What is there to see anyhow? A purpose built flat is basically a shoe box. The condition may make a £10-15K difference. However, some investors are insistent on viewing a property, and it would be sacrilege to suggest they could purchase blind.

I understand some may have a comfort/emotional attachment to seeing a property. I do not wish to rob anybody of this aspect of investing, although I do feel there needs to be some framework around it.

The property is an investment. It is important to understand this is first and foremost an investment. Examples of questions to consider are: Where does it look like the price is going to go in the next 3/5 years? How far is it from the station?

We have an in house 18 page report on this location which justifies investing in this area.

We believe it is set to rise over the next 5 years.

The delay in Crossrail has left the window of opportunity open a little wider. This is good from our perspective, as it allows investors to

come in whilst the prices are still subdued.

The property should be seen not first and foremost physically, but through the eyes of our report. This should be scrutinised; this should be the yard stick for the investment. I had a situation, many years ago, when an investor came from Southend-on-Sea to view a property in Westbourne Grove, an area next door to the upmarket Notting Hill. It was an excouncil property, admittedly not in the most attractive block. He came back from his trip and reported he did not like the property. I told him he didn’t need to, he needed to like the investment. What was attractive were the numbers, they stood on their own legs. The property was a two bedroom which could be converted to a three bedroom. The price was £275K and the rental at the time, thanks to the generosity of Westminster Council, was £550 pw. This meant the property was yielding over 10% and at the time one only needed a 15% deposit. Only £41K would get you into the deal. The deal was giving a net income of £15K. What was not to like about the deal? You would get all your money back in three years, and the property, given the location, would rise strongly in value.

We swiftly matched the property with another investor, who bought it blind. He still owns the property, and it always rents well. The current value is probably circa £475K. Many BTL investors prefer ex-council properties.

The rents are similar to private properties, yet the purchase price is lower. Also, the service charges and the lease extension costs are substantially lower. The moral of this article is when investing look first at the location, second at the numbers, and then decide if you must visit the property.

AGONY AGENT IS HERE TO HELP! Q: My tenant has mice! What should I do?

A: First of all, your tenant should be thankful that they do not have rats, as in London they could easily be confused with cats due to their size!

Your first point of call is to find out who's responsible for sorting it, you or your tenant. As the landlord you would be responsible if the mice got in through a pre-existing hole or opening in the property, the mice were in the property before your tenants moved in, or you

listed that vermin would be your responsibility under the tenancy agreement.

On the other hand, if your tenant has caused the problem, for example they did not clear away rubbish or leftover food, then the tenant would need to take action; and we would recommend that you keep tabs on your tenants to ensure they have done this.

If you have a standard AST and neither party caused this issue, then this would be down to you if you choose to step in and

BUY TO LET OPPORTUNITY London, W2 Purchase Price: £520,000

help, but be warned as your tenant could state their case to environmental health.

If the mice are coming from your neighbour’s place, then speak to the owner. If they do not take any action at all then you can report it to the council.

Feel free to contact us for more information.

● Large three bedroom first floor flat ● Long lease and low service charges ● Close to Paddington and Royal Oak stations ● Moments away from the lovely canal walks of Little Venice ● Excellent yield of 5.25% per annum for a central location Call us now for more information!

Specialists in Central London Property Sourcing

0207 993 0103 info@sowandreap.co.uk www.sowandreap.co.uk 27 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8HU SowandReapProperties

Sowandreapuk

Turning land into cash Get in touch about our land opportunities

20 FINANCE

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Govt open for further reforms, says Sitharaman India's Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is open to further reforms for making India a more attractive investment destination, eyeing investment from global players.

The government has taken multiple steps, including reduction in corporate tax, she said at the India-Sweden Business Summit.

Without sharing details of future reforms, the finance minister said, “I only can invite and assure that the government of India is committed for further reforms in various sectors whether it is banking, mining or insurance and so on.” She further said that the government is addressing challenges faced by the industry not just Indian-owned but operationalise industries which are present in India. “Since after budget I have made sure constant interactions with the industry, understanding their chal-

lenges, and therefore, since after the budget not waiting for another budget which is expected in February 2020, we took major structural reform in the form reduction in corporate tax. This one measure indicates how our government believes in reforms.

Today I say there are many more steps we have to take,” she added.

In the biggest tax reduction in 28 years, the government in September slashed corporate tax rates up to 10 percentage points as it looked to pull the economy out of a six-year low growth with a £14.5 billion tax break. Base corporate tax for existing companies has been reduced to 22% from 30%, and to 15% from 25% for new manufacturing firms incorporated after October 1, 2019, and starting operations before March 31, 2023.

“Our step of corporate tax reduction shows how much our government believes in reforms and there are many more steps that we

have to take,” she said.

She invited Swedish firms to invest in infrastructure development projects. India plans to invest about £1,000 billion in the infrastructure sector in the next five years. Nirmala Sitharaman The government has formed a task force which will come out with a list 10 major infrastructure projects by December 15, she said. The finance ministry in September set up a task force headed by economic affairs secretary to prepare a road map for the “national infrastructure pipeline” from 2019-20 to 2024-25 under a £1,000 billion infra plan. The task force is expected to cover greenfield and

brownfield projects costing above £10 million each.

“From the point of view being a democracy, a rule-based country, there is a clear rule of law principle which governs this country in a very transparent way and therefore if global investors are looking for an environment which is familiar to them is far more acceptable to them, India stands out,” she said.

Vodafone Idea may close shop if govt doesn't help: Birla India's third-largest telecom company with over 300 million subscribers, Vodafone Idea’s financial position is so precarious that it will be forced to shut operations if the Centre does not offer a fiscal package for the telecom sector. Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Vodafone Idea and head of the Aditya Birla group said, “It does not make sense to put good money after bad. That would be the end of the story for us. We will shut shop.”

Birla's Idea Cellular and British telecom giant Vodafone plc's India unit had merged last year to compete with the onslaught of free voice calling and dirt cheap data unleashed by richest Indian Mukesh Ambani's

Reliance Jio. In the process, it accumulated £11.7 billion debt and had just weeks back posted corporate India's biggest loss after it provisioned for the liability arising from the Supreme Court upholding the government's position on what base should statutory liabilities be calculated. Birla said that it does not make business sense to invest further into the operations.

Telecom sector needs stimulus to survive: Birla Vodafone Idea, and the equally troubled Bharti Airtel, have petitioned the government for relief, saying absence of a bailout may weaken their ability to run the business. While the government recently gave the two companies - and their profitable rival Reliance Jio - a two-year moratorium on statu-

Kumar Mangalam Birla

tory spectrum payment (worth £4.2 billion), the companies feel it is not enough. Airtel and Vodafone Idea have now petitioned the government for relief in waiver of AGR interest and penalty, which could halve the dues, and also filed a review petition in the Supreme Court.

“They (the government) have realised the fact that this (telecom) is a very critical sec-

tor. The whole Digital India programme rests on this. This is a strategic sector,” Birla said, adding, “I think we can expect much more stimulus from the government because it is required for the sector to survive.” Asked about the specific relief that he is seeking, Birla said, “The big elephant in the room is AGR. Which is actually I think something which lies in the court of judiciary. I believe government can have a dialogue. This was a suit filed by the government against telecom service providers.”

He said the government can work out a solution out of the mess. “Since the government has won, it gives them headroom to talk to judiciary and try to find some of solution. I don’t know which form or shape it takes.”

India set to close Pichai becomes Alphabet CEO loss-making PSUs The government will recommend loss-making PSUs identified for strategic stake sale for closure and will not wait endlessly and won’t make repeated attempts to get a bidder. The Centre has taken a political call to accelerate strategic sale of loss-making PSUs as some of them have been waiting for years to get a buyer, sources said.

“There are several cases where the disinvestment process has been going for years.

There is very little interest in some of the companies. Keeping all these factors in mind, it has been decided that wherever buyer interest is muted we will recommend for closure of the unit,” said an official, who did not wish to be quoted. The government has identified several top companies for offloading stake and management control, including Bharat Petroleum Corporation. The government aims to raise a large chunk of £10.5 billion target set for the current year from strategic sale in these companies.

The government will also not opt for the insolvency and bankruptcy route for loss-making PSUS, the official said as this will mean workers will lose out in getting their dues.

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, will take charge of parent company Alphabet as co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin step down from their top roles. Pichai, who has been Google's CEO for over four years will manage both companies, while Page and Brin will remain members of the company's board. Pichai’s elevation was announced on December 3 in the US, with Page giving up his role as Alphabet CEO and Brin quitting as president.

“While it has been a tremendous privilege to be deeply involved in the dayto-day management of the company for so long, we believe it’s time to assume the role of proud parents offering advice and love, but not daily nagging!” Page and Brin wrote in a letter bidding adieu to active man-

Sundar Pichai

agement roles. Pichai, the 47-year-old IIT Kharagpur graduate, who has spent 15 years at Google, rose to prominence while leading the development of Google’s Chrome browser.

He later led product development and engineering across all of Google’s services for a year before bagging the CEO position and oversight of Google’s advertising and cloud computing business.

Pichai, is taking charge Alphabet at a challenging time, as it faces increased

regulatory scrutiny of large digital companies and employee unrest, while battling to stay at the forefront of technological changes.

Alphabet was created after the company restructured its business in 2015, separating the highly profitable advertising and search business Google from over a dozen moonshot projects under units like autonomous driving unit Waymo and biotech research arm Calico, which lose money.

Google sits on a cash pile of $128 billion, second only to Microsoft’s $137 billion, as per Factset. But Brin and Page, who are each worth over $50 billion, have stayed away from most of the day-to-day management and public appearances, including internal all-hands meetings, for the last few years.

in brief

RBI CUTS GROWTH FORECAST The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee (MPC) slashed its GDP growth estimate but disappointed markets and borrowers by keeping its key policy rate unchanged after reducing it five consecutive times in 2019. It was widely expected that the central bank would reduce its repo rate - at which it lends to banks - by 25 basis points to a 10-year low of 4.9%. RBI retained the repo rate at 5.15% even as it cut its GDP growth estimate for 2019-20 by 110 basis points to 5% from 6.1% forecast just two months earlier. Despite the lower growth momentum, RBI said inflation would be higher than expected, in the range of 4.7% to 5.1%. Explaining the reasons for the pause, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said previous rate cuts resulting in a cumulative reduction of 135 basis points are yet to be passed on to borrowers. “The MPC recognises that there is monetary policy space for future action," the panel said in a statement. "However, given the evolving growth-inflation dynamics, the MPC felt it appropriate to take a pause at this juncture.”

NIRAV FUGITIVE ECONOMIC OFFENDER: COURT Absconding businessman Nirav Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender by the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, becoming only the second businessman after Vijay Mallya to be labelled thus under a new law. The 49-year-old Modi and several others are accused in the £1.3 billion Punjab National Bank fraud case. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act was applied in the case as Modi had left the country on January 1 last year and not showed any inclination to return.

Modi was arrested this March in London and is currently in judicial custody there. Legal proceedings on his extradition are currently underway. “At this stage, as per record put forth by the Enforcement Directorate, there is material to show that the respondent (Modi) stayed abroad and refused to come to India to face criminal prosecution when he had ample time to return back ... ,” special judge V C Barde said.

COURT REFUSES TO CANCEL WARRANT AGAINST CHOKSI A court in Mumbai refused to cancel a nonbailable warrant issued by the Enforcement Directorate against fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi, a key accused in the alleged Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. Special judge for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases V C Barde refused to give relief to Choksi.

Choksi had moved the court last year seeking cancellation of the warrant issued by the ED. He could not travel to India because of his ill-health and also because there was a threat to his life, he had pleaded. He did not intend to cheat and flee, but left the country for treatment of his medical condition, he had claimed. The court will now hear the ED's petition seeking to declare him a Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO) under the newly enacted Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. The declaration will pave the way for confiscation of his properties.

92,000 IN BSNL, MTNL STAFF OPT FOR VRS The government’s generous £3 billion VRS package for ailing telecom PSUs - BSNL and MTNL - closed last week, with over 92,000 employees opting to move out early and resulting in savings of a little over £870 million for them. CMD of the two companies said that the reduction in manpower will help them move towards profitability over the next three years as they save the much-required cash, while launching services such as 4G to lure new highpaying subscribers. “The VRS scheme has met our expectations and for BSNL, the annual savings post the reduction in employees will be £700 million,” CMD Pravin Kumar Purwar said.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

PAKISTAN

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

21

14 - 20 December 2019

in brief TWO INDIAN STUDENTS KILLED IN US HIT-ANDRUN INCIDENT

Two Indian students were killed in a hit-andrun incident in the US state of Tennessee, with the accused surrendering himself to the police, media reports said. The accident took place on Thanksgiving Day on November 28 and the victims were identified as Vybhav Gospisetty, 26, and Judy Stanley Pinheiro, 23, who were both Indian graduate students at the Tennessee State University. The accused David Torres' GMC truck reportedly collided with the 2015 Nissan Sentra, which Gospisetty was driving with Pinheiro sitting in the front seat. The Sentra reportedly attempted to cross Nolensville Pile from the parking lot of the US Bank to Walmart. Police said the truck hit the passenger side of the car as it was driving north. The car was sent off the east side of the road, through a fence and into a tree on Walmart property, according to the report. Witnesses told police that the GMC was speeding and ran the red light at the intersection.

CASH-STRAPPED PAK GETS $1.3BN LOAN FROM ADB

Cash-strapped Pakistan received a $1.3-billion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the country’s public finances and shore up the slowing economy. The ADB loan comes just days after financial service company Moody’s changed Pakistan’s outlook from negative to stable. Pakistan is facing a serious economic crisis with short supplies of foreign currency reserves and stagnating growth in recent years. Since assuming power in August 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been appealing to close allies like China and Saudi Arabia to provide concessional loans to reduce the size of the bailout package that Pakistan may need from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The ADB’s quick dispersing special policy-based loan is part of a multi-donor economic reform programme led by the IMF to stabilise Pakistan's economy after a major deterioration in its fiscal position in 2018, according to a statement by the Manila-based regional lender.

HAFIZ SAEED’S INDICTMENT IN TERROR FINANCING CASE DELAYED Hafiz Saeed, mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, could not be indicted by the Lahore-based anti-terrorism court (ATC) as authorities failed to produce the other coaccused for the hearing of the money laundering and terror financing case. The absence of Malik Zafar Iqbal, the co-accused, prompted the court to adjourn the proceedings. Last week, the ATC had fixed December 7 for framing charges against Saeed and others. On July 3, Saeed and 12 other members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) were booked in 23 terror financing and money laundering cases .

NEPAL MAKES FIRST MENSTRUATION HUTRELATED ARREST

Nepali police have detained the brother-inlaw of a woman who died in a ‘menstruation hut’ in what is believed to be the first arrest over the outlawed tradition. Many communities in Nepal view menstruating women as impure and in some remote areas they are forced to sleep in a hut away from the home, following a centuries-old tradition known as “chhaupadi”. The practice leads to the death of women every year due to smoke inhalation, snake bites and even attack by animals. Parbati Buda Rawat, 21, was found dead in a smoke-filled hut. “We arrested the brother-in law after suspecting his involvement,” a police official said, adding, it was the first such arrest.

629 Pakistani women sold as brides in China, reveals report LAHORE: According to a report complied by Pakistani investigators, 629 girls and women from Pakistan were sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China. The investigators are now determined to break up trafficking networks exploiting the country's poor and vulnerable. The list gives the most concrete figure yet for the number of women caught up in the trafficking schemes since 2018.

But since the time it was put together in June, investigators' aggressive drive against the networks has largely ground to a halt. Officials with knowledge of the investigations say that it is because of pressure from government officials fearful of hurting Pakistan's lucrative ties to Beijing. The biggest case against traffickers has fallen apart. In October, a court in Faisalabad acquitted 31 Chinese nationals charged in connection with trafficking. Several of the women who had initially been interviewed by police refused to testify because they were either threatened or bribed into silence, according to a court official and a police investigator familiar with the case. The two spoke on

condition of anonymity because they feared retribution for speaking out.

At the same time, the government has sought to curtail investigations, putting "immense pressure" on officials from the Federal Investigation Agency pursuing trafficking networks, said Saleem Iqbal, a Christian activist who has helped parents rescue several young girls from China and prevented others from being sent there. "Some (FIA officials) were even transferred," Iqbal said. "When we talk to Pakistani rulers, they don't pay any attention. " Asked about the complaints, Pakistan's interior and foreign ministries refused to comment.

Several senior officials familiar with the events said investigations into trafficking have slowed, the investigators are frustrated, and Pakistani media have been pushed to curb their reporting on trafficking. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals.

"No one is doing anything to help these girls," one of the officials said. "The whole racket is continuing, and it is growing.

Why? Because they know they can get away with it. The authorities won't follow through, everyone is being pressured to not investigate.

Trafficking is increasing now."

He said he was speaking out "because I have to live with myself. Where is our humanity?" Detained Chinese nationals, try to shield their faces while they C h i n a ' s are escorted by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency officers parents to marry off their daughForeign Ministry said it was ters, some of them teenagers, to unaware of the list. "The two Chinese husbands who return governments of China and with them to their homeland.

Pakistan support the formation Many of the brides are then isoof happy families between their lated and abused or forced into people on a voluntary basis in prostitution in China, often conkeeping with laws and regulatacting home and pleading to be tions, while at the same time brought back. An official said having zero tolerance for and that more than a dozen brides resolutely fighting against any were brought back to Pakistan person engaging in illegal crosswhile others remained trapped in border marriage behaviour," the China. ministry said in a statement.

Christians were targeted According to an investigabecause they are one of the poortion, Pakistan's Christian minoriest communities in Muslimty has become a new target of majority Pakistan. brokers who pay impoverished

Lahore HC adjourns hearing of Musharraf’s plea LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) resumed hearing of a petition filed by former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf requesting to stay the treason case trial being conducted against him until he recuperates and appears before the court.

Musharraf has maintained that owing to his deteriorating health, multiple life-threatening ailments and of his aged mother, he is unable to return to Pakistan ever since, despite having a strong desire to do so.

During the proceedings, the high court questioned how the former president’s actions in 2007 fall under the ambit of Article 6 of the Constitution. According to Article 6, any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance, the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.

A person found guilty of high treason as defined in Article 6 of the Constitution, shall be punishable with death or life imprisonment. “Isn’t declaring an emergency and abrogating the Constitution two separate

things?” Justice Sayyed Muhammad Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi asked federal prosecutor Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq Ali Khan. “Where does the Article 6 apply? What does the SC judgment say?” Justice Naqvi probed further.

Musharraf’s counsel, however, pleaded that the petition was filed in the apex court calls upon the federal government to take action; instead, it was filed on the directives of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The case has been adjourned till December 17, and the court has directed Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq A Khan to discuss the matter with the interior secretary on whether the formal military ruler imposing emergency in 2007 amounts to the abrogation of the Constitution.

The court further asked whether the petition could be withdrawn at this stage and sought the interior secretary’s opinion on how the act falls under Article 6.

Govt seeks to stop Musharraf treason case verdict Earlier, Musharraf recorded a video message from his hospital bed in which he said that he was ready to record his statement in the

case. “A judicial commission can come here and hear me out. It must see my health condition and make a decision. The commission, with my lawyer, must then be heard in the court,” he added.

On Nov 29, the Islamabad High Court (IHC), while hearing a petition of the interior ministry, had restrained the special court from announcing its verdict in the Musharraf treason case which it was to hand down on November 29.

In a two-page brief order, the IHC asked the special court to hear pleas of all sides and decide the case “in accordance with the law” while directing the government to form a new prosecution team for the case by December 5.

Bangladesh top court defers Khaleda's bail hearing DHAKA: With authorities in Bangladesh failing to submit the medical report of jailed former prime minister Khaleda Zia, the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of her bail application, according to media reports. The top court fixed December 12 as the next date of hearing in the Zia Charitable Trust case, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Zia, 73, was sentenced to seven years in jail along with three others in October in the case for abusing their power and

raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.

The former prime minister is already serving a jail term since February after being convicted in another Khaleda Zia case related to embezzlement of funds of an orphanage named after her husband and former president Ziaur Rahman.

The full bench of the appellate division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain,

fixed the next date of hearing as Zia's medical report was not submitted before it. Earlier on November 28, the court had asked the medical board formed at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) for her treatment to submit the report. Zia, the chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has been receiving treatment at the BSMMU since April.

“The court has now asked to submit the medical report on December 11. It will hold the bail hearing on December 12,” Zia's lawyer A K M Eshanur Rahman was quoted as saying in the report. According to a report, at the start of the proceedings in the court, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam informed that BSMMU had requested more time to prepare Zia's medical report. 'They still have to run a few more tests on Khaleda for which they need time,' he said.

22 WORLD

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Trouble brewing in post-election Lanka COLOMBO: Weeks after the election of hardliner Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the president of Sri Lanka, the prospects for justice and reconciliation between the different communities on the island lie in tatters. The victory of Gota, as he is commonly known, sent shockwaves across the Tamil-dominated northeast - where memories of his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa's brutal presidency, marked by mass atrocities and enforced disappearances, remain fresh.

Gota, who served as defence secretary between 2005 and 2015, stands accused of war crimes committed during Sri Lanka's civil war (1983-2009).

The Tamil community were hoping for a victory of Sajith Premadasa, the deputy leader of the United National Party (UNP), who was seen by Tamils as the "lesser evil". Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims went to the polls in large numbers, with the vast majority of the northeastern vote going to Premadasa. But it was not enough for his victory. His opponent, Gota, swept the Sinhala south, winning the election with a whopping majority.

After the vote, members of

the Sinhalese majority levelled accusations of disloyalty and separatism against Tamils - once again exposing the deep fault lines running between the two major ethnic groups on the island. The faint hopes for justice and reconciliation during the term of Gota's predecessor, Maithripala Sirisena, encouraged by over-enthusiastic Western governments and a Colombobased elite are now gone. Sri Lanka is slipping back into chauvinistic politics which threatens to destabilise the country.

Rising fears The new president wasted no time reaffirming his "strongman" credentials, immediately rallying his Sinhala Buddhist base after the election. In his inaugural speech on November 18, he pledged to lead the government based on "Buddhist philosophy" and to support the Sinhalese culture and Buddhist heritage and highlighted his role in the civil war.

Gota also moved against those he saw as a threat to his government. He imposed a travel ban on police officers involved in investigations of alleged crimes perpetrated by his family after one of them fled the country to

Switzerland after the election.

Following his escape, an employee of the Swiss visa section was detained and questioned, a w o r r y i n g development which could endanger the work of foreign embassies on the Gotabaya Rajapaksa island. new president, Sri Lanka will Tamil and Sinhala media continue to embrace the have also faced increasing persistent chauvinism that has pressure since the vote. Several dominated its political scene journalists were forced to hand since independence from Britain their computers to the police in 1948. over unsubstantiated accusations The main idea behind it is of spreading hate speech. Tamil that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala activists have ramped up their Buddhist country and those of security protocols and some are different faith or ethnicity reconsidering their continued migrated from elsewhere and are presence in the country. Selfnot part of the native population censorship has become the norm of the island. Today, the Sri once again.

Lankan constitution gives Meanwhile, hate speech, Sinhala Buddhism primacy, particularly against Tamils, has guaranteeing it the "foremost exploded on social media, with place" and entrusting the state no action taken against those with protecting and fostering it. posting. In the centre of the State institutions, the military country, Tamils were attacked by and the economy are also Sinhalese, who accused them of dominated by a Sinhala voting against Gota. supremacist ethos.

It is quite clear that under the

Rains continue to batter East Africa; 265 killed in floods, landslides NAIROBI: Two months of relentless rains have submerged villages and farms and sent rivers of mud crashing into houses across East Africa, with at least 265 killed, according to a report, as meteorologists warn of more rains to come.

The extreme downpours have affected close to two million people and washed away tens of thousands of livestock in Kenya, Somalia, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Djibouti and Ethiopia. With a tropical storm headed for Somalia and more rain forecast across the region in the coming weeks, fears are rising over waterborne diseases and the prospect of hunger as crops are destroyed.

In Burundi, 38 people died after heavy rains triggered landslides that swept through hillside communities in the northwest of the country, according to a provisional

police toll. "It happened in the night, when everyone was at home, and landslides hit three very steep hills and buried everything in their path," a witness said. "Whole families were buried alive in their homes or in the fields. It was terrifying."

Kenya has been hard hit with 132 killed and 17,000 displaced, schools, roads, and health centres flooded, and water systems clogged across the country, government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said.

The "weather forecast has indicated that the current rains are not expected to cease until the end of December 2019", the statement said.

In South Sudan, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said nearly a million people have been affected by floodwaters which submerged whole towns, compounding an already dire humanitarian situation after six

years of war. Flooding has also affected 570,000 people in Somalia, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The European humanitarian agency ECHO, meanwhile, warned of a tropical storm due to hit northeastern Somalia, bringing the threat of more flash floods. In Tanzania, 55 people have died, according to police figures, including 30 in flash floods in the northeast in October, 15 whose car was swept away by floodwaters in the town of Tanga, and 10 who drowned last month in northern Mwanza.

In Uganda, eight people have died and over 80,000 have been displaced by flooding and mudslides, Disaster Preparedness Minister Musa Ecweru said in a statement. Days of heavy rainfall on Mount Elgon caused "multiple landslides in... Bududa district killing four people, injuring five and displacing over 6,000 people". In Sironko district, also on Mount Elgon, "two adults and two children were killed" and over 4,000 people affected.

"The risk of more flooding and landslides is real," the minister warned.

Suu Kyi told to 'stop the genocide' in UN court showdown THE HAGUE: Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi faced calls for Myanmar to "stop the genocide" of Rohingya Muslims as she personally led her country's defence at the UN's top court. Myanmar's civilian leader sat through graphic accounts of mass murder and rape as the west African state of The Gambia set out its case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Thousands of people back home in Yangon rallied in support of 74-year-old Suu Kyi, whose silence about the plight of the Rohingya has tarnished her international reputation as a

rights icon. Around 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after a bloody crackdown by the Myanmar military in 2017 that UN investigators have already described as genocide.

"Tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity that continue to shock our collective conscience, to stop this genocide of its own people," Gambian justice minister Abubacarr Tambadou told the judges. Muslimmajority Gambia accuses Myanmar of breaching the 1948 genocide convention and has asked the court, set up in 1946 to

rule on disputes between UN member states, to take emergency measures to stop further violence.

"Another genocide is unfolding right before our eyes yet we do nothing to stop it," added Tambadou, a former prosecutor at the tribunal into the Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

"Every day of inaction means more people are being killed, more women are being raped and more children are being burned alive. For what crime?

Only that they were born different."

Suu Kyi, who 28 years ago today was awarded the Nobel

Peace Prize, is set to speak in Myanmar's defence. She is expected to argue that Myanmar was conducting legitimate operations against Rohingya militants and that the ICJ has no jurisdiction in the case.

'In it together' Her decision to personally lead the southeast Asian nation's case at the court has proved popular at home, where the Rohingya are widely regarded as illegal immigrants despite having lived in Myanmar for decades. In Myanmar, flagwaving supporters joined rallies in support of Suu Kyi in several cities across the country.

in brief AUSTRALIA TO END ALL BILATERAL AID TO PAKISTAN

Australia would cease all aid to Pakistan, including support to programmes helping women, as the funds were being redirected to meet new commitments in the Pacific, according to the latest department of foreign affairs and trade report. The report said Pakistan aid programme will be reduced to 19 million Australian dollars in 2019-20, and will fully phase out during 2020-21. The report said Australia’s development priorities had changed and that the aid funding was being redirected to meet new commitments in the Pacific. The report described the security situation in Pakistan as “volatile” and said tension between Pakistan and India over Kashmir culminating in military exchanges in February 2019 were high. “There was an increase in terrorist activity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan where a number of Australian funded aid programmes operate,” it said.

BANGLA BANK CRITICISED FOR ‘SEXIST’ JOB CIRCULAR

The Bangladesh Bank was criticised for a “sexist” job circular, where it asked married female applicants to mention their husbands permanent address as their own, media reported. The bank’s HR department had issued the circular signed by general manager NoorUn-Nahar. A bank spokesperson said that it follows rules set by the government.

VICTORIA FALLS IS JUST A TRICKLE NOW

For decades Victoria Falls, where southern Africa’s Zambezi river cascade down 100 metres into a gash in the earth, has drawn millions of holidaymakers to Zimbabwe and Zambia for its stunning views. But the worst drought in a century has slowed the waterfalls to a trickle, fuelling fears that climate change could kill one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions. While it typically slows down during the dry season, officials said this year had brought an unprecedented decline in water level. Data from the Zambezi River Authority shows water flow at its lowest since 1995

5-YEAR-OLD INVITES HIS ENTIRE CLASS A young boy invited his entire kindergarten class to celebrate with him on the occasion of his adoption. December 5 marked the 23rd annual Adoption Day at Kent county courthouse, Michigan, during which 37 children were welcomed into their forever homes. One of those children was five-year-old Michael Orlando Clark Jr. Kent County revealed on Facebook that Michael brought his school class with him to witness his adoption proceedings, in a post that has been shared more than 100,000 times. In a video, Michael and his classmates can be seen posing with hearts. Each child in attendance took it in turns to say something about Michael during the hearing. Michael and his adoptive parents, David Eaton and Andrea Melvin, hit the gavel together to mark the 5year-old’s adoption.

DAD TAKES OVER DAUGHTER’S SOCIAL MEDIA, GOES VIRAL

When 15-year-old Madelynn was caught helping sneak boys into a sleepover party, her parents decided she needed to be punished. Tawnya Ford and Larry Sumpter let their daughter decided her own fate: one month without a phone or a reduced sentence of two weeks without a phone but her parents would be given the freedom of her social media. Picking the latter, the high school student from Texas has seen her dad post selfies on Instagram with the caption ‘felt cute, might delete later’ and dance on TikTok wearing a crop top and jean shorts - leaving her begging to change her choice. But it's not all bad news for Madelynn, who has seen her social media accounts surge in popularity with fans desperate to keep up with Larry's antics. "Let me tell you sir, you are a genius. Love the idea," said one.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

INDIA

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

23

14 - 20 December 2019

in brief

WOMAN GETS JAIL FOR LYING ON CV

A woman who faked her credentials and posed as her own referee to land a £141,000a-year government job has been jailed.

Veronica Hilda Theriault, from Australia, pleaded guilty to deception and dishonesty charges over her fabricated CV that secured her a top position in the department of premier and cabinet (DPC) in 2017. The 46year-old had worked in the position for just over one month and had pocketed £17,000 of her annual salary of $270,000 before she was found out. Judge Boylan from Adelaide Supreme Court said: “You fraudulently obtained employment for which you were paid a large salary and in the course of which you may have had access to sensitive material.”

The district court jailed Theriault for over two years with a non-parole period of one year.

MAG’S ‘YOU SOUND LIKE SOCRATES’ DATING TIP TO WOMEN RIDICULED

A Japanese magazine that advised women to compliment men on their intelligence by saying “You sound like Socrates” has been ridiculed in the country ranked one of the world’s worst for gender parity. “JJ”, a major fashion magazine targeted at young women, encouraged readers to compare men to the classical Greek philosopher when they say something complicated. A picture of the page sparked mirth when it was shared on Twitter with some users noting that Socrates did not live happily ever after, as he was sentenced to death by drinking poison. Users of both genders poured scorn on the technique to attract men, with one saying: “If a woman told me I sound like Socrates, I would wonder if she’s sane.” The tips were based on a comic book by a manga artist, the magazine said, playing on a popular trope where women compliment men and feign stupidity.

INDONESIA TO FIRE AIRLINE CEO OVER SMUGGLING HARLEY

Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises minister said he will fire and seek the prosecution of the head of the national airline after he was implicated in the smuggling of a Harley Davidson motorcycle into the country on a new jet. The minister, Erick Thohir, said at a news conference in Jakarta that a government investigation found Garuda Indonesia president and CEO Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra was involved in the attempt to import the motorcycle on a new Airbus A330neo being delivered from France without declaring it. Danadiputra, his wife and other airline executives were on the November 16 flight, according to the manifest. A Garuda spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment on the accusations.

DIPLOMAT JOKES WITH TRUMP: WHERE’S ‘SECRET’ RUSSIA ROOM?

One of Moscow’s top diplomats joked with President Donald Trump after touring the White House that he was disappointed not to have seen the “secret” Russia room. “Thank you for the tour of the White House,” Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the UN, told Trump at a lunch for the members of the UN Security Council. “We saw the China room, but we didn’t see the Russia room,” Nebenzya said to laughter from around the table, adding that he wondered if such a room existed but was “top secret”. Nebenzya’s quip followed remarks by China’s UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, who thanked Trump for his hospitality, saying, “We have made a tour around this number of rooms: the green one, the red one and also the China room.” The White House does have a China Room, but this refers to a collection of porcelain housed there.

See you at trial: Kamala Harris’ retort to Trump’s tweet WASHINGTON: Taunted by President Donald Trump after she dropped out of the US presidential race (“Too bad. We will miss you Kamala!” he tweeted), California Senator Kamala Harris torched the incumbent as she exited, retorting, “Don’t worry, Mr. President. I’ll see you at your trial.” The feisty response was illustrative of the campaign the mixed-race senator, whose mother was from South India and father from Jamaica, ran for almost a year before it ran out of gas – and according to Harris, out of cash.

“My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue. I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign.

And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete,” Harris wrote

in an email to her supporters announcing suspension of her campaign, adding she is “still very much in this fight” and “will do everything in my power to defeat Trump.”

It was surprising admission and exit from the senator of one of America’s wealthiest states and home of Silicon Valley, but political pundits surmised that

Harris simply could not get the kind of traction that would have attracted lolly. She failed to project a vision that many who saw her as an Obama legatee hoped for and she fell trying to be all things to all people.

On the issue of race too, Harris’ identity lacked clarity.

Some Indians viewed her as Indian-American, but many

analysts referred to her as a black senator and the first black woman to seek a major party’s presidential nomination, largely ignoring her India connection.

Consequently, she did not gain much traction among IndianAmericans or blacks. IndianAmericans, including right wing hyper-nationalists, choose to support Tulsi Gabbard, a Caucasian-American from Hawaii who identifies herself as a Hindu. Harris and Gabbard clashed testily during the Democratic debate.

But Gabbard was gracious in sending off her rival. “Sending my best wishes to @KamalaHarris, her family & supporters who have campaigned so hard.

While we disagree on some issues, we agree on others & I respect her sincere desire to serve the American people,” she tweeted.

Nikki Haley flayed for backing flag associated with white supremacy SOUTH CAROLINA: Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, was criticized after she told a conservative radio host that the Confederate flag symbolised “service, sacrifice and heritage” for some people in her state until a white supremacist, Dylann S Roof “hijacked” it. Roof, the avowed white supremacist who killed nine black parishioners when he opened fire on a church in June 2015, posed with the flag in several photos before the longplanned attack. Haley, a Republican and former US

ambassador to the UN, made her comments on the podcast The Glenn Beck Program. During the interview, she paid tribute to the victims before turning her attention to Roof.

“Here is this guy... holding the Confederate flag and had just hijacked everything that people thought of,” she said. “We don’t have hateful people in South Carolina. There’s always the small minority who are always going to be there, but people saw it as service, sacrifice and heritage. But once he did that, there was no way to over-

come it.” In the aftermath of the attack, Haley called for the flag’s removal from the Statehouse.

She accused the “national media” of wanting “to make this about racism. They wanted to make it about gun control.”

Her remarks touched off a debate Nikki Haley on social media. “Really, Nikki?!”

Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, posted on Twitter,

adding that Roof “inherited” the meaning of the Confederate flag”. Others accused Haley of political posturing.

18 Indians feared killed in LPG Man faints during flogging; revived, blast at Sudan factory

KHARTOUM: Eighteen Indians were feared killed in an LPG tanker blast in a ceramic factory in Sudan.

While there was no official confirmation of the deaths, mainly because many bodies were badly burned, the Indian embassy in Khartoum released a list of 16 Indians who are missing. Twentythree people were killed in the blast at the Seela Ceramic Factory.

The embassy clarified that some of the missing may be in the list of dead which it was yet to receive. “As per the latest reports, but so far not confirmed officially, 18 are dead,’’ it said. The embassy also said seven people had been hospitalised, with four in critical condition. In the list of the 16 men missing, four are from Bihar and three each from UP and Tamil Nadu. The remaining are from Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

“Anguished by the blast in a ceramic factory in Sudan, where some Indian workers

whipped again, then hospitalised

have lost their lives and some are injured. My thoughts are with the bereaved families and prayers with the injured.

Our embassy is providing all possible assistance to those affected,” PM Narendra Modi tweeted.

About 70 Indians were employed with the ceramic factory in Khartoum Bahri.

At least 34 Indians who survived have been accommodated at the Saloomi Ceramics Factory residence.

“Deeply grieved to learn that some Indian workers have lost their lives while some others have been seriously injured," foreign minister S Jaishankar tweeted.

“The embassy representative has rushed to the site.

A 24-hour emergency hotline +249-921917471 has been set up by our embassy in Khartoum. The embassy is also putting out updates on social media. Our prayers are with the workers and their families,” he added.

A report quoted the Sudanese government as saying that more than 130 injured in the incident, which, according to preliminary reports, indicated that necessary safety equipment was missing at the site.

“There were also inflammable material improperly stored, which led to the spread of the fire,” the government said, adding that an investigation had been launched.

IDI: A 22-year-old Indonesian man who was sentenced to 100 strokes, fainted as he was being whipped for pre-marital sex was revived to receive the rest of his punishment before being rushed to hospital. Despite international condemnation, public flogging is common for a range of offences banned under local Islamic law in the conservative Aceh region on Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex. Aceh is the only region in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslimmajority country, that imposes religious law.

The man pleaded with a masked Sharia officer to stop lashing his back with a cane before he fainted. He was revived and given brief medical attention and then the flogging continued. He was later rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. The man had been found guilty of having sex with a woman who was also sentenced to 100 lashes outside a mosque in Aceh Timur district, along with another man she had relations with. Some 500 jeering spectators watched the punishment as some yelled "harder, harder". "This is the consequence they have to face for violating the law," onlooker Muhammad Yunus said.

24 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

SOUTH INDIA

Karnataka by-polls: BJP wins 12 out of 15 seats BENGALURU: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has managed to get a simple majority by winning 12 of the 15 seats which went to by-elections.

Congress was able to win in two, Janata Dal Secular (JDS) drew a blank while a BJP rebel won as an Independent candidate.

At present, BJP has 105 legislators in the assembly and enjoys the support of one independent MLA, taking its strength to 106. This election was crucial for BJP, which needed to win at least six seats to ensure simple majority in legislative Assembly.

With this victory in by-elections, Karnataka Chief minister Yediyurappa is set to consolidate his power. He is prepared to complete three-and-a-half-years of his term. In this by-elections, BJP has made inroads in Vokkaliga (land holding community) stronghold districts of Mandya and Chikkaballapura.

In other constituencies, the party, which was struggling against the Congress all these years, has won this time.

What was surprising is that the JDS, despite having a strong base in the Old Mysore region, drew a blank except putting-up a tough battle in Yeshwantpur and supporting the Independent in

Hoskote.

The By-elections was necessitated following the resignation of 17 MLAs (14 from Congress and three from JDS) to join the BJP. In 13 of the 15 seats, the BJP fielded Congress-JDS turncoats.

Siddaramaiah, Gundu Rao quit C o n g r e s s Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and Congress' Karnataka chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quit their posts after their party put up a poor show in the Assembly by-elections, throwing the state unit into a turmoil.

Minutes after the results of the bypolls were known, they tendered their resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi owning moral responsibility for not being able to give "satisfactory results." In a huge setback, the Congress could win only two out of 15 seats whereas it had previously held 12 of them.

'Beyond considerations of caste' Elated Chief Minsiter B S Yediyurappa's son BY Vijayendra said that the party's performance is a clear indication of the will of the people of the region who have gone "beyond considerations of caste" and supported the BJP. Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar said the party accepted the will of the people. "It is sad that the people have expressed their support for defections. This means defections can happen from any party to any party in future, not just to BJP. People have said that is not an issue for them.”

PUNJAB

Akalis take on Cong over opium video CHANDIGARH: The Shiromanoni Akali Dal expressed shock that jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa “batted for a gangster” during a cabinet meeting and condemned a few other ministers for displaying “insensitivity towards the menace of drugs and glorifying the use of opium”. In a statement, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said, “It is indeed a sad day for democracy when a minister starts batting for a gangster during a cabinet meeting and tries to bully his colleagues to protect and shelter gangsters affiliated with the party.” Claiming that the entire civil society was in a state of shock after the news of Randhawa’s conduct at the cabinet meet was made public, the Akali leader said, “This conduct is a fit ground for immediate dismissal of the

minister and an immediate probe into the gangster-minister nexus.”

Cheema said it was shocking that the minister had not only “derided his cabinet colleagues for not speaking up in favour of a gangster”, but also questioned why the Muktsar SSP had referred to Manpreet Manna, who had 14 cases registered against him, as a gangster. Manna was killed outside a gym at a shopping mall complex on the Bathinda road in Malout. The SAD leader also castigated the Council of Ministers for displaying total “lack of sensitivity” towards the scourge of drug addiction and “glorifying” the habit during a Cabinet meeting on December 2. He said though details of the incident had appeared earlier on social media, there were doubts of its veracity. “Now the

government has not only admitted that the incident took place, but has also initiated action against two public relation employees for releasing the video clip in public domain,” he said.

Cheema said it was incredulous that action had been initiated against two state employees whose job was to record Cabinet proceedings, but no action had been initiated against the minister who listed the benefits of opium and advocated its usage or others who joined in the conversation and even discussed from where it could be procured. “How do we expect this government to take exemplary action against drug mafia when it does not regard addiction as a problem and its ministers are even advocating use of drugs,” the SAD leader asked.

WEST BENGAL

West Bengal governor forced to wait outside assembly gate KOLKATA: A dramatic set of events unfolded at the West Bengal Legislative Assembly after Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was forced to wait outside the House as the gate designated for VIP entry was locked and the staff were nowhere to be found. He later entered through Gate 2, the one open for the public, perhaps to prove a point.

This is a “sad day for democracy” and “has put us to shame”, he remarked, ratcheting up the discord between the state secretariat Nabanna and the Raj Bhavan. While coming out he said, “Is it right that the Assembly gate meant for the governor’s entry should be closed? This has put us to shame. I will write to the Speaker that this shouldn’t have happened. This is not befitting to the office of the governor.” The state government has been clear about its reservations on the governor’s “public outreach”. “There is a deliberate effort to create anarchy. Let him (governor) give us advice, we will accept it.

We believe in coexistence and not in confrontation. What’s the use of visiting places? Government expenses towards Raj Bhavan have gone up to £700,000,” said state parliamentary affairs minister Partha

Chatterjee. CM Mamata Banerjee too criticised the governor’s role, saying there is “an effort to run a parallel administration in the state”.

Governor invites Mamata for talks Meanwhile, the Governor has invited the Chief Minister for discussions on "topics at her chosen time and place." Dhankar visited the state assembly to pay floral tributes to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on his 63rd death anniversary. This comes a day after Dhankar expressed his anger on finding the gate designated for the Governor to be locked upon his arrival at the Assembly.

After paying homage to Ambedkar inside the premises of the Assembly, Dhankar addressed media and said, "What happened yesterday pained me." I have written to the Chief Minister on having a discussion on the topics at her chosen time and place. I have also spoken to her over the phone," Dhankar said. He had also lashed out at Banerjee, stating that she had failed to perform constitutional duties for the last four months, and has never briefed the governor about important issues, including the cyclone ''Bulbul''. Mamata hit back at the Governor

in brief HEAVY RUSH AT SABARIMALA TEMPLE With the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala witnessing a heavy flow of devotees, the income of the shrine has touched over £6.9 million in the first 20 days of the ongoing twomonth-long pilgrim season. Till December 6, the revenue touched £6.94 million which was about £2.75 million more than it was in the corresponding period of the 2018-19 pilgrim season. During the previous season, the revenue during the period was £4.18 million.

The shrine had opened for the mandala pooja on November 16. The temple complex and many parts of the state had witnessed unprecedented protests last year after the CPI(M)- led LDF government decided to implement the September 28 apex court verdict allowing women of all age groups to offer prayers at the hill shrine. This year, citing security reasons, the government did not provide police cover for women between 10-50 years of age to offer worship at the temple on the basis of the apex court's directions.

LOCAL BODIES POLLS IN NINE TN DISTRICTS ON HOLD

The Supreme Court last week has put on hold the elections for local bodies in nine new districts in Tamil Nadu for complying with legal formalities such as delimitation and reservation in four months. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde considered the suggestion put forward by the Tamil Nadu government that it was willing to put on hold the local body polls in the nine districts for complying with legal formalities such as a fresh delimitation exercise and for deciding the issue of reservation for women and SC/ST candidates. The bench said, "There shall be no legal impediment in holding the elections in the rest nine districts of Tamil Nadu." It directed the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission to conduct the delimitation exercise and other formalities afresh and conclude them in four months.

PUNJAB CM WARNS PAK AGAINST TERROR MODULES

Twenty-eight terror modules were busted and more than 100 ISI-backed terrorists arrested by the Punjab police in the last two years, Singh said during an interactive session on the first day of the 'Progressive Punjab Investors Summit 2019'. Warning Pakistan against any attempt to destabilise his state, Singh said, "Behave, or else be prepared for the consequences. Pakistan has its own problems, but I won't let them make their problems my problem. We will not let them mess around with us," he said, adding he has issued clear orders to the police to handle any internal or external threat with an iron hand. Singh said he believed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted peace but the Pakistan Army, in its desperation to remain relevant, calls the shots and obstructs efforts for peace.

MAMATA REFUSES TO CHANGE STAND ON NRC

Jagdeep Dhankhar

saying that she will fight back. "Look at my state, just for the introduction of Bills, my house is adjourned. I will fight I don't have any problem," Mamata said while attending the inaugural programmes of Infocom in Kolkata.

The West Bengal assembly was adjourned for two days as the Speaker Biman Bannerjee said bills meant to be tabled had not been approved by the Governor. Since he took office in July, Dhankar has been at loggerheads with the CM over several issues.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reiterated her earlier stand that the National Register of Citizens will not be implemented in the state. "All of us are residents of this country.

No one can take away our citizenship," Mamata said. "We will not allow NRC, it will never happen in West Bengal. You cannot implement NRC on the basis of caste and religion," she said. "NRC is nothing but a political rhetoric for BJP," she said. Mamata had earlier opposed the statement of Home Minister Amit Shah who said that all Indian citizens, irrespective of their religion will figure in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and that the NTC is different from the Citizenship Ammendment Bill. In other news, both the opposition CPI(M) and the ruling TMC slammed the Centre over its decision to link Aadhaar card with other documents, saying it is leading to rise in bank fraud cases.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

HERITAGE & HISTORY 25 14 - 20 December 2019

Maharaja Hari Singh felt betrayed

• The Ruler wrote to Patel on 31 January 1948 wishing to withdraw the accession • Dogra King’s only son Dr. Karan Singh makes a comparison with the Greek Tragedy

S

ince last more than seven decades Jammu and Kashmir is frequently in the air. Even during the British reign Maharaja Hari Singh (23 September 1885- 26 April 1961), the ruler of the Princely State since 1925, was always suspected for his anti-British stance and even when the British were to leave India for ever, he aspired to have his own ‘Switzerland’. His State was attacked by the Pakistan army sponsored “tribal soldiers from the Frontier areas to make the attack look like a rebellion from within” in October 1947. The Dogra Maharaja who was biding his time had to decide in favour of India to save his State in such grave emergency period. Hari Singh had appointed Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan as his Prime Minister in September 1947 following Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s advice. Mahajan had “approach the Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for help when Pakistan had begun to exert pressure on the Maharaja by orchestrating economic blockade”.

Sheikh Abdullah, the most popular leader of the State, was behind the bar as he had given a “Quit Kashmir” campaign against the Maharaja in 1946.

For Pandit Nehru the issue was personal being a Kashmiri Pandit himself as well as this a public matter.

Both Nehru and Sheikh were keen that unless the popular Government was installed in Srinagar, no declaration of accession to India be made. The Maharaja wrote to Sardar Patel “requesting him to provide him with guns, connected stores and material to blow up the Kohala Bridge.

He had anticipated the Pakistani move and was preparing in the hope that better sense will prevail in New Delhi where even Sardar Patel did not agree to immediate accession without transfer of authority to Sheikh Abdullah”, records Harbans Singh in his most authoritative biography “Maharaja Hari Singh: The Troubled Years”. Finally, on the advice of the Sardar the Maharaja released Sheikh Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharani Tara Devi as a gesture who had expressed his forever. Even in his memorandum from loyalty being his subject.

Pune to the President of India Dr. Rajendra When most of the Maharaja’s trusted Prasad in August 1952, the Maharaja Muslim Army officers and soldiers deserted described his painful experiences. Hari him and the attack from Pakistan side had Singh never could return to his State alive. reached Baramulla with a design to abduct Former Sadr-e-Riyasat of Jammu and Hari Singh, on advice of V.P. Menon, the Kashmir and the only son of the Maharaja Secretary of the States Ministry headed by Dr Karan Singh in Patel, the Maharaja left his one of the for Jammu driving his interviews to car the whole night.

“Greater Kashmir” The Maharaja signed Daily in September the Instrument of 2016 asserted that Accession to India on pre-conditions for 26 October 1947 and holding a Plebiscite the planes loaded with in Jammu and Indian army officials Kashmir were never and soldiers were fulfilled despite the flown to Srinagar. fact that a US Unfortunately, the admiral was Sheikh started showing appointed to his true colours after the he became Head of the Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah with Sadr-e-Riyasat monitor process “My father E m e r g e n c y Yuvraj Karan Singh was considering Administration. Hari which of the two dominions to join, but the Singh wrote to Patel on 1, January 1948 tribal invasion changed everything. complaining about Sheikh and G. M. Shah Actually, the invasion forced my father to behaving as “virtual dictators and they have side with Union of India. My father sought complete power”. Sheikh continued “to help, and India put condition of accession poison already prejudiced mind of Nehru”. before my father,” he said.

He was successful in making Maharaja Hari As far as the promise of plebiscite by Singh leave his own State in May-June 1949 Nehru is concerned, the former Sadr-eappointing 18 year Yuvraj Karan Singh as his Riyasat said the promise was rebutted by Regent during his absence in the State. He Nehru himself. “I believe plebiscite is an was convinced by the Sardar to leave the advisory and not a binding State. Even before that Next Column resolution. Though a few Maharaja had a second clauses of the resolution are Brothers-Sisters thought about his decision to sign the Instrument of dominate Indian Politics a binding like Pakistan must withdraw its forces and then Accession to India. He wrote Indian army would also gradually pull out to Patel on 31, January 1948 with so much its forces,” he said. While launching the pain: “Sometimes I feel that I should biography of Maharaja Hari Singh withdraw the accession that I have made to written by Harbans Singh in 2011, Dr. Indian Union.” In May 1949 when he was Singh compared his father’s story with invited to Delhi by Patel, in whom he put total faith, “had administered the hammer the Greek Tragedy. He could not open up blow to Maharaja”. Harbans writes: “Sardar his with anyone and if some sort of Patel suggested that he should announce he compromise could have taken place was leaving the State for a few months on between the Maharaja and Sheikh, the the ground of health.” On 20 June 1949, history of entire Asian continent Maharaja Hari Singh signed a proclamation must have been different. declaring his Yuvraj Shri Karansinghji (The writer is a Socio-political Historian.

Bahadur as his Regent and left for Mumbai E-mail: haridesai@gmail.com)

Dr. Hari Desai

Diary of a new Canadian Immigrant Mitul Paniker

A Non-Believer's Dilemma: Where Do I Find Faith?

Dear Readers, I received a very positive feedback to my column on Ismaili Khojas from last week. It was a small attempt to recognise the extraordinary community and I am glad it worked. This week, I am going to go off topic just this once.

CB Patel and I make it a point to speak over the weekends. We talk about work, we talk about politics, we talk about topics I could feature in this space. Sometimes, we talk about nothing at all. The art of nothingness, is a special feat in itself. You know what I mean. A couple of minutes of random musings. CB is a man of many words. I, merely an enthusiastic novice.

My rendezvous with ABPL began back in 2015. CB, and all my colleagues have seen me grow in the last four years. While I mostly agree with them on various conversation-starters, there is one topic on which I have maintained firm silence. Faith.

Who is my God? The first time I spoke with CB over a phone call in 2015, he asked me who I believed in. A Catholic-educated Hindu Malayalee born and brought up in Gujarat, I either worshipped a whole community of Gods, or none of them. I said I don't worship any one. Respecting my answer, CB moved on from the topic.

This weekend, over our weekly discussion, we spoke on an array of subjects. I shared my experiences in Canada and as a worrying father figure, he gave suggestions. The conversation drifted from one topic to another and eventually CB mentioned one of his favourite Gujarati hymns 'Mari Naad Tamare Haath Hari Sambhaljo Re'. He said he isn't worried about life. After all, he has an “agreement” with Lord Shiva and they have his life in their hands. The phone call ended shortly after this conversation and left me thinking.

In whose hands have I placed my life? I grew up in a joint family. Lost my mother at a very young age. Religion never came up during family discussions. Mostly because we were a pack of atheists and believers living together in mutual respect for the

other person's feelings. My mother was a religious person. However, I don't recall a single moment when she forced or pushed my brother or I to accompany her to her weekly temple visits. She had this unspoken regard for boundaries when it came to faith. Boundaries that were set by herself.

In retrospect, she left it upon us to choose. There is a God, there is no God. Over a decade has passed since she left us and I still wonder. After my call with CB, I called my brother in India. How strange is it that even after years of growing up together, I still don't know whether he believes in the Almighty. Four years younger to me, my brother is a tad too mature for his age. Losing a parent at 14 does that to people.

I asked him if he is a believer. After a brief pause, he replied, “Honestly, I do not know yet.” I framed my question a little different this time. I asked him, “Do you WANT to believe in God?” This time he replied, “Well, of course.” I knew not to poke any further. However, his answer left me unsatisfied. I wondered if I wanted to believe in God. In every single adversity I have faced, I have rationalised the pros and cons, the reasons, the consequences. I know nothing else. Ringing up the Man in the clouds has never struck me. Every time I have crossed a milestone, I would analyse yet again. If the sorrows are mine, so are the joys.

Ironically, I am married to an overtly religious Gujarati. He prays every morning.

He observes the Hindu calendar like his life depends upon it. In fact, he even carried around the picture of a deity during our entire visa process. I wasn't surprised. I knew what I was getting into. Like my mother, and CB, my husband never asks ME to join him nor does he preach the advantages of having faith. On my part, I support his beliefs and know not to comment on his ways.

I don't believe my questions will ever be answered. May be God hasn't called upon me. Do I have faith? I would like to say yes.

But whom have I placed this faith on? I have no clue.

Spectacular 98th Birthday Celebration of Pramukh Swami Maharaj On 4th December 2019, BAPS 60,000 over devotees, well-wishers and high profile guests, 750 BAPS saints and 10,000 volunteers witnessed a spectacular 98th birthday celebration of Pramukh Swami Maharaj at the DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, New Mumbai. The evening celebration programme which commenced from 5.30 p.m. Lasted for over 3 hours. The celebration the featured theme challenges our society faces today and the solutions provided by Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

The stage programme involved stellar performances by 3,000 children and youths, video presentations, devotional songs, traditional dances, testimonials and speeches by senior saints and dignitaries. Anti-addiction drives and family values were conducted by children, youths and volunteers in over 1,25,000 homes. Home Minister Amit Shah was the chief guest for the celebration. Having personally met and interacted with Pramukh Swami Maharaj on many occasions he shared his sentiments, “Pramukh Swami Maharaj was a great spiritual giant who spread India’s glorious spiritual and cultural heritage through the 1,100 mandirs he built worldwide and by initiating 1,000 youths into the saffron order.

26 INDIA

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Fire kills 43 in Delhi, worst in 20 years In Delhi’s worst fire tragedy in 20 years, at least 43 people were killed at Filmistan’s Anaj Mandi area in central Delhi last week, when a blaze caused by a suspected shortcircuit turned a five-storey building - where 100-150 workers were asleep - into a gas chamber, choking most of the victims to death.

It was a disaster waiting to happen. The building housed over a dozen illegal manufacturing units and warehouses being run from ill-ventilated rooms filled with combustible materials.

There was just one narrow entrance to the building spread across an area of 500 square yards, which ensured that fire trucks and officials didn’t have proper access to the site.

The fire is believed to have started on the second floor and quickly spread through stacks of paper, cardboard, plastic and other items lying around. The units doubled up as residence for the labourers at night. Before many of them on the third and fourth floors could realise what was happening, they had passed out due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Fire and Delhi Police officials said a total of 64 people were rescued from the building by firemen and sent to LNJP Hospital, Lady Hardinge and RML hospitals. Out of these, 43 died, 39 of them due to asphyxiation. Most of the workers were sleeping on the ground and first floors, and escaped without injuries.

Building had blaze in March this year Delhi Police said the owner of the building, Rehan, along with the manager, Furkaan, were arrested and a case under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to

murder) registered. Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (north) said a major part of the building was owned by Rehan while two small portions on different floors were owned by two other people. “We are verifying the

details. A case under section of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered at Sadar Bazaar police station. The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch,” Bharadwaj said. The area of Anaj Mandi – with its congested bylanes and wires hanging low from each lane is notorious for fire incidents. Barely 24 hours before this fire broke out, the area had seen a similar fire in a building 50 metres away.

No one was injured in that fire.

Locals said the same building which caught fire also had another blaze in March this year, in which no one was injured. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the site and ordered a magisterial probe

into the incident, announced a financial relief of Rs 10,00,000 to the kin of each deceased and Rs 100,000 to those injured. PM Narendra Modi, meanwhile, announced an ex-gratia of Rs 200,000 each for the next of kin of those who died, while Rs 50,000 will be provided to those who got injured. The fire department, which received a call only around 5.20am, said the task of rescuing people was not only made difficult due to the narrow lanes, but also because the call was made late and after all efforts to douse the fire had failed. A total of 15 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. However, only one fire truck could enter the narrow lane where this building existed, fire officials said.

EU asks India to restore normalcy in J& K Expressing concerns over the continuing restrictions on mobility and communications in Kashmir, the European Union asked India to restore normalcy there.

Speaking to journalists in his first media interaction, new EU envoy, Ugo Astuto said the EU's position on Kashmir was "unchanged" - "India must take steps to restore normalcy and rights and freedoms of the people, while understanding India's security concerns."

Responding to questions about the EU's response to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), he said that the structure of equality was enshrined

in the Indian Constitution.

"We share this idea and hope it would be upheld."

On cross-border terrorism, he said Pakistan must take action against militants and terrorists operating from its soil. The European Union is concerned over the situation in Kashmir and it is important to restore the freedom of movement and normalcy there, Ugo Astuto said. The ambassador also said that the visit to Kashmir by the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) was not "an expression of EU's policy decision".

The quality of the strategic partnership has improved significantly, Astuto said. Based on shared principles, EU and

Ugo Astuto

India are working on a growth agenda that takes off from the democratic

foundations of both sides.

"We believe in multilateral relationships. With India,

we hope we can make a difference." From a focus on economic engagement India and the EU are working on their growing convergence in political and security issues.

Connectivity is a big area of focus, he said, where EU and India agreed on three fundamental principles that connectivity projects should be "fiscally sustainable, Transparent and inclusive."

Climate change has emerged as a new priority area. With a new Green Deal, Astuto said India and EU can provide leadership.

"There used to be a dilemma between growth and environment. We're now looking at growth through the environment."

The common areas of work are green energy sources and disasterresilient infrastructure.

During the recently concluded UN General Assembly session, India had proposed a multilateral group to devise disaster-resilient infrastructure which would help countries facing extreme weather conditions as a result of climate change. India and EU also signed up to a new group on multilateralism.

Nevertheless, the economic agenda will dominate, particularly as India and EU seek to close a bilateral investment agreement in anticipation of renewing negotiations on a trade deal.

Navy chases away Chinese vessel ‘spying’ near Andaman & Nicobar Indian warships drove away a Chinese oceanic research vessel indulging in suspicious activity near the strategicallylocated Andaman and Nicobar archipelago recently, amidst the continuing shadow-boxing between New Delhi and Beijing for the same strategic space and influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

“Our stand is that if you have to do anything in our EEZ (exclusive economic zone), you have to notify us first,” said Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh, confirming the Chinese vessel Shi Yan-1 was forced to leave the area after it was first detected by P-8I maritime patrol aircraft a few weeks ago. Chinese warships and research vessels have often been

detected indulging in such suspected spying activities in the region. “EEZs are international waters, but if we find Chinese ships engaging in what we perceive to be military manoeuvres, we chase them away,” said another officer.

Admiral Singh, speaking ahead of the Navy Day, said there are seven to eight Chinese warships present in the IOR at any given time.

The Chinese navy is also gearing up for an exercise with its Pakistani counterpart in the north Arabian Sea soon to reaffirm their “all-weather strategic partnership”. India, too, will conduct the “Paschim Lehar” wargames in the Arabian Sea in January-February to “simulate a conflict or contingency in the western maritime theatre”, said the

Navy chief. Incidentally, China, along with Pakistan, is not among the 41 countries invited for the “Milan” multilateral exercise at Vizag in March because India does not want to legitimise its increasing presence in the IOR. But while Pakistan is not a worry in the maritime domain, China is in a

different league altogether.

With an overseas base at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and naval turnaround facilities at Karachi, the fastexpanding Chinese Navy already has two aircraft carriers (two more are being built), 33 destroyers, 54 frigates, 42 corvettes, 50 diesel electric and 10 nuclear submarines, among other

warships. Grappling with a fund crunch, the 140warship Indian Navy has just one aircraft carrier, 10 destroyers, 14 frigates, 11 corvettes, and 15 dieselelectric and two nuclear submarines as of now. The force, which has asked for an additional £1.6 billion for capital expenditure in the ongoing fiscal, may be forced to settle for 175 warships instead of the 212 it wanted by 2027.

“Navy’s share of the defence budget has declined from 18% in 2012 to around 13% in 2019-2020. While we have projected our requirement to the government, and are hopeful of getting more money, we remain committed to progress force modernisation using available resources optimally. Our aim is to get

the maximum bang for the buck, with prioritisation, rationalisation and economy of expenditure,” said Admiral Singh.

“As the Navy chief, my concern is to safeguard the country’s maritime interests, and not allow any action by any other player in the region to adversely impact them. I am convinced the nation requires three aircraft carriers so that two are operational at any given time,” he added. The Navy plans to take up afresh its long-standing case for a third aircraft carrier, which will have a displacement of 65,000 tonne, electric propulsion and CATOBAR (catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery) configuration for launching fighters as well as heavier aircraft from its deck.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

27

14 - 20 December 2019

Norovirus outbreak hits hospital, NHS to close 1,100 beds

More than 1,100 beds have been shut in the past week in the hospitals in England because of a serious outbreak of the norovirus winter vomiting bug. NHS officials are urging people with the virus not to go to work and parents not to send children with it to school, until 48 hours after symptoms have gone.

That is almost double the number that were closed for the same reason this time last year. The number of cases of norovirus in midNovember was 28% higher than the average for the time of year over the past five years.

Prof Steve Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said: “We’ve already seen a number of hospitals and schools affected by norovirus, and unfortunately instances like these are likely to rise over the coming weeks.”

Southampton general hospital has been trying to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious bug for more than a month. It initially had to close 32 beds in five wards, and now has one ward closed to new admissions, as well as bays closed on two others.

The hospital moved quickly to curb the spread of the infection by isolating it, performing “enhanced cleaning” on its A&E unit and advising patients and visitors to stay away if they had the bug.

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS foundation trust said norovirus had been brought into the hospital by patients. Royal

4,000,000 suffer from Asthma Berkshire hospital in Reading has shut four wards in an attempt to contain the bug’s spread.

Prof Nick Phin, the deputy director of Public Health England’s national infection service, said: “Cases of norovirus are at higher levels than we would expect to see at this time of year, although this is not unprecedented.”

The outbreaks present extra difficulties for an NHS bracing itself for what many doctors and health experts say could be the service’s toughest winter for years, especially as hospitals have the fewest beds on record.

Several hospitals have come under so much pressure in recent weeks, before winter has officially begun, that they have been forced to go on “black alert” and ask patients to seek help at other nearby NHS facilities.

NHS chiefs have asked the public to do everything they can to reduce the spread of norovirus, for example by staying off work or school for at least 48 hours after the bug strikes, washing hands with soap and water after using the toilet, and not visiting hospitals or GP surgeries if they

have it, instead seeking help from the NHS 111 advice line.

Flu has also begun circulating, according to figures from Public Health England.

Its surveillance report for the week to last Sunday says five hospitals had an outbreak in the week, and the rate of people catching it had risen over the course of the week from 2.85 cases per 100,000 people to 4.31.

The Royal College of Nursing said the surge in norovirus meant the number of available hospital beds was reaching “unsustainably low levels”.

Helen Donovan, the RCN’s professional lead for public health, said: “Nursing staff also often fall victim to norovirus outbreaks, which then exacerbates existing staffing problems, as affected staff shouldn’t report for duty until they’ve been symptom-free for 48 hours.

“If they return to work too early, staff risk unknowingly passing on the illness, as they remain infectious.

Norovirus presents a big challenge to nursing staff in winter, who are already working in a challenging environment with one in 10 posts vacant.”

Surgeons withdraw support for heart disease advice European clinical guidelines on how to treat a major form of heart disease are under review following a BBC Newsnight investigation.

Europe's professional body for heart surgeons has withdrawn support for the guidelines, saying it was "a matter of serious concern" that some patients may have had the wrong advice.

Guidelines recommended both stents and heart surgery for low-risk patients. But trial data leaked to Newsnight raises doubts about this conclusion. Thousands of people in the UK and hundreds of thousands worldwide will be treated for left main coronary artery disease each year. This is a narrowing of one of the main arteries in the heart.

The guidelines on how to treat it were largely based on a three-year trial to compare whether heart surgery or stents - a tiny tube inserted into a blocked blood ves-

Winter remedies: T he Ayurvedic way

Dr. Smita Naram

sel to keep it open - was more effective.

The trial called Excel started in 2010 and was sponsored by big US stent maker, Abbott. It was led by eminent US doctor Gregg Stone and aimed to recruit 2,000 patients. Half were given stents and the other half open heart surgery.

Success of the treatments was measured by adding together the number of patients that had heart attacks, strokes, or had died.

The research team used an unusual definition of a heart attack, but had said that they would also publish data for the more common "Universal" definition of a heart attack alongside it.

There is debate around which is a better measure and the investigators stand by their choice.

In 2016, the results of the trial for patients three years after their treatments were published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. The article

concluded stents and heart surgery were equally effective for people with left main coronary artery disease. But researchers had failed to publish data for the common, "Universal" definition of a heart attack.

Newsnight has seen that unpublished data and it shows that under the universal definition, patients in the trial that had received stents had 80% more heart attacks than those who had open heart surgery.

The lead researchers on the trial have told Newsnight that this is "fake information".

But Newsnight has spoken to experts who say they believe the data is credible.

Prof Rod Stables, clinical lead for research at the British Heart Foundation, said this information should have been published and knowing it would have made a "substantial contribution to our ability to appreciate the nuances of the results".

Asthma is a common lung condition causing breathing difficulties, coughing and chest tightness. Smoking habits can worsen this condition as the smoke irritates the airways making them swollen, narrow and fills them with mucus.

Ayurveda says excess of kapha creates mucus and excess vatta dries up mucus in the respiratory passage creating narrowing of the passage. Imbalanced immune system creates allergy from change of season and triggering attacks of sneezing, whizzing sound, severe congestion. Finally this creates respiratory difficulties like asthma, cough, cold, allergies, and shortness of breath.

A survey conducted by Asthma UK this year found that about 4,000,000 people are at risk of suffering asthma attacks triggered by flu and colds this winter. According to the NHS, currently there is no permanent cure for Asthma apart from using reliever or preventer inhalers. But to combat these conditions, Dr. Smita Naram of Ayushakti recommends the following Ayurvedic remedies: Diet: Completely stop dairy products, wheat and gluten, cheese, and fruits.

Consume warm soups made out of mung and fresh vegetables. Add spices like ginger, garlic and black pepper in your dishes which helps reduce kapha production.

Home remedy: Sip warm ginger

water throughout the day. Make tea with the following ingredients: 10 basil leaves, 2 pepper cones, one inch of ginger, 2 inches piece of cinnamon, 20 mint leaves, 1 clove Add water 1 ½ cups.

Boil and bring to one cup.

Filter and add honey.

Sip this tea warm. You can drink this tea 34 times a day.

Apply some balm on the chest and back.

And do hot fomentation to get improve breathing.

Asthma attacks can be fatal, with around three people dying in the UK every day. Flu viruses can increase inflammation in the airways and the narrowing of airway then has the potential to trigger a bronchospasm, otherwise known as an asthma attack.

For more information contact: info@ayushakti.co.uk

Public Health England urges flu vaccination for children In a largest ever flu vaccination drive, the Public Health England is encouraging South Asian parents to help protect their children from flu this winter. The flu vaccine is free for groups including children aged 2 and 3 (provided they were this age on 31 August 2019), all primary school children and pregnant women. For most children, the flu vaccine is not usually an injection, just a quick and easy nasal spray.

Children aged 2 and 3 (on 31 August 2019) receive the vaccine through their GP and all primary school aged children receive it in school.

Kuljit Deeljur, a teacher and mum of three children made sure her two-year old daughter Surina got the flu nasal spray vaccine this year following advice from her GP. Her elder son Jay who is five, will be vaccinated at school this year. Kuljit says, “It is really horrible when our little ones get sick and with flu, children can get fever, chills, aching muscles and headache. Having the vaccine reduces the chances of getting flu which

is why Surina got the vaccine this year through our GP and it’s why Jay will be vaccinated at school.

“I was initially worried that Surina would be uncomfortable whilst getting her vaccine at the GP surgery, however, as with Jay previously, it was really quick, easy and I know it’s a painless alternative to nee-

dles.

Pregnant women are also eligible for the free flu vaccine.

Pregnancy naturally weakens the body’s immune system and as a result flu can cause serious complications for women and their babies. The vaccine is available at any stage of pregnancy and regardless of their health condition.

H a m i s h a Mehta, a finance professional is pregnant with her second child.

Hamisha made sure her two year old daughter Anya got the flu nasal spray vaccine this year and she will also be getting herself vaccinated.

Those who are eligible for a free flu vaccine should contact their GP, pharmacist or midwife to protect themselves and their families before the flu season takes hold.

To Our Readers We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement any advice. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

28 BOLLYWOOD

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Genre: Epic War Film Duration:2 hours, 51 minutes

Gowarikar fails to capture Jodha Akbar's magic in 'Panipat' Vallisa Chauhan Panipat is based on the third battle of Panipat in the 18th century India. It attempts to chronicle the war that took place between the Marathas, who had the most powerful empire in India and the Afghan King Abdul Shah Abdali, who had plans to conquer India. A typical Ashutosh Gowarikar magnum opus, the movie bears stylistic resemblance to the Oscar-nominated director's previous historical narratives around Jodhaa Akbar and Mohenja Daro.

Shadashivrao Bhau, the protagonist is played by Arjun Kapoor. He is ordered to try and stop Abdul Shah Abdali, played by Sanjay Dutt, from trying to take over India.

From the very outset, this film has been compared to previous period dramas like Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat. Living up to Ranveer Singh, who completely owned the screen, Kapoor didn’t have the same poise and wit about him. Nevertheless, Kapoor should be credited for working on the look of his character. Right from bulking up on his muscles to appear like a cold-blooded warrior to shaving his head, Kapoor is dressed to the nines for his character. Whilst Sanjay Dutt successfully pulls off his role of the fierce King one feels sorry for Kriti Sanon. Although, Sanon's efforts are laudable for attempting to play a dated character, she fails to cast a distinct performance from her predecessors. It is difficult to change the look or feel of the role but her clothing and style is starkly similar to that of Priyanka Chopra in Bajirao Mastani.

There are only three songs in the movie and the music appears to be rather restricted off the pomp and grandeur that is usually evident in Gowarikar's sequences. 'Mann Mein Shiva' is very well put together and Kapoor mixes up some of the moves of Hrithik Roshan in Jashn-E-Bahara with that of Singh in Malhari. But, Sanon in Mard Maratha has nothing on Padukone and Priyanka in Pinga. It is a shame that Gowarikar did not give Sanon a more hard-hitting song to perform especially considering how she demonstrated her moves and grace in her previous performances. Sapna Hai Sach Hai beautifully showcased a traditional Maharashtrian wedding between Sadashiv Rao and Paravatibai and really showed the love between the two.

I feel overall the film has been shot well just like we would want with Gowarikar as a director, although the Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) could have used a little more work and it definitely deserves a watch on the big screen to capture the essence of the surround sound music score that aids the battles.

Mardaani 2

Mardaani 2 is a sequel to Mardaani, Mardaani 2 will be directed by Gopi Puthran. The movie star Rani Mukerj in the lead role. Mardaani 2 is aimed at raising awareness about the heinous crimes committed against women by juveniles in India. The movie is produced by Rani’s husband Aditya Chopra and will also star Sudhanshu Pandey, Vikram Singh Chauhan and Shruti Bapna in pivotal roles.

Venky Mama Venky Mama is a romantic comedy entertainer movie directed by K. S. Ravindra (Bobby) and produced by D Suresh Babu under Suresh Productions banner.

Victory Venkatesh and Naga Chaitanya are playing the main male lead roles in this movie.

Deepika keen on desi superhero film After impressing one and all with her brilliant performances in her past few films, Deepika Padukone has shown keen interest to play a superwoman onscreen and is also looking forward to an Avengers-like film for Indian cinema. According to a leading daily, the actress feels that the idea of creating similar films for the Indian audience would be very interesting and that the world is ready to see one of these superheroes that originate from India.

Deepika is also certain that it shall happen very soon.

The report adds that the film is undergoing final edits and that it should be on floors in 2020. The report, quoting a source, said, “Deepika has been keen on playing a superwoman for a long time. Discussions on the superhero franchise are at a nascent stage. She is in talks with producers, directors and actors to take it further.” She is also interested in bringing in desi superheroes that Bollywood has already produced so far. It may be recalled that ! Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff have worked in what can be dubbed as desi superhero films such as the Krish franchise (owned by the Roshans). Tiger starred in a film called 'A Flying Jatt', where he also played a superhero.

Shah! Rukh Khan’s character in 'Ra.One' could also be called one.

Shankar’s Chitti, Rajinikanth as a robot, could also make the cut.

Deepika, meanwhile, will be seen in two upcoming major projects her home production, 'Chhapaak' and Kabir Khan’s ambitious ’83. While the former chronicles the life of an acid attack survivor and is inspired by the real-life story of Delhi’s Laxmi Aggarwal, the Kabir Khan film is a re-telling of the events leading up to India’s spectacular win at the 1983 cricket World Cup where minions India beat the mighty West Indies.

While Ranveer Singh will essay the role of Kapil! Dev in the film, Deepika will be

seen as his wife, Romi! Dev. In 'Chhapaak', Deepika’s character is called Malti and she has been paired opposite Vikrant Massey.

Speaking about 'Chhapaak', Deepika said that this role impacted her the most. “I literally had to burn the piece of prosthetic that I was wearing on the last day of shoot. It impacted me in a way that I had never experienced before. That was my way of trying to let go of everything that I had experienced. I literally burnt it. Prosthetics are expensive.

We get charged per piece of prosthetic that the artist makes. But I took a call as a producer - I said I don’t care, I need to heal emotionally.”

‘Romancing Salman just gets better': Sonakshi Sonakshi Sinha seems to be ecstatic about her upcoming film with Salman Khan which is touted to hit the screens on December 20.

When quizzed about romancing Salman on screen, the Dabangg actress said, “Romancing Salman just gets better. I love the fact that it’s a beautiful romance between the husband and the wife. You know the track between Chulbul and Rajjo.

It’s fun. It’s got amazing new kinds of songs. Yun Karke is a crazy peppy number where we’re both going crazy in the song. There’s Habibi ke nayan which is again a romantic track. And of course, because it’s Sajid Wajid, they have to put a song on my naina in every part of the film, which I love.

So it’s been fantastic.”

Speaking about the feelings she’s going through as the film is about to release, Sonakshi said, "I’m feeling a whole lot of happiness because apparently, I’m the

only heroine who’s repeated in a franchise like this for the third time. So, that’s pretty cool. I love the fact that it’s the film I began my career with and it’s always going to be very special to me."

The film is all set to release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada and is expected to have the widest release for a Bollywood film.

It is believed that the makers are also cashing on the stardom of lead antagonist Kichcha Sudeepa, who enjoys

a huge fan base in south, especially in the Kannada speaking areas. The producers are planning to release the film in around 5,400 screens across the country thus beating Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan's 'Thugs Of Hindostan', which was released just over 5.000 screens. It's known that Salman will not only launch 21-year-old Saiee Manjrekar but will also be seen romancing the newbie in his younger version in the film.

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

BOLLYWOOD

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

29

14 - 20 December 2019

Nargis Fakhri refused to pose nude for Playboy Bollywood actress Nargis Fakhri has been off the limelight for a while now. The New York-born actress started her showbiz career with modelling, before she starred in films in India. During an interaction with former adult film star Brittni De La Mora, Nargis revealed that she was asked to pose nude for Playboy magazine.

The 40-year-old said that she turned down the offer at that time because she was not comfortable baring it all for the adult magazine. "When I was modelling, there was this college edition Playboy magazine thing. My agent said they are asking for girls, they have

chosen to see you if you would want to do something like that. I was like, Playboy is so huge and the money was so much! But I said no thanks, I'm good," she said.

Nargis, who has been part of big films like Shoojit Sircar’s 'Madras Cafe' and David Dhawan’s 'Main Tera Hero', also spoke about the Hindi film industry and how she became a part of the industry as it didn't involve skin show.

"I was really happy to work in Bollywood because they don’t do sex scenes. That made me so happy, because I am not into getting naked in front of a camera. I can’t do. Any overly sexual or passionate scene

would be difficult for me because even though it’s acting and what you are supposed to do, I had reservations about that," Nargis added.

Nargis also opened up about the idea of compromising for work. While shedding deets about it, Nargis said, "I always knew that I am not going to be so hungry for fame that I am going to pose naked or sleep with a director… I have lost jobs because I didn’t do certain things and that was heartbreaking because I am trying to live in a place where I have high standards and boundaries, and it sucks!” she said. Even though she “got kicked out more than once."

Ranveer looks 'Pakko Gujarati' in 'Jayeshbhai Jordaar' Sidharth Malhotra's hits jackpot in UK 'Marjaavaan'

Director Milap Zaveri’s romantic action flick 'Marjaavaan', starring Sidharth Malhotra, Riteish Deshmukh, Tara Sutaria and Rakul Preet Singh in lead roles, may have received stiff competition at the domestic box office, but the film emerged as a surprise hit at the United Kingdom box office. It is heading towards £300,000 in the U n i t e d Kingdom a n d

will end its theatrical run around £310,000, which will be similar to Shahid Kapoor's 'Kabir Singh'. It has beaten films like 'Badla', 'Super 30', 'Chhichhore' and 'De De Pyaar De' in this market.

Sidharth Malhotra, who has received a much-needed success with the film after delivering a few flops, says he is happy that people h a v e accepted

him as an action hero once again with 'Marjaavaan'.

"Ek Villain and Brothers introduced me as an action hero. I did not cater to this audience and today I am happy that they have given this kind of response to Marjaavaan," Sidharth said.

In Marjaavaan, Sidharth plays a largerthan-life hero who breaks bones and utters dialogues that reminds of the Angry Young Man image of Bollywood's retro era. He plays a hot-headed young man who falls in love with a girl who cannot speak.

After donning the part of Mumbai-based Murad in 'Gully Boy' really well, Ranveer Singh is back with another film as a Gujju boy! The versatile actor is all set to impress us all as a Gujarati in 'Jayeshbhai Jordaar'. The first look of Ranveer as Jayeshbhai has been doing rounds on the internet and fans are excited to see him on the big screen as Jayeshbhai. In the poster we see, Ranveer, wearing an orange, polo-neck T-shirt with print and faded black jeans. He also sports a new moustache for the film and is giving us perfect Gujarati Vibes.

Ranveer spoke about his new avatar for Jayeshbhai in an interview. He said, "As Charlie Chaplin once said: ‘To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it’. Jayeshbhai is an unlikely hero, an ordinary man, who ends up doing

something extraordinary when he’s hurled into a threatening situation. He is sensitive and compassionate and believes in equal rights between men and women in a society that is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideals and practices." Ranveer will be teaming up with debutant writerdirector Divyang Thakkar. He spoke about his director and said, "Divyang has poured his soul into this brilliant piece of writing that will nudge you to introspect whilst making you

smile and laugh the entire time."

As per reports, the film will talk about how judgmental society is about women.

Producer Maneesh Sharma said, "Ranveer is fearless when it comes to inhabiting a role.

He has continued his risk-taking behaviour while eschewing his looks for his character’s needs. This faith in the director’s vision and the self-confidence of going against your image is what makes Ranveer a filmmaker’s delight.”

Rishi Kapoor all set to restart work Rishi Kapoor and Juhi Chawla will reunite onscreen for an upcoming film titled 'Sharmaji Namkeen'.

Last seen in Emraan Hashmi’s 'The Body', this project marks his return to films after his cancer diagnosis, following which he sought treatment in the US. 'Sharmaji Namkeen' will also see the two actors share screen space again after 'Bol Radha Bol' (1992), 'Daraar' (1996), 'Eena Meena Deeka' (1994) and 'Saajan Ka Ghar' (1994), among others.

The film is directed by Hitesh Bhatia and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani's Excel Entertainment alongside Honey Trehan's MacGuffin Pictures. The makers are yet to reveal the film's plot details. A report said, “Hitesh’s film is currently under pre-production. It will be shot from scratch and goes on the floors in Mumbai. This will

be followed by a month-long schedule in Delhi in January.”

The film marks the reunion of Juhi and Rishi on screen after a long gap of 10 years. The two last worked together in Zoya Akhtar’s 'Luck By Chance' (2009). Recently, Rishi talked at length about young actors and asserted that craft should be the top priorities, not l o o k s . “ T h e s e days, budding actors are more interested in grooming and building their body.

They focus on building muscles than emotional

exercise, which is important for actors. Build your mind rather than your body when you prepare for acting, because if you have the acting skill, you will surely become an actor. If you don’t have that, you are replaceable. Look at me, do I have the body? But I am still working, because in every film I try to create a character.” he said.

30 KOLLYWOOD

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

Andrea's intense action avatar in ‘Ka’!

Andrea Jeremiah is to feature as the leading artist in the upcoming movie ‘Ka’. The film is helmed by John Max and Jonas under the banner of Shalom studios. Andrea dons the role of a wildlife photographer whose job is to capture the lifestyle and characteristics of the beasts of the jungle. The project is said to be a purely heroine based subject.

'Ka' literally means Kaadu, Kaanagam in Tamil, meaning jungle or forest in English. The director of photography is Arivazhagan, whereas the music is composed

by Amresh. The story, screenplay, dialogues, and direction are all handled by Director Nanjil. Though helming

Malayalam actress faces acid attack threat Former Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 1 contestant Anjali Ameer is a renowned transgender actress who had marked her debut into Kollywood with Mammootty’s 'Peranbu’. She has taken to her social media and has brought up her burning issue to the world.

During the Facebook live session, the actress claimed that she was harassed and was being tortured and threatened to be attacked by acid by her live-in partner with whom she was in relationship for the past two years. In the live video, the actress broke down emotionally and said, “When I finally decided to

shooting of most of the a fast paced direction are expected to make a sequences. phase, Director Nanjil dramatic visual impact has shared a few words on the audience when The intensified about the movie. the movie hits the shooting was held for According to the direcscreens. The elegance of over a month in the tor, the movie is said to the close knit forests is areas of dense region be completely based on visualized in a completewhere no one would the forest and that curly different angle, have even dreamed of rently the final stages of according to the direcentering. As the result of shoot are underway. tor. the same, the sequences Munnar’s dense forests were the TV Listing location of ‘Ka’ at TUESDAY DEC 17, 2019 first, Nanjil men01:15 FILM: DEEWANE HUYE PAGAL 06:00 FILM: PATTH tioned, where pro08:13 FILM: MANZIL found shooting was 10:41 FILM: DEEWANE HUYE PAGAL held at night.

13:52 FILM: SINGH IS BLING 16:46 FILM: BANJO During the shoot an 19:31 LIFESTYLE : STAR STOP elephant had visited * Schedule is subject to change 20:00 FILM: DESI BOYZ the set unexpected- SATURDAY DEC 14, 2019 22:33 FILM: FITOOR WEDNESDAY DEC 18, 2019 ly, and the forest 00:12 FILM: ENGLISH VINGLISH 01:10 FILM: CHEETAH THE LEOPARD guard who had 02:32 FILM: PHOBIA 06:00 FILM: WAKE UP INDIA FILM: ISHQ CLICK accompanied the 06:00 08:21 FILM: SHIVA SHAKTI 08:34 FILM: TITOO MBA 11:15 FILM: SHAURYA crew had chased it 10:49 FILM: LAKSHYA 14:11 FILM: CHINA GATE away. Nanjil men- 14:39 FILM: DON 2 17:46 FILM: NIL BATTEY SANNATA 17:33 FILM: A FLYING JATT tioned that such 20:41 FILM: ISHQ CLICK 20:00 FILM: MULK 22:57 FILM: BANJO risks were taken to SUNDAY DEC 15, 2019 THURSDAY DEC 19, 2019 complete the 01:03 FILM: HOUSEFULL 01:38 FILM: AGNIVARSHA

break up with him, he threatened to kill me and pour acid on me.”

Apart from this, she also has revealed her partner’s name as Anas VC and also has claimed that he owes her around four to 500,000 rupees as he was dependent on her for his daily needs.

And while she has no one to support her, not even her parents, Anjali is planning to seek help from the cops and file a complaint against the man. On the work front, she is planning to do a biopic on her life which would be based on her life journey including her transformation and becoming the first transgender actress of the country.

03:30 06:00 08:00 11:31 14:44 17:27 21:14

FILM: ANKUR ARORA MURDER CASE FILM: THE PERFECT GIRL FILM: MR. INDIA FILM: ANDAAZ FILM: ENGLISH VINGLISH FILM: GADAR: EK PREM KATHA FILM: SINGH IS BLING

00:03 03:20 06:00 08:34

FILM: LAKSHYA FILM: HOUSEFULL FILM: BEZUBAAN ISHQ FILM: HAIR IS FALLING - A SERIOUS COMEDY FILM FILM: ANJAANE - THE UNKNOWN FILM: SHAURYA FILM: SALAAM-E-ISHQ FILM: FITOOR FILM: ANKUR ARORA MURDER CASE

MONDAY DEC 16, 2019

10:15 12:40 15:31 20:00 22:45

FILM: ROBBERY AT BANGKOK FILM: AWARAPAN FILM: MAIN KHILADI TU ANARI FILM: PHATA POSTER NIKLA HERO FILM: DESI BOYZ FILM: BHAGAM BHAG FILM: MULK

02:18 06:00

FILM: MADHOSHI FILM: PRITHIPAL SINGH... A STORY FILM: MAIN KHILADI TU ANARI FILM: BOMBAY FILM: NIL BATTEY SANNATA FILM: AWARA PAAGAL DEEWANA FILM: SATYAMEVA JAYATE FILM: MAIN TERA HERO

FRIDAY DEC 20, 2019

08:00 11:30 14:21 16:33 20:00 22:47

18:30 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW 20:00 INDIAN IDOL 21:30 THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW

MON 16TH DECEMBER- FRI 20TH DECEMBER

* Schedule is subject to change

SATURDAY 14TH DECEMBER

16:30 18:00 18:30 20:00 21:30

SUPER DANCER CHAPTER 3 THE CHEF (SUNDAY ONLY) THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW INDIAN IDOL THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW

SUNDAY 15TH DECEMBER

16:30 SUPER DANCER CHAPTER 3 18:00 THE CHEF (SUNDAY ONLY)

Dhanush's 'Pattas' enters the next stage

Writer-director R S Durai Senthilkumar will be teaming up with actor Dhanush, after the political drama 'Kodi', for the second time in the upcoming entertainer 'Pattas'.

Dhanush will be playing a dual role of father and son in the film, while Mehreen Pirzada, Sneha, Naveen Chandra and others play important roles.

The film is produced by Sendhil Thyagarajan & Arjun Thyayagarajan under the banner Sathya Jyothi Films. The film features music composed by 'Sangathamizhan' fame musical duo Vivek-Merwin. On December 4, the makers have officially announced that they has concluded its shooting.

The team has recently released the fast-paced number 'Chill bro', which is sung by Dhanush. The song has achieved more than two-million views within three days of its release.

On the technical front, 'Pattas' is shot by 'Aarambam' fame cinematographer Om Prakash while Prakash Mabbu handles the editing department.

06:00 08:51 11:17 14:54 17:54 20:26 23:44

18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 22:30 23:00

VIGHNAHARTA GANESHA MERE SAI TARA FROM SATARA ISHAARON ISHAARON MEIN PATIALA BABES BEYHADH 2 MERE DAD KI DULHAN TARA FROM SATARA CRIME PATROL

19:00 19:00 19:00 19:00 19:00

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

SONY MAX 2 PRIME TIME

19:30: 20:30: 21:00:

PREM PRATIGYAA KHUBSOORAT SAINIK GOLMAAL KAREEB

BIGG BOSS (SEASON 13) MOHE RANNG DO LAAL BALIKA VADHU - LAMHE PYAAR KE

SAT 21TH DEC 2019

11:00: 13:30: 17:00: 17:30: 18:00:

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 16TH - FRI 20TH DEC 2019

13:00: 13:30: 14:00: 14:30: 16:00: 16:30: 17:30: 18:00: 18:30: 19:00:

SWARAGINI BHARADWAJ BAHUEIN TERE NAAL ISHQ BEPANNAH DAILY BONUS RASOI SHOW CHHUTA CHHEDA TUM KAUN PIYA DIL KA RISHTA MERE HUMRAHI

19:30: 20:00: 21:30:

MAHAKALI DHARTI NO CHHEDO GHAR DHARAM THI GUJARATI DIVINE DESTINATION BIGG BOSS (SEASON 13) WEEKEND KA VAAR DESI BEAT RESET (SEASON 3) DANCE DEEWANE (SEASON 2) JAAGTE RAHO (SEASON 2)

SUN 22TH DEC 2019 11:00: 17:00: 17:30: 18:00: 19:30: 20:00: 21:30:

SHRIMAD BHAGWAT DHARAM THI GUJARATI DIVINE DESTINATION BIGG BOSS - SEASON 13 WEEKEND KA VAAR DESI BEAT (SEASON 3) DANCE DEEWANE (SEASON 2) JAAGTE RAHO (SEASON 2)

22:30:

BEPANAH PYAARR

18:30: 19:00: 20:00:

VIDYA CHOTI SARDAARNI NAAGIN (SEASON 4)21:00:00 FEET UP WITH THE STARS BIGG BOSS (SEASON 13) WEEKEND KA VAAR

SAT 21TH DEC 2019

21:30:

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 16TH - FRI 20TH DEC 2019

18:30: 19:00: 19:30: 20:00: 20:30: 21:00: 21:30:

VIDYA RAM SIYA KE LUV KUSH CHOTI SARDAARNI SHAKTI ASTITVA KE EHSAAS KI SHUBHARAMBH BAHU BEGUM BIGG BOSS - SEASON 13

SUN 22TH DEC 2019 11:00: 11:30: 14:30: 19:30: 20:00: 21:00: 21:30:

GATTU BATTU RUDRA SPECIAL 26 FOOD HIGHWAY NAAGIN (SEASON 4) DESI BEAT RESET BIGG BOSS (SEASON 13) WEEKEND KA VAAR

www.asian-voice.com

AsianVoiceNews

EVENTS

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

31

14 - 20 December 2019

Coming Events

Summer cruising through Galapagos' biodiversity The Galapagos Islands is famously known for Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. A soul-searching experience or a deep dive into nature's fearless wildlife, and pristine volcanic landscapes the Islands are a perfect getaway if you are planning a summer beach holiday next year.

Insulated from the commercial tourist hubs, it is nestled 1,000 km off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. Now, the atypical tropical paradise is home to unique animal species found nowhere else on Earth. Blue-footed boobies, swim with sea lions, snorkel in clear waters and marine lizards all celebrate their freedom on this archipelago.

The place offers an adventure to its lakes, lava tunnels, secluded beaches, tortoise sanctuaries, sinkholes and more.

How to get there Flights to the Galapagos Islands depart from only two cities in Ecuador: Quito and Guayaquil. If you are travelling through Europe, most flights depart from Amsterdam or Madrid to Quito. Then you will have to board a flight from Quito/Guayaquil to Galapagos Islands. All flights are with either TAME or LATAM, which are both reputable and reliable South American airlines.

A Galapagos Islands trip costs a pretty penny thanks to the $100 entry tariff and pricey island cruises.

But a multi-day cruise around the Islands is the best way to see the more remote areas in the archipelago and to see the more undisturbed

wildlife.

So how is it cruising the Galapagos Islands? The most popular way is going on a small-scale Galapagos cruise, which brings you to several islands within a short time. You sail at night and arrive to a different island every morning. Cruise packages typically include all accommodation and meals, visits to the islands with a certified naturalist, and access to snorkeling gear and kayaks.

Types of cruise ships People can cruise the Enchanted Islands aboard different type of vessels such as sailboats, catamarans, or big yachts. The most common way to cruise the archipelago is by small yachts. These cruises are often coupled with visits to Peru's Machu Pichu, Eucadorian rainforests or the islands of Baltra, Genovesa, San Cristobal among others. Each one of these options varies based on their facilities and budgets.

Long navigations during the night One of the good things about cruising the Galapagos Islands is that

most of the vessels navigate the longest journeys during the night.

Why? Because it is the only way that visitors can experience the different islands during the day, and do the different activities. So, expect to wake up every day in a different environment. However, some days require daytime navigations.

Top tourist attractions León Dormid, an island in Isla San Cristóbal bearing resemblance to a sleeping lion as it much favoured for snorkelling between the rocks.

Whereas, El Chato Tortoise Reserve in South of Santa Rosa offers a sneak peak into the catatonic tortoises.

Other attractions include volcanic landscapes of Volcán Alcedo, Charles Darwin Reseach Station, Darwin Lake and Maprae among others.

Unforgettable sunsets Galapagos is unforgettable by itself, but one of the most remarkable things that visitors can experience are the sunsets. Cruising the archipelago let aboard passengers experience unique sunsets, especially during those days that the yachts start to navigate earlier.

Visiting new places is not the exception, especially while going to natural places such as the Galapagos islands. It is not important just to consider our individual actions, even little ones that can make the difference. You might want to pay attention to aspects such as the use of biodegradable products onboard, local people being employed and getting local suppliers.

Apple AirPods Pro FEATURES In 2016, Apple launched Airpods based on the concept of wireless or bluetooth enabled earbuds. Over the years, wireless headphones have gone mainstream with other rival firms such as Sony, Jabra, Libratone Track Air+ and Samsung Galaxy offloading their own versions of this product. Over 250 researchers across 40 countries have signed a petition urging the UN and WHO to look into the risks that radiation poses to an individual especially with regards to suffering from cancer. Yet, over-riding these reports are the Apple’s true wireless earbuds which have now gone “pro”. And the biggest difference is the little silicone earbud tip that helps to block out noise. The pairing of these Airpods is easy as well. They work well with non-Apple devices too, supporting the Bluetooth 5.0 standard on a Windows PC or Android device. But you need an Apple device to change settings and update the earbuds.

Editor: CB Patel Chief Executive Officer: Liji George Managing Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Deputy Editor: Urja Patel Journalist: Priyanka Mehta Advertising Managers: Kishor Parmar Head - New Projects & Business Development: Cecil Soans

Weight: 5.4g Frequency response: 20-20,000Hz Battery life (on-board): Up to 5 hours Battery life (charging case): 24 hours Additional microphones and active PRICE noise cancellation Volume control is missing Unrepairable, non-replaceable battery and disposable The case and each earbud has a non-replaceable battery that will eventually wear out. Apple only offers full replacements, not repairs, which makes the AirPods Pro disposable.

Effective noise cancellation is its dominant feature. It handled the majority of the day-to-day commute noise very well, and if you are travelling on a noisy underground tube then it is successful in drowning out the chatter of the engine or the tracks. However, they aren’t quite as noise deadening as their counterpart Sony WF1000XM3 earbuds or full-size Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.

Graphic Designers: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Customer Service: Ragini Nayak Tel: 020 7749 4080 Email: support@abplgroup.com Leicester Distributors: Shabde Magazine, Shobhan Mehta Mob: 07846 480 220

£249

Asian Voice Head Office Karma Yoga House 12 Hoxton Market (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar Switch board: 020 7749 4080 Advertising Sales: 020 7749 4085 www.abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

● Hanuman Chalisa on 15 December, Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm at Social Club Hall, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow HA1 3UJ. Food sponsor Nemaben Fatubhai Mulchandani and Sunitaben Mangalani (USA).

Contact. 020 8459 5758/07973 550 310 ● Bhajan Bhojan on 15 December, Sunday at Gujarat Hindu Society Preston, South Meadow Lane, Preston PR1 8JN. Antakshari from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm after lunch.

Contact. 01772 253 901. ● Dinner & Dance on the theme - 'Food and Life Global' and 'Mind for Mental Health' by Lions Club of London Kingsbury & Canton on 24 December, Tuesday from .30 pm at Blueroom Gardens, 220 Headstone lane Harrow HA2 6LY. Contact.

Dinesh Shonchhatra 07956 810 647

What’s on ● The Bhavan’s Christmas Celebrations - A program of dance and carols presented by The Bhavan students who have trained and conducted by James Marr since 2004.

Date: Sunday 15th December Time: 1pm till 3pm Price: Free Venue: The Bhavan. 4A Castletown Rd, West Kensington, London W14 9HE ● Big Dog Little Dog: Parent & Child Yoga - A class for parents/carers and their children. Connect and bond through movement and breath. Learn yoga postures, a gentle bedtime yoga sequence, meditations based on popular fairy tales and relaxation techniques. No previous yoga experience needed. Bring one yoga mat (per pair) and one blanket each. Suitable for ages 4 – 8 years, must be accompanied by an adult.

Date: Sunday 15th December Time: 10am till 11am Price: £15 per pair (1 adult and 1 child) Venue: Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Altwood Road, Maidenhead SL6 4PF ● Wonderland: The Equinor Gallery - Fuel your imagination and immerse yourself in a world of wonder at the most spectacular interactive gallery in the world revealing the beauty of the science and maths that shape our everyday lives and unmissable experience will ignite your curiosity, fuel your imagination and inspire you to see the world around you in new and exciting ways.

Date: Daily Price: Day passes from £8 ; Annual passes from £13 Venue: Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2DD ● Come and celebrate International Migrants Day at Migrant Voice on Tuesday 17 December! What’s on?

3.30-6pm: Media Lab where we’ll be creating positive messages on migration through photos and blogs to celebrate International Migrants Day (18 December).

6-8pm: End of year party with fun, food and funky music! Come to meet old friends and new people, and to celebrate International Migrants Day, Christmas and the end of another year. Feel free to bring some music from your country, or festive drinks/food to share.

Address: Migrant Voice London office: 200a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JP Booking: Book your place by emailing anne@migrantvoice.org – be sure to tell us if you would like to come to the Media Lab OR the party OR both. ● Ajay Srivastav: Ajay Srivastav is a singer/songwriter and guitar player whose music flows from the banks of Delta Blues to the sacred rivers of Indian folk. Lyrically he mixes the personal with the spiritual, forever bouncing between doubt and faith. Ajay's music is raw, passionate and uplifting. As a musician Ajay has worked with a diverse variety of acts such as Jamiroquai, Gregory Isaacs, Zakir Hussain, Sister India and Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan. His song-writing skills have been touted by British music legend Jah Wobble who has produced two of his forthcoming tracks.

Date: Friday 17th January 2020 Time: 7pm Venue: The Farnham Pottery, Pottery Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4SL Tickets: https://www.ajaysrivastav.com/gigs

Disclaimer Asian Business Publications Ltd (ABPL) is not in any way responsible for the goods and services rendered by its advertisers. The ABPL management accepts all advertisements in good faith and it is entirely up to readers to verify advertisers’ products and services, should they feel the need to do so.

32

Sport

www.asian-voice.com

14 - 20 December 2019

AsianVoiceNews AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Renewed calls for action against Monty’s Spin racism in football

There is renewed calls for action against racism in football following the arrest of a man for alleged racist abuse of Manchester United player. During a match between Manchester United and City at Etihad, Sky’s cameras appeared to show a home fan making monkey chants directed towards Manchester United’s Brazilian midfielder Fred during the second half of the match. The player said that the incident demonstrated that we were living in a “backward society”.

The man has been named as Anthony Burke. Burke, however, denied that he was racist. Earlier the same day a referee was forced to halt a League Two match at Forest Green Rovers’ stadium midway through the second half after reports of a racist comment directed towards Scunthorpe defender Jordan Clarke. There has been a string of events in recent months that have underlined the persistence of racism in football.

Piara Powar, executive director of Fare network, which works against

Monty Panesar

Two contrasting games discrimination in football, condemned the incident but said it was unsurprising.

“There is a contagion,” said Powar. “This is happening everywhere unquestionably because of a few things. One of those is mimicry – people are seeing others doing it and they think that they can follow and it’s legitimate to do it.”

He added that the idea of clubs facing sanctions if incidents of racial abuse committed by their fans were frequent should be debated.

“I think focusing on an individual is a good way to make that individual

accountable, but sometimes we need to look wider than that and frame people as a collective.”

Former player turned pundit Gary Neville linked Boris Johnson’s rhetoric on immigration during election campaigning with the number of racist incidents in British society and sport.

Powar, whose organisation works with Uefa to monitor racism across Europe, agreed with Neville.

Greater Manchester police said a 41year-old had been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence and remained in

custody on Sunday for questioning.

Supt Chris Hill of the City of Manchester division said the force was taking the matter extremely seriously.

“Racism of any kind has no place in football or our society”, he said. “We will continue to work with Manchester City and Manchester United football clubs on this incident and will investigate any other lines of inquiries.”

Manchester City said that it operated a zero tolerance policy and anyone found guilty of racist abuse would be banned for life.

India finish on top with 312 medals in South Asian Games India finished on top with 312 medals in the 13th South Asian Games which concluded in Nepal on Tuesday evening. Thousands of sports lovers witnessed gala closing ceremony held at historic Dasaratha Rangshala in Kathmandu. India's 312 medals comprise 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze.

Host Nepal remained second and Sri Lanka got third place.

On the final day of games, India clinched 10 gold, 2 silver and one bronze. Indian boxers continued their outstanding performance and won 6 gold, one silver and one bronze on Tuesday. In the women’s

section, Pinki Rani brought first gold in 51 kg category.

She defeated Mala Ravi of Nepal in the final. In 57 kg, Sonia Lather won gold by defeating her Sri Lankan opponent.

Manju Bamboriya also

clinched gold in 64 kg. She beat Nepal’s Punam Rawal. In men’s Sparsh Kumar brought gold. He defeated Mohd. Asif Syed of Pakistan in 52 kg.

Varinder Singh lost his bout to Nepal’s Sanil Shahi in 60 kg.

Krishan Vikas clinched gold in 69 kg beating Gul Zaib of Pakistan. In 91 kg Narendra brought sixth Gold for the country. He defeated Ashish Duwadi in the final. In Squash India won gold in women’s team event and silver in men’s. Indian girls defeated Pakistan in the finals by 2-1, while men's team lost to Pakistan by 1-2.

In Basketball Indian men’s and women’s teams clinched gold each. Men defeated Sri Lanka in the final by 101-62. In Women’s final Indian girls crushed host Nepal by 127-46.

Both the teams dominated throughout the games and did not give any chance to their opponents.

Kohli pleads with fans to respect Rishabh Indian skipper Virat Kohli backed under-fire Rishabh Pant and asserted that it was a “collective responsibility” to protect the young wicketkeeper-batsman. Pant copped a lot of flak in recent times due to his poor form with the bat and lacklustre work behind the stumps. Poor DRS calls added to his woes. head of the first T20I against Windies, Kohli

reiterated what Rohit Sharma had said after the Bangladesh series: leave Pant alone. “We certainly believe in Rishabh’s ability,” Kohli said. “When you say it’s the player’s responsibility to work hard, perform and do all those things, I agree. But I think it’s the collective responsibility of everyone around to give that player some space to do so,” he stressed. Kohli also said he expects the crowd in India to

get behind the youngster, who was booed in the home series against Bangladesh last month.

“If he misses a chance, people can’t shout MS (Dhoni) in the stadium.

It’s not respectful, if I have to put it that way.

No player would like that to happen. If you’re playing in your own country, you should get the support. No one wants to be in that position. As Rohit

rightly pointed out, he needs to be left alone. We know he’s a match-winner and once he comes good you will see a different version of him.

If the cricketing world hasn't learned one important lesson, it is to not mess with Virat Kolhi.

The drama began In the 12th over of India's first T20 game against the West Indies when a waist high full toss from Jason Holder, which Kohli dispatched to the boundary, left him livid with anger as the square leg umpire Nitin Menon refused to declare it a beamer.

Next came the verbal exchange with Kesrick Williams with whom he has a score to settle since 2017 in Jamaica.

With India chasing 208 Kohli was struggling with 20 runs off the first 20 balls and finished with 94 off 50, his highest score in T20Is, and India's second-highest successful chase in the format. This was another masterclass from Kohli. Is he the best modern day batsmen? I would agree. I remember a similar incident when I got Adam Glichrist out in Perth. During the lunch interval I asked my team mates what the fuss was all about. I think he overheard me because in the second innings he battered me with four sixes in an over.

The second T20 was a different ball game. India were doing very well in the first 10 overs at 93/2. You normally look to double your total after the 10th over in India because of the flat slow pitches. West Indies bowled with intelligence in the last 8 overs with only 55 runs being scored. The slow nature of the pitch made the cutters and slower balls effective. Even with a score of 170/8 you would expect India to win but that wasn't to be.

India are vulnerable when the pitch is slow and dew is a factor to reckon with. Their fielding was poor and the dropped catches cost India dearly. Even in the last five overs India was in the game with 44 runs to defend but West Indies managed to win with ease. If teams are looking to win in India over the next world cup, here's a likely winning recipe - win the toss and put India in to bat. If the pitch is slow and dew is a factor you might fancy your chances against them!

Tribute to Bob Willis Like the rest of the cricketing world I am deeply saddened by the passing away of Bob Willis. He was fighting an aggressive form of prostate cancer for three years.

His close friend Sir Ian Botham was at his bedside during his last moments. Bob Willis will be remembered for his famous 8/43 in England's win in Headingley. He moved to commentating soon after his playing days and worked alongside the likes of Sir Ian Botham and David Gower.

He later worked as a pundit on Sky Sports' Cricket Debate and The Verdict.

He was often critical of modern players which could be misunderstood by the public.

Bob Willis had a funny side to him. With bared teeth he once told the current captain Joe Root that he would "have him back in the dock" after Root did an impersonation of him during the 2015 Ashes.

During the few times I met him Bob was always kind and polite. He made The Verdict his own programme on Sky Sports. When I played for England I always looked forward to The Verdict and watched the programme in my hotel room. The next day, my team mates would discuss his comments and have a laugh about his harsh but honest comments. I remember Bob saying on The Verdict: "Monty is a good bowler but he can't field or bat. I've got a better chance of catching a cold than Monty taking a catch." I couldn't stop laughing at his comment.

During the forthcoming boxing day Test match in South Africa, England players will be wearing black arm bands as a mark of respect and memory of the great Bob Willis.

You can follow Monty Panesar @MontyChannel