Vol 2, Issue 9, June 16-30, 2022
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Indian-Australians in Queen’s Birthday 2022 Honours List
Australia-India cooperation in urban water management a step in right direction
Kashmiri YouTuber arrested for enacting beheading of Nupur Sharma - Page 4
World endorses PM Modi’s call for economic development for peace - Page 6
Harvest Festival organized - Page 12
Asha Bhat (Twitter)
Dr Marlene Kanga (Twitter)
Dr Sathya Rao (LinkedIn)
Indian-Australians have much to cheer about as there are some Indian Australian names that figure on the Queen’s Birthday 2022 Honours list. The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia announced Honours to 992 Australians, which included 669 in the General Division of the Order of Australia, and awards for meritorious, distinguished and conspicuous service. The Governor-General His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) congratulated the awardees saying, “They’re from different backgrounds, their stories are each unique, and each has served in different ways. This diversity is strength and each has impacted their community and made it better.” The recipients’ achievements have been recognized across various fields such as community service, science and research, industry, sport, the arts, etc. The Honours List also includes some prominent Indian-Australian names. One of them is Prof Suresh Bhargava, AM. ProfSuresh Bhargava is a renowned interdisciplinary
scientist with several years of leadership in academia and industry. He is committed to strengthening Australia-India relations. He has had advisory roles with Australian Premiers and Governors on Indo-Australian relations. He has also founded the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund. Another Indian-Australian to be recognized is AshaBhat OAM. AshaBhat is the leader of the award-winning regional Southern Aboriginal Corporation, which provides services and programs for the Noongar peoples’ needs and aspirations, in cooperation with other community and business organizations. Prof Sameer Bhole AM, who is another Indian-Australian to figure on the Honours’ list is the Director of the Oral Health Alliance, a partnership between UQ’s School of Dentistry and Metro-North Oral Health Service. He has vast experience in Dentistry. For the last few years he has dedicated his career to improving oral health for disadvantaged populations with a specific focus on health inequities, access barriers and social determinants of health.
Babette Francis AM, another IndianAustralian recipient of the Honour is the National and Overseas Coordinator of Endeavour Forum Inc., an NGO with special consultative status with the Economic & Social Council of the UN. Francis is the Australian representative of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. Among Indian Australian Honour recipients is DrSathyaRao OAM. He is hailed as a pioneer in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder and his passion for research, evidence-based practice and teaching has inspired many health professionals to specialize in this area within Australia and overseas. By being honouredGurpreet Pinky Singh OAM has given the Punjabi community in Australia a good reason to be proud of their achievements down under. She is president of the Australian Punjabi Welfare Association (APWA). She has been working for the welfare and safety of the Punjabi community in Queensland, Australia. She is also the Immigration and Citizenship Policy Chair for the Liberal National Party (LNP) and fought Continue on Page no. 4
.. and it was all yellow! - Page 20
Queen’s Honour to Prof Medcalf is honouringAustralia-India ties Protect your skin from a vacation tan - Page 21
Prof Medcalf (Twitter)
Top Destinations for Sustainable Stays in 2022 - Page 22
4 different types of Watermelons Page 27
Prof. Rory Medcalf is a recognizable name for those who understand the progress being made in AustraliaIndia relations. That Prof Medcalf gets the Queen’s Honour for his significant service to international relations, and to tertiary education, is a timely recognition of the importance being accorded to international relations in Australia’s federal politics, including its thrust to Australia-India ties. Prof Medcalf has written scholarly pieces on the association between Australia and India beginning right from India’s entry into the world’s nuclear club in the late 1990s and carrying on to make his observations on a fresh momentum to the association in a post-pandemic
world. Though Prof. Medcalf has written about several countries not just about India such as Ireland, China, Japan, the Indo Pacific, his interest on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament paved the way for taking interest in India’s political course of action in the international arena. At a time in 1998 when the issue of nuclear non-proliferation treaty arose and India refused to be a signatory, the international community saw India as a nuclear non-proliferation problem. This required an in depth study of India’s history as a nation and the country’s neighbourhood challenges being posed by belligerent countries such as China and Pakistan. That India must tread the nuclear path is a given now and no country internationally feels threatened by India’s nuclear program, which is basically of a civilian nature, though the country retains nuclear arsenal as a deterrent with a commitment to no first use of the same. Prof Medcalf has viewed India as a non-proliferation solution rather than a problem, and he ensured many others across the international political spectrum shared his views. In this regard he had a major contribution to make to transform
Australia-India relations. As First Secretary at the Australian High Commission, he was instrumental in the significant bridging of relations between the two countries, especially in bringing about a reset in defence, and in organizing the first ever strategic relationship conference in 2001 which saw both countries regarding each other as neutral pillars of stability. Later Prof. Medcalf became a part of academia, including working for independent think tanks such as Lowy Institute. It was then that he helped Australia understand India’s role in a changing world order. Prof Medcalf recognizes that the relationship between Australia and India is perhaps the strongest ever. However, he is for realistic approach to the ties between the two countries given the fact that both are democracies and must be having an independent strategic course to pursue. He has emphasized the need to study about India in Australia and regards the Centre for Australia-India Relations to be making a profound difference in this direction. Prof. Medcalf is currently Professor and Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.
PM Narendra Modi
PM Anthony Albanese
As Australia and India come closer through trade ties, there are many areas where both the countries are likely to benefit, water management being one of them. Many countries of the world are facing water scarcity. Australia and India have their respective water scarcity related problems. Australia is recognized as a continent of extremes in matters related to water resources. It has a relative abundance of water in the tropical north where inhabitants are very few, and there is relative scarcity in the more populated, temperate south. Therefore, Australia is facing a major question - can water productivity and water governance be improved? India’s own problems related to water comprise acute shortage in some places, and many problems that arise due to shortage of water. The Union Cabinet of India approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Australiarecently on Technical
Cooperation for Australia –India water Security initiative (AIWASI). AIWASI- a water security initiative AIWASI is a project under South Asia Water Security Initiative (SAWASI) of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia. It is aimed at working towards the Water Sensitive City vision, a holistic management of the integrated water cycle. The project is aiming to undertake and deliver a Water Sensitive Urban Design demonstration project.Besides, the AIWASI project has multiple educational, social and environmental benefits such as water literacy of students and the community, creation of green spaces, improved air quality from blue-green infrastructure and rejuvenation of degraded water bodies and aquifers. Here it is important to define water security as per the United Nations. Water security is said to be the capacity of a population to safeguard
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With economic challenges ahead, Albanese government needs to roll its sleeves up The Albanese government may not have had enough time to rejoice its victory, thanks to the challenging economic conditions that call for immediate action rather than procrastination. The government has recognized that economic conditions are particularly challenging given that inflation has reached a 21-year high of 5.1 per cent with no signs it will relent anytime soon due to what the government says there is “persistent and compounding supply shocks.” The most significant issue is the government’s decision on wages for this year. The Labor stormed into power with a commitment to raise wages at a time when workers were facing hardships due to inflation. Therefore the government did not delay in recommending that the Fair Work Commission might make it a point to ensure real wages of Australia’s low-paid workers do not go backwards. What does that mean? If the inflation is as high as 5.1 per cent, is it feasible for the government to recommend a commensurate hike in wages? Of course, Labor knows it can’t do so as an outright step. While the government is conscientious of not letting workers go backwards in terms of income, it is not an easy job to always fix minimum wages keeping in view the inflationary situation in economy. For the inflation may reach to more than 5.1 per cent by the time new minimum wages are implemented. If inflation continues its current trend, the government may have to do much more than just raise minimum wages to safeguard
AlbaneseAustralia
the interests of the working class. To add to the already high pressure on the government, the international scenario is far from encouraging. The Russia-Ukraine war is showing no signs of ending and international sanctions on Russia are pinching the international community as much as perhaps Russia itself. Labor’s decision to support the Coalition’s halving of the fuel excise in the March budget has seen prices are back above $2 a litre, with no signs of reduction anytime soon. Economists are of the opinion that cutting the fuel excise helped in some way to ease inflation. However, if fuel excise is re-imposed, inflation would then step on the accelerator. Given that Australia already has a budget that has deficits full to the brim; economists were opposed to cutting the tax, for it means the government treasury would be starved of billions, which is not a good proposition. So now the Labor has to do the difficult task of balancing by keeping the inflation down and improving the budget deficit scenario. The government has to consider all the fiscal and monetary tools to tide over a difficult economic Continue on Page no. 4
Kangana on ‘Dhaakad’ failure: See lots of curated negativity - Page 30
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