Sep 2016

Letters Matter

DISCRIMINATION IN TOURISM

While on the one hand the Indian government is keen to attract tourists into India, on the other hand they are making all the wrong noises, espousing and enforcing policies that will not attract tourists to our country. I for example had a really bad experience at Agra and New Delhi during my visit. I was horrified to find that India had dual fee policy for tourists - entry fees are 10 times more for foreign tourists as compared to domestic Indian tourists – a really cast-iron case of discrimination. Why should it be so ? I am a frequent traveller myself and haven't seen such policies anywhere else in the world. My advice to the Indian Tourism ministry is that if it does away with this kind of discriminatory segregation policy it will in fact enhance India's image further. My Belgian friends who visit India have always faced this issue and have been vocal about it, which gives mer no end of shame as an Indian. When I take them around I pay INR 10 or 20 for myself, while they have to shell out the equivalent of US$ 5, just so because they are different. It not only looks strange, but is also shameful to many of us.

Vijay Malik, NRI, Belgium

RISING

TO

THE OCCASION

Ìé× ÁèÌ »§ü ÎèÂæÐ

A FACEBOOK POST ON OUR PAGE

"For the Indian girls at Rio. They have defeated … the ultrasound that declared 'it' was a 'she' ... the nurse declaring in a sombre tone 'ladki hai' ... their murderous parents or even worse those who keep them alive but kill their spirit every single day ... the odds against them for parents "allowing" her to chase her dream... the family pride that wants every Indian child to be a doctor or engineer...

the school teacher who said "it's not a girl's game" ... the bad sports infrastructure and even lack of healthy food needed to fuel the fire ... the system where overweight officials who have only played Ludo as a sports, decide her fate ... the Dada-Nana who told her "good girls don't wear short clothes" ... the Dadi-Nani who told her not to play in the sun and become "kaali-kaluthi" ... their friends who told her she needs to "control aggression and chill"... the pados-waali Aunty ji who wondered "akele kahan-kahan ghumti hai aapki ladki" ... the million eyes staring at her legs and not noticing the brilliant game she played ... the Bua jee and Mausi jee who ask "tum shadi kab karogi"... the journalist who asked her when she would "settle" ... the cynics who thought they were pouting and clicking selfies on a fully paid foreign trip ... So dare not take even a slice of her glory by calling her HUMARI BETI! They have achieved what they have not because of us, but despite us!"

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CHIEF PATRON

EDITOR

—AJAY SINGH

(Former High Commissioner, Fiji)

RAJEEV GUPTA

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DR. KAMAL KUMAR

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PRINTED, PUaBLISHED & OWNED BY RAJEEV GUPTA, PUBLISHED FROM A-208, WEAVERS COLONY,

a change for the better?

The month of August this year was both an important and interesting time for India and Indians. We had the Rio Olympics, to which one of the largest ever Indian contingents went, with hopes of a great haul of medals. While there were some slips between cups and lips, our sports people did return with some medals, and strikingly – it was the girls who saved the day for India. Kudos to them, and here’s to wishing that apart from all the restructuring and redevelopment that is taking place in the economy and in the social services domain, sports reform and restructuring too will get some quality attention from the government soon enough. The Ides of August was when India gained independence from the British 70 years ago, and the 15th of the month marks I-Day – a day when successive PMs have ritually returned to the podium under the backdrop of Delhi’s iconic Red Fort, to address the nation via tailored speeches that have typically blended a showcasing of their respective governments’ achievements, the announcement of schemes and missions to benefit one section of the society or the other, some ritual pak-bashing, and exhortations to the populace at large.

This time round, though not very much was different from the past in terms of sequence of events, the content was a mite different, with the PM choosing to do away with tradition just like he has, in a way, done for the past two years. In terms of action taken as well, we have seen change inimitably creeping in for the past few years, a change for the better in many walks of governance, administration and service delivery. We have also seen the launch of a whole plethora of schemes – though it would indeed be apt to point out that on the implementation front, we are still lacking and need to pull up our socks.

That having been said, lets get down to what we have managed to cram in between the covers of this September issue of NRI Achievers. Our Cover Feature continues with last month’s 'Indiaspora' theme, bringing you profiles of interesting Indians both at home and from abroad. Realpolitik tries to demystify the GST, or the Goods & Services tax and its implications for our economy, and reduce it’s complexity down to the level of the layman, while Real Estate strives to measure the impact of the selfsame GST regimen on the realty sector.

Heritage takes you on an interesting trek through the Mehrauli Archaeological Park and some of its historical sites, while Travel & Destinations explores the rich architectural heritage of the Shekawati region of Rajasthan. Chanakya Neeti continues with another instalment, while Diaspora News brings you stories from across the globe. And as usual, news on milestone happenings are all clustered into our various 'newsy' heads – News Scan, Business Buzz, PSU Buzz. In Metaphysical Musings, we have Sadhguru’s column which we started bringing to you from last month, and some musings of Bhagwan Rajneesh, better known as Osho. Silver Screen features the saucy actress Niharica Raizada, and Cineppets brings you the latest juicy tidbits from Bollywood.

September has for long marked the transition from Summer to Autumn, and is also a lead up to the coming festival season for Indians. The NRI Achievers team first of all would like to wish you all a great time ahead, and hopes you find our current issue both interesting and informative on the themes and topics of your interest. We value your feedback, and invite readers from all corners of the world to connect with us. Please do be unstinting in both your appreciation and your criticism – our editorial desk will be all ears in listening to both your positive feedback as well as your suggestions and advice for a better content-mix. So do write to us, like us on social media and share your experiences, thoughts, stories with us. Have a great September ahead !

India this week ushered in a major policy change to incentivise foreign investors and reinforce India's position as a top destination for FDI. With US$ 63 billion worth of foreign investments, India had pipped China last year, and things look rosier this year with the economy notching up a 23% rise in foreign direct investment to US$ 55.5 billion in the fiscal to March, making India the most attractive investment destination. With this decision to grant permanent residency status to foreign investors, India gets on par with countries like the US, UK and Canada. To be eligible, foreigners would have to invest US$ 1.5 million (INR 10 Crore) over 18 months, or US$ 3.7 million (INR 25 Crore) over three years, resulting in jobs for at least 20 resident Indians every fiscal. Those who meet this criteria get multiple entry for 10 years, that may be extended for another decade. No registration require-

ments would be mandated either. Residency status also permits them to buy one residential property, and there is no bar on spouses and children working or studying in India. Said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during a media briefing: “A certain threshold, if you invest in India, then the availability of visa, the availability of the right to purchase assets, the availability of employment for family members, there is a detailed policy that has been approved by the Cabinet.” Chinese and Pakistani citizens, however, are not covered under this policy.

HINDU MARRIAGE BILL TABLED IN PAKISTAN'S

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

In Islamabad, the much debated Hindu Marriage Bill 2016 was finally tabled in Pakistan's National Assembly. The bill seeks to give a legal framework to the marriages that take place within the minority community. The report of the standing committee on Law and Justice on the Hindu Marriage Bill 2016 was presented in the National Assembly on 17th August 2016, and is just one step away from being approved as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party is supporting it. Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Ramesh Lal, says it will probably take around 10 months for the committee to clear the bill and another six months for its report to be presented in the house. The bill was approved by the standing committee on February 8.

KHOOBSURAT BALA: PARSI URDU THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE

‘Khoobsurat Bala’, a tale of the victory of good over evil was stages at Sri Ram Centre in Delhi on 25th July, 2016, garnering good audience acclaim. Directed by Hema Singh, a well-known playwright known for her innovative work in Parsi theatre and poetry presentation, this ageold Parsi style play with contemporary relevance enthralled theatregoers with its substance. Hema is an Associate Professor (Acting) at NSD since 2003. The plot revolves

around a succession war to the throne between brother and sister. Shamshah (the King’s sister) wants to be queen at any cost. She plots to kill her only nephew, the prince and the future king Sohail and her brother (the king) as well, but an honest and a reliable servant to the king Tariq and his wife Tahira puts paid to her plans. The play blends Classical and Victorian styles while maintaining the essence of Parsi style theatre.

The Cricket Federation of Belgium (BCF), had organized a T-20 style cricket tournament in capital city Brussels, on 14th August, 2016. According to Ravindra Aneja, chairperson of the Mechelen Eagles Cricket Club, 12 teams had participated and the tournament winner was Exiles Cricket Club.

SIKH RELIGIOUS SCRIPTURE DESECRATED IN CALIFORNIA

For the first ever time in the US, an unidentified person has in public mutilated a Sikh religious scripture in broad daylight on 11th August, 2016 in California. As few months ago similar incidents had rocked the Indian state of Punjab as well. The American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC) coordinator Pritpal Singh told media at Contempo Park at Union City in California that an unidentified person tore Sukhmani Sahib Gutka (a prayer book) and threw the pages in the park. Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci and police officials arrived at the park to take stock of the situation. Claiming that there was much resentment among the Sikhs after the sacrilege incident, Pritpal said police have begun investigations and are procuring CCTV footage to identify the accused.

RBI HAS A NEW GOVERNOR IN URJIT PATEL

The Indian Union Government has appointed Urjit Patel, 53, as the new Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to succeed Raghuram Rajan. He will be 24th Governor of the RBI, and will have a tenure of three years. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Patel based on the recommendation of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by the Cabinet Secretary. He will be the eighth Deputy Governor to be made a Governor at the RBI, and among the very few with a corporate background to become the RBI head. Prior to his elevation, he was serving as the Deputy Governor of RBI. For first time, he was appointed

as the Deputy Governor of RBI in January 2013 for a three year term and later reappointed on January 2016. He hails from Gujarat and had an M.Phil from Oxford, and a doctorate in economics from Yale. Urjit Patel is by profession an economist, consultant and

banker, and an eminent one at that, with two decades of rich experience across sectors like finance, energy and infrastructure. He worked for the IMF (International Monetary Fund) covering the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar between 1990 and 1995. Besides, he also had worked closely with several union and state government committees, especially those on market studies, direct taxes, anti-trust laws, PM’s Task Force on Infrastructure and is adept with issues in sectors such as telecom, aviation, power and pensions. He will start his tenure from September 4 this year.

NRI Achievers News Network

LENOVO's K5 NOTE

JAGUAR's NEW XF

Launching next month, the Lenovo K5 Note features a 5.5-inch full HD (1080p) IPS display, with a Mediatek Helio P10 SoC with 64bit, 1.8GHz octa-core processor at it's core, offering 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel selfie camera. The handset also features a 1.5W speaker at the back, with Dolby ATMOS surround sound support, and a fingerprint scanner placed below the rear camera. With dual-SIM card slots, connectivity options include 4G LTE support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and VoLTE.

It was a big step for Jaguar when the first generation XF was launched in 2007. Combining a sleek, coupe-like exterior and a luxurious interior with high-brow features such as a rotary shift controller, rotating air vents and blue ambient lighting, the XF turned out to be a highly desirable car. Now, with the upcoming all-new XF, Jaguar promises to retain its predecessor’s core attributes while using the car's aluminium-intensive architecture to enable weight savings of up to 190 kg. Expected Launch is in the September of 2016, price is expected to be pegged between 48 to 75 Lakhs.

JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE

After an excruciatingly long wait and a lot of uncertainty, Jeep India is all set to enter the Indian SUV market. The iconic brand will begin its journey with the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler, with their prices being announced on August 30, 2016. The Grand Cherokee, it is speculated, could be priced around INR 50-55 Lakh and will come in two variants –'Limited' and 'Summit'. Both variants get a 240PS 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine paired with an 8-speed automatic gearbox.

TATA HEXA

TATA's new car, Tata Hexa, has been spied on Indian roads for the first time, fully uncovered. The car gets upgraded features like a Terrain Management System and Projector headlamps with auto function. Apart from this, the car showcases attributes like large alloy wheels, new design for the leather seat upholstery, an improved dashboard, win-

dow shades, mood lighting, a refreshed steering wheel and a six-seat configuration with captain seats. To complement such features, the MPV comes bundled with 6 airbags and an Electronic Stability Program (ESP) to keep occupants safe. Hexa was also showcased at the Indian Auto Expo 2016 and is expected to get a 1.9-litre diesel engine in 2017.

KENT RO

LAUNCHES

CAR AIR PURIFIER

After making a foray into the home air purifier segment last year, Kent RO Systems has now launched a niche product, its new car air purifier. The company’s portable car air purifier, branded as Kent Magic Car Purifier, is priced at INR. 7,999. Mahesh Gupta, Chairman of Kent RO Systems Ltd, said that, “We set out to create a product that enables a healthy and comfortable air environment even on the go. In India, the typical car commuter spends more than 5-6 hours a day sitting in his car. Since vehicular emissions and incar pollution contribute heavily to air pollution as well as several health hazards, this smart device can effectively diminish the impact of air pollution.”

XIAOMI TO UNVEIL AIR-PURIFIER IN INDIA SOON

Xiaomi, the Chinese Smartphone manufacturing company, it seems, is also into making many other products for the home. The Chinese tech-company announced that it soon plans to launch their air-purifiers in the Indian market. The compact Mi air-purifier was first showcased in China in November 2015,

when it's Chinese price was touted to be around INR 7,000. For Xiaomi in India, air purifiers will be one of the major products beside mobiles and some accessories and the Mi Band. Without disclosing their 2015 India sales figures, Xiaomi said that in the last four quarters (the last two quarters of 2015 and the

first two quarters of 2016), the company has sold more than one million handsets in India. Officials said that despite their focus to stay on with their online strategy, the company will now gradually grow offline sales, which is today at 10 percent of the total sales with a retail dealer footprint of about 5,000.

NRI Achievers Business Network

EU TELLS APPLE TO PAY US$ 14.5

The European Commission has ordered Apple to pay a record 13 billion Euro (US$ 14.5 billion) plus interest, averring that Ireland had illegally slashed the iPhone maker's tax bill, in a crackdown on fiscal loopholes that also risks inflaming tensions with the US Treasury. The world's richest company benefited from selective tax treatment that gave it an unfair advantage over other businesses, said the European Union regulator on 30th August, 2016. This is the largest tax penalty imposed by the EU in a three year campaign against corporate tax avoidance. Apple and Ireland have both vowed to fight the decision in the EU courts. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe

BN TAX IN IRELAND

Vestager asserts that Ireland allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1% on its European profits in 2003 and down to 0.005% in 2014. “If my effective tax rate would be 0.05% falling to 0.005% – I would have felt that maybe I should have a second look at my tax bill,” she

MICROSOFT SELLS MSN CHINA OPERATIONS

US tech giant Microsoft has sold MSN China – the Chinese edition of its global web portal – to its local partner Xichuang Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., founded by the portal's top executive. Microsoft in its official blog has said that it has signed an agreement to sell MSN China, effective from September, reports Chinese website caixin.com. The financial terms were not disclosed. Xichuang Technology was co-founded in late 2015 by Liu Zhenyu, MSN China's former General Manager. According to the report, Microsoft's MSN China portal never took off owing to government regulations and stiff competition from local rivals like Sina and Tencent, but Microsoft maintains that China is still one of its strategic markets.

told reporters. The US Treasury department, which has pushed back hard against the EU state-aid probes, said the commission's actions “could threaten to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the US and the EU.“ Apple, which employs about 6,000 people in Ireland, was one of the first companies caught up in the EU's backlash against corporate tax-avoidance. “I disagree profoundly with the commission's decision,” said Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan. Ireland's tax system is founded on the strict application of the law “without exception,” he said.

SONY TO BUY SPORTS CHANNELS FROM ZEE FOR US$ 385 MILLION

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on the 31st of August has said that it has agreed to sell its sports broadcasting business to Sony Pictures Networks for US$ 385 million, as it rejigs its media content delivery businesses. TEN Sports holds broadcast rights to major cricket boards in South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies. It also holds rights for football's UEFA Champions League, the Europa League, French League and English Football Cup among other sports. "The acquisition of TEN Sports Network will strengthen Sony's offering for viewers of cricket, football and fight-sports, complementing our existing portfolio of international and domestic sporting properties," said NP Singh, CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India, in a statement.

US VISA FEE HIKE HAS POTENTIAL TO ACT AS BARRIER

The US visa-fee hike issue remained a major point of discussion during the India-US Innovation forum that began here last week, with Commerce & Industries Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pointing out to the concerns raised by some stakeholders that the decision has potential to act as a barrier to the movement of natural persons and professionals. “The concerns of our government in this regard have been conveyed in the past and we hope that specific measures like these,

having the potential to adversely impact our trade are avoided,” she said. India has, however, asked the US to find a ‘just and non-discriminatory’ solution to avoid

any adverse effect on bilateral trade ties, said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Nirmala Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj were the co-chairs of the dialogue with US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. India-US bilateral trade stood at US$ 109 billion last year, and India has received US$ 17.94 billion FDI from the US between April 2000 and March 2016.

NRI Achievers Business Network

CSIR-NISCAIR

HIMANSHU JOSHI JOINS OBC AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Pursuant to a notification issued by the Government of India, Himanshu Joshi has been appointed as an Executive Director of the OBC (Oriental Bank of

Commerce). Born on October 22, 1958, Joshi is a graduate in commerce and also a certified member of Indian Institute of Bankers.

DAKWALE TAKES CHARGE OF CORP. COMM. & BRANDING AT INDIANOIL

Dr. Manoj Kumar Patairiya has joined as the Director, CSIR National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (CSIR NISCAIR), New Delhi, with effect from July 26, after spending two years as Additional Director General, Doordarshan, Prasar Bharti, where he is credited with the putting together of the 'Kisan' TV Channel.

INDIAN COAST GUARD

Inspector General VSR Murthy, PTM, TM, on being promoted to the rank of ADG, has been appointed as the Additional Director General at Coast Guard Headquarters in New Delhi. ADG Murthy joined the Coast Guard as a Flag Officer in January 1984. Since then the Flag Officer has held various important command and staff appointments, both afloat and ashore.

IRCTC WINS DUN & BRADSTREET’S PSU AWARD

The IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation) has won the coveted 'Dun & Bradstreet’s PSU Awards 2016' that have been instituted to honour leading PSU companies in the category of Tourist services. The awards , based on Dun & Bradstreet’s publication ‘India’s Top PSUs’, recognise the achievements of top performing PSUs across diverse sectors such as mining, manufacturing and services.

POWERGRID TOO WINS THE DUN & BRADSTREET AWARD

The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID) has also won the ‘Dun & Bradstreet India’s Top PSU Award 2016’ in the Electricity-Power Transmission Category, as announced at the launch of the 9th edition of its premium publication, ‘India’s Top PSUs 2016,’ at an event in New Delhi.

Subodh Dakwale has assumed charge of the Corporate Communications and Branding Group for the Marketing Division of Indian Oil with immediate effect. Besides internal and external communications, his area of responsibility will also include brand management of Indian Oil’s 10 iconic brands.

CENTRAL RAILWAYS

Trilok Kothari of Indian Rail Stores Services is the new Additional Railway Manager of Central Railways Nagpur Circle. He has earlier worked in Northern Railways and the Northern Central Railway as a Deputy Stores Manager. Apart from this, he has also worked at many positions in the Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory.

AKHIL JOSHI ASSUMES CHARGE AS DIRECTOR (POWER), BHEL

On his appointment as Director to the board of BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited), Akhil Joshi has assumed charge as the Director (Power) of the Maharatna public sector engineering and manufacturing enterprise. Prior to this, he was an Executive Director (MSX & HR) at BHEL’s power sector headquarters in New Delhi.

NRI Achievers Corporate Network

INDIANS MOST EDUCATED COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA

The Indian Community in Australia is ranked the most highly educated, a fact revealed by an analysis of their Department of Immigration and Border Protection – 54.6 % migrants from India have a Bachelor's or a higher level of qualification. This ratio is 3 times higher than the national Australian average which was noted at 17.2 % in the 2011 census. Americans come second with 52.2 % holding either a Bachelor's or higher qualifications. A further analysis by newspaper “Pehchan,” indicates

LONDON MAYOR APPOINTS SECOND DEPUTY OF INDIAN ORIGIN

that if one broke up the qualifications among the two major religious groups migrating to Australia from India, Hinduism stood at the top, with 88.1 % followers holding the qualification of Year

12 and above, while Sikhism is second in this list with 85.9% of it’s population falling in this category. These facts also speak for themselves in the category of language, where again Hindi speakers were counted at 49.5 % holding a Bachelor's and higher qualification, taking a lead from their Filipino speakers whose 47.5% population held the same qualifications in the same year. It is interesting to note that Indian’s leads in the field of education consistently from the 2006 census!

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF FORTITUDE

Indian-origin philanthropist Shirley Rodrigues has been appointed as London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s deputy for environment and energy, and she will be responsible for setting up a not-for-profit company aimed at boosting recycling rates and producing low carbon energy. Ms. Rodrigues becomes the second Deputy Mayor of Indian origin to join Mr. Khan’s team, after Indore-born Rajesh Agarwal, who is responsible for promoting business. Ms. Rodrigues was born in Nairobi and her family has roots in the villages of Siolim and Aldona in Goa.

Though 100-year old Man Kaur needed a minute-and-a-half for her 100-metre dash, she succeeded in taking the gold medal at the American Masters Games. The World Masters Games take place every four years, with regional games in between. Average age of athletes is 49, and there’s one man who is even older than Kaur — 101-year old Nihal Gill of Richmond, British Columbia. Gurdev Singh, 78, Man Kaur's son, is also competing in the Games, and says that he first encouraged his mother to start run-

ning at the age of 93: “I asked her, ‘You have no problem, no knee problem, no heart problem, you should start running’,” he recalls.

U.S. TO ISSUE DIWALI POSTAGE STAMP

The U.S. Postal Service last week has said that it will issue a Diwali postage stamp, meeting one of the longpending demands of the IndianAmerican community here. The Diwali stamp is being issued as a “Forever” stamp, the U.S. Postal Service said in a statement. The stamp design, unveiled by the U.S. Postal Service

(USPS), is a photograph featuring a traditional diya oil lamp lit in a sparkling gold background. The firstday-of-issue dedication ceremony will take place at the Indian Consulate in New York City on October 5, the USPS said. Hinduism was the only major world religion for which the USPS had not issued a postage stamp.

16-YR-OLD PIO CLAIMS BREAST CANCER CURE

A 16-year-old Indian-origin boy from UK's Surrey has claimed to have found a treatment for the most deadly form of breast cancer. Krtin Nithiyanandam thinks he has devised a way to turn the triple negative breast cancer into a kind which responds to drugs. Around 7,500 women each year are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a type of disease which does not respond to today's drugs.

Many breast cancers are driven by oestrogen, progesterone or growth chemicals, so drugs that can block those fuels such as

tamoxifen make effective treatments. “Most cancers have receptors on their surface which bind to drugs, but triple negatives don't have receptors so the drugs don't work,“ Krtin said. Thus, as of now it can be only treated with a combination of surgery , radiation and chemotherapy which lowers chances of survival.

NRI Achievers News Network

INDIAN FOOD FESTIVAL - 2016 TAKES BRUSSELS BY STORM

Indian Confluence (InCo), a social organisation based out of Brussels in Belgium, has been working towards building a bridge between European and Indian societies. InCo strives to provide a platform to showcase India’s diverse culture, art and music with an underlying message of celebrating unity. They have been active in showcasing Indian culture and cuisine, celebrating Indian festivals and introducing them to Europe, helping Indians integrate with Belgian society, organizing Indian sporting events and promotional activities, et al. InCo is also concerned with boosting development in rural India, and has adopted a village in Andhra Pradesh as part of AP's Smart Villages initiative. They had initiated and organised an India Food Festival for the first time last year which was a roaring success.

This year InCo offered a bigger, better and more varied second edition of the India Food Festival on the 31st of August,

following up on the astounding success of the inaugural IFF 2015 that drew thousands of attendees. With plenty of stalls, a plethora of Indian cuisine, and an array of live workshops and entertainment, this year's two-day food festival was a real treat for attendees, friends and family

alike. The event featured plenty of good Indian food, music and dance, with a touch of Bollywood magic. Cuisines from all across India were available – right from biryani to bhelpuri, from pav bhaji to paneer tikka, and chicken curry to channa bhatura to mention a few.

Several artists from in and around Belgium conducted various workshops on yoga and cookery. Guests witnessed the showcasing of dances as diverse as Odissi, Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Bhangra and of course, Bollywood dancing. Live music was another important element, with InCo’s in-house band 'Confluence Allstars' seting the tempo for a “mehfil” style jam singing old and new Indian songs. Belgian band 'The Borderless Project' and 'Taradhin Duo' from the Netherlands also performed to the glee of the masses over the weekend.

Belgium Bureau

AN ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY JOURNEY

ANIL AgARwAL

his brave journey for Anil Agarwal began when he was all of 19 years old. Born into a lower middle class Marwari family in Bihar with no silver spoon in his mouth, Anil Agarwal's story today is that of a self-made multi-billionaire, settled in the United Kingdom. Dwarka Prasad, his sire, who ran a small business of making aluminium conductors, would never even once have thought in 1954 when this boy was born to him that their family fortunes would be reformed manifold by this

scion of his, to make them the purveyors of one of the world's largest business conglomerates.

Anil was brought up in state capital, Patna, where he attended the Miller High School. Disinterest in studies led to him quitting regular school at 15 to join his father's business, which too he eventually left to start his own business. He did complete his matriculation though, from Sir Ganesh Dutt Patliputra High School (in Bihar, where Lalu Prasad Yadav was his classmate). In later years he also went on to get himself a professional degree, a BE from the Malaviya Regional Engineering College, Jaipur.

Coming back to his story, he reached Bombay (now Mumbai) – India's city

of opportunity – when he was all of 19 years old, to explore career opportunities and business prospects. To start with, he tried his hand at various viable businesses to earn his bread and butter and keep body and soul together. He however did not settle down into any one venture, as he was of the thought that no matter what one does, you should never give up – and was determined to make it really big. He sequentially sought financial help and support from numerous banks, but all of them turned him down, refusing to extend any kind of loan facility, primarily due to his young years and not-soimpressive family background.

Persisting with his efforts in this endeavour, he got into trading in scrap

"India is not a capitalist nation and should never be one"

metal, collecting it from cable companies in other states and selling it in Mumbai by the mid-1970s, which turned out to be a money-spinner of sorts for him. And banks eventually did respond to his overtures, with one advancing him a loan – which he used in 1976 to acquire the 'Shamsher Sterling Corporation,' a manufacturer of enamelled copper. A decade on he ran both his scrap business and this company and prospered. It was in 1986 that Anil Agarwal set up a factory to manufacture jelly-filled cables, thereby creating 'Sterlite Industries.' Soon realising that the profitability of his business was volatile, fluctuating with the prices of raw materials copper and aluminium, he came to the conviction that he ought to be in full-control of his input costs – by captively manufacturing the metals himself rather than procuring them from the open market. It was this conviction that led to Sterlite Industries becoming the first private sector company in India to set up a copper smeltery and refinery By 1993. Two years later Sterlite went on to acquire 'Madras Aluminium,' a ‘sick’ company that had been shut down for 4 years, and held by the BIFR (Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction).

The next step of this 'backward' integration process seemed natural for Anil – to get into mining. His first opportunity presented itself when the Government of India got into a 'disinvestment' mode and decided to capitalise on latent state assets that have not been doing too well. Going with this tide, he managed to acquire a 51 percent stake in BALCO – the Bharat Aluminium Company, a public sector undertaking, in the year 2001. Next came a majority stake in another state-run mining company – nearly 65 percent – in HZL (Hindustan Zinc Limited), a year later. Both PSUs apropos were considered liabilities at that time –known for their slumbering attitude and utterly inefficient mining operations.

Anil Agarwal and his team then took the step of incorporating an enterprise called the 'Vedanta Resources Plc.' in 2003, to access international capital markets. At the time of its founding, Vedanta Resources Plc. was the first ever Indian firm to be listed on LSEthe London Stock Exchange. Eventually on December 10, 2003, Vedanta Resources became the parent umbrella company of the group, through a series of internal restructuring processes of the group companies that tweaked their shareholding patterns.

The year 2004 saw Vedanta Resources Plc. taking the bold step of announcing a global bond offering, and taking control of the 'Konkola Copper Mines' in Zambia, Africa. In 2007 Vedanta acquired a controlling stake in 'Sesa Goa Limited', India’s largest producerexporter of iron ore, and in 2010 the company acquired South African miner Anglo American’s portfolio of zinc assets in Namibia, Ireland and South Africa. A year later came a controlling

London, has assertively reiterated often that his heart and soul remain firmly on Indian soil.

Anil Agarwal and the Vedanta Group have not been devoid of controversies and criticism either, both of them accruing in bushelfuls and dogging the company's heels across continents. It was in 2004 that a committee of the Indian Supreme Court advanced the charge on Vedanta that it had dumped thousands of tons of toxic arsenicbearing slag near its factory in the Indian state of Tamilnadu, poisoning the environment and endangering neighbouring populations. Another committee of the same court in 2005 charged that Vedanta had forcibly ejected over one hundred indigenous families from their homes in Odisha, where it had sought to mine bauxite. According to the committee's report: “... an atmosphere of fear … was created through hired goons,” residents were “beaten up … by employees of Vedanta.” The company's actions in

Anil Agarwal and his team then took the step of incorporating an enterprise called the 'Vedanta Resources Plc.' in 2003, to access international capital markets. At the time of its founding, Vedanta Resources Plc. was the first ever Indian firm to be listed on LSEthe London Stock Exchange.

stake in Cairn India, India’s largest private sector oil-producing firm. Sesa Goa's merger with Sterlite Industries was announced in 2012, as part of the Vedanta Group’s consolidation process.

Today Vedanta Resources, headquartered in London, is a globally diversified natural resources conglomerate, with active interests in zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, aluminium, power generation, and oil & gas. The greatest share of its assets, however, lies in India – Agarwal though resident in

Odisha were rebuked by the British commerce agency, and the Church of England investment funds sold their shares in the company in protest.

In Zambia, Vedanta is alleged to have dumped hazardous waste into the Kafue River from its copper mine there resulting in widespread human illness and the death of fish, according to a lawsuit filed by 2,000 local residents. A local judge is said to have observed: “This was lack of corporate responsibility and is criminal … and a tipping point for corporate recklessness.” Zam-

bian officials instituted an audit in 2014, spurred by suspicions that Vedanta has not been paying its proper fees to the government. In addition, hundreds of former mine workers fought Vedanta for severance or disability pay.

Controversies apart, the group is active in philanthropic activities as well, putting its best foot forward on the corporate social responsibility front. Since the year 1992, when Anil Agarwal created the 'Vedanta Foundation' as a vehicle through which group companies would carry out their philanthropic programs and activities, Vedanta has been involving itself in developmental activities in almost all the areas where group companies have their footprint, with social activities being carried out under the auspices of the Vedanta Foundation – which manages all philanthropic programs, activities and interventions of the group. To give some

scale to this effort, during the financial year 2013-14 for example, Vedanta group companies and the Vedanta foundation together invested some US$ 49 million into building hospitals, schools and infrastructure, conserving the environment and funding community programs that improve health, education and livelihoods of over 4.1 million people in India alone. These initiatives were all undertaken in partnership with either the government and or through non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Among people who inspire him to give back to society, Agarwal counts Andrew Carnegie and David Rockefeller, who are known for having built public works with their fortunes. Activities funded by Anil's philanthropy are focused on child welfare, empowerment of women, and education. His philanthropy first came into focus in the media for his personal donation of

INR 1,796 Crore (US$ 36 million), fetching him a second ranking in the Harun India Philanthropy List 2014. Anil Agarwal has also pledged to donate 75% of his family and personal wealth to charity, attributing his inspiration to do so by Bill Gates and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

So much about Anil Agarwal the entrepreneur, business magnate and wealth-creator. Lets take a look at Anil Agarwal the man, He is one who has always enjoyed cycling, an activity he has been avidly pursuing since his childhood. Cycling has also played an important role in his life – so much so that he is married to his childhood friend and fellow cyclist Kiran Gupta. The couple, who have a son Agnivesh and a daughter Priya both living with them in London, still occasionally embark on a cycling do. Anil is a strict vegetarian and is a devotee of Lord Krishna.

THE MAN WHO BENT LIGHT

NARINDER SINGH KAPANY

Two people talking to each other across a city or a continent – doing business locally or globally, accessing home entertainment from anywhere – all these today are channelised through slender bundles of glass fibres thinner than human hair that carry the signals or images at nearly the speed of light. The seeds for this miracle started taking shape nearly 60 years ago in the mind of a young Punjabi student, who today lives in Palo Alto. Questioning his professor's dogmatic statement that ‘light travels in a straight line,’ it set him off on his own voyage of discovery that led him to pioneer the science and technology behind fibre optics. That Punjabi student, Narinder Singh Kapany, is the ‘father of fibre optics’ as we know it today. And despite his path-breaking work he remains largely an unsung hero, bereft of Nobels and other such laurels. Here is his story for you to read ...

Talking of Nobels and particularly in Physics, Indians for long have been getting the shorter shrift in recognition for their seminal works. Worth mention here are a few who deserved it more than many who did get it. J C Bose is a typical example. At the turn of the century in 1895, he was the first to demonstrate wireless signalling. Sir Neville Mott, Nobel Laureate for Physics in 1978, opines Bose had foreseen the 'n' and 'p' type semiconductors and was at least 'sixty years ahead of his time.'

Another Bose – Satyendranath, sends his paper on the statistics of quanta of light–photons to Albert Einstein, who in turn lauds it and gets it published in Die Zeitschrift der Physik in 1924, which in turn gave birth to the famed Bose-Einstein statistics and the term 'Bosons' for all elementary particles come within its ambit. Though three Nobels have so far been awarded for works based on Bose statistics, the originator of the idea was never considered. Likewise, take G N Ramachandran whose work on bio-molecular structures and specially the triple heli-

cal structure of collagen is more than noteworthy, as is the remarkable work of George Sudarshan, whose pioneering contributions to Quantum Optics and coherence are exceptional. But their work too remains ignored till date.

This trend came to the fore again in 2009, when the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded ‘one-half’ of

the Nobel for Physics to Charles K Kao 'for ground breaking achievements concerning transmission of light in fibres for optical communication.' What the Academy forgot to mention was that Narinder Singh Kapany, widely considered the ‘Father of Fibre Optics,’ had by far a stronger claim. The name of this pioneer of fibre optics too, thus, is now appended to the rather long list

of Indians, who despite richly meriting the ultimate accolade, have all been mysteriously passed over by the august members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in their best wisdom.

Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany is an Indian-born American physicist whose invention of fibre optics more than six decades ago revolutionised the way we transmit information and communications today. It is thanks to his pioneering work that we enjoy not just the high speed communications we all so depend upon, but also many of the mini-

a straight line, kindling young Narinder’s questioning mindset – why couldn’t light travel along a bent path? This thought bugged him no end and spurred him to think over and over again until he found an answer that satisfies him.

Narinder proved to be good in studies, and went on to graduate from Agra University. Post graduation he went to work for a spell with the Ordnance Factory, Dehradun, before taking up advanced studies at the Imperial College London in optics that earned him a Ph.D. in physics in the year 1955. Subsequently he moved to the US, first to University of Rochester and then to the Illinois Institute of Technology, continuing his research – coming up with a whole bevy of and inventions fields like fibre-optics communication, lasers, biomedical instrumentation, solar energy and pollution monitoring.

Optical fibres are slender cable-like tubular glass fibres that are thinner than human hair but flexible and transparent. They can carry signals over very long distances at humongous data rates, with very marginal loss in intensity compared to conductive metal wires like copper. They also make the

bent glass fibres, answering his own enquiry that began in that school in Dehradun. Says Kapany: “When I was a high school student at Dehradun in the beautiful foothills of the Himalayas, it occurred to me that light need not travel in a straight line, that it could be bent. I carried that idea to college. Actually it was not an idea but the statement of a problem. When I worked in the ordnance factory at Dehradun after my graduation, I tried using right-angled prisms to bend light. However, when I went to London to study at the Imperial College and started working on my thesis, my advisor Dr Hopkins suggested that I try glass cylinders instead of prisms. So I thought of a bundle of thin glass fibres that could be bent easily. Initially my primary interest was to use them in medical instruments to look inside the human body. The broader potential of optic fibres did not dawn on me till 1955, which was when I coined the term ‘fibre optics’.”

Kapany was trying to use a glass fibre as a light pipe or, technically put, a 'dielectric wave guide'. But drawing a fibre of high optical quality free of impurities was a tough job. Kapany went to the Pilkington Glass Company, man-

mally invasive medical procedures like endoscopy and laser surgeries that save innumerable lives.

Born in Moga in Punjab on 12 October, 1926, Narinder grew up to be a precocious child, with tonnes of curiosity and a keen inquiring mind. The seeds of his destiny were sown during a physics lecture, where he was taught in school that light as a rule travels in

signal immune to EMI and push up the transmission rates to nearly the speed of light.

Narinder Singh Kapany’s pioneering research in fibre optics began at the Imperial College London while working with Harold Hopkins, an English physicist. It was here that he for the first time in 1954 succeeded in demonstrating that light can indeed travel in

ufacturer of glass fibre for non-optical purposes. “I took some optical glass and requested them to draw fibre from that. I also told them that I was going to use it to transmit light. They were perplexed, but humoured me. A few months later Pilkington sent spools of fibre made of green glass, which is used to make beer bottles. They had ignored the optical glass I had given them.

spent months making bundles of fibre from what they had supplied and trying to transmit light through them, but no light came out, as it was not optical glass. So I had to cut the bundle to short lengths and then use a bright carbon arc source.”

Kapany was confronted next with another problem. Naked glass fibre did not guide light well. Due to surface defects, more light was leaking out than he expected. So to transmit a largish image he needed a bundle of fibres containing several hundred strands – but contact between adjacent fibres led to loss of image resolution. Some fellow physicists suggested cladding the fibre as a solution. Cladding, when made of glass having refractive index lesser than the core reduced leakages and also prevented damage to the core. And at long last, Kapany was successful – he and Hopkins published their results in 1954 in a research paper entitled ‘A Flexible Fibrescope Using Static Scanning,’ which appeared the same year in the seminal British journal Nature.

Since then, Dr. Kapany has untiringly continued working in his field of interest, and has over 100 scientific papers to his credit in various international science journals. He is also credited with bringing the term ‘fibre optics’ into popular parlance, and indeed, it is his pioneering and innovative work that has led to the evolution and development of such advanced medical devices as the gastroscope, endoscope and bronchoscope. These immense contributions in the domains of fibre optics and communications have thus rightfully earned Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany the sobriquet, ‘Father of Fibre Optics.’

Dr. Kapany, 90 years old now, is quite a multifaceted person with active interest in multiple endeavours. Not merely a physicist par excellence, he is also a successful entrepreneur and businessman, philanthropist, and a sculptor all rolled into one. He is the founder of ‘Optics Technology Inc.’, ‘Kaptron Inc.’, and ‘K2 Optronics,’ a research and in-

novation firm in the field of fibre optics. He is also a specialist in the process of technology management and transfer through his entrepreneurial ventures.

As a philanthropist, Kapany has been active in education and the arts. For over 30 years now, he has been serving society through various trusts and foundations of his founding. He is a major founder and funder of the Sikh Foundation, and has bequeathed US$ 5 million for establishing an art gallery in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, to displaying works he has donated from

galleries in Chicago, Monterey, Palo Alto, and Stanford.

When the Nobel in Physics for 'ground breaking achievements concerning transmission of light in fibres for optical communication' was awarded to Charles Kao in the year 2009, Dr. Kapany’s omission from the coveted list surprised many Nobel watchers no end and created a big buzz in scientific circles, as it was a very well known fact that it was Dr. Kapany who pioneered the early works in fibre optics and demonstrated how it heralded a new technology era. His work was more than crucial to further research into the field and all this was done way before Kao started his own work on transmission of light over long distances via optical glass fibres but yet the Nobel Committee had chosen to ignore him.

his collection of Sikh art. Dr Kapany is renowned as much for his philanthropic endowment and promotion of Indian arts as he is for his contribution to optical fibre technology. He was a prime mover for the internationally much acclaimed ‘Arts of the Sikh Kingdom’ exhibitions to which he has also donated generously, which began at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, moving on to San Francisco later. As an artist, Dr. Kapany has created 40 "dynoptic" sculptures, which were first displayed in 1972 as a one-man show at the Exploratorium of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Since then, this collection has been viewed at museums and art

As an unsung hero, Dr. Kapany is not alone in facing this slight – many others before him have been ignored by the Nobel Committee as well, and outside of physics, the most classical example would be Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. And yes, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that it was the Nobel Committee which missed out on the father of the Indian nation. Dr. Kapany even to this day at the ripe old age of 90, continues to work in his quest for a better technology and inspires us with his achievements in the field of pure and applied science.

Even if the Nobel evaded him, Dr. Kapany can take solace in the myriad other honours that come his way in recognition of his path-breaking work - the ‘Excellence 2000’ Award from the USA PanAsian American Chamber of Commerce for instance. A respected fellow of the British Royal Academy of Engineering, the Optical Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany is also a recipient of India’s highest award conferred on diaspora, the ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Samman’ Award.

NRI Achievers Bureau Network

A BUSINESS EXPERT WHO RETURNED TO CONQUER RAJASEKHARAN NAIR

It is a widely accepted aphorism and home-truth that ‘no prophet is honoured in his hometown’. Honoured elsewhere he surely is, but when he returns to his hometown after winning the world, the folk of his hometown just take him for granted. It would have been the same in the case of Rajasekharan Nair, a personality of note in the Indian hospitality sector, when he returned home after an incredibly successful business sojourn in India’s city of opportunity – the great metropolis Mumbai. But he wasn’t someone to take things lying down … as from childhood he had faced every hurdle head-on and managed to come out on top. This indomitable spirit had made him one among that rare breed who stoop to conquer – and so did Rajasekharan win the respect of his town-folk, making his compatriots stand up in awe. NRI Achievers tells you his story ...

Childhood he remembered was tough, his family having neither money nor resources to get him a quality education in their native village. So Rajasekharan began right there on his return. He kick-started an internationally recognised centre of education that could take in 3000 students. From there he got on to doing plenty of humanitarian work there, like constructing houses for the homeless and assisting in the construction of houses for the needy. Recalling ill-health and the social neglect he had faced during

his young years, he is doing his mite in conducting medical camps, and such other acts of compassion and care. Thus has he wrested not just acceptance, but plenty love and respect in his native place.

Rajasekharan came into this world on 12 November 1955, the second of eight siblings born to Sreedharan and Rugmani Amma, a lower middle class couple belonging to the Nair community. Their village is Chenkal in Neyyattinkara Taluka of the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala State. Rajasekharan could not continue his studies after matriculation given the financial difficulties his family faced and the abject lack of facilities in their village. He left his native place with

hopes of landing a job. After a long and arduous trek, he reached Mumbai at the young age of 17, and got to doing odd jobs in the restaurants. It was during this period that he was attracted to the hospitality business, and he has always stuck to that soul-satisfying profession of entertaining guests, feeding people and giving joy and satisfaction to travellers from all over the world.

His life took a turn for the better after meeting Nanak Chand Agarwal, a hotel-owner of Mumbai, and he worked with him and his son Dinesh Kumar Agarwal. His dedication and hard work ensured he grew in stature from a lowly employee to become the manager of the hotel. The actual turn-

ing point in his life came when Dinesh started another hotel and put that too under Rajasekharan’s care. With finesse and the business acumen he had acquired, he managed both establishments, learning the intricacies of customer satisfaction and interlinking profitable business strategies to run a hospitality business successfully. At one point, when his confidence grew enough to put the thought in his mind that he was capable of sailing out on his own, he bit the bullet and started four restaurants of his own between 1985 and 1990, and kept them successfully afloat through tireless hard work, trustworthiness, fairness in all deal-

domestic and international travellers thanks to its location nestled amidst the natural beauty of God’s Own Country and simultaneously quite near to his native place.

Thus it occurred thus that he bought a patch of discarded beach land in Vellar near Kovalam, which had an unfriendly terrain with rocky areas used for quarrying, and some god-forsaken portions prone to use by anti-social elements for their nefarious activities. Surmounting all difficulties, he developed the land to his satisfaction and started his ‘Uday Samudra Leisure Beach Hotel and Spa,’ as a 4-Star facility with just 35 rooms. His constant

Air India and Air Maldives, catering mouth watering Indian and Continental delicacies to the passengers and crew of these 2 airlines. 2011 saw him setting up a luxury airport hotel ‘Uday Suites’ with 45 premium rooms, close to the domestic and international terminals of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport. Apart from hospitality his attention had also been also drawn to manufacturing, when in 2001 he picked up ‘R GAC Electrodes Limited’ and soon after in 2003, he started ‘KVT Electrodes Pvt. Ltd.’ Today this company is one of the leading welding electrodes manufacturs in the country.

ings and never-reconciling quality consciousness.

All this while he was like a driven man, nurturing a desire, waiting for a chance to to embark on doing something meaningful in his own place of birth and for his own people. When he formed a new company ‘Nair Estate & Hotels Pvt. Ltd.’ in 1993 with his wife Radha Nair and picked up Neelam Restaurant in Mumbai’s Chembur, he felt the pang of separation from his home stronger than ever. He began searching in earnest for a foothold in Kerala and started ‘R R Holiday Homes Pvt. Ltd.’ in 1995 as the first step in this direction. He began looking for a site to establish his hotel somewhere near Kovalam, which attracts thousands of

attention to every detail in infrastructure and furnishing, and persevering vigilance in the maintenance of quality in service enabled him to add more structures and facilities to obtain a 5-Star status for it in 2014. It is presently the biggest beach resort in Kerala with 225 luxury rooms and an ISO 9001-2000 Certification, apart from the rave reviews from travel media and the kudos from travel agencies and international groups.

Rajasekharan, however, did not chain his enterprising spirit to this one and only hotel. His desire to give more employment to his compatriots and his unquenchable craving to excel in every sphere found other outlets. In 2009 he started ‘UDS Sky Kitchens’ for

In the domain of his specialisation – the hospitality sector – his industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit have been spurring him to search for ever new grazing grounds. Already three of his projects are nearing completion. Expected to be commissioned in January 2017 is an International Convention Centre at Kowdiar with multiple facilities.

A five star hotel in Alleppey is to be commissioned in February 2017. Procuring of land and obtaining formal approval of the plans have been completed in the case of another five star hotel project at Vagamon in Idukki.

The passion and longing that had all along had driven him since his Mumbai days to seek avenues to do some-

thing for the young generation in his native place surfaces in between all this asset-building activity, and with the thought of today’s generation in his village never needing to suffer the limitations he had experienced saw him taking over an ailing school with 300 students the same year his UDS Sky Kitchens came into being. The school in Chenkal was rechristened ‘Sai Krishna Public School’ and was transformed into an institution of International repute and standards. It presently has a take-in of 1400 students under the CBSE syllabus. The infrastructure however, is built to handle a take-in of over 3000 students. Many students from poor families are given free education in this school. And his large-heartedness does not stop at that – numerous deserving boys and girls have been facilitated by Rajasekharan Nair to get quality education elsewhere.

A soft-spoken man who would never brag about his own qualities and capabilities, Rajasekharan Nair easily stands head and shoulders above others in his chosen fields of business, especially in the most difficult and complicated world of hospitality services, where discerning international clients and exacting travel agencies expect far too much from service providers and the facilities, who always remain at the receiving end.

The most notable characteristic of Rajasekharan Nair’s personality is his habit of never shirking his duties, whether working under or with others or on his own. He does not believe in and never resorts to passing the buck. He is ever ready to shoulder the heaviest portion of the burden himself and passes on lesser and more manageable burdens to his team-mates. This was always his secret of getting into the good books of his employers, and this quality has won him the love and utmost respect of all who work with him. This quality is also the prime reason for his steady risein the world of hospitality.

Never one to skirt a challenge, he is instead habituated to facing each challenge and considering it a stepping stone in his climb up the steep slope of success. He has in his lifetime faced a whole sea of challenges in his fight to establish his ‘UdaySamudra Leisure Beach Hotel & Spa,’ a 5-Star Luxury coastal property with 225 rooms and all attached facilities including Ayurveda and Panchakarma Centres, Western Spa, Naturopathy and Yoga Centre, et al. Founding R.R. Holiday Homes, the umbrella company of the group of establishments he had started in the hospitality segment, was also rife with its own set of unforeseen challenges. His usual method of taking the bull by its horns always has paid rich dividends in the long run.

His strict adherence to flawless and premium quality in everything his touches sets him apart from everyone else in the profession. All internationally established norms and accepted quality levels are strictly adhered to in each and every one of his establishments. He personally sees to it that the facilities are all over and above the

expectations of the clients and all services are streamlined to avoid the least complaint. The premises of the facilities are always spic-and-span, making visitors fall in love with them at the first sight. A hard but benevolent task master, he also personally sees that the quality of service of all who work under him is always satisfactory to clients. Any complaint is taken care of immediately – corrective action is swift and to the point.

Rajasekharan Nair believes that a contented workforce is the guarantee and prerequisite to creating a contented clientèle. He believes that the satisfaction on the faces of his employees becomes contagious and the visitors experience the same. He recognises and rewards every effort of dedication on the part of his employees. Thousands of guests from India and abroad have registered their satisfaction over the quality of service they have experienced at his facilities.

Subscribing to the maxim that ‘the customer is the king’ he sees to it that even the most insignificant specification or requirement voiced by his cli-

ent is taken seriously and fulfilled. Each customer gets whatever he demands, in the right quantity and quality as specified. He also has the fairness and large-heartedness to direct customers to facilities run by others, including his competitors, when the requirements of the customer makes it necessary or when some facility or activity that they require is not readily available at his place.

Apart from his commercial activities and philanthropy, nature conservation is an activity that Rajasekharan

has deep involvement in, having been engaged in it throughout his life. For the past seventeen years, he has been a part of the campaign to green Thiruvananthapuram city and to keep it clean. As part of his burden in this, he has taken to maintaining several parks and other green areas as part of this campaign, including the premises of the International Airport for the past six years. Kallumoode Circle and Chaka Circle on the National Highway has been in his care for the last 12 years, Sree Ayyankali Park at Vellayambalam for the last 17 years, and Ponnara Sreedhar Park in front of the Railway Station and Central Bus Stand – including the illumination, security and maintenance of facilities – for the past 11 years. Taking a personal interest in the progress of these activities, he gives ample financial help to activities for protecting nature and conserving natural resources.

He believes that it is better to give a cow to a family than give them milk every day – this will make them stand on their own feet and have some selfrespect. Following this philosophy, he gives training for bettering skills, especially in the hospitality field, so that people may be able to land themselves into opportunities for gainful livelihoods. He has put this principle into practice in his school and in his hospitality facilities. He is not at all displeased with them if they leave his facilities for better prospects elsewhere.

Neither is he narrow-minded to ‘mind his own businesses’. He works instead for the welfare of the whole sector and does a yeoman’s service for the uplift of those engaged in the same field. He is an Executive Member of Kerala Travel Mart that brings those in hospitality sector under an umbrella and works for the progress of the whole industry.

Several awards and recognitions have come his way from Government and other organisations. From 2008 to 2015 he has received the ‘Best Four Star’ award for his ‘UdaySamudra Beach Resort’ from the Kerala Government’s Department of Tourism. He has also received the ‘Best Coastal Hotel’ Award from the World Luxury Hotel Award Organisation continuously from 2010 to 2015. The All India Achievers’ Foundation has honoured him with an ‘Indian Leadership Award for Hospitality and Tourism’ in 2011 and the Kerala Sahridaya Vedi gave him a ‘Tourism Entrepreneur’ Award in 2009. He got the ‘Business Excellence’ Award in 2013 from the Union of German Malayalees Association (UGMA) and the Inspire Achievement Award Organisation. His school at Chenkal has been adjudged ‘Regional Winner’ in the Asia-Pacific region from School Entrepreneur Challenge of United Kingdom.

Rajasekharan is blessed with a family that supports all his endeavours in every way. He is married to Udayachandrika aka Radha, as she is known in the South Indian film industry as a noted character artiste and Kalaimamani Award winner. They have three children. Karthika, who is a film actress and a student at the London University, Vignesh, who is doing his higher studies in Hotel Management also in London and Thulasi, who too is a thespian and a BBA student in Cambridge University. Rajasekharan Nair’s story, in a nutshell, is the story of perseverance that pays, hard work that sustains, care for fellow human beings that gives contentment and care for nature and environment that gives joy. India and its hospitality industry can expect much more from him in the coming years.

The author is an executive editor of HIF news. He is also an expert in international affairs, economics studies & planning.

…TRAVELLING 20,000 KMS TO REMOVE SOCIAL EVILS...

ACHARYA DR. LOKESH MUNI

Acharya Dr. Lokesh Ji is a social reformer, versatile thinker, writer and poet. For the last 30 years, he has been continuously making efforts for building National character, development of human values and establishing non-violence, peace and mutual co-operation in the society. He has travelled on foot about 20,000 kilometres throughout the country for removing social evils and for propagating moral values. He says "My first and last ambition is that I should be able to make the world free from violence, terrorism and tension." In order to give practical shape to these values he jas founded "Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti," with a view to taking his activities to the worldwide stage through this organisation

Acharya Dr. Lokesh Ji was born on April 17th 1961. After completing his formal education, he immersed himself deeply into Jaina, Buddhist, Vedic and other Indian and foreign schools of thought to get a more profound understanding of the philosophies propounded in these systems. He is quite well read in Prakrit, Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Gujrati, Kannada and many other languages. Dr. Lokesh has succeeded in earning limitless love, fame and respect not merely in India but also at the International level due to his steadfastness, knowledge, energy and perseverance. He is a master in the fields of Meditation, Yoga, and Peace Education. His contribution is the mode of popular 'Peace Education' which resorts to a blend of age-old meditation and Yoga techniques and current scientific research. It strives to bring an end to the animal instinct in human beings and awakens

the latent higher spiritual values in people.

In the year 2001, Bill Clinton, then President of USA, was so deeply impressed with the fundamental thoughts of Dr. Lokesh that he invited him to visit America. During his first visit to the USA during March 2007, the Acharya discussed Peace Education and training for non-violence in the Senate,

where members of both republican and democrat parties participated. In September 2008, he addressed the Milpitas Assembly of California. Mayor Hoze Astawish honoured him with ‘Keys of Milpitas City’ for his distinguished contribution in the field of non-violence, peace and mutual co-operation.

Dr. Lokesh is a prolific writer, having

penned more than dozen books in prose and poetry. His writings are quite famous due to his new approach and the solutions he offers to current problems. Dr. Lokesh not only lists the major problems confronting the world today, but also presents an approach to find lasting solutions for them. 'The Unborn Curse' is a novel that was released in Hindi by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, then President of India, and it has gained popularity to a large extent. The first copy of the English version was released by Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party. The introduction to this book was written by Shivraj Patil, then Home Minister of India, and L.K. Advani, the former Deputy Prime Minister of India had also penned down his comments. Acharya Dr. Lokesh's works provide solutions to personal, social, national and International problems. Innumerable people have found solutions to their problems through his writings and have been successful in finding and practising the basic mantra of health, leading a happy and ecstatic way of life.

The works of Acharya Dr. Lokesh has been translated into many languages including Hindi, English, Gujarati, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada and German. Dr. Lokesh is also a noted social reformer, who has undertaken several experiments for the removal of ignoble traditions in society. While establishing Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti, he had sideby-side started a strong movement against female foeticide prevalent in the country and against other social evils such as consumption of alcohol. In the All–Religion Foot travel from Tankara in Gujarat to Amritsar in Punjab passing through five States for creating an awakening among the public against abortion of female child, he was leading participants of the Jain faith as an expression of solidarity against female foeticide, and the use of intoxicants in various states. The Acharya started the national movement against this evil on February 20th, 2008, and it

was inaugurated by Dr. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India.

The basic speciality of Indian culture is 'unity in diversity.' This fundamental concept promotes mutual brotherhood amongst all religions, preserve meaningful cultural traditions, establish Ahimsa as a way of life and promote mutual co-operation in society. This 1,500 kilometre pada-yatra by the Acharya from Haryana to Gujarat has in this context helped establish the spirit of religious tolerance and mutual brotherhood. Appreciating it, Sonia Gandhi had once written: “I am happy to learn that the status of Yuvacharya is being offered to Muni Lokesh Ji, the founder of Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti, who has been working hard for the past 25 years towards building national character and uplift of human values. He is famous as a prominent thinker, author,

poet and promoter of mutual brotherhood in society. His efforts in this direction are worthy of appreciation, especially in communally affected areas of Gujarat, for establishing peace and mutual brotherhood. He has successfully amalgamated religion with science and social service. His national movement against female foeticide and alcohol has created a wave of awakening among the public.”

Acharya Dr. Lokesh had made efforts from time to douse tensions among various castes, groups, religions and gatherings. For example, in 2007 Dr. Lokesh had played a key role in removing the tensions that arose between Ram Rahim's Dera Sacha Sauda and the Sikh community. His intervention was instrumental in keeping peace, and avoidance of violence. In 2010 Acharya Dr. Lokesh Muni was honoured with the 'National Communal Harmony Award' by the Government of India. In 2006, then President Smt. Pratibha Patil had conferred the famous 'Ethical Honor' of the Gulzarilal Nanda Foundation to Dr. Lokesh for distinguished service in establishing Ahimsa, Peace and mutual trust in the society.

NRI Achievers Desk

GST - WHAT IS IT ?

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second) Amendment Bill 2014, unofficially and commonly better known as the 'GST' or the 'Goods & Services Tax' Bill, has been passed by both the upper house Rajya Sabha and the lower house Lok Sabha of the Indian Parliament. The implementation deadline for this Act is the 1st of April 2017. Pithily put, it is a witness of the winds of change sweeping through India's political culture and federal structure, where governance is at the forefront. Universally expected to help boost India's GDP growth by 100-200 bps, as GST will facilitate faster and cheaper movement of goods across the country via an uniform taxation structure, pundits and policy wonks have all raving about it as the single most important reform to come after the 1991 liberalisation, and name it a harbinger of 'acchhe din' for our economy. So what is this GST and what does it augur for our economy ? It is indeed important we look at the nuts-and-bolts of this legislation and how it is likely to affect our lives. NRI Achievers takes a look ...

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second) Amendment Bill 2014, unofficially and commonly better known as the 'GST' or the 'Goods & Services Tax' Bill, has been passed by both the upper house Rajya Sabha and the lower house Lok Sabha of the Indian Parliament. The implementation deadline for this Act is the 1st of April 2017. Pithily put, it is a witness of the winds of change sweeping through India's political culture and federal structure, where governance is at the forefront. Universally expected to help boost India's GDP growth by 100200 bps, as GST will facilitate faster and cheaper movement of goods across the country via an uniform taxation structure, pundits and policy wonks have all raving about it as the single most impor-

tant reform to come after the 1991 liberalisation, and name it a harbinger of 'acchhe din' for our economy. So what is this GST and what does it augur for our economy ? It is indeed important we look at the nuts-and-bolts of this legislation and how it is likely to affect our lives. NRI Achievers takes a look ...

The Goods & Services Tax, aka GST, is envisaged as a comprehensive indirect tax on the manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services across India, to replace the myriad taxes levied by central and state governments. GST will be levied and collected at each stage of sale or purchase of goods or services, based on the input tax credit method, with administrative responsibility generally vested with a single authority.

Model law provides that the GST will

replace all the service, entertainment and luxury taxes completely, whereas some central excise and state value-added tax laws, most of which will also be subsumed, shall continue to apply to some specified goods, namely petroleum, alcohol, and tobacco. India has 29 states and 7 union territories with a varied tax rate and structure. The dual GST model (central GST and state GST) proposes to replace around 29 state and federal taxes and tariffs with a single tax at the point of sale. The current combined Centre and state statutory rates for most goods works out to be 26.5%, but GST is expected to bring it down to between 18~21%.

As India is a federal republic, GST would be implemented concurrently by both central and state governments. The

implementation would however result in some revenue losses to the states. To tackle this, the central government has assured states of compensation for any revenue losses incurred by them for a period of five years from the date of introduction of GST. Prospects of the Union government meeting its 1 April 2017 GST implementation deadline looks possible as of now, as states across the political spectrum are moving apace to ratify the tax reform, with 14 states on-board as of this writing. The bill needs the backing of at least 15 states before it can be sent for presidential assent.

Once the Constitution Amendment Bill is enacted, the government will set up a GST council that would decide on crucial issues such as tax rates and finalize three GST laws. The government is aiming to table the central GST law and the integrated GST law during the coming winter session of Parliament. The state GST law will go to all the states for passage.

The benefits of GST implementation are manifold. From our reading of the Bill, the following benefits would flow to the economy, government, consumers and industry:

Ø Amalgamation of several Central and State taxes into a single tax will mitigate cascading or double taxation, facilitating

SECTOR/OVERALL IMPACT EFFECTS OF IMPLEMENTATION

Automobiles (Positive)

Consumer Durables (Neutral or Negative)

l Tax rate expected to oscillate between 20 - 22% as opposed to current range of 30 - 47%.

l Will benefit companies not availing tax exemptions in the past.

l Reduce price gap between the organised and unorganised sector.

l Lower tax rate for Paints & other construction chemicals companies.

Furnishing & Home Décor (Positive)

Cement (Positive)

Entertainment (Positive)

Textiles/Garments (Negative)

Pharma (Neutral)

IT & ITeS (Neutral to slightly Negative)

l Overall cost & competitiveness in products like ceramic tiles, faucets, sanitary ware, plywood & laminates manufacture will be curbed.

l Reduced price gap between organised and unorganised sector. Growth opportunities for organised sector will improve.

l Tax rate expected to decline to 18 - 22 % from current range of 27 - 32 %

l Improved overall realisations substantially

l Tax rate expected to trickle down to 18 - 20% from the current levels of 22 – 24%, which will lead to increase in average ticket price and higher revenue.

l Tax rate expected to decline from current range of 6 - 7%. However, no clarity whether a lower rate will continue for the ready-made garments.

l Export companies may avail duty drawback benefits.

l Sector enjoys various location-based tax incentives. Concessional tax bracket expected to continue.

l Tax rate expected to increase to 18 - 20% from the current rate of 14%.

l Litigation around taxability of canned software will probably end as there will be no distinction between goods & services.

l Tax rate expected to increase to 18% from the current rate of 14%.

Telecom (Marginally Negative)

Banking & Financial Services (Neutral)

l May pass the increased tax burden on postpaid subscribers & availability of input tax credit will lower the sector's CapEx cost.

l Tax rate on fee-based transactions could increase to 18 - 20% from 15%.

l Moderate increase expected in cost of financial services such as loan processing fees, debit/credit card charge, insurance premia, etc.

a common national market. The simplicity of the tax ought to lead to easier administration and enforcement.

Ø From the consumer's point of view, the biggest advantage will be in terms of an overall reduction in the tax burden on goods which today is estimated to hover at around 25% - 30%.

Ø Free movement of goods from one state to another without stopping at borders for payment of state tax or entry tax and reduction in paperwork to a large extent.

Ø More competitive manufacturing can spur Make in India.

Ø Cost of goods can also come down drastically as a one-nation-one-tax GST structure can massively reduce the long and winding queues at border check-

points and other entry points within and between states.

Ø Exports could get a competitive edge.

Ø Fewer tax disputes.

As you can well understand, benefits are indeed manifold. But having said that, it would indeed be partisan to not mention the serious challenges in implementing this new paradigm. Actual GST implementation will need to overcome a whole slew of legislative, political, fiscal and administrative challenges like:

Ø RNR, or Revenue Neutral Rate, is one of the prominent factors for its success, wherein the government has to focus on at least the revenue remaining the same despite giving tax credits.

Ø While achieving a broad-based tax structure under GST, both the Empowered Committee as well as the Central Government must ensure that lowering the threshold limit is not a “taxing” burden on small businessmen in the country.

Ø The Government has already incorporated a Goods & Service Tax Network (GSTN). This GSTN has to develop a GST portal which ensures technology support for registration, return filing, tax payments, IGST settlements et al.

Ø GST is a different animal altogether, absolutely different from the existing system. Ergo, it requires that tax administration staff at both Centre and State be appropriately trained and are efficient in terms of concept, legislation and procedure and as well as facilitating smooth transition from the existing to the new system.

Ø The law needs to provide more clarity on registration and maintenance of documents at more than one place of business.

Ø Of paramount importance is the need for the Law to address the mechanism for dispute redressal between the Centre and the State Governments.

Ø With a spiralling increase in online business/e-tailing, the law needs to make provision for refund/adjustment of tax for goods returned.

Ø Business houses will need to put systems in place to be GST compliant, and

also manage their supply-chain to take advantage of GST.

Let us now take a look at how GST is likely to impact the Indian economy sectorally. The largest and most major impact of GST will be on the logistics and supply-chain management domain, which on implementation of GST could witness considerable cost reduction, and the same would percolate to the manufacturing concerns this domain services. Depending on the fixation of the GST rate, various sectors will be impacted differently. However, based upon existing data available on the various domains, GST impact on a few sectors can well be prognosticated as portrayed below (See Table)

Given some grey areas and the lack of clarity on some aspects that exists as of today on GST, there could be varied deliberations on the impact of GST on the different sectors of our economy. The key is how it will affect us, the people of India in the immediate future, in the medium to long term. There could be a possibility that in the short term, GST may have a negative impact in the im-

mediate future, but will settle down towards the end of FY 17-18. Over the past few decades, NRIs have shown great interest in parking their funds in Indian Investments. With the implementation of GST impacting positively on sectors like logistics, warehousing, automobiles, film production, DTH, multiplexes, cement etc., it will make India an attractive destination for investment into these sectors by the NRIs. NRIs would find it simpler to deal with one unified tax structure across the country. There would be no more surprises in the form of various aspects of taxation which they may not be aware of.

In sum, GST stands as one of the most significant tax reforms in India, and its successful implementation would give a strong signal to foreign investors about our ability to support business. Besides, it will enable wide-scale changes in the tax structure which will have long term positive effects on our economy. The success of GST depends essentially on two factors i.e., RTR or revenue neutral rate and secondary threshold limits which are being debated intensively. GST administration will have to be ramped-up both at the Centre & at State levels with tax officials having to change their mindsets and also educate tax payers.

Implementation of GST in effect opens up the prospect of transitioning to a world-class indirect tax compliance system, one that is fully automated and is supple enough to house changes in the tax base, rates and rules and procedures. The need of the hour for business houses is to foresee and build up alternate scenarios for the GST design and assess its impact on their accounting and compliance frameworks, cash flows, pricing strategy, supply-chain structure, organisational structure and IT systems for effective transitioning.

The author is a practising CA with over 26 years of experience. He has served on the boards of more than 36 companies across sectors, including Public Sector Banks and PSUs

S Ravi

GST TO HERALD GOOD TIMES

The Goods and Services Tax (aka GST), a much awaited landmark reform undertaken by the government, is more than likely to give a formidable boost to the Indian economy in general, and real estate sector – one that contributes significantly to our GDP – in particular. Now that both the houses of the Indian Parliament have passed the Bill, this conviction is even more reinforced. The GST dispensation will unify the Indian market into one entity as opposed to the largely fragmented form in which it has existed until now due to differing levels and layers of taxation in the different states of the Indian Union. Here we will take a look at how the new dispensation will be beneficial to the real estate sector ...

GST will usher in the era of 'One Country, One Tax' by creating a huge common market in the country, by eliminating a plethora of central and state taxes on the movement of goods and services. It will do away with the cascading burden of tax on tax and all central and state level taxes and levies on all goods and services will be subsumed within ONE integrated tax, with components of central and state GST. As a result, the end consumer will gain from lower tax rates that will follow from GST, with tax charged only on value addition and setoffs against taxes on inputs/previous purchases. Large scale leakages will also be prevented

thanks to a robust IT structure, reducing hidden costs of doing business and resulting in reducing the overall tax burden on consumers.

Here we will view and review the impact of GST on the real estate sector by digesting the current backdrop in which it exists today –plagued by myriad indirect taxes at both the central and state levels. "At the central level, confusion still prevails on certain aspects of applicability of service tax and availing of CENVAT credit. And on the state level, issues around VAT and stamp duty continue. GST seeks to address key long-standing issues such as overlapping between VAT and service tax valuation, resolving it by deeming construction activity/works contracts to be 'supply of services', with no requirement of splitting the contract value, thereby bringing in a uniform tax structure across the country," says Mahesh Jaising, Partner, BMR Associates. Adds Anuj Puri, Chairman, JLL India, "Apart from a significant reduction in tax management expenses due to the single uniform tax, compliance costs will go down as well ".

According to Aman Agarwal, Director – K V Developers & Member – Governing Council,

NAREDCO; the advent of GST will subsume 16 major taxes and levies into a single tax, and stop double-taxation to relieve end-users of inflated prices. Vineet Relia, MD – SARE Homes, believes that home buyers in general could benefit from the introduction of GST provided the rates are moderate. “The works contract to be taxed as a service under the model GST law is expected to provide certainty on taxability of the construction sector. This should lead to reduction in tax costs as the tax would be now charged on the actual contractual base and there would not be any overlap of VAT and service tax on a certain portion of such contracts like under the current regime". Adds Mahesh Jaising of BMR Associates, "For the residential sector, the free flow of credits should reduce contracting price. But then the impact on the customer will depend on whether the contractor on-passes the benefits to them or not".

It is worthwhile mentioning that while buying an under-construction flat, the buyer needs to pay both service tax and VAT that varies from state to state. Additional indirect taxes are paid by the developer during procurement which gets

built into the cost of apartment. But Kushagr Ansal, Director of Ansal Housing believes that simplified tax structure in the form of GST would remove tax inefficiency, thereby bringing down property prices, resulting in better affordability for people looking for property options in tier 2- 3 cities. Deepak Kapoor, President CREDAI- Western UP too agrees that GST will lead to cost reduction, leading to a spurt in demand. He expects 15-20 percent growth in the real estate sector over the next 5-7 years. Dhiraj Jain, Director of Mahagun Group also thinks that GST would provide relief on the pricing front: "Service Tax and VAT for purchase of homes booked prior to completion, impact pricing. Then there are numerous components of

taxability of construction under VAT regime is state specific and there is a differential tax rate on works contract and materials used for construction.

Commercial real estate will also get a boost with GST. Says Manoj Gaur, President, CREDAI NCR and MD, Gaursons: "Commercial realty

residential projects. He says that in the current scenario, there is no service tax applicable to renting immovable property, particularly for residential purposes, but service tax and VAT are implemented on the construction work. The question is whether GST will offer differential tax for residential properties. Mahesh Jaising talks about GST's adverse impact on the SEZ sector. "The continuation of denial of construction related credits under GST as well would prove detrimental to developers. Also, with GST silent on zero-rating of supplying goods and services to SEZ developers and units, the SEZ scheme may not appear beneficial any more".

non-creditable tax costs such as CST, entry tax, custom duty etc., which is duly paid by the developer on its procurement side which are basically ingredients for the cost pricing of units".

The real estate sector will get benefited by way of affordable pricing from uniform tax on building materials including cement, steel etc. "Their costs become a major deciding factor while finalising the price of the finished product – be it home, office or mall," says Arjun Preet Singh Sahni, ED of Solitarian Group. Concurs Anshul Jain of C&W: "Under GST, developers will see lesser burden of tax on input items like cement, steel etc., as tax credits would be available for set off at various stages, which will in turn lead to low construction costs for developers across all asset classes. And this could likely be passed on to property buyers/occupiers". Anuj Puri of JLL is of the view that introduction of GST will reduce transit time taken for border crossings and paper work, which will positively impact the pricing of construction materials. Currently, construction materials and services are subject to various taxes which make taxability highly complex. As of today, the provision relating to

players will be hugely benefited as all the lost CENVAT credit which in current regime is a cost to commercial developer, can be availed if GST is applied in a free flow manner that will also help in reducing costs". Adds Mahesh Jaising, "On the commercial side, the modern traders/malls can now claim credit of GST paid on rentals. However proposed continuation of the denial of construction related credits under GST as well would be a dampner to developers."

In the commercial real estate segment, warehousing and logistics is going to get a major fillip. Says Anshul Jain, "This sector, which is essential to raise the competitiveness of India's manufacturing, would be specially benefited by GST as it would bring about increased supplychain efficiency. With the abolition of various central, state and local level taxes, GST will enable easier transfer of goods between states, giving way to larger centralised and advanced warehouses that would serve as hubs to service various states".

But then there are some concerns as well. Vineet Relia thinks that for developers, the aspect of valuation is a matter of concern as currently no deduction is provided under GST for the value of land. This can contribute to a higher tax burden considering that there is already an additional tax incidence in the form of stamp duty on the value of land. Anil Pharande, Chairman of Pharande Spaces raises the issue of some confusion regarding GST implementation on

Going forward, as GST takes its final shape over the next few months, these concerns may well be addressed. Notwithstanding this, one cannot but overlook its major advantage of giving a boost to the 'ease of doing business' and strengthening the confidence of foreign investors by way of transparency. Along with recently passed RERA and Benami Property Act, GST too will help foreign investors develop faith to invest in regulated realty. GST will disincentivise tax evasion providing no room for hidden transactions, thereby bringing in transparency into the system and boosting positive sentiment. "While the complete effect of this bill will take some time to be realized in some sectors, overall it is expected to have a long lasting and positive, progressive impact on the economy, especially the real estate sector, by enhancing the present business sentiment in the country", says Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South Asia, CBRE.

So as the government readies itself to implement GST from April 1, 2017, without gainsaying it remains to be seen to what extent GST gets diluted during the interim period in terms of the GST rate. A central government committee has recommended 18 percent tax rate while states are asking for over 20 percent. As a higher GST rate will lead to inflation, one hopes that a reasonable rate is fixed, so that the gains of GST to the real estate sector in particular and to the overall economy of the country in general are not frittered away.

Vinod Behl

The author is a senior media professional & the consulting editor of NRI Achievers magazine. He may be reached at: vb@nriachievers.in

DYING TO LIVE

If you are creating what you really care for, if you die of exhaustion, that’s okay. If you are not doing what really matters and creating what you care for, if you die of exhaustion just trying to earn a living, that is a stupid way to die.

Iremember there was a man who was living in Hyderabad. I knew the family very well and when I stayed with them, I would notice how agitated he always was. One day, he, his wife and me were having a conversation, and I was joking about how he was constantly hopping around the place all the time. His wife said, “Sadhguru, he is just dying to live.” I replied, “You said it. You got your husband right. He is a man who is dying to live.” If you live, anyway you will die. You don’t have to die to live. You just have to live, because you are a life. It is just that people either make themselves into half a life or they are dying to live. That’s not necessary. If you allow this life to function at its fullest, it will do many things.

Please understand, if you spend your lifetime trying to earn a living, it is tiring. Whether you work twenty hours, ten hours, eight hours or five hours a day, it will be tiring – whatever you do. However, when you do something that really matters to you, it may be physically exhausting, but life is not tiring because you are constantly doing what matters.

If you work five or ten years for your security, that’s okay. But if you are going to work all your life for your security, you are seeking death because death is the only secure thing in the existence. Life is never secure. You are trying to live while unknowingly working for death. Now you are dying to live, as the lady appropriately said. The man actu-

ally died a few years later.

Please see, it is not your schedule that is killing you. You are horribly preoccupied in your head – that is what is killing you. Do something that matters to you and everyone around you. Then you will see there is a limitless intelligence and energy available to every human being. It is just that they think they are very smart building walls around themselves. If you store food for thirty days for your family, it’s okay. If you store food for a hundred years, you are a nut case, aren’t you?

I was in the United States in someone’s home. I generally know the layout of these homes, how they are built, the architecture, and I know where the restrooms are, so without asking I usually find it. When I went looking for the restroom in this house, I opened a door and walked into a huge room full of footwear! I think there were around four or five hundred pairs neatly arranged.

When I spoke to the lady who owned these, I said, “I can understand you want a pair of footwear to walk around your home, another to walk up the mountain, you want one to play golf, another to wear for the party – but you have a variety of clothes so you need the whole spectrum of colors – so all these if we add up, you may need twenty, twentyone pairs. But five hundred pairs! If you just check and see, there are only two feet. You are rich and your lifestyle is such that you have twenty-one pairs of

footwear, that’s okay. But five hundred pairs! If you come back for the next fifty lifetimes, you still cannot wear all these.”

Survival should be addressed very quickly. And then you must do what really matters. If you don’t, you will never know what it means to know an exuberant level of energy, what it means to be in such a way that even if you don’t sleep through the night you are “on” in the morning. You will never know this because the doctors have told you that if you have to live till eighty, you must sleep nine hours a day. The rest of the day goes in popping vitamin pills every two hours, doing this, doing that, and anyway you will die without living.

What are you so afraid of? Live totally today and if you fall dead tomorrow out of exhaustion, it’s okay. At least you lived for one day completely, throwing your life out. If you don’t live like this, you will never know life. What are you holding it back for? If you hold it, it won’t stay with you; that is the nature of life.

This is not material substance that you can lock and keep. If you lock it, it will die. Please live. Don’t store for future lives. Don’t have more than twenty-one pairs of footwear, okay?

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev Sadhguru is a self-realised yogi, mystic, seer and visionary, and a prominent spiritual leader. An author, poet, and internationally-renowned speaker, Sadhguru is the founder of Isha Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to human wellbeing. isha.sadhguru.org

SaDHGURU TOURS USa

For our readers in the United States of America, it might be interesting to know that Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a self-realised yogi, mystic, seer, visionary, and prominent spiritual leader from India, will be touring the US from mid-September to mid-October. Sadhguru, who is also a prolific author, poet, an internationally-acclaimed speaker and founding father of the Isha Foundation – a notfor-profit dedicated to human well-being that promotes yoga, meditation and balanced living as the path for doing away with the ills of our hectic lives, will be in the US to promote his new book, “Inner Engineering – A Yogi’s Guide to Joy,” which is scheduled to be released to the American public this September on the 20th, for promoting which Sadhguru plans to travel and mingle with people interested in improving their lives.

Sadhguru has specifically designed the book as an aid and help for one to master nature’s most sophisticated and complex machine on the planet — the human being. And Sadhguru will, for the first time, present Western readers

with a path through the adoption of which one could achieve absolute well-being. Well-being via the classical science and practice of yoga in the form of a practical, accessible book. The distilled wisdom contained in this transformative book offers readers time-tested tools for creating inner scenarios exactly the way one would want them, turning each practitioner into the architect of his or her own joy. In Inner Engineering, Sadhguru retells the fascinating story of his own awakening, his transition from a boy to a young daredevil, up to the moment of his enlightenment atop a mountain in India where time stood still and he emerged radically and qualitatively transformed, and even right up to this day, when as the founder of Isha he lights up the path for all those millions who come to him.

In Sadhguru’s own words, his aim in this book is, “... to help make joy your constant companion. To make that happen, this book offers you not a sermon but a science, not a teaching but a technology, not a precept but a path.”

SaDHGURU'S NORTH a MERICa TOUR

DATE

VENUE

EVENT TYPE

September 16 Yale University Private

September 17 Boston, MA Public

September 20 New York City, NY Public

September 21 Harvard University Private September 22 New Brunswick, NJ Public

September 23 Washington, DC Public

September 25 Sarasota, FL Public

September 27 Austin, TX Public

September 28 Dallas, TX Public

October 1 Pasadena, CA Public

October 2 San Jose, CA Public

October 5 Seattle, WA Public

October 6 Vancouver, BC Public

October 8 Minneapolis, MN Public

October 9 Nashville, TN Public

October 12 University of Wisconsin Public

October 13 Chicago, IL Public

So meet, mingle and meditate with Sadhguru when he is in your city, and have him answer your questions. For details for your specific city, go to: https://isha.sadhguru.org/SadhguruTour/

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ÖæÚUÌ ·¤ô ÂéÙÑ ©â·Ô¤ ´¹ Îð ÎðÌð ãñ´, ÂéÙÑ ©â·¤æ ¥æ·¤æàæ Îð ÎðÌð ãñ´, ÂéÙÑ ©â·¤è ¥æ´¹ô´ ·¤ô çâÌæÚUô´ ·¤è ÌÚUȤ ©Ç¸Ùð ·¤è ¿æã âð ÖÚU ÎðÌð ãñ´ Ìô ã×

·Ô¤ßÜ ©Ù·¤ô ãè ÙãUè´ Õ¿æ ÜðÌð ãñ´ çÁÙ·Ô¤ ÖèÌÚU ŒØæâ ãñ, ã× ©Ù·¤ô Öè Õ¿æ ÜðÌð ãñ´, Áô ¥æÁ âôØð ãñ´, Üðç·¤Ù ·¤Ü Áæ»ð´»ð; Áô ¥æÁ ¹ôØð ãñ´ Üðç·¤Ù ƒæÚU ÜõÅUð´»ð.

ÖæÚUÌ ·¤æ Öæ‚Ø ×ÙécØ ·¤è çÙØçÌ ãñ €UØô´ç·¤ ã×Ùð Áñâæ ×ÙécØ ·¤è ¿ðÌÙæ ·¤ô ¿×·¤æØæ Íæ ¥õÚU ã×Ùð Áñâð ÎèØð ©â·Ô¤ ÖèÌÚU ÁÜæØð Íð, Áñâè âé»´Ï ã×Ùð ©â×ð´ ©ÂÁæ§ü Íè, ßñâè ÎéçÙØæ ×ð´ ·¤ô§ü Öè Ùãè´ ·¤ÚU â·¤æ Íæ. Øã ·¤ô§ü Îâ ãÁæÚU âæÜ ÂéÚUæÙè âÌÌ âæÏÙæ ãñ, âÌÌ Øô» ãñ, âÌÌ ŠØæÙ ãñ. ã×Ùð §â·Ô¤ çÜ° ¥õÚU âÕ ·¤éÀ ¹ô çÎØæ, âÕ ·¤éÀ ·¤éÕæüÙ ·¤ÚU çÎØæ Üðç·¤Ù ×ÙécØ ·¤è ¥¡ÏðÚUè â𠥡ÏðÚUè ÚUæÌ ×ð´ Öè ã×Ùð ¥æÎ×è ·¤è ¿ðÌÙæ ·Ô¤ ÎèØð ·¤ô ÁÜæØð ÚU¹æ ãñ, ¿æãð ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ×çh× ©â·¤è Üõ ãô »Øè ãô, Üðç·¤Ù çÎØæ ¥Õ Öè ÁÜÌæ ãñÐ

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The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.

ÃØçQ¤ Ùè¿ð Îè ãé° x ¿èÁô´ âð â´ÌéC ÚUãð... ¹éÎ ·¤è Â%è, ßã ÖôÁÙ Áô çßÏæÌæ Ùð ÂýÎæÙ ç·¤Øæ, ©ÌÙæ ÏÙ çÁÌÙæ §×æÙÎæÚUè âð ç×Ü »Øæ.

One should feel satisfied with the following three things... his own wife, food given by Providence and wealth acquired by honest effort.

Üðç·¤Ù ÃØçQ¤ ·¤ô Ùè¿ð Îè ãé§ü x ¿èÁô âð â´ÌéC Ùãè´ ãôÙæ ¿æçã°... ¥Øæâ, Ö»ßæÙ÷ ·¤æ Ùæ× S×ÚU‡æ, ÂÚUô·¤æÚU.

But one should never feel satisfied with the following three... study, chanting the holy names of the Lord (japa) and charity.

§Ù ÎôÙô´ ·Ô¤ ×ŠØ âð ·¤Öè Ùæ Áæ°´... Îô Õýæ±×‡æ, Õýæ±×‡æ ¥õÚU ©â·Ô¤ Ø™æ ×ð´ ÁÜÙð ßæÜè ¥ç‚Ù, ÂçÌ Â%è, Sßæ×è ¥õÚU ©â·¤æ ¿æ·¤ÚU, ãÜ ¥õÚU ÕñÜ.

Do not pass between two brahmanas, between a brahmana and his sacrificial fire, between a wife and her husband, a master and his servant, and a plough and an ox.

¥ÂÙæ ÂñÚU ·¤Öè Öè §Ùâð Ù ÀêÙð Îð´... ¥ç‚Ù, ¥ŠØæçˆ×·¤ »éL¤, Õýæ±×‡æ, »æØ, °·¤ ·¤é×æçÚU·¤æ, °·¤ ©×ý ×ð´ ÕÇ¸æ ¥æÎ×è, °·¤ Õ‘¿æ. Do not let your foot touch fire, the spiritual master or a brahmana; it must never touch a cow, a virgin, an old person or a child.

ãæÍè âð ãÁæÚU »Á ·¤è ÎêÚUè ÚU¹ð´. ƒæôǸð âð âõ ·¤è. âè´» ßæÜð ÁæÙßÚU âð Îâ ·¤è. Üðç·¤Ù ÎéC Áãæ´ ãô ©â Á»ã âð ãè çÙ·¤Ü Áæ°´. Keep one thousand cubits away from an elephant, a hundred from a horse, ten from a horned beast, but keep away from the wicked by leaving the country.

ãæÍè ·¤ô ¥´·¤éàæ âð çÙØ´ç˜æÌ ·¤ÚUð. ƒæôǸ𠷤ô Í ÍÂæ ·Ô¤. âè´» ßæÜð ÁæÙßÚU ·¤ô Ç´Çæ çÎ¹æ ·Ô¤. °·¤ ÕÎ×æàæ ·¤ô ÌÜßæÚU âð.

An elephant is controlled by a goad (ankusha), a horse by a slap of the hand, a horned animal with the show of a stick, and a rascal with a sword. Õýæ±×‡æ ¥‘Àð ÖôÁÙ âð Ìë# ãôÌð ãñ´. ×ôÚU ×ðƒæ »ÁüÙæ âð. âæÏê ÎêâÚUô´ ·¤è âÂóæÌæ Îð¹·¤ÚU ¥õÚU ÎéC ÎêâÚUô´ ·¤è çßÂÎæ Îð¹·¤ÚU. Brahmanas find satisfaction in a good

meal, peacocks in the peal of thunder, a sadhu in seeing the prosperity of others, and the wicked in the misery of others.

°·¤ àæçQ¤àææÜè ¥æÎ×è âð ©â·¤è ÕæÌ ×æÙ·¤ÚU â×ÛæõÌæ ·¤ÚUð´. °·¤ ÎéC ·¤æ ÂýçÌ·¤æÚU ·¤ÚUð´. ¥õÚU çÁÙ·¤è àæçQ¤ ¥æ·¤è àæçQ¤ ·Ô¤ ÕÚUæÕÚU ãñ ©Ùâð â×ÛæõÌæ çßÙ×ýÌæ âð Øæ ·¤ÆôÚUÌæ âð ·¤ÚUð´.

Conciliate a strong man by submission, a wicked man by opposition, and the one whose power is equal to yours by politeness or force.

°·¤ ÚUæÁæ ·¤è àæçQ¤ ©â·¤è àæçQ¤àææÜè ÖéÁæ¥ô´

×ð´ ãñ. °·¤ Õýæ±×‡æ ·¤è àæçQ¤ ©â·Ô¤ SßL¤Â ™ææÙ

×ð´ ãñ. °·¤ S˜æè ·¤è àæçQ¤ ©â·¤è âé‹ÎÚUÌæ, ÌæL¤‡Ø

¥õÚU ×èÆð ß¿Ùô´ ×ð´ ãñ.

The power of a king lies in his mighty arms; that of a brahmana in his spiritual knowledge; and that of a woman in her beauty, youth and sweet words.

¥ÂÙð ÃØßãæÚU ×ð´ ÕãéÌ âèÏð Ùæ ÚUãð´. ¥æ ØçÎ

ßÙ Áæ·¤ÚU Îð¹Ìð ãñ´U Ìô ÂæØð´»ð ·¤è Áô ÂðǸ âèÏ𠩻𠩋ãð´ ·¤æÅU çÜØæ »Øæ ¥õÚU Áô ÂðǸ ¥æǸð çÌÚUÀð ãñ´ ßô ¹Ç¸ð ãñ´.

Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.

ã´â ßãæ ÚUãÌð ãñ´ Áãæ´ ÂæÙè ãôÌæ ãñ. ÂæÙè âê¹Ùð ÂÚU ßð ©â Á»ã ·¤ô ÀôǸ ÎðÌð ãñ´U. ¥æ 緤âè

¥æÎ×è ·¤ô °ðâæ ÃØßãæÚU Ùæ ·¤ÚUÙð Îð´ ç·¤ ßã ¥æ·Ԥ Âæâ ¥æÌæ ÁæÌæ ÚUãð.

Swans live wherever there is water, and leave the place where water dries up; let not a man act so -- and comes and goes as he pleases.

â´ç¿Ì ÏÙ ¹¿ü ·¤ÚUÙð âð ÕɸÌæ ãñ. ©âè Âý·¤æÚU Áñâð ÌæÁæ ÁÜ Áô ¥Öè ¥æØæ ãñ Õ¿Ìæ ãñ, ØçÎ ÂéÚUæÙð çSÍÚU ÁÜ ·¤ô çÙ·¤æÜ ÕæãÚU ç·¤Øæ ÁæØð.

Accumulated wealth is saved by spending just as incoming fresh water is saved by letting out stagnant water.

ßã ÃØçQ¤ çÁâ·Ô¤ Âæâ ÏÙ ãñ ©â·Ô¤ Âæâ çטæ

¥õÚU âÕ‹Ïè Öè ÕãéÌ ÚUãÌð ãñ´. ßãè §â ÎéçÙØæ ×ð´ çÅU·¤ ÂæÌæ ãñ ¥õÚU ©âè ·¤ô §’ÁÌ ç×ÜÌè ãñ.

He who has wealth has friends and relations; he alone survives and is respected as a man.

Sß»ü ×ð´ çÙßæâ ·¤ÚUÙð ßæÜð ÎðßÌæ Üô»ô´ ×ð´ ¥õÚU ÏÚUÌè ÂÚU çÙßæâ ·¤ÚUÙð ßæÜð Üô»ô´ ×ð´ ·¤éÀ âæØ ÂæØæ ÁæÌæ ãñ. ©Ù·Ô¤ â×æÙ »é‡æ ãñ´Ñ ÂÚUô·¤æÚU, ×èÆð ß¿Ù, Ö»ßæÙ÷ ·¤è ¥æÚUæÏÙæ, Õýæ±×‡æô´ ·Ô¤ ÁM¤ÚUÌô´ ·¤è ÂêçÌü.

The following four characteristics of the denizens of heaven may be seen in the residents of this earth planet; charity, sweet words, worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and satisfying the needs of brahmanas.

ÙÚU·¤ ×ð´ çÙßæâ ·¤ÚUÙð ßæÜð ¥õÚU ÏÚUÌè ÂÚU çÙßæâ ·¤ÚUÙð ßæÜô ×ð´ âæØÌæÑ ¥ˆØæçÏ·¤ ·ý¤ôÏ, ·¤ÆôÚU ß¿Ù, ¥ÂÙð ãè â´Õ´çÏØô´ âð àæ˜æéÌæ, Ùè¿ Üô»ô´ âð ×ñ˜æè, ãèÙ ãÚU·¤Ìð´ ·¤ÚUÙð ßæÜô´ ·¤è ¿æ·¤ÚUè. The following qualities of the denizens of hell may characterise men on earth; extreme wrath, harsh speech, enmity with one's relations, the company with the base, and service to men of low extraction.

ØçÎ ¥æ àæðÚU ·¤è »éȤæ ×ð´ ÁæÌð ãô Ìô ¥æ ·¤ô ãæÍè ·Ô¤ ×æÍð ·¤æ ×ç‡æ ç×Ü â·¤Ìæ ãñ. Üðç·¤Ù ØçÎ ¥æ Üô×Ǹè Áãæ´ ÚUãÌè ãñ ßãæ´ ÁæÌð ãô Ìô ÕÀǸ𠷤è ÂêÀ Øæ »Ïð ·¤è ãaè ·Ô¤ ¥Üæßæ ·¤éÀ Ùãè´ ç×Üð»æ.

By going to the den of a lion pearls from the head of an elephant may be obtained; but by visiting the hole of a jackal nothing but the tail of a calf or a bit of the hide of an ass may be found. °·¤ ¥ÙÂɸ ¥æÎ×è ·¤è çÁ´Î»è ç·¤âè ·¤éžæð ·¤è Âê´ÀU ·¤è ÌÚUã Õð·¤æÚU ãñ. ©ââð Ùæ ©â·¤è §’ÁÌ ãè É·¤Ìè ãñ ¥õÚU Ùæ ãè ·¤èǸð ×ç€U¹Øô´ ·¤ô Öæ»Ùð ·Ô¤ ·¤æ× ¥æÌè ãñ.

The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog, which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects.

ØçÎ ¥æ çÎÃØÌæ ¿æãÌð ãñ´ Ìô ¥æ·Ԥ ßæ¿æ, ×Ù ¥õÚU §ç‹ÎýØô´ ×ð´ àæéhÌæ ãôÙè ¿æçã°. ©âè Âý·¤æÚU ¥æ·Ԥ OÎØ ×ð´ ·¤L¤‡ææ ãôÙè ¿æçã°.

Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and a compassionate heart are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform.

çÁâ Âý·¤æÚU °·¤ Èê¤Ü ×ð´ ¹éàæÕê ãñ, çÌÜ ×ð´ ÌðÜ ãñ, Ü·¤Ç¸è ×ð´ ¥ç‚Ù ãñ, ÎêÏ ×ð´ ƒæè ãñ, »óæð ×ð´ »éÇ ãñ, ©âè Âý·¤æÚU ØçÎ ¥æ Æè·¤ âð Îð¹Ìð ãô Ìô ãÚU ÃØçQ¤ ×ð´ ÂÚU×æˆ×æ ãñ. As you seek fragrance in a flower, oil in the sesamum seed, fire in wood, ghee (butter) in milk, and jaggery (guda) in sugarcane; so seek the spirit that is in the body by means of discrimination.

Source: www.hindisathityadarpan.com

AJAY DEVGN SHOOTS MUSIC VIDEO VERSION OF 'SHIVAAY' TITLE TRACK

Ajay Devgn recently shot a music video version of the title track of SHIVAAY at a suburban studio. The track as featured in the film is being kept under wraps. “I don’t want to show how the title track appears in film as I want the audience to first see it as a big screen experience. It is something that has never been done before” says Ajay Devgn. In the film he has visualized the song in a extremely novel way. To bring the song to his audience prior to release, however, Ajay Devgn is especially shooting with the singers Su-

PRIYANKA CHOPRA'S NEXT BHOJPURI FILM

Priyanka Chopra’s second Bhojpuri film under her banner of Purple Pebble Pictures in association with Red Quartz entertainment has been launched at Empire studios in Andheri, with a song recording under the supervision of Music director Madhukar Anand. The untitled film is being produced by Priyanka Chopra, Dr Madhu Chopra and Neha Shandilya. Santosh Mishra is the Writer-Director of the Film. Ravi Kishan and Nirahua are in the main cast. Other cast and crew will be finalized soon. On this occasion many Bhojpuri and Bollywood film personalities were present.

khwinder, Mohit Chauhan, Badshah, debutant Megha and the music composer of the film, Mithoon. The music video also features Ajay Devgn and promises to be a visual extravaganza. It will be an added treat for the audience. The trailer of the film has already a hit the right chord with Indian and International audiences, being praised by critics and viewers alike as being a first-ever Indian emotional action-drama on an international scale. SHIVAAY will be releasing this Diwali.

A.R. RAHMAN HONORED

SANGAM'S 'TAMIL RATNA AWARD'

A.R. Rahman, 49, one of the most globally popular Indian music icons, was recently honoured with the “Tamil Ratna Award” by the New York Tamil Sangam. A.R. Rahman, famously known as the Mozart of Madras, was honoured with this award after his concert at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) chamber. He also became the second Indian artiste after legendary Carnatic music vocalist M S Subbulakshmi to perform at the UN General Assembly hall on the occasion of India's 70th Independence Day celebrations. Described by Time as "the world's most prolific and popular composer," Rahman has provided musical scores predominantly for Tamil and Hindi films, apart from a few films in other regional film industries of India and some international productions.

GRAND ANNOUNCEMENT OF GAURANG DOSHI'S 'AANKHEN-2'

The Grand announcement of Gaurang Doshi's AANKHEN-2 witnessed Mr. Bachchan taking centerstage and launch the new film where the first one ended. The first instalment AANKHEN had released in 2002 and was a huge success at the box office – the film had a gripping storyline and had kept audiences glued to the screen. The set at film city had been magnificently built in the form of a casino which goes well with the theme of the film. The set was grand and saw live performances from none other than Mr. Bachchan, Arshad Warsi, Meet Brothers and Bollywood debutant Regina Cassandra. The performances have been choreographed by Ganesh Acharya. The film also stars Anil Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, and the gorgeous leading lady Ileana D'cruz. The film goes on floors this September and is scheduled to release next year.

NRI Achievers Mumbai Bureau

WITH AMERICA TAMIL

NIHARICA RAIZADA

'toDAy’s womAN Is Not At All CoNseRvAtIve'

Our Bollywood maven J V managed to catch up with the sexy and beautiful Niharica Raizada, who per happenchance is the granddaughter of the well-known, great and late music director OP Nayyar. Chatting up with her, NRI Achievers comes off with the conviction that acting is indeed her passion. Here are excerpts from the conversation we had with her. Read on …

l What exactly is the film WARRIOR SAVITRI all about ?

WARRIOR SAVITRI is about a modern day Savitri who sets out to rescue her husband Satyavan from the clutches of Lord Yamraj when he comes from up there to take him, as his life is destined to be short. It is set in Las Vegas and is an adaptation of the legend of Satyavan Savitri. I play a modern day Savitri who is strictly a one-man woman.

l Considering that you are a NRI, how difficult was it for you to get into the skin of the Savitri character in WARRIOR SAVITRI ?

Though I had done a course on improvisation for six months at the New York Film Academy, I should confess frankly that I was not fully prepared –but I worked hard on my role. To a large extent, I was helped not only by my director Param Gill but also by Omji, who plays the role of Lord Yamraj in the film. I may have been born in Luxemberg and brought up in Germany, France and Belgium, but I was taught Kathak, Jazz, Ballet and Bharatanatyam dancing from the age of 6, not to mention the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The brief given to me by my director was that my character may be wearing short dresses but she flirts only with her husband Satya. In any case, today’s modern woman is not at all conservative.

l Why did you not wait to be launched by a big banner ?

My role in WARRIOR SAVITRI is one that comes in a lifetime. The entire film revolves on my shoulders, though Rajat Barnecha plays the lead. If you will recall, Priyanka Chopra assayed a woman-oriented role in a film like MARY KOM only after completing 21 films –and Kangana Ranaut did a heroineoriented film like QUEEN only after having 16 films behind her. And yes, Deepika Padukone did COCKTAIL after acting in 13 films.

l Is it true that you are the granddaughter of the legendary music director O.P. Ralhan ?

Yes. My dad is an Income Tax consultant who hails from Kanpur, and mother's a painter. I happen to be the granddaughter of O.P. Nayyar Saheb. He was my mother’s father’s elder brother. Unfortunately I do not have tangible memories of my grandfather as I was only three-and-half years old when I had met him.

l Who is your real life Satyavan ?

I am on the look-out for a desi man, and I have yet to find my Satyavan in life. Though I was mingling when I was abroad, today I am single and very ready to mingle.

l You are a martial arts expert in the film. How did you prepare for your part ?

To begin with, I had already learnt Karate between the age of 12 and 6. I trained in martial arts because in the film I play a fighter who knows Karate, Kung Fu, Shotokan and Taekwondo.

l To what extent are you ready to shed

your clothes for the sake of a role ?

I have absolutely no inhibitions at all. I would say that I have a French attitude to life blended with Indian sensibility.

l Warrior Savitri is your debut film in a full-fledged role in the lead. Before Warrior SAVITRI, you had acted in MASAAN as well as BABY. Isn’t it ?

Yes. Since I love acting and it's a passion for me, I did play small cameo roles in MASAAN and BABY, in which I was seen as a reporter.

l What next ?

I have been teamed opposite Krishna Abhishek in FULL TIME JUGADOO. It is an out and out comedy film which I bagged after I showed the rushes of WARRIOR SAVITRI to the producers. I play the role of a young karorpati girl called Kavya in it whereas Krishna Abhishek sets out to do jugad to win not only me but also my crores.

Jyothi Venkatesh The writer is a well-known & established film critic.

THE TREASURES OF

The Mehrauli village of Delhi is most famous for the tallest rubble minaret in world, the mighty Qutub Minar. In our November 2013 edition of the NRI Achievers, we had told you the untold story of the Qutub Minar. In other issues, we have also shared with you the story behind Mehrauli’s ‘Phoolwalon-ka-Sair’ and some other interesting nuggets of information about this place. But then, there is a lot more to Mehrauli than just the Minar, and this time round, our heritage journey will begin from the huge park situated right behind the Qutub Minar complex.

On the 24th of October in 2014, I had gone to the place officially known as the ‘Mehrauli Archaeological Park,’ or MAP. This stretch of forest dotted with lush green parks surrounding the many historical edifices within it is more commonly referred to in Delhi-parlance as the ‘Jamali Kamali.’ A really massive park spread over some 200 acres, with over 70 monuments is indeed a treasure trove for any heritage lover. And when I first experienced the place it was simply awe inspiring for me. I had never seen more beautiful structures than these. While Mehrauli village has quite a bit to offer the heritage lover with it’s history-rife sites like the Zafar Mahal, Jahaz Mahal, Bhuli Bhatiyari, the Dargah, Hijro.n ki Jhanqah and Adam Khan’s Tomb, I will focus in this piece just a few special monuments within the

Mehrauli Archaeological Park that make this place really great.

15 Dynasties ruled Delhi. Now, the Mehrauli Archaeological Park is the only place that has structures built by most of these. The area abuts the Lal Kot and is sited inside the Qila-i-Rai Pithora, which harks back to the Tomar and Chauhan dynasties. The Slave dynasty and the Khiljis administered their domains from a palace that used to be situated somewhere in this very area. The Tughlaqs don’t have much of a con-

tribution to this place, except that Mohammad bin Tughlaq did extend his city walls upto this area. Later on, the Lodhis and the Mughals made major contributions to this entire park. Even British are not left behind – their ensembles too find a place here.

Come, let us visit at least a few of the monuments of the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.

JAMALI KAMALI

Sheikh Fazalullah aka Sheikh Jalal Khan aka Jamali Kamboh was the court poet to the Lodhi and Mughal courts. He is buried in this park, and locals over time had begun to call this park by his name. There are dozens of stories around Jamali and Kamali – some say they were friends, some say father-son, some claim them to be colleagues, and some have

MEHRAULI

even gone to the extent of calling them lovers. Whatever the case might have been, the structure of Jamali-Kamali’s tomb and its adjacent mosque is simply amazing. A small square tomb, now locked to the public (to save them from encroachers). Here are few pictures:

The tomb has most beautiful ceiling I have ever seen in Delhi.

Equally majestic is the mosque attached to it, which was built during Humayun’s period.

and not to a king.

This Lodhi-era stepwell is the largest in this area. There are 3 more stepwells in Mehruli, out of which only one, which goes by the name of ‘Gandhak ki Baoli’, is accessible to general public. Stepwells were a very important part of medieval Indian cities and settlements. A typical baoli in Delhi and Haryana would have a natural

(basement) constructed.

This palace, the Lal Mahal is sited in the Nizamuddin area of South Delhi, which he established and was originally known as Ghiaspur after him.

His own tomb is in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, and is no less than a wonder. This vast structure built in 13th century would leave any visitor awestruck.

QULI KHAn’S TOMB & DOvEcOAT

Another rather interesting architectural ensemble in this area is Quli Khan’s Tomb. He is said to be the foster brother

R AJO.n KI BAOLI

The next structure I want to take you to is the Rajo.n ki Baoli. This is a stepwell nestled amid the lush greenery that is so characteristic of this archaeological park. Interestingly, this stepwell is called by most locals as the ‘Rajao.n ki Baoli’, which changes the meaning drastically, to mean ‘the stepwell of Kings’. In actuality, this particular stepwell was and is supposed to be associated more with Raje than with Raja. In Hindi, Raje would denote the mason – Raaj Mistry. It is hence more authentic to call this stepwell Rajo.n ki Baoli, meaning the baoli actually belongs to the Masons,

water source like a spring or a well, attached to the water pond that is approached through stairs. The well is always separated from pond with a wall having small windows at various levels, while the stairs have rooms on both sides for people to sit and bask in the sun after a refreshing bath.

BALBAn’S TOMB

Slave King Ghiasuddin Balban finds his own important place etched into the annals of history. He was the first Muslim ruler in the Indian Subcontinent to commission a palace, one that had the very first true dome, true arch and taikhana

of famous Mughal emperor Akbar. His other brother Adham Khan is also buried along with their mother Mahamanga not too far away. Interestingly, during British times, this tomb was converted into a recreational room by Metcalfe, the then resident British officer in the Mughal court. Metcalfe also built a circular path and a guest house with Delhi’s first English swimming pool near this tomb. Here are some pictures from the site.

The writer is a heritage lover and activist who found it fit to leave a lucrative career in IT to take up the promotion of the heritage and cultures of India.

Vikramjit Singh Rooprai

SHEKHAWATI

A WONDERLAND OF FRESCOS

What do surnames like the Ruias, the Poddars, the Goenkas, the Jhunjhunwallas, the Birlas, the Kotharis, the Piramals, the Singhanias, the Khaitans, the Bajajs, Kedias and the Bhartiyas have in common ? One, all of them are highly respected business families belonging to the Marwari business community – but another facet of these families is a mite out of public knowledge –that they all have their origins in Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. While our minds normally tend to evoke images of the Rajput warrior clans, their palaces and forts across Rajasthan and their bloody battles, few of us normally associate these Marwari clans who trace their roots to Shekawati, a cluster of three districts in North Rajasthan – a people who were more than successful in capturing the business landscape across India, armed merely with their business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit. Let us take you down on a pleasant trek across their landscape in this instalment of Travel & Destinations …

These big Marwari business families of Shekawati, in their quest over the past few centuries for cashing in on the trade and commerce opportunities of their time, have left behind an immense heritage of imposing mansions (or Havelis) adorned with the most beautiful frescoes in the arid landscape of Shekawati, which may today be called one of the world's biggest open air art galleries. But it does look like we are a bit late in rediscovering this enchanting aspect of Shekhawati! When we are in Mandawa, the locals point out to the mansion where Om Puri hides the three fugitives in his Madrasa in Salman Khan’s blockbuster ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. On a street corner, they reverentially point to the spot where Sanjay Dutt’s truck hits

the alien in Aamir Khan starrer ‘PK’.

Mandawa is about 260 kilometres southwest of Delhi, and occupies a central position in the grid like layout of our towns of interest in Shekhawati. The best way to ex-

plore Shekhawati towns is on foot. Turn into any lane and you will be greeted with a whole procession of mansions/havelis in all shapes and sizes. And on their walls and façades is an entire cornucopia of brilliant paintings, with all possible pigments used – red, blue, maroon, and even gold and silver. So how on earth did all this wealth and opulence came into being in the middle of nowhere?

In the early eighteenth century the Marwari merchants were invited here by the local barons, as caravan trade took off between the areas around the Indus and Central India. A booming economy led to a logical corollary – a construction boom. The second boomtime came when these merchant-princes moved to Calcutta in the 1820s, after the caravan routes began fading out due to internal strife. Money made in trading cotton, wool, rice, wheat, sugar and opium found its way back home as the merchants seemingly competed with each other to erect magnificent havelis across the hinterland in the shadow of the Aravallis. But as their descendants began settling down in far-away cities, the towns and their magnificent havelis were gradually abandoned.

As if the construction was not enough, an army of painters was deployed to paint the walls. A typically haveli has a soaring gate with a richly carved and heavy wooden door. And here on the façades, the painters went crazy as they recreated their patrons’ wishes. Huge elephants and horses flank the gates. The arched undersides and eaves that hold the overhanging upper floors have the most vivid panels with an unending convoy of portraits, mythological depictions and floral patterns. The paintings convey the upward mobility of the owners. Merchants who probably had visited Europe asked art-

Tex T & Pho T os: Nirdesh K. s i N gh

ists to paint automobiles, trains and even hot-air balloons. So while the Nandlal Murmuria Haveli for instance has an eclectic mix of Venice landscape, trains, cars and even a Nehru riding horseback, the Newatia Haveli has a totally outrageous image of a man taking flight wearing wings!

Thirty or so kilometres south of Mandawa we arrive in Nawalgarh, which is home to many well preserved havelis that have been turned into ticketed museums with guides to explain the profuse paintings on the wall. The biggest surprise in Nawalgarh, however, is in a modern building complex – as the guide leads us up the stairs and finally into a dark room. After paying for tickets we are led into the Sheesh Mahal. The circular room lies in one of the bastions of a largely ruined Bala Qila. As the lights are turned on, the ceiling and roof glint as paintings in rich gold come into view. On these ceilings is probably the prettiest looking map-picture depicting Jaipur city. In Shekhawati, the sheer diver-

sity and the scale of its paintings will leave you simply mesmerised.

Fatehpur lies some 20 kilometres to the west of Mandawa and offers a complete array of architectural ensembles for your viewing pleasure. It is in Fatehpur that you will find the unusual tomb of Nawab Alef Khan, the one which looks so much like a shrine. The star attraction however is the profusely painted and conserved Nand Lal Devra Haveli, which in recent times has been bought by a French artist. But the new paintings that have appeared over the older originals though might scandalise the art and heritage lovers. At the very edge of the town is a wonderfully maintained building erected in 1925 and a hospital just beyond, both built by the Bhartiyas. Apart from these sumptuous mansions of theirs, the Marwari merchants also built many family cenotaphs, locally called 'chhatris'. Just across the road is the serene looking and nicely maintained Jagannath Singhania Chhatri, enclosed by fortresslike walls. Climbing into the complex from

the rear, on all sides of the terrace you are treated to a procession of domes of all sizes. Below the walls are covered with paintings.

It is almost days-end as we near Churu. And it is time to see something different. Just outside the city is the most impressive water tank called Sethani ka Johara. This evidences that the Marwaris, while they built opulent mansions for themselves, were not inactive with regards to philanthropy or building social structures. This tank for example was commissioned as a relief project during the terrible famine of 1899. Over the quiet waters ringed by graceful pavilions, we watch the sun go down. The sun might well have gone down over the glorious past of this colourful region, but there is indeed no gainsaying a new day may soon dawn on a resurrected Shekhawati.

The Author is a history buff who has a passion for travel photography

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