FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE
inside: Labour leader eager to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi SEE PAGE - 15 R
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side
22 - 28 AUGUST 2020 - VOL 49 ISSUE 17
STUDENTS' POWER PREVAILS
South Asians encouraged to lose weight to cut Covid-19 risk SEE PAGE - 17
Ladakh has shown the capability of Indian soldiers: PM Modi SEE PAGE - 26
INDIAN AMERICANS REJOICE KAMLA HARRIS’ VICE-PRESIDENT BID
Yaqoub Imran and others protesting at Godiva Square, Coventry
Priyanka Mehta and Shefali Saxena On Tuesday 18th August, as we went to press, Gavin Williamson continued to preside as the UK’s Education Secretary despite widespread protests demanding his resignation after the Government’s chaos in its handling of the Alevels results. Students’ protests were successful in pressurising the government to scrap the Ofqual algorithm. But government’s U-turn to now accepting Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) still doesn’t help all students to study the course they had initially been offered as seats in universities have already been filled up. Academics believe that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students might once again be languishing behind. Frustrated with the back and forth but welcoming the government’s apology Priyanka Virdi says, “No student should have received a U for an exam that they had not taken in the first place. Gavin Williamson should have trusted our teachers and given students their CAGs to
begin with because teachers know and can best assess their students’ ability instead of an algorithm. It is a disrespect to the sincerity and dedication of our teachers to assume that they would exercise bias or inaccuracy whilst grading. “The government’s U-turn was definitely needed but it may be too late as some courses have already been filled up. My parents and family were quite supportive surrounding the situation as they know now that my current grades do not reflect my ability or hard work and dedication. But it is just frustrating that the government and Ofqual had five months to sort this out and yet, they put us through such an unnecessary five days of emotional turmoil and stress.” Continued on page 6
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, has named Kamala Harris, who is of mixed Indian and Black heritage, as his pick for Vice-President in what was described as “historic” and “seismic” by Democrats, including many ecstatic Indian Americas, and non-partisan observers. Harris was not a surprise pick as she had been on everyone’s shortlist of Biden’s choices, which at some stage had 11 names. In recent days the former vice-president had been focussed on three - Harris, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Congresswoman Karen Baas. Some days ago, Biden may have tipped his hand inadvertently when notes he held during a press interaction showed several checkmarks against her name. Continued on page 26