Top Stories
V O I C E
O F
I N D I A N S
W O R L D W I D E
India Post www.indiapost.com
NEW YORK • WASHINGTON D.C. • CHICAGO • ATLANTA • CALIFORNIA
PV Sindhu wins China Open title Details on page 5
China admits Kashmir dispute 'hinders' CPEC Details on page 6
Pakistan converts F16 to deliver nukes
VOL 22, No. 1156
November 25, 2016
50¢
Periodical Postage
300 HATE CRIMES AFTER TRUMP WIN WASHINGTON: Pramila Jayapal, the first-ever IndianAmerican woman elected to US House of Representatives, has said President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear that he will continue to prey on the fears of ordinary Americans. Jayapal, 51, warned she intends to be ready to stand and fight every step of the way, if Trump does not abandon the divisive rhetoric of his campaign. Immediately following Trump's election, there have been more than 300 hate crimes reported across the US,
she said. "By selecting Steve Bannon as chief strategist and now Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Trump has made it clear that he will continue to prey on the fears of ordinary Americans instead of uniting us as a country, 'indivisible, with liberty and justice for all'," Jayapal said. She alleged Bannon has overseen a website that publishes views that are clearly racist and reflect calls for a white supremacist agenda that have absolutely no place in the US. Details on page 5
Shri Jay Guru
Vedic astrology predicts critical times for India Details on page 16
NYT questions Trump’s meeting Indian partners Details on page 6
Trump not a threat to India: Economist Details on page 6
90 killed as Indore-Patna Express derails
Details on page 8
Pune among top 6 at smart city expo
Details on page 7
CONTENTS
Details on page 8
Bollywood ---------------------- 28-29 Classifieds ------------------------- 52
INDIA POST SURVEY
Community Post -------------- 16-22
survey@indiapost.com
Edit Page --------------------------- 54
This week’s question
HealthScience Post --------- 34-36
Date Book -------------------------- 50
Horoscope ------------------------- 51
Do you think demonetization is good for India?
Immigration Post ------------- 11-15 Life Style ----------------------- 30-33
Last week’s result
Philosophy ------------------------- 53
Are you happy with Trump victory? YES 37%
NO 63%
Publisher’s Diary ------------------ 4 Real Estate -------------------- 37-39
HAND & FEET: Indian and Chinese soldiers during their joint training exercise Hand -in- Hand 2016 in Pune on November 17
TechBiz Post ------------------- 44-47 Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 40-43
Certified by “CIRCULATION VERIFICATION COUNCIL Readership 117,765”
2
India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
November 25, 2016
India Post www.indiapost.com
NEWS on your desktop www.indiapost.com
3
4 India Post
November 25, 2016
India Post
IndiaNewsweekly Post
www.indiapost.com The Weekly Newspaper Serving Indians Worldwide
Romesh & Sunita Japra Publishers Rajesh Verma Co-Publisher Vikram Paul President Krishan Sharma Mg Director & Joint Editor Vinod Dhawan Senior Editor Naresh Sodhi General Manager Amit Saini IT Director Ghanshyam Bisht Supervisor Graphics SAN FRANCISCO & SILICON VALLEY Vidya Sethuraman Bureau Chief Vijay Thapar CPRO & Advertising Deepak Chhabra Promotions Ritu Maheshwari Director Promotions Sonia Sidhu Marketing Analyst Ratika J. Paul Photo Journalist Sudesh Kumari Correspondent Kay Trivedi Photo Journalist Archana Asthana Correspondent Sujata Singh Correspondent Manasi Maheshwari Youth Correspondent LOS ANGELES Mrs Shashi Trivedi Bureau Chief Mrs Prem Kishore Sr Correspondent Greg Heffernan Correspondent Ms Bobby Sharma Correspondent Babeeta Kaur Dhillon Correspondent Pavan Kaur Bhatia Correspondent CHICAGO Ramesh Soparawala Resident Editor A Q Siddiqui Correspondent ST. LOUIS Ashwin Patel Correspondent NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY Pinky Kaur Bureau Chief Srirekha N. Chakravarty Correspondent Nikita Japra Correspondent Sukhvinder Saini Circulation ATLANTA Sanjay Saggere Bureau Chief FLORIDA B K Madnani CANADA Firdaus Ali Correspondent BOSTON Gope Gidwani Bureau Chief
Mission Statement To empower the Indian Diaspora and make their voice strong and effective in countries of their adoption. RJ Media conglomerate offers a credible, professional and complete package of news, opinion, entertainment, networking and information.
Publisher’s Diary T
he presidential election campaign may be over, but get used to it folks, there will be a lot more of "Donald Trump" in this column over the next several years than I ever cared to write with respect to an American President. I think in the days ahead, Trump's antics, "presidential" or "not presidential", will make for interesting debates on partisan politics, world affairs, ethics, nationalism and human temperament in general. And well, about America's corporate-funded ideological backwardness too. Anyway, remember the Trump campaign ad that was made specifically targeting the Indian American community, where he proclaimed "ab ki baar Trump Sarkar"? Well, I don't know how much that ad influenced the desi vote, but it sure indicated Trump's affinity to India and Indian Americans, although he kept referring to them as Hindus (which, I am inclined to believe was less ignorance and more a deliberate differentiation from Muslims). Though I don't have statistics on how many Hindu Americans voted for Trump, I can say that certain Hindu groups in India did celebrate his victory. After all, they did do poojas and yagnas to Hindu gods for his success. The point I am leading up to is that India may not need to go to any lengths to ensure that the special relationship it shares with the United States continues unhindered under the new administration. Which cannot be said for even most of America's traditional allies in Europe and elsewhere that are bracing themselves for a lot of awkwardness in dealing with the president-elect. If Trump wants to make a foreign policy statement, of where he places America's allies on his priority, if not favored list (of course, apart from Russia), then he should visit India on his first diplomatic and bilateral visit. Prime Minister Modi and Trump may even hit it off well since both share a common language when it comes to international terrorism. Interestingly enough, India could never really figure it out if the American Democrats are more beneficial for it or the Republicans. But America has figured well that an all-round engagement with India is an imperative. And even a Trump gets that.
Romesh K Japra rkjapra@gmail.com
DETROIT Ashok B Jain, M D Bureau Chief Gurminder Singh SAN DIEGO Neelu Bhardwaj Bureau Chief SACRAMENTO Madan Sharma Bureau Chief Janak Sidhra Correspondent Upen Shukla Correspondent
INFO-CENTER CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS 1860 Mowry Ave # 200 Fremont, CA 94538 Tel: 510-938-8667, Fax: 510-790-2806; E-mail: info@indiapost.com
CENTRAL VALLEY (CA) Dr Ram Saini Bureau Chief Sheila Rogers Correspondent
E-SUBSCRIPTION& EDITORIAL: Vidya Sethuraman Tel: 510-491-4867; E-mail: vidya@indiapost.com
YUBA CITY (CA) Satnam Tatla Correspondent
Graphics Inquiry: E-mail: ghanshyam@indiapost.com
CAROLINAS Nalini Raja Patel Correspondent INDIA Vinod Dhawan Senior Editor & Bureau Chief NEW DELHI Jyoti Vashisht PR & Marketing Vijender P Shah Graphics PUNJAB Shiv Japra Bureau Chief Anil Kanwar Senior Correspondent/ Marketing DOABA, PUNJAB Romesh Kaura Correspondent HYDERABAD M Sagar Kumar Bureau Chief MUMBAI Nidhi Soparawala Correspondent Frank Fernandes Correspondent
HIGHLIGHTS Bollywood: Ragging fun Vaani Kapoor complains she was bullied a lot by co-star Ranveer Singh during filming of romance drama 'Befikre.'
Cover Story: 300 hate crimes Congresswoman-elect Pramila Jayapal says there have been 300 hate crimes across the US after Trump victory
Community: Critical times for India India Post's Vedic astrologer Jatin Patel says India has bad periods till 2019 going by the conjunction of planets
28 5 16
Immigration: Sounding like Obama Changing tune, Trump says he will focus on deporting criminal immigrants and not everyone living in US illegally.
11
Advertisement : Naresh Sodhi: Tel: 510-938-8667; E-mail: nareshsodhi@gmail.com
For advertisement rates call the office nearest to you: SAN FRANCISCO & SILICON VALLEY 1860 Mowry Ave # 200 Fremont, CA 94538 Naresh Sodhi: 510-938-8667 e-mail: nareshsodhi@gmail.com Vidya Sethuraman: 510-491-4867 e-mail: vidya@indiapost.com
LOS ANGELES 16224 Alpine Pl. La Mirada, CA 90638 Tel: 562-441-5511, shashi19@yahoo.com
CHICAGO 2543 W Devon Ave Chicago IL 60659 Tel: 773-973-7394; Fax: 773-973-7396; Email: sramesh@aol.com
NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY Tel: 510-938-8667
VADODARA, GUJARAT Vaidehi Patel Correspondent
E-mail: nareshsodhi@gmail.com
India Post (ISSN-1064-3868) is published weekly for $30 for 52 issues yearly by India Post, 1860 Mowry Ave # 200 Fremont, CA 94538. Periodicals postage paid at Norwalk, CA and additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the corporate headquarters: 1860 Mowry Ave # 200 Fremont, CA 94538 Copyright © 1994 Indamec, Inc. DISCLAIMER India Post assumes all advertisers to be reliable and responsible for all liability for their claimers
BOSTON
FLORIDA 8401 West Sample Road 30, Coral Springs, Florida - 33065 TORONTO, CANADA Tel/Fax: 416-744-8610 DELHI 230-A, 3 rd Floor, Jin Kushal Suri Complex, Masjid Moth, (NDSE Part-II) New Delhi - 110049 Tel: 11-26257769 E-mail:delhi@indiapost.com MUMBAI • Fernandes Mansion Tam Taloa, Bassien (W) Mumbai Tel: 09619 330159
VADODARA
Tel: 617-298-9200; Fax: 617-298-1104 GOPE; E-mail: ggidwani@aol.com ATLANTA 67 Peach Tree Dr., Ste. 102, Buckhead Atlanta, GA 30309, Tel: 404-425-3021 E-mail: sanjay@eBolo.com
Life style: One splendid view Extraordinary paintings resulted as15 painters were put in an apartment with a breathtaking vista of Old Jerusalem
Techbiz: Unnecessary panic Jaitley has ruled out roll back of the demonetization decision and slammed some CMs for spreading "unnecessary panic".
• Vaidehi Patel 31/32 J\Jaysantosi Nagar Society, behind Utkarsh Petrol Pump, Karelibaug, Vadodara-390018. Gujarat (India)
Travel:
E-mail: v_patel83@yahoo.com Tel: 011 91 98797 79976
Punjab Government has transformed the area in and around and the approach road to the holy Harmandir Sahib.
For editorial, contact: editor@indiapost.com
Golden Transformation
30 44 40
Cover/Top Stories
November 25, 2016
India Post
5
www.indiapost.com
300 hate crimes after Trump win WASHINGTON: Pramila Jayapal, the first-ever IndianAmerican woman elected to US House of Representatives, has said President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear that he will continue to prey on the fears of ordinary Americans. Jayapal, 51, warned she intends to be ready to stand and fight every step of the way, if
fears of ordinary Americans instead of uniting us as a country, 'indivisible, with liberty and justice for all'," Jayapal said. She alleged Bannon has overseen a website that publishes views that are clearly racist and reflect calls for a white supremacist agenda that have absolutely no place in the US. "I denounce President-elect
"Appointing him as Attorney General would send a terrifying message to people across the country about the next Administration's commitment to civil rights, criminal justice reform and constitutional rights," Trump does not abandon the divisive rhetoric of his campaign. Immediately following Trump's election, there have been more than 300 hate crimes reported across the US, she said. "By selecting Steve Bannon as chief strategist and now Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Trump has made it clear that he will continue to prey on the
Trump's appointment of Steve Bannon, and call on him to revoke this appointment," Jayapal said, adding that the announcement of Sessions as Trump's choice for Attorney General simply continues the pattern. "Senator Sessions was not confirmed for a federal judgeship even by a Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee be-
cause of his history of racially charged actions and statements. It is untenable to have him as the appointee for the most important post in the country for civil rights and the upholding of our constitutional values," she said. As the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sessions has opposed immigration reform as well as essential bipartisan proposals to reform the criminal justice system, she alleged. "Appointing him as Attorney General would send a terrifying message to people across the country about the next Administration's commitment to civil rights, criminal justice reform and constitutional rights," Jayapal said. Though Trump has won the election through the electoral college, he should not forget that a majority of Americans rejected the pervasive racism and misogyny of his campaign by choosing another presidential candidate, she said. "If Trump intends to be a President for all of the US, he must abandon the divisive rhetoric of
Pramila Jayapal
his campaign and choose appointees who will uphold our constitutional values and the core ideas of inclusion and diversity. If he does not do so, I intend to be ready
to stand and fight every step of the way and to build the movement that can stop these disastrous rollbacks to decades of progress," Jayapal added. -PTI
PV Sindhu wins China Open title FUZHOU: Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu clinched her maiden Super Series Premier title after edging out Sun Yu of China in the final of the $700,000 China Open badminton tournament here
first Indian women to win a silver at Rio Games, continued her rampaging run as she lifted the prestigious title after beating Sun 2111, 17-21, 21-11 in the summit clash that lasted an hour and nine
head record but then statistics counted little when she took the court at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center. Sindhu dished out a dominating game as she zoomed to a healthy 11-5 lead early on. The Indian looked sharp and athletic as she engaged in a fastpaced game to bamboozle her opponent. Eventually it was a cross court return which earned Sindhu a massive 12 game points at 20-8. A couple of smashes on Sindhu's forehand and backhand and a drop going to the net helped Sun save three points. But Sindhu sealed the opening enPV Sindhu poses for shutterbugs with the China Open title on November 20 counter after dominating a on Sunday Nov 20. minutes. parallel game and finishing it with Sindhu, who became the toast World No. 11 Sindhu had come a return that hit Sun's face. of the country after becoming the into the match with a 2-3 head-toIn the second game, Sindhu
had a slender 6-3 lead which she extended to 11-7 and 14-10. But Sun soon broke the rhythm by mixing her strokes and coming up with steep and powerful body smashes to catch up with the Indian at 14-14. A sharp smash and a superb return on Sindhu's backhand helped Sun grab a 18-16 lead which became 19-16 after the Indian lost a video referral. At 2016, Sun hit the nets but she roared back into contest when Sindhu's
Chinese also faltered with a lift and also hit wide as Sindhu reached 10-6. A few errors helped Sun make it 8-10 before Sindhu entered the interval with a 11-8 advantage. Sindhu continued to extend her lead even as Sun tried to vary the pace of the rallies but her errors continued to pile up as the Indian was soon 19-11 up. Sindhu then grabbed the match point when Sun let go of the shuttle as it kissed the back line and then the Indian pushed the shuttle at the
Sindhu continued to extend her lead even as Sun tried to vary the pace of the rallies but her errors continued to pile up as the Indian was soon 19-11 up. Sindhu then grabbed the match point when Sun let go of the shuttle stretched low return at the forecourt could not cross the net. Back to her winning side of the court, Sindhu once again started with new exuberance as the duo locked themselves in a battle of supremacy. As a result service changed hands too quickly as they moved together till 6-6. But Sindhu moved ahead with a couple of powerpacked returns which Sun failed to negotiate. The
back, leaving the Chinese stranded before letting out a joyous scream. Saina Nehwal had clinched the China Open in 2014 before finishing runners-up last year. Sindhu had reached her maiden Super Series final at the Denmark Open last year but the title eluded her then as she lost in straight games to 2012 Olympic champion China's Li Xuerei.-PTI
6
Top Stories
India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
NYT questions Trump’s meeting Indian partners NEW YORK: A top American daily has raised questions over the recent meeting between Donald Trump and his Indian business partners, saying the President-elect could use his position to advance his business interests. "Washington ethics lawyers
New York last week. The three said that they have discussed expanding their partnership with the Trump Organization now that Trump is Presidentelect. "It was not a formal meeting of any kind," Breanna Butler, a spokeswoman for the Trump Or-
"Donald Trump's children and son-in-law have been deeply involved in the transition and selecting who will be part of his administration," said Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics said that a meeting with Indian real estate partners, regardless of what was discussed, raised conflict of interest questions for Mr Trump, who could be perceived as using the presidency to advance his business interests," The New York Times said in a news article. Three Indian executives Sagar Chordia, Atul Chordia and Kalpesh Mehta had met Trump in
ganization told The New York Times, which has been at loggerheads with Trump for the past several months during which Trump has accused the daily of negative reporting about him. "There may be people for whom this looks OK. But for a large part of the American public, it is not going to be OK. His role as President-elect
should dictate that someone else handles business matters," Robert L Walker, former chief counsel of the Senate Ethics Committee, who advises corporations and members of Congress on government ethics issues told the daily. "Donald Trump's children and son-in-law have been deeply involved in the transition and selecting who will be part of his administration," said Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. "At the same time they are deeply involved in the business. There does not seem to be any sign of a meaningful separation of Trump government operations and his business operations," he said. The Trump Organization said the family was moving to try to formally separate Trump from his family s business ventures. "Mr Trump is not going to have dealings in the day-to-day business of that organization," Butler said.-PTI
China admits Kashmir dispute 'hinders' CPEC BEIJING: Admitting perhaps for the first time that Kashmir dispute "does hinder" the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, a state media report here said that this does not mean China should "appease" India to prevent it from playing "little tricks". "The dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan does hinder China's efforts in pushing the (China-Pakistan Economic
contributes little to promoting regional integration and regional economic development." The article was in response to a piece by US-based analyst Panos Mourdoukoutas in Forbes magazine criticizing Beijing over the ambitious project. The Forbes piece has said that China has done "very little to appease India." The daily has regularly carried articles critical to India for the past
The article was in response to a piece by USbased analyst Panos Mourdoukoutas in Forbes magazine criticizing Beijing over the ambitious project. The Forbes piece has said that China has done "very little to appease India" Corridor) forward, but this does not mean China should 'appease India' to prevent the country from playing little tricks," said the article in the Global Times - part of the People's Daily group of the ruling Communist Party of China. It said "India should be aware that its ambition of becoming a great power won't be realized if it
few months. This one was, however, a rare admission that the Kashmir dispute hinders the CPEC project, which runs through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India has expressed reservations over the project that links western China to Gwadar Port in the restive Balochistan province
in southern Pakistan. The project gives China easy access for trade to Central Asian states and European markets. China has defended the project, saying it is a commercial project aimed at improving people's lives. In the Forbes piece, Mourdoukoutas said that "China should make peace with India or forget about the project". He said China desperately needs CPEC. It's part of China's vision "to write the rules of the next stage of globalization" and help its export and investment engines grow for years. "So far, China has done very little to appease India. In fact, it has done quite the opposite: repeatedly blocking India's efforts to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group," he said. "And things could turn worse, if pro-Indian forces in Pakistan sabotage China's CPEC route. That raises the possibility of an open confrontation between China and Pakistan on the one side, and India and its allies on the other," he said. Cont’d on page 8
Trump not a threat to India: Economist T
he election of Donald Trump as U.S. president has unsettled governments across Asia, possibly more so than in other regions of the world. Thanks to Trump's unconventional rhetoric and out-of-the-box propositions, Asia is struggling to come to grips with unforeseen scenarios in U.S. foreign policy. Fundamental alterations of na-
India during her tenure at the State Department, worked hard to keep Pakistan onside during the Obama presidency. Trump, on the other hand, has declared Pakistan "the most dangerous country in the world other than Iran." Trump's rise is also being viewed as the latest setback for India's ambition to become a factory for the world, reported
Trump ‘puja’ in Delhi
tional strategies rather than cos- Bloomberg. metic recalibrations will be reHaving missed the exportquired to manage the challenge of driven steam-boat that trans"Trump the unpredictable," re- formed China and fellow East ports Asia Nikkei.com Asian economies over the past According to Sreeram Chaulia, several decades, India under dean at the Jindal School of Inter- Prime Minister Narendra Modi national Affairs, Trump has raised had pinned hopes on an ambitremendous hopes in India by an- tious "Make in India" campaign nouncing that he would be "best to make up lost ground. friends" with Prime Minister With the world's biggest conNarendra Modi in the common sumer market soon to be overseen fight against "radical Islamic ter- by a president who's pledged to rorism". bring manufacturing jobs back to "In effect, this means an even America and raise barriers to imcloser strategic alignment between ports, that hardly helps Modi's Washington and New Delhi at the cause. Britain's vote in June to cost of Pakistan and China, which have been warily watching a closer "In the medium to long-term, India-U.S. strategic part- a Trump presidency would nership during the add to India's woes," said Obama years," he wrote. Trump's anti-Muslim Priyanka Kishore, lead Asia bias and fervent desire Economist at Oxford to go down in history Economics in Singapore as the man who crushed Islamist extremism will ultimately drag him into formal or leave the European Union had alinformal alliances in Asia and the ready given impetus to a shift toMiddle East that would stoke ex- ward protectionism in developed isting rivalries or create new ones. nations, casting a pall on emergTrump's anti-Muslim rhetoric ing-market prospects. likely wouldn't get in the way of "In the medium to long-term, a pushing new contracts for Ameri- Trump presidency would add to can arms makers, for whom India India's woes," said Priyanka is a major market. Kishore, lead Asia Economist at Trump's crusade against Oxford Economics in Singapore. China's economic power would "It would impact India's engine of also favor New Delhi in its strate- growth - the services sector - negagic rivalry with Beijing. Then tively and also accelerate the throw in Pakistan, whose troubled nominalization of India's services but longstanding alliance with the and services exports growth, U.S. has been a serious problem which is an emerging source of for India. Clinton, who took twice concern." Cont’d on page 9 as many trips to Pakistan as to
Top Stories
November 25, 2016
India Post
7
www.indiapost.com
90 killed as Indore-Patna Express derails PUKHRAYA, Kanpur: At least 90 passengers were killed and over 150 injured when 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna Express derailed near Pukhraya in Kanpur dehat district in the wee hours of Nov 20. Four coaches of the train - S1, S2, S3, S4 - were badly damaged in the mishap that took place at around 3 AM near Pukhraya. Most of the passengers were jolted out of their sleep to find themselves among mangled remains of the bogies. "90 bodies have been pulled out so far. There can be more bodies trapped," Superintendent of Police, Kanpur Dehat Prabhakar Chowdhury told PTI over phone. IG (Kanpur range) Zaki Ahmed said, "Over 150 injured people have been rushed to nearby hospitals in the area. All hospitals have been asked to be alert. More than 30 ambulances have been pressed into service." A team of Army doctors and rescue officials have arrived at the spot. 250 police officials are also involved in carrying out the rescue and relief operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives in the train tragedy. "Anguished beyond words on the loss of lives due to the derailing of the Patna-Indore express. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," he said in a tweet. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has ordered a probe into the train tragedy and announced ex-gratia for the families of the victims. Rs 3.5 lakh exgratia will be given for the families of those
like this in Indian Railways for a long time because we have taken
relief operations. Railways Ministry spokesper-
Rescue works in full swing after Indore Patna Express deraile at Pukhrayan village near Kanpur on November 20
a lot of safety measures. "Earlier these kind of accidents used to happen because of the negligence of the driver but despite taking all safety measures this tragic incident took place. This is a cause of concern and we are investigating the reasons behind it. "There must be a fault in the track as 14 bogeys have derailed and this happened despite regular checking of the tracks," he said. Taking stock of the situation, Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked the Director General of National Disaster Response Force to rush to the spot. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced ex-gratia for the families of those killed in the mishap. While Rs 5 lakh each will be given for families of those killed in derailment, Rs 50,000 will be
"Earlier these kind of accidents used to happen because of the negligence of the driver but despite taking all safety measures this tragic incident took place. This is a cause of concern and we are investigating� killed in the derailment and Rs 50,000 for those grievously injured, he said. Prabhu said the Commissioner of Railway Safety will probe the reasons behind the derailment. "All rescue and relief work is on to deal with the unfortunate accident. All medical and other help rushed. Inquiry ordered. Situation monitored closely," Prabhu said. Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha along with four senior railway officials have rushed to the accident spot. MOS Railway Rajen Gohain said a fault in the tracks may have led to the derailment. "We haven't seen an incident
the CM said. DG Health & ADG (Law and
given for seriously injured and Rs 25,000 for those with simple injuries. The Chief Minister has instructed the DGP to personally monitor the relief operations and deploy traffic police along the route of the mishap site to ensure green corridor for ambulances to reach hospitals quickly. Kanpur district officials have been instructed to take support of Indian Medical Association to avail the services of more doctors for extending medical support to train accident patients, the CM said. More ambulances/roadways buses have been rushed to the spot for speedy relief operations,
Order) have also been rushed to the accident spot to monitor the
son Anil Saxena said several people have been rushed to
nearby hospitals with injuries, and the casualties may go up. Accident relief train has been rushed to the spot, he said. Northern Central Railways spokesperson Vijay Kumar said that doctors and senior railway officials have reached the spot. Rescue and relief operations were being carried out by district administration and railway officials. Though the cause of the derailment was not known immediately, sources said the nature and timing shows that the accident was caused by a rail fracture. However, the exact reason would be known only after an inquiry. Buses have been pressed into service to help passengers complete their journey, Kumar said, adding that the S2 coach was severely damaged. Four AC coaches have also been derailed.-PTI
8
Top Stories
India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Pakistan converts F16 to deliver nukes WASHINGTON: Pakistan is expanding its nuclear arsenal and has developed an estimated stockpile of 130 to 140 warheads for delivery as well as converting some of its fighter jets including F-16s to deliver nukes, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists said in its lat-
large number of commercial satellite images of Pakistan army's garrisons and air force bases shows what appear to be mobile launchers and underground facilities that might be related to nuclear forces. "Pakistan continues to expand its nuclear arsenal with more war-
"We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of 130-140 warheads. This stockpile exceeds the projection made by the US Defense Intelligence Agency in 1999 that Pakistan by 2020 would have 6080 warheads," said est report. Authored by Hans M Kristensen and Robert S Norris, the report says that analysis of a
heads, more delivery systems, and a growing fissile materials production industry," said the report on Pakistani nuclear forces,
2016. "We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of 130-140 warheads. This stockpile exceeds the projection made by the US Defense Intelligence Agency in 1999 that Pakistan by 2020 would have 60-80 warheads," said the report released last month. According to the scientists, with several delivery systems in development, four plutonium production reactors and its uranium enrichment facilities expanding, Pakistan's stockpile will possibly increase further over the next 10 years. "Speculation that Pakistan may become the world's third-largest nuclear weapon state with a stockpile of some 350 warheads a de-
Pune among top 6 at smart city expo India Post News Service
P
une has just bridged the gap between global cities at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2016 held in Barcelona, by being adjudged among the top 6 smart city finalists - the only smart city from India to get that honour, according to UN Global Compact Network India. Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited is a partner of UN Global Compact India. Pune held the finalist position with other global cities viz. New
York (USA), Seoul (Korea), Holland (Netherland), Jiuquan (China) and Moscow (Russia). The City Award Finalists demonstrated strategies, initiatives and policies that are established and have been developed for their citizens with a long-term vision, as the award recognises cities for strategies for future. This is another feather in the cap of Pune Smart City. Pune's entry named 'Reimagining Pune to Become
India's Most Livable Smart City' was selected as a finalist from among a pool of 250 worldwide entries. Speaking at the event, Kunal Kumar, Commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation, said: "Pune is very much in sync with global awareness about better urban living. Detailed city profile of Pune and largest ever citizen engagement in India formed the basis of Pune Smart City proposal, which has led to pan city solutions for maximum impact and local area solutions for replicability.
Pune's punchline of making Pune into a liveable city is what has attracted national and international partners, as it follows the global values of sustainable development as witnessed in the plans of other five finalists at the awards." Receiving the acknowledgement, Kunal Kumar described how a confluence of initiatives across livability, sustainability and competitiveness parameters will make Pune
India's best Smart City. His talk outlined current priorities like mobility, river rejuvenation, water and waste management and urban rejuvenation. Pune was the only entry that qualified from India in an event that saw 45 countries including the world's most developed nations. The participation and honor at Smart City Expo World 2016 is expected to help Pune in attracting further investment to implement the vision of the city leadership. Pune took this opportunity to wish its colleagues from India at the event - The Kabadiwalla Connect from Chennai and Smart City Bhubaneswar for being finalists in the Innovative Global South Award. This new award this year looked at innovative ideas that address pressing global challenges located in the Global South (Asia, Africa and Latin America). In order to identify cities, projects and innovative ideas in line with nurturing sustainable urban development, the World Smart City Awards were established, and each year hundreds of proposals are received from key smart city players from around the globe. This year's Exhibition and Conference was held between 15 to 17 November in Barcelona and the awards were announced on 16th November. UN Global Compact India said, "We are proud and committed to our partnership with the Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited and look forward to scaling new heights together in future."
cade from now are, we believe, exaggerated, not least because that would require a buildup two to three times faster than growth over the past two decades," it said. "We estimate that its stockpile could more realistically grow to 220 250 warheads by 2025, if the current trend continues. If that happens, it would make Pakistan the world's fifth-largest nuclear weapon state. "But unless India significantly expands its arsenal or further builds up its conventional forces, it seems reasonable to expect that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal will not continue to grow indefinitely but might begin to level off as its current weapons programs are completed," the report said. According to the report, Pakistan probably assigns a nuclear strike mission to select F-16A/B and Mirage III/V fighter squad-
rons. The F-16 was probably the first aircraft in the nuclear role, but the Mirage quickly joined the mission, it said, adding that the F-16A/Bs were supplied by the US between 1983 and 1987. After 40 aircraft had been delivered, the US State Department told Congress in 1989, "none of the F-16s Pakistan already owns or is about to purchase is configured for nuclear delivery" and Pakistan "will be obligated by contract not to modify" additional F16s "without the approval of the United States," it said. "Yet, there were multiple credible reports at the time that Pakistan was already modifying USsupplied F-16s for nuclear weapons," it said, adding that there are rumors that Pakistan intends to make the Chinese-supplied JF-17 fighter nuclear-capable. -PTI
China admits Kashmir dispute 'hinders' CPEC Cont’d from page 6
Countering Mourdoukoutas, the Chinese media article said, "India's strategic suspicions toward China's rising presence in South Asia may hobble its ambition to be a great power, even though some observers think otherwise." The CPEC "does not target India, and we believe that China's efforts to improve infrastructure in Pakistan have no intention of supporting the country's dispute with India," it said. It said China has made efforts to boost regional economic integration with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar. "However, as a strategic location connecting East Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, India's poor infrastructure is a challenge for Asian nations to become interconnected. Although China has offered an olive branch to India to help up-
grade its infrastructure facilities, it seems that India is reluctant to participate in the initiative. Additionally, New Delhi's suspicions toward China have left the country vigilant as Beijing strengthens ties with India's neighbors," it said. "Some neighboring countries have not benefited significantly from India's rapid economic growth. This will hamper New Delhi in improving its regional influence," it said. "However, India cannot hinder China's efforts in promoting regional integration. Additionally, Asian countries like Pakistan keep a positive attitude toward Chinese efforts to improve infrastructure in the region." "If India still holds suspicions toward China and excludes itself from the moves of promoting regional integration, the country will perhaps end up simply watching China's influence among its neighboring countries rise," it claimed.-PTI
Top Stories
November 25, 2016
India Post
9
www.indiapost.com
Nations adopt work plan for Paris pact MARRAKESH: Nearly 200 countries, including India, have adopted a work plan for the implementation of Paris climate agreement by 2018 during a key UN summit here overshadowed by Donald Trump's threats to withdraw the US from the historic pact. After two weeks of negotiations, the Marrakesh climate change summit also underscored the urgent need for early action on part of developed countries to make emission cuts in accordance to their commitments in the Kyoto protocol which still has four years to go before its expiry in 2020. With discussions centered mainly on procedural issues, the Marrakesh meeting went into over time last night with many countries including India raising some concerns over a few draft proposals.
The decision sets up the stage for an early implementation of the Paris agreement which was nego-
period. Paris agreement finalized in December last year entered into
tiated as a successor regime to the Kyoto protocol for the post 2020
force in less than a year. The conference which was dominated by reports that US un-
Trump not a threat to India: Economist Cont’d from page 6
The U.S. is India's largest export market and one of its largest foreign investors. Trump's policy mix could slow planned U.S. investment abroad, and place curbs on immigration, especially the information-technology workers that India specializes in. Trump has characterized so-called H-1B visas as hurting American workers. Indians account for a big share of these - 70 percent of those approved in 2014 were to people born in the country - and they offer Indian companies a critical way to skill up their staff. At the same time, there are plenty of reasons for Trump to look favorably on economic ties with India, which has been a geostrategic rival of China in south Asia. American companies like Wal-Mart Inc., Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. want to boost their presence in India, with its swelling middle class, and top executives including Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook have toured the country seeking opportunities in a nation of 1.3 billion people. "India represents one of the most attractive long-term growth markets for U.S. exports," said Rajiv Biswas, Singapore-based chief economist for Asia-Pacific at IHS Global Insight. Foreign direct investment rose to a record in 2015, official data show. Any threat to India isn't imminent, and much depends on
whether Trump's turns campaign rhetoric into policy reality. When the rest of the world was glued to Trump's stunning election victory, most of India was more interested in the government's shock move to ban 500 and 100 rupee notes. Without warning, Modi sought to withdraw banknotes equivalent to 86 percent of the money in circulation in an attempt to crack down on black money and tax evasion. "Trump is not a threat to India," said Trinh Nguyen, a senior economist at Natixis SA in Hong Kong. "It is the timing of its ambition to industrialize that is a bit off. And that doesn't mean it won't receive FDI. The country is expected to be one of the few ones with rapidly growing demand. It just means that the government will have to work harder to make it more competitive." Still, Trump's election adds risks for Asia's third-biggest economy. There are already existing economic tensions, especially in the technology sector. India's government has banned Facebook's free web service and declined to exempt Apple from local sourcing rules. "Even before Trump, many have had doubts whether robotization, and an increasingly protectionist and less material world are already making it difficult for India to repeat China's path," said Nguyen. -Courtesy Asian Times
der its President-elect Trump threat to pull out from the pact, conference president Salaheddine Mezouar brought down the gavel, passing a document in which parties agree to meet again in 2017 to "review progress". The conference saw a political call being given asking countries to combat climate change as a matter of "urgent priority" while noting that climate is warming at an "alarming and unprecedented" rate. "Meanwhile governments set a rapid deadline of 2018 to complete the rule book for operationalising the Paris Agreement to ensure confidence, cooperation and its success over the years and decades to come," an UNFCCC statement said.
Mezoua said the Kingdom of Morocco is fully engaged in the success of this COP and will energetically carry out its role as President. At the outcome of the last fifteen days, our vision has been consolidated and we are working to make concrete progress and to carry out breakthrough actions from now until the end of 2017, he said. "It will be necessary to respect the commitment of USD 100 billion dollars from now until 2020. Faced with the magnitude of what is required for dealing with the impacts of climate change, turning billions into trillions is indispensable. "2017 must be the year of large scale projects, of mobilizing finance and accessing financial facilities that will be necessary for adaptation," Mezoua said. -PTI
Top Stories
10 India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Ami Bera re-elected for 3rd consecutive time WASHINGTON: Ami Bera, the only Indian- American in the current Congress, has been reelected to the US House of Representatives for the third consecutive time after defeating his
lawmakers in the US House of Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, Pramila Jayapal from Washington State and Ro Khanna from California.
Ami Bera
Republican rival. Bera, 51, would be joined by three first-time Indian - American
He defeated Republican Sacramento County sheriff Scott Jones. This is for the first time that the
House would have four IndianAmerican members. Bera was projected to be declared elected after Sacramento County Registrar of Votes announced the latest update of its counting of votes. According to this, Bera's lead over his Republican rival Scott Jones grew to more than two per cent, with 129,064 votes to 123,056 in the Congressional Seventh District of California. With Bera's victory, he ties the record of the most consecutive terms served by an IndianAmerican in Congress, previously held by Congressman Dalip Singh Saund, who served three terms from 1957-1963.
In 2012 and 2014, Bera won by In 2012, Bera led Republican 9,191 and 1,455 votes respec- Dan Lungren by 184 votes the tively, after several days of count- morning after Election Day, and ing. his lead eventually grew to 9,191 In the run up to the polls, Bera votes. was endorsed by US President In 2014, Bera was down by more Barack Obama. than 3,000 votes on election night, "It has been my honor to serve this community first as a Bera, 51, would be joined doctor and for these past four years as a by three first-time Indian member of Congress. American lawmakers in the I am incredibly thankful for the hun- US House of Representatives dreds of volunteers - Raja Krishnamoorthi from who knocked doors and made phone calls dur- Illinois, Pramila Jayapal from ing this campaign because they believe in Washington State and Ro standing up for Khanna from California women's access to healthcare, protecting Medicare and Social Security and and he came back to win by 1,455 ensuring all of our Veterans re- votes. ceive the benefits they have Saund was the first Indianearned," Bera said. American elected to the US Con"After months of a divisive gress. He represented the 29th national election, our job now is Congressional District of Califorto bring our country back to- nia for three terms from January 3, gether," he added. 1957 to January 3, 1963. -PTI
Sonia derides bid for 'shortcuts to greatness' NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has hailed the sacrifice of Indira Gandhi in preserving a united, diverse and an egalitarian India but said in the quest for shortcuts to greatness certain leaders are willing to undermine the very foundations of its national character. In her welcome address at the Indira Gandhi centenary lecture, she said she learnt from her about India, its culture and values, as
not follow blindly the path laid by the West. She saw it crafting its own future guided by its democratic and cultural ideals. Where others failed, she wanted India to show the world the way. It made her mission doubly challenging, but Indira Gandhi was not a woman daunted by challenge. "When Indira Gandhi spoke, she spoke for all Indians, men and women of all religions, regions, and backgrounds. No language
"When Indira Gandhi spoke, she spoke for all Indians, men and women of all religions, regions, and backgrounds. No language was a barrier. She celebrated our magnificent diversity, battling those forces that foster division and strife among our people," also her earliest political lessons. "Her sacrifice in preserving a united, diverse, egalitarian India will be remembered. All the more so at a time when, in the quest for shortcuts to greatness, we find leaders willing to undermine the very foundations of our national character," she said. Recalling Indira Gandhi's vision for India in the world of the 21st century, Sonia said it was not a soulless vision that came at the cost of India's pluralist diversity. "She saw an India that would
was a barrier. She celebrated our magnificent diversity, battling those forces that foster division and strife among our people," she said. The Congress chief also recalled her famous quotes said on the eve of her martyrdom, when she declared that "every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation". Sonia said few human beings enjoy the privilege of shaping the history and altering the geopolitics of a sub-continent and Indira Gandhi did that.
She also said that few have been called upon to make the supreme sacrifice in the cause for which they have lived and Indira Gandhi did so. "Today we remember her life as one of leadership, courage and sacrifice. On this auspicious occasion, I bow my head in her memory," she said. The Congress president said Indira Gandhi was a remarkable woman, "the like of whom this country has not since seen. But she was much more than that." "She was an institution a leader with the courage of her convictions and nerves of steel, unflinching in the face of duty, resolute against all that was unjust. She led our nation through the tumultuous battles of the 60s and 70s, never faltering in her dedication to the masses who gave her their complete trust. "She faced economic crises, and prevailed. She managed the greatest refugee crisis in human history. She refused to compromise on India's noble humanitarian traditions. She faced war with courage and determination, and her victory saw the triumph of democracy and the liberation of a nation, Bangladesh," she said. She also said that when powers abroad attempted to dictate terms to India, Indira stood up for what was right and she was vin-
dicated by history. Sonia welcomed Mukherjee to deliver the lecture on Indira Gandhi's 99th birth anniversary, that marks the beginning of her birth centenary celebrations, and said that few Indian statesmen are now alive who could claim to have worked as closely with Indiraji, as
Sonia Gandhi
the distinguished President. She said Indira Gandhi was not a figure of history for her and being her mother-in-law who lived under the same roof, she shared joys and sorrows. "It is from her that I learned about India, its culture, its values. It is from her that I imbibed my earliest political lessons. She was the Prime Minister of India, but to me she was a mother, a mentor, a friend. It was in my arms that she
drew her last breath," she said. The Congress chief said Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was one of those rare figures who shaped the destiny of her land and she was not just the daughter of one of great statesmen Jawaharlal Nehru, but a child of India's freedom struggle itself as she was a witness to the birth of this nation and of the idea that is India. "To her this idea was not a philosophical proposition laid down by her father, but a living experience as she travelled the length and breadth of this country, listening to the hearts of its men and women and giving them a voice. "Some dismissed her as weak and incapable. Others called her a tyrant. But with the trust of her countrymen and women, painstakingly won, and with her dedication to their cause, she went on to serving her people, sacrificing her very life," she said.-PTI
More top stories on pages 24-25
In Brief Cal Police won't help deport immigrants LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck says President-elect Donald Trump's vows to deport millions after taking office will not affect his department's longstanding policy of staying out of immigration issues. Beck told the Los Angeles Times that his officers are ``not going to engage in law enforcement activities solely based on somebody's immigration status.'' Beck says it is not the LAPD's job to work in conjunction on deportation with Homeland Security, and that's not going to change. It has been department policy for decades not to initiate contact with someone solely to determine whether they are in the country legally. During Beck's tenure he has avoided turning over people with questionable immigration status who are arrested for low-level crimes.-AP
Mexican immigrant seeks sanctuary in church PHILADELPHIA: A Mexican immigrant who had been living in northeast Philadelphia has relocated to a local church where he is now seeking sanctuary from deportation by federal authorities. Juntos, a south Philadelphia immigrant support group, says 40year-old Javier Flores moved into Arch Street United Methodist Church. The father of three U.S.born children is eligible for a ``UVisa,'' which the federal government provides to victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse. If Flores' visa application is denied, he will be deported after 90 days. Flores recently spent 16 months at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in Pike County. He was detained because he was previously deported but returned to the United States to reunite with his family.-AP
Bishops ask Trump for humane policies BALTIMORE: The nation's Roman Catholic bishops have urged President-elect Donald Trump to adopt humane policies toward immigrants and refugees, as church leaders begin navigating what will likely be a complex relationship with the new administration.
Details on Page 14
Immigration 11 India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
China denies visa to Indian sports official Details on page 15
Donald Trump starting to sound like Obama on immigration WASHINGTON: Presidentelect Donald Trump is starting to sound an awful lot like President Barack Obama on immigration. In his first postelection interview, Trump said he will focus on deporting criminal immigrants and not everyone living in the United States illegally. Two million or 3 million people could be immediate targets for deportation under this approach, Trump said, providing a likely inflated figure. And that ``big, beautiful wall'' at the Mexican border? Trump said he may be amenable to a fence along some parts of the roughly 2,000-mile border. The softened stance contrasts sharply with Trump's campaign rhetoric. As a candidate, he called for everyone living in the country illegally to return to their home countries and for Mexico to pay billions of dollars for the wall. A look at Trump's shifting immigration stance: FOCUS ON CRIMINALS Trump said in an interview with ``60 Minutes'' that immigration enforcement will concentrate on criminals. ``What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers,'' he said.
tion of more than 2.5 million people. Trump didn't say how he will target criminals. He previously has spoken about reviving programs that gave immigration agents access to jails so they could identify
Donald Trump with Barack Obama
people living in the country illegally. But if Trump does so, local jurisdictions likely will object. Local laws in some places bar cooperation with immigration authorities. And some federal court rulings make it difficult for local jails to hold immigrants beyond their criminal sentences or strictly for immigration violations. It is even harder to deport criminal immigrants who aren't incarcer-
The softened stance contrasts sharply with Trump's campaign rhetoric. As a candidate, he called for everyone living in the country illegally to return to their home countries and for Mexico to pay billions of dollars for the wall ``We have a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million; we are getting them out of our country or we're going to incarcerate.'' Trump added: ``We're getting them out of our country; they're here illegally.'' Obama's Homeland Security Department has operated similarly. Since 2010, criminals comprised more than half of those deported from the U.S. Over his presidency, Obama has overseen the deporta-
criminal immigrants in the United States who could be deported. But the government didn't break down how many of those people were in the country legally and how many were here illegally.
ated. Many live in the shadows. Tracking them down would take a lot of time and government money. Deportation costs average about $12,500 per person, according to a 2011 government estimate. 2 MILLION OR 3 MILLION CRIMINAL IMMIGRANTS Trump's estimate of criminals who are in the country illegally is probably much too high. In 2012, Homeland Security officials estimated some 1.9 million
A subsequent analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, concluded that
only about 820,000 of those people were in the country illegally. The other million or so people had some sort of legal status, including green cards or visas. Deporting green card holders is possible, though the process can involve lengthy court proceedings. FENCE vs. WALL ``I will build a great, great wall on our southern border,'' Trump said as he launched his presidential campaign in June 2015. ``And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.'' He repeated the pledge at almost every rally. But in his weekend interview, Trump took a more nuanced approach. In certain areas, Trump said, ``it could be some fencing.'' Elsewhere, he added, the border wall was still appropriate. Cont'd on Page 14
Crackdown may hit Google plans: Pichai LONDON: Google's Indian-origin chief Sundar Pichai has said the global tech giant remains committed to Britain and will go ahead with a new one-billion-pound London headquarters that will create 3,000 jobs by 2020, but warned that post-Brexit crackdown on immigration could affect future plans. "Here in the UK, it's clear to me that computer science has a great future with the talent, educational institutions, and passion for innovation we see all around us," he told BBC during his first visit to the UK as Google's chief executive. "We are committed to the UK and excited to continue our investment in our new King's Cross campus," he said. Pichai's remarks will be a big boost to British economy after the June referendum in favor of the UK leaving the 28-member European Union.
But Pichai did warn that the UK government's expected post-Brexit crackdown on immigration could affect Google's future plans.
Sundar Pichai
"In our experience as a company, when we have been able to bring people together and operate in an open and connected way it achieves tremendous impact over time. Cont'd on Page 14
Immigration Post
12 India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Will anti-Trump marches become a movement? WASHINGTON: Demonstrators upset over the election of Donald Trump have marched in cities around the country and some are making plans to be in Washington for his inauguration Jan. 20. But whether marches will become a movement is an open question. At this early stage, the protesters who have taken to the streets to brand Trump a bigot and a sexist and chant ``Not my president!'' appear to be mostly venting their frustrations and do not seem to have coalesced behind overall leaders or a common set of demands.
verged on Trump Tower in New York, the president-elect's transition headquarters. Among other things, the demonstrators have condemned Trump's behavior toward women and his stand on immigration and civil liberties. Ralph Young, a history professor at Temple University in Philadelphia who teaches a course on dissent in America and has written two books on the topic, said it is too early to predict what the marches might become. If the anti-Trump demonstrations are going to become a move-
Protests against Trump
Columbia University professor Todd Gitlin, who as an early leader of Students for a Democratic Society helped organize an anti-Vietnam War demonstration that brought thousands to Washington in 1965, said the anti-Trump protests by themselves ``are not the makings of a movement.'' ``A movement requires that clusters of people take responsibility for creating vehicles that can carry through, focus energy, develop priorities, strategize, recruit, figure out how to govern themselves,'' Gitlin said. For that to happen, a critical mass of protesters has to ``transform their mindset from protest into successful politics, which is much less exciting,'' he said. Gitlin said that means ``dirtying our hands in winning local and state battles which are instrumental to changing the national balance.'' Hundreds of students decrying Trump's election walked out of schools in Denver, Los Angeles and Silver Spring, Maryland, after a weekend in which thousands of people demonstrated around the country and scores were arrested. Protesters threw rocks at police in Indianapolis and hurled bottles and other objects in Portland, Oregon. Marchers have also con-
ment, they also need leaders who can articulate their grievances, he said. Jamie Henn of the group 350, which organizes protests to fight climate change, said liberal activist groups are still scrambling to figure out how they will push back against a Trump presidency. ``There is definitely stuff coming together and being planned that looks like the messy process of everyone and their mother throwing up something on their Facebook page,'' Henn said. Henn said liberals haven't seen the need for this level of mobiliza-
tion since the run-up to the Iraq War. But activists remember glumly how little a dent their big marches against the invasion made then, and may use different tactics this time. Some groups are already trying to come together, though there are differences of opinion, said Greg McKelvey, a protest organizer in Portland, Oregon. McKelvey said demonstrators are trying to organize with counterparts in New York; Washington; Austin, Texas; Oakland, California; Boston; and a few other cities. Some activists want to prevent Trump somehow from becoming president, while others feel that's inevitable and instead want to insulate their communities from his policies, McKelvey said. He said his group, Portland's Resistance, aims to make sure city and state governments are working on issues such as limiting climate change, pushing for better health care and dealing with racial disparities in policing. Trump's election has made activists out of people who haven't been part of any organized demonstrations before. Olivia Antezana, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Maryland at College Park, had never been to a demonstration before creating and promoting a ``Not My President'' event on Facebook. By next afternoon, 18,000 people had indicated on Facebook that they would be going to the event in Washington on Inauguration Day. ``I will say I certainly underestimated it,'' Antezana said. Still, Antezana said she is not sure what she will do after the demonstration she is planning is over. She doesn't plan to join a political campaign, she said, though she would like to keep up with activism. Right now, she said, she has another priority: school.-AP
New York City may erase ID card data NEW YORK: When New York and San Francisco. New York's City launched the nation's biggest program is the most ambitious, municipal ID card program last with more than 800,000 year, advocates said it would help cardholders, many of them U.S. people living in the U.S. illegally citizens or legal residents. to venture out of the shadows. Officials encouraged everyone But since Donald Trump was in the city to sign up, but the proelected president, city officials are gram was aimed at those without instead fielding questions about other forms of ID, including homewhether the cards could put those less people and, especially, the same people at greater risk of be- estimated 500,000 immigrants living deported. ing illegally in the city. The ID The city has vowed to protect would help them do such everycardholders' personal records and day things as cash a check or atmight even delete them using a tend a parent-teacher conference kind of self-destruct provision that at a public school, advocates said. allows for the information to be The program quickly proved destroyed at the end of the year. popular, with New Yorkers waiting At least one state lawmaker has hours in line and months for apcriticized that idea, saying it could pointments to register early on. make it impossible to trace people Pope Francis received a ceremoif they have obtained cards nial one during his visit to the city fraudulently. Some immigrants take comfort in the city's Officials encouraged stance, while acknowleveryone in the city to sign edging they are still wary. up, but the program was Alberto Saldivia got his ``IDNYC'' card this aimed at those without other year after spending 15 forms of ID years in the country without legal authorization. ``It did cause me considerable last year, and United Nations Secconcern, because they have my retary General Ban Ki-moon said information, also the information the card would make him ``a real of my son,'' the 53-year-old Mexico New Yorker.'' native said through an interpreter. But civil liberties advocates But he felt reassured when sounded alarms about the city Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the collecting identity documents that city would ``absolutely'' safeguard immigration authorities or law encardholders' identities. De Blasio, forcement could request, with a a Democrat, said officials would judge's approval. assess whether to delete the perThe program's backers insonal records, a provision that was cluded language that allows for built into the program partly over destroying the applicants' identity concerns about the possible elec- and residency information at the tion of a Republican president such end of 2016 if administrators do as Trump, whose campaign prom- not move to keep them. ises included a vow to deport mil``Protecting it from a possible lions of people in the U.S. illegally. Republican president was just one Municipal ID programs began of the reasons'' for the provision, in 2007 in New Haven, Connecti- said City Councilman Carlos cut, and have expanded to about Menchaca, who wrote the law that 10 cities, including Los Angeles created the program.-AP
Thousands march through Springfield against Trump SPRINGFIELD, Mass: Thousands have filled the streets in the Massachusetts city of Springfield to protest the election of Republican Donald Trump for president. Masslive.com reports that activists and college students were among the demonstrators who gathered in the city's Court Square before marching through much of the downtown area.
Some protesters held signs that read, ``Not my president'' and ``Will swap one Donald Trump for 25,000 refugees.''
Police were present and say between 1,600 and 2,000 people were in attendance. Capt. Cheryl Clapprood says the march was
Capt. Cheryl Clapprood says the march was peaceful and there were no reports of clashes between demonstrators and a few pro-Trump counter-protesters along the route
peaceful and there were no reports of clashes between demonstrators and a few proTrump counter-protesters along the route. Springfield joins Worcester and Boston - along with other cities across the country where protesters have assembled and marched after Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.-AP
Immigration Post
November 25, 2016
India Post 13
www.indiapost.com
'Sanctuary cities' vow to protect immigrants SEATTLE: Democratic mayors of major U.S. cities that have long had cool relationships with federal immigration officials say they will do all they can to protect residents from deportation, despite President-elect Donald Trump's vows to withhold potentially millions of dollars in taxpayer money if they do not cooperate. New York City's Bill de Blasio, Chicago's Rahm Emanuel and Seattle's Ed Murray are among those in ``sanctuary cities'' that have tried to soothe worried immigrant populations.
longtime policy of staying out of immigration issues. Mayor Eric Garcetti has backed that up but stopped short of calling LA a sanctuary city because the term is ``illdefined.'' Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney restored sanctuary status when he took office in January and said the city would protect its residents. District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser also said it would keep the status. During the campaign, Trump gave a speech in which he promised to ``end the sanctuary cities''
In Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Jorge Elorza, the son of Guatemalan immigrants, said he would continue a longstanding policy of refusing to hold people charged with civil infractions for federal immigration officials ``Seattle has always been a welcoming city,'' Murray said. ``The last thing I want is for us to start turning on our neighbors.'' In Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Jorge Elorza, the son of Guatemalan immigrants, said he would continue a longstanding policy of refusing to hold people charged with civil infractions for federal immigration officials. Newark, New Jersey's Ras Baraka echoed that decision, calling Trump's rhetoric on immigration ``scary.'' Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told the Los Angeles Times that he's committed to a
and said those ``that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars.'' He blamed such policies for ``so many needless deaths.'' Trump didn't elaborate on his plans for cracking down on the cities. In a ``60 Minutes'' interview, he said his administration's priority will be deporting criminals and securing the border. But significant questions - and unease - remain about his approach to sanctuary cities. There is no legal definition of the term, which is opposed by some immigration advocates who
say it does not reflect that people can still be deported. It generally refers to jurisdictions that don't cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That can mean, for example, that they don't notify immigration officials when an undocumented immigrant is about to be released from custody. Some cities, like San Francisco, have long declared themselves safe havens for immigrants, issuing local ID cards to allow them to access government or other services. The term also been used to refer to cities that bar their employees, including police, from inquiring about a person's immigration status because crime victims and witnesses might be less likely to talk to investigators if they are worried about being deported. ``We don't want anybody to be afraid to talk to us,'' said Sheriff John Urquhart of Washington's King County, which includes Seattle. Because states and cities can't be required to enforce federal law - and there's no U.S. requirement that police ask about a person's immigration status - it's likely that any Trump effort to crack down on sanctuary cities would focus on those that refuse to comply with ICE requests, said Roy Beck, chief executive of NumbersUSA, which wants to see immigration levels reduced. It's also unclear what money Trump might pull. For Congress to impose conditions on federal money heading to the states, the conditions must be related to the
No OCI card to military background people NEW DELHI: Indian origin persons with military background will not be given Overseas Citizens of India card after a high-level committee recommended to the government that any move to grant OCI cards to such people will be against the country's interests. The inter-ministerial committee's recommendation came after careful examination of all aspects of granting OCI cards to Indian origin people who had served the armed forces of any foreign country. "The committee felt that any person with military background should not have uninterrupted access to Indian territories. If such a person is granted OCI card, he or she could enter India without visa
and the facility is offered for life," a senior government official privy to the development said. The move came after the gov-
ernment received several applications of Indian origin persons who had served in militaries of foreign countries. An OCI card holder gets benefits like life-long visa and exemption from appearing before the local police station on every visit. Government in January 2015 had declared that all Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card holders are deemed to be Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders. The decision to merge PIO card with OCI card was taken after a large number of complaints were received from PIO card holders who often complained of visits to local police stations and stringent visa norms that debarred them from buying property in India, in comparison to those holding OCI cards.-PTI
funding's purpose, the U.S. Supreme Court has said. For example, the government threatened to withhold highway funds from any state that failed to adopt a 0.08 blood-alcohol limit: Both the limit and the highway funding were related to road safety. ``If the funding is for improving childhood education, it's hard to say that's reasonably related to local law-enforcement cooperation with deportations,'' said Mary Fan, a University of Washington law school professor. However, the U.S. Justice
according to the Center for Immigration Studies, which calls for lower immigration levels. ``The result is people who should be deported, who have come to the attention of police because of crime, are released back into the community,'' said Jessica Vaughan, the group's director of policy studies. A prime example for supporters of a crackdown on sanctuary cities is the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle last year on a San Francisco pier. A man who had been previously deported and had been re-
Because states and cities can't be required to enforce federal law - and there's no U.S. requirement that police ask about a person's immigration status - it's likely that any Trump effort to crack down on sanctuary cities would focus on those that refuse to comply with ICE requests Department's inspector general looked at some jurisdictions with sanctuary policies earlier this year and concluded some appear to violate a federal law that says state and local governments may not prohibit or restrict workers from sharing information about a person's immigration status with federal immigration officials. Having such policies could jeopardize millions of dollars in DOJ grant money the jurisdictions receive, the inspector general's memo said. About 300 jurisdictions nationwide have sanctuary-like policies,
leased by local law enforcement was charged in her death. Immigrant advocates say they are worried Trump's plans will wind up deporting more than violent criminals and they are gearing up for a fight. ``These cities have reaffirmed they're going to respect the dignity of all their residents,'' said Matt Adams, legal director at the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. ``What they're saying is, `We're not going to use our resources to separate families, to deport children, to tear communities apart.'''-AP
Demonstrators say build bridges, not walls AURORA, Colo: Several hun- immigration problems. dred people marched from Denver ``We want to build bridges, not to Aurora to urge the new Trump walls,'' Warren said. Warren said administration and Congress to many Hispanic supporters are work together to solve problems afraid of retribution and opted not with immigration, saying they to participate in the demonstration. ``want to build bridges, not walls.'' ``Immigrants are our friends. The crowd ended its march at We are going to fight for them. the Aurora immigration detention center to show solidarity with Supporters linked arms people who are being around a group of Hispanic held there on immigrademonstrators outside the tion charges. Supporters linked detention center arms around a group of Hispanic demonstrators outside There are a lot of immigrant orgathe detention center in a symbolic nizations that wanted to walk with protest against the U.S. us, but they didn't, because they government's immigration policies, are afraid,'' Warren said. ``They're chanting ``We are the wall.'' worried about their safety.'' Organizer Michelle Warren Warren said their fears ``are not compared the march with the civil unfounded,'' because of the antirights marches of the 1960s, try- immigrant campaigns during the ing to find peaceful solutions to recent national elections.-AP
Immigration Post
14 India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Bishops ask Trump for humane policies BALTIMORE: The nation's Roman Catholic bishops have urged President-elect Donald Trump to adopt humane policies toward immigrants and refugees, as church leaders begin navigating what will likely be a complex relationship with the new administration. Meeting just days after the election, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said serving people fleeing violence and conflict ``is part of our identity as Catholics'' and pledged to continue this ministry. ``We stand ready to work with a new administration to continue to ensure that refugees are humanely welcomed without sacrificing our security or our core values as Americans. A duty to welcome and protect newcomers, particularly refugees, is an integral part of our mission to help our neighbors in need,'' the bishops said. Trump had said during the campaign that he would build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and immediately deport all 11 million people in the country illegally, though he later distanced himself from that position. In an interview that aired on CBS' ``60 Minutes,'' he said he would focus on deporting people with criminal records beyond their immigrant status, ``probably two million, it could even be three million.'' The Obama
administration has deported more than 2.5 million people since taking office in 2009, according to the Homeland Security Department. Trump also told ``60 Minutes'' that his promised solid border wall might look more like a fence in spots. House Speaker Paul Ryan rejected any ``deportation force'' targeting people in the country illegally. In a speech at the Baltimore assembly, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the bishops' conference, underscored that pro-
``Don't allow government to define what integrity of faith means,'' Kurtz said. Dozens of dioceses and Catholic charities sued President Barack Obama over the Affordable Care Act requirement that employers provide coverage for birth control. After being on the defensive with Obama over abortion, LGBT rights and other issues, some conservative Catholics are optimistic about the chances for a rollback on some policies, such as the birth
``We stand ready to work with a new administration to continue to ensure that refugees are humanely welcomed without sacrificing our security or our core values as Americans. A duty to welcome and protect newcomers, particularly refugees, is an integral part of our mission to help our neighbors in need,'' tecting refugees would remain a priority. He also highlighted an area where the bishops may find more common ground with Trump. Kurtz noted the importance of conscience rights for people who do not want to recognize same-sex marriage or comply with other laws they consider immoral. Trump has pledged to appoint anti-abortion justices to the U.S. Supreme Court and protect religious liberty.
control rule. Still, they are deeply concerned about the plight of immigrants after a brutal election in which Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals and urged a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. although he later watered down that proposal. American Catholics have a vast network of aid programs for immigrants and refugees, and Pope Francis has put the
'2 cr illegal Bangladeshi is living in India' NEW DELHI: In an announcement which may start a political debate, government has said that around two crore illegal Bangladeshi migrants are staying in India. "As per available inputs, there are around 20 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants staying in India," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju informed Rajya Sabha replying a written question. Rijiju said there are reports of Bangladeshi nationals having entered the country without valid travel documents. Since entry of such Bangladeshi nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to have accurate data of such Bangladeshi nationals living in various parts of the country, he said. Rijiju said deportation of illegal staying foreign national is continuous process. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had
said that "Bangladeshis" will be deported if he comes to power. "They have been given the red carpet welcome by politicians just for votes. You can write it down. After May 16, these Bangladeshis better be prepared with their bags packed," Modi had said at an elec-
from Bangladesh. Assam had witnessed a sixyear-long agitation between 197985 against the illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration from Bangladesh has been a major issue for many students, social and political organizations in the
issue at the core of his pontificate. About 4 in 10 U.S. Catholics are Latino and Hispanics are already a majority in several dioceses. Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis had opposed a re-
Crackdown may hit Google plans: Pichai Cont'd from Page 11
Northeast. The 2014 election manifesto of BJP said that the party will review and improve the border management and "punitive measures will be introduced to check illegal immigration".-PTI
technology - and so London, a pioneering city, and home to many of the world's most talented and innovative people, is a great and natural choice for expansion. "London is one the world's leading technology hubs and investment into the capital post-Brexit remains robust, so Google's expansion will further strengthen our city's reputation as a global leader in digital technology." In June, nearly 2,500 Google
Those are the values we cherish, and we have been open and public about how we think about these things," he said. "Increasingly, for the kinds of complex things we do, we need to bring people who are across many disciplines with many different backgrounds together to solve problems. That's how you can build newer things, so that is particularly important for us," he added. "London is one the world's Earlier this month, British Prime Minister leading technology hubs Theresa May visited India on her first bilateral and investment into the trip outside Europe. But that visit was overshad- capital post-Brexit owed by UK's tough remains robust stand on immigration issues and visas to Indian students. employees had begun moving into She has been criticized by lead- the firm's new King's Cross offices ers such as former Liberal Demo- the firm's largest in Europe. crat Paddy Ashdown for her stance The latest announcement was as "damaging" to economy. also welcomed by UK Chancellor Mayor of London Sadiq Khan Philip Hammond, who said it was called the announcement by Pichai "more evidence that leading firms a "vote of confidence" in the city. are choosing to invest" in the UK He said: "Google's commitment despite Brexit. to London is very welcome. The new Google headquarters This is a global, pioneering will be designed and owned by company at the forefront of new Google, a first outside the US.-PTI
Donald Trump starting to sound like Obama on immigration Cont'd from Page 11
tion rally in Serampore in West Bengal, which shares a porous border with Bangladesh. Assam and West Bengal are considered to be the worst hit due to the alleged illegal infiltration
quest from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, now the vice-president elect, that the Catholic Church stop settling Syrian refugees in the state. Tobin will be made a cardinal by the Pope.-AP
The president-elect didn't outline where a fence or a wall might fit better. But his willingness to consider fencing marked a considerable concession from his campaign stance. Border fencing is nothing new. There is fencing along about 650 miles in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, encompassing almost a third of the border. Under President George W. Bush, Congress authorized $1.2 billion to build hundreds of miles of double-layered fencing. The
Congressional Research Service and the Army Corps of Engineers have estimated that the fencing already in place cost the United States about $7 billion. Any new construction along the border would be a costly and complicated endeavor. Cost estimates of a wall have ranged from $10 billion to $20 billion. Trump would also face myriad environmental regulations, objections from private land owners and a legally binding 1970 treaty with Mexico that governs structures along the Rio Grande and Colorado River at the Mexican border.-AP
Immigration Post
November 25, 2016
India Post 15
www.indiapost.com
China denies visa to Indian sports official NEW DELHI: Arunachal Pradesh's Bamang Tago, manager for the Indian badminton contingent, has been denied visa by the Chinese government to travel to Fuzhou for the ongoing China Super Series Premier badminton tournament. Tago, who is also the Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh Badminton Association, has been running from pillar to post after he was denied visa by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi "on ground of Arunachal domiciles", a day after applying for the travel document on November 10. Tago sought the intervention of Minister of State, Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju in this regard. "I have been in Delhi since November 10 but I have not been granted the visa. I am the manager of the Indian team and they are already there playing in
the first round but I am stuck here," Tago told PTI. "When I checked with the Chinese Embassy about the status of my visa application, I was told by
Bamang Tago
embassy officials that since I belong to Arunachal Pradesh, an approval from Beijing is required," he said.
"There has been no response from the Chinese Embassy since then. So I met Mr Kiren Rijiju and sought his intervention. He told me he will look into the matter and enquire about it and get back to me. I am hoping something positive comes out," Tago added. Tago was to lead a 14-member Indian team on the invitation of Fuzhou Municipal Sports Bureau to participate in the Thaihot China Open in Fuzhou, which concludes on November 20. Badminton Association of India (BAI) had submitted all required documents of members of Indian contingent at Chinese Embassy, New Delhi several weeks back for obtaining the travel documents. But while all other 13 members got their visa without any problem and left for Fuzhou on November 12, Tago have been left behind. "My visa has been withheld on the ground of me being a domicile of Arunachal Pradesh which is totally a discrimination by China," Tago said.
"It has been 54 years since the Chinese aggression of 1962 and 70 years of India's Independence. The issue of Arunachal Pradesh remains unsettled because of the territorial dispute between India and China which has put the future of the Indigenous people of Arunachal in uncertainty," he said. In 2011, a five-member karate
vented to board their flight for possessing stapled visas. Further, in October 2013, two young archers from Arunachal Pradesh could not participate in the Youth World Archery Championship in Wuxi in China as Indian immigration officials prevented them to board the flight for the same reason.
"It has been 54 years since the Chinese aggression of 1962 and 70 years of India's Independence. The issue of Arunachal Pradesh remains unsettled because of the territorial dispute between India and China which has put the future of the Indigenous people of Arunachal in uncertainty," team on its way to Quanzhou to take part in the Asian Karate-do championship was prevented by Indian immigration officials at IGI airport New Delhi for possessing stapled visa issued by the Chinese Embassy. In Jan 2012, a team of Arunachal weightlifters were pre-
"China has now become an important location for international sports events and will continue to host more in the future. In such a scenario, sportspersons from Arunachal Pradesh will be deprived in days to come for no fault of theirs," Tago said.-PTI
Defeated Arpaio has no regrets about crackdowns PHOENIX: The outgoing sheriff of metro Phoenix says he was saddened by his defeat after 24 years in office, but expressed no regrets about launching dozens of immigration crackdowns that made him a national political figure but ultimately led to his downfall. Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he has been humbled by calls from supporters who bemoaned his loss to Paul Penzone, a little-known retired Phoenix police sergeant. ``I am not going to say I let them down,'' Arpaio told The Associated Press. ``It's just sad to see me go.'' The 84-year-old will end his tenure as Phoenix's top law enforcer with a racial profiling verdict that discredited his immigration patrols and a criminal contempt-of-court charge against him for prolonging the patrols 17 months after a judge ordered them stopped. Arpaio remains unapologetic in his decision 10 years ago to take on illegal immigration, despite the $48 million in taxpayer-funded legal costs from the profiling case and the misdemeanor charge that could expose him to up to six months in jail if he's convicted. Other police bosses were happy to leave the onerous duties of immigration enforcement to the federal government. But Arpaio said he had a duty to enforce laws passed by the Arizona Legislature,
including one that barred immigrant smuggling. ``I am not going to say I am sorry. We did our job,'' the sheriff said, adding that he is the ``trophy for Hispanic groups coming after me.'' In the end, courts stripped away Arpaio's immigration powers two years ago, and his role in the
targeting immigrants doesn't ring true. ``He is trying to play the martyr,'' Guzman said. ``I think that deep down inside, at some point, he probably realizes his immigration enforcement was his demise. That's what got him in trouble.'' Arpaio has acknowledged disobeying the judge's order in the
people living in other states, said he didn't expect liberal hedge-fund tycoon George Soros to give $2.3 million to a group that ran a TV commercial questioning Arpaio's reputation for being tough on criminals. Arpaio also blamed the U.S. Justice Department for announcing a day before early voting began in Arizona that it planned to prosecute him in a criminal contempt case. The sheriff said he believes he will be remembered for his tough jail policies, such as dressing inmates in pink underwear and jailing them in Tent City, a complex of canvas tents where prisoners are
housed during Phoenix's tripledigit summer heat. Still, he realizes his successor could eliminate those fixtures. Penzone has said he is open to the idea of closing Tent City and that he regards the pink underwear as a publicity stunt. ``If someone else wants a change, it doesn't bother me at all,'' Arpaio said. He said he could have retired without seeking re-election, but he wanted to remain on the job - and he doesn't regret seeking re-election. ``I wanted to keep going for the next four years,'' Arpaio said. ``It wasn't in the cards.''-AP
Anti-Trump protesters rally for 'marginalized'
Sheriff Joe Arpaio
immigration debate since has consisted of speaking out publicly against federal border policies. Lydia Guzman, a Latino civil rights advocate and longtime Arpaio critic, said the sheriff's claim that he has no regrets about
racial profiling case, but insisted the violation was unintentional. His trial is scheduled for Dec. 6. He has faced other challenges in his bid for a seventh term. The sheriff, who raised $12 million in campaign cash mostly from
LOS ANGELES: A few hundred people gathered outside CNN's Los Angeles headquarters to protest president-elect Donald Trump on the fifth day of demonstrations since the election. Police Officer Norma Eisenman says the rally Sunday was peaceful and there have been no arrests. Protester Annamarie Davidson says she knows the world is watching and she wants to be ``on the right side of history.'' The 28-yearold says marchers are rallying for
the rights of immigrants, Muslims, gay people and other groups she says Trump's campaign marginalized. In San Francisco hundreds of people, including many families with children, marched from Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach chanting ``Love trumps hate!'' In the city's financial district, a small group stood outside a building partly owned by the presidentelect, hoisting signs that read ``Dump Trump.''-AP
Desi News Mukesh Shah elected new president of FIA
COMMUNITY ACROSS AMERICA
SURENDRA ULLAL
ELMHURST: The Federation of Indian Associations, Chicago, elected Mukesh Shah as its new president for the year 2017 along with new official bearers during a meet at Waterford Banquet in Elmhurst, a northwest Chicago suburb. "I feel honored and humbled to step forward to lead this organization, which has taken several initiatives in promoting our Indian culture," said Shah, who is also a former president of the Gujarati Samaj. Details on page 19
Niles community celebrates Diwali & New Year SURENDRA ULLAL
CHICAGO: The Indian Community of Niles Township hosted a party in Kathy Hall, Niles to celebrate Diwali, festival of lights, and Indian New Year on Sunday November 6. Rohit Joshi, president of ICNT, welcomed and wished Happy New Year to all. The program started with traditional Ganesh puja and Lakshmi puja. Following this he introduced Vinodbhai Patel as 2nd Vice President and Jatinbhai Trivedi as Jt. Secretary in the executive board of ICNT. The hall was crowded with people from Skokie, Niles, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Des Plaines, Schaumburg and all others areas. Details on page 20
Community supports MAFS bid to raise funds JYOTSANA VASUDEV
CHICAGO: Hosting a fundraiser and seek community support was really a well meaning effort on the part of Metropolitan Asian Family Service (MAFS) Details on page 21
CORRECTION
W
e had inadvertently mentioned in our Balvihar Diwali celebration article the name of Sudhir Brahmbhatt as Sudhir Parikh. Sudhir Brahmbhatt is a propelling force behind the progress and popularity of Balvihar in St Louis MO area. The error is highly regretted. - Editor
16 India Post
www.indiapost.com
Varsity offers free yoga to cancer patients Details on page 22
November 25, 2016
Vedic astrology predicts critical times ahead for India India Post News Service
I
ndia is in turmoil as a sequel to the PM Modi headed government taking a bold step to unearth black money and contain terrorist funding by demonetizing high currency - 500 and 1000 rupees notes. This move though welcomed by right minded people everywhere, has trigged huge social upheaval since it has also deeply hurt a great number of middle class families and the com-
signifying manipulations, frauds, pleasure seekers, insincere and immoral acts. It is activated and influences the 5th, 7th, and 9th house. They signify speculative nature of the people, investments, children, population, morals and values of the people. 7th house signifies pleasure, foreign affairs and agreement. Bond of relationships amongst the masses and business establishments. 9th house rules judicial system, morality, religion.
At Present Mars is in play. It is in its sub period. When it is activated it does NOT give GOOD results. It affects national wealth, status, relationships within country, purchasing power of the people, strength of currency. It also indicates loss of reputation mon man. People in rural areas with poor banking facilities are askance all the more. The big question uppermost in the minds of all is - Where is headed in the coming days? Setting aside for the time being political, economic and social pundits, we have turned to Jatin Patel Guru who had correctly predicted Donald Trump's victory in US elections much before November 8 and the prediction published on the front page of India Post had surprised many at that time. Jay Guru in his own way is applying Systems Approach Astrology. He made a close study of the Indian chart basing his observation on the birth of the nation on August 15 1947. In the astrological analyses given below, he observes that India is heading for critical time ahead, at least for the next one year. Studying the horoscope of India, Jay Guru points out that there are two sets of planets - good and bad - depending on which sign (Rasi) is in the first house. India's Benefic (good) planets are Moon, Sun, Mercury, and Saturn. The Malefic (Bad) planets are RahuKetu, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. Rahu is placed in the first house
Ketu is placed in 7th house that suggests natural calamities, violent actions or events, fears and accidents. It is activated and influences the 3rd, 1st and 9th houses. Mars is placed in the second. It represents mental and physical courage. Rules army, police, antisocial elements when under influence of Rahu or Rahu like planets. In this case it is Jupiter and Mars. Mars rules in India's chart financial losses, expenditure, mishaps, foreign debts, wars and smuggling.
vated it does NOT give GOOD results. It affects national wealth, status, relationships within country, purchasing power of the p e o p l e , strength of currency. It also indicates loss of reputation and setbacks for financial resources. Since Mars is activated, it also affects the motions and sentiment in general of the people and may cause setbacks to the financial markets of the country. It also causes significant setbacks for the country and resources. Since Mars is also a Rahu like planet, it may give rise to unhealthy or corrupt practices and impact on the fortune of the country. The country has an inkling of this happening. On February 13, 2017 Rahu takes over and will be in control where what is written above will be in play. And the transit Rahu/
On February 13, 2017 Rahu takes over and will be in control. And the transit Rahu/Ketu will be afflicting 12th house where Mars is ruler. It indicates setbacks for the national identity. We may hear mishaps, accidents, terrorist related activities Saturn rules the 9th house but is weak, afflicted (caused trouble by bad planet Venus) and is combust (close to the Sun that is gets burned). At Present Mars is in play. It is in its sub period. When it is acti-
Ketu will be afflicting 12th house where Mars is ruler. It indicates setbacks for the national identity. We may hear mishaps, accidents, terrorist related activities and some danger to the rulers or heads of government. Mars is also afflicted
by Ketu causing riots, and war like atmosphere All in All, India has bad periods till 2019. In the context of plan-
Shri Jay Guru
ets signifying anxiety and problems referred above, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take extra security measures as leader of the government. The configuration of the planets in the chart and their transit indicates widespread discontent. This may induce people against him and may hurt him or the ruling junta Jay Guru uses his mastery of Systems Approach Astrology to predict significant events and news around the world. Additionally, as one of leading Vedic Astrologers, his expertise is sought out by professional athletes, celebrity artists and even heads of State. Recently, Jay Guru defied all the experts and political pundits by predicting a victory for the Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. While the election results shocked the world, Jay had his System Astrology to bank on. For more information c o n t a c t
November 25, 2016
Community Across America
India Post 17
www.indiapost.com
Uttarakhand Samaj off to a great start RICHA CHAND & RAMESH SOPARAWALA
CHICAGO: It was a dream start for the newly minted organization, Uttarakhand Samaj of Greater Chicago (also known as USOGC,) hosting its first annual gala event, 'Diwali Cultural Program', on Sunday November 6 at Chandler's Chophouse, Grille & Banquets in Schaumburg,a northwest suburb of Chicago. The newly elect president Rajeshwari Rawat, in a talk to this paper observed that the prime objective for her organization is to promote the rich cultural heritage of Kumaon & Garhwal regions located in the beautiful Uttarakhand which happens to be the 27th State of Indian Union. She mentioned that there are plans to build Uttarakhand Bhawan very soon, in order to facilitate a permanent location for the organizational operations and hosting events for the community. "Still in its nascent stages, USOGC has also a vision to support various charitable causes both locally and of course in Uttarakhand, India as well", she added. The event attended by over 250 guests, invitees and dignitaries including now Congressman elect Raja Krishnamurthi was a huge success with every member of the audience present relishing rich cultural presentations by local Uttarkahand artists - young and old - culminating with mouth watering dinner dishes. It may not be an exaggeration to say that it turned out to be a glittering, sparkling jewel in the beautiful and still warm and welcomingNovember evening. The guests were welcomed and greeted by the USOGC Board Members. The program began with the emcees Mohan Rawat and Sudha Upadhyay inviting the
USOGC guiding team (L-R) Sudha Upadhyay (Member) Ruchi Dabral (Secretary), Rajeshwari Rawat (President) Rashi Upadhaya (Director), Richa Chand (Vice President), Noopur Tewari (Member)
newly elected board members of USOGC and the distinguished guests, for lighting the ceremonial Diwali lamps. Members and guests were also requested to share their thoughts and visions with the audience. A spectacular audio-video presentation followed the Lamp Lighting Ceremony which introduced the audience to the beautiful State of Uttarakhand and its numerous offerings and contributions. The video presentation also stated USOGC's goals and mission statements for everyone to view and understand the purpose of the organization. The highlight of the evening was the cultural program that consisted of the regional dance and
Eye catching cultural performance by the youth
music items by the talented artists in different age groups. The first cultural program offering was 'Jagar' by all the kids big and small. Jagar (Devanagari: ????) is a form
ets and prizes were also announced in the middle of the cultural program. All the participating kids were presented with a Certificate of Achievement for their
The event attended by over 250 guests, invitees and dignitaries including now Congressman -elect Raja Krishnamurthi was a huge success with every member of the audience present relishing rich cultural presentations by local Uttarkahand artists of ancestor spirit worship practiced in the hills of Uttarakhand There were beautiful renditions of songs & bhajans, various Garhwali-Kumaoni folk & contemporary dances, violin instrumental music pieces played and speeches delivered by kids who wanted to share what they thought about their life here in US, their ancestral roots in Uttarakhand, and what it means for them. To the audience delight there was a collection of about 20 items to make their cultural experience even richer and there was a round of applause each time a performance was presented. Raffle tick-
wonderful performances and for trying to take on the challenge of using a new language, Kumaoni or Garhwali for their performances. After the cultural program was concluded, DJ Chirag was all set and ready to serenade the eager audience with the classic and new Uttarakhandi music numbers. The dance floor was now opened to all and the audience who had been enjoying the event so far was now ready to show some of their own dance moves. There were ample arrangements for the guests for food and beverages. From the starters during the cocktail hours, to the entrees & the desserts, were all part of an exquisite menu selected especially by Ravi Rawat who was the overall Event Manager. Guests were mostly members of the Uttarakhand community, but it was great to see a good turnout of people who did not belong to Uttarakhand but joined in the celebrations to support their
Uttarakhandi friends. Some of the distinguished guests who attended the event were, Jodh Singh Rawat, Dr. Hans Upadhyay, Dr. Mohan Sanwal, Ajit Pant, NileshTopiwala, Jassi Parmar, Neil Khot, Nimish Jani (Schaumburg Township Trustee), Michelle Mussman (IL State Representative) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (US Congressman elect). Various media personalities representing TV Asia, Desi Junction, World Wide Radio and India Post Newspaper were also present to cover the event. The Board Members of USOGC are Rajeshwari Rawat, President; Richa Chand, Vice President; Ruchi Dabral, Secretary; Shashi Tewari, Treasurer; Ravi Rawat, Executive Director and Vikram Singh Negi, Shanti Prashad Nautiyal, Chandan Singh, Vikas Chandola, Rashi Upadhyaya, Smita Pant on behalf of Prashant Pant Directors. Spokespersons are Manish Upadhyay and Vikas Chandola The Team USOGC was very much encouraged by this warm reception of their first event and will continually strive to be involved in the similar community events in future also. To accomplish all of its goals and to fulfill its vision for the Uttarakhand community, USOGC needs help and support to grow stronger. All donations are tax exempt. For more information, visit www.USOGC.org and like and share the community page 'Uttarakhand Samaj of Greater Chicago' on Facebook.
Community Across America
18 India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Mast Magan with Chinmayi - A music lover's delight India Post News Service
SAN JOSE, CA: Media Mahima organized the Mast Magan Concert with Bollywood and Tollywood singer Chinmayi Sripaada on Saturday November 12 at the Jubilee Center in San Jose. The event was put together as a memorial to the founder late Mahima Ji, whose birth anniversary is in the month of November. The show began with focus the new local talent search initiative of the "Undercover Rockstars". The program kicked-off with talented local singers playing out a musical parody. What might sometimes have seemed cheesy, in a funny way, ended up with a very serious yet a very relevant message for the NRI audience, "to not forget to live, while trying to make a living" and to never let the "child in you die". Opening with her first ever song, "Deivam Thanda Poove" an AR Rahman classic, Chinmayi
began her 3-hour long musical conversation with the 1800 plus captive audience. She then set many a heart aflutter with the magnificent rendition of "Titli" from Chennai Express. The audience sang along, as she soared higher and higher with her "Uda Uda
Chinmayi Sripaada
Uda hai…. Kahin dooor". The evening progressed at an impressive pace, as she belted out one enchanting melody after another, shifting seamlessly between languages, singing her extremely popular hits like Sara Sara Sarakaathu and Ennoda nee irunthaal, Zehnaseeb, Main Rang Sharbaton Ka and effortlessly drifting between genres of folk to classical like "Tere Bina…" from Guru (another A R Rahman classic) to Kilimanjaro (Robot). Chinmayi took requests from the audience and sang song after song in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, even Marathi - the title song of "Sairaat", the first ever hundred crore Marathi movie. Another great show by the Gig
Host of the show Kavita S. and Kishan S
Gurus team of Excel Test, LSJ Financial and Media Mahima, "Mast Magan - a Musical Jamboree"
proved that the language of Music transcends all barriers of language.
25 years of SRK celebrated at M Lounge VIDYA SETHURAMAN India Post News Service
SAN JOSE, CA: California Fans Shahrukh Khan celebrated 25 years of Shahrukh Khan and his upcoming movie Dear Zindagi by throwing a big bash at a Lounge recently in San Jose, California. The event had a video dedication to SRK but also Tshirts for the party goers. The video mix of Shahrukh's songs ended with excerpt from President Obama's quote of Shahrukh Khan's dialogue "Bade Bade Deshon Mein…" which had the crowd cheering. "When SRKUniverseUSA contacted us for this, we were glad to host it, Shahrukh was last in the Bay Area for SLAM 2014 and it was a great success here. We are glad to host his fans at part of our BollywoodatM series," said Ashwini Kumar, owner M Lounge, San Jose, CA "Given it was a joint venture between M Lounge and SRKUniverse, we came up with in-
teresting twist to the Shahrukh's famous line from Om Shanti Om Picture abhi baaki Hai mere dost to Pitcher Abhi Baaki Hai, Mere Dost, We also gave out some Dear Zindagi T-shirts to raise awareness for November 23rd release." Said Kavie, Marketing Manager. The much awaited Gauri Shinde film, Dear Zindagi releases two days early in America on November 23.
November 25, 2016
Community Across America
India Post 19
www.indiapost.com
Mukesh Shah elected new president of FIA SURENDRA ULLAL
ELMHURST: The Federation of Indian Associations, Chicago, elected Mukesh Shah as its new president for the year 2017 along with new official bearers during a meet at Waterford Banquet in Elmhurst, a northwest Chicago suburb. "I feel honored and humbled to step forward to lead this organization, which has taken several initiatives in promoting our Indian culture," said Shah, who is also a former president of the Gujarati Samaj. Other members of the executive board for 2017 are Founder President: Sunil Shah, Founder & Past President: Onkar Singh Sangha, Founding Committee Member & Past President: Rita Singh, Outgoing President: Dhitu Bhagwakar, Executive Vice Presidents: Neil Khot and Moon Khan, Vice Presidents: Hitesh Gandhi, Shital Daftari, Ali Khan, Manjeet Singh Bhalla, Khaja Moinuddin, Treasurer: Payal Shah, Joint Treasurer: Jaimini Patel, Secretary: Ninad Daftari, Joint Secretary: Shalini Saxena, Directors: Nirav Shah, Mahijit Singh Virdi,
FIA office bearers
Nambirajan Vaithilingam, Harsh Shah, Shetal Shah, Jatinder Singh Bedi and Vibha Dave. Other Founding Committee Members are Sunny Kular and Monty Sayed.
Agency created 'Ab Ki Baar Trump' campaign India Post News Service
Media Buying of a massive charity event for Republican Hindu Coalition on October 15, 2016 at the NJ Convention & Expo Center in Edison, New Jersey where President elect Donald J. Trump was the Chief Guest. Almost 10,000 Indian Americans gathered to see Trump. The charity event saw performances by superstars like actor, director Prabhu Deva, Malaika
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ: AdMark Communications, the fastest growing South Asian Advertising and Public Relations agency, was responsible for the media placement and media buying strategy for the successful "Ab Ki Baar Trump Sarkar" ad campaign that targeted the Indian American population in the U.S. AdMark was also instrumenShyamal Modi, President of AdMark Com- tal in handling the marketing munications, in associa- and Media Buying of a tion with Mr. Shalabh massive charity event for Kumar of the Republican Hindu Coalition Republican Hindu Coalition created a 30 and 60 sec- on October 15 onds advertisement "in Arora Khan, Manasvi and Hindi" for the Trump campaign. This was the first time that an U.S. many more from both Bollywood presidential candidate had specifi- and Tollywood Film Industry. "Mr. Trump has made an uncally targeted the Indian American precedented effort to reach out to vote bank. "We had the honor of working the Indian Diaspora. He is the first with Republican National Commit- presidential nominee to address tee and Mr. Trump on this ad cam- an Indian-American event, and we paign that aimed at the growing are thrilled to be part of this hisIndian American voting popula- tory-making moment," added Mr. tion," said Mr. Modi who congratu- Modi. The commercial ran almost 20 lated Donald Trump on his election. AdMark was also instrumental times a day on various Indian in handling the marketing and channels.
As its first project for 2017, FIA wants to organize an Indian heritage event on Friday, January 6 in partnership with Windy City Bulls, the official NBA D-League Affiliate of the Chicago Bulls. The basketball sport event will take place at Sears Center Arena, from 7 PM. On this evening, Westchester Knicks vs. Windy
City Bulls will be playing. The program will include special pre-game music demonstrations, Indian and American national anthem played before the game, halftime performance by a local Indian dance group, concourse displays featuring local Indian community businesses and organizations, "We are going to mainstream
platform to project Indian heritage," said Sunil Shah, Founder President. Discounted group ticket packages are also available For ticket and other information, Shah can be contacted at 847-309-4462. Special Indian food available throughout the evening from local restaurant: Sai Saffron.
20 India Post
Community Across America
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Niles community celebrates Diwali & New Year SURENDRA ULLAL
CHICAGO: The Indian Community of Niles Township hosted a party in Kathy Hall, Niles to celebrate Diwali, festival of lights, and Indian New Year on Sunday November 6. Rohit Joshi, president of ICNT, welcomed and wished Happy New Year to all. The program started with traditional Ganesh puja and Lakshmi puja. Following this he introduced Vinodbhai Patel as 2nd Vice President and Jatinbhai Trivedi as Jt. Secretary in the executive board of ICNT. The hall was crowded with people from Skokie, Niles, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Des Plaines, Schaumburg and all others areas. The enthusiastic live Bollywood songs presented by crowd favorite artists Sheila Khedkar and Jitendra Balsara set the tone for festivities. Hasmukhbhai Soni from United Senior Pariwar played Garba and Dandia Raas on DJ. Guests enjoyed the delightful festive mouth-watering Indian food from Bombay Chaat. Everybody was happy with Vinodbhai Patel, 2nd Vice President and his team who volunteered to serve the food. The program concluded after the Aarti. All board members of ICNT, Manibala Jain, Treasurer, Vinodbhai Patel, 2nd Vice President, Usha Kamaria, Former President Rohit Joshi, President and everybody joined with Baldevbhai Patel to do Aarti. Among honored guests were Pramodbhai Shah, Baldevbhai Patel, Om Prakash Kamaria, Sunil Shah, Ramanbhai Patel and Care for Soul.
Rohit Joshi welcoming guests at ICNT Diwali event
Garba at ICNT celebrations
LA kids to deliver Rig Veda hymns in church India Post News Service
PASADENA, CA: Upcoming Winter Concert of renowned Los
Angeles Children's Chorus (LACC) will feature hymns inspired by Hindu text Rig-Veda, oldest existing scripture of the
mankind, at Pasadena Presbyterian Church in California. This popular Winter Concert on December four and 11 fea-
tures classical and holiday music. Besides works of Bach, Vivaldi, Britten (Ceremony of Carols), Handel (Then Will I Jehovah's Praise), Mendelssohn, etc.; it also includes Hymn to the Waters and Hymn to the Dawn from Holst's Rig Veda, a collection of hymns inspired by the composer's interest in Sanskrit and Hindu religion and poetry. Also featured are traditional French carols, Edmund Walters' The Cuckoo Carol, the English carol Masters in this Hall, Donald Fraser's This Christmastide, etc. Los Angeles chorus group
Founded in 1986, LACC claims to have provided choral music training to over 2,200 children and teenagers ages 6-18. Cheryl R. Scheidemantle and Anne Tomlisn are its Board Chair and Artistic Director respectively. LACC shares its artistry around the world with tours. Giving a whole hearted welcome, Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, observed that the inclusion of Rig-Veda inspired hymns in LACC's Winter Concert should be a trend setter for many such organizations. He urged the world's top choral organizations to explore the rich wisdom of ancient Hindu scriptures for their future productions.
November 25, 2016
Community Across America
India Post 21
www.indiapost.com
Community supports MAFS bid to raise funds JYOTSANA VASUDEV
CHICAGO: Hosting a fundraiser and seek community support was really a well meaning effort on the part of Metropolitan Asian Family Service (MAFS) team to bridge deficit triggered by a cut in State funding. Its recent attempt met with a fair sized success judging from the amount raised and the support community extended. Many a fund raiser usually turns out to be a drab affair but not the one that MAFS conducted. It was studded with a good number of entertaining cultural extravaganza and the 500 plus members of the audience did not have a dull moment. A good number of dignitaries including Congressman elect Raja Krishnamurthy, Director-Department
MAFS officials and guests
Dance tribute to Pramod Kumar
on Aging, Jean Bohnhoff, CLESE Executive Director, Marta Pereyra, Nimesh Jani, Krishna Bansal, Mafatlal Patel were present Tribute to late Shri Pramod Kumar with a dance presentation was well received so also Tippani, Columbian and Polish dances The MAFS team headed by Ms Santosh Kumar and comprising of community activists did a remarkably good job
Columbian and Polish dances. 33 Tippani dance by MAFS members
Community Across America
22 India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Seniors celebrate Diwali & Tulsi Vivah JAYANTI OZA
CHICAGO: Members of Bharatiya Seniors Club celebrated Diwali at Pearl Banquet hall in Roselle (a northwest Chicago suburb) on November 11 with more than 400 family and friends participating in this event. Delicious appetizers and dinner was followed with Ganesh Vandana. Deep lighting ceremony was conducted by sponsor
area new singer Hedar sang a song of movie 'Bat Ek Raat Ki' in Hemant Kumar's voice. At the end of the program BSC arranged Rafael Lucky Draw for seniors. First Prize was One Airline Round trip ticket for India (Winner was Kishor Chaug). Second Prize was three days Dubai ticket for couple (winner was Rakshika Anjaria). Third Prize was
Diwali Deep Prgatya Ceremony
Vrind (Tulsi) Marriage in progress
Gordhanbhai Patel, Tushar Mehta, Chhotubhai Patel and Mafat Patel. The entertainment program was off with Bollywood singer Mohammad Aslam singing old and new songs in the voice of great singers KL Saigal, Mohmmad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Sonu Nigam and Arjit Singh. He also sang songs from his movies like "Masti ki Pathshala', Guru. Also Chicago
50" 4K Led TV Vizio ( Winner was Chandubhai Dave) On November 13, 'Tulsi Vivah" was organized by Bhartiya Seniors of Chicago in Carol Stream IL. More the 300 people participated in this event. All seniors were dressed up in Indian tradition. 'Marriage Mandap' was decorated and Vrinda (Tulsi) Chicago land Priest performed Puja ceremony. He also gave detailed information about 'Tulsi Vivah'.
BSC seniors enjoying Bollywood song
Varsity offers free yoga to cancer patients India Post News Service
NEVADA: Hindus have commended Memorial University Medical Center (MUMC) in Savannah (Georgia, USA) for offering free yoga classes for cancer patients and survivors. "The classes help with flexibility and balance while also providing relaxation", an announcement says. Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada termed it as a step in the positive direction to make multi-benefit yoga available free of cost for cancer patients and survivors. Zed urged Memorial Health Board Chairman J. Harry Haslam Jr. and CEO Margaret Gill to offer
free yoga classes to all of their patients. Yoga, referred as "a living fossil", is a mental and physical dis-
cipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed noted.
Rajan Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical. According to US National In-
stitutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a "2016 Yoga in America Study", about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added. Award-winning MUMC, opened in 1955, serves 35 counties across southeast Georgia and southern South Carolina and claims to be "most advanced healthcare provider in the region". Its mission is "With compassion, we heal, teach, and discover".
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
India Post 23
Top Stories
24 India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
India had civilization before Modi: Chidambaram MUMBAI: Congress leader P Chidambaram has attacked the Narendra Modi government for obliterating everything about India before it came to power and said it believes there was no civilization prior to that. "As far as the present government is concerned, India began,
present government's financial inclusion drive. While the UPA government had opened these accounts between 2004 and 2014 under its financial inclusion drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had relaunched this under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana on August 28, 2014,
P Chidambaram
civilization began only on May 26, 2014," Chidambaram said at the Tatas-run Mumbai LitFest here while addressing a panel discussion on 'Banking for the bottom billion'. The former Finance Minister was referring to the NDA government not adding the 13 crore nofrills accounts, opened during the UPA regime, with the Jan Dhan ones that were opened during the
under which around 25.51 crore accounts have been opened so far. Chidambaram noted that as many as 13 crore no-frills accounts were opened under the UPA rule, but are blacked out now. "These 13 crore accounts which we opened between 2004 and 2014, under the guidance of C Rangarajan, as far as the (present) government is concerned, they don't exist, they are blacked out,"
he said, adding that "Jan Dhan is only another name for no-frills accounts". The Congress leader praised the government's efforts for this financial inclusion drive, but said by simply opening an account, one's behavior can't be changed. "People must have money to deposit in the account, they must have a need to borrow from that account, otherwise account will remain dormant. So, how does our bankers jugad sense work? The government pulls them up for saying dormant accounts, they put one rupee from their pockets in those accounts," he added. Earlier in the day, he had said the after-effects of the demonetization will last longer than expected as it was carried out without much thinking and he also doubted if the government had consulted its Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on this before taking the decision. "You are seeing the first-order effect of withdrawing, sucking out 86 per cent of the currency in circulation from the market. The first order will continue for several weeks now. Then, you will see the second-order effect," he said. "My suspicion is the only knowledgeable economist in the government Arvind Subramanian was not consulted," he said. -PTI
UK celebrates anniversary of Indian woman LONDON: The 150th birth anniversary of Cornelia Sorabji, the first Indian woman student in Britain and India's first woman lawyer, has been celebrated at the India House here. Speaking on the occasion, leading NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria described Cornelia as the
Bilimoria wanted the UK government to exclude international students, including those coming from India, for higher studies here from the list of immigrants. "They should be allowed to come, study and work here," he said. The Acting High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik described
Cornelia had come to Oxford with the help of a subscription raised by progressive British men and women including Madeleine Shaw Lefevre, the first Principal of Somerville "first woman to study in Bombay University, the first woman of any nationality to do law in Oxford and the first woman to practice law in India." Noting that Britain has changed in the last three decades,
Cornelia as a "legend." Cornelia, the first female law student at Oxford in 1889 continues to provide a pioneering link between India and the prestigious varsity. Cornelia was not only
Somerville College's first Indian student, but was also the first Indian woman to study at any British University. On her return, she became the first woman to practice law in India and worked on behalf of women living in purdah. Her lifetime's work as a social reformer centered on support for the poor and for women at every level of society. Cornelia had come to Oxford with the help of a subscription raised by progressive British men and women including Madeleine Shaw Lefevre, the first Principal of Somerville. "The Faculty of Law and Soverville College are proud to celebrate Cornelia Sorabji and her achievements through the creation of scholarships for outstanding Indian graduate students in Law," a spokesperson of the Soverville College said.-PTI
India opposes resolution on death penalty at UN UNITED NATIONS: India has to promote a moratorium on execuopposed a UN resolution calling tions with a view to abolishing the for a moratorium on the death death penalty." penalty, saying it goes against In"My delegation therefore, has dian statutory law and the sover- voted against the resolution as a eign right of every country to de- whole as it goes against Indian termine their own legal system. statutory law," he said. But it supported an amendment Death sentences in India must reaffirming sovereign right to de- also be confirmed by a superior velop domestic legal systems. court and an accused has the right India's representative Mayank to appeal to a High Court or the Joshi said every state had a sov- Supreme Court. ereign right to determine its own The Supreme Court of India has legal system, which was why he had voted for the amendment. But the Death sentences in India counselor at India's UN must also be confirmed by Mission said he had voted against the reso- a superior court and an lution "because it con- accused has the right to travened statutory law appeal to a High Court or in India." The resolution was, the Supreme Court however, adopted with 115 votes in favor to 38 against, with 31 abstentions fol- adopted guidelines on clemency lowing an "intense discussion," and the treatment of death row said a statement on the UN prisoners and that "poverty, website. socio-economic, psychic compulThe amendment was passed by sions, undeserved adversities in 76 votes in favor, 72 against, 26 life" constituted new mitigating abstentions. factors to be considered by courts Explaining India's stance on the in commuting a death sentence to issues, Joshi said: "In India, the life imprisonment, he added. death penalty is exercised in the 'rarThe President of India in all est of rare' cases, where the crime cases, and the Governors of States committed is so heinous as to shock under their respective jurisdicthe conscience of society." tions, have the power to grant parHe said Indian law provides for dons, reprieves, respites or remis"all requisite procedural safe- sions of punishment or to susguards, including the right to a fair pend, remit or commute the senhearing by an independent court, tence of any person convicted of the presumption of innocence, the any offence. minimum guarantees for the deIn the past 12 years, only three fense, and the right to review by a executions - all of them of terrorhigher court". ists -have been carried out in InHe said the resolution "sought dia. -PTI
First woman to drive through Arctic felicitated NEW DELHI: Bharulata Kamble, who has set a world record by driving solo 32,000km and become the first woman to complete the 2,792km Arctic Circle, attributed the feat to her willpower. The Indian-origin UK resident was felicitated at a program organized by Maharashtra Information Centre here. "I could overcome the difficulties such as hostile weather conditions, lonely roads, rules and regulations in different countries due to my willpower. My husband too encouraged and backed me in this Endeavour," an official statement quoted her as saying during the event.
The program was attended by the Director (Information) of the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations Devendra Bhujbal among others. According to Bharulata, who was born in Gujarat's Navsari district, she set on her journey towards India from England via Arctic Circle on September 13 this year. She became the first woman to complete the circle expedition. Bharulata reached here two days ago, covering 32,000km spread across 32 countries. She has been spreading awarenes about 'saving and educating girl child' over the span of 57 days, the statement said.-PTI
Top Stories
November 25, 2016
India Post
25
www.indiapost.com
Surgical strike on corruption necessary: Javadekar PALDEV, MP: Noting that people are bound to face some initial problems after demonetization, Union minister Prakash Javadekar has said corruption had taken a "cancerous" form and the government was trying to cure "a 50-yearold malaise in 50 days". He equated the demonetization to the surgical strike against terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, saying black money was being used increasingly to fund terrorist and Maoists activities in the country. The Human Resources Development Minister also hit out at the
Opposition, saying they were "stalling" Parliament as they had "no issues" to discuss at all. "A few years after Independence, the country was running fine, but then the malaise of corruption started. And, in the last several decades, it has spread like a cancer. And, where were the corrupt people hiding their black money, in notes of (denomination) Rs 500 and Rs 1000. "The government carried out a surgical strike across the border (on terror launch pads), and another strike on this side of the border," Javadekar said.
Parrikar's personal views on N-policy questioned NEW DELHI: After Manohar Parrikar stoked a controversy over India's 'no first use' nuclear policy, former NSA Shivshankar Menon has said the Defense Minister does not have the right to voice his personal opinion on nuclear policy in public, especially when it contradicts the official stand. Menon also said Parrikar's suggestion that India should give up its 'no first use' policy would not be in the country's interest both in terms of the strategic deterrent role of nuclear weapons as well as their role as weapon of war. The Defense Minister does not have a right to voice his personal opinion on nuclear policy in pub-
Shivshankar Menon
lic particularly when that opinion contradicts the official policy of the country, he told India Today TV's 'To The Point' program. Parrikar last week had wondered why India cannot say "we are a responsible nuclear power and I will not use it irresponsibly" instead of affirming a "no first use policy", remarks he said were personal in nature. "Why should I bind myself? I
should say I am a responsible nuclear power and I will not use it irresponsibly. This is my (personal) thinking," Parrikar had said. Following the nuclear weapons test in 1998, India had declared a 'no first use' nuclear policy. Menon said India's nuclear weapons are "no guard" and no deterrent against Pakistani terror. Threatening a nuclear response to a terrorist attack from Pakistan "would be like threatening to kill a mosquito with a shotgun and would be unlikely to be understood by India's own people let alone the international community," said Menon, who was the National Security Adviser (NSA) from 2011 to 2014 under the Manmohan Singh government. Menon made the remarks ahead of the launch of his forthcoming book 'Choices', which will officially be launched on December 2 by Manmohan Singh. Talking about Indo-Pak relations, Menon said, "India- Pakistan relations are one of the few major failures of Indian foreign policy". He said India's Pakistan policy has not always been related to reality. Talking about India's "surgical strikes" inside PoK in September, Menon said he believes that going public with them was not in India's interest. It was designed to appease domestic opinion not to advance a desired outcome with Pakistan, he said. Going public meant that Pakistan was forced to deny the strikes happened and, at a later point, to indulge in a stepped-up cross-border violations, he said. -PTI
He was addressing a gathering of students, faculty and others
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana in 2014. "We are hearing from media that people are facing inc o n v e nience by standing in queues. There will be initial issues, as the country is g o i n g through transition. And, we are Prakash Javadekar trying to cure a 50during a function held at the Ma- year-old disease in 50 days. hatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Grameen "Also, these fake currency Vishvavidyalay. The minister notes were used for funding teradopted Paldev under the Centre's rorist activities and black money
is a common source for Maoist and extremist activities. So, a strike was necessary. And, hence the government took this step," he told reporters. The minister underscored that the government is trying to encourage people towards cash-less transactions. At the university, started by RSS ideologue Nanaji Deshmukh a few decades ago, Javadekar also inaugurated the annexe section of the new administration building. The Rajya Sabha member, who adopted this village inspired by the legacy of Nanaji, also paid a visit to Sita Ram Kutir, and paid respect to the late RSS ideologue. Paldev is a village inside the eponymous gram panchayat that falls under the Chitrakoot region of Satna district. The village borders Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.-PTI
26
India Post
Perspective
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Trump is a disaster, but talk of a 'whitelash' is misguided JOHN MCWHORTER
T
he debate over whether racismmade Donald Trump president is forcing educated America to grapple with something we are taught is inapplicable when it comes to racism: degree. Typically, the closest we come to acknowledging that racism is not a starkly binary matter is to say that racism "plays a part" in, for example, how whites view Barack Obama - but only meaning "the main part," and the only one worthy of extended discussion. But that kind of thinking doesn't work this time, and a failure to acknowledge it will "play a part" in making catastrophes like this election keep happening. Make no mistake; it was a catastrophe indeed. Donald Trump is an incurious, ignorant, mean-spirited, impulsive person, whose blithe, ugly embrace of sexist and racist rhetoric has established a new, adventurous attitude among those who share his troglodytic views on human groups. I share the feeling of many that his election just couldn't have been quite real, that just possibly, and hopefully, we fell into some kind of realm behind the looking glass or are having a bad dream. I remain numb. And yet - yes, and yet - it won't do to allow a mental shorthand that the people who voted for this man are a bunch of racists, Ă la pieces like this one, titled "Farewell, America," by the writer Neal Gabler. "Who knew," Gabler writes breathlessly, "that so many tens of millions of white Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans?" Extrapolating from an offensive minority Yes, a faction among Trump's voters the people with the ugly signs and T-shirts and chants - are racists. But we, who so confidently despise stereotyping, cannot now decide that those newsworthy people represent all, or even most, of the people who pulled the lever for Trump. Yes, in the wake of Trump's election, hooligans nationwide are pulling disgusting racist pranks against black, Latino, and Muslim persons - spray-painting slogans or swastikas, for example - feeling enabled by Trump's rhetoric. But again, if it's wrong for people to make any assumptions about black people based on the behavior of a few, or even more than a few, then we cannot indulge the habit of deciding that these clueless teenagers and barflies represent the mass of people who voted Trump after dropping off their kids at school. Rather, the a-holes represent what Will Saletan has usefully called a couple of "baskets" out of five among the Trump voter palette. The case that these people represent the views of the typical Trump voter gets weaker by the day. There was no "whitelash" - fewer whites voted for Trump than for Mitt Romney. And
let us not forget how very many of these supposed bigots voted for Obama. Then they voted for Trump, though and many can't imagine why they would have done so given how revolting Trump's
wake of deindustrialization; or, she may see this problem elsewhere and worry about it; or she may be spooked by episodes like ones in San Bernardino and Orlando. "This guy seems really different. Yes, he says
tion thins quickly with distance from college towns. Is everyone who thinks black America could benefit from more of a sense of self-empowerment a bigot? More than a few black people harbor the same senti-
behavior has been. They must have, we suppose, held their noses when voting for Obama but then expressed their true colors when voting for Trump. However, there is a more humane interpretation here, and equally plausible: They were holding their noses voting for Trump.
tacky stuff about Latinos, black people, and women, but so do a lot of people and, you know, in the end I'm not sure I care whether I'd want him around my daughter. I don't have to have dinner with him. I wish these jerks wouldn't show up at his rallies, but I'm not like them. And really, people get too upset these days about words anyway." Now, according to a certain script, that person qualifies as a bigot, as someone you'd shudder to have at your Thanksgiving table, as someone whose thinking is
ment and would be hard to classify as racists, as would the roughly one in five Latino voters who went for Trump Certainly one might be dismayed, nevertheless, that for so many of Trump's voters, racism and sexism aren't decisive issues. However, in our post-civil rights era we can lose sight of what a miracle the destruction of institutionalized segregation was, and what a radical, ambitious, and possibly quixotic goal it has been since to hope that we would make all Americans actively revile all bias the way they revile pedophilia. That's a tall order. One might suppose, and be called "conservative" in the process, despite what John Locke would have readily understood, that the policing of human sentiment can only have so much effect. Academics have been steadily expanding the group of people categorized as "racists" In a book (Race Experts) that got lost amidst the previous American tragedy of Trumpian proportion, 9/11, historian Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn noted how starting in the late 1960s, "the desired goal was no longer civic equality and participation, but individual psychic well-being."
When a politician's racism isn't a deal breaker Namely, what we have seen is that for a great many voters, Trump's racism and sexism may have been less than ideal, but they
There was no "whitelash" - fewer whites voted for Trump than for Mitt Romney. And let us not forget how very many of these supposed bigots voted for Obama. Then they voted for Trump, though - and many can't imagine why they would have done so given how revolting Trump's behavior has been weren't deal breakers in comparison to other concerns. That is, racism and sexism weren't a priority to them as much as they are to others. Is such a person a racist? A mom in central Pennsylvania is attracted to Trump's promise of change. She and her family may have had problems with employment in the
the cognitive equivalent of the noxious fume. A likely argument would be that Republican voters like this one test as more likely to agree with statements like, "blacks could be just as well off as whites if they tried harder." However, I sense that this is the script of only a certain few, whose representa-
Cont’ d on page 27
November 25, 2016
Perspective
India Post 27
www.indiapost.com
Trump is a disaster, but talk of a 'whitelash' is misguided Cont’ d from page 26
Starting then, well-meaning black psychologist Price Cobbs pioneered "encounter sessions" seeking to purge whites of even subtle racist bias - here's a peek at one of these, circa 1970: White Woman: I don't relate towards you, towards color or anything else, I relate towards every single person here as an individual. Cobbs: You're lying! You're lying! You're lying! White Woman: Why? Cobbs: If I would say "You look like a little boy to me, I just don't see anything" you'd say I was crazy because you're a woman ‌ if I could neutralize you in some way this is exactly what white folks do to black folks. Some will cheer at that sequence, enjoy-
ing seeing the white lady squirm as her inner "racist" is revealed. The line of descent is clear from these sessions to today's quest to inculcate whites into an awareness of their "privilege" (amidst stipulations that their white opinions don't matter: "IT'S - NOT ABOUT - YOU" is common mantra). Also hard to miss is a certain resemblance to indoctrination rhetoric of the past amidst movements like Stalinism that we now securely condemn as having gone off track. Let's pull the camera back. Did these antiracist encounter sessions work? Apparently not. There may be limits to how thoroughly one can purge a vast society of even subliminal bias. Could we ever make
all, or even almost all, Americans think of those ills as unquestioned, absolute deal breakers? But do I really know? Do I really get it?
cific: Is what got Trump elected something responsible people should be calling, specifically, "racist"?
Let's pull the camera back. Did these antiracist encounter sessions work? Apparently not. There may be limits to how thoroughly one can purge a vast society of even subliminal bias. Could we ever make all, or even almost all, Americans think of those ills as unquestioned, absolute deal breakers? I sometimes hear that I just don't know how much racism is "out there." It can be bemusing, as a black American, to savor these doses of "whitesplaining" about how racism is not always overt, the subtext being that I'm such an overeducated hothouse
Personalizing the argument
flower that I don't know what's "really goin' down." But I could write - and in fact have written - reams about the racist bias I have
exurban whites of modest education, culturally what one might call a little bit "country," some financially just making
Some of my actual "knowing" sheds at least some light on the answer to that question. Earlier in my life, I was close for a long time to a number of people of the "whites out there" category: suburban and
Did racism inflect some of their views? Sure, a bit. Most of them would not have passed the New Yorker reader's antiracism purity test, and only rigorous and long-term Socratic dialogue could have changed that. However, were they "racists" in any sense that would justify affixing such a contemptuous label upon someone trying their best in this vale of tears called life? seen, gleaned, and experienced in my life and that of others. My claim here is spe-
ends meet. Did racism inflect some of their views? Sure, a bit. Most of them would not
have passed the New Yorker reader's antiracism purity test, and only rigorous and long-term Socratic dialogue could have changed that. However, were they "racists" in any sense that would justify affixing such a contemptuous label upon someone trying their best in this vale of tears called life? Certainly not. They did not wish it were still 1950. Plenty of them, and people in their family, were dating or married to people of color. And it wasn't, and never had been, an issue. Because of geography and time, I don't know these people well anymore, but I am quite sure of two things. One is that some of them voted for Trump. The second is that they did not think of Barack Obama as "that nigger in the White House," not even "on some level" or "intersectionally." They were almost certainly toasting with champagne that September night in 2008 as I was. If they voted for Trump this time, it was a matter of their priorities, not hating black people. Now, after all of this, I have heard many people of color, women, and LGBTQ people this week say that it still dismays them that such voters don't care about them. And there are certainly gloomy issues at hand here in terms of how far people's circle of empathy extends and whether or not we can change that. Yet it's hard to miss that for some, a claim that Trump's victory was not due to "racism" is something to resist, unwelcome - as if some people want half of the country's voters to have revealed themselves as morally backward bigots. But one could only want such a thing out of a quest to affirm one's own morality. There is no better recipe for driving Mr. and Mrs. "Out There" to vote Trump into a second four years than having them watch smart people on television calling them racists 24/7. I would suggest that just as Americans should always check themselves for bias, and they should, those tempted to assail practically every second American voter in 2016 as a bigot ought to check themselves for self-congratulation. John McWhorter, a linguist, is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. His most recent book is Words on the Move:
TOP TEN HINDI FILM SONGS
1 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 2 Besabriyaan: M.S. Dhoni 3 Channa Mereya: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 28 India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
4 Tere Sang Yaara: Rustom 5 Bulleya: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 6 Kaun Tujhe : M.S. Dhoni 7 Toota Jo Kabhi Tara: A Flying Jatt 8 Bolo Har Har : Shivaay 9 Jab Tak : M.S. Dhoni
V
aani Kapoor, who returns to the silver screen after a gap of three years, says filmmaker Aditya Chopra had asked her to wait for the right film. Vaani made her acting debut in Aditya Chopra-produced film 'Shuddh Desi Romance' opposite Sushant Singh Rajput. Now, in her second film 'Befikre,' she has been directed by Aditya himself and the actress says she couldn't have asked for more. "I was waiting for something really good and exciting to come my way. The gap is because of Adi Chopra. He told me to wait and do a film that will be apt and justify me as an actor. Adi took two years for this film ('Befikre') but I am glad to have
10 Jaago : Rock On 2
waited," Vaani said at a song launch event. Vaani is paired opposite Ranveer Singh in the romance drama and she reveals she was bullied a lot by her co-star. "He (Ranveer) bullies me a lot. He was mean to me," she said. W h i l e Ranveer part says, "After ages I was ragging someone and I had great fun."
F
R
anveer Singh says he was the first choice of Aditya Chopra for 'Befikre' right from the beginning despite the director having Shah Rukh Khan star in all the three films he made in his near three-decade long career. "I am the least territorial person; I don't think I am entering anyone's territory. Adi sir wanted to make the film with me and I am involved in the project from its scripting. I am glad that my mentor has given me the opportunity to work under his direction. It's a big deal for me," said the actor at the launch of 'You and I' song of 'Befikre' with Vaani Kapoor, his co-star in the movie. Noting that after Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, he is the only actor in Bollywood directed by Aditya Chopra and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, he said: "I am so proud and happy. I think I am lucky to get such opportunity. Though I want to work with big names of Bollywood, I also want to work with young directors and fresh ideas."
ollowing the success of 'Hate Story 2' and 'Hate Story 3', T-Series and Vishal Pandya are gearing up for their next thriller, 'Wajah Tum Ho'. What makes this Gurmeet Choudhary-Sharman Joshi-Sana Khaan-Rajniesh Duggall film unique is its subject - a murder that takes place live on television. The film's makers are sparing no effort to ensure great music. They have incorporated a recreated version of the hit song, 'Maahi Ve' from the 2002 film 'Kaante'. The track, which features Zareen Khan, has been recreated by composer Gourav Roshin. While Kumaar has penned the lyrics, Neha Kakkar has sung the song, which comes at a significant point in the story and provides a twist in the tale. Like the original, which saw the sultry Malaika Arora Khan performing a pole dance, in this version too, Zareen will be seen doing the same. We hear the actress has not only worked hard to sport a svelte avatar but also spent a few weeks to learn pole dancing and master the sexy moves.
Bollywood
November 25, 2016
India Post 29
www.indiapost.com
"The secret is consistency. One needs to put in a lot of effort to look good or fit. Everyone knows what is good or bad for them; the only problem is not being consistent.
A
ge is not a barrier to Hrithik Roshan who works hard on his body to keep it in shape. The fitness freak was recently spotted at the launch of his trainer Mustafa's new gym. Decked in a black jacket, military green tee and blue denims, he looked as dashing as ever. At the event, when the 42-year-old actor was asked about his fitness mantra, he said, "The secret is consistency. One needs to put in a lot of effort to look good or fit. Everyone knows what is good or bad for them; the only problem is not being consistent. I also go through that phase but you need to keep trying to get back to consistency." Breaking the myth of choosing the most expensive of gyms, the 'Krishh' star said, "The place is not as important as the person who is training you. Nowadays the focus is no more on isolation workout but core fitness, which is the right way. I'm grateful to Mustafa for taking me to that path."
S S
ushant Singh Rajput, who is basking in the success of his last release 'M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story' has decided to put his fame to better use. The actor has decided to turn producer. Sushant wants to back small budget and short films with good content. Confirming his production plans to a daily, the actor said that he intends to set up a system where he will read new small budget scripts and help producers to make films for digital platforms. When asked about the reason behind this step, Sushant revealed that he comes from a modest background where money had been an important criterion in making any life decision. Motivated by his humble background, the actor had decided early on that he will earn enough money so that it becomes an irrelevant factor in his life.
idharth Malhotra is keeping it real riding the neat black roads in New Zealand where he currently is on a vacation. The 31-year-old actor, who is also India's tourism ambassador to New Zealand, has been posting several pictures from his holiday for the past few days. In the latest photos, Sidharth is seen cruising around with his 'kiwi buddies' on heavy Harley Davidsons and sleek helmets. "Cruising with my kiwi buddies @SPFleming7 #brendonmccullum Best way to see @purenewzealand awesome roads," read the caption.
For the first time Sanjay Dutt and Chitrangada will be sharing screen space
S
anjay Dutt, who has not yet signed any movies post release from jail, has zeroed on 'Shola Aur Shabnam' director Girish Malik's next movie, 'Torbaaz'. Chitrangada Singh is the leading actress opposite him. Girish Malik, who earlier directed 'Shola A u r Shabnam' in 1982 and 'Jal' in 2013 also shared a good relationship with Chitrangada Singh and he wants to cast her as the female lead. For the first time Sanjay Dutt a n d Chitrangada will be sharing screen space. Speaking about the project, Malik said 'Torbaaz' will see Dutt playing the role of an army man who wants to give the 'children of war' a ray of hope. Sanjay liked the story and immediately gave his nod.
www.indiapost.com
30 India Post
ara Ari M
che's
Leic lein ail K g i b A .-Pic view e h t of tion preta inter
hma
November 25, 2016
n
penthouse. Leah Silver and Hovav Landoy used colorful straws and connectors to build an abstract structure evoking the multicultural capital city. With wine and hors d'oeuvres in hand, we circulated among the artworks mounted around the apartment and stepped onto the balconies for a taste of the magnificent view that inspired them - sweeping from the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount to the steeple of Augusta Victoria church-hospital on the
Mount of Olives to the towers of Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Azorim, the real-estate company marketing Boutique HaNevi'im, and Marrache Fine Arts Gallery of Jerusalem cosponsored the event. Lenore Cohen, a Brooklyn resident with roots in Aleppo, Syria, showed ISRAEL21c her works incorporating Arabic-style calligraphy. Cont'd on Page 32
Another painting of Jerusalem by Menucha Yankelevitch. -Pic Abigail Klein Leichman
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
P
ut 15 painters in an apartment with a breathtaking vista of the Old City of Jerusalem and you get the promise of an extraordinary third annual Jerusalem Biennale, set to take place October 1 through November 16th next year, 2017. This was one of several events planned to create a buzz for the biennale. "I invited 15 artists to see the view and create something related to this experience," explained Jerusalem Biennale Founder Rami Ozeri, speaking at an invitation-only kickoff party on October 13 in the penthouse of a new luxury building, Boutique HaNevi'im, which offered the artists a seventh-floor panoramic perspective for inspiration. Debbie Kampel set up her easel on one of the porches and focused on the Damascus Gate. Sam Griffin chose to draw an Arab construction worker inside the
Motta Brim painting the Jerusalem skyline. -Pic Sofya Balashev
November 25, 2016
India Post 31
Bollywood reacts to Trump election B
ollywood celebrities came up with mixed reactions to Donald Trump's win in the US presidential election: Here's what they had to say: RONNIE SCREWVALA:
Ronnie Screwvala
Trump and Brexit is a wake up call to leaders. Are you listening/open to feedback, or just wrapped up in your own circle of rhetoric! Media
Arjun Rampal
and Pundits need to now do some more soul searching on getting the pulse right Vs own experts talking to experts. Older Gen = 40+ whose
Vikram Bhatt
vote prevailed both times. Younger gen wants to lead world - but older Gen is voting them out. ASHOKE PANDIT: Congratulations Donald Trump for being elected as the 45th President of America with a great mandate. RAM GOPAL VARMA: I predicted Trump's win and now my prediction is he will be greatest president ever. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy will be forgotten. MADHUR BHANDARKAR: Congratulations to Donald Trump for being elected the 45th POTUS through people's mandate. ARJUN RAMPAL: Oh Teri! (Oh my God) Yeh jeet gaya (he won). New president Donald Trump. Hope all visiting America have got their visas. S H I R I S H KUNDER: Good thing about Donald Trump becoming President is that now we can use the same tweets for Indian and American politics. SHEKHAR KAPUR: Donald Trump 45th President of the United States! US Media is realizing they no longer represent the opinion of the majority. ABHISHEK KAPOOR: America... breatheee... it's gonna be ok. Change is the only constant.
Sophie Choudry
Shekhar Kapur
VIKRAM BHATT: TRUMP, now the US has their own version of Brexit!! VISHAL DADLANI: Leaving NYC. Hoping to pass out on the plane, and wake up in London, to find that Trump was a horrific collective nightmare, but it's over.
Madhur Bhandarkar
SAQIB SALEEM: The world feels like a big social experiment! Brexit. Trump. SOPHIE CHOUDRY: One thing is for sure. It's not Obama who proved anyone could be president. It is Trump who has trumped them all!
Mallika Sherawat fights off attackers
M
allika Sherawat, who obvious decision after the inciwas assaulted at her dent would be to get a bodyguard, Paris residence a few Mallika begged to differ. She said days ago, has said that the trau- she has never had a bodyguard in matic incident would not change the past and wouldn't like to keep her life. one now. She added that she The 40-year old diva actress wants to lead a normal life away and her French boyfriend Cyrille from paranoia. Auxenfans were sprayed with teIn the past, Mallika has been argas and punched by three quite vocal about the attacks on masked men, in an upscale neigh- women including gang rapes and borhood. Narrating the fateful in- honor killings. After the incident, cident, Mallika said the intruders the 'Murder' actress said she pushed her, hit Auxenfans and thought about them more than tried to grab her bag. In an interview to a leading daily, Mallika stated that they fought them back and didn't just cower down in front of the strong men. Explaining the upsetting experience where the intruders attacked from behind, Mallika said, "No one should be made to suffer the insecurity of having their home broken into or the physical and mental abuse of such an attack." She added that the teargas left her blinded temporarily and she got few Mallika Sherawat and Cyrille Auxenfans bruises and marks too. She said that now she constantly has a feeling usual. "I am more empathetic to women of looking over her shoulder. The attack on Mallika came who live in this fear because of barely a month after reality TV star their circumstances or where they Kim Kardashian West was as- live. It's very humbling," Mallika saulted in an upscale Paris hotel. added. Mallika, who juggles between Kim K was gagged and robbed at gunpoint of jewellery worth $10 her Los Angeles and Mumbai resimillion. Expressing empathy for dences, visited Paris to spend time Kim, Mallika said she totally un- with her boyfriend. She made it a derstood what she must have gone point to add that the city is beauthrough. tiful and this incident wouldn't While many would suggest the change her notion about it.
32 India Post
November 25, 2016 www.indiapost.com
Why reduce women to cat fights: Priyanka P
riyanka Chopra has been taking the West by storm over the last year. One of the highest-paid actresses in the world and the first South Asian woman to headline an American TV show, Priyanka is now preparing for her 'villainous' Hollywood debut with Baywatch. Her part in the film was initially written for a male actor, but the director changed the character as he thought she would play the role of a villain "better". Excerpts from an interview: You've joined a select group of global influencers on LinkedIn… How do you feel about that? I'm honored to have been invited to be part of a distinguished group of global influencers. As a budding entrepreneur, I'm looking forward to connecting with the vibrant community of professionals on the network and exchanging thoughts and ideas. How do you feel about being featured on the lists of 'influencers' or most 'powerful women'? It gives me a sense of achievement to know that I am counted among the elite across the globe. I don't feel any added pressure or responsibility because I've been added to these lists. For me it's more of a sign that I am on the right path on my individual journey. You are now an international star from India. Has that feeling sunk in yet? Thank you for saying that. You're right; maybe it has still not sunk in, and sometimes I believe there is a lot more for me to do. I never take my work for granted. I'm blessed that a girl like me from a small town was given an opportunity to dream a dream and achieve it. From being a naïve 17-year old girl from Bareilly to becoming the first South Asian woman to headline an American show, and now winning over Hollywood… That's quite a journey. My life has been a battle, but I make sure it looks like a fairy tale. Every success story has an armor with bullet marks, bruises and dents. You have to
hold on to your integrity, values, and be the mould of what a Bollywood actor honorable in everything you say and do. should be'… They say that the fruit of labor is sweet, I think people still get surprised when and I absolutely believe that. they see someone like me, who knows her As you work extensively in the West, do job, walk on a TV set, film set or awards you feel you are missing out on work in show. They get surprised with what they India? see and experience, so I think there is still a By nature, I'm not an insecure person, lot to be done to break those stereotypes. and I also believe no work is too small for But I intend to take personal measures in me. There are only small acWhen you try something new, it's always tors and I'm definitely not one of scary. However, over the past year and a half, them. I'm just an artiste who the love and support I've received, not just in goes where my work takes me. the US but globally, have allayed those fears. I strongly believe that art My work has been appreciated cannot be dictated by borders. I'm assessing projects in India and in making sure that there is a global represenAmerica. I will make an announcement soon. tation of Indian talent. We have tremendous Rumors are rife about 'cat talent (in India) and it is high time we get fights' between you and represented in mainstream global pop culDeepika Padukone… ture more often than we do right now. Why are women al- Your mother (Dr Madhu Chopra) has said ways reduced to cat in an interview that before moving to the fights? We all have so US for work, you were scared and appremuch more to do than hensive. Do you still feel the same way? to waste time on 'cat When you try something new, it's always fights'. We all have scary. However, over the past year and a our own chosen half, the love and support I've received, not paths. As far as I'm just in the US but globally, have allayed concerned, they are - as those fears. My work has been appreciated. you put it - rumors. It's far beyond what I expected in such a You recently said that it's short span of time. Of course, it's very scary been a 'huge to be in a country where you are away from struggle for you friends and family and be all alone, but I'm to be able to very grateful for the reception I've received. come into Is it true that you are going to sign your mainstream next Bollywood film in December, when entertain- you come to India? ment in I don't like to talk about projects until I America sign them. It's unfair to all those who are and ac- involved. All I can say is that I'm blown t u a l l y away by the films I've been offered. I will break announce the details of my next film shortly. Lastly, when are you back in India? I'm back in December for some time and will return to the US, early next year to finish the shoot of season 2 of Quantico. I will continue to go back and forth depending on the requirements of my projects. Shraddha Kapoor and Deepika recently said that you have inspired them (Deepika said that she was in school when you won the Miss World title, and she has known you for many years). It's sweet of Shraddha and Deepika to say that. It's nice of my colleagues to be so encouraging of my work. It feels great to receive support from my (Bollywood) film industry. It's also such a funny coincidence that I was in school too when I won Miss World (laughs). -Courtesy HT
Malaika & Arbaaz Khan file for divorce
M
alaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan have moved the Bandra family court seeking divorce, reliable sources say. The two visited the court last week with their lawyers. Following several months of speculation about their marriage, the couple had in March issued a joint statement announcing their separation. The two said they were taking time out to figure out the relationship, after which Malaika and son Arhaan moved out of the house the couple shared. A few weeks after that, reports said the two had decided not to file for divorce, following consultations with their families. They have since been spotted together on several occasions and were even seen enjoying dinner with the extended family in Bandra, fuelling speculation that they have reconciled. Neither Malaika nor Arbaaz responded to calls and detailed text messages. But reliable sources say that the two had by then approached a family court lawyer and had started work on the divorce papers, which were filed when the courts reopened after the Diwali break. The divorce application is by mutual consent. The two will have to appear in court soon for the mandatory counseling sessions. According to divorce laws, divorce by mutual consent can be filed on the ground that the couple has been living separately for a period of one year or more, that they have not been able to live together and that they have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved. Between six and 18 months after the filing of the petition, the court passes an order declaring the marriage to be dissolved with effect from the date of the order. The six-to-18-month period is intended to give the couple time to reflect on their decision.
November 25, 2016
India Post 33 www.indiapost.com
Lulia - Another Salman choice fails MUMBAI: There is unhappy news filtering out of Salman Khan's inner circle. Apparently his relationship with his Romanian girlfriend Iulia Vantur has ended. According to close friends, the two have sadly parted ways due to irreconcilable differences. Says a source in the know, "There were too many differences
between them, cultural and emotional. Not that the poor girl didn't try her best. She made every effort to play the Good Bahu in Salman's family. She befriended Salman's mom and sisters, as Salman expects all his girlfriends to do." Iulia was seen accompanying the ladies of Salman's family during travel. "Sadly an ideal wife from Salman's friend Sooraj
Barjatya's film doesn't seem to be part of his karma," says the friend, hinting at the rebellious streak in Salman's brothers' Arbaaz and Sohail's wives. Additionally, there was a problem regarding Iulia's former relationship. Apparently she continued to be in touch with her former love-interest. A fact that Salman
couldn't accept. Thus ends one more relationship almost at the altar for Salman. When Iulia had recently come to India, she had made several public appearances with Salman, first at Preity Zinta's wedding reception, followed by accompanying him for the shoot of 'Tubelight' in Ladakh, along with pictures of her with the Khan family. Iulia recently won an award for
'Successful Woman' in Romania and at the event she refused to talk about her rumored relationship with Salman with the media. However, Iulia finally opened up about it in an interview to a Romanian publication when she reveals that she has no plans of marrying the superstar and that 'cultural differences' was one of the reasons of her returning back. When asked if she had got married during her India visit, Iulia, in her local language said, "I have been married, and I have left my previous husband in the past. But then I was in India, neither did I marry, nor did I part ways with anyone. God forbid!" Iulia also went on to talk about her difficulty in adjusting with the Indian culture. "I started to sing in Hindi, and took singing lessons. I worked hard for many years and it bothers me that only my private life has been discussed. The last time I stayed in India for five-six months, it indicated a lot of things that I do not want to address. But the Indian mentality is really different, the culture, the people. Everything is different. "You do not have as much privacy, because you stay with many people in one house. I also did not realize that I had to dress a certain way on the streets. Now, I understand that my clothing was too lowcut."
Pilot Gul Panag to take husband for a ride G
ul Panag who had been tak ing flying lessons since some time is now a licensed pilot after she cleared her final test - a `day check ride' in the presence of instructor Captain Shakti Singh at the Chimes Aviation Academy in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. The license will be issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in a few weeks. "I used to pass the flying academy in Patiala every day on my way to college. I wanted to be a part of it as a hobby but the course
was expensive and I didn't want to burden my parents. When I shared the idea with my husband, Rishi Attari, who is a commercial pilot he encouraged me to fulfill
my dream," says the actress who enrolled in a Patiala flying acad-
emy two years ago but her classes were interrupted as she got busy with Mandeep Kumar's Punjabi comedy-thriller Ambarsariya. She was planning to fly to the US to complete the mandatory hours of lessons when she found out about the Chimes Academy in Madhya Pradesh and enrolled there instead in October last year. She went on to clear the three written tests, two in April and one in July this year, with flying colors. "The tests were difficult but I had worked really hard. Rishi was very supportive and helped me with the exams and so did the ground instructor at the academy," Gul says, recalling how nervous she was when asked to fly her Cessna 172 solo late last year.
One splendid view And 15 artists of Jerusalem painting it
Lenore Cohen took up a position on the roof of Boutique Hanevi'im to draw her version of the skyline.-Pic courtesy Jerusalem Biennale Cont'd from Page 30
have until November 10 to submit proposals in keeping with the theme "watershed," using media including photography, video art, installation and performance. Ozeri described Jerusalem as a city "where so many watershed events have changed the course of Jewish and world history."
"I'm here on an artist residency with the Jerusalem Bienniale, developing a series wherein I take traditional Judeo-Arabic phrases from my community and translate them into visuals, usually in a way that adds new meaning and context," she said. "So with this show I took the same approach: I searched through the long list of phrases I have to find several that I thought spoke to the nature of the Jerusalem skyline. The three I chose were: 'What is sweeter than halva? Friendship after enmity,' 'Distance yourself from quarrel and sing' and 'Patience Yoram Raanan took dozens of photos of is the key to success.' the view at different times of day before painting four interpretations of the view. "I drew the landscape and -Pic Abigail Klein Leichman then painted these phrases into the scene, looming large over The 2015 biennale featured 10 everything like declarative clouds." Ozeri said that so far 140 artists exhibitions of nearly 200 Israeli and from Israel and other countries have international professional artists at expressed interest in exhibiting at seven venues in the city center. the biennale, which is meant to serve Highlights are on view through as a connection point between November 21 at the Laurie M. "Jerusalem, Jewish peoplehood Tisch Gallery in the JCC of Manhattan and then at Art Basel Miand contemporary art." Institutions, artists' groups and ami, December 1-4. independent curators worldwide -Courtesy Israel 21C magazine
One of Menucha Yankelevitch's interpretations of the view. -Pic Abigail Klein Leichman
„ Health
Line
Nursing home fined over heroin overdose CHICAGO: Illinois and federal health officials are seeking penalties totaling more than $100,000 from a Chicago nursing home after five residents overdosed on heroin inside the facility in February. The residents of Continental Nursing & Rehabilitation Center were hospitalized and recovered, but Illinois public health department inspectors allege at least two used heroin again hours after they were returned to the facility, even though they were supposed to be on close watch. According to a state inspection report, staff from the rehabilitation center suspected that the residents were seeking drugs from a female visitor but did not intervene or report it. The facility was cited for not monitoring residents who returned from the hospital. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has imposed civil monetary penalties totaling $76,000 for alleged violations in the incident, the Chicago Tribune reported. The nursing home is contesting an additional $25,000 fine from the Illinois public health department, which said the facility failed to properly monitor and treat residents with addictions. Records also show that in October 2015 police were called when residents alerted staff to narcotics abuse inside the facility. After searching rooms, staff recovered paraphernalia for cooking and shooting drugs that they turned over to police.-AP
$94K Federal grant to Vermont providers MONTPELIER, Vt.: Abranch of the federal government is giving a $94,000 grant to treat and prevent substance abuse disorders in Vermont. The grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is geared toward expanding and enhancing behavioral health care services for children, adolescents and young adults. SAMHSA Principal Deputy Administrator Kana Enomoto says the grants can help save lives and support young people who seek to create healthier, more fulfilling, and addiction-free futures. The Vermont grant goes to the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act, which supports efforts to prevent and reduce alcohol use among people aged 1220. -AP
Health Science 34 India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
Changes proposed in mental health treatment Details on Page 36
Health plans & cost of treatment has changed in Massachusetts SPRINGFIELD, Mass.: As the health plans of Massachusetts families have changed over the years, so has the cost of treatment. While employee contributions to their health insurance premiums and deductibles rose more slowly between 2010 and 2015 than past years, the cost of care has risen at a more rapid rate than income, a newly released study by the Commonwealth Fund shows. Nationwide, families spent an average of 10.1 percent of their income on health insurance premiums and deductibles last year. The average percentage of household income spent is lower in Massachusetts - about 7.3 percent on premium contributions and deductibles - primarily due to Bay State families earning a higher income than the national average. ``The good news is that premiums in employer plans are growing more slowly on average, as is the amount employees are being asked to contribute,'' said Sara Collins, vice president for health care coverage and the study's lead author. ``Unfortunately, many employees with moderate incomes aren't feeling the benefits of these slowdowns, because they haven't yet experienced the sustained growth in their income needed to keep up with health costs.'' Health care premiums for single
Massachusetts residents averaged $6,519 last year. Family coverage averaged at $18,454 in annual premiums. More than half of the entire U.S. population - about 154 million received health care through their employers and were responsible for just under a quarter of their premiums - $1,255 for single em-
have become the norm. In the past decade, the percentage of plans requiring deductibles jumped from 66 percent in 2006 to 85 percent last year. With more plans requiring a deductible, the average has doubled. Bay staters paid just over $1,200, on average, last year. The average deductible was $603 in
ployees, $4,710 for families. The rate at which premiums rose and the amount employees were asked to contribute grew at a slower rate between 2010 and 2015 compared to 2006 through 2010. About 11 million people across the nation purchased a health plan through a state or federal marketplace. Whether employer provided or found through the health connector, high deductible health plans
2006. While deductibles are on the rise in Massachusetts, costs remain lower than the national average of $1,541 last year. Massachusetts has the highest rate of insured residents of any state in the country - 95 percent of adults 18 to 65 years old and 98 percent of children - largely thanks to the state's health care reform law passed a decade ago. The law required all adults to have health
insurance and all companies with more than 10 full-time employees to offer it. Residents are now more likely to go to their doctor's office instead of the emergency room and take advantage of preventative care. Authors of the Commonwealth Fund study say the findings show both that the Affordable Care Act coverage mandates have been ``absorbed relatively easily'' by U.S. companies and that it offers evidence as to why many across America consider the cost of healthcare too high. ``Middle-income families continue to see a growing share of their household budgets going to health care,'' the study reads. ``Where employees have less generous health plans as well as lower median incomes, the combination is particularly toxic. People with high deductibles relative to income are far more likely to avoid getting needed care than those with more affordable out-ofpocket costs. For those who do get health care, large medical bills can quickly exceed assets.'' With health care costs expected to continue rising at a higher rate than incomes in America, researchers say more federal policy is needed to slow the rising cost of medical treatment. -AP
Employee DNA used in pilot program KANSAS CITY, Kan.: A health care technology company with offices in Kansas and Missouri has launched a pilot DNA program that aims to build systems to share data among patients, doctors and hospitals, and two of its employees have become research subjects. Jennifer and Eric Geis sent saliva samples to a personal genetics testing company and then gave the results to their employer. They are two of 82 Cerner employees who voluntarily turned over their DNA profile to the company, according
to the Kansas City Star. Cerner said the DNA profiles will be used to give participants individualized information that will help them make health-oriented decisions. Cerner president Zane Burke said the DNA knowledge means that ``the person is at the center of health care. ``We're now able to take vast
amounts of data, upload that data, run programs against that data diabetes protocol, care management protocol - and see how we identify people who need interven-
tion,'' Burke said. ``We need to understand the whole phone book, but get down to the personal level.'' In the company's study, the volunteers will sit with diet and health coaches to see if they are more or less likely than the general population to have obesity, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis and depression. Cerner had to launch the research by asking employees who already voluntarily paid $199 for the genetic testing company's service to satisfy their own interest. -AP
November 25, 2016
Health Science Post
India Post 35
www.indiapost.com
Centre committed to Ayush system PORT BLAIR: The Centre is giving thrust on providing affordable health care facilities to all sections of society, Union Minister Shripad Yesso Naik has said. Naik, while addressing the inaugural session of a two-day national seminar on "Ethno-Medicinal Practices in Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Scope, Limitation & Prospective", said: "I want to assure the gathering that we are working to meet the vision of the Prime Minister and moving forward with dedication to improve health facilities in the country". The Union Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) said the Centre is committed to propagating AYUSH system in the field of health care and treatment and moving in the right direction to achieve the goal. "It's a matter of great pride that our country occupies a special place in the traditional system of medicine in the world. India is one among the 17 countries in the world having rich biodiversity where different kinds of medicinal plants exist," he said.
The minister also underscored the Centre's commitment in providing medicines at reasonable prices and creation of better health infrastructure facilities. The function was organized by the Regional Research Centre of Ayurveda (RRCA), a unit of Central Council for Research in Ayurveda Science, the Ministry
of AYUSH. The Union minister also appreciated the research work done by the CCRAS since its inception in 1978. The Regional Research Centre of
Iowa will pay more for privatized program DES MOINES, Iowa: Iowa is increasing or if Branstad would request extra state fundthe amount of money it pays three private ing in his next budget recommendation in insurance companies to administer the January. state's Medicaid program, a development Branstad has predicted the state will save that could affect the state's current cost pro- roughly $110 million this current budget year jections for the newly privatized system. by switching Medicaid to a privately-run State health officials said they don't ex- system. In a letter to Branstad, DHS Direcpect that to happen, and Gov. Terry Branstad tor Chuck Palmer said he expected to mainreiterated the point in a press conference. tain those savings despite the extra costs. ``This is something that's ... done in nor- Palmer said Medicaid patients are becommal course of business and it does not af- ing healthier under privatization and there's fect the savings that we anticipate,'' he said. more efficiency in care. The non-partisan Legislative Services ``The savings are based on improved Agency said in a memo that the Iowa De- management of the health care needs of partment of Human Services decided recently to pay an extra $33.2 million to the companies in rates that are Branstad has predicted the state distributed for each Medicaid patient. The federal government, which will save roughly $110 million shares the cost of Iowa's Medicaid this current budget year by program, will also pay an additional $94.5 million for the jump in so-called switching Medicaid to a capitation rates. privately-run system LSA analyst Jess Benson said the increase, for a period that spans parts of 2016 and 2017, could be attributed Medicaid members,'' Palmer wrote in the letin part to outdated data used to initially ter. ``This is why we will still be able to atdetermine the rates and an increase in pre- tain our $110 million in savings ... while upscription drug costs. dating the capitation rates.'' Benson added LSA will predict, based Senate Democrats have been critical of on the increase, a $20 million to $30 million Branstad's decision to privatize Iowa's health shortfall in the program for the current bud- care program for more than 500,000 poor and get year when it meets next month with state disabled residents. Democrats have held officials to update the state's forecast on multiple legislative meetings to highlight reMedicaid expenses. ports of delayed care and payments. DHS That figure is preliminary, and it's unclear has repeatedly said such issues are not inif DHS would absorb such possible costs dicative of systemic problems.-AP
Ayurveda in Andaman & Nicobar Islands is working on two projects - "tribal health
care and research" and "medicinal plant survey". -PTI
BMC school students to get health cards MUMBAI: All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment in collaboration with Parents Association - Thalassemic Unit Trust (PATUT) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has planned to provide health cards to the students of class 8, 9 and 10. The cards would have details such as ideal diet for children, giving guidance to their parents. The cards will be issued to the 52,000 students from 481 municipal schools after a health check-up including blood examination at a series of camps in the next 50 days, said Milind Sawant, Deputy Municipal Commissioner. Addressing a press conference, state Industry Minister Subhash Desai who is also guardian minister of Mumbai, said, "During the health check-up camps, blood samples of the students will be taken to ascertain (if they have) anemia and thalassemia and if they are found to be suffering from these disorders they will be treated at our expense." Pankaj Udhas, noted singer and chair-
man of PATUT, a charitable trust, said, "We are working hard for the betterment of Thalassemic children and this drive is another milestone in our 30 years enviable journey." The trust had launched another branch in Nashik city, he informed. Giving details of the drive, Sawant said, "Health tests will be conducted on students from BMC schools after getting the consent from parents. Blood samples will be run through some 18 tests which will reveal child's blood group, anemia and thalassaemia conditions, if any". "The test results will be provided to students via a computerized health card which can be referred to by them for any future medical treatment," he added. Rashmikant Shah, a senior associate from PATUT, said, "During our screenings in previous years, we have found that 4 per cent students suffer from Thalassemia while 25 per cent people have been found anemic including few jawans of Mumbai police." -PTI
36 India Post
Health Science Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Changes proposed in mental health treatment SIOUX FALLS, S.D.: A group that for months studied issues surrounding mentally ill people entering the criminal justice system in South Dakota has released a final report with a series of proposed changes in an effort to improve the treatment of those individuals. The recommendations of the state-appointed task force include the use of telehealth for competency evaluations and the requirement that such exams be completed within 21 days of a court order. The group, which met for the first time in March, studied how individuals with a mental illness encounter law enforcement and move through the court system, jails and probation. State Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson announced the formation of the 22-member task force last year after The Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls reported that a backlog of mental competency evaluations of criminal suspects is taxing county budgets and raising concerns about the rights of defendants. The task force found the number of court orders regarding competency evaluations increased from 48 in the fiscal year 2013 to 147 in 2015. ``Given South Dakota's limited mental health resources, this increase resulted in people sitting in jail for months before they
could be evaluated by those authorized to do mental competency evaluations,'' Gilberston wrote. ``Our existing system be-
Human Services Center to contract for the completion of the competency evaluations. ``The intent is that the Human Services
The recommendations of the state-appointed task force include the use of telehealth for competency evaluations and the requirement that such exams be completed within 21 days of a court order. The group, which met for the first time in March, studied how individuals with a mental illness encounter law enforcement came unmanageable and enlarged taxpayer expense since people were housed in jail for longer periods of time at public expense.'' The group identified that the cost of the evaluations also contributed to the delays faced by some defendants. Counties have a ``fiscal incentive'' to rely on the state-run Human Services Center for the evaluations because they only have to pay a $600 admission fee, leaving the state to pick up the cost of the exam, according to the report. But the center can only conduct three evaluations per month, and the cost of an evaluation by a private psychiatrist is about $3,500. One of the task force's suggestions is to make available to counties funds from the
Center will no longer conduct competency evaluations,'' according to the report. The suggestions from the task force to
Gov. Dennis Daugaard and the Legislature also include the need to expand the list of mental health professionals allowed to conduct competency evaluations and not limit it to psychiatrists and psychologists. The panel recommended that some social workers, nurses and counselors be allowed to conduct the evaluations. Daugaard in a statement said he will review the recommendations, which the task force acknowledged would take several years to implement. ``I'm sure we'll find ways we can more humanely treat those with mental illness who come into contact with our criminal justice system, and at the same time, preserve public safety as we must,'' he said. -AP
$1M misspent on Medicaid enrollees BATON ROUGE, La.: Auditors say Louisiana's health department paid nearly $1 million in Medicaid fees for people who no longer live in the state and weren't eligible for health services through the program. The Legislative Auditor's Office found that $943,000 in monthly fees were improperly paid from February 2012 through May 2016 for 160 people who had moved away from Louisiana. Based on auditors' sampling,
the report suggests another $1.5 million could have been paid in error. The fees were paid to private managedcare companies who administer health plans for most of Louisiana's Medicaid recipients. Louisiana pays a per member, per month fee to the insurance companies for each Medicaid patient enrolled with them. Louisiana's Department of Health says it continues to work on improvements to its tracking of Medicaid enrollees. -AP
$8.2M in fines levied for waste disposal LOUISVILLE, Ky.: State health regulators have said they will seek millions of dollars in civil penalties against companies accused of bringing radioactive drilling waste into Kentucky to dump in Appalachian landfills. Penalties imposed by the Department for Public Health totaled nearly $8.2 million against eight companies and one business owner. The fines stem from the dumping of radioactive waste discovered in early 2016 in landfills in Estill and Greenup counties, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services said. Fines were aimed at processors, transporters and brokers responsible for transferring the material into the landfills, it said. ``State laws prohibit the disposal of radioactive material from out-of-state companies in Kentucky landfills,'' said state Health and Family Services Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson. ``The cabinet is imposing significant penalties against all those responsible for the illegal activity.'' The state said evidence showed that the activity began as early as May 2015 and involved the illegal transport and disposal of Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material, which is a byproduct of pressurized oil drilling, or fracking. The state's announcement came hours before a public hearing in Estill County on the issue. The amounts of fines depended on the
number of violations discovered, the state said.-AP
New case of polio-like illness reported SEATTLE: Health officials say a ninth child has been hospitalized in Washington State for a polio-like illness. KOMO-TV reports the ninth child is from Snohomish County and was recently admitted to Seattle Children's Hospital. Julie Graham of the health department says two of the nine children were confirmed with a rare virus known as acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM. The other seven children are being evaluated. One of the children died over the weekend. AFM is a possible cause of his death but hasn't been confirmed. His parents said he was sent to the hospital with cold symptoms and dizziness. He was paralyzed within a few hours and never recovered. Washington State had no cases of AFM last year and two in 2014. At least one of those two patients is paralyzed from the neck down. -AP
„
Realty Tidbits
Investors buy inexpensive homes to rent MINNEAPOLIS: Investors from around the world are snapping up inexpensive single-family homes in the Twin Cities for rental. The Star Tribune reports that in 2013 and 2014, national investors began acquiring several hundred single-family houses in the Twin Cities and renting them out. Attom Data Solutions sales records show that in Hennepin County, investors have purchased one of every five homes sold so far in 2016. The numbers are the highest level since 2006, and 40 percent more than last year. The trend has helped drive the supply of affordable house listings to the lowest level in a generation. Many of the investors are attracted by investment returns that are higher than those in bonds, commodities, savings accounts and stocks.-AP
„ Sebi to auction Sahara group's land parcels NEW DELHI: Moving ahead with sale of Sahara assets to recover money, regulator Sebi has lined up as many as five land parcels of the beleaguered group for an e-auction next month at a total reserve price of over Rs 130 crore. Earlier, 13 properties were put on the block in October and their combined reserve price was about Rs 1,400 crore. Prior to that, 58 properties were auctioned in July with a collective reserve price of nearly Rs 5,000 crore. In separate notices, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said SBI Caps will auction three properties on December 28 at a reserve price of about Rs 102 crore, while HDFC Realty will auction two properties on December 27 at a reserve price of over Rs 29 crore. Following directions from the Supreme Court for sale of certain Sahara assets to recover money, Sebi has mandated SBI Capital Markets (SBI Caps) and HDFC Realty for auctioning a total of 61 land parcels. HDFC Realty has been roped in to auction 31 land parcels at a reserve price of Rs 2,400 crore, while SBI Caps has been asked to auction 30 land properties with an estimated market value of about Rs 4,100 crore. These properties are spread across the country and mostly include land parcels. As per the court directions, they cannot be sold at less than 90 per cent of the circle rates. -PTI
Real Estate 37 India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
Home Depot outlook up as sales surge ATLANTA: Home Depot, benefiting from falling unemployment, still-low mortgage rates and rising home prices, raised its outlook for the year as sales surged in the third quarter and customers spent more with each visit. The home improvement retailer extended its streak of strong earnings while some other retailers have struggled. But Home Depot and its rival Lowe's have stood out, thanks in part to low mortgage rates that have led to a warming housing market and an increase in refinancing.-AP
Residents of tax-sale houses go through difficult journey KANSAS CITY, Mo: It's hard enough tracking down the back stories of some of Kansas City's hard-bitten, tax-delinquent houses. The man in black and red out front of this one near an intersection wants a payoff to tell what he knows. ``Hurry up,'' he says, beckoning with an agitated hand. ``I'm looking like a snitch out here.'' Forget it, he says, when he sees no cash is coming. And when his questioner offers a parting wave, the man matches his gaze with his hands extended together, tracing the visitor's path, braced as if triggering a gun. ``Boom! Boom! Boom!'' So goes a journey to discover the stories behind some of the 826 properties that were put up for auction on the Jackson County Courthouse steps in the latest annual tax-delinquent sale, according to The Kansas City Star reports. Along the way there are neighbors protesting dangerous buildings. Tenants decrying negligent owners and rising rents. Owners falling victim to destructive tenants and pleading for financing help. And city and community planners working to turn the corner on distressed properties that blight so many low-income neighborhoods in Kansas City. Some houses are less inviting than others. A dead raccoon, halfrotted, lay on the porch between the top step and the front door of one home. And it only seems that no one lives in the tree-swarmed house near 26th Street and Quincy Avenue, with the abandoned couch outside, the broken concrete steps, and no answer to a knock on the door. ``Bunny'' lives there, a neighbor says from the porch next door. She's somewhere behind the halfboarded windows. She's just not taking visitors. Check out the five completely overgrown Kansas City properties owned, somewhat mysteriously, by a synagogue in suburban Los Angeles. And the two
abandoned properties controlled by a Las Vegas investor, leftovers from the liquidation of hundreds of properties in an investment scam on Detroit's police and fire pension fund. Most of the investors, however, are well-intentioned but often in
it all up in flames. Black scars streak the walls where the porch used to be. No takers for that house at the auction. Jerry Jones, 53, steps out of a house in the twilight of a workday near 24th Street and Lister Av-
over their heads trying to help revive the hardest parts of the community. ``You see the guys on TV who say you can get property with nothing down,'' said Ken Mabrie, a Raytown investor who has lost Kansas City houses to the auction. ``And you go to these real estate courses and they tell you how to increase the limits on your credit cards. They tell you how to negotiate higher limits.'' It's too easy to take a dive in a market still scarred by the subprime lending crash, he said. There's not enough lending help, and the next thing you know
enue. He has a paintbrush in his hand. Ready to call it a day for his handyman work. ``Let me show you something,'' he says. He's not talking about the pile of furniture and trash that the last tenants left on the curb, or the 20 bags of garbage strewn out the back door. This is about another house he had to clean. He has pictures on his phone. ``See that?'' he says, scrolling. A broken closet. A junked kitchen, its sink buried in trash. In one house like that, the renters paid just twice but stayed a
There are neighbors protesting dangerous buildings. Tenants decrying negligent owners and rising rents. Owners falling victim to destructive tenants and pleading for financing help. And city and community planners working to turn the corner on distressed properties - as with Mabrie - a neighbor is sitting on a porch across from a house you used to own, testifying to its tale of woe. ``Someone bit off more than they could chew,'' Richard Bartlett said. He's seen a lot of people come and go as the house went under, the last tenant carelessly barbecuing on the front porch, sending
year. Couldn't get them to leave, he said. ``It costs to get them evicted, getting an attorney. Then fines come. And you go down in front of the judge.'' It's a mess out there, with the 826 properties in the tax-sale auction representing just a slice of the distressed properties scattered
across Kansas City's central core. At least 339 of them at the August sale went unpurchased, bound for Kansas City's Land Bank, or the Jackson County Land Trust. It's a heavy wave, even as it ebbs from the overwhelming flood of the post-real-estate-crash years, when 862 of 1,256 auctioned properties went unsold in 2012. There are far more vacant houses now than the city could ever hope to have rescued by owner-occupants, said Michael Duffy, the managing attorney at Legal Aid of Western Missouri. So city programmers and activist groups are stumbling after complicated relationships with investors. ``We need more folks salvaging property that they operate as rentals as a transition strategy,'' Duffy said. ``There is money to be made. If we support investors, eventually we can reach the point where the market can sustain owners.'' But the city and partners working on this puzzle don't yet have a good mechanism to separate the negligent speculator from the investor who is making a good-faith effort to rehab properties, Duffy said. Homeowners who let properties rot need to be fined and prosecuted, but good investors need a safe harbor. They need access to loans to get derelict houses turned around and occupied, Duffy said. The trick the city and public and private partners are exploring is how to share the lending risks in such a volatile arena. Jones knows the sudden ups and downs real close. He lives in a house whose owner lost it to the tax sale. ``I'll have to see if I can work it out with the new owner,'' he said. ``God will figure it out.'' Craig Walton couldn't believe it. He'd been an investor and developer in England for many years before his company opened a branch office in the Kansas City area, tapping into the American Midwest. Cont’d on page 38
38
Real Estate Post
India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
Residents of tax-sale houses go through difficult journey Cont’d from page 37
He was curious about the strategies Americans employ, so he tried one of the many real estate seminars and was disturbed by the speakers' insistence that bending your credit limits was the first step. ``People are getting in and getting in trouble,'' Walton said. Many are in California or other Western
erties are threatened with a tax sale, the notices go in multiple directions in a thorough search for the property owner, including the ``dear resident'' letters that hit the tenant's mailbox. ``Problems are never fixed here,'' she says. ``I got a letter from the government about this being foreclosed on.'' It's not just her welfare she has to worry about.
``The repairs get way out of hand,'' Ribera said, laying out the recurring scenario. ``You're deeper in the hole. And the person in California is saying, `Where's the money?' "You don't really know what's in store in a rehab, said Robert Schock states where management companies entice them to buy property in the heartland that looks tantalizingly cheap compared with offerings on the Coast. The tax-delinquent rolls are filled with outof-state, even out-of-the-country investors as far as Australia and New Zealand. Walton was sitting at a coffee shop table with Tom Ribera, a developer in Kansas City's Northeast neighborhood and teammate in several projects. ``The repairs get way out of hand,'' Ribera said, laying out the recurring scenario. ``You're deeper in the hole. And the person in California is saying, `Where's the money?' " You don't really know what's in store in a rehab, said Robert Schock, director of property management for the Yarco Cos., ``until you get to the meat of the coconut and open the wall.'' Plumbing. Water leaks. Wiring. This is where promising investments turn toward boondoggles.
``This is a family with children,'' she says. ``They can't go on the streets. I think they're scamming all the renters who don't have a place to go. This is not right at all.'' Titania Sutherland, however, has a plan to get out of her rented house near, and it can't be soon enough, she says. A new landlord waits. ``We've been sick in this house,'' she said. ``My little girl got lead poisoning. We've had electrical issues. There are spiders in there.'' And there's more, she goes on. Her son hurt his arm on a fence that has since been taken down. The basement flooded, hitting her with a water bill ``like I had a swimming pool.'' Renters in neighborhoods with concentrations of distressed properties are the most vulnerable, says Tara Raghuveer, who studied Kansas City housing while at Harvard University. Rising rents throughout Kansas City have further pressured
Renters in neighborhoods with concentrations of distressed properties are the most vulnerable, says Tara Raghuveer, who studied Kansas City housing while at Harvard University. Rising rents throughout Kansas City have further pressured low-income families ``Property almost never generates the amount of money they (novice investors) think it will,'' Schock said. The woman who pokes her head out of the door of her home doesn't want to be named. She hasn't figured her way out of her dependence on this house yet, and she still has to deal with her landlord. But she's scared. When prop-
low-income families with fewer lowrent options, she said. ``Landlords know they can kick them out and that it is easy to fill the vacancy,'' she said. And if a dispute were to get to housing court, landlords ``know they can win.'' Fedrick Marshall knows what people think. He's 35 and has been slowly
building up housing investments in neighborhoods around his own house since he was 23. The tenants who try to talk him into giving them a break from a month's rent here or there ``think I'm rich,'' he said. And there are plenty of people, he said, who look at any investor and think: ``Scumbag.'' The woman complaining on Bellefontaine was his tenant, and, yes, that house was a problem. But as the first tenant in a house he completely renovated, she was supposed to help alert him of the kinds of issues that can come in that first opening. He could have taken care of that water backup long before it became a basement flood. ``But now it's a big loss.'' Many have gone much better. Look, he said, at this house he's just finishing in the 6000 block of Agnes Avenue. Roof patched. Floors sanded and varnished. Freshly painted. New kitchen appliances. The outside of the house cleared of all the brush. Beautiful. Adored now by neighbors who are relieved that the longtime eyesore is suddenly charming. Do they know how hard this is, trying to take on one or two new properties every year? He's learned so much the hard way - starting with one of his first houses when he had brought his mother over to see the beautiful work he'd done. Instead, he gaped at a burglarized house stripped of wiring and appliances, shuddering while his mother rubbed his shoulders and whispered, ``You can do it again.'' He knows now to conceal a house's vacant status, and to put in the expensive amenities at the last moment, only when that first tenant is assured and ready. It's a race to turn a house around as quickly as possible. Get it under control, save it from weather and prime it for a tenant. He pours in money he saves from his construction worker income. He's put off buying clothes and shoes for his kids. It has strained relationships. With a few more steps forward against so many steps back, he has built a portfolio of 13 rented houses and six vacant, he said, though the difficulty still shows in that he lost one back into the tax sale. ``I'm gambling here right now,'' he says. ``I fix these houses up with the only money we have, taking money away from my family, and then you won't pay your rent? You're thinking I won't miss $400?''-AP
Maha stamp duty collection drops 37 pc MUMBAI: Stamp duty collec- sale and purchase of land, propertion in Maharashtra has dropped ties, rent and lease agreements. It by 37 per cent after the Centre de- is the second largest revenue genmonetized high-value notes, a se- erating department of the state nior official has said. government, after excise. The Union government's deciThe IGR office contributed Rs sion to demonetize Rs 500 and Rs 21,767 crore to the state coffers in 1,000 notes was announced 10 2015-16 financial year. days back and stamp duty collec"There is one fee called docution is already down by 37 per cent ment handling fee, where Rs 20 per across the state, Inspector Gen- page is charged from the people eral of Registration (IGR) and Con- who are buying it. People genertroller of Stamps N Ramaswamy ally pay the amount in cash at the told PTI. The state The state government's government's average daily earning through average daily earning property registration through property registration charges and stamp duty has come down to Rs 42 charges and stamp duty has crore from Rs 65 crore come down to Rs 42 crore earlier, he said. from Rs 65 crore earlier "Though most of the transactions such as calculation of ready reckoner, its IGR office. In post demonetization stamp duty and payment are done period, I have issued a circular that digitally as well as through de- the amount can be paid through mand drafts, still the collection has demand draft. Still, the response gone down. is low," said the IAS officer. "The IGR offices across the Industry sources said a sizestate generally handle 7,300 docu- able section of the total cost of a ments daily, which has now property is paid in cash and it plunged to 4,000 documents," he never reflects on papers. said. Such deals are badly hit after The IGR office registers all the government's demonetization types of property deals, including move.
Beazer sees housing boom in baby boomers ATLANTA: Beazer is seeing a main so in the future,'' he said. baby boomer housing boom. Still, the housing recovery has The Atlanta company's tradi- been uneven. tional customers have been young The company reported a loss families and other first-time buy- of $854,000 in the three months ers. It said, however, that people ending Sept. 30, after reporting a 55 and older are increasingly the profit of $356.3 million in the same ones seeking the condos and period a year earlier. The company smaller homes that it builds. benefited from a tax benefit of Baby boomers made up about more than $320 million last year, 20 percent of the company's busi- and this year, it recorded $11.4 milness last year, and that number is growing, Beazer CEO Allan The company reported a Merrill said. loss of $854,000 in the three Older adults are buying one-story homes or months ending Sept. 30, two-story houses with after reporting a profit of a master bedroom on the first floor, Merrill $356.3 million said. Beazer is now building condo communities lion in losses related to the early aimed at baby boomers who want extinguishment of debt and an elto downsize. Merrill said condos evated tax provision. in these communities have been a Earnings, adjusted to extin``great financial success,'' selling guish debt and for non-recurring at a faster pace than single-family costs, came to 33 cents per share. homes. Revenue was $632.1 million in ``This is a vibrant and growing the period, slightly down from part of our business and will re- $632.9 million last year.-AP
Real Estate Post
November 25, 2016
India Post 39
www.indiapost.com
12 lakh affordable urban MCDs announce property tax amnesty houses approved NEW DELHI: Over 12 lakh affordable houses for urban poor have so far been approved with a total central assistance commitment of Rs 19,682 crore, the government told the Lok Sabha. The houses for Economically
"Total of 12,27,088 affordable houses for EWS in urban areas have so far been approved with a total central assistance commitment of Rs 19,682 crore of which Rs 6,172 crore has been already released," Minister of State for
Weaker Sections (EWS) have been approved under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), launched in June last year.
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply in the Lower House. The Minister said construction
I-T surveys real estate firms in Delhi-NCR NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department surveyed some real estate players in the national capital region to check reports of alleged profiteering and tax evasion by these entities while converting the recently demonetized currency notes. Officials said the department conducted the exercise on at least four such entities in the Delhi-NCR region and visited over half-adozen premises. They said the tax sleuths made an inventory of cash and sale documents at these locations and checked sale documents.
"A team of tax officials have visited our office premises and they are inspecting the company books and accounts. It is a routine exercise done by them," Amrapali Executive Director Shivpriya told PTI. Asked whether the survey was linked to the illegal usage of demonetized Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, Shivpriya said: "We sell affordable homes which are largely funded by customer home loans. I-T officials have not found any cash." Another group and real estate brokerage firm called it a "normal" operation. "They (tax officials) "They (tax officials) came to came to check if we are accepting cash or not. check if we are accepting We are doing legal business. We deal in primary cash or not. We are doing market where there is no cash," Investors Clinic legal business Infratech Private Limited Founder and CEO Officials added the department Honey Katiyal said. also scanned some records of Under the survey action, the tax some previous sales made and sleuths visit business premises of have asked the officials of these the trader/operator and make firms to produce the records at a analysis of the available stock and later stage. record it, whereas under search When contacted, real estate operations both residential and firm Amprapali Group called the I- business premises are visited by T operation a routine exercise. the taxman.-PTI
of 2,21,373 houses has started of which 48,236 have been completed. The highest number of houses were approved for Andhra Pradesh (1,94,884), followed by Gujarat (1,20,782), West Bengal (1,22,915), Maharashtra (1,18,252), Karnataka (82,964), Telangana (81,920) and Madhya Pradesh (67,893). Bihar got nod for 63,017 houses, while Tamil Nadu for 61,711, Odisha for 46,798, and Tripura for 45,905. Gujarat leads in construction having so far built 59,515 affordable houses, followed by Tamil Nadu- 34,976; Madhya Pradesh29,467; West Bengal- 20,007; Bihar- 16,002; Rajasthan - 13,449; Jharkhand- 10,212; Karnataka9,335; Andhra Pradesh- 5,671; and Odisha- 4,105. Under PMAY (Urban), central assistance of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.30 lakh each dwelling unit is provided to beneficiaries under the various components of the scheme.
TVS Emerald to develop 2.50 mn sq ft CHENNAI: Emerald Haven Realty Ltd, the real estate division of TVS Group, is eyeing to develop houses with a total area of 2.50 million square feet over the next three years, a top official said here. The Chennai-based realty player, which takes up projects under TVS Emerald brand, also said it has recently bagged the (CONQUAS) Construction Quality Assessment System, architectural score, one of the assessment system developed by Building and Construction Authority, Singapore. "Our Green Hills project in Tambaram achieved the Construction Quality Assessment System architectural score, a quality assessment system developed by BCA. As a young developer, we believe this achievement in an affirmation of TVS focus on quality and ability to develop projects meeting customer aspirations...", Emerald Haven Realty Ltd., President and CEO, R Chandramouli told reporters. The company has sold 448 apartments in Kolapakkam under the Green Hills project. The total project cost was about Rs 350 crore, he said.
NEW DELHI: The BJP-ruled erty tax prior to April 1, 2004 and civic bodies in the national capital thereafter, said Shailender Singh have announced an amnesty Monti, chairman of SDMC standscheme, including full waiver of ing committee. interest and penalty, on payment "It has been launched in view of property tax till February 28 next of the huge backlog of dues over year. the years. Many tax payers includThe scheme was announced by ing some government agencies exthe mayors of South, North and pressed problems in paying the East Delhi Municipal Corporations. Payment of property North Delhi Municipal tax dues after February 28 till March 31 next Corporation has around 10 year will get full waiver on penalty and 50 per lakh properties but only 3.32 cent rebate on interest per cent property owners amount. The waiver on penalty and interest will pay tax be given on arrear amounts accumulated up to November 18. dues along with significant amount The decisions were taken by of interest and penalty," he said. the respective standing commitAs per official estimates, the tees of the SDMC, NDMC and North Delhi Municipal CorporaEDMC and the mayors' anticipa- tion has around 10 lakh properties tion approvals for the same have but only 3.32 per cent property been given by them which is con- owners pay tax, an NDMC official sidered as approval by the House said. concerned, a municipal corporaSimilarly, the East Delhi Municition officer said. pal Corporation (EDMC) has The scheme will be applicable around nine lakh properties while to all types of properties, includ- taxes are realized from around 25 to ing, residential and commercial. 30 per cent owners, said the proThe waiver will be available for posal accepted by the standing comassesses who have not paid prop- mittee for amnesty scheme.-PTI
Delhi civic bodies fetch Rs 7 cr property tax NEW DELHI: Three municipal corporations in Delhi fetched over Rs 7 crore in form of property tax and conversion charge paid by property owners in demonetized high value banknotes. The three corporations of South Delhi, East Delhi and North Delhi are accepting property tax dues and conversion charges in demonetized notes resulting in a rush of property owners in November month which is normally a lean period with respect to tax revenue collection. South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) received property tax earnings of Rs 3 crore. A day earlier, the collection was Rs 2.50 crore while it was Rs 50 lakh on
the first day of the exercise which was started after demonetization of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, said a senior SDMC officer. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) collected over Rs 3 crore as property tax and conversion charge. It was Rs 1.17 crore till a day ago, said a senior official of the civic body. Property tax collections of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) stood at 1.35 crore, said a senior EDMC officer. People are preferring to clear their dues using old notes to going to the overcrowded banks to deposit their money, the officials said.-PTI
NEWS
on your desktop www.indiapost.com
40 India Post KRISHAN SHARMA India Post News Service
AMRITSAR: Visiting the Golden Temple after almost a year and half, one could not believe how the Punjab Government, with support from Central funds of 150 crore, has transformed the area in and around and the approach road leading to the holy Harmandir Sahib. One suddenly feels either you are in Florence, Italy or Barcelona, Spain. NO ! It is our very own Amritsar, Punjab. Planned parking, wide open space to walk, signages well planned and marked. The earlier stretch, marred by encroachments and complete chaos during rush hours is now a thing of the past. With hassle-free walkways for devotees and visitors, the beautification is so well planned that visitors will be totally amazed. The earlier loose wires hanging from buildings have been laid underground. All buildings have been painted with earth tone colors with the façade depicting at
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
least a few centuries past. One feels suddenly walking in the glorious heritage of the bygone era. All signages evenly painted. Other developments include beautification of pathways, musical fountains and statues of stalwarts of glorious Punjab. Right from Fountain Chowk, adjacent to the century old Town Hall complex, the 500 metres stretch is being widened. There is absolutely no vehicular traffic anywhere near the plaza. The statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh can be seen with waterfalls and digital water show. Even the Serigraphy parking area is transformed into a façade of red stone and LED video screens displaying all information as in Times Square. Cont’d on page 42
One suddenly feels either you are in Florence, Italy or Barcelona, Spain. NO ! It is our very own Amritsar, Punjab. Planned parking, wide open space to walk, signages well planned and marked
November 25, 2016
Travel & Hospitality Post
India Post 41
www.indiapost.com
Biggest Thanksgiving travel rush likely DALLAS: The slowly improving economy could boost travel over the Thanksgiving holiday to levels not seen in nine years. AAA forecasts that 48.7 million Americans will travel, the busiest Thanksgiving period on U.S. roads and skies since 2007, the year before the global financial crisis plunged the U.S. economy into a deep recession. The auto club AAA said that it expects 1 million more Americans to venture at least 50 miles from home, a 1.9 percent increase over last year. The forecast was assembled at research firm IHS, which said it considered jobs, household net worth, the stock market, prices for gasoline and airline tickets, and other factors. The researchers did their number crunching in mid-October, about three weeks before the surprising outcome in the presidential election. The AAA forecast predicts that from Wednesday, Nov. 23, through Sunday, Nov. 27, about 43.5 million Americans will take long car trips, 1.9 percent more than last year. AAA expects 3.7 million will travel by air, a 1.6 percent increase. Bus and train trips will grow less than 1 percent, the auto group said. An airline-industry trade group is a bit more bullish. Airlines for America predicts
that air travel will rise 2.5 percent over last year's holiday, although the group considers Thanksgiving travel spanning a 12-day period. Planes are likely to be packed over the holiday, and bad weather or airline computer malfunctions can slow things to a crawl. If the unexpected happens, be ready to react
2 Ohio River islands donated to Land Trust
Pheasant season brings hunters & money
WHEELING, W.Va.: Two Ohio River islands have been donated to the West Virginia Land Trust, which plans to turn them into nature preserves and venues for recreation. Media outlets report that the properties, Upper Twin Island in Ohio County and Gallipolis Island in Mason County, were recently donated to the trust by private landowner Michael Hoeft. West Virginia Land Trust spokeswoman Jessica Spatafore says the islands are essential habitats for wildlife and will service local communities and tourists once they are restored and opened for public use. Trust spokesman Ashton Berdine says Gallipolis Island was once 88 acres, but erosion has whittled it down to 1.5 acres. Upper Twin Island is also partially submerged due to a nearby dam. Berdine says the islands will eventually belong to the National Wildlife Refuge. -AP
WICHITA, Kan.: Thousands of hunters are expected in Kansas when pheasant season opens, benefiting hundreds of businesses and philanthropies. Mike Miller, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism information chief, told The Wichita Eagle that pheasant season specially opening weekend - is an important economic boost. The season opens this coming weekend and runs through Jan. 31. He says up to 50,000 hunters are expected to hunt and traveling hunters spend a minimum of $150 per night for rooms, meals and gasoline. Miller estimates hunting adds about $400 million to the Kansas economy, and ``a lot of that will come this weekend.'' This year, the state's best pheasant populations seem to be in southwest Kansas, but experts report improved populations in central and western Kansas too. -AP
SUBSCRIBE TO INDIA POST E-PAPER Mail to: vidya@indiapost.com or login to
http://www.indiapost.com/subscribe/
quickly. • Arrive early. At some airports, includ-
ing Dallas-Fort Worth International and Dallas Love Field, garages and other facilities are under construction, making matters worse. • Pack smart. Don't put anything you really need - medicine, passport, other important papers - in your rollaboard bag; or remember to remove it if the airline orders you to gate-check your bag, which happens when flights are full and bins are overstuffed. • Customer assistance. If your flight is canceled, get in line to talk to an airline customer rep but call the airline too. You might have better luck reaching an overseas number - look up the numbers before your trip. -AP
Sri Lanka increases flights to India NEW DELHI: SriLankan Airlines has increased its flight services to India by over 20 per cent in the last three months, making it the fifth largest international airlines operating in the country in terms of both number of services as well as seat capacity. The Sri Lankan national carrier, which is also a part of the 14-members global airlines grouping, Oneworld, has added four cities Kolkata, Madurai, Bodh Gaya and Varanasi - in its network during this period, according to a release. With the addition of 19 flights per week to India from 88 earlier, SriLankan has surpassed 100 flights per week mark, it said. This has made SriLankan the fifth largest foreign carrier operating to India in terms of both number of flights and total seat capacity, with 107 flights per week, the release said. The Colombo-headquartered airline now operates to 11 Indian cities with the addition of four more destinations in October/ November this year, it said.
New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Trichy, Trivandrum, Bangalore and Kochi are the other airports SriLankan carrier operates to in India. The expansion is a clear signal of the recent strategic shift by the airline to heighten its focus on its network in South Asia, the Middle East and the Far East. SriLankan airline has been rapidly modernizing its all-Airbus fleet with the addition of brand new wide body A330-300 aircraft and is scheduled to take delivery of five fuel-efficient A320neo and A321neo aircraft in 2017, the release said. A total of 2,78,017 Indians visited Sri Lanka in 2015, making India the largest tourism generating market to the island country, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has said. This number has increased by 14 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2016 with 2,52,165 Indian visitors, according to the release. -PTI
42 India Post
Travel & Hospitality Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com Cont’d from page 40
All this was supervised by PWD Executive Engineer J S Sodhi and was conceptualised by the Deputy CM of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal with the financial help from the Central Government. May be Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and others can derive some lesson from this development for Delhi. Majority of the businesses are happy with the new development and initiative taken by the government, however some say their business was better earlier. The development was not an easy task as the authorities faced several protests by residents and small business earlier. The Plaza leading to the Temple is totally dust free and no garbage is seen anywhere near. Beside the Plaza, the Golden Temple complex and the holy water surrounding it has been totally cleaned. One can clearly see gold fish in it. Several other development plans include a large underground Heritage Museum with modern technology depicting the history of all Gurus. Also the famed Jallianwala Bagh will be totally revamped. Municipality and the District authorities should be given full credit for cleaning up the entire city, including the Airport area. Other developments include the ultra modern Trillium Project by Tata Sons spread out in 5.54 acres with 700,000 sq ft of shopping area. It is the largest project in Punjab with an investment of Rs 510 cr. This Mall will put other cities to shame. Trillium is the magnum opus, International City Centre with 5-star hospitality facility, "Vivanta" by Taj. A complete Under One Roof (AUOR) concept, it is also earthquake-resistant.
GOLDEN TRANSFORMATION Amritsar temple environs cleaned & beautified
New Zealand rescuing stranded tourists WELLINGTON, New Zealand: New Zealand has begun a rescue operation of about 1,000 tourists and hundreds of residents who remain stranded in the coastal town of Kaikoura after a powerful earthquake cut off train and vehicle access. The defense force said it had started to ferry people out by military helicopter. A navy ship that left from Auckland has arrived in the area. The magnitude-7.8 quake struck the South Island early November 14. It left two people dead and triggered a small tsunami. It also brought down rocks and mud that swept across highways and cracked apart roads. Home to about 2,000 residents, Kaikoura is a popular destination for travelers taking part in whale-watching expeditions or wanting a stopover with mountain views. But the quake knocked out water supplies and sewerage systems and left people with no easy way out. ``From all directions, Kaikoura has essentially been isolated,'' Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the Acting Commander of New Zealand's Joint Forces, told The Associated Press. ``There's a real imperative to support the town because it can't support itself.'' Webb said the military was using four NH90 helicopters that could each transport about 18 people at a time out of the town. He said the ship could potentially pick up hundreds of people if weather conditions allowed. ``We're going to get as many people and belongings out as quickly as we can,'' Webb said. He said the operation could take several days and that if needed, a C-130 military transport plane could drop fuel, water, food and other supplies to the town. Elsewhere, many people returned to work in the capital, Wellington, after the quake shut down much of the central city. But some buildings remained closed and heavy rain
November 25, 2016
Travel & Hospitality Post
India Post
43
www.indiapost.com
Hamburg magnet for foodies & art lovers HAMBURG, Germany: For centuries, the port city of Hamburg was a powerhouse in maritime trade. These days, Germany's second-largest city is still the country's main entry point for exotic goods. But it's also a magnet for foodies, fans of the arts and folks who prefer to wander rather than powerwalk their way around a new destination. Attractions include a chocolate museum, a historic warehouse district and river boat rides. Just remember in Hamburg you're never far from the water - including the kind that falls from the sky, so go with the flow and bring an umbrella. FEAST YOUR EYES, TICKLE YOUR TASTEBUDS Maybe you want to start small. Really small. In Hamburg's old warehouse district an indoor model railway called the Miniatur Wunderland stretches across two floors and takes visitors on a humorous journey around the world. Book tickets in advance: http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/visit/ ticket/ . The warehouse district, or Speicherstadt, was once a free port and its distinctive red brick buildings on timber foundations helped the area gain UNESCO World Heritage status in 2015. It's hardly a museum though. The warehouses are still used to store goods from around the globe and with a little patience visitors can watch Persian carpets and sacks of spices being loaded and unloaded using oldfashioned pulley hoist systems. Hamburg has a long tradition of appreciating coffee. Enjoy a good brew at one of several coffee roasters around town, including Nord Coast Coffee Roastery, http://bit.ly/ 2eWC4uo. At Hamburg's chocolate museum,
Chocoversum, learn about the origins of chocolate, what makes a good bean and even try your hand at creating a unique bar of your own. Tours during the week are in
fare, hop on the No. 62 for a ride down the river Elbe, passing some of Hamburg's impressive maritime industry and not a few towering cargo ships along the way.
German but English-language tours are available weekends. Book in advance via https:/ /www.chocoversum.de/en/ .
Step off at Neumuehlen and head downriver past the charming old sailboats to the Oevelgoenne beach for pizza and a hoppy beer, or coffee and cake, at a riverside cafe or bar.
A DAY ON THE WATER Start exploring mankind's complicated relationship with the sea on dry land at the International Maritime Museum in the warehouse district. It features replicas of ancient ships, including a Phoenician galley and a Viking dragon boat, as well as equipment that helped sailors navigate the seas before GPS and satellite phones, http:// www.imm-hamburg.de/international/en/ . Once you're ready to set sail - so to speak
- walk or take a subway to the Landungsbruecken. During the week these piers are used by commuters traveling into Hamburg on public boats. For a modest
A NIGHT ON THE TOWN The Reeperbahn is Hamburg's notorious red light district. At night it transforms from a quiet street into a gaudy, neon-light affair filled with bars, live music venues and seedy entertainment. Near the Reeperbahn light rail stop is a square dedicated to the Beatles, who spent their journeyman years in Hamburg, http://
english.hamburg.de/visitors/294386/ reeperbahn-hamburg-st-pauli-nightclubenglish/ . For a less touristy and more family
Mauritius PM inaugurates AYUR project PANAJI: Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius Anirood Jugnauth has inaugurated AYUR Herbarium project in North Goa, an initiative by the pharmaceutical major in association with Union AYUSH Ministry. Jugnauth inaugurated the project at the property of Sandu Pharmaceuticals Ltd at Saligao village, 10 kms away from here.
The Mauritian Prime Minister along with his delegation is on a tour of India to reciprocate the cordial invitation of delegates of Goa government, who visited the island country in the recent past, a government spokesperson said. "The Goa government and Government of Mauritius are actively collaborating on various projects related to healthcare,
Ayurveda, medical tourism and tourism. It is an interesting fact that apart from our cultural similarities, both countries have similitude in the wealth of medicinal flora and fauna," the official said. The project was part of this bonding, he added. Union AYUSH Minister Sripad Naik was present on the occasion.-PTI
friendly evening head to the Schanzenviertel, a former working class district that became hip a few years ago. There's cheap food aplenty and a thriving bar culture. Sternschanze is the closest S-bahn stop. From there, walk to one of Hamburg's best-known clubs at Feldstrasse 66. Don't worry, you can't miss it. Known to the Nazis as Flakturm IV, this massive over-ground bunker was too difficult to destroy after World War II and so it was left standing. Nowadays it's home to media companies and the club Uebel und Gefaehrlich which roughly translates as Nasty and Dangerous, h t t p : / / www.uebelundgefaehrlich.com . If you're out all night, greet the day at Hamburg's legendary Altona fish market. Business starts at 5 a.m. April to October, in winter the market opens at 7 a.m. Don't arrive too late as stalls shutter around 9:30 a.m. GRAND BURGERS & HIGH CULTURE For centuries Hamburg was dominated by a tight-knit ruling class known as the First Families, whose members had acquired a superior form of citizenship that made them Grossbuerger - `grand burgers.' With the title came lucrative economic and political rights that they used to amass great fortunes and shape the city in ways that can still be seen in Hamburg's center with its Venice-like arcades and bridges, fancy shopping streets and lakeside promenade. From the underground stop Rathaus, take a stroll past the imposing town hall toward the Binnenalster, or Inner Alster, a reservoir inside the old city perimeters. For a bit of high art, head to the underground stop Jungfernstieg and take the U1 two stops to Steinstrasse. From there it's a short walk to one of Europe's largest contemporary arts centers. The Deichtorhallen, situated in two former market halls built in late art nouveau style, host several simultaneous art and photography exhibitions, http:// www.deichtorhallen.de/ index.php?id=33&L=1 . For a grand finale, end your trip at the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. Completed six years behind schedule and at 10 times the original price, this billion-dollar venue is due to start hosting concerts beginning Jan. 11. If you can't nab tickets it's worth visiting for the architecture, which features a wave-shaped roof, stunning glass facades and a panoramic view of the harbor, http://english.hamburg.de/ elbe-philharmonic-hall/ . -AP
Tech News CBI probing ponzi schemes of Rs 85k pus NEW DELHI: CBI is probing cases of ponzi schemes in which over Rs 85,000 crore of over six crore investors are involved and it is assisting the Centre in framing a legislation to put a ban on such deposit-taking activities, agency Chief Anil Sinha said here. "CBI alone is investigating cases in which more than six crore investors/victims spread across 26 states involving Rs 85,000 crores of public money. There are hundreds of criminal cases with state police and EOWs," he said at the valedictory session of 22nd Conference of CBI and Anti-Corruption Bureaux of states. He also said the scope and reach of these fraudulent entities coming out with nefarious schemes to induce gullible public to invest in their dubious schemes is bewildering. Earlier, during a conference in Mumbai in March, Sinha had said that the agency was investigating Ponzi schemes involving funds of over Rs 1.20 lakh crore. Officials in CBI claimed that figures often change because of allegations and later its cross verifications during the investigations. Sinha said CBI was part of the sub-group of an Inter-Ministerial Group for identifying gaps in the existing legal and regulatory framework for "deposit-taking" activities and to suggest administrative/legislative measures including formulation of a new law, to cover all relevant aspects of deposit-taking.-PTI
India can become a strong economy like China SHILLONG: India can become a USD 10 trillion economy in the next 15 years, like China did in last one and a half decade, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said. "What China has accomplished in last 15 years is very impressive. China's economy has gone from USD 2 trillion 15 years ago to USD 10 trillion today," Panagariya said at the India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue held at the IIM here. He said, "With China promoting out-bound investment and India seeking foreign capital and technology, it should enable us to take advantage of the synergies and put in place a vigorous framework to strengthen bilateral investment relationship." -PTI
TechBiz 44 India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
Volkswagen to cut 30,000 jobs in revamp FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany: Volkswagen has announced the biggest revamp in its history, cutting 30,000 jobs in a huge savings plan to help the German auto giant recover from the dieselgate emissions cheating scandal. The deal, agreed with workers' representatives after months of tortuous negotiations, will lead to annual savings of 3.7 billion euros (USD 3.9 billion) by 2020 and will allow the group to ramp up its investment in electric vehicles, VW brand chief Herbert Diess said. "It's a major step forward, and undoubtedly one of the biggest in the history of the company," Diess told a press conference at the group's Wolfsburg headquarters in northern Germany.-AFP
Unnecessary panic spread on demonetization; no roll back: FM NEW DELHI: Digging in his heels, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has ruled out roll back of the demonetization decision and slammed Delhi and West Bengal
that India's formal economy will increase, access to banking will increase, taxation quantum will increase, banks will have far more money to support the economy
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Chief Ministers accusing them of spreading "unnecessary panic". He said the move to demonetize the high value notes was "very well planned", and added that the rush in bank branches is "significantly" coming down and 22,000 ATMs are getting recalibrated daily in order to dispense Rs 100, and new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes. Criticizing senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's comments in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said opposition has developed "cold feet" to debate the issue of
in terms of trade, interest rates will come down, and therefore the kind of economy it will generate is huge. "Now unnecessary panic is being spread particularly by some individuals and I didn't expect Chief Ministers of one or two states to join in this effort," Jaitley told ANI. Rejecting the demand of political parties like Aam Admi Party and Trinamool Congress, he said, "Whatever AAP and Trinamool Congress said about the roll back, there is no question of that. It is a
tating that there is not any parallel of such a large decision in Indian history in several decades that was ethically and morally so correct, he said every honest man felt that he had no reason to be worried demonetization and criticized Azad for making irresponsible political comment. Jaitley said he expected every responsible citizen, political party, state governments to support this huge effort because this will mean
clear decision of the Prime Minister and government to cleanse politics and economy of the country. We will stick to it (demonetization)". Jaitley questioned the "vested
interest" of Congress party in opposing government's effort to root out black money. "At the end of the day, this exercise will only succeed in rooting out black money, crime money and make the Indian economy cleaner. Congress as a national party must support this," he said. Defends implementation Jaitley said replacing 86 per cent of the currency in circulation with new bank notes could not have been executed in a better way than currently being implemented. He said the move will help banks lend at a cheaper rate to businesses, trade, agriculture and infrastructure while at the same time getting rid of the shadow economy. "On the execution part, I don't think this could have been better executed than how it has been executed now," he said at an ET Now event. He said replacing such a large currency without any social unrest and any significant economic disruption was an "achievement". "When currency replacement
world probably in recent times." Indian shopkeepers, traders and retailers, according to Jaitley, will realize that formal official trade is certainly superior way of doing business than just a shadow economy. "It has its own pitfalls. And therefore by this shock therapy, everybody enters into cleaner system of economy. In the long run, it will be welcome by all," he said. Stating that there is not any parallel of such a large decision in Indian history in several decades that was ethically and morally so correct, he said every honest man felt that he had no reason to be worried. The decision has "popular support because there were people with crime money, black money or wealth accumulated by not paying taxes". Stating that high denomination currency has ceased to be a legal tender, Jaitley admitted that some more legal steps will be required later on if one is to extinguish that. "It is important to realize what
takes place, initial inconvenience takes place, but there is not a single major incident in the country. It's moving smoothly as everyday passes by. The queues are getting smaller," he said. "In the next 1-2 weeks, we have to make sure currency reaches rural areas because that is where it's required. This is the largest currency exchange in the
was the Indian normal for last 70 years. It had almost become the Indian normal to have a parallel economy, to have a shadow economy. It was almost a way of life," he said. With large currencies in circulation outside the banking system and a narrow tax base, banks were "becoming challenged if not vulnerable".-PTI
TechBiz Post
November 25, 2016
India Post
45
www.indiapost.com
India welcomes Marrakesh Proclamation MARRAKESH: Welcoming the Marrakesh Action Proclamation, India has said that most of its demands including the issue of providing finance to developing nations to tackle climate change has been incorporated and it will continue to push its agenda as per the Paris agreement. Noting that there were many efforts to derail the process here, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said despite being held right after Paris summit, the Marrakesh conference is moving in the right direction which is its success. The Marrakesh Action Proclamation For our Climate and Sustainable Development asked countries to combat climate change as a matter of "urgent priority" while noting that climate is warming at an "alarming and unprecedented" rate. "One should not look at this CoP from the Paris window. That (Paris) was a big event. Now in the coming years, the pic-
ture will start clearing. It will evolve gradually. The direction is right. Whatever issues India had demanded or was trying to incorporate, those have been accommodated in it (proclamation)," Dave said. The Marrakesh Action Proclamation, which was agreed by all the nations taking part in the summit, was read out at the Conference of Parties (CoP) Plenary session which said it was an "urgent duty to respond" to global warming. This can be termed as one of the main outcomes of the ongoing crucial summit on climate change. India had pushed for inclusion of sustainable lifestyle with minimum carbon footprint and a clear cut mention of flow of funds in the draft of the political proclamation which was earlier made. Dave said that while the proclamation talks about providing USD 100 billion, it has also used the word sustainable development in it.
"We, the Developed Country Parties, reaffirm our USD 100 billion mobilization goal," the proclamation said. "Despite being held after Paris, this CoP has been successful in moving ahead on its track. There
"This I consider as a success of Marrakesh. For us (India), we had the opening of the signing of International Solar Alliance. We should not see this CoP as a standalone. It has moved on the right track," he said when asked what does he consider as the success of this conference. were many attempts to drag it for various reasons. That did not happen and it moved forward on its track. "This I consider as a success of Marrakesh. For us (India), we had the opening of the signing of International Solar Alliance. We should not see this CoP as a
Bank a/c misuse to invite govt action NEW DELHI: The Government has cautioned Jan Dhan account holders, housewives and artisans that they will be prosecuted under the I-T Act for allowing misuse of their bank accounts through deposit of black money in Rs 500/1,000 notes during the 50-day window till December 30. The directive comes against the backdrop of reports that some are using other persons' bank accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes. In some cases, even rewards are being given to account holders for allowing such misuse. The government had earlier said deposits up to Rs 2.50 lakh in bank accounts would not come under tax scrutiny as it is within the tax exemption limit. In the case of Jan Dhan account, the holder can deposit up to Rs 50,000. However, the income tax department has noted that people are under impression that no action will be taken for deposits up to Rs 2.50 lakh during November 9-December 30.
The ministry said "such tax evasion activities can be made subject to income tax and penalty if it is established that the amount deposited in the account was not of the account holder but of somebody else. Also, the person who
allows his or her account to be misused for this purpose can be prosecuted for abetment under the Income Tax Act". The government had earlier said black money deposited in bank accounts during the 50-day period will be subject to tax, interest and 200 per cent penalty. It asked people not to be lured into conversion of black money
standalone. It has moved on the right track," he said when asked what does he consider as the success of this conference. In the proclamation, nations while welcoming the Paris Agreement, its rapid entry into force,
and become a partner in the crime of converting black money into white through this method. "Unless all citizens of the country help the government in curbing black money, this mission of black money will not succeed," the official statement said. It also asked people to provide information of such illegal activities to the I-T department so that immediate action can be taken and such illegal transfer of cash can be stopped and seized. "Black money is a crime against humanity. We urge every conscientious citizen to help join the government in eradicating it," it added. Following the demonetization announcement of November 8, people have been queuing up in front of banks to convert and deposit the now-defunct 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. The tax department has already made quoting of PAN mandatory if cash deposits during the 50-day period aggregate Rs 2.5 lakh or more in bank accounts.-PTI
ambitious goals, inclusive nature and its reflection of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, also affirmed their commitment for its full implementation. "We, Heads of State, government, and delegations, gathered in Marrakech for the high-level segment of the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change...issue this proclamation to signal a shift towards a new era of implementation and action on climate and sustainable development," the proclamation said. The proclamation also said that nations who are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, encourage the ratification of the Doha Amend-
ment. This point in the proclamation assumes significance especially as India had asked the developed countries to ratify the Doha amendments to the Kyoto Protocol by April next year to raise the ambition of climate actions in the pre-2020 period. The proclamation also called for an increase in the "volume, flow and access" to finance for climate projects, alongside improved capacity and technology, including from developed to developing countries. During his recent statement in the high-level segment of the summit, Dave had noted that access to adequate finance remains an "overriding concern" for India. He had asserted that it is "critical" that developed countries provide finance and technology transfer support to developing nations. "Our climate is warming at an alarming and unprecedented rate and we have an urgent duty to respond. We call for the highest political commitment to combat climate change, as a matter of urgent priority. "...We call for strong solidarity with those countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and underscore the need to support efforts aimed to enhance their adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability," the proclamation said.-PTI
46
TechBiz Post
India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
India ranks 20th in Climate 'Wait & watch Trump on climate deal' Change Index MARRAKESH: India has been ranked 20th in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2017, which underlined that countries like India are making "great efforts" in the fields of renewables and energy efficiency. With the historic Paris Agreement having recently entered into force, the latest CCPI confirms a boost for renewable energy and positive developments in energy efficiency. The publication was issued by Germanwatch and Climate Action
well among emerging economies of the G20 like India (rank 20), Argentina (rank 36) and Brazil (40) which all improved their ranking in the CCPI 2017," it said. It said that some developing countries like Morocco, India and South Africa are starting to catch up and are already making great efforts in the fields of renewables and energy efficiency. In terms of climate policy, it said that India, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway and Germany managed to hold their positions.
Network Europe. While these encouraging trends are happening on a global scale, the necessary energy revolution is still happening too slowly, it said. "Morocco (rank 8), this year's host of COP22 continued its upward trend in the CCPI 2017. With massive investments in renewable energy and ambitious midand long-term targets, Morocco is a frontrunner in Africa. "Positive trends are seen as
"All countries are now expected to put forward national emissions reduction plans, and the G20 countries have to take a leading role in doing so by 2018. "Although, India belongs to the ten largest CO2 emitting countries, per capita emissions are still relatively low, resulting in a good performance in this category," it said. National experts value that the Indian government runs one of the largest renewable capacity expan-
sion programs in the world, which leads to a good policy performance for the country, it said. Canada (55), Australia (57) and Japan (60) are in the bottom group (rated "very poor") of the index while Japan once again dropped two places as national experts criticize their government for a very poor climate policy. The Climate Change Performance Index is an instrument designed to enhance transparency in international climate politics and aims to put political and social pressure on those countries which have, up until now, failed to take ambitious action on climate protection. On the basis of standardized criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58 countries that together are responsible for about 90 per cent of global energy-related CO2 emissions. Jan Burck, Germanwatch, key author of the CCPI comments said that the conditions for a global energy revolution have never been better. "Due to the falling costs of renewable energy and efficiency technologies, national governments have no more excuses not to enshrine the Paris Agreement into national law. "Besides the vast development of renewable energy, we see positive signals that fossil fuels increasingly are put on the defense. So far, falling oil prices did not cause an increase in demand for the energy source while a growing number of countries are starting to turn their backs on coal," he said.-PTI
MARRAKESH: Amid appre- and then BASIC and BRICS counhension that US President-elect tries will decide. This is the time to Donald Trump might withdraw the keep a close watch," he said. US from the climate-rescue Paris Before his election, Trump Agreement, India has said that one called climate change a "hoax" pershould not react on assumptions petrated by China and vowed to and "wait" and keep a "close "cancel" the hard-fought Paris watch" on the situation. Agreement concluded last year to Environment Minister Anil limit dangerous global warming. Madhav Dave, during a media inChina and the United States, teraction organized by BASIC the two largest emitters, gave a countries, said Paris agreement is major boost to the accord when a "settled fact" and whatever is they signed on during a summit in spoken during election campaigns September between Presidents Xi is "different" which is why one Jinping and Barack Obama. should wait for another few US Secretary of State John months. Kerry who gave a speech at the The BASIC ministers who met ongoing climate change conferhere said there can be no "backtracking" on the commitments made The BASIC ministers who met by the developed nations and no attempts here said there can be no should be made to "re"backtracking" on the negotiate" the terms of the Paris Agreement. commitments "Coming from the largest democratic country which always goes for ence without naming Trump said elections in five years, we know that the "strongest skeptic" has the test of results. to acknowledge that something Power comes and goes and disturbing is happening. whatever we speak in the election The BASIC countries will concampaign is somewhat very differ- tinue to advance their "legitimate" ent from when we come to power. interests of all developing nations "Nothing official has been there with "emphasis" on such nations (about US' decision). On the as- which are particularly vulnerable to sumptions, we should not react. the adverse effects of climate change. We should wait watch and see the The Ministers also stressed the situation. Paris is a settled fact. adequate means of implementation World is going ahead with Paris support, in the form of new and Agreement," Dave told reporters. additional climate finance, technolHe said that one should not go ogy transfer and capacity buildfor words like "ifs and buts" and ing for all developing nations that wait for a few more months and require it is "indispensable" if see the situation. countries need to meet the tem"We should wait for another perature adaptation goal set by few months and see the situation Paris agreement.-PTI
Zoho rolls out context-conscious software TIRUNELVELI, TN: Zoho has announced launch of 'Zoho Desk', the industry's maiden context-aware helpdesk software and first such product developed in rural India by a team in Tenkasi of southern Tamil Nadu. Zoho Desk uses customer data from past interactions and from other Zoho products like Zoho CRM to organize tickets and intelligently present information to agents so that they can better understand a customer's problem and resolve it effectively, a top company official said.
"Zoho has challenged the conventional wisdom... We built the first software product from India when IT services were the rage and established them in the global market. We are now showcasing something that has never been done before: the first software product created in rural India, world-class in its refinement, competing with the best," said Zoho Corp Chief Executive Officer Sridhar Vembu. What started out five years ago as a small team of three engineers has developed into a team of over 150 people in rural surroundings near Tenkasi, added Vembu.
"In an industry where companies have come to believe that the only location that matters in the cloud is a few square miles of downtown San Francisco, we are
where," Vembu said. "We believe that rural talent should not have to leave home to find opportunity. Our broken urbanization model creates severely
Its clean user interface packs innovations like Work Modes that helps agents send contextaware response, the Headquarters dashboard enabling visibility managers to make better decisions and the Team Feed to help the entire company participate in customer service proving that a determined and sincere group of people can build path-breaking products any-
overcrowded and polluted megacities and denudes rural areas of talent. That is why what Zoha
Tenkasi is doing matters." Zoho Desk, the sixth product launched by the company this year, helps companies deliver the right solution at the right time. Its clean user interface packs innovations like Work Modes that helps agents send contextaware response, the Headquarters dashboard enabling visibility managers to make better decisions and the Team Feed to help the entire company participate in customer service. Vembu said Zoho Desk is available immediately and free up to 10 users.-PTI
TechBiz Post
November 25, 2016
India Post
47
www.indiapost.com
US Fed may raise in interest India to tax investments from Cyprus rate soon WASHINGTON: US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has indicated an increase in interest rate "relatively soon" if the American economy continues to show sign of improvement. "US economic growth appears to have picked up from its subdued pace earlier this year. After rising at an annual rate of just 1 per cent in the first half of this year, inflation- adjusted gross domestic product is estimated to have increased nearly 3 per cent in the third quarter," Yellen said in her testimony before the Joint Congressional Economic Committee. The Federal Reserve, she said, expects economic growth to continue at a moderate pace sufficient to generate some further strengthening in labor market conditions and a return of inflation to the Committee's 2 per cent objective over the next couple of years. "This judgment reflects my view that monetary policy remains moderately accommodative and that ongoing job gains, along with low oil prices, should continue to support household purchasing power and therefore consumer spending," she said. "In addition, global economic growth should firm, supported by accommodative monetary policies abroad. As the labor market strengthens further and the transitory influences holding down inflation fade, I expect inflation to rise to two per cent," Yellen said. Commenting on the implications
of recent economic developments and the economic outlook for monetary policy, Yellen said the stance of monetary policy has supported improvement in the labor market this year, along with a return of inflation toward the FOMC's 2 per cent objective. In September, the Federal Reserve decided to maintain the tar-
crease could well become appropriate relatively soon if incoming data provide some further evidence of continued progress toward the Committee's objectives," Yellen said. "This judgment recognized that progress in the labor market has continued and that economic activity has picked up from the mod-
get range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 per cent and stated that, while the case for an increase in the target range had strengthened, it would, for the time being, wait for further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives. "At our meeting earlier this month, the (Federal Open Market) Committee (FOMC) judged that the case for an increase in the target range had continued to strengthen and that such an in-
est pace seen in the first half of this year. And inflation, while still below the Committee's 2 per cent objective, has increased somewhat since earlier this year. Furthermore, the Committee judged that near-term risks to the outlook were roughly balanced," she said. Yellen said the US economy has made further progress this year toward the Federal Reserve's dualmandate objectives of maximum employment and price stability.-PTI
Winners of Infosys Prize 2016 announced BENGALURU: The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) has announced six winners of the Infosys Prize 2016 in the categories of Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences. The prize for each category consists of a purse of Rs 65 lakh, a 22 karat gold medallion and a citation certificate, the Foundation said. The winners of the Infosys Prize 2016 are: (1) Engineering and Computer Science: Prof. V Kumaran, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore; (2) Humanities: Prof. Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Pro-
fessor of South Asian Studies, Professor of History, Harvard University; (3) Life Sciences: Dr. Gagandeep Kang, Executive Director of Translational Health Sci-
ence and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad; (4) Mathematical Sciences: Prof. Akshay Venkatesh, Professor, Department of Mathematics, Stanford Univer-
sity; (5) Physical Sciences: Dr. Anil Bhardwaj, Director, Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and (6) Social Sciences: Prof. Kaivan Munshi, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. The Awards Ceremony for the Infosys Prize 2016 will be held on January 7, 2017 in Bengaluru, where Prof Ve n k a t r a m a n Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society and Nobel Prize Laureate will felicitate the winners, the Foundation said in a statement. The winners were shortlisted from over 250 nominations by a jury panel, comprising renowned scientists and professors, it said.-PTI
NEW DELHI: India and Cyprus It also updates the provisions have signed the revised bilateral related to exchange of information tax treaty under which capital to accepted international stangains tax will be levied on sale of dards, which will allow exchange shares on investments made after of banking details and its use for April 1, 2017, bringing the island purposes other than taxation with nation at par with Mauritius in prior approval of competent auterms of tax treatment. thorities of the country providing The new agreement also pro- the information. vides for exchange of banking inThe new agreement expands the formation and allows the use of scope of 'permanent establishment' such information for purposes and reduces the tax rate on royalty other than taxation with prior approval of competent authorities of the Both had earlier in June country. agreed to revise the over Both had earlier in two decade old tax treaty June agreed to revise the over two decade old and decided to grandfather tax treaty and decided to investments made prior to grandfather investments made prior to April 1, 2017 April 1, 2017. "The new DTAA provides for in the country from which paysource-based taxation of capital ments are made to 10 per cent from gains arising from alienation of the existing 15 per cent, in line with shares, instead of residence-based the tax rate under Indian tax laws. taxation provided under the existIt also updates the text of other ing DTAA. provisions in accordance with the However, a grandfathering international standards and conclause has been provided for in- sistent policy of India in respect vestments made prior to April 1, of tax treaties, the ministry added. 2017, in respect of which capital The completion of the negotiagains would continue to be taxed tion on avoidance of double taxain the country of which taxpayer tion and the prevention of fiscal is a resident," a finance ministry evasion will also pave the way for statement said. the removal of Cyprus from the list The new agreement provides of 'Notified Jurisdictional Areas' for assistance between the two retrospectively from November countries for collection of taxes. 2013.-PTI
Special exchange counters for tourists CHENNAI: In a bid to help tourists hit by demonetization, Tamil Nadu government has set up special foreign exchange counters in nine cities and towns in the state. The counters have been set up in association with private sector ICICI Bank after consultations with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Tourism Commissioner Har Sahay Meena said the government had met RBI officials with the request to set up the counters after noticing that a large number of foreign tourists suffered "even for petty things" due to demonetization. "Based on the request, special counters of ICICI Bank for foreign tourists to exchange their currencies have been set up," Meena,
who is also Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, said in an official release. The centers have been set up in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur, Vellore,
Ramanathapuram, Kodaikanal and Thiruvannamalai. For popular tourism spots like Kanyakumari and Mahabalipuram near Chennai, "similar arrangements are being explored with other banks", the release said.-PTI
48 India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016
November 25, 2016
India Post 49 www.indiapost.com
FOR ALL YOUR
TRAVEL NEEDS INTERNATIONAL DOMESTIC
AIR INDIA AND ALL OTHER MAJOR AIRLINES.
PACKAGE DEAL TAJ TOUR-SOTC
SEEMA WORLD TRAVEL, INC. One of the Oldest Travel Agencies in St. Louis
Competitive Rates & Confirmed Seats for All Major Airlines 10635 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132
Tel: (314) 423-9990 or (800) 55 SEEMA CALL:
Sita Ram Patel @ 847-568-0535 New York (Hicksville)
AIRWING TRAVELS INC.
Tel: (516) 931 4600
Est. 1991 Toll Free: (866) 532 3413
New Jersey (Iselin)
Tel: (732) 658 5450
Lowest Fares / Confirmed Seats to INDIA & Other Destinations Worldwide Save upto 40% on First and Business Class OPEN 7 DAYS - Call or Email : AIRWINGTRAVELS@GMAIL.COM
Fax: (314) 423-0391
Datebook
50 India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
NEW JERSEY
NEW YORK
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
CHICAGO
Upcoming
Upcoming
ILLINOIS
Upcoming
Upcoming
Upcoming
Sat, Nov 26 • DesiParty" Featuring Bollywood Beats By Dj Harsh & Dj Amit
Sat, Nov 26 • Open House at Priya Living
Fri, Dec 09 • Junoon Dance Company and Learn Bhangra App Presents: BHANGRA WORKSHOP
1st and 3rd Sunday of Month • Chicago Children's
Venue: Junoon Dance Company,804 East Nerge Road, ROSELLE, IL Time: 07:00 pm
Venue: Vogelei Center, 650 W. Higgins Road, Hoffmann Estates, IL 60192 (Next to Nissan Dealership) Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @ 630-561-4807
Fri, Nov 25 • Bollywood and Latin Fridays Venue: Hotel Executive Suites,30 Minue St, CARTERET, NJ Time: 8:00 pm
Fri, Nov 25 • Qawwali Night with Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad Venue: Edison Hotel, 3050 Woodbridge Ave, Edison, NJ 08837 Time: 08:00 pm
Sun, Dec 04 • Man Jeety Jag Jeet Venue: Science Of Spirituality,15 Market Street, PERTH AMBOY, NJ Time: 10:30 am
Venue: LEXICON,226 E 54th St, NEW YORK, NY •Time : 10:00 pm
Sun, Nov 27 • Silsila Presents Remembering Nusrat Venue: Golden Center,65-30 Kissena Boulevard, FLUSHING, NY Time : 06:00 pm
Wed, Nov 30-Dec04 • HBO presents the 13th Annual - South Asian International Film Festival, NYC Venue:Village East Cinema,189 2nd Avenue, NEW YORK, NY
Fremont Venue: Priya Living,250 Franciscan Court, FREMONT, CA Time: 11:00 1m
Sun, Nov 27 • Bollywood Mela, Live Music Fashion Show Venue: Little India Village Building,18748 Pioneer Boulevard, ARTESIA, CA Time: 11:00 am
Wed, Nov 30 • Spiritual Discourse with Bodhisattva Premodaya
Shree
Swami
Venue: International Centers of Divine Awakening, 2744 Colby Avenue, LOS ANGELES, CA Time: 7:00 pm
Thu, Dec 01 • Riches To Rags - 3 techies turned comedians Venue: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts,500 Castro Street, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA Time: 6:00 pm
Sun, Dec 04 • Ventilator Marathi Movie - Brea Plaza 5 Cinemas Venue: Brea Plaza 5 Cinemass,453 South Associated Road, BREA, CA Time: 1:00 pm
Sat, Dec 17 • Chicago’s musicians pay tribute to M. S. Subbulakshmi Venue: Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel,128 West 1st Street, ELMHURST, IL Time: 7:30 pm
ATLANTA Upcoming Sat, Nov 26 • Wrong Side Raju Venue: Movie 12, 3750 Venture Drive, Duluth, GA 30096 Time: 4:00 pm Contact: 404-934-9991
Sat, Dec 31 • Hawaiian style Grand New Year Party 2017 Venue: Skyland 540 Access Rd, Cumming, GA 30041 Time: 8:00 pm
Thr, Dec 01 • Party with a Purpose (GNFCC Networking Event) Venue: One Spring (Avalon),6220 1st Street, ALPHARETTA, GA Time: 5:00 pm
Bal Mukund Character Building Program and Hindi Literacy Classes
Mondays and Fridays • Free ESL - English as Second Language Classes Metropolitan Asian Family Services Venue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL, Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm Contact: 773-465-3105
Mondays and Fridays • Free ESL - English as Second Language Classes Where: Metropolitan Asian Family Services Venue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL, Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm Contact: 773-465-3105
Swami Ishatmananda • Bhagavad Gita: Philosophy of life Venue: Public Library-95th Street 3015 Cedar Glade Rd Naperville IL 60564 Time: 1st friday of every month 7-8 pm Contact: 630-637-0662
• India Eternal: From the Vedic Age to the Present Venue: Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago 10915 N. Main Street Glendale Heights, IL 60139 Time: 10:00 pm Contact: 630-655-8822
Horoscope
November 25, 2016
India Post
51
www.indiapost.com
Nov 25th - Dec 1st 2016 Please send your birthday, place of birth and time, so I can give you your zodiac sign, according to Vedic astrology. Send to Jaysastrology@gmail.com
he professional matters look ok. The promotion may be delayed. Some additional expenses are likely. Those who are appearing in selections or examinations may face problems. Stay away from manipulations, or people trying to cheat you. It is better to avoid new ventures. The child may cause concern. Some journey may be in the planning. Be patience rough week.
T
P
rofessional matters need care, avoid confrontations at work. Those of you who have strong birth planets may get promotion with some delay. Some gains are likely in property matters, if thinking about selling do it. Better to avoid unnecessary driving or risky activities due bad planets transit. Work with patience, as haste can lead to losses. Be patience.
T
he professional matters are ok. The promotions/ recognition may be delayed. The students need more efforts. The health of father needs extra care. It is better to avoid haste and conflicts. Avoid unnecessary driving and take care of your health. Manage obstructions with patience for a couple of months. Patience is the Mantra for you up to September 2017.
he professional matters need care, be vigiliant on work and avoid arguments with coworkers. The business income is likely to be delayed. Social interaction and communication is disturbed by getting in confrontation. The health of the parents also need care. Avoid conflicting situations up to February 2017, and take due care of your health. Remedy is exercise patience.
T
he professional matters look good. The time is good for those who are in the field of communications, teaching, politics and international trading. Students and those who are appearing in selections have better chance of success. Some new rewarding opportunities are likely. The transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/ Ketu are difficult for those whose ascending degree
T
he professional matters look good. The mental peace and patience help in managing the situation. Stay away from manipulations or get cheated by other people. Some additional income is likely. Silence is golden for you. Better to avoid conflicts. As transit of bad planets is not good avoid risk taking activites, being at the wrong place at wrong time.
T
T
T
he professional matters need care, avoid getting in conflicts with coworkers. Manage obstructions with patience. Keep new ventures pending, don't start new business. Avoid manipulations. Handle relationship matters with patience. Child may need help. Avoid haste, conflicts, speculation, aggressive behaviour and unnecessary driving. Enemies are likely to trouble.
T
T
T
T
he professional matters are looking good. Those who have strong planets in their birth charts are likely to get a promotion or recognition. Take care of your health. Financial position needs care. Conflicts may cause trouble, avoid arguments and stay calm. Patience is your remedy. The sleep is likely to be disturbed. It is better to avoid unnecessary driving
he professional matters look ok. Work with patience and avoid conflicts. Keep new ventures pending. The health of family needs attention, see doctor or get regular physical check up.The week may involve some additional expenses. Avoid haste, aggressive behaviour, conflicts, unnecessary expenses and driving/travel. Handle obstructions and relationship matters with care.
he professional matters need care, avoid confrontations at work. Those who are appearing in selections have a fairly good chance of success. Additional expenses are likely. Child may bring happiness, thru doing good in school. The new business opportunities should be put on hold up to January, 2017. The week is good for students. Avoid speculation.
he professional matters look ok. The new opportunities should be properly examined.Delays are likely in the sources of income. Manage obstructions with patience. It is better to avoid manipulations and unnecessary driving. The transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/Ketu are difficult for those whose ascending degree is around 13 or some planet is around 13 degree
he professional matters look ok. The incidence of conflicts and obstructions is seen. Avoid driving and doing risky activities as sudden setback due to transit is seen. Take care of your health. Manage things with patience. The transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/Ketu are difficult for those whose ascending degree is around 13 or some planet is around 13 degree in odd signs.
This weekly horoscope is more focused and accurate as these are based on ascending signs. The ascending sign is worked out on the basis of your date, time and place of birth. You will find the predictions at other places based on your Sun sign or Moon sign. The Sun remains in one sign of zodiac for one month whereas the Moon remains in one sign for about 54 hours. It is the ascending sign, which changes every couple of hours." That is how this site offers you more focused predictions.
JATIN P - ACHARYA MIHIR • JAYSASTROLOGY@GMAIL.COM • 630-675-7148
India Post
Classifieds
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
For Classifieds Ads Call NORTHERN CA (Sonia) Tel: 510-938-8668 sonia@indiapost.com (Priya) Tel. 510-275-4467 priya@indiapost.com SOUTHERN CA (Shashi Trivedi) Tel: 562-441-5511/ Fax: 562-947-0632 shashi19@yahoo.com CHICAGO (Ramesh Soparawala) Tel: 773-973-7394 / Fax: 773-973-7396 sramesh@aol.com NEW YORK (Pinky) Tel: 908 338 3752 pinky@indiapost.com
www.indiapost.com
52
GREAT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY TRENDY COFFEE/LARGE LOOP HOTEL AND OFFICE TOWER/HIGH VOLUME//MIN.CAP
$200,000" Contact Terry at
1800-942-5351
....terry@gatewaynewstands.com for more details
Philosophy
November 25, 2016
India Post 53
www.indiapost.com
Page Sponsored by Sahanis NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
W
atch your thoughts as you watch the street traffic. People come and go; you register without response. It may not be easy in the beginning, but with some practice you will find that your mind can function on many levels at the same time and you can be aware of them all. It is only when you have a vested interest in any particular level, that your attention gets caught in it and you black out on other levels. Even then the work on the blacked out levels goes on, outside the field of consciousness. Do not struggle with your memories and thoughts; try only to include in your field of attention the other, more important questions, like 'Who am l?' 'How did I happen to be born?' 'Whence this universe around me?' 'What is real and what is momentary?' No memory will persist, if you lose interest in it, it is the emotional link that perpetuates the bondage. You are always seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, always after happiness and peace. Don't you see that it is your very search for happiness that makes you feel miserable? Try the other way: indifferent to pain and pleasure, neither asking, nor refusing, give all your attention to the level on which 'I am' is timelessly
SWAMI SHANTANAND SARASWATI
T
he whole of our mind has for so long been associated with the outer world that it has quite forgotten the existence, let alone the language of the inner world. The moving mind looks for happiness in getting and experiencing things. These do not suffice for when the mind has one thing it immediately rushes after another. The still mind finds happiness in everything. The kingdom within or the heaven within is the reservoir of peace and bliss. Dive in with devotion and swim around gently in that blissful heaven that is within you. When we go into meditation we reach a spiritual world where quietness prevails like that of a deep, undisturbed ocean. There is no movement - no waves, no currents - everything is absolutely stationary. This is the meditational world. When we look out from such a spiritual world our own being or Self is seen in everything and nothing else remains. The ultimate end of meditation is to reach total immobility, or the profound stillness, which is very deep. No meter can measure it - it
present. Soon you will realize that peace and happiness are in your very nature and it is only seeking them through some particular channels that disturbs. Avoid the disturbance, that is all. To seek there is no need; you would not seek what you already have. You yourself are God, the Supreme Reality. To begin with, trust me, trust the Teacher. It enables you to make the first step -- and then your trust is justified by your own experience. In every walk of life initial trust is essential; without it little can be done. Every undertaking is an act of faith. Even your daily bread you eat
mony with the whole and the actual experience of what I say will dawn upon you in no time. No effort is needed. Have faith and act on it. Please see that I want nothing from you. It is in your own interest that l speak, because above all you love yourself, you want yourself secure and happy. Don't be ashamed of it, don't deny it. It is natural and good to love oneself. Only you should know what exactly do you love. It is not the body that you love, it is Life - perceiving, feeling, thinking, doing, loving, striving, creating. It is that Life you love, which is you,
ing that you find all. Everybody is glad to be. But few know the fullness of it. You come to know by dwelling in your mind on 'I am', 'I know', 'I love' - with the will of reaching the deepest meaning of these words. Q: Can I think 'I am God'? M: Don't identify yourself with an idea. If you mean by God the Unknown, then you merely say: 'I do not know what I am'. If you know God as you know yourself, you need not say it. Best is the simple feeling 'I am'. Dwell on it patiently. Here patience is wisdom; don't think of failure. There can be no failure in this undertaking.
Very search for happiness leads to misery Try the other way: indifferent to pain and pleasure, neither asking, nor refusing, give all your attention to the level on which Nisargadatta Maharaj
'I am' is timelessly present
on trust! By remembering what I told you, you will achieve everything. I am telling you again: You are the all-pervading, all transcending reality. Behave accordingly: think, feel and act in har-
which is all. Realise it in its totality, beyond all divisions and limitations, and all your desires will merge in it, for the greater contains the smaller. Therefore find yourself, for in find-
Pay no attention to your thoughts. Don't fight them. Your very fighting them gives them life. Excerpted from 'I Am That,' Dialogue 51- 'Be Indifferent to Pain and Pleasure'
is without end. It is not necessary to remain in this state for a long period. Most of the time spent during meditation is in preparation to lead one to this state. The stillness itself is the real experience of meditation. In a diamond mine, thousands of tons of stone are cut 300 feet below the ground. It is brought up, broken into pieces, processed, washed and then spread out to dry. Thousands of people
worthwhile because you do get a diamond - the real force, the most valuable precious material of anybody's life. The whole universe is divided into two - I and the rest! This is the world of division and we live in this world of duality. The method of meditation is to lead us from duality to unity. This method is not the end. It is like a rope through which we can go into the well or come out. Once
charged with energy just as one gets a car battery charged for further use. If, in meditation, after sounding the mantra, we start looking for anything, maybe a sound or substance, we undo the meditation. Even talking of "appreciation" is duality. In deep meditation we don't even appreciate the peace, truth, bliss or consciousness; we in fact become peaceful, truthful, blissful and conscious of
Major part of meditation is just preparation The whole universe is divided into two - I and the rest! This is the world of division and we live in this world of duality. The method of meditation is to lead us from duality to unity are engaged in picking over these small stones and looking at them. All this process goes on and ultimately they may find about 100 grams of diamonds. This also happens in meditation - so you will have to give half an hour simply to get just a few moments of contact with the Self, and it is
the necessary is accomplished, the rope is left behind. The mantra is not unity, it only leads to unity where the world of division disappears. This unity is the Absolute, Known as Truth, Consciousness and Bliss. Once we reach there, a miraculous alchemy takes place, and the being is
Swami Shantanand Saraswati
the Self. One must give up all ideas of appreciating anything about the mantra. The mantra will naturally settle down into that unity where there is no activity and no division. Excerpted from 'Sayings of Swami Shantanand Saraswati' at paulmason.info/
There exists just the One mind. -HUANG-PO No divinity if not One divinity. -Mohammed From a distance, it is something. From nearby, it is nothing. -Jean de LaFontaine Nothing can be created out of nothing. -Lucretius Do not mistake the pointing finger for the moon. -Wei Wu Wei The way is One and only One. The way is close at hand, but men seek it afar. -Mencius The way is a Void...used but never filled. An abyss it is like an ancestor from which all things come. -Tao te Ching Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub. It is the center hole that makes it useful. Advantage is had from whatever is there, but usefulness rises from what is not. -Tao te Ching Ripeness is all. -William Shakespeare Beyond the belief that something can be lost, there is nothing to lose. -Ramana Maharshi
Insure yourself FIRST. Call Sahanis, (Arish, Priya or Shiv) for your Insurance needs 718- 271- 0453. Serving for last 35 yrs
54
Edit Page
India Post
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
American turbulence: Global ramifications CHINTAMANI MAHAPATRA
B
y electing Donald Trump as the forty-fifth president of the US, the American people created history for the second time in less than a decade. The first was election of an African American as the president. What has surprised millions of poll observers and analysts is defeat of a seasoned politician by a political outsider with no administrative or political experience. The campaign during the 2016 presidential race was negative, bitter and vitriolic to a degree unprecedented in American history. More significantly, the post-election reaction to Trump's victory too is an unparalleled development. Thousands of students in various college campuses across the US and thousands of people in diverse American cities took to the streets venting their anger and
party leaders, he will remain largely dysfunctional when it comes to putting forward his policy initiatives, towards domestic or foreign policy. What Trump promised during his campaign, if implemented, would bring about a paradigm shift in American domestic politics and foreign policy; but even a fraction of it cannot be implemented without his ability to carry Congressional leaders with him. There is widespread concern about the state of things to appear once Trump assumes office. During the campaign, he repeatedly attacked the American system as "rigged." Will he now try to fix the system? During his victory speech, he made a tall promise to double the US' GDP? It is not a feasible proposition. However, he is a businessman and will
Donald Trump
frustration over the election outcome. Several political leaders around the globe also expressed their discomfort and displeasure over the election outcome in the US. While all these are extraordinary developments, the next four years of the Trump Administration will be crucial for international security and stability. The Trump Administration's approach to world affairs is uncertain and beyond credible projection, given how Trump is a political outsider and his equation with the Republican Party leadership is fractured. This is particularly pertinent in view of the Republican Party's emergence as the majority party in the US House of Representatives and the Senate. Unless Trump is able to establish dependable and cooperative ties with his
try to apply his business acumen and create an economic miracle. Trump was largely responsible for the political polarization in last eighteen months of the election season. Once he won the election, he called for national unity. He hinted that he would not drastically alter the country's foreign policy. Will the American people and world leaders believe him and cooperate with his policies? Massive demonstrations against him in schools, colleges and cities across the US and international reaction to his electoral victory tell a different story. Trump called for a wall across the US-Mexican border during the election campaign. Will he be able to build his promised wall to keep Mexican immigrants at bay? More significantly, will he be able to make Mexico pay for it? If the
Trump Administration succeeds in crafting a new immigration policy, the deportation of millions of undocumented workers will take place. This would create enormous uncertainties within the US and would affect Washington's hemispheric relationships. Donald Trump has questioned NATO's relevance and has demanded defense burden sharing by NATO members. Will the economic downturn in Europe encourage NATO members to increase their defense budgets? Trans-Atlantic ties will be in for some trouble. He also asked Japan and South Korea to make their own nuclear weapons for defense. Will Tokyo and Seoul have trust in Trump's Asia Pacific strategy? Trump's views on Muslim immigrants and Islamist extremism will also be on test in the coming years. He promised to use his "secret plan" to defeat the Islamic State in West Asia. Can he make the US win a war in that region in the backdrop of the Afghan quagmire? Will he able to gain the support and confidence of the Muslim countries in fighting terror? Thus, the US ties with Europe, Latin America, West Asia, and the Asia Pacific are in for changes and not necessarily for better. Trump will certainly try to make America great again, but the cost of it for other nations is insofar unknown. However, Trump's America is unlikely to disturb the apple cart of the Indo-US relationship. The strategic partnership between the two countries is mature enough to sustain short-term turbulence. Trade and investment cooperation, and defense and security ties between New Delhi and Washington are likely to experience an upward trajectory. What the Indian foreign policy establishment needs to be aware of are the challenges that may come as the after-effect of the Trump Administration's ties with other countries and its impact. The writer is Rector and Professor, JNU, & Columnist, IPCS
India Post Revolutionary move H
enry Ford is reported to have said whenever he wanted to do something new, he would avoid consulting an expert. An expert would always present half a dozen reasons why something could not be done. Also, he said, the moment one gets into the 'expert' state of mind, a great number of things become impossible. It also happens that when a momentous decision is taken at a high level, dozens of experts crowd in to say it won't work. If the experts said it would work, their own importance would diminish and the work would go on without their help. Former Home Minister, Congressman P. Chidamabram recently said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not consult any economist (read expert) before taking the big leap to demonetize currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. Imagine what would have happened if he had consulted any expert of that kind. Apart from advising against going in for such a move and listing dangers inherent in it, the expert would have jeopardized the implementation by being unable to keep a secret. And the whole efficacy of this daring move by Modi was in its secrecy. The demonetization move has been breathtaking in its sweep. No Indian citizen has been left untouched. Even the neighboring countries have been affected. Pakistan's official factories of making duplicate Indian currency have been closed. The terrorists find no money to inspire them to kill and be killed. The Kashmir separatists also have been numbed. Sonia Gandhi in a recent speech had a jibe at Modi saying some leaders were taking shortcuts in their ambition to achieve greatness. The long cuts of Congress rule were so long that people had to cut the Congress short. Nothing seemed to work and corruption was endemic in the top echelons. Minister after minister were being caught in scams. And the Congress people are now making the greatest noise because they are the worst affected. What will they do now with bags load of black money? It is intriguing that chief ministers like Mamata Banerjee have taken to the streets bemoaning the plight of the common people queuing up to change their old notes. The queues will soon become short and ultimately disappear and people will return to their normal business using new notes. What will the Bengal CM do when the situation becomes normal? She has called for roll back of the demonetization move. Will she stop using the new notes or will she ask her administration not to use them? What was the use of this tantrum from the top functionary of a state? Instead of cooperating with the Center to relieve the tensions of its people, she has only added to their woes. However grudgingly, she will have to accept this demonetization and function under it. She had created big drama by marching to Rashtrapati Bhavan and presenting to the President a memorandum against the demonetization move. Ironically, President Pranab Mukherjee was among the first to congratulate PM Modi for this brave move. There are reports of more and more people taking to credit/debit cards and online operations for making payments. Demonetization is encouraging people to go digital to avoid dealing with cash. This is beneficial for both the citizens and the government. Making online payments is an easy and clean operation. And the government gets to gain in taxes on dealings which will now be made more and more openly instead of underhand or in black money. More and more shopkeepers and business people are now asking for card swap machines so as to have cashless transactions. According to one leading bank, there used to be demand for such machines at the rate of 5000 per month. Now the demand has shot up to 5000 machines per day. At the end of the day, this revolutionary move by Modi will be recorded in India's history as 8/11.
November 25, 2016
www.indiapost.com
India Post 55
56 India Post
www.indiapost.com
November 25, 2016