AV 10th December 2016

First & Foremost Asian Weekly in Europe Price 80p

Vol 45 | Issue 32

Legal advice you can trust

Our areas: mJN specialist LQ\^X`UXLK `N\`La ! x`TXUF q`H ! lNRQ\NKF q`H ! zXLQJK\L ! tTTXZN`KXRS

AMMA NO MORE G

G

G

G

020 8951 6989

www.axiomstone.co.uk info@axiomstone.co.uk

Axiom Stone Solicitors is the trading name of Axiom Stone London Limited. Company Registration No. 6546205. We are Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

10th December to 16th December 2016

TM

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

End of an Era in Indian Regional Politics

Modi wins Time's online 'Person of the Year' poll

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won an online poll of readers for Time magazine's 'Person of the Year' in 2016, beating out other world leaders, artists and politicians as the most influential figure of the year.

Continued on page 26

India, Afghanistan target Pak on cross-border terror

Modi with the Afghanistan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani

Heart of Asia conference held in Amritsar recently, saw terrorism as one of the main focus area, with both, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani seeking to corner Islamabad over the issue.

Continued on page 26

Fat dispute: British Hindus boycott the new £5 notes Rupanjana Dutta

"Amma why have you left us," a woman wailed as another next to her beat her chest in grief. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who passed away following a cardiac arrest leaving a power vacuum in the state, was laid

to rest next to her mentor and former chief minister M G Ramachandran, at the MGR memorial on

See also page 16 & 17

46 Church Road, Stanmore, Middlesex, London HA7 4AH

email@travelinstyle.co.uk

Kamarajar Salai. The leader was buried as against the Hindu tradition of the Brahmin caste.

Senior members of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party said she had transcended caste for her people.

Masses of visibly distraught people streamed into the large public park inside which Jaya's body was wrapped in the national flag. The outcome was so intense, security forces struggled to control the Continued on page 26

Traces of meat in the new £5 notes has faced with widespread outrage from British Hindus, Jains and Sikhs as well as vegans and vegetarians. Some of the prominent British Hindu leaders told Asian Voice that they want to boycott the new £5 notes from temples after it was revealed that they contain meat.

Continued on page 13

2

ONE ONE with Keith Vaz, MP

Asian Voice 10th December 2016

www.asian-voice.com

to

Jonathan Shalit OBE

Professor Jonathan Shalit, OBE, is Chairman of ROAR Global the largest independent talent management agency in London. He was honoured in the Queen’s 2014 Birthday Honours list for his services to the Entertainment Industry.

Jonathan is also an Honorary Professor of the Arts at Henley Business School. ROAR Global represents around 200 individual talents. During the last year its stars have broadcast over 5000 hours of television, sold over 1 million CDs and appeared in the best-selling book charts.

Jonathan also provides personal consultation and introductions to private individuals, commercial and public sector organisations.

1) What is your current position?

I am Chairman of ROAR Global – the largest independent talent management agency in the UK representing around 200 clients including Jamelia, Joan Collins, Kelly Brook, Lorraine Kelly, Mel B, Myleene Klass, Pixie Lott, Rebecca Ferguson and Gregg Wallace.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Being awarded an OBE for Service to the Entertainment Industry this Summer and being made an Honorary Professor of the Arts at Henley Business School. Having my parents with me at the investiture at Buckingham Palace ensured the day was one I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Harrow-on-the-Hill station is to be made accessible

Local stakeholder groups joined Navin Shah on Tuesday by the steps of Harrow On The Hill station at 4pm to mark the London Mayor’s announcement and celebrate the success of their sustained campaign for step-free access at Harrow On The Hill station.

The campaign for strep-free access to Harrow On The Hill station was spearheaded by local London Assembly Member Navin Shah who campaigned with stakeholder groups such as Harrow Association of Disable People, Harrow Mencap and Age UK Harrow.

Labour’s London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, Navin Shah AM, said: “I welcome Mayor Khan’s announcement for step free access at

Harrow-on-the-Hill station. I have been campaigning to improve accessibility at this station for at least 10 years alongside local resident groups and stakeholder bodies such as Harrow Association of Disabled People and Harrow Mencap. ‘’The previous Mayor, Boris Johnson withdrew funding and halted works to make this station accessible and failed to respond to growing concerns about poor accessibility for disable, elderly people and parents with buggies at this station. ‘’I would like to thank the Mayor Khan and the Deputy Mayor for Transport, Val Shawcross for acting quickly to improve the transport infrastructure since arriving at City Hall 7 months ago.”

AsianVoiceNews

9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?

I would lessen the debt burden on students in further education.

Education is the key to the future and should not come at the cost of delivering our brightest talent into a world of overwhelming debt before they even start on the career ladder.

3) What inspires you?

Talented people with conviction and belief

4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?

Not knowing anyone in the industry I am in when I started out. Now I know everyone in the great entertainment family which is wonderful professionally and personally.

5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?

In recent years wife Katrina whom I have known for 11 years – we married four years ago. In the past, undoubtedly the late great Larry Adler through whom I worked with Elton John, Sting, Cher, Sir George ‘Beatles’ Martin, Jim Carrey and Robin Williams.

6) What is the best aspect about your current role?

Working with inspiring and talented people and now being in a position where my success gives me the opportunity to create opportunities for others.

7) And the worst?

Paperwork 8) What are your long term goals?

To see one of my clients win a Grammy, Oscar and Emmy.

Rent racism: AirBnB’s ethnic hosts get raw deal Landlords from an ethnic background are being discriminated against on rentals on room sharing site AirBnB. According to a study by Warwick University, black and Asian landlords get less rent on AirBnB than white homeowners looking to rent out similar properties in the same area.

This ethnic price gap – which is an average 6% for London properties on AirBnB – is a result of guests discriminating against

hosts from an ethnic background.

“As a result of this ‘statistical discrimination’ ethnic minority hosts have to set their prices lower to meet the demand,” Roland Rathelot, assistant professor of economics at Warwick, said, according to a report in The Times.

AirBnB is an online service which allows people to rent out rooms in their homes, or even entire properties. The site has over 2 million listings in over 190 countries.

Report warns of chaos in welfare system All is not well as far as Britain’s welfare system is concerned.

A quarter of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants have been punished for abusing the benefits system over the past five years.

The scale of the problems in Britain’s welfare system has been exposed in a report warning the government is spending millions of pounds more

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

checking up on claimants than it is clawing back in penalties.

Use of sanctions varies ‘substantially’ across the country and there is little evidence they are effective, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

Over 1 million unemployed benefits claimants have to meet certain conditions, such as showing they are looking for work, to receive their payments.

10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?

Nikola Tesla, a Serbian American inventor, best known for his contributions to the design of the modern electricity supply system. He was a visionary who saw and understood the future. If only we could all see into the future, we could avoid wasting so much time chasing down blind alleys!

Friend to collect Dylan's Nobel prize Bob Dylan, the winner of Nobel Prize for Literature, has written a speech for Saturday’s banquet which will be read in his absence.

The songwriter is too busy to attend his Nobel Prize ceremony and is sending his friend the legendary Patti Smith in his place.

Nobel spokeswoman Annika Pontikis says Dylan’s diploma and medal

Bob Dylan

will be given to him at a later date.

Missing sleep doubles crash risk Those who miss between one to two hours of the recommended seven hours of sleep in a 24-hour period and then getting behind the wheel, nearly double their risk for a crash, a major study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found. It is as

dangerous as driving while drunk. AAA warns drivers that getting less than seven hours of sleep may have deadly consequences.

It is thought that driving while drowsy is responsible for around one in five crashes on British roads.

Divorce rates fall as couples live together Divorce rates have reportedly dropped to their lowest level in 40 years as couples increasingly live together without being married or choose to walk down the aisle later in life.

There were 111,169

divorces in England and Wales in 2014 – a drop of 3.1% compared with 2013.

The overall divorce rate fell to 9.3 per thousand married males and females – the lowest level for both sexes since 1974.

Need to Send or Collect Parcels from INDIA/WORLDWIDE

Worldwide - Express Courier - Excess Luggage - Freight Services

Rates from INDIA to U.K. from £3.75 per Kilo*

Parcels to India

First Flight Courier & Cargo Ltd.

From £3.25 per Kilo*

Email: cs@firstflightuk.com / firstflight_lhr@yahoo.co.uk

WWW.FIRSTFLIGHTUK.COM

Tel: 0203 657 2280

Unit A-12, 179 - 191, Staines Road, Hounslow, Middlesex TW3 3LL

*Terms & Conditions apply.

C MMENTS

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice |10th December 2016

3

New alignment mooted for global security Elements of the statement below by Democratic party Californian Congressman Dana Rohrabacbacher have appeared, from time to time, on this page, but given his importance as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, an abridged version of his declaration to the US media should be of interest to Asian Voice readers.

The US, India, Russia and Japan should form an alliance to preserve world peace and stability and secure freedom against radical Islam and China, said Dana Rohrabacher. Observing that his worldview is similar to that of the President-elect Donald Trump, Congressman Rohrabacher said Japan, India, Russia, and the US share common interests, common rivals, and by working together would fashion a more peaceful and prosperous global order. "New alliances, like a grand alliance by the United States with Russia, Japan and India could well do more to preserve the peace and the stability of the world and secure our freedom especially against radical Islam and China that many of the old alliances could not, because the old alliances are not useful in meeting today's challenges.’

Rohrabacher told the BreitBartNews. "With the right policies, India will have the same economic growth we have seen in China. Its people have

incredible entrepreneurial and technological skills and talents, ‘The United States is no longer in a position to do that alone,’ he noted.

Rohrabacher said the Asia Pacific rebalance was an attempt to meet the challenge from China, but China is now more emboldened because of President Barack Obama's pivot was so poorly executed.

‘India and Japan are major powers in the world right now and their potential is enormous. If we are working with them and we have a workable coalition with them, that is something that would balance off the dynamics at play with an expanding China,’ he said. ‘Japan has a very strong economy that is quite often overlooked as a force in the world because it is so peaceful,’ Rohrabacher said. What are we to make of his sentiments?

American policy, it would appear, is on the cusp of change. There is some way to go and many hurdles to cross before the goals are achieved. It is never easy to surmount ancient and entrenched prejudices and overcome the opposition of vested interests..The struggle to establish a new and stable global order involves the long-term welfare of humanity. It is an ideal worth struggling for. We have been trapped in sterile divisions of suspicion and discord for far too long. We deserve better.

Brexit must offer clarity for closer Indo-British ties Speaking at the London launch of a book entitled, ‘The Modi Doctrine,’ at the Indian High Commission recently, the ruling BJP’s head of the Foreign Affairs Division, Vijay Chauthaiwale said the British Prime Minister Teresa May’s visit to India – the first outside Europe – had given rise to positive expectations tinged with scepticism about the possibility of a closer Indo-British partnership.

He suggested greater British clarity on the details of Brexit: on the terms negotiated with the European Union for the UK’s departure from the organization and the future economic relationship between them. This would clear the ground for an Indo-British free trade agreement, which could be a win-win boon for both parties. Mr Chauthaiwale said: ‘That uncertainty had been reflected in the (May) visit. To take the (Indo-British) relationship to the next level we will need to get a lot of clarity. from the British side.’ Mr Chauthaiwale is one of the editors of the work mentioned above.

He then dealt with the vexed problem of immigration, he suggested a more pragmatic British

approach to the issue and referred to the serious decline in Indian students numbers in British universities. The movement of labour follows the movements of capital. Skilled Indian labour – in the IT sector, particularly – to work in UK-based companies on a short-term or long-term basis is as beneficial to the UK economy as it is to the Indian.

The Labour opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn has criticized the British government for failing to treat India as a true partner, referring to the Indian contribution to British political and cultural life.

India’s Commerce and Industries Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, told the BBC that Britain and India were in a ‘tight professional engagement,’ rather than basking in the convivial sentiments of the past. There is much work to do.

However, it can be done from a robust platform already in good working order. The UK is the largest foreign investor in India, and India is the third-largest investor in the UK after the United States and Japan. This is important going forward.

Rise of the new Indian middle class A month or so ago, a young Finnish visitor to India in a conversation with an Indian reporter related his experience of the country ever since he had first arrival in the late 1980s. Buying a railway ticket then required the toil of an entire day as he moved from counter to counter in search of the elusive bit of paper. The shifting of the tectonic plates from what derisively described as the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ to the economic liberalization when the suffocating barriers of the licence and permit raj was dismantled took time to register. The youthful Finn was unable to detect any dramatic transformation in the country during his visits through the 1990s. It was around 2003-04, that he noticed the change: a rail ticket could be bought online in a minute. Shopping malls were sprouting everywhere, The availability of goods and services had taken a giant leap forward. The consumer market was humming. This was a new, eye-catching India, which he hadn’t caught onto before because the economic reforms were gradually working their way through the rusted system The 21st century saw the take-off, said the Finn.

Now, it was full speed ahead. This cameo can be enlarged into a broader print. Central to it has been the rise of the new Indian middle class whose numbers, aspirations and earning power have surprised foreigners long accustomed to the mores of old India.

Recently the Boston Consulting Group and the Mint newspaper collaborated in a feature on the emergent India. They began with the story of a 35

year-old primary schoolteacher, Kavita, based in Nagpur, a Tier-II city in Maharashtra. The place bustled with activity, commerce thrived and the city was expanding in all directions. Kavita’s husband, Prakash, works for a trading company and their eight year-old daughter Roshni, attends a smart English medium secondary school. Husband and wife have a joint monthly income of Rs 90,000, smoothly comfortable by Indian standards. The family can afford pleasurable weekends at cinemas and restaurants. They described these weekends as ‘fundays.’

Time was when Kavita grew up in a joint family.

Her father worked in a public sector company for a modest salary, her mother was a house wife whose education had stopped at the primary level. But she insisted that her daughter, Kavita, enroll at a smart modern school and then go to college and graduate, much against the wishes of the older conservative relatives around them. It turned out to be an exhilarating ride into the future – a future that clearly works.

The new Indian middle class at present has 26 per cent of national market share; by 2025, the figure is expected to rise to 40 per cent. The digital revolution in mobile phones and internet access has risen, and is rising, phenomenally across the country, making it an instrument of democratization and a catalyst for an emergent modern economy. India is set to surprise the world. More importantly, it is set to surprise itself.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main - John Donne (1572-1631)

LORD LOOMBA CBE TO JOIN NON-AFFILIATED PEERS Lord Loomba CBE, known the world over for his steadfast work in promoting the plight of widows worldwide, has announced his decision to join the Nonaffiliated peers in the House of Lords and step down from the Liberal Democrat Party.

Speaking on Friday 2 December, Lord Loomba said: "I have enjoyed being a party member for the past six years; however, I now wish to concentrate on issues such as human rights, gender equality, education and above all the United Nations’ 2030 S u s t a i n a b l e Development Goals."

These issues are ones that Lord Loomba has long campaigned upon both inside and outside Parliament. His work has led him to many countries and continents in order to raise the issue of the treatment of widows, who often for cultural reasons are cast out of their community on the death of their husband. Lord Loomba, who recently published his second book on the widows’ issues and their difficulties, is keen to focus his efforts more ardently on the circumstances that cause many widows to live in poverty, and to improve their lives. The book, the World Widows Report, recently quoted in a debate in the House of Lords, and cited in research by the House of Lords Library, shows how the number of widows is increasing worldwide, often

Lord Raj Loomba

through conflict and disease that it is leading to more poverty, more destitution and an increased risk of violence for widows of all ages.

Having agreed to the request by Lord Newby, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, to delay the announcement of his decision until after the Richmond Park byelection, Lord Loomba is now keen to begin concentrating on the issues he feels most passionate about with a new found zeal free away from the constraints of party politics and empowered to build cross-party consensus. Noting how human rights, gender equality and education dominate the sustainable development goals agenda Lord Loomba reaffirmed his determination to ensure that widows do not get left behind in the race to improve the life chances of the many millions of people living in poverty.

Outlining his plans for the future Lord Loomba added: "These are the issues closest to my heart and where I feel I am able to offer the most."

www.theloombafoundation.org The Loomba Foundation Loomba House 622 Western Avenue London W3 0TF 020 8102 0351

4

UK

www.asian-voice.com

Mum wants cyber bullying law enforced The distraught parents of a teenager who took his own life have said the law needs to change to make cyber bullying a specific offence.

Rajinder Mina and Rayat's 15-year-old son Brandon Singh Rayat was found hanged at his home in Humberstone on August 9, following 18 months of abuse from bullies, his parents said.

The torment included Brandon being sent abusive messages online, and fake Facebook pages being set up to taunt him.

While there is a number of existing laws that can be applied to cases of cyber bul-

lying and online harassment, such as the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and Malicious Communications Act 1988, there is currently no legal definition of cyber bullying within UK law.

Mina said she believed

that if there was a specific cyber bullying law, the police would be able to step in far earlier to help victims, deal with the culprits and prevent it continuing.

She intends to campaign for a change in the law to get "justice" for Brandon.

Speaking to the Leicester Mercury Mina said: "I will fight and fight for this, because Brandon needed and deserves some justice. He suffered terribly at the hands of his bullies and I wouldn't want any other parent to go through something like this.

There needs to be a law so that the police can take these

matters up and act accordingly."

Speaking of the bullies' actions, she said: "They set up a fake Facebook account in the name of Jimmy Savile and sent him horrendous messages. They also made threats of rape against him and myself."

The family have asked Leicester East MP Keith Vaz to raise the issue in Parliament and force a debate. They have also set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help them pay for legal representation at Brandon's inquest, which takes place next year.

Solihull student drowned while swimming in sea A university student drowned on a family holiday in Turkey after swimming in the sea during a boat trip, an inquest heard.

Subhan Khan, 19 and from Solihull, was described as a “strong swimmer” but died after getting into difficulties in the Aegean coastal resort of Altinkum.

An inquest into his death was held at Birmingham Coroner’s Court on Monday.

It heard the business and commerce university student was on holiday with three cousins when tragedy struck on May 18 this year. His father Nazakit Khan said his son had phoned him the day

before he died.

Mr Khan said: “He just sounded so happy and told me he was really enjoying himself. He said he had planned to go on a boat trip the following day. He was just his usual happy self. Subhan was a strong swimmer in swimming pools but it was the first time he had been in the sea on that holiday.”

His father Nazakit Khan said his son had phoned him the day before he died.

Mr Khan said: “He just sounded so happy and told me he was really enjoying himself. He said he had planned to go on a boat trip the following day. He was just

Subhan Khan who died whilst on family holiday in Turkey

his usual happy self. Subhan was a strong swimmer in swimming pools but it was the first time he had been in

the sea on that holiday.”

Uzayr Arif, one of the cousins, told the inquest the four men had enjoyed breakfast before heading out on the boat trip at around 10am.

The boat had been travelling for half an hour when it anchored up and those on board were offered the opportunity to swim.

Mr Khan, from Wineford Croft, was taken to hospital in Altinkum but it is believed he was declared dead on arrival.

Mr Arif said the sea wasn’t cold and was still, with no currents.

A post mortem revealed Mr Khan died from drowning.

Family of Akhtar Javeed pleased he didn't 'die alone' The family of a Birmingham businessman shot dead during an armed robbery have said they are pleased he was not alone when he died.

Akhtar Javeed was shot in the leg, chest and face in the ‘execution’ style murder when crooks targeted his business Direct Source 3 in Digbeth.

Ealier this year Suraj Mistry, 26, from Leicester, was sentenced to 23 years in jail for Mr Javeed’s manslaughter and found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear, harm and violence.

Lemar Wali, 19, from Derby, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery and jailed for seven years.

Sander Van Aalten, a former employee of Mr Javeed, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and was sent to prison for 6 years and 8 months at Birmingham Crown Court.

Mr Javeed didn’t die instantly - West Midlands Police officers who were first to the scene battled desperately to save his life.

Sergeants Richard Nutt

Akhtar Javeed

In Brief

AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice |10th December 2016

Lamar Wali, Suraj Mistry, Sander Van Aalten

a n d Julie Kempson, plus PC Matt Moore, administered first aid in a bid to stem the blood loss and performed CPR for around 30 minutes while paramedics performed advanced trauma care.

Grandfather Mr Javeed sadly passed away in hospital shortly after the February 3 attack and three people were later jailed for a total of almost 40 years for their part in plotting and carrying out the robbery.

The three officers were awarded a special certificate on behalf of the Royal Humane Society at an awards ceremony that was attended by several of Mr Javeed’s family.

Mr Javeed’s daughter, Lilas, said: “We wanted to be

there in person to thank the officers for the selflessness

and care they showed my father; they went above and beyond in trying to save his life. Without a second thought they put themselves in potential danger not knowing if armed robbers were still present...They were there for him when we were not able to be… and it helps us to know he was not alone in his last moments.

To us, these officers truly deserve these awards.”

21 year old killed in crash on North Circular Tributes have been paid to a 21year-old man killed in a horror smash which left five other people in hospital after a weekend of bloodshed on London’s roads. A 12-year-old boy was knocked down by a Royal Mail truck in Holborn, and a 28year-old woman suffered “lifechanging” head injuries after being hit by a bus near the British Museum in Bloomsbury. A 24-year-old motorcycle courier also died after being thrown from his bike following a collision with a minicab in Maida Vale.

Saif Ali, 21, from

Walthamstow, was at the wheel of his BMW when it collided with a Vauxhall Astra on the North Circular in Barking at 10.30pm on Saturday. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 19-year old Astra driver and four teenage passengers in his car were taken to hospital.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Jail term 'not too long' for teenage rapist who threatened to stab vulnerable victim

A teenage rapist who threatened to stab his "vulnerable" victim has failed to convince judges his eight-year sentence was too tough.

Ibrahim Abdulle (19), from Leicester, was with another man wandering around Leicester railway station on October 8 last year when they came across their victim, who is in her mid40s. She agreed to engage in a sex act with the other man in exchange for £9, Mr Justice Singh told London's Appeal Court. Abdulle was convicted of rape at Leicester Crown Court and jailed for eight years on May 6.

Largest survey of UK Sikhs launched by University

Academics from the University of Wolverhampton have joined forces with the Sikh Network to develop the largest and most comprehensive survey of UK Sikhs. Findings from the UK Sikh Survey 2016 were presented to local Wolverhampton MPs, Pat McFadden and Rob Marris, recently by representatives from the University’s Department of Religion, Philosophy and Cultural Heritage. The data and information gathered by academics in the survey will be used to better inform policy and decision making by government departments, other public bodies and political parties to address the needs and issues of the British Sikh community.

Lorry driver faces jail for causing crash which killed a father-of-11

A lorry driver was putting his eye drops in when he lost control of his HGV and caused a crash that killed a father-of-11. Rajesh Patel, 54, became distracted while doing 56mph and smashed into a broken down Volvo truck which was carrying a full load of chopped iron and steel. Fellow trucker Nigel Blount, 62, was then unable to avoid careering into the back of Patel's Mercedes HGV. Mr Blount was trapped for an hour before being cut free by firefighters and rushed to hospital with serious trauma injuries, including fractured ribs and vertebrae. He died in hospital five weeks later from an infection but doctors said the spinal trauma injuries he suffered in the crash were 'a major contribution to his death'. A court heard Patel told paramedics who treated him after the crash that he had been putting some eye drops in. The trucker later told police that was a reference to medication and claimed he wasn't doing so at the time of the smash.

Woman jailed after police find sawn-off shotgun wardrobe

A woman has been jailed after police found a sawn-off shotgun in her bedroom wardrobe in south-west London. Tahira NelsonWarburton, from Wandsworth, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to cause fear or violence. Police searching her home in Strathdon Drive discovered a rucksack in her wardrobe which contained, wrapped in clothing, a shotgun and ammunition. Officers searched the bedroom further and found a makeup bag in a chest of drawers which contained more ammunition.

They also found a large amount of cash.

UK

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Over £1bn spent by NHS on just four drugs NHS is spending over £1 billion on just four drugs, latest figures show.

Of its depleted £116 billion budget, the NHS now spends 15% on medications and treatments, which is 30% higher than it was five years ago, up from £13 billion in 2011 to £16.8 billion in the last year.

According to data from NHS Digital, the most drug was expensive Adalimumab – used to treat arthritis – costing £416 million.

Ranibizumab – used to help ease macular degeneration – was responsible for nearly £249 million of

the NHS’ budget.

Etanercept – an arthritis drug – cost £230 million, while Aflibercept – bowel cancer treatment – cost £198 million.

Infliximab – £178,179 million – used to treat Crohn’s disease, Rituximab – £155,893 million – used to treat arthritis, Trastuzumab – £152,037 million – used to treat breast and stomach cancer, Lenalidomide – £141,840 million – used to treat myeloma, Rivaroxaban – £106,586 million – used as an anticoagulant, Imatinib – £89,067 million – used to treat leukaemia.

3 boys named after terrorising neighbours Three young brothers who have been firing catapults at passing cars, terrorising their neighbourhood and killing animals in Colnbrook have been issued with youth injunctions.

Following action by Slough Borough Council, Maidenhead Youth Court in Berkshire issued 12month injunctions against 12-year-old Danny Smith, 14-year-old Mickey Dean Smith and 16-year-old Billy Smith, from Moreland Avenue, Colnbrook.

Following complaints from neighbours, police and businesses, the trio – who were accused of offences including tortur-

ing and abusing neighbours’ pets – are now under curfew banning them from leaving home without a responsible adult between 9pm and 6am.

They can also not act in an anti-social manner, which includes carrying catapults or other weapons, using threatening or abusive language and harming animals.

Paul Sohal, a councillor, said: “They have been systematically and continuously waging a war of harassment, cruelty and anti-social behaviour on local residents…For too long these young people have refused to change their behaviour.”

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

The Bhavan organises a successful Diwali Fundraising Gala Rupanjana Dutta On Wednesday 30th November, The Bhavan, the largest centre of classical Indian arts and culture outside India, celebrated Diwali with a fundraising banquet at the London Marriott Hotel, near Swiss Cottage. The event was aimed at raising money for this charity to fulfil its mission of ensuring that the rich artistic and cultural heritage of India is alive and available to all.

The gala evening was attended by crème de la crème of the community and it kick started with a networking session, while guests enjoyed their drinks and Indian snacks, prepared by Ragasaam. It was followed by a sit down vegeterian dinner.

The Chief Guest was I n t e r n a t i o n a l Development Secretary, Rt Hon Priti Patel and HE Dinesh K Patnaik, the Indian High Acting Commissioner, who attended the function with his wife Mrs Poonam Patnaik.

After a rousing drum introduction by Mridangam and Tabla teachers and an introductory prayer from the Vedas

by Executive Director Dr M N Nandakumara, The Bhavan’s Chairman Joginder Sanger wel-

Rt Hon Priti Patel MP with The Bhavan's teachers and students

behind is culture. If we want culture to continue we all need to support The Bhavan to continue.”

International Development Secretary Priti Patel said: “The UK and India share a longstanding bond built on shared history, impressive cooperation on arts, business and education and our strong people to people ties. Understanding each other’s traditions is an important way of deepening this strategic partnership and I praise the

Family claim Sikh mother 'victim of honour killing' A Sikh mother of four who died in “highly suspicious circumstances” in March 2015 during a trip to India was the victim of an “honour killing” orchestrated by her north Londonbased husband, her family claimed. The Sikh mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had allegedly refused to allow her youngest son to be adopted by her childless brother-in-law, who was said to be desperate for a male heir to get “ancestral wealth”.

Representatives of the mother's family wrote a

letter to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in this regard. In the letter they claimed she was “tricked” into going on a family trip to India, where she died following an exchange with her husband, a Hindu builder, about giving up their youngest son. She was cremated without their knowledge before they could fly her back to Britain, the family claimed.

The Met said it was “aware of the tragic death” but was “unable to comment publicly”, according to a report in The Times.

Rudd vows £13.4m to guard Jewish schools, synagogues Home Secretary Amber Rudd has earmarked millions for guarding Jewish schools, colleges and synagogues in a bid to counter an alarming rise in anti-semitic attacks.

The Tory rising star has vowed to spend £13.4 million to provide guards for all such

Jewish institutions.

She warned of the “increasingly sophisticated” tactics of far right extremists since the murder of Jo Cox, the MP killed by Neo-Nazi Thomas Mair in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in June.

Mair was handed a whole life sentence for the murder of Jo Cox.

5

work in showcasing our people-to-people ties and next year will be a landmark one as we celebrate UK-India Year of Culture.”

A series of events are being lined up for the 2017

the largest institute of Indian arts and culture outside the Indian subcontinent hosting wide range of exhibitions, performances and classes, will be among the participat-

The Bhavan's Chairman- Mr Joginder Sanger, Fundraising Committee Chair- Dr Surekha Mehta and Executive Director Dr Nandakumara welcoming the Chief Guest, HE Dinesh Patnaik, Acting High Commissioner of India

Mrs & Mr Joginder Sanger, Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, Mrs Poonam Patnaik and H E Dinesh Patnaik, Acting High Commissioner of India

comed the 300 guests. The NRI hotelier said, "The aim of the centre is to spread the message of art and culture, which reflects Gandhian values of peace and non-violence."

The programme included live performances of Bharatanatyam and Kathak dance by top students of The Bhavan, as well as videos that gave a fuller picture of the organisation’s activities.

Compère was BBC Asian Network presenter Ashanti Omkar who introduced the evening’s chief guests.

HE Dinesh K Patnaik, Acting High Commissioner of India, said “The culture of the nation is what is important. What we leave

efforts of the British Asian diaspora and organisations like the Bhavan Centre in preserving India’s vibrant heritage and in turn making the UK a more diverse and culturally rich place to live.

I look forward to the world's oldest and its largest democracy working together to tackle the global challenges of today.”

She further added, "We are living in turbulent times and it is more important now than ever that we appreciate each other's cultures. Our two countries set the perfect example for that.

"It is no surprise that the Bhavan Centre set up its largest branch outside India in the UK, 44 years ago. It does some great

UK-India Year of Culture, including a photography exhibition at the Science museum, a major digitisation programme of 200,000 pages of South Asian archival print docu-

ing institutions.

This years annual banquet also paid homage to Bhavan Centres former patron, Judge Mota Singh, Britains first Sikh judge who passed away last

The Bhavan's Chairman- Mr Joginder Sanger, Fundraising Committee Chair- Dr Surekha Mehta and Executive Director Dr Nandakumara welcoming the Chief Guest, Rt Hon Priti Patel MP

ments held at the British Library in London, including 4000 Bengali books, as well as a tour of the Magna Carta and works of Shakespeare to India.

The Bhavan Centre, which describes itself as

month. Chair of The Bhavan’s fundraising committee Dr Surekha Mehta, who has been the organiser, proposed a vote of thanks to all.

Photo Credit: Raj Takhar

6

UK

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice |10th December 2016

Nicomsoup takes 'Nutzy' off shelves over controversy Following a controversy over their drinks bottles featuring 'Nazi' swastikas on them, Old Street Tube station café Nincomsoup revealed the whole thing was a publicity stunt. A female customer was left appalled with an offensive image on their almond milk and peanut butter drinks on sale. When she confronted the store manager, he responded by saying it was "an inverted swastika, a Hindu symbol of health and prosperity."

While the brand removed the products off the shelves, fired the "rogue employee" responsible and issued an apology on its website, café founder Ben Page-Phillips later said the whole thing was a publicity stunt. In a recent statement, he said, "Incredulously, it has been suggested by some, that the Nincomsoup management team sat down in our marketing department, and carefully orchestrated this whole affair as some big publicity stunt. Apparently, we discussed label design, ordered lavels from the printers, manufactured the drink, stocked the

shelves and waited for the hate campaign to start."

He added, "There is no management team. There is no marketing department, and it should be evident from this whole fiasco that we don't have a social media team either.

It's just me. I have an amazing dedicated team of 8 people who make the soups, juices, coffee and baked goods."

The unidentified female customer involved, said she was almost in tears as it showed her that "anti-Semitism and fascism is still utterly present." Speaking with the Campaign Against AntiSemitism group, she said when she confronted the manager about the name of the drink, Nutzy, he

said it was a "play on the 'having the nuts' meaning 'having the courage' and was a pun on the drink containing nuts." She said, "I responded that I lost my family to the Nazi regime and that despite the Hindu use of the symbol, this along with the name of the drink was extremely offensive. He said that London is a free city."

Page-Phillips said, "I cannot tell you what was going through his(employee) mind when he created the label.

Without doubt it was a gross misjudgement of epic proportions, but I did get to know him well enough to be sure that he does not have a single ounce of malicious intent towards anyone." the Campaign Against Antisemitism sent volunteers two days after the incident, and found the drinks were back in stock but the image was replaced with another of the Pope waving.

Man with bionic penis is ‘too tired’ to have sex with scores of female admirers A man with a bionic penis has been inundated with offers of sex but says he is too tired to take advantage of any of them.

Mohammed Abad, 44, lost his virginity to a prostitute in April after being fitted with the £70,000 eight inch prosthetic in 2012.

But he doesn’t seem in a rush to go for another round and has blamed his long work hours as a security guard.

Speaking to the Star Mr Abad said: ‘I get a lot of messages from women online who ask me if I will have sex with them.

They’ve heard about my

bionic penis and they want to try it out. They are all very intrigued and think I can make love for hours.

It’s not that I don’t want to and I get offers, but I have been so busy with work. I work 14-hour shifts every day and by the time I get home I’m just too tired for sex.’

Mr Abad’s bionic penis becomes erect when he presses a button in his testicles and it fills with liquid stored in his stomach. He also revealed his parents were currently looking for a second wife for him and he was looking forward to consummating the mar-

Mohammed Abad, 44, has had plenty of offers for sex but is too tired

riage this time round. His first wife apparently left him because he couldn’t have children.

Mr Abad, from Edinburgh, lost his penis in a traffic accident when he was just six years old.

Shopkeeper headbutted by man following alleged theft at Fulham store A shopkeeper was left battered and bruised after trying to stop a man and woman who allegedly stole items from his west London store.

Detectives investigating the “unprovoked assault” at Riz Repair on North End Road, Fulham, have released CCTV footage of the pair they want to question.

They entered the store at about midday on Wednesday, September 12 and stated they wanted a replacement for a product they had bought.

But when the shopkeeper inspected the item and said he could not help, the man refused to accept his verdict.

His accomplice allegedly stole phone accessories from behind the counter during the altercation, before handing them to the

man and abruptly leaving together.

The shopkeeper hurried after them and out the store’s door, demanding the products back. The man retaliated by head-butting him in the eye during a scuffle before both he and the woman fled in the direction of Sedlescombe Road.

The victim required stitches for a deep cut above his left eye.

Detectives are now appealing for witnesses or anyone who recognises the man and woman in the CCTV footage.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Muslim enforcer Michael Coe jailed for attacking teen couple in Newham An associate of convicted hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for 28 months for knocking a boy unconscious because he was cuddling a girl.

Michael Coe, 35, saw the two 16-year-olds hugging in the street in Newham, east London, in April and demanded to know if they were Muslims.

Southwark Crown Court heard the Muslim convert then called the girl a "whore", before throwing the boy to the ground.

Coe also attacked a passing teacher who had tried to help the couple.

Judge Michael Gledhill QC said the two children

had denied they were Muslim when challenged

by Coe. Coe had admitted "shoving" the boy - who is half his size - claiming he was acting in self-defence, but was convicted in August of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and battery.

The court heard the

father of two was radicalised in prison by alQaeda terrorist Dhiren Barot in 2007 while serving an eight-year term for firing a shotgun at police during an arrest.

Coe was also convicted of religiously aggravated harassment in 2013 after seeing a Muslim woman talking to a group of men and telling her that it was against Islam.

The defendant, also known as Mikaeel Ibrahim, became a close associate of convicted hate preacher Choudary, founder of the banned organisation alMuhajiroun, of which Coe was a member.

Amazon pulls ‘Allah’ doormats that ‘encourage people to wipe feet on God’s name’

Cllr Mariam Khan

Amazon has been forced to stop selling doormats with Allah’s name on them after they were branded ‘offensive’ by Muslims.

Dozens of outraged Muslims said they had been offended by the product which allowed people to wipe their feet on Allah’s name.

The site has since

apologised and pulled the doormat and dog mat products from the site.

The mats were reported to Amazon by Birmingham councillor Mariam Khan, who was alerted to the offensive nature of the products by a number of constituents.

The 26-year-old said the mats flew in the face of the current Amazon

Christmas advert, which promotes racial and religious harmony.

In the ad, a Christian priest and Muslim Imam order gifts for each other from the retail giant.

Amazon claims the product was placed on its site by a third party seller, who simply used the site as a platform to sell its products.

Councillor Khan has since praised Amazon for acting on her concerns so swiftly.

Child rapist told victim she must have sex with him if she wants to grow A man who repeatedly raped a young girl after telling her that he must have sex with her if she wanted to grow.

Mohammed Dauhoo, 72, played on the child’s vulnerabilities from the ages of 10 to 13. He is already serving a 19-and-a-half year sentence for sexually assaulting three others as young as four

years old. The court heard Dauhoo has ‘no remorse’ and ‘took no responsibility’ for his 24 previous convictions for abusing three other children. Judge Hales told Dauhoo ‘you will very likely spend your remaining years in prison’ before handing him a 14-and-a-half year sentence for two counts of

sexual assault of a child under 13, five counts of rape of a child under 13, and two counts of sexual activity with a child. Dauhoo, from Edmonton, north London, was handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and signed the sex offenders’ register when he was convicted in 2013.

A young boy from Slough easily beat his targets in a charity swim A young boy has smashed his targets in a charity swim.

Sahdev Rana, nine, aimed to swim 500m solo in half an hour to raise money for children affected by Hurricane Matthew which struck Haiti in October.

The Cippenham Primary School pupil beat his target time by eight minutes. His mother, Savita, set up a fundraising page for his son with a target of £200, which he easily passed with more than

Sahdev Rana, 9

£450 donated by the time The Observer went to press.

The youngster from Cippenham read about the disaster in Haiti in a chil-

dren's publication and decided he wanted to do his part to help.

Sahdev took on the challenge on Sunday at the Copthorne Hotel in Slough following six weeks of training.

Sahdev said he had taken on the challenge because he believes everyone should be equal and that it is our duty to help less fortunate countries like Haiti.

UK Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

7

Lack of Muslim integration worries Britain Muslim communities live isolated lives, even after being decades in Britain, a government adviser has warned. Dame Louise Casey, the government's cohesion tsar gathered evidence which reveals that Muslims keep marrying foreign wives, leading to a 'first generation in every generation' phenomenon in their communities, that acts as a 'bar' to integration. Not only that, the review has also suggested that the isolation may result into extremism or support of extremism within the Muslim community.

The review has accused Labour party and local authorities of having 'ignored or even condoned' harmful cultural traditions for fear of being seen as 'racist or Islamophobic', something witnessed during grooming scandals in Rotherham and elsewhere.

The report also raises concerns that Sharia courts have been 'supporting the values of extremists, condoning wife beating (and) ignoring martal rape.' In fact Dame Louise has highlighted one northern town, which was not named, in which the local authority funded the work of a "representative" from the Muslim community who believed that Isil was not a terrorist organisation.

Her report also finds that thousands of people from all-Muslim enclaves in northern cities such as Bradford, Dewsbury and Blackburn seldom, if ever, leave their areas and have almost no idea of life outside.

The review found one northern town where every councillor of Asian ethnicity had married a wife from Pakistan, while a study by Bristol University found that half of British Pakistanis married back in Pakistan.

It warned that although the Government has tightened up marriage visa rules, men are getting round them by living with their future wives in Europe then moving back to the UK with them under free movement rules.

The report suggests that authorities have failed to tackle "harmful" cultural practices "in the name of multi-culturalism and tolerance".

A source who has read the report said: “Certain Muslims, because they are in these communities and go to Muslim schools, think Britain is a Muslim coun-

settled from South Asia, among which Indians are the largest. The problems of integration, and failures to do so have been witnessed more among Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities, compared to Indians, according to Home Office.

Communities Secretary Mr Javid has said that the Government would produce a plan of action by the spring as he backed the report in the Commons.

He said: 'Many of the findings ring true to me personally.

“I have seen for myself the enormous contributions immigrants and their families make to British life, all without giving up their unique cultural identities.

“But I have also seen with my own eyes the other side of the equation.

“For too long, too many people in this country have been living parallel lives, refusing to Integration Problems integrate and fail% who can't speak ing to embrace the English well or at all shared values that make Britain great.'

Mr Javid also warned The report will also too many politicians had criticise the Home Office avoided issues surrounding and other departments for immigration and refused to not doing enough to tackle deal with the real problems mass immigration and its it had caused. consequences. While marHe reportedly told riage visa rules have been MPs: “They have ducked tightened, men are getting the issue for fear of being around by living with their called a racist, failing the future wives in Europe and very people they are supthem moving to the UK, posed to be helping. under free movement rules.

“I will not allow this to The concerns about sham continue. We in public life marriages and Sharia have a moral responsibility councils have also been to deal with this situation raised in the same report. and Dame Louise's report In April 2016, after a is a crucial step in that similar revelation by process.'

Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, who ran the Reaction from EHRC until 2012 had said, immigrants "In my view, we have to adopt a far more muscular Adam Singh, told the approach to integration newspaper, “My wife is than ever, replacing the Indian. I am British, born failed policy of multiculturand brought up in the alism" North. My wife is the first Commenting on this generation of Indian from ground-breaking survey, her family to the UK, she Trevor Phillips had called speaks fluent English and for a new, tougher have integrated very well. approach to integration So mass migration has and the abandonment of nothing to do with cultural “the failed policy of multiintegration. It is a matter of culturalism". choice.”

The UK has many Arifa Hussain said, “I immigrant communities have grown up in Bradford. try. They think 75% of the country is Muslim.”

The correct figure, according to the 2011 census, is 4.8% of the population in England and Wales.

Christians account for 59.3%.

Casey's report will be embarassing for ministers, especially Theresa May, because it will establish that the government does not have any serious integration strategy.

I met my wife in Malaysia.

She migrated here after our marriage. And now she is a teacher in the UK. Integration is a way of lifeis a personal choice. It is wrong of the Home Office or the researcher to suggest that mass migration leads to isolation.”

Tara Mehta told Asian Voice, “I do agree with the report- at least partly. I live in the Tower Hamlets, and there was suddenly this effort from some youngsters in the Muslim fraternity to make anyone living in the locality follow Sharia laws and the Muslim culture. And these young men were evidently born and brought up here.

“A local pharmacist who is non-Muslim was threatened to wear hijab, and follow the Sharia rules.

I have seen people refusing to integrate. But I don't think all migrants behave this way. It is unique to a particular culture. Change of rules affect everybody.

So Home Office needs to understand the differences better, and thereafter make appropriate rules. ” Rising racism?

Sabby Dhalu, Stand up to Racism Co-Convenor said: "Louise Casey's review concedes to racism by suggesting that faith or the lack of integration is the root of division in society. This is not only factually incorrect but dangerous in the current climate of rising racism post the Brexit vote and Trump victory in the US Presidential election. Launching political attacks about the importance of speaking English whilst cutting funding for ESOL is grotesque hypocrisy.

“British values can be defined as religious tolerance, religious freedom and as an island based on waves of immigration for thousands of years supporting multiculturalism.

However this is not Louise Casey’s nor the government’s definition. Forcing immigrants to pledge an oath to Casey’s ill-defined concept of British values is not going to solve anything.

"The murders of Mohammed Saleem and Mushin Ahmed; and racist and Islamophobic attacks on Muslims did not happen because of a lack of integration or weakness in English language skills. Just like Stephen Lawrence's murder had nothing to with integration, segregation and proficiency in English.

These attacks took place because of racism and Islamophobia.

"If the government is concerned about integration then it needs to abandon its austerity agenda and the scapegoating that has accompanied it.

Austerity is crushing people's living standards, therefore acting as a barrier to integration and failing

to invest in h o u s i n g , health and education.

Institutional racism has been another barrier for which there has not been any leadership or commitment by the government to eradicate. “ S i n c e Theresa May took office we have seen more austerity and more racism these are the real reasons for social division and any lack of integration that may exist.”

1 in 4 British Muslims 'does not believe in extremism'

However major new survey backed by a Birmingham MP shows one in four British Muslims does not believe in extremism.

The study, involving over 3,000 Muslims, finds over half of British Muslims want to “fully integrate” with society. British Muslims broadly have same concerns as the rest of society.

Attitudes towards many issues, such as the NHS, unemployment and immigration, are broadly in line with the rest of the population, the survey by ICM and Policy Exchange, the right-of-centre think tank, shows.

Birmingham Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood, who helped organise the survey, said British Muslims were amongst the country’s most loyal, patriotic and law-abiding citizens.

He said: “In an era in which intolerance and bigotry pose a growing challenge to our society, it cannot be stressed enough that most British Muslims want to integrate with their non-British neighbours.”

The research finds that 53% wanted to “fully integrate with non-Muslims in all aspects of life”.

But he also warned that a “readiness to believe in conspiracy theories and the mentality of victimhood” was holding British Muslims back.

The study finds many believed conspiracy theories about the WTC attacks in the US, such as the theory that the US orchestrated the attacks itself.

According to the think-tank, 31% of Muslims thought the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks and 7% blamed Jews, while only 4% believed al-Qaida was responsible.

It finds that 26% of Muslims did not believe in extremism and 48% would not turn to the police if someone close to them became involved with people linked to Syrian terrorism.

Top cop flashes her breasts in ‘boob job’ row A female police officer who was harassed and humiliated by her boss for getting a “boob job” claims she has been forced to quit her job.

A source close to Sarah Jackson, a former superintendent with Greater Manchester Police, said Jackson has left the force Rebekah because of Sutcliffe, an assistant chief constable, the Sunday Times reports.

Sutcliffe was found guilty of gross misconduct earlier this month after flashing her breasts and claiming Jackson’s credibility was “zero” and she was not being taken seriously due to the cosmetic procedure.

A disciplinary panel sitting at Greater Manchester Police headquarters ruled she committed gross misconduct when she launched a drunken tirade at her junior colleague but ruled she should keep her job.

Jackson is reported to have had corrective surgery following weight loss, rather than breast enhancement.

The incident took place at a three-day Senior Women in Policing conference at a posh hotel last May whose 300 guests included female police chiefs and the former head of MI5, Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller.

8

UK

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Cllr Sachin Shah Leader of Harrow Council

TRAVEL DIARY

Christmas Markets in Europe Christmas markets always reflect the culture and pulse of a country or region- food, drink, music and more. Europe is one of the main destinations for some wonderful Christmas markets that not only children would enjoy, but where the adults also can find plenty to do. Moreover they do not need much planning to visit, and often a couple of them in different countries, clubbed together could be a nice idea for a short break. Asian Voice lists the Top 5 such destinations to enjoy with your family.

Cologne, Germany

Brugges, Belgium

(November 21 – December 23)

(November 18 – January 1)

When you think of an ideal Christmas market, Germany and its cities top the list. Originally a German concept, though London perhaps has the largest Christmas market (Winter Wonderland), but the markets in Germany have a different charm altogether.

Belgium in the winter is extraordinarily cold. The canals freeze into ice, and you may find thin layer of ice everywhere, if not snow. The main market square dresses up beautifully overlooked by the 13thcentury Belfort (belfry), and in Simon Stevinplein. There are plenty of places to buy handmade jewellery, wooden toys, hats and scarves, leather goods and, of course, chocolates.

You must not miss the local beerespecially the food flavoured ones.

Prague, Czech Republic

(November 26 - December 23) Cologne has not one but seven Christmas markets, according to The Daly Telegraph. Head to the Old Town’s cobbled Alter Markt and Cathedral markets for candles, tree decorations and handmade lacework. The fairy-tale St Nick’s Village on Rudolfplatz is good for wooden toys, and locals’ favourite Neumarkt’s Angel’s Market for Dresden Stollen cake.

Among the trees of the Stadtgarten is a more left-field market selling Mongolian slippers, jewellery and dozens of different honeys. It’s a peaceful spot to sit with a mug of glühwein.

Vienna, Austria

(November 12 - December 24) Vienna's Christmas Market dates back to the 13th century. It now has around 10 markets, with more than 150 stalls filling the Rathausplatz in front of the neoGothic City Hall.

Prague's Old Town Square, Staromestske namesti, has a stage-set nativity scene, a huge tree and daily performances by folk bands and choirs. There are so many stalls- and in neighbouring Wenceslas Square – for carved wooden toys, Bohemian crystal, garnet jewellery and traditional straw and maize decorations.

Lille, France

(November 18 - December 30) In France, Lille’s Christmas market is a foodie’s paradise. You’ll find the usual Christmas-themed stalls dotted around Place Rihour, but if you’re looking for more chic gifts there are plenty of boutiques in and around the area. You can reach Lille from London by Eurostar in as little as 80 minutes. Catch an evening concert in one of the city’s churches, such as St Salvator, St Clement’s Cathedral or St George’s Basilica. Don't miss the mulled wine.

Christmas Cruise

There are so many things one could buy from miniature wooden houses, puppets, gingerbread hearts, leather clothing to woollen hats. Or could try the atmospheric lanes of the Spittelberg market near the Museums Quarter for handblown glass, silverware and ceramics. You mustn't miss a stroll in Rathauspark, with its carousel rides and light-bedecked trees and pavilions.

Forget those frustrating baggage restrictions and hop on board Magellan as she sails from Tilbury to Amsterdam on a festive cruise which also goes to Hamburg and Antwerp. And you can start your Christmas shopping in the on board dutyfree store with your pound sterlings.

Whilst Amsterdam doesn’t have a traditional Christmas Market there’s no shortage of shopping opportunities.But there are be plenty of festive spirit at Hamburg’s and Antwerp’s atmospheric markets with stalls selling hand-crafted decorations, pottery and jewellery from local artists.

War on fly-tipping Good news! We’re starting to win the war on flytipping. A landmark prosecution we recently brought against a fly-tipper in Harrow marks a turning point, I think.

That individual profited from the misery of others, but paid the price big time.

Philip Cash was a prolific career dumper.

Dubbed ‘lord of the flytips’, he admitted responsibility for five illegal dumps committed over the last year when he most recently appeared in court. Cash earned hundreds of pounds posing as a legitimate waste management professional, touting for business doorto-door and just dumping what he was given in residential streets and even a local beauty spot. He even dumped some waste on the same road from which he’d collected it just minutes earlier.

This was Cash’s third prosecution for environmental crimes and the

presiding magistrate used the full range of powers available to him in sentencing this career criminal. Cash was handed a 12 month prison term, suspended for two years.

He’s been electronically tagged for 16 weeks and is subject to a curfew. Cash was ordered to pay £5,990 in costs, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and has had the vehicle he used for the crimes seized by the police. It’s a very comprehensive package of measures, and one that shows that our courts take the issue of fly-tipping very seriously. I’m delighted with the message it sends to other would-be fly-tippers about the sentences available, and our determination to see them applied.

This prosecution came thanks to the hard work of Harrow Council staff, who I’ve authorised to use every tool at their disposal. We’re getting increasingly sophisticated

in tackling what for me is now a number one priority, and the fly-tippers are starting to feel it. We’re investing in new technology and employing new tactics. More and more we’re using covert operations to catch those who blight our streets and these, together with stateof-the-art CCTV and other measures, including old-fashioned leg work, are helping us to build more robust cases against the dumpers. Where their offences are less serious, we can fast-track them to a £400 fine, and for those, like Mr Cash, whose crimes demand tougher measures, we’re pushing for the maximum penalties available through the courts.

Help your local council by reporting any flytips you see – in Harrow, just go to www.harrow.gov.uk/envi ronment - we now come out to clear them 24 hours a day.

Shraddhanjali organised for Dr Balamuralikrishna On 3rd December a Shradhhanjali was organised for Padmavibhushan Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna by violin artist L. Nagaraju and Prabhakar Kaza and was attended by over 125 persons who paid rich tribute to the departed Maestro.

Dr Balamuralikrishna passed away on 22nd November in Chennai at the age of 86. He sang on stage for 75 years and his music was believed to be unparalleled in the world of Carnatic music.

He was not only a Carnatic vocalist but also a man of many talents---musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor. His phenomenal contribution to music was recognised by a grateful nation with the award of the second highest National award—Padma Vibhushan in 1991. He leaves behind a substantial body of work—over 25,000 concerts worldwide. During his lifetime he has popularised the Bhadrachala poets Ramadasu and Annamacharya.

Apart from his mother tongue Telugu, his works also include contributions in other languages like Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and

Punjabi. He has over 400 compositions to his credit.

Prabhakar Kaza, Santanam Swaminathan, Karaikudi Krishnamurthy, Jagatheeswaran Pillai and Mrs Geetha Kaza spoke on the occasion.

Dr.Nandkumara, Director, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,

London narrated his memorable experiences with Dr.Balamuralikrishna, who stayed several times at the Bhavan and taught many students.

The event was compered by Dr Bhanu Sistla and videographed by Aaditya Kaza.

HE Dinesh K Patnaik, the Acting High Commissioner of India and wife Mrs Poonam Patnaik celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this weekend. Asian Voice would like to take the opportunity to wish this wonderful couple Many Happy Returns of the Day. Best wishes for the years that lie ahead of you.

UK Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Veena Rao: Indian Writer Influenced by British tradition On the 5th December 2016, there was a launch of Veena Rao's newest novel, Charlotte's End. The book is based on Susan Hill's sequel Mrs de Winter but unlike the latter it has a happy ending.

"A writer can make a happy ending of any human struggle or romance. So why not?" said the writer when producing the book. The novel reflects the dual tradition of Indian and British cultures and speaks to the writer herself. Here is the story of Veena Rao, a writer with an exceptional mind.

Background

Veena was born on January 26, 1949, in Dalhouisie, which is now Himachal Pradesh in India. Her father was Brigadier Sri Ram commissioned in the British Indian Army in 1942. Her mother was a housewife.

Both of them came from

Muzzafarabad, now in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

As Veena's father was in the army, the family moved from place to place wherever he was posted. During this time Veena's family visited beautiful Himalayan t o w n s Mussoorie.

These places were safe and had top schools run by European sisters.

In the fifties, army life was influenced by British tradition.

Education followed this example too as it was run

by European missionaries in English convent schools.

As a child, Reena grasped a lot of British tradition: "I must say that British culture had a d e e p influence in my growing up years, socially, educa-

tionally, and culturally.

This was complementary, in the most enriching way, to our intrinsic Indian culture, which governed our day-to-day lives."

As a writer, Veena Rao followed the example of other Indian writers and tried to connect the two cultures in a literary context. She remembers: "Indian writers of my age and background have normally been influenced by the world of British literary fiction with which we grew up and the real world of India in which we lived."

Challenges

Veena does not give a lot of attention to the notion of difficulties and quickly manages to overcome them. She believes that with enough effort everyone has a chance to succeed: "It is up to us to find ways to handle the obstacles courageously, and act to find solutions, rather than passively allowing them to overpower us. My experience in life confirms that strength of thought and action in adversity can overcome any challenge we face in life."

Veena's working day

Veena Rao

The writer gets up each morning at eight and does a 30

9

political and another hisminutes workout at home torical one about South that she never misses. In the India. morning she plans the Rao admits that menu for the day and does although she has a hectic shopping. Leaving home at timetable, she still manages 10.30 -11 am, she often gets to get everything done on into the massive Bangalore time. The key to success traffic on her way to the here is to find space for a office. She does a lot of particular task in the daily emailing and telephoning in routine. She says: "My writthe car. Sometimes Veena ing schedule is most erratic, even writes there. juggling around with Rao is currently whatever I conworking with the sider demands Government of the highest Karnataka and the World Bank I do believe that if a priority for the day, in implementwriter is inspired whether it ing a pilot and committed to is family, p r o j e c t her/his work, the profesaddressing sional or malnutrition discipline happens social. But using tan because the product I do intergeneraof thought and believe that tional; interimagination has to if a writer is sectoral stratebe put down." inspired and gy crafted by committed to her. A lot of her her/his work, work is devoted to the discipline hapreports, documentapens because the tion and data analysis. product of thought and Veena finishes her work at imagination has to be put around 6 pm and then goes down." back home. She then Charlotte's End also spends time with her family values the strength of the having dinner and continauthor's creative mind: "As ues with her writing after for going solitary, I believe 10 pm until she goes to the mind of a writer, which sleep, which is usually at 1 – is the real author, is intrin2 am. sically a solitary creature Veena's future career and doesn't need any speplans include a play written cific motivation to become in Shakespearean form on the British royal family, so. It can remain solitary, which will hopefully be thinking up ideas and senstaged in India by next tences, even in the midst of year. The writer already has the most boisterous social two half done novels, one or official occasions."

10

READERS’ VOICE

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

£5 controversy

The £5 note controversy continues to rage and the media is having a field day. Some papers are telling the story of Hindus temples refusing to take the notes with alleged Hindu atrocities on people caught selling beef in India. In the comments section of the papers disparaging remarks of Hindus are being made. The fact that the £5 notes had animal fat in it was found out by a vegetarian/vegan activist. A petition to stop using animal fat also was started by activists none of whom are Hindu. However the impression being created now is that it is the Hindus who are driving this campaign.

The website of National Council of Hindu Temples says: "From the Hindu and Dharmic perspective, producing currency and casually incorporating substances which are derived from acts of violence upon vulnerable non-aggressive creatures is not the behaviour of civilised beings.''

Newspapers are quoting this statement. The strong language used invites a confrontational response from the ordinary public. Our preciously guarded tolerant outlook is being undermined. We also need to ask how often do we raise the issue of vegetarianism in our temples. How often do we raise the issue of leather, a product of animals slaughtered for meat? To the credit of the individual who exposed this, the authorities and the company producing the notes is already working on removing the animal fat from future notes. Meat eating, using leather products, milk consumption and use of milk in religious ceremonies ought to be brought up by temples and Hindu Gurus. Except for a few spiritual leaders no one talks about these issues.

If Hindu temples and Hindu priests want to be seen as progressive they should immediately stop the use of milk in temples and replace it with soya or almond milk.

We need to let this matter rest! In matters like this N.C.H.T. should have acted quickly by contacting member temples and also called a meeting before putting out a statement on its website. Once again on the PR front we are found wanting!

Nitin Mehta By email

Backlash against Christianity

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has been reported to say that Christians have become fearful of discussing their faith in public because of violent reaction from others against them. She has emphasised that Christians must be free to speak about their faith and celebrate the impending festival of Christmas without fear of repercussions.

This seems surprising that even though Britain must be predominantly a Christian country, Christians have to be at the receiving end of such threats against them.

It would seem unfair for Christians to be fearful in following their age old traditions like Christmas and Easter while others can celebrate their religious events without interference from others. This is a country where people of other religions are free to follow their faith, erect temples and mosques and other places of worship without let or hinderence. It must be observed, however, that for some reason or other attendances at churches have declined to the extent that people of other faiths are buying disused church buildings and converting them into places of worship and community halls for their use. In a tolerant society like Britain, let us follow the Jain tenet of “Live and let others live”. Let us follow our own traditions and let others follow theirs.

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Air Congestion and pollution in London

Twenty six million car journeys are made daily in London, often with one person only in the car. Public transport journeys account for the remaining six and half million journeys daily. Traffic congestion and air pollution are worst in London compared to all major cities in Europe according to a recent report.

Eighty per cent of public space in London is used up by roads and streets. Probably forty percent of this space is used up by off street parking overnight at base as well as at destination during daytime. TFL and the 32 London Boroughs could introduce a regulation that off street parking in every road and every street would be allowed on one side of these roads and streets only. In major roads and red routes there would be no off street parking whatsoever.

Traffic flow would as a result be much faster and would save billions of pounds each year in wasted time and productivity. It would also improve air quality and reduce congestion and reduce pollution.

Nagindas Khajuria By email

Removing corruption in India

The learned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to get rid of corruption in India, with the present withdrawal of RS 500 and RS 1,000 notes, by November 18, 2016, can only be considered, as a temporary measure. Now instead of hoarding currency, they will invest in gold, silver and diamonds.

What you have to get rid of, is the system, that allows this to happen in the first place. It will take a very courageous Prime Minister, in order to do this, as the constitution of India, would have to be changed. As you will have to get rid of political parties and have independent members of Parliament, who after an elction, elect a President Prime Minister and Cabinet. In this way you will have a ‘Government of Unity’, get rid of ‘corruption’, have a clean ‘environment’ and work for ‘world peace’, and also unite ‘India’ and ‘Pakistan’.

For example, my father Dr Dhan Framjee, spent his life’s savings and pension cash, in order to manufacture small cars in India, in cooperation with a French car manufacturer. But the Government would not grant him a licence, to build the factory in India. Because Indira Gandhi’s son, wanted to make small cars in India, who did not make a single vehicle and at the same time my father was denied the right to do so, as he wanted to create jobs in India. As long as political parties, receive funds, from corrupt officials, corruption will flourish in India.

Jal Framji Cheshire

ASIAN VOICE is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com www: abplgroup.com © Asian Business Publications

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Danger of using mobile phones while driving

Using hand-held mobile phones while driving has now become number one killer in road accidents. Latest case to come before court was that of lorry driver who smashed into Ford Mondeo in front of him, while texting to his girlfriend. The tiny car which was sandwiched between two HGV turned into pulp, killing two people instantly.

Due to pressure from MPs, Road Safety Organizations, groundswell public opinion and divested family members, government has reluctantly come to its senses and will soon introduce tough penalties that will include life imprisonment if such incidents result in death of innocent people and for those young drivers with less than two years’ experience will lose their licence, in addition to other penalties. Some activists are seeking even tougher penalties, to treat such offences on par with drink driving and manslaughter which automatically attracts tougher sentences.

Dwindling police force who are unable to divert resources to such crimes, urges the public to report such offenders by letting police know their number plates, time and street names and they will do the rest.

Most people are reluctant to get involved, although we see these drivers breaking law every day. These are unparalleled, self-inflicted crimes that should attract toughest penalties. As suffering and pain to families who lose their bread-winners is so great that it is our civil duty to oblige.

Kumudini Valambia By email

By-election earthquake

By-elections are notoriously unpredictable, won on protest votes. The result is normally reversed at general election. Richmond Park seat won by LibDem Sarah Onley was no exception, except no one predicted that 23k Conservative majority could be overturned, especially as Zac Goldsmith was fighting on principle, keeping his promise to resign if the government goes ahead with Heathrow expansion. (HE) Zac was given clear run by Conservative, UKIP and Green party. It is indeed an early Christmas present for LibDem. This was indeed poor, pretentious judgement, almost fiduciary act on Zac’s part, repudiated by his constituents. He failed to understand Brexit result which was more important to his constituents than HE who voted enemas in favour of remaining in EU. This is second consecutive defeat for self-opinionated, saunter Zac who also lost Mayoral election. His political future is now uncertain, as Conservatives will not forget his rash, foolish decision to resign and dilute their paper thin majority. Only consolation for Tories is that Labour came poor third, losing deposit, prototype result for “General Election”. There are hardly any safe Labour seats, especially if LibDem and UKIP target Labour, as promised.

This one party scenario is bad for democracy, as flourishing democracy requires vibrant opposition to keep government under pressure to perform. Otherwise it could be akin to one party State.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi By email

India’s historic demonisation

Modi's daring decision to Demonetize Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 Notes from the 9th N0v. has stunned All Indians and the World, which will drastically reduce Black Money, Crimes, Corruption, Terrorism but increase Tax Revenue, Bank Deposits, Progress and Prestige! Soon there were panic, confusion resulting in from 11th Nov. long queues at banks and ATMs to change old notes for the new RS. 2000 Notes. For the last 3 weks banks are open up to late night, still there were chaos and despair as there were not enough new notes, so many ATMs not working, also there were limit of say RS.4000 and later Rs.2000. Besides, Men and Women stoond in rows from early morning, to withdraw notes to pay for school fees, Wedding Expenses, day-to-day expenses but Notes exhausted in ATMs! Also small shops have suffered as no sales! Govt. should have printed enough even Rs. 500 New Notes and should have Organized better! This Chaos will last for some more months.

Despite all this, Modi was much commended by the World Media and Leaders IMF, EU and world Bank Hailed Narendra Modi as a Savior! World bank President said he is Fan of Modi! Forbes said in an article that Modi's Initiative is working and Bank Deposits are swelling to $30 billion in Rupees and still rising, Also Tax Revenue is also coming in fast! New York Times called it a Wise Move while Washington Post called his plan an Ambitious one and said he kept his Election Vow against Black Money! Bloomberg quoted American Journal UBS group AG saying Australia should also follow Modi in High Denomination Notes.

Bill Gates and Mukesh Ambani also praised Modi and stressed that in a few years India will be a leadjng Digital Nation! God Bless India!

Upendra Kapadia By email

Organ donation

We are saddened to get the news of the sudden demise of three and half year old boy Aari from his grandparent Mr Dineshbhai and Krutiben Patel of England whom we met 4 years ago during our Char Dham - pilgrimage trip to India and since than we are in touch with them periodically.

Our sadness turned into happiness in the knowledge that Aari's parents made the very bold and courageous decision to donate his organs and seven people who were in need of his help will now live good healthy lives and give joy and happiness to their loved ones. Also instead of mourning Aari’s passing they held a colourful party, a joyful day with children to celebrate his life with laughter with lunch, cupcakes, face paintings and even a bouncy castle - just as he would have liked.

In memory of Aari, his family will be raising money for St George's Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and Maanya Devi Charitable Foundation (MDCF).

This family and all who have supported their decision should be commended and congratulated especially when a young, cheerful, loving boy dies.

This is an eye opener to our community to follow their footsteps to sign organ donation form and to donate organs of their loved one when they die. We are very lacking in this type of one of the best worthy cause and keep on mourning for days and follow unnecessary rituals and dogmas and spending our hard earned monies.

God bless Aari and his loving and caring family.

Suresh and Bhavna Patel Markham, Canada

EDUCATION

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice |10th December 2016

Students call for nap pods at Edinburgh University Students are calling for "nap pods" at Edinburgh University in a bid to combat the problem of sleep deprivation. Pupils want two in their main library at George Square and two at King's Buildings.

A student-led "thinktank", called the Buchanan Institute, wrote a 30-page report on why two rooms should be converted to accommodate the pods. It said they could get a discount on pods, similar to ones offered to staff at Google, which cost up to ÂŁ10,000.

The report surveyed 1,500 students at the university and found about

93% felt they did need a nap while they were on campus.

The idea of nap pods was then put to a vote at the student council meeting with 53% of votes in favour of them. The results

of an online vote to the entire student body will be available on Monday.

If passed, it will be put as a formal request to the university. The university would pay the bill if it agreed to the pods.

Faith school push will not 'help results' Plans to allow new faith schools in England to increase the share of pupils they take on religious grounds will not improve standards, a report says.

The Education Policy Institute research body also said the move was unlikely to boost social mobility.

The proposal is part of a range of measures, including opening new grammar schools, aimed at boosting the number of places in high-performing schools.

The government said faith schools were some of the best and most popular.

And the Church of

England, which is the biggest provider of faith schools in England, said its 4,700 schools offered

"a distinctive blend of wisdom, hope, community and dignity".

The Department for Education's plans to allow new faith schools to recruit more than half of their pupils on religious grounds are based on the assumption that children do better in these schools. They appeared in the Green Paper, Schools that Work for Everyone, which sets out plans to allow successful schools to expand.

11

UK lags behind in global school rankings The UK is still lagging behind leading countries at education and has made little progress in international rankings since results three years ago.

The influential Pisa rankings, run by the OECD, are based on tests taken by 15-year-olds in over 70 countries. The UK is behind top performers such as Singapore and Finland, but also trails Vietnam, Poland and Estonia. The OECD's education director, Andreas Schleicher, describes the UK's results as "flat in a changing world".

In maths, the UK is ranked 27th, slipping down a place from three years ago, the lowest since it began participating in the Pisa tests in 2000

In reading, the UK is ranked 22nd, up from 23rd, having fallen out of the top 20 in 2006 The UK's most successful subject is science, up from 21st to 15th place - the highest placing since 2006, although the test

score has declined After the last round of rankings, published in 2013, there were warnings from ministers in England that results were "stagnating" - and reforms were promised to match international rivals.

Muslim families sending children to Catholic schools More than 26,000 Muslim pupils are enrolled in Catholic schools in England and Wales. For the first time an annual census of Catholic schools has collected information on the number of pupils from other religions.

The biggest group of non-Catholic pupils are from other Christian denominations - but almost a tenth are from Muslim families.

The government has plans to encourage more Catholic free schools to open.

This analysis shows that, overall, nearly a third of the

more than 850,000 pupils within the Catholic school system are not Catholic - a total of almost 290,000.

This can reflect local demographic changes and migration - with Catholic schools serving areas with a declining number of Catholic families.

The Muslim pupils are the biggest non-Christian group, apart from the 63,000 who are from nonreligious families.

Finnuala Nelis, head of St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy in

Sheffield, is in charge of a school where about half the pupils are not Catholics. She says there have been changes in the local population - and that the school is now popular with parents who choose a Catholic school, even though they are not Catholics.

This includes Christians from a number of African churches and also Muslim pupils. She says there are Muslim pupils who regularly attend their local mosques, but who will go to Catholic religious services at school.

" & # # " " " # " " # " " & " "& " $ "#

# " " " " "

& # % % "

# # $ # # " " # # % #" "

12

MEDIA WATCH

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

The Nabha jailbreak in Punjab involving Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) inmates hit the media headlines. Fortunately the ring leader Harminder Singh Mintoo, who had escaped with colleagues Kashmir Singh and Gurmeet Sekhon, was captured in Delhi, where had sought refuge, by the Delhi police within hours f his flight. The giveaway was a mobile call to a relative, already under police surveillance. The rest is history. Mintoo was arrested at one of the capital’s railway stations as he prepared to board a train to Mumbai. A diary recovered from him indicated links with his Pakistan handlers.

Harminder Singh Mintoo

Nabha jail in Punjab from where Khalistani group escaped

Under interrogation he said the KLF and kindred Khalistani terror groups had developed links with the drugs mafia in Punjab.

Drug abuse in Punjab has almost reached pandemic proportions, what with high youth unemployment and declining job opportunities allied to a sluggish economy (Times of India November 28) As a postscript to this grim report, one recalls the late General JFR Jacob, as Punjab Governor during the Vajpayee dispensation, saying that the Akali party was the most corrupt he had seen in fifty years of public life.

The Congress party as the only credible opposition in Punjab is poised to do well in the forthcoming State Assembly polls. Its local leadership is led by the competent and able Captain

nate government officials in India. ‘Singh attempted to provide material support to terrorists to create violence abroad,’ said Assistant Attorney General M ary McCord. The prosecution said that one of the conspirators was caught at San Francisco as he was attempting to board a flight to Bangkok. Balwinder Singh and his accomplice, Baljit Singh, could face 15-year jail sentences if found guilty (Times of India December 1)

Seven soldiers die in jihadi attacks

Seven soldiers, including jawans and officers, and two jihadi terrorists, whom the Hindu newspaper likes to describe as “militants,” - in keeping with its soft approach to Pakistan and China - were killed at the Nagrota

injured in the ensuing firefight.

In an accompanying report, the newspaper suggested that the Indian Army was taking a major hit in this attritional conflict, listing 89 soldiers killed in a year. An unnamed source was quotes as saying that in any war, from now on, the Army would be short of officers. There was a sinister pitch to the piece. One dead is one too many. That clearly is a cause for lament. But when men and women enlist for armed services, they do so knowing well that they are putting their lives on the line. As for the hypothetical “war” mentioned by the source, one must marvel at his blindness:: India is already at war with Pakistan – an unconventional war, maybe, but still a war. (Hindu, Times of India Telegraph November 30, December 1) However, the media have underlined the growing concern across India, that infiltrating jihadis keep getting through military - witness Pathankot, Uri and now Nagrota.

Movement to Islamise India

The goal of the ‘Base Movement, a home-grown terror outfit is to Islamise the country. On January 26, 2014, N. Abbas Ali (27), a painter in Madurai (the temple city in Tamil Nadu) took an oath with four friends to establish the ‘Base Movement’ in India, a recently exposed terror group responsible for the explosions at courts in Mysore and other cities in southern India. They sought affiliation with Al-Quada.

Emboldened

With each bomb blast, they set their sights higher, baffling the police initially because their presence had not been on the official radar.

Eventually Abbass Ali and his accomplices, S.Suleiman, 23, Karim Raja, Mohammed Ayub Ali,25, Karuvayam Samsudeen, all members of the Salafi branch of Islam, were caught and brought to trial (Hindu December 1)

Agriculture spurs growth

Nagrota Army base in Kashmir

Amerinder Singh whose articulation of the crisis in Punjab appears to have struck a chord with the general population. The BJP is a coalition partner of the Akalis, and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadami party appear to be a rabble.

Khalistani tried in US

Khalistani Balwinder Singh, 42, an Indian citizen with a green card was arrested and brought to trial before a Federal Court in Nevada, admitted that he conspired with terrorists to assassi-

Army base in Kashmir, about 20 kms from Jammu city. A fidayeen group had infiltrated from across the Pakistan border and launched an attack that clearly caught the Army by surprise. The attack was launched in the early hours in darkness.

The terrorists were heavily armed and disguised in police uniforms.

Second attack

In a separate attack on the Ramgarh Border Security Force (BSF) base three jihadis were killed and three BSF men

GDP growth accelerated to 7.3 per cent, thanks to a robust performance by the agriculture sector in the second quarter (JulySeptember) of the current fiscal.

First quarter growth (AprilJune) was 7.1 per cent. The next two quarters are expected to register subdued growth in the aftermath of demonetization.

However, the government’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian pointed to factors that encourage a measure of optimism, saying: ‘Nominal GDP growth picked up a fair amount, accelerating from 10.4 per cent to 12.1 per cent in the second quarter, showing signs of the underlying strength of the economy.’

‘Expect this year to be a year of two halves, as the drive to demoneetize is likely to have a negative bias in the numbers in the near term,’ said Anis Chakravarty, Lead Economist, Deloitte India (Hindu December 1)

Core sector growth accelerates India’s core sector grew 6.6 per cent in October, driven by robust output in the oil and steel sectors, which jumped 16.9 per cent, clocking double digit growth for the third straight month (Hindu December 1)

India-US deal for 145 howitzers

Following years of negotiations, India and the United States last week (November 30) signed a $750 million dollar governmentto- government deal for the purchase by India of 145 M777 Ultra Light Howitzers under the Foreign Military Sales Programme. The manufacturing BAE Systems will conclude an offset agreement estimated at about $200 million. Twenty-five guns are to be imported and the rest made in India (Hindu December 1)

India-Russia pact on Kudankulam plant

The general framework agreement between India and Russia for the third stage (for units 5 and 6) of the Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu is expected to be signed very soon, very likely before the year is out, said a Russian spokesman. The plant’s Blocks 3 and 4 will be commissioned in 2022 and 2023 (second stage). ‘So we are now working with our Indian partners, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and are approaching to sign the documents for the two new units (5 and 6),’ said Nicolay Spassky, Deputy CEO for International Relations at Russia’s Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom. As for efficiency, he said the Kudankulam plant was India’s best. (Business Line December 1)

Bangalore to set up re-skilling workshops

IT capital Bangalore is to set up re-skilling workshops for engineers because of the increase in automation and changing technology required by companies.

‘Job creation is getting difficult and in this light setting up of an incubator in tier II cities where we feel that the talent can be at par with metros,’ said Karnataka Industries Minister R V Deshpande (Business Line November 29)

India’s tribute to Fidel Castro

The death of Fidel Castro at 90 has led to a flood of tributes to his memory across Latin America and much of the Third World. An iconic figure to the postwar generation, he liberated his island nation from the stranglehold of the 35-year-old Batista dictatorship, backed in its tyranny by the shameful support

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

of the United States. During this dark period Cuba was reduced to a playground and bordello for rich American tourists. The Cuban revolution in 1959 replaced this servitude with radical social and economic change.

Education and medical services achieved a phenomenal reach, attracting poor African America to travel to Cuba for the medicare that was unaffordable back home. Cuba’s black community were empowered as respected citizens of a socialist republic

India-Cuba ties

The US never forgave Cuba for its perceived insolence to go its own way and imposed an stringent economic blockade of the country.

Fidel Castro had a warm emotional regard for India. It began with his meeting Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960 and reached a high with Indira Gandhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Cuba as one of India’s closest friends, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh led a delegation of Indian MPs to Havana to pay their respects to the memory of a truly great figure of our time.

Rebutting Mint

Business daily Mint issued a scornful comment on ‘Castro and Stalin as dictators,’ who had violated democracy and the rule of law, and the principles of the free market. Neither man. It is true, was a liberal democrat, but each in his own way left a platform that changed history. The Allied victory in the Second World War, which destroyed the abomination of Nazism and its death camps would have been impossible without, in Churchill’s words to Parliament in 1944, Russian valour the leadership of Joseph Stalin, who also transformed a backward agrarian society into a global superpower. Building nations bottom up is invariably work in progress. What great revolutionary leaders leave undone can be taken up and done by their successors. This is how history should be read and understood.

As for the rule of law, the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and its devastating consequences are tragedies to mull over.

Pondering the findings of the damning Chilcot report highlights the culpability of Tony Blair, his ministers, the intelligence agencies and the British media. Democracy and the rule of law were violated at every stage.

Fidel Castro with India Gandhi at the Nonaligned summit in Delhi, 1983

UK Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Fat dispute: British Hindus boycott the new £5 notes Continued from page 1 The plastic bank notes contain beef tallow – a form of animal fat that is used in the production of plastics.

Worshippers are generally not allowed to take leather into Hindu temples, and some avoid eating meat, fish and eggs for three days before entering. Many Hindus are vegetarian, but even those who are not, tend to avoid beef.

Moreover cows are generally considered sacred by Hindus, and many followers also avoid wearing leather or using any other cowderived products, as a lifestyle choice.

Temples, including Kingsbury and Neasden Swaminarayan, could also ban people from donating the notes following the relevation, it has emerged.

The Hindu Forum of Britain called the use of cow’s fat in the £5 notes ‘totally and utterly unacceptable’.

Trupti Patel, from the Hindu Forum of Britain said: “Using a non-vegetarian source is totally and utterly unacceptable.

“In this country we spend so much time and effort on interfaith matters, so much time and effort on being sensitive to each other’s needs and then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, without any consultation, these notes come out with traces of non-vegetarian material.

“Now you would think that’s okay, there are Hindus who are vegetarians and non-vegetarians, what is the difference? Well in this day and age, if we think about it, it is possible to create everything artificially, even diamonds are created artificially, so I can’t see any need for creating a £5 note with non-vegetarian material.”

There are vegetarian alternatives to tallow in the production of plastics – these include coconut oil and palm oil.

Shree Gauridas, Spiritual Commissioner of HFB and a director of ISKCON temple condemning the manufacture of currency notes using animal fat said “Saving and sharing wealth (the Goddess of fortune) in currency tainted by unnecessary harm to animals is somewhat of an oxymoron.”

Mr Tarang Shelat, President of Hindu Council of Birmingham said “It is important that we do make our views known in the strongest terms to the relevant authorities. Through ignorance they may not be aware of offence it is causing us as Hindus. It is also important to mention that in our place of worship, animal based products are

strictly forbidden and this would have a drastic effect on our collection boxes as £5 will not be allowed as donation.”

Ms Varsha Mistry of Metropolitan Police Hindu Association stated very clearly that “The upset this has caused to diverse communities could easily have been avoided by prior consultation ahead of production of these notes by the mint and many will feel their own principles are compromised if they are having to handle the new £5 notes. The animal product content would also prevent use of this denomination for shagun purposesHindus tend to give odd denominations when gifting as part of offering blessings on auspicious occasions.”

Mr Kantibhai Mistry of Hindu Council of North UK and Mr Satya Minhas, cochair of HCUK both expressed their concerns over the matter, and said “animal product in a £5 note would not be acceptable by temples on the grounds of non violence.”

Pt Satish Sharma, General Secretary of National Council of Hindu Temples stated very clearly: “From the Hindu and Dharmic perspective, producing currency and casually incorporating substances which are derived from acts of violence upon vulnerable non aggressive creatures is not the behaviour of civilised beings. It is not something easily countenanced by Hindus and we feel the pain of the creatures who were killed in this process. The £5 note ceases to be a simple medium of exchange but becomes a medium of communicating pain and suffering and we would not want to come into contact with it. Hindu temples are centres of positive holistic compassionate humanity and we can fully understand that Temples would consider that they wish to remain free of a

Brexit court case gains momentum

On Tuesday as Asian Voice went to press, on the second day of the hearing, the Supreme Court was told that Ministers do not have the power to trigger Brexit without consulting Parliament. The lawyer acting against the government said the "political significance" of June's vote was "irrelevant" to the legal battle. But the government said a Parliamentary vote is not necessary before invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Although the result could complicate the government's triggering of the process for the UK leaving the EU it is not expected to stop Brexit happening.

symbol of the wholesale barbaric slaughter of tranquil vulnerable and fully sentient beings.”

Vibhooti Acharya, President of Belgrave's Shree Sanatan Mandir temple in Leicester, said the revelation was a "major concern" to many Hindus.

She said: "I have been following the news myself, but the issue has also been raised by worshipers and members of the public.

Many are very angry. It's because one of the key virtues in the Hindu faith is Ahimsa. It is the practice of non-violence and applies to all living things. But it's also about looking after, and protecting animals, which symbolise many of our most important deities."

The petition to the Bank of England to remove tallow from the manufacturing process was on last Wednesday nearing 100,000 signatures. The petition on Change.org said: “The new £5 notes contain animal fat in the form of tallow. This is unacceptable to millions of vegans, vegetarians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others in the UK. The Bank said the problem "had only just come to light" and it was treating the concerns with "utmost seriousness".

The tallow is used in an early stage of the production process and is "an extremely small amount", the Bank said.

"We are aware of some people's concerns about traces of tallow in our new £5 note. We respect those concerns and are treating them with the utmost seriousness," its statement said.

"This issue has only just come to light, and the Bank did not know about it when the contract was signed. "[Supplier] Innovia is now working intensively with its supply chain and will keep the Bank informed on progress towards potential solutions," it added.

13

Christmas and New Year are fast approaching: Time to review your licensing requirements?

Christmas cards and decorations fill the shops and the festive season is just around the corner. Christmas parties for work, friends and family, may mean a Rebecca Thomas visit to a licensed premises.

This is the busiest time of year for licensed premises who should review their existing licensing arrangements to ensure that they are up-to-date.

The Licensing Act 2003 states that licensable activities are: the sale of alcohol the supply of alcohol in a qualifying club the provision of regulated entertainment the provision of late night refreshment If you are providing any of these activities, you will usually require a Premises Licence. Holders of Premises Licences should check the terms of their Licences carefully.

Businesses often confuse the hours permitted under their liquor license with those permitted under their entertainment licence with the result that they may be prosecuted or fined.

It may be that an application should be made to vary the Premises Licence.

The most common reason for variation of a Premises Licence is where there are alterations to the layout of the premises. In some cases, an application to vary can proceed by way of a minor variation. Specialist advice is needed in order to ascertain whether an application to vary the Premises Licence is required and if so, whether the application can proceed by way of a minor variation.

Similarly, if upon reviewing your Premises Licence you would like to increase the amount of time during which alcohol may be sold then a full variation application will usually need to be made. The procedure for such an application is similar to the procedure followed for a new

• • • •

Premises Licence application, with all the attendant costs and the need to advertise the application at the premises and in the newspaper.

All licensed premises should have a Designated Premises Supervisor. The procedure to vary the Designated Premises Supervisor is streamlined and such applications do not have to be advertised at the premises or in the newspaper. That said, if the Designated Premises Supervisor has left and an application to vary the designated premises supervisor is not submitted, the premises cannot sell alcohol until a new one has been appointed.

It may be appropriate to obtain a temporary event notice (referred to as a TEN) over the festive season. A TEN permits licensable activities at temporary events consisting of less than 500 people and for less than 168 hours.

Landlords and those that retain the freehold of licensed premises should be aware that a Premises Licence automatically lapses in the case of the death, insolvency or incapacitation of the licence holder unless an interim authority notice is served. Landlords need to be mindful and act quickly if this situation arises as the value of the premises may be adversely affected in the event the Premises Licence lapses.

If you require licensing advice, please contact Rebecca Thomas, Director of Licensing at Duncan Lewis Solicitors who has over 20 years’ experience in representing clients in relation to all aspects of licensing law.

Author Rebecca Thomas has acted for brewers, publicans, hoteliers, bars and restaurants, betting and gaming operators, nightclub owners and festival organisers. Rebecca applied for and obtained one of the first 24 hour premises licences in the O2 arena as well as a premises licence for a new festival on the Isle of Wight. The licensing lawyers at Duncan Lewis solicitors have a national reputation for providing clear and professional legal advice to their leisure, hospitality and retail clients.

Kishan Devani appointed Chief Advisor at World Youth Organisation Kishan Devani a 31 year old British Indian politician, speaker and a business consultant has been appointed Chief Advisor at the World Youth Organisation, which is a registered charity based in England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. It focuses on advancing education and relieving unemployment. The charity is launching a 5-year program called WYO Educate which sees the organisation give educational workshops on mental health and sex education with further subjects being rolled out in 2018.

Mr Devani will be working closely the chari-

of refugees I know how important it is to see a society that nurtures equality and social justice amongst all. The work of WYO is playing a huge part in educating the

Kishan Devani

ty's Chief Executive Kieran Goodwin throughout 2017 and advising them as a whole.

He told Asian Voice, “I am humbled and honoured to be appointed Chief Advisor to the World Youth Organisation. As the son

youth about various social issues as well as allowing them to develop life long skills. I look forward to assisting WYO and growing it from strength to strength.”

Matrimonial Marriage partner sought for 64 year old retired, Gujarati childless, divorcee Hindu gentleman. Ideal lady should be 50 years plus from any cast, race or religion.

Divorcee, single or widow with children is accepted.

Contact : 07438 598 220

14

SP

TLIGHT

www.asian-voice.com

In Brief

AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Quiet weather ahead

The Met Office has said December will be lacking in rain, snow and storms, as the cold snap is expected to ease this week.

On November 30, temperatures dropped to their lowest November levels for six years with the village of Sennybridge, Powys, recording a temperature of -9.7C.

Navin Kundra: An Unfettered, Urban Sound

Lifespan rising, so do years spent in poor health

Look after the art and the art will look after you

Ex-Tory leader Michael Howard fined £900 over speeding ticket

Sunetra Senior

There is an infectious and pulsing energy for the art with rising – lusciously lingual - singer-song writer, Navin Kundra. You can tell immediately how he stormed the urban club charts this year, with his first English hit single - ‘Tear it Up’ – entering in at number 16, and landing one notch above Beyoncé, amongst other star names such as Nikki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars and The Weeknd. “I think my special appeal is that I’m genreless,” the young artist emphasised. “And that’s because I stay true to myself. Whether I’m performing romantic ballads, dance tracks, soul Bollywood or Bhangra, the element that ties it together is my voice and open personality which allows me to experiment with different styles.

The surface can be shifting but it's because I'm going in deep. An intimate connection with the music must always come first.” The impressive Kundra has also personally performed for the Royal Family, and the Indian Prime Minister at Wembley Stadium, as well as receiving a private invite to prestigious 10 Downing Street. *** “Performing live is beautiful,” he continued. “It’s magical to be able to see the immediate effect of your lyrics and music on the people in the audience – whether it’s playing to 60,000 or 600, I want to move them emotionally as well as physically. People have proposed to my music, struck up new romances at my concerts, and my music has even brought someone out of a coma! To me that is the magic of music.

I don’t just enjoy connecting with my fans, it's their reciprocation and responses too.” No wonder then that Navin is most loved for his love songs like the number one smash hit, ‘Tere Liye’. What else could best express the musician’s uniquely classy, yet feel-good warmth: “the whole process, from singing on stage live, being more impromptu and spontaneous, to the initial solitary introspection of just recording in the studio, draws on and culminates in a variety of human feelings and universal experience. That’s what grabs me most about the profession.” We were pleased to hear that Navin will be releasing his new Sufiesque Hindi love song ballad – ‘Bandagi’ – to once again touch our hearts on Valentine’s Day of next year: “previously I’ve sung about what I would do for someone, but ‘Bandagi’ is more to do with what that special person means to me. It’s the yearning of ‘how do you tell someone how much you love them? What could possibly communicate how much they mean to you? Words alone are simply not enough, but words set to melody and music can do it all and that’s what ‘Bandagi’ is.” Eloquent, expressive and connected, Navin shows how, more than having a big personality, knowing and actuating yourself is what results in the lights and the fans.

How did you get started in music?

Actually, I started off as a waiter at TGI Fridays. I then spent four years in banking after graduating from university. I was cultivating my music on the side throughout, and happily it worked out.

where I flipped the lyrics into Hindi and that struck a chord with a lot of people.

There’s also a Fifty Shades of Grey cover with a twist.

Could you tell us some more highlights of your career?

I have been lucky to experience a lot very early on in my career.

Are you planning to Among the many great release another opportunities, I have also Album soon?

I think the performed on Strictly I think the contemporary contemporary Come Dancing, and market has moved away market has achieved a Guinness from albums. moved away Book world Record, Entertainment and music which choreographed is all online and digital. If from albums over 1400 people to my people want to hear a song, song, ‘Mehbooba’. I never they can access it at their finknow what’s coming next gertips: through mobile phones and that keeps it incredibly exciton Youtube, Spotify or iTunes. You ing. don’t have to buy an album: you can just purchase, or stream, the individual Do you always focus on the tracks you want. As an independent music first, or do you think artist then it really doesn't make sense about the promotional aspect too? for me to invest in an album right now.

It’s a mix of both, but yes, primarily it’s That said, I have produced a lot of about creating the best songs for the lismusic and do have a compilation teners. There is a part of me, as an indealbum, dubbed The Collection, featuring pendent artist that does think about 18 tracks of my work over the last eight release strategy and marketing, but in years. That has the full range of my origthe studio when I’m composing and inal material, including six number one recording I let go of all of that. My mansingles. There’s a John Legend cover,

Although life expectancy is slightly increasing for both men and women, we are all likely to spend longer in poor health – if the latest figures revealed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are any indication to go by.

A baby boy born in 2013-15 can expect to live 79.2 years, compared with 78.5 years in 2009-11. For girls, life expectancy rose from 82.5 years to 82.9 years.

However, healthy life expectancy remained static for women and rose by 0.4 years for men over the same period, according to ONS. Women can now expect to spend 19 years of their lives in poor health (up 0.4 years), while men must brace for 16.1 years of poor health, up 0.3 years.

ager is always encouraging me to just write the best song. You’ve got to focus on the writing and that’s what’ll be strong enough to connect.

What’s one notion people have about being a musician that simply isn’t true?

That it’s all glamour and champagne for breakfast. The truth is that it’s more hard work than it appears. Music is a lifestyle industry, and artists do project a superior lifestyle and uber slick image through their videos and personas on stage, but there's a huge journey and amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to get to that point. Everything takes time to build and every song has a story. Some songs, for example, might have taken years to write. It takes a lot of effort to make it look effortless!

Finally, do you have a professional motto?

Look after your art and your art will look after you.

Connect with Navin on: www.Navin-Online.com www.twitter.com/NavinKundra www.facebook.com/NavinFanPage www.instagram.com/NavinKundra

Lord Howard and his wife Sandra arriving at court

Michael Howard, the former Conservative party leader, has been fined £900 after he was convicted of failing to say who was driving his car when it was caught by a speed camera. Seventy-five-year-old Lord Howard and his 76year-old wife Sandra claimed either of them could have been driving their Toyota Prius when it was caught clocking 37.3mph in a 30mph zone.

The car was driven through Lewisham in south-east London on January 24. Subsequently, the former Home Secretary was convicted of failing to give information relating to the identification of a vehicle to the Metropolitan Police and was fined £900 plus £625 costs and a £90 victim surcharge and received six penalty points on his licence. He said he intends to appeal.

Jewish mom’s concerns over kids’ Sabbath bike rides

A family court judge has said a Jewish father who left an ultra-orthodox community when separating from his wife was accused of allowing their two young children ride their bikes on the Sabbath and watch TV. Judge Judith Rowe was told by the estranged wife of her concerns about what the kids were allowed to do when they visited their father.

She said she was afraid of them being “exposed to an alien way of life” and of religious rules being broken, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.

Also, they had been allowed to eat non-kosher food, she said. The woman also accused her estranged husband of removing his kippah on Sundays.

Details of the case came to the fore in a ruling by Judge Rowe following family court hearings in London. No one involved has been identified.

Cyclists warned over wearing headphones

Listen to headphones while cycling at your own peril.

Cyclists have been warned not to wear headphones after a coroner ruled a mother caused her own death when the music she was listening to meant she failed to hear an oncoming lorry. Thirty-eight-year-old Emily Norton may have been distracted by listening to music on her iPhone while trying to avoid a collision. Norton, who was not wearing a helmet, missed the lorry but fell on the verge and died on the spot. The incident happened in Howden, East Yorkshire.

East Riding of Yorkshire Coroner Paul Marks ruled listening to music could have been a distraction and contributed to her misjudgment.

15

UK

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

The Modi Doctrine launches in London Smita Sarkar The third edition of 'The Modi Doctrine: New Paradigms in India’s Foreign Policy’ was launched at the India House, London on 29 November. The book is a

discuss about the demonetisation drive by Modi – however, that topic was contained and more emphasis was laid on how much India has changed under the leadership of the present Modi government – which is what the book is

Cities and Skill India initiatives.

Chaithaiwale gave anecdotes of how this government is different to the previous governments. A person had planned his honeymoon without checking his wife’s passport that

Dr Vijay Chaithaiwale, Shishir Bajoria, Anirban Ganguly, HE Dinesh K Patnaik and Manoj Ladwa

compilation of essays, with contributions from analysts and practitioners, spanning across different nationalities and specialisations.

about.

Dr Chaithaiwale introduced the contents, stating that it has touched upon strategic, tactical, cultural and defence issues. “What

Dr Aseem Vohra, CB Patel, Virendra Sharma, Manoj Ladwa and others

The Acting High Commission of India, Dinesh K Patnaik gave the opening remarks followed by a panel discussion and interactive session with the editors of the book Dr Anirban Ganguly, Director of Shyama Prasad Mookherjee Research Foundation and Dr Vijay

makes this book credible is the fact that out of the twenty-one-people involved in writing and editing the book, eleven of them are not attached to the party at all, they are professionals” said Chaithaiwale.

In Modi’s Doctrine, the authors discussed how the

Karan Lakhani, grandson of Lalubhai Parekh, President of Overseas BJP asking a question on climate change at the event

Chaithaiwale, Head, BJP Foreign Affairs Division.

The third panellist was Shishir Bajoria, Chairman and Managing Director, IFGL Group and the discussions were moderated

by Manoj Ladwa, Founder and CEO, India Inc, India Global Business Magazine.

The academicians, diplomats and media personnel present wanted to

government has been taking initiatives to tightly integrated India’s domestic and foreign policies. Modi’s diplomatic engagements in the past two years focussed on building stronger ties with countries like Isreal, Iraq and the UAE; and has built on international collaborations to make progress with his Made in India, Digital India, Smart

had expired during that time. He tweeted Modi about his dilemma and with a picture of him sitting alone. Modi tweeted back asking him to get in touch with the PMO’s office and renewed his wife’s passport within an hour.

Shishir Bajoria said that “his twitter missions became proactive and that has helped businesses.

Businesses between the UK and India has gone up,” said Bajoria.

Under this government inflation has been contained and successes in getting Foreign Direct Investment has helped businesses. Modernising the railways and activating the airfields in India will hugely help Indian businesses reach smaller towns across India, as per Bajoria.

Referring to Modi’s initiatives to stop corruption Bajoria said “you need a leader to have the guts to take such drastic steps.”

The third edition has added chapters on Pakistan and China (that were missing from the previous editions) and Modi’s diplomatic and tactical engagements with India’s neighbours. “ Modi will not be a hard-liner with China,” said Ganguly. “He has encouraged companies like PTM, where China has a 40% share to invest in India. He also emphasised the need for collaborating with China in safeguarding the Indian Ocean and the South China seas.”

There has been no mention of India’s relationship with UK in the book since it was written before UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May’s recent visit. Ganguly however said that the expectations for improving trade is not very high, considering UK’s policies post BREXIT

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

IN SUPPORT OF PHARMACY Pharmacists are experts in medicines whose skills expand beyond their traditional function with a greater role in patient care. With the largest number of interventions being made at the point of dispensing and the NHS at the very brink; the scope of UK Pharmacy is expanding now more than ever. So what does the future of Pharmacy entail?

The Five Year Forward View outlines three strategic areas focusing largely on providing seamless, patient centered care that is personalized through the integration of healthcare professions. Pharmacists will contribute greatly to this agenda by conducting medicine reviews in both primary and secondary care allowing for disease prevention and fewer hospital admissions.

In 2015, the UK government announced its proposal to reduce funding for community pharmacies. Funding will decrease by £113million in 2016/2017 and establishment payments are set to reduce by 20%, which may result in the closure of up to 3000 pharmacies. These significant cuts will not only decline staff levels and opening hours but will adversely affect the provision of non-contractual services, patient access, low socio-economic areas and most importantly patient safety.

Pharmacies are healthcare hubs providing not just support but also many services; chlamydia screening to travel and flu-vaccines. Their clinical expertise equips them in providing professional advice and in some cases prescribing medicines, reducing the workload on general practitioners. UK Pharmacy is a far cry from its conventional role of just dispensing, with the Carter review calling for more clinical Pharmacists to be

employed in the UK. However, with intended government cuts and an under-utilized profession that was once supposed to be the forefront of the NHS, the now and future of UK Pharmacy remains uncer- Kishore Sankla CEO, tain, and under Solutions4Health threat.

We work with pharmacies as partners to bridge the revenue gap by providing new and innovative ways for pharmacies to continue to provide patient centric care that is personalized and integrated with other healthcare professionals, through our MySelfCare platform.

MySelfCare is a new smart cloud based system that allows patients with long term conditions such as Hypertension, Diabetes and blood oxygen shortage to be remotely monitored, with high readings immediately being followed up by a dedicated hub, so action can be taken earlier.

Furthermore, the patient’s family is also notified immediately in the result of an abnormal reading. We proudly support these with state of the art wireless devices.

By improving the pharmacy offering in this tough time helps generate new streams of revenue, new and innovative solutions for patients, whilst staying true to the core fundamentals of patient care.

Sur Bharti to host Children’s and Women’s Show

Sur Bharti, a social media group for women, will be hosting Children’s Talent Show and Women’s Ramp Walk on 10 December marking International Human Rights Day. The event will take place at Isleworth and Syon School from 4.30 pm on Saturday. More than 30 children will be presenting their artistic abilities in singing, dancing, playing instruments and 20 women will be walking the ramp, in a depiction of empowerment.

Former MP for Isleworth Mary Macleod, Mayor of Hounslow Cllr Amar Grewal, founder of Jeena Rani Bilkhu, Human Rights campaigner Lakshmi Kaul and Cllr Geetha Morla from Milton Keynes will be speaking on the occasion, which is organised in aid of UNICEF. While Priyanka Kanvinde is the choreographer for the ramp walk, Ashwini Kinhikar, RJ at Lyca DilSe will be presenting the show. It is sponsored are still evolving so “taking businesses to the next level will need clarification from Britain.”

“There have however been pragmatic discussions about issuing visas to high skilled workers and student – to prevent them from moving to locations like Canada, Australia or the US,” he said.

He also said that the relationship between President Trump and Modi is bound to strengthen the Indo-US relations. He spoke about Trump being pro-Modi with the statement he made during his electoral campaign ‘Apki bar Trump Sarkar.’

“Besides, Trump has some good investments in India,” laughed Ganguly.

Ganguly mentioned a chapter in the book on Indo-Japanese relation-

Sur Bharti participants

and supported by Bawa London, Jeena, Lodha Group, Sanskruti Centre, B+ Consulting, La Vaastu and Magnifique Makeovers. The event is free to attend, aiming to bring families and community together. Surprise Raffles round and display of jewellery and clothing line by Jhoomke London, Bawa London is on cards, among other exciting sessions.

ship, reiterating the fact that it is of co-strategic interest to India; since the Japanese own most of the major nuclear energy companies. He spoke about Quadrilateral Naval exercises and strategic dialogues between Singapore, Japan, Australia and India that have gone off well.

CB Patel, Editor/Publisher of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar while complimenting the panel and the writers for so much positive inputs raised his concerns and said that all goodie goodie comments heard so far is very welcoming but such an intelligent panel should also raise some issues like any possible fault lines in this matter.

Ganguly responded by stating that the tremen-

dous energy by the Modi government must be matched by improving delivery. That has not yet happened.

“The time for rhetoric is over. FDIs have to come in by the summer of 2018, otherwise there will be a problem,” he said.

“The change in Modi’s perspective towards Pakistan and the South East has been radical. Last year there were discussions, meetings and peace initiatives between the governments; but after Pathankot and Uri incidents there have been no talks. Engagement with Pakistan in multi-lateral forums is vital – a back channel is missing and that is key,” signed off Ganguly.

Photo courtesy: Raj D Bakrania, PR Mediapix

JAYALALITHAA SPECIAL

Puratchi Thalaivi- Leader of the Masses 16

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

"It's been a tempestuous life, and career," said Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in an interview. And it was indeed true. Be it her acting career, her struggle to make her own position in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or her molestation in the State Assembly, Amma carved her own space and gained a cult-like following.

It was her film career that paved way for her political one. MGR chose her and inducted her into the party owing to his own vested interest in the votes she could rake in. She was appointed the party's Propaganda Secretary in 1983, and from 1984 to 1989, served as an MP in the Rajya Sabha. Her tenure as the chief minister has been marked with a display of

a monthly salary of Re 1.

However, later when the Karunanidhi government came to power, she was arrested in connection with a Rs 8.53 Crore colour television scandal. Jaya was also caught up in a major disproportionate assets case, and was sentenced to four years in prison, however, her conviction was overturned by the Karnataka High Court which said the trial court had miscalculated her expenditure and assets. The brief period when she stayed in jail saw over 200 people immolate themselves in protest for their beloved leader.

TAKING CONTROL OF AIADMK POST-MGR Actor turned Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran has a long

Jaya enjoyed a famed acting career, winning several awards and accolades for her talent.

near mania, by her admirers and party workers. She was known for being controlling, and keeping both, her party and the government tight with an iron fist. She wasn't yielding to insubordination or criticism. An example of it could be seen in a Supreme Court observation this August that said she must learn to take criticism as she was a public figure.

As she took the seat in 1991, she shocked everyone by declaring she would take

list of achievements. One of them being the one to introduce Jaya to the world of politics. After his death on December 24, 1987, the AIADMK visibly split into two factions- one that pledged loyalty to his legal wife Janaki, and the other that was with Jaya. It was more personal than political for the former as she felt she had a score to settle with her competitor.

Senior leaders still remember the image of

AsianVoiceNews

Jayalalithaa being pushed, pinched, and abused by party leaders like KP Ramalingam from atop the gun carriage carrying MGR's body during his funeral processsion.

However, none of them were able to shake her away from her mentor, not even his own living wife.

Personally chosen and initiated into the party in 1982

by MGR, Jaya who had a raging film career behind her, had her own massive fan following. However, even though he himself groomed her, stopped short of announcing her as his political heir.

Two weeks after her husband's death, Janaki was sworn in as TN's first woman Chief Minister. The government was somehow shortlived and lasted mere 22 days before hell broke loose at the State Assembly on the day of the vote of confidence. Two days later, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi invoked Article 356 of the Constitution and dismissed her government. The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu remained under President's Rule for well over a year before elections were held in January 1989.

After the elections, Janaki announced her decision to withdraw from politics, leaving the ball in Jaya's court.

FROM THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION TO CHIEF MINISTER: THE POINT THAT TURNED JAYA TO AMMA March 25, 1989.

Jayalalithaa, the Leader of the Opposition and the first woman in the state to occupy that position, was assaulted in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The grave animosity that brewed in the state politics can be witnessed in the incident that marked the birth of matriarchy in a much rooted patriarch society. DMK

Jaya (left) with MG Ramachandran and his wife Janaki

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

gives four grams of gold and cash up to Rs 50,000 to financially backward women who hold a degree or diploma. She had promised to raise the amount of gold recently.

Amma Unavagam The first populist scheme with the brand 'Amma' on it, city corporation-run canteens offered food for as cheap as Re 1. They are one of the most successful schemes in the state and are run and maintained by women Self Help Groups.

EARLY LIFE

Jayalalithaa was born in Mysore (now in the state of Karnataka) at a place called Melukote on 24 February 1948. She hailed from a Tamil Iyengar family. Her father Jayaram, a lawyer by profession, passed away when she was just two year old. Consequently, Jayalalithaa and her brother Jayakumar had to shift to Bangalore along with their mother. Her mother, Vedavathi, started acting in Tamil cinema with the screen name of Sandhya.

Jayalalithaa completed her schooling in Chennai. After completing her matriculation she joined the film industry.

Amma Kudineer Perhaps the most inexpensive packaged mineral water available in the Indian market, the TN government sells water for Rs 10 a litre from 2013.

Jayalalithaa

pivotal alliance.

The humiliation and the anger following the incident boosted the leader's grit to make a place for herself in the male-dominated sphere.

Riding on public sympathy, Gandhi's assassination, and the anti-incumbency in the DMK, the AIADMKCongress coalition marked a landslide victory with Jaya becoming the CM for the first time in 1991.

She sticks to her mentor MGR’s body despite finding resistance from fellow party members

leader M Karunanidhi was two months into his third term as Chief Minister, and Jaya had just managed to put back together the AIADMK following her mentor MGR's death.

While there are different accounts of what went on in the Assembly session that day, every story has the same ending; a disheveled woman emerged in front of the media in a torn saree, only to comeback with a legacy that boasts of her leadership even today. A case of cheating had been filed against Jayalalithaa's aide Natarajan, under which pretext, the police had raided his house in Madras. Later, Jaya wrote to the Speaker stating she was resigning as MLA with effect from March 15, 1989, which was leaked to the press.

A week later, writes journalist Vaasanthi in her book 'Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars', then CM Karunanidhi was preparing

to present the budget at the Assembly, but before he could begin, the deputy leader of the Congress, Kumari Anandan said the police had acted undemocratically and in a high-handed manner against the leader of the opposition.

Jaya shouted at Karuna and objected to him presenting the budget. What followed

Leader of Opposition, Jayalalithaa appears from the House with a torn saree, she places her hand to show where she was hit

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

was a mix up of different stories, some stating the CM covered the microphone and hurled personal remarks at the future CM and others blaming Jaya for pushing Karuna.

Pandemonium broke, violence ensued and DMK and AIADMK MLAs began hitting each other.

Deputy leader of opposition Thirunavakkarasu, AIADML MLA KKSSR Ramachandran and Congress leader GK Moopanar formed a human shielf around Jaya, but as she made her way out of the House, DMK minister Durai Murugan rushed towards her and tried to hit her, tearing her saree in the process.

Jaya left the building that day, vowing never to return until the DMK government is dismissed and "until conditions are created under which a woman may attend the Assembly safely." A few days after the incident, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited her in the hospital- a beginning of a

AMMA: THE MOTHER OF POPULIST SCHEMES Jayalalithaa's tenure as Chief Minister is specked with freebies and schemes that made 'Amma' brand a hallmark in the southern state. From Amma canteens to gymnasiums and parks, the brand was as effective as the lady herself. A culture that was kickstarted by Karunanidhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, it

Thalaivi who mastered it.

The Cradle baby scheme The first-ever welfare scheme launched by the AIADMK when it came to power, it was aptly launched as Tamil Nadu was gaining notoriety in gender-based abortions. The scheme allowed mothers to anonymously hand over their newborn children to the government which would take care of them or give them for adoptions. Over the years, government-run orphanages now see fewer babies coming in.

Thalikku Thangam Thittam Meaning Gold for Marriage, the scheme was a part of the party's 2006 manifesto and was effectively implemented when Amma came to power in 2011. Named after social activist Moovalur Ramamirtham, the scheme

Amma Kudineer Thittam Earlier this year, Jaya introduced a scheme to supply upto 20 litres of drinking water per family per day, to those who cannot afford to buy purified drinking water.

Around 200 water kiosks function in Chennai alone, supplying potable water through vending machines.

JAYALALITHAA SPECIAL Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

Amma salt An affordable quality common salt made by the Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation which comes in three variations- Double Fortified Salt, Refined Free Flow Iodises Salt, and Low Sodium Salt.

Made available through government-run PDS outlets.

Amma cement This scheme was launched at a time when cement prices were hitting the roof.

Tamil Nadu Cements Limited would sell cement for as cheap as Rs 190 a bag of 50 kg. They are stocked and sold through Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation.

Amma grinder, mixie, table fan After the party came back to power in 2011, its first budget allotted Rs 1250 Crore for providing free table fan,

this year to encourage farmers to use certified seeds for sowing. The Tamil Nadu State Seeds Development Agency implements the scheme that would give away seeds for free. The agency also provides subsidised kits for the urban folks to cultivate vegetable farming in smaller land and roof-tops.

Pannai Pasumai Nugarvor Kootturavu Kadai Cooperative fair price vegetable shops sell farm-fresh vegetables in cities at low costs. With a massive price variation, the scheme ensures produce is sold out within hours.

Amma service centre Local bodies hold Amma Makkal Sevai Maiyam every Wednesday to facilitate delivery of public services such as issue of birth and death certificates, trade

17

are sold with a lesser profit margin, giving pharma retailers something to chew on.

Amma micro loans scheme Launched with an aim to provide micro loans for small traders, through this Amma scheme, traders can avail loan upto Rs 500 from banks and the government will pay the interest. They can repay as little as Rs 200 a week. Those who pay on time are eligible for higher loans upto Rs 25,000.

Amma Arogya Thittam This scheme offers masterhealth check-ups through government-run laboratories and assures treatment through public health centres and government hospitals. Cost of a check up is one-fifth of what private centres offer. Investigations includes tests for cardiac function, cancer and dia-

Amma Laptops One of the most landmark populist measures from AIADMK, the government gave away free laptops from higher-secondary and college students studying in government and government-aided institutions.

Uttar Pradesh followed suit and implemented the scheme too.

Amma baby care kits Mothers giving birth at government hospitals get 16 types of baby products worth Rs 1000, for free. The kit comes in a carry bag and comprises of a baby towel, dress, bed, mosquito net, napkin, baby oil, baby soap, bath soap, soap box, liquid sanitizer, nail cutter, rattle, doll, and ‘Sowbhaghya Legiyam’ (a medicinal preparation to improve mother’s health).

Followers grieve as they find their future without the former CM in the dark

mixie, and grinder to the poor. In the next five years, the AIADMK not only covered a large base, but also opened exclusive repair and maintenance centre for the electronics.

Amma seeds Amma Seeds was launched

Massive turnout as people try to get a final glimpse of their beloved Amma

licenses, ration cards, drinking water and sewage connections, permission for building and others.

Amma call centre Call toll free 1100 for any kind of public grievance.

Details given by callers will be sent to officials concerned through e-mail, phone call and text messages. Callers would also be informed about the officer who has been informed of the complaint and the action taken on it.

betes. Women can avail separate package such as pap smear and mammogram, vitamin D level, bone density test and parathyroid hormone levels.

Special Amma camps Government officials visit villages and solve their grievances of the public at their doorstep.

Dates are announced in advance through public broadcast systems.

Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme Jaya scrapped the existing government health insurance scheme in 2012, and launched the comprehensive health insurance scheme.

Popularly called the Amma mediclaim, each family is assured Rs 1 lakh per annum for a total period of four years. The updated scheme would cover 1016 procedures, 113 follow up procedures and 23 diagnostic procedures. Cost of tests required would also be part of the insurance cover.

Amma mobiles Free mobile phones were given to SHGs. The monthly cost for operating the phones would be borne by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women.

Amma Theatre project Envisaged by Chennai Corporation’s budget under which U-certified Tamil films are screened in corporation-run theatres for as low as Rs. 10 per ticket.

Amma pharmacy These fair price pharmacies sell both, branded and generic drugs priced lower than the market rates. Since they are procured directly from drug companies, they

Amma Gyms The Amma gymnasiums will be constructed in rural areas with an estimated cost of Rs. 10 lakh each. These gymnasiums will be attached to a park.

JAYALALITHAA SPECIAL

Puratchi Thalaivi- Leader of the Masses 16

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

"It's been a tempestuous life, and career," said Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in an interview. And it was indeed true. Be it her acting career, her struggle to make her own position in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or her molestation in the State Assembly, Amma carved her own space and gained a cult-like following.

It was her film career that paved way for her political one. MGR chose her and inducted her into the party owing to his own vested interest in the votes she could rake in. She was appointed the party's Propaganda Secretary in 1983, and from 1984 to 1989, served as an MP in the Rajya Sabha. Her tenure as the chief minister has been marked with a display of

a monthly salary of Re 1.

However, later when the Karunanidhi government came to power, she was arrested in connection with a Rs 8.53 Crore colour television scandal. Jaya was also caught up in a major disproportionate assets case, and was sentenced to four years in prison, however, her conviction was overturned by the Karnataka High Court which said the trial court had miscalculated her expenditure and assets. The brief period when she stayed in jail saw over 200 people immolate themselves in protest for their beloved leader.

TAKING CONTROL OF AIADMK POST-MGR Actor turned Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran has a long

Jaya enjoyed a famed acting career, winning several awards and accolades for her talent.

near mania, by her admirers and party workers. She was known for being controlling, and keeping both, her party and the government tight with an iron fist. She wasn't yielding to insubordination or criticism. An example of it could be seen in a Supreme Court observation this August that said she must learn to take criticism as she was a public figure.

As she took the seat in 1991, she shocked everyone by declaring she would take

list of achievements. One of them being the one to introduce Jaya to the world of politics. After his death on December 24, 1987, the AIADMK visibly split into two factions- one that pledged loyalty to his legal wife Janaki, and the other that was with Jaya. It was more personal than political for the former as she felt she had a score to settle with her competitor.

Senior leaders still remember the image of

AsianVoiceNews

Jayalalithaa being pushed, pinched, and abused by party leaders like KP Ramalingam from atop the gun carriage carrying MGR's body during his funeral processsion.

However, none of them were able to shake her away from her mentor, not even his own living wife.

Personally chosen and initiated into the party in 1982

by MGR, Jaya who had a raging film career behind her, had her own massive fan following. However, even though he himself groomed her, stopped short of announcing her as his political heir.

Two weeks after her husband's death, Janaki was sworn in as TN's first woman Chief Minister. The government was somehow shortlived and lasted mere 22 days before hell broke loose at the State Assembly on the day of the vote of confidence. Two days later, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi invoked Article 356 of the Constitution and dismissed her government. The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu remained under President's Rule for well over a year before elections were held in January 1989.

After the elections, Janaki announced her decision to withdraw from politics, leaving the ball in Jaya's court.

FROM THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION TO CHIEF MINISTER: THE POINT THAT TURNED JAYA TO AMMA March 25, 1989.

Jayalalithaa, the Leader of the Opposition and the first woman in the state to occupy that position, was assaulted in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The grave animosity that brewed in the state politics can be witnessed in the incident that marked the birth of matriarchy in a much rooted patriarch society. DMK

Jaya (left) with MG Ramachandran and his wife Janaki

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

gives four grams of gold and cash up to Rs 50,000 to financially backward women who hold a degree or diploma. She had promised to raise the amount of gold recently.

Amma Unavagam The first populist scheme with the brand 'Amma' on it, city corporation-run canteens offered food for as cheap as Re 1. They are one of the most successful schemes in the state and are run and maintained by women Self Help Groups.

EARLY LIFE

Jayalalithaa was born in Mysore (now in the state of Karnataka) at a place called Melukote on 24 February 1948. She hailed from a Tamil Iyengar family. Her father Jayaram, a lawyer by profession, passed away when she was just two year old. Consequently, Jayalalithaa and her brother Jayakumar had to shift to Bangalore along with their mother. Her mother, Vedavathi, started acting in Tamil cinema with the screen name of Sandhya.

Jayalalithaa completed her schooling in Chennai. After completing her matriculation she joined the film industry.

Amma Kudineer Perhaps the most inexpensive packaged mineral water available in the Indian market, the TN government sells water for Rs 10 a litre from 2013.

Jayalalithaa

pivotal alliance.

The humiliation and the anger following the incident boosted the leader's grit to make a place for herself in the male-dominated sphere.

Riding on public sympathy, Gandhi's assassination, and the anti-incumbency in the DMK, the AIADMKCongress coalition marked a landslide victory with Jaya becoming the CM for the first time in 1991.

She sticks to her mentor MGR’s body despite finding resistance from fellow party members

leader M Karunanidhi was two months into his third term as Chief Minister, and Jaya had just managed to put back together the AIADMK following her mentor MGR's death.

While there are different accounts of what went on in the Assembly session that day, every story has the same ending; a disheveled woman emerged in front of the media in a torn saree, only to comeback with a legacy that boasts of her leadership even today. A case of cheating had been filed against Jayalalithaa's aide Natarajan, under which pretext, the police had raided his house in Madras. Later, Jaya wrote to the Speaker stating she was resigning as MLA with effect from March 15, 1989, which was leaked to the press.

A week later, writes journalist Vaasanthi in her book 'Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars', then CM Karunanidhi was preparing

to present the budget at the Assembly, but before he could begin, the deputy leader of the Congress, Kumari Anandan said the police had acted undemocratically and in a high-handed manner against the leader of the opposition.

Jaya shouted at Karuna and objected to him presenting the budget. What followed

Leader of Opposition, Jayalalithaa appears from the House with a torn saree, she places her hand to show where she was hit

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

was a mix up of different stories, some stating the CM covered the microphone and hurled personal remarks at the future CM and others blaming Jaya for pushing Karuna.

Pandemonium broke, violence ensued and DMK and AIADMK MLAs began hitting each other.

Deputy leader of opposition Thirunavakkarasu, AIADML MLA KKSSR Ramachandran and Congress leader GK Moopanar formed a human shielf around Jaya, but as she made her way out of the House, DMK minister Durai Murugan rushed towards her and tried to hit her, tearing her saree in the process.

Jaya left the building that day, vowing never to return until the DMK government is dismissed and "until conditions are created under which a woman may attend the Assembly safely." A few days after the incident, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited her in the hospital- a beginning of a

AMMA: THE MOTHER OF POPULIST SCHEMES Jayalalithaa's tenure as Chief Minister is specked with freebies and schemes that made 'Amma' brand a hallmark in the southern state. From Amma canteens to gymnasiums and parks, the brand was as effective as the lady herself. A culture that was kickstarted by Karunanidhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, it

Thalaivi who mastered it.

The Cradle baby scheme The first-ever welfare scheme launched by the AIADMK when it came to power, it was aptly launched as Tamil Nadu was gaining notoriety in gender-based abortions. The scheme allowed mothers to anonymously hand over their newborn children to the government which would take care of them or give them for adoptions. Over the years, government-run orphanages now see fewer babies coming in.

Thalikku Thangam Thittam Meaning Gold for Marriage, the scheme was a part of the party's 2006 manifesto and was effectively implemented when Amma came to power in 2011. Named after social activist Moovalur Ramamirtham, the scheme

Amma Kudineer Thittam Earlier this year, Jaya introduced a scheme to supply upto 20 litres of drinking water per family per day, to those who cannot afford to buy purified drinking water.

Around 200 water kiosks function in Chennai alone, supplying potable water through vending machines.

JAYALALITHAA SPECIAL Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

Amma salt An affordable quality common salt made by the Tamil Nadu Salt Corporation which comes in three variations- Double Fortified Salt, Refined Free Flow Iodises Salt, and Low Sodium Salt.

Made available through government-run PDS outlets.

Amma cement This scheme was launched at a time when cement prices were hitting the roof.

Tamil Nadu Cements Limited would sell cement for as cheap as Rs 190 a bag of 50 kg. They are stocked and sold through Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation.

Amma grinder, mixie, table fan After the party came back to power in 2011, its first budget allotted Rs 1250 Crore for providing free table fan,

this year to encourage farmers to use certified seeds for sowing. The Tamil Nadu State Seeds Development Agency implements the scheme that would give away seeds for free. The agency also provides subsidised kits for the urban folks to cultivate vegetable farming in smaller land and roof-tops.

Pannai Pasumai Nugarvor Kootturavu Kadai Cooperative fair price vegetable shops sell farm-fresh vegetables in cities at low costs. With a massive price variation, the scheme ensures produce is sold out within hours.

Amma service centre Local bodies hold Amma Makkal Sevai Maiyam every Wednesday to facilitate delivery of public services such as issue of birth and death certificates, trade

17

are sold with a lesser profit margin, giving pharma retailers something to chew on.

Amma micro loans scheme Launched with an aim to provide micro loans for small traders, through this Amma scheme, traders can avail loan upto Rs 500 from banks and the government will pay the interest. They can repay as little as Rs 200 a week. Those who pay on time are eligible for higher loans upto Rs 25,000.

Amma Arogya Thittam This scheme offers masterhealth check-ups through government-run laboratories and assures treatment through public health centres and government hospitals. Cost of a check up is one-fifth of what private centres offer. Investigations includes tests for cardiac function, cancer and dia-

Amma Laptops One of the most landmark populist measures from AIADMK, the government gave away free laptops from higher-secondary and college students studying in government and government-aided institutions.

Uttar Pradesh followed suit and implemented the scheme too.

Amma baby care kits Mothers giving birth at government hospitals get 16 types of baby products worth Rs 1000, for free. The kit comes in a carry bag and comprises of a baby towel, dress, bed, mosquito net, napkin, baby oil, baby soap, bath soap, soap box, liquid sanitizer, nail cutter, rattle, doll, and ‘Sowbhaghya Legiyam’ (a medicinal preparation to improve mother’s health).

Followers grieve as they find their future without the former CM in the dark

mixie, and grinder to the poor. In the next five years, the AIADMK not only covered a large base, but also opened exclusive repair and maintenance centre for the electronics.

Amma seeds Amma Seeds was launched

Massive turnout as people try to get a final glimpse of their beloved Amma

licenses, ration cards, drinking water and sewage connections, permission for building and others.

Amma call centre Call toll free 1100 for any kind of public grievance.

Details given by callers will be sent to officials concerned through e-mail, phone call and text messages. Callers would also be informed about the officer who has been informed of the complaint and the action taken on it.

betes. Women can avail separate package such as pap smear and mammogram, vitamin D level, bone density test and parathyroid hormone levels.

Special Amma camps Government officials visit villages and solve their grievances of the public at their doorstep.

Dates are announced in advance through public broadcast systems.

Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme Jaya scrapped the existing government health insurance scheme in 2012, and launched the comprehensive health insurance scheme.

Popularly called the Amma mediclaim, each family is assured Rs 1 lakh per annum for a total period of four years. The updated scheme would cover 1016 procedures, 113 follow up procedures and 23 diagnostic procedures. Cost of tests required would also be part of the insurance cover.

Amma mobiles Free mobile phones were given to SHGs. The monthly cost for operating the phones would be borne by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women.

Amma Theatre project Envisaged by Chennai Corporation’s budget under which U-certified Tamil films are screened in corporation-run theatres for as low as Rs. 10 per ticket.

Amma pharmacy These fair price pharmacies sell both, branded and generic drugs priced lower than the market rates. Since they are procured directly from drug companies, they

Amma Gyms The Amma gymnasiums will be constructed in rural areas with an estimated cost of Rs. 10 lakh each. These gymnasiums will be attached to a park.

18

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

Mahesh Shah proves a tough nut to crack

Mahesh Shah

Mahesh Shah, the Ahmedabad -based land dealer who is in the dock for making a ÂŁ1.38 billion disclosure under the Income Declaration Scheme 2016 (IDS), ostensibly to launder black money of influential people for a commission, has proved a tough nut for Income Tax (I-T) sleuths.

I-T officials said he remained uncooperative during his interrogation.

When Shah resurfaced from his hideout, he insisted he would name all those whose untaxed wealth he intended to launder for a cut. "I will give all names to I-T", Shah had said. But during interrogation by the tax department, Shah did not divulge much. Shah was taken by I-T officials to their office. His interrogation was recorded by Vinay Kaushal, deputy director (investigation), along with three other tax sleuths.

After the interrogation concluded, P C Mody, director general (investigation), said: "Mahesh Shah was not cooperating with the investigation. He sought two or three days time to provide the information and also said that his wife was not well. If he remains uncooperative, action will be taken against him."

"He did not reveal anything today and will come

to the I-T office after two or three days," Mody said.

During the interrogation, a team of doctors was also called as Shah, a heart patient, complained of uneasiness. Meanwhile, sources said documents seized by the I-T department in searches at 15 locations revealed Shah's connection with businessmen and politicians in Rajkot and Karnataka.

This was revealed after the I-T department conducted marathon interrogation and searches at 15 premises in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Mumbai. Shah, a big-ticket land dealer with business interests in Gujarat, Mumbai and Pune, had declared the putative undisclosed income on September 30, the last date for disclosures under IDS. The first instalment of ÂŁ156 million, 25% of the 45% tax imposed on his declared income, was to be paid on November 30. I-T sources said documents, in hard and soft format, revealed that Shah was on good terms with a Gujarat politician who shifted to Karnataka, a politician-turned-industrialist from Karnataka and a travel operator in Rajkot.

"It is not yet clear whether this undisclosed income belonged to these people but a through inquiry will throw more light on this," a source said.

Tata Steel closes in on UK plant deal A latest media report suggested that Tata Steel is edging closer to a deal with UK steel workers' union to keep its troubled Port Talbot plant open until at least 2020. Union leaders will put together a new rescue plan to its members this week, which could see investments flow in the UK's largest steel plant in return for concessions on staff terms and conditions.

If a detente is reached between the Indian steel giant, and the staff, the company will look into partial relining of the blast furnace as an upgrade that would extend its life by several years. The report also quoted sources as saying that union officials had held talks with Tata Steel bosses, including executive director Koushik Chatterjee.

www.asian-voice.com

At 7.3%, India stays fastest-growing economy AsianVoiceNews

Data released by the Central Statistics Office revealed that the Indian economy remained the world's fastest growing major economy in the JulySeptember quarter with the help of the agriculture sector. Data showed the economy grew an annual 7.3 per cent in the July-September quarter, marginally faster than previous quarter's 7.1 per cent. It grew 7.6 per cent in the said quarter in 2015-16.

Growth was powered by the farm sector which grew an annual 3.3 per cent during Q2 compared to 1.8 per cent expansion in the previous quarter.

Manufacturing sector growth slowed to 7.1 per cent in July-September compared to 9.1 per cent expansion in April-June quarter. The 7.3 per cent

GDP growth in the second quarter is higher than China's 6.7 per cent growth. Economists said growth for the full year could slow to 7 per cent due to the impact of the government's decision to scrap some high value notes.

Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Care ratings said, "While we had estimated a GDP growth of 7.3 per cent for FY17, post demonetisation on the assumption of attainment of normalcy from January 2017, we estimate that GDP could slow to 7 per cent in FY17 with a strong downside risk as barring the government sector all the other segments of the economy have recorded subdued growth.

An aggressive growth of 7 per cent for FY17 would be contingent on growth in Q3

being in the range of 5.5-6 per cent and that in Q4 being 7.5-8 per cent," he said. India's chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramaniam said the government was analysing data against the backdrop of uncertainty in the second half of the fiscal year.

"What we have for first half are actual numbers. It shows good consistent performance. For second half, we will have to see, there is a lot of uncertainty. We have to analyse it before we say something."

India projected to grow 7.6% in 2017: UN report: A UN study said that the Indian economy was projected to grow at 7.6 per cent in 2017 as investment regains momentum and manufacturing base strengthens on the back of structural reforms in the

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

country, crediting India and China for steady growth of the Asia-Pacific region. It said in India while growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (April-June 2016) moderated due to a contraction in fixed investment, a rebound is expected. "Initially, growth will be driven by a rebound in agriculture due to normal monsoon rain, which along with civil service pay revisions will support broad-based consumption growth.

Later, growth will be underpinned by a recovery in private investment as the recent push to accelerate infrastructure spending and measures to create a better investment climate due in part to the passage of the goods and services tax and bankruptcy code," it said.

India to have common QR code for payments soon In another step to push cashless transactions, the Centre has asked RuPay, MasterCard and Visa to have a common Quick Response code-based payments solution to help shops across India accept electronic payments without a card swipe machine.

The idea is, the merchant will display the common QR code, which can be scanned using a smartphone app linked to any of the three payment networks, and the amount will be directly transferred by a buyer to the merchant's account. Such payments won't require a physical card.

The interoperable QR code-based solution will allow payments through multiple gateways. The push for the system came

after a brainstorming session between all major banks, payments companies and government officials led by Piyush Goyal, minister of state for power, coal, and renewable energy. The interoperable QR code-passed payments solution is being called India QR for now and is set to be launched in January. Pioneer in QR

Code payments, Visa developed and launched mVisa in India in Bengaluru over a year ago.

Soon after, Paytm launched its QR code app for offline merchants.

MasterCard most recently launched its solution, Masterpass QR service which debuted in Ratnakar Bank partnered Ongo payment wallet.

RuPay is expected to launch its own QR code solution shortly.

This is the third front on which the government is pushing cashless payments.

Last week, the Centre set a target of one million additional card swipe machines to be installed by banks in three months. The government has also pushed Unified Payments Interface for smartphones and *99# , a mobile messaging-based payments application for feature phones. Things have been made easier for merchants by allowing them to accept payments of up to Rs 50,000 in their wallets without KYC. Payments companies currently require to do a complete KYC of a merchant before onboarding him for acceptance.

Modi asks energy companies to become MNCs Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined a vision for creating energy corridors to the MiddleEast, Central Asia, and South Asia, saying stable and reasonably-priced energy is vital for economic development. Addressing the inaugural session of Petrotech conference in the National Capital, Modi said the world's third-largest energy consumer needs to raise domestic oil and gas production to cut imports and also establish partnership with regional energy powerhouses.

"Energy is a key driver of economic growth.

Sustainable, stable and reasonably priced energy is essential for the fruits of economic development to reach the bottom of the pyramid. On one hand, to

Narendra Modi

meet the increasing demand, we need affordable and reliable sources of energy. On the other, we must be sensitive towards the environment," Modi said.

He said hydrocarbons will continue to play an important part in India's growth, but the country needs energy that is accessible to the poor as also efficiency in use and energy security.

"Energy in general and hydrocarbons in particular is an important part of my vision for India's future,"

Modi said, adding that it rests on four pillars of energy access, efficiency, sustainability, and security.

Stating that the country needs to increase domestic oil and gas production and reduce import dependence, he said, "I have set a target to reduce import dependence by 10 per cent by 2022.

This will have to be achieved during the period of increasing oil consumption." The PM also said that a new hydrocarbon exploration and production policy has been introduced to provide for uniform license for exploration and production for all forms of hydrocarbons, including shale oil and gas and coal bed methane. He also covered open acreage policy allowing bidders to choose the acreage they wish to

explore, revenue sharing model instead of profit sharing to reduce any scope for disputes and marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced. "I hope that our oil and gas sector companies will take the opportunity to tie up with their foreign counterparts to explore for more equity oil... Indian energy companies must become multinational and work towards India-Middle East, India-Central Asia, and India-South Asia energy corridors."

Establishing that hydrocarbons will remain the most important source of energy for many years to come, the PM said India is poised to account for one fourth of the incremental global energy demande between 2013 and 2040.

REALESTATEVOICE

www.asian-voice.com

TIME AND TIDE WAIT FOR NO MAN AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

We are in the process of transacting a deal which needs to be completed in a couple of weeks. There were some issues concerning the title, timing and works done to the property.

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap London Property Investment

The reason we got this deal is because we could close very quickly. The consequence of this is we now need to get the funding in place post exchange.

To date we have never not performed in obtaining funding, we are pulling out all the stops to get this over the line. The time pressure has been built up partially by the clients, who compounded the problem through indecision, and not providing the relevant

paper work in a timely manner.

This is probably the worst time to be taking it easy, as this is a time when valuers are on annual leave and the ones who are working are fully booked, many are focusing on their coming Christmas break rather than on entertaining new business.

It is with this backdrop we have been charged with the task of arranging finance for this deal. We have various arrangements with lending companies, in particular bridgers. This is whom you turn to when time is of the essence.

We have developed a good relationship with one particular bridger. Post Brexit when every finance

Asian Voice |10th December 2016

company was worried about the loans they had out, due to the loan to values being breeched, we worked with the lender to ensure we managed to firstly reduce their exposure and ultimately managed to repay the debt by moving on to an alternate lender in due course. This carries a lot of weight, it is when things don’t go quite to plan and you still manage to maintain a relationship.

It is to them we turned to when time was of the essence and views need to be taken on certain points.

We were lucky to obtain a valuation within 48 hours of instruction, and now are proceeding with the legals.

It is our aim to actually complete prior to the legal completion date, so that

19

we are in a position to rent the property out. Once you hit the Christmas period it becomes very difficult to find a tenant.

The only reason we couldn’t go to a main stream lender on this deal was the lack of time.

However, there are lenders now who have adapted to the market’s need for speed and offer a seamless transaction between a bridging loan to a conventional mortgage.

This means they will move at speed by bridging the deal, a bridging loan requires less information than a normal mortgage.

Once this in place and the deal has been executed they can then transition to a conventional mortgage without the need of further

valuation and further arrangement fees. This offers the best of both worlds to the investor, speed to close the transaction, and the comfort of having an exit to a conventional mortgage paying normal rates.

THE FAIRNESS OF WEAR AND TEAR The subject of long term tenancies is a hot topic at the moment, and they may present advantages for both landlord and tenant.

However these benefits could be overshadowed by the potential for increased deposit disputes as properties let under longer agreements tend to display more signs of wear and tear, and require more expenditure at the end of a tenancy.

Since the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) began collecting data in 2007, cleaning has consistently

been the most common cause of dispute featuring in 56% of cases in 2013 the highest level recorded to date. Disagreements about damage and decoration follow closely behind.

The average length of private tenancies is now reaching 20 months, and it is clear there is a need for longer term tenancies to be available, especially for families.

However, the longer a tenant stays in a property, the more likely it is that

BUY TO LET OPPORTUNITY

Gloucester Terrace, London W2 Purchase Price: £900,000

the property will be subject to wear and tear, and when this occurs, a landlord could decide to hold on to the deposit in order to cover the cost of repairs, redecoration and cleaning bills at the end of a long term tenancy.

Landlords and agents have different expectations from tenants when it comes to fair wear and tear issues, so it is no wonder that so many tenancies end in dispute.

Normal wear and tear is a fact of life with rental properties, just as it would

l

be at home, but if landlords and agents wish to avoid the hassle of arguments over who is responsible for damage, they need to prepare a thorough inventory of the condition of the property that details the condition of everything in it. And since a detailed inventory is designed to protect both the landlord and the tenant, it is not unreasonable to suggest splitting the cost of having one professionally prepared.

Obviously, there is a

distinct difference between fair wear and tear and actual damage – for example carpet tread will flatten over time, where there has been foot traffic, but cigarette burns, stains or soiling will require a charge.

Aside from ensuring there is a fair contract in place at the start of a tenancy agreement, a professional and detailed inventory will enable both parties to be treated fairly and reasonably. As the industry is becoming more and more regulated, one

Two bedroom, two bathroom apartment l Beautiful purpose built block in the heart of Bayswater l Resident porter and an allocated parking space l Approx. 950 sq. ft. l Purchase price is £947 per sq. ft. l Recently a flat in a similar condition has been sold for £1,200 per sq. ft. l Resale value as it is, expected to be around £1.1m Call us now to find out more!

option is to step away and let someone else take the hassle. At Sow & Reap we would be happy to step in and manage this for you.

Contact me today to discuss your property needs in more depth.

Richard Bond

Lettings Manager Sow & Reap

20

FINANCIAL VOICE

www.asian-voice.com

Demonetisation weighs on manufacturing Nusli Wadia seeks public AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

In the very first proof of the impact of demonetisation, manufacturing activity appeared to have eased in November from October's 22-month high with new orders seeing the weakest expansion since July. The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index slowed to 52.3 in November from October's 54.4.

The 50-point mark separates expansion from contraction. "PMI data from November showed that the sudden withdrawal of high-value banknotes in India caused problems from manufacturers, as cash shortage hampered growth of new work, buying activity and produc-

GST must be in place by Sept 16 next year: Jaitley

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was a Constitutional compulsion to roll out the Goods and Services Tax, asserting that the government's intention was to kick off the ambitious reform by April 1. Speaking at a function, the FM said, "So, you have a Constitutional compulsion to have a GST in place before September 16, otherwise the country doesn't run, and the tax is absolutely essential.

Therefore, our intention is to gets it implemented from April 1, 2017, that was the original intention."

He stated that investors would be careful of choosing states if they are seen to be on the wrong side of reforms. "The states must welcome the decision and I can only tell you, if some states are seen as opposing every reform, then investors in the country and the ones coming from outside, must decide which are the states they want to invest in." Jaitley said that demonetisation along with GST would boost the economy and make it cleaner. "I have least doubt in my mind that (one year from now) you will have a bigger economy, higher GDP, cleaner GDP. You will have a higher tax base and more money in banks, and probably interest rates will be more reasonable.

Therefore, all these collectively could contribute a lot as far as GDP is concerned.

I personally believe that once the remonetisation process is complete and the GST is implemented, it's going to hugely impact India's businesses and also the Indian way of life."

He also said, "You will have more of digitised expenditures, you will have a taxation system far more efficient, which is extremely difficult to evade, where each limb of the transaction is being captured."

tion," said Pollyanna De Lima, economist at IHS Markit. "However, whereas some may have anticipated an outright downturn, the sector held its ground and remained in expansion mode. Although many companies which were surveyed commented that fur-

ther disruption is expected in the near-term, the demonetisation of the rupee is anticipated to ignite growth in the longrun as unregulated companies leave the market."

Many economists cut their GDP growth forecasts to below 7 per cent for

India in the current fiscal against the backdrop of the note ban which was announced on November 8. While the government expects some disruption in the next two quarters, it is confident of a growth rebound after that.

Manufacturing production growth slowed amid reports of cash shortages.

Softer increases in output were noted in each of the three monitored sectors, with consumer goods producers recording a sharp slowdown in growth, the survey showed. While firms continued increase their quantities of purchases, the rate of expansion eased from October's 14-month high.

India unveils special bonds to soak demonetised funds The Indian government has created provisions to issue special bonds up to £60 billion, to absorb the temporary surplus with banks created by deposits of demonetised currency which crossed £80 billion last weekend. The RBI will sell the bonds called M a r k e t Stabilisation Scheme, to banks on behalf of the government. Although the MSS is an existing programme, the current limit was only £3 billion which has been raised to £60 billion. Money raised by the sale of these bonds does not add to the fiscal deficit and cannot be used by the government.

The first tranche of the MSS bonds drew £2 billion at a cut-off yield of 6.16 per cent. Armed with the new instrument to soak funds, RBI might relax the rules on cash reserve requirement under which it has impounded £32 billion of bank deposits.

Even though the government has recorded a massive amount as deposits postdemonetisation, the money can't be used in the longterm as most of these are expected to be withdrawn.

The surge in bank deposits has forced banks to invest in liquid money market instruments causing volatility. To maintain order it was imperative for the RBI to lock up some of the funds. The cost of impounding these funds were first borne by the RBI which borrowed under the reverse repo facility in exchange for bonds. On November 25, the amount parked with the RBI under reverse repo, crossed £52 billion. Since the bank was on the verge of running out of government bonds, it passed the cost to banks by asking them to lock funds up to £325 billion in the form of cash reserves with the central bank which would not earn any interest.

The sudden change of rules created a situation where banks were incur-

ring a loss of about £5 million every day for the extra cash they were receiving due to demonetisation.

Now to compensate banks for the losses, the government and the RBI are issuing these bonds. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor, economic research department, SBI, said, "MSS will suffice to drain the excess liquidity from the system if managed properly. We maintain that the temporary incremental CRR hike may now be withdrawn.

Otherwise, the two together may work as a double whammy in terms of pushing up government securities yield and impending bank lending transmission."

Last week, RBI governor Urjit Patel said the unprecedented increase in CRR was a temporary measure until the government increased the limit to issue MSS bonds. Since MSS was meant to absorb liquidity, bonds witnessed selling with the benchmark yield on 10-year gilts rising to 6.27 per cent from its last week's close at 6.21 per cent.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

apology from Tata Sons

Nusli Wadia

Over 10 days after demanding that Tata Sons withdraw its November 11 special notice to remove him as an independent director of Tata Steel, Nusli Wadia sent a rejoinder seeking "an unconditional public apology" while reiterating that he would initiate defamation proceedings unless the allegations against him are withdrawn.

In a seven-page rejoinder to Bharat Vasani, legal head of Group, Wadia said, "your reluctance to...submit proof in support of allegations in the special notice and your insistence not to withdraw the notice or allegations in it will result in only one conclusion that it is a clear case of defamation." The rejoinder was to Vasani's November 24 email response that said Tata Sons was authorised by all its directors to respond to Wadia's letters.

"Directors of Tata Sons... are called upon even now to prove their bonafides by withdrawing the notice or allegations in it against me and to publicly and unconditionally apologise to me forthwith."

Wadia, an independent director with three group companies- Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, and Tata Motors, in his November

11 letter had asked Tata Sons to prove its "false and defamatory" allegations.

They claimed he was acting with Cyrus Mistry against the Tata Group. In their reply, the board said, "there is no legal requirement for us the shareholder, to even provide any information or reasons while seeking removal under section 169 of the Act." Wadia, in his rejoinder said, "having admitted that you are not required to even provide reasons... deliberately gave the special notice with false allegations against me. It is thus obvious that the only purpose...was...to defame me."

On November 10, Wadia, along with other independent directors, had supported Mistry's chairmanship at Tata Chemicals. He believes the act of "support" prompted Tata Sons to turn "vindictive" and seek his removal from the board of Tata Steel. He also stated his respect for JRD Tata and his "high standard of ethics and corporate governance" and expressed surprise "that one of the first acts of Ratan Tata as interim Chairman of the Board of Tata Sons was to move a resolution seeking my removal."

Gujarat tops in ‘vanishing companies’ list Gujarat had the highest number of companies, 17 out of 78, that went untraceable after raising £31.2 million from investors. Other entities have been cited from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab. The stated companies failed to file documents and balance sheets after raising funds through public issues and are untraceable.

The 78 vanishing companies, cumulatively have raised about £31.2 million.

Other companies include 13 in Andhra Pradesh, 10 in Tamil Nadu, and 9 in Maharashtra. A total of 238 companies were initially identified by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs as "vanishing companies" which raised money through public issues, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a

written reply to the Lok Sabha. Out of these, 160 companies have been deleted from the list as they were subsequently traced. The ministry has also ordered probe into the affairs of 185 companies through Serious Fraud Investigation Office in more than three financial years. They include 24 firms in the current fiscal, allegedly running illegal chit-fund, ponzi and multilevel marketing entities.

Mr Dan Storer, MIDAS Manchester Investment and Development Agency, Mr Deepak Haria, Partner, Deloitte, Ms Shuchita Sonalika, Director- UK, CII, and Ms Joanne Ahmed, Partner, Deloitte

CII Deloitte report on India UK Technology Collaboration was launched on 24 November in Manchester, hosted by Manchester City Football Club, and also presented at the India-UK TECH Summit recently concluded in Delhi.

The report looks in

depth on areas of opportunity for India and UK in 3 major technology sectors smart cities, digital healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

There is also a special piece on encouraging and engaging women in technology at the educational and professional levels.

INDIA - WORLD Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

www.asian-voice.com

Dementia friendly ward at Kingston hospital AsianVoiceNews

LONDON: The Kingston Hospital has transformed one of its elderly care wards into a completely dementia friendly environment. The Derwent Ward opened for patients on 22nd November. The Kingston Hospital Dementia Appeal was chosen by the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Cllr Roy Sanjeev Arora and his wife Manisha Patel as their Mayoral Charity. Cllr Arora said, "Patients will get the excellent care they deserve in the new dementia friendly ward at Kingston Hospital. We would like to thank all those involved in making this happen. We feel privileged to be able to look after our elderly and to serve the Kingston community."

The new ward is a product of the Trust's Dementia Strategy, in which, staff, patients, car-

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

ers, and local organisations put in years of efforts. The sole aim of the design of the ward is to reduce disorientation, by making the environment feel more homely and friendly.

Clinical Director for Elderly Care at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Louise Hogh said, "The transformation of Derwent Ward has happened without losing any beds, and draws on all the evidence based research relating to lighting, matt non-patterned flooring and using colour and art to help patients find their way around the ward. I know it is going to have such a positive impac on the patients we are caring for."

He added, "The ward includes an activity room and day room to enable patients to take part in meaningful activities away from the bedside, helping to keep them as active and independent as possible."

6-year-old from Maharashtra reach Everest base camp Scaling a mountain is no child's play you say? Think again. Proving against all odds, six year old Advait Bhartiya set a record, by becoming the youngest mountaineer from Maharashtra to scale the base camp to Mount Everest. The 13-day expedition that began late last month, saw Advait reach the base camp which is located 17,593 feet above sea level. When asked what was the toughest part of the climb, he said it was the day they left from Namche Nazaar in Nepal, their single highest climb in a day on the entire trip. It is also the last civilised area before the ascent. The perky boy also added, "I want to climb Mt Kilimanjaro next." His mother Payal, who is an avid trekker herself, said, "Initially, I had planned to go to the base camp alone

but Advait insisted on joining me. I told him that he could join if he managed to train and prepare for it. For the next month, his training including climbing 100 floors daily."

She said the boy completed his first 5-km run before he turned three, and is presently into swimming and parkour. When asked if he aspires to be the youngest to scale Everest, his mother said, "He wants to do that. But that is a lot more dangerous than reaching the base camp."

Currently, the record for the youngest person to trek to the Everest base camp is held by Delhi-based Harshit Saumitra. On October 17, 2014, the then five year old reached the base camp and trekked ahead to Kala Patthar Peak at 18,519 ft, becoming the youngest person to reach there.

Zubin Karkaria conferred with French award Zubin Karkaria, CEO – VFS Global, and CEO – Kuoni Group, was appointed ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite’ (Knight of the National Order of Merit) by the President of the French Republic, François Hollande. The award was conferred on Karkaria by Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India, on behalf of

President Hollande, at a ceremony in Mumbai, on 2nd December.

The award recognises Karkaria’s contributions in developing France as a tourist destination through leisure, travel and the management of visa services across the world. Having pioneered the concept of visa process outsourcing in 2001 with the launch of VFS Global, Karkaria has

Congress workers who reached at MLA Bhushan Bhatt’s place to protest the note ban, were recieved with snacks and tea. Momentarily setting aside their dissent, the Congress partymen also indulged in the food. Veraval’s BJP-member Chunibhai Gohil too distributed icecream to the Congress members.

contributed to the increased inbound tourism into France.

In the UK, VFS Global manages visa processing services for 22 diplomatic missions through 63 application centres in the country. VFS Global serves the Government of France through 52 Visa Application Centres in 19 countries around the globe.

The French award was conferred for distinguished services in public, civil, military posts, or a private profession.

Commenting on the recognition, Karkaria said, “I am deeply honoured and humbled to be judged worthy of receiving this recognition from the Honourable President of France. I have always believed in the enormous potential France has as a destination, and over the years, it has been my privilege to work with Atout France, France’s Tourism Development agency, and many other stakeholders from the travel fraternity in promoting and facilitating travel to this beautiful country.”

Karkaria, who has been a part of the travel industry for more than 25 years,

Singapore takes the top cake in maths league tables A tiny city-state Singapore has done itself proud by standing tall among giant nations by scaling new heights in global maths and science league tables. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) revealed that children from East Asia continued to dominate in maths and science, with Singapore sweeping the

board in both subjects.

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Japan too excelled. The Timss shows that England’s maths scores in tests taken by 10 and 14-year-olds rose in 2015, compared with the previous study in 2011.

While Singapore took the top cake, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan took the next four

places in maths for both age groups; leaving the same group of five Asian systems at the top of the table as in 2011.

Ten-year-olds from Northern Ireland did well in maths and were included in the group of countries deemed to be performing significantly higher than England, along with Russia and those from East Asia.

established visa processing multinational VFS Global in 2001. In 2015, he became the first Asian to head the Switzerland-headquartered Kuoni Group, VFS Global’s parent company.

21

Madhapar sees massive bank deposits Touted as Asia's richest village, Madhapar, which lies six km from Bhuj, Gujarat has once again made the news with deposits of banned notes estimated to be somewhere between £15 to 20 million. Currently, the ratio of withdrawal is merely 20 per cent as compared to the deposit ratio of 80 per cent. In May this year, 18 banks and post offices totalled for a whopping amount of £347.7 million in deposits. With a population dominated by the Patel community, the village owes its cash inflow to the huge foreign remittances made

by NRIs settled in London, America, Africa, and

Australia. Sources said that with 17 banks and a post office, there are a total of 18 places for the residents to deposit their money until December 30. Now even if you consider daily deposits at an average of somewhere between 600 to 700, and minimum Rs 50,000 per person, even then, the total deposit surpasses Rs £15 million. Also, owing to the demonetisation move, NRI residents are sending back their banned Indian currency notes to be deposited in the banks with the help of their relatives. A simple calculation tags the deposited amount at somewhere near £20 million.

5-storeyed Swaminarayan Temple to be constructed LONDON: The Brent Council and Planning Committee has given its approval for the demolition of the Vasna sanstha's one storeyed Swaminarayan temple in Queensbury. A warehouse located in the place will be pulled down and replaced with a magnificent dome-shaped fivestoreyed temple.

The approval came after SMVS devotees forwarded an appeal and during the hearing, convinced the council saying the place would only

be used for religious and social activities, and for programmes in concerning the community. Initially, locals had opposed the construction of a five-storeyed building in replacement of a single-storeyed warehouse.

However, the council, considering the SMVS' plea, gave its approval. Devotees stated that only the best of materials will be used to construct the temple, which will be built in lieu with traditional Hindu architectural style.

22

WORLD

www.asian-voice.com

India mocks at Pak claims over Trump call Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

NEW DELHI: New Delhi made a sarcastic dig at neighbour Pakistan, saying it looks forward to US President-elect Donald Trump addressing what it referred to as Pakistan's "most outstanding of outstanding problems."

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "We have seen the reports of the conversation (between Trump and Pak PM Nawaz Sharif) that were one-sided and claimed the President-elect promised to help Pakistan with all outstanding issues." He added, "We look forward to the President-elect helping Pakistan address the most outstanding of its outstanding issues- terrorism."

The statement came in response to Pakistan saying Trump heaped praise on Sharif during a telephone conversation. He purportedly told Sharif that he feels like he's "talking to a person I have known for long" and that Pakistanis "are one of the most intelligent people."

The Republican, who has remained rather vocal of his antipathy towards Muslims called Sharif a "terrific guy" with a "very good reputation" as per a Pakistan government press release of a phone conversation between the two, after Nawaz called him to congratulate him.

Trump also purportedly urged Sharif to "feel free" to call him at "any time even before 20th January that is before I assume my office."

Donald Trump and Nawaz Sharif

Another Indian in Trump's cabinet Seema Verma, founder and CEO of a health policy consulting firm SVC Inc was nominated to serve as administrator of the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Announcing the IndianAmerican nominee for a key government position, Trump released a statement saying, "She has decades of experience advising on Medicare and Medicaid policy and helping states navigate our complicated systems.

Together, chairman Tom Price and Seema Verma are the dream team that will transform our healthcare system for the benefit of all Americans."

Verma is the second Indian-American to be called upon to serve in the Trump team, after South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who has been named US ambassador to

Seema Verma

the United Nations.

Meanwhile, the presidentelect also met with Chicago real estate executive Sandeep Mathrani amid speculation that he will also be named for an administration position.

Mathrani, 54, is the chief executive officer at General Growth Properties.

Indiana resident Verma is known for her work on Medicaid issues and her close ties to vice president-elect Mike Pence. She designed his Obamacare Medicaid expansion model known as Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0.

The release further quoted Trump as saying, "Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people."

Meanwhile, Trump team issued a statement countering Sharif's account of their telephone conversation. A Trump adviser said it was necessary to cut through the "flowery" account of Sharif's customary phone call to the president-elect to congratulate. Sources from the billionaire's office said the Pakistani readout of the conversation seemed to have committed him to more than he meant. In a rare read-out of the president-elect's conversation with a foreign leader, the Trump transition team said, "President-elect Trump and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif spoke today and had a productive conversation about how the United States and Pakistan will have a strong working relationship in the future." The statement also added, "President-elect Trump also noted that he is looking forward to a lasting and strong personal relationship with Prime Minister Sharif."

The transition team called Pak's account of the conversation "inappropriate", and a Trump adviser said Sharif had made a customary phone call to the president-elect to congratulate him on his election win.

After the ugliest and most divisive election, what comes next with President Trump?

Sir Andy Chande

I was in England for the past few weeks where I was following the American election and the debates. My friends and I were dismayed that there was strong electorate who were lapping up Donald Trump's rhetoric and it would appear that to a large extent it was his demeanour that won him the presidency.

To some extent, the victory was helped by weaknesses of his opponent. His margin in the Electoral College was bigger than that of Obama eight years ago.

And, for the first time since 2005, the Republicans control of the White House and both Houses of Congress- which means that, potential at least, the new President has a far better chance of getting his programme enacted than did Obama in his second term.

Except, of course, that the mainstream Republican leadership in Congress spent most of the election campaign disparaging Trump as racist, sexist, homophobic, and unfit to be Presidentprompting him to respond in kind. The main casualty in this election is the idea of America as the leader of the democratic world by "soft power".

His victory has created uncertainties about America's role in the world and with the promises he made during the campaign there is cause for concern in many areas, including security and trade.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recovered from the shock of Trump's victory in two days and on the third day he telephoned Donald Trump requesting for a meeting. Understandably for Japan, much is riding on the bond between the two countries. It counts on American forces - which have been based there since the occupation after World War II. This arrangement was made through a bilateral treaty. A political blue blood like Abe is hurrying to establish a good rapport with South Korea it is a matter of huge strategic importance to ensure continued American military support.

Indeed, the election result has placed many nations, the European Union and NATO in an untenable situation which will impact the entire world order. There is a strong possibility that globalisation and trade packs may have to be compromised. The world today is brimming with economic nationalism.

Traditionally, an open trade and investment regime has

depended on the hegemonic power of the US to remain afloat. If the US begins acting unilaterally to change the terms of contract, there are many powerful players around the world who would be happy to retaliate and set off a downward economic spiral reminiscent of the 1930s.

A Trump Presidency may bring the end of an era in which America symbolised democracy to the people around the world. It is no accident that Trump was strongly supported by Ukip's Nigel Farage and that one of the first people to congratulate Trump was France's National Front's Marine Le Pen. On Monday, I was discussing in London with a friend when I mentioned that one way or the other we are going to be in a rough ride over the next few years. The friend who had followed the election with close interest said that in her view it will not be long before Trump, despite the Republican dominated Congress and Senate realises that campaign rhetoric must be replaced by reality of the situation where economic logic must prevail.

As President Obama said after his first meeting in the Oval Office with Presidentelect Trump the responsibili-

ty of the High Office will require him to rethink on campaign promises. If Trump follows through on his ideas of tariffs on imports and on removal of Mexican workers he will soon face higher prices on imported goods, rising interest rates and huge inflation. It will also not be too long before Trump's Managers complain about shortage of skilled manpower. My friend hoped that Trump's Vice President and his cabinet colleagues will galvanise his thinking towards the best interest of the nation.

As far as his bigotry and sexist behaviour is concerned, the White House system will control the situation.

Incidentally, he has dozens of lawsuits pending where he may face humiliation in court. I am reminded that Trump ended his campaign rallies with the song 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' by the Rolling Stones.

The song seems to be a peculiar choice, but perhaps it will be a source of comfort for him as he contemplates the early goals of his Presidency. *Sir Andy Chande, who has 66 years of experience in public and private business, is now a retired international business consultant based in Tanzania.

In Brief

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

UAE-based Indian teen wins Children’s Peace Prize

THE HAGUE: A schoolgirl of Indian-origin won this year's International Children's Peace Prize for her fight to save the planet, in the UAE. Kehkashan Basu, 16, was presented the award by Nobel Peace laureate Mohammad Yunus at a ceremony held in The Hague. Basu, at the age of eight, organised an awareness-raising campaign for the recycling of waste in her Dubai neighbourhood.

She soon found her own organisation, Green Hope, in 2012, which carries out environment-focused campaigns. Praising her initiative, Yunus said, "It is a great achievement for such a young person to already have such reach and impact with her important message. Kehkashan teaches us that we all have a responsibility to work towards a sustainable future." Accepting the award, the teen said she would "keep campaigning to encourage children and adults to create a more sustainable future."

She added, "I call upon everyone to think of how they can contribute to the preservation of the environment... Time is not on our side, we have to act now, or we will have polar bears under palm trees."

Italian PM quits after losing reforms vote

ROME: Italy plunged into political and economic uncertainty on Monday as PM Matteo Renzi said he would resign after voters decisively rejected constitutional changes, a step to reverberate across a European Union already buffeted by anti-establishment anger. “The `no' won in an incredibly clear way,” Renzi said from the Chigi Palace.

Renzi's defeat, and the instability that his resignation is likely to cause, raised the prospect of punishment in the markets, but also of a caretaker government staffed with technocrats appointed by the Italian president.

34 militants killed in Afghan operations

KABUL: Over 34 militants were killed and 12 injured in a series of operations in Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces recently, an Afghan military spokesman said. The Afghan army launched new operations codenamed 'Attal', meaning hero, which would last until all militants are swept out of the region. Taliban militants who have boosted their activities, and are now fighting the government forces in the region, are yet to release a statement confirming the news.

New Zealand PM quits

WELLINGTON: Popular New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced his resignation on Monday, saying he was never a career politician and it was the right time to go after eight years in the job. The former Merrill Lynch currency trader called it “the hardest decision I've ever made,” with no plans on what to do next other than spend more time with his family. “Being leader of both the party and the country has been an incredible experience,” he told a regular weekly news conference.

“But despite the amazing career I have had in politics, I have never seen myself as a career politician.”

Key recently marked his eighth anniversary as prime minister and 10th year as leader of the centre-right National Party, which will meet next week to elect his successor.

S Korean prez offers to resign over corruption

SEOUL: South Korean President Park GeunHye, who remains surrounded with scandals, has expressed her willingness to resign, a move critics call a bid to delay the impending impeachment.

Park who faces several allegations of influence peddling and claims of tens of millions of dollars changing hands, made a speech saying, "I will leave the issue of my departure, including the (possible) reduction of my term in office, to a decision by the National Assembly. Once lawmakers come up with measures to transfer power in a way that minimises any power vacuum and chaos in governance, I will step down." She has been named a suspect in a probe, making her the first sitting president in the country to be subject to criminal probe.

Accusations also rose against Park's close aide Choi Soon-Sil aka 'Korea's Rasputin' extracting over $60 million in payments from some of the country's top firms.

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Spanish brewery apologizes

IBIZA: Ibosim BrewHouse microbrewery issued an apology for their beers named after Hindu deities.

In an email sent on November 29, to Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who spearheaded the protest, Ibiza Beer Company wrote a mail saying, "In any case were our intentions to offend in any way any religious sensitivities and, if that has been the case, we offer our most sincere apologies." Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, accepted the apology and called it a step in the positive direction. He also urged the brewery to immediately withdraw from their websites, the pictures of beers carrying images of Hindu deities Shiva, Kali, Ganesha, and Hanuman.

He said that inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. Zed had indicated the Gods and Goddess were highly revered in the religion and were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines, and not be used in selling beer for mercantile greed. He noted that symbols or any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled. Shiva Session Black IPA, Kali Session IPA, Ganesha Double IPA, and Hanuman Coffee IPA beers carrying photos of respective Hindu deity were still visible on the website on November 30, of Ibosim which calls itself the "New temple of craft beer in Ibiza".

Former Argos security guard to become Gambia president

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

BANJUL: A former Argos security guard, who once worked in the store on London's Holloway Road, has been elected the president of Gambia. The country's opposition leader, Adama Barrow said he was still waiting for an official result from the electoral commission, but that given his own count showed, he had won the poll.

Dictator Yahya Jammeh, who once vowed to rule his country for a "billion years", has been defeated by Barrow, who spent his early years tackling shoplifters at the Argos store.

Jammeh has an interesting, yet brutal history that talks of his bizarre personality cult of witchcraft and brutality. While nobody dared to take him up during the elections, soft-spoken Barrow was one of the very few Gambians brave enough to compete. His victory came despite ruling party ministers making fun of him over his days doing low-level security work in London.

Speaking at a pro-government rally ahead of the elections, Sheriff Bojang, the Gambian Information Minister addressed the crowd sarcastically saying, "We have heard that Mr Barrow worked as a security guard in...what is it...this shop called Argos in Britain?"

Barrow's spokesman said the opposition leader would go to State House in capital Banjul, to be officially declared victor. "It's game over," he told the media. Jammeh has often termed criticism of him by any Western governments as "neo-

Adama Barrow greets supporters during a gathering in Talinding

colonial" lecturing. He has also often displayed dissent towards Britain, saying it had done "nothing" for Gambia during "400 years of colonialism."

However, these claims were dismissed by Barrow who said he owed his career success to his tough years in Britain, where he lived and studied property management between 1998 and 2002.

"My time in Britain taught me the importance of working hard and good time-keeping, and both those things helped me a lot when I went back home. People think life is easy in Europe, but it can be a tough place to make your way in as a visitor," Barrow, 51, said.

During his time in the country he paid his rent with security jobs in offices, music festivals and high street stores. He has also lived on a crime-plagued housing estate in Kidbrooke in south-east London. Speaking

about Jammeh's rule and several moves strengthening his stance against the West, Barrow said, "There are desperate moves that don't help Gambia at all. The only reason he left those organisations is because they expect him to practice good governance. If we are elected we will restore Gambia's relations with the outside world, and rejoin both the Commonwealth, and the ICC." There are speculations and fears that Jammeh may not go quietly. A London-based Gambian activist, Yanks Darboe said, "If there was trouble, a lot of Gambians would like to see Britain come to help, as they don't think the neighbouring African leaders would do much. It would also be in Britain's own interests as they have a lot of expats in Gambia.

They can't just allow Jammed to plunder the country into a trauma."

Indian-American executives arrested on fraud charges WASHINGTON: Two top Indian-American executives have been arrested in the US for allegedly misrepresenting their company finances to inflate its stock price. Nandu Thondavadi, 62, CEO of Schaumburg-based Quadrant 4 System, and Dhru Desai, 55, the company chief financial officer and chairman, were charged with wire fraud and certifying false financial reports related to two acquisitions and the settlement of a

We can't afford bullet trains: Pak minister

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Railway Minister said the country can't afford to have bullet trains on par with foreign nations as it lacks market for the high-speed rail project.

Khawaja Saad Rafique told the National Assembly that even the Chinese advised against such train. "When we asked the Chinese about it, they laughed at us. We should consider the 160kmph train under CPEC as a bullet train.

We cannot afford an actual bullet train, there is no market for it," he said. He admitted their party had faced a lot of criticism over not launching the project despite earlier having made it part of election manifesto.

lawsuit against the company in 2013.

Both appeared in the Chicago federal court to hear the charges that carry a maximum penalty of 20 years each for wire fraud and certifying false financial reports.

Thondavadi faces an additional charge of making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission in May, during an investigation into the company's financial practices. The firm, which

also had its office in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad and Madurai, launched in 2010 and provided software and consulting services to health care and education customers.

Quadrant 4 reported USD 52 million in revenues and a net loss of USD 516,000 for 2015, according to financial filings. Federal authorities launched an investigation of the company earlier this year, based on indications that the

firm's recent annual reports to the SEC contained false information, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

Investigation showed both, Thondavadi and Desai certified the reports even though they knew the documents did not fairly present the true financial condition of the company.

Thondavadi then lied under oath when questioned by the SEC in May about some of the falsehoods.

Pak SC questions money trail of Sharif's London flats ISLAMABAD: Pak Supreme Court questioned the money trail of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's flats in London with one of the judges observing that there was no bank record of money being transferred from Pakistan to a foreign country. Hearing a case pertaining to the alleged offshore wealth of Sharif's family in London, the court said the family had not presented documents for companies it had mentioned.

"Why were the documents hidden?" the court asked Akram Sheikh, lawyer for the PM's children. "If you say that you are a shareholder, you

will have to give evidence," said Justice Azmat Saeed.

Earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf chairman Imran Khan's counsel Naeem Bukhari submitted two-page summary of a transaction questioning the Sharif family's investment of 12 million dirhams in Qatar in 1980 despite owing the Bank of Commerce and Credit International 14 million dirhams.

Justice Sheikh said the Sharifs had failed to explain how they had cleared the aforementioned dues in 1980, and also observed that the family in question had also failed to explain how they had

financed the construction of Jeddah Steel Mills.

The bench also observed that there was no similarity between the signatures of premier Sharif's cousin Tariq Shafi on an affidavit and a contract presented before the court. PTI chief Imran Khan said the apex court had done the right thing by questioning the absence of a money trail.

"The proceedings in the apex court have exposed the discrepancy in the family's documents and statements.

Though the case is ongoing, it technically stands dissolved courtesy the aforementioned discrepancy."

WORLD Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

In Brief

23

Austria passes bill to seize Hitler's home

VIENNA: Internal Committee of the Austrian National Council has given its approval for the expropriation of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's birth home from its current owner.

Representatives from both parties of the coalition government and the Greens and NEOS parties gave their approval for the bill put forward by interior minister Wolfgang Sobotka.

Reports suggested the interior ministry now planned to consult both the governor of Upper Austria and the mayor of Braunau am Inn regarding the future use of the building. The approval is another step at making the building "unrecognizable". The department aims to prevent the place from being a pilgrimage site for Neo-Nazis and the architectural changes intend to alter it from being a place of remembrance.

Raheel fan kills himself over Gen's retirement

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's ex-army chief General Raheel Sharif is known to have a loyal fan following and one of them recently killed himself in protest against his retirement. Lutf Amim Shibli, 66, former chairman of the Progressive Workers Union at the Karachi Port Trust, began his protest on November 1, camping outside the Karachi Press Club and threatening that he would commit suicide if General Raheel was not given an extension in service. "Gen Sharif is a messiah. I am his fan.

Only he can save the country from terrorism and social ills," read posters and banners placed outside his camp. Sources said he took his life by consuming poison, but it could not be verified as his family did not allow his postmortem. Police officer Saqib Ismail Memon said, "Shibli suffered from high blood pressure.

He was taken to Jinnah Hospital on November 27 and passed away on Wednesday."

Saudi Arabian deserts receive snowfall

RIYADH: Fancy making a snow man in the desert? You could now if you land in Saudi Arabia. Deserts in Saudi were found covered in layers of snow last week after temperatures dipped to as low as -3 degrees Celsius in the northern parts of the country. The snowfall came after temperatures dropped below 0 °C (32 °F) in central and northwestern regions of the country, that tend to see daily high temperatures of around 20 °C (68 °F), even in November.

Hotel fire in Karachi leaves 11 dead, 75 injured

ISLAMABAD: A fire at a hotel in Karachi, killed at least 11 people, and injured 75 others including several foreigners. The fire broke out in the kitchen on the ground floor of the fourstar hotel, soon sweeping through the building, trapping scores of hotel guests in their rooms.

Chief Fire Office Tehseen Siddiqui said most of the victims suffered from smoke inhalation or suffocated, adding that the hotel has been evacuated since. Police Senior Superintendent Saqib Memon said the cause of the fire in the Regenta Plaza Hotel remains unclear and an investigation has been launched. He also confirmed the death toll and said it took three hours for the fire to be brought under control.

Among the injured were international and domestic cricket players who were among those injured in the blaze.

‘Haqqani greatest threat to US troops’

WASHINGTON: Pak-based Haqqani network continues to pose the "greatest" threat to US troops in Afghanistan, as revealed by a top US commander based in the war-torn country.

Underlining that the terror outfit remains America's principal concern, General John Nicholson, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said, "The Haqqanis still pose the greatest threat to Americans and to our coalition partners and to the Afghans."

24

INDIA

www.asian-voice.com

Huge rise in hundi collection in Andhra temples In Brief AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

VIJAYAWADA: Following demonetisation, temples across Andhra Pradesh have been overflowing with offerings in the last three weeks. A conservative estimate of the endowments department says hundi collections since November 9 were set to record a whopping £18- 20 million. A senior endowments official said that major shrines, including Srisailam, Simhachalam, Vijayawada Kanaka Durga, Ahobilam, Mantralayam, Kotappakonda, Srikalahasti and Dwaraka Tirumala, have witnessed a huge rise in hundi revenue after demonetisation of high denomination notes.

Curiously, Tirumala

Tirupati Devasthanam officials asserted that there wasn't any abnormal surge in hundi offerings. "Our hundi collection, on an average, is between £250,000 and 300,000 per day. The collection was normal except for a day in the last

New notes worth £60,0000 seized BENGALURU: One of the objectives of demonetisation was to unearth the hoards of black money stored in old currency notes of high value.

However, three weeks after the new currency notes were introduced to replace the invalidated ones, the same unscrupulous people have already found a way to short circuit the government's objective. In the biggest seizures of new currency, the Income Tax department confiscated over £600,000 in searches against at least two individuals in Bengaluru.

Officials said the searches were launched on the premises of an engineer and a contractor. The sleuths of the department seized over £60,0000 in new currency, mostly in denomination of Rs 2000, some notes of Rs 100, demonetised notes of Rs 500 and bullion of 7 kg approximately and jewellery in excess of 7 kg were found. Out of the cash found, £470,000 is in new currency of Rs 2000 notes.

In addition, several property documents were also found and seized. It was also noticed that these persons are in possession of high end luxury cars. "Huge stacks of Rs 2000 notes have been recovered. The cash amounts to over Rs 6 crore. The counting of the seized currency is still on," a senior IT official said.

"This is one the highest seizures of the new currency.

Some entry operators and bankers are under the scanner," the official said. The IT officials further said that the department had also found a number of identity cards of various individuals from the searched premises which could have been used to illegally change the old currency with new ones.

EC notice to AAP for manifesto on Dalits AMRITSAR: Three days after the Aam Aadmi Party released a Dalit-specific manifesto, the party is under the Punjab Election Commission scanner, with the agency taking a note of the "caste-based" politics.

Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh said he had asked the party to submit two copies of its Dalit manifesto. "We had sent an advisory to all political parties to submit copies of their manifesto to the commission. AAP has failed to do so. I will go through the manifesto and see what is to be done next," he said.

Sources said the EC had taken note of the AAP appealing to particular caste to gain votes. Party convener and New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had released a 19-point Dalit manifesto in Goraya, and had also announced that the party's deputy chief minister, if it won the state assembly elections, would be a Dalit. "The uplift of the Dalit community is a must for the progress of

Punjab and once voted to power, the party would take special care of the Dalit community in the state," he had said. Official sources said the party could land in trouble as para 3.2 of Chapter VII of Appendix XV of code of conduct states, "There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes.

Mosques, churches, temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda."

AAP secretary Gulshan Chhabra said they had received the EC notice, and added, "We will submit copies of our manifesto to the commission soon." Meanwhile, Kejriwal has declared he would "drag" Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia "by his collar" to jail for his alleged role in a multimillion rupee drug racket in the region. Addressing a rally in Amritsar, Kejri said Majithia had "played with the youth of Punjab by unleashing narco-terrorism in the state."

three weeks when it swelled to £415,000," a TTD official said.

As Tirumala is a major pilgrim destination, daily counting takes place. But at several other temples, it's not the same. "We will get a clear picture

by December-end.

However, there is a steep increase in hundi collections in all the temples," a senior official said. A part of the increased hundi offerings could be attributed to Karthika Masam, he stated. Since the old high denomination notes are accepted in banks for

deposits till December 30, endowments officials said the trend would continue till then.

"Due to demonetisation, temples saw an unprecedented rise. On an average, there is 20 per cent increase and the trend is likely to continue till December 30," said K B Venkateswara Rao, endowments assistant commissioner, Guntur district.

Meanwhile, all the revenue generated at temples is being sent to various banks to ease cash crunch. "We are diverting every paisa of temple revenue to banks in adherence to the directions of CM N Chandrababu Naidu," officials said.

Demonetised notes being recycled into pulp THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Since the Modi government announced the ban on 500 and 1000 rupee notes, over 8 trillion rupees worth demonetised currency has been deposited in banks across India. With so much old currency collected, a Reserve Bank of India branch in Kerala has found an alternative to burning them.

Thiruvananthapuram RBI branch in a bid to recycle old currency notes, and has been selling them to India's only hardboard making factory, The Western India Plywoods Limited. The company gets the old currency in shredded form, and converts it into pulp, later using a combination of around 5 per cent of the pulp with 95 per cent of wood

pulp to make hardboards. PK Mayan Mohamed, Managing Director of the factory, said, "It was not easy for us in the beginning. Currency paper is very strong pulp and not easily recyclable. But our engineers researched and innovated and we finally succeeded. We've been able to cut costs as well as be eco-friendly. So, I am happy with the decision."

PM Sudhakaran Nair, GM, said, "Previously RBI was just burning it and now we are able to use. We have to be careful about the percentage of the pulp from old currencies we use. If we get that wrong, the end- product will be a waste." The factory has received around 80 metric tonnes of shredded demonetised notes in the last three weeks.

Nabha jailbreak: 3 jail officials arrested CHANDIGARH: Assistant superintendent Bhim Singh and head warden Jagmeet of Punjab's Nabha jail were arrested on charges of abutment and criminal conspiracy in the scandalous jailbreak case. Bhim had allegedly met the accused a day before he managed to escape, and his mobile phone was used to plot the escape of prisoners, said the police.

The police had booked 29 people, including nine jail officials, under relevant sections of the IPC. Amongst those who managed to bid prison goodbye, were Khalistan Liberation Front chief Harminder Singh Mintoo, and four other prisoners. They escaped after four armed men in police uniform stormed the high-security prison in Patiala on November 27. While Mintoo, 48, was caught from Nizamuddin railway station's parking area in New Delhi, alleged mastermind of the plan, Parminder Singh was shifted to a high-security prison in Muzaffarnagar. He was arrested from Kairana, Uttar Pradesh, the same day when the getaway vehicle was stopped at a police picket.

Rakesh Singh,

Harminder Singh Mintoo

Superintendent of district jail said no inmate was allowed meet to Parminder, and that security of the jail was upped.

An alert has been sounded in 65 district jails of Uttar Prades in the wake of the Nabha jailbreak.

Mintoo was a member of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) which he left in year 2009 and revived Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). He used to operate from Thailand and Malaysia before he was arrested by police from IGI airport in 2014 after being deported from Thailand for possessing fake passport.

In Thailand, Mintoo had set up a base and was using it to mobilise funds for the banned Sikh groups.

Before being arrested, he had also travelled to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, sources said.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

10 killed, 15 injured in fire at explosives making factory

TRICHY: Ten people were killed and 15 others injured when fired broke at an explosives making unit at Murugapatti near Trichy. The fire, which was first noticed in one the manufacturing wings of the factory, soon spread to other areas causing panic among people in the surrounding areas. Over three fire fighting units and 10 ambulances were put into service. G Sathyanarayanan, deputy director-incharge of Fire and Rescue Services, Tamil Nadu, said, after the explosion, the ground and first floors have collapsed and at least 25 fire service personnel worked tirelessly to put the fire under control.

Karunanidhi in hospital

CHENNAI: DMK president was recently admitted to Kauvery Hospital at Alwarpet, Chennai for "optimisation of nutrition and hydration" as said by the hospital release. The 92 year old who has not been well for the last weeks is said to be stable. Kauvery Hospital executive director Dr Aravindan Selvaraj said, "He is stable and being treated by a team of doctors. He will be in the hospital for a few days."

Three arrested with fake Rs 2000 notes

MOHALI: Three people were arrested with fake Rs 2000 currency notes amounting to Rs 4200,000 in Mohali. Vishakha Verma, an MBA student, her B Tech cousin Abhinav Verma and their property dealer friend Suman Nagpal were caught in a car with fake notes.

Mohali SP said post-demonetisation, the accused had begun printing fake Rs 2000 notes. The accused were on their way to dupe a gullible customer when their car was intercepted. Investigations revealed that the property dealer used to look for gullible people, interested in exchanging banned notes, and charged 30 per cent commission of the total amount. They would give the victims fake currency notes in return.

SC orders status quo on SYL canal land

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ordered status quo on land acquired for the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal's stretch in Punjab and appointed the Union home secretary, Punjab's chief secretary and the director general of police as receivers. A bench made it clear that the receivers are solely for the purpose of submitting a report on the ground situation. The court order followed a plea made by the Haryana government seeking status quo ante in the wake of Punjab government's decision to de-notify the acquired land and restoring it to original owners. The SC had given its verdict on a Presidential reference on November 10 to hold the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 as unconstitutional.

Following this, the Punjab government had de-notified nearly 5,000 acres of land acquired for the canal.

I-T men file complaint against Capt Amrinder

NEW DELHI: The income tax department has filed a prosecution complaint against former Punjab chief minister and Congress functionary Amarinder Singh for giving false statement on oath related to proceeds of a foreign registered trust and purchase of properties abroad. The Congress neta has been accused of being one of the beneficiaries of a foreignregistered trust which was created by his son Raninder Singh. The latter had allegedly purchased properties abroad using deposits in trusts created in tax havens, the details of which were never shared with the I-T department. Singh was earlier questioned by the I-T department on the ownership of these foreign assets. According to the I-T complaint, the former CM was actively involved in creation of these foreign assets, including creation of the trust and purchase of properties.

HERITAGE - HISTORY Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

www.asian-voice.com

25

Sardar: The founder of Indian Administrative Service AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Dr Hari Desai

“Sardar’s body is being consumed by fire, but no fire on earth can consume his fame. We grieve for ourselves, not for him.”

The President of India Dr Rajendra Prasad, along with PM Jawaharlal Nehru and elder statesman C Rajgopalachari, “wept unashamedly beside the pyre” as Prasad spoke of the Sardar at Sonapur, Mumbai, on December 15, 1950, when the destiny took Vallabhbhai Patel away from all of them.

PM Nehru asked Prasad to be in Delhi being the President but Rajendrababu preferred to put the protocols aside since it was the end of an era.

None can evaluate what the Sardar has done for the country and countrymen. As his devoted daughter Maniben puts it: His philosophy of life may be summed up in the words: “Why not create history rather than waste time writing it?”

Vallabhbhai did not aspire to be the Prime Minister and never ever complained anybody of he being deprived of his rightful claim to be the first Prime Minister of India. He died at the age of 74 since his date of birth, though officially October 31, 1875, might be April 30, 1876, or May 7, 1876, as suggested by historian Rajmohan Gandhi, his biographer.

From a Karamsad ploughboy to a Barrister from Middle Temple, London, to the first Deputy Prime Minister of India, he

Sardar Patel with IAS officials and aspirants

Sardar Patel with the Maharaja of Cochin and V P Menon, ICS

Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru and C Rajagopalachari

would have preferred to identify himself as only a “lieutenant” of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Nation. All other adjectives become unimportant for him. Sardar Patel had certain differences even with the Mahatma like he had with Nehru, but the interest of the nation was

always first and foremost.

None can think of the freedom movement of India without the bonding of the Trinity i.e. Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar. They created history and after their departure, the politicians, historians and analysts may be busy deriving conclusions of their own

Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel

choice.

The integration of nearly 565 Princely States into the Dominion of India became a reality because of the Sardar and his team.

There was no blame-game but unified efforts for building up a strong and unified India. Merely the geographical territory

would not make it possible. Even before the British left, Patel thought it necessary in 1946 to establish the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and arranged for the Constitutional safeguards for the civil servants both the ICS, who were to be with Indian Government Service, and the new IAS entrants as well. As the Home Minister, he appropriately opined that the officers who were in the services must be provided Constitutional guarantees and safeguards. Sardar Patel never wanted a spineless bureaucracy. In the wider interest of the nation, the bureaucracy must be fearless and committed to the country's interests. He never expected “Yes, Minister” tendency.

On October 10, 1949, while participating in the Constituent Assembly debate, the Deputy PM was quite blunt in stating: “If you want an efficient all-India service, I advise you to allow the services to open their mouth freely. If you are a Premier, it would be your duty to allow your Secretary or Chief Secreatary, or other Services working under you, to express their opinion without fear or favour.

But I see a tendency today

that in several provinces the Services are set upon and told, 'No, you are servicemen, you must carry out our orders'. The Union will go – you will not have a united India, if you have not a good all-India service which has the independence to speak out its mind, which has a sense of security that you will stand by your word and that after all there is the Parliament, of which we can be proud, where their rights and privileges are secure. If you do not adopt this course, then do not follow the present Constitution.”

The Sardar always practised what he preached. “Today, my Secretary can write a note opposed to my views. I have given that freedom, to all my Secretaries. I have told them, ‘If you do not give your honest opinion for fear that it will displease your Minister, please then you better go. I will bring another Secretary.’ I will never be displeased over a frank expression of opinion.”

With the acceptance of supreme authority of the Constitution, Patel referred bureaucracy as a custodian of the national interests. He observed that the officers from all-India Services were obedient to ensure corruption-free administration but was not in favour to protect corrupt officers. He never tolerated any individual member of the Service ‘misbehaving or erring in his duty or committing a dereliction of his duties'. It is time for the present day rulers and bureaucrats to introspect without giving any excuse.

There is a need to give a thought as to why the Sardar, a confirmed “friend of Capitalists, Workers and Muslims”, continues to be a National Hero!

Next Column: Navnirman Agitation that changed the destiny of India (The writer is a Sociopolitical Historian. E-mail: haridesai@gmail.com)

26

INDIA

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

India, Afghanistan target Pakistan on cross-border terror

Continued from page 1 However, Modi refrained himself and took a back seat, letting Ghani do most of the talking.

Scathing in his criticism of the south Asian neighbour, Ghani named Pakistan and accused it of providing sanctuary and support to terror networks. Recalling a recent statement by a diplomat under the Taliban regime, Ghani said if the Taliban did not have sanctuary in Pakistan, they would not even last for a month.

"Pakistan has generously pledged $500 million for reconstruction of Afghanistan. This fund, Aziz, could very well be used for containing extremism because without peace, any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our people," Ghani directly addressed Pakistan PM's adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz.

Modi remained subtle, not naming Pak but stating that terrorism and externally induced instability posed the gravest threat to Afghanistan's peace, stability and prosperity. He called for resolute action against those who sheltered and financed terrorists. He

said the growing arc of terrorist violence endangered the entire region and, as such, support for voices of peace in Afghanistan alone were not enough. "It must be backed by resolute action.

Not just against forces of terrorism, but also against those who support, shelter, train and finance them." He added that silence and inaction not just in Afghan, but the entire region would only embolden terrorists and their masters.

Both, Modi and Ghani also held a bilateral meet ahead of the conference, in which they reviewed the progress on recent decisions to deepen bilateral economic cooperation and strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The Heart of Asia declaration named terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad as destabilising forces in the region. "We remain concerned by the gravity of the security situation in Afghanistan... and the high level of violence caused by the Taliban, terrorist groups including ISIL/Daesh and its affiliates, the Haqqani net-

AMMA NO MORE

Continued from page 1 flow of human tides. The state declared a seven-day mourning period and the Central government declared Tuesday a national holiday as mark of respect for 'Amma'.

Thousands of police officers formed chains to stop the heaving crowd from surging up the steps. Men and women wept, some shedding tears, while others broke into loud wails.

Several mourners fainted from the heat and dehydration. "We don't know what will happen to us now," a man said, dazed with the unfolding of events.

Pulachi Thalaivi Selvi (Revolutionary Leader), as she was called by her loyal group of followers, Jayalalithaa was no ordinary chief minister. She was more of a revolutionist, a breaker of traditions and a Man, in a rather chauvinistic society. From being a prolific filmstar to becom-

Continued from page 1 According to the Time magazine, Modi won with 18 per cent of the vote when the poll closed on Sunday at midnight. He placed well ahead of his closest contenders, including US President Barack Obama, US President-elect Donald Trump and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange,

ing a four-term and sixtime Chief Minister, Jaya's career was one riddled with controversies, none of them big enough to whittle her. She was the iron lady of India and was able to withstand any type of hardships.

Last rites were performed by her long-time confidante and aide Sasikala, and her body was finally lowered into the ground next to MGR after receiving full state honours. Over 15,000 police personnel were deployed across the city and state transport buses were ordered off the roads.

However, the weeping mass only grew by numbers all trying to get a last glimpse of their leader. The ceremony was thronged with VIPs including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who paid floral tributes to the deceased and was seen consoling Sasikala and the newly sworn in Tamil

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Remembering the Iron Man

work, Al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, Lashkar-eTaiba, Jaish-eMohammad, TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Jundullah, and other foreign terrorist fighters," the declaration read.

An informal conversation between NSA Ajit Doval and Pakistan's Aziz turned out to be the highlight of the conference, even as the government categorically denied that there was any "bilateral meeting".

Terrorism was at the core of discussions at the conference, which seeks to promote peace in Afghanistan and was attended by representatives of over 40 countries.

Indian authorities brushed aside as insignificant a photograph which showed Doval and Aziz together, saying the two had merely walked together for "100 feet" after the dinner for delegates late on Saturday night.

Doval was seen talking animatedly with Aziz in the photograph. Pakistani high commissioner Abdul Basit too denied any meeting between Doval and Aziz.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, leader of the Indian National Congress, and a founding father of the Republic of India, played an important role in the country's struggle for independence. Not only the colonised India, Patel also led the task of bringing together a scattered India, successfully integrating the newly independent nation.

As the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, his commitment to national integration earned him the title of the 'Iron Man of India'. A commemoration is held on his birthday, October 31, every year, also known as the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.

In his bid for unity, Patel remained instrumental in mobilising the farmer community of India and bringing together various castes and communities to join the fight for freedom.

Part of his achievements include; successfully leading the Kheda Satyagraha and Bardoli revolt against the British government, electing Ahmedabad's municipal President in 1922, 1924, and 1927, electing Congress President in 1931, amongst others.

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October 31, 1875

Nadu Chief Minister, O Panneerselvam. Also present were President Pranab Mukherjee, Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad released a statement with International Secretary General Champat Rai saying the country had lost a great woman leader who fought throughout her life with different challenges and worked for the uplift of the poor. He added that she will ever be remembered as a humanist and for the services she rendered to improve the quality of the social life in her state.

"Even after persistent attacks on her, she always came out clean in her political life. May God bless her soul giving place at his

lotus feet and give courage to her followers and the people of Tamil Nadu."

The Indian film industry, political leaders, and Tamilians all across the world, mourned her death.

Amma breathed her last at 11.30 pm on Monday. After making her last public appearance in September, Amma was hospitalised in Chennai's Apollo Hospitals following dehydration and fever. Her health was being monitored by a team of experts, including cardiologists, pulmonologist, and critical care specialists during her 75-day stay. It has been a tense few months for both the party, and Tamil Nadu.

Following her recent heart arrest, Apollo Hospital had reportedly contacted Dr Richard Beale from London, and he concurred with the line of treatment

by Apollo's cardiologists and pulmonologists who were familiar with her prior episodes of deterioration.

in Nadiad, a small village in Gujarat. His father Jhaverbhai was a farmer and mother Laad Bai was a housewife. Patel had a successful practice as a lawyer, when he was first inspired by the work and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. He eventually organised the farmers of Kheda, Borsad, and Bardoli in Gujarat, in a non-violent civil disobedience movement against oppressive policies imposed by the British Raj, becoming one of the most influential leaders in the State. The revolt ended in 1919 when the British government agreed to suspend collection of revenue and roll back the rates.

The Kheda Satyagraha turned him into a national hero. He soon began to

support Gandhi's NonCooperation Movement.

The Bardoli Taluka in Gujarat suffered from floods and famine in 1928.

During this hour of distress, the British government raised the revenue taxes by 30 per cent. Patel, on behalf of the farmers appealed to the Governor to reduce the taxes, which he refused, and the Brit government even announced the date of the collection of the taxes. He organised the farmers, asking them not to pay a single paise of tax. The revolt was tried to suppress, but the government had to ultimately bow down before Patel. It was during this struggle, that he began being addressed by his colleagues and followers as Sardar.

Mahuda locals happy with RBI governor's work Reserve Bank of India Governor, Urjit Patel has seemingly pleased the locals of his native Mahuda village in Gujarat. Following the demonetisation move, that saw the government impose a ban on Rs 500 and 1000 notes, the country saw the apex bank struggle with management and proper cash disposal issues. However, none of the inconvenience has fazed the people of Mahuda, as they claim to be more than happy with Urjit's work. Jagdish Patel, Urjit's cousin brother, who still lives in the area, said whenever he calls up his aunt (Urjit's mother), he often gets to talk to him as well. Even though he was born in Nairobi and raised out of the country, he still speaks fluent Gujarati.

There are seven banks in the area; four national and three co-operative.

Like all the banks across India, these banks too remain cashless. People have to stand in hour-long queues to withdraw a particular amount of money, but the feeling of national interest is so strong, they don't mind standing.

Locals have welcomed the move.

Social leader and banker Sarang Parikh said the major decision taken by the government was bound to bring about change and some difficulties, however, if it benefits the country, citizens should bear with the temporary consequences.

School teacher Dinesh Trivedi said the troubles are shortlived, and the ban will only help in inflation and debt.

Modi wins Time's online 'Person of the Year' poll who all received 7 per cent of the "yes" vote. Modi also placed far ahead of other prominent figures of this year, like Mark Zuckerberg (2 per cent) and Hillary Clinton (4 per cent).

Time also analysed the moments from 2016 when this year's poll contenders were most talked about. For Modi it was on October 16, when the Indian leader

suggested during a summit of BRICS nations in Goa that Pakistan is the "mothership" of terrorism.

Modi won the Time's readers' poll in 2014 as well, securing more than 16 per cent of the almost five million votes cast. He was again among contenders for the annual honour in 2015, but was not among the final eight candidates

shortlisted by Time magazine editors for the title.

Last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel was Time's 'Person of the Year'. Every year, Time's editors decide who from among world leaders, presidents, protesters, astronauts, pop icons and disrupters should be person of the year. But they also ask readers to cast their votes

and decide who they think most shaped a particular year. The poll results, analyzed by poll host Apester, found that preferences differ across the world and in the US. Modi performed particularly well among Indian voters as well as those in California and New Jersey, where there's a large concentration of people of Indian origin.

Every year, TIME selects the most influential person of the year, noting, for better or for worse, the person or group of people who have had the largest global impact over the past 12 months. In partnership with Opentopic and IBM's Watson this year, Time editors were also able to see how candidates were influential on the Internet.

AsianVoiceNews

FOOD

FITNESS

re you suffering from hair fall. Then you must try guava leaves. They have the ability to stop hair loss and make it grow back with vigour. Even if you are suffering from minor hair loss at the moment, you must not neglect it. Having to deal with it when it gets severe is not only stressful but expensive as well. So why not opt for a natural remedy that work’s great and is cheap at the same time?

Benefits of Guava Leaves Guava leaves are as great as the fruit, which is credited for being a powerhouse of

nutrients and is widely popular too. Just like the fruit, the leaves too contain vitamin B and C, which help boost collagen activity required for hair growth.

According to a surgeon and hair specialist, guava leaves are a natural remedy for hair growth. Its benefits are many fold. It has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties which help to maintain a healthy scalp.

The vitamin C content improves collagen activity aiding in hair growth and

the lycopene content gives protection from sun's UV rays. In short, guava leaves helps one to have a good hair growth solution without burning one's pocket.”

How to Use Guava Leaves While most of us are unaware about the health benefits of guava leaves, it has been traditional medicine for centuries in Mexico and parts of South America. Including guava leaves in your regular hair care regime can help you

see substantial hair growth. Besides its 100% natural, which mean that you needn’t worry about any harmful reaction.

You can use guava leaves to make a cup of tea and drink it regularly or make a lotion to apply it on your hair and scalp. How to make guava leaf hair care solution.

All you require is a handful of guava leaves, one litre of water and a pot for boiling the ingredients.

Start boiling guava

www.asian-voice.com

leaves in water for 20 minutes, strain the concoction and let it cool down to the room temperature. You must ensure that your hair is product free, so it might be best to use this solution after showering.

Once your hair is almost dry, section it and start applying the guava leaf solution. Massage the solution into your scalp for at least 10 minutes and ensure that it’s well spread.

Massaging improves blood pressure, which helps the follicles receive more nutrition. Pay extra attention to the roots and tips while you apply the solution. You can leave this solution on for up to two hours.

Optionally, you can wrap your hair with a towel and sleep with it. Rinse your hair with lukewarm water, and not hot water as it dries out your hair and scalp. If you are facing a hair fall problem, use this guava leaf solution thrice a week. If you are using it to speed up hair growth and keep your hair shiny, use it twice a week.

Apart from this amazing remedy, eating guava supplies a number of vitamins and minerals to the body, and the unique constituent of this fruit also promotes better absorption of nutrients from the food, which helps in treating hair and scalp problems.

Brisk walking can improve artery health of diabetics A

study says that brisk walking or cycling can improve artery health in people with Type-2 diabetes. Compromised arterial health is an underlying mechanism that promotes the progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death in individuals with Type-2 diabetes.

Effectively managing cardiovascular disease risk

To Our Readers

We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement it. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

in this population is a major challenge for health professionals. "What we found from our analysis, is that aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking or cycling appears to have a significantly beneficial effect on the stiffness and the function of the smooth muscles in the arteries," said lead researcher Kimberley Larisa Way from University of Sydney in Australia.

"This makes our findings very valuable to health professionals, because aerobic exercise can be used as a primary treatment strategy for arterial health, while also assisting with other health complications associated with T2D (Type-2 diabetes)," Way said.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

There are three men sitting in the waiting room of a hospital. A nurse walks over to the first guy and says, "Congratulations. You're the father of twins." "What a coincidence!" he says. "I work for Twin City Federal Bank." A while later, the nurse comes out to congratulate the second man. "You are the proud father of triplets," she tells him.

"That's funny," says the new dad. "I work for AAA." The third expectant father jumps up, a look of terror on his face, and runs out of the room. "Sir, where are you going?" the nurse calls out. He yells over his shoulder, "I work for Seven Up!" *** For a week in the centre of a shopping mall, a team of dedicated sand architects displayed their skills at making sand castles. The designs were quite impressive and members of the team were happy to answer questions from curious shoppers. "Is it difficult as it looks?" one woman asked.

"Not at all" came the reply. "We just take a big lump of sand and scrape away all the bits that don't look like a castle."

The study shows that exercise is beneficial in managing cardiovascular disease, blood pressure medication is the main treatment used to manage arterial health problems.

The exercise will help in managing diabetes, such as controlling blood sugar.

This new study combined the results of nine

27

AsianVoiceNewsweekly | Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

LIFESTYLE

A

Guava leaves for hair growth

HEALTH&WELLNESS

randomised controlled clinical trials investigating the effects of exercise in Type-2 diabetes. "We focussed on measures looking at arterial stiffness, vascular reactivity and smooth muscle function, because there is evidence that suggests they are closely associated with disease progression and CVD mortality," Way said.

"I don't get it. How is it a crime if you are stealing banned notes?"

How to keep your eyes relaxed and healthy

M

any people who use computers complain of eye strain. Your eyes bear the maximum stress of your day-to-day lives. Eye strain is caused due to lack of movement when we stare at screens for a long time.

Much the same as the body needs unwinding and work out, so do our eyes. Here are a few tips to keep your eyes relaxed and healthy.

Shut your eyes every now and then: The best eye relaxation method is to rub your palms till they get warm and then placing them on your eyes for sometime. Another practice is to periodically shut your eyes and open them after every 5-10 seconds.

This helps release the pressure on eyes. Blinking can also help moisten the eyes.

Take your eyes off the computer: Take few breaks from looking continuously at your computer screen.

This can be done every 2030 minutes. This will help prevent dry eyes, headaches and blurry vision. Make sure you keep a distance of at least 50-60 cms between your eyes and the computer screen and there is adequate light in the room.

Move your eyeballs: Rotate your eyeballs in clockwise and anti-clock-

wise direction at least 7-10 times a day.

Keep taking regular breaks: Spending longer hours in an air-conditioned room tend to dry up your eyes. To avoid this, you can step out and take in as much fresh air as possible.

Drinking plenty of water also hydrates the eyes and keeps them moist.

Play focus your gaze games: When you get a little time off, fix your gaze on one spot on the wall and then shift your gaze beyond it and finally stare at the same spot again. You could also take a pen from your desk, hold it far and gradually move it toward you, all the while keeping your gaze fixed on the pen.

Cool off: Look outside and absorb the greenery beyond your window every once in few hours to take a break from the harmful rays of the computer screen. You can also relax in a dimly lit room and if required, use eye drops recommended by your doctor.

Try an anti-glare computer screen: You can get an anti-reflective coating on your computer screen and if you wear glasses, get an anti-reflective coating on them to help eliminate harmful rays from the computer.

GILDERSON & SONS

FUNERAL DIRECTORS PROVIDING SPECIALIST SERVICE Worldwide Repatriation Service Scattering Ashes G Horse Drawn Funerals G Weekend Funerals G Use of Large Private Shiva Chapel Ritual Service Ritual Items Provided G Full Washing and Dressing facilities G Choice of Coffins G Priest Arrangements G Funeral arrangements at Home or Funeral Home G G

DIGNITY FUNERAL PLAN at TODAY PRICES

24 HOUR SERVICE

0208 478 0522 90/92 LEY STREET, ILFORD IG1 4BX Part of Dignity Funerals A BRITISH COMPANY

28

www.asian-voice.com

Tamannaah is the New Queen

Dhanush is an avid singer too

Asian Voice

A

ctor Dhanush is a multifaceted personality. At present he is busy shooting his directorial debut 'Power

Paandi'. He is also busy with multiple acting ventures and also penning the script for 'VIP 2' to be directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth. The multi-talented star is also a avid singer and has been lending is voice for song in others' films. Recently he sung a song for his brother Selvaraghavan's 'Nenjam Marappathillai'. Now noted dance choreographer and actress Gayathri Raghuram has confirmed that Dhanush has sung a song in her film 'Yaadhumaagi Nindrai'.

Suriya showers praise on 'Kootathil Oruthan'

A

ce actor Suriya showered praises on director Gnanavel at the music album launch of film 'Kootathil Oruthan'. Speaking at the event, the actor said, "Gnanavel is the one who gave the name Agaram for our organisation.

He is also the main reason for Agaram's success and reach.

Only because of him I have achieved a good name in this society apart from being an actor.

I have watched 'Kootathil' – it's fantastic. It will induce the viewer to think. I have been watching Ashok Selvan from his childhood. He has done very well in the film.

Nivas Prasanna's music will be a big plus for the film."

Complimenting Nivas for his live performance in the function, Suriya added, "It is one of the best live shows I have

ajinikanth's '2.0' is on the verge of completion, with sources revealing that as much as 80 per cent of the shoot is done with. In an interesting update about the film, an insider reveals that while the makers had initially planned to shoot a song featuring Thalaivar and Amy Jackson in Ukraine, the superstar's health condition has now forced them to shoot the song in sets in Chennai. Special computer graphics will be used to create Ukraine in the background. The team is scheduled to begin post-production work soon.

A

ctress Tamannaah Bhatia has been roped in to play the muchloved character Rani. The actress is all set to play the role immortalised by National Award-winning Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, in the movie 'Queen'.

Confirming the news, Tammy said, "I've signed the film, but we are still to lock in the dates. As far as I know, this project will start rolling in 2017."

In an interview, the actress s a i d , " E v e r since I s a w 'Queen', I wanted to be a part of its remake.

What makes the film special is that it's one of those rare women-centric films which succeeded in reaching out to every-

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

body, across all sections of the audience." She added, "I felt liberated when I saw 'Queen', and I couldn't wait to start working on the remake. The fact that Revathi ma'am is directing it makes it even more special. I think it's going to be a great combination. More than a remake, this will be treated as an adaptation as a lot of things have to be changed to suit Tamil sensibilities."

Rights for the southern versions of the movie was acquired

by Tamil filmmaker Bhagyaraj, who announced respective directors for the Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam remakes. He said, "Anish Kuruvilla for Telugu, Revathi for Tamil and Malayalam and Prakash Raj for Kannada remakes have been signed as directors." He also announced the female leads, saying, "Tamannaah for Tamil, Amala Paul for Malayalam, and Parul Yadav for Kannada versions have been finalised but no actress for the Telugu version has been zeroed in yet."

Nayanthara repeats what other heroines hesitate

O

ne of the current reigning actresses in South cinema, Nayanthara has dared to go where no other actresses have gone before. The 32 year old will play the mother of a four year old in Ajay Gnanamuthu's 'Imaikka Nodigal'.

With a movie line up to die for, many might scoff at her "foolishness" to pick such a role at the peak of her career, however, she has already played the mother of a baby in blockbuster 'Maaya' and her fans were seemingly unfazed by it.

watched in recent times."

Addressing the crowd, Gnanavel said the film will be the story of middle-benchers. "Many people who have made huge achievements in the world have been middle-benchers in the past. But we never care about middlebenchers. This film will deal with this irony."

The launch saw top celebrity guests in attendance, including directors Raju Murugan, Dharani, Radha Mohan, and young comedians like RJ Balaji and Bala Saravanam.

Gnanavel worked as a journalist before he shifted focus to the film industry. He has also contributed to Suriya's foundation, Agaram.

Ukraine recreated for Rajinikanth

R

AsianVoiceNews

10th December 2016

'Befikre'

Watch the unusual and quirky love story of Dharam (Ranveer Singh) and Shyra (Vaani Kapoor) set in the background of romantic Paris.

29

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

I'm not in rat race: Vidya Balan

V

idya Balan's 'Kahaani 2Durga Rani Singh' is out on the screens and has her fans rooting for her. The National Award-winning actress said she was never part of the Bollywood rat race, but wants her movie to do well. "I want the film to do very well. I am not thinking anything like this. I feel thrilled about the work that I am doing. I just want it to do well...ups and downs are part of career," said the actress when asked if a she has bet her career

T

with 'Kahaani 2'.

She said box office numbers never mattered to her and she has never been bothered about the graph. "I have never compared myself to anyone or compared anyone to me. I think therefore numbers, remuneration are something I have never spoken about it. I get as much as what I command that's what matters to me," Vidya said.

With a brief dry spell going as none of her previous films scored well at the BO, the 'The Dirty

Dharma Productions to launch Jhanvi Kapoor

he cat is finally out of the bag!

Filmmaker Boney Kapoor has confirmed his daughter Jhanvi Kapoor will be making her Bollywood debut pretty soon, and with none other than Karan Johar himself. In a media report, Boney Kapoor put an end to all speculations saying both him, and his wife Sridevi have given Jhanvi their approval.

"Karan has been talking to us about a film for Jhanvi and we've given consent.

But we don't know which project it would be," Boney said. Grapevine suggested the Instagram queen will be featured in Johar's remake of Marathi blockbuster 'Sairat'. When asked, the proud father said, "Since Karan has recently acquired the remake rights of 'Sairat', it is being presumed that our daughter would be launched in this project." However, there were also reports of Johar launching Jhanvi in his prequel to Alia Bhatt-starrer 'Student of the Year 2'.

Salman gives girlfriend Iulia Vantur her big break

I

f reports are to be believed, Salman 'Bhaijaan' Khan has planned a six track music album to launch the singing career of girl friend Iulia Vantur and has already spoken to some of his favourite composers.

The 36 year old Romanian model-turned-actress began singing in Hindi a couple of months ago, and those who have heard her, say her diction in the language is improved. Last week, she recorded a Hinglish track 'Every night and day, just you and me' for composer Himesh Reshammiya for his upcoming album 'Aap Se Mausiiquii' and the composer was reportedly blown away by her talent. He said that she understood all the aspects of recording and her diction surprised her.

A source said, "Iulia started singing in Hindi eight months ago and has been taking music lessons in Mumbai. She first recorded the cover version of 'Jag Ghoomeya' for 'Sultan', which was released as a duet with Salman. She understands the technicalities of recording and her Hindi diction has improved a lot over the last few months. She now wants to make a career as a professional singer." Other than Himesh, Salman has lined other well-known composers including Amaal Mallik, Meet Bros, Pritam, Sachin-Jigar, to sing with his lady-love.

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

Picture' actress said she has taken her failure in her stride. "It is heartbreaking when a film doesn't work.

But one has to get over it. It is like you go through heartbreaks in life and then you know there are many fishes in the sea. Whether a film has succeeded or not its all about me. This film did not work but I have a next film. I get satisfaction from my work. I am living my dream of being an actor. I feel blessed," she said.

Sunny Leone launches her own mobile app

A

ctress Sunny Leone, who launched her own mobile app, said it would make sure the right information goes outside. "I think media will gossip about me anyway, but through this app, what I can do is filter information before going out in the public domain, so they are authentic," she said. Talking about her new mobile application which was launched in collaboration with New York-based start up Escapex, she said it was a one-stop shop for all fans to directly interact with her and meet her.

Sunny is the first Indian celebrity to have an app for herself. Escapex has made white label apps for artists like Bob Marley, Wyclef Jean, and 35 other celebrities.

Talking about the impact of social media on an actor's life, she said, "As our shelf life is small, unlike Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, social media is one of the best ways to build up fan followers and one can write one's own destiny."

With a career that began with 'Jism 2', five years b a c k , Sunny

has come a long way, signing up new films, even authoring an e-book named Sweet Dreams. When asked if she intends to write another book, the actress said, "Honestly, I haven't thought much about it, I might just do that in future.I have so much to achieve.

Right now, I am content and happy with the fact that I am able to do what I wanted to do. Since I am busy shooting a film called 'Tera Intezaar' directed by Raajeev Walia opposite Arbaaz Khan, I am quite consumed in that."

Why Katrina opted out of 'Half Girlfriend'?

F

o r thos e who didn't know, Shraddha Kapoor wasn't director Mohit Suri's first choice for his screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's book 'Half Girlfriend'. He was reportedly keen on signing on actress Katrina Kaif opposite the male lead in the film, Arjun Kapoor.

Finally revealing why, in his latest column, senior journalist Rajeev Masand said, "Mohit had his heart set on casting Katrina in this love s t o r y

adapted from the Chetan Bhagat best seller. But Katrina, who reportedly liked the script, recommended that he cast another actress because she felt her "screen age" could hurt the film." He further wrote Katrina has done a number of projects with relatively older actors like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Shah Rukh Khan, and was aware that she is perceived as older than her actual age. She is also well informed of the feedback she got for movies she did with young male actors like Sidharth Malhotra, Aditya Roy Kapoor, and Varun Dhawan.

Mohit, who understood her point, moved on to Shraddha and has now completed the film which is set to release next year.

30

UK

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

Driver brands Newham Council ‘arrogant’ after tribunal rules in his favour An independent tribunal has backed a driver who said a traffic warden tampered with a parking restriction notice near his car. CCTV footage was used in the decision to support Joseph Hayat’s assertion that he had legally parked outside his workplace in Dock Road, Canning Joseph Hayat and wife Salma Town South on August place where temporary 13. conditions had been placed The TV producer, 23, from June 20 to July 3. was fined £65 – plus a However, the traffic war£200 vehicle removal fee – den was found by the Lo for parking in the same ndon Tribunals to have added a new notice with the dates August 5 to August 26 after Mr Hayat had parked his car.

N e w h a m Council, which did not send a representative to the tribunal, is now reviewing the incident in light CCTV showing the parking warden in of the ruling last front of the sign Thursday.

Corbyn's family home sale launches 'class' controversy Jeremy Corbyn is again in the news after his old family home goes up for sale for more than half a million pounds, though he claims to be growing up middle-class.

Yew Tree Manor, a country house with five bedrooms and an acre of gardens – is on the market for £650,000 after the current owners decided to sell it. The 67-year-old Labour leader grew up in the property after his father David, an electrical engineer, bought the place in the

1950s.

Despite growing up in such a spacious home, when asked on ITV’s Peston on Sunday if he was middle class, the leader said “Oh God, I don’t know.”

He added that the new owners of the manor had “spent a lot more money on it than my mum and dad were able to”.

The Labour leader earns £74,962 per year as an MP, and an extra £58,000 as leader of the Opposition.

With Mars and Venus travers-

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 ing your sign of leisure for

some time to come, will put you in the right mood if you intend to indulge your pleasure-loving instincts. Venus, the planet of love and romance throws a pleasing light on affairs of the heart. Your creativity is riding high and you should make the most of this phase.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 You have the dynamic planet Mars and Venus in your solar 10th house of work. This planet indicates a desire to push forward, to assert yourself mentally and physically. This also means that you want to improve your work prospects. Of course, there are still challenging issues on both a personal and practical level - tread carefully.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 Your horizons have most cer-

tainly been expanding. So many planets in the area of your chart ruling long-distance travel and philosophical thoughts will make your mind run wild.

With Venus and Mars transiting that sector too for some time, there will be many romantic opportunities. Your financial affairs are looking up too.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

There is a rather secretive aura surrounding new romance, which could turn into something very special. Give top priority to important official matters and communications. This applies particularly to financial and commercial interests. If you can manage to get away from usual routines, this will prove to be highly enjoyable.

Dressing down: Morgan raps May’s £995 leather trousers Now, this is something only female politicians have to contend with.

Prime Minister Theresa May was heavily criticised by former education secretary Nicky Morgan for appearing in a newspaper wearing designer leather trouser that cost a mammoth £995.

Morgan claimed the outfit choice had been “noticed and discussed”, in an interview with the Times.

Morgan, who was sacked from her position when May formed her government in July following David Cameron’s resignation, fell out with May over the question of schools being required to report on the migraTheresa May in tion status of pupils. leather trousers May was pictured explain this in in the Sunday Times wearLoughborough market?” ing bitter chocolate says Morgan.

Amanda Wakeley trousers While May’s expensive which she had paired with trousers may have caused £140 black Burberry trainquite a stir, she has always ers. admitted she enjoys Morgan told the clothes.

Times: “I don’t think I’ve May is someone who ever spent that much on has never hidden the fact anything apart from my that she enjoys dressing up wedding dress.” and being photographed in For Morgan, May is a her latest outfits. In fact, prime minister who is out she has been quite upfront of touch (taking into in admitting that although account the cost of trousers her focus is on the job at at £995 a pair), sending hand, she does take her the wrong signals to a appearance seriously. country that has spent Morgan, on the other eight years struggling hand, seems to be suggestthrough austerity. ing that PM May should The Loughborough MP keep the common touch, says the trousers would not shopping at stores where go down well with her votthe price tags are a little ers. more within reach of ordi“My barometer is nary voters. always ‘How am I going to

Sneh Joshi

Mars and Venus transit your solar sixth house of health and also your day to day work. Hence, you should enhance your skills, get organized and take up a health regime for your wellbeing. This transit highlights the need for efficiency and as such you should bring in the new and get rid of the old ideas that do not work

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

Your ruling planet Venus and Mars are transiting your solar fifth house. This is the time when you are ready to perform and express yourself creatively. It's a good time for recreation, romance, connecting with children, and enjoying "performing arts". Make sure you do not get over-sensitive if things do not go according to plan.

Domestic and family interests are likely to require lots of attention as your solar fourth house is lit up. Venus and Mars in this sector could produce auspicious results for those buying or selling property. Some of you will renovate your home. There may be some sort of financial snag that impedes the free flow of funds - take expert advice.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

Ace cricketer haseeb Hameed's tour of India has come to an end as he has come back to Britain for a much needed surgery on his injured hand. 19 year old Hameed's father has made much sacrifices, to ensure his son becomes the 'hero' that he currently is. Asian Voice is very keen to speak to Hameed who has been unavailable for interviews so far. If you know anyone who can put us in touch with Haseeb Hameed and his family or if you know them, please contact us at aveditorial@abplgroup.com.

Woman sexually assaulted several times on rush hour train A man repeatedly groped a woman on a train for 10 minutes as they travelled through London.

Police said the woman was attacked on a train between Clapham Junction and Richmond as they appealed for information to catch her attacker and to trace a man who came to the victim's aid.

The woman was sexually assaulted several times near the rear of the train between 5.28pm and

5.38pm on November 3.

Police believe the attacker stayed on the train after she disembarked, and got off later at Twickenham.

The man was Asian, around 5ft 10ins tall and of average build. He is believed to have been aged in his 50s and wore a grey flat cap and grey jacket.

The victim was comforted by another passenger after the attack and police also want to trace him.

It's always a wise decision to give up a vice, at any age.

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute in the US have found that it's never too late to kick the habit, even in your 60s. In short, giving up smoking at any age can help prevent death.

The research was published in the American

Journal of Preventive Medicine. It finds that older adults who quit smoking in their 60s had a lower chance of dying in the years that followed than contemporaries who kept smoking. The study suggests that giving up even as late as 69 years old could lower the risk of death for people in their 70s.

It pays to stop smoking even in late 60s

The UK’s leading Vedic writer and TV personality

Venus and Mars in your opposite sign favour your love life. If you are still seeking the ideal partner, things are definitely looking up. An increase in your social life is likely to bring you in touch with someone attractive. At work you need greater flexibility as well as a degree of patience. Do not step on any one's toes.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

Do you know our ‘hero' Hameed?

020 8518 5500

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21 You might feel that life is in the doldrums, but appearances could prove deceptive. The underlying trend indicates that deep creative energies are stirring within you and that seemingly insignificant events and meetings will play a vital role in the future enrichment of life.

This is a time to flow with the tide.

Mars and Venus highlight your second house now, and your focus is on material affairs and comfort issues.

Security is a driving force for you at the moment and you might find that you are especially interested in accumulating possessions. If you find yourself itching to spend unnecessarily, know that this urge is the desire to pamper and comfort yourself.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

The outlook remains optimistic as developments bring you a sense of real achievement. Relationships look great as Venus and Mars help to enhance your personal magnetism and put you in a gregarious mood. Venus, the planet of love and romance throws a pleasing light on love and creativity, make the most of this phase.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

With both Venus and Mars resonating powerfully in your Solar chart, amorous affairs are likely to become extremely intense.

Sometimes it is better to get a more objective view of the pattern of your life. You may find that you can enrich your lifestyle by simplifying certain areas and re-organsing your priorities.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

www.asian-voice.com

BCCI continues to firmly oppose Lodha reforms

AsianVoiceNews

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) firm stance on Justice (Retd.) R.M Lodha-led panel recommendations continued, with secretary Ajay Shirke revealing that the board members will abide by the decision they had taken during the first Special General Meeting (SGM).

Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing which was postponed to December 9, BCCI had called an SGM last week in the national capital to discuss as to how they would respond to Lodha committee's demands for radical changes in the Indian cricket board.

"This was the meeting of all the full members. We have once again explained to them the position. They (BCCI members) have again clarified the position that they stand by their decision taken earlier in the first SGM," Shirke told the reporters.

"The members have reiterated their position with regard to the reforms.

That is all what was discussed in the meeting today," he added regarding the top brass of the BCCI as well as heads of various state associations.

On October 1, the board

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Anurag Thakur

had accepted many of the "significant recommendations" of the Lodha Committee, however, it excluded the important ones which have been bone of contention between the cricket body and the Lodha Panel.

The recommendations, which have still not been accepted by the 30-member committee, include one-state one-vote, age limit of 70 years, coolingoff period of three years which included the tenure of the administrators, continue with the five-selectors and keeping to retaining the powers of the president and secretary as per the earlier constitution of the board.

Defending its action, the BCCI had then said, "a

meeting comprising all members took place, and several recommendations of the Lodha Committee were rejected by voting".

Last month, the Lodha panel in its latest report submitted to the Supreme Court asked that the office bearers of the BCCI should be sacked and former union home secretary G.K. Pillai be appointed as an observer to supervise the board's administration.

The panel recommended that Pillai as an observer should appoint auditors for awarding BCCI contracts like that for allocating media rights for future editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Earlier on October 17, the apex court had reserved its order after the BCCI

sought more time to implement the reforms recommended by the Lodha committee.

However, Amicus Curiae Gopal Subramaniam asked the apex court to appoint an administrator or ask the Lodha Committee to do so.

The apex court had also directed the BCCI not to release funds until the state associations file an affidavit implementing recommendations of the Lodha panel.

The apex court asked the Lodha panel to appoint an independent auditor to scrutinise the BCCI's accounts and also to fix a limit on the financial transactions of the cricket board.

The Lodha panel would also fix a limit on the monetary value of contracts, which the BCCI can enter into, with a condition that all contracts above this limit would be approved by the panel.

The order is likely to affect the award of contract for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other tournaments as the apex court empowers the Lodha panel to fix a ceiling. BCCI president Anurag Thakur was also asked to personally appear before the apex court during the next hearing.

SPORT

31

Jennings and Dawson join England team Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

Uncapped opener Keaton Jennings and all-rounder Liam Dawson will join the England squad as replacements for the remaining two Test matches against India, the team management said. Jennings, 24, will replace Haseeb Hameed, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the series after fracturing a finger during the third Mohali Test which England lost by eight wickets to trail the five-match rubber 2-0. Dawson was called up to replace left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari, who is still struggling with the back injury he sustained in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. "Ansari will stay with the squad and continue to receive medical support in India before returning to England on December 8," the England team management said in a statement.

Dawson, 26, made his one-day international and T20 debuts this year. Jennings and Dawson would join the squad this week in Mumbai which is set to host the fourth Test from December 8. The first Test in Rajkot ended in a draw before India won the Visakhapatnam game by 246 runs. The Test series will be followed by three ODIs and three T20 games.

Pak lose first series to NZ in 30 years

Carlsen wins third World Chess Championship Norwegian Magnus Carlsen extended his dominance over the chess world by winning the World Chess Championship for the third consecutive time, beating his Russian challenger Sergei Karyakin in a tiebreaker. The win puts Carlsen closer to the status of chess legends such as Garry Kasparov, who dominated the game for 15 years.

Although Karyakin foiled predictions by tying Carlsen in 12 regular rounds, the Norwegian champion beat him in the final phase of four quickfire extra games. The battle for the world chess crown ended up in the dramatic tiebreaker after a win

Magnus Carlsen

apiece and nine draws.

So the young stars both aged just 26 - headed into the chess equivalent of extra time in soccer. Unlike the earlier rounds, which lasted an average of six

hours, the rapid-play rules meant the players had just 25 minutes each, so each game was over in an hour.

The accelerated games left plenty of opportunity for harried mistakes, and while predictions were difficult, Carlsen - a king of the blitz format and world number-one since 2010 had remained favourite.

The Norwegian, who turned 26 last week, has played several blitz tournaments this year, beating US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura in one in October. But he has occasionally shown flashes of losing his cool, as when he slammed the door of the press room after defeat in the eighth round, earning a

fine of five per cent of his prize money.

Carlsen won the championship - organized by the International Chess Federation, FIDE - in 2013 and 2014, beating Indian Viswanathan Anand.

Karyakin, a child prodigy who became the youngest ever chess grandmaster at the age of 12, has known Carlsen for years and had little to lose, with no one even having expected him to reach the final. "Sergei has impressed everyone with his tenacity these last few weeks so he is perfectly capable of pulling an upset," said Wesley So, who travelled to New York from Minnesota to watch the clash.

New Zealand took nine wickets in a dramatic final session of the second cricket Test against Pakistan to win by 130 runs in Hamilton and clean sweep their series 20. It was New Zealand's first series win over Pakistan since 1985. Pakistan were faced with an imposing 369run target in their second innings but set themselves up for a run-a-ball slog when they reached tea on the final day at 158-1. The match edged towards a cliff-hanger finish before Tim Southee removed Pakistan's leading run scorer Sami Aslam for 91. That started a rapid collapse which saw their last eight wickets fall for 49 in 20 overs with Neil Wagner taking the last three for no runs in just six deliveries. The series win to New Zealand, after a first Test triumph in Christchurch, means Pakistan fall from second to fourth in the world rankings while New Zealand remain seventh. After reaching tea on the final day needing 211 off 204 deliveries, Pakistan could only ponder whether they left their charge too late. Brief Scores: New Zealand 271 & 313-5 decl beat Pakistan 216 & 230 (Sami Aslam 91, Azhar Ali 58; N Wagner 3-57) by 138 runs.

Hussey tipped for Australia team coaching role

If reports are to be believed, former Australian batsman Michael Hussey could be team's stand-in coach for their three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, scheduled to be played in February.

With head coach Darren Lehmann to accompany the Test squad to India for their fourmatch tour to India which overlaps with that of the series against Sri Lanka, Cricket Australia have confirmed they will need a

Michael Hussey

caretaker coach for threematch T20I series at home, reports cricket.com.au.

According to a report, Hussey appears to be the front-runner for the post.

It is noteworthy that the

likes Jason Gillespie, Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne have indicated varying degrees of interest in taking the reins.

Hussey, who had travelled to India earlier this year as a batting consultant with Australia for the World T20 tournament, was enlisted as an assistant coach with Australia A for their four-day games against South Africa A and India A over the winter.

"I'm already interested in it (coaching), definitely,

but I'm not sure I'm keen to be in it in a full-time capacity because if you're with an international team you're pretty much on the road for 10 months a year and that's certainly one of the reasons why I retired," Hussey said.

"It's certainly not something that I'm in the short term looking to get back into on a full-time basis, but perhaps down in the future and certainly coming in as a consultant type and helping out for a few weeks here or there, is

something that's really interesting," the 79-Test veteran added.

The three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka will start from February 17, followed by games on February 19 and 22.

Meanwhile, Australia's tour to India will begin from February 23 when the first Test would be played in Pune, followed by games at Bengaluru (March 4-8), Ranchi (March 16-20) and Dharamsala (March 2529).

www.asian-voice.com

32

twitter.com/AsianVoiceNews

www.facebook.com/AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 10th December 2016

Indian women lift Asia Cup again

India's dominance in the women's Asia Cup extended as they sealed their sixth title in as many editions with a 17-run win over Pakistan in Bangkok. It was the second consecutive time India had beaten Pakistan in an Asia Cup final, having done so in 2012-13 as well. The win also ensured India remained unbeaten in this year's tournament, which was being played in the T20 format for the second time.

It was Mithali Raj who set up the win, scoring an unbeaten 73 after India opted to bat and taking them to 121 for 5. The bowlers then sent down economical spells to choke Pakistan in the chase, restricting them to 104 for 6.

Raj dominated almost every partnership she featured in. She started off by putting on 24 for the first wicket with Smriti Mandhana, who contributed just 6. After her dismissal, it was the turn of

Sabbhineni Meghana to play second fiddle as she made 9 in a second-wicket stand of 44.

Veda Krishnamurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur, the India captain, were also

sent back for single-digit scores, before Jhulan Goswami's late cameo lifted India. Goswami scored two sixes on her way to a 10-ball 17 before perishing off the penultimate ball of

BCCI error ends 'India cap' dreams of 7 teenage cricketers In a major goof-up, a month after announcing a 15-member squad for the Youth Asia Cup to be held later this month in Sri Lanka, the BCCI has told seven of them that they are ineligible for selection and thus ending their hopes of donning India colours. The under-19 squad was scheduled to assemble in Bangalore for a preparatory camp, but just a day before, BCCI informed seven of the players that they don't meet the criteria needed to qualify for the selection.

As per a report, the BCCI committed the error after assuming that the date of birth for the cut-off year was 1997. However, the Asian Cricket Council had originally communicated that the year was 1-91998.

Consequently, selectors and joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary were misinformed and on the basis of that, ended up

selecting ineligible players for the tournament that starts from December 13 in Colombo.

"It was a major goof-up.

Luckily, it came to our notice now. Things could have been worse if we would have come to know about this after the team had landed in Sri Lanka.

The selectors were informed and they quickly replaced those seven names," a BCCI official was quoted as saying.

After realizing their mistake, the board didn't bother to release a statement and instead swiftly named the replacements on its official website. The seven players who have been replaced include opening batsman Sandeep Tomar, (Uttar Pradesh), Digvijay Rangi (Himachal Pradesh), Daryl S Ferrario (Kerala), Rishabh Bhagat (Punjab), Simarjit Singh (Delhi) Izan Sayed (Maharashtra) and Chandan Sahini, TM

0208 585 4050

(Hyderabad) Wicketkeeper-batsman Sandeep Tomar had completed all the formalities including getting the visa and passport but is now sad at missing the India cap by just eight days. "It was a matter of great joy but now I am feeling equally sad.

My visa was done, and passport submitted. I was to go Bengaluru to join the camp. My mother said, 'Don't worry, if you are lucky, you will get another chance in the future'. But I missed an India cap by just eight days," he said.

Rishabh, a medium pacer, was left heartbroken after BCCI informed him of the decision. "I got a call from the BCCI... It has happened, now what can I say?

I was so happy but now am heartbroken," he said.

Himanshu Rana, Salman Khan, Harvik Desai, Yash Thakur, Heramb Parab, Vivekanand Tiwary and Het Patel have been named as the replacements

the innings. Raj had struck seven fours and a six in her 65-ball knock.

Left-arm spinner Anam Amin topped the wickets column with 2 for 24 in four overs, while Sana Mir

and Sadia Yousuf were economical in their respective quotas and took a wicket apiece.

Pakistan scored at nearly a run a ball during the first half of the chase,

but lost three wickets.

Goswami had Ayesha Zafar bowled in the fifth over before Asmavia Iqbal fell in similar fashion in the next over, sent down by Shikha Pandey. Javeria Khan added 28 with captain Bismah Maroof, but could not make her start count as she was snuffed out by Ekta Bisht, the left-arm spinner, and Pakistan became 56 for 3. That third-wicket stand was the highest Pakistan could manage as regular wickets stalled them. Nida Dar and Mir made identical scores of 12 not out in late resistance, but both were kept quiet neither scored a single boundary - as Pakistan fell short. India's bowlers shared the wickets around.

Bisht, who opened the bowling, took 2 for 22.

Anuja Patil, Goswami, Pandey and Preeti Bose took a wicket apiece.

Brief scores: India women 121-5 (M Raj 73*; A Amin 2-24) bt Pakistan women 104-6 (B Maroof 25, E Bisht 2-22) by 17 runs

England cricketers meet British Asian Trust beneficiaries England cricketers have met the members of British Asian Trust, one of the Prince of Wales’ charities, at a special training session in Mumbai. Ten girls between the ages of 13-19 from the Trust’s rural development project, Mann Deshi were delighted to meet England cricketers, including Alastair Cook, Moeen Ali and Joe Root ahead of their test match with India on Thursday, 8th December.

The trust has arranged the British cricketers to meet the girls, who have all excelled in a range of sports from running to hockey.

The event marked the final day of the Trust’s major public appeal ‘Give a Girl a Future. England cricketer and British Asian Trust Ambassador Moeen Ali said: “The British Asian Trust is putting incredible work, funds and resources into transforming the lives of thousands in South Asia.

The ‘Give a Girl a Future’

appeal has demonstrated that with the support of the UK public, we have been able to make a massive impact on so many lives in the region. It was an eye opening experience to meet some of these beneficiaries today, children from

Richard Hawkes, CEO of the trust said: “It’s fantastic to give some of our children this once in a lifetime experience here in Mumbai.

Mumbai who have little hope or future. Their lives have been transformed by the British Asian Trust.”

Richard Hawkes, CEO of the trust said: “It’s fantastic to give some of our children this once in a lifetime experience here in Mumbai. These children have been involved in our

Mann Deshi project for a number of months as part of our overall livelihoods work in India. Today is a special day for us as we bring our ‘Give a Girl a Future’ appeal to an end.

The appeal has been our most successful in the Trust’s 9-year history and we’d like to thank the England team for taking some time out and spending it with us in Mumbai.”

The British Asian Trust’s ‘Give a Girl a Future’ appeal launched on 7th September and has focused on providing education and skills training to engage vulnerable girls and women in South Asia. All funds donated during the appeal have been doubled by the UK Government.

The appeal has seen support from the Trust’s key ambassadors and celebrities such as Zayn Malik, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Anita Rani, Naughty Boy, Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty and Rahul Dravid.

)LQG WKH ULJKW À LJKW DW WKH ULJKW SULFH ZRUOGZLGH

:H JXDUDQWHH WKH EHVW SULFH DW WLPH RI ERRNLQJ www.travelpack.com