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FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

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6 - 12 OCTOBER 2018 - VOL 47 ISSUE 23

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6 - 12 October 2018

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FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

R

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

6 - 12 OCTOBER 2018 - VOL 47 ISSUE 23

Indians may benefit from the new Post-Brexit immigration rules which plan to focus on highly-skilled migration

inside: India-born Gita Gopinath appointed IMF chief economist SEE PAGE 20

Food Allergy Warning: Better be careful than sorry

MAY ANNOUNCES TOUGHER IMMIGRATION PLAN British Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday have unveiled a major post-Brexit immigration shake up which Mrs May said is aimed at a level playing field for nationals from all countries by ending freedom of

movement once and for all for EU citizens. Though Indians may benefit from the new rules as it focusses on highlyskilled migration as opposed to lowskilled migration, the Prime Minister has added that 'future employers' need to sponsor families of highly-skilled professionals, which may be a major hindrance

TRAVLIN STYLE 0203 751 4242

5938

46 Church Road Stanmore Middx London HA7 4AH * All price are from and subject to change and availability*

in the long run. Sajid Javid has also warned that new migrants will face tougher citizenship tests to integrate better and live by British values. Business leaders have accused Mrs May of “taking a wrong turn” after she set out her plans for a new post-Brexit immigration system.

Mumbai: Delhi: Hyderabad: Chennai: Ahmedabad: Rajkot: GOA:

Bapu @ 150 High Commission of India and India League celebrate Gandhi Jayanti at Tavistock Square

Photo courtesy: Raj D Bakrania, Prmediapix

Rupanjana Dutta

SEE PAGE 13

Continued on page 14

£385 £385 £400 £395 £395 £455 £395

Bangalore: Bhuj: Lucknow: Kochi: Kolkata: Amritsar: Dhaka:

SEE PAGE 22

£395 £455 £485 £395 £400 £425 £485

Singapore :

£435

Katmandu:

£450

Bangkok:

HongKong:

£415

£440

4 UK

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6 - 12 October 2018

onetoone WITH KEITH VAZ, MP

1

Which place, or city or country do you most feel at home in?

Leicester

2 3

What inspires you?

Jagdish Ghelani was born in Uganda, Africa where he did his Primary and Secondary education. His parents decided to send him to UK in 1972 to join his brother who was already in Leicester and was studying at Loughborough Tech College where he studied too. His parents also came and settled with us in Leicester.

In 1980, he married his wife Daksha in India. He started his own business which was not very successful, so he joined a company called Combined Insurance, Company of America. He was selling insurance to various parts of the country and mainly to the farmers and village people. It was a grand success in its own little way and a great experience where he achieved a fair few company awards in Sales.

He heard of a Pub called The Fosseway and spoke to the Manager of the Brewery, who told him that there were already 16 bidders ahead of him, however he still gave Jagdish the opportunity to submit a business plan which he did. His business plan was to start a Vegetarian Restaurant which Jagdish started on 19th October 1999 after a lot of confrontation with the Brewery, who were not agreeing to his proposal for the pure Vegetarian Restaurant. He is not looking back as his whole family is with him now and it has given him an excellent base to work from.

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7

And the worst?

What are your proudest achievements?

Being qualified in Business Studies and purchase of the property at 432 Melton Road, Leicester.

Jagdish Ghelani

been running a successful Pure Vegetarian Licenced Restaurant since then.

My wonderful family and great friends around me.

4

What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

Business with India

Loosing good old staff in the Kitchen which is a nature of this business.

8

What are your long term goals?

Build a Hotel at Indigo and retire at 70. I have just applied for the planning permission to build a hotel for which we are awaiting approval and have plans to build a Hotel, a Function room with a running Restaurant and if all goes well, I propose to build and start the hotel on 30th August 2021.

9

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

Nitinbhai Thakker

5

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

Change the Law to allow the qualified staff to come from abroad.

6

10

What is the best aspect about your current role?

Being a Chef and able to meet a lot of people at my Restaurant. I bought the property free hold from the brewery in 2004 and have

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

Pandurang Shastri, who has been a great inspiration to me in my life.

Windrush 'funeral march' protest held in Birmingham Protesters carried a coffin as part of a march against the treatment of the Windrush generation.

The Windrush Funeral March of Unity was held in Birmingham earlier, ahead of the Conservative Party Conference. Organisers said the coffin signified "ongoing injustice that the Windrush generation are being subjected to".

Meanwhile, a separate rally organised by trade unionists was also held in the city centre to demonstrate against austerity.

The Windrush generation refers to those who moved to the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971 but were not given proper docu-

mentation proving their indefinite right to remain.

Desmond Jaddoo, chair of the Windrush Movement, which organised the event, said campaigners wanted to ensure the Windrush scandal "remains on the agenda until everyone is sorted out fairly".

Amber Rudd quit her role as home secretary in April after the treatment of some Commonwealth migrants and their relatives.

Meanwhile, in a separate demonstration trade unionists and campaigners joined a TUC Midlands march to campaign against austerity.

Combustible cladding ban set to be announced Combustible cladding is to be banned for all new schools, hospitals, care homes, student accommodation and residential buildings in England above 18m (60ft).

Housing Secretary James Brokenshire will make the announcement on Monday at the Conservative Party conference.

Mr Brokenshire is expected to say he wants to bring about a "change in culture on building safety".

The move comes 15 months after the Grenfell Tower fire.

In a keynote speech to the conference in Birmingham, Mr Brokenshire will say the "unimaginable horror" of the Grenfell disaster, which cost the lives of 72 people, has "underlined the need" to ensure "such a disaster cannot happen again".

The ban, which follows a lengthy government consul-

tation, will cover all combustible materials, including cladding, on new buildings.

However, it will not be applied retrospectively where materials have already been fitted.

Currently, building regulations in the UK state all insulation and filler materials for cladding on high-rise buildings must be of "limited combustibility".

The government is already undertaking a £400m programme to remove suspect cladding from all high-rise social

housing in England and is working with those responsible for private blocks to take action.

The new ban will be implemented through changes to building regulations to be brought forward in late autumn.

Earlier this year, the Royal Institute of British Architects called for a total ban on flammable cladding, as well as a requirement for sprinklers to be fitted, and a second means of escape for high-rise residential buildings.

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6 - 12 October 2018

Freehold Bank Investments for sale Thursday 18th October 2018

Cardigan Rent £39,449 pax rising to minimum of £43,544.31 pax by June 2022 Guide £370,000*

Colwyn Bay Rent £28,929 pax rising to minimum of £31,932.20 pax by June 2022 Guide £250,000*

Gainsborough Rent £29,587 pax rising to minimum of £32,658.51 pax by June 2022 Guide £300,000*

Gorleston-on-Sea Rent £29,587 pax rising to minimum of £32,658.51 pax by June 2022 Guide £275,000*

Ilkeston Rent £52,599 pax rising to minimum of £58,059.45 pax by June 2022 Guide £475,000*

Long Eaton Rent £43,394 pax rising to minimum of £47,898.86 pax by June 2022 Guide £400,000*

Ross-on-Wye Rent £26,299 pax rising to minimum of £29,029.18 pax by June 2022 Guide £285,000*

Sleaford Rent £36,162 pax rising to minimum of £39,916.08 pax by June 2022 Guide £425,000*

Southampton Rent £42,079 pax rising to minimum of £46,447.34 pax by June 2022 Guide £440,000*

Wymondham Rent £26,299 pax rising to minimum of £29,029.18 pax by June 2022 Guide £325,000*

Pontypool

Westbury on Trym Rent £19,725 pax rising to minimum of £21,772.71 pax by June 2022 Guide £275,000*

Entirely let to HSBC Bank Plc until June 2023 with annual RPI linked uplifts (min 2.5%/max 5.5% pa)

Rent £26,299 pax rising to minimum of £29,029.18 pax by June 2022 Guide £250,000*

Other locations include: Uttoxeter

Rent £17,752 pax

Guide £225,000*

rising to min £19,594.89 pax by June 2022

Brownhills

Rent £29,587 pax

Guide £265,000*

rising to min £32,658.51 pax by June 2022

Caerphilly

Rent £39,449 pax

Guide £385,000*

rising to min £43,544.31 pax by June 2022

For sale by auction Thursday 18th October 2018 (unless sold prior) at Radisson Blu, Portman Hotel, Portman Square, London W1H 7GB

For further information contact: Gwen Thomas

Georgina Roberts

+44 (0)20 7034 4857 gwen.thomas@acuitus.co.uk

+44 (0)20 7034 4863 georgina.roberts@acuitus.co.uk

www.acuitus.co.uk

Guide price terms & conditions *The guide price is an indication of the current minimum price at which, or if a guide price range is given, within which, the seller may be prepared to sell at the date the guide price is published. The reserve price is the minimum price acceptable to the seller and the price below which the auctioneer cannot sell. Both the guide price and the reserve price may be subject to change up to the time of the auction. The guide price does not include either VAT which may apply to the sale or other amounts the seller may charge. The seller’s Special Conditions of Sale and addendum if any, will state whether there are other seller’s charges and whether the seller has elected to charge VAT on the sale price.

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6 UK

COMMENTS

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6 - 12 October 2018

Trump’s music hall UN performance US President Donald Trump is no Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, nor even a mere echo of Theodore Roosevelt, who was for ‘talking softy and carrying a big stick.’ Trump’s oration – for want of a better word - could have been delivered by the CEO and managing director of a crime syndicate. It was crude bluster, which frequently bordered on the absurd and drew titters from the assembled delegates at the General Assembly of the United Nations, especially at the claim that his administration had accomplished more in two years than any previous regime in American history.

President boasted that American defence spending would be increased by 50 billion dollars to the present 700 billion, operating 800 military bases worldwide. What dividends have emanated from exalted ambitions. The insurgency in Afghanistan continues apace, vast swathes of the Middle East are a ruin, with a flood-tide of disposed humanity clinging precariously to cockle shells in their desperation to reach European shores for the elusive redemption life and the forlorn pursuit of happiness. The President read out a list of countries dear to his heart for their accomplishments, including India for its poverty reduction. The Indian media, embarrassed for the most part at sharing an approved list with Poland, Saudi Arabia, a militantly anti-Iranian Israel [India and Iran have an exemplary cordial relationship].The Indian media ignored the Trump plaudits, with the Times of India reducing the encomia to a few short lines in an obscure corner of an inside page.

It was interesting to compare the US President’s abuse of Iran as the principal purveyor of the world’s myriad ills, and his call for an international sanctions regime against Tehran, even as the Italian EU Commissioner set next to the amicable Iranian Foreign Minister, promising European trade with Iran and respect for the nuclear deal with the country, to which the Great Powers, including the United States had signed up to, which the Trump administration seeks to abort. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu charged Iran of building five warehouses for the storage of its nuclear weapons, yet it is Israel that has a considerable nuclear weapon capability unmatched in the

region and on par with other nuclear powers save the United States and Russia whose stcckpiles and delivery systems dwarf the rest of the world.

Only last year, President Trump referred derisively to President Kim Jong un of North Korea as ‘little rocket man’, and threatened to blow his country off the face of the earth. A year later he held a pioneering summit with him in Singapore in a blaze of publicity.

The President’s Rottweiler John Bolton chipped in with his expected contribution to world peace by a menacing scowl and growl on Iran. The Iranian leadership appeared unflappable in face of these broadsides, their response firm but courteous, without a trace of abuse. The pedigree of an ancient civilization was telling.

The theatre of the absurd has spread to America’s domestic politics, most notably to the administration’s appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the bench of the Supreme Court. Women from Kavannagh’s past have accused him of sexual misconduct against themselves.

However, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham accused Russia of being the malevolent orchestrator of the controversy that had so bitterly divided the nation. Routine warnings of dire retribution followed. The apoplectic Senator, clearly in need of a tranquillizer, is the living answer to the Boon and Mills circus.

The Trump-China showdown has developed into a war of words, no holds barred, on contentious tariffs.

President Trump reviled globalism, multiculturalism, climate change, socialism, while extolling muscular patriotism and America First much else in the common currency of jingoism.

The issue before the world is reinventing the America’s sacristan narrative of democracy, human rights and the rule of law into the disfiguring reality of violence against the native Indian population, now nearing extinction in designated Reservations, the horrors of black slavery and the numerous wars of aggression the Republic has waged against countries near and far in its bid to maintain unchallenged global supremacy. The Washington consensus is in tatters. Notwithstanding Uncle Sam’s avuncular image, his Empire is moving to its sunset.

Maldives blowback to freedom The people of the Maldives have come up trumps. Against widespread expectations at home and abroad, they took the bit between their teeth and voted out the usurping president and tyrant Abdullah Yameen and voted in the united opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohammed Solih as President. Abdullah Yameen accepted the result with surprising grace. It’s a new dawn for the Indian Ocean state.

The Maldivan Ambassador to India, Ahmed Mohammed, told the local media, ‘As has been in the past, the Maldives is capable of holding credible, free and fair elections.’ Assuredly so. There was an impressive voter turnout, with the winner elected to power with a thumping majority. There had been threats of economic sanctions against the Yameen government by the European Union and the United States, but quite possibly, the statement by the country’s army chief that the people’s verdict had to respected and obeyed tilted the scales for democracy and the rule of law.

Abdullah Yameen played the Islamic and Chinese cards, seeking aid from Pakistan and China, and publicly spurning India and losing no opportunity to direct his barbs at Delhi.

Wisely, India kept its cool against such provocations, despite calls for military intervention from a host of armchair strategists. Patience has delivered its just rewards.

The revelations of thuggery, assassination, press censorship and false imprisonment under the Yameen

dispensation are emerging as people walk and talk freely, disclosing their personal experiences of the dark days of the Yameen dictatorship.

In his first public address, Mr Solih said: ‘The will of the people had spoken. For many of us it has been a difficult journey; a journey that led to a prison cell, or years of exile.

It’s been a journey that led to the complete politicization and breakdown of public institutions. But it’s been a journey that has ended in the ballot box because the people willed it.’

Former Maldives President, Mohammed Nasheed said: ‘India remains our natural partner. I can’t speak for the coalition, but my own views remain the same.’ Mr Nasheed has suggested that Chinese projects in the country would be subjected to review. In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Foreign Minister Wang Yi had congratulated the new Maldives government as the elected voice of the Maldivian people and hoped economic cooperation between their two countries would continue.

The EU and the US have welcomed the return of democracy to the Maldives, saying that they looked forward to working with new regime when it formally assumes office. The outcome of the Maldives Presidential election does represent a geopolitical shift. Future developments in the country will be watched with interest.

Bangladesh’s loss more than India’s win The Asia Cup that there to win by Bangladesh was eventually lost to India. In what was perhaps the most dazzling batting display of the tournament, Bangladesh opener Litton Das tore the formidable Indian bowling to shreds, with star-studded strokes to every corner of a massive ground. He was finally dismissed on a marginal stumping for 121, the rest perished to whim, fancy and impetuosity, when steadiness was called for, and the 222 included -run total, with only two batsman reaching 32 and 33 respectively was a miserable tale. The opening partnership of 120 blazing runs flattered to deceive.

India got off to the expected rollicking start, with captain Rohit Sharma in prime form, but with the dismissal of the three, the weak middle order suffered indecent exposure once more. Mahindra Singh Dhoni’s excruciating 35 was compiled from 67 balls, his partner

Dinesh Karthick’s laborious 37 from 54. The somnolent pair eventually fell, mercifully in quick succession. Jadeja and Kumar restored some momentum to the Indian innings, and the limping Kedar Yadav, with his torn muscle, scrambled India over the line with a boundary off the final delivery, and a solitary run neded for victory. It was a humdinger of a contest. India deservedly emerged the victors for their all-round consistency; their top order performed fabulously with the bat, the bowlers were testing, the catching and ground fielding superb. Sharma’s leadership was outstanding in skill and sportsmanship.

For the West Indies series, openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal and pace men Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur are Test debutants. Batsman Shreyas Iyer was unlucky not to make the cut, making way for proven mediocrities with Test match experience.

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have - Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)

Alpesh Patel

Blockchain and India I write to you from India – actually Bangalore where I will be participating in one of the largest technology events in the country, on behalf of the UK Government’s Department for International Trade as one of their Dealmakers. The deals I want to make is landing Indian tech companies in the UK with their HQ. Have you heard of ‘Distributed Ledger Technology’? Well you may know it better as Blockchain. The British Prime Minister in Prime Ministers Question Time in Parliament referred to it – so you know it is important and she wants the UK to be a world leader in this area.

It’s one more reason I am in India looking for great companies in blockchain to set up in the UK. Why India?

India is embracing the block chain technology for its incredible encryption and the widespread technological benefits.

According to a 2017 study performed by transparency international, 7/10 people that were accessing public services throughout India were forced to pay some type of bribe. By making items like these bribes completely anonymous, it could drive the cost of obtaining even basic services almost impossible for many people.

Almost every basic service within India generally requires some type of small bribe. Whether you are grabbing a train ticket, securing a court date or even getting a license test. It’s estimated that 60% of people in India did not actually complete any type of test to acquire their drivers license but rather paid a bribe to get it instead.

Petty corruption is rampant even in basic services like healthcare, education and the judicial system many estimate that with 11 basic services in the government and a fairly standard corruption rate of 60%, the economy misses out on nearly 4.9 billion dollars US annually as a result of people having to pay small, petty cash bribes for fake tolls, healthcare, and the most basic of services.

Major companies can actually pay just as larger contribution in siphoning money away from the economic prosperity of the country, the telecom industry was able to siphon away close to $30 billion in a 2G spectrum scam whereby licenses were granted to mobile phone companies through fake legislation the government was not even tied to. With some of the largest service providers even falling victim to corruption and manipulating markets across the country, having the ability to do this anonymously would only lead to greater problems within the country.

Using blockchain based regulated crypto currency may be an answer.

The capital control system in India made it quite difficult for Indian citizens to purchase bitcoins while they were outside of the country or operating a website outside of the country. Until an Indian bit coin platform known as Unocoin came along there was not a dedicated exchange that could begin to lower the prices and as a result, many Indian users were purchasing their Bitcoins at premium rates.

Continued on page 8

Editor: CB Patel Asian Voice is published by Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, (Off Coronet Street) London N1 6HW. Tel: 020 7749 4080 • Fax: 020 7749 4081 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com Website: www.abplgroup.com INDIA OFFICE Bureau Chief: Nilesh Parmar (BPO) AB Publication (India) Pvt. Ltd. 207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad-380 015.

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auction

Commercial Auction 16th October 2018 To include 35 properties On the instructions of a Charitable Foundation Each of which is let to HSBC Bank PLC until 2023 (No Breaks) with annual rent reviews linked to RPI (Min 2.5%/Max 5.5% p.a.)

Guide Price £475,000+

Guide Price £375,000+

Guide Price £290,000+

Guide Price £525,000+

Upminster

Thirsk

Stourport-On-Severn

Retford

Let at £24,984.48 pa rising to £27,578.19 pa. in 2022.

Let at £37,147.97 pa rising to £41,004.41 pa. in 2022.

Let at £26,229.45 pa rising to £29,029.67 pa. in 2022.

Let at £52,598.90 pa rising to £58,059.34 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £475,000+

Guide Price £375,000+

Guide Price £265,000+

Guide Price £425,000+

Marlborough

Market Bosworth

Launceston

Guisborough

Let at £32,874.31 pa rising to £36,287.09 pa. in 2022.

Let at £29,586.88 pa rising to £32,658.38 pa. in 2022.

Let at £26,299.45 pa rising to £29,029.67 pa. in 2022.

Let at £46,024.04 pa rising to £50,801.93 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £400,000+

Guide Price £485,000+

Guide Price £275,000+

Guide Price £500,000+

Malvern

Gosport

Frome

Hendon, London NW4

Let at £34,846.77 pa rising to £38,464.31 pa. in 2022.

Let at £49,968.96 pa rising to £55,156.38 pa. in 2022.

Let at £23,012.02 pa rising to £25,400.96 pa. in 2022.

Let at £32,899.31pa rising to £36,312.09pa in 2022.

Guide Price £460,000+

Guide Price £260,000+

Guide Price £400,000+

Guide Price £350,000+

Dereham

Settle

Bridport

Bridgnorth

Let at £43,394.09 pa rising to £47,898.85p.a. in 2022.

Let at £21,368.18 pa rising to £23,586.50 pa. in 2022.

Let at £39,449.18 pa rising to £43,544.51 pa. in 2022.

Let at £30,244.37 pa rising to £33,384.13 pa. in 2022.

Ashton-Under-Lyne

Diss

Runcorn

St Austell

Let at £15,779.67 pa rising to £17,417.79 pa in 2022.

Guide Price £175,000+

Let at £40,764.15 pa rising to £44,995.99 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £425,000+

Let at £26,299.45 pa rising to £29,029.67 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £250,000+

Let at £36,161.74 pa rising to £39,915.79 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £350,000+

Warwick

Northwich

Windermere

Whitchurch

Let at £59,173.76 pa rising to £65,316.76 pa in 2022.

Guide Price £725,000+

Let at £24,326.99 pa rising to £26,852.45 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £260,000+

Let at £16,437.16 pa rising to £18,143.55 pa in 2022.

Guide Price £175,000+

Barrow-In-Furness

Penzance

Let at £23,012.02 pa rising to £25,400.96 pa in 2022.

Guide Price £270,000+

Let at £26,299.45 pa rising to £29,029.67 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £240,000+

Let at £39,449.18 pa rising to £43,544.41 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £425,000+

Workington

Let at £24,326.99 pa rising to £26,852.45 pa in 2022.

Guide Price £250,000+

Beccles

Pontefract

Let at £43,394.09 pa rising to £47,898.96 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £450,000+

Let at £36,161.74 pa rising to £39,915.79 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £375,000+

Brecon

Prescot

Let at £32,874.31 pa rising to £36,287.09 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £310,000+

Let at £36,161.74 pa rising to £39,915.79 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £325,000+

Auction sale:

Tuesday 16th October 2018 The Berkeley, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RL Telephone: 020 7543 6803 For EPC ratings, refer to website

JULY SALE - £87.6M raised - 80% sold

Let at £39,499.18 pa rising to £43,544.51 pa in 2022. £380,000+

Wellington (Shropshire) Let at £59,173.76 pa rising to £65,316.76 pa in 2022.

Guide Price £575,000+

Bid in person

Bid online

Wisbech

Eastwood Let at £19,724.59 pa rising to £21,772.26 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £220,000+

Chepstow Let at £26,299.45 pa rising to £29,029.67 pa. in 2022.

Guide Price £340,000+

Bid by phone

Bid by proxy

1. Where a guide price (or range of prices) is given, that guide is the minimum price at which, or range of prices within which, the seller might be prepared to sell on the date at which the guide price, or range of prices, is published. 2. The reserve price is the minimum price at which the property can be sold. 3. Both the guide price and the reserve price may be subject to change up to and including the day of the auction.

online auction catalogue: www.allsop.co.uk START TIME: 10.30 am

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Sikhs protest outside Tory Party Conference Police warning not to to highlight detention of Jagtar Singh Johal approach man Hundreds of Sikhs protested outside the Conservative Party Conference in the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham on Sunday. The protest organised by the Federation of Sikh Organisations (FSO) took place just before Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary was due to address the conference.

The protest is against the continued detention of Jagtar Singh Johal from Dumbarton and the refusal of Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary to meet with the family and their MP Martin Docherty-Hughes of the SNP despite promises made by the previous Foreign Secretary in Parliament.

The protest also highlighted anti-terror police raids two weeks ago targeting five Sikh activists supporting the campaign for

missing from hospital

FSO leader Loveshinder Singh Allewal addressing the gathering during the protest demonstration (INSET: Jagtar Singh Johal)

the release of Jagtar Singh Johal.

Thirty one-year old Jagtar travelled to India to get married having been engaged six months earlier in his first visit to Punjab after 7-8 years.

Last November and a couple of weeks after his wedding he was abducted, hooded and thrown into a van whilst out shopping

with his wife and cousin sister and has now been in an Indian jail for 330 days.

Within days of his abduction and torture by Indian police and denial of proper access to British consular staff there was a huge outcry by the British Sikh community and around 250 MPs that had letters from constituents.

The police raids that

were carried out two weeks ago on the homes of five Sikh activists linked to the campaign to bring Jagtar Singh Johal back home has created huge tensions between the Sikh community, police and Home Office as further details emerge.

Jagtar has already made 55 court appearances, but no witnesses or evidence has yet been presented in court.

The student jailed for double college stabbing following row over a girl A science student who forced a Manchester college campus to go into lockdown after he stabbed two other teenagers following a row over a girl was jailed this month.

Mohammed Alsarayefi was just 17 when he knifed his victims in a fight outside the canteen at The Manchester College's Shena Simon Campus after an argument erupted during a morning coffee break over a post he left on Snapchat.

A fellow student, then 18, had just read on social media that his ex-girlfriend

was dating Alsarayefi and confronted him.

But he was left fighting for his life after being stabbed in the chest, back and upper arm. The teenager suffered a partially-collapsed lung. A third student, also 18, suffered a knife wound to his back as he intervened.

The double stabbing, on November 11, 2016, led to an evacuation and lectures at the city centre campus to be cancelled. Alsarayefi fled, but was later arrested.

Now, almost two years on, Alsarayefi, now 19, from

Couple attacked with knife in failed shop robbery A Labour councillor and his wife were attacked with a knife during a failed robbery at their grocery shop in Birmingham.

West Midlands Police have arrested a man aged 45 and a woman of 33 on suspicion of robbery.

CCTV from the incident shows a man brandishing the 12in blade when Uplands Fruits, Handsworth, was raided on Sunday afternoon. Chaman Lal, 65, and his wife, Vidya Wati, 68, were punched and threatened with the knife.

Both were taken to hospital where Ms Wati was treated

for a broken nose and Mr Lal for cuts to his hands.

The couple have run the shop for 30 years. Mr Lal said the attackers “came in saying they wanted to kill us. He had a big pointed blade, like a butcher’s knife”.

The raiders fled emptyhanded after the cash register jammed. Detectives are appealing for witnesses.

Mohammed Alsarayefi

Fallowfield, is behind bars having being convicted of two charges of wounding with intent to cause

grievous bodily harm following a trial.

He was jailed for six years.

River rescue hero PC in awards finals A heroic police officer who dived into the freezing waters of the River Irwell to save a man in distress has reached the finals of the Amplifon Awards for Brave Britons.

PC Mohammed Nadeem, whose actions earned him the nickname The Hoff, had only been in the job nine months when he answered a radio call over concerns for a man near Hardy's Gate Bridge, off Dumers Lane, in February.

Arriving first on the scene, PC Nadeem saw the

man lose his footing and fall into the river.

Following the incident PC Nadeem picked up a national Police Bravery Award and was amazed when David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff appeared on screen to congratulate him.

The public has been warned to stay away from a 29-yearold man who has gone missing from Ealing hospital.

Gurveer Singh was receiving treatment at Ealing hospital but left at about 11.05am today (September 29).

He needs medical treatment for his illness and police are warning everyone to stay away from him because of the nature of his condition.

He is 5ft 7ins and of slim build. When last seen, he was wearing a black hooded

Blockchain and India Continued from page 6

Home tо thе ѕесоndlаrgеѕt internet user bаѕе and a world-renowned technology induѕtrу, Gоvеrnmеnt еffоrtѕ to demonetize thе есоnоmу in Nоvеmbеr 2016 bу removing larger nоtеѕ frоm circulation, and a bооming е-соmmеrсе market, hоwеvеr, mean the соuntrу mау bе аt аn inflесtiоn роint.

Before thе demonetization program, mоrе thаn 78% оf consumer рауmеntѕ wеrе mаdе in cash and three-quarters оf payments fоr internet рurсhаѕеѕ were mаdе viа саѕh on delivery.

In thе days following dеmоnеtizаtiоn, the Nаtiоnаl Pауmеntѕ Cоrроrаtiоn of Indiа, аn umbrеllа bоdу for retail payment systems, rероrtеd thаt transactions on RuPау, a dоmеѕtiс рауmеnt card scheme, dоublеd. Paytm, a mobile wаllеt рrоvidеr nоw hаѕ mоrе thаn 200 million uѕеrѕ.

If India as a test-bed can solve Cryptos many issues, which the overoptimistic overlook, and India can and will, then blockchain will boom– and it will. Consider this: Indiа hаѕ 13 mobile mоnеу рrоvidеrѕ, but lеѕѕ mоnеу moves thrоugh wirеlеѕѕ transfers than in nеighbоring Pаkiѕtаn оr Bangladesh. Rеgulаtiоn рlауѕ a part in lосаl rules, lосаl rules require liсеnѕеd рrераid еntitiеѕ work with bаnkѕ, which rеԛuirеѕ mоbilе operators to mаnаgе сuѕtоmеr

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jacket and jeans.

Gurveer is not a threat to anyone's safety and isn't considered violent.

However, his condition is contagious, police said, although they did not provide any more details on the illness.

bаlаnсеѕ in аn еѕсrоw ассоunt with a bank tо рrоvidе payment services.

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AsianVoiceNews

UK

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

9

6 - 12 October 2018

Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor

Sujata Kershavan, Supporting Rare Indian Artisans any ancient Indian crafts and textile techniques are endangered due to the onset of industrialisation and machine production.

Sujata Kershavan is finding new patrons, new markets, and a new relevance for these crafts. She has created a conduit for this.

“We’ve been working with artisans from across the country, from pashmina and cashmere in the Himalayan mountains, to handloom silk weaving in Bengal, to wood block printing and resist-dyeing in Gujarat and Rajasthan,” she says.

Sujata, a celebrated designer, is recognised as one of India’s most powerful women in business by the India Economic Times, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Fortune India.

When she sold her branding business to WPP, Sujata decided it was time to turn away from the commercial world and follow her passion. She created her own brand, Varana in the heart of Mayfair that would become a showcase. The aim is restore the pride of Indian craftspeople by packaging their work as contemporary artisanal luxury items.

“Some of our printing and weaving techniques go back to the Indus Valley civilisation, practiced within families for generations. It was these beautiful fabrics that were compelling for the East India company, making them travel across the world to take back treasured silks and cottons from India to Europe,” explains Sujata Kershavan.

Sujata loves the hand-crafted fabric techniques found in saris and discovered where

M

they were being practiced ages ago.

“While handmade still exists, standards are not as good as they were a hundred years ago. Skilled master craftspeople are declining, and their children may not pursue the trade.

Young people are attracted to modernity and find the old complex techniques tedious and difficult. The first crafts to die out are those easily replicated by machines. The complex hand weaving of brocades, ikat and complex printing techniques that cannot be created by machines, will continue to have patronage,” she notes.

To keep the items modern but linked to the past, Sujata draws upon annual themes to inspire her range.

“For example, for our first collection called Eternal Love, we used the Taj Mahal as

who work on our products.” inspiration. We re-interpreted the motifs Some of the items are extra precious. For and patterns used in the Taj in contempoinstance, it takes two artisans working ten rary ways. I then chose crafts that were hours a day, one to five years to weave a Kani appropriate to the theme: for example woodblock printing, Jamdani weaving and Ari shawl. There are very few practitioners of embroidery which were popularised by the Kani left in Kashmir.

By finding new patrons for these crafts, emperor Shah Jahan who built the Taj Sujata, who has a home in London, hopes to Mahal. encourage the weavers to continue with the Our textile designers then worked with practice of this extraordinary craft. the weavers, printers and embroiderers to What is new about this work? create fabrics for the collection. The weavers Sujata says, “Until now, hand crafted garwere from Bengal, the printers from ments had a visual appearRajasthan. The Ari work was done ance that is characteristic in our own workshop in of the process used. My Bangalore. Our fashion designIt takes two ers, who are from Europe, creapproach is to innovate and artisans working ated the silhouettes for the colcreate hybrid versions of the ten hours a day, lection working along with the one to five years to garments by cross pollinating artisans for the motifs and weaving and printing techweave a Kani niques. placement.” shawl.

For example, in the Kutch Providing a sustaincollection, we’ve used the visual able living for craftspeople vocabulary of bandhani but had it woven in The designers and the team have onjacquard. This has never been done before. going relationships with the craft clusters.

We did the same with Ajrakh where we Sujata says, “our team is never exploitative replicated the designs and motifs characand is mindful about paying good wages to terised by Ajrakh by weaving them. This is a its artisans while ensuring excellent working unique and original approach. Coming from conditions. We inculcate pride in the artisans for their craft, explaining how their graphic design, I approach fabric from new work is appreciated by discerning people perspectives that textile designers, who have been schooled and are steeped in tradition, from faraway lands. cannot visualise.

Since we only have one showcase outlet, For a taste of Diwali, Especially for our garments are tailored in-house in our Asian Voice readers, from November 3-7th own air-conditioned workshop in Bangalore.

2018 there will be a VIP welcome with a The garments are made on hand operated Diwali cocktail and sweets at 14 Dover St, sewing machines in small batches in the way Mayfair, London W1S 4LW. of seamstresses. We are know all the people

Wed 10 Red

Thur 11 Royal Blue

Fri 12 Yellow

Sat 13 Green

Sun 14 Orange

Mon 15 Multi Colour

Tue 16 Sky Blue

Wed 17 Pink

Thur 18 Own choice

10 READERS VOICE

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

6 - 12 October 2018

Stretch yourself As an elderly man I kept falling asleep while watching television. Determined to stop dropping off, I prised myself off the settee and began to perform gentle stretching exercises, reaching up, out and sideways as far as I could and holding each extreme position for half a minute, then relaxing and doing a different stretch including gentle twists and bends and rotating shoulders in both directions.

I now follow this routine from 1900 to 2200 continuously each evening, managing to stay wide awake for TV. Other benefits: deeper and more relaxed sleep every night and feeling on top of the world all day. Now I know why Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is so keen on yoga.

It's a great way to get more out of life.

Rudy Otter By email

A never before health scheme in India It was enlightening to read all the details about the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) in Asian Voice (29th Sep 2018). PM Narendra Modi recently inaugurated it in India that aims to provide free medical facilities to 500 million poor people there.

A mammoth health scheme of this dimension has never ever been tried or implemented anywhere in the world. The success of any project of this size, however, depends upon various components.

Firstly, it will be implemented in co-operation with the state governments hence their whole-heartedly participation is essential. Moreover, public and private hospitals will be at the forefront of providing the proposed medical facilities so their involvement in 'letter and spirit' is another pre-requisite.

Finally, it would be very very challenging to watch that the benefits ultimately reach that massive population it is intended for. In spite of these underlying forthcoming challenges, this scheme is undoubtedly another feather in Modiji's illustrious cap. Only a statesman of his calibre and stature, can have the courage, mettle and foresight to plan and implement such an ambitious plan.

Let us all genuinely hope that this healthcare yojana succeeds in bringing about smiles on millions of deprived faces in India.

Bharat Shah Rayners Lane

Death and Devastation Early estimates indicate that over 384 people died in a massive earthquake and Tsunami which hit Indonesia on Saturday, 29 September and the death toll is expected to rise.

The place which was most affected was the Sulawesi island. An eight storey hotel has collapsed. The businesses on beach side and plantations which support the city have suffered the most extensive damage. There is no electricity or water.

Tens of hundreds of people who were on a beach festival have been badly affected. This disaster is in addition to the 500 people who were killed by similar disaster last month in Lombock.

We are only talking about the disasters which happened in Indonesia. But other parts of the world too have not escaped these natural calamities. The havoc caused by the heavy rains in the wake of, and in accompaniment of, Hurricane Harvey had brought America, the world’s most powerful nation, to its knees.

The incredible sight of Houston, America’s fourth largest city, submerged in deep waters makes you wonder how helpless man is against the wrath of nature. But it has to be said, the culprit is man himself.

These tsunamis, mudslides and floods are Mother Nature’s cry for help in retaliation to the flogging we humans subject her to.

I would like to reiterate here what I have said before in this column – stop belching out poisonous gases in the atmosphere or else our posterity will have no earth to live on.

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

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Write to our ‘Reader’s Voice’ section about what you think regarding the various ongoing issues all around the world.

Please send your letters to aveditorial@abplgroup.com Make sure they are NOT more than 450 words. Any letter longer than the limit may not be published.

Note that all your letters are subject to being edited by our team for valid reasons.

- Asian Voice

Following India’s great leader Gandhiji’s teaching Referring to Jubel D'Cruz's view in his letter dated 29-9-18 regarding not to celebrate Gandhiji's October 2 birthday is quite erroneous,as the true fact is that there is a clear and purposeful point of celebrating it as a national holiday, without which Indians will not have a direction to follow his teachings that has helped them to achieve their freedom; and thereby the nation has achieved an honourable and prosperous status the are proud of.

Almost all Hindu leaders along with Gandhiji travelled to the UK and wore their traditional dress, and respected their country's culture and customs; but in this respect Saradar Patel succinctly followed Gandhiji in all respects, while Nehru remained following western culture and western attitude; and as such, he was a chain smoker holding in his mouth a cigarette holder with a lighted cigarette; consequently it is not a surprise that for many decades a large number of Indian youngsters have been following the western culture.

Today we are divided on the basis of religion, caste and inequality which are deeply rooted during the past 70 years' rule of Congress government to win votes under the pretext of anomalous reservation which is not based on means tested criteria generally.

Corruptions,crimes,killings,malnutrition etc are much more due to uncontrolled population and unlawful behaviour; and draught etc natural calamities are universal due to natural gas/oil burning, cutting of trees, land erosion etc mostly.

With the growth of economy, industrial progress,war etc the face value of currency is bound to go up and down universally; and as India is not an oil producing country, it has to pass under difficulties until its economic base is solidly founded.

Modi, the PM of India is finding ways to create jobs for youngsters and people made unemployed due to artificial intelligence,robotics and many other forms of automation in industries etc.He is also trying to bring back money illegally sent to foreign banks ,and to seek the co-operation of the banks and the respective governments.

R. N. Patel By email

Healthy initiative by British Heart Foundation It is indeed encouraging to note that British Heart Foundation (BHF) is taking the lead to check blood pressure (BP) of some seven million people at popular places like railway station, pubs and hair saloons most people, especially working people visit regularly. This could be a blessing in disguise for those who are living with undiagnosed high BP that may lead to heart attack, stroke and TIA, the scourge of the nation that leads to early deaths.

Our living style, dyed-in-the-wool mentality and that include living a life in “Fast Lane”, pressure at work, lack of exercise, take-away unhealthy diet that include pizza, burgers, chips and sandwiches with glass of wine or pint of lager at lunch-time or after a long and hard working day, is responsible for our poor diet and decline in our longevity for the first time since mid-seventies. We are one of the very few nations where people’s life expectancy is on the decline due to unhealthy life-style.

While such checks that include besides high BP, diabetics and cholesterol level are common in countries like Canada, Australia, Japan and many more, we badly leg behind in such preventative medicine that leads to pressure on over-worked GPs and A & E. One place we visit regularly is Super Markets (SM). This is particularly of great importance for OAPs, chronically sick and disables elderly people who do not travel much, are teetotallers, will miss out if such popular spots like pharmacy and supermarkets are omitted.

While talking to a pharmacist in our local SM, his reaction was that if such services are available free, there will be a long queue outside pharmacy and they will be obliged to employ an extra person. This is lame excuse, dog in the manger attitude, lack of enlightenment, as some SM already provides such services, including blood tests and flu injections, some services at a price customers are more than willing to pay. If government, the corridor of power, rather than voluntary organizations encourage these outlets to provide such services, be expedient, then it will reduce pressure on NHS, especially overworked GPs and will stop decline in longevity, benefiting everyone, especially younger generation.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi By email

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Kashmir Pandits I write to you after reading your article on the Kashmir (Bhatta) Pandits people who have been driven out of their lands.

This sounds similar to a group of people in Myanmar does it not. The Kashmir Pandits situation of course happened years ago and non one in the world, especially the BBC care or indeed wish to care about them.

It is time that the present Bhaarat government get these people back to their homeland.

We should also help the Hindus of Pakistan whose rights have been violated and get the new Prime Minister to bat for ALL of his peoples just as the Prime Minister of Bhaarat is batting for ALL his peoples.

The plight of these peoples are being brought to attention in a documentary tour; please see www.dsp.today/dipf/pakistani-hindu-documentary/ and give support.

Editorji, it is great to see that the England and Indian cricketers wear a 'khadi' poppy in remembrance of those Bhaaratis who lost their lives for Britain 100m years ago but we need to help those in need now in another battle against the 'asuras' we face in this present global world created by the 'super-powers'.

Yogi Pandya By email

Pros and cons of installing smart meters Government’s target to install “Smart Meters” in every home by 2020 is ambitious; to say the least, as 11 million meters have already been installed but some 42 million homes are still awaiting calls from their energy suppliers, prompting Citizens Advice to call for delay, extend the timetable until 2023 to have a smooth and orderly transformation.

Although Smart Meters (SM) are great leap in modernizing the industry, as it will automatically send readings to energy suppliers, thus making reading meters redundant, it will also help customers to monitor energy usage, as customers will be able to watch how much energy they use, the cost in pound and pence.

But the modernization has not gone as smoothly as expected. In fact it is a hotchpotch programme that has generated 3000 complains registered with Citizens Advice in 2017 and they are on the rise this year. The complaints surround with failure of engineers to turn up, unable to fit SM in the space available and the most common complaint is that SM fails to work due to poor mobile phone signal, as well as when customers switch suppliers, thus restricting the choice, the main reason for privatizing energy firms to give customers choice, move to cheapest firms, thus reducing their ever bulging energy bills.

MPs last month urged government to review the timetable, as it is “Over time, Over Budget and mismanaged.”

Many customers, especially elder generation who are oblivious, suspicious of such modernization, are bullied, muzzled into installing meters against their wishes rather than explaining and winning their confidence with charm, politeness and decorous civility. It is time for energy suppliers to inform and educate customers by providing detail literature explaining pros and cons of SM, as well as letting us know the timetable, as most of us are in the dark as to when these SM will be installed in our area.

Kumudini Valambia By email

UK

HARROW COUNCIL SUPPORTS ANTI-KNIFE CRIME CAMPAIGN Harrow Council is supporting a police scheme aimed at reducing knife crime in north-west London.

Operation Sceptre hopes to raise awareness of the consequences of knife crime and dissuade people – particularly young people – from carrying weapons.

Cllr Krishna Suresh, responsible for crime and community safety at Harrow Council, said it is important to aid the police on such an important issue. He said: “Harrow Cllr Krishna Suresh has recently seen a rise in violent crime, as has the rest of London and, of course, this is worrying for the community. I will be supporting the police [with this scheme] – we want to reassure residents that we are working hard to keep on top of this issue and Operation Sceptre is a good way to get that message across.”

North-west borough commander Simon Rose explained that they want knife owners to hand in their weapons without fear of being prosecuted. Last Thursday, a 19-year-old was found with several stab wounds in Furness Road, Harrow. Police believe that he was chased and attacked by a masked gang.

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AsianVoiceNews

EDUCATION

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

11

6 - 12 October 2018

How friendship boosts pupils' grades Best friends forever? Well, maybe not - but schoolchildren who keep the same best mate as they move to secondary have been found to get better results.

A study of 593 found "substantial instability" in their friendships as they changed schools, with only 27% keeping the same best friend. But the ones who did achieved better results and had fewer behaviour issues.

The researchers compared what they said about their friendships with how they performed in end of Year 7 assessments.

The University of Surrey study, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, said: "During the transition, children may be more likely to lose best friends prematurely due to imposed school change rather than conflict or lowquality relationships, which may be the prevailing reasons under normal circumstances.

"Some commentators have suggested that the secondary transition may be a good opportunity to break ties with low-quality friend-

ships because of the negative effects these can have.

"But little research has looked at the impact of keeping high quality

friends."

Most of those who had kept their best friend had gone to the same secondary school as them, according to the study.

Dr Knight added that secondary schools varied in the extent to which they actively supported pupil friendships.

Some schools asked children and parents to nominate friends they would like to remain with but many others did not take friendship groups into consideration.

Uni bosses call for ban on essaywriting companies More than 40 university bosses have written to the education secretary calling for so-called essay mill companies to be banned.

Some students pay for bespoke, original assignments - which cannot easily be detected by anti-plagiarism software. But the letter says these essay-writing services should be targeted rather than those who pay for their services.

Such services undermine the integrity of higher education and are unfair to honest, diligent students, they say. Universities minister Sam Gyimah said the government was working to "bear down" on the problem - and added that "legislative options are not off the table".

The letter has been signed by 46 vice-chancellors and heads of higher education bodies, some of whom represent the UK's largest and most prestigious universities.

Students caught submitting work that is not their own face serious penalties, which can include being thrown off their university course. However, in the UK

it is not illegal to offer a commercial essay-writing service. And many advertise widely near university campuses and on social media.

A recent survey of students around the world by Swansea University found about 15% had cheated in the past four years, up from an average of 3.5% over the past 40 years. It also suggested 31 million students globally had paid someone else to undertake their work. The vice-chancellors say making the services illegal would stop them operating out of the UK and allow them to be removed from online search engine findings. In the letter, they call on the government to commit to introducing legislation to ban the provision and advertising of essay mills before the end of this Parliament. They also want the government to support efforts by Quality and Assurance Agency (QAA), the higher education standards body, and the Office for Students (OFS) to tackle the issue.

Essay mill companies are already banned in New Zealand and some parts of the United States.

It's 'never too late' for parenting advice

Parenting programmes for helping children with behavioural problems are just as effective in primary school age children as in pre-school children, Oxford University research suggests. The study challenges the view that, for the best results, help should be given early in life, when children's brain function and behaviour are thought to be more easily manipulated.

The research says it's time to stop focusing on when to intervene with parenting skills, and step in to help children in need of all ages.

The Oxford researchers analysed data from 15,074 families from all over the world who had taken part in parenting schemes aimed at addressing their children's disruptive behaviour. In both sets of data, behaviour problems

were measured using standard parent report questionnaires.

- The children ranged in age from two to 11 years - 60% of the families had low income - 30% were from ethnic minorities - Most reported the intervention programme had reduced child conduct problems After analysing the findings, the study concludes that older children benefited just as much as younger ones from parenting interventions for reducing behaviour problems and there was no evidence for the "common belief that earlier interventions are more powerful".

It also says that schemes aimed at a narrower age range were no more effective than those aimed at a more general age range.

12 MEDIA WATCH

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

6 - 12 October 2018

SCRUTATOR’S Public discourse in India in the past week or so reached new depths of coarseness and hysteria.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi spared no effort to put India-Bangladesh relations on an unique platform of trust and cooperation across a wide range of areas of mutual interest, and has received a matching response from the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina, his alter ego Amit Shah, the BJP President, described Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam as ‘termites,’ provoking outrage in much of the Indian public and media, and drew a strong protest from a Amit Shah minister in Dhaka.

Shah has long had an image problem. A rotund figure apt to shoot his mouth off at the slightest excuse, it is time he was reined in with a course in good manners and courteous speech, preferably at an appropriate business school.

Targeting vote banks of low repute with a roving eye to the next general election in mid-2019 general election is all that counts with Shah (Times of India, Hindu, Telegraph September 25, 26).

Rafale aircraft storm India’s acquisition of 36 French Rafale warplanes has given rise to a mock hurricane led by Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Vacuous at the best of times and the worst of times, the Congress party dynast in a blaze of moral indignation, cited corruption in a torrent of hysterical incoherence, and called for an investigation into the matter by a top national investigative agency.

Hollande’s truth The controversy was triggered by an interview the former French president Francoise Hollande gave on an internet portal on the deal he had negotiated with Prime Minister Modi. According to Hollande, the local manufacturer of the Dassault aircraft, at Modi’s insistence, would have to be local industrialist Anil Ambani’s company. Dassault, which manufactures Rafale, and the French President Emmanuel Macron have both dismissed Hollande’s allegation as untrue.

Nothing daunted, Gandhi dubbed Modi a ‘thief,’ while the BJP, not to be outdone alleged that a Swiss trainer aircraft acquired by the Congress government of Dr Manmohan Singh had an offset clause whose beneficiary was Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi. Mudslinging has become a public sport, with Tweedledees, Tweedledumbs and Tweedle dumbers lugging it out..Whither India? (Times of India, Hindu, Business Line September 25).

Pawar stumps Rahul Gandhi

rest to follow in phases in a timeline of four to five years (Times of India September 27).

India for G4 UN Security Council India is one of Group of 4 nations seeking membership of the UN Security Council, the others being Brazil, Germany and Japan. This has long been their demand amid the wider call to make the institution more representative of

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Japan foreign minister Taro Kono (R), German foreign minister Heiko Maas (2nd L) and Brazil foreign minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira (L) during the G-4 foreign ministers meeting in New York

the present global reality. The UN Security Council was set up in the aftermath of the Second World War, with the five victorious Great Powers, the United States, Soviet Union, France, Britain and China, the last engaged in a civil war played a minor role in the conflict.

Tri-services command or cyberspace

Brazil is the largest country and economy in South America, India, with the world’s second-largest population, and poised to surpass the UK as its fifth-largest economy, with Japan and Germany industrial and technology giants, ranking third and fourth respectively. The Obama administration paid lip service to the expansion of the Security Council, with China opposed to the move, as it would seat its two Asian rivals in this influential body. The Trump administration cares little for globalism, multilateralism, climate change.

India acquires Russian S-400 Trumf systems India is all set to sign the deal worth $5.43 billion for Russian S400 Trumf air defence missile systems, according to confidential sources, which claimed that the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Modi, had cleared the contract earlier this week well in time for President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi for the annual Indo-Russian summit.

The S-400 system can detect, track, destroy hostile strategic bombers, stealth fighters, spy planes, missiles and drones at a maximum range of 400 km and altitude of 30km. First deliveries will begin in two years after the signature of the contract,, with the

September 27).

Supreme Court nod for Aadhaar The Supreme Court of India in a majority judgment upheld Aadhaar as a reasonable restriction on individual privacy that it fulfills the government’s ‘legitimate aim’ to provide ‘unparalleled’ proof of identity for marginalized groups in need of financial assistance and other government allowances.

However, it cannot be used as a bank moble link (Hindu, Business Line, Times of India September 27).

Supreme Court upholds womens’ rights

Congress President Rahul Gandhi was stumped by ally Sharad Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, who issued a statement supporting the government for its stand on the Rafale deal with France. Amit Shah, BJP President tweeted a thank you to Pawar (Hindu, Times of India September 28).

India is in the process of creating a Tri-Services Cyberspace and Special operations command in keeping with latest dimensions of 21st century warfare. Prime Minister Modi will be addressing the combined commanders’ conference at the Jodhpur air base, where is expected to present his government’s plans and goals on the subject. This will entail greater integration of the different branches of the country’s armed forces. The deepening uncertainties of the present international security climate, of threats and sanctions becoming the norm of discourse, the country’s deterrent strength requires upgrading by several notches (Times of India September 25).

more than the US and Japan- are powering India, according to a recent study by Goldsmiths College, London University, and enterprise software provider Automation Anywhere . 71 per cent of Indian respondents said their employees used RPA and AI-based augmentation to its highest potential – the highest proportion for any of the four markets surveyed. India also outscored other markets on employee

Global reality

engagement (with an impressive 84 per cent) on employee attentiveness. (The Correspondent September 18).

Sikkim’s glory Meanwhile in the beauty of the Himalayan mountain state of Sikkim, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated its first, and India’s 100 th airport, Pakyong, is a ‘marvel of engineering’ on a table top runway. Sikkim, with its organically grown food, spectacular scenery and warmly welcoming people is attracting

With mainstream politicians captives to their respective vote banks, social legislation on human rights is now reliant on the country’s highest court. The Supreme Court abrogated an arcane 1860 law that made adultery a punishable crime. Consensual sex was a private matter, part of the human rights of every Indian citizen, pronounced the Bench (Hindu, Times of India September 28).

Sabarimala Temple In a separate case, the Supreme Court upheld the right of women worshippers to enter the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, from which they had been banned. Chief Justice Dipak Misra criticized the practice as arbitrary, dogmatic and out of sync with spirit of the age (Hindu September 29).

India’s 214 new billionaires India added 214 billionaires to its super rich list for 2018, a 35 per cent jump over July 2017, according to

Debutant IIT Indore in global ranking list The London Times Higher Education World University has come up with a few surprises, together with expected top performers. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, is ranked the country’s best. However, the Indian Institute of Indore, again leads the country’s elite IITs, despite being its newest member. It ranks second behind the Institute of Science, Bangalore, overtaking IIIT Bombay, with its research volumes and research impact.

Oxford University tops the list for the third successive year, with Cambridge University second.

Stanford University topped universities from the United States. (Times of India September 27).

India races ahead in automation Robotics Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AD)-based technologies – even

New Sikkim Pakyong Airport inaugurated by PM Modi, Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling

domestic and international tourists in ever greater numbers (Times of India, Telegraph September 25).

Jihadi funding busted India’s National Investigation Agency busted a terror funding module in Delhi run by Hafiz Saeed-led Lashar-e- Taiba front organization Faz-e-Insaniyat Foundation. The Agency made three arrests, including Mohammed Salman, 52, and raided several hideouts in the city.

NISA Inspector General Aliok Mittal said Mohammed Salman and Kashmir resident Sajjad Abdul Wani, 34, held and Rs 1.56 crore recovered in cash with 14 mobile phone were recovered from the premises Times of India

Barclays Hurun India Rich List.

Satya Narayan Bansal, CEO, Barclays Private Clients, said the new entrants were mostly firstgeneration entrepreneurs. A new class of serial entrepreneurs was emerging as they cash out of existing businesses and look for fresh opportunities. {Details to follow next week] (Business Line September 27).

In this context, the much hyped book by James Chambers ‘Billionaire Raj’ – with its mischievous suggestion that crony capitalists ruled the Indian roost, apropos of Vijaya Mallya and Nirav Modi is rudely exposed.

The BBC wouldn’t waste time and energy on a continuing documentary in depth analyzing the significance of India’s ongoing economic transformation.

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Better be careful than sorry This season of festivities look out for allergen labels on food items like ‘prashad’ Rupanjana Dutta This season of festivals and festivities, a very important aspect of celebration is that gorgeous box of prashad, handed out to you, with your favourite sweet or savoury items in it. For Asians, contents of a prashad box is considered holy, and we often don't question what it contains.

During celebrations, though we often don't want to give thoughts to grim consequences, it may be prudent to check the contains of a prashad box before sharing it with children, or even adults.

We know that people with food allergies, for them eating out can be more than often a distressing experience. So there is this fear of leaving the comfort zone of one's own kitchen, and often a feeling of embarrassment- of not wanting to ask too many questions or call for too much attention to one's dietary needs. So to combat those concerns, a new law aimed at making things easier for people with allergies to eat out safely was introduced in 2014.

Under current

guidelines, takeaways and restaurants are only required to let customers know if any of the 14 most dangerous allergens viz. mustard, celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, nuts, peanuts, eggs, fish, lupin, mulluscs, seasame seeds, soya, suphur dioxide and milk are ingredients in their food.

However, freshly handmade, non prepackaged food does not have to be individually labelled, according to the UK's Food Regulations 2014. The recent death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse after eating a Pret Baguette, fell under that grey area.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said his government is considering a 'Natasha's Law' on food labelling, but the area still remains gravely inadequate, with not much being said or done.

Many organisations and temples like the BAPS Swaminarayan temple, Neasden, label their boxes with allergy warnings. But if anyone is not handing out a box with labels, or giving out only loose prashad, it is perhaps wise and definitely not rude, to check the

ingredients of the prashad with them, as well as check for other contains on the 'prashad thali' (plate), and not blindly accepting it.

Aaron was a young 11year-old boy in Derbyshire.

He ate a condensed milk sweet that his was gifted to them by family as prashad.

There was no allergy warning on the box, but the sweet was in the box along with some bombay mix in a pack, and the boy died of severe peanut allergic reaction, on his way to the hospital, in the ambulence.

The coroner concluded that he was satisfied with the fact that the box contained peanuts in the savoury snack (and not

directly in the sweets), but law now makes it mandatory that every such box needs to be labelled clearly with allergy warnings. So if you are picking up that prashad box anywhere, please look for the allergy warnings on the box or ask- there is no harm in asking.

Karanbir Cheema, popularly known as Karan, with a severe allergy to dairy, died after suffering from a serious allergic reaction in Greenford, West London, after he was reportedly 'chased with cheese and had it thrown down his t-shirt' at his school. The 13-year-old was severely allergic to wheat,

gluten, all dairy products, eggs and all nuts, as well as being asthmatic and suffering from atopic eczema. He went into anaphylactic shock at William Perkin Church of England High School in Greenford, and was unconscious throughout the time paramedics battled to save his life.

9-year-old Nainika Tikoo was also one of the children who died because of severe allergic reaction to blackberries combined with dairy contamination. From childhood she was allergic to dairy and suffered from asthma. But one Saturday morning, after her weekly horse riding course, she wanted to have dairy-free pancakes with blueberries.

Her mother Lakshmi Kaul reportedly said, “My husband Vinod made dairyfree pancakes, like he would normally, but with a few blackberries sliced up. She had one bite of that pancake and she reacted pretty violently. The rash came up and she started swelling. He gave her Piriton, anti-allergy medicine, her inhaler and more Piriton.

“Then he felt she was getting really bad, so he gave

her the EpiPen and called the ambulance. He had to start giving her mouth to mouth and the ambulance arrived in just a few minutes. She had lost her pulse by that time and they tried to resuscitate her.”

Lakshmi who was outside, rushed home from work, finding her little girl lying on the floor, and paramedics trying to save her.

Two days later, after waiting for rest of the family to arrive, the couple had to kiss their little girl goodbye, switching off the ventilator.

Before they let her go, the doctors ran a prick test and discovered that Nainika was mildly allergic to blackberries.

The doctor later said it looked like it wasn't the blackberry on its own, but there was something to do with dairy too. The pancakes were dairy free, but the parents were not sure if the ingredients had been contaminated or something.

Lakshmi added, "We didn't have any dairy products at home. The exact cause is unknown and it has left us with a lot of questions.”

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MAY ANNOUNCES TOUGHER IMMIGRATION PLAN the same time we are training up British people for the skilled jobs of the future.”

Continued from page 3

Moreover there are already existing issues for the highly-skilled migrants, many of who are facing Windrush-like hostility from the government, where their right to settle in the UK has been denied on the basis of small tax discripancies with HMRC. Many are booked under Section 322(5) which 'falsely' call these immigrants as 'severe threat to the country's security'. Many have no rights to NHS, let alone right to work or 'in-country' appeal against Home Office decisions.

The Prime Minister said Post-Brexit Britain will be an outward facing nation but it is important the UK attracts the people the country needs to compete on the global stage whilst ensuring that immigration is reduced to sustainable levels.

She said: “Two years ago, the British public voted to leave the European Union and take back control of our borders. When we leave we will bring in a new immigration system that ends freedom of movement once and for all. For the first time in decades, it will be this country that controls and chooses who we want to come here.

“It will be a skills based system where it is workers’ skills that matter, not where they come from. It will be a system that looks across the globe and attracts the people with the skills we need.

“Crucially it will be fair to ordinary working people.

For too long people have felt they have been ignored on immigration and that politicians have not taken their concerns seriously enough.

“The new skills based system will make sure low skilled immigration is brought down and set the UK on the path to reduce immigration to sustainable levels, as we promised. At

New proposals The proposals follow a report from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) that recommended highskilled workers are given priority over visa applications from low-skilled workers. The report was based on an immigration policy that had a level playing field for EU nationals and applicants from other countries.

A White Paper detailing how the new system will work will be published this autumn, ahead of an Immigration Bill next year.

Under the shake up there will be routes for short-stay business trips and tourists and for those who want to live and work for longer in the UK. Under plans being developed people arriving for a short stay from 'low risk' countries would see passports scanned at e-gates in airports, train stations and ports, for so-called ‘flyin, fly-out’ visitors.

Currently EU citizens get fast-tracked through e-gates while tourists or businessmen from countries like India, Japan and Australia have to queue for passport control.

All security and criminal records checks would be carried out in advance of visits, cutting down red tape for travellers. These incountry security checks would be a similar system of prior authorisation to that operating in the United States.

For those wanting to live and work in the UK longer term, there will be a new immigration system for applicants with the skills that help meet Britain’s needs. Applicants will need to meet a minimum salary threshold to ensure they are not competing for jobs that could otherwise be recruited in the UK. Successful applicants for

high skilled work would be able to bring their immediate family but only if sponsored by their future employers. Currently any company trying to recruit foreigners need to have a sponsor visa, that costs thousands. On top of that they need to pay home office a sponsorship fee per applicant, whixch costs a minimum of £2000. The applicant also needs to get a minimum of £35,000 as salary- a threshold that may go up. Also with companies asked to sponsor families for foreign employee- this may discourage companies to hire foreign employees.

The new system will not include a cap on student visas, which are a separate system to work visas and are granted on the basis of academic ability, the ability to speak English and the ability of students to support themselves financially.

However there is no promises of post work visa for students, even after continuous campaigning by the Universities UK. The ability of people from trading partners to deliver services and student exchange programmes will form part of future trade agreements.

The Government has already announced rights for the existing three million EU citizens already living and working in the UK will be safeguarded – even in the event of no deal.

The special relationship between Britain and India is a “match made in heaven”, the co-Chairman of the Conservative Friends of India (CFI) told delegates on Monday this week.

Dr Rami Ranger was speaking at a late evening reception held at Castle Fine Art Gallery within the ICC, Birmingham. Dr Ranger was introduced by his fellow “icon” co-Chairman Zac Goldsmith MP. Zac joked that the CFI was frequently mistaken for the Conservative Friends of Israel, to which Israel’s ambassador said he had no problem with competition and that his CFI would remain the original.

Dr Ranger joked, “when I grow up I want to be like him,” as he called upon Home Secretary Sajid Javid who thanked CFI for its great work in promoting the values of Conservatism.

The networking event, which featured food and drink, and coincided with PM Theresa May's birthday, attracted around 100 delegates from all walks of life. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt spoke passionately about his experiences of India. His only disappointment, he smiled, was that chicken

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Highly-skilled migrant group to protest against Home Office Many people who have

applied for their ILR, have not received back their passports for years, some even waiting for over 2-3 years to hear a decision, some losing families in India, Pakistan, in the mean time. Some are even awaiting to bring wife or family over, spending days alone, awaiting the Home Office to give a decision.

To protest against Home Office and its hostile environment, for inhumane delays to the home office decisions and disproportionate refusals to visas, appeals and work rights, the Highly-Skilled migrant group is organising a peaceful protest from 11am-2pm on 10th October outside the Houses of Parliament.

Born in India, Rajesh moved to London in 2001.

As an entrepreneur he founded RationalFX in 2005, and Xendpay in 2014, both companies utilising technology to reduce the cost of international money transfer for businesses and individuals.

Rajesh is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship and creating opportunities for young people. He was appointed Chair of Oxfam’s

Enterprise Development Programme in 2015 and has been a Patron of the Prince’s Trust for many years.

CFI – working to build a stronger future for British Indians

Promoting the plans Mrs May refused three times to spell out if the plans would cut arrivals to Britain to the target of 100,000. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Sajid Javid also warned that migrants would have to integrate. He mentioned in his speech a requirement to 'instill' British values into newcomers.

He said, “We welcome newcomers. In turn, we expect them to live by our

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Deputy Mayor of London for Business, Rajesh Agrawal has been elected as the Chair of the Labour Friends of India with Darren Jones MP. Speaking about his new appointment, Agrawal on a social media post said, “The 1.5mn British Indians are the living bridge between Britain and India. India is the second largest investor in London and a natural partner to the UK, specially in the post Brexit world.”

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“It’s about starting as you mean to go on. It’s about integration, not segregation. And I’m determined to break down barriers to integration wherever I find them.

“Take for example, the most basic barrier of all: language. When I was the Communities Secretary, we found that over 700,000 people in the UK cannot even speak a basic level of English...How can we possibly make a common home together if we can’t even communicate with each other?”

Rajesh Agrawal appointed as the Chair of the Labour Friends of India

Integration v/s segregation

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British values. And it is only right that we make it clear to all new citizens what we are for, and what we are against.

The existing “Life in the UK” test for new citizens is not enough. Maybe it is helpful for people to know the name of the sixth wife of Henry VIII. “But far more important to me, is that they also understand the liberal, democratic values that bind our society together.

“Citizenship should mean more than being able to win a pub quiz. We need to make it a British values test - and that’s exactly what I will bring in. It’s about signing up to those values that we share and live by together.

to the UK HE Mrs Janice Charette; James Cleverly MP; Lord Ranbir Suri.

Guests included r e s i d e n t photographer Jas Sansi, Meera Sonecha, Amit Sharma, Councillors Ameet Jogia, Mina Parmar and Hiten Dr Rami Ranger with Zac Goldsmith MP Ganatra, Professor Martin Levermore tikka masala was not on MBE DL, Lord Mike every Indian menu.

Whitby, Ekta Gohil – to list Theresa Villiers MP said just a few. the last time she visited The evening was hosted India was 30 years ago as a

by His Excellency Mr Y K backpacker and said she was Sinha, the outgoing High keen to return, particularly if there was an MP Commissioner of India in the UK, who was delegation going. accompanied by Dr Aman Michael Ellis MP, Puri, the Consul General of Minister for Arts, Heritage India in Birmingham. & Tourism, said his father CFI seeks to build was born in Calcutta and stronger links between the that he considered himself Conservative Party, the an honorary Indian. Paul British Indian community Scully MP said he was and India. It recognises the quarter Indian. successes and values of Other speakers British Indians and included: Shaun Bailey, the advocates closer relations Conservative Party’s between the two countries. candidate for the London In the UK, there are more mayoral election in 2020; than 600 Indian companies Richard Harrington MP; with a total value in excess Bob Blackman MP; of £9 billion.

Tata Communities Minister Industries is the UK’s James Brokenshire, who largest privately-owned flew to India this employer with over 60,000 Wednesday; Helen Grant employees. To find out MP; Penny Mordaunt MP; more visit Brandon Lewis MP; High www.cfindia.co.uk Commissioner for Canada

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Saloni Belaid: A Spiritual Life Sunetra Senior

Companion Insights. “Politics and current affairs touch upon e could feel the power of the all the areas of ethics, religion, caring consciousness that society, lifestyle and green vibrant Vedic speaker and agendas so they can be tied everyday philosopher, Saloni, talks together. One of my favourite on, even during our conversation. talks in Parliament has been Introducing calm and perspective on the Shri Satyam, which through her wise and beautifully centres on the mantra for articulated belief, Saloni shows how Goddess Lakshmi. It’s interestVedic practice – evolved from the olding that such mantras are as est Sanskrit and Hindu literature – is old as time and yet people as much about self-belief and groundseem to turn to modern ed thinking as the higher karmic refrains such as The Secret and energy that can come of such emothe Laws of Attraction.” As Saloni elabtional investment. orated, the latter are more superfi“The whole world is built of cial because they tend to be vibrations and forces, and mired in the materialistic. surrounding yourself with Vedic mantras, however, are I'm told certain people, environ“far more powerful” as they my aura is ments and the outcomes of speak directly to the soul, bright pink! written to “the benefit of all, particular choices can lower your lifestyle. That is considering the whole coswhen you get negativity, canmos. This old wisdom is just cers and bad luck.” Saloni had waiting to be tapped into. Lots of restoratively applied this to her first people have lost their home and the business, which she started with her brother, Karma Free Pizza, the first enterprise in the UK to use Ahimsa cheese promoting the non-violent treatment of cows as well as a wider spiritual awareness in the process: “cows are treated appallingly in the industry, and we wanted to combat this together with providing people healthier, vegetarian options. We saw connection to their older roots, but this that there plenty of Indian choices for a knowledge is from time immemorial. green diet in the UK but not so many We can resurrect it to help us in our western alternatives. We were serving daily, modern lives. Vedic theology is halloumi burgers and sweet potato ultimate truth. Science has discovered wedge alternatives, for example. It’s the facts we have known for Millenia. little actions that make a difference. If Galileo and The West only discovered everyone turned vegetarian, it would be the Sun was a certain distance away better for the planet and karma. It would be the marker of a world without war – if you cannot hurt an animal, how could you ever harm a human being?” *** Being a more wholesome and proactive discipline rather than ascetic, such choices also conjure a sense of lightness and fun: “we had an open restaurant, run with love and passion. This resulted in creativity. I designed the whole menu, keeping in mind the antioxifairly recently. But this was written dants, vitamins and minerals in each millions of years ago in Vedic astrology: vegetable. We were the revolutionaries, they saw the 27 constellations; we have championing greener eating before it modern tech now, thinking it’s more became trendy! We had incredible lean advanced, but the Nazis would look at and experimental toppings on the pizthe old scriptures to advance their scizas, including artichokes, leeks and entific knowledge. It was perhaps in pine kernels. If you take care of the corrupt hands.” Indeed, another reason fundamental component, your Saloni has brought her spiritual body, the rest will take care observations to the political of itself. I always say: it’s fore is to symbolically not the bank balance or remake it: “I became very If you can't education that’s made spiritual after I lost my hurt an animal, you big, it’s what you’ve dad in 2010. It’s one of how could you put inside you!” Karma those inevitable life Free Pizza Company events which force you ever harm a reached the number one to confront questions human being? spot on TripAdvisor, and on the soul and afterlife, was classed in top three and there I gained a really London Restaurants in 2012. close connection to Lord But there is yet more to Krishna, and felt that connection Saloni’s propagation of interpersonal with a super soul, becoming more reliethics than just through business. gious. Religions such as Hinduism and Being an excellent orator, she has Judaism are very old and so they’re genorganically risen and talks in the wider erally under threat in contemporary space of public speaking. She has times. I investigated how Hinduism already spoken at British Parliament, spread to the Far East and further Oxford University and appeared on Zee south in Russia, which then led me to

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see how it dissolved. The teachings have been politically suppressed ethnically through the reign of the Mogul and British empires.” Thus, Saloni does her part to return an inner balance to the world, valuing the intangible and long term to surmount life’s challenges: “whatever you do in life, you have to do it with a passion and it will naturally reaches its own heights.

There is no point chasing money and status for a reason outside of yourself.

This is not happiness. If you live holistically, passionately, the universe pulls you forwards.”

What’s another Vedic topic you speak on?

A favourite speech of mine is one I gave on cow protection and the benefits of not killing a cow. There is so much spiritual and economic value in preserving life. There are medicinal benefits of cow urine and the manure can be used to generate energy. Milk production carries on naturally for many years too. However, cows are generally slaughtered at age 4 or 5.

They could generate more income to the farmers if they can live to fifteen years.

Eating red meat can also give you cancer and burdens medical care.

Have you interwoven Vedic philosophy into every aspect of your life?

Absolutely. I’m always talking on vegetarianism and Linda McCartney!

Even in my current role as a high-end beauty therapist. I’ll make sure my clients know that a green diet is responsible for youthful looks. I always promote the macro, and am not too worried about micro details.

How have you combined spirituality and good business ethic?

Well it’s naturally intertwined and now I have made so many connections and met such wonderful souls. One man came in and told me my aura was bright pink! I could only ever earn money unethically. I’ll never endorse blood money.

Finally, what else has grabbed you about Vedic Theology?

I was able to meet Modi doing what I love. Let me tell you, he has such a protective, glowing energy. It felt like force was coming down from the sky around him. Krishna is my centre and I welcome all he arranges. I’m not a social climber, but I love helping people better their lives. I want to leave the world a better place for my children. I believe we all have depth, and do not need to be distracted by surface promises. There is a lot of self-love to be discovered. Children, for example, naturally love animals. They are empathetic. If you have them next to a rabbit and an apple, they’ll want to play with the former and nourish themselves with the latter.

COUNCILLOR STANDS BY HIS CONTROVERSIAL 'ASBESTOS' QUERY A row has erupted about the demolition of a building with an asbestos roof in a residential area of Windsor - after a councillor raised the issue at a meeting of the Royal Borough on Tuesday. Cllr Wisdom Da Costa (Independent: Clewer North) expressed concern about the demolition at a full council meeting, asking what the processes existed Cllr Wisdom Da Costa was to ensure that residents were not put at risk. He also wanted to know what the council's responsibility was and what it was doing to inform residents what they should do. But his question caused anger - as Clewer South councillor Ed Wilson accused him of causing panic by specifying the road he was talking about. Cllr David Coppinger, who is cabinet member for planning and health, told Cllr Da Costa asbestos incidents were ultimately the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive. But he has acknowledged that the HSE had not kept the council in the loop over the incident. Cllr Da Costa remains unrepentant about raising the issue in public.

16 FESTIVAL

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UK gears up for Durga Puja festivities Families gather to celebrate Navratri in the UK Rupanjana Dutta Durga Puja has become one of the major festivals in the UK, at par with the country's Diwali celebrations.

There are over 50 organisations celebrating Durga Puja across the UK, many in London attracting people from across the communities. While some of them organise their pujas and rituals according to the almanac, others organise them around the weekend, so that more and more people can attend and celebrate with their families. Sourcing idols from Kumortuli (a place in Kolkata famous for making idols) to food to cultural activities, Durga pujas across the UK and Europe are in no way less than the festivities in Kolkata now. It transcends all barriers, creating a home away from home, for the 'nostalgic' Bengalis.

This year Utsab London is organising their first ever Durga Puja in Orpington's Crofton Hall from 18-20 October. Orpington which is a town in South East of London, is home to hundreds of Asians, especially Bengalis and Tamils. They are a thriving nonprofit community organisation which aims to help promote the dual identities of being "BritishBengali". The 'protima' (idol) has been produced by famous artisan Praaonto Pal from Kumortuli, Kolkata.

London Sharad Utsav organised a Sharad mela on Saturday 29 September, to kickstart their festivities at the Ealing Townhall. Almost 350 people were present, enjoying food, cultural activities as well as children's talent hunt. Celebrating their 10th year, their modular Durga will showcase various art forms from different regions of Bengal- a unique idea promoted by The Bengal Heritage Project in association with LSU. They will be hosting their puja from 18-21 October at the Ealing Town Hall.

One of the oldest Durga pujas since 1960s is by London Durgotsav Committee, popularly known as the Camden Durga Puja. Believed to be sponsored every year by Indian-origin businessman Lakshmi Mittal, this year it has found a new home at the Irish Centre Camden, after years of celebration in Camden Townhall at King's Cross. The committee will

Durga Puja by LSU

host their puja from 17 October till 21st, and promise a fantastic Bijoya (Dusserah) concert on 21 October.

Their ‘bhog’ will be cooked by the famous central London Bengali restaurant Little Kolkata. Prabir

ber of migrants from India. In its 7th year, Durga Puja organised by Prabashi, is attracting people from across London and surrounding areas. After an eventful immersion of the deity in the Thames in 2016,

to 21st October. Durga puja by Slough Adda, near West London also deserves a special mention.

Panchamukhee Durga Utsav will celebrate their puja for six days between 13th and 20th October 2018 in Harrow Arts Centre. It will include a cultural carnival where people from all backgrounds can participate and enjoy as one. It will provide a common platform for different communities to come together and celebrate the cultural mosaic of today’s multicultural Britain. There will be 35 cultural events and a Pujabazar, which will include various stalls. At the inaugural event highlight will be renowned artist Goutam Ghoshal from India and ‘Mahishashur Mardini’- the musical.

Milton Keynes Ananda Club proudly celebrates it's 30th Durga Puja this year from 16-20 October.

Over the years the club has grown from strength to strength expanding in every way, reliving the spirit of Durga puja thousands of miles away from where it originates.

Durga Puja by Hoichoi in Holland

Chattopadhyay of Little Kolkata fame told Asian Voice, "We are planning to have a special menu for all the 4 days of Durga puja. Please also come and celebrate puja with authentic Bengali food at our restaurant in Covent Garden."

Ethnically one of the most diverse of London boroughs, Hounslow is home to a large num-

Prabashi obtained a new idol produced by popular artisan Prasanta Pal from Kumortuli. The cost of the deity was met by Santanu Poddar, a founding member, the Hindustan Times reported. Labour MP Seema Malhotra had attended their puja last year. Essex Indians are organising their puja in St John's hall, Romford, in East London from 19th

Subir Chatterjee, Vice President of MKAC and a member for the last 29 years told Asian Voice, "the two prime aspects of Durga puja are the authenticity of the puja itself, which is well taken care of by the women of 55 member families, and ofcourse the authentic and elaborate home cooked food. You've guessed it right, all food is cooked at site by the K-

team (a group of cooking enthusiasts amongst the members), freshly, each day, with the menu that gets elaborate as we progress from Maha Shashtit to Maha Navami.”

Dr Sumit Konar from Edinburgh with Abhirup Ghosh and Maitri Roy have created a website which lists around 60 Durga pujas taking place across the UK between 12-20 October 2018 (https://ukpujaparikrama.wixsite.com/2018). The website lists pujas alphabetically, but one could use the search button to find something near their home as well as per date.

Speaking to Asian Voice, Dr Konar said, “All puja organisers came and joined a common whatsapp platform. They provided all the useful informations related to their puja.

All credit go to them. It was a big collaborative project and not a competetion between any pujas- big or small, old or new. They all sent their consent following the GDPR policy.”

Durga Puja in Holland Not only UK, it is the second year, 'Holland-e-Hoichoi', the IndianBengali association in Netherlands, which is organising their very own Durga Puja in Netherlands.

Similar to last year, the members of Hoichoi are committed to bring back the real flavour of Bengal’s biggest festival in Netherlands – tradition mixed with outburst of enjoyment, culture mixed with emotion, joy of celebration mixed with warmth of getting together – ‘Hoichoi’ (excitement) in true sense.

Though they are performing the rituals according to the almanac, and the dates collide with regular working days in Netherlands, the members of Hoichoi are optimistic about many people turning out to celebrate, counting on the sentiments of a Bengali associated with Durga Puja.

As usual, there will be typical Bengali food on all four days of the puja, but, this year, there are three things what makes Hoichoi’s Durga Puja unique: Theme- based Puja, Theme song composed by Kolkata-based band Kaya, and a musical evening by Indian Idol star Amit Sana on 20th October celebrating 'Bijoya Sommeloni'!

The Cambridge Goddess Nandan Sengupta In the year of 2017, Indian Cultural Society (ICS) Cambridge took initiative to bring a new idol for their annual Durgapuja.

Despite several hindrances, this was the easy part of a two-part job; the second part being the disposal of the old idol. In India, disposal was an easy job one would think and yes, it indeed was.

However, it was not an easy project in UK. One could not immerse this fibre-glass idol into any water body, it could not be kept or stored anywhere indefinitely as that would mean spending money on warehousing charges. Disposing goddess Durga in a waste disposal system was unthinkable. ICS members were

desperate for a solution and then came an inspiration. Someone suggested checking with the museums of Cambridge to see if one of them would be interested to keep the idol eternally as a heritage icon.

ICS always tried to create interfaces between the ethnic and mainstream communities and members felt that this effort would go very well with that mandate.

So the University of Cambridge (that has seven museums for different genre of collections) was approached and wow – they got seriously interested. The discussion started immediately and within a few weeks everything was settled. The

logistics was not simple but for a museum it was not much of a challenge. Thus ICS Durga got a permanent home in Cambridge where people can come and appreciate her gorgeous appearance and know more about the culture and heritage that she represents. The museum staff lovingly started calling her The Cambridge Goddess.

After the installation of the Cambridge Goddess, Dr. Mark Elliott, Senior Curator for Anthropology sent us a wonderful note. He said,“….The pratima is a very important addition to the Museum as an example of the devotional tradition in West Bengal and of twenty-first century work by the artists of Kumartuli.

Moreover, I think its greatest value

for us is to enable us to represent the living South Asian heritage of Cambridge. It is as a Cambridge object, as well as a Kolkatan, Bengali and Hindu one, that I would like it to have an impact on our galleries and our audiences.

“Today we have installed Her in the main anthropology gallery, where She will now be on permanent display and accessible to all visitors, particularly members of the Indian Cultural Society and the local South Asian community more generally. I’m delighted to say that she has already made a big impact on our staff and on visitors.

I would be happy to welcome you to the Museum to show you myself, but please also feel free to visit, as always, any time the Museum is open...”

Navratri is a nine day festival that is celebrated with dance and music, when Hindus worship Goddess Durga, the symbol of 'Shakti' or female expression of divine. On the 10th day, known as Dussehra, Hindus celeberate Lord Rama's victory over demon king Ravana, symbolising the triumph of good over evil.

This year Navratri starts from Tuesday 9 October till 18th.

In West Bengal, a 5 day Durga puja carnival takes place from 14th, with streets decorated with festival lights and marquees (known as pandals) decorated with handicrafts, with craftsmen coming from as far as remote villages in Bengal. Bengal's Durga, an exhibition in London's Southbank stands witness to the festivities in West Bengal as a joint project by the Bengal Government and the British Council.

Originally the artisans sculpting the Durga idols in Kolkata's Kumortuli area were male for generations in family businesses. But the new age sculptors include gifted women such as Kakoli Pal, Mala Pal, who have taken over their father, brother or husband's business and studios to make idols as tall as 13 feet. They also give tutorials in schools, enriching children

with fun way of creating something remarkably beau-

tiful and original.

Asians in the UK celebrat-

ing Navratri gather in their nearby temples or halls hired by community organisations, to participate in traditional raas, garba and d a n d i y a .

Youngsters especially girls flaunt their new Indian wears, some in sarees, some in chaniya cholis, carefully handwoven by craftsmen in India.

Areas in London like Ealing Road, Wembley, Brent and Harrow

£6.50

£7

£5

£6

500g

500g

or the Golden Mile in Leicester buzz with extra energy as family's elders go shopping for Indian groceries to stir up something special and Indian in their kitchen.

Vegeterian restaurants get visits from large families in colourful clothes, having a quick meal before heading to a Navratri celebration nearby.

Families tend to buy group tickets for garbas from before hand, to win that 'early bird' discounts.

Usually live band performs garba numbers, with everybody joining in circular motion of dances around the deity. As the music progressively becomes faster, you can find yourself whirling around

the goddess in the centre, clapping your hands hard, and hitting your dandiya (sticks) at an alarming rate.

With the increasing speed, often grandmothers, mothers and aunts sit back to chit chat, while the younger generation continues- boys and girls in traditional clothes, many times even engage in friendly raas garba competitions. The evenings end on a beautiful note – with arti and prashad- a true family experience for all.

If you're celebrating raas garba, feel free to send information to aveditorial@abplgroup.com to list in your event on our coming events page.

£1.00

80p 325g

There will be fireworks £1.45

35p

£1

30p

1kg

400g

£3.50

£3 500g

Prices valid until 10/11/18. Selected stores only, subject to availability. Offers apply to online orders delivered on or before 10/11/18. Online delivery charges apply. Lancashire Farm Probiotic Natural Yoghurt 1kg £1, £0.10/100g.

KTC Chickpeas 400g £0.30, £0.08/100g. Fudco Almonds 500g £5, £1/100g. Fudco Deluxe Nut & Raisin Mix 500g £6, £1.20/100g. Cofresh Gujarati Mix 325g £0.80, £0.25/100g. Royal Rassomalai 500g £3, £0.60/100g.

16 FESTIVAL

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

www.asian-voice.com

FESTIVAL

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

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6 - 12 October 2018

17

6 - 12 October 2018

UK gears up for Durga Puja festivities Families gather to celebrate Navratri in the UK Rupanjana Dutta Durga Puja has become one of the major festivals in the UK, at par with the country's Diwali celebrations.

There are over 50 organisations celebrating Durga Puja across the UK, many in London attracting people from across the communities. While some of them organise their pujas and rituals according to the almanac, others organise them around the weekend, so that more and more people can attend and celebrate with their families. Sourcing idols from Kumortuli (a place in Kolkata famous for making idols) to food to cultural activities, Durga pujas across the UK and Europe are in no way less than the festivities in Kolkata now. It transcends all barriers, creating a home away from home, for the 'nostalgic' Bengalis.

This year Utsab London is organising their first ever Durga Puja in Orpington's Crofton Hall from 18-20 October. Orpington which is a town in South East of London, is home to hundreds of Asians, especially Bengalis and Tamils. They are a thriving nonprofit community organisation which aims to help promote the dual identities of being "BritishBengali". The 'protima' (idol) has been produced by famous artisan Praaonto Pal from Kumortuli, Kolkata.

London Sharad Utsav organised a Sharad mela on Saturday 29 September, to kickstart their festivities at the Ealing Townhall. Almost 350 people were present, enjoying food, cultural activities as well as children's talent hunt. Celebrating their 10th year, their modular Durga will showcase various art forms from different regions of Bengal- a unique idea promoted by The Bengal Heritage Project in association with LSU. They will be hosting their puja from 18-21 October at the Ealing Town Hall.

One of the oldest Durga pujas since 1960s is by London Durgotsav Committee, popularly known as the Camden Durga Puja. Believed to be sponsored every year by Indian-origin businessman Lakshmi Mittal, this year it has found a new home at the Irish Centre Camden, after years of celebration in Camden Townhall at King's Cross. The committee will

Durga Puja by LSU

host their puja from 17 October till 21st, and promise a fantastic Bijoya (Dusserah) concert on 21 October.

Their ‘bhog’ will be cooked by the famous central London Bengali restaurant Little Kolkata. Prabir

ber of migrants from India. In its 7th year, Durga Puja organised by Prabashi, is attracting people from across London and surrounding areas. After an eventful immersion of the deity in the Thames in 2016,

to 21st October. Durga puja by Slough Adda, near West London also deserves a special mention.

Panchamukhee Durga Utsav will celebrate their puja for six days between 13th and 20th October 2018 in Harrow Arts Centre. It will include a cultural carnival where people from all backgrounds can participate and enjoy as one. It will provide a common platform for different communities to come together and celebrate the cultural mosaic of today’s multicultural Britain. There will be 35 cultural events and a Pujabazar, which will include various stalls. At the inaugural event highlight will be renowned artist Goutam Ghoshal from India and ‘Mahishashur Mardini’- the musical.

Milton Keynes Ananda Club proudly celebrates it's 30th Durga Puja this year from 16-20 October.

Over the years the club has grown from strength to strength expanding in every way, reliving the spirit of Durga puja thousands of miles away from where it originates.

Durga Puja by Hoichoi in Holland

Chattopadhyay of Little Kolkata fame told Asian Voice, "We are planning to have a special menu for all the 4 days of Durga puja. Please also come and celebrate puja with authentic Bengali food at our restaurant in Covent Garden."

Ethnically one of the most diverse of London boroughs, Hounslow is home to a large num-

Prabashi obtained a new idol produced by popular artisan Prasanta Pal from Kumortuli. The cost of the deity was met by Santanu Poddar, a founding member, the Hindustan Times reported. Labour MP Seema Malhotra had attended their puja last year. Essex Indians are organising their puja in St John's hall, Romford, in East London from 19th

Subir Chatterjee, Vice President of MKAC and a member for the last 29 years told Asian Voice, "the two prime aspects of Durga puja are the authenticity of the puja itself, which is well taken care of by the women of 55 member families, and ofcourse the authentic and elaborate home cooked food. You've guessed it right, all food is cooked at site by the K-

team (a group of cooking enthusiasts amongst the members), freshly, each day, with the menu that gets elaborate as we progress from Maha Shashtit to Maha Navami.”

Dr Sumit Konar from Edinburgh with Abhirup Ghosh and Maitri Roy have created a website which lists around 60 Durga pujas taking place across the UK between 12-20 October 2018 (https://ukpujaparikrama.wixsite.com/2018). The website lists pujas alphabetically, but one could use the search button to find something near their home as well as per date.

Speaking to Asian Voice, Dr Konar said, “All puja organisers came and joined a common whatsapp platform. They provided all the useful informations related to their puja.

All credit go to them. It was a big collaborative project and not a competetion between any pujas- big or small, old or new. They all sent their consent following the GDPR policy.”

Durga Puja in Holland Not only UK, it is the second year, 'Holland-e-Hoichoi', the IndianBengali association in Netherlands, which is organising their very own Durga Puja in Netherlands.

Similar to last year, the members of Hoichoi are committed to bring back the real flavour of Bengal’s biggest festival in Netherlands – tradition mixed with outburst of enjoyment, culture mixed with emotion, joy of celebration mixed with warmth of getting together – ‘Hoichoi’ (excitement) in true sense.

Though they are performing the rituals according to the almanac, and the dates collide with regular working days in Netherlands, the members of Hoichoi are optimistic about many people turning out to celebrate, counting on the sentiments of a Bengali associated with Durga Puja.

As usual, there will be typical Bengali food on all four days of the puja, but, this year, there are three things what makes Hoichoi’s Durga Puja unique: Theme- based Puja, Theme song composed by Kolkata-based band Kaya, and a musical evening by Indian Idol star Amit Sana on 20th October celebrating 'Bijoya Sommeloni'!

The Cambridge Goddess Nandan Sengupta In the year of 2017, Indian Cultural Society (ICS) Cambridge took initiative to bring a new idol for their annual Durgapuja.

Despite several hindrances, this was the easy part of a two-part job; the second part being the disposal of the old idol. In India, disposal was an easy job one would think and yes, it indeed was.

However, it was not an easy project in UK. One could not immerse this fibre-glass idol into any water body, it could not be kept or stored anywhere indefinitely as that would mean spending money on warehousing charges. Disposing goddess Durga in a waste disposal system was unthinkable. ICS members were

desperate for a solution and then came an inspiration. Someone suggested checking with the museums of Cambridge to see if one of them would be interested to keep the idol eternally as a heritage icon.

ICS always tried to create interfaces between the ethnic and mainstream communities and members felt that this effort would go very well with that mandate.

So the University of Cambridge (that has seven museums for different genre of collections) was approached and wow – they got seriously interested. The discussion started immediately and within a few weeks everything was settled. The

logistics was not simple but for a museum it was not much of a challenge. Thus ICS Durga got a permanent home in Cambridge where people can come and appreciate her gorgeous appearance and know more about the culture and heritage that she represents. The museum staff lovingly started calling her The Cambridge Goddess.

After the installation of the Cambridge Goddess, Dr. Mark Elliott, Senior Curator for Anthropology sent us a wonderful note. He said,“….The pratima is a very important addition to the Museum as an example of the devotional tradition in West Bengal and of twenty-first century work by the artists of Kumartuli.

Moreover, I think its greatest value

for us is to enable us to represent the living South Asian heritage of Cambridge. It is as a Cambridge object, as well as a Kolkatan, Bengali and Hindu one, that I would like it to have an impact on our galleries and our audiences.

“Today we have installed Her in the main anthropology gallery, where She will now be on permanent display and accessible to all visitors, particularly members of the Indian Cultural Society and the local South Asian community more generally. I’m delighted to say that she has already made a big impact on our staff and on visitors.

I would be happy to welcome you to the Museum to show you myself, but please also feel free to visit, as always, any time the Museum is open...”

Navratri is a nine day festival that is celebrated with dance and music, when Hindus worship Goddess Durga, the symbol of 'Shakti' or female expression of divine. On the 10th day, known as Dussehra, Hindus celeberate Lord Rama's victory over demon king Ravana, symbolising the triumph of good over evil.

This year Navratri starts from Tuesday 9 October till 18th.

In West Bengal, a 5 day Durga puja carnival takes place from 14th, with streets decorated with festival lights and marquees (known as pandals) decorated with handicrafts, with craftsmen coming from as far as remote villages in Bengal. Bengal's Durga, an exhibition in London's Southbank stands witness to the festivities in West Bengal as a joint project by the Bengal Government and the British Council.

Originally the artisans sculpting the Durga idols in Kolkata's Kumortuli area were male for generations in family businesses. But the new age sculptors include gifted women such as Kakoli Pal, Mala Pal, who have taken over their father, brother or husband's business and studios to make idols as tall as 13 feet. They also give tutorials in schools, enriching children

with fun way of creating something remarkably beau-

tiful and original.

Asians in the UK celebrat-

ing Navratri gather in their nearby temples or halls hired by community organisations, to participate in traditional raas, garba and d a n d i y a .

Youngsters especially girls flaunt their new Indian wears, some in sarees, some in chaniya cholis, carefully handwoven by craftsmen in India.

Areas in London like Ealing Road, Wembley, Brent and Harrow

£6.50

£7

£5

£6

500g

500g

or the Golden Mile in Leicester buzz with extra energy as family's elders go shopping for Indian groceries to stir up something special and Indian in their kitchen.

Vegeterian restaurants get visits from large families in colourful clothes, having a quick meal before heading to a Navratri celebration nearby.

Families tend to buy group tickets for garbas from before hand, to win that 'early bird' discounts.

Usually live band performs garba numbers, with everybody joining in circular motion of dances around the deity. As the music progressively becomes faster, you can find yourself whirling around

the goddess in the centre, clapping your hands hard, and hitting your dandiya (sticks) at an alarming rate.

With the increasing speed, often grandmothers, mothers and aunts sit back to chit chat, while the younger generation continues- boys and girls in traditional clothes, many times even engage in friendly raas garba competitions. The evenings end on a beautiful note – with arti and prashad- a true family experience for all.

If you're celebrating raas garba, feel free to send information to aveditorial@abplgroup.com to list in your event on our coming events page.

£1.00

80p 325g

There will be fireworks £1.45

35p

£1

30p

1kg

400g

£3.50

£3 500g

Prices valid until 10/11/18. Selected stores only, subject to availability. Offers apply to online orders delivered on or before 10/11/18. Online delivery charges apply. Lancashire Farm Probiotic Natural Yoghurt 1kg £1, £0.10/100g.

KTC Chickpeas 400g £0.30, £0.08/100g. Fudco Almonds 500g £5, £1/100g. Fudco Deluxe Nut & Raisin Mix 500g £6, £1.20/100g. Cofresh Gujarati Mix 325g £0.80, £0.25/100g. Royal Rassomalai 500g £3, £0.60/100g.

18 FINANCE - UK

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

6 - 12 October 2018

Consultant Editor Financial Voice Alpesh Patel Dear Financial Voice Reader, Do you want to raise money for your company? What if you had an incredible opportunity?

"You own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime " Those were the words from the Eminem song I sent the CEO of a startup before their meeting with the Prime Minister, as I have often done in the past. My job as Dealmaker for the Department of International Trade's Global Entrepreneur Programme is to bring to the UK the HQs of outstanding companies.

In this capacity we often have these companies meet incumbent Prime Minister over the years. Indeed, sometimes in small cosy rooms with business giants such as Richard Branson. The gratitude of the humble tireless entrepreneur is a key motivator. And having myself at the start of my journey been in this position, use that experience.

For many, often young inexperienced CEOs, these meetings are not easy and they appreciate experienced insights. A typical meeting may well be a small room, with giants of politics and business - from the head of Softbank's Vision fund to the Prime Minister, Chancellor, and Sec of State for International Trade.

I’d been in this situation many times thanks to my role at 29 on the UK India Roundtable advising the Prime Ministers of both countries on closer ties. And had written a book for women entrepreneurs, Our Turn, who so often in these situations are dominated by ‘Alpha Males’ – especially in finance. I was adamant this would not happen to any of my companies in the room over the years – they would give themselves the best chance to shine.

My rules from my experience over 20 years working with UK, US and Indian Governments are below and as co founder of TiE UK the UK Chapter of the global entrepreneur mentoring organisation founded and supported by the bjggest names in global tech.

On top of that the PM and Government are energised and genuinely keen to keep the UK at the top of the global tech league tables.

Rule 1: You are an equal In that room, I don’t care yours is a smaller company – do not be shy. If you’re at the end of the table, move your chair to a more visible point – end of a table is far better than anywhere else, save right next to or opposite the PM. Too often, as I've documented based on academic research in my book, shrinking violets never bloom.

Rule 2: Do not criticise your host Yours is not to patronise or advise or criticise. Some entrepreneurs are arrogant and their own worst enemies my job being over years to save them from themselves through sound advice. You never get results any other way.

Yours is show you have something special. Time to lead – focus on the true goal – the best for your company. Be likeable by not being a pain in the ass. The number of patronising arrogant people I have seen in this scenario blow it (not in a good way).

Rule 3: One Goal. Simple What is your objective? Is it to get Government to prototype? To work with you to help get insights on how you solve problems? Whatever it is, make sure the ‘ask’ is clear, in one sentence. It allows follow up by people who do the hard work of co-ordination and making things happen.

In companies and Government this happens through assistants and directors and managers. They need clarity.

Entrepreneurs rarely get this. They think Governments just write special deals and I've seen many a founder look a fool as they explain there's is the only solution and a special closed door deal is warranted.

Rule 4: Speak about 20% of the way in Don’t be the first or the last. Attention is still strong at 20% of the way through. But don’t be a time hog or cocky.

Rule 5: Speak with passion This speaks for itself. It is infectious.

Rule 6: Know the hosts needs – what they can and cannot do Government does not write blank checks. Everybody thinks they should be the only one without competition to pitch to Government. That’s not how it works. You need to know and research that the PM knows on your subject. Ask for something Government can give – work with you to investigate the opportunity, you can inform, educate across Departments.

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted One moment Would you capture it or just let it slip?

For a free online trading course visit www.alpeshpatel.com

Brexit has cost Britain 500 mn pounds a week, study says According to a study published over the weekend, Britain's decision to leave the European Union has cost the government £500 million in a week. The economic impact of the Brexit vote has been the subject of intense debate for quite some time now. The Centre for European Reform (CER), a research group that focuses on the European Union, said the British economy is about 2.5 per cent smaller than it would have been if the public have voted to remain in the bloc in June 2016. The findings were based on the

impact on the economy until the end of June 2018.

The CER, which describes itself as “proEuropean but not

uncritical”, said it created a model of how Britain's economy could have performed had the campaign to remain in the EU won the

referendum in 2016. The group said its analysis was based on 22 advanced economies whose characteristics closely matched Britain and that did not vote to leave the EU. They then compared it with Britain's actual economic performance since the vote.

British economic growth in the first half of this year was the weakest for a six-month period since the second half of 2011 and companies were cutting investment, suggesting companies were taking a cautious approach before Brexit.

Boohoo sales boost after summer of cycling shorts If the Kardashians wear it! Cycling shorts have made a comeback and how!

Online fashion retailer Boohoo Group has reported record sales and profits ever since demand for the shorts shot up. Boss Carol Kane said she could not believe cycling shorts became this summer's “biggest fashion trend”. “I wore them in 1992,” she said. Boohoo reported a 50 per cent jump in sales to £395.3m and a 22% rise in pre-tax profits to £24.7m, for the six months to 31 August. Speaking with investors, Kane said, “This summer we saw the return of the 90s cycling short. I was hoping this was a trend that would never reemerge.”

The shorts, that have become synonymous to the famous KardashianJenner clan, are sold from just £5 across fast-fashion platforms. Not only

business, the company's online reach has significantly grown too, with its social media growing each day. It now has 6.3 million followers on Instagram, a 200 per cent rise in the last 12 months, 1.4 million followers on Facebook, up by 40 per cent, and 200,000 followers on Twitter. Kane said Zendaya and model Ashley Graham's massive Insta followings have weighed in on the retailer's decision to launch collections with the two. Kane said, “It was a really good fit for us,” adding that market campaigns and social media activity had helped Boohoo's performance in the first half.

In fact, sales for their PrettyLittleThing rose 132 per cent to £168.6 million, while NastyGal grew by 111 per cent in £17.7 million. Boohoo

raised its forecast for revenue growth this year, expecting sales growth of between 38 per cent and 43 per cent, up from its previous range of 35 per cent to 40 per cent. Also, just last week, it was announced that the group had poached Primark's chief operating officer John Lyttle to be its new chief executive.

Existing joint chief executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane will take on new roles from March 2019. Kamani will become group executive chairman of the company, while Kane will become group co-founder and executive director.

TiE London’s TISC 2018 obtainable, affordable space TiE London’s second annual that presents a rapid solution TISC competition made a stir to housing last week in the capital as 70 and space shortages in exciting start ups where areas of high demand across whittled down to a final 9, the globe. competing at the Lansdowne Wealth Kernel made it Club in Mayfair. The through to be crowned TISC competition has been winner 2018 with Join gathering traction since it’s Highbrow coming a close debut last year where medtech second. Wealth Kernel will winner, Medical Magnesium now get £50K funding from went on to achieve millions in TiE London along with funding at the Silicon Valley mentoring from experienced TiEcon event.

TiE London Charter This year entrants were Members. varied and of an enormously Sid Narang, host of the high calibre ranging across Annual TiE Start Up proptech, education, finance Sid Narang,Nina Amin, Dinesh Dhamija along with winner Wealth Kernel Competition said..."we are and more. Esteemed judges, Head-up display for commercial delighted to see twice as many startups Dinesh Dhamija, Sid Narang, Rohit vehicles. participating in the second annual start Krishnan and Tony Harris put the final Doorsteps - the UK’s newest and up competition at TiE. This year also 10 entrants through their paces fastest growing real estate agent. It is saw participation from many world Tab Care - Tab Care LTD is a unique online only, class entrepreneurs including Dinesh SASS Med-Tech start-up; our product with no high street locations and Dhamija and Tony Harris, and Venture improves has grabbed nearly 1% of the UK market Capitalists from Fidelity's Eight Road patient monitoring, care, in it's first year. and WeWork's Corporate M&A team. transparency and efficiency.

Join Highbrow - A SVOD platform We are really encouraged with the WealthKernel - WealthKernel is a of curated extracurricular and momentum the event is gaining provider automated wealth and asset educational content annually and look forward to management solutions to institutional delivered ad-free both in the home mentoring, investing and supporting clients (B2B). and classroom, on any device, anywhere more European start-ups from the 1st of Akiva - software that analyses school and anytime.

January 2019 for our competition next data and presents the most important Academi - An Intelligent Mobile year. information to teachers in plain Training Solution for companies to Nina Amin, TiE London President English. optimise the delivery of added, ‘Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood TransferX - TransferX is a Fintech personalised and highly engaging of London. We are proud to support and focused startup found in the payments training content to their employees. hear from so many wonderful and service space offering remittance to P0d - P0d make desirable, inspirational companies.’

Unbanked regions. Aura Innovation -

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Currently, we’re in the midst of a tricky development in St John’s Wood. The property was purchased, with a view of keeping it as one family home, for £2.675M. Next door, which was a replica, sold for £3.9M. The house next door, on the other side, was due to come back on the market at over £5M.

Suresh Vagjiani

Sow & Reap London Property Investment

So, it was a good deal - at the time.

However, as time progresses, the market changes. What was a good deal at the time, is not so good anymore. Every good deal is contingent on time. Move the clock, and the deal may not be so lucrative.

The property was purchased in the beginning of 2015. This was an environment where the threat of a Labour government looked like a reality, with them came the dreaded Mansion tax. This environment was layered with not one but two rounds of stamp duty rises, affecting the top end of the market first. Therefore, the market for houses at this end declined rapidly. We had to go back to the drawing board and decide what to do with the asset.

What became apparent was we did not purchase a house, we actually purchased two flats, under two

FLYING YOUR PLANE The mind perceives and receives information through the five senses. It is our thinking, feeling, willing function. And the intelligence is our discriminating faculty, our internal councillor who advises the mind whether to do this or do that.

Each one of us is like an aeroplane flying through the sky, and the turbulence that we have to navigate depends upon the mode of nature in which we

choose to live.

Some teachings explain that there are three modes of nature in the material world – goodness, passion and ignorance. When we live in goodness life is calm, peaceful, sustainable, prosperous, nurturing and moral. When we live in passion, life can be full of frustration, ups and downs, some anger, high points of happiness and low points of despair. When we live in

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titles and paid the stamp duty accordingly. This is an important point, as two titles means that we are able to construct up to six rooms under each title.

We figured if the top end of the market was wobbly, we should focus in on the bottom end. In property, this is the end which is the most immune to fluctuations in the market.

It’s mostly investors who drive the prices up. Their reason for purchasing is two-fold, one to preserve capital and secondly to see an increase. Conversely, if we look at the bottom end of the market you’re not only dealing with investors, there also exists a strong demand from end users, for example, first time buyers whose only goal is shelter.

We forget there is a fundamental demand for houses in this country, and the current rate of build is drastically short of meeting this demand.

All of this points to an increased protection from fluctuations in the market by concentrating on the bottom end.

We devised a scheme where we could put in ten studios, which are as small as 200 sq. ft. These are

Q: How often do I need to carry out Gas Safety inspections on my Buy to Let property?

A: It is a legal requirement for all rental properties to have this conducted every 12 months, or when a new gas appliance is introduced to the rental property. expected to rent well, and could be sold as individual units in the future.

We have gone one step further to enhance the value in these studios by using innovation. Property is generally a very backward industry, most developments do what’s already been done, they just try to do it better. We really want to add something here, something which will ensure these properties really add value to the occupants.

We have come up with a way in which the space becomes multi functional, this means you can get 600 sq. ft. of living space, just not all at the same time. This project is in motion and completion is set for late next year.

Even if you have an agent involved in looking after your property, you should always request a copy of your gas safety certificate, so you know that this has been completed as good practice. It will keep you safe in the knowledge that the work has been completed.

There are lots of other legal requirements, for example smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Please do get in touch if you would like further information.

ignorance, we suffer from delusion and bad character and our life is replete with defects and sadness.

We can greatly help the instruments of our psyche by making choices to live in goodness and eschew passion and ignorance through what we eat, read, listen to, watch, associate with, speak and how we exercise.

You are legally required under the Gas Safety Regulations 1998 to maintain all gas appliances and flues that have been provided for your tenants. No matter who you are or what type of property that you own, you are required by law to ensure that each gas appliance in the property receives an annual safety inspection; this includes the boiler, oven, hob, fire and anything else that you have supplied in the property.

Richard Bond great turbulence when the knowledge is available for you to fly the same plane in calmer conditions for a happier and more successful life?

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ED attaches Nirav Modi’s London-NY flats them to India from Hong Kong in 23 shipments. The ED said that bank balance of £440,000, kept in an account in Singapore, in the name of a British Virgin Island-based company has also been attached.

The beneficial owners of these deposits have been identified as Purvi Modi and her husband Maiank Mehta.

Five other overseas bank accounts, holding £27.8 million, have been attached and they belong to The 5.8 million pound luxury apartment in London owned by Nirav Modi's sister Purvi, which has been Nirav Modi, Purvi Modi, and their seized by the ED controlled firms. “During the same case, on charges of money laundering, the ED said. course of the investigation, it was found that most of the Both Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, a co-accused in the money was transferred to these accounts after FIRs were filed case, left India in the first week of January. While Modi is in in this scam,” the agency said. the UK and has applied for asylum in June, Choksi has Besides attaching assets, an Interpol Red Corner notice acquired the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda and is learnt was also issued against Aditya Nanavati, an accused in the to be residing there.

India's Enforcement Directorate has successfully attached fugitive jeweler Nirav Modi and his family's assets worth over £63.7 million, including two apartments in New York's Central Park. The assets, which were part of five separate orders issued by the central probe agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), included properties in London and New York, bank balances in Singapore and other countries, a flat in Mumbai and diamond studded jewellery that was shipped to India from Singapore.

The agency said that investigators have got issued multiple court-issued Letters Rogatories (judicial requests) for a legal formalisation of these assets and the action has come to fruition after three months of “close coordination” between the ED and its foreign counterparts. The ED said, “The international cooperation has bore fruit. This has resulted in the seizure and provisional attachment of jewellery, bank accounts, and immovable properties worth £63.7 million in India as well as four foreign jurisdictions. This has also resulted in the recovery and return of jewellery from abroad.”

The attached assets also include two apartments worth £21.6 million in New York's popular central park area, and are under Modi's name. “A flat worth £5.69 million on Marylebone road in London has also been attached and Nirav Modi's sister Purvi is its 'beneficial owner',” the ED said. Also seized is diamond jewellery worth £2.27 million, after getting

Fugitive Vijay Mallya opposes confiscation of his assets

India-born Gita Gopinath appointed IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath

Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya has filed a reply against the Enforcement Directorate's plea seeking he be declared a fugitive under the newly-introduced Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. The reply was filed through his advocate Amit Desai, in the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court. Mallya, in his reply, opposed the confiscation of assets worth about Rs £1.2 billion by the

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Major Commercial Property Auction

Thursday 18th October 2018 On behalf of Wesleyan, Morrisons, Mapeley, a Charitable Foundation and LPA Receivers, amongst others

120 lots to include

(unless otherwise sold prior)

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB1 3AN

Poole, Dorset, BH15 1DN 138/138a High Street

163-167 Mill Road

Let to Rowland Pharmacy Rent £55,000 p.a.x.

Convenience Store let to Tesco Express. First time on market for over 35 years Rent £75,830.17 p.a.x.

Burnt Oak, London, HA8 5HS

Harrow Weald, London, HA3 6HF

97-99 Burnt Oak Broadway

336-340 High Road Shop trading as Discount Direct.

Adjacent to Waitrose. Residential development potential Rent £70,000 p.a.x.

Kilburn, London NW6 6JH

Kilburn, London, NW6 6JH

Ilford, Essex, IG1 1DE 127 High Road Shop let to Saint Francis Hospice.

Adjacent to Primark Rent £50,000 p.a.x.

Reading, Berkshire, RG1 1ST 27/29 Cross Street Shop let to Watches of Switzerland on new 10 year lease.

50 metres from John Lewis and Primark Rent £55,730 p.a.x.

South Kensington, London, SW7 4RB 26-28 Gloucester Road Two shops let to Fara and Trinity Hospice. 500 metres from Royal Albert Hall Rent £66,500 p.a.x.

Let to Palace Amusements.

Redevelopment potential on upper parts. Offered on behalf of Executors - first time on the market Rent £95,000 p.a.x.

Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B72 1QG

Four town centre shops offered as four separate Lots Rents £16,500 p.a.x.

- £46,750 p.a.x.

OFFICE INVESTMENT

Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 3RH 725 Capability Green Business Park

10-38 Birmingham Road Parade of 8 Freehold Shop and Office Ground Rents with Valuable Reversions in 2020 and 2021 Total Rent £97.33 p.a.x. Significant Reversionary Value

Part let to CBRE Managed Services Limited.

Rent £115,725 p.a.x.

TYRE DEPOT INVESTMENT

Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO12 7JR

Shepherd’s Bush, London, W12 8HH 146a Goldhawk Road Let to Barbers with two x one bed flats above let on AST’s Rent £50,800 p.a.x.

John Mehtab: +44 (0)20 7034 4855

Widnes, Cheshire, WA8 6JA 25-34 Albert Road

108 Kilburn High Road RETAIL INVESTMENTS

Trading as Class Food Centre.

Includes two self-contained flats.

Important Rent Review 2021.

Rent £35,000 p.a.x.

Kwik Fit, Columbus Ravine Let to Kwik Fit. Rent £56,087 p.a.x.

www.acuitus.co.uk

ED under the new ordinance. In his response, Mallya has said that if he is declared a fugitive offender and his assets confiscated, then all the money will go to the central government and deny creditors their dues. Desai told the PMLA court that they are open to selling assets and paying back the creditors, but they are against confiscation of the assets. Mallya's reply also mentioned that in the past they have tried to sell the assets and pay back the creditors but it was opposed by the ED. The reply read, “It is submitted that over the past two to three years, when efforts have been made to repay the public sector banks, instead of taking steps to facilitate the process of repayment of the banks, the ED has at every stage resisted this effort. When application were moved before the PMLA court on March 7, the ED has opposed the application for disposal of assets to facilitate repayment of creditors. The same was done in Karnataka High Court.

Now, they have filed the present application where the money will go to the central government and deny creditors their dues.”

It further read, “It is submitted that the efforts of the government should be to ensure that the dues are repaid rather than seeking to deprive claimants by confiscation of assets. The process for securing the presence of the applicant no. 1 is in progress and the matter is closed for judgment. The loans have been used for the business needs of the company like fuel, payment to suppliers and employers. Therefore, you can't say that the properties sought to be confiscated are proceeds of crime.”

Mallya has challenged several sections of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, as being unconstitutional, and wants those points to be referred to the High Court for adjudication. “Under the guise of deterring individuals from becoming fugitive economic offenders, the Act has transferred expansive and unchecked powers to execute, to conduct survey, search, seizures, attachments, confiscation, and disposal of properties belonging to these individuals,” the reply read.

Harvard economist Gita Gopinath has been appointed as the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She will be assuming the post of economic counsellor and director of the IMF’s Research Department. Gita will be succeeding Maurice Obstfeld, who had announced earlier this year that he will be retiring at the end of 2018.

Gita is the second Indian after former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to hold the position. In a press statement released by the IMF chief Christian Lagarde said, "Gita is one of the world’s outstanding economists, with impeccable academic credentials, a proven track record of intellectual leadership, and extensive international experience".

At present, Gita is the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University. She is the third woman and the second Indian after Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to be made a permanent member of the economics department at Harvard. She is the co-editor of the American Economic Review and codirector of the International Finance and Macroeconomics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Gita has authored some 40 research articles on exchange rates, trade and investment, international financial crises, monetary policy, debt and emerging market crises.

She was born in Kolkata in 1971. She is a US citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India. She has received a BA from Lady Shriram College (University of Delhi), a double master's degree from the Delhi School of Economics and the University of Washington. Gita also completed her PhD from Princeton University in 2001.

Her husband Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal is executive director at Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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in brief NO OF INDIANS HELD IN US FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY UP THREE TIMES The number of Indians arrested for illegally entering the US has tripled to around 9,000 so far in 2018, making them one of the largest groups of illegal people apprehended, US Customs and Border Protection said. Paying smuggling rings between $25,000-$50,000 per person, a growing number of Indians are illegally crossing US-Mexico border and claiming asylum for persecution, CBP spokesman Salvador Zamora said. Many present viable claims, but many are economic migrants with fraudulent petitions that swamp the system and can cause legitimate cases to be “washed out” in the high volume of fraud, he said. Around 4,000 Indians who entered the US illegally this year did so over a stretch of border fence at Mexicali, Zamora said.

PAKISTAN OBSERVES BHAGAT SINGH’S BIRTH ANNIVERSARY Revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's 111th birth anniversary was observed at the Lahore High Court in Pakistan on Friday, 28 September.

Several lawyers gathered to mark Singh's birth anniversary and paid rich tributes to one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. The gathering also passed two resolutions – one seeking an apology from the British Queen to the people of the Indian subcontinent for hanging Singh, and the other, for issuing a commemorative coin and postage stamp in his memory.

PAK BUREAUCRAT SUSPENDED OVER WALLET STEALING A video showing a senior Pakistani bureaucrat stealing the wallet of a visiting Kuwaiti dignitary has gone viral on social media, prompting authorities to suspend the high-ranking official, according to media reports. The dignitary was part of a highlevel delegation which was in the country to discuss bilateral trade. Zarrar Haider Khan, joint secretary of the ministry of industries and production and a BS-20 officer of the state bureaucracy’s elite Pakistan Administrative Service, was caught on CCTV cameras while pocketing the wallet which had a significant sum of Kuwaiti dinars, reports said.

AFRICA-SRI LANKA-NEPAL

SA, UAE sign extradition treaty that may target Gupta brothers JOHANNESBURG: South Africa has signed an extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates, the justice minister said, raising the prospect of the Gupta brothers, friends of former president Jacob Zuma, returning to face corruption charges.

The Indian-born brothers - Ajay, Atul and Rajesh - have been accused of using their ties with Zuma to siphon off billions of rand in state funds and of inappropriately influencing cabinet appointments.

The Guptas are believed to be in Dubai where they own property and businesses and police have issued an arrest warrant for Ajay Gupta over a corruption case. The Guptas and Gupta Brothers Zuma, who have repeatedly denied counterpart Sultan Saeed Al Badi in Abu wrongdoing, could not be reached for Dhabi. comment. Justice Minister Michael Masutha "I will not at this stage comment on said that treaties on extradition and legal individual matters," Masutha said when assistance had been signed with his

asked about the Guptas. A longawaited inquiry into allegations of inappropriately influencing government decisions, known locally as "state capture", opened last month with witnesses testifying that the Gupta brothers tried to bribe or threaten them. The Guptas left South Africa earlier this year around the time Zuma resigned under pressure from his own party.

Activists, opposition politicians and members of the ruling African National Congress have been calling for an extradition treaty to be agreed with the UAE so the Gupta brothers can be ordered to return to South Africa. "This means the infamous Guptas are fast running out of places to hide as they can now face extradition to finally answer for state capture," said Natasha Mazzone, Democratic Alliance shadow minister on state companies.

UK businessman’s death in Lanka remains a mystery Colombo: Mystery surrounds the death of a Suffolk businessman who died while on a holiday in Sri Lanka - as an inquest revealed experts are only 80% sure the body discovered was actually his. John Sims, 60, who had several companies registered in Creeting St Peter near Needham Market, died while swimming off the coast of Seenimodara, Tangalle, in Sri Lanka on January 12, 2013.

An inquest heard the father-of-five had entered the waters at around 10pm and was reported missing when he failed to return.

The hotel he was staying at called the Navy and local fishing vessels to search for Sims but it was called off when a body of a man was discovered a few hours later. At the inquest, Dan Sharpstone said Sims was identified using his passport photo in Sri Lanka and later identified though dental records, although experts could not definitely confirm it was him - saying they were ‘at least 80%’ sure. Sim’s family, who attended the inquest, are desperate for answers, fearing the body they buried is not Sims.

They argued that in both post mortems, one in Sri Lanka and the other in the UK, there was no mention of serious scarring from back and hip operations Sims underwent more than a decade ago. They also say titanium plates from a spinal fusion and a false metal hip, which the family specifically provided serial numbers to aid in his identification, were not mentioned in

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either post mortem. The inquest also heard the post mortem revealed the man had suffered a previous heart attack, which the family disputed, and that there was a discrepancy in the height of the body compared to Sim’s known height.

Dr Sharpstone criticised the post mortem process in Sri Lanka, saying the body was not kept refrigerated in the days after it was discovered which had made the

man’s body very difficult to identify by UK pathologists. A family member said “we have so many unanswered questions and nobody will answer them.”

Dr Sharpstone gave an open verdict, saying that the quality of the port mortem in Sri Lanka was well below the standards you would get in the UK. “For me as a coroner the key is the inadequacy of the first post mortem,” he said.

22 WORLD

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A name prominent for worldwide Holidays, Citibond Travel now caters for the group traveller!

we ensure that guests on our tours get to enjoy a variety of cuisines, local as well as international and at the same time catering for vegetarians and special dietary requirements.

We know that food is very important on any tour. Our Tour Managers which accompany every tour ensure each guest is looked after as an individual even though they are in a group” With this expertise and knowledge of the business, since launch Citibond Tours has successfully conducted multiple tours to destinations such as Vietnam & Cambodia, Japan, Sri Lanka, China, Kenya and South America. Rajiv Shah, went on to say, “What we are finding now is that guests are returning from a tour, which they have enjoyed and also made many friends during the tour. They are now wanting to book together for next year to another destination” He goes on to say “ This makes us feel particularly proud, as not only have our guests enjoyed their holiday but they have had the time of their lives making friends along the way. You may go to the best place in the world but it is even better when it is experienced together with friends” When asked about any new destinations to watch out for, Mr Shah said “through popular demand we are adding tours to India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for next year. Our 2019 brochure will be ready in a few weeks”.

For more details, please contact Citibond Tours staff on 0207 290 0601 or visit their website www.citibondtours.co.uk

India asks Pakistan to withdraw Wani stamps NEW DELHI: After it called off talks between the foreign ministers, India last week issued a demarche to Pakistan over the issue of commemorative postage stamps glorifying Hizbul commander Burhan Wani whose killing in 2016 had led to another wave of unrest in the Valley. Diplomatic sources said Pakistan was asked to immediately withdraw these stamps. India had mentioned it as one of the reasons for cancelling talks between foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of UNGA. While the stamps were first issued in July this year, Indian authorities have said the stamps were re-issued around the time India confirmed the Swaraj-Qureshi meeting after receiving a proposal for the same from Pakistan PM Imran Khan.

India had said the release of 20 postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a terrorist had confirmed that Pakistan was not going to mend its ways. India had also blamed brutal killings of Indian security personnel by Pakistan-based entities in its statement announcing cancellation of the dialogue 24 hours after it was announced. India had blamed Pakistan for the killing of a BSF soldier along the international border but Pakistan continues to deny its role in the incident. While it had earlier been reported that the jawan’s body was found mutilated, DG BSF K K Sharma denied this saying that firing by Pakistan’s Border Action Team had

caused his death.

Pakistan though has denied its involvement altogether citing before BSF what it calls circumstantial evidence to claim that the jawan’s death was probably a case of “fratricide”. Pakistan claims to have offered a meeting to BSF between senior officers to cooperate on the issue and locate the exact spot where the incident might have taken place.

Accusing India of having rejected its offer, Pakistan has continued to maintain before BSF that it wouldn’t have been possible for anyone to kill an Indian soldier and mutilate his body at a place located just next to a manned Indian bunker.

The incident though is significant for India because, as Sharma had said, this was perhaps the first time that BAT action had taken place along the international border and not LoC. According to Sharma, the jawan had three bullets in his body and also had his throat slit. The rest, he said, was exaggerated.

K As part of two years celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, High Commission of India projected a video on a big screen at iconic Piccadilly Circus in London, for an hour exclusively.

The spectacular projection showcased messages and discourses of Mahatma Gandhi which was viewed by large number of people, including friends from the Indian community, tourists and bystanders. Everyone enjoyed the enthralling projection at Piccadilly circus.

K

Citibond Travel is one of UK's most renowned tour operator. Over the last 45 years, it has provided travellers with the best tour packages to many destinations, complete with premium facilities, all at an affordable price. In the last 2 years Citibond Travel has established a separate division dedicated in Escorted Tours to destinations around the world, where customers can travel as a group and have the benefit of a Tour Manager to escort them.

When asked why Citibond Tours was established, Mr Rajiv Shah, Director at Citibond Travel said, “ There were many reasons, primarily it was as a result of the direct demand from our existing clients who wished to travel to far and exotic destinations but wanted to travel with like-minded people in a group and have everything organised in advance. So we decided to set up a separate division and allocate our most experienced sales team to prepare group tours that will ensure every need of our clients is taken care of. We do not leave anything to chance. We personally inspect all the Hotels and venues prior to offering the tours. Unlike some of our competitors all the Hotels are 4* and 5*, nothing less. Our tours are in smaller groups with a maximum 30 guests per tour. This is again very different to our competitors as it allows us to give personal attention and service to every guest. Then, although are tours and predominantly for the Asian traveller, we know that they do not want Indian food every day. So

Bapu@150

High Commissioner Y K Sinha at the Gandhi Jayanti celebration in Tavistock square on Tuesday 2 October.

The statue at the square was installed by India League years ago. Chairman CB Patel was also present at the event. Full report next week Photo credit: Raj D Bakrania, PrMediapix

Imran trying to crowdfund $14 bn to build dams 2000s. Its location in Islamabad: Imran Khan territory disputed by India wants Pakistanis to means major international crowdfund $14 billion for donors have refused desperately needed dams, a funding, while financing plea capitalising on terms proposed by ally nationalist fervour but China were rejected as too ridiculed by detractors as harsh.

Experts also unrealistic. If it succeeded Imran Khan question whether the it would be the largest Diamer-Basha dam is crowdfunding effort in feasible in an earthquake-prone region, history - shattering the current Kickstarter while others point out that simply patching record 700 times over. But while Pakistanis up Pakistan's current water infrastructure have responded to Khan's plea with and rethinking its water policies would be enthusiasm, the tally so far is just a drop in more efficient. This summer the issue the ocean of what's needed to alleviate the caught the attention of maverick Supreme country's chronic water crisis. "We have only Court Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who created 30 days water storage capacity," Khan the dam fund in July. Khan's decision to join warned in a televised appeal. "We already the fray in September has transformed have so many loans that we have problems in Nisar's idea into a nationalist cause, with the paying them back... We alone will have to fund at the State Bank of Pakistan doubling build this dam, and we can." But Khan to $33 million, or 0.25 per cent of the target. appeared undaunted by the magnitude of The donations have flowed despite the what he was asking. fact that Imran has offered no detailed plan If the millions of Pakistanis living for the money - or explained how Pakistanis overseas all contribute $1,000 then Pakistan could recoup their cash if the project fails. will have the funds to build the dams, he The lack of specifics has not bothered many claimed. "I promise to you that I will citizens who, in a country riddled with safeguard your money," he added. Critics say corruption, have placed their faith in Khan's plan is little more than pie in the sky. "honest" Khan. "Imran Khan will take care of "You can't collect $14 billion via every single rupee," said Islamabad crowdfunding. It's not feasible," Khaleeq shopkeeper Muhammad Naseem.

Kiani, senior economics correspondent with Khan has built two of the country's statePakistani daily Dawn, said. Few would deny of-the-art cancer hospitals purely on Pakistan desperately needs new reservoirs. donations, raising over $300 million to date, The country is rich in glaciers and rivers, but a campaign that laid the foundations for his has just two large-capacity dams, and has for political career. Concerns about the decades slept through warnings of a water fundraising have centred on the Chief crisis. With its surging population experts Justice Nisar, who used his power to force warn Pakistan faces "absolute water scarcity" people to donate, demanding one lawyer by 2025.The government's plan is to build give $8,000 if he wanted more time in two facilities: the Mohmand dam in the preparing his case. Nisar has even suggested country's northwest, widely seen as feasible, that opposing the fund was tantamount to and the much larger, troubled Diamer-Basha treason. The remarks invited a backlash. project in the north, first mooted in the early

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6 - 12 October 2018

World Hindu Congress 2018 – Showcase of Global Hindu Diaspora CHICAGO: To mark the historic occasion of Swami Vivekananda's famous speech at World Parliament of Religions in Chicago 125 years ago, over 2,500 delegates from across 60 countries gathered in Chicago to participate in the second World Hindu Congress (WHC) at the Westin Hotel from 7th to 9th September 2018. The mission of the Congress was to provide a global platform for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another, and impact the common good with a theme to think collectively and achieve valiantly”.

Forty-eight delegates from UK participated in this three day event, which included conferences on economics, education, youth, women, media, politics and Hindu organisations. Prerna Bhardwaj, CEO of Vahaan Magazine and FM Radio and one of the speakers from the UK, highlighted that the Congress brought together an active global community with a passion to work together for a common good. Many highprofile speakers and dignitaries echoed the message of collective effort from across all four corners of the globe. Video messages from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dalai Lama, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and BAPS Spiritual Head Mahant Swami Maharaj endorsed the event with their blessings.

Mohan Bhagwat, RSS Chief, in his keynote address explained the importance of the theme of the Congress – Sumantrite Suvikrante (Think Collectively, Achieve Valiantly) and highlighted the need for Hindus to work together. He said “Our universal values, now called Hindu values, lead to the welfare of the individual, the society, nature and the environment. It is the

From left, Swami Purnatmananda, Swami Swaroopananda, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, Bollywood actor Anupam Kher, and Brahm Agrawal at the 2nd World Hindu Congress.

duty of Hindus to remind the world of these universal values from time to time.”

Bollywood actor Anupam Kher in his address said “Hinduism is a way of life and one becomes a Hindu by living like one.

Tolerance was the centerpiece of Vivekananda’s message. My roots are steeped in Hinduism… As a Hindu, it pains me deeply to see how ignorance and half knowledge are trying to destroy one of the oldest, world’s most peaceful religions.”

Four organizations were honoured for their outstanding contributions to spreading Hindu philosophy and values. BAPS was honored for beautiful temples across the world, Chinmaya Mission for explaining the essence of the Gita, Gita Press, Gorakhpur for making sacred Hindu literature available

India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu with Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh of Parikh Worldwide Media, (left) as Acharya Lokesh Muni looks on.

at very low cost, and ISKCON for spreading the message of Shri Krishna worldwide.

Over two hundred speakers debate,

discuss and deliberate the opportunities and challenges being faced in their respective fields. Speakers from the UK included Drishti Mae, President of National Hindu Students Forum (UK), who highlighted the need to change the narrative of Hindu identity and to build the foundations for future generations. Mayuri Parmar Amin, highlighted the lack of Hindu Youth gravitating towards public service and representing our community. Pranav Bhanot, highlighted some of the challenges faced by Hindu Politicians and the need for the community to support those that step forward to represent.

Swami Poornatmananda of Bharat Sevashram Sangh, Chinmaya Mission Spiritual Head Swami Swaroopananda, Swami Paramatmananda, secretary general of Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, Satguru Dalip Singh of Namdari, and Madhu Pandit Dasa, chairperson of Akshaya Patra Foundation, ISKCON, Bangalore were some of the spiritual leaders who spoke at the event. Shri Ashwin Adhin, Vice President of Suriname, gave a very inspiring speech in the inaugural session of the Congress.

In the concluding session, Venkaiah Naidu, India's Vice President, reiterated Swami Vivekananda’s universal message of tolerance and respect and elaborated on some of the essential elements of Hinduism namely the breadth of its vision in treating the world as one family, tolerance and acceptance of plurality, and unity in diversity. The third World Hindu Congress will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from Nov. 4 to 6, 2022. The theme will be “Dharmosthato Jay” that is“Victory of dharma, not adharma.”

ON 22ND AND 23RD SEPTEMBER, 2018 JAIN VISHVA BHARTI LONDON CELEBRATED THE INAUGURATION OF THE JAIN WORLD PEACE CENTRE AT 39 ROXBOROUGH ROAD, HARROW, LONDON On 22nd Samaniji (Jaina nuns) led the spiritual session revering the first Tirthankar, Adinath Bhagavan Rishabhadev-ji by special Bhaktambara stotra recitation which was rejoiced by many devotees. On the 23rd, the inauguration event was held at Jaspar Centre, Harrow which hosted more than four hundred guests including Global and local community leaders.

The occasion was graced by the vision of Acarya Mahashraman-ji presented by Samani Jyoti Pragya and the blessed words of head nun Sadhvi Kanakaprabha-ji was delivered by Samani Unnata Pragya. In essence the, ‘it serves as an opportune to evolve the human consciousness’.

Shri Kamal Ji Dugar from Kolkatta, opening the ribbon of Jain World Peace Centre, Harrow, London

propagating pristine jain principals to address global issues.

Shivani Sethia choreographed a beautiful eye catching skit on “Ashtamangala” which was composed by Samani Punya Pragya, sang by Saggar Malde, and performed by the JVB Gyanshala students, teachers and parents. The eight auspicious symbols are endemic to a number of Indian religions including Jainism, which point to the process and qualities of enlightened souls.

Shri Surendra Borad Patawri from Belgium & Hasubhai Vora, launching the book – Scientific perspective of Jainism

Mr. Kamal Dugar inaugurated the Jain World Peace Centre, who was also the pioneer to propose this idea of JWPC. He further carries a vision of creating 25 such centres globally. Guest and host from all over visited on this occasion which includes Mr. Kamal Dugar, Tulsi Dugar, Surendra Borad Patawari, Shri Vinod Baid, Surendra Borad and their family members. Speakers of the two day included Samani Dr Chaitanya Pragyaji, Samani Dr. Pratibha Pragyaji, Bollywood musician Padamshree Anandji Virji Shah, and Prof Peter Flugel from SOAS and Hasu Vora who shared their thoughts on how the new Jain World Peace Centre can become a beacon for

Shri Rajeshji Jain, Shri Surendraji Borad Patawri, Shri & Smt Tulsiji Dugar, Shri Hasubhai Vora , Shri & Smt Kamalji Dugar, Shri Surendraji Borar, Shri Vinodji Baid, Dr Sunilji Dugar

guidance by Samaniji, to promote philosophy of peace and training in non-violence.

The JWPC also has a library with hundreds of books in Prakrit, Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati and English. JWPC will conduct regular classes for teaching youth & adults about Jain principles apart from Preksha Meditation & Yoga techniques for personal transformation. The centre welcome to one and all without any discrimination of religion, those who have a keen desire for holistic development of personality At present the centre is blessed to have Dr. Samani Pratibha Pragyaji, who is the first Jain saint to obtain a Doctorate outside India and Samani Unnata Pragyaji who

is currently pursuing her PhD from SOAS, University of London.

Jain Vishva Bharati (JVB) was founded in India in 1970 to promote the principles of Lord Mahavir of Jain religion. JVB aims to empower the individuals and the society to actually practice non-violence, moderation and understand divergent perspectives. It endeavours to create an environment of unity and harmony in society and inculcates individual transformation, which in turn leads to spiritual uplift and enlightenment of individual souls.

For further details you may contact Jain Vishva Bharati, London, UK registered Charity No. 1106357 at 07950 606 462 or 07878 312 314.

This SPACE is sponsored by

Samani Pratibha Pragyaji & Team doing Navkar Mahamantra

This is the first establishment in UK which is blessed with the constant presence of Samaniji. Acharya Tulsi and Acharya Mahapragyaji were the key influencer who created the concept of Samanijis (Jain Monks who were allowed to travel abroad to propagate Jainism but follow other strict Jain monk rituals). The JWPC serve as a platform for regular spiritual

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6 - 12 October 2018

in brief

SOUTH INDIA

KCR barred from announcing new schemes for Telangana HYDERABAD: The Election Commission has issued a notice effectively barring the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana from announcing any new schemes until the state assembly polls are held. In a letter issued both to the centre and states, the poll body said, “The model code of conduct comes into effect immediately after a state assembly is prematurely dissolved.” It also clarified that as the government ruling in such circumstances is only playing the role of a “caretaker,” so the question of allowing the introduction of potentially populist schemes does not arise.

On September 6, Rao had dissolved the Telangana assembly, paving way for early

K Chandrasekhar Rao

elections in the southern state.

The move was criticised by may, including the BJP, which is widely expected to join forces with Rao's Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Opposition parties believe the move was prompted by a desire to take on

them on KCR's own terms. Rao however, has cited “political fragility” in the state as his reason for wanting early elections. He had said, “As far as I know, the poll process may begin in October and get completed in November. The

results may be announced in the first week of December.”

The Election Commission however, rebuked the TRS administration for trying to usher in early polls. Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat hinted that the elections could be held along with other states at the end of the year. “We strongly condemn the way the Chief Minister of Telangana announced the schedule. KCR's comments on elections are preposterous and uncalled for.”

He added, “We'll assess if the Telangana elections can be held with the other four states, notwithstanding the astrological predictions (over dates) made by anyone.” Sources, however, believe the EC's decision is unlikely to affect the TRS.

PUNJAB-HARYANA

BJP traps Punjab govt on Ranjit panel report CHANDIGARH: Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has attacked the state ruling Congress government on the issue of the Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission report on the sacrilege incidents that rocked Punjab in 2015. State executive body of the party has passed a resolution on the issue, accusing the Capt Amarinder Singh-led government of using the Ranjit panel report to play with the “emotive issue” of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib to settle political scores.

Presented by former state BJP chief Kamal Sharma, the resolution read, “The Congress government is playing into the hands of radicals. The Ranjit panel report has been prepared to settle political scores rather than punishing the culprits of

Capt Amarinder Singh

sacrilege. The BJP also wants exemplary punishment to the culprits but the aim of this government is to make radicals happy.” BJP leaders also condemned repeated meetings between Congress ministers and radical leaders, saying such acts of the ruling party have

only strengthened such elements who don't want to see peace in Punjab.

The resolution read, “By shaking hands with the radicals, the Congress is playing with fire and is only repeating its earlier mistakes when it made attempts to woo pro-Khalistan

hardliners and the state suffered.” A senior party functionary said the BJP has asked its leaders to expose the Congress government on the panel report at the grassroots level. The party's move to project the Congress government flirting with Sikh radicals is a well-thought move, a BJP leader said as the party wants to get back its core Hindu vote bank.

Another senior leader said, “The party must expose the radical leaders sitting on dharna at Bargari as most of them have a controversial past. Leave aside the Hindu community, even a large section of Sikhs also doesn't like hardliners like Dhyan Singh Mand and Bajlit Singh Daduwal who are leading the Bargari sit-in.”

WEST BENGAL

Sporadic violence during BJP bandh in Bengal KOLKATA: West Bengal stood witness to yet another episode of scattered incidents of violence, torching of buses and clashes, during a 12-hour bandh called in the state by the BJP to protest the death of two students in North Dinajpur district.

BJP workers clashed with Trinamool activists and fought pitched battles with police at some places during the shutdown. Around 1,600 people were arrested. While the national party called the bandh a success due to “people's support,” calling it off two hours ahead of schedule, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the shutdown a “complete failure,” saying the people of Bengal rejected the “culture of shutdown and bandhs.”

The main areas affected

were North Dinajpur, West Midnapore, West Burdwan, and South Dinajpur. Two state-run buses were set on fire and stones were pelted at vehicles at Islampur, and fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and doused the flames. BJP

workers squatted on the road at Islampur, stopping traffic movement, after which the police resorted to baton charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowds.

Protesters also blocked National Highway 34 in North

Dinajpur. ADGP Anuj Sharma said 1,600 people were arrested, adding there were a few cases of untoward incidents in north Bengal and Jhargram. He said action would be taken against those found responsible for vandalising properties under The West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, 2017. Attendance in government and private offices were normal.

A district police official said stones were pelted at buses and tyres set afire on the road to stop traffic in Midnapore district. In Malda, bandh supporters allegedly vandalised a panchayat office. In an isolated incident, a group of men intercepted and threatened the driver of a school bus carrying students of a public school.

MAN HACKED TO DEATH ON BUSY HYDERABAD ROAD In gut-wrenching videos of a murder that took place in Hyderabad, a man is seen hacking away at his victim's body with an axe. Raining blows on the body, the murderer seems unfazed even as a crowd of nearly a hundred people gather at the scene. Ironically, a car of the Hyderabad Police is seen passing by in the footage. At one point, a bystander hurls something at the attacker, while another kicks him making him stumble. However, he gets back up and continues attacking the victim.

Towards the end of the video, the man throws his axe next to the body and strikes a pose of victory, before walking away from the spot. He has been arrested by authorities. Revenge is assumed to be the motive for the murder.

RS 50,00,000 COMPENSATION FOR ISRO EX-SCIENTIST Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has announced that his government had sanctioned Rs 50,00,000 as compensation to former ISRO scientist S Nambi Narayanan. Speaking to the media, he said, “The money will be given very soon. We have directed the Law Department to see if this money can be recovered from police officers who falsely implicated him in the ISRO case.” Vijayan also added that former Additional Chief Secretary VS Senthil will be the state's representative on the committee headed by former top court Judge DK Jain, which will also have a Centre's representative. The Supreme Court had awarded Rs 50,00,000 to Nambi as compensation for the suffering he underwent after his arrest in the ISRO spy case.

COURT BARS MLA FROM ENTERING PASSPORT OFFICES A Ludhiana court has barred Simarjeet Singh Bains, Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) legislator from entering any passport office without prior permission of concerned officials. The order came in response to a civil petition filed by the regional passport office against the MLA over an incident that occurred on April 24. Bains, along with his gunmen and other 10-15 supporters allegedly barged into the passport seva kendra, Ludhiana, and created a scene in the building. The regional passport officer alleged that senior citizens, women, and children began fleeing from the office after the MLA and his armed guards allegedly manhandled a security guard.

BJP LEADER ARRESTED FOR PROVOKING PEOPLE A BJP leader who compared police personnel with dogs and urged people to attack them, has been arrested in West Bengal's Islampur. His statement came four days after two boys were shot dead in clashes in the state. “Tie police to the trees and beat them. Give water to dogs but not to policemen. Take a dead dog to the hospital but not the kith and kin of policemen if they are injured in an accident,” North Dinajpur party chief Shankar Chakrabarty said at a public meeting. Anuj Sharma, ADGP, West Bengal, said, “We watched a BJP leader on television instigate the public, telling them to hang policemen from trees- murder them. You can't say anything you want in a democracy just because you have a mic in hand. He is provoking the public to start riots, and that is something we cannot tolerate.”

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HERITAGE HISTORY

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6 - 12 October 2018

Vallabhbhai smells rat in Vithalbhai’s Will • • •

Subhas and Vithalbhai criticized Gandhiji and his “failed” leadership Netaji fought in the Courts for money but the Will was proved invalid Vithalbhai’s will left more than three-fourths of his estate to Subhas !

“I

f the whole of Vithalbhai’s life had been a series of misunderstood or halfunderstood motives and intentions, the last document he has left for India has proved equally contentious. In fact, no document signed by a dying man on his death-bed, has probably, so far exercised the imagination and feelings of a whole people and aroused their curiosity as much as the Will of Vithalbhai,” writes his closest lieutenant and biographer G. I. Patel in “Vithalbhai Patel: Life and Times”. Vithalbhai was arrested in January 1932 in India but soon was released on health grounds. Patel left India in March 1932 and could never return alive.

He toured U.S.A. till January 1933 delivering lectures focusing on India’s “freedom without delay”.

Vithalbhai was invited to Austria by De Valera where he was joined by Subhas Chandra Bose.

From Austria, Vithalbhai and

Vithalbhai(left) and Vallbhbhai (right) with brothers and mother, Ladbai.

Geneva.

On 28 October 1933, the sealed coffin was taken by car to Marseilles for embarkation on S. S. Narkunda and at the same time a cable was sent to Sarojini Naidu and Jamnadas Mehta intimating them the scheduled arrival of the vessel in Bombay on 9 November 1933.The original plan was to disembark the coffin at Appolo Bunder, thereafter to arrange for the “lying in state” for a few hours at suitable place and finally to take in a procession the body enclosed in the coffin, but with the face uncovered for being cremated on the Chowpatty foreshore.

There was at the same time a move to persuade Government to release Vithalbhai and Subhas jointly issued a statement from Sardar Patel, then in Austria in May 1932 about failed leadership of Gandhiji Nasik Jail as a sequel to the Civil Disobedience Subhas issued a joint statement in Movement, so that he should be May 1933 criticizing Gandhiji and able to take part in the funeral of his “failed” leadership. In his brother. As it turned out, September, Vithalbhai fell however, not one of these ideas seriously ill. His younger brother, could be carried out.

Vallabhbhai, was in Nasik jail. The The grateful public was letters from each other could not anxious to respect Vithalbhai’s reach either of them leading to memory by fulfilling his last wish, misunderstanding about his which was that he should be sent younger brother in the mind of to eternal rest by the side of Vithalbhai that he “neglected” him.

Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak on “Subhas Bose cared painstakingly the Chowpatty foreshore. The for Vithalbhai”, as did some other Government refused permission, acquaintances, Indian and lest it might set up “an undesirable European, but he expired at 1 p.m. precedent”. The cremation had to on 22 October 1933 in a clinic near be carried out at Sonapur, but the

Birthday, Wedding, Anniversary

funeral march was joined by men and women, young and old, Hindus, Mahommadans, Parsis, Christians and Sikhs. Vallabhbhai refused apply for parole but some of Vithalbhai’s friends applied for it. The Government put certain conditions. Vallabhbhai said: “I cannot purchase my liberty at the sacrifice of my honour and selfrespect.” Since Vithalbhai had no children of his own and Vallabhbhai did not accept a conditional parole, the Sardar’s son, Dahyabhai, performed the last rites for Vithalbhai. Maniben was out of jail and could join the procession and Sarojini Naidu made a moving funeral oration.

“On one occasion, Subhas casually informed me that, just before his death, on 22 October 1933, Vithalbhai had made his Will at the Clinique-la-Lineguere, Gland, where he was undergoing medical treatment and that Dr. P. T. Patel and myself were appointed executors of the Will, but he did not care to show me, nor did he give me the original Will, when I left for Bombay three days after…

Next Column: Sardar Patel : An Opponent of Reservations .After having made all the necessary arrangements and having settled all accounts on behalf of Vithalbhai, I returned to Bombay with his mortal remains by the S.S. Narkunda on 9 Novembaer 1933. I received a copy

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Gandhiji with the Congress President Subhas Chandra Bose and the host Vallabhbhai Patel at Haripura in 1938

Vithalbhai’s signature was not attested by a medical man, although he was lying seriously ill in the clinic and was treated by doctors when the Will was made… ..He further wanted me to ascertain why all the three men who attested Vithalbhai’s signature were men who hailed from Bengal and why two of them were merely students, in spite of the fact that eminent persons like Bhulabhai Desai, Walchand Hirachand, Ambalal Sarabhai and others who were particularly friendly with Vithalbhai, were present at the time in Switzerland round about Geneva.”

G.I. Patel wrote several letters to Subhas, requesting him to throw light on the questions raised by the Sardar. Only on 21 September 1934, he could present the original Will to the High Court, asking for Probate. Due to the death of Dr.

the names of the committee. In January 1939, Gordhanbhai moved the High Court of Bombay. Justice B. J. Wadia declared the Will invalid and held that Vithalbhai’s money belonged to his legal heirs.

Two days later, Vallabhbhai announced that the money would go to a Vithalbhai Memorial Trust.

Subhas appealed against the judgement and his brother Sarat Chandra Bose defended his interests, but in September 1939, Chief Justice Sir John Beaumont and Justice H.J. Kania confirmed Justice Wadia’s ruling. A year later, on behalf of Vithalbhai’s heirs, Vallabhbhai handed over one lakh and twenty thousand rupees to the trust! India is grateful to the Patels.

Dr. Hari Desai (The writer is a Socio-political Historian.

E-mail: haridesai@gmail.com)

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of the Will by post, sometime after my return,” records Gordhanbhai I. Patel in the biography published in November 1950.

The biographer, Patel, adds: “In the meantime, I was asked by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was, at that time, in the Nasik Jail, to see him with a copy of the Will I had received. One of the strong points of Vallabhbhai , as an able and successful lawyer, was his ability for conducting a searching crossexamination of witnesses who had to face him in the Court.…. He enquired why it was that

P.T. Patel, G. I. Patel remained the only executor of the Will. The relations between Subhas and Vallabhbhai deteriorated. A factor in the worsening was Vithalbhai’s will, which left more than threefourths of his estate to Subhas, to be spent by him “for the political uplift of India and preferably for publicity work on behalf of India’s cause in other countries.” The attorneys of Subhas asked the executor to send the money to Subhas. G.I. Patel replied that it could not be done until the agreement of the interpretation of the Will.

Meanwhile, Subhas was elected the President of the Congress in 1938 and the Sardar proposed the money should go to a special committee of Congress.

He had obtained consent from the legal heirs of Vithalbhai. Subhas agreed but they could not agree on

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6 - 12 October 2018

SC gives 3 path- breaking verdicts Okays Aadhaar, strikes down adultery offence law, opens Kerala temple to women of all ages India's highest court, the Supreme Court of India has had an eventful week, as it spoke up on the Aadhaar Act, adultery offence, and on women's right to enter Kerala's famous Sabarimala temple. Last week, the SC upheld the validity of the controversial Aadhaar Act, terming it a beneficial legislation. However, it did weed out provisions that have potential for misuse.

Aadhaar will no longer be mandatory for opening bank accounts, buying mobile phone SIM cards, getting school admissions, or for appearing in board or common entrance examinations. The SC also ruled that Aadhaar would be voluntary for those who do not intend to receive any subsidy, benefit or services under welfare schemes, and should only be given to Indian nationals.

A five-judge Constitution Bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud, and Ashok Bhushan upheld the NDA government's Aadhaar legislation by a 4-1 majority. It, however, said its insistence on linkage to bank accounts and mobile phones was disproportionate and every citizen could not be suspected of acquiring black money. The majority verdict said, “The portion of Section 57 of Aadhaar Act which enables corporate bodies and individuals to seek authentication is held to be unconstitutional.” It agreed with the petitioners that such a provision could lead to sharing of protected data and privacy of citizens with private bodies.

While taking note of apprehensions expressed about Aadhaar's potential misuse, the court rebuffed their opposition to passage of the Aadhaar Bill as a money bill and said it was perfectly justified. The Opposition could have stalled the bill in the Rajya Sabha,

however, the Lok Sabha Speaker upheld categorisation of the Aadhaar legislation as a money bill, reducing the Upper House's role to rendering a mere advisory on corrections required in the bill.

Justice Sikri wrote majority of the judgment for himself, CJI Misra and Justice Khanwilkar, into 567 pages, while Justice Bhushan penned a separate but almost concurrent 400-page opinion in the 1,448-page judgment. In a move that pleased the Congress, the SC struck down mandatory linkage of Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile SIM cards calling it “disproportionate and arbitrary.”

“Under the garb of prevention of money laundering or black money, there cannot be such sweeping provision which targets every resident of the country as a suspicious person. Presumption of criminality is treated as disproportionate and arbitrary,” CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AK Sikri and AM Khanwilkar said. While Justice DY Chandrachud quashed Aadhaar, Justice Ashok Bhushan said mandatory linkage of bank accounts with the identity was not unconstitutional.

Justice Sikri said, “Nobody will keep black money in bank account. We accept the possibility of opening an account in an assumed name and keeping black money therein which can be laundered as well.

However, persons doing such an act, if at all, would be very few. More importantly, those having bank accounts with modest balance and routine transactions can be safely ruled out. Therefore, the provision in the present form does not meet the test of proportionality. Therefore, for checking this

possible malice, there cannot be a mandatory provision for linking of every bank account.”

The court said compulsory linking and warnings that accounts would be frozen “amounts to depriving a person of his property.” The bench said the Reserve Bank of India's master direction on KYC in 2016 allowed using alternatives to Aadhaar to open accounts. Referring to the Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana and encouragement to open 'Zero Balance' accounts, the SC said it encouraged millions of poor to adapt to the good habit of entering into transactions through banks and using digital mode for operating accounts.

SC strikes down 158 year old adultery offence law The Supreme Court last week, struck down the 158 year old Section 497 of the IPC that punished a married man for the offence of adultery if he had sexual relations with a married woman “without the consent or connivance of her husband”. It, however, maintained that adultery could continue to be a ground for divorce. A bench of CJI Dipak Misra, and Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra said, “When parties to a marriage lose their moral commitment to the relationship, it creates a dent in the marriage and it will depend upon the parties how to deal with the situation. Some may exonerate and live together and some may seek divorce... A punishment is unlikely to establish commitment.”

Saying that it could continue to be a ground for aggrieved spouses to seek divorce from their adulterous partners, the court said if one of the spouses committed suicide because of the adulterous nature of her/his partner, then the culprit could be proceeded against for the criminal offence of abetting suicide.

It tested the Section on the touchstone of constitutional provisions dealing with right to equality and guarantees against

arbitrariness and discrimination, with Justices Chandrachud and Malhotra using privacy, individual's autonomy and personal choice as yardsticks of legality.

It rejected a conception of women as actors with no agency of their own, mere “chattel”. CJI Misra, who wrote the judgment for himself and Justice Khanwilkar, said the section violated right to equality as it punished only the married men while exonerating the 'partner in crime', the married woman, who could not even be punished for being the abettor. The CJI said, the section treated the woman, with whom the married man had sexual intercourse, as a chattel of her husband as it was not an offence of adultery if the latter consented or connived for his wife's adulterous relationship with another man.

Sabarimala open to women of all ages In the third path-breaking verdict delivered by the Supreme Court, which was on a professional peak last week, a five-judge Constitution bench opened doors of the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala to all women devotees, ending the age-old custom that barred women in the menstruating age group of 10-50 from entering the temple to worship Lord Ayyappa. It was decided by a 4:1 majority that devotees of Lord Ayyappa were “exclusively Hindus” and did not constitute a separate religious denomination, and that the practice of exclusion of some women could not be regarded as an essential part of religion.

While CJI Misra, and Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, and DY Chandrachud were unanimous in their view that the practice of barring women devotees in the 10-50 years' age group was illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary, Justice Indu Malhotra penned a dissenting verdict holding that worshippers of Lord Ayyappa did belong to a separate religious denomination and the ban on entry of some women in the temple was an essential part of their religion.

Strive to become one of world’s top 3: Modi tells Amul Sushma raps

“It is a proud moment when people in other countries demand for Amul products. Amul is not just any other manufacturing business.

Nor it is just a milk processing. But this is a model of an alternate economy. It has become inspiration worldwide,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after inaugurating Amul Dairy's chocolate plant and other projects.

Addressing a large gathering at Mogar, near milk city Anand, Modi urged the home-grown dairy giant to emerge as one of the world's top three milk processors by 2022 when both independent India and Amul will turn 75.

“I urge cooperative leaders and professionals at Amul to make a resolve to take Amul's ranking in global milk processing from currently top 10 to one amongst top three,” Modi said. Amul had just last week, emerged as the ninth largest milk processor around the world, in the list of 20 top milk processors of 2018 released by the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN). The new factory is an expansion of an already functional confectionery unit of Amul near Anand. It is a £ 53.3 million premium chocolate plant. A nutritional food unit, the Anand Agriculture University Centre of Excellence in Food Processing, and a £2 million Vidya Dairy ice cream plant were launched simultaneously. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation is India's largest farmers' cooperative.

Modi credited Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, founder of the Kheda Milk Union, for creating the model. “Sardar Saheb sowed the seed for a third economic model, controlled neither by government nor capitalists. Instead, it was created with the cooperation of farmers and people and everybody was a part of it. This is one viable alternative to socialism and capitalism,” Modi said. In Gujarat on Sunday,

Modi at Amul Chocolate Plant

to inaugurate over £700 million worth of projects in Gujarat, Modi visited Anand, Bhuj, and Rajkot. He took a dig at the Congress and critics of Sardar Patel's Statue of Unity, which is to be unveiled in Gujarat on October 31. He said, “Critics and those with limited visionary ideas are now finding fault with the world's tallest statue. They see an 'election' even in that project. What they forget is that the Sardar never identified himself as belonging to a particular caste or creed,” Modi said.

Earlier, in Anand, where he inaugurated £110 million worth of projects, including a solar co-operative by 11 farmers in a village, he pointed out the efforts of the earlier governments to prevent the spread of cooperative movement in Saurashtra region. “In Kutch and Saurashtra, where animal husbandry is a major source of livelihood, it had become impossible to continue with the co-operative movement thanks to the policies of those in Gandhinagar. But since the BJP came to power in Gujarat, we have encouraged it and now the results are for everyone to see,” Modi said.

He again took a dig at the Congress, during the inauguration of the Mundra LNG Terminal in Anjar, Bhuj. He criticised the

Opposition for drowning in negativity. “Some people only see the downside of cleanliness?

When you talk of cleanliness they say it won't happen. Have we not made toilets? Aren't we working towards cleanliness? Those who wasted 70 years are saying nothing will happen without even attempting to make a start first,” he said. Modi added, “When I launched Swachhata Mission, they had their own doubts. But everyone is seeing the benefits. At least a beginning should be made.

I am not here to waste time but to realise our mission to make Modern India which would have education for all children, jobs for all youths, irrigation for all farmers and affordable healthcare for the aged.”

In Rajkot, he dedicated the Mahatma Gandhi Museum to people. “Inauguration of this museum is an epoch-making moment.

But everyone will wonder today- Didn't Rajkot and Gandhiji have any right on each other?

Who were the elements that separated both of them? Though this land shaped Gandhiji with education, his life was reduced to just one event... garland him on October 2 and forget him,” Modi said. He said that everyone in this world has the right to learn about Gandhi's childhood, his education and activities at that time. “All those who believe in humanity have the right to know why and because of whose vested interest was Gandhiji ignored.” Modi urged people to strive and make Rajkot the cleanest city of India.

“This would be a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi who had once said that given a choice, he would choose cleanliness over Independence. Children are the true ambassadors of cleanliness and once you decide, there is no power in the world that can stop Rajkot from becoming the cleanest city of India,” Modi said.

Pakistan at UN In an angry speech before the UN General Assembly, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj accused neighbouring country Pakistan for harboring terrorists and rejected the notion that India is sabotaging peace talks with Pakistan, calling it “a complete lie”. She pointed to the fact that Osama bin Laden had been living quietly in Pakistan before he was found and killed by a team of US Navy SEALs, and said the mastermind of the 2008 attack in Mumbai in which 168 people died “still roams the streets of Pakistan with impunity.” She said, “In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border to the west. Our neighbour's expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism, it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity.” Swaraj was supposed to meet Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week. However, India called it off just one day after it was announced, when an Indian border guard was killed in the disputed region of Kashmir.

The announcement was considered as a positive step towards restarting stalled talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

“We accepted the proposal. But within hours of our acceptance, news came that terrorists had killed one of our jawans. Does this intricate a desire for dialogue?” Also present, Pakistan's Qureshi responded to Swaraj's statement saying it was the third time the current Indian administration had called off talks.

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HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

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6 - 12 October 2018

Thousands of asthma patients left battling weight gain, sleep issues from 'toxic' drugs, warns charity Thousands of asthma patients are left battling brutal side-effects from their 'toxic' drugs, a charity has warned.

Asthma UK said oral steroids - such as prednisolone - can lead to weight gain, sleeping issues, brittle bones and cataracts.

And a new poll of hundreds of patients by the charity has also found the drugs can leave some users depressed and suicidal.

Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: 'Oral steroids are so toxic.'

Speaking on behalf of the charity, she said it was now calling for doctors to begin dishing out new drugs called monoclonal antibodies.

Tests have shown the drugs can cut the number of asthma attacks by up to 50 per cent in some

Asthma UK said oral steroids - such as prednisolone (stock) - can lead to weight gain, sleeping issues, brittle bones and cataracts

patients, The Times reports.

Most of the 200,000 severe asthma patients in Britain are given oral steroid tablets to reduce their severe flare-ups.

The drugs help to dampen inflammation in the airways by blocking the effects of certain chemicals in the immune system, Asthma UK said.

Dr Walker added doctors have been slow to adopt the use of mono-

clonal antibodies - even though they are available on the NHS. Asthma UK said its on website the new drugs are 'very promising' but do not work for all patients with severe asthma.

The charity, who quizzed 1,200 asthma patients, found 56 per cent of patients on oral steroids claimed they had put on weight.

A similar amount of respondents reported

being hungrier, eating more and having issues getting to sleep at night.

More than a third (37 per cent) admitted they felt more anxious and had less energy, while slightly more felt more irritable.

Dr Walker warned that even low doses of oral steroids 'should be avoided whenever possible'. Andy Whittamore, clinical lead at Asthma UK and a practising GP, also warned The Times of how strong oral steroids are. He said: 'Steroid tablets are stronger than inhalers and if people take high doses over a long period of time there can be nasty side-effects.'

It comes after health watchdogs last month gave the green light to a new treatment that dramatically improves the day-to-day lives of patients with severe asthma.

The procedure involves a tiny probe that resembles and egg whisk being inserted into the lung. This emits heat that shrinks scarred lung tissue and aids breathing.

Studies have showed it reduces emergency hospital admissions for life-threatening asthma attacks by 55 per cent – and benefits continue for a decade after treatment.

Asthma affects the small tubes or airways that carry air in and out of the lungs, with attacks triggered by so-called allergens.

Allergens are substances that are harmless to the majority of people, but can cause an immune system reaction in those with the illness.

This response leads to the lining of the lungs becoming inflamed and swollen, so the airways narrow, making it harder for air to pass through.

in brief OFFER AT LEAST ONE VEGAN OPTION ON EVERY MENU, URGE CAMPAIGNERS The Vegan Society is targeting the UK Government with a petition calling on public sector institutions to provide at least one vegan food option on every menu every day. Campaigners say there is potential for England to become the first country in Europe to enshrine a right to good quality, affordable, plant-based food in law. Veganism is a protected belief under the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales but many hospitals, schools, universities, councils and prisons fail to offer vegan food, with patients and schoolchildren "often going hungry".

During the Party Conferences season this autumn, The Vegan Society is campaigning to protect the rights of vegans and for our health, the environment and animals. The charity will hold a series of fringe events and hold stalls at the conferences, educating attendees about the rights of vegans and lobbying for change.

SCHOOLS FACE A HEAD LICE EPIDEMIC DUE TO NHS AXING TREATMENTS

Mother and baby BOTH have higher heart disease risk if mom delayed childbirth Women who put off having children past 35 could be at increased risk of a heart attack or stroke, new research finds.

Babies of older mothers may also be more prone to developing potentially fatal cardiovascular disease later in life - especially boys, the study suggests.

Experiments on rats suggest it may lead to stiffer blood vessels that can trigger a stroke or heart attack.

Dr Sandra Davidge, executive director of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute at Alberta University in Canada, older mothers' cardiovascular health could be screened for preventative drugs and lifestyle changes to be prescribed at the earliest

opportunity.

'These data demonstrate mechanisms which may lead to worsened outcomes at an advanced maternal age - including early pregnancy termination - and later life cardiovascular dysfunction,' she said.

Dr Davidge said previous studies have found being 35 or older during pregnancy increases the risk of impaired vessel function and reduced blood flow to the placenta. These issues endanger the growth and overall health of the unborn child - and may contribute to heart disease in the mother decades later.

So her team looked at three groups of older female rats that had either given birth, miscarried or never been

pregnant.

Those which had lost pups had less widening of the vessels, or vasodilation, which can lead to cardiovascular disease, compared to their childless peers. The same condition was also seen in the arteries of the intestines of those who successfully had offspring.

The researchers also found sex-specific differences in health risks of

the older rats' offspring.

Male pups had impaired function of the blood vessel lining and cardiac risk factors associated with interrupted blood flow - but not the females.

Dr Davidge said the rats were nine-and-a-half months old - equivalent to a 35 year-old woman in human years.

The delayed pregnancy reduced fertility by almost half (46 percent)

and litter size by more than a third (36 percent).

It also restricted the growth of the fetus in the womb - but increased the weight of the mother's placenta and her blood pressure.

Dr Davidge said: 'Given the increasing trend toward delaying pregnancy, our findings have significant population and health care implications and further illustrate pregnancy as a window of opportunity to assess cardiovascular health.'

The study was presented at the American Physiological Society's Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic Diseases: Sex-Specific Implications for Physiology conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Half of women but only a third of men will 'develop dementia, Parkinson's or have a stroke in their lifetime' Half of women will develop dementia, Parkinson’s or have a stroke in their lifetime, researchers have predicted. But the same analysis found only a third of men will go on to be struck down by one of the three ailments by the time they die.

Scientists today claimed the gender difference was largely driven by women, who are known to face a higher risk of getting dementia.

Dutch researchers acknowledged preventative measures could 'substantially' reduce the burden of the three neurological illnesses.

And dementia charities today urged middle-aged adults to eat healthily and exercise more, to slash their risk of the ailments.

Scientists at the University Medical Center Rotterdam tracked the health of 12,000 people for a period of 26 years.

To Our Readers

We are publishing these items in good faith, kindly consult your Doctor before you try to implement any advice. We do not hold any responsibility for its efficacy...

All participants were under the age of 45 when the experiment began, published in the Journal of N e u r o l o g y , Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.

Between 1990 and 2016, the team of researchers led by Dr Arfan Ikram found 1,489 had been diagnosed with dementia.

A further 1,285 had suffered a stroke while 263 were diagnosed with parkisonism - of which Parkinson's is the most common form.

When the figures were broken down, it was found women (48 per cent) had a greater risk of developing one of the conditions than men (36 per cent).

Dementia was of greatest concern for women - 25.9 per cent compared to 13.7 per cent for men - but the rates for stroke and Parkinson's were similar.

Charities have for years highlighted the 'disproportionate' gap in rates of dementia between the genders, largely driven by

women living longer.

The study also found rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes were higher in the patients struck down by one of the three conditions.

Dr Ikram and colleagues said their findings 'strengthen the call' for prioritising the focus on preventative interventions for people. They added this could 'substantially reduce the burden of common neurological diseases in the ageing population'.

Schools will face a head lice epidemic this winter due to the NHS axing treatments, a charity has warned. A change in guidance, which was rolled out over the summer to save the NHS £100 million a year, means GPs cannot routinely prescribe nit treatments that cost the health service just £4.92 a time. This will cause head lice to become increasingly common in schools, particularly in low-income areas, according to the charity Community Hygiene Concern (CHC). Over-the-counter head lice treatments can cost as much as £13 per application. It is often also necessary to treat the entire family. Head lice outbreaks usually peak in autumn when children go back to school. This is when GPs would usually prescribe hundreds of the CHC's Bug Buster kits. These include different sized combs that remove lice and nits their empty eggs - without pesticides. Since GPs were told to stop issuing such treatments, prescriptions have fallen by 90 per cent, CHC said. And some 98 per cent of head lice are resistant to over-thecounter chemical treatments, previous research has found. Parasites are also becoming more common with nearly half of children in the UK having had a head-lice infestation over past five years, compared to as little as two per cent before.

TAKING VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTS HELPS OBESE CHILDREN SHED WEIGHT Taking vitamin D supplements may help obese children lose weight, a new study suggests. About a third of American children are either overweight or obese, and the vast majority eat diets lacking in crucial minerals and vitamins, including D. The most fundamental and most surefire ways to prevent and combat obesity in children are healthy diet and exercise plans - but some families could undoubtedly use a little help. A new Greek study linked a daily dose of vitamin D to a lower rates of obesity, better cholesterol levels and lower overall body masses.

28 BOLLYWOOD

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The truth behind Mahatma Gandhi's assassination Coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, Dubai-based Nugen Media has released the trailer of 'The Gandhi Murder', a fulllength feature film that will question the history and truth behind Mahatma Gandhi's death. 71 years after his tragic murder at the hands of Hindu right-wing nationalist Nathuram Godse, the movie digs deeper into the political events leading to the murder that changed the future of Independent India.

A period movie based on true events that led to the eventual assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the movie demonstrates a violent India, against the backdrop of a nonviolent Gandhi, and hard-line fanatic mindsets beginning to grow roots in a country divided on the basis of religion. It will unravel facts that will prompt questions on the history we have all come to know. 'The Gandhi Murder' follows three senior police officers in different parts of India, who were well aware of the intelligence that Gandhi's life is under threat, must take key decisions that would eventually either save the Mahatma, or the country.

Featuring Om Puri in his final on-screen role before his death in 2017, American actor Stephen Lang, and British actors Luke Pasqualino and Vinnie Jones, the film is set to rock the very foundation of Indian history.

Nana Patekar harassed me, says Tanushree Dutta

Tanushree Dutta who is best known for her glamorous roles in early 2000s is in the news again. She is a pageant winner who bagged many Bollywood films and was typecast as a quintessential item girl. During the making of the film 'Horn Ok Please' in 2008 she was accused of throwing tantrums on the sets and refused to come out of her vanity van. It was quite a scandal and Tanushree took off to the United States afterwards.

After about ten years, she finally spoke about this fateful incident and made some shocking revelations about her co-star Nana Patekar. She said that he is a habitual harasser on sets and no one in the industry

* Schedule is subject to change

MONDAY 8th - FRIDAY 12th October

TIME

16:00:00 17:00:00 17:30:00 18:00:00 18:30:00 19:00:00 19:30:00 20:00:00 20:30:00 21:00:00 21:30:00 22:30:00

TIME

18:30:00 19:00:00 19:30:00 20:00:00 21:00:00 22:00:00

TIME

TV PROGRAM NAMES

RASOI SHOW THE GREAT INDIAN GLOBAL KITCHEN 2 INTERNETWALA LOVE RADHA PREM KI DEEWANI UTTARAN DIL KI PUKAR SWARAGINI ISHQ MEIN MARJAWAN INTERNETWALA LOVE BALIKA VADHU - LAMHE PYAAR KE SHAITAAN - A CRIMINAL MIND ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA

SATURDAY 13th October TV PROGRAM NAMES

UTTARAN DIL KI PUKAR SWARAGINI INTERNETWALA LOVE - CATCH UP EPISODES ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA SHAITAAN - A CRIMINAL MIND

SUNDAY 14th October TV PROGRAM NAMES

17:30:00 WEEKEND KA MAHAEPISODE - SWARAGINI 18:30:00 UTTARAN 19:00:00 DIL KI PUKAR 19:30:00 SWARAGINI 20:00:00 RADHA PREM KI DEEWANI - CATCH UP EPISODES 21:00:00 ZINDAGI KI HAQEEQAT SE AAMNA SAAMNA 22:00:00SHAITAAN - A CRIMINAL MIND

SATURDAY 6th - SUNDAY 7th October TIME TV PROGRAM NAMES

* Schedule is subject to change

16:30 17:30 18:30 20:00 21:30 22:30

CID Crime Patrol Indian Idol Indian Idol Comedy Circus Crime Patrol

MONDAY 8th - Thursday 11th October

TIME

18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:30 23:00

TIME

18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 23:00

TV PROGRAM NAMES

Vighnaharta Ganesh Mere Sai Dil Hi Toh Hai Porus Main Maayke Chali Jaaungi Kaun Banega Crorepati Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai Crime Patrol

FRIDAY 12th October TV PROGRAM NAMES

Vighnaharta Ganesh Mere Sai The Kapil Sharma Show Porus Main Maayke Chali Jaaungi Kaun Banega Crorepati Crime Patrol

* Schedule is subject to change

MONDAY 8th - FRIDAY 12th October

19:00:00 TU AASHIQUI 19:30:00 UDANN

20:00:00 SHAKTI ASTITVA KE EHSAAS KI

20:30:00 DASTAAN-E-MOHABBAT SALIM ANARKALI

21:00:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 12) 22:00:00 SILSILA

22:30:00 BEPANNAAH 23:00:00 ROOP

Wednesday October 10, 2018 01:17 Film : Aar Ya Paar 05:00 Film : Bezubaan Ishq 07:25 Film : Pardesi 10:42 Film : Rang 13:24 Film : Mr. Natwarlal 16:46 Film : Bewafaa * Schedule is subject to change 19:56 Film : Machine Sunday October 07, 2018 22:50 Film : Awarapan 00:27 Film : Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar Thursday October 11, 2018 05:00 Film : The Silent Heroes 01:15 Film : Jeet Born To Win 07:16 Film : Naseeb 05:00 Film : The Perfect Girl 11:00 Film : Awarapan 07:00 Film : Krishna Arjun 13:30 Film : Mr. India 09:47 Film : Taaqat 17:04 Film : Omkara 13:10 Film : Aakhree Raasta 19:56 Film : Masti 16:28 Film : Aligarh Monday October 08, 2018 19:00 Film : Teen Patti 21:57 Film : Dhokha 23:28 Film : 1920 London Friday October 12, 2018 01:32 Film : Woh Lamhe 05:00 Film : Prithipal Singh... A Story 00:25 Film : Chor Bazaari-Ek Atrangi Prem Kahani 05:00 Film : Login 07:00 Film : Aulad 07:00 Film : Hote Hote Pyaar Ho Gaya 10:15 Film : Bombay 09:50 Film : Ghulam-E-Musthafa 13:00 Film : Krantiveer 13:00 Film : Hero 16:05 Film : Do Lafzon Ki Kahani 16:24 Film : Machine 19:00 Film : Bewafaa 19:18 Film : Don- The Chase Begins Again 22:16 Film : Mere Dost Picture Abhi Baki Hai 22:52 Film : Gunaah Tuesday October 09, 2018 Saturday October 13, 2018 00:50 Film : I Am 24 01:10 Film : Hai Apna Dil Toh Awara 05:00 Film : I Don't Luv U 05:00 Film : Good Buddy Gadbadi 07:16 Film : Anokhi Ada 07:22 Film : Loha 09:46 Film : Mr. India 09:54 Film : Aakhree Raasta 13:22 Film : Dhadkan 13:15 Film : Chaalbaaz 16:50 Film : Masti 16:25 Film : Teen Patti 19:22 Film : Fitoor 20:23 Film : Aligarh 22:48 Film : Rama Rama Kya Hai Dramaa 22:00 Film : Jashnn

SATURDAY 13th October

TIME

ever spoke against him. She also blamed big stars like Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth for working with someone like Nana.

Tanushree revealed that Nana pushed her on the sets and wanted to do an intimate dance step with her which was not even the requirement of the song. She complained to the makers of the film who refused to pay heed to her and on the contrary wanted her to act according to his bidding. Because she refused to do the number, Rakhi Sawant was roped in. Tanushree said that Nana does the philanthropy work only to whitewash his image because everybody knows what he is behind his fake image.

TV PROGRAM NAMES

17:30:00 "PADMAAVAT

(COLORS UK TV PREMIERE)"

21:00:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 12) WEEKEND KA WAAR

22:30:00 KAUN HAI?

23:30:00 DASTAAN-E-MOHABBAT SALIM ANARKALI

SUNDAY 14th October

TIME

TV PROGRAM NAMES

18:00:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 12) WEEKEND KA WAAR

20:00:00 NAAGIN - SEASON 3

21:00:00 BIGG BOSS (SEASON 12) WEEKEND KA WAAR

22:30:00 KAUN HAI?

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6 - 12 October 2018

Mahant Swami enlightened devotees on Adarsh Puja in Bhavnagar Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha's head Param Pujya Mahant Swami is currently in Bhavnagar. He had arrived here from Sarangpur, on September 29, where he was welcomed by other saints and his devotees. Children had performed various dance programmes for him and the temple premises was decorated with flower rangolis.

Earlier, Mahant Swami had met with his devotees at the Pramukh Darshan Vatika and performed aarti. On the September 28, at Sarangpur, he had celebrated the fourth spiritual Smriti Parva of Shastriji Maharaj. He gave a talk on Shastriji's work and spoke about his life. On October 30, children's day was celebrated at Bhavnagar, where several young ones performed skits and dance. Nitya Pooja Day was celebrated on October 1. l

Leicester Friends for Oxford Center For Hindu Studies has organised a talk by Dr. Ramesh Patani on 'The Days of Ancestors: The Significance Of Pitru Paksh- Shraadh', on October 6, 6.30 pm to 9.00 pm at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, Rothley Street, Leicester LE4 6LF. l VHP Ilford Hindu Centre has organised Mata Ki Chauki on October 7, 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm, Navratri celebrations from October 8 to 17, 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm, at 43, Clevendale Road, Essex IG1 1EE. l The Bhavan to hold the 19th annual celebrations of Mahalaya on October 6, 6.30 pm onwards, at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 4A Castletown Rd, Hammersmith, London W14 9HE. l Nehru Centre UK has held exhibition 'Dharana Of Hindustani Music', from October 1 to 5, 6.15 pm onwards, at 8S, Audley Street, Mayfair London, W1K 1HF.

Bomb squad deal with mysterious package in Coventry unit were mobilised.

The bomb squad were spotted at the scene and some people in the area reported hearing an explosion earlier in afternoon. The road was eventually reopened at around 7.30pm.

On Tuesday a West Midlands Police spokesman confirmed that the package did not turn out to be suspicious. They said: “The item in Station Street West was safely disposed of by the bomb squad and was deemed not suspicious.”

However authorities did not reveal what the package was or what was inside it.

Officers from the army’s bomb disposal unit were also called to Station Street West in May 2017.

A five-hour drama which saw army bomb disposal officers on the streets of Foleshill ended without incident on Monday night.

Station Street West was closed off next to Toros Steakhouse (formerly the General Wolfe pub), for around five hours from 2.45pm on Monday October 1.

Police were initially called to reports of a suspicious package and officers were immediately sent to the scene. The bomb squad was subsequently sent in. The drama saw the road closed off between the entrances at Foleshill Road and Northey Road.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police confirmed that officers from the Royal Logistics Corps bomb disposal

Sneh Joshi

Black doctors paid £10,000 less than white colleagues Black NHS doctors are paid on average almost £10,000 less a year than white ones, figures have revealed.

And black nurses and midwives earn an average of nearly £2,300 less because of a race pay gap which has been branded 'appalling' and 'enormous'.

Data showing the salaries of 750,000 NHS staff have shown black people in all roles across the health service are being paid less than their white counterparts.

The gap, branded an 'unacceptable barrier', exists for people working as hospital porters all the way up to neurosurgeons and amount to 'discrimination'.

The figures come just a week after one of the country's most senior doctors called the NHS 'subconsciously racist' for making it hard for ethnic minority medics to be promoted.

Figures from NHS Digital this week showed

black female doctors earn an average of £9,612 less than white women, while the gap for men is £9,492.

The data looked at the salaries of workers who identify themselves as black, African, Caribbean or black British, The Guardian reported.

Black women can expect to earn £2,700 less than white women if they work as a nurse or midwife, while men in the same jobs are paid £1,872 less if they're black.

Across all of the approximately 300 jobs available in the NHS, black men earn an average of £7,272 less than the average male pay - and £5,796 less than their white peers.

And the gap for women is smaller but still amounts

All paid subscribers of Asian Voice will receive the ‘Welcome NRG’ magazine with their newspaper this week.

Extremist with IS propaganda who told primary school teacher they would 'burn in hell' jailed An IS sympathiser was jailed after being arrested at a primary school where he had told a teacher they were an 'infidel' and would ‘burn in hell’.

Atiq Ahmed, from Oldham, was later found to have material from an Islamic State propaganda magazine on a tablet computer. He was arrested following an incident at Werneth Primary School in Oldham in October last year. Ahmed, 35, was seen talking to children near the entrance of the school.

At first staff thought he was a parent, but Ahmed

became aggressive when questioned by a teacher. He then shouted at the teacher, saying: “You are an infidel. You are going to burn in hell. You are a kafir (a derogatory term referring to non-Muslims).”

Ahmed was arrested, and after police found Islamist material on his phone, they raided his home in Copster Hill Road.

He claimed the material found on the tablet was for research and he denied he was a terrorist.

The defendant, who was previously jailed for terrorism offences, has now

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. You could also be dealing with past actions or karma. It's time to redefine what it is that you want out of life.

Venus has gone into retrograde TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21 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.

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 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 career as well as relationships with lovers and children are also affected. The desire to get on with people around you is very strong in this period.

The Venus Retrograde transit falls in your fifth house of romance, speculation, and children. Do not get into arguments with a lover or take risks with gambling. You shouldn't jump to conclusions if your lover needs a little space. An old lover may resurface in your life, complicating matters further. Saturn continues to activate your solar 7th house. Do not step on anyone's toes as there can be trouble.

The planet Venus goes retrograde in your 4th house of home and family.

Relations with your family may be a little strained. The right time to express your frustrations would be when Venus is direct as there could be more problems. Venus also rules your work and communications sector, and the desire to improve these areas will also prove to be difficult.

Take your time when it comes to major decision making.

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your third house of communication, siblings, and neighbors. You may find that communications are very difficult and that you do not get the response that you are looking for. Try to withdraw for some time and reassess your whole approach. As Venus also rules your financial sector, don't be hasty when making important decisions.

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your second house of money and values. Take the time and reassess your sources of income and how you spend your cash during this period, and avoid making any big purchases until later in November. As Venus is your ruling planet this is a good time to re-examine where your life is going and what changes you can make to improve your lifestyle.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22

Venus Retrograde transit occurs in your sign, affecting your first house of personal appearance and body language. Others may not be seeing you in the most favorable of light, and events may be such that you feel the need to rethink the way you present yourself. Venus-ruled area of your chart is relationships too.

Extra caution in this area is necessary now.

to face unacceptable barriers, penalties and discrimination in the health service.'

The figures released by NHS Digital are the biggest available breakdown of how pay differs across people of different ethnicities.

The official body only gave a detailed breakdown for the pay of doctors, nurses and midwives.

Dame Donna Kinnair, the acting chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing said: 'As a black woman who spent a career in NHS nursing, nobody feels stronger about this than me.

to an average of £2,172 lower than the average for all female workers - and £1,980 less than their white peers.

'BME doctors make up more than a third of the medical workforce and play a vital role, day in day out, delivering care to patients across the country,' Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association told The Guardian.

'Yet these figures confirm that they, alongside wider NHS staff, continue

been sent down again.

He was jailed for four years and six months after pleading guilty to five counts of possessing a document or record which contains information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The UK’s leading Vedic writer and TV personality

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20 Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

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SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

Venus Retrograde cycle occurs in your twelfth house.

This is a good time to reassess relationships from the past or present that are taking up your time and energy. Take time out from mundane realities of life and recharge your energy. Some of you will retreat and others will take up yoga or meditation. As Venus also rules your friendships, you need to pay more attention in that area.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

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.

You must make good use of the energy that is flowing, by channeling it positively! Venus also rules your 5th house of romance and 10th house of work - reassess these areas too.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

Your horizons have most certainly been expanding with Jupiter in the area of your chart ruling your work, as some of you will be thinking of changing their jobs.. 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.

As Venus is retrograde in your Solar 9th house, e extremely careful as an argument over personal philosophies of life can get you into hot water. You may find yourself hard at work behind the scenes, although that may not be apparent to others. You may find yourself caught up in a whirlwind of activity, with opportunities to advance on both the inner and outer level.

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20

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SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR SHINJI OKAZAKI

Leicester City and Japan footballer Shinji Okazaki received his Asian Voice Political and Public Life Award for Sportsman of the Year category, prior to Leicester City’s home game against Huddersfield.

Okazaki received the award from Chairman and CEO of Toyota Tsusho Automotive Hiroyuki Niwa and Leicester City Chief Executive Susan Whelan.

Shinji is a model professional. In June 2015, Okazaki joined Leicester City and became an integral part of the clubs legendary Premiership winning side. Asian Voice, the UK’s largest Asian newspaper was proud to recognise all that Okazaki has achieved in his footballing career. He is truly a role model for all aspiring footballers in Leicester and across the world. Having just turned 32, we will be seeing plenty more of him in the years to come!

Wheelchair basketball tournament raises over £20,000

Billionaire Khan all set to buy Wembley Stadium Fulham owner Shahid Khan moved a step closer to buying Wembley Stadium after the Football Association board agreed to let the Pakistani American businessman's £600 million plan be considered by the governing body's full council next month. Wembley, in northwest London, is the spiritual home of football in England and the historic arena reopened in 2007 after a seven-year rebuilding project that cost £757 million.

But senior FA executives believe selling to American businessman Khan, who also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team, could provide a huge cash boost for English football as well as an additional £300m in future revenues from the stadium's hospitality business. Now Khan's proposal will be put before the FA council when it meets on 11 October.

"The sale of Wembley Stadium, the negotiated protections and an outlined plan to invest £600 million into football community facilities, were presented and discussed at the FA board meeting last week," said an FA spokesperson. "Following on from this discussion, the FA board has agreed to take the presentation to the FA council to get its input now that the full facts are known."

Reports in the British media had suggested that there would be stiff opposition from amateur football

Shahid Khan

representatives and other grassroots groups which could have scuppered the deal. But nothing of the sort happened. Board approval was forthcoming, however, although Khan's plan will need to gain majority council support if it is to get off the drawing board. The deal agreed with Khan includes operational limitations, according to people familiar with the terms. These include that no sponsor can gain title rights, such as renaming the stadium or adding a corporate brand alongside that of Wembley – conditions that are largely a continuation of existing restictions on the stadiums use.

The FA council will be able to veto any sponsor, with a range of businesses prohibited from being associated with the stadium, including gambling companies.

Khan's proposals also include basing the Jaguars at Wembley, where a succession of NFL games, several featuring his side, have been played in recent years.

India beat Bangladesh to clinch Asia Cup

A charity Wheelchair basketball tournament held at the Olympic Park has raised over £20,000 to support women in disability sport. The tournament was organised by leading disability charity Path to Success and more than 100 people, including 10 corporate teams, took to the court to battle for the title of ‘Corporate Wheelchair Basketball Champion.’

Funds raised by the tournament will support ‘Path to Tokyo 2020’ campaign. The campaign offers financial support to women who aspire to represent Great Britain at the Paralympics across four major disability sports: Para-Badminton, Para Powerlifting, Wheelchair Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball.

Anita Choudhrie, founder of Path to Success, said: 'the tournament is a unique opportunity for able-bodied people to take part and to learn from athletes who have reached the pinnacle of their sport. The funds raised will make a huge difference for several female athletes being able to reach the Paralympics, while the exposure in the media is crucial in raising the profile of disability sport. We are so proud at how this event has grown over recent years, and I hope to see even more teams sign up next year.’ Path to Success patron Jordan JarrettBryan was presented with the Admiration Award.

(Photo credit: Emily Thomas)

Indian para athletes face humiliation at Jakarta Games Village The Indian official red tape almost derailed country’s Para Asian Games campaign in Jakarta even before it had started, before a typical Indian jugaad saved the day for the 50-odd para athletes in the Indonesian capital on Monday. The athletes who reached Jakarta on Monday morning, came close to being stranded after the Games organisers refused to hand them over the keys to their rooms in the Games Village.

The reason? India had failed to deposit the required fees to the organisers, the deadline for which was September 29.

According to India’s chef de mission, they were supposed to deposit half of the

required amount by September 15 and the rest by September 29. After a lot of drama in the morning, urgent payment of $50,000 and submission of an undertaking that the rest of the amount would be paid by October 4, saw the organisers relent and provide accommodation to the Indian athletes.

“The organisers have not got the money, so they are asking for it. They refused to give us the room keys and stopped us from getting inside the Games Village. We somehow arranged to pay $50,000 and then submitted an undertaking,” chef de mission Gursharan Singh said.

Indian Team with Asia Cup

India defeated Bangladesh by three wickets in a nail-biting last ball encounter to bag the Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium.

After being asked to bat first by India, Bangladesh managed to post 222, thanks to opener Liton Das' thunderous 121 runs from just 117 balls. However, no other player in the Bangladesh side could manage to play long inning - Mehidy Hasan Miraz (32) and Soumya Sarkar (33) - as most of them fall flat in front of the power-packed Indian bowling lineup.

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav led the Indian bowling lineup with three wickets for just 45 runs. He was provided strong support by Kedar Jadhav (2/41), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/31) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/39). Bangladesh started off strongly in the game as openers Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz posted a 100-plus partnership. However, soon after the first wicket fell at the score of 120, the Bangladesh side couldn't hold on to the situation and got all out at the score of 222.

With both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in supreme form, India was hopeful

of achieving the target and winning the tournament easily. However, unlike earlier games, India didn't get off to a flying start this time as Dhawan (15) got out at the score of 35.

He was followed by Ambati Rayudu, who only managed to add two runs. India's stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma (48), MS Dhoni (36) and Dinesh Karthik (37) later took India close to the target, however, none of them could manage to stay for a longer time. After Kedar Jadhav got retired hurt at the score of 5/167, it was a small yet highly needful partnership between Ravindra Jadeja (23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21) that brought momentum towards the Indian side. But, soon after the two got out, Jadhav was forced to make a comeback in the game and guide India to victory with the help of tail-ender Kuldeep Yadav.

With six runs needed from the last six deliveries, Bangladesh chose off-spinner Mahmudullah to bowl the last over. However, Jadhav and Yadav didn't lose concentration and guided India to a three-wicket win against Bangladesh with easy singles.

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6 - 12 October 2018

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