Indian Abroad September 16-30, 2021 Vol 1 Issue 15

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

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Ahalya Kamineni: Donning many hats with success -Page 5

India, Australia discuss Af crisis after Taliban takeover Facebook

New Delhi, Sep 11: India and Australia discuss the prevailing crisis in Afghanistan, maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region and cooperation in multilateral formats on Saturday in New Delhi.

India on Saturday hosted the first-ever 2+2 ministerial dialogue in New Delhi with Australia. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Australian counterparts -- Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Moreign Minister Marise Payne -- and discussed the crisis in Afghanistan arising out of Taliban takeover.

After in-depth discussion on bilateral and regional issues, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the 2+2 dialogue signifies the importance of the IndiaAustralia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

India and Australia share an important partnership which is based on a shared vision of free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

"As two democracies we have a common interest in peace and prosperity of the entire region," he said.

Singh said, "We have discussed various institutional frameworks for wide ranging collaboration including defence cooperation and fight against global pandemic. We

Afghanistan: Humanitarian Tragedy -Page 4

Indian Cooking with Lata Modi -Page 7

A Non-Judgemental World: A better world for positive mental health -Page 16

5 stunning Indian destinations for remote work -Page 21

Janmashtmi celebrated in Perth Covid lockdown extended in Canberra I skcon Perth, in association with Govinda’s - Food for Life, celebrated the biggest festival of the year - Janmashtmi, Lord Krishna’s appearance day, over a two-day festival on 29 and 30 August at their Sri Sri Gaura Nitai Temple in Kalamunda, where thousands of people visited.v The temple also hosted some special guests on Sunday 29 August, and they were treated to a celebration and witnessed Krishna’s Cultural Show.

Continued on page 6

Bridal wear and jewellery go hand-in-hand -Page 27

Newstrack

Fashion event by Ravishing Fashionistas a resounding success

F What makes Rajasthan a sought-after wedding destination? -Page 22

exchanged views on Afghanistan, Maritime Security in the IndoPacific, cooperation in multilateral formats and other related topics.

During the discussions, both sides emphasised the need to ensure free flow of trade, adherence to international rules and norms and sustainable economic growth in the entire region.

On the bilateral defence cooperation, Singh said that both the countries have decided to expand military engagements across services, facilitate greater defence information sharing and to work closely for mutual logistic support.

"In the context of Defence Cooperation, both sides were glad to note continued participation of Australia in the Malabar Exercises.

We invited Australia to engage India's growing defence industry and to collaborate in co-production and co-development of defence equipment," he said.

The 2+2 dialogue is the outcome of a decision made at the India-Australia leaders' virtual summit in June 2020 to elevate bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. India and Australia admit that diplomatic ties between the two countries are at an all-time high right now.

Continued on page 4

ollowing the postponement of the flagship fashion event

by Ravishing Fashionsitas (RF) on July 3 due to the lockdown imposed on Brisbane, the event was finally held on August 21 at the Royal International Conventional Centre in Brisbane. The participants comprised 35 models and 12 designers.

The event was attended by several prominent members of the community, including local politicians, celebrities and influencers including VVIP guests, Brisbane City Council’s Lady Mayoress, Nina Schrinner and Damien Anthony Rossi.

With the undeniable success of this event which should be attributed to Upma Kite, the founder of RF dedicated to breaking the stereotypes in the fashion industry, it has been reaffirmed that the enterprise indeed has carved a niche for itself.

Continued on page 9

Canberra, Sep 14: The Covid-19 lockdown in Australia's capital city of Canberra has been extended by a month as the country continues to battle the ongoing third wave of the pandemic.

Andrew Barr, chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), said on Tuesday that Canberra will remain in lockdown until October 15, reports Xinhua news agency.

Restrictions were due to end on Friday after 36 days in lockdown but Barr said the risk to the community remained high.

On Tuesday morning, Australia reported 1,595 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, taking the nationwide infection tally to 75,324 and the

death toll stood at 1,098.

New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state and the current epicentre of the pandemic, reported 1,127 new cases and two deaths.

Victoria, the second-most populous state, reported a further 445 new local cases.

There were 22 new cases reported in the ACT, only two of which were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.

It takes the number of active cases in the national's capital to 252.

The ongoing outbreak in the surrounding NSW area is one of the reasons for the extended lockdown in ACT, according to Barr.

"New South Wales has been problematic for the nation throughout this process. Given we are a jurisdiction sitting wholly within that state, and we are seeing incursion of the virus outside of the Greater Sydney area."

Under the current restrictions, Canberra residents are only allowed to leave home for six reasons: essential shopping; healthcare; essential work; outdoor exercise for a maximum of two hours per day; Covid-19 vaccinations; and tests.

So far about 68.5 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older had received at least one vaccine dose and 43.2 per cent were fully vaccinated, according to the Department of Health.

Ananya Panday: I think I have the good qualities of ‘Money Heist’ character Tokyo -Page 30 www.indianabroad.news

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Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

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LEAD STORIES

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

COVID IN INDIA India reports 25,404 Haryana reduces 84-day vax gap for foreigners, medical travel Chandigarh, Sep 14: The Haryana government has reduced the mandatory 84-day gap between the two doses of the Covishield Covid-19 vaccine for foreign nationals and those travelling abroad.

State Health Minister Anil Vij on Monday said relaxation has been extended to those travelling abroad for availing treatment, foreign nationals wishing to return to their countries and in any circumstances the foreign travel may be unavoidable.

Earlier, the relaxation was for the citizens who have to travel abroad for education, employment or official purposes.

Vij said this facility is being available in all government vaccination centres.

TN still vulnerable to Covid even after mass vax drives: Minister

Chennai, Sep 14: Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian has said that even after the success of the mega Covid vaccination drive, the state was still vulnerable as a large number of eligible population still needed to be administered even the first dose, and hence the state could not relax on its achievements.

He mentioned this in a letter written to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya citing the need for more vaccines as an extra quota from the Central government.

In the letter written on Monday, the

Tamil Nadu health minister requested the Union health minister to provide 50 lakh vaccines per week in addition to the present supply so that the entire population is inoculated with at least one dose of vaccine by the end of October 2021.

Tamil Nadu has an adult population of 6.06 crore and by Sunday after the mega vaccination drive it had inoculated 4.01 crore of its population with at least one dose of the vaccine.

The health minister in the letter pointed out that the population left

out is a worry and hence the state health department cannot be complacent until at least one dose of the jab is administered to every eligible person of the state of Tamil Nadu.

Ma Subramanian said that the state had administered vaccines to 28.91 lakh people during the mega vaccination drive on Sunday and added that the state was administering around 5 lakh doses daily. He said that added to the number of people vaccinated during the mega vaccine drive the state has a capacity to inoculate 50 lakh people a week, and hence wanted to make the use of this opportunity.

The state health minister also said that Tamil Nadu will be organising such mega vaccination camps every week so that the entire population is covered by at least one dose of the vaccine.

He said that the direction and the support provided by the state Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has helped the state health department to conduct such a massive vaccination drive which was a landmark for the Tamil Nadu health department.

The minister thanked the Union health minister for supporting the state of Tamil Nadu with an adequate supply of vaccines and said that he was expecting more supply for conducting mega vaccination camps.

new Covid cases New Delhi, Sep 14: In continuation of the decline in daily Covid-19 cases, India registered 25,404 new infections in the last 24 hours, a 6.8 per cent decrease from the previous day, according to the Union Health Ministry's data released on Tuesday.

The country reported 27,254 cases on Monday and 28,591 on Sunday.

However, at the same, with 339 new fatalities registered in the last 24 hours, the country's total Covid death toll increased to 4,43,213.

The fatality rate has remained at 1.33 per cent for the last few days.

The country reported 219 Covid related deaths on Monday and 338 the previous day.

According to the Union Health Ministry's data, the top five states which have registered maximum cases are Kerala (15,058), Maharashtra (2,740), Tamil Nadu (1,580), Mizoram (1,502) and Andhra Pradesh (864).

The number of active cases has also declined by 12,062 and the current active cases are 3,62,207, which is 1.13 per cent of the total Covid infection reported in the country since early 2020.

At the same period, a total of 37,127 Covid-infected patients have recovered, pushing the country's total recoveries to 3,24,84,159.

As per the Ministry data, the Covid recovery rate stood at 97.58 per cent.

The weekly positivity rate was reported at 2.7 per cent, which is less than 3 per cent for the last 81 days, while the daily positivity rate was 2.7 per cent, which remained

below 3 per cent for the last 15 days.

India so far tested a total of 54.44 crore Covid samples, out of which 14,30,891 were conducted in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Till date, the country has administered over 75.22 crore (75,22,38,324) doses of Covid vaccines, out of which 78,66,950 were given in the last 24 hours.

3rd Covid wave to be less severe, says BHU scientist Varanasi, Sep 14: Professor Gyaneshwer Chaubey, senior geneticist of the zoology department in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), has said that the third wave of coronavirus would be less severe and deadly, especially for the vaccinated group of people, those who have been cured of the virus and the children.

He said that people who have been vaccinated and cured of Covid-19 would fall under the protected group during the third wave.

He added that the wave would likely hit after, at least, three months, but the ongoing coronavirus vaccination will boost people's immunity and help them resist the wave.

Explaining further, he said, "As the levels of antibodies drop every three months, the chances of the third wave are likely. In this sense, if the level of antibodies falls in the next three months, then a third wave can come. But the ongoing vaccination campaign will help in the fight against the virus. If our immunity is more than 70 per cent, the effect of

Covid in that group will be less, and gradually, its frequency will start decreasing."

Prof Chaubey further said that while the virus cannot be stopped, the death rate can be reduced.

"From time to time, corona will raise its head but it will eventually decrease. Once the levels of antibodies decrease, the chances of catching Covid will increase. Even so, for

those in the protected group, the death rate is very low," he stated.

In such a situation, even if there are one to two deaths reported out of two to four lakh people, that would still count as a big deal.

"Even if our entire population gets infected with coronavirus and we keep the mortality rate below 0.1 or even 1 per cent, then we will win this war," he added.

WHO congratulates India for Goa imposes fresh restrictions on administering 75 cr vaccine doses students, workers from Kerala

New Delhi, Sep 13: India's Covid vaccination coverage under the mass vaccination drive crossed the landmark of 75 crore doses on Monday.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a Tweet that India has crossed the mark of administering 75 crore vaccine doses.

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Lauding the entire country for the achievement, Mandaviya tweeted, "With PM Narendra Modi's mantra of 'Sabka Saath - Sabka Prayas', the world's largest vaccination drive is achieving new heights. India has crossed the landmark of 75 crore vaccinations as India entered into the 75th year of Independence.

#AzadiKaAmritMahotsav."

The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late on Monday night. More than 67 lakh (67,04,768) vaccine doses were administered till 5:30 pm on Monday.

"The country has also become home to more than 99 per cent healthcare workers and frontline workers vaccinated with one shot of Covid vaccine," said a statement released by the Health Ministry.

The World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO) has also congratulated India for achieving the 75 crore vaccination mark.

Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, said, "WHO congratulates India for scaling up Covid-19 vaccination at an unprecedented pace. While it took 85 days to administer the first 100 million doses, India reached 750 million doses from 650 million in just 13 days."

Meanwhile, India logged 27,254 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours.

The country also reported 219 Covid deaths in the same time span. The country presently has nearly 3.75 lakh active cases.

Kerala, which turned out to be a Covid epicentre recently, has also started showing declining trends and has reported a decline of nearly 20 per cent in terms of daily caseload in the past week.

Panaji, Sep 13: Amid a spike in Covid cases in Kerala, the Goa government late on Sunday night imposed fresh restrictions on students and workforce from the Southern state who are visiting Goa. According to the new list of restrictions, students and workers coming into Goa from Kerala, will be subject to institutional quarantine, which

will be facilitated by managements of the educational institutions and offices or factories respectively.

"Further, in case of a person coming from Kerala, entry will be allowed with a negative RT-PCR report with following additional conditions.

"The students/employees coming from Kerala shall be subject to institutional quarantine of five

days. The arrangements for the quarantine for students will be done by the administrators/principals of educational institutions," an order issued by the state administration late on Sunday said.

"For employees, it shall be done by respective offices/companies/ firms. At the end of five days, they shall be tested by RT-PCR. Arrivals from Kerala other than students and employees should produce RT-PCR negative test reports and should be in home quarantine for five days," the order further said.

Travellers from Kerala, who have been exempted from the restrictions are those who arrive in the state as constitutional functionaries (Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai hails from Kerala), health care professionals and their spouses, children below the age of two, patients facing medical emergencies or those who are travelling to Goa in view of a death in the family.

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LEAD STORIES

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

AFGHANISTAN: HUMANITARIAN TRAGEDY

Taliban fighters force men into car boots

Taliban kill 20 civilians in Panjshir: Report

New Delhi, Sep 14: At least 20 civilians have been killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, which has seen fighting between the militants and opposition forces, the BBC reported.

Communications have been cut in the valley, making reporting

difficult, but the BBC has evidence of Taliban killings despite promises of restraint.

Footage from a dusty roadside in Panjshir shows a man wearing military gear surrounded by Taliban fighters.

Gunfire rings out and he slumps to

the ground.

It is not clear if the man killed was an army member, combat uniforms are common in the region.

In the video a bystander insisted he was a civilian, the report said.

The BBC has established there have been at least 20 such deaths in

Panjshir.

One of the victims was a shopkeeper and father-of-two called Abdul Sami.

Local sources said the man would not flee when the Taliban advanced, telling them: "I'm just a poor shop owner and have nothing to do with war."

But he was arrested, accused of selling sim cards to resistance fighters.

Days later his body was dumped near his home. Witnesses who saw his body said it showed signs of torture.

When the Taliban swept to power last month, only the Panjshir Valley held out.

Panjshir has long been a focal point for resistance in Afghanistan.

Under the late opposition commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, the region repelled both the Soviet forces and the Taliban.

Mountain peaks surround the valley making it difficult for anyone trying to capture it.

Footage from the ground shows once-busy marketplaces deserted.

People have been trying to flee, with long lines of vehicles forming below the valley's craggy peaks.

There have been warnings of shortages of food and medicine.

New Delhi, Sep 14: The Taliban is carrying out reprisal attacks against former soldiers and government workers, the UN has been told, as video emerged showing the group's fighters forcing young men into car boots in the capital Kabul, the Daily Mail reported.

Michelle Bachelet, speaking at the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, said she has seen "credible reports" that Taliban fighters are searching house-to-house to track down anyone who helped the former government or the US. "Officials who worked for previous administrations and their family members (are) being arbitrarily detained. In some cases, the officials were released, and in others, they were found dead."

As she spoke, footage appeared online showing men, some of whom appear to be Taliban fighters, forcing

at least four men into car boots.

It is unclear exactly why these young men were being detained, but it comes just after the Taliban claimed to have conquered the Panjshir province, where an alliance of warlords was holding out against Islamist rule, the Daily Mail report said.

UN staffers have also reported increasing attacks and threats, she added, without providing specifics.

Bachelet also highlighted "deeply troubling information" about Taliban raids on offices of some advocacy groups.

"In contradiction to assurances that the Taliban would uphold women's rights, over the past three weeks women have instead been progressively excluded from the public sphere," she told the 47-member Council as it opened its autumn session.

'Serious possibility of complete economic collapse in Afghanistan'

153 Afghan media outlets stop operations after Taliban takeover Kabul, Sep 14: At least 153 Afghan media outlets have stopped operations in 20 provinces following the Taliban takeover of the war-torn nation last month, a media report citing organisations supporting free media said.

The TOLO News report on Monday said these outlets include radio, print and TV channels, and their closure was mainly due to economic problems and restrictions.

"If the organisations supporting media do not pay attention to the outlets, soon we will witness the closing of the remaining ones in the country," TOLO News quoted Hujatullah Mujadadi, deputy head of the Afghanistan Federation of Journalists, as saying.

Masroor Lutfi, representative of the Afghanistan National Journalists' Union, has "urged the international organisations to take immediate

action to address this problem.

Otherwise, soon it will be the end of press freedom and other human and civil liberties".

According to the TOLO News report, the Paktika-based Milma Radio is one of the outlets that recently stopped its activities.

It was established in 2011 and covered political, cultural, economic and sports stories.

"Due to an inappropriate working environment and economic problems, we stopped our activities," said Yaqob Khan Manzoor, editor-in-chief of Milma Radio.

According to Manzoor, Milma Radio had 35 employees with an outreach to 13 provinces.

Now all of the former employees are jobless.

The organisations supporting free media in Afghanistan say economic

Taliban seize $6 mn in cash, 15 gold bricks from ex-VP Saleh's house

New Delhi, Sep 13: Taliban fighters have claimed in a viral video that they have seized up to $6 million in cash and about 15 gold bricks from the residence of former Afghanistan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh in Panjshir province Saleh and the resistance front have not commented on the issue yet, Khaama News reported.

Afghanistan's ambassador to Tajikistan, Mohammad Zahir Agbar, had claimed that President Ashraf Ghani had "taken $169 million with

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him" when he fled Afghanistan.

He said Ghani should be arrested and the wealth of the Afghan nation be restored, Ozodi reported.

Speaking at a news conference in Dushanbe, Agbar called Ghani's escape a "betrayal of the state and the nation" and claimed that he had "taken $169 million with him".

A string of official reports - many deleted last week from US government sites apparently due to the 'ongoing security concerns' - showed how a 'corrupt elite' in Afghanistan ran the government for personal gain while committing crimes with impunity, alienating ordinary people and driving many into the arms of insurgency, the Daily Mail had reported earlier.

The waste of taxpayers' money was astonishing, with 'ghost' schools and military forces, counter-narcotic efforts that backfired, dodgy construction and fuel deals siphoning off billions, and cash and gold smuggled out through the Kabul airport, the report said.

problems are serious, and operating under restrictions creates big challenges for media.

The Taliban, however, has said they

will try to create safe environment for media and journalists to continue their jobs.

Afghans oppose Pak as it tries to impose its own currency

New Delhi, Sep 12: Afghans are stressing that no one should use the Pakistani currency and those using it should be punished.

A number of people have reacted to a report in a Pakistani newspaper that said business deals in Afghanistan should be based on Pakistani rupees, Pajhwok News reported.

Daily Jang, a Pakistani newspaper in a report quoted the country's Finance Minister, Shawkat Tareen as saying that Afghanistan faced shortage of dollar reserves and that would be the reason Afghanistan would make transactions in Pakistani rupees.

The report said that Tareen made the statements after International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank suspended payments to Afghanistan.

Raha Press reported Pakistan's most "shocking" economy minister has told the Senate Economic Committee that since Afghanistan is running out of dollar liquidity these days, trade with Afghanistan may be in rupees (Pakistani rupees).

It should be noted that in the past, in many cities of the country that border Pakistan, the main trade exchanges were based on the Pakistani rupee, which was met with many reactions, the report said.

Shaukat said the situation in Afghanistan was being closely monitored and Pakistan would send

a team to help revive the Afghan economy.

After these reports, Afghans launched a social media campaign titled 'Afghani is our national identity', Pajhwok News said.

Most of the social media activists shared slogans, such as: "We are residents of Afghanistan, Afghani is our national identity and using Afghan currency is our national responsibility".

Social media user, Abdul Kareem in a tweet said, "I will build my country myself, so I will use the currency of my own country. Every transaction in Afghanistan should be on Afghan currency."

Another social media user, Mohammad Sayeed, addressing the Taliban, said, "Survival of Afghani is totally depended on you, if Pakistani rupees replaced the Afghani here (Afghanistan), its responsibility would be upon you and Afghans will hold you accountable."

A number of pro-Taliban people also reacted to the issue.

Hammad Afghan, one of them, in a tweet said, "If you want to enlighten your future and make a rich Afghanistan, you should promote our national currency (Afghani)."

Sheikh Abdul Hamid Hammasi, also a pro-Taliban Afghan, said: "If anyone values national identity and Afghanhood, then they should use Afghan currency for transactions..."

He said that Taliban should make it clear to all officials, businessmen and people that they would be punished if they used Pakistani rupees.

A number of other people held similar views and said those using foreign currencies should be punished, the report added.

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Geneva, Sep 14: UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres issued a warning against the "serious" possibility of a complete economic collapse in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.

Guterres made the remarks here on Monday while convening a high-level ministerial meeting on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, reports Xinhua news agency.

He highlighted the acute and urgent need for funding support and action in the country.

"The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour," he said during his opening remarks at the meeting.

"Let us be clear: This conference is not simply about what we will give to the people of Afghanistan. It is about what we owe," he added.

The UN chief said that as of today, one in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from, and their basic public services are close to collapse.

Due to a severe drought, many people could run out of food by the end of this month.

The threat of economic collapse was discussed at a later press conference

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on Monday.

The risk comes from limitations in Afghanistan's financial system, meaning that a number of basic economic functions cannot be delivered, according to the UN chief.

"The international community must find ways to make cash available to allow the Afghan economy to breathe, a total collapse would have devastating consequences to the people and risk destabilising neighbouring countries with a massive outflow," he said.

Guterres also announced that he had asked the UN Under-SecretaryGeneral for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, to travel to Kabul to meet the Taliban leadership.

"The de facto authorities pledged, in person and in a follow-up letter to Under-Secretary-General Griffiths, that they will cooperate to ensure assistance is delivered to the people of Afghanistan."

Asked about whether he would be willing to go to Kabul himself, Guterres said that "this is something to decide at the right moment, when the right conditions are met".

According to the Secretary-General, the UN Humanitarian Air Service has resumed flights from Islamabad to Kabul, and they were fully operational across the country.

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DESI ACHIEVERS

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

AHALYA KAMINENI Donning many hats with success

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kind of branding, or is it an attempt to send the message to the youth across the world, ‘Hey, look, we are distinct from others, so come and join us wherever you are?

The leader and founder of the crew loves to make a statement.

At the time when he started the crew, K-Pop was not yet popular in Adelaide and liking it sort of made you an outcast. So I would say he did create the name sort of, with an intent to depict that we’re different and there’s a place for you to come do what you love without being judged.

K-Pop and genres like these are an expression of our inner urge to dance and to be creative through the way we enact it. Are there other benefits as well, especially for the youth irrespective of the culture they belong to?

There are definitely so many more benefits to dance than meets the common eye. I’ve bonded with so many friends that share the same passion as me and you develop great

“

Dance is also a great way to measure hard work and self-improvement. For most dancers, there is nothing more satisfying than comparing their old dance videos with new ones.

“

W

hen youth become passionate about culture and all the good things associated with it, they are enthused to pursue their academics, employment and creative work all the more. But to be passionate about it all is one thing and to manage them consistently tells a lot about the personality who has exhibited all these talents. In an exclusive interview to Indian Abroad, Ahalya Kamineni who has all the ingredients to become a celebrity and an inspiration for any modern youth, shares her experience of leading a life full of knowledge, professionalism, diligence and professionalism.

According to your personal profile, you are a third year student at the University of Adelaide studying a double degree in Law and Arts (Media). You also work part time at an accessory store. Besides, you are a part of a K-Pop dance crew and you do K-Pop covers in public and have a YouTube channel. How do you manage your academics, employment and creative work?

Don’t you get stressed or feel paucity of time?

If I’m being honest, it’s a struggle.

A lot of the times I pull late nights to manage my university work. To make things harder most of the time, I add more things to my plate like at the moment I’m participating in a Moot competition at Law school.

I create a schedule for each week and try my best to stick to it to get all my work done. During critical times at the university such as exam or assignment season, I try to take a break from dance to focus on my degree.

Now, your daily routine, quite apparently, comprises a variety of activities. Have you ever felt it difficult to switch your mind from say, academics to the demands of employment to the requirements of a more demanding creative work?

I’ve definitely found it to be difficult to switch at times. Sometimes when I’m excelling at work I find that I’m not doing as well in other areas and vice versa. So I try to dedicate my full focus to each individual activity when they require it the most. For example I give my full attention to dance when we’re about to film a cover, to academics when there’s an assessment, and to work when we have a new target KPI to meet.

Therefore, while I’m not able to simultaneously succeed in all areas, at least I’m able to succeed in each individual area when it matters the most.

Since when did you feel you had something creative within you tickling you to give it expression?

And why did you especially take to the K-Pop genre?

I’ve always been in touch with myartistic side whether it was painting or singing. I feel K-Pop is so unique because the artists both sing and dance. The songs and choreography are designed to attract the audience, idols spend years training to master their skills which makes me admire them even more. In early 2018, my friends introduced me to K-Pop and when I saw the dance practice video for Blackpink’s Ddu Ddu Ddu for the first time, I thought to myself “woah I wanna look as cool as them”. So I pulled up a tutorial on YouTube and that was the birth of a new passion for me.

The name ‘Kult Crew’ seems to perk us all up and we watch the Youtube channel to know more about it.

Why has the name ‘Kult Crew’ been chosen? Is it merely to give it a

team skills when being a part of a crew. Dance is also a great way to measure hard work and self-improvement. For most dancers, there is nothing more satisfying than comparing their old dance videos with new ones. Finally, it is also a sense of discipline - you have to keep up and practise hard to make sure the cover looks good and to be selected for top covers. I believe this is true for all forms of dance.

And finally, in a world increasingly marred by wars, violence, climate change and diseases and deaths, bereft of peace and stability, do you see any constructive role for culture, especially the vibrant types like K-Pop? I believe that when a lot of people feel a strong connection with a culture, that culture can be used for the benefit of the world. Idols have strong fan bases so a lot of them have been using that for good recently. For example, BTS promoted a ‘Love Yourself’ campaign and Blackpink recently advocated a climate change campaign.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Seva Dharma Mission distributes PM Modi praises Sydney Sanskrit School in Mann Ki Baat free food in Brisbane

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n his radio show Mann Ki Baat aired on All India Radio on August 29, Prime Minister Modi praised Sydney Sanskrit School, acknowledging the good work

done by the school and its efforts in keeping alive the Sanskrit language in a foreign land.

Sydney Sanskrit School is the first Sanskrit community language

school located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which promotes the language of Sanskrit through fun ways. It operates from three locations currently – Liverpool, Wentworthville and Glenfield.

The school was founded by dedicated and interested parents to provide a wide exposure to Sanskrit language through its ancient texts and familiarise students with the ancient knowledge of Vedas, yoga, meditation, spirituality, culture and history – apart from enabling students of all ages and background to be able to converse, read and write in the Sanskrit language.

Sydney Sanskrit School is engaged in the preservation and promotion of Sanskrit in Australia. Sydney Sanskrit School was founded in 2006 under the auspices of School of Vedic Sciences (Aust) Inc. It is the first Sanskrit school established in the Southern Hemisphere with the objectives to: Impart Sanskrit learning to enable students to converse, read and write in the language Comprehend firsthand the Sanskrit literature relating to Vedas, Yoga, Meditation, Spirituality, Culture and History Enable students to appreciate the classic significance of the language, its role/influence in their own personal development, local and universal cultures.

S

eva Dharma Mission distributed free food on 8 September at Adra Community Centre car park in Woodridge, Brisbane. Food included fresh fruits, vegetables, breads and normal essentials.

The mission has been also serving lunch in Loganlea community centre on 2nd Saturday of the month at 11.45am, and this month it was on September 11.

Anyone wishing to donate or volunteer for help can call Dada on 0422 823 341.

Janmashtmi celebrated in Perth

Continued from page 1

A

mong the VIP guests were: Her Excellency Consul General of India in Perth, Mrs. Dantu Charandasi representing India in Australia (Consulate General of India, Perth) Mr. Liam Staltari, representing Honorable Mr. Ken Wyatt, Minister for Indigenous Australians in the About the House - Australian House of Representatives & Member for Hasluck, WA Mr. Nitin_Vashisht, Chair for Liberals WA Marketing & Promotions Committee Mr. Veerana Satraddi, Vice

President, Indian Society of WA (ISWA) Mr. Damji Koriya, President, Hindu Council of Australia Perth Dr. Mayank Bhandari, incoming President of AIMA WA - Australian Indian Medical Association WA and Dr. Bhaskar Mandal, Council Member of Australian Medical Association (WA) The guest also expressed their appreciation and support for the upcoming Hare Krishna Temple & Community Centre Project. For more information about the project, visit www.harekrishnaperth.com.

Mr. Liam Staltari, representing Honorable Mr. Ken Wyatt

Ms Dantu Charandasi, Consul General of India in Perth

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6

FOOD & CUISINE

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Indian Cooking with Lata Modi JANAM ASHTAMI PRASHAD & POTATOES/CAPSICUM CURRY JANAM ASHTAMI PANJIRI PRASHAD

MRS. LATA MODI

Y

ou know when we were growing up, my mum did not have a fancy kitchen.

It was just a small charcoal stove, which my dad built for my mum in the kitchen by digging a whole in the ground. So we used to sit around on a blanket and peel peas, or grate carrots, I mean everything had to be done sitting down.

As a child, we never used a chopping board, so I could never use it for years even after coming to Australia.

Once I was teaching year 11 and year 12 students about Indian culture and cuisine.

While cooking I was chopping an onion, garlic ginger and even chillies in my hands.

So in lunch hour kids were playing in the playground and one boy was telling his friend that this Indian lady is very clever, she can chop all vegetables in her hands.

Suddenly I realised that this is a skill. And now cutting vegetables in my hand has become a skilful addition to my cooking skills.

POTATOES AND CAPSICUM CURRY WITH GARLIC

Should schools educate kids about the importance of good nutrition?

I

n this technology savvy world, our food content and quality is also being affected and driven by various factors like taste and convenience, rather than nutritional value and quality. The choice of food is becoming “fast” rather than nutritious. This has both short-term and long-term consequences on our health.

The high salt and sugar content of fast food gives rise to ailments like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, etc at a much younger age as compared to the previous generations.

The high consumption of empty calories has dire consequences on our health. Advertisement-driven unhealthy food choices are overriding the healthy conventional food choices.

Our choice of food defines our body and mind. The selection should be guided by the nutrient value rather than taste buds and other conveniences. One should www.indianabroad.news

be informed about the nutritional value, the content of carbohydrates, fat, protein, minerals, sugar, salt in a particular preparation. Knowledge about nutritional values helps us to make an informed selection as per our bodies needs. The introduction of basic requirements like calorie needs per day, salt requirements, minerals for immunity, the strength of the body, etc should be taught in the school so kids learn early on.

The idea of a balanced diet lays emphasizing the content and quantity of food items should be introduced in the school at an early age so that the child understands the importance of varied food items and their inclusion into daily meals.

The role of carbohydrates in daily requirements as energy source and the ill effects of excessive carbohydrates in causing obesity and other ailments should be taught so when the child can visualise its effects on the body.

Children should be introduced to the kitchen at an early age, in order so as to get a glimpse of the ingredients and get a better understanding of food preparation. This makes them aware of their food choices and the long term impact on their health.

A kitchen garden is a great way to educate them about the life cycle of the plants. Working with the plants, monitoring their growth, understanding the flower and fruit cycle helps in establishing connectivity with the food items. The interest in the food cycle helps them to make more informed choices. This experiential learning method helps to mold their health. Kids should also be taught about reading the content of packed food items, to know what they are consuming.

(Dr. Puja Kapoor, Paediatric Neurologist & Co-founder of Continua kids)

JANAM ASHTAMI PANJIRI PRASHAD with a difference (Healthy nuts and seeds) INGREDIENTS: (for 4-6 people) • Two cups of Aata (wholemeal flour) • Two cups of Ghee (clarified butter) • one cup of powdered sugar • Two cups roasted almond chopped • one cup of Pecan nuts • one cup of sunflower seeds • one cup of pepita seeds.

• one cup dedicated coconut METHOD: • Take a big deep frying pan • Heat ghee • Fry Aata on medium heat until golden brown.

• When it’s golden brown add

sugar and all the nuts.

• Let it cool.

• Pack in airtight containers and you can keep it for three to six months. Enjoy either warm or at room temperature.

Lata Modi: I invented this recipe just today and my family loved it.

I am happy to share with you all.

POTATOES AND CAPSICUM CURRY WITH GARLIC INGREDIENTS (for 4-6 people) • Two big green capsicums chopped into little pieces • Three medium-sized potatoes chopped into little pieces • 6-7 cloves of garlic finely chopped • 2-3 dry red chillies • One teaspoon mustard seeds • One teaspoon turmeric powder • One teaspoon curry powder • One teaspoon Amchoor powder • Salt to taste • Two tablespoon oil METHOD • In a big wok or frying pan, heat oil • Add mustard seeds, let them crackle

•

Now add chopped garlic, and dry red chillies, stir a bit.

• Add turmeric powder • Firstly add potatoes and all the spices.

• Stir for a couple of minutes • Now add chopped capsicum • Cover and cook for three minutes on medium to high heat • Now take the lid off and let it sizzle until soft and fully cooked.

• Serve with hot rotis.

Hope you like it.

Culinary delicacies from GT Road locations in Delhi

H

istorically, the Grand Trunk road has been a route strategic for trade and commerce, but one often overlooks its role in connecting cultures and culinary heritages of key cities falling on it. The road runs through Kabul, Peshawar, Lahore, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Agra, Delhi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Howrah, and Chittagong, and a Delhi-based restaurant eponymous with the road brings a dish from each location to your table.

Together with its interiors, serving style and the food itself ranging from Kabul to Chittagong, the G.T. Road in Connaught Place proves to be a walk through history, peppered

/IndianAbroadNews

with contemporary dishes. A rare buffet eatery with a theme that starts from its 400-kilogram distressed wood entrance and permeates to the kansa plates, the copper-bottom cups, the tandoor-cooked starters accompanied by their welcome drink give an overall antiquated, rustic feel.

A great combination of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare, the multi-cuisine restaurant is a good option for everything from hearty family celebrations to post-work hangouts. Although the menu sees new dishes every month, its signature dishes include the succulent Chicken Burrah Kebab, Murgh Makhanwala, Palak Patta Chaat,

/indianabroadnews

Ananas Khatta Meetha, Jalebi Rabri, Shahi Tukda etc. The buffet-themed place has a barbeque placed centrally on each table.

Price: Approximately Rs 1800 for two Where: The GT Road, M-39, Shankar Market, Connaught Place, New Delhi

7

COMMUNITY NEWS

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Hindi drama presented on World Senior Citizens Day

Indian Cultural Expo to showcase unique Indian brands

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hindi drama titled, “Golden Jubilee….Ek Surprise” was presented on August 21 by Natraj Productions on the occasion of World Senior Citizens Day which was celebrated by the production house in collaboration with Sanskriti Seniors of WA and Hindi Samaj of WA. The event turned out to be a runaway success and the drama was an immense work of art which was a testimony to the inimitable talent of the director, actors and musicians.

Even the stage backdrops reflected the hard work that was put in to ensure that the event was conducted in an impeccable manner.

The drama which was organised to disseminate awareness among everyone in general and senior citizens in particular, was applauded

by Consul General Ms Dantu Charandasi and was also appreciated by the Perth audience.

The credit for the materialising of this show goes not only to the Sanskriti Seniors of WA and Hindi Samaj of WA but also to the sponsors Mayuresh Madgavkar, Sudhakar Sharma and Amit Patil.

T

he Indian Cultural Expo which is going to be held on 10th October in Calamvale will showcase exclusive Indian attire, home décor, jewellery, food, entertainment and much more.

The promotional flyer for the event reads, “When situations stop us from travelling to hometown and enjoy shopping experience during festive times, we change the situation by bringing it all together under one roof at your doorstep.”

All exclusive brands from Brisbane and Gold Coast have joined together for this first-of-its-kind experience.

Businesses and community are being brought together to celebrate and experience festive shopping in Brisbane, Queensland. The Expo is being organised by a group of innovative women entrepreneurs who will be exhibiting and selling elegant Indian attires, sweets and savoury snacks, jewellery, home décor and accessories.

Mona Bhasin, a prominent organizer of this event stated, “It is a FREE ENTRY event and there will be different activities representing our beautiful culture, some surprises and gift hampers to be won. There will be stalls at amazing Calamvale Hotel in Brisbane that recreates the quintessential bazaar experience of India, right here in Australia. It’s a celebration of Indian heritage through traditional clothing, jewellery, home décor, mithai with a luxurious touch, Bollywood music and much more. For people living away from India, we bring them the ultimate street shopping experience right in their neighbourhood with more than 10 stallholders at this time, selling their favourite Indian attires, jewellery, home décor, accessories and so much more. It will be a family friendly market that has FREE ENTRY for everyone to attend and enjoy shopping, music, performances and many more surprises.”

Fashion event by Ravishing Fashionistas a resounding success P Continued from page 1 ersevering tirelessly and incessantly, Upma has portrayed that passion and a steely resolve are the factors driving people to the zenith of success. In her speech delivered in the second half of the evening, the Lady Mayoress also lauded Upma’s diligence and determination.

Despite all the roadblocks which might have dimmed the glory of the event, Upma Kite braved all the storms and emerged triumphant as the fashion event turned out to be splendid.

The show has also proven without doubt that RF continues to abide by its pledge to fortify women’s power and live up to its message of "confidently embracing women’s beauty and body, irrespective of their age, body type, background, skin colour or culture".

The fashion event commenced with RF’s in-house label designed by Amina Hunt , which showcased an array of ten breathtaking designs flawlessly matching the Gold and Glitter theme of the event.

Apart from rejoicing in the triumphs and unique stories of women irrespective of their age, size and body type, the event also had another altruistic motive. RF also raised

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funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Cancer Council.

A certain portion of all the money collected through ticket sales and other activities were donated to both the charitable organisations.

The event was attended by several prominent members of the community, including local politicians, celebrities and influencers including VVIP guests, Brisbane City Council’s Lady Mayoress, Nina Schrinner and Damien Anthony Rossi.

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8

COMMUNITY NEWS

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

MAWA organises Perth Mega Thiruvathira

M

alayalee Association of Western Australia (MAWA) organised Mega Thiruvathira at Wellington Square, Wellington Street, Perth on September 11.

Thiruvathira, traditional dance form of Kerala, presented over 300 women participants to depict the beauty of Malayalee art form in Western Australia.

Well choreographed by the creative Athapookkalam team, the event showcased a huge Athapookkalam in a wider diameter.

ABC Radio & 7 News provided the media coverage.

www.indianabroad.news

/IndianAbroadNews

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9

INDIA

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Govt ready for probe into Karnal incident: Haryana minister IANS

Chandigarh, Sep 9: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said the government is ready to probe the lathicharge incident in Karnal, comprising an IAS officer's remark to 'crack heads of farmers', that led to anger among farmers who have been staging sit-in protest outside the district headquarters secretariat.

However, Vij was categorically

clear in saying that "nobody can be hanged without a probe as someone is demanding it".

The government has already transferred Karnal sub-divisional magistrate Ayush Sinha, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who was caught on camera directing police to hit protesting farmers on their head if they breached the security cordon.

Farmers have been protesting against the lathicharge on August 28 in which police had used force on the protesters when farmers allegedly tried to march towards the venue of the BJP meeting, where Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar among other leaders were present.

"We are ready for an impartial probe, but this will not only be related to the SDM (Ayush Sinha), but the entire Karnal episode. In this probe, if farmers or their leaders are found guilty, then whatever action is

deemed fit will be taken," Vij told the media in his hometown Ambala.

"Only genuine demands can be accepted. We cannot hang anyone because someone says so. Is the country's IPC (Indian Penal Code) different and the farmers' IPC different? It cannot be like this and punishment is always given as per the offence committed. To find out the offence, a probe has to be conducted," added Vij. Hundreds and thousands of farmers have set up their camp outside the mini-secretariat in Karnal even as their agitation entered into the third day on Thursday.

The demand for action on the IAS officer has now become a prestige battle for the farmers.

The farmer leaders, after holding talks with the administration on Wednesday, announced that their sit-in protest would continue until their demands are met.

Software-based transfer policy for paramilitary forces soon IANS

New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS): With an aim to maintain transparency in transfers between hard and soft postings within the Central Armed Police Forces, a software-based transfer policy for all the CAPFs' personnel will be implemented soon.

This software has been designed after the instructions of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in January last year. The development of the application was delayed because of Covid-19 induced restrictions in 2020.

According to a senior official in the security forces, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Himalayan border guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are ready with the software, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and

Assam Rifles are in the advanced stage of development of the applications.

He also said that the transfer policy of each force varies from the others as per their mandates and requirements, therefore all CAPFs were asked to develop their own applications.

The BSF is in the final round of testing its software, while the CRPF and Assam Rifles will be on the testing round very soon, he added.

Once all the software applications are ready, they will give a presentation to the Union Home Ministry for the final approval.

The Ministry had earlier decided to review progress of the development of these applications and a meeting was also scheduled in mid July this year, but after the delay by some security forces, a fresh date will be

decided to review the presentation.

"In the proposed review by the Home Ministry, the officials of the CISF, ITBP and SSB will be presenting the live demonstration of their software being used in rotational transfer in compliance of Shah's directives to the effect," the officials in the Home Ministry said.

The CRPF, BSF and Assam Rifles will be updating the Ministry about the status of the progress made so far in implementation of the rotational transfer policy within their ranks.

"A transparent transfer mechanism based on a software application will not only reduce the unnecessary delays in approvals of transfer but will also do away with favouritism", the officials said.

In general, all personnel of the paramilitary forces will be given multiple options to opt for next posting as per his or her last posting, nature of job and other factors, therefore, they will have an idea of where they can be posted for the next tenure", a source in the Force said.

The move is also expected to lead to a reduction in stress of the personnel deployed in hard postings with inherent travails amid vagaries of nature and dynamic security challenges besides being away from their families, he added.

Timely grant of leave, transfer from hard to soft posting have been a major grievance of the forces' personnel, especially the middle and lower rung staffers and now these grievances can be addressed through the software based applications," a senior official in a paramilitary said.

Conservation plantation helps UP woman marries man TN tribals earn livelihood in police custody after withdrawing rape charges IANS

Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), Sep 10: A woman, who had accused a man of rape and had got him arrested, turned hostile a day later and married him at a 'nikah' ceremony held in the police station.

Ram Sanjivan, station house officer (SHO) Lisari gate, told reporters that the woman had levelled allegations of rape against a man and the latter was promptly arrested.

"But when we spoke to the woman and interrogated her, she admitted she had pressed charges under family's pressure after the man refused to marry her. The two were in a relationship," said the SHO. Police officers then spoke to both families who decided to solemnise the marriage as soon as possible.

"A maulvi was brought to the police station by the families on Wednesday while a lawyer was also present. The 'nikah' ceremony was performed and refreshments were also served to the guests," the SHO said.

He said that due procedure was followed in withdrawing the case.

IANS

soon: Minorities' panel chief The Hans India

IANS

Karnal, Sep 11: Bharatiya Kisan Union President Gurnam Singh Chaduni and Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Devender Singh on Saturday announced to conclude the week-long agitation in Karnal.

The decision was announced at a joint press conference after the first round of talks between farmers

www.indianabroad.news

union leaders and the Haryana government representative.

ACS Singh said that “after several round of talks with farmers leaders we have reached up to an agreement considering farmers demands”.

He said that state government will set up an inquiry committee of retired High Court judges to probe against SDM Ayush Sinha.

noted.

"When the integrity of habitats is compromised, its dependents, be they animals or humans, suffer too.

This is what is happening in once verdant zones that have undergone severe deforestation due to multiple reasons," Grow-Trees.com CEO, Bikrant Tiwary, said.

Grow-Tree.com is affiliated with the United Nation's Environment Program's (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign and WWF's 'Cities for Forests Campaign' has acknowledged it as an official partner.

"We cannot undermine the role indigenous people have played in conservation activities. That is why whenever we undertake tree plantation exercises, we invite local communities to participate in the conservation of eco-diversity, sustainable management of vegetation and identification of indigenous plants and their ethno-botanical uses."

Irulas inhabit the forest areas along the Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka border. Over 1,89,621 of them live in Tamil Nadu and the plantation project has engaged these communities in implementing fforestation activities, which in turn, has created job opportunities for them.

"Upon maturity, these saplings are expected to absorb 200,000 kg of atmospheric carbon every year," a release said.

Base effect pushes up domestic PV sales in Aug Pending cases will be resolved

Karnal farmers agitation ends with compromised formula Meanwhile, during the probe, which will be completed within a month, he will be sent on leave.

Talking about other demands, the ACS said that two members of a farmer family who died in the unfortunate incident will be given jobs of the sanction posts on DC rate.

He said that chances are high to turn these posts permanent.

Meanwhile, Chaduni said in the press conference that the talks ended on a positive note and they were happy that the government has considered their demands.

He added that jobs will be provided to the two family members of the family within a week.

However, being asked about one of the other major demands of registering an FIR against Sinha, he said filing a complaint after the probe by the retired judges will give more strength to the case.

On ending the agitation, Chaduni said that “we are satisfied with the outcomes and this is our victory”, adding that the protest against the new farm laws will continue as usual on the Delhi border and across the nation.

New Delhi, Sep 10: A social organisation patronised by some leading industry names has generated 7,000 workdays for tribal societies and planted 85,000 local mixed saplings in Tamil Nadu while working with Irula tribal settlements.

Banking on the tribal and indigenous cultures' knowledge that have played a critical role in conserving biodiversity and natural habitats, the saplings have been planted across 150 villages with about 5,200 Irula households from Viluppuram, Tiruvannamalai, Chengalpet, Kancheepuram, and Thiruvallur districts by the Grow-Trees.org.

Grow-Trees.org has said this initiative creates an additional source of income for many tribal families while also bringing multi-faceted ecological advantages to their environment like enhanced carbon sequestration potential, improved greenery and wildlife habitats, increased food, fuel, fruits and flowers, and improved groundwater levels.

Forests are intrinsic to human subsistence for most indigenous populations who conserve ecosystems and consume sources of food like roots, tubers, seeds, fruits, and agricultural, medicinal, and horticultural plants as a way of life.

However rapid industrialisation, mining, and deforestation have not only compromised India's biodiversity but also the habitats and livelihoods of tribal communities, it

New Delhi, Sep 10: Low base effect along with pent up demand pushed India's domestic private vehicle (PV) sales higher on a year-on-year basis in August.

However, challenges pertaining to electronic components' availability, coupled with high operating and ownership costs due to rising commodity prices capped the sales' uptrend.

Accordingly, sales of passenger vehicles increased to 2,32,224 units in August as compared to 2,15,916 units sold during the corresponding period of 2020.

On a sequential basis, August PV sales were lower than July's level of 2,64,442 units.

The data furnished by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) does not include sales figures from some key players such as Tata Motors.

The PV sales data comprises cars, utility vehicles and vans.

/IndianAbroadNews

New Delhi, Sep 11: Soon after former IPS officer Iqbal Singh Lalpura took over the charge of National Commission for Minorities as the Chairman, he started hearing the grievances of the people.

Lalpura believes that solving the pending cases quickly will be a challenge for him.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS on Friday, he said, "We will work for the victims belonging to the minority community and will try to ensure that no wrong narrative is being set."

"Many old cases are lying pending and they will be disposed of soon," he added.

"Since the Chairman's has been lying vacant for a long time, steps will be taken to provide speedy justice to the victims at the district and state level," Lalpura asserted.

As per the information, over 500 cases are pending before the Commission.

"We have a total of 524 complaints pending cases. Delhi has the highest number of pending cases -- 187, while the incident from states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and others are also pending, on which we will start working soon," he noted.

On the other hand, the several research studies in the Minorities

/indianabroadnews

Commission are also yet to be completed.

Lalpura is also considering to meet as many people as possible, know their problems and try to ensure justice, so that a trust can be established among the people.

"I will personally meet people or will contact them so that minorities can have faith that they will get justice," he elaborated.

Lalpura, who was previously associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party as a spokesperson, said: "I am sitting on this post after resigning, before that I have also paid many responsibilities. It's not necessary to be in the BJP only, my aim is to deliver justice to the people. However, the law of the country is above all the things for me.

"I want to appeal to the people that if they witness any injustice then I am with them," he said, adding that whether it is an earlier incident -- Delhi, Kanpur, Haryana etc. --, we are with riots victims irrespective to their religion. We will look everybody from same angle.

Earlier, Gairul Hasan Rizvi was the Chairman of the Commission whose term ended in May 2020.

The Commission comprises seven members including the Chairman, out of which presently five posts are lying vacant. Atif Rashid is the Vice-Chairman of the Commission.

10

INDIA

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

India, Australian Defence Ministers discuss emerging regional issues

Facebook

New Delhi, Sep 10: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton in Delhi on Friday and discussed defence cooperation as well as emerging regional issues.

"Both sides agree to work jointly to realise full potential of IndiaAustralia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership based on shared vision of a free, open, inclusive and rule-based Indo-Pacific region," a Defence Ministry statement said.

Rajnath Singh said that he had a fruitful and wide-ranging discussion with Dutton on bilateral defence cooperation as well as regional issues.

"Both of us are keen to work jointly to realise the full potential of the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

"Both Australia and India have tremendous stake in peace, development and free flow of trade, rules-based order and economic growth in the region," he said.

He said that their discussions focused on bilateral defence cooperation and expanding military engagements across services, enhancing defence information sharing, cooperation in emerging defence technologies, and mutual logistics support.

Both sides noted with happiness that Australia joined the Malabar Exercise in 2020.

"In this context we also expressed satisfaction in the continued participation of Australia in Malabar Exercise this year," Rajnath Singh said.

He apprised Dutton about India's recent efforts towards "Atmanirbhar Bharat" and growing innovation ecosystem in India.

"We discussed opportunities to work together in defence science and technology areas," he said, inviting the Australian industry to take advantage of India's liberalised foreign direct investment policies in the defence sector.

"We both agreed that there are opportunities of bilateral collaboration for co-development and co-production," said Rajnath Singh, adding that India is committed to building a robust partnership with Australia for security and growth of the entire region.

Yogi govt shut down 150 illegal slaughterhouses

Lucknow, Sep 14: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has shut down 150 illegal slaughterhouses and identified 356 cattle mafias as part of its ongoing mission to protect cows and check smuggling.

The state government has initiated legal action against 1,823 accused and confiscated assets worth more than Rs 18 crore of 68 smugglers booked under the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act in the last four and a half years, said an official spokesman on Tuesday.

According to the Urban Development Department, 150 slaughterhouses with the capacity to slaughter 300, 400 and 500 animals daily have been closed in different districts for not complying with the prescribed standards. At present, only 35 slaughterhouses that adhere to the prescribed standards are operating in the state.

Cow smuggling has always been a major issue in Uttar Pradesh that has led to frequent incidents of violence in the state.

The regulations for the operation and maintenance of slaughterhouses were not implemented properly earlier and permission was given to those willing to open slaughterhouses indiscriminately without ensuring their adherence to

regulations.

After Yogi Adityanath took over as the chief minister, strict instructions for implementation of the Supreme Court's order and the Central Government's guidelines in this regard were issued.

According to the Police Department's latest data, 319 cow smugglers have been arrested in the last four and a half years while properties of two have been attached and 14 have been booked under the National Security Act. Apart from this, 280 accused have been charged under the Gangsters Act, 114 under Goonda Act whereas cases of 156 history-sheeters have also been opened.

The Yogi Adityanath government also started a novel cow adoption initiative for destitute cows to motivate farmers to come forward and adopt stray cattle and rear them. Under this scheme, interested farmers and livestock owners are given an allowance of Rs 900 per month to rear stray cattle.

According to the Department of Rural Development and Livestock, more than 83,203 cows had been given to more than 43,168 people in the state till July, this year.

A total of 5,278 permanent cow shelters have been built in the rural and urban areas of the state housing about 5,86,793 cows.

Mumbai girl dies brushing teeth Half of rural agricultural with rat poison instead of toothpaste households indebted: NSS data Indiaforensic

New Delhi, Sep 10: Almost half of the rural agricultural households are indebted across India with an average outstanding loan amount per agricultural household being way more than the below poverty line income for rural India, as per the latest dataset of the National Statistical Survey (NSS) released on Friday.

The percentage of indebted agricultural households stood at 50.2 per cent while the average amount (Rs) of outstanding loan per agricultural household stood at Rs 74,121, the 77th round of the survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 showed.

The survey theme was "Land and Livestock Holdings of Households and Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households" in the rural areas of India with an integrated schedule of enquiry.

Prior to the 77th round, Land and Livestock Holding Surveys (LHS) and Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households used to be conducted as separate surveys in separate sets of www.indianabroad.news

households.

For calculating indebtedness of agricultural households, the information on the amount of outstanding loan as on date of survey (i.e., the day on which data was collected from the household) was collected from each of the surveyed agricultural households.

The NSS also found out the average monthly income per agricultural household for which it collected information on the receipts and expenditures relating to crop production, farming of animals and non-farm business, separately for the two halves of the agricultural year July 2018 - June 2019.

Income from wage/salary employment and income from leasing out of land were also recorded for the same period.

Based on this information, the average monthly income per agricultural household was worked out for the agricultural year July 2018-June 2019 by adding up the income from wages/salary, income from leasing out of land, net receipt from crop production, farming of animals and

non-farm business.

"Net receipt is worked out by deducting total expenses from total receipts for each source of income," the survey findings said.

The average monthly income for income from wages was Rs 4,063 for paid out expenses approach and remained the same for the paid out expenses and imputed expenses together. Similarly, the average same for income from leasing out of land was Rs 134 for both types of calculations.

However, for net receipt from crop production, the paid out expenses approach yielded Rs 3,798 that went down to Rs 3,058 if imputed expenses were also considered.

The gap went down further for net receipt from farming of animals where the average monthly income in case of paid out expenses approach was Rs 1,582 and only Rs 441 when additionally imputed expenses were considered.

Net receipts from non-farm business stood at Rs 641 for both paid out expenses approach and when clubbed with imputed expenses, the survey findings said.

The information was collected in two visits from the same set of sample households in rural areas with a view to collect relevant information separately for the two halves of the agricultural year July 2018-June 2019.

An agricultural household for the NSS 77th round of survey was defined as a household receiving more than Rs 4,000 as value of produce from agricultural activities, and having at least one member self-employed in agriculture either in the principal status or in subsidiary status during the last 365 days.

Mumbai, Sep 14: In a bizarre incident, an 18-year-old girl from Dharavi dies after she brushed her teeth with rat poison, mistaking it for toothpaste, police said here on Tuesday.

The incident occurred in the morning of September 3 at her home when Afsana Khan got up to brush her teeth as usual.

Unfortunately, she unwittingly picked up a tube of rat poison cream

kept beside the toothpaste tube and brushed with the killer chemical paste.

She belatedly realised the difference in the taste and smell and frantically attempted to wash out the deadly poison from her mouth, but she started feeling giddy in the bathroom.

Fearing a scolding from her family, she kept popping some medicines as she felt uneasy with severe stomach aches, but got no respite and was taken to at least three private and public hospitals without any improvement in her health condition.

With steadily deteriorating health, and a grilling by her mother Afsana she finally revealed to the family members of the blunder and they rushed her to Sir JJ Hospital for treatment on September 12

(Sunday).

However, despite all attempts to save her, Afsana breathed her last that evening, stunning her family comprising her parents, an elder sister and two younger brothers, besides the people in the locality.

The medical report has concluded that Afsana died due to poisoning and the Dharavi Police Station has collected sample for a forensic analysis.

Soon afterwards, the police recorded the statements of her family on the incident and have registered an accidental death report, while further probe is on, according to an official.

While Afsana dropped out of school during the lockdown, the family makes a living through a small fruit selling business.

11 missing as overloaded boat capsizes in Wardha River in Maha Amravati (Maharashtra), Sep 14: In a major tragedy, at least 11 persons are missing and feared drowned after an overloaded boat with 30 persons aboard suddenly capsized in the Wardha River in Maharashtra's Amravati district on Tuesday morning, police said.

The incident occurred around 10 a.m. when the boat was sailing to the opposite bank of the river near Shrikshetra Jhunjh, falling under the jurisdiction of Benoda Shaheed Police Station of Amravati.

Hearing the cries for help, several villagers jumped into the river to save the victims and also alerted the local police.

Till afternoon, three bodies, including of a two-year old girl, have been

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recovered and another eight are still reported missing, while the rest have survived with minor injuries.

The police, along with teams of divers and the villagers, have launched a massive search operation for the missing who are feared drowned over four hours after the incident.

A majority of the victims are said to be from a single clan who had gone to Gadegaon to attend the post-funeral rituals of a deceased relative.

Later they went to the Mahadev Temple in Varud area when the tragedy engulfed them.

The bodies of Narayan Matare, 45, Kiran Khandare, 28, and two-year old Vanshika Shivankar have been recovered so far.

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Search continues downstream for the others - Nisha Matare, Piyush Matare, Aditi Khandare, Mohini Khandare, Ashwini Khandare, Vrishali Waghmare, Atul Waghmare, and Poonam Shivankar.

Locals said that the Wardha River has been swollen since the past one week due to heavy rains in Wardha, Amravati, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli districts of eastern Maharashtra.

Though the exact cause of the accident is not clear, villagers said that the boat may have sunk as it was packed over its capacity and the victims may have been dragged away by the strong currents.

11

AUSTRALIA

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

NSW warns of continued curbs Australia sees surge in domestic violence during pandemic for unvaccinated persons

Khaskhabar

Sydney, Sep 13 (IANS): Authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales said on Monday that greater freedoms promised at 80 per cent rates of vaccination would not necessarily be granted to the unvaccinated.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged citizens to remain vigilant, continue to get vaccinated, and warned that those who choose not to get the jabs would likely face exclusions as the country’s largest state eases restrictions, reports Xinhua news agency.

“Don’t assume that at 80 per cent double-dose vaccination that unvaccinated people are going to have all those freedoms. I want to make that

point very clear,” she said.

“A private business might choose only to welcome patrons who are vaccinated. An airline might say you can only fly with us if you’re vaccinated.”

Her remarks came after NSW recorded 1,257 new locally acquired cases in the last 24 hours and marked the third consecutive day in which the daily cases remained above 1,200, pointing to a potential plateau of daily case growth.

The state also recorded seven deaths in the same time period, bringing the death toll of its current outbreak to 184.

Berejiklian reiterated that the state

is still in the process of finalizing exactly what the freedoms at 80 per cent vaccination rates would look like.

At present, NSW’s vaccination rate sits at 46 per cent of the population over 16 fully vaccinated, and 78.5 per cent having received at least one dose.

After the federal government approved Pfizer vaccines for children aged 12 to 15 from Monday, states have begun vaccinating this age group.

Berejiklian confirmed that this vaccination rollout would be counted separately to the tally of the adult population.

PM flags home quarantine for int'l arrivals

Canberra, Sep 9: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday promised citizens stranded overseas that home quarantine on arrival in the country will be available soon.

Morrison acknowledged the "very heavy burden" carried by Australians who have been stuck overseas since the start of the pandemic, reports xinhua news agency.

"I know, for Australians overseas, it has been a very difficult and frustrating time," he said in a video

message to an awards event, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

So far, about 38,000 Australian citizens and residents overseas had registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to return home.

Morrison previously promised Australians overseas that they would be home by December 2020 but domestic outbreaks of Covid-19 interrupted the hotel quarantine system.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has criticised the Prime Minister for the delay, saying that Morrison had not done enough to help Australians stranded overseas get home.

Morrison said that the government was working to make home quarantine the "primary" option for arrivals rather than hotel quarantine, significantly boosting the number of people who can enter the country.

On Thursday morning, Australia reported 1,745 new locally-acquired cases of Covid-19, taking the overall infection tally to 66,318, while the death toll stood at 1,013.

Of the new cases, 1,405 were from New South Wales (NSW), the country's most populous state and the current epicentre of the pandemic, where the health department also recorded five deaths.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) recorded 15 new cases, taking the number of active cases in the nation's capital to 227.

So far about 64 pe rcent of Australians aged 16 and over had received at least one coronavirus vaccine and 39 per cent were fully inoculated, according to the Department of Health.

Aus Covid epicentre announces roadmap out of lockdown

Sydney, Sep 10, New South Wales (NSW): Australia's current Covid-19 epicentre, has unveiled a "roadmap to freedom" out of the prolonged lockdown imposed on much of the state as it continues to battle a raging outbreak of the virus.

Addressing reporters in state capital Sydney, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the newfound freedoms would be contingent on 70 per cent of people aged 16 and older receiving their two doses of vaccine, reports Xinhua news agency.

"I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to get vaccinated, if you have not had both doses of the vaccine by the time we hit the 70 per cent milestone, you will not be able to take advantage of these freedoms," Berejiklian said.

No date has been given for the roadmap introduction, however, the state's present uptake of jabs means its vaccine rollout target should be reached by mid-October.

The freedoms would begin the Monday following that milestone.

It will mean stay-at-home orders for fully vaccinated adults will be lifted and up to five visitors will be allowed in a home where all adults are vaccinated (not including children aged 12 and under).

There will also be an easing of restrictions at a wide range of venues including shops, hairdressers,

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restaurants, pubs, stadiums, gyms, theatres and public swimming pools.

People who have been locked in their homes for months on end will finally be able to travel throughout NSW and camping grounds will reopen.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro also announced that parts of regional NSW, which have had no new Covid-19 cases for at least 14 days, will emerge from lockdown this Saturday.

"For the areas coming out of lockdown, you are not coming back to a pre-lockdown environment," Barilaro said.

"There will be capacity limits for our hotels, cafes and restaurants, including the four-square meter rule, mask-wearing, social distancing."

The announcements come at a time as the outbreak continues in Sydney and other regions.

The state reported 1,405 new locally acquired cases in the last 24 hours.

Since the first case of the Delta variant was discovered on June 16, there have been 32,296 cases in NSW. Fatality figures have also steadily climbed, with a further five deaths reported on Thursday, bringing the overall number to 153.

Such alarming statistics means that

neighbouring states will probably not be enthusiastic about the prospect of people in NSW being on the move.

The state of Queensland to the north of NSW, for instance, has so far avoided the crisis that has occurred just beyond its southern border. On Thursday, Queensland recorded only one new case during the previous 24 hours.

Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk has frequently been at loggerheads with her NSW counterparts about how to reopen their shared border.

Palaszczuk said on Thursday that Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles was talking to Barilaro about the easing of restrictions in regional NSW and she said it was too soon to say whether her state would relax its hard border.

Meanwhile, the state of Victoria as another neighbour of NSW also has its reasons not to roll out the welcome mat to NSW any time soon.

In recent days, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has said it had been "totally unfair" how NSW had received hundreds of thousands of vaccines from the national stockpile, seemingly at the expense of other states eager to raise their own rollout numbers.

Victoria has imposed many lockdowns on its residents, particularly those in the state capital city of Melbourne, throughout the past 18 months.

Despite all its strenuous efforts, the state is currently confronting its own battle against the virus.

Victoria recorded 324 new cases, concentrated around Melbourne, bringing its overall total to 2,166 active cases.

Despite the mounting Covid-19 figures, Victoria will lift the lockdown on much of its regional districts from Friday.

Since the onset of the pandemic early last year, Australia has registered a total of 69,923 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 1,076 deaths.

Canberra, Sep 10: Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) published a on Friday survey that detailed how the Covid-19 pandemic has made domestic and family violence in Australia more common and severe.

Published in the Australian Journal of Social Issues, the study said 62 per cent of domestic and family violence (DFV) sector workers reported an increase in demand during the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

In addition, 67 per cent of workers reported abuse victims seeking help for the first time during the pandemic.

Lead author of the study, professor of education and social justice at QUT Kerry Carrington said the findings were not completely surprising.

"We did expect that the lockdown conditions would create a perfect storm for anyone who is in a coercive controlling relationship, there was just no space," Carrington told Xinhua on Friday.

A government study from Australian Institute of Criminology that interviewed 15,000 women across Australia in May of 2020 found that 11.6 per cent of respondents had been the victim of some kind of domestic abuse.

Two-thirds of the respondents reported that the abuse had either started or escalated since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Carrington told Xinhua that there are a multitude of factors behind the

coinciding of this uptick with the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns.

"So the pandemic itself created the perfect storm for insecurity, financial loss, loss of jobs and of course intense conflict within families, kids home, home schooling, inability to escape."

"So, the whole thing was that they were locked down with the perpetrator."

Carrington said the most shocking part of their findings was the ways that perpetrators of domestic violence were weaponising the pandemic and other health restrictions.

"Covid actually gave perpetrators another weapon. It gave them a weapon to actually further enhance the control of their victims."

An anonymous respondent who worked as a domestic family

violence counsellor in Tasmania said victims' support networks were often severely reduced during times of lockdown.

"In situations where victims live with perpetrators, perpetrators have monitored victims more closely, including victim's communication with others," the respondent said.

The study reported that the vast majority, 86 percent of workers in the DFV sector reported an increase in complexity of abuse victim's needs during the pandemic.

Carrington said these responses served as a stark reminder that DFV services need greater support during times of crisis, and the most important thing going forward is for more empathy for women in these situations and greater funding for organisations in the DFV sector.

Success of vaccine rollout hinges on Australian public uptake: Taskforce chief Canberra, Sep 8: The head of Australia's Covid-19 Taskforce Lieutenant-General John Frewen has said the success of the vaccine rollout is now reliant on public uptake rather than supply as the country continues to battle the third wave of infections.

The early stages of the vaccination program in Australia was plagued by under-supply problems.

Frewen said that an imminent influx of mRNA Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would ramp up the rollout in September, reported Xinhua news agency.

"This takes us beyond the phase in the vaccine rollout where we were really mRNA supply constrained," he was cited by Australian Community Media as saying on Wednesday.

"The vaccines are coming, the distribution networks are in place and expanding. It all comes down now to public willingness to come

forward," he said.

On Wednesday morning, Australia reported 1,721 new locally-acquired Covid-19 infections, 1,480 of which were from New South Wales (NSW), the country's most populous state with Sydney as the capital city, where the state health department also recorded nine deaths.

"There have been 148 Covid-19 related deaths in NSW since 16 June 2021," said the statement from the NSW health authorities.

Victoria, the second-most populous state with Melbourne as the capital city, reported a further 221 new local cases.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) recorded another 20 new cases on the 27th day of its lockdown, which is due to end on Sept. 17.

Andrew Barr, the chief minister of the ACT, stressed that restrictions would only be eased when it is safe

to do so.

"Our primary goal remains the health and protecting the health of our community," he told reporters.

"We are very acutely aware of the need to also consider the economic impacts and the mental health and wellbeing impacts that come from ongoing public health restrictions," he added.

So far about 64 percent of Australians aged 16 and over had received at least one coronavirus vaccine and 39 percent were fully inoculated, according to the Department of Health.

Australia identified as 'transmission hotspot' for deadly avian malaria Sydney, Sep 8: Bird species across the globe are suffering and dying from avian malaria and while these strains are not infectious to humans, they're spreading quickly through global transmission hotspots including Australia.

This research, unveiled by Australia's University of Queensland (UQ) on Wednesday, was published in the journal of Global Ecology and Biogeography, Xinhua news agency reported.

The research compiled and analysed what is likely the largest data of wild bird infections with avian malaria parasites to date, with more than 53,000 wild birds examined.

The team combined infection statistics with remotely sensed environmental data, such as climate or forest conditions, and bird life history information, such as body size and migration patterns, into computer models to identify which factors best described the infection risk with avian malaria parasites.

"We've found that there are hotspots transmitting these parasites across the world," said one of the authors of the research, UQ's Dr. Nicholas Clark.

"In fact, here in Australia, some of these blood parasites are causing high infection rates in our songbirds," Clark said.

Clark explained that the disease is caused by a group of blood parasites,

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known as haemosporidian parasites, similar to human malaria which is transmitted via blood-feeding insects like mosquitoes.

Although it can't harm humans, it is known to have significant impacts on bird populations.

He noted in an article in the local media Brisbane Times that Australia has areas that have quite high infection rates, and those areas also see rates of mosquito-borne diseases in humans, such as north Queensland and subtropical regions around south-east Queensland.

Avian malaria was one of the major causes of extinction of about one-third of the 55 known species of Hawaiian honeycreepers when

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it was introduced into Hawaii in the late 1800s to early 1900s, and it affects between 13 percent and 14 percent of bird species worldwide now.

Depending on different parasite variants, the researchers also identified hotspots across North America and Europe, with the most significant rates worldwide recorded in parts of the Sahara-Arabian region.

Dr. Konstans Wells, who leads the research group at Swansea University in Britain, said predicting which conditions facilitate the infection of wild birds with avian malaria is crucial for understanding infectious disease hazards.

12

WORLD

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

India demands Taliban keep John Kerry to visit India to launch commitment to not harbour terrorists climate change funding initiative

IANS

U

nited Nations, Sep 10 (IANS) Warning that terrorism continues to threaten Afghanistan, India has demanded the Taliban to keep its commitment to not allow the country to be used by terrorists.

Citing last month's "deplorable" attack on the Kabul Airport that killed 13 American soldiers and more than 170 Afghans, India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti said on Thursday that "terrorism continues to pose a serious threat to Afghanistan".

He said that the resolution adopted last month when India presided over the Council "noted the commitment of the Taliban not to allow the use of the Afghan soil for terrorism, including from terrorists and terrorist groups designated" by the UN. The resolution took into account the "collective concerns" on terrorism and "underlined that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or to finance terrorist acts", he said at the Council meeting on Afghanistan.

"It is therefore important that commitments made in this regard (by the Taliban) are respected and adhered to."

Tirumurti said that he hoped that the Taliban will also respect its commitment to allow Afghans to travel abroad and ensure secure departure for them and all foreign nationals.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, raised the issue of Taliban's

leadership being on the UN's list of terrorists.

Of the 33 members of the interim government announced by the Taliban, many are on the UN sanctions list, including Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the two deputy prime ministers, and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, she said.

"All of you will need to decide which steps to take regarding the sanctions list, and the impact on future engagement," she told the Council.

Lyons added that the protest around the country "show that the Taliban have won power, but not yet the confidence of all Afghan people".

Afghanistan's Permanent Representative Ghulam Isaczi, who has defied the Taliban regime, said that the Security Council should reevaluate exempting the insurgent leaders from UN sanctions since they have failed to resolve the conflicts through peaceful means.

"The Council must use all its diplomatic tools, including the full implementation of existing multilateral sanctions to ensure that the Taliban is sincere and genuine in finding a comprehensive settlement," he said.

He urged all countries to withhold recognition of any government in Afghanistan "unless it's truly and formed on the basis of free will".

"I further urge you to draw a red line, regarding Taliban treatment of women and girls, and respect for the rights of all."

He said that the protests in his country, which the Taliban is brutally suppressing, are a sign that that the people will not accept a totalitarian

system imposed upon them and will demand their freedom.

Isaczi added that the Taliban was committing atrocities, and possible war crimes, in the Panjshir Valley with the support of foreign terrorist fighters and foreign intelligence and military.

Malala Yousafzai, who was attacked by extremists in Pakistan for advocating girls' education, reminded the Security Council of its commitment to protect the rights and dignity of women and girls.

"We must support education for Afghan girls, because it is a human right and because it is vital to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

"So today I'm here to call on the Security Council to protect Afghan girls and women," and "send a clear and unequivocal message to the Taliban" that a fundamental condition for a working relationship is giving girls their right to education, she added.

Tirumurti appealed to the international community "to come together, rising above any partisan interests, to stand together with the people of Afghanistan in their desire for peace, stability and security in the country".

"We reiterate the need for the voices of Afghan women to be heard, aspirations of Afghan children to be realised and the rights of minorities to be protected. We call on humanitarian assistance to be provided urgently and underline the need to provide unhindered access to the UN and other agencies in this regard."

He said that India has contributed significantly to the development of Afghanistan through more than 500 development projects in each of the 34 provinces of the country in critical areas of power, water supply, road connectivity, healthcare, education, agriculture and capacity building.

India also sent 75,000 metric tonnes of wheat last year to Afghanistan as humanitarian aid, he said.

"We hope that these developments projects and the education and human resource development imparted by India over the years will help in contributing to the development of an inclusive and progressive polity."

Denmark lifts almost all Covid restrictions Pexel

Copenhagen, Sep 11: As Denmark reclassified Covid-19 from "socially critical" to a "generally dangerous" disease, almost all the restrictions, including the mandatory use of face masks and enforcement of the "corona pass", have been lifted.

"Everyday life has pretty much returned to normal, but it does not mean that there is no danger," Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told the Danish broadcaster TV2 on Friday.

However, he noted that with a high vaccination rate among the population, "we are in a good place", reports Xinhua news agency In the past 24 hours, Denmark's Statens Serum Institute (SSI), the country's infectious diseases agency, registered 557 new cases and four deaths, bringing the national totals to 351,553 infections and 2,608 fatalities.

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Nevertheless, the public had mixed feelings about the disappearance of restrictions.

Normalcy returns in the wake of the government's refusal to extend the Epidemic Act, which it passed in March 2020, and which categorised Covid-19 as "socially critical," able to seriously disrupt important societal functions as it spreads.

"The pandemic is under control, we have record high vaccination rates.

Therefore, we can drop some special rules we have had to introduce in the fight against Covid-19," the Ministry of Health said on August 27.

Despite still being prevalent in society, coronavirus is now considered by the government to be less socially disruptive and has therefore been labelled as a "generally dangerous disease" akin to influenza.

"At the moment, I think that we have reason to favor lifting restrictions,

but this does not mean that we would not go back to restrictions later on," Jens Lundgren, professor of viral diseases at Copenhagen University Hospital, told Xinhua news agency.

"That is why an extensive surveillance activity is now being implemented in Denmark to make sure that we capture early signs of a potential worsening of the pandemic," he said.

According to the Ministry of Health, some "minor restrictions will still apply around utilities like wastewater, entry restrictions to medical establishments and care homes as well as the requirement for facemasks at airports and onboard planes to comply with international rules".

The Health Minister said that Denmark has placed further orders for "millions of vaccines", including newly developed types, to tackle new variants despite the end of restrictions.

Heunicke urged people to take the vaccine to "avoid transmitting the infection to other citizens with a weakened immune system".

On Friday, the SSI reported that 75.6 per cent of the population, or 4,428,948 people, had already started the vaccination process.

Of them, 4,282,637 people, or 73.1 per cent, are fully vaccinated.

"Covid-19 remains a lethal disease and everybody knows that. But we have a very effective weapon to control it, namely vaccination.

Therefore, we need to continue to encourage the unvaccinated to get vaccinated," Lundgren said.

The Danish Health Authority (SST) has said that 90 per cent of the population must be vaccinated against Covid-19 by October 1.

To achieve this goal, an additional 174,000 people must get the shot during September, according to the SSI.

IANS

New York, Sep 11: US President Joe Biden's Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry is slated to visit India next week to launch an initiative for mobilising funds for battling climate change ahead of the UN climate change conference in October, according to the State Department.

This will be his second visit to India as Biden's point-person on climate change, a priority area for the President.

Announcing the visit on Friday, the State Department said: "The Special Envoy's travel will bolster the US' bilateral and multilateral climate efforts ahead of the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be held October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow."

The Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue (CAFMD), that will be inaugurated during the trip, is one of the two main tracks of the US-India Agenda 2030 Partnership that Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the Leaders Summit on Climate in April, the Department said.

Kerry is coming to India after failing to get any deals on climate change from China.

He met China's climate envoy Xie Zhenhua in Tianjin, away from the capital Beijing, but Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to him only by a video link.

Wang told him that cooperation on climate change cannot happen unless bilateral relations improved overall, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

The US should "cease containing and suppressing China all over the world", Wang reportedly told him as a pre-condition to cooperation on climate change.

While in Delhi, Kerry will meet Indian government officials and private sector leaders "to discuss efforts to raise global climate ambition and speed India's clean energy transition", according to the State Department.

Last month, India's Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav spoke to Kerry on the phone and tweeted afterwards that they "discussed at length how the largest and oldest democracies can set examples for other countries on Climate Action.

India stands committed to working with the US on Clean Energy".

On another front of the war on climate change, India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri worked with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on developing clean energy, the other track of the India-US partnership.

On Thursday, Puri and Granholm co-chaired the first ministerial meeting of revamped India-US Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) "to advance the climate and clean energy goals of both countries".

India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry said: "The two sides announced addition of a fifth Pillar on Emerging Fuels, which signals joint resolve to promote cleaner energy fuels. A new India-US Task Force on Biofuels was also announced to build on the scope of work on cooperation in biofuels sector.

"The meeting also reviewed the progress on the India-US civil nuclear energy cooperation."

Ahead of the meeting, Puri spoke

to her on Wednesday and tweeted: "We agreed to work closely through the revamped India-US SCEP, as part of the India-US Climate & Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership, scheduled for tomorrow."

Kerry visited India in April before the Climate Leaders Summit that Biden convened virtually to increase commitments to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing the use of clean energy.

The US pressuring India to set a net-zero emissions target that would require it to bring down its greenhouse gas emissions and to neutralise them with carbon and greenhouse gases being absorbed through more forests that absorb them or use new technologies to capture them.

The US paints India as the world's third-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, accounting for 7.17 per cent of the world output.

It ranks below the US, which puts out 27.92 per cent of the global emissions, and China, which emits 14.5 per cent.

But this hides the fact that an Indian's greenhouse gas emission is only 1.91 tonnes per year, compared to 15.52 by an Americaneven as Biden and Kerry press other countries to cut their emission.

AU suspends membership of Guinea after coup Addis Ababa, Sep 11: The African Union (AU) has suspended the membership of Guinea following a military coup in the West African nation that led to the arrest of President Alpha Conde.

The peace and security council of AU on Friday decided to suspend the West African nation from all activities of the Union, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Economic Community for Western African States (ECOWAS)

on Thursday suspended Guinea's membership of the West African regional bloc.

Stating that it has endorsed the decision by ECOWAS, the AU has called on the UN Security Council to endorse the communique of ECOWAS by which the bloc has suspended Guinea's membership.

It has also called on the Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat to engage all stakeholders in the region on the situation.

On Sunday, Mamady Doumbouya, a lieutenant colonel, announced that his forces arrested President Conde and dissolved government and national institutions.

The country's borders were closed and its constitution was declared invalid in the announcement.

A video posted on social media showed that Conde was surrounded by a group of armed soldiers, but the capturing time and place of the video remained unclear.

Britain's GDP growth stalls amid Covid surge London, Sep 11 (IANS): Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown only by 0.1 per cent monthly in July, 2.1 per cent lower than its pre-pandemic level in February 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The service output remained broadly flat in July following the strong growth of 1.5 per cent in June, whereas output in the production sector increased by 1.2 per cent and the construction sector decreased by 1.6 per cent, Xinhua news agency quoted the ONS as saying on Friday.

"As the summer slowly ends, there's little doubt that the UK recovery has stalled since our last monthly economic update in July," said James Smith, a developed markets economist at financial services firm ING. Smith said the spread of the Delta variant and the high rates of self-isolation "only served to amplify the staff shortages being reported in various corners of the UK jobs market. PMIs have fallen off recent highs".

Smith added the third wave of the pandemic in Britain has stalled the recovery, but hasn't so far tempered consumer confidence dramatically.

"When it comes to consumer spending, the economy has arguably weathered the Covid-19 third wave slightly better than we'd feared."

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Pexel

Paul Dales, an economist at the Capital Economics UK, an economic research consultancy based in London, said: "The rise in Covid-19 cases and the product/labour shortages are probably behind the stalling in the UK's economic recovery in July.

"With next week's CPI release set to reveal a jump in inflation from 2.0 per cent to around 3.1 per cent, there is a whiff of stagflation in the air."

As to the economic prospect in the upcoming quarter, Smith said the

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fourth quarter will be a bigger test.

"The fourth quarter is more of an unknown. The positive news from recent weeks is that hospitalisations have stayed comparatively low, suggesting that vaccines will help avoid a lockdown this winter.

"In short, further gains in growth will be harder to achieve than during the bumper second quarter, when the economy grew by almost 5 per cent... We expect GDP to recover to pre-virus levels early next year."

13

POLITICS

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Azad shares stage with Rahul EC to conduct polls for vacant Gandhi, sparks political speculation Rajya Sabha seats on Oct 4

IANS

New Delhi/Jammu, Sep 10 (IANS): Apart from Rahul Gandhi's visit to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, there was one political development which was most watched and discussed in Delhi -- the presence of Ghulam Nabi Azad on the same stage as the former Congress president.

Rahul Gandhi took Ghulam Nabi Azad's name first in his address and also sat beside him during the workers meet. It was the second

time in a month that Azad was seated beside Rahul Gandhi.

The optics show that the G-23 leaders have toned down their tirade against the Congress leadership, particularly the close aides of Rahul Gandhi who are alleged to be interfering in party affairs on Rahul's behalf. The bonhomie may not last long if members of the G-23 are not given party nominations for Rajya Sabha elections slated for October 4.

A party insider said that, "the problem started with the Rajya Sabha nomination of KC Venugopal and it may end with the Rajya Sabha candidature. If Azad gets the party ticket it will send a message across the board that Rahul Gandhi is ready to take everyone along as Azad is the most senior leader in the party."

However, no formal dialogue has been initiated by any side.

Azad was one of the prime movers of the letter written to Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 for visible and effective leadership in the party and elections from the block to the Congress Working Committee level.

The grand old party is likely to contest two seats -- one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Maharashtra.

In the alliance arrangements during the state polls one seat was promised to the Congress by the DMK and the other seat is from Maharashtra which is vacant after the demise of Rajiv Satav.

Many leaders are said to be in the fray including former Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, Milind Deora, Sanjay Nirupam and Pramod Tiwari. Sources said that Rahul Gandhi is in favour of Praveen Chakravorty who is the chairman of the data analytics department.

But sources say that the DMK is averse to the idea of sending a non political person to the Upper House of Parliament while Ghulam Nabi Azad shares a good rapport with the DMK leadership.

Congress in Kerala set for overhaul, to give incentives to workers IANS

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 9: With new state president in the Congress party K. Sudhakaran speaking and acting tough besides getting the full support of the party high command, a makeover of the party is underway, which mulls paying a monthly incentive to its rank and file in Kerala, especially the full fledged party workers.

The first signs of it were seen at the ongoing workshop of the party for the 14 newly elected district party

presidents.

Among the guidelines which have been placed for discussions and deliberations at the workshop include payment of an incentive for full time party workers.

Another criticism which the party has been facing is that at party functions, there are more people seen sitting on the stage than in the audience and it has become a permanent source of ridicule.

The party henceforth, especially the organisers of party functions should see that this does not happen.

Another guideline that came up was to set up district level disciplinary committees to resolve issues within the party.

Yet another guideline that came up was that none should indulge in self publicity by placing cut outs on the roads.

Sudhakaran was a surprise choice and it came after the high command put its foot down and did not give much importance to the erstwhile party faction managers which

included Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.

Soon after taking over, Sudhakaran spoke on the need of enforcing discipline in the party and he said if the party needs to regain lost ground, it has to be functioning in the mode of a semi cadre party.

Congress veteran and Kasargode Lok Sabha member Rajmohan Unnithan said wholesale changes have to take place if the party has to go forward in Kerala.

"Discipline has to be there and for that there should be clear cut guidelines. The need of the hour in the party in Kerala today is there has to be changes taking place and all will welcome it," said Unnithan.

Even though the fireworks have died after the 14 district presidents were named, all eyes are now on the composition of the new party state level committee and if Sudhakaran is able to finish it without a whimper, then he can take control of the party, but if it's otherwise, then things don't augur well for the party.

VCK, Cong welcome TN Assembly resolution against CAA

The Hindu

Chennai, Sep 9: The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) has welcomed the resolution adopted by the Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA).

Thol Thirumavalavan, MP and VCK president in a statement on Wednesday said, "The Union government has been stating that it will implement a National Register of Citizens based on CAA. It is arguing that every citizen in India should prove that they are indeed citizens by showing the documents of their forefathers.

"Several crores of Indians do not www.indianabroad.news

have any land or property in India and could end up losing their citizenship. The state government should hence urge the Union government to stop the NRC exercise."

The VCK leader said that the CAA would lead to major uncertainty among the people of the country.

Speaking to IANS, Thol Thirumavalavan said, "The DMK government by moving a Bill against the CAA has given great justice to the people of Tamil Nadu. Political parties in this country must stand up against the draconian laws being brought forward by the Government of India under Prime Minister

Narendra Modi."

The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee also welcomed the resolution against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA).

The state president of TNCC, K.S.Alagiri in a statement on Thursday said, "The CAA is against the Constitution of India and the Narendra Modi government is trying to subvert the basic rights of the citizens of India. The Constitution gives the right to propagate and follow any religion in this country and the CAA snatches away this right and is clearly unconstitutional."

The Tamil Nadu Congress president also said that the party has always been in the forefront against the CAA and said that the Tamil Nadu unit of the party has conducted several programmes opposing the CAA which was against the constitution of the country.

Alagiri told IANS, "The Tamil Nadu government under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has passed a resolution against the CAA which is anti-constitutional and we welcome this. The Congress party was at the forefront in the opposition to the CAA in the country and we have conducted protests across Tamil Nadu. We welcome the decision of the Tamil Nadu government in passing this resolution."

TOI

New Delhi, Sep 9: The Election Commission on Thursday announced dates for bypolls for Rajya Sabha for various states There are six casual vacancies in the Council of States while one seat from Puducherry is going for regular poll. A bypoll for the lone seat of legislative council in Bihar is also scheduled.

In West Bengal Manas Ranjan Bhunia, Assam's Biswajit Daimary, Tamil Nadu' K.P. Munusamy and Thiru. R. Vaithilingam resigned.

BJP MP Thaawarchand Gehlot also resigned and has been appointed as Governor. While in Maharashtra the seat fell vacant after the demise of Congress MP Rajeev Satav and in Puducherry N. Gokulakrishna is retiring in October.

"The Commission has decided to hold six bye-elections to the Council of States -- Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh -- to fill up the vacancies," said a statement from the EC. The EC schedule says: Issue of notification -- September 15 (Wednesday), Last date of making nominations -- September 22 Scrutiny of nominations

-- September 23 Last date for withdrawal of candidature -- September 27 Date of Poll -- October 4 The Counting of votes is on the same day, that is October 4.

There is a casual vacancy in the Bihar Legislative Council to be filled up by the members of Legislative Assembly due to the demise of Tanveer Akhtar.

The ECI said broad guidelines of Covid-19 as already issued by it as well as the recent guidelines set by it will have to be followed by all.

The Chief Secretaries of States concerned are being directed to depute a senior officer from the State to ensure that the extant instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the election.

Raje aide takes U-turn, not to bring censure motion against own leader

Jaipur, Sep 9: Former Speaker Kailash Meghwal, who wrote a letter to the BJP and RSS leaders demanding the removal of Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria from his coveted post, has taken a U-turn after his interaction with party state in-charge Arun Singh and said he has no plans to bring the censure motion.

Meghwal has been known as a close aide of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

His letter intensified the factional feud in the politics of Mewar a day before the start of the Assembly session scheduled on Thursday. The central leadership hence sent state in-charge Arun Singh to Jaipur.

Singh spoke to Meghwal at length on Wednesday. And soon after the meeting, Meghwal said, "The party has helped me grow and hence we need to work in the interest of the party. That's why I will not move the motion of condemnation. We have to fight against the Congress together," he added.

After landing in Jaipur, Arun Singh told the media said, "Such comments damage the party and its working. We will take the right action at the right time."

Meanwhile, the BJP has called a meeting of the MLAs at 10 a.m. under leader of opposition Gulabchand Kataria where strategy will be made to attack the ruling government on different issues.

Singh, speaking on the letter dispute, said, "Each party worker

should remember that the party is sacrosanct for all. There are lakhs of workers who did not get anything, however are working day and night for the party. However, it hurts when those leaders comment who have been the MP and MLAs. The worker should always think of party's interest before thinking of himself," he said.

"We are keeping a record of such leaders speaking against the party lines since the last few months and action shall be taken against those at the right time," he added.

Meghwal had also written to BJP president J.P. Nadda and has

clarified why he was raising the demand. In his letter, he said that Kataria's comments on Maharana Pratap and Lord Ram have damaged BJP vote bank in the last three bypolls.

He also made several serious allegations against Kataria.

Meghwal and Kataria are known to be political rivals in Rajasthan since the time of former Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Kataria had issued a statement after the letter went viral and said, "I am ready to accept any decision taken by the party leaders."

Gujarat CM removed as govt failed during Covid: Bharat Solanki New Delhi/Ahmedabad, Sep 11: The Congress has alleged that Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was removed because the state government failed to perform during Covid and provide relief to the public.

Bharat Singh Solanki, former Union Minister and Congress leader said, "Rupani failed to provide relief during Covid and we demand Nitin Patel should also be removed as he has also failed to work in the interest of the people."

His removal is proof that he failed on all fronts, said Solanki.

The Congress leader alleged that it's a face saving exercise by the BJP to divert people's attention and focus on the Prime Minister, as it cannot afford to contest elections on the basis of the performance of the state government.

Solanki said, "now Congress has the challenge and opportunity to become a viable option in the eyes of the public."

However when asked if the Congress house is in order in Gujarat, Solanki said that the

/IndianAbroadNews

Congress is going to appoint the state In charge and State President this month only.

The Congress leaders say that the BJP won the Municipal elections because of other factors and will not be able to win the assembly polls whether they change the captain or not.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Saturday tendered his resignation to Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat at his residence, Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar.

"I am resigning from the post of the Chief Minister. I thank PM Modi and the party for giving me an opportunity to work for five years," Vijay Rupani told the reporters at Raj Bhavan.

Rupani took the state's Chief Ministerial position on August 7, 2016, and is representing Rajkot West in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. It is learnt from sources that the party will declare Rupani's replacement by Sunday. Most likely his replacement could be deputy chief minister Nitin Patel.

/indianabroadnews

14

BUSINESS & INVESTMENT

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Telecom relief package may Karnataka attracted maximum provide 4-year moratorium on AGR share of FDI: Minister

IANS

New Delhi, Sep 8: The much-awaited relief package for the telecom sector may bring about a moratorium of around four years on the payment of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).

The moratorium may also be applicable on spectrum payments, sources said.

The measures, if implemented, would be most beneficial for debt-ridden Vodafone Idea, which is struggling to continue as a going concern.

The government has been in talks with several stakeholders, including banks, for a package for the sector amid the concerns of a possible duopoly in the Indian telecom sector if Vodafone Idea shuts. It is also the most impacted telco due to the AGR

claims of the government.

People in the know said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has proposed the measures along with lowering of spectrum usage charge (SUC) which has been a long standing demand of the telecom services providers.

Other likely measures include a reduction in bank guarantees, and a change in the definition of AGR to exclude non-telecom items from its coverage, in a prospective manner.

Some of the relief measures were expected to be approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.

However, no decisions were taken on the same.

Official sources said that the government is of the view that competition must prevail in the sector and any chances of a duopoly should be averted.

Last week, Vodafone Idea's former Chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla met Union Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

During the meeting on September 1, Birla and Vaishnaw discussed about the health of the sector and the urgent need for government

intervention.

On August 4, the board of Vodafone Idea accepted the request of Birla to step down as the Non-Executive Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board.

Days before Birla's resignation as the Chairman, it became public that he had written to the government that he is willing to hand over his stake in the debt-ridden company to government entities in a bid to keep the company operational.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on June 7, Birla said that, with a "sense of duty" towards 27 crore Indians connected with Vodafone Idea, he is willing to hand over his stake to public Sector Unit (PSU), a government entity or any domestic financial entity, or any other entity that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company as a going concern.

In the letter, Birla sought clarity on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), adequate moratorium on spectrum dues and floor pricing, adding that without immediate and active government support, VIL's operations will be at an "irretrievable point of collapse".

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan among Book Running Lead Managers for LIC IPO

IANS

New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS): The Centre has finalised the Book Running Lead Managers (BRLM) for the much awaited initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

The selected BRLM include Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd, Goldman Sachs Securities, ICICI Securities, and JM Financial.

The others are Citigroup Global Markets India, Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India), Axis Capital, DSP Merrill Lynch, and SBI Capital Market.

"Government has finalised the Book Running Lead Managers and some other advisors for the IPO of LIC," said the Twitter handle of the Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

Further, the government has selected KFintech Ltd as the registrar & share transfer agent for the proposed IPO. Concept Communication Ltd has been selected as the advertising agency.

In June, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its in-principle approval to the IPO. Post the Union Budget FY22, the government has taken several legislative and executive steps to pave way for the mega IPO. As per the amendments proposed under the Finance Bill 2021, the authorised share capital of LIC shall be Rs 25,000 crore, divided into 2,500 crore shares of Rs 10 each.

Capital market regulator SEBI has also eased the minimum public offer

norms in a bid to pave the way for the LIC IPO. In February, the board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided recommend changes in regulations, and for issuers with post issue market capital exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore, the requirement of minimum public offering (MPO) will be reduced from 10 per cent of post issue market capital to Rs 10,000 crore along with 5 per cent of the incremental amount beyond Rs 1 lakh crore.

The government expects to bring the IPO around Diwali this year.

According to Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K.V. Subramanian, the LIC IPO may fetch the government around Rs 1 lakh crore.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India, a statutory Corporation constituted under the LIC Act 1956, is a leading life insurer of India wholly owned by the government.

It has three branches outside India - in the UK, Fiji and Mauritius, a wholly-owned subsidiary in Singapore, and joint ventures in Bahrain, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and Bangladesh. Its subsidiaries in India include LIC Pension Fund Ltd, and LIC Cards Services Ltd. Its associates include the IDBI Bank Ltd, the LIC Mutual Fund, and the LIC Housing Finance Ltd.

Maruti Suzuki's Aug production falls 8% amid global chip shortage

IANS

New Delhi, Sep 8: As the automobile industry wades through a severe semiconductor shortage, Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday reported an 8 per cent fall in its vehicle production in August.

It produced a total of 1,13,937 units last month, compared to 1,23,769 units in August 2020, the company said in a regulatory filing.

In the sub-segment of mini cars, which includes S-Presso and Alto models, the automaker produced 20,332 units during the period under review, compared to 22,208 in the same period last year.

www.indianabroad.news

The compact cars sub-segment, consisting of WagonR, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno and Dzire, witnessed the sharpest decline in production from 67,348 units in August 2020 to 47,640 units in August 2021.

However, the production of the sedan 'Ciaz' increased to 3,001 units last month from 1,190 units a year ago.

The utility vehicle sub-segment, which includes the models Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza, XL6 and Jimny, witnessed a rise to 29,965 units last month from 21,737 units in August last year.

The production of Super Carry, the light commercial vehicle, also increased to 2,569 units from 2,388 units in the year-ago period.

The decline in production comes at a time when the automobile industry worldwide is facing a severe crisis of chips.

Last month, the company had said in a regulatory filing that it has been informed by its contract manufacturer -- Suzuki Motor Gujarat -- that production will be partially impacted in August owing to chip shortage.

"This is to inform you that owing to the semiconductor shortage situation, the company has been informed by its contract manufacturing company, Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Limited (SMG), that production will be partially impacted in this month. SMG will tentatively not carry out production on the three Saturdays (August 7, 14 and 21)," the filing had said.

Besides, the company had said that some of the production lines may see temporary reduction from two-shift to one-shift operations.

Globally, various industries, including consumer durables as well as automobiles and other sub-segments, are facing semiconductor or electronic chip shortage due to high demand.

Bengaluru, Sep 9: Karnataka attracted the country's maximum share of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the April-June quarter, Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani said on Wednesday.

"Karnataka attracted Rs 62,085 crore investments in the April-June fiscal and became a top recipient with 48 per cent share of total FDI in India.

"Our state had attracted Rs 30,746 crore FDI in 2019-20 and stood at the third spot and in 2020-21, we maintained the third spot by attracting Rs 56,884 crore," he said.

Lauding the Karnataka Udyoga

IANS

Mitra (single window agency for investments) for emerging as the country's top Investment Promotion Agency, Nirani said its ranking was a matter of pride for the state.

He said the agency's role was crucial in ensuring an investor-friendly atmosphere.

"Udyoga Mitra scored full points in winning investment projects, facilitating investment projects, aftercare, and managing website. Its role in providing clear information to investors like opportunities, procedures and necessary facilities was very crucial. We have removed hurdles for investors by easing many policies and provided necessary assistance to start industries," Nirani added.

Briefing on the government's reforms to help industrialists, the minister said the government is aiming to score 100 points on all the parameters in the coming days.

Issues in IT e-filing portal 'progressively' resolving: FinMin IANS

New Delhi, Sep 8: The Union Finance Ministry on Wednesday said that the technical issues in the Income Tax e-filing portal are being "progressively" addressed and a positive trend has been witnessed in terms of e-filing on the portal.

The ministry came up with the update days before the September 15 deadline it gave to Infosys, the service provider, for resolving the issues faced by taxpayers.

It said that the department is continuously engaged with Infosys to ensure a smooth filing experience to taxpayers.

"A number of technical issues are being progressively addressed and there has been a positive trend reflected in the statistics of the various filings on the portal," a Finance Ministry statement.

Over 8.83 crore unique taxpayers have logged in till September 7, with a daily average of over 15.55 lakh in September 2021. The Income Tax Return (ITR) filing has increased to 3.2 lakh daily in September and 1.19 crore ITRs for AY 2021-22 have been filed.

Of these, over 76.2 lakh taxpayers have used the online utility of the portal to file the returns, the ministry said.

The e-filing portal of the Income Tax

Department was launched on June 7 this year.

However, taxpayers and professionals had reported glitches and difficulties in the portal since then.

The Ministry had been regularly monitoring the resolution of issues with Infosys Ltd, the developer of the portal.

The Finance Ministry also said that taxpayers have been able to view over 8.74 lakh notices issued by the Department under the faceless assessment, appeal, penalty proceedings, to which over 2.61 lakh responses have been filed.

An average of 8,285 notices for

e-proceedings are being issued and 5,889 responses are being filed in September on a daily basis.

Over 10.60 lakh Statutory Forms have been submitted including 7.86 lakh TDS statements, 1.03 lakh Form 10A for registration of trusts/ institutions, 0.87 lakh Form 10E for arrears of salary, and 0.10 lakh Form 35 for appeal.

Further, Aadhaar-PAN linking has been done by 66.44 lakh taxpayers and over 14.59 lakh e-PAN have been allotted. These two facilities are being availed of by over 0.50 lakh taxpayers on a daily basis in September 2021.

Appreciation trend: Healthy macros, vax figures to strengthen rupee Mumbai, Sep 11: Healthy macro-economic industrial output, as well as, accelerated nationwide vaccination drive are expected to strengthen the Indian rupee in the coming week.

Accordingly, healthy macros are likely to attract foreign capitals to the equity markets on the prospects of faster economic growth.

However, the trend might be arrested on account of announcements related to tapering measures.

Experts opine that these announcements might drive away FIIs from India to more lucrative markets in the developed economies.

Lately, healthy FII inflows have perked-up India's stock markets and the rupee.

"Rupee is expected take cues from global markets and tapering news buildup," said Sajal Gupta, Head, Forex and Rates at Edelweiss

Securities.

"Domestic IIP and growth numbers were encouraging. Vaccination too is at a rapid pace. Dull IPO market during the last few weeks has slowed inflows a bit."

On a weekly basis, Rupee previously closed at 73.50 to a greenback.

"After a small bout of short-covering in the dollar last week, we expect the greenback to head lower this week. Weaker than expected softer economic numbers like jobs reports will entail that fed will be slower than earlier expected in tapering," said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

"Strong economic growth numbers coming out of India, robust tax collections, and stimulus provided to exporters will help Rupee to strengthen in the coming week."

Furthermore, Vakil expects the

rupee to remain in a narrow range of 72.9 to 74 in the upcoming week with a bias towards appreciation.

According to Gaurang Somaiya, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services: "Next week, on the domestic front, inflation numbers will be released and expectation is that the price could be sharper as compared to the previous month."

"Market participants will also be keeping an eye on the fund flow activity as it will be important to determine trend for the currency. At the same time, from the US, inflation, industrial production and retail sales number will be important to watch."

In addition, he cited that volatility in the US dollar has increased in the recent past and these economic numbers will provide further clarity on the state of the economy.

Tata Steel commissions India's first plant for CO2 capture from blast furnace gas Jamshedpur, Sep 14: Tata Steel on Tuesday commissioned a 5-tonne per day (TPD) carbon capture plant at its Jamshedpur Works, making it the country's first steel company to adopt such a carbon capture technology that extracts CO2 directly from the blast furnace gas.

Tata Steel will reuse the captured CO2 on site to promote circular carbon economy.

This carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) facility uses amine-based technology and makes the captured carbon available for onsite reuse.

The depleted CO2 gas is sent back to the gas network with increased calorific value. This project has been executed with technological support from Carbon Clean, a global leader in low-cost CO2 capture technology.

The CCU plant was inaugurated by

/IndianAbroadNews

T.V. Narendran, CEO and MD, Tata Steel, in the presence of company officials and other dignitaries.

"In alignment with the Tata group's pioneering values, we have taken this strategic step in our journey towards decarbonisation. We will continue our quest to remain an industry leader in sustainability by setting new benchmarks for a better tomorrow," Narendran said.

"The operational experience gathered from this 5 TPD CO2 capture plant will give us the required data and confidence to establish larger carbon capture plants in future.

As a next step, we aim to establish scaled up facilities of CO2 capture integrated with utilisation avenues," he added.

Aniruddha Sharma, CEO, Carbon Clean, said: "We are delighted

/indianabroadnews

to be working with Tata Steel on this breakthrough project. We are currently capturing 5 tonnes of CO2 per day, but following our successful demonstration, we plan to rapidly accelerate the number of carbon capture projects. Capturing CO2 from blast furnace gas will not only decarbonise the steel plants, but will also open avenues for hydrogen economy."

Carbon capture and utilisation is a key lever in the fight against climate change and global warming.

In September 2020, Tata Steel had joined hands with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to work in the field of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), to build a strong ecosystem in the country for meeting the decarbonisation commitments under the Paris Agreement.

15

HEALTH

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Fresh curbs, lockdown will depend HEALTH BLOG A Non-Judgemental World: A better on oxygen demands: Maha govt world for positive mental health

Times Now

Mumbai, Sep 8: As Maharashtra grapples with a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases, the state government on Wednesday clarified that fresh curbs or lockdown-like measures would be considered only if the demands for liquid medical oxygen (LMO) crosses 700 tonnes daily.

The fresh spike has raised apprehensions of more restrictions, especially with major festivals like the 10-day Ganeshotsav and Navratri round the corner.

An official said that during the

second wave which peaked in AprilMay 2021, the state LMO production of around 1,200 tonnes daily has now been significantly increased to around 1,700 tonnes.

Currently, the state is reporting a LMO demand of over 200 tonnes for Covid patients and 150 tonnes for other patients, but during the expected third wave, the LMO requirements could shoot up drastically.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is reviewing the daily LMO demand-supply on a regular basis

with the ongoing hike in cases but has refrained from imposing new restrictions so far.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that as per a Central report, the state could report 6 million cases in the anticipated third wave and the government is making all preparations to tackle it.

"Currently we have a capacity of around 1,500 tonnes of LMO, and with the commissioning of 250 out of 450 PSA plants, we target a capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes daily.

However, if the Centre's estimates on the third wave prove true, then we shall need more oxygen," Tope said.

However, he hinted that if the daily LMO demands shoot beyond 700 tonnes, the government could consider new curbs or lockdown style measures.

Tope's cautionary came a day after the state Energy Minister, Dr Nitin Raut and Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar warned that the third wave has already started in the state capital and second capital, Mumbai and Nagpur, respectively.

Thackeray, who is closely monitoring the Covid situation in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and other hotspots that were badly affected in the first and second waves, is expected to take the final call on tightening up measures, if necessary.

DGCI approves Truenat test kit for diagnosis of Nipah IANS

New Delhi, Sep 8: The Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) has granted emergency use authorisation to Truenat, a real-time PCR platform manufactured by Goa-based Molbio Diagnostics, for testing people infected with Nipah virus.

This is the first kit in India to receive regulatory approval to conduct tests for Nipah.

Truenat is an indigenous portable, battery-operated, Internet of Thingsenabled RT-PCR platform developed and manufactured in India. It can

test for nearly 30 diseases, and results take less than an hour.

Truenat is already playing a critical role in the management of infectious diseases such as TB, Covid-19, dengue, chikungunya, hepatitis, and HPV in the country.

"Covid-19 has brought out the importance of early and accurate testing for better disease management. Truenat is the first platform to be authorised by the DGCI for Nipah virus testing. We are proud to support our country in fighting Nipah Virus," Molbio Diagnostics Director and CEO Sriram Natarajan said in a statement.

Nipah virus is an emerging zoonotic disease that causes severe disease in humans. Signs and symptoms range from asymptomatic to acute respiratory infection and fatal encephalitis.

Last week, it claimed the life of a 12-year-old boy in Kerala amid Covid surge.

Previously, India has seen three outbreaks: Siliguri in 2001 and Nadia in 2007 (both West Bengal), and Kozhikode and Malappuram in Kerala in 2018.

Molbio first started R&D work on the Truenat test for Nipah virus in 2018 in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

"The ability to quickly deploy the platform to the point of need and the rapid testing capability makes it a powerful tool in diagnosis and containment of the Nipah Virus.

This collaboration with NIV allows us to react quickly in times of need such emergencies," Molbio Diagnostics Director and CTO, Dr Chandrasekhar Nair, said in the statement.

Truenat is also approved by the World Health Organisation for TB diagnosis and approved by the ICMR for TB, Covid-19 and other diseases.

Are young Indians at a higher risk of heart disease?

W

hen we speak of heart health, we often picture older people. Studies, unfortunately, show that Indians are at risk of heart disease at least a decade earlier than western counterparts. This means there is an increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in people as young as 30. India already accounts for one-fifth of deaths worldwide, caused by cardiovascular diseases.

And this reflects in the younger population as well, with an age-standardized death rate of 272 per 1,00,000 population as compared to the global average of 235.

This increased risk of heart disease in young Indians is due to a combination of inherited genes as well as environmental factors.

Unfortunately, these environmental factors have only worsened the risk over time. Working long hours, often in stressful jobs and sleeping less

www.indianabroad.news

has become the new normal in our lives. Modern work setups involve sitting a lot and not exercising and this can nearly double the risk of poor heart health.

A study conducted by Saffolalife in 2019 states that 58 per cent of people in top cities, between ages 30 to 40, who do not exercise regularly, are at greater risk of heart disease. Despite this 92 per cent of them do not consider lack of exercise among the top 3 risk factors for heart disease.

This lack of awareness further exacerbates the issue.

Among younger people, we do see an increasing awareness about the importance of food in maintaining good health. But the reality also is that after a long and tiring day, it has often become easier to order in and give in to unhealthy food urges. With less exercise and eating junk food frequently, there is an increased chance of belly fat, which is another

major risk factor for heart disease.

Thankfully, there is good news.

Caring for your heart is not difficult.

Once you are aware of the risk factors, you can take the right steps to reduce their impact. Making simple changes to your diet and lifestyle can really make a difference. The most important thing, however, is to be proactive; changes we make in our 30s and 40s can go a long way in keeping us heart-healthy.

In your 30s, it is a good idea to assess your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and general health every year. This can let you be aware of symptoms earlier and corrective action can be taken immediately.

Develop healthy lifestyle habits like brisk walking for about twenty minutes a day, at least thrice a week.

Try to take breaks between work hours for deep breathing exercises.

Control stress with exercise and yoga, rather than emotional/ stress eating or staying up late and binge-watching. Make simple and easy changes to your diet, like eating one portion of raw fruits and vegetables during snack-time every day. Try to include heart-healthy ingredients like nuts, green leafy vegetables, avocados and oats. Using heart-healthy oil can also be a great and easy change you can make.

Remember good lifestyle habits developed early on can help reduce heart risk. So make heart health a priority today.

Sheryl Salis, Registered Dietitian, Founder, Nurture Health Solutions

By Vahini Panda was speaking to a friend who was mentioning that she is annoyed about a colleague who cannot stop talking about other colleagues in a negative way, specifically targeting one.

This got me thinking about how our perceptions change towards others based on what we hear, sometimes even before we have ever met that person.

Yes, the right way is to not judge anyone by other people’s views on them nor their experience but base it solely on ours.

But do we really do that?

Subconsciously do we form an opinion on hearsay?

Probably yes. Irrespective of our best intentions.

As a society we are already extremely judgemental from the way we need to look, dress, eat, live etc. we are expected to fit into the ‘norms’, if God forbid we don’t and try to do our own thing out of the box we are labelled as eccentric, different, not sophisticated and even weird and if we are in the unfortunate category of not fitting into the perceived perfect body type? shock horrors! this is something where we are always made conscious of by shop assistants, friends and even our own family.

It is also common that a physically attractive person gets more attention naturally than a person who might not be as attractive, again it is the deep-rooted conditioning which makes us more attracted to someone who presents well or looks good

I

in the traditional sense of the way.

Slim, tall, well dressed etc. In the process we could be missing out on the person who has lot more to offer us on a psychological level which is more valuable in the long run.

Be mindful not to discuss others in a derogatory or a judgmental way in front of your kids. As their impressionable minds take it on and it stays with them for a long time and sometimes even changes their perceptions forever. It could unconsciously perpetuate bias in their thinking based on physical attributes, race, religion etc.

It is also important not to tease our kids even in a playful way making them feel less, especially if you are teasing them about something which they are already sensitive about. It might be a joke to you but could have a deeper impact on the child. They also might perceive it that teasing is acceptable behaviour which could lead to bullying behaviour towards other kids which they might think is ok. Accepting differences starts at home.

The bottom line is let us try to rise about the psychological conditioning, Give people a chance, question what you hear and have confidence in your own judgement.

Mental health awareness should become an important part of our way of life, as a society we must be mindful of the impact our words and actions have on others mental health.

A fellow human to another the least we can do is not to form any judgement or opinion before knowing or meeting the person. Let them

make an impression on us. Use your first-hand experience with that person to make your perception. We both deserve that chance. Don’t you think so?

At Health Academy we offer over 30 courses in Psychology, mental health and Counselling, feel free to check them out!

Psychology courses Counselling Courses About the Author: Vahini is the CEO and Founder of Health Academy Australia and Health Courses Australia. She is multi faceted in her skills and expertise which is backed by 20 years experience in the areas of education, health, ecommerce and Information Technology. She is a CEO, Passionate business owner, Author, Blogger, Nutritionist, Digital marketing expert and a Mum.

NITI Aayog gives top ranking to 6 UP hospitals Lucknow, Sep 8: The Niti Aayog has ranked six district hospitals in Uttar Pradesh as top performers.

This was done in an assessment undertaken for the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Niti Aayog assessed the performance of 700-plus government hospitals across India on 10 framework indicators, evaluated the hospitals in three domains: structure, processes and output/outcomes.

According to the government spokesman, the rankings showed that four hospitals, including Balrampur Hospital, Lucknow, were found to be the best in the OPD consultations category.

In the surgical productivity index, the Tej Bahadur Sapru Hospital, Prayagraj, has been ranked best in the country.

Other Uttar Pradesh hospitals in the list included, Malkhan Singh District hospital Aligarh, RNM district hospital Firozabad, district women hospital Mau and combined district hospital in Kannauj which got the top slot in 'ratio of paramedical staff in position to IPHS Norms'.

The background document on

The Statesman

the exercise titled, 'The Health of Hospital', said, "Despite large funding allocation for district hospitals, as well as their critical role in healthcare provision, there is no comprehensive system to assess their performance based upon their outcomes."

It also showed that a list of indicators and their weightage was drawn after consultation with the states.

Data from the Hospital Management Information System was used to rank hospitals.

Health officers said Niti Aayog has asked for a background note of the best hospitals in a pre-decided format for release of the rankings in an official report which aims to provide a template for emulation.

Manushi Chhillar initiates social media campaign on need to eat right Mumbai, Sep 8 (IANS): Bollywood debutante and former beauty queen Manushi Chhillar has launched a social media campaign to discuss the benefits of eating right during this World Nutrition Week.

Manushi, who won the Miss World crown 17 years after Priyanka Chopra won it for India, has joined hands with Miss World 2014, Rolene Strauss, to share their thoughts on how paying attention to nutrition can help everyone lead a balanced lifestyle.

Manushi said: "As I have grown up, I have realised the need to pay attention to nutrition. Our daily life throws up innumerable challenges and the least we can do to take care of ourselves is to pay attention to what we eat."

"Nutrition is the main pillar of fitness and wellness and I have tried to incorporate as much of this learning into my daily life. I have unlocked the results that I have aimed for and I want to share my thoughts to as

/IndianAbroadNews

many people as possible," she added.

Manushi shared that nutrition is extremely subjective and that one has to customise their own diet regime to get maximum benefits.

"I have always maintained that health and fitness is very personal and everyone has their subjective take on the same. Nutrition is highly customisable depending on an individual's health and history and I respect that."

She added: "This is why, I'm discussing how nutrition can be tailor made for different individuals with Miss World 2014, Rolene Strauss, who is not just a dear friend but also someone who is deeply invested in nutrition and health."

Manushi, who will be seen sharing screen space with actor Akshay Kumar in the period film 'Prithviraj', said Strauss is someone she could count on.

She shared: "I can't wait to discuss our individual learnings about

/indianabroadnews

Instagram

nutrition and hope that it will resonate with people who want to lead a balanced lifestyle."

16

TECHNOLOGY

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

LG Electronics lab recognised as int'l Twitter launches Communities, testing center for automotive software an alternative to FB Groups India Tv News

Seoul, Sep 9 (IANS): LG Electronics announced that it has been recognised as an international certification institute to test the functional safety of automotive software as the South Korean tech giant eyes to expand its business in the automotive sector.

LG said its software testing center was accredited by the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme as

an institute to verify the ISO 262626 standard.

ISO 26262-6 focuses on the functional safety of electrical or electronic systems installed in road vehicles and addresses possible risks caused by malfunctioning behavior of such safety-related systems, reports Yonhap News Agency.

LG can now swiftly check quality

and safety of its advanced automotive technologies, including telematics and autonomous driving, at its own facility without the help of other institutions.

Its certificate will be accepted in 70 countries, including the US and Japan, under International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation's mutual recognition arrangement.

LG's software lab was previously accredited as an institute to certify the ISO/IEC 25023 standard that measures software product quality and the IEC 61508-3 requirement that addresses functional safety of software systems.

The latest achievement will allow LG to bolster its business in the future mobility sector. The company has been focusing on developing its automotive business in three main areas -- infotainment, powertrain and auto lighting system.

Google Workspace announces innovations to bridge hybrid work gaps Equityworld Futures Portal News

New Delhi, Sep 8: To help employees, Google on Wednesday announced major advancements that further the company's vision for hybrid work with a single connected experience in Google Workspace.

These advancements include the rollout of spaces in Chat, along with new meeting enhancements and conferencing hardware to help organisations bridge the gaps as they navigate new hybrid work environments.

"As some people return to the office, teams need that ability to flexibly collaborate from anywhere,

anytime," Google Workspace's Senior Director of Product Management, Sanaz Ahari, said in a statement.

"The innovations we're bringing to customers today help bridge the gaps of virtual and in-person collaboration. I'm especially excited about spaces -- a new, dedicated place in Google Workspace -- to share information, advance projects, and build community as teammates," Ahari added.

Spaces are unique in that they are tightly integrated with Google Workspace tools like Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet,

and Tasks, providing a better way for people to engage in topic-based discussions, share knowledge and ideas, move projects forward and build communities and team culture.

Spaces help users to see the full history, context and content of conversations, so everyone can follow along and jump in to contribute at any time.

In the coming weeks and months, Google will add even more unique features in spaces to help teams stay organised, the company said.

In addition to indicating the virtual or physical presence in meeting invites, team members can now set their working location in Calendar, regularly or by segmentable working hours.

Meet calling complements Meet's more structured, scheduled video meetings and better supports the ebbs and flows of hybrid work by allowing for more spontaneous connections.

Google intends to bring Meet calling to all the natural endpoints in Workspace where you'd initiate an ad-hoc call including chats, contact cards, and spaces, the company said.

Scroll.in

San Francisco, Sep 9: Microblogging site Twitter has announced a new feature "Communities" as an alternative to Facebook's popular Groups where people can share discussions on a specific topic.

Twitter Community will have its own moderators who are able to set rules and invite or remove people.

Twitter invited a handful of users to create the first Communities and will let anyone apply to create their own on its website.

"Communities are created and self-moderated by people on Twitter maybe even you! Like if you are passionate about birds of the Southern Hemisphere or soup, you could start a Community for that in the future," the company said in a tweet.

Twitter users can be invited to an initial batch of Communities that include #AstroTwitter, #DogTwitter,

#SkincareTwitter, and #SoleFood (a group for sneaker enthusiasts).

"We are launching with a handful of Communities BUT we expect (and want!) new ones to be created every week. Our plan is to build and update Communities based on your feedback, so tell us how you *really*

feel which honestly you're already very good at doing ," the company added.

Communities can be accessed through the navigation bar on iOS devices and on the web, there's a Communities option on the sidebar.

Lenovo unveils two new 5G tablets, Tab P11 and P12 Pro Siasat Daily

Beijing, Sep 9: Lenovo has announced two new tablets Lenovo Tab P12 Pro and Lenovo Tab P11 5G at its annual Tech World event.

The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro will be available in two versions - Wi-Fi only and 5G. The Wi-Fi model will be available from October starting at $610 and the 5G model is coming soon to Europe, the Middle East at a price of 900 before VAT. Meanwhile, the Lenovo Tab P11 5G is priced at a price of 500 without VAT, reports GSMArena.

Lenovo Tab P12 Pro The tablet features a 12.6-inch AMOLED display. (This display supports 120Hz refresh rate and has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 px (16:10) The Lenovo Tab P12 Pro houses a Snapdragon 870 chipset paired with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB storage.

The tablet is powered by a 10,200 mAh battery with 45W fast charging.

The P12 Pro runs Android 11 out of the box and will be the first to showcase Project Unity.

Lenovo Tab P11 5G

The tablet comes with an 11-inch IPS LCD with 2,000 x 1,200 px resolution and 60Hz refresh rate.

It is powered by a Snapdragon 750G chipset paired with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB storage.

It also comes with four JBL

speakers, and a number of handy optional accessories supported.

The device houses 7,700 mAh battery can last up to 12 hours of video streaming and supports 20W fast charging.

Witnesses to record statements Adobe appoints Prativa Mohapatra through VC at 1,242 Raj courts as VP & MD of India business IANS

www.indianabroad.news

New Delhi, Sep 8: Adobe on Wednesday announced the appointment of Prativa Mohapatra as the Vice President and Managing Director of Adobe India.

In this role, Mohapatra will lead Adobe's India business across Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud, reporting to Simon Tate, Adobe's President for Asia Pacific (APAC).

"Digital has become mission critical for businesses and Adobe's market-leading technologies are seeing strong momentum. Mohapatra's passion for technology and ability to build stellar teams will take our India business to the next level of growth," Tate said in a statement.

Mohapatra's career spans over 25 years in the technology industry.

She joins Adobe from IBM, where she served as Vice President of Digital Sales for APAC. Prior to that, she led the sales for IBM India and South Asia where she was responsible for driving revenue for the company's portfolio of solutions and services.

"Adobe is uniquely positioned as an enabler for everyone - students, creative artists, small businesses, government agencies and the largest brands - to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences. I am thrilled to join the world class team at Adobe India and propel our business vision in the country," Mohapatra said.

Mohapatra received a BTech degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Regional Engineering College (now NIT), Rourkela. She attended the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar for her postgraduation in Management, where she specialised in Systems and Finance.

Jaipur, Sep 11: A new chapter of recording statements of witnesses through video conferencing has started in the state judiciary.

SOG DIG Sharat Sharat Kaviraj became the first IPS to avail the facility as he recorded his statements from Banipark Jaipur Court to Ganganagar court on Friday.

Kaviraj recorded his statements as a witness through the VC in a prosecution sanction case heard in the Ganganagar court while being present at Jaipur Metropolitan Court.

The trial of the case is on in the Ganganagar court.

Kaviraj says it saved him many miles of travel, which would have required him to be absent for three days from the office. The VC will save time and speed up trials.

The judges at Banipark, Jaipur and Ganganagar Courts commenced this facility successfully as the High Court had notified rules pertaining to recording statements through video conferencing on August 2,

2021. For this, the state government has already amended the CrPC. Special Secretary to Home Department, V. Saravan Kumar said that with the commencement of the facility the witnesses now will get relief from travelling many kilometres to record statements in person at the courts.

The witnesses shall record their statements visiting VC Remote Point Studios created at the court premises. In the first phase, such VC Remote Points Studios have been made available in all the district courts. A coordinator, who is an employee of the court, is appointed to operate the studios.

Kumar says that the hardware to conduct the VC has been installed in 1,242 courts situated in the state.

Mircrosoft license and fiber internet connectivity have been made available for smooth operation of the VC. In the second phase, Taluka courts will get the VC Remote Points facility. The government offices and hospitals will be connected with this

too. The facility will ensure timely recording of statements by the witnesses as per the rules notified by the high court.

This will save time and government expenditure, and speedy trials will be possible altogether. The transparent process of VC is expected to bring down pendency in the court cases as well.

Under this process the Public Prosecutor (PP) requests the court to record statements of the witnesses through VC. Once the court grants permission the court's officers book slots for the VC. The witnesses need to go to the VC Remote Points to record the statements.

Tesla discontinues its solar subscription service San Francisco, Sep 11: EV maker Tesla has discontinued its solar subscription service that it started offering in the US two years ago as the cheapest possible way to go solar.

In 2019, Tesla launched a new solar subscription under which homeowners can get a solar panel system installed at their home for no cost and no contract, reports Electrek.

They only pay a monthly fee to access the solar power generated by the system to reduce their utility bill.

It was one of the most straightforward and cheapest ways to get home solar.

Now, the auto-tech website has

/IndianAbroadNews

learned that Tesla has discontinued the subscription service from its solar options on its online solar configurators.

On its support website, the company has explained its solar financing options now.

Tesla has multiple financing options available to help meet your needs.

The best solar financing option for you depends on your preference as a homeowner and considerations such as how long you plan to stay in your home, the report said.

You can change your financial payment options up until installation begins. The language contained in the contract, such as conditions, warranties and guarantees, cannot

/indianabroadnews

IANS

be altered, it added.

There's no solar subscription mentioned anymore.

17

SPORTS

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Dhoni joins India team as mentor for Happiness and gratitude are the only two words that define me now: Aswhin T20 WC, Ashwin returns to squad DNA India

New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS): Former India skipper M.S. Dhoni, who led India to three International Cricket Council (ICC) titles, will join the national team as mentor for the T20 World Cup to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman in October-November.

He will work closely with India team head coach Ravi Shastri during the competition, said Indian cricket board secretary Jay Shah during the announcement of the India squad in a press conference.

Off-spinner R Ashwin makes a return to India team in white-ball cricket after four years. The main squad comprises 15 members while there are three standbyes.

"Mr Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be joining Team India as mentor for the upcoming T20 World Cup. I am glad that MS has accepted BCCI's offer and he is keen to contribute to the national team once again. MS will work closely with Mr Ravi Shastri as well as other support staff to provide support and direction to Team India," said Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the media in a virtual interaction.

Dhoni had led India to the 2007 World T20 title win, which was also the inaugural world championship

in the format. He then led India to victory in the 2011 50-over World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

"I spoke to him (Dhoni) when I was in Dubai. He was okay with the decision and he agreed to be a mentor of Team India for T20 World Cup only and I discussed this issue with my colleagues also. They all are on the same page," added Shah.

"I spoke to captain (Virat Kohli) and vice-captain (Rohit Sharma) as well as Ravi Shastri also. They are all on the same page. That is why we reached the same conclusion," said Shah further.

The squad includes only three pace bowlers and as many as five spinners, including the seasoned Ashwin.

Chief selector Chetan Sharma said that Ashwin has been picked on the basis of his performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"See, R Ashwin is playing IPL regularly. He has been performing well. We will need an off-spinner in the T20 World Cup. As everyone is aware that when the IPL's second half takes place in UAE [prior to the World Cup], the wickets might be low and slow and will help spinners.

So an off-spinner is required in the team. Washington Sundar is in

the list of the injured players," said Sharma to the media in a virtual interaction.

"And Ashwin has found space in the team due to his performance in the team."

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has lost his place and in the team. Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy are the wrist spinners in the squad.

"We discussed Chahal. The selectors wanted someone who was quicker through the air. We was Rahul Chahar recently, the speed at which he is delivering was impressive," added Sharma.

The chief selector, a former India cricketer, also said that Virat Kohli is unlikely to play as opener. The selectors have earmarked Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul and Ishan Kishan.

"We have three openers. We have Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul and then we have got Ishan Kishan, who can bat as an opener and he can fit into middle-order any time. Kishan is giving us option for opening and middle-order. If the need of the hour is that Kohli should open, then they can go with it. As of now, though, there are three openers," said Sharma further.

"If Virat plays in the middle, the others play around him. If we see in T20 cricket, Virat has a brilliant record in the middle-order."

The World Cup will be held from October 17 to November 14. India will open their campaign against Pakistan from October 24.

India squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), K.L. Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy.

Standbyes: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur.

Esports to award eight titles, 24 medals, in 2022 Asian Games IANS

Mumbai, Sep 8: Eight medal events and two demonstration games will be conducted at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in September 2022 as Esports makes its debut in the Continental Games.

The Olympic Council of Asia on Wednesday announced the titles for the debut of esports as an official medal sport at the Asian Games, reflecting the popularity and growth of electronic sports in the region.

The announcement of the games titles was made on the first day of the two-day Chefs de Mission Seminar video conference for the 19th Asian Games on Wednesday.

The eight official events, and publishers, are: Arena of Valor Asian Games Version, Dota 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, EA SPORTS FIFA branded soccer games, HearthStone, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version, and Street Fighter V. The two demonstration events are: AESF Robot MastersPowered by Migu and AESF VR

Sports-Powered by Migu, the OCA announced on its website on Wednesday.

The Asian Electronic Sports Federation, which is based in Hong Kong, China, has been appointed Technical Delegate of the esports competition at the 19th Asian Games by the OCA. The AESF will be in charge of the qualifying competition and for the operation and management of the esports competition in Hangzhou.

Originally not in the schedule, esports was added to the Asian Games sports programme at the OCA General Assembly in Muscat, Oman on December 16, 2020. It was a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018, meaning that medals did not count in the official medal rankings.

The Director-General of the OCA, Husain Al-Musallam, said: "We hope that this announcement allows all participating teams ample time to

prepare and equip themselves ahead of the qualifying stages. I believe we have ticked all the right boxes ensuring a high level of competition which promises great viewing for enthusiasts and casuals alike."

ESFI seeks govt recognition Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India (ESFI and Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) welcomed the OCA move and took the opportunity to seek Spor's Ministry's recognition for esports in the country.

"Finally, we are here with esports at the Asian Games 2022. Eight esports titles mean 24 medals. For titles like Hearthstone; EA FIFA, DOTA2, League of Legends, Street Fighter, we have very strong chances of winning medals for India. Tirth Mehta, who got a bronze medal last time (2018), will be able to convert that bronze to gold this time. We will soo" launch the "Road t" Asian Games" programme in line with AESF, to identify the best of the talent and train them for the main event"at Hangzhou," he said in a release on Wednesday.

"Thankfully we have enough time at our hands (unlike last time) to have the best of the players represent India at Asian Games 2022. For titles like AOV (Asian Games Version) and PUBG Mobile (Asian Games Version); we are waiting for more inputs to come,"'he added.

"It's time for the Sports Ministry to recognise ESFI and our sport. We are confident that we will increase our medals tally this time. ESFI and AESF both are committed to develop, support, and grow esports not only in India but the region," he further said.

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New Delhi, Sep 9: Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said he's filled with happiness and gratitude having returned to the Indian blues for T20 internationals after being left out for four years. Ashwin is among a group of 15 players picked for the 2021 T20 World Cup on Wednesday.

He shared a motivational quote that he 'wrote in his diary a million times' in 2017 after being left out of the white-ball squads. The 34-year-old took Twitter to share his emotions.

"2017: I wrote this quote down a million times in my diary before putting this up on the wall! Quotes that we read and admire have more power when we internalise them and apply in life. Happiness and gratitude are the only 2 words that define me now," he captioned a picture.

Ashwin, who has played 46 T20Is and 111 ODIs, has been a 'Test specialist' since July 2017 although he has been fairly impressive in the

Inside Sports

IPL. Chief selector Chetan Sharma has said that Ashwin has been picked on the basis of his IPL performances.

"See, R Ashwin is playing IPL regularly. He has been performing well. We will need an off-spinner in the T20 World Cup. As everyone is

aware that when the IPL's second half takes place in UAE [prior to the World Cup], the wickets might be low and slow and will help spinners.

So, an off-spinner is required in the team. Washington Sundar is in the list of the injured players," said Sharma to the media in a virtual interaction.

I will cherish the Tokyo Olympics experience for a lifetime: Lalremsiami New Delhi, Sep 9: From braving the personal tragedy of losing her father during the 2019 FIH Women's Series Finals to scripting history with the Indian womens hockey team at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, young striker Lalremsiami has come a long way.

The 21-year-old striker was an integral part of the team that finished fourth at the Tokyo Games.

Speaking about her Olympics experience, Lalremsiami said, "I was a bit nervous, to be honest, and it kind of reflected in my performances in the first three matches. But senior players and coaching staff helped me and other junior players to calm our nerves down. They kept motivating us and asked us to express ourselves freely. We stuck to each other, played like a unit, and I think that really helped us to do well when it mattered the most."

"We went on to beat a strong team like Australia in the quarter-finals and qualified for the first-ever semi-finals at the Olympics. You know, it's a very special feeling to be a part of history, and this is something I will cherish for a lifetime.

The love and support from our fans have motivated us to do even better, and we want to make them proud again," she added.

Cathelete

Fondly known as Siami, Lalremsiami has been an inspiration to many. Despite hearing the news about her father's death during FIH Women's Series Finals 2019, the young gun decided to stay back with the team, which went on to win the tournament, beating hosts Japan 3-1.

Having fulfilled her late father's dream by featuring in the Indian Women's Hockey team that scripted history in Tokyo, Lalremsiami is now aiming to win an Olympic Medal for her father. "One of the dreams of my father is fulfilled.

And now, I want to win an Olympic medal for him. No doubt, we missed

the Bronze medal by a whisker, but if we look at the positives, I think we have gained a lot of confidence, and it will help us to do even better in the future," said the young striker from Mizoram.

The 21-year-old player further added that it's time to move forward and focus on the qualifications for the Paris Olympics. "It's time to move forward, and focus on the Paris Olympics. Our priority is to win the Gold medal at the Asian Games 2022, which means we qualify directly for the 2024 Olympic Games," she concluded.

India did not respect Test cricket: Paul Newman

New Delhi, Sep 14: Former England cricketer Paul Newman has slammed Indian cricketers, BCCI and the IPL following the cancellation of Manchester Test due to Covid-19 fears in the visiting camp.

He went on to say that "India did not respect this series and they did not respect Test cricket either in flouting Covid guidelines ahead of the fourth Test". India's assistant physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the series-decider sending tremors down the Indian dressing room and ultimately leading to the cancellation of the match.

"There is no way the series decider would have been called off on the morning of the first day had the majority of India's players not been

/IndianAbroadNews

flying to Dubai for the resumption of the richest tournament in cricket.

"No India player with an IPL contract wanted to risk playing in this Test, then testing positive and being forced to stay in England for another 10 days, so missing the restart of the tournament in the UAE on September 19," former seamer Newman, who has played 135 first-class matches and 177 List A games, wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

"India did not respect this series in pulling out yesterday and they did not respect Test cricket either in flouting Covid guidelines ahead of the fourth Test."

He also blamed Team India chief coach Ravi Shastri's book launch

/indianabroadnews

event ahead of the fourth Test in London.

"This whole outbreak in their camp could well have been started by the presence of Shastri along with captain Virat Kohli and several players and staff at a book launch at a London hotel attended by more than 150 people two days before the Oval Test.

"It was a breach of protocols that privately angered those at the ECB who have done so much to keep the show on the road in the last 18 months, not least with three Tests at Old Trafford last year that salvaged millions of pounds of revenue for the game. What a way for Lancashire to be rewarded for all they did then," he wrote.

18

SPORTS

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Medvedev pulls off 'dead fish' celebration Raducanu emerges new US Open women's champion in an all-teen affair after historic win over Djokovic IANS

Eastern Mirror

New York, Sep 12: Great Britain's Emma Raducanu, who had made her tour-level main-draw debut in Nottingham just three months ago, emerged the new US Open women's champion, defeating 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada 6-4, 6-3 in an all-teenage final to win her first Grand Slam title and her first tour-level title overall on Sunday (IST).

The 18-year-old British teenager had a perfect three weeks in New York.

She made it through three rounds of qualifying without the loss of a set, was equally composed in her main-draw debut, where she also did not drop a set in seven matches.

She is the first woman to win the US Open without dropping a set since Serena Williams in 2014. Raducanu is also the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova of Russia won the 2004 Wimbledon

aged 17.

Ranked world No.150, Raducanu is the lowest-ranked player to win the US Open title since an unranked Kim Clijsters of Belgium earned the first major of her comeback in Flushing Meadows in 2009.

Raducanu is projected to reach a world ranking of 23 on Monday.

Raducanu also makes history by becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title -- she had already become the first qualifier to make a Grand Slam final on Thursday.

She is also the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in over 40 years. Virginia Wade triumphed on home soil at Wimbledon 1977, the year of the silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Wade is the only other British woman to reach a US Open final in

the Open Era, when the she won the first of her three Grand Slam singles titles in New York in 1968.

As she had in all of her previous matches here, Raducanu eased through two sets mixing power and precision that belied her lack of experience at this level. Against world No.73 Fernandez, Raducanu had 22 winners to Fernandez's 18, while firing one fewer unforced error than the Canadian.

Fernandez continued to use her tremendous court coverage and timing to extend rallies past their breaking points and win games other players might not have, as she saved 14 of the 18 break points she faced in the match.

However, Fernandez was able to break the Brit twice. Raducanu won 67 per cent of points behind her first-service, while Fernandez took only 56 per cent of points on her own first delivery in the 1-hour and 51-minute match.

Raducanu took the early lead after earning a break for 2-0 on her sixth break point of that game. However, any thoughts of a runaway were dispelled when Fernandez broke back on her fourth break point of the next game.

There were no more break points until 5-4, where Raducanu fired a backhand crosscourt winner to line up double set point. Fernandez fended off that pair, as well as a third, but on the fourth chance of another lengthy game, Raducanu slammed a forehand winner to notch the one-set lead.

Australia set to cancel Afghanistan Test over Taliban ban on women's cricket The Indian Express

Sydney, Sep 9: The first Test match between the men's teams of Australia and Afghanistan looks set to be called off after Afghanistan's newly-installed Taliban government announced its opposition to women from the Islamic nation playing cricket.

In a statement released on Thursday, Cricket Australia confirmed it would be unable to proceed with the planned Test at Hobart from November 27 if news reports of Taliban views on the women's game were true.

"Driving the growth of women's cricket globally is incredibly important to Cricket Australia," the statement said. "Our vision for cricket is that it is a sport for all and we support the game unequivocally for women at every level.

"If recent media reports that women's cricket will not be supported in Afghanistan are substantiated, Cricket Australia would have no alternative but to not host Afghanistan for the proposed Test Match due to be played in Hobart.

A spokesman for the Taliban government's cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, had told Australian broadcaster SBS News that cricket was not permitted for women under Islamic law.

"Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed," Wasiq said.

"In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this. It is the

www.indianabroad.news

media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it."

He said their stance on the women's game would not soften even if it would mean cancellation of the Hobart Test: "Even for this, if we face challenges and problems, we have fought for our religion so that Islam is to be followed. We will not cross Islamic values even if it carries opposite reactions. We will not leave our Islamic rules."

In the wake of those comments, Australia's Federal Sports Minister Senator Richard Colbeck urged the International Cricket Council to take a stand against the Taliban's position and take a decision on Afghanistan's full membership.

Speaking with ABC Radio on Thursday, Senator Colbeck said no decision had been made on whether visas would be granted to members of the Afghanistan men's team if the scheduled Test in Hobart went ahead.

"The Taliban's attitudes towards women and their individual rights should not be accepted by the international sporting community," he said.

"Excluding women from the sport at any level is unacceptable. We urge international sport authorities, including the International Cricket Council, to take a stand against this appalling ruling. At the end of the day, International Cricket is controlled by the ICC and it's not just about this Test match.

"The ICC is going to have to make a decision about Afghanistan's

membership."

In a statement released on Wednesday night, the International Cricket Council (ICC) expressed concern with the latest comments from the newly installed Taliban regime and foreshadowed further discussions at the next ICC board meeting which is scheduled for November, after completion of the T20 World Cup. That would ensure the Afghanistan men's team's involvement in the T20 tournament in the UAE and Oman, but to hold full-member status ICC status nations must field both men's and women's teams.

"The ICC is committed to the longterm growth of women's cricket and despite the cultural and religious challenges in Afghanistan, steady progress has been made in this area since Afghanistan's admission as a Full Member in 2017," the ICC statement said.

"The ICC has been monitoring the changing situation in Afghanistan and is concerned to note recent media reports that women will no longer be allowed to play cricket."

Suspension of a member nation's Test status requires a two-thirds majority vote of the ICC's 17-member board.

The Afghanistan women's team is yet to compete in an ICC-sanctioned match despite an initial squad being formed in 2010 before being disbanded several years later due to safety concerns.

When Afghanistan was granted men's Test status in 2017 the ICC granted them dispensation in regards to fielding a women's team provided they committed to growing the game for women and girls.

In November 2020, twenty-five female cricketers were awarded central contracts by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). It also held a 21-day training camp for 40 female cricketers in Kabul.

The women's team had been preparing for their first formal match, against Oman, in the coming months but Afghanistan Cricket Board Chief Executive Hamid Shinwari recently acknowledged the outlook for women's cricket in his country was grim.

"I think it will be stopped, that is my assumption," Shinwari told the BBC recently. "I really don't know what will be the position in the future. We have kept the salaries and they (women's players) are on our payroll. If the government decides that we don't go with the national women's team, we will have to stop."

New York, Sep 13: Daniil Medvedev's strange way to celebrate his victory against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia after winning the US Open

title has to do with his great off-court passion -- the soccer PlayStation game FIFA. The moment the 25-year-old world No. 2 Russian won the battle against his Serbian rival 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, Medvedev fell to the floor on his side of the court and celebrated his maiden Grand Slam title.

Explaining his bizarre "dead fish" post-match celebration, Medvedev said on-court that, "Only legends will understand. What I did after the match was L2 + left."

Later in his post-match press conference, the Russian said the idea first arose during his run to the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. "When I was running through [the draw at] Wimbledon... I was really confident about my game. I think it was one night, you know, you cannot fall asleep. Five, 10 minutes you have crazy thoughts,

like every other person," he said.

"I was like, OK, if I'm going to win Wimbledon, imagine I win it against Novak or whatever. To not celebrate is going to be too boring, because I do it all the time. I need to do something, but I want to make it special.

"I like to play FIFA. I like to play PlayStation. It's called the dead fish celebration. If you know your opponent when you play FIFA, many times you're going to do this. You're going to score a goal, you're up 5-0, you do this one.

"Yeah, I talked to the guys in the locker [room], they're young guys, super chill guys. They play FIFA. They were like, 'That's legendary'.

Everybody who I saw who plays FIFA thinks that's legendary. That's how I wanted to make it... It's not easy to make it on hard courts. I got hurt a little bit, but I'm happy I made it legendary for myself."

Gender equality the key to AustraliaAfghanistan historic Test going ahead: CA Sydney, Sep 8: Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Nick Hockley has said that "gender equality" and the new Afghanistan regime's stand on women cricketers hold the answers to the whether the historic men's Test between the two countries will take place as planned in November or not.

Hockley said that while the discussions were ongoing with the Australian and Tasmania governments over the Test match against Afghanistan, he added that the Taliban regime in the country had presented "an extremely challenging and complex situation" to Cricket Australia.

"What is absolutely unequivocal is our stance on cricket as a sport for all, driving gender equality," Hockley told Melbourne radio station SEN on Wednesday.

The two countries are scheduled to play their maiden Test at Hobart's Blundstone Arena from November 27, but Tasmania Premier Peter Gutwein has expressed serious concerns about the game going ahead given that there are no commitments forthcoming from the new Afghanistan regime on women's sport.

Taliban officials have

IANS

recently offered assurance that the Afghanistan men's team will travel to the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman in October-November and the subsequent Test in Australia.

But the new caretaker regime has not offered clarity on whether it would allow women the freedom to work, play and attend school.

As per the International Cricket Council's (ICC) rules, countries with Test status must field both men's and women's teams. Afghanistan earned the status in 2017.

"We want to see cricket for women and men thrive all around the world.

The current situation is very new, international cricket is working to understand the implications but it's something we'll continue to watch very closely," said Hockley.

Hockley expressed confidence the matter would be resolved.

"We don't yet have all of the answers but we're in dialogue and taking our advice from all the relevant organisations. We're working very closely, and having all the right discussions, with the ICC, the Australian Government and ultimately we'll take our lead from them."

Pele 'recovering satisfactorily' after surgery to remove tumour IANS

Rio de Janeiro, Sep 11: Brazilian football legend Pele remains in intensive care after surgery to remove a tumour from his colon, the medical team treating him said late on Friday.

The 80-year-old underwent the procedure at Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein hospital on September 4 after the tumour was found during routine tests.

"The patient Edson Arantes do Nascimento has been recovering satisfactorily, is conscious, actively talking and maintaining his vital signs in normality," the hospital said in a medical bulletin.

Earlier, the three-time World Cup winner took to social media to thank fans for their support and reassure them that he was recuperating, Xinhua reports.

"My friends, with each passing day I feel a little better," he said on Instagram. "I'm going to take a few more days to recover. While I'm here, I'm taking the opportunity to talk a lot with my family and to rest."

Pele has battled a series of health problems in recent years and has rarely been seen in public since undergoing hip replacement surgery in 2012.

Major concerns in batting as Sri Lanka look to level T20I series vs SA IANS

Colombo, Sep 11: After going 1-0 down in the three-match T20I series, Sri Lanka will aim for improved their performance in all three departments in the second encounter against South Africa to be played at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday.

Sri Lanka will have major concerns about their batting unit heading into the second T20I considering the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 is just over a month away. Prepping up the run-rate at the right time has been a major concern for them, an issue which again reared its head in the opening contest, which the hosts lost by 28 runs.

They will also expect more from their bowlers to stem the flow of runs and deliver regular breakthroughs.

The Proteas will be much happier with their performance after the first game. They will still strive for improvements in the batting

/IndianAbroadNews

unit and hope that the batters can convert their starts into big knocks, enabling them to post bigger scores on the board.

In the first T20I played on Friday, South Africa posted a score of 163/5 after handy contributions with the bat from Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram and David Miller.

Sri Lanka couldn't manage to get ahead of the chase, despite Dinesh Chandimal's half-century, losing wickets at regular intervals. They eventually fell short by 28 runs, with South Africa going 1-0 ahead.

"There were quite a few challenges.

We should have maximised the powerplay; it has been a concern in the last few series for us. The pitches will be a big factor, but we need to adjust to the conditions better. I am trying to play the best team in this series and we want to win the series, but I'll probably try and see some of the other players also," said Sri

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Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka.

South African skipper Keshav Maharaj though sounded confident.

"Very happy, brilliant performance all around. I have always wanted to play T20 cricket. I might be 31 but I feel like I'm 21. Just trying to do my bit and get my place in that World Cup starting XI. I always looked up to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. I have tried to emulate myself on Dravid, he's been such a gentleman. He went under Sachin's radar and has been such a great of the game."

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TRAVEL

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Aussie Adventures in Haridwar

By Sharon Bath y attraction to India began very early on. At the age of ten I wanted to be a missionary and serve the poor. I was brought up in Brisbane and came from an Anglo-Australian family. At twelve years old I attended a special feast day at the Hare Krishna’s which affected me deeply. I learned the Maha Mantra and loved to sing it. At thirteen I bought a necklace with the symbol of Shiva and Shakti, and on another occasion I bought a hand painted leaf (from the Bodhi tree) with an image of the holy Mother holding the baby Krishna on her lap. My fascination with India has never waned. Many, many years later I still had a strong desire to visit India. This story is my experience in Haridwar a few years ago with my dear friend and her Indian host family from the Punjab who acted as our guides while we were in India.

Call it Hardwar or Haridwar the name of this pilgrimage place means the gateway to the Lord.

Haridwar is considered to be one of the seven most holy places in India.

The moment we arrived there I fell under Haridwar’s sweet, intoxicating spell. Haridwar along with three other significant sites is where drops of the Elixir of Immortality (known as Amrit) accidentally spilled over from a pitcher being carried by a celestial bird. For me everything was about Lord Shiva and the divine Mother. Lord Shiva was everywhere! There is a huge statue of Lord Shiva in Haridwar. We stayed at an old ashram converted into a guest house. There was a very charming garden with huge dahlias and a gorgeous old temple to meditate in at dawn.

The Ganga river

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In ancient times, Haridwar was known as Gangadwara, the place where the Ganga descends into the plains. I was awestruck to see this holy river for the first time. For me it felt completely natural to bow down before Mother Ganges. The colour of the river is so beautiful and there is a sense of purity and sacredness which is alive and vibrant. We arrived at the river in the evening and Ganga Aarti commenced. (Worship with fire) I bought a little flower boat with a lit candle inside for us to offer to Ganga Maa. The aarti ceremony is truly beautiful! Many times I poured the holy Ganga water on my head to receive her blessings. Throughout the Holy Scriptures, Ganga Maa has been worshipped for her purifying qualities; she flows down from the heavens through the matted locks of Lord Shiva.

Mansa Devi temple The first temple we visited in Haridwar was the Mansa Devi temple. This temple is far above the city and has a wonderful view of the Ganga river and the surrounding area. It’s said the Goddess Mansa Devi grants the wishes of her true devotees. I felt very light and carefree in this holy place.

The ashram and bell One afternoon on our way to pay respects to a past saint named Anandamayi Maa (1896-1982) we walked alongside the river Ganges. We came to an ashram and wondered inside. We saw a huge ceremonial bell, and beyond that a small temple. I asked one of our Indian guides if it was alright to ring this bell. (It’s customary to ring bells as one enters a temple) Our guide rang the bell and before long an old sadhu was shaking his fist at us and yelling from the rooftop. He explained later that this bell is only

ever rung to announce an incoming sadhu. Oops! My friend and I had our photograph taken with this delightful and interesting bunch of devotees.

The Maa Anandamayi ashram My elder sister introduced me to Paramahansa Yogananda’s book, Autobiography of a Yogi when I was a teenager and I’ve read it a few times since. Yogananda’s writings made me understand the importance of a Guru or spiritual Master for the sincere seeker of Truth. Maa Anandamayi was mentioned in the book, she was called the joy-permeated mother. When we came to her ashram at dusk a feeling of peace descended on us. The ashram is on the Ganga at Kankhal. Kankhal is the place where Sati (Lord Shiva’s first wife) was insulted by her father because he did not invite Lord Shiva to the Yagya. Sati reduced herself to ashes in the Yagya Kund. It’s a really special place. When we arrived we sat under a huge tree, there was a small shrine which seemed neglected, and so I wanted to tidy it up. The moment I lit the incense, like magic, someone blew the conch and puja began in the temple. We had our own little ceremony. Later we listened to young boys singing devotional songs. I danced alone in the garden in the warm evening air.

I was so happy to be in this place where this kind, gentle saint walked.

Anandamayi Maa once said: Who is it that loves and who that suffers?

He alone stages a play with Himself.

The individual suffers because he perceives duality. Find the One everywhere and in everything and there will be an end to pain and suffering.”

The noisy temple After we left the tranquil atmosphere of Anandamayi Maa ashram

we heard the furious beating of drums coming from another temple.

What a contrast! We went inside to investigate. There were big drums and small drums being played and bells were being clanged. It was so loud the sound vibrated through my body. In my mind the damaru (a small drum associated with Lord Shiva) called out the name of Parvati (Lord Shiva’s beloved) Parvati, Parvati, Parvati. I loved it! However my friend said playfully that the sheer volume of the noise would frighten God away.

The dance – Sant Kabir temple One evening our guides were arranging our train passage to another location, and I was sitting outside enjoying a cup of chai from a street vendor when a lady came up to me and said in Hindi she wanted me to dance inside the temple just opposite where we were. She led me there and one of our guides grabbed my arm and led me back to my seat, and then she came back and did it again. This time I agreed to go inside the temple with her. She led me by the arm through the throng of people to the place where ladies were performing aarti; she put me next in line for aarti. I performed the aarti waving the fire in half circles before the deity. Afterwards I did a little dance and tried to leave but she insisted I stay and sit. The temple was full to the brim, and there were musicians there. All the ladies around me urged me to dance, and so I did. I danced for God! Later there was such a commotion, everyone wanted to shake hands and have their picture taken with us.

We discovered it was a Sant Kabir temple. Sant Kabir was a saint who I am most familiar with. Sant Kabir said: Love is everything, and without it everything is meaningless…

One day I wish to return to India and

experience Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha in Vrindavan. Maybe I can dance again for the Lord in the

forest of Vrindavan.

Radha-ramana Hari Govinda jaya jaya!

Thailand mulls new tourism incentives to revive Covid-hit economy

Bangkok, Sep 11: Thailand is mulling on new tourism incentives to revive its Covid-19 pandemic-battered economy, betting on higher vaccination rates that allow quarantine-free travels.

After more than one year of border control and an initiative to bring back foreign visitors to the resort island Phuket from July, Thailand is set to reopen more of its popular www.indianabroad.news

tourist destinations to fully-vaccinated foreign visitors starting next month, reports Xinhua news agency.

Regions including the capital city Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri, Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan are set to reopen to vaccinated foreign visitors from October 1, while another 21 destinations may reopen from mid-October, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)

announced on Friday.

The reopening plans came following the Phuket Sandbox pilot, which allowed fully vaccinated foreign visitors to enter the island without quarantine.

The Phuket program had attracted more than 26,000 tourists during the past two months to the island, generating 1.63 billion baht ($50 million) in revenue, according to TAT. Local tourism may also get a big push as the government considered measures to encourage domestic travelling starting from mid-October if the number of new Covid-19 cases remains at a manageable level.

According to Minister of Tourism and Sports Phiphat Ratchakitprakan, two local tourism campaigns in the pipeline are the "We Travel Together" Phase 3 and "Travel around Thailand", which would be subject for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA)'s approval at the end of this month.

"We are closely monitoring the development trend on the number of new daily infections following the

lockdown easing that took effect on September 1. If the new case tally remains at a manageable level, we will continue to pursue our plans," Phiphat told the local media on Friday.

The Minister said the two campaigns, which had been postponed because of the third wave of the outbreak since early April, will be important for the survival of Thai tourism industry.

Under the "We Travel Together" scheme, travellers will be given a 40 per cent discount on accommodation, a 600-baht voucher for food and beverage for every night booked and another 40 percent discount on plane tickets, according to Phiphat.

It is expected to cover 2 million applicants.

The "Travel around Thailand" project will subsidise 40 per cent of tour packages of up to 5,000 baht for 1 million Thai tourists.

TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn expected the campaigns to help unleash pent-up demand.

"Most Thais will prefer to travel within the country for the end of

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this year as going aboard can still be considered quite a challenge, due to the ongoing global pandemic," Yuthasak said.

TAT estimated that there would be 90 million domestic trips this year, in line with the number recorded in 2020.

The tourism incentives are part of the Southeast Asian country's efforts to strike a balance between pandemic containment and economic growth as long as the Covid-19 infections remain at a level that does not overwhelm the public health

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system.

The revival of tourism sector has been high on the Thai government's agenda as the sector accounted for about one fifth of the country's gross domestic product in years before the pandemic.

The government has also been accelerating vaccine roll-out, vowing to inoculating about 70 percent of the whole population by the end of the year.

Till date, more than 16 per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated, according to the CCSA.

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TRAVEL

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

5 stunning Indian destinations for remote work

T

he phenomenon of remote working is growing at a rapid pace as the pandemic fuels the work-from-anywhere option. The convenience and ease to blend work with vacation are much easier now than ever before, making workations a popular concept among working professionals in India.

EaseMyTrip.com compiles a list of 5 stunning destinations which provide the best remote working experience in the country.

Jibhi, Himachal Pradesh: When the hills are calling, you must go! If you’re looking to spend some time relaxing in the arms of nature, Jibhi in Himachal Pradesh would be an ideal choice. A hidden gem in Himachal Pradesh, Jibhi is breathtaking and offers people a serene view of lush hills in the Himalayas in the midst of work chaos. This offbeat location provides visitors with an opportunity to stay in a warm cottage surrounded by freshwater, making it an ideal place to relax and soak in peace. Jibhi allows visitors to enjoy the fresh air and listen to the sweet chirpings of the birds in the lap of nature, which could be a good distraction from work! There are multiple stay options that are not just stunning but budget-friendly as well.

Shillong, Meghalaya: Shillong is the perfect destination for professionals who want to discover and unravel the North Eastern belt of the country. With its enjoyable weather and tranquillity, this quaint hill station is nicknamed Scotland of the East due to its striking similarity to the country. Its pristine landscape and an abode of clouds make the hill station is the perfect destination to spend your days in isolation. A large number of stay options in Shillong are offering

customisable workstation packages for professionals who want to work from a serene environment. Since the past few years, there has been a growth in airline routes to the region resulting in swifter travelling options. One can check travel options from EaseMyTrip before deciding itinerary in this picturesque hill station.

Varkala, Kerala: If a beach backdrop with waves crashing across the shore is what you need to work in peace, then Varkala is the right destination.

Known as the Pearl of the Arabian Sea, Varkala is a hidden tourist gem in the state renowned for its vibrant beach life and water sport activities.

Varkala is famed for its long stretches of sparkling beaches. People can enjoy a dip in the clear waters of the Arabian Sea and end the night at a beach shack to unwind. The pristine beaches also provide the visitor with an opportunity to try out exciting water activities such as paragliding, parasailing, and jet skiing. The clear ocean at Varkala beach is also one of the best in the country to learn surfing. The city also has a number of hills, lakes, forts, lighthouses, natural fisheries, and springs which add to the charm of this destination.

Mussoorie, Uttrakhand: The Queen of hill stations, Mussoorie was declared a free WiFi town in 2015, making it one of the most preferred remote working destinations in the country. The city boasts a minimum internet speed of 50Mbps, which can even go up to 100 Mbps. The quaint hill station enables people to work while enjoying a mesmerizing view of the Himalayan range and a vibrant bar of colours in the sky. The comforting cool weather throughout the year makes it a preferred destination

for remote work. Not to mention the warm and spicy street food that’s hard to resist after a long day of work. The tranquillity of the hill station also provides the best hiking experience to enthralling viewpoints. Uttarakhand tourism has taken a step ahead and is readily providing necessary facilities required for people that visit the state for remote working.

Masinagudi, Tamil Nadu: A delight for wildlife lovers, Masinagudi is surrounded by the solace of nature. Wildlife homestays are a preferred option in this destination and most of these homestays provide fast internet options. The destination is a rich forest reserve and is highly recommended for people who want to connect with nature and wildlife. The experience of cohabitating with wildlife will definitely serve as a great therapy for your body and mind. The deciduous forest and with a soothing tropical view are home to Indian leopards, Bengal tigers and elephants. So don’t get trembled if an elephant enters your zoom meeting screen. Travellers who prefer to experience a safari after a long day of work or the weekend can pick a stay option close to the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary.

With most companies set to continue work from home for the foreseeable future, remote working is set to pick up and evolve further in the coming months. A significant advantage is that it provides an opportunity for travellers to completely explore a city or destination at their own pace instead of packing everything into a week-long itinerary while going for a vacation. A little break from the routine is what you need to rejuvenate and perform better at work.

IHG Hotels & Resorts Expands Footprint In Nepal With Holiday Inn Express and Suites W

ith eight of the ten highest mountains in the world, Nepal is a hotspot destination for mountaineers, rock climbers and adventure seekers.

IHG® Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s leading hotel companies, has signed a management agreement with DMR APA Joint Venture to develop a new Hotel - Holiday Inn Express and Suites Kathmandu Rabi Bhawan in Nepal.

The brownfield hotel with 100 keys is expected to open by the first quarter of 2024. Holiday Inn Express, Nepal will feature modern guest rooms, equipped with all the necessities for a great stay experience. The hotel will also feature a ‘Great Room’, a bar and a lounge for guests to rejuvenate and unwind. Other facilities will include a fitness room, meeting rooms and signature amenities to reflect the brand’s promise of a comfortable and pleasant experience.

Commenting on the new development, Sudeep Jain, Managing Director, South West Asia, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said, “We are

www.indianabroad.news

thrilled to further expand our footprint in Nepal with the signing of our new hotel in Kathmandu.

Nepal is a hotspot tourist destination in the region with growing popularity amongst travellers with different needs. With the airport being refurbished as well as the rapid development of branded hotels, Kathmandu is expected to become a global tourism destination and the tourism sector in the country will consequently witness healthy growth in the coming years. We, therefore, see a significant growth opportunity in the country. The new signing is also in line with our strategy to grow our ‘essentials collection’ across key markets in SWA. He added, "India is the single biggest source market for Kathmandu, where IHG has a strong and growing presence. Additionally, the fastest-growing source market for the country is China, where IHG is the largest international player. Across both markets, the Holiday Inn Express brand has a good presence and recall which will benefit our growing brand portfolio in Nepal.”

Chiranjibi Thapa, Chairman, DMR APA Joint Venture added, “We are excited to partner with an internationally known and trusted hospitality brand like IHG for our very first hospitality venture.

Moreover, Holiday Inn Express is a well-established brand, globally and has a strong base of loyal customers across markets. The brand is also a great fit for a city like Katmandu with a number of travellers looking for simple and smart stays. With an excellent location, IHG’s impressive experience and expertise in the region, we are confident that Holiday Inn Express and Suites Kathmandu Rabi Bhawan will emerge as a hotel of choice for travellers visiting Nepal.”

With the signing of Holiday Inn Express and Suites Kathmandu Rabi Bhawan, IHG will have 6 hotels in the pipeline in the country, across its mainstream brands - Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, and will be well-positioned in the coming years to cater to the demands of the travellers visiting the destination.

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21

ART & CULTURE

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

'Saffron' completes 'Colours' dance film trilogy of Srikanth, Savitha Sastry Wikipedia

Savita Sastry

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rawing inspiration from the National Flag, "Saffron" completes the "Colours" short-film trilogy of husband-wife duo A.K. Srikanth and Savita Sastry that juxtaposes the ideals of the tricolour to the state of women today.

Saffron in the National Flag represents strength and courage "and we thus present a story of strength and courage of a woman in extreme adversity. It is set in a dystopian, undated period in history where women who go against the norms of society are placed in a camp called The Cell, with their memories wiped clean. This is the story of one woman in the cell who starts getting visions of her past, and soon completely realises the enormity of the crime committed by society against her so-called transgression," Savitha, a noted Bharatnatyam danseuse and choreographer who features in the trilogy, written and directed by her husband, told IANS in an interview.

"The first part, 'Green' signifies prosperity and in our film, it reflected prosperity from the point of view of a woman's freedom to choose the course of her life. In 'White', signifying truth and peace, the protagonist is caught between her own truths and the image that the world carries of her - but pursues her own path.

'Saffron' is about a woman looking at oppression in the eye. The display of courage by the protagonist in this film is as unique as the film itself," Savitha explained.

The trilogy, in fact, is a poetic representation of Savitha's own life, of how she broke loose from the rigid confines of traditional Bharatanatyam, and found her own path - that of completely changing

the narrative structure of the content of Bharatanatyam performances without compromising on the technical aspects of the dance form.

The narrative is applicable to one and all - the act of breaking the box and stepping out, is one of courage, resilience and self-belief.

How did the series evolve?

"Our first step in this direction was the stage production called 'Chains' in 2015," Srikanth said.

"This is the story of a woman through three stages of her life: her youth, as a middle-aged woman, and as an old lady. The production had examined how in each stage of her life, the decisions on her were made by others around her. Given that it was a stage production, there were compromises we had to make on the story as written, so that it could be played out on stage.

"However, both Savitha and I had always felt we should be telling the story as it is written - which we felt was that much richer. By 2019-20 we had moved to making dance films, and thus came the idea of filming the story of 'Chains'. At this point, it occured to us that 70 years after independence, some things never seemed to change in the lives of women. So, we juxtaposed the ideals of the three colors in our national flag to the state of women today. This led to the birth of the trilogy - where 'Green' was based on 'Chains', while 'White' and 'Saffron' are original stories," Srikanth elaborated.

This evolution "is usually the case with all our productions", Savitha said.

"It isn't usual for someone to be

completely satisfied in a role of being in the backdrop while I take the limelight even though his contribution to these films is just as much if not more than mine. So, I'm not surprised that he would author a series on women's choice as a central theme - but yes, it is rare for a man to take such a stand. The pivotal force behind the execution was to be able to deliver the story as a dance film, and not just as a short film. But what was important was that the dance - the medium of delivery - disappears to become just a story telling device," Savitha explained.

Her technical prowess for over the three decades she has been performing has led critics and the audiences at large to term her 'The Dancing Storyteller' and 'Renaissance Architect of Bharatanatyam'. Through the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, she mostly performed traditional repertoires and also took steps towards full length thematic productions through her works such as "Purushartha" and "Krishna - the Supreme Mystic". In the second half of the 2000s she embarked on projects that showcased novel stories rather than stories taken from mythology or religion as is common in classical Indian arts.

Her first production, "Music Within" in 2010, took the arts world by a storm. Based on the history of music as narrated by a deaf and dumb child, the production went on to play across the globe and was much appreciated for its finesse, subtlety and entertainment values. Savitha's foray in this direction stemmed from the fact that she wanted to take Bharatanatyam to an audience that was neither conversant nor interested in the art form.

In the 2010s, Savitha and Srikanth jointly created some of their most memorable works. Written and directed by Srikanth, and choreographed by Savitha, these productions included "Soul Cages" (2012), "Yudh" (2013), and "The Prophet" (2013). "Chains" played over 100 shows in very prestigious venues across the India, as also in the US, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa and Southeast Asia.

Her work even prompted the critics to declare that she is as much "the renaissance architect of Bharatanatyam as Rukmini Devi Arundale was in her times".

In the late 2010s, Savitha and Srikanth turned their eyes on the burgeoning digital media, and decided that if the aim was to evangelize Bharatanatyam to the uninitiated, then the power of digital could not be ignored. Between 2018 and 2019, her productions that had been made for stage were recreated as dance films.

But her first original work for the digital media came about in 2019, when she performed in the short dance film "The Descent". Based on a script by Srikanth, this production showcased the free fall of a superstar, and showcased the emotions of a depressed woman in this part of her life. "The Descent" went on to win the best short film awards in the very prestigious Near Nazareth Festival, the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, Best Global Shorts and the Top Shorts Film Festival, besides being nominated in 11 other film festivals.

Savitha and Srikanth have gone on to make other short films as well including "Awakening" and "Aparajita" - the latter being created during the lockdown.

"I see that while choices available around us have multiple forms, I think girls don't have the same latitude of choices that their male siblings get. If these films can inspire even one family to be aligned to make these choices more equitable, then I've done my job. And I say family because it takes everyone to get the job done, not just the woman herself," Savitha concluded.

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What makes Rajasthan a sought-after wedding destination?

What makes Rajasthan so special for people planning a big, fat Indian wedding? What are the ways Rajasthan adds a dash of royalty, glamour, and flamboyance to the wedding ceremonies? Aena Malhotra explores.

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aving an extravagant, illustrious, dream-like, and opulent wedding is every woman’s dream. Who doesn’t want to make regal memories of the most special day of one’s life? Right goes the dictum that marriages are made in heaven, but if you are planning to tie the knot the royal way, Rajasthan is what you need.

Besides its rich and colorful heritage, stunningly beautiful forts and palaces, world’s renowned wildlife parks and sanctuaries, and an inviting trail of customs and traditions, this kingly state of India has much more to offer. Hardly anyone who visits Rajasthan returns without being mesmerised by its rich cultural and architectural aura.

Over the years there has been an increasing interest among people from all corners of the world to choose Rajasthan as their wedding destination, and the trend is still catching up. Be it international celebrities and socialites including the likes of Vikram Chatwal and Priya Sachdev, Russell Brand and Katy Perry, Arun Nayar and Elizabeth Hurley, or passionate common folks, Rajasthan has become an irresistible wedding destination stop.

So what makes it so special? If the sand dunes and camels adorning the vast Thar desert that trails across Rajasthan do not leave you spellbound, wait till you encounter the mystique aura that envelops this grandeur-emanating state, or for the colors of Rajasthani culture to sweep you off your feet.

Rajasthan and a Royal Wedding To make an unforgettable wedding destination for you and the love of your life, Rajasthan has all you need and much more--right from a rich cultural history, heart-warming hospitality, never-before-seen architectural wonders to not-to-be-missed traditional cuisine, inimitably Prominent Royal Wedding Destinations of Rajasthan Udaipur Known as the City of Lakes, Udaipur is a popular wedding destination. Jagmandir Island palace and the Udaipur Lake Palace are some of the sought-after wedding venues.

Jaipur The capital city of Rajasthan, Jaipur offers various heritage hotels like the Rabbagh palace, Samode Palace, and Jaimahal Palace that are ideal for arranging royal weddings.

Jodhpur The Umaid Bhawan Palace, Mehrangarh Fort, and Hari Mahal Palace are some of the prominent wedding venues here.

Jaisalmer The desert city Jaisalmer offers banquet facilities in several hotels, which are excellent wedding venues for a royal ensemble.

colorful culture, heart-stealing Rajasthani customs and traditions, and the regal charm that this state so effortlessly reflects.

A typical royal Rajasthani wedding inevitably offers you an almost dream-like experience. Irrespective of one’s caste, creed or religion, the localities and those involved in hospitality make sure that the bride and the groom are offered no less than a prince- and princess-like treatment. Flower-showers, decked up palaces or forts that serve as the wedding venues, eloquent lunch and dinner spreads to leave your guests gasping in surprise, royal animals including elephants, camels and horses marching in the wedding procession, and regal costumes and traditional jewelry for bride, groom, and their families are some of the key highlights that attract love-birds to witness their convivial ceremonies in Rajasthan.

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Jagmandir Island palace, Udaipur

Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur

Rabbagh palace, Jaipur

It is on account of reasons like these that millions of couples across the globe can’t help eyeing upon this kingly Indian state as their wedding destination. What makes their dream come true is the plethora of economic options that wedding planners and co-ordinators in India offer to the prospective families aiming to engage Rajasthan in their familial festivities. Among the preferred wedding destination cities in this regal state, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Jaisalmer rule the roost.

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It is here that most of the privately owned and easily available forts or palaces are available for private celebrations. So if you too are planning to tie the knot in an interesting and unforgettable way, do consider Rajasthan as one of your wedding stops, and the rest would be history!

Let the deserts and winds of the royal Rajasthan create a royal wedding experience for you and your beloved. Go ahead and steal the show as you take the world by a storm with a dream-come-true wedding!

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LITERATURE

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Penguin set to release Namita Malana cream, murder, Gokhale's 'The Blind Matriarch' mystery plot high in Bollywood

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ne of Indias most respected and well-known literary figures, Namita Gokhale, has written a family saga that is both contemporary and timeless.

Set against the backdrop of the pandemic, it explores the traditional bonds of the Indian joint family in the face of upheaval.

"The Blind Matriarch" has already earned praise from the likes of writer Chigozie Obioma and India's best-loved poet Gulzar.

The sprawling novel follows the life of the eponymous blind matriarch who lives on the topmost floor of an old house with many stories.

Ebbing and flowing like the waves of a pandemic, the novel is a clear-eyed chronicle of the tragedies of India's encounter with the coronavirus, the cynicism and despair that accompanied it, and the resilience and strength of the human spirit.

The design of this book comes with its own story. Penguin Random House India art director Ahlawat Gunjan read the novel and commissioned a stunning embroidered panel for the cover which interlaces intricately with the many threads of the tale. Gokhale then wove elements of the panel itself into the rich tapestry of the book. The imagery on the cover reflects the narrative of the protagonist, Matangi, worked lovingly upon, even as her eyesight began abandoning her. Most jackets are the beginning of a book's journey in the reader's hands, but here it is also the very fabric of the book.

Gokhale says "The Blind Matriarch", which she began just before the pandemic set in, "followed through on thoughts and themes from many of my previous novels. It is a quiet book, paced in a real-time narrative of lock-down days, which examines the dynamics of the Indian joint family. The central character, the blind matriarch Matangi Ma, has remained in my heart and mind long after I finished the book".

Manasi Subramaniam, Executive Editor and Head of Literary Rights at Penguin Random House India says: "The Namita Gokhale bookshelf is an

unexpected and unpredictable mix.

Her range seems almost limitless, right from 'Paro' in 1984, a groundbreaking tale of female sexuality, to 'Jaipur Journals' in 2020, a charming romp across the greatest literary show on earth. She has done it yet again, with 'The Blind Matriarch', and we are especially proud to publish her twentieth book."

Gokhale is an award-winning writer and festival director. She is the author of eleven works of fiction and has written extensively on myth as well as the Himalayan region.

Her acclaimed debut novel, "Paro: Dreams of Passion", was published in 1984. Her recent novel "Jaipur Journals", published in January 2020, was set against the backdrop of the vibrant Jaipur Literature Festival. "Betrayed By Hope", a play on the life of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, was also published in 2020.

A co-founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Gokhale is committed to supporting translations and curating literary dialogues across languages and cultures.

She was conferred the Centenary National Award for Literature by the Asam Sahitya Sabha in Guwahati in 2017. She won the Sushila Devi Literature Award for her novel "Things to Leave Behind", which also received the Best Fiction Jury Award at the Valley of Words Literature Festival 2017, and was on the longlist for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award.

Reimagining the way in which you do business

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n his podcast "Masters of Scale", Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and investor at Greylock, sits down with the leaders of the world's most iconic companies, including Apple, Nike, Netflix, Spotify, Starbucks, Google, Instagram and Microsoft, as well as the bold, disruptive startups - from 23andMe to TaskRabbit, from the Black List to the Bevel razor - solving the problems of the 21st century.

In his book, "Masters of Scale � Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs" (Penguin), Hoffman draws on their most riveting, revealing stories to distil the counterintuitive secrets behind the most extraordinary success stories of our times.

Through vivid storytelling and straightforward analysis, Hoffman presents a set of principles that anyone can use.

How do you find a winning idea and turn it into a scalable venture? What can you learn from a "squirmy no"?

When should you stop listening to your customers? Which fires should

you put out right away, and which should you let burn? And can you really make money while making the world a better place? (Answer: Yes. But you have to do the work to keep your profits and values aligned.)

Based on more than 100 interviews, and incorporating new material

never aired on the podcast, the book offers a unique insider's guide, filled with insights, wisdom, and strategies that will inspire you to re-imagine how you do business today.

"Whether you're at a startup or working to drive change within a large organization, the business principles in this book will help you deploy your strategy with creativity, integrity and realism," says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

"Reid Hoffman has a talent for getting right to the heart of a business case and turning it into an unforgettable lesson. If you're scaling a company -- or if you just love a well-told story -- this is a book to savour," says Bob Iger, executive chair, Walt Disney Co. "A book to take with you into battle as you build a company or a career.

It's full of enjoyable stories, but the killer feature is the sharp insights Reid draws out - specific, memorable, actionable mindsets," says Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO, Netflix,

An essential guide to myths, legends, science around India's geography

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n the North, a majestic mountain range emerges from a demon's tantrum. In the South, the avatar of a god gives a forest its name.

In the East, a pirate king finds his plans foiled by a formidable force of nature. In the West, a sea keeps a city safely hidden in its deep waters.

Long ago, before science came up with explanations for the events that occurred in nature, people turned to stories to make sense of the www.indianabroad.news

wondrous workings of the natural world. And so, a life-giving stream became the gift of a goddess, a hot spring arose from the breath of a celestial snake and a heap of broken boulders served as a testament to a divine battle.

Zigzagging through myths, folklore, local history and geological theories, "Gods, Giants and the Geography of India" (Hachette), an extraordinary book, draws fascinating connections

between ancient tales and the science behind the spectacular geography of India.

Join Nalini Ramachandran on a most unusual, adventure-filled expedition up, down and across the country's varied terrain!

Nalini Ramachandran is always looking for interesting stories to tell - of glorious goddesses, daunting demons, stealthy shapeshifters, gorgeous geographies, wondrous wildlife and ordinary objects. She began writing for children when working with India's only all-comics children's magazine, Tinkle. Today, her short stories have appeared in anthologies such as Gifts of Teaching, Scary Tales, and Thank God It's Caturday!

She is the author of "Detective Sahasasimha: The Case of the Disappearing Books", "APJ Abdul Kalam: One Man, Many Missions" (which won Multistory Learning Pvt. Ltd.'s 'Best of Indian Children's Writing - Contemporary Awards 2019' in the 'Comics/Graphic Novels' category), "Lore of the Land: Storytelling Traditions of India" and "Nava Durga: The Nine Forms of the Goddess". She also edits children's books and holds workshops on creative writing and storytelling.

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enior journalist Aditya Kants crime thriller novel 'High on Kasol', which uncovers the controversial subject of the mysterious disappearance of foreigners and the changing trends of drug trafficking and consumption in Himachal Pradeshs picturesque Kullu Valley, has created a buzz in Bollywood.

Several celebrities, including leading actress Kangana Ranaut, have expressed curiosity and praised the content of Kant's debut novel, which has figured amongst the top new hot releases amongst the Indian writers at Amazon.

In her message to the author, which went viral on social media, 'Dhaakad' girl Kangana Ranaut mentioned that the idea of the mystery in the backdrop of Kasol was not only unique but also looked exciting.

The whodunnit mystery, which is written in the backdrop of Kasol -- a small town on the Parvati river that has gained notoriety with 'easy availability of drugs and rave parties' and is dubbed as a Mini Israel -- has already figured amongst the top hot releases in the Indian writing category at Amazon, soon after it went live for sale last month.

Admiring the author and his work, the leading actress of critically acclaimed movie 'Lunchbox' and Akshay Kumar starrer 'Airlift', Nimrat Kaur too acknowledged that 'High on Kasol' had great potential.

The unputdownable suspense thriller has also generated curiosity among the leading actors from TV and OTT platforms.

Famous TV and Bollywood actor Namit Das of 'Sumit Sambhal Lega' fame said, "I found the book very interesting as it deals with the conflicts which locals face with the outsiders and most importantly the drug problem the youth is facing in that area ( Kullu Valley).

'High on Kasol' is a murder mystery in which the story unfolds with the mysterious disappearance of an Israeli woman, who gets entrapped in a web of the drug syndicate in the valley.

The crime thriller also delves into various reasons which could have led to the disappearance of foreigners from the valley. More than 20 foreigners have gone missing from the valley in the last as many years.

Actor Sumit Vyas, who was hooked to the racy plot of the novel, said, "The novel looks very exciting and unique and makes a fantastic read."

Vyas, who has carved a niche for himself through supporting roles in 'Veere Di Wedding' and 'English Vinglish' predicted that the book would do well as it would draw a huge readership.

About the novel's catchy title, 'High on Kasol', Chandigarh-based journalist Aditya Kant explains to IANS, "It is a play on the traditional agriculture of psychedelic plants in

the far-flung areas of small hamlets in the Himalayas, and the cruel aberrations in its trade."

"It takes you to the Magic Valley and the cannabis fields which have been famous for world class Magic cream or Malana cream."

Popular TV actress Aalisha Panwar, who shot to fame with the crime thriller, 'Ishq Mein Marjawan', on COLOR TV and found herself hooked to the novel, said, "It's an amazing story as far I have read it. The murder mystery in the backdrop of hills and the issue of drugs makes it an interesting read."

The unique plot and its backdrop have caught the attention of some Bollywood producers as well.

Karuna Badwal, Producer, Red Chillies and Business Manager to Shah Rukh Khan, who was amongst the first few to have gone through the suspense thriller, while giving kudos to the debutant author in her tweet, said the book was a must-read for the lovers of a crime thriller.

The co-producer of super hits like 'Chennai Express' and 'Happy New Year' opined that the racy plot of 'High on Kasol' with a vivid description of cannabis fields in the mysterious Magic valley had all the ingredients one looks for adaptation into a motion picture or a web series.

'High on Kasol' has earlier drawn accolades from dignitaries as well, when it was unveiled more than a month ago.

The Governors of Punjab, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh, who released the novel in their respective states last month, have praised the author for the book which they acknowledged has a strong social message.

Former state Director General of Police I.D. Bhandari, who carried out extensive operations in and around the Magic Valley in 2012, told IANS the prime reason for the disappearance of foreigners has always been their tendency to venture out on unexplored and dangerous treks, which are surrounded with tough terrain and wildlife.

"It becomes more dangerous for those who are venturing out under

the influence of drugs," he said.

According to Bhandari, the illegal trade in which synthetic drugs are now being supplied and consumed by the youth has become a cause of concern.

"These new drugs are easy to carry and easy to hide. The nexus between the foreigners and locals has protection from some influential people, a cause of worry. In fact, there is a need for a holistic approach and a well thought out sustainable campaign to curb the menace in the valley," said Bhandari.

According to police, over 60 per cent of the poppy and cannabis produced in Himachal Pradesh is smuggled to countries such as Israel, Italy, Holland and other European countries. The rest finds its way to Nepal or Indian states like Goa, Punjab and Delhi.

They say cannabis and poppy (opium) plants are grown illegally on vast tracts of land in Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Chamba districts.

Records show that 50,000 acres in Kullu Valley alone is under cannabis cultivation.

The Kullu and Parvati valleys are heavily populated by foreign tourists, largely Israelis, not all of them fascinated by the serenity of the mountains. Some never return, they either disappear or marry local women or are later found to be involved in drug trafficking in connivance with local and international drug smugglers.

Some foreigners died of drug overdose, while others lost their lives while trekking and their deaths often go unreported, admitted a senior police official.

Nestled in the peaks of the Himalayas, the mysterious village of Malana -- accessible by four hours of trekking from the motorable village of Jari that lies at the bottom of the Parvati valley -- has long been notorious for cultivating the famed Malana cream hashish, a purified resinous extract of cannabis.

'Waiting for Turtles', new book on Andaman Islands C hildren's publishing house Karadi Tales has brought out an illustrated book to raise awareness about the oldest group of reptiles, turtles through a story happening on the ecologically fragile Andaman & Nicobar Islands (A&NI).

Authored by Pankaj Sekhsaria, a long time researcher of the A&NI, the book also enlightens readers about the Islands and the various environmental issues surrounding turtles through its informative back matter, a release from Karadi Tales said.

The story is illustrated exquisitely by Vipin Sketchplore, it said.

'Waiting for Turtles' is Sekhsaria's first book for children. An environmental researcher, he has earlier written 'The Last Wave' and 'Islands in the Flux' among others.

"The story unfolds on the small island of Tarmugli in the Mahatma Gandhi National Park in the Andamans. Protagonist Samrat is accompanying Seema, his turtle researcher mother, in the hope of seeing his first nesting Green sea turtle that nests on the beaches here.

There is disappointment for Samrat

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but there is also a surprise...," the release said.

Through the story, the book sets out to raise awareness about the oldest group of reptiles, turtles. It also enlightens readers about the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the various environmental issues surrounding turtles through the informative back matter, the release said.

"The book beautifully captures Samrat's excitement about the magic of turtle nesting and will inspire children to think of studying and

/indianabroadnews

working in this field of science.

The illustrations on every page take you to the shores of Tarmugli Island, where you can almost see the stars and feel the breeze. This is experiencing nature vicariously.

A must-read for every child!" said Director, Environment Education, WWF-India, Radhika Suri.

It has also been published in translation in Hindi by Karadi Tales with support of the Dakshin Foundation and in Telugu by Manchi Pustakam.

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Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

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24

SPIRITUALITY & DEVOTION

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Common Aspects of Australian Aboriginal and Hindu Spirituality The New York Times

By Paddy Krishnan In this article I summarise, at a high-level, links between different spiritual aspects of the Aboriginal people in Australia and many of the writings related to Hinduism.

This is not to say that there was direct influence between the two groups. The common link is more to provide a framework for discussing spirituality and to foster a better understanding of each other's cultures.

The first similarity is that both the Australian Aboriginal people and the Hindu people are defined in geographical terms. The Australian Aboriginal people are those who lived on the island that is called Australia while Hindus were those were to the East of the Sindhu (Indus) river. The consequence of this geographical characterisation is that like Hinduism, there is no single

definition of Aboriginal spirituality.

Each group under these broad characterisation had their own culture, stories, and philosophies. Therefore what is called Aboriginal spirituality is a variety of ceremony, rituals, storytelling, expressed in different forms of painting, dance and music.

Each example of Aboriginal spirituality is more like a Sampradaya; a tradition that is followed by one or more groups. There was no need for uniformity across these different traditions and no need for a central authority or single source of truth.

Culturally the notion of story telling is common to the Aboriginal people.

There are many aspects to story telling including describing their history, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs. Many of the stories are parables to illustrate morality. The Aboriginal stories focus on nature and behaviour of the native animals.

The stories in the Hitopadesha and Panchatantra are very similar and use various animals to highlight moral issues. The Aboriginal groups also have a collection of stories related to Gods, Goddesses and evil spirits. This can be related to the Puranas in the Hinduism that have stories about the different deities and their fights with Asuras.

The most direct philosophical correspondence is the aboriginal belief that all living objects share the same soul or spirit that is present in humans. This is very Vedantic perhaps even Advaitic where there is a single Atman (or Brahman) and every being's true Self is this Atman. Related to this belief is the law of Kanyini which implies that

everybody is responsible for each other. Kanyini wants to restrict the feelings of mineness (Mamakara in Hinduism) in all individuals and develop the feelings of ourness or joint ownership. Reducing mineness is equivalent to the idea of reducing one's ego or Ahamkara.

The Bhagavad Gita clearly states that anyone who is free from mineness is closer to the divine.

The Bhagavad Gita also states that those who enjoy what they have without sharing properly are no different from thieves. Sharing or joint ownership is a step towards reducing Ahamkara. Another aspect of Kanyini is unconditional and unlimited love for all beings. All actions are performed for the benefit of all beings. Bhakti Yoga (where everything is done for the love of God) and Nishkama Karma (where all actions are performed unconditionally) are the corresponding ideas in Hinduism.

Another specific idea is Dadirri which is not only the language of the river people in the Northern Territory, Australia but also an inner awareness. Dadirri has been described as the continuous process of listening, observing, and reflecting.

Dadirri is said to lead one to a deeper understanding of spirituality and help build one's spiritual knowledge.

At this level Dadirri is very similar to the description in the Panchadashi about Shravanam (or listening), Mananam (thinking of what was said), and Nidhidhyasanam (reflection on the knowledge).

Similar to the Panchadashi, a big part of Dadirri is listening, be it to

one's surroundings or sermons from experts. The contemplative way of Dadirri is supposed to bring peace. This is consistent with the idea of Nidhidhyasanam to calm the mind (i.e., keep the mind at peace).

An important aspect of Dadirri is stillness and silence. This maps to the description of the Atman in the Mandukya Upanishad where Brahman (or realising Brahman) is related to silence. The waking, dreaming and deep sleep states belong to this world but silence is the way to realise Brahman. That is, it is important for the mind to be still and undisturbed, before one can be one with the divine.

Dadirri also has the idea of waiting for God which is akin to Bhakti Yoga where God's grace will give one Moksha. While there is no notion

of Moksha associated with Dadirri, the ideas in Dadirri are related to a mixture of Upanishadic (Nirguna Brahman as silence) and Bhakti (Saguna Brahman) concepts.

Some of the Aboriginal groups believe in an inner eye which, similar to Shiva's third eye, is located between the two eye brows.

The inner eye goes beyond normal sense organs and is about recognising one's inner spirit. The inner spirit can be realised by reflecting and contemplating the wonder of all God's creation. It is via silence and meditation that one realises the inner spirit. This inner spirit is very similar to Brahman which is the basis for all of creation and as the Bhriguvalli states, Brahman can be realised via Tapas or deep meditation.

The following table summarises the above correspondence.

Specific spirituality: Sampradaya Gods, Gods, Evil Spirits: Puranas Morality-based Story Telling: Hitopadesha, Panchatantra, Common Spirit: Atman Kanyini: Bhakti, Nishkama Karma, Dadirri: Panchadashi, Mandukya Upanishad, Bhakti Waiting for God: Bhakti for God's grace Intuition Awareness: Neti-Neti Inner spirit: Shiva or Brahman Paddy Krishnan is a computer scientist, who got his BTech degree from IIT-Kanpur and PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Being very interested in Hindu philosophy, he maintains a blog at www. goldcoasthindu.wordpress.com

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25

BEAUTY

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Anastasia Beverly Hills opens it's first Flagship Store in India

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ouse of Beauty is excited to partner with Anastasia Beverly Hills to announce the launch of the 1st Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH) store in India.

Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH) is the US No. 1 Brow Brand, an iconic Make-up brand and one of the fastest-growing brands in the global beauty industry. ABH is founded by Beauty pioneer, creative visionary and powerhouse entrepreneur Anastasia Soare who is the driving force behind Anastasia Beverly Hills

After a high powered launch on Boddess.com, ABH is now present in all Sephora stores and on Nykaa. com. The customer feedback for ABH has been fantastic and ABH is now set to open the 1st ABH store and salon at DLF mall of India, Noida.

The ABH Store and Salon will be the 1st of its kind make up experience store with Bestselling Brow Products and a Spectacular Brow Bar and Brow Service Area.

Customers can get instant Brow

Zoya Afroz, from Mumbai crowned as the Miss India International 2021

cleaning, shaping and ABH signature Brow looks using its patented ‘Golden Ratio Method’ in the BROW SERVICEAREA. The service involves a detailed 5 step Browroutine taking 20 minutes for a complete Brow Service by expert Brow and Make Up artist at the store.

Ritika Sharma, Founder & Director, House of Beauty, elated by the launch says, "House of Beauty isdelighted to open Anastasia Beverly Hills first store inIndia as a part of its brand expansion plan.

With theopening of its first boutique we bring the true, authenticculture and experience of the brand to our consumers. As a brand, we are aware of consumer’s beauty needs in India and we are happy to bring locally relevant assortment of products & services like our Signature Brow Service though this physical space. With theopening of the boutique we take another step towardsreaching our consumers and are excited to be in this journey together.”

Starting out as a one-woman operation in a room of Salon in 1997, the brand founded by Anastasia Soare is now internationally reclaimed by many renowned celebrities. She ignited ‘Brow Revolution’ in the beauty industry with her patented Golden Ratio® Eyebrow Shaping method, an exceptional theory of bringing balance, symmetry and proportion to each individual’s face and even debuted on Oprah demonstrating the same in 1998. The brand has ventured into the colour makeup line and brought an evolution with

their contour, face palettes and vivid eye pallet ranges.

As a global player of premium and trend setting make-up, Anastasia Beverly Hills stands for the sophisticated, the healthy, the natural. So your shopping experience at the store isn't limited to just browsing products. There is an opportunity to experience & play, interact with the artists to learn & indulge in many make up services that will allow customers to experiment and have fun with make-up.

#SwipeStaySlay with Nykaa’s new All Day Matte Liquid Lipstick

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ask on or off, looking for a lipstick that navigates the day as smoothly as you do?

Look no further! Nykaa’s new waterproof, mask proof, transfer-proof All Day Matte Liquid Lipstick has got

you covered on all bases.

Available in ten different shades, these matte lipsticks will suit all skin tones and the colour payoff is so incredible that in one swipe of the wand your lips are coated in a rich, opaque colour that won't budge.

Reena Chhabra, CEO, Nykaa Brands “With the new Nykaa All Day Matte lipsticks, we wanted to offer a high performing liquid lipstick at a very attractive price point to our consumers. The 10 shades lipstick range, has 12-hour wear and it feels extremely comfortable on the lips.

This is for all everyday women who are unstoppable, unbreakable and unbeatable! We wanted to create a lipstick that wouldn't budge through the day even when you’re wearing

a mask in this new normal. Nykaa Cosmetics All Day Matte is our message to all the women out there that they should believe in their dreams, celebrate themselves, and get ready to conquer the world one lipstick swipe at a time”.

The lipstick collection is an inspiration from everyday women who are unstoppable, unbeatable From the Darling Daughter to Boss Babe; Super Mom to Dream Wife; Teacher Tribe to Girl Gang, each lipstick promises you the deep rich matte colour of your dreams, and that too at an attractive price point.

The matte liquid lipstick is available on Nykaa.com and in Nykaa stores across India and is priced at INR 349 only.

The best ways to treat a sun tan?

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G

lamanand Supermodel India is a national preliminary to the biggest International pageants in the world including Miss International, Miss Multinational, Miss Earth, Miss Grand International, Miss Intercontinental, Miss Globe International, Miss and other international pageants, held on 21st August at Kingdom of Dreams, Gurugram.

The 24 stunning national finalists, from different parts of India include Zoya Afroz, Archana Ravi, Aishwarya Dikshit, Naina Vijay Sharma, Tanya Sinha, Sejal Renake, Himani Gaikwad, Megha Shetty, Megha Julka, Deeksha Narang, Shivani Tak, Saachi Gurav, Asmita Chakraborty, Tanu Shree, Shweta Shinde, Hannah Tamalapakula, Susang Sherpa, Disha Shamwani, Isha Vaidya, Annu Bhati, Arushi Singh, Divija Gambhir, Shalini Rana, Anisha Sharmathe.

26-year-old Zoya Afroz, from Mumbai crowned as the Miss India International 2021 and will now represent India at Miss International 2021. She promotes Girl child www.indianabroad.news

education and financial independence. She wants women to acquire basic knowledge and the right to opportunity. Afroz has done a lot of movies and thoroughly enjoys performing arts.

Miss India Multinational, Divija Gambhir is a 21-year-old who started her own community which helps the stray dogs find shelter and food.

She aims to become the voice of the voiceless, is a trained dancer and enjoys modelling.

Tanya Sinha was crowned as Miss Globe India and represent India at Miss Globe International. She's 23-year-old from Jharkhand and holds the advocacy of addressing the issue of untouchability especially in rural areas.

The competition was judged by Editor-in-Chief of TMM Magazine Kartikya Arora, Businessman Yash Raj Tongia, Dr Amit Karkhanis, Miss India International 2019 Simrithi Bathija, Miss India Multinational 2019 Tanvi Malhara, Rekha Vohra and Dr Varun Katyal.

e live in a world where we take care of our skin more than we spend time healing our hearts, but who said we can’t look good while doing both. Tanning is one of the most common beauty problems. With India’s climate and scorching heat, we tend to get a suntan, no matter how hard we try.

Try the best sunscreen, or even wear full-sleeved clothes; chances are that you may still get a tan. Besides, if you love to groom, getting rid of a suntan would be on top of your list.

So, let’s dive deep into all you can do to treat a tan with these quick home remedies and/or products that would work best for your skin shared by Tanaya Sarma, Co-founder, Speaking Herbs in the article: Coconut Oil: This is the first and most common choice. Coconut oil is packed with skin healing properties, from inflammation to soothing the skin, it's the go-to for improving skin health. However, one should note that it is recommended that you use coconut oil during the night and not during the day - especially in the sun; as coconut oil is made of 90 per cent saturated fats and is thick in nature, allowing it to capture unwanted heat which might damage the skin further, instead of making it better.

Scrub Grit: A fine scrub-like mixture of products like coffee, walnut, rock salt, and coconut oil has proven

to be a great way to exfoliate and remove a suntan, especially from your arms, elbows, neck, and face.

Several products are available in the market which offers amazing results when used 2-3 times a week.

Gram flour + Curd + Honey Homemade mask: When used together in a mask, these 3 ingredients consist of antioxidants, natural acids, and enzymes that help lower inflammation in the skin caused due to sun exposure, fight bacteria, heal skin and reduce pigmentation.

How can you make this mask?

Take 2 spoons of fine gram powder, Add 2 spoons of honey and add 2 spoons of fresh curd.

Mix thoroughly and keep aside.

Wash your face with a mild face wash.

Dab your face with a towel.

Now, gently apply the mask to your face and neck. (You can apply the same mask on your arms or legs.)

After applying the mask, let it sit and dry for over 10-15 mins.

Once it is about to dry, use cold water and scrub your face with the mixture on your face. After massaging your face, wash it with cold water, and pat dry with a soft towel. For best results, use this mask at least 2 times a week.

Moringa Oil: Rich in Vitamin E, antioxidants, and behenic acid, moringa oil is age-old healing and beautifying

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oil that helps in reducing stubborn blemishes, scar marks, and suntan.

You can apply moringa oil before you go to bed to allow your skin to absorb the oil as much as possible and do its magic. Take a couple of oil droplets and massage them on your face, arms, neck, and wherever you feel you have got tan. You’ll see the result in a couple of days.

In the end, we want you to know why it is essential for you to take care of your skin from the sun in the first place. Why is protecting skin

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important from sunlight?

Sun is the most excellent source of Vitamin D; however, even mild exposure to UV rays can affect our skin in more ways than we even know. If we spend excessive time under the sun, it can lead to temporary or permanent skin issues like sunburn or even skin cancer.

So, it's best you apply sunscreen before you step out, and also indulge in some skin healing therapies in case you spend too much time outdoors.

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FASHION

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Bridal wear and jewellery go hand-in-hand

September 8, 2021 (IANSlife): Disha Patani is known to for scorching hot pictures on social media and her moves when she breaks into song and dance. Patani is also recognised as the face of diamond jewellery brand ORRA. Gearing up for the festive & bridal season the brand is all set to take on the bridal jewellery market with a special line in collaboration with designer duo Falguni Shane Peacock.

IANS caught up with the designers to find out more details: More and more Indian designers are collaborating with jewellery brands to launch collections together, is this more of a marketing strategy or is it to create jewels which compliments the designer's collections and vice versa?

Falguni Shane Peacock: Bridal wear and jewellery always go hand-in-hand, it’s so important to have the right bridal outfit and the right bridal set match one another.

We really love ORRA’s jewellery and the quality of diamonds they have.

We were wanting to create jewellery and ORRA happened.

Tell us about the inspiration for this collection and also its unique design elements?

Falguni Shane Peacock: A lot of the collection is inspired by our current collection, Love Is, which we shot at the Taj Mahal. A lot of the lehengas have chandeliers in them and a lot of small detailing, which we have kept for the design of the jewellery.

We have tried to keep the Falguni Shane Peacock signature in the jewellery.

You are the first designers to shoot their couture collection at the TAJ... tell us about the experience Falguni Shane Peacock: We have been working for two years to get the permissions to shoot at the Taj! The monument is so inspiring and amazing, and we wanted to do everything with the right permissions.

We just got the clearances in time for couture week and we knew we had to shoot the collection at the Taj. It’s been one of our most amazing experiences to shoot at the Taj. Jewellery and clothes are the biggest part of the big fat indian

wedding, or for that matter even the slimmed down intimate version of it, do you agree?

Falguni Shane Peacock: Even though weddings have limits on how many people can attend, brides really want to dress up and look their best — it is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion for them. They don’t want to compromise on the look, jewellery, and the clothes. Despite the pandemic, the brides are dressing in the way they have always dreamed — they are wanting to do what makes them happy and makes them look good.

Share with us how the collaboration came to be.

Falguni Shane Peacock: We have been wanting to design jewellery for a long time now. ORRA’s precision and dedication towards delivering quality align very well with Falguni Shane Peacock’s design sensibilities, thus creating a perfect marriage of both brands via this collaboration. With the 73 faceted diamonds that shine brighter than a usual diamond, this line has turned out to be truly unique and one-of-a-kind.

A new concept store in the Capital

S

atya Paul launched their new concept store in DLF Promenade, Vasant Kunj under the leadership of Creative Director - Rajesh Pratap Singh. Rajesh has evolved the brand’s vision to create modern & contemporary collections that resonate with the Satya Paul brand ethos.

Since its inception 35 years ago, Satya Paul has now ventured into contemporary design aesthetics.

While the brand has illustriously dominated the world of sarees, it is now extending its focus towards a more versatile & ready-to-wear series of apparel.

The shift in product focus needed to be reflected in the stores as well.

The new concept store showcases an inclusion of distinct materials like tinted glass, gunmetal fixtures, and contemporary ‘jaali’, which add a lighter element to the store, whereas the wood, terrazzo, suede, and hint of brass brings richness to the store, while still connecting with the authenticity and legacy of the brand.

“My design sensibility has always been in equilibrium with that of Satya Paul. We aim to revolutionise the brand by creating more relevant pieces. The right display of our collections is imperative. The Satya Paul concept store is an updated hub for the new voice & vision for the brand. It is an experience centre for all the products that are visually displayed in a certain manner. We aim for the store to set a new standard of retail shopping.” – Rajesh Pratap Singh, Creative Director, Satya Paul.

The design philosophy for the new store is a step forward from Satya www.indianabroad.news

Paul’s usual classic and contemporary elements but in a more refined and modern environment. The space stays true to the brand’s soul

yet intrigues people to stay, explore and feel like they connect & belong to Satya Paul.

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WHAT’S ON

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

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WHAT’S ON

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ENTERTAINMENT

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Parth Samthaan, Diksha Singh in Yami Gautam: Proud to be a Jubin Nautiyal's 'Rim Jhim' video Himachali, I belong to the mountains

A

ctors Parth Samthaan and Diksha Singh, popular faces on television, are all set to feature in the video of noted singer Jubin Nautiyal's upcoming romantic single 'Rim Jhim'.

The upcoming song has been composed by Ami Mishra and penned by Kunaal Vermaa while Jubin has lent his vocals.

Talking about the song and sharing his experience of working with Diksha, Parth said: "I was really happy to work with Diksha Singh.

She is extremely charming and just lights up the screen. 'Rim Jhim' is the perfect song to enjoy while sipping on your cup of coffee or while going on a long drive. I'm sure audiences will love it."

"I had a great time shooting 'Rim Jhim' with Parth and hopefully, our camaraderie reflects in our chemistry onscreen. We've shot at some breathtaking locations which go beautifully with the track," informed Diksha. "'Rim Jhim' will be your go-to romantic song this monsoon season.

From the composition, vocals and the music video, the track is definitely something that will stay with audiences for a long time," added T-Series head Bhushan Kumar.

'Rim Jhim' will be out soon on T-Series' YouTube channel.

Ananya Panday: I think I have Vaani Kapoor the good qualities of 'Money eager for all Heist' character Tokyo her films to

come out

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ctress Yami Gautam got a chance to extensively explore her home state of Himachal Pradesh during the shooting of her latest film 'Bhoot Police'.

Being born in the region and having a constant romance with the mountains, the actress unveils how the shooting experience of the film re-established her sense of belonging with the mountains.

"We were shooting under tough weather conditions because the cold was bitter. There were a lot of outdoor sequences and keeping the light and weather in mind, we had to pack a lot within a day, every day. But I was ready to battle all that because whenever I am in Himachal, I feel a sense of belonging...when I see the sunrise, those snowcapped mountains and realise the fact that I am born in Himachal... this is my birthplace, it really gives me goosebumps!

"It feels so spiritual for me that I feel if there is God, He exists there... in the silence, in the mountain, the snow and I feel that I get the best hug from Mother Nature. You know every day, after finishing our shoot, when I would looked outside the window from my car, even though I was exhausted and even though I know I had very few hours of sleep... when I would looked at those mountains all through my drive from the film set to our hotel, I felt recharged."

The film 'Bhoot Police' is a horror-comedy that is directed by Pavan Kirpalani, produced by Ramesh Taurani, Akshai Puri and it also stars Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez and Jaaved Jaafery.

The film was shot last year when the 'Unlock' process started and following the Covid protocols, the cast and crew had to live in a bio-bubble.

Due to the same reason, Yami had a working birthday as well as Diwali.

However, she said instead of regretting not visiting her family during Diwali, she took a chance to celebrate with the team of 'Bhoot Police'.

"I arranged for traditional 'Pahari' food, our 'Pahari Dham', that we eat during Diwali and it was like

my chance to share the joy and our 'Pahari' culture to all my co-stars and crew members. I must say, Saif is a foodie and he enjoyed all our traditional food the most. We celebrated Diwali in a 'Pahari' way. On my birthday, which was a working birthday, Jacqueline took the effort of giving me a surprise party and brought some beautiful gifts from the local shop...I found that a very warm gesture," shared Yami.

The 'Vicky Donor' actress further

added, "I was born in Himachal, brought up in Chandigarh. But I always visited Himachal because my relatives live there. This time, during the entire shooting of our film, somewhere my connection with Himachal has got re-established and I feel proud to be a Himachali, a 'Pahari'! I am not exaggerating when I am saying, I belong to the mountains."

'Bhoot Police' releases on September 10 on Disney+ Hotstar.

NEW RELEASES Nushrratt Bharuccha offers a Netflix doglimpse of horror movie 'Chhorii' cu-series 'Crime Stories: India Detectives' out on Sep 22

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ctress Nushrratt Bharuccha has shared a glimpse of her upcoming horror movie 'Chhorii', which will release on Amazon Prime Video.

The movie, which is scheduled to release in November, marks Nushrratt's debut in the horror genre.

The teaser shows a ghostly woman clad in a red lehenga holding on to her blooming baby bump.

Nushrratt captioned it: "The new face of horror is coming to haunt us! #ChhoriiOnPrime, this November only on @primevideoin."

Directed by Vishal Furia and produced by T-Series, Crypt TV, and Abundantia Entertainment, the horror movie is a remake of an acclaimed Marathi film 'Lapachhapi.'

V

A

ctress Ananya Panday is a very vocal fan of Spanish heist drama 'Money Heist'.

She says she is quite similar to the character of 'Tokyo' in the show.

The character of Tokyo is played by actress Ursula Corbero.

"I think I'd be Tokyo because I would like to believe that I have some of her good qualities. I think we both are spontaneous. I am a little badass, and yeah, she knows what she wants," says Ananya.

However, her favourite character is Denver in the show, which is currently in its fifth season and streaming on Netflix.

"My first favourite is Denver (Jaime Lorento Lopez) , because he's super hot, and I love his personality and I love his laugh. I love Nairobi (Alba Florez) because I think she is so badass and a strong woman," says Ananya.

Ananya will soon be seen in 'Liger' alongside Vijay Deverakonda.

aani Kapoor has two films lined up for release now "Shamshera" and "Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui", and the actress says she is looking forward eagerly for her films to come out.

"I am just eager for all my films to come out and theatres to open and have 100 per cent occupancy because I personally also feel.... I have good films in hand and I love my movies and I am just hoping people can watch them," Vaani, whose latest release is "Bell Bottom", shared while speaking to IANS. The 33-year-old actress is hopeful that people will like "Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui", which also stars Ayushmann Khurrana, and the Ranbir Kapoor starrer 'Shamshera'.

"I am trying not to take any pressure and hope that these films work.

That's all," said the actress.

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Nushrratt made her Bollywood debut in 2009 with 'Kal Kissne Dekha'.

She was later seen in popular films such as 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama', 'Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety', 'Dream Girl' and 'Chhalaang'.

Radhika Madan, Sunny Kaushal's 'Shiddat' to release digitally on Oct 1

A

documentary series titled 'Crime Stories: India Detectives', featuring four stories, is all set to release on September 22 on Netflix.

Set in Bengaluru, 'Crime Stories: India Detectives' explores some of the most puzzling crimes that the city has witnessed.

A crew follows the Bengaluru Police and documents a never-seen-before look into the methods and working of Indian police. It will give a sneak-peek glimpse into the psyche of a suspect and a glimpse into the complex and challenging inner workings of four major crime investigations.

Produced by Minnow Films, the series is co-directed by N. Amit and Jack Rampling.

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Mumbai, Sep 13: The trailer of Radhika Madan and Sunny Kaushal's upcoming romantic film 'Shiddat' released on Monday. The film will release digitally on October 1. The film also stars Mohit Raina and Diana Penty.

Radhika uploaded the trailer of the film on her Instagram account and captioned it as: "Shiddat trailer! Feel the power of love with #ShiddatTrailer, out now. Shiddat releasing on 1st October on @ disneyplushotstar."

Sunny also uploaded the trailer with a similar caption.

The trailer shows the story of two strangers who meet. While Radhika's character is engaged to someone else, Sunny's character is head-over-heels in love with her."

Mohit and Diana are seen getting married in the trailer.

The film will be released digitally on

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October 1 on Disney+ Hotstar. The film is directed by Kunal Deshmukh and produced by Bhushan Kumar and Dinesh Vijan

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ENTERTAINMENT

Vol 1, Issue 15 Sept 16 -30, 2021

Mahika Sharma to appear in new Kangana Ranaut to play title role in version of 'Jaisa Desh Waisa Bhesh' her next: 'The Incarnation - Sita'

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ctress Mahika Sharma will star in the new version of the popular song 'Jaisa desh

vaisa bhesh' alongside Danny D for her upcoming Bollywood film 'The Modern Culture'.

The former Miss Teen North-East feels blessed to be featured in the song. She says, "I'm feeling blessed to have the song in my kitty. We are actually using the original sound track giving credits to the original singers for the new version. I'm watching Tina ma'am. Hope to act as gracefully as she did."

The 'F.I.R' actress adds: "I enjoyed shooting in London. The song required a lot of changes in facial expression. It was really quite challenging. In between there were also devotional lyrics. The song focuses on showing the transformation from a typical Indian to a western girl. So, overall, this song has many shades."

The song which was originally released in 1978 was sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. It featured iconic stars Dev Anand and Tina Munim. Upcoming film 'The Modern Culture' highlights the struggle of an ordinary Indian girl in Britain, played by Mahika.

TV serials and web series have distinct audiences, say Ravi Dubey, Ankita Lokhande

A

t the beginning of the year, one of the earlier popular television series 'Jamai Raja' reappeared for its new season as 'Jamai 2.0', starring Ravi Dubey and Nia Sharma. The web series was well-received.

Now that another popular television series 'Pavitra Rishta' is all set to return on the OTT platform ZEE5 for its new season, 'Pavitra Rishta 2.0', IANS caught up with Ankita Lokhande and Ravi Dubey to find out how these lead actors view the transition from one medium to another.

The question begging an answer is whether television will lose out to OTT platforms in the battle for eyeballs? Or, will both co-exist, albeit warily. www.indianabroad.news

In her conversation with IANS, Ankita said: "I think our idea of releasing the new season of 'Pavitra Rishta' is in a way, bringing or expanding the television audience to the OTT platform. Of course, the independent audience of OTT platforms has only grown and there will also be an audience who will watch TV and OTT both."

"But there still exists a generation gap and content differences between television and OTT shows. In small towns, in the generation of our parents and grandparents, there's still that interest in watching family dramas on television, whereas OTT has offered a lot of exciting shows in genres such as thrillers, murder mysteries and action dramas, all aimed mainly at a younger

audience."

The show 'Pavitra Rishta' first aired in 2009. As lead cast, it featured the late Sushant Singh Rajput and Ankita Lokhande. The new season releases on September 15 on ZEE5 featuring Ankita and Shaheer Sheikh.

"A show such as Pavitra Rishta, which is a love story that revolves around Manav- Archana and the involvement of their families too, makes a perfect choice for both generations. I also think there are not many shows on OTT platforms that are a love-story as well as a family drama. Therefore, I think our show releasing on OTT will bring my older fans to the new platform as well as the already existing audience to a new exciting series. The coexisting of both sections of the audience will happen in near future," Ankita believes.

The coexistence of parallel audiences is a factor that even Ravi Dubey recognises. 'Jamai Raja' was a success on TV when it was first aired in 2014. The second season of the show 'Jamai 2.0' was released on ZEE5 in 2019, and achieved an equal measure of success. The sequel to the second season, 'Jamai 2.0 Season 2', started streaming in 2021.

"I think there are adequate numbers of audience for both television and OTT and also we have numbers to support that. So, I do not think TV series are losing their audience to OTT platforms anyway, but yes, with time, OTT audiences are increasing.

"When we get the TV ratings every Thursday and if we compare them with the ratings that used to come before the OTT boom, we see that there are shows that are doing as good or as badly as they did before OTT happened. Yes, with great stories and superior production qualities, OTT platforms have set a benchmark but that does not mean TV shows lost their glory," Ravi told IANS. He added: "Whether it is regional language shows, national or international shows, TV shows are trending on a daily basis and that is the reason why TV series are still made. TV is also doing fairly well.

If it hasn't grown in the last 5 years, like the way OTT space did, it also didn't go down. TV is here to stay, so is OTT. What I feel is, there will be integration of television and OTT audiences. The success of 'Jamai Raja' and 'Jamai 2.0' and its latest season is a result of that."

Mumbai, Sep 15: Actress Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday morning announced that she will be seen playing the role of goddess Sita in upcoming mythological film 'The Incarnation - Sita'.

The announcement was made on her Instagram as she shared a poster of the film as well.

Kangana wrote: "Here's the updated poster #theincarnationsita #kanganaranaut #alaukikdesai #kvvijayendraprasad #manojmuntashir #salonisharma #anshitadesai #ssstudio #alaukikfilms."

The film will be directed by Alaukik Desai and will reportedly be released in five languages -- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.

The actor also shared a throwback picture from her school days to reveal that it was not the first time she will be essaying the mythological character.

"I also played Sita as a child when I was 12 years old in school play ha ha... SiyaRamchandra ki jai," she shared on her Instagram Stories.

Anil Kapoor: Don't misuse social media for sensationalism

F

rom his workout videos to family photographs, and his banter with nephew Arjun Kapoor, Bollywood star Anil Kapoor is very active on social media.

The actor, though, sounded a note of caution during a conversation with actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan

on the chat show 'Pinch Season 2'.

When asked about how he views the power of social media and if he had any piece of advice for his fans, 'Mr India' said: "My advice is, don't be trigger-happy, use social media positively as it can be a great platform for spreading love

and positive messages. Don't try to use it negatively and exploit it for sensationalism."

Kapoor then went on to add: "When you don't have much knowledge about a matter, why do you comment on it? It is better to remain silent and mind your own business."

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