Migration Matters

AMIT BAIJAL answers some frequently asked questions and provides solutions to your migration problems

I am Jagjit Singh, 28 years of age and am currently a student in a college in Brisbane on a Subclass 572 visa. My visa is due to expire in December 2009. I am about to complete my 1 year Diploma in Business and don’t want to study cookery, bakery or any trade course. Are there any options for me to do a professional course and still be eligible for 60 points for skills after completing my Diploma of Business?

Dear Jagjit,

It is important to note that student visas are aimed at achieving an educational outcome. While many overseas students make a decision to apply for permanent residence upon completing their studies, this is an entirely separate process and there is no guarantee that, on the basis of having held a student visa, a person will meet the requirements to be granted permanent residence. The criteria for grant of GSM visas can change in response to the changing economic circumstances of Australia. Students should not make educational choices solely on the basis of hoping to achieve a particular migration outcome, as the GSM program will continue to change and adapt to Australia’s economic needs. There are several options but each option needs to be evaluated in the right context. Currently there are a number of Non Trade Pathways that are available for international students who wish to apply for a permanent residency application upon their course completion. One pathway is illustrated in (e.g. India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh etc) it is a mandatory requirement that in order to lodge for a Student Visa application either onshore or offshore the minimum course of study for which the visa is being lodged has to be at a level of Certificate IV or higher.

Due to this students who have completed a Diploma of Business and whose student visas are about to expire must also have at least evidence of enrolment for a course at a Certificate IV level or above when applying for a student visa. For instance you may combine an eCoE for a CERT III level course with an eCoE of cert IV level course and then lodge your application for a student visa.

There are several factors that affect the grant of a student visa and as such you should consult a Registered Migration Agent for a better understanding of your circumstances. Currently there are a number of Trade Pathways that are available for international students who wish to apply for a permanent residency application upon their course completion. One pathway is illustrated in Picture 2. However I must add that receive large numbers of student visa applications.

The measures implemented with immediate effect include:

• Upgrading the interview program to confirm the genuineness of the applicant and to check financial capacity

• Removing or restricting eVisa access for some agents where there is evidence of fraud or inactivity

• Restricting access to eVisa for some segments of the case load if analysis demonstrates restricted access would allow for better control. Prospective students are encouraged to apply well before their intended course commences in Australia and to ensure their application is complete. Incomplete applications without all relevant documents can cause delays in processing an application. For students applying through eVisa from outside Australia, they can lodge their application up to three months before their course commences. For students lodging paper visa applications, they can lodge up to four months before their course commences. Where additional checks are required; the application is likely to take longer.

I am Aamir Syed from Melbourne, a recent graduate after having completed 2 years study in Australia consisting of 1 year Diploma of Salon Management + I year Cert III in Hairdressing. I am 26 years old, currently on a bridging visa A which is in effect as I have made an application for subclass 886 in September 2009, as my Uncle is a citizen of Australia. I have heard that recently some changes have come up which may affect the processing of my applications.

Dear Aamir,

The Minister has set priority processing arrangements. The changes take effect from 23 September 2009 and apply to applications lodged with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (the Department) on or after this date. The changes also apply to applications that had been lodged previously with the Department and have not been finalised. The changes apply to the following visas from 23 September 2009:

• Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)

• Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)

• General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas except for:

4. applications from people who are neither nominated nor sponsored but whose nominated occupation is listed on the CSL

5. applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL

6. (i) applications from people whose occupations are listed on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) and

(ii) Applications from people who are sponsored by family and whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL.

7. All other applications are to be processed in the order in which they are received.

For the Subclass 485 (Skilled – Graduate) visa the following processing priorities (with highest priority listed first) apply:

1. Applications from people who have completed an Australian Doctor of Philosophy (PHD) at an Australian educational institution in Australia.

2. Applications from people who have nominated an occupation on the CSL.

3. Applications from people who have completed an Australian Bachelor degree and Australian Masters degree at an Australian educational institution in Australia.

4. Applications from people who have completed an Australian Bachelor degree and Australian Honours degree (at least upper second class level) at an Australian educational institution in Australia.

5. Applications from people who have completed an Australian Bachelor degree or Australian Masters degree at an Australian educational institution in Australia.

6. All other valid applications are to be processed in the order in which they are received.

If you have applied for an onshore or offshore GSM visa and your nominated occupation is on the CSL, it is estimated that your application will be finalised within 12 months from your lodgement date.

If your nominated occupation is not on the CSL and you have applied for an offshore GSM visa or intend to apply for an offshore GSM before the end of 2009, it is unlikely that your visa will be finalised before the end of 2012.

On 20 August 2009, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced the strengthening of checks on student visa applications to prevent fraud and ensure students have the financial capacity to live and study in Australia.

As one of the measures to strengthen integrity, the department will be strengthening checks around parts of the student visa case load in India, Mauritius, Nepal, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

Australia’s student visa program supports the entry of genuine international students, for whom the department provides a convenient, efficient service. The targeted measures will address concerns around some elements within the student case load relating to document fraud, financial capacity and student bona fides. This approach is consistent with other countries o Skilled – Recognised Graduate Subclass 476 o Skilled – Designated Area – Sponsored (Residence) Subclass 883 o Skilled – Regional Subclass 887.

Under the Ministerial Direction, the following processing priorities (with highest priority listed first) apply:

1. applications from people who are employer sponsored under the ENS and the RSMS

2. applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government and whose nominated occupation is listed on the Critical Skills List (CSL)

3. applications from people who are sponsored by family and whose nominated occupation is listed on the CSL

If your nominated occupation is not on the CSL and you applied for an onshore GSM visa or intend to apply for an onshore GSM before the end of 2009, it is unlikely that your visa will be finalised before the end of 2011.

Please note that individual circumstances may differ and the above information is generic in nature and it is strongly recommended that you speak to a registered migration agent prior to taking any decision based on the above information. Please visit MARA website for a list of Registered Migration Agents. www.mara.com.au

You may contact Amit Baijal for further information at amit@visainfo.com.au; Ph: 02 9233 3128 / 02 9231 2651 Level 9, Suite 3A, 428 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000

It’s millionaires and billionaires in Haryana polls

IN A YEAR when Haryana has got much less rainfall, it is raining millionaires and billionaires in the state’s electoral fray.

Over 50 percent of the candidates in the fray for the Oct 13 assembly elections are millionaires and the ruling Congress is leading the pack with 80 percent of its 90 candidates being millionaires and billionaires.

Even more startling are the figures of the 42 legislators in the previous assembly who are seeking re-election. Between the February 2005 and October 2009 elections, their assets have increased a whopping 388 percent at an average of Rs.4.8 crore. One legislator has recorded an increase of nearly 5,500 percent in assets in just over four years.

The figures have been arrived at by a survey of the contestants done by the NGOs, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW).

At least 50 crorepati candidates have admitted to having assets worth millions but have failed to provide any income-tax permanent account number (PAN) - a must for all major financial dealings.

The ADR-NEW analysis, done from affidavits filed by the candidates, has found that the Congress has given the poll tickets to 72 millionaires and billionaires while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has a list of 56 crorepati candidates.

Other parties are not far behind - Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) has 44 millionaires, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 41 and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 29.

The average assets of all candidates of the Congress are pegged at over Rs.5 crore while for the INLD and HJC candidates the averages are above Rs.3 crore each.

Millionaire candidates in the February 2005 assembly election were only 19 percent of the 983 contestants compared to over 50 percent millionaires among the 1,222 contestants this time.

HJC candidate Mohit for the Kosli assembly seat has assets of over Rs.93 crore while the richest Congress candidate is industrialist-businessman and former union minister Venod Kumar Sharma for the Ambala city seat with assets of Rs.87 crore.

One of the richest women in India, Savitri Jindal, who belongs to the Jindal Steel group family and is a Congress candidate for the Hisar seat, has assets of over Rs.43 crore.

Ajay Singh Chautala, son of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, has declared assets of over Rs.28 crore. He is contesting the Dabwali assembly seat. BJP candidate Abhimanyu (Narnaul seat) also has assets of over Rs.27 crore.

District-wise, the highest number of millionaires are from Faridabad (45), Gurgaon (37) and Hisar (37).

At the other end of the assets spectrum, Ram Niwas, Samast Bharatiya Party candidate for the Israna seat, has declared no assets at all.

Kailash Bhagat, INLD candidate for Kaithal, has declared assets of over Rs.63 crore but has liabilities of Rs.55 crore. Former MP and HJC president Kuldeep Bishnoi has declared assets of Rs.17 crore but has liabilities of Rs.12 crore.

NSG’s India exception can weaken NPT, says nonproliferation body

THE EXCEPTION THAT the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has made for India in allowing global nuclear trade and fuel commerce with it can weaken the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says the International Commission on Nuclear NonProliferation and Disarmament (ICNND).

“There is a thinking that the India-US (civil nuclear cooperation) agreement would jeopardise the position of NPT,” Yoriko Kawaguchi, co-chair of International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament and former Japanese foreign minister, told reporters.

ICNND is a ‘track two’ initiative of Australia and Japan to redirect the global debate on disarmament and nonproliferation. It held a two-day South Asia regional meeting here, which was attended by experts from all the South Asian countries and abroad.

Gareth Evans, a former foreign minister of Australia and ICNND co-chair, pointed out that the India-US nuclear agreement, in the context of which the NSG last year granted an exception to the NPT non-signatory India, “did not necessarily fill our heart with joy”.

“India got the best deal. That’s true. But, not sure, if it was the best deal for the rest of us,” he said.

He felt that the deal was “too soft” as there wasn’t enough “quid pro quo by India” and conditions like signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) could have been imposed on New Delhi.

He felt that if there was a criteria-based approach to allowing nations to trade in nuclear technology, there would have been greater acceptance.

Evans, however, admitted: “India has an excellent non-proliferation record.”

On a query about the controversy in India about the success of the 1998 thermonuclear testing, Evans said the commission’s view was that “there should not be any more testing”.

“There is no need to increase size (of the bomb). There is enough deterrence in the world,” he said.

Flood situation easing in Karnataka, still grim in Andhra

RESPITE FROM RAINS improved the situation in flood-hit north Karnataka but surging waters from an overflowing Krishna river threatened to inundate coastal districts of Krishna and Guntur in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, senior officials said.

“The ground situation in the 10 worstaffected districts is improving as we had a break from torrential rains that battered the northern region for three-four days,” Karnataka disaster management authority member K.K. Pradeep told IANS. Though rescue and relief operations are on in the affected districts of Karnataka, flood waters and severe damage to roads and state highways are hampering movement of food and shelter material to the marooned villages and towns.

“The death toll remains at 170 as earlier in the day. But a total of 4,595 cattle head, including cows, bullocks, goats and sheep, have perished in flash floods and rain havoc,” state disaster management authority secretary H.V. Parashwanath said. According to reports from the affected districts, a total of 204,268 houses have collapsed across the region. The number of villages still reeling under the rain havoc has gone up to 1,467.

“We have set up 1,211 relief camps in 12 districts, including Davangere in central part of the state to provide shelter to 356,769 people. Besides gruel and food packets, we are distributing blankets and clothes to the homeless people,” Parashwanath said.

Inordinate delay in reaching relief materials - including food and drinking water - to several villages forced the affected people to turn violent and torch six government vehicles at Talamari, about 20 km from Raichur in north Karnataka.

In Andhra Pradesh, rumours about the Tungabhadra river dam at Hospet in Karnataka bursting caused panic in Mantralaya, forcing people to flee the temple town.

“The police and officials had tough time in spiking the rumours and restoring order in the town, where flood waters started receding,” a police official told IANS on phone.

Though the deaths in the three districts of Mahaboobnagar, Kurnool and Nalgonda went up to 33 from Saturday’s 26, the flood situation remained grim as three towns and about 200 villages in the worst-hit districts remained under water.

Dinesh Kumar, commissioner (disaster management), said 15 people were killed in Kurnool district while 13 died in Mahbubnagar. The remaining deaths were reported from Nalgonda, Guntur and Krishna districts.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah undertook an aerial survey of the affected districts and was monitoring the situation in Vijayawada and Guntur where thousands have been evacuated to safer places fearing submersion from the gushing Krishna waters.

“The administration has been put on high alert and people living in low-laying areas have been asked to shift to safer places, as heavy discharge of waters from Nagarjunasagar dam and Prakasam barrage are likely to submerge several villages in the next 12-24 hours,” a senior official said in Hyderabad. Most parts of Nandyal town in Kurnool district remained inundated due to the overflowing Kondu river.

The floods triggered by heavy rains under the influence of a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal inundated 400 villages and affected over 1.8 million people in five districts, rendering 400,000 people homeless and damaging thousands of houses. The floods also destroyed standing crops, civic infrastructure, electricity and telecom facilities and paralysed road and rail transport.

The water level at the Srisailam dam continued to be 10 feet above its capacity of 885 feet.

The state government has pressed eight Mi helicopters and six Chetak choppers of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in rescue and relief operations.

“About 22 tonnes of relief material consisting of foodgrain, blankets and medicines have been rushed to the affected areas so far,” the senior government official added.

Happy days are back for India’s realty industry

INDIA’S REALTY INDUSTRY is all set to be lit up this Diwali. The pointers: At least 12 public offerings, a slew of new projects and the return of private equity funds that had turned away proposals due to the global slowdown last year.

“After weathering the worst funds crisis for 18 months the realty sector has now started seeing inflow of capital and funds,” said Anuj Puri, the country head of leading global realty brokerage firm Jones Lang LaSalle-Meghraj.

“Sales are improving and private equity funds are coming back. With market sentiments getting bullish, prospects of fund-raising are even brighter. You can now see how every company is taking the QIP route to raise funds,” Puri told IANS.

QIP, or qualified institutional placement, is a tool to raise capital whereby a listed company issues equity shares, fully or partly convertible debentures or securities, instead of warrants, to institutional buyers. After losing almost 75 percent of its stock valuation last year, India’s realty sector has raised about $15 billion (Rs.750 billion/ Rs.75,000 crore) through routes like QIP in the past six months, analysts say.

Among the developers who have started mopping up funds over the past few months are the largest player in the industry, DLF Ltd, with $780 million, Unitech with $325 million and Indiabulls Real Estate with $550 million.

“Last year was really very painful. But this year the demand is improving. Buyers have started returning. We are expecting good sales this Diwali,” Rohtash Goel, chairman and managing director of Omaxe, told IANS.

Seeing the success of such companies and also sensing the return of buyers in the market after a year-long lull, 12 more realty firms have planned to enter the primary market over the next two-three months, analysts said.

“If a project is viable with realistic pricing and deadlines, there is no dearth of buyers,” said Red Fort Capital managing director Parry Singh. “Now that realtors are setting prices, things are improving,” Singh told IANS.

According to industry estimates, these companies, including Emaar MGF, Lodha Developers, Sahara Prime City and Ambience, are together expected to raise around $4-5 billion from the primary market.

Emaar MGF is hoping to raise $775 billion with an offer of of $11.7 million in shares. The Sahara group’s realty arm, Sahara Prime City, is eyeing a pie of $690 million while the Mumbai-based Lodha Developers has targeted $500 million.

This apart, Ambience, which has operations in the National Capital Region, has filed a draft prospectus for a $260-million offer, while Godrej Properties, BPTP, Oberoi Constructions and Nitesh Estates are also eyeing the primary market for funds. The bullish sentiments seem to have rubbed off on private equity funds as well, who are making a beeline for developers. Red Fort has picked up a 22-percent stake in Parsvnath La Tropicana, a high-end residential project in Delhi, for $25 million. Similarly, global investment fund IREO announced Sep 29 it would invest $2 billion to develop an integrated township with 20,000 flats in Gurgaon, adjacent to the national capital, and in an outsourcing and shopping hub, over seven-eight years. Apart from luring financiers, price corrections have also led to buyers returning to the market, even as the challenging times because of the slowdown led to the small and non-serious players closing shop or selling their businesses to bigger developers.

“The realty industry has finally learnt the lesson that it’s not freebies that attract buyers. If a project is on time, pricing is correct and the procedure transparent, buyers will always be there in the market,” said LaSalle’s Puri.

Seeing buyers, developers have started planning new projects -- evident from the number of advertisements that have started reapprearing in newspapers. Omaxe is set to launch four projects soon and Parsvnath recently launched three with more in the pipeline.

Said Parsvnath chairman and managing director Pradeep Jain: “In boom times, everybody turned a developer. But the

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&

slowdown was the real test and it removed small and non-serious players from the market.”

India aims at energy partnership with US on Manmohan Singh visit

WITH THE US showing a better appreciation of India’s position on climate change, New Delhi hopes to have in place an energy partnership when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes on a state visit in November.

The ultimate objective is to “have some articulation and finalisation of institutional partnership in the field of energy, environment and climate change”, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said winding up his visit to the US.

“We are hoping that between now and November, we would be in a position to give operational content to many of these ideas. It would be reflected suitably in some statement after the two heads of state meet in November,” he said.

“India is a responsible player wanting a fair and equitable (climate change) agreement and prepared to play a leadership role in this regard, given its unique position in world affairs,” said Ramesh noting that “in the last month and a half, there has been a noticeable shift in narrative as far as India is concerned”.

“We have a long way to go,” he said. But “The fact that the US is saying emission cuts is not the only way for countries like India to reflect their domestic obligations internationally is a big step forward.”

The United States’ readiness to appreciate India’s actions taken unilaterally and voluntarily as part of a domestic legislative agenda is also a better appreciation of that today than may be a couple of months ago, he said.

“We have to take forward this dialogue. We will be in close touch with our American counterparts,” he said adding: “Today we have a better understanding of what the US is doing and certainly the US has a better understanding of what we are doing.”

Ramesh, who met US officials on climate change and several influential lawmakers, said: “The important thing is change in perception of India” in the US. During his visit to New York and Washington, Ramesh had two rounds of discussions with Todd Stern, special US envoy for climate change. He also met Energy Secretary Steven Chu, besides a number of lawmakers - John Kerry, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Congressmen Edward Markey and Jim McDermott.

Cyber crime generates more money than drug trafficking

AND more people going online and social networking becoming pervasive, cyber crime now generates more money than drug trafficking, says global cyber security solutions provider Symantec.

“Cyber crime has surpassed drug trafficking as a criminal money-maker. Every three seconds, an identity is stolen worldwide,” Symantec consumer business unit vice-president for Asia-Pacific David Freer told IANS.

Cyber crime is perpetrated by hackers through a spate of attacks in the form of malware, spam, virus and bots when computers are connected to the Internet. Hackers use spyware, fake anti-virus applications, e-mail and phishing to trick netizens into parting with their personal data and even money.

“Phony e-mails, fake websites and online advertisements trick netizens into divulging personal data such as social security and credit card numbers,” Freer said at a demo of Symantec’s Norton anti-virus 2010 product here.

The company’s latest Internet security product equips computers to fight cyber crime with new detection technology. Symantec’s data showed cyber criminals not only steal personal information such as identity, profile and credit card numbers but also sell it to the highest bidder on the online black market.

During the beta testing of Norton 2010, Symantec detected and blocked a whopping 245 million attempted malicious code attacks every month the world over in 2008.

“The increasing use of Internet and web for a plethora of services and applications has made computers vulnerable to malicious attacks,” Freer said. Convergence of information and communication technologies (ICT), globalisation and exponential growth of information have enabled transacting goods and services in the form of e-commerce and mobile commerce.

“The phenomenal growth of Internet traffic for mailing, surfing, browsing, social networking, buying or selling expose netizens to online thieves who will stop at nothing to steal anything, be it money, identity, signature and even names,” Symantec marketing head in Asia-Pacific David Hall said.

Though the $6.2-billion Symantec has been arming its customers and end-users with security solutions over the years, cyber criminals have been outsmarting them by hacking into computers to wreak havoc. Norton 2010 leverages a new model of security, code-named Quorum, to detect new malware and go beyond traditional signature and behaviour-based detection. Cyber criminals are furiously re-writing malware to stay undetected. But Quorum has been developed to track files, applications and attributes such as age, download source, digital signature and prevalence.

“These attributes are combined using complex algorithms to determine a reputation. As a file is distributed across the Internet and these attributes change, Quorum updates the reputation of the file, which is significant when a file is new and likely to be a threat,” Hall said.

As the third largest cyber country in Asia after China and Japan, India may become a soft target for cyber crime unless the government, industry, enterprises and netizens jointly wage the war against the underworld economy.

“Since cyber criminals destroy lives more than computers, we have raised the bar for Internet security and set a new standard for the industry. The new version empowers netizens to deny digital dangers for a safe online experience,” Hall claimed.

The Internet security version is priced at Rs.1,450 for a single licence and the antivirus version is Rs.1,125 for a single user.

We want to make Goa smoke free: Anti-tobacco group

DESPITE ITS REPUTATION as a leisurely, bohemian tourism destination, Goa has seen almost 70 percent implementation of the anti-smoking law and actions are being taken to make the state smoke free, an anti-tobacco lobbyist said.

“The state government and the antitobacco group are working in tandem to make Goa a smoke free state,” National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) general secretary Shekhar Salkar told reporters.

NOTE has in the past dragged Bollywood heavyweights like Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan to court for allegedly promoting smoking through films and on television.

“The Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) in its survey has already endorsed that the anti-smoking laws have been implemented up to 70 percent,” Salkar said.

“To make Goa a smoke free state, we need to raise the bar to 90 percent implementation,” he added.

VHAI is a pan-India NGO and operates as a federation of 27 state health associations bringing together under its umbrella 4,500 health and development agencies throughout the country.

The VHAI survey was carried out in Goa some weeks ago and the findings, Salkar said, were a shot in the arm for anti-smoking efforts put in by the state government and NOTE.

“By smoke free, we do not mean that smoking will not be allowed throughout Goa. It only means that the process of implantation of the anti-smoking law will be made more stringent,” Salkar said. Director of Health Services Rajnanda Desai, who heads the state level steering committee that monitors the implementation of anti-smoking regulations, said implementation was made easier by allotting the responsibility of enforcement to a cross section of society. “It is not government officials alone. Private hoteliers too can take action against offenders of the law,” Desai said. The state government has planned to strictly enforce the anti-smoking law in the popular beach shacks of Goa, which are thronged by tourists during the season.

“Tourists can smoke on the beach if they want to, but not in the shacks,” Salkar said.

Thekkady lake toll at 45

THE BODY OF 19-year-old Abhilash was recovered by navy divers from Kerala’s Thekkady lake, taking the toll from the boat capsize to 45, officials said. Abhilash was the last of those listed as missing after the boat tragedy in the lake in the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

“The body of 19-year-old Abhilash from Hyderabad was recovered after it was found floating near the accident site. The navy is likely to call off their search operation soon,” Kumily Circle Inspector Anil Sreenivas told IANS.

Three bodies, including that of Abhilash’s 14-year-old sister Apoorva, were recovered. Their bodies would be transported to Hyderabad from Kochi later.

Sreenivas added that the state police intelligence department has confirmed that a couple from Mysore, who were reported to be in Thekkady but their whereabouts were not known, were back in their hometown.

The double-decker boat owned by the state-run Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) capsized recently. The dead include 14 from Tamil Nadu, 12 from Delhi, seven from Andhra Pradesh, five from West Bengal, three each from Karnataka and Kerala and one from Mumbai.

The double-decker fiberglass boat that capsized had been pressed into service just last month. Chief Boat Inspector M. Mathews had Friday given a clean chit to the boat and said it might have capsized because the driver made a sharp turn. The Crime Branch of the police, which is inquiring into the accident, is to submit its report to the government.

KTDC had suspended boat driver Victor Samuel and two other staff members. Samuel, who is convalescing in a hospital near here, had said that he was not experienced enough to drive this new boat. The state government has already announced that they would initiate a judicial probe into the incident by a sitting judge.

UN issues stamp to honour Gandhi

THE UNITED NATIONS has released a one-dollar colourful postal stamp of Mahatma Gandhi to commemorate the 140th birth anniversary of the apostle of peace observed as the International Day of Non-violence.

The stamp, released by the UN Postal Administration, the world body’s postal agency, has been designed by Miami-based artist Ferdie Pacheco, with the Father of the Nation in red, blue and gold.

First Day Covers marked with the stamp and the United Nations’ seal were also put on sale.

A successful pharmacist and doctor, who has worked as a corner man for 12 world champions, including Muhammad Ali, Pacheco has also served as a commentator for NBC and won two Emmy awards. The artist was represented by his daughter Tina and granddaughter Alexis.

Several UN envoys, present at a function organised by the Indian mission to celebrate his 140th birth anniversary, reiterated the influence of Mahatma Gandhi’s life.

“In many ways, Mahatma Gandhi previsioned the UN. Much of the work that we do in the area of human rights owes its genesis in the struggle against racial discrimination, which he focused on,” said Hardeep Puri, India’s permanent representative to the UN.

Paying tribute to Gandhi, US envoy to the UN Susan Rice said, “Gandhi had influenced millions of Americans. Gandhi believed that physical force could be turned aside by moral forces.”

All over New York City, small and big events were organised to mark the occassion. In the morning, New Yorkers gathered to sing Gandhi’s favourite songs and paid floral tribute at his statue at Union Square in Manhattan.

“Gandhi has to be celebrated all over the world because his message echoes around the globe,” said Prabhu Dayal, the consul general of India in New York.

Mayawati on anticorruption drive to re-build image

UTTAR PRADESH CHIEF Minister Mayawati will soon launch an anticorruption drive against “top corrupt” officials across the state in a move to burnish her image as a tough and nononsense leader, say sources close to her.

A vigilance raid was conducted against a senior official of the rank of joint trade tax commissioner in Ghaziabad. The move is expected to be carried out against other senior bureaucrats reported to be living beyond their means.

This follows a review held by Mayawati last month of the state’s different investigation agencies during which she told the top brass of these organisations to pull up their socks and reactivate their machinery to become meaningful and effective once again.

The state’s vigilance department, alleged to have become a dumping ground for “unwanted” officers, has been put under the charge of a highly reputed police official - Additional Director General Atul (he goes by only one name). Atul, who was appointed a week ago, has been allowed to

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October

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Karva Chouth – 7th October

Dhanteras - 15th Oct

Deepavali, Kartik Sankrant – 17th Oct

Bhaidooj - 19th Oct

Annakut – Gujarati New Year – 18th Oct

Vishwakarma Puja - 20th Oct

Chhat Puja - 24th and 25th Oct

Tulsi Vivah – 30th Oct

November

Guru Nanak Jayanti 2nd Nov

Kartik Poornima 2nd Nov

Sankrant 16th Nov

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Continued from page 49 handpick his team of subordinates. The vigilance department is in the process of preparing a list of the “top corrupt” officials in different government organisations and departments, the source said.

“The chief minister is set to bring about qualitative improvement in the state’s governance, which was suffering largely on account of corrupt officials in the hierarchy,” the source said, adding, “More raids will follow in due course.”

The Mayawati government’s decision to spend a whopping Rs 2,600 crore public money for constructing memorials of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram and other Dalit leaders in Lucknow city has come in for criticism from all quarters. The case will come up for scrutiny before a special bench of the apex court. The BSP boss is understood to have directed her key functionaries to zero in on all officials who have held long stints in “lucrative organizations”.

The vigilance department has also been asked to expedite all pending inquiries, while punitive action was being ordered in cases where reports have been submitted to the government.

“We would be able to easily identify those whose assets were well beyond their legitimate sources of income. Once that is done, a systematic crackdown will follow,” the source said.

Action is being contemplated largely at the higher levels to send the message loud and clear “the chief minister means business”.

India rejects OIC move to appoint Kashmir envoy

INDIA HAS CONDEMNED the “regrettable” move by the Organisation of

Islamic Conference (OIC) to name a special envoy for Kashmir, saying it has no locus standi in India’s internal affairs.

“It is regrettable that the OIC has commented on India’s internal affairs. We condemn and reject this,” the external affairs ministry said here.

“Inherent in OIC’s statements and actions on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is a complete inability to understand India’s position,” it said in a statement.

Asserting that “Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India”, it said: “It is our firm position that the OIC has no locus standi in matters concerning India’s internal affairs.”

In a step believed to be influenced by Pakistan, the OIC, which promotes Muslim solidarity in political, social and economic matters, appointed Saudi Arabian Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman as special envoy to Kashmir last week.

This is the first time the OIC, which routinely issues resolutions on Kashmir, has taken a decision of this kind.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairperson of Jammu and Kashmir’s separatist All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), has welcomed the move.

“We believe the OIC appointing a special envoy on Kashmir is a significant development. We want Muslim countries to use their good offices to persuade India to work on Kashmir,” he told a ‘contact group’ of OIC in Washington.

107 low-floor buses flagged off in Delhi

DELHI CHIEF MINISTER Sheila Dikshit Sunday flagged off 107 low-floor buses, including 30 air conditioned ones, in the capital. With these, the total number of low-floor buses plying on the roads of the capital has gone up to 763.

Garlanded and flashing words of welcome for the upcoming Commonwealth Games next year, the buses were lined up near India Gate where the chief minister flagged them off and took a ride in one of the cherry red coloured air conditioned buses.

“With the commissioning of 3,500 lowfloor buses by March 2010, much before commencement of the Commonwealth Games, Delhi will become the city with highest number of CNG low-floor buses,” Dikshit said.

“It will also help in providing a reliable, modern and secure public transport in the capital city as well as change the entire scenario of the public transport system,” she added.

The entire fleet of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses constitute 3,559 buses, including 631 non-AC and 25 AC low-floor CNG buses and 2,903 standard floor buses.

Dikshit also said that some of these buses could be used for visitors to show them around Delhi.

Delhi Transport Minister Aravinder Singh Lovely added that a special training programme is going on to give DTC drivers tips on etiquette.

Court asks government on status of people awaiting deportation

EXPRESSING CONCERN over the status and living conditions of foreigners, many of them Pakistanis, detained in camps for years, the Delhi High Court has asked the central government to explain why these people have not been deported to their own countries.

Counsel Arvind Nigam told a bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice

Manmohan, that many foreign nationals have been languishing in Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) camps since 2006 and no effort has been made by the government to deport them back to their country.

“Some people have been there for 2-3 years without any detention order,” Nigam told the court. The exact number of people detained in these camps is not known. Government counsel Zubeda Begum said some of the people have been detained for security reasons.

To this, the court said: “You (government) must detain the person with appropriate legal order.”

The court also asked the government counsel whether any exchange of detainees has taken place between India and Pakistan. The petition says that many of the foreign nationals in the camps are Pakistanis. “Provide us with the figures as to how many such exchange of prisoners took place (between India and Pakistan). We just can’t turn a blind eye to the people who are suffering because of (lack of) diplomatic relations,” the bench said.

The court asked the government counsel to consult the union home secretary and file a detailed affidavit as to what is the present status of all the foreigners living in camps by the next date of hearing.

Last year, 11 detainees wrote a letter to the chief justice complaining about the poor standards of living in deportation camps. They said the camps faced perennial shortage of drinking water and quality of food served was also poor.

The court took the letter as a public interest litigation and initiated legal proceedings.