AV 31st July 2010

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Cameron in India

Expecting big Hawk Aircraft deal

As British Prime Minister

D a v i d C a m e ro n re a c h e s

B a n g a l o re o n Tu e s d a y night on a two day visit to India, in the air is a lot of expectation in Britain for a giant push to the bilatera l re l a t i o n s , t r a d e a n d industr y in particular On Friday, Cameron is expected to sign an MOU with Ka r n a t a ka g o v e r n m e n t Later, when he meets his I n d i a n c o u n t e r p a r t , D r

M a n m o h a n S i n g h , U K expects to finally clinch a huge, £700 million deal for 57 BAE Hawk Jets

India

test announced by the British government for a

come to Britain to join

November 29 this year

d e m o n s t r a t

The test will be compul-

It is significant to note that while British media has given a good amount o f s p a c e o n C a m e ro n’ s visit in the past few days, in India there was ver y little or no coverage for the forthcoming visit

Apart from the bilatera l t r a d e a n d b u s i n e s s issues, the two will also discuss many other issues, including the situation in Afghanistan

Asserting that "this is a visit of unique scale and a m b i t i o n " , B r i t i s h h i g h

commissioner Sir Richard Stagg told reporters that the aim was to start the p ro c e s s o f b u i l d i n g a n even closer and more pro-

The fact that India is the first countr y Cameron is visiting for a bilateral visit, apart from his compulsor y visits to EU countries as also the US and Afghanistan, indicates the importance the UK attaches to its relations with this countr y, sources said S i n g h a n d C a m e ro n will hold talks on a range of bilateral, regional and g l o b a l i s s u e s , b e s i d e s focusing on giving a fresh i m p e t u s t o t r a d e a n d

S

u

e s have also indicated that Continued on page 24

The UK Border Agency ( U K B A ) M o n d a y a n n o u n c e d t h a t f ro m this date, any migrant who wants to enter or remain in the countr y as the partner of a British citizen or a person settled here will need to show that t hey can speak and understand English, by taking an English language test with one of t h e t e s t p ro v i d e r s approved by the agency

This means the applic a n t s w i l l h a v e t o

Britain, UKBA said in a statement The govern-

month

Partners who apply for settlement after com-

period of temporar y residence will still need to meet the "knowledge of language and life in the UK" test This is in addition to the new basic

forms part of their initial application

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Great Ormond Street apologises for fatal delay to save teenager

Children’s hospital Great Ormond Street has apologised after a teenager died while waiting for a simple operation that could have saved his life, reports the Sunday Mail

The hospital was repeatedly warned that Arvind Jain, 13, needed urgent surger y to help him swallow because he suffered from a musclewasting disease

But surgeons at the hospital failed to arrange the operation or turn up for vital meetings about his condition and after six months of waiting Arvind died from complications

Ar vind’s parents, Ashok, 63, a retired engineer, and Mridula, 49, a civil servant, have been too upset to discuss their son’s death

The family, from Cricklewood, North London, say the surgical team at the children’s hospital failed to respond to urgent requests for their son to have the operation to insert a feeding tube into his stomach

They also say they

£17,500

failed to turn up to two meetings to discuss the procedure and no explanation was given

In a complaint to the hospital, they say doctors assessing Arvind at Great Ormond Street told them the operation meant he ‘would be OK and would be able to go to school in September’, and it would give him ‘quality of life’

Instead, they were forced to watch as his condition deteriorated because he was not receiving adequate nutri-

tion and had to resort to placing ice cubes in his mouth to help him drink

Ar vind was diagnosed at the age of three with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which causes muscles to gradually weaken Sufferers are usually confined to a wheelchair by their teens but they can sur vive to around 40 with good care

In December 2008, he was admitted to his local hospital, the Royal Free, with feeding prob-

lems

Despite recommendations Great Ormond Street’s own neuromuscular doctors sent to its surgical team that it should carry out what is a standard procedure, there was no response and subsequent letters sent within Great Ormond Street went unanswered

The family say Ar vind was no longer able to use a temporary feeding tube and an intravenous drip, set up to give him essential fluids, could not be inserted into his veins as they had collapsed He died on August 9

After an internal review, Great Ormond Street offered its ‘sincere apologies’ and said it accepted that management was poor and letters should have been answered

However, it added that while the feeding tube would have ‘been effective in treating Ar vind’s specific problem with feeding’, other problems contributed to his deterioration

fine over 'spiritual healer' advert

The TV watchdog imposed a £17,500 fine for "spiritual healer" advertising which was found to be capable of exploiting vulnerable people as per the British n e w s p a p e r Independent Ofcom disciplined licensee DM Digital Television Ltd in respect of its DM Digital service In February 2009 the Manchester-based digital station, which broadcasts mainly in Urdu to the UK Asian communi-

ty, allegedly aired an ad for a "spiritual healer" called Professor Mohammed Zain Advertising regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), as the newspaper suggests received a complaint from Manchester Trading Standards, which had been contacted by the social worker of a viewer who had approached Prof Zain after seeing the advert The viewer allegedly said she twice paid money to Prof Zain

for help in finding a partner

According to t he viewer, Prof Zain told her to credit his account with £110 and to pray for one week and then to call him back

When she did this, he allegedly told her to credit his bank account with a further £1,400 and in return he would find her "a prince" and the viewer transferred the requested cash

The ASA found the advert breached the CAP (Broadcast) TV

Advertising Standards Code

It concluded that the advert was "likely to exploit the hopes and fears of vulnerable viewers"

Ofcom considered the breach was serious because it resulted in actual financial harm to the viewer

Ofcom also concluded that the breach showed a repeated failure by DM Digital to ensure that material met the requirements of the TV Advertising Code

Driver jailed over death of Josh Callaghan in Gravesend

A construction worker who lost control of his car and caused the death of a teenage boy in Gravesend has been jailed for threeand-a-half years

Koaldeap Singh Lit, 35, from Cliffe Road in Strood, mounted the pavement and struck 16year-old Josh Callaghan on 24 January last year

Josh, of Canon Road, Bromley, south-east

London, was taken to hospital but died a few hours later

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court delivered a unanimous verdict Lit was also banned from driving for five years Josh was a popular pupil at Ravens Wood School in Bromley, southeast London

Pc Andy Gallon said he hoped the sentence would discourage drivers from driving when tired

Crime profits returned

Convicted Leicestershire tobacco smuggler Mohmed Safi Patel, was today ordered to re-pay crime profits of alm ost £370,000 within six months or remain in prison for an extra four years, following a successful investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Patel was jailed for six years in 2008 for smuggling 27 million cigarettes and four tons of hand rolling tobacco following a two week trial at Leicester Crown Court His codefendant Anis Vohora absconded in 2007 prior to the trial and was sentenced in his absence to four years in prison An international arrest warrant was issued and Vohora was extradited back from the United States last month June 2010 He received an additional three month jail

term for bail offences

John Kay, Assistant Chief Investigation Officer for HMRC said: “This was a sophisticated, well planned and large scale smuggling operation which resulted in substantial prison sentences However, this case also highlights our determination to pursue their crime profits, depriving them of returning to a life of luxury and recouping money for investment in our country’s public services ”

during Ramadan

Urges to the fasting Muslims to quit smoking

The Co-operative Pharmacy is extending its award winning Ramadan campaign to encompass stop smoking advice to Muslim patients during Ramadan A total of 82 Co-operative Pharmacies located in areas with a high proportion of Muslim customers, have been specially trained to offer a free tailored “medicines check” service which now incorporates stop smoking advice

Although Muslims who are ill can be exempt from fasting, many continue to observe the fast This can mean that oral medicines are not taken at the correct time intervals, or that their effectiveness is altered due to drugs’ interactions with food

The pharmacist will ensure that if the patient needs to

change the times they take their medicines they continue to manage their condition effectively and safely and will also identify those who are looking to stop smoking

The Muslim Council of Great Britain supports the initiative, commenting, “We welcome the effort by The Co-operative Pharmacy and will recommend it to our communities living locally

We urge all fellow Muslim brothers and sisters not to make their own decisions to alter doses or timings of medications without the guidance from their doctors or pharmacists and ask local health practitioners to liaise with mosques and Islamic centres to educate the public on this important information ”

Teenage

'happy slappers' jailed, but could walk free in months

Two teenage members of a 'happy slapping' gang who attacked and killed a 67-year-old man as he stood with his his young granddaughter were locked up on last Monday

But Leon Elcock, 16, and 15-year-old Hamza Lyzai could walk free within months after they were sentenced to fourand-a-half years and three-and-a-half years respectively over the death of retired careworker, Ekram Haque

The teenage thug s admitted attacking Mr Haque as he stood outside a south London mosque with his threeyear-old grand-daughter, Marian

The 67-year-old cracked his head after being struck to the ground, suffering irreparable brain damage, and died a week after the assaThe pair admitted their parts in other assaults in which, the court heard, they had 'targeted people for fun'

The pair had already carried out a number of attacks on elderly Asians, and Elcock was even on bail at the time of the killing for an assault just five days before

Each will only have to ser ve half before being released on licence They spent nearly a year on remand

Michael Lyons may have raped dozens more women

Police fear dozens more women around the world have been raped by cult leader Michael Lyons

Officers said many victims were too scared to come forward after falling into the clutches of his intimidating group

They said Lyons, known in spiritualist circles as Mohan Singh, was a calculating criminal masquerading as a healer

Lyons was jailed for 10 years after being convicted of raping one woman and assaulting another However police say many more women around the world may also have been victims

London detectives investigating two rape complaints issued a warrant for his arrest in 2007

After being held at

Heathrow Airport, he was questioned about a third alleged attack in 2002 which had been investigated and dropped through lack of evidence

He said Lyons travelled widely between London, Paris, Miami and New York, spending only a few months in each place Mr Giles said the complex and unusual case created many difficulties, including persuading the jury how dangerous Lyons was

COMMENT

Passage to India: U K seeks new relationship

Prime Minister has embarked on a journey to India, accompanied by five Cabinet ministers including Foreign Secretary, William Hague, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Treasur y and Business Secretary Vince Cable, and a party of 95 CEOs This truly is formidable line-up of heavyweights and is evidence of intent The message is: Britain is ready for business, and beyond finance and commerce, seeks to partner with India in every conceivable field, from politics to education, from science and technology to culture and the arts With vision, imagination and mutual self-interest that translate into administration and the appropriate institutional framework, plus a personal chemistry between the British and Indian prime ministers and their colleagues, the relationship beween the two countries can take a great leap forward

It maybe that Britain has no game changing proposition to offer India such as the US-India civilian nuclear accord which originated with the George W Bush administration, but Britain has its special strengths which should not be overlooked History and tradition have bonded Britain and India If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Britain need look no further than India s parliamentary system of government underpinned by the rule of law The founding fathers of independent India were conscious of the positive aspects of the British legacy in the Subcontinent, hence on the attainment of freedom on August 15, 1947, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Home Minister, invited the last British Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten, on behalf the new government, to stay on as the first Governor General of a sovereign India, which offer was graciously received and accepted India's leaders were keen to put the troubled past behind them and chart a creative relationship with the country's former rulers It was time to move on, and India joined the Commonwealth in free association with Britain, thus ensuring its transformation into the multiracial body it is today

There were, however, impediments to a closer relationship, notably the Cold War and its myriad ramifications India sought to forge a series of critical relationships which transcended the Cold War paradigm to safeguard its national interest History has shown that, warts and all, the decision was wise and beneficial In time, the Cold War came to an end, and it was again time to move forward

Here, there is a convergence between the British and Indian viewpoints Prime Minister Cameron, while keeping faith with Britain's 'special relationship' with America, wishes to redefine it in way that would not impede Britain's efforts to forge ties with nations – among them India - whose rise is likely to determine the course of the 21st century International politics and trade have given Britain and India the necessary space to forge a relationship appropriate for our time The previous Labour government did little of substance in this regard Its successor happily is keen to

put this right With an ample fund of goodwill on both sides there is no reason why this endeavour should not succeed and its expectations realised over a reasonable timeline

A number of excellent special reports in the British press have flagged off the Cameron visit to Delhi, the most eye-catching and rounded, arguably, by Dean Nelson in the Daily Telegraph Editorials in the Daily Telegraph and the Times have been penned with measured optimism; both have underlined the common dangers posed by international terrorism, both have shown an appreciation of Indian concerns over the present unstable situation in Afghanistan This is destined to exercise minds in London and Delhi for the foreseeable future

The heart of the projected Indo-British relationship will be trade and investment, on which Mr Nelson has expended valuable insights Time was when India was perceived in the UK as an exotic basket case He reminds us of the new reality He writes: “For those whose recent glimpse of India was the brutal poverty shown in Slumdog Millionaire or believed you had just elected a government committed to clamping down south Asian immigration, think again and steel yourselves Mr Cameron's visit with the largest senior Cabinet delegation in recent memory heralds the arrival of the Indian century ”

Indian poverty was undeniably a grim statistic, but it “is not as urgent as other developments: India is the world's second-largest economy It is expected to overtake China as the fastest-growing within 40 years, and also replace it as the world's greatest population with more than 2 billion people by 2050 As its population rises, so too will the number of highly educated graduates and skilled engineers – already qualifying at the rate of 160,000 per year Britain's largest manufacturer (Tata, owner of Jaguar Land Rover and Corus steel) is Indian, India's 700 companies are our largest job creators, UK businesses owned by British Indians generate £10 billion in turnover and our richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, is an Indian ”

Beyond the obvious issues of trade and investment, there are areas of common security concerns, none more so than global terrorism and the threat it poses to international order The UK and India have experienced terrorist attacks – 7/7 in London and 26/11 in Mumbai – so there has to be greater intelligence sharing between the two countries With the recent WikiLeaks internet revelations carried in The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegal, of covert Pakistani aid to the Afghan Taliban (even accepting that some incidents were of questionable authenticity) surely requires a long overdue decoupling of the India-Pakistan construct in Whitehall This is a pre-requisite for deepening Indo-British trust

A good start has been made in opening a new dynamic era in the evolving relationship between Britain and India Long may it endure

Wizard of spin required no spin

Muttiah Muralitheran, 38, retired from Test cricket last week after helping Sri Lanka drub India by 10 wickets at Galle He was the principal architect of that victory by capturing 8 Indian wickets in both innings and reaching the astonishing Test aggregate of 800 wickets in a glittering career spanning 18 memorable years

On figures alone, Muralitheran can claim to be the greatest spinner in the game's history Allowing for changes in society and the sport itself, it may be safer to place him among the first five of cricket's immortals in the magical art of spin bowling A freak action based on a glitch in his bowling arm enabled him to rotate his wrist 360 degrees and impart phenomenal turn and zip, not to speak of baffling syncopations of flight which bewitched, bothered and bewildered batsmen throughout the world He clearly was a one-off who gave the Sri Lankan attack a cutting edge unique in cricket's

annals

There was much controversy about Muralitheran's action, with some claiming that he threw, and that this gave him an unfair advantage over orthodox pur veyors of spin But Mike Atherton, the former English Test captain, disputed this in his insightful article in The Times He told how he got a well known English spinner to throw: he did, without turning the ball an inch, or controlling line and length Murali's gift was thus a blessing from the gods Period In any case the biomechanics of his action were subjected to the closest scientific scrutiny at a reputable Australian university, and he was duly cleared Houdini was an illusionist, so was Muralitheran Both deceived the human eye

The Sri Lankan champion was also a pearl among men; his smile was infectious and his sportsmanship beyond reproach We are unlikely to his like again Thank you, Murali

Law must be above suspicion

The arrest of Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah for the deaths, of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kausarbi and their associate Tulsi Prajapati, in what was allegedly a fake encounter with the state police, is making media headlines Mr Shah behaved with commendable propriety: no sooner were the allegations laid at his door by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) than he tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and accepted police custody

The disturbing aspect of the case concerns the conduct of the CBI For weeks and months on end it ran a disreputable campaign of media leaks against Mr Shah He was not formally charged, but a media

trial based on hearsay, gossip and innuendo went on regardless Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has claimed that the CBI acted independently as an arm of the judiciary in keeping with its instructions This may be the theory, but CBI worst practice tells of ruling party interference at the Centre with due process This appears to have become a habit, irrespective of the party party in power in Delhi

The proper procedure is for Mr Shah's interrogation to be video recorded The rule of law requires that due process be applied and seen to be applied Meanwhile, the CBI's reputation has been seriously tarnished

Discovery consists of seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no- one else has thought

- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986)

East India Companies Alpesh Patel’s Political Sketchbook:

A BBC journalist asked me – ‘is there money to be made for British companies in India?’ I replied he should consider that the Indian defence budget is larger than the UK’s defence budget and yet Britain is in Afghanistan and Iraq! Consider that inward investment from India to the UK is greater than the other way round.

So why does the PM need a super-large delegation? What are the obstacles to British companies? The obstacles are not truly Indian, but those of other nations knowing how to leverage the opportunities Take SMEs in the UK Thanks to the energetic UK Trade and Investment providing access and knowhow on exporting from the UK into India, or the vitality of the UK India Business Council providing a softlanding in India, SME access to India has become easier If SMEs from Britain do not come out to India to become more productive and tap growth, then competitors from around the world will swarm upon the weakest British companies and through corporate Darwinism extinct them The obstacles are not in India, but in the exporting or investor country, knowing how to leverage the opportunities

But if you want statistics, consider theses: India has among the higher returns on foreign investment than China according to the US Department of Commerce By 2032 India will be one of the three largest economies in the world. Indeed today on purchasing power parity it already is the third largest economy in the world and one quarter the size of the US economy With 300m consumers and the world’s largest pool of English speaking scientists and engineers A place where 75million phone subscribers annually, 8 million TV sets are sold annually By 2015 over 63 million households are expected to have income over $30,000 in PPP terms

India, although the seventh largest country in the world, has the second largest area of arable land in the world – it feeds the world – as the world’s largest producer of milk, sugarcane and tea and the second largest producer of fruit, wheat, rice, vegetables Comparisons to the US are obvious An economic superpower needs not just persevering and innovative peoples, but abundant natural resources and an openness to the capitalist ideal – India, like the US of last century, fits the bill

Investment needs the assurance of heritage And for investors in India, lies more than any country a heritage of innovation After all this was the land of medicine and astronomy before the Greeks, navigation before the Romans. Their number system allowed the rest of the world to count. Or as Dan Sheinman of Cisco put it, ‘ We came to India for the costs, stayed for the quality and are now investing for innovation ’ Indeed one fifth of Fortune 500 companies have set up R&D centres in India and India is among only 6 countries in the world to have satellite launch capabilities

Little wonder then this nation had the greatest GDP of any country on the eve of the formation of the British East India Company There is nothing to suggest her people will not return to resume their destiny

YOUR VOICE

Nikhil Gor

Project Co-ordinator

Asian Business Publication Ltd

Unit 2, Karma Yoga House

12 Hoxton Market

London N1 6HW

20th July 2010

Dear Nikhil Gor,

Andrew Stunell MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Department of Communities and Local Government

Eland House

Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU

Tel: 0303 444 3440

Fax: 0303 444 3287

Email: andrew stunell@communities gsi gov uk

www communities gov

Our Ref: P1/P1/016659/10

Thank you for your letter of 29 June, inviting the Prime Minister to write a message of support for inclusion of your publication “British Punjabis 2010” I am responding on the Prime Minister's behalf as I am the Minister with policy responsibility for race equality and social cohesion issues

I am sorry that we were unable to provide a message of support in time for the launch event However, I should like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the highly significant contribution the Punjabi community has made over the many years to the life and culture of the UK That contribution, which demonstrates the growing achievements of the Punjabi community and the development of their own situation within our society, is an inspiration to Government

The Big Society and Localism, two essential priorities for this Government, are both about inclusiveness and fairness, giving ethnic minorities huge potential to influence decisions The Big Society is about huge culture change where people, in their everyday lives, in their homes, in their neighbourhoods, in their workplace, don't always turn to officials, local authorities or central government for answers to the problems they face, but instead feel both free and powerful enough to help themselves and their own communities I am determined to push the race equality agenda forward and to improve opportunities for people of all backgrounds

The Prime Minister and I wish you every continued success

Yours sincerely

Andrew Stunell MP

Well done AB, well done Lord Popat

I write to congratulate the Asian Voice team of dedicated journalists around the country covering stories from within the Asian community I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Asian Voice journalist in particular for writing such an in-depth article about Lord Dolar Popat who was inaugurated into the House of Lords on Monday 12 July (Asian Voice, Saturday 24 July 2010, Page 13)

In the presence of Param Pujya Sant Shree Morari Bapu, a humbling Sant who has recited the Ramayana to millions of people throughout his life has graced the UK once again, but this time into the senior most house in the United Kingdom to bless an occasion to mark a lifetime of seva by an equally humble man, Lord Popat

May Lord Popat continue to serve the our community and may Asian Voice continue to keep us in touch with our community through dedicating coverage to such occasions

Shimal Thakrar Edgware

Why propagate burkha?

Ban on burkha is contentious subject It is hard to please all Burkha is as valid as beard and turban of Sikhs

It has popped up again in Britain following recent burkha related events in France, Spain and Syria

Burkha may be used to hide weapons is futile argument Fanatic terrorist would need no camouflage There are no evident rampant crimes associated with burkha in Britain, a la knives and guns

Eye to eye contact for teaching is dubious argument There are correspondence courses, television classes, open university where teachers do not see pupils In remote areas of Australia radios are used to educate pupils Thus both excuses against burkha fail

Burkha has positive points It is symbol of Islamic religious identity and culture which ladies wear with pride, and commendable adherence to discipline, in view of overall prejudice

However, even in absence of any law banning burkha, it must not be worn in exceptional situations, as common sense judgement and personal understanding e g airports, immigration points, emergencies, medico-dental surgeries, etc

In order to assuage all, guidelines must be laid to wear burkha within homes, mosques, Muslim gatherings etc When in public hijab may be worn as token of discipline

Ramesh Jhalla Via Email

You rightly say in your last week’s Column “As It Is” that India with all its moralistic preaching is yet to give a suitable shelter, education, and other amenities to 60% of its population

The main cause is of course the rampant corruption raging wild since its Independence

By now the corruption has plagued politics judiciary, trade and commerce, police administration, gram panchayats, educational establishments like schools, colleges and universities, and all religious establishments and temples

As a result, the Politicians and the rich have enriched the Swiss bankers by the millions The ochre coloured sadhus, gurus swamis, bapus are hypocrites who have no qualms in exploiting the faith and superstitions to the fullest

It is unfortunate that the elites and the intellectuals who spare no efforts to preach, with the only agenda to seek honour and garlands, have failed to bring about any social change in our society

In India of today, 230 million people are malnourished and 50% of the children meet early death as a result

Of The Government’s annual food subsidy of 32 crores for 7 crores of below poverty line people, 75% of it is stolen, resulting an average family of four receiving Rs 94 instead of Rs 375 The crusade announced by Swami Ramdevji by launching a new Political party whose only aim will be to eradicate corruption and bring back the Ramrajya is praiseworthy

He is fired up sufficiently to carry out his ideal He has all the resources: enough wealth, his own TV channel and substantial following We NRIs should give whatever support Swamiji needs from us

G Mistr y London

Indian first Muslims second

It is more than likely that the the infamous ISI had links with the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 2008; but it should not be forgotten that there are many fundamental young Muslims all around the world, & not just Pakistani Muslims Which brings me to my real point The ease with which the terrorists worked their evil, & the intimate knowledge they seemed to have of their targets would suggest complicity & collaboration from 'within' Did they?

In earlier days, Indian Muslims 'were Indian first & Muslims second' Is this still the case? Has Islamic militancy affected their mind-set? I believe the authorities have a major task in striking a right balance between (a) keeping a close watch on militant Islam within India, & (b) but in so doing, in not alienating Indian Muslims with too heavy-handed an approach Not an easy task, but I believe a very very important one

Harish Dave Via Email

It was very disappointing to read the news on front page of Asian Voice that Qureshi's arrogance marred Indo-Pak talks Democratically elected leaders must understand what their people want and it should reflect in their actions

Ordinar y people of India and Pakistan do not want wars but wish their leaders should work to improve their living standards Pakistan has been recognised country in the world and therefore need not to worry from India India recognise Pakistan and that should be well understood

People like Qureshi should see the programme on Star Plus- Chhota Ustaad and learn lessons from the artists singers of India and Pakistan what people of both the countries want Please do not become the obstruction between the honourable work being done by the ordinary people and their children Leave your selfishness and see what are the wishes of people

If some one wonders why British people are turning their back on their noble Christian religion and age old customs and traditions, then they do not have to look far It seems British television, through their popular and widely watched serials like Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders do not miss a single opportunity to bash and portray Christianity in poor taste

The EastEnders is the worst offender Over the years it has introduced Padres, Chaplains, Reverence and Clergymen in the soap but always in poor light They are either gay priest, as if it is the norm, serial adulterers, drug addicts, misfits and now a serial murderer

Lucas, who is the central figure and a pleasant character until he turns into a mass murder, is the ultimate insult to the Christian faith No other faiths would denigrate, portray their followers in such a poor taste

What better than showing religion with a human face, feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless and nursing the sick back to health that was the hallmark of Christianity and still is in many parts of the developing world with the late Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Bishop Desmond Tutu a cult figure loved and respected by all

Bhupendra M Gandhi Via Email

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Panellists gather for discussions on India Pakistan relations

By Maninder Kaur

The Commonwealth Journalists Association hosted a public discussion, 'India and Pakistan: Enemies forever?' on Monday 19th July, at the House of Commons The talks were chaired by Brian Hanrahan, BBC

D i p l o m a t i c Correspondent, with panellists M J Akbar, Editor India on Sunday and Sunday Guardian, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, journalist and academic, formerly Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, and Sir Hilary Synnott, Consulting Fellow International Institute for strategic studies, author and former diplomat

Amongst the issues discussed, Dr Maleeha Lodhi said the demonstrations of Kashmiri youth in the Indian valley, has exposed Indian control over the state Making reference to the on going street tensions, she said terrorism in South Asia has not appeared by itself, but is a result of the Kashmir dispute

However, M J Akbar argued that the anger of

the Kashmiri youth didn’t suggest a hatred for India

“The Kashmiri youth are eager to join India in security ser vices, they want to be a part of the entertainment industr y and it was imperative they were accommodated ”

Sir Hilar y Synnott came to the conclusion that none of the Western powers are seriously interested in resolving the Kashmir issue

Dr Lodhi later went on to compare India and Pakistan relations with that of Israel and Palestinians, where the more powerful force always tries to dictate its own terms Talking on

the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, she said India put far too much emphasis the attacks, whilst ignoring the core issues

“You cannot hold Pakistan hostage to your own demands and seek a favourable outcome ”

Concluding the discussions, the speakers agreed that the present unrest in Kashmir is due to the governments failure in introducing democracy to the state Also in agreement was that both countries knew there was no militar y solution to the Kashmir problem, and so they should brush aside their differences and strive for peaceful solutions to the disputes

N P I M R celebrates the first anniversary of the Hear t and Stroke Research campaign

s i o n e r, M r Ra j e s h N P r a s a d T h e n e w At t o r n e y

G e n e r a l w e l c o m e d h i s g u e s t s s a y i n g : “ I h a v e f o l l o w e d t h e w o r k o f

N o r t h w i c k P a r k f o r m a n y y e a r s a n d I a m h o n o u re d t o h e l p c e l e -

b r a t e t h e f i r s t a n n i v e rs a r y o f t h e H e a r t a n d

S t r o k e Re s e a r c h

C a m p a i g n ” P ro f e s s o r S h e r v a n t h i H o m e r -Va n n i a s i n ka m , a

C o n s u l t a n t Va s c u l a r

S u r g e o n a n d t h e

D i r e c t o r o f N P I M R s p o k e a b o u t h e r d a i l y e n c o u n t e r s o f t r e a t i n g h e a r t d i s e a s e a n d s t ro ke

p a t i e n t s a n d h o w d e v e lo p m e n t s a t t h e I n s t i t u t e w o u l d h e l p p r e v e n t t h e s e d i s e a s e s a s w e l l a s h e l p t re a t t h e m P r o f e s s o r H o m e rVa n n i a s i n ka m d e s c r i b e d

N P I M R’ s re s e a rc h p rog r a m m e i n “ p ro t e o m i c s ” – a re l a t i v e l y n e w f i e l d o f m e d i c a l r e s e a r c h l o o k i n g a t p r o t e i n s i n d i s e a s e s t a t e s T h e d i n n e r w a s s u p -

p o r t e d b y B a r c l a y s B a n k D r Ra m i Ra n g e r t h e n s p o ke o f h i s l o n g a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h N P I M R a n d s p o ke t o t h e a u d ie n c e a b o u t t h e p re s t ig i o u s G o l d e n H e a r t s C l u b , a n exc l u s i v e g ro u p o f H e a r t a n d S t r o k e C a m p a i g n s u p p o r t e r s c o m m i t t e d t o f u n d i n g re s e a rc h f o r t w o y e a r s S i x n e w G o l d e n H e a r t m e m b e r s w e re re c r u i t e d d u r i n g t h e e v e n i n g M s S o n a l D a v e , w h o w a s t h e M C f o r t h e e v e n t , t h e n c a l l e d o n M r s J a y s h re e S h a h f ro m N P I M R w h o s p o k e a b o u t t h e c h a r i t y ’ s o t h e r f u n d r a i s i n g a c t i v i t i e s P r o f e s s o r J o h n N i c h o l l s , t h e C h a i r m a n o f t h e N P I M R B o a rd o f Tr u s t e e s , g a v e a v o t e o f t h a n k s t o M r D o m i n i c G r i e v e , B a rc l a y s B a n k , t h e D e p u t y I n d i a n H i g h C o m m i s s i o n e r, t h e v o lu n t e e r s a n d ,

David Miliband, the shadow foreign secretary, is the preferred choice of business leaders and ordinar y voters to secure the Labour leadership, two opinion polls have found However, most people are yet to make up their mind between the five contenders for

Kapil’s KHICHADI

by Kapil Dudakia - email: kapil@abplgroup com

Death by a Thousand

On 5th May the Lib Dems were flying high with 27% in the polls Now in less than three months they stand at an almost all time low of 13% (recorded on 21st July) Looking back over the past 5 plus years they have been as low as 11% and whilst I don’t see it going further below this, I believe the message from voters is loud and clear Lib Dems have damaged their party in the pursuit of power to such a degree that it may take a generation or more to recover Will it continue to endure this death by a thousand cuts, or will the party faithful rise and reject the alliance? November will mark the season of fireworks in more ways than one

Haste to Please

The Tory government are in an undue haste to please My one issue is, ‘Who are they trying to please?’ Is it their core supporters, the financial markets, their friends in the city or is it the wider public? In this confusion what comes across as decisive action might turn out in the longer term to be unwarranted haste

The changes being put forward in education, defence, the police, the NHS, local councils and the civil service to name a few might seem great, but in time each of these can potentially come back and bite them hard Taking the public for granted or as fools has always been a favourite pass time of politicians, and of successive governments For example, if you introduce devastating cuts to the police –simple logic dictates that frontline services will be affected and it will adversely impact on the effectiveness of the how they do their job So let us not pretend that everything will be alright on the night 12 months from now when the crime figures come out, let us not be too sur-

prised if they become worse Let us also not be too surprised when those who should be behind bars are let out under the guise of efficiency savings and cuts – only then go on and commit further crimes

If I was advising the Government, then it would be simple – haste to please the various factions in the short term could turn into a millstone in months to come It might be wiser just to step back and see whether it is dogma driving the changes, or common sense?

The War is Over?

When the Deputy Prime Minister stands up in the House of Commons and tells the public that troops will be out of Afghanistan by 2014/5 –is he telling us the whole truth? Listen to his statement again, what he actually said was, ‘combat troops’ will be out by that deadline The US and British presence will continue in Afghanistan for decades to come, and that my friends is the bottom-line Thousands of British troops will continue to stay in the countr y, with many more thousands joining them from the civil contingent Britain and the US cannot afford to come out of Afghanistan for at least two good reasons One, that it would be seen as a humiliating defeat for the two most powerful armies in the world, and that by a bunch of terrorists on foot Second, Afghanistan has got huge mineral deposits that both the US and Britain would want to control and therefore we will see puppet governments being supported as long as they do what they are told

Our presence will be there for quite a while; only it will be called by a different name The only question is, ‘How gullible are the British public?’

Lead me, not into Temptation!

The Labour Party is on

the verge of selecting their new leader There are the usual suspects, the ones who stand a chance and those who are there to make up the numbers and even bring some colour to the proceedings

I can’t help but feel that no matter who they choose, there is something not quite right with the group that has been shortlisted Under normal circumstances David Miliband would be the obvious choice – but he did not take the opportunity when the time was right His brother has slowly but surely built up his support, but to what end? He is linked to Gordon Brown to such an extent that it will be difficult for him to disassociate himself from the memory of that failing tenure

Ed Balls is even more of a Brownite than Brown himself Getting that side of the Party to support him might be easier than convincing the voters in years to come Andy Burnham is too much of a light weight His heart may well be in the right place, but is he ready for the role today? And that leaves Dianne Abbott I am all for people from the BME community having high aspirations but let us also be honest – there really is nothing in her armoury that will get her elected as leader of the Labour Party Overall, Labour is on the verge of making a grave error No one has come through who is not tainted with the mess of a rudderless dying Government Their only saving grace, the Tor y Government is making too many hasty decisions that are fraught with danger If they cannot find a way through this coming winter and survive the strains on the coalition, then that just might give that glimmer of hope to the new Labour leader Will the Labour left lead the Party into temptation of the 70’s? Or have they grown up and matured to fight another day?

David Miliband tops two Labour leadership opinion polls

the Labour crown In the first poll, 53 per cent of voters said that they were undecided, including one in three Labour voters Mr Miliband was named as the best leader of the party by 17 per cent, with Diane Abbott, the Left-wing backbencher, in second place

on 10 per cent Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary and brother of the former foreign secretary, was third with seven per cent

The remaining candidates, Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, and Andy Burnham, former health secretary, were each named as favourite by six per cent of voters

Members of Labour’s electoral college begin voting next month in the contest to replace Gordon Brown as leader, with the result announced at the party’s annual conference in September

MEDIA WATCH

Scrutator’s

Dean Nelson, the Daily Telegraph's man in India, turned in another insightful report on the new unfolding relationship between the UK and India (July 21) It is possible that the Cameron-led government will do for British-India ties what George W Bush did for US-India relations Time will reveal all, but hope springs eternal Mr Nelson's opening paragraph set the scene. “Britain and India are to establish a new forum of each country's six leading chief executives to boost bilateral trade and investment Anand Sharma, India's commerce minister [in an interview], said the forum would be announced during David Cameron's visit to India next week as a centrepiece of the new 'special relationship' he is seeking with the world's second-fastest growing economy Mr Sharma said he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shared Mr Cameron's goal, but warned new immigration restrictions on Indian business leaders and professionals must be lifted for the relationship to thrive the commerce minister after confirming the forum with Mr Singh, said the new body would play a significant role in overcoming regulatory hurdles in both countries and encouraging investment Both Britain and India are now selecting potential candidates for the forum, but RollsRoyce's Sir John Rose annd BAE Systems' Ian King have been mentioned as possible members, along with Indian motor manufacturer Anand Mahindra and Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Group ”

Removing obstacles

A British source said: “The idea is to get together the people directly involved and for ministers on both sides to listen to what they say on what needs to happen to remove impediments to growing investment ” Dean Nelson again: “The UK government and its business chiefs want India to remove caps on investment in the Indian defence, supermarket, higher education and legal and professional sectors India is pressing Britain to accept Indian professional qualifications in accountancy, law and information technology ”

Competitive global list

The Business Standard (July 19) reported that “India has been ranked second, ahead of the United States and South Korea, in terms of manufacturing competence globally ” The paper was quoting the US investment firm Deloitte According to Deloitte, China, India and South Korea are first, second and third respectively, in the 2010 Global Manufacturing Competitive Index, the result of collaboration between Deloitte Touche Tomatsu and the US Council on Competitiveness

“In less than a decade a new world order for manufacturing competitiveness has emerged along with a tectonic shift in manufacturing competence,” the 50-page Deloitte report said It added: “The rise in the manufacturing competitiveness of three countries in particular –China, India and South Koreaappears to parallel the rapidlygrowing and important Asian market

cent It will be hard as ever to keep the irrepressible bulls down ”

New India in creation

The Hindustan Times (June 18) wrote: “The touch-scree on an iPod, the engines in a jetliner –swathes of the world's technology have been conceptualised, designed, modified or stresstested in a laborator y somewhere in India India is moving beyond manning help-desks, booking airline tickets and coding reams of software to making planes safer, medical devices more precise, car engines more efficient and life-saving drugs more accessible Silently and rapidly, India has used innovation to move being the the world's back-office to becoming a global hub for research and development

bles Now think Kutch, that region of Gujarat which evokes images of aridity, where the newest great leap in Indian agriculture is taking place It's nothing short of a miracle and it looks like it is here to stay ”

Whilst China's place was expected, “perhaps the most surprising is that India is now positioned at number two and will gain an even stronger foothold over the next five years,” saying the country's talent pool of scientists, researchers and engineers along with the largely well-educated English-speaking workforce and democratic regime make it an attractive destination for manufacturers

Noting that India's software had reached new heights since the 1990s and post-economic liberalisation had opened new vistas for Indian manufacturing Indian manufacturers had moved from low-cost products, having gained experience in in quality improvement and adopted Japanese principles of quality management

Deloitte said: “The country is also rapidly expanding its capabilities in engineering design and development and embedded software development, which form an integral part part of many modern-day m a n u f a c t u r e d products Manufacturing executives [around the world] increasingly view India as a place where they can design, develop and manufacture innovative products for sale in local as well as in global markets ”In five years, China would head the table with 10 points, but India would move up from its present 8 15 to 9 01points

The Financial Times Lex Column (July 14), apropos of India's IT sector commented: “The sector, having outperformed the broader Indian market massively last year, is pacing it this year but global IT spending is expected to grow by 9 per

Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Duke and Harvard universities (US) writes: “Just ten years ago, Indian IT companies such as Infosys Technologies Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro Ltd were bidding for small contracts to help Western companies fix the Y2K bug in their computing systems Their customers were desperate to fix this ticking time bomb despite severe hesitations, Western companies sent their mission-critical systems to India for repair Indian outsourcers used this opportunity to expand operations, build new skills and, most importantly, get to know their customers The catastrophe was averted and both sides benefitted Indian firms used this as a launching pad for bigger projects and entry into more strategic ventures ”

Initially there were shortages of skilled engineers, as the country wasn't producing them in sufficient numbers – 76,000 in 1999 The figure went up by 2004, but at the expense of quality There was a further increase to 220,000 engineers by 2007 The five IT majors and smaller IT firms stepped in and devised their own in-house training systems on the basis of best practice methods

As innovation rapidly settles in as a business concept, it encourages previous timorous Indian companies to spread their wings and go global Also, it is encouraging a reverse traffic as global companies seek to enter the Indian market in ever increasing numbers

Whether in automobiles, in chemicals, or in telecommunications, a new India rises, stronger and more vibrant

Good earth

Kutch was long known as the most barren area in the state of Gujarat Not any longer India Today magazine (July 5) produced a report by Uday Mahurkar which pointed to a new Kutch dawn He opened thus: “You can call it a Green Revolution; an improved, compacted and eco-friendly miniature version of Punjab's late 20th century agricultural renaissance Think Kesar mangoes, Israeli dates, succulent sweet lemons and organically grown vegeta-

It all began in the 1990s with Batuksinh Jadeja who bought a patch of land and planted the famous Kesar mangoes Today, his orchards cover40 acres and “the Kutchi Kesar is now in demand in the Gulf and the UK and Buckingham Palace as well ” Drip irrigation and kindred measures have saved grondwater If the Gujarat state government were to sell all the wasteland in Kutch to private farmers, the whole of Kutch could be transformed into India's foremost orchard Sukhois for

IAF

The Times of India (June 26) reported the purchase by India of an additional 42 frontline Sukhoi MKI warplanes from Russia to the 230 aircraft contracted for from Russia The Sukhoi, which is highly regarded throughout the world, is expect-

using the world s most airlifter,” said a press release India and Canada have signed a civilian nuclear accord under which the latter will supply nuclear reactors to India for power generation The safeguards will be closely monitored by the International Atomic Energy Authority (Times of India June 28)

Interceptor missile

News agency reports (July 26) said the successful test of an interceptor missile capable of destroying an incoming ballistic missile The test was carried out from a range in Chandipur in the eastern coastal state of Orissa The missile, developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), destroyed the incoming target missile at an altitude of 10 miles ( in the 15 kilometres) in the Bay of Bengal

This was the third test firing of the missile, following launches in 2006 and 2007 The nest test in March 2009 went awry, while the one scheduled for March this year was aborted at

ed be the mainstay of the Indian Air Force over the next decades Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is now producing the aircraft at its Bangalore facility

Production has been raised from 23 planes a year to 28 annually

India is also buying six C130J Super Hercules air-lifters from the US in a $1 billion deal The plane will provide the Indian Army and Air Force “new special operations capabilities

the last minute because of a technical glitch

While this latest landmark test is evidence of India's technological capabilities in the field, it will be yet awhile before the final product is ready for induction by the countr y's armed forces However, only the US and Russia have a proven antiballistic missile capability China and Japan are believed to be working on their systems

Dee Katwa

Midland Voice

As a society, we’re obsessed with looks and reward attractive people accordingly. So, are good looks more important than qualifications?

Yes, according to a social experiment carried out by Gumtree.com, the marketing portal. The survey, which questioned 1,006 adults, showed that 41 per cent of men and 26 per cent of women admit hiring someone they fancy. The poll revealed that a young, attractive woman posing as a cleaner attracted 16 times more job offers than an older, larger lady. It also found that a pretty woman tends to do better than a handsome man in the career stakes. This was despite all job-seekers offering the same qualifications and experience. Furthermore, up to 80 per cent of secondary pupils and young adults reported an appearance concern. Separate research showed that attractive children got higher evaluations of their work from teachers, and were more popular. Attractive people were less likely to be found guilty in court and received less severe sentences. Given this, it’s hardly surprising that one survey claimed workers spend a fifth of their salary “tarting up” trying to look good in the office, believing that image is increasingly important to

their career. The Gumtree.com survey also found that 83 per cent of employers admit first impressions really do influence their decisionmaking. This suggests that if someone does not “fit in” they may immediately be rejected. This “lookist epidemic” could explain why an increasing number of people are prepared to spend ridiculous sums of cash to undergo operations, thus attempting to brush up their looks in the hope that they can “fit in”.

Earlier this month the news that Facebook users in India were being urged to make themselves appear whiter online caused a big row. This was part of a marketing campaign by Vaseline to take advantage of the £325 million market for skinlightening creams in the country. In a separate poll of nearly 12,000 people conducted last year by the online dating site Shaadi.com, skin tone was considered the most important criterion when choosing a partner.

Cosmetic surgery, although relatively new, is a boom industry in India, with an increasing number of foreigners seeking operations at a fraction of

Are you more likely to be hired if you’re good-looking?

the cost in Europe or America. Some observers fear that, although exceptional today, such surgery could become broadly accepted among India’s growing middle classes.

According to Sunayna Gupta, 19, “beauty is everything”. She recently paid 35,000 rupees for work on her eyebrows. “You have to face so many people and they judge you, especially your face.”

According to B Narayanaswamy, Delhibased director of market researchers Ipsos, the trend

is driven by the example set by role models on television and in films, many of whom increasingly are honest about undergoing cosmetic surgery. “You get any possible advantage you can. So much depends on networks, not merit, that you need to make the right friends, go to the right parties and get the opportunities you might otherwise not get,” said Narayanaswamy.

So, are good looks more important than qualifications? Email me your thoughts, viewpoints.

Royal recognition

Congratulations to Deirdre Figueiredo and Janti Champaneri, both from Birmingham, who have been honoured by Her Majesty. Deirdre, director of Craftspace, an arts and education body, has received an MBE for her services to the visual arts. Through her work at Craftspace, Deirdre, pictured left, promotes craft skills in schools and communities as a way of developing enterprise and other transferable skills that employers are looking for. Kenyan-born Mr Champaneri, pictured right, has been awarded an OBE for his services to local government. In March this year, he took early retirement after 27 years with Birmingham City Council. He began his career as a care assistant, and became a senior man-

ager in the Adu lts and Communities Directorate. Mr Champaneri, one of six siblings, came to Birmingham in 1967, then aged just eight. He was educated in the city and devoted much of his spare time as a carer for his disabled mother, Bhaniben, until her recent death.

Mr Champaneri was due to be honoured by veteran headteacher Ramanbhai N Parmar on behalf of the local Hindu community at a ‘Kavi Samelan’ Indian poetry event at S hri Krishna Temple, Birmingham, this Thursday (Jul 29).

Top student in dock over gambling

An accountancy student with a “deep rooted” addiction to gambling stole more than £43,000 from her parents to pay off her debts and travel to New York. Jayna Patel, 24, of Wardlow Close, Wolverhampton, had secured an £80,000-a-year job and thought she could pay off the cash before her parents noticed, the city’s crown court heard. But the offer was withdrawn before Jayna could stop the fraud coming to light. She admitted six charges of fraud involving £21,129 and asked for 14 similar offences to be taken into consideration totalling a further £21,998. Patel was given a 12-month jail term suspended for two years, placed under supervision for 18 months and ordered to carry out 150 hours community work.

Grand temple opening

Scores of people will descend in Birmingham next month for the official opening of a ‘reincarnated’ Hindu temple, one of the UK’s oldest. The opening of the Shree Krishna Temple in West Bromwich (B70 9SZ), which was destroyed in an arson attack in December 1992, will be marked with a nine-day free festival beginning August 22. The temple, which features five separate shrines, is believed to be the first of its kind in the country. All welcome. To find out more telephone 0121 525 9577 or visit www.skm-wb.org

Cancer victim gives back to community

An annual fundraising breakfast hosted by Birmingham couple Chimanbhai and Anilaben Paw, aged 61 and 59 respectively, has raised £2,300 for Cancer Research UK, the charity. They offered a traditional Indian menu to anyone who dropped by in return for a donation in an anonymous collection pot. The event was held at St Agnes Church Hall in Moseley. Mr Paw said: “My wife had breast cancer 12-years ago but she had excellent treatment and fully recovered her health. This is just our way of giving something back to the community.”

News in Brief

Poisonous bet

An Indian man, Zaver Rathod, nearly died after eating a poisonous snake for a bet. Rathod, 35, had killed the viper after it bit one of his friends. He then swallowed it raw when his work colleagues wagered 100 rupees (£1.40) he wouldn’t. After Rathod began to vomit violently, he was rushed to hospital where the reptile was removed from his stomach

MoT nonsense

More than a third of cars are failing their annual MoT test. The AA warns darkly of “a motoring underclass who are driving cars with crumbling tyres and brakes.” Then again, it might be that recent changes in the rule force garages to fail cars for the stupidest reasons. Saddest case from one Midland driver whose car was failed because its number plate did not have the postcode of the supplying dealer on it.

GP in charity bike ride

Three cheers for Dr Suresh Babu, consultant radiologist at Birmingham’s City Hospital, who has completed a 350-mile charity bike ride. With more than 100 others, he cycled 90 miles a day, as part of the London to Paris Cycle Ride, to raise money for the U Foundation, a charity that builds schools in Zambia. He has so far collected a third towards his £3,000 target. To donate, log on to www.justgiving.com/sureshbabu

Cuckoo numbers decline

The numbers of cuckoos in the West Midlands has declined by 63 per cent in 13 years. Wildlife conservationists are also concerned about the decline of the kestrel which have gone down by 20 per cent across the UK.

Cabbies pay tribute to colleague

Taxi drivers across Birmingham last Thursday held a minute’s silence in memory of colleague Mohammed Arshad, pictured, on the first anniversary of his death. Father-of-three Mr Arshad, 36, was stabbed in the head and left for dead in a Midland country lane after picking up a passenger. A 28-year-old man charged with Mr Arshad’s murder is due for trial at Birmingham Crown Court in January.

Identity theft alert

Identity thieves in Birmingham are buying birth certificates for as little as £9 and using them to help illegal immigrants move to the city, according to a council report. Trading Standards officials have outlined how fraudsters are misusing the readily available certificates to also secure fake passports, credit cards or mobile phone contracts.

Halal cosmetics launched

A Muslim businesswoman from Birmingham has launched Britain’s first range of halal make-up. Samina Akhter set up the venture at her home because she felt ‘uneasy praying while wearing non-halal make-up’. The cosmetics use plant extracts and minerals instead of alcohol and animal products, such as pig fat. There are almost one million Muslim women living in Britain and it is a growing population.

Health care for all in India

Millions of people in poor countries around the world have no medical help when they are sick or injured Hospitals and clinics are too few, fees are too high, and a lack of medical staff means people struggle to get treated

To prevent millions of people dying early or living lives blighted by illness requires a massive expansion of public health services

ment into the public sector in the world, with less than 20 per cent of the government's health care budget going to public sector hospitals and clinics, healthworkers and life-saving medicines

Clinics and hospitals are useless if people can’t afford to pay for medicines According to the World Health Organisation 65 percent of India’s population lack

Oxfam urges developing country governments to to invest more money in their health and education ser vices, and demands that rich countries support poorer nations with an increased and long-term aid commitment targeting these essential services

Oxfam estimates that six million more nurses, doctors and teachers are needed around the world, of which one and a half million are needed in India alone Currently, there are more Indian doctors working in the UK's NHS than in Indian public hospitals

India has some of the lowest levels of invest-

regular access to essential medicines with the cost of one of the biggest factors

Health care costs are the second greatest cause of rural indebtedness in India today

Some suggest that the solution lines with private sector But all the evidence shows that when it comes to providing essential services such as health and education for poor people, it is the public service that delivers better results Too often the private sector either excludes the poorest or provides them with a substandard service

In India, 82 percent of outpatient care is provided by the private sector

and the number of first class private hospitals is rapidly increasing Yet this same system denies half of the mothers in India any medical assistance during childbirth

Health care for all is a massive challenge, but an achievable one We must keep the pressure on governments to spend more on health and education, and to spend it better

Across the world campaigners are coming together to demand change and to challenge governments when they fail to support public services They are also calling on drugs companies to ensure developing countries get cheaper and better medicines quickly

And this campaigning has helped change lives In Zambia for instance, people no longer have to pay for health care, because of debt cancellation and an increase in aid

Good health care is a fundamental right, not a luxury People everywhere should be able to visit a local clinic or hospital and get care and affordable medicines, whenever they need them and Oxfam is determined to make this a reality

Janaki- A rising star in Kathak

By Rupanjana Dutta

On Sunday 25th July, Janaki Mehta, a young British Indian made her first debut as a solo Kathak dancer on the the stage of Fairfield Halls, Croydon, in presence of hundreds of audience

Fresh as a breeze, she was not only graceful on stage, but the command with which she performed her dance, never for a moment made us feel that she is a debutant

Janaki has performed on Gujarati folk and Bollywood dance since the age of 7 But this was her first classical enactment and it definitely stole hearts of the viewers

Janaki, currently a gap year Law student, who plans to finish her final stage of education at BPP Law School from September 2010, is a King's College LLB alumnus

Janaki's love for performing arts helped her secure a First Class in Kathak diploma from Bhavans She aims to continue her study and devel-

op her understanding of Kathak dance under the guidance of her Guru, Shri Abhay Shankar Misra, a disciple of PadmaVibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj

After a sumptuous dinner, catered by Shayona, as the audience settled in their comfortable designated seats, Janaki started her show with VandanaDurga Chalisa, an invocation and offering to God in the form of Durga Chalisa

Bright in red, Janaki's expressions were excellent It was followed by Ghazal- a light hearted number that was added to Kathak culture during the Mughal empire Though most ghazals emphasise on the negativity, this one was on a positive note, followed by Tarana, which were a garland of musical lyrics that accessorised the main pieces, even further After a fairly longish interval, Janaki performed Nartan, followed by a Holi Thumri, that celebrated the love between Lord Krishna and Radha

The last piece was Nritolaas, a composition, set to fast tempos, that display speed, stamina, strength and balance in dance Malcom Hunt Wicks, an MP from Croydon (North) and ExEnergy Minister was the chief guest for the event and was honoured with flowers, just before the inter val He added a humorous speech, as he congratulated Janaki for

Specialists in Education Law

HAS YOUR CHILD BEEN ADMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF YOUR CHOICE? MATCH SOLICITORS DISCUSSES SCHOOL ADMISSIONS

Admission to a good school is a growing concern for all parents in the countr y Ever y year in March, parents across the countr y receive letters confirming whether or not their children have secured the school place that they were hoping for Unfortunately, thousands of children are not allocated the school of their choosing There is much debate about the new Admissions Code and the manner in which decision s are made about which child should be allocated to which school

The key question that arises is what can parents do if their child is not allocated the school of their choice?

The law is quite clear that parents have a right of appeal to an Independent Admissions Appeal Panel The process for appeal is more complex than it needs to be and it is often helpful for parents to seek assistance from lawyers or, ind eed, non-legal advi-

sors who understand the system, before launching into their appeal When a parent receives the letter confirming the school place, they will also receive a form that they need to complete if they wish to appeal This form provides an intention to appeal to the Admissions Authority Thereafter, detailed grounds of appeal will need to be submitted to give the parent the best chance of success These grounds will be prepared only after investigative steps have been undertaken such as whether the oversubscription criterion has been applied correctly It is advisable to collate as much evidence as possible

At the Admissions Hearing, parents are entitled to be legally represented or can represent themselves There is a clear test in law that must be applied by the Panel before any decision i s made about the admission of children to the school The Panel must

weigh up the evidence presented and to decide whether admitting the child to the school will prejudice the efficient use of resources in the school or whether the child will be more prejudiced in not admitting him/her, than the school This is a very important test and must be applied fairly Once the Panel has made its decision, it must convey this decision in writing to the parents, setting out reasons for the refusal to admit, or confirming admission If parents wish to take it forward they must apply to the High Court or the Local Government Ombudsman but can do so only on procedural grounds

For more information on admissions and admission appeals please contact: Match Solicitors 3 Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London EC4A 3DQ T: 0207 353 6881 F: 0207 353 6882 E: website@matchsolicitors com www matchsolicitors com

Our repor ter inspires Hindu youth

Pupils from a specialist voluntary Hindu school in Birmingham paid a glowing tribute to their mentors as part of an annual celebration to recognise and reward teachers Budding learners, all aged under ten, from the Radhe Krishna Balagokulam, the local kids arm of national charity Hindu

her wonderful performance and wished her all the best for the coming years

Janaki was joined by her Guru- Shri Abhay Shankar Mishra on pakhawaj, Debapriya Sircar on Sitar, Pooja Anga on vocal, Jonathan Lawrence on flute and Hiren Chate on tabla The guest of the show was the tiny son of Pandit Mishra (around 5-6years old), who accompanied his father on stage with immense pride and elegance Thoug h Pandit Mishra, Debapriya and Hiren Chate gave a commendable performance, Jonathan's flute needed a little better tuning while Pooja was much less lively than others in the group

Overall it was a good event and we hope to have more of such performances from Janaki in the coming years

Swayamsevak Sangh, dotted a ‘good luck’ mark on the foreheads of their teachers, a sig n of respect, and presented each with a gift The event saw a variety of performances by the youngsters It was a shining example of the dedication and contribution of parents and teachers and how they can work

together to influence and improve lives and help nurture and develop young Hindu citizens, who are the future The chief guest was our Midlands reporter, and Asian Voice senior news editor, Dhiren Katwa , who gave an inspirational speech Also present was Lorely Burt MP (Lib Dem, Solihull)

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Asian Achievers Awards

The past shortlisted and the winners - Asian Ac

We have been receiving enquiries the nomination process for the A 2010 Awards

We understand that the sheer number of prominent Asians in so many walks of life can make the nomination process an overwhelm ing one

Having said that, we would li to remind readers that the As Achievers Awards, unlike so ma others, has always been a 'peop awards and we leave it entirely to prerogative of the readers to exe their discretion whilst making choice.

As you can see from the n below the nominations and w come from various walks of life entirely possible that a colleague at work, a family member, a friend or a neighbour could be worthy of being nominated. Or it could be someone who has already carved out a niche in business, the professions, civil or uniformed services. There is bound to be someone you know.

If you require any further assistance in this regard please feel free to speak to L George at 020 7749 4013.

Business Person of the Year

Short listed

Dr Kartar LalvaniVitabiotics Ltd

Sir Anwar Pervez -

Bestway Cash and Carry

Thakrar Brothers - Tilda

Rice Ltd

Kirit Pathak - Patak Spice

Jayendra Ravjibhai PatelSherwood Agencies Ltd

Firoz Kassam - Firok

Group

Sir Anwar - Bestway

Holdings Ltd

George JataniaLornamead Ltd

Hitesh Chandra PatelDirector at Carwarehouse

Group

Moni Varma - Chief executive - Veetee Group

D K KewalramaniTravelin Style

Pramod Thakkar - Meera

Nursing Home

Kantesh Popat - Finance House Ltd

Ravi Gill - London College of Accountancy

Arvind Halai - GXI

Janak Ondhia - Locum Express Ltd

Kishor Patel - Nisa Local stores, Bedfordshire

Pradeep Pandya - Baba

Holidays Ltd

Dr Kartar LalvaniVitabiotics Ltd

Parween Warsi - S&A

Foods

Mukesh Nakar - Chatham

Printers

Bikhu and Mr Vijay PatelWaymade Plc

Navin EngineerChemidex

Karamjit KheraHyperama Cash and Carry

Vijay and Bhikhu PatelWaymade Healthcare Plc

Bharat Shah - Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Bharat Shah - Sigma Pharmaceutical

George JataniaLoranamead Group

Surjit Singh PandherHimalaya Carpets and Furniture Ltd

Tavi Thevarajah - Carlton Leisure

Bemal Patel - Pharmacist Hasmukhbhai PatelDirector of Mukti Tea

Dolar Popat - Founder of TLC Group

Thariq Mohammed –Director – T&M Investment, City Express, Sajways

Koolesh Shah – DirectorLTH

Kirit Patel – Chief Executive – Day Lewis Pharmacy Group

Winners

Lakshmi Mittal - Mittal

Steel Company

Kartar LalwaniVitabiotics

Rami Ranger - Sea, Air and Land Forwarding Ltd

Ranjit Baxi - J & H Sales International Ltd

Nat Puri - Purico Group of Companies

Nadir Lalani - 99p Store

Manish Shah - Sigma Parmaceuticals

Sir Mohammed Anwar

Pervez OBE - Bestway

Holdings Ltd

Ashok Patel - Travelpack

Sir Gulam Noon - Noon Plc

Yogesh Mehta

Managing Director of Amertrans Shipping

Anil Maneklal Solanki –Director – Taj Group of co

Professional of the Year

Short listed

B N Patel - John Cummings Ross

Subhash ThakrarBlackStone Franks & Co

Kapil Dudakia - OFSTED Inspector of Schools

Dr Navnit Shah - ENT Specialist

Dr Sadru Kheraj - GP, Herne Hill Group Practise

Prakash Patel - Senior Partner Magwells Solicitor

Anuj Chande - Business advisory partner Grant

Air India

Dr Jatin Pandya - GP

Shany Gupta - Founder, Duncan Lewis

Dr Madhusudhan GandhiDentist

Nishma Gosrani

Consultant at Price Waterhouse Coopers

Dr Manjul VasantDentist

Achievement in Community Ser vices

Short listed

Bhanubhai MehtaSamanavaya Parivar

Ram Gidoomal - Inlaks

Group

Ishwar Tailor - Gujarat Hindu Society

Pravin Amin - Community Worker

Rati Shah - Active involvement in Chartitable organisation

Ramesh Vala - Asha Foundation

Vilasgauri DhananiSocial Worker

Shahida Parveen JamalSocial Worker

Thronton

Dr Simon Singh - Science

Journalist and Broadcaster

Harin Thaker - CEO, Europe, Hyo Realestate Bank International

Shami ChakrabartiDirector of Liberty

Jiva Odedra - Executive Of Lesestershire Asian Business Association(LABA)

Reena Ramesh ShahVeterinary Surgeon

Parm SandhuMetropolitian Police

Services

Puneet Arora - Bombay

Halwa

Ritu Sethi - The Sethi

Partnership

Dr Satya Narayan Agarwal - Orthopaedic Surgeon

Naguib Kheraj - Barclays

Capital

KB Shankar - HSBC

South Asian Banking

Vinay Pattni - Business Manager Abbey National

Dr Kamlesh Chandra Chakrabarty - Bank of Baroda

Sunil Patel - RA Insurance

Rajesh Patel - RJ Insurance Brokers

Tiku Patel - Managing Director of Barclays

Premier Banking

Anuj Chande - Grant

Thornton UK LLPRaj

Joshi - Red Lion

ChamberDr Akbar Ali

Malik -Solicitor Supreme Court

Cheryl Dhillon – COOOtsuka

Mohammad AsgharAccountant

Zafar Siddique - CPS

Winners

Vijay Acharya - Director of Indian Banking at Credit Suisse

KB Shankar - Head of South Asian Banking

HSBC

Jitesh Gadhia - ABN Amro Bank

Naynesh Desai - Ellis

Taylor

Capt Ashvini k Sharma -

Achievements in Media, Arts and Culture

Shortlisted

Avtar Lit - Sunrise Radio

Raj Kumar - Spectrum

Radio

Amit Roy - Journalist

Javed Hussain - Media

Reach Advertising

Reginald Massey - Art

Critic

Bhupendra Desai - Artist

Rasik Patel - Artist

Manish Patel - Jounalist and Author

Shanti PanchalPainter/Artist

Chandu Matani - Founder of Sona Rupa, leading music company

Sanjay Suri - Jounalist

OutLook

Vijay Dutt - Senior Editor, Hindustan Times

Javed Hussain - Media

Reach

Honey KalariaChoreographer

Mira Kakad - Fashion

Designer

Ravi Sharma - Presenter, Sunrise Radio

Nalini P Mandalia - Social and Health Services Officer

Vijey Ratan - Actice Campainer for Women and Children rights Ramesh Gandhi Mahendra Jadeja

Madat Ahamed

Manubhai MakwanaGopalbhai Popat & Induben Mehta - Asian Foundation for Help

Raj Loomba - Founder of Shrimati Pushpawati Loomba Trust

Shaunaka Rishi DasDirector of Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Vinod Kapashi - President of Mahavir Foundation

Bobby Grewal - Voluntary Charity Worker

Bhanumati PipariaCommunity Worker

Chandrakalaben PatelCommunity Worke

Vinod Kapashi - Literary Fugure

Bhadresh Trivedi - Hindu Chaplain

Gordhandas S PatelVoluntary Services

Chhotalal Narottam

Chauhan – Community & Charity Worker

Madhurika Patel – Social Activists

Chhotalal LimbachiaCommunity & Charity Worker

Winners

Viral Acharya - Founding Memeber/President of Pratham UK/USA

Rati Shah

Dr Shiv Pande

Firoz Kasam

APS Chawla - Chairman of

MKC

Kanti Nagda - Sangat Community Centre

Dr Rami Ranger Chairman of India, PAK, UK

Friendship Forum

Vraj Pankhania –Wescombe Group

Mira Trivedi - BBC Radio

Leicester

Rakhi Sood - Professional, Teacher, Performer, Choreographer, Model and

Actress

Ashish Joshi - Sky News

Dr Nanda Kumar -

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Lisa Aziz - Broadcaster

Javed Hussian - Media

Reach Advertising

Raza Jaffery - Actor

Nitin Sawhney - Musician

Avtar Lit - Sunrise Radio

Jay Kumar - Bollywood

Dance Choreographer

Nikita Thakrar - Finest

Dance Artists

Paresh Shah - Musician, Entertainer, Magician

Ashish Amrit Kotak –Writer

Jeet’s Screenidolz – Dance, Drama Artist

Jasvinder Singh Bal –

Director Brit Asia TV

Winners

Sonia Deol - BBC Asian

Networks

Raghav - Singer and Performing Artist

Dr Avtar Lit - Sunrise

Radio

Renu Patel - Kaybee

Pictures

Mihir Bose - Reporter Telegraph and at present

BBC Sports

Vikram Jasani - Forefront in the development of Asian Music Circuit

Gurinder Chadha - Film

Director

Alpesh Patel - Tradermind

Ravi Sharma Radio

Ambassador India & UK

Chamanlal Chaman –

Broadcaster – Panjab Radio

Achievement in Sport

Short listed

Chunilal JobanputraWorld Wheelchair Bowls

Game

Fauja Singh - Marathon

Runner

Ajit Medtia - Polo Player

Arvind Parmar - Tennis

Player

Aman Dosanj - Footballer

Ajmal Shahzad - Cricket Player

Owais Shah - Cricketer

Saima Hussain - Rugby Player

Kiran Mathru - Golfer

Kamlajit Singh - Martial

Arts Champion

Micheal Chopra - FootBall

Harpal Singh - Football

Monty Panesar - Cricketer

Sajid MahmoodCricketer

Prince Naseem HamedBoxer

Shivam Shah - Guinness World Record holder

Rashmi Yadave - Marathon

Runner

Manjit Singh - Record

Holder Guinness Book

Ashwin Bhatt - Cricket Shivam Shah – Play Bridge

Samit Rohit Patel - Cricket

Winner

Hunisha Bharat PatelKarate

Isa Guha - Cricketer

Monty Panesar - Cricketer

Amir Khan - Boxer

Vikram Solanki - Cricketer

Maiyuran RatneswaranFencing

Rajeev Bagga – Badminton Champion

Women of the Year Shortlisted

Usha Dhirajlal PandyaBarnet Women Association

Surekha Mehta - Navanat

Vanik Asociation

Cllr Ansuya Sodha

Shobha Tailor - Shobha

Tiffin

Jyoti Taglani - Joshiv beauty products

Ritu Sethi - The Sethi

Partnership Solicitors

Smita Oza - Corporate Lawyer, Hilton Group Plc Afsana Shukur - Head of the Ethnic Minority Employment Unit, Deratment of Work and Pensions

Trupti Patel - Acting assistant director and Salford

Council

Mrs Deepak Patel - Golfer

Gita JobanputraPractitioner in Head

Massage

Nilam Patel - Partner,Wine Cellar Consolidations

Dipa Jethwa - The Taj Medical Group Ltd

* Please note that the prize winners of past Awards should not be nominated There may be many more Asians who deserve this honor Please send your nomination and let your friends know.

Asian Achievers Awards

The past shortlisted and the winners - Asian Ac

We have been receiving enquiries the nomination process for the A 2010 Awards

We understand that the sheer number of prominent Asians in so many walks of life can make the nomination process an overwhelm ing one

Having said that, we would li to remind readers that the As Achievers Awards, unlike so ma others, has always been a 'peop awards and we leave it entirely to prerogative of the readers to exe their discretion whilst making choice.

As you can see from the n below the nominations and w come from various walks of life entirely possible that a colleague at work, a family member, a friend or a neighbour could be worthy of being nominated. Or it could be someone who has already carved out a niche in business, the professions, civil or uniformed services. There is bound to be someone you know.

If you require any further assistance in this regard please feel free to speak to L George at 020 7749 4013.

Business Person of the Year

Short listed

Dr Kartar LalvaniVitabiotics Ltd

Sir Anwar Pervez -

Bestway Cash and Carry

Thakrar Brothers - Tilda

Rice Ltd

Kirit Pathak - Patak Spice

Jayendra Ravjibhai PatelSherwood Agencies Ltd

Firoz Kassam - Firok

Group

Sir Anwar - Bestway

Holdings Ltd

George JataniaLornamead Ltd

Hitesh Chandra PatelDirector at Carwarehouse

Group

Moni Varma - Chief executive - Veetee Group

D K KewalramaniTravelin Style

Pramod Thakkar - Meera

Nursing Home

Kantesh Popat - Finance House Ltd

Ravi Gill - London College of Accountancy

Arvind Halai - GXI

Janak Ondhia - Locum Express Ltd

Kishor Patel - Nisa Local stores, Bedfordshire

Pradeep Pandya - Baba

Holidays Ltd

Dr Kartar LalvaniVitabiotics Ltd

Parween Warsi - S&A

Foods

Mukesh Nakar - Chatham

Printers

Bikhu and Mr Vijay PatelWaymade Plc

Navin EngineerChemidex

Karamjit KheraHyperama Cash and Carry

Vijay and Bhikhu PatelWaymade Healthcare Plc

Bharat Shah - Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Bharat Shah - Sigma Pharmaceutical

George JataniaLoranamead Group

Surjit Singh PandherHimalaya Carpets and Furniture Ltd

Tavi Thevarajah - Carlton Leisure

Bemal Patel - Pharmacist Hasmukhbhai PatelDirector of Mukti Tea

Dolar Popat - Founder of TLC Group

Thariq Mohammed –Director – T&M Investment, City Express, Sajways

Koolesh Shah – DirectorLTH

Kirit Patel – Chief Executive – Day Lewis Pharmacy Group

Winners

Lakshmi Mittal - Mittal

Steel Company

Kartar LalwaniVitabiotics

Rami Ranger - Sea, Air and Land Forwarding Ltd

Ranjit Baxi - J & H Sales International Ltd

Nat Puri - Purico Group of Companies

Nadir Lalani - 99p Store

Manish Shah - Sigma Parmaceuticals

Sir Mohammed Anwar

Pervez OBE - Bestway

Holdings Ltd

Ashok Patel - Travelpack

Sir Gulam Noon - Noon Plc

Yogesh Mehta

Managing Director of Amertrans Shipping

Anil Maneklal Solanki –Director – Taj Group of co

Professional of the Year

Short listed

B N Patel - John Cummings Ross

Subhash ThakrarBlackStone Franks & Co

Kapil Dudakia - OFSTED Inspector of Schools

Dr Navnit Shah - ENT Specialist

Dr Sadru Kheraj - GP, Herne Hill Group Practise

Prakash Patel - Senior Partner Magwells Solicitor

Anuj Chande - Business advisory partner Grant

Air India

Dr Jatin Pandya - GP

Shany Gupta - Founder, Duncan Lewis

Dr Madhusudhan GandhiDentist

Nishma Gosrani

Consultant at Price Waterhouse Coopers

Dr Manjul VasantDentist

Achievement in Community Ser vices

Short listed

Bhanubhai MehtaSamanavaya Parivar

Ram Gidoomal - Inlaks

Group

Ishwar Tailor - Gujarat Hindu Society

Pravin Amin - Community Worker

Rati Shah - Active involvement in Chartitable organisation

Ramesh Vala - Asha Foundation

Vilasgauri DhananiSocial Worker

Shahida Parveen JamalSocial Worker

Thronton

Dr Simon Singh - Science

Journalist and Broadcaster

Harin Thaker - CEO, Europe, Hyo Realestate Bank International

Shami ChakrabartiDirector of Liberty

Jiva Odedra - Executive Of Lesestershire Asian Business Association(LABA)

Reena Ramesh ShahVeterinary Surgeon

Parm SandhuMetropolitian Police

Services

Puneet Arora - Bombay

Halwa

Ritu Sethi - The Sethi

Partnership

Dr Satya Narayan Agarwal - Orthopaedic Surgeon

Naguib Kheraj - Barclays

Capital

KB Shankar - HSBC

South Asian Banking

Vinay Pattni - Business Manager Abbey National

Dr Kamlesh Chandra Chakrabarty - Bank of Baroda

Sunil Patel - RA Insurance

Rajesh Patel - RJ Insurance Brokers

Tiku Patel - Managing Director of Barclays

Premier Banking

Anuj Chande - Grant

Thornton UK LLPRaj

Joshi - Red Lion

ChamberDr Akbar Ali

Malik -Solicitor Supreme Court

Cheryl Dhillon – COOOtsuka

Mohammad AsgharAccountant

Zafar Siddique - CPS

Winners

Vijay Acharya - Director of Indian Banking at Credit Suisse

KB Shankar - Head of South Asian Banking

HSBC

Jitesh Gadhia - ABN Amro Bank

Naynesh Desai - Ellis

Taylor

Capt Ashvini k Sharma -

Achievements in Media, Arts and Culture

Shortlisted

Avtar Lit - Sunrise Radio

Raj Kumar - Spectrum

Radio

Amit Roy - Journalist

Javed Hussain - Media

Reach Advertising

Reginald Massey - Art

Critic

Bhupendra Desai - Artist

Rasik Patel - Artist

Manish Patel - Jounalist and Author

Shanti PanchalPainter/Artist

Chandu Matani - Founder of Sona Rupa, leading music company

Sanjay Suri - Jounalist

OutLook

Vijay Dutt - Senior Editor, Hindustan Times

Javed Hussain - Media

Reach

Honey KalariaChoreographer

Mira Kakad - Fashion

Designer

Ravi Sharma - Presenter, Sunrise Radio

Nalini P Mandalia - Social and Health Services Officer

Vijey Ratan - Actice Campainer for Women and Children rights Ramesh Gandhi Mahendra Jadeja

Madat Ahamed

Manubhai MakwanaGopalbhai Popat & Induben Mehta - Asian Foundation for Help

Raj Loomba - Founder of Shrimati Pushpawati Loomba Trust

Shaunaka Rishi DasDirector of Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Vinod Kapashi - President of Mahavir Foundation

Bobby Grewal - Voluntary Charity Worker

Bhanumati PipariaCommunity Worker

Chandrakalaben PatelCommunity Worke

Vinod Kapashi - Literary Fugure

Bhadresh Trivedi - Hindu Chaplain

Gordhandas S PatelVoluntary Services

Chhotalal Narottam

Chauhan – Community & Charity Worker

Madhurika Patel – Social Activists

Chhotalal LimbachiaCommunity & Charity Worker

Winners

Viral Acharya - Founding Memeber/President of Pratham UK/USA

Rati Shah

Dr Shiv Pande

Firoz Kasam

APS Chawla - Chairman of

MKC

Kanti Nagda - Sangat Community Centre

Dr Rami Ranger Chairman of India, PAK, UK

Friendship Forum

Vraj Pankhania –Wescombe Group

Mira Trivedi - BBC Radio

Leicester

Rakhi Sood - Professional, Teacher, Performer, Choreographer, Model and

Actress

Ashish Joshi - Sky News

Dr Nanda Kumar -

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Lisa Aziz - Broadcaster

Javed Hussian - Media

Reach Advertising

Raza Jaffery - Actor

Nitin Sawhney - Musician

Avtar Lit - Sunrise Radio

Jay Kumar - Bollywood

Dance Choreographer

Nikita Thakrar - Finest

Dance Artists

Paresh Shah - Musician, Entertainer, Magician

Ashish Amrit Kotak –Writer

Jeet’s Screenidolz – Dance, Drama Artist

Jasvinder Singh Bal –

Director Brit Asia TV

Winners

Sonia Deol - BBC Asian

Networks

Raghav - Singer and Performing Artist

Dr Avtar Lit - Sunrise

Radio

Renu Patel - Kaybee

Pictures

Mihir Bose - Reporter Telegraph and at present

BBC Sports

Vikram Jasani - Forefront in the development of Asian Music Circuit

Gurinder Chadha - Film

Director

Alpesh Patel - Tradermind

Ravi Sharma Radio

Ambassador India & UK

Chamanlal Chaman –

Broadcaster – Panjab Radio

Achievement in Sport

Short listed

Chunilal JobanputraWorld Wheelchair Bowls

Game

Fauja Singh - Marathon

Runner

Ajit Medtia - Polo Player

Arvind Parmar - Tennis

Player

Aman Dosanj - Footballer

Ajmal Shahzad - Cricket Player

Owais Shah - Cricketer

Saima Hussain - Rugby Player

Kiran Mathru - Golfer

Kamlajit Singh - Martial

Arts Champion

Micheal Chopra - FootBall

Harpal Singh - Football

Monty Panesar - Cricketer

Sajid MahmoodCricketer

Prince Naseem HamedBoxer

Shivam Shah - Guinness World Record holder

Rashmi Yadave - Marathon

Runner

Manjit Singh - Record

Holder Guinness Book

Ashwin Bhatt - Cricket Shivam Shah – Play Bridge

Samit Rohit Patel - Cricket

Winner

Hunisha Bharat PatelKarate

Isa Guha - Cricketer

Monty Panesar - Cricketer

Amir Khan - Boxer

Vikram Solanki - Cricketer

Maiyuran RatneswaranFencing

Rajeev Bagga – Badminton Champion

Women of the Year Shortlisted

Usha Dhirajlal PandyaBarnet Women Association

Surekha Mehta - Navanat

Vanik Asociation

Cllr Ansuya Sodha

Shobha Tailor - Shobha

Tiffin

Jyoti Taglani - Joshiv beauty products

Ritu Sethi - The Sethi

Partnership Solicitors

Smita Oza - Corporate Lawyer, Hilton Group Plc Afsana Shukur - Head of the Ethnic Minority Employment Unit, Deratment of Work and Pensions

Trupti Patel - Acting assistant director and Salford

Council

Mrs Deepak Patel - Golfer

Gita JobanputraPractitioner in Head

Massage

Nilam Patel - Partner,Wine Cellar Consolidations

Dipa Jethwa - The Taj Medical Group Ltd

* Please note that the prize winners of past Awards should not be nominated There may be many more Asians who deserve this honor Please send your nomination and let your friends know.

hievers Awards

Manisha Tank - BBC Reporter

Cllr Anjana PatelCouncillor Harrow West

Shahin Badgar

Shashi Kiran Gossain

Honey Kalaria

Manula Sood - Lord Mayor of Leicester

Sangeeta Patel - M.D. of Post Offices

Anita Chopra - Solicitor

Salima Mawji – Solicitor

Parveen Hassan - CPS

Dr Monika Khanna - Dentist

Honey Kalaria – Dancer , Choreographer

Winner

Jasuben Seghani

Dr Usha Menon - Senior

Lecture UCl Elizabeth garrett

Anderson Institute of Womens Health, Head of the Gynaecological Cancer research Centre.

Shriti Vadera - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development

Kamleshben Patel - founder and senior adviser Anasad

Milan Kendra

Trupti Patel - Pharmacist

Dr Bela and Dr Ashi AroraPresidents of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham & Manchester

Kamel Hothi Lloyds TSB

Uma A Mehta – Director –Rak Telecommunication

Young Entrepreneur of the year

Short listed

Mayank B Patel - Currencies

Direct

Nainesh Patel - Farsan Ltd

Ashok Rabheru - Genisys Group and Subsidiaries

Chirag Shah - Trading

Partners

Mayank B Patel - Currencies

Direct Ltd

Dr Diljit Singh RanaAndras House Ltd

Jojar Dhinsa - Athlone Group

Lopa Patel - Redhotcurry.com

Kal Kaur Rai - Fashion

Designer Shahsi GossainPharmaclinix

Nikunj Shah - Sugam Paneer

Sanjay Vadera - The fragrance Shop

Shamir Shah - East India Tea

House

Vikkas Puri - Academic College London

Vikas Pota - Saffron Chase

Suresh Vagjiani - Sow & Reap Ltd

Jess Kaur - PR Vibe

Raj Bakrania - PR Vibe

Rajesh Agrawal - Founder and CEO RationalFX

Devin Chawda - Founder YCam Solution LTD.

Suraj Gokani - M.D. of Excel

Currencies

Nina Kabra – Director – Nina UK Property

Snahal Patel – Director –Masti.co.uk

Bhavisha Patel – Director –WeComeOne Group

Winner

Manoj Ladwa -Saffron Chase

Dalip Kumar - Travlin Style

Arvind Malhotra - GapGuru

Viresh Chandarana - V-Tech

Manubhai Ramji - Kings

Kitchen Plc

Karan Bilimoria - Cobra Beer

Kuljinder S. Bahia, Director of Southall Travel

Rishi Lakhani – Director –City Pavilion

Uniformed and Civil Services

Short listed

Gurbux Singh - CRE

Tarlok Singh Bagga - Services to elderly people

Raja Singham JayadevamTamil Housing Community

Housing Association

Sergeant Ramesh KumarDarlaston Police Station

Salim Ismail KholwadiaHM Revenue and Excise

PC Taruna MistryNorthwest London

Mahesh Nandha - Harrow

Metropolitan Police

Manjit Singh - Longest Serving Fire Fighter

Bhimji Vekria - Community and Partnership Officer

Anil Patani - Westmidlands

Metropolitian Police

Balihar Singh - Greater Manchester Police Force

Gurupal Virdi - Metropolitain Police

Nita Jhanji Garrod - Greater Manchester Police

Pirthipal Singh KangCommunity Laison Officer

Supt Raj Kohli - MET Police

Dr. Kadaba S V DLConsultant Pathologist

Ajit Patel - Royal Guard

Bhimji Vekaria –

Metropolitan Police

Natu Patel – Civil Servant

Shilpa Solanki –Metropolitan Police

Winners

Navin Shah - Cllr Kenton East Ward

Taruna Mistry - Wembely Metropolitian Police

Farhad Ahmed MBEMetropolitan Police

Sergeant Gurpal Virdi

Dr Sushil WadhwaniMember of Monetary Policy.

PC Mebs Ahmed Chaiman of Lancashire Black Police Association

Capt Sandip Patel – Royal Military

Achievement in healthcare and education

Short listed

Dr Reshma Ramesh Gandecha - Pharmacist

Arun Patel - Chartered

Accountant

Dr Satyanarayan AgarwalOrthopaedic Surgeon

Winners

Dr Dak Patel - Director

London SAM

Business in community

Narendra Patel – Director –Meera Catering

Short listed

Naynesh Desai

Satish Parekh – DirectorEducationNOW

Paramjit Kang – Director –Moresand Ltd.

The 10th ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS (AAA) 30th September 2010 NOMINATION FORM

The prestigious Asian Achievers Awards is hosted every year by UK’s leading news weeklies Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar to honour British Asians par excellence. If there is someone you know who has broken boundaries and deserves recognition for their unique contribution to the community and the nation then please nominate them for one of the awards listed below.

Make sure that you fill in this application form and send it before the 20th August 2010 by post, fax or email to Mr. L George, email: aaa@abplgroup.com, Tel: 020 7749 4013 fax 020 7749 4081. If you are sending it by post the address is Mr. L George, ABPL Group, Unit 2, Karma Yoga House, 12 Hoxton Market, London N1 6HW.

The theme for this year Asian Achievers Awards is “British Asians Turning ADVERSITY into OPPORTUNITY through RESILIENCE, SACRIFICE and DETERMINATION”

Award Categories

● AAA Platinum Award for Business Person of the Year

A Business Person who is a success in every sense of the word and can demonstrate a gen uine passion for social issues.

● AAA Gold Award for Professional of the Year Professionals in any field who have scaled the heights of their chosen profession.

● AAA Gold Women of the Year In recognition and honour of a woman who has made a significant mark in any chosen field.

● AAA Gold Award for Sports Personality of the Year

Awarded for excellence in sports.

● AAA Gold Award for Achievement in Community Service

In recognition of any individual’s service to community

Name of nominee

● AAA Gold Award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Young entrepreneur with a proven track record of soperating a successful business. Must be aged below 35 yrs.

● AAA Gold Award for Achievement in Media, Arts and Culture

Someone who has made a mark in print and broadcast media, cinema, art and culture.

● AAA Gold Award for Achievement in Health and Education

For demonstarting passion and concern for healthcare and education.

● AAA Gold Award for Uniformed and Civil Services

Outstanding achievement in uniformed or civil services or contribution to the community through any of the above services.

Application Form

Award category nominated under Present occupation/profession

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Your name and contact details

Please explain briefly why you wish to nominate this person.

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AND SELECTION PROCESS

a This is a unique event where readers nominate and an dependent panel of judges comprising of eminent personalities selects the winner.

a Judges’ decision is final. ABPL Group will not entertain any dialogue with members of the public regarding the judging process.

a In order to ensure a high degree of transparency and fairness, the management and members of the staff of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar will play no role in the nomination or judging process.

a You can nominate yourself if you wish to.

a Nominations and entries must follow the prescribed format and bear the signature of the applicant.

a You may use an additional sheet if the space provided is insufficient.

a The winners will be announced at the AAA Awards ceremony on 30th September 2010.

a Asian Voice, Gujarat Samachar will publish the names of the short listed candidates and winners after the event. They will also appear in our e-edition www.abplgroup.com

a All nomination forms must reach our offices on orbefore the 20th August 2010.

Note: Any changes to the above including changes to the categories will be published giving sufficient notice to respondents.

Zoroastrian fire temples were initially built during the early Achaemenian period. By the end of that dynasty the three types of fires, Atash Behram, Atash Adaran and Atash Dadgah, had a recognised place in Zoroastrian society. During the Parthian period 248 BCE to 224 CE the three great fires of Zoroastrianism, Adur Farnbag, Adur Gushnasp and Adur Burzen Mihr, were installed.

Over the years, these great fires, as well as others were moved to various places or cojoined with one another and it is impossible to trace their whereabouts through the centuries. Most of the fire-temples were destroyed through successive conquests of Iran by Arabs, Turks and Mongols.

More than a hundred years after the defeat of the last Sassanian King, Yazdagird III, by the Arabs, a group of Zoroastrians from the Iranian province of Khorasan (ancient Parthia) decided to leave Iran because of religious persecution. They made their way south, to the port of Hormuzd on the Persian Gulf, where eventually they secured a ship to take them

overseas. They sailed from Iran and landed on an island known today as Diu, near the west coast of India. They lived on that Island for 19 years, after which, they set sail once again to reach mainland India. At sea, they got caught in a fierce storm and they prayed for divine help. They promised to build an Atash Behram if Behram, the Yazata of Victory, saved them from the ferocious storm. Their wish came true and they landed safely in Gujarat, the west coast province of India. The Hindu King Jadav Rana of that time, 936 CE, granted them refuge in his kingdom. He gave them fertile land to live on and the Zoroastrian pilgrims called their new abode Sanjan, in memory of the place they originally came from in north-west Khorasan. These Zoroastrian immigrants

Zoroastrians

Fire Temples for the Parsis

came to be known as the Parsees.

Within a hundred years of their arrival in India, the Parsees fulfilled their promise and consecrated a fire temple in Sanjan in honor of Behram Yazata. Contrary to popular belief, no consecrated fire has ever been brought from Iran, only the ash, alat and nirang were brought to maintain ritual continuity.

History of Fire Temples in India

The Sanjan Atash Behram was the first sacred fire of the Parsees in India. Three hundred years after it was installed, Sanjan was invaded by Muslims, but the Sanjana priests managed to rescue the Atash Behram and carried it about 14 miles from Sanjan to a cave on an isolated hill named Bahrot,. Here, protected by jungle and sea, they guarded it for the next 12 years, and then when conditions were quieter, they took it to Bansda, a little town some 50 miles inland, where it remained for two years. During this time, the fire was kept in a metal vase so that it could be transported easily and the tradition of enthroning a sacred fire on a stone altar was broken. The Atash Behram was for some years without a fixed abode until Changa Asa, a layman from Navsari, came to Bansda to pay homage to the fire. On his return he proposed to the Bhagarias, a group of Parsees living in and around Navsari, that they should invite the Sanjana priests to bring the sacred fire to Navsari. The Bhagarias sent the invitation which the Sanjanas accepted and the fire was safely installed in Navsari. Ever since the establishment of the com munity's sacred fire in Navsari, the town became the center of Parsi religious life and the Bhagarias and Sanjanas lived together harmoniously. The Sanjana priests tended the fire and supported themselves from the offerings made to their fire, while the Bhagaria priests performed all other rituals and ceremonies for the Zoroastrian laity of Navsari. The first Dar-i-Mihr was founded in Navsari in the early 12th century.

In 1572 CE Emperor Akbar of the Mogul Dynasty of India took over Gujarat. He was a wise Emperor who was interested in the various religions of his subjects and he held a religious discussion at his court. Meherji Rana, a learned Bhagaria priest, was selected by the Zoroastrians to represent their community. He impressed the Emperor so

Jizyad, a tax imposed on all nonmuslims, was also abolished for the Parsees.

As Navsari prospered, the Parsi community grew and the Sanjanas began to encroach on the Bhagaria's rights to perform all ceremonies. Friction between the two groups increased and led to a law suit before a Hindu court which gave a decree that

Today there are eight Atash Behrams in India:

1. Udwada Anjuman(Shenshai) built in 11th century CE

2. Navsari Anjuman(Shenshai) built in 1765

3. Surat Vakil (Kadmi) built in 1823

4. Surat Mody (Shenshai) built in 1823

5. Bombay Dady Seth (Kadmi) built in 1783

6. Bombay Wadia (Shenshai) built in 1830

7. Bombay Banaji (Kadmi) built in 1894

8. Bombay Anjuman (Shenshai) built in 1898

The first two and the last Atash Behrams listed above are called Anjuman, meaning society, because they were built from donations made by various Zoroastrians. All others were entirely financed by private donations made by the respective families. Shenshai and Kadmi are the different calendars followed by the Zoroastrians.

favorably, that Akbar ordered that the sacred fire be kept burning at his court day and night, according to the custom of the ancient Persian Kings. The

the Sanjanas must keep to their original agreement to serve the fire only. The Sanjanas decided that they would rather leave Navsari and in 1741 did so, tak-

Message from Lord Karan Bilimoria

The first three Asian MPs in Westminster, starting from 1892, were all Zoroastrian Parsis. I am extremely proud to follow in their footsteps as the first Zoroastrian Parsi Member of the House of Lords. This tiny community has continually punched above its weight, to the extent that I say that in per capita of achievement it is the most successful community in the world. However, more importantly the Parsi community has always been renowned and respected in putting back into the wider community wherever they are.

Here in the UK the Parsis number under 10,000, and yet members of the Parsi community are excelling and reaching the top in so many fields, be it the arts or finance. As President of the UK India Business Council and as a Zoroastrian Parsi, it gives me great pride that the Tata Group, a Zoroastrian Parsi controlled company, are now the largest manufacturers in

ing the Atash Behram with them. A year later they installed it in a new temple at the village of Udwada, where it burns to this day.

The removal of the sacred fire distressed the Bhagarias and they resolved to consecrate an Atash Behram of their own in Navsari. With the help from the Parsi community and the priests of Surat, a new Atash Behram was enthroned in 1765. The Sanjanas were naturally a little jealous of this new Atash Behram, for it became a rival to their own 800 year old fire. They feared that fewer pilgrims would now come to remote Udwada, and so they evolved a legend to enhance its dignity. They created the new word "Iranshah" for it and humors were spread that the first Parsi settlers had brought it with them from Iran and it was somehow linked to the Xhavarenah of the ancient Kings of Persia. This legend is widely believed among the Parsees who continue loyally to make the pilgrimage to this day.

ln the eighteenth century, Surat became an important port of trade and commerce and during the next century and a half it was the largest center of Zoroastrian population in the world. The earliest consecrated Adaran fire was founded in Siganpur, not far from Surat, by Lovji Wadia, (shipbuilder) in the later half of the eighteenth century and another one was founded in Surat proper in 1771 CE. An Atash Behram was installed in Surat in 1823 CE.

Meanwhile, Bombay became a British possession in 1661 and the East India Company set out to make it the most flourishing port of India. This brought in a steady flow of Parsi settlers and Dar-i-Mihrs were established in 1672 by Hirji Waccha and in 1709 by Banaji Limji and the second Adaran of India was founded in 1735 by Maneckji Seth.

Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, more than 50 Adarans were established in India as far a Karachi (1848) and Calcutta (1839).

the UK as owners of Corus Steel and Jaguar Land Rover. Most importantly the Tatas are renowned for practicing corporate social responsibility for over a century. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “In numbers Parsis are beneath contempt, but in contribution, beyond compare

- Lord Bilimoria, CBE DL, Founder and Chairman Cobra Beer, President UK India Business Council, and Independent Crossbench Peer, House of Lords.

Parsis in this World

Parsis founded the first Zoroastrian religious society in London in 1861. A number of 19th and 20th century Parsis achieved renown as London’s first Indian MPs.

Today’s most famous Parsi is probably Freddie Mercury, who was buried in a London cemetery.

Demographics of Parsis around the world

Worldwide 100,000

Britain 5,000

USA 6,500

Canada 4,500

Australia300

Pakistan3,000

Hong Kong150

Kenya 80

India 76,000

Zoroastrian Organisations

Local 2

Regional 2 UK 2

Zoroastrian places of worship UK (England)1

The Zoroastrian Association, under the presidency of Mancherjee Bhownaggree, became the Incorporated

ParseeAssociation of Europe. The Association, in addition to its religious, educational and welfare role, organised social outings, river trips and banquets, bringing Parsees together.

Zoroastrianism is the religion of around 100,000 Parsis worldwide. Some scholars believe it dates as far back as 1500 BC. Zoroastrianism was the religion of Persia, now Iran, prior to Islam.

Most Parsis emigrated to Gujarat, the west coast of India due to Muslim persecution, and their name refers to their original homeland.

Bombay (Mumbai) has the largest modern community of Parsis, many of whom

achieved prominence as businessmen under British rule.

Small communities also exist in Karachi in Pakistan, East Africa and the western Iranian desert.

Parsis have lived in London since at least 1861 when the Communal House of the Religious Society of Zoroastrians was founded in Kensington.

The Indian MPs Dadabhai Naoroji, Mancherjee Bhownaggree and Shapurji Saklatvala were Parsi. They were the first Asians to be elected to political office in the UK during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The lead singer of ‘Queen’, Freddie Mercury, was born in Zanzibar into a

Some of the Famous Zoroastrians

l Cyrus the Great (580-529 BC) - founder of Persian Empire

l Darius I of Persia - King of Persia

l Xerxes the Great (519-465 BC) - king of Persia

l Freddie Mercury - British rock star. Front man for the band Queen

l Zubin Mehta - World famous conductor. Currently with Israel Philharmonic. Has led the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Montreal Symphony.

l Rohiton Mistry - Novelist

l Firdaus Kanga - Writer; author and star of the movie Sixth Happiness.

l Feroze Gandhi - prominent Indian politician; husband of Indira Gandhi; might have become Prime Minister if he hadn't died suddenly in 1960.

l Soli J. Sorabjee - India's attorney general

l Farrukh Dhondy - Channel 4 editor and scriptwriter (Britain)

l Dadabhai Naoroji (Lib Dem)- MP for Finsbury 1892-95. Liberal. Britain's first Asian MP.

l Mancherjee Bhownagree (Tory)- MP for Bethnal Green 1895-1905. Tory. Britain's second Asian MP.

l Shapurji Saklatvala (Labour, Communist)- MP for Battersea 1922-29. Socialist. Britain's 3rd Asian MP.

l Sam Maneckshaw - Field Marshal

l Homi Jehangir Bhabha - physicist; founder of India's nuclear program

l Tata family - one of the world's richest families with holdings in steel and manufactured products in India

l Bharat Ratna J.R.D. Tata - Indian industrialist. Founded Tata Airlines, India's first major airline. In 1991 he received the

Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.

l Adi Godrej and Godrej family - "well known for manufacturing household items and healthcare products"

l Farokh Engineer - world-class cricketer

l Byram Avari - world champion yachtsman

l Alexander Bard - Swedish musician and philosopher

l Bejan Daruwala - famous Indian astrologer (lives in Washington D.C. area)

l Persis Khambatta (1950-1998) - actress (best known as "Lieutenant Ilia", the bald Deltan woman in Star Trek: The Motion Picture

l John Abraham - Bollywood Actor

l Bapsi Sidhwa - writer whose books include story of Parsi girl entranced by American culture in An American Brat

l Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji - musician, composer

l Cyrus Todiwala- Famous UK chef

l Firdaus Kanga- Author

l Kaizad Gustad- Film maker

l Shamak Davar- Choreographer

l Cyrus Broacha- MTV VJ and Actor

l Shenaz Treasuryvala- MTV VJ and actor

l Lord Karan Bilimoria, CBE DL, Founder and Chairman Cobra Beer, President UK India Business Council, and Independent Crossbench Peer, House of Lords.

l Boman Irani, Actor, Bollywood

ZOROASTRIANS

Parsi family. When he died,

Karan Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra beer, became the first Parsi to take a seat in the House of Lords in July 2006. He is one of Britain’s youngest peers. The most recent census counted a total of about 5000 Zoroastrians in Britain.

Zoroastrian Origins and Key Organisations in the UK

l The majority of early Zoroastrian migrants were of Indian origin and known as Parsees or Parsis.

l The first three Members of Parliament of Asian ethnic origin were all Parsis, the first of which was (in 1892) Dadabhai Naoroji, elected as a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party.

l In more recent years an Iranian Zoroastrian presence has also developed as a result of refugee movement and migration following the Iranian revolution.

l Parsis form the majority of Zoroastrians in the UK, with Iranis in a minority. While there are many things that are shared, there are also a number of differences between the two groups.

l The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (Incorporated), established in 1861, is the oldest Zoroastrian organisation in the UK (known since 1978 under its present name).

l The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (Incorporated) has a centre in Rayners Lane, London and has recently opened a new Centre in which it is hoped to have a fire temple.

l The World Zoroastrian Organisation is also based in London.

Important dates in Zoroastrian calendar:

March 21:Jamshedi Noruz - New Year’s Day, according to the Fasli calendar of Iran

May 29: Zartusht-no-diso - commemorating the death of the prophet Zarathushtra

August 19: No Ruz - New Year’s Day on the Shenshai calendar

August 24: Khordad Sal - commemorating the birthday of Zarathushtra

History of the Parsis Arrival in Gujarat

In the 10th century a group of Iranians fled Iran as refugees in search of somewhere to practise their religion freely. The refugees ended up in Gujarat, where they were granted permission to stay by the local ruler Jadi Rana, on the condition that they adopt Gujarati culture. The refugees accepted the conditions and founded the settlement of Sanjan.

The early years

1600s between Mughal emperor Jahangir and James I of England, the British East India Company obtained rights to build factories in Surat and other areas. Many Parsis, throughout Gujarat, moved to the

The next several centuries were full of hards hips before Zoroastrianism gained a real standing in India. Two centuries after their migration, the Parsis began to settle in other parts of Gujarat, which led to difficulties in defining the limits of priestly jurisdiction. However these problems were resolved by 1290 through the division of Gujarat into five districts, each under the jurisdiction of one priestly family and their descendants.

The age of opportunity Following the commercial treaty in the early

British run settlements to take the new jobs offered. For the new generation, the British schools provided Parsi youth with the means to be educated not onl y to read and write, but to become familiar with the quirks of the British establishment. This was particularly useful to Parsis,

since it allowed them to represent themselves as being like the British, which arguably they did more effectively than perhaps any other South Asian community.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the Parsis had emerged as frontrunners in India in educational, industrial, and social matters, and became an age of self-awareness as a community. They were no longer weavers and petty merchants, but had established themselves to run banks, mills, heavy industry, shipyards and shipping companies. Today, the decline of the priesthood and the global dispersion of remaining Zoroastrians has become a serious issue for the survival of the Zoroastrian faith. Nevertheless, their insistence on remaining true to the values of Zoroastrianism prevails, and it is these values which have ensured its survival for the last 3000 years.

ZOROASTRIANS

Theatre

The whole concept of modern theatre in Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu is argued to be accredited to the work of the Parsis. In 1853, with inspiration from English plays, they started staging their own Parsi Gujarati plays in Bombay. Their first drama company was named Parsee Natak Mandali, with Faramjee Gustadjee Dalal founding this drama company. The first Gujarati drama they staged at the Grant Road Theatre in Bombay was “Rustam and Sohrab”.

The years 1853-1869, saw twenty more Parsee drama companies being formed, giving a further momentum to the theatre activity. Their dramas went to Surat in Gujarat and also to other places around India. The repertoire of these drama companies included adaptations of English plays, mythological, historical and social dramas. The Parsi Theatre along with providing entertainment to Indian masses also played a role in their cultural moulding and promotion of social reforms.

The Parsi theatre communicated many different dramatic genres which included the four languages of English, Gujarati, Urdu and Hindi, historical, mythological, social, and political story lines and varied musical scores drawing on Western, Indian and Arabic music heritage.

The Parsee Theatre took a new turn in post-independence India and its standard-bearers were Adi Marzban, Jimmy Pocha, Feroze Antia and Dr. Ratan Marshal. It was Adi Marzban who reed Parsee

Parsis in entertainment

drama from the shackles of tradition and brought realism to Parsee Theatre. He bid farewell to the revalence of songs and music in the plays.

Films

In 1918, the Parsi pioneer of cinema in Calcutta, J.F. Madan claimed to control over one third of the 300 cinemas in India. With contracts for the supply of films with both British and American companies, his audience was generally comprised of British officials, troops and Anglophile Indian elite's.

Jamshed Boman Wadia and Hila Wadia (JBH) were argued to be one of film industry’s most daring pioneers, in that he introduced a foreign woman to Indian Cinema, but he did so in such a way that could have shocked people at the time, but instead charmed and captivated them. JBH were also responsible for giving several major stars their early breaks. Among them were Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapur, Nargis and Helen.

Then it was Homi Wadia who noticed talent in the great singer, Mohammed Rafi and insisted that he sing for his forthcoming film Sharbati Ankhen. The talkie era introduced a completely new style of acting. The earlier muscular actors like the Billmoria brothers and others were edged out in favour of new stars who had command over the language.

Sohrab Merwanji Modi was argued to be the master of the historical genre. Though highly influenced by Parsi theatre, he man-

aged to make his scripts look cinematically exciting - with an eye for detail, his films were always visually grand. However since 1931 with the advent of the sound film, theatre was declining. To rescue this dying art, Modi set up the Stage Film Company in 1935.

Modi even tackled such themes, ahead of his times such as illicit passion Jailor (1938), remade in 1958, and incest in Bharosa (1940).

He also directed India’s first film in technicolour Jhansi ki Rani (1953)

After 1947, there was a lull in the contribution of the Parsi community to cinema and theatre. Then began plays by Adi Marzban, which were thrillers and sex come-

dies.

Dinyar Contractor began in 1967, and he has been in theatre for thirty five years, and is famous for his ’Hinglish’ plays. Now an Octogenarian, he is still going strong.

Boman Irani, a photographer by profession who has clicked the portfolios of most of the Miss India contestants ventured into theatre and acting with an Alyque Padamsee musical production called ’Roshni’.

His performance was appreciated and he went on to do several other plays.

Music

Peenaz Masani entered the world of ghazal music in 1981 and has sung in over ten languages.

Penaz has also firmly established herself as a playback singer for the Indian Cinema and has performed under the music directors like Jaidev, R D Burman, Usha Khanna, Chand Pardesi, Nadeem Shravan, Raaj Kamal, Rajesh Roshan and Anu Malik.

Others who stand out in the field of music are the New York Philharmonic orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta, Gary Lawyer and the international singer, Freddie Mercury of the group Queen.

The Parsi community has contributed tremendously in the entertainment industry and continues to do so. We hope that this fun-loving community will continue to shine on the silver screen and beyond.

Parsi Zoroastrians in Britain

The Parsis formed the first Asian religious tradition in Britain in 1861, though the first Parsi known to have visited Britain came in 1724 to protest against injustices done to his family by the East India Company. He stayed for a year and won his case, returning to India a vindicated and wealthy man. The first Indian firm to be opened in Britain was started by Parsis in London and Liverpool in 1855; thereafter individuals came for education and trade. The numbers are unknown, but probably there were only around 150 at any one time until after the Second World War when several retired here from the Medical Corps,

and more came in the 1960s for education and trade. They currently number approximately 5,000. They are centered mainly in London, especially in the Harrow area, but there are small groups in many othe r large cities. The principal point of architectural interest in Rayners Lane area, Greater London, is the former cinema, an Art Deco building featuring a curved projection on the front somewhat resembling an elephant's trunk. This is a listed building. It is currently being occupied by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, and is used as a Zoroastrian centrethe only official temple of its type in the UK.

The fact that they are so few in number, and so little is known about them, means that they are a vulnerable group subject to media disparagement. There have been a lot of unwanted controversies due to that.

Since the mid 1990s Parsi Zoroastrians have become active in inter-faith activity, and this has given them recognition in the outside world, so that they are now one of the nine ‘official’ religions of Br itain, being invited to public functions such as the Commonwealth annual service in Westminster Abbey and to meet members of the royal family (see more on page 13).

Face to face with renowned Parsi Lawyer, Sarosh Zaiwalla

Internationally acclaimed Lawyer, Sarosh Zaiwalla began his career in shipping law and arbitration, after which he founded Zaiwalla & Co. Solicitors in April 1982. Over the years Mr. Zaiwalla has been involved in over 1000 International Energy, Maritime and Construction Arbitration's in London and worldwide. He has acted for many prestigious clients including the President of India, the Government of the Peopl e’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Iranian Government.

To name but a few of his achievements, Mr. Zaiwalla was made a Freeman of the City of London by the Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1998, and in October 2007 he was invited by the United Nations Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon for an extensive one-to-one consultation on issues relating to World Order.

AV spoke to Mr. Zaiwalla about his work, his faith and his future goals.

What are you most proud of about of your Solicitors firm, Zaiwalla & Co.?

That it is the first home grown British-Asian firm in the City of London. I am proud of the fact that I started the firm with my Indian surname and did not find it necessary to run my firm with an English sounding name. I am also proud of the fact that there are over ninety reported cases in English and

International Law Reports that feature my firms name. Only major cases, that clarify or actually change the law, are reported. We also won for the Indian government its first success in the House of Lords, in a case concerning a ship called La Pintada. In that case we had instructed Tony Blair as Counsel for our client, the President of India and in the House of Lords we instructed Nicholas Philips QC, who is now the President of the Supreme Court.

What is your success rate?

We win seventy to eighty per cent of our cases. In those cases where we see a risk of losing, we advise clients to settle.

Your religion is the Baha’i faith. What impact does that have in your life, and how important is it to you?

The teachings of the Baha’i faith have been the most important guiding factor for me. The Baha’i faith recognises all the previous prophets including Zoroaster (Zarthoost). Its beliefs centre on the oneness of mankind and equality of men and women. It also does away with the need for priests, temples or churches, and believes that, today, human beings can and should communicate directly with God without the need for temple or churches. An essential principle of the Baha'i faith, something which greatly attracts me to it, is "what matters is the

colour of the heart, not the colour of the skin or religion."

The Baha’i faith also upholds trustworthiness and integrity as of paramount importance. These are principles I have always sought to adhere to.

Which has been your most challenging case and why?

We won a case surrounding the Nataraja Idol for the Tamil Nadu government on the instructions of the High Commission of India. This was the first time that an attempt was ever made to bring an antique artefact back to its country of origin from the United Kingdom, on the grounds that the artefact was unlawfully smuggled out from its country of

origin. The trial in this case lasted for fifty-five days in the English Courts, and we won on the grounds that the Nataraja was a consecrated idol and therefore has a juristic personality of its own and is entitled to ask the Court as a juristic personality to go back to its home.

The English Court, in its judgement, opened by saying "the plaintiff at its maximum is the God almighty and at its minimum a mere stone," and we showed it was not a mere stone”.

What's the secret of your success?

I’m not sure I have any great secret. I do my best in every situation, with a clean heart and without selfish motives. I believe the most important thing for any human being is to have purity of heart, with which come good and powerful thoughts. It is those thoughts that, in the end, materialise good results.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

My biggest inspiration is Mahatma Gandhi. His greatest strength was that he was honest to himself. He was not a great philosopher, author or orator. His principles of "ahinsa" and peaceful resistance were influenced by his exchange of correspondence with the Russian Philosopher and Author Leo Tolstoy, who in turn was influenced by Bahaullah, the founder of the Baha’i faith. Gandhi had a

unique gift of honesty under every circumstance and with that honesty he was able to deal with the strength of the British Empire and succeed in the struggle for India's independence.

When you get the time, what do you do to relax?

I meditate regularly and that generally keeps me calm and relaxed. I enjoy being with nature and I try and spend every weekend at my seaside country home in West Sussex.

What are the future plans for yourself and your company?

I hope to see my firm continue to grow in size and reputation. It already has the status of a niche firm, handling the kinds of work only usually handled by big city firms. I have thought hard about why is it that English and American firms grow large, whereas Asian firms normally remain stunted. I came to the conclusion that big firms do not centre on their founder, but rather have totally transparent dealings with their own Solicitors, and follow the policy of rewarding pure merits. Solicitors working in a firm are professionals, and they have to be encouraged to see themselves as professionals and achieve a high degree of competence in their work for their own satisfaction. We try to encourage this and we have recruited many young Solicitors, always teaching them to strive to be the best.

Nowruz is the traditional celebration of the ancient Iranian New Year. Nowruz is also widely referred to as the Persian New Year.

Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians, the same time is celebrated in the Indian sub-continent as the new year. The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and Iranian families gather together to observe the rituals.

Originally being a Zoroastrian festi-

val, and the holiest of them all, Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin. Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox. The Jewish festival of Purim is probably adopted from the

Persian New Year. It is also a holy day for Sufis, Ismailis, Alawi tes, Alevis, and adherents of the Bahá'í Faith.

Today, the festival of Nowruz is celebrated in many countries that were territories of, or influenced by, the Persian Empire: Iran, Various Iranian Peoples including Kurds, Afghanistan, parts of the Middle East, as well as in the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is also celebrated by the Zoroastrians as well by certain Iranic inhabitants in Pakistan's Chitral region and Northern Areas. It is also celebrated by the Iranian immigrants from Shiraz in Zanzibar. In Kurdish communities located in parts of western Iran, the holiday is referred to as Nuroj, which literally means New Day in the Kurdish language.

Countries that have Nowruz as a public holiday:

l Afghanistan (22 March)

l Albania (20 March to 23 March, total of 4 days)

l Azerbaijan (20 March to 26 March, total of 7 days)

l Iran (20 March to 23 March)

l Kazakhstan (21 March to 24 March, total of 4 days)

l Kyrgyzstan (21 March)

l Tajikistan (20 March to 23 March, total of 4 days)

l Turkmenistan (20 March to 23 March, total of 4 days)

l Uzbekistan (21 March)

New Year dishes

l Sabzi Polo Mahi: The New Year's Day traditional meal is called Sabzi Polo

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Mahi, which is rice with green herbs served with fish. The traditional seasoning for Sabzi Polo are parsley, coriander, chives, dill and fenugreek.

l Reshteh Polo: rice cooked with noodles which is said to symbolically help one succeed in life.

l Dolme Barg: A traditional dish of Azeri people, cooked just before the new year. It includes some vegetables, meat and rice which have been cooked and embedded in grape leaves and cooked again. It is considered useful in reaching to wishes.

l Kookoo sabzi: Herbs and vegetable souffle, traditionally served for dinner at New Year. A light and fluffy omelet style made from parsley, dill, coriander, spinach, spring onion ends, and chives, mixed with eggs and walnut.

l Haft Mewa: In Afghanistan, they

Nowruz, the celebration of Parsi honor

prepare Haft Mewa (Seven Fruits) instead of Haft Sin which is common in Iran. Haft Mewa is like a Fruit salad made from 7 different Dried fruits, served in their own syrup. The 7 dried fruits are: Raisin, Senjed (the dried fruit of the oleaster tree), Pistachio, Hazelnut, Prune (dry fruit of Apricot), Walnut and whether Almond or another species of Plum fruit.

l Samanak: It is a special type of sweet dish made from Wheat germ. Women take a special party for it during the night, and cook it from late in the evening till the daylight, singing a special song: Samanak dar Josh o m Kafcha zanem - Degar n dar Khw b o m Dafcha zanem

Navroz celebration by Parsis

In the Fasli/Bastani variant of the Zoroastrian calendar, Navroz is always the day of the vernal equinox (nominally falling on March 21). In the Shahenshahi and Kadmi calendars, which accounts for leap years, the New Year's Day has drifted ahead by over 200 days. These latter two variants of the calendar, which are only followed by the Zoroastrians of India, celebrate the spring equinox as Jamshed-i Nouroz, with New Year's Day then being celebrated in July–August as Pateti "(day) of penitence" (from patet "confession," hence also repentance and penitence).

Parsis in this World

Parsis founded the first Zoroastrian religious society in London in 1861 A number of 19th and 20th century Parsis achieved renown as London’s first Indian MPs

Today’s most famous Parsi is probably Freddie Mercury, who was buried in a London cemetery

Demographics of Parsis around the world

Worldwide 100,000

Britain 5,000

USA 6,500

Canada 4,500

Australia 300

Pakistan 3,000

Hong Kong 150

Kenya 80

India 76,000

Zoroastrian Organisations

Local 2

Regional 2

UK 2

Zoroastrian places of worship

UK (England) 1

The Zoroastrian Association, under the presidency of Mancherjee Bhownaggree, became the I n c o r p o r a t e d

ParseeAssociation of Europe

The Association, in addition to its religious, educational and welfare role, organised social outings, river trips and banquets, bringing Parsees together

Zoroastrianism is the religion of around 100,000 Parsis worldwide Some scholars believe it dates as far back as 1500 BC Zoroastrianism was the religion of Persia, now Iran, prior to Islam

Most Parsis emigrated to Gujarat, the west coast of India due to Muslim persecution, and their name refers to their original homeland Bombay (Mumbai) has the largest modern community of Parsis, many of whom

achieved prominence as businessmen under British rule

Small communities also exist in Karachi in Pakistan, East Africa and the western Iranian desert

Parsis have lived in London since at least 1861 when the Communal House of the Religious Society of Zoroastrians was founded in Kensington

The Indian MPs Dadabhai Naoroji, Mancherjee Bhownaggree and Shapurji Saklatvala were Parsi They were the first Asians to be elected to political office in the UK during the late 19th and early 20th centuries

The lead singer of ‘Queen’, Freddie Mercury, was born in Zanzibar into a

Some of the Famous Zoroastrians

l Cyrus the Great (580-529 BC) - founder of Persian Empire

l Darius I of Persia - King of Persia

l Xerxes the Great (519-465 BC) - king of Persia

l Freddie Mercury - British rock star Front man for the band Queen

l Zubin Mehta - World famous conductor

Currently with Israel Philharmonic Has led the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Montreal Symphony

l Rohiton Mistry - Novelist

l Firdaus Kanga - Writer; author and star of the movie Sixth Happiness

l Feroze Gandhi - prominent Indian politician; husband of Indira Gandhi; might have become Prime Minister if he hadn't died suddenly in 1960

l Soli J Sorabjee - India's attorney general

l Farrukh Dhondy - Channel 4 editor and scriptwriter (Britain)

l Dadabhai Naoroji (Lib Dem)- MP for Finsbury 1892-95 Liberal Britain s first Asian MP

l Mancherjee Bhownagree (Tory)- MP for Bethnal Green 1895-1905 Tory Britain s second Asian MP

l Shapurji Saklatvala (Labour, Communist)- MP for Battersea 1922-29

Socialist Britain's 3rd Asian MP

l Sam Maneckshaw - Field Marshal

l Homi Jehangir Bhabha - physicist; founder of India's nuclear program

l Tata family - one of the world's richest families with holdings in steel and manufactured products in India

l Bharat Ratna J R D Tata - Indian industrialist Founded Tata Airlines, India s first major airline In 1991 he received the

Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award

l Adi Godrej and Godrej family - "well known for manufacturing household items and healthcare products"

l Farokh Engineer - world-class cricketer

l Byram Avari - world champion yachtsman

l Alexander Bard - Swedish musician and philosopher

l Bejan Daruwala - famous Indian astrologer (lives in Washington D C area)

l Persis Khambatta (1950-1998) - actress (best known as "Lieutenant Ilia", the bald Deltan woman in Star Trek: The Motion Picture

l John Abraham - Bollywood Actor

l Bapsi Sidhwa - writer whose books include story of Parsi girl entranced by American culture in An American Brat

l Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji - musician, composer

l Cyrus Todiwala- Famous UK chef

l Firdaus Kanga- Author

l Kaizad Gustad- Film maker

l Shamak Davar- Choreographer

l Cyrus Broacha- MTV VJ and Actor

l Shenaz Treasuryvala- MTV VJ and actor

l Lord Karan Bilimoria, CBE DL, Founder and Chairman Cobra Beer, President UK

India Business Council, and Independent

Crossbench Peer, House of Lords

l Boman Irani, Actor, Bollywood

Parsi family When he died, his funeral was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest at Kensal Green Cemetery Karan Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra beer, became the first Parsi to take a seat in the House of Lords in July 2006 He is one of Britain’s youngest peers The most recent census counted a total of about 5000 Zoroastrians in Britain

Zoroastrian Orig ins and Key Organisations in the U K

l The majority of early Zoroastrian migrants were of Indian origin and known as Parsees or Parsis

l The first three Members of Parliament of Asian ethnic origin were all Parsis, the first of which was (in 1892) Dadabhai Naoroji, elected as a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party

l In more recent years an Iranian Zoroastrian presence has also developed as a result of refugee movement and migration following the Iranian revolution

l Parsis form the majority of Zoroastrians in the UK, with Iranis in a minority While there are many things that are shared, there are also a number of differences between the two groups

l The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (Incorporated), established in 1861, is the oldest Zoroastrian organisation in the UK (known since 1978 under its present name)

l The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (Incorporated) has a centre in Rayners Lane, London and has recently opened a new Centre in which it is hoped to have a fire temple

l The World Zoroastrian Organisation is also based in London

Important dates in Zoroastrian calendar:

March 21: Jamshedi Noruz - New Year ’s Day, according to the Fasli calendar of Iran

May 29: Zartusht-no-diso - commemorating the death of the prophet Zarathushtra

August 19: No Ruz - New Year ’s Day on the Shenshai calendar

August 24: Khordad Sal - commemorating the birthday of Zarathushtra

History of the Parsis Arrival in Gujarat

In the 10th century a group of Iranians fled Iran as refugees in search of somewhere to practise their religion freely The refugees ended up in Gujarat, where they were granted permission to stay by the local ruler Jadi Rana, on the condition that they adopt Gujarati culture The refugees accepted the conditions and founded the settlement of Sanjan

The early years

1600s between Mughal emperor Jahangir and James I of England, the British East India Company obtained rights to build factories in Surat and other areas Many Parsis, throughout Gujarat, moved to the

The next several centuries were full of hards hips before Z o r o a s t r i a n i s m gained a real standing in India Two centuries after their migration, the Parsis began to settle in other parts of Gujarat, which led to difficulties in defining the limits of priestly jurisdiction However these problems were resolved by 1290 through the division of Gujarat into five districts, each under the jurisdiction of one priestly family and their descendants

The age of opportunity

Following the commercial treaty in the early

British run settlements to take the new jobs offered For the new generation, the British schools provided Parsi youth with the means to be educated not onl y to read and write, but to become familiar with the quirks of the British establishment This was particularly useful to Parsis,

since it allowed them to represent themselves as being like the British, which arguably they did more effectively than perhaps any other South Asian community In the 18th and 19th centuries the Parsis had emerged as frontrunners in India in educational, industrial, and social matters, and became an age of self-awareness as a community They were no longer weavers and petty merchants, but had e s t a b l i s h e d themselves to run banks, mills, heavy industr y, shipyards and shipping companies Today, the decline of the priesthood and the global dispersion of remaining Zoroastrians has become a serious issue for the survival of the Zoroastrian faith Nevertheless, their insistence on remaining true to the values of Zoroastrianism prevails, and it is these values which have ensured its survival for the last 3000 years

Theatre

The whole concept of modern theatre in Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu is argued to be accredited to the work of the Parsis In 1853, with inspiration from English plays, they started staging their own Parsi Gujarati plays in Bombay Their first drama company was named Parsee Natak Mandali, with Faramjee Gustadjee Dalal founding this drama company The first Gujarati drama they staged at the Grant Road Theatre in Bombay was “Rustam and Sohrab”

The years 1853-1869, saw twenty more Parsee drama companies being formed, giving a further momentum to the theatre activity Their dramas went to Surat in Gujarat and also to other places around India The repertoire of these drama companies included adaptations of English plays, mythological, historical and social dramas The Parsi Theatre along with providing entertainment to Indian masses also played a role in their cultural moulding and promotion of social reforms

The Parsi theatre communicated many different dramatic genres which included the four languages of English, Gujarati, Urdu and Hindi, historical, mythological, social, and political story lines and varied musical scores drawing on Western, Indian and Arabic music heritage

The Parsee Theatre took a new turn in post-independence India and its standard-bearers were Adi Marzban, Jimmy Pocha, Feroze Antia and Dr Ratan Marshal It was Adi Marzban who reed Parsee

Parsis in entertainment

drama from the shackles of tradition and brought realism to Parsee Theatre He bid farewell to the revalence of songs and music in the plays

Films

In 1918, the Parsi pioneer of cinema in Calcutta, J F Madan claimed to control over one third of the 300 cinemas in India With contracts for the supply of films with both British and American companies, his audience was generally comprised of British officials, troops and Anglophile Indian elite's Jamshed Boman Wadia and Hila Wadia (JBH) were argued to be one of film industry’s most daring pioneers, in that he introduced a foreign woman to Indian Cinema, but he did so in such a way that could have shocked people at the time, but instead charmed and captivated them JBH were also responsible for giving several major stars their early breaks Among them were Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapur, Nargis and Helen

Then it was Homi Wadia who noticed talent in the great singer, Mohammed Rafi and insisted that he sing for his forthcoming film Sharbati Ankhen The talkie era introduced a completely new style of acting The earlier muscular actors like the Billmoria brothers and others were edged out in favour of new stars who had command over the language Sohrab Mer wanji Modi was argued to be the master of the historical genre Though highly influenced by Parsi theatre, he man-

aged to make his scripts look cinematically exciting - with an eye for detail, his films were always visually grand However since 1931 with the advent of the sound film, theatre was declining To rescue this dying art, Modi set up the Stage Film Company in 1935

Modi even tackled such themes, ahead of his times such as illicit passion Jailor (1938), remade in 1958, and incest in Bharosa (1940)

He also directed India’s first film in technicolour Jhansi ki Rani (1953)

After 1947, there was a lull in the contribution of the Parsi community to cinema and theatre Then began plays by Adi Marzban, which were thrillers and sex come-

dies

Dinyar Contractor began in 1967, and he has been in theatre for thirty five years, and is famous for his ’Hinglish’ plays Now an Octogenarian, he is still going strong Boman Irani, a photographer by profession who has clicked the portfolios of most of the Miss India contestants ventured into theatre and acting with an Alyque Padamsee musical production called ’Roshni’

His performance was appreciated and he went on to do several other plays Music

Peenaz Masani entered the world of ghazal music in 1981 and has sung in over ten languages

Penaz has also firmly established herself as a playback singer for the Indian Cinema and has performed under the music directors like Jaidev, R D Burman, Usha Khanna, Chand Pardesi, Nadeem Shravan, Raaj Kamal, Rajesh Roshan and Anu Malik

Others who stand out in the field of music are the New York Philharmonic orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta, Gary Lawyer and the international singer, Freddie Mercury of the group Queen

The Parsi community has contributed tremendously in the entertainment industry and continues to do so We hope that this fun-loving community will continue to shine on the silver screen and beyond

Parsi Zoroastrians in Britain

The Parsis formed the first Asian religious tradition in Britain in 1861, though the first Parsi known to have visited Britain came in 1724 to protest against injustices done to his family by the East India Company He stayed for a year and won his case, returning to India a vindicated and wealthy man The first Indian firm to be opened in Britain was started by Parsis in London and Liverpool in 1855; thereafter individuals came for education and trade The numbers are unknown, but probably there were only around 150 at any one time until after the Second World War when several retired here from the Medical Corps,

and more came in the 1960s for education and trade They currently number approximately 5,000 They are centered mainly in London, especially in the Harrow area, but there are small groups in many othe r large cities The principal point of architectural interest in Rayners Lane area, Greater London, is the former cinema, an Art Deco building featuring a curved projection on the front somewhat resembling an elephant's trunk This is a listed building It is currently being occupied by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, and is used as a Zoroastrian centrethe only official temple of its type in the UK

The fact that they are so few in number, and so little is known about them, means that they are a vulnerable group subject to media disparagement There have been a lot of unwanted controversies due to that

Since the mid 1990s Parsi Zoroastrians have become active in inter-faith activity, and this has given them recognition in the outside world, so that they are now one of the nine ‘official’ religions of Br itain, being invited to public functions such as the Commonwealth annual service in Westminster Abbey and to meet members of the royal family (see more on page 13)

Face to face with renowned Parsi Lawyer, Sarosh Zaiwalla

Internationally acclaimed Lawyer, Sarosh Zaiwalla began his career in shipping law and arbitration, after which he founded Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors in April 1982 Over the years Mr Zaiwalla has been involved in over 1000 International Energy, Maritime and Construction Arbitration's in London and worldwide He has acted for many prestigious clients including the President of India, the Government of the Peopl e’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Iranian Government

To name but a few of his achievements, Mr Zaiwalla was made a Freeman of the City of London by the Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1998, and in October 2007 he was invited by the United Nations Secretary General Mr Ban Ki Moon for an extensive one-to-one consultation on issues relating to World Order

AV spoke to Mr Zaiwalla about his work, his faith and his future goals

What are you most proud of about of your Solicitors firm, Zaiwalla & Co ?

That it is the first home grown British-Asian firm in the City of London I am proud of the fact that I started the firm with my Indian surname and did not find it necessary to run my firm with an English sounding name I am also proud of the fact that there are over ninety reported cases in English and

International Law Reports that feature my firms name Only major cases, that clarify or actually change the law, are reported

We also won for the Indian government its first success in the House of Lords, in a case concerning a ship called La Pintada In that case we had instructed Tony Blair as Counsel for our client, the President of India and in the House of Lords we instructed Nicholas Philips QC, who is now the President of the Supreme Court

What is your success rate?

We win seventy to eighty per cent of our cases In those cases where we see a risk of losing, we advise clients to settle

Your religion is the Baha’i faith. What impact does that have in your life, and how important is it to you?

The teachings of the Baha’i faith have been the most important guiding factor for me The Baha’i faith recognises all the previous prophets including Zoroaster (Zarthoost) Its beliefs centre on the oneness of mankind and equality of men and women It also does away with the need for priests, temples or churches, and believes that, today, human beings can and should communicate directly with God without the need for temple or churches An essential principle of the Baha'i faith, something which greatly attracts me to it, is "what matters is the

colour of the heart, not the colour of the skin or religion " The Baha’i faith also upholds trustworthiness and integrity as of paramount importance These are principles I have always sought to adhere to

Which has been your most challenging case and why?

We won a case surrounding the Nataraja Idol for the Tamil Nadu government on the instructions of the High Commission of India This was the first time that an attempt was ever made to bring an antique artefact back to its country of origin from the United Kingdom, on the grounds that the artefact was unlawfully smuggled out from its country of

origin The trial in this case lasted for fifty-five days in the English Courts, and we won on the grounds that the Nataraja was a consecrated idol and therefore has a juristic personality of its own and is entitled to ask the Court as a juristic personality to go back to its home The English Court, in its judgement, opened by saying "the plaintiff at its maximum is the God almighty and at its minimum a mere stone," and we showed it was not a mere stone”

What's the secret of your success?

I’m not sure I have any great secret I do my best in every situation, with a clean heart and without selfish motives I believe the most important thing for any human being is to have purity of heart, with which come good and powerful thoughts It is those thoughts that, in the end, materialise good results

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

My biggest inspiration is Mahatma Gandhi His greatest strength was that he was honest to himself He was not a great philosopher, author or orator His principles of "ahinsa" and peaceful resistance were influenced by his exchange of correspondence with the Russian Philosopher and Author Leo Tolstoy, who in turn was influenced by Bahaullah, the founder of the Baha’i faith Gandhi had a

unique gift of honesty under ever y circumstance and with that honesty he was able to deal with the strength of the British Empire and succeed in the struggle for India's independence

When you get the time, what do you do to relax?

I meditate regularly and that generally keeps me calm and relaxed I enjoy being with nature and I try and spend every weekend at my seaside country home in West Sussex

What are the future plans for yourself and your company?

I hope to see my firm continue to grow in size and reputation It already has the status of a niche firm, handling the kinds of work only usually handled by big city firms I have thought hard about why is it that English and American firms grow large, whereas Asian firms normally remain stunted I came to the conclusion that big firms do not centre on their founder, but rather have totally transparent dealings with their own Solicitors, and follow the policy of rewarding pure merits Solicitors working in a firm are professionals, and they have to be encouraged to see themselves as professionals and achieve a high degree of competence in their work for their own satisfaction We try to encourage this and we have recruited many young Solicitors, always teaching them to strive to be the best

Nowruz is the traditional celebration of the ancient Iranian New Year Nowruz is also widely referred to as the Persian New Year

Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is obser ved As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians, the same time is celebrated in the Indian sub-continent as the new year The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and Iranian families gather together to observe the rituals

Originally being a Zoroastrian festi-

val, and the holiest of them all, Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox The Jewish festival of Purim is probably adopted from the

Persian New Year It is also a holy day for Sufis, Ismailis, Alawi tes, Alevis, and adherents of the Bahá'í Faith

Today, the festival of Nowruz is celebrated in many countries that were territories of, or influenced by, the Persian Empire: Iran, Various Iranian Peoples including Kurds, Afghanistan, parts of the Middle East, as well as in the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan It is also celebrated by the Zoroastrians as well by certain Iranic inhabitants in Pakistan's Chitral region and Northern Areas It is also celebrated by the Iranian immigrants from Shiraz in Zanzibar In Kurdish communities located in parts of western Iran, the holiday is referred to as Nuroj, which literally means New Day in the Kurdish language

Countries that have Nowruz as a public holiday:

l Afghanistan (22 March)

l Albania (20 March to 23 March, total of 4 days)

l Azerbaijan (20 March to 26 March, total of 7 days)

l Iran (20 March to 23 March)

l Kazakhstan (21 March to 24 March, total of 4 days)

l Kyrgyzstan (21 March)

l Tajikistan (20 March to 23 March, total of 4 days)

l Turkmenistan (20 March to 23 March, total of 4 days)

l Uzbekistan (21 March)

New Year dishes

l Sabzi Polo Mahi: The New Year's Day traditional meal is called Sabzi Polo

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Mahi, which is rice with green herbs served with fish The traditional seasoning for Sabzi Polo are parsley, coriander, chives, dill and fenugreek l Reshteh Polo: rice cooked with noodles which is said to symbolically help one succeed in life

l Dolme Barg: A traditional dish of Azeri people, cooked just before the new year It includes some vegetables, meat and rice which have been cooked and embedded in grape leaves and cooked again It is considered useful in reaching to wishes

l Kookoo sabzi: Herbs and vegetable souffle, traditionally served for dinner at New Year A light and fluffy omelet style made from parsley, dill, coriander, spinach, spring onion ends, and chives, mixed with eggs and walnut l Haft Mewa: In Afghanistan, they

Nowruz, the celebration of Parsi honor

prepare Haft Mewa (Seven Fruits) instead of Haft Sin which is common in Iran Haft Mewa is like a Fruit salad made from 7 different Dried fruits, served in their own syrup The 7 dried fruits are: Raisin, Senjed (the dried fruit of the oleaster tree), Pistachio, Hazelnut, Prune (dry fruit of Apricot), Walnut and whether Almond or another species of Plum fruit l Samanak: It is a special type of sweet dish made from Wheat germ Women take a special party for it during the night, and cook it from late in the evening till the daylight, singing a special song: Samanak dar Josh o m Kafcha zanem - Degar n dar Khw b o m Dafcha zanem

Navroz celebration by Parsis

In the Fasli/Bastani variant of the Zoroastrian calendar, Navroz is always the day of the vernal equinox (nominally falling on March 21) In the Shahenshahi and Kadmi calendars, which accounts for leap years, the New Year's Day has drifted ahead by over 200 days These latter two variants of the calendar, which are only followed by the Zoroastrians of India, celebrate the spring equinox as Jamshed-i Nouroz, with New Year's Day then being celebrated in July–August as Pateti "(day) of penitence" (from patet "confession," hence also repentance and penitence)

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Prabhu Deva to direct Vishal

‘Kadhalar Kudiyiruppu’ gets U certificate

Kadha ar Kud y ruppu, a roman ic ta e based on a rea - i e H ndu-Mus m riot inciden hat took p ace at the po ice quar ers n Benga uru Newcomers An sh Te eshwar and Shru i play the ead ro es and veteran ac ress Saranya p ays a p omnen ro e n the f lm James Vasanthan of Subramaniyapuram ame has composed f ve songs “I have tr ed ou a new narrat on and resh ways o dep c ng the communa c ash The story spans hree d f eren per ods: 1968, 1992 and the presen t me C n e m a t o g r a p h e r Dwarakana h has used d feren tones for the three per ods,” the d rector said “The lm s about a Tam boy l v ng n po ce quarters n Banga ore, who sudden y goes m ss ng The rest of the story s about him and

h s pas We have shot he f m in real ocat ons, he added The Censor Board has cleared he i m w h a U cer i cate w thou any cu s Accord ng o d recto Ramesh the i m is from he po nt o v ew o journa sts and t w answe he f ve Ws and one H o ou na ism “Kadha a Kud y ruppu” s a set o grace theatres n August “ ve shot a r ot scene ha takes p ace n Bengaluru dur ng the Bab i Mas id demol ion n act he r ot p ays an mpor ant role n ak ng he s o y forwa d ” he revea ed

Deepika Padukone finds a friend in Neil Nitin Mukesh

My journey has just begun, says Sonam

B o l y w o o d a c t re s s S o n a m Kapoor has become famous on the soc ety circuit for her sense of style The young actor who is sti l p ann ng to launch a fash on abel has extravagan p ans on how to ex p a n d h e r b u s i n e s s According o reports, Sonam w l be joining hands with fash on labels from Paris and London and Milan for her pret line to make it a g obal venture

“I always feel that if you want to do something, do it big I believe in tak ng time a n d p re p a r i n g m y s e l f b y researching and then going for it That’s what I m doing right now Launch ng a fashion ine is a huge decision for me and I want to be sure about what I’m doing If I have to open it on a nat onal level why not take it interna-

t ona ? I wil look at opportunities to broaden my horizon ” she says Sonam recently saw her f lm “I Hate Luv Stor ys” get a favourab e response as t

c l o c ke d a h i t a t t h e b ox office The actor says she as an actor s looking to experiment constantly “ I d i d n o t b e c o m e a n a c t o r t o i m t m y s e f M y journey has just begun I wi l do al poss

fi m Lafange Parindey" actress Deep ka Padukone has ound a f r e n d f o r i f e n N e l N t n Mukesh Neil once went out of his way to do her make-up personally, which was somewhat d fferent required for an acc dent scene "I think I have made a fr end for i e and I h nk that s wha I cherished the most because he s a wonderful human being and tha comes across on screen We g o t a o n g re a l y w e l l " s a d Deep ka

"There is an accident scene,

where I need a different k nd o make-up and he is ra ned n t s o h e t o l d d a d a ( P r a d e e p Sarkar) that he w l do my makeup and he did

Another day where I was d o n g n o t ex a c t l y a n a c t i o n sequence, but ot o cable work

a n d a l l o f t h a t , h e c h o re ographed the entire act So I th nk in ever y way he was there f o r m e , " D e e p i ka s a i d i n a n inter view

Set n the mean streets o Mumba , "Lafangey Parindey" is a ove stor y where Ne l Nit n Mukesh p ays the character o Nandu, a f ghter who pummels h s opponents in the ring and

Deepika Padukone p ays P nky Palkar a dancer who is bl nd but ambi ious and dances w th rol er skates on her feet

He teaches her to see and she teaches him how to love

N e l u s e d t o b e a ro u n d

Deepika even on h s o f days

"I can conf den ly say that he has been the most supportive and encouraging co-star with whom I have worked so far Even on days when he was not required, he would be there " said Deepika Deepika be ieves that regardless o h s experience n the industr y Ne l has ever y quality of be ng a d rector

Vidya Balan w ll not be s e e n i n t h e s e q u e t o Dhamaal Apparently the actress was unhappy w th the remuneration offered to her and the way her character has been developed

After the success o “Paa” and “Ishqiya,” the actress h ked her price to that of other top actresses - which s rumoured to be a ro u n d R s 1 5 m i l i o n

That s the asking pr ce for Kareena and Katrina too

However, the makers of “Dhamaal 2” refused to meet Vidya s ask ng price or reach for a compromise and nstead let her exit the project

However those close to V dya insis that the actress op ed out of “Dhamaal 2” not because of monetar y reasons but because she was unhappy with the way her character has been developed

am r Khan top in the or the third g his close Shah Rukh eta ned his st year ee f lms of i n c l u d e s re Zameen ” and 2009 diots,” garRs 8,250 A a m i r h a s be on top ge success “ 3 I d o t s ” e than Rs n wh ch is t h t n the Bollywood Rukh Khan ma ntained the second the rankthird time K had not k n 2009 sma l act in r ” a n d a f o p f m Gaya ” But ed to retain s tion

Fi mma who had d s u c c e s s o f f lms and th i o the th names like Chopra, an Mus c m who earned Oscars, has t on jumpin t on n the F i l m m a who had no n 2009 ha the 5th pos w i t h h i s D h a r m a earned acc Ranb r Kap “Wake Up S In 2008 was in the 3 this year, the 6th pos The Aa d u c t i o n h o placed at th a s t re n o w n e d qual ty and number s A n o t h e Akshay Ku from this ye

Abh shek Bachchan and Katrina Kaif would soon be seen together on the s lver screen a ter a h atus of about five years They wi l be seen as a coup e, much n love w th each other in as many as hree forthcom ng fi ms They would be seen romancing together n the seque “Dostana 2” right a ter Katrina returns in the irst week of August so as to shoot or “ Z i n d a g N a M i l e g D o b a r a ”

Abh shek Bachchan and Katrina Kaif w l shoot a song together in Mumba , wh ch wil be fol owed by a long st nt in London Ear ier, the wo actors have only done one mov e together, Ram Gopal Varma s “Sarkar ” Katrina however reveals that she hard y knows Abh shek, but whatever ittle she knows she has liked and is excited to do pro ects with h m

Ver y soon the coup e w ll be seen in a te evision comm e rc i a T h e b u z z i n t h e i n d u s t r y i s t h a t t h e y w i l endorse a ver y popular furn shing house The shoot for the commerc al s ikely to take p ace in Mumbai

Ad f i m m a ke r, S u n h i l S i p p y ( w h o d re c t e d S n i p ) w l be directing K ng Khan and his wife in th s commercial

G a u r i , w h o h a s a l w a y s mainta ned a ver y low prof le in the industr y is known to

Now that Shah Rukh is taking t me o f from shooting for his various endorsements to concentrate on “RA One ” wife Gauri Khan i s ex p o r i n g u n c h a r t e re d territor y She has bagged her irst brand endorsement with her husband

have des gned costumes for her husband during his “Baazigar” (1993) days She turned producer with “Main Hoon Na” (2004) and “Om Shant Om” (2007) Accord ng to a source Gaur is finaly etting go of her shel “ G a u r h a s b e e n approached for commercia s earlier but somehow things never worked out T h s c o m m e rc a l w i t h Shah Rukh wi l be her rst ful -fledged ass gnment in front o the camera,” added the source Be it Sa f A i khan and Ka re e n a Ka p o o r Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwar ya Rai or Akshay

Alpesh Patel

Consultant Editor Financial Voice

Dear Financial Voice Reader,

As the British Prime Minister concludes his visit to India consider the size and scale of the economics: never before has any country outside the US had as many of its corporate leaders in the Forbes Rich List top 10 as India has today Not even Japan in its heyday or China matches the feat. To make the case for opportunities in India would seem self-evident then. After all, if a nation’s own people, who know the country the best, can make fortunes to compete with the world’s largest economy, then surely outside investors too can do very well there Yet, misperception still obstructs many investment decisions concerning India Let’s eradicate them

Meeting a California Silicon Valley billionaire who has re-emigrated back to India is perhaps one of the more striking proofs of India’s potential These, the most successful of Indians, who moved to the US in the 1960s from an opportunity-shorn India, return today with their millionaire colleagues, to capture the types of opportunities few, if any places on earth can match After, all, no other major capitalist economy will even come close to matching India’s growth for decades

Imagine a business person with a time machine They would probably choose to go back to the beginning of last century to the US to make their fortune –the time of Rockefeller and Getty

Consider during that century, the Dow advanced from 66 to 11,497. This gain, though it appears huge, shrinks to 5.3% when compounded annually. And that nevertheless was the American century – the century when the US became a super power Consider that that growth rate transformed a backward nation from the horse and carriage to one which freely sent man to the moon Yet India today exceeds and is projected to exceed for our working life times that return-rate of 5% The baton of Rockefeller and Getty is truly carried by Ambani and Tata

If your investment options were binary: US, the world’s largest economy, or India, think now about this century For investors to merely match that 5 3% market-value gain, the Dow – recently below 10,000 –would need to close at about 2,000,000 on December 31, 2099 We are nearly a decade into this century, and we have racked up none of the 1,990,000 Dow points the market needed to travel in this hundred years to equal the 5 3% of the last

Whereas, India, with the real economy targeting 8% for the foreseeable future is far more likely to provide the types of returns to match the transformation the United States had since 1900. Where would you invest?

What is sadly striking is how few smaller British companies know about the Indian opportunities Was it like this in the late 1500s before the East India Company was established? For smaller business getting the information about the opportunities is costly and time consuming that is where the FCO, UKTI and UK India Business Council comes in We have to make even more of a connection between our Government bodies and our businesses to leverage the size and scale of the British presence in India – just as they did in the past!

And if you are individual – why have you not bought some Tata Motors shares? They are listed on the New York market – speak to your broker!

India operations could turn taxing for UK law firms

ITAT ruling says tax payable, another case pending in the Supreme Court

If UK law firms are operating in India, even without

s from the Indian operation are liable to Income tax there Mumbai bench of

recently giving such a ruling in a case of Linklaters,

Clifford Chance is pending with the Supreme Court of India

The stance of the ITAT

in the Linklaters case is that under the India-UK double taxation avoidance treaty, even profits earned from indirect Indian operations are liable to income tax in India Whether the work is done in India or not and whether the firm has an office in India or not is of no consequence

A two member bench of Pramod Kumar and R S Padvekar gave this ruling for profit of Rs 230 mil-

US will soon savour Pakistani mangoes

Three years after George B

USA, it is now Pakistan’s turn to tap the American markets

This time, it is Hillar y Clinton playing the mango

Pakistan, it is US effort to improve its image in that countr

though seems to be mak-

Afghanistan war H

Pakistan of making export of mangoes possible during her visit to that countr y last week

I n d i a n a n

Pa k i s t a n h

t r i

g

diplomacy, but with ver y l i t t l e o r n o s u c c e s s I n fact, on the exports front, mangoes are a matter of competition and possibly some tensions too

T h e U S p l a n s t r i a l

s h i p m e n t s o f Pa k i s t a n i mangoes l ater this year

Yorkshire, Clydesdale Bank home mortgage customers in trouble for bank miscalculation

and has pledged to suppor t a three-year program to promote the export of Pakistani mangoes by sea to America, the world s l a rg e s t i m p o r t e r o f t h e fruit

The initiative is part of a $21 million program to boost Pakistan's agricult u re T h e U S w i l l h e l p finance hot water treatment facilities, sorting and grading machines and cold storage facilities

I n d i a i s t h e w o r l d ' s l a rg e s t m a n g o p ro d u c e r with about 13 million tons each year, far exceeding all other countries Pakistan comes in fifth place with about 1 6 million tons

Grand

lion that Linklaters earned in the year 1994 – 95, but if upheld in any further legal challenge or accepted, this would be applicable for all other years also

income tax in India on all its India-related income, on account of the retro-

the last budget to section

9(1 ) of the Income Tax Act The tribunal held that Linklaters had a perman

n

i n India under the India-UK treaty, as its partners had spent more than 90 days in India in a year In the Clifford Chance case, the Supreme Court h a

g details of 12 years The verdict, when it is out, could perhaps be applicable to Linklaters too

Khazanah of Malaysia beats Fortis in Parkway acquisition

Indian chain to go for Singapore listing after Parkway exit

Even as Fortis, the India based chain of hospitals lost the battle for acquisit i o n o f Pa r k w a y, t h e Singapore based healthcare major, the company is to benefit from sale of its entire stake in Parkway Fortis is likely to become debt free after the proc e e d s o f t h e s a l e a re received, though promoters have indicated that the money freed will be used other possible takeovers Khazanah, owned by the Malaysian government beat Fortis with an offer of Singapore$ 3 95 per share of all of Parkway’s remain-

The

Singapore, Malaysia, India and China For Khazanah, it is their biggest acquis ition overseas Fortis has also said they have plans to go for a Singapore listing, though Indian listing will continue It is going to e a r n p ro

w o

t h Singapore $116 7 mn from the sale of Parkway stake to Khazanah

opening of Infinity Property Solutions’ branch in Kenton

I n f i n i t y P ro p e r t y Solutions Ltd , one of the p ro m i n e n t p ro f e s s i o n a l s working in the areas of North West London and H a t f i e l d H e r t f o rd s h i re , o p e n e d t

i r b r a n c h i n Ke n t o n , H a r ro w i n a g r a n d c e re m o n y o n Saturday, 24th July The firm is en gaged in providing clients with ser vices in Re s i d e n t i a l l e t t i n g a n d sales, independent mortgage advise and portfolio management and Landlord business insurance

The firm, established

Airbus to sources parts from a Bangalore firm

Quest, a Bangalore based Indian firm manufacturing aircraft parts has been list-

e d b y A i r b u s

t h e European plane maker as one of their ‘preferred suppliers’ Aravind Melligeri, chairman of the leading p r i v a t e a e ro s p a c e e n g in e e r i n g c o m p a n y d i sclosed this last week

Quest is the first private company from India

engaged in designin

and

accessories, plane interiors, actuation systems and ground support systems

Q u e s t f a c i

i t i e s a re located in Belgaum, north Karnataka The company has a joint venture with M a g e

Canada

sister Clydesdale bank are now facing trouble in the form of higher mortgage payments for which they are not responsible It was a miscalculation by the banks that has s p e l t p ro

home owners as now they w

amount ever y month for p

i re remaining period of their mortgage terms

While about half of the customers will be paying an amount of less than £25 per month, while for about 700 customers, it w i

b

n ex

a £ 2 0 0 e v e r y m o n

h , a spokesman of the bank said

Borrowers with fixed rate mortgages will however, not be effected

Infinity offer total property solutions, including Is free EPC and gas safety certification for ever y 3 bedroom and larger properties that are available w

friendly and personal ser vi c e s h a v e e a r n e d

complete satisfaction from almost all of their clients M

Padhra is the director of the firm, while Mr Satish Patel is an independent M

working with

Suresh Vagjiani Managing Director of Sow & Reap, a Property Investment & Financing company.

We provide our clients with a full turn key solution to property investment There is something for all budgets and all types of clients We will look not just at your financial situation but understand your comfort levels and establish a common ground to work from This is how we operate and if this suits you call us and let’s see if we can grow together

The following is an actual example of what we have done for a family with a ver y modest income and assets

The husband and wife and their two children are originally from Gujarat It was the Mrs of the family who originally contacted me The four of them were living in a two bedroom property, and the wife had been reading

o u r a r t i c l e s f o r m a n y years and even cut out and saved some of them

T h e h u s b a n d a n d

w i f e h a d c o m e f ro m India about 8 years ago for their children’s education Both had working class jobs and came to the UK to enhance prospects for their children With their savings

t h e y h a d m a n a g e d t o purchase a two bedroom

p ro p e r t y w a l k i n g d i stance from Ealing Road

Due to its location it had risen well in value

The location of their current property has strong demand for rental and capital growth The demand for this location has been driven by Ealing Road It is odd what occurs in this pocket, there is a bubble here which is unique to this area The d

Properties are let in days here One of the driving forces is the unofficial subletting market The properties are taken and then rented on to PG – short for paying guests It is easy to see the market for this when you consider the numbers A three bedroom property can be rented for £1350 per month to one party This party would then sublet as a 4 bedroom property placing 4 people per room this means 16 peo-

be willing to risk her £50,000 on my say so and she replied yes This was not a spare £50,000 she had on the side This was what they had worked hard to save up and was their life savings

This meant the property would not be in central London, which in truth is our main field of focus Nonetheless through our contacts we do get properties, which are lower in price time to time in outside areas It just so happened at this time we had a property, a two bedroom flat close to Preston Road station, a nice residential area with plenty of open space The size of the flat would have easily enabled it to be a three bedroom property It was on the first floor purpose built property in a

who are committed to moving for ward and taking a step, walking their talk

So the property was purchased in Third Avenue, the lease extension is being worked on and the flat is rented bringing in an income of £900pm The £50,000 was split into 25% deposit which came to £32,000 and the rest will go to the lease extension The remaining funds were borrowed at a rate of 5 5% and costs them £438pm This means they have an income of £450pm The aim will be to extend the lease and then refinance the property, we estimate the value to be £200,000 This m e a n s £ 5 0 , 0 0 0 w i l l c o m e o u t a g a i n Which means ver y little money is tied up in the deal

The aim now was to purchase a family home

They wanted to sell their current property and purchase a larger home After looking at the figures we suggested not to purchase family home right now But rather that they invest into a smaller property for investment and so when they do purchase the family home it will not be a strain on them This will mean they will have to wait for a couple of years, but after the wait the strain on their finances will not only be less but they will have assets growing for them If they purchased a home at the stage they were at, this is all they would have A home

The ultimate aim is not to sell anything These two properties, their current flat and the one we proposed for them to purchase, can be remortgaged to provide the deposit for them to fund the larger family home Not just this, these properties will be providing an income for them which can be used to pay the mortgage of the family home

ple paying £55 pw per person This means the income from 16 people will be £880 pw This equates to £3813pm From this all bills will need to be paid for and food is normally provided So it can be seen why these numbers would encourage a secondar y rental market to develop This would of course destroy the property considering the numbers of people occupying the property

The rental on each property for the family will be £900pm, and the corresponding outgo ver y low

The wife called me and said she had previously tried to get in touch with me p e

through Now we had a chance to speak

They had £50,000 saved up from 8 years of her and her husband working hard

They were not in the best of health and were still working hard

Their two children were in college and were about to enter university The quality which struck me about her was her audacious spirit I asked her if she would

block of flats Purpose built as opposed to a conversion, whereby a house or building has been chopped up into flats

The ‘issue’ with the flat was it was a short lease on the property, one of only 27 years This was putting off buyers This should not be the case A lease extension cost is defined by a formula There are two variables in this formula, one the cost of the property currently and the other the value of the property post lease extension In a block of flats these values are easy to see Simply look at the value of the flats sold to get direct comparables Therefore the room for variation is not as large as many think

In this purchase however the property was being sold with the benefit of a confirmed lease extension value of £22,000

The property was being purchased for £127,500 with the lease extension this will cost £150,000 The property would be worth at least £185,000

The clients I like to have are not those just with huge funds to spare, but those

The new figures will be £687pm for a borrowing of £ 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 T h i s w i l l s t i l l bring some income in and they have the original funds still available and a growing asset as well as their new family home

Their current property will also be remortgaged to fund the deposit, we didn’t want to touch the property as the interest rate is on a base rate tracker and is currently ver y favourable As the rate rises we will l o o k t o re f i n a n c e a n d extract a lump sum from t h i s p ro p e r t y t o p u t towards the deposit of the new property

We advised them not to sell property in this area, if they do I cannot see them getting another investment property coming from their background it would be difficult for them to purchase another property in the future should they let go of this one Better keep hold of it for the long term

We provide a full turn key solution for property investment in the UK

All you have to do literally is sign a few bits of paper

You simply need to make a decision to invest through us Once this is done we do all the work

We finance, source and rent your property We are a one stop shop for UK property investment

We offer the highest level of ser vice, in all areas and aim to build long term relationships with all our clients All ser vices are independent the financing, rental and sourcing, because we want you to use us only if you are happy with our ser vice

finanCial voice

Maria Fernandes

The 2 immigration Caps

On the 28th June 2010

t h e H o m e S e c r e t a r y

a n n o u n c e d t h a t t h e Government intended to i n t r o d u c e a n a n n u a l immigration cap to take

e f f e c t i n A p r i l 2 0 1 1

However in the meantime in order to prevent the sudden rise in applications, a temporar y cap

h a s b e e n i n t r o d u c e d which come into effect on 19th July

INTERIM (TEMPORARY) CAP

This takes effect from 1 9 / 0 7 / 2 0 1 0 t o 3 1 s t March 2011

Immediate Effect

There will be a reduction in the number of C e r t i f i c a t e s o f Sponsorships (CoS, form e r l y w o r k p e r m i t s ) g r a n t e d t o l i c e n c e employers

T h e i n t e r i m l i m i t applies regardless of the sponsor’s renewal date

Sponsorship Action Plan for ‘B’ Rated Sponsors

S p o n s o r s w h o a r e d o w n g r a d e d t o o r a r e granted a ‘B’ rating will not be allowed any CoS

a l l o c a t i o n s u n t i l t h e y sign up to (and pay a f e e ) f o r a s p o n s o r s h i p action plan Full details of this are not yet available

‘ B ’ r a t e d s p o n s o r s cannot apply for exceptional consideration for CoS whilst they remain ‘B’ rated

This means that any

C o S g r a n t e d c a n n o longer be used

New Sponsors

N e w S p o n s o r s w i l l not be awarded an autom a t i c n u m b e r o f C o S They will have to apply on a separate form to request CoS and justify the need It will b e necessar y to show why the r o l e i s c r i t i c a l t o t h e business

Additional Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)

For those who do not have any CoS (or who

h a v e h a d t h e i r C o S

re m o v e d ) a n d w a n t t o apply for additional CoS the following conditions must be satisfied:-

• S p o n s o r m u s t ‘A’ rated

• The number of CoS requested must take

i n t o a c c o u n t a n y

available CoS remaini n g i n t h e ex i s t i n g allocation CoS will then be ranked and granted in the following order :-

1) Work Permit or Tier 2 ( G e n e r a l ) f o r a n existing sponsor

2) Work Permit for Tier 2 ( G e n e r a l ) E x t e n s i o n f o r n e w Employer

3) A new shortage occupation post for a new sponsor

4) A non-shortage occup a t i o n p o s t f o r a n existing sponsor

5) A non-shortage occupation post for a new sponsor

T h i s m e a n s t h a t extensions will take priority over new grants of CoS, and that shortages w i l l t a ke p r i o r i t y o v e r non shortages Looking a t t h e l i s t , i t a p p e a r s e x i s t i n g s p o n s o r s w i l l not have priority where they want new staff even if there is a shortage

A CoS can only be requested for an extension where the migrant’s

l e a v e i s d u e t o ex p i re within the next 60 days

Any CoS granted fol-

l o w i n g a r e q u e s t f o r e x c e p t i o n a l c o n s i d e r ation must be used for the r o l e f o r w h i c h i t w a s requested

Process

UKBA Managers will meet on a monthly basis on the 1st working day of each month to consid-

e r r e q u e s t s f o r C o S Re q u e s t s m u s t b e received before 25th of each month

S p o n s o r s w i l l b e notified within 5 worki n g d a y s o f t h e p a n e l

m e e t i n g W h e r e t h e r e q u e s t h a s b e e n s u c -

c e s s f u l t h e S p o n s o r Management System will be updated

Urgent decisions will be made by the Deputy

D i r e c t o r f o r Sponsorship

The decision is final

T h e re i s n o a p p e a l o r reconsideration process

T h e g u i d a n c e i n d icates that

• T h e r e w i l l b e v e r y few CoS which will b e a v a i l a b l e m a i n l y f o r n e w S p o n s o r s T h i s m e a n s t h a t employers who wish

t o o p e n o r e x p a n d b u s i n e s s e s m a y n o t be able to do so

• That no reasons will be given you refusing

a p p l i c a t i o n s a n d n o

a p p e a l o r r e v i e w

process This would mean applying to the High Court if there are grounds to do so

T h i s l i m i t w i l l p rovide learning for the new permanent cap planned from April 2011 These changes are a blueprint f o r t h e f u t u r e T h e Hospitality Industr y will need to brace itself for major change

Tier 4 changes English tests

Fr o m 1 2 t h Au g u s t 2010 all students studying below degree level or foundation degree level (NFQ level 6) will need to pass a secure English test unless they are from a countr y where English is the language spoken

N o c o u n t r y i n S o u t h

A s i a q u a l i f i e s f o r t h i s This will affect all stu-

d e n t s a p p l y i n g o r e x t e n d i n g t h e i r l e a v e from this date

Change of provider

Fro m O c t o b e r 2 0 0 9 s t u d e n t s w h o c h a n g e d providers had to obtain permission before starti n g t h e c o u r s e T h i s

c a u s e d d i f f i c u l t i e s f o r students as they missed the start of courses The regulations will now permit students that change c o u r s e s t o H i g h l y

Tr u s t e d S p o n s o r s t o begin their course before permission is granted

International Baccalaureate students

T h e s e s t u d e n t s w i l l not receive their results or transcripts until the e n d o f Au g u s t a n d t o enable them to enter the U K f o r t h e i r d e g r e e c o u r s e s p r o v i s i o n i s being made for them to m a ke t h e i r a p p l i c a t i o n by producing a print out f r o m U C A S o r I B o f f i c e o n l i n e c h e c k i n g ser vice confirming their results

Maria Fernandes has bee n in practice exclu-

s i v e l y i n i m m i g r a t i o n for the past 25 years and i s a c c r e d i t

d i n Immigration L aw by the S o

8 7 We m

Leadership Matters

When the world is against you

I recently read a Chinese p ro v e r b , “A w i s e m a n makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows p u b l i c o p i n i o n” L a s

C

publicly stated that, as far as he was concerned, the decision of the Scottish G

was ‘totally wrong’ This w

b y m o re prominent fingers being pointed at the Scottish justice secretar y Kenny MacAskill, the man wh o made the decision When l e

public criticise you, it can be difficult not to question yourself One may even feel compelled to state that they may have got it wrong

I r re s p e c t i v e o f h o w you feel about the decision to release a convicted bomber on compassionate grounds (I’m sure there is a contradiction in there), one can only but admire Mr MacAskills’ resolve to stand by his decision and the principles upon which it was b a s e d u p o n e v e n t h e m i d s t o f s u c h i n t e n s e

British Petroleum, the embattled company reported record losses of £11 bn for the April – June 2010 quarter, the highest for any British company owing to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis Following weeks of speculation, it was finally decided that Tony Hayward, the chief executive of the company will relinquish his post in October Bob Dudley will takeover from him Reports also suggested that Hayward will be retained by BP and will be given the responsibility of the Russian joint venture at the non executive director Bob Dudley, the newly nominated CEO who is currently in charge of the M ex i c o c l e a n u p , t o l d ABC that the oil spill crisis is a terrible tragedy and n o t j u s t t h e c o m p a n y, e n t i re i n d u s t r y w o u l d learn a lot from it

With plans to sell off m a n y o f t h e o v e r s e a s a s s e t s , B P a c c o rd i n g t o Dudley will emerge as a smaller and a wiser company and also be able to keep growing

B P C h a i r m a n C a r lHenric Svanberg said the company is still in ‘grand shape’

To n y H a y w a rd s a i d that, now oil had stopped spilling from the Macondo

scrutiny All too often, as all politicians know only too well, when the majority of opinion begins to sway towards a different direction to our own, we are tempted to put our head down and quietly sway in the same direct i o n H e n c e t h e t e r m , ‘bowing to pressure’

So according to the proverb, does this make M r M a c A s k i l l a w i s e man? After making such an inconceivable decision words such as arrogant, or at the ver y least stubborn seem to be more apt We all make decisions and some are more controversial than others It is great when we are a p p l a u d e d , b u t h o w about when we are not? Most people react in one o f t h re e w a y s – t h e y either become defensive and tr y to suggest that it wasn’t totally their decision in the first place; or t h e y b e c o m e d e f e a t e d and back down and say they were wrong; or they stand by their decision and state that they made their judgment based on the information they had a t t h e t i m e a n d t h e y would do the same again

By Amit Patel

W h e n l e a d e r s m a ke decisions, they are held to account by ever yone and how they respond to p

have a profound effect on

decision, it is always best

Greenspan did and he is no lesser a man because of it If it is someone else’s fault then as the leader you have to take responsibility – as they say, ‘the buck stops with y o u ’ I

r, y o u believe that you made the proper decision based on your principles and values and experience, then s t a n

o r d o ‘ a MacAskill’ That would be the wise thing to do (Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field of L eadership a n d H u m a n Re s o u rc e Management patelmail@gmail com)

well, it was a good time to leave his post

" Wi t h t h e l e a k n o w capped, we have reached a significant milestone This provides a firm basis to reshape the company," he said

On Monday, the BBC revealed that 53-year old Mr Hayward will receive a year's salar y plus benefits, together worth more than £1m He will also be entitled to draw an annual pension o f £ 6 0 0 , 0 0 0 o n c e h e reaches the age of 55

The United States of America, often referred to as the land of opportunity, has been taking in immigrants at the rate of more than one million every year for over a centur y Unfortunately, because it is so popular, it has become progressively harder to secure a visa for those who wish to live and work there on a permanent basis Most visas are either d i f f i c u l

t o o b t a i n o r unsuitable, because they need to be reapplied for, which carries risks

only to lose their visa after a year or so T

p o p u l a r choice, for those in a position to invest $500,000, is the EB -5 investment visa I n 2 0 0 3 t h e U S Government reintroduced the Regional Center program Investments into an approved Regional Center qualify an investor, spouse and all children under 21

When Will Normal Trading Markets Return?

t

t c r i s i s T h e w o r l d r e c e s s i o n b y m a n y h a s b e e n s o l e l y c a u s e d d u e t o t h e i r re s p o n s i b l e b e h a vi o u r o f b a n k s a n d t h e i r d e a l e r s T h e y h a v e h a n d l e d t h e i r a f f a i r s b y o v e r l e n d i n g i n t h e s u b - p r i m e m a r ke t s a n d w i t h t h e i r g u n h o a t t i t u d e t o t r a d i n g b y t h e i r d e a l e r s a n d t a k i n g u n c a l l e d r i s k s o n t h e f i n a n c i a l m a r ke t s t o t r y t o a c c u m u l a t e b i g g e r p ro f i t s w h i c h i n t u r n w o u l d g i v e t h e m b i g g e r b o n u s p a y o u t s A l t h o u g h m a n y o u t s i d e r s w o u l d n o t c o n d o n e t h e b o n u s c u l t u re o f t h e f i n a n c i a l i n d u st r y, i t s e e m s h a r s h t o c o m p l e t el y t a ke t h a t e l e m e n t o f s a l a r y a s s e s s m e n t a w a y f ro m t r a d e r s i f t h e y d o c o n s t a n t l y m a k e m o n e y f o r t h e b a n k o r i n s t i t ut i o n

Wi t h t h e f i n a n c i a l m e l td o w n t h e r e h a s b e e n m a n y m a j o r m a r ke t m o v e s w i t h n e r vo u s t r a d e r s re l u c t a n t t o h o l d

o n t o a n y b i g p o s i t i o n s a n d

re a c t i n g p ro b a b l y m o re s o t h a n b e f o re t o a n y n e w s re l e a s e s t h a t c o u l d a f f e c t t h e r a t e s T h e r e h a v e b e e n j o i n t e f f o r t s f ro m t h e G 2 0 n a t i o n s t o t r y a n d b r i n g s o m e s t a b i l i t y b a c k i n t o t h e m a r k e t s

C o n f i d e n c e i n t h e f i n a n c i a l s y st e m w o r l d w i d e h a s t o b e re s t o re d At t h i s m o m e n t t h a t s e e m s t o b e a l o n g w a y a w a y a s y o u r e v e r y d a y m a n i n t h e s t re e t

s t i l l h a v e b i g r e s e r v a t i o n s re g a rd i n g h o w t h e b i g f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s a re l o o k i n g a f t e r c u s t o m e r ’ s h a rd e a r n e d m o n e y M a n y f e e l t h e y a re p a y i n g t h e p r i c e f o r t h e f a t c a t s e r ro r s i n t h e l a s t f e w y e a r s a n d m a n y f e e l t h e i r e v e r y d a y q u a l i t y o f l i f e i s s u f f e r i n g f ro m n o f a u l t o f t h e i r o w n We h a v e s e e n m a j o r e c o n o -

m y l e a d e r s t a ke s t e p s t o s t o p

t h e s h o r t s e l l i n g o f c u r re n c i e s a n d e q u i t i e s b y g re e d y t r a d e r s T h e y a re t r y i n g t o s t o p t h e

d e a l e r s h a v i n g a r u n o n a c u rre n c y o r s t o c k t o t r y t o m a ke

b i g p ro f i t s T h e y s e e m t o h a v e

c o m p l e t e d i s re g a rd f o r t h e e t hi c a l s i d e o f t h a t t y p e o f t r a d e

a n d w h a t e f f e c t t h e i r a c t i o n s m a y c a u s e o n a n e c o n o m y o r

c o m p a n y I n s o m e c a s e s t h e i r a c t i o n s h a v e l e d t o a v e r y v i a b l e c o mp a n y b e i n g v i r t u a l l y w i p e d o u t o r l e f t c o m p a n i e s w i t h t h e o n l y o p t i o n s b e i n g t o g o b e l l y u p o r a l l o w t h e m t o b e t a ke n o v e r b y a n o t h e r i n s t i t u t i o n i n a l e s s t h a n f a v o u r a b l e d e a l t h a n b e f o re T h e re g u l a t o r s h a v e t o b e c a re f u l n o t o v e r - re g u l a t e a s t h i s c o u l d e n d m a r ke t t r a d i n g a s w e k n o w i t , t h e e v e r y d a y t r a d e r w i l l e n d u p j u s t f i l l i n g c u s t o m e r o rd e r s p ro b a b l y o n o n l i n e d e a l i n g s y s t e m s w i t h n o re a l f e e l f o r t h e m a r ke t , t h e d a y s o f d e a l e r s d e a l i n g o n t h e i r i n s t i n c t a n d g u t f e e l i n g f o r t h e m a r ke t w i l l c e a s e t o ex i s t a n d t h i s c o u l d a l s o d a m a g e b a n k s g ro w t h A s t h i n g s i n t h e m a r k e t p l a c e g e t b e t t e r t h e re w i l l b e n o re a l s p e c u l a t i o n , w h i c h h a s i n

t h e p a s t re a p e d b i g g e r re w a rd s t h a n j u s t f i l l i n g o rd e r s a n d s t ab i l i t y n e e d s t o b e r e s t o r e d

s o o n e r r a t h e r t h a n l a t e r t o g e t

b a c k t o n o r m a l t r a d i n g

Sohrabuddin: A terrorist, extortionist or police informer?

Sohrabuddin Sheikh, the a l l e g

w

s

n fact, a small time criminal

h a i l i n g f ro m M a d h y a Pradesh He later shifted base to Gujarat He is also s a i d t o h a v e t u r n e d a police informer and was used by the ver y police

o f f i c i a l s w h o a re n o w

a c c u s e d i n h i s f a ke encounter killing

But, he was definitely an extortionist who had t ro u b l e d w e a l t h y a n d i n f l u e n t i a l b u i l d e r s i n G u j a r a t a n d m a r b l e traders in Rajasthan

T h e m a n , w h o s e alleged murder has creat-

e d a p o l i t i c a l s t o r m i n

Gujarat was in his midthirties, a native Jharnia village in Madhya Pradesh a n d w a s a n e s t a b l i s h e d criminal He operated in Udaipur, Ahmedabad and Ujjain Sohrabuddin was

t r a v e l l i n g w i t h h i s w i f e

Kauser Bi in November, 2005 from Hyderabad to

S a n g l i i n M a h a r a s h t r a

Mid-way, the Anti-Terror

S q u a d ( AT S ) o f t h e Gujarat police stopped the bus and took them away

The couple was kept locked at a farmhouse outs i d e A h m e d a b a d T h re e days later, a police team led by the ATS Chief DG

Va n z a r a t o o k

S o h r a b u d d i n a w a y a n d

k i l l e d h i m , c l a i m i n g h e

was a terrorist tr ying to a t t a c k G u j a r a t C h i e f

Minister Narendra Modi

S o h r a b u d d i n ' s w i f e

Kausar Bi went missing A state CID report said she w a s l a s t s e e n a w h i t e

Maruti car with Gujarat p o l i c e m e n i n p l a i n clothes The Gujarat government later said Kausar had been killed and her body burnt

A y e a r l a t e r, o n

D e c e m b e r 2 8 , 2 0 0 6 , Sohrabuddin s partner in crime, Tulsiram Prajapati, w a s a l s o k i l l e

B a n a s k a n t h a

Investigations reveal that h e k n e w a b o u t t h e Sohrabuddin encounter

Since then it has been established that policemen o f t h re e s t a t e s , A n d h r a

P r a d e s h , Ra j a s t h a n a n d

G u j a r a t c a r r i e d o u t t h e killings at the behest of political bosses to silence men who knew too much After the ar rest of senior

I P S o f f i c e r A b h a y Chudasama in the case a few months ago, the CBI alleged that the policeman

r a n a n ex t o r t i o n r a c ke t with Sohrabuddin Sheikh and was the prime conspirator in his abduction and murder

Former UK tax authority official receives £50,000 a month after leaving job

D e e p a k S i n g h , f o r m e r chief information officer

a t H M Re v e n u e s & Customs was paid nearly £50,000 a month by the tax authority, after he left h i s j o b b e c a u s e t h e y could not find a replacement in time

A s s o o n a s S i n g h ' s three year contract came to an end in June last year, he stayed in his post being paid as a contractor until September

B e f o re b e c o m i n g a

c o n t r a c t o r, S i n g h , 4 6 , was paid approximately £16,000 per year The Revenue paid him almost as much as his annual salar y to do the same job for three months, with his fee similar to the rates

c h a rg e d

Former Gujarat junior Home Minister Amit Shah arrested in Sohrabuddin fake encounter case

Ram Jethmalani appears for Amit Shah; CBI to interrogate the accused for 3 days in judicial custody

Accounts filed by the Revenue last week read:

“For the period June 19, 2009, to September 18, 2009, £149,500 was paid to Or well Consulting for the ser vices of Deepak Singh ” A partner at a leading a c c o u n t a n c y f i r m

T h e re v

people hard who are paid through ser vice companies but who are effec-

allows the employer to avoid National Insurance and the workers to pay less income tax ” T h e S u n

through a ser vice company, Singh could be liable to corporation tax of up t

A

seek, former Gujarat junior Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday surrendered before the CBI in

most prominent criminal lawyer and BJP MP Ram

Amit Shah in a local court

Waving to the mediapersons after getting out from his car at the CBI office, he found that officers of the probe agency were waiting for him

He was whisked in a car from the CBI office to the residence of judicial magistrate A Y Dave by

re closed on Sunday, sources in the CBI said

Earlier in the morning, S h

faced at a BJP media brief-

point defence, Shah said he was being framed by the CBI and was being presented as a goon by the agency " A l l t h e a l l e g a t i o n s against me are politically motivated and fabricated None of the allegations are t r u e , " S h a h h a d t o l d reporters "It is a conspiracy against the BJ P and a C o n g re s s g o v e r n m e n t m o t i v a t e d m o v e , " h e added The former minis-

ter was not seen in public for two months " I h a v e n ' t g o t t h e chargesheet copy, but from t h e c o n t e n t s w h i c h a re c o m i n g i n t h e m e d i a I want to say that the accusations against me are fabr i c a t e d , p o l i t i c a l l y m o t ivated and framed on the b e h e s t o f t h e C o n g re s s g o v e r n m e n t , " S h a h h a d said Shah at the media briefing said the haste on part o f the CBI proves that the chargesheet was prem e d i t a t e d S h a h a d d e d that he could not respond to the summons by the C B I d u e t o p a u c i t y o f time "I received the CBI s u m m o n s a t 1 1 a m t o appear at 1 pm on July 22"

T h e 2 , 0 0 0 - p a g e C B I chargesheet says Shah had entrusted the task of eliminating Sohrabuddin, an alleged gangster, to IPS o f f i c e r s D G Va n z a r a , Ra j k u m a r Pa n d i a n a n d A b h a y C h u d a s a m a Sohrabuddin was killed in a

Ahmedabad on November 2 6 , 2 0 0

L

e r, S h a h allegedly ordered eliminat i o n o f S o h r a b u d d i n ' s wife, Kauserbi, described as a witness to her husband's slaying 46-year-old Shah, who had tendered his resignation to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, said he will fight against the conspirators "I have full faith in the judiciar y and I am sure the allegations against me will be cleared by the courts," he said demanding that his entire questioning by the C B I

graphed

C B I

interrogation, and allowed Shah to be put into judi-

the court to quiz him in the court custody

Owner of farmhouse arrested in Sohrabuddin case

Raju is brother of BJP corporator Surendra Jirawala

T h e C B I m a d e a n o t h e r major arrest after the former Gujarat minister of state for home, Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter and killing of the gangster’s wife Kauser B i c a s e Ra j u J i r a w a l a , brother of a BJP corporator (counselor) and owner of the Arham farm was a r re s t e d o n Tu e s d a y Kauser Bi and her husb a n d S o h r a b u d d i n w e re kept at the farm house in i l l e g a l c o n f i n e m e n t S o h r a b u d d i n w a s t a ke n out and killed elsewhere, w h i l e Ka u s e r B i w a s allegedly killed at the farm

house, located on the outskirts of Gandhinagar When the luxur y bus of Sangeeta travels was intercepted on November 2 1 , 2 0 0 5 i n S a n g l i i n M a h a r a s h t r a a n d

S o h r a b u d d i n w a s t a ke n i n t o c u s t o d y, G u j a r a t

Police had asked Kausar Bi who was travelling with him, to get back into the bus, the charge sheet said But Kausar Bi refused to leave her husband and so G u j a r a t Po l i c e o f f i c i a l s decided to take her along, it said Sohrabuddin and Kausar Bi were kept in Disha Farm till night of

November 25, 2005, and then they were taken to Arham Farm, from where Sohrabuddin was taken to Ahmedabad and killed in a fake encounter, it said Meanwhile, Amit Shah was to get a copy of the C B I c h a rg e s h e e t o n Tuesday, a day before he faces questioning by the agency Shah on Monday had moved the special CBI court for bail, which said it would hear his plea on August 2 Veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani will assist Shah's advocates in the plead for bail

Jethmalani accused the

C B I o f l e a k i n g t o t h e media details of the charge sheet against Shah “The accused does not have the charge sheet but the media has it This is the CBI's d e s i g n , ” J e t h m a l a n i alleged

Earlier, former Gujarat Deputy Superintendent of Police, M K Amin turned approver against Shah in connection with the fake encounter case

A m i n i s o n e o f t h e three main accused IPS o f f i c e r s i n v o l v e d i n t h e encounter case The other two are D G Vanzara and R K Pandian

Amit Shah involved in Ketan Parekh’s stock scam too?

State CID had recommended an inquiry into the alleged bribing in 2005

Amit Shah seems to have more trouble waiting for him, after his arrest in the

Chennai, ‘The Hindu’ says Amit Shah helped Ketan Parekh in the Madhavpura Bank case after the expose

of the stock market scam

Many small investors in India had gone bankrupt

into liquidation, but was

and contribution from the Reser ve Bank of India and c

Gujarat Amit Shah reportedly received bribes from Ketan Parekh in the case, which was a part of Rs 1 2bn

Further, the newspaper re

General of Police had sub-

mitted a report about the s a m e t o t h e C h i e f Secretar y of Gujarat, recommending a CBI inquir y i n t o t h e b r i b e r y a l l e g ations But the officer was shunted out soon from the C B I N o i n v e s t i g a t i o n s were ordered by the State too

Many US, UK, Chinese citizens living illegally in India

That many Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are staying illegally in India is known to most of us What many m

nationals from first world countries too who have overstayed their welcome here, for various reasons

The arrest and subse-

turned-LeT jehadi, has put the spotlight on the grave threat to India’s national security from outsidersover the last few years var-

ious police agencies have b o o ke d f

r s f ro m more than 45 countries living illegally in India

Information compiled by the Union home ministr y shows that in 2008, 65,149 foreign nationals were found living in India even after their visas had expired The same year, 13,995 foreigners had to b

d f ro m t h e countr y The figures for 2009 are still being compiled

What comes as a big surprise is that a few thousand citizens from several

first world countries like t h e U SA , U K , N e w Z e a l a n d , G e r m a n y

Korea are living illegally in India The list also included 479 Chinese “Not all of them may be as innocent as it seems It is not enough to say that they stayed on with friends or relatives, lost track of time exploring India or overstayed a work permitwhich are the usual excuses,” said a police officer “ H e

threat perception,” said an

intelligence official He said that for long c

t i z e n

r i e n d l y o r developed countries were not on the radar of security agencies “It is because of this reason that terror groups are increasingly turning to recruits from these groups to carr y out their work This was shown in the c a s e o f H e a d l e y i n Mumbai and in America w h e re t h

a i l e d Ti m e s Square bomb attack was carried out by their own n

explained

Kingfisher staff beat up passengers at Ranchi Airport

I

o f Kingfisher Airlines at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand beat up passengers who were complaining for no food and accom-

their flight to Mumbai was delayed due to a bird hit

The spokesman of the air-

i s h e d the claims of the incident, even as CISF personnel at the airport confirmed of m

A

e complaint has been filed

a

and one is arrested, while two others fled the scene

p

d a t Ranchi airport at 4 pm on

Monday, 30 minutes late

The pilot sensed a snag, possibly caused by a birdhit After being promised food and accommodation, as nothing was made available to them even by 8 30 pm, a few passengers complained to the ground staff There were 170 passengers for the flight As the pass

heated arguments followed and that ended into a scuffle Arun Yadav and three others of the ground staff threatened the complaining passengers and even assaulted one of the passengers, Dr Ashok As per

Tripathi Neeraj Kumar of the JD (U) was also among the passengers and he confirmed that the airline staff did beat up the passengers One of the victims, Ashok Tiwari somehow managed and called up Jharkhand police boss and informed him He sent one of the senior officers to the airport after which, an FIR against the Kingfisher staff was registered The Bihar M L A w

extent of saying that if the airline is saying their staff has not misbehaved, it is the biggest lie

s have lodged a complaint a

staff of Kingfisher Airlines at Dorunda police station

Indian computing bonanza for students globally

A $35 laptop unveiled last week promises to be cheaper in future

Making a laptop within the reach of possibly ever y

s t u d e n t w h o n e e d s o n e

a n y w h e re i n t h e w o r l d , India last week unveiled a touch screen laptop that is cheapest in the world, at just US$ 35

Developed by research teams from two of India’s top technology institutes –IIT and IISc, this laptop is l i ke l y t o b e c o m e m o re

cheaper in a few years, going down to almost US$ 10 India’s HRD minister Ka p i l S i b a

u

s w

taken on board the project for mass production “ We h a v e re a c h e d a stage that today, the motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of t h e m c u m

m e m o r y, d i s p l a y, e v e r ything,” Sibal told a news conference

The touchscreen gadge t w a s p a c ke d w i t h I n t e r n e t b ro w e r s , P D F reader and video conferencing facilities Its hardware was created with sufficient flexibility to incorp o r a t e n e w c o m p o n e n t s according to user requirement

Story

In divine light

What in us is together in childhood but separates a s w e g r o w o l d e r a n d moves in opposite directions? A child does not k n o w th e d i ffe r e n c e between what pleases him and what is good for him Wherever there is external

e x c i te m e n t, h e r u n s

b e h i n d i t n o t k n o w i n g

w h e th e r i t i s r i g h t o r wrong, advantageous or d i s a d v a n ta g e o u s to h i s growth and development

In the Bhagwad Gita, Sri Krishna uses two words –‘ S h r e y a ’ a n d ‘ P r e y a ’

Preya is that which please s a n d S h r e y a i s th a t which leads to a higher level of understanding and maturity Sri Krishna is not i n te r e s te d i n p l e a s i n g Arjuna, but in doing that which is right for him

These two paths are beautifully depicted in the s to r y o f D r o n a a n d

Dhrupad Previously, we had seen that Drona was born out of excitement His father Rishi Bharadwaj saw an apsara and his semen fell into a pot from which Drona was born

We have also seen that Drona represents the habit

m e c h a n i s m , w h i c h th r o u g h r e p e ti ti o n becomes behaviour Our habits always follow the path of least resistance, i e to w a r d s e x te r n a l excitement and pleasure

Prushad, the king of P a n c h a l a a n d D r o n a ’s father, was a great friend o f R i s h i B h a r a d w a j , Drona’s father Dhrupad and Drona grew up togethe r i n R i s h i A g n i v e s h ’s a s h r a m Th e r e th e y became very good friends, where Dhrupad promised D r o n a th a t w h e n h e became king of Panchala, he would share with Drona his kingdom, along with all its wealth, glamour, and comforts After they left the a s h r a m , D r o n a l e a r n e d the art of archery from Parshuram, married Kripi a n d h a d a s o n c a l l e d

A s h w a th a m a On th e other hand, Prushad died and Dhrupad came to the throne of Panchala

Drona was very happy at having a child but at the same time he was living in d e e p p o v e r ty Wh e n

A s h w a th a m a s a w o th e r c h i l d r e n d r i n k i n g c o w ’s milk, he also expressed his desire for the same Drona went from kingdom to kingdom to obtain a milk-producing cow as diksha (alms) but he could not get one His wife started mixing water with flour and fed Ashwathama with it under the guise of giving h i m m i l k D r i n k i n g th i s , Ashwathama would dance thinking he too had his fill

o f c o w ’s m i l k , w h e r e a s

o th e r c h i l d r e n r i d i c u l e d him for only having drank

w a te r m i x e d w i th fl o u r

This hurt Drona and he decided to go, along with h i s w i fe a n d c h i l d , to Dhrupad to ask for a cow

Wh e n th e y r e a c h e d

P a n c h a l a , D r o n a

a d d r e s s e d D h r u pa d ,

r e m i n d i n g h i

friendship and Dhrupad’s promises Instead of welcoming Drona, Dhrupad ridiculed him saying that there could be no friendship between the poor and th e w e a l th y a n d a s a l l things decay with the passage of time, so had their friendship Drona was furious at this and when he left Dhrupad’s kingdom, he vowed to look for disciples who, after their training in the art of warfare, would take revenge on Dhrupad for him

It was at this time that he came to Hastinapura and the Kaurava and the Pandava princes started training under him He told them that he would teach th e m th e m a s te r y o f weapons to fulfil an aim of his, which they must deliver Out of all the princes, only Arjuna vowed to fulfil his wish After many years o f tr a i n i n g , w h e n th e p r i n c e s w e r e r e a d y, h e asked for them to bind King Dhrupad as a prisoner and bring him to Drona as Guru Dakshina Initially, the Kauravas attacked but Dhrupad, with his mighty a r m y, v a n q u i s h e d th e m c o m p l e te l y Th e n th e

P a n d a v a s a tta c k e d a n d Arjuna fell Dhrupad from his elephant and captured him, taking him to Drona as Guru Dakshina When Dhrupad was brought as a prisoner to Drona Drona

a d d r e s s e d h i m s a y i n g You insulted me, but I will honour our friendship by giving you back half of your kingdom ” He added, “The kingdom to the south of the Ganga is yours and to the North, mine ” We have seen that a child does not know the difference between excitement and sensitivity The c h i l d ’s a tte n ti o n g e ts s e d u c e d b y w h a te v e r excites him As his understanding grows, he can discriminate between right and wrong In childhood, excitement and sensitivity were friends but as they grow up, they follow separate paths depicted by Drona and Dhrupad and the way their lives shape up from after their days together in the ashram At the time of adolescence, the sex centre becomes a c ti v e a n d th e b o d y ’s e n e r g i e s ( th e fi v e Pandavas) follow the path of excitement (Drona) and h a v e v i c to r y o v e r th e p o w e r o f s e n s i ti v i ty (Dhrupad) The sex centre being in the south, Drona

By Rajen Vakil

of Drona and Dhrupad

gives that part of the kingdom back to Dhrupad, so that the power of sensitivity can never rise again Dhrupad comes from the word ‘dhru’ meaning fa s t a n d ‘ pa d ’ m e a n i n g feet, the one who walks with fast feet A student on th e s p i r i tu a l pa th w h o wants to shift from excitement to sensitivity has to work really hard because it takes a trivial matter to excite the sex centre After losing half his kingdom, Dhrupad practices deep austerities – tapa, i e he does a big yagna, and from these sacrificial fires w a s b o r n a s o n , Drishtadyumna, who kills Drona in the Great War Also, from these fires was b o r n a d a u g h te r, Draupadi, who marries the five Pandavas - the very p r i n c e s w h o h a d v a nq u i s h e d D h r u pa d Th i s represents the Pandavas completing a cycle and maturing towards sensitivity and away from excitement

We h a v e s e e n th a t Drona was born out of excitement but Dhrupad created the fire of sensitivity We spend our whole lives following excitement looking for something new to tingle our tastes every day On the spiritual path, we create the fire of tapa within us, not by doing anything new, but by doing the same things every day, a l b e i t w i th a r e n e w e d deeper sensitivity If this fi r e i s p r o p e r l y c r e a te d within us, then from these fi r e s i s b o r n a s p e c i a l power of discernment (or viveka), which helps us free ourselves of habits Ou r ps y c h i c n a tu r e i s bound by many habits –from simple gestures and body movements, to emotional attachments, to the thoughts we form To be free of habits, a special inner light or intelligence is needed which comes only through deep austerities

As we go deeper into sensitivity, the sex energy within us instead of flowing out starts rising up the five chakras, represented by the marriage of Draupadi to the five Pandavas If this can happen in our l i v

e energy that has gone in the making of this universe returns to its source fulfilling the purpose of birth and death

(Edited by Chintu Gandhi )

The author is in the U K to provide practical yoga (through rhythmic breathing) sessions and talks up to the 19th of August These will be free to attend For details, please email 3srb@live com or call Chintu on 079 04981705

Gujarat University MOU with BP for Jatropha development

The Gujarat University in p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h t h e

B r i t i s h Pe t r o l e u m ( B P ) has identified the use of m i c r o b i a l i n o c u l a n t s t o

p r o v i d e h o l i s t i c h e a l t h

a n d s u s t a i n a b l e c r o p yields of Jatropha which can produce 1 2 tonnes of biodiesel or one hectare

o f J a t r o p h a y i e l d s t w o tonnes of biodiesel

“The memorandum of

u n d e r s t a n d i n g s i g n e d between the GU and the BP is the fi rst of its kind and aims at developing a innovative biotechnologi-

c a l p a c ka g e w h i c h w i l l help in the establishment

o f w a s t e l a n d s a n d h e l p develop the potential of

J a t r o p h a , ’ ’ s a i d Vi c e

C h a n c e l l o r o f G U D r

Parimal Trivedi

He said that for this purpose an assistance of over Rs 5 million was pro-

v i d e d b y t h e B P D r Trivedi said that the key aim of the research is to develop a package of con-

s o r t i a o f b e n e f i c i a l microbes as well as prac-

t i c e s a p p r o p r i a t e f o r development of Jatropha

s e e d l i n g p a r t i c u l a r l y i n t h e w a s t e l a n d s o f

Gujarat

Dr Trivedi said that

t h e r e s e a r c h w o u l d b e

directed at soil physical and chemical factors that influence both the establ i s h m e n t s i n t h e rh i s ophere and the expression of traits fully for benefiting the biofuel plant He said that the plant growth promoting microorganism have been dep osited by the GU at a repositor y as a part of the Budapest

Tr e a t y o n i n t e r n a t i o n a l recognition of deposit of microbes for the purpose of patent procedure “As an outcome of this prog r a m m e e x c e l l e n t research lab and facilities

h a s b e e n d e v e l o p e d f o r benefit of students aiming t o w o r k i n a f i e l d o f renewable energy in the future,’’ said Dr Trivedi He added that a nurser y plantation of Jatropha has

b e e n o p e r a t i n g i n f u l l swing and all trials relating to saline and wastelands have shown promising results

Indo-UK joint naval exercise on in Mumbai

The Start of Something Special?

Anshul Gupta

B r i t i s h P r i m e M i n i s t e r

David Cameron is already o n h i s h i s t o r i c v i s i t t o

India, leading a big, high level delegation

T h i s d e l e g a t i o n i s almost unprecedented in size, being twice the size of that that accompanied

h i m t o N e w Yo r k a n d

Wa s h i n g t o n , a n d a l s o notably significant as it comes so early in the lifet i m e o f t h e C a m e ro n administration, this clearl y e m p h a s i s e s j u s t h o w important Britain regards its former colonial dominion in Asia All in all, five members of the Cabinet, two Ministers of State and more than fifty FTSE 100

E xe c u t i v e s a n d l e a d i n g businessmen will accompany Mr Cameron

To u n d e r l i n

I n d i a ’ s i m p

t a n c e , t h

e n t Queen’s speech following t h e i n s t a l l a t i o n o f M r Cameron and his Liberal Conser vative Coalition in Downing Street gave India unique status as it singled out the bilateral UK-India re

special importance to his

mon language to support its presence and economic i m p o r t a n c e i n I n d i a

Whilst the British educated Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia probably are still mindful of all the possibilities that Britain offers, in a countr y where the average age is u

British are not at all relevant and the younger generation look to the USA and Australia or the Hong Kongs and Singapores of this world for education and a natural trading relationship

If this trip is to be a success, Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne must capitalise on the strengths that the UK still offers to India

access the European market, and the London Stock E xc h a n g e o f f e r s a v e r y competitive place for an Indian company wishing to list or go public in an I P O Fu r t h e r m o re , t h e

the USA, and this could well be just the start of the I n d i a n C e n t u r y M r Cameron’s aim will be not t o j u s t w i n c o n t r a c t s

b e t w e e n B r i t i s h a n d

I n d i a n f i r m s , b u t a l s o

cement a strategic relationship in which all parts of our economy and population can work with their I n d i a n c o u n t e r p a r t s t o build and sell products and services to the rest of the world – combining British innovation and high-tech development with Indian low costs of manufacturing and manpower

However, India is the w o r l d ’ s s e c o n d f a s t e s t growing economy and produces a huge qua ntity of highly educated, Englishspeaking graduates at a rate of 160,000 per year

Fu r t h e r m o re , t h e n e w

B r i t i s h g o v e r n m e n t h a s been stressing the shared histor y of the two countries, and the 1 5 million British resident of Indian descent who have made the UK their home

c o m m e rc e m i n i s t e r, l a s t week spoke of a ‘Chief E xe c u t i v e ’ s Fo r u m ’ t h a t will be announced during M r C a m e ro n’ s v i s i t , a s I

Manmohan Singh shared his vision of a ‘special relationship’ between the two c o u n t r i e s M r S i n g

must be

by the

thrive The purpose of the Forum would be to overcome regulator

and

hurdles in

vices sectors India is pressing Britain to accept Indian professional qualifications in accountancy, law and IT M

the Forum would signific

a t M a r i t i m e Wa r f a re Centre in Mumbai

A table-top exercise is one without actual participation of ships, but with participation of planning staff of both countries

Submarines to engage from Wednesday British Royal Navy and the Indian Navy will begin a joint submarine exercises from Wednesday on the West Coast of India from We d n e s d a y, 2 8 t h J u l y, Commander PVS Satish of the Indian Navy has said

H M S Ta l e n t , a

Tr a f a l g a r c l a s s h u n t e r kill er submarine, of the Royal Navy will take part in the three-day exercise with a Shishumar cl ass submarine of the Indian N a v y M e a n w h i l e , t h e

n a v a l t a b l e - t o p exe rc i s e continued for the second day at the Mumbai port

The seventh edition of the Konkan series of the exe rc i s e b e g a n o n Monday

The Konkan 2010 is

b e i n g c o n d u c t e d a s a table-top exercise at the tactical simulator located

The aim of this exercise is to exchange operational planning concepts, maritime domain awaren e s s p ro c e d u re s a n d t o test these plans through simulations of a maritime scenario at sea

In 2009, Konkan was conducted off the southern coast of Britain during the deployment of Indian ships to the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean The Konkan series of exercises is a part of the c o n t i n u i n g a n d g ro w i n g constructive engagement process between the two navies, the spokesperson said

Kerala MP disqualified for fake caste certificate

T h e c h a l l e n g e f ro m t h e losing candidate about the winner producing a fake caste certificate led to disqualification of Congress

L o k s a b h a M P f ro m Kerala, Kodikunnil Suresh by the Kerala High Court

K S u re s h re p re s e n t s M a v e l i k ka r a L o k s a b h a c o n s t i t

development of the UKIndia relationship of the past fifteen years, there has been a general sense of declining importance and falling standing as the UK has been losing share of t

h e while as India’s GDP and economy has been growing healthily at an average of 8 to 9% In the past decade, the UK has gone from being India’s fourth most important source of i m p o r t s , t o e i g h t e e n t h ; and its influence has been declining as the share of foreign direct investment received by India from the UK has also fallen Britain would be greatly mistaken if it thinks it can rely on past ties, and a shared histor y and a com-

enjoy their Summer here, often have relatives here and usually like to buy their first property outside of India here too India notched up economic growth of 8 6% in the final quarter of 2009, and thus the government is well aware that if the U K i s t o re b a l a n c e i t s

e c o n o m y a n d re t u r n t o healthy growth, we must boost exports and engage w i t h e m e rg i n g m a r ke t s C u r re n t l y o u r l a rg e s t export partners are the US and the Eurozone, which are both mired in slumps and in no position to help catapult us of stagnation and avoid a double dip recession All of this belies t h e u n d e r l y i n g p o i n t , w h i c h i s t h a t w e n e e d India, with its population of 1 1 billion people, more than it needs us

By 2050, India’s economy is set to eclipse that of

B l u e - c h i p c o m p a n i e s s u c h a s B T, Vo d a f o n e , Tesco and JCB have been q u i c k o f f t h e b l o c k s t o realise the potential for g ro w t h a n d o p p o r t u n i t y with Indian businesses; as t o o h a v e B r i t i s h Universities The newly formed India Institute at K i n g ’ s C o l l e g e , L o n d o n has been tr ying hard to develop academic and cultural ties between the UK and India; and this is not the only Higher Education

i n s t i t u t i o n T h e re a re m a n y U K U n i v e r s i t i e s who are keen to attract Indian students to swell their enrolment numbers

w i t h f e e - p a y i n g f o re i g n students; although there a re s a d l y p ro p o r t i o n a l l y few who are signing up for courses at the elite Russell

G ro u p o f u n i v e r s i t i e s , w h e re t h e n u m b e r o f

C h i n e s e - b o r n s t u d e n t s exceeds those from India by a factor of ten Anand Sharma, India’

investment, and he says, “We have seen it make

However, he was war y of the new immigration cap b ro u g h t i n b y t h e Coalition government in the UK on non-EU migrat i o n H

a d d e d , “ T h

c h a n g e s w o

d a f f e c t adversely the professiona

s a n d engineers who have made a notable contribution to the UK; at the same time Indian IT and other executives have to travel, many of them use the UK as a hub to Europe ” What is on the cards is a £500M order for BAE Hawk trainer aircraft Mr Cameron is also expected to press India to be more v o c a l i n s u p p o r t i n g t h e e f f o r t s t o p re v e n

gramme

Cameron in India: Expecting big Hawk Aircraft deal

Continued from page 1

there was a possibility of the finalisation of some civil nuclear research proje c t s a f t e r t h e m e e t i n g between the two leaders, w h o w i l l a l s o l o o k a t enhanced collaboration in education and technolog i e s b e t w e e n t h e t w o countries

Cameron will call on the p re s i d e n t a n d t h e v i c epresident, according to an official release

Besides, foreign secretar y Hague, senior minist e r s a c c o m p a n y i n g

accompanied by the chief executives of more than 50 of Britain’s biggest companies, who will be tr ying to forge trade links

Cameron include chancell o r o f t h e exc h e q u e r, George Osborne, secretar y of state for business, innovation and skills, Vincent

school leaving certificate, K Suresh is a Christian

claimed by him, the disqualified him

The Congress MP can still challenge the High Court verdict

d seat for SC candidates till d a t e K S u re s h i s a Cheramar Christian, but allegedly produced a fake caste certificate, claiming to be Cheramar Hindu This caste is classified as a scheduled caste As one of the losing c a n d i d a t e s w h o f o u g h t from the same seat in the l a

India was also expected to raise the issue of the British government's cap on non-EU immigration of skilled labour, which could come in the way of ambitions to energise business ties However, Stagg ruled out that the issue could hinder the relationship Apart from the delegation-level talks with the I n d i a n p r i m e m i n i s t e r,

C a b l e , a n d s e c re t a r y o f s t a t e f o r c u l t u re , m e d i a and sport, Jeremy Hunt National security adviser Peter Ricketts is also a part of the delegation

I n s i d e r s s a i d M r

C a m e ro n w o u l d a i m t o establish an “aspirational s p e c i a l p a r t n e r s h i p ” between Britain and the rising economic power

Mr Cameron will be

The calibre of compan i e s , i n c l u d i n g B a rc l a y s bank, BAE Systems and Ro l l s - Ro y c e , u n d e r l i n e s Mr Cameron’s intention to re f o c u s f o re i g n p o l i c y towards trade A string of deals are also likely to be unveiled Mr Cameron and Dr Singh are also expected to announce a forum of t o p B r i t i s h a n d I n d i a n exe c u t i v e s w h o w i l l explore how to reduce regulator y barriers to trade

Mr Cameron is expected to press for India to be more vocal in supporting the effort to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons L

2 0 1 2 Olympics representatives including Lord Coe, Sir Steve Redgrave and Dame Kelly Holmes are also to be part of the trip

In Bangalore

On Wednesday, Jul 28, B r i t i s h P M w i l l m e e t Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj and later he will visit India's second largest software exporter Infosys a n d d e f e n c e p ro d u c t i o n unit HAL It is expected t h a t B r i

with Karnataka By this MoU, the British business

ISI paid Taliban to hit Indian missions, workers in Afghanistan

Ka b u l : B a c k i n g N e w

Delhi's finding that the ISI was actively involved in attacks on Indians working in Afghanistan, intelligence documents leaked on Sunday reveal that the Pakistani spy agency paid

t h e Ta l i b a n a n d t h e Haqqani terror network to

t a rg e t I n d i a n m i s s i o n s , road workers, doctors and engineers working in the countr y

U S m i l i t a r y d o c ume nts, part of over 90,000 internal logs made public b y w e

Wi

e l l i g e n c e agencies received regular inputs on the ISI paying terror outfits to plan and exe

Afghanistan

A March 2008 intelligence report said the ISI paid the Haqqani network $15,000-30,000 to eliminate Indian nationals working on the key ZaranjDelaram road project and target engineers and road workers

The report said that "in one particular case, it was reported that the ISI ordered Serajuddin Haqqani to eliminate Indian nationals working in Afghanistan" and to kidnap "doctors, officers, engineers and labourers" working on the road project

A m o n t h l a t e r, t w o engineers of the Border

Ro a d s O

B R O )

project were killed in an attack by a suicide bomber that also left six Indians i n j u re d ,

h

road workers The attacker was one of the Afghan labourers engaged for the project

A n o t h e r i n t e l l i g e n c e report, that came from the Polish a week before the July 2008 attack on the Indian mission in Kabul, warned that the Taliban was planning an attack on the embassy and would use a stolen car to strike

T h e re p o r t s a i d t h e budget of the operation was $120,000 and woul d be carried out to "show TB's abilities to carr y out attack on ever y object in Kabul" - TB is a reference

to the Taliban " T B d e s i g n a t e d a n e n g i n e e r - t o t a ke t h i s action He intends to use stolen ANA/ANP car, and wear stolen uniform He speaks Dari with distinct Iranian accent " India lost two officers, including an IFS officer a n d a B r i g a d i e r, i n t h e attack that almost brought down the mission building

i n Ka b u l I n v e s t i g a t i o n s revealed that the attackers used explosives and tank shells in the suicide vehicle that had been manufactured in Pakistan

The most direct report o n t h e c o n n e c t i o n between the ISI and the H a q q a n i n e t w o r k i s a "threat report" that the US

2010 could be the hottest in 130 years

Washington: The world is on course for the hottest year since records began in 1880 after record-breaking temperatures in four of the first six months of the year, according to meteoro l o g i s t s T h e f i r s t s i x months of 2010 brought a s t r i n g o f w a r m e s t - e v e r global temperatures, not only was last month the hottest June ever recorded, it was the fourth consecutive month in which t h e s t a n d i n g h i g h m a r k was topped, according to the US National Oceanic a n d At m o s p h e r i c Administration (NOAA)

The records show that 2010 has surpassed 1998 for the most record-breaking months in a calendar year The Januar y-to-June p e r i o d re g i s t e re d t h e warmest combined global l a n d a n d o c e a n s u r f a c e temperatures since 1880, when reliable temperature re a d i n g s b e g a n , N OAA said The combined land and ocean temperature for t h e f i r s t s i x m o n t h s o f 2010 are 57 5F (14 2C), w h i c h i s 1 2 F ( 0 6 8 C ) a b o v e t h e 2 0 t h c e n t u r y average for the Januar y to June period In June the combined land and ocean t e m

6 1 1 F ( 1 6 2 C ) , w h i c h i s 1 2 F (0 68C) above the 20th centur y average of 59 9F (15 5C) Arctic ice cover –another critical yardstick of global warming – had also retreated more than ever before by July 1, putting it on track to shrink beyond its smallest area to date, in 2007

On the face of it, these numbers would seem to be alarming confirmation of climate models that put Earth on a path towards a n e n v i ro n m e n t a l c a t a strophe Without steep cuts in greenhouse gas emis-

Air hostess steals money from sleeping passengers

London: An Air France air hostess is facing 10 years in prison in France after admitting stealing money, credit cards and jeweller y from business class passengers as they slept on long-haul flights

The 47-year-old airline

t attack on the Indian mission It revealed that the ISI gave orders to one of its agents to o rchestrate an attack on Indian consulates in Afghanistan T

says, gave orders to an

Jalalabad) and h e is going to establish relations with another Afghan employee After that he will go to Kabul" While there are several reports that indicate links between the ISI and the Taliban - one talks of a plot to import poisoned alcohol from Pakistan to kill Afghan and coalition troops - some which men-

are the first official confirmation that the US had leads on the links between

Haqqani network in coor-

Sardar Shah (an employee of the Indian consulship in

s i o n s , t h e g l o b a l t h e r -

mometer could rise by 6 C (10 8F) compared to preindustrial levels, making large swaths of the planet u n l i v a b l e , t h e U N ' s I n t e rg o v e r

(IPCC) has warned

Copenhagen climate summit in December would likely cap that increase at 3 5 C to 4 0 C (6 3 F to 7 2 F), still fall far short of the 2 0 C (3 6 C) limit that most scientists agree is the t h re s h o l d f o r d a n g e ro u s warming

Indians in Afghanistan

For a first, black man elected to office in Russia

N o v o z a v i d o v o ( Ru s s i a ) :

For the first time in the histor y of Russia, a black man was elected to office

In a countr y where racism is entrenched and often v i o l e n t , J e a n G re g o i re Sagbo’s election as one of Novozavidovo's 10 municipal councilors is a miles

town's 10,000 people, the 48-year-old from the West African countr y of Benin is viewed si mply a Russian who cares about his homet

revive the impoverished,

where he has lived for 21 years and raised a family His plans include reducing rampant drug addiction, c

e d lake and delivering heating to homes " N

s dying," Sagbo said in an

a mshackle municipal building "This is my home, my town We can't live like this " "His skin is black but he is Russian inside," said Vyacheslav Arakelov, the mayor

"It would all go missing on the routes she was working on," said a source close to investiga tors, who l o o ke d a t 1 4 2 f l i g h t s attended by the woman, who is married with children

"She knew that many of the passengers would f a

g a large meal and lots of alco-

e m p l o y e e d u b b e d t h e " M i l e H i g h P i c k p o c ke t " was caught following comp l a i n t s a b o u t m i s s i n g money, credit cards and designer jeweller y S h e w o u l d r i f l e t h ro u g h p o c ke t s a n d handbags, helping herself up to 3,700 pounds on one single flight, reports said

hol This is the time that

helping herself to whatever she could find "

The woman, identified as Lucie R, was arrested when she got off a Tokyo to Paris flight last Friday

When con fronted with

watches to cheque books were taken

Anxiety, bad relationship can trigger heart problems

Toronto: A new research in Canada suggests that people in a bad relationship bear the risk of a lit-

e r a l h e a r t b re a k T h o s e people who feel insecure o r a n x i o u s a b o u t t h e i r lovers stand a 50 per cent higher likelihood of gett i n g a h e a r t a t t a c k o r stroke, as compared those in a happier relationship

In a study of more than 5,600 adults in the age group of 18 to 60, Dr Lachlan McWilliams from Ac a d i a U n i o f C a n a d a found that people insecure in their relationships or avoiding getting close to others are likely to be at a higher risk of developing many chronic ailments

In the study, published b y t h e A m e r i c a n Psychological Association, p a r t i c i p a n t s p a r t i c i p a n t s answered a questionnaire a b o u t t h e i r h i s t o r i

f arthritis, chronic back or neck problems, frequent or severe headaches, other forms of chronic pain, seasonal allergies, stroke and heart attack T h e y

c

o s e d whether a doctor had told them they had heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, chronic lung dis-

blood sugar, ulcers, epilepsy, seizures or cancer

w e d that "anxious attachment" was positively associated w

health conditions, includ-

also raise the possibility that inter ventions aimed at improving attachment security could also have positive health outcomes

Pakistan secretly backed Taliban, says US daily

New York: Pakistan has been double-crossing the United States by secretly

s u p p o r t i n g t h e Ta l i b a n while taking massive US aid, the New York Times

s a i d o n S u n d a y, c i t i n g documents leaked by the

g ro u p Wi k i L e a k s T h e

W h i t e H o u s e re s p o n d e d with a strong condemnation of the leak, saying it

c o u l d t h re a t e n n a t i o n a l security and endanger the l i v e s o f A m e r i c a n s a n d those of its allies

" T h e s e i r re s p o n s i b l e leaks will not impact our

o n g o i n g c o m m i t m e n t t o deepen our partnerships

w i t h A f g h a n i s t a n a n d Pa k i s t a n , " P re s i d e n t Barack Obama's National Security Advisor Jim Jones said in a statement

O b a m a i s s e n d i n g

t h o u s a n d s o f a d d i t i o n a l troops into Afghanistan to

c o m b a t a re s u

Taliban, despite disquiet at home over rising militar y c a s u a l t i e s a n d d e b a t e within his own administration about the right way to fight the 9-year war

The New York Times reported the 91,000 docu-

m e n t s , c o l l e c

e d f ro m across the US militar y in A f g h a n i s t a n , s h o w e d Pakistan actively collabo

said The documents were

weekly Der Spiegel

Jones said the docu-

Obama launched his new Afghan strategy

m a announced a new strategy with a substantial increase i

violent extremist groups l

have more space to plot and train," he said Wi k

the leaking of information to fight government and c

Earlier this year it leaked a classified video showing

that killed a dozen people

Reuters journalists

Pakistan's ambassador t

Husain Haqqani said leak-

In focUS

Kayani gets 3-year extension as army chief

ally of the United States, allows representatives of i t s s p y s

v i c e t o m e e

directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of milit a n t g ro u

against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders," the Times

Qaeda and Taliban safehavens in Pakistan, precisely because of the grave situation that had developed over several years," Jones said

"We know that serious challenges lie ahead, but if Afghanistan is permitted to slide backwards, we will again face a threat from

from the battlefield was irresponsible "These reports reflect nothing more than single s o u rc e c o m m e n t s a n d rumors, which abound on both sides of the PakistanA

h a n i s t a n b o rd e r a n d are often proved wrong," he said in a sta tement

Hillary rules out India like nuke deal with Pak

Islamabad: Ruling out any possibility of an India like civil nuclear accord with Pakistan, US Secretar y of State Hillar y Clinton has said that there are issues which are yet to be resolved, and u n l e s s t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l

c o m m u n i t y a n d t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l At o m i c

E n e rg y A s s o c i a t i o n (IAEA) are satisfied on the matter no progress can be made

Addressing journalists and members of civil society here last week, Clinton h i g

Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) has raised a number of questions over any n u c

Pakistan

"NSG has posed series of questions that need to be answered there are

c l e a r l y re s e r v a t i o n s Pakistan knows that I'm l o o k i n g f o r w a rd t o t h e answers to the questions," she said

Re f e r r i n g D r A b d u l

Qadeer Khan's nexus, she said that Pakistan has a h i s t o r y o f p ro l i f e r a t i o n ,

Hillary Clinton

which can not be ignored

"The problem with A Q Khan raises red flags for people around the world,

Confidants see no ‘political’

I s l a m a b a d : Fo r m e r

Pa k i s t a n P re s i d e n t

General Per vez Musharraf

m i g h t h a v e v o w e d t o re t u r n t o t h e c o u n t r y ' s political stage riding on his newly floated political party, however, his former c o l l e a g u e s , w h o m Musharraf trusted to help him in his motive, are not v e r y e n t h u s i a s t i c a b o u t the general's future

M u s h a r r a f re c e n t l y held meetings with several of his former confidants and leaders of like minded parties in Dubai

not just in the US, because we can trace the export of nuclear information and m a t e r i a l f ro m Pa k i s t a n through all kinds of chann e l s t o m a n y d i f f e re n t countries That cannot be overlooked or put under t h e c a r p e t , " T h e D a w n

quoted Hillar y, as saying "Pakistan, right now, is the only countr y standing i n t h e w a y o f t h e C o n f e re n c e o n

D i s a r m a m e n t p u r s u i n g

s o m e t h i n g c a l l e d t h e Fissile Material Cut Off Treaty," she added

role for Musharraf

Haq and Humayun Akhtar Khan, president and secret ar y general of PML -Q (like-minded group) have also denied reports of making any contact with the retired general

Islamabad: Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was given a three-year extension of service by the government to ensure continuity in counterterrorism operations, ending months of speculation over his continuance The 58-year-old Kayani, who replaced former President Pervez Musharraf as army chief in 2007, was to retire on November 28 Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the government's decision to extend his tenure during a televised address to the nation last week "In the best interests of the country, I have decided in my capacity as Prime Minister to give Gen Kayani an extension of three years from November 29, 2010 while relaxing the existing policy and after consulting President Asif Ali Zardari," Gilani said 7 members of a Hindu family killed

Islamabad: Seven members of a Hindu family were killed when they were caught in a gun battle between two factions of the Bugti tribe in Pakistan's Balochistan province, media reports said last week A couple and their five children were killed in the incident that occurred in Suhbatpur sub-division of Jaffarabad district, the reports said District police chief Javed Iqbal said the members of the minority Hindu community died during an exchange of fire between two rival groups of the Bugti tribe Ten members of the Hindu family were sleeping outside their hut when the gun battle erupted Shankar, his wife and their five children died on the spot while three others were injured Iqbal said the dead were residents of Bakhshpur town of Sindh province

Father sells teenage daughter to 55 year old for 70,000 rupees

Lahore: In what can be described as a blot on the fatherdaughter relationship, a Pakistani man sold his 13-year old daughter for 70, 000 rupees for marrying a 55-year old man Now, the girl, Sadia, has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking protection and action against her own father and other family members Sadia had escaped from her father's custody just three days before she was about to be married, but what is more shocking is that even the local police officials sided with her family and have been constantly harassing her, The News reports Later, the Judicial Activism Panel (JAP), a human rights and public interest litigation association, came to Sadia's rescue enabling her to file case in the Lahore High Court JAP's chairman advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique filed a petition in the court on the girl's behalf, stating that Sadia's family members were constantly managing police raids in search of her Taliban claims responsibility for killing minister ’s son

Munir Ahmed and others, b u t s e v e r a l l e a d e r s i n

PML -Q and other leaders

h

g Musharraf

PML (Zia ) chief Ejazul

I n s i d e r s i n t h e Musharraf camp revealed that Musharraf met several PML -Q leaders, includi n g Ra z a H a y a t H i r a j , G h u l a m S a r w a r K h a n , C h a

S o u rc e s c l o s e t o Musharraf disclosed that the politicians who met Musharraf in Dubai told him that there was not a single political personality of international stature in the newly formed alliance

o f t h re e L e a g u e s , a n d Musharraf was the only person who could lead the proposed coalition or the g re a t er p o l i t i c a l a l l i a n c e likely to be formed this year

Musharraf would make

public his vision and manifesto and the date for his re t u r n o n l y a f t e r f i n a l efforts about the format i o n o f g re a t e r p o l i t i c a l alliance, as he was solely banking on the support of the stated coalition, The Nation reports

Insiders quoted leaders who took part in the Dubai meeting, as saying that efforts to form a large r p o l i t i c a l a l l i a n c e a re likely to take a practical s h a p e b y t h e e n d o f Au g u s t f o l l o w i n g w h i c h M u s h a r r a f c o u l d announce a date for his re t u r n f ro m L o n d o n , where he is currently living on an unannounced self-exile

US slaps sanctions against Taliban, Haqqani network

Wa s h i n g t o n : I n a m o v e against the Haqqani network, the US has slapped financial sanctions against three top Taliban leaders, i n c l u d i n g N a s i r u d d i n Haqqani, a brother of key

Ta l i b a n l e a d e r S i r a j u d i n Haqqani

T h e s a n c t i o n s a n n o u n c e d b y t h e Department of Treasur y, b e s i d e s N a s i r u d d i n a l s o target Gul Agha Ishakzai, a top aide of the outlawed

o rg a n i s a t i o n ' s c h i e f Mullah Omar and Amir Abdullah, former treasurer to senior Taliban leader Mullah Baradar

The move could be a b i g s e t b

cozying up to President Hamid Karzai to involve the Haqqani faction in the proposed new set-up in Afghanistan, post US and N AT O w i t h d r a w a l f ro m the countr y The Treasur y D e p a r t m e n t ' s s t e p w i l l freeze the assets of these militants, ban their travel a n d t r i g g e r a

S

o r C a r

L

v i n , Chairman of the Senate A r m e d S e r v i c e s Committee called for sanc-

tions against the Haqqani network

Together with US sanctions, the new action prohibits any financial transaction of these terror leaders in member countries of the UN, which is likely to put pressure on Pakistan

t o i n i t i a t

p e r a t i o n against the group

"The sanc tions placed on the three leaders as terro r i s t s w o u l d d e p r i v e them of the assets they need to fund the terror

o p e r a t i o n s , " s a i d Ad a m

Szubin, Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control

"We will continue to

a g g re s s i v e l y w o r k t o expose and dismantle the financial networks of terrorist groups in support of the President's goal of a s t a b l e A f g h a n i s t a n , " Szubin said Ishakzai is the head of t h e Ta l i b a n ' s f i n a n c i a l commission and is part of a recently-created Taliban council that coordinates t h e c o l l e c t i o n o f z a ka t f ro m B a l u c h i s t a n

Province He has collected money for suicide attacks in Kandahar and has been involved in the disbursement of funds for Taliban fighters and their families

Islamabad: The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the gunning down of the son of a provincial minister, who was threatened by militants for criticising suicide attacks Mian Rashid Hussain, the only son of Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, was killed by militants in Nowshera district on Saturday After distancing themselves from the attack, the Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq initially telephoned some reporters in Peshawar and expressed his regret over the killing of the minister's son Later, the Tehrik-e-Taliban's deputy spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan called some journalists and claimed responsibility for the murder

Zardari directs action in temple demolition, Christians’ murder

Islamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari last week directed authorities to take action on the murder of two Christians accused of blasphemy and the demolition of a temple in Rawalpindi Taking note of reports about the gunning down of two Christians outside a court at Faisalabad in Punjab recently, Zardari directed provincial authorities to take "every measure for the arrest" of the killers He gave an assurance that justice would be done Rashid Emanuel and his brother Sajid were arrested earlier this month for allegedly authoring a blasphemous pamphlet on Prophet Mohammed Police said members of a banned religious group were believed to be involved in their killing In a statement, Zardari strongly condemned the incident and said it had brought a bad name to Pakistan "The life of every person is sacred and no one would be allowed to take the law into their hands," he said The President expressed sympathy with the families of Rashid and Sajjad Emanuel and directed the Punjab government to pay them suitable compensation Zardari also took note of reports about the demolition of part of a Hindu temple in Rawalpindi and asked Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti to investigate the matter and report the factual position

Common market protocol is a reality in East African countries

A historical development for Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi

Nairobi: For citizens of f

Africa – Kenya, Uganda,

Ta

n d Burundi, a new revolution process has already set in w

Common Market Protocol

E f f e c t i v e f ro m 1 s t J u l y, 2010, the new era means goods and ser vices would become better and cheap-

e r a c ro s s t h e b o rd e r s Even citizens of all the member countries will be able to move about more freely and be able to do business, take jobs in any of the countries

Setting off the common market in Nairobi, Kenyan President Kibaki ordered waiver of work permit fees for all East Africans coming to the country

Immigration to waive fees on work permits for all East African citizens,” the President said

At

G

Wako to use Parliament to

laws with EAC countries for the smooth implementation of the protocol

Speaking at Nairobi's Ke

President said the expand-

opportunities for trade in goods and ser vices

Experts say the protocol will bring down barriers to movement of labour and goods in the region and that will be a boon to

the people of the bloc

Other benefits expect-

In

nationalities, in relation to

tion, and other conditions of work and employment,”

under the article on free movement of workers

However, it will take time before this translates

Po l i c y

competition and job creation “With the free movement, lowly paid workers will discover better paying prospects across borders,” Prof Inonda Mwanje, the executive director of the A

Institute argues

Upon retirement, the

just like the citizens of

states shall ensure non-

workers of the other partner states, based on their

involves amending various laws

However, enjoying of all these benefits is not a

t o m a t i c T

p a r t n e r states still retain the right to admission, according to t h e p ro t o c o l : “ T h e f re e m o v e m e n t o f w o r ke r s shall be subject to limitations imposed by the host partner state on grounds o f p u b l i c p o l i c y, p u b l i c security, or public health ”

US vows to push reforms in Kenya

N a i ro b i : T h e U S i s adamant that it will not s h y a w a y f ro m n u d g i n g Kenya towards the path of re f o r m s A m b a s s a d o r

Michael Ranneberger said h e s h a re d i n P re s i d e n t Barrack Obama s wish to see a prosperous Kenya, whose destiny would be

g re a t l y s h a p e d b y t h e enactment of a new constitution

'We have made it clear that a new constitution is a b s o l u t e l y e s s e n t i a l f o r the future, security and

p ro s p e r i t y o f t h i s g re a t

n a t i o n , " s a i d M r

Ra n n e b e rg e r d u r i n g t h e swearing in of 36 peace

c o r p s v o l u n t e e r s a t h i s

Nairobi residence

"As our Vice President

s a i d d u r i n g h i s re c e n t visit, the countr y will only a t t r a c t f o re i g n i n v e s tments unless the countr y deals with issues of corr u p t i o n T h i s w i l l o n l y come about with a new constitution in place "

In reply to allegations that his government was funding campaigns for the proposed constitution, the envoy said he won’t be drawn into a political war

o f w o rd s w i t h t h e N o

c a m p a n d U S C o n g re s s m a n C h r i s S m i t h , a Re p u b l i c a n " I have neither responded to the Congressmen nor to the opponents of the draft law nor do I plan to," said

Mr Ranneberger

Mr Smith has alleged that the United States has spent $23 million through U SA I D , s o m e o f w h i c h has gone to support Yes campaigns

This, he says, makes t h e U S a c t i o n s i l l e g a l through an American law c a l l e d t h e S i l j a n d e r Amendment that bans the United States from lobbyi n g o t h e r c o u n t r i e s o n matters related to abortion

T h e s a m e a l l e g a t i o n was repeated by the No c a m p l e a d b y H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n m i n i s t e r

William Ruto

Q u o t i n g P re s i d e n t O b a m a , t h e e n v o y s a i d

putting a new constitution in place was the only way structures on better governance would be put in place

" I t h e re f o re u rg e a l l Kenyans to take advantage of this opportunity Ke n y a i s p o i s e d a t t h e most important moment of change since independence " he said Mr Ranneberger also used his speech to the US Peace Corps volunteers to shore up American support for Kenya

H e s t re s s e d t h e h i storic partnership between t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d Kenya, especially the US support for Kenyan multiparty democracy

Mandela’s daughter, grandchildren attacked

C a p e To w n ( S o u t h Africa): A daughter and some of the grandchildren of former South African president Nelson Mandela were attacked by gunmen in Johannesburg as they re t u r n e d h o m e f ro m a w e e ke n d b i r t h d a y p a r t y for the 92-year-old statesman, police confirmed last week

Z

driveway of their home, a

s p o ke s m a n G o

i n d s a m y Mariemuthoo

He said the driver of the car, Mandela's daughter and the children were first ordered to lie on the

away, but returned shortly after to search them

One of the men suddenly fired a shot, leading the driver to return fire, M a r i e m u t h o o s a i d N o

one was injured and the attackers fled Z i n d z i M a n d e l a , 4 9 , and the children had previously been at her father's h o u s e t o c

birthday

T h e d a y w a s a l s o m a r ke d b y n u m e ro u s events throughout South Africa in honour of the increasingly frail national hero

It is the second blow to the Mandela family within a six-week span Zenani Mandela, the 13-year-old g re a t - g r a n d d

N e l s o n M a n d e l a a

granddaughter of Zindzi

a

crash shortly before the June 11 opening of the World Cup

Archbishop Desmond Tutu ‘to withdraw from public life’

Pretoria: N o b e l P e a

Desmond Tutu who played a prominent role in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid said that he would “withdraw from public life ” After his 79th birthday in October, he said, he would reduce his work-load to one day a week before retiring That work would be devoted to The Elders a group appointed by former President Nelson Mandela to tackle the world's most pressing problems During the 27 years that Mr Mandela was in prison, Archbishop Tutu spoke out against apartheidand won the Nobel peace prize in 1984 for his efforts He was chosen by Mr Mandela to chair South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and investigate the crimes committed by all sides during the apartheid regime The former Archbishop of Cape Town, the first black cleric to hold that position, said his career highlight was introducing Mr Mandela as South African president in 1994 He said he wanted to spend more time sipping tea with his wife, watching cricket, or visiting his grandchildren, although he added that he would honour his existing appointments

Kenya torture victims get compensation

Nairobi: Kenyan judges have awarded 21 former political prisoners almost $500,000 (£330,000) between them in compensation for torture they suffered in the 1980s They were among hundreds of people who were illegally detained and tortured during the government of President Daniel Arap Moi, who retired in 2002 Their lawyers, who first brought the case in 1988, said the constitutional court had made a landmark ruling The victims had described spending days in waterlogged torture chambers As long as Mr Moi ruled Kenya Nyayo House in Nairobi became an unutterable synonym for torture, terror and detention The upper floors of the building housed the department of immigration, but beneath them in the basement worked the special branch of internal security - Mr Moi's secret police His government always denied torture, but more than two decades ago, while he was still in power, 21 former prisoners tried to sue the administration for violating their fundamental rights

African Union pledges to reinforce its Somalia force

Kampala: African Union leaders have agreed to reinforce the AU peacekeeping force in Somalia to tackle alShabab militants At a summit in Uganda, they approved a request to send 2,000 more troops to the Somali capital Mogadishu Rules of engagement are to be changed to allow the troops to fire first if they are facing imminent attack Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had wanted a tougher mandate to "eliminate" the al-Qaeda linked group that allowed forces to go on the offensive He said that AU peacekeepers were "confused" by the current mandate "They don't understand what they are doing So they need a robust answer, a robust incisive answer," he said Dozens of people were killed two weeks ago in twin bomb attacks in Uganda's capital, Kampala, which al-Shabab said it had carried out With a limited mandate the AU peacekeepers have almost been sitting ducks because they could respond only after being attacked by al-Shabab and other insurgents Angered by the bomb attacks in Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni wanted the green light for an all-out offensive

Zimbabwe court acquits Tsvangirai ally

Harare: Zimbabwe’s high court last week dropped terrorism charges against a senior official of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) The court ruled that the state had failed to prove its case against MDC treasurer Roy Bennett Bennett was arrested last year and charged with illegal possession of arms with terrorist and insurgent intentions The MDC claimed the accusations were a political ploy by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF to prevent Bennett from taking up his designated post as a deputy minister in a unity government

In this week’s CB Live Rajesh Patel from RJ Insurance will talk about importance of insurance in today’s world. Also, Induben Amin, Vice President of Harrow Women’s Association will talk about women’s issues.

If you do not have a tv, go to www tvunetworks com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

To ask questions please call on: 020 8963 1001 For more information e-mail: cblive matv@yahoo.co.uk Only on CB Live - MATV Sky 793 - Thursday 7:00pm to 8:00pm

Police joins Sikh community festival

The Metropolitan Police Service (Met) took the opportunity to engage with Sikh and other communities this month at a special festival in Hillingdon The event saw over 6000 people from around the world attend the special festival of Prakash, which featured a spiritual reading from the Sikh holy book as well as singing of hymns

Local Hillingdon officers were joined by colleagues in the Met s Special Constabulary (MPS), Ealing and SO18 who were all on hand to talk and give advice to the community about crime prevention, knife crime, forced marriages, as well as to promote the MPS as an employer of choice for recruitment in volunteer roles Consequently, around twenty five community members showed an interest in volunteering with the Met, either as a special constable, cadet or volunteer

Punjabi speaking officers proved a hit with the visitors and they seized the chance to further develop a good relationship with the Sikh community Also at the festival, which was organised by Guru Nanak Sikh School, was trainee police constable Gurbinder Dhinsa - the first baptised female Sikh police officer wearing a turban in the Metropolitan Police Service

British Tamils gather for midnight vig il

A “midnight vigil” was held outside Downing Street on Friday 26 July to demand an independent inquiry by the United Nations into alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka British Tamils gathered in their hundreds carrying candles and banners, expressing their feelings

As reported by the Hindu Times, the vigil marked the start of a “walk for justice” which would culminate into a rally at the UN Office in Geneva on August 6

A spokesman for the British Tamil Forum said the walk was aimed at highlighting the “plight” of the displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka It called for independent monitors to be allowed access to those detained by security forces after last year’s military operation

The Forum in a statement said, “The walk for justice coincides with the recent appointment of a UN advisory panel by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Sri Lanka must be reminded it is a democratic country which has subscribed to UN covenants and Geneva Conventions and is obliged to comply with the obligations to which it has signed up to”

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Mar

Do not kid yourself that emotional problems can always be solved by material means This only covers the cracks and does nobody any good in the end Be prepared to confront the issues If love has left you feeling rather dejected or cynical, it looks as though soon events will pull you out of this mood of despondency.

Try to take things in your stride rather than anticipating what might happen Keep calm as conflict and disagreement could be sparked off by your short-sightedness Think carefully about the implications of your actions Intense focus is what is needed now so do not let yourself be distracted by non-essentials

Now is the time to cultivate an easier relationship with life, get out and about, explore fresh possibilities and make new friends Any effort to enrich your life by making changes is almost certain to work in your favour and you will be surprised how circumstances help you once you make the initial move

Try to take things in your stride rather than anticipating what might happen Keep calm as conflict and disagreement could be sparked off by your short-sightedness. Think carefully about the implications of your actions. Intense focus is what is needed now so do not let yourself be distracted by non-essentials

Guard against being too impatient and restless Avoid get-rich-quick schemes and be cautious about other people's enthusiasm which is likely to be misplaced Make a very conscious attempt to stick to main priorities Organise your time so that it is not taken up entirely by the demands of other people

If lately you have had all sorts of demands being placed on you from all sides, don't despair Try and work out where you want to make changes in your busy life Once you know, don't hesitate to implement it The planetary activity in your chart signals a time of mixed emotions as well as personal issues to be dealt with

You are endowed with a level of determination that others sometimes find formidable. Once you set your mind on a goal you stay the course no matter what obstacles you encounter. Saturn's placement in your Solar 1st house often denotes a phase of restriction, sometimes frustration, in one's life

You may find yourself hard at work behind the scenes, although that may not be apparent to others You may find yourself caught up in a whirlwind of activity, with opportunities to advance on both the inner and outer level There’s a sparkle to your social life and you will have fun communicating with others

Your energy and attention will be very much devoted to financial matters The tide of fortune continues to run strongly in your favour for some time to come You will be working harder than usual, intent on getting thing done Close personal relationships may come under some stress and strain

You will find added scope and greater incentive to push full steam ahead with your cherished aims You must be careful not to tread on other people's toes This is the right time to talk things over with your loved one - especially anything that has been worrrying you or making you feel insecure

It is certainly going to be a fortunate time for those already married or in an established relationship The keynote is emotional enrichment through close interaction with a loved one Facets of your life that have been a source of restriciton and dissatisfaction will begin to loosen their hold

An inspiring boost to matters of communication but make sure your curiosity on a range of topics does not lead to a scattering of mental energy With a surge of enery and enthusiasm, this is a favourable time to make fresh starts Personal relationships may be more intense.

Rules Connect adjacent dots with vertical or horizontal lines creating a single loop (Fig A)

Crossovers or branches are not allowed

sCRAMBLE - 60

Rearrange the letters in the four word jumbles one letter to each square/circle to make four ordinary words

How to play Now arrange the etters in the circles to form the answer to the riddle

other, retch, torch

WHATZIT? - 98

Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this arrangement of letters

(As shown by dotted lines in Fig B)

Numbers in the puzzle indicate the number of lines that should surround it, while empty cells may be surrounded by any number of lines

You can t draw lines arround zeroes

Each puzzle has just one unique solution

How to begin: Example (Fig A) - Begin with the zero next to 3 Since no lines can be drawn around zero mark crosses around it, as shown Now there is a cross in one space around 3 So we know the three lines of 3 can only be drawn in the remaining three spaces Next these lines can only be extended in one direction each Continue, using the same logic

Hints: Keep eliminating possibilities by marking crosses in spaces between dots where a line isn’t possible, i.e., if you have already completed required lines or where a line extension may create a branch or cause a deadend (Fig B)

Given

forms legible words

To communicate with God - Carnivore’s target Watery part of milk that separates when milk turns to curds - The route or the course Traveled from one place to another solution of 97 : Our solution: 4!*4! + 4+4=584

B

By Rupanjana Dutta

ombay comes to L ondon

I have always felt that most of the Indian restaurants in the UK never do justice to Indian cuisine

But after tasting some of the appetisers at Dishoom, during its formal launch on the 14th of July, I am strongly of the opinion that, finally, India has reached the heart of London.

In India every city and its cafes have a particular essence

Though the idea is decaying with time, in Kolkata, talk about Flury's or Coffee House, they have their unique style, unique food and many loyal customers A bridge between the west and the east, they have their charm, never observed elsewhere Bombay Cafes also follow similar trends

Dishoom, a Bombay cafe, serves a menu that incorporates city’s street grills and food stalls – think of Bademiya and Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai Whether it's the breakfast menu or dinner at Dishoom, the touch of old Bombay and new Mumbai under one roof is an impressive effort to preserve old memories with a 'London twist'

Bri tish Indian wins prestigious award at IFA 2010

Ekta Solanki, a London College of Fashion graduate has won the 'Collection of the Year' award at the International Fashion Awards 2010, which was held at the London Hilton Metropole on Friday 9th July 2010

Ekta Solanki, who launched her own design house in 2005, was singled out for her ‘stand-out’ collection, which combined the eastern and western influences including bridal gowns, evening wear and statement designs for contemporary, fashion conscious women

Ekta, who grew up in Zambia and

has worked for both Burberry as a Brand Specialist and managed Selfridges’ women’s fashion account before setting up her own label, said, ‘I feel humbled at having been selected by the IAFA judges for such a prestigious award The last few years have been very busy but also a lot of fun The success of the label and vision for the Ekta Solanki brand has allowed me to dedicate all of my time to what I love, and this award is the icing on a very wonderful cake My work has always been about creating bespoke designs for each of my clients, which reflects their unique style and personality.’

(Visit www ektasolanki com for more details on Ekta and her collection)

UK citizens as well as other passengers travelling to India or any other country should check their basic documents to avoid last moment hassles Any lapse may lead to the person being forced to cancel back visit or even being sent back from the airport here in UK itself

Such a lapse could also cost you the loss of the ticket amount fully

Those travelling should see that these papers are in proper order:

1 – The duration and validity of your passport It is important that the validity of your passport is longer that your planned date of return

2 – Check that you have proper visa for the country to visit Particularly, if you have plans to travel to India or other countries which stipulate the necessity of a visa, don’t purchase your flight ticket till you have secured your visa

Certain countries also have made it mandatory that you should have got yourself vaccinated for particular illnesses Hence, when you plan a travel, you should also check these require-

ments before hand

3 – It is important that you check all the details on your e-ticket Important details include your name, address, the baggage allowance (how much weight you can carry), reference numbers if any of the flight, the terminals of departures and arrivals etc

4 – If you intend to buy a ticket from online, may be the ticket rules do not provide any refunds in case of cancellation of your trip or extra charges for any change in dates or flights In certain cases, such tickets do not allow any changes and you may need to buy a new ticket in case of any changes Please take advise

5 – A better, rather convenient option is that you buy the ticket from your old and trusted travel agent Also see that you communicate with them in your own language while you give him the details of your travel plans Though some believe 'online purchase' is cheaper

By Spriha Srivastava

Sahara & Safesky join hands for solar plant in India

It is seldom that one comes across a successful and well known industrialist with an absolutely humble personality I had started to think that modesty and humility are adjectives that existed in histor y But when I came across Mr Subrata Roy, Managing Worker & Chairman, Sahara India Pariwar, and his ever charming and down to earth attitude, I was absolutely floored by him He came across not only as a person with immense intellect but also as someone who loves to interact and know more and more people

It is also seldom that one meets a Genius Innovator of Technology and a renowned Doctor in the same meeting Safesky is relatively a younger company but have a huge potential for the future with its modern technology Sahara India Family, known to be the world’s largest family is an Indian multi-business conglomerate with diversified business interests The company is headed by Saharasri Subrata Roy who has been named by Time Magazine as the “Second largest employer in India” after the Indian Railways Currently they employ one million people I had the privilege to meet Mr Roy last week during his business visit to London in a lunch party hosted by Mr B P Bhattachar ya, Senior Partner of B S S Associates Chartered Accountant, one of London’s registered auditors and Mrs Susmita Bhattacharya, a renowned Rabindra sangit singer and Managing Director of Gresham Hotel, Sussex Gardens, London

The lunch was also to welcome a genius of a man - Mr Arik Klien, President and Founder of Safesky Israel and Dr Amos Bouchnik, Chairman of Safesky Israel and a famous dentist in his own right Safesky have invented a Solar System of converting sun rays to electricity in a most advanced technological way The Plant is 40% cheaper then ones available in the market and performance in high calibre

The lunch in London was to formalise the setting up a 5 MW Solar Plant in Aamby Valley, the dream city near Mumbai Aamby

Valley was declared an Eco Centre of India two years ago This Plant will provide all the Electricity that Aamby Valley will require In May 2010; Sahara India Power Corporation Limited (SIPCL) which is a subsidiar y of Sahara India Group signed an MOU with Safesky Software of Israel for promoting and manufacturing advanced solar power and other technologies for Indian users The MOU was signed between Ashok Bhargava, Chief Executive Officer of Sahara and Dr Amos Bouchnik, Chairman of Safesky Israel and Founder President Arik Klien, in the presence of Saharasri Mr Subrata Roy Sahara

The project was initiated by Mr B P Bhattacharya who along with Safesky associates visited Aamby Valley in June 2010 to look into the project A number of meetings have already taken place in India between Sahara and Safesky

This project will be an icon in showing to the rest of India the capability of Sahara and Safesky to venture Safesky with such advanced technology and Sahara with such a huge name and expertise will together become a milestone industry in India in time India’s appetite for energy is huge The current rate of growth is 9 5% and this can multiply manifold with cheaper and better type of energy

This is however the first solar power plant that this partnership will be setting up Following the successful launch of this project, Sahara-Safesky will venture into other projects in and around India Safesky has advanced technologies in solar power, communication and water desalination, which will be available to Sahara for marketing and manufactur-

ing in India

A ver y impressive aspect of this project is its aim to bring about an electricity revolution for those in the rural areas In a company press release that I came across before meeting Mr Roy in person, he had said, “This new technology is definitely going to benefit our country in a very big way In our country, particularly in rural areas with 500 million people, the power deficit is very high and I am sure this product will definitely help our country immensely I am very happy to be associated with this development”

Such is the kind of spirit that we need in the present Indian set up, especially with relation to our rural population The project will be financed on a 50-50 basis between Sahara and Safesky While Sahara will be raising 50 percent of the entire cost of the project, there are reports that both the Central and the State governments in India will back this project since it is in the interest of all

The project also aims to reduce carbon pollution

Since electricity is produced by coal and petrol or through the atomic power stations, the carbon emission level is high and it is extremely harmful for the environment for many reasons However, solar power on the other hand converts sun light to electricity which is one of the oldest and the most natural way of power generation This will cut carbon emission and make the surrounding better and healthier

The plant in Aamby Valley is expected to be fully operational by December 2010 As of now the equipments are being loaded and the project is in its working stages One can expect that once this project takes off, the power deficit problem in India can slowly start to shrink

Ravi Bopara ignored for 1st test

Morgan, Shahzad picked up to play Pakistan

Ra v i B o p a r a ’ s s p a r k l i n g

form with bat – two centuries on a trot for Essex

E

Ti m

Bresnan also did not find favours with the panel, as Eoin Morgan and Ajmal

S

a d h a v

b

e n retained their places in the England team to play the

Pakistan at Trent Bridge

HI for police probe into Kaushik misconduct

Even as former coach of India’s women’s hockey

t e a m M K Ka u s h i k declared that he withdrew himself after one of the p l a y e r s , Ra n j i t h a c o mplained against him for s ex u a l h a r a s s m e n t , H o c ke y I n d i a i n q u i r y panel found the complaint credible and recommended police probe into the matter

H o c ke y I n d i a h a s decided not to re-appoint former coach MK Kaushik

a n d v i d e o g r a p h e r Basavraj in the future on the basis of the recommendations made by the i n q u i r y p a n e l Ka u s h i k has however said he will fight to clear his name and says he is innocent

"We backed the version given by women players," Hockey India general secretar y Narendra Batra said at a press conference on Saturday

" H o c ke y I n d i a f i n d s complaints against coach

Ka u s h i k c re d i b l e a n d refers the matter to Delhi

Po l i c e f o r i n v e s t i g a t i o n Case needs action under provisions of IPC," added Batra

T h e i n q u i r y p a n e l formed by Hockey India was headed by vice-presid e n t o f H o c ke y I n d i a , Rajiv Mehta The other members include Anupam Gulati, Sudarshan Pathak and former players Zafar Iqbal and Ajit Pal Singh

Ravi Bopara

next week M

Steven Finn returns to the England squad following

against Bangladesh

The attack will be led

Broad

With Paul Collingwood back into the squad after being rested for the last

t w o Te s t s , M o rg a n w a s

selected as Ian Bell suffered the broken foot at Bristol that has ruled him out of the full four-Test series

Team: Andrew S trauss (capt), James Anderson, S

Cook, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (wk), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott

Murali says 800 wickets and victory greatest moments

T h e S r i L a n ka n s p i n m a e s t ro t e r m e d e n d i n g his test career with the m a g i c

against India was one of the greatest moments in

s w i c ke t was the last batsman to be dismissed at Galle in that match Sri Lanka scored the 95 runs needed to win without losing a wicket

“I am ver y happy that God has given me ever ything - eight wickets, a

thing This is one of the greatest moments in my

" Murali said "I am not emotional in a way, frankly, I am happy t h a t I h a v e d o n e i t I trained really hard Even last week, I trained hard to play in this Test match

CWG face terror strike threat

Punjab police have sounded a warning that Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held in New Delhi in October face the threat of terror strike

K

been reportedly roped in for the task, while another report by a US thinktank – Stratfor has also warned that Pakistan based terrorist outfit LeT is planning to attack the CWG

Reports from Punjab also suggest that about 15 kg of RDX explosive has already been sneaked into the state from across the border

IOA President Suresh Kalmadi had also met with Home Minister P Chidambaram to discuss the security arrangements for the mega event

Kalmadi, who is the chairman of Organizing Committee Commonwealth Games 2010, wants to ensure fool-proof security for the event, which is being hosted by the countr y for the first time

s 1 3 3 t e s

a n d t a k e i t v e r y seriously ” M u r a

match career has 22 hauls of 10 or more wickets in a m a t c h , w h i l e 5 w i c ke t hauls stand at 67, a record for any bowler He has m o re

, only behind Shane Warne M u r a l i w a s t h e f a s t e s t man to scalp 400, 500, 600 and 700 wickets

Sporting flavour to Cameron’s India visit

It’s a deadly combination

o f p o l i t i c s a n d s p o r t

s d a y o n

s m a i d e n trip to the countr y, will be a c c o m p a n i e d b y a 1 0 0m e m b e r d e l e g a t i o n , including Olympic medalw i n n i n g a

T h e three-day visit is aimed at forging a “special relati onship” with India, which Britain sees as a rising Asian power A m o n g C a m e ro n’ s e n t o u r a g e w i l l b e l e ge n d a r y m i d d l e d i s t a n c e

r u n n e r S e b a s t i a n C o e , who won the 1,500m gold

m e d a l a t t h e 1 9 8 0 a n d

1984 Olympics Coe, a former Tor y MP and chairman of the London organi s i n g c o m m i t t e e f o r t h e 2012 Olympics, will hold talks with officials of the C o m m o n w e a l t h G a m e s , scheduled to take place in Delhi in October Security arrangements during the Games will be discussed and Cameron may visit a stadium being built for the event ‘ Ta n n i ’ G re y -

T h o m p s o n , o n e o f t h e most successful disabled athletes in the world, and Steven Geoffrey Redgrave, hailed as Britain’s greatest

Olympian and one of the world’s four Olympians to win a gold at five consecutive Olympic Games, and Kelly Holmes, a top middle distance athlete, are among the attractions in Cameron’s contingent Sir Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the English Premier League, will be part of the delegation “ T h e i d e a b e h i n d bringing in sports icons is to underline the special nature of the people-top e o p l e re l a t i o n s h i p between India and Britain, h o m e t o a 1 5 m i l l i o nstrong Indian diaspora,” a diplomatic source said

Preity, Ness face arrest for IPL team accounts

After a complaint by the Registrar of Companies (ROC), Punjab for not filing annual returns and balance sheets of the Kings XI Punjab IPL team owners, a Chandigarh court last week issued arrest warrants against the owners, including Bollywood star Priety Zinta and industrialist Ness Wadia The bailable warrants were issued by Chief Judicial Magistrate J S Sidhu after neither the three co-owners nor their counsels appeared before the court

appeared before the court and submitted that he would appear in person on the next date of hearing

The court later adjourned the case till October 4 The court had in April issued notice to the four co-owners of KXIP and fixed July 24 as the next date of hearing

Scheme for cycling to Central London opens this week

Membership applications for the Mayor’s flagship

B a r c l a y s C y c l e H i r e

s c h e m e o p e n e d Fr i d a y

l a s t w e e k a n d w i t h i n hours, more than 1,700 people signed up as members for using London’s

n e w e s t p u b l i c t r a n s p o r t system

Pe o p l e h a v e t h e

o p t i o n s t o s i g n u p f o r

d a i l y, w e e k l y o r a n n u a l m e m b e r s h i p s f o r t h e Mayor and Transport for L o n d o n’ s c y c l e h i r e s c h e m e , a t w w w t f l g o v u k / barclayscyclehire Membership will enti-

tle them to an electronic key, which they will be able to use to t ake a hire cycle from one of hundreds of locations across central London from next Friday (30 July) The Mayor of London, B o r i s J o h n s o n s a i d : “ We ’ r e o f f e r i n g Londoners their ver y own keys to the city, in the g u i s e o f B a rc l a y s C y c l e Hire membership For as little as 12p a day, members of this fantastic new addition to our transport system will have the freedom of central London T h i s s c h e m e i s s e t t o

become a new icon of the C a p i t a l a n d w i l l e n a b l e thousands more people to cycle in our magnificent city ” T f L’ s M a n a g i n g

D i r e c t o r o f S u r f a c e Transport, David Brown said: “Barclays Cycle Hire will revolutionise how we g e t a r o u n d c

London ”

C h i e f E x e c u t i v e o f Serco Civil Government, Tom Riall, said: “After so much anticipation, we’re p

Londoners We will con-

tin ue to take registrations t

Au

u s t a n d then open the scheme up to casual users ”

A m e m b e r s h i p k e y costs £3 with membership costs at £1 for a 24 hour membership, £5 for seven days and £45 for an annual membership

The first 30 minutes o

free

For more information on how to become a member of Barclays Cycle Hire and advice on how to use t

The Indian Home Ministr y has said that the warning was a matter of great concern as the Babbar Khalsa International retains the potential to carr y out a strike

The Home Ministr y also added that both, the Delhi and Punjab police have been told to coordinate fully and leave nothing to chance

Ranjit Singh Neeta of the Khalistan Commando force has been assigned the task of targeting the Commonwealth Games

No beef at official CWG venues

Commonwealth Games has finally decided that beef will not be prepared or ser ved at the CWG venues by the organizers

Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the committee said last week that catering contractors have been informed of the decision about no beef decision

Following some perceptions of cow meat to be ser ved, the main opposition party in India, the BJP had raised the issue and asked the authorities to ensure that beef is not prepared or ser ved at all official CWG facilities, including for the athletes and the officials

Pakistan reverse Test slide

Things were looking gloomy for Pakistan a fortnight ago following their 12th consecutive Test defeat at the hands of Australia at Lord's The margin of defeat – by 150 runs – was huge, and its scale inflicted in less than the allotted five days was humiliating, to say the least The reverse persuaded the Pakistan captain, Shahid Afridi, to fall on his sword and resign within hours of the result, an unprecedented gesture which deepened the despondency in the team and among the countr y's fans

The 25-year old opening batsman Salman Butt stepped into the breach at Headingly and, against the odds, did the trick, if only just Under leaden skies and a green wicket, the Australian skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and chose to bat Under such conditions it was assisted suicide, as shell-shocked Australia collapsed to 88 all out Aamar, Asif and Gul seamed and swung the ball both ways and between them demolished the Australian batting

The Australian pacemen, for their part, were nowhere near as effective, and it was left to part-time seamer Shane Watson, with 6 for 33, to keep Pakistan in check However, their 258 total guaranteed a sizeable 170 run lead, enough to put the Pakistanis in the driving seat Australia fought back with 349 in the second innings, but it wasn't enough as Pakistan reached the victor y target of 180 runs for the loss of seven wickets It may have been a fairly close call, but it was a victor y to savour

Pakistan are back in business, but Australia must embark on critical repairs if they hope to beat England in the Ashes series Down Under in December

Meanwhile, India are on a hiding to nothing in Sri Lanka They were crushed by 10 wickets by the hosts in the opening Test at Galle It was to be spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan's farewell, and he didn't disappoint He improved his Test haul of 792 wickets by returning figures of 5 for 63 and 3 for 120 respectively in India's two innings The visitors were dismissed for 276, and following-on, scored 339, their reply to the home side's massive 520 for 8 declared The 95 victor y target was rattled off in 14 overs The Indian bowling was abysmal, the batting little better The team carries too many laggards who don't earn their keep Harbhajan Singh is a nullity with ball and bat and should be dropped Captain M S Dhoni, having acquired a mega-buck contract, is hanging by his finger-tips He'd better watch out

India mauled at Galle

Sri Lanka win by 10 wickets

E v e n a s M u t t i a h

M u r a l i t h a r a n e n d e d h i s test carrier in a fair y tale style, capturing the record 800th scalp with the last wicket in the match, India were mauled by the spin wizard and pacer Lasith

M a l l i n g a i n b o t h t h e innings Sri Lanka finally

re g i s t e re d a c o m p re h e nsive 10 wicket victor y on the last day, Thursday last week

Murali began his last day in Test cricket needing two wickets and took one A f t e r t h a t , h i s p a r t n e r threatened to take ever ything else and he could do nothing but keep on bowling, and wait The umpire denied him a palpable lbw VVS Laxman, who kept him at bay for so many hours, ran himself out and there was only one wicket left to take He waited and perhaps even fretted He nearly ran out the last pair himself, twice After 23 wicketless overs with perhaps growing doubt about whether it would come at all, the moment arrived, and Muttiah Muralitharan was there, where no man had gone before The long wait for the 800th wicket only exemplified the toil that went into the preceding 799

Murali is 38 Yet he produced magical deliveries and took a five-for in his last Test On the fourth d a y, h e re m o v e d D h o n i with a magical offbreak

a n d t w i c e m a d e Yu v r a j

Singh look like a tailender On the last day, he didn't have to do anything spec i a l a n d j u s t re m a i n patient The temptation to produce something magical, something unplayable t o re a c h t h e l a n d m a r k would have been there but he didn't show it Murali kept delivering offbreaks, the occasional doosra and varied his pace and trajector y Fielders crowded the bat, appeals were made a n d M u r a l i t r a p p e d

Harbhajan Singh in front

A b h i m a n y u M i t h u n offered unexpected resistance and time wore on Malinga stayed out of the attack India took the lead Murali changed ends

T h e n i t h a p p e n e d M a l i n g a e v e n t u a l l y

re t u r n e d t o k n o c k o u t

Mithun with an inswinging yorker Barring a deliver y that was pushed well outside off, Malinga was on target ball after ball but L a x m a n a n d I s h a n t

Sharma stood firm He did

t h e s a m

h e n h e returned to bowl at the

l a s t p a i r I s h a n t a n d

Pragyan Ojha It felt right

M a l i n g a b o w l i n g w i d e s might have seemed like he was giving Murali time Sangakkara opted for the new ball, and Murali ver y nearly made his tr yst with destiny A ripping off b re a k f ro m ro u n d t h e

s

H a r p e r d i d n t b u d g e

Perhaps he thought it was missing leg stump There w a s m o

drama after lunch

And just when the fans watching began to fear it would not come, it did Ojha edged a flighted offb re a k t o s l i p w h e re M a h e l a J

e n e grabbed his 77th catch off Murali's bowling Murali ro

cheered and the fireworks exploded All seemed well with the world

{Brief scores: SL 520 for 8 dec (Paranavitana 111, Sangakkara 103) and 96 for 0 (Dilshan 68*) beat India 276 (Sehwag 109, Murali 5-63) and 338 ( Te n d u l k a r 8 4 , L a x m a n 69, Malinga, 5-50, Murali 3-128) by 10 wickets}

Pakistan finally beat Australia

After losing at the Lords, Pakistan came out as surp r i s e w i n n e r s a g a i n s t Au s t r

t Australia at Headingley on Saturday, the fourth day of the match

It was the end of a long wait for Pakistan to register a test match victor y against Australia Prior to the final match, Australia had won 13 test matches against Pakistan on a trot The final day had some tension for the winners under their new skipper

S a l m a n B u t t , y e t t h e y romped home with 3 wickets in tact

Au s t r a l i a h a d c r u m -

b l e d b a d l y i n t h e f i r s t i n n i n g s , l o s i n g a l l t h e wickets for a paltr y 88

T h a t g a v e Pa k i s t a n a n opportunity and but for t h e l a s t d a y d r a m a , Pakistan were almost on course for a win

T h e m o r n i n g h a d begun amid scenes of rau-

cous optimism from the noisy knots of P akistan fans in the Western Stand - lured by five pound tickets and the prospect of a chance to witness histor yand there was an early moment of poignancy as w e l l , a s Ru d i Ko e r t z e n was given a guard of honour to commemorate the final day of his 108-Test umpiring career

Au s t r a l i a r e s u m e d their attack with the same v i g o u r t h a

e

Bollinger, who had jolted Pakistan with two wickets i

overnight anchor, Azhar

A

deliver y through to Tim Paine, only moments after s

bring up his maiden Test half-centur y

2 test series squared

North spins Australia to massive win

In the first test match a t t h e L o rd s , M a rc u s North claimed the remarkable figures of 6 for 55 to join Shane Watson on the b r a n d - n e w n e u t r a l h o nours board at Lord s, while Steven Smith chipped in with three key scalps in his first innings as a Test bowler, as Pakistan hurtled to defeat by 150 runs on the fourth afternoon of t h e f i r s t t e s t a g a i n s t

Australia

{Brief scores: 2nd Test - Pak 258 (Watson 6-33) and 180 for 7 (Farhat 67, Azhar 51) beat OZ 88 and 349 (Smith 77, Clarke 76) by 3 wickets 1st Test - OZ 253 and 334 (Katich 83, Hilfenhaus 56*, Gul 4-61) b e a t Pa k 1 4 8 a n d 2 8 9 ( B u t t 9 2 , N o r t h 6 - 5 5 , Smith 3-51) by 150 runs}.

No blood, no autobiography

It’s

a photographic publication, says Sachin

The Indian little master cleared the air, as he said there will be no blood on the pages, also it is not his biography or autobiograp h y Te n d u l ka r O p u s i s only a photographic publication, Sachin said from Galle after the first test b e t w e e n I n d i a a n d S r i Lanka ended on Thursday last week

“The book is basically a p h o t o g r a p h i c p u b l i c ation that celebrates my life and is not an autobiography or a biography ”

Even the publishers of the book, Kraken Media and Karl Fowler, director clarified that thought of Fowler have been misunderstood The book will carr y no blood

The Tendulkar Opus, being touted as a definitive photographic publication celebrating the cricketer’s career from the early years till date, will be pre-

sented on an unprecedented scale measuring half a metre and will weigh over 40 kg, claim the publishers

Fo r t h e b e n e f i t o f those who may not be able t o a f f o rd t h e b o o k , Tendulkar said, “The book will be available at different price points and in v a r i o u s n e w m e d i a f o rmats which will be easily accessible and affordable for all Free copies will also be given to libraries all over India ”

Mani says he would be happy if CWG are spoilt

Congress MP is outspoken in his opposition to the extravaganza

Even as the two Congress governments – the centre and the Delhi state and a huge fraternity of sports persons as well as sports lovers are praying for the s u c c e s s o f t h e D e l h i C o m m

h G a m

, the outspoken Congress leader and a known opponent of such extravaganz a s , Ra j y a S a b h a M P Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Tuesday he would be unhappy if the CWG were a success He argued that had the huge amount of expenses, Rs 350 billion being spent for the CWG were to be spent for Indian kids, we would have been able to train a lot of champions in many sports Further, he s a i d a s u c c e s

would lead to more such

Asian Games and other events That is the reason he would be happy if the CWG are spoilt Aiyar was speaking to reporters on Tuesday outside the Parliament house

Tri-Golf for Birmingham youngsters

Rose Hill Golf Club’s 6 hole course for families, children

Built by Rose Hill Golf

C l u b w i t h a n a l l g r a n t Sport England Award, a n

l

course is now attracting t h e n e w g e

a t i o n o f Birmingham youngsters B i r m i n g h a m C i t y Council's Cabinet Member f o r L e i s u re , S p o r t a n d C u l t u re C l l r M a r t i n Mullaney believes the sixh

Lickey Hills Golf Club sign a

r municipal golf in the city The par 24, 220 metre 6-hole course with tees, bunkers, scrubs and trees, the course has been set-up to provide access for children and families looking to play golf away from the larger and more difficult 18-hole courses At a cost of just £1 80 for adults and £1 20 for children, the facility looks set to be a summer holiday hit