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VOL 22, No. 1166
February 3, 2017
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PROTESTS AS PAK DETAINS SAEED
ISLAMABAD: JuD chief Hafiz Saeed's detention may help ease Indo-Pak tension, media here said even as supporters of the Mumbai attack mastermind launched protests across major cities against the government's decision which they say was taken under pressure from the US and India. Saeed, who was detained at his Lahore headquarters, has been shifted to his residence which has been declared as a sub-jail by authorities in Punjab province. The provincial authorities have also started to remove the banners of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) from the roads of
Lahore. National flags have been hoisted at the JuD offices in Lahore, instead of party flags, on the directives of the provincial home department. As he was placed under house arrest, his supporters launched protests in cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. "The detention of Hafiz Saeed could help ease tensions between nuclear-armed foes Pakistan and India, although New Delhi has not yet responded," Express Tribune commented.
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FIA's R-Day marks biggest festivity of Bay Area Details on page 16
White House sees stronger ties with India Details on page 6
Marketing firm hired for Sikhism awareness Details on page 6
SC appoints Vinod Rai panel to run BCCI
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Without visa 90-year old to stay in India
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CONTENTS
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Bollywood ---------------------- 28-29 Classifieds ------------------------- 52
INDIA POST SURVEY
Community Post -------------- 16-26
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Edit Page --------------------------- 54
This week’s question
HealthScience Post --------- 44-47
Date Book -------------------------- 39
Horoscope ------------------------- 48
Detention of Hafiz Saeed is an eyewash?
Immigration Post ------------- 34-38 Life Style ----------------------- 30-33
Last week’s result
Philosophy ------------------------- 53
Do you support bilateral deals idea of Trump? YES 43%
NO 57%
Publisher’s Diary ------------------ 4
HOMAGE TO GANDHI: Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna paying floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the event to commemorate Martyrs Day in Washington on January 30
Real Estate -------------------- 50-51 TechBiz Post ------------------- 11-15 Travel & Hospitality Post ---- 40-43
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That one film Shah Rukh's dream is to make that one film which the world loves as much as the hits in India.
Cover Story: Pak detains Saeed JuD chief Hafiz Saeed's detention has led protests across major cities blaming pressure from the US and India.
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HIGHLIGHTS
midst all the protests and outcries and negativity from within the country and parts of the world at large toward the new Trump administration, I see a bright light of positivity streaming, where else but, between the United States and India. It warmed my heart last week when I heard that President Trump had personally called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, told him India was a true friend, and invited him over to the US. Well, that's what I call special - a special status that India uniquely enjoys with the US, irrespective of who sits in the Oval Office, whether a Democrat or a Republican; whether a career politician like Obama or a new to politics Trump, they all recognize the vital position that India holds in the geo-political, bi-lateral, economic, strategic and cultural relations of this country. Modi, whose first brush with American Presidency was with Obama, did manage to establish a multi-pronged and progressive tone to the way India wanted to do business with the US under his leadership. However, as someone who faced relentless media scrutiny and liberal bias before and after he became Prime Minister, I am sure, Modi will have a lot in common to talk about with President Trump. Interestingly enough, there's something common that former Presidents Obama and Trump share between them - their recognition of the incredible talent among Indian Americans. The Obama administration had appointed a record number of Indian Americans to significant administration posts. And now President Trump has already named at least four of our community to key positions including Nikki Haley, Seema Verma, Ajit Pai, Balaji Srinivasan and Indra Nooyi. And those definitely will not be the last on the block. Sure, not all nations can stand on a level playing field. The idea is to find common ground.
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Protests as Pakistan detains Saeed ISLAMABAD: JuD chief Hafiz Saeed's detention may help ease Indo-Pak tension, media here said even as supporters of the Mumbai attack mastermind launched protests across major cities against the government's decision which they say was taken under pressure from the US and India. Saeed, who was detained at his
flags have been hoisted at the JuD offices in Lahore, instead of party flags, on the directives of the provincial home department. As he was placed under house arrest, his supporters launched protests in cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. "The detention of Hafiz Saeed could help ease tensions between
Hafiz Saeed, leader of the Pakistani religious group and charity, Jamaat-udDawa addresses his supporters outside the party’s headquarters, in Lahore, Pakistan on January 30
Lahore headquarters, has been shifted to his residence which has been declared as a sub-jail by authorities in Punjab province. The provincial authorities have also started to remove the banners of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) from the roads of Lahore. National
nuclear-armed foes Pakistan and India, although New Delhi has not yet responded," Express Tribune commented. It said that the 2008 Mumbai attack brought Pakistan and India to the brink of war after 10 gunmen killed 166 people in a ram-
page that included attacks on two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a train station. Saeed has denied any role in the attack and has distanced himself from LeT, while leading his charity JuD. Supporters accused Nawaz Sharif government of succumbing to the wishes of the US, which has offered a USD 10 million reward for information leading to Saeed's arrest. "This government has buckled under the pressure," JuD spokesperson Nadeem Awan said who also accused India of pressurizing the government. Another spokesperson, Farooq Azam, announced protests in Karachi by "different religious and Kashmiri leaders". A senior Pakistani defense ministry official said Islamabad had not been contacted by the new administration of US President Donald Trump but had been feeling US pressure on the issue. "Trump is taking hard decisions against Muslim countries; there is open talk of actions against Pakistan also. So yes, this was a consideration," said the official. Other government officials have said recently that a broader diplomatic campaign pushed by India to isolate Pakistan has taken
Heroes of surgical strikes honoured NEW DELHI: Nineteen soldiers of the 4 and 9 Para, the special forces' units which undertook the daring cross-border surgical strike across LoC, have been awarded gallantry medals including a Kirti Chakra while their commanding officers have been given Yudh Sewa Medal. Major Rohit Suri of 4 Para, who led one of the teams across the
Col Kapil Yadav, commanding officer of 9 Para and Col Harpreet Sandhu, Commanding Officer of 4 Para, were awarded the Yudh Sewa Medal, one of India's military decorations awarded to mark distinguished service during war time is awarded for a high degree of distinguished service in an operational content, including times of war, conflict, or hostilities and
Major Rohit Suri of 4 Para, who led one of the teams across the LoC targeting terrorists' launch pads, was awarded the Kirti Chakra, second highest peacetime gallantry award, on the eve of Republic Day LoC targeting terrorists' launch pads, was awarded the Kirti Chakra, second highest peacetime gallantry award, on the eve of Republic Day. Havildar Prem Bahadur Resmi Magar of the Gorkha Rifles got the Kirti Chakra posthumously.
may also be awarded posthumously. The award is the wartime equivalent of the Vishisht Seva Medal, which is a decoration for peace time distinguished service. Five personnel from the two para units also got Shaurya Chakra
while 13 got Sena Medal (Gallantry). The Army conducted surgical strikes on terrorist launchpads across the Line of Control in September last year, after a terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir claimed the lives of 19 jawans. The strikes were widely hailed by as a strong retaliation, and the Army's new chief General Bipin Rawat has said it is prepared to use the tactic again if needed. Those who have been awarded posthumously included Naik Gawade Pandurang Mahadev who has been given Shaurya Chakra. Lt Col Ranjit Singh Pawar, Major Krishnan Manoj Kumar, Major Amit Deswal Naik Ran Singh, Naik Vijaykumar S, Sepoy Ram Chander of DSC, Sepoy Satya Prakash Singh and Sepoy Satish of DSC along with Signalman Ajay Singh Choudhary were awarded Sena Medal (Gallantry) posthumously.-PTI
a toll, even involving pressure from longtime ally China. Four days back, Punjab's Ministry of Interior had included names of Saeed and four others Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz - in the Watch List as per UNSC 1267 Sanctions and ordered their preventive detention.
sanctions. JuD is the front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit which is responsible for numerous terror attacks in India, including the Mumbai terror strike of November 26, 2008, which was masterminded by Saeed. JuD has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organization
Supporters of Islamic charity organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), carry signs and chant slogans to condemn the house arrest of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of (JuD), during a protest demonstration in Karachi, Pakistan, January 31
Ubaid, Iqbal, Abid and Niaz were also also taken into preventive custody, Pakistani media reported. Punjab government's action comes amidst pressure on Pakistan from the Trump administration that it must take action against JuD and Saeed to avoid
by the United States in June 2014. Saeed also carries a reward of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities. Earlier too Saeed was put under house arrest after the Mumbai attack, but was released about six months later in June 2009 after a court order. -PTI
India reacts cautiously to arrest NEW DELHI: India has re- others have been carried out by acted cautiously to the reports Pakistan in the past also." of detention of Mumbai attack "Only a credible crack down mastermind and Jammat-ud- on the mastermind of the Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and four Mumbai terrorist attack and terothers under an anti-terrorism rorist organizations involved in act by Pakistan. cross border terrorism would be External Affairs Ministry proof of Pakistan's sincerity," Spokesperson Vikas Swarup Mr. Swarup said. said the government has seen reports on Pakistan “Exercises such as orders Interior Ministry or- against Hafiz Saeed and der placing the JuD others have been carried and the Falah-eInsaniyet Founda- out by Pakistan in the tion under the past also” watchlist and also the notification under which the The Spokesperson further said foundation has been included in India has long maintained that the the second schedule of their UNSC 1267 provisions pertaining anti-terror legislation under UN to listing and proscription of Security Council Resolution known terrorist entities and indinumber 1267. viduals must be effectively and "We have also noted that sincerely enforced by all member Hafiz Saeed and four others states. "We have also consishave been placed under preven- tently called for bringing known tive detention. Exercises such as terrorists under the ambit of the orders against Hafiz Saeed and 1267 sanctions," he said.-PTI
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Marketing firm hired for Sikhism awareness WASHINGTON: In efforts to reduce the hate crimes and violence that the Sikhs have faced since 9/11, the Sikh-American community has hired a well know marketing firm to generate a nationwide awareness about Sikhism.
Facebook and Ford. Through research conducted in early 2015, it has been verified that when Americans learn about the key tenets of the Sikh religion, their feelings become far more positive, a media release said. "Engaging FP1 was a crucial
"Every step in our plan has been tested to have maximum effectiveness in shifting the perception and driving positive awareness of Sikh Americans," said Shawn Singh Ghuman, communications director of NSC It has become increasingly important in today's political and social environment, the National Sikh Campaign (NSC) said in a statement as it announced to hire the services of FP1, a conservative-leaning Washington-based marketing firm which has an impressive clientele which includes
decision in making our entire strategy complete, and their expertise in reaching conservative Americans will be valuable in expanding our reach beyond our target audience of millennials and progressives," said Dr Rajwant Singh, Co-founder and senior advisor of NSC.
"This is perhaps the first time that any US Sikh community has undertaken a major, proactive effort to reach out to Americans nationwide," he added. "Every step in our plan has been tested to have maximum effectiveness in shifting the perception and driving positive awareness of Sikh Americans," said Shawn Singh Ghuman, communications director of NSC. "We plan to use every tool, channel, and capability in the marketing communications industry to engage our society with the values Sikhism extols," he said. The Sikhs article of faith - the turban and beard - have been falsely associated with terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. While there are an estimated 500,000 Sikh-Americans in the US, who have been an integral part of the American fabric for generations, the first post-9/11 fatal hate crime victim was a Sikh. -PTI
Former NSA Menon for dialogue with Pak NEW DELHI: Former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon has said the choice between continuing with or suspending dialogue with Pakistan was a "false binary" as talks and action against terrorism could go on simultaneously. His comments came on a day Pakistan declined an invitation by Indian Parliament and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to attend the South Asian Speakers' Summit in Indore next month. Making a distinction between what he called the "many Pakistans", Menon, during a discussion here, said while talks may be conducted with traders; ISI or the Pakistani army had an "institutional interest in hostilities with India". "I think, it is a false choice. If you stop talking, will terrorism stop? No. If you do talk, will terrorism stop? No. I think, it is a false binary. You talk if it is in your interest, if there are things you want to do. I think, it is in your interest. "Talks are not going to solve all the problems and those have to be dealt with separately. You have to counter terrorism while you are engaged in dialogue. It is not an either-or problem at all,"
he said. The discussion on 'Choices: Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy', a book authored by Menon, also saw the participation of former diplomats Shyam Saran and Ronen Sen at Sapru House here. Menon said in the age of "ultra-nationalism", India will have to
Shivshankar Menon
make "difficult choices". Speaking on the role of leadership in foreign policy, Saran, a key player in the erstwhile UPA administration, said interventions made by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former US President George Bush were crucial in pushing through the
nuclear deal between the two countries. Sen, who was India's Ambassador to the US when the deal was being finalized, said he had received "incredible support" for his "headless chicken" comments that had landed him in a soup and attracted summonses from the privileges committees of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He was let off the hook after he had tendered an apology. His remarks were seen as an affront to Parliamentarians. Meanwhile, both Saran and Menon batted for "strategic autonomy" over "strategic alignment" in India's foreign policy, dwelling on the issue of whether groupings such as the NAM were relevant anymore. However, Saran explained that any quest for autonomy did not necessarily have to be rigid and cited the example of India's alignment with the erstwhile Soviet Union when it served the country's interest.-PTI
White House sees stronger ties with India WASHINGTON: America's re- when asked about previous presilationship with India will continue dent Barack Obama's endorsement to grow stronger in the Trump for India as a permanent member Administration, a top White of the 15-member body. House official has said but re"I'm not going to get any furmained mum over its stance on ther with respect to seats on the India's bid for a permanent seat on the UN "They had a great Security Council. "They had a great conversation the other day conversation the other day and the relation- and the relationship beship between the two tween the two countries will countries will continue to grow stronger in this continue to grow stronger country," White House in this country" Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference. Security Council," Spicer said. He was responding to a ques"The President's very pleased tion on a recent telephonic con- with (the US Ambassador to UN) versation between Prime Minister Ambassador (Nikki) Haley being Narendra Modi and US President confirmed and spending her first Donald Trump. week up there in New York. She's However, Spicer did not re- going to do a fine job representspond to a question on expansion ing us," he said in response to of the UN Security Council seat another question. -PTI
Gujarat bizman held at US airport NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from the Indian Ambassador in the US on the arrest of a Baroda-based businessman at an airport in the American state of North Dakota. "I have asked for a report from Indian Ambassador in U.S. @IndianEmbassyUS," she tweeted in response to a tweet by the wife of the arrested Indian man. "Sushmaji, my husband Paraman Radhakrishnan is an
honest man with a passion for energy conservation," the wife tweeted to the minister. 53-year-old Radhakrishnan was taken into custody at the Grand Forks International Airport by police for allegedly making a bomb threat at an airport as he told a travel agent that there was an explosive in his bag. He faces terrorism charges. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel also sought Swaraj's intervention for the release of Radhakrishnan. -PTI
Without visa 90-year old to stay in India NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said the nonagenarian Indian-origin woman, who was reportedly sent by her son to India from the US without a valid visa, will not have to leave the country. According to reports, Kantaben Shah was sent back to Gujarat from the US by her younger son without checking her valid visa. She had appealed for help as she is in no position
to go back to the US and does not have a valid visa to stay in India. "Kanta Ben will not have to leave India. We will resolve this for good," Swaraj tweeted. Swaraj had assured help to the 90-yearold woman after media highlighted her plight. Shah was resisting her deportation to the US as she wants to spend her last years in her motherland. -PTI
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SC appoints Vinod Rai panel to run BCCI NEW DELHI: Brushing aside all resistance, the Supreme Court appointed a four-member committee of administrators headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai to run the affairs of the BCCI and implement court-approved recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra also paved the way for the Indian Cricket Board's representation in the upcoming crucial ICC meeting starting from February 2 by appointing cricket administrators Amitabh Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhary of BCCI alongwith Limaye for the purpose. While naming the four members for the committee of admin-
The list of names, from which the names for the COA were shortlisted, were placed in sealed covers by senior advocates and amicus curiae, Anil Divan and Gopal Subramaniam, and Kapil Sibal, who represented some state cricket associations Other three members of the committee of administrators are famous cricket historian Ramachandra Guha, Vikram Limaye, Managing Director of Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) and former Indian women cricket captain Diana Edulji, who would interact with Rahul Johri, CEO of BCCI, for supervision and functioning of the cricket Board.
istrators (COA), the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, rejected the suggestion of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to appoint Secretary of Union Sports Ministry as one of the administrators, saying its July 18, 2016 judgment had specifically debarred ministers and government servants from holding any office in the BCCI.
The bench also made it clear that the BCCI CEO would report to this AOA and, with the assistance of the counsel of the Board, apprise the administrators about the implementation of the Lodha panel recommendations accepted by the apex court. The COA will place before the apex court within four weeks the report about the recommendations for reforms in the cricket body complied with by BCCI, it said. The list of names, from which the names for the COA were shortlisted, were placed in sealed covers by senior advocates and amicus curiae, Anil Divan and Gopal Subramaniam, and Kapil Sibal, who represented some state cricket associations including Himachal Pradesh. Senior advocate Arvind Datar, representing BCCI, had given the list names for selecting representative for the ICC meeting being held between February 2 to 4. At the outset, the Attorney General and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing some state associations, pointed to alleged inherent infirmities in the July 18, 2016 judgment by which the apex
court had accepted major recommendations of the Lodha panel, including a bar on ministers and civil servants and those above 70 years from becoming its members. Rohatgi raised the issue of Rail-
the electoral college. States like Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, which hardly play any cricket, have become full members and this has changed the entire balance, he
Members of the Supreme Court appointed panel of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) former CAG India Vinod Rai (C), IDFC Managing Director and CEO Vikram Limaye and sportsperson Diana Edulji (R) after a meeting in Mumbai on January 31
ways, armed forces and Association of Universities saying their voting rights have been taken away by the judgment as their BCCI membership had been downgraded to associate from the permanent one, leading to change in
said, adding that certain aspects needed a re-look. Sibal concurred with the submissions of the top law officer and said the main judgment had said that the state associations would not be touched.-PTI
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President Mukherjee hails Car at crossing kills Indian-origin doc surgical strikes NEW DELHI: Noting that the country is facing the grave challenge of terrorism for the last four decades including cross-border attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, President Pranab Mukherjee on Jan 31 said India will actively cooperate with other nations to decisively defeat terrorist forces. Mukherjee, in his address to the
He also talked about Left Wing Extremism and said there has been considerable success in containing the menace over the last three years, with the surrender of over 2,600 extremists. The security situation in the north eastern states has also shown significant improvement, he added.
President Pranab Mukherjee adressed lawmakers at the Parliament ahead of Budget session 2017
joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget Session, said the government is committed to combating terrorism, ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice and referred to one of the government's "decisive" steps of surgical strikes in September last. He also mentioned that the government had decided to demonetize old currency notes to tackle the problem of terror financing among other security threats. "India has been facing the grave challenge of terrorism for the last four decades. Terrorism poses a serious danger to the global community. India will actively collaborate with other nations in decisively defeating these forces. "My government is committed to combating terrorism, and to ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice," the President said in his nearly hour-long address. Noting that J&K has been affected by terrorism sponsored and supported from across the border, Mukherjee said the attempts of infiltration, incidents of terrorist violence and loss of precious lives of civilians and security personnel remain a cause of "grave concern".
Mukherjee asserted that the government has taken decisive steps to give a fitting reply to the repeated incursions on its territorial sovereignty. "On 29th September 2016 our defense forces successfully conducted surgical strikes at several launch pads along the Line of Control to prevent infiltration by terrorists. We are proud of the exemplary courage and velour dis-
poseful agenda with its global partners, he said, adding there has been a consolidation of relations with friendly countries and major powers. "The common desire of the South Asian region for greater prosperity and development led most of its nations to make common cause in their opposition to terrorism," he said. He also referred to India's Membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and signing of the Memorandum of Obligations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), saying they were further reflections of the country's growing and multi-dimensional role in global affairs. He also said India sent a strong message of its commitment to combat climate change with focus on climate justice and sustainable lifestyle when it ratified the Paris agreement on October 2, 2016. Talking about multi-lateral events hosted by the government, Mukherjee mentioned the BRICS Summit at Goa with its BIMSTEC outreach, and the sixth Heart of Asia Conference at Amritsar and maintained that these meets marked important contributions to India's regional and pluri-lateral outreach. Underlining that the UN Environment Program has recognized India as one of the countries on track in achieving its voluntary goals, the President said 25 nations have signed the Framework Agreement of International Solar Alliance, the first treaty-based organization initiated by the government.
Appreciating the "invaluable contributions" made by over 30 million overseas Indians, he said the government will maximise the strengths of the Indian diaspora in nation building played by our defense personnel and owe a debt of the gratitude to them," he said. During his address, the President also noted that the government continues its active diplomacy aimed at facilitating national development, enhancing the country's security and ensuring greater Indian influence in global fora. The intensity of the country's international engagements has helped shape a diverse and pur-
India hosted a three-day Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Delhi, in which more than 50 Asian and Pacific countries participated, Mukherjee said. Appreciating the "invaluable contributions" made by over 30 million overseas Indians, he said the government will maximise the strengths of the Indian diaspora in nation building and for deepening the country's global outreach. -PTI
LONDON: An Indian-origin Her other sister, Nicole, said: junior doctor was killed after be- "I don't know what to do now, we ing hit by a car as she crossed the were best friends. I feel a lot of my road at a pedestrian crossing in own pain for losing her but I'm London on her way to work. more upset for my sister and what Dr Jasjot Singhota was she didn't get to achieve. knocked over near her home in "My parents are broken and south London and rushed to are really struggling." King's College Hospital nearby. Many of Jasjot's friends and Surgeons tried to save the 30- colleagues have also been payyear-old for eight hours before she ing tribute to her on social media was pronounced dead from inter- on a special Facebook page crenal bleeding and head injuries. ated by her sisters. Her family has appealed for "She was bright and witty and anyone who had witnessed the collision to Her organs were donated come forward. "We're at this point of absolute despera- and her liver and pancreas tion. We need to know have already helped save what happened to her," her sister Neha told the lives of critically 'Evening Standard'. As well as pursuing ill patients a medical career, Singhota was a pianist and netball a real pleasure to know. player. The world is a lesser place As per her wishes, her organs without her," reads one message. were donated and her liver and Guy's and St. Thomas NHS pancreas have already helped Foundation Trust, where Jasjot save the lives of critically ill pa- worked, said in a statement: "We tients. are deeply saddened to hear about Singhota had studied medicine the tragic death of our colleague and physiology at University of Dr Jasjot Singhota, and our Edinburgh and was working at thoughts are with her family and Guy's and St.Thomas Hospital in colleagues at this difficult time. London. "Dr Singhota was a dedicated, The junior doctor was due to committed and well respected graduate from the Royal College member of staff, as well as an exof Anesthetists in March to go on cellent doctor with a bright and to work as a qualified anesthetist. promising future." -PTI
2 Indians admit smuggling foreign nationals WASHINGTON: Two Indians have pleaded guilty before an American district court to charges of illegally smuggling foreign nationals into the US, the Department of Justice said. Nileshkumar Patel, 42, and Harsad Mehta, 68, both of India, pleaded guilty before District Judge William Martini in Newark federal court to separate superseding information charging them each with one count of conspiracy to smuggle foreign nationals into the United States for commercial advantage and private financial gain. According to court documents, Patel and Mehta admitted that from June 2013 through Oc-
tober 2015, they conspired to make money by recruiting Indian nationals to enter and reside in the United States illegally. Patel and Mehta admitted that on July 24, 2014, they brought two Indian nationals to Bangkok, so that they could be transported into the United States. They also admitted paying an individual - who was actually an undercover officer - to transport the foreign nationals from Thailand into Newark. The conspiracy count carriers a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May 16. -PTI
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Aus's highest award for 3 of Indian-origin MELBOURNE: Three Indianorigin persons have been awarded Australia's highest civilian honor this year for their contributions in the field of medicine and community work. Purushottam Sawrikar, a Sydney-based medical practitioner, received Order of Australia medal for the year 2017 announced on the Australia Day in General division category for his service to medicine, and to the Indian community. Sawrikar was a former President of Australian Indian Medical Graduates Association and also founded a community radio called Akashwani Sydney. Makhan Singh Khangure from Perth was given the award for his
significant service to medicine in the field o f neuroradiology, to education, and to a range of professional medical associations. V i j a y Kumar, a nuclear medicine specialist and a rePurushottam Sawrikar Makhan Singh Khangure Vijay Kumar searcher, was given the Singh was among the list of finalaward for his significant service tions, and to the community. Kumar, a founding Member of ists in the Australian of the Year to medical research in the disciplines of nuclear medicine and bi- Sydney Tamil Sangam Associa- Local Hero catergory awards, for ology, to professional organiza- tion, was also awarded Australian his efforts in improving the comNuclear Science and Technology munity. Organization Award in 2007 and Singh was nominated for his 2014. four-year-old initiative of providA Darwain-based Tejinder Pal ing a free-meal service called the
Pak declines invite to Speakers' Summit NEW DELHI: Amidst chill in Indo-Pak ties, Pakistan has declined an invitation by Indian Parliament and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to attend South Asian Speakers' Summit to be held next month. "Pakistan and Myanmar which were among the countries in the South Asian nations invited to the Speakers' meet in Indore on February 18-19 have declined the invitation," official sources said. However, officials did not elaborate on the reasons given by Pakistan and merely noted that these two countries have written that they will not be able to attend the meet. The Summit, which is primarily an IPU initiative and not a SAARC activity, will be attended by Speakers of Parliament from Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka among other countries, the sources said. Significantly, in 2015, India had boycotted a Commonwealth Parliamentary Union (CPU) meeting in Islamabad to protest against Pakistan's decision to not invite the Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The discussions during the Speakers' Summit on achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will update the participants on implementation of the SDGs in their region and globally. Special emphasis will be laid on sharing experiences and increasing understanding about how parliaments in the region institutionalize the global goals, capture the synergies and build coherence at the policy level, IPU said on its website. -PTI
Note ban situation improving: SBI Chief CHENNAI: State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya has claimed that 85-90 per cent of cash crunch has eased post demonetization, adding that the situation will improve by end of next month. "We have been monitoring the average amount withdrawn by a person... The average ticket size withdrawn from an ATM is Rs 3,000. However, during demonetization (when withdrawal of old notes were announced by
the Centre in November), there was lot of fear among people. They felt that if I do not take enough cash, I will not get it anymore," she told reporters at the sidelines of a function here. People were withdrawing larger and larger amounts "due to fear," she said. "But, when people know that they can take money whenever they can go to an ATM and get it, situation will revert back to normal."-PTI
'food van' in Northern Territory. Singh has been feeding the poor and needy locals of northern Darwin with dedication on the last Sunday of each month. Over 950 Australians were named in the Australia Day Honors this year with former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Victorians Governor Linda Dessau, organic scientist Andrew Holmes and former Liberal MP David Kemp receiving the nation's top Australia Day medal, the Companion of the Order of Australia. Other who received the top honors were a Queensland based Biomedical scientist Alan Mackay-Sim who was named Australian of the Year this year. Alan's groundbreaking work on stem cells was crucial to the first ever successful case of restoring a quadriplegic person's ability to walk.-PTI
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Indian-origin woman sells home for 2 pounds LONDON: A 43-year-old Indian-origin teacher in the UK has sold her home, which has a market value of 250,000 pounds, for a token of mere 2 pounds to ensure that she cannot be evicted from the property. Rekha Patel has been locked in a feud with her neighbor over some building work
be sold to recover legal fees and costs of around 76,000 pounds. "I realized I will have more rights as a tenant than the owner so I decided to sever all legal ties with the house in order to live in peace in my own home," she told PTI. She sold the home, built in the early 18th
Rekha Patel
dating back six years on the home. She spent 200,000 pounds buying the dilapidated two-bedroom cottage in 2010 in Simmondley village in Glossop and turning it into her dream home. A court order had directed that the home
century, to two private companies recently and has signed a 10-year tenancy agreement with them to carry on living in the property for a monthly rent of 50 pounds. "I had tried everything possible and had no other choice.
There are proper agreements in place with the two private companies and these are people I trust. The people of this village have been absolutely lovely. Many have taken days off work to come out and support me," she said. Patel, who was born in the UK to an Indian family from Navsari in Gujarat, got embroiled in a dispute with her next door neighbor over some roof stones that got damaged during renovation work on the two-bedroom house, which has a market value of 250,000 pounds. The dispute landed in court, which ordered Patel to pay damages and legal costs to her neighbor. While she paid part of the amount, Patel disputes the remaining bill imposed on her. She was evicted from her home in June
last year over non-payment but re-entered a month later and has since been fighting against a court order for her home to be sold. She has applied for the legal bill to be quashed by Manchester County Court. "I feel the justice system needs to be fairer and accessible to everyone. I want to now put this entire matter behind me and move on. I want to travel to India and try and work on a book that would help educate others who get caught in a similar situation of being scared out of their own homes," said the maths teacher, who works at Glossopdale Community College in Glossop. "Forgiveness is the way forward. It is between her and her conscience, she knows what she did was not right," she said, in reference to her neighbor. -PTI
Siddhartha on Wellcome Book Prize list NEW DELHI: Indian-American physician and author Siddhartha Mukherjee has been longlisted for this year's Wellcome Book Prize for his non-fictional work 'The Gene: An Intimate History' that was published in May last year. The author took to Twitter to share the announcement. "#THEGENE is listed for the @wellcometrust @wellcomebkprize BOOK PRIZE," he wrote on the social networking site. In his book, Mukherjee blends science, social history, and personal narrative, and attempts to tackle the knotty dilemma of whether human beings should remain bound to heredity or alter the course of future generations. It is among the 12 books on the list that features seven non-fiction and five fiction titles, including memoir, contemporary fiction, historical fiction and popular science. "The longlist for the 2017 prize has been revealed... It's 12 books showcase the breadth and depth of our encounters with medicine," according to the official website of the Prize. Other works of fiction longlisted for the prize include 'Mend the Living' by Maylis de Kerangal, 'The Golden Age' by Joan London, 'The Essex Serpent' by Sarah Perry, 'The Tidal Zone' by Sarah Moss and 'Miss Jane' by Brad Watson. 'How to Survive a Plague' by David France, 'Homo Deus' by Yuval Noah Harari, 'When Breath Becomes Air' by Paul Kalanithi, 'Cure' by Jo Marchant, 'A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived' by Adam Rutherford and 'I Contain Multitudes'
by Ed Yong were among the works of nonfiction. The longlist was finalized in September last year by a judging panel that included academics and authors like Simon BaronCohen, Val McDermid and Tim Lewens. Broadcaster Gemma Cairney and Radio editor and producer Di Speirs were also on the panel.
The shortlist for the 2017 prize will be announced on 14 March 2017 and the winner on 24 April 2017. The 2016 Wellcome Prize was won by Suzanne O'Sullivan for 'It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness'. The annual award recognizes works of literature, both fiction and non-fiction, that have a central theme engaging with some aspect of medicine, health or illness. The genres can vary from crime, romance and popular science to sci-fi and history. -PTI
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Tech News Poker big deal for Artificial Intelligence
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t the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, an artificial intelligence computer program called Libratus is playing thousands of games of heads-up, no-limit Texas hold'em poker against professional players. So far, it's winning: it was up by almost $800,000 just halfway through the tournament. But no-limit poker has traditionally been seen as one of the more difficult games for AI to masterbecause a lack of information, human bluffing, and unbounded betting mean that there's never a perfect play. Experts however feel poker is a big deal for the artificial intelligence community.
New tech raising cost of living longer
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echnology continues to provide us with new ways to save lives, but it accounts for more health care expense than some people realize. A look at news shows that health tech advances aren't in short supply. Radiologists are building a scaled-down MRI scanner, designed especially for premature babies who are at high risk of brain damage but are too delicate to enter existing devices. A startup called Recursion Pharmaceuticals is using AI to understand the anatomy of cells to discover new uses for existing drugs. And researchers at Cornell are working out how to use carbon monoxide-usually considered to be a poison-as a therapeutic. Health economist Austin Frakt points out, though, that while many commentators claim that longer life spans are what's causing the cost of health care to spiral upwards, technology plays a larger role.
Row on creating pig-human chimeras
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esearchers have described controversial attempts to create pigs with human organs inside them. The experiments, carried out at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California and described in the journal Cell, injected human stem cells into pig embryos, which were then allowed to gestate for up to four weeks in surrogate sows. The idea: to eventually grow human organs for transplant inside barnyard animals. The results so far, however, have been less impressive than that. -Courtesy MIT Technology Review
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Uber's impact on traditional taxi jobs
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ide-hailing services like Uber have changed the way we get around cities-but how have they changed the employment situation of drivers? A study by University of Oxford researchers suggests that, contrary to what many people expect, while the arrival of Uber has caused a 50 percent boost in the number of self-employed drivers, it hasn't reduced the number of traditional taxi driver jobs. As New Scientist points out in its report of the research, though, the average hourly earnings of traditional taxi drivers have fallen by around 10 percent in cities where Uber has set up shop. Meanwhile, self-employed driverssuch as those who work for Uber-have enjoyed a 10 percent rise. Not that Uber drivers are necessarily happy with their income: earlier this month, the ride-hailing firm announced that it will pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit with the FTC because it promised unrealistic earnings.
Anomalies in RBI rules for NRIs depositing demonetized notes RAJESH DHRUVA
India-based Rajesh Dhruva is a Chartered Accountant who has been advising Overseas Indians in matters related to Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), Indian and International Tax for more than 26 years. He has found some anomalies in the new RBI Notification and has urged the bank brass to look into this and have them removed.
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nated in total. 2. The term NRI as also definition of NRIs (vide Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations 2000 vide Schedule 1) clearly regarded Indian citizens as also foreign citizens of Indian origin as Non Resident Indians. Even the Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations 2016, Notification No. FEMA 5(R)/2016-RB dated 1st April 2016
eserve Bank of India Noti fication RBI/2016-17/205 dated 31st December 2016 extends facility for Indian citizens who were abroad for exchange of Specified Bank Notes (SBNs). However, there are certain important miss outs which have created serious hardship for Non Resident Indians, many of whom are foreign citizens of Indian origin: RULES: 1. The Notification No. RBI/ 2016-17/205 DCM (Plg) No.2170 / in Schedule 1 specifically permits 10.27.00/2016-17 grants facility to foreign citizen of Indian Origin to exchange SBNs during grace pe- maintain Non Resident External riod to Indian Citizens only. (NRE) accounts at par with NRIs 2. Indian Citizens are further who are Indian citizens. divided as: 3. Foreign citizens of Indian 01 Resident Indians who were origin are also allowed to maintain abroad from 9th November to 30th Non Resident Ordinary (NRO) acDecember and count as per details of Schedule 3 02 Non Resident Indians of Master Direction on Deposits (NRIs) who were not in India from and Accounts. 9th November to 4. There are a 30th December. large number of 03 Whereas NRIs who have Resident Indians adopted foreign citiare not having any zenship and the enrestrictions about tire class of these the amount of deforeign citizen NRIs posits; NRIs are reare excluded from stricted to tender a this facility which is maximum of Rs. restricted only to 25,000/- subject to NRIs who are Indian production of Indian citizens. Customs certificate I feel that there Rajesh Dhruva of import of SBNs. seems to be a drafting error and not the intention of Glaring anomalies Reserve Bank of India or the GovHere are some glaring anoma- ernment of India. lies in this Notification: Moreover, whereas Resident 1. Foreign citizens of Indian Individuals are granted facility to origin i.e. Person of Indian Origin deposit any amount of SBNs, NRIs (PIOs), who are also NRIs, are not are restricted to deposit maximum granted the facility and are elimi- amount of Rs. 25,000.
This restriction seems to be based on the assumption of SBNs being carried out of India and brought back in India as a condition is also laid down about certificate of Customs Authorities for import and subsequent deposit of SBNs up to Rs. 25,000 as FEMA Regulations permit an individual to carry a maximum of Rs. 25,000/only out of India. This provision has totally
before 31st December only on account of such NRIs not being in India and also relying on Reserve Bank of India's earlier Notification allowing deposit of legitimate balances of SBNs after 31st December 2016 up to 31st March 2017. Ideas for correction Here are some ideas for correcting these anomalies: • No doubt by virtue of A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 24 of 3rd January 2017 extension has been granted to Foreign Citizens to exchange SBNs up to Rs. 5,000 per week up to 31st January 2017, which will squarely include Foreign Citizens of Indian Origin but as that would not allow import of SBNs by Foreign Citizen NRIs, Reserve Bank of India should allow up to 30th June 2017 • Recognize Foreign Citizens of Indian Origin NRIs at par with Indian Citizen NRIs as regards deposit of SBNs up to 30th June 2017. • Allow Foreign Citizens of Indian Origin to import SBNs up to Rs. 25,000 in India for depositing into their NRO account and • Also allow deposit of all the legitimate balances of SBNs retained in India by Indian Citizens as also Foreign Citizens of Indian
missed NRIs having SBNs at home in India or in Lockers in India which would have been left in India being legitimate balances out of Bank withdrawals from NRO / NRE accounts. It is interesting to note that till 31st December 2016 Foreign Citizens of Indian Origin could deposit legitimate balances of SBNs in their NRO account at par with Indian Citizen NRIs. And there were no Allow Foreign Citizens of limits of Rs. 25,000 as Indian Origin to import the Reserve Bank of India recognized the fact SBNs up to Rs. 25,000 in of NRIs having legitiIndia for depositing mate unspent balances of SBNs in India. In contrast, now, only Indian Origin. citizens are allowed to deposit Reserve Bank of India should SBNs up to Rs. 25,000 being im- also accept deposits of SBNs by ported into India thereby NRIs NRIs as also other permissible inwho were Foreign Citizens of In- dividuals at all offices of Reserve dian Origin are denied the benefit Bank of India. of depositing their legitimate balRajesh H Dhruva is Chief ances of their SBNs imported into Executive, femaonline.com India and, Tel. No. : 0091 281 245 3367 NRIs who are Foreign Citizens (four lines) / 245 9613 as also Indian Citizens are both Cell : 0091 98240 49944; denied facilities of depositing email rajesh@femaonline.com ; SBNs which were retained in Inkeynote@nribanks.com dia but could not be deposited
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US tech industry condemns immigration ban WASHINGTON: Silicon Valley's top executives, including India-born CEOs Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, condemned President Donald Trump's immigration ban on people from seven Muslimmajority countries, voicing concern that the move could directly hit their own staffers and stop bringing great talent to the US. Executives from Microsoft, Google, Apple, Netflix, Tesla, Facebook, Uber and other top American companies slammed Trump's immigration order that sparked widespread protests across the US. Trump had signed a sweeping executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees and impose tough new controls on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as part of new measures to "keep radical Islamic terrorists" out of America. Condemning the move, Nadella, in a post on LinkedIn, said "As an immigrant and as a CEO, I've both experienced and seen the positive impact that immigration has on our company, for the country, and for
Brad Smith
the world. We will continue to advocate on this important topic," Microsoft President Brad Smith said as many as 76 Microsoft employees are affected by this new executive order. "We appreciate that immigration issues are important to a great many people across Microsoft at a principled and even personal level, regardless of whether they personally are immigrants. Satya has spoken of this importance on many occasions, not just to Microsoft but to himself personally. He has done so publicly as well as in the private meetings that he and I have attended with government leaders," Smith said. "As a company, Microsoft believes in a strong and balanced high-skilled immigration system," he said. Pichai also criticized Trump's controversial immigration order saying it will create "barriers" to bringing great talent to the US. The Internet search giant also ordered its travelling staff to return to
America. Pichai in an email to staff said the US ban on foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries will hit nearly 200 Google employees. "It is painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our
Satya Nadella
colleagues. We're upset about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US," Pichai said. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was one of the first to address the ban publicly. "We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat. Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources...," he wrote on Facebook. Zuckerberg called for keeping doors open to refugees and those who need help. "That's who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla's family wouldn't be here today," he said. "My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla's parents were refugees from China and Vietnam. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that," he asserted. Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey also condemned the immigration order, saying the "humanitarian and economic impact of the ban is real and upsetting." "Twitter is built by immigrants of all religions. We stand for and with them, always," Twitter said. "We benefit from what refugees and immigrants bring to the US," Dorsey said. Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed concern over the order, saying his company's success is because of the immigrants. "I've heard from many of you who are deeply concerned about the executive order issued restrict-
ing immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. I share your concerns. It is not a policy we support," he wrote to his employees. "There are employees at Apple who are directly affected by the immigration order. Our HR, Legal and Security teams are in contact with them, and Apple will do everything we can to support them," he said. The Internet Association president and CEO Michael Beckerman said the internet industry is deeply concerned with the implications of Trump s executive order. "While this order impacts many companies outside of the tech industry, internet companies in particular thrive in the US because the best and the brightest are able to create innovative products and services right here in America," he said. "While we support President Trump s efforts to grow our economy and allow people of great talent to come into the US, the executive order has troubling consequences," Beckerman said. Internet Association member companies along with companies in many other industries include legal immigrant employees who are covered by these recent executive orders and will not be able to return back to their jobs and families in the US, he said. "Their work benefits our economy and creates jobs here in the United States. We maintain our support for immigration reform and will work with Congress and the Trump Administration on this important issue for families and our
Tim Cook
economy, Beckerman said. Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick said he will raise the issue with Trump when he along with other business advisers will meet the US President. "The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country s challenges," tweeted Elon Musk of Tesla.-PTI
Trump's policy not to hit Indian IT: Minister BENGALURU: Indian IT, abuses, which industry watchers Biotech and pharma industries will say could mean facing of tough not be impacted due to Donald scrutiny under his administration Trump's policies as the US is ex- by foreigner workers, including pected to continue "the com- Indians. merce-related attitude" towards Replying to a query, Kumar the country, Union Minister for said a notification to fix prices of Chemicals and Fertilizers H N cardiac stents will be issued by Ananth Kumar has said. the Central government in the "Prime Minister has already next 10 to 15 days. had a telephonic conversation "We have issued a notification with the US President (Trump). As of price fixation for stents. I exper the relations we have been pect within next 15 days, the nohaving with the US, I don't think tification will come before the enthere will be any change in the attitude of the US in terms of commerce- A notification to fix prices of related issues. I also cardiac stents will be issued don't think, there will be any problem for the In- by the Central government dian IT, BT and pharin the next 10 to 15 days. maceutical industries," Kumar said. He was replying to a query on tire country and all the cardiac Trump's policy of protectionism stents - steel or cobalt, their prices at a news conference to an- will be reduced in a great way and nounce the "Indian Pharma" and controlled as well," he said. "India Medical Devices-2017" inThe health ministry had international conference scheduled cluded stents last July in the Nato be held here from February 11 tional List of Essential Medicines, to 13. whereby the device came under Some of the key Indian com- purview of price control of the panies have been skeptical about government, Kumar said. "The Trump's stress on protectionism, step was taken as it was felt that including the IT industry. IT in- the margin for hospitals in terms dustry body Nasscom has been of MRP of the stents was too wary about Trump's statement on high. The government based its visa-related issues. decision on a sub-committee reTrump had said one of his first port that recommended putting all executive orders would be to or- types of stents into the list," he der investigation into all visa said.-PTI
Vodafone in merger talks with Idea NEW DELHI: Global telecom giant Vodafone has said it is in discussion to merge its India mobile business with Aditya Birla group's Idea Cellular - a move that would create the largest telecom entity to take on rivals such as Airtel and Reliance Jio. "Vodafone confirms that it is in discussions with the Aditya Birla group about an all-share merger of Vodafone India (excluding Vodafone's 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers) and Idea," Vodafone said in a statement. Any merger will be effected through issuance of new shares in Idea to Vodafone and would result in de-consolidation of Vodafone India, it added. A Vodafone-Idea combined entity would have 43 per cent rev-
enue market share as against the 33 per cent of Bharti Airtel currently and 13 per cent for Reliance Jio by 2018-19, a CLSA report had said. Vodafone did not share the details of the potential deal, saying, "there is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed, nor as
to the terms or timing of any transaction". While Bharti Airtel is the largest telecom operator in India with 263.35 million mobile subscribers, Vodafone has 202.79 million users and Idea Cellular 187.68 million.-PTI
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February 3, 2017
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Tech Briefs
Property tax bills show local govt debt SURESH SHAH
CHICAGO: Taxpayers can stay home to make online payment of property tax bills that show them the debt of each local government that levies taxes on their homes and other real property, according to Maria Pappas, Cook County Treasurer Nearly 1.8 million property tax bills for the First Installment of Tax Year 2016 have been mailed to owners of homes, businesses and land, and the due date for on-time payment is March 1, Pappas said. "No need to leave the house when you can pay online," Pappas said. Simply by logging onto cookcountytreasurer.com, online payment can be made from a smart phone, a laptop, or a computer at work or in a library. Anywhere from seven to 20 taxing districts - such as local governments and school districts levy taxes on a given property,
Building cities as sea levels rise
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s rising sea levels continue to pose a threat to coastal regions of the U.S., low-lying but densely populated regions like New York City are rethinking their approach to the built environment. Recently, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report warned that coastal regions of the U.S. could, in the worst cases, experience sea-level rises of as much as 8 feet by 2100, with the North East most at risk. New York City in particular faces a serious conundrum: it's low-lying, yet home to incredibly expensive real estate. The New York Times explains that the threat is changing the way that buildings are designed in the city: gone, for instance, are top-floor penthouses, replaced with emergency generators that never get flooded. Meanwhile, Curbed reports that, outside of Manhattan, new buildings and roadways are being built higher from the ground in an attempt to outrun the water. If all else fails, though, we could embrace the seas: the government of French Polynesia has just agreed to consider hosting a city of floating islands, which would use renewable power and sustainable aquaculture to fend for themselves. -Courtesy MIT Technology Review
Pappas explained, adding that First Installment bills are 55 percent of last year's total property tax. On the front of every mailed bill, below the amount owed, is a sec-
Maria Pappas
tion called "Taxing District Debt and Financial Data." That section lists each taxing district that levies a tax on a property and gives
the following financial information about each district: • Money owed by your taxing districts • Pension and healthcare amounts promised by your taxing districts • Amount of pension and healthcare shortage • Percentage of pension and healthcare costs taxing districts can pay Those who log onto cookcountytreasurer.com can see even more information by selecting "Want to see your local government debt?" and entering the 14-digit Property Index Number for the property or the name of a taxing district. "Property owners should know how much they are being taxed and by which units of government," Pappas said. "The bill and our website tell them."
Mastercard raises India investment by 30% MELBOURNE: Identifying India as one of the fastest growing e-commerce nations, Mastercard has said it will expand its investment by over 30 per cent in tune with the Indian government's "digital India" initiative. "India is one of the top priorities in the region. We have increased our investments in India by over 30 per cent in the last two years and we are going to increase it even more," Sam Ahmed, Mastercard's senior vice-president of marketing for Asia Pacific,
told PTI here. Ahmed indicated that Mastercard's, one of the world's largest financial transaction firms, investment plans were in line with the Indian government's "digital India" initiative and would help Indian consumers in digital payments in their daily lives. He said the company was looking at a number of digital payment innovations which were to be
launched in India in future, including face recognition, Masterpass and other online payment methods. He said mobile penetration in India was the highest and termed it as the key to get the users' access to such digital payment innovations. Commenting on the flow of investments in India, Ahmed said the company was keen to support the digitization move to help consumers understand about it. "The investments will also be channelized towards the digital and e-commerce engine giving consumers what they need. We are planning to do this by partnering with small businesses and merchants and outbound travelers," he said. The company is eyeing to tap movie launches and sponsoring local sports as a part of its marketing campaigns. "Movies are such a passion in India. The area we are looking at is movie launches," Ahmed said. Currently, the company has veteran Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and his daughter Sonam Kapoor as its Brand ambassadors.-PTI
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Ajit Pai pro-business, anti-net neutrality
P
resident Trump has selected 2015, was designed to promote Ajit Pai as the new head of competition and innovation the U.S. Federal Communica- around Internet services, by tions Commission-but what will stopping ISPs from throttling, he do when he blocking, or assumes the prioritizing trafrole? Like fic. Pai has said Trump, exthat its days are Verizon lawyer numbered, Pai doesn't though it seem fond of could yet strict regulaprove tricky to tion. Late last axe. Elsewhere, year he said Pai has outthat the FCC lined his desire needed "to fire to provide Ajit Pai up the weed Internet conwhacker and renections in rumove those rules that are hold- ral parts of the U.S., but dising back investment, innova- agrees with Trump over the protion, and job creation." posed merger of AT&T and Unsurprisingly, the telecom in- Time Warner, so will seek to dustry has already celebrated support it. Not a moment will his appointment. Perhaps first be wasted in enacting his plans: in his sights: net neutrality. Pai is already the senior RepubOne of the Obama lican member of the FCC, so the administration's darlings, the appointment won't require conOpen Internet Order, passed in gressional approval.
A powerful new quantum computer
T
he quantum computing company D-Wave Systems has announced that its latest device features twice the computing capacity of its previous best-but parts of the scientific community remain skeptical, and other devices may soon compete with it. D-Wave's new $15 million 2000Q quantum computer contains 2,000 qubits, the quantum equivalent of binary bits. It claims that, for specialized problems that are well-suited to quantum devices, it's at least 1,000 times faster than CPU- and GPU-based devices. But despite
Google tests claiming that DWave's technology works, some scientists remain skeptical about whether its qubits are robust enough to provide the exponential leap in computational power promised by quantum computing. Meanwhile, other researchers-at Google, Microsoft, IBM, and many universities-are working hard to develop their own quantum computers. And, as Nature reported earlier this month, those devices may soon make their way out of the laboratory. D-Wave's system may be fast, but it also has a fight ahead.
Rise of the robot laborer
F
actory assembly lines have been automated for decades, but less structured workplaces, from oil rigs to farms, are now welcoming robotic laborers. Bloomberg reports that oil drilling sites are becoming increasingly automated, with robots taking over the job of joining heavy pipes as they're driven into wells. Forbes, meanwhile, says that the rising price of workers is driving many farmers of labor-intensive crops to adopt robots for tasks such as crop thinning. And mining companies are
rolling out autonomous trucks, drills, and trains, to boost efficiency. Even construction sites may soon get a robotic helping hand: researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have developed a new robot, called In Situ Fabricator1, that can build complex structures with a precision of less than five millimeters. It sounds like a lot of jobs may be at stake. But a recent report suggested that humans and robots will be best-served by working alongside each other-for now, at least.
-Courtesy MIT Technology Review
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Hasty sanction of Rs 350 cr loan to Mallya NEW DELHI: Two initial tranches of loan worth Rs 350 crore were hastily disbursed by IDBI bank to Kingfisher Airlines after a "holiday" meeting between liquor baron Vijay Mallya and the then bank CMD as both organizations "criminally conspired" to clear the entire deal despite weak financials of the airline, the ED has said. The total loan sanctioned and
tent" to repay it. "PMLA investigation indicates that the marketable value and quality of the collateral security offered by Ms KAL (KFA) and its promoters was not assessed. There is a complete lack of due diligence on the part of the bank coupled with the fact that undue haste was shown while disbursing the initial two tranches of loan amounting to Rs 350 crore.
Vijay Mallya
disbursed by IDBI was Rs 860.92 crore. The agency, probing the case for money laundering charges, has said its investigation found that the processes deployed to structure and re-structure the loan by the bank to the now-defunct airline was planned to be defrauded and that Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) had "no in-
"It is apparent that the said loans were disbursed post meeting of Mallya with the then CMD (Yogesh Aggarwal) of the bank on a holiday. It does not need an eagles' eye to decipher the cause of immediate disbursement of the loan amount of Rs 150 crore on October 7, 2009 and Rs 200 crore on November 4, 2009," the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe
report, accessed by PTI, said. The CBI recently arrested Aggarwal and eight others in this case. The report added this specific transaction, where "substantial amounts" were sanctioned to KFA, in an ad-hoc basis and without due diligence points to the "existence of a deep rooted criminal conspiracy between the bank officials and the promoters of KAL (KFA)". The agency, in its report, has appended the statement of the Aggarwal given to ED on March 23 last year wherein he told the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case that in October 2009, Mallya made a telephonic call to his office and requested for an "urgent meeting the very next day". "As the next day was a holiday, it was pointed out to him... and he could meet at a later day. However, he (Mallya) informed that he was leaving Mumbai next day evening and as the matter was urgent, he would be grateful if he could meet the next day despite it being a holiday to which he (Aggarwal) agreed," the ex-CMD said, adding Mallya did meet him the next day along with a former MD and current advisor of the bank and an Executive Director of IDBI. "Mallya informed that Ms KAL (KFA) was in a severe crunch and needed funds urgently to keep flying," Aggarwal said in his statement. . The report further goes into the disbursal of these two tranches of loans saying when this happened "Ms KFA was having negative
financials and negative net-worth and being a new client did not satisfy the conditions/norms stipulated in the corporate loan policy of the bank". "However, without due deliberations and without following the standard procedure for sanctioning and disbursal of loan, short term loan was immediately sanctioned by the bank in an undue haste," it said. The ED probe also found that the considered brand valuation of the KFA, taken as collateral by the bank for loan security in the said case, was not a sound decision. "Investigation revealed that
brand valuation was wholly based on projections provided by Ms KFA. Hence, it would not be prudent to accept brand value of 2008, while considering loan sanction in 2009," it said. ED said its "money trail analysis revealed that out of the total loan of Rs 860.92 crore, sanctioned and disbursed by IDBI, Rs 423 crore has been remitted out of India. The said payments were shown to be made towards aircraft rental leasing and maintenance, servicing and spare parts." The investigations conducted so far, it said, found KFA along with IDBI bank officials "criminally
"Money trail analysis revealed that out of the total loan of Rs 860.92 crore, sanctioned and disbursed by IDBI, Rs 423 crore has been remitted out of India. The said payments were shown to be made towards aircraft rental leasing and maintenance� KFA brand was accepted as collateral security and the valuation for Kingfisher brand as accepted by the bank as Rs 3,400 crore without independent verification," it said, adding the firm that did the brand valuation had submitted three different amounts of this estimate between 2008-12. "Thus, it indicates how volatile is this (brand value) intangible fictitious asset and needs to be evaluated frequently, particularly in aviation sector which itself is very unpredictable and was going through a very rough phase and
conspired to obtain funds to the tune of Rs 860.92 crore despite weak financials, negative networth, non-compliance of corporate credit policy of new client, non-quality collateral security and low credit rating of the borrower, out of which Rs 807.82 crore of principal amount remains unpaid." ED had registered a criminal case in this deal last year under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and has attached assets to the tune of Rs 9,661 crore till now.-PTI
Industries to invest Rs 10.5 lakh cr in Andhra VISAKHAPATNAM: As many as 665 pacts worth about Rs 10.5 lakh crore, spanning across sec-
tors such as oil & gas, healthcare and mining, were signed during the two day Andhra Pradesh in-
vestment summit. Addressing investors at the end of the summit, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu promised "transparent and corruption free" administration as he invited industries to invest in the state. He said as many as 665 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 10.5 lakh crore were signed during the summit which has a potential to generate 22 lakh new jobs. The investment commitments were double the Rs 4.67 lakh crore that had come in through 320 MoUs at last year's summit. "After you have signed the MoUs, it is no longer your business, it is our business. All clearances will be given within 14 days... I will offer you transparent and corruption free adminis-
become a hub of hydrocarbons and petrochemicals. During the summit, ONGC has signed a Rs 78,000 crore MoU, while HPCL and GAIL has signed Rs 40,000 crore worth MoU with the state government. Inviting businesses to invest in sectors like minerals, infrastructure and railways, Naidu said the state aspires to make it to the list of top 10 states in global rankings for ease of doing business. Naidu said he is also networking with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu international universities on imparting try has signed MoUs worth Rs knowledge for overall develop1.43 lakh crore and the state can ment of the state.-PTI tration," Naidu told investors. He said the oil and gas indus-
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Amartya Sen says noteban 'unguided missile' MUMBAI: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has termed note ban as an unguided "missile" fired "unilaterally" by the government without adhering to the democratic conventions. "Every now and then we get missiles fired by the government unilaterally. Demonetization one fine
all: Why and how' here, was done while comparing decision-making in a democratic country like ours and the Communist China. The Bharat Ratna awardee said decisions get taken in China based on the vision of a small group of people, while in a democracy like ours, things move only when there
morning is of course just such a missile where there are reports coming in of hardships and suffering though it is not quite clear where the missile has landed," Sen said. The remark was made by Sen during a talk titled 'Healthcare for
is a public demand for it. "Our political decisions, however, in contrast have to involve the public," he said, comparing our situation with China and going on to mention the demonetization exercise as an aberration from
such a convention. Drawing attention to the critical challenges faced by the healthcare sector, the professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard said, "unilateral thoughts" like demonetization cannot be of help. "Firing unilateral thoughts are not the way to reform healthcare in the kind of democracy that is India," Sen said. The US-based Sen has among other things, described demonetisation as a "despotic action" which was taken in a hurry. Sen also spoke about the need to increase budgetary allocation to healthcare as a share of GDP, saying the present paltry allocation above 1 per cent is very low. Ruing that healthcare gets scant attention from the media, he cited an empirical analysis of editorial space to the critical subject done by him and developmental economist Jean Dreze to drive home his point. None of the major political parties made any mention to healthcare in the 2014 hustings as well, Sen pointed out and regretted the lack of public discussion on the subject.-PTI
Chidambaram says growth won't exceed 6.5% HYDERABAD: Terming the demonetization as "ill-conceived", former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said here the economy won't grow at more than 6 to 6.5 per cent for the next two fiscals due to the damage caused by the move. Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had categorically rejected the idea of demonetization, he claimed, adding that NDA government "must have consulted some RSS pracharak" before taking the decision. Speaking at the second anniversary function of Telugu daily 'Mana Telangana' here, Chidambaram said the economy will suffer a setback of Rs 1.5 lakh crore as 80 per cent of the Small and Medium Enterprises had closed down. "If ten per cent of bank officers were dishonest earlier, thanks to demonetization, 50 per cent of the bank officers became dishonest. So the very exercise generated more corruption, not less corrup-
tion. So they changed the narration to cashless economy now," he said. "...you take it from me, the economy will not grow at more than 6 and 6.5 per cent in 2017-18 and 2018-19. It will take two years for the economy to recover. People have lost confidence in currency. People are not spending.
have been consulted were not consulted before taking the decision. "The finance secretary was not consulted, the banking secretary was not consulted and the Chief Economic Adviser was not consulted, and then who was consulted? They must have consulted some RSS pracharak," he alleged. Several past RBI governors had
"The finance secretary was not consulted, the banking secretary was not consulted and the Chief Economic Adviser was not consulted, and then who was consulted? "You have unnecessarily interrupted the economic story of this country by this thoughtless, illconceived demonetization," Chidambaram said. Earlier, addressing a meeting of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, the senior Congress leader said those who should
disapproved of the idea, he said. "We had Raghuram Rajan as Governor for three years, he did not think demonetization was the answer and he categorically told the Government no, don't do demonetization. Then a new Governor comes and in 64 days he agrees for demonetization."-PTI
Officers to face action for GPF delays NEW DELHI: Action will be Senior Personnel Ministry oftaken against the officers con- ficials also said there have been a cerned in cases of delay in pro- few instances in which there were cessing payment of General complaints of delay in giving fiProvident Fund (GPF) to retiring nal amount of GPF to the retiring employees, the Centre has said. employees. The move comes after it was Rules clearly provide that noticed that GPF final payment in when the amount standing at the many cases was not being made credit of a subscriber in the Gento the government servants im- eral Provident Fund becomes mediately after retirement leading payable, it shall be the duty of to payment of interest for the pe- the Accounts Officer to make the riod delayed. payment. In an order, the Ministry of The authority for the amount Personnel said in order to ensure timely final payment of GPF and to The authority for the amount avoid unnecessary financial burden on ac- payable is to be issued at count of interest, it has least a month before the now been decided that every case, in which date of superannuation payment of interest on General Provident Fund becomes payable is to be issued at least a necessary beyond the date of re- month before the date of supertirement, shall be put up for con- annuation, but payable on the sideration to the Secretary of the date of superannuation, the rules administrative ministry. say. "In all such cases the SecreThe Centre had in 1996 distary of the administrative minis- pensed with the requirement of try or department will fix respon- submitting a written application sibility at all levels to take appro- by the retiring government serpriate action against the govern- vant for GPF final payment. ment servant or servants who are As per the rules, in case the found responsible for the delay GPF balance is not paid on retirein the payment of General Provi- ment, interest on the GPF balance dent Fund," it said in the direc- is required to be paid for the petive to all central government de- riod beyond the date of retirement partments. also.-PTI
Survey finds India scoring high on digitization NEW DELHI: Digitization is the new buzzword for Corporate India as 84 per cent employees in the country said their employer has a digital strategy - one of the highest in the world. According to the Randstad Workmonitor survey, globally, India scores high on this scale followed by China (81 per cent) and US (73 per cent). The study conducted online among employees aged 18-65 working a minimum 24 hours a week in a paid job (not self-employed) noted that the staffers are well aware of the challenges that digitization is likely to bring and agree that they currently perform a lot of repetitive work and/or routine tasks that could be automated. "Around 87 per cent of the respondents said digitization requires different skill sets against what is currently available in our workforce," the survey said,
adding that "84 per cent of the respondents believe that they personally need to acquire more digital skills to guarantee their future employability". The respondents are also upbeat about economic and financial conditions of the country. Around 93 per cent expect the economic situation in India to improve in 2017 while 89 per cent mentioned that their employer performed financially better in 2016 than in 2015. The survey further noted that the last quarter of 2016 saw the highest actual job switch in India as 47 per cent respondents from the country said they have changed their jobs in the last six months. This trend is reflected really high within employees in the age group of 25-34 years (57 per cent) followed by 18-24 years (50 per cent) and 35-44 years (46 per cent). -PTI
Desi News Parents to join selection of school Principal India Post News Service
CHICAGO: In a unique move, the Mather High School LSC of Chicago has invited parents and members of community to attend the Open Forum to participate in the selection process of Principal for the school. Extending the invitation, Usman Narmawala, Chair of Mather High School LSC, said Mather is one of the top rated high schools in the neighborhood with 1498 students. She wanted the parents and members of community to attend the Open Forum and participate in selection process of Principal. The details of Open Forum are: Day / Date - Monday Feb 6th Time - 5:30 to 7:00 pm CST Venue - Mather High School Auditorium Address - 5835 N Lincoln Ave Chicago IL 60659 Questions / Comments can be sent to: ddrutkowski@cps.edu
Dr Sayeed ready for new challenges in Seychelles RAMESH SOPARAWALA India Post News Service
CHICAGO: Consul Generals (CGs) for India may come and go after the end of their terms but not all leave their mark or impressions behind. And only a few carve out a small place in the hearts of community members they serve here. The Indian Consul General designated Ambassador Dr Ausaf Sayeed has done both by his sagacity, sincerity of purpose and hard work not only with the members of Indian community here but even with mainstream Americans too. Details on page 18
India honors H.R.Shah with Padma Shri India Post News Service
NEW JERSEY: Indian-American entrepreneur H.R. Shah, Chairman & CEO of TV Asia, has been conferred one of India's highest civilian honors, the Padma Shri, for the year 2017. Mr. Shah, who is among only three recipients of the honor from the United States this year, is being presented the award in the category of Literature & Education-Journalism. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, is scheduled to present the honors in March/ April 2017 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Details on page 20
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FIA's Republic Day marks biggest festivity of Bay Area Pics PC Sharma photography & Fremont Hindu temple
VIDYA SETHURAMAN India Post News Service
SANTA CLARA: In the presence of about two dozen elected officials, dozens of heads of community organizations, a large number of sponsors, scores of artists, and 2000 attendees, Federation of Indo-Americans of Northern California celebrated the biggest festivity of the Bay area to mark the 68th Indian Republic Day at Santa Clara Convention center theater, Santa Clara. The singing of the National Anthem of USA by Alka Bhatnagar and the Indian Anthem by the entire FIA team, spiked the patriotic atmosphere of the evening. The traditional ceremony of the lamp lighting augmented the nostalgic value a notch up. Dr Romesh Japra, FIA's Chairman and Founder of FOG, aptly summed up the positive spirit. "We truly represent the heightened aspirations of Indian Americans and we are amplifying our efforts to reach out to the 200,000 and growing population of our folks," he said. He announced that FIA would be organizing a Free Holi Mela on March 12 at Newark Junior high school, Newark. "We want to bring THE whole community at a larger stage so that
Ash Kalra, Consul General Venkatesan Ashok, Dr Romesh Japra, Ro Khanna & Rajesh Verma
we can create a bolder image of our community," he said. The majestic Rajpath in New Delhi saw a fascinating display of India's military might and resplendent cultural diversity as the country celebrated its 68th Republic Day on Thursday, Jan 26, with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan attending the event as Guest of Honor. Alka Bhatnagar and Group singing patriotic songs
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FIA's Republic Day marks biggest festivity of Bay Area Cont’d from page 16
Rajesh Verma, President, FIA, expressed his happiness on witnessing the huge crowd and dignitaries. "FIA is growing exponentially, and its best days are ahead and reiterated on the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Festival of India and Parade which will be celebrated from August 4 to 13, 2017," he declared. He urged the public to volunteer, sponsor and support this historical event. Deepak Chhabra, Chair, Events and Parade, said this year's parade in August will be special and he looks forward to working with all the organizations to make it memorable and grand. He urged the Bayareans to join the grand celebration. Consul General Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok was the Chief Guest and he commended the FIA leadership for hosting such a magnificent event that will project the growing strength of the Indian community. He spoke on Indian roots and the bonding we share with our motherland.
Joining the celebrations, Congressman Ro Khanna in a statement said it marks an important day that India adopted their Constitution as their governing document - the day India officially became a republic. "Today celebrates both India becoming a republic and it signifies the special bond between the world's oldest and largest democracies. This bond encompasses shared values, commercial trade and mutual security," he said. Among the elected officials who attended the event included Congressmen Ro Khanna, Assemblymen Ash Kalra, Assemblymen Kansen Chu, Savita Vaidhyanathan, Mayor, City of Cupertino, Raj Salwan, Council member, City of Fremont, Arun Goel, Council member, City of Dublin, Kathy Watanabe, Council member, City of Santa Clara, Rajeev Batra, City Manager, Santa Clara, Rishi Kumar, Council member of
Consul General Venkatesan Ashok, Dr Romesh Japra and Congressmen Ro Khanna
Dignitaries with FIA members
Saratoga, John Kessler from Betty Yee office, and Teresa Cox to name a few. Cultural activities were held and the gathering was treated with some spectacular musical feats. A multifaceted entertainment program which included music and dance performances was presented by Bay area kids. It was one of the highlights of the event. The day-long event was emcee by Jyotsna Bendapudi, FOG Cultural chair. Over 700 kids from 100 groups from age group 4-15 participated in the competitions which had categories such as Bollywood, hip-hop, classical to name a few. Students presented a patriotic and cultural program along with short speeches depicting their patriotism in the best possible manner. The celebration continued with song and dance competitions that reminded of the sacrifices made by freedom fighters. The competition culminated with prize distribution ceremony wherein trophies and certificates were given to the winners of all categories. This year FOG Republic Day celebrations hosted a special kids fashion show. Nearly twenty-five children in the age category of 5-12 years walked and posed at the stage of Santa Clara Convention Center Theater on the background scores of patriotic songs like India Waale and Chuk De. "Mera Bharat Mahan" themed fashion show was a huge success as there were representations from majority of Indian states. Children dressed in their ethnic dresses represented unique cultures of each of the states. Parents used this fashion show as a teaching moment to teach their children about various states of India, as one parent commented I am from Punjab, but my children who are born here don't know anything about that state but with this fashion show he was able to talk about various states of India to his children. The Fashion show was organized by Ritu Khurana and team. Kids represented Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kashmir, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and few other states. Divine Vastu, Nurture Kids, Gateway Eye Care, Paramount Builders - Jerry Ahuja, Tea India, Gurus Education were the sponsors for the evening. Proposing a Vote of Thanks, FIA Chairman Dr Romesh Japra thanked the generous support of the sponsors, members, media and the immense contributions of his team. MORE PICS ON PAGE 24
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Dr Sayeed ready for new challenges in Seychelles RAMESH SOPARAWALA India Post News Service
CHICAGO: Consul Generals (CGs) for India may come and go after the end of their terms but not all leave their mark or impressions behind. And only a few carve out
ignated Ambassador Dr Ausaf Sayeed has done both by his sagacity, sincerity of purpose and hard work not only with the members of Indian community here but even with mainstream Americans too. To his credit there are many
Dr Sayeed at Yoga Day
a small place in the hearts of community members they serve here. The Indian Consul General des-
firsts to his credit besides leaving a legacy for his successors to work on for doing one better for the
country they represent as also for the bilateral India-US relationship. Dr. Sayeed endeared himself with the Chicago Indian community a lot and this has been reflected in a number of send off parties that he attended and addressed before his term finally ended January this year. In a talk with India Post in his office, Dr Sayeed said that one of the hugely satisfying things that he has addressed successfully to a great extent is to streamline the functioning of his Consulate and make officials more easily accessible to the general public to address and resolve their problems relating to visa, PIO-OCI cards passports, relevant documents and other small and big things. He kept up the tradition of reaching out to the community by hosting visa passport camps in Midwest states as well. The Indian CG was quick to realize the huge contributions that the people of Indian origin were making an all walks of life - investment, trade business, medicine IT sector, education research, culture etc. - and the resultant huge rapport they have established with the US law makers at different levels - local, State and Federal. And he was never lax in tapping this resource to the fullest extent possible for improving Indo US ties and cooperation It was one of his meets with the Indiana Governor Pence that a suggestion was thrown at his feet by the Governor, now the Vice President of USA, for establishing 'Midwest U.S.-India Association' on the line of US Japan Midwest Association. Dr Sayeed was quick to pick up this idea and follow it up in right earnest realizing the huge benefits that India can achieve with this platform. He forwarded the proposal to the right corners in India with his recommendatory notes and is hopeful that the idea would crystalize for good in coming months. The US Jana Midwest Association existing since 1967 meets often and is attended by high level business and government officials from both the sides resolving irritants and speeding up collaborations in economic and non economic fields as well Not exactly on these lines but following the broad pattern, two new Agreements were signed last year A Memorandum of Cooperation was concluded between the Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Haryana and IOWA Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in August 2016. A MoU on Smart State Cooperation was concluded between the Illinois Department of Information and Technology (DoIT) and
the State of Telangana in October 2016 to accelerate the progress of both parties toward emerging smart state technologies. Similar MoUs are expected to be concluded with the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. It is also worth noting that Edu-
the Indiana University in Gurgaon. The Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations (SALC), Division of the Humanities, University of Chicago, founded in 1966, regularly teaches several Indian languages such as Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Pali, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. In the research and innovation areas too the Consulate has something to boast about. Prof. Kattesh V. Katti, Curators' Distinguished Professor of Radiology and Physics, Director, Institute of Green N a n o t e c h n o l o g y, University of Missouri in Columbia, a highly-decorated Indian-American, has been carrying out research on the application of green nanotechnology to Ayurvedic medicines, which is both nonOutgoing Indian CG Dr Ausaf Sayeed toxic and highly effective in treating varicational collaboration and Re- ous forms of cancers. search between India and the US Another pioneering research Midwest has sprawled in recent that is being undertaken at the years. Several prestigious univer- Department of Surgery, University sities in the US Midwest such as of Minnesota is on a drug called the University of Chicago, Univer- 'Minnelide', which is perceived to sity of Illinois (Urbana- be a novel therapy for treating Champaign/Chicago), Indiana Pancreatic Cancer. The research University, Purdue University, is led by Prof. Ashok K.Sajula and
Indian PM with President James Michel in Seychelles
Michigan University, Michigan State University, University of Missouri, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Minnesota, Wisconsin University, Iowa State University have their easier access in India now. Three Midwestern Universities have opened their offices in India - University of Chicago & University of Illinois (UrbanaChampaign) in New Delhi, while
his team, a majority of them being research scholars of Indian origin. UIC-Chicago is working closely with Ayush to undertake scientific research on the medicinal properties of various traditional Indian medicines. It had sponsored a major seminar in September 2015 to promote Alternate Indian Medicines. Cont’d on page 20
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Madhuri Dixit launches Academy Awards of Silicon Valley
Madhuri Dixit Nene, Rishi Kumar, Councilmember, Saratoga and Consul General Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok
VIDYA SETHURAMAN India Post News Service
SANTA CLARA, CA: The Indian Academy Awards, conceptualized by Brainstorm Entertainment and executed by Cineyug, will be held in California from July
was attended by Bollywood queen Madhuri Dixit Nene, Consul General Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok, Vandana Krishna and Saurabh Pandey, Brainstorm Entertainment, Aly Morani, Cineyug. The event was attended by IAA US partners Ritu
Rishi Kumar, Councilmember, Saratoga and Vandana Krishna, Brainstorm Entertainment
to become a truly global and democratic award ceremony that will redefine the entertainment world. What makes these awards stand out is the fact that they invite a global audience to be part of the jury, by a simple registration process. Cont’d on page 20
Consul General Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok, Silkey Jain, Ritu Panesar and Ayush Jain
Aly Morani, Cineyug, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Rishi Kumar, Consul General Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok, Vandana Krishna and Silkey Jain
7-8 to celebrate world cinema of three major film industries Bollywood, Tollywood and Hollywood. The Indian Academy Awards will be a two-day extravaganza of live performances by various superstars of Bollywood, including Shah Rukh, that will be choreographed by Shiamak Davar along with music and fashion shows. It will have everything a cinema aficionado could hope for - from the biggest stars of this generation to industry veterans, both from the Hindi film industry as well as the South Indian Film industry, appealing to a wider NRI audience. A press conference was held on Jan 27 at Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara for the launch of Indian Academy awards. The conference
Panesar, Dr Vijay Tiwari and Silkey Jain. Media and community leaders were in full attendance to show their support for the debut awards in the host city. Brainstorm Entertainment announced the Indian Academy Awards (IAA), which aims to take the Indian film industry closer to its global dream. Shah Rukh Khan launched the awards logo and the Golden Knight Trophy at an event in Mumbai in December 2016. Talking about her association with the awards, Madhuri Dixt said, "I'm happy to associate with the first-of-its kind Indian Academy Awards, which is an amalgamation of everything a cinema lover could hope for". Speaking on the concept, Vandana Krishna said, "IAA aims
Madhuri Dixit Nene
Dr Vijay Tiwari, Aly Morani, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Rishi Kumar, Vandana Krishna
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India honors H.R.Shah with Padma Shri India Post News Service
NEW JERSEY: Indian-American entrepreneur H.R. Shah, Chairman & CEO of TV Asia, has been conferred one of India's highest civilian honors, the Padma Shri, for the year 2017. Mr. Shah, who is among only three recipients of the honor from the United States this year, is being presented the award in the category of Literature & Education-Journalism. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, is scheduled to present the honors in March/ April 2017 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Mr. Shah, who has lived in the United States for 46 years, is originally from Bahadarpur, Gujarat. He is also Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (USA), an institution dedicated to literature, culture, education, music and arts. He has devoted his life to community service as well as fostering close relations between India and the United States through his many endeavors and enterprises over the years, including TV ASIA. When informed of the decision, Mr. Shah reacted: "I cannot believe it and am still trying to
fathom this wonderful news. I am deeply humbled, honored and overjoyed that the Republic of India has decided to confer on me the Padma Shri. It is recognition of my work for more than 35 years and I am grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government as well as the people of
ported me all these years." Mr. Shah added: "I look forward to receiving the Padma Shri in New Delhi later this year and rededicate myself to helping India and the United States further their close relations, as well as to promote India's rich culture and heritage."
H.R. Shah
India for rewarding me with this high civilian honor. I am also grateful to my family, friends and well-wishers who have sup-
Shah is the first NRI to own a chain store business anywhere in the world. A turnaround expert, he be-
We also have one of the biggest certifying agencies in the world to authenticate the voting process. People can vote their favorite films, stars in over 21 categories from the official website of Indian Academy Awards starting March 2017. It will be a two-
day desi style extravaganza. California is a perfect destination to showcase this for both American and Indian audiences." The two-day celebration will kick off with a fashion show and a musical extravaganza that will feature some of the biggest Indian musicians and international artists. It will close with the grand
Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit Nene and Rishi Kumar, Councilmember, Saratoga
finale of the Bollywood, Hollywood and Tollywood award ceremony - a heady mix of grand sets, exquisite costumes and a galaxy of stars, said Aly Morani, Cineyug. Consul General Venkatesan Ashok said: "We are very pleased to support the collaboration, which will help create a deeper connection between the United States and India, the two biggest democracies in the world." Said Saurabh Pandey, Brainstorm Entertainment and IAA founder, "The Indian film industry is going global and the Indian Academy Awards are a celebration of that global, democratic academy that is completely transparent and all encompassing. Our aim with these awards is to bring a sense of realism and credibility to cinema awards. This is an academy that never sleeps." Prior to the grand July extravaganza, two events have been planned in March and May, one to honor the Women Achievers of Bay area and other being a business conclave.
A recipient of the 2005 Ellis Island Medal of Honor he is also a well-known entrepreneur, philanthropist and community leader.
Dr Sayeed ready for new challenges in Seychelles Cont’d from page 18
Madhuri Dixit launches Academy Awards of Silicon Valley Cont’d from page 19
came prominent for rescuing Krauszer's Food Stores, New Jersey's largest chain having over 400 convenience stores.
ber of Polo lovers. Indian Consul General Dr Sayeed has been appointed the new High Commissioner of India at Seychelles Islands, an archipelago and country in the Indian Ocean. On the face of it, one can judge wrongly the importance of this country but both Indian leaders have realized the huge importance of closer political and economic ties with this country. It was in this context that Indian PM Narendra Modi paid a special visit here in 2015 and this was reciprocated by President James Michel, Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Presidents R Venkataraman and Pratibha Patil have visited the Seychelles Diplomatic ties between India
It was a chance but it really happened for the good of historical research. Recently the Consulate was successfully able to retrieve two rare Indian artifacts which included a 10th century, Sandstone, Dancing Ganesha from Uttar Pradesh and a 4th/5th century, Terracotta idol of Lord Vishnu, apparently belonging to the Gupta period. A US national and renowned patron of art and board member of Art Institute of Chicago Ms. Marilynn Alsdorf voluntarily sent them to the Consulate once she began suspecting that these artifacts may have not been acquired from India in an illegal manner by some art dealer and got sold it to her long time ago. The Consulate took possession of these artifacts in consultation Seychelles has broad with the Archaeological based relations that cover Survey of India (ASI). The Consulate can a host of sectors including also take pride that culture, trade and technical some of its initiatives in the sport and cultural cooperation. filed are blossoming for the collective good for artists and and Seychelles have existed sportsmen. The Consulate initia- since Seychelles gained indetive to commence Kala Utsav with pendence in 1976. India has a High the sole purpose of encouraging Commission in Victoria while local talents to showcase great Seychelles maintains a High ComIndian heritage here in areas of mission in New Delhi. Seychelles dance and music has been highly has broad based relations that appreciated by the artists. The cover a host of sectors including event at Copernicus Theater in culture, trade and technical coopChicago held for the past three eration. According to the Indian years in row is free and it does Ministry of External Affairs relaattract a good number of lovers tions between India and Seychelles of art and culture besides offer- have been characterized by "close ing a much needed platform to friendship, understanding and coscores of cultural organizations operation" while Seychelles has described itself a "rock of dependacross Midwest. The Consulate has been sup- ability for India in the Indian Ocean portive of Amazing India fest held region". Dr Sayeed has accepted his new at Navy Pier in Chicago Downtown. The South Asian film fes- assignment with challenge and is tival that has become an annual looking forward to forging greater feature for the past few years cooperation between the two counhere has also received tries. He is hugely sanguine about thesupport of the Consulate In Indian entrepreneurs collaborating the area of sport, it was for the with their Seychellian counterparts first time that friendly Polo in the areas of fruit and seafood matches were organized in processing industries. There is Oakbrook, a suburb of Chicago. also immense scope in the hospiThe Delhi Polo Club played with tality and tourism sectors wherein Oakbrook Polo club last year and Indian businessmen can do a lot, the event attracted a good num- he observed.
February 3, 2017
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Durbin, Preckwinkle at Raja New York to have Holi parade in March Open House NEELA PANDYA
VINESH VIRANI
CHICAGO: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi hosted an open house and ceremonial swearingin at his district office in Schaumburg in front of a crowd
Preckwinkle were among the distinguished guests besides Indian community stalwarts. Sen Durbin in his address discussed the magnitude of the challenges facing the
Sen Dick Durbin addressing at the Raja new Office Open House
so large it spilled into the building's hallway. Senator Dick Durbin and County Board President
country and Raja's role in addressing them. The oath of office was administered by U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall, for whom
Raja clerked following his graduation from law school. "It was an honor to be joined by so many constituents, friends and family, as well as notable mentors and role models like Senator Durbin, County Board President Preckwinkle, and Judge Gottschall," Krishnamoorthi said. "I look forward to continuing to stand up in Washington for the middle class. We need to make sure that growing and strengthening the middle class is a top priority on Capitol Hill. My constituents told me repeatedly today that repealing the Affordable Care Act will be a devastating blow for so many working families as well as the economy at large." Raja Krishnamoorthi represents the 8th District of Illinois, which includes Chicago's west and northwest suburbs. He serves on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In addition, Raja serves as the ranking member, and top Democrat, on the Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules.
NEW YORK: The 29th annual "Phagwah Parade 2017" will be held in Richmond Hill neighborhood of Queens Borough of New York City on March 12 to celebrate Hindu festival Phagwah, also known as Holi. It will include multiple floats
New York Holi
playing religious music. Starting around 10 am in the morning from Liberty Avenue & 133rd Street, it will end in Smokey Oval Park (Phil
Lohri celebrated with flavors of Punjab
US Rep. Raja Krishnmaoorty with United Punjabis' executive board members lighting ceremonial lamp Asian Media USA
CHICAGO IL: United Punjabis of America (UPA) celebrated Lohri on January 28 at Ashton Place, Willowbrook, IL. The event was anchored by the famous emcee and founder of Desi Junction Radio Jassi Parmar. It started with lighting the lamp and National Anthems sung by Nipa Shah and Aavni Limdi. The UPA Executive board members
Madhu Uppal and Dharam Pawani introduced the UPA core team Brij Sharma, Om Dhingra, Ramesh Malhan, Girish Kapur, Shammi Mittal, Rosey Bhasin, ShikhaTandon, Kumkum Kumar, Atul Wahi and Vishal Dutt The Introduction was followed by a variety of singing and dance items brought by various dance schools of Illinois. The UPA board honored three business leaders Shalabh Kumar, Hersh Ketharpal
and Rahul Wahi for their contribution to Indian community as well as the entire society at large. Shalabh Kumar, "Shalli" is the CEO of AVG Group of companies while Hersh Ketharpal is the founding director of the Yog Sadhna Ashram of Chicago, West Chicago. Rahul Wahi is the founder and CEO of LLT Group, a digital marketing company operating in Naperville, IL and Boston MA. UPA members Shammi Mittal, Rosey Bhasin, Girish Kapur and Atul Wahi gave a vote of thanks to all the sponsors and media part-
"Scooter" Rizzuto Park) at 125th Street. After the parade, Phagwah festival celebrations will be held at Smokey Oval Park till six pm, which will include various cultural and musical performances. Sponsored by Federation of
ners. The cultural program continued and another talented singer Sanjay Amin sang some evergreen songs. Sukhdev Singh presented a Punjabi skit by depicting Mast Malanga, a hilarious Punjabi character. Famous Punjabi singer Maddy Singh made the audience dance on some fabulous Punjabi numbers. The grand finale performance Gidha was brought by Prachi Jaitly's Bollywood Arts Academy and the dance floor was opened to the entire audience followed by Bonfire.
Hindu Mandirs and Arya Spiritual Center and supported by Hindu Parades & Festivals Committee; its leaders include among others Ram Lall, Rishi Misir, Herman Singh, Naro Balli, Roy D. Singh and Sagar Rajpal. Commending the efforts of organizers and New York City community, Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism said thatit was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society Sohan Joshi, former president of National Federating of Indian Associations observed that Holi the "Festival of Color" heralds oncoming of spring and starts about ten days before the full moon of Phalguna. Besides color play, ceremonies also include the lighting of bonfires, during which all evils are symbolically burnt. Holi also commemorates the frolics of youthful Lord Krishna and celebrates the death of demon lady Putana, burning of Holika and destruction of Kama by Lord Shiva. Holi falls on March 13 this year.
NEWS on your desktop A group of United Punjabis members
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Unity in Community Day held in Saratoga RITIKA KUPPAM
SARATOGA, CA: The 2nd annual Unity in Community Day was held on Martin Luther King weekend at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga. This year's theme was "Dealing with Racism, Bigotry and unabashed Racism in America". Several elected leaders and distinguished panel members
discussed the importance of a unified nation and the immediate need to stand up against hate and bigotry. Keynote Speaker, Senator Beal urged everyone to take a moment to self reflect and think about their value system and moral beliefs. Calling for action, he demanded
social justice for everyone. He said that discrimination, sexism, religious bias goes against the fundamental values of the nation's constitution. Saratoga Councilmember and organizer of the event, Rishi Kumar supported the positive message for love and peace quot-
Winner Divya Balaji with her parents
L to R - Assemblymember Kansen Chu, Assemblymember Ash Kalra, Saratoga councilmember Howard Miller, San Jose Councilmember Chappie Jones, Modesto Councilmember Mani Grewal, Moderator Rishi Kumar at the 2nd annual Unity in Community Day in Saratoga. Pics Suraj Mididadi
ing MLK Jr. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Terming love as the most powerful weapon for a positive change, Assembly member Ash Kalra emphasized that change needs to begin at home and ex-
tend to the neighborhood and workplace. Talking about historical events Saratoga Councilmember Howard Miller assured that America has overcome discrimination and injustice in the past and believes that the country has the best political system in the world to overcome any hardship. Cont’d on page 25
Rishi appointed on Cal Computer Education Panel GIULIA CORNO
SARATOGA, CA: On January 11 of this year, Councilmember Rishi Kumar was selected to serve on the Computer Science Strategic Implementation Advisory Panel, a panel consisting of computer science experts whose goal is to develop a computer science curriculum for K-12 students throughout California. "This is near and dear to my heart and something I am so excited about. Honored to receive this letter from California Senate
pool of teachers to teach Computer Science, defining computer science education principles that meet the needs of pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12 and ensuring that all pupils have access to quality computer science courses," said Rishi Kumar California Senator Jim Beall congratulated Kumar for the position, "Congratulations to my good friend, Saratoga City Councilmember Rishi Kumar, who was appointed by the state Senate to the Computer Science Stra-
California, known to be the technological heart of the Silicon Valley, has been one of the first states to begin working towards making quality computer science education available for all of its students. President pro Tempore Kevin De Leon the chair of the California Senate Rules Committee, with an appointment to the Computer Science Strategic Implementation Advisory Panel. The objective of this panel is to submit a computer strategic implementation plan to the Department of Education, the State Board of Education and the Legislature that includes at least the following: Broadening the
tegic Implementation Advisory Panel. The panel will draft recommendations to broaden the pool of computer science teachers and ensure all students have access to quality computer science courses." Rishi has had extensive experience in the technology world, with a 15 year span at IBM and as general manager at Imaginea Technologies. Rishi launched the Silicon Valley Robot-
ics Club in 2013 that helps students with Lego Robotics concepts and mentors these students towards learning and success in the annual Lego Robotics competition. Later, he helped mentor the Silicon Valley Coders Club, a student run initiative that fosters technological and coding skills in middle school and high school aged students and provides them with a semester long learning on launching startups and developing products. California, known to be the technological heart of the Silicon Valley, has been one of the first states to begin working towards making quality computer science education available for all of its students. The recently passed Assembly Bill No. 2329, also called the Computer science strategic implementation plan, required the panel of 23 computer science experts to be created before September 1, 2017. The bill's implementation followed a joint effort by the Association for Computing Machinery, Computer Science Teachers Association, Cyber Innovation Center, National Math and Science Initiative, and code.org to give every student access to a quality computer science education. Together, these organizations created a
framework to establish K-12 computer science educational standards to be implemented across the nation. In 2016, Former President Obama presented a program called Computer Science for All which provided $4 billion of funding for states and $100 million to school districts to strengthen computer science programs. Individual
a plan to make computer science a core K-12 program in 2013, starting a wave of computer science programs in various districts across the nation. In 2015, Arkansas announced a requirement that all high schools offer at least three CS classes, while in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to give all New York City public school students access to computer science courses by 2025. In San Francisco, 12 middle schools are part of a pilot program developing computer science education for K-12 students from the San Francisco Unified School District. All of these Councilmember Rishi Kumar programs are sure to increase states are also doing their part in computer science education in strengthening their computer sci- America, bolstering our ence curriculum. According to student's futures. EdSurge, an organization that reThis curriculum, once rolled ports on educational trends, the out in the state of California is Chicago public school district was sure to offer an option for every the first in the nation to announce child of California to pursue a tech career.
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FIA's Republic Day marks biggest festivity of Bay Area Cont’d from page 17
Dr Japra, Savita Vaidhyanathan, Ash Kalra, Consul General Venkatesan Ashok, Ro Khanna and Rajesh Verma
Zaiba Ayubzai, Qamar Ayubzai, Ritu M, Dr Romesh Japra, Jyotsna B, Anita and Ritu K
Deepak C, Varinder U, Dr Japra, Rajesh Verma and Jerry Ahuja
Kids fashion show
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Vishwa Shanthi ballet to showcase unity in diversity India Post News Service
FREMONT, CA: Vishwa Shanthi Performing Arts, led by artistic director Shreelata Suresh, will present 'Infinite Facets - an exploration of the Self' in the clas-
have, threatening to disrupt peaceful coexistence. Vishwa Shanthi, which means "universal peace", through its newest production "Infinite Facets: an exploration of the Self" presents well-researched perspectives from different spiri-
Shreelata Suresh
sical Indian dance style of Bharatha Natyam on Sunday, February 12 in two shows at 12:00pm and 4:00pm, at the Center of Performing Arts at Menlo Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Rd, Atherton, CA 94027. In a press release, Vishwa Shanthi Performing Arts says it is proud to premiere this new Bharatanatyam Ballet at a time when divisions among countries and even people within one country loom larger than they ever
tual traditions in the form of entertaining dance that celebrates the One Truth that is common in all of us. "As a child I learned to count one...two...three, Marveling at the infinite beauty of the galaxy, Reflecting on every diverse facet, I dance joyously, Sharing the realization, 'The Self is the same in you and me'." Artistic director Shreelata Suresh and 20 principal dancers
will illustrate through beautiful song, dance and drama how the One Self expands into the multiplicity of the universe - the supreme Male Force and creative Female Energy, the Trinity, the four scriptures, the five elements, and so on. Maya is mankind's delusion in seeing division instead of understanding the Singular Truth. But through faith, effort and perseverance, true understanding dawns on us that while forms are many, all is One that is Sat-ChitAnanda or "Eternal Truth", "Pure Consciousness" and "Supreme Bliss", and we realize there is Unity in Diversity. This grand production uses the medium of Bharatha Natyam, a 3000+ year old classical dance form of South India to enact different stories. Incorporating traditional music, poetry, facial expressions, drama and pure rhythmic dance, Shreelata and her troupe enthrall the audience's visual and auditory senses, while providing clear English explanations to explore the fascinating spiritual messages of "Infinite Facets". The performance venue will also offer tasty Indian food, traditional Indian crafts and jewelry. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Yuva Bharati, a Bay Area nonprofit organization that aims to enrich life through performing arts. Vishwa Shanthi Direction by Shreelata Suresh (resident of San Mateo)
Raees going strong at box office India Post News Service
FREMONT, CA: SRK Universe in association with Bollywood Everything hosted a private screening of the Bollywood blockbuster movie "Raees" on Jan 25 at Cine Grand, Fremont. The private screening was attended by media and community leaders. The film which has been receiving positive reviews since its release has been going strong at the box office. In fact after opening on a high note, Raees managed to entice the audience and remained as their preferred choice over the weekend. The movie is a fictitious story of a man named Raees, set in early 1980's in Gujarat, India. The film explores how Raees' relationships
and meteoric rise helped him build an entire empire from scratch, to make him the single most powerful man in the state. The film's director Rahul Dholakia says the source of inspiration was the Sholay album. With Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan as 'Raees,' a villain but still a do-
gooder, the film has turned a money churner at the box office and has raked in over Rs 93 crore in 5 days of worldwide release. Rahul Dholakia's gangster drama was released on 2700 screens. Raees is also getting appreciation for enthralling performances by Shahrukh Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Atul Agnihotri and Mahira Khan. The film is co-produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Excel Entertainment.
Choreography - Shreelata Suresh, Roopa Suresh (resident of San Jose) Music - Asha Ramesh (resident of San Jose) Dancers - Shreelata Suresh, Roopa Suresh, Sumathi Vikram
(resident of Fremont), Lavanya Panguluri (resident of Milpitas), Nisha Balaraman (resident of Palo Alto), Vijaya Saradhi Chilakamarry (resident of Milpitas) , Priya Krishnamoorthy (resident of Saratoga), and others
Unity in Community Day held in Saratoga Cont’d from page 23
tively, orated their respective views toward eliminating negativity in society and building united neighborhoods filled with love and compassion. Judges to the speech competition included Councilmember Howard Miller, Trustee Sophia Kao, Trustee Sharan Kaur, Trustee Cynthia Miller, Rita Cao, Parmeet Chaddha, Trami Nguyen, Deepa Sharma and Sameena Usman (CAIR). Commenting upon how impressed he was with the contestants, Trustee Sharan Kaur exclaimed, "It was very interesting to hear young kids express [their]
He proposed that unity can be achieved by helping one citizen, one family or one specific group. Being well-informed gives members of the society the ability to make one's voice heard and bridge gaps between vastly different opinions. Councilmember Chappie Jones pointed out that all of us hold certain prejudices. Being aware of them and consciously getting out of the comfort zone to reach out to someone with a vastly different background can help bring about the positive change from within. A catalyst for a shift in perception A catalyst for a shift in during difficult times can be achieved by perception during difficult showing compassion times can be achieved by toward others and by staying informed, said showing compassion toVice Mayor Mani ward others Grewal. All of us have a role to play to restore sanity during this critical juncture. ideas on a topic that is very With surging hate crime Assem- weighty... so thank you for havbly member Kansen Chu is cur- ing the courage to express your rently working toward passing a ideas on stage... it was quite inbill to standardize the method of sightful." reporting and documenting hate It was a good day for an excrime in California. change of ideas on unity. Divya Continuing this important dis- Balaji rightly summed up her expecussion were speakers from vari- rience, "This was an unbelievable ous schools across the Bay Area. opportunity for me not only to Taking the first place in the speech showcase my oratory skills in front competition, Divya Balaji chose of highly qualified panel of judges, love over hate, forgiveness over but more importantly to hear about revenge and unity over division. our role in unity in community from Samaira Mehta and Adit Chamach many of the elected leaders in the took the 2nd and 3rd place respec- Bay area, all in one place."
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Seniors celebrate Republic Day in Schaumburg BENA PATEL & JYOTSNA VASUDEV
CHICAGO: A good number of Seniors from Schaumburg, Orland Park and Naperville Adult Day Care Centers flocked together at the Schaumburg location of Universal Metro Asian Services to celebrate the Republic Day on Jan 26. Decked in tri-colors of the Indian flag, the elderly sported saffron, green and white colors. Some of them roamed around in 'Gandhi' cap, while others held mini Indian flags to show their support. With over 100 seniors and staff in attendance, the program started
Seniors eulogizing Gandhian philosophy of Speak no ill, Hear no ill and See no ill
Unfurling of Indian Flag
A section of the audience
with unfurling of the Indian flag and singing of the National Anthem "Jan, Gan, Man‌" One senior shared the importance and relevance of the Republic Day ceremony. It was followed by perfor-
UMAS staff and seniors
mance of groups of seniors who had been preparing for the past week. The day saw many performances including patriotic songs like "Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon‌," sher-o-shayari, poems,
and dancing. The atmosphere was cheerful and it was an experience to see such enthusiasm among seniors. The celebrations ended with hot, nutritious lunch for all seniors.
Universal Metro Asian Services has been providing Home Care and Adult Day Care Services for the elderly population of Illinois for the past 15 years. It understands and gives importance to
the culture of the program participants, celebrating important events and festivals. This gives the senior participants a chance to connect back to their roots and socialize with their friends.
FIA Republic Day: Another disappointment
T
he relative paucity of organizational capacity among top brass of the Federation of Indian Associations was again in evidence at the celebration of Indian Republic Day at Shalimar Banquet hall in Addison, a Chicago suburb. The FIA handling of India Day
MADHU PATEL
Parade and a subsequent dinner was nothing short of a fiasco and had met with critical review all around. It was expected that the Republic day event would provide an opportunity to erase those past ugly memories. But no - it was a poorly attended and poorly orchestrated event.
Dr Bharat Barai, who was honored, seen addressing the gathering
1) These days most of the social organizations are a stage for PHDs: "Photo Hungry Desis or Duds", (as all Desis are not PHDs). 2) All talks were more about themselves, hardly any one talked about the main event of Republic day of India. These PHDs have to look at the audience to see if they
are interested in their speeches and things they talk about. 3) Though Shalimar contributed by providing food and the Hall for free, the food items needed to be separated based on primary classifications of Veg and Non Veg. This was not done or listed. A few of the attendees without realizing ate "Chicken Curry", and then got highly upset. This was extremely reflective on the management style on the part of those hosting the event. Hope there are no lawsuits forthcoming. The FIA should apologize and request the forgiveness for their mistakes to all Jains, Vaishnavs and strict vegetarians who were there. 4) It is always true that honey attracts the bees, and seemed that good number of New Indian CG Ms Neeta Bhushan being introduced to the audience PHDs can easily be
attracted. 5) Sound system was a little too loud besides; performances were not timed property as lot of time was consumed in speeches. For most, the dinner was more entertaining and enjoyable than paying attention to performances. The result was that after the dinner that was delayed, the many bees sucking the honey left since it was working week for most. 6) The saving grace was that many came to welcome and respect the new Consul General in Chicago, and honor Dr. Bharat Barai, a highly respected community figure who bagged Pravasi Bharatiya Sanman Award in India last month 7) The New CG Ms Neeta Bhushan endeared herself with her humility and charming personality. She is a down to earth person, eager to help the community for any issues they may face. She asked them to contact her directlywithout any hesitation. The new board got sworn in and many feel that it would take into consideration the healthy observations made above.
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TOP TEN HINDI FILM SONGS
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"My dream has been very small and my dream is to make that one film in India which the world loves as much as the biggest hits in India. If I do it as a producer, as an actor, as a light boy, as a spot boy, as a cameraman�
A
t a time when almost every actor is showing inclination towards Hollywood, superstar Shah Rukh Khan thinks the other way around as he believes in making just one film that is loved by the people all over the world. "My dream has been very small and my dream is to make that one film in India which the world loves as much as the biggest hits in India. If I do it as a producer, as an actor, as a light boy, as a spot boy, as a cameraman. Whatever I just want to make that one film for India," SRK said in an interview. When quizzed about Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone's Hollywood career, the 51-year-old actor said, "Full appreciation for Deepika and Priyanka. I think what they have done is amazing as a stepping stone to a lot of actors and actresses to move towards Hollywood."
R
eal life uncle and nephew, Anil Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor are all set to team up for a film where the two will play 'chacha-bhatija ' in reel life too. Arjun Kapoor shared his look from the film Mubarakan where he plays a double role with one of the characters being Sikh. And now Anil has revealed his look for the film also. "Every time I take on a new role the first reveal of the look is always exciting!! I present to you "Kartar Singh" of #Mubarakan !!!," tweeted Anil Kapoor, playing a Sikh. Mubarakan also stars Athiya Shetty and Ileana D'Souza and is set with a big fat Indian wedding as the backdrop. Directed by Anees Bazmee, the film will release in July.
"Every time I take on a new role the first reveal of the look is always exciting!! I present to you "Kartar Singh" of #Mubarakan !!!,"
1 Nashe Si Chadh Gayi: Befikre 2 Channa Mereya: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 3 Love You Zindagi: Dear Zindagi 4 Ude Dil Befikre: Befkire 5 Dhaakad: Dangal 6 The Breakup Song: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 7 Haanikaarak Bapu : Dangal 8 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil 9 Tu hi hai : Dear Zindagi 10 Gilehriyaan: Dangal
"Happy Republic Day India! No matter where I am... You will always be my identity. Proud Indian...Army beti (daughter),"
O
n Republic Day, actress Priyanka Chopra, who has been juggling work between the US and India, says wherever she lives, her identity will always be connected to her country. "Happy Republic Day India! No matter where I am... You will always be my identity. Proud Indian...Army beti (daughter)," tweeted Priyanka, whose late father Ashok Chopra was a doctor in the Indian Army. Priyanka is currently in New York to shoot for the second season of American drama series 'Quantico'. She will also be seen with Hollywood stars Dwyane Johnson and Zac Efron in the upcoming film 'Baywatch', a movie adaptation of the hugely popular eponymous TV series. The film is slated to release in May.
Bollywood
February February 3, 3, 2017 2017
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I
n an interview with Filmfare for its January issue, Deepika Padukone opened up on mat ters of the heart. Considering Deepika was globe-trotting for most of 2016 owing to the shoot and promotions of 'xXx: Return Of Xander Cage', she was asked for her views on long-distance relationships. Stating that she has "never dealt with a long-distance relationship", the actress said that the relationship can be easy or complex depending on how the involved people deal with it. The 31-year-old actress even spoke at length about marriage. She revealed that she has no plans to get hitched anytime soon. The 'Padmavati' actress further added that marriage has nothing to do with age but entirely depends on the person's state of mind. Deepika also asserted that she is "not ready for marriage personally" at this stage in her life.
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ew mommy of Bollywood, Kareena Kapoor Khan, looks like a million dollars anytime, anywhere. But after giving birth to son Taimur Ali Khan, the actor went in for a makeover and is looking even more glam, if such a thing was possible. With a new haircut to boot, Kareena is looking every inch the star that she is. Actually, Kareena had earlier promised to be back on her feet within days of her delivery. "Knowing me, don't be surprised if I head straight from the hospital to a shoot. I think I'll definitely be fully back at work one month after my baby is born," Kareena had said in an interview. And with her public appearances, Kareena is just living up to her words.
"Knowing me, don't be surprised if I h e a d straight from the hospital to a shoot. I think I'll definitely be fully back at work one month after my baby is born,"
Y
ami Gautam has penned down a note, thanking the entire cast and crew of her film 'Kaabil' for giving her the opportunity. The 28-year-old star took to social media and extended her gratitude to her co-star, her producer and the director of the movie. "Don't know where to begin. Should I thank God first or Rakesh Ji first for always being there not only in the capacity of a producer but also a mentor! "Or should I thank Hrithik first for pushing the envelope everyday and inspiring us to do beyond our expectations. Hrithik, thank you being the selfless you and the best co-star I could ever ask for," she wrote. This earned an emotional reaction from Hrithik. Hrithik, 34, took to Twitter and responded by writing, "Had to strain my teary eyes to read this. Yami... You are too special." They are opposite each other in the Sanjay Gupta-directed movie as a visually-challenged married couple.
D
ev Patel has got Oscar nomination for his performance in 'Lion', which is set in India and Australia. He has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actor category. On his achievement, Dev's ex-girlfriend Freida Pinto congratulated him. Sharing a black-and-white picture of Dev, Freida wrote on Instagram, "So proud of you, Dev! A fine example of what hardwork, focus, humility and crazy amazing talent rewards one with. Long time coming, so well deserved! @lionmov @theacademy #Oscars2017 # O s c a r N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 7 #bestactorinasupportingrole." Dev and Freida were former lovers met on the sets of the Oscar-winning film, 'Slumdog Millionaire'. After six-year-long relationship, the duo parted ways in December 2014.
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February 3, 2017
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Bhakti Yadav Shekhar Naik
Mariyappan Thangavelu
Dipa Karmakar
NEW DELHI: Nonogenarian Bhakti Yadav, popularly known as "Doctor Dadi" from Indore, and captain of Indian cricket team of blind Shekhar Naik are among the unsung heroes who were named for Padma Shri. Dipa Karmakar, who finished fourth in artistic gymnastics at Rio Olympics last year, and gold medalist at Rio Paralympics Mariyappan Thangavelu also figured in the list of Padma Shri awardees. The focus of this year's Padma awards, according to the officials in the Home Ministry, was on recognizing talent of unknown and unsung heroes of the country. Yadav, 91, is the first woman
from Indore to hold an MBBS degree. She has been treating patients free of cost for the past 68 years and has helped deliver thousands of babies. Thirty-year-old Naik had led the India's cricket team of blind to victory in the first T20 World Cup in 2012 and ODI World Cup in 2014. He comes from a poor background and faced extreme hardship as he lost his parents at the age of 12. Thangavelu, who won gold in Rio 2016, is a born fighter. He had suffered permanent disability in the right leg when he was run over by drunk bus driver. His father had abandoned the family and he was raised by his mother who used to work as a laborer.
Karmakar, the 23-year-old "Produnova Princess" from Tripura, practiced on an apparatus made from second-hand parts of a discarded scooter. She is only the fifth woman in the gymnastic history to land a Produnova vault. Karnartka's Sukri Bommagowda, known as "Nightingale of Halakki", has been named for Padma Shri for performing tribal folk music for 58 years. School dropout Jitendra Haripal, popular as "Rangabati ki Awaz", has been selected for Padma Shri for his contribution to Odhisa's most popular recorded song "Rangabati" and being a top exponent of Kosli-Sambalpuri music.
Jitendra Haripal
Ela Ahmad, 81, from Assam has been selected for Padma Shri for running the only magazine for women in the northeast since 1970. "Granny with a sword", 76year-old Meenaakshi Amma from Kerala, who began her martial art classes at the age of seven, has also been chosen for Padma Shri. She is the country's oldest woman Kalaripayattu exponent and has been practicing and teaching martial arts for more than
68 years. Kalaripayattu originated from south-west Kerala and is believed to be the root of Chinese martial arts. Another person chosen for Padma Shri, Chintakindi Mallesham from Telangana, invented Laxmi ASU machine to reduce the time and menial labor required to weave Pochampalli silk sarees. Cont'd on Page 32
February 3, 2017
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Differently-abled farmer receives Padma Shri AHMEDABAD: A differentlyabled farmer from Gujarat's arid Banaskantha district has inspired several others to make the best use of their farm land by planting pomegranate. Genabhai Patel (52), a pomegranate farmer from Sarkari Goliya village in Lakhani taluka of the district, has polio in both legs but he
prestigious Padma Shri award. Patel is one of the seven recipients of the award from the state. "Being differently-abled, I am not able to plant vegetables, so some twelve years ago, I decided to plant pomegranate after learning about its plantation from agriculture university and state government's Krishi Mela," Patel
Genabhai Patel
did not let it become a hurdle. Instead, he experimented with farm practices involving drip irrigation to produce pomegranate in the highly arid and rain scanty region which was followed by many other farmers, who are today profiting from the practice. Around 70,000 farmers have visited his farm to replicate his success. His achievements have made him this year's recipient of the
said on phone from his village. He bought pomegranate plants from Maharashtra and planted them over 20 hectare land, and used drip irrigation to save water usage in the arid region. After two years, the plants bore fruits but the right price was still elusive, mainly because of lack of knowledge about the proper place to sell the produce, and it was only after 4-5 years of plantation that
he managed to receive a better price, Genabhai said. "This encouraged more farmers and within a couple of years, the entire village was growing pomegranate, and several villages in neighboring Rajasthan also started growing it. Around 70,000 farmers have so far visited my farm to see how the fruit is grown," he said. Today, pomegranate is grown on over 9,000 hectare land in his tehsil, with traders from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra coming during DecemberJanuary every year to purchase the produce, he said. Genabhai has received several recognitions for his inspiring farming, including Gujarat and Rajasthan state awards for farmers, Shristi Samman award from the President, and several other awards from corporates. He also delivered a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in 2013. He said that he has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi around nine times. During his recent visit to Deesa in Banaskantha, Modi had mentioned his name and praised his achievements in his speech.-PTI
Hrithik did not rehearse action sequences
ally impaired character is nothing short of a herculean task but looking at the phenomenal visuals of Rohan Bhatnagar AKA Hrithik Roshan essaying the role of an ordinary man on an extraordinary mission, one can safely state that this is the best of Kaabil so far. Speaking on this, the captain of the Kaabil ship, Director Sanjay
tial arts so it had to look as realistic as possible. The character is using his brains throughout the action sequences and that is visible in the making video as well. "He is extremely resourceful and is on a mission for revenge, but at the same time, he does not know what is going to hit him and from where. A lot of home work has gone into these sequences by the action director, S h y a m Kaushal and we have brainstormed for months beforehand. In fact, even while we were in the process of writing the script, we wrote the same in such a manner that it ties all the action in an effortless manner." Further, it is interesting to note that No rehearsals were undertaken prior to the shooting of the action sequences as Sanjay and Hrithik both wanted them to look as instantaneous as possible. Looking at the making, one real-
Gupta says that, "All the action sequences in Kaabil have been designed keeping in mind that the protagonist is visually impaired, has no super powers, is an average man, does not know any mar-
izes that it is virtually impossible to tell that Hrithik can actually see which further highlights the boundless talent that the actor possesses!
India Post News Service
T
he Kaabil team is on a roll as they have released a unique Making Of Video. This video is not based on the making of the movie, but it is based on the making of the action in the movie. Shooting a movie wherein the hero of the film plays a visu-
Visa ban on Oscar nominee 'troubling' BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.: The motion picture academy calls ``extremely troubling,'' the possible visa ban of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose feature film ``The Salesman'' is nominated for a best foreign language Oscar. In a statement, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expressed concern that Farhadi and his cast and crew may not be permitted to attend next month's Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles following President Trump's plan to temporarily suspend issuing visas for people from Iran and six other Muslim countries. Farhadi has not commented on his travel plans, but the president of the National Iranian American Council, Trita Parsi, tweeted: ``Confirmed: Iran's Asghar Farhadi won't be let into the US to attend Oscar's.''
Trump's immigration policies, which she called ``racist.'' In its statement the academy said, ``As supporters of filmmakers - and the human rights of all people - around the globe, we find it extremely troubling that Asghar Farhadi, the director of the Oscarwinning film from Iran `A Separation,' along with the cast and crew of this year's Oscar-nominated film `The Salesman,' could be barred from entering the country because of their religion or country of oriIranian director Asghar Farhadi gin.''-AP
Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the ``The Salesman,'' tweeted she would boycott the Oscars - whether allowed to attend or not - in protest of
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For Paul Beatty, contradictions are 'fun' JAIPUR: Trying to get a straight answer out of Paul Beatty is an exercise in futility. Pose a query and he will dance around it with visible unease, before crafting a contradictory reply that questions traditional narratives and labels. His Booker-winning novel, 'The Sellout', is perhaps the sum of all these idiosyncratic contradictions that defy all attempts to categories. Faced with the disappearance of his home district due to gentrification, Beatty's protagonist, a black man, brings back racial segregation in a Los Angeles suburb, taking on another black man as a slave. Several terms have been thrown around by fawning critics to describe the book - 'audacious', 'lacerating', 'biting satire' and somehow, even 'comic novel'. Beatty, however, agrees with
none. "People jump on something that they see. I just love it when someone says - 'I have no idea how to categories it'. When I see somebody else struggling to talk about it, it makes me happy. I don't know why people label. It is perhaps laziness, but it is also an effort to be understood. The newspaper columns can only be so long," he told PTI. Here for the Jaipur Literature Festival, Beatty's sessions have witnessed packed venues with audiences and journalists hungry for 'tweet-friendly' sound bites. Apart from the intermittent digs at US President Donald Trump however, there really hasn't been much forthcoming. Answers get lost in a maze of counter questions and ruminations, perhaps reflecting a continuous process of meditation with the self.
"I am very aware of that. The contradictions for me are very fundamental. It is a book about a lot of s***. The contradictory stuff that is the stuff that is so much fun. "That is the hard stuff. It is the stuff that makes things difficult to understand and interpret cause there is often no answer there," he says. It is these contradictions, he says, that Americans are so uncomfortable with trying to interpret. "We, I think I speak for Americans here, we are so uncomfortable with contradictions. Even someone like Trump, he is so contradictory, no one has any idea what he is talking about. "Other than the fact that he is loud. In a weird way it is not his tone that is contradictory. I think some people are comfortable with that," he laughs.
The book comes at a time when police violence against the black community in America is at a peak, but Beatty vehemently disagrees, in typical fashion, that it is in any way reactionary. "It is not reactionary...it is an observation and interpretation. And behavior. And emotion, and frustration. It is a rendering...but not a reaction," he says. . But then, the book does not occur in a vacuum.
man' to 'dick pick'. Clueless as he seemed about how the Trump Presidency will pan out, he feels that the Republican's win was not based on "rationality". "I don't know what I feel about a Trump presidency. I don't get him. He has got a weird kind of self-awareness...I don't have hope that he has a rational thing. "So, it is one of those things that people were so surprised by
"So there are things that happen in the book that have consequences which is about a reaction. But for whatever the agenda of the book is, the agenda is not a reaction. "The book is an effort to me to just about creating space to explore, to think and to interpret. It is a reaction to the sense that there is not enough space. But it is not a reaction to rhetoric necessarily," Beatty says. Living in a society whose racial fault lines have been laid bare with the recent election of Trump, an easy assessment to make would be to blame Barack Obama, the first black president, for not doing enough for blacks. Beatty, though, is never satisfied with lazy associations. "Would you have said that had Hillary Clinton been elected, the level of domestic violence would have come down?" he questions. "You can't say nothing has changed. He did a ton of stuff for the LGBT community. But it is the same thing of how are we measuring change. So if you measure change in the degree of police violence. People talk a lot about change but I don't know what has changed. One thing that hasn't changed is that black people are policed," he says. What seems to have got to him is the elevation of Trump as President. The normally reticent writer, during the festival, has described the Republican with a rich litany of colorful terms - from 'car sales-
when he won, because they were thinking like rational people. It was not based on rationality, not on your rationality. It was based on another kind of rationality that we can't define maybe," he says. Talking about all the hullabaloo over what has been called the 'post-truth' world, he says he does not know what that the term means. It feels like "kind of dancing around lying and falsehood", he says. What scares him is that people are not even acknowledging the "absence" of truth. "Yes, there are times when truth totally matters. People don't understand that nothing he says is the truth. People aren't even acknowledging the absence of truth. Forget the interpretation. That is very scary. To see people defending it is so bizarre," he says. But, even the self proclaimed pessimist in Beatty is encouraged in times of despair with events like the women's marches all across the US and 'the Black Lives Matter' movement. "People were talking about the march of the women which is obviously a good thing. Hope is not a word I use very often. But it gives me a satisfaction that people are demanding to be heard. "It is not about effectiveness or efficacy, those things are important, but I am encouraged when other people are encouraged... they are brave. I applaud it," he signs off. -PTI
Unsung heroes recognized Cont'd from Page 30
His invention impacted 60 per cent of looms engaged in weaving Pochampalli. A school dropout, 44-year-old Mallesham had created the machine to relieve his mother's pain. Daripalli Ramaiah, 68, knows as Chetla Ramaiah or "The Tree Man" from Telangana has also been selected for Padma Shri. Ramaiah is a common man who has dedicated his life to make India green by planting over one crore trees. He takes out seeds from his pocket and plants them wherever he sees a barren spot. Volunteer fire fighter Bipin Ganatra from West Bengal has will be decorated with Padma Shri. He is the only person apart from fire brigade officials who has been to almost every fire accident site in Kolkata in the last 40 years. The 59-year-old decided to devote his life to helping people caught in fire after losing his brother to an inferno. Dr Suniti Solomon, who diagnosed the first AIDS case in India in 1985, has figured in the Padma Shri list posthumously. . "Highway Messiah" Dr Subroto Das has also been named for Padma Shri. He is one of the pioneers in bringing medical relief to accident victims on national highways. Das, 51, hails from Gujarat. He started the Lifeline Foundation
after he met with an accident. Today, he provides emergency medical services on the highway network spanning 4,000 kilometers in Maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Girish Bharadwaj, 66-year-old social worker from Karnataka, also known as "Sethu (bridge) Bandhu", has to his credit building of more than 100 low-cost and
Girish Bharadwaj
eco-friendly suspension bridges connecting remote villages across India. He has also been selected for Padma Shri. The Padma Shri award list has Anuradha Koirala, a 67-year Nepalese woman, who has been instrumental in rescuing and rehabilitating 12,000 sex trafficking victims and prevented 45,000 from being trafficked. Karimul Haque (52), a tea garden worker affectionately called
"Ambulance Dada", hails from West Bengal's Jalpaiguri, will be decorated with the award for converting his bike into an ambulance offering a 24x7 service. He innovated the bike ambulance after he could not save his mother due to the lack of such an emergency vehicle. Another person in the Padma Shri list is "Swacchhta Doot" from Pune's Dehu village, Dr Mapuskar (88), who dedicated his life to make his village open defecation free beginning as early as in the 1960s. Balbir Singh Seechewal, 51, from Punjab will be honored with the award for rendering social service and resurrecting 160-km-long river Kali Bein in the state by mobilizing local youths and volunteers in the mission. He goes by many names like "Rastewale Baba" (one who makes path), "Sadakanwale Baba" (one who lays roads) and "Eco Baba" (one who works for environment). Gujarat's Genabhai Dargabhai Patel (52) is a "divyang" farmer and has taken huge efforts to make his drought-hit village in Banaskantha district become the largest producer of pomegranate in the country. Also known as "Anar Dada", he will be conferred Padma Shri.-PTI
February 3, 2017
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In Brief NYC rally against Trump executive orders NEW YORK: Crowds of people filled a New York City park to rally against President Donald Trump's executive orders on the building of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and another one to halt refugees and people from certain countries from coming to America. Protesters chanted ``Resist'' and ``No ban, no wall, this is our New York'' as they stood in Washington Square Park, listening to elected officials, advocates and other speakers. People carried signs saying ``I stand with immigrant New York'' and ``Here to stay'' Aside with the executive order on the border wall, Trump signed another that would cut federal funding to ``sanctuary cities'' like New York that don't cooperate with federal immigration officials any more than is absolutely necessary. -AP
„ Phoenix mayor criticizes Trump's orders PHOENIX: Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is calling President Donald Trump's executive orders on the U.S.-Mexico border wall and immigration enforcement ``a divisive attack on Latinos in Phoenix and around the country.'' In a statement, Stanton says Trump's executive orders will ``in-
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NYC will fight Trump on 'sanctuary cities Details on page 36
White House defends immigration order in face of protests WASHINGTON: The White House has vigorously defended President Donald Trump's immigration restrictions, as protests against the order spread throughout the country. Some Republicans in Congress publicly opposed the changes amid legal challenges to the order banning travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, though top congressional Republicans remain largely behind the new president. In a background call with reporters, a senior administration official declared the order's implementation ``a massive success story,'' claiming it had been done ``seamlessly and with extraordinary professionalism.'' But there was confusion at airports around the world, and the administration appeared to walkback how the order would apply to certain groups, like legal permanent U.S. residents. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued a statement saying that, absent information indicating a serious threat to public safety and welfare, residency
would be a ``dispositive factor in our case-by-case determination.'' That means citizens of the seven countries who hold permanent U.S. ``green cards'' will be allowed to re-enter the U.S. Officials had previously said they would be
sparked widespread protests and denunciations from Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Many have accused the administration of rushing to implement the changes, resulting in panic and confusion at the nation's airports.
barred from returning. It remains unclear what kind of additional screening they will now face. Trump's order, which also suspends refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely bars the processing of refugees from Syria,
``You have an extreme vetting proposal that didn't get the vetting it should have had,'' said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who urged the new president to ``slow down'' and work with lawmakers on how best to tighten screening for for-
eigners who enter the United States. ``In my view, we ought to all take a deep breath and come up with something that makes sense for our national security'' and reflects the fact that ``America's always been a welcoming home for refugees and immigrants,'' he said. Several Democrats in Congress said they would introduce legislation to stop the ban. During a round of Sunday show interviews, Trump's aides stressed that just a small portion of travelers had been affected by the order and emphasized its temporary nature. ``I can't imagine too many people out there watching this right now think it's unreasonable to ask a few more questions from someone traveling in and out of Libya and Yemen before being let loose in the United States,'' Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said. ``And that's all this is.'' Cont'd on Page 37
Restaurants: The next front for immigration debate?
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton
cite fear and chaos for Latinos and immigrants alike.'' The mayor says building a wall will only tear Arizona's economy down and damage relationships with Mexico that support 100,000 Arizona jobs. Stanton says Arizona will fight the federal government's attempt ``to turn the Phoenix Police Department into a mass deportation force.'' -AP
CHICAGO: The national debate over immigration policy could be coming to a diner near you. From down-home delis to upscale bistros, dozens of restaurants nationwide are seeking ``sanctuary'' status, a designation owners hope will help protect employees in an immigrantheavy industry and tone down fiery rhetoric sparked by the presidential campaign. First inspired by churches, the label is something cities and other public entities have sought to offer local protections to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, whether it's barring police from asking citizens about immigration status or refusing to cooperate with federal agents. Roughly 80 restaurants are participating, in locations in-
cluding New York, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston, Oakland, California, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. The restaurants agree to antidiscrimination policies, put up
signs on windows that pronounce their sanctuary status and receive know-your-rights training, such as webinars on how to ask federal immigration
Ben Hall, owner of the Russell Street Deli, poses with a sanctuary restaurant sign in Detroit. Dozens of restaurants are seeking “sanctuary� status, a designation owners hope will help protect employees in the immigrant-heavy industry.
agents for proper paperwork if there's an attempted raid. Some will also offer a text line for customers or employees to report any incidents of harassment. At Detroit's Russell Street Deli, customers walking in the front door of the racially diverse restaurant see a sign that reads: ``SANCTUARY RESTAURANT, a place at the table for everyone.'' ``I have this one little place where I get to decide how people treat each other,'' said owner Ben Hall, who is biracial and was moved to sign up after a few customers' racially tinged comments. ``If someone has the need to insult someone ... then they don't get to participate. I've told them, `There's another diner next door.''' Cont'd on Page 36
Immigration Post
February 3, 2017
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Indian-American lawmakers slam Trump's policy WASHINGTON: Indian-American lawmakers have slammed US President Donald Trump for signing executive orders to reshape the country's immigration policies, describing the move as "antiimmigrant" that will "tear apart" families. Trump has escalated his anti-immigrants stand with a series of executive orders that will "tear families apart," while weakening the public safety and national security, said Senator Kamala Harris, the first Indian-American to be elected to the upper chamber of the United States Congress. "Creating a deportation force to target immigrant families who are contributing to our society is not a show of strength. Asking taxpayers to pay for an
unrealistic border wall is not a solution. And telling cities to deny public safety, education, and health services to kids and families is irresponsible and cruel," said
Senator Kamala Harris
Harris. She said that the US was now "less safe" because of the "anti-
immigrant" policies followed by the President. "Immigrants will report fewer crimes, more families will live in fear, and our communities and local economies will suffer," Harris said. Indian-American Seattle representative Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who had earlier announced not to attend Trump's presidential inauguration, slammed the President for moving forward with his "divisive agenda" that will do nothing to solve the real immigration issues. "He has doubled down on his agenda that pits mother against mother, neighbor against neighbor, tearing up the fabric of our communities," Jayapal said.
"We must take on enacting comprehensive and humane reform of our broken immigration system to support our economy,
Pramila Jayapal
our communities and our families but the President offers zero lead-
ership in this area," she said. "Instead of building walls, we should address the underlying systemic issues that drive immigration and fix our own outdated immigration system. Instead of banning refugees and people based on their religion, we should welcome them with open arms," she said. Jayapal said that as a world superpower it is US's moral responsibility to provide a sanctuary to all who need it most. The lawmakers were also joined by Senator Chuck Schumer and Democratic Whip Congressman Steny H Hoyer in opposing Trump's immigration policies. "President Trump's plans are based on alternative facts and do nothing to keep us safe or fix our immigration system in a humane, pragmatic and effective way," Schumer said. -PTI
Even imports from India could be taxed WASHINGTON: The US has warned it may impose a 20 per cent tax on imports from countries with a trade deficit with it to fund a wall President Donald Trump wants to build along America's southern border with Mexico, the White House has said. The proposal, however, is currently only for Mexico, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters travelling with Trump from Philadelphia to Washington DC aboard Air Force One. This is one of the ways to pay for the wall that the US is planning to construct along the USMexico border. But on a broader
scale, such a statement from Trump administration indicates imports from other countries - like India and China - could also be
that's taking shape now, using comprehensive tax reform as a means to tax imports from countries that we have a trade deficit
"Right now we are focused on Mexico, but I think as we look comprehensively at our trade situation and countries that we have a deficit for, this is something the president has been talking about holistically," he said. hit by the tax proposal, given the trade deficit the US has with them. "When you look at the plan
with, like Mexico. "If you tax that USD 50 billion at 20 per cent of imports, which is
Minnesota leaders rebuke Trump's moves ST. PAUL, Minn.: City and state leaders say they'll fight to protect Minnesota immigrants against President Donald Trump's recent executive order on immigration. A group of predominantly Democratic politicians gathered at the Capitol with nearly 100 oth-
ers to decry Trump's executive order. The president's action jumpstarts construction of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall and block ``sanctuary cities'' from receiving federal grants. Rep. Ilhan Omar is the nation's first Somali-American lawmaker. She says Trump's move conflicts
with the American ideal of a welcoming democracy. She was joined by other lawmakers including Republican Rep. Rod Hamilton. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges says the city won't back down in the face of Trump's threat to pull funding. -AP
by the way a practice that 160 other countries do... By doing it we can do USD 10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone," Spicer said. "Right now we are focused on Mexico, but I think as we look comprehensively at our trade situation and countries that we have a deficit for, this is something the president has been talking about holistically," he said. The US president has talked about a border tax. "In particular companies that move out, ship things back in. But in this case, this really handles, is focused more on the immigration piece," he said. "Remember, keep in mind there are 160 other countries that do just this. We are one of the only major countries, in fact probably the only major country that doesn't treat imports this way,"
Spicer said. "In fact, we currently tax exports, not imports. This gets us in line frankly with the policies that the other countries around the world treat our products," he said. "If you think about what a border tax on imports from countries like Mexico that we have a huge trade deficit does, that's really going to provide the funding," he added. "But the other net positive that you have to realize is that through the wall, not only do we secure our border but I think we are going to save additional money that we would have had to spend on tracking down illegal immigrants and on immigration," Spicer said making a strong case for a physical barrier across the US-Mexico border. He said the tax plan was in early stages and nothing has been finalized yet. -PTI
PRADEEP ROY-SINGH B.A. LL.B. M.B.A. J.D. Attorney-at-Law
Former Assistant StateÂ’s Attorney
Jackson for comprehensive plan to address violence
Civil & Criminal Litigation Felonies, Misdemeanors, Inc DUI 1 Personal Injury, Business, Divorce etc. 1 Property Tax for Commercial Properties 1 1
CHICAGO: Civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson agrees with President Trump's description of the violence in Chicago as ``carnage.'' However, Jackson referenced ``carnage'' when talking about an unemployment rate in some Chicago neighborhoods and the loss
of thousands of teacher jobs. The president had earlier declared he was ready to ``send in the Feds'' if Chicago can't reduce its homicides. Jackson said that a comprehensive plan is needed to deal with the violence racking Chicago, including halting the influx of guns from
Indiana as jobs are disappearing. He said racial and gender inequality must be addressed, in addition to the creation of jobs. Jackson added as much should be spent in rebuilding cities as is being proposed for the building of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. -AP
http://www.proy-singh.com
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NYC will fight Trump on 'sanctuary cities NEW YORK: The nation's biggest city is prepared to challenge President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrant-protecting ``sanctuary cities'' with legal action if necessary, New York's mayor said arguing Trump's move could undermine public safety. Trump's order strips some federal grant money from ``sanctuary cities.'' In his hometown, it could yank over $150 million in law enforcement funding that's mainly for counterterrorism efforts, protecting the United Nations and international missions, and, arguably, safeguarding Trump Tower, New York City officials said. They also argued the order would harm policing in general, by making immigrants reluctant to talk
to the New York Police Department as witnesses or even victims of crime. ``The sum total would be an unfair action that would cause a rift between the NYPD and the communities it serves, while simultaneously taking resources away from the NYPD that it uses to keep us safe,'' Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The order also contradicts ``the character and values'' of a city and nation long known for welcoming immigrants, he added. The Republican president, however, said the nation was regaining ``control of its borders'' as he signed orders concerning the ``sanctuary city'' funding and jumpstarting construction of his
promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. There's no formal definition of a ``sanctuary city.'' The term generally refers to cities that don't fully cooperate with immigration authorities, sometimes by declining requests from immigration officials to hold onto potential deportees who would otherwise be released from jail. New York, for example, doesn't honor such detainment requests unless there's a federal warrant and the person requested may be on the terrorist watch list or committed a serious crime in the past five years. About 170 crimes qualify, de Blasio said.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio held up a documented titled "The Mayors' Pledge" during the "We Stand United: New York Rally to Protect Shared Values" event in New York.
The city didn't immediately have information on how many people have been held and turned over in the last few years. ``We're not going to allow our police officers to be used as immigration enforcement agents,'' de Blasio said. ``We are going to defend all our people, regardless of where they come from and ... regardless of their documentation status.'' New York, for now, is waiting to see what comes of the order. But de Blasio and chief city lawyer Zachary Carter said they felt the city was on solid ground for a legal challenge if needed. The city's overall budget this year is over $84 billion. -AP
Restaurants: The next front for immigration debate? Cont'd from Page 34
The movement is loosely defined and largely symbolic. Restaurants are private businesses subject to workplace law and regulations, and a sanctuary designation will do nothing to prevent federal agents from arresting any workers in the country illegally. But organizers of the sanctuary restaurants movement say it's a response to the uncertainty surrounding how President Donald Trump will carry out campaign pledges to step up deportations and a build a wall along the Mexican border, among other things. Organizers of the movement say the restaurant industry is more vulnerable than others, given its heavy reliance on immigrant labor. Not all restaurant industry groups agree with the tactic. The National Restaurant As-
sociation, which represents roughly 500,000 businesses, is instead pushing for an immigration overhaul, including an updated verification system that confirms employees' eligibility to work in the country legally. Association Senior Vice President Steve Danon said the organization ``is looking forward to working with the Trump administration'' on ways to make verification ``easier and more cost-efficient.'' Roughly 12 million workers are in the restaurant industry and immigrants make up the majority, including up to 70 percent in big cities such as New York and Chicago. An estimated 1.3 million in the industry are immigrants living in the country without legal permission, according to Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which launched the campaign and works to improve industry con-
ditions. They pitched the program with an economic argument, saying restaurants need a ``robust pool of workers.'' In a recent letter, they appealed to Trump as a businessman and urged him to ``speak out to alleviate the fear of deportation and
``In terms of all the negativity and the hatred we have in social media and in general ... it'll be good to be known as a sanctuary restaurant,'' she said. ` All our co-workers stand for the same things. other harassment.'' ``This is not about a restaurant harboring people in a closet. This is about creating a safe space,'' said Saru Jayaraman, a co-founder of ROC United. ``Em-
Trump replaces acting Immigration head WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has fired acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Daniel Ragsdale amid controversy surrounding his executive order on immigration. The Homeland Security Secretary Gen (rtd) John Kelly said US President Donald Trump has appointed Thomas D Homan as acting ICE director. "I am confident that he will con-
tinue to serve as a strong, effective leader for the men and women of ICE. I look forward to working alongside him to ensure that we enforce our immigration laws in the interior of the United States consistent with the national interest," Kelly said. Kelly's statement did not mention Ragsdale, who was the second federal official whose job was affected by the Trump administration. Since 2013, Homan has served
ployers have a responsibility to protect their workers.'' In Chicago, the general manager at the rustic French restaurant Bistro Campagne said he applied to become a sanctuary restaurant because he wanted his employees to feel supported. Half the employees at his neigh-
as the executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). In this capacity, he led ICE's efforts to identify, arrest, detain, and remove illegal aliens, including those who present a danger to national security or are a risk to public safety, as well as those who enter the US illegally or otherwise undermine the integrity of our immigration laws and our border control efforts, a media release said. -PTI
borhood bistro are immigrants, including from Romania, Ecuador and Mexico. ``Restaurants are part of embracing other cultures,'' said Todd Feinberg. ``We are all an immigrant culture. The idea that we might not accept that disturbs
me a bit.'' At Brightwok Kitchen, an Asian inspired build-a-bowl restaurant in downtown Chicago, owner Jeremy Klaben said he sought sanctuary status because he wants employees and customers to feel included. The restaurant draws a busy lunchtime crowd of college students, corporate employees and tourists. Employee Iris Quijano, 22, said it's an extension of how she and colleagues feel. The Chicago native who has family in Mexico was drawn to the restaurant after she graduated from college. ``In terms of all the negativity and the hatred we have in social media and in general ... it'll be good to be known as a sanctuary restaurant,'' she said. ``All our co-workers stand for the same things. It's really important for others to feel the same vibes in the restaurant and have a good meal without having to worry about anything negative.'' -AP
Defiant Chicago to remain sanctuary city CHICAGO: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and its aldermen say Chicago will remain a sanctuary city despite President Donald Trump's executive order to cut off some federal funding from immigrant-protecting municipalities. As news was breaking that Trump has signed the executive order, the City Council over-
whelmingly voted in favor of a resolution to reaffirm Chicago's status as a sanctuary city. And a few minutes later, the mayor told reporters that Chicago is ``going to stay a sanctuary city.'' Emanuel said people from all over the world are welcome in Chicago to ``pursue the American Dream.'' -AP
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California cities blast order on sanctuaries SANTA ANA, Calif.: A policy announced by President Donald Trump targeting immigrant-protecting sanctuary cities was blasted by state and local officials across California who threatened to go to court to block it from taking effect. The mainly Democratic officials in cities from Santa Ana to San Francisco vowed to fight efforts by the new president to withdraw federal grants from cities that don't cooperate with immigration enforcement. ``We are resolved in our actions,'' said Sal Tinajero, a councilman in heavily immigrant Santa Ana, which adopted a local sanctuary law earlier this month aimed at banning the use of city resources for immigration enforcement. ``Cities cannot and should not be coerced into becoming the deportation arm of the federal government.'' It was not immediately clear precisely which cities could be affected by the action signed by Trump just days after taking office on promises to step up immigration enforcement and build a border wall. It referred to withhold-
ing funds from jurisdictions that bar officials from communicating with federal authorities about someone's immigration status. The debate over sanctuary cities reached a fevered pitch in 2015
shirt under a bench and that it fired accidentally when he picked it up. Lopez-Sanchez had been released from a San Francisco jail despite a request from federal immigration authorities that local of-
US President Donald Trump
after Kate Steinle, 32, was fatally shot in the back by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez during an evening stroll with her father along San Francisco's waterfront. LopezSanchez, who was in the country illegally after multiple deportations to his native Mexico, told police he found a gun wrapped in a T-
ficials keep him in custody for possible deportation. Trump often cited the Steinle case during the campaign. Many other cities and counties in California also refuse to detain immigrants for deportation agents out of legal concerns after a federal court ruled that immigrants
can't be held in jail beyond their scheduled release dates. Since then, federal agents have been asking local law enforcement agencies to provide information about immigrants they're seeking for deportation, if not hold them. More than 100 immigrant rights activists gathered outside San Francisco City Hall for a news conference supporting the city's longheld sanctuary status. ``When we know that there is a violation of human rights here, this is where we excel. This is where we lead the nation and we say, `we will not back down and we will stand up for what we believe is right,''' Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer told a cheering crowd. Some California Republicans welcomed Trump's efforts to take on sanctuary cities and toughen immigration enforcement. On his Twitter page, U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert called the day's actions ``important first steps toward fixing our broken immigration system.'' In California's state Senate, Democrats said they'll fast-track legislation meant to hinder efforts to step up deportations by protecting immigrants' information
and providing lawyers to those facing deportation. ``It's not the job of our local and county and state law enforcement to turn the cogs on President Trump's deportation machine,'' Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said. ``He cannot force us, and we will not hesitate to fight him in Congress and settle the matter in court.'' Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula, said Democrats are being counterproductive and will only threaten the state's share of federal funding if they ``poke the president in the eye.'' ``I think that the Legislature is acting very immature, and (Democrats) need to accept the fact that Donald Trump is going to be the president for the next four years and we need to do everything we can to work with him and his administration to improve the lives of all Californians,'' he said. In a statement, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said his office ``will protect the rights of all of (California's) people from unwarranted intrusion from any source, including the federal government,'' Becerra said. -AP
White House defends immigration order in face of protests Cont'd from Page 34
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said the changes were ``a small price to pay'' to keep the nation safe. But it's unclear whether the order will accomplish that. It does not address homegrown extremists already in America, a primary concern of federal law enforcement officials. And the list of countries in Trump's order doesn't include Saudi Arabia, where most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from. Priebus said that other countries could be added to the list. Trump spoke by phone Sunday with leaders from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Neither country is among the seven specified in Trump's order. The president, meanwhile, defended his actions, insisting it was ``not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting.'' ``This is not about religion - this is about terror and keeping our country safe,'' he said. Trump also said he has ``tremendous feeling'' for the people fleeing the bloody civil war in Syria and vowed to ``find ways to help all those who are suffering.'' The White House said later that King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi,
the capital of the United Arab Emirates, had both agreed to support safe zones for refugees, but offered no further details. The developments came a day after a federal judge in New York issued an emergency order temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from the seven majority Muslim nations subject to Trump's 90-day travel ban. The court barred U.S. border agents from removing anyone who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. It also covered anyone with an approved refugee application. The Department of Homeland Security said the court ruling would not affect the overall implementation of the White House order. ``President Trump's executive orders remain in place - prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety,'' the department said in a statement. Top congressional Republicans, meanwhile, were backing Trump despite concerns raised from a handful of GOP lawmakers and condemnation from the Koch political network, which is among the most influential players in the
conservative movement. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he supports more stringent screening, though he cautioned that Muslims are some of the country's ``best sources in the war against terror.'' Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, expressed fear that the order
could ``become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism.'' ``This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country. That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our secu-
rity,'' they wrote. Trump fired back on Twitter, calling the pair ``sadly weak on immigration.'' Priebus was on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' and ``Face the Nation,'' Portman was on CNN's ``State of the Union,'' while McConnell appeared on ABC's ``This Week.'' AP
Trump fires acting AG for defiance WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates for betraying the Department of Justice after she refused to defend his executive order that denies entry to all refugees as well as citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations. "(Yates) has betrayed the Department of Justice," the White House statement said. Trump did not call Yates to dismiss her, she was informed by hand-delivered letter. The dramatic move came soon after Yates told Justice Department lawyers not to make legal arguments defending Trump's executive order on immigration and refugees. "At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent
with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful," Yates wrote
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates
in a letter to Justice Department lawyers. The White House said, "Ms
Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration." "It is time to get serious about protecting our country. Calling for tougher vetting for individuals travelling from seven dangerous places is not extreme. It is reasonable and necessary to protect our country," it said. The White House named Dana Boente as the new Acting Attorney General till time its nominee Senator Jeff Sessions is confirmed by the US Senate. "I am honored to serve President Trump in this role until Senator Sessions is confirmed. I will defend and enforce the laws of our country to ensure that our people and our nation are protected," Boente said. -PTI
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Thousands protest Trump ban at airports SAN FRANCISCO: Thousands protested President Donald Trump's immigration ban at San Francisco and Los Angeles International airports, blocking entrances and escalators while chanting in support of refugees threatened by the restrictions. About 2,000 people, some carrying signs, protested inside and outside the international terminal at San Francisco's airport and staged a sit-in at the main exit for arrivals. It was the straight second day of demonstrations. Police officers wearing riot gear guarded the security clearance area while others stood by in a nearby parking lot as the protesters, accompanied by a brass band, waved signs and chanted ``Trump Out, Refugees In!'' A group of lawyers worked on computers huddled in a corner under signs in English, Farsi and Arabic that read ``Family Members Detained? Legal Help Here.'' Immigration attorney Marcine Seid said it's unclear how many people have been detained in San
Francisco, but at least four families have approached them for help. At LAX, demonstrators filled the lobby of the Tom Bradley International Terminal while others in the street chanted ``let them in!'' and ``love, not hate, makes America great,'' The Los Angeles Times reported. Attorneys filed court papers on behalf of those who were detained at the airport. For the fourth straight weekend at the U.S.-Mexico border, protest-
ers led authorities to block southbound vehicle traffic at the San Ysidro port of entry between Tijuana and San Diego, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Ralph DeSio said. Motorists were directed several miles east to the Otay Mesa crossing. The San Ysidro crossing was open to northbound traffic, DeSio said, adding that the closure was requested by Mexican officials. AP
Demonstrators crowd the international terminal as they protest against President Donald Trump's travel ban on refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations, at San Francisco International Airport
Uber CEO challenged for Trump connection WASHINGTON: Uber found itself in hot water on two fronts related to President Donald Trump's temporary ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries: for allegedly exploiting a taxi protest against the ban and for CEO Travis Kalanick's relationship with Trump. Kalanick said in a Facebook post that the 90-day ban could hurt ``thousands'' of Uber drivers and he will raise his concerns directly with the president during a business advisory group meeting in Washington. But the co-founder of the ride-sharing service is being criticized for agreeing to sit on the advisory panel. Twitter users are encouraging riders to (hash)DeleteUber. Kalanick defended his participation on Trump's panel in his Facebook post, saying he joined out of the ``belief that by speaking up and engaging we can make a difference.'' Earlier, Kalanick said he was emailing Uber drivers telling them he would ``urge the government to reinstate the right of U.S. residents to travel - whatever their country of origin - immediately.'' Uber also was criticized for charging less than it could at JFK Airport in New York City as taxi drivers had halted service for an
hour to protest the ban. The move was perceived of by some on social media as an effort to profit off the protests as more passengers would need to seek alternatives to cabs. But the company said on Twitter that it had not ``meant to break the strike.'' Trump's business advisory group was announced in December as a ``strategic and policy forum'' that would share its views on ``how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity.'' Chaired by Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the investment firm Blackstone, its listed members also include the heads of Disney, Wal-Mart, IBM and Tesla. Tesla CEO Elon Musk asked his 6.9 million Twitter followers to read Trump's order on the temporary ban and then send the entrepreneur ``specific amendments'' that the panel could present by consensus to the president. Kalanick has said the company will find a way to compensate and provide legal support to Uber drivers who are stuck overseas for the next three months because they cannot return to the U.S. The company also has said it would create a $3 million legal defense fund to help drivers with immigration and translation services. -AP
1 mn sign plea to stop Trump's UK State visit SAG Awards defiant against LONDON: An online petition seeking cancellation of US President Donald Trump's State Visit to the UK following his controversial immigration ban has quickly crossed the one million signature-mark to be considered for a debate in British Parliament even as Prime Minister Theresa May dismissed any plans to withdraw the invitation. The petition titled 'Prevent Donald Trump from making State Visit to the United Kingdom' on the UK Parliament website rapidly collected over 100,000 signatures needed for it to be considered for a debate in the House of Commons. "Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen," the petition reads. "Donald Trump's well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore, during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for
an official State Visit," it adds. The Prime Minister had communicated the invitation to Trump on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II during her recent US visit. The Downing Street dismissed any plans to withdraw the invitation for the state visit, which involves lavish pomp and cer-
"Theresa May would be failing the British people if she does not postpone the state visit and condemn Trump's actions� emony, often with a stay at Buckingham Palace hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. "The Prime Minister extended an invitation on behalf of the Queen, and she was very happy to do so. The US is one of this country's closest allies, and we look forward to hosting the presi-
dent later this year," a Downing Street spokesperson said. UK Opposition parties have also called for a postponement of the visit, scheduled for June this year. "Theresa May would be failing the British people if she does not postpone the state visit and condemn Trump's actions in the clearest terms. That s what Britain expects and deserves," Labor party leader Jeremy Corbyn said. Buckingham Palace has so far declined to comment on the controversy gathering momentum in the wake of the US President's executive order that temporarily suspends all immigration for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson has secured assurances from the White House that the vast majority of British citizens with dual nationality of countries on the list will be exempt from the new US travel ban. Trump has provoked a fierce backlash after his ban on people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from travelling to America. -PTI
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he cast of ``Stranger Things,'' Emma Stone and Julia Louis-Dreyfus won at a Screen Actors Guild Awards that has been, in part, a very welldressed protest against President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration order. While protests continued at airports nationwide over Trump's temporary ban of citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations, many at the SAG Awards struck a defiant tone. Ashton Kutcher, the first presenter at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, welcomed not just the viewing audience but ``anyone in airports that belong in my America.'' Louis-Dreyfus added another honor for her performance on the political satire ``Veep.'' She called herself the daughter of an immigrant who fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France. ``Because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes,'' said Louis-Dreyfus. ``And this immigrant ban is a blemish and it is unAmerican.''
Perhaps the most moving speech came from Mahershala Ali, who won best supporting actor for his acclaimed performance in Barry Jenkins' coming-of-age portrait, ``Moonlight.'' Ali said he saw lessons for today in ``Moonlight,'' in which he plays a character who makes a difference in a shy, gay Miami boy's hard life. ``We see what happens when you persecute people,'' Ali said. ``They fold into themselves.'' Ali said his relationship with his mother exemplified tolerance. The son of an ordained minister, Ali converted to Islam 17 years ago. ``We put things to the side,'' Ali said of their differences. ``I'm able to see her. She's able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. That stuff is minutia. It's not that important.'' But the fieriest speech was by David Harbour, who led the cast of Netflix's ``Stranger Things'' - maybe the night's biggest surprise winner - on stage. ``We will hunt monsters,'' he vowed in lengthy remarks that drew a standing ovation.-AP
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NEW JERSEY Upcoming Sun, Feb 11 • Deewan Banquet - Grand Gala Valentines Dinner Party Venue: Deewan Banquet, 560 Stelton Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Time: 07:00 pm
Fri, Feb 17 • &Tv Valentines Day Party Nargis Fakhri Special Guest Venue: Royal Alberts palace, 1050 King Georges Post Road, Edison, NJ 08837 Time: 07:30 pm
NEW YORK
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Upcoming
Upcoming
Sat, Feb 4 • BOLLYWOOD BEATS - A Weekly Saturday Night Desi Party Venue: LEXICON, 226 E 54th St, New York, NY 10022 Time : 10:00 pm
Sat, Feb 11 • Deewan Banquet - Grand Gala Valentines Dinner Party Venue: Deewan Banquet, 560 Stelton Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Time : 07:00 pm
Fri, Feb 24 • Musik Waves -Tribute to Mehdi Hassan
Sat, Mar 11 • The Biggest HOLI Party in New York City
Venue: E Hotel, 3050 Woodbridge Avenue,
Venue: Stage48, 605 West 48th Street, New York, NY 10036 Time : 12:00 pm
Edison, NJ 08837 Time: 08:00 pm
Fri, Feb 03 • Laila O Laila - Bollywood Arabian Nights Venue: Aura Night Club, 389 South 1st Street, San Jose, CA 95113 Time: 10:00 pm Contact: 408-250-5618
CHICAGO
Upcoming Sat, Feb 4 • Iffer Valentines Ball 2017 Venue: Golden Peacock Banquets, 24989 Santa Clara St, Hayward, CA 94544 Time: 6:00 pm Contact: 650-921-2846
Sat, Fri 4 • Jai Ho! Dance Party - Official Monthly Launch Party! Venue: Queen Bee's Art & Cultural Center, 3925 Ohio Street, San Diego, CA 92104 Time: 09:00 pm Contact: 971-344-2022
Fri, Feb 10 • Sammy Obeid – Running for President in 2036 Venue: Cubberley Community Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 Time: 08:00 pm
Sat, Feb 18 • ZuBoJam - Valentine's Day Dance Fitness Venue: Dougherty Station Community Center, 17011 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon, CA 94582 Time: 06:30 pm
ATLANTA Upcoming Mon, Feb 6 • Bus Connections Atlanta Venue: Marta Bus Station, College Park. GA, 3800 Main Street, College Park, GA
Sun, Feb 12 • Vishwa Shanthi Performing Arts
30337
Artistic Director: Shreelata Suresh
Fri Feb 17 • Valentines Party - Live Bollywood Band
Venue: Menlo Atherton Performing Arts Center, 555 Middlefield Rd, Atherton, CA 94027. Tickets: $50 VIP, $30 preferred seating, $20 general. Shows Timimg: 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm
Tue, Feb 14 • Celebrate Valentine With Charenjeet Venue: Amaya Restaurant & Bar, 7850 Beach Boulevard, Buena Park, CA 90620 Time: 07:00 pm
Time: 6:00 am
Venue: Ashiana Banquet Hall & Restaurant - Global Mall, 5675 Jimmy Carter Boulevard, Norcross, GA 30071
ILLINOIS Upcoming 1st and 3rd Sunday of Month • Chicago Children's Bal Mukund Character Building Program and Hindi Literacy Classes Venue: Vogelei Center, 650 W. Higgins Road, Hoffmann Estates, IL 60192 (Next to Nissan Dealership) Contact: Ajay & Arti Chandhok @ 630-561-4807
Mondays and Fridays • Free ESL - English as Second Language Classes Metropolitan Asian Family Services Venue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL, Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm Contact: 773-465-3105
Mondays and Fridays • Free ESL - English as Second Language Classes Where: Metropolitan Asian Family Services Venue: 9015 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL, Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm Contact: 773-465-3105
Swami Ishatmananda • Bhagavad Gita: Philosophy of life Venue: Public Library-95th Street 3015 Cedar Glade Rd Naperville IL 60564 Time: 1st friday of every month 7-8 pm Contact: 630-637-0662
Time: 08:00 pm
• India Eternal: From the Vedic Age to the Present
Sun, Feb 26 • Paracha Entertainment
Venue: Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago 10915 N. Main Street Glendale Heights, IL 60139 Time: 10:00 pm Contact: 630-655-8822
Venue: Cobb Energy Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30339 Time: 07:00 pm
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tiny location in the state of Orissa, Konark is renowned for its centuries old Temple, alluring trendy beach and of course for the much acclaimed dance festival. Konark alias Arka-Tirtha is in fact a combination of Kona and Arka which means the Sun around the crook. The outstanding monuments of Konark reflect the quintessence of Oriyan architecture. The annual Dance Festival of Konark receives worldwide accolades. The enthralling perfor-
February 3 2017 mances of distinguished classical dancers provides a delightful feast. The Sun Temple, which makes a magnificent backdrop, adds the charm to this cultural pursuit. This five day cultural extravaganza has helped this sleepy town to become a thriving tourist destination. Besides this, Konark also holds the Sun Festival, where the devotees take a holy dip in the sea before the sun rises and offer their prayers to Sun god. Craft Mela and Handicraft Exhibition held as part of this dance festival lures people with its wide
range of artifacts on display. The variety of handicrafts on offer make shopping a blissful experience. Commenced under the auspicious of the Department of Industry from 1991, this fair is a grand show of stylish handicrafts, rural handlooms and potteries. At artists' camps expert artisans and craftsman present their adroitness in rustic surroundings. Konark is an excellent combination of traditional architecture and stunning natural ambiance. A fabulous temple at a sauntering distance from the beach presents the sumptuousness of the conventional Indian architecture and art, which holds one's breath. Situated on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, Konark's poetry carved stone temples win one's heart with their majestic charm. Tourist Attractions ASI Museum: Situated outside the Sun temple, the ASI museum showcases some delicate models of ancient Oriyan architecture. Cont’d on page 42
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Pak urged 8th wonder tag to Kanishka Stupa PESHAWAR: A prominent USbased historian and scholar has urged the Pakistan government to engage the UNESCO to declare the ancient Buddhist monument Kanishka Stupa here as the eighth wonder of the world because of its remarkable construction structure. The stupa which once existed in Peshawar deserves to be declared the 8th wonder because of its remarkable construction structure, its testament to the creativity
fessor at the US, hails from Peshawar and has published 16 books on subjects as varied as history, culture, religion and the linguistic and cultural legacy of Peshawar. "Located a few furlongs outside the Peshawar city at Ganj Gate known as Shah Jee Ki Dheri, there is a site where an imposing stupa had once stood which was built during the reign of Kushan Kanishka in the 1st century AD," Hussain said throwing light on the
Kanishka Stupa
of hard work of human being and its mention in historic books, said Amjad Hussain at a lecture titled 'Kaniskhka Vihara, An Ancient Peepal Tree and A Sacred Begging Bowl' at Victoria Hall here. The UNESCO should be engaged to declare the Kanishka Stupa a 'World Heritage Site', besides seeking help from Japan and China to acquire the site, Hussain said. Hussain, a cardio-thoracic pro-
history of the ancient site. It was described in detail by Chinese pilgrims in their memoirs and Hiuen Tsang after visiting it during his travels from 620-645 AD called the site the "tallest arDubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths poses for a photo at the Dubai Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Griffiths said Tuesday that Dubai remains home to the world's bchitectural building" in this part
of Asia. It is estimated that the stupa was equivalent to a present day 13-storey building and the adjoining monastery was associated with Buddhist divines of Vasubandhu and Parva. With the decline of Buddhism in the region, the traces of the Stupa and monastery faded away. About the religious importance and background of Kaniska Stupa, Amjad told the guests that in March 1909, when digging had reached the centre of the base of stupa, D B Spooner, an American archaeologist and first curator of Peshawar Museum, made a sensational discovery that stirred the archeological world. "A relic casket in gilt bronze was recovered containing Buddha's bone fragments and ashes," Amjad claimed. Buddha's influence is spread over entire world and his bone fragments were found from Peshawar at Kanishka stupa and therefore it should be declared as 8th wonder of the world, he said. The casket was inscribed with Emperor Kanishka's name and figure. The British government gifted the relics to Myanmar where they were enshrined in the main pagoda at Mandalay while the bronze casket was on display at the Peshawar Museum. The replica of the casket is kept at the British Museum. Amjad called for raising awareness about the archeological importance of the Stupa.-PTI
New heritage trail in Singapore's Little India SINGAPORE: Four iconic Hindu temples and a brick-building of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial are among 40 sites that have been included in Singapore's first official new heritage trail within the 200year-old Little India precinct. The new trail "goes the extra mile with specially curated thematic routes to cater to timecrunched trail-goers. It offers three "bite-sized" routes which cover different characteristics of the neighborhood, National Heritage Board (NHB) said. This is NHB's 16th heritage trail. Two mosques linked to early Indian Muslim immigrants as well as Chinese and Buddhist temples are part of the 40 historic sites and 18 markers in the precinct, a tourist thorough fare of street-shops selling spices, fresh produce, flow-
ers of Indian-origins. Singapore's NHB has launched the four-km heritage trail around the 200-year enclave across century-old Serangoon Road, which was laid by Indian laborers and convicts, reported The Straits Times. The precinct was also known as Village of Lime, or Soonambu Kambam in Tamil, now one of the fourth official languages in Singapore, most spoken after English, Chinese and Malay. From the late 1820s to about 1860, the British- established lime pits and bricks kilns along Serangoon Road served as a source of employment for many Indians. Indians immigrants also gravitated there to work in the cattle trade.
When early Indian enclaves such as Chulia Street and High Street in the Central Business District became overcrowded in the early 20th century, many then moved to Serangoon. "We did this to cater to the varied tastes of trail users with different time constraints," NHB assistant chief executive for policy and community, Alvin Tan at the launch of the trail. "We want them (visitors) to go away from their visit with a better appreciation of the precinct's rich and multi-cultural heritage," said Tan. The Little India precinct is popular with Indians for its variety of shops selling consumer products including gold jewelry, as well as foods, hostels and motels.-PTI
Rail link plan with Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangla DARJEELING, WB: The Centre is mulling linking neighboring countries like Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal through the railways. This was announced here by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at a program where an agreement was signed between the Indian Rail-
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu
ways and UNESCO. "We have neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal. We have a
very cordial relationship with them. We want to increase railway connectivity with these countries. We are trying to develop it," Prabhu told reporters. "If a circuit can be made connecting these neighboring countries, it will increase interaction, tourism, trade, employment and connectivity," he added. Prabhu said work was on to connect all the eight state capitals of the north-east, so that the tourism potential of the region gets a boost. Horticulture, floriculture, handicraft of the region would get a bigger market after the state capitals are connected with the rest of the country, the railway minister said, adding that he would visit the north eastern Indian states of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Prabhu said investments of Rs 3-3.5 lakh crore would be made in the railways while the amount had been Rs 35,000-40,000 crore a year earlier. This will bring development in the functioning of the railways, he added. -PTI
Dubai offers help to improve US airports DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Dubai International Airport would welcome a call from the Trump administration on ways to improve American airports, the CEO of the Mideast hub has said as it retained the title of the world's busiest for international travel. Paul Griffiths said the Dubai airport, the home of long-haul carrier Emirates and often lauded by U.S. President Donald Trump during his campaign, saw 83.6 million passengers in 2016. The figure fell short of Griffiths' earlier estimates of 85 million passengers for 2016 something he blamed on the economic, political and terror-related turmoil of the past year. ``We know that the global economy has slowed a little bit and the propensity for travel has dropped, but I think that 2016 was quite an unparalleled year,'' Griffiths told The Associated Press. ``Fortunately, our numbers are still holding up.'' Dubai International Airport first surpassed London Heathrow as the world's busiest airport for international traffic in 2014. It has maintained the title ever since, with more than 90 airlines flying into skyscraper-studded Dubai, a gate-
way for East-West travel. That rapid growth has angered U.S. carriers, which allege Emirates, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and Qatar Airways receive unfair gov-
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths
ernment subsidies. The three Gulf airlines repeatedly have denied the allegations. Asked about Trump's protectionist stance, Griffiths said it would hurt consumers the worst. ``The result of that is reduced choice for the consumer and higher prices,'' he said. He added that the Dubai airport would welcome any discussions with U.S. officials about how to improve their airports. ``If America and President Trump would like some of the expertise from Dubai, I'm sure we'd be pleased to assist.'' Griffiths said.-AP
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Konark
Cont’d from page 40
The museum has four arcades, which exhibit about 250 odd varieties of various antiques recovered from the Sun temple. Besides, it has a rich reserve collection. The first gallery houses the plunged monuments regained from the Sun temple complex. The renovated wall of temple, trendy stuff like celestial nymphs, janitors, stones carved with rich flora and fauna, are some of the exhibited
items in the second gallery. The colossal figures of fine craftsmanship like image of Surya Narayana, celestial goblins, and some erotic sculptures have been presented in the third gallery.
The newly constituted fourth gallery displays artifacts like part of a Surya image, man tied in the trunk of an elephant, roaring lion, erotic couples, among various other things. Chandrabhaga Beach: Chandrabhaga beach town is 3 km from the Sun temple in Konark and is known for natural cure available here for lepers. It has numerous interesting mythological legends associated with it. Besides being
rich in marine resources, a large colony of fishermen from Andhra Pradesh that live beside the dried river mouth represents the typical tribal life of India. It should be visited by those interested in explor-
City that celebrates Sun with temple & dances ing the culture of the region. Konark Beach: An unspoiled beach in unison with the emerald water and the golden sand, the exquisite beauty and elegance of Konark Beach is more visible at dusk and dawn. A pristine beach, where one can enjoy the sputter of normal seashore and the serenity of a pilgrimage site. Konark Beach is famous for the annual Magha Saptami Mela, during which devotees undertake a holy
bath and have a gaze at the rising sun. The rambling beach at Konark is regarded as one among the best in the eastern coastal line of India. With a vast expanse of golden sand, it offers a calm atmosphere of relaxation. A leisurely walk by the beach side, enjoying the gentle breeze is a pleasing experience. One can also doze underneath the Sun to enjoy its relaxing effect. Though this is a perfect spot for taking a Sun bath, the presence of strong currents makes swimming hazardous. Panoramic scenery of Sunrise is the other fascinating attraction of this beach. Sun Temple: A 13th century temple dedicated to Lord Surya, Sun Temple at Konark displays the glory of ancient Orian architecture at its zenith. Built in the year 1250 AD, in the reign of King
Narasimhadeva-I, Konark temple depicts the varied materialization of Hindu architecture. Till recently, this temple served as a navigation point to sailors. The Europeans called this temple as 'Black Pagoda' owing to its black color. This temple was unearthed in late 19th century. The Konark temple is recognized not only for its architectural stateliness but also for the cornucopia of sculptural vision. The edifice of the temple is in the shape of a chariot, which is driven by seven horses. The intricately carved wheels of the chariot are a great sight. It is believed that the wheels represent the hours of the day and the shadow of these majestic wheels tell the exact time.
Best time to visit The climate of Konark consists of a seasonal blend of summers, winters and rainfall. The city can be best visited from September to March. How to reach By Train: Puri, at distance of 31 km, is the nearest railway station to Konark. Puri is connected to all major cities in India. By Air: The nearest airport is at Bhubaneswar, at a distance of 64 km away from Konark. By Bus: Konark is connected to other cities in Orissa by the State Public Transport buses. Private Volvo bus services are available from Bhubaneshwar and Puri to Konark.
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Exploring Jordan's cultural fusion GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO
PETRA, JORDAN: I squeezed through the narrow desert chasm just as the early-morning sun lit up the facade of the majestic Treasury building. The structure, originally a mausoleum, was carved from a red canyon some 2,000 years ago, when the city of Petra was a global trade center and its monuments a fusion of Arab and GrecoRoman cultures. Such reminders of harmonious co-existence, in Petra and throughout Jordan, make a trip here special. They are so fragile yet inspiring today, as violence batters much of the region. A terror attack struck Jordan a day before December attacks in Berlin and Ankara. Both the vast, vibrant capital, Amman, and the remote, otherworldly desert landscapes are speckled with artistic masterpieces and profoundly moving sites of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. In the same restaurants where the rare niqab-clad women sit, only their eyes uncovered, fashionistas in tank tops may be seen whiling a weekend night away. In early spring, balmy enough for superb cuisine in fancy outdoor gardens and corner-store popsicles, I explored these highlights: ROSE-COLORED CITY From Petra's archaeological park gate, it's about a mile walk before the increasingly tight Siq gorge opens onto the 12-story-high Treasury. Seeing for the first time its
floral-topped columns, muscular sculptures and classical friezes emerge out of sandstone is as breathtaking as beholding the Colosseum or Machu Picchu. But what took my breath away, literally, is that the iconic Treasury
onnades. To admire the red, pink and nectarine-colored streaks in the rockhewn tomb of a second-century Roman governor, I skirted around a herd of camels, chatting with their young drivers. English is widely spoken, though uttering just a few Arabic words melts even b o r d e r guards into supersized grins.
A L O N G THE JORDAN Shukran (thank you) was the handiest word as Jordanians kept reaching out Camels in front of the Treasury building in Petra, the to this visibly ancient rock-hewn city that is Jordan's blockbuster foreign visidestination. This Middle Eastern country delivers a blockbuster list of iconic ancient monuments, otherworldly tor, from the landscapes and warmhearted hospitality, with Petra as its fruit vendor tourism jewel. in Amman's souk gifting is only the best preserved of hun- me just-ripe loquats to the family dreds more buildings carved into sharing their spicy grilled chicken and over Petra's wadis, desert val- picnic with my driver and me at leys that in spring were lined with Amman Beach on the Dead Sea. pink oleander in bloom. I hiked into The Dead Sea - actually a speca 7,000-seat theater, up to a mas- tacular lake 1,400 feet (400 meters) sive mountaintop sacrificial altar below sea level - is so mineraland past monumental facades heavy that I bobbed weightlessly whose decorations ranged from in its waters, with Israel and the geometrical steps to flowing col- West Bank on the opposite shore.
I wore my most modest one-piece bathing suit, but elsewhere I never felt gender mattered: In the cities, face-covering veils seemed far rarer than women not wearing headscarves. Just to the north, along the Jordan River at Bethany, is the site where John is believed to have baptized Jesus. Old and New Testament locales abound, as the sixth-century floor mosaic map of the region in St. George Church in nearby Madaba documents both accurately and with charming details such as date-laden palms. CAPITAL TIME Madaba, home to other mosaics portraying mythical figures, fruits, even an octopus, is less than an hour's drive from Jordan's capital, Amman. Standing on its monumentfilled Citadel hill among kite-flying children, I took in the sandcolored panorama of charming villas and shiny malls, minarets and markets, narrow cafe-lined alleys and blocky apartment buildings. The opposite hillside opened onto the grand Roman theater, in whose plaza a kid made big loops on a scooter. On a late Saturday night in the garden of Fakhr el-Din restaurant, our white tablecloth was barely visible under stuffed vine leaves, eggplant dip, tabbouleh salad, hummus with grilled meat, grilled halloumi cheese, fried minced lamb, chicken liver in pomegran-
ate juice, kibbeh nayeh (raw lamb with cracked wheat) and fattoush (bread salad laced with sumac) and that was only appetizers. I had to ask my two young Ammani friends, how far are we from the atrocities making headlines around the world? The Syrian border is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) away, they said, close enough that their families used to go there for picnics. At that, one of the best meals of my life became also a minuscule gesture of defiance and hope. If You Go... JORDAN: http:// www.visitjordan.com/ GETTING THERE AND AROUND: Fly into Amman's international airport. In town, very cheap metered taxis; elsewhere, hire a car (better with driver). PETRA: http://visitpetra.jo/ 130 miles (209 km) south of the Amman airport. Entry tickets for international visitors from 50 dinars (about $70) for one day, 55 dinars for two days. Lodging in Wadi Mousa ranges from hostels to major chains like the Petra Marriott, with pool and restaurants overlooking the desert. SAFETY: The U.S. State Department advises Americans to ``consider very carefully'' travel to Jordan (others countries with ``travel warnings'' range from Egypt to parts of Israel, Mexico, Turkey, and the Philippines); the current travel alert list includes Europe for ``heightened risk of terrorist attacks.''-AP
Bill for transparency in Hawaii tourism agency HONOLULU: State lawmakers are considering legislation aimed at making the Hawaii Tourism Authority more transparent following concerns about how the agency spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to market the islands. Democratic Sen. Glenn Wakai is working on a bill that would end a 2010 law allowing the tourism agency to discuss ``competitively sensitive'' information behind closed doors, the Honolulu StarAdvertiser reported. Under the proposed legislation, the agency would be required to provide unredacted budgets to legislators. The bill comes weeks after the agency was criticized by the Senate Ways and Means Committee for a lack of transparency as well as unsustainable spending and debt management. HTA gets $82 million in transient accommodation taxes for
marketing and operations and $26.5 million in transient accommodation taxes for the Hawaii Convention Center. ``We aren't able to comment on the pending legislation until we have seen what's been introduced,'' Charlene Chan, HTA's director of communications, said in an email sent by HTA's public relations firm, Anthology. HTA President and CEO George Szigeti and board Chairman Rick Fried have previously said their decisions meet exemptions in state public records laws.
According to the Star-Advertiser, time designated for the public portion of HTA meetings has gone down while closed-door executive sessions have become substantially longer since Szigeti
became the head of the agency in May 2015. The newspaper had called on HTA to release the prices for individual sporting events starting in September. The agency didn't re-
lease the information until Jan. 12 and redacted costs for eight sporting contracts in the documents. ``We take our statutory charge to protect certain competitive-sensitive contract information seriously,'' HTA contract specialist Ronald Rodriguez said in a letter to Star-Advertiser Editor Frank Bridgewater. ``We are always balancing the public's intrinsic right to know how its money is being spent against the unintended and potentially disastrous consequences of letting certain sensitive information fall into competitors' hands.'' But Wakai, after reviewing previously withheld budget information, still questions HTA's arguments for keeping such matters secret. ``The reason for their lack of transparency was clear,'' Wakai said. ``There were a lot of really sketchy line items.''-AP
„ Health
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Medikoe launches social health network
MUMBAI: Online medical platform Medikoe says it has launched a social health network that will allow patients and doctors to share information and stay connected. "We have launched a pioneering social health network WE to provide value-added offers on 360-degree healthcare & wellness products and services. With over 2,000-plus content pieces, more than 100 establishments, WE has already attracted thousands of users from India and abroad," Medikoe said in a release. The new roll-out is a combination of Facebook, Quora, Pinterest and BookMyShow for healthcare and wellness. From allowing people to follow renowned doctors and physicians, sharing and liking articles, booking an appointment or health package at the click of a button to asking health-related queries, WE acts like a one-stop destination for patients and doctors to stay connected with each other. Users can search from a wide array of health-related topics and get regular updates on several health campaigns, it said. "WE provide an opportunity for both the patient and the doctor to speak, listen, understand and learn from one another. With this new service, we believe patients will be able to better educate themselves on health-related topics, share information with friends and book appointments," Medikoe Co-Founder Raman Shukla said.-PTI
Rare virus threat in rats INDIANAPOLIS: State health officials are trying to track down Indiana residents who bought rats from an Illinois breeder who's part of an investigation into human infections of a rare rat virus. The State Department of Health is working to contact six Hoosiers who purchased rats from the Illinois breeder. It's also working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and another state agency to notify health care providers and veterinarians about their risk of exposure to the Seoul virus. Two rat-breeding facilities in Illinois and one in Wisconsin are linked to the multistate outbreak. No Indiana residents have been diagnosed with the virus. The Seoul virus can infect humans through direct contact with rats, but it cannot be spread between humans. Symptoms can include fever, chills, nausea and aches. -AP
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E-cigarettes increasing tobacco use Details on Page 47
Smog pushes Beijing residents to innovate for the world BEIJING: Beijing residents concerned about breathing the capital's thick gray air are adapting, inventing and even creating businesses to protect the health of their families and others. Some of their efforts could help people around the world. Already this year, the smogshrouded capital has suffered particularly hazardous bouts of pollution caused mainly by coal burning and vehicle emissions. Like other Chinese cities, Beijing is trying to tackle the problem: City authorities say they will spend $2.7 billion this year to help replace coal with natural gas, close heavily polluting factories and take older vehicles off the road. Official figures show improvement since 2013, but Beijing has a long way to go. With no quick fix available, many residents developing their own partial solutions. Here are some of their ideas: SHOOTING THE SKY For the last four years, Zou Yi has diligently captured the sky's change in colors from the window of his central Beijing apartment, where he can - usually - see the
A
landmark Beijing Television tower. The background in his photos runs from dirty brown to deep gray, interspersed with one or more days of cobalt blue. On the worst days, nearby buildings can't be seen. A 10-day period of particularly heavy pollution inspired his
Twitter-like Sina Weibo and the smartphone messaging app WeChat. He found his friends had similar feelings of frustration and recruited his building manager to take the pictures when he was out of town. ``They wanted me to share a photo with them every day, so I
project. The government had just started publishing data on levels of PM2.5 - tiny particulate matter that can clog lungs - and a taboo on state media's discussion of the sensitive topic had just been lifted. ``I couldn't go out, I couldn't open windows, I couldn't see the building next to me because the smog was so bad,'' he said. Zou shared the photos on the
did it every day, every month,'' said Zou, 50. Hundreds of thousands of people have seen his photos on social media. What started as a way to complain has morphed into his fulltime passion. This month, Zou set up the non-governmental organization BeijingAirNow to work with scientists on technology to read pollution levels from around the
world by analyzing the tint in the images rather than using expensive monitoring equipment to collect air particles. He says he is handing over more than 300,000 photos for computer analysis. A PURIFIED HOME Wang Jiang, 42, and her family had eight air purifiers at home, yet found that the indoor air quality was still not good enough on heavy pollution days. Then they decided to take their efforts up a notch. But sealing windows and doors and turning on the purifiers caused carbon dioxide levels to spike, leaving Wang to wake up last year with headaches while pregnant with her second daughter. So now they have installed a $5,000 industrial-grade filtration system that sucks in outdoor air, cleans it via three filters and distributes it around the house through newly fitted pipes. They filled in vents from their building's central heating system and installed their own. Cont’d on page 46
Wellness apps to rescue of 'unhealthy' Asians
sians are concerned about their health, but their level of satisfaction has dropped due to failure to ensure that they remain healthy. The culprit: lack of exercise. "Generation O" (overworked, overweight, and overwhelmed) still exist, as Asians continue to lack time and motivation to improve their health," showed the results of the 2016 Asia Health Index survey of Sun Life Financial. The online survey, done by leading market research firm Ipsos from August 17-26, 2016, covered 4,000 middle class Asians with age range of 25-60 years and from the Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It was a 50-50 share in terms
of male and female respondents. In a briefing, Mylene Lopa, Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. (SLOCPI) Chief Marketing Officer, said that although perception on
personal health in the region has declined, Filipinos continue to have one of the highest scores with 514 points, second after Malaysia's 515 points. Indonesia is third with 513 points, followed by China and Hong Kong, 511 points; India, 502
points; Vietnam, 315 points; Thailand, 303 points; and Singapore, 302 points. In 2014, the Sun Life Financial Asia Health Index identified an emerging segment of the population in Asia called 'Generation O' who were overworked, overweight and overwhelmed. The latest research finds 'Gen O' continuing to struggle with many respondents attributing their failure to live a healthier life and a lack of personal motivation. The most frequently identified barriers to health were a lack of time due to work (50%) or due to family commitments (36%), lack of personal motivation (40%), and the distractions of modern life (35%). "These results illustrate the
growing concern that Asians have regarding their personal health and the struggle people face in prioritizing health and well-being in the face of modern life," said Kevin Strain, President and CEO, Sun Life Financial Asia. One element of modern life that is offering hope to Asians when it comes to their health is the emergence and proliferation of wellness apps and wearables. The survey showed that 42% of Asians use wellness apps or wearables, and those who use such technology tend to establish healthier habits and feel more positive about the state of their health. Among those who use wearables, 7-in-10 respondents feel more positive about their overall health, which is 10% higher than the general population.-Agencies
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'Doomsday Clock' moves closer to midnight WASHINGTON: Comments by US President Donald Trump on nuclear weapons and climate change have helped make the world less safe, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warned, moving its symbolic "Doomsday Clock" 30 seconds closer to midnight. The clock - which serves as a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying the planet - was last changed in 2015, from five to three minutes before midnight. It is now set at two and a half minutes to midnight, amid concerns about "a rise in strident nationalism worldwide, President Donald Trump's comments on nuclear arms and climate issues, a darkening global security landscape that is colored by increasingly sophisticated technology, and a growing disregard for scientific expertise," said a statement by the group of scientists and intellectuals, including 15 Nobel laureates. Trump has made contradictory state-
ments about climate change, at times calling it a hoax and other times saying he would keep an open mind about it. On the nuclear issue, Trump said in December that the US must build up its nuclear arsenal. Responding to a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow needs to strengthen its own nuclear force, Trump responded with a tweet: "The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." "The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it has ever been in the lifetime of almost everyone in this room," Lawrence Krauss, chair of the Bulletin's board of sponsors, told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington. "The last time it was closer was 63 years ago in 1953 after the then Soviet Union ex-
Mediterranean diet helps HIV, diabetes patients WASHINGTON: Consuming a Mediterranean diet - rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats and low in refined sugars and saturated fats - for six months may benefit people with HIV and Type 2 diabetes, a new study has claimed. HIV-positive people who received healthy food and snacks for six months were more likely to adhere to their medication regimens, and they, as well as people with type 2 diabetes, were less depressed and less likely to make trade-offs between food and health-care, according to research-
ers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the US. The study was designed to evaluate whether helping people get medically appropriate, comprehensive nutrition would improve their health. Such food assistance as an approach to improve medication adherence and health has been shown to be effective in low-resource countries, but it has not been well studied in the developed world. With 52 participants, the new study was too small to show conclusively whether providing nutritious food to people with diabetes resulted in better long-term control of their blood sugar, or reduced hospitalizations or emergency department visits. It did find increases in the number of people with diabetes who achieved optimal
blood sugar control and decreases in hospitalizations or emergency department visits, but these changes did not reach statistical significance. Participants with diabetes also consumed less sugar and lost weight. "We saw significant improvements in food security and in outcomes related to all three mechanisms through which we posited food insecurity may affect HIV and diabetes health - nutritional, mental health, and behavioral," said Kartika Palar, assistant professor of medicine at UCSF. "For example, we saw dramatic improvements in depression, the distress of having diabetes, diabetes self-management, trading-off between food and healthcare, and HIV medication adherence," said Palar. Researchers followed the participants for six months and found they consumed fewer fats, while increasing their consumption of fruits and vegetables. Overall, those in the study had fewer symptoms of depression and were less likely to binge drink. For those with HIV, adherence to antiretroviral therapy increased from 47 to 70 per cent. The meals and snacks, which participants picked up twice a week, were based on the Mediterranean diet and featured fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats like olive oil, and whole grains. They were also low in refined sugars and saturated fats, based on current recommendations from the American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association. The meals and snacks fulfilled 100 per cent of daily caloric requirements. The study was published in the Journal of Urban Health. -PTI
ploded its first hydrogen bomb, creating the modern arms race," he added.
faith in both the integrity of election and the very information on which an informed
Scientists announce that the Doomsday clock is moving closer to midnight.
"More than that, this is the first time that the words and stated policies of one or two people placed in high positions have so impacted on our perception of the existential threats we believe the world faces," he said, alluding to Trump and Putin. Krauss cited intelligence reports that accuse Russia of interfering with the US presidential campaign to favor Trump's victory as symbolic of the "deeper global threat" posed by cybertechnology. "The question of whether the fabric of democracy may be imperiled by reducing
public can base their voting becomes suspect," said Krauss, a theoretical physicist at Arizona State University. He also said the bulletin "is extremely concerned about the willingness of governments - including the current US administration - to ignore or discount some science or evidence during their decision-making process." The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947. It has changed 19 times since then, ranging from two minutes to midnight in 1953 to 17 minutes before midnight in 1991.-PTI
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Work-related stress may cause cancer TORONTO: For men, prolonged exposure to work-related stress has been linked to an increased likelihood of lung, colon, rectal and stomach cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a new study has warned. Researchers, including those from Universite de Montreal in Canada, assessed the link between cancer and work-related stress perceived by men throughout their working life. On average, the study participants had held four jobs, with some holding up to a dozen or more during their working lifetime. Significant links to five of the eleven cancers considered in the study were revealed. These links were observed in men who had been exposed to 15 to 30 years of work-related stress, and in some cases, more than 30 years. A link between work-related stress and cancer was not found in participants who had held stressful jobs for less than 15 years, researchers said. The most stressful jobs included firefighter, industrial engineer, aerospace engineer, mechanic foreman and vehicle and
railway-equipment repair worker. For the same individual, stress varied depending on the job held. Researchers were able to document changes in perceived workrelated stress. The study also shows that per-
These results are as yet unsubstantiated because they are based on a summary assessment of work-related stress for a given job, researchers said ceived stress is not limited to high work load and time constraints. Customer service, sales commissions, responsibilities, the participant's anxious temperament, job insecurity, financial problems, challenging or dangerous work conditions, employee supervision,
interpersonal conflict and a difficult commute were all sources of stress listed by the participants. "One of the biggest flaws in previous cancer studies is that none of them assessed work-related stress over a full working lifetime, making it impossible to determine how the duration of exposure to work-related stress affects cancer development. Our study shows the importance of measuring stress at different points in an individual's working life," researchers said. The results obtained raise the question of whether chronic psychological stress should be viewed as a public health issue, they said. However, these results are as yet unsubstantiated because they are based on a summary assessment of work-related stress for a given job, researchers said. There is now a need for epidemiological studies based on reliable stress measurements, repeated over time and that take all sources of stress into account. The research was published in the journal Preventive Medicine. PTI
Smog pushes Beijing residents to innovate for the world Cont’d from page 44
While some might find that extreme, it's an increasingly popular solution. Filter manufacturer Yuanda says their customers range from the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee to homes and about 1,000 kindergartens and schools. A marketing representative, who only gave his surname, Hu, said their purifying systems often go out of stock. ``If you order one today, it won't get installed until March,'' Hu said. Now Wang, a coffee importer, can exercise on a living room treadmill when pollution is bad without worrying about her health. Her husband, Frenchman Ludovic Bodin, 38, said he thinks every house should have an air filtering and ventilation system pre-installed. ``At least if you cannot secure outdoors because it takes time ... at least try to secure the house inside,'' he said. CROWDSOURCING DATA Frenchman and long-term Beijing resident Yann Boquillod
wanted to know what kind of air his five children were breathing at home, so he developed a portable air quality monitor. It also tells users when carbon dioxide levels are high from sealing rooms too tightly, and advises that they should open windows for 10 minutes even if there is pollution outside. Boquillod's start-up, AirVisual, also provides air pollution readings around the world using data from more than 10,000 monitoring sources, both public and private. The company shares a 3-D realtime global map of air pollution and weather patterns on its website. On the website, easily the largest mass of unhealthy levels of PM2.5 pollution was a swath that covered much of eastern China, from Beijing in the north to Kunming in the south. Boquillod, 39, sees this as an educational tool and means of self-protection. He consults with schools, hospitals and offices to test air quality and find gaps in door and window frames that could allow pollution in. ``The most important thing is
to first start by monitoring the air quality and from that we can take the right decisions on what kind of air purifiers to install (and) know about the leakage inside the building,'' he said. MASKED STUDENTS Children as young as 3 at Ivy Bilingual School know they need to wear face masks when the smog is bad. The school also invites mask makers to come in and cut open masks to demonstrate which ones have extra layers and are better for their health. The children can even educate their parents on the masks and how to fit them, said campus director Victoria Li. The school monitors pollutant levels and instructs teachers to make sure windows are closed 15 minutes before school starts to give the air purifiers time to work. It also puts up green or red signs indicating whether children can go out and play. Some international schools in Beijing have installed air-inflated sports domes for athletics, complete with air filters and rotating doors to help keep them sealed. -AP
Utah to capitalize on dip in opioid deaths SALT LAKE CITY: Utah has one of the highest rates of opioidrelated deaths in the country, but Utah health officials say they're noticing an encouraging dip in such fatalities and they're working to push the rate down further with new plans to tighten control over such drugs and educate people about their dangers. State lawmakers are introducing a handful of new proposals this year meant to tighten control over prescription painkillers and new synthetic opioids like the drug known as pink, which was responsible for the overdose
known as ``pink'', illegal in Utah. She said the idea for the proposal came after two 13-year-old boys in the state's ski-resort town of Park City overdosed on the drug in October. Republican Rep. Ray Ward, of Bountiful, is also sponsoring two opioid-related proposals, including a plan that would require doctors only prescribe one week of opioids when it is the patient's first prescription. The health department held an event to announce the launch of their new campaign called ``Stop the Opidemic,'' which is meant to spread awareness about the dangers of the drugs. A l e m a Harrington, a former football player at Brigham Young University, talked about his Utah looks to capitalize on dip in opioid drug deaths experience struggling with opioid deaths of two teenagers last year. addiction. Utah ranks in the top ten in the He said on opiates, the part of country for drug overdose deaths, his brain that told him he needed with six state residents dying each food or water, ``is now telling me if week from opioid overdoses, Utah we don't get some opiates we're Department of Health officials said. going to die.'' But there are encouraging signs: Other opioid-related proposals The number of drug-related deaths in the works this year include rehas dropped from 25 per month to quiring that Utah physicians get 23 over the last few years, said trained in a national program to Angela Stander, a drug overdose help curb opioid abuse, and one specialist at the department. She that would allow patients to fill just said a state campaign about the half of their drug prescription at safest way to use, store and throw- one time. out opioids over the last few years States across the country are has helped. working to curb their own epidemBut Democratic Rep. Carol ics. National Conference of State Spackman Moss says the dip isn't Legislatures said it tracked more than enough. Moss is sponsoring two 500 state proposals dealing with opioid-related plans this legisla- prescription drug abuse in 2016. tive session, including one that They expect a similar number this would make the new synthetic year, said Karmen Hanson, a prodrug, called U-47700, sometimes gram director at the council. -AP
Cal controls San Quentin inmate health care SAN QUENTIN, Calif.: California is regaining responsibility for providing medical care at San Quentin State Prison from federal officials because of improving conditions there. The federal court-appointed receiver, J. Clark Kelso, has announced that he has returned operations at the state's oldest prison to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It's the 10th of California's 34 prisons to be released from fed-
eral control as the state slowly makes progress toward improving conditions for inmates. A federal judge says the state must successfully operate all the prisons for a year before he considers ending a long-running class action lawsuit over inmate health care. San Quentin was built in 1852 by inmates who slept on a prison ship anchored in San Francisco Bay. It now has more than 3,800 inmates, including California's death row. -AP
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E-cigarettes increasing tobacco use LOS ANGELES: E-cigarettes - thought to be responsible for a decline in youth cigarette smoking - are actually attracting a new population of adolescents who might not otherwise have smoked tobacco products, a new US study has warned. Researchers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) did not find any evidence that e-cigarettes have caused youth smoking to decline in the US. In fact, combined e-cigarette and cigarette use among adolescents in 2014 was higher than total cigarette use in 2009, according to the study. The researchers concluded that the lowrisk youth in the study, who went on to smoke regular cigarettes, may not have used nicotine at all if e-cigarettes did not exist. "We did not find any evidence that ecigarettes are causing youth smoking to de-
cline," said Lauren Dutra, a former postdoctoral fellow at the UCSF Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education. "While some of the kids using e-cigarettes were also smoking cigarettes, we found that kids who were at low risk of starting nicotine with cigarettes were using ecigarettes," Dutra said. "Recent declines in youth smoking are likely due to tobacco control efforts, not to e-cigarettes," said Dutra. The analysis builds on several previous studies that have reported that adolescents who start with e-cigarettes are more likely to subsequently smoke traditional cigarettes. In the new study, the researchers examined survey data from more than 140,000 middle and high school students who completed the Centre for Disease Control and
Medicaid expansion on ballot sought AUGUSTA, Maine: Health care advocates in Maine say they have more than enough signatures to get a referendum to expand Medicaid coverage on the November ballot. Now it's up to the Secretary of State's office to verify the signatures. The Mainers for Health Care campaign said the additional federal funding would cover tens of thousands of state residents who can't afford health insurance but have been denied coverage through Medicaid. Nationwide, 19 Republican governors successfully defied the Affordable Care Act's mandate that states open up Medicaid to more people. Republican Gov. Paul LePage has rebuffed legislation offered by Democrats and Republicans that would authorize the state to accept the federal Medicaid funds. LePage's spokeswoman Adrienne
Bennett said that Maine expanded Medicaid a decade ago and that the state has only recently paid off Maine's debt to hospitals for unpaid Medicaid services, which totaled almost $500 million. ``Rather than expand welfare and burden taxpayers, the governor demands that the system first take care of Maine's truly needy: the elderly and disabled who are still waiting for services,'' Bennett wrote in an email. Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon said that an expansion to cover about 70,000 more Mainers would make more than $500 million in new federal funds available to reimburse health care in the state. But how Republicans will reshape former President Barack Obama's health care law remains uncertain. In light of that, the Maine GOP called the referendum a moot point and a waste of state resources. -AP
Prevention (CDC)'s National Youth Tobacco Survey between 2004 and 2014. The researchers found that cigarette smoking among US adolescents declined during that decade, but did not decline faster after the advent of e-cigarettes in the
US between 2007 and 2009. The researchers also performed an indepth analysis of the psychosocial characteristics of e-cigarette users. Research has established that smokers
tend to display certain characteristics that non-smokers are less likely to show, such as a tendency to live with a smoker or to wear clothing that displays a tobacco product logo. The smokers in the national youth survey displayed these characteristics, but the adolescents who were only using e-cigarettes displayed few of these qualities. "E-cigarettes are encouraging not discouraging - youth to smoke and to consume nicotine, and are expanding the tobacco market," said Stanton A Glantz, professor of medicine at UCSF. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics. -PTI
Horoscope
48 India Post
February 3, 2017
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The stationary transit of Rahu and Ketu is in effect till April 2017, Sudden setbacks, obstructions are likely. Drive safely. Be patience.
Feb 3rd - Feb 9th 2017 Please send your birthday, place of birth and time, so I can give you your zodiac sign, according to Vedic astrology. Send to Jaysastrology@gmail.com
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his week is good for you in the matter of income.The professional matters may cause some concerns. The promotions/recognition may be delayed.The health of family needs extra care. It is better to avoid haste and conflicts.Avoid unnecessary driving.Patience is the Mantra for you up to September 2017. Romance wise hold off getting emotionally invoved in new relationship.
he professional matters look ok.Some additional income is likely. This week is going to be better for health. Little more patience is required. New opportunities may face obstructions till 15th of February. Exercise patience. The transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/Ketu are difficult for those whose ascending degree is around 9 or some planet is around 9 degree.
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he week indicates prob lems in job/profession. Take due care.Handle relationship and property matters with patience.Child needs extra care and help.Some additional stress, losses and extra expenses are likely.It is better to avoid unnecessary driving. Take care of your health. Strengthen your birth planets through a Special Power Kavach as transit weakness of planets.
he professional matters may face concerns.This week indicates the incidence of conflicts, litigation and health concerns. Manage conflicts with patience and compromise. Silence is golden. There is some extra mental stress. Handle relationship matters with patience. Keep new ventures pending. Avoid manipulations. Child may need help.
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rofessional matters look ok, Nothing special at work focus on your job. Promotion is likely to be delayed due to conflicts.Some additional expenses are likely, focus on things you are doing. Take care of your health, see a doctor is required. Stay away from disputes.Handle relationship matters with care.It is better to avoid new ventures, can lead to losses.
he professional matters may cause sudden concerns and losses. The promotion may be delayed. You have to be careful in the matter of status and relationships. New opportunities should be taken up only after due care.Health of family may cause concern. Strengthen your birth planets through a Special Power Kavach as transit weakness of planets can bring sudden mishaps.
ome stress is likely in the matter of profession, health, relationships and partnerships. Excercise patience. Avoid haste, Silence is golden. Students and those who are appearing in selections should work with patience. The prolonged transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/Ketu are difficult for those whose ascending degree is around 9 or some planet is around 9 degree.
he professional matters look better.The mental peace and emotions are likely to be disturbed. Stay away from conflicts.Child may need some help.Some additional expenses are likely. Silence is golden for you.The prolonged transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/Ketu are difficult for those whose ascending degree is around 9 or some planet is around 9 degree.
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he professional matters look better.Take care of relationship matters. Work with patience and avoid conflicts. Handle new ventures with due care.The health of family may cause concerns. The week may involve some additional expenses. Avoid haste, aggressive behaviour, conflicts, unnecessary expenses and driving/travel.The prolonged transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/Ketu .
rofessional matters are looking up, focus on work as you can get noticed by peers. Some additional income is likely. New opportunities may also come up. Avoid speculation, no gambling or stock market. Always invest in safe assets. Patience is the best medicine. Some income constraints are likely. Strengthen your birth planets through a Special Power Kavach.
ome of you are likely to be promoted/recognized, stay focused at work. The professional matters look better. Obstructions are likely in the sources of income. Health of the spouse may cause concerns. Manage obstructions with patience.It is better to avoid manipulations and driving. Strengthen your birth planets through a Special Power Kavach as transit weakness of planets.
he professional matters look better, enjoy week at work. Some business related journey is likely. Some additional expenses are likely, focus on yourself. Manage things with patience and avoid conflicts. The prolonged transit planetary influences caused by Rahu/Ketu are difficult for those whose ascending degree is around 9 or some planet is around 9 degrees.
This weekly horoscope is more focused and accurate as these are based on ascending signs. The ascending sign is worked out on the basis of your date, time and place of birth. You will find the predictions at other places based on your Sun sign or Moon sign. The Sun remains in one sign of zodiac for one month whereas the Moon remains in one sign for about 54 hours. It is the ascending sign, which changes every couple of hours." That is how this site offers you more focused predictions.
JATIN P - ACHARYA MIHIR • JAYSASTROLOGY@GMAIL.COM • 630-675-7148
February 3, 2017
India Post 49 www.indiapost.com
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Realty Tidbits
Sales of single-family homes up in 2016 BOSTON: The number of single-family homes sold in Massachusetts in 2016 was about 10 percent higher than the previous year according to two organizations that track the real estate market. The Warren Group reported that the number of single-family homes sold last year was about 11 percent higher than in 2015, while the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said the number of homes sold was up almost 9 percent year over year. Median prices were also up, about 3 percent to $355,000 according to the Realtors; and about 1.5 percent to $340,000 according to The Warren Group. The organizations use slightly different numbers in their calculations. The Warren Group reported a 4 percent increase in home sales in December compared to the yearago month, while the Realtors said sales were essentially flat. -AP
„ Indiabulls Real Estate Q3 net down 14 pc NEW DELHI: Indiabulls Real Estate reported 14 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 58.58 crore for the quarter ended December on lower sales. Its net profit stood at Rs 67.88 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a filing to the BSE. Income from operations fell to Rs 300.25 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal from Rs 711.51 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Total income decreased to Rs 492.9 crore in the October-December quarter from Rs 735.75 crore earlier. Indiabulls Real Estate is developing 11 projects with a total saleable area of 30.51 million sq ft. It
has presence in key metros of Mumbai, NCR and Chennai. It entered London property market in July 2014 through acquisition of 22, Hanover Square in Mayfair, central London - a 87,444 sq ft commercial property. -PTI
Real Estate 50 India Post
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February 3, 2017
Ex-Easton man cheated homeowners in foreclosure HARTFORD, Conn.: A former Easton man has admitting he and his associates bilked homeowners facing foreclosure out of thousands of dollars by falsely promising to buy their homes and pay off their mortgages. Timothy Burke pleaded guilty in federal court to mail fraud and tax evasion. The 65-year-old Burke faces up to 25 years in prison at his sentencing in April. Prosecutors say Burke and attorney Bradford Barneys assumed control of the homes and rented them out to tenants. -AP
Prices up, sales brisk in Trump's South American tower PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay: In recent weeks, the massive head shot of Donald Trump that greeted visitors to the Trump Tower Punta del Este ``ultra exclusive'' apartment project in this well-heeled South American beach destination vanished. The photo of Trump and his three adult children behind the marble counter in the vanillascented showroom also was taken down. But the giant gold letters spelling out the name of the next president of the United States still stretch from the sixth to the seventh floor of the 26-story beachfront building's concrete frame. And that is all that's necessary to capitalize on this new chapter in the life of the brash real estate mogul. Trump has said he will start no new projects outside the U.S. while in office. He is handing over control of The Trump Organization to two of his sons. But Trump Tower Punta del Este illustrates how his new position remains good for business internationally. In a country where people have seen some towers rise and then stall, sometimes abandoned for
decades, Trump's electoral victory gives confidence to buyers. ``I have no doubt that it is going to be finished and even more so because he's president of the United States,'' said Talma Friedler,
35 percent, said Juan Jose Cugliandolo, CEO of YY Development Group, the project's developer. It is now between 65 and 70 percent sold and none of the $550,000 base units remain,
whose New Home Properties sells units in the building. In the past year, the average unit prices have increased 30 to
Cugliandolo said. What is left are units starting at $770,000 and going to $8 million. It's unclear how much the price
increases have to do with Trump's ascent, but Cugliandolo called his name on the project a mark of an especially safe investment. The decision to take down the photos came from Trump, the developer said. ``The reality is obviously that becoming president of the United States does not fit with putting his photo on a real estate development,'' Cugliandolo said. The developer said Trump's election and subsequent promise to pull back from new projects around the world - including another YY Development project in Buenos Aires that did not get past the permitting stage makes this one all the more exclusive. Cont’d on page 51
Zuckerberg reconsiders process to get land HONOLULU: The billionaire chief executive officer of Facebook says he is reconsidering the process by which he is trying to gain title to about a dozen small parcels of land on his sprawling estate in Hawaii. The move to get the land through a unique Hawaii law angered locals and prompted a state lawmaker to propose a bill that would force Mark Zuckerberg into mediation before buying real estate on Kauai. ``Based on feedback from the local community, we are reconsidering the quiet title process and discussing how to move forward,'' Zuckerberg said in a statement. ``We want to make sure we are following a process that protects the interests of property
owners, respects the traditions of Native Hawaiians, and preserves the environment.'' Zuckerberg owns an expansive
of land, some less than an acre. They originally belonged to Native Hawaiians who were given the land when private property was
estate on Kauai, but he doesn't own all the land on the estate. There are about 14 small pockets
established in Hawaii in the mid19th century. Many of the landowners died
without making wills, and it was never determined who inherited the land. Zuckerberg's lawyers in December filed a lawsuit asking the courts to find these owners so Zuckerberg could provide fair compensation for their land through the quiet title process, according to the documents. Recently, State Rep. Kaniela Ing said he would introduce legislation that would force Zuckerberg into mediation before purchasing land on the island. ``We love Kauai,'' Zuckerberg said. ``We want to be good members of the community and preserve the land for generations to come.'' Zuckerberg's reconsideration was first reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. -AP
Real Estate Post
February 3, 2017
India Post 51
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Existing US home sales fell in December WASHINGTON: Americans retreated from purchasing homes in December, as the number of properties listed for sale sank to its lowest level since 1999. The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes fell 2.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.49 million. For all of 2016, sales posted an annual gain of 3.8 percent to 5.45 million. But the housing market has become trapped by a supply shortage that has pushed prices higher and may limit the potential for additional sales growth. Homebuyers simply have fewer choices, as new construction has yet to meet demand and existing homeowners have been reluctant to list their properties for sale. ``Home buying is likely to face additional headwinds going for-
ward, which include low inventory levels, rebounding prices and higher mortgage rates,'' said Admir
likely to ``completely derail'' the housing market. Just 1.65 million homes were
Kolaj, an analyst at TD Bank, who added that these factors are un-
listed for sale in December. This marks a 6.3 percent drop from a
year ago to the smallest total since 1999. The tight supplies pushed the median sales price to $232,200 last month, up 4 percent from a year ago. Homebuyers were able to manage the rising sales prices in part because of low mortgage rates in 2016, but those rates have climbed upward and settled above 4 percent since Donald Trump's presidential victory. The financial markets expect that Trump will try to stimulate economic growth through deficit spending, which caused the rates to rise on the 10year U.S. Treasury note and mortgages. The Realtors estimate that rising mortgage rates in recent months increased the typical monthly payment by $75, or $900 a year.
It's possible that rising mortgage rates are causing more people to buy homes earlier than they otherwise would in hopes of locking in lower monthly payments. ``When that activity dies down, we're not sure where the next wave of buyers is coming from,'' said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said that the rate on 30-year fixedrate loans averaged 4.09 percent from 4.12 percent. That was dramatically higher than a 30-year rate that averaged 3.65 percent for all of 2016, the lowest level recorded from records going back to 1971. In December, sales fell in the Northeast, Midwest and West, while staying unchanged in the South, according to the Realtors. -AP
Prices up, sales brisk in Trump's South American tower Cont’d from page 50
Trump's involvement in the Punta del Este project is a licensing agreement for the Trump brand. His public financial disclosure listed royalties from the deal of $100,000 to $1 million. But the developer said he does not see a connection between politics and their project, even though in the same breath he praised the visit of Eric Trump, one of the president's sons who will be running The Trump Organization. Earlier this month the young Trump came to check on the tower's progress and personally greet buyers. On a recent day in the tower's ground floor showroom, everything was geared toward the ``ul-
The brochures contain phrases like ``Luxury living is about to arrive,'' ``ultra exclusive becomes real,'' and ``better than ever before.'' Among the luxury touches will be: two indoor heated pools, one of them exclusively for swimming; an ``iconic'' outdoor climate-controlled pool with two waterfalls, and a bar and restaurant. There will be a spa with sauna, Scottish shower and massage room. Residents will enjoy a private theater, private wine cellar and the building's own market. Eight highspeed elevators for residents and two service elevators will whisk people around. Covered regulation tennis courts will include spectator seating and intelligent climate control. Natalia Provenzano, a 43-year-
Argentine tourist Paola Craposof had the most positive take: ``If they elected him president and he has his chain of hotels, it's because he's a businessman. And you should support people who decide to invest in other countries.'' tra exclusive'' concept. A small refrigerator to one side chilled bottles of champagne for potential clients. Above the showroom, the building's 26 stories remain a concrete skeleton, but inside prospective buyers could see mock-ups of the apartments' kitchens and bathrooms and peruse brochures listing the many amenities. Its 154 apartments - plus two penthouses - are scheduled to be finished in late 2018.
old Argentine who has been coming to Punta del Este for 30 years, tried to soak it all in with her husband. ``It's outstanding, I don't know what to say. It is something unknown until now,'' said Provenzano on her way out. She said she and her husband are very interested in buying. Provenzano came to Trump Tower on the advice of Ligia Kindelan, a Cuban who works for
real estate broker Remax at a nearby beach community. ``Sales are going very well; there are very few units left,'' Kindelan said. In terms of the price for an apartment, she said: ``You need to think more than $1 million.'' Practically in mid-sentence, Kindelan was interrupted when a Trump Tower employee called her by name back to reception. When she returned, she declined to continue speaking. Outside, dozens of tourists walked or cycled by glancing at the project. Opinions about Trump were varied. Among a dozen residents of Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, there were supporters, critics and those who are simply indifferent. Argentine tourist Paola Craposof had the most positive take: ``If they elected him president and he has his chain of hotels, it's because he's a businessman. And you should support people who decide to invest in other countries.'' Hugo Acosta of Paraguay said he saw Trump as too radical and confrontational, but said the prestige the tower would bring to Punta del Este was undeniable. ``He is the president of the United States and it is an important icon for Punta del Este and the region,'' Acosta said. No one questioned the security or the potential it could become a target of terrorism, even though on Dec. 9, firefighters had to clear the project after a bomb threat that proved to be false. Natalia Arrospide, wearing
work clothes and a hat that said ``Trump,'' is the owner of a business that paints buildings. She painted the reception area herself, including the wall behind the marble counter and champagne refrigerator that used to display the
``He's already president, isn't he?'' Arrospide asked before the inauguration. She doesn't follow U.S. politics closely, in spite of living in Greenville, South Carolina for eight years, where she learned to paint. ``The work environment is
``He's already president, isn't he?'' Arrospide asked before the inauguration. She doesn't follow U.S. politics closely, in spite of living in Greenville, South Carolina for eight years, where she learned to paint. photo of Trump and his children. She also painted the giant golden letters that hang on the facade.
good,'' she said. ``The building is called Trump, but it's like any other job.'' -AP
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Philosophy
February 3, 2017
India Post 53
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I
n dealing with the problem of untouchability, I have asserted my claim to being a Sanatani Hindu with greater emphasis than hitherto, and yet there are things which are commonly done in the name of Hinduism, which I disregard. I have no desire to be called Sanatani Hindu or any other, if I am not such. And I have certainly no desire to steal in a reform or an abuse under cover of a great faith. It is therefore necessary for me once for all distinctly to give my meaning of Sanatana Hinduism. The word Sanatana is used in its natural sense. I call myself a Sanatani Hindu, because, (1) I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and all that goes by the name of Hindu scriptures, and therefore in avatars and rebirth. (2) I believe in the Varnashrama dharma in a sense in my opinion strictly Vedic, but not in its present popular and crude sense. (3) I believe in the protection of the cow in its much larger sense than the popular. (4) I do not disbelieve in idol-worship The reader will note that I have purposely refrained from using the word divine origin in reference to the Vedas or any other scriptures. For I do not believe in the exclusive divinity of the Vedas. I believe the Bible, the Koran, and the Zend Avesta to be LEO TOLSTOY
F
or all humanity to be able to live, and continue to live at tributing a meaning to life, they, those milliards, must have a different, a real, knowledge of faith. Indeed, it was not the fact that we, with Solomon and Schopenhauer, did not kill ourselves that convinced me of the existence of faith, but the fact that those milliards of people have lived and are living, and have borne Solomon and us on the current of their lives. And I began to draw near to the believers among the poor, simple, unlettered folk: pilgrims, monks, sectarians, and peasants. The faith of these common people was the same Christian faith as was professed by the pseudo-believers of our circle. Among them, too, I found a great deal of superstition mixed with the Christian truths; but the difference was that the superstitions of the believers of our circle were quite unnecessary to them and were not in conformity with their lives, being merely a kind of epicurean diversion; but the superstitions of the believers among the laboring masses conformed so with their lives that it was impossible to imagine them to oneself without those superstitions, which were a necessary con-
as much divinely inspired as the Vedas. My belief in the Hindu scriptures does not require me to accept every word and every verse as divinely inspired. Nor do I claim to have any firsthand knowledge of these wonderful books. But I do claim to know and feel the truths of the essential teaching of the scriptures. I decline to be bound by any interpretation, however learned it may be, if it is repugnant to reason or moral sense. I do most emphati-
perfection in Innocence (Ahimsa), Truth (Satya) and Self-Control (Brahmacharya) and who has not renounced all acquisition or possession of wealth. I believe in the institution of Gurus, but in this age millions must go without a Guru, because it is a rare thing to find a combination of perfect purity and perfect learning. But one need not despair of ever knowing the truth of one's religion, because the fundamentals of Hinduism as of every great
science. It does attach to birth. A man cannot change his varna by choice. Not to abide by one's varna is to disregard the law of heredity. The division, however, into innumerable castes is an unwarranted liberty taken with the doctrine. The four divisions are all-sufficing. I do not believe that interdining or even intermarriage necessarily deprives a man of his status that his birth has given him. The four divisions define a man's calling, they do not restrict or regulate
Why do I call myself a Sanatani Hindu
Mahatma Gandhi
I do not believe in the exclusive divinity of the Vedas. I believe the Bible, the Koran, and the Zend Avesta to be as much divinely inspired as the Vedas. I decline to be bound by any interpretation
cally repudiate the claim (if they advance any such) of the present Shankaracharyas and Shastris to give a correct interpretation of the Hindu scriptures. On the contrary, I believe that our present knowledge of these books is in a most chaotic state. I believe implicitly in the Hindu aphorism, that no one truly knows the Shastras who has not attained
religion are unchangeable, and easily understood. Every Hindu believes in God and His Oneness, in rebirth and salvation. But that which distinguishes Hinduism from every other religion is its cow protection, more than its Varnarshrama. Varnashrama is, in my opinion, inherent in human nature, and Hinduism has simply reduced it to a
social intercourse. The divisions define duties, they confer no privileges. It is, I hold, against the genius of Hinduism to arrogate to oneself a higher status or assign to another a lower. All are born to serve God's creation. Excerpted from Young India, Vol III. The 69th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was observed on January 30
dition of their life. The whole life of believers in our circle was a contradiction of their faith, but the whole life of the working-folk believers was a confirmation of the meaning of life which their faith gave them. And I began to look well into the life and faith of these people, and the more I considered it the more I became convinced that they have a real
that they were content with life. In contradistinction to the way in which people of our circle oppose fate and complain of it on account of deprivations and sufferings, these people accepted illness and sorrow without any perplexity or opposition, and with a quiet and firm conviction that all is good. In contradistinction to us, who
enormous mass of the people in the past and the present. And of such people, understanding the meaning of life and able to live and to die, I saw not two or three, or tens, but hundreds, thousands, and millions. and they all - endlessly different in their manners, minds, education, and position, as they were - all alike, in complete contrast to my ignorance, knew
Laborers know significance of life & death The superstitions of the believers among the laboring masses conformed so with their lives that they were a necessary condition of their life. Leo Tolstoy
faith which is a necessity to them and alone gives their life a meaning and makes it possible for them to live. In contrast with what I had seen in our circle, where the whole of life is passed in idleness, amusement, and dissatisfaction, I saw that the whole life of these people was passed in heavy labor, and
the wiser we are the less we understand the meaning of life, and see some evil irony in the fact that we suffer and die, these folk live and suffer, and they approach death and suffering with tranquility and in most cases gladly. I looked more widely around me. I considered the life of the
the meaning of life and death, labored quietly, endured deprivations and sufferings, and lived and died seeing therein not vanity but good. And I learnt to love these people. Excerpted from Leo Tolstoy's 1882 work, 'My Confession'
The law of right living is not immediately clear to the wise man, but it becomes much clearer when he follows it. The law of right living is immediately clear to the ordinary person, but it becomes less obvious when he tries to follow it. -Confucius
There is only one eternal law. It does not change and it governs all people at all times. -Marcus Tullius Cicero
A gunshot wound may be cured, but the wound made by a tongue never heals. -Persian Wisdom
If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man . . . Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! -James 3:2, 5
When you hear people speak about the viciousness of other people, do not share in pleasure by discussing these issues. When you hear about the bad deeds of people, do not listen to the end and try to forget what you have heard. When you hear about the virtues of other people, remember them and tell them to others. -Eastern Wisdom
Do listen to disputes, but be not so involved in disputes yourself. -Nikolai Gogol
Insure yourself FIRST. Call Sahanis, (Arish, Priya or Shiv) for your Insurance needs 718- 271- 0453. Serving for last 35 yrs
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February 3, 2017
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China is worried about rise of Buddhism
India Post
JAYADEVA RANADE
Buddhist Association of China issued a directive calling for the prevention and restriction of 'illegal' propagation of Tibetan Buddhism in Zhejiang province.
I
ndications over the past few months hint at a degree of nervousness in some quarters within the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) leadership about the unchecked spread of Buddhism in China. There is additionally apparent concern about the spread of the Dalai Lama's influence elsewhere in China-outside the borders of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)prompting efforts to more strictly regulate the activities of Tibetan Buddhist monks. There has been a marked increase in the number of Buddhists in China over the past 20 years, with their percentage in the population rising from 5% to more than 18% by 2015. The increase followed the easing of controls on religion by the communist authori-
quoting Tibet.cn, which focuses on Tibet related news, observed that many Western film stars had been criticized for their support for the Dalai Lama and Chinese celebrities should have learned the lesson. Despite these restrictions, since 2014, around 140-160 Mainland Chinese visit Dharamsala each year and many seek an audience with the Dalai Lama. Possibly concerned at the spread of the Dalai Lama's influence, the provincial unit of the official Buddhist Association of China (BAC) issued a six-point directive in November 2016, calling for the prevention and restriction of the "illegal" propagation of Tibetan Buddhism in China's Zhejiang province. Zhejiang is a major centre of Chinese Buddhist education and training and its Buddhist population outnumbers those of most other Chinese provinces. Addressed to all BAC units in the province, the notice was reportedly is-
Dalai Lamba destroying a sand Kalachakra mandala
ties in 2006-07. Buddhists in China are now estimated to exceed 300 million. The 88 million-strong CCP has been sensitive to the growth of any other organization not controlled by the Party, viewing it as a potential threat to its monopoly on power. The Falungong, which grew to 100 million members, was ruthlessly eviscerated after a sustained 10year long nationwide campaign with little trace of it left today. China's apprehension that prominent Han Chinese personalities could be influenced by the Dalai Lama became evident when, in February 2016, China's official media criticized mainland actor Hu Jun, Hong Kong singer Faye Wong and Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, for having sat close to "two core figures of the Dalai Lama group" during a Tibetan Buddhist event in India. The pro-China Chinese-language Hong Kong daily Ming Pao,
sued "on the request of the Zhejiang Province Religious Affairs Bureau to thoroughly implement the basic religious policy of the Communist Party of China and other laws and regulations on religious affairs, and to improve religious harmony and social harmony". While not clarifying these "illegal" activities, it prohibits monks practicing Tibetan Buddhism from visiting Zhejiang province to give teachings, conduct empowerment rituals, and conduct other ceremonies without government approval. It states that approval is required for teaching of Tibetan Buddhist texts and scriptures or holding other related activities at Buddhist centers, Buddhist associations or Buddhist universities in the province. Other Buddhist religious personalities wanting to visit Zhejiang for religious ceremonies or for working as religious instructors are also required to obtain
permission from the concerned BAC units. They too require registering with the Zhejiang Civil Affairs Department. The detailed notice additionally specifies that religious personages require permission to organize or participate in religious activities in places where religious activities are not allowed. It reiterates that religious gatherings organized by the general public must be held at lawfully registered religious venues or at venues approved by the relevant religious affairs bureau from county level upwards. A specific article in the notice orders all Buddhist associations in the province to advice and guide monks of Chinese Buddhism to practice their faith in the Chinese Buddhist tradition. Interestingly, a copy of the notice was separately addressed to the Buddhist Association of Mt Putuo in Zhejiang, one of China's four sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites and closely identified with Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhists believe that Mt Putuo is home to Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion. The XIVth Dalai Lama, who is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is considered to be the emanation of the Buddha Avalokitesvara. Mt Putuo has additional significance because the IXth Panchen Lama visited Mt Putuo in 1925, to bring Tibetan Buddhism to Chinese audiences and taught thousands of Chinese Buddhist monks and conducted empowerment rituals. The Kalachakra teachings (3-14 January 2017) in Bodhgaya have predictably attracted Chinese attention. To prevent Chinese and Tibetans from attending, the authorities ceased issuing visas since last December and restricted travel to Nepal. Surveillance in TAR was heightened to identify those who might have clandestinely slipped across and the internet, telephones etc are being monitored to prevent transmission of Kalachakra teachings. Notwithstanding these controls, like in 2014, nearly a thousand Tibetans from China and almost another thousand Chinese from different provinces attended the Kalachakra this year with many seeking an audience with the Dalai Lama. Jayadeva Ranade is a former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India and is President of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.
Cleaning up sports
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t is heartening to know that the richest and one of the most corrupt sports organizations in India, the BCCI, will be a pioneer in sports clean up, thanks to the interest that the Supreme Court has been taking in its activities. Like a breath of fresh air in the politically polluted atmosphere, the Supreme Court has appointed three eminent men and a former women's cricket captain in a fourmember panel which will oversee running of the BCCI. All four have impeccable credentials: The new Chairman of BCCI panel is Vinod Rai, a former Comptroller and Auditor General of India known for hard-hitting reports on scams like Commonwealth Games and spectrum allocation for 2G. Ramachandra Guha is a renowned historian, columnist and cricket writer. Vikram Limaye is Managing Director and CEO of Infrastructure Development Finance Company. Former captain of India's cricket team, Diana Edulji who has considerable administrative experience in managing various Western Railway teams, says her focus would be on promotion of women's cricket. The Supreme Court should not confine itself to the spring cleaning of cricket only. There are dozens of other sports also where politicians, bureaucrats and 70-plus administrators have been running the shows for their own glory and making little contribution to the sports bodies that they lead. In a horrific development, the Indian Olympic Association had recently reappointed tainted politicians as its life members. It was good that the government put its foot down and forced the IOA to remove politicians Suresh Kalmadi and Ajay Chautala who had been found guilty of corruption. It is ironical that at a time when the Indian cricket team is doing so well in the international arena it has no credible office bearers in place, the earlier all having had to step down for not meeting the new stipulations announced by the Justice Lodha Committee which was appointed by the Supreme Court to devise reform guidelines for the cricket body. BCCI has lost respect in the International Cricket Council also in spite of bringing the maximum to its coffers only because of the questionable characters running the BCCI. The ICC Chief Shashank Manohar is an Indian but he has been deliberately keeping the BCCI at bay and making decisions without its concurrence only because those who had been running the show on behalf of BCCI had little interest in cricket and more interest in running a fiefdom. So much so that elections to cricket bodies were held by proxies and those at the helm continued to remain so in spite of doing nothing for the game. For instance, it is reported that there was more gambling in the Delhi District Cricket Association than cricket. Former BCCI chief N. Srinivasan was also ICC chief for a number of years during which he made rules to entitle India, Australia and England with major clout while making other cricket playing countries as also rans thus courting the ire of some country boards. Srinivasan was also against women's cricket and had even insulted Diana Edulji, now a member of the SC-appointed panel, by suggesting once that if he had his way, he wouldn't allow women's team to play cricket. With Edulji now on board it is hoped that women will get justice in this male-dominated body. A vocal advocate of women's cricket rights, Dina once quipped during a tour of England that the Marylebone Cricket Club should change its name to MCP (male chauvinist pig) after she was denied entry to Lord's pavilion. Ramachandra Guha has been a stringent critic of IPL. He calls it crony capitalism, a tamasha, riven with conflict of interest of egoistical administrators and complains how it has no franchise from four populated states in India -Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. Although he is entitled to free tickets for IPL games in Bengaluru, it would be interesting to see how he deals with this issue.
February 3, 2017
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