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FRIDAY, April 28, 2017
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Vol. 30 No. 17 Friday, April 28, 2017 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 24 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: voiceasia@aol.com
7 Receive Hindu Youth Award - 2017 China sentences local woman presented by Hindus of Greater Houston to prison for ‘spying’
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EIJING | AFP | We d n e s day 4/26/2017 A Chinese court has sentenced an American woman to three and a half years in prison and deportation on espionage charges, a rights group said Wednesday, and her lawyer said he expects her release soon.
Hindu Youth Awards 2017 awardees from left to right: Mukund Nair, Harsh Mehta, Siddhant Ahuja, Govinda Ramirez, Shial Gajjar ,Nikita Zamwar and Haripriya Sundaramurthy. by Manu Shah
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even youngsters used their public moment to share their pursuit of their Hindu identity and reconcile their dual heritage in a country that is culturally so different from their roots. They were the 7 awardees at the Hindu Youth Awards 2017 event held on April 22nd – an annual event that honors Hindu youth between 16-30 years who demonstrate academic excellence, community service, inspire social change and serve as role models.
The event which was co-hosted by Hindus of Greater Houston (HGH) and BAPS was well attended by over 400 people and represented by a large number of Hindu organizations. Keynote Speaker Pujya Kaivalyamurti Swami, a BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha Swami who took the path of renunciation after completing his High School in Dallas, Texas set the tone for the evening with an inspiring message for the Hindu youth of today.
ing to be cool and blending in” he warned that, in the process of doing this, it is easy to forget our ethics and values and end up as “people pleasers.” He encouraged the gathering to overcome this identity crisis, follow their dharma, embrace their culture, practice purity of diet, and be a proud practicing Hindu. Swamiji also shared a relevant piece of advice for students: join social events but do not be “pressurized to be part of a culture that is not yours.”
Acknowledging the many challenges that youngsters face in terms of “try-
Sandy Phan-Gillis was detained in March 2015 at the Macau border after visiting mainland China with a trade delegation from the Texas oil capital Houston.
Sandy Phan-Gillis (Photo: savesandy.org.) rights group, told AFP.
She was accused of espionage and stealing state secrets for allegedly passing intelligence to a third party, according to previous reports from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which cited government sources. Nanning Intermediate People’s Court in the southern province of Guangxi passed the sentence Tuesday, but the American’s next steps will not become clear until a written judgement is released, John Kamm, director of the US-based Dui Hua Foundation
Phan-Gillis was currently being held in a detention centre and not a prison and did not plan to appeal, he said. Kamm said that “adjusted for time spent in residential surveillance in a designated location, she has already served more than half her sentence, and is accordingly eligible for parole as well as medical parole, commutation and immediate deportation”. “I am hopeful she will be reunited with her family soon,” he added. Continued on Page 5
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Jaz Creationz Studio hosts Sneha Milan for IHA and ICC by Shobna Muratee
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OUSTON - On Friday, April 21 members of the International Hindi Association, Houston Chapter and India Culture Center (ICC) met at host Jasmeeta Singh’s grand Jaz Creationz Studio at 9703 Richmond Ave., to experience and enjoy Sneha Milan. The IHA Houston Chapter Convener, Dr. K.D. Upadhyaya welcomed the guests and spoke about the purpose of the event Sneha
Milan meaning a friendly union that started in 2013 with members getting together in friend’s homes, ‘not as a group but as a family’ he said. About 20-30 members and guests attended the event that was exclusive and fun. Typically, 4 such events are conducted throughout the year and this was their second quarter for 2017. The IHAHouston has grown phenomenally since it was restarted in 2008 Sangeeta Pasrija in partnership with ICC by bringing IHA’s annual Hasya Kavi Sammelan and continued to grow under the leadership of Swapan Dhairy-
JITENDRA R. SHAH CPA
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awan, currently the IHA National President. Language is a vital part of culture and heritage, the IHA’s aims to preserve and promote India’s linguistic interests related to Hindi language globally and to instill human values inherent in its literature. It also fosters friendship and understanding between and across Hindi and Non-Hindi speaking people through the learning and teaching of Continued on Page 8 & 11
Jasmeeta Singh, CEO of Jaz Creationz studio. Photo by
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