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Vol 44 | Issue 16

22nd to 28th August 2015 INDIA

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

P26

INDIA

DEMOCRACY WINS IN SRI LANKA SUVRA MUKHERJEE BREATHES LAST

P27

MODI’S UAE VISIT UAE, India join hands to fight terror

www.asian-voice.com EDUCATION P11 ASIAN STUDENTS CELEBRATE A-LEVEL RESULTS

Start up India Stand up India FULL STORY ON P 16

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's attempts at staging a political comeback fell short

Former Sri Lankan Mahinda President Rajapaksa's attempts at staging a political comeback fell short as the parliamentary election results showed his defeat at the hands of the country's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The loss has blocked a key step of his bid to return to power, seven months after he lost presidency.

A beaming Wickremesinghe said a majority of the people had endorsed what he called his administration's good governance and consensual politics in Monday's elections. “I offer my grateful thanks to all parties and individuals who worked untiringly during the election period to ensure victory for the people,” he said in a statement. His United National Party won 106 out of 225 seats in the Parliament, while Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance secured 95.

Rajapaksa had conceded defeat a few hours before the official results were declared, and said he would continue to work as

First Indian female footballer debuts for West Ham United

Rupanjana Dutta

an opposition member of the South Asian island nation's legislature. “We have won eight districts and the UNP has 11,” Rajapaksa said. “This means we have lost. It was a difficult fight.” He had lost to former ally Maithripala Sirisena earlier this year, after which Sirisena decided to dissolve the parliament and hold fresh elections. Rajapaksa again eyed a return with the elections even as an investigation into alleged corruption during his

tenure as president as well as murder allegations against his son continued to hover him. Sirisena had sent a sharp letter to him saying he would not allow him to take up the top post even if his party won. A possible return to political office by the former president has been treated with significant consternation by many Sri Lankans, with the head of the country’s central bank saying he would resign if he was elected.

Rajapaksa had blamed

India, particularly the Research and Analysis Wing, for his January defeat, in order to deflect attention from his domestic failures that set apart large sections of the Sinhalese and promoted the minorities as adversaries. Even India wasn't ecstatic with him, wary of his proximity with China and his wavering of projects that affected Indian security interests. India has however, encouraged the broad opposition alliance CONTINUED ON P 26

India women's senior goal keeper Aditi Chauhan has become the first Indian to make a debut for an English club- West Ham United, in the opening game of the season a g a i n s t Coventry City on Sunday.

B y doing so, Aditi is now the first female goalkeeper of a country, which does not have a league of its own, to play

for the first team of an English side. Another Indian Tanvie Hans is also playing for Fulham in the fourth tier but is yet to make it to the first eleven.

The 22-year old is studying MSc in Sports Management at Loughborough University and has also started playing for her University team.

Though West Ham was handed a 0-5 drubbing by Coventry Ladies, Aditi's debut for The Hammers, as West Ham is famously known in the men's English Premier CONTD ON P 31

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ONE ONE with Keith Vaz, MP to

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Gloria De Piero was elected to serve Ashfield at the 2010 General Election. Before being elected as an MP aged 37, Gloria was GMTV’s Political Editor. She has previously worked as a journalist on the Politics Show at the BBC. Gloria graduated from the University of Westminster with a first class honours degree in Social Sciences and completed an MSc at the University of London. Her priority is to be an open and accessible Member of Parliament, who always puts the interests of the people of Ashfield first. In October 2010, Gloria was appointed to a junior role in the shadow Department for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. Between October 2011 and October 2013, Gloria served as a junior minister in the shadow Department for the Home Office before being appointed as a full member of the Shadow Cabinet in October 2013 as the Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.

1) What is your current position?

I am currently Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, and MP for Ashfield constituency 2) What are your proudest achievements?

My proudest achievement is reaching places I'd never dreamed of: university, the BBC and finally

Gloria De Piero MP places, but I’ve learnt that being different can be your biggest strength.

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

My parents, for making sure that I got to University, I’m not sure I’d have been able to achieve the things I have without that start.

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

When I was a journalist I thought that was the best way to learn about what was happening in our country but being an MP gives you much more insight and unlike journalism I don’t just report on a story and move on, I can change things.

Parliament.

3) What inspires you?

My biggest inspiration are people who have suffered injustice but find the strength to stand up and challenge it. Like a woman in my constituency who had been raped over thirty years ago, but has recently won her battle to reopen the case.

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

I’ve always felt like a bit of

an outsider because of my humble roots. People think that you have to be of a certain mould to fit in

7) And the worst?

Not being in Government means we can criticize and complain but we can’t change our country.

8) What are your long term goals?

My twenties and thirties were all about setting goals and pushing myself very hard but post-forty I just try and do the best I can in the role I currently have which is hugely fulfilling.

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

I’d love to see more people from ordinary backgrounds running our businesses and succeeding in top professions; to create a society where everyone can achieve their potential.

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

I reckon Marilyn Monroe would have some great gossip to keep you entertained for an evening!

Chef Online Smart Restaurant Solutions announces Online Ordering Platform On Monday 10 August, Chef Online Smart Restaurant Solutions, an online ordering service provider was announced at Crowne Plaza London Docklands to a guest list of media, restaurateurs and key figures from the UK hospitality industry.

Hosted by LBC presenter, Lisa Aziz, the evening marked the first formal event to unveil online ordering plaftorm, Chef Online Smart Restaurant Solutions, which is set to play a pivotal role in transforming the way restaurants and takeaways across the country run their businesses, in line with the online/ digital era. The launch was presented by Chef Online Managing Director, M A Munim Salik; Chef Online Chairman and Chair of Amber Group, Showkat Aziz Russell; Chef Online Co-Director, Hafizur Rahman Rimon; and Chef Online Marketing Director, Aktaruz Zamman.

Personalities from the UK curry industry in attendance included Samad Chowdhury JP, Chairman of Channel S; Mukim Ahmed, Former Chair of the British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce; Nur ul Islam Mahbub, Chair of Greater Sylhet Council; Mahtab Chowdhury, Chair of the

Back L to R: Metu Chowdhury, Vice President, Bangladesh Caterers Association (BCA) UK, BCA Kent region President and owner of Moughel Dynasty restaurant; Mr Sukoor; Chef Online Marketing Director, Mr Aktaruz Zamman; Chef Online Chairman and Chair of Amber Group, Showkat Aziz Russell; Chef Online Managing Director, M A Munim Salik; Mr Nasir; Chef Online Co-Director, Hafizur Rahman Rimon; Mahtab Chowdhury, Chair of the British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce.

Front L to R: Ahmed us Samad Chowdhury JP, Chairman of Channel S; Eafor Ali, Chair of the British Bangladeshi Caterers Association; Yawor Khan, Chair of the Federation of Bangladeshi Caterers, Asian Catering Federation and Founder of the Asian Curry Awards; Nur ul Islam Mahbub, Chair of Greater Sylhet Council; Mukim Ahmed, Former Chair of the British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce; Eafor Ali, Chair of the British Bangladeshi Caterers Association; and Yawor Khan, Chair of the Federation of Bangladeshi Caterers, Asian Catering Federation and Founder of the Asian Curry Awards.

Hospitality was provided by Pride of Asia.

Unlike others, Chef Online promises to take no commission on orders and plans to allow restaurants to

use the service free for six months, beyond which there will be a flat rate, monthly subscription fee of £53 (approximately £1.75 per day). Restaurants will be provided with a free, customised website; client database; online ordering platform; table reservation system; membership to the Chef Online intermediary platform; and 7am-11pm customer support service.

Chef Online’s strategic partner is Amber IT – one of the

leading IT and technology providers based in Bangladesh, with a team of over 600 staff.

Speaking at the event, leading Bangladeshi industrialist, IT and technology provider, Showkat Aziz Russell, Chair of Amber Group and Chairman of Chef Online, said, “It is a changing environment for the restaurant industry and we have to adjust to that change. We need to be technologically advanced.

We need to have a website as an introduction to what we do, in the digital century. Chef Online is an online ordering platform, updating as we speak.”

Chef Online also promises to build unique, customised websites for subscriber restaurants in keeping with their brand identities, allowing subscriber restaurants to have full control over the system, with no commission payable to a third party.

Features as part of the Chef Online Smart Restaurant Solutions service includes: online ordering system through both e-commerce websites and mobile apps for both Apple iOS and Android devices; table reservation system that allows customers to reserve restaurant tables, with instant notification via SMS or email; offers, discounts and loyalty points – the Chef Online system has built in offers, discount and loyalty points so that restaurants can take advantage of offering promotions instantly through their dashboard; customer database that helps businesses assess what their customers want; and SEO integration for websites to ensure their content features prominently on major search engines such as Google.

Additionally, Chef Online’s Cloud EPOS system also promises to consolidate a subscriber restaurant’s customer database, sales reports and product inventories using their secure Cloud server.

Chef Online’s SRS Cloud EPOS system is easy to use, with training provided on how to use it effectively and efficiently.

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Singapore-India: Building a future Singapore celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its Independence in the very week of India’s Independence Day anniversary. India as a sovereign state is 68, to Singapore’s 50. But they have been soul-mates from the beginning, never more so than now. Ties of history, culture, commerce, education, political systems, ethnicity and the rule of law have brought the two countries together. Singapore and Indian were once important components of the British Empire, both shaped by its best traditions, which include the English language and the judicial system. Without this legacy each country would have been diminished; instead, Singapore – a city on the hill, has become the fifth most prosperous state in the world, a centre of global excellence buttressed by an excellent, English-based educational structure with room for the cultures of its diverse population particularly Chinese and Tamil, to grow and flourish. Another point worth mentioning is Singapore’s modern emergence, initially, as part of the Malayan Federation, when the latter achieved its independence in 1959. Relations between Singapore and central government in Kuala Lumpur deteriorated, Malayan politics and society, being overwhelmingly Muslim, were ill at ease with the concept of a secular state. There was constant friction over the division of the national wealth, leading eventually to separation.

Singapore opted for its own sovereignty, to which Kuala Lumpur readily agreed as the best course for both parties. Singapore’s takeoff as a secular republic under Lee Kwan Yew’s dynamic leadership created a sturdy platform for the great successes that were to follow.

India’s pains of labour as it struggled to shake off the largely feudal past and embrace the future is work in progress. With a population of over billion people of varying ethnicities, tongues and faiths – a society in transition on a grand scale – the obstacles have been, and are, of an immense complexity. At certain levels

India has done well, very well, at others, less well, and in some areas, pretty poorly. India has conducted a successful space mission to Mars, Sundar Pichai’s appoint as CEO of Google, and others of that genre in similar positions of authority with global companies of equal renown, highlight the talent with which India is blessed. These diverse elements of science, technology, entrepreneurship have yet to achieve the critical mass that can propel India into a high orbit of development.

The greatest obstacle, thus far, has been and still is – even more so now – the country’s venal politicians – lacking in vision and integrity, self-seeking for the most part, and congenitally incapable of working together for the common good. Hopefully, things may improve in the fullness of time with a better breed in public life..

Such is the complementary and contrasting human landscapes of Singapore and India. Many of India’s obstacles are perceived as temporary impediments rather than permanent road blocks. That said, the exchanges between the two nations are deepening in every field of human endeavour: in business, education and defence. The Singapore Air Force has special rights to practice its drills and skills in Indian skies; and the two navies exercise with friendly powers in the waters around their shores.

To give shape to broad generalisations with a living example, business enterprise in the jointly owned, 51:49, company by Temasek of Singapore and India’s ITC, with their uniquely complementary capabilities in urban renewal and development is making a significant impact across India, from Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. New technology parks, townships, modern housing complexes, shopping malls, office blocks administrative centres are coming up, bearing witness to the work of this influential company and its visionary directors. The best in Singapore-India ties are yet to come.

Sundar Pichai: Rise of THE global Indian The appointment of the 43 year-old, Chennai-born, Kharagpur IIT-educated Sundar Pichai as the new CEO of Google has created waves in India and abroad.

He is one of a clutch of Indian executives in recent years to reach the helm of companies that are household names around the world. He certainly has the required CV, having cut his teeth at the demanding Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, where he passed out with distinction, then departed for Stanford University in the United States for post-graduate studies, which he followed with a course in business management at Wharton, also one of America’s famed institutions. He was ready, thereafter, to face the challenges of an increasingly competitive environment which allows for nothing beyond the survival of the fittest.

When a BBCTV anchor asked a well spoken Indian woman consultant to explain the meteoric rise of the global Indian CEO, she mentioned the following facts: first, was the testing standards required at India’s IITs, preparing Mr Pichai for the tasks ahead; second, came the aspirations that motivate so much of contemporary India at different levels. Related to this was the determination of Mr Pichai’s parents to scrape the barrel to further their son’s career prospects in the United States. Finally, said the woman, was Mr Picchai’s Indian psyche – the ability to adapt to situations, cultures and people, for which Indian life and its myriad experience equip the Indian for the trials and tribulations of a foreign field. Those like Mr Pichai are excel-

lent communicators in English “now an Indian language”, exclaimed the lady – and homegrown tongues, enabling them to cope with ethnic and linguistic diversity with aplomb. This last point was emphasised recently, with refreshing candour, by writer, journalist and entrepreneur, Pritish Nandy, in The Times of India. Born in Bhagalpur in Bihar to Bengali Christian parents of modest means, he grew up in cosmopolitan Kolkata, becoming a distinguished Bengali and English poet and translator, exploring during his intoxicating journey what it meant to be Indian, experiencing the joys and fulfilment of the Indian dream.

The early graph of Sundar Pichai’s rise has been supplemented by the next stage of his ascent, bringing him to where he is now. During these years he has been Google co-founder Larry Page’s lieutenant. As Google’s product chief, he has proved to be an able and effective manager, his knowledge of Google products being truly phenomenal. Says Larry Page: “Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use – and he loves a big bet….Sergei (Brin, Google’s other founder) and I have been super excited about his progress….it is clear to us and our board that it is time for Sundar to be CEO of Google.” Take a bow, Mr Pichai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Congratulations Sundar Pichai. My best wishes for the new role at Google.” Satya Nadella, the Indian-born CEO at Microsoft messaged: “Congrats Sundar Pichai.

Well deserved.” And so say all of us.

Sri Lanka teach India a lesson The glorious uncertainties of cricket produced a result in the First Test match at Galle that could have been scripted by the gods of the game. Time was when a result loomed large at the close of the second day. By mid-afternoon of the third day, wicketkeeper batsman, Dinesh Chandimal, played the innings of his life, blasting an unbeaten 162 runs that included 23 scorching boundaries and four blitzed sixes. Sri Lankan captain Angelo Matthews, Thiramane and Mubarak contributing critical 40s along the way. Adrift by 191 runs in the first innings, 183 to India’s 375, with centuries from Shekhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, and a 10 wicket haul

by Ravichandran Ashwin, Sri Lanka’s looked down and out - until the fabulous, once-in-a lifetime recovery.

Thereafter, Sri Lanka occupied the box seat, with spinners Herat and Kaushal bewitching, bewildering and bothering the Indian batsmen like rabbits caught in the headlights. That said, the endgame might have been

COMMENTS

India’s by lunch or mid-afternoon of the third day, if Chandimal and Thiramane had not been reprieved by two glaring umpiring errors, two clear bat-pad catches being disallowed. If the pig headed Indian cricket board had agreed to the use of the DRS system, to which every other cricket playing nation has subscribed, television replays would have reversed both verdicts, as also happens in tennis and football; but the board, it would appear, intimidates believers in the system’s efficacy in the manner of a boss of a Mexican drug cartel. The much touted Rohit Sharma, who has just moved into a plush Rs 30 crore Mumbai apartment, is as pretty to watch with the bat as a butterfly, is blighted by his own fragility. Harbhajan Singh looks as lost as a babe in woods, while ex-cricketers-turned columnists, like Voltaire’s philosopher, Pangloss, put a positive spin to every disaster - all part of the masquerade passing off as a sport.

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Squeeze the past like a sponge, smell the present like a rose, and send a kiss to the future - Arabic proverb

VJ and India Independence There is a quote you will have heard a lot on August 15, Victory in Japan Day. Let me tell you its befitting origins on Victory in Japan Day and India Independence Day. Indians fought for Independence in both battles. We who by time and fortune were not there, hold ourselves cheap, and this is why.

The quote is "When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today" It comes from the epitaph in Kohima, India where in the Second World War the Imperial Army of Japan suffered their greatest ever military defeat to that date.

2,000 Indian troops repulsed 15,000 ff Japan's mightiest as they tried to overrun India.

Of the victory Field Marshall Slim said "if you want to know how brave were the Indian soldiers, don't ask me, ask the enemy" The epitaph was written to commemorate that victory. But the story does not end there It is based on another epitaph over a thousand years earlier...when 300 Spartans stood up to an army of over ten thousand Persians.

That was made famous in a film with this quote: "Remember us." As simple an order as a king can give. "Remember why we died." For he did not wish tribute, nor song, nor monuments nor poems of war and valour. His wish was simple. "Remember us," he said to me. That was his hope, should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be. May all our voices whisper to you from the ageless stones, "Go tell the Spartans, passer-by, that here by Spartan law, we lie."

It is because men do their duty and the opportunity to do so that Shakespeare’s King Henry V said "From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be rememberèd— We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now abed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day."

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Goans International launches first Global Professional and Business Networking event in the UK

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Young women too shy to discuss sex with doctors

A charity has found that over half of young women in Britain search for answers for their sexual health problems on Google rather than consulting their GP, as they feel too embarrassed to speak to their doctor. According to a survey by Ovarian Cancer Action, women under 25 are more likely to seek advice from their mothers for gynaecological issues, rather than asking a health professional.

Psychologists say violent video games boost aggression Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MP, Cllr Rabi Martins and other dignitaries at the launch of the Goans Professional and Business Networking event in Bombay Brasserie, London Guest of Honour. He spoke at the launch and hoped that this power of networking and practise would be helpful within the Goan community, which is small, but very well respected all over the world. He also expressed happiness at the array of talent across the industries, some invited for the launch as well.

Milton Rodrigues thanked everyone present for their support and par-

ticipation. He started this venture in 1986 and hoped that it would not only be a powerful endeavour to bring like minded Goans together, but a process to help others reach their professional and value based goals.

The event also had a musical performance by Druston D’Mello a young and budding musician, who performed some jazz and blues numbers with pianist Chris.

Lancashire Police visit Asian Women's Forum

Study reveals rise in underage girls prescribed the pill

On the last weekend, Goans International launched their first Goans Professional and Business Networking event, in the UK. This very unique and exciting venture was organised by Milton Rodrigues, the President of Goans International and Antonio Fernandes FIH, Premium Kitchen Manager at AlphaLSG UK. It kicked off with a welcome drinks reception,

Lancashire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Clive Grunshaw had visited the Saheliyaan Asian Women's Forum, where they came across the work that was being done in order to help victims of domestic violence. The commissioner spent time with victims and those who are potentially at risk of abuse, at the Chorley Youth and Community Centre.

The organisation had recently received £20,000 from the community safety partnership, in order for them to deliver more culturally-appropriate confidence building courses.

These courses include sewing and knitting classes, craft courses, as well as English tuition.

Clive Grunshaw said, “I am hugely impressed by the work going on at the Saheliyaan Asian Women's Forum. It was clear to see

followed by a superb Goan theme buffet at the world acclaimed Taj Group restaurant - Bombay Brasserie.

Antonio Fernandes FIH, the Events and Promotions Manager for Goans International welcomed the guests and explained the purpose of the high power networking that is key to successful business in the world.

Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP for Leicester East was the

Crime Commissioner, Clive Grunshaw at Asian Women's Forum achieve this.” that the activities offered at The chair and founder the organisation really help of the Asian Women's women to develop new Forum, Hasina Khan said, skills and the confidence to “I was delighted to welmake a difference to their come the Commissioner to lives. When I spoke to the forum and than him for some of the women about all of his support the worktheir experiences, I was ing relationship we have amazed by how far they means we can continue to had come. One of my key offer support to women priorities is protecting vulfrom all backgrounds who nerable people and I am have been subjected to viodelighted to say that the lence or abuse.” forum is really helping to

According to a new study, there has been a 50% rise in ten years, in the number of underage girls being prescribed the contraceptive pill. The study, which was conducted by King's College London using official GP prescribing data, revealed that one in 20 girls, who were under the consent age were being prescribed the pill by their general practitioners.

The figures showed the number of girls between the age of 12 and 15 being prescribed contraceptive pills rose from 3.3% in 2002, to 5.2% in 2011, going from 50,000 girls to 75,000.

Dr Asia Rashed, of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King's College London led the study. She said, “I was surprised by the figure.

5% is high.”

Butterfly Ball raises £2 million for Caudwell Children Leicester based Vic Sethi, along with his wife Dimple Sethi were pleased and honoured to have been invited by Claire and John Caudwell, to the Butterfly ball, at the Grosvenor House, in London.

The event raised an amount of over £2 million on the night for “Caudwell Children”. The event comprised of celebrities such as Rod Stuart and Sir Bruce Forsyth, as well as live perLionel formances by Richie, Tito Jackson, plus many more.

Caudwell Children provides family support services, equipment, treatment & therapies for disabled children and their families across the UK. It also runs

its Enable Sport programme for talented disabled athletes, as well as its Destination Dreams holiday for children fighting life threatening conditions.

Vic Sethi, who is the Chief Patron of C r i m e s t o p p e r s Leicestershire and Rutland, as well as the first ever Culture Ambassador to the Leicester Cathedral during the reburial of King Richard the III said, “In a flight travelling back from Hong Kong to Birmingham, Claire invited me and Dimple to join her and John for a private dinner at their residence in Mayfair. At the same time, she explained about the Butterfly Ball charity and

From left: Vic Sethi, John Caudwell, Claire Caudwell and Dimple Sethi from the charity. It was a requested us to book the very touchy moment, even date and join them for the John paused for a moment event too.” with tears in his eyes while His wife, Dimple Sethi speaking to a little girl who said, “Almost everyone was had first time walked with in tears when John introthe help of Caudwell duced a couple of the chilChildren”. dren who had benefited

After a review of a decade of research, psychologists finds that violent video games are more likely to stem aggressive and callous behaviour amongst the players in real life, and are also at risk of committing crimes. The review of the decade long studies found that the exposure to violent video games was a “risk-factor” for the increase in aggressive behaviour.

Anne Robinson critises “victim culture” in the workplace

Former Weakest Link host, Anne Robinson (70), has criticised the “victim culture” in workplace, stating that people who complain about racism or sexism should accept that “the workplace is tough”. She said, “Don't ask yourself what you want to be, but who you want to be.” Anne Robinson began her career as a newspaper journalist, before achieving fame in television, presenting television shows.

Figures reveal Britain now home to biggest families in Europe

New figures show that Britain is now home to some of the biggest families in Europe. Immigration, as well as the likely trend for people who are well-off to have more children has left the UK with some of the largest families in four decades. Britain is now home to more families who have four or more children than any time since the early 1970s.

Peers claim £360,000 in 5 years and fail to vote

A new study by the Electoral Reform Society found that £360,000 was claimed by peers in attendance fees and expenses, during the 20102015 parliament, even though they had failed to vote once. The Electoral Reform Society has warned the institution was “growing out of control” and was “shockingly out of date and unrepresentative”.

Lord Janner apppears in court over sexual abuse allegations

On 14th August 2015, former Leicester West MP, Lord Janner (87), appeared before Westminster magistrates' court to face charges of sexual abuse spanning three decades.

Lord Janner, the labour peer who suffers from dementia, was driven to the court from his home, accompanied by a carer and his daughter, Marion. He appeared to be bewildered and frail. His legal team had previously tried to prevent him from appearing in court, due to his ill health.

Lord Janner was addressed by District Judge Emma Arbuthnot, the deputy chief magistrate, who explained to him that he was facing 22 charges and his case would be sent to crown court. His brief appearance at the court lasted only 59 seconds.

The 22 charges that he is being faced with took place between 1963 to 1988, while the alleged crimes include seven charges of buggery and 15 of indecent assault. He was granted unconditional bail at Westminster magistrates' court and the case is scheduled for 1st September 2015, at Southwark crown court.

Desperate attempts to stop Carobyn from being Labour leader

It is said that Lord Mandelson tried to persuade the three mainstream Labour leadership candidates to quit, in a bid to stop Jeremy Corbyn from winning the Labour leadership. It was also suggested that Liz Kendall had urged Yvette Cooper to stand down, as it is believed that Andy Burnham is the only candidate who can win. However, Yvette Cooper refused to back down. It is claimed that these attempts are in desperation to stop Jeremy Corbyn from succeeding Ed Miliband as the Labour leader in less than a months time.

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How the conflict is affecting the British Muslim community Haneef believes that community leaders ought to increase the security, in order to guard against the threats of attacks from those who sympathise and support the attacks being carried out by Islamic State.

Qari Muhammad Asim, a leading Sunni imam in Leeds, warned that sectarianism was “a cancer eating away the Muslim community”.

Mr Haneef, from a Shia mosque in north London said, “The venomous preaching combined with the jihadists coming back into the country and looking to carry out opportunist attacks- that puts us in a very dangerous situation.”

Although the debate regarding Shia-Sunni may appear as new in the western world, the rift has been ongoing for many centuries. The original cause of rift occurred in 632AD, when there were concerns regarding who would succeed the Prophet Muhammad. A majority chose the Prophet's companion and closest associate, Abu Bakr, who became the first caliph, head of the Muslim community. A

Such tensions have proven detrimental

I t would not be farfetched to claim that there is religious segregation in current day Britain. But what has also emerged is the religious sectarianism within the British Muslim community, which has become a major cause of concern.

Many leading clerics have warned that the sectarianism could lead to violent crimes, as well as terrorism.

The rise in sectarian tension may not be apparent to the naked eye, but nevertheless, it exists and is allegedly being stoked by antagonistic preachers from both sides. It is said that these tensions between the Shia and Sunni community were impelled by the enduring and astringent war in Syria. It is further alleged that these preachers, including some who lecture at British universities, arouse tensions by encouraging assaults, attacks on buildings, as well as online intimidation.

and difficult to cope with. One of the world's leading Shia cleric, Dr Sayed Ammar Nakshwani, left the UK and moved to the United States after enduring several years of intimidation from hardcore Sunnis, who allegedly threatened to kill him, followed his parents and even vandalised his car.

Dr Nakshwani said, “They would sometimes target my house and call me and say, 'Hey rafidi, watch your back'. One time there was a call at midnight where they said your dad has gone out and we can see him at the supermarket.

They had followed him and were watching him.”

“Rafidi” is said to be a Sunni insult, which refers to the Shia rejection of the companions or associates of Muhammad.

A Shia imam in London, Sheikh Ahmed

smaller group opted for the Prophet's son-in-law, Ali ibn-Talib. This minority ultimately became known as the Shia, or the followers of Ali. The disagreement transformed into a civil war during the reign of Ali ibnTalib. He rose to become the fourth caliph in 656AD. He was, however, attacked while praying in a mosque, in Iraq, and died two days later.

The tensions may be concurrent between the two groups in Britain as well as globally, however, there are still a majority of Muslims who believe in the unity of Islam and do not let the preposterous attacks affect them or their ideologies.

A spokesperson for the Al-Khair Foundation, the third largest Muslim charity in the UK said, “There will always be tensions between sects and religions- and it is an issue that extends beyond Islam or Sunnis/Shias. However, it is important for Muslims to stay united and true to the message of Islam and our Prophet, which was one of peace, tolerance and forgiveness.”

Family of five arrested over terrorism links to Syria According to reports, a family of five have been arrested for alleged terrorism offences linked to Syria. Three teenage girls, aged 16, 17 and 19, as well as their parents, a 51-year-old man and a 53year-old woman were arrested at an address in east

In Brief

5

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

The Shia-Sunni divide Reshma Trilochun

UK

tial plans of travelling to the country. The teenager is already on police bail to a date in September, pending further inquiries into the matter.

On 12th August 2015, officers from the Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism

London.

The police said that the arrests were made as part of an inquiry, which led to the 16-year-old to be arrested in July, on suspicion of preparation of terrorism. It is alleged that the investigated is associated with Syria and poten-

command had attended the address and the 51-year-old man was detained, on suspicion of having false identity documents “with improper intention”. The family of five are currently in police custody at a police station in central London.

Young women too shy to discuss sex with doctors

A charity has found that over half of young women in Britain search for answers for their sexual health problems on Google rather than consulting their GP, as they feel too embarrassed to speak to their doctor. According to a survey by Ovarian Cancer Action, women under 25 are more likely to seek advice from their mothers for gynaecological issues, rather than asking a health professional.

Couple fined for sex act at Hyde Park

Lisanne Beck (47), and Simon Murphy (48) have been fined for their sex act during a BBC Radio 2 concert in Hyde Park, in September 2014.

Judge Charles Wide QC told the couple that they “both need to be taught a lesson” for this “particularly revolting behaviour in public”.

Beck and Murphy had been filmed on a mobile phone carrying out the sex act in front of families at the concert.

They were criticised by the judge at the Old Bailey for initially refusing to admit the offence of outraging public decency, which led to the trial going to the crown court, at a cost to the public. They were fined £1,000 each, as well as an additional £1,750 each in prosecution costs.

Diabetes rises to 10% of annual prescriptions bill

Figures reveal that medicine to treat diabetes now accounts for 10% of the annual spend on prescriptions.

According to the Health and Social Care Information Centre, the figures show that £868.6 million was spent during 2014 on treating diabetes sufferers, which is an increase of £65.5 million on the previous 12 months.

Walking more beneficial than running for age 60

A study has found that walking or cycling for at least 20 minutes a day can reduce the risk of a 60-year-old man of having heart failure by a fifth. Researchers had monitored 33,000 Swedish men between 1998 to 2012. They found that those who were least physically active were more likely to develop heart failure.

Heart failure develops when the heart becomes too weak to pump enough blood around the body. The analysis also stated that walking and cycling for 20 minutes a day has proven to be a beneficial form of physical activity for people aged 60, and was associated with the biggest risk reduction. It was more protective than heavy-duty or more extensive forms of physical exercise, such as running.

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www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Group of "thugs" stop inter-faith wedding at Southall Gurdwara

Spriha Srivastava

Get rewarded for staying fit Exercising and staying fit have always been the last on my list due to high amounts of laziness taking over more or less all the time. But little did I know that all I needed was an incentive to get me into action. When I heard about Earthmiles, I decided to try it out. Available on smartphones, it lets you connect your fitness apps and gives you points for walking, running and even doing yoga. You can then redeem these points or ‘Earthmiles’ to get discounts on a range of healthy options such as smoothies, Nakd bars, salads, Pilates classes among others.

After having tried the app for a few months, I decided to speak to London-based Indian banker-turned entrepreneur Megha Prakash, one of the founders of this service, to know how she came up with this concept.

Q. Tell us about yourself in brief?

A. I’ve grown up in Delhi and moved over to London during my career in banking. While I was working on M&A Advisory for tech companies I fell in love with the sector and wanted to be more closely involved in the technology that’s changing the world. I’ve always enjoyed reading about behavioural psychology and thought combining it with quantified self technology could be interesting.

Q. What is Earthmiles?

A. You earn Earthmiles in a similar way to how you earn air miles - for moving. When you walk or run or cycle (according to a scale based on intensity of effort) you automatically score Earthmiles. Your Earthmiles balance is a statement about your healthy lifestyle, as well as a virtual currency you can spend on rewards.

Q. How did you come up with the concept?

A. Technology today makes it easy to quantify many aspects of your every day life at a very granular level thanks to mobile computing.

My cofounder, Som Ghosh, and I wondered if it were possible to use it to incentivise positive behaviours. We’re also already fitness nuts and genuinely believe in authentic holistic living.

believe I’ve already grown a lot as a person thanks to Earthmiles. For me the deciding factor was the team - my co-founder and I go back a long way and he is a technical genius and an amazing human being. There is so much to learn from him on a day to day basis and I think we have very perfectly matched complementary skills.

We’d recently bought a Jawbone and a Fitbit each and were totally addicted to seeing how much we moved any given day. So the whole concept, the name, the way it would all work, just came to us in its entirety.

Q. Is it a free service? If so, then how do you generate your revenues?

A. It’s a free app for users.

Our partners do pay us a fee for connecting them to highly targeted health conscious users in this unique way. Every brand gives promotions but only the coolest brands give rewards!

Q. What has been the kind of response you have received so far?

A. We’ve been very lucky in making a place in our users’ lives from quite early on. Users regularly tell us the app makes them choose to move in healthier ways, that they’re walking instead of taking the bus, or they’ve tried biking to work, and every time we hear something like that it literally makes our day.

Most of our partners have had a great response to the reward-like positioning of their exclusive offers.

Since we carefully curate our partners, and only have very high quality products and services (many of them free), it creates a really robust ecosystem of brands and customers.

Q. How tough is it to start your own venture?

A. Not to say that its not hard work but I think like with most things in life, if you’re committed to a project, everything just starts to work itself out. I

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Q. What was the biggest challenge you faced when trying to launch this product?

A. Since we are all first time entrepreneurs we’ve faced challenges every step of the way and have had to learn everything quickly in a totally new industry. The benefit of being in this vibrant health & wellness industry in London is that it’s full of incredible people. Partners, users, mentors - every one we have come across has been so incredibly supportive and helped us realise the potential of Earthmiles.

Q. How do you market the product? Do you use social media?

A. We have experimented with various forms of marketing but found that most of our users just come from word-of-mouth or in-app referrals. Being a start-up we haven’t counted on working with a significant marketing budget and that has made us think about growth creatively. PR has been a source of awareness for us as we have found journalists and bloggers love the idea as much as we do!

Now we’re in 5 cities across the UK and growing quickly organically.

Q. How can those interested access Earthmiles or know more about it?

A. We have a website www.earthmiles.co.uk that features more details on the app and the full list of our rewards. They can also simply download the app for free from the iTunes or Google Play Stores, link up their favourite tracker (or just the existing native apps on their phone like Apple Health) and get earning Earthmiles!

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

A group of more than 20 men described as “thugs”, had disrupted an interfaith wedding between a Sikh bride and a non-Sikh white groom from taking place, at the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Southall, south-west London.

Scotland Yard officers were called to the gurdwara to remove the disruptive men. It is said that the gurdwara are now considering hiring private security.

It is also alleged that the men had threatened to prevent the Anand Karaj, the Sikh wedding ceremony from taking place and had made a phone call to the bride's family a night before the wedding.

However, the family decided to go on with the wedding, only to be disrupted and forced to cancel the wedding.

The vice-president of the gurdwara, Sohan Singh spoke to The Independent newspaper.

He said, “They were all

A group of over 20 men stopped an inter-faith wedding taking place in Southall where families have been thugs. None of them were intimidated and weddings recognised by any of the halted. In 2012, the winSikh groups here. It was dows of a family's house in because it was a mixed Coventry were smashed, marriage... they just came hours before a mixed faith here to spoil it and intimiwedding was to take place date us.” at a nearby gurdwara.

He further said, “I've Protestors had targeted been in this temple since this family as the Sikh 1994 and I've never seen daughter was marrying a this sort of thing. We will Hindu groom at a Sikh always listen to people's temple. suggestions but there was Again in 2012, a Sikh no reasoning with them. It bride and her Christian was a sad day... We are livgroom were locked out of ing in this country and we their own wedding in work with couples- if they Swindon by more than 40 are happy we're fine with protestors. They had it- Sikhism is a liberal reliobstructed the gates of the gion.” gurdwara, denying entry Many such incidents to the couple. have occurred in the past

Man posed as cab driver convicted of rape A man from East Barnet was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court on 11th August 2015, for pretending to be a mini cab driver and raping a 31year-old woman.

The incident took place in May 2012, when the victim tried to get home after a party at Notting Hill. She believed she was safely taking a cab home, only to wake up at an address in Uxbridge and find the driver, Ali Moaberfard (38) raping her.

The police informed that Moaberford dropped the victim at Uxbridge Station after raping her.

She then made her way to a hospital.

Moaberfard was linked to the crime through DNA.

Ali Moaberfard to be sentenced for rape Detective Constable Vicky Stenning said, “Moaberfard targeted a vulnerable woman who thought he was taking her home. I would like to

praise her bravery in coming forward and speaking with police. I would urge anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault to speak with us so that we can bring perpetrators before the courts.”

A spokesperson for Metropolitan Police also stated, “We always recommend that anyone wishing to travel by cab should ensure they use a licensed firm. All minicabs must be licensed by Transport for London and must be booked in advance. Any minicab that isn't booked by phone, email, an app or in a licensed minicab office is illegal and unsafe.”

Ali Moaberfard will be sentenced on 2nd October 2015.

Reports suggests not many ethnic minority managers at Bradford Council According to an independent report, commissioned by the council at a cost of £67,000, there are too few managers at Bradford Council who are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

A focus group was held with Council staff by consultants Hay Group. They found that there were concerns regarding those from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds.

They felt overlooked for promotion and complained that their abilities were not recognised by managers due to “conscious or unconscious bias”.

There was only 10% of senior managers who were non-white, which has now risen to 13%.

It was also uncovered that there was a wider frustration among staff members who felt that the culture was inflexible, there were restricted by too many rules and that managers did not like to be challenged.

Councillor Ishtiaq Ahmed (Bradford Independent Group, Manningham) said, “We are one of the biggest employers in the city, yet the representation at senior level is unbalanced, to say the least. We have had

Councillor Ishtiaq Ahmed some fantastic individuals that worked for this authority but we never elevated into senior positions.”

UK

When care homes no longer care

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Reshma Trilochun

Care homes has always been a sensitive subject, especially for the Asian community in Britain.

There are people who do not believe in sending their loved ones in a care home and would rather look after them; whereas there are many who do not see any harm in doing so.

As much as someone may want to take care of their ailing relative, it may not be feasible for them to provide that 24 hour care which is needed. They, therefore, have no other option but to let go of their relative and send them to a care home, with the hope that they would be taken care of in the best possible way.

There have been many negative reviews regarding care homes in the past; from the health, safety and hygiene of the accommodation to the treatment given by the staff members, as well as illegal immigrants being employed at certain care homes, there have been many instances which would make anyone think twice before sending their ailing relative into such a place.

A recent horrifying inci-

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

When genuine care homes suffer due to negligent staff

dent was of a 25-year-old nighttime carer at a Devon care home.

She has been jailed for 10 years after filming herself sexually abusing patients and sending the videos to her boyfriend.

Christina Sethi, from Torquay, assaulted three vulnerable patients at the care home, one male and two females. Two of the patients were 80 years old while one of the females was 101 years old. One of the female victims suffered from dementia.

Police described Sethi as “depraved and manipulative”.

She admitted to five offences of sexual assault, which took place between January 2014 and May 2015.

The court heard how Sethi had assaulted the 101-year-old patient in a shocking video, which last sevenand-a-half minutes. She had sent these videos to her 32-year-old boyfriend, who was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit sexual assault, but was released without charge.

While sentencing Sethi, Recorder Richard Stead said that she had “degraded and humiliated the victims”, while putting the reputation of the care home on line.

“The abuse of trust was woeful and exposed everyone's worse fears about placing their loved ones in

care. You have brought carers into disrepute and have harmed three people who trusted you. The anguish and distress goes far beyond the victims. To a very great degree what it is felt by families- the spouses, children and grandchildren- exceeds the feelings of the victims.

The

The owners of the Pontcanna care home, in Cardiff, Shirwan AlMufti (69), and his wife, Nasik (61), were convicted of health and safety breaches and have been ordered to pay £100,000.

Cardiff crown court was told that the care home

distress and guilt remain with the families for as long as they live.”

Another tragic incident took place recently in which the patient ended up losing her life. 96-year-old May Lewis, died after she fell 20ft down an empty lift shaft as the owners of a care home had failed to act accordingly after being told that the lift was unsafe to use.

May Lewis had died in her wheelchair when her carer, Carol Conway, reversed into the empty shaft. She had not realised that the lift had failed to arrive, The carer survived, however, suffered broken ribs, four fractures in her back and a broken ankle.

owners had not inform the staff or residents about the problems with the lift in 2012. They had instead shown them how to use the emergency override key.

Mr and Mrs Mufti admitted failing to ensure health and safety requirements for employees and non-employees. They were fined £75,000 and were ordered to pay £25,000 costs.

The care watchdog has also stated that nearly half of hospitals are putting dying patients of harm or unnecessary suffering. The Care Quality Commission revealed that 50 of the 105 hospitals it has inspected since November 2013

7

were criticised for the safety of the patients. They further warned that conditions such as heart disease and dementia were receiving a poorer standard of treatment.

There are a significant number of care homes owned by Asians in Britain. It would be outrageous and wrong to say that all the Asian care homes are negligent when it comes to looking after their patients because of these two horrific examples. There have been many instances in the past where non-Asian care homes were in the spotlight for their cruel treatment on their patients too. On one hand, there are care homes where the patient's safety is questionable, on the other hand you have wellreputed care homes with dedicated staff who ensure patients receive the best treatment possible.

However, the genuine care homes, where the ultimate motive is the wellbeing of their patients, are at risk due to the controversies emerging. Many people may now be more skeptical in sending their loved ones to care homes due to all the negative news surrounding them.

There will always be genuine care homes and their staff members who will continue to strive and make sure that the patients are taken care of, regardless of all the negative connotations associated with them, due to some shady organisations and inadequate staff.

8

UK

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

As I See It A compassionate urge to help the poor asylum seekers In the British media, especially in several tabloids and some quality dailies, substantial space has been allocated on how small Britain is geographically and swarms and hoards of immigrants and asylum seekers are making a bee line to come to Britain. With the on going chaos at Calais, as well as several criminal activities associated with this migration, perhaps the reports are not totally untrue. At the same time, they are lopsided and are least likely to stop the influx of desperate people from knocking on the doors of our great country.

Let's look at the problem factually.

Yes the British Isles are comparatively small in size with England having a population of some 50 million and steadily rising. When we are told that in the last so many years, so many million non-white people have come and settled here we should remember that the economy of this country has also steadily grown, to a certain extent aided by these new immigrants.

When he or she, mainly a younger person, leaves his native country, be it in Africa or the Middle East, they pay gangsters and human traffic operators huge amounts of money, and are fully aware that a substantial number of them will perish, sometimes be murdered by the gangsters or most tragically drown in the Mediterranean Sea. Knowing such dangers and risks are inevitable, those who embark on this journey, are quite often very ambitious, educated and with a deep desire to progress. There is every chance that once they settle in Britain, they will become tax payers soon, and some of them develop into their own unique entrepreneurship.

Their children as we have seen in the past, are keen to be better educated and perhaps are above the average than their British born peers.

To those who shout the loudest about the number of migrants, here should know - asylum seekers are not normal migrants for economic reason.

In their own homeland life has became unbearable, because of western inspired wars, very largely led by the US, mostly supported by the UK and other allies from the western world.

Tragically in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq or other countries, the military intervention by the West took place without any consideration for what would happen later once Saddam Hussains, Gaddafis and the Talibans were removed and ground to dust. One cannot create mayhem, leave a vacuum and then wash their hands off the aftereffects. This only results in misery

and deprivation. This fact, however unpalatable is the true reality. We cannot have one without the other.

How many asylum seekers or migrants have been 'absorbed' into the UK? You can refer to this chart published by Eurostart, for a reality check.

Our Prime Minister and other

number of those who arrived have integrated and, to a certain extent, have successfully assimilated into the country.

The sons and daughters of the migrants have contributed so much in terms of business, commerce, arts, culture, science, literature, sports and

Empowering Donors. Supporting Charities. Help us change the world.

What is ACC? When you donate money to charities, how do you know you are giving it to the most effective ones? If you are a charity, how do you stand out and best showcase the great work you do? Empowering Donors.

Supporting Charities. That's what Asian Charity Clarity is all about. ACC have come up with a special rating system which assesses a charity across 18 metrics for Financial Health, Accountability and Transparency, and Accessibility.

Every week, we will publish a Top 10 list looking at different aspects of Asian charities.

Top 10 Charities working with Elderly People

When charities register at the Charities Commission (the regulator), they must specific what their Mission is - What they do, Who they will impact and How they operate. These are the Top 10 charities that say they work with elderly people. We've listed their Overall Rating. But nearly half of the charities on our database say they work with elderly people (it's one of the most popular categories on our database), so we removed a few for whom we thought it may not be as relevant. For example, Sewa Day would be on this list, but data shows it works largely with young people, with very few elderly people participating globally.

politicians should think very carefully prior to becoming provocative or remotely sound like xenophobic or those supporting jingoism. Church leaders as well as leading academicians and entrepreneurs to their credit have raised their voice against such irresponsible proclamations.

Look at another aspect too. A country is not great only because of its per capita income or gross domestic product. There are other values which are equally, if not more, important.

Compassion is one of them. The UK contributes some £9 billion in overseas aid, the highest percentage among the big developed economies. Over the centuries, the UK has given shelter to several waves of oppressed people, from the Huguenots, Jews, Hungarians, Ugandan Asians, Sri Lankan Tamils, Somalis and so many more. Broadly speaking the large

music of Great Britain. They were able to contribute so much because deep down in their hearts they knew that they were supported by the British people during their bad times.

We hear about extremism and terrorism, sadly it is there. It is localised within certain sectors of society. This misguided bunch of irresponsible characters eventually will be defeated, there is no doubt about that. But can we afford to discontinue the great tradition of assisting the helpless?

The demographic changes in society need hard working young people for continuos economic prosperity, as well as overall services. We cannot admit everyone. At the same time, our politicians and other powerful people must show restraint and responsibility, because they need to focus more on the country's future than it's past.

"Flash crash" trader, Navinder Singh Sarao granted bail Navinder Singh Sarao (36), the trader from west London who is accused of contributing to the 2010 flash crash in has been granted bail after the US authorities withdrew their disapproval to release him.

Sarao also revealed that £25.5 million are held in Swiss accounts.

Sarao was at Wandsworth prison since his arrest in April 2015. He now awaits a full extradition hearing in September for a trial in the United States. After returning home in Hounslow, there will be rules that he will have to abide to, such as he

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

is banned from using the internet for “fiscal transactions”. He will also need to report to the police while on bail.

On Friday 14th August 2015, the court also heard that Navinder Singh Sarao has been diagnosed with severe Asperger's syndrome.

He will be facing extradition to the US on Department of Justice charges. If found guilty, he could be facing a maximum sentence of 380 years.

Navinder Singh Sarnao had previously denied any wrongdoing in court. He said, “I've not done any-

Navinder Singh Sarao has been granted bail and awaits extradition hearing thing wrong apart from being good at my job.”

- CB

More than half jailed criminals have at least 15 convictions Official figures reveal that more than half of all criminals jailed have at least 15 previous cautions or convictions.

In the 12 months to March, it is said that the 50.1% of defendants that were given immediate custodial sentences for both serious and minor crimes, already had 15 or more sanctions.

It is the first time that the figures have exceeded 50%, since the records began a decade ago. In the previous two years, figures were 49.4% and 46.9%.

1. Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community (UK) 2.40 2. iPartner India 2.10 3. Gurjar Hindu Union (Ghu) Ltd 2.10 4. Leuva Patidar Samaj Of London 2.07 5. Kadwa Patidar Samaj (UK) Limited 2.04 6. Asian Foundation for Philanthropy 2.04 7. Wells For India 1.92 8. The Bhopal Medical Appeal 1.92 9. Lohana Charitable Foundation 1.89 10.Indian Senior Citizen’s Centre (Manchester)1.86

www.asiancharityclarity.org.uk Email: contact@asiancharitycharity.org.uk

Poorer students given university places

It has been said that more than 20,000 students from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds were given university places after the A-level results.

The number has increased by almost 4%.

The watchdog for fair access has urged more teenagers “with odds stacked against them” to apply to university through clearing, even if they had not considered university previously.

The number of students who came from deprived homes increased by 760 to reach 20,630, which is an increase of 20% in four years.

Director of Fair Access to Higher Education (Offa), Les Ebdon said, “Higher education could change your life like it did mine, as a teenager from a council estate who was the first in my family to go to university.”

He further stated, “If you have not yet applied to a higher education course, I urge you to consider doing so using the clearing system. Where you come from should not limit where you go in life, and universities and colleges

provide a wide range of financial aid and other support to help you settle in and study.”

The chief executive of Ucas, Mary Curnock Cook urges students not to rush into making a decision and not to be frightened or distrustful of the clearing system.

Jo Johnson, the Minister of universities said, “These results indicate record numbers of students will be heading to university in the autumn, including a record level from disadvantaged backgrounds and more taking up science, engineering and maths based courses.

This is great news and shows that by lifting the cap on student numbers, we are helping more people than ever benefit from higher education and gain the skills that businesses seek to boost productivity and support growth.”

UK

www.asian-voice.com

Leading Lights

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

The Philosopher-Architect Setting the Agenda in India Munishwar Nath Ashish Ganju qualified from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in 1966. He returned to India in 1967 for higher studies and has since been researching through teaching and practice.

He’s one of the most significant voices in Indian architecture and we were thrilled that he agreed to talk to us.

Ashish, as he is called, taught at the School of Planning and Architecture, and the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

He was founding Director of the TVB School of Habitat Studies, New Delhi, Visiting Professor at the University of East London, U.K., and the Universita IUAV di Venezia, Italy. Presently he builds with the Tibetan refugee community in Dharamsala to research the practice of a sustainable architecture in the H i m a l a y a s .

He has been a member of several committees of the Government of India and

has also won several prizes in national and international design competitions.

He is based in New Delhi, living and working on the urban fringe to demonstrate the principle of urban renewal by citizens. He described the

start of his career thus; “When I went abroad for studies, half a century ago, there were relatively few Indian architecture students in the UK, where I went.

The experience for me was quite transformative,

Bin Laden cited Gandhi as an inspiration Terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden in a speech in 1993, invoked Mahatma Gandhi, the symbol of peace and non-violence, as he asked his supporters to boycott American goods, a recording has revealed.

According to audio tapes of the Al-Qaida chief Bin Laden, he sought inspirations from the Indian leader's struggle against the British.

After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Laden was forced to flee the city of Kandahar, where he had been based

since 1997. Several compounds were hastily vacated, including one opposite the Taliban foreign ministry inside which 1,500 cassettes were discovered.

They soon passed many hands from an Afghan family to a cassette shop and then to a CNN cameraman, finally making its way to the Afghan Media Project at Williams College in Massachusetts, who asked Flagg Miller — an expert in Arabic literature and culture from the University of California, Davis — to unravel them,

the BBC reported.

In a tape discovered, according to a speech, Osama said, "Consider the case of Great Britain, an empire so vast that some say the sun never set on it," says Laden. "Britain was forced to withdraw from one of its largest colonies when Gandhi the Hindu declared a boycott against their goods. We must do the same thing today with America.”

Laden however made no mention of violence till 1996, according to the tapes.

Bangladeshi novelist wins Britain's oldest literary award A Bangladeshi novelist has won Britain's oldest literary award with her debut novel In the Light of What We Know. Writer Zia Haider Rahman has joined some of world's greatest literary names by winning this year James Tait Black Literary Prizes, awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh, since 1919.

The winner was announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Monday.

Zia, born in rural Bangladesh was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and at Cambridge, Munich, and Yale

Universities.

The winning book in the fiction prize released in the spring of 2014.

Zia's story revolves around an investment banker who on one September morning in 2008 receives a surprise visitor at his West London townhouse at a time when his career in collapse and his marriage unravelling.

The A bold novel is set dur-

ing the war and financial crisis that defined the beginning of our century.

The banker then recognizes a longlost friend, a mathematics prodigy who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances. The friend has resurfaced to make a confession of unsettling power.

In the Light of What We Know takes readers on a journey of exhilarating scope -- from Kabul to London, New York, Islamabad, Oxford, and Princeton -- and explores the great questions of love, belonging, science, and war.

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015 in several ways. I was 19 years old when I arrived in London, and this was the beginning of the sixties when London was becoming the centre of a cultural renaissance that was sweeping through Europe.

The college I was attending was the Architectural Association School of Architecture, and it was a hotbed of the avant garde.

By the time I returned to India five years later, my perceptual make up was quite transformed. The environment in which I had grown up now evoked an unfamiliar set of responses. This became a great challenge, full of promise to discover a new reality. This process of discovery is continuing till date and I find it fascinating.”

Munishwar Nath Ashish Ganju is a gentle and thoughtful person, and has taught me wisdom, trust and patience.

But through his professional experience and wisdom he is also transforming the Indian architectural landscape. He explained, “My first major project started in 1972 - a residential development of 180 apartments for journalists, known as the Press Enclave in Delhi. The innovations attempted here were on two fronts. First the architectural design was based on energy efficiency using

solar passive techniques (making this probably the first ‘green’ building in modern India), and second, making the design user-centric by active consultation with the residents throughout the design process. At that time, forty years ago, such thinking

““I believe that good architecture has to transform the physical environment as much as to transform the human and social environment.”

M.N.Ashish Ganju. was not commonplace.”

His most famous architectural feats are the Press Enclave in Delhi, the Kubba Residence, and the Dolma Ling Tibetan nunnery in Dharamsala.

He has created some special works for His Holiness the Dalai Lama which are; The Buddha Memorial in New Delhi done for His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1990-93 ; then the Dolma Ling Institute and Nunnery – started in 1992 and still in progress. From 2007 to 2009, he designed and had built the Forecourt of Theckchen Choeling, the temple of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Mcleodganj, Dharmsala.

He said, “The reason for doing these works prob-

9

ably came from an inner desire awakened when I first attended teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in 1986.

His work with the Dalai Lama and his people aside, perhaps Munishwar’s most acclaimed work is the grand reclamation of a huge slum on the outskirts of Delhi- the Aya Nagar settlement. It originally was a settlement largely populated by the indigenous Gujjar community.

Now it houses migrants, mainly low income, from all over the country.

Munishwar himself lives in the area, in a beautiful, eco friendly spacious home I have been enchanted by.

Munishwar has encouraged slum dwellers here in Aya Nagar to take an interest in renewing their settlement, first and foremost, taking responsibility for their own drainage and sewage – to a high degree of success. It’s his main design project, nowadays.

In conclusion, the philosopher architect says, “I believe that good architecture has to transform the physical environment as much as to transform the human and social environment. Architecture should benefit all beings and you may call this a ‘sympathetic’ approach.”

10

READERS’VOICE

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Wide range of topics

Firstly may I say how eye-catching your new layout of Asian Voice is. I now enjoy reading the varied views of your letter writers under the new banner of "Readers' Voice".

Although Mr. Sheth is correct to ask readers to focus on issues which concern us here, he is wrong to suggest that readers should not place emphasis on issues and events occuring in India, it’s Ministers and Shri Narendra Modi.

How can readers severe the umbilicus from the motherland or issues affecting our relatives there? Care and concern at news from India are natural. Although readers express their concerns via a letter, it is the decision of the editorial board to select/edit/abridge or omit any topics. One should not repress good/bad feelings or plain anguish generated by reading news from and about our motherland.

The editorial board must be receiving many letters, making selection difficult. But all through my contact with the paper, it has maintained a consistently high standard of material catering to its readers. It has entertained letters on wide variety of subjects e.g. weddings, funerals, jovial nature of Sikhs, Karma, Reincrantion, earthquakes in Himalayas, Stephen Hawkings, God particle(Higgs Bosun particle) and many more subjects covered by me.

Ramesh Jhalla By email

Letter writers’ seminar

I am away on vacation to Barcelona that I last visited on my journey to UK armed with a student visa in 1967. My Italian school friend was then working on s s Cunard luxury cruise ship between New York and Barcelona and we agreed to meet in Barcelona.

I have an open question to those who are attending the letter writers’ seminar on 22nd August: "Is media a consensus builder?" Noam Chomsky, the American commentator argues that popular culture can be used to divert people's attention from real issues such as their conditions of employment: it is only the educated classes in society, largely the professional classes, who must be persuaded to agree with the ideological values of the ruling elite. Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky(1994) in their book. "Manufacturing Consent" argue: Society is made up of two different classes of people.

The top 20% represents the professional class, those who feel they have a stake in the decision-making processes in society, professionals such as judges, lawyers, teachers and intellectuals. Many of them have a genuine interest in politics and the rudiments of power associated with it. This group in general have the most financial influence.

Then there is the remaining 80%, whose main function is to work and follow orders, usually at the bidding of the top 20%. Their interest in politics tends to be minimal, as long as they are housed, fed and have enough money to finance their leisure time. Media thus helps to maintain this status quo.

Nagindas Khajuria By email

Rakshabandhan

Traditionally, this festival is celebrated by our Hindu brothers and sisters in which the sister seeks the protection of her blood-brother or a close male friend, who in turn offers her respect and protection.

Raksha Bandhan is undoubtly the only bondage that truly frees us from all insecurities, fear and sorrow. Let us therefore spread the true message of Raksha Bandhan and vow to imbibe pure attitude and respectful behaviour towards all womenfolk.

Jubel D’Cruz, Dombivili, Mumbai

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Those were the days

Draft of Indian Financial Code

Bhupendrabhai’s letter (AV 8 August) has flooded the mind with memories of the past – some fond, some not so happy!

I am not sure whether he was my contemporary at the then Azania Secondary School but we seem to have shared the same teachers – Ms Fernandez (English), Mr I K Vyas, Mr J D Dave (Gujarati) and Mr Batukbhai (Mathematics) to name but a very few. Those were good teachers who encouraged me and made me feel important.

Then there were a few who, in the name of discipline, instilled fear with the use of their thick ruler or the black board compass which made me inhibited. Although I was not at the receiving end of such capital punishment, seeing others subjected to that was never a desirable experience.

All in all, the education and discipline we received at Azania have stood us in good stead and made us what we are today.

I have continued to visit relatives at dear old Dar every couple of years but it is not the same any more. What with the ever changing sky line with tall buildings and hotels which have sprung up everywhere?

Besides the day spent at the school, we looked forward to playing volleyball and table tennis at Shree Jain Sangh. The evenings were spent in imbibing the fresh and cool sea breeze at the sea front. Not to forget the aroma of roast mogo (cassava) and makai (corn on the cob).

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

No Hindu representation in report

In reply to Shreela Flather's letter AV 8th Aug 2015, I would like to add that Mr Nitin Metha has the right arguments.

I am against discrimination in any form but this so called caste law is based on flimsy evidence and hearsay, the NIESR Dec 2010 report took evidence from 32 individuals of which 9 where discounted. I have read it cover to cover and it is laughable. It starts with "there is little evidence of caste discrimination...." and goes on to say "there cannot be a law for one case of discrimination" so then why the report... well pressure from the various Christian based dalit groups and the likes of the former Bishop, Lord Harries.

Both Houses of parliament passed the legislation because there was no Hindu representation made on this flawed report. In my forty years in the UK the only discrimination I have suffered is colour and have never come across caste discrimination. Baroness Flather represents nobody in her views, not the facts, not a political party, not a single Hindu organisation, just herself and in this case she is wrong, though her intentions may be good. My hope is the current government scraps this bad piece of anti Hindu legislation.

Jayesh A Patel Friends of India Society UK Wimbledon London SW20

Two more Indian Classics

It was nice to read Two Indian Classics, Home made Food and Ancient Love Epic 0f Shakuntala (AV Aug 8 page 14). There are other such inspiring tales.

1. Instead of starting a Charity, Tanya Gohill 28, started a stall 'Devi's', selling Indian Home made food in Bermondsey. It's to earn £20,000 to start a school in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan in India! Her main motto is to educate young girls from the early age so that it will stop child marriage and motherhood resulting in many future benefits for them.

2. Under the auspices of Edinburgh Festival, Gems Modern Academy School of Dubai is to perform a Live Drama at Church Hillrn Theatre, from the 16th to 21st Aug. on Classic Indian Love Epic 'Shakuntala' written and directed by Kevin Oliver, originally written in Sanskrit by celebrated Poet Kalidas! It's a Pre-Mahabharat Love story of Dushyant, King of Hastinapur and Shakuntala. While on hunting trip to forest, he fell in love with her at First Sight! Dazzled by her Beauty he married her. He returned to Hastinapur but forgot her because of Durvasa's curse on her for neglecting him. When Dushyant went again he was surprised to see a little boy fearlessly playing with lion's cubs, which Shakuntala said Bharat was their own son. He proudly named the country 'Bharat' after his name who later became so Eminent that Lord Krishna called Arjun 'Bharat' quite a few times in Gita!

Upendra Kapadia By email

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I refer to the story carried on page 20 of the above issue and although I have not had an opportunity to study the draft I feel I should express my view on the subject of authority and power of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

I believe it is extremely important to have checks and balances on monetary decisions more so in the present political climate in most of the democracies.

It is necessary to ensure that the fiscal and monetary policy is not entirely under the control of the Treasury or of a committee. I have vague recollection of the wish of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to replace the then Deputy Governor of RBI when she was advised that that would not be possible.

I also understand that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted Governor Gordon Richardson replaced at the Bank of England by a Commercial Banker but she found out that she did not have the authority to do so.

Presently, in major democratic nations such as the USA, Canada, India, U.K and Germany the Heads of Central Bank has the final say in such matters.

(Sir) Andy Chande By email

Battle of Britain

I had the honour of flying Hurricanes for the RAF as one of Churchill’s ‘Few’ during the Battle of Britain, which took place 75 years ago this summer. This week I’ll be marking the anniversary of what is known as ‘the Hardest Day’ in that Battle against German invasion – Tuesday 18th August 1940 – the day on which the Luftwaffe made an all-out assault on RAF Fighter Command, resulting in both sides losing more aircraft than on any other day during the campaign.

As we recall those fateful days and celebrate the bravery of all those involved – many of them my friends and colleagues - we must also remember our enduring debt of gratitude to all who have served, and who serve now.

The RAF Benevolent Fund believes it is important for the country to share in the memory of the Battle of Britain and the sacrifices that were made, but it needn’t all be a solemn affair. That’s why I’m supporting their inaugural Great British Sunday Lunch – a chance for families, friends, and communities to gather together on Sunday 13th September to host their own meal at home, in the local community centre, at the pub or in the park, to raise vital funds to support RAF veterans and their families. You can find more information at www.rafbf.org/gbsl.

RAF Veteran Squadron Leader Tony G Pickering AE London W1B 1AR

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EDUCATION

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11

Asian students celebrate their A-level results AsianVoiceNews

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Rupanjana Dutta

The A level results that were published on Thursday 13 August across the country, have shown that the number of UK pupils taking core academic subjects at A-level has increased over the past year. But according to data from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), the proportion of A-level papers receiving A* or A grades has fallen for the fourth successive year, with 25.9% of entrants getting one of the top two grades in 2015 compared to 26% last year.

However, Brit-Asian parents have always tried to emphasise on the importance of education more than others.

Eventually resulting into the children growing up as competitive, more ambitious and putting much greater emphasis on education and score cards.

The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, who has a number of Asian pupils studying in the school (majority of Gujarati descent) has also witnessed a great outcome.

Peter Hamilton, Headmaster of The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, has congratulated every member of the Sixth

judged to be excellent in all areas by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, has also announced excellent A Level results for its students. 83% of the grades were A*-C grades with

Krish Majithia, Ben McCarthy and Hassan al-Sherbaz after the independent school Form on outstanding the performance score per announced the best ever perachievements in their A-level pupil at 335, which is the formance by a co-educational results on the morning of 13th highest ever and equivalent to school in England. More than August. He added, “With A*BB grades per pupil on 98% of its entrants gained 45.3% of all grades being A* average. grades between A* and B, and and 83.1% of grades being Nilesh Headmaster none achieved lower than C. A*-A these results are Manani said: “TSS continues Majid One pupil, absolutely stunning. More to deliver exceptional value Mohamed, gained three A* important are the individual with large number of pupils grades and an A, and follows boys’ successes with most achieving their first choice his elder brothers Omar and gaining access to their chosen places to Russell Group of Abeed in going from university.” universities in competitive Brighton college to The headteacher of courses. This is only possible Cambridge University.

Brighton college, Richard by dedicated students guided Cairns, said his school had The Swaminarayan by exceptional teachers and School, which was recently produced incredible results,

NEW RULES FOR OVERSTAYERS AND ILLEGAL MIGRANTS SINCE 06 APRIL 2015 The Home Office made it crystal clear that people who are either overstayer or illegal or who never have submitted any application in the Home Office would be accountable in future. The Home Office is discouraging any kind of non-compliance when it comes to reporting or making the application for further leave to remain in the UK on time. The concept of buying time or trying to avoid submission of due application is dealt as most punishable act by any migrant. The Landlords can now serve up to a five years if they accommodate any illegal migrant as a tenant knowingly in his premises.

The Home Office may grant out of country right of appeal if detained.

However the situation has twisted differently for those who try to comply and regularise their stay in the UK. The Home Office has introduced a new policy to reconsider the decisions pre-dated 06 April 2015 provided there are new and exceptional circumstances. The Home

Office is keen to consider the applications which involve children and private life.

The right approach from illegal migrants should be that they must introduce themselves into the system and comply with the Home Office as soon as possible.

Under new rules the Home Office would also consider whether the applicants should be granted an in country right of appeal enabling them to depict their immigration history and the grounds in detail.

Migrants have to understand that since new rules are introduced there is no way to avoid compliance with the Home Office. It is in their own benefit to register themselves by submitting the application.

Fehmina Farani

Farani Javed Taylor Solicitors Verulam House, 60 Grays Inn Road London WC1X 8LU

Mob.: 07773 706 866

supportive parents who value education and understand what hard work can enable. I am proud of the entire team at TSS.” Students who deserve a particular mention are: Samanta Zahir with 3A*s, who plans to do Medicine at Southampton, Vatsal Patel also with 3A*s who plans to do Physics at Imperial, Anmol Grover with 2 A*s and one A who plans to do Mathematics with Economics at LSE, Harshik Hirani with one A* and 2 As at A Level who is going to do Economics at Queen Mary, Avnit Patel also with one A*and 2As at A Level who will do MORSE at Warwick and Nishta Parekh with 3As who is going to do Biochemistry at Imperial.

While some pupils are celebrating their achievements, problems like students' loan, accommodations and even immigration status loom large. Not every student with an outstanding result can enjoy the same fate.

Hassan al-Sherbaz, 18, celebrated four A*s in Maths, further maths, Physics and Chemistry, meeting his offer to study chemical engineering at Imperial College London, Sherbaz’s family relocated from Baghdad to Britain in 2006 so his father could take up a PhD. Sherbaz, arrived

with his parents aged nine, has been educated at primary and secondary schools in Milton Keynes. But when he applied for student finance he was told his immigration status – of discretionary leave to remain – means he is not eligible for a loan and would have to pay the international tuition fee rate at £26,000 a year.

The Guardian reported that Sherbaz is still hopeful that things may look up for him, after a recent supreme court decision that could pave the way for hundreds of people, like him.

The supreme court has found that the blanket exclusionary rule preventing anyone except UK citizens or those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK from applying for student loans was disproportionate and could not be justified. know someone who has just received their A levels result? please email us a photo and a congratulatory message In 25 words to aveditorial@abplgrou p.com, and we will publish it in Asian Voice, without any charges.

Last date of entry: 31 August 2015.

12

MEDIAWATCH

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

The first sliver of light in the parliamentary impasse came from Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Dal. The party, which has had enough of the obstructionist tactics of the Congress, indicted that he would support the General Services Tax bill (GST) and would vote with the government in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP and its allies do not have the numbers, to get the legislation through. Congress has a paltry 44 seats in the Lok Sabha (Lower House). This discredited rump may disappear from sight in the fullness of time. Congress demands that BJP leaders, Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister at the Centre, and Vijay Raje Scindia, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, resign for alleged scams, prior to the proceedings in Parliament.

Narendra Modi’s Independence Day from Red Fort

The law works on the principle that a person accused of wrongdoing is innocent until proven guilty. The Times of India (August 12) asked in its editorial what Congressed hope to gain by its appalling behaviour? The obtuse mother –son duo, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi - appear indifferent to the riotous antics of Congress MPs. India’s top industrialist have begun a nationwide signature campaign against the stalling of Parliament. They point to the damage this is doing the country’s economy and its international image. The GST bill needs to be passed in the national interest, to which the two Gandhis appear oblivious. The proceedings were called off and a special session may be convened to debate the passage of the GST.

Sundar Pichai

Accountant at the tender age of 19. However, he will have to wait another two years before he can put his signature to the balance sheets, as per the rules he can do so only when he is 21.”The journey wasn’t easy but I was determined to achieve it,” he said. His mathematical brilliance was soon recognised, with Deloitte International (where Nischal did his articles) signing him on as its youngest member and inviting him to be a speaker at their Global Conference in Shanghai, attended by delegates from 190 countries (Hindu July 23).

Economy shifting gears

A report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) detected an early signs of an economic revival, saying that, of the 93 sectors surveyed, the percentage recording “excellent growth, ” registered 16.1 per cent growth during the April-June quarter, compared to the 6.1 per cent for the same period last year (Hindu August 10).

Steep rise in car sales

Sundar Pichai new Google CEO While Indian politicians were busy disgracing themselves and lowering their low standing to newer depths, an outstanding Indian tech, Chennai-born Sundar Pichai, has been appointed CEO of global giant Google, one of a clutch of Indians in top positions with US-based international companies. The Times of India’s frontpage headline (along with those of The Hindu, Business Line and Telegraph) was the most eye-catching: “This Google Search Had Only one Answer: Sundar Pichai.” August 12). So it had. (More on page 3).

India’s teenage CA

Nischal Naryanam has become India’s youngest Chartered

India’s car sales posted a robust growth of 17.5 per cent in July, the ninth straight increase, thereby reflecting a considerable improvement in market sentiment and underscoring the evidence of an economic revival.

The data was released by Vishnu Mathur, Director General of the Society Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Mint August 11).

Maruti dominates Indian market

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has regained 50.4 per cent share of the Indian market, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The company’s July sales registered 50 per cent of passenger vehicles. During April-July, Maruti totted up its highest market share since 2001-02, selling 416,000 units. The July figures marked a remarkable turnaround of Maruti Suzuki (Mint August 12).

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Independence Day military parade

India-EU trade deal off

ISRO to launch US satellite

India cancelled talks with European Union on a projected free trade agreement, citing the EUs abrupt decision to ban the import of generic drugs from India. D.G. Shah, Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance said the government appeared to be sending a signal to the EU against its ruling against some Indian generic medicines. “EEU has acted unfairly and without any proof” (Mint August 6).

Time was when the US put the cryogenic engine project under its sanctions regime, but times clearly have changed. India’s proven PSLV rocket has prompted the US space agency to put one of its satellites into a low orbit. India has performed this contractual service for 19 other countries (Times of India August 4).

Opportunities in aerospace

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) need to equip themselves to tap into a massive $60 billion potential in in aerospace and other sectors of defence, said Dr V.K. Saraswat, a former scientific advisor to the Ministry of Defence and now a member of the Niti Ayog, and President of the Aerospace Society of India.

ISRO boost with Russian tie-up

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) looks set to forward with a new deal in its 40 year-old relationship with Russia with a Memorandum of Understanding between itself and Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS). It is “just the beginning” in the development of the new, higherpower semi-cryogenic engine that could be the immediate beneficiary, said ISRO Chairman, Kiran Kumar.

New ISRO rockets

ISRO is working on a new-generation rocket programme, called the semi-cryogenic launch vehicle, to strengthen its current portfolio of the PSLV and GSLV with fuel designed to send six to ten tone satellites into higher geosynchronous space orbit of 36,000km. India and Russia will cooperate closely in the development of their space navigation systems. The ultimate strategic ISRO goal is human space exploration, development of space systems and components; training scientific exchanges.

This promising new chapter opened with talks in April – the 40th anniversary of Indian satellites, Rohini and Bhaskara, piggy backing on Soviet rockets - to renew an old relationship and take it greater heights for 21st century purpose (Hindu August 14).

Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced in the State Assembly the govdrnment’s plan to for the construction of an expressway from Mumbai to Nagpur, which would link up Amravati, Aurangabad and Ghoti along the way., the project to be completed by 2019. The time taken to drive from one terminus would take eight hours. The expressway would be equipped with an optical fibre network, CCTV and Wi-fi coverage. There will be technology parks, smart cities and educational complexes along the way. (Business Line August 2)

Posco tie-up in Maharashtra

Posco, the South Korean steel giant has signed up to a deal with Shree Uttam Steel and Power to set up a 3 million tonne per annum integrated steel manufacturing company in Maharashtra with an investment of $3 billion. The plant will be constructed on a 2,000 acre site in Sinhudurg district in two phases. Posco has a 1.8 million tone steel plant near Pune, which produces value added galvanized and galva annealed steel used by a range of industries (Business Line August 12).

Taiwan group in Bangalore cluster

Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association has signed a Memorandum of

Understanding with with the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board to set up a $500 million Taiwanese cluster, which will come up on 100 acres of land near Devahahalli IT Park with a likely expansion to another 800 to 1000 acres. “The Karnataka government has promised to facilitate our investment proposal on fast track so that the project could be in operation in the shortest time,” said Francis Tsai, Executive Director of the Taiwanese body and head of its delegation in Bangalore (Business Line, Mint August 13).

Chinese Yuan impacts rupee

The continuing fall in the value of the Chinese yuan has impact on the rupee: China’s currency, the yuan, has been falling in value, partly as a result of government devaluation in a desperate to stimulate the sluggish economy and restore declining consumer demand. Efforts to stem the rot have not had the desired effect so far. The depreciation of the yuan will impact on major trading partners of China in all continents.

Apropos of India, Chinese goods entering the Indian market will pose a serious challenge to domestic manufacturers; however, the fall in the value of the rupee should help the growth of Indian exports in key foreign markets. China’s economic pressures are compounded by political problems. Massive explosions in the port city of Tianjing have taken a heavy toll in lives and property. (Hindu, Times of India, Business Line August 13, 14).

Premji, Nadar in Forbes top 20

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and HCL founder Shiv Nadar – both among the country’s leading software companies – are the two Indian tycoons who have made it to Forbes top 20 richest in the world of technology.

Premji and Nadar are ranked 13 and 14 respectively. Indians on the top 100 list include US citizens Romesh Wadhwani and Bharat Desai (Business Line August 13).

India defeated by Sri Lanka at Galle in First Test. See page 3

UK

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

"Hoax call" nurse's son on his way to university There was a lot of controversy sparked when two Australian radio DJ's pretended to be Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles in a hoax call to the hospital, where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for acute morning sickness.

This ultimately led the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha to kill herself, as she believed the call was genuine and passed it on to another nurse who divulged private information.

Jacintha Saldanha's son, Junal Barboza recalls the traumatic day of when he was told that his mother had passed away. He said, “My dad phoned me telling me to come home as soon as I could. I

Paedophile lured 13-year-old girl with talking teddy bear Junal with his mother, Jacintha and sister, Janice study architecture.

Junal received his AHe said, “As my mum level results and has would, I set high stansecured a place at dards for myself to strive Northumbria University, for the best... I hope she Newcastle, where he will would be very proud.” be joining in September to

Swindon aims to become Britain's new cultural destination Swindon, the town which was once deemed as “ugly” could find itself as an unlikely addition to the tourist itinerary, if a campaign succeeds. A multimillion pound bid is being launched for Swindon to become a new cultural destination, similar to the likes of the National Gallery and Tate Modern, Stratfordupon-Avon or even Bath.

The Council of Swindon describes the place as having “a bit of an image problem”.

There will be a £17.5 million museum and gallery as its centre, which aims to rival anything that London has to offer.

There are also Gurkhas, Goans, as well as Gujaratis who live in Swindon and made it their home.

The campaign is being supported by the founder of Hiscox insurance and a noted art collector, Robert

Hiscox. He said, “I was High Sheriff of Wiltshire for a year and I saw Salisbury, which is lovely, and then I went to Swindon. I think the term for it is 'architecturally challenged'. It is ugly, but

it's wonderful that people appreciate that and want to make it better. My heart went out to Swindon. The current museum is in a house in the Old Town, which is not the heart of Swindon- but Swindon has no heart, that's its problem.

A town needs a heart.”

Hiscox further added, “Swindon is not a tourist destination. It has an image similar to that of Slough or Croydon. But it has an art collection which everyone admires, a good ceramics collection, and a great science and engineering heritage. We want to combine all of those in the new museum and gallery.”

Yorkshire Asian Business Association to address Cancer problems in the community With nearly 5% of Yorkshire population of Asian origin, there are distinct cancer problems within Asian communities that are often worse than those affecting other parts of the region. Keeping that in mind, the Yorkshire Asian Business Association (YABA) has announced that Yorkshire Cancer Research as its Charity of the Year in 2015.

Formed in 1925, Yorkshire Cancer Research is an independent charity committed to helping people in Yorkshire to avoid, survive and cope with cancer.

The partnership with YABA promises to help to promote awareness within local communities and help the charity gain a greater understanding of the cancer-related problems that exist in order to improve outcomes for Asian cancer patients.

In Bradford, participation rates in national screening programmes for breast, cervical and bowel cancers are amongst the lowest not only in Yorkshire but also in England. In 2014, the aver-

age percentage of eligible women aged 50 to 70 years in Yorkshire who had attended breast screening services within the last three years was 71.8%, slightly lower than the UK average of 72.2%. The attendance in Bradford City CCG and Bradford Districts CCG was significantly lower at 54.7% and 64.4% respectively - the lowest rates in Yorkshire*.

There are also high rates of diagnosis through ‘emergency presentation’, which includes via Accident and Emergency admissions, emergency GP referral and emergency consultant outpatient referral. Emergency presentation often means the cancer is diagnosed at a late stage, when it is more difficult to treat.

Between 2006 and 2010 rates for emergency presentations of lung cancer were higher in Bradford City CCG (23.3 people per 100,000 population) than in England (16.6) and Yorkshire (21.1).

Some evidence also exists to show that Asians are less likely to be able to access effective palliative care and hospice services

Meet and Greet Letter writers and readers All letter writers and readers are welcome to attend a meet and greet on Saturday 22 August between 3-5pm at Shakti Hall, Unit 1, 12 Hoxton Market (Off Coronet Street), London N1 6HW. We have about 20 friends who have confirmed their participation. We can manage upto 20 other friends.

You are most welcome. Please let Rupanjana know at aveditorial@abplgroup.com by 3pm on Friday 21st August.

Shree P P Swami who is providing yeomen service for the tribal people of Dangs district will also attend the meet and greet event.

If you would like to send some suggestions, please feel free.

Junal Barboza will be studying architecture at Northumbria University walked to the [school] reception and the police were waiting, they asked me my name and said they would drive me home. My mind was empty. I didn't know what to think.”

He added, “Everything happened at once. We were a small family but we had to step up to it.”

13

than many other groups.

Amarjit Singh, Chairman of YABA, said: “Selecting Yorkshire Cancer Research as our chosen charity for the 2015 YABA awards dinner is an important relationship for us. The Asian community needs to know more about how Yorkshire Cancer Research can provide knowledge of their services and support on how to avoid or to survive and cope with cancer.

“YABA will be using this partnership as an opportunity to link Yorkshire Cancer Research to key members of the community so that the dialogue and community activity and engagement

continues post the dinner.”

Charles Rowett, Chief Executive Officer at Yorkshire Cancer Research, will give a speech at YABA’s Annual Gala Dinner which takes place at Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford in September.

He said: “As well as the evident problems that exist, there are also positive indicators and opportunities where Yorkshire Cancer Research can make a significant difference. In Bradford City, with a 75% Asian population and an age profile considerably lower than the rest of the county, we are not yet seeing the same levels of agerelated diseases such as breast, cervical, ovarian

Lawrence 35-year-old Fernandes, of Southampton, has been jailed for grooming a 13year-old girl with a talking teddy bear and raped her.

Fernandes had given a vulnerable girl a teddy bear in which he recorded his own voice, telling her that he loved he and asked her to listen to it every night before she slept. They had met through an online chat room and he travelled from Hampshire to Devon to meet her. He had raped the girl in a lane near her home the first time they met. He continued to force her into having sex even though she told him it was hurting and wanted him to stop.

Exeter Crown Court also heard that he had raped her several times over nine months. He had also raped her at a hotel near Exeter. It was revealed in court that the vulnerable girl was looking for a shoulder to cry on as she was being bullied at school. The perpetrator would give her money, toys, chocolates, as well as alcohol.

The abuse came to an end when the girl decided to confront her tormentor in a public park, in Teignmouth. She shouted at him, saying that he was a paedophile and to leave her alone. However, she only found the courage to

and prostate cancers.

“Research funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research could be of enormous value in making sure that young Asians are far more aware of the risks, more willing to participate in screening programmes and more likely to act on symptoms

A talking teddy bear (not pictured) was given to the 13-year-old victim report the abuses ten years later.

Fernandes denied all of the allegations in court but was found guilty of two rapes and two offences of indecency. He was given six years imprisonment.

While sentencing, Ignatius Recorder Hughes told him, “You met this girl through an internet chat room and inveigled your way into her confidence. You travelled long distances to meet her and make her do what you wanted. Your one and only aim was to have sex with her. You subjected her to a painful attempt to penetrate her in the back of a care in a remote place and she repeatedly told you to stop. You gave her a toy bear with a voice recording unit and instructed her to listen to it each night before she went to sleep. No doubt at the age of 13, she did and would have your voice telling her you loved her.”

at the earliest possible stage so that they can receive the very best and most effective treatment, care and support.

“We very much appreciate the support of YABA and look forward to a long and successful relationship.”

14

SP

TLIGHT

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Sunetra Senior

Chairperson of the Minority Ethnic Staff Group (Enfield sector) Richa sheds light on the unseen side of front line social work: not just as a social care expert, she is a guardian of the child care law; bigger than her heart, must be the sharpness of her mind; and as important as sensitivity also is the drive to be professional. As we looked further into some of the ins and outs of Richa’s career – her observations of models of childcare in the country and her bi-cultural experiences to name a few topics - it became clear that being a real hero is to be grounded in real life:

Have you always been interested in social work?

Yes, always. I have always done my humble bit to contribute to society and change the world for the bettertalking in a broad sense. My Masters degree in social work from the University of Delhi just over a decade ago however provided me the initial springboard for pursuing social work professionally. Post qualifying modules in social work from various UK universities have further equipped me with the values, principles, techniques and tools to really intervene in British society as a frontline expert to facilitate improvements and change. I continue to commit to this more and more each day.

Tell me more about the two big projects you have going on right now?

As the Chairperson of MESG, I am working with a committee team to raise the profile for minority professionals as a collective and we also discuss the representation of the group members in senior roles . We are busy organising meetings and events so that the opinions and concerns of this network are noted and channeled. It's an exciting and busy time with lots to be done under this umbrella in a constructive way.

Also, outside of work, for a year now I have volunteered a lot of my time and effort in trying to set up a UK chapter for the alumni association of the prestigious Lady Shri Ram College where I completed my graduate degree in 2002. It’s one of the top colleges for women across India and Asia, with about 55,000 alumni all over the world.

We have such high-achieving and illustrious alumni based in the UK and it's been great to organise a range of networking events to give a platform for all of us to connect.

Im working on organising a TED x talk later in the year on the theme of Women's narratives with some focus on the challenges to feminist struggles in the Indian context.

What have been some of your proudest moments and/or awards?

I have been nominated for Asian professional awards for excellence in public service to be held later this year and I'm excited to attend this event.

However I feel social work is more a profession where the ability to

Richa Grover Everyday Heroism

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Brahmin Bulls A thought-provoking comedy drama

Father-son duo: Roshan Seth and Sendhil Ramamurthy

Reshma Trilochun

make a quantified difference to lives is so rewarding -seeing the children I work for smile when we get things right for them, feels like an award, each time that happens!

Does creativity come into your field?

Very much so. Despite the fact that the legislation and organisation structure needs to be adhered to at all times but there is still space for creativity on how one conveys and translates that in a sensitive and

'UK as a welfare society has a very strong "every child matters" policy'

creative manner to the diverse group of service users so as to meet their unique needs.

How have you felt your degree has complimented your career in practice?

To a huge extent. It surely has provided the theoretical underpinning to my practice and it trained me to work in any type of setting.

What have you felt like are some of the most important aspects of working for the government as a

'It's an exciting and busy time with lots to be done.'

child rights professional?

UK as a welfare society has a very strong ‘every child matters’ policy that the country endorses. It is a system that is so structured, focused and formatted. It's been a great learning experience of working within the defined paradigm of social work framework yet finding spaces for creativity in the workplace especially when it comes to direct work with children in need.

What has been an important social issue that still needs attention?

The sexual exploitation of children. This issue needs more research, intervention and attention. The scale of abuse, the extent of violation, the racquet of perpetrators and the numbers reported in terms of victims is grim but still far from actual which are estimated to be far higher by the authorities.

What can people do more in terms of civic responsibility?

Being aware of having civic responsibilities is the first step! Reporting anything that doesn't appear right to authorities goes a long way in achieving safeguarding outcomes.

Finally, do you have a personal motto to keep going?

Keep trying, keep doing and keep believing! www.facebook.com/ richa.grover.18

W

www.theprofessionalawards.c om/nominees/richa-grover/

Brahmin Bulls is an independent feature film, releasing on 11th September 2015. The film was directed by Mahesh Pailoor and stars the likes of Roshan Seth, Sendhil Ramamurthy and the Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen, among many other actors.

Roshan Seth is well known as Chatter Lal, in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and has also been part of films such as Gandhi, A Passage to India and My Beautiful Laundrette.

Sendhil Ramamurthy currently plays Gabriel Lowen in the series, Beauty and the Beast, as well as in films such as It's a Wonderful Afterlife and Shor in the City.

The film is about a thirty-something disillusioned architect, Sid Sharma (played by Sendhil Ramamurthy), whose life has not quite worked out how he had originally planned for it to be. He is struggling to save his failing marriage and stumbled through his days on a selfdestructive path. His father, Ashok (Roshan Seth) from Bolton, makes a surprise visit to LA to visit

his son. The two begin a journey to mend their estranged relationship until Sid discovers the actual reason for his father's visit to LA; he had come in search of an old lover. Brahmin Bulls tells a tale of two different generations. The film provokes you to think about the equation that you have with your parents.

The cast members are all good in their parts, especially Roshan Seth, who gives a heartwarming performance.

Sendhil Ramamurthy portrays Sid's vulnerability on screen with excellence.

The confrontation scene between father and son was probably one of the most memorable scene, amongst others.

Brahmin Bulls has been shown at several film festivals, such as the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and Dallas South Asian Film Festival. The film won the Audience Award at San Diego Film Festival, as well as Best Feature at Sonoma Film Festival.

If you are looking to watch a sensible, non-gimmicky film about human relationships, then this film is for you.

Croydon celebrates Rathayatra festival

On a bright sunny morning of Sunday 16 August 2015, devotees gathered in Croydon High Street to welcome Lord Jagannath, Baladev and Subhdra in a chariot.

MP Steve Reed acted as the local King and he started off the procession by breaking a coconut as a symbol of good luck, followed by sweeping the road with great delight. He then addressed the gather-

ing by saying that he had great admiration for the Hare Krishna movement and the Hindu community. As the chariot moved people witnessed a road full of devotees dancing and chanting mantras. The procession then made its way to Parkhill Park where visitors were served hot Prasad.

Visitors were also treated to a whole afternoon of spiritual entertainment.

Members of Croydon Sangha most of who are below the age of 35, deserve a mention for organising this event successfully.

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INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL

15

Londoners celebrate India's Independence day

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

An estimated over 6,000 people celebrated Indian Independence Day at the Indian Gymkhana Club in Osterley on Sunday 16th August.

Thousands of people of Indian origin attended the Flag Hoisting Ceremony at 11 am by the Indian High Commissioner HE Ranjan Mathai. The gathered audience enjoyed the great cultural programme and free food freshly prepared and served hot to thousands of people. Many community organisations participated in the festivities and held stalls, greeting and meeting the visitors.

Prior to this the Indian High Commission in Aldwych held an independence day celebration at India House, that was attended by their ministers and staff.

Speech by HE Ranjan Mathai, in presence of dignitaries including Virendra Sharma MP and Seema Malhotra MP

Dance performance at the celebration

Pravasi Bharat Group organises Indian Honorary Consul to Wales celebrates Indian Independence Indian Independence Day day with Lord Mayor Flag hoisting ceremony by HE Ranjan Mathai, Indian High Commissioner to UK Photo courtesy: Raj D Bakrania

Jacob Ravibalan and other members of the World Tamil Organisation with Mr Mathai

The event witnessed a number of The Pravasi Bharat heart-rendering patriotic Group organised a flag song performances by hoisting event and celactive community ebration for India's members M ounica 69th Independence Bojja, Richa Kalra, Day on the beautiful M a n o sh e e G u p t a Saturday morning of amongst others.

15th August at However the chief Tavistock Square, attraction of the London in front of event was the role the Gandhi Statue play by children which was attended who play-acted by over 100 people. world leaders who The event was were inspired by graced by Shri S.S. Gandhiji includSi dh u, Honourable B a ra c k ing Minister Coord, O b am a , N e l s o n High Commission of India, London Mr S S Sidhu, Minister for Coordination, Indian Mandela, Martin Ki n g who congratulat- High Commission being felicitated by the Pravasi Lu th er Bharat Group members amongst others. ed the spirit with Pravasi Bharat's founder N ag ender which the Pravasi Bharat youth has gotten Chindam's plea for remote ballot for Non involved in celebrating Independence Day. Resident Indians from outside of India in Anchored by Rohit Parakh, the function the elections in India has been accepted by also saw felicitations for Shri S.S. Sidhu, Shri Lalubhai Parekh, Kamal Voruganti. It Supreme Court and is in the form of a draft bill with the Indian government currently was attended by many dignitaries including CB Patel, Publisher/Editor of Asian under Representation of People Act, 1951 and Information Technology Act, 2000.

Voice and Gujarat Samachar.

Gathered audience including many dignitaries for the independence day celebration

India’s Honorary Consul to Wales Raj Aggarwal was invited to an official celebration of Indian Independence in Cardiff by the Lord Mayor of the city in which he praised the contribution of the Indian community to the life of Welsh capital as crucial to the city’s development.

Coun David Walker spoke about the important economic and cultural influences that benefited the capital as he marked India’s Independence Day on Saturday with the country’s Honorary Consul in Wales, Raj Aggarwal.

“People from India, in particular, have made a massive contribution to our city, in our economy, in our culture and in our communities,” said the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House celebration which was attended by key civic and business figures.

“Whilst the Indian community is not the oldest established community in Cardiff, they are one of the largest.

“Not only is the community active but also willing to assist the council with the provision of local

Flag hoisting ceremony at India House by HE Ranjan Mathai

services, and as a result there are well-established links between the council and Indian community leaders.

“These contributions make our city the modern and vibrant Cardiff we all know. I feel it is particularly important that, as a city, we recognise these contributions.

“That is why it is important that together we can celebrate special events such as Diwali, and, of course Independence Day.” Mr Aggarwal, who announced that India’s Etourist visa was being extended to cover UK travellers with immediate effect, said: “The Indian diaspora are happily settled in Wales. They are highly successful, hard working

and integrate well with the local community and are committed to success and prosperity of Wales.”

He described the event as “another fine example of how our Lord Mayor shows his commitment to support and properly recognise the values and cultures of the Indian community who call Cardiff home, thus making it such a wonderful and vibrant capital and international city”.

“The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukerjee and the High Commission in London send their greetings and best wishes to the people of Wales, as they are proud of the massive contribution you all make for the success and prosperity of Wales and India,” he added.

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INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

AsianVoiceNews

Indian-Americans celebrate I-Day with fervour in New York The Indian community in the US celebrated India's 69th Independence Day with fervour by unfurling the national flag and organising cultural events marking the occasion.

Thousands of people from the Indian diaspora met together at New York, one of the largest parades outside India, attended by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Bollywood celebrities.

The 35th India Day Parade organised by the Federation of Indian Associations ran through about 20 streets in Madison avenue and featured tableaux by various Indian-American organisations, marching bands, police contingents and cultural performances by young Indian-American children. Khattar, accompanied by India's Consul General Dnyaneshwar Mulay, congratulated the crowd and lauded their achievements in his brief remarks.

Tharoor joined the Indian National Overseas Congress float at the parade and was instantly swarmed by party supporters. Tharoor said the event has been growing in importance and visibility over the years, pointing to the increasing “consciousness” of Indians in the world.

“This shows Indians have really arrived and a made a mark in this society. It is a great celebration of the motherland in the new country,” he

said.

India's Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh read out President Pranab Mukharjee's national address and hoisted the tri-colour at his residence.

He said as the defining partnership of the 21st century in the world, India and the US were enhancing their ties not only at the bilateral level, but also at the regional and global levels. “With the historic visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2014 and President Barack Obama in January, the leaders of both countries have given a great impetus to the momentum of this relationship,” he said.

Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal was the Grand Marshal of the Parade that ran through several streets in Manhattan and actress Parineeti Chopra was the Guest of Honour at the parade, which was also attended by cricketer Virendar Sehwag.

PRESENTS

MODI'S NEW

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'Start up India!

He virtually announced a new industrial policy, saying investment proposals related to manufacturing and other sectors would now be evaluated, and incentives given based on their potential to create jobs Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 85 minute speech on Independence Day, launched important economic schemes designed specifically to accelerate job creation, promote entrepreneurship and self employment, and thrust the agriculture sector.

He virtually announced a new industrial policy, saying investment proposals related to manufacturing and other sectors would now be evaluated, and incentives given based on their potential to create jobs. Modi announced the 'Start-Up India' initiative, launched to create a web of entrepreneurs and help the

country become home to the largest number of startups in the world. “Start up India!

Stand up India,” he said, urging banks to encourage Dalit and women entrepreneurs.

“You will see that soon there will be a web of startups across India. New entrepreneurs will be born. Some unit will employ two, some four and soon there will be a transformation in the country's economy,” Modi said, as he outlined the theme of the new initiative that is expected to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment.

The Prime Minister stated that every single one of the 125,000 branches of public

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sector banks should encourage at least one scheduled caste or scheduled tribe entrepreneur, and a woman entrepreneur, as he associated the scheme to the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr B R Ambedkar, an icon for the dalit community. He further said the existing incentives for encouraging manufacturing and exports would continue, but the employment generation potential would now be a critical parameter for the provision of assistance like interest subsidy and investment allowance.

The announcements made

by Modi, can be seen as a form of assurance by the ruling

I N A S S O C I AT I O N W

INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL

W MANTRA

AsianVoiceNews

India's Consul General, Rampal ring Nasdaq bell on I-day

Stand up India'

Bharatiya Janta Party's promises made during the election campaigns.

FIERY ANSWER TO THE OPPOSITION: “Na khaunga, na khaane doonga,” echoed Modi's voice at the Red Fort.

The Prime Minister was under constant attack in the recently conducted Parliament's Monsoon Session, where the Congress party stuck to their theme and bombarded the ruling BJP party. For weeks, Modi was attacked for not acting against his allegedly corrupt colleagues. However, he took his chance when he got one, saying his government had not pilfered a single paisa from the exchequer.

On the contrary, he said, black money worth 6.5 billion pounds had already been unearthed, ruling out any dilution in the law to bring back illicit assets stashed abroad. In his speech, Modi bordered no the theme of corruption and made unapologetic digs at the Congress, detailing the government's successes and measures in tackling the menace.

Modi, who has been under pressure to deliver on his promise to bring back black money, struck a tough note as he defended the law his gov-

ITH

ernment has brought. “After its enactment (of black money law), every week people call us and complain that we have passed a very stringent law.

They call it a draconian law and a black law and say that officers would harass them ...

We need injections if the disease is serious. Doctors also warn us about the side-effects of such injections. Similarly, this disease is so serious that if we want a treatment, we will have to bear the side-effects also. I know some people are upset with the law which we have passed. They find it troublesome.

We have received many messages for diluting provisions and relaxing it. Today, I would like to tell the countrymen that even while bearing the side-effects, we are moving forward against black money,” Modi said.

“Those who have been engaged in corruption themselves keep suggesting prescriptions for fighting it, just as the person who gives health tips to others despite being unwell himself,” Modi said.

The comments as many deemed being at Congress, came with the reminder of the loss of billions due to the allocation of coal blocks, on the basis of 'chits' under the UPA rule.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly| Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

17

OPTS OUT BULLET PROOF SCREEN: Prime Minister Modi yet again chose to opt out of the standard bullet proof glass screen. Not known as one to stick with protocols, Modi insisted not to install the bullet proof glass enclosure, despite the home ministry favouring utmost security. The Prime Minister argued he would connect better with the people without the enclosure as the ministry persisted over high threat levels this year.

With the recent execution of Yakub Memon, and various other incidents in the past few months, the Intelligence Bureau said the threat perception to Modi was exceptionally high this year. An IB official even stated that Modi was under the highest threat after Rajiv Gandhi. With the mad rate at which neighbouring Pakistan kept indirectly attacking the country and the recent hanging of Memon that sent everybody into a frenzy, security force at this year's Iday celebrations was pretty tight and enhanced.

All areas in and around Delhi were sanitized. Vehicles coming into the city were checked thoroughly and all alerts received by the Intelligence Bureau were analysed and scrutinised. High rise buildings were sanitized.

Indian Consul General Dnyaneshwar Mulay, along with Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal, rang the closing bell at Nasdaq this year, in commemoration of India's 69th Independence Day. Mulay invited American individuals and companies to join Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship projects, “Make in India” and “Digital India,” during the event.

Underlining the “growing and thriving relationship” between India and the US, he talked about India's rapidly growing economy which requires huge investments across different sectors. He said, “Prime Minister Modi has initiated a number of reforms and flagship projects like Digital India, Make in India, Clean India and the Smart cities programme. I want American people to join in this great economic reforms movement. I also want more and more Indian companies coming to America Nasdaq.”

Nasdaq senior vice president Bob McCooey welcomed both Mulay and Rampal, by stating there was no better place to celebrate India's Independence Day than at Times Square, the “crossroads of the world.”

Pointing at Nasdaq's growing presence in India,

Arjun Rampal and Dnyaneshwar Mulay at Nasdaq Cognizant. “For us in “which is on its way to Nasdaq, this has now becoming a global powerbecome an annual event. house,” he expressed hope This is the sixth time we that many other Indian have been honoured with companies will list at your presence here to celeNasdaq in the future. brate the independence Currently five Indian comday,” McCooey said amid panies are listed at Nasdaq huge cheers and applause and have a combined marfrom Indian- Americans ket capitalisation of USD gathered for the closing 43 billion. These include bell ceremony.

MakeMyTrip.com, Rediff, A beaming Arjun Videocon d2h and Rampal was extended a warm welcome by a giant screen on Times Square that read, “Nasdaq welcomes Arjun Rampal” displayed along with the Emblem of India. Rampal was the Grand Marshal at the 35th India Day Parade that ran through several streets in Manhattan. The actor tweeted, “Feeling super proud to be an Indian. Independence Day celebrations begin” after the bell ceremony.

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18

INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

By Shyam Saran Shyam Saran is an Indian career diplomat.

He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1970 and rose to become the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India The world today revolves around connectivity. It includes infrastructure like roads, rail roads, waterways and sea ports that enable the carriage of goods, services, peoples and ideas both within and across national borders.

There are also virtual highways that enable efficient movement of physical goods and services and also serve as transmission channels for provision of services and the exchange of valuable ideas. But that is not enough. We need accompanying software, including policy, regulatory and procedural regimes to facilitate quick movement within the country as well

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Connectivity for development

as across national frontiers.

Connectivity enables proximity, which is an asset that generates prosperity.

Nations connected with each other are able to participate in regional and global value chains, an hallmark of modern global economy.

Inefficient and/or missing connectivity reduces or wipes out a country's chance to produce certain goods and services. There is no doubt that India has made significant progress through extensive and efficient transport infrastructure.

India has the second largest road network in the world. However, the quality of the roads vary with national highways constituting less than one-third of the total. Furthermore, cargo traffic on the highways is held up at a number of octroi stations at interstate crossing points. A cargo truck travelling from Mumbai to Kolkata has to negotiate 36 checkpoints along the route. While rail freight in our country is subject to fewer interruptions and volume wise cheaper, the rail network has grown much less than

road transport and feeder services have not kept pace.

The proposed high speed freight corridor which will run across the country from Mumbai to Delhi and then east to Kolkata is likely to bring about a major improvement in rail transportation within the country. Water transportation falters, even though measures are being taken to revive it. In this context one should note the communication revolution which the mobile telephone has brought about in India.

There are now over 900 million mobile subscribers in the country who grow every year. They offer a platform for connectivity, creating new markets, connecting producers to consumers more efficiently and enabling vast amounts of data to flow seamlessly across communities. This has a multiplier effect on the economy with the closer proximity it creates.

Moving on to our subcontinental neighbourhood, it remains true that our countries are even less connected with each other today than in 1947. Several major transport arteries,

including rail, road and water transport, were all interrupted after the partition of India in 1947. Even though cross-border transport linkages are being reestablished with both Bangladesh and Pakistan, they are not generating the benefits they should owing to cumbersome procedures at border crossing points.

Cargo movement freezes due to lack of accompanying banking, testing and inspection facilities.

However, these issues are now being addressed through an ambitious Indian plan to set up a network of Integrated Checkpoints (ICP) on borders with neighbouring countries. These ICPs, being set up by the Land Port Authority of India, will incorporate, at one location, immigration, customs, security, warehousing, phyto-sanitary testing facilities as also banking and exchange facilities, along with adequate parking, boarding and lodging and health facilities for the traders, truckers and other travellers. One such ICP has already been set up at Attari on the India-

Pakistan border. Several others are in various stages of implementation on the borders with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Leaders of South Asia have declared the decade of 2010-2020 as the Decade of Connectivity in the region. That in itself is a major step forward because it represents a political consensus on the importance of connectivity for shared prosperity. Two landmark agreements have been negotiated and are ready for adoption. One, the Motor Vehicles agreement and the other, a Railways agreement. When implemented, these agreements will go a long way in polishing the movement of goods and people across national boundaries.

India has also given priority to its connectivity with ASEAN countries.

The India-Myanmar transport projects are important as Myanmar is India’s gateway to South-East Asia.

ASEAN has its own connectivity plan and India works to align its own transport infrastructure development plans with

ASEAN. These include cross-border rail and road connectivity, maritime, air and digital connectivity. If accompanied by better logistics and efficient border clearances, would it be possible for India to participate in the high developed regional and global value chains.

Ultimately what is required is a change in the mindset of India. We must start looking at national boundaries as “connectors� that bring India closer to its neighbours and through them, the world. Crossborder links then become transmission belts for the free flow of development impulses. Transport corridors thus become economic corridors. India was a flourishing civilisation, leveraging its geographical location at the cross-roads of the ancient caravan routes connecting to Central Asia. It was also the centre of monsoon-driven ocean routes both to the East and the West.

India flourished because it was a connected nation and its future lies in learning the lessons from its own cosmopolitan past.

Journey of women of Indian diaspora

By Bhaswati Mukherjee The author, a former diplomat, was P e r m a n e n t Representative of India to UNESCO (20042010).

The journey of indentured labour from India to Mauritius and to places such as Suriname, Guyana, Reunion Island and Fiji after the abolition of slavery in 1834 is one of history's untold sagas. The Indentured Route which brought the Indian Diaspora to these countries, has any similarities to the Slave Route only, less well known. It is a journey that is less chronicled and sometimes conveniently forgotten. In many cases, the Diaspora and their journey led to the formation of modern democratic nation States. Their quest for political empowerment is one of the most interesting examples of the evolution of democracy, pluralism and multi-ethnicity in these regions. Their journey poignantly highlights the history of these countries during this period.

The journey of the women of Indian Diaspora as carriers of culture and preservers of identity was not easy because of their circumstances and the

patriarchal nature of Indian society. The voice of the silent majority, i.e. woman, has been rarely heard in historical documents that record the statements of the literate and thoughts of the influential. The part played by Indian women in the great 19th century Diaspora which has irretrievably transformed so many former colonies of the British and French Empires, has been extremely undervalued. Indian indentured women have tended to be portrayed as dependants and spouses, reluctant to migrate, and of negligible labour value, or as lone females of dubious virtue.

Such characterisations were the work of contemporaries - the European officials who authored so many of the documents we use today - but they were echoed by many historians later.

Preservation of links with Mother India The paucity of women, apart from being a serious social issue, necessitated marriages across social barriers and sometimes across religious boundaries. However, they never lost their links with their past, their culture, language or religion. They ensured the preservation of these links with India, along with the celebration of traditional festivals like Holi for the Hindus or

Muharram for the Muslims. It was often the woman in the family who played an important role in ensuring that Bhojpuri was spoken within the family.

We must acknowledge that these indentured women who remained wedded to their oral traditions and language, played an essential role as a carrier of this

culture.

Through the letters, petitions and statements of the Indian indentured women, a cogent analysis can be made of their role in developing identity and maintaining cultural linkages with their past.

Scholars have noted that despite the efforts by the colonisers to impose a new

form of slavery on the Indian indentured, the role that these women assumed was significantly different from that expected of their slave predecessors. This was possibly due to the fact that women were unequally integrated into capitalist production and into the plantation economy in particular. This was in contrast to the central participation of female slaves in plantation agriculture in the pre-abolishing period.

As a result, the position that women enjoyed in the indentured society has not been recorded in a sympathetic manner. They have either been referred to as a 'sorry sisterhood' of Indian women tricked into going abroad or from marginalised social classes or castes or as 'abandoned women', picking and choosing husbands for themselves. There is no consensus in the available literature as to their actual position in the society at that time. No version is accurate and has been rejected by later historians, particularly feminist historians. The latter have also sought to exculpate women from charges of immorality as replicated in the traditional historiography of the period. The women at that time did seek to be treated as individuals, not as a commodity. They did strive to recreate stable partnership and happy family life

in their new homes.

Nevertheless, the skewered ratio between men and women indentured in the early years had an impact on the development of stable family life. It was only later that the colonial Government decided to sponsor family migration and women indentured labour. This approach differed according to the colony concerned. The increasing number of Indian women indentured immediately injected a new dynamism to the cultural creativity of the indentured population and the reestablishment of some of the norms of family.

The above is true for women across the Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji. In the Caribbean and in Mauritius, the archives that have been preserved and the oral records and letters of these women provide touching testimony to how they preserved their individual religion and their culture, especially the Bhojpuri culture. Some writers have noted that in the Caribbean as well as in Mauritius the women came with two sarees, a lotta and a copy of the Tulidas Ramayana. It has been often noted "Indian culture was born and survived in the Caribbean out of this spiritual necessity of a community." We could add that this was largely due to the contribution of these indentured women.

REALESTATEVOICE

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Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap A Property Investment Company

The bubble within a bubble

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

19

Yesterday I got a call to see a ‘deal’; the property was in the creme de la creme location of Eaton Square, SW1, a most coveted place to stay in the world over. Owing the property allows you access into the square which even has a couple of tennis courts.

The property is indeed stunning, its location is right in the middle of the square. One issue is that the lease is only three and a half years. Of course the first question to be asked was the renewal - this was quoted at £4.8m, with Grosvenor being the freeholder. However this lease extension doesn't take you up to 90 years as with all other lease extensions, this one is unenfranchiseable, it has a cap - it cannot be extended for more than 20 years.

The property is clearly a probate, you can always tell by the outdated wallpapers, furniture and musty smell coming from the carpet. It is a huge 3,500 sq. ft. lateral flat with huge ceiling heights; this is a very good property.

However try as I might I just cannot get my head around the property prices, it’s not a patch I'm familiar with. I was told the property done up would fetch anywhere between £8m to £10m. You would need to purchase the property for £850,000 and then spend conservatively £500k on the property and then extend the lease for £4.8m, this would take you to over £6m.

Even if the property sells for £8m by the time you have paid your entry and exit costs I cannot see the margin. Furthermore I cannot see how anyone would in effect buy a property which they’re not really purchasing, they are renting. At £8m this equates to £400k per year or £8k per week. I’m sure you can get a pretty good property for an £8k per week budget. This doesn't take into account the service charge which stands at £40k per annum.

At these levels I appreciate it attracts the uber wealthy, but that doesn't mean they are stupid, often those with money are harder to convince to part with it.

The resell price, though a little optimistic, is not unheard of; there are properties on the market at these levels. However as with anything the higher you go the longer it takes to sell the property. Ordinarily when purchasing a leasehold property as the lease decreases the price rise more than compensates for it.

Here it would be a worry on a twenty year lease, every year which goes by the lease decreases by 5%. To resell a property of this size I would imagine will take years and not months.

The trader who is selling the property on was very excited about it, and had just purchased the property on Friday, seeing the property earlier in the day and exchanging on it by the evening; the early bird catches the worm! He also disclosed to me what he paid for the property, which was substantially less than he was selling it for.

I suspect he will not get anywhere near his asking price, he has a long completion - until the end of October, which should give him enough time to sell the deal on. I don’t think this will be a deal we are likely to enter for many reasons. This is not a patch I understand very well and I am unsure as to the financing possibilities with such a short lease the costs of getting this wrong are very high. This square seems to have its own bubble even in relation to Central London property market.

We have secured a couple of deals this week. One is a site in Bushey, a prime part of Bushey, as I understand there are not so desirable areas too. This property is a commercial but comes with the planning permission for 6 residential units, 4 two bedrooms and the other 2 one bedrooms. The property looks like a Georgian building but it’s not, it’s merely a replica, which is a good thing for if it had been it would have been both a more expensive and time consuming job.

The square footage of the propriety finished will be 4,000 sq. ft., it has an expected resell of £2.4m, which equates to £600 per sq. ft., which sounds about right for the location. This will be roughly £400k per unit, which is right.

As the property will be a conversion the costs for refurbishment should be pretty low. I have got very surface level quotes of circa £300k, this allows a generous margin on the deal. As offices the building is producing £70k per annum which is a good yield on £1.1m. With prime properties in London you can expect 2-3% currently.

Rather than disposing of the development and cashing in, you could keep the asset and refinance once completed. This would allow you to extract your original injection of cash. Even if you can take out 60% of the value you will have got £1.4m out of the deal.

The Real Deal

Only on Friday we secured a large site in Greenford, this is more speculative, as it comes without planning. The property is being purchased vacant, and has a huge floor plate of over 13,000 sq. ft., because this site comes without planning it means in theory there is more room for profits.

West Hampstead, London, NW6 Purchase Price: £1.5m

There are also more options, just like we are buying the deal mentioned above with planning, the same can be done with this, except the other way round - we do not have to build this deal out, simply by doing paperwork and securing the planning we can add value to the property without getting our hands dirty.

The issues in purchasing properties without planning is the financing, your only option as far as I'm aware will be the bridging lenders which will lend at about 1% per month, this can work if the deal is lucrative enough but planning can take longer than expected and things can come out of the wood work during the application. Time alone can tip the scale from being a profitable venture to a loss making one. This needs to be considered and generous time lines put into this project to ensure there is no chance of it sliding down.

Both of these opportunities are available for investment, we believe these are both very lucrative opportunities. Call the office now if you would like to invest.

l A large three bedroom top floor flat l Share of freehold lTwo parking spaces, a very rare find in this location lAround 1,450 sq. ft. area lExcellent buy and hold opportunity

Call us now to secure this deal!

0207 993 0103

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now:

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Tips of the Week l When renovating a BTL property always be mindful of not just the quotation but the time period, as the delay will be costing you in lost rent. l When purchasing and developing always keep the buyer in mind, not your own preferences.

20

ASIANBUSINESS

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Consultant Editor Financial Voice Alpesh Patel Dear Financial Voice Reader,

My trading apprentices have been asking me some great questions about the markets I want to share with you: Q: How do I place a trade?

A: My favourite online source for placing trades is spread betting companies, because their websites are so easy to understand. But you should always open a demo account first. You will be able to open an account in minutes, and then see a buy and sell button next to currencies, or stocks. The trick is to know when to buy and when to sell.

Q: How do I know when to buy and sell?

A: Well, with apprentices, I give them an indicator which tells them when to buy and sell. This I find is the best way to train them. Then they can practice placing trades, over the 12 week training course I give them in bite size amounts.

Q: Yes but how does it know when to buy and sell?

A: An indicator just does what humans do – we look for patterns which tell us that if we buy the price will rise and we will be able to sell it. Simple.

Q: But it is difficult?

A: Actually, the best education is bite size in simple steps, with a good mentor over whose shoulder you can look and be taught 1-2-1. So in that sense, with patience it is not difficult. When I was at one of the best universities in the world, I recognised they taught us by several methods, one of which was 1-21 question and answer. I use the same methods in teaching my fellow traders.

Q: What are the things you need to master then to trade? Is it just when to buy and sell?

A: No, when to buy and sell is just a small part of it.

You need to know also how much money to put in a trade, how to make even more profits when you are right, and make sure you don’t make big losses.

Although prices can only do two things; go up or go down – there is a lot fascinating things you can do to make sure you make money.

Q: I heard lots of people lose money.

A: You are right, of the untrained, the impatient, the uneducated, the unmentored, around 80% lose money. That is why it is essential to get training. You wouldn’t drive a car without lessons, yet you’re willing to risk your hard-earned money without proper training. This is what I don’t understanding about people. They take such risk without being mentored.

Q: What’s the best mentoring?

A: At your home, at your own pace, bite size, 1-2-1.

Simple.

Q: Why is it important people learn this?

A: Everyone want to earn more, but what is important is not that, it is that you could buy freedom with money.

JLR plans new plant in Slovakia India's Tata Group owned luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has signed a letter of intent to build a new car plant in Slovakia, a further expansion away from its British manufacturing base. The brand said it was carrying out a feasibility study for a factory in the western Slovak town of Nitra with the aim of reaching an annual output of up to 300,000 cars over the decade from 2018 when the plant would be due to start production. A final decision will be made later this year.

The carmaker said the facility would play a major role in increasing the number of lightweight aluminium models produced and that it had turned down locations in Europe, the United States and Mexico

in favour of Nitra because of a strong supply chain and good infrastructure.

"With its established premium automotive industry, Slovakia is an attractive potential development opportunity for us," Chief Executive Ralf Speth said.

Slovakia has already attracted other carmakers.

Volkswagen builds a range of models there including its Touareg and Audi Q7 cars at its Bratislava plant, South Korea's Kia produced more than 300,000 vehicles in the country last year while PSA Peugeot Citroen's Slovak unit made more than 255,000 vehicles last year.

Prime Minister Robert Fico said he was committed to boosting the country's premium car sector.

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Leading Brit-Indian entrepreneur sells his firm for over £200mn

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

A Brit-Indian entrepreneur who launched his currency trading business with only £4250 of start up capital, is said to have sold his firm to private equity bidders, with a transaction value of over £200 mn.

Mayank B Patel OBE, who founded Currencies Direct in 1996, after a stint as a City trader, has sold the business to Palamon Capital Partners, a panEuropean growth investor, and Corsair Capital, a leading private equity investor in global financial services.

Currencies Direct, is a leading specialist provider of foreign exchange and international payment solutions to private and corporate clients.

The acquisition is structured so that Currencies Direct management will increase its ownership position in the company and will also include continuing equity participation by the firm’s principal founder, Mr Patel, who will become Honorary

President.

Mr Patel, 47, who was born in Zambia and is of Indian-Gujarati descent, was made an OBE last year.

Currencies Direct’s Private FX segment provides foreign exchange services to more than 150,000 registered retail clients. Its Corporate FX segment offers foreign exchange services to small medium enterprise clients for import / export-related activities across a variety of industries, including the ecommerce segment.

The Company distributes its products and services through a multi-channel distribution network, which includes a strong network of affiliate partnerships.

Currencies Direct has established

Morrisons planning to sell-off convenience stores

Britain's 4th largest supermarket chain, Wm Morrison is in talks to sell its high street convenience stores to investment firm Greybull Capital, as it seeks to shift its focus back on core supermarkets. Sources said the company is in negotiations with Greybull, who took over travel business Monarch Group, last year.

The sale, if taken forward, will see the firm take the reins of 150 stores that trade under the M Local brand.

However, the nittygritties of the take over, such as, how much the group will pay the stores or whether there are guarantees on whether the deal will result in job cuts and closures, remain unclear.

The deal comes at a time when the supermarket chain is working on its

own turnaround. Greybull will speculatively, provide tens of millions of pounds to fund the take over and provide capital to th e working stores. Ever since Morrisons signalled a change in plans, it has been approached by various companies.

One of them is believed to be Londonbased Alteri, an investment firm backed by US private equity giant, Apollo.

The total convenience estate owned by the company includes somewhere between 150 to 160 stores, which generate money £250m and £350m in sales. The take over is anticipated to be quite a coup for Greybull founders who saved Monarch last year from bankruptcy with £125m emergency funds.

market presences in the UK, Continental Europe, Australia, South Africa and the US, and is well positioned to continue to expand internationally.

The retail and SME FX market is worth over £3 billion in the UK alone.

The specialist segment of the foreign exchange services industry is expected to grow around twice as fast as the average for the overall industry, as retail and SME customers continue to shift away from banks for their foreign exchange needs. With its superior high touch customer service and competitive pricing, Currencies Direct is well positioned to continue to benefit from this long-term industry trend.

Mayank B Patel OBE

said, "I am proud of what Currencies Direct has achieved over the last 20 years and am confident that, given the strength of the management team and the value added expertise of Corsair Capital and Palamon Capital, the business will continue to take advantage of the growth prospects in the sector. I am delighted I will be part of Currencies Direct future as a shareholder and Honorary President."

The transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2015 and is subject to applicable regulatory approvals and other conditions.

Mr Patel lives with his wife, Jigna, and their children, Rhea and Kush in A m e r s h a m , Buckinghamshire.

FICCI hails Modi's I-Day speech Calling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, one of vision and focused towards the country's development, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said he has laid a strong focus on taking the agricultural economy of the nation forward. “We congratulate the Prime Minister and the Government for its sincere efforts in taking our economy to higher levels of growth. Various mega plans announced by the Prime Minister at the Red Fort last year have been implemented with much vigour, passion and commitment.

In fact, FICCI has been actively supporting the Government in various socio-economic development initiatives, including the Make in India, Digital India, Skill India as well as Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan,” said Dr Jyotsna Suri, President of FICCI. “Prime Minister's announcements on Start-up India Stand up India and for providing employment linked incentives to industry are welcome steps as these will boost entrepreneurship and create the much needed employment opportunities for our nation's youth.

Creating a few million entrepreneurs across the

country will not only create many more million jobs but also provide livelihood opportunities for the poor in remote corners of the country. Strengthening merit based employment eco-system by doing away of interviews for low-end jobs is a step in the right direction, inculcating a sense of confidence and empowerment for all citizens.” “Hon'ble Prime Minister has aptly laid a strong focus on the agricultural economy by giving impetus on productivity through enhanced irrigation facilities and improvement in soil fertility. We are also happy to note that the Ministry of Agriculture will now have an added focus on farmer welfare, which is integral for the overall growth and prosperity of our country,” mentioned Suri. Calling the new initiatives directed towards an inclusive and developed India, Suri further said, “The national targets laid out for India for achievement by 2022 are visionary and are directed to create an inclusive, progressive and developed India. FICCI stands committed to support the government in all the developmental initiatives and will continue to work with the government in achieving the national growth agenda.”

CURRENCYVOICE

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Weekly Currencies

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

BOE contemplates increasing interest rates The European commission reports that Greece has reached a technical agreement with its creditors which now requires parliamentary approval. The Greek government is now looking to put a Euro 85 billion (£60 billion) three year agreement through parliament this week. The country needs to reach a deal by the 20th of Aug when it has to pay Euro 3 billion to the European Central Bank. The parties involved in the deal agreement were the IMF, the ECB, and the European Stability Mechanism.

Greece’s bailout deal will next be reviewed in October. Greece’s Eurozone creditors insisted they will not be discussing bailout relief before this month, with no promises on how soon any easing of Greece’s debt burden might come.

It is reported that Germany has serious doubts about the bailout deal and that the German government has little faith in what has been agreed in Athens. We also saw the Euro reach a two week high against the dollar due to China devaluing the Yuan.

Germany's gross domestic product grew 0.4 per cent from the previous quarter, falling short of economists' forecasts of a 0.5 per cent gain. Analysts believe the

21

Foreign Exchange

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

disappointing GDP figures that are due to a weaker euro exchange rate, lower oil prices and the European Central Bank's massive stimulus program, which has done little to lift the region onto a higher growth path. German chancellor Angela Merkel went live on national television to express confidence in the IMF's involvement in Greece's third bailout. In an attempt to assuage fears that the bailout for Greece will not have support from international creditors.

Data released showed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. had declined unexpectedly throughout July, while the country’s jobless rate held steady near a six-year low. The claimant count fell by a seasonally adjusted 4,900 last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 1,500 people. The report also showed that the rate of unemployment held steady at 5.6% in the three months to June which stood in line with forecasts.

The labour market is being closely monitored by the Bank of England as it contemplates when to start raising interest rates for the first time since the global financial crisis in 2008. Bank of England policymaker Kristin

Forbes warned keeping interest rates low for too long risks undermining Britain's economic recovery ahead of Tuesdays inflation figure which is expected to show inflation at zero for June. "With such low inflation today, it is understandable to want to avoid pre-emptively ending this holiday.

A solid recovery is finally here.

Increasing interest rates prematurely could moderate companies’ willingness to invest and consumers’ willingness to spend. But unfortunately monetary policy works with lags," Forbes wrote in an article.

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said economic conditions in the United States have largely returned to normal and a Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates should come soon. He said the U.S. economy had cleared several major hurdles that worried him earlier in the year stating that risks from abroad, whether a Greek exit from the euro zone or a meltdown in China have been reduced. Also job growth has left the U.S. economy just a shade from full employment.

U.S. retail sales rebounded in July as households boosted purchases of automobiles and a range of other goods, suggesting solid

momentum in the economy early in the third quarter. Retail sales increased 0.6 percent last month, broadly in line with economists’ expectations. June's retail sales were revised up to show them unchanged instead of the previously reported 0.3 percent drop.

The retail sales report added to July's fairly upbeat employment and small business confidence reports in suggesting the economy was growing at a steady clip at the start of the third quarter. GDP expanded at a 2.3 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter.

Given the steadily firming economy, many economists expect the Fed will raise its short-term lending rate in September for the first time in nearly a decade.

Financial markets have shifted their rate hike expectations towards December following China's devaluation of its currency this week. On Friday US producer prices rose for a third straight month in July, but inflation pressures remain benign against the backdrop of lower oil prices and a strong dollar. A strong dollar and weaker oil prices are keeping a lid on inflation, which has some economists believing that the Federal Reserve will be hesitant to raise interest rates next month.

As of Tuesday 18th August 2015 @ 6pm

GBP - INR = 102.45 USD - INR = 65.46 EUR - INR = 72.16 GBP - USD = 1.57 GBP - EUR = 1.42

EUR - USD = 1.10 GBP - AED = 5.75

GBP - CAD = 2.05

GBP - NZD = 2.38

GBP - AUD = 2.13

GBP - ZAR = 20.22

GBP - HUF = 438.77

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.

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With RationalFX you get: ȏ 0% commission & no hidden costs

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Sign up for a free account today: www.rationalfx.com/business or call our dealing desk: 020 7220 8181

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In Brief

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Cigarette giants in plain packet fight

LONDON An Australian study is expected to be used as proof by the British government in its battle to remove branding from cigarette packets. The report, by Australia's Department of Health shows that plain packaging, introduced in 2012, has provoked reduced smoking. In March, Britain became the third country in the world, after Australia and Ireland to pass laws that required the removal of branding, a move which did not go down well with several cigarette manufacturers.

British American Tobacco and Marlboro even sought to challenge the legality of plain packaging in a series of court cases. Sources at BAT, the fourth biggest company on the FTSE 100, said the criteria for measuring the success of plain packaging had changed and that they would dispute the report’s validity when the study is published.

Outrage as city with new £188m library ask readers for help buying books

BIRMINGHAM Birmingham City Council has been criticised by readers and authors after it issued notices requesting members to donate their new and recently released books, saying they would be “gratefully received”. This issue comes after the council spent £188million to build a state of the art new library. The council has confirmed it placed its own book fund on “pause”, after it was compelled to make “huge savings” across the board owing to nationwide budget cuts. Social Media went berserk with an image of a poster detailing the request, provoking further criticism from writers, including S J Watson, who said it made him “really angry”, and Neil Gaiman, who posted the news with a simple “!”.

Hamid Gul, brain behind Pakistan's ISI, dead

ISLAMABAD Pakistan's Islamist Director General of the country's Inter Services Intelligence, who was best known for supporting Khalistani and Kashmiri militants, died of brain haemorrhage at the age of 78. He is considered the brain behind Pakistan's proxy wars with India, and is often referred as the “godfather” of well known terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group is widely known for its terror attack on Mumbai, allegations which were strongly shunned by Gul. He openly said, “They (India) are saying these boys were village boys trained to be killers. How can this be believed? Village boys don't know anything about a five-star hotel. They would not know how to use the toilet.”

Suicide bombers kill Pak minister

ISLAMABAD Senior provincial minister in Pakistan, Shuja Khanzada fell prey to a suicide bomb attack, which also killed 10 others, wounding several. Home minister of Punjab Province, Khanzada was holding a political meeting in his home district of Attock when a loud explosion rocked the building, causing it to collapse and leaving several people, including himself, under the debris. While there have been no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, officials speculate that it could have been in response to the July 29 killing of Malik Ishaq, one of Pakistan’s most notorious and feared sectarian militants, in a police shootout. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, strongly condemned the attack and vowed to continue Pakistan’s fight against militancy and extremism. “Such dastardly, cowardly attempts can’t dent our national resolve to eliminate the menace,” a military spokesman said, quoting the army chief. “Khanzada was a bold officer whose sacrifice for the greater cause of cleansing Pakistan won’t go to waste.”

54 feared dead in Indonesia plane crash

JAKARTA The latest in a string of incidents provoking concerns over air safety, an airliner that had disappeared last week with 54 people on board, as reported to crash on a mountain in eastern Indonesia, as per the country's transport officials. The country's air transportation director-general, Suprasetyo said the missing Trigana Air Service plane was found by villagers in the Oktabe district, 175 miles south of Jayapura, capital of Papua, from where the plane had taken off. “The latest information is that the Trigana aircraft that lost contact has been found,” he told reporters. “Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain.”

Gerry Soejatman, a local aviation analyst, said the mountainous and heavily forested area of Papua was particularly difficult terrain.

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Lankans still await for an independent war crimes probe AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

The brutality of the killings still haunt all those who survived

COLOMBO In what is recognised as a systematic impunity for human rights violations, Sri Lanka faced its worst ever civil war in 1983, when a militant organisation fought to create an independent Tamil state. The war continued for 26 years, ending when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in 2009.

As the war concluded, the army wiped out the Tamil Tigers, who had by then pioneered the use of suicide bombers and child soldiers in their violent insurgency. The brutality of the killings still haunt all those who survived. An area which was designated as a 'no fire zone' for civilians by then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was converted into a free fire zone as the army oversaw indiscriminate slaughter, in its aim to end the insurgency. A 2012 United

Nations investigation estimated a number of 40,000 civilians killed in the war’s horrific last few weeks.

So while Rajapaksa who was made an unsuccessful attempt to come back to power in the country's recent elections, human rights activists have asked for “strong action” in response to the UN report as champions of the investigation in the backdrop of the celebrations. Hugo Swire, Foreign Office minister for Asia, said that

Britain would urge the Sri Lankan government to ensure “accountability”.

“Whatever mechanism is employed should be independent, credible and in accordance with international standards. There needs to be accountability in order for Sri Lanka to move on from this extraordinarily dark period. Sri Lankans need to know the truth about what happened.”

Ruki Fernando, an adviser with Inform, a

human rights centre in Colombo said, “A key will be to focus on those most responsible for most serious crimes. Dropping the ball now, would be a great insult to survivors and victims families and human rights defenders, who have been abandoned and let down by the international community in the past, and who had yet taken great risks to share stories of suffering with the UN investigation team. Their right to truth, justice, reparations, guarantees of non occurrence and to be consulted must be ensured.”

The government led by Rajapaksa, then, had insisted it would respect the rights of civilians, however, the reality was far different as the army launched an all-out bombardment under orders of the president and his brother, Gotabhaya, then defence minister.

Anish Kapoor threatens legal action against Chinese artist LONDON Renowned artist Anish Kapoor has threatened legal action after a Chinese artist arranged for a sculpture almost identical to Kapoor's 'Cloud Gate' in Chicago. Representatives of the British-Indian said he was shocked at the “blatant plagiarism” after the copy was unveiled in Karaway, in Xinjiang, China. Kapoor said, “It seems that in China today it is permissible to steal the creativity of others. I feel I must take this to the highest level and pursue those responsible in the courts. I hope that the Mayor of Chicago will join me in this action. The Chinese authorities must act to stop this kind of infringement and allow the full enforcement of

copyright.”

Meanwhile, officials in Karamay have declined to name the artist except to state that he is Chinese.

Ma Jun, from the local tourism bureau, said the works are different as Kapoor’s sculpture is “a bean shape” while the Karamay version is

designed to mimic an oil bubble; a reference to a nearby oil well.

“The idea of the oil bubble comes from the Black Oil Mountain, which is a natural oil well in Karamay,” he said. “You can’t say we’re not allowed to build a round sculpture because there already is a

Anish Kapoor round one. While we use similar materials, the shapes and meanings are different. Cloud Gate intends to reflect the sky, but ours reflects the ground.” The Chinese installation is surrounded by smaller bubbles and has coloured lights projected on its underside.

Obama shares his personal song list WASHINGTON United States President Barack Obama has shared his personal song list on Twitter as per “popular request”.

The world leader who is currently on vacation at Martha's Vineyard, selected some of his favourite songs for two playlists on music-streaming website, Spotify.

'The President's Summer Playlists' are titled 'Day' and 'Night', and consist of 39 songs, summing up to more than 3 hours of music. As per the White House's official Spotify

account, each track was “hand picked” by Obama.

The track lists show his specific taste for classic soul, with tracks like Al Green, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin. His track also featured Philadelphia band Low Cut Connie.

Adam Weiner, the band's

lead singer, said he was “shocked and humbled and confused” by their inclusion, “thought it was a joke at first, but then I remembered that Obama has incredibly great taste and that he has always championed the little guy.”

Obama has often talked of his love for jazz, which reflects in the soundtracks which include Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Billie Holiday. He has picked lesser known songs by famous artists such as, Sinatra's 'The Best Is Yet To Come' and Joni

Mitchell's 'Help Me'. He has not forgotten the special relationship, as his playlists include music by British acts including Coldplay, Lianne La Havas and Florence + The Machine. He has never shied away from sharing his taste in music, and has had great success with the community. His 2008 election campaign was supported by rappers including Will.i.am, currently a judge on BBC One's talent show The Voice, who recorded a song called 'Yes We Can' for him.

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27 killed in bomb attack inside In Brief Raveena alleges 'harassment' at Hindu temple in Bangkok event in US AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

The blasts, which the government believe was to damage the economy and tourism, occurred inside Erawan Shrine dedicated to Lord Brahma in downtown Chidlom district BANGKOK In a first of its kind attack in Thailand, popular Lord Brahma temple in downtown district of Chidlom was target to twin blasts, which killed 27 people, including 4 foreigners, and injured 117. The blasts, which the government believe was to damage the economy and tourism, occurred inside Erawan Shrine dedicated to Lord Brahma in downtown Chidlom district, causing panic as people fled the place where cars and motorcycles exploded in the impact.

The temple is situated on a main road through

Former US President Jimmy Carter confirms cancer

WASHINGTON Former US president Jimmy Carter has announced he has been given a diagnosis of a spreading cancer that was detected by recent liver surgery.

“Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body,” Carter said in a statement released by the Carter Center. “I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare.”

The statement also states Carter's cancer is widely spread but not where it originated, or even if that is known at this point. The liver is often a place where cancer spreads and less commonly is the primary source of it. The statement said further information will be provided when more facts are known, “possibly next week.”

Carter has a family history of the disease; father and 3 siblings died of pancreatic cancer, which was later also found in his mother.

Bangkok's commercial hub and is surrounded by 3 major shopping malls and big hotels of international chains, making it one of the

most popular tourist attractions. Of the 4 foreigners reported dead, 2 were identified as Chinese and one as a Philipino.

There have been no reports of any Indian casualties in the event.

An explosive device fastened to a utility pole inside the Erawan shrine complex at the Ratchaprasong intersection, detonated at 6.55 pm.

A centre for recent political demonstrations, the attacks are speculated to be the work of Muslim separatists fighting for power.

Defence minister Prawit Wongsuwong said, “It was a TNT bomb... the people who did it targeted foreigners to damage tourism and the economy.”

Fiji charges group with sedition for secret plot to overthrow govt SUVA Fiji authorities have alleged a British army veteran of managing a secret military training in the tropical hinterlands, in a plot to form a breakway Christian state. Doubts were raised after officials in the Pacific archipelago charged almost two dozen people with sedition and plans to overthrow the government.

The group has been accused of engaging in military training in the northern province of Ra, where a movement has been pushing to breakaway and declare the Ra Sovereign Christian State. According to the government-aligned Fiji Sun, the military-style training started three months back and was overseen by “a former British Army soldier”. The veteran is accused of conducting training for about 20 villagers in the hills around the Yaqara Valley.

When asked about the alleged involvement of the Britons, Fiji Police

Spokeswoman, Ana Naisoro said, “Those are the allegations that were made. The investigations are continuing.” The man is yet to be identified, and his role to be confirmed.

Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions have released a list of the latest group of 16 people to be arrested.

Prosecutors asked the court for the group to be held in jail “due to the seriousness of the charges and the ongoing police investigations”.

A Melanesia expert, Jenny Hayward-Jones said the British army veteran was “more likely to be a Fijian”, than a British citizen. “There may well be retired British officers living in Fiji but I am not sure if there are younger ones who are energised to do this sort of activity,” she said. Fiji police said authorities had begun making arrests recently after receiving reports of “training of a seditious nature being conducted in

the interior of Ra by certain groups”.

“The team continues their investigations on the ground as they try to establish the intent of the alleged seditious act,” said police commissioner Ben Groenewald in a statement.

The country has seen a series of coups since 1987, that have lead to tensions between the indigenous population and the Indian community. About 57 per cent of the country’s 900,000 plus population, are indigenous Fijians, are mostly Methodist, and about 38 per cent are Indian, mostly Hindu.

Hayward-Jones said, “There is a background of indigenous Fijians who are not really interested in following a national agenda.

There have been stories of guns and former military being involved. When you hear pro-Christian statements, it is usually about Fijian nationalism and is anti-Indian.”

Obama hails Indian-American doctor WASHINGTON A Cleveland based doctor of Indian-American origin was recently, praised for her contributions to the field by none other than US President Barack Obama.

In an event at the White House, when Obama announced an ambitious goal to cut pollutions emitting from coal fired power plants, he singled out the doctor saying, “Dr. Sumita Khatri has spent her career researching the health impacts of pollution at the Cleveland Clinic, and helping families whose lives are impacted every single day.”

An adult pulmonary and critical care physician with a specialized focus in asthma. Dr. Khatri earned her medical degree at Ohio State University and trained in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. She served on the faculty of Emory University Medical Center, received her Master’s in Clinical Research, and is currently co-director of the Cleveland Clinic Asthma Center.

“Her clinical and research interests include the effects of air pollution

and environmental triggers on asthma, evaluating biomarkers of asthma, and community engagement with respect to asthma and lung health. In this regard, she has been involved with the NIH-sponsored Severe Asthma Research Program, collaborative research with the USEPA, and medical industry-associated asthma therapy trials,” mentioned HealthSciences Institute.

Khatri is also co-chair of the Asthma/COPD Assembly of the Healthy Homes Advisory Council in Cuyahoga County.

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LOS ANGELES Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon who was in the United States to perform for an Indepedence Day event, was subjected to misbehaviour from one of the organisers. In a tweet, Tandon said the man was drunk and there was no security to control him. “In LA after two glorious days, of spending the Independence Day celebrations- sadly a bad ending. All was going well.

Till a drunk got on stage. Some chap... started misbehaving, and padding comments, sadly all security was down and couldn't get to him first. (He) was one of the organisers and was upset that his kids didn't get to travel in my car with me to the event, which security and protocol didn't allow. Started making nasty remarks till I had to yell out to the others to get some other guys up... And that's when they took him away! But yes I did give him a piece of my mind too.. That's no way to talk to anyonewhen I didn't even know what he was upset about...,” she wrote.

Islamists threaten Bangladeshi activists on FB

DHAKA Mere days after Bangladesh's fourth secular blogger was hacked to death by Islamists, six Bangladeshi activists, including three poets have been allegedly threatened by Al-Qaida linked extremists, on Facebook.

'Ansar BD', issued the threat on its Facebook page with pictures of six men associated with Ganajagaran Mancha, a group demandin capital punishment for the 1971 war criminals. “There are three anti-Islamic poets & three organisers of blogs. They are the enemy of Islam. We should do what will our aim (sic),” the post read.

Identified as poet Henry Swapan, sculptor Charu Tuhin, poet Syed Mehedi Hasan, organiser Nazrul Biswas, poet Tuhin Das and Chhatra Union's Barisal unit general secretary Pritom Chowdhury, none of the six ave filed a police complaint as yet.

MQM quits Pak parliament, assembly over Karachi operation

KARACHI Lawmakers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party, the biggest party in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, has resigned from the Parliament and Singh provincial assembly alleging victimisation of party workers in the ongoing security operation. MQM parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar told the National Assembly before resigning that his party's decision to quit all legislative bodies was taken after long deliberations. He said the army chief and Karachi corps commander refused to meet him after he approached them to convey the party's concerns over the operation. “If you cannot feel the heat of the fire engulfing our homes, just remember this fire could also engulf your home,” Sattar said.

Facebook fires Indian-origin intern for pointing out flaw

NEW DELHI Indian-origin Harvard student, Aran Khanna's internship with Facebook was cancelled after he developed an app that brought to notice the privacy flaws in the popular social media's messenger service.

Khanna was preparing for the internship when he launched a browser application called Marauder's Map, that used data from Facebook Messenger to map where the users were, when they sent messages. A media report said the app “capitalised on a privacy flaw that Facebook had been aware of for about three years: the Facebook Messenger app automatically shared users’ locations with anyone who they messaged.” Within three days of gaining popularity, Facebook asked Khanna to disable the app and withdrew its internship offer to him.

Former Khalistan leader stabbed to death in US

WASHINGTON A former Sikh separatist leader was stabbed to death by unidentified assailants outside his apartment in the US city of Illinois. Satwinder Singh Bhola, 52, the owner of Griswold Grocery & Liquor in Peoria, was parking his car when some unidentified persons attacked him with a knife. Local police has launched a massive manhunt to nab the assailants. The police has not been able to determine the cause of his murder. Bhola, according to the police, suffered multiple stab wounds.

Preliminary indications are that he died of a stab wound in the neck. Bhola was nominated as spokesperson of All India Sikh Student Federation at the peak of militancy in Punjab. Following operation Blue Star in Amritsar, he served a two-year jail sentence. After being released from the jail, Bhola moved to California and from there he moved to Chicago where he was in the hotel business.

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INDIA

Jaya tells party workers to reach out to all voters Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

CHENNAI In preparation for the next year's Assembly elections, AIADMK leader and chief m i n i s t e r Jayalalithaa has told her party workers to reach out to all the voters in Tamil Nadu, and has announced the appointment of vote canvassers for the task.

“I feel it is essential to tell the 5,62,06,547 voters covered in 64,094 polling stations on behalf of AIADMK that Tamil Nadu is marching on a growth path never seen before due to the achievements

through efforts aimed at people's development,” she said. For this purpose, “vote canvassers will be appointed and this mammoth task will be carried out by the party forum functioning in my name”, she said in a party release.

AIADMK has already been

J. Jayalalithaa

AP plans to set up Bodh Gaya like monasteries HYDERABAD With the aim to make its capital city Amaravati, an international tourist destination, Andhra Pradesh is weighing the pros and cons of setting up a 'Monastery Boulevard', where Buddhist monasteries can be built.

“The state government is mulling to set up up a 'Monastery Boulevard' in the capital region where Buddhists from countries across the world can build their monasteries similar to Bodh Gaya in Bihar,” a state government release said.

In a meeting held on tourism by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu with senior officials, Naidu was told that 13 heritage tourism spots were identified to enhance as tourist

holding a string of public meetings across the state to highlight the achievements of the four year rule of the party and her recent victory in the RK Nagar elections.

“It is no exaggeration to say that, in a democracy, each and every v o t e r get-

destinations. As a part, the Kakinada-Hope IslandCoringa SanctuaryKonaseema would be developed as a tourist circuit. The focus of this circuit would be the Godavari backwaters, house boats, mangrove forest, beaches and local cuisine, arts and culture in the East and West Godavari districts.

Also, the 2,000 hectare mangrove forest of Coringa, the only one on the East Coast will be developed into an ecosanctuary zone, as per the release.

ting to know the government's schemes and achievements will add to the strength and pride of the ruling dispensation,” Jayalalithaa said. “Each and every vote canvasser, along with party functionaries of the specific polling station, should meet the electors of that area as many times as possible and explain the accomplishments of the government.”

She has directed functionaries at different levels, including the party's district secretaries, to “extend full cooperation to this essential task, which will be executed by Jayalalithaa Peravai.”

Kerala declared as 'Complete Digital State' T’PURAM With the state taking extra steps to implement various e-governance initiatives, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy declared Kerala as a 'complete digital state', during his 69th Independence Day speech at Central Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram.

“The state has achieved 100 per cent mobile density, 75 per cent e-literacy, highest digital banking rate and broadband connection up to panchayat level,” he said. “The implementation of e-district programmes in all districts and linking of Aadhaar and bank accounts have laid a strong foundation for Digital Kerala. I am proud to declare the state as the complete digital state, based on these indicators.”

“Government would set

Oommen Chandy up Wi-Fi hotspots in all local self government institutions and implement complete mobile governance in the next phase to achieve the best results of the Digital Kerala initiative.”

The state government has also announced the launch of an innovative programme in the name of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, which will help the youth convert their innovative ideas into successful business ventures.

Badal asks Modi to bail Haryana CM invites US out Punjab farmers investors, assures support CHANDIGARH Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bail out the farmers of the state who have been facing severe hardships.

During the Independence Day celebrations, after unfurling the national flag in Mohali, he addressed the farmers of the state and said, “I appeal to the Prime Minister to help these farmers who are facing hardships.”

He also praised Punjab police personnel and the Home Guards for the bravery they showed during the Dinanagar terror attack last month. He also paid rich tributes to freedom fighters, making it a point to note that Punjabis played a major role in the country's struggle for freedom.

Meanwhile in Amritsar, Cabinet Minister

Parkash Singh Badal Bikram Singh Majithia unfurled the national flag upside down on Independence Day, which was only corrected as the event concluded. The faux pas resulted with the suspension of the two police personnel responsible for the flag hoisting arrangement as they claimed the flag was in the right position until early morning and it should be probed to find out if there was a conspiracy. The mistake was not corrected even when Majithia delivered his speech.

NEW JERSEY Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has invited US companies to invest in his state in sectors like IT, auto and defence production, during his 10 day visit to the US and Canada.

Leading a 19 member delegation that comprises leading business organisations and state officials, he will visit Washington, San Fransisco, Vancouver and Toronto in his trip that is scheduled till August 24.

Khattar attended the annual India day parade at Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and was received with a grand reception arranged by members of the Overseas Friends of BJP and Indian diaspora. He addressed supporters at the reception and invited investments and expertise in various sectors of Haryana, partic-

Manohar Lal Khattar ularly food processing, IT, renewable energy, skill development, defence production, auto, industrial parks and pharma.

“I invite you to invest in Haryana. I want to assure you that we will not let you face any challenges or difficulties in the state and the Haryana government will provide you with all possible facilities,” Khattar said in Hindi. He informed that a 'relationship manager' will be appointed for investors and companies who will provide all necessary help.

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In Brief AsianVoiceNews

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Man arrested for sharing child porn pictures

CHENNAI The police have arrested an employee at a private company in Chennai for allegedly sharing a child porn picture in an office WhatsApp group. Police said C Vetrivel, 35, was employed as a material management official at a private firm here. He was a member of his office WhatsApp group called 'Hofinians.' He was also a member of another WhatsApp group of likeminded people at the office. By mistake, he shared a child porn picture in the official Hofinians group with a comment "How is it ?" His female colleagues who were members of the Hofinians group objected to it.

Meanwhile, a few women sent a complaint to the police.

The police registered a case and arrested Vetrivel from his house.

4 HUJI members arrested in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD A day before India's Independence Day celebrations, a special task force arrested four people suspected to be Harkat-ul-Jihadi Al-Islami members, from Hyderabad. From the four of the people caught, one was Pakistani, two Bangladeshi, and the fourth was from Myanmar. It was learnt that the men were taking shelter in a house in Chanchalguda area for the last two months. Police said the the Pakistani, Moham med Nazir was in India since last five years and officials were investigating their activities and affiliation with HUJI and other possible terror links. All four have been using fake passports and some incriminating material was seized from them, police said. “We are still verifying about their intentions of illegal stay in city. They are already in possession of several fake ID proofs in their names. These four members have been in touch with two locals who were facilitating their stay,” a senior police official said.

Student-designed drone flies national flag high on I-Day

CHENNAI The future is here! The Indian national flag at the IIITDM, Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu was flown by a student designed drone, during the 69th Independence Day celebration, after the traditional flag hoisting. A press release from the Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing said it offers “design centric education following experiential learning model, trains students to desi gn and develop indigenous products and make them suitable for make in India path.” The Institute's Director Prof Gnanamoorthy said “there's a need to convert the young population of India to be super skilled manpower.”

45 pilgrims rescued after bus falls into Punjab canal

CHANDIGARH More than 45 pilgrims were rescued after the bus they were travelling in fell into an irrigation canal near Punjab's Madhopur town and rushed to a hospital in Pathankot, police said. Police officials said the bus fell into the Upper Bari Doab canal. The water level was lowered by Punjab irrigation department to help in rescue operations. “We are looking into the reasons as to why the bus fell into the canal. The driver claimed that the brakes of the vehicle failed,” a Punjab police official said. Passengers claimed the bu s was carried in the canal water current for some distance, but saved by immediate rescue operations. Mostly from Delhi and Haryana's Gurgaon, the passengers were returning from the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir state after pilgrimage; none of them have sustained serious injuries.

Haryana boy tops pre-medical test

NEW DELHI After the All India Pre-Medical Test was cancelled in May following complaints of paper leak, the Supreme Court had asked CBSE to conduct a re-test, giving students a fresh chance. Topping the test was Haryana boy Vipul, who comes from an unreserved category. Scoring 90 per cent in his class XII boards, he said he was sure of a good performance in the AIPMT. “I was happy after my exam but never thought of topping it though. But I am happy that I will be able to pursue medicine from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. It's a dream come true for me and my parents,” he said. Vipul further said the re-test helped him work on few of his weak points. “I was confident that I performed well in the May 3 test. But when the Supreme Court ordered re-test, I took the opportunity to focus on some of my weak areas and worked on them. I think that help perform even better in the re-test.”

INDIA

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Modi Government’s Vigorous Foreign Policy AsianVoiceNews

K.H. Patel Rather unexpectedly, Narendra Modi as Prime Minister has excelled in India’s foreign affairs. As an administrator, he was mainly involved as Chief Minister of Gujarat State.

Hence, there was a perception that Modi may not be able to distinguish himself in foreign affairs.

However, as is his wont, right from the beginning when he took over as PM on 26th May 2014, he started taking initiatives in this field and has already visited 25 countries in the short period of 15 months and has thus remarkably boosted India’s image abroad.

Neighbourhood Knowing well that friendly relations with neighbourly countries can help concentrate on economic development of the country, Heads of State /Government of the member-nations of SAARC ( South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) were invited for his swearing-in ceremony. It was thoughtful of the Government that Mauritius ,one of the most friendly countries of India, was added to the list. After this initial step, Modi has moved fast in strengthening relations with these countries. Top-level bilateral visits have already taken place. In short, in over a year’s time the present government has established better relations with all the neighbouring countries, except Pakistan.

Pakistan For obvious reasons the above–mentioned happy narrative leaves out the troublesome neighbour. This Government appears to be clear that Pakistan is hardly interested in having good relations with India. It is more interested in promoting separatism in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the initial stage of this government, Pakistan had created huge problem on the border. The government knows it well that whenever Pakistan talks about starting a 'composite dialogue' with India, its target is Kashmir, rather than promotion of bilateral trade or other measures which can help in the welfare of the people of the two countries.

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Accordingly, this government does not seem to have any illusion that friendly relations can be established with Pakistan in foreseeable future.

China As regards China, this government is understandably anxious that the border problem gets settled as early as possible so that peace is maintained in the north, leaving India to concentrate more on the economic development of the country. However, presently China is not keen to settle this problem, leaving India in suspense and anxious in the matter.

However, inspite of this long-standing pending problem, both the countries have been happy to strengthen bilateral economic relations, including increased investments and trade. This policy has led to substantial growth of India’s trade with China, as last year two-way commerce totalled US$71 billion. With several agreements signed by Chinese President and Prime Minister Modi during their recent trips to each other’s country, Chinese investments in India and bilateral trade are expected to rise significantly.

Basically China is determined in becoming economically and militarily as powerful as the super power USA, if not a bit superior. Hence ,China, like India, seems to be interested in the maintenance of tranquility in the northern border region of India. However, without taking any chance as in the year 1962, India has been taking adequate steps in developing required infrastructure , logistics and military preparedness to handle successfully any localised military incursion by China. The government led by a decisive leader like Narendra Modi can not be found amiss in this regard.

China has been busy establishing strategic position at the Gwadar port of Pakistan and Colombo of Sri Lanka. India has also been trying to face this adverse situation by establishing a position at Chabahar port of Iran and taking necessary measures in the Indian Ocean countries such as Mauritius and Seychelles with a view to ensuring for itself legitimate Maritime rights in the international waters of Indian Ocean and South and East China Sea. India has also been developing close relations with concerned countries such as Vietnam, South Korea and Japan. With a view to preventing China acquiring a dominating position in the region, including in East Asia, India has been strengthening relations with Australia , South

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Korea and Japan which are also anxious that China is not in the position to intimidate them. Such common efforts of these countries have tacit support of USA so that China is restrained from any aggressive designs in this region.

Apart from taking necessary military measures to face any possible Chinese incursions in the northern region, Modi Government has started taking adequate steps to promote people to people contacts, hoping that ultimately Chinese people may influence their government to soften its intransigent stand on the border problem. During his recent visit to China, Modi made references to India as the original source of Buddhism and the Buddhist pilgrimage places in the country.

His declaration during the tour that India will grant electronic tourist visa (eTV) to Chinese nationals obviously pleased the lat-

requirements for the country. The region also hosts about seven million Indians. As the first step in the direction of strengthening relations with this region, Modi had a very successful visit to the United Arabian Emirates (UAE) on 16-17 August 2015. This was the first time that Indian Prime Minister visited UAE in last 34 years. Almost making a visible shift from its close relationship with Pakistan, UAE has now become a strategic partner of India as a result of Modi’s visit to the country.

It has agreed to counterterrorism measures, including seeking an end to terrorist camps from where cross border terrorism occurs. This had obvious reference to Pakistan.

UAE has also agreed to invest US $ 75 billion in India in next 5 years and has expressed the desire to raise the bilateral trade from the current level of $ 60 billion to US $ 100 bil-

Narendra Modi

Relations with Developed Countries Modi’s visits to developed countries such as USA, France, Germany ,Canada , Japan and Australia have had an important objective of inviting them to make investments in India.

Apart from promising investments, all theses countries have agreed that their investments will be in line with India’s objectives of 'Make in India' and 'Skill Development' in the country. The development of personal relationship with the top leaders of these major countries may also prove useful for the Prime Minister to talk with them directly in times of any international crisis in which India may be involved. Modi’s good rapport with foreign leaders is bound to attract capital, technology and best practices to the country.

Initiative in regard to West Asia The West Asian region is very important for India as it is the principal source of crude oil and gas ter.

lion.

Modi’s spirited address to the huge Indian gathering of over 50,000 in Dubai is bound to result in increasing the remittances from this community to India from the present annual level of US$ 50 billion. With such a sound beginning, further scheduled visits of Prime Minister Modi to other West Asian countries, including Saudi Arabia.

India is bound to derive rich dividends in the economic as well as political terms from this region.

Strengthening Relations with Africa This government's proactive foreign policy juggernaut will get a further boost as the government has started measures to advance relations with the Africa also. Africa is important for India as huge Indian diaspora is settled in almost all the 54 countries of that continent.

India has had traditionally friendly relations with the countries. Indians in those countries have been making substantial contribution to the economic development there. India is

scheduled to host a Summit Conference in October this year when Heads of Government /State of all the African countries will be present.

The Summit Conference is accepted to result in mutual advantages for India and Africa in economic and as well as political terms. The development of closer relations with the African countries can particular help India in getting their support for its claim for a Permanent Seat in the United Nations Security Council.

Special Attention to Indian Diaspora Modi has given fillip to his pet policy of maintaining and strengthening relations with Indian Diaspora which numbers about two and half crores settled in almost all the countries of the world.

Having worked vary hard, they have not only made excellent progress for themselves, but have also contributed to the development of the countries where they are settled. In the countries such as UK and USA, they wield considerable economic and political influence.

Wherever Indians are in large numbers, they contribute to the promotion of good relations between those countries and India.

Apart from contributing substantially in terms of donations etc. for educational institutions and other infrastructural projects in their original home towns, they have been sending remittances to India in foreign exchange to the tune of about US $ 70 billion a year. Such huge remittances are very useful in maintaining a sound balance of payment position for India.

As the Indian diaspora is a big asset for the country, it may be worthwhile to have a Cabinet level Minister in charge of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. While presently a Minister of State handles the portfolio under a Cabinet Minister, in the previous government this Ministry was headed by a Cabinet level minister. He was able to devote his full time attention to the matters relating to the diaspora. Apart from organizing annual Pravasi Bhartiya Divas in India, he could organize and attend Regional Pravasi Bhartiya Divas in different parts of the world from time to time. With a view to remaining in constant touch with our diaspora, the government can consider holding annual diaspora conferences in the countries with the large number of people of Indian origin. The participation of host government officials in such conferences can also contribute

to enhancement of cooperation between those countries and India.

Concluding Remarks: Mr. Modi’s projected visit to Israel will be the very first visit by an Indian Prime Minister. That visit will particularly boost collaboration between the two countries in the vital defense sector. Israel’s further assistance to India in the field of counter-terrorism will be appreciated by the people of this country.

Modi government’s dynamic foreign policy moves have improved the image and the profile of India in the world. India has begun to be more respected in the global arena. Recent evacuation measures by the Indian government of thousands of people, including large number of foreigners, from the war-ravaged Yemen and earthquake-stricken Nepal added to the prestige of India.

U.S. President Obama’s presence as Chief Guest at the Indian Republic Day celebration parade in Delhi in January this year and Obama himself writing a profile of Modi in the American prestigious Time magazine clearly indicated the high esteem with which USA holds India now. In short, most of the outside world is keen to develop relations with India which has the fastest growing economy in the world with a democratic system of government .

It is indeed creditable and unprecedented that during the short period of a little over year, the government has dealt with more than 102 countries at the level of Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for External Affairs, and that the government as a whole, has usefully interacted with over 166 countries.

All this means that the government has been extremely proactive in the field of foreign affairs. The economic diplomacy being the basis of this government’s foreign policy,39 % growth has been reported in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the past year. Such excellent performance in the foreign relations field during a rather short duration indicates that openly announced objective of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a leading power in the world can become a reality in foreseeable future.

(The author is former Indian Ambassador & is currently Chairman of Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRG) Centre Committee , Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry , Ahmedabad. The views expressed in the article are his personal.)

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INDIA

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Godman Sarathi Baba faces heat AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Assam asks for deportation pact

The All Assam Students' Union has asked the Centre to sign a deportation pact with neighbouring Bangladesh, when the historic Assam Accord, signed 30 years before has hardly proved helpful.

“Nearly 73,000 persons have been declared by tribunals and courts as foreigners who had illegally entered Assam from Bangladesh in the past 30 years. Yet not even one has been actually sent back primarily because there is no bilateral repatriation treaty between India and the other country,” said AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath. The resolutions passed by the union not only asked to sign a treaty, but also reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi the promises he had made during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Modi had said that Bangladeshi migrants would have to pack up immediately after the BJP formed the government.

“More than a year has passed but nothing has happened,” said the union's chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya.

Odisha godman Santosh Roul aka Sarathi Baba, arrested by the State Crime Branch police, is now under the Enforcement Directorate's radar for alleged illegal transactions.

CB sources said the ED has asked the state investigating agency for the financial and bank account details of Sarathi and Satyam Charitable Trust, run by the baba. The man is currently in a prison in Choudwar near Cuttack, after his CB remand ended.

So far, 33 bank accounts with about Rs 3 crore, have been traced by the agency. Probe is currently on to locate other bank accounts and transactions.

The agency has raided several places and questioned his Chartered Accountants. Besides his financial dealings and illegal real-estate purchases, he is also being probed for his alleged sexual activities.

This is just the beginning to a list of controversies associated with the self-styled godman.

Recently a Dalit woman had accused him of plotting to kill her by paying a 'supari' of Rs 10 lakh. The MBBS graduate had previously filed an FIR in Cuttack’s Mangalabag

police station accusing four people, including an estranged aide of Sarathi, of threatening her. Later, she filed a new FIR with Crime Branch police station, alleging that the godman, through his women associates, threatened to kill her if she spoke out against him. She added that she had been forced

by Sarathi’s women associates to file the initial FIR. Brewing fresh trouble for Roul is another woman's allegations of torture from her husband for refusing to get intimate with the baba. In her FIR at the Nikirai police station in Odisha's Kendrapara district, the

India's First Lady Suvra Mukherjee succumbs to cardiac arrest Pranab President Mukherjee's wife of 58 years, First Lady Suvra Mukherjee breathed her last after weeks of ailment.

Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Army's Research and Referral Hospital, two weeks back, she was known to be suffering from heart troubles and respiratory disorders.

Hospital PRO, Sanjay Kumar said, “Suvra Mukherjee died after a cardiac arrest.

She was on ventilator till the time of her death.”

Born in Jessore, Bangladesh, she married

the President in 1957. She was an ardent fan of poet Rabindranath Tagore and, a vocalist of Rabindra Sangeet, performing in the poet's dance-dramas of

Democracy wins in Sri Lanka CONTINUED FROM P1

led by Sirisena, Wickremasinghe, mediated by former president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

His defeat saw IndiaRajapaksa ties deteriorate further after he made his allegations public. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, played a diplomatic hand, opening channels of communication, and meeting him for a one-on-

one during his visit to Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa had been keen to improve ties with India, notwithstanding his 'nationalist' rhetoric in public. But India felt his victory would upset the process of political reform initiated in January. There was also a strong sense that Beijing had thrown its weight behind Rajapaksa.

The results of the election, open up for more substantive steps on reconcilia-

years in different parts of India, Europe, Asia and Africa. She founded the Geetanjali Troupe, who propagated Tagore's philosophy as expressed through his songs and dance dramas.

S u v r a Mukherjee has also written two books, 'Chokher Aloey', as personal account of her close interaction with late prime minister Indira Gandhi, and 'Chena Achenai Chin', a travelogue of her visit to China.

woman stated that on the fourth day of their marriage in January this year, her husband took her to Barimula Ashram to get the blessings of Sarathi.

“When we visited him, the Baba gave me a saree and sankhas (bangles).

After that my husband went outside leaving me alone inside the room. My husband asked me to stay there for some time. I felt a little awkward when the Baba's associates insisted that I must go inside his chamber to get his blessings,” the woman told media after recording her

Supreme Court receives bomb threat, again An anonymous email threatening to “blow up the Supreme Court” triggered a massive anti-sabotage drive across national capital New Delhi, a day after the email was received by the State Police. Police sources said they were trying to trace the origin of the threat and were considering it “very seriously”. “We have beefed up security at all entry and exit points at the Apex Court; continuous sanitisation of the premises is being carried out in short durations,” a police officer said.

According to sources, entry to court premises was regulated to keep a check on the number of people in the vicinity.

Issuance of visitors' passes was suspended temporarily, the police said.

Meanwhile, the police is in the process of tracing the electronic path of the email threat to effectively trace its source.

A similar threat was recently issued at Justice Deepak Misra one of the three-member Bench that upheld Yakub Memon's hanging last month.

statement before the subdivisional judicial magistrate. “Though I denied to take blessings of the Baba, my husband forced me to go into the godman's chamber and seek his blessings. But I protested and returned home,” she said.

The woman alleged that her husband had been torturing her since the incident, stating that her in-laws were also assisting her husband in the matter.

“Though I had made a written complaint in this regard earlier, it was not accepted,” she claimed.

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MODI’S UAE VISIT

www.asian-voice.com

27

UAE, India join hands to fight terror AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

Modi succeeds in convincing UAE Crown Prince to move away from its traditional friend Pakistan and to line up with India

Charting a historic new course in their strategic partnership for the 21st century, leaders of the UAE and India pledged to coordinate efforts to counter terrorism and radicalisation and misuse of religion.

In a joint statement marking the start of a new era in bilateral ties, His Shaikh Highness Mohammed bin Zayed AI Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi resolved to denounce and oppose terrorism "in all forms and manifestations."

Both leaders agreed "to seize this historic moment of opportunity and shared responsibility" to call upon all states "to reject and abandon the use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorism infra-

structure where they exist, and bring perpetrators of terrorism to justice".

Both nations will enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism operations, intelligence sharing, capacity building, cyber security and maritime safety. The leaders also agreed to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement, antimoney laundering, drug trafficking, other transnational crimes, extradition arrangements, as well as police training. They also agreed to establish a dialogue between their National Security Advisors and National Security Councils.

More important, and one that reflects the strategic direction the UAE has chosen, a joint statement said the two nations “oppose terrorism in all forms and manifestations... calling on all states to reject

Modi urges UAE businessmen to invest in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged UAE's top businessmen to invest in India and had offered $1 trillion investment opportunity. India has been discussing with several global funds to invest in the country and develop the infrastructure sector.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, has been keen to invest in India's infrastructure sector and build a strategic partnership with New Delhi. ADIA is already an investor in India and sees India as an attractive investment destination. India has huge needs for investment in railways, roads, ports, industrial corridors and smart cities.

The two sides decided to facilitate participation of Indian companies in infrastructure development in the UAE and promote strategic partnership

in the energy sector, including through the UAE's participation in India in the development of strategic petroleum reserves, upstream and downstream petroleum sectors, and collaboration in third countries.

The two countries also decided to further promote trade and use their respective locations and infrastructure for expanding trade in the region and beyond; and, with the target of increasing trade by 60% in the next five years.

The UAE will tap into India's expertise in Small and Medium Enterprises to create a vibrant industrial base in the Emirates which could also be of benefit to Indian enterprises.

The two sides decided to strengthen cooperation between the UAE's educational institutions and India's universities and higher research institutions.

and abandon the use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they exist, and bring perpetrators of terrorism to justice.”

This is a direct reference to Pakistan's activities, particularly with reference to 2611 accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, without naming it, and shows Islamabad's declining equity in what used to be its strategic backyard. Further, both countries asked all countries “to fully respect and sincerely implement their commitments to resolve disputes bilaterally and peacefully, without resorting to violence and terrorism.”

Modi and the Crown Prince will now meet regularly, while the national security advisers of both countries will meet every six months to take this forward.

Narendra Modi and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan cussions in two countries even India. Sources said the The UAE's shift is Pakistan and Iran. The UAE signing on to this remarkable because the UAE has a contentious agreement signals a new Emirates' sheikhs continue relationship with Iran, dawn. India has abandoned to have close personal relawhile Pakistan and the its decades-old reticence tionships in Pakistan, UAE have been very close regarding the Gulf and including the country being the Taliban-hijacked ICMiddle East. UAE will be their favourite game hunt814 made a stop in Dubai the first Gulf country with ing destination. The UAE after taking off from whom India is talking was also one of three counAmritsar. “interoperability” for both tries which supported a By upgrading the bilathumanitarian assistance Taliban government in eral relationship to a “comand conflict situations, Afghanistan in the 1990s. prehensive strategic partjoint manufacture of For decades, the UAE has nership,” Modi plans to defence equipment and been a safe transit for terror open different sectors of the maritime security cooperagroups, organized crime Indian economy to investtion. India's new outreach and drug networks from ment from the UAE. to the UAE may have reperPakistan, Afghanistan and

Modi charms Indians in Dubai Thousands chanted the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in approval as he addressed the Indian diaspora in Dubai on the second day of his visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Monday’s event was a big show of strength by the Indian community in Dubai. From NRI business tycoon Yusuf Ali to B R Shetty, who opened his purse strings to support the event, many business heavyweights like Shamseer Vayalil, Azad Moopan, Shamsuddin bin Mohidin and Sudheer Kumar Shetty were among the front row attendees at the mega event.

Modi's speech was preceded by a 90-minute cultural programme to entertain thousands who had entered the stadium soon after the gates opened in the afternoon. The performers included renowned Kerala singer Balabhaskar and artists from southern states, who performed dance forms like Koodiyaatam and Kalaripayattu.

Among the thousands who turned up to get a glimpse of Modi was Yusuf, a chartered accountant who has been in Dubai for the last three years. “After 34 years an Indian Prime Minister is visiting this country. That is the most important factor. So I thought as an Indian I should be here. It is my responsibility to be here and listen to my prime minister…He has taken a lot of initiatives and we will not see the effects within

ten months or one year. We will have to give him a chance,” Yusuf, who stood in a long queue hours before the speech to enter the stadium, said.

When asked about Modi's communal image, he said: “During his Independence Day speech he made it clear that he does not want any kind of casteism or religious intolerance. In that sense, he is completely secular. The Supreme Court had given the SIT a work to do. The SIT has given him a clean chit. So, I don’t think I can find fault with that; and right now he is the prime minister. He was elected by the people in a democratic way. So I should respect him.”

Rajinder Sathe from Maharashtra’s Panvel said he had attended the PM’s meeting in Seoul too and managed to click a selfie with him. As he hurriedly entered the stadium, four

hours before the address, Sathe declared, “he says exactly what the common man feels. He is down to earth. We feel something may change in India.”

Rohini from Hyderabad was there with her young daughter, while her husband and brother had taken a short-leave from work to attend Modi’s address. Asked about Modi’s achievements in office, Rohini - who has been in Dubai for a decade - said: “You are comparing

one year with 69 years.

That is not fair. Give him some time….His ideology, work and everything is good and an inspiration.”

Among the huge crowd was Makhan Lal, a director in a construction company, who had come all the way from Bahrain along with 1,000-odd Indians. “I am a big fan of his. He works for the common man,” he said, underlining Modi frenzied fan following among the Indian diaspora.

Matrimonial Gujarati Brahmin divorcee lady, age 44 years, No child, height 4-11, working as a care assistant, looking for a suitable match for matrimony, NO CASTE BAR. Please send bio-data with recent photo to Email : bhavanajr@hotmail.co.uk

28

Trisha

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

to be seen in horror movie

S

outhern actress Trisha will next be seen in a Tamil/Telugu bilingual horror film titled “Nayagi.” With the scope of horror movies widening in terms of casting, people with good star value are trying their hands at the genre.

Sources also said that actor Ganesh Venkatraman is also in talks for the film which will most likely go on floors next month. Trisha will apparently play the role of a leading actress close to her real life status.

Sivakarthikeyan to lock horns with Dhanush?

www.asian-voice.com

Mahesh Babu equals Rajinikanth's record

M

ahesh Babu's 'Srimanthudu' has entered the £ 50,000 club, making him the only Telugu hero with three £ 50,000 films.

Mahesh's movies “Dookudu” and “SVSC” had crossed this mark earlier. The only actor to revel in the tag until now was superstar Rajinikanth.

Happy with his movie's success, Babu has requested all his fans to fight against piracy, adding all of them must watch the film on the big screen. The Telugu industry suffers at the hand of severe piracy issues, and the actor was one of the very few who has been fighting against it since the start of his career. 'Srimanthudu' is a family drama that stars Mahesh Babu and Shruti Haasan, and is directed by Koratala Siva.

Samantha’s role in '10 Enradhukulla' praised AsianVoiceNews

S

outh actress Samantha who acted across topgrossing actor Vikram for the first time in “10 Enradhukulla” said her character in the movie was the toughest. She said, “The feeling of working in this film was very different. I feel proud to have bagged the role in this film. It’s a very tough character and I should thank Vijay Milton sir for trusting me. I think I did whatever I could for the character.”

T

his year's two important flicks might lock horns on Gandhi Jayanti, as filmmakers consider October 2nd as the preferred date.

While it was known that Chiyaan Vikram's “10 Enradhukulla” was scheduled to hit the big screen on October 2nd, latest news is that the film has been postponed for an October 21st release citing a lag in the fag end of shooting schedule.

So now with “10 Enradhukulla” not releasing on October 2nd as expected earlier, it is being said that Thirrupathi Brothers are eyeing Gandhi Jayanti to release their pending project “Rajini Murugan,” starring Sivakarthikeyan and Keerthy Suresh in the lead.

However, a source has revealed that Dhanush has already zeroed in on October 2nd to release his untitled, with director Velraj and actresses Samantha and Amy Jackson as the lead heroines.

Manjhi- The Mountain Man

Manjhi is biographical movie based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi, popularly known as the 'Mountain Man', a labourer who carved a mountain with just a hammer and a chisel. The film s t a r s Nawazuddin Siddique as Manjhi and Radhika Apte as his wife. It is directed by Ketan Mehta and coproduced by Viacom Pictures and NFDC India.

All is Well

The story of the film revolves around a dysfunctional family on the run, chased by goons.

The journey brings them together as they begin to know each other and understand each other's point of views. It is a fun trip about self realisation, love and family. All is Well is directed

by Umesh Shukla and stars Rishi Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Abhishek Bachchan and Asin.

Genelia returns to acting after 3 years

A

ctress Genelia D'Souza who was last seen in “Tere Naal Ishq Ho Gaya,” is excited to start shooting after a 3 year break. Genelia who had taken a break after her marriage to Riteish Deshmukh in 2012, tweeted, “On my way to shoot...excited as hell.. Been 3 yrs since I last shot but I have a feeling it's going to be a Good Good Day.” Even more excited than her, was hubby dearest who couldn't stop beaming at her returning on the screen. Retweeting her tweet, Deshmukh added, “It's going to be a Greatt Day - you were born for this.” The couple who constantly indulge in PDA on social network, welcomed a baby boy last year.

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Director Vijay Milton was all praises for the actress saying, “People with whom I had discussed the script discouraged my idea of casting Samantha in the role as they thought she would not fit such a tough character. But I went ahead with the idea and I should thank Samantha for proving me right. The same people who watched the film now said that Samantha was the best fit for the character.”

Jacqueline

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www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Hason Raja

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

eyes action drama genre

The Power of Love

B

ollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandes who will next be seen in action film 'Brothers' is keen to work in an action drama. “I felt so left out. I was sitting at home and all these guys were doing action. I am a sports buff and I have athletic personality. I have been dying to do action (film) for a long time. Hopefully, I will be able to do one soon,” Jacqueline said.

The Sri Lankan beauty considers it empowering for women to do action roles on screen. She said, “Action is my favourite thing to do in cinema and I think it is so empowering when you see a women doing it, as very rarely you get to see it. We have such great and strong women in the industry who can pull off as action heroines.

With good script and character, I would like to tap into that.”

Talking about her role in 'Brothers', Jacqueline said the audience would be able to relate with her character Jenny as she is stuck in an emotional dilemma. “The film is about two brothers but unless you know their history you won't be able to feel for their motive behind what they are doing. For me, Jenny and Jackie Shroff's character get an insight into their lives.”

“It is a very challenging character. In the film, I am in a big dilemma as my daughter is dying and we as a family can't afford to pay for her treatment. We are afraid of losing her and I am afraid of losing my husband.”

Bhumi Pednekar happy on shedding extra weight

S

eemingly happy on her success in shedding unnecessary weight, Mumbai born actress Bhumi Pednekar said she enjoyed her weight loss journey. “The journey of shedding weight was tough but the only good thing was it did not take a toll on my health. It was all natural and planned. It didn’t affect me mentally, which generally happens. But I did have to do a lot of hard work. It was a fun process for me. I really enjoyed doing it. There wasn’t any day when I was missing on anything because I was taking the fat-free version of it,” she said. The actress who gave a capturing performance with her debut film “Dum Laga Ke Haisha,” touched many hearts as Sandhya, an overweight girl.

R

enowned filmmaker Ruhul Amin's upcoming movie “Hason Raja” is in the final stages of post-production. The film lines the life of acclaimed Bengali poet Hason Raja, a landowner whose search for divine beauty acquaints him with the world of poesy.

Bollywood superstar Mithun Chakraborty's potrayal of Raja blows life into the character when blended with the exhilarating music by Bappi Lahiri.

Actress Raima Sen charms the camera with her compelling and elegant presence, as Amin seems to have captured every delicate overtone of his cast.

With a mixture of different classical and folk dance forms, choreographer Sukalyan Bhattacharya has created dance pieces that will take you to a bygone era. Outstanding action sequences and unforgettable cinematic moments etched into the film prove “Hason Raja” is no where near contemporary cinema. The film is due for release at the end of this year.

-Romuz Uddin.

Alia worked hard for bikini bod in 'Shandaar'

A

big fat business merger...

We mean... Wedding... A big fat Indian wedding is planned in an exotic castle in Europe, by Kamla Arora, grandmother of the Arora family, with the son of Bipin Fandwanis (Pankaj Kapoor), a loud Sindhi businessman, and what ensues is roller-coaster madness. Cradled in the backdrop is protagonists Aliya (Alia Bhatt) and Jagjinder Joginder's (Shahid Kapoor) love story, minutely observed by Alia's on-screen father Pankaj Kapoor.

The journey of Aliya, Jagjinder Joginder and Bipin in the chaotic and lavish wedding composes the

Kapil Dev starts new innings with TV show

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ricket legend Kapil Dev will try his hand with fiction television, with the Indian take on “Everybody Loves Raymond” - “Sumit Sambhal Lega.” A source said, “He will play himself in the show. The role is currently for a few episodes, but if it goes well with the audiences, the makers are planning to make it a full-fledged one.” Confirming the news, Kapil said, “I am not limiting myself to being a cricketer. I want to move on in life, and in this show, I had to play myself, so it seemed like it would be a pleasant experience.” When asked if he ever thought of being an actor before, he said, “No, I never did. Also, if you ask Shah Rukh Khan to play Kapil Dev, he will be able to do it. But if you ask me to act, I will not be able to do it so well. Just like you see actors promoting the game of cricket, I feel when sport stars come to the field of entertainment, people should not be uptight about it.”

story of 'Shaandaar'.

The young actors recently launched the trailer of their upcoming and it's already got people drooling. The short clip ends with the young Bhatt flaunting a svelte body in a bright pink bikini.

“I worked very hard for a bikini body. I and Shahid used to train together in the gym. I also followed a strict diet to get a bikini body.

Also, my bikini shot was not supposed to be an elaborate one. It was initially just supposed to be me in the bikini. But since I worked so hard, Vikas said, 'Shot le lete hai accha wala.' I am happy that you liked it,” Alia said in an interview.

Parineeti invited for India Day parade in NY

Rishi Kapoor to work with Priyadarshan

arineeti Chopra has been invited as Grand Marshall and Guest of Honour at the prestigious New York India Day Parade this year. People of Indian-origin will gather in New York from all across North America to celebrate Indian independence.

She will also ring the opening trade bell at Nasdaq, other than her other event appearances.

“I believe India's story should be celebrated everywhere, and the journey of Indian-origin people is nothing short of incredible. The most successful community of expatriates anywhere, I treasure this opportunity to celebrate our independence in such a festive manner in New York,” she said in a statement.

outh Indian director Priyadarshan has plans to return to Hindi cinema after his last movie “Rangrezz” in 2013 with Jackky Bhagnani. The filmmaker who has directed over 80 films in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam will work with Rishi Kapoor for his upcoming project, for the first time in his career. “Can you believe it?” says Rishi disbelievingly. “During all these years we've never worked together.

Priyan is the most prolific director in India along with David Dhawan. I've done innumerable films with David.

Not Priyan.”

P

S

30

UK

www.asian-voice.com AsianVoiceNews

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Armed forces Hindu Network to host Raksha bandhan festivals across the UK Raksha Bandhan is a major Hindu festival, symbolising bonds of mutual protection within families and within communities. For Armed Forces Hindus, Raksha Bandhan holds particular significance as it’s a chance to celebrate and emphasise the duty the Armed Forces have to protect their society.

The Armed Forces Hindu Network will hold Raksha Bandhan ceremonies at different locations around the UK. At each location, members of local Hindu youth groups will tie Rakhis (thread bracelets) on the wrists of Service personnel from local Armed Forces units. In addition to these Rakhis representing and reinforcing the bonds of friendship, brotherhood, mutual protection and support – the bands will also represent society’s protection of its Armed Forces. This latter representation heralds from when Sachi, wife of

Lord Indra (King of Heaven), tied a sacred protective amulet to his wrist before he went into battle with evil King Bali, whom he ultimately defeated.

The final Raksha Bandhan event will be held at the Ministry of Defence, where members of the Armed Forces Hindu Network will tie Rakhi on the wrists of senior representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces to represent how the bond of protection between employee and employer.

There will be key note speakers at each event talking about the role of the Armed Forces Hindu Network and recognising the role of the Armed Forces within our society. The events will be accompanied by classical dance and music by local Hindu artists, and will finish with a meal for all to join.

Hindus have long made a huge contribution to UK Defence. During WW1, some 750,000 Hindus deployed overseas in British Indian Army, earning 8 Victoria Crosses – the most prestigious award within the military; 3 Hindu RFC fighter pilots fought in WW1 earning 1 Distinguished Flying Cross; Hindus also served in Royal Indian Marine and as ‘lascars’ (seamen on merchant and Royal Navy ships) – 20% of British maritime strength by end of WW1 was Indian. During WWII, over 1.25 million Hindus fought in British Indian Army, including in Europe, Africa and Asia earning 18 Victoria Crosses; Hindu pilots flew in both RAF and Indian Air Force, including during Blitz; Royal Indian Navy played prominent role even in European operations.

There are currently 950 Hindus serving in UK

Coming Events

l Round-the-clock Ram Dhoon, Saturday 22nd- Sunday 23rd August 2015, 8am- 8pm. Shri Hindu Mandir, St Barnabas Road, Leicester, LE5 4BD. Contact Vijaybhai: 07876 425 088. l Mushaira (poetry) by Chinubhai Modi. Thursday 3rd September, 7:30pm- 9:30pm. 2a Rossyln Crescent, Harrow HA1 2SU. Contact Ameet Jogia: 07753 464 149. l Jammu Kashmir Study Centre (UK) presents International Conference on Pakistan Occupied JK & Gilgit Baltistan. Saturday 29th August, 10am- 4pm.

Sangat Centre, Sancroft Road, Harrow HA3 7NS. Email: uk.jksc@gmail.com l Tarapur UK Summer Picnic. Sunday 23rd August, 1pm. Near Six Path, valley Gardens Car Park, Virginia Water, Surrey TW20 0HN. Contact Bhirenbhai: 07771 808 099. l Melody 4 U and National Association of Patidar Samaj present Ek Yaadgaar Shyam. Saturday 22nd August, 7pm. Patidar Samaj Hall. Contact Pravinbhai Amin: 020 8337 2873. l Shreemad Devi Bhagvat Katha. Monday 24th AugustTuesday 1st September, 2pm- 6:30pm. Shree Hindu temple, 34 St. Barnabas Road, Leicester LE5 4BD. Contact Mahendrabhai Nai: 07792 464 404. l Guru Poornima Utsav. Sunday 23rd August, 6:30pm.

Oshwal House, 1 Campbell Road, Croydon CR0 2SQ. Contact Prafulbhai Patel: 07831 619 278. l A Mehfil Evening with Rajeev Sharma, a Benefit concert for Nepal. Saturday 22nd August, 6:15pm. Kadwa Patidar Centre, Kenmore Avenue, Harrow HA3 8LU. Contact Chandubhai Patel: 07732 468 644.

Editor: CB Patel Associate Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Tel: 020 7749 4098 - Email: rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com Senior News Editor: Dhiren Katwa Freelance Correspondent: Rudy Otter Chief Operating Officer: Liji George Tel: 020 7749 4013 Email: george@abplgroup.com Advertising Manager: Kishor Parmar Tel: 020 7749 4095 - Mobile: 07875 229 088 Email: kishor.parmar@abplgroup.com Business Development Managers: Rovin J George - Email: rovin.george@abplgroup.com Tel: 020 7749 4097 - Mobile: 07875 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 Leicester Distributors: Shabde Magazine, Shobhan Mehta Mob: 07846480220 (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad.

Tel. +91 79 2646 5960 Bureau Chief: Nilesh Parmar (M) +91 94266 36912 Email: nilesh.parmar@abplgroup.com Consulting Editor: Bhupatbhai Parekh, Ahmedabad, Gujarat Tel: +91 79 2630 4142

Armed Forces.

The values of the Armed Forces such as courage, commitment, discipline, respect, integrity and loyal perfectly reflect Hindu core values as illustrated in many Hindu epics and Scriptures, including Raksha Bandhan itself, which is festival of Commitment, Respect and Loyalty.

Locations and time: Bradford: 24th August; 4:45pm – 7pm; Bradford Hindu Mandir, Bradford BD3 9LS Edinburgh: 24th August; 9:45am – 12pm; Edinburgh Hindu Mandir, Edinburgh EH6 7EG Birmingham: 25th August; 9:45am – 12pm; Tirupathi Balaji Temple, West Midlands B69 3DU London: 27th August; 9:45am – 12pm Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, London SW1A 2HB

l My Wife's Wedding. Saturday 22nd August, 7pm.

Peepul Centre, Orchardson Avenue, Leicester LE4 6DP. Contact Shailesh: 07478 243 473. l Comedy Dhamaka. Sunday 23rd August, 7pm. V.H.P Ilford, Hindu Centre (New Hall), 55 Albert road, Ilford, Essex IG1 1HU. Contact Dilipbhai: 020 8220 8541. Friday 28th August, 6:30pm. Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, Leicester LE4 6LF. Contact Monjibhai: 0116 266 9303. lAa Family Komedy Chhey. Sunday 23rd August, 2:30pm and 7:30pm. Peepul Enterprise, Orchardson Avenue, Leicester LE4 6DP. Contact Vasant Bhakta: 07860 280 655. Tuesday 25th August, 6pm. Winston Churchill Theatre, Pinn Way, Ruislip, Greater London HA4 7QL. Wednesday 26th August, 5:30pm. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 4A Castletown Road, London W14 9HQ. Contact P.R. Patel: 020 8922 5466.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your fifth house of romance, pleasure, speculation, and children. Because the cycle directly affects your sector of romance and speculation, you should be careful. An old lover may come back in your life, complicating matters. As Venus also rules your partnership and income sectors, both of these things may come up for review during this retrograde cycle.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 occurs in your fourth house

Venus Retrograde cycle

of home and family. Relations with your family may be a little strained. You might want to wait until Venus is direct before you express your frustrations with family members!

Venus rules you and your 6th house of health, work and routine. Try to organise yourself as things can go out of hand.

Venus Retrograde cycle GEMINI May 22 - June 22 occurs in your third house of

communication. People around you may seem insincere. In fact, you may have a hard time getting your ideas across in a warm, genuine manner. This retrograde cycle also affects your love, children and behind the scenes activities. Try to deal with these issues by being patient and do not step on anyone's toes.

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your second house of money and values. Take the time to re-think your sources of income and how you spend your cash during this period, and avoid making any big purchases until end of August. Venus also rules family, home and friendships. Take care as you could distance yourself from others.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your sign. This cycle will affect the personal image you project to others. Because Venus rules your communications sector, don't jump to conclusions if a loved one is acting a little distant. Wait it out.

Your desires from love and relationship may be hard to figure out for the time being.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your twelfth house.

What you want from love and your desires are very ambiguous and obscure during this cycle. Deal with your past so that you can put it behind you, but don't do it at the expense of your present. Widening your horizons, travel and financial security may be a little strained.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your eleventh house of friendships, groups, and aspirations. Your friendships or associations with groups may be a little strained during this period. Venus-ruled areas of your chart are yourself (how you come across to other people) and joint resources.

Extra caution in these areas of life may be necessary now.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

Your horizons have most certainly been expanding with Jupiter in the area of your chart ruling friendships.

With Venus retrograde, transiting your career sector, you will want to re-assess whether you are spending too much time at work. Time to create a better work-life balance.

Saturn in your sign is still restricting you in many ways.

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SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

Long-term partnerships are reinvigorated by Jupiter's transit of your Solar 10th house. Whether you're single or attached you will have a busy time ahead of you. As Venus is retrograde in your Solar 9th house, be extremely careful as an argument over personal philosophies of life can get you into hot water.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your eighth house of intimacy, shared resources, and personal transformation. Hold onto your money, work on a budget, and avoid arguments with loved ones that revolve around intimacy and sexuality. Y ou could also be dealing with past actions or karma. It's time to redefine what it is that you want out of life.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19 Venus has gone into retrograde motion for some time to come. This is going to be a time of frustration and re-assessment. It’s all about cultivating patience until planet goes direct. This is evident mainly in the arena of relationships, but it could also flow over into business partnerships and joint ventures. While you wait, don’t waste any time organise yourself.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your sixth house of work, health, and daily routines. The social aspect of relationships on the job may be strained for the time being. Do your best not to let people get to you. Your communications as well as joint resources are also affected. The desire to get on with people around you is very strong in this period.

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First Indian female footballer debuts for West Ham United

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

31

India women's senior goal keeper Aditi Chauhan has become the first Indian to make a debut for an English club- West Ham United, in the opening game of the season against Coventry City on Sunday.

CONTINUED FROM P 1

Coach Vikas Sadiq

Usman Akhtar

Tanishq Kotwal

Nehal Patel runs in Berlin to support cleft lip children

Nehal Patel from Surti Runners participated in the Berlin Wall Race to support the children suffering from the cleft lip and palate deformity.

He registered as the 236th solo runner from India. Nehal is a surgeon for the Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe in Surat,

India. The Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe is a non-profit organisation active in 10 countries.

They support the whole treatment of children suffering from the cleft lip and palate deformity.

Those children are exposed to social exclusion as well. The most important task of this organization is providing free operations to children from poor families.

Nehal wants to dedicate his Berlin race to all the affected kids in the world, as he noted in his registration: “I realized that pain which these children have by having cleft is much more than the pain I get during my run and that's why I will dedicate my 100 mile run to cleft children around world to create awareness about these children and their condition.

This is now cause of my life to help Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe and help these children around world.”

League - is an achievement unprecedented by a distance of India.

In a statement Aditi told Times of India, "I'm not happy about the result. I could have played better.

But of course I have watched the West Ham men's team on television and it was like a dream come true when I donned their jersey with the same logo.”

Chauhan inspires aspirant Asian footballers Scores of people have begun congratulating her on Twitter, including the Indian football team and her former club FC Goa. This has obviously created widespread interest in the Asian community here and abroad, and caught attention of some parents in the UK. But do they believe their children can become footballers in mainstream English football clubs? Do they believe there is a glass ceiling for Asian players?

Dr Shafalica Kotwal, a doctor by profession spoke to Asian Voice about her 14 years old son. A Grammar school student, Tanishq Kotwal plays for the Tiptree Spartans FC in Tiptree. She believes there is no glass ceiling for Asians in football and it totally depends on one's own ability to reach the top. However, will she want her son to become a profes-

sional footballer? A frank Shafalica like many other apprehensive Asian parents said, she would rather have Tanishq take up a mainstream profession over football, and give importance to education.

But a City lawyer Nadeem Akhtar is of a totally different opinion. His 10.5 year old son Usman Akhtar plays at Hughenden Valley FC, where Nadeem is also a parent coach. He told Asian Voice, “Yes there is a glass barrier. Asian players start well, but don't get selected in the main team.

“It could be because of cultural differences or may be parents don't get involved enough to help their children. But that is now slowly changing. I encourage my son more than my parents did for me.

“If my son wants to become a professional footballer, I will 150% support his decision.”

Vikas Sadiq, Sports development officer from Zesh Rehman Foundation when asked about glass barrier for Asians in football, told Asian Voice, “I feel the ‘barrier for Asians in football’ can easily be addressed, from our selves. The talent is there, however, if you go to open trials or grassroots football matches on the weekend, there is such a lack of Asian participants involved. This comes down to the parents, guardian and even us coaches ensuring that our children

and players go to these trails and join local football teams. Even if they don’t succeed at 1st, the experience they will gain will only improve them. The talent needs to be on show in order to be spotted.”

As a coach Vikas's main focus is to ensure all participants enjoy playing football and thinks that motivation and belief is the key, which is what one needs to drive in to the participants.

Does he feel top English Premiere League clubs could have an Asian footballer in the future? I do feel that in the future we will see an Asian Footballer in a top 5 EPL club, as long as parents, guardian and coaches do their part right. “We support and coach at the annual Chelsea FC Asian Star event at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham. Each winner in the 4 different age groups gains a years contract in the clubs development center. However, the event as a whole was a great experience for all 400 young children involved...

“Only recently Crystal Palace FC went to India, scouted and signed 15-year-old Dhruvmil Pandya, from Mumbai to join the club’s academy. Long as we encourage the youth to attend similar events, attend open day trials and join local football teams, I am confident we will see an Asian footballer in the EPL as well as a top 5 EPL clubs.”.

India suffer defeat in first Lanka test India capitulated to an embarrassing 63-run defeat in the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka, who scripted one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent Test history. Set a victory target of 176, the listless Indians surrendered tamely to be skittled out for their lowest score of 112 in just 49.5 over to give the islanders a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Left arm spinner Rangana Herath scalped 7/48 and Tharindu Kaushal took 3/47 as the Lankans bamboozled the Indians to bundle them out in just 41.5

overs and wrap up the Test match in three and half days. It was a dramatic performance from the hosts who after conceding a massive 192-run first innings lead to turn the table on the Indians who had themselves to blame for the debacle. The Indians allowed the hosts to wriggle out of a precarious 95-5 in their second innings just at the stroke of lunch with Dinesh Chandimal changing the complexion of the game with a brilliant counter-attacking 162 not out. From then on, the Lankans clawed back into the game.

India's ploy of going

into the game with five specialist bowlers at the cost of sacrificing a batsman also backfired badly as they did not have the batting fire power to chase even a modest target.

The Indian batsmen, for some strange reason, went into the fourth day's play with a defensive frame of mind and Shikar Dhawan took 36 balls to score his first run in the morning. Though the Indians are regarded as good players of spin bowling, they showed a shocking lack of technique and foot work on a pitch that had no real demons.

Ajinkya Rahane (36) and Shikhar Dhawan

(28) were the only two batsmen who could hang around for some time as wickets kept tumbling with exasperating regularity with six wickets falling for 55 runs in the pre-lunch session.

Kaushal claimed the last wicket of Amit Mishra to trigger scenes of celebrations in the Sri Lankan camp. The humiliating defeat also served as a huge mood dampener for Indian fans who were keen to celebrate the Independence day with a win.

The two teams will now travel to Colombo for the second Test to be held at the P Sara Oval from August 20.

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Asian Voice | 22nd August 2015

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Sania gets Khel Ratna, 17 others get Arjuna award

India's tennis star Sania Mirza has won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for 2015. Seventeen other sports persons have been nominated for the Arjuna award. Sania’s name was officially approved for the coveted award, becoming only the second tennis player to be nominated for the highest sporting hon-

our.

Cricketer Rohit Sharma, shooter Jitu Rai, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, hockey player P R Sreejesh, wrestling duo of Bajrang and Babita, athlete M.R. Poovamma, shuttler K Srikanth and boxer Mandeep Jangra are among those who won the Arjuna award. “It’s a

tremendous honour for me to be conferred the Khel Ratna award and I feel humbled with the love and respect showered on me by my country,” Sania said.

“Representing my country in all corners of the world has been my great privilege for so many years and this recognition of my efforts by the government

of India is certain to inspire me to earn more laurels for our country. I would like to wish all my fellow Indians a happy independence day,” she said. Sania, currently ranked world number one in women’s doubles, scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win a women’s doubles Grand Slam title when she

and Martina Hingis clinched the Wimbledon trophy earlier this year.

Sania is only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for the top award. Paes had been bestowed the honour way back in 1996 after his bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics. The 28year-old, who has won three mixed doubles Grand Slams in her career, beat competition from squash player Deepika Pallikal, discus thrower Vikas Gowda, track and field star Tintu Luka, rising shuttler P V Sindhu and hockey

She is the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for the top award captain Sardar Singh for the coveted honour.

The awards will be conferred by the President Pranab Mukherjee on August 29, the National Sports Day. The Khel Ratna carries a prize money of 7,500 pounds along with a citation, while

the Arjuna awards come with a cash prize of 5, 000 pounds and a citation.

Besides doing well on the professional circuit, Sania had also won the gold medal and the bronze medal in the mixed and women’s doubles categories of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. The Hyderabadi girl had won the Arjuna award in 2004 and was the favourite for the top award this year. In 2006, she was bestowed the Padma Shri the country’s fourth highest civilian honour.

The list of sportspersons recommended for Arjuna awards: P R Sreejesh (hockey), Dipa Karmakar (gymnastics), Jitu Rai (shooting), Sandeep Kumar (archery), Mandeep Jangra (boxing), Babita (wrestling), Bajrang (wrestling), Rohit Sharma (cricket), K Srikanth (badminton), Swarn Singh Virk (rowing), Satish Sivalingam (weightlifting), Yumnam Santhoi Devi (wushu), Sharath Gaekwad (para-sailing), M R Poovamma (athletics), Manjeet Chhillar (kabaddi), Abhilasha Mhatre (kabaddi), Anup Kumar Yama (rollerskating).