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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 2nd August 2014

Lord Loomba CBE pays tribute to BBC World Service and British Council in India Spriha Srivastava

IJA hosts summer reception with Indian High Commissioner and Israeli Deputy Ambassador

Left to right: Aubrey Rose, IJA Founding Co-Chairman; Mike Whine MBE, IJA Founding Trustee; Mr Eitan Na’eh, Israeli Deputy Ambassador; Peter Chadha, IJA Executive member; HE Mr Ranjan Mathai, Indian High Commissioner; John Levy, IJA CoChairman; Ajay Aggarwal, IJA Executive member

The Indian Jewish Association hosted a reception at Bank Leumi (UK) last week and explore the rich culture and similarities between the two nations – India and Israel. The chief guests of the event included the Indian High Commissioner to the UK Mr. Ranjan Mathai and Mr Eitan Na’eh, Israeli Deputy Ambassador, who stood in at the last moment for the Ambassador, HE Mr Daniel Taub, who was accompanying the newly appointed British Foreign Secretary, Mr Philip Hammond on a short trip to Israel. The Bank’s Chief Corporate Finance Officer, Jonathan Watson, and fellow senior executives welcomed over 80 guests to their London offices off Oxford Street. Having served as India’s ambassador to Israel at an earlier stage in his career, Mr Mathai spoke of his experiences there, including playing cricket against the Israel national team, of which one third were former Indian Test cricketers who had migrated to Israel. He went on to discuss the growing strategic and commercial links between the two countries, a theme that was taken up by Mr Na’eh, who spoke about new advanced Israel bio technology engineering schemes in India. Mr. Mathai also spoke about his wonderful experience as Ambassador to Israel for three and a half years and spoke of various similarities between the two nations. Israel is currently in the middle of a crisis with Gaza and that’s impacting its economy and politics. Mr Eitan Na’eh, Israeli Deputy Ambassador talked about the crisis his country was facing currently and also said that Israel is ready to

accept ceasefire proposed by Egypt but was rejected by Hamas. IJA’s CoThe Chairman, Mr John Levy, explained the 20 year history of the association which seeks to bring leading members of the Indian and Jewish communities in Britain together to share experiences, and to work together on political and social issues which confront both migrant faith communities. Members of the association include some of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs, bankers, lawyers, medical scientists and journalists as well as leaders of The Hindu Forum, Indian Journalists Association, National Sikh C o n s u l t a t i v e Association, National Congress of Gujarati Organisations, Confederation of Indian Industry, National Asian Business Association and the Board of Deputies of British Jews. The Indian Jewish Association is an organisation that aims to draw together the most creative personalities in two immigrant communities, to share thoughts and ideas on contrasting cultural and historic experiences, and jointly forge new prescriptions for helping these communities maintain their vibrancy, whilst contributing positively to mainstream life in the UK. Since 1980 members of the Indian and Jewish communities in Britain have developed close relations and an interest in each other’s cultural heritage. Subsequently the two communities realised that both can benefit from sharing their experiences as important minorities permanently settled in this country. By 1995 it was felt that the links between the Indians and Jews

should be put on a more permanent basis. On 28 April 1996, at a meeting at the Hillel House Jewish Centre, attended by over fifty representatives from both communities, the Indian Jewish Association UK was established, and since then we have held a variety of events involving and distinguished renowned speakers. The event was held at the classy offices of Bank Leumi in the posh Bond Street area. Bank Leumi (UK) is a first-class boutique bank offering a wide range of corporate and private banking services to UK-based and international clients. Founded over 110 years ago in London, the Bank operates through its head office in London, its northern office in Leeds and in Jersey via its subsidiaries Bank Leumi (Jersey) Limited and Leumi Overseas Trust Corporation. There is also an award-winning office in Brighton - assetbased lender. With a reputation for true relationship banking, Bank Leumi (UK) activities include commercial finance, trade finance, commodity finance, financing Israeli related business, media finance, property and hotel finance, and asset based lending (via Leumi ABL). The Bank also specialises in UK and international private banking and wealth management, offering an extensive range of deposit accounts, investment services, structured products, and foreign exchange and hedging facilities. It is a subsidiary of the Bank Leumi le-Israel Group. The Group has a significant share of the domestic Israeli banking market as well as an established overseas network of 60 offices in 17 countries around the world.

Let us know what you think. Email Spriha at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

Lord Loomba highlighted the important work of the BBC World Service and the British Council in India, and asked the Government whether there had been “any focused research on how far the BBC World Service is responsible for educating listeners about British culture and British values”. He spoke primarily on efforts in education and cultural exchange. Lord Loomba was contributing to a debate introduced by Lord Alton of Liverpool, seeking the Government’s assurances of support for both the BBC World Service and the British Council in promoting British values and interests abroad. He referred to the BBC’s “Learning English” programme which provides free language resources to those learning English in India, while also stressing the importance of the BBC World Service coverage of British current affairs, in both English and Hindi. He stressed to the House that the awareness this creates

“contributes to the cultural interaction between India and Britain.” Lord Loomba, pictured, also paid tribute to the efforts of the British Council in this area, developing connections between universities and industries in India and the United Kingdom through the UK-India Education and Research Initiative. He described this work, and that of the BBC World Service, as “a vital tool in promoting Britain to the rest of the world and... invaluable in shaping the way in which Britain is viewed.” Lord Loomba also celebrated the importance of BBC World Service news

and documentary programmes in spreading British values and influence, particularly in benefitting efforts in international development. This is an area in which Lord Loomba has great experience, as founder of Loomba Foundation, a UN accredited NGO, which has been working to support widows and their children in India since 1997. The Loomba Foundation has educated more than 9,000 widows’ children and has launched a project to empower 10,000 widows through vocational training and employment. In her concluding remarks, Baroness Warsi, the Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, answered that there is ongoing surveying by the BBC of their specific language programming. She also joined Lord Loomba and other members of the House in describing the BBC World Service and the British Council as “important partners and assets in the UK’s approach internationally.”

Moeen Ali banned from wearing wristband The International Cricket Council has announced that the England Batsman Moeen Ali has been banned from wearing wristbands with slogans ‘Save gaza’ and ‘Free Palestine.’ British-Pakistani Moeen has been helping raise funds for charities working with those affected by the three-week conflict with Israel. Though Moeen was backed by the England

and Wales Cricket Board but was told by match referee David Boon to remove the wristband and not wear them again while playing for England. Risking disciplinary action under the ICC Code of Conduct, which forbids players wearing, displaying or conveying messages through arm bands or other items on clothing or equipment without prior approval, wore the wristbands on

Monday’s second day of the third test against India at Southampton.

Britain may make drinking alcohol a criminal offence Britain may soon make pregnant women drinking alcohol a criminal offence. Children born to alcoholic mothers may also be legally allowed to demand compensation from his or

her parent for the injuries inflicted of deformities due to alcohol consumption. Civil organisation Birthrights and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS)

have initiated a court case against such a legislation, which one believes could seriously undermine women’s autonomy while pregnant and their freedom to make decisions for themselves.

Are Asian values helping couples to stay together? A report has revealed that almost 400,000 children in England and Wales now divide their time between two homes because their parents have separated or divorced, though this number is much less in areas with large concentration of Asian settlement. Analysis of findings of the 2011 census shows that 386,000 children under 16 have two home addresses, not counting those at boarding school or whose parents have a second home in the country. However, Tower Hamlets in east London,

with a large number of ethnic minorities, has the lowest concentration of children who alternate between two households, less than 1% of all dependent children in the borough. The picture was similar in other parts of the capital as well as Birmingham and Manchester, which also has a large Asian population. The report probably points at the ethnic mix in those boroughs- especially the conservative Asian values acting as a glue between couples or families.

By contrast, almost 6% of children growing up in Ribble Valley, one of the wealthiest parts of Lancashire, have two family homes – the highest proportion in the country. The ONS cited that Tower Hamlets, which is the only local authority in the UK in which more people list themselves as Muslim than Christian. “This may relate to the higher proportions of the population reporting Asian ethnicity in these areas, reflecting different cultural attitudes towards marriage, divorce and cohabitation,” it noted in a commentary.