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THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana Issue No. 3133

guyanatimesgy.com

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Gunmen rob customer outside Diamond bank … suspect on bail for $9M casino robbery – Crime Chief Page 7

Teen admits NA market to killing Top vendors feel Cop’s brother victimised

Page 2

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

PPP observes 20th death anniversary of Dr Cheddi Jagan at P14 Babu Jaan today

$38M budgeted for before P10 economy became “cash strapped” – Harmon

3 Berbice families P17 gifted homes

Miner nabbed with gun, P13 ammo

Guyana has much to learn from The Bahamas – President

Govt disregards welfare of sugar workers – Gaskin P7

Page 11

President David Granger and Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie with Ministers and other officials of the Guyana and Bahamian Governments

Serious drug Indo Guyanese must protect shortage hits their contributions to Guyana Region 3 – activists …“not even a syringe to administer Abolition of Indian indentureship

Page 9

... Indians have much to celebrate – PM Nagamootoo

Page 3

an injection” – doctor

Red House fiasco

Nandlall proves court’s jurisdiction P11 on matter … debunks AG’s contentions

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news

SUnDAY, march 5, 2017 | guyanatimesGY.com

NA market vendors feel victimised S

ome vendors from the New Amsterdam Municipal Market are claiming that they are being victimised and treated unfairly by the Constabulary.

The vendors, who operate mostly outside of the market and into the evening, say that they are being targeted and penalised wrongfully.

On Saturday, members of the market Constabulary attempted to remove persons who were vending in positions which regional authorities had said was illegal.

However, the vendors, all of whom sells vegetables, showed this publication receipts which indicated that the Constabulary officers charge them a fee of $500 per day to sell in front of the market and along the pavement adjacent.

According to Wiletta

Rigby, who has been occupying a spot along the pavement in front of the market for more than 10 years, on Saturday morning was told, along with other vendors that they were not going to be allowed to sell in their spots anymore.

She related that four Constables approached her and informed her of the decision. “They could ah tell we since yesterday (Friday) that we wouldn’t be allowed to sell on Saturday, but they collect money and when we go to sell they come…”

According to the vendor, at the time none of her merchandise was on display when she was first approached at about 08:00h.

At about 11:00h, the Constable returned with a cart to remove the tables which were placed in front of the market and on the pavement.

“I move all my things

$15,000.

The woman indicated that her property was returned to her sometime after 18:00h on Saturday.

During the night they were in front of the market trying to make a decent day’s sale.Meanwhile, Mayor Kurt Winter in an

Vendor, Wiletta Rigby

and put them over by the supermarket next door,” Rigby said. “The man son tell me to pack my things up in front there. When one of the Constables lift up the table, it knock me in my stomach,” the pregnant woman said.

Some vendors related that it was not all of them that were approached and told to remove.

According to her, the

Constables went next door and removed the items which she had in bags in front of the supermarket situated next to the Municipal Market. Another vendor, Coleen Grovesnor, related that the Constables remover her goods from on the supermarket’s pave.

She was asked to pay a fine of $1000 sometime after 16:00h while Rigby was asked to pay a fine of

invited comment explained that the vendors are reluctant to go into the market to sell. He said a new section of the market should become operational shortly and in about two weeks, all of the vendors will have to move from the street.

(Andrew Carmichael)

Teen admits to killing Top Cop’s brother

Dead: Haymant Persaud

T

he teenager who was positively identified as the prime suspect in the stabbing to death of Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud’s brother has admitted to his involvement in the heinous act.

The teen, who hails from C Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, during interrogation, reportedly gave a detailed account of how he murdered 51-yearold Haymant Persaud of Essequibo Coast, on February 19, 2017.

Guyana Times was told that on the morning of the murder, the suspect was at a friend’s stand at Stabroek Market Square when he saw the now dead man at another vendor attempting to purchase an item. His friend, also a vendor, was asleep and the suspect was looking over the business.

The teenager reportedly told detectives that as he looked closer, he noticed Persaud wearing a “fat” gold chain. As the man was finished with his purchase, the teenager admitted that he followed Persaud and in the vicinity of the washroom area, he carried out the attack.

During the confrontation, the teenager and Persaud were engaged in

Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud

a scuffle and it was during this time, the suspect whipped out a knife and inflicted the fatal blow on Persaud’s body. After the miner fell to the ground, the teenager reportedly ran to the Sophia bus park where he boarded a minibus and went home.

Persaud was picked up and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

At that time, the identity of the dead man was unknown. However, almost a week after the Police decided to publish the photo of the dead man and it was then, Police Commissioner, Seelall Persaud who is on annual leave recognised it was his brother.

An investigation was launched during which the Police received information and went to the house of the teenager where he was arrested. Upon his arrest, he was positively identified as the killer by persons, who witnessed the murder.

The young man is expected to be charged this week. The Police are in the process of wrapping up the case file to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack for legal advice.

NEWS

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Sunday, March 5 – 10:00h-11:30h and Monday, March 6 – 11:00h-12:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Sunday, March 5 – 09:00h-10:30h and Monday, March 6 – 10:15h-11:45h.

FERRY SCHEDULE Parika and Supenaam departure times - 05:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h daily

WEATHER TODAY Thundery to heavy rain showers can be expected in the morning hours, while light rain showers can be expected in the afternoon. Clear skies can be expected in the evening, with temperatures ranging between 25 degrees and 28 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East North-easterly to Easterly between 3.57 metres and 5.81 metres.

High Tide: 09:36h and 22:22h reaching maximum heights of 2.40 metres and 2.25 metres respectively.

Low Tide: 03:06h and 15:46h reaching minimum heights of 0.88 metres and 0.83 metres respectively.

Serious drug shortage hits Region 3

… “not even a syringe to administer an injection” – doctor

A

ccess to healthcare for residents in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) continues to be an uphill battle as the West Demerara Regional Hospital, the Leonora Cottage Hospital and healthcare facilities in the region are again without basic medical supplies.

A hospital source told this publication that the region’s medical supply is currently at an all-time low as pharmaceuticals and basic medical necessities are not available to health workers.

This was also confirmed

by Regional Chairman Julius Faeber, who told Guyana Times the current shortage at all medical entities is a constant issue.

Meanwhile, a doctor who spoke with this publi-

The West Demerara Regional Hospital

tached to the West Demerara Regional Hospital were both arrested after they were suspected to be carrying out drug procurement and supply fraud.

The couple was caught after a fact-finding team with instructions from the

She allegedly failed to carry out any inspections at the hospital’s storage bond; a responsibility which falls under her portfolio.

In the meanwhile, sources revealed that the shortage issue is even worse at the Leonora Hospital.

Reports also indicted

Health Minister discovered discrepancies. They are to be scheduled to be charged shortly.

It was revealed however that the medical superintendent at the hospital is not carrying out her duties.

that the doctors at the hospital are forced to work at nights without injections and patients are left at risk.

Region Three is not the only region experiencing this issue as the

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SunDAY, march 5, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

cation also confirmed that the situation has reached an all-time low where some days “not even a syringe is available to administer an injection.”

Only recently, a pharmacist and his wife at-

New Amsterdam Hospital has also reported a major shortage.

The drug shortage issue was raised by patients who mostly suffer from chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. These patients are often turned away because of the drug shortage at the institution.

Dr Vinhdya Persaud, who visited the hospital with a team on Thursday, pointed out that there seems to be a problem with the procurement of drugs at the institution.

Reports are that the hospital was so short on pharmaceuticals that they only use it for in-patients and turned away out-patient.

According to Persaud, there seems to be an issue in procuring drugs in a timely manner for the New Amsterdam Hospital and other similar facilities in the region.

TURN TO PAGE 7

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guyanatimesgy.com

sunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, sales@guyanatimesgy.com

Editorial

End of Indian indentureship

T

he commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the abolition Indian indentureship kicked off last Thursday with a dinner hosted by the High Commissioner of India and a gala event at the National Culture Centre the following evening. As the vaunted “land of six peoples”, Guyana should consider itself fortunate by its diversity but at the same time, it has to continuously engage in selfreflection to ensure the peoples see themselves as part of one Guyanese mosaic. The Indian indentureship abolition event provides one such opportunity.

Modern Guyana was built on the fateful decision of European colonisers not to exploit the labour of the native Indigenous peoples to provide labour on their plantations which provided their home countries with tropical produce.

African slaves were introduced from the beginning in the early seventeenth century by the Dutch and in 1834 when slavery was abolished by the British, which then “owned” British Guiana, over 80,000 slaves were liberated.

The English abolitionists had supported the suggestion

by Adam Smith that “free labour” would be more efficient that slave labour on the plantations. The planters, however, were convinced the freed Africans would not be as reliable as was demanded by the exigencies of sugar production. Compounding their claim was their knowledge that with the imminent removal of preferential sugar tariffs in Britain, their profits would plummet and wages would have to shrink, which would be unacceptable to the freed slaves.

The planters turned instead to indentured labour, which ironically, had been the first choice of European colonists when they brought their own poor to the other islands in the 17th century. Under indentured labour contracts, the passage of the labourer was paid for by the employer but he had to work for a specified period under stipulated conditions. These were very harsh and had criminal sanctions. At the end of the period he was now free and given a sum of money, or more frequently, a plot of land that formed the foundation of his independent livelihood.

After introducing Portuguese and a smattering of other Europeans indentures, India provided the bulk of the indentured labourers, with substantial numbers of freed Africans introduced from other Caribbean Islands and Africa. During indentureship, the Portuguese and Chinese immediately moved off the plantations, which were then serviced by skilled Africans in the factories and Indians in the fields. To augment their increasingly meagre wages, the Indians exchanged their contracted right of return passage to India for small plots of land on which they planted rice and cash crops. They also reared cattle which then offered livelihoods off the plantation.

The end of Indian indentureship was resisted by the planters who wanted continued supplies to undercut the bargaining power of the contract-expired Indians.

Their lobby in the British Parliament was countermanned by English officials in the Government of India, a much more lucrative colony, which wanted to placate Indian nationalists. The latter, from the Indian National Congress, were informed about the abysmal conditions of indentured labourers by Mohandas Gandhi, then a young lawyer in Natal South Africa. While the periodic strikes by indentures on the plantations – here and in other colonies – to protest the violations of their contractual conditions were controlled by the planters via their proxy state Police did not have local impact, their reports in India stimulated the Indian nationalists in India. Especially in 1913 when 13 workers were shot and killed at Plantation Rose Hall.

The end of Indian indentureship then precipitated the struggle by Indians for equity, justice and full civil rights after all indentured contracts were commuted on January 1, 1920, and they became full citizens. Even though a labour union to represent urban workers was launched in 1919, fourteen protesting sugar workers were shot and killed in 1924. Finally, in 1939, after four more were killed at Leonora and five in 1948 at Enmore, their own labour union picked up their struggle, which unfortunately, continues into the present.

“Our current reality is...we are often perceived as crabs in a barrel each pushing the other down in order to reach the top, very often the racism is subtle and silent, but visible to the trained eye....such thinking will get us no where though, we must remain where we are to drive the campaign for racial equality and social justice until they become permanent creatures of our society” – Rudy Insanally Former Ambassador Rudy Insanally on Friday evening officially launched his third book entitled The Guyanese Culture – Fusion or Diffusion? at Moray House on Camp Street, Georgetown. In photo, Insanally interacts with Sir Shridath Ramphal, Elizabeth Harper and social activist Vanda Radzik (Carl Croker photo)

Peter to pay for Paul, Paul to pay for all Dear Editor, Town Clerk Royston King has said that the City Council is owed billions of dollars by recalcitrant taxpayers, and that the City needs money for development, so the parking meters have been brought in to raise funds.

Speaking on the said parking meters, President David Granger has said, “Pay your taxes and let the city (be) run properly, and we won’t have to resort to these measures.”

From these two gentlemen’s statements, one gets the impression that they are not going after those recalcitrant taxpayers, but those who are not recalcitrant – to make them pay more; and to those who will visit the city, to squeeze them more financially.

GPL and GWI also are not really going after those who owe them millions, if not billions – like the very

big businesses, Government ministries and agencies etc; but they are going after those who are paying, in order to squeeze them to pay more, then put another financial burden – VAT – on them, even though some are pensioners.

One ‘bright’ Minister has said, “If you can go to private doctors/hospitals for health care, then you have the money; so pay VAT.” It does not matter who helped, or how you squeezed to pay the medicals bills; you have got to pay VAT. It does not matter whether or not the public institutions can provide the health care you need; also, it does not matter that if you go to the Georgetown Public Hospital to deliver your baby you run the risk of dying in the process, as has happened to many previously. Go and die, or pay VAT. These Government officials do not care, because,

should they need medical care, taxpayers’ money is used for them to go abroad for their treatment, at no cost to them.

President Granger said that VAT on Private Education will remain, as there are about 57 private schools and only about eight are tax compliant. So VAT will remain because they have to get their taxes by hook or crook, and from whomsoever.

Therefore, they are ignoring those who are not paying, and will now tax the students – who are not earning a salary as yet – to make up for their loss in revenue.

Finance Minister Winston Jordan said students made a choice to go to private schools, so they must pay the VAT. He is forgetting that if the private schools were not around to accommodate the thousands of children, the Government schools would

have been filled to capacity, as there are not enough public schools. Therefore, if they cannot afford to pay the VAT, they will have to quit school and remain as ‘brilliant’ as these ministers.

This Government is trying to squeeze ‘fat out of louse.’ They are not going after those recalcitrant taxpayers, but are squeezing the life out of those who are always paying. The question is: Why are they reluctant to go after all those tax dodgers? Are they their party comrades and buddy pals, or their political financial ‘investors?’

Guyanese must not be fooled. All these financial burdens foisted unto us are because they have to make up for the shortfall in revenue from rice, sugar and those tax waivers they are dishing out.

Yours sincerely, Chandra Shekar Azad

Much more can be saved by not using envelopes at all

Dear Editor, It is good that Government is identifying ways and means to become more efficient and cost-effective in the use of its material and human resources.

In reflecting on its intention to implement a process of “reusing envelopes”,

I wish to suggest that our Government goes even further and reduce/remove the use of envelopes altogether through the following means: • Increase the use of ‘softmail’/ e-mail, which would not only obviate the need for envelopes, but save paper and time

•

•

and the cost of hand-delivery; Consider the pros/ cons of phone calls versus written mail. This might not go down well in a civil service culture of CYA, but we should never resist cultural shifts.

In those cases where

‘paper’ must be used, such ‘papers’ can be stapled with the addressees ‘label-pasted’ appropriately.

With apologies for any appearance of preaching to the converted.

Sincerely, Nowrang Persaud

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SunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017

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You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

VAT on education

Dear Editor, One would have expected the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) to have been more proactive than just voicing their concerns a few times in the media. The GTU have a few thousand teachers who are financial members, and they have easy access to parents. Recently, we saw School of the Nations, a private school, collecting approximately 14,000 signatures. Just imagine: ONE school can collect that many signatures, but the GTU, which have the ability to collect approximately ten times that amount in just one or two weeks, have been almost silent on the matter. Is the GTU afraid to use the masses at their disposal, or are they living in a small box?

Each school receives an Annual Grant (Money) from the Government each year.

This grant varies according to the level of schools (Nursery, Primary and Secondary), and also according to the grade of schools (Grade A, Grade B, etc). For

example, a Nursery School gets $ 131,000; a Grade C Primary School (Chateau Margot) gets $160,000; and a Grade A Secondary School (Annandale and Hope) gets $360,000. This grant is used to purchase stationery, cleaning supplies, and a few other items that the school needs. The grant given cannot meet the full demands of the school, therefore the PTA always has to assist in the best way possible; and those schools which don’t have a strong PTA to support them try to stretch their resources to make ends meet. Teachers are given a few pens, one eraser, one sharpener, one ruler, one or two markers, a few sheets of cardboard, and a few other items of stationery for the entire academic year, September to July (40 weeks). With VAT being chargeable on ALL stationery items, it simply means that 14% of the Grant will go to VAT, and less items will be purchased for the schools and circulated among teachers in schools.

If we use the figures mentioned above – which are given as grants – we will have the following results: 1. Nursery Schools will now pay approximately $18,340 in VAT, leaving only approximately $112,660 to actually do purchases 2. Primary Schools (Grade C) will now pay approximately $22,400 in VAT, leaving only approximately $137,600 to actually do purchases 3. Secondary Schools (Grade A) will now pay approximately $50,400 in VAT, leaving only approximately $309,600 to actually do purchases.

Therefore, it’s either the PTA, which is funded by parents, who have to carry this huge burden; or teachers have to dive into their pockets to purchase more stationery items for themselves.

It’s no secret that teachers also serve in the capacity as parents; therefore, the ‘Small Basket’ in which they are carrying their hard earned

salaries will be almost empty before it reaches home to purchase food for their families. They, too, have to pay VAT on water, electricity and telephone services. They also have to find money to purchase new tyres for their vehicles; pay the increase on fitness and revenue licences for vehicles; pay the increase on gasoline, etc. Also, since the APNU/AFC Administration took office, teachers have not received their clothing allowances for two consecutive years thus far, 2016 and 2017 – a total of $16,000 ($8,000 per year).

I am making a public call to the GTU to start a petition against this unthinking Government, to have VAT removed totally from Education. Teachers need representation for their monthly dues. GTU should plan a nationwide protest and/or strike, since this is a national concern.

Dear Editor, I refer to an article appearing in sections of the media on March 2 under the caption “Dharmic Sabha’s Grand Phagwah Mela and Bazaar set for March 4”. In that article, it was erroneously stated that “Holika Dahan, or the Burning of Holika, will be observed by mandirs countrywide on Sunday, March 12th, on Purnima or full moon night…and Phagwah or Holi will be celebrated on Monday 13th.”

This is, first of all, very misleading. Mandirs coun-

trywide will not be celebrating on the abovementioned dates. Only those affiliated to Dharmic Sabha might be doing so, and not all of them.

Editor, I crave your indulgence to briefly explain the rules and methods employed in arriving at the correct dates. Holi, or Phagwah, is celebrated on the first day of the month of Chaitra.

It is usually the day after Holika Dahan (Burning of Holika). Establish the date for Holika Dahan and we have determined the date for Holi, or Phagwah.

All Texts declare that

Holika Dahan is performed on the night of the full moon.

The duration of the full moon in Guyana is from 10:53 a.m. on Saturday March 11 to 10:53 a.m. on Sunday March 12. This can be verified from all Panchangas (Astrological Charts) as well as NASA. The full moon is therefore present only during the evening of Saturday 11th March. It is not present on the evening of March 12.

Holika Dahan, (Burning of Holika) will therefore be on the night of Saturday March 11. The night of Sunday March 12 is not full moon.

The first day of Chaitra will commence at 10:53 a.m. on Sunday March 12, and will end at 11:21 a.m. on Monday March 13. HOLI, or Phagwah, in Guyana will therefore be on Sunday March 12. The second lunar day of Chaitra begins at 11:21 a.m. on Monday March 13. Monday 13 cannot be Holi.

Sincerely, Suresh Singh Young educator

Phagwah is on March 12

Yours truly, Pt. R. Balbadar President Sanatan Vaidic Dharma Pandits’ Sabha, Region 3

The time is always right to do right

Dear Editor, The words and actions of Dr Clive Thomas during the period 2016/2017 remind me of a term first coined by AfroAmerican thinker Dr Cornel West: “lumpen bourgeoisie”. Dr West described the “lumpen bourgeoisie” as a certain segment of the academic elite who deliberately assassinate their reputation by using their intellect to foster their ruthless ambition rather than their moral conviction.

When he took the job as Chairman of GuySuCo, Dr Clive Thomas knew fully well that his track record as a business leader who has successfully ran any business, much less turned around an ailing one, could not stand up to scrutiny. The Globe Trust Bank is a clear example of this. We saw at that Bank how these “lumpen bourgeoisie” looted the assets of poor African-Guyanese.

When it comes to the task of Asset Recovery, Dr Thomas has again failed the nation. In the grand scheme of things, Dr Thomas is not even fit to chair a glorified cake shop, much less the largest stateowned corporation in Guyana, which has assets on its books worth more than Gy$100 billion. However, when it comes to the academic world, no one can question his writings.

That is why he has the potential to be one of the best ever Presidential Advisors on Economic Affairs in the history of Guyana. He is a talkand-write man, not an action man. It is quite a tragedy that this recognized, distinguished academic has today allowed himself to be used and abused by lesser minds, to the extent that his academic legacy will forever be compromised. If you observe the actions of Dr Thomas some 30 years ago and compare them with his actions of today, you can see

he has been transformed into a master artist at “smoke and mirrors”.

Here is a man who was in the forefront of the struggle to free Guyana from the ruling dictatorial bourgeoisie some 30 years ago. But today, with power in his hands, he has actually metamorphosed into an obsequious servant of an incompetent and confused cabal of oppressive bourgeoisie. What we are seeing today from Dr Thomas is that he actively facilitates knee-jerk decisions that have destroyed the lives of thousands of rural Guyanese from all races on the sugar belt. People will not remember him for how many academic papers he wrote, because a very small segment of the population has read those.

The masses will remember him for being the man who had placed the final nail in the coffin of the sugar belt.

The masses will also remember Thomas as the man who used the perfectly good principle of asset recovery to perpetuate a political witch-hunting exercise.

How can Thomas publicly display such a callous indifference to the totality of state theft, which was fostered by all sides before 1992, after 1992, and after May 2015? Why has SARA not investigated the Durban Park Project and the Sussex Street Bond?

I want to leave Dr Thomas with a quote that I value very much; it comes from an African Leader – my Madiba, Nelson Mandela. He said, “The time is always right to do right”. Do right by the people, Dr Thomas. Why are you killing the spirit of Dr Walter Rodney today, Dr. Clive Yolanda Thomas?

Regards, Sase Singh

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guyanatimesgy.com

Foundation (Continued from Saturday)

S

Anu Dev

We celebrate Holi with gaiety and abandon – because a young boy, Prahalad, reminded us we must always speak truth to power!" Me

T

his week, the Indian community began to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the abolition of indentureship. And next weekend, the entire country will be splashed with colours as Hindus and also non-Hindus celebrate Phagwah – the festival of colours, which those immigrants brought with them from India. We will honour their memory if we remember the essential message of Holi – we celebrate because someone decided to stand up for the truth. And this is what they did so many times from 1838 to 1917.

But today, I want to remind one and all of the customs they bequeathed on the celebratory aspect of Holi as well as the “standing up” part”!! In the morning, females of the home will be busy cooking all types of traditional Holi sweets like Gujiya, Gulgula, Ras Milai, and Gulab Jamoon so that everyone will be free to go out and play Phagwah. Unfortunately, this year I’ll be missing Phagwah at home and instead I’ll be holed up in my apartment preparing for my upcoming exams.

Phagwah commemorates the beginning of Spring, the triumph of good over evil and a time for new beginnings for everyone. It’s a story set many eons ago among a people called “Asuras” –

traditionally opposed to the gods but incorrectly called ‘demons”.

A young Asura prince named Prahalad – had the courage to stand up to his own father, King Hiranyakashipu who had started to challenge the Gods. Because of a boon he received from Lord Brahma, he was nearly invincible and so filled with arrogance and pride, he demanded he be worshipped by his subjects.

To paraphrase Albus Dumbledore, “It takes great courage to stand up to our enemies but it takes even greater courage to stand up to our family (friends)”. And Prahalad had that courage. No matter how many times his father and teachers tried to convince him otherwise, Prahalad always kept his belief in Lord Vishnu. And his prayers didn’t go in vain. The king had his minions try every which way to kill his obstinate son but to no avail: the boy was protected by Lord Vishnu. Even when his Aunt Holika, immune to fire, tried to burn him in a pyre.

Finally, Hiranyakashipu scornfully challenged Prahalad to prove that Lord Vishnu was indeed in everything and everyone. Lord Vishnu appeared out of a pillar as Narsimha – half man-half lion. Hiranyakashipu’s boon was that he

couldn’t be killed by man nor animal; not by hand nor by any weapon; not in the day nor in the night; not in a house, outside nor on the ground nor in the air.

Lord Narsimha killed Hiranyakashipu with his claws, on his knee, on the doorstep of the Palace at exactly dusk. Prahalad was crowned King.

The lesson, of course, is that anyone can be a Prahalad – even or especially the young - by standing up to the Hiranyakashipus in their life. Life isn’t about always being a passive person who doesn’t have opinions or who doesn’t stand up for their beliefs. That’s not to say you should always pick up cudgels whenever someone steps on your toes.

But you should always let them know firmly, that you’re not just someone they can take advantage of.

The message of Phagwah is a very strong one. Stand up for what you believe in; don’t be a carpet that everyone walks over. Always remember Prahalad, a young boy who has the strength, the courage to stand up for his beliefs. Don’t just go along to get along.

So everyone, go out next weekend and have a wonderful, colourful Phagwah!

Holi Re!

You have some nerve!

o the brain is boss, but it can't do it alone. It needs some nerves – actually a lot of them. And it needs the spinal cord, which is a long bundle of nerves inside your spinal column, the vertebrae that protect it. It's the spinal cord and nerves – known as the nervous system – that let messages flow back and forth between the brain and body.

If a spiky cactus falls off a shelf headed right for your best friend, your nerves and brain communicate so that you jump up and yell for your friend to get out of the way. If you're really good, maybe you're able to catch the plant before it hits your friend!

But you might wonder about these nerves, which you can't see without a microscope. What are they anyway? The nervous system is made up of millions and millions of neurons, which are microscopic cells. Each neuron has tiny branches coming off it that let it connect to many other neurons.

When you were born, your brain came with all the neurons

it will ever have, but many of them were not connected to each other. When you learn things, the messages travel from one neuron to another, over and over. Eventually, the brain starts to create connections (or pathways) between the neurons, so things become easier and you can do them better and better.

Think back to the first time you rode a bike. Your brain had to think about pedalling, staying balanced, steering with the handlebars, watching the road, and maybe even hitting the brakes – all at once. Hard work, right? But eventually, as you got more practice, the neurons sent messages back and forth until a pathway was created in your brain. Now you can ride your bike without thinking about it because the neurons have successfully created a "bike riding" pathway.

Emotion location

With all the other things it does, is it any surprise that the brain runs your emotions? Maybe you got the exact toy you wanted for your birthday and you were really happy. Or your friend is sick and you feel sad. Or your little brother messed up your room, so you're really angry! Where do those feelings come from? Your brain, of course.

Your brain has a little bunch of cells on each side called the amygdala. The word amygdala is Latin for almond, and that's what this area looks like. Scientists believe that the amygdala is responsible for emotion. It's normal to feel all different kinds of emotions, good and bad. Sometimes you might feel a little sad, and other times you might feel scared, or silly, or glad.

Be good to your brain

So what can you do for your brain? Plenty. * Eat healthy foods. They contain potassium and calcium, two minerals that are important for the nervous system. * Get a lot of playtime (exercise). * Wear a helmet when you ride your bike or play other sports that require head protection. * Don't drink alcohol, take drugs, or use tobacco. * Use your brain by doing challenging activities, such as puzzles, reading, playing music, making art, or anything else that gives your brain a workout! (Kids Health)

news

Gunmen rob customer outside Diamond bank

… suspect on bail for $9M casino robbery – Crime Chief

A

suspect in the Princess Hotel Casino $9 million heist, along with four other suspected accomplices, was on Saturday nabbed moments after committing a robbery at Diamond, East Bank Demerara. Richard Junior Stewart, who was granted bail for the casino heist, is presently in Police custody assisting with this investigation.

Guyana Times was told that a customer, having just withdrawn $330,000 from a commercial bank at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, was depart-

Stewart and the four other men, who are all characters known to the Police.

When contacted, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed both the occurrence of the robbery and the arrest of the five suspects. He also related that Stewart had been released on bail in connection with the Princess Hotel heist, which occurred on April 29, 2016 at Providence, East Bank Demerara. In addition, Stewart is on bail on illegal possession of firearm and ammunition charges that were brought against him.

Ramada Princess Hotel

ing the bank’s premises at about 11:00h when he was pounced upon by Stewart and his four accomplices and relieved of the bag containing the money. Thereafter, the five men jumped into a car and fled the scene. The Police were contacted, and based on the description given to them by the victim, intercepted the getaway vehicle and arrested

Stewart, Wayne Griffith of Bagotville, West Bank Demerara and Andrew Blackman of 60 Middle Street, McDoom East Bank Demerara were arraigned in connection with the casino robbery. It was reported that the trio, along with others, robbed the Princess Hotel cashier of a total sum of $8,951,000. During the robbery, several workers and patrons of the casino

Robbery suspect: Junior Stewart

Richard

were shot and injured. In addition, Lance Corporal Andrew Richardson was shot during a gunfight with the men while responding to a report of the robbery.

It was reported that Stewart and three other men, all armed with guns, entered the casino and discharged rounds in the air.

The men held up the security guard who was on duty, and took away his shotgun and ammunition before ordering everyone to lie on the ground.

They then took the security guard to the cashier’s cage, where they held up the cashier and took away the money. Police ranks responded to a report received and confronted the bandits at the hotel; and in the ensuing gunfight, the police rank was shot.

The five men are, in the new week, expected to be charged in connection with this robbery which occurred on Saturday at Diamond, EBD.

Serious drug shortage...

FROM PAGE 3

“It could be that the Materials Management Unit (MMU) is called and they don’t have the supplies so that the hospital may have to purchase it. In terms of the budget that the hospital has, they may not always be able to purchase adequate supplies,” Persaud explained.

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sunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Meanwhile, Director of Regional Health Services Jevaughn Stephen, who also visited the NA hospital, explained that the procurement of drugs takes a lengthy period and once the MMU cannot supply the commodity, there will be a shortage.

He explained that the

current system being used in procuring supplies is one which was inherited and one that is not functioning up to standard at this time.

However, when contacted for a comment on the current issues plaguing the health sector, calls to Minister Volda Lawrence went unanswered.

Govt disregards welfare of sugar workers – Gaskin

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s Government pursues its plans to shut down multiple sugar estates across the country, the welfare of thousands of sugar workers becomes of prime concern, Economist Ramon Gaskin said on Saturday.

According to Gaskin, confidence in the authorities to protect workers’ rights is weak in light of the injustices currently being meted out against several hundreds of displaced workers who had been attached to the Wales Estate.

In a telephone interview with Guyana Times on Saturday, Gaskin said the promise made by Cabinet that Government would ensure the best interests of the workers are upheld is nothing but sheer rhetoric and political propaganda. He urged onlookers to ignore the pretension and observe for themselves the reality of the situation.

“Sending home people at Wales has proven to be a problem, and there are only a couple hundred people there. If they go and close all those estates, what will happen to the people?” the commentator rationalised.

This Administration plans to privatize the Skeldon Estate and close down the Rose Hall and Enmore estates, according to well-placed sources.

Reports indicate that the

Skeldon Sugar Factory

Administration has developmental plans for the estates at Uitvlugt, Blairmont and Albion. Only recently, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, during a post-Cabinet press briefing, confirmed that proposals have been made to fold more estates across the country, but he refused to divulge more information in this regard.

Gaskin strongly believes that havoc would be wreaked and that the economy would collapse into a greater economic calamity if the coalition pushes ahead with its plan.

“GuySuCo has about 17,000 people. To keep three estates, it means you will have to send home about 10,000 people. I am not sure Government has worked out how to do that,” he stated.

Retraining Gaskin noted that, already, Government is refusing to pay several workers their severance packages and is seemingly forcing

them to work at an estate 22 miles from their place of living. He lamented the economic turmoil which would prevail if workers are thrown on the breadline without a proper plan to retrain them to ensure they continue contributing meaningfully to society.

“They are not focusing on what is going to be done with workers who are being dislocated in the reorganization. They need to be trained for other jobs outside of sugar. Where is the master plan that Government has to deal with 10,000 people? What are you going to do with 10,000 people?” he asked.

Gaskin, who has been studying the sugar industry since 2003, contended that investments must be made now to ensure sugar workers are retrained in plumbing, carpentry, masonry, block making, meter reading, among other important skillsets.

TUNE TO PAGE 16

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SunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 | guyanatimesGY.com

IN THE COURTS

Mason jailed for gun, ammo possession T hirty-year-old mason Delson Wayne of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank

Demerara was on Friday jailed for 18 months and fined $60,000 after Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan found him guilty of having in his possession on October 6, 2016 an illegal .38 pistol and three live rounds of matching ammunition.

According to facts presented by the Prosecution, Wayne and an acquaintance were stopped and searched by Police officers in Cane View Avenue, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown, and the illegal items were discovered concealed in his crotch.

In handing down her ruling, the Chief Magistrate told the court that the prosecution had successfully proved that Wayne had

Delson Wade

physical control and custody of the gun. She noted that the ammunition found was a component of the gun,

and that Wayne was not a licensed firearm holder but was found in possession of a firearm.

In determining the appropriate sentence, the Chief Magistrate considered the time the accused had spent on remand pending trial, the prevalence and nature of the offence, and the fact that a gun is a lethal weapon.

Wayne, who during the trial had opted to defend himself rather than retain professional legal representation, had seemed optimistic of being exonerated. And even after being sentenced, he maintained that he was innocent of the charge, relating that he has a family who depends solely on him.

Irony of ironies…

T

…on sugar workers

he Philosopher Richard Rorty felt the present age could be described only in ironic language. What other tone, for instance, can describe the rise of Trump? Here in Guyana, we’re not lacking in examples that cry out for the use of irony. Take the example of what’s playing out in the sugar industry: in the same week that descendants of the Indentured Indians, who bailed out the sugar industry back in the day, are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of that system, the Government - which had already closed one sugar estate, Wales – announced it would be shuttering three more!

So the descendants of those indentured Indians, who’d fled an Indian economy that had been devastated by the British, are now forced to face the identical situation 100 years later – after they had worked to create a free space for the nation, and had made this Government possible!!

Irony? What was the point of putting their lives on the line in 1939 - four killed - when the Moyne Commission was taking evidence on sugar belt disorders? That led to the Commission broadening the franchise in 1947!

What about the 5 killed at Enmore in 1948; that delivered the Universal franchise in 1950?? How ironic to see Government representatives lashing the “planters” for sticking it to the indentured sugar workers back then!!

What’s different now that THEY have become the new Massa owning the sugar estates? Did any planter throw thousands of sugar workers in the streets? What the heck are the thousands of workers, their wives and their children to do? When their severance pay runs out in a year, what then?

So the question begs itself, and must be answered by those commemorating the event: What are THEY going to do?? Continue with dinners in posh restaurants? Well, one of the first things this Eyewitness suggests is demand the resignation of the Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder.

We’ve just had confirmation that Granger unilaterally appointed Holder as Agri Minister - outside the framework of the Cummingsburg Accord. And everything unfolding in the sugar industry now falls into place.

Before coalescing with AFC, Granger declared there was no point in keeping sugar going. He changed his tune right after the Valentine Day marriage with Nagamootoo’s party, but he’d never changed his mind. Had he? Even though his CoI advised that Estates be improved to improve their prospects THEN placed on the blocks, Holder immediately announced the closure of Wales by end 2016 - with no provision for the future employment of the workers!

And he didn’t have the courage, much less the decency, to inform the workers. But then, they’re still coolies. No? Ironic, isn’t it?

…on saving sugar

The Government’s rightfully concerned about our youths not finding jobs in a world in which they’re bombarded with images of the consumerist “good life”. Idle hands and all that… Pressie’s suggested a Cadet Corps, a Youth Corps, and a People’s Militia among other initiatives to occupy the youths’ time. However, these programmes will cost billions and billions and, at the end of the day, the youths will still need jobs to keep them occupied.

Your Eyewitness wonders why, ironically, a suggestion for the Government to save youths and sugar - and not-soincidentally make 2020 a sure thing - hasn’t been floated?

Why not create a “Sugar Corps” that’ll mobilise youths to cut all that cane that’s been lying and drying in the fields?

The youths will have something to do - good, solid physical exercise; the sugar industry will be turned around; and as a (very generous) bonus, the Government will have foreign exchange flowing into its coffers.

Didn’t the GNS do something of the sort back in the day?

…on electricity

After two years at the helm of the Public Infrastructure Ministry - which includes GPL - Minister Patterson has just accepted that power distribution and power transmission are two different functions!!

Will he now bring back Dindiyal?

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com

NEWS

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Abolition of Indian indentureship

Indo Guyanese must protect their contributions to Guyana – activists ... Indians have much to celebrate – PM Nagamootoo

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s the country commemorates the 100th anniversary of the abolition of Indian indentureship here, Indo-Guyanese were called upon to step up and protect the contributions of their ancestors, whose struggles helped to propel Guyana’s development over the past centuries.

This charge was made by former parliamentarian and leader of ROAR Ravi Dev, on Friday evening at the official launch of activities to commemorate the anniversary.

The event was held at the National Cultural Centre under the theme “Garv Aur Izzat”, which translates to

have a vision that after their ancestors would have completed their services, they would get to live with pride and dignity. He posited that Indo-Guyanese could not have done as well as they wanted since the circumstances under which they were forced to live were not of their making, while adding that whatever they have brought and worked to build since arriving here in 1838 are diminishing.

On this note, he reflected on the state of the sugar industry saying, “We cannot talk about celebrating the end of indentureship when last December 1700 persons were thrown out of work.”

The panel of presenters at the launching of activities to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the abolition of Indian indentureship in Guyana

pride and dignity.

He noted the obstacles placed in the path of the newly freed Africans by the Government to become really emancipated and the importation of indentured labourers to keep wages low.

He explained that during indentureship, Indian protests against the planters' exploitation were actually protests against the British colonial state which underwrote sugar interests. The killings of 1939 at Plantation Leonora led to a widening of the franchise in 1947 by the Moyne Commission and the Enmore killings in 1948 to the struggle for independence and democracy. Their descendants therefore had a responsibility to protect democracy, he said.

“The essence of democracy must be nourished through protest and through the populace, who have earned and fought for their freedom, to guard their freedom jealously. Today we will do our foreparents the greatest honour to maintain our garv (our pride) and our izzat (our dignity) if we were to take our responsibility, take that inheritance and to rise up and do what is necessary to protect what we have built,” he asserted.

According to Dev, he along with all the descendants of indentured Indians

He also spoke about the rice sector, which was introduced by Indian indentured labourers. Dev noted that Indians supplied rice to all of Guyana during World War II and even went onto supply the Caribbean region.

“Today we have built an industry that is 600,000 tonnes – built from our own literal sweat and blood, yet it is at risk just like how sugar is being closed down without providing alternate employment for these people.

How can you simply say you will close four sugar estates, when over 6000 people will be unemployed. You give them their payoff and you expect them to what in an economy that is at best stagnant. What do you expect them to do,” lamented the former politician. He felt there should have been alternative employment provided.

During his presentation, Dev also gave a background into indentureship and the journey of Indians from their homeland to this hemisphere, as well as their outstanding achievements and those of their descendants.

Meanwhile, author Ryaan Shah challenged the audience to take actions that would reverse the uncertain future and securi-

ty of Indo-Guyanese, whom she said having arrived here on ships are now leaving on jet planes. “…For many Indians Guyana has unfortunately become a stopover on the voyage out of India as they travel to New York and Toronto for the safety, security and prosperity they are being denied here,” Shah pointed out.

The author continued that Indo-Guyanese have been marginalised, while noting that there is no great optimism about their future.

“It is truly Guyana’s tragedy that as we mark the centenary of the end of Indian indentureship that we still live at the margins of society – just as our earliest jahajis did. So, what really has changed,” she questioned.

Moreover, Shah took the opportunity to address both Government and Opposition members, telling them that with political will they change the direction of the country. However she noted that even after 50 years of independence, Guyana continues to suffer the politics of one-upmanship that serves egos rather than country and people.

Adding to Dev and Shah presentations, Opposition parliamentarian, Adrian Anamayah, who had represented Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, rallied IndoGuyanese to “stand firm and resist” such marginalisation as he posited that successful Indian businessmen are being targeted by the coalition Administration. His position was premised on the raft of legislation that Government has rolled out such as the State Asset Recovery laws.

“Indian businessmen are being penalised for their success,” Anamayah asserted.

On the other hand, remarks from the Government’s representatives reflected on the progress and contributions of the Indian Guyanese community. In fact, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, in the capacity of acting President, said that there is much to celebrate after 100 years since the abolition of Indian indentureship.

He noted that Guyanese descendants of those indentured labourers within the century have managed to excel in all areas including sport, as he mentioned the contributions of local cricketer and former West Indies player, Joe Solomon, who was being honoured by the Guyana Indian Indentureship Abolition Association (GIIAA), who organised Friday’s event.

“We must recognise that

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and others enjoying some classical music

our ancestors have made a key contribution to all-round development of our country and their descendants continue to benefit from those

contributions they have made,” Nagamootoo stated.

Presentations were also made by Social Cohesion Minister, Dr

George Norton and Indian High Commissioner V e n k a t a c h a l a m Mahalingam. The launching of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the abolition of Indian indentureship in Guyana, also saw the attendance of several top officials including: Government Ministers Cathy Hughes and Jaipaul Sharma; former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds; former West Indies cricketers Joe Solomon and Roger Harper, along with his wife Elizabeth Harper; business tycoon Dr Yesu Persaud; Roshan Khan, Yog Mahadeo, and several members of the local diplomatic corps.

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$38M budgeted for before economy became “cash strapped” – Harmon

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inister of State Joseph Harmon has said that Government is cash strapped, but the $38 million that the administration is spending on furnishings had been budgeted last year.

In a brief telephone interview with Guyana Times on Saturday, he explained that the money was budgeted for spending in 2017 since last year, before Government had announced that it was

in 2016. So when you (talk) about cash strapped this year, we are talking about cash strapped and this (budget) happened in 2016,” he stated.

This was Harmon’s response to the public outcry over the administration’s spending of a whopping $38 million to acquire household items for the Ministry of the Presidency.

The revelation regarding this spending was made one

Remembering the leader

S State Minister Joseph Harmon

The Ministry of the Presidency in its new colour

short of money. According to Harmon, the two instances have no correlation, as they occurred in different time periods.

“You are talking here about something in the 2017 budget which was dented

day after he had declared at a post-Cabinet press briefing that the country was strapped for cash and needed to embark on cost cutting measures, such as recycling envelopes, in order to ensure money lasts.

“You have to be a little more careful in how you spend your money, so that it lasts. It means that you have to reuse envelopes.

There are several measures which we will circulate to Government Ministries on how they can cut back on expenses,” the State Minister has outlined.

According to Harmon, “There are practical measures which will be used by the Government to ensure the austerity that I am talking about, and that the (money) which you have will last you longer, and that you don’t have to go back later in the year (to the National Assembly) for supplementary (funds). So it is really about being very sensible and using the resources which you have to the best of your ability.”

Some $38 million have been budgeted for the acquisition of various household items, ranging from beds to dining suites, for the Ministry of the Presidency (MotP).

This was disclosed in documents recently submitted to the National Assembly following questions posed by Opposition Member of Parliament Gail Teixeira during the review of the 2017 Budget back in December.

According to the document, “the objective of acquiring (these pieces of) equipment is to aid in the efficient attainment of the Ministry’s mandate.”

Among the items for which sums of money were

set aside are: two beds valued $500,000; three wardrobes, to a total value of $300,000; dining suites for $2 million; five coffee tables valued at $875,000; two suites, to a total value of $1.1 million; two large refrigerators, costing $500,000; and eight television sets, costing $1.2 million. Sums of money were also budgeted for the acquisition of a brush cutter costing $100,000; a lawn mower costing $130,000; two sets of fans (27 and 28), totalling $1.1 million; five water dispensers, costing $375,000; and five electronic kettles, valued at $127,500.

Other items to be bought include office supplies, security systems, and camera and camera equipment.

It was explained that these items will be used to outfit new departments, such as the Department of Environment, National Events, and the MotP; and to replace obsolete equipment in the administration and Office of the Climate Change Departments, in order to discontinue the rental of photocopiers and printers in the Cabinet Secretariat.

Additionally, it was outlined that MotP will seek to regularise the operations of the Gaming Authority, which previously operated without any formal equipment or documentation of its business.

Guyana Times also understands that the MotP houses several living quarters, and these need to be equipped with wardrobes and beds.

atiricus was in a ticklish situation. He wasn’t all that excited about the gathering at the Back Street Bar to remember the old departed leader – but the drinks were free. And even more importantly, the drinks were being sponsored by Georgie, who was visiting from New York and would have the latest scoop on their old buddy Cappo, who was illegal in NY. “How long will you fellas keep turning over the ashes of Old man Bhagan?” he teased his buddies. “If he’d been buried, he’d be turning over in his grave!!”

“Well, we will remember the Old Man as long as your leader Nagga Man does,” replied Georgie without a pause. “Imagine the man quit the party but he still quoting the Old Man!” “It’s not the man…but the ideas!” quipped Satiricus, as he polished off his beer.

“But Nagga Man swear de Ole Man bin a wan Mahatma,” pointed out Bungi. “An’ he a de chela!”

“OK fellas, tell me what’s really going on?” Georgie asked as he changed the subject.

“Just that Cappo cut the right card when he decided to stay over in NY on his tourist visa,” said Hari. “I hear the man already bought a car!”

“Yeah!” said Bungi sourly. “Imagine me and he wuk fifteen year and abee na bin able fuh buy wan bicycle!”

“Well, with Trump going after illegals, he’s pretty worried right now,” reported Georgie. “What y’all think? He should come back?”

“NO!!” everyone around the table shouted, including Satiricus. Everyone looked at him.

“You too, Sato?” asked Georgie. “But you used to tell Cappo everything will improve in sugar now that Nagga Man and Rum Jhaat in power.”

“Well,” said Satiricus slowly with a sheepish smile.

“You know it’s like what the Old Man used to say about he and the British?”

“What?” asked everyone.

“Nagga and Rum Jhaat in office, but not in power!” said Satiricus as he signalled for another round of beers.

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SunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017

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News

Red House fiasco

Nandlall proves court’s jurisdiction on matter …debunks AG’s contentions

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fter Attorney General Basil Williams had gone to the High Court to argue why the Red House proceedings should be thrown out, his legal opponent, Anil Nandlall, made submissions to prove why the court is authorised to hear the matter.

In submissions made last week before Acting Chief Justice Yonnette CummingsEdwards, Nandlall explained that Article 142 of the Constitution certainly protects against compulsory acquisition of property without compensation. According to his submissions, “This protection is guaranteed under the Constitution as a fundamental right and freedom.”

Nandlall argued that it is trite law that Article 153 of the Constitution is a remedial omnibus provision that vests in the court a jurisdiction to grant a wide array of reliefs and remedies as it may consider appropriate for the purpose of enforcing, or securing the enforcement of, any of the provisions of Articles 138 to 151 inclusive.

Nandlall argued that Article 153 (2) provides that the High Court shall have original jurisdiction to hear and determine any application made by any person in pursuance of the preceding paragraph. He explained that the Applicant in this case is an incorporated body, and is therefore a juridical person recognised by the Constitution. The applicant, the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre Incorporated (CJRCI), is the holder of a

no jurisdiction to do so. This contention of the Attorney General is as deeply flawed as it is illogical and self-defeating,” he stated.

Another argument advanced by the Attorney General is that the lease was not executed in accordance with Section 13 of the Deeds Registry Act. But again, Nandlall said this argument does not go to the

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall

Attorney General Basil Williams

99-year lease for a plot of Government land granted by the Commissioner of Lands and Surveys on behalf of the Government of Guyana in respect of Area “A”, now called Red House, comprising lots 65, 66 and 67 High Street, Kingston, Georgetown.

Nandlall highlighted that, to date, the State is yet to issue a notice of termination in relation to the lease.

According to the sequence of media reports based on information released from Government officials, President David Granger had declared the lease invalid based on a recommendation made by the Attorney General, and had given the occupants of Red House just a few days to evacuate the property. However, an injunction was successfully filed by Nandlall and his legal colleague, Priya Manickchand, on behalf of the non-profit organisation which occupied

the building.

Much hullabaloo and confrontations have since occurred, but the matter is now pending before the court.

Response to AG’s assertions

The gravamen of the Attorney General’s contention is that the Court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the proceedings on the Red House matter.

Williams argued that the applicant is guilty of material non-disclosure, and failed to make a full and frank disclosure in its ex-parte application.

Nandlall, in response, contended that the duty of an applicant to make full and frank disclosures has absolutely nothing to do with the jurisdiction of the Court.

“Logically, if the Court has no jurisdiction, then the Court can do nothing about failure to make a full and frank disclosure, since it has

Guyana has much to learn from The Bahamas – President

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resident David Granger on Friday visited and toured several industrial sites in Freeport, Bahamas, including the Grand Bahama Shipyard where, addressing staff and members of that entity, he disclosed that his visit to that country has been a learning experience that would benefit Guyana’s future growth and development.

Accompanied by Prime Minister of The Bahamas, The Right Honourable Perry Christie, and its Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister, Frederick Mitchell, President Granger said his visit to the island is an economic mission for Guyana, but coincides also as a visit for Caricom, for which he is Chairman.

“The Bahamas [is a] a small state, not a rich state as yet, but on its way to becoming a rich state, making use of its favourable geo-

President David Granger and Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie with Ministers and other officials of the Guyana and Bahamian Governments

graphical location and of course the talent of its people to provide employment and to play a role in the global environment,” the President said. “So this is an important lesson for us in Guyana and for the other states in the Caribbean Community…

So I’m very happy to be here.

It’s a learning lesson for us.

It’s a learning mission for us… [we’re] looking, listen-

ing, and I think we have a lot of good lessons to take back to Guyana and to the rest of the Caribbean.”

The Head of State noted that The Bahamas, moving from a small island developing state to that of one of the leading economies in the Region, provides a lesson from which the entire Caribbean can learn.

TURN TO PAGE 14

jurisdiction of the Court.

Alternatively, Nandlall believes that the Attorney General completely misinterprets Section 13 of the Deeds Registry Act. Another point made by the Attorney General is that the lease did not receive the “sanction” of the President, in accordance with Section 10 of the Land Department Act. Nandlall, however, said

Section 10 of the said Act is silent on how this presidential sanction manifests itself.

“I rely upon the presumption of regularity. In any event, there is an Affidavit on the record sworn to by Former President Donald Ramotar, in which he states that he is aware of, authorized and sanctioned the said lease,” Nandlall stated.

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SunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

20 new flight attendants graduate from Fly Jamaica

F

ly Jamaica Airline on Friday reflected on the hard work of its 20 graduates, who were all proud to collect certificates and be pinned, thus recognising their achievement of being the 2017 batch of new airhost and airhostesses.

The simple graduation ceremony was held at the Eugene F Correia International Airport, Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

The graduates were all part of a training programme which lasted for seven weeks and according to them, it was a period to look back on with great pride.

This batch of graduates is only the second to graduate in Guyana and will be added to the Fly Jamaica team.

Trevor Bowen, Rhea Chung, Samuel Mohabir and Simone Bailey-Hoyte

received special recognition for their outstanding performances.

Junior Public Infrastructure Minister Annette Ferguson who was present at the event, applauded the students while also congratulating Fly Jamaica for the job that they are doing in Guyana, which is assisting the aviation sector.

The Minister noted that with the addition of the 20 graduates, this will aid in again adding to the improvement of the sector.

To the graduates she said “the sky is the limit, this is just the beginning, you have a far way more to go but you can only do so through hard work, dedication, reliability, confidence and all that you wish for yourself. On behalf of the Government of Guyana, we just want to wish you well and may god bless you”.

Meanwhile, Director

He recognised the job of a flight attendant noting that “you are the lifeline that the passengers and the crew depend on and that is who in a nutshell is a flight attendant”.

He added that a flight attendant is there to ensure that in any emergency and aircraft can be evacuated in 90 seconds or less again recognising their significance.

Following the small ceremony, the students showed appreciation for their tutors who they noted enabled them to achieve what they did.

The 2017 batch of graduates

General of the Guyana Aviation Authority, Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Egbert Field reflected on the past where flight crews on a plane were able to save lives because of the dedication that they had towards their job.

Govt services to go digital A s Guyana moves to capitalise on the advances of the World Wide Web, citizens will no longer be required to travel vast distances to access many state services will be available online. This was revealed by Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes, as GTT launched its high speed Internet access in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

Minister Hughes highlighted that access to these State services will improve quality of life, noting that Government will soon rollout the initiative to online platforms. This is slated to ease lines; lengthy waiting times and in many cases,

long distances to travel.

“We are still refining the process but very soon you will not have to travel to Georgetown and join long lines just to be able just to submit your application for a passport – you’re going to be able to do either at your own computer at home or at any of the Wi-Fi hotspots

Public Minister Regina

Telecommunications speaking at Anna

or maybe at an ICT hub at a post office,” Hughes told a gathering at Anna Regina.

She noted that the ICT hubs will be available at various

locations across the country.

Minister Hughes further stated that passport applications will be the first of many Government services that will go digital.

“The objective is to place every single public service online including applications for birth, death certificates; driver’s licences;

business compliance certificates; land, housing, mining and forestry permits; everything you could think of,” the Minister assured.

Hughes pointed out that her hope is that Guyanese will be tech savvy and ready to use the Internet. Certain services at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) are already available online.

It was March 1 that residents along the Essequibo Coast were officially able to access GTT’s LTE service which enabled web users to access online content at lightening speeds.

At the company’s launch, two days prior, the Public Telecommunications Minister alluded to the benefits that the enhanced service would have in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), noting that with the service, will facilitate opportunities for business development, research and education. She also pointed to the benefits to E-commerce and encouraged farmers as well as entrepreneurs within the region to use the Internet as a way of finding online markets. “I truly believe that ICT will deliver the transformation within the Guyana and innovative ideas can come from all sectors,” Hughes told the gathering at Anna Regina last week.

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SunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 | guyanatimesgy.com

Our Jahajins’ Miner nabbed with gun, ammo Journey A

O

nboard the first ship, the SS Whitbywhich landed at Highbury on the Berbice River on May 5, 1838, there were 166 men and six women; one a Muslim named Sheebah, aged 18, who was accompanied by her husband Beejo. There were also five girls among the infants and children who disembarked.

From the first, there was a marked lack of female recruits and academics have forwarded various reasons for this including the idea Ryhaan Shah that the arkatis were tasked by the colonial planters with recruiting able-bodied labourers. This could have led to a natural de-selection of women.

While the female to male ratio of recruitment went up from 11 to every 100 in 1851 to 40 to every 100 in 1914, the disproportionate number of women labourers became critical to the plantations and an 1855 dispatch to the colonies even suggested that Indian emigration could be stopped unless more women were recruited.

By then, there had been a high number of wife murders on the estates which was blamed on the insufficiency of women rather than on the violence of the men. At the same time, the planters wanted to encourage Indian men sign on for longer periods of bonded labour.

If the men stayed on this would save them the return passages to India and they turned to the strategy of recruiting more female labourers which would also help to create stabilising family structures and a self-reproducing labour force.

It was hard-nosed economic considerations rather than societal ones that led to more women being recruited.

Some boarded the ships because they were actively resisting caste and gender oppression in India and, like the men, were also dealing with the drought and famine, the loss of land rights, and the debt and poverty that resulted from British colonial rule.

That the women who came were actively resisting injustices at home dispels any notion that they were purely docile and submissive.

A third of those who emigrated were married but the majority were single. They were widowed, separated, or abandoned wives and some academics like to further the idea that many of them were of loose moral character.

Undoubtedly, some of the single women had fallen on hard times and survived by whatever means necessary. However, our history bears out the fact that women stood with the men in the over 100 revolts, strikes and disturbances on the plantations.

Three of them – Gobindei, Sumintra, and Kowsilla – lost their lives in that struggle.

To stand and fight against injustice demands courage and strength of character and is hardly the mark of looseness or weakness. And the fact that the jahajins fought against their sexual exploitation by the planters and overseers hardly substantiate the argument that they were of immoral character.

They also stood with their male counterparts in the struggle for better wages and living conditions and, during their indentureship, they worked alongside the men in the fields under the same harsh conditions and were subjected to the same punishments.

They could not demand higher wages, refuse any assigned work, or live or work off the plantation to which they were bound. If they infringed any part of their contract, they could be prosecuted as a criminal and jailed.

Women’s work was seen as supplementary to the men’s and it, therefore, paid less. Whereas in 1872, men were paid a fixed daily rate of 25 cents, women earned between 48 and 60 cents per week. They were paid less even when they performed the same tasks as the men.

Our jahajins also kept the homes, raised families, and ensured the survival of the religious rituals and the cultural etiquette and values that are still present in Indian Guyanese communities 100 years after the abolition of the indentureship programme.

It was only here in Guyana that the women labourers perfected a fashion statement out of the Madras kerchief or rumal. They tied it in a particular way. It was a mark of their modesty and selfrespect; our jahajins were not to be meddled with.

The women martyrs along with the hundreds of women who participated in the strikes and revolts on the plantations were seeking fair wages, better terms of employment, and were also fighting against their sexual exploitation.

They were along with the female slaves before them who rebelled, among the world’s earliest feminists and the fight against gender discrimination continues today even with the very same issues on the table.

Next Wednesday, when we mark International Women’s Day, we must honour the legacy of courage and sacrifice that our jahajins have bequeathed to us.

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to shah@guyanatimesgy.com

38-year-old miner of Safari Street, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown was nabbed in that community with an unlicensed gun in his possession during a Police patrol in the area yesterday at about 20:30hrs, and is reportedly to be charged shortly.

According to reports, Police ranks were in the vicinity of North Ruimveldt when they noticed the suspect acting in a suspicious matter. Apprehended and searched, the unlicensed .32 Taurus pistol with ten matching rounds of ammunition was found on his person.

He was, as such, arrested and

taken to the Police Station, where the offence was read to him.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday last, four men, including a juvenile, were arrested when “A” Division Police ranks acting on a tipoff search two farm houses at Long Creek on the Linden Highway, and unearthed 11 kilograms of dried cannabis along with an unlicensed shotgun and five cartridges. The men: Lindon Gordon, Artlain Menture, Devin Sandwell and the juvenile, were arraigned before Providence Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs for the possession of narcotics for the

The gun and ammo that was found

purpose of trafficking, and possession of firearm and ammunition without license. All pleaded not guilty but were

remanded to prison until March 10, 2017. Thus far for this year, Police ranks have seized six illegal firearms.

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SunDAY, MARCH 5 | guyanatimesgy.com

PPP observes 20th death anniversary Younge’s Take of Dr Cheddi Jagan at Babu Jaan today

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he People’s Progressive Party (PPP) will today commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of its founder, the late Dr Cheddi Jagan.

Since his death in 1997, the life and works of this iconic Guyanese, who served as the nation’s 3rd Executive President, have been celebrated annually, with thousands flocking the Babu Jaan Crematorium at Port Mourant on the Corentyne Coast in East Berbice.

Born on March 22, 1918, Dr Jagan died on March 06, 1997. Over the years, the month of March has been set aside to remember and reflect on the invaluable contributions he has made to the development of Guyana and Guyanese.

The Chairman of the Commemoration Committee, Executive Secretary of the PPP, Zulfikar Mustapha, has said it is important that

Founder of the PPP, Dr Cheddi Jagan

these events are held, given the present-day relevance of Dr Jagan’s work for both Guyana and the world at large.

“The struggles that he led to free our people from colonialism, to improve their lives and to return democracy following that dark, oppressive period when our people were subjected to a brutal

dictatorship for almost three decades, are as relevant today as it was then. With less than two years in office, the APNU/AFC government is swiftly pushing the country to economic ruin after twenty years of unprecedented prosperity under the PPP government,” Mustapha said in a statement on Saturday.

He also said, “Dictatorship has returned.

Fear has been instilled into the mindset of our people.

Discrimination continues unabated. Many are forced (into) unemployment, and the ordinary citizens are made to endure unnecessary sufferings.” He pointed out that the PPP will not relent from its responsibility to represent the Guyanese people and to free them from the oppression that the current government in foisting upon the nation. “Dr Jagan led the struggle, and it will continue by our Party until

Guyanese and Guyana can return to progress. There are some who are bent on distorting our history in a calculated effort to diminish the outstanding contributions made by this Guyanese hero, but his work will live on and its relevance will remain firm in the hearts and minds of our people,” Mustapha declared.

General Secretary of the party and Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, will deliver the feature address today at the Babu Jaan Crematorium.

It is expected that the Government’s dismal performance and their ongoing efforts to close more sugar estates would be priority topics in his speech. Presentations will also be made by representatives of the Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO) and the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) among others. The event commences at 15:00h.

Guyana has much to learn...

FROM PAGE 11

“Many of us started off as basically plantation economies; most of the population was brought from other continents to work in agricultural industries, but we are forced by globalisation to transform, and this example of The Commonwealth

of The Bahamas shows how the transformation to a modern economy could take place within the global economy. It’s a lesson for the Caribbean. It’s a lesson for the States of the Eastern Caribbean as well: to make use of the unique geograph-

ical position and also the talent. Although we’re a small population, just about five or six million Englishspeaking Caribbean people, we are a very talented people,” he said.

The President noted that the entire Region is

affected by the unemployment of young people, and it is therefore imperative that nations begin to learn from each other in terms of promoting growth and development, so that every citizen can benefit. “It just shows you what we could do when we apply our own intelligence and our inventiveness and, I think, the resilience of our economies. Of course Guyana doesn’t have anything like this! You boast about being the biggest shipyard, we boast about having the biggest freshwater fish; but it’s a different environment, and (it’s) tougher. The 15 States of the Caribbean Community will continue to demonstrate to the world that we are not a Region to be dismissed; that we have a role to play in the future, not only of our own children and citizens, but also in the global economy,” President Granger said.

And Prime Minister Christie, in his remarks, said the two countries have, over the years, developed a great working relationship; and this is reflected particularly in the education system of the island, in which many Guyanese have been able to share their skills and expertise. Prime Minister Christie further noted that it is a momentous occasion to have the Head of State and members of the Guyana Government visiting to take stock of that island’s development. He echoed the sentiments expressed by President Granger that the Caribbean islands do have a lot to learn from each other. The Bahamas, he said, will particularly rely on Guyana’s expertise in the area of agriculture, even as Guyana takes lessons from the tourism and economic policies of The Bahamas.

When sugar turns bitter W

hile campaigning during the 2011 and 2015 elections, the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) were on record berating and sharply criticising the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) for what it termed its incompetence in handling the affairs of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and by extension the country’s sugar industry.

Both parties were convinced that they understood the challenges facing the industry better than the PPP. In fact, the PPP was accused of pouring Michael Younge taxpayers monies into “a black hole” by then Opposition Shadow Finance Minister Carl Greenidge during a 2013 Budget Debate, since those funds were not yielding any tangible results in his mind, even though the situation as far as profitability and the industry’s sustenance was getting from bad to worse.

Mr Greenidge felt that the monies were directed to GuySuCo in particular because of the PPP’s traditional electoral support from workers along the sugar belt. Other pseudo independent economists and experts, including Professor Clive Thomas and Anthony Vieira also chipped in from time to time to chastise the PPP and offer advice on the way forward for the industry.

The effect of their constant lobbying and winning was that a majority of the people felt that the PPP was indeed mismanaging the industry and refused to listen to the advice of the experts and Opposition pundits in order to set sugar on a path to recovery. This continued until the last elections when Mr Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan campaigned heavily along the sugar belt areas promising vulnerable workers to revive the industry, sustain its future and craft a new course for its development.

This duo also promised never to preside over the downfall of the industry while committing their coalition party to providing better salaries and working conditions under a modernised and profitable sugar industry.

It is therefore more than disappointing that the coalition, now in office, appears clueless as to what to do to save the industry from this allegedly PPP-engineered crisis. It continued the bailouts during its first 100 days in office. And despite commissioning an inquiry into the state of affairs of the industry, there is no progress being made on turning it around. GuySuCo, two years, is not in a better place. It is worst off.

Instead of announcing measures to be taken from its ‘heroic and top secret plan’ which it held while in Opposition, the Government is throwing workers into disappear by rashly closing sugar estates and reducing the workforce of GuySuCo without any social impact assessments being done. It also appears clueless about what should be done with the estates once they are closed and this is evident when one listens to confusing and sometimes insensitive, as well as ill-informed pronouncements made by the Agriculture Minister and his boss at the Ministry of Presidency, Joseph Harmon.

The situation reaches its climax when one looks at the competency of the new Board and the senior managerial team running GuySuCo and the fact that the Government is now rushing to table a “white paper” in Parliament following cosmetic consultations. No one’s impressed by the Government’s stewardship of the industry and in the days to come, those sugar workers at Enmore, Skeldon and Rose Hall will experience the bitter taste of sugar under the hand of the APNU/AFC politicians.

What is also more than passing strange is there is a lot of secrecy about what is going in the industry and the media is doing a poor job in highlighting the personal hardship being faced by thousands of sugar workers who worked and toiled to build this country when bauxite was failing and the other productive sectors clinging to life. It is also unfortunate that President David Granger has not seen it fit to confront these ordinary and poor workers directly and with the same vigour that he canvassed for their votes in the past.

Surely, they deserve better than to hear from their elected representatives only via the media what will possibly happen next and how they would be affected. His posture and that of his three Vice Presidents when it comes to the treatment of sugar would lead to feelings of disillusionment, political discrimination and economic uncertainty.

Sugar must not die and there must not be any move to downsize the industry without the approval of workers and agreement of the citizenry. This is not a decision for Cabinet and it’s not a decision for those at Congress place who are wielding real power.

The mood of the country should give the Government pause and it should consider the impact it will have on its re-election bid. The sweet days of sugar under the PPP appear over and from the utterances of the current Government, which has had a fetish with the action of “closing down” the industry while in Opposition, appear bitter and brown to say the least.

NEWS

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Parking meter burden

Project constitutes “criminality”– Gaskin A

s frustrations persist over metered parking in the Capital city, demonstrators are being urged to remain resolute in their stance against the project which continues to attract widespread controversy since its inception in January. This call was reiterated by political commentator Ramon Gaskin, who has expressed grave overview of the entire project.

“I think it is a good thing that people are protesting against it because first of all it is illegal, burdensome criminal agreement. The people should protest until the parking meters are removed from this country,” Gaskin stated.

Gaskin made these comments at the most recent demonstration against the project which was organised by the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) group, which was formed in response to the public outcry over the Parking Meter Project.

Gaskin told Guyana Times that the Georgetown Mayor and City Council must respond to the pro-

Political Commentator Ramon Gaskin

test actions.

“They’re not budging yet and because of that we have to keep up the pressure and keep up the struggle until they remove from this country, it’s as simple as that,” he noted.

At last Thursday’s protest, retired international commodities dealer Quinn Anderson concurred with the sentiments of Gaskin and called for international donor agencies from the European Union, United States and Canada to withhold their funding until a more transparent process is rolled out. The businessman’s comments related to

the secretive nature of City Hall’s contract with Smart City Solutions Inc (SCSI).

At the protest, demonstrators pranced to the Dave Martins ballad, “Postpone” which highlighted many of the noted burdensome measures meted out to the public. The song which was played by a push-cart vendor, called on the relevant authorities to rescind the contract which was signed between three members of the City Council and Town Clerk, Royston King last year.

lenging the legality of the project.

On Thursday last, Counsel Ramkarran called for a ‘stay’ on the paid parking initiative, whereby a

court the option for the two parties to have a discussion to provide relief to the citizens pending the outcome of the ruling by High Court or whether they would pre-

pause will be placed on the Parking Meter Contract so that motorists will not be charged or fined. However, Roger Yearwood who is the Attorney representing City Council and the Town Clerk countered that the Order Nisi does not facilitate “interim or interlocutory relief,” and reiterated that the case followed crown-side proceedings and not civil proceedings.

Justice Reynolds had then placed before the

fer to cancel the initiative.

But in response, Attorney for Smart City Solutions, Stephen Fraser had posited that the relief for the period would be allowed for Mohendra Arjune only as he is the lone complainant.

“Stay” application ruling

Meanwhile, the legality of the Parking Meter Project in the Capital city will soon be determined as Justice Brassington Reynolds had ruled last week that the court has jurisdiction to rule over prerogative writs. But first the Judge will on Monday hand down a ruling on a “stay” application which was brought by Attorney Kamal Ramkarran, who is representing Mohendra Arjune, the complainant who brought the case against City Hall, chal-

A court order violation?

The Order Nisi as granted by the then acting Chief Justice Yonnette Cummings-Edwards on February 16 had stated that the project be halted

until the Mayor or Town Clerk provided the requisite response. It had also revoked “the decision of the Mayor and Councillors and anyone acting by or through them or under their directions or instructions or on their behalf to exempt persons or categories of persons from paying fees for parking in the City of Georgetown and being subject to penalties for parking in Georgetown.”

However, parking meter operatives continue to boot the motor vehicles of some operates who opt against paying the parking meter fees. Hours before Thursday’s protest, some 60 parking meter attendants were sworn in before the Town Clerk.

Legal minds had noted that if the City continued to boot vehicles, this would be contempt of court.

However, Attorney for City Council, Yearwood had argued that City Council must not be given less than 30 days prior to the instituting of proceedings.

The parking meters rolled out to much criticism on January 24 but the protest against it continues.

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SunDAY, MARCH 5, 2017 | guyanatimesGY.com

Trump wire-tapping claims ‘simply false’ – Obama spokesman

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resident Donald Trump's accusation that his predecessor ordered his phones to be tapped is "simply false", Barack Obama's spokesman has said.

Kevin Lewis said that "neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen".

Trump had tweeted: "Terrible! Just found out Obama had my "wires

sabotage and bribery was exposed by the media.

McCarthyism, which Trump referred to in one of the first posts, relates to the persecution of US Communists and their allies led by Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s.

As the Trump administration continues to be bedevilled by a drip-drip of revelations about ties to Russian officials during and after last

massive water-muddying effort in which any forthcoming investigatory revelations are swept up in a growing partisan maelstrom.

Trump's tweets followed allegations made by conservative radio host Mark Levin, which were later picked up by Breitbart News, the website run by Steve Bannon before he became chief Trump strategist.

Levin said there should be

President Trump called Obama a “bad (or sick) guy” in a series of tweets on Saturday

tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"

He gave no details to back the claim.

In his statement, Lewis said a "cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice".

The statement left open the possibility that a judicial investigation was taking place. Earlier Ben Rhodes, who was Obama's foreign policy adviser and speechwriter, also addressed Trump's claims in a tweet, saying: "No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you."

Trump, who is at his Florida resort, fired off a series of tweets from just after 06:30 local time (11:30 GMT) on Saturday.

He called the alleged tapping "a new low" and said "This is Nixon/Watergate" – referring to the most notorious political scandal of 1972, which led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon after a web of political spying,

year's election, the president has seemingly settled on the identity of the malevolent figure behind the turmoil.

It was the former president, Trump asserts, who is guilty of meddling in the 2016 campaign, not Russia.

Obama, he says, is the one whose deeds merit investigation.

The President's early morning tweets follow an interview on Tuesday in which he accused Obama and "his people" of orchestrating recent political protests across the US and of being behind the government leaks that have embarrassed the White House. There is scant evidence supporting these allegations, but charges like these fit a pattern. Trump is at his sharpest when pushing back against perceived antagonists, such as Republican primary opponents like Jeb Bush, establishment conservatives who resisted his nomination or Hillary Clinton in the election. Now Trump is returning to his favourite political foil – a necessity given the current Democratic power vacuum in Washington. It could mark the beginning of a

a congressional investigation into what he called President Obama's "police state" tactics in his last months in office to undermine Trump's campaign.

Trump has come under constant pressure from FBI and congressional investigations into alleged contacts between his aides and Russian officials during the election campaign.

Media reports in the past few weeks have suggested a warrant was sought under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) last summer in order to monitor members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with the Russian officials. The warrant was first turned down but then approved in October, according to the reports. There has been no official confirmation and it is also not clear if this evolved into a full investigation.

Some Democrats feel Trump's latest tweets are an attempt to focus attention away from the Russian affair.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said: "The Deflector-in-Chief is at it again." (Excerpt from BBC News)

Govt disregards welfare...

FROM PAGE 7

Bottom-line According to the economist, the bottom line is that sugar production is viable only at the Skeldon Estate.

“Skeldon is the most problematic estate, but Skeldon is the best of the lot, because Skeldon has the capacity to do cogeneration and sell power to GPL,” Gaskin explained.

He referred to a report which documented that the cogeneration sale for one year was a whopping $9 billion. Moreover, he called out the union body for its advocacy for Government to continue subsidizing the industry.

“Unrefrigerated fish” The economist also suspects that because of the potential of Skeldon,

Government is embarking on secretive discussions to sign deals with companies to take over the lucrative estate. Already, two companies have approached the Government with proposals to take over the Skeldon Estate.

In one instance, a secret Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Trinidad company D. Rampersad and Company Limited (DRCL) - which has no experience in the field, to produce bulk rum, develop solar power, and produce ethanol at that location.

The other company is an Indian firm which was introduced to Government by the son-in-law of the Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo. Shrinath Ispat Limited said it wanted to

take over the management and operation of the entire estate, including sugar manufacturing and cogeneration of power divisions.

“The whole thing is starting to acquire the odour of unrefrigerated fish. What do they think this is at all? This is Jubilee Park? No, this is serious business!” Gaskin remarked.

Government is yet to officially issue a statement on the proposals, and Gaskin believes the secrecy in which the discussions are being undertaking is a sign of bad faith.

“It’s not transparent, it is corrupt; it is self-serving and self-dealing,” he posited, noting that it seems like another ‘Parking Meter Deal’ in the making.

news

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Anna's

3 Berbice families gifted homes

The epitome of the coalition’s ignorance

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hen Minister of State Joseph Harmon advances the recycling of used envelopes as the Government’s plan to save the economy, we know that Guyana is in trouble.

The coalition should have thought of “saving” before it granted members of Government up to 50 per cent increases in their already huge salaries. It should have thought of saving before spending hundreds of millions on the beautification of Georgetown, a now ghost capital which is still overwhelmed by the stench Anna Correia of garbage and bad drainage and irrigation. Perhaps it should have thought of saving before splurging on the refurbishment of the Prime Minister’s residence to the tune of GY$20 million, although former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds lived for years at the same address without ever complaining. Similarly, the coalition should have thought of saving before buying new luxury vehicles for members of Government, including a $22 million SUV for the PM Nagamootoo, despite having inherited vehicles in good condition from the previous Administration.

Imagine this Government is telling us about “austerity” measures as though it’s Greece we’re talking about. This is Guyana, a country which for the 10 years preceding the coalition’s installation in 2015, benefited from a sustainable economic growth that fluctuated between 3.5 per cent – 7.1 per cent, in pace with regional economic development.

Unsurprisingly however, just a few months were needed for the Granger regime to contract economic growth to two per cent.

To justify this disaster, Harmon had the nerve to claim that the economic stagnation was due to State funds being invested in GuySuCo, as well as to the dire situation of the rice industry.

However, his argument is unfounded considering that at any given period in the 10 years preceding the change in Government, GuySuCo benefited from State funding while the economy was booming. For instance, in 2006 and 2011, GuySuCo was receiving funds with a GDP of 7.1 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively. When it comes to the collapse of the rice sector, blame must be directly attributed to the APNU/AFC which in 2015 refused to renew the PetroCaribe deal that secured US$14 per bag of paddy instead of the then international market price of US$9, and removed State intervention which guaranteed that millers pay between GY$2200 - $3000 per bag of paddy. In so doing, the coalition abandoned rice farmers to the mercy of millers. The result? Prices as low as GY$500 per bag of paddy in places such as Essequibo where families today can no longer afford to cover charges and are forced to give up their lands!

The devastation of the rice sector by the APNU/AFC has a farreaching domino effect on the economy, not only because it’s the sole source of income for a significant portion of the population, but also because it is one of the traditional income earners and backbone of our countries. From local markets to supermarkets to mechanic parts suppliers, everyone’s suffering from the downfall of rice farmers.

The coalition intends to revive the economy by launching a housing programme which imposes ready-made houses built by the Government on Guyanese, who would no longer have the choice of building their own homes as they’ve always done. The justification is that this would boost the local production of construction material whereas in reality, the State cannot be the sole or majority purchaser, sufficient to drive the sector (unless of course, if the Government intends to dole out contracts to APNU/AFC friendlies). And in light of the rotting D’Urban Park bleachers which were constructed less than two years ago, it’s hardly likely that the coalition’s housing programme could meet quality requirements to convince Guyanese.

To revive the economy, this PNC-led coalition must acknowledge its failures, accept to reverse the harsh economic measures imposed on the country against the democratic will of the people. It needs to remove the taxes that are stifling all layers of the business community, reinstate the social welfare programmes which supported low-income homes, create a favourable environment to stimulate job creation, reduce crime and remove the absurd VAT that is killing both purchasing power and businesses alike. It needs, through these and similar measures, to encourage private investment instead of attracting the rightful distrust of the Private Sector.

Until then, the coalition will continue to forge a legacy which in time will only serve to remind Guyanese of the PNC’s failures and dangerous ineptitude at governing.

Contact sundayarrow@gmail.com

T

The houses which were donated to three Berbice families

hree Region Six families have each received keys to new homes constructed with the complements of the charitable NGO Food For The Poor (FFTP), which in collaboration with the St Francis Community Developers presented the Henrys, Frasers and Veerapens with the keys to these houses, located in the Corentyne Coast communities of Port Mourant, Rose Hall Town and Williamsburg.

Speaking at a simple handing over ceremony held at the St Francis office at Rose Hall Town, Senior Manager of FFTP, Andrea Benjamin, who has responsibility for the project, said access to adequate housing is a basic human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She explained that

the housing programme is designed to provide assistance to underprivileged families in need of adequate shelter, and allows families to realise their dreams of owning their own homes.

It is estimated that worldwide, over 1.1 billion people in urban areas alone lack access to adequate housing, the majority of whom live in developed countries.

“Adequate housing is fundamental to improved living standards among the poor and low income families,” she declared.

This housing programme, implemented 12 years ago, has seen more than 3000 housing units being constructed in six regions (from Region One to Region Six).

“All of our houses are free of cost (to beneficiaries).

Beneficiaries are, however, asked to provide some form of sweat equality, which basically involves digging the pit for the sanitation facility. You are getting a gift, we are only asking you to care and maintain our structures,” Benjamin declared.

One hundred and forty units were constructed last year, including a village with 43 houses and a community centre at Onderneeming, West Coast Berbice. Ms Benjamin has urged the recipient families to take care of the houses they have received.

She noted that improved living conditions lead to economic development.

Guyana is in a housing crisis. There is a housing deficit of more than 20,000 units for low income families. Access to affordable housing is out of the reach

of the average Guyanese, but mortgages for upper and middle income families are readily available; and it is generally difficult for low income earners to acquire loans for housing purposes.

Food For the Poor houses are 20’x 16’ wooden structures consisting of two bedrooms and indoor sanitation facilities. “You guys are very lucky, because right now the demand outweighs our ability to provide housing for the applicants that we have,” Benjamin disclosed.

According to Benjamin all of the funding for the FFTP projects comes from donors.

Meanwhile, President of the St Francis Community Developers, Alex Foster, noted that ten other homes are slated to be built next month, and a further fifty by the end of September.

Rehabilitated MV Barima ready to float again

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he Transport and Harbours Department’s (T&HD) ferry, the MV Barima is ready to go into operation following its refurbishment that cost Government $150 million.

The vessel will complement the services provided by the Lady Northcote from Georgetown to the Northwest District, Region One (BarimaWaini). Additionally it will also dock at Port Kaituma and Kumaka.

Some of the new features include seating accommodation, 200 adult and 50 children’s life jackets, new beds for sailors and crew members, television sets and most importantly, a new crane to load cargo on board.

The vessel which was docked since November 2015 was rehabilitated by local contractor Courtney Benn Construction, with assistance from engineers and other technical staff at the T&HD. Public Infrastructure Ministers David Patterson and Annette Ferguson on Friday re-commissioned the refurbished vessel for operation.

Speaking with the Government Information Agency (GINA), Minister Ferguson explained that prior to it being docked and the new refurbishments, passengers utilised hammocks during the journey to Region

Public Infrastructure Ministers, David Patterson and Annette Ferguson being given a tour of the newly refurbished MV Barima by contractor Courtney Benn

One, since there was no proper accommodation for passengers.

Now that has changed and passengers can experience comfort while travelling on their journey, Minister Ferguson noted.

The Minister pointed out that the rehabilitation of the vessel was delayed due to the time taken to import needed parts. Minister Ferguson related to GINA that according to the contractor, with the new engines, the vessel is expected to move faster, thereby reducing the journey to Region One. “This vessel was servicing the Region One district, however, currently there is the Lady Northcote plying the area, but with this vessel, services will be improved,” Minister Ferguson indicated.

The Minister pointed out that the vessel’s management is working on the travelling schedule. According to Minister Ferguson, no additional funding was expended on the refurbishing of the vessel. “When the vessel was

docked in November 2015 to the tune of $150 million, all the new features I have alluded to were done with that same amount. No extra fund was charged for those works,” Minister Ferguson said.

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Around the World

Arrest of Jamaican spurs calls for standardised CSME skills certificate

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he Chief Immigration Officer for Antigua, Annette Mark, is calling for the implementation of a standardised Caribbean Community (CARICOM) skills certificate so as to better enhance the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) that allows for the free movement of skills, people, labour and services across the 15-member grouping.

Mark told the Antigua Observer that the new security devise should have special security features.

Antigua Chief Immigration Officer Annette Mark

Her statement follows the arrest of a Jamaican, who presented authorities in Antigua with a fake certificate given to Caribbean nationals by their respective countries to ensure free movement under the CSME. The Jamaican, who has since been jailed, claimed to be a security expert.

Mark said that in the absence of a standard, secure card, the countries have to continue to carry out their own checks and balances. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Rescued from ‘hell house’

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medical examination conducted on an eight-yearold girl, who was rescued from a seaside house by the Children’s Authority of T&T, has confirmed she was sexually assaulted over a period of time. The girl, who gave a statement to officials from the Child Protection Unit, admitted to being molested by a relative several times over the past year. Over the past two years, the girl, who is in Standard Two, had been

begging to leave the house which she occupied with her grandmother and uncle.

Police are now searching for a main suspect after questioning another man in connection with the case.

In an interview on Friday, however, the child’s grandmother, who suffers from arthritis, claimed she did not know the girl was being molested. She said the child never told her about the assaults, although she asked

the child several times if she was the victim of sexual assault. Asked why she raised such concerns with the child in the first place, the grandmother said the alleged child molester had interfered with three of her female relatives several years ago, so she had some suspicions. Pressed as to why she allowed a known child molester to be around her granddaughter, the grandmother responded, “I thought he was over that.”

(Excerpt from T&T Guardian)

Brexit: UK ‘not obliged’ to pay divorce bill say peers

Teen girl killed in satanic ritual

Two known MS-13 gang members Miguel Alvarez-Flores (left) and Diego Hernandez-Rivera

T

wo MS-13 gang members from El Salvador, both in the United States illegally, held three teenage girls against their will and killed one of them in a satanic ritual, authorities in Houston said Friday.

Miguel Alvarez-Flores, 22, and Diego HernandezRivera, 18, have been arrested and charged with ag-

gravated kidnapping and murder — both first-degree felonies punishable by up to life imprisonment. Bonds totaling $300,000 have been set for each, but immigration detainers will keep both behind bars.

The 15-year-old girl’s body was found February 16 with gunshot wounds to the face and chest.

Homicide detective Sgt.

Chris Sturdivant said the girl’s identity has not been officially determined but that investigators are confident they know who she is — a girl reported missing in January in nearby Jersey Village, Texas.

The captives were three “young, impressionable women” ranging in age from 14 to 16 who succumbed to the allure of gang life before being taken to an apartment and held there against their will, Sturdivant said.

The 14-year-old girl told investigators that they were fed drugs and alcohol and forced to have sex.

The girl said the 15-yearold was killed in a satanic ritual because she had struck the gang’s shrine to a satanic saint, according to investigators. MS-13, also called Mara Salvatrucha, is believed to have been founded in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s by immigrants fleeing civil war in El Salvador. It is now a major international criminal enterprise. (Excerpt from Yahoo!news)

Malaysia expels North Korean ambassador

M

alaysia has expelled North Korea’s ambassador after he criticised its investigation into the killing of the North Korean leader’s half-brother. Kang Chol must leave within 48 hours, Malaysia’s foreign ministry says. It demanded an apology after the envoy said North Korea could not trust Malaysia’s handling of the probe, but says it did not receive one. Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of Kim Jong-un, died three weeks ago at a Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysia has not directly blamed North Korea for the attack, in which two women smeared the nerve agent VX on Mr Kim’s face.

Ambassador Kang Chol

But there is widespread suspicion Pyongyang was responsible. Mr Kang, who had become a fierce critic of his host country, said the probe into the killing had become “politicised” and was being interfered with.

The Malaysian Foreign Minister, Anifah Aman, declared the ambassador “persona non grata”, and said his country had demanded an apology for the comments, but this was not forthcoming. (Excerpt from BBC)

Russia considers ban over ‘gay moment’ Talks on the UK’s exit are expected to start in the Spring

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he UK could exit the EU without paying anything if there is no post-Brexit deal, a group of peers has claimed.

The Government would be in a “strong” legal position if the two-year Article 50 talks ended with no deal, the Lords EU Financial Affairs Committee said.

But it warned failure to reach any kind of financial terms would undermine PM Theresa May’s aim of securing continued favourable access to EU markets. It has been reported the EU may demand a “divorce bill” of up to £52bn. Mrs May has warned the EU against punishing the UK for voting to

leave in last year’s referendum but several EU leaders have said the UK cannot enjoy better arrangements outside the EU than it currently has. The question of what, if anything, the UK remains financially liable for after Brexit is likely to be one of the flashpoints in negotiations when they begin in earnest.

Potential sticking points are likely to include: Whether already-agreed contributions to the EU budget should be honoured and up to what point; What the UK should pay to continue to participate in EU programmes such as Erasmus; Whether the UK chooses to

pay to retain access to the single market on a transitional basis. The cross-party committee said talk of billions in pounds in liabilities was “hugely speculative” and there was a case that there may be no upfront cost to leaving.

“Although there are competing interpretations, we conclude that if agreement is not reached, all EU law - including provisions concerning ongoing financial contributions and machinery for adjudication - will cease to apply, and the UK would be subject to no enforceable obligation to make any financial contribution at all,” it said. (Excerpt from BBC)

The movie’s trailer had almost 130 million views in 24 hours

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ussian officials are coming under pressure to check if Disney’s new film Beauty and the Beast breaches the country’s law against “gay propaganda”.

One MP described it as “shameless propaganda of sin” and Culture Minister

Vladimir Medinsky said action would be taken after the checks. The live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast features Disney’s first ever gay character and love scene. A Russian law prohibits the spreading of “gay propaganda” among minors. The 2013

legislation, which angered human rights activists and the international gay community, suggests that homosexuality – described as “non-traditional sexual relations” – is alien to life in Russia. Many homophobic attacks have been documented in Russia.

Director Bill Condon has spoken of an “exclusively gay moment” in Beauty and the Beast. It involves LeFou, who is a sidekick of the film’s main antagonist Gaston. LeFou, played by US actor Josh Gad, tries to come to terms with feelings for Gaston that swing between lust and admiration, as a sideplot to the main story. The movie is due to be released in Russia on 16 March. (BBC)

sunDAY, march 5, 2017

19

Lyon tears apart India F

irst there was control, then panic and eventually wickets. Most of them went to Nathan Lyon, whose 8 for 50 was the best ever haul by a visiting bowler in India. He personified Australia's ability to adapt to unfavourable conditions - which included a lost toss - and by the end of the day they had ransacked 10 wickets for 189 runs, put up a score of 40 for 0 themselves and did their chances of retaining the BorderGavaskar trophy no harm whatsoever.

India lost Cheteshwar Pujara on the stroke of lunch. Virat Kohli gave his wicket away - and then a review as well - by padding up to a straight ball. Were it not for KL Rahul's 90 on his home ground in Bengaluru, they would have been in far worse shape. And that is saying something considering they were bundled out for under 200 for the third time in as many innings.

Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were in prime form with the new ball. Six of the first 12 overs on Saturday were maidens, the result of their getting just enough movement in the air and off the pitch. Lyon was precise with his line and smart with his length. He got the ball to turn and bounce sharply on some occasions and on others he made it drift and go straight on. His biggest strike, though, was simply down to a set up.

Kohli was new to the crease and only

a few seconds ago had a good length ball jumped past his inside edge and hit his thigh pad. Something told the Indian captain he could trust the bounce here, that if he was playing on the back foot, the ball was unlikely to threaten his stumps. That made picking length very, very important. Lyon flattened his trajectory, Kohli left the ball, suckered into believing it was short, it thudded into his pad in front of middle stump and umpire Nigel Llong put his finger up.

While the error in judgment can be forgiven, the gamble with DRS was less so for it was driven not by logic but hope, and even a little bit of fear at losing the best batsman in the team and giving Australia the kind of momentum they would love.

Watching all this from the other end was Rahul. His innings spanned 205 balls - the next best was a mere 66 - was a battle all through. He was struck on the glove as Starc peppered him with bouncers. He was often unsure against Hazlewood's two-way movement. He could have been caught on 30 but even Peter Handscomb, whose agility is already becoming legend, was unable to hold on to a rather difficult chance low to his left at silly mid-off.

Ajinkya Rahane hurtled down the pitch against Lyon only for the straighter ball to beat his outside edge. He was so far past

the crease that Matthew Wade even had pad to slip - which was only confirmed when time to recover from a fumble and pull off Smith made fine use of the review available the stumping. The 17 runs he made marked to him. Even there, Australia were thumpthe ninth time out of 10 innings that he has ing India. And it all tied in to Lyon's skill. A fallen for a score under 30. Karun Nair, who newfound skill. (ESPNcricinfo) was brought in to lengthen the batting line-up, playing for the first time since his 303 not out in December, committed the same mistake against India 1st innings (Saha, 65.3 ov), 8-188 (Jadeja, O'Keefe and this time the ball KL Rahul c Renshaw b Lyon 90 69.2 ov), 9-189 (Rahul, 71.1 turned sharply to leave him A Mukundlbw b Starc ov), 10-189 (Sharma, 71.2 ov) 0 stumped too.

Bowling MA Starc 15-5CA Pujara c Handscomb b Lyon17 39-1, JR Hazlewood 11-2By tea, Australia's GOAT V Kohli* lbw b Lyon 12 42-0, SNJ O’Keefe 21-5had gutted India's middle orAM Rahane st †Wade b Lyon 17 40-1, MR Marsh2-0-2-0, der and sent back their big NM Lyon 22.2-4-50-8 KK Nair st †Wade b O’Keefe 26 three. The first of his wickR Ashwin c Warner b Lyon 7 ets was a major turning point.

1 Australia 1st innings WP Saha† c Smith b Lyon He had a set Pujara caught at 23 RA Jadeja c Smith b Lyon 3 DA Warner not out short leg off what became the MT Renshaw not out 15 UT Yadav not out 0 very last ball before lunch and Extras (nb-2)2 a 61-run second wicket part- I Sharma c Handscomb b Lyon0 Total (0 wickets; 16 overs)40 Extras (b-12, lb-4) 16 nership was broken.

To bat SPD Smith*, SE Marsh, Total (all out; 71.2 overs) Against a bowler in such PSP Handscomb, MR Marsh, 189 (2.64 runs per over) rhythm, the lower order foldFall of wickets 1-11 (Mukund, 2.5 MS Wade†, SNJ O’Keefe, NM ed quickly. R Ashwin was Lyon, MA Starc, JR Hazlewood ov), 2-72 (Pujara, 27.5 ov), 3-88 undone by a spitting cobra. (Kohli, 33.5 ov), 4-118 (Rahane, Bowling I Sharma 5-0-8Wriddhiman Saha edged one 47.3 ov), 5-156 (Nair, 57.2 ov), 0 (nb-1), UT Yadav 4-1-160 (nb-1), R Ashwin 6-0-11that didn't turn as much as 6-174 (Ashwin, 61.5 ov), 7-178 0, RA Jadeja 1-0-5-0 he thought. Ravindra Jadeja inside edged a catch off the

SCOREBOARD

Last lap for KMTC Phagwah meet T

he deadline for registration for the annual Kennard’s Memorial Turf Club Phagwah Horse Race meet billed for March 19 at the Club’s facility at Bush Lot Farm, Corentyne, Berbice is quickly approaching.

Horse owners wishing to sign up for the

one day event have up to Sunday March 12 to signal their intention with the KMTC. The eight-race, one-day event will feature horses classified ‘D1 and lower’ in the main event covering one mile sprint for $700,000 top prize. The second to fourth place finishers will receive $350,000, $175,000 and $87,000

The annual KMTC Phagwah Meet promises to be another colourful horse racing spectacular

respectively. Registration is set at $85,000.

Another seven furlong race is on the cards for horses classified `H 1 and Lower’ with the winner riding off with $220,000, while the second, third and fourth place finishers will receive $110,000, $55,000 and $28,000 respectively. Registration is set at $25,000.

The day will begin with horses classified ‘L-Non Winner’ battling for honours with the winner riding away with $100,000. The second place finisher will collect $50,000, while the third and fourth place finishers will receive $25,000 and $13,000 respectively for the five-furlong race.

Horses classified `I 3 and Lower NonWinner’ will also be in action over six furlongs with the winner taking home $150,000 while the other three top performers set to pocket $75,000, $38,000 and $19,000 respectively.

Horses are set to cover six more furlongs in the `E 1 Maiden and F and Lower’ class.

The winner will receive $400,000 with second to fourth place finishers rolling out with $200,000, $100,000 and $50,000 respectively.

The ‘L Open W/A’ class will see horses galloping over five furlongs with a top purse of $110,000 while the second, third and fourth place finishers will be receive $55,000, $27,000 and $14,000 respectively.

The ‘Three year old Guyana Bred Maidens will also be in action covering a distance of six furlongs for a top prize of $200,000. The second place winner through to fourth will cash in with $100,000, $50,000, and $25,000 respectively.

The final race will see the best in the ‘K and Lower class looking to snatch the $120,000 first prize when the race along the five furlongs. Second place will receive $60,000 while third will take off with $30,000 and fourth winning $15,000.

Registration may be done by calling Fazal Habibulla on telephone number 657-7010, Ivan Diphnarine on 331-0316, Justice Cecil Kennard on 623-7609, 225-4818 or 226-1309, Compton Sancho on 602-1567 or Dennis Deroop on 640-6396.

20 NEWS

SunDAY, march 5, 2017 | guyanatimesGY.com

National u-17s beat Barnwell Haiti 3-1 for 1st win axed

CI/ PCL Digicel Regional 4-Day Tournament 2016-17

Christopher Barnwell

…Keemo Paul earns maiden call up

T

he “Flour Power” National Under-17 Boys’ Team beat Caribbean powerhouse Haiti 3-1 at the International Tournoi Paul Chillan in Martinique on Saturday. This follows a disappointing yet encouraging start to the competition with two closely fought defeats against the hosts and a strong Guadeloupe side.

The commanding victory against Haiti underlines the rapid progress Guyana’s youth teams are making under the new national football philosophy and points to a promising future for the national teams. Goals from 14-year-old winger Orvil Daniels of Paiomak Warriors in the Rupununi, Eastveldt’s Zian Gray and Fruta Conquerors’ Jeremy Garrett sealed a memorable win for the team.

The squad is participating in the tournament because the Guyana Football Federation wants to expose its national youth sides to stronger competition from the Frenchspeaking Caribbean, including those that have the full support and financial backing of the French Football Federation, in order to accelerate the development of Guyana’s best young players.

“This is a fantastic result for the team today – they dictated the game, and all their hard work over the last week has really paid off,” said GFF Technical Director Ian Greenwood. “We have been so pleased with the way the boys have handled the challenge of playing against this kind of strong opposition from the French-speaking Caribbean.

The other team delegations have also been extremely impressed with the progress Guyana has made in such a short space of time.” Daniels scored in the first half with a curling free kick from the edge of the area.

Gray doubled the lead with a peach of a finish after latching on to an inch-perfect p a s s from US-based captain Joshua

Ferreira. Haiti pulled one back after a defensive mix-up, but Garrett sealed a memorable victory following a stunning free kick in the dying minutes of the game.

Fruta Conquerors’ Cecil Jackman defended aggressively throughout with Milerock keeper Jonathan Copeland once again a commanding presence in goal. Progressive Youths’ Ferreira and Garrett bossed the midfield battle, while Daniels offered a constant attacking threat from wide positions.

In their first match, the team put in an impressive performance to hold their own against a tough Guadeloupe team, only to lose 1-0 after a late penalty following an individual error in defence. The junior Jaguars created a number of goal-scoring chances during that game but were unable to find the back of the net.

Grove Hi-Tech defender Ackel Forde also suffered a dislocated shoulder during the match. Their second fixture against Martinique was another evenly-balanced clash, which saw the junior Jaguars growing in confidence individually and as a unit, but ended 2-1 in favour of the hosts.

The team defended well, particularly against set pieces, and goalkeeper Copeland put in a dominant display with a string of fine saves. In attack, Ferreira led by example throughout, scored with a fine strike, and was a permanent menace in front of goal. Another late penalty, which could have gone either way, was all that separated the two teams.

“Captain Ferreira and Copeland in goal have been inspirational and, most importantly, the boys are playing really well together as a disciplined, professional unit – building on the tactical, technical and set piece improvements we were able to make during the training camp,” Greenwood said.

Petra/Milo School’s u-18 Football…

Aaron’s helmet-trick leads Sir Leon’s Lesson dominance

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drian Aaron netted a stupendous helmet-trick to lead Sir Leon’s Lesson to a crushing 13-0 victory over Brickdam Secondary when the Petra Organised Milo School’s under-18 Football Championship continued on Saturday at the Ministry of Education Ground, Carifesta.

Aaron etched his name on the score sheet in the 3rd, 27th, 32nd and 66th in his team’s onslaught while Meshach Barratt helped himself to hat-trick, netting in the 1st, 33rd and 42nd minutes.

Goals by Amonick Muir (6th),

Richard Rayside (26th) an Own Goal (40th), Shamar Carrington (44th), Dante Yannick (47th) and Dexter Blue (64th) were the others to cash in on the goal spree.

Queenstown Secondary also had a fruitful outing as they defeated, Christ Church Secondary 5-2, with Jermaine Padmore helping himself to a hat-trick via goals in the 54th, 56th and 67th; Daniel Ross (5th) and Shaquan Stephens (30th) were the other two men to reach the back of the net.

For the opposition, Patrick Joseph (21st) and Andre Paul (68th) netted in a losing cause.

Similarly, Carmel Secondary enjoyed success as they also won 5-2 against Richard Ishmael with Shaquille Baptiste and Randy Roberts combined braces being the principal scorers. Baptiste netted in the 9th and

T

Keemo Paul

The National Under-17 team prior to kick-off of their match against Haiti

15th while Roberts scored in the 45th and 47th; Stefan Duke also scored in the 18th. For Richard Ismael, Closson McLaren (21st) and Sherwin Luke (51st) scored goals.

Meanwhile, in the closest match of the day, Godfrey Weeks 34th minute goal helped South Ruimveldt edge Cumming Lodge 1-0.

Today, North Georgetown will oppose School of the Nations from 11:00h followed by Dolphin Secondary and Central High from 12:30h. Mae’s Secondary will then lock heels with Tutorial High from 14:00H after which the headline match will be Queen’s College against St. George’s High at 15:30h.

Thirty-two secondary schools are competing for the $500,000 first prize, while second, third and fourth place finishers will pocket $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000 respectively, that goes towards a school project.

he Guyana Jaguars are preparing for the second half of the Professional Cricket League Digicel Regional Four Day Tournament with sessions at the Everest Cricket Club ground under the guidance of national coach Esuan Crandon.

The two-time defending champions will take on points leaders Jamaica Scorpions at Sabina Park in Kingston in a top of the table clash from Friday March 10.

The second placed Jaguars who trail the Scorpions by three points have made two changes to their squad that beat Trinidad and Tobago Red Force by 10 wickets at Providence in their last match before the Christmas break.

All-rounder, Christopher Barnwell who had a horrid run has been replaced

by West Indies Champion Under-19 all-rounder Keemo Paul while off-spinner Eon Hooper who played just one match is replaced by fast

bowler Romario Shepherd.

Barnwell, a veteran of 45 First Class matches has scored only 109 runs from four matches with an average of 18.16 runs per innings. Over the six innings, the right hander has passed 50 just once with 61 his best knock. With the ball, the seam bowler has picked up six wickets with a best of 2/20.

Paul, who just celebrated his 19th birthday has been rewarded with his maiden First Class call-up following consistent performances on the local scene and will be an asset with bat, ball and in the field.

The Jaguars batting will be lead by veteran batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul who is their leading run-getter with 447 runs including two centuries. Veerasammy Permaul with 27 scalps is the best bowler while Keon Joseph, Rayon Reifer and Gudakesh Motie have 16 victims each.

The 64.6 points accumulated came from two wins, one defeat to the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and two stalemates.

The Guyana Jaguars squad for the sixth round clash reads; Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Shimron Hetmyer, Leon Johnson (Captain), Vishaul Singh, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Anthony Bramble, Romario Shepherd, Veerasammy Permaul, Gudakesh Motie, Keon Joseph, Rajendra Chandrika and Keemo Paul.

Dubai champion Murray aiming to maintain momentum in USA

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ndy Murray struggled in Indian Wells and Miami last year, but believes he now has "great momentum" ahead of his return to those events.

Andy Murray has targeted improved performances in Indian Wells and Miami after breezing to his first title of 2017 in Dubai.

World number one Murray beat Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-2 on Saturday to pull further clear of Novak Djokovic at the top of the ATP rankings.

And while Djokovic has maximum points to defend in the upcoming Masters 1000 events, Murray heads to the United States having suffered second-round exits in both Indian Wells and Miami in 2016.

In an on-court interview broadcast on Sky Sports following his success in Dubai, Murray said: "I struggled in Indian Wells and Miami last year, didn't play so well, but this week has given me great momentum going into that stretch and hopefully I can do well there."

Murray's routine final victory on Saturday offered a sharp contrast to his last-eight win over Philipp Kohlschreiber, in which he was forced to save seven match points during an epic second-set tie-break lasting 31 minutes.

"Obviously there was a bit of luck involved there," acknowledged the Briton.

"I came up with some good serves when I needed them. It was an amazing tie-break, it could have gone either way and often when you get through matches like that it settles you down for the rest of the tournament.

"Once I got going today I was moving well and finished strong.

"It's always nice to win any tournament but especially ones you haven't won before. I'm very happy to do it here for the first time and it's been a good start to the year." (Sportsmax)

YELLOW PAGES sundaydAY, March 5, 2017 | www.guyanatimesgy.com

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GCB Inter-county U-15

sports

21

Shaw named Demerara skipper F ollowing the release of the Essequibo Under-15 squad, Demerara is the second squad to be announce for the upcoming Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) InterCounty U-15 tournament, with Berbice still to name their squad for the tournament.

National U-15 player, Shoib Shaw will lead the team when the tournament commences on Tuesday March 14. The batsman represented champions East Coast in the inter-association tournament and led Mahaicony Secondary to the East Coast District title in the National Secondary School Cricket League (NSSCL).

He would lead a team of talented players that include Edmond Pearson, Chad Shivrattan, Andre Seepersaud, Negusa Walters, Mohindra Dindyal and Ushardeva Balgobin.

The full squad reads; Shoib Shaw (captain),

Mohindra Dindyal (left) and Chad Shivrattan shared an unbroken 172 runs partnership for East Bank against West Demerara during the recent Demerara Inter-Association tournament

Mohindra Dindyal, Chad Shivrattan, Edmond Pearson, Andre Seepersaud, Daniel Mootoo, Mark Ramanand (wicketkeeper), Chanderpaul Ramraj, Trevon Charles, Negusa Walters, Devanand

Khemraj, Ryan Persaud, Ushardeva Balgobin and Brandon Jaikarran.

Demerara will play against Essequibo in their opening fixture at Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary.

Pakistan Caribbean tour swells to 4 T20Is

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World T20 champions West Indies will now take on former champions Pakistan in four T20Is in the Caribbean

T

he West Indies Cricket Board has announced the addition of two Twenty20 Internationals to the itinerary for the Pakistan Tour of the West Indies.

As a consequence of the additional matches, the series between World Twenty20 champions West Indies and the visiting Pakistanis will now be contested over four matches.

“Twenty20 is an exciting format and this is another opportunity for our fans to indulge in the thrilling atmosphere that surrounds these matches,” said Roland Holder, WICB manager, cricket operations.

“We look forward to fans in Barbados and Trinidad coming out and cheering our team on to victory.” The first of the two additional T20Is will be played on Sunday, March 26 at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The series then moves to the Queen’s Park Oval in the Trinidad & Tobago capital of Port of Spain, where they will now be three T20Is instead of the originally carded two.

The matches will now be contested on Thursday, March 30, a public holiday in Trinidad, and will be followed by matches on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2.

MARCH

Sun 26 Thu 30

1st Twenty20 International Kensington Oval, Bridgetown 2nd Twenty20 International Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad

Sat 1 Sun 2 Fri 7 Sun 9 Tue 11

3rd Twenty20 International 4th Twenty20 International 1st One-day International 2nd One-day International 3rd One-day International

APRIL

Sat 15 to Mon 17 Tour Match Fri 22 to Tue 26 1st Test Sun 30 to Thu, MAY 4 2nd Test Wed 10 to Sun 14 3rd Test

Queen’s Park Oval Queen’s Park Oval National Cricket Stadium, Guyana National Cricket Stadium National Cricket Stadium Trelawny Stadium, Jamaica Sabina Park, Jamaica Kensington Oval Windsor Park, Dominica

22

guyanatimesgy.com

sundAY, march 5, 2017

Baku Games a guide for Olympic prospects - GOA Boss – Athletes must be registered for drug testing by March 10

By Romario Samaroo

T

he 2017 staging of the Baku Games in Azerbaijan in May will see Guyana being represented in six sporting disciplines; and President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), Mr. K. A. Juman-Yassin, is hoping that Guyana’s athletes perform well, to enable the GOA to use these games as a guide for selecting athletes to participate in the Olympics of 2020.

Making this disclosure on Tuesday at the GOA’s main location in Kingston, Georgetown, Mr Juman-Yassin also revealed that a total of 24 persons will be heading to the Baku Games in Azerbaijan.

These include the Chef-de-mission, Mr. Ramjeet Ramphal.

In the discipline of Swimming, Stephanie Fraser will be coaching Andrew Fowler and Earlando McRae, the swimmers. Mark Scott will be coaching athletes Natrena Hooper,

Alita Moore, Winston George and Emanuel Archibald. Clifton Moore will be coaching boxers Desmond “Dynamite” Amsterdam and Joel Williamson. Judo coach Rauol Archer will be in the corner of Joshua Buchanan and Erksine Trotman, as well as Taekwondo duo Jibreel Malik and Adrian Spellen. And the largest contingent, comprising of Table Tennis participants Chelsea Edgill, Trenace Lowe, Natalie Cummings, Christopher Franklin, Nigel Bryan and Joel Alleyne, will be coached by Idi Lewis.

Yassin disclosed, “We are hoping that they are able to do well, so we will be able to have a guide as to their performance coming up to the Olympic Games in 2020”.

Expectation is rife that the contingent would perform exceptionally well, as this country has dominated most of these sporting activities regionally within recent times.

Boxing coach Clifton Moore has already pointed out that the boxers have been in ac-

tion, so their training is up to date. He said that, as a team, they had begun training about a month ago, and had been working on identifying their weaknesses and strengthening some other areas, as they look to see how far they can go in the tournament. He noted that he has had his eyes on them since last year, and their prospects are very good, but he thinks there is still much room for improvement. Moore added that nutrition is an important part of the boxers’ preparation.

Mr. Juman-Yassin highlighted that nutrition is important for all athletes. He has urged all the coaches to prepare a list of nutritional items that the athletes would need, and has promised that the GOA would “endeavour to supply” those, and “would be working on a plan to supply nutrition to all elite athletes.” However, he said this can be achieved only if there is help from the na-

GCB/DMLAS/MOE/NSSCL 2016-17

Combined phase bowls off March 7 T

he National Secondary Schools League (GCB/DMLAS/ MOE/NSSCL) is set to advance to the combine stages, which will realized the amalgamation of players from the various schools within Districts from across the country.

This merging of players, referred to as the Combined Schools, will see the players with outstanding performances and those who demonstrated good promise, being earmarked by the selection committee of the NSSCL for training and district representation.

This aspect of the league, is scheduled to commence on Tuesday March 7, 2017, when the Upper Demerara Combined Team competes with the Highway Combined District from 09:30 hours at the Bayroc ground in Upper Demerara.

Wednesday March 8, 2017 will feature Mahaica Combined Team playing the Mahaicony Combined Team at the Fairfiled ground, with a selective Mahaica-Mahaicony Combined District team being selected thereafter to compete with the East Coast Demerara District Team on Friday March 10, 2017 at the said venue.

On Thursday March 9, 2017 the merger of players from the Upper Demerara-Highway District will do battle with the East Bank Demerara Combined Team, after which match, players will be selected to represent the Upper Demerara- East Bank Combined District to play the West Demerara Combined District Schools’ team.

All Combined matches across the country will be of One Day 50 overs format and are scheduled to commence at 09:30 hours on each of the designated playing days. The players of the representative districts will be competing among and against each other for the coveted National Combine District Championship Trophy.

To date, a number of District teams have been either shortlisted or selected. These squads are indicated as follow: East Coast Demerara: Rajendra Singh, David Wilson (President’s College), Himmauth Dindyal, Mark Ramanda, Yogendra Samroo, Edmond Pearson (Enterprise Primary), Pradesh Balkishun (Bladen Hall Multilateral), Andrews Samroo, Cummings Lodge, Ronaldo Basdeo, Devanand Khemraj (Cummings Lodge), Chandrapaul Ramraj (Annandale Secondary), Kemroy Brown (Buxton Secondary), Dequan France (Lusignan Secondary), Khemraj Panaram, Daniel Motoo, Asif Sammy, Tameshwar Permaul (Institute Of Business Education -IBE) and Rafeik Azeez (Enterprise Primary Top). Highway Combine Team : Aldin Kattow, Keoan Kattow, Mark Clenkian, Mickey Ferreira, Mark Ferreira, Attoffio Bernard, Kevin Ferreira, Joshua Sandwell, Elymos Williams, Guby Dundas, Tino Simon, Bryan Ferreira, Keanno Simon) (St Cuthbert Mission), Randel Yearwood, Joesph DeFraitas (Dora Secondary).

Upper Demerara Combine Team: Romario Rajmangal

(Private School Combine), Ezekiel Isaacs, R o m e l Ross, Bryan Culpepper, Shemroy Woode, Omar Tollard (Harmony Secondary), Linden Griffith, Jonathan Copoland, Sham Samuel, Odwyn Baird, Neil Corbin (Wisbury Secondary), Mark Clenkian Vashan Brawne, Jason Fungfrom the Kee-Fung, Immanuel Larase Highway District (Linden Foundation), Reheem Augus, Shamor Charmon (Mackenize High).

West Coast Demerara: Desroi Hyman, Kevin latchu, Reyaz Khan, Andre Seepersaud, Rajesh Budhram, Ajita Persaud, Parmanand Prabudyal, Walyon Renville, Rajesh Budhram, Vishal Nandram, Jejendra Ghisiwan, Sajio Mustarha, Safeek Mohamed, Lalchan Seeram.

West Bank Demerara: Aaron Sewparsad, Aftab Basir, Hemraj Persaud, Wazim Rahaman, R y a n Seecharan, Parmananda Gomitiparsad, Denish Persaud, Joel Thomas, Satish Basdeo, Mark Wong, keith Boyce, Kurt John, Colis Rimple.

East Bank Demerara: Ridge Rajaram, Leron Crawford, Neeraj Khan, Romel Rajaram, Ronaldo Blair, John Blair (Soesdyke Secondary), Sachin Lim, Alex Arvinda, John Pillay, Davendra Sankasing, Mahendra Ramjit, Joshua Jones (Camille’s Institute), Orlando Ghisrwan, Jonathan Jaadeo, Jamal Scott, Levi Kottow, Jeremain Benjamin, Lalldachan Arjune (Friendship Secondary), Leonard Thomas (Xenon Academy), Mavendra Dindyal, Mark Fredricks, Akeem Hendericks, Joel Craig, Anil Singh, Phillp McThrk, Romario Persaud, Brendan Texeira (Diamond Secondary), Shoaib Roop (Covent Garden Seondary), Jeremain Scott, Shaquille Thuesdec, Ram Mangar, Clemett Nerleihal (Houston Secondary).

GOA President, K. A. Juman-Yassin

tional associations.

In regard to drug testing, Juman-Yassin has indicated that a number of associations have not registered their athletes for out-of-competition drug testing locally and abroad. He has thus declared: “If these athletes are not registered by 10th March, they may find themselves not going to the games.” Accordingly, he has advised the athletes to contact Dr. Karen Pilgrim if they find themselves experiencing difficulty in this regard.

Mangra stands alone in badminton Mash tourney Action in the NSC Mashramani Badminton Tournament

J

onathan Mangra top the male field at the Guyana Badminton Association organized National Sports Commission (NSC) Mashramani Badminton Tournament which concluded on Friday at the National Gymnasium with play offs in the semifinals and Final.

Mangra defeated Nicholas Ali 21-16, 21-16 in the final to cop the male title in the three day event which started on Wednesday.

The champion defeated Avinash Odit 2112, 21-15 in their semifinal bout to book his spot in the final. Ali ousted Darrell Carpenay to qualify for the final.

The matches played on the last day include; open men singles quarter-finals: Darrell Carpenay defeated Ronald Chang Yuen: 21-19, 20-22, 21-19.

Open men singles semi-finals: Nicholas Ali defeated Darrell Carpenay: 21-14, 24-22 and Jonathan Mangra defeated Avinash Odit: 2112, 21-15.

Open men singles finals: Jonathan Mangra defeated Nicholas Ali: 21-16, 21-16 Open ladies singles round robin: Priyanna Ramdhani defeated Pricilla Moore: 21-9, 21-10 Priyanna Ramdhani defeated Greer Jackson: 21-8, 21-11 Greer Jackson defeated Ayanna Watson: 21-4, 21-11, Ayanna Watson defeated Emelia Ramdhani: 21-13, 21-13, Pricilla Moore defeated Emelia Ramdhani: 21-12, 2112.

Meanwhile, Ramdhani claimed the ladies title.

Open ladies singles points standings: Priyanna Ramdhani-4, Greer Jackson-3, Pricilla Moore-2 and Ayanna Watson-1.

23

guyanatimesgy.com

sundAY, march 5, 2017

Oneindig ODI Series

England going for knockout ...West Indies must fight back

I

f the first ODI was a boxing match, England would have scored a TKO in the final round. The result was pretty much as expected, with a few notable displays in England’s largely workaday performance, but West Indies will have

did a decent containing job in the middle overs; then with the bat, Jason Mohammed led the resistance after West Indies looked to be in trouble at 39 for 3. Mohammed and Jonathan Carter combined composure with power - particularly in the case of

marshal a rise from No. 9 in the rankings and secure automatic World Cup qualification. Narrow defeats are not worth any more ranking points than heavy ones, however, and immediate improvement could be required as the tourists warm to the

Fast bowler, Liam Plunkett was unplayable as he bagged 4-40 to sink West Indies

It will take an all-round effort from West Indies to beat England

been encouraged by pretty much going the distance. A 45-run defeat was certainly not the mismatched mauling some may have feared.

Shannon Gabriel’s newball spell had England in trouble, while Ashley Nurse

the latter - and perhaps only the difficulty of chasing on a slow surface undermined them towards the end.

Stuart Law, West Indies’ new coach, will surely feel he has some ingredients to work with as he tries to

conditions and the task at hand.

England may not have blasted away their opponent in the opening rounds but they did show some improved ringcraft. Eoin Morgan’s hundred showed

the savvy that has not always been so apparent in the hard-hitting approach favoured by this side; Ben Stokes, too, applied himself to the situation and England were therefore able to grind their way to the brink of 300 without overreaching.

A more ruthless performance with the ball will be on Morgan’s tick list for the rematch.

Jason Mohammed had only played two ODIs for his country - spread over four years and yielding six runs - before making his maiden half-century for West Indies in Antigua.

After a strong Regional Super 50 for Trinidad,

in which he was fifth on the run-scorers’ charts, Mohammed has been preferred in the middle order to the younger, more dynamic Rovman Powell. He showed the value of his experience in the first match, during partnerships of 69 and 82 with Shai Hope and Carter respectively, and almost single-handedly milked Moeen Ali’s offspin, scoring 30 of the 37 Moeen conceded to keep West Indies in the hunt. At 30, now is his chance to demand a run in the side.

It might be counterintuitive to suggest that one of the three men who passed 50 for England on Friday is un-

der pressure - but that is the case for Sam Billings, who is attempting to hold on to his billeting as a makeshift opener while Alex Hales recovers from a hand injury.

Billings has two fifties in three ODI outings at the top of the order but the sense here was of an opportunity missed after he had made it through the tricky initial stages against the new ball.

Morgan has described Hales as a “very formidable player in our side” and Billings may need to produce something spectacular if he is not to drop straight back into England’s very competitive pack of white-ball reserve batsmen.

GFF/ Stag Elite League II

Exciting League Leaders double-header to light up Tucville ground G

uyana’s premier football competition, the Stag Elite League, restarts today with a tantalising League Leaders Tournament double-header at Tucville ground. However, the full resumption of the second half of season two is set for March 19.

The League Leaders Tournament brings together the top four clubs from the first half of the Stag Elite League Season 2 in a special play-off competition aimed at increasing fan engagement and showcasing some of the best talent in the league.

After a large number of player transfers during the January window, football fans will be treated to a series of top class games on Sunday, featuring many of Guyana’s top players, including Anthony Abrams, Pernell Schultz and Kareem Knights. Victoria Kings and Buxton United compete in the first match, kicking off at 16:30h, followed by Fruta Conquerors and the Guyana Defence Force at 19:00h. “Football is all about the players and the fans, and this League Leaders Tournament is going to be an exciting showcase for some of the best talent in Guyana,” said Guyana Football Federation President Wayne Forde. “We want to encourage all our football fans to come out and show their support for some of those players who did not have the opportunity to compete in the first half

Pernell Schultz of the season, but are now eager to showcase their skills in the top flight as they aim for national team selection this year.”

Additionally, the semi-finals of the National Women’s Development League match are scheduled to take place on Thursday March 9, with Paiwomack taking on Fruta Conquerors and the Guyana Defence Force competing against St. Ignatius. The League Leaders play-off match between the winner of today’s first clash and the loser of the second match will also take place on March 9.

The finals of the League Leaders Tournament and National Women’s Development League are scheduled for Sunday, March 12. Fans who attend matches in the second half of the Stag Elite League season two will have the chance to win a range of prizes. Stag will offer $5,000 cash vouchers and Gillette Value Packs, and conduct a Skill Ball Competition at each match. Automotive Power Parts have donated a Jialing motorcycle as a one-off prize for one lucky fan, as well as T-shits and caps for fans at each match. Church’s Chicken will offer coupons for family meals, Impressions will give away branded paraphernalia, and the GFF will also offer jerseys and caps.

Sports is no longer our game, it’s our business

SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017

guyanatimesgy.com

Oneindig ODI Series

England going for knockout Pg 23

...West Indies must fight back

West Indies will need more of Jonathan Carter’s brilliantce if they are going to keep the series alive against a bouyant England side

Petra/Milo School’s u-18 Football…

Aaron’s helmet-trick leads Sir Leon’s Lesson dominance

Brickdam Secondary had no answers for the rampant Sir Leon’s Lesson unit at the Ministry of Education Ground on Carifesta Avenue on Saturday

Pg 20

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Sunday March 5, 2017

Times

Star Times Bollywood:

Anil Kapoor: ‘Indian film industry works in chaotic way’ See story on page 14

Magazine

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Centennial of the Abolition of Indian Indentureship

Endings are also beginnings Page 7

Commemorating the Centennial of Abolition of Indian Indentureship The The East ancient Indian tradition presence of gudna Page 2

Guyana’s stamps

Page 4

Page 5

2 Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

MARCH 5, 2017

Times Feature

Ashook Ramsaran at Kolkata Memorial

By Ashook Ramsaran

I

ndian indentureship followed British emancipation of slaves in 1834.

The urgent need for labour in the British plantations across the world necessitated a system which could provide continuous flow of cheap labour from India with its abundant availability. It was an intense and harrowing period of Indian migration to faraway lands of then British colonies, on the basis of an indentureship contract with very strict terms and conditions, rosy promises and hope for a better livelihood.

March 20, 2017 marks the centennial of the official abolition of Indian indentureship, an era spanning the years 1834-1917. The majority of those labourers came from the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The journey beginning in 1834 from Kolkata and Chennai (Madras) to plantations in the colonies was the beginning of wholesale Indian labour as a commodity for profit and new multi-ethnic colonies, many contentious at times.

The history and consequences of Indian indentureship are deeply embedded with tremendous significance, importance, meaningful history and reflections to millions of descendants living in many countries which were the recipients of Indian Indentured labourers seeking better livelihoods.

These countries included: Mauritius, Fiji,

Malaysia, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Jamaica, Belize and other countries of the Caribbean, as well as former French colonies of Reunion Island, Seychelles, Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana.

The 100th anniversary of the abolition of Indian indentureship is a fitting recognition and honoured tribute to those who made the hazardous journey, endured unexpected hardships and achieved beyond expectations. The descendants of Indian indentureship have achieved through hard work, thrift and resilience, and progressed in all segments of society in their countries of birth, as well as in countries of adoption by those who have made second journeys.

Indian heritage is a powerful asset in the Indian diaspora that some other colonial powers marginalized persons of Indian origin curbing cultural observances and by making it difficult to maintain cultural traditions; despite such efforts, those Indians persevered and sought more to preserve and protect Indian by culture, heritage and values, and survived and remained vibrant.

Indian heritage has undoubtedly influenced our lives and in time, we have also influenced the lives of others (non-Indians) in our midst. Visible examples include Gadar movement spawned and encouraged others in diaspora countries in their struggle for their independence; Gandhi as model of tolerance and perseverance for those seeking peace,

civil rights and equality in U.S.A., South Africa and other countries; celebration and general acceptance of Holi (Phagwah) and Diwali by non-Indians.

Courage, reliance, determination, thrift and hard work, competitiveness, faith reverence and respect – hallmarks of “Indianness” derived from culture, heritage and values that are maintained, nurtured and remain with us beyond the shores of India. As a precaution, it behoves us to take steps to promote and preserve Indian culture, heritage and values among the younger generation in the diaspora who could be easily swayed by the influences of technology, mobility and inter-marriage - lest the diaspora wanes in these attributes that are serving it well.

The Indian Diaspora Council, in collaboration with its global affiliates and many prominent and well established organizations and institutions in various countries, is coordinating a series of high profile global events to mark the centennial of abolition of Indian indentureship befitting of this historic occasion. The big finale is the Indian Diaspora World Convention 2017, a series of events marking the 100th anniversary commemoration of abolition of Indian indentureship,from March 17 to March 20, 2017 in Trinidad & Tobago.

The convention’s theme is "Centennial of Abolition of Indian Indentureship: End of an Era of Indian Migration &

Indian Arrival Monument in Trinidad

Embarking on New Frontiers and Achievements”. Events are planned for India, Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Netherlands, France and UK. This historic milestone in the journey of people of Indian origin who left India generations ago is another significant marker of their journey to other lands seeking better livelihoods. In recognition of this milestone, a commemoration monument is to be unveiled on March 20, 2017 in the City of Chaguanas in Trinidad & Tobago. This monument would be following the

highly acclaimed Kolkata Memorial, Kolkata, India (2011) in recognition of all of those who left India as indentures during the period 1834-1917; Indian Arrival Monuments in Highbury and Monument Gardens in Georgetown, Guyana (1913); Indian Arrival Monument at Waterloo-by-the-Sea in Trinidad & Tobago on May 29, 2014; and several similar markers in Mauritius, Reunion Island, Guadeloupe and other countries impacted by Indian indentureship.

We are always reminded of the Indian indenturedlabourers and their pioneering spirit, determination, persis-

Highbury monument in Berbice

tence and endurance under extremely harsh conditions.

While survival must have been the primary concern, they persevered to maintain their sense of origin, traditions, culture and religion.

Their children, grandchildren and following generations will always take pride in this unique accomplishment, recognizing and appreciating the sacrifices and achievements made on their behalf. We also recognize the invaluable contributions they have made to the diverse culture and economic development of these many lands far away from their ancestral home.

On Indian Arrival Day 2015 in Guyana, I remarked that “our ancestors came here partially by choice, many forced but resolved and persevered under very difficult and harrowing conditions. That shared experience, that saga of shared history, fostered an unusual kindred spirit of resolve, togetherness and kinship – a triumph over obstacles and difficulties with dreams and aspirations of a destiny intertwined by history and fate. We pay homage to those who came before us – from Kolkata, Madras, Madeira, Macao, Gambia and Congo. We have roots in India, Africa, China, Portugal and the Americas, yet we have nurtured stronger roots here, moulded in this land, from whence the descendants have gone to other lands and established themselves with remarkable successes. Such is the special nature of a Guyanese – making it better with each journey, looking for opportunities and excelling in pursuits”.

guyanatimesgy.com

MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine

3

Times Feature

I

t’s an interesting footnote that the end of Indian indentureship had its genesis in the politics of India rather than any struggle in the countries to which Indians had been shipped since 1834. The governments of those colonies were all heavily influenced by their sugar planters who desperately wanted an uninterrupted supply of the indentured to continue depressing wages.

In fact, after immigration ended in Guyana in 1917, the government and planters sent a delegation of Guyanese-Indian leaders to India to solicit support for a new scheme to supply cheap labour.

In India, the Indian National Congress (INC) had been formed in 1885 by British and Indian members of the Theosophical Society to encourage “dialogue” between “educated” Indians and the Indian Government.

According to an 1832 policy enunciated by Macaulay, the “education” promised to create “brown Englishmen”.

The graduates assumed they would be treated like white Englishmen individually; and collectively, as members of the British Empire.

Consequently, they soon argued for Swaraj for India along the lines accorded to Australia and South Africa.

The gap between the

O

ctober 2 is Gandhi’s birthday. When you can refer to someone by just his last name and yet most people in the world know who you are referring to, there has to be good reason. Most know Gandhi because of his introduction of “civil disobedience” – he called it satyagraha or “truth force” – as a form of struggle for justice.

He is also associated with the struggle for India’s independence, which was a seminal event for all the other British colonies, including the then British Guiana.

But not so well known is that Gandhi was also associated with the events that led to the abolition of indentureship as is alluded to in the previous article. Gandhi had been hired as a lawyer by a wealthy businessman in South Africa (SA), part of a 5,000-strong mostly Muslim community that had migrated there from Bombay.

This community stayed aloof from the “indentured Indians” who were recruited to work on plantations –- or

Labourers on a sugar estate (Circa 1905)

promise and the reality, however, precipitated a split of the INC in 1905 between “Moderates”, led by Gokhale – who continued to “believe”, and “Extremists” led by Tilak who didn’t.

Indentured Indians entered the picture through the backdoor when Gandhi, who had gone as a lawyer to South Africa in 1893 in the employ of some Gujrati merchants, was unceremoniously kicked off a train for believing he could travel first class like whites.

It was only gradually after the indentured spontaneously joined Gandhi’s pro-

test that the latter’s eyes opened up to the plight of the former: rather not being treated like whites, their very humanity was denied.

As racism was exposed through its extreme “apartheid” form a hundred years later, South Africa helped to make more “educated” Indians in India aware of their naïveté in aspiring to be “British”, through information supplied by Gandhi, who was in touch with Gokhale.

Ironically, Gandhi accepted a system in which white British persons were seen as being “better” than

Indians, who were to be loyal “helpers”.

Gokhale initially saw indentureship as hindering Indians being accepted as British because the “coolies” were not distinguished from “other” (read “educated”) Indians. He sought amelioration of the conditions under which the coolie laboured and only called for the abolition of indentureship to Natal as a tactical measure, after the government of Natal imposed restrictions on the movement of “free” Indians. Abolition there was achieved in 1911.

In 1912 Gokhale ex-

in the case of South Africa – also in the mines – except to sell them “goods”.

These two sets of Indians occupied separate worlds – socially, culturally and politically – and it was only when the two intersected through personal experiences of Gandhi that their commonality of interests was briefly glimpsed.

We have recounted how Gandhi was thrown off a train at the insistence of a white Briton shortly after his arrival in South Africa.

The newly minted Londontrained lawyer insisted as a “British subject”, he had the right to the first class seat he had bought. These and other actions problematized Gandhi’s assumptions about what he had been taught about the “benefits” of India being in the British Empire.

Shortly after the train humiliation, Gandhi encountered the indentured world. As he recounted it: “A Tamil man in tattered clothes, headgear in hand, two front teeth missing and mouth bleeding, stood before

me, trembling and weeping.”

And elsewhere the “hat in hand” anecdote is repeated – clearly as a trope for his shaken premise on “Britishness”: “…

Balasundaram entered my office, headgear in hand.

There was a particular pathos about the circumstance which also showed our humiliation. I have already narrated the incident when I was asked to take off my turban. A practice had been forced upon the very indentured labourer and every stranger to take off his headgear, when visiting European, whether the headgear was a cap, turban or scarf wrapped round the head. A salute even with both hands was not sufficient.”

Balasundaram’s case exposed the inequities indentured endured even though they were supposedly protected by a contract – the “agreement” they tried to uphold from their side scrupulously. Eventually after a great effort Gandhi gets Balasundaram transferred

to another employer but now understood how SA’s institutions such as the magistracy were stacked against the indentured.

In 1896 on a visit to Bombay, Gandhi produced a 15,000-word tract on the problems of Indians – merchants, free and indentured in South Africa. He complained bitterly that the Bombay merchants are called “Coolie Traders” and not treated much better than the indentured. He earned some notoriety from the whites when he returned to SA but at the same time much goodwill from the indentured Indians.

Between 1907 when Gandhi launched his first satyagraha campaign to 1914 when he left South Africa, even though most of the issues were peripheral to their plight, indentured Indians formed the bulk of the protesters. As recounted before, he provided his mentor Gokhale in the Indian Legislative Council with information on the conditions in South Africa. In 1912,

tended his call to the entire system of Indentureship and other members of the Congress, such as Madan Mohan Malaviya took up the cause. By this time, the harsh conditions in other colonies, especially in Fiji, were made known in India, and the “ban on indentureship” became a nationwide cause célèbre.

In fact, it was the one issue that brought together the two factions of Congress and also the Muslim League, under Mohamed Ali Jinnah, which had also withdrawn.

For one brief historical moment, Indian indentured

labour brought modern Indians in India together.

On March 20, 1916, after Gokhale had passed away and Gandhi returned to India (both in 1915), Malaviya introduced a motion in the Indian Legislature for the cessation of indentureship. Governor General Hardinge agreed in principle but the India Office back in Britain, under Chamberlain balked. He insisted that a new method of supplying labour to the colonies had to be found.

By this time, however, most ships ferrying the indentured had been commandeered to the (WWI) war effort and the recruitment was also competing with enlistment efforts of the Indian army. Already under fire for a bungled campaign by that Indian-dominated army in Mesopotamia, Chamberlain did not want to face further attacks from the Government of India.

On March 12, 1917, he authorised the Government of India to issue orders under the Defence of India Act to stop recruitment, and the same day an order was made in the Legislative Council.

Two weeks earlier, the last ship, the SS Ganges had sailed to British Guiana and Trinidad. On Jan 1, 1920, the system was abolished completely.

Gandhi as a young lawyer in South-Africa, 1906

the latter called for the complete abolition of indentureship. When this was finally achieved in 1917, Gandhi suggested that satyagraha had “hastened the end”.

These has been a steady stream of revisionist accounts of Gandhi’s life – including his 21-year stay in South Africa – especially as they relate to Gandhi’s relations with both inden-

tured Indians and Native Africans. But we have to remember that while Gandhi was ahead of his times on human rights in many regards – we cannot judge him totally by present standards.

He was a “Mahatma” – a great Soul – not a Paramatman – the Supreme Soul.

4

Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

MARCH 5, 2017

Times Feature

Guyana’s stamps

With the 1838 arrival of the first East Indian labourers from India – more widely known then as the “Gladstone coolies” under the system of indentureship, Guyana’s political, social, cultural and economic landscape was forever altered and transformed.

The system of indentureship lasted until 1917, some 100 years ago, when it was abolished and the East Indian presence became permanently established by those who chose to remain on and whose foreparents had chosen to remain on what was then the colony of British Guiana.

Since their arrival, East Indians have faced many challenges to their economic, political and individual

security to become of significant importance to now independent Guyana. Today, many descendants of East Indian indentured immigrants have found an illustrious place in Guyana’s history.

Indeed, the East Indians have helped provide a unique Guyanese culture that has been commemorated in many ways over the years. One such way is on national stamps of Guyana.

As we observe the centenary of the abolition of indentureship, we look at Guyana stamps that have been issued to acknowledge East Indians of Guyana and their culture.

Observing the anniversary of the Islamic Qur’an (1968)

G

uyana’s stamps feature both East Indian personalities of great significance as well as East Indian religious festivals. In addition, stamps reflecting the India Motherland have also been issued.

During the colonisation of Guyana by Britain, no stamps were printed to depict the East Indian presence – perhaps one can argue though that the 1954 British Guiana six and eight cents stamps, illustrating the rice industry and sugar industry respectfully, reflected the importance of the now traditional East Indian agricultural contribution.

It would not be until three years after Guyana’s 1966 independence that the East Indian presence was recognized with four 1969 stamps depicting the East Indian Hindu festival of Phagwah, in six-cent, 25, 30 and 40-cent denominations.

The stamps are said to be two different illustrations of “Lord Krishna celebrating the festival with gopis” in 6 and 30-cent and 30 and 40cent pairs. (The gopis are a group of cow herding girls renowned within Vaishnava Theology for their unconditional devotion (Bhakti) to Krishna as described in the stories of Bhagavata Purana and other Puranic literatures, according to one source).

However, it may also be argued that the 1968 “Al Qur’an” stamp (six cents), which commemorated the 1400th anniversary of the Holy Quran of the Muslim religion, may represent the first acknowledgement of an East Indian presence, since many East Indian Muslim workers arrived in Guyana during the indentureship period – though scholars do point out that some African slaves may have had an Islamic heritage when they were forced into slavery and shipped to then British Guiana generations earlier.

In 1972, five-cent, 25, 30 and 60-cent “Youman Nabi” stamps in observance of the birthday of the Muslim Prophet Muhammed were issued, again apparently in recognition of the predominantly East Indian Muslim population in Guyana.

Then in 1976, in honouring the Hindu religious festival of Deepavali (Diwali), four stamps were issued.

The 8-cent stamp depicted “Flame in Archway”; the 15-cent a “Flame in hand” and the 35-cent “Flame in a Diya”; the “Goddess Latchmi” was illustrated on the 60-cent stamp in the final of the four-series issue.

Guyana has always is-

Commemorating Phagwah (1969)

sued stamps of famous persons, from presidents to famous personalities in Guyana and around the world. However, especially in the earlier years, stamps depicting famous East Indian Guyanese were few to none.

There was a 1969, sixcent Guyana stamp of the

Trade Union founder Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow (1979).

It wasn’t until 1993 that significant Indian Guyanese were honoured by the Guyana Post Office.

Guyanese statesman Sir Shridath Ramphal received the Order of the Caribbean Community, and in November a $7.65

Guyana stamp featuring cricket star Shivnarine Chandrapaul (2011)

world-revered Indian social activist Mahatma Gandhi – “Gandhi and the Spinning wheel”, celebrating the birth centenary of Gandhi.Many other world famous nonGuyanese have since been featured on Guyana stamp issues. The few Guyanese include former president Burnham (from 1970) and

stamp in his honour was issued, “First Recipients of the Order of the Caribbean Community”.

Sir Shridath was again featured in a 1994 stamp for the Order of the Caribbean Community.In Dec 1993, the now late President Cheddi Jagan received his first illustration on a Guyana

stamp; the $6.40 stamp was issued in commemoration of his first anniversary as president, after the 1992 general elections that brought him to rule.

President Jagan was also featured in 1997 in commemorative editions of the 50th anniversary of Jagan in Parliament ($6) and with former American President Clinton on the latter’s visit to the Caribbean that same year ($30 and $100).

Others stamps to follow are sparse and few between but include world famous West Indian cricketer: Guyanese batsman Rohan Kanhai in 1993 ($50) and in the year 2000 ($100). Later Indo-Guyanese batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was honoured with a $100 stamp issued in 2011.

In 1995, as the Queenstown Jama Masjid celebrated its centenary, a$60 stamp picturing the mosque was issued.

Then in 2014, Indian Guyanese Sandra Persaud was one of several Guyanese women featured in a “Women in Aviation” Guyana stamp issue. Persaud, who joined the aviation industry in 1973, was depicted in the $80 stamp and with another female Guyanese, Paula McAdams, on the $150 edition.

Guyana also featured a “Sites and Scenes” of India stamp edition in 2011 that illustrates religious, historical and natural places of the ancestors of the East Indian Guyanese today; people who brought a proud and rich heritage thousands of miles to leave in the care of descendants who remain steadfast to their culture.

For more information on this stamp theme or topic, go online or visit the Guyana Post Office or the Guyana Philatelic Society or its website.

Honouring the religious festival of Diwali (1976)

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MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine 5

Times Feature

Savitri's 'gudna' is of her husband's name

W

hen our Indian ancestors came to Guyana as indentured labourers, they brought with them age-old traditions that were passed down from generation to generation. Locally, most of these traditions are dying off, so there is a need to learn and record these ancient customs today.

One such dying tradition in Guyana is the gudna. For hundreds if not thousands of years, India has maintained a rich cultural heritage of tattooing, called gudna, (which translates “burying the needle”) in Hindi.

Although the exact date of the history of tattooing art in India has not been established due to lack of records on the custom, information as far back as 1910 suggests that tattooing was popular from Punjab to Assam to Madhya Pradesh to Orissa to the states down south.

To find out more about this ancient tradition of tattooing for married women, Sunday Times Magazine interviewed 75-year-old Savitri Bisram who resides in Herstelling, East Bank Demerara. She proudly showcased her gudna, as

Savitri with her husband and relatives on her wedding day

she called it, to this publication.

Savitri said she got married when she was 17 years old; an arranged marriage.

She recalled not being afraid to get married to a man chosen by her parents, nor did she object to the arrangement because, according to her: “...what your parents tell you to do you have to follow”.

Her husband died in 1976, and Savitri never remarried. She raised their eight children alone – the oldest is now about 54 years old. Viewing her reaction to the question of remarriage was admirable. It was an unthinkable question to her because “You marry one person only”.

The gudna embedded on Savitri’s inner right arm displays a greeting in Hindi and ‘Bisram’, her late husband’s name, just under it.

She recalled getting it when she got married and came to her husband’s home. She noted that the gudna is specifically done by a Hindu religious man.

Though she cannot recall who told her she must get a gudna, she remembers seeing it on the hands of females in her family, includ-

ing her mother and motherin-law. Savitri was told that if she did not get the gudna, then her in-laws would not eat or drink from her. She added that it was a sign of respect and commitment to her husband.

Sunday Magazine also spoke to Judith Deosarran, who is a Christian but grew up in a Hindu household.

She said that her “grand father-in-law”, who came to British Guiana from India to work as an indentured servant, did not accept food served by her because she does not have a gudna.

However, he would still eat what she cooked, but took it out himself. She said he did not tell her the reason for his refusal, but “older people” told her the reason is she does not have a gudna.

Judith disclosed she never liked how a gudna looked (seeing it on her mother’s hand) and so decided not to get one.

Guyanese-American journalist/author Gaiutra Bahadur, who penned “Coolie Woman”, recalled on her website cooliewoman. com that she met “a woman nearly a century old, born to indentured parents in plantation barracks in Guiana”

who told her about “a tattoo that new brides were inked with in northeast India, called Sita ki Rasoi, or “Sita’s Kitchen”.

“She told me that she couldn’t cook for her in-laws without it. And sure enough, “The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India: Volume 2”, an ethnography written in 1896, confirmed that brides in northeast India could not cook for their in-laws without being inked with the tattoo.

That the practice continued for generations in the Caribbean, far from the villages where it began, speaks to an enduring cultural commitment to family and tradition. Apparently, the subaltern body could speak, in the case of indentured women. Their vow of housewifely devotion was written on their very bodies,” Bahadur explained.

From speaking to several other older women, it seems that in Guyana the tradition of tattooing a husband’s name/initials on a married Indian (Hindu) woman’s arms is solely known as gudna. Anything other than husbands’ names/initials are simply known as “tattoos”.

Savitri Bisram proudly shows off her 'gudna'

6 Sunday Times Magazine

MARCH 5, 2017

guyanatimesgy.com

Times Book World The Shaping of Guyanese Literature

By Petamber Persaud

Centennial End to Indentureship

Part IV

(“Centenary History of the East Indians of British Guiana, 18381938”, by Peter Ruhomon with a Foreword by then Governor, Sir Gordon Lethem, first published in 1947 by the Daily Chronicle’s ‘Guiana Edition’, reprinted in 1988 by the 150th Anniversary Committee of the Arrival of Indian in Guyana May 5, 1838.)

T

he “Centenary History of East Indians of British Guiana” covers the hundred-year period from 1838 – the beginning of indentureship in Guyana - to 1938 when the centenary of the arrival was celebrated with much pomp and dignity.

According to Ruhomon “the celebration was …marked with the pomp and circumstance befitting the occasion and the great event it was intended to commemorate.” Although there was no public holiday, despite efforts to obtain public recognition, activities were centred in the city and around the country.

“The first event of the day took place in the spacious pavilion of the East Indian Cricket Club…” presided over by Governor Sir Wilfred Jackson who, in his remarks, declared “that the advent of the East Indian settler had been a decisive factor in determing (sic) the lines of development and thus shaping the destiny of the Country”.

was some seventeen years in the making indicates the thoroughness with which the author approached the task, taking pains to avoid pitfalls that plagued historians before him.

Ruhomon was always questioning the text and so he was able to find answers that were deliberately hidden. In his introduction he declared “as I peered into the musty records of the past, the drama slowly unfolded before my eyes in all its luridness and vividness of details; with the tragic happenings that have punctuated the course of our long and chequered history, our aspirations and strivings through cloud and sunshine, through hopes and despairs, through joys and sorrows; the influences that operated to shape our life as a community; and present position in which we now find ourselves and our prospects in the great future that lies ahead of us”.

The-then Governor of the colony, Sir Gordon Lethem, was in full support of the work as he declared in the foreword:“… the compilation of the historical facts recorded in his book is the result of praiseworthy employment of much of his leisure time”. Sir Lethem in that foreword made a magnanimous observation that “Mr. Ruhomon’s book…should be a useful addition to the literature of British Guiana and especially to that section relating to the Indians of British Guiana which up to now has not received the attention The hundred-year-period history included the end of indentureship in 1917 with the recording of events adjourned at the year 1938 but not before the author was able to lay the foundation of an exciting future as alluded to in the book’s final chapter titled, ‘The Close of a Century’ where the “people who from the toil and moil of a new slavery had emerged into the light of a new day”!

The ‘new day’ unfolded in academic texts and fictional accounts published by writers after 1947.

A few of the scholarship on the Indian presence in Guyana would include “The Weston Trial” by Dr. Cheddi Jagan, first published by Michael Joseph Limited, London in 1966;“A Historyof Indians in British Guiana” by Dwarka Nath, London 1970; “Indiansin Guyana” by Basdeo Mangru, Adams Press, Chicago, Illinois 2000;“Tigerin the Stars, The Anatomy of Indian Achievement in BG 1919 -1929”, by Clem Seecharan, Macmillan Education Ltd., 1997;“The Settlementof Indians in Guyana 1890 – 1930”

by Dale Bisnauth, Peepal Tree Press, 2000, and others. So Ruhomon’s book is a seminal work in this area of study.

This history by Peter Ruhomon is a well-researched work evidenced in the details with whichissues are ventilated and supported by official records. That it

from the literati of the Colony which is deserves”.

It was not until the 1960s that we see works of fictional and autobiographical representations of Indo-Guyanese lives written by Indo-Guyanese. Before then we had nothing giving us an insight into the inner feelings, ways of seeing or even the intimate social texture of Indo-Guyanese lives.

The book is made up of twenty-three chapters, a preface to the second printing, a foreword, an introduction, a few illustrations and photographs and an index, designed to satisfy the lay reader’s search for the facts and to inspire the academics to further scholarship.

Although each chapter is important to the whole, some chapters could stand on their own like ‘Emancipation and its effects on the labour situation’, ‘Plantation life’, ‘Land settlements’, ‘The Rice Industry’, ‘Political awakening’, ‘Social Movements’ and ‘Tragic events of the century’ tabulating Indian resistance, all of which were designed for us to appreciate the Indian presence in Guyana.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com What’s Happening: Coming soon a new pocketbook “Guyanese Writers of Indian Ancestry”

guyanatimesgy.com

MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine 7

Times Feature

Centennial of the Abolition of Indian Indentureship

Endings are also beginnings

A

long-standing debate about freedom and equality shaped the official decisions that ended indentured labour.

Judgments about the conditions of indentured labour could not help but be affected by the changing consensus about what legitimately constituted free labour in other contexts. Conditions conceived as "free labour" in one time and place were denounced as "slavery" at a later time or another place.

To be sure, changing perceptions were strongly influenced by the grim realities of some systems of indentured labour.However, the final end of the indentured labour migrations was not simply the result of its perception as an unacceptable limitation of human freedom.

The rise of strong expressions of nationalism in China and India also served to hasten the end of inden-

Principal overseas indentured migrations, 1834-1919 (routes approximate)

tured labour.

Like the abolition of slavery in British colonies eight decades earlier, the

cessation of indentured labour from British India was achieved through a combination high idealism and

BG Ball Field, British Guiana. Atkinson Field Service Club in background (Family - Wallace in the Army 1945 to 1946)

Roadside market at a Demerara sugar estate n.d.

practical politics. This does not diminish the lustre of either accomplishment.

But it would be equally wrong to ignore many other instances where high-minded rhetoric about the end of indentured labour masked a racist agenda.

By the beginning of the twentieth century the growing numbers of non-Europeans out of indenture and their competition for jobs brought the governments of these now hybrid societies to adopt overtly racialist labour and immigration policies.

One trend was to restrict the ability of end-of-term non-European migrants to compete politically and economically with European settlers by limiting their legal status and numbers.

In late nineteenth-century Queensland debate about the morality of indentured labour went hand in hand with the promotion of European labour at the expense of Pacific islanders.

Consideration of the changing economic conditions also serves to diminish the lustre of an explanation of the end of indentured labour that relies too much on reform as a motive.

In the midst of the sugar crisis of the 1890s a major British commission, voicing concern that the continued importation of indentured Indian labour to British Guiana and Trinidad could impose a heavy burden on colonial treasuries for their repatriation if the economy eroded any further, recommended the phasing out of new imports, especially in light of the substantial populations the trade had built up there.

The fact that Indian labour imports were already

declining in several overseas locations (and had even ceased in Mauritius) made it much easier for the forces favouring the trade's abolition to succeed.

The long-term cultural and demographic effects of indentured migration varied greatly. In some places the migrants' influence declined quickly after the trade ended.In some places, indentured migrants and their descendants blended into other population groups.

If the vitality of migrant groups diminished in some lands, in many others their presence remained evident to even the most casual observer. East Indians replaced Africans as the largest part of the population in British Guiana, Mauritius, Reunion, and Dutch Guiana, in time becoming the majority in the first three.

In 1871 there were nearly 17,000 unindentured Indians resident in Trinidad (61 per cent of the Indian community), 10,000 in British Guiana (23 per cent), and 134,000 in Mauritius (61 per cent).

By 1910-11 the number of Indians not under indenture had grown to 96,000 in Trinidad (89 per cent), almost 118,000 in British Guiana (93 per cent), and 258,000 in Mauritius (100 per cent).

In all three colonies, most Indians remained rural residents, working on their own or other persons' land. Even in the early 1960s, 87 per cent of Indians in British Guiana were rural as were 80 per cent of the Hindus and 57 per cent of the Indo-Muslims of Mauritius, far higher than other segments of these populations.

This situation reflected the Indians' strong preference for becoming rural landowners as well as their more limited opportunities for advancement in these colonies.

Moreover, Indian communities did not consider schools as means of social mobility until well into the twentieth century.The explanation partly reflects the absence of a literate tradition among most Indian migrants,who, as rural residents, also had limited access to schools.

Cultural differences seem to have played an important role as well: long after the end of indenture most Indians remained aloof from both European and African cultures and tended to define career aspirations within the limits of caste status.

Compared with East Asian migrants, both Hindu and Muslim Indians seem to have been more fearful of the cultural destructiveness of the Christian-dominated educational systems in their new homes.

While the new Asian communities differed substantially in the direction and speed of their cultural evolution, they nevertheless shared some common features. All formed part of distinctly "plural societies," societies with sharply denned communities distinguished by "racial" and ethnic identities and, less rigidly, by cultural norms. Naturally, degrees of cleavage varied.

Contrasts within Indian communities were notable.Even closely situated Indian communities in the Caribbean developed in quite different ways, often in complete ignorance of each other's existence.

V. S. Naipaul, himself descended from indentured Indian migrants to Trinidad, expressed great surprise at learning during a 1961 visit to Martinique that there had been a large indentured Indian migration there in the nineteenth century (of whose descendants only four or five thousand remained).

Another way to assess the legacy of indentured migration is to consider what replaced it as a labour system. As with the legacy of the migrants themselves, this is a vast subject. Like the end of slavery, the end of indentured labour was less a sharp break with the past than a redirecting of the forces that produced it under a new legal mandate in a partially altered economy.

The demand for migrant labour was certainly not over, though in many of the largest importing colonies the indentured migration had created a sufficient demographic base.

[In the 20th century] The demand for guest workers has been a feature of maturing industrial economies and of modern agrobusiness, sometimes with patterns of ill-treatment reminiscent of indentured labour.

Indentured migrants' motives in emigrating, the voyages that carried them, and their struggles to establish a new life once their contract was over, do resemble those of “free” migrants and deserve to be included in that larger story.

(From: “Indentured labour in the age of imperialism, 1834-1922” by David Northrup. 1995) (Cover

photo: In rememberance of those who crossed the Kala Pani and never returned)

8 Sunday Times Magazine

guyanatimesgy.com

MARCH 5, 2017

Times Feature

T

he late Lakshmi Kallicharan was a Guyanese of East Indian descent who transcended racial boundaries to see Guyanese culture as a national whole rather than “Indian”, “African”, “Indigenous” “Chinese”, “Portuguese” or “Mixed” divisions of ethnicity, despite her own steadfast adherence to her East Indian heritage.

An expert in IndoGuyanese culture, Lakshmi Kallicharan was also extremely knowledgeable about Indo-Guyanese history, and became one of the premier minds in Guyana at the time; one to whom many turned to learn of the IndoGuyanese experience.

With a degree in sociology from the University of Guyana where she had

worked as a librarian, she is also described as a researcher and cultural pioneer.

Her contribution to Indian cultural awareness began in the 1970s with her first show “Lalla-Rookh”, (the name of the heroine in a romance book by Thomas Moore (1817) of the same name, and also the name of a ship that carried Indian indentured immigrants to

Suriname in 1873).

She sometimes singlehandedly produced Indian cultural shows; particularly remembered is her one-woman cultural exhibition in the 1980 commemorations for Indian indentureship.

She organized a unique photographic exhibition on Indo-Guyanese artefacts and history. All this at a time in Guyanese history when Indian culture and heritage were not socially encouraged.

Ms Kallicharan would become a talented radio and television producer and also organized Indian dance and musical entertainment concerts.

She is remembered by some for introducing Guyana’s national Chutney competition during the Mashramani season. She is also remembered for a controversy – of a former minister’s making however– when he requested that she develop a strategy for IndoGuyanese inclusion in the season, on the premise that they were to some extent excluded from the celebrations.

Lakshmi Kallicharran was involved in IndoGuyanese literature as well, penning an anthology of Indo-Guyanese poetry in her 1986 publication “Shraadanjali” (meaning “Tributes”) along with co-editing “They Came in Ships” (1998) with Ian McDonald, Lloyd Searwar and the late Joel Benjamin. A book, also an anthology, on IndoGuyanese poetry and prose, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of the arrival of East Indians in Guyana.

For many, Lakshmi Kallicharran was also instrumental in bringing awareness and pride to Hindu religion and culture, wearing her traditional saris and similar ethnic wear to national events, both formal and informal; defying and overturning western-grown ideas of a shameful, “primitive” or “pagan” heritage.

But she was also noted for her dedication to ensuring all Guyanese understood and appreciated their multiculturalism.

Writing for her obituary, Professor Vibert Cambridge of the School of Telecommunication and African American Studies at Ohio University noted: that “Central to the development of my appreciation for Guyana's multiculturalism is Laxhmie Kallicharran.”

He recalled too that while working as an education officer at the Kimbia Training Centre in 1976, Ms Kallicharan arrived to evaluate the books in the library there; according to Dr Cambridge, “She wanted to see if our collection was representative of Guyana's her-

Laxhmie Kallicharran (Photo: Queens Chronicle)

itage and was supportive of the nation's ambitions for the future.”

Lakshmi Kallicharan was not only a cultural activist but an independent woman who, in her teenage years was said to be seen driving her family’s Austin Mini Minor in an era when women drivers were scarce because of limiting social restrictions for women and young girls.

A later divorcee, she is said to have credited her individuality to a grandmother who lived on her own at a time when such a single life would have been frowned upon. Ms Kallicharran was also described as a mentor to several persons, both local and overseas.

Born Latchmie Kumarie Vainmati Kallicharran on June 5, 1951, the daughter of a Hindu pandit and a housewife, Lakshmi Kallicharan grew up in Berbice and attended the Berbice Educational Institute in New Amsterdam, before attending UG and working there in the 70s; settling in Georgetown.

Researchers would find various spellings of her name – as no doubt observed as well in this article.

From Latchmie to Laxhmie, Lakshmi, Lachmee or Laxhmi, even the 1998 an-

thology spells her name differently on the cover and in its introduction. Perhaps to some a reflection of the Anglicization of her name and to others the search for authenticity of the Hindu name.

But that in no way detracts from her remarkable life and work in bringing awareness to Indo-Guyanese culture.

In January 2002, Lakshmi Kallicharran died tragically in a fire at her Kitty, Georgetown home.

She was just 50 years old; no doubt too soon for her tasks to have been completed. She was cremated on February 1 after a national funeral service was held at the Umana Yana on Jan 31.

A tribute to honour the “cultural ambassador” was held on Feb 2 at the Shri Trimurti Bhavan in South Ozone Park, New York, USA, where she was wellknown and respected.

Indo-Guyanese and multicultural Guyana have truly lost a cultural icon who must be remembered on this 100th anniversary of the ending of Indian indentureship. A system that led to her gracing us with her life here in Guyana.

guyanatimesgy.com

MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine 9

Times Feature

Recollections of Indentureship

much less clothes?

Incidentally, Britain became the largest drug dealers up to the present, where the opium – up to 800 tons annually – were shipped to China so that the British could buy Chinese tea.

Between the Bengal famine of 1768 and the end of indentureship in 1917, con-

B

Under the British, India suffered countless famines. But the worst hit was Bengal The first of these was in 1770, followed by severe ones in 1783, 1866, 1873, 1892

etween 1838 and 1917, 239,000 Indians were brought as “indentured labourers” for the sugar plantations of Guyana – and a like number to the West Indies. The question arises as to why these persons left their country when their custom forbade “crossing the “Black Waters” (Kala Pani)”. The short answer is structurally, it was ultimately a matter of life and death.

While indentured labour might be seen as a transitory passage of human labour from chattel slavery to the so called “free labour” of today, the conditions that herded Indians into that option were man made. The sugar planters had no faith that free Africans would sell their labour at a rate to make sugar profitable. They therefore actively sought a new supply that would guarantee such cheap labour on demand. But where would such rates that could not attract freed slaves be a “pull factor” for indentureship?

The answer was British India.

The story begins in 1757 when the troops of the British East India Company captured Bengal from the Moguls and completed their inexorable conquest of the legendarily rich India within 50 years. Less than a decade later – between 1768 and 1771 from Bengal andeastern Bihar (from where most Guyanese immigrants originated) – more than 10 million persons: one third of the population – died from a “famine”.

Why? Two reasons.

Firstly, the farmers that supplied the bulk of the population with foodstuff were forced by the British into producing cash crops for export – even while they were forced to pay onerous taxes at the threat of death and violence.

We quote the words of then British Governor, Warren Hastings who boasted to the home office: “Notwithstanding the loss of at least one-third of the

inhabitants of the province, and the consequent decrease of the cultivation, the nett collections of the year 1771 exceeded even those of I768… It was naturally to be expected that the diminution of the revenue should have kept an equal pace with the other consequences of so great a calamity. That it did not was owing to its being violently kept up to its former standard.”

The cash crops the farmers were forced to grow included cotton, opium, indigo and, as described above, this was simply to keep paying off the extortionate demands of the British who exported rice and wheat even during the famines.

Millions were also thrown out of work when the British forbade Indian weavers from producing cotton yarn and the cotton fabrics that had enthralled Europe. Henceforth, only cotton woven by British looms could be sold in India!

Where were the weavers to get the money to buy food

Roadside on a sugar plantation, British Guiana (no date)

servatively, more than 54 million Indians perished from famine. In the book Late Victorian Holocausts (2001) Mike Davis describes how Viceroy Lord Lytton, insisted that wheat be exported to England. In 1877 and 1878, at the height of the famine, when 10.3 million persons perished, grain

merchants exported a record 800,000 tons of wheat and 1.9 million tons of rice.

As the peasants began to starve, officials were ordered “to discourage relief works in every possible way”.

And this is why the upsurge of indentured Indians correlated with the Britishinduced famines.

10 Sunday Times Magazine

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Times Feature

Devendra Bishoo B y R avi M adholall

S

hivnarine Chanderpaul’s auspicious start to international cricket at the famous and now abandoned Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground Bourda in 1994 was a continuation of the Indian’s contribution to both Guyana and West Indies cricket.

After twenty consecutive years, the 42-year-old stalwart Chanderpaul has undoubtedly made Guyana proud. An epic career that was certainly admirable in the coveted maroon colours!

Chanderpaul, the elegant left-hander, surged to one of Guyana’s most distinguished

batsmen to have graced the cricketing field. He joined another man with an illustrious career for Guyana and by extension West Indies, Berbician Rohan Kanhai.

In comparison to Chanderpaul’s talent and his predictable accomplishments, Kanhai’s won the battle of great admirers for his flamboyance and his trademark on-the-back sweep-shot that made him a unique legendary with the display. Kanhai only went about 79 tests whereas Chanderpaul featured in an incredible 164 games.

From the beginning Chanderpaul trekked out as a diminutive batsman only to churn out a debut half-century (62) against the England’s touring side in front of a capacity facility, rich history loomed for him.

They remained two great sons of Guyana’s soil for their exploitations on the cricket field. Their contributions are terrifically wonderful!

Cricket statistics of these two phenomenal Guyanese cricketers speak volume and without a doubt to emulate them will obviously need a herculean task.

When Chanderpaul hit the first triple-century (303*) for Guyana at the annual West Indies Cricket Board regional four-day tournament against traditional Caribbean giant team Jamaica at Sabina Park

Rohan Kanhai

in 1996, he was seen as one of the greatest Guyanese East Indian batsmen to bat with that amount of great application and fortitude.

He was a meticulously prime batsman for Guyana and West Indies, and at that time he resonated to become a leading batsman for the West Indian too.

The man from Unity, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara fortified his dominance as an athlete with tremendous talent.

He shared numerous partnerships for Guyana and West Indies with Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Sarwan, a neater right-handed batsman born in Wakenaam, an Essequibo Island, but honed most of his cricketing skills after his parents decided to move up to Georgetown.

In most of their presence at the crease, both Chanderpaul and Sarwan possessed the qual-

ities to bring home victories on a consummate ease fortunately, Guyanese cricket fanatics saw them on plenty occasions.

Among these three established East Indian Guyanese cricketers, another name that would have brought delight to Guyanese fans was the little left-handed batting star from Berbice, Alvin Kallicharran.

Good thing for Kallicharran he was in the era when the regional side was dominating world cricket, particularly in the game’s longest version.

His 66 test appearances for West Indies placed him in the elite list of East Indian productive cricketers able to represent Guyana at the highest level and more prestigiously West Indies high-profile side.

Alvin grew up in the Ancient County with cricket surrounded him. A cousin of the famous Kanhai and the uncle of former West Indies leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo. All born in Port Mourant, Berbice.

His brother Dereck was equally talented and promising as well but only achieved regional cricket status.

Other Berbician cricketers would have probably inspired by Kallicharran and Kanhai steady selection for Guyana and West Indies and they would have tried with the utmost determination. At least three tests for Leonard Baichan showed that he had also prospered to the ultimate level joining these ranks of Kanhai and Kallicharran.

Faoud Bacchus was a superb talent, and his batting temperament was very indicative of his ability to score runs regularly not only for Guyana but the West Indies team as well.

Bacchus learned most of his game and the techniques of bat-

Ramnaresh Sarwan

ting at GCC and 19 test caps demonstrated his potential.

Like what Kanhai and the late Johnny Teekasingh, a Berbician player in the Colonia British Guiana days, started off most of his cricketing journey at Everest Cricket Club in Georgetown. He spoke enthusiastically about the contribution made by Everest to the success of Guyanese East Indian ballplayers.

Ryan Ramdass was a longtime member of Everest and would have gone on to represent West Indies in test and one-day cricket. He now lives in Toronto Canada, and is currently vying for a spot on the Canadian side. Like the others of Narsingh Deonarine, Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul and Assad Fudadin, they all plied their trade at Everest ground and showcased their talent with runs and wickets in galore.

They have been impressive with their various outings for Guyana.

The British Guiana Agency for indentured labourers at 61 Garden Reach, Calcutta (Kolkata) India

Sunday Times Magazine 11 MARCH 5, 2017

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Star Times Hollywood

K

eanu Reeves is a Canadian actor, producer, and musician.

Reeves is best known for his acting career, beginning in 1985 and spanning more than three decades. He gained fame for his starring role performances in several blockbuster films including comedies from the “Bill and Ted” franchise (1989–1991), action thrillers “Point Break” (1991), “Speed” (1994), the science fictionaction trilogy “The Matrix” (1999–2003) and “John Wick” (2014) and its sequel “John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017). Since becoming active in the film industry, Reeves' abilities have earned critical acclaim. His acting has garnered several awards including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During his film career, Reeves has engaged in several forms of artistic expression. Active as a musician for a decade, he played bass guitar for the bands Dogstar and Becky. Acting onstage, he performed as Prince Hamlet for the Manitoba Theatre Centre's production of “Hamlet”. He wrote the text for a picture book, “Ode to Happiness”, illustrated by Alexandra Grant. He has also produced a documentary, “Side by Side”, and directed the martial arts film “Man of Tai Chi”. Reeves set up a cancer charity, supported PETA, the SickKids Foundation, and Stand Up To Cancer. Reeves is quoted as saying: “Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I have already made for the next few centuries.”

12 Sunday Times Magazine

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MARCH 5, 2017

Times Hollywood

Rihanna honoured with Humanitarian Award at Harvard R

ihanna took a trip to Harvard to accept the university's 2017 Humanitarian Award.

Looking delighted to be there to accept the accolade, the singer rocked a super chic off-the-shoulder grey ensemble featuring a cool dress and matching kneehigh boots.

Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, presented Rihanna with the award for her work with the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship scheme, which helps young children pursue their education in the Caribbean, and for her collaboration with Global Partnership for Education and the Global Citizen Project.

Addressing the audience at Harvard, Rihanna said: "You don’t have to be rich to be a humanitarian. You don’t have to be rich to help somebody. You don’t gotta be famous. You don’t even have to be college-educated.

I mean, I wish I was... especially today... It’s true, I might come back."

She continued: "When I was 5 or 6 years old, I remember watching TV and I would see these commercials and I was watching other children suffer in other parts of the world... I

would say to myself, ‘When I grow up and get rich, I’m going to save kids all over the world.’ I just didn’t know I’d be in the position to do that when I was a teenager."

(Glamour)

Chris Brown struggles with fatal drug addiction

C

hris Brown has been dealing with legal issues for his abusive and disturbing behavior in the last few years. And now those closest to the 27-yearold singer including his friends as well as his current and former employees have finally opened up about his "downward spiral" amidst his beef with ex Karrueche Tran.

In recent interviews with Billboard, they claimed Chris had been struggling with fatal drug addiction.

The "Forever" hitmaker, who recently announced his 33-dated ambitious spring tour "Party", had a tendency toward self-medication and had neglected to treat his bipolar disease for at least a year.

Chris would sometimes stay awake for as many as three days in a row while snorting coke and "dabbling in" Xanax, molly and lean.

"You didn't know how he was going to wake up," revealed a member of his security. "Were you going to

get cool Chris? Or depressed or artsy and focused Chris, who would be very productive? Or the happy-go-lucky Chris, who would just joke around and have fun? It was a different person every day."

Chris' mentally unstable reactions and abusive behaviors affect his friends and associates. But he allegedly refuses to change his lifestyle. "He's not doing the things he needs to do to get well, so he's never going to

Katy Perry on Orlando Bloom split: ‘No one’s a victim or a villain’

Ed Sheeran says he once hit Justin Bieber with a golf club

E

d Sheeran reveals he once smashed fellow musician Justin Bieber in the face with a golf club during an outing in Japan. In an interview with The Guardian, the "Shape of You" hitmaker says he was drinking with the Canadian

singer when they decided to head out to a golf course.

"We were in Japan. We'd been out to a dive bar," Ed began. "He just drank water and I got hammered," he explained. "Then we went to a golf course, and he lay on the floor and put a golf ball

in his mouth and told me to hit it out of his mouth. I was like, '…I need to aim this properly,' and I swung."

The 23-year-old British singer continued, "You know in films when someone gets punched, and you hear that fake sound, like a slap? But in real life when someone gets punched, you hear that dull thud, a bit sickening? I heard a sound like the last one."

Ed went on saying that Justin's security guard was shocked upon learning what happened. "I'd cracked Justin Bieber right in the cheek with a golf club," he shared before revealing that he had been doing a lot less drinking these days.

(AceShowbiz)

be well. The kid is going to hit rock bottom," a former member of Brown's inner circle revealed.

"He will cuss you out and say, 'Hey, man, I'm functioning. I'm going to get the work out.' And he does," a current member of the "Loyal" singer's team said. "But [he's not] the first functional star who thinks they can handle those powerful drugs. I got to say with all my heart, he's dancing with death."

(AceShowbiz)

K

aty Perry and Orlando Bloom may be taking a break from dating, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s bad blood between the two.

In a Twitter post on Thursday, Perry addressed her split from the 40-year-old actor — urging fans not to pit the two against one another.

“HOW BOUT A NEW WAY OF THINKING FOR 2017!?” the singer, 32, wrote. “U can still b friends & love ur former partners! No one’s a victim or a villain, get a life y’all!”

The couple announced on Tuesday that they would be spending some time apart after dating for a little over a year. “Before rumors or falsifications get out of hand, we can confirm that Orlando and Katy are taking respectful, loving space at this time,”

the couple said in a joint statement to PEOPLE. Sources close to Perry and Bloom have spoken to PEOPLE — painting a picture of what led to their breakup.

Though it seemed like Bloom — who brought Perry to the U.K. early on in their relationship to spend time with his family — was committed to a serious relationship with the singer, a source close to the Lord of the Rings star said Thursday he was never planning to settle down long-term with Perry.

“Orlando didn’t want things to get more serious. Lately he acted like he had one foot out the door and Katy picked up on that,” the source said. “He just isn’t ready to be tied down. He went along with their relationship for as long as it was fun.”

On Wednesday, a source close to Perry told PEOPLE echoed those statements, saying the relationship “was never really supposed to be serious” and that as things became “more and more work to make it work,” taking a breather seemed like a natural step. “Because it wasn’t something permanent, it just became time to take a break,” said the Perry source.

Though they may have never intended to get too serious, it sure looked to be where the relationship was going at first. The pair began dating back in January 2016 with a source telling PEOPLE then that they looked “very happy.” (PEOPLE)

Hugh Jackman continues to battle skin cancer H ugh Jackman followed up on his recent skin cancer treatment on Live with Kelly on Thursday, telling the audience that “everything’s fine” with him.

“All good, almost completely healed,” the “Logan” star said after Kelly Ripa asked him how he was faring.

Sporting a small bandage on the tip of his nose, Jackman added, “It’s a basal cell carcinoma, everything’s fine. It is skin cancer but the least dangerous form of it. So

it’s just something I have to get out after being an Aussie with English parents, growing up in Australia, it’s sort of the new normal for me.”

“But everything’s fine,” he insisted. “People have been so lovely, thank you.”

The actor posted a photo in February to share a bandaged post-op photo of himself after being treated for skin cancer on his nose.

“Another basal cell carcinoma,” he captioned the above photo. “Thanks to frequent checks & amazing doctors, all’s well. Looks

worse w the dressing on then off!

WEARSUNSCREEN.” The Golden Globe winner shared some skin care advice on Live, encouraging viewers to “wear sunscreen” and “get a check-up.”

“So here’s the thing: One sunburn, you’re susceptible to cancer.

One. And all of this is 25, 30 years after, the doctor told me,” he said.

“Our rule, as kids, growing up, was you get burned and peel two or three times, then you’re set.”

(PEOPLE)

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MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine 13

Star Times Bollywood

J

onita Gandhi is an Indo-Canadian singer. She sings in English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Kannada prominently. She was born in New Delhi, India, but her parents moved to Canada, where she grew up in Toronto and Brampton. She has participated in concerts with Sonu Nigam in various countries including Russia, UK, US and the Caribbean. After that, she decided to try her fortune in India.

She started her career in the Bollywood music industry.

She was a playback singer with Vishal Shekhar in “Chennai Express”, which starred Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. She continued her work in Bollywood with the movie “Highway”, starring Randeep Hooda and Alia Bhatt, singing the tracks “Kahaan Hoon Main” and “Implosive Silence”. Gandhi's work as a playback singer is not limited to film soundtracks as she has been featured in AR Rahman's album Raunaq as well. In 2017, she received the Female Vocalist of The Year award at Mirchi Music Awards. She recently confirmed that she will be making her acting debut in an Indo-Canadian film.

14 Sunday Times Magazine

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MARCH 5, 2017

Times Bollywood

Anil Kapoor: ‘Indian film industry works S in chaotic way’

‘Sultan’ dominates Zee Cine Awards 2017 nominations alman Khan-starrer “Sultan” is competing in nine categories, including the Best Film, for the Zee Cine Awards 2017 with Akshay Kumar-starrer “Airlift” in tow.

The channel announced its nominations of Jury Awards on Thursday in a statement.

Apart from Best Film, “Sultan” has been nominated in Best Director, Best Actor - Male, Best Actor Female, Best Male Playback Singer, Best Female Playback Singer, Best Music, Best Story and Best Choreography categories.

To ensure fairness in the selection process, Zee has appointed a jury panel consisting of filmmakers Boney Kapoor, Pradeep Sarkar and Tigmanshu Dhulia, cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee, lyricist and playback singer Swanand Kirkire, singer Kavita Krishnamurti

A

nil Kapoor, who made an appearance at the British Film Institute as a special guest last month, says people in the Indian film industry work in a chaotic way. However, he appreciated the incredible level of commitment put into planning and preparations in making films in Britain.

The British Council has launched the UK India Year of Culture, a celebration of the longstanding relationship between India and Britain.

In a conversation with Robin Baker, Head Curator of the British Film Institute, Anil was asked about the key differences between the two film industries.

Anil said, “There is no difference.

Everybody is the same. We work in the same way... same camera. But what I feel... which I must accept is that the commitment, planning and the prep... which I can see when I work with a British team, is incredible.

That’s what we need to learn. We work in a chaotic way, but things are getting better now.”

Further talking about the Indian film industry, he said, “In the 1980s and 1990s, I think we lost our way in the Indian film industry, but the younger generation... with the advent of the digital format, I can see people thinking globally.”

“The world is shrinking. And I am optimistic about a lot of collaborations between the two nations.”

Anil also thanked English filmmakers Danny Boyle and Richard Attenborough

for making Indian actors and culture more acceptable on the global platform. “A lot of British filmmakers have done a lot for India, and made our father of the nation (Mahatma Gandhi) and our culture, all of us... Actors, more acceptable on the global platform,” said the actor, who featured in Boyle’s Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”.

(Excerpted from Hindustan Times)

Amitabh Bachchan: ‘My assets will be divided equally between Shweta and Abhishek’

B

ollywood star Amitabh Bachchan is clearly “Mahanayak” of the century. He floors fans with his performance onscreen and guides thousands towards a better lifestyle at the same time. While he has often championed the cause of the girl child and her importance, Amitabh went a step ahead.

Big B took to Twitter and shared a picture where

he is holding a placard that declares that all his assets shall be divided equally between his daughter and son after his death.

Apart from his frequent social media posts about heartfelt passion for daughters, Amitabh is also hailed as a champion of gender equality ever since his film “Pink”, starring TaapseePannu, impressed critics and fans alike with

the message that stressed the importance of a woman’s consent.

Right before the release of his film in September 2016, Amitabh wrote an open letter to his granddaughters Aradhya Bachchan and Navya Naveli Nanda, urging them to follow their hearts and never bend to social conventions.

(Hindustan Times)

Deepika Padukone: ‘I don’t talk about a film until I know I am doing it’

O

ver the past few months, Deepika Padukone has been busy on multiple fronts including the shooting for film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Padmavati” and whirlwind global promotions of her debut Hollywood film, “xXx: Return Of Xander Cage”. Apart from this, she also made news thanks to rumours about her being part of various films.

“Yes, there have been a lot of speculations as far as my name is concerned in connection with certain films. And I can say that a lot of it is untrue. But fortunately or unfortunately, at this point, I wouldn’t go out of my way to clarify any of those specific rumours,” says Deepika.

In fact, Deepika adds that “sometimes”, she gets to

know about her “association with certain films” when the media asks her about it. “So, suppose, I am at the airport and I am asked, ‘We have heard that you are doing this film.’ And I am like, ‘I am hearing about it for the first time myself. Where has

it [the information] come from?’” she says.

Ask Deepika if rumours of her association with various films gets annoying and she says, “Let me put it this way: it’s disappointing when it’s untrue and especially, if it comes out in a way that’s absolutely contrary to what might be the actual case. But it’s not my place to sit and talk about what happened and why.”

Deepika insists that she “would never talk about films that she is approached for, got a narration for, met the director or if she didn’t like it for whatever reasons.” The actor adds that even if she hasn’t liked a script, “it doesn’t mean that the film isn’t good, it’s just that I didn’t connect with it.” (Hindustan Times)

Subramaniam and sound editor ResulPookutty.

(Excerpted from Hindustan Times)

Sanjay Dutt apologises for bodyguards assaulting reporters

A

gra Cine actor Sanjay Dutt, who is shooting for his comeback movie “Bhoomi”, has apologised for the incident in which his bouncers manhandled media persons. In the film, the actor is playing father to young Aditi Rao Hydari and currently shooting is on in villages on the outskirts.

Addressing a press conference in Agra on Friday, Dutt clarified that he was not present when the alleged brawl took place and had he been there, the incident would have been avert-

ed.

“Had I been there, I would have resolved the matter with a ‘jaadukijhappi’ (magic hug). Yet I ten-

dered an apology yesterday and offer the same again,” said a rather toned down Dutt. (Hindustan Times)

Alia Bhatt speaks out about death threats R eacting to the ‘death threats’ Bhatt family faced recently, Alia Bhatt said that her father Mahesh Bhatt and the police did not give her a chance to panic and added that all are safe and happy now.

“My father (Mahesh Bhatt) and the police did not give me a chance to panic. They just took over. But things have resolved now.

Everyone is safe and happy.

With my father by my side, there is no reason to get scared,” Alia said.

Meanwhile, based on the complaint registered by filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, the Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) has, with the help of Special Task Force (STF) UP Police, identified and detained one person in connection to the threats, yesterday.

The caller had demanded a large amount of money from Bhatt and threatened to kill his daughter Alia and wife Soni Razdan, if the

amount was not given.

Bhatt later took to Twitter and confirmed the news. “A bolt from the blue in the form of an extortion call and threat to my family was nipped in the bud by the MH & UP police in tandem.

Gratitude!” he posted.

Earlier in November 2014, 13 people belonging

to a certain D gang were arrested, who had plotted to eliminate Bhatt and his entire family.

On the work front, Alia is on a promotional spree for her upcoming movie “Badrinath Ki Dulhania”, alongside Varun Dhawan, set to release on March 10.

(New Delhi)

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MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine

15

Times Feature

Pardesi

�

We were on another boat, returning to quench this thirst, utterly alone.

Always a pardesi in speechless contemplation.

Eastern Architecture

Upholding religious heritage

A bird charted its music between us, like a satellite in cosmic range.

A man counted coins in his corner, as if gold measured his reason for leaving.

Ahh, the length and breadth of his contract provided sustenance for awhile.

The granite pace of cloud made my body ache.

I yearn for the spring of liberation to be near Durga .� Again we are on the turbulent sea returning, breath and life to retrace sacred rituals to reinvigorate with mother earth.

Will there be a familiar being to open the gate?

Wet sheets lift and splash and rise and splash again – everything exposed.

Now night storm demands anchorage.

I depart from the land I toiled and return to you like a sojourner swimming across waves of bondage.

Suddenly a shoreline emerges.

At the Depot again, seemingly free, the shrinking sun removes my saffron veil ending a lifetime of plantation labour.

Now I know the impossible dream.

The unimaginable voyage seems worthy of some reward like a conditional greeting guarded with high expectations: Jihaji bhai, from Damra?� Always leaving and returning, I imagine an old acquaintance waiting near the Hugli ,� singing the song of a charioteer I once knew in my childhood.

Perhaps he holds a bowl of water to quench my thirst.

Providence Mandir, EBD (National Trust)

Providence Mandir Described as an eloquent reminder of our Eastern heritage, the Providence Mandir, built in 1932, is a fine example of timber craftsmanship and localized architecture that employs traditional Indian elements and features alongside Christian and western influences.

Decorative and intricate fretwork can be seen on panels, doors, and open areas; there are also stained glass, turned columns, jalousies, and ornate fenestration (window design).

Another prominent ornamental feature is the decorative railings or balustrades encircling the structure. This is evidenced in the turned supports of the handrails of staircases and along the galleries and porches.

The centrally placed tower or sikhara is the focal point of this octagonal mandir.

Such eight-faced parts represent the regents of the four cardinal points of the compass, and the ninth panel or segment in the centre of the ceiling is topped by a sikhara that represents Brahma, the creator deity of the Supreme Hindu Triad. >National Trust of Guyana)

The Eidgah The Eidgah, formerly known as the Open Air Mosque,located at Cumberland, Canje in Berbice, is a typical representation of traditional Indian Islamic architecture. Today, it remains a testament to the diversity of culture that has shaped Guyanese tradition.

Built during the latter half of the 1800s

by Muslim immigrants who had come to British Guiana as indentured labourers, it was constructed originally of bricks donated by the Bookers’ Sugar Estate; the land too was a gift from the estate.

Believed to be oldest structure of Muslim worship in Guyana, it remained until 1932 when it was demolished and rebuilt of reinforced concrete. Constructed to provide the Muslims with a place to perform Eid Salaat (Eid prayers) for Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ulAdha, the Eidgahis unlike other later constructions.

As the name suggests, it is open air:

there is no separation between the internal and external space nor are there any full length walls covered by a roof.

Some of the structure’s features reflect Indian Islamic architecture. These include the courtyard, minarets and mihrab. The courtyard, entered from the west, boasts an arched gateway decorated with bosses and bulbous widgets at the top of the arch.

Opposite the courtyard’s entrance, the mihrab is located in the eastern section. It is so situated that when worshipping, one faces Mecca. The minarets complement the structure at the four corners and are approximately 30 feet high, slender and square in shape which is finished by a half moon and star structure, while the western wall is decorated by various diamond shaped accentuations. (From a 2011 article by the National Trust of Guyana)

Now I am home Now Kala Pani� purifies my body I appeal to the riverbank, shivering.

I feel my way against natural foliage and channel of muddied water – Will it cleanse me out of the tunnel of leaving and returning to a place without stains? © Janet Naidu Published in the poetry collection, “Rainwater” - 2005 � � � � �

Foreign Traveler Hindu Goddess Jihaji Bhai (brothers of the ship), included men and women. Damra – Demerara.

River in India where Indentured laborers departed for other destinations.

Kala Pani – Black water Eidgah at Cumberland, Berbice (LJH)

16 Sunday Times Magazine

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MARCH 5, 2017

Times Art

Designs on cards

T

he art of henna was brought to these shores with the customs of early indentured la-

bourers, and it remains an integral part of our heritage today.

From this age-old tra-

The artist's intricate henna designs on another client

dition, Muslim and Hindu East Indian indentured labourers brought the art of henna, also known as mehndi in Hindi or Urdu, to British Guiana where their descendants continue to uphold this ancient art form.

One such keeper of tradition is 25-year-old Shafrana Aliof Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara. The selftaught henna artist, who is also a makeup artist, has been practicing this ancient art form professionally for about three years now.

“I was a business student at ISA Islamic School. I have always loved doing designs ever since my school days.

My classmates would ask me to do designs for them, whether it’s on their hands, folders, banners and much more. For Eid celebration, I started doing henna for the girls and women at the LBI Masjid. After people saw my work, I was encouraged to take it up professionally.

Initially, I was a bit sceptical because I was unsure if person would like my designs. However, I didn’t allow this doubt to deter me.

I continued to do henna for family and friends at their

Shafrana's henna designs done on a Hindu bride's hands

weddings and from there I started to develop my art,” Shafrana recalled in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine.

Shafrana artistic henna designs not only include drawing on people, but also on glassware, candles, cards and much more.

“Apart from henna being done on brides and others, I started to do henna designs on objects. The idea came about when clients ask if I can do tokens for their henna night, a keepsake for their guests to remember the joyous occasion. I did henna on glasses, papers, plates, clothing and they loved it.

This makes me happy,” Shafrana expressed.

According to the artist, the henna designs on objects last longer than those done on hands because she uses paint instead of the henna paste.

Shafrana mentioned that her work has provided opportunities to travel across Guyana to share her love for henna and makeup artistry. She hopes that “with the grace of God” she can expand her work throughout Guyana and, if possible,to other countries as well.

Currently, Shafrana is employed as a fulltime cashier and would do henna mostly on weekends, which has become a thriving part time business.

“It’s my dream to become a renowned henna artist in Guyana. Having a fulltime job doesn't affect my love and passion I have for henna because clients mostly get married on weekends, which fits perfectly for me. I utterHenna painted on glasses

Henna and makeup artist, Shafrana Ali

ly love being able to beautify my clients for that special day. With the grace of God Almighty and the support of my wonderful family, I will continue to strive for greater success,” she declared.

For more information on the artist’s work, visit SA Henna & Makeup Artistry on Facebook.

Brief history on henna art

The art of henna has been practiced for more than 5,000 years in India, Pakistan, Africa and the Middle East. Some historians even say it is more than 9,000 years old. The English name “henna” comes from Arabic hinnā Henna art involves putting henna paste made from the henna plant on the body, and is said to have first been practiced because of its ability to cool the skin in the very hot, arid climate conditions people of the desert regions faced.

People would daub the paste on their palms and soles of feet, and experience the cooling effect as long as the henna remained on their skin.

Noticing that when the paste faded it left behind the

patterns of being rubbed on the skin, it wasn’t long after perhaps that some creative individual decided to begin making decorative patterns as well, on the hands and feet.

Among Muslims of the Middle East, in Islamic literature, the Prophet Muhammad used henna to dye his beard, and administered its use to the sick. In Hindu culture, mehndi is applied for important festivals and occasions, such as weddings.

A mehndi ceremony is an important pre-wedding ritual, observed in India and many Arabic nations.

At the ceremony, the bride-to-be adorns her hands and feet with henna designs.

The groom may also apply a bit of mehendi (or mehndi) on his hands as well as feet.

This ceremony is not just about adornment however, it has a sacred relevance for both Hindus and Muslims.

According to some, among these religions, mehndi represents the bond of matrimony and is therefore considered a sign of good luck. It signifies the love and affection between the couple and their families. It is also considered a symbol of fertility.

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MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine 17

Times Tech

O

n Feb.27, Apple seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3 update to developers, one week after seeding the third beta of iOS 10.3 and more than two months after the release of iOS 10.2, the last major update to the iOS 10 operating system.

Registered developers can download the fourth iOS

Tech BYTE

10.3 beta from the Apple Developer Centre or overthe-air with the proper configuration profile installed. iOS 10.3 is a major update, introducing several new features and changes to the iOS 10 operating system. The biggest new consumer-facing feature is "Find My AirPods," which is designed to help AirPods

owners locate a lost earphone. Find My AirPods records the last known location of when an AirPod was connected to an iOS device via Bluetooth and can play a sound on a lost AirPod. Apple's latest update also introduces a new Apple File System (APFS), installed when an iOS device is updated to iOS 10.3. APFS is optimized for flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption.

Apple plans to introduce some App Store changes in iOS 10.3, allowing developers to respond to customer reviews for the first time. iOS users are also able to label reviews in the App Store as "Helpful" or "Not Helpful," which should help surface the most relevant review content.

Apple also plans to limit the number of times devel-

Mitsubishi crosses the Eclipse over into SUV territory

the eX and GT-PHEV, the automaker will premiere the Eclipse Cross at the Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Geneva Motor Show.

Mitsubishi ended production on the Eclipse back in 2011, after having the car in its line-up for more than two decades. It’s now back as a fourThe Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross door SUV. itsubishi is bringing back the The "Eclipse" Eclipse ... as a compact SUV.The seems merely Mitsubishi's way of signifycoupe-infused crossover will go ing sportier, coupe-inspired SUV styling. into production later this year as the lat- Mitsubishi will offer a 1.5-liter direct-inest member of Mitsubishi's global SUV jection turbo petrol engine with CVT and a family.

2.2-liter turbo-diesel with eight-speed auFollowing the debuts of concepts like tomatic transmission.

M

Canoe folds into bag for easy storage is made of 5-mm doublelayer UV-treated polypropylene, which is said to be good for at least 20,000 fold cycles.

Including some plastic and aluminium supporting bits and pieces, such as its gunwales, end caps and ribs, the whole thing weighs 52 lb (24 kg) and measures 14.7 ft (4.5 m) when folded out. It's made to carry two passengers, as long as they don't have a combined MyCanoe's main body is made of 5-mm double-layer weight exceeding 440 lb UV-treated polypropylene, which is said to be good (200 kg), which is its maxfor at least 20,000 fold cycles (Credit: MyCanoe) imum capacity. anoeing may indeed be a lot of fun, MyCanoe has been around in protobut the boats themselves aren't extype form since at least 2015, although actly made for being stored in small it's just recently become the subject of a spaces, or transported via small cars.

Kickstarter campaign. A pledge of US$840 That's why MyCanoe was created. It folds will get you one, when and if it reaches up like origami and can be carried in a couproduction – that doesn't include paddles, ple of bags, yet reportedly only takes about or the stabilizers seen in some of the pho10 minutes to be made seaworthy. tos. The planned retail price is US$1,400.

The TUV-certified canoe's main body

opers can ask for a review, allow customers to leave app reviews without exiting an app, and provide a "master switch" that will let users turn off all app review request prompts.

Also new in iOS 10.3 is a redesigned app open/close animation, an Apple ID

Tech news

profile in Settings, a better breakdown of iCloud storage usage, warnings about outdated apps that won't work with future versions of iOS, HomeKit support for programmable light switches, improvements to SiriKit (bill paying, bill status, and

scheduling future rides), CarPlay interface improvements, iCloud analytics options, and more. For a full rundown of the changes introduced in the first beta, make sure to check out our dedicated "What's New" post. (MacRumors)

Amazon to power fulfilment centres by solar energy

the company’s facilities in New Jersey, California, Maryland, Delaware, and Nevada.

Amazon says that it plans to introduce solar panels at 50 centers globally by 2020.

The company says that a specific solar installation could generate “as much as 80 percent of a single fulfilment facility’s annual energy needs,” though this will naturally depend on the time of year, Aerial view of two Amazon fulfilments facilities with solar systems on their rooftops among other environmental factors — some centers will be mazon has announced that it in- located in places where there is more suntends to power dozens of its fulfil- shine. mentcentres around the world with “As our fulfilment network continues to solar energy, with plans in place to deploy expand, we want to help generate more re“large-scale solar systems” on the centres’ newable energy at both existing and new rooftops. facilities around the world in partnership The company says that 15 fulfilment with community and business leaders,” and sortation centers across the U.S. will said Dave Clark, senior vice president of receive the solar panels in 2017, generat- worldwide operations, in a press release. ing up to 41 megawatts (MW) of power at

A

T

Madrid gets world's first 3D-printed footbridge

he Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has designed the world's first 3D-printed pedestrian bridge. Installed January this year in the urban park of Castilla-La Mancha in Alcobendas, Madrid, the bridge is made up of eight separate 3D-printed parts, the bridge spans 40 ft (12 m) and measures 5.7 ft (1.75 m) wide.

Developed in collaboration with a mul-

C

The world's first 3D-printed pedestrian bridge sits in an urban park south of Madrid (Credit: IAAC)

tidisciplinary team of architects and engineers, the bridge is constructed out of a fused concrete powder micro-reinforced with thermoplastic polypropylene. Enrico Dini, a pioneer in giant 3D-printing techniques, was a principle collaborator with his D-Shape printer allowing for the creation of this novel structure.

Large-scale 3D printing has become more widespread in recent years and many types of materials are currently being experimented with. A 3D-printed office building was constructed in Dubai in 2016 utilizing custom-built printers that exuded a cement mixture, while an Italian engineering company has been working on massive 3D printers that can build structures out of mud, clay or natural fibres.

Dutch printing firm, MX3D, is even planning on building a steel bridge across a canal in Amsterdam using an innovative robotic 3D-printing technology that allows structures to be created on-site, in mid-air.

18 Sunday Times Magazine

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Times Home & Cooking

Recipe of the Week

30-Minute One Pan Beef Penne

C

olour your home with bright, bold and cheerful colours that defy thinking only about colours for the walls, floors and ceilings of your rooms...

Earth tones work with splashes of colour

Ingredients 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 pound ground beef ½ tbsp. garlic powder ½ tbsp. onion powder 1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained 1 cup jarred marinara sauce ½ tbsp. chopped parsley 12 oz no boil penne 2 cups vegetable stock 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese 4 oz thinly sliced fresh mozzarella cheese

Method

H

eat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef, garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning. Cook the beef, breaking it up with a spatula, until browned and cooked through.

Add the Worcestershire sauce, diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, and parsley and stir to combine. Add the penne and the vegetable stock. Increase the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the penne is tender, stirring frequently. While the pasta is cooking, preheat the oven to broil.

Uncover the pan and sprinkle the parmesan over the top. Place the mozzarella slices on top. Transfer the pan to the oven and broil until the cheese is melted.

T

White is a canvas for your colours

Greatest Cooking Tips

here are substitutes for when you do not want to use alcohol in recipes that call for the use of alcohol: Instead of Bourbon, use one- and- a- half to two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Instead of Champagne or sparkling wine, substitute ginger ale, sparkling apple cider, sparkling cranberry juice, or sparkling white grape juice. Use white grape juice or apple cider combined with lime juice or plain water in place of the vodka. If a small amount of whiskey is called for, it can be eliminated altogether. White wine can be substituted with sweet or dry non-alcoholic wine with a tablespoon of vinegar added to cut the sweetness, white grape juice, apple juice, apple cider, tomato juice, chicken broth, liquid drained from vegetables, ginger ale, or water. Use equal amounts of liquid as called for in the recipe. Red Wine can be substituted with sweet or dry non-alcoholic wine with a tablespoon of vinegar added to cut the sweetness, grape juice, cranberry juice, grape jelly, tomato juice, beef broth, liquid drained from vegetables, or water. Use equal amounts of liquid as called for in the recipe.

C Brightly painted modular storage boxes create a unique display for decorative items in the home

Home Help

hoosing spray-on insect repellent over “wearable” devices will give you the best protection against mosquitoes, says a new study. The research tested the effectiveness of 10 commercial products against Aedes aegypti, the species of mosquito that carries Zika and other viruses. Sprays that contain DEET and PMD (the chemical name for the oil of lemon eucalyptus) took top honours, say researchers from New Mexico State University. Other products— including mosquito bracelets, a wearable sonic repeller, and a citronella candle—were significantly less effective.

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MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine19

Family Times

PARENTING

(Continued)

I

JOKES Groan jokes for kids There’s a fine line between a numerator and a denominator.

Only a fraction of people will find this funny.

What’s the difference between Dubai and Abu Dhabi?

The people in Dubai don’t like The Flintstones, but the people in Abu Dhabi dooooo.

I’ve fallen in love with a pencil and we’re getting married.

I can’t wait to introduce my parents to my bride 2B. The lesson A boy scout says to his scout leader, “Sir, is this snake poisonous?”

The scout leader says, “No, that snake’s not poisonous at all.”

So the boy picks up the snake which bites him, and the boy starts to spasm and foam at the mouth as the other kids look on in horror.

The scout leader says, “But that snake is venomous.

Poison is ingested or absorbed, while venom is injected.

Let’s get it right next time, boys.”

No pets allowed Two men, Jim and John, were walking their dogs when they passed by a restaurant. “Let’s go in and get something to eat,” Jim suggested.

“We can’t” responded John, “don’t you see the sign says NO PETS ALLOWED.” “Aah, that sign,” said Jim “Don’t worry about it,” and taking out a pair of sunglasses, he walked up to the door.

As he tried walking into the restaurant he got stopped at the door, “Sorry no pets allowed.”

“Can’t you see?” said Jim, “I am blind, this is my seeing eye dog?”

“But it’s a Doberman pincher, who uses a Doberman pincher as a seeing eye dog?” the man asked.

“Oh,” Jim responded “you must have not heard, this is the latest type of seeing eye dog, they do a very good job.”

Seeing that it worked, John tried walking in with his Chihuahua.

Even before he could open his mouth, the doorman said, “Don’t tell me that a Chihuahua is the latest type of seeing eye dog!”

Thinking quickly John responded in an angry voice: “You mean they gave me a Chihuahua!?”

f your teen isn't getting enough sleep, there are a few things that you can try to help: Curb the caffeine. A jolt of caffeine might help your teen stay awake during class, but the effects are fleeting — and too much caffeine can interfere with a good night's sleep.

Keep it calm. Encourage your teen to wind down at night with a warm shower, a book or other relaxing activities.

Know when to unplug.

Take the TV out of your teen's room. Minimize use of electronics in the hour before bedtime.

Adjust the lighting. If your teen does use a phone or tablet near bedtime, tell him or her to turn down the

brightness and hold the device at least 14 inches (36 centimetres) away to reduce

the risk of sleep disruption.

In the morning, expose your teen to bright light. These

simple cues can help signal when it's time to sleep and when it's time to wake up.

Sleeping pills and other medications generally aren't recommended. For many teens, lifestyle changes can effectively improve sleep.

In some cases, excessive daytime sleepiness can be a sign of a problem, including medication side effects, insomnia or biological clock disturbance; depression, Obstructive sleep apnoea, Restless legs syndrome, or Narcolepsy.

If you're concerned about your teen's daytime sleepiness or sleep habits, contact his or her doctor. If your teen is depressed or has a sleep disorder, proper treatment can be the key to a good night's sleep. (Source:

Mayo Clinic)

STORY TIME

L

The Ugly Tree

ong, long ago, in a dense forest there were thousands of tall and beautiful trees. They were happy, but proud of themselves. Among them there also an ugly tree whose branches were badly twisted. Its roots had uneven curves. All the trees made fun of that ugly tree.

“How are you, hunchback?" the other trees always shouted and their laughter made the ugly tree feel sad. But, he never raised a voice against them. The ugly tree thought, “I wish I were as beautiful as the other trees. Why did God do this to me? Neither can I provide shade to the travellers not can the birds make their nests on me. Nobody needs me."

One day, a woodcutter came to the forest. He took a look at the trees and said, “These trees are lovely. I must cut them."

As soon as he picked up his axe the trees became frightened.

‘Chop, Chop, Chop’ went the woodcutter’s axe and one by one the trees started to fall. “None of us is going to be spared,"

screamed one of the beautiful trees. Soon that tree too was brought to ground by the woodcutter’s axe.

B y now, the

woodcutter had come near to the ugly tree. He had just raised his axe when suddenly he noticed how crooked the ugly tree was. “Hmm! This crooked tree seems to be useless for me. I cannot make long straight logs of this ugly tree," he thought.

And he moved towards another beautiful tree. The ugly tree heaved a huge sigh of relief. He realized that by making him ugly, God had actually given him a boon.

From that day the ugly tree never complained. He was happy with his crooked branches. He never forgot how he was spared from the woodcutter’s axe, only because he was crooked and ugly.

By Grammar G.

Conundrums, confusion but correct

T

here are many sentences in English that may sound crazy but yet are perfectly grammatical. Look at these few sentences and see if you understand their meanings: 1. All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life.

2. One morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas I’ll never know.

3. The complex houses married and single

soldiers and their families.

Sentence one makes double use of the past perfect tense, while “had” is used as a modifier and main verb (All the faith he had had ---- had had no effect on the outcome of his life.)

In sentence two, most persons would interpret the first sentence as the man having shot the elephant while he (the man) was in his (the man’s) pyjamas. Then they get to the

Reliance Not to the swift, the race: Not to the strong, the fight: Not to the righteous, perfect grace: Not to the wise, the light.

But often faltering feet Come surest to the goal; And they who walk in darkness meet The sunrise of the soul.

-- Henry Van Dyke second sentence and it is unexpected – and so becomes a joke as well. Now they have to reinterpret the first sentence. This type of wordplay is called a paraprosdokian, and comedians like Groucho Marx make much use of it.

Sorting out what are the adjectives, verbs and nouns will make sentence three clearer. Instead of reading “the complex houses married” each other, “complex” is in fact a noun, not adjective, and “houses” is the verb, not noun, while “married” is the adjective, not verb. It would then mean that the “complex” (meaning compound) “houses” (has living within) married soldiers and their families as well as single soldiers (and maybe their families i.e. mother, father, siblings etc.).

While these sentences may be grammatically correct, a few tweaks to your sentence construction can make them less confusing – that isif you want to be clear.

20 Sunday Times Magazine

MARCH 5, 2017

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Times Sunday Puzzle

A

s you may know, a group of fish is called a "school", a group of lions is called a "pride", and a group of seagulls is called a "flock".

Some are a little more unusual. See if you can guess what animals belong to the following groups: Crash Exaltation Mob Murder

Parliament Pod Sounder see ANSWERS on page 23

see solution on page 23

see solution on page 23

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MARCH 5, 2017

Sunday Times Magazine

21

Times Kids

Creature Corner

GEOZONE

T

The flag of Guyana

he Guyana flag was adopted in 1966 for the newly-independent, former British territory, from the winning draft created

by American Whitney Smith in a 1962 flag design competition.

The flag was nicknamed "The Golden Arrowhead," referring to the yellow/gold triangle that looks like an arrow with white trimming, along with a red triangle with black

T

he golden rocket frog or Beebe’s rocket frog (Anomaloglossus beebei) is a species of frog found only on the Guyana Kaieteur Plateau of the Kaieteur National Park at the eastern edge of the Pakaraima Mountains, although it has been recently reported to have been found also on Mount Ayanganna in the Pakaraima Mountains of western Guyana.

The golden rocket frog can be found

trimming, all drawn on a green background.

Each of the five colours is symbolic: green for agricultural and natural vegetation; white for the many waters and their potential; yellow or gold for mineral wealth, black for perseverance and endurance, and red for “the zeal and dynamic nature of nation-building that lies before the young and independent Guyana.”

living exclusively in large bromeliads where they deposit their eggs in the giant waterretaining leaves where their tadpoles grow up feeding on insect larvae, various edible debris that fall in, as well as unfertilised eggs. The frog in fact spends its entire life cycle inside the bromeliad.

They are considered vulnerable due to their restricted habitat and population size.

WORD JUMBLE AT THE ZOO Unscramble the words for animals that can be seen in the zoo

Please see solution on page 23

The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. Every row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9.

RJAUGA OLIN OYEKMN NIACAM IRAPT WAMCA RARPTO TOTRE RKTOS ALEEG SHROIOECNR ORTLAIGAL

22 Sunday Times Magazine

MARCH 5, 2017

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MARCH 5, 2017

Donald Trump masks a hit at Brazil's Carnival

Sunday Times Magazine 23

Times World

India vendors boycott Pepsi, Coke

I

U

S President Donald Trump has become one of the new stars of Brazil’s Carnival, with masks of his face on sale in the costume stores in Sao Paulo and appearing everywhere at the street fetes preceding the “world’s biggest party,” which began this weekend.

Trump masks are one of the new – and very popular – attractions along March 25 Street in downtown Sao Paulo, full of costume stores and where each day hundreds, flock to purchase items for their Carnival outfits.

With his blond hair and his orange-tinted face, a Trump mask is prominent-

ly featured in the display window of an enormous store selling all sorts of costumes, alongside those of other important politicians like his predecessor, Barack Obama, and former Brazilian President Lula da Silva.

“We’ve already done other presidents like (Bill) Clinton, Barack Obama and now we’re also including Trump because he’s one of the most controversial,” said the owner of the Festas e Fantasias store, Pierre Sfeir, a Lebanese resident.

There are also masks of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro and other even more controversial figures likeformer Iraqi dictator

ndian shopkeepers in the 70-million-strong state of Tamil Nadu launched a massive boycott against US-based Coca-Cola and Pepsi companies.

The boycott targeted the American-based firms as part of a backlash against foreign meddling, provoked by the animal activists from PETA. “There are multiple reasons behind the boycott, but most important is how PETA tried to kill jallikattu,” President of Tamil Nadu Traders Associations T. Vellaiyan told the AFP news agency.

Previously, the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, (PETA) moved against the ancient bull-wrestling tradition of jallikattu, which sparked massive protests across Tamil Nadu.

The tradition of bull-

wrestling is revered among Tamils and boasts over 2,000 years of history. It involves bull owners releasing the animals into a crowd of people, who try to wrestle it into submission, ride it, or hold on to it and remove flags from its horns.

However, animal rights activists said owners use alcohol to intoxicate the bulls before the event or throw chili powder in the animals' eyes to get them to act out violently when released.

Many spectators also sustain serious injuries while trying to wrestle and subdue the animal.

India's Supreme Court banned the activity in 2014, but some bull-wrestling organizers ignored the ruling and pushed for the court's decision to be reversed.

Faced with the state-wide outrage, the central government of India temporar-

ily suspended the ban in January 2017.

Tamils see the ban as an attack on their tradition and cultural identity.

Lashing out against PETA, they also turned their anger against Pepsi and Coca-Cola, whose water consumption also raised anger in the region hit by nearly two years of drought.

Previously, authorities were forced to withdraw building permits for new bottling facilities, after farmers staged violent protests.

Vendors pulled the iconic soft drinks from their shelves on Thursday, a day after the Tamil Nadu Traders Association called for a boycott. Instead of Pepsi and Coke, the shopkeepers would sell “only domestic brands of beverages,” the trade group said.

paceX has announced it plans to launch two paying passengers on a tourist trip around the moon next year.

The United States has not sent astronauts to the moon since NASA's Apollo missions of the 1960s and '70s.

"This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years, and they will travel faster and fur-

Health tests and training are going to begin later this year, he revealed.

"Other flight teams have also expressed strong inter-

According to Al Jazeera, US tech company SpaceX announced that two private citizens have paid money to be sent around the moon next year, in what would mark the furthest humans have ever travelled to deep space.

"We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year," said a statement by the founder and chief executive of the company, Elon Musk, on Monday.

ther into the solar system than any before them."

The tourists, who were not named, "have already paid a significant deposit", Musk's statement noted without specifying the amount. "It's nobody from Hollywood," he added.

est and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results," Musk said.

Saddam Hussein, but the one Brazilians seem to prefer this year is that of the 45th US president.

The store ordered a mould of Trump’s face to be made in the US and using it produced about 20,000 masks of the president, which have also been selling like hotcakes at other festivals, like Halloween.

Sfeir said that it’s more economical to make the rubberized masks in his Sao Paulo store than to import them from other countries like China due to customs duties. The plastic masks are being sold in Brazil for about 7 reais (about US$2.30). (Merco Press)

Brain Teaser Answer Crash - Rhinoceros Exaltation - Lark Mob - Kangaroo Murder - Crow

SUDOKU

Parliament - Owl Pod - Whale Sounder - Pig/Hog

KID SUDOKU

S

CROSSWORD

24

Sunday Times Magazine

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MARCH 5, 2017

Fun Times

Archie

Get together with old friends. Catching up on the (March 21latest news will lead to a new April 19) beginning with someone you lost touch with. Plan a reunion.

ARIES

The past will have a way TAURUS of surfacing when you least (April 20- expect it. Consider what’s ocMay 20) curred before you decide to get involved in something that could cause emotional turmoil.

Emotional manipulation GEMINI will be costly. Don’t ruin your (May 21reputation or give out inforJune 20) mation that might be used against you. Stay focused on using physical means to bring about personal gains.

CANCER (June 21July 22)

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Look at a situation from every angle. Unless you have a clear picture, you are best off biding your time and waiting for your doubts to be eliminated.

Love conquers all.

Whether it’s a friend, relative or new acquaintance, taking time to help someone will result in gratifying rewards.

Personal and physical improvements will turn out well.

Stick close to home and work on becoming a better person. Don’t feel that you have to please everyone else when you’re the one who needs to be satisfied with your actions.

LIBRA Share details of the past (Sept. 23- and build memories with Oct. 23) someone you think is special.

Acknowledging the little things someone does for you will bring you closer together. Personal growth will be empowering.

Peanuts

An investment will limit SCORPIO (Oct. 24- your cash flow. Don’t take on Nov. 22) more than you can handle. Do your best to create an honest, open and loving relationship with someone you trust.

Emotional manipulation SAGITTARIUS will surface if you discuss prob(Nov. 23- lems with a friend or relative.

Dec. 21) Don’t feel compelled to accept someone’s terms if you don’t agree with them. Follow your heart and make changes that suit you.

Calvin and Hobbes

Someone will use emoCAPRICORN tional manipulation to (Dec. 22- tempt you. Don’t waste time Jan. 19) or money on anyone unwilling to meet you halfway.

Plans are best shelved until you have the resources to follow through with them.

Don’t trust anyone offerAQUARIUS ing you something for noth(Jan. 20- ing. Put greater emphasis Feb. 19) on personal change that will give you a trendy new look.

Keep up with the times in order to make an impression.

False information will PISCES (Feb. 20- lead you in the wrong direcMar. 20) tion. If you cannot verify certain claims, take a pass. Put more emphasis on personal growth and physical improvements.