AV 13th September 2014

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Lottery to decide who will attend Modi's public reception in US

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First & Foremost Asian Weekly in Europe

Sarat Bose remembered in London See Page 8

Plans to remove barriers for ethnic minorities in Civil Service

See Page 22

ISIS trying to expand in Pakistan

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst launches the British Armed Forces' Sikh Association

See Page 7

See Page 23

India, Australia seal nuclear deal, Abbott meets Modi

See Page 26

VOL 43. ISSUE 19

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

80p

Flood in Jammu & Kashmir

Herculean efforts by Indian Army, Air Force in rescue and relief operations Massive rescue and relief operations were underway in Jammu and Kashmir to rescue millions of people trapped in flood-ravaged areas, with IAF choppers and transport aircraft undertaking non-stop sorties to carry men and relief material to submerged parts.

Rescue teams were focusing on the inundated city of Srinagar and South Kashmir belt where an estimated 400,000 people were believed to be trapped in floods which have claimed over 200 lives in the state.

Two more units of Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been airdropped to Pancheri in Udhampur where 30 people were missing after a

ground, officials said.

They said a massive rescue and relief operation was on in Kashmir Valley with more helicopters and rescue material including boats pressed into service.

Thirty sorties of IL-76 and AN 32 have been undertaken in Srinagar overnight to carry men and relief material, boats

Continued on page 26

See Page 15

13th September to 19th September 2014

EXCLUSIVE

London's first Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas dates disclosed The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs recently announced that London will be the next destination for the upcoming Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (RPBD).

Asian Voice, from its trusted sources, has learnt that the dates are now expected to be 16-18 October, Continued on page 2

Sushma Swaraj

India on alert after al-Qaeda announces local wing landslide hit the area. “Seven bodies and a limb of a person have been so far recovered in

See pages 16 and 17 for more floodrelated stories

Udhampur but the operation to locate those trapped is very difficult,�

DIG Garib Das said.

However, the situation in the rest of Jammu belt has stabilised and the focus is now on providing relief material on the

Several Indian states, especially Gujarat, Kashmir and Assam, were on alert after al Qaeda announced the formation of a wing of the militant group in India and its neighborhood, a senior government official said.

Ayman al Zawahri

In a video posted online, al Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahri promised to spread Islamic rule and "raise the flag of jihad" across the "Indian subcontinent". The government believes it is authentic and has Continued on page 26

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Bhasker Patel

influence on your career to date?

R o b i n Williams (he was such a giver/not selfish at all) but I would say watching and learning and acting with British classical actors on s t a g e .

American actors in films also my early years in India watching mesmeric Hindi films tackling social issues in mind.

Bhasker Patel is a decorated actor with wide ranging experience across theatre, television and film. Born in Kampala in Uganda, Bhasker, who before becoming the successful actor his is today, use to work as a teaching assistant and didn’t have chance to finish drama school after receiving too many offers of paid work.

A versatile thespian, Bhasker has appeared in well-known shows such as Spooks, Holby City and Emmerdale as well as stints in theatre productions of Anthony and Cleopatra, Nation and Playing with Fire.

He has also seen success on the silver screen. His films credits include blockbuster hits such as Bridget Jones - On the Edge and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as well as critically acclaimed pieces such as Drachenfutter. In the film Bhasker deals with the complex emotions relating to immigration, struggle and friendship and for his efforts won the CIVIS Award for Best Actor.

Bhasker has been described as a conscientious talent with the ability to adapt to any circumstance and is well regarded amongst the acting fraternity for his work and commitment.

1) What is your current position?

Actor. On ITV 1 - Continuing Drama/Soap "Emmerdale" playing a regular part of character "Rishi Sharma"

departed a decent man/actor Robin Williams.

Of course getting a regular role in "Emmerdale" 4 years ago.

3) What inspires you?

Knowing hard work pays off in life in the end hence keeping at it regardless, come rain or shine.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

When acting a Lead Role in a German feature Film "Drachenfutter" (1987) having to learn German also acting in a feature film "Being Human" Dir: Bill Forsyth Producer: Sir David Puttnam with dearly

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

Lacking the knowledge of English literature and language in my early acting years. But,

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

Representing a mixed Heritage family in "Emmerdale" Sharma family who has an Indian father (Myself playing Rishi Sharma) an English ex wife Georgia played by Trudie Goodwin (who was in "The Bill" from start to finish), two sons Jai (Chris Bisson), Nikhil (Rik Makarem) and Priya (Fiona

now It has been the casting in the UK where you are only given a role of an Asian character limits ones growth to stretch your acting skills. Lacking in imaginative casting means there is no room to further your career.

Three arrests over migrant’s tragic death The police have recently made three arrests in connection to Meet Singh Kapoor’s tragic death, pictured, that happened three weeks ago. Stephen McLaughlin, 34, and Timothy Murphy, 33, two lorry drivers from Londonderry and a third man from Dungannon, Northern Ireland were taken into custody. The former two were charged with conspiring to facilitate illegal entry into the UK and the latter was arrested on the suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating illegal entry into the UK. Statistics have revealed that the numbers of people being smuggled into Britain is on the rise, with 566 potential victims of trafficking picked up by police in the first three months of this year, compared with 407 for the period last year.

The 40-year-old Sikh man was found dead inside a shipping container at Tilbury docks in Essex. Meet Singh Kapoor, the deceased, faced a tragic end to a 4,600-mile journey that he

undertook with his family to escape debt and destitution in Afghanistan. Also inside the container were Mr. Kapoor’s two children, his wife and 31 other migrants, themselves close to suffocating.

Meet Singh Kapoor grew up in the Afghan city of Jalalabad as a member of the country’s minority Sikh community.

Despite being Afghanistan’s second largest city, more than three decades of war, invasion and civil strife have devastated much of it and it is left with a legacy of poverty and instability. Mr. Kapoor’s family said that in recent years his spice business had begun to suffer

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5) Who has been the biggest

heavily and eventually it failed, plunging him into debt as he tried to keep his business activities alive. At this point, he took the decision of travelling to Europe with his family, where he hoped to find a better future, just like thousands of fellow migrants from around the world. Mr. Kapoor's plan was to make it to Britain and establish themselves among London’s 37,000-strong Afghan community. This is likely to have involved placing their lives in the hands of human traffickers.

The migrants, including Mr

Kapoor’s wife and children are now in the care of the Home Office while their application for asylum status is being reviewed. A spokesman from the Home Office stated, “This tragic incident is a reminder of the devastating human consequences of illegal migration and we will do all we can to help bring those responsible to justice”. Mr. Kapoor’s uncle put the alarming situation in perspective, saying, “Everyone gets the help of human traffickers; no one can get a visa for UK, so Meet Singh was also using the same ways”.

Winners of Dadabhai Naoroji Awards to attend reception on 17 October Launched during Deputy PM Nick Clegg's India visit, ‘Dadabhai Naoroji Awards’, named after the first Indian origin British MP, are to celebrate those who have helped further the UK-India relationship in the fields of commerce, culture, or education. The winners will be invited to receive their award at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s annual Diaspora reception in Durbar Court on 17 October 2014.The nominations that are open now, will close on 30th September.

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Wade). Not having to justify ourselves in terms of ones race colour or creed but living in today's rural Britain as British folks having issues what everybody goes through. Breath of fresh air in Yorkshire Dales!!!!

7) And the worst?

Hope it doesn't end as I am really having a time of my life so when it ends then yes it will be the worst NEWS but you just carry on searching for fresh pastures.

8) What are your long term goals?

Never to rest on ones laurels.

Looking for challenges.

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

Never to blame anyone. Buck stops with you so change it yourself first.

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

Mahatma Gandhiji. To get to know his struggles during the India's non violence movement - quit India, which he led inspired my Village/Town "RAS" in Gujarat State, India played a great part was influential.

London's first Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas dates disclosed

Continued from page 1 with a possibility of the Minister for External Affairs of India, Mrs Sushma Swaraj visiting. With Shri Narendra Modi, becoming the Prime Minister of India, the diaspora settled here is looking forward to this 3 day event, as the first major interaction with Indian government representatives.

The event also anticipates a delegation of 1000 people, including local and Indian organisations, professionals and businesses.

A detailed programme is being worked out and will be announced in due course. This will be the first such event being held in London.

Apart from the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in India in January every year, RPBD is organised to allow participation of the Indian diaspora who are unable to attend annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in India.

This initiative began in 2007, and so far, 7 Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas have been held at New York, Singapore, The Hague, Durban, Toronto, Mauritius and Sydney.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

COMMENT

ISIS, al-Qaeda: monsters the US and Nato created

The Nato conclave in Newport, Wales, opened to a display of contrived pageantry, with the organization’s cockerel Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmusson proclaiming the Alliance’s alleged achievements around the world, most notably and most recently in Afghanistan, where it was claimed, there is now a flourishing peace, stability, and democracy, with gender equality a work in progress.

With more castles in Wales than anywhere else in the world, the Secretary General thought it fit to build a few Nato castles in the air. Afghanistan, alas, has no government, despite an election and numerous election recounts. Shades of the timeless BBC classic “Yes, Minister”. A senior CIA regional expert, recently retired, told a BBC news anchor that the Taliban was in control of large swathes of the country, that the Obama Administration had left Afghanistan to the tender mercies of the Taliban.

Iraq, meanwhile, where the US did similar nationbuilding, which included torture chambers and bounty hunting outsourced to private sector US security companies , is now a howling desolation, of murderous Sunni-Shia sectarian strife and worse.

There now looms the even more baleful spectre of the self-styled Caliphate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] that is bearing down on Iraq and Syria, slaughtering non-Islamic Yazedis and Christians and beheading captive American and British journalists. A Facebook picture shows US Senator John McCain with ISIS leaders during its incubation. Naturally, the voluble Mr Rasmusson had no recollection of the devastation Nato had caused in Iraq and Libya, now under the control of warring jihadis and without a functioning authority.

Mr Rasmusson suffered memory loss at Washington’s US Extraordinary Rendition in Europe, under which secret torture chambers were set up in the Baltic states, where pro-Nazi elements still flourish, Poland and Romania. The CIA expert, referred to above, likened US and Nato interventions in the Middle East and Afghanistan to a march of folly. The US and UK are reportedly on red alert for a jihadi attack; and it is a sign of wisdom that

Nato’s chocolate cream leaders have the security of a formidable castle nearby at Cardiff to retreat should ISIS sound its gong of arrival. The two-day pantomime over, the world outside remains mockingly the same as before, notwithstanding Barack Obama’s copywriters’ glib and echoing chorus of courtiers anxious as ever to please the strutting god of war. Truth is Nato remains a predatory organization devoted to the upkeep of the white man’s burden.

While these worthies contemplate their exalted navels, and faraway Ukraine, India faces a threat from al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri, who has issued a video declaration announcing the establishment of a South Asian branch of his organization spread across India, Bangladesh and Myanmar, from its base in Pakistan, the country where the al Qaeda founder the late Osama bin Laden took refuge. Mr Zawahiri’s grand enterprise is to convert the entire region to militant Islam and make it into a critical constituent of the prophesied universal caliphate.

Pakistan is in a shambles politically, hence al Qaeda’s second coming in the country is a dire possibility. From there, it hopes to extend its tentacles across India and team up with Indian Mujahideen operatives and their sleeper cells. Three vulnerable Indian states have been put on high alert, others quietly so. The country’s Home Ministry has been in active consultation with India’s intelligence agencies in anticipation of intensified jihadi activity. This is a war, and wars are not won with kid gloves. The pursuit of these jihadi elements and their elimination, rest assured from past experience, will lead to cries of human rights violations and raucous demands that the alleged perpetrators be called to account. There were no such problems for USarmed death squads in Latin America and their mentors in Washington, who have long escaped the radar of the West’s good and great. Could Nazi Germany and its formidable Wehrmacht been defeated by lawyers and social activists? In case you didn’t know, they were destroyed en masse by Allied soldiers, many thousands of whom were from India.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s visit to India is surely a milestone in bilateral ties. So said Prime Ministers Modi and Abbott after their warm and historic meeting in New Delhi at the weekend.

While relations between the two countries were never less than friendly, they lacked the warmth and intimacy that has been clearly evident in recent years. The Abbott government came to power with the exit of the previous Labour administration, whose best energies were devoted to keeping Australia’s ties with China in good order. The signing of a long incubating landmark deal with India for the supply of Australian uranium (already in operation with China) for India’s nuclear power plants reached fruition with a formal signature.

Australia is in possession of the world’s largest reserves of uranium ore, and its sales to India will be a major boost to the country’s mining industry.

India is greatly in need of nuclear energy; first, because it is clean; second, because Indian industry, faced by growing outages, is badly in need of power; and third, because vast numbers of the country’s population need electricity to lighten their darkened lives. It’s clearly a win-win situation. The safeguards Australia needed for the transaction were

easily given. Between democratically elected governments there is usually an assured political transparency based on a high quantum of trust. The Indo-Australian relationship has never been bedevilled by territorial disputes or intractable difference over other issues. For both parties, the nuclear deal is an opening to greater opportunity in trade and investment which, with the cycle of robust economic growth in India seemingly on track to fulfillment, is a ready market for Australian goods and services.

Economic factors are buttressed by people-to-people exchanges, with Australia an increasingly a favoured destination for Indian students in the higher education bracket. And, finally, never to be discounted, is the lure of cricket, a sport that is the source of unbreakable bonding between Indians and Australians. On a different tack is the evolving IndoAustralian strategic relationship, symbolized most cogently by naval exercises in which the US and Japan are also participants; this, if the truth be told, is a response to the uncertainties and travails that have come with China’s rise. India and Australia are aligned for the long haul. There are no limits to what they can achieve together as a pivot of regional security, stability and prosperity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent homily to India’s schoolchildren included a call for the pursuit of knowledge as a priority in their young lives.

Nothing can be more liberating than science, as Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, pointed out to his nation many decades ago. Science should and would be the bedrock of a revitalized India, he said, the creator of its new temples. The progress and achievements of young Indian scientists are well worth monitoring as they quietly go about their work amidst the endless cacophony of politics and scandal and assorted celebrity trivia. A team of Indian scientists is experimenting with a tabletop to clear up a key misconception in a theory that blocks a better understanding of nature. Urbasi Sinha at the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore and her collaborators are engaged in an ambitious experiment to correct these errors in quantum mechanics during the last century. While quantum

mechanics describes the sub-atomic world, an appreciation of its workings leads to a truer understanding of the universe. The experiment under way entails sending either light or sub-atomic particles through three fine slits on a screen that will enable scientists for the first time to measure and correct the errors of the past. The experiment has been outlined in the journal “Physical Review Letters.” It is authored by Urbasi’s husband Aninda Sinha who works at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and by another Indian couple, Joseph Samuel and Supurna Sinha, of the Raman Institute, and by research scholar Rahul Sawant, also at the Raman Institute.

“The experiment will test certain laws of nature beyond what has been done so far,” commented Professor Asoke Sen FRS, of the Harish Chandra Research Insitute in Allahabad, and winner of the Dirac Medal for 2014. “This is the way science progresses,” he said. And enriches the human mind.

India and Australia forge closer relationship

Flowering Indian physicists

3 Once you embrace unpleasant news not as a negative but as evidence of a need for change, you aren't defeated by it. You're learning from it - Bill Gates (1999)

Britain the jilted girlfriend, now that India’s got new best friends?

First the Indian PM visits all the countries in his neighbourhood, then his first major overseas official visit it to Japan – the only democractic and economically sleeping giant in the region. As PM Modi preprares for the UN, will he stop over in the UK. The British PM made the unusual protocol breaking decision to visit India twice without an intervening reciprocal visit from the Indian side which would have been the convention. British Minister after Minister lines up to visit India – so where is the UK? Has it moved down the pecking order of favoured status with PM Modi?

No. Definitely not, and even if the PM had a different focus – that is a balance of power with Pakistan and China by a closer alliance with Japan, rather than Russia, EU or US (none of whom can help India versus PakChina because of their own interests) – India’s focus shift still leaves the UK in a very strong position – but the UK has to be as shrewd as PM Modi – and at the moment there is little sign Britain has the same level of politically astute operatives as a Narendra Modi.

What Britain has to do to keep the tugging at the ‘special’ or ‘enhanced’ relationship it wants with India, like a jilted girlfriend trying to get back into the affections of her former lover, is the following.

Invite India to Parties with India’s Friends Britain should also lead a UK, India, Japan (and thrown in South Korea) Manufacturing corridor. Both India and UK want to boost manufacturing and are not natural competitors in that area and would benefit from closer ties from the world leaders in manufacturing. This is an irresistible invitation to India and something Britain can and must take the lead on. Strategically it is win-win.

This needs to be PM hosted.

Look the other way Again, like a jilted lover – it’s time for PM Cameron to visit Pakistan. It’s good for Britain, for Pakistan, and reminds India that closeness to Britain is in India’s interests.

Scrub Up Britain by boosting its own growth can show it is the best game in the EU. Even losing Scotland only costs 10% of annual GDP - and anyway that’s 10% less national debt too! Britain’s ‘Great’ campaign in India has been a huge success measured by memorability, investment increases, travel movements – more please.

The EU is almost 10 India’s. Let’s keep reminding India what a huge market the UK, as the leader for India in the EU is. A bit of tough love.

Bypass and Ignore This strategy is vital to UK. The UK Government working with Indian corporates needs to get their cash into British companies, the way Britain did with Tata.

Indian self-interest will demand the Indian PM pay close attention to the UK. Cosy up to Mom UK Ministers visiting India need to first visit the UK Overseas Friends of BJP and lobby them to get PM Modi to Britain. The party is the mother of all political victories after all. The PM needs to listen to his own Party.

Enhanced relationships between Governments, as in life, happen with deep strategic thought, not by accident.

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Newly-weds blessed by multi-faith extended family

4

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Dhiren Katwa

Theresa and Daniel’s wedding reception last Saturday was one which stood out from the rest. The variety and diversity from every dimension was simply unique.

Attended by around 140 guests, the gathering truly reflected the multicultural make-up, certainly of Birmingham. The master of ceremonies was David, the bride’s father. He introduced and called upon guests who had agreed to perform an item in honour of the newlyweds. The lilac-themed event began with a prayer by Rev Winnie Gordon, followed by a reading from the Bible by Natasha, the bride’s sister. The programme also featured wedding songs in Punjabi and Urdu, respectively, by Pawanjit Ubhi and Sabira Karmal. Swaran Talwar, Rama Joshi and Raksha Solanki added an Indian flavour to the fusion by performing a wedding song in Punjabi. A poem was read by Marjorie Saunders, representing the Jewish Progressive Synagogue.

Colin and Maureen Foxall from the Christian faith sang ‘Brother, Sister,

Let me serve you’. In addition, Sheikh Arif Abdul Hussain delivered, off the cuff, a powerful philosophical speech about love, marriage and the human birth. I, along with so many guests, were truly mesmerised and impressed at what Sheikh Arif, originally from Sorothi in Uganda, had to share, so eloquently too.

Also showcased during the ceremony were two slide shows displaying photographs of Theresa and Daniel’s journey so far. In addition,

a song by the Earles, with David on the guitar, was yet another highlight of this round-table event.

Guests were treated to a sumptuous meal reflecting a world cuisine.

The reception was held at R o w h e a t h Pavilion in Bournville.

David and Patricia Earle, who are doting parents to four grown-up children - all professionals in the medical field - are an exemplary husband and wife team who have devoted their lives to bringing people together, regardless of their differences. Their selflessness, generosity and mutual respect for all deserves full credit. Their home is a shrine in its own right, the sacredness of which radiates love, peace and unity to all those fortunate enough to know them.

'Relief from Hajj fraud for British Muslims', says Birmingham City Council

British Muslims who are under the threat of a Hajj pilgrimage fraud have finally some reason to be relieved, courtesy Birmingham City Council’s Trading Standards team. The authority has become the national lead in combating what is traditionally seen as an under-reported crime. By October, tens of thousands of British Muslims will have booked trips to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. Instead of expected standards, they sometimes receive unfairly low level of hospitality and travels

services by travel agents who run fraud agencies that often forge the accommodation, visa and travel bookings.

The Council is also working in partnership with City of London Police, who conducted a successful raid in London on August 20 in which £400,000 was seized. The National Trading Standards Board has given Birmingham £100,000 funding to help replicate this success in other cities with large Muslim populations.

Aspiring pilgrims fall

for fraudsters owing to lack of confidence in online bookings and a fear of speaking against members of the same community. Some travel agents tell customers that they should not expect a luxuri-

ous holiday treatment as that might reduce their spiritual reward. Anyone who has concerns about Hajj fraud-prevention can email Action Fraud at hajjhelp@birmingham.gov .uk.

MP Keith Vaz to catalyse re-opening of closed Sikh school Falcons Primary school, the city’s new Sikh school which was due to be inaugurated on the 3rd of September had to cancel its opening owing to last

minute backing out of its main education and funding partner- Affinity.

Leicester East MP Keith Vaz termed this development as 'irresponsible' on

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the part of Kibworthbased Affinity Teaching School Alliance who left the Department of Education little choice but to terminate funding. Paul Stone, chair of Affinity, responded, “The alliance acted with complete integrity. We felt we could not support the school any longer and withdrew”.

Mr Vaz says he has now brokered a meeting between the trustees and Lord Nash next week and says he is hopeful of a positive outcome. Trustee Harminder Jagdev expressed his gratitude,

"Akaal Education Trust is very grateful for the support offered by MP Keith Vaz, Vi Dempster and the local authority in our attempts to open Falcons Primary as quickly as possible."

Imminent arrests of 'Jihadi John' and his UK network

Counter-terror police officers acting on US intelligence claimed to have identified up to a dozen alleged Midland members of Jihadi John's terror network in the UK on 6th September. Jihadi John, an Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) militant, is believed to have beheaded two American journalists – John Foley and Steven Sotloff – and has threatened to kill David Haines, a British aid worker.

Some of his suspected associates are based in the West Midlands region and their arrests are 'imminent'.

They are believed to have provided finances, network and travel support to him, as known to British security services. The sources from the security services also stated, “Our approach helped to collate evidence and pinpoint the target’s location in Syria by monitoring phone calls, movements and electronic communication of his network in the UK. Familiar names, of what can only be described as hardened extremists with a jihadist background, have cropped up in this investigation”.

The FBI source, who travelled to Birmingham with British security officials added, “The British executioner's facial details have been appropriated to a certainty of 99.9% using cutting edge recognition techniques and it is only a matter of time before we bring him in”.

Anti-Terror Funding Cut by 68 per cent in Birmingham The Home Office funding to tackle the looming terrorism threat in Birmingham under the city council-run Prevent scheme has plunged from £2.1 million between 2008-11 to just £600,000 in the last three years - a reduction of 68 per cent.

According to a 2013 report by former Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Rowe, “The terrorist threat in Birmingham is diversifying, involving people of Pakistani, Somali (including migrants from Scandinavia and the Netherlands), Algerian, Egyptian, Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese, Libyan, Bangladeshi and Syrian origin”.

Apart from the freely available extremist material on the internet, such as INSPIRE magazine, the use of charities as a front

for extremist fundraising continues to feature in police investigations.

Counter-terrorism initiatives like 'Prevent' targets those at the risk of radicalisation through carefullyaimed projects as well as running educational programmes for school children. In some cases, individuals travelling overseas to receive terrorist training or participating in conflicts subsequently come back to Birmingham with stronger intent and skills, as per the report.

The funding for this wider work has been transferred to a different central government budget and is administered separately. The Home Office refused to comment on the cuts but with increased diversification of terrorist ethnicities and threats, this development seems puzzling.

Blind Mastermind of Drug Dealing Jailed Described as the 'mastermind' of two drugs-conspiracy plots, visually impaired Rizwan Arshad, 33, has been jailed for 21 years along with six others.

Using a BMW that he got through the Motability scheme for disabled people, he

devised a plot to flood UK streets with more than £300,000 worth of Class A drugs.

Massive amounts of drugs and cash were seized from the group by police, including £264,000-worth of cocaine, £50,000-worth of heroin and 33 kilo-

grams of bulking agents.

Ringleader Arshad's criminal activities continued in the Bradford and Huddersfield areas even while he was on bail last year.

The court ruled against his plea for a discounted jailed term owing to his visual dis-

ability.

He stated, “That (the blindness) has not prevented you in the past from committing offences of deception. It has not stopped you from achieving a degree at university.

And it did not restrict your role in these conspiracies”.

5

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Shrien ready for alleged murder trial Cape Town will witness the Dewani honeymoon murder trial starting 6th October.

28-year-old Anni Dewani was shot in Cape Town in 2010 when she, along with her husband, had been to the city for their honeymoon.

Her husband, the 34year-old Bristol businessman Shrien Dewani is one of the murder suspects and is set to be tried on 6th October at the Western Cape High Court.

Mr Dewani, who denies the murder charge, was extradited from Britain in April.

Earlier this year, he was passed fit to be tried in Court. He is currently being held at Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town, where he was assessed for over 30 days to find out if he was mentally fit to stand the trial. Before

Shrien Dewani

that Mr. Dewani was detained in a hospital in Britain for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He fought and lost a three-year battle to avoid trial in South Africa. He pleaded on the grounds that his mental health state was too fragile to endure a court case.

In connection with the murder of Mr. Dewani's wife, three South African men are

Anni Dewani

already serving jail terms- including taxi driver Zola Tongo, who was given an 18 years' sentence after he confessed to his role in the killing. Xolile Mngeni, who prosecutors claim was the hit-man, got convicted of premeditated murder for the shooting.

Another accomplice, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

she suffered from even during her first pregnancy). This condition usually arises between the fourth and the seventh week of a pregnancy, though it can begin at any time within the first 12 weeks. This could mean that Prince George’s sibling is expected to be born in April or May next year.

On being presented with a lace shawl for

Prince George in Wellington in April last year, the Duke hinted to its creator Cynthia Read, "You might have to make another one soon", prompting a suggestion that a little brother or sister for George could be due soon. Following the official announcement, David Cameron was among the first to wish the happy couple, "Many congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I'm delighted by the happy news that they're expecting another baby." Ed Miliband, the Labour leader and Dame Elish Angiolini, principal of St Hugh’s College too, among others, wished their best to the royal family on the happy occasion.

The new baby will replace Prince Harry as the fourth in line to the throne.

MPs want justice over UK firms ‘harm’ Calls from politicians and public as new drive starts

Seven in ten MPs polled want British companies held to account in the UK for harm caused in developing countries, amid growing concern over human rights abuses, including loss of livelihoods, injuries and even deaths.

Almost three quarters (71 per cent) of politicians surveyed favour action, including over three in five (62 per cent) Conservatives.

The proportion of the public behind the move is even larger, at 78 per cent, including the same ratio of Conservative voters.

Kapil’s

KHICHADI Follow me on Twitter: @kdudakia

Justice for Kashmiri Hindus

by Kapil Dudakia - email: kapil@abplgroup.com

Delegation of Kashmiri Pandits meeting Shri Narendra Modi – now the newly elected Prime Minister of India

Second Royal Baby on its way!

The Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant with her second child, as announced by the Kensington Palace. They also stated that The Queen and members of both the Duke and Duchess's families are delighted with the news.

The Duchess is receiving regular check-ups by Alan Farthing, the Queen’s surgeon-gynaecologist and Guy Thorpe-Beeston, the Royal Household surgeongynaecologist at Kensington Palace, which released the news just 48 hours after the Queen and the Middleton family had been informed.

The couple also had to announce the first pregnancy early when the Duchess was admitted to hospital to be treated for Hyperemesis Gravidarum (a condition from which

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

The new independent opinion research comes after 1,130 Bangladeshi deaths in the Rana Plaza disaster last year, many

of whom were producing clothes for British stores.

It also follows the deaths of at least 16 local people at a gold mine in Tanzania, owned by a UK-registered firm.

The MPs poll, from

Dods, and the public survey, by Populus (both attached, with summary note), were published today to launch a major campaign for the next government to enable UK companies to be held to account and bring justice for overseas victims.

Fair trade c o m p a n y Tr a i d c r a f t launched the campaign just over a year since British ministers published their Action Plan on business and human rights, in response to UN guiding principles on the issue.

Though the UK gov-

Two events took place in the House of Commons last week. On 2nd September the APPG (Hindu) led by MP Bob Blackman and supported by the Secretary, Jayesh Jotangia hosted an event to celebrate Raksha Bandan. They used the opportunity to also enlighten everyone on the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus. Dr Girdhari Bhan gave a short introduction on issues arising and the need to assure justice for all Kashmiri Hindus. Bob Blackman, as always, was clear and firm in his view that Kashmir is the domain of India and no outside entity has any right of interference. It was also interesting to hear Virendra Sharma who said, ‘I agree with Bob, Jammu and Kashmir are a full and integral part of India’, adding, ‘We don’t want to be branded or tarnished with the same brush as these other communities that do improper things’. I of course welcome this commentary from Virendra. So time will tell if he means what he says. The event ended with Rakhis being exchanged and everyone agreed that we wear one to show our solidarity with all the Kashmiri Hindus who have suffered so greatly over so many decades and centuries.

Then on 4th of September the Rt.Hon. Marcus Jones MP hosted and chaired a meeting to spend more time on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. Again he was ably supported by MPs Richard Harrington and Bob Blackman and Virendra Sharma also made a fleeting appearance. A number of speakers took part including Krishna Bhan, Dr Girdhari Bhan, Chandan Kotwal, Shantanu Bhagwat, Lakshmi Kaul (from Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society), Satish Sharma (General Secretary of NCHT) and others.

I did not attend this event but have been informed that it was helpful to all for providing information, and for allowing the Kashmiri community the opportunity to share their personal experiences.

David Ward MP has asked for a debate on self determination and human rights in Kashmir which will take place on Thursday 11th September – many believe at the behest of the Kashmiri Separatist.

There is however concern looking back at past EDMs (Early Day Motions) that some Labour MPs have been too sympathetic to the Kashmiri Separatist and also the Pakistani position. I have asked Ed Miliband on several occasions to declare Labour's policy on Kashmir. He has failed to respond. Bob Blackman and his colleagues from the Conservative Party have confirmed that Kashmir is an issue for India, and India alone. And rightly so, ernment was the first to publish a national Action Plan, Traidcraft is dismayed by the lack of action since publication, especially on access to justice.

In a hardhitting report Traidcraft highlights the building collapse at Rana Plaza, where many lowpaid young women claim that they were forced to work on, despite concerns about cracks in the building.

Masuma, a Rana Plaza survivor, said: “There was so much debris, you could barely see. I closed my

I say.

What we have learnt is that the ISIS type mentality of the terrorists that has laid siege on Kashmiri Hindus is now unravelling. These so called Kashmiri separatist are no more than the cross-border terrorists that have made life hell for everyone in the valleys. This same mentality exists now in parts of the middleeast killing their own brethren in their thousands.

There is concern also that certain communities of Pakistani heritage in the UK might also be aligned to these Kashmiri separatist, and possibly even to the ISIS type groups. So the question for all of us in the UK is simple - are we going to allow these rogues that devastated Kashmir, who are now destroying the Middle East, to visit their anarchy onto our shores? The answer must surely be never, never and never.

So let us wait and see how the UK politicians and the political parties play this out. Will they appease these extremist to secure the votes of their sympathisers in the UK? Or will they be on the side of Dharma and therefore on the side of Kashmiri Hindus/Pandits?

I raise these issues and do connect them together since it is such appeasement that has led to the genocide and expulsion of Kashmiri Hindus from their own ancestral homelands. It seems such extremists are being allowed to get a foothold whilst politicians turn a blind eye vying for the vote bank to secure their seats. Increasingly it seems to me that the Labour Party might be getting ever too close to the extremist in our society.

Many believe that the real Trojan horse could be the infiltration of the Labour Party by certain Islamic groups that might by now have secured larger numbers of Councillors with a view of getting more MPs. There seems to be some design in this chaos and the white noise that follows is often excused away for political correctness. Is the Labour Party sleep walking into becoming a Sharia friendly party? Time will tell, but from where I stand it is clear that if you appease the extremists that did so much damage to our brothers and sisters in Kashmir, then it’s only a matter of time before we face the issues here in the UK. I am reminded of a saying from the past: “As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities.” Voltaire Is the world ready to hear the true story of Kashmiri Hindus?

eyes and started to crawl my way towards the window.”

Traidcraft points to more garment workers’ deaths in Bangladesh and other countries, and demands British companies must be held to account if they knowingly source from dangerous or exploitative factories.

Liz May, head of policy and advocacy at Traidcraft, said: “In order to stop UK companies operating with impunity around the world, there must be an option to hold them to account in the UK

and for victims to pursue justice in Britain.

“These polls indicate clear majority support for this option among the MPs and the public surveyed.

“In the runup to the election, we call on all political parties to consider how to enable access to justice for people who have suffered at the hands of British firms. Only then would international trade be truly just.”

Traidcraft urged people to join the campaign at www.traidcraft.co.uk/justicecampaign

UK

Plans to remove barriers for ethnic minorities in Civil Service

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Clumsy burglary attempt turns into a comedy of errors

In a dangerous criminal incident turned 'comedy of errors' on Saturday, an armed robber was caught on camera dropping his stolen cash as he had to stop for pulling his trousers up while escaping the crime scene. The incident took place at the Naran Newsagents in Barlow Road ( L e v e n s h u l m e , Manchester). At about 11.45 am on Saturday, a man wearing a Halloween mask burst in to the shop brandishing an eight-inch machete with an orange handle. The Police stated that he approached the cashier and demanded cash before going round the counter and stealing cash from the till. On being threatened to be stabbed, the shop worker was genuinely fearful as the machete was being brandished in clear view.

The burglar then tried to run off, but slipped over and dropped all the stolen cash along with the machete when his trousers started to slip off. He spent the next two

minutes trying to pick up the cash from the floor and stuff it back into his pockets and trousers. At this point, his hood fell off, revealing his shaved head. After threatening a customer who had walked in just as he was picking up the knife from the floor, he finally managed to flee from the shop.

This whole incident was captured on CCTV which the police have now released for public viewing and are appealing to anyone who recognises the robber, to come forward.

Detective Constable Andrea Holden-Cullum said, “Watching this CCTV footage is like watching a comedy of errors”.

However, he stressed on the gravity of the incident, 'As amusing as his burglary attempts were, I must stress this is no laughing matter. This man threatened a shopkeeper with a large knife and also intimated he would stab the victim if he refused to acquiesce to his demands'.

The Government plans to set out a talent action plan to promote gender and racial equality amongst British Civil Servants. Although the percentage of minority ethnic civil servants has increased from 5.6% in 1999 to 9.6% in 2013, the Plan says there is much more to be done, particularly to make sure that more of the brightest BME staff reach the Senior Civil Service (SCS).

The new “Talent Action Plan: removing the barriers to success”, that is suited for the 21st Century, includes practical actions to remove the obstacles which have limited the numbers of those with black or minority ethnic backgrounds joining the Civil Service and reaching its highest levels.

In addition, Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude is commissioning new research to examine the barriers faced by those with BME backgrounds. The results of this research, expected within the coming months, will be used to form an updated Talent

New Mayor of Croydon makes the community proud

A Malayalee woman, Manju Shahul-Hameed, pictured, was sworn in as the Mayor of Croydon in South London.

This marked a historic and proud moment for Malayalees in the UK. Croydon has the second largest population of Malayalees in the United Kingdom after Newham.

Hailing from Thiruvananthapuram (in Kerela, India), Manju Shahul-Hameed was ordained as the Mayor of Croydon in the presence of party colleagues, friends and family members at the Croydon council offices on 3rd June 2014 after the convincing Labour win in

the council elections in May. Shahul-Hameed was

nominated as Labour’s choice to be Croydon Mayor in 2014-2015 by the Croydon Council’s Labour Group which had won control of Croydon Council with (Lab 40, Con 30), a clear majority of 10.

Thus, Labour fought to power from the Conservatives who won the last council elections. During the last elections, the Conservatives had won 37 Conservative councillors who enjoyed the majority with 4 more seats than the Labours, who had only 33 councillors.

'Imams out of touch with Islam, can't halt terrorism', says advisor Religious texts, which have always been a subject of debate with its various interpretations around the world, have become the core of yet another alarming phenomenon in the UK. Mehmood Naqshbandi, an Islam expert, who has advised the Metropolitan police on Muslims in Britain, stated, “Most imams know nothing much about the ISIS and would probably struggle to find Syria on a map”.

In a country where Muslim youth are grappling with their identity and beliefs, it becomes crucial to study Islamic philosophy in depth and not by blindly believing the imams who, he said, communicated mainly in their mother tongue or 'cringingly bad English' and 'were equipped only to argue about factional squabbles from the mid19th century'.

Naqshbandi points out his observation that

British mosques and imams are 'woefully illequipped to deal skilfully with the ideas of young people who are tempted by extremist groups to join jihadist organisations'.

Given these out-of-touch imams, it is becoming difficult to halt terrorist activities and innocent Muslim youth in Britain are 'left entirely to their own devices' regarding the interpretation of Islam, he said.

Strategy within the coming year.

Measures in the Talent Action Plan include: l Making diversity and inclusion learning part of the formal induction process for all civil servants. l Doubling the number of places available on the Fast Track Apprenticeship scheme to 400 in 2015/16.

Currently, 16% of Fast Track apprentices are from BME backgrounds. l Requiring all departments to nominate board-level diversity champions with the power to drive change l Identifying and championing role models in the Senior Civil Service with diverse backgrounds l Reviewing recruitment practices that can act as barriers to some groups. l Promoting success and achievements and sharing best practice across the Civil Service on all aspects of diversity and inclusion. l Requiring the most senior civil servants to mentor one or more junior official. The focus will be on mentoring underrep-

resented groups, to help them put in place clear development plans to reach their full potential.

The Minority Ethnic Talent Association (META) “Growing Talent” programme will provide minority ethnic employees at Grade 6/7 level with high-level mentoring and leadership skills.

Richard Heaton, Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, and the Civil Service Diversity Champion for BME, said: “In a truly inclusive Civil Service, we will recruit the best people and those we recruit will thrive – whoever they are. As the Civil Service BME Champion, I’m particularly keen to know why some groups and communities are under-represented in the Civil Service, and what barriers there are to the career progression of civil servants from ethnic minorities. This plan contains some concrete actions. For example, we’ll be requiring all managers to take training for unconscious bias: are our appointment,

promotion or assessment decisions influenced by colour, gender, accent or social background? And this plan is just the start: as our knowledge and experience grows, actions and benchmarks will follow. ” The Talent Action Plan suggests that previous attempts to address diversity, particularly at senior levels of the Civil Service, had limited success because they did not deal with the actual issues. The solution, it says, is first to understand the barriers groups including BME communities continue to face and then set about removing them.

That is why the Government has commissioned the most comprehensive research to date into the challenges facing four groups: women; ethnic minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; and the disabled. The Talent Action Plan will be refreshed within the next 12 months, with additional actions as necessary, once the findings of all four reports are available.

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8

UK

Politics of Identity

In the next few days, the Referendum results will decide whether we live in the United Kingdom or a disunited one. For an Indian born, proud British person, this situation is ming-boggling, to say the least. Merger and Acquisition, both in economic terms and nationhood, are getting popular, perhaps more than ever before.

European Union, Association of South Asian Nations (ASEAN) and NAFTA are just some of the examples.

We, on the continent of Europe, by and large benefitted enormously through the formation of what began as a European coal and steel cooperation.

I could not, in the space permitted, talk much about the views of the Euro-skeptics on the present day European Union.

But someone, who chose to be British in spite of an option for a US citizenship, I think, Association of Nations within Europe has made our continent devoid of war for almost seven decades and helped developed our economy as well as society, unimaginable in 1945.

To the people born and brought up in the former colonies, Scottish people are adventurous, chivalrous, scholars, as well as renowned for

their frugality.

Their contribution in the empire building is second to none and especially with the Scottish population of just under 10 million, they have brought a lot more advantage to the 50 million 'English' – including those from Whales and Northern Ireland.

One more statistics now being discussed is that 400,000 'English' live in Scotland whereas 800,000 Scotts have made their home in England, let's not count the number of 'mixed' marriages or their offsprings.

In the last three days, there are banner headlines in our national press, calling on Her Majesty to intervene, last ditch efforts by Gordon Brown (Perhaps the most popular and trusted Scotsman in the Nocamp).

A new 'Modern Home Rule' proposal is put forward. The Sterling is sliding and several big companies domiciled in Scotland have their share prices on slippery slope.

How did it all start?

Was it the advent of social media? Is the demand for separation a symptom of herd mentality? What are the roles and responsibilities of the 'real' leaders who can think sensibly of the 'future'? Is this exercise of referendum a result of

thinking through the heart rather than through the head?

The present debate also smacks of 'much ado about nothing'.

Whatever is the result on 18th, how can you divide a small country?

What will be the domino effect via-a-vis Wales, Northern Ireland, let alone Cornwall or Yorkshire?

Can you imagine that there maybe a county somewhere in England who might have a substantial number of adherence of a faith tradition who could demand outright 'independence' or at least a ‘Modern Home Rule’.

Scottish have a right to decide the dissolution of a marriage lasting almost 400 years without the opinion of the larger partner, i.e. England.

I have spoken to some friends in England and also in Scotland.

Majority of us feel this whole exercise is illogical, avoidable, unnecessary, highly divisive and dangerous in several aspects of a chain reaction.

Finally, my gut feeling tells me that whatever the figures of the public opinions, the Scottish voters will exercise their traditional common sense and self interest.

agreed to act as an expert adviser to the panel.

However this was followed by a report in The Sunday Times stating that the police in West Yorkshire are now investigating a grooming gang of 31 men that preyed on two girls. Members of the gang, which operated in the Calderdale area, are on bail, as are 28 members of another gang in Keighley that allegedly groomed and abused four girls.

Police said they could not give further detail because the investigations were ongoing, but the cases reveal the scale of the problem of child sexual exploitation.

This was highlighted last month with the publication of a report into the grooming and abuse of mainly white girls in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, by gangs of men mostly of Pakistani origin.

The report, by Alexis Jay, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government, found that at least 1,400 children had been victims of sexual exploitation over 16 years. She said the problem persisted to this day, and more than 100 cases are expected to be recorded in the town this

Spriha Srivastava Rupanjana Dutta

Indian freedom fighter Sarat Bose’s 125th birth anniversary was recently celebrated at Lincoln’s Inn Hall in Holborn. A packed audience sat there and paid tribute to the great work done by Sarat Chandra Bose. Organised by Ashis Ray, a veteran journalist, the highlight of the event was a lecture delivered by Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on ‘consolidating AngloIndian economic ties.

Sarat Bose was the last leader of opposition and of the Congress parliamentary party in the Central Legislative Assembly in India in 1946, before formation of the interim government, in which he became a senior cabinet minister under Nehru. He was elected several times to legislative assemblies; and was also a member of the Congress working committee, this party's highest decision-making body.

- CB

New Chairman appointed to lead sexual abuse inquiry as victim toll rises

Home Secretary Theresa May has announced the appointment of Fiona Woolf CBE, JP to lead an independent inquiry into historical child sexual abuse.

The inquiry will consider whether and the extent to which public bodies and other important institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.

It will seek to address public concern over failings exposed by successive appalling cases of organised and persistent child sex abuse both historical and more recent.

Fiona Woolf, the current Lord Mayor of London, will be assisted by Graham Wilmer MBE, a child sexual abuse victim and founder of the Lantern Project and Barbara Hearn OBE, the former Deputy CEO of the National Children’s Bureau. Ben Emmerson QC will serve as counsel to the inquiry. Their first tasks are to finalise membership of the panel and agree terms of reference for the inquiry.

Professor Alexis Jay, the author of the recent report into abuse in Rotherham, has also

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Sarat Bose remembered in London

As I See It

year. David Crompton, the chief constable of South Yorkshire, which covers Rotherham, told the home affairs select committee last week that 12 new victims had come forward since the Jay report.

South Yorkshire has 173 inquiries ongoing, 48 of which relate to Rotherham, and 104 people have been prosecuted, charged or summonsed since January 2013.

Neighbouring West Yorkshire police have 65 investigations under way, three of which involve gangs. In one case, 12 men have been charged and await trial after appearing at Leeds magistrates’ court in June in connection with sexual offences against a girl.

Other forces also report a growing number of investigations: Lancashire police had 1,248 referrals made between April 2013 and March this year, and the Metropolitan police has 657 inquiries ongoing.

Greater Manchester police said they did not collate figures because such offences were listed under specific crimes, such as rape. The force has been criticised for its past handling of such cases.n

V K Krishna Menon

Bose was an uncompromising secularist and an untiring opponent of partition; and attempted valiantly but in vain to keep at least the state of Bengal undivided. He was, besides, one of the leading lawyers of his generation in India - who was called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn and the elder brother and mentor of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who was twice elected Congress President and later became the leader of the Indian National Army (INA).

In 1936, Bose became the President of the Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, and served as a member of the All India Congress Committee from 1936 to 1947. From 1946 to 1947, Bose would lead the Congress delegation to the Central Legislative Assembly.

He strongly supported the formation of the Indian National Army by Subhash Bose, and actively participated in the Quit India movement. Following his brother's reported death in 1945, Bose would lead efforts to provide relief and aid to the families of INA soldiers through the INA Defence and Relief Committee. In 1946, he was appointed Member of the Interim Government for Works, Mines and

Sarat Chandra Bose

Powers – the position of a minister in a national executive council led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and presided over by the Viceroy of India.

Bose also founded a daily newspaper called The Nation, whose first London correspondent was Shirley Williams. In view of his appearance, his oratorical skills and the fact that he smoked a cigar, he was once described in media as "Churchill of India".

Among the best books on Sarat Bose is Brothers Against the Raj by Professor Leonard Gordon of Colombia University.

Nirad Chaudhuri, who was Bose's private secretary, devotes more than 100 pages to his employer inThy Hand Great Anarch!

The appreciation of Sarat Bose cuts across party lines in India, as he resigned from the Nehru government in protest against partition. He, however, died prematurely of a heart attack in 1950. Thus, he never fought a general election, wherein he could have made a mark.

Bose was remembered at the lovely ambience of Lincoln Inn Hall where he was called to the bar in 1914 and the function also included a release of an illustrated booklet on Bose entitled "Sarat Bose:

Dr Virander Paul

India's barrister-parliamentarian par excellence" and rendition of Bose's favourite patriotic songs. It was attended by his Kolkata-based daughter Roma Ray. Ashis Ray, in introductory his speech explained that Bose was felicitated by India League at the same Lincoln's Inn Hall in 1949, (his last public engagement in Britain), where HE VK Krishna Menon, the then Indian High Commissioner and founder of the India League, and Lord Fenner Brockway had given their historic speeches.

Ray also referred to CB Patel, the Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, who is the new

Chair of India League and was also present as an audience in this 125th birthday celebration.

Paying tribute to Bose, the British Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, Dr Vince Cable lauded Bose's stand at the time of the partition of India on "religious sectarianism and the need to oppose it". He highlighted what he described as "the revival and strengthening of the politics of identity" in the world, which Bose stood against. He also praised the fact that he "resigned on principle" from the Congress working committee, because he was unhappy about the party accept-

Dr Vince Cable

ing partition.

He described the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a "party based on its religious identity", but he asserted he was happy to deal with it, since it had been democratically elected.

Cable is scheduled to visit India next month to resolve misunderstanding on the matter of visas for Indians wanting to study in the United Kingdom, following a sharp drop in applications in India, in contrast to a steep rise in the number of Chinese students coming to British universities. He stated he was inclined towards greater leniency on poststudy work visas for overseas students.He conceded there is tension between his ministry and the UK's home ministry over visa rules. "There is quite a lot of tension," he said. It is a ideological tussle between coalition partners, Cable being a centrist Liberal Democrat, while the home office is headed by Teresa May, a right-wing Conservative. cable added his party believed in an ‘open, welcoming approach’ to international students and admitted there was ‘deep disagreement in our coalition’ in this respect.

The event was also attended by Dr. Virander Paul, Deputy High Commissioner for India in the UK, Ms. Sangeeta Bahadaur, Director, The Nehru Centre among other dignitaries. Dr. Paul in his address to the audience praised Sarat Bose’ efforts in pre-independence era and also touched upon the subject of India-UK relations.

UK

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Leading Lights

Rani

overseas investment in a UK firm that we had a joint venture with. A specialised business based near Sheffield that does Singh, Special Assignments Editor environmental monitoring products. We now own 85 % of the firm. We’re helping that company not just be successful in India, we’re starting to sell its products in Eastern Europe, in the hire locally, that’s Middle East, Egypt, the source of our Canada. As a result success.” of our own network The intriguing round the world aspect of the CII we’re able to give majors is their that SME access to a international much wider marfocus. ket.”

“As a compaBut Dr Forbes ny, for many years thinks that the we were largely Forbes Marshall India focussed. relationship with the We continue to UK is not tilted one be. 85%of our way or the other; it’s business comes balanced. from India.” He “We employ peowants exports to ple in the UK, I’m rise. That’s going sure we export a lot to happen more than we import through entering into the UK, but we new markets, and see it as a win-win through selling a relationship. wider range of When Forbes products in our Marshall first started existing active markets in South Dr Naushad Forbes working in the UK, it imagined that the Asia, South East sented UK engineering UK would specialise in Asia and various African firms in India. Naushad product development and countries, North Africa said, “Over the years, manufacturing would take and Eastern Africa. We some of those representaplace in India. “As we think there’s a lot of tive arrangements turned went along, we found that potential for us in the into joint ventures. We the UK was actually a Middle East and many continue to have two joint rather good place for us to parts of the world.” ventures with UK firms make electronic products.

When Forbes Marshall and over about five years So now not only do we started as an engineering ago we made our first make a wider range of company in India, it repre-

Forbes Marshall’s Director; Leading Parsee Business Role Model Dr Naushad Forbes is the Vice President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Director of Forbes Marshall, India's leading Steam Engineering and Control Instrumentation firm. He chairs the Steam Engineering Companies within the group and has been a Lecturer and Consulting Professor at Stanford University in the Program in Science, Technology and Society.

I interviewed him for Leading Lights when he visited London recently for the CII annual conference.

A the end of a CII conference session in which he spoke about supporting small and medium sized enterprises, the first thing I wanted to know was why Forbes Marshall is based in Pune.

The firm moved there in 1958 when it set up manufacturing.

“We moved as a family to Pune in 1968. Pune is a good engineering city. There’s an abundance of mechanical engineers that we can

products within the UK for export, but we’re using the UK as a base to make circuit boards which we import into India. Turns out the UK is a good place to do manufacturing in.

The UK has very good infrastructure, is very much part of the wider European market and the global market; much more than we are in India. The UK is a good place to connect with the rest of the world in terms of markets and supply chains.”

“What you do comes back to you in weird, unexpected and unplanned ways.”

Naushad is a Parsee, a small community that produced big business houses like Tata and Godrej. He said that there are many Parsee role models to look to. His sister-in-law Rati Forbes contributes to primary health and education, while he works with the CII, particularly with its higher education committee.

His community is, by and large, prosperous- or at least not poor. “It’s because,” said Naushad, “many Parsee families, as they become successful,

set up philanthropic institutions that have benefited and provided for the community in terms of essentials like housing.

This has been a major contribution to ensuring the overall well being of the community on an ongoing basis. The comunity’s so tiny that all these philanthropic organisations that started off for the well being of the community, pretty soon ran out of community to help with well being. So they now help the wider society.

Hospitals, educational trusts or institutions.”

Forbes Marshall runs a hospital as part of its social wing and there was an unexpected return on this community investment, Naushad commented.

“Some years ago we read in the papers that there were going to be some protests in Pune and various groups were going to come to factory gates and chant slogans. “ I got to work and I saw this group standing outside but heard nothing further.

“I found out later that as this group was forming at the gate, a lady joined it.

She saw the name; Forbes Marshall, and said, we are not protesting here. And she moved the group to the next factory gate.

What you do comes back to you in weird, unexpected and unplanned ways.”

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YOUR VOICE

Is cheese really suitable for vegetarians?

Being a Jain and vegetarian, I stay clear of anything and everything which may contain even the slightest hint of animal parts in them. So I was horrified when I found out that the cheese sandwiches or the cheese salad which I was happily munching away could contain animal parts in them. I was under the wrong impression that because cheese is made from milk, it was in order for vegetarians to eat cheese products. However, even though the label on the packet may state that the cheese is suitable for vegetarians, not all cheeses are vegetarian.

As I understand it, the process of making cheese involves the use of a substance called rennet. Rennet is curdled milk found in the stomach of an unweaned calf. The rennin, which the rennet contains, is an enzyme which is secreted into the stomach of the calf and that helps the clotting and coagulation of milk to form cheese.

It is impossible to extract the rennet out of the lining of the calf’s stomach without having to kill the baby cow to get at it. If, therefore, cheese is made with rennet which comes from the stomach lining of calves, it is not vegetarian.

Nowadays, a few varieties of cheese are made without the use of animal rennet.

Therefore, only if the label on the packet of cheese clearly states that the cheese is made from non-animal rennet and that it is 100% vegetarian, it is OK for vegetarians to consume it.

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Life in egg

This letter is for pundits who debate about life in eggs vs fruits, vegetables, grass and tubers etc. All life is made up of 5 elements viz sky, earth, water, fire, and air. Humans being at highest-the fifthlevel contain all the 5 elements; thus have faculties of discretion/free will.

Quadruped animals have 4 elements, birds have 3 elements, creepy crawlies have 2 elements, and grass, vegetables and fruits have one element. Thus lower living entities have no free will but to obey laws of nature or die.

Food chain is meant for preservation and survival of living beings. Thus one type of living being can eat other type vide nature’s law. Sages understood human prowess as predators, preached assisting nature by not eating lower types of life.

Precept that bad karma generated by eating lower living entities took number of incarnations to dissipate, was best deterrent. Severity of karma depended on number of constituent elements of that animal. Thus grass, vegetables, fruits and tubers etc have a soul but only one element-water-thus eating them generated lighter karma which could be dissipated by prayers and holy chanting.

Therefore vegetarianism got subliminally ingrained as the way of life for all religions that originated in India.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Transforming NHS

Involving common sense

The most recent 2014 NHS Annual Accounts show that 63% of total costs of £95bn were for NHS Trust and Non-Trust hospitals including teaching hospitals.

Kings Fund report of 2012 findings were that “62% of total beds in hospitals in England, and 68% of emergency beds were used by patients aged 65 and over during the year” (Imison et al 2012). This is about 80,000 out of 120,000 available beds. The same report found that mortality rate in England was second highest among 16 most advanced economies in the world.

The report makes it clear that prevention is not getting the same financial support as treatment due to vested interests.

I believe those who can afford private medical care should be encouraged to do so. The split between private and public in UK is 30/70; while in Germany, France and Italy it is 40/60. £10 charge to see a GP and a £25 daily charge to stay in a bed in hospital per day should be introduced urgently.

Hospitals should also deliver healthcare 7 days a week and not 5 days per week.

Otherwise cumulative capital investment in buildings, equipment and human resources is underutilised. Other NHS costs were: GPs 7%; NHS purchasing healthcare from private hospitals 11%; prescriptions and pharmaceuticals 11%; dental 3% and other 5%.

I fully agree with the Comments by Ramesh Jhalla "Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations" published in Asian Voice dated 30th august 2014. It is about time we Hindus start thinking of developing stories which should involve common sense. There are lots of stories and traditions in Sanatan Hindu Dharama which are required to be removed and replaced by things that make sense.

Guru Nanak and Swami Dayanand Ji tried their best to improve Hinduism but only managed to change to create a different religion- Sikhism and Arya Smaj. We need to educate our Brahmans to understand the present need of Hinduism, failing which our future generations will hardly have any faith in Hinduism.

Nagindas Khajuria

By Email

100 days in office

I am glad BJP run Indian government is celebrating 100 days in office and its achievement in governance. Even though it is a good idea, TV channels are using to criticise the government. The Congress and SP took the opportunity to insult Mr Modi. Mr Mani Shankar Iyer took every opportunity to attack Mr Modi through NDTV and he never used the word Prime Minister of India. The BJP government should not give any opportunity to frustrated Opposition politicians to attack the new government. There are lot of changes in the media after the BJP government took office. There is a complete change in the mind set of people. Now we have a very relaxed discussions in the tv and Muslim communal faces and Sonia Gandhi’s Congress cronies have disappeared from media.

The discussion in one hour programme in NDTV concentrated on Hindutva, Hindustan and Muslin minorities and discussion on Pakistan. Whenever there was a discussion on foreign policy, UPA government never talked about non Muslim countries in Asia. There is nothing wrong in going to economically developed Buddhist country Japan and an Hindu country Nepal and visiting Hindu temples.

Secularism does not mean Hindu Prime Minister should not visit Buddhist or Hindu temples. Muslim politicians go to Haji regularly. There is a definite change and fresh air in the foreign policy and there is no need to go on talking about Pakistan and Muslim country politics. We have to be friendly with Israel whose culture is very similar to us.

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Arun Vaidyanathan

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ASIAN VOICE

Dharam Sahdev Ilford

Debate on Indo-British history

The motion of the Empire Debate as stated in Asian Voice (6 Sept, 2014) is a very contentious subject. Each of the speakers selected will present his/her own view on Indo-British history. History is supposed to represent the true record of the past.

But the truth is that history is usually written by the victors to serve their interests. It would be interesting to know the speakers’ view on the partition of India, especially on the following issues.

Since independence chapter and verse and history have been written on the British rule of India. The missing issue in this context is what the British Raj has done to itself and to the world by causing the partition. Pakistan is the creation of British Raj. It is a country now known to be the epicentre of international terrorism. The theocratic Pakistani political philosophy is natural breeding ground for the creation of the Taliban and safe haven for Al Qaeda with the obvious choice for terroristic activity. The UK and the world are now grappling with British Raj’s decision.

The partition of India was based on religious ground. Partition of this kind is an open declaration of a group of people unwilling to live in peace and harmony with others. The partition of India is the precursor of the monster of separatism that has engulfed many regions of the world such as Bosnia, Chechnya, Myanmar, Philippines, Xing Xiang province of China, etc. The inevitable consequence of such movements is huge loss of innocent lives.

Dr Jatindra Saha

By Email

Malapropisms

Dineshbhai failed to practice what he preaches, common human failings, Eolithic characters. Heading of his letter “Malapropisms” is give-away. So is his often used words Vox populi.

I wonder how many readers know that Mrs Malapropos is a character in Richard Sheridan’s play “The Rivals.”

Then his mantra “Do what I say, not what I do!” is obvious. All words mentioned in Kumudini’s letter are in perfect

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Dear Readers, Diwali is now one month away. The New Year is knocking at the door waiting to bring in colours and light to our lives with fervour of joy and ever lasting happiness. Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar as every year will be publishing the ‘Diwali Special’ Magazine for our fabulous and supportive readers like yourself. This year in the English section, we are doing something special for our young readers. l If you are between 7-25 years of age, write an article in English on 'how you celebrate your Diwali every year' or 'your most memorable Diwali with friends and family' or 'how you celebrate Diwali in your school' in no more than 700 words, along with a suitable photo. l if you an organisation, which has a youth wing or support youth activities, tell us how your young members or youth wing celebrates Diwali in 500-600 words with 2 pictures (in no less than 300dpi).

Last date of entry is Sunday 20 September 2014.

Please email your article to aveditorial@abplgroup.com with your full name, age and contact number.

- Asian Voice harmony with the contents.

Limit of 200 words has encouraged us to utilize words that would replace full sentences; literary “Catherine Wheel” Necessity is mother of all inventions. I observe such talent in expertly drafted letters from my fellow writers Shri Jhalla and Vidyanathan. We have adopted this new format like duck to water.

Reading students’ post-graduate thesis, plain English, tool of convenience, jargon for laziness, becomes myth and recipe for failure, advocated for instruction manuals, legal documents. One has to read articles in leading national dailies and “Editor’s Comments” in Asian Voice to appreciate richness of English language.

Every product creates by-product.

Eggs production is no exception. In order to maximize milk yield, calves are butchered and their meat, Veal is delicacy in certain culture. So vegans refrain from consuming milk-products.

Most Hindus are vegetarians, not vegans. Osteoporosis, brittle bones are common in elderly women. It would be worse in veganism. Every belief in moderation is commendable, not “holier than thou attitude”. Extremism leads to expedient, fiduciary to carnivorousism, unacceptable Talibanic culture, alien to Hinduism.

Bhupendra M Gandhi

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MEDIA WATCH

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan was a thundering success, fulfilling the high expectations of both parties as it marked a landmark in bilateral ties and put its unique stamp to the evolving Asia Pacific security architecture. The bottom line is Japan’s decision to invest $35 billion in India’s economy over the next five years, enlarging, significantly, the country’s growing footprint in the Indian market. The impact on Indian industry, particularly the manufacturing sector, could be truly transformative, not only for the technology this would bring, but also for Japanese work practices and management culture. The Delhi Metro is a shining example of this, as is the burgeoning Indian automotive sector.

Narendra Modi and Tony Abbott after signing the nuclear accord

To this, hopefully, will be added high speed train services along the industrial corridors planned to link India’s metropolitan cities and their hinterlands with a whole range of production hubs. This in time will surely integrate far-flung regional markets into a uniform structure, with incalculable benefits to the country. In response to Japanese business representations on the cumbersome procedures of the India’s bureaucracy, a special unit for Japanese investment applications will be set up in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to fast track the paperwork and issue clearance expeditiously.

Premier Modi, in a neat turn of phrase, said henceforth a “red carpet” would replace “red tape.” He credited India’s IT professionals with turning the country’s image as a “nation of snake charmers to a nation that “played with the mouse.” The Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has set up a Culture Academy in Tokyo, where young staff from India can familiarize themselves with the workings of Japanese society and its values.

Japan’s bilateral trade with India amounts to a paltry $ 16.29 billion, while Japanese investments in India are way behind those in China. There is thus enormous ground to make up in these critical areas .A start has been made at long last. Economics will be the driver of India’s foreign policy. The projected Indo-Japanese nuclear power deal remains work in progress, as does the sale of Japan’s high performance U2 naval aircraft. These issues will be ironed out as the trust factor between the two countries is now at an all-time high, and in the fullness of time, should reach unexplored peaks.

Summing up the Modi visit, India’s relations with Japan are on a roll (Hindu, Times of India, Business Line, Mint, Telegraph September 2,3)

Japanese finance for Mumbai Metro

The third fully underground line of the Mumbai Metro – 32.5 km long with 26 stations – linking

Colaba in the south to Andheri in the west, was opened last week. It has been built by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation which operates under the umbrella of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. The

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

worth Rs11,510 crore in Maharashtra. The companies, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors (Rs 4,000 crore each), Bajaj Auto and Germany’s Volkswagen India are to be set up in the Pune and Aurangabad districts. Manufacturing is key to the State’s job creation.

(Business Line August 29)

HCL bags mega deal

HCL technologies has clinched a $200 million from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The fiveyear deal involves remote managing the IT infrastructure of the North Carolina-based banking and financial services giant and consolidating the data centres and managing its network across different countries.

Furthermore, the deal will involve managing some technologies that the bank is using to cut down its physical visits and technologies that can lower costs of regulatory compliance in addition to maintaining their banking systems. Bank of America Merrill Lynch also works with Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys on various programme-related projects.

Earlier in August (2014), HCL bagged a $300 million contract with French telecom major Alcatel Lucent that requires HCL’s participation in Research

region includes 12 Indian firms, among them, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)), Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Lupin, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Motherson Sumi Systems, Sun Pharma and Titan. Forbes said TCS, India’s largest software company boasts a market capitalization of $71.25 billion, bigger than the country’s next three companies combined. The list is chosen from a pool of 13,00 companies.

India stood second on the Forbes list with 12 companies to China’s pole position of 16 companies.

Two giants depart Two iconic figures in India’s intellectual life have died recently.

Bangalore-based U.R. Ananthamurthy, 81, was a well known writer in his native Kannada, a teacher of distinction at Mysore University, and arguably India’s last true public intellectual. He was a superb communicator in English and spoke eloquently and lucidly on the osmosis between Indian languages and English, a subject also dear to the heart of Subodh Sengupta in Kolkata whose dis-

Cipla products to hit US next year

Indian pharmaceutical major, Mumbai-based Cipla, is powering forward with its expansion plans, including targeting the US and Europe with a range of new products. Referring to the recent launch of the company’s new inhalers in Germany and Sweden, Cipla Chairman Dr Y.K. Hamied told shareholders that it was a tribute to Cipla’s innovation capability that it had many more such products in the pipeline ready for the domestic and international market. “In a number of countries, we now have an active frontend presence which includes marketing, distribution, and also some manufacturing facilities.” He said sales were currently higher abroad than at home and he expected this trend to continue.

(Business Line September 1)

Bipan Chandra

Pole position on food trade

New metro line in Mumbai

Metro network is scheduled for completion in 2021, with financing by the Government of Maharashtra and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. Mumbai’s public transport has undergone a seachange since the inauguration of the first Metro line, an enormous boon for citizens of this vast metropolis, where transport problems have been acute down the years with urban expansion and population growth (Business Line August 26)

Seaplane service

The journey from Mumbai to the Lonavala Hill Station now takes less than 30 minutes, thanks to the Maritime Energy Air Services Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between the newly-formed company and the Maharashtra Government Tourism Development Corporation.

India’s first seaplane service was launched in the last week of August. The flight covers 100 km and accommodates 9 passengers each way. The inaugural flight was piloted by Captain Priyanka Manuja, India’s first sea pilot (Business Line August 26)

Auto majors in Maharashtra

Four major automobile companies, Indian and global, have decided to make investments

& Development work in 2G and 3G technologies and conjointly create intellectual property (Business Line August 28)

Hafele design studio in Hyderabad

German hardware, home and kitchen solutions major, Hafele is on the expansion route in India with the inauguration of a new design studio in Hyderabad, offering a one-step destination shop for interior solutions , designs and products. Jurgen Wolf told reporters, “Hafele, a euro 1.2 billion plus company continues to expand in India opening its 60th store and plans to add a few more this year. We entered India through the hospitality sector working with Hyatt and have now consolidated business in both the business, hospitality and project sales and retail business. India is a big market and offers immense scope to expand.” The design studio enables customers to touch and feel the fittings in application in the store, before making the purchase. The customer gets a complete product overview and this permits him/her to make informed choices. (Business Line August 28)

Dozen Indian firms in Forbes list

The Forbes list for the top 50 companies in the Asia Pacific

Surprise it must be, and a pleasant one too: India’s agricultural export growth was the highest in the world in the decade till 2013, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Its report says that India’s farm exports during this period grew by 21.3 per cent, ahead of countries like Indonesia, Brazil and China. In absolute terms, the value of India’s exports rose from $5 billion in 2003 to $39 billion in 2013. The report avers that generous increases in minimum support prices have led to higher production and accumulation of stocks. India was the world’s second-largest exporter of cotton in 2013-14, after the US, with China buying up 60 per cent of its exports. Indian exports of rice, sugar and wheat also grew significantly. (Mint September 4)

U.R Ananthmurthy

quisitions on Shakespeare and Shaw were complemented by similar forays on the works of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, Bankim Chatterjee et al.

Ananthamurthy was noted for his moral sensibility and intellectual courage. Delhi-based Bipan Chandra, 83, who taught for many years at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, was the doyen of modern Indian historians. His books on the making of modern India were scholarly, lucid and driven by a passion for the truth, to be presented as objectively as possible within the capability of any individual.. Both men have left a void that will be difficult to fill.

Tony Abbott with Sachin Tendulkar See page 3 for comment

UK

Justice Minister Vara interacts with Indian MPs in Gujarati

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Justice Minister, Shailesh Vara MP’s three day visit to India has reportedly made the relationship between the Indian and British government strong. He has sought to promote the Global Law Summit, a major conference to be held in London in February 2015, to mark the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta which will attract some of the world’s best lawyers to the UK. Vara, Britain’s first Gujarati Government Minister's visit to Ahmedabad in Gujarat was of particular significance. The fact was clearly underlined with him conducting his entire meeting with Chief Minister Mrs

Shailesh Vara meeting Gujarat Chief Minister Mrs Anandiben Patel

Gandhi’s Ashram in Ahmedabad He visited Delhi where Vara met a number of Ministers, members of the legal fraternity, businesses and university students.

Asian Voice, “This was a very successful visit to India and it can only help

Mr Krishnakant Vakharia, President of VGS presenting Gujarat Saurav Award to Shailesh Vara, MP

Anandiben Patel in Gujarati as was his meeting with Gujarat Law Minister, Pradeepsinh Jadeja. Vara also delivered his speech in Gujarati when he was awarded the Gujarat Gaurav Award by Vishwa Gujarati Samaj.

He also visited Mahatma

On the justice front, he has proposed that the Indian legal system should allow UK lawyers to practice in India, in the same way that Indian lawyers have been able to do so in Britain for many years.

Commenting on his visit Mr Vara told the

to strengthen the deep ties that already exist between our two nations. India’s Law and Justice Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, has agreed to consider further the opening up of the Indian legal market. This is an important step for British lawyers and legal services.

Britain’s relationship with the state of Gujarat is very important both because of the many Gujaratis living in the UK

Men jailed for having sex with underage girls

and also because of the huge amount of investment that our country puts into Gujarat.

It is vital that this relationship continues and my meeting with Chief Minister Mrs Anandiben Patel was therefore of particular significance.

When Prime Minister Modi was still Chief Minister of Gujarat I invited him to visit Britain and our Prime Minister, David Cameron, has also extended an invitation to him. I hope it will not be long before Prime Minister Modi makes that trip.”

Mr Vara garlanding a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at his Ashram in Ahmedabad. The garland was made of cotton spun at the Ashram

13

Filbert Antao

Royston Gonsalves

Two Indian men have been jailed for 14 years for having sex with 14year-old girls and filming them, after getting them drunk on vodka and lemonade, the Daily Mail reported.

Royston Gonsalves, 26, used his mobile phone to film himself with one of the underage girls before sending the footage to friends.

He then passed the teen on to Filbert Antao, 22, who has been having sex with the girl's 14year-old friend, Swindon Crown Court heard.

Both men have been charged with four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

They were jailed for seven years each on last Tuesday and are now

facing deportation.

Charges of rape were not proceeded with against Antao and Gonsalves, who both live in Swindon, after they admitted the lesser offences before a jury could be sworn.

Defence lawyer Alex Daymond, representing Antao, said his client insisted he had not encouraged the girls to drink the alcohol.

And defence lawyer Paul Trotman, representing Gonsalves, said his client had been in country for three years and was a virgin when the offences took place which the judge rejected.

He said he was sorry for what he had done and was a naive person and was showing bravado among peers with the video.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Finding Fanny selected for Korean Premiere

Homi Adajania's quirky comedy Finding Fanny has been selected for the Korean premiere at the prestigious Busan Film Festival - the biggest film festival in Asia. Being hailed as the movie to watch out for, Finding Fanny is set to release on September 12.

Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, says, "We are thrilled that Finding Fanny has been selected for the Busan Film Festival. We are getting incredible feedback at our screenings - this quirky comedy with an amazing ensemble cast is a must see film!"

Producer Dinesh Vijan says, "It feels great! Busan is fast emerging as one of the more serious and hugely respected international film

EXCLUSIVE

festivals. It gives Finding Fanny perfect exposure to a widespread international audience. One of the reasons we made this film was to release it internationally to include a non-diaspora audience and this is an encouraging first step towards that."

Director Homi Adajania says, "It's pretty cool to be showcasing at the Busan International Film Festival because it is the top festival in all of Asia. Big

names come to Busan and I know that last year they had an over 200-thousand strong audience come in from all over the world to watch the chosen films.

So ya, it feels very good that Finding Fanny has been invited there."

Deepika Padukone, who plays the character of Angie, says, "I know that the Busan International Film Festival is huge in prestige and is widely considered within the top ten festivals in the world so having our film invited there is very exciting because it will reach a massive and varied international audience. It's an amazing moment for us and that too just before the release of the film. We thank Busan for

Lyca Media announce new branding of stations

bestowing this honour on us."

Arjun Kapoor, who plays the character of Savio says, "This is great news for the entire team ofFinding Fanny. It's a moment of pride and joy that a prestigious film festival like Busan has given us such recognition."

Finding Fanny is an off the wall, comical story about five oddballs who venture out to find Stefanie Fernandes (Fanny); in the process, they discover a strange sense of solace and love amongst each other, and end up seeing a point to their previously pointless lives.

The film has been produced by Maddock Films and is being presented by Fox Star Studios.

After seven months of broadcasting without no real identity, Lyca Media has announced the official branding of its recently acquired two London Asian radio stations.

The two stations that have been broadcasting as Radio 1458 and Radio 1035 since being bought out of administration in February this year, will be known as Lyca Radio 1458 and Lyca Dilse 1035 respectively. The identity was selected through an on-air competition where listeners were invited to choose a brand name for the two stations. BizAsia understands that the name was chosen from over 1000 options sent in by listeners.

Prem Sivasamy, Group Deputy Chairman,

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is back to Rock On the UK with his exclusive ‘Qawwali’

First ever Environmental Film Festival to be hosted in Britain Pic Courtesy: Raj D Bakrania, Prmediapix

Shefali Saxena

The King of Qawwali, Pakistani singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is all set to lure his fans in the UK this October in Rotterdam.

In association with Manchester Asian Events, Rahat will be performing an exclusive range of Qawwalis in Rotterdam on 11th October 2014 and Leicester on 13th October 2014.

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan who is the nephew of the legendary Sufi singer Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, said in his remembrance, “People miss Qawwali’s and especially who’ve grown up listening to Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sahab.

These concerts have been kept for them whose thirst for music is never fulfilled.”

“Khan sahab’s style and his Qawwali was popular worldwide. We wish to maintain that,” he added.

After his successful gig in August 2014, this Qawaali concert powered by Rock on Music UK and PME World Events will be Khan’s first step towards the ‘Qawwali’ audience. “This album is scheduled to be launched this year by Universal

Music,” said Khan.

While he agreed that Leicester audience is more pro Bollywood, he and his team seemed confident of the success of his forthcoming shows after the super success of his concerts in Wembley and Birmingham.

Rahat has worked both for Bollywood and Hollywood. Sharing the difference in his experiences in working for both the industries, he outlined, “Commercial music in one thing but the truth is that the classical aspect of singing has popularised so many songs. Music is a universal thing and its essence in the same. Bollywood has listeners who understand the language I sing in but in Hollywood no one will understand my language.

It’s more like giving your voice in the background to a film frame.”

Reiterating the fact that Qawaali receives the same applause like his other songs among audiences, he said, “I was born in a family where music was supreme. I have learnt like I was in an academy and listened to what Ustad Sahab taught me. I’ve religiously grown hearing the recordings of Bade Ghulam Ali Sahab, Mehndi Hassan, Lata Ji and Asha Ji, including Mohammad Rafi’s classical recordings.”

On being asked about the contemporary flavour of Bollywood songs, referring to the likes of Yo Yo Honey Singh, he commented, “Every kind of music has its own audience. There are people who love him and

Lyca Group told BizAsia, “The competition in the London market will now take a new twist. We have monitored the competition since we launched and are ready to roll out a range of new activities to promote our new radio brands.”

The news also comes after the two stations apparently suffered from listenership numbers confusion amongst listeners after the old Sunrise Radio moved to a new frequency and Lyca’s radio stations launched with the same familiar presenters and without a well publicised brand name. The new branding will be heavily publicised in a major way in the London market to differentiate itself from Sunrise Radio.

there are people who refrain from listening to him. I belong to the latter group of people. There’s no denial that people in large numbers love listening to him.”

Khan, who is a much celebrated singer in the Hindi film industry, believes that everything is a challenge for an artist and versatility is required to sing a typical Bollywood song. “I look forward to singing more challenging songs in Bollywood,” he said.

Renowned for his melodious connect with his audience, unfortunately, Khan announced that he will not be able to make it to UK in 2015 due to his other international commitments. For more information about his concerts, his fans can log onto www.rahatahoy.nl

An Environmental Film Festival coinciding with the International Ozone Day week is to be jointly hosted by Sanskruti Centre for Cultural Excellence and TERRE Policy Centre on 12th and 13th September.

The festival screens short films on Nature, Environment and the impact of Climate Change.

The inaugural address will be rendered

by Baroness Sandip Verma, parliamentary under-secretary for state and junior Minister for Energy and Climate Change.

Other eminent speakers on the occasion are Sally Case, Chief Executive, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and Mr Rajendra Shende, former Director- United Nations Environment Program UNEP. Sanskruti is a London based organization which has the dis-

tinction of hosting community and cultural activities at prestigious venues in the UK. TERRE is multi-location international organization and a civil society partner for the United Nations Safe Planet Campaign.

The duration of the films ranges from 5 minutes to 50 minutes. The venue is the Digital Theatre at 306 Dollis Hill Lane NW2 6HH. Students, NGOs, Pressure Group members, University Research Scholars connected to Environment and Climate Change will be in attendance.

It is the first time ever that a Film Festival hosting the screening of films connected to the Environment is being hosted in the UK. This shall benefit wider audience and bring them closer to current issues in connection with Environment. Entry is free to all.

Shri Nilkanth Varni Decennial Celebrations During his visit to the UK in 2004, on 6 September, His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj consecrated the first abhishek murti of Shri Nilkanth Varni – the teenage form of Bhagwan Swaminarayan – in Europe at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London. After performing the very first abhishek (ritual bathing) of the murti, he prayed for the fulfilment of the wishes of those who come to perform the abhishek of Nilkanth Varni.

Exactly ten years on, on Saturday 6 September 2014, the decennial anniversary of the murti’s consecration was celebrated in the presence of

Sadguru Bhaktipriya Swami (Kothari Swami) at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London.

The celebrations began with a ‘mahapuja’

to mark this auspicious occasion and for the continued good health of His Holiness, as well as for peace to prevail throughout the world. Thereafter, Kothari Swami and sad-

hus performed Vedic rituals in the Nilkanth Varni Abhishek Mandapam.

To commemorate this historic milestone, a grand celebration was held during the evening assembly. Following devotional singing, a series of dramas and speeches highlighted the spiritual travels of Nilkanth Varni across the length and breadth of India to enlighten and redeem countless souls.

A video presentation brought back fond memories of Pramukh Swami Maharaj consecrating the murti of Shri Nilkanth Varni Maharaj in London in 2004. Several real-life incidents were then shared which shed light

upon the countless wishes and prayers which have been fulfilled by Shri Nilkanth Varni over the past ten years.

The celebrations continued with a beautifully choreographed and vibrant dance before

Kothari Swami addressed the assembly, elaborating further upon the principles that Nilkanth Varni established along his travels and their continuation through the work of Pramukh Swami Maharaj today.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Rupanjana Dutta The mutual respect and admiration between the British military and Sikhs will be formally cemented on Friday 12th Sept at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst with the launch of the British Armed Forces Sikh Association in the presence of Lord Singh and Major General Robert Nitsch. It will be just one of a number of events taking place at Sandhurst to mark this most prestigious of Sikh days. There will also be a lecture by the author and film maker, Jay Singh Sohal, on the 21 heroes of Saragarhi attended by a group of children from Slough’s Khalsa Secondary Academy – a Sikh faith based school; the Army’s own Engagement Team will also give a presentation entitled ‘Your Army’.

September the 12th is a date revered with an immense sense of pride within both the Sikh military and civilian communities alike. However, the Battle of Saragarhi fought on this day in 1897 remains largely unknown outside of Sikh society.

Saragarhi was a small village in the border district of Kohat, situated on the Samana Range, in present day Pakistan.

In an ultimate test of devotion to duty 21 British Indian Army Sepoys (Sikh soldiers), in the finest traditions of their culture and regiment stood firm against 10,000 Afghan tribesmen defending the Saragarhi outpost in the hills of the North

West Frontier Province, now Pakistan but then part of British India.

At a ratio of 476 to 1 it made the much celebrated Defence of Rorke’s Drift look decidedly even!

Yet with overwhelming odds like that each of the ferocious Sikh soldiers would pay the ultimate price – eventually.

The 21 Sepoys managed to hold out sufficiently long enough for the Afghan hordes’ next target, the fort at Gulistan, to be reinforced; many only succumbing having had exhausted their supplies of ammunition.

Each was posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit and their families provided for with gifts of land and money.

Such is the esteem in which this battle is held it remains one of eight stories of collective bravery published by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) ranking alongside the ancient Greek Spartans’ battle against Xerxes’ Persian Army at Thermopylae.

Perhaps because the Indians and Pakistanis regarded it a British event and the British considered it a native engagement, its significance has fallen between the gaps and consequently it has gone largely unrecognised outside the Sikh communities.

There is a long and cherished history of Sikhs serving in the British Army with some 135 among the ranks today.

The values and standards demanded of our men and

women in the Armed Forces are mirrored in the proud and noble Sikh warrior society. Selfless devotion to duty, being a cornerstone to both, having been spectacularly displayed on the 12th September 1897 at Saragarhi – the battle cry of the Sepoys being: Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal (He who cries God is Truth, is ever victorious).

Following the launch of the British Armed Forces Sikh Association the Sikh Chaplain to the Armed Forces, Mandeep Kaur along with several current serving Sikh soldiers will sit on a panel in an open floor discussion on Sikhs and the British Army.

Finally 36 Sikh volunteers from the Birmingham area, who have spent this year training in military drill, accompanied by the Waterloo Band of The Rifles will parade in front of RMAS’s Old College resplendent in First World War uniform and wearing khaki and black turbans to be inspected by Lord Singh and Major General Nitsch. The parade pays homage to the 1 million plus Dominion and Commonwealth soldiers who fought between 1914-1918 on the Western Front.

This event is hugely welcome by Asian Voice.

We were the first ethnic media to flag up the importance of Sikhs in the World War I and other British wars, and the prestige they truly deserve, which seems to be duly credited through this launch.

Building a brighter future for women through mobile technology When the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women discovered that 300 million women in developing countries were missing out on the mobile technology revolution and the host of socio-economic benefits this brings, we came up with a groundbreaking programme to tackle the problem.

Combining research, projects and advocacy, the Mobile Technology Programme aims to create sustainable economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs through the use of mobile phones and services.

This pioneering programme works with a wide range of partners in the mobile ecosystem to develop projects that integrate women entrepreneurs into mobile retail channels, provide access to financial services, and build customised mobile applications or adapt existing applications to address specific business challenges faced by women entrepreneurs.

Within this programme and in partnership with Vodafone Foundation in India and the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the Foundation has developed a mobilebased management information system to support women entrepreneurs in SEWA’s rural distribution network, ‘RUDI’, who buy, process and package produce from local farmers and sell it through a network of saleswomen to households across Gujarat at affordable prices. The RUDI network faced challenges with their paper-based inventory management and sales reporting, and the saleswomen (known as ‘Rudibens’) had to travel for up to seven hours to place their orders at the RUDI processing centres. With this user-friendly application, Rudibens can now order stock remotely via SMS and generate reports on their simple feature phones to access information essential for running their business.

Since implementation of this project in January 2013, over 1,500 women have been trained to use the application and Rudibens have reported significant increases in their monthly sales, with some profits increasing to over 200%.

“I only used to sell 20,000Rs, now I sell 50,000- 70,000Rs a month, and as a result I have purchased cattle, which brings in additional income. I never used to be able to afford medical expenses but now I can afford better

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Before joining SEWA, Jasuben was involved in farm labour activities. Her income was so little that she had to give up her gold jewellery in exchange for a loan. When she found out about SEWA’s programme for Rudibens,

Suryaben, distributor in India (front right) training Bhavanaben, another distributor in the RUDI network (left)

Jasuben decided to join the network to increase her income and began working in sales and marketing of RUDI products. At first, her sales totalled 500–1,500 Rupees per month but with the mobile application she managed to sell RUDI products in her village worth 25,000 Rupees. Now, she says, it is very easy to provide the basic necessities for her household. She has managed to buy back her jewellery and is proud to be able to substantially contribute to her household’s income.

Jasuben is just one of the women, among many globally, whose life has been transformed by the Foundation’s work. With your support on the evening, we hope to reach more women like Jasuben.

Photo Courtesy of Matthew Strickland

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health care services”, comments KantaBen. The project was awarded a GSMA mWomen Innovation Grant in 2013 to further enhance the application, and won ‘Best Mobile Product in Emerging Markets’ at the 2014 Global Mobile Awards. In addition we were awarded best application in the South East Asia region at the mBillionth Awards. The current project aims to reach 2,500 women by March 2015 and has recently launched its expansion to the neighbouring state of Rajasthan.

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Royal Military Academy Sandhurst launches the British Armed Forces’ Sikh Association

15

16

FLOODS WRECK HAVOC IN J&K

Over 200 killed in J&K floods; PM Modi offers Rs 10 bn relief

The death toll in Jammu and Kashmir from swirling waters of the Jhelum, Chenab and Tawi and their tributaries rose to over 200. Numerous people were marooned even as relief efforts intensified.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who flew over the Kashmir valley to survey the extent of devastation, said: “This is a national level disaster.” He also announced a special assistance of Rs 10 billion.

The Rs 10 billion package announced for the flood-hit state was besides a Rs 200,000 compensation from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the kin of each dead and Rs 50,000 each for the seriously injured.

Modi also met state chief minister Omar Abdullah and other officials in Jammu.. He also announced that 100,000 blankets, 5,000 tents and 50 tonnes of milk powder would be distributed to those forced out from their homes. Abdullah promised the flood-hit people that help will reach them soon and asked them not to panic. The state is reeling under the worst floods in six decades. "This is an unprecedented situation and we are doing the best we can under the circumstances. Please don't panic, we will reach you, I promise," the chief minister wrote on his Twitter account.

He said his primary focus was to save the lives

of the people affected by the floods.

Abdullah said he has asked the cabinet secretary to direct the air force to use helicopters to evacuate people. Modi said the army, air force and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were cooperating with the state to expedite relief work. He said medical and other assistance would be provided on an urgent basis. In view of damage to houses, Modi said efforts were on to arrange tents. "Many houses have been destroyed. We are speeding work to provide 5,000 tents in flood-hit areas," he said.

The government has directed officials to repair roads leading to Leh and Ladakh so that food and other livelihood supplies could be sent before the state gets cut off at the onset of winter.

The prime minister also offered to extend all possible help to the flood-affected people in Pakistanadministered Kashmir.

"India will never hesitate from doing work of humanity," Modi said, and also appealed to all states to provide assistance to Jammu and Kashmir.

700,000 still stranded in Srinagar Flash floods and landslides triggered by six days of torrential rains have left over 700,000 lakh people stranded in Srinagar with many areas completely submerged under water.

The overflowing Jhelum

took virtually the entire city in its grip, barring the old parts located on higher ground. Houses, bridges and dams collapsed in fastmoving waters. The Jhelum River, which flows from northern India into Pakistan, burst through embankments and left streets and buildings submerged.

Sadal village, about 55 km from Udhampur, has been completely submerged by a landslide.

Road connectivity to it has been snapped from Kainthgali onwards.

Till now, seven dead bodies have been recovered and about 31 people are still missing in the area.

But with no telecom or road connectivity between the Jammu region and the Kashmir Valley, the extend of damage due to the floods will be known only after the communication lines are restored. Nearly 1,500 trucks carrying essential supplies to the Kashmir Valley are stranded at various places on the over 300km long Jammu-Srinagar national highway as stretches of the road have either been washed away by flash floods or have come under a landslide.

There is no telecom connectivity between the Valley and the Jammu region. The Indian military scaled up its massive operation to rescue thousands marooned in Jammu and Kashmir's worst floods in 50 years that has claimed over 200 lives so far.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014 Tawi river bridge

A defence ministry spokesman said that the army had rescued 23,530 people from different regions of the state.

Deploying hundreds of men for rescue and relief work, the army has distributed 5,000 blankets, 140 tents, 23,000 litres of water and 600 kg of biscuits.

Water bottles are being airlifted from Chandigarh and New Delhi. Eighty medical teams have swung into action. A total of 85 tonnes of medicines were airlifted.

Fifty-two Indian Air Force helicopters and transport aircraft have flown 140 sorties and dropped 155 tonnes of relief materials. But officials admitted that the situation was scary and there was no contact yet with already remote areas in the Kashmir Valley now made more inaccessible due to all round destruction.

Police and the Central Reserve Police Force also joined the rescue efforts, at places transporting the marooned to safer places in their huge trucks.

Most of Srinagar's residential and commercial areas have been inundated.

Residents and traders scrambled to save whatever they could from the muddy and swirling waters of the Jhelum river. The waters have entered homes, shops, businesses, schools and colleges, hospitals, mosques and army camps.

There was a sea of water at Lal Chowk, the city centre.

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FLOODS WRECK HAVOC IN J&K

17

Modi, Sharif reach out over flood relief

Indian Prime Minister and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif reached out to each other and offered help in rescue and relief operations following unprecedented floods on both sides of Kashmir.

Modi, who visited the flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, wrote to Sharif, offering assistance in relief efforts.

Saying he had been told that “the damage to life and property was equally, if not more, severe in areas across the Line of Control (LoC),” Modi wrote, “My heart goes out to the affected people and my deepest sympathies are with them and their families. In this hour of need, I offer any assistance that you may need in the relief efforts that will be undertaken by the government of Pakistan. Our resources are at your disposal wherever you need them.”

The letter was delivered by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. Stating that it was “a matter of great distress”, Modi noted that the “devastation caused by the record rains and the consequent flooding is unprecedented”.

Within hours of Modi’s offer, the Pakistan government said Islamabad too was ready to help India in rescue and relief operations.

“Our Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did aerial survey of Azad Kashmir

(PoK) and other flood-hit areas… Our rescue and relief operations are proceeding effectively,” the Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. “The people of Pakistan are also feeling pain and saddened over the loss of lives and properties of the people in India-occupied Kashmir and are with them and ready to help in whatever way possible to mitigate their sufferings caused by the heavy floods,” the spokesperson said.

Pakistan floods toll nears 200 Nearly 200 people have been killed in floods and rain-related incidents in Pakistan with four days of incessant showers leaving a trail of death and destruction as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday visited the floodaffected areas and pledged to help the victims. The rains which started last week continued through the weekend in Punjab and Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, resulting in floods in Chenab

river inundating Gujrat, Gujranwala and Sialkot districts.

Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have affected large swathes of fertile land in Pakistan’s largest province of Punjab, as the authorities are struggling to contain the losses and rescue stranded people. Floods and rainrelated accidents have killed 193 people and injured another 364 across Pakistan, the National Disaster Management Authority said. Out of the 193 killed, 119 have died in Punjab and PoK. The Khanki, Marala and Qadirabad barrages have been inundated by floods in the Chenab and risk being breached. The floods are also threatening the city of Hafizabad.

The deluge has so far affected 556 villages, mostly in Gujranwala and Sialkot, where thousands of people are trapped and houses submerged with livestock washed away, the NDMA said.

As Kashmir valley remains under flood water, Air India has decided to ferry tourists trapped in Srinagar free of cost, while Gujarat and Bihar governments are sending 75,000 food and dry food packets for affected people.

Air India's gesture was announced after a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee, chaired by cabinet secretary Ajit Seth in the national capital. A home ministry statement said supply of food and water

is being enhanced with the dispatch of 1,25,000 packets of biscuits, 1,00,000 litres of water, 150 tonnes of ready-to- eat food from Hyderabad.

The government of Gujarat has organized 50,000 packets of food and government of Bihar 25,000 packets of dry food. The availability of boats is being augmented further with inflatable boats and fibre glass boats with out-board motors.

Over 250 boats have already been deployed

Air asset support is being up-scaled and over 30 aircraft and 31 helicopters being made available.

Heavy duty submersible pumps are being flown in to take out water once the level of flooded rivers start coming down. The statement mentioned that three tonnes of milk in tetrapacks is being rushed, in addition to milk powder. A total of 6,000 solar lanterns are being mobilized in view of the disruption in power supply in the Kashmir valley.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

Making Money From the Pound and Scotland As I said on BBC News, ‘it’s been like shooting fish in a barrel’ with the Pound falling against the US Dollar.

A friend of mine, a non-trader by background, has just made over $250,000 trading using spreadbetting. Given spreadbetting carries risks of losing more than your original capital, I wanted to make sure his strategy was sound. So I thought I would share it with you all, because he uses mywww.Sharescope.co.uk/alpesh to make his returns and my http://etx.tradermind.com – so I felt responsible for any risks he may be taking.

But first let me give you my take on the markets because this is vital to understanding how you can make returns.

My friend and I have a view that the FTSE will drop from current levels at least 200 points over the next month. This is because money will be taken off the table after some ridiculously sharp rises despite lots of negative market news.

Instead of looking for excuses to buy, soon we will look for any excuse to sell.

So our strategy? Looking at the 1 minutes chart, with very small size bets to our overall capital, we just sell short when the market rallies, and also when it falls sharply – but in both instances we pocket small gains. Also, if the position moves against us, and goes up, we just wait those trades out until they turn to gains.

This strategy only works when you trade very small amounts, so you can hold position for a long time, when you are very confident of your overall view (in this case a fall). He collects a lot of small wins, and as long as the market moves south, will not have big losses.

To save time, he will place limit (ie take profit orders) and leave the market. We also thing the Pund will continue its fall commenced in July – the only hiccup being the vote over Scotland – we don’t want to risk calling that.

Don’t get me wrong about all this negativity – the FTSE will hit an all time high before year end; it will just drop first.

Can you trade with a £1k account and Sharescope – is then the next question.

I am often asked this and so I thought I would do an experiment. I opened a £1k account and placed small bets of around £0.5 to £4 per point move in the GBP/USD and FTSE values.

The strategy used is the same as mentioned above. The account was up 15% in a week. Now I am an experienced trader and these were exceptional times – I don’t return 15% per week every week!

Rules: 1) Your expectation is the FTSE will fall over the next few days and weeks and are willing to wait for that, by holding any losing positions until then.

2) You bet small amounts eg £1 per point on a £1,000 account to ensure if you are wrong, losses are small 3) As the market falls, you set orders to sell short if it rises, and a take profit limit at the same time to pocket small gains.

4) Your reasoning is the market when it falls, may pullback, and then fall again.

5) You are ‘scalping’ and the 1 minute and 5 minute Sharescope charts are the ones you focus on.

India to sign free trade pact on services, investment with ASEAN

Having received the relevant documents, India will soon sign the IndiaASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services and investments, commerce secretary Rajeev Kher said.

The agreement documents could not be signed at the India-ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting in Myanmar last week as Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could not attend owing to other engagements.

"Unfortunately because the minister had compelling engagements here, she could not attend the Ministerial meeting last week but we now have received the agreements on services and investments and the minister would shortly sign them," Kher said. The agreements have to be signed by the economic ministers before they are formally adopted.

These are now being signed through circulation, by which countries sign the documents one by one. The formal adoption is likely to be during the next India-ASEAN summit later this year. All

ASEAN members are expected to get the pacts ratified by their legislatures by that time. India and the ASEAN already have a FTA on goods that was implemented in 2011.

The two sides had finalised the FTA in services and investments during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in December 2012.

The FTA in services and investment when implemented is expected to facilitate the temporary movement of business

people, including contractual service suppliers and independent professionals in accounting, architecture, engineering services, medical and dental, nursing and pharmacy, computer services and management consulting.

Some countries, especially the Philippines and Indonesia, had voiced concern over the movement of professionals under mode 4 - which will make entry of Indian professionals to the ASEAN nations easier. They feared

it might affect their workforce with the increased presence of Indian workers and were opposing the agreement.

India and the bloc comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have two-way trade worth over $80 billion. With the pact on services and investment, two-way trade is expected to touch $100 billion mark by 2015.

months. The event will be Modi's first public interaction with industry captains after his government went about addressing some of their concerns.

The event planned at Vigyan Bhawan, will focus on making a pitch, although officials do not rule out the possibility of expanding the scope over the next few years. While the details of the blitzkrieg are being worked out, sources said, several sectors, especially those which are employmentintensive, will be offered for investment with specific focus on areas such as

electronics, textiles, renewable energy, among others.

Even in his Independence Day speech Modi had listed out certain sectors, where his government intends to focus. "We want to give the world a favourable opportunity to 'Come, Make in India' from electrical to electronics, from automobiles to agro value addition, paper or plastic, satellite or submarine.

Even during its election campaign, BJP had made its focus on manufacturing clear. Although the National Manufacturing Policy cleared by the UPA government two years ago had sought to boost manufacturing, the policy flipflops meant that investment had actually suffered and the share of the sector,

instead of moving from 16% to 25%, actually declined due to the slump in the industry.

Through a series of steps - ranging from allowing more FDI in defence to tax benefits for investment and doing away with the inverted duty structure for several products - the government has sought to get companies to look at setting up plants in India, instead of invest overseas and import into the country.

Modi's team in the PMO as well as officers across ministries have been engaging with investors for the past several weeks to identify issues that need to be addressed to boost the economy. Officials said in coming three months, the plan is to launch a series of initiatives to remove hurdles and boost activity across sectors.

Govt to launch massive ‘Make in India’ drive

The government is set to launch a massive 'Make in India' campaign this month to get Indian companies as well as global firms to invest in the manufacturing sector.

The latest effort, which was articulated in Modi's Independence Day speech last month, will be unveiled within a fortnight of the government's Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana that seeks to open 150 million bank accounts for those, who are outside the financial system, besides providing them insurance covers.

Sources in the government said PM will address the country's top industrialists as well as overseas investors, who are already in India and ask them to scale up investments, a move that is not only expected to spur economic activity but also create jobs in the coming

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

19

Tailoring the deal

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap A Property Investment Company

There are a lot of property courses and networking events in London, where many go in the hope of doing property deals.

At many of these events they hold courses teaching the public how to do deals with no money down, using something called lease options. As the name suggests this involves a lease or in other words it involves you renting the property from the landlords, with an option to purchase the property from the vendor at a later date. An option is not an obligation, you do not have to purchase the property. This scheme is then used to package up often unsellable properties, covered in this wrapper the property becomes sellable. Most of the properties packaged in this way are well out of London.

Given our focus on London, I have shied away from using anything like this, as it is often hard enough to do a deal when you do have the funds even in cash. If you’re after a property deal in a good spot in London rest assured that if you don’t purchase the deal and fast there’s a whole queue behind you ready to do so. So to try and implement some kind of creative deal would not go down too well and the mere suggestion of this would probably be enough to blow the deal up and confirm to the agent or seller you’re not a credible buyer.

Several years back in the pre credit crunch era, there were some clever tricks you could perform with which you could purchase property with no money down and even get cash back on occasions. The mortgage would be based on the valuation and not the actual purchase price. This would happen by getting a remortgage done first, a remortgage assumes you own the property already and it would therefore be done on the value of the property rather than the purchase price.

Onc e you had the mortgage off er you cou ld the n appro ach a bridg ing compan y to l end you the mon ey f or one d ay, normally the y would charge 1% for this, the money wo uld be lent on t he basis of you remort gag ing t he n ext day at the actu al value an d retu rnin g t he fund s back t o t he bridgin g c ompany when yo u d rew upon the remortgage.

No wad ays m any of t he aro un d re q u ire f or t h e tr yin g t o do a nd a gree pro pert y savv y th is c an

Mortgage Express were a company who were used heavily for this type of transaction - hence their demise. As an example, in terms of figures it would look something like this: They would give 90% mortgage on a self-certified basis, if you were purchasing a property for £150,000 but it was worth £200,000 you would get a remortgage first based on the valuation of £200,000, which equates to £180,000. Once you had this remortgage offer in hand you would get a bridging company to lend you the £150,000 for one day, this then would get returned as soon as you remortgaged - leaving you to pocket the £30,000 difference.

This scheme worked and was used heavily by those in the know.

But there’s one important distinction between this scheme and the lease options scheme - it did not require the seller’s or their solicitor’s consent to do this or their knowledge that it was even happening, it all happened under the radar. From the seller’s side this looked like a normal property transaction.

Strangely at this time I was writing about it openly and though we did have some interest, it was not as much as it deserved. I mean we were writing about how you can buy a property for free and even get cash back. It seems most people don’t believe in a free lunch, perhaps that’s why most people don’t get to have one!

It was wi th th is sk ept ic al min d se t t hat I h ave sec u re d a de al whi ch i sn' t yo u r n orm al t ran sac ti on . Th e pro pe rty i n qu e st io n i s a f lat b ased i n th e prime area o f EC 1. T he m arket val u e is £325, 000 a nd we are se cu ri ng t he d e al f o r £200, 000, wh ic h is a m assiv e 40% d isc ou n t . W he re ’ s th e cat ch I he ar yo u ask ? Th e de al is c orrec t , t h e d is co u nt is ge n u in e. Th e prope rt y i s a ri gh t t o b uy t rans act io n . T his wa s in trod u ce d by t he Th at ch er g o ve rnm e nt to al lo w co u n cil t e na nt s t o be c om e own e rs o f th e ir o wn ho me s wi th g e n erou s d isc o u nt s.

Paddington, London, W2 Purchase Price: £3.7m

In this scenario you will be purchasing with the benefit of this discount being passed to you. The downside is there will be no mortgage available, this will need to be a cash purchase. The property will have to be held for five years after which you can do whatever ever you wish either sell on or refinance. However you will be entitled to all the rent which comes to £1,500 per month. Which comes to 9% per annum which is not a bad return.

So if you’re looking for a decent home for a five year period this isn’t a bad place to put your money. At the end of five years the property is likely to increase substantially given its location and the amount of regeneration happening in this area. Needless to say the legal documentation is very tight although a little creative. But then it’s rare to get a flat in London at 40% discount without a little creativity involved.

l Excellent opportunity to purchase an entire freehold building in Paddington l Commercial on the lower ground and ground floor and four flats above l Approx. 6,200 sq. ft. area, with further development potential STP l Residential leasehold properties in location are being sold for around £1,000 per sq. ft. while this building is coming at £597 per sq. ft. l Very good long term buy and hold opportunity with expected income of £200,000 p.a. l The area is ear marked for regeneration with the new cross rail terminal coming. l Property is held in a BVI company therefore it only attracts stamp duty of 0.5% Call us now to secure this deal!

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whic h are be in g t o ut e d un d e rstan d wh at yo u ’ re f or so me on e wh o is n o t o rd e r.

Most of the properties which have been sold packaged up by these new schemes tend to be in the north of the country where the rental yields are high and the growth of the property is secondary.

I viewed them with suspicion and distrust and with little relevance to the London property market. My reasoning was if the seller is so desperate that the property cannot be sold in the open market in the normal way, clearly it’s not an attractive deal and given this what’s to say in a year’s time the property will not be worth less than what you have paid for it?

Secondly many of the property in these locations don’t attract the best tenants; you give peanuts you get monkeys. In many areas the rental demand comes from the DSS alone. One swift slash with a minister’s pen may reduce this demand overnight, as happened in Westminster, but here the demand comes from many different segments and so the rental market recovered quickly.

The Real Deal

Specialists in

sc he m es se l le r t o wi th it , be a t all

SowandReapProperties

Tips of the Week l Always focus on the capital growth of an investment property - never sacrifice this for yield as the bulk of your money will be made in the rise in property value, rental income is secondary. l Remember you don’t have to pay Capital Gains tax until you sell a property; and you never have to sell a property, you can still extract the increase in price by way of remortgaging and these funds can be reinvested in better opportunities.

20

BUSINESS

India in contact with WTO members for food security support

India is talks with several countries to garner support on the food security issue at the World Trade Organization, with an aim to conclude the Bali package. With the month-long vacation over, the work at the WTO has resumed and its Director General Roberto Azevedo has been meeting with member nations to cobble support.

“We are talking to few countries…a good number of countries,” Rajeev Kher, commerce secretary, said when asked whether India is engaging with other WTO members to gather support on its tough stand of not ratifying trade facilitation agreement (TFA), leading to failure of talks in Geneva in July.

Amending the WTO

India asks PepsiCo to cut sugar content

India’s food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal asked PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi to bring down sugar content in its products, hours before Nooyi had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Nooyi apprised Modi about PepsiCo's investments and other initiatives, including social programmes in the country.

"It was a courtesy call without any agenda," a source said. PepsiCo had last year announced plans to invest Rs 330 billion in India by 2020.

According to a statement from the food processing ministry, Badal asked Nooyi to bring down the sugar content in PepsiCo soft drinks. The maker of Pepsi cola and Mountain Dew citrusflavoured drink declined to comment on reducing sugar content in its soft drinks. A person familiar with the company said internationally PepsiCo is working on reducing sodium and sugar levels in its products as part of a stated global goal.

In several developed markets, it has already started using Stevia - a zero-calorie sweetener that comes from a plant as a substitute for sugar.

The natural sweetener from a traditional medicinal plant grown in Paraguay and Brazil has not yet been brought to India because it has not got the nod from food regulatory authorities in the country. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are likely to start using Stevia in India as soon as it is allowed in the country, the person said.

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

norms regarding stockpile of foodgrains is critical for India in order to implement its food security programme. Stressing that it is now up to Azevedo to convene meetings, Kher added, “We will start from where we have left. The bottom line is already made clear. We are willing to talk but achieve the same objectives in whatev-

er manner”.

India had refused to ratify the TFA, scheduled to be completed by July 31, saying that though it supported the agreement, it will not ratify the same without any concrete movement in finding a permanent solution to its public food stock-holding issue for food security purposes. Amending the

WTO norms regarding stockpile of foodgrains is critical for India in order to implement its food security programme. The country had asked the WTO to amend the norms for calculating agriculture subsidies so that the country could continue to procure foodgrains from farmers at minimum support price and sell them to poor at cheaper rates without violating the norms.

Currently, food subsidies are capped at 10 per cent of the total value of foodgrain production, taking the base year of 198688 into account. India has asked to change the base year, factoring in the impact of inflation and currency movements over the years.

A day after Japan announced investments to the tune of $35 billion in India, China has said that it would set up two industrial parks - one each in Maharashtra and Gujarat involving investments in excess of $5 billion. China would invest $5 billion in the industrial park in Pune alone, which would focus on automobile manufacturing, in phases over the next decade.

The agreement on setting up industrial parks would be signed when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits India later this month, said the Chinese Consul-General in Mumbai, Liu Youfa.

While the Pune park would have an area of about 6 sq km, the park that would come up near

Ahmedabad in Gujarat would encompass an area of around 10 sq km and would require investments in excess of $1 billion.

The Ahmedabad park would focus on power transmission and generation equipment manufacturing, Youfa, who was in Ahmedabad to participate in a programme organized by the Southern India Mills' Association, said.

The first phase of the Pune park, which would be completed in three years, would see investments to the tune of $500 million, he said.

The prks would have banks, hotels, schools, recreational centres and all facilities, Youfa said.

The Pune park would ultimately employ 100,000 people and generate bil-

lions of dollars in revenues, he said. The park would have 15 companies and a bulk of the investments would come from Chinese firms, the ConsulGeneral said.

China is seeking to prop up its investments in India, which remains paltry due to a host of issues.

Direct investments by Chinese firms amounted to just $1 billion compared to around $4 billion invested by Indian companies in China, Youfa stated. China has made investments to the tune of $750 billion across the world. “Excessive security (screening) has killed efforts to increase Chinese investments (into India).

Your (Indian) government has been setting up tall barriers,” he rued.

shipments in India stood at 0.86 million units in Q2 2014, which is a quarteron-quarter growth of 9% over first quarter (January-March) 2014.

"This recovery was fuelled by multiple factors.

Business sentiments have shown improvement post elections and near term prospects are anticipated to remain better too.

Further, traditional PC OEMs have started making big inroads in the tablet market and most of this success is led by leveraging their vast expanded

reach through multiple distribution points," Karan Thakkar, senior market analyst, IDC India said.

Android continued to be the most preferred operating system (OS). With 89.6% market share, Android is expected to sail above the 80% mark over the next few years.

Windows OS is gaining ground too, it said.

"Improved discretionary spends by endusers and festive buying is expected to drive growth in the tablet market in the coming quarters. IDC anticipates this to be well supported by the optimism witnessed around enterprise IT spending in the recent past," Kiran Kumar, research manager, client devices, IDC India said.

China to set up industrial parks in Maharashtra, Gujarat

Micromax beats Apple to No. 2 spot in tablet sales in India

Micromax has overtaken Apple and reached the number two position in the tablet market in India in the second quarter with 14% market share, as per the data released by International Data Corporation (IDC).

"Strong performance in Q2 2014 allowed Micromax to tip Apple to the second spot," an IDC statement said.

Samsung with 19% market share occupied the top position in the Indian tablet market. It was followed by Micromax (14%) and Apple (9%), the data showed. According to IDC, the Indian tablet market has indicated early signs of recovery in the second quarter (AprilJune) of 2014 after taking a sharp hit in the past couple of quarters. Tablet

Inflation weighs on India's sovereign ratings: Moody's

Recurrent inflationary pressures have constrained India's sovereign rating as they keep domestic capital costs high; erode domestic purchasing power as well as savings and lower international competitiveness, global ratings agency Moody's Investor Service said.

It said the economy is poised for acceleration in growth, based on expected policy reforms and robust investor sentiment. Moody's has a Baa3 rating on India with a stable outlook, which is the lowest investment grade rating. “However, inflation remains high from a global standpoint, weighing down an otherwise promising economic recovery,” the agency said.

Stubborn inflation has remained as a policy headache for the government. Persistent high food inflation has been a challenge, prompting the government to announce a string of measures to tame price pressures.

High inflation has forced RBI to keep interest rates high.

Moody's said food inflation in India is much higher than the global average and is a key contributor to India's overall inflation, as food comprises a significant portion of the average consumer basket. India's large, young population and rising wages among low earners, who spend most of their incomes on food, have raised demand for food. “However, the supply response has been

weak due to poor irrigation and rural infrastructure, sub-optima fertilizer use, and conversion of agricultural land to alternative uses. Inefficiencies in the government-directed food distribution system have exacerbated food supply constraints,” the agency said.

It said authorities recognise that the current recovery will be difficult to sustain if inflation persists and acknowledge the policies unveiled by the government to fight price pressures. “While these policies may alleviate the food price spikes stemming from lower food output due to this year's relatively weak monsoon, they do not address the long term widening of the gap between demand for food and supply.”

It said whether the gap is bridged would depend on the implementation of government plans to increase spending on rural infrastructure, reorient fertilizer subsidies to encourage optimal usage, and restructure the Food Corporation of India, which is responsible for executing the government's foodgrain procurement and storage operations. Moody's said if the gap between food demand and supply does not narrow, food costs will keep mounting. “And as growth picks up, the increasing cost of food could more quickly feed into rising wages, leading eventually to higher nonfood inflation as well,” the agency said.

US burger chain Wendy's coming to India

US burger chain Wendy's is coming to India soon.

The world's third largest burger chain after McDonald's and Burger King, is entering India through a tie-up with Sierra Nevada Restaurants Private Limited.

Haryana-based Rollatainers Ltd informed the BSE that the company "has entered into a license agreement through Sierra Nevada Restaurants Private Limited, a company in which Rollatainers Limited is having 50 per

cent equity stake, with The Wendy's Company to develop and operate the Wendy's brand across India."

The exact timeline of the launch of Wendy's stores in India was not immediately known.

However, media reports suggest it could be anytime between April to June next year. Sierra Nevada Restaurants Private Limited is a 50:50 joint venture between Rollatainers and International Market Management Ltd (IMM).

CURRENCY VOICE

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

21

Foreign Exchange

Paresh Davdra is the Dealing Director of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

Euro Falls 14 Month Low Against Dollar The European Central Bank cut its interest rate from 0.15% to 0.05% and introduced new stimulus measures causing the Euro to fall to 14 month lows against the dollar. During Mario Draghi’s speech he stated that QE had been discussed following the pressure to kick-start the Eurozone economy, as manufacturing output slowed, unemployment fell and inflation fell to just 0.3%.

Mario Draghi signalled last week that the ECB will inject 700 billion euros ($906 billion) of stimulus for the struggling European economy and left a fight with Germany over sovereign-bond purchases for another day. Pledging to “significantly steer” the European Central Bank’s balance sheet back toward the 2.7 trillion euros of early 2012 from 2 trillion euros now. The ECB president announced a final round of interest-rate cuts and a plan to buy privately owned securities.

His mission is to revive inflation in the 18-nation euro area.

With euro-area inflation languishing at 0.3 percent last month, a fraction of the ECB’s 2

percent goal, and Draghi saying price expectations are worsening, policy makers unexpectedly cut interest rates. The benchmark and deposit rates were reduced by 10 basis points to 0.05 percent and minus 0.2 percent, respectively.

The pound has slumped to a 10-month low after the yes campaign took the lead in the opinion polls just 10 days before the Scottish independence vote.

Westminster leaders will on Monday scramble to agree an offer of more powers to Scotland if it remains within the union in an effort to prevent a yes vote in next week's referendum. The surge of support for independence also sent jitters through the

stock market, as shares in companies with large Scottish interest suffered sharp falls in early trading.

U.K. services grew unexpectedly in August, countering a pullback in manufacturing and further reinforcing the UK’s economic recovery’s dependence on domestic demand.

Markit Economics PMI rose to a 10month high of 60.5 from 59.1 in July. Markit believe that based on factory and construction surveys the UK economy will grow about 0.8 percent this quarter, in line with the previous three months.

Manufacturing and exports are under pressure from the poor performing euro-area economy and tensions related to the conflict in Ukraine. Unbalanced growth may help Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s case to keep record low interest rates into 2015.The Uncertainty surrounding the Scottish independence vote is also weighing heavily on the pound with the vote due to commence in two weeks.

The trade deficit in the U.S.

unexpectedly narrowed in July to the lowest level in six months as exports climbed to a record high. The trade gap shrank 0.6 percent to $40.5 billion, the smallest since January, from a revised $40.8 billion in June that was narrower than previously estimated, the Commerce Department reported.

ISM figures showed exports climbed to $198 billion from $196.2 billion in June.

Shipments of goods, including autos and non-petroleum products, were the highest on record.

Imports increased 0.7 percent to $238.6 billion from $237 billion in the prior month as Americans bought more autos and crude oil. Sales of U.S. petroleum products swamped purchases of foreign crude, leaving the trade gap on the fuel at the lowest level since May 2009.

The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent last month from 6.2 percent, reflecting a drop in joblessness among teenagers.

Employers who boosted head counts in the first half of the year may be more restrained in their hiring as they await even faster economic growth.

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 12th August 2014 @ 3.30pm

GBP - INR = 97.96

USD - INR = 60.85 EUR - INR = 78.41 GBP - USD = 1.61 GBP - EUR = 1.25

EUR - USD = 1.29 GBP - AED = 5.91

GBP - CAD = 1.77

GBP - NZD = 1.95

GBP - AUD = 1.75

GBP - ZAR = 17.61

GBP - HUF = 395.41

www.rationalfx.com

Information provided by RationalFX. None of the information on this page constitutes, nor should be construed as financial advice. The exchange rates used are the commercial foreign exchange rates provided by RationalFX. For a live quote or to find out more about how RationalFX can help you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

22

WORLD

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Lottery to decide who will attend Modi's public reception in US

Washington: A lottery system would decide the participants who would get to attend the public reception of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 28 at the prestigious Madison Square Garden in New York City, organisers of the event have said.

Indian-American Community Foundation, set up recently for the purpose, had received some 20,000 applications from people across the country, from as far as remote parts of Alaska and Hawaii.

Last Monday was the deadline for on-line applications for members of the 407 Indian-American community organisations and religious institutions, who have joined hands to host Modi's public reception. On Tuesday, the Foundation opened the process for inviting online applications from the general public for the event. Madison Square Garden has the seating capacity of not more than

20,000.

September 7 was the last day for online application for general admission, during which organisers were expecting several thousands to register for the event. As a result, several individuals associated with planning and organisation of the public reception said it has been decided that a lottery system would decide on who would be able to attend the high-profile event.

"A random number lottery will be conducted to assign tickets to everyone registered," the dedicated website said as it opened up the general reg-

i s t r a t i o n process. "I was not there when S w a m i Vivekananda spoke in Chicago in 1893.

I do not want to miss when a n o t h e r Narendra is about to deliver a historic speech in New York," said Anju Preet, a scientist from the prestigious Georgetown University here. Subject to availability of tickets, she plans to take both her sons to the event. Tickets for the programme are free.

Organisers said, overwhelming response has not come as a surprise to them. "We were expecting this. Given Modi's popularity, even a stadium of the size of 60,000 to 70,000 would have been smaller. "We tried our best to get the two stadiums in New York, New Jersey area, but they were booked because of games.

The Madison Square

Garden is the largest venue one that we can get for this day," one of the organisers said.

The community leader requested anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak to the press. They said there is a huge media interest both in the US and also from India to cover the event. While preparations are in the full swing and final decision is yet to be taken, those involved in the preparations exuded confidence that it would be a "memorable event".

In fact, more than 700 Indian American organisations had shown interest in being a partner to the reception. Following strict scrutiny, who met the basic criteria like the number of years, not-forprofit, religious institutions, or filing annual income tax returns, so far, 407 Indian-American organisations have been registered as "Welcome Partners for the Community Reception" for Modi.

Beverly Hills, Toronto, the Great Lakes and Florida, said that his wife of five years, Christy, was not at all troubled by his kiss.

Bharti, who was privately

educated at The York School in Toronto, Canada, before leaving in 2004 and going to McGill University in Montreal, is the eldest son of billionaire founder of Forbes & Manhattan founder and CEO, Stan Bharti.

After school he studied at M c G i l l University in Montreal for two years before dropping out.

He went to work for his father before going it alone and setting up an investment banking business in 2008. Bharti said that he

was quite proud of his success at this age and admitted the contribution of his father for his achievements.

Bharti's passionate kiss was the result of a charity auction at Sir Elton and David Furnish's annual Woodside Summer Ball. After dinner in a candlelit marquee, Hurley, the star of “Bedazzled,” sparked frenzied bidding when she put herself under the hammer. The pair then embraced in front of the celebrity crowd, with Hurley pulling a series of seductive poses as a slightly bewildered Bharti looked on. The money raised through the auction will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Father of 3 pays $ 80,000 to kiss Elizabeth Hurley

London: Julian Bharti, 27, the son of a billionaire banker Stan Bharti, has paid £50,000 on a passionate kiss with model and actress Elizabeth Hurley. He successfully bid for a kiss with the 49-yearold British actress at Elton John's annual ball near Windsor. The married father of three took to his task with gusto, clasping Hurley close to him and kissing her full on the mouth to the cheers of the watching celebrity crowd.

Bharti, who runs his own mining investment business and has homes in

Anthology of ‘Diaspora Literature’ released

London: The lovers of ‘Gujarati literature’ through their spellbind genres don’t leg behind to enlivening its glory even in foreign lands. As part of a series of ‘Diaspora Literature’ about a dozen of literature works such as poems, essays and stories of local authors were released in Batley. This function was attended by many contemporary Gujarati poets, writers and critics that include Dr Adam Tankarvi, Gul Ahmed, Pankaj Vora, Dr Mahek Tankarvi and wellknown editor Dr Balvant Jani was also present on this occasion.

It was organized as a part of Gujarati Writers Forum (Batley) and Gujarati Writers Guild

R-L: Pankaj Vora, Dr. Balvant Jani, Dr. Mahek Tankarvi, Bharti Pankaj, Gul Ahmed, Dr. Adam Tankarvi

(Bolton) wherein the chief Ismail Hazi and Siraj Patel gave detailed information about the activities of the these organizations. An experimental collection of ‘Gujarat Samachar’ was also released on this occasion.

A renowned poet from London, Pankaj Vora, felicitated Dr Balvant Jani by calling him, ‘Savaya Meghani’ and complemented him for his creation ‘Devdoot’ and described it as a historical piece. In a response to his appreciation, Dr Jani

added that, wherever there is a Gujarati, the light of Gujarati literature would be burning forever.

Apart from 20 local poets, Beghar Lajpuri, Dilip Ganjir and Pankaj Vohra from London presented their respective creations and won the hearts of many during this occasion. An anthology of poems was released by poetess Bharti Pankaj, stories by Dr A I Rajpura while the essays were released by Ikbal Dhoriwala.

Dr Adam Tankravi presented the poems of Brian Luis in complete Gujarati tones that truly mesmerized everyone. Dr Jani thanked everyone for making this occasion incredibly memorable.

In Brief

Waist measure can determine your lifespan

London: A new scientific study shows that your life span depends on the measurement of your waist.

For a long life your waist should not be more than half of you height. The report is based on 20 years of British medical records and is the first to quantify how many years you will lose to obesity as measured by your waist-to-height ratio. Dr Margaret Ashwell, a co-author of the study, said the rule applied regardless of a person’s age, ethnicity or gender. She added that the evidence was so strong that it should provide the basis for a simple global health check, which anybody could perform with a piece of string if they did not have a tape measure.

Enjoy nature by getting naked: Kate Humble London: Kate Humble, who was presented with BBC Springwatch and Lambing Live, said being naked in the countryside was her eccentric way of being closer to nature. Humble owns a 117 acre farm she shares with her husband of 22 years.

2 Britons held for investigating conditions of migrant labour in Qatar

Doha: Qatar has arrested two British researchers who had been investigating the conditions of migrants workers who are building facilities for the 2022 World Cup. Qatar argued that these researchers "violated" the emirate's laws. Krishna Upadhyaya and Ghimire Gundev, who work for the Norway-based Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD), were arrested in Doha on August 31. The Qatari foreign ministry said that the pair were "being interrogated for having violated provisions of the law" in Qatar, but it did not elaborate. "All of the actions that have been taken against the two Britons are consistent with principles of human rights enshrined in the constitution", said the statement. GNRD said that a British authority representative had transferred a message from Upadhyaya to his family saying: "I am well, I have been well looked after and I will be home soon." "We have been arrested due to problems with our paperwork," he was quoted as saying. Rights watchdog Amnesty International raised concerns about the pair's "enforced disappearance," saying they went missing after checking out of their hotel in Doha.

Obama is afraid of me, claims Robert Mugabe

Harare: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe claimed that American President Barack Obama was afraid of him as he has the ability to expel the white people from his country. According to him that is the reason why he was not been invited to attend the summits attended by western leaders.

Mugabe was not invited to attend a US-Africa summit in Washington last month. America joined Britain and the European Union in imposing a travel ban and asset freeze on him 12 years ago. But Mugabe, widely condemned for human rights abuses and rigged elections, said that fear lay behind these decisions. Addressing an audience of supporters, he said: "It's your support which enables me with my small frame to instil fear in the likes of Obama.”

Scottish independence supporters gain majority

London: The results of a poll shows that 51 per cent of the voters backed Scotland’s independence from United Kingdom. It is a reversal of Better Together campaign’s 22-point lead one month’s ago.

As a result sterling suffered its biggest intra-day loss in over a year, sliding to $1.6150 against the dollar. A poll last year showed a 1-point lead for the "yes" camp, which led with 44 pc to the no-voters' 43 pc. “If the ‘Yes’ vote wins, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 3 pc to 5 pc fall in sterling,” said Kit Juckes, head of foreign exchange research at Societe Generale. “The latest poll will only add to the pressure on sterling,” said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.

42,000 on the verge of developing dementia

London: A new study has found that 42,000 people are on the verge of developing dementia.

This figure is more than double the earlier estimates of people developing the disease. This includes thousands of people in their 40s and more than 700 in their 30s, new figures show. Experts said doctors often missed the disease in younger people because of an assumption that dementia sufferers are frail and elderly.

WORLD

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

In Brief

Bras apparently do not cause breast cancer

London: A new study has found that regularly wearing a brassiere does not increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.

Compared with their bra-wearing sisters, aging women who avoid such structural support in hopes of reducing their breast cancer risk will experience significantly greater stretching and sagging of the mammaries and more pronounced disappearance of the territory between waist and bust as they age.

Godfather of French gastronomy Alain Ducasse bans meat

Paris: The words and tastes of Alain Ducasse, the godfather of French gastronomy, carry great importance among food lovers in France. So his decision to all but ban meat from his restaurant in Paris has caused surprise. Ducasse, whose establishments hold more Michelin stars than any other group, decided to inaugurate a fish and vegetable menu at the Plaza Athénée hotel in Paris.

The 57-year-old chef, who has been moving away from meat for years, says that his aim is to stress la naturalité of fresh, simple and organic ingredients and the need to avoid heavier and costly animal proteins.

West vows to wipe out Islamic state

London: Britain has joined hands with US-led coalition to fight against Islamic state, even if the campaign lasts longer. US President Barack Obama said that it was time to “take the fight” to some of the world’s most barbaric extremists. Containing the jihadist group was not an option, said John Kerry, the US secretary of state, as Washington recruited allies at the Nato summit in Wales.

Indian woman charged for having illegitimate child

Dubai: An Indian man filed a case in a court in the UAE against his wife, who gave birth to a child in 2010 despite their not having sex for eight years. The man, who is identified only as R.J, 48, said he moved to a new job in Kuwait in 2006 and left his wife and only son in the UAE. R.J said that last year his friends, who live in the UAE, told him that his wife had given birth to his child in 2010. "I knew then that she gave birth April 22, 2010, to a boy and registered him under my name - but we hadn't had sex since 2006 and he couldn't be my son," R.J was quoted as saying. The husband then went to a police station and file a case against his wife, S.S, 40, who is a nurse. She was then charged with having consensual sex with a man other than her husband and having a child with him. She was also charged with forging the child's birth certificate by registering him under her husband's name.

BP faces $18bn fine for Deepwater Horizon disaster

New York: A US court has ruled that BP has acted with gross negligence and wilful misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, exposing it to penalties of up to $18 billion. In the first major ruling on the 2010 disaster that killed 11 men and caused the world’s largest offshore oil spill, the US District Court in New Orleans said that BP employees had acted “recklessly” in failing to conduct a proper test of its Macondo well to check for leaks. The judge’s conclusions mean that the UK oil company faces the highest level of penalties under the Clean Water Act, of up to $4,300 per barrel spilled. Based on the US government’s estimate that 4.2m barrels leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, that would mean a maximum penalty of up to about $18bn. BP said it “strongly disagrees” with the decision, and would immediately appeal. The decision is a significant blow to the company, which has always argued that its conduct in the accident did not reach the standard of gross negligence.

Beauty Queen dethroned for refusing boob job

Naypyidaw: Beauty pageants are no longer a competition for original beauties. The contestants have to go under knife to get it all perfect. Recently, the latest winner of the Miss Asia Pacific World, held in Seoul, South Korea, has had her title stripped from her for refusing to have a boob job. This is the third winner in four years who has lost her crown under unsavoury circumstances. According to the organisers, May Myat Noe from Myanmar, was ordered to have the surgery because her breasts were considered too small and there was an expectation that a sponsored surgery would be performed for all winners, as it had been in the past. May said that she did not want the crown, but would not return it unless Koreans apologise to her.

23

ISIS trying to expand in Pakistan

Islamabad: The dreaded Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is trying to expand its influence in Pakistan, with pamphlets being distributed in Peshawar and border provinces of Afghanistan, seeking support for jihad.

A booklet titled 'Fatah' (victory) in Pashto and Dari languages was distributed in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as in Afghan refugee camps on the outskirts of the city, the Express Tribune reported.

The logo of the pamphlet has the Kalma, the historical stamp of Prophet Muhammad and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Some copies were also mysteriously sent to Afghan journalists working in Peshawar, the paper said.

On the last page of the pamphlet, the editor's name appears to be fake and where the document

has been published cannot be ascertained, it said.

Since long, Afghan militant groups, including Haqqani Network and Hizb-e-Islami, have been publishing similar pamphlets, magazines and propaganda literature in Peshawar black markets.

Formerly known as the ISIS, the group introduced itself as Daulat-e-Islamia (Islamic State) in the pamphlet and made an appeal to the local population for supporting its jihad (struggle) for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.

A number of hardline

groups operating in border areas have already announced support for the outfit.

Among them, Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost and Maulvi Abdul Qahar, stalwarts of Saudi Arabia-backed Salafi Taliban groups operating in Nuristan and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan, have extended support to the self-styled caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Besides distribution of its literature and pamphlets, some of the ISIS supporters have also made wall chalking, asking locals to join and support the group. Some cars and

vehicles also have ISIS stickers pasted on them.

Recently, established Ahrarul Islam, a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is already working on the lines of ISIS. Similar is the status of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, also known as Hizb-e-Islami Turkistan.

Ahrarul Islam doesn't believe in boundaries between Islamic countries, therefore, it is working for the establishment of a network throughout South and Central Asian regions.

The group doesn't recognize al-Baghdadi as the caliph, but considers Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar as 'commander'. ISIS or IS is an alQaida splinter group and it has seized hundreds of square miles in Iraq and Syria. Al-Qaida has distanced itself from the group, chiding it for its lack of teamwork in its aggressive, brutal expansion.

and opposition parties, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said, “During the meeting we have agreed to continue talks and resolve matter through dialogue. We have also decided not to comment on any development until we reach a decision, as it might affect the dialogue process.”

PTI leaders Asad Umar and Arif Alvi said nothing concrete came out of the talks but expressed the hope that a positive out-

come would soon be achieved.

Haq called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and briefed him about the dialogue process with PTI and PAT. Khan, addressing his supporters said, “Let me tell you what you have achieved so far. People who were not ready to talk, are now ready to not only listen to our demands but also to set up an independent judicial commission.” The only unaccepted demand remains the Prime Minister’s resignation, he said. “If we had not come on to the streets, then the next election would have been far more fraudulent,” the PTI chief said.

The protesters returned to the negotiating table after the political crisis took a violent turn over the weekend with three people killed and over 550 injured.

those were actually not aimed at anyone. This was an attempt to gloss over a remark which must have rankled in China while making Modi's Japanese hosts happy. Swaraj said, "He never referred to any specific country. It was media's guess. He spoke about 18th century expansionism." Swaraj said she was headed to Afghanistan in the next couple of days. Later this month, she said, India and Bangladesh would discuss the land boundary agreement and Teesta water sharing pact at the forthcoming joint consultative commission (JCC) meeting on September 20. "The Land Boundary Agreement

was already introduced in Rajya Sabha and referred to the select committee.

The select committee has been reconstituted now.

Political consultations are under way," she said.

However, Swaraj was caught off-guard while fielding a question on the prospect of Scotland's independence. It was clear that she had not been briefed by her officials that there was a definite possibility of Scotland breaking away from Britain. Swaraj reacted incredulously when asked how India viewed the prospect of the possible break-up of UK. After gathering her thoughts, she said India would go with what Scotland wanted.

Pakistan protest groups upbeat on talks

Islamabad: The lingering political crisis in Pakistan seemed to be headed towards a resolution after weeks of turmoil with efforts to seal a negotiated settlement between the government and protesters gaining momentum.

Talks between the two warring sides - the government and - the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) - were held last week.

Two separate meetings took place - with the first one being held between the government committee and the PTI and the second between PAT, government and opposition parties’ ’Jirga’, a committee of opposition politicians led by Jamaat-eIslami chief Siraj-ul-Haq. Though the talks were inconclusive, leaders from

both sides said there were some positive outcomes from the talks.

Rehman Malik, Pakistan People’s Party leader and a member of the opposition ‘Jirga’, tweeted after the talks, “I had a very long day.

Deadlock between govt and IK/TUQ (Khan/Qadri) is over.

They are now having dialogue which will be helpful in resolving the crises.”

After the meeting between PAT, government

India talks tough on one-China policy, says reaffirm one-India policy first

New Delhi: India on Monday took a tough line ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India later this month. "For India to agree to a one-China policy, China should reaffirm a one-India policy," external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said.

"When they raised with us the issue of Tibet and Taiwan, we shared their sensitivities. So, we want they should understand and appreciate our sensitivities regarding Arunachal Pradesh," the minister said.

India has refused to endorse the "one-China" policy since 2010, removing it from a joint statement during the visit of former premier Wen Jiabao to

Sushma Swaraj New Delhi.

Describing the IndiaChina relationship as being "very good" but one of "competition and cooperation", Swaraj promised the forthcoming visit by Xi Jinping to India would be "substantial and solid".

She played down Modi's remarks in Japan which were believed to be aimed at China, saying

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Andhra capital to be around Vijayawada

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that the state's new capital would be in and around Vijayawada. A report on the capital city, formed by the Sivaramakrishnan Committee, was tabled before the state legislative assembly.

Naidu, who is credited with turning Hyderabad into 'Indian Silicon Valley', said he will model the new capital on the lines of Singapore.

The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh earlier this year in two states was a follow up of the Andhra

Pradesh Reorganisation Bill passed in parliament in February.

Though it was proposed that Hyderabad would be with Telangana and would act as a joint capital of the two states till the residual

Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions (Seemandhra) get a new capital, the Seemandhra people are very touchy about giving up the prized city. As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, Hyderabad will serve as the common capital of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a period of not more than 10 years.

Kurnool was the capital of erstwhile Andhra State, which was merged with Telangana to form Andhra Pradesh Nov 1, 1956.

Telangana became a separate state June 2 this year.

Madurai (Tamil Nadu): A dalit boy was allegedly attacked and his wrists were cut by his nondalit seniors in a village in Tamil Nadu as he wore a watch to school. Police said Ramesh (16), son of Paramjothi of Thir u v a l l u v a r colony in Virudhunagar district, was a plus one student at the government school in Thiruthangal.

His seniors allegedly questioned him when they found him wearing a watch.

They removed it from his wrist and threw it away. The boy fought with the seniors over the issue, and tension prevailed on the school premises.

Two days later, the boy was walking near the Thiruthangal railway station when a gang of about

15 boys, who are said to be his seniors, waylaid him.

They allegedly cut off his wrists with knives.

The boy managed to escape from them and got first aid at a private hospital.

He was later admitted to Sivakasi government hospital. This school is known for caste issues among the students.

The dalit students are often pulled up by non-dalit students for issues like wearing slippers. The issues are often solved in meetings of the PTA, school authorities and education officials.

Usually, such attacks on dalits are carried out by students who just passed out from the school. The police registered a case and were investigating.

New Delhi: Amid reports of friction between the Centre and the Telangana Government, a delegation led by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the controversial household survey conducted in the state among other issues.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government had conducted a massive household survey across the state last month to ascertain comprehensive information on citizens, an exercise which attracted criticism from certain quarters.

The survey had created apprehension among people hailing from Seemandhra region who reside in Telangana that it was meant to identify Seemandhra natives. "We have told the Prime Minister that we have done the survey and got the best of it. We informed him (about) the benefits of the survey," TRS Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao said after

Bhupinder Singh Hooda have been meeting the irrigation needs of farmers by supplying eight hour power, sourced at high rates for agricultural tube-wells.

Criticising the Central government’s scheme of diesel subsidy announced on August 4, Hooda said it suffers from serious issues of implementation and farmers would not be able to get the required relief in the drought-affected state.

Quoting inputs from the agriculture department, Hooda said kharif crops require 10 protective irrigations to sustain the paddy crop from July 15 to September 30 with cost of each irrigation calculated at Rs 514 per acre.

Chandigarh: The decision of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) to make Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal its star campaigner for the forthcoming Haryana assembly elections has set long-time political allies, the Akali Dal and the BJP, on a collision course.

The BJP, which is eyeing a big victory in the state, is wary of the impact of Badal’s campaign on its prospects. He is a tall leader in the region and he has an impressive following in Haryana despite being politically confined to Punjab.

In the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, Badal aggressively campaigned in favour of Dushyant Chautala, grandson of Om Prakash Chautala, the former chief minister of the state. His efforts helped Dushyant beat Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), an alliance partner of the BJP then. The BJP had offered two seats – Hisar and Sirsa to the HJC and the latter lost both partly due to the Badal impact. The BJP, which is going it alone this

Chandrababu Naidu

Dalit boy's wrists cut off for wearing watch to school

Hooda declares Haryana drought-affected

Chandigarh: Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda declared the entire state as drought-affected for Kharif 2014 and sought Central assistance of Rs 48.29 billion to compensate farmers. Hooda said a special girdawri has been ordered to assess the loss caused due to continued dry spell. He said in case of more than 50 per cent damage to paddy and cotton crops, a compensation of Rs 4,000 per acre will be given. It will be Rs 3,500 per acre for other crops. The Central government norms for the same are Rs 1,800 and Rs 3,600 he said, adding that his government has submitted a memorandum to the Central government for a special package. Hooda disclosed that according to the data collected from the India Meteorological Department from June 1st to August 31, there was more than 65 per cent rainfall deficit in the State as compared to the normal average.

He said that out of the special package demanded, Rs 11.91 billion would be for the state power utilities who

Kurnool served as the capital of Andhra State which was carved out of the then Madras State Oct 1, 1953. The town had hosted Independence Day celebrations till 1956 when the capital was shifted to Hyderabad.

Though Hyderabad has been declared the common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Naidu chose Kurnool for the Independence Day celebrations.

At Lake View Guest House, Naidu's office in Hyderabad, a senior official unfurled the national flag.

Telangana CM meets Modi, discusses household survey

South Brief

Jaya files defamation case against Subramanian Swamy

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday filed a defamation case against BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in a city court over his remarks related to the issue of state fishermen being detained by Sri Lanka. The petition filed by City Public Prosecutor M L Jagan on behalf of the Chief Minister in the Principal Sessions Judge Court contended that Swamy’s remarks were defamatory. Jayalalithaa also filed defamation case against the Editor and Publisher of the daily “Dinamalar” for publishing Swamy’s remarks.

Tamil actress held for murdering husband

Chennai: The police arrested a 22-year-old Tamil actress in Bangalore for murdering her husband, who had tried to force her to act in pornographic movies. Investigators said Shruti Chandralekha, who acted in a few Tamil and Kannada films, and two accomplices killed S Ronald Peter Prinzo, 35, and with help of five others, they later buried the body. The actress who was on the run was arrested at the house of a financier in Bangalore.

Jaya drops minister, replaces him with former minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Narendra Modi the meeting. Keshava Rao asserted that the survey was conducted only to know the true facts on the ground against the backdrop of alleged excess ration cards.

"There are 8000,000 households, but 12 million ration cards. We wanted to know what is reason behind it...

So, we thought that the best thing would be to get the real picture. We had no other intention," he said.

The chief minister was accompanied by his party MPs. Keshava Rao also said that the delegation has urged the PM to consider a second airport for Hyderabad in the northern part of the city.

Badal giving jitters to BJP in Haryana

Chennai: A day after removing him of a key party post, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa dropped milk and dairy development minister V Moorthy from the cabinet. Tiruvallur MLA and former minister B V Ramana has been inducted into the council of ministers. Earlier, Jaya removed Moorthy from the post of secretary of Tiruvallur south district, while announcing the formation of the party's east and west units in Tiruvallur district. Ramana, who has been sidelined in the party affairs, was appointed as secretary of Tiruvallur West district secretary. Ramana had served as a minister in environment and forests, commercial taxes and registration, besides revenue, before being dropped twice in the three-year-old Jayalalithaa regime.

North Brief

HC cancels allotment of 350 acres to DLF in Gurgaon

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the Haryana government’s decision to transfer 350 acres of land in Gurgaon, which had ostensibly been acquired for public welfare, to DLF for development of a residential society, commercial facilities, sports activity and a golf course. “The allotment of the acquired land to DLF on February 9, 2010, is disapproved as the transfer was not fair, just and reasonable,” ruled a division bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Amol Rattan Singh. The petitioners stated that another 75 acres were also transferred to DLF in 2010 in a similar fashion.

Punjab to develop biotech park in Mohali Parkash Singh Badal

time, doesn’t want a repeat of the HJC experience.

While some leaders of the BJP, including Anil Vij, the leader of the Legislative party in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, have clearly expressed their reservations against allowing Badal to campaign for the INLD in Haryana.

Anil Vij’s objection to Badal’s campaign in Haryana is based on the fact that Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which Badal heads, is a partner of the ruling NDA alliance in the country. The SAD and the BJP are ruling partners in Punjab. Their alliance is almost two decades old.

Chandigarh: The Punjab government said it would set up a biotech park at 70 acres of land in Mohali in order to make Punjab a biotechnology hub of north India. Stating this here, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said: “Our target is to boost scientific activities to accelerate the use of new techniques in new sectors like biotech as Punjab has a great potential to grow in this field, being an agricultural state”.

HSGMC to support Congress

Chandigarh: The Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) asked the ruling Congress to give suitable representation to Sikhs in party tickets in the forthcoming State Assembly elections. “Congress should accommodate people of our community while distributing tickets to the candidates in the assembly elections in Haryana,” said Jagdish Singh Jhinda, president of HSGMC. Committee had called a meeting of all members at Kurukshetra and also passed a resolution to support Congress.

INDIA

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25

All- Party Committee for Direct Flight formed under BJP Whip Manshukhbhai Mandviya’s leadership

F

or the most idyllic holiday in the world, the Seychelles islands are really how you would envisage paradise.

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silver beaches, plus an array of restaurants, cafés, bars and casinos in the tiny capital, Victoria. Creole is the main language and English and French are widely spoken.

The weather in the Seychelles is great all year round, with temperatures ranging from low twenties to low thirties, perfect for sun-bathing, enjoying strolls along the beaches and villages and breathtaking sunsets.

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An all- party committee to pursue the campaign for direct Ahmedabad- London flight was formed under the leadership of the ruling BJP Whip and Rajya Sabha member Manshukhbhai Mandviya.

MPs, MLAs and industrialists from across India and Lords and MPs from UK as members in this newly-formed committee and they are going to put forward their demand to India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajpati Raju.

The members of this committee hailing from India include: 1.

M a n s h u k h b h a i Mandviya, BJP Rajya Sabha Whip (convener); 2. Dr Kirit Solanki, MP; 3. Manshukhbhai Vasava, MP; 4.

Mohanbhai Kundariya, MP; 5. Dr

Manshukhbhai Mandviya

Bhartiben Shiyal, MP; 6.

Shankersinh Vaghela, Leader of Opposition, Gujarat Assembly; 7.

Dinasha Patel (former cabinet minister); 8.

Vallabhbhai Kankadia, Member of Gujarat Assembly & Chairman of

the Diamond M e r c h a n t s Association; 9. K H Patel, Chairman of the NRG committee and NRG centre, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and former High Commissioner to Uganda & Ambassador to Rwanda and Burundi; 10.

Piyushbhai Desai, Chairman of Gujarat Tea Traders Association & industrialist of Tea industries; 11. Bhupatbhai Parekh, (Coordinator -India). The members from the UK include: 1. Lord Meghnad Desai; 2.

Lord Bhikhubhai Parekh; 3. Lord Gulam Noon; 4. Keith Vaz, MP; 5. C.B Patel, Coordinator (UK).

More leaders are also expected to be joining this committee.

K H Patel of NRG Centre writes to civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju

K H Patel, former Indian High Commissioner to Uganda and Ambassador to Rwanda & Burundi and Chairman, NRG Committee and NRG Centre, has written a letter to Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati, India’s civil aviation minister, on the need for resumption of direct flight between London and Ahmedabad.

In the letter Patel mentioned that about a million people of Gujarati origin are settled in the United Kingdom and a large

K H Patel

number of them visit Gujarat regularly. There are substantial economic relations between the

peoples of UK and Gujarat as well as the adjoining states in Western India.

The people of these states have also their relatives settled in UK. Accordingly, there is a constant and heavy flow of visitors between two countries. Keeping these factors in view, earlier there were direct flights between London and Ahmedabad, he wrote in the letter.

He added that a large number of Indians, particularly Gujaratis, settled in UK as well in Gujarat have represented to the NRG Centre that on account of the discontinuance of these direct flights, frequent visitors have been facing acute hardships as presently they have to travel via Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, Abu Dabi or Doha. Such circuitous travelling becomes extremely inconvenient for the senior citizens, old women and children.

In the letter he mentioned that a direct flight will not only alleviate the problems of the visitors, but would also provide a fillip to tourism from UK to India. Economic relations, particularly bilateral trade, will also be boosted. So Patel has requested the civil aviation minister to consider favourably the request of millions of Gujaratis settled in UK and resume direct flight between London and Ahmedabad at the earliest.He requested the minister to take a favourable decision at the earliest.

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India, Australia seal nuclear deal, Abbott meets Modi

India and Australia sealed the long-awaited nuclear energy deal last week even as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he wanted first-rank relations with India.

Abbott met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and finalized the deal to allow the export of uranium to India. Abbott said India and Australia were bound by "strongly convergent" trade and strategic interests on the last day of his

Continued from page 1 warned local governments, said the official. "This matter has been taken very seriously and an alert has been sounded," the official added.

Indian security forces are usually on a state of alert for attacks by homegrown Islamic militants and by anti-India groups based in Pakistan. It was not immediately clear what additional steps were being taken. Until now there has been no evidence that al Qaeda has a presence in India.

The timing and content of the video suggests rivalry between al Qaeda and its more vigorous rival in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State, which anecdotal evidence suggests is gathering support in South Asia. According to media reports, Islamic State pamphlets have been distributed in Pakistan in recent days.

Zawahri's announcement also made two references to Gujarat, the home state of Prime

visit, which culminated with the deal to supply uranium to the energyhungry country.

During the meeting, Abbott gifted a 'Nehru jacket' made of Australian wool to PM Modi, who in

return presented him a copy of the Gita.

India and Australia kick-started negotiations on uranium sales in 2012 after Canberra lifted a long-time ban on exporting the valuable ore to Delhi to meet its ambitious nuclear energy programme.

Australia, the world's third biggest uranium producer, had previously ruled out such exports to nuclear-armed India because it has not signed

the global non-proliferation treaty.

But Abbott said that he was assured of India's commitment to peaceful power generation. "India has an absolutely impeccable non-proliferation record and India has been a model international citizen," he told reporters in Mumbai. Australia's decision to overturn its ban followed a landmark US agreement in 2008 to support India's civilian nuclear programme.

Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi has long been a hate figure for Islamist groups because of communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 in which many Muslims were killed.

"In the wake of this al Qaeda video, we will be on a higher alert. We will work closely with the central government to tackle any threat posed to the state," S K Nanda, a senior bureaucrat in the home department of Gujarat, said.

Zawahri described the formation of "Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent" as glad tidings for Muslims "in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujarat and Kashmir" and said the new wing would rescue Muslims there from injustice and oppression.

Gujarat state shares borders with India's archrival, Pakistan.

Assam is an state in India's far-flung northeast where religious tensions are high after massacres of Muslims by tribal populations in the past two years.

A senior intelligence officer in the state said security forces there were "well prepared" to face any threats.

Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, has long attracted foreign mujahideen fighters as well as homegrown separatist militants.

In June, al Qaeda released a video urging young radicals in Kashmir to draw inspiration from militants in Syria and Iraq and join the "global jihad".

Intelligence sources in Kashmir said that they had so far detected no traces of al Qaeda in the Himalayan region that borders Pakistan and China.

The appearance of Islamic State flags at recent protest rallies in Kashmir was the work of an individual and did not point to any involvement of the group there, one said. India has suffered several large-scale attacks

by Islamist militants, most recently the 2008 Mumbai rampage by Pakistani fighters that left 166 peo-

ple dead. Smaller domestic militant groups regularly detonate small bombs, but have so far failed to launch a major attack. Earlier this year, Indian intelligence agencies said a handful of Indian men had joined the militancy in the Levant.

At one of the world's most influential Islamic seminaries, Darul Uloom Deoband, in northern India, an official said that extremist groups routinely try to recruit young, uneducated and poor Muslim boys as militants. "We inform our students about the dangers faced by Islam, and rising militancy is one of the key subjects discussed in the seminary," said Ashraf Usmani from the seminary, which is known for its conservative Muslim thought. "I can say this with confidence that no student from Deoband can be recruited by al Qaeda or any other terror groups." Reports said Asim Umar, who has been linked to the Pakistani Taliban, would head alQaeda in south Asia.

many flooded parts to rescue residents huddled on rooftops and upper floors of their houses.

Meanwhile, the pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district was on with over 25,000 people offering prayers since Monday.

Efforts are on to restore helicopter services to the cave shrine, Das said.

States offer aid: Bihar, Odisha and Uttarakhand governments announced financial aids to the floodravaged state of Jammu and Kashmir. Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi announced Rs100 million for relief works for the flood-affected people in Jammu and Kashmir, besides supply of dry ration and boats. “It has been decided to give Rs 100 million assistance to Jammu and Kashmir from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund as token support to the disaster management in the flood-hit state,”

Manjhi said. “The state government will also rush dry ration and boats to the state for rescue and relief works,” he said. Similarly, announcing an assistance of Rs 50 million from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for flood ravaged state, the Odisha Government said trained personnel are ready with equipment to undertake rescue and relief operations in affected areas.

Uttarakhand also extended its hand to the flood-ravaged state. The state government offered expertise, logistics and a financial assistance of Rs 100 million for the floodhit people of Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from the financial assistance, Uttarakhand is also providing rafts to J&K to rescue people from marooned areas and submersible pumps installed in its hydel projects to flush out water from submerged regions, an official said.

Meanwhile, Sewa UK has sought donations to help the flood-affected people in Jammu and Kashmir. You may contact Bharat Vadukul, Secretary, for further details.

India on alert after al Qaeda announces local wing

Flood in Jammu & Kashmir

Continued from page 1 cutters and other equipment besides huge quantity of medicines and water bottles. Speaking about the rescue efforts, Army Lt Chetan said, “We are rescuing 10-15 people in every round we make per boat. We make 50-60 rounds per day. We have all equipment to rescue people. We will move out only after rescuing everybody”.

Army Chief Gen Dalbir Suhag had said in Delhi on Monday that “Soldiers won’t return to barracks until last man is helped.” Army medical officer Jagdish Singh said, “We have set up medical camps and are treating 230-300 people everyday.

“We have ambulances and surgeons. District hospitals and NGOs are also working with us,” he said.

Lt Gen D S Hooda, General-OfficerCommanding of the Army’s Northern Command had said that the focus would now be on Srinagar. The heavy floods triggered by torrential rains have snapped Valley’s telecommunication links with the rest of

the country. BSNL has launched an operation on a war-footing with Army and IAF to restore mobile services through satellite network and the telecom network is expected to be partially restored soon, officials said.

To provide relief to the displaced, 68 camps have been set up in Jammu.

Seven helicopters have been pressed to ferry relief material to Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Mahore, Doda, Kishtwar belts, officials said. The Centre has rushed more NDRF teams equipped with boats and other flood relief equipment to Kashmir Valley.

Naval commandos have also been deployed for the first time. Army, Air Force, NDRF and state agencies have so far rescued more than 25,000 people and lodged them in higher places in the Valley.

Boats have been pressed into service in

In Brief

Women may overtake men in grabbing best jobs by 2020

London: Researchers say that by 2020 better qualified women may overtake men in grabbing better jobs. Men could struggle to get highly skilled jobs because women are increasing skills and qualifications at higher rates, say researchers. Two-thirds of such jobs could go to women by 2020, says the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. UKCES warns that men urgently need to improve their levels of expertise if they want to compete. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said she feared better skills might not lead to better pay and jobs for women.

Gunmen kill senior Pak military official

Multan (Pakistan ): Gunmen have killed three people, including a senior military official, at a mosque frequented by minority Shi'ite worshippers in the Pakistani city of Sargodha. "Brigadier Fazal Zahoor was shot by masked gunmen while taking part in a religious ritual at the mosque," said police official.

"The gunmen arrived on motorbikes and burst into the mosque. They identified the brigadier and shot and killed him, his brother Fazal Subhani and a third man. The brigadier had received threats from the banned organisation Sipah-e-Sahaba, which says it want to expel Shi'ites from Pakistan.

UK offers to send old Nato security fence to France

London: James Brokenshire, UK’s immigration minister, has offered to send the high steel fences used to protect world leaders at last week’s Nato summit to Calais to help the French authorities to prevent illegal immigrants trying to reach Britain.

More than 12 miles of fencing was set up to create a ring of steel around Celtic Manor in Newport, and summit venues in Cardiff, to protect President Obama and 150 other leaders from potential terrorist attacks.

The nine-foot steel fencing is believed to be far stronger than the barriers currently in place in Calais, which the Home Office says are "too easy" to scale for illegal migrants attempting to cross the English Channel.

Pak Sikhs threaten to launch anti-govt protests

Islamabad: In the wake of growing number of attacks on Pakistan's Sikh community, the minority group has threatened to launch nationwide protests if the government fails to provide adequate security to prevent atrocities being committed against them. At least seven Sikhs have been killed in targeted attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and no arrests have been made in connection with the killings, Janmohan Singh, leader of the local Sikhs said. He added that the government had failed to take effective steps for providing the Sikh community security. Meanwhile, All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement chairman Haroon Sarb Diyal expressed concern over the targeted killing of Sikhs and said that the group was not satisfied with steps being taken by the government for their protection.

Indian-born scientist wins prestigious US award

Washington: India-born scientist Dr Thomas John Colacot grabbed the American Chemical Society's ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry, one of the top honours in the field. Colacot, who studied in Kerala and IIT, Chennai, is the first Indian to get the award in industrial chemistry. He also holds an MBA degree and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Currently Global R&D manager in the homogenous catalysis area at Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemicals company, Colacot directs research in US, UK and in Indian labs.

Saudi police issue rare apology for beating Briton

Riyadh: The Saudi religious police issued a rare apology for the beating by its personnel of a British man residing in the kingdom in a supermarket in the capital Riyadh. The Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice said it was reassigning four of its staff to administrative duty after a video emerged over the weekend of the men in a confrontation with a foreign man. The Briton, who has not been officially identified, was in a women-only checkout aisle at a supermarket in the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom when the officers approached him, in a spat which devolved into an assault on the man and his Saudi wife. "The commission apologises to the resident and his wife," the body said in a statement, saying the men overstepped their authority in accosting the couple and not contacting a superior.

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HEALTH WATCH

Honey is good for your skin and health

H

oney is rightly been called nature's sweet nectar. Not only is it one of the most versatile ingredients to cook with, but is also known to be rich in minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium. It works wonders for dull hair and skin.

Why you should include it in your daily beauty regimen.

For Fabulous Skin: There's no need to splash out on expensive spa facials when you have some honey. Give your skin the benefit of honey's powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and ultra-moisturizing properties and use it as a face mask. For a naturally exfoliating facial, just add some sugar to create a moisturizing scrub.

Honey is a fantastic moisturizer and works wonders on patches of dry skin.

Pepper can prevent tumour

A

new study has revealed that pepper reduces the risk of colorectal tumors.

According to the study by researchers at the University of California the active ingredient in chili peppers - produces chronic activation of a receptor on cells lining the intestines of mice, triggering a reaction that ultimately reduces the risk of colorectal tumours.

The receptor called TRPV1 was originally discovered in sensory neurons, where it acts as a sentinel for heat, acidity and spicy chemicals in the environment.

The scientists discovered that TRPV1, once activated by the EGFR, initiates a direct negative feedback on the EGFR, dampening the latter to reduce the risk of unwanted growth and intestinal tumour development. They found that mice genetically modified to be TRPV1deficient suffered higher-than-normal rates of intestinal tumour growths.

apply on your face and let the skin soak up its natural goodness for about 10 minutes and rinse off.

For Silky Smooth Hair: Honey has properties that act as a natural agent for moisturizing hair and cleansing scalp.

It leaves you with silky smooth hair without stripping them of natural oils.

Hair Tip: Add a teaspoonful to your usual

shampoo to soften your hair, or combine with olive oil for a deep conditioning treatment - leave to work on damaged locks for 20 minutes before shampooing out.

A Natural Energy Booster: Forget your coffee fix and ditch the energy drinks. It's time to say goodbye to the sugar high that more often than not leads to a rapid energy crash and burn. For a natural energy boost, use honey in place of sugars and sweeteners in your tea, baking and cooking.

You'll soon notice the difference in your energy levels.

Get Over that Hangover: Had a rather lousy morning? Never mind, honey is at your rescue! A few tablespoons of honey will help speed up your body's metabolism and help you combat the hangover.

of type 2 diabetes.

Lead researcher Angela Donin from the St. George's University of London says, "There is evidence that if you skip breakfast you are more likely to be overweight.

This could be explained by your eating patterns for the rest of the day. If you have not eaten breakfast you are more likely to snack - and those snacks are more likely to be energy-heavy." For the latest study, experts examined 4,116 primary school children aged between 9-10 years in Britain. The children responded to questions like how often and what they ate for breakfast. Later, various diabetes risk markers such as fasting insulin, glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured through blood tests.

"The observations suggest that regular breakfast

consumption, particularly involving consumption of a high fibre cereal, could protect against the early development of type 2 diabetes risk," added Dr Donin.

It was also found that 26 per cent of children who skipped breakfast every day were at a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. These children has slightly higher blood sugar levels than those who ate breakfast regularly. Moreover, those who skipped breakfast regularly were more likely to be insulin resistant. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body stops responding to insulin or produces less of it. This leads to a high blood sugar level in the body which is not being is used to produce energy.

Type 2 Diabetes is a chronic disease which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Use it to soften up those knees and elbows, and it will even work wonders on chapped

lips. Just rub on some honey, leave it to work on your skin for up to 30 minutes, and then wash off.

Honey is also great for relaxing your body. Give your body an added treat by pouring in a few drops of raw honey in your bath water. It helps to soothe tired muscles and moisturize your skin. Try adding other essential oils like lavender oil.

Skin Tip: Mix two table spoon honey with two teaspoons of milk,

Kids who skip breakfast risk diabetes ealth experts have claimed for long that H breakfast is the star meal of the day yet somehow most of us manage to skip it every once in a while. It is a well-known fact that eating a healthy morning meal is great for all, especially for children and adolescents. There is ample evidence to show that kids who start their day the right way are more attentive and have better concentration and endurance levels. This latest study gives you another reason to make sure that your kids do not skip breakfast.

According to researchers, kids who eat regular breakfast may have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have shown that skipping breakfast may lead to untimely and unhealthy cravings throughout the day. This leads to unnecessary weight gain and obesity is one of the leading causes

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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...

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Being fatter may sometimes be beneficial

E

ver since Americans started plumping to record rates of obesity, doctors have been crusading against fatty drinks and foods to tame an epidemic in the making. But there's something cardiologists seldom talk about that has baffled research doctors for years: In the face of illness, being fatter adds years to people's lives.

Scientists published two reports in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings announcing new clues in the mystery known as the obesity paradox. Being fat can cause all kinds of nasty problems, from heart disease to diabetes.

But study after study has found that being overweight is like a shield against death when those diseases set in. As one study author put it, obesity is like a bad friend who gets you sentenced to jail, "but once imprisoned the friend remains loyal and protects you against poor prison conditions and other inmates."

In a first paper, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 36 studies, searching for instances of patients undergoing surgery to open up blocked arteries.

Obesity frequently leads to coronary artery disease, but thin people can be at risk, too. They reviewed "tens of thousands" of cases and discovered obese and severely obese people had higher survival rates postsurgery than normal weight people. (They were around 25 per cent less likely to die.)

It wasn't the first major review of the literature. One study published last year analyzed three million sick people around the world. Their results were bewildering: "For people with a medical condition, survival is slightly better for people who are slightly heavier."

Yet the cause still eludes scientists. "At this stage we can only speculate on the reasons for this paradox," said lead author Abhishek Sharma, of the

State University of New York Downstate Medical Centre in Brooklyn.

Maybe doctors are more likely to give overweight patients more drugs, he says. Or maybe they have a higher metabolic reserve. Or maybe skinny people have bad genes.

Who knows?

The second paper, however, offers more insight. It attempts to chip away at a nagging question among the people studying the obesity paradox: Is body mass index, or BMI, the right way to measure obesity?

Many believe other measures, like the ratio of fat to lean mass, may have more to do with the phenomenon than BMI, which is based on height and weight.

"Body composition plays a critical role in the obesity paradox," said Carl Lavie, a cardiologist at the University of Queensland School of Medicine in New Orleans and a co-author of both papers. He and his colleagues examined something called the lean mass index - the proportion of human stuff, like muscle and bone, that isn't body fat - among 48,000 patients.

Their findings yield more evidence for what many have suspected. "At higher BMI, body fat is associated with an increase in mortality," Lavie said. In other words, the fat isn't the elixir; being big is.

"Whenever examining a potential protective effect of body fat, lean mass index - which likely represents larger skeletal muscle mass - should be considered," Lavie said.

This is a good lesson.

With nearly one in 14 Americans now considered extremely obese, the authors of the two studies were quick to caution that being overweight in the first place is still dangerous. In fact, these papers came on the heels of another that found extreme obesity kills about as effectively as smoking does.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

'Arima Nambi' goes to Tollywood

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After ‘Raja Rani,’ another romance feast Dhanush’s 25th movie 'T hattathin Marayathu', the Malayalam film directed by Vineeth Srinivasan is coming to Tamil with Mithran Jawahar of 'Yaradi Nee Mohini' fame behind the megaphone.

Isha Talwar who played the lead in the Malayalam version will continue to play the lead role in Tamil too. The film will also have Nasser and it is said that the producers’ son may play the male lead. G V Prakash will score music for the film.

'Thattathin Marayathu' was a musical film and attempting to adhere to the same mood, the Tamil version also will be a musical. Music director G V Prakash says, “Yes, the film is totally based on romance and music. After Raja Rani, I will be scoring for a film that is totally based on romance. There is a lot of scope in the film to deliver musically and I am quite excited about it.”

ikram Prabhu’s 'Arima Nambi' was a decent grosser by all means and the critics gave away the thumbs up sign for its intelligent scripting and screenplay. A fast paced narration with some twists, the audience loved every bit of 'Arima Nambi' making it as an apt remake material. The movie’s remake rights were the talk of the town ever since it was up for grabs. Finally, it has fallen into the hands of Mohanbabu who is a close friend of Arima Nambi’s producer Kalaipuli Thanu.

For the Telugu remake Mohan Babu’s son; Vishnu Manju is slated to star as the hero in Vikram Prabhu’s place. The heroine lead, the producers are pursuing a number of options with Hansika as the primary option. The rest of the cast is being finalized and an announcement is to be made shortly. This will be the first movie of Vikram Prabhu heading to Tollywood! Going places indeed!

Kamal transforms from Manoranjan to Suyambulingam

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ashing actor Dhanush's 25th film was the recently released movie “Velai Illa Pattadhari.” Directed by Velraj, this movie was a special dedication to all the engineering students and the Velai Illa Pattadaris of the field. This movie is a smashing success from the day it was released and has reached its 50th day of successful running recently!

The team of VIP are a happy group as this movie has been officially declared a blockbuster hit. Sources say that the director Velraj is thinking of making this movie in Bollywood and it would be his debut direction in Bollywood, if so.

We congratulate the VIP team in giving such an amazing film to the audience and hope all their future ventures are a smashing success too!

A

s we all know Kamal Hassan is currently busy with the remake of ‘Drishyam’ which is titled as ‘Papanasam’, which is progressing at a rapid pace near Tenkasi.

Insiders say that Kamal’s character name will be, Suyambulingam, which means, a self made person.

One could recall Kamal is playing a dual role in his next release ‘Uthama Villain’ and he plays the role of a Superstar in one of the characters and it is named as, Manoranjan.

‘Papanasam’ boasts Gauthami, Asha Sharath, Kalabhavan Mani, Nivedha Thomas, and many more to its cast. Jeethu Jospeh, who directed the original is calling the shots for this remake as well, and acclaimed writer, Jeyamohan is penning the dialogues. Wide Angle Creations & Raj Kumar Theatres are jointly producing this family drama thriller.

‘Finding Fanny’

‘Creature 3D’

It is a satirical film, directed and written by Homi Adajania and produced by Dinesh Vijan. Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Pankaj Kapur, Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor will feature in prominent roles. The film is based on a road trip set in Goa and follows the journey of five dysfunctional friends who set out on a road trip in search of Fanny, the love-interest of the character played

by Naseeruddin Shah. The film has also been selected to be screened at Busan International Film Festival in October, 2014.

It is science fiction film directed

by Vikram Bhatt. The film stars Bipasha Basu and Imran Abbas Naqvi in lead roles. It is produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar and co-produced by Ajay Kapoor under the banner of T-Series in association with BVG Films. The film is Bollywood debut of Pakistani model turned actor Imran Abbas Naqvi.

Amit Tandon and Mukul Dev in supporting roles. Rajneesh Duggal and Surveen Chawla make guest appearance.

Bipasha wants to work with Honey Singh

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ipasha Basu is so impressed with rappersinger Yo Yo Honey Singh that she wants to work with him. “I will be foolish if I don’t want to do it,” Bipasha said on the sets of Honey Singh’s singing reality show “India’s Raw Star”. When asked if she would like to work with the singing sensation, she said: “Definitely! I would love to work with him because his songs are very popular. People love his songs and you can really dance to them.” The 35-year-old said, “Honey Singh has the magic touch. He is the Midas man of music.”

Brett Lee set to make his Bollywood debut?

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ormer Australian fast bowler Brett Lee will reportedly star in a Bollywood film, which is to be shot in Sydney. Lee, who is treated as a rock star in India, was in Mumbai with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The feature film is set to go into production in October and is the first from the recently established Australia-India film fund. Lee, who is no novice when it comes to the flamboyant Indian film scene, will reportedly star alongside a famous Indian actress. Lee is a real crowd-pleaser in India and starred in the cricket-themed Bollywood film “Victory,” and sung a duet with the Queen of Bollywood, Asha Boshle, the report added.

29

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

Bollywood stars celebrate Ganesh festival

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estive mood has gripped the Bollywood brigade with several film stars taking a day off from work to celebrate Ganesh festival.

While most actors installed the Ganesha idol at their residence or studio, several others took to Twitter to chant "Ganpati Bappa Morya".

Deepika Padukone surprised her fans when she made an appearance, on the sets of her upcoming film, dressed in a typical Maharashtrian style sari to extend her wishes on one of the most popular festivals of Mumbai. In fact, the entire cast of “Happy New Year” consisting of Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood and Boman Irani sent a joint message to their fans by posting a picture on Twitter.

Like every year, Salman Khan held a grand Ganesha puja at his residence, which was attended by his family members. Salman is known to meticulously celebrate Ganesh utsav, a habit he claims to have picked up from his mother Salma, originally a Maharashtrian.

Rani Mukerji offered prayers at a

I didn't enjoy going to school: Kareena

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glittering pandal in South Mumbai.

Most celebrities have vouched to celebrate the festival this year with ecoGanesha, owing to the increasing pollution in the city and the fear of polluting the sea. Filmmaker Prabhu Deva attended an eco-friendly celebration.

Meanwhile, veteran actress and Ranbir Kapoor's mother Neetu Singh recalled the grand Ganapati celebrations that were organised by her father-in-law and legendary filmmaker Raj Kapoor. The actress, however, settled for an ecoGanesha this year as, she said, it was beneficial to control rising pollution.

Actress Shraddha Kapoor was joined by singer Asha Bhosale and Padmini Kolhapure at her residence for celebrations with her family.

Actor Jeetendra, who religiously celebrates the festival, had a grand puja at his residence where he was joined by his children Tusshar and Ekta. Others who joined the festivities include Hrithik Roshan, Govinda, Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Shreyas Talpade, Vivek Oberoi, Ravi Kishan, Shilpa Shetty, Rakhi Sawant etc.

ollywood actress Kareena Kapoor says she did not like going to school as she felt left out for being an average student. The 33-year-old actress, who is UNICEF's celebrity advocate for education in India, said as a kid she would not get any attention from her teachers for not being a front bencher.

"My mother used to wake me up for school at 6 am... I used to tell her 'one hour more please'. At the age of 10, I used to feel the pressure that I had the heaviest school bag ever. I used to sleep in the class and was not given much attention in the class as I was an average student. "Front benchers got all the attention. I used to feel left out and tell my mother that I will study at home or watch a movie," Kareena said.

Katrina relies on Salman for help

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atrina Ka i f a n d Salman Khan were one of the most popular couples o f Bollywood.

However Katrina's alleged relationship with Ranbir Kapoor doesn't seem to have affected their rapport. According to a report, Katrina called Salman when her 'Phantom' set was mobbed by Cine Costume & Make-up Artists' Association. It seems like the actress depends more on Salman Khan than Ranbir Kapoor and turns towards Salman when in problem.

Actress arrested for alleged prostitution

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a t i o n a l Award winning actor Shweta Basu Prasad of ‘Makdee’ fame was arrested for being allegedly involved in a prostitution racket in Hyderabad, according to reports. Shweta had won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for her performance in the 2002 film ‘Makdee.’

Shweta, who played the role of Shreyas Talpade’s younger sister in award winning movie ‘Iqbal’, was arrested from a high end hotel at the Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. According to reports, she was caught in a compromising position from the hotel room. Shweta, who is now working in Telugu films, has acted in Ekta Kapoor’s serial ‘Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki’ where she played the role of Sakshi Tanwar’s daughter.

Shahid’s sister to join Bollywood bandwagon

S

h a h i d Kapoor’s younger sister Sanah will make her Bollywood debut in film “ S h a n d a a r, ” along with her brother. Shahid revealed that this is going to be a film which will have him along with his sister and father Pankaj Kapoor.

Reportedly, Sanah will play the role of Alia Bhatt’s sister in the film, with Pankaj playing their father.

“Shandaar” is a film about a lavish destination wedding and it is slated to go on floor in London soon.

30

UK

Burglars who tied elderly mother and son, jailed

David Augustine (left) and Krishna Modely

Burglars who tied up an elderly woman and her son before ransacking the family home for expensive Asian gold have been jailed.

David Augustine, 36, and Krishna Modely, 27, Chertsey, were sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison.

Isleworth Crown Court heard the gang broke into a home in Slough on February 11 and grabbed the 71-yearold woman from behind.

They demanded her jewellery, forcefully taking her bangles and rings before pushing her onto a bed.

The men then taped her

mouth shut and placed a pillow over her face.

When her 53-year-old son heard the disturbance and awoke he was confronted with a stun-gun.

The men tied his arms and legs together before placing a pillow over his face.

Following a search of the house the men made off with the victims’ Audi A6, Asian gold worth £15,000, £7,200 in cash and a number of electrical items. The victims were too shocked to be able to identify all members of the gang but a police investigation successfully linked Augustine and Modely to the scene.

Coming Events

l A scholarly discourse on "Upanishads - a philosophical and scientific perspective", at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 4a, Castletown Road, London, W14 9HE, On Saturday 27 September, 3.30 PM. Admission FREE. Contact 020 7381 3086. l Nusrat Asian Music Acdemy presents The Annual Ustad Fateh Ali Khan Tribute Concert 19 Sep, 7pm, the Drum, 144 Potters Lane, Aston, Birmingham, B6 4UU. Free Admission with Advanced Booking l Santwani bhajan night with Yogeshpuri Gauswami, 13 September, 7:30pm-10:30pm, Alperton Community School, Wembley, HA0 4PW, Contact: 07950478405 l Shaping a saffron future, Sunday 14 September, 4-6pm, University of Leicester, Film Theatre, Attenborough Building, LE1 7RH, FREE. Contact: admin@vichaarmanthan.org l Jaspar centre hosts Single and Ready to mingle along with Ilu Ilu matchmaking wedding bureau, on 14 September 2014, 4-7pm, Rosslyn Crescent, Harrow HA1 2SU. Contact: 020 8861 1207 l Jinja reunion London 2014, Sunday 14 September 2014, Watermill hotel, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 2RJ, Time 2pm-midnight, Contact: Bhanu Patel 020 8556 9283 Editor: CB Patel Associate Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Tel: 020 7749 4098 - Email: rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com Editorial Executive: Tanveer Mann Tel: 020 7749 4010 - Email: tanveer.mann@abplgroup.com Senior News Editor: Dhiren Katwa Freelance Correspondent: Rudy Otter Chief Operating Officer: Liji George Tel: 020 7749 4013 Email: george@abplgroup.com Chief Financial Officer: Surendra Patel Tel: 020 7749 4093 Mobile: 078712 229 220 Email: surendra.patel@abplgroup.com Chief Accountant: Akshay Desai Tel: 020 7749 4087 Email:accounts@abplgroup.com Business Manager: Alka Shah Tel: 020 7749 4002 - Mobile: 07944 1121 893 Email: alka.shah@abplgroup.com Advertising Manager: Kishor Parmar Tel: 020 7749 40912 - Mobile: 078712 229 088 Email: kishor.parmar@abplgroup.com Business Development Managers: Rovin J George - Email: rovin.george@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4097 - Mobile: 078712 229 219 Urja Patel - Email: urja.patel@abplgroup.com Graphic Designers: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Tel: 020 7749 4086 Email: graphics@abplgroup.com Customer Service: Ragini Nayak Tel: 020 7749 4080 - Email: support@abplgroup.com (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad.

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Charity watchdog examines extremist links at Cardiff mosque A charity watchdog has launched a probe, exploring possible extremist links at a Cardiff mosque where three British jihadis once used to worship. The Al Manar centre in the Welsh capital is being probed amid 'concerns' that have been raised over the mosque, by the Charity Commission. It is 'engaged' with the Al Manar Centre Trust on the 'regulatory issues in question' - but it did not clarify what exactly it was looking into. Earlier this summer two school friends, Nasser Muthana and Reyaad Khan, both aged 20, who attended the mosque, appeared in a chilling ISIS recruitment video. Muthana's brother Aseel, 17, is also reported to be in Syria. The news sparked questions over what prompted them to go ahead and join ISIS. Prime Minister David

Cameron said he would look into how the young men were able to obtain passports and travel to Syria to fight for Islamic state. The Al Manar Centre had posted on its website earlier this summer, insisting that it rejected extremism and condemned 'those who have recruited these young and impressionable individuals with false promises and a twisted version of Islam.'

The centre added, “We would like to emphasise that the vast majority of the local Muslim community, are law abiding British citizens”. As per their own statement, they had been liaising with South Wales police and the Muthana brothers' father (aged 57) who was reported saying that if his sons ever return to the UK, he would like to see them jailed.

Marcial Boo, the chief executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), defied PM David Cameron and maintained that MPs do an important job and should not be paid “a miserly amount” for their services.

After his appointment in June, he was reported as saying, in his first interview, that the MPs needed the pay rise to “catch up” because their £67,060 salaries had fallen behind those of comparable public-sector work-

ers and politicians overseas.

MPs’ pay is expected to go up by 10 per cent next year, taking their salaries to £74,000. The new head of Parliament’s expenses watchdog has gone ahead as per the initial rise proposal despite warnings from David Cameron that such an increase would be “simply unacceptable”. PM also threatened to abolish IPSA entirely if it did not “think again” or reconsider this decision, stating that the pay rise was a “wrong” decision.

Cameron asks IPSA to 'reconsider' 10% pay rise for MPs

t would be unwise to take any risks, particularly in regard to joint interests and investments. Expenses and outgoings are likely to become heavy. So be extra careful if you need to deal with complex legal matters and necessary red tape. Plan your spending and set sensible budgets to reach your financial goals. Associate with people that you are comfortable with.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 The accent’s very much on relationships, you and a partner may become embroiled in financial arrangements or some other nitty—gritty aspect of your relationship. Either you or your partner have been going through a phase of inner doubts and uncertainties, and perhaps the main source of tension has simply been the need for breathing space in your relationship.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22

This is going to be one of those times when insignificant events give rise to unexpected developments especially regarding work and health. Make up your mind early in the week to knuckle down to the tasks in hand. If love has left you feeling rather dejected or cynical, it looks as though soon events will pull you out of this mood of despondency.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

At work sometimes a little upheaval and chaos is exactly what you need to set things right again.

There’s no need to be indecisive: the time is now. you’ll have no qualms about deciding what you want and going after it with total devotion. Unpredictable energies continue to influence your health sector, bringing erratic highs and lows. The key for you as always is balance.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

The fiery planet Mars is the moving force in regard to amorous experience, giving more than just a hint that links between lovers will be rather intense and passionate. On a material level the trend greatly favours anything geared towards establishing greater financial stability.

It seems that the winds of change begin to gather momentum and put a strong focus on domestic and family matters. Besides spending more time tending to domestic affairs, the focus can be on cultivating and nourishing your inner foundations, so to speak. Extra energy and drive will serve you well in getting things accomplished, but try not to come on too strong when you deal with others.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 It is an excellent time for exercising your mental energies. Exercise caution when it comes to making financial decisions as being hasty will cost you ! Wait before going full steam ahead with grand actions and gestures. Focus on essentials and establish a solid foundation, so that you feel secure.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

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The opening up of a more diverse social life is a point in favour of romantic attachments, if this is what you most desire. The need to push ahead with personal interests and to assert yourself with added force will take precedence over everything else for some time to come. The general pattern of things continues on a progressive and buoyant theme.

You will continue to be in a restless mood for some time to come. This makes you impatient with restrictions and even more determined to cut your own path. Do not get over-anxious if everything seems to be in slow motion - it is time to pull a few strings. You are likely to experience some tension in close relationships.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

You could work with someone on a project that calls for clear communication and a high degree of co-operation. You may also find yourself thinking deeply about what it is you really want to do, and who you really want to be with. The decisions you make now will be important for the path you take. You should also adopt a new health regime.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

Responsibility is your key word, especially at work. Set your own goals, rather than trying to meet those set by someone else. You will achieve a lot more, especially when you're motivated by your own desires.

Your ability to manage what you have on your plate earns respect from others around you. You will benefit in every way if you learn to self-discipline and pace yourself wisely.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20 Your career seems to take a new positive direction now. Opportunities for promotion and financial gain present themselves throughout this period. Self improvement and discipline with health and diet have just become easier. You have changed your habits and made it a new way of life now.

Inner growth continues for some time to come.

England clinch 3-run victory in T20

www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

England skipper Eoin Morgan found his form at the right time to lead his country to a three-run victory over India in a one-off T20 international at Edgbaston on Sunday.

Morgan, who had scored only 198 runs in 10 one-day international innings since returning from injury in March, smashed 71 off 31 balls including seven sixes and three fours, as England posted a daunting 180 for seven wickets in their 20 overs.

In reply, another batsman out of sorts this summer - Virat Kohli - led the India charge but his 66 off 41 balls and 27 off 18 by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the death could not clinch victory for India who finished on 177 for five.

Ajinkya Rahane took a T20 record-equalling four catches, including a stunning running, diving effort to dismiss Alex Hales (40) but India's bowling took a battering late on, conceding 81 runs off the last five overs as Morgan and Ravi

Bopara ran riot.

Bopara added 21 off 9 balls with three fours and a six while Mohammed Shami was the pick of the Indian attack, taking three for 38.

India's reply got off to a poor start, Rahane lasting four balls, bowled by Ali, before Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan led the India charge.

Kohli and Dharwan put on 79 in nine overs before Chris Woakes bowled Dharwan. Kohli survived a difficult catch to Harry Gurney when on 65 but fell one run later, tucked up by Steve Finn

and caught in the deep by Hales.

England win 5th ODI Joe Root smashed his second ODI century as England prevented India from securing a clean sweep with a consolatory 41-run win in the inconsequential fifth cricket match, at Leeds on Friday.

Root struck 113 runs as England put up a challenging 294 for seven and then bowled out the visitors for 253 in 48.4 even as India won the series 31 on the back of their previous victories.

India, who dominated the series with their con-

sistent show, opted to bowl but Root's hundred ensured that the home side scored their highest total of the series.

Root faced 108 balls and hit 10 fours along with three sixes in his magnificent innings. He added 108 runs off just 71 balls with Jos Buttler (49) for the fifth wicket scoring at impressive 8 runs per over. Young batsman Ambati Rayudu came up with a fighting 53-run knock off 65 balls in India's resistance but his promising innings was cut short by Ben Stokes.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan scored 31 off 44 balls before being castled

by Moeen Ali, who also got key wicket of Suresh Raina (18) as the off-spinner played a crucial role in turning the tide in his side's favour.

Till Mahendra Singh Dhoni was at the crease, India had their hopes alive but once the skipper fell in a bizarre fashion, it was a matter of time for England to complete the win.

US Open crown for the 32-year-old American, her 18 career slams putting her alongside Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for fourth place on the alltime list.

Failing to get beyond the last 16 of the year’s first three slams, Serena sailed through the US Open without dropping a set, finishing off Dane Wozniacki in a snappy 75 minutes. "I have been trying to reach it for so long, since last year," said Serena, hoisting her first

grand slam trophy since lifting the same trophy a year ago Sania and Soares win mixed doubles title Sania Mirza of India and her Brazilian partner Bruno Soares won the US Open mixed doubles title, extended to a sixth championship point by American Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico. Topseeded Sania and Soares won 6-1, 2-6 ,11-9, sealing the match tiebreak when Spears sent a backhand volley long at a sundrenched Arthur Ashe Stadium. Mirza, who partnered compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi to mixed titles at the 2012 French and 2009 Australian Open, jumped with joy on the final point and was lifted in a hug by Soares.

Cilic wins US Open for 1st Grand Slam title

The 14th seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia has won the US Open title by beating 10thseeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 by using 17 aces and the rebuilt game and confidence instilled

by Ivanisevic. "This is a second chance he got," Ivanisevic said, referring to Cilic's fourmonth ban in 2013 for doping.

Cilic earned a $3 million winner's check and will rise to No. 9 from his pre-US Open ranking of No. 16, which made him the first man from outside the top 10 to win a Grand Slam title in a decade.

"This," Cilic said, "is (from) all the hard work in these last several years and especially this last year."

He prevented Nishikori from becoming the first man from Asia to

win a major singles championship.

"Tennis has not been our biggest sport in Japan," Nishikori said.

"Hopefully I can win next time."

Serena beats Wozniacki World number one Serena Williams swept past good friend Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3 in the US Open final on Sunday to move up in the record books with her 18th grand slam title. It was the third straight and sixth overall

India to see some former football greats in action

Some former football stars such as Freddie Ljungberg, David James and Alessandro del Piero will be seen in action in Indian Super League which is scheduled to start next month.

“We’re going to put Indian football on steroids,” says Praful Patel, president of the All India Football Federation.

“We hope this will bring the crowds to the stadiums and invigorate the sport.” The 10-week league hopes to harness growing interest in the game in India, considered by many as one of the world’s last great untapped football markets. The first match will kick off on October 12.

Although football remains far less popular than cricket, it retains a cult following in some regions, including West Bengal, northeastern states such as Assam, and Goa. With names like Delhi Dynamos, Club Chennai and Northeast United, the eight ISL

clubs are being drawn from a mix of local players blended with overseas stars, lured out of retirement with generous financial packages.

James, a former England international, will be in goal for Kerala Blasters. Del Piero, a 2006 World Cup winner with

Italy, will play for Delhi Dynamos. Although terms have not been disclosed, Patel said that packages on offer to stars like del Piero would be in the “millions of dollars”.

Funded by Reliance and American sports agency IMG - the league is following an IPL-style formula, serving up TVfriendly sport with Bollywood glamour and razzmatazz. The Indian film stars John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor and Salman Khan won the bidding for the teams based in Guwahati, Mumbai and Pune. Huge media exposure has also been guaranteed by the cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar’s ownership of the Kerala Blasters.

SPORT WORLD

Pak cricketer Ajmal suspended over bowling action

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Top Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has been suspended from international cricket after tests found his bowling action illegal, the International Cricket Council said. Ajmal, the world's number one bowler in one-day internationals, was suspended "with immediate effect" following an assessment in Brisbane last month. The 36-year-old was reported for a suspect action after last month's first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. He can apply for a reassessment once he has modified his action. "The player has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect," the ICC statement said. "The analysis revealed that all his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations." The ruling is a blow to Pakistan ahead of their series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates starting next month. It also comes just a few months before the one-day Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which starts in February. Ajmal will now undergo remedial work on his bowling action in the Western Australian University at Perth where human movement expert Daryl Foster will work on his action. The ICC said Ajmal can be tested again once the remedial work report is satisfactory. "Ajmal can apply for a re-assessment after he has modified his bowling action in accordance with rules," said the ICC. But if Ajmal is cleared and reported again within a period of two years he will be banned from all international cricket for 12 months. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) called a meeting to discuss the ICC announcement and vowed to appeal.

Carlsen agrees to rematch against Anand

World No 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen has agreed to play the World Championship rematch against Viswanathan Anand in November.

Following some anxious weeks of anticipation, the Nordic prodigy inked his consent and took to the social media to announce his decision: "It has been a pleasure signing autographs for the fans in St Louis. After the tournament I found the time for 1 more," Carlsen tweeted, confirming his participation.

Last week, Fide extended the deadline for Carlsen till September 7. The original deadline for signing the contract was August 31. The Norwegian had earlier expressed his reservations over Sochi being chosen as the venue as well as uncertainty over finances for the impending edition of the November 7-28 title match.

The turmoil in Ukraine, a reduced prize purse as well as little knowledge about the principal sponsor of the event, were among his chief qualms.

P V Sindhu re-enters top 10 in BWF rankings Owing to her bronze medal finish at the recently-concluded World Championships, India's top shuttler P V Sindhu has reentered the top-10 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings. While 19year-old Sindhu has climbed up two places to be at number 10 position in the women's singles list while Saina Nehwal remained the top-ranked Indian player at No 7. In men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth has moved up a place to be the highest ranked men's singles Indian shuttler at number 22 position.

Parupalli Kashyap, who bowed out of the World Championships in the first round of the men's singles event, has dropped a place to be at number 28.

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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 13th September 2014

IPL not good for cricket: Ian Botham

Cricket legend Sir Ian Botham has called for scrapping of the Indian Premier League saying the tournament was bad for the game. While delivering this year’s MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, England's greatest ever allround cricketer said the tournament was ripe for betting and consequently, match-fixing.

Botham said: "I'm worried about the IPL - in fact, I feel it shouldn't be there at all as it is changing the priorities of world cricket. Players are slaves to it. Administrators bow to it. "How on earth did the IPL own the best players in the world for two months a year and not pay a penny to the boards who brought these players into the game?

"I know this has been modified to a degree, but it is still an imbalance. The IPL is too powerful for the long-term good of the game.

"Corruption is enough of a problem in itself, but the IPL compounds that problem given it provides the perfect opportunity for betting and therefore fix-

ing."

Sir Ian also said that punishing players for corruption was not enough and called on the ICC to do more to target the big players calling the shots behind the scenes. "We have seen a few players exposed, but does throwing the odd second XI player into jail solve it? To kill the serpent, you must cut off its head. The ICC Anti-Corruption Unit must pursue the root of

the problem and if necessary expose the big names."

Sir Ian, now one of the world's most respected cricket commentators, also warned of the danger posed to Test cricket by excessive limited overs cricket, in particular the T20 format: his comments following a summer during which the Indian side looked distinctly jaded over the course of a 5-match Test series only to spring to life as the onedayers got underway.

“We should beware of overkill of the T20. When it began in county cricket, we played the tournament in a three-week burst and it worked. Since then we have played more of it, and guess what?

The crowds have not got bigger."

The Indian Premier League, first staged in

2008, has created unprecedented riches for players from around the world but has also been dogged by widespread allegations of corruption.

India slam Botham's call Organisers of cricket's Indian Premier League hit back angrily Botham's call for the tournament to be scrapped, criticising him for having the "temerity" to issue lectures.

But Sanjay Patel, secretary of the Indian board (BCCI), said that Botham was in no position to take the moral high ground after his involvement in disgraced Texas financier Allen Stanford's ill-fated T20 competition between the West Indies and England.

"We don't want his advice. We have enough top players like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid to advise us." Patel said Botham had failed to "get his facts" right and that India had "distributed over $10 million as compensation to other cricket boards for allowing their players to play in the IPL".

Turn Muslim to go to heaven, Pak cricketer tells Dilshan

The Pakistan Cricket Board has ordered an investigation into the religious comments made by Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad to Sri Lanka player Tillakaratne Dilshan after their one-day international recently.

While the players were walking back to the dressing room in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, Shehzad was caught on camera telling Dilshan, “If you are a nonMuslim and you turn Muslim, no matter whatever you do in your life, straight to heaven.“ Dilshan's reply was not audible, and Shehzad went on to say, “Then be ready for the fire.'' Shehzad was summoned to PCB headquarters in Lahore and asked about his comments, board general manager media Agha Akbar said.

“Ahmed has informed the PCB that it

was his personal chat with Dilshan, and there was nothing more to it,'' Akbar said. “What we understand is that no Sri Lanka official or our own manager lodged any complaint,'' Akbar said.

However, Akbar said the PCB was still investigating the matter.

Dilshan was born to a Muslim father and a Buddhist mother and was known as Tuwan Mohamed Dilshan. He shed his Muslim name shortly after his international debut in 1999 and took up the name T i l l a k a r a t n e Mudiyanselage Dilshan with an ethnic Sinhalese-Buddhist identity.